Chapter 21

Lord of the Flies

Intense, throbbing pain woke Zuko. At first, he could not figure out why he wasn't sleeping in his shelter. Nor could he remember why there was a dead, burnt boar next to him. Or why his leg was covered in blood. A glance down at the gaping hole in his leg brought his memories rushing back. Zuko winced as he attempted to sit upright so he could evaluate the damage. The movement almost sent him back into a faint. The boar beside him still gave off heat, so he couldn't have been out for long. Thank Agni. Had he passed out for too long, Zuko feared he would have bled to death. I will not die on this island. No matter what. He vowed silently. Trying to move as little as possible, Zuko tore his left pant leg off below the knee. He cut of a strip and tied it tightly above the wound, attempting to slow the bleeding. Fireworks went off in his head when he accidentally brushed against the wound. He growled curses under his breath as he used the rest of the fabric to absorb the blood. It seemed to return to it's original bright red coloring as the blood soaked it. His hands shook as he tore part of the pant leg off his right leg and used that fabric as a makeshift bandage. Unconsciousness threatened to take hold of him again as he wrapped the bandage around the wound. Once he finished, he quickly leaned over to the side and emptied his stomach. There wasn't much to empty.

Once Zuko ceased heaving, he looked up at the sky and tried to remember what little he knew of first aid. He would have to clean the wound when he got the chance. It would suck to survive the blood loss only to die of infection. He wondered if perhaps he should cauterize the wound with fire. The idea was almost enough to make him sick. Had he not suffered enough burning for a lifetime? He gently touched the scar on the left side of his face. No. He would not burn himself. Only as a last resort. Right now, he just needed water. Zuko grabbed onto the tree next to him and used it to pull his body up. He didn't put any weight on his left leg as he hopped over to a good sized stick. Keeping his left foot off the ground and relying heavily on the stick, the young prince slowly made his way to the stream near his camp. The sun had completely set and the boar was left in the dark to rot.

Katara watched as Jet made his way into the cave. She listened to the sound of rustling leaves as he settled down. She refused to go to sleep before him. She had grown tired of waking up with the boy holding her possessively against him as he slept. At first, the contact had made her heart race and her face blush. No boy had ever touched her in such a way. The initial giddiness had quickly worn off. Now it was just creepy and annoying. She wanted personal space. Lately, she felt as if she were suffocating whenever Jet was around. A heavy sigh escaped her lips. Had she done some terrible deed in her past life to be punished like this? Tui and La!

She thought about her brother and the young avatar. She wondered if they were eating okay and who was sewing patches into Sokka's pants. She almost giggled at the thought of Sokka trying to sew. He was helpless with a needle. The boy was a genius, but couldn't sew to save his life. She then thought about her own clothing; even though she washed them as often as she could, they had taken on a grayish-brownish hue. They had acquired many holes as well and without a needle or thread, Katara couldn't patch them. Her bindings were what concerned her the most. They were wearing thin and she had no replacements. She was already showing way more skin than acceptable for any respectable water tribe girl.

Katara looked up at the moon. When she was younger, Katara had often fancied that the moon was really a pale face in the sky that constantly watched over her. Being a waterbender, she was strengthened by the presence of the moon. With a happy sigh, Katara laid back on the ground and spread her arms, palms up, to absorb the moons glow. She felt it soak into her veins and was reminded of the cold nights at home when she would sneak out to feel the moon on her face. One of the perks about leaving the Tribe was the warmth. She didn't have to be covered head to toe in leathers and furs. Katara wondered if Sokka was looking at the moon, as well.

After a while, Katara stood up with a graceless grunt and doused the small fire. She trudged over to the cave and, making sure to position herself as far away from jet as possible, settled down to sleep. She dreamed of distant lands.

Azula laughed as the flames jumped from Zuko's shoes to his pants, consuming the fabric and burning the flesh beneath. He frantically attempted to bend the flames away, but he quickly found that he couldn't bend. Panicking, he beat at the flames with his own fists, burning his hands as well. Azula laughed and laughed and laughed as the flames burned his skin.

"Come on, Zu-Zu, use your bending." She taunted as she towered at least ten feet above him. A hand rested on her shoulder and a deeper laughter joined hers. Ozai materialized from the shadows and stared down at his son with a look of disdain.

"You will never regain your honor." He hissed. He brought up a hand with a ball of fire and, as if in slow motion, threw it at Zuko's face.

Zuko sat up, the scream caught in his throat. The sunlight poured in through the opening in his hut. The memory of the dream so fresh, he could still feel the burn on his leg. He looked down at offending leg and was shocked to find a bloody bandage covering a good portion of his calf. Then he remembered the events of the previous day. Carefully, as if his leg was a rabid animal, he unwrapped the wound. He grimaced when he saw it. The flesh around the whole was red and puckered. The bleeding had stopped, but now a yellow puss oozed out. Zuko stared down at the leg, unsure of what to make of it. He had often heard the saying that the "forest is darkest just before the dawn" and wondered if that applied to this situation as well. Would the wound get worse before it got better? Was this a part of the healing process? He had thoroughly washed it last night; there was no way it could be infected already...

With a grunt, Zuko took off what was left of his shirt and tore it into strips to use as bandages. He didn't know much about healing, but he did, at the very least, know better than to reuse dirty bandages. At least, he thought he shouldn't use them. I'll clean them at the stream, just in case, he decided. His stomach grumbled and he remembered that he hadn't eaten in some time. The boar would be no good by now, the worms and animals would have already found it. Frustration filled Zuko. It was unfair. It was unfair that he was on this island, it was unfair that he was alone, it was unfair that he was wounded, it was unfair that he was hungry. It was unfair that his father would banish him and take away his honor. Who would do that to their child? There were times when Zuko wondered if he really was Ozai's son, he never had the cruelty that both Ozai and Azula flaunted. Zuko punched the ground. Now wasn't the time for such thoughts. He had to find food.

