Chapter Eight: Nobody Knows Who You Even Are, Who You Think That You Are


Zuko

He was shocked by their expressions, as if they were frightened and sad at the same time. What were they looking at? He had to know so he moved closer to them, and as he did Katara stood into a bending stance.

"K-Katara?" he stuttered as she readied herself for a fight.

What was going on? ...Had they somehow figured it out? ...He knew this would happen. Now they hated him...

Katara was ready to fight him and Yue was simply in shock behind her... he'd always known Yue was a weaker person, following orders as much as she did, he really wondered why she was alone when they first met... but now they were enemies.

Why was fate determined to make him suffer? He didn't want to lose their company... he felt at home with Yue's quiet compassion and Katara's over-mothering... Well, if she intended to fight him, then a fight she would get! Although with the sun completely below the horizon, he wasn't sure how much of a fight he could give...

Katara

It made perfect sense! He was a spirit! He had led them back here, for what reason, she didn't know, but really what other explanation was there? Yue was clearly upset, Katara hadn't really guessed the depths of the girl's emotion until now... but there was just no way he could still be alive!

The portrait was old, found in a old abandoned house … it was straight out of a horror story. Assuming he was the little boy, he must have died about six to eight years after the portrait was painted... but why was he leading these two here... and wait... didn't Yue heal him, more than once even? ...Tricks! It had to be him tricking them...

Was Toph an illusion too? Katara had never actually met the supposed earthbender, but could she be another spirit? Katara thought all of this in rapid succession, until she wiped it all from her head, she was not about to become a pawn to be eaten or killed by spirits. No, she was going to fight!

Yue

All she could do was watch in horror as the man she thought she loved blocked an attack thrown at him by her best friend. She knew Katara was right, but why did it feel wrong? The brief glimmer in his eyes had faded replaced for a second by dejection as Katara had slid into her bending stance, even now the familiar light in his eyes was replaced by a cold, blank stare that showed nothing of his emotions... maybe he was a spirit...

Katara, Zuko

Her first attack he blocked with his wrists, he hadn't had the time to avoid the water whip, but now he reached for his swords, securely fixed to his back. He pulled them from their sheath and slashed at Katara in one fluid motion, it reminded her of waterbending almost. She sidestepped and sent another whip of cold seawater in his direction.

He flipped over it and rushed her, knocking her down with a kick. She hadn't seen that coming, too focused on blocking his swords with an icy shield. She quickly rolled backward and sprang at him, using her feet this time to catch him off guard.

She swept low to the ground with her hands and rose them swiftly, a wave shooting up behind her. It passed over her and as soon as it had he could see it start to freeze. Her crossed his swords in front of him and sliced a partition of the ice wall away, but judging from her smirk, that was exactly what she had wanted him to do.

The remnants of the wall on either side of him crashed into him and then refroze with a few flicks of her wrist. He couldn't move, he was frozen in ice up to his neck.

"It's over. You're through." She said, if he had been paying attention to her tone he would have noticed the hint of sadness it portrayed, but he wasn't and he shocked both the girls by what he did next.

"No, no it's not. I plan on lasting on this earth a little longer." and with that the air around them grew hotter, as though they were in the midst of the summer heat even though it was late fall, but that wasn't as shocking as what happened after that... Fire!

He opened his mouth and fire shot out, just like the dragons! Katara stumbled backward and fell beside Yue, both shocked beyond words. As he freed himself, melting the ice enclosed around him, Katara stood once again to face him, only this time she was slightly more prepared.

She was sweating profusely. With every attack he threw at her and every subsequent counter she threw at him, the temperature seemed to rise. If she didn't know better, she'd have sworn they were back in the inferno at the Northern Air Temple, and all of this had been a dream... no this was real! She was fighting for her life and for her best friend's life too!

She dodged another fireball and sent an ice spear in reply, she had taken off the kid gloves, no longer thinking of him as her friend. She was positive he meant to kill them both and the sun was rising, which meant her power source, the moon, was fading. She had to end this!

