This chapter was a little hard to write. It was hard letting go some of the characters, but I think it works best this way. And a song that I was listening to while writing this was Gone Away by Safetysuit. It's a slow song, but I think it might apply rather well to this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender


Chapter Twenty-Eight

The next thing Katara saw was Kajika flying forward, as though she had magically grown wings. She held the blade dipped in poison in her right hand. Behind her, Katara saw Hattori and Sokka enter the room. The fire had come from Hattori's hands and the glint of silver had come from Sokka's sword. The number of warriors facing Zhao had gone from three to five. He was outnumbered.

He knew it, too. He knew it, and like the coward he was, Zhao backed away until his back was against his throne, his eyes wide with what looked like fear. Katara couldn't help but smirk, but suddenly victory seemed very real. Very real and very near. "Do it, Kajika," The young waterbender whispered and beside her, Zuko was silent. She was cheering on the murder of another human being. But this was war, and there was no time for high moral standards during a moment like this.

"No." Zhao said and fire sparked in his hands as Kajika inched slowly forward. But his eyes were not fully focused on the woman with the knife in front of him. Instead, he was staring at them all. He was staring at her, and Zuko, and Sokka, and Hattori with a look of hatred and confusion shining in his eyes. "You can't all be alive." He said disbelievingly, "It can't be."

"Well," Hattori said, "I think it can." He laughed then and Kajika sprang forward again, her hand raised to deliver the killing blow. Katara suddenly understood it. She understood it all. Hattori was distracting Zhao, so that Kajika could get better aim. And it had worked. Zhao raised his hands to send a blast of flame towards the teenage boy, leaving his abdomen exposed.

Then, everything became slow motion.

The room erupted into a furnace of intense heat as Zuko and Hattori fired back at the reviled governor of the Northern Water Tribe, meeting his flames with orange and gold ones. Katara blinked slowly and turned her head to see Kajika diving for Zhao's weak spot, her eyes wide with both fear and fierce determination. She was doing this for her children, and she was doing it for the tribe, too.

At the last moment, Zhao lowered his arms and grabbed Kajika's wrists, his face twisted with rage. Katara let out a gasp and it seemed as if everything slowed to a crawling pace. The older firebender took hold of Kajika's wrists and turned her hand backwards towards herself, his fingers gripping her hand in an iron grip.

"No!" Someone cried and Katara realized that it was her voice, and she realized that she had thrown herself towards the older woman, pulling the water from the walls to her. Her heart slammed against her chest and she could feel Zhao's eyes on her as she lunged forward. "No!"

Breathe.

Lunge.

Kajika swept her legs under Zhao's feet and she kicked out, fighting to reclaim the knife before it pierced her coat and killed her instead of the firebender. She looked at Katara, her teeth gritted as she struggled against the much stronger man. "You." She said and shoved back, "You won't hurt my family. Or my tribe!"

Sokka, Hattori, and Zuko dashed forward in unison and joined Katara as she rushed across the room towards the struggling Northern Water Tribe woman and the royal governor. Sokka stepped forward and drew his katana up, preparing to end Zhao before he could hurt Kajika.

Katara winced at the sound of metal piercing cloth and light armor. There was a sickening tearing sound and then a loud gasp. Zhao stopped his eyes wide and glazed over. The tip of Sokka's sword appeared through the front of his red clothes, and a darker hue was seeping through. There was Kajika, leaning back on one foot and looking down at her own stomach, where the poison tipped knife had been lodged in her stomach. Her hands were still on the hilt of blade, in the same position where Zhao's had just been.

There was the clattering sound of metal hitting the floor and then Sokka stepped back, his eyes glistening as he looked down at his hands, and then at Kajika. There was a suddenly look about his eyes that said: What have I done? Someone please tell me, what have I done?

Zhao fell forward and Kajika stumbled back, crashing into Zuko and Hattori's waiting arms, her eyes rolling to the back of her head. Katara looked at Sokka, who was looking down at his hands as though they were covered with the woman's blood. Perhaps, in his eyes, they were.

"We have to help her!" Katara said and the heavy silence that had fallen upon them was broken. "Quick, get her to Tasuke!" She cried as Zuko and Hattori picked up the woman by her legs and arms. Kajika looked up at them, surprisingly alert after being stabbed in the stomach with a poisoned blade. It was ironic, in a disturbing sort of way. Kajika had been determined to be the one to fell Zhao, but instead, her hands had been on her own knife when she stabbed herself.

