Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. All rights are reserved for Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

Prologue: Death of the Avatar

Death. Death was all I knew. It had taken less than an hour to take away all that had been important to my life for the past two years. The avatar, Aang, had taken my brother and me on the journey to save the world. Now that journey was over. He had killed them. The Prince of the Fire Nation had killed them. I felt like there was nothing left to fight for with them gone. My brother and first love had been killed before my very own eyes and the Fire Nation prevailed yet again.

Chapter One: Here Without You

I wandered for days after the deaths. There was little spirit left in me. The face of the killer flashed before my eyes as my knees gave in. Aang was gone forever. My heart lurched in my chest as I fought the tears that spilled down my face.

My mind replayed the memories as grief overtook me.

(Flashback)

"Hey Katara! Look at me!" Aang called cheerfully while playing with a water whip. He slipped up in his stance and accidentally whipped himself in the face.

I fell over laughing with breaths coming in gasps. I looked up at Aang to see dismay and quickly stifled my laughter. "Don't look so glum. Every bender messes up now and again."

"Yah, just please don't do that during battle," Sokka called from the other side of the clearing.

"We should head out soon," I said while ignoring Sokka and packing up camp. The sun had just risen and the smell of due was fresh in the air.

"I call front seat!" Aang whooped.

"You can have it!" Toph called back obvious to the reasons why she didn't want to sit there.

In a matter of seconds the smell of dew turned into the smell of singed hair and smoke. Sokka yelled as his head was nearly burned by a fireball.

"It's Zuko! Run!" he yelled with his boomerang in hand.

"No more games," a vicious voice called. They were surrounded. With a sickening shriek and the cruel burst of flames, Sokka went down in smoke and screams.

Aang moved to put the flames out and was met with a barrage of flames from every side. Before the flames hit Aang's eyes began to glow. With a bright light everyone was blinded. The last thing I saw before the light hit me was the flames consuming Aang completely.

When I awoke, I found Aang and Sokka burned and charred next to me and Toph passed out as well. The boy's eyes had long since glazed over with the stare of death. Tears found their way back to my eyes as we buried them. Even Toph had cried that day.

It was nearly two months later and I still grieved immensely. I ran from the memories, from the pain of the loss, and, most of all, from the Fire Nation. My legs gave out after what seemed like hours before I found myself at the grave stones of Aang and Sokka. I cried hopelessly for them both unaware of the golden eyes that watched me.

Chapter One: Capture

(Two days earlier: Fire Nation)

He was bored sick of it all. Ever since the death of the Avatar, his life and his honor had been restored to its former glory, but things couldn't be more unsatisfying. The only thing that he anticipated was the day he could wear his shaggy hair in the traditional bun like he used to. He longed for the thrill of the hunt and the ache of his past. The freedoms he had known outside of the palace were distant memories.

He was engaged to Mei now and didn't mind because she was his childhood friend, but still it didn't seem right. He thought that palace life was what he wanted, though he seemed sorely mistaken as the weeks drug on. He was the Prince of the Fire Nation and yet something was missing in his life.

He had heard rumors that the girls the Avatar traveled with were still alive. A memory of ice blue eyes appeared in his mind and he shook his head. He remembered her and, for unknown reasons, wanted her. He had already put out a warrant for her arrest for aiding the Avatar.

The search was now on for the new Avatar. The next element in the order of the cycle was water. His father, Lord Ozai, commanded that every water bender or water tribe member was to be captured. He wasn't going to risk the next Avatar balancing the world.

This meant that she would be captured as well. His mind was made up. He would search for her tomorrow. Maybe she was the answer to his restless need. It was his responsibility to capture the Avatar and his mistake that the last Avatar was not taken alive.

With his royal armor in place, he boarded his ship. He decided to head in the direction of the Avatar's grave. He had heard rumors that the Avatar was buried in this small town, and that soon after a shrine was build near it in honor of the dead. He took one look at the temple and then went quietly past it with a black hood cloaking him like a dark shadow. He proceeded to move forward until he heard low sobs of a woman. He crouched in the underbrush and stepped forward noiselessly. It was her. She whom he sought.

She was crying over two graves. The graves of her brother and the Avatar were statues of the two with words engraved in honor of their deeds. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her voice.

"Who is there to live for now?" she cried. When she calmed again she began to speak. "They've given up hope. On us." She bowed her head as tears began to flow again. "What should I do now Aang? I'm still here. Tell me!"

"Katara," as he said her name she visibly flinched. It wasn't just him that she was flinch away from. It was the sound of another human being.

"You…" she breathed.

"Me," he replied almost smugly.

Just then a group of Fire Nation soldiers that were not his own stormed it.

