Author's Note: Because I got a couple of reviews (hopefully more!), I decided to continue this story. Here is the second chapter. Enjoy!
Chapter Two: Finding What Is Lost
Opening her eyes, Katara's vision seemed hazy from her tears as she woke up to the sound of Appa groaning. Upon doing so, she managed to see Zuko staring out at the rising sun, his body still appearing weak, but with much more color and liveliness than the previous night. Katara sighed in relief as she moved over to the firebender to greet him.
"Zuko, thank the spirits you're okay!" she exclaimed as she surprised him and pulled him in a tight embrace, leaving him moaning in pain.
His head in the crook of her neck, he replied hoarsely, " Thank you, Katara for everything. I feel terrible for leaving you like that with no help and-"
Katara interrupted, letting go of him to look straight into his golden eyes. "Sshh...it's okay now, as long as you're okay. You nearly gave me a heart attack! Your heart stopped and I just couldn't let you die..." she started, giving him a slight shove as she began to cry for him yet again.
"Don't ever do that again to me, Zuko. I could never live with myself knowing...I almost couldn't save you!" she wailed, and they then switched roles as he took her in his arms to comfort her.
Katara, suddenly laughing at how their roles reversed and how someone else was comforting her, moved Zuko's hands away as he wiped her tears away with his thumbs along her cheeks.
She then continued her rambling. "All that aside, I think that I should be the one thanking you. I wouldn't be standing here either if you had not done what you did..."
"I swear to you, Katara, I will never put you in that situation again. However, I can't promise you I wouldn't do that all over again even if I could redo that moment again." he said, his eyes full of sincerity and something else she couldn't quite place.
Shocked by his words, she looked away and tried to change the subject.
"So...now that we basically just kind of lost control of the throne, what are we going to do?"
"Well, we for sure need to go to the Earth Kingdom to see what happened with Aang and Uncle." he looked down dejectedly. Now that he was all better and away from his sister, he couldn't help but feel humiliated and frustrated with himself for not being able to secure his crown and defeat his sister.
Seeing his internal conflict and anger towards himself, Katara took his hand and squeezed it.
"Hey, just because you didn't beat your sister today doesn't mean our plan truly failed. As long as Aang and your uncle do fine we will all be okay. And I know that we will succeed next time, okay?" she said, giving him a reassuring look and his hand another squeeze.
Sighing, Zuko let go of her hand and moved toward the front of the saddle, directing Appa to the right path as he looked at the map they had with them.
Katara let out a sigh of her own. 'I hope everything is okay over there...'
The two teenagers sat in silence as they traveled to Ba Sing Se.
-
Ba Sing Se
Iroh looked up into the sky as the comet began to fade away. He had finally conquered the city he had been trying to do so, so long ago.
'I wonder how my nephew is doing...' he thought as he began walking back to the campsite, or as King Bumi put it, "Old People Camp". For some reason, the good feeling he had earlier had seemed to fade away and he started to feel dreary about everything.
The Avatar, blind Earthbender, Kyoshi Warrior, and Water Tribe boy all returned from their fight against the Fire Lord, in which they were successful and the Avatar was able to somehow (unbelievably in his opinion) take away his younger brother's bending. Word had yet to come about whether his nephew was victorious himself and defeated his sister.
'Only time will tell...' Iroh thought to himself, before entering his tent to retire for the night.
-
Fire Nation Palace
"Princess Azula, are you ready for your coronation? What course of action do you want us to pursue?" asked one frightened Dai Li agent to he princess as they helped heal her of the injuries she sustained during the supposed Agni Kai she and her brother fought in. According to the princess, the prince had barely escaped, thus leaving her as victor. Even with this joyous occasion, the princess looked to be in a foul mood and continued to throw servants around.
"Didn't you hear me before? Get the fire sages ready this instant and tell the rest of the Dai Li to get ready to go back to Ba Sing Se! In case ny father has fallen, I will need to maintain order! As the new commander of the Dai Li, I thought you'd be up to speed with everything! Now, get out of my sight!" the Crown Princess barked as she continued to struggle fixing her crown.
"Yes princess." he looked down and walked away in fear.
In a crazy stupor, the princess began pulling at her hair and talking to herself as she looked into the broken mirror.
"How could I have let my stupid, imbecile of a traitorous brother get away? I swear to you, dear brother, I will capture and kill you and your precious Water peasant if its the last thing I do!" she screamed, throwing the crown at the mirror, leaving more cracks and shattered glass on the floor as she began to ball her eyes out in despair.
-
Appa had started to groan in exhaustion, so Zuko and Katara agreed to stop for rest at a nearby town. It would take them a couple more days to reach Ba Sing Se, so they decided to get some more supplies and set up camp for the night.
Settling in the town, the teenagers disguised themselves as a young couple who moved around to make ends meet. With the little money they had, Katara was able to bargain with the stall keeper to give them fresh supplies, while Zuko returned to Appa began starting a fire and building shelter in the woods, which laid on the outskirts of the residential area.
"Hey Zuko, you okay?" Katara asked the prince (as she had noticed he still seemed to be down and kept to himself) as she packed the supplies she has bought and started to cook supper.
She received no reply as he continued to ignore her and space out.
"Okay, I get that you're freaking out but you don't have to ignore me!" she yelled at him, angry that he continued to act as if she wasn't there. She knew that she was the last person he'd want to spill his deepest secrets to, but she had hoped he would be considerate being that they has grown to be somewhat friends, especially considering what they went through together in the past 24 hours.
"Shh...I hear something nearby. Don't yell, I'm trying to listen." he whispered back, leaving her to let out a huff and try to hear along.
They could make out the sound of some sort of group of people, most likely soldiers, in which they their bodies stilled and trembled at. Worried they would get discovered, they made sure to blow out the campfire and behind one of the many forest trees, while urging Appa to fly away for a while.
As the band of men approached their hiding spot, the two benders were able to hear their whole conversation.
"I heard that the little Fire Nation prince and princess fought an Agni Kai for the throne. That traitorous twit ended up losing to the girl and may have died!" one soldier exclaimed to another, both laughing. Hearing this, Zuko knelt down in anguish and Katara immediately intertwined their hands in assurance.
The soldier added, "I hear the little princess has give insane! Threatening to banish everyone in the palace and throwing things everywhere. Apparently, Fire Lord Ozai had been defeated by the Avatar, and now she's sent the Dai Li to come after him and capture him. Poor sap won't know what's coming!" and they began laughing in a drunken fit, earning a scolding from their leader.
Both teenagers looked up at each other in despair, thinking the same thing.
'Oh no! Aang!'
A/N: Keep on reviewing!
