"What the hell?" Sokka asked as he watched Azula climb up into the belly of an airship.
Katara pulled Sokka forward, "Hurry up."
"I don't want to get in that thing." He protested refusing to move. Snow fell around them wildly, it complementing the hurried movements of the people it was falling on.
"Then stay here. We would move faster without you." Katara took off running after Azula, she wasn't going to waste a moment. Zuko needed her NOW.
She heard Sokka curse loudly behind her and then he was by her side climbing into the airship too.
The journey should take a day and a half, nonstop. Azula and Sokka would not stop bickering. Sokka threatened to throw Azula overboard at least once an hour and she egged him on. After all, Azula was not one to back down from a fight. Katara tried her best to keep the peace, but somehow it was working.
Zuko was lazily walking down the hall with Azula when a servant came running up to them from behind, "Your majesty, your presence is requested in the throne room." The servant said out of breath.
"Oh Zuzu, please do not leave. I was just beginning to appreciate your company." Azula whined glaring at the disruptive servant.
"As much as it troubles me to say, Princess Azula is correct. I have taken leave for the day. Explain to the councilmen that I am unreachable and we shall discuss the matters tomorrow." Zuko cringed when he saw Azula smirk. He hated it when she was right, mostly because she was always right.
Azula stuck her tongue out at the poor servant, gloating her victory. Zuko scowled at her and she rolled her eyes, "Lighten up. Where is your sense of fun?"
"She left." He grumbled and kicked a stray rock all the way to the other of the courtyard without much effort.
"Do not be that way. You understand why she left and she remembers where you live, so there is no problem. If she wants to return, then she will. Take Kristoff and I, he leaves to visit his family often and yet he still longs for me every night." Azula continued to walk to wherever she was taking him.
"Kristoff depended on the palace for employment, and you happen to be the sister of his Fire Lord."
"Not the point. If Katara loves you, she will come back." She ran her fingers against the surface of the columns that they passed. "I have some pleasant news though…"
"Azula." Zuko interrupted in a hushed warning reaching out to touch Azula's arm effectively stopping her from taking another step. Up ahead, there was a person clad in black. They were crouched in the shadows; Zuko could barely make him or her out to begin with much less discern any identifying features. Except for his or her eyes. They were a deep amber, Fire Nation or Fire Nation heritage. They relayed a deep-rooted hatred toward either him or Azula. Zuko couldn't tell which, but it was obvious he/she was only focused on only one of them.
Zuko dropped into a low defensive stance, ready for anything.
Katara listened to Sokka bicker with Azula about snacks.
Azula: "I need more of the snacks because 1. I am PREGNANT. And 2. I am the one fueling the balloon with firebending. I need to keep my energy up. 3. I'm royalty. Hand them over."
Sokka: "No way. I packed these. I get to eat these. Eat your own food." Azula made to grab said snack foods. "Hey, don't make me throw you over the railing."
Azula: "As if you could."
Katara held her hand out for some of Sokka's snacks, "Could I have some please?"
Grumbling Sokka obliged his sister, but not willingly.
Without any emotion or hesitation Katara handed her share to Azula who thankfully accepted the meager snack.
"Hey, what did you do that for?" Sokka protested, upset that Katara had deceived him.
"She needs her energy. Stop fighting, please. For me." Katara requested leaning against Sokka and watched Azula tended to the furnace.
When she was done, Azula rubbed her swollen stomach and looked out over the horizon. She was anxious and worried for her brother, which was obvious. Maybe arguing with Sokka was her way of coping with the things she had no control of.
It happened so quickly that he didn't even have time to think.
She was too far away from him to protect properly. He had no other choice; Zuko did what he had to in order to protect his sister.
He saw the assassin rise to strike.
It was too late to rush the assassin and throw off the attack. The assassin was also too far away to stop anyway. Lightning sparked from the assassin's fingertips.
The assassin was aiming at Azula!
Time froze as the bolt of lightning left the assassin and raced toward his sister. Zuko saw everything in slow motion. The bolts of blinding blue light quickly made their way toward her. She would never be able to react in time, no matter how good she was. Her hands slowly rose in front of her body to protect herself. There was naught she could do to stop the damage the lightning would cause.
Zuko acted upon the first thing that came to mind: stop the lightning.