"It's her! The Avatar's Water Bender!" one of the soldiers called.

"We'll be rewarded greatly for her capture!" another called.

"She's mine," he yelled harshly at the soldiers, stopping them in their tracks. He closed the space between them and grabbed her by the wrist. He readied his other hand with a bit of fire because he knew how this usually went. She was a master water bender after all. He was disturbed greatly when she hardly even lifted her head to glance at the fire in his palm. "You're coming with me," he told her, "You're my prisoner now."

"Why?" she asked lowly at first. "What could you possibly want from me now? What use am I?"

"That, little water peasant, is for me to know," he said while heaving her over his shoulder. She didn't fight him and this made transporting her all the more easy. He would have the most obedient prisoner of them all. With that thought, he was greatly disappointed.

"Why should we let you have her?" the soldiers shouted angrily.

"Because I am the Prince of the Fire Nation," he said while tugging off his hood. "This Water Bender is mine." No more questions were asked.

OoOoOoO

I watched his feet carry me from the last remnants of my sanity. I vainly lifted my hand as if it would somehow bring me back to Aang and Sokka. My hand slowly dropped and I found myself being carried onto Zuko's ship.

Zuko. My mind was drawn back to the Fire Prince who carried me. The fear I would usually hold for him was locked behind the walls my mind had set up to protect me from the flow of emotions. Absently, I wondered what I looked like at the moment. My eyes must be ringed red, hair messy and undone, and surly my clothes were muddy from kneeling in the dirt.

"You're a mess," Zuko said as he carried me down the dark halls of the Fire navy ship.

I said nothing and heard him growl in aggravation. When we got to a room, he quickly opened the door, and, in seconds, threw me on the bed. He leaned over me with smoke curling around his fingertips.

"Maybe I should take you. Would you fight me then?" he asked fiercely while pinning me down to the bed. I closed my eyes tightly and whimpered. I could feel my hands shaking and my breathing come in shallow gasps. Moments later I felt a feather light touch on my hand.

"Never dishonor a woman," he whispered, seeming to be quoting someone. He rose up off of me and walked across the room with his thumb and forefinger pinching the bridge of his nose.

I laid there and stared at the ceiling with tears in my eyes. He had come so close to raping me that shock had set in. A cold sweat settled as I curled up into a ball on the bed. I slowly fell into a fitful sleep due to overexertion and hardly noticed when Zuko left and returned.

I found myself shaken awake by the Prince who offered food to me. I looked down at myself for the first time in a month and noticed that I was 20 pounds thinner than I used to be. I took a second look at the food and refused. He seemed even more angered by this.

"What's happened to you? Are you so weak that you can't survive without your precious Avatar? You're wasting away!" he said in exasperation and clutched my wrist. "You will eat, that's an order."

"And if I refuse?" I asked defiantly. I cried out in pain and pulled my wrist away from him. I cradled it against my chest and cringed away from the Prince. My wrist was red and badly burned in the shape of the hand that had gripped it a moment before.

"That's what you get," he said arrogantly, but when I looked into his eyes I saw regret that quickly vanished.

I took my revenge by not going near the food. I winced at the pain and felt the urge to heal it with the familiar bend of my element, but a different pain kept me from bending. I heard a rip and turned my gaze sharply to the sound. Zuko had ripped a piece of cloth from his cloak and walked over to me. He held his hand out for mine and I reluctantly complied.

"Have you lost your ability to heal as well?" he asked.

"No. I've lost the will to," I replied quietly. After he bandaged my wound he looked at me with a hardened gaze, like he was trying to figure something out. He then turned from me and left the room without a word.

I glanced around the room and it finally sank in that I was in his room. It was simplistic and yet elegant. His armor was hung and shelved on the far wall, swords and knives were hung as well, and Fire Nation scrolls lay on the desk by the door. The bed was low to the ground and draped in black silky sheets. There was a window in the far corner with meditation candles set up beside it. I walked over to the window and opened it. With a flick of my wrist, the good one that is, I called up a small stream of water from the ocean below. The thin band of water wrapped easily around my wounded wrist and, with a slight greenish blue glow, the pain was gone.

Unfortunately for me, when Zuko walked back into the room and saw me by an open window his mind jumped straight to the wrong conclusion. By the look in his eyes I could tell that he thought I was trying to escape. He rushed forward and pulled me away from the open window with an angered look on his face.

"Are you that weak to stoop to suicide to escape your fate?" he asked with a raised voice. Fire danced in his glowing gold eyes that seemed to ignite a spark in me.

