AN: HOLY POTATO. Eleven reviews in two days? Good heavens people… My E-Mail inbox nearly had a meltdown… I'm still busy replying to everybody's reviews, so don't feel left out if you haven't got a reply just yet. I thought it wiser to first post, then reply as I have been threatened in various ways that if I don't… Well, It's just safer to post XD
So, last chapter of my exam stress-release. Again, I despise the ending. But I suppose now you guys can picture whatever happened your own way… I'm just sorry I couldn't make it as awesome as I wanted… More afterwards, when you're all ready to kill me.
isclaimer: I still don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender.
The Firelord's Holiday
VII. Fighting
"What have you done to her?" Zuko snarled, his voice dangerous in Katara's ear.
"There's no need to sound so sour; it's only Shirshu venom I concentrated and placed in my whip. If I were you, I'd worry more about myself," Azula purred back.
Zuko's answer was a growl as he shifted away from Katara. She tried to stop him or at least move her head to see what he was doing, but found she could do neither. She also found, with growing horror, that she could not move her lips to utter a sound. Azula must have seen her pitiful attempts at speech, because she laughed darkly.
"Don't bother trying, peasant. You'll be rendered immobile and silent for quite some time. No way to fight back, no way to yell for help to those pathetic fools you keep company with. Not that they would have heard you anyway; my distraction is keeping them nice and far away."
The way they had all so easily fallen into Azula's trap hit Katara painfully as she struggled to move. Zuko and her were alone and neither of them could fight. The crazed Fire Nation princess would still carry out her plan; finish off Zuko first and then take out Katara even more easily. And the Waterbender was powerless to stop it, or even see her end coming.
"Don't touch her!" Zuko's voice barked, farther away from her than she had expected.
His sister paid him no attention and instead wrapped Katara's foot in her whip and roughly flipped her around on the bed so that she was facing the battle instead of the pillows.
"She deserves to see what the end looks like," Azula smiled sweetly.
If Katara could have whimpered, she would have. The Fire Nation princess stood a few feet away from her, long whip in hand and feral smirk on her face. And Zuko, without Katara noticing because of her senseless body, had gotten out of bed and was facing his sister, now half shielding the bed after Azula's last move. The Firelord was only half upright, leaning against the bedpost and still swaying on his feet, teeth grit and one arm wrapped around the one wound he could reach. There was already a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead, but his face was set for battle. No matter what it did to him, he would fight.
"I'm giving you three seconds to drop that whip and surrender," he rumbled.
"Oh please, Zuzu. Stop with the theatrics already. You can barely stand up and you're threatening me? Maybe I hit you on the head too hard that last time… Look, just be a good older brother and go lie down again. Then you can die holding her."
"Never," Zuko snarled, his single fistful of fire taking even Azula off guard.
With a strangled yell she flung the burning whip to the side, her eyes and face hard.
"That was a very stupid thing to do, Zuzu," she hissed. "Now it's going to be more painful for you and you'll die all alone without your little girlfriend."
A cry failed to escape from Katara's lips as Azula flung fire at her brother. Zuko released his side and blocked the flames with both hands, sending a counterattack back at her. But in his weak and hurting state Zuko was no match for his prodigy sister. While he was still unstable on his feet after his attack she charged, not bothering with flames but instead slamming her forearm into Zuko's chest. Even as he stumbled backwards he sent another volley of flames at his opponent, refusing to give up. Azula dodged easily and kicked out, catching Zuko's leg and sweeping it out from under him. He fell to the side, flinging out his arm to stop his fall. Before he could do anything else Azula was standing on his legs, keeping them to the floor. His attempt at swatting her off only got his arm caught in her grip and twisted above his head, used as a lever to hold his body down sideways on the floor, pinning his other arm beneath him.
"You are not worth my bending," Azula said almost lazily, examining the nails of her free hand while Zuko winced beneath her. "And yet I am still giving you the honour of dying by it. Aren't I nice, Zuzu?" Zuko scowled at her, his face black thunder as he tried in vain to wriggle free. "Oh, being silent now are we? I think I can fix that."
With another feral smile she bent down and angled Zuko's body so that the wound from her lightning was clearly visible. With a slight chuckle she curled her fingers so her nails stuck out; five perfectly filed, sharp points. And she drove them into Zuko's wound. The Firelord could not help but yell in agony, and the sound drove ice into Katara's heart. She started to struggle more, and found that she could almost, almost make a sound.
"There, that's better." Azula's voice was sugary.
She flung his arm away and removed her hand and examined her nails again, now slightly flecked with blood. In her momentary distraction Zuko attacked, shooting fire at her torso and knocking her backwards. He was going to leap up and immediately attack again, but no matter how he tried he could not struggle to his feet. Azula's blue flame caught him on the shoulder, knocking him sideways to the floor again.
"You really are pathetic," Azula drawled, standing almost over him with a bored expression on her face. "I still don't understand how you ever managed to beat me before. It probably had something to do with her."
