The Midnight Woods

Chapter 7: Becoming the Bride

Katara stared blankly at the dress, she was NOT going out there in… that… band aid they wanted her to wear. What happened to the rest of the gown? Did they just conveniently forget it? For a moment she weighing the pros and cons of dying a painful death to the god of an unknown clan, or marrying Zuko.

It wasn't an ugly dress… She thought trying to convince herself this was the best option. It was very beautiful in fact. The delicate white fabric was almost translucent, not leaving very much to the imagination. The neck line was so low Katara feared that if she sneezed the whole thing would blow away. Long slits on the bottom came up to her upper thigh and a circlet of gold was suppose to hold a long veil in place.

So this was the husband she always dreamed of, huh? A scarred prince who wanted nothing more to see her and her friends dead was going to be her husband. Funny, she thought sarcastically, she always thought of it being different.

How wrong she was.

From outside the stone doors two women came bringing with them an assortment of oils. Katara took notice of their clothes trying to get some sort of impression about their culture. The two maidens had intricate tattoos imprinted into the soft flesh of their faces along with a piercing on their noses. They wore ornate robes of fine fabric and yet seemed to be humble and subservient individuals. Nodding to one another they began the cleansing process.

Because they knew Katara could not speak their language the women used gestures to show the water bender what they wanted. Once Katara realized that they were there to see if she had indeed, kept her word and remained a virgin, she sighed heavily and looked away reluctantly as they examined her.

Well, no surprise there. Nodding to one another they dragged Katara to a tub and began a long brutal process.

Both women harshly grabbed the water bender and proceeded to strip her of the clothes and force her into a hot bath, scrubbing her hair and making sure every crevice was cleaned thoroughly.

She had never felt so violated in her life.

After the maidens practically ripped her skin off they started to rub sweet smelling oils into her skin and brushed Katara's long dark hair. The women kept it down against Katara's wishes and instead put the gown on her. One of the woman went to get rid of her clothes but as she picked them up the necklace Zuko gave her fell out. Thinking that it must have been a trinket from her fiancé they placed it around her neck and left Katara alone to scream in pain.


Zuko had a similar experience, two maidens came in and gave him a VERY thorough scrubbing, giggling madly as he tried to push them off. For two middle aged women they were pretty strong, and it was more than a bit scary from him.

After they rubbed in the oils they left Zuko to dress himself, against their wishes. The prince was grateful for their absence however, as it allowed him to meditate before the ceremony began.

How strange life was, Zuko thought. Here he was getting married to his prisoner for directions out of this God forsaken place. He hated these woods, they robbed him of a chance to catch the very thing he wanted, they very thing that would let him return home.

"Sir, the ceremony will being now."

Zuko nodded and the servant left. Here goes nothing…


A sick feeling settled to the bottom of Katara's stomach. She had to keep telling herself this was for a very good reason, but good reasons don't always mean 'good enough.' The ceremony took place in a temple created out of crystal slabs. Night had already fallen and the moonlight filtered through the walls to create a blue glow over everyone who sat, which was more or less the whole village.

This is better than death… This is better than death… It was a mantra she kept repeating but didn't quite believe in it. As the drums started to bang wildly she was guided up steps made of black stone to the top of an altar.

Maybe they are going to kill us and this stupid marriage thing is just a front. Maybe Zuko left me here. Maybe I should just kill myself and jump off the stairs before I get to the top. Why didn't I run when I realized he wasn't behind me? My palms are sweaty I'm so nervous. Oh my god, what about AFTER the ceremony? I hope they don't expect us to… Well I'm not going to think about that right now…

Katara's mind was running a million miles a minute and her heart was going at just about the same pace. When she finally got to the top she spotted that old man, Ayer, dressed in a long white ceremonial robe and Zuko standing his full 6 feet beside him. His lower body was wrapped in a thick black cloth and his upper body… Well… they seemed to forget about that. Thick corded muscles covered almost every inch of him, tendons stretched under his thin flesh and Katara could see veins thrusting out of the valleys of his body. She wasn't physically attracted to Zuko but she felt the need to look away from his nearly naked body.

Zuko, however, had no such idea cross his mind.

He had never seen Katara as a beautiful woman, he had never even seen Katara as a woman period, but it was very hard to ignore the effects of time on her body. She had filled out considerably in the bust area and from underneath the diaphanous fabric he could just scarcely make out the curve of her breasts rising and falling with a nervous shudder. Her legs were long and shapely coming up to well-formed hips and a narrow waist. If Katara had been anyone else but Katara, Zuko might have been pleased to accept the marriage and make love to her until he was too tired to move.

