Update: 3-05-2013

Gettin' down to it! :D Only two more chapters after this one! Hope this chapter doesn't seem too rushed... And I really hope you all like it. I didn't know how to end this chapter, so hopefully it's not too cheesy. XD Hahahaha.. Thanks to everyone who has read, commented and enjoyed this story so far. It really helps force me into finishing it. Thank you and enjoy~!

Aiko


Katara's knees hit hard against the ground as she was thrust into Ozai's secret chamber. She pushed herself up onto her hands, taking notice of her reflection in the polished, gold-tiled floor. Her shoulders and stomach were exposed in the red, one-shouldered garment that she had on underneath her Fire-nation armor. The guards had her remove the stolen armor and confiscated her water pouch when they "captured" her. Her hair was a tangled mess and her wild eyes looked unfamiliar as they gazed back at her. In the reflective gold tile, Katara's eyes narrowed on the Dai Li agents that were perched high above her. The ceiling and walls were made entirely of stone—if they decided to attack, she would be in trouble. She felt the room out, searching for the pull of a water source. She clenched her jaw as not so much as a drop of water could be felt in the small, yet luxurious room.

As a bead of sweat made its way down the side of her face, the Waterbender took notice how uncomfortably warm the room was. She glanced up from her reflection. Firelord Ozai sat tall atop a small set of stairs as two dangerously large, fiery columns burned brightly on either side of him. The fires cast ominous shadows across his hardened expression and his golden eyes bore down on her menacingly.

Katara ardently returned the glare once her eyes met his. The sight of the Firelord made her blood run hot and caused her anger to return in full swing. Fury flared up inside her chest and surged through her veins. Her nails dug into the palms of her hands, her eyes narrowing on his. Katara's skin burned and, in this moment, the Waterbender was convinced that if she tried to breathe fire at him, she would be able to do so.

"Stand up, Waterbender," the Firelord commanded. Katara didn't budge. She would obey no order given to her.

Ozai wrinkled his nose when she defied his order. He gritted his teeth and repeated himself, which he did not like to do. "I said, Stand. up."

It was only a second longer that she did not comply when two men flanked her, yanking her roughly from the ground and onto her feet. This coaxed a smile from the Firelord's lips. Katara scowled at his victorious expression. She directed her sneer to the two Dai Li agents standing on either side of her. The Waterbender thrashed around, trying to pull out of their grip.

"Are you stupid? Ozai plans to wipe out the entire Earth Kingdom on the day of the comet and you're here helping this monster?!" she screeched. The two men did not respond. "Don't you have loved ones back in the Earth Kingdom?! Don't you care about your heritage, your people?!" she screeched, growing even more emotional.

"Katara, the Waterbender," the Firelord calmly intervened, finally standing himself. The small smile still touched his lips, but, much like Azula, it never reached his eyes. "You look angry. You no doubt discovered my triumph over that misfit, rebel group you call friends," he boasted smugly.

"And Aang," Katara growled. Katara's heart pounded as a new level of fury took over her emotions. The Firelord hesitated, his smile widening as he continued toward her, his boots slowly clicking across the liquid gold floor.

"Yes, the Avatar is dead," he confirmed. He stopped before getting too close to her. "I heard that your brother and father were part of the group that failed to save the young Avatar," he recalled. His eyes twinkled with dark amusement as he spoke, "And that your mother was killed when you were a little girl." The acknowledgement and confirmation of losing Aang, Sokka and her father—it was too much. Her head dropped from the weight of it. Memories of promises made between herself and the Avatar swirled around her head and pained her heart. Sokka's goofy grin and her father's warm eyes flashed in her mind, doubling the pain in her chest. As much as she tried to resist them, fresh, sorrowful tears brimmed Katara's eyes. "Now you truly are alone, " he added, cruelly.

With that, the Waterbender let out a furious roar and lunged at the Firelord, but the Dai Li agents tightened their hold on her arms, pulling her back.

"Call off your mindless goons and fight me, you coward!" Katara shouted, teeth bared. "You wanted me—Here I am! Fight me!"