Katara was thrown to the floor as the princess' fire consumed the legs of the bed. She was facing the wrong way and so she couldn't see how far away she was from Zuko. She had thought watching Azula attack Zuko would be bad, but only seeing the shadow of the standing princess on the wall was worse. There was enough indication to see the outline of her movements, but she would not know if the blow she dealt was fatal or not. Her fingers twitched, but no more movement could be called from her body.
"I'm done playing with you, brother. It's time to end it. Long live the Firelord!"
The shadow of Azula raised her hand as the real one did, blue flames in her elevated palm. Katara watched in horror, unable to look away as her heart threatened to break yet again in her chest. There was a moment of complete silence, and then the rushing of a great wind filled the room. Azula was swept to the side, smacking against the far wall as Aang burst through the door, staff raised and eyes hard. Azula shrieked in rage and flung herself at the Avatar, who warded off her attacks and inched out of the room, drawing the enraged girl after him. There were sounds of rumbling stones and metal unsheathing, but Katara did not care about the battle.
"Zu…ko…" She finally managed to force something past her lips. "Zuk…o!"
Her finger's twitched in irritation as she tried again to move. There was a slight swooshing noise, like something soft was being dragged across the floor. She sincerely, viciously hoped it was the muffled sound of Azula being flung across the floor. But then a warm arm encircled her, and she forgot her vengeance wish. She knew Zuko was hurt and bleeding and that outside the rest of her little family was fighting a crazed Fire Nation princess. But right then she didn't care. Zuko was holding her, she could hear his steady breathing as he kissed her ear, she could feel his heartbeat against her slowly mobilizing back. And that was all she wanted.
"You should have killed her," Sokka said flatly, arms crossed as he watched Katara finish bandaging Zuko's freshly healed wounds.
The Waterbender was brightly optimistic that after another six or so healing sessions they would all fully disappear. Toph grunted in agreement to Sokka's statement but Aang frowned at the warrior.
"For the last time, it's not my place to just go killing everybody," he said through gritted teeth.
"It wasn't everybody, it was Azula. She deserves death!"
"I'm inclined to agree with Snoozels on this one," Toph agreed. "If you didn't want to do it, I would love to take the job off your hands…" The ground rumbled ominously beneath her feet as she spoke.
"I think what Aang did to her was worse," Zuko interrupted as the Airbender opened his mouth to retort. "Azula may still be dangerous without her bending, but it was, in a sense, her everything. She was powerful because of it, known and loved because she was a prodigy. Aang Spiritbending her Firebending away is much worse than death to her."
Aang looked away but Toph took his hand, yanked him towards her and placed a kiss on his cheek.
"Chin up, Aang," Suki said soothingly. "You may have rendered her unable to bend, but now she has a chance to begin again."
Toph snorted. "Do you think she can, Sparky?"
Zuko nodded, but then elaborated. "Yeah, I'm sure she can. Mom is with her now, and you guys said she calmed down when she arrived. I guess Azula missed her as much as I did…"
"She's still going to be locked up for a while, though, right?" Suki asked.
"Yeah… Well, that is until something else is figured out. Nobody knows exactly what to do about her, so we're just going to play it by ear."
"What about Mai and Ty Lee?" Suki asked quietly, her eyes locked onto Zuko's as she asked the real question burning her tongue.
Zuko looked away from her for a moment as Katara stiffened at his side at the mention of Mai's name. As soon as the Waterbender had made sure Zuko was in no immediate danger, she had wanted to go after either Azula or Mai and make them pay. Toph had been all for it, but the rest had held the two girls back, eventually managing to calm Katara and take thoughts of revenge out of her head. Zuko stroked her hand once then turned back to Suki.
"Neither of them will be charged. Azula is very manipulative… She can make anybody do anything. Especially when the person wants to do it, deep down. Ty Lee wanted to make it up to Azula, to be her friend again. That's just her personality. And Mai… Well, I guess I deserved that one. "
Katara snorted, her face hard. The Firelord turned back to her.
"So you're saying Azula's clever words were what made Mai turn on you? She betrayed the man she loves now and her king all because of mediocre feelings; things that don't really matter to her any more."
"Azula did the same to me, Katara," Zuko answered her quietly. "I know better than anyone how well my sister can lie and manipulate." Katara's eyes told him she didn't believe him. "Remember Ba Sing Se?"
The hardness in her face vanished and he smiled grimly. The Waterbender sighed and stroked his hair out of his eyes before she rested her forehead on his, a sign that she had given in.
"Come on, guys. Time for bed," Sokka said, stretching and catching Suki's hand. They were halfway out the door when he turned back and noticed Katara hadn't moved from her position next to Zuko on his new bed. "Katara, come on."
"I think I'm going to stay here for a while…"
Sokka's face turned dangerous, but Suki placed a hand over his mouth and tightened her hold on him.
"Sokka, we're leaving. Let them be."
There was a muffled and incomprehensible reply from Sokka. Toph rolled her sightless eyes.