But the problem was she WAS Katara and it killed his excitement as quickly as it came.

They placed her before him and as she came closer he could just barely make out her nipples from under her dress. However, he adverted his eyes and instead concentrated on her throat where, curiously enough, his mothers necklace was. He could smell the bouquet of oils they rubbed into her skin and the sheen off her body made her that much more enticing.

Zuko, she's the avatar's friend. Stop eyeing her like a piece of streak. Besides, she'd probably be bad in bed anyway. You've had much better.

"I have." Zuko unconsciously said. Katara looked up to him with a bewildered visage and raised an eyebrow delicately.

"What?" She asked not quite making him out over the drums. Suddenly everything went silent and the man started to speak.

"What's he saying?" She asked softly.

"He's giving thanks that the gods have sent him two spirits to unite in marriage." Zuko answered staring at the top of her head. Katara's eyes were fixated on the man speaking.

Did she always have such inhumanly blue eyes? He wondered.

"Now he's going over the sacred manuscripts." Zuko said just as Katara was about to ask. The old man talked for a solid ten minutes before he turned to Zuko and Katara again. He grabbed their hands and placed them over one another and then tied them with a strange glowing band. As soon as he released it the people at the ceremony cheered and a shower of white petals fell upon them.

"I don't understand…" Katara said looking toward Zuko with beseeching eyes. "Are we married?"

"Not yet, we have to kiss." He said flatly.

No use sugar coating the obvious.

"I'm not kissing you!" She said trying to release herself from his grasp. Zuko grasped Katara quickly and squeezed her hand.

"We had a deal." He bite back acerbically. Katara's eyes narrowed.

"Fine, just do it quickly." She said discontinuing her struggles. Zuko bent down, he wasn't quite sure how to go about this, did he just give her a quick peck? Although his mind was telling him he probably should, his ego got in the way. If he was going to kiss her he was GOING to kiss her. His reputation as a good lover wasn't going to be tarnished by some obstinate little bitch who he thought he couldn't touch. Besides, why should he care if she didn't want a kiss? She was a prisoner after all.

Leaning down he grabbed her chin and forced her to look up at him. With a quick, deft movement he pulled his face down and sank his lips onto hers, moving in a definite rhythm and warming his lips with the fire growing inside him. Katara was at first shocked by his sudden movements but as soon as she realized what an ass he was for abusing this opportunity she wanted nothing more than to punch him. However, for the sake of their lives and her freedom she didn't think that pushing off her husband would help their chances of escape. Well… if he wanted a kiss then she would be GLAD to give it to him.

Pushing a great deal of energy into her lips she made them as cold as ice and blew into Zuko's face, pushing him away with a frigged blast. As he pulled back from shock the fire in his mouth leaked out and the result was a explosion of steam between them. The tribes people thought that this was a sign from the Gods, however, and cheered even louder.

"If you do that again I swear I'll kill you." She said only loud enough for him to hear. Zuko raised an eyebrow and was about to retort but the elder pushed them along to the chambers they would be sharing that night. As soon as they were in, the men locked the door and gave one more cheer before leaving.

"How could you? You abused that kiss you asshole, I never gave you permission to assault me in such a manner you perverted PIG!" Katara screamed.

Zuko rolled his eyes and untied the band around his wrist. "I really don't care what you think, our necks were spared." He said before grabbing her arm and throwing her against the only thing that he could tie her to, the bed. Katara bucked like a wild animal against him and pushed Zuko away.

"I'm not some sort of dog you can keep tied up at night." She yelled throwing punches his way. Zuko easily deflected her blows.

"You're only going to make yourself exhausted." He said quickly getting tired of her resisting.

"I don't want to be tied up again!" She yelled shoving him off her. Zuko grabbed both her hands and placed them above her head pinning the rest of her body with his weight. "I filled my part of the bet! Just let me go!" She screamed. Zuko thought about this, she couldn't really GO anywhere right now, she would wander the forest without direction unless he told her how to leave.

"Fine. It's not like you know how to get out of the woods or out of this room for that matter." He said rolling over to the other side of the bed. Zuko laid on his back staring up at the ceiling. Katara grabbed the blanket and covered her body.

"I'm going to need some of that tonight." He said.

"It's only big enough to cover one person."

"Then that will be me." Zuko stated snatching the blanket and pulling it over his body. Katara's jaw fell, of course it would be him.

"You're a spoiled asshole. I hate you and everything you stand for." She said moving to the side of the bed. Katara felt like crying, why didn't she have a choice in anything? First she gets married against her wishes and then HE takes her first kiss away. It was HER first kiss to give and the selfish bastard just took it because he didn't want to die. How did she know they HAD to kiss anyway? She didn't understand anything anyone was saying, why should she have believed him?

