The enraged A/N of a die hard Zutarian:
If anyone else was EXTREMELY disappointed by the EPIC FAILURE OF PROPER COUPLES at the end of Sozin's comet, this one is for you. My alternate ending, because the show didn't have hundreds of Zutara moments just to build up to nothing!
Takes place after Fire Lord is defeated, etc, etc. Hope it helps ease your disappointment.
Movement is Inevitable
Despite being healed, the pain hadn't completely faded, not at all. The new Fire Lord winced as he struggled to pull on the right arm of his robes. He grunted and placed a bandaged hand on one side of his chest, where the sharp pain persisted, a constant reminder to how close to the brink of death he had come while facing his sister for the final time. But still, the fact that it was the final time was reassuring. He was almost too distracted to hear the faint creek behind him as the door inched open.
"Hello?" someone called softly, and he turned his head to the source. "Zuko?" For some reason, relief fell over him like a blanket when he saw the familiar sight of Katara hovering outside the door.
"Come in," he said without hesitation. The door was pushed open and his golden brown eyes scanned the Water Tribe girl as she entered, looking somewhat timid. Then, a smile graced her lips as she confidently approached him.
"Wow, you look great," Katara commented, referring to his robes. Zuko smiled back.
"You do, too," he said out of courtesy, but meant it. She was dressed in Water Tribe robes, her hair done in twisting braids. The blue of her eyes matched the blue of her clothes, and there was something calming about it.
"Thanks." The girl inwardly scolded herself as she felt herself beginning to blush, hoping that it didn't show. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay before the coronation-I mean, your wound. I don't know if I healed it fully, I just hope-"
"Katara. I'm fine," he said. She blinked, and found herself drawn in by the softness of his voice. No, wait, it wasn't her. It was him that was getting closer.
Her eyes widened as she saw the intensity of his own eyes, like fire, gazing back at her. "Thank you so much," he said sincerely. She didn't know why those words summoned shocking tears to her eyes, and only tried to hide them.
"Katara?" Zuko said, alarmed. He had no idea what he said to make her cry. She screwed her eyes shut and bowed her head, her looping braids framing her face.
"No, thank you! Y-you saved my life, and I can't believe I didn't trust you before. I'm sorry," the girl said. She felt and odd sensation and she felt the touch of Zuko's hand, lifting her chin up so that their eyes met.
"You saved my life before any of that happened. That time we were trapped in that cave... you helped me open my eyes. It was because you were the first person to trust me, even after my mistakes, that I care so much of what you think of me."
"You do...?"
The Fire Lord nodded once, and looked away. The look in her eyes was now letting insecurity creep into his own thoughts. He had admitted a whole lot to her, in the matter of minutes. "What do you think me, Katara?" he said before he could stop himself.
He felt a cool hand slide onto his face, the side with his scar. He shifted his glance back to Katara's eyes, afraid of what he would see.
"This is what I think of you," she said softly, and kissed him. Their lips touched for a brief moment, and Zuko slid his arm around her lower back, pulling her closer. It was the inevitable, a moment that he used to push to the back of his mind because he feared it. It was if they both of them knew that this was destiny; but neither were brave enough to claim it until now. He loved her, but the words never openly floated into his thoughts. He woudln't allow them to. She was in love with him, she knew, but it was complicated and she couldn't let herself think that way.
At last, the powerful sound of a distant gong pulled them apart. Katara sighed as she looked up; Zuko was genuinely smiling.
A day of peace that only hope could have predicted; he certainly never saw this coming, and berated himself for his pessimism. The warming scent of jade tea reached his nose as the steam for a dozen cups rose from the tray he was holding. Walking around the green themed tea shop, Zuko placed one cup before his Uncle Iroh, who accepted it with an affectionate smile.
It made him so happy to see his Uncle finally get what he wanted most; a cup of tea, some good friends to share it with, and a nephew that was not obsessed with taking a path of inevitable self destruction.
There were still more cups carefully balanced on his tray, so he moved foward to place one in front of Toph. Her dirt caked feet were propped up on the table, not leaving much room for tea. He set the cup cautiously to one side; she would be able to feel the vibrations, but he didn't want to burn her. He didn't ever want to burn her again.
As he approached Sokka and Suki, his eyes caught the mess of ink and paper that was Sokka's creation. the boy was still going at it, and barked at him to stay still so he could capture the moment.
"Come on, Zuko! I said don't move! Wait, it's missing something..." Zuko, wary of moving under Sokka's direction, craned his neck to glimpse the painting.
"Yeah, it's missing Katara," he said, casting Sokka a strange look; it was shocking that he could forget his own sister.
"You're totally right, where is Momo? How could I have forgotten!" Sokka exclaimed, grabbing Suki's wrist. Zuko set two cups of tea next to them.
