Disclaimer: I own nothing, so don't sue. And no stealing my ideas either, or I will come to your house and suck your blood! Grr!
I'M VERY SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE! PLEASE READ AND FORGIVE!
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CHAPTER 12
The sky was darkening. So was Admiral Zhao's mood.
He knew the soldiers he led into the forest were grumbling about how unreasonable it had been for the Admiral to destroy Prince Zuko's boat, but insist on not setting up an ambush. They would have had the girl and the Prince in custody by now, they whispered. Zhao had to resist the temptation to burn them all with a wave of his hand.
It had only seemed unreasonable, he said over and over to himself. But there was really a purpose. He wanted to worry Prince Zuko. The little brat had embarrassed him too many times. Defeating the Admiral in Angi Kai, and infiltrating his fortress not once, but twice in two days. Zhao had lost too much to that spoiled child. Prince Zuko had to pay for what he'd done.
Zhao wanted so badly to break every bone in Zuko's body. But not before he broke the young Prince's greatest weapon: His spirit.
Right now he's trapped. Nowhere to go. Nowhere to run. The Admiral thought. He knows he's done for. The thought must be killing him.
"Admiral Zhao?" A voice suddenly cut into Zhao's thoughts. He shot a disapproving look at the lieutenant who had addressed him.
"What is it?" He asked gruffly.
The soldier turned his chin upward. "We just received word from one of our warships that Prince Zuko's ship has been spotted off the coast."
The Admiral's interest immediately perked. "How far away from his estimated position now?"
"Here are the coordinates, sir." The soldier handed Zhao a few wrinkled slips of rice paper.
Zhao looked over the information and then smiled. "If our banished Prince is aware his ship is so close, he undoubtedly will try and get to it by any means." He said.
"What do you propose we do, Sir?"
Zhao got the soldier a wicked glance. "Call for a ship. We will intercept Zuko's vessel, arrest everyone on board and then await for the Prince's arrival."
The Admiral turned his eyes away from the soldier. "Shameful how easy this is." He muttered.
The lieutenant nodded absent-mindedly. "I will send a message to one of the war ships immediately, Sir."
"Excellent." Hissed the Admiral through his teeth.
It's just a matter of time now…o)))o))))))))o))))))))))o))))o)))))))))))o)))))))))))
Katara crunched through the leaves and the rough underbrush of the forest. She stared ahead of her blankly, seeing only the trunks of hundreds of identical trees. Katara felt her fingertips slip between her lips and she began to bite her nails nervously.
I must be going insane…She pondered. Giving my first kiss away to Zuko. And admitting that I cared about him…
The girl blinked and glanced backwards over her shoulder. The firebender was walking closely behind her. She wasn't sure why, but as soon as they'd gotten over the initial shock of their kissing, the Prince had pointed her in one direction and ordered her to walk. The girl's mind was to exhausted with thought to protest. However, she didn't know why he insisted on following her, instead of the usual other way around.
Katara quickly glanced back at the Prince again, careful to make her movements look casual. Zuko was five or six feet behind her, his eyes strictly fixed on the ground ahead of him. Katara stared at him for a moment longer, then turned back, sighing heavily. She didn't understand the recent events that had so suddenly come upon herself and Zuko. She'd developed feelings for him. And those feelings ran deeper than she'd dare to admit.
What will happen when we get to the ship? Katara wondered. I can't let Zuko take Aang into the Fire Nation. But I don't want to be enemies with him any longer.
What Katara couldn't fathom was if Zuko was pondering the same subject. Looking back at him one more time, she noticed that he didn't even seem to sense her gawking at him.
He must be deep in thought…Katara mused.
She shrugged to herself as she turned back towards the forest. Nothing unusual about that, but the waterbender couldn't help but become insanely curious of what Zuko could possibly be concentrating on.
Katara forced herself to come to an abrupt halt, whirling around so she faced the firebender. Zuko blinked suddenly and stopped a few feet in front of her, offering the girl yet another irritated look.
