Never Let Me Go- Florence + the Machine
The air was full.
Cries of men never returning home echoed around the barren wasteland, the crashes of blades upon metal shields piercing the atmosphere. Katara glided through the chaos, impervious to the stench of death waiting to take the fallen home, her blue eyes misted over with the heat of the battle. Her red robes slithered over the ashes with each footstep, trailing peppered flakes over the rusty stains seeping slowly into the ground.
A shadow bearing Earth Kingdom clothes attacked from her right- she flicked him away with jarring, powerful movements, sending him sprawling across a rock jutting out from the ground. Katara moved on, indifferent to the sickening crunch of broken bone she had caused. Lifting her head, she sucked in a deep, shuddering breath, her eyes closed as a cloud shifted to reveal the full moon. She felt its power well up inside of her, the familiar tingling in her fingertips beginning. The hanging orb intensified the amplitude of the slushy, thick pumps of the warriors surrounding her, fanning the dry flames in her throat.
'Katara!'
She whipped her head around, her arms extending to ward off a group of approaching soldiers. Their bodies twisted like pretzels, bones cracking, penetrating flesh to reveal white, jagged edges. Spurts of blood rushed upwards like geysers, messily splashing in all directions but remaining invisible on her garments. Katara discarded the limp remains, their limbs twitching feebly as she brushed them aside, making a path towards the sound of that familiar voice tinged with distress.
How amusing; she had taken cover in a quiet corner, under a crude, hastily made form of her earth tent. Katara wondered what had made the self-proclaimed 'greatest earthbender alive' to cower away from the fight brewing. Back when they had been together, Toph usually loved a good brawl, whether or not she was the instigator.
Her eyes fell onto the lifeless body in the blind girl's arms; its face was turned away from her, a gaping wound searing its side, blood trickling down like a river into a steel pool that stained Toph's hands and legs copper. Katara could plainly hear the dull thudding of its owner's heart, struggling to continue its beaten path, weak as its life source drained away.
As Toph looked up from the body she cradled, she jostled it slightly, making its head loll to catch a stray shaft of light. Katara hissed, recognizing who it was; backing away and crouching into her stance, her fingers curved into claws as she drew blood from a cadaver to her left. She struggled against the bloodlust rising within her, her arm rising involuntarily as she leapt forward from the shadows.
'No! Please, don't!'
Her sudden movement had alerted the younger girl. She shoved the body behind her in protection, in desperation as she, too, drew up her element. Katara's lip curled derisively, surveying the courageous but silly girl, using her own vulnerable body as feeble protection.
Upon Toph's bidding, two small stones hurtled dangerously close to where the waterbender stood, forcing her to dodge and slide further away. Katara snarled, the blood radiating in tendrils from her fingers, catching moonbeams as they swam. She approached Toph, her steps prowling and menacing as she fixed her eyes on the dying person half-hidden in the shadow of the rock.
'I know you're in there somewhere,' Toph cried, her eyes wide in panic and agony. Her body turned in alliance to the semicircle Katara made, always careful to shield the man lying behind her. 'Please, for Spirits' sake, just heal him, Sweetness, and I-'
'Shut up!'
Katara felt the bile rising in her throat at that repulsive nickname, remnants of a time long-forgotten, of the girl who was caring, innocent in the hope she placed in the Avatar. That same girl restrained her from attacking as a spasm flew through the muscles in her fingers, freezing the blood into icicles.
A grin broke through the desperation written on the blind girl's face at her retort; for a moment, Katara recognized the brash girl she had left behind. More memories- they were too painful- no, irrelevant- to remember, stashed away in corked glass bottles and thrown out into the endless sea of her sub-consciousness, ridding her of the stains tainting her new life.
Her opponent laughed in mock surprise, her mouth too wide, teeth sharp and gleaming in contrast to the dark circles beneath her eyes. 'So,' she taunted, lowering her arms, 'You don't like being called that, huh? Well, sorry to disappoint, Sugar Queen, but unlike you, I haven't-'
Seeing the window of opportunity, Katara struck with a fierce cry, sending pin missiles speeding directly towards Toph's face. The latter, realizing she had unwisely let her guard down, attempted to dodge the attack, spinning around so that she was parallel to the path of the icicles. Their razor tips grazed her right cheek, tearing trails into the alabaster skin. Katara watched in vague triumph as Toph winced, three scarlet lines appearing on her face, stark against the bloodless color of her derma.
Toph turned to face her, dazed; her fingers floated up to press themselves into the wetness appearing on her cheek. Her glassy eyes bore into Katara's- she could feel her pupils dilating from the kick of adrenaline suddenly pumping through her system, the ebb and flow of Toph's circulatory system calling out to her tantalizingly.
Katara strode automatically to where her former friend stood, the latter stock still. Katara could feel the resistance her body was putting up, Toph's heartbeat accelerating at the realization that she couldn't move. Only her eyebrows, contorted in their terror, betrayed Toph's emotions as Katara gazed at her, a satisfied look working its way up onto her face.
She could feel the gurgle of blood in Toph's throat; she had bit her own tongue. Katara, in a perverse sort of fascination as to what the younger girl wanted, released the blood in the muscles of her lower face. Toph furiously worked her jaw, her teeth flecked with crimson as she grimaced in discomfort.
