Eventualities Are Inevitable - A Zutara Story
Meeoko
Summary : Whilst settling into every day Avatar routines at The Western Air Temple, Zuko and Katara must learn to get along in close quarters. But do they learn more than they bargained for?
Possible Spoilers : The Western Air Temple, The Fire Bending Masters, Burning Rock part one and two and The Puppet Master.
Authors Note : Okay, it's Q and A time! These are some of the questions put forward to me by you – the reviewers. I'll try answer as best I can.
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How long does it usually take you to write a chapter? Cos you update really, really fast.
It depends really. If I'm really into it, it shouldn't take much more than fourty minutes. Then an extra fifteen to read back over it and check stuff.
Ew blood mist! Totally gross! Where did you get the idea for that?
I was just thinking how best to let them escape relatively undetected whilst I was re-watching 'The Painted Lady'. And as Katara is able to make mist (see in the episode), I thought that it should also be possible to create with blood. Plus, it's grim and angsty. P
If Katara was running out of blood, why didn't she take more from the guards bodies?
If you read over my last chapter very carefully, you'll see that none of the guards actually died. I was very particular about this, as Avatar is a children's programme after all. The only fatality so far has been Jet, Zhao (and Yue, I guess), but you didn't actually see any of them physically die. Could you see the original characters killing someone in cold blood? Not really.
I wanted to stay as authentic as possible. Plus, if Katara had killed someone, it would have taken me about three or four chapters of her having a mid-life crisis lol.
What's going to happen to the warden?
Ah, we will come to that bridge soon. You didn't think I'd let that horrible old man get away without any ass-whoopings, did you? He is a total douche, after all.
Can I do some fan art for your fic?
By all means. I'm very flattered that anyone likes my story enough to illustrate it.
I've done a few myself just for kicks. Links are on my profile if you wanna take a look.
Zuko was dreaming of Ba Sing Se before he woke up.
He dreamt he was flying high above the city and looking down over it. He could see all of the delicate buildings and blobs of green as little people passed by, wearing their nations colours. Everyone seemed happy.
But then he could hear screaming. Everything was burning.
People were falling in the streets, their clothes aflame. He saw himself at the steps to the palace, laughing.
He was burning them.
He was burning Ba Sing Se!
Zuko woke screaming.
He sat bolt upright in a cold sweat. But then a shooting pain sent him back down again.
His head hit the floor and throbbed. He clutched an arm over his shoulder and then his head. Everything hurt.
It felt as if he'd taken part in an Earth Bending convention as the target and hadn't properly stretched first either.
It was dark.
He could hear the sound of running water. It was loud – very loud.
Slowly, Zuko relaxed his face and opened his eyes. He could see a grey ceiling and even darker walls.
Tenderly, he removed the hand from his shoulder.
He expected to see blood. There was none.
Where am I? He thought. Am I dead?
Zuko took a deep breath. Slowly, he sat up.
He tried to ignore the muscles screaming and tightening. He felt a little cold. Even his inner flame wasn't enough to keep him warm here.
In the back of his mind, he realized that he wasn't wearing a shirt. His shoes had gone too.
He couldn't see Katara anywhere. Momentarily, he panicked.
Katara? Did she make it? Is she okay?
His head darted around, searching for her. In the corner, he could see her sandals propped against a rock, along with his boots.
So she has been here. Maybe she left.
The roaring in his ears didn't go away. He was beginning to wonder if he was turning deaf when he turned around.
He jumped as he saw the mountainous curtain of crashing water falling in front of him.
Zuko had expected it to come hurtling toward him, but it didn't.
Slowly his brain began to make sense of things. It looked like a waterfall.
Zuko ran a hand over his forehead and through his hair. It felt good to be able to move his arms and legs again. He's been worried they wouldn't work at all after the lack of exercise.
So we're near water. Surely Katara's around here somewhere?
For a moment, he debated wether he should look for her or not. Eventually, his worry won over and he braced himself.
He flinched as he stood up.
He wasn't bleeding anymore. His ribs didn't hurt and he found it easier to breathe. But felt very strained and sore.
She must have healed me.
Zuko chanced it and tried to flex out his aching joints.
