A/N: I really have no excuse for abandoning and deleting my other story. The story just kind of...fell away from me? I just lost focus and the slipped away. Instead, my mind turned to Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. I finished Korra back in January and was left feeling traumatized and was in a bit of a post-show slum. (Spirits, the creators absolutely suck at romance, but nailed Korra's literal last few seconds). Since then, I've rematched A:TLA and got a few story ideas. I've extensively researched and planned this ff and hope it turns out better than my previous work. I feel like I went quite a bit darker than the show, but then again, season three was-well, season three. Enough ranting. Go on, do what you came here to read: fanfiction.
Getting thrown underground was bad enough when I was alone. "Why did they throw you in here?" I demanded. "Oh, wait, let me guess. It's a trap. So that when Aang shows up to help me, you can finally have him in your little Fire Nation clutches!"
Zuko started to turn from his seated spot on the earth, but seemed to think better.
It infuriated me more. How dare he look at me blankly!
"You're a terrible person! You know that? Always following us! Hunting the Avatar! Trying to capture the world's last hope for peace! But what do you care? You're the Fire Lord's son. Spreading war and violence and hatred is in your blood," I spat.
"You don't know what you're talking about!" he countered.
"I don't? How dare you! You have no idea what this war has put me through!" I exclaimed. I sat with a huff on a patch of bare earth a fair distance from him before continuing. "Me personally! My small village was constantly raided, once by you! My father had to fight, taking all of the men with him, leaving the village virtually defenseless!" I faltered. "The Fire Nation took my mother away from me," I finished quietly as I fingered my necklace. Eyes burning and throat feeling tight, I turned away and refused to let the tears flow with him looking.
"I'm sorry, Katara," he said, and paused. "That's something we have in common."
In common? So his mother...by the Fire Nation? My face fell and I felt remorseful.
I rubbed my eyes before turning back to him. "I'm sorry I yelled at you before. It's just that for so long now, whenever I would imagine the face of the enemy, it was your face," I said softly.
"My face? I see." Zuko said, fingers brushing against his scar.
"No, no, that's-that's not what I mean," I stammered, rising.
"It's okay. I used to think this scar marked me. The mark of the banished prince, cursed to chase the Avatar forever," Zuko stood. "But lately, I've realized I'm free to determine my own destiny, even if I'll never be free of my mark."
Fingers going to my throat again, I wondered what I was supposed to think of this. Instead of the necklace, I found something else that hung around my neck since leaving the North Pole. "Maybe you could be free of it."
"What do you mean?"
"I can heal."
"Healing," he echoed. He was quiet for another moment. "It's a scar, it can't be healed." Though he sounded certain, his single eyebrow was raised.
Holding up the small vial, I continue, "This is water from the Spirit Oasis at the North Pole. It has special properties, so I've been saving it for something important." I step closer. "I don't know if it would work, but…" I trailed off. I gingerly put a hand against his scar. The skin was a muted red and folded slightly. He doesn't snap at me or pull away. Instead, he closed his eyes. Cautiously, I uncorked the vial's crescent-moon-shaped top and started pulling its contents over my hand…
A wall rumbled, startling me. It cracked open and crystal shards flew before we had time to react. Two figures stepped out of the dust.
I tensed and slung the bottle back around my neck.
The dust settled.
Zuko's uncle stood in his tea shop robes. Behind him stood a familiar twelve-year-old.
"Aang!" I exclaimed as I threw my arms around his familiar frame. He looked surprised. "I knew you would come." I hug him tighter, but pulled away after a long moment.
"Uncle, I don't understand. What are you doing with the Avatar?" Zuko demanded from his uncle, pointing at us. Iroh, was it?
"Saving you, that's what," Aang answered curtly.
Zuko stepped towards him, both hands encased in fire, but his uncle pulls him back.
"Zuko, it's time we talked." Iroh paused to look at us. "Go help your other friends. We'll catch up with you."
Aang turned on his heel at once. I shot a glance over my shoulder before following. The tunnel looked to be long. At the end, it opened up to a much larger cavern. The same glowing crystal jutted out in the cavern from the ceiling, walls, and floor. Water ran in streams throughout the floor from a waterfall.
"We've got to find Sokka and Toph," I remark after a moment, turning to Aang.
He opens his mouth to answer but stops. Electricity crackles behind us. Aang pivoted abruptly, replanted his feet, and bent a wall of earth. It exploded on impact, rumbling the ground beneath us. Aang grunts as he's knocked back a bit, but isn't injured.
