No matter how many sputtered pleas and comments, his uncle would not budge about where that woman would be staying. Zuko refused to use her real name, he never gave that sort of curtsey to any of his other prisoners, which, regardless of what anyone else had to say, she was. She had been in his custody for a total of 45 minutes, and she had already caused him frustration. She bit his shoulder three times, so he decided to let her sit in the sun and try to teach her not to mess with him. As soon as he had turned to go work out the arrangements that were needed for her to stay, she had started screeching. Zuko never heard such a displeasing sound in his whole life, he could've sworn his ears were bleeding. He rushed back to see if something happened and was greeted with a casual glance.
"Zuko, I'm hot, I wish to go inside." She responded to his frantic expression.
Zuko just stared at her, the nerve of this woman. "You will go nowhere until I finish your arrangements. It's not that hot outside anyways."
Katara snorted. "I'm sitting on a metal ship and the sun is out. It's hot. Now take me inside."
"You'll survive." And with that he stomped away. As he was back on his way to his office he heard her yell again, but this time she yelled for him. He sighed and prepared to march right back to her when an idea crept into his head. He couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it before.
Katara sat against the hot metal and tried to keep calm. She was annoyed, concerned, and in all honesty, scared. She had no idea where her brother and friend were, hell, she didn't even know where she was. Were they looking for her? What did they think when she wasn't there when they woke up? Were they okay? Jun could've caught them too, and Zuko hid them from her before she came to. Oh, spirits, no. Now Katara really was scared. Get a grip on your emotions! She scolded herself. She must not show fear, she was a strong independent woman, and she didn't need help. She would get through this, and show Zuko that he's messing with the wrong group, and she was no weak little girl. Now she was angry. She took in a deep breath and prepared to scream again, even though last time it hadn't work like she hoped and decided maybe screaming wasn't the best option. She tried to move around, but the poison wore slowly and started at the top of her body, so the only thing fully mobile again was her neck. She sighed and figured she had to get someone somehow, and the only way to do that was to scream. So she took in an even deeper breath than last time and screamed out as loud as she could for Zuko. She waited for him to come to her, but he didn't. So she waited a little longer, and still, no Zuko. She screamed again, this time telling him to stop ignoring her, but yet again, when she waited he didn't come. Dammit Zuko. So she screamed again, and again, and again. She prepared to scream again but a hand reached over and covered her mouth. Uck, make that a dirty hand. She was going to bite it but she wasn't so sure she wanted to anymore.
"Please ma'am, stop. We've all been instructed to ignore you, but your screeching is hard to ignore." Someone whispered into her ear.
Katara felt disgusted at the feeling of his breath on her face. She tried to whip herself out of his grasp but he kept firmly on her. She closed her eyes and brought her tongue as far away from her lips as possible, and bit down.
"Shit!" He yelped immediately jumping back from her.
"Serves you right." Katara huffed at the man. "Now get me out of this sun!"
He clenched his hand to his chest, muttered something inaudible, and walked away.
Katara sighed and began to get the feeling back in her shoulders, well at least she could shoulder check someone, as long as they were right behind her…She sighed again and closed her eyes. How was she going to get out of here? Why did she let her guard down? She was so stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid. She could've asked to stay at Aunt Wu's until the sun rose, but no, she had to go off on her own. She refused to be dependent on someone else. Katara never thought she was a stubborn person, she just liked it when things went her way. Well, it was too late now. She was already boarded on a fire nation ship, was headed who knows where, and was paralyzed from her shoulders down. Things were defiantly not looking good for her, and when she was picked up and carried inside, it wasn't looking any better.
Zuko sat at his desk trying to concentrate on the documents in front of him, his mind was someplace else, or better yet concentrated on someone else. Ever since she was thrust into his possession he found himself more frazzled and on edge. He couldn't concentrate on one thing for too long and if he tried he'd always lose focus and go back to her. Zuko growled and clenched his desk until his knuckles turned white, now was not the time for distractions. Commander Zhao was coming in for a "surprise" inspection and status report in a few days and he had to make sure everything was its best. The fact that Zuko needed to be checked up on annoyed him to end, but the fact that it was Zhao who was doing the inspections sent him over the moon. He despised that pathetic excuse for a man, he was a liar and a cheat, but no one seemed to feel that way but him. Zhao's room still needed to be prepared, the decks were still being cleaned, and there best food had gone rotten due to lack of proper care. He sighed and began to rub his temples, he could feel a headache coming on.
He could slowly feel himself start to calm down and a feeling of content washed over him. Zuko had just picked up his pen when a scream shattered the much needed nice feeling. He prepared to get up and demand that she shut her mouth, but he remembered his original plan. "Just ignore her Zuko, she can't do anything but be a mere annoyance." He responded to his sudden anger. He kept telling himself to relax and eventually he found it again and began to work. This time he got a page and a half of paperwork done before the next wail, this time she called out for him directly, how bold. Why wasn't anybody doing anything about this? It was not that hard to shut up a defenseless little girl. Instead of trying to get back to work or try to calm himself, he waited for the next scream, and yet again, she called out for him. Part of him felt like he should go and bring her inside and let her cool down, it was pretty hot out there…"No! She's your prisoner, she's already taken your room, don't let her take over your thoughts too!" He couldn't believe he let her take his room, he most certainly wasn't going to sleep on the couch, and the floor was off limits as well, and he couldn't sleep in the same bed as her, could he? His thoughts were, again, interrupted by her screaming, but this time it was cut short. Well that was a pleasant surprise, but what stopped her? Had she tired herself out? Was the sun too much? Did one of his men hurt her? No, they wouldn't…would they? Zuko would kill them before they got in the way of his ticket back home. Before he knew what he was doing, Zuko sprinted out of his office and down to the deck where he left her, ignoring the concerning looks the people he passed by gave him.
