Author's Note: So...oh, before I forget. All standard disclaimers apply. And, I was rereading some of my posted stuff and reading reviews, and I saw Cap'n Raz's review. I took the advice to heart and finally got around to rewriting the ending, though I still don't think I did a very good job of it. But, yeah. Tell me what you think.
"Aang!" Katara cried, her voice hoarse and raw with fear and pain and smoke, "Toph, Sokka, Zuko! Where are you?"
Katara tore down the rubble lined hallway of the Royal Palace. Tears streaked down her grime smeared face and her hair streamed out behind her, having worked itself loose from its bindings while she fought. The final battle was going on, and she couldn't find her friends. She was alone in this, this chaos! Smoke from burning tapestries and wooden supports billowed unchecked into the air, and the once great stone walls had been reduced to crumbling brick and mortar.
Suddenly, a Fire Nation guard skidded across the hallway, blocking her off. Katara bit her lip against the tears that threatened to fall and opened her water pouch with fingers trembling with exhaustion. The guard frantically ripped off his helmet.
"Please, please, don't hurt me. I just want to bring my family to safety," he begged. A haggard woman dressed in a cotton robe, burnt at several places, stepped into view. A small bundle of red cloth squirmed in her arms and a young girl gripped her mother's dress with one hand and a ragged doll in the other. Katara took one look at them, and her heart broke a little more. She knew that this battle was necessary, but the amount of innocent people being hurt was horrifying. She herself had already killed so many, so many!
"Go," she yelled hoarsely, her voice breaking on the word, "Go!"
They ran, the little girl looking back at her as she stumbled after her mother. A numbing mental exhaustion began to take hold of her as Katara pressed on towards the throne room, where she knew Aang and Toph, at least, would be.
She skidded around a corner and came face to face with...another guard. This one showed every sign of hostility. His hands flashed out and caught Katara's wrists as she reached for her water pouch. He slammed her back against the wall, adding another set of bruises to her already battered body. Katara strugged vailiantly, kicking out with her feet, but without waterbending, there wasn't much she could do. The guard shoved his lower arm against her throat. Her struggles grew more frantic as she fought for air. Her face changed from pink, to red, to blue and her stirrings had begun to cease when suddenly, an enraged roar, accompanied by a skin-crackling heat, announced the arrival of someone else.
Zuko brought back a hand and pushed it forward with every ounce of strength he could wring from his aching body. A twisting flame stretched leapt from his palm and slammed full force into the guard's mask, leaping through the gaps in the armor and singing the man's face. As the guard doubled over in pain, screaming, Zuko jumped forward and sent his foot flying into his shins. He fell and Zuko broke his neck swiftly with a deafening crack. The faceless guard slumped over on the floor, life ended by his seventeen year old prince.
"Katara, are you okay?" Zuko choked out, panting heavily.
"Zuko!" Katara stumbled forward, smoke and rage and pain blinding her. She stretched out her hand, grabbing a fistful of his shirt as if to declare that now that she had found one of her friends, one of her family, she was never letting go.
A tear leaked out of her tired eyes, tracing a clear path amid dirt and dust and blood as it wound its way down her cheek. Katara angrily rubbed the tear away and turned away from her friend.
"Come on. Let's go find Aang." She started to walk, her eyes hardened, and whatever innocence the war had left her was chased away by a flat, unfeeling determination.
She had managed a few steps when a hand on her shoulder stopped her.
"What, Zuko?" The lifelessness in her voice scared Zuko that much more.
"We-we're going to be fine. We're going to win this battle. We're going to win the war. And afterwards, everyone'll be safe. Our family, our friends, us. We'll be okay."
Katara's eyes scanned his face searchingly, then melted the slightest bit. She wrapped her arms around him, leaning into his solid body and letting his firebender warmth seep into her skin for a quick moment before pulling away.
"Yeah. Yeah, we will."