This is going to be a seven chapter story focusing on the theme of the seven heavenly virtues. I'm pretty excited about this! Hope you enjoy!

"Patience"

The morning sun peeked his face over the jagged mountains in the distance, his beautiful, golden arms extending, stretching out of his quiet night's slumber, those fingers of his unfurling, touching the sky gently and painting a beautiful mosaic for the mortals of this world. His impatience to wake the world below, to fill the bowl of barren landscape beneath him, was apparent as he peered into the windows of the sleeping humans. His rays touched their closed eyelids and pulled them from their dreams of wealth and power- selfish dreams for the most part.

The exiled Fire Nation prince, however, was not roused from his nightmarish dreams by the lure of the sun above. He had been up for hours, staring above him, counting the stars, going over the numerous disappointments that had been a direct, and indirect, result of him. These mistakes plagued him daily, at any and every hour of the day. Especially now, surrounded by these people who had accepted him into their group- except he was not truly a part of their group. There was a blatant figurative line that divided him from the rest of the group.

He could tell that Aang, the Avatar, was attempting to remove that divide, albeit he was not very successful. Sokka accepted but was not about to get on friendly terms with Zuko. Toph didn't seem to have a certain opinion on the matter, but she was wary- probably still pissed about the Fire Nation royal burning her feet. But they were nothing compared to the wrath of the water-bending girl- Katara.

She hated him. Actually hate was too nice of a word. She loathed him. Abhorred. Detested. Despised. Choose any of the words above to describe her feelings for him.

He couldn't blame her. She had every right to hate him- he had almost destroyed her, the Avatar, any chance for a new world to rise from the ashes of Ozai's reign once the group destroyed the ruler.

Yet although he understood her anger, her hatred of him, he still longed to mend the broken, dilapidated bridge that had been built between them beneath Ba Sing Se. Of course the chance to fix a bridge that was constructed of toothpicks and glue was close to nonexistent. They hadn't even built a firm foundation of trust, of anything, and he had thrown all this fury, everything he had in him, at it- he had destroyed possibly any chance to be close to her.

And the funny thing was, he yearned to be close to her. He wanted her to confide her most intimate secrets in him, he wanted to understand her. He wanted to be the person she trusted most.

It was almost laughable.

Zuko turned to look towards the abandoned, decrepit building that had been serving as the Gaang's home the past few months. The others were beginning to rise from their sleep to begin the day's chores- to practice, to spar, to plan how to not die.

Zuko rose from his sleeping mat on the grass- he didn't feel like sleeping in the temple last night- and headed off towards the woods. He ventured far into the belly of the woods- not a particular destination in mind- he just wanted to think, to escape the prying eyes that were sure to find him. To escape a certain pair of cerulean eyes filled to capacity with accusation and a blaze of hatred that burned brighter than he would expect in something that was so blue, so pure. With a jolt he realized that he had caused that- that pure beauty to have been extinguished- to be replaced with a red- hot fire that set fire to that innocence like fire to a piece of parchment.

Zuko pushed through the branches, ignoring some of them as they nipped him with their fingers, trying to stop him, trying to make him stop running away from his mistake. He always ran. He never tried to face the mistakes he made- he never tried to mend them, to admit fault.

To be honest, he knew he was wrong- but his damn pride didn't want him to surrender. That and he was also scared out of his mind. He was scared to admit his wrongdoing to her- it was a sign of weakness, a sign of vulnerability. Zuko didn't like being vulnerable- it wasn't a trait he had ever admired.

The exiled prince spotted a patch of grass beneath a rather shady tree and lowered himself to the ground, the thick trunk supporting his back. He watched the leaves of the tree, a blend of yellow and green making up their body, blow lazily in the wind. With a sigh, Zuko rested the back of his head on the dried bark, hearing it crackle.

He knew what a mistake he made when he pushed her away, threw her kindness back at her. He didn't think he would ever forget that look of betrayal that blazed from her eyes as she protectively fought back for Aang's sake. At the time, it had amused him- her anger, the palpable hurt that glinted in her eyes. But that amusement was simply a feeble mask overlaying what was to come within a few days, once he had time to think through his actions. He realized that his sister was a sadistic liar, his father a lying bastard who had never had any intentions to give him his approval, his pride. He realized that he had fallen into Hell along with them. He realized he hadn't just slipped unintentionally into that pit of fire- he had put himself there. And he betrayed the one person that could have, would have, rescued him.

With his head and heart harboring this much anger, this much frustration, the fact that he lashed out, his fire- bending temper overtaking him, wasn't surprising. He growled, and allowed the internal barrier he had fabricated to mask his anger, his shame, to be burned into oblivion. He snarled, throwing whips of fire from his hands into other trees- burning them to the ground. He charred the ground with black patches, the living things around him dying within seconds. Isn't that what he was? A monster that killed anything beautiful with the flick of his wrist and the boiling vat of rage that festered in his chest.

He yelled obscenities, cursed Agni, and shot tendrils of fire this way and that- releasing the emotions he had kept secret for so, so long. He tried to play the part of the perfect fire- bending teacher for the avatar, he tried to be aloof, tried not give them a reason to hate him- and this all required patience and silence. Zuko pound his bare fists into the thicker trees, making imprints of his hands, and smearing scarlet onto their bodies. Angry tears fell down his cheeks as he thought about how perfectly he had screwed up, how he had pushed those who could have truly helped him away for a false sense of love.

"You really shouldn't fire- bend so close to this many trees you know," said a condescending voice from behind him.