As the five of them spilled into the hallway, Katara moved around Zuko to look down at Kajika, who looked back up at her, a weak smile on her face. "Don't worry, Kajika," The young waterbender whispered, "As soon as we get to the open, I'll heal you and everything will be okay! I promise."

Kajika waved her hand nonchalantly, "Tell Sokka…it wasn't his fault." She tried to raise her head to look for the boy, but the way Zuko and Hattori were holding her prevented her from doing such. She winced and Katara felt a pang in her chest. "Oh, with all honestly, you act like I'm in excruciating pain. I barely feel anything!"

"Then how were you going to kill Zhao with that?" Katara asked and kept pace with her companions, looking sadly towards Sokka, who was running ahead of them, shouting for help and alerting the rest of the team of Zhao's death. She was suddenly aware that it was quiet in their part of the palace, so quiet that she could hear her footsteps and Kajika's breathing.

For a long moment, Kajika was silent. And then, she looked up into Katara's eyes and smiled. "Just because I don't feel anything, doesn't mean it's not working. It's numbing, the poison I mean, but all the while, it's ripping its way into your blood." She shrugged, "When you know what's going to happen, you don't feel so afraid of it anymore."

When they reached the front of the palace again, Tasuke ran towards them. Sokka had ran ahead to alert them of what had occurred, and the Fire Nation woman's eyes were wide as she saw the state of her friend. She cried out and Katara had to step aside to avoid being bowled over by the woman. "Kajika!" Tasuke shouted as Zuko and Hattori gently set the stabbed warrior onto the ice. "Kajika!"

Katara looked around them, sending several of Zhao's followers lying apprehended against the wall, subdued with their heads down. Or perhaps, she thought, they were dead. She knelt down next to Kajika and paused, her gaze swiveling over the group. "Zhao's dead," She said as she put her hand near the hilt of the knife protruding from Kajika's belly. "Sokka killed him, by accident." Slowly, Katara began to pull away Kajika's parka, ripping it so that her shirt underneath was exposed.

It was soaked.

"Go get Suki and Toph in the Spirit Oasis." Katara ordered and turned her gaze to the woman at her side. Sokka and his companion took off, pushing their way through the crowd. She bent over Kajika again, who was suddenly looking up at her with distant, glazed eyes. "I'm going to heal you, now." She whispered and pulled some of the water from the ice around her. It wasn't Spirit Water-there was no time to get any-but she hoped it would be enough.

But to Katara's surprise, the woman shook her head and lifted her hand weakly. "Don't. I'm going to die anyway; I might as well go out with a bang." And Katara thought she could see tears forming in the rim of Kajika's eyes as she went on, her voice cracking, "I've done my part, it's time for you now." Her gaze took in Tasuke and Zuko as well. "Tell Sokka that it wasn't his fault. Tell him…" She paused and winced, "Tell him that it was destiny. Or spiritual mumbo jumbo."

Katara nodded and Kajika grabbed onto her hand, but her eyes were on Tasuke. "You've been a good friend, for a firebender." She whispered and water glistened in the Fire Nation woman's eyes. "When I'm gone, make sure the city is liberated. Oh, it already has been."

"Kajika…" Katara whispered, "Please let me heal you. Your children need you, Kajika. The Northern Water Tribe needs you." She patted Kajika's hand. "Think about Ipitok and Kian." She leaned close to Kajika's ears, "Think about Kian-your daughter!"

For a moment, the older woman was silent. And then a heavy tear streamed down the side of her face. "I'm selfish." She said softly, "I'm selfish. What I can give Kian and Ipitok will never be enough for them. I don't want it to be enough for them. Promise me, Katara that you'll take care of them. Promise me!" Her grip on Katara's hand tightened and the young waterbender nodded vigorously. Kajika looked at her and sighed, "Good. I'm selfish, for doing this."

Really, Katara thought, Kajika was perhaps one of the most self-sacrificing people that she had ever met. She reminded her of her mother, and it hurt her to see another brave woman die. "I promise, Kajika." Tasuke rose to her feet and moved away, as if she didn't want to see her friend in pain any longer. "I promise, and I'll keep it." Zuko was still beside her, and he took Kajika's other hand.