The Firelord chuckled darkly. "Believe me, you don't want that. That is not the purpose of your capture," he explained vaguely. Ozai stepped up, standing directly in front of the Waterbender. The Dai Li agents restrained her. Katara was breathing heavily, the pain and rage in her chest making every breath harder to take.

"What do you want with me then?" Katara sneered.

"Well, I simply needed to satisfy my curiosity and find out exactly who this incredible Waterbender was," Ozai answered, his tone low and condescending. Katara cringed away from him as Ozai leaned down, his cold, emotionless eyes level with hers. "But mostly, you just so happen to be the key to tying up a few of my loose ends," he explained. He tilted his head as his golden eyes looked over her face. "Where is Zuko?" he asked bluntly.

Katara could feel a moment of fear rush through her at the mention of the Firebender's name. The Firelord's face was close enough to hers that she could feel his warm breath on her cheek. The light smell of smoke and fire-whiskey filled the Waterbender's nostrils and her heart started to race with unexpected nervousness. "How should I know?" she answered firmly. The Firelord grinned, reflecting the tiniest amount of Zuko in his features.

"Oh, you should know. Azula told me about..." he paused, not breaking eye contact with the Waterbender, "..the two of you."

Katara's face flushed a little as she glared back into his golden eyes, refusing to back down. " Well, I don't know where he is," she said sternly, "I left him behind at camp when I kidnapped Azula."

Ozai stood upright, a contemplative look coming over his face. "You know, Katara, I find it incredibly curious that a Waterbender as strong as yourself was captured by two, dimwitted dungeon guards," the Firelord mused. Katara could feel her heartbeat pick back up as nervousness pulsed through her veins. She wasn't expecting Ozai to ask her about Zuko—she thought he just wanted her for some reason. She swallowed hard. Katara was beginning to regret locking up the Fire-nation prince in that cell where he could easily be found and brought here.

"Azula came to find you at the armory, did she not?" he asked, as though he knew the answer. Katara averted her eyes in response. "And the fact that she is not the one who brought you down here—it must mean you bested her." The Waterbender pressed her lips together, cursing herself in her head. The Firelord was cunning. She was beginning to understand how the Fire-nation was winning the war so far. "This brings me to the conclusion that you are indeed smarter and stronger than I would have believed otherwise," Ozai continued. Suddenly he grabbed her chin in his hand, jerking her face to look at him. "Or you had help and somehow got separated from each other."

Katara gritted her teeth as he firmly held her chin in place. His eyes bore into hers—he didn't have all the details right—but he was getting close. Ozai couldn't know that his son was locked up only a few stairwells away. It would make everything she was doing completely worthless. She had to throw him off.

"Believe what you want, but I fought Azula alone," Katara said triumphantly, deepening her glare, "And I killed her."

Ozai froze for a moment before he spoke. He stared hard at her face, examining her for any sign that she was lying. He released her face and stood upright, considering the possibility of her words. His daughter, the Fire-nation's princess and a Firebending prodigy—taken down by a common Waterbender? He took a few steps back and eyed Katara. When he spoke, his words were slow, flat and monotone, "You must take me as a fool, Waterbender. You want me to believe you alone killed Azula when you couldn't even escape from two inexperienced guards?" His tone was ever-so-slightly doubtful.

"I never said it was an easy task—killing Azula. By the time I reached the dungeons to look for Aang, I was exhausted. They caught me off guard," Katara declared confidently.

"...You aren't capable of killing someone," Ozai insisted.

Katara smirked—she had managed to completely distract him from Zuko for the moment. The Waterbender could see that the Firelord was beginning to absorb the fact that Azula was possibly dead by her hands. And even though it was a lie, Katara was glad to see Ozai feeling some of the anger and pain that she was feeling about losing her own loved ones. His golden eyes were growing in ferocity and Katara realized that she should probably be frightened, but she wasn't. Vengeance surged through her veins, fueling her boldness.

"Why don't you call off your guards, give me my water pouch and we'll see if I'm capable of killing or not," the Waterbender threatened gravely.