Azula stood through the settling dust, slightly crouched. Her right index and middle finger are pointed at us. "My, my. The Avatar and his water peasant. What fun," she drawled.
Thank the spirits that there was plenty of water. I ran along a stream's bank pulling the water into a large mass. Moving my arms clockwise over my head, I sent it at Azula.
She raised her arms, creating a writhing shield of fire just before the water hit. Thick steam rose, hiding her from view. Aang turned around, airbending most of it away. We stood, waiting for a few agonizing seconds.
Azula sprang from nowhere and punched the air, hurtling two blasts of blue fire. I turned to water and shifted my weight, bending a stream to stop them with Aang's help. Azula nimbly landed on a stone pillar nearby.
Aang pointed his arms forward and brought them back down towards him, bending the pillar from under Azula.
She gasped and leapt, landing between us. Pointing her hands at us, she grinned. There was no way out. I could feel her calling the fire within her. My skin tingled, then prickled as the fine hairs on my arms and back of my neck raised.
A fireball exploded at her feet, making Azula loose her footing. My eyes travelled to the direction of its sender.
Zuko. He stood, one arm raised behind his head, the other pointed at us.
He turns from Azula, to me, to Aang while we watch him. Aang blanched as I noticed Zuko's gaze rested on him the longest.
Zuko sent a quick fire jab at Aang. Before it reached him, Aang bounded away, boosted by airbending. Zuko charged after him.
A fire whip at me lashed at me from Azula. I retaliated with a water one instantly. Using the puddled water, I sent it at Azula in vertical sheets. They came dangerously close. She faltered slightly.
Changing tactics, I took the water cloak form; arms engulfed in water, and the liquid wrapped around me like armor. I felt the pull of water on my arms distinctly. Azula lashed out with her left arm. I shot my own arm forward in sync with the pull and trapped the limb. She turned and tried to kick, but with a small gesture, I trapped that leg too. Raising my arms to bring her down, something else cut across the water. Orange flames cut Azula free.
Zuko stood a way off, across the water. He leapt over, fire burning in his palms. Azula darted to where Aang must be. A fire whip lashed a me from Zuko, like Azula had done earlier. I sent a whip at his legs, which he stopped with his own.
"I thought you changed!" I shouted at the prince.
"I have changed!" he retorted, eyes as bright as the flames in his hand.
After a few exchanges of the elements with him, blue rockets toward me from my right. I feel its heat as I barely raise water quickly enough to stop it. Azula.
The siblings fought me simultaneously, sending round after round of fire. They're attacking from different directions, making it hard to stop anything. A jab from my left at my head, a burst to my right towards my feet. An orange blast knocks me down.
I scramble back up, but my focus is scattered. My eyes widen as Azula sends a stream of flames from her outstretched palms, hurtling me into a crystal outcropping. Any breath I had was knocked out of me. Any more refused to come. My vision flickered as I fell to the floor.
Gasping, I started to breathe again, but my head was pounding and my side throbbed. I felt my head gingerly in a few places. No blood. I'm fine, I reassured myself shakily.
I rise slowly from the floor, leaning heavily on a piece of stone that stuck out of the floor, and stumble towards water, going to my knees near the bank of a stream. I am faintly aware that Aang was earth-surfing to Zuko and Azula.
I shook my head and crawled to the water's edge. A faint, cool blue joined the cavern's green glow as I started to heal myself as quickly as possible. I knew I wasn't doing a great job, but it'd have to do. Aches faded and my head stopped hurting. A good start.
A Dai Li agent sprang from an earthbent tunnel and stood in front Aang's wave and stopped it, knocking him down. More agents spring seemingly nowhere in neat rows. Healing will have to wait.
I regain my focus, closing my eyes briefly and opened them again. Sweeping my arms left and right, I pulled water into a lithe mass around me as I rose from the water and onto dry earth. Taking the octopus form, I bend with new vigor, sending whips and jets of water to as many Dai Li as possible. This mostly stopped pieces of their earth gloves or blows, but would occasionally strike or trip an agent.
I turn to face Aang for a second to see how he was doing. His eyes are downcast. He mouths something. With a raise of his arms, he bended a crystal walls around himself. It glowed brightly within, with a light I thought only possible through the Avatar State.
But I thought he mastered the Avatar State already, I thought, distracting me for a moment. I backed away. Everyone else followed suit. Even Zuko and Azula stopped fighting.
Suddenly, Aang's eyes and arrow tattoos glowed with an even brighter ethereal light from within the crystal. Crystal shattered, ringing as the shards hit each other, the floor, or people. A wave of light pulsed through the room before forming a beacon. Aang rose into the air within the light, rotating slowly.
