A/N: This is being published the day after the "eve of doom" or the airing of the Awakening, but it was in no way influenced by it. I wrote it earlier this week. It was actually inspired by a song from a movie, and the first reviewer who guesses which song will get a one shot form me.
For my reactions to the episode, check out the end author note.
Take a deep breath before the plunge because you are entering into. . .
Collateral of the Inferno
Chapter 1:
A Fire Born of Ashes Past
"Agni! Save me from this folly!" Zuko breathed into the fire before him.
Closing his eyes, he wished that he might have some sort of respite from this agony.
Sleep would not come. Food turned to ashes in his mouth, consumed by the burning flame within his chest. Water could not quench it; his thirst was slackened but his torment went on and on.
In the entire world, this had to happen to him.
He was now doubly sure that he'd been cursed the day he was born.
He had been weak. He had always been weak. At first his mother had been there for him, but Azula had always been stronger, had always been able to scare him; it didn't matter that she was younger, that she was a girl and therefore supposed to be fragile. She was the prodigy; he was a pathetic excuse for a Fire Nation prince.
But he had worked so hard!
And it had seemed to pay off. His Uncle Iroh had tutored him in private. He had grown stronger; he had realized that the world was cruel and that he had to be his own protector.
His mother was no more.
And then came his umpteenth downfall, the worst by far.
Broken and scarred, he had been forced to leave the home of his childhood and make his way into the war-torn world barely a teenager.
His resolve was stronger than ever. He would show them that he was more powerful than ever. He could achieve the impossible.
He had to.
He trained harder than ever before. It became his life.
Until he found the object of his search.
And then he proceeded to fail at his quest, again and again, like everything else he had done in his life, besides his control of his body, which still failed him at times.
Zuko blinked, wishing that the scars of his past weren't as prominent as the one on his face.
He forced himself to remember that he had more than made up for the failures of his ignorance when he had finally seen the monster his father truly was and had decided to do something about it.
In his weakness he had betrayed his uncle, but in this new-found strength he had run and he had freed his teacher and only real friend.
True, he had guided the Avatar and his friends—now his friends as well by some stroke of good luck or laughing fate, he wasn't sure—and he had helped them. Even he couldn't deny that and they had never tried to after they had accepted him.
But he had failed again.
He couldn't kill Azula. Defeat, yes: kill, never.
It had been an accident and it hadn't been his doing but Toph Bei Fong's.
He had been glad that the remnants of the fight with his sister had ended when an aftershock from Toph's earthbending caused Azula to fall to her death on jagged rocks below the cliff they had been battling upon, but the taste of defeat was bitter in his mouth.
He hadn't been able to kill her. Some would say it was compassion, others weakness. He, still ingrained with the teachings of his childhood and now endowed with the wisdom of other, better men, was inclined to believe both.
And he hadn't been able to kill his father. Aang and Katara had done that.
But now he was Fire Lord, or would be officially on his eighteenth birthday tomorrow. A Fire Lord who found himself in a predicament beyond the scope of his reasoning and determination.
Part of it was that he felt as though he was burning up from the inside out, but he knew the cause of that anguish.
The other part was much more complex, but also involved the flames licking at his soul.
A little over a year ago, Ozai had been defeated and the Fire Nation had been freed from its never-ending cycle of war.
The price had been high. Many lives had been lost. But once the situation had sunk in, the citizens had cheered for Zuko and his regent, Iroh. They began to see Zuko's friends as heroes not only to the other nations, but to theirs as well; they honored them. Sokka and Suki were admired and feared for their ability to face off with benders with only combat skills. Toph and Katara were held in almost goddess-like status, seeing as both had become benders with powers to rival the Avatar's with their elements. Aang himself was revered and loved as the sacred vessel he was, and Zuko was glorified and made the subject of countless ballads.
Would that this mood had come about before the origin of this mess.
Almost immediately after Ozai's death, within hours in fact, Iroh had been forced to apprehend Katara for murder. For some obscure reason, the public put the blame solely on the waterbender and ignored the fact that the Avatar had definitely been involved.
It was probably because Aang was circulating through the capital and beyond, helping where he could and making speeches while Katara lay in the healer's wing of the Fire Nation palace, dying.
