I don't own anything. This story is not my normal stuff as I'm not really into watching cartoons but an afternoon of babysitting my little brother and being forced to watch Avatar episodes appears to have had an effect because now i have ideas for stories about it and can't sleep without writing them down, as its 3:15 in the morning I've decided to just go with it and get it out of my system because even a crazy partial insomniac like me needs sleep sometime

This story begins at what I'm told is the end of season2 and continues into season 3. Forgive me if you have no idea what Avatar is, i didn't either until this afternoon but now I'm pretty sure I've seen every goddamn episode ever made- i blame my brother for this extraordinarily irritating creative burst and as I'm pretty sure i still know very little about Avatar feel free to correct any mistakes i make with names and such thanks people. Reviews are always welcome and please continue to put up with my crazy creative urges and random stories as I'm sure there'll be plenty more of them lol

Chapter 1

Cool fingers dripping with dewy liquid reached up to caress his cheek and trace his scar, he flinched as she touched the ridged skin but didn't pull away; he liked her touch too much and couldn't bear to offend the first person to ever look past his scarred face enough to see the real him. Not his carefully constructed facade of haughty, distaining prince full of anger at the world but that of a troubled, frightened young man trying desperately to please and be what others wanted of him, she saw the pain in his eyes, the bitterness of forever being a failure to the one parent he had left but most of all she saw the gentleness that lay behind it all and the young idealist boy he had once been- the one who had defied his father's command to defend a nameless group of soldiers and been punished because of it. Her fingers continued to gently stroke his face even after the liquid had been absorbed into his skin and slowly moved down until she was cupping his jaw. He inhaled sharply as her fingers unconsciously curled around his neck while her eyes continued their scrutiny of him, searching his face for something. He didn't know what but as her eyes travelled back to his and connected he no longer cared- how could he when all rational thought has been chased from his head at the sound of the heavenly gasp which had escaped her lips as he has tentatively reached out and touched her arm, the same lips which were now moving oh so slowly towards his...

"You traitor" her voice screamed at him, the look in her eyes one of pure, agonising pain. The hurt in them cutting through him like a knife, the fire in his hands flickered slightly and began to dim. "Zuko" Azula's voice screeched. The fire in his hands surged again, the thought of his father's love too tempting to turn away from. Looking back once more at the beautiful water bender before him he sent a silent apology to her, begging her not to hate him. Eyes hardening she glared furiously at him while a single tear fell down her cheek, she understood only too well. And she pitied him for it. Whipping the tear from her face and melding it with the huge surge of water she summoned, she forced him across the cavern and crushed him against the back wall, pinning him there as she froze the water around him and looking sadly at him once more turned away and rejoining the battle against Azula

"Katara!" Zuko sat up in his bed panting, he had dreamed about her again. Zuko felt the guilt wash over him as it did every time he pictured her face looking at him with those pain filled eyes. Coming back to the fire nation had not been anything like he had hoped, his father still despised him, Azula 

was as hateful as ever, uncle wouldn't speak to him anymore and every night in his dreams Katara haunted him, making him hate himself for the chance he had turned down; the chance to choose the right side, to fight alongside the avatar. The chance to be with her.

Instead; he had chosen Azula, chosen the wrong side and chosen to believe her false promises of love and honour when all he had received was harshness, hate and disdain.

Zuko hated every minute of his life here- at least when he had been an outcast he had been himself and he had had uncle, now he had no one.

At that moment Zuko hated the fire nation with every fibre of his being. He hated his father, he hated Azula but most of all. He hated himself.

Thousands of miles away on a stolen fire nation boat Katara tossed and turned in her sleep, remembering searching pain filled brown eyes which looked straight into her soul and begged for understanding, gentle, callused hands softly stroking her arms, perfectly shaped thin lips reaching for her own. Fire surging from his body; erupting around him in a beautiful, terrible display as he whipped towards Aang and her voice was ripped from her in an agonized screech "you traitor!"

"Zuko" Katara whimpered quietly in her sleep as tears slipped from beneath her closed eyelids and landed in the pillow beneath her while her hand tightly clutched a small photograph of a young boy and his mother dressed in fire nation clothes robes.