I looked up at him, backing away slightly more, but I was proud of him. The kid scared of his own power a few weeks ago is different. This was the Avatar destined to save the world.
A different light flared, encasing his body.
The spiritual light dimmed.
Looking around, I saw a smile curling Azula's top lip. Her fingers were smoking.
Aang's body crumpled and fell. I just stared for an instant, rooted to the spot. Finally, I came to my senses.
Not thinking about anything else, I leapt into the river and rose within a giant wave, holding Aang's limp form close. With a sweep of my arm, I sent the water over the Dai Li, leaving them stunned. Or at least I hoped so. I descended slowly towards the waterfall, cradling Aang's body. My tears fell on his still form.
The vial… a voice murmured in my mind.
I waved my arm inward and outward, pulling water all around us, and exhaled with the most force I've used to bend. Thick, opaque ice walls surrounded us. I flipped and Aang over, exposing his back. There was an awful wound that covered a bit of his pale skin.
Hands shaking, I uncorked the vial and bent the glowing water faster and faster over my palm. I gingerly lowered the water, making it meet with the wound. The water dissolved quickly into his pale skin. Waiting, my chest felt as heavy as Appa and was tight. Fire of both colors struck the ice walls, melting it quickly.
Blue tattoos flared white for an instant. "Katara?" he mumbled, his gray eyes fluttering open. He flashed a quick, pained grin and lost consciousness again. But he's alive.
Another flash off blue fire lashed at my ice wall, melting the last of it. I raised my arms over my head, pushing Aang up and out of the cavern in a surge of water ahead of me. I turned, raising my arms so I could escape in a similar way, but was too slow.
My right arm exploded in agony, prompting a scream to erupt from within me. My other hand flew to the source. I gritted my teeth and tried to think, but couldn't. Pain and heat spread through my whole body in waves. Spots swam through my vision.
The water around me! Healing. I staggered forward a few steps.
Another ring of fire flung me against a stone wall. The impact hurt, but I felt it numbly. I couldn't fight anymore. The ground was cool relief to the pain.
Footsteps stop close to me. A scratchy rope was being tied around my wrists, binding them behind me. No bending. Zuko's face appeared above me as the red spots blurred to black.
"We don't need unnecessary blood on our hands," he says, turning to someone else. I dimly noticed my arm stopped hurting as the black started to take over, engulfing everything.
Frigid water churned around me. Filling my nose, my mouth, my lungs. Its salty taste was all I could sense other than its movement. Down and around, wanting to pull me deeper under to the sea's maw.
I opened my eyes, feeling them sting. I rubbed them with my left hand and could see better. My hair was loose and flowed around me. Other than that, there was nothing but blue and hazy chunks of white. Ice.
Feeling disoriented, I tried to find which way up was. There was a stretch of pale blue above and off to my right. I righted myself and started to move, but it was difficult. My right arm couldn't move comfortably. I strained upward, kicking more than paddling any. My muscles and chest burned. When I was close to the surface, I was feeling sluggish. It was so hard to move at all anymore. But I had to get out of here.
"What's the point?" a voice whispered in my ear. "You'll just have to keep fighting up there. It'd be much better to stay here. You'll finally be able to rest. Doesn't that sound good? Just close your eyes."
"Katara!" another voice called. A familiar one.
I looked up again. I was very close to the surface. I wanted to stop. A hand poked into the water near me. "Listen to me, Katara! The Avatar and your brother need you. The world still needs you. Don't you dare stop fighting!"
I reached up, gripping the hand tightly. I felt being pulled up and out of the water numbly. Going back to breathing air was what I felt most.
My chest was heavy and burned intensely. I fell on all fours, my back arching as I heaved water from my lungs several times. Still gasping for air, I slipped on my weaker arm, falling back down. Breathing felt more like blades against the inside of my chest. I just lay on the ice, staring at the gray sky and feeling utterly exhausted. My pained breath misted in the bitter air. I'd want nothing more than to have listened to that voice and sleep right about right now.
Arms lifted me gently, cradling me to a parka-clad body. My eyes traveled up onto a face I haven't seen in years. Six years.
My mother was holding me.
A whimper escaped my lips before the hot tears poured down my face. Sharp, painful coughs broke through, making me pull away.
"It's okay. I'm here," she murmured as she embraced me tighter.
"I'm so s-sorry, mom. I failed," I choked out, burying my face back into her parka. "You gave up yourself for me, and I failed. Failed you, failed Sokka, everyone. There was so much I had to do and I couldn't. I'm sorry I couldn't have been a better daughter."