After re-bandaging his leg, Zuko worked his way out of the hut. He grabbed the walking stick that he had left leaning against the entrance. Relying heavily on the stick, Zuko went off in search of something edible.

"I don't see why you're defending him, Katara!" Jet spat, arms crossed and staring down the waterbender.

"Because, even with all the evil he's done, he's still human!" Katara retorted, her face bright red with anger. Her arms were also crossed and she leaned on one leg, the very picture of a pissed off 17 year old.

"He's Fire Nation! He's a monster! Can't you see that?" Jet demanded.

"He's a human being. This is a human life we are talking about!" Katara stared at the man before her, eyes flashing with anger.

"Why do you care? He killed your mother! She was by far more human than him!" Cold fury splashed over Katara. Jet even took a step back when he saw the ice in her eyes.

"Zuko didn't kill my mother. How dare you try to use the loss of my mother against me! There's only one monster on this island, Jet, and it's not Zuko or me." Katara didn't even recognize her own voice, it was so cold. She turned around and marched off, if only to keep herself from attacking Jet.

"You're just as bad as that airbender and Water Tribe boy." Jet muttered. Katara stopped dead in her tracks. Slowly she turned to face him.

"What. Did. You. Just. Say?" She ground out.

"What's it to you?"

"This airbender and Water Tribe boy," Katara asked, ignoring Jet's question, "what were their names?" Jet looked at the waterbender with a flash of annoyance.

"Who cares? We're getting off top-"Jet was interrupted as Katara stomped forward and violently poked Jet in the chest.

"What were their names?" She repeated, "Aang and Sokka?" Jet's eyes widened.

"How did you know?" Katara ignored him, mind reeling. He had seen Aang and Sokka. She looked away from Jet, her arm fell to her side as she realized that meant that, at least a while ago, the boys were okay.

"Hey," Jet interrupted her thoughts, "How did you know their names?"

"Shut up." Katara said distractedly.

"No," Jet grabbed her arm, and pulled her to face him, "tell me how you knew those boys." Katara saw a strange look in the boys' eyes. Something a little too bright. A little too frantic. She tried to pull her arm back, but he had it in a vice grip.

"Why do you care?" She demanded.

"Just tell me, Katara." Jet's voice was oddly soft and that scared Katara more than anything.

"Sokka is my brother. We were traveling with Aang." She said without thinking, "Where they okay? What happened? How did you know them? Where they searchi-"

"Oh, I know them. They're the reason why me and my Freedom Fighters failed to reclaim the town. They refused to go with my plans and deliberately warned those savages about our plans to flood the town! If those boys hadn't been there, there wouldn't have been a single Fire Nation person alive there!" He threw down Katara's arm as his breathes became faster, "Last I saw them, they were flying away on some magic bison-thing while I was left tied to a tree for the Fire Nation people to find! If my Freedom Fighters hadn't found me, I would probably be dead. We had to leave the area after that. It's all their fault I ended up on this island. Of course, of all people to be trapped with here, it would be the sister of the man responsible for my exile." Jet paced back and forth.

"Wait," Katara began, not realizing how angry the boy before her was, "Are you saying you tried to flood an entire village with the people still in it?" Jet cast the girl a dark look, but Katara took no note of it and charged on, "You would have killed everyone in the town? Even the women and children? I mean, I'm no fan of the Fire Nation, but you're talking about the murder of innocent lives! Those children did nothing to you! It was the army and Ozai that caused you pain, not the average civilians! They are just trying to make a living! Odds are, they had never hurt another human in their lives! How dare you try and take away life like that! Who are you to decide who lives and who dies?" Katara demanded. Jet had frozen and place and stared at her with such intense fury that Katara was surprised that the air around him hadn't ignited.

"There's no such thing as innocent Fire Nation people! They are all monsters! I was doing the world a favor! Until your stupid brother and his stupid friend decided to mess everything up! Now I've lost my home and my friends! And I'm stranded here with that-that thing and you! You, a Fire Nation sympathizer! Yes, I was going to kill them all, I'm just sorry that I wasn't able to! You would have done the same as me if you had lived my life!"

"No!" Katara yelled, rage pouring from her body, "I would never, ever hurt innocent people like that! I help people, I don't kill them! I will never, ever turn my back against people who need me! No matter what Nation they are from, life is precious, Jet. How twisted do you have to be to not see that?" Katara panted, she felt as if she had just had a physical fight. Jet stared at her with that strange look again. When he spoke next, his words were so calm and cold, that a chill ran down Katara's back despite the heat of the sun.

"Katara, you are so innocent," he began, somehow making it sound like an insult, "I shouldn't expect you to understand. Why don't you go take a bath, I think you need to cool your head." And with that, he turned and sat at the mouth of the cave. Katara felt like she had just been slapped. How dare he treat her so condescendingly! She knew what the world was really like. She also knew that the unnecessary waste of human life was something that should be prevented at all costs. Angry, and wanting to get as far away from Jet as she could, Katara stalked off. In the opposite direction of the stream as if to prove a point.

A/N

Hey guys! I got this one out a lot faster! I'm finally getting my stuff together! I know where I want to go and how I'm going to get there! Please let me know what you think of this chapter!

Again, thank you all for your kind words! You are all so inspiring!