The muscles seemed to creak under his skin as he stretched his arms out and behind his back. His legs felt a little uncertain, so he took care whilst he stretched them out.
Ignoring the pain, Zuko took some uneven steps toward the curtain of rushing water blocking the entrance to the cave.
At least he guessed it was a cave.
It didn't take him as long as he thought to reach it. Zuko frowned slightly, wondering exactly how he was going to ascend. There didn't seem to be any footfalls or ledges he could climb down on. No pathways or anything.
How did she get me up here?
For a full ten minutes, Zuko paced back and forth at the edge, looking for a way down. He couldn't find one.
If he had been at his full strength, he might have simply jumped through the curtain of water.
But he wasn't sure exactly how steep the drop was, or what was waiting on the other side.
Instead, he waited.
He paced backward and forth, surveying the tiny cave. He couldn't find Katara anywhere.
He tried not to panic. She always came back eventually.
Maybe they captured her?
Did we even escape or is this some new torture chamber especially for me?
He sighed. It definitely sounded like something The Warden would come up with.
He himself had been stuck in The Cooler at The Boiling Rock. It hadn't exactly been the most pleasant experience of his life.
Zuko was determined not to worry. So he kept moving.
He didn't dare attempt to practice his fighting or bending, he knew that if he did, he'd be answering for it. His muscles simply weren't going to cooperate.
So instead he sat on the cold stone floor and crossed his legs.
He closed his eyes and began taking in deep breaths. In through the nose and out through the mouth.
Just relax. Think logically. Just relax and don't think about anything.
But Zuko found that meditating was a lot easier back at the Air Temple, where he had no worries, no distractions.
Unlike most people, Zuko did not find the sound of running water soothing. He loathed it. It annoyed him and broke his concentration.
I hate waiting and I hate water.
A shiver ran through Zuko's back as the cold began creeping in.
Momentarily, he remembered the icy waters of The North Pole. That had been one experience he was glad to have over.
As he had swam past the turtleseels, all he had thought about was sleeping.
He wanted to curl up in a ball of heat and never wake up.
But of course, Zuko knew that that was the absolutely worst thing you could do. That's when hypothermia set in.
You'd think you were drifting off into a peaceful sleep, when in actual fact, you'd simply be freezing to death.
How do the Water Tribe cope with this daily?
He let out a breath of flame to warm himself up.
At least I can still bend.
Closing his eyes, he tried to meditate. To let everything go and just sink into a soothing trance...
A loud rushing sounded over the cascading waterfalls and Zuko stiffened.
Suddenly, the almighty curtain of water parted in two and in jumped Katara, carrying a bundle of logs. She looked tired and beaten, but free.
Zuko almost jumped out of his skin with surprise.
He immediately shot up from his sitting position and then wished he hadn't as each muscle in his body tightened in protest.
He sucked in a breath and rubbed his shoulder.
Katara beamed when she saw him. All the sadness and fatigue disappeared from her face as her joy took over.
Dropping her collection of wood on the floor, she rushed forward and threw her arms around him in a hug.
Zuko blinked stupidly with his mouth open. His own arms remained at his sides.
He tried very hard not to swear. She'd just crushed his already throbbing muscles in her embrace and it hurt - alot.
Do I...do I hug her back?
As quickly as it had happened, Katara pulled away again.
She turned away from him, but not before Zuko could see the intense red blush on her cheeks. They both tried to compose themselves.
"I uh...I'm glad to see you, Katara." He put a hand behind his head, looking at the floor. He was glad she couldn't see him blushing either.
Katara crossed her arms, still facing away from him.
"Yeah. It's...it's good to see you too, Zuko. You look much better."
For a moment, they both stood in silence. The only sound was the crashing of the waterfall, which had pulled itself back into a single flowing curtain.
Finally, Katara turned around to face him. Her normal colouring had returned and her smile had now disappeared.
Zuko sighed as he rubbed the back of his aching neck.
"So...we did it."
Katara nodded, her arms still crossed.
"Yeah. Guess we did."
More silence.
"So...so what happened? I can't remember much. Did we,uh..."
Zuko felt small and stupid. What was he supposed to say?
Katara looked at the floor and bit her lip, as if she were thinking.
"Zuko, do you want some water?"