Katara crossed her arms and stepped back to allow some distance between herself and Zuko. "Sorry. I need to know what is going on." She demanded.
Zuko's lone eyebrow lowered and he glanced briefly over her shoulder to the forest beyond. "With what?" He questioned stupidly.
The waterbender rolled her blue eyes. "What else? Us!" She exclaimed. "You might be able to pretend that we didn't kiss back there, but I can't."
"I'm not pretending anything." Zuko argued back.
"You haven't said a word to me since we left the campsite." Katara pointed out. "What have you been thinking about?"
Zuko's chin raised a little bit. "Why so interested?"
"Because I just am." Katara said with a frown. "Let me just ask you something."
"What?" Whined the Prince. "By the Great Spirits, you women are positively impossible to deal with."
Katara ignored his stereotypical comment and simply spat out what she'd been wondering ever since they'd started their silent walk. "Zuko, I admitted that I cared about you. Now what I want to know is…is: Do you care about me?"
The question seemed to take the Prince off guard. For a moment the fire in his eyes was lost and he looked quite vulnerable. "Why do you want to know?"
"Because, frankly, I wouldn't think much of you if you didn't admit it after kissing me like you did this morning." Katara blurted.
"Would you think much of me anyway?" Zuko asked thoughtfully. His hand went up to rub his brow. Katara's mouth twisted into a frown.
"I might…" She answered warily.
"Would it hurt you if I said I didn't care?"
"Well…yes."
Zuko's eyes lightly grazed the waterbender's face. His lips formed a tight, thin line before he finally spoke. "I don't want to hurt you." He whispered.
Katara's eyes widened eagerly. "Well?"
Zuko narrowed his eyes at her in return. "What do you want me to say?"
The girl thought about it for a moment. "That you care enough about me to let Aang go. Let him do what he's been destined to do. Let him save the world." Katara admitted slowly.
The waterbender watched nervously as Zuko's stance suddenly stiffened. His eyes flared with a golden flame and he ripped his gaze away from her. Katara frowned as he brushed past her and headed deeper into the forest.
"Hey!" She whirled around, shouting angrily. "Zuko, I was talking to you!"
She rushed up to the Prince and was about to place her hand on his shoulder, when Zuko abruptly halted and turned on her. Katara instantly felt her flesh being scorched by those eyes, there was such a red fire inside them.
"It's impossible." Zuko hissed. "I've searched for two years for the Avatar and I will not give him up now."
"You don't even need him anymore!" Said the waterbender. "If Zhao tells your father about you rescuing me--"
"I will deliver the Avatar before Zhao has a chance to spread his infectious lies to my father. I will not let Zhao win." The Prince interrupted determinedly. "And I will not let the Avatar go."
"If you cared about me you would!" Katara retorted.
Zuko's face momentarily resembled an expression of astonishment, then rapidly transformed to steel, hard and cold on his marred face. He leaned his head back and stared down at Katara like a snake that was about to strike. Yet he did nothing.
"I guess this matter is settled then." He whispered harshly. The words cut into Katara like a knife.
The Fire Prince pivoted on his heels and turned his back on her again, stalking off into the wood. Katara felt the tears beginning to form in her eyes, but blinked them away. She followed the firebender with her eyes, twin pools of mixed emotions.
He…he just said he didn't want to hurt me. She thought, feeling terribly decieved. Then why did he so suddenly change?
Katara knew it then. She couldn't stay with Zuko any longer than she already had. It was ruining her. She wasn't herself anymore. She looked up just in time to see the Prince turn back impatiently.
"Are you coming?" He asked heatedly.
Katara stared at him for an instant. Then her eyes changed, and became hot like the surface of the sun. She imagined her gaze burning away at Zuko's flesh for a moment. The teenager stared back with a disapproving face.
Katara's mind whirled. She couldn't stay with Zuko. Everything about him was eroding away at her soul, as the water erodes the stone. He didn't care about her, and if she stayed with him and allowed him to take her to his ship, she'd seal Aang's fate as a prisoner for the rest of his life. Katara's eyes began to tear as she thought about it. Then she made her choice.