She lifted my chin to her face. Her face was so familiar. Sokka's features were softened slightly by her. And Gran-Gran started to say I looked more and more like mom when I hot older. Particularly when scolding Sokka.
Her eyes, the same blue as my own, stared into mine. "Katara, you've done so much. I'm more proud of you than you'll ever know. Follow me. We're going somewhere safe and warm."
I held her hand and followed on my weak legs, leaning heavily on her. The blades in my chest hacked deeper as we walked. Wind bit at my damp skin and clothes, chilling me deeply. I grit my teeth to keep them from chattering. I couldn't stop myself from shivering though.
My mom led me to a lonely hut out on the ice. This kind of hut looked odd, like it was carved out of a chunk of ice. I'm used to skins on a stick frame. Smoke drifted lazily from an actual chimney. Warmth flooded out when she flipped over the skin used to cover the doorway. A blazing fire and a smaller lamp lit the single room. A mat and blankets lay on the floor near the lamp.
She quickly pulled me out of my clothes put me into a set of dry ones in familiar, Water Tribe blue. A great change from the greens of the Earth Kingdom I've grown used to. I stroked the material absentmindedly as my mom set aside my wet clothes.
"Lie down, please," she said, motioning to the mat as she peeled off her parka.
I let my legs collapse beneath me and curled up on the mat, wrapping my arms around myself. "Am I dead?" I asked, my voice hoarse. I unwrapped my right arm from myself and inspected it. It was the weaker one.
The burn still marred it, a vivid red compared to the rest of my usual bronze skin, but didn't hurt. In fact, it was numb. Too numb. It stretched along outside of about half of my upper forearm to just past my elbow. (Think along part of the radius, sorry for no better reference)
"Why would you ask that?" she asked, kneeling beside me.
"I thought maybe my body couldn't handle all this." This was a weak lie. Better come clean. "Everything's going to be different. I don't want to see what will happen if I wake up now. I'm not ready for anything. I'm just tired. It would have been easier to give up in the water."
"I know it's hard right now. But I promise it will get better. Never stop trying, Katara. You give so many others reasons and the strength to fight too."
"I-I can't," I mumbled.
"Yes, you can. You just need some time to rest first." She partially picked me up, like I was eight again, and tucked me beneath layers of blankets. It was warm, dry, and above all, comfortable. My body had been screaming for rest, but I wanted to stay with my mother. Try as I might, I still found my eyes closing. My mom's warm hand slid into mine.
She gave it a squeeze."Good night, Katara. Remember, I always love you," she blew out the lamp, leaving a faint orange glow around me within the shadows that swallowed her.
"No, wait. Mom? Mom!" I cried out.
I woke up curled up on a floor, in the same position my mom had left me.
I sensed a few things at once. Instead of her hands, my left hand was clutching the other's tattered wrappings. Rattling filled my ears, matching the lurches and bumps I felt. There was a weird, nearly metallic taste painted on the back of my throat. A musty smell filled the air.
I opened my eyes. Darkness was all there was. As my eyes adjusted, I could see more. I was in some sort of cart. It looked and felt to be wooden. Walls enclosed me, though one wall—the one I assumed was the back—had a large opening with bars. The sky beyond was dark and sprinkled with stars.
What did this mean?
My head ached too much to think clearly. I groggily tried prop myself up. My right arm refused to help me up. It still felt like heat and pain was pulsing from my arm, far worse than when Aang had accidentally burned my hands. At least then I could heal myself.
I started to scoot backwards and prop myself using my left arm instead, but a strong lurch brought my arm out from under me. After another attempt, I sat leaning against a wall. My fingers flew to my throat almost by their own accord. At least I still have my mother's necklace. One piece of her—and home—to always have with me.
Speaking of home, I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself. It may be spring, but the air was crisp tonight. My arms brushed a surprising amount of bare skin. I've been stripped down to my sarashi.
Someone undressed me at some point.
My face heated when I fully absorbed the thought. I felt around, yearning for any sort of cover. Clothes were in a pile against the wall opposite of me. They were a bit damp, but were comfortable enough. A tunic with sleeves that ended at my elbows and baggy pants. My boots were gone and there were no other shoes I could feel or see.
Annoyed with feeling damp, I swept my left arm over my body to bend out the water from my clothes. Nothing happened. I felt my heart pick up.
Okay, maybe your focus is too scattered again, I tried to reassure myself. I swept my right arm stiffly over myself. My bending… but the only one that can take it away is Ty Lee. Azula's friend, the acrobat…
I'm going to the Fire Nation, I realized, starting to feel panicked.