Zuko perked up, only just noticing how dry his mouth was. He nodded to her and started walking towards the waterfall.
"Sure."
He cupped his hands. He was about to place them under the waterfall, as Katara stepped beside him.
"Uh, Zuko. I wouldn't do that. The currents pretty strong. You might get pulled off the ledge. Plus, there might be some nasty stuff in there and we can't afford for you to get sick."
He raised an eyebrow.
"Well, how am I supposed to drink then? We don't exactly have any camping supplies with us."
Katara rolled her eyes, looking a little annoyed. She pointed to herself.
"Water Bender – hello! Now open your mouth."
"What?"
"I said open your mouth, genius."
Feeling foolish, Zuko opened his mouth.
Now she's feeding me like a baby! This is humiliating.
Katara twirled her hands delicately and a small stream of water parted from the crashing waterfall.
She twirled it in her hands and created two balls. One, she threw to the ground.
"What did you do that for?" Zuko asked her, head tilted.
"I just removed all of the dirt and twigs. You don't want to get sick. Or do you just want to start eating everything like a pandafrog? Now open your mouth."
Zuko crumpled his face and sulked. He felt completely ridiculous.
He opened his mouth and Katara carefully slid the water into it.
Zuko wanted to sigh with happiness as the sweet, cold water touched his tongue and flooded down his dry throat.
He tried not to think of the damage she could cause him if she got angry.
When he had finished, he sighed happily. He felt much better.
Thank Agni, how I've missed that!
Katara's smile had returned. But it was only faint.
"Zuko?"
Zuko leant back onto one of the cave walls, it's damp surface sticking to his clammy skin.
"Yeah?"
"I was..." she looked down. The smile had vanished. "I was...you were...you were hurt really badly, Zuko. I thought that you weren't going to make it."
Her voice was small and meek. He had a hard time to hear her over the crashing of the waterfall.
Her shoulders were hunched and she looked utterly defeated. He wasn't sure, but he thought he saw a single glistening tear fall to the floor.
"Katara. It's okay. I'm fine now."
Was it really that bad? Did I...did I almost die?
She didn't look at him.
"But its not okay, Zuko. I hurt you. I hurt you really badly. I almost...I almost killed you."
Zuko held his hands in front of him, as if he were about to say something.
But he didn't know what to say. He just wanted to show her that it didn't matter. They were both alright. They were free.
But he said nothing.
Please Katara. Please don't cry. Not for me.
Katara's shoulders heaved up and down, but he couldn't hear her cry. She sounded as if she were in agony as she spoke.
He looked on, guilty and horrified as she let it all out.
"What they did to you was bad enough. There was internal damage and I didn't know. I should have guessed! And I just made it worse by taking away your blood. And you needed it. And I had to work so hard. I thought you weren't going to make it! You weren't well, Zuko."
She covered her face with her hands and bent over.
Zuko opened his mouth a little. He hated seeing her like this. This wasn't the strong, hard-headed Katara that he knew.
She continued between sobs.
"And it was on my hands and in my hair. I hurt people with it. I hurt people with your blood! It was in the air and in my mouth. It was everywhere and you were so tired. I just kept pushing you and pushing you. But you needed it and I took it away from you...and you were almost...you almost..."
Katara...
Moving away from the wall, Zuko knelt down beside her and placed a hand on her back.
Turning to face him, Katara thrust herself into his chest and wrapped her arms around him. Her tears were hot against his skin and her hair covered her face.
He held her against him and put his hand on her head as she cried.
"It's okay Katara. It's okay."
They had talked long into the night.
After a while, Katara had stopped crying and moved away from him quickly, wiping the tears from her eyes.
Awkwardly, they sat together in the centre of the cave around the small campfire Zuko had started from the logs she'd brought. They made sure to keep it small in case it could be spotted from the outside.
Katara told Zuko everything.
He had been asleep for almost three days.
After they had escaped into the woods, Katara had desperately tried to throw the guards off their trail. She altered her direction time after time, dragging him along with her. Several times, she feared that they would be caught, but they managed to stay undetected.
After they'd had been running for almost half an hour, Katar had found the valley. It had been completely untouched.
Surrounded by trees, the waterfall fell from the large cliff above and into a heavy river running at the bottom.