"Oh yeah, Snoozels, like Zuko is really going to take advantage of her in the state he's in. Get over yourself."
With the Earthbender's help Suki managed to drag her boyfriend from the room. Aang grinned at the pair and then followed, closing the door behind him. Katara instantly cuddled closer to Zuko, who pulled the covers over her as well. Their legs curled around each other at the ankles as they lay there in comfortable silence. Katara played absently with the frayed place on the blanket, her face intent.
"Why are you beating up the blanket?" Zuko asked her, gently freeing her hand. "It did nothing to you."
"I'm just… worried," Katara confessed in a mumble.
"About what? There's nobody left to hurt you. And if anybody new tries, I'll fry them to a crisp."
She smiled slightly at his words but then became serious again.
"But that's the thing… There are people who can hurt me. Not physically," she added quickly, as Zuko opened his mouth. "But it'll hurt more than physical pain if I can't stay with you…"
"And who says you can't?" Zuko demanded, his voice that of the arrogant prince she had first met.
"Your council. Your people. Zuko," she pushed herself up on her elbows to look him in the face. "What if they don't like me? What if the Fire Nation won't have me?"
"Then we'll go live in the Earth Kingdom or in the South Pole. I know you love your home."
"Good thing you're a Firebender," she smirked. "It gets really cold there. Oh but you'll have to learn how to skin your own animals for clothes and 'primitive' things like that." She grinned at him and caught the grimace that crossed his face for a mere second. Her eyes widened in shock. "You weren't joking…" she said faintly.
He raised his eyebrow at her as though he was questioning her sanity.
"No, Katara, I wasn't joking. If my people won't have you, I'll just try my luck with yours."
"But…" She was utterly flabbergasted. "Your throne…"
Zuko shrugged just a little too casually. "Uncle can have it. Or Mom. They can both run the country as well as me."
Through Katara's mind flickered the memories of the old Zuko, the one utterly and solely focused on getting his throne back. She saw the passion he fought with, the way he refused to ever give it up, the look in his eyes the day of his coronation. And, as the memories flickered, the truth really sank in: Zuko, the same Zuko who had chased them across the world, betrayed his Uncle, fought countless, and sometimes impossible, battles to get his throne back, was lying beside her and telling her he would give it all up for her.
"Absolutely not!" She gasped at what her mind was telling her. Zuko blinked in confusion, and then slight hurt crossed his face. "There is no way you are even going to think about giving up your throne, do you hear me? No!"
"I never knew you felt so strongly about it." His eyebrow was raised way up.
"Well I do! I'd never, ever take that away from you." She exhaled, trying to calm her nerves after Zuko's sudden revelation. "Zuko, what will you do if your nation does not want me? And moving anywhere else is not an option."
"You are the Avatar's Waterbending master, his close friend, the Painted Lady and deeply loved by General Iroh and Lady Ursa, not to even mention me. I doubt they will appose you. But if they do-" he cut across Katara's next sentence-"then I will remind them exactly who is Firelord of their country. If that doesn't sway them, then I'll let them take me on. I highly doubt any of them will win an Agni Kai with me."
Katara's mouth popped open again.
"You'll fight for me?"
"I fought for my honour for over three years, for my throne basically my whole life and even for my life countless times, the most recent being an hour or so ago. Of course I'll fight for you." His tone was patient, as though explaining to someone not very bright that fire was hot.
A slightly pleased and smug look crossed Katara's face and she buried her face in Zuko's shoulder after kissing him on the cheek. She was totally comfortable and happy, not the least bit worried about the future now. No matter what anybody thought or what happened they would always remain together. A grin pulled up the corners of her mouth as she realized her dream would come true. The warm body beside her would be there forever. She would forever remain one half of a perfect whole.
Even so, she couldn't resist one last jab.
"What happens if you're not as strong as you think you are and one of those old cronies on your council kicks your butt?"
Zuko chuckled next to her, too happy to get mad. A kiss was placed on her head.
"Then I'll go out as I came in: fighting."
SOOOO that's it ^^ Everything's over. I hope you guys enjoyed the story at least a little bit. A tiny little bit… Still looking for reviews so I can write that prize for somebody. A HUGE THANK YOU to every single one of you for reading and reviewing. Seriously, guys, if it wasn't for you, this wouldn't have happened. And sorry, once again, for the horrid ending. I wish I could have made it better.
CREDITS
The name Shirshu is a lot like Jee: it can be spelled in two ways. I took the one from the Avatar wiki.
The idea of Zuko willing to give up EVERYTHING for Katara was read by me in Rhythm of the Rain by the utterly BRILLIANT DamageCtrl. I nearly cried in that part of her story, and I couldn't resist making my Zuko say something of the same. It is truly beautiful.
I don't think I missed anything, but if I did please let me know!
Maybe I'll see some of you in the next fic? Another huge thank you and an even huger apology for the lame ending battle. UGH I wish there was a way to make it better…
Written Parody