I hugged my knees to my chest, wrapping my arms around them. I shivered again, from fear or cold I'm not sure. A cool tear leaked from an eye, then another. No. I am not going to sit here and cry. I'm not eight years old. I'm not the helpless little girl whose mom just died, I chastised myself. I rubbed my eyes.
What lead me here in the first place?
The underground battle. But what specifically happened? I just remember getting flung against a wall then blacking out. And Aang…
He…he died. But I brought him back, didn't I? My oasis water isn't around my neck anymore. Even if I revived him successfully, Aang would need more healing. There's no way he'd be fine after being struck by lightning.
Lightning.
Azula.
Zuko.
It's his fault I'm stuck here. That filthy, good-for-nothing, little… I seethed. I exhaled through gritted teeth. I swear if the others didn't get away safely, I won't show him any mercy.
I slammed a fist onto the floor in anger, a dull thunk ensuing. My now throbbing hand made me regret it immediately afterwords.
There wasn't much else to do. I doubt I could stand if I tried. Not that standing would accomplish anything useful in the first place. I settled with fidgeting with my hands.
Minutes or hours could have passed for all I knew. Time just went by monotonously, spent staring at the burn's pain ebbed slightly but smarted when touched. Inevitably, I grew hungry and my thirst intensified.
Sometime later, the rattling stopped. Three different sets of footsteps sounded, one quicker and lighter than the other two. What entranced me was a warm, lively orange glow dancing closer and closer.
Two uniformed guards clad in red and black entered my field of vision. One was firebending. Ty Lee waltzed in behind them in her usual pink outfit.
The light let me see where I was for the first time. I was in some sort of portable cell, huddled in a corner farthest from the dark metal bars. Glancing down, I saw the pants were brown and the tunic was red with a darker trim.
"Hey, you're that waterbender, the Avatar's girlfriend, aren't you?" Ty Lee chirped, her brown eyes gleaming in the firelight.
"What do you want from me?" I rasped.
"No need to be impolite now, Katara, is it? We were worried you'd never wake up."
"How long was I out?"
"I'll take that as a yes, Katara. You were unconscious for nearly two days, I think." She paused. "Come here. If you cooperate, you'll get rewarded."
I didn't move. Two days? No wonder I feel awful.
"I'll give you another chance. I don't have a choice."
I still refused to move.
"Sorry. Guards," she commanded.
The non-bender walked close to the bars. I stood and pressed myself to the back of my cell. He sighed, barely audible and turned something to raise the bars. It rattled loudly and softly shook the cart. As soon as he stopped cranking, I felt defeated. I couldn't run or bend.
He grabbed my arms tightly and wrenched me to the opening. I protested weakly, but couldn't stop him. Ty Lee walked over and prodded me in a few places across my spine and arms. I recoiled as she touched my right arm. My joints felt weak and rubbery afterwords, as usual. A final jab near my ear made me drowsy.
The guard grabbed me by my collar again and shoved me back into my cell. The other had apparently made a quick trip and now held two bowls. He aimed in my vague direction and tossed them in. Water and rice poured out of them.
The guards left after a minute, but Ty Lee lingered. "You might want eat. Tomorrow, you're getting out of that cart. You're going to go on foot now that you're awake," she said in an undertone. After watching for another moment, she left, her eyes and smile as bright as before. She left me confused. Was she trying to help me?
Reluctantly, I edged to the water bowl, which was about half empty. I took a quick tentative sip. The water within smelled and tasted a bit earthy. Probably not the best sign, but it was better than nothing. Even though I knew it wouldn't work, I moved my fingers in a scooping motion over the bowl. Nothing.
I took the bowls to my corner, sat down, and drank slowly despite my thirst. The water took the edge off my hunger, but I know I have to eat. With no utensils, I'd have to use my hands. I poured the little remaining water to rinse them, then ate.
Setting aside the empty bowls, I faced a new problem. Ty Lee hit some pressure point to make me drowsy. I didn't want to sleep again.
The rattling of what the cart started again. We were on the move again. I stared out at the passing trees and let my mind wander.
Could I find a way to escape again? This cart was probably heading west through the Earth Kingdom right now. To the Fire Nation. Well, soon enough. And if I've been out for two days, we must be near water. Ba Sing Se was definitely behind us. We must be near the Western Lake. Funny to think how I crossed the eastern one not too long ago.
With everyone else. I missed them terribly already. Even Toph, as much as she got on my nerves. I hope they're going out to meet dad and not look for me. It'd be best.
I hope they'll be okay without me, I remember thinking before nodding off.