Zutara Week

Day 1: Family

"Zuko?"

Katara's voice sounded loud to her in the thick silence between she and her…friend? The line was not so clear as of late. The newly crowned Firelord and the master waterbender had been walking in silence for what seemed like ages to the latter, keeping an even pace that defied the tension in the air. Zuko didn't answer Katara, but simply gave her a questioning sideglance.

"Are you alright?" asked the waterbender, "You're being really quiet…"

Zuko looked away from her again, closed his eyes, then opened them again as his vision focused on their destination- a large asylum, just at the outskirts of the Firenation capital. "I'm fine," was his quiet, almost whispered response. Katara didn't believe him, she knew him better than that, but she felt that it would be unwise to press the subject. This visit had to be emotional for the firelord, after all. She placed a hand on Zuko's back and gave him a few comforting rubs. She felt his muscles relax a little, but his shoulders were still rigid.

The pair entered the asylum. It was dimly lit and eerily quiet. The guard at the entrance looked as though he was about to question them, but then bowed when he saw Zuko, and immediately began to lead him down a passage on the left. Apparently, he had been expecting the Firelord to arrive. Zuko made a small gesture with his hand that meant for Katara to follow him, which she did gladly, sticking close to him as the place gave her the creeps. They followed the guard through a series of hallways, deep into the asylum where the dangerous inmates were held. The only sound in the vast hallway was of their footsteps- the guard's scuffing, Zuko's purposeful stalk, and Katara's timid footfalls. The waterbender stole a glance at Zuko's face. He didn't look unnerved by the place, but rather sad that he had to be here at all, visiting.

"Her cell is just through here, Firelord Zuko," stated the guard, bowing deeply and gesturing toward a metal door with a barred window, before retreating toward his previous post. Zuko seemed nervous to open the door, placing his hand upon the handle but not making any effort to open it. Katara, hoping to give him some encouragement, put her own hand on top of his and they opened the door together, the screech of the hinges ripping through the silence.

Zuko would inform Katara later, the room beyond the door was similar to the holding cell in which Iroh had been held after he was taken captive in Ba Sing Se. The cell was occupied by a woman with long, knotted raven hair. She was slumped against the wall, and she did not look up as Katara and Zuko entered the room. "Azula…" murmured Zuko after he had closed the door behind him. Katara could not tell if he was attempting to get her attention by speaking her name, but Azula's head shot upwards at the sound of it. Her golden eyes, cold despite the warmth of their color, immediately narrowed in hate, and she said nothing to answer him. "Azula, its me, Zuko-"

"Mother hates me." The words were clear, and yet the slightly mad look on Azula's face showed that she was not quite in control of what she was saying.

"Mother never hated you, Azula."

"Yes she did. She hated me because of you."

Zuko had no answer to that. He stepped closer to the cell, kneeling down so that he was eye level with his younger sister, an almost pleading expression on his face. "Azula-"

"NO!" Azula snarled, and suddenly she was nose-to-nose with Zuko, the bars seperating them enough so that she could not harm him. "Mother always hated me, you were always her favorite! You were always trying to upstage me, and now that you've finally beaten me you want to rub it in my face!"

"Azula, that's not-"

"LIAR!"

Zuko opened his mouth to retort, but words must have escaped him because he closed it again and lowered his head a little. "Azula, I would never do that. No matter what you do, you're still my sister." Azula looked slightly taken aback by his words, but the fury remained etched across her once-beautiful features. "I do love you, Azula, despite how much you have hurt me and tried to hurt those I care about. I know that it isn't your fault, and I forgive you." Azula's face screwed up at that into an almost pitiful expression of rage and pain, and she burst into tears while she slammed her hands to the ground. Her face was still level with Zuko's, and the elder firebender gave his only sister a pitying look, then closed his eyes with an expression of pain as his bottom lip trembled threateningly. As Azula knelt sobbing before him, Zuko placed a tiny kiss on his sister's forehead before standing and, after gesturing gently for Katara to follow him, left the room.

Katara, moved beyond words by the scene she had just witnessed, followed Zuko worldlessly as they exited the asylum and made their way toward the capital. Katara noticed, after a while, that Zuko was leading her toward the Firenation Palace. She decided that she would want to go home, too, if she had just experienced what he had. The young waterbender expected a goodbye as the pair of them reached the entrance to the palace, but the man she trailed beckoned for her to come inside. She continued to shadow him until they reached Zuko's mother's garden with the turtleduck pond. Zuko immediately headed for the pond and sat before it, his shoulders hunched. Katara stood several feet away, not sure if she should sit next to him, speak to him, leave…?

She took a few tentative steps toward him, and Zuko must have heard her for he reached out his hand to gently pat the ground beside him. Katara closed the rest of the distance between them slowly, and sat beside the man that she was so accustomed to being strong and emotionless. The two of them watched the turtleducks in the pond- a mother, a father, and two babies. The babies seemed to be fighting for the parents' affection. The mother fought to give both of her young the proper attention, while the father seemed not to notice them.

Katara was shocked to see Zuko bury his face in his hands, and hoped to the Spirits that he wasn't crying- if he cried, then she was sure to follow, and she felt that she needed to be strong for him. "Zuko…" she said softly as she placed a hand on his back, and Zuko took a ragged breath as he brought his hands from his face. Tears were forming and spilling slightly from his good eye, and Katara was taken aback by the sight. "Zuko, its alright…"

"I just want my family back, Katara." His voice was raspy as he said. "We used to be happy. I want my mother." The statement might have sounded childish to anyone else, but Katara understood exactly how he felt. "I want my father to love me. I never wanted the competition with Azula- I just want her to be my sister, like you are to Sokka. My best friend." He pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger, and he looked like he was trying to stop the tears from falling. "I just…want my family to be whole again."

Katara wrapped her arms around his waist in a tight embrace, and he squeezed her shoulders in return. Katara noticed that he smelt of a bonfire. They remained in that hug for a minute or two before Katara spoke. "I'm sorry that your family has fallen apart, Zuko. But I believe that Azula will come back to you, an you'll be able to make her a better person. If you can change, why not her?" Zuko was contemplatively silent, so she continued. "And you still have us, the gang. We all care about you very much. And you have Mai…" her words trailed off, as she knew that Zuko and Mai were having trouble connecting. Mai had a difficult time comforting Zuko when she couldn't very well imagine what it was that he was going through. She did care, and she tried her best, but there was a reason that Zuko had asked Katara to accompany him on his first visit to his sister since she had been admitted to the asylum. Katara was just more capable than Mai of easing Zuko's worries, of making him feel like all was not lost.

Zuko seemed to contemplate the idea of having Mai, and did not look entirely comforted by the thought. He looked down at Katara and smiled. "I have you, too." Katara stared up at him, then smiled softly as she blushed a little. Yes, he did have her. And she had him. Through all of the pain the two of them suffered, they knew that they would always be there for each other, whether what they needed was a friend…or a lover.