"Take care of Ipitok," Kajika said. "Take care of Ipitok and make sure he never loses his brightness." She shuddered a bit and Katara clasped her hand. "Take care of Kian, too. She needs you. She needs you both. And the world needs her." Kajika closed her eyes, then, and moved her head onto Katara's lap. "Please…"

Katara took her other hand and patted the woman's hair. She hummed softly and Kajika looked up at her, her eyes staring blankly at her face. Zuko began to hum along with her, and Katara could feel the eyes of the fallen Fire Nations soldiers on her back. They sat there for a long moment, and Kajika listened to their humming as though it was a sweet lullaby. Tears fell silently down her face and then she shuddered. She shuddered once and tore her hand away from Katara to grasp the necklace at the base of her throat. She whispered a name that Katara couldn't quite hear and closed her eyes.

She died, then, and it was peaceful and beautiful, even though the world was raging outside of their tiny circle of comfort, and love, and dying hope. She died and when Katara looked down, she saw that Kajika had her hand still holding her necklace and the other over her heart, a smile on her lips.

Something in Katara broke, then, and she leaned into Zuko, throwing her arms around him in a binding hug. She felt heavy, so unbelievably heavy, and she felt like crying. Not just for Kajika, but for her own mother. A wound had been reopened, and for the moment, she allowed it to bleed.


It was Toph who heard the scraping sound of someone entering the oasis. She leaped to her feet, brushing Ipitiok and Kian off of her lap and arranging herself in a bending position, prepared to strike down anyone who dared threaten them. Suki pushed herself to her feet, narrowing her eyes. It had been quiet outside, and it seemed that the fighting had stopped.

But who won? Who would be the ones who stumbled in upon them?

Kuzana lay near the entrance, her head rolled to the side as she slept. Or at least, Suki thought she was sleeping. She wasn't sure about the woman, nor did she trust her. Her question was answered, though, when the older woman opened her eyes at the sound of the intruders. She looked at Suki and Toph, at the children, and then twisted her neck to glance at the entrance. "I hope they kill you." She growled.

Suki's skin felt hot as a brown hand appeared in the grass, pulling the rest of the body through. Kian squealed and Ipitok let out a cry of excitement, clapping his hands. As the person, a man or older boy, pulled himself up, Suki emitted her own shout of joy and threw herself forward in Sokka's arms. "Sokka!" She cried and sighed in relief, "You're alright!"

"Snoozles! Fuzzle!" Toph shouted and then Suki took note of Hattori, looking at Kuzana with a mix of curiosity and disgust. The firebender returned the look, and Suki couldn't help but snicker. Toph slung her arms around Hattori's neck and dragged him down to her height before turning to Sokka. And before Suki could open her mouth to speak, Toph punched the young tribesman hard enough in the shoulder to leave a bruise. Suki smiled.

Sokka pulled himself away from his companions, and Suki could see a dark look in his eyes. He glanced at her and then looked down at his hands. Suki took one and held it, trying to find a bruise or anything else that could have caused the boy to look so downcast. He gave her no time for questions, though, and instead nodded towards Kuzana, who had taken to glaring at the children. "Who is she?"

"Kuzana." Suki said softly and at the mention of her name, the Fire Nation soldier turned her head. "She tried to attack us, but we stopped her and took her prisoner. She was Jianjun's assistant." She thought she saw Sokka's jaw clench. "But she's powerless now, look at her."

"I can still hear, you stupid girl!" Kuzana snapped and seemed to sink into herself. Suki narrowed her eyes at the woman, who had suddenly sprang to life even though the pain in her shoulder from her knife wound was probably still there. Perhaps it had dulled down a bit.

Hattori spoke up as he picked up Kian and took Ipitok's hand. "Zhao's dead…Zhao is dead and the rest of the battle was clearing up when we got here." He looked towards Sokka and nodded slightly, "Sokka did it. Sokka killed him. He deserved it; too, after so many lives he had taken." And Suki barely heard his next words, for he spoke them so softly and quietly, "Like my grandad's."

"We have to get back to the palace…something's happened to Kajika." Sokka said and his voice broke before he looked at Kuzana. "We're going to leave her to the Rejisuto. They can deal with her." He said and Toph bent the earth that held the woman's hands and legs. Suki lunged forward as the firebender struggled to rise to her feet.

But Kuzana offered no resistance, and instead held out her arms, looking away in defeat. Suki grabbed her by her wrists and moved towards the exit of the oasis. The woman hung her head as she was led from the oasis. She was defeated, and injured, and if Suki had been in her place, she would have given up, too.

Suki winced at the bright light that reflected off of the snow and ice, and she inhaled sharply. The air was crisp and cold, and it was perhaps the most refreshing thing that she breathed in for a while. She looked out over the ocean and a pit grew in her stomach. There were reasonably less ships in the ocean surrounded the tribe now, and the ones that remained were in pitiful shape. The members of the Rejisuto had been victorious. Her gaze travelled to the over turned Water Tribe boats. They had been victorious, but they had paid a great price.