"No," I replied simply while pulling the bandage from my wrist. "I'm healing my wound." His eyes fell to the evidence of the reason for my actions. His face lightened a bit when he understood what I had done. I didn't understand why he wanted me to fight though. It was as if the absence of my fighting spirit bothered him.

"It's late, we should get some rest," he said, changing the subject. "Otherwise you'll really waste away to nothingness."

I looked up at him and then down at the bed only to slightly shake my head. Why would I ever willingly jump into bed with the Prince of the Fire Nation? I heard him growl slightly and then found myself staring into the eyes of the infuriated Prince. He grabbed my chin in his hand and pinned me with his gaze.

"You are in no shape or authority to refuse me," he said darkly. "Do as I say or face the consequences. Now lie down and get some rest."

I shied away from him and climbed slowly onto the farthest corner of the bed. I felt the bed give way beside me and tensed up. I slept intermittently at first and then fell into a deep sleep. The darkness gave way to a dizzy dream that was dreadfully familiar to me. It had been a reoccurring dream since Aang had died and it caused insomnia from time to time. I could see Aang in the dream burning and screaming. I tried to reach out to him only to find that the fire was consuming me as well. Then a light would appear and I would see Aang's burnt body beside me with his hand outstretched to me in a last attempt to be saved.

I woke to the sound of my own screams and Zuko leaning over me. I backed away from him until my back was to the wall and then drew my knees to my chest. I felt tears running down my face as I recalled the dream. Moments later I was tugged forward and found myself in Zuko's arms.

"I don't know why, but I hate to see you this way," he said to me quietly with his arms tightly around my shoulders.

"Zuko…?" I was shocked by his actions. How could he be the one who caused me such heartache? "Why? Why did you bring me here?" I sobbed and pushed away from him. "Why did you take him away from me?"

"Aang wasn't supposed to be killed. I told them to capture him alive," he spoke quietly. He paused and then I heard him sigh before he finally started again. "And now my father is looking for the new Avatar."

"The new- But it'll only be a child. How could it harm his reign?" I asked with anger replacing my sorrows.

"He doesn't want any interference. He ordered the arrest of all Water Tribe people," he spoke softly now. "I didn't want anyone else to capture you."

I stared at him in disbelief. "You came all that way to save me from the Fire Nation?"

"Yes, and to have you help me find the next Avatar." He looked away from me as if he was ashamed.

"Why would I help? My people will be extinguished! Just like the Air Nomads!" I cried.

"Look, would you rather my father come in and destroy the Water Tribes? Or would you rather keep your villages in tact?"

"Are you threatening me?" I asked incredulously. "Who do you think you are?"

"I'm the son of Fire Lord Ozai, nothing less than the Prince of the Fire Nation. That's who I am," he stated calmly. "The question is who have you become? Where is the feisty and fearsome Water Bender I used to call my enemy? And who is this whisper of a girl before me now?"

"I'll show you just how much of a whisper of a girl I am," I told him lowly. I quickly landed a hit to his stomach then drew his legs from underneath him. I quickly ran past him towards the door. I refused to help him capture the new Avatar. In minutes I had found my way to the deck of the ship. I drew up a wave of water onto the deck and knocked any of the crew over board that tried to apprehend me.

Zuko was right behind me with fire at his fingertips. His anger was evident as he threw fire balls in my direction. I sent a wave of water at him which he evaporated with a flare of fire. We attacked each other, always meeting each blow with even aggression.

Then, as we moved closer to each other, we stopped bending and began to fight hand to hand instead. I languidly dodged most of his movements and learned the hard way that my body was sorely out of shape. I had become more fragile because of the lack of care for my body. Zuko delivered a harsh kick to one of my legs which sent me reeling forward; he then flipped me off of my feet and quickly straddled my stomach. I growled at him fiercely and fought against his hands that gripped my wrists.

I thought he would deliver a finishing blow, but instead he smirked at me. "That's the fighter I remembered, but you're still weak. You need to eat." He gave me a serious look and then, with both hands restrained in his grasp, he lifted me to my feet.

I hurt all over from the soreness and blows that I had received, but I couldn't complain much. His touch was warm and gentle as he lifted me off my feet. When we got to the room, he set me carefully on my feet. I looked up at him and met his fire filled golden eyes. His arms were around my waist, pulling me to him. I could feel his breath on my face and then the lightest touch of his lips.

I felt my heart racing in my chest. Had Zuko just kissed me? Why was I reacting this way to him? I could feel sweat on the palms of my hands and butterflies in my stomach. I ignored the inner voice that shouted reason at me and looked up at the Prince. I traced the side of his scarred face with my fingers and then pulled his face to mine.

A/N: Work in progress. Thanks for reading! This chapter might get rewritten and the second chapter will be up soon.