"Uncle, you can't arrest her!" hissed Zuko as the two of them strode towards the cozy covalence suite meant for Fire Nation royalty that opened onto a balcony at the front of the palace. Iroh had to nearly jog to keep up with the irate teen's rapid pace.
"Nephew, I have no choice," Iroh said sternly. "You know that. Once this dies down—"
"Uncle! Once someone is arrested, you can't just 'un-arrest' them! There are laws that even we can't break! At some point we'll have to have a trial, and she'll be found guilty—"
"I can't hold trials," Iroh said calmly.
"What?!" Zuko exploded. "Uncle this is a mess! Katara could be dying and she's supposedly a criminal—"
"We'll have to wait until you become Fire Lord," Iroh stopped him. "By then we'll find a loophole. I think there's one that involves royalty and acts of war—"
"Royalty—" he pushed open the door to her room and tried to still his anger at his people, his uncle, and, suddenly, at the soul of his accursed father.
Katara. He may have killed Katara.
He sat down next to her bed where she lay, pale and unconscious, bandages wrapped over horrific burns. "When will Sokka return with the Water Tribe healer?" Zuko whispered in the peculiarly subdued tone everyone assumes while in the presence of an ailing person.
"In a few days, as fast as Appa can fly," Iroh said softly. "I hope that he hurries. She doesn't look good."
The nurse, one of the best in the palace, apparently, busied herself with the new bandages as Zuko and Iroh quietly conversed over Katara. She finally announced, "It's time to change the dressings, your Majesties."
Iroh got up. "I am going to go help Miss Toph with the nobles. If I'm there, then the treaties will probably go better and I can stop her from embarrassing you much further in front of the nobility." Iroh's eyes twinkled, but Zuko grimaced. He hadn't been able to convince Toph that referring to him as "Firefly" was going to undercut his position. "You'll be alright?"
Zuko stared down at Katara's pallid face and clenched his jaw. He swallowed painfully—she could die, she could die, she'd be gone, he'd never be able to see her, talk to her, fight with her, help her—when had she come to be so important to him? "Yes, uncle," he said delicately. "I can handle it." He turned to the nurse. "Go rest. I will watch her for a few hours. When you return, bring more water."
She bowed to him and Iroh and quietly left, gratitude clear in her expression.
Iroh reached over to squeeze Zuko's hand before he got up. "I am proud of you, my nephew."
"Thank you," Zuko choked out as his uncle left.
He gently lifted Katara and unwrapped the blankets from her thin, lithe form. Feeling somewhat embarrassed, he removed the shift that served as her invalid clothing to expose her scanty undergarments and her neatly bandaged wounds.
He began the arduous task of cleaning and re-bandaging her gashes, quashing his fear for her life and the odd new feeling in his chest.
He was nearly finished, working on the last scorch mark upon her collarbone when he felt her shift against him. His heart skipped a beat. Was she—
"Zu—ko?" she rasped weakly.
He hurriedly placed a new covering on the abrasion and leaned over to look into her cerulean eyes. He felt her hand curl weakly around his and he murmured, "I'm here, Katara."
"I feel numb," she croaked, her voice only an echo of her melodious contralto, "and cold. . ."
He gently let a bit of heat seep into her hand, even though he knew she was actually burning up, and she smiled painfully. "You have a fever," he told her through his rapidly constricting throat. "You're stable, but. . ." it could get worse, he thought dejectedly.
"A healer?" she whispered.
"She's coming. Katara," he murmured. "Katara. Hold on. You can't die on me," he told her forcefully.
"You care about a peasant, Fire Lord?" she asked, and even in this state, her tone was mocking.
Impulsively, he bent down and kissed her forehead. "Sleep now. . .my friend. Soon you will be healed and you will have much work to do."
"Thank you, Zuko," and her grip on his hand slackened as she slipped back into a slumber.
She never indicated that she remembered that moment, and Zuko was glad because he regarded it as unwise and slightly obscene afterwards.
Fire and water don't mix.
The reason she hadn't remembered was (he assumed) that her temperature had suddenly soared and she had begun to hallucinate. Aang, Toph, Zuko, and Iroh took turns sitting with her, but the fever refused to break and her skin was as dry as a scorched riverbed and began to crack like the mud at the bottom of said riverbed.
They only hoped that she could hang on until the healer came with Sokka, but even then they weren't sure she would live.