'Going to bloodbend me, huh?' she gasped, choking a little on the blood pooling in her throat. Toph swallowed, the salt pungent on her taste buds, then ploughed on. 'I suppose that's what they've been teaching you to do? Got all that voodoo stuff to make you into this?'
Her sapphire eyes narrowed into slits, framed by smoky lashes. Toph's cockiness was wearing her patience thin.
'Shut your mouth,' she ordered. 'Or better yet, why don't I just do it for you?' Her voice transitioned from cool to silky, danger flashing out from beneath the purr.
Toph snarled, refusing to bend to her will. 'You've changed. I thought-'
'You thought what, Toph?' Katara circled the girl, hissing into her ear. Toph felt the iciness of Katara's skin as her cheek brushed against her ear, so close was their proximity. A few strands of Katara's hair tickled her neck, leaping in the gust of her hot breath. 'That I was going to save you and heal him just because you asked? Do you think that, after what happened, I would even consider you as my friend?'
She saw the trembling of her lip, a single tear trailing down her uninjured cheek. 'He's dying.'
Katara cast a disdainful look at the fallen warrior, a mass of tangled hair and awkwardly angled limbs. She stemmed the flow of grief before she even felt it. 'Yes, I know.'
'Save him,' Toph whispered, 'I'll do anything.'
Katara fingered the waterskin she had slung over her shoulder, thoughtfully tracing the stitches in the leather lining. 'You know what would be more fun?' she asked suddenly, after a moment's silence. She leaned in close, feeling her breath bounce off Toph's face in a drift of hot air. 'Draining him of all his blood and using it for my bending.'
Toph's face hardened instantly. 'If you do, I'll hunt you down, and when I find you, I'll make sure you'll pay for it!'
Katara's contemptuous laugh rang out like the silver tolls of bells, foreign in the battlefield. 'You really think you'd stand a chance against me?' she asked archly.
The Blind Bandit spat at her, flecking her silk robes with white globules. 'I'd kick your ass from here all the way to the North Pole, you bitch.'
Toph was getting to be a nuisance, she mused, staring down at her tailored clothes with disgust. She felt her insides squirm with longing; the pang was growing more intense with every passing moment. Katara was conscious of the fact that there were two lives for the taking here, their blood gleaming appealingly. In a flash, the sirens had entangled her in their net of allure, the water in their blood calling out to be bended, to trail down the length of Katara's arm, burning against the coolness of her skin.
Accordingly, she bent Toph's hand down and replaced it with her own. The action was as gentle as it was menacing, deliberate in its slowness. Her skin was warm with sweat and dust, the flush of her wounds causing her palm to become sticky with dripping blood. Katara sighed inside, content; her eyelids fluttered as they drooped, the live blood hot, writhing against the cool palm of her hand.
Toph stiffened at the contact, yet her expression was wild with anger as she hissed, 'Go on. Do it.'
Her eyes snapped back open at the hostility in her tone. An eternity passed as the two poles of Katara tugged, neither side relenting as she peered into the unfathomable eyes of the earthbender. The two women were still, on opposing sides of a mirror, their expressions identical as they searched the other's contours, seeking vacant answers to a hopeless situation. Katara's muscles shivered with anticipation as the gush of blood swelled, the sweet scent of iron filtering through her dilated nostrils; yet she was frozen to the spot, the cool waters weaving through her head in deterrence, diluting the red haze enveloping her.
Katara saw herself as the purity she once was, swiveling around to revel in the distorted image of the burden placed upon her. The glass between them was a thin, wavering line through which her two halves could manipulate to touch each other, fingertips intertwining. It existed as a barrier to what was good and evil, stretching and bending to accommodate the violent force with which they clashed, fighting to regain control over the other.
A red gleam appeared in her cobalt irises, blossoming like blood from a finger freshly picked upon the razor edge of the precipice she hung upon, her world tilting off-kilter as she resurfaced, her skin dark with blood and thirst, the faltering heartbeat of her enemy amplified to a buzzing in her ears.
As Toph felt the pressure on her cheek increasing, she knew the outcome of the fight.
'Believe me,' Katara purred, 'I will.'
The glass shattered.
Author's Note:
This is the beginning of a multi-chapter fic that I'm planning and which I've conceptualized with my sort-of Beta, D3stiny-Sm4sher. He's been a big help- thanks so much, E! :D
It will focus on dark!Katara as her bloodbending consumes her, leading to radical changes in her character and relationships- expect loads of darkness and adventure! As seen here, there's a huge difference in canon Katara and the one represented here, and I'm going to attempt to detail her metamorphosis in future chapters. Moreover, I will be using this fic to explore both Kataang and Zutara, as each are both interesting, dynamic ships that could be plumped out a lot more.
Also, I don't want to give away too much, but you should be able to suss out who Katara's rolling with these days from the details given. XD
I'm currently working on my main project, Nothing is Illuminated, another A:TLA story featuring Toph as the protagonist. Once that is completed, I will return to The Call and begin writing future chapters for it.
Please read and review- it's what keeps me going :) Ideas, comments and critiques are all welcome.