Bending more than Blood
I don't own avatar. If I did Aang would have married someone else.
Chapter Ten
Knock knock. "Lord Zuko, I brought your tea." The maid called from the door. Six months after Katara's death, Zuko found that he had grown accustom to her tea. As awful at it was it was a part of her that he could have all the time. During his tea breaks he would pull out the letters. Today would be no different. However today was his birthday so the others would be there soon.
"Thank you, Maria." The Earth Kingdom girl bowed. "Please inform me when the Avatar and party arrive."
"Yes Sir." The girl left.
Leaning back in his chair Zuko looked down to the locked drawer that contained Gran Gran's letters. Full aware that this was not good for him he reached for the letters. On top was the ones that he couldn't stop reading. The letters about the pirates, the play, capturing Azula and his engagement to Mai. The one that got to him most was right after Mai left him.
Hey Gran Gran,
I hope that you are well. I could use you right now. I don't know what to do. I have never been this lost. Aang left without telling me again. It's like he doesn't care that I am in his life. I was so mad about it this morning I started to pack my stuff. There is a house that I like on the other side of the city. I am seriously thinking of buying it. I just can't live on Air Temple Island any more.
I think that you would like the place. It's winter now and it looks just like the yard that around our house. I have seen it in summer. There is a small pond and an apple tree next to it. The flowers shine in the moonlight. It is very defensible too. A stone wall surrounds the whole house. Sokka lives three blocks away from it. Zuko's estate just three houses over.
That is where I don't know what to do. If I buy the house I would see Zuko more often. You know that I love him. I love them both but Aang won't talk to me about it. He just says that the fortune teller said that there was a strong bender in my future. Zuko is strong. Haru is strong. It doesn't mean that I am going to land up with Aang.
Mai left Zuko. The cryptic letter she sent me gives me hope that Zuko has feelings for me too. You know the man, he wouldn't show it even if he did. Why would I care if I really loved Aang the same way? When did I start loving Zuko and not Aang?
On top of this I witnessed a blood bender yesterday. I followed him cornering him in an ally. No Toph. No Sokka. By Myself. He begged me not to turn him into the avatar. He doesn't know how to control it. There was something that I didn't trust. After this morning I think I am going to have Toph have this man followed.
Spirits I need you here Gran Gran. I don't know what I am going to do. I love you. Send my love to Dad.
Katara
The letter was dated two weeks after Mai had left him. It was the day that he arrived back in the city to see her. They had a great night. Cactus Club for dancing and drinks. Dinner and a play before they ended up on the curb across from her future home. They talked about the pros and cons of her owning her own place. Yet it wasn't Zuko that had helped her with the answer.
It was Aang. He landed at their feet while she was crying. Zuko couldn't remember what the avatar had said to set her off. That didn't stop it from happening. At the end she stayed at his house. Aang went home. The next day they went to the housing agent and Katara bought her house. Together they sat on the floor in her new home talking about everything except what was bothering her. Aang.
"Zuko?" Speak of the man and he arrived. That was a year ago. Oh how a year had changed them so unimpressively. This was now. Each man held a little resentment for what had happened. Each man's self loathing out weighed it though. The dried blood under Aang's nails did not go unnoticed. Looking at Toph, Zuko could tell that she knew what Aang was doing to himself. He would talk to Aang later in private. Noticing that Zuko saw he pulled away from his best friend.
"I just have one meeting today so if you guys want to hand out in town. We can head to Ember Island in about an hour." Zuko offered. "I have no doubt that it will not take that long. I am told that they only want to talk about my future wife."
"I thought that you were going to bring Jin in?" Sokka asked.
"She is just a citizen." Sokka growled. A very pregnant Suki calmed him with a single hand. Katara was able to do that too. Zuko thought. "I know but if the council goes against me I will not be able to fulfill Tara's vision for this world." Things are so different in the Water Tribes. Sokka was able to marry the woman that he loved.
"Sorry, Zuko." His eyes snapped to the Kyoshi Warrior. "You have time. I can't see them pushing for it quickly." She hugged him. "They know that you are still in mourning."
