Hello, yes new new chapter already, thank you for faves and follows. I appreciate it. And I also appreciate reviews so:
Response(s) to review(s):
rivkah: Thank you, I try my best on the dialogue. The 'meatless' part was what had bothered me about last chapter, but since it was meant to be a fluff piece I left it as such. Hopefully this chapter has more meat, ad I assure you the meat shall increase. Meat.
Read and Review :)
Disclaimer: I don't own atla, nor the title of the story, I just thought the name would sound well.
Enjoy
Katara screamed. She was screaming like the mad girl, the crazed girl who had lost her mind. She was the girl. The girl who had lost everything, who never had a guiding hand. The girl who only knew force. The girl who was afraid to love and believe. The girl who resorted to threats and violence. The girl whose friends abandoned her. Her mother abandoned her. Her family abandoned her. The girl who was pitied by a waterbender.
Pitiful. Pathetic. Weak. Miserable.
Katara was that girl and was thrashing, trying to break free, to prove herself, to prove, her worth.
And there was warmth. Too hot, too hot. She could deal with anything she thought, but-
"Katara. Katara wake up."
Hot, hot. There was a comet, but still it was hot. It was cold. The ice ruined her. The coldness killed her. And it was hot. She was considering giving up. She doesn't give up. She can't.
"Katara, can you hear me?"
Cold!
Katara sputtered.
"Cold, cold, too cold!" she screamed, a voice that wasn't exactly hers. It freaked the Fire Lord out.
"Relax Katara, easy, it's just me. Zuko here."
Katara slowly registered her surroundings. Ice blue walls that were one crimson. Indigo lines, where there once were gold. A handsome scarred face, where there was just her.
"Zuko? You're here? Again..." her voice was hoarse from screaming.
Still cold...
"I heard you."
"That loud again?"
"You seem to have forgotten, once more, my room is next door."
"Right. Wait? Why am I all wet?"
Zuko looked abashed and put his hand on his neck.
"Well you see, I tried to wake you up, and nothing was working, so.."
"You threw water all over me! Ugh, Zuko are you nuts! In the middle of the night, you get me all soaked! Then I could catch pneumonia, and-"
"Sorry. But, you're a waterbender. And I am a firebender. Don't pull a Sokka on me."
"Hot. Too hot. Cold. Hot," Katara was muttering. She shook her head, and pulled the water off of her, and found the source, a glass of water, and put it back in there.
She looked back at Zuko and his eyes were piercing hers. "When will you tell me?"
"It was just a nightmare Zuko," her eyes shifted away. "There's nothing to tell."
"Oh really?" he scoffed. "So, those nightmares that keep coming back, they're all unrelated?"
"Yes Zuko."
"So every night you scream, and I come to find you, they're just different nightmares, that terrify you all the same?"
Katara was silent. She finally said quietly, "You don't have to come."
Zuko started at that. "Th-this isn't about me coming. I'll always come. You're my best friend. There's no reason I wouldn't. So don't think I'm complaining. But I want to know, what is hurting you so much?" His voice took on a gentler tone, that made Katara feel guilty. "As your friend, won't you tell me?"
Katara bit her lip. "I'm afraid to tell you. But I will. Tomorrow?"
Zuko nodded. Tomorrow. He looked at her face, which still contained remnants of terror He wished he could just-. No. Don't be stupid.
"Tomorrow."
The fire lord was poring over a pile of requests. Many of which that were absolutely ridiculous. He wasn't a matchmaker. It wasn't his job to make the most advantageous match for so and so's brat. Ok that was unbecoming. But he was getting tired of this.
"Zuko. I need to ask you a favor."
"Sure, anything Katara." He was working, but he was thinking about the promise of tomorrow. Or today, it now was.
"Promise you won't be angry."
"I won't be angry. Is this about those ocelot puppies, because I already said no," he tried to keep it easy, by beating around the tea-bush he was serious about those puppies.
It wasn't about that but, momentarily distracted, Katara frowned for a second. She'd get him to come around. They were just too cute.
Speaking of tea, the famous tea lover walked into the room.
"But they are so cute," he said. Right?
"Uncle, would you please-" Zuko began.
"No it's fine," Katara said. "You trust your Uncle' judgement. And I trust both of yours." Uncle smiled, and sat down on a sofa by the wall, and beckoned Katara to join him, and she did so. She was playing with her hands, until she finally spoke up. "It's about your sister."
"What about her?" he asked slowly, putting down the brush and looking into her eyes.
And then Katara went on to explain her nightmares and her guilt. The nights, that just kept coming and coming, and had for some reason traumatized her more than other more significant events and horrors. The way that Katara would become Azula, and how she couldn't think straight. The hot and the cold. Why Zuko would always have to come to soothe her. That vacant lost look that Katara had seen when she saw Azula in prison.
"You saw her in prison?" Zuko asked, his voice surprisingly blank, with only the hint of an edge of something. Anger? Sadness? Maybe both.
"I had to. I felt like I had to."
"Why?"
"She's so young, Zuko. She's spent the last four years in jail. She was so young. She's eighteen now," her voice took on a pleading tone.
Zuko looked at her for a while and then asked, "how long has this been bothering you?"
"Four years. It hasn't stopped."
"If I may add something," the two nodded, "Katara is a woman with great compassion, and kindness. She knows the story of Azula. Her downfall. Katara feels her emotions. And with that comes the guilt. Though she shouldn't, absolutely shouldn't, she feels personally responsible, and because of her compassion, she sees the world through Azula's eyes in her dreams. And she feels like she needs to do something," Uncle looked at Katara who assented. "And that's the favor I wanted to ask you about. I need to heal her," she said resolutely.
"Katara, water isn't going to solve everything."
"No," she frowned at him. "I'll help her. I'll talk to her, and maybe even use water. I have to try."
"You don't have to."
"Yes I do."
"No."
"Yes."
"Katara!"
"Zuko!"
"Children!"
Katara and Zuko flinched, and then harrumphed and looked away from one another.
"I am not a child," Zuko muttered while slightly sulking.
"Then stop acting like one," Iroh sternly told them. "I agree that Katara should be able to have the chance to help Azula, since she wishes to, very much. I know yuo trust in her judgement. And she is confident," he looked at Katara.
"I am," she said firmly, nodding her head.
"And if it could help her, won't you let her?" Iroh was about to tell him that also she was his sister. But he didn't want to anger his overstressed nephew with that comment. Zuko sighed and nodded, and Katara put her hands together, very pleased with herself.
"It's not going to be easy," Zuko told her.
"I know. But when has anything ever been easy for us?" Katara said wryly. They laughed, making the setting into a happier abode.
"Well, Mother's going to be pleased. I'll write to her, but I'll tell her to still stay on Crescent Moon Island," Zuko commented. His mother had finally come to the palace, an incredible tale that is not part of this one. She was currently helping peace efforts, and insisted that she go out and help so Zuko could focus in the palace. "You can start tomorrow."
Katara sighed. She could do this. She believed so.
And next chapter we will have Azula! Stay tuned for a story that I will most definitely complete. Along with my Makorra one (hopefully). I promise. You can pelt me with stones if I take too long. That is all.
PS: I'm so stupid that I thought I put this in hours ago. My bad.