Sokka took Toph's hand in his own and behind her, with Hattori in the front of them with the children. Kuzana glared dangerously at Suki as they walked, but she didn't try to jerk away or fight back. As Suki followed Hattori along the ice, she took note of the soldiers-Fire Nation and Rejisuto alike-nursing their wounds and taking count of the dead. Several of the fallen warriors had fallen into the canal and their comrades were fishing their bodies out. There was no fighting now; both sides had lost too much to continue fighting.

The Fire Nation's hold on the city had been severed and they were licking their wounds.

As they passed a body in Fire Nation armor on the way towards a group of Rejisuto tribesmen, Suki let out a loud gasp. For the face of this man were familiar, frighteningly so, even though his eyes were wide open and his mouth wide in a plea for help.

It was Jianjun, dead.

Kuzana let out a cry that was somewhere between a scream and a moan, and her legs buckled, nearly dragging Suki down with her. "No!" She cried and jerked away from the Kyoshi Warrior, crawling across the ice to where the dead man lay. And she curled up beside him, her injuries seemingly forgotten. "No, no, no!" Kuzana pressed her face against the armor of Jianjun's unmoving chest, shaking her head fiercely. "No, no, no!"

They turned her over to the Rejisuto, then, who rushed over to the woman and peeled her away from the body of the man who she had loved. She was a prisoner now, she was a prisoner and a survivor, and as Suki watched the two men drag the kicking and screaming woman away from the body, she wondered what would become of her.

If they decided to spare her of her injuries, would they throw her in prison and allow her to rot? Or would they show mercy and kill her for the crimes she had committed? Maybe, Suki thought, Kuzana could redeem herself and break ties with the Fire Nation to help the resistance.

She doubted it. Kuzana-now a scorned and heartbroken woman-was too far gone to be saved. At least, she thought so.

Hattori turned Ipitok's head away and they kept walking, faster now. Suki could see Appa, being tended to by several women. She breathed a sigh of relief and quickened her pace until she was running towards the great bison. He was safe. He was alright, and Katara had been with him. So if Appa was safe, that meant Katara and Zuko were, too.

"Appa!" Suki cried and threw her arms around the giant bison's nose. She had never really showed much affection towards the beast, but she felt giddy. She felt happy and her head seemed to float. So many good things had happened. They had won the battle and all of her friends were safe. They were all going to be okay.

Appa groaned and something heavy landed on Suki's shoulders. As the Kyoshi Warrior looked up, she plucked Momo off of her and held the lemur at arm's length. Beside her, on Hattori's shoulder, Kian reached out with his-her, she corrected herself-tiny fingers and pulled on the lemur's tail, causing him to erupt into a bout of chirping and chattering.

"Hey, buddy." Sokka said and placed his forehead on Appa's flank before pulling away to sneeze, causing a few strands of bison hair to float around his head. "It's good to see you're okay." He smiled then, but it was brief and so unlike him that Suki barely recognized the boy in her boyfriend's skin. He was too somber, too serious, to be her Sokka. In his free hand, Sokka took Appa's reins and stepped forward, continuing towards the Northern Water Tribe palace. "Come on, we have to keep going."

So they did.

Suki cataloged the damage done to the city, frowning. A merchant boy's lifeless eyes looked up at her before she looked away, suddenly feeling sick to her stomach. This, she thought, was what war did. War was not glorious on either side. It was a monster with multiple fangs, several faces, and one motive: destroy. It was not a hideous monster in the eye of the beholder, but rather it was seductive and alluring until it showed its true face. It was showing its face now, exposing sharp, bloody teeth.

And when they reached the tier of the Northern Water Tribe palace, Suki had decided that the beast had done exactly what it intended to. It had killed and slaughtered, and burn and drowned, and destroyed everything that it touched. It had ravaged and ripped, and mutilated in just a short amount of time.

She liked to think that she was fighting with the good guys, but sometimes she thought that they were just as bad as the others. It wasn't possible to fight a whole empire with just love. They had tried that, and it hadn't worked. Love didn't exist on the battlefield.

The palace of the Northern Water Tribe was beautifully crafted, made of glistening ice that shone underneath her feet when she walked on it, and when she looked up at the great walls, she almost felt protected. Almost.

Until she saw Katara and Zuko, and Tasuke along with several other resistance members. She saw them leaning over a body was vaguely familiar, and when she moved closer, she let out a choking cry. It was Kajika, dead. She looked at the knife lying beside her body and at the blood streaked cloth of her parka. She wished she understood it all.