Half expecting a group hug, Zuko stiffened. "This time next year I have to marry. I need to be married for my thirtieth birthday." Suki just held him tighter. A small hand did touch his shoulder. Toph tightened when his heart constricted.
"It is what is best for the nation. If another person took the thrown we would have to start all over again." That again. Why? All he wanted was Tara.
"That is what Tara said. It doesn't make me feel any better." Zuko felt the need to get away from them. To wallow in his own grief, even if they shared it.
"There is something that I want to talk to the council about." Aang refused to look at Zuko. "I think it is time to pull you into the search for your mother."
"Have you found her?" Zuko felt himself being pushed away from Aang. Toph's eyes glazed over, as she was holding the tears. "What is going on?"
"Your father has escaped with the help of Azula." Zuko knew that. How could he not? Plans were set to recapture them. "He found her first." What? "There is an army around her. Though I can't find her. The town was already scared. There is a blood bender terrorizing them. Between the army, the bender and me I am scared for her safety so I didn't press." Aang said. There was nothing to talk about. Plans formed in his mind. Only one stuck. No one was going to like it.
Zuko held his composure. The news about his father and sister was expected but a blood bender so close to his mother was not going to be acceptable. Once he got to the council room all but three were there. "War monger Ozai has escaped from prison with the unstable Azula." The room murmured. "I am going personally to capture them again." The room erupted in protests. Zuko simply rose his hand. "They are my family. That makes this my problem. I don't expect to be longer than two weeks."
Admiral Li stood up bowing to the young fire lord. "I shall take you myself. I know the forces that your father will have gathered. My forces will be more than enough to take them down."
"I am going on Appa." This is a perfect time to test the loyalty of the new Admiral Li. "However a second team on the coast could stop that land forces." The Admiral smiled. "I want no civilians harmed." The man was gone. Without another word Zuko just left the room. Aang in tow.
Zuko stood at the end of his bed. It held the two pasts that they held in common. Pulling the key from his shirt he sighed. "It's time the Blue spirit comes out of retirement." On the top of the pile were two paintings of women. One Aang knew was Katara's mother. The other was Zuko's. Attached to the lid Katara's straw hat next to the wooden mask. Aang let a tear fall picking up the mask. "I can move faster this way."
Suki stood at his door glaring at him. "You promised." The Fire Lord was seventeen again. Suki standing there, eyes full of tears. "You told her that you wouldn't risk your life any more. You promised us."
"This is not the time, Suki." Zuko said pulling his sword off the wall over his desk. When he turned she was glaring at him.
"I have to stop you. What would Katara think and if she knew that you were going to face them again? How would she react if she knew there was a blood bender?"
"Katara is the reason that I am doing this!" He yelled back to the warrior. "Do you really think that I am going to let another woman I love to die?" Zuko saw the warrior tear up. "Tara would want to go after that bender herself. We all know that. She thought it was her duty. She could not not help people." Aang threw down the wooden mask.
"You both feel the need to lie to protect those people." Aang snapped, picking up Katara's straw hat. "I would be following her to keep her safe." That was one of the reasons that Katara was annoyed with Aang. Yet Zuko would have done the same thing. Only once then he wold have joined her.
"She can't do that anymore so I am going to fulfill the mission for her." Suki gasped suddenly then liquid falling to the ground. Zuko caught her as Aang rang for the maids.
"This is not a good time." She told the baby as another contraction hit her. Smiling she turned to Zuko. "So much like his father. Can't let you go alone."
"Sokka!" Aang called down the hall. The man came in with Toph.
"Sokka you can't let Zuko go alone." Suki pleaded. The men exchanged a look. "I am going to kick your ass if you don't go with him." Zuko smiled as Sokka's resignation. "Baby is coming now." Sokka placed his wife on Zuko's bed while Toph pushed the other two from the room. None of the boys were allowed to enter. Aang sat on the floor across from the room. Sokka paced while Zuko stood next to Aang.
Zuko watched the Avatar rub his hands over scars. His nails shaped like knives, cutting into the flesh. Frowning Zuko saw the blood for perfect spheres floating over Aang's arm.