Zuko turned his face to find the subject of his thoughts standing with her hands crossed over her chest, looking at him from beneath her loose hair. Her eyes were guarded, her mouth pursed in a tight line that was clearly untrusting. She wasn't screaming though- which he took as a good sign.

He fully turned around, panting, and quickly wiped his face of the salty streams that fell across his cheeks. He looked at her, and she stared back. They didn't speak for a long time, each surveying one another.

"Nobody knew where you were. We assumed you had escaped back to your perfect little palace," she mocked.

Zuko didn't feel fury from the words she had clearly strung together in a sentence meant to elicit anger from him- he felt shame because he knew she still believed him to go back to that house of horror. She still believed him a traitor who was simply here to destroy any chance of a new world. She couldn't have been more wrong though.

Zuko gently shook his head. "Nope. Just needed to be alone for a little while."

Katara didn't move or speak or do anything for that matter for many seconds. She simply looked at him with those piercing eyes of hers, probing him, trying to find a fault in his answer, trying to find a hole in his mask of indifference that was once again plastered perfectly to his face- a stony expression of coldness. She didn't seem to find anything.

She nodded stiffly, and began to turn around to walk back to camp, when Zuko opened his mouth, surprising even him.

"I'm sorry." He said simply. Those two words weren't enough to express his guilt over their situation, weren't even close to what he owed her.

She turned around slowly, crossed her arms again, and pursed her lips once more, narrowing her eyes. "You're sorry?" She laughed coldly. "Well I guess I forgive you then Zuko! Let's be the best of friends! Let's go back to the South Pole and go penguin sledding together!" By the end of her tirade, she was screeching with mockery.

Zuko didn't yell, didn't allow his anger to get the better of him- he knew he deserved this, deserved much worse actually- but he still felt his temper flare up from her biting words. He clenched his fists.

"I really am sorry. Ba Sing Se was one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made and I've made plenty of mistakes. I know you have every right not to forgive me, to even believe me, but I just wanted to get the words out."

Her mouth opened to fire back a retort but it closed just as quickly. She angrily looked away. "I thought I could trust you. I wanted to trust you more than you understand. And I hate you for what you did."

Zuko nodded, biting the inside of his cheek until he tasted blood. It tasted bitter. Figures.

"I understand that." He told her, and he did.

She laughed bitterly. "That's just it Zuko. You don't understand." Tears were swimming in her eyes. He was so astounded by this that he was at a loss for words.

She quickly recovered from her moment of weakness, wiping the unshed tears away, replacing the cold wall that seemed to forever separate them from each other. "You will never understand." She whispered, and began to walk away again.

Zuko was fast, and he caught her wrist in his large palm. She recoiled from his touch, eyes blazing with shock and fury. "Then make me understand Katara!"

There was no longer several feet of distance between them- it was a mere six inches. Katara looked up into his golden eyes, seeing something she had never seen within the normally stoic and guarded molten orbs- pain, guilt, self- loathing. She was scared of that.

She tried to move away, but he caught bother her wrists, and pulled her back. She struggled feebly in his arms, but eventually ceased and carefully looked back into his eyes. "Make me understand." He repeated in a whisper, a strained whisper that was infused with so much pain that is shocked her.

Katara didn't speak for a long time- she watched him. She noticed how tall he was, standing several inches above her to the point where she needed to look up to see him. She noticed his hair, shaggy and dirty from traveling, and how ebony it was- and even though dirt covered it, it still had a luster about it, something that made it shine in the sun.

His face. Katara had always thought him handsome- verging on absolutely gorgeous. Despite his scar, he was breathtaking, and the fact that she thought these things angered her. She hated herself for feeling these things about him. She hated herself for feeling mostly angry about his betrayal simply to her under Ba Sing Se. In all honestly, Aang had little to do with why she was so hurt because of Zuko's actions. A blossom of hope had sprouted in her heart at his words in those catacombs, and then minutes later that blossom was ravaged before it even had a chance to bloom. It took her weeks to realize that the inextinguishable hurt and pain she had felt from his actions was directly related to what she had wanted from him.

She liked him- for lack of a better word. This realization had dawned on her one day while she was gathering firewood for the group. It hit her in the gut, knocked the wind out of her, and caused her to fall to her knees from the force of that comprehension. She laughed hysterically until the tears came. She wondered if she had always been such a masochist.

Katara was brought back to the present, and opened her mouth, hoping her voice didn't shake. "Why Zuko?" she croaked. "Why?"

He flinched, and looked away. His voice was just as strained as hers had been. "I thought that I would finally get the family that I had never had. But then I decided I didn't want to join them in Hell." He looked back at her, after he took a breath. His eyes spoke volumes- she knew he was telling the truth. "If I could take it back- I would without looking back." His voice was strong, without a tremor- he meant it.

"But you can't," She said flatly. "You can't erase what happened that day."

He nodded, "I know. But I can try to fix it. Katara, I know you aren't going to forgive me easily. You shouldn't. I want to prove to you that I'm not going anywhere. I'm here for Aang, for the entire group. I am going to prove myself to you. I swear to Agni."

The funny thing is, she knew he would. A ghost of a smile made its way to her face. "I'll be counting on that."

That night, the group sat around the fire telling jokes and eating dinner. Zuko sat off to the side, watching, as he normally did. Something was different about tonight though. It was freer; it was less strangled and smothered with false pretensions of happiness.

Tonight, the entire group was content.

The exiled prince glanced towards the water- bender, his eyes slightly shaded by his hair, but she eventually felt the weight of his gaze and looked back. She offered him a slight smile, and although her eyes were still guarded, Zuko felt a flutter in his chest. He realized he was getting a second chance, and Agni be damned if he was going to screw this one up as well.