"No!" She spat out the word as if it were poison.
Then Katara's legs coiled and sprung, and she tore away into the trees. She hoped she would be able to outrun the firebender in this dense underbrush. But it was doubtful her feet would be able to carry her away that fast.
"Katara!" She heard her name being yelled behind her, just another sound.
The wind rushed past her ears, screaming at her to move faster. Her heartbeat was pounding inside Katara's skull, growing faster by the second. She needed to get away. A small cry escaped her lips as she leaped over an oversized tree root and scooted around a twisted mass of thorn bushes. One of the branches caught her clothing, ripping the cloth to tatters. Katara stumbled and fell, panting hard.
"KATARA!" Zuko's voice rang in her ears again. He was closing in on her.
The waterbender scrambled to get up. She frantically searched the area around her for a place to hide or to escape. But she'd found her way into a thicket of thorn bushes, and if she tried to push her way through in any direction, her dress would snag again. She was trapped.
Glancing behind her, Katara saw the figure of Zuko racing between the trees towards her. She sucked in a terrified breath. The salty air stung her abused lungs, and she coughed.
Wait…salty? She thought, surprised. I must be near the ocean again!
Katara's heart instantly soared. If she could get to the shore before Zuko got to her, maybe then she'd be able to hold him off. But the thicket closing in around her…
The girl didn't think about it as she plunged into the thorns, her hands in front of her, protecting her face. She whimpered slightly as the sharp points poked through her clothing, digging themselves into her flesh. Yet she pushed forward still, further into the brush…but closer to the water.
Yes, she could see it now, gleaming, shimmering water casting light between the trees. She could smell the ocean, a heavenly scent in her nostrils. Katara pulled away from the thorns, desperately trying to free her clothes from them. But her hair became caught in the mass of branches as well, snagging on the thorns just as easily as her robes had. Now she was stuck, and at the mercy of Prince Zuko.
Even as the terrible thought began to fester in her mind, her pursuer jogged around the corner of the thicket. When he saw her, captured by the thorns as she was, he shook his head and mumbled some curse to himself. Katara watched in growing fear as he approached her, and reached behind his head to pull out one of his beloved Dao swords.
Oh…Katara panicked. He's not going…kill me, is he?
"You stupid, stupid waterbender." Zuko grumbled unhappily. He raised the sword and brought it down in a swift arch, cutting through the branches that held Katara fast. "Did you actually think you could get away from me?"
The firebender looked up at her for an answer, but Katara set her blazing eyes to his skin again, burning him. Zuko frowned and continued chopping at the thorns that surrounded her.
"I'm not stupid." Katara retorted finally, wincing as each branch was freed.
Zuko nodded. "Whatever." He grabbed her sleeve and gave it a good yank, effectively freeing Katara from the thicket. Sheathing his sword, he pulled Katara close, his hands clamping tightly onto her upper arms.
"Listen to me, Katara." He said dangerously, breathing into her face. "Don't you ever, ever try something like that again. Do you understand me?"
The waterbender struggled against his chest, trying in vain to push Zuko away. When his hands squeezed her small arms even tighter to prevent her escape.
"I'll never understand you!" She screamed. "Let me go!"
"Calm down." Zuko ordered in an icy voice. He briefly wondered whether the order was meant to convince Katara…or himself. The thought was dismissed after his words seemed to penetrate. The girl stopped her thrashing.
Zuko relaxed his grip on her arms. He sighed heavily, not knowing exactly what he should do or say. "Katara…" He began.
"What? What now?" Katara interrupted, her words tumbling through her lips as though she had no control. "What are you going to lecture me about this time! Or are you going to kill me!"
"Kill you?" The baffled Prince replied. "Why would I--"
"Why wouldn't you?" She said before he could finish. "You don't seem to care enough about me anyway!"
The firebender paused for a moment. "That would not be the honorable thing to do." He said finally.
Zuko freed Katara, earning him another look of confusion and anger from the waterbender. She immediately hopped away a safe distance and removed her eyes from the boy.
