ZUTARA WEEK 2009 Day 7: LICK
Re-affirmed Resolution
Disclaimer: Avatar: the Last Airbender belongs to Bryke, but Zutara week belongs to all Zutarians.
NOTE: One of the hardest prompts to work with but I did find two situations to match my take on it. Rather sad and dramatic pieces but I am quite satisfied with them.
This one is set during the Agni Kai between Zuko and Azula.
Hope you like the final installments of my Zutara Week marathon! :)
--
He was so stubborn and pigheaded.
And so was she. But she respected his wishes and did not insist on interfering in what she knew to be a dreaded family affair.
But she knew well why he was doing this, and she was grateful for it.
It seemed to her that every road he had taken since the Day of Black Sun led him to this fateful moment.
He had undergone much tribulation to get here. With guilty recollection, she knew that she had caused him much of that pain.
In retrospect, all the anger and spite she had shown him seemed so absurdly blown out of proportion. She had never harbored that much darkness in her heart before.
And unfortunately, he had been at the receiving end of her every sharp blow.
And now, here he was, protecting her from harm, even if he knew that she was more than capable of defending herself. This was a side of him which she had not really seen before (or allowed herself to see until lately.)
She watched with bated breath as brother and sister traded blows. The grand display of firebending between them was greater than she had ever seen. And though Katara never had a fondness for that element (considering all her negative experiences where fire was involved), she could not helped but be amazed by the glorious exhibition before her.
Fire could be so destructively beautiful, she had to admit.
She likewise marveled at how much Zuko had improved in his bending. It seemed to her that he had grown better and better ever since he had joined their group.
The trip to the Sun Warriors' temple had done wonders for him and she wasn't sure now if she would be able to defeat him as easily as she had done in the North Pole, even though she had advanced quite far in her waterbending already.
She had been skeptical about his teaching Aang but he proved to be just as patient and as persevering as she was. And she had to admit that his method and hers were quite similar. He certainly had not gone about teaching Aang like Toph had done.
Katara knew that Azula was a prodigy, but now Zuko was proving to be a worthy opponent to his talented sister.
The more she observed the duel, the more Katara saw the truth in what Zuko had said about something being off about his sister.
It was evident in her posture, in the slight hint of uncertainty in her movements, and the strange, almost scared, expression on her usually confident face.
Katara wondered what had triggered such an alarming change in the formerly cool and calculating firebending master. But even with this difference in Azula's demeanor, Katara worried for Zuko and hoped he would get through this safely.
The waterbender was convinced that only Zuko would be able to resolve this fight with minimal bloodshed, just as only Aang would be able to defeat the Fire Lord without taking his life.
I believe in you, Katara whispered and hoped that her thoughts would be carried to the young firebender in the arena.
She wished that she could give him strength. She wished he knew how much she was supporting him now.
And as she watched them, she realized how ridiculous such an event would be from her family's point of view. Such conflict between siblings, and even a desire to kill the other, was an alien concept to the Water Tribe, whose members greatly valued family ties.
While she and Sokka would have the usual argument that was to be expected between siblings, they had never harbored even a fraction of the anger that existed between Zuko and Katara.
The waterbender tried to look back on the entirety of her acquaintance with the firebender, and she realized that all differences of class and status aside, she had had the happier life.
Banished, scarred (in more ways than one), constantly rejected, and hated simply for being who he was, the son of the Fire Lord, Zuko had suffered so much and yet still emerged a good person, capable of choosing the right path.
His family was clearly a great mess and the only love that had been shown to him from that end seemed to be from his mother and his uncle.
And when Katara remembered that fateful conversation they had had in the crystal catacombs of Ba Sing Se, she suddenly realized that she had never really found out what had happened to Zuko's mother or how she had been taken away from him.
He had helped her resolve her own anger by giving her a chance to avenge her mother's killer. No one else would have understood what she had needed then, least of all Aang, who was too eager to forgive.
She knew now that she would not have really killed a man. Taking another person's life was still beyond her ability. But she had needed to see him again, to relive that old pain, and then to let go of it.
And Zuko had helped her through this ordeal.
Yet she had done nothing to help him about his mother. She had not even bothered to ask him about it. Somehow Katara believed that he would have confided that painful memory to her if she had only given him the chance.
As close as he had grown to their little group, he probably would not have been able to be open to the others about this.
Katara sighed sadly as she realized how much she had missed out on by holding on to her hatred, how much of a true friend she could have been to him.
There was so much about him she did not know and now, as he fought for his country, his throne, and to a certain extent, for her, she realized how much she really wanted to know more about him.
After this great battle, the duel of the Fire Lord's children, Aang's showdown, and the thwarting of the Earth Kingdom raid, everything was going to change.
Nevertheless, Katara resolved to make up for all the missed out opportunities with Zuko.
I won't let you down the next time around, the waterbender silently promised.
--
Zuko had just been struck down with Azula's lightning – trying to protect her.
Katara was still and speechless, her mind still struggling to process what had just transpired before her, the bluish glow of the lightning bathing everything in its electrifying radiance.
One moment Zuko had been talking about redirecting lightning and then the next he was falling, falling before her, falling for her.
Why? Katara questioned desperately. Why did you do this?
Somewhere in the distance, Azula was cackling with sinister satisfaction.
The crazed firebender had wrought destruction again.
Once more did Azula's lightning cause Katara's heart to break, and this time, more painfully than it had before.
Seeing him fall to the ground, his body twitching as sparks of lightning still coursed through it, she cursed herself for not getting out of the way in time.
She had been such an air headed fool, simply watching as Azula had aimed at her. Why had she gone nearer to them, just when Zuko was about to finish the fight?
She could not bear the thought of being the reason for Zuko's devastating defeat.
"Zuko!" she cried, knowing nothing else to say, and running towards the injured firebender.
He had just saved her life, taken a deadly blow directly and painfully.
She couldn't imagine the agony he was going through and she berated herself for having been so careless.
If Aang's wound had taken weeks to heal, how long would it take for Zuko to recover from this attack? And considering that Aang was the Avatar while Zuko, for all his firebending prowess, was still just an ordinary bender, how much more would he have to suffer?
How she wished she still had some of that sacred water from the Spirit Oasis!
It seemed she was really meant to heal Zuko.
These disturbing thoughts passed quickly through Katara's mind as she ran towards the fallen firebender. But just as she had extended water-soaked hands in front of her, a crash of fire and lightning blocked her path.
It was then that she heard Azula cackling maniacally as she ran in her teeter-tottering manner towards Katara.
"I will never turn my back on people who need me," she had declared adamantly not too long ago.
But she had reneged on this promise. She had denied him her help, understanding, and trust when he had needed it most. She had been unreasonably bitter and angry.
How she regretted these idiotic actions now, and how passionately did she want to atone for such abominable behavior.
It was high time for her to be there for him.
Watching in horror as the lightning licked at his body, Katara knew that she would never forgive herself if she allowed anything like this to happen again.