In one final effort she sent a wave at him, of course he blocked it, turning it instantly to steam, but she had already thought of that. She had jumped to his left side and summoning water around her, forming it into ice, she punched him with it as hard as she could, right in the side of his face, her brother would be so proud.

He was thrown back into the side of a tree trunk and landed in a slump on the ground as Katara slid limply to the ground as well. Now that the moon had disappeared beyond the horizon, she was completely out of energy. Yue ran over to her and caught her before she fell back, she was out cold, but luckily, so was he.

Katara, Yue

Katara woke before he did, rising with the moon, both of them must have used all their energy because they slept through the whole day. Yue had healed both their wounds, she just couldn't let him go untreated, when she saw Katara rousing she spoke,

"Katara, I don't think he is a spirit... Wouldn't he have just faded away if he was, I mean after you beat him?"

She wasn't sure. She'd never actually seen or fought a spirit before...

"I don't know, but we should at least restrain him... he's dangerous."

"With what?"

Again she wasn't sure. They didn't have anything like restraints, but could they just leave him free to attack again? Hmm... it was a conundrum.

"Well, for now I'll just use some really thick ice."

Katara soon had him restrained against a tree, ice encased around his ankles and wrists. ...Wait.

"Yue, if he's not a spirit, what is he? He controls fire..." as soon as she said it she revealed the possible answer to herself.

Quickly snatching the portrait out of the sand, she examined it further. There! On the father's head, a small flame design was portrayed on his top-knot hairpiece and the banner that hung behind them. ...They were Fire Nation...

"What do you know of the Fire Nation?" she asked, finally breaking the silence that had settled over their camp.

"Not really anything, just some old stories my Gran-Gran heard from her father. She always said they were evil, and it was because of the last Firelord, Firelord Ozai, that the dragons attacked. He made a secret vow with them or something..."

"Really? In the Northern Tribe we are told that too, but actually, we have several written records about it, but only the higher-ups get to see them. I don't remember too many of the records..."

"Oh... That's too bad... I was kinda hoping to learn more..."

Zuko

What did they care? The Fire Nation was dead and gone thanks to their people. Were they blaming the dragons on the Fire Nation? Was it not enough that those people destroyed the Fire Nation that they had to blame the dragons' rampage on them too?

He was glad for the first time since he left the confines of that cursed base under the waters of that stupid lake that the dragons had decided to level everything. Those people hadn't changed... attacking him just because he was Fire Nation, irregardless of everything he had done. They deserved the destruction of their homelands and people too!

Hadn't they done that to the Fire Nation? Weren't the dragons just meting out the punishment that was due them? Even after all they'd done, he still couldn't bring himself to attack them, the first time had been out of self-defense.

He decided he would leave without involving them any further, so he waited until they slept then he gathered all the trinkets they had gained from the house and tossed them into the dying flames, making the flames rise to eat the forgotten treasures.

He had no use for them, those items would only serve to identify him later, and so he also tossed the blue mask into the ocean, with that he told himself to forget all the pathetic people he had met since he'd awoken and began his journey toward the old Fire Sage Temple there he could get some answers.


Author's note: So, it's probably not as exciting as you thought...:( But I hope it was at least well written. Yes, next chapter will actually get back to the dragon storyline and the weirdness there, but I just felt like if the dragons showed up every chapter it would be like, uh, BORING! Oh, and I fully realize just how short this chapter was, well, sorry.) So yeah, I put in a Katara-Zuko fight scene, cause that's never been done before... Oh well. *I hope you guys understand sarcasm.*

Everything should be more back to normal next chapter. How am I doing keeping everybody in character? I feel like Yue is so hard to peg, so I've sort of been making her the dutiful type, which she kinda is, she was going to marry somebody she didn't even like because her dad told her too in the T.V. Show... Anyhoo... Reviews are appreciated!


Sorry about that guys! i am a bit of a moron... hahaha, I really should watch what I'm uploading sometimes... This is the true chapter 8.