Zuko was riding back to the palace from an appearance at a luncheon when a messenger met him and said that the Water Tribe Captain had returned. A healer, Sokka, and the Kyoshi warrior captain were with the captive now.
Somehow, the notion of Katara being a visible expression of the willingness of the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes to keep faith with the Fire Nation had sprung up. The citizens were realizing that she had liberated them. Zuko was glad because he wanted the country to love her, but he didn't know why.
For some reason, the streets were more crowded than usual, and many people appeared to be moving in the direction of the palace. The royal party was having difficulties getting through the populace to continue on their way.
Zuko began to get alarmed. Was something wrong? Had Katara—? He ruthlessly crushed his foolish, weak doubt and began to focus on the conversations around him, trying to figure out what was impeding his progress.
The news had apparently spread like wildfire through the city. The water in the fountains and pools in the front of the palace was acting strangely.
Zuko decided to leave his entourage behind. To the protests of the captain of his guard, he stripped off his royal robes and armor and secured them wordlessly on top of his komodo-rhino. Clad now in well-made but nondescript black clothing, he took to the rooftops, telling the captain that he knew what he was doing; yes, he would explain to his superiors why he had "lost" the Fire Lord, and no, he did not need an agile bodyguard to come with him. He began to climb, jump, and sprint his way back to the palace by a less convenient but more exhilarating and much clearer route.
When he arrived at the square at the front of the palace, there was no way for him to wend his way through the crowd. Instead, he caused quite a stir by swinging across the wide expanse on a commandeered rope. He landed safely on the stone steps of the castle and proceeded to pound his way up to Katara's room, his people's cries of shocked delight still ringing in his ears.
The water was surging, frothing, dancing. He didn't know what to think, so he ran faster, ignoring the shocked servants and startled guards as he streaked through his palace.
He burst through the doorway and stopped short, panting slightly, at the sight in front of him.
A healer knelt by Katara's bed, a glowing hand pressed to her chest as the fever-ridden woman writhed and moaned. Blue water energy spun in wisps around her, making cracking and splashing noises as it gathered more moisture into itself.
"What's going on?!" Zuko nearly yelled at Suki and Sokka above the rising din.
"The water from the Spirit Oasis!" Sokka shouted over the rapidly increasing noise. "It's having ridiculous effects on Katara!"
"Fire Lord!" Suki inclined her head and he jerkily returned the courtesy. "Why did it take you so long to get here? Have you seen Aang?"
"The water outside is reacting as well! There are masses of people in the square. And no, I—"
The healer suddenly turned, a bit of fear in her cobalt eyes. "Captain!" she shrieked. "We must get the lady outside! I don't know what the ramifications of this will be, and she seems to be subconsciously bending everything within her quite substantial range!"
"Can't you heal her?" Zuko asked angrily.
The poor girl shook her head. "She is beyond my power to heal. But not hers! The water is triggering her healing powers. Hopefully it will invigorate her so that she can heal herself!"
"Sokka!" Zuko roared. "Let me carry her out there! My people are watching!"
"Drop her, and I'll skin you!" Sokka bellowed, shielding his face against errant water shards and the steadily increasing light.
"Does she still need the Spirit Oasis water?" Zuko yelled to the healer as he staggered to pick her up amid the spinning droplets.
"No! The stimulation is reaching its climax! Get her outside, Fire Lord!"
Zuko knocked open the double doors to the balcony, striving to hold Katara and withstand the raw power emanating from her. He went to stand in the middle of the balcony, watching her face with baited breath.
Aang suddenly landed beside him, carrying Toph. "We couldn't get through!" he told Zuko above the steadily escalating roar of water.
"You'd best stand back!" Zuko gaped as the water—a good deal of it—from the fountains and pools in front of the palace began to surge upwards towards their balcony, wishing that this hadn't been quite so public.
The crowd below was silent, probably in as much awe as their lord.
He let go of Katara when the waters swept her up and formed an enormous globe around her about five feet above and in front of him. Her body hung limply for a moment, and then it began to glow until the whole sphere was blindingly bright with the radiance of healing.
Zuko shielded his eyes, and saw that her wounds were healing and bandages were falling away one by one.
He couldn't remember seeing a more beautiful, powerful, frightening display in all his life, and he had known Ozai most of it.
