System of Dawn

Prologue

Zuko's voice echoed in their heads as the small group of children and teenagers came up to see that great, towering palace on the horizon. It had been raining that night when Zuko left them, after only being with them for a month. He was to go ahead and enter the palace, using his intricate knowledge of the grounds. He said he had someone who would be a great help to them and he would go a day ahead of time to persuade her and set everything up. Then at dawn the next day, they would enter the shore on the far side and come around the back towards the capitol with Zuko leading them through to the Fire Lord's throne room.

Aang tried to keep this is mind as he stood in the bitter cold of three in the morning atop that hill. He was holding hands with the girl beside him, which didn't work too well to calm his nerves but was still quite enjoyable. If the plan failed again, or worse—if he lost any of his friends, the war would be over. This was the last chance. The comet would come in one week. After that, there would be no hope. He'd already failed the world three times. Once, a hundred years ago, then again in Ba Sing Se, and then just recently during the invasion.

How many times could a man fail before he was deemed a failure?

A deep breath.

Katara smiled at him. "Ready?"

He smiled back, feeling just a bit more courageous. "Yeah."

End Prologue

One

The Hope that Wouldn't Die: Bloom Anew, My Passions, My War Cry!

I know you

I walked with you once upon a dream

Before the sky collapsed

That walk had meant the world to me.

Dark grey was the sky, as it seemed to be always. The "Masters" were out, having a merry time, whilst the maids tidied up the house for the evening's merrymaking, the usual dinner party for a Friday night. It seemed so funny how the lives of one side of the schism could be so goddamned merry while the other side lived like rats, hiding in the rafters and catering to the Fire Nation.

Katara happened to be born onto the wrong side. Her heritage had cursed her to this life of misery. Even if she had pledged allegiance to the Fire Nation (which she had to fake anyway to be allowed to live and given a chance to earn her bread), her eyes and skin condemned her to a life of serving others--namely, the golden-eyed rulers of the world.

In her tattered maids robe she obediently swept out the dirt from the house into a neat pile near the front door. This was a daily task, so there was not but a handful of dirt, swept in by the feet of guests and the wind of doors opening and closing. The day was utterly mundane, and each day a depression grew over her, choking the air from her lungs and weighing her light frame down with lead regrets. She expected nothing more from life, nothing more of happiness, and nothing like what she would find as she opened the door to sweep the dirt into the street.

She clicked the lock off and heaved the door open, minding not to skew her neat pile of dirt. This was all she'd known for the past year, but the moment she looked up towards the man shoving postcards in the mailbox, everything changed.

His eyes were gold, and if that were all that was significant of them she would have paid no never mind to it. But the one, the left, was badly burned all around and back past the ear. Choppy black hair attempted to cover the worst of the damage, but it was far too prominent to be overlooked that easily. She looked into these eyes—one hateful and one scarred—and all the painful memories of her past came rushing back to her.

She dropped the broom onto the floor and it clacked against the tile once and rested with a thump. The man looked over at her now for the first time, and she could see in his eyes what she felt in hers.

"Why are you here, Zu—"

His hand clamped over her mouth and he gave a course shush. "Shut up, you idiot, unless you want us both to be put to death!"

Her eyes widened as she realized what he meant. She hadn't needed to use a false name, for "Katara" was fairly common in the Water Tribe. With a name like his, though, you could be sure that he was the one and only, so notorious in its sound that people from way out in the countryside had heard of him and hated the traitor to their country. Just mentioning his name could get one in trouble.

She nodded, letting him know that it was okay to remove his hand, and he did such. She wasn't free for a moment though as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her away. Down the street they turned into the first ally, and he agilely hopped up a stack of crates and over the fence, leading her right behind him. On the other side, he released her from his tight grip, and they sat and regained their breathe for a moment.

Looking at him, she let it all out. "What happened to you a year ago? You said that you were going to help us overthrow the Fire Lord, but when we got to the palace, you had vanished!"

"You don't take any time at all, do you?" He sighed and shook his head. "My name is Lee now, and vanishing wasn't by any choice of mine. Do you go by the same name, still?"

She bit her lip and held back the tears that threatened to burst free. "You vanished, and nothing had gone right since then. The world rested on your shoulders. What excuse could you have!"

He grimaced and turned away. "I thought I could trust Mai. I was mistaken. She told Azula everything I'd written to her, and Azula saw that I was detained. I was locked in a prison cell on a Fire Nation ship for three months. When I escaped, everything was different."

Her voice softened a bit. He had an excuse, after all. Now her excuse had been ripped out from under her. "I'm sorry. I didn't know…"

"Don't apologize. It was my fault for trusting her."

"Trusting Azula?"

"No. Mai… We'd been in a relationship for some time; the days passed too quickly to count. I thought we had something, I thought I knew where her loyalties lied. But in the end, she belonged to Azula, as always."

Katara decided to let the topic drop; she couldn't stand the look of agony on his face, although for the past year she'd fantasized about him repenting for abandoning them in their time of need many, many times. Now that she had her wish, she found she couldn't stand it. How disappointing. Yet, she felt a piece of her old self fall back into place.

"You're a mail boy?"

"Mailman. You're a maid?" He chuckled at the uncharacteristic career.

"You're a maid of the post office, so don't laugh."

"You make no sense, so that entitles me to laugh."

"I make perfect sense. You're the one wearing a paper hat."

He snarled, "Shut up! It came with the job!"

"Whatever you say, mail boy."

He glared at her. "You're difficult, you know that? I should just go turn us both in for treason."

"Go ahead; I have nothing to lose."

This struck him. How could a girl change that much in a year's time? "You have your life and your freedom."

"Exactly. Nothing."

"That's everything! What of your oaf of an older brother? And your little blind friend?"

"I haven't seen Sokka in nine months. Toph in eight."

He was silent at this. Apparently everything had gone downhill for someone other than himself since the Avatar's defeat. It was almost unbearably uncomfortable for the longest time as the two were silent, each deep in thought and painful recollection. Katara appeared to stare off into space, occasionally closing her eyes to reopen them a moment later, trying to see the sky from someone else's point of view. Slowly, she pieced together an idea out of the scraps of fantasies and storybook heroics floating in her mind. At times like this, she worried about the state of her own sanity, but she decided to go for it anyway.

"Would you like a second chance?"

"What?" Zuko asked, clearly confused by the sudden and strange question.

"Actually, it would be your third, wouldn't it? Would you like another chance?"

"Depends. Chance to do what?"

"Save the world."

He stared at her, unblinking and unmoving. When he finally came to the point where he could manage a muscle movement, he replied unbelievingly, "You're daft."

"Am not! My proposal is perfectly sane. You and I could try one last time to accomplish our mission. I have nothing to lose, and from the looks of it, neither do you. What do you say? One last adventure, for old times' sake?"

"Oh, you're definitely daft." He gave an amused smirk, "I'm in."

End Chapter One

A/n: Please don't expect regular updates for this. My main story at this time is Cattails, and I have enough work to update that once a week. If I have free time, I'll work on this, but the updates might be as far apart as two months until Cattails ends (though I hope not.) I do actually have up to the third chapter written, but I'd like to edit it a bit before I post. There won't be that much heavy Zutara action, either; it's just not my style. I do hope to have them share a few kisses before the end, though. ;) I plan to have twenty-five chapters for this. Oh, and don't confuse the title with the band System of a Down. The two aren't related (and dawn and down are completely different words, anyway.) So, just shove this story on your alert list and stay tuned for updates. Thanks for reading!