Zuko got to his destination only to be greeted with nothingness. This was where he placed her, this is where she was not even an hour ago, where is she? She couldn't have gained her body movements back yet, and his crew was working like nothing had happened.
"Do you need something sir?" Draiko, one of his higher ranking members asked him.
"Yes. Where is she? Where is Katara?" He could hear the edge in his voice, but he didn't care, this was no time to be calm.
"I sent Thau to bring her inside and to stop her screaming. I understand you ordered us to ignore her b-"
"Exactly, I gave you an order, and when I give you orders, you're supposed to follow them. Understand?" Zuko cut the man off, he wasn't going to let someone ignore his commands.
"Y-yes sir, I do, but she, and the heat, and her clothes, and..." Draiko blubbered pathetically.
"The heat? Do you know what time of year it is? That is the stupidest thing that has come out of your mouth. And anyway, if I wanted her to die out here you would've ruined it. You don't know my intentions, so don't make decisions for me. Now, where is she?" Zuko growled out.
"I'm not sure sir."
"Well then you better find out." And with that, Zuko turned on his heel and headed back inside. He would find her for himself and never let her out of his sight, no one was going to mess this up for him.
A few minutes after he left, he could hear his men scatter and scurry about trying to find her; some were even calling out for her. Zuko was glad Draiko understood that he was in charge and no one would doubt or go against his commands.
"Well what's everybody looking for nephew?" His uncle asked him as he turned the corner.
"My prisoner."
"Wasn't she under Draikos watch?"
"Yes, but he decided to go against me and send her with some idiot. Now, I don't know where she is." Zuko responded, getting more annoyed when he had to speak of the incident out loud.
"Well who did he send her with? I'm sure she's fine, she seems like a lovely lady."
"Thau." He said back still not turned towards his uncle, he wasn't sure how to answer to the last part.
"Ahh, Zuko, she's fine. No one would harm her knowing what she's worth, don't over react dear nephew." His uncle chuckled at the last few words. "You do have a tendency to do that."
Zuko spun around and glared at his uncle for a second, but softened at the way he was looking at him. His uncle never meant anything maliciously, but it still got under his skin.
"I'll do what I will. Now if you'll excuse me-"
"Sir, I don't mean to interrupt but we found her." Draiko told him, obviously still shaken from the earlier encounter.
"Excellent good work, now lead us to her." His uncle responded for him.
Zuko stifled a scoff, if he hadn't ignored his orders this never would have happened. He nodded at Draiko and followed behind him.
Katara had never been so irritated in her life. First this man puts his grotesque hand over her mouth, and then carries her off into a room that smelled like a thousand dirty men. And that's when she realized she was in the crews bedchamber, which was even worse than being in Zukos bedchamber. But in all honesty, when she was laid down on one of the hammocks, she fell asleep; it seemed as if sleep was beginning to become her weakness. Katara was overwhelmed. Everything was happening so fast she couldn't wrap her head around anything and sleep greeted her confusion with a promise to escape it all. When Katara dreamed, she dreamt of beauty and serenity, which reminded her of her element. In all her dreams she was always surrounded by water, calmly wadding in it or just letting her feet dip in it. The water was never too hot and never too cold, it was always perfect.
She was sitting by the edge of the water and was still very tired, which was odd for a dream, usually the water gave her so much energy. She softly lifted her hand and started pooling the water together forming a small wave that just brushed against the middle of her calf. She smiled and put her hands down, she wasn't in the mood to water bend, she just wanted to rest and enjoy the peaceful scene before she was thrust back into reality.
"It's beautiful." A voice called out to her from behind and startled her, normally she was alone in these dreams.
She turned around and gasped. "Why are you here? This is my dream, now leave." She called out as trying to sound as threatening as possible.
Zuko just chuckled at her. "You have no control over what's happening in your actual life, what makes you think you'll have control here? Don't be stupid."
"This is my mind, I will do what I want. And I hope you know that just because I don't have the ability to move my body in the real world, doesn't mean I can't do it now." Katara rebutted and brought up a water whip.
Zuko just smirked at her. "Go ahead, make your move. I've already made mine and you have no defense against it."
"What? Don't be cryptic!" Katara yelled at him.
"Turn around."
Katara turned around and cried out softly at the scene before her. Her beautiful pond was now dried up, the grass surrounding it dead and brown, all the beautiful plants and trees were now barren. "W-what did you do Zuko…"
"My element destroys Katara. I burn things and after I'm done all that's left is dead and gone. This is your future. This is your future, with me Katara."
She looked at him and couldn't believe anything that happened. His presence destroyed the beautiful area, just like his presence was going to destroy her sanity. Katara was never one to cry and be upset about something, but this broke her spirit, and she crumpled to the ground in tears. Why was she so weak now? Why her? That's all she seemed to be asking herself lately. Why?
A/N: I'm sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooo sorry this took me so long to update! But I'm going to start posting more frequently to make up for it!
A/N2: If it isn't obvious by this chapter and previous chapters, dreams are very important, so make sure you pay attention to those!
A/N3: I took ponytail Zuko as the kind of person who was very concerned when people didn't follow orders. With his experience with his dad and with him being in a higher up position in the social standings, treason is not a stranger. So, if you think Zuko over reacts, thats why.
A/N4: Thank you all for reading and reviewing!