But then again, she didn't want to.


Katara looked up as her friends approached. She cleared her throat and Zuko raised his head as well. There was Toph and Suki, and Sokka with a look of deep sorrow on his face, and there was Hattori with both of the children. Kian looked down blankly at her mother's body and Iptiok stood alarmingly still, standing on one leg as he peaked around Hattori's legs.

"Mommy?" Ipitok asked and tilted his head to the side, a look of confusion on his innocent round face. "Mommy?" He pulled himself away from Hattori and shuffled towards where his mother lay on the ice, her eyes tightly closed. Tasuke reached out to grab the little boy by his shoulder but he jerked away. "Momma?" He looked at his mother, dead and cold, as she lay on the ice with her hand over her heart.

She had died as a hero, but to Ipitok, she was simply his mother. She was just his momma, lying dead on the ice. Before anyone could scoop the boy up, he ran to his mother's side and fell to his knees next to her, still smiling absently at her dead body. "Mommy, are you sleepin'?" Her eyes were closed and her skin was still soft.

"Ipit-" Katara whispered and reached for the young boy, but he ducked out of her arms and crawled closer to his mother's side, pressing his head against her chest with his hands wrapped around her stomach, as though he hadn't noticed the blood that was staining his fingers. He didn't understand. He didn't understand that his mother was dead.

And then the little boy began to cry. He knew something was wrong. He didn't understand death, but he knew his mother wasn't speaking to him. He began to scream loudly and kick out, clinging to his mother's chest with his tiny fingers digging into the front of her shirt. His tears were real and genuine, streaming in rivulets down his round cheeks. Zuko bent down and wrapped his arms around the child, trying to comfort him, but the boy shook his head violently and screamed louder, pressing his face into his mother's skin.

Something wet dripped onto Katara's chin and she wiped it off. She looked at Zuko and Sokka, and Suki and Toph and she saw that their eyes were leaking tears, too. Ipitok's wails-his desperate, desperate cries-made everyone else cry.

In Suki's arms-after Hattori had passed her to the auburn haired girl-Kian watched her brother kick and fighter, her eyes staring unblinkingly at the boy. Ipitok shed enough tears for the both of them, though, as he kicked Zuko square in the chin and scrambled closer to Kajika's dead body.

"Mommy!" He cried and when Zuko reached for him again, he sank his tiny baby teeth in the firebender's hand hard enough to leave a mark. "Mommy, wake up! Wake up!" His screams and sobs echoed off of the walls. He flailed and thrashed, begging for his mother to wake up.

She doesn't.

And finally, it was Hattori who mustered enough strength to yank the young child away from his dead mother and held him to his chest, even when Ipitok kicked him in the stomach and reached for his mother. And when he couldn't reach her, he reached for Katara instead. His young face was red and puffy, and his dark hair was wild about his head.

"Go," Tasuke said and grabbed onto Katara's hand. "Go and leave the Northern Water Tribe. Continue on your journey, and we shall continue on. I think," She looked at Kajika and wiped the corner of her eye, "I think we can handle it from here."

Katara nodded as she walked towards Appa, trying to drown out Iptiok's sobs as they struggled to put the little boy safely in Appa's saddle. He screamed and grabbed onto the side of it, trying to pull himself out of Hattori's hard grip. Sokka climbed onto Appa's back, picking up the reins and looking back at the Northern Water Tribe palace.

The young waterbender inhaled sharply as they rose into the sky above the city, leaving behind the destruction that the Fire Nation had caused. But they had caused part of it, too. She had helped destroy it just as much. She watched as Zuko took Ipitok from Hattori and cradled the toddler against his chest, trying his best to comfort him.

"They'll come back, you know." She whispered as they flew over the retreating Fire Nation warships. "They won't give up that easily."

"I know," Zuko replied in between rocking Ipitok against his chest awkwardly. "But maybe this time they'll fight back. The Northern Water Tribe, I mean."

Katara nodded stiffly. "Maybe…" She paused. "I hope so."

It wasn't until the Northern Water Tribe was out of sight when Ipitok's tears finally ceased. He pressed his head into Zuko's stomach as the young firebender rocked her, offering the comfort that no one had ever given him, and Ipitok slept.


I always meant for Kajika to go out that way, but I actually never planned to have Ipitok as a character in the first place. He kind of just squeezed his way in there. Maybe there was a reason behind it. Maybe not.