A/N
I was bored at work so I gave myself a target – write a one-shot in half an hour. It's not THAT good but I refuse to edit it or anything because it was a competition with myself.
Enjoy ;)
War Changes A Person
"Zuko, this is wrong…" Katara's words were cut off by a pair of lips belonging to a certain scarred boy. Her arms twisted around his neck as she pushed him closer, deepening their kiss. They weren't meant to fall in love. They were supposed to marry their respective partners in a week, yet here they were sneaking around like they were still teenagers in the Western Air Temple. Zuko broke the kiss and leaned his forehead against hers. She opened her eyes – cerulean eyes met yellow. This is who she was meant to be with.
"Kiss me." Her voice was demanding. She clutched the front of his robes and pulled him closer. This was the intimacy she craved – he was a man, not a boy.
War changes a person.
Eight years ago she had fallen in love with the little boy she had saved from the ice-berg. Sokka, herself and the boy went on many adventures, her love for the boy growing with each passing day. She was scared of falling in love with someone whose love belonged to the whole nation. She wanted to be the centre of his attention; she wanted him to herself – for him to love only her. She was selfish, she knew that, but her feelings for the boy were unlike she had ever felt before.
The boy fell in love with the water tribe girl who had saved him from the ice-berg. At least… he thought he had fallen in love. She was the girl who saved him, the girl who walked across four nations to save the world with him. She was there at his low points and at his high points. They practiced water bending together – one fluid moment working in tandem to bring down the Fire Lord. They worked well together.
Love was a tricky thing. There are so many emotions one associates with love. What is love any way? They both asked themselves that one night, unbeknownst to the other. The answer had yet to come. They both thought love meant being together forever, working together for a better tomorrow, and living the rest of their lives out together.
And then one day could change everything.
War changes a person.
Zuko caressed Katara's cheek as they bathed together under the moonlight.
"When did you fall in love with me?" He asked. Katara smiled at him.
"Love? What makes you think I love you?"
"I know you do." That was Zuko - forthright, arrogant and proud. She held his hand which caressed her cheek ever so lovingly.
"I honestly don't know." Zuko smiled. The woman he loved was always honest so he knew when she was lying.
"You lie." Of course he knew she was lying. Of course he knew – he knew ever micro-expression she had. He knew her better than anyone.
"Was it when I tied you to the tree?" He smirked. Katara laughed.
"No, I hated you then. Also, I was fourteen, I didn't know what love was. I thought I was in love with…" She turned her face away from Zuko and sighed. Zuko tried to pull her back but she swam to the bank and got out. Zuko held his breath; she was beautiful. The moonlight shone on her dark skin giving it an ethereal glow. She was his water sprite, a girl who was commander of the seven seas, and subservient to the moon. He followed her out the water.
As they dried off Zuko thought about the woman standing in front him. He met her when she was just a girl, who was in love with a boy. He had seen her as an enemy, as an ally, a friend, and finally, as a lover. He knew he was never going to be content if he was just friends with her – he wanted more, he always wanted more.
Maybe once, a long time ago he would have been content with what he had after the war ended; a throne, a group of friends and a loving fiancée. But time changed, he became selfish and wanted more. He was commander of the Fire Nation, the best of the best, the crème de la crème of nations and enemy of injustice. He deserved the best and the best was standing in front of him.
War changes a person.
Katara followed Zuko back to the palace. He dropped off her off at her personal quarters.
"Thank you." She whispered. He pressed a chaste kiss to her lips and turned around. Katara's eyes brimmed with tears. She wanted him more than anything in all four nations of the world. How could fate be so cruel – why would fate let her love someone when she supposed to be marrying someone else?
She went into her room and turned on the light. Alone. Perhaps this was her fate – refuse to marry the boy and live a life far away from the Fire Nation. She sat down on her bed. She couldn't do that, she was too weak. She couldn't leave Zuko in a million years… but she could leave the boy. She went to her desk and wrote three letters; one to the boy, one to her brother and one to Zuko. She packed up her things and commanded the water from the nearby sea to her – she made an ice-slide leading to the closest fisherman.
"I need your boat." Her voice was calm, and poised. Her eyes commanded silence and subservience. She took the man's boat and in its wake left a bag of golden coins. With outstretched arms she moved the boat to the farthest reaches of the world – where she couldn't be found and where she could be the strong woman she was once during the war.
War changes a person.
The boy read her letter in another part of the world and gave a sad smile – he knew they had fallen out of love and wished her the best.
The Fire Lord read his letter and burned it to a crisp upon completion. She was gone, she was really gone. She couldn't be the strong, independent woman when she was with him. She called herself weak.
"Stupid!" He shouted. His guards came in, fireballs ready. Zuko dismissed them angrily and paced around his room. She wasn't weak – she was the strongest person he knew. He thought of the countless, sleepless night she had spent healing his soldiers under the moonlight when she was strongest. He thought of the weeks he had spent with her at the Western Air Temple – she was the one who kept them together, she was the one who made them whole… she was the one who made him whole.
A shout from the palace guards got his attention. They were yelling for the Fire Lord. He ran outside and saw a soldier carrying a body dressed in blue. Zuko paled, it couldn't be…no… she was strong, she wasn't weak!
"Fire Lord Zuko…" The guard looked at him with solemn eyes. "I'm sorry."
"How did it happen." Damn his voice, he was their Fire Lord! He didn't whisper! He wasn't scared! But as he looked at the body in the guard's arms it took all his mental power to keep back from breaking down.
"There was a storm…." The guard started.
"She was a Master Waterbender!" Zuko shouted.
"Not even the Avatar could have survived this. All four elements were against her." Zuko took Katara's lifeless body from his guard.
"Leave me." He commanded. Before his last guard had turned the corner, Zuko broke down. He knelt, hugging her cold body wishing that there was more he could do. He wouldn't have been in this position before the war. He never would have cried before the war. And, he never would have loved before the war.
War changes a person.