Without hesitation, Ozai stormed towards her, his footsteps thudding hard and fast against the metallic floor. His eyes were livid as he grabbed a fistful of her hair, roughly yanking her towards him. Katara's face scrunched up in pain and she released a small cry as he shook her by her hair. He threatened her through clenched teeth, "I still don't know if this is a lie or not—but you're lucky that I need you alive at this moment of time, or I would have already snapped your neck, Waterbender. Once I find Zuko, you will watch as I slowly and painfully make him pay for his treachery once and for all." Katara's fury flared up at his threat and she opened her eyes to glare defiantly at the Firelord.

The Waterbender spat at him.

Ozai froze, her spit misted across his face. Rage ripped through his features and he backhanded the Waterbender hard. Katara could feel her neck whip around and her sight went dark for a moment. She reeled from the physical pain throbbing in her cheek and head. A tingling sensation took over her whole face and she blinked hard, trying to get her vision to come back.

Before her eyes were able to completely focus, she could feel the heat of flames drawing closer to her face. "If you so desperately want me to turn you into a burned, bloody mess right now—I'll gladly do it," Ozai growled, "I don't need you to be in perfect condition. I only need you to be alive." Katara's skin flushed red as the Firelord's fist, engulfed in fire, closed in on her face.


"I love you, too."

Zuko grunted as he kicked hard against the iron bars of his cell.

"I..I can't lose you."

Another loud clang sounded as his foot slammed into the bars.

"I'm sorry, Zuko."

He roared angrily, flames engulfing him and filling the room. As the flames extinguished once again, the cell remained unchanged by his fire. These cells were created to hold even the most powerful of Firebenders, so it was no surprise that his fiery blast left no mark.

His Uncle had managed to escape though.

And while Zuko knew that he was not his Uncle Iroh—the fact that Iroh escaped at all gave the Fire-nation prince hope that it was possible. He looked around the room, trying to see it through his Uncle's eyes. It was a small, murky, stone room made up of thick walls and strong, metal bars. Clutching onto the iron rods that contained him, Zuko sighed and closed his eyes, scouring his mind for an answer. How could he have escaped? What did he do?

Lightning.

The Firebender's eyes flicked open and he swallowed hard. Zuko had only ever redirected lightning—he had never conjured it up himself. Uncle Iroh had shown him the motions though. Perhaps if he meditated hard enough, he could focus his energy and...

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a heart-breaking, painful shriek echoing through the dungeon halls.

A pair of bright blue eyes came to mind as fear and anger immediately rippled through him. The prince was back to kicking the bars with all his might, grunting loudly with each strike. He had no time to meditate and figure out how to use lightning. As his foot collided with the iron bars again and again, Zuko thought about his last confrontation with his father. He should have ended it then. Then none of this would have even happened. He gritted his teeth, his fists igniting in flames. He began throwing desperate, fiery punches at the iron bars. Deep down, despite the current situation, Zuko knew that he couldn't have killed his father that day. His country would have only seen the killing of Ozai as Zuko's own, murderous way of getting himself into power. The prince knew that it had to be the Avatar to face his father—only Aang could restore balance to the world. He hung his head in defeat, twisting his fingers into his jet black hair. That was how it was supposed to be, but Zuko knew that there was no way of that happening now. The Firebender straightened up and slammed his fists into the bars. His knuckles began to crack and bleed with every hit, but he couldn't feel any pain. He clutched onto the bars and shook, his fingers dripping with the deep red liquid. He let out a painful, frustrated wail. The Fire-nation prince failed his Uncle, the Avatar, Sokka, Toph and the others—and now he couldn't even get out of this cell to save Katara from his own father.

Zuko felt tears stinging at the backs of his eyes. He was so useless—he always has been.

Suddenly, the prince could hear the soft sound of hushed voices outside of his outer jail cell door.

