A/N: 2nd chapter of the 1st part—hope you like it so far! Don't worry, I explain a lot in the author notes after the chapter. Happy reading!
Repent pt.2
Katara
Katara groaned as the morning chill seeped into her bed roll. She had to get up—Sokka would want breakfast soon—but she didn't want to, it was too cold. Shifting to her side, Katara gasped as her body screamed in protest. Why was she so sore? Normally she was only ever sore after a battle… Suddenly Katara's memories came flying back to her. Her eyes flew open and she sprung up.
What the—Where am I? Ancient trees surrounded her, a burnt out fire pit sputtered as it died, her bedroll turned out to be a green tunic wrapped over her and which had fallen to the ground at her feet.
The clearing spun a bit as she got up too fast for her battered body.
"So… You're finally awake." The low voice came from behind her. Katara whirled around, hand automatically going to an empty water flask. Again the movement was to fast and she teetered. Who she saw nearly knocked her over.
Zuko—Prince Zuko, traitor and firenation brat—sat at the based of a tall oak. His legs were crossed and he appeared to have been meditating. One eye was cracked open and his expression was unreadable. Rage filled Katara.
"Look, if you're trying to use me as bait to capture the Avatar or something, we've been through this before, I—!"
"I'm not using you as bait—though it would be nice to find him so I could drop you off." Katara raised an eyebrow, unsure if she heard correctly.
"Huh?" she asked lamely. Zuko grunted in annoyance, stood and stretched, apparently giving up on meditation.
"I'm not after the Avatar," he said slowly, as if the words sounded as strange to him as they did to her.
"Whoa, whoa, wait, wasn't I just in a dungeon, doing everything I could to save Aang from you? And now you give up?! D-did I miss something?" Zuko grimaced.
"Not that I need to explain myself to you," he started, unsuccessfully trying to hide how uncomfortable he was with arrogance, "but I'm…just…not." He shook his head in frustration. Katara propped her hands on her hips. "Look, what you had said before about… my father, made me realize what my uncle had been trying to warn me about. That any life I might have had is gone now, and twenty Avatars wouldn't change that. I had lost everything and siding with Azula only made me hate myself more." Katara's hands fell to her sides, her mind understanding only half of what he was saying. But she realized what he meant. He was giving up. And though that was terrific for Aang, it seemed very—sad.
"So what will you do now?" she asked quietly. Zuko was quiet for a very long time.
"The Avatar and your brother would never accept me as an ally. And Uncle… I can't face him yet." He walked towards Katara and she tensed, but he only bent down and grabbed his tunic.
Zuko had given her his tunic as a blanket. Zuko was thoughtful. Zuko did something nice. Nope, anyway Katara thought about it, the sentence refused to mesh with what she knew about him. But she did not miss the fact that he hadn't answered her question. Zuko looked at her briefly before walking out of the clearing.
Following curiously—she didn't feel quite as stiff anymore—he led her to a stream. On reflex, Katara bended out a long ribbon of water swirling it around her a couple of times before guiding it into her mouth.
Feeling eyes on her, she turned and saw Zuko watching her.
"What?" Katara asked and felt blood rise in her cheeks. He blinked and shrugged, kneeling to cup some of the cool, clear water. When he was done, Zuko pulled on his tunic, belted it and slung a pair of sheathed blades over his shoulder.
"Come on." he said as he walked alongside the water. Katara jogged to catch up.
"Where are we going?"
"To find the Avatar," he said simply.
still Katara
They traveled for three days together before Zuko had spotted the Avatar. Amazingly, they hadn't killed each other yet. Katara was actually surprised how well she had gotten along with Zuko. Every now and then (usually in bad weather Katara had noticed), Zuko would return to his unbearable, stuck up, 'princely' attitude and she had to knock him down a few pegs. Water whips seemed to work wonderfully for that particular task.
She wouldn't lie. When she had seen Appa flying over head, Katara felt a twinge of regret. Though she missed Aang, Sokka, and Toph desperately, Katara would also miss traveling with Zuko.
He was a mystery to her now that he wasn't trying to kill her. As the hours had passed Katara found she learned more and more about him—what set off his temper, what his favorite food was, how much she could whine before he flamed the nearest tree… she had even learned some fire bending moves that she wanted to try with water bending.
But all good things must end at some point.
Within seconds after he pointed out Appa to her, Zuko was up one of the giant trees around him to see where they landed.
Katara suddenly felt lonely and shivered in the growing dark. After what seemed like a far too much time, Zuko jumped down next to her.
"There in a clearing downstream. We can reach them in three hours," he muttered, his voice so low Katara could barely hear him. For once, Katara couldn't think of anything to say. Instead she nodded and they started off.
Zuko
It must have been the longest and shortest three hours in Zuko's life. The entire trek was cloaked in a silence that he struggled and failed to break.
Ironically, Zuko had come to enjoy spending time with Katara, even if she was an annoying little water present. With a painfully impressive water whip.
Throughout his entire exile, unless they were with the crew, it had always been just Zuko and his Uncle. Traveling with someone new was…refreshing. So she did irritate him sometimes, and interrupted his firebending training, and whined endlessly—he had come to a point where he expected and relied on it. Strange as it seemed…Zuko was going to miss Katara.
Finally they neared the clearing where the Avatar was camped. Remembering the blind girl's ability to 'see' things, he stopped Katara a short distance away so Toph wouldn't be alerted.
"I'll watch you from here," he said quietly. She looked up at him, her eyes sad.
"You're sure you won't come with us? You could teach Aang firebending." Zuko shook his head before she finished.
"He'll have Uncle to do that. Just please," he paused, "Take care of Uncle. Better care than I did." Katara bit her lip and nodded, then turned to leave. Zuko felt there was something he needed to tell her, something she needed to know.
"Katara," he called. She turned again. Struggling, Zuko cast about for words. "In the cave—the stuff I said? It was true. It was…me." Tears filled her over-bright blue eyes.
"I know, Zuko," she whispered, and with once last glance, Katara turned and walked back to the Avatar.
It seemed to take eternities for her to disappear through the trees, with Zuko's eyes watching her every step. Loneliness filled him, but he cast it aside, once again becoming the cold, deadly prince he was.
Zuko ran upstream awhile, a hard, steady pace, before stopping at sunrise. Drinking from the stream, he slowed his breathing, then sat at the base of a tree.
He hadn't slept all night, but with the rising sun Zuko felt some restoration of energy. Crossing his legs he gripped his hands into fists and began meditating.
A/N: Did I get the characters right? Or were they OOC? I think I did pretty good…
Alright, here's the skinny for this story. This and the previous chapter were actually supposed to be one chapter, but it ran way too long. This series/story/whatever you wanna call it jumps around a little timewise so I'll straighten you out. The next section (however many chapters it takes me) is a month or two from now and Sozin's Comet (sp?) is coming in three weeks. I'm not sure whether or not the final battle will actually be on the eclipse or not, bear with me. I also don't know the exact canon timeline so I'm winging that too. The next part will be called 'Redeem'.
Also, I need guy names. Soldier, earth kingdom guy names. Any ideas would be welcome!
If you read this far I love you already!
