Drown
Zuko is the Fire Lord in a period of civil unrest; Katara has become the most powerful waterbender in history. Zuko's life is constantly in danger; Katara is strong enough to protect it. Zuko can't trust anyone; Katara can't trust herself.
a.n.
This started as an idea that didn't quite fit into my 'What if' fic, since it's a 'what if' scenario that takes place after the series has ended.
I don't own ATLA.
Blah blah blah.
.01.
.Splash.
"Katara, give up. You can't heal him. No one can." Mai's voice was quiet and filled with tears. She stood beside the bed where her fiance lay, unmoving, with the waterbender crouched above him. The healing glow faded from the latter's hands and she glared at the other woman with an expression of absolute hatred.
"Shut up," she growled, her eyes narrowed in anger. "Give me a knife."
"What?" Mai took an involuntary step away from the bed, clutching fearfully at the sleeves of her intricately-embroidered robe.
"I need a knife. I can heal him, but it'll be faster if you give me a knife." Her arm snapped out with the speed of a cheetah-viper, her outstretched hand stopping inches from Mai's.
"Why do you need a knife?"
Katara let out a sound that was very much like a feral snarl. "Just trust me, Mai! We don't have time for this!"
The Fire Nation noblewoman hesitated for a fraction of a second longer before slipping a stiletto blade smoothly out of the special pocket she had sewn into her sleeve. The minute the cold steel touched her skin, Katara curled her fingers around it in a firm grip and brought it slashing down into the prone man's pale forearm.
Mai screamed as blood came rushing from the wound, darkly black, thick as midnight. She jumped towards the blue-eyed woman, more blades appearing like magic in her hands - but she had barely moved a foot when she found herself encased almost entirely in ice. She struggled against her frozen bonds, but to no avail: she was nowhere near strong enough to crack the ice. And even if she had, the waterbender was stronger than she was. Katara hadn't even looked up.
"You bitch!" Mai shrieked, deciding to use her voice to the best of her advantage. "You horrible, evil witch! You peasant! You -" Her screams cut out abruptly as the ice snaked up and covered her mouth, preventing her from continuing her furious diatribe.
"I really need to concentrate here. Breathe through your nose and you'll be fine." She spared enough time to send the frozen woman a condescending glance before turning her attention to the blood now spilling into her hands.
She coated her hands with it, feeling the push and pull of the water. Her vision blurred as she focussed all of her attention and power on the red, sticky liquid. It looked more purple than red in the flickering firelight - at least, until it started to glow. Slowly, the plasma turned from scarlet to a blinding, vibrant white-blue. She positioned her hands over the wound she had made, the knife lying somewhere on the floor where she had tossed it, forgotten. She took a deep breath, centering herself, feeling the power flowing down to her hands and pooling there. The pressure grew and grew, like a dam about to burst, and at the last possible moment she released it, sending it coursing into the body below her.
The blueish glow sped into him like a flame over dried grass, spreading through his veins and through his torso, into his limbs. The light shone through his skin, illuminating him in an ethereal way. His body was lifted a few inches off the bed and the glow intensified. It got stronger and stronger until he was obscured completely in a haze of angelic radiance.
Then the light faded and he fell back onto the bed with a soft thump. Mai suddenly found herself able to move and speak again as the ice melted away from her, back into the various vases around the room it had been taken from. Katara kept the smallest amount, pressing it to the gory slit in his arm. Under her careful ministrations, the gash closed itself up and disappeared, leaving a patch of slightly newer skin behind it.
Then the world went black and she collapsed, falling backwards off the bed. Mai caught her at the last second, heaving her unceremoniously back onto the plush material.
Slowly, painfully, a pair of golden eyes opened.
She awoke to the feeling of being watched. Any other time, she would have attacked immediately, freezing her assailant in a block of ice and demanding to know what they thought they were doing; but the slow, steady breathing of her watcher kept her calm. She knew who it was.
She rolled onto her back and opened her eyes. Shining golden orbs greeted her, the edges tilted up in a smile. Even the one that was scarred beyond repair.
"Hey," she mumbled, smiling back. Her body felt weak and empty, as though someone had taken all her muscle, ligament, tendon, and bone, and replaced it with fox-goose feathers.
He sat down on the edge of the bed, smoothing her hair from her forehead with one careless hand.
"Hey yourself."
"Good to see that you're better."
His smile grew and he rolled his eyes. "No thanks to you. Geeze, Katara, couldn't you have helped at least a little bit?"
She snorted feebly, sticking her tongue out at him. "Yeah, next time I'll get right on that."
"Mai told me what you did." His voice was serious now, though the smile was still in his eyes. "Well, how you did it, I mean." She felt a blush rise to her cheeks and smirked slightly to make up for it. "It's good to see that you've found a way to use bloodbending for good."
Her expression froze on her face before she managed to clear it and sit up. It was a struggle, but he was there, supporting her. Finally, she succeeded in leaning against the carved headboard, the pillows pressed against the small of her back.
"It took a lot out of me."
His smile fell. She missed it.
"Last night wasn't a full moon, Katara. You shouldn't have been able to do it at all." She looked away from him, biting her lip. She had hoped to keep this from him for a little while longer. "Just how strong are you?"
"Stronger than anyone, Zuko," she whispered, her voice shaking. "Stronger than Master Pakku. Stronger than Aang. Stronger than any other waterbender or Avatar who has ever lived."
He stared at her and she met his gaze. Gold battled with blue, the way they had so often fought in the past.
"You've been gone for so long," he said finally, quietly. "You've been training all this time?"
She nodded, ignoring the rush of dizziness that swept over her as she did so. "Six years of constant training, developing new techniques, experimenting..."
"And it brought you right back here." The smile was back, the familiar half-smirk she hadn't seen since she was fourteen. "Right back here, to save my life again." He took her hand in his, pressing his lips gently to the back of it. "I guess it must be fate."
"Well, you saved me from the pirates," she quipped, her eyes twinkling with mischief. "I couldn't keep owing you forever."
He laughed; it scratched in his throat.
"Feel up for some breakfast? There are some things I think we should discuss, but only after you've eaten."
Feeling was already seeping slowly back into her limbs, making her skin tingle and her stomach clench from lack of sustenance. She nodded.
a.n.
What does Zuko need to discuss? How did Katara get so strong?
Read on.