"What is with you and your obsession with honor?" She fumed. "It's all that matters to you! The whole world could go to hell, and you'd be happy as long as you'd get your honor!"
"Listen!" Zuko ordered, a bit more harshly than he meant to. "My whole life was built on honor. My whole country is built on honor!"
He placed a palm to his temple, as if trying to ward off an oncoming headache, and glanced at Katara from the twisted corner of his mutilated eye.
"I don't know if I told you this before," He began, taking deep breathes, "But you've obviously not figured it out yet: I don't have honor anymore. My father exiled me, and by doing so my honor was revoked, and my place as heir to the throne was stolen, my home was gone."
Zuko moved closer to Katara, placed his hand under her chin, and tried to get her to look at him. She refused, but Zuko continued his confession.
"Katara, the only way I can gain any of that back is by delivering the Avatar to my father—alive." He explained as softly as he could. "I've searched for two years. I—I can't give him up. My life is worth nothing without honor."
The waterbender shook her head vigorously. "No, that's where your country misleads you. All life is worth something, even the most dishonorable life."
"I means something to me." Zuko argued. "And nothing on earth has rivaled it's importance—until now. Until…you."
Katara glanced at him for an instant, her gaze softening a bit. "What are you trying to say, Zuko?"
Hearing her say his name once again was a relief, but hardly a comfort for the Prince. "What I'm trying so say is—what I'm saying is that it's a difficult choice, Katara."
"That's not good enough."
"DAMN IT, Katara!" Zuko shouted. "What the hell is good enough for you?"
The waterbender glared at him. "I've told you! Let Aang go!"
"I can't do that!"
"Yes, you can!" Katara yelled. "All you have to do is give up your pride and do the right thing!"
Zuko gritted his teeth. "Katara, we don't have time for this now! Zhao's troops could be—"
Suddenly a low, thunderous wail swept across the land. Katara and Zuko both jumped, startled by the loud noise.
"What was that? What was that?" Katara squealed, obviously frightened. She looked to Zuko, expecting the same expression to be on his face as well, but instead, she found his face lit up.
"What? Zuko!" She urged.
The Prince's lip curved into a smile. "That's my ship!" He finally cried.
"Your ship?" Katara echoed. Suddenly she felt a wave of relief flow through her veins, and then immediately felt guilty.
Why am I feeling relief? She asked herself. This only means that Zuko will finally get to trade me for Aang—exactly what I've been fighting against.
But Katara couldn't repress the happiness and excitement of getting to see her brother and Aang again—even if it was just once more. She couldn't deny herself being with them one more time.
Zuko grabbed her hand and bolted in the direction of the sound. Katara allowed herself to be dragged along beside him. She forgot all about the argument she and the firebender had started.
She couldn't help thinking about Sokka and Aang.
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Ick, that ending sucks. Sorry, I don't have a lot of enthusiasm today, but I managed to get it done.
Well, that's that for all you guys who were waiting for the next chapter. I AM EXTREMELY SORRY THAT IT TOOK ME SO LONG! But please keep in mind that I am a busy woman and writing fanfic is a recreational thing, and there are other things in my life that I have to take care of first. Thank you to all you you who kept encouraging me to write, especially ML7 for sending me so many messages reminding me that I was late! LOL. I'm very glad to be back and I hope I won't get too many flames for posting so late.
Also, I have to say that I barely had enough time to scrape this chapter together. So, sadly, there will be no Behind the Scenes of Avatar segment this chapter. Perhaps in the next chapter, and maybe in the future I will separate it and make it into an entirely new fanfiction. I'm sorry if I disappointed any of you, but it was all I had time for.
I can't make any promises about the next/last chapters in the story. I will try to have them finished sometime during the summer when I don't have school to attend, but I will have a job, so once again, I can't promise you anything. I will try though.
Thanks to all of those who read my story and were very patient with me. I appreciate everything you've every done for me. Thanks from the bottom of my heart.
Roseblade22