CHAPTER 4
Katara pushed her feet hard to the ground making her legs compensate for the new force. She turned a corner and hid in the shadows. A few guards ran past her hiding spot while she was catching her breath and Katara was grateful for the shadows she was hiding in for once. After she had regained her breath enough for her to start to run again she did just that, run. There was no way she was going to go out through the palace gates so she rounded another corner and headed for the servants entrance. Outcries of protest were heard as Katara pushed through other servants yelling 'sorry' back to them. She was finally getting somewhere when she saw the last door that led out of the palace and she smiled at the thought of freedom, but fate was not done with her yet, for a small squad of firebenders appeared in her sights around the front of the door. Her smile quickly faded as the squad leader yelled "ATTACK!" the firebenders punched the air and fire came at Katara with full force. The young waterbender pulled the water out of the large basin that was sitting on the table beside her and blocked the blast as best she could. The sheer force of the fire colliding with her water threw her back into a chef.
She picked herself up and ran in the opposite direction saying "Sorry." she had to get out of here or she was going to die a slave and never see her brother again. Katara refused to do that so she thought of other ways to the outside. She ran blindly down another corridor when she collided with a tall, warm body. Before the backlash of the hit through her down she was caught by those warm arms. Katara knew that warmth and she knew who was holding her and she prayed to Yue that is wasn't true. The waterbender looked into his eyes and felt the tears of longing fall down her cheeks.
She turned to run from him afraid that he would hate her, but he held her body and Soul. "Katara, please wait!" he begged her and she shook her head not wanting to leave, but knowing she had to.
"I'm sorry Prince Zuko, but I have to leave." she said through her soft tears.
Zuko shook his head as well "Katara I don't care if you're a waterbender, it's who you are on the inside that counts."
Katara turned and looked at him willing what he said to be true. "Do you mean that?" she choked out.
He smiled a warm and kind smile "Every word." he let her hand go, knowing that she wasn't going to run anymore and she covered her face and cried harder. He pulled her into a strong and secure embrace and at first Katara was surprised at this, but then she accepted it deepening the hug. They broke apart after what seemed like a millisecond and the prince said "Come on, they'll be looking for you. You can hide in my room for now." at first he kept his hand around her shoulders and they walked slowly. Then they picked up the pace and he let her go. They ran together to Zuko's room and once there he shut and locked the doors. Katara's head was spinning so much that her legs started to wobble from exhaustion. She held her head trying to level herself, but the room was spinning too much. She tried to make it to Zuko's bed, but fell to the floor to soon. Zuko ran to her side "You're exhausted! You've worked yourself to hard. You need a rest or you won't last much longer." the waterbender stared blankly back at him and tried to thank him, but instead her eyes rolled back into her head and everything went dark for the second time she was in Zuko's arms.
..:-:..
Katara opened her eyes and found that the room had stopped spinning and her headache was gone. She didn't feel like waking up yet so she rolled over in Zuko's bed and closed her eyes. After about 1 second her eyes flew open again and she sat up. 'What the hell am I doing in Zuko's bed?!' she thought. 'I was running for my life and then I saw Zuko and he led me to his room and then…' she smacked her forehead 'I passed out in his arms again!' Katara slipped out of his bed then hurried to the door. When she opened it she saw two big guards outside the door and immediately shut it, quietly. She ran to the bathroom and found it unlocked. She hurried and locked it. Once inside she tried to find a way out of the palace without killing herself, but to no avail. Katara stayed in the bathroom for a long time, thinking about her life. She reached up and touched her mother's necklace then cried a little for all the pain she had to indoor. Losing her father, then her mother, then her brother was hard on her. Sokka was taking a long time to come back and get her, although deep down she trusted him never to forget her, she had a feeling that he had.
"Open the door!" demanded someone on the other side of the bedroom door. Katara immediately sat up and wiped her tears away. She got up and crawled over to the door and put her ear on the wood to listen better. She heard the door swing open and then shut. The waterbender heard footsteps walk all over the room then walk over to the bathroom door where she was hiding. The person knocked on the wood and said "Katara," very lightly. She knew it was Zuko and the young women breathed in a sigh of relief. She stood up and then unlocked the door to see the Fire Nation prince looking at her. "Are you alright now?" he asked her worried.
Again she sighed and smiled warmly saying "I'm fine…what happened after I, well fainted?" she added.
They walked out of the bathroom and Zuko gestured her to sit on his bed and he sat next to her. "That's good to know." he said nodding. Then he continued "What happened after you fell unconscious, well you were totally out cold and I couldn't very well go put you in the servants quarters and I figured you be safest in my room so I put you in my bed. The two guards out front," he pointed his thumb behind him "I ordered them not to let anyone in and not to go in themselves or they would…die, to put it simply." he finished grimly and Katara grimaced at the thought of what he just said. "Do you know a servant named Sang?" he suddenly asked.