"And what's that? What DO I stand for?" Zuko asked rolling to his side to look at her back. Her veil had fallen off the reveal the low cut of her gown. Her spine arced beautifully like the curves of a violin. He was shocked to find that as she turned to face him, a river of crystalline tears fell down her cheeks.

"Pain, suffering, and death Prince Zuko." She spat with an ugliness he had never heard in her tone before.

It bothered him. Not because he had any feelings for Katara or her friends but because she thought she had him pegged just like everyone else. Maybe she did, maybe that's all there really was to him and he was angry because of it. Maybe he was angry because she really knew what he was and it bothered him that he had been lying to himself the whole time.

He was fuming now, but he thought for a moment. Maybe… If one person knew how he felt, if one person could see how much he hated his life the whole world would see that he wasn't the son of a tyrant because he wanted to be but because he was actually born a prince and with that came certain responsibilities he couldn't reject without the penalty of death.

"Put yourself in my situation Katara. My mother died defending me against my father when I decided I didn't want his tainted legacy. I never wanted to kill, I never wanted anyone to die because I wanted something other than what my father wanted. I guess that plan backfired on me, not only is my mother gone but many men have fallen under my sword because I am too coward to face my father and accept death if he were to grant it upon me. I probably could have saved a thousand lives with my demise but you're right, I am a coward in that respect… But nobody will ever give me the luxury of thinking that maybe it wasn't my choice but my curse. And for that, I am sometimes all too happy to fulfill their preconceived notions of who I am because no one will ever think differently." He sullenly declared running a hand over his head.

"You're right, I am a monster." Zuko finished forlornly looking out toward the walls swathed in a faint orange glow from the torches. Katara looked at Zuko with surprise etched all over her face.

She never expected in a million years for Zuko to say something quite like that. Maybe she was wrong about him. It was unfair that she considered him nothing but an animal devoid of real human feelings, devoid of life. Zuko was like anyone would be in his position and for the first time in Katara's life she felt true sympathy for the prince. His father had burnt out the passion in his soul leaving him with nothing but ashes for dreams and a scar to remind him of his place. The least Katara could do was to stop being a presumptuous fool and try to help him. He may have believed that he still didn't have a choice but she would change that, she would make him see that he could be a good person despite his past actions.

Slowly coming back onto the bed she gradually worked her way over to Zuko and placed a hand on his scar. He looked at her with the same amount of surprise she had shown only moments before.

"You're not a monster." She whispered steadily, keeping her sapphire eyes fixated on Zuko's face. The prince wasn't sure what to do so he sat their staring up into her apologetic countenance and wondering where she got the courage to touch the ugly part of him.

"No ones ever done that before." He said after a moment of uneasy silence.

"Done what?" She wondered.

"Touched my scar."

"Why?" She asked with a childlike innocence. Zuko almost laughed.

"You truly are blind, Katara, if you cannot see the ugly burn on my face." He laughed woodenly as if he had never done so before.

"I don't think it's ugly." She said seriously. Zuko stopped laughing and looked at Katara.

"What?" He asked sternly.

"I don't think it's ugly." She said again. Zuko looked at her with a curiously arched eyebrow and smiled sadly.

"The world thinks so and I know you do too." He said before crossly brushing her hand away and rolling to his side. "You may be the only one who will ever believe me when I say I'm not a totally heartless fool. You have compassion for the wicked and I think many take it for granted. But I want you to know something Katara, just because I've given you a tiny taste of how my mind works doesn't mean we're friends or buddies. I know that you will show kindness to anyone in pain because you think you can fix the world just like you think you can fix your mothers death. You're a caring person but you will never be able to change who I am. We're still enemies." Zuko contended closing his eyes for the night.

Katara wasn't sure what to think just then. For a second she thought she might have gotten through to the prince and just like that his trust in her intentions vanished like tears in an ocean. Well… They may still have been enemies but for a fleeting second she got to him and if she did it once she could do it again.

Rolling over to her side away from Zuko, Katara brought her knees up and began to fall asleep.

Before she drifted off, she felt the familiar weight of a blanket on her body and smirked faintly into her pillow. She WOULD do it again.


I just wanted to get this chapter out before I left for prom. I hope you guys enjoyed it. I'm still urging everyone to make a story till we get to 500 separate entries or send in the email so that we can get character drop down list! Also, I'm making a new story, it's another romance that features Sokka. I was wondering if anyone was interested in it? Let me know! Keep those long ass reviews coming, cause they're fun to read!

Till next time!