Finally, some more guards were passing by. The Firebender sent a blast of fire barreling out of his cell and into the hall."Hey!" he bellowed. The voices fell silent. It was a huge risk, but he didn't care at this point. Images of what his father was possibly doing to Katara to illicit that scream was racing through his mind. If these guards chose to kill him, there was hardly anything he could do. But the Firebender was betting everything on the fact that they would take him straight to his father. Uneasy silence filled the air. Had the guards really ignored him and passed by? "Hey!" he yelled again, shooting another ball of flames down the hall of his cell room.

Another moment passed and Zuko narrowed his eyes as a strange, crunching noise echoed down the narrow corridor. He watched, his eyes wide, as the metal outer door of his cell cracked and folded in the center. As the door was ripped off its hinges, he was relieved, elated and immediately aware of who it was outside of his cell. "Toph!" he called out, unable to hide his joy, "Toph!"

"Yeah, yeah—it's me. Geez, Sparky, keep it down," the small, blind Earthbender hushed. She ran over and grabbed hold of the iron bars, bending them far enough apart so he could get out. "I mean, are you trying to get us all captured?"

"You.. all?" Zuko repeated in a question as he slipped through the bars. His eyes drifted over the Earthbender's head, his heart pounding. Hakoda stepped into the doorway, his clothes full of burn holes and his face hard. Zuko stared in disbelief as Sokka also stepped into view. The Water-tribe warrior was wearing a sling and looked pretty scuffed up, but he was alive. A relieved smile broke across his face.

The guards from earlier were obviously misinformed. The Airbender's smiling face appeared in Zuko's mind, making him feel hopeful once again.

"Aang—is he here?" Zuko asked the Earthbender hopefully. Toph lowered her eyes, the dark strands from her bangs hanging in front of her face as she shook her head. His heart sunk. "What happened?" Zuko asked looking around to Sokka and Hakoda. They all had their eyes lowered and Zuko looked down at the small Earthbender, watching the tears roll down her cheeks.

"They tied him up and lit the stage on fire. We couldn't get to him in time," Toph stated. Zuko's stomach churned with the idea of it. She continued, and the prince could hear in her voice that she was choking back a sob, "We failed." Zuko let out the breath he was holding, feeling defeated once again.

So part of what the guards' had said was true.

"Zuko?" another voice called out. He recognized the voice immediately and the Firebender's eyes scanned the room. Uncle Iroh stepped into the cell, his eyes full of worry and relief.

At the sight of his Uncle, Zuko covered his face with his hands and tears brimmed his eyes. This was too much at once. He was losing it. He'd never felt so many emotions simultaneously. Relief and mourning, joy and sorrow, anger, guilt, worry, fear—he was feeling all of it at once. He fell to his knees.

Iroh rushed forward and placed his hands on Zuko's shoulders to help him back up. "Zuko, are you alright? Your hands..." Iroh asked, pulling them away from his face.

"Uncle—" the prince choked out, his expression strained and his eyes full of shameful tears. "I—" Zuko started, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I was stupid to have betrayed you in Ba Sing Se. I regret saying the things I said and treating you the way I did—I don't deserve it, but I'm begging for your forgivenes—"

Iroh embraced Zuko, stopping him from saying anymore.

Uncle Iroh spoke sincerely, holding his nephew, "Zuko, you never need to ask for my forgiveness. I never felt betrayed or angry with you. I was sad. And I was afraid. I was afraid that you had completely lost your way."

The room fell silent for a moment, while Zuko lost himself in the sea of emotions washing over him.

Toph reluctantly cut in, "Look, I know you two haven't seen each other in some time and have lots of things to talk about, but—umm— "

Iroh released Zuko from his embrace. "You're right, Toph," Iroh agreed calmly, wiping the tears from his eyes. His eyes glistened as they led their way back to Zuko. He added sincerely, "I am proud that you have found your own way." Zuko chuckled with his Uncle's understanding words and wiped the tears off his face, trying to pull himself together.

Another terrifying screech sounded out, bouncing off the walls of the dungeons and sending chills up and down Zuko's spine.

The Firebender spun around, his eyes wide, now facing the two Water-tribe natives. "Katara—!" Zuko called out.

Hakoda and Sokka's faces reflected the same horrified expression. "What!? Is