Katara nodded vigorously "Yeah! She's my best friend!" then thought about what happened earlier today and added "Well, she was."
Zuko raised an eyebrow knowing what she was referring to "Sang doesn't hate you, you know. She still thinks of you as the older sister she never had." he added repeating what the servant had said. "When you were sleeping I went and found my uncle and Sang and told them where you were. They were going to meet us here in about an hour."
Katara nodded her thanks then smiled warmly at him and felt tears well up in her eyes. She then said "I'm glade at least one person doesn't hate me."
Zuko leaned in and rested his hand on hers and said warmly "I don't hate you." she looked over to him and smiled. Katara was trying to keep away the tears, but it was becoming increasingly harder. She opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by knocking on the door. Zuko moved his arms protectively in front of her and she moved back away from the door, instinctively.
"Prince Zuko, you uncle and a servant has come to see you." A man said on the other side of the door.
Katara and Zuko both breathed a collective sigh and Zuko nodded saying "Yes they may come in." he then added to Katara "Go into the bathroom while the door is open, just incase the guards see you." Katara nodded and moved to the bathroom. Once her door was shut Zuko opened his bedroom door and ushered in his uncle and the servant girl. Katara waited patently on the other side for Zuko and when he opened the door she smiled at him.
Katara moved out from the bathroom and saw their new guests standing near the entrance. The waterbender made eye contact with Sang and the two girls ran forward and hugged each other. "Katara, you stupid twit, what the hell is wrong with you? Why didn't you tell me you could waterbend? I care about you weather you're a waterbender or not!"
"I'm sorry Sang. I wanted to tell you, but you are my friend and loyal to the Fire Nation, so I thought that maybe you would hate me because I was a 'traitor'." Katara answered her.
Sang shook her head violently and started to cry "No, Katara you're my sister and sisters stick together through thick and thin."
They hugged again and Katara smiled saying "I'll never make that mistake again, Sang."
"Good!" Sang snapped back finally regaining her composure. "Now how do we get out of here?"
"What?" Katara asked confused.
"You can't very well stay here Katara." Sang answered "If you stay in the Fire Nation they'll kill you and I would never let that happen!"
"I understand what you're saying Sang, but I have no where else to go. This has been my only home for ten years." the waterbender sighed and sat down on Zuko's bed.
Sang put her hand on her chin to think then after a few minutes she raised her finger like a light bulb had just turned on. "I know," they all looked at her "What about the South Pole? You were born and raised there. That's your home right? Why not go there?"
"Sang, you're right about that, but that would be the first place he'd look." Katara said answering her question.
Sang still didn't get it though "Who?" she asked and the rest of them sighed in exasperation. Who else?
"The Fire Lord." Katara answered tiredly.
"Oh." the servant said and that 'Oh' sounded like all her hopes and dreams came crashing down with that simple word. Sang opened her mouth to speak again when she was interrupted by knocking on the door. Everyone pushed and shoved Katara into the bathroom and when she was in, Sang slammed the door. Although no one could see it Zuko and Katara both smacked themselves on the forehead. Iroh simply smiled and Sang shrugged apologetically. Out of habit Sang walked over to the door and waited for Zuko to okay it being open and Zuko out of habit nodded his approval. She turned the knob and pulled the door open to reveal a soldier waiting on the other side.
All three of them exchanged worried and confused glances. What did he want? The man bowed "Prince Zuko," Zuko walked over to the door "Your father has returned and wishes to see you right away in the war room."
"Thank you." was all Zuko said then shut the door on the again bowing man. His father was back?
"I wonder what my brother wants." Iroh wondered out loud.
Sang walked over to the bathroom and let Katara out. "May he heard about what happened and since Prince Zuko was Katara's master, maybe he thinks you know something." Sang commented.
"That is very possible," Iroh said raising his hand to his chin to think. "and if your assumption is correct you will need to be very careful, Prince Zuko. Ozai has a way of manipulating and twisting what other people say against them."
Zuko nodded and walked over to Katara. He hugged her and said "Please be safe." after that, he left. Katara didn't bother hiding because he didn't open the door wide enough for anyone to see her.
But when he left she whispered back to him "You too."
"Well," Iroh said clapping his hands together "Sang, would you like to accompany me on finding a place for Miss Katara to go?" Sang nodded and gave Katara one last hug before following Iroh out of the room. Before the door shut however she mouthed to Katara 'Stay here!' Katara nodded her head telling her friend that she understood.
..:-:..