He moved quicker than he ever thought was possible. Soon, his body was filled with the electric current that was meant for another. Zuko's limbs shook with pain and tension. He couldn't move. He was overwhelmed by the reality of the situation and panic dominated all other thought. He just wanted the pain to stop. He didn't want to feel anymore.
Please, Agni let it end.
But he had saved Azula. And in the end that was all that mattered.
Katara finally stepped out of the airship and hit the ground running. She had to find the nearest servant. She needed to know if he was still alive. Red, black, and gold swirled around her, the familiar colors of the Fire Nation. She didn't take the time to sight see.
"KATARA!" Sokka and Azula called after her.
Reluctantly she stopped, tears threatened to spill from her eyes. She wouldn't be able to keep it together much longer. She had promised Zuko, on the way over, that she would be strong for him. She could cry later, when he was safe.
Azula caught up to her before Sokka did, "He has not passed yet. People would be wearing white if he had died." She wore a relieved expression, obviously happy that Zuko is still breathing. "Hurry, he is in the medical ward. This way." She sprinted off down a random corridor, her hair flying in the wind behind her. Although, her enlarged belly slowed her down somewhat.
Sokka tried very hard to keep his expression neutral, for that Katara was grateful. She followed Azula closely, hoping that Zuko can hold on for a little longer. She just had to heal him.
They raced past servants and guards and nobles. The servants quickly moved out of their way praising Agni that a new healer was here to save their Fire Lord. The guards gave them a deep traditional bow and, assuming they weren't on duty, followed. Nobles watched, emotionless.
By the time she reached the medical ward a small procession was behind her. Katara didn't care about them nor paid them any notice. She didn't care about anything except the man lying on the bed in front of her.
To say he looked awful was an understatement, Zuko's skin had sunken in around his cheeks from malnourishment. His hair was clean, but lost all luster of life. The nurses tried to take care of him, that was apparent, his hair was neat and he was clean-shaven, he had a fresh change of clothes and bed sheets. There was only one thing about him that was alive: his heart. Zuko was a nothing but a skeleton with barely beating heart.
A doctor raced over to them, "Are you a healer?!" He sounded so desperate. Zuko's people really cared about him. Katara only nodded, she didn't trust herself to speak. She might not be able to hold back the sobs. Sighing in relief the doctor led her to his bedside, "His chest has taken most of the damage. The lightning has created a mass of scar tissue that is growing bigger every day. If we don't figure out how to stop the growth then it will hinder the ability of his heart to beat, if it is able to beat at all. He is in a comatose state, nonresponsive to anything we have tried thus far."
"How long has he been here?" Katara croaked out as she reached forward to brush a stray hair from his forehead then thought better of it.
"Five months."
Zuko knew that Azula's attacker, an unnamed unmarked male, had been caught. Well, caught was relative. The assassin had committed suicide after Zuko had been struck down. Something about a poison pill hidden between his teeth.
How did he know all this? The same way he knew that he lay in the medical ward.
People talked to him.
Uncle told him about the assassin, hoping that Zuko would gain the will to stir. Sweet dear old Uncle, spent every day, all day, by his bedside. Until the duties of the Fire Nation called him away, leaving Zuko to the company of the nurses, doctors, Azula, and Kristoff. Then Uncle visited at every chance he got, he never went back to his room to sleep. He always slept in the chair by Zuko's bed.
Somehow Zuko was always aware of his surroundings, it was like a perpetual awareness. He could hear everything everyone said. He could feel them grip his hand, trying to comfort him; tender kisses on his forehead from the nurses who are grieving over their dying Lord. Tears wetting his skin from Azula, he hadn't witnessed her cry in years, yet here she was crying over his failing body. All the while he was in intense pain, every inch of him felt the aftereffects of the lightning. It looked like there was no rest for the weary this lifetime.
It was absolute torture to sit here and endure the pity from everyone, the sympathy they thought they held for him. It only worsened when Azula came in one day, "Zuko," She took her hand in his own. His muscles screamed in protest, but he couldn't complain let alone answer her. "I-I was trying to tell you something… that day. I'm pregnant, almost four months now." She paused waiting for any reaction; it broke his heart that he couldn't answer. "Please say something. Anything." No matter how hard he tried to squeeze his hand or open his eyes, he was not able to show her that he was happy for her.
That was the worst torture of all: it was a one-way communication.
"You are going to get better. I promise." She brought his hand to her face and pressed it against his cheek.
