Katara held her hands out in front of her as they smacked down against cold dirt. They did nothing to break her fall as the force of the drop slapped her face onto the ground. She felt heavy for a moment, thinking of her surroundings. Green light poured from the walls in her hazy vision. She rested her head on the floor for a moment, trying to keep herself from throwing up. The tunnel she had slid through in the earth had twisted and turned many times before spitting her out here. She blinked slowly, pushing herself onto her hands and knees. She felt a hand on her shoulder as she pushed herself up to her feet.

"Ow." She muttered out, bringing her hand to her face to rub the dirt away.

"You okay?" Zuko's voice was almost emotionless.

Katara looked up to meet his eyes, examining his face. She couldn't distinguish what about him was different. She nodded slowly, rubbing her temple momentarily. She'd suddenly gotten a huge headache from the fall. Maybe it was adrenaline shooting through her veins. He nodded in acknowledgement before looking around the familiar catacombs. Katara evaluated their surroundings also.

"Where are the others?" she rasped out, feeling sick in her stomach.

Zuko didn't answer, looking away. He was already asking himself that question repetitively. He couldn't lose his mother again. If they laid a finger on her he would have them killed mercilessly. He would make them suffer and die in agony.

Katara looked over him, immediately reading his mind. "She'll be fine, Zuko. We just need to find a way to get to Long Feng-,"

"Right. So he can beat us again. What was that back there? We took on Azula, how could we possibly have gotten beat by … by that?" he snapped at her, tossing his arms high in the air and starting to pace.

Katara said nothing, counting the seconds before he spoke again.

"I don't understand! I'm supposed to be this amazing Firebender, the Firelord, and I can't take out one stupid old man?" Zuko shouted into the air, locking his fingers behind his head. "How is that even possible?" he cried out, before shouting out in frustration, breathing fire from his nostrils.

Katara turned her back to him, hearing his heavy footsteps and the rays of fire he spat into the air with his fists trying to recreate the error they made. What had the error been? Katara cursed herself for allowing Long Feng to pause and speak. She could have caught him off-guard easily.

"-I'm not going to lose her again!" she heard Zuko's voice growling out with another shot of crackling fire. "And what about you?"

Katara shut her eyes before turning back to look at him. "What about me?"

"Why didn't you tell me you found her?" Zuko glared at her. "You've seen the pictures, I know you recognized her."

Katara exhaled. "I thought she was brainwashed. She said her name was Joo Dee."

"Why didn't you tell me then?" Zuko walked toward her.

She instinctively took a step back. "Because I didn't know if she'd remember you."

This didn't seem to please the Firelord. He growled out and tossed his head, fire curling around him as he marched another step toward her. "You should have told me!"

Katara turned her head away from him. "I wasn't sure." Her voice was quiet and sheepish.

"But you knew it was her!" Zuko shouted, only three feet from her, practically shouting in her face.

Katara continued to look down, away from his burning gaze. He was starting to scare her, and he didn't seem to notice.

"You lied to me!" he bellowed, grabbing her forearms and shaking her roughly, bringing her to meet his eyes. "You know how much I needed this! I might lose it all over again!" he shook her harder, trying to illicit some noise or reaction from her. "Say something!" he finally yelled.

Katara trembled under his tight grip and asked herself where the gentle boy she'd been kissing mere hours ago had gone. She glanced from his good eye to his scarred one, trying to find words. His grip tightened on her forearms as she opened her mouth with a sharp gasp, curling her fingers as they shook on her hands. He quaked her once more with an angry shout, bringing her to cry out and pull away from him, gripping her eyes shut and stumbling back to get away from his harsh eye. Zuko blinked in confusion for a moment, before realizing the error of his ways with a raise of his brow and his mouth falling open as he leant back at his own actions.

"I'm sorry, I didn't-," he took a step toward her, his arms falling to his sides.

"Get away from me." Katara murmured bitterly, backing away.

"Katara," Zuko's voice was broken.

Katara turned her back to him and walked toward the edge of the cavern. "When this is all done, you can go home with your mommy and marry your little princess. See if I care." She spat, laying her hand against the cool green crystals that lined the wall.

Zuko mentally attacked himself. How could he not have enough control over himself to keep his hands off the woman he cared so deeply for? For this same woman he had nearly firebent against Akio in anger for his attacking her. He felt his stomach lurching at the thought of what he could've done to Katara. She cared for him too. It was obvious; and she was obviously hurt by the fact that she didn't know whether or not she could trust him.