He saw when her eyes snapped open, when her mouth opened in a silent scream, and his heart leaped within his chest. She was alive! But she was scared, she shouldn't be scared, he was there, she was being healed. . .
She arched back and her arms were thrown wide. Her eyes closed and her hair streamed around her as though in a wind, and she looked like a goddess from one of the old tales, Agni's consort, perhaps, for all that she was a waterbender.
He shook off his pride and admiration and stood tall, a beacon for his people and ready to catch Lady Katara when she fell.
And fell she did, crumpling as the waters released her and gracefully arced their way back into their rightful places. He strode forward and braced himself, catching her neatly against his heavily-muscled chest.
"Zuko?" she whispered, and he almost wished that they were alone, remembering unwillingly what had happened the last time she had said his name.
"Yes?" he murmured, part of him shocked that they could hear each other while the crowd below was making such a ruckus.
"How are you always here when I fall?"
Zuko blinked and thought for a minute. He had been there to catch her several times before. "It just seems that way," he told her gently. "But I try."
"I'm glad," she yawned. "That would have hurt."
"I won't let you get hurt again if I can help it," he told her with a fierceness that surprised him.
"Thank you," she whispered again, her hands suddenly clutching at his robes.
He looked up, a little embarrassed, and started down at the mob, still shell-shocked by Katara's inadvertent performance and by the density of the people packed into the front courtyard. "You've caused quite a stir, lady," he subconsciously smoothed her hair as the awe-filled respectful word jumped to his lips unbidden.
"Sometimes I think that might as well be my job," she sighed against him.
"Only in a good way," he grinned, wondering what about her made his mask crack so badly. "Go back to sleep. I'll handle this."
"You always do," she yawned again and her eyes fluttered shut, "Fire Lord."
He stared down at her for a moment until Aang came over and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Is she alright?" he asked.
"She's fine," Zuko breathed. He looked up at Aang and his eyes glinted with relief and barely suppressed joy. "She's fine."
Aang beamed and jumped up in the air, spinning and whooping gleefully. Toph merely blew her bangs out of her face and snorted. "Aw, shut up, Twinkle Toes. Firefly wasn't gonna let Sugar Queen die."
"What does that mean?" Zuko hissed at her.
"I'm not sure," Toph said, looking puzzled. "But it's true. Peace maybe?"
Zuko remembered the idea of Katara as collateral and stepped up to the railing of the balcony. A ripple seemed to go through the masses and they abruptly quieted.
"My people!" Zuko cried out, his happiness strident and irrepressible in his tone. He held the limp but clearly alive form of Katara up slightly, "We will have peace!"
- - -
The echoes from their cheers still rang in his ears sometimes, comforting him when the going got rough and he wasn't sure who to turn to.
And, even though he hadn't known it then, the full-fledged fire within him had begun to smolder that day.
A/N: So, chapter one of a story that may or may not turn AU next week! No big deal! It will be short and sweet, less than five chapters and with a minimal amount of conflict.
WARNING, SPOILERS FOLLOW IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH
1. We all know Zuko is actually good and that this whole "you killed the Avatar" thing is going to BACKFIRE (hahaha that was almost a pun)
2. We all know that Zutara is meant, and therefore I prompt you to LOOK AT ZUKO'S FACE: he didn't enjoy that kiss at all.
3. Aang turned into Zuko for a few minutes, and it made me laugh. Especially after that episode when Zuko woke up to see Aang superimposed on his features.
4. Hakoda is my hero.
5. The episode won the award for MOST INSANE PLOT TWISTS AND IMPORTANT INFORMATION CRAMMED INTO TWENTY MINUTES EVER.
6. Zuko and Ozai. . .pffft. Enough said.
7. Ozai's pharaoh-esque appearance (damnheisashottashisson,whydidn'tanyonetellUSthis?!) I mean, what is up with that beard?!
8. Azula is a conniving bitch. (go read Death of a Princess. I wrote it.)
9. Toph is my heroine. And Katara is completely kickass. And Sokka is just as adorably stupid.
10. They got rid of Kuei, thank god, and the gAang is ready to go off alone again.
11. ZUKO DIDN'T TELL AZULA ABOUT THE SPIRIT OASIS WATER!!
I can't think of anything else right now.
Review or Zuko will throw his Fire Nation pin at you!