Yay, new story (that'll be longer than just one chapter haha). It will probably end up mostly Zutara, but I won't guarantee anything this early. Just a weird idea I thought up when I was really bored one day…it's set in the middle of "The Guru" and it's mostly AU from there. Yes, Katara will purposely be out-of-character in this story, otherwise it wouldn't make any sense at all…enjoy! :)
"Uncle, I need two Jasmines, one green, and one leafy."
"I'm brewing as fast as I can," Prince Zuko's uncle answered cheerfully.
Katara stared in horror at the seemingly innocent scene in front of her. Why wasn't anyone panicking? They just sat there and calmly drank their tea! Couldn't they see that the Fire Nation had finally infiltrated Ba Sing Se?!
Then again, to everyone else around her, the tea server and his uncle were simply refugees whom had come to the city in search of a new life. They founded a tea shop in the Upper Ring of the City, and were just going about their daily lives.
To Katara, however, the scene was much darker. The scarred Fire Nation prince and his eccentric uncle had invaded Ba Sing Se, and probably had hundreds of troops waiting outside the walls; ready to attack on their orders.
Well, I won't let that happen, Katara thought fiercely as she whirled around and sprinted in the opposite direction.
Momo hissed angrily as he jumped off and flew alongside Katara, instead of having to endure the continued jarring while riding on her shoulder.
Within a few minutes, the two arrived at the palace. Katara never slowed her pace as she ran up the seemingly endless flight of stairs that led to the entrance of the Earth King's palace. As tired as she was, she knew she had to get to the king before the Fire Nation did…
Only when Katara reached the top did she pause to catch her breath; Momo nearly passed out from the effort as well. With the image of Prince Zuko conquering Ba Sing Se in her mind, however, she was quick to resume her frantic pace down the column-lined entranceway that eventually would lead to the Earth King's throne chamber. To tired to fly, Momo jumped onto her shoulder and held on for dear life.
Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime of running, Katara spotted the emerald and gold-laden throne room. The Earth King was absent, but thankfully, there were three Kyoshi Warriors waiting for her.
"Thank goodness you're here Suki," Katara panted, barely able to control the words spilling out of her mouth. "Something terrible is going on…the Fire Nation has infiltrated the city…I just saw Prince Zuko and his uncle! We have to tell the Earth King right away!"
"Oh, don't worry," a voice very unlike Suki's responded coldly. "I'll be sure to let him know."
Katara saw a flash of gold in the other girl's eyes as she appeared out of the shadows. Immediately, all the color drained from Katara's face as she realized that any speck of hope she had once held; was gone.
That wasn't Suki. It was Princess Azula disguised as a Kyoshi Warrior. Undoubtedly the two girls behind her weren't Kyoshi Warriors either. Katara suddenly found herself wishing that Prince Zuko was the only one she had to worry about…
Out of nowhere, Azula's incredibly agile friend- Ty Lee, Katara thought her name was- flipped into the air and punched Katara's shoulder. Next thing she knew, her bending ability was stripped away as it had been in the past. Powerless and alone, Katara didn't think the situation could get much worse…
She was wrong.
While Ty Lee was still in the air, she struck Katara on the head in a few different places. Her eyes widened in horror as she heard a small crack! sound come from her skull. She instantly crumpled to the ground and blinked several times, wondering why her vision was fading so quickly. First, it was black spots; next, everything went completely blurry to the point where Katara couldn't even make out the shapes of the Kyoshi imposters. Finally: blackness.
There was a long period of silence. Mai stared at the limp body as though she thought it were something distasteful. Meanwhile, Ty Lee tenderly massaged her bruised knuckles, wondering just what in the world she had just done.
"Did you kill her?" Azula asked indifferently, continuing to stare at the girl that was lying motionless in front of them.
"She's breathing," Mai noted with equal disinterest.
Rolling her eyes at the ridiculousness of the scene, Azula spoke airily: "Well, I'm off to see how my dearest brother is doing…"
As she stepped over the body and began walking out of the chamber, Mai and Ty Lee glanced at each other, unsure of what to do or say.
"Azula…what do we do with the girl?" Mai called out to her, making Azula pause, but not turn around.
She pondered Mai's question for a moment, then shrugged uncaringly. "Tie her up in our room and don't leave her…until she wakes up, of course. I'm sure she'll make wonderful bait for our little airbending friend," Azula finished with a smirk and confidently strolled out of the hallway.
xXxXxXxXx
"Ohhhh…" Katara moaned as she stirred quietly. She couldn't see or feel anything at the moment; it was almost as though she was paralyzed…
Mai and Ty Lee, whom had been sitting in the corner of the room, looked over at the once-comatose girl in shock.
"Did she just…?" Ty Lee trailed off, not sure if she had just imagined the girl awakening.
"She did," Mai replied grimly. They dutifully got up and tiptoed their way through the darkened room; the Water Tribe girl was breathing soundly, but not fully awake yet.
"It's been almost a week," Ty Lee complained sourly. "I'm sick of staying here all the time."
"You heard Azula," Mai hissed back. "She said stay here until she wakes up. Besides, it's your fault she's like this, so quit complaining."
Ty Lee frowned and crossed her arms. Sure, she had had some Dai Lee members come in to give the girls a break from babysitting the unconscious girl a few hours a day, but Azula had placed the main responsibilities of watching this valuable hostage on her two friends.
"Oh…" she groaned once more. Katara's eyelids flicked open, but immediately closed. Even in the mostly dark room, the gentle glows of lanterns around her hurt her vision. Once her eyes adjusted, however, Katara could faintly make out the blurred figures of two people standing over her. They were wearing dark robes; black or green, she supposed.