Zuko realized at that moment that he might never make it out of the medical ward. He might never see his niece or nephew playing in the sunshine. Zuko would never get to tell Uncle how much he meant to him.
He also might never die. Zuko might be stuck in this 'perpetual awareness' for the rest of his days. Stuck listening to his people grieve over him. Where he wouldn't be able to respond.
"How long has he been here?" Came a familiar voice filled with grief and pain. What was she doing here? How long had he been out of it?
Katara sat in the chair next to Zuko's bed. She asked for the medical ward to be cleared. No one was to be in here while she worked on the Fire Lord. She needed quiet and no distractions. Men brought in buckets and buckets of water for her to work with; they surrounded Zuko's bed three rows thick.
Prince Iroh was the last person left, he looked desperately between Katara and his nephew. His hopes and dreams rested in Katara's hands now. He laid a comforting hand on her shoulder before leaving her alone to work.
She almost couldn't bring herself to move, she didn't want to see the damage that had been done to his body. She willed him to rise from the bed with that cocky smile that he always wore, shaggy hair falling into his eyes. His eyes, the golden windows to his innermost thoughts and wishes.
She couldn't procrastinate any longer. She had to start the healing process. He was counting on her.
Katara approached his bed and pealed the sheets back from his body exposing his torso covered in clean white bandages. She couldn't see his skin at all, except for his face, due to the amount that was wrapped around him. It scared her. Could Zuko even be saved?
With a shaking hand she pulled some water out of a barrel at her feet and gently slicing through the bandages until she had reviled all that was previously covered. She watched his chest slowly fall up and down as he breathed. It was so shallow.
Maybe it wasn't her place to save him. Maybe she was brought her to ease his pain as she passed on to the Spirit world. She would do what she needed to in order to help, whatever that may mean. "I'm here for you, Zuko."
"I'm here for you, Zuko." Katara whispered softly leaning over him, her breath tickling his ear. Their cheeks were almost touching, but she would not make contact. She was careful about that.
Had Katara really returned to him?
Zuko hoped that she would wait for him to get better. Just hearing her voice made the eternal pain more bearable. He would fight this, fight for her. Not that he wasn't fighting already.
He felt her pull away, he cannot figure out why. He tries to scream, "I just need more time. Wait a little longer for me, please. Soon, very soon, I'll be up and about again. I'll hold you in my arms like before I let you go. I promise I'll never let you go again. Not if you don't want me to." Of course he cannot make the words come out. He cannot move. He cannot see her.
But he feels her. Zuko feels Katara move a body of water over him. It was soothing against his raw flesh, it eased the pain. The first relief he had felt since being struck.
Zuko's body was badly broken. None of his bones were broken, but every nerve in his entire body was. Along with almost every muscle had slight burn scars. She was sure that she could heal them, maybe not entirely, but he would be able to walk and talk and move when she was done with him.
Zuko's chest made her cringe; it was a red and raw mass of unidentifiable skin and scabs. The scar tissue was so dense and heavy that it was causing him problems breathing and letting his heart beat. That is what would take the most work and the most time.
Zuko's head was just as bad as his chest. His spinal cord was intact, but again the scar tissue was building up pressure and would cause problems for the rest of his body, it was part of the reason he was paralyzed. The other part was that his brain retained some of the static charge, it wouldn't let him rest. She could feel his consciousness press against the healing water. The brain tissue was slowly shutting itself down. It couldn't sustain the amount of electricity running though it causing failures.
Katara knew that all these things kept him in constant pain, but if she could work swiftly with no mistakes then he might be able to make it a little longer. If he could make it longer then she might be able to reverse some of the more permanent damage. Hopefully.
Stealing her nerves, Katara rolled up her sleeves determined to do her best. She took a deep breath and pulled more water to her. An inch above his chest it started to glow blue, she needed to take care of what would kill him first.
Katara had never tried to heal anything this extreme before. Where should she begin? How would she know if she is doing it right?
She couldn't doubt herself now, Zuko depended on her. She lowered her hands on his chest, the water seeped into the wound causing his skin to glow a faint blue, and with her hands against his wounds she closed her eyes and let the water guide her.
It led her to his lungs. She had missed it before, they weren't functioning right. Something was off, but she couldn't tell exactly what. She released more chi into the healing water and suddenly his lungs were better. Not perfect but better, they could heal the rest on their own. The scar tissue weight was still too much for it to make much of a difference. So that was the next thing Katara decided to work on.