"Aang are using bleed bending!" Zuko picked up Aang slamming him into the wall. "Dammit Aang what are you thinking?" Zuko fought through the anger. He had to keep from slamming Aang through the wall. "You know how she felt about it." Aang said nothing. "Think about what she was becoming."
"Katara was an angel to me." Zuko looked to his brother for help only to find that the Southern warrior punched a vase.
"That didn't stop her from falling into the darkness while she fought the bending." Zuko growled.
Sokka stood next to Zuko. "You were there when Hama was forcing her to use it." The baby cried just as Suki did. "You were there when she began to hate herself for it."
Zuko dropped the shorter man. The collar burnt and smoking. It would be so easy to spark it to a full flame but this was Aang. Despite everything they were still friends. "Blood bending never solved anything." Zuko began to walk away.
"Was that why she was crying in her office that night?"
"She didn't tell me. I suspect that it was." Zuko stood up straight. "She never wanted you to fall to this, Aang. You were her hope for the future. If you fall into this madness like Hama I will end you myself." The Fire Lord said. Aang was left crying in the hall.
Zuko fell to his knees in his person shine to his mother, Iroh and Katara. "I hope you can forgive me, Uncle." This time the pack held money and his Blue Spirit gear. "Wish me luck, my love." Aang was no where to be seen as Zuko made his way to the waiting bison.
"Took you long enough." Sokka leaned against the saddle as Zuko when they went to get Suki and Hakoda. Both men smiled. "I have never seen the Blue Spirit in action." Sokka said taking the reins. "Suki said that you promised Iroh that you would stop with the Blue Spirit. How come?"
"How come she said it? How come Uncle made me promise? How come I am bringing it back?" Zuko unrolled a map. "Your wife wants us to be safe. This is hardly going to be safe. I promised Uncle because I had a new plan to join Gaang. I am bringing him back because the people need a hero for them and the Blue Spirit always was."
"So why did you side with your sister in Ba Sing Se?"
"You have to understand that I knew your sister has horrible acting skills. The moment that she touched my face I knew that she wasn't going to forgive me. I did want to kiss her and kill my sister." Zuko stared at the mark on the map he had made for Yon Ran's home town. "I would have given anything for Time Bending. Maybe we wouldn't have lost her."
Sokka started to laugh. "Man, you talk like you could have stopped her from doing anything." Zuko smiled.
"It's a Southern Water Tribe flaw." They laughed together. Seemed just like old times.
"Your future wife will have a lot to live up to."
"I am sorry."
Sokka turned back his his brother. "The feeling of what could have been is stronger that what happened because you have a sense of perfect for the life you two were going to have." Zuko sat back on his heels.
"Even though she and I didn't end up together, it will not change the fact that she changed my life forever. I would have continued to chase Aang to one day kill him." Saying it out loud gave him chills. The war would still be going on. His father would still be in power. All the good they have done would not have happened if Katara had not stood up to him at the South Pole. "Aang was right. Your sister was an angel. Sent to guide us to a new found peace."
"You are both crazy. She was a horrible cook, stubborn, selfless and pushy." Zuko sighed. "Nothing like my Suki."
"No Nothing like your stubborn, pushy, selfless wife." Zuko saw Sokka look up at the moon. "What did you name your child?"
"Kyo and La." Twins? Had Katara ever said anything about twins? Would they have had twins? "La looks like Katara with green eyes. Kyo is going to break hearts. Just like I did." Even Appa laughed at that. "Oh classic Appa. How I have missed this?"
"What?"
"The traveling." Zuko nodded. "Dad is teaching me how to run the tribe. Then Suki was pregnant. We kinda fell into our places in the tribe so I don't get to leave the South Pole often."
"It's just going to get worse. Once you are the leader there will be no traveling unless your Ambassador needs you in Republic City." Four years traveling made Zuko long for a home and now that he had a home he wished to be back on the boat with Iroh and Katara.
"Good thing for mental benders then. You and I are going to have lots to do now that the bill is passed." Zuko nodded. Sokka took Appa's reigns. "Just don't expect me to dress up as the Painted Lady?"