She didn't recognize the place at all. "Where am I?" she asked the people groggily. She tried sitting up, but felt the light touch of a girl's hand press her back down onto her bed.
"Ba Sing Se," Mai answered carefully. The enemy had awakened, and now it was time for questioning…
"Um, Mai…?" Ty Lee bit her lip nervously and backed away from the waterbender.
Mai shushed her and turned her attention to the Water Tribe girl. "Where's the Avatar? What do you remember? Where are your friends hiding?"
Katara blissfully ignored the questions, as though she hadn't even heard Mai.
"Hi," she said overly-pleasantly, making Mai gag at her cheeriness. "Have we met?"
Mai frowned, unsure of what to say. "Well, I…"
"Mai, listen to me," Ty Lee pleaded from the far corner of the dark room. "I think I may have…"
"Quiet!" Mai whispered at her friend and studied the clueless expression on the waterbender's face. "Do you…"
"It's so dark in here," the girl said suddenly as she jumped to her feet. Startled by her sudden movement, Mai jumped back and held out a knife. "Can someone turn on some lights or something?" she whined impatiently.
Shrugging to Mai, Ty Lee lit a lantern and held it up. For the first time, the other girl seemed to become aware of the two other girls. They were dressed in a hasty assortment of green clothing and each had elegant golden waistcloths sloping gently down their hips. One girl had long, shiny, black hair; half of it was tied up in buns and had a knife secretly hiding out one end of the uppermost bun. Her eyes observed the new girl skeptically, as though she were a foreign creature.
The other girl had vibrant brown eyes and luxurious brunette hair. She looked almost frightened to see the waterbender awake, but Katara was undeterred.
"Mai…" Ty Lee whimpered quietly, only to be shushed yet again.
"Hi, thanks for turning that on…my name is…my name is…well, what are your names to start?" she asked sheepishly. Her expression remained peacefully oblivious to the two girls' bewilderment. Mai was becoming more and more puzzled the more the girl spoke, but she ineffectively tried to hide it.
"Uh…I'm Ty Lee…" she began slowly and chewed on the bottom of her lip as Mai looked back at her friend in alarm and shook her head to get her to stop talking. Something wasn't right with this girl, but that didn't mean that she couldn't recognize the names of old foes. "And this is uh…Mai." Ty Lee faked a cheerful smile and tried gesturing to Mai for help.
Surprisingly, the girl showed no recognition of either girl's appearance or name.
"Hi, I'm…" the girl faltered again and frowned. "I'm…"
Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she sat down and subconsciously banged her head against her sweaty palms. Her forehead wrinkled; she appeared to be deep in thought, but she sure wasn't coming up with any decent answers…
Stunned by the girl's strange behavior, Mai sighed and strolled out of the room, looking for back-up. She returned a moment later with none other than an annoyed-looking Azula.
"I'm…I'm…I'm…" the girl continued repeating herself in frustration as she scratched her head; trying to stimulate a logical answer from her brain. A few areas on her head seemed particularly painful though, and she gave a sharp yelp as her hand passed over the area.
"I've been trying to tell you," Ty Lee spoke after many minutes of agitated silence between the three. Mai and Azula turned their attention away from the perplexing behavior of their hostage and faced Ty Lee, who was on the verge of tears.
"I, uh…accidentally blocked some vital chi areas on her head…you know…chi dealing with her memory," she finished in a small, horrified voice.
To her surprise, Azula's expression didn't change. Instead, she turned back and faced the troubled girl.
"Just unblock them then," she replied carelessly.
Ty Lee blinked back salty tears and dug her upper teeth deeper into her lower lip. "Well, I…can't. The damage is probably permanent."
"Are you sure it's total memory loss?" Azula asked lazily; Mai was definitely surprised how well her friend was taking it…she was nearly certain that Azula would be furious with Ty Lee for destroying their most valuable information source's memory…
"Yes," Ty Lee sniffed. "I knew since the day she…well, you know…"
The three girls glanced back at the absurd sight: their enemy was now powerless and memory-less. Heck, she couldn't remember whom she was friends with, let alone her own name…
"I'm…I'm…"
Azula growled and turned around. "Your name is…Katara," she snapped at her before quickly regaining her composure. The girl was immediately amazed. Her mouth dropped open and she grinned wildly. Mai and Ty Lee were no help at all, but this girl knew her name!
"It is?" she asked excitedly. Azula nodded, trying to keep her cool in this puzzling situation.
Of course, it was by sheer chance she remembered that bizarre peasant's name…the Avatar had once called her that, so Azula assumed it was her name.
Azula's eyes widened. The Avatar. By now, he was probably looking everywhere for his pathetic little girlfriend. With no information to give, the girl was virtually useless to Azula. No sane person would want to be around someone in this state; friend or not. It would almost be beneficial for Azula to rid themselves of this hostage as soon as they could. Unless…
Grinning evilly to herself, Azula couldn't believe her luck. The idea had just sprung into her mind an instant ago, and yet it was already the perfect plan…eying the mesmerized girl with laughable pity, she continued: "Yes, your name is Katara…and you're from the Fire Nation."
Oh noez, Azula strikes again! For the record, Azula heard Aang say "Katara" in "The Chase" and I think another episode as well…stay tuned for next chapter: where's Zuko and the rest of the gaang? Will Ba Sing Se really fall? What's going to happen to Katara now? Find out in chapter two! (any comments/criticisms/ideas are welcomed!)