Title: Forbidden
Author: Domestic Ice
Characters: Katara
Wordcount: 622
Rating: K+
Summary: Katara had vowed to never bloodbend again.
Notes: This was written immediately after I saw "The Puppetmaster" (3.08) and is thus completely AU for anything that has been discovered about bloodbending.
Katara had vowed to never bloodbend again.
But she still found herself slipping away by herself one night after they had met Hamma. The moon had started to wane, but it was still nearly full. She toyed with the knife she had brought with her.
Controlling people was wrong. Katara knew that. She still remembered the look on Sokka's face as he was propelled towards her, sword in hand. Bloodbending was wrong. But what she planned wouldn't hurt anyone.
Bracing herself, she made a shallow cut across her palm. Bright red blood welled up. Gently, Katara drew a small amount of blood from the cut and arranged it in a coil. She moved the blood from hand to hand as Master Pakku's words came back to her.
"Push and pull. It is not enough to simply move the water. One must feel it."
Katara bent the blood in circles around her hand as she focused on feeling it. The blood felt like water, the exercise no different than she ones she had performed countless times with ordinary water. It felt nothing like the mixture of exhilaration and fear she had felt as she fought to stop Hamma.
Stretching the blood into a whip, she pushed it towards a nearby tree. A shallow gash formed, exactly as it would with water.
She continued for a while, mimicking her ordinary techniques for waterbending. The blood bent obediently to her will. It wasn't until she had exhausted her repertoire of tricks that she let the blood drop to the ground.
Only then did she realize that her hand was stinging. She passed a hand over the cut. It healed instantly, not even leaving a mark. She tucked the knife back into her boot. Just in case she'd need it again.
What else could I do with bloodbending? Katara wondered. It had been difficult to replicate some of her training due to the small quantity of water she was working with. But with a larger amount…
I was able to drain the water from a tree. What else could I drain it from? A shiver came over her as she thought of the implications. Hamma had restricted herself to playing puppetmaster, but there was so much else that could be done. Drain part of an army of its blood and use it to attack the rest of them…
She didn't want to be a puppetmaster, bending others to her will, but neither did she want to be helpless. If she mastered bloodbending, a wooden cell would be no obstacle. And it wasn't really unethical if she used her own blood. It wouldn't harm anyone, and she could use it to get herself and the others out of trouble.
But she remembered the look on Hamma's face. The old woman had been satisfied as she was led away. Katara knew it was because she had finally managed to pass her skills on to a new generation.
She probably hoped that I would use it on Fire Nation soldiers. I won't.
Using bloodbending might be a slippery slope, but Katara was determined to limit it to her own blood, and only when there were no other options. But unbidden, her mind slipped to Hamma's technique.
Hamma's controls had been jerky, uncoordinated. Katara wondered what a bloodbender could do if they could achieve finer control.
Could you manipulate a bender carefully enough so that you could control their own bending?
Katara firmly shoved those thoughts to the back of her mind. Bloodbending was wrong and unethical.
But there weren't many full moons left before the comet. A bit of practice couldn't hurt. Just in case she'd need it.