"I promise you Mai will show no hesitation in stabbing you to death if you lay your hands on her." Katara curled up in a shady, dark corner of the cavern, sinking to the ground. "Marry her."

"This isn't about her. This is about us." Zuko managed out.

"No, it's about your inability to control yourself. I swear to La, Zuko, you touch me and I will hurt you. When this is over I want nothing to do with you, ever again. You can stop pretending we have to go and make it work because this is over."

Zuko sighed heavily, sitting down where he was. "You're right. I should be able to control myself." He forced out the words. "I don't want to hurt you."

Katara looked up from the ground to glance at him. He was combing his hands through his hair stressfully. "I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to get hurt."

Zuko peeked up. "Huh?"

"If she was brainwashed, wouldn't you have rather spent your whole life searching for her than to find out she doesn't remember you?" Katara spoke up. "You'd at least have hope."

The firebender looked back down. "Uncle was right, this isn't a vacation. I've made more mistakes on this trip than I've made in my whole life, and that's saying something."

Katara let out a humorless, dry laugh. "Am I a mistake?"

"No. No, you'll never be a mistake, whatever you decide to do. Leave or stay, I'm always going to love you. I'm never going to regret what we did here." Zuko smiled softly.

Katara looked down again. "I'm always going to love you too." She breathed in. "We need to finish this mission before anything else. I'm so sick of Ba Sing Se, if I ever come back it'll be too soon."

Zuko fell back to lie down. "Katara." He spoke, looking up.

"Mm-hmm?" she answered.

"If we're going to try any make this work, you can't let me do stuff like that. You have my full permission to kill me if I touch you in a way you don't like." Zuko shut his eyes honestly.

"Trust me, I'm not going to hold back anymore." Katara answered with a slight laugh. She gripped herself tightly, clenching her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering. Winter was approaching like a flood.

"Are you cold?" Zuko asked slowly, carefully.

"Mm-hmm." She hummed out, before getting up and sitting down again next to him. She took his hand non-hesitantly and brought it up between hers. He carefully put his other hand on the base of her spine, warmth enveloping her body. He was slow, thoughtful and calculated; making sure she was comfortable in every move he made. She realized just how much that little scene had affected him. She took the calloused hand in hers and brought it to her neck, the warm fingers caressing her cold skin. Zuko sat up and focused more on his grasp of her.

"I love you." He leant and whispered in her ear. It was honest and tentative. While romance was not it's main entity, Katara could see what he was trying to explain; that he was trusting her not to break his heart, just as she was trusting him. With this trust, Katara felt no shame in the lustful energy behind the kiss she brought to his lips. She let go of his hand and brought her soft ones to his face, twisting at his side to melt into him.

"I love you." She murmured, pulling away. She pulled one hand down to his chest, two fingers either side of the top button high up on his neck. She unhooked the button, kissing him again, moaning quietly.

As the second button became unhitched, Zuko brought his hand up to the hand on his chest, stopping her. He moved his lips away from hers. "Katara." His voice was gentle, a hinge of nervousness and an undertone of surprise twisting into her name.

Glancing down at the unfastened button between her fingers, she answered him calmly. "This is what I want. I want you."

"Not here. Not like this." He held her hand to his chest. "I want you just as much, but I want it to be good. I want you to feel like a princess, on a warm bed; not here on the floor in the cold." He brought his other hand from her back and up to her cheek.

This brought a hesitant smile to her face. "You'll still want me when we go back to being us again?"

"Katara, I'll want you forever." He answered, before letting a charming smile onto his face. He kissed her gently before putting his arms around her, keeping her warm. She smiled into him, hugging him tight as she lay down in his arms, warmth caressing her. She nestled into his form and shut her eyes slowly. While rejection had never been something she had to deal with, she didn't mind it like that. Zuko was right; this, here, now would've been wrong. She felt his hand cover hers and she moved to touch her mother's necklace, only to discover it wasn't there.

Katara was pacing again. Zuko had counted a week, assuming they were sleeping about twelve hours. Katara kept insisting it was longer, and that by now Iroh had to be getting worried. She was walking back and forth in large circles in the centre of the cavern. She had dark circles under her eyes and while she was too tired to speak most of the time, she had the energy to pace back and forth.

"I can't feel the moon. I haven't felt the moon in ages, I can't even bend anymore." Katara murmured to herself, once again trying to bend the water dripping from the ceiling, to no avail.