It seemed like forever that Katara was stuck in Zuko's room pacing, worrying about him, but it was probably only ten to twenty minutes. She sat down on his bed to try and calm down, but to no avail. He had to get out of this room or she was going to go crazy! So she pulled out a traveling cloak from Zuko's closet and through is over her shoulders. Katara pulled the hood over her head just in case and then wondered over to the door. She turned the knob ever so quietly and pulled the door open to see that the two guards were still there so she shut the door and fast and as quietly as she could and walked over to the bed again, flustered. How was she supposed to get out of this room and make sure Zuko was okay?! She pulled a vase off of the table next to the bed and looked at it just for something to do. It was a pretty vase, it had gold trim around it and dark red colors. The design of it was, of course, Fire Nation. Instead of being a red flame like always it instead had a gold flame and Katara wondered why this one was different. She glanced over at the window then did a double take. She had found her way out!
The young waterbender walked over to Zuko's closet and opened one of the doors. She then placed the vase on the ground next to it and crawled inside the closet. She pulled the hood of the cloak of her head and placed it onto the hook she had found it on. Then Katara bent down and picked up the vase and threw it at the window. Once she released the vase she didn't bother to wait and see if it made contact all she needed was the noise and she got it. She shut the closet door and pulled herself up onto the hook. From behind Katara it just looked like Zuko's cloak and other things were just hung there like they always were. She heard the guards shuffle in and start to talk to one another. "Look at the floor Shing; someone used this broken vase to break the window and escape!"
"It must have been that waterbender! We have to tell the others!" the other guards said and she heard them run out of the room and down the hall. Katara didn't bother waiting as soon as she knew they were gone she was too. Again Katara opened the door and found that they were indeed gone, so she pulled her hood over her head and hurried out of the room to find Zuko.
She walked a little ways before turning right down the corridor that led to the war room. As she walked she ran into very few people, well guards. She saw the normal amount of servants and not one bothered her. Probably because she was wearing a traveling cloak and they didn't want to mess with her if she turned out to be bad. Katara didn't care as long as she wasn't found out she was okay. She walked down to the servant's entrance to the war room and saw that they were all gone. Briefly she wondered why. The Fire Lord always wanted something. Katara made her way the back entrance and saw who she had been searching for. Zuko was kneeling in front of the Fire Lord and the Fire Lord was circling him like he was a vulture. She saw their mouths moving, but heard nothing so she moved closer.
"Did you know that she was a waterbender?" Ozai asked his son.
"No." Zuko said plainly.
"Do you know where she is at this very moment?"
Ozai moved in front of him and Zuko averted his eyes. "No." he finally said.
The Fire Lord tensed "You're lying." he said accusingly. Zuko glared up at him. "She is a traitor, Zuko. If you are protecting her that makes you a traitor."
Katara moved closer desperately trying to think of something anything she could do to help Zuko. The Prince was silent for a minute or two before saying "My protecting someone that hasn't done anything wrong does not make me a traitor!" Zuko snapped back at his father. Katara smiled at the Prince for being strong.
"So," Ozai said backing up "you are protecting her after all." Zuko's eyes moved into dangerous slits, but he didn't answer. The flames behind Ozai grew large and the room became hot and humid. "YOU WORTHLESS UNGRATEFUL BASTARD!! HOW DARE YOU BETRAY ME! I AM THE FIRE LORD!! I have no more use of you! I'll dispatch you myself." Katara couldn't believe what she was hearing! Ozai would kill his own son?! While Katara just stood there in horror the two started to fight.
Blow after blow Katara watched the exchange growing more and more worried about Zuko every second. Ozai threw his son to the ground and Katara thought that was the last time she would ever see Zuko alive, but the Prince spun on the ground and knocked his father onto his back.
The duel was over and Zuko had won. He held out his fist to deliver the final blow when Ozai said "Seeing as how this is it I guess I'll tell you." Zuko's eyes widened clearly he knew what the Fire Lord was talking about, but Katara was just confused. "The waterbender's family is dead. Her father was killed in the raid and her brother escaped. Yes he escaped, but he didn't get very far before I shot him." Katara cupped her hands over her mouth to try and stay quiet and it worked, but it didn't stop the tears from coming. "Her mother didn't really die in the virus. I had her poisoned. She saw some things that she wasn't supposed to see." this time Katara couldn't hold it in, she burst into tears and fell to her knees. The hood over her face fell back onto her shoulders raveling her face. Zuko and Ozai, when they heard someone cry, looked over to her and saw her. In the moment that Zuko looked away Ozai shot him with a fire ball right in the chest. Causing him to fall to the ground in agony. "That should keep you down for a while." Ozai kicked him in the chest and walked over to Katara. Once there he knelt down and pulled her chin up so that she was forced to look into his eyes. "You know, the only reason I've let you live was because you're very entertaining. But unfortunately you have over stayed your welcome." he let her go throwing her to the ground.
Katara glared up at him tears still falling "How can you be so heartless?"
He looked down at her with no expression, raised his fist igniting the flame and said "It's easy." the waterbender's eyes widened in horror and she covered her head as best she could in a last ditch effort to try and protect herself. Ozai screamed and she closed her eyes praying that it would all turn out alright.