"Where is Katara?" asked Aang with a frown. If it wasn't for the number of cups, Zuko would have forgotten he Avatar was there; he had been so quiet, and they were keen to let him rest and enjoy peace after such a battle. He was currently playing pi-sho with Uncle. "I should go look for her."
"Oh no, let Zuko do it. If you leave now and let me look at this board too long, you will surely lose," said Uncle, a mischievous eye on the pi-sho board. Zuko shrugged, and nodded. His eyes swept around the shop, noticing the back door was open. He exited that way, keeping an eyes out for the Water Tribe girl.
He didn't have to search to far; Katara was found with her back to him, long hair cascading down her back, free from it's usual braid. Light glared around her like a halo, she was watching the sun beam brightly by the mountains in front of her. She heard his footsteps, and turned her head.
"Can I join you? Zuko asked, and she nodded. "I have your tea." He joined her leaning against the rail and gazing at the sun. He set his tray down, and put a cup of tea in front of her.
"Thanks," she said, without tearing her eyes away from the scene.
"Why are you out here, when everyone else is inside?" inquired the fire bender. "You're missing your debut in your brother's portrait." It relieved him to see her smile briefly; he thought something was wrong.
"I don't know... it's kind of overwhelming. This is just great. Did you ever think it could turn out like this? I knew that Aang could bring back peace, but now it's all so real..." Katara shifted her eyes to the prince, still smiling.
"No," Zuko admitted. "I never thought it would turn out this way, and I'm mad at myself for it."
"Don't be! I didn't think it could all turn out to be this peaceful. ...I didn't think you would ever be here, with all of us." Zuko raised his eyebrows slightly, but tried to mask his surprise. He wasn't sure it was a blow or not. He muttered 'yeah' under his breath, and looked at the ground.
"But I'm glad you are... I'm glad it turned out like this," Katara said hastily, watching his expression. "Sorry, I think that came out wrong. It's just unexpected-but I'm really happy-"
"I know. Me too." There was a pause, each wandering in their own thoughts. "It's not all over for me," Zuko said. Katara's blissful expression melted away at his confession, and mixture of alarm and concern replaced it.
"What do you mean?" she asked, fully facing him. Zuko sighed.
"I asked my father the other day, and he told me where to find my mother. She was banished a long time ago for protecting me... I have to go find her. It's just something I have to do." Katara was silent. Then,
"You're right. I know how you feel. I felt the same way when you told me where to find the man that killed my mother; not the revenge part, but, I just had to do it. And you helped me..."
"Katara... will you help me find her? I understand if you want to stay and-"
"I was hoping you would ask. Now it's my turn to help you," she said, looking directly into his eyes. His golden iris flashed, and narrowed.
"Thank you, Katara." She closed her eyes, and suddenly threw her arms around him. He felt a surge of heat blast through him, as if he were fire bending with his whole body. On impulse, and grabbed her shoulders and pried her off of him-just a few inches, so he had room to kiss her.
Once their lips touched-the fire died. Instead, something cool flooded through his veisn just from her touch. And then-
"Woah!" A small voice cried from the doorway. Hysterical giggling followed. The two broke apart hastily and looked at their intruder. It was Toph.
"Am I really seeing this?" she asked loudly, and stomped her feet a couple of times for emphasis. "I always knew something like this was going to happen!" Zuko dared to glance at Katara, whose face was frozen in shock. He himself probably had a severely embarrassed look on his face, and knew Toph would exploit it to it's full potential.
"Sorry, guys. I went to look for Sugar Queen here because Zuko was taking such a long time-I didn't know! Anyway, I'll just go back and tell everyone that-"
"Aang," Zuko heard Katara murmur under her breath.
"Wait!" he said, and dashed forward.
"I... Toph, I think it's time we took that field trip. I'm going to go-um, run an errand. Do you want to come?" He watched the small earth bender halt in the act of turning the corner, and whip her head towards him.
"Really?" she asked grinning from ear to ear. "I get to go on a field trip with Sparky! Yeah!" He couldn't tell if she was being characteristically sarcastic, but went with it anyway. He glanced over his shoulder at Katara before he took the girl out the side door, and into the street. They were going to have a talk.
Half the time he spent in silence walking with the girl was used to invent the errand they were supposedly on, but Toph didn't seem to mind. The girl looked like she was just happy to be walking beside him, finally getting her turn. She had no trouble breaking the ice.
"So, you and Katara," she said, grinning. He was glad that she couldn't she the red tint entering his face.
"Me-what about-what?" Zuko cursed himself for sounding like and idiot.
"Are you guys like boyfriend-girlfriend now? she asked airily.
"No!" he said. "I mean-well-it's complicated." With every word he sounded more and more defeated. People were starting to stare now, but he didn't care. He expected the people of the Fire Nation to at first frown when they saw their ruler walking leisurely with a girl from the Earth Kingdom. They would learn.