Zuko sighed. It was the same with the sun. He was restless and exhausted, yet found some mild sense of peace in staying still and meditating on important matters. Important matters being intricate little fantasies in his head as he now considered Katara's body. Imagined her form and remembered the grace and elegance in her swift, fluid movements. With her exhaustion now, she wasn't much of an example for that swirling waterbender he'd once seen. He knew she was in there, not too deep down.

She just needed to see her sister, the moon, just as he needed to feel the sun on his skin. He'd been cold for days now. Katara had too, but she was too stir-crazy to admit it. She would eventually stop and look around for a way out, before pacing again. When she stopped, Zuko took it upon himself to insist she ate the fruits and stale bread that a Dai Li agent would bring them occasionally. He'd brought for them four times, and yet Zuko knew they'd been there at least a week. He'd given up on trying to get Katara to stop pacing. At that moment, the ground made a heavy grinding noise and Katara's attention peaked. Zuko also looked up; they'd last received food twelve hours ago. They weren't due for food, at least not by his calculations. His stomach disagreed, letting out a grumbling noise that even Katara could hear. Her own stomach growled for food in reply.

"It's your lucky day; you're being moved." The Dai Li agent marched down into the catacomb and effortlessly took hold of Katara's arm. She was limp and exhausted, too tired to fight back.

Zuko got up to his feet and looked at the agent.

"Not you. Just her." He answered simply, shoving Katara along, up toward the dim light of green lanterns up ahead.

Katara turned her head and looked at Zuko. She wanted to give him some words of support like, 'hang in there' or 'it'll be okay', however all she could muster up the energy to do was stare at him in fear of where she was going. Zuko smacked his chapped lips as she disappeared, the earth closing behind her.

Lake Laogai was up ahead. Katara felt energy flooding her as the half moon up above poured its power into her. Hello, Yue. How long have I been gone? She smiled blissfully, before a Dai Li agent shoved her out of her trance. She tossed her head and glared at one of the four agents escorting her. She could run, she supposed. She probably wouldn't get that far, though. If she found Akio, she could even get out of the city, and then be trapped in the desert. Stairs opened up in front of her as her eye caught an unfamiliar object floating in the water. She discreetly bent waves of water, pushing the object toward her quickly. The Dai Li agent shoved her again, motioning toward the stairs. She bent the object toward herself, out of the water and into her hands. At the shameless bending, the Dai Li agents all attacked the ground and the earth literally sucked her down into the staircase. It closed up behind them as she looked down at the mask in her hands. It was scary; blue and white with sharp canines.

"Move it!" she stumbled with another shove as she held onto the china mask to make sure she didn't drop it. She didn't know why she liked it. Maybe it was the only thing she had from the outside world again.

The agents shoved her into a small, dark room of metal. She looked at the mask again, sinking to her knees as the lights went out. Her eyes never adjusted to the dark. They kept it dark even when they served her food. She was never sure what her food was exactly. She was there for days, she was sure. She was awake for those days too, because the metal floor was too cold even to touch with bare skin. Her only company was that of the voiceless object in the corner; a faint, distant smell of smoke inside it. Eventually, she sank into a dark sleep following a panicked attempt to break the door down with her fingernails. She dreamt of what Zuko had promised her; the beautiful night of passionate, gentle embracing. She blinked her eyes open, waiting for the dark. When it came, she slipped back into depression. The mask that had been under her hands was gone, and yet she didn't care.

"There is no war. There has never been a war. The nations coexist with each other peacefully. You have no name. You have no past. You have no one and you have nothing. You are an assassin and your target is the Earth King. The world will change. The world will become greater. The Earth King must die tonight." There was a flash. As the lamp moved away, Zuko's eyes adjusted to the man chanting calmly in front of him.

"There is no war. There has never been a war." The agent repeated. "The Earth King must die tonight." He turned and presented Zuko with a familiar blue mask.

"You are the Blue Spirit."

Zuko smirked inside his own head.

A/N: I stayed up 'til 6AM writing this, man. Yes, I got home at midnight, but that's only because I worked 'til noon sorting out a freakin' party. UGH. So tired. I had an urge to do a chapter tonight. This chapter is mostly filler than anything else. I'm half asleep here, sorry. I owe you guys a really AWESOME Blue Spirit scene, kay? Quote for this chap:

Aang: You're crazy, aren't you?

Old Lady: Yes!