Chapter 4: The Strong, the Pronged, and the Wrong
"Zuko," Ozai said, sitting down at the dinner table, "Why are you late for dinner?"
Zuko stood in the door frame of the kitchen, looking down, "I lost track of time at the tea shop. I am sorry, father."
Azula said something under her breath before giggling.
"Shut up, Azula!" Zuko growled.
"Zuko, is that anyways to talk to your sister?" Ozai reprimanded him.
Zuko looked down, "No, sir."
"Stay in your room for the rest of the night, Zuko. No dinner for you." Ozai smirked.
Zuko walked to his room and set his backpack on his bed. He looked down at his phone and wondered how Katara was doing.
Katara and Sokka ordered pizza that night. Their father was busy in surgery for the night.
"I bet I can stuff this whole pizza in my mouth," Sokka said.
"I don't even want to see you try, Sokka." says Katara, rolling her eyes. She took another bite of her pizza and looked down at her phone.
Sokka noticed this and smirked, "You miss him already?"
"What? N-No. I…I don't know what you're talking about, Sokka." Katara took another bite and hid her blush.
"Awwww, Katara's in love." Sokka laughed, stuffing the rest of the pizza in his mouth.
"I DID IT!" You could hear him say, muffled.
Katara laughed and finished her pizza, "What movie's are on tonight?"
Sokka shrugged, "We still don't have the cable hooked up yet, but we can go to Blockbuster and get a few movies."
"Awesome," Katara got up and put the rest of the pizza back in the box and into the refrigerator. Sokka got up and put the paper plates in the trash and got his car keys, "Let's go."
Sokka and Katara went all around the town before finally finding a Blockbuster.
"I can't believe this is the only one in town," Sokka said as he got out of the car.
"I can, Blockbuster isn't that important anymore," Katara commented, getting out of the car.
In the end, Sokka picked out 'The Human Centipede' 1 and 2, and Katara picked out 'The Avengers' and 'Thor'.
Katara took out her phone and dialed Zuko's number, "Wait Sokka, I think Zuko lives near here."
"So?" Sokka said, leaning on his car.
"I wanna see if he can hang out, dunder head." Katara pressed the call button and waited for Zuko to pick up.
"Hey, Katara. Uhh, could you-"
"Hey Zuko, look, me and Sokka just picked up some movies from Blockbuster and were wondering if you would like to watch the movies with us?" Katara smiled.
Katara heard some yelling in the background, "I don't think now is a good time, Katara."
"Is every-"
"I'll talk to you tomorrow," Zuko said.
Katara heard a scream before the line went dead. Katara looked down at her phone and frowned, she didn't know what to think of that call.
"Is everything okay?" Sokka asked, walking over to Katara.
Katara looked at him and slowly nodded, "Come on. Let's go home."
While they watched the movie's Sokka picked out, Katara couldn't help but worry about Zuko.
Why was he acting to strange?
Who was yelling?
What was that scream?
She had a feeling Iroh might know. When she goes to her job tomorrow she'll ask him.
Katara left early that morning, hoping that Iroh would be there without Zuko. Every light she got to turned red and ever asshole that was in San Francisco that morning was on the road. Katara put in a Jimmy Eat World CD to calm her down, which it didn't; But it muffled her screams.
Katara got to the Jasmine Dragon 30 minutes later, Iroh was walking out of the shop.
"Iroh!" Katara jumped out of her car and walked over to him.'
"Katara? What are you doing here so early? Your shift doesn't start until two more hours," Iroh said, looking down at his watch.
"I know, but I have some question," Katara said.
"About what?" Iroh asked.
"About Zuko," Katara said in almost a whisper. Iroh nodded for her to continue.
"Well, I called him last night…and I heard a lot of yelling in the background and I heard a scream before the line went dead." Katara said.
Iroh looked down, anger and frustration in his eyes, "I think this is something you must ask Zuko, Katara."
"I'm scared to…" Katara pulling some hair out of her face and looked at him, "I'm scared to know if it was Zuko that was the one that screamed."
"Zuko is a very complicated child…You must really ask him to explain all this to you, I do not want to be the bearer of bad news." Iroh smiled sadly. Katara nodded and looked down.
"I am going to pick him up now. Would you like to come with me?" Iroh asked.
Katara bit her lip, "Actually, I have to be somewhere right now. But I'll be here for my shift."
Katara got back into her car and drove off.