"Complicated how?" she asked, and frowned. He look down at her, and she turned her head slightly so he was more comfortable; talking a blind person when they were not facing you felt strange. Zuko hesitated to answer.
"There's Mai... And there's Aang. I know he likes her, and she does to. Like me, she feels guilty." Toph nodded empathetically.
"I see." Strangely, he felt himself being disappointed by her lack of words. He knew that she had a keen perception of things. After all, she was the one who thought he was being sincere when he first asked to join their group. Uncle also liked her, he knew that much. He found himself hungry for her point of view.
"What do you think?" he asked. Toph shrugged.
"I dunno," she said, and he scowled. "Well, Aang is young. I'm not saying he's immature, being the Avatar in all but he's still young. Maybe he's not mature enough to know what he really wants-romantically. To me it seems like Katara is some kind of prize for him. He doesn't understand that just because he does a lot of things for her, that doesn't mean someone has to love you. They just have to feel the same way mutually. It can strengthen your bond, but if you love someone it's because you love them, not necessary because they do a lot of things for you, I guess..."
"And I don't really know that girl Mai, but I think when you two hooked up, you weren't who you are now. You're different. So, yeah..."
For someone who 'didn't know', she knew a whole lot. Zuko took a deep breath, and nodded.
"Thank you for giving me your opinion. I would really appreciate it if you didn't tell Aang-"
"Aang already knows. Get a grip, Sparky, not about what happened. Everyone kind of knows you two like each other. It's been that way." Zuko's face fell, and he slapped a hand on his forehead. Everything was so unexpected, and his own clueless-ness irritated him.
Zuko and Toph entered the tea shop, and their presence wasn't very noticeable. There was already an intense discussion going on in the room. The topic was, 'What now? What are you going to do now?'
"I want to go back to the Southern Water Tribe," said Sokka. "With Dad. I want to make it strong again. My place it protecting it. After that, I want to go train with my master again. How about you, Suki?"
"Um, well..." The girl started, looking uncertain.
"You should come with us, Katara and me! And then when I go to train, you could go with the Kyoshi warriors."
"I'd love to visit!" the Suki said, thrilled. "And then I'll return to Kyoshi Island. It's my place."
"You're coming, Katara. Right?" All heads turned to the girl.
"I'd like to go back to the Water Tribe and spend a week with my family," Katara said. "And after that I'm coming back here, to the Fire Nation. I have something I want to do."
"Like what? Sokka burst out, bolting up in his seat and accidentally swatting a bottle of ink. The ink spilled onto the desk, where Momo was sitting, and slid beneath the creature's paws. Despite Sokka's shouts of warning, Momo ran across his portrait-staining it with paw prints, and took off flying.
"NO!" Sokka groaned, seizing his painting. "It's ruined, it's-" He took a closer look, studied it, and held it in the air- "A MASTERPIECE! I'm a genius!"
"Toph, what about you?" Katara asked, eagerly changing the subject. Toph resumed her usual seat, feet on the table. "Are you going back to your parents?"
"Well... I don't think so. I don't want to go back to that, not now." Everyone looked at her, confused. "After everything I've been through, I'm not ready to turn back into the helpless blind girl that's locked up in my father's palace. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but I think I want to be a nomad or something. I want to stay here for a while, then maybe I'll travel. I can get a job, then-"
"You can work here," said Uncle Iroh unexpectedly. The old man looked delighted atthe prospect of having the Earth bender work daily at his shop. "I'll pay you fairly, and you can have free tea as long as you want!" Toph grinned.
Zuko watched the expression on his Uncle's face, and then her. He really took a liking to Toph, and Zuko could see why. Uncle Iroh deserved to have another companion near, and Toph was more than worthy.
"If you decide to stay in the Fire Nation for a while, you're welcome to stay in the palace for as long as you want," Zuko said with an air of finality. Everyone looked surprised by his declaration, particularly Sokka.
"Really?" asked Toph with a mixture of uncertainty and excitement. He nodded, and Uncle Iroh beamed (he also took advantage of Aang's surprise and switch around the pi-sho board). "I think I might take you up on that offer, Sparky."
After that, Aang confessed that he had no idea where he wanted to go, but the Earth Kingdom seemed like the right place. Zuko extended the same offer his way, but he politely declined for the time being. Aang was going to fly Suki, Sokka, Katara, and Hakoda to the South Pole.
Toph, for one, was satisfied. Although the war was over, things were still moving; she could still feel the vibrations stirring under her feet.
The chapter is finished. Hope you liked it so far, there's more to come. Here's a few things I discovered:
-Zuko is a really hard character to write for me. I hope you didn't find the Zutara too sappy or uncharacteristic, but at this point I can really see it happening! Just imagine it, Zuko isn't all that shy.
-I can't think of a good title. I might change it later, just a warning! If you have any ideas, tell me.