She felt the flow of his chi around her, it was broken and dismantled. It couldn't flow correctly. The chakra points were blocked in places or completely broken in others letting the chi flow freely, but not in the right direction.
She couldn't fix the flow of chi for Zuko, that was something he would have to do on his own. She could only fix his body. If Zuko wanted to firebend again, it would take years of reconstruction for the chi pathways to fully heal.
Little by little Katara was able to withdraw scar tissue from Zuko's body. She became mechanic. Find scar tissue, remove it. She tried to block out all emotions and focus on the healing. Letting her chi guide her. Letting his body tell here what needed to be done next.
We felt better. We weren't in as much pain as before. Joy. Pure and simple joy, also some thankfulness.
Confusion. We remember looking down at Zuko's body. Yet we are Zuko's body lying in the bed while Katara heals us. But we are Katara too.
We are one; we are both healing and yet lying motionless. We cannot see, we feel. Feel the presence of one another. Yet, we are different: two minds melding during the healing of the body.
Memories flashed from the last time we were together. Dancing. Candlelight. Mother's garden. Tears. Hurt. Happiness. Pain. Sorrow.
There was a boat. It sailed to colder lands. Anger. Sadness. There was no goodbye between us. Regret. Anxiety. Fear of not being able to let us leave the other.
Calmness. Understanding. We are forgiven.
Concern for Azula, Uncle, Kristoff. An image of Azula came rushing forward. Angry and powerful, yet fat. Her belly was swollen under the traditional Fire Nation attire. Her hair was slightly unkempt and she looked like she hadn't slept in days. She is okay, but needs rest.
An image of Uncle came forward, worried and looked like he hadn't slept in quite a while. It appeared he hadn't changed his clothes in a number of days. His beard was untrimmed and he was loosing hair.
No image of Kristoff appeared. We had not seen him since arriving. Apologetic.
Soothing, we are okay now. We are together.
Love, a memory flashed of Zuko lying on the grass in a garden with his hair all messed up. He was smiling and laughing at something we had said. We threw grass at him and it landed on his face, he blew it away still smiling. The memory faded.
Katara loves Zuko.
Zuko loves Katara.
We will fight to stay alive. We will heal and rest. We will live for one another, because we are together once again.
What if we don't live? There is always that possibility.
Fear. Panic. We cannot die. We mustn't die. We must live!
But what if we don't. Someone must rule the Fire Nation. Someone must lead the people.
We see crowds of people before us. Some are cheering from below a balcony. Some are shaking our hand in the streets. Some are laughing around our table dressed in fancy clothes. They all need to be protected.
Uncle should rule in our place. If we die, Uncle should rule. Not Azula, a memory of Azula flashes in our mind. She is laughing hysterically at the unfortunate event of a young girl dropping some soup on the head of an extremely mad nobleman. He is screaming at the young girl.
No. We don't wish for Azula to rule. Chaos. Chaos everywhere. Fear.
Katara. We want Katara to have happiness. We remember Tikanni. He is strong and handsome. He can bring us happiness. If we don't live. We must marry Tikanni.
No, we don't love Tikanni. We love Zuko.
Life keeps living without us. We are just people. If we die, the other must find happiness. Promise us we will find happiness and love again. Promise.
We… we… cannot make such promises. We have stolen each other's hearts. They cannot be returned. If we die, we take the other with us.
Posted 12/18/14
Oh, the reunion. How sweet was that?!
Sorry if that was a bit confusing, I wanted something unique and for there to be no barriers between them when they reunited again.
Sorry for the late update and I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter. LOVE YOU!
Bye bye…
R&R.
Lady Rini-Katara has really been gone six months. And no I don't think they will get along too well either. Patience grasshopper.
The Congressmen-No I don't think they are XD
Lawliness-Hope you like the action in this chapter too!
Cheesehead101-Sorry for the late update ;D
Guest (1)-No one is ready for the Sokka. I cant personally wait to share what he does but no spoilers here. Sorry!
16901-Thanks for the support! and you will just have to wait and see XD
2 the anon below-you are so right about him not being ready for the Firenation. Everyone seems to think that the Firenaiton isnt ready for him, but it goes the other way too!
mirandaparra15-I know me too. But this chapie explains some of the questions i have formulated so far.