Katara had instantly drenched Zuko in water, desperate to heal him. But she feared that soon, they would be found.
So, she'd searched for shelter. After searching for longer than she was comfortable with, Katara had almost given up on finding anything, when she'd spotted a small dark space between the edge of the cliff and the waterfall.
With Zuko still desperately in need of a healer, she had dragged him into the water.
Using her bending, she had sent them both upwards into the air on a jet of water. She had used it like a geyser, able to support both her and Zuko's weight.
It was then she'd begun healing him inside the refuge of the small cave.
"It took almost the entire night to heal you. I was so worried. You'd lost so much blood and there were more problems than I'd thought. You had broken ribs and a punctured lung. There was bruising everywhere, inside and out. Plus your shoulder."
I guess she wasn't joking.
Zuko was surprised when he looked at his shoulder. There wasn't any hideous bruising or swelling.
He did have a long thin scar on his shoulder, where the blood blade had slid in, but it looked as if it had healed and closed up years ago!
"And I've been waiting for you to wake up ever since."
Zuko poked at the fire with a stick. His stomach rumbled, but it was far too late to go hunting now.
He felt he should say something about earlier.
"Katara. What you did...it was necessary. If you hadn't done what you'd done, who knows what would be happening to us now? You shouldn't feel guilty, you should feel proud. You saved us both, Katara. And you've healed me. I'm fine. Better than fine. If it weren't for you, I don't know where I'd be right now."
I guess I really owe you one.
He looked into her eyes and placed his hand over hers. Her skin felt smooth and cool. She seemed a little taken-aback, but she smiled weakly.
"I never thought I'd see the day! Fire Nation Prince Zuko giving a compliment to a Water Bender Peasant." Her tone wasn't spiteful or argumentative. She was joking, teasing him.
Zuko smiled back at her gently and leant back on his rock.
He felt a lot more at home now that the fire had been lit. His body temperature was returning to normal.
He grinned when he replied, placing both hands behind his head and looking up at the domed ceiling.
"Don't get used to it. It takes a lot to impress me."
Katara's mouth pulled at one side into a smirk as she raised an eyebrow. She crossed her arms.
"Is that so? I guess I'll just have to try harder then."
They both looked at each other, smiling. For a moment, everything felt still and peaceful. They were hungry, damp and alone, but they were free.
Free...
Zuko took advantage and breathed in the cool, refreshing air.
"I never thought I could miss breathing so much."
Katara laughed and spread her legs out. She seemed much happier, like she had cried away all the hurt and sadness.
"I'm just glad I can bend again. When we were in there and I couldn't do anything, couldn't bend, it felt like I'd lost a part of myself."
Zuko nodded. He knew full well what it felt like to be denied a part of yourself. All benders did at some point.
Bending was just part of who they were.
It wasn't a skill, it was an extension of themselves.
It made them who they were.
They sat in a comfortable silence, listening to the crackling of the fire.
The roaring waterfall echoed around the walls of the cave.
Zuko kept his eyes on the ceiling when he asked her the question that they'd both been thinking.
"So, what now?"
Katara shrugged, not looking at him either.
"I don't know. I guess we should try and get back to the Air Temple."
"Do you know where we are?"
Katara stuck out her bottom lip and frowned.
"No."
Zuko crossed his arms over his legs and poked at the fire again with a stick. It was slowly dying into embers and they'd run out of firewood.
"I don't think this fire's going to last into the night."
"But it's freezing! I thought I'd collected enough!"
Zuko blushed a fierce red and looked away from her. His voice came out like a single, incoherent grumble. Katara looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"What?"
Zuko coughed uncertainly. He still didn't look at her.
"I said that maybe...we could,uh...we could...share body heat."
Katara slapped herself on the forehead and blushed.
"Maybe I should just go back to prison..."
Authors Note : You wanted Zutara fuzzies – this chapters certainly got em! Zuko's not great with comforting, but the big lug does have a heart. Loving all the fuzzies right now.
I wanted this chapter to be a bit of a wind-down after all of the excitement of the last few chapters.
Hopefully it answered everyone's questions.
Sorry this chapter took a little longer than usual. I had to do some recording today and the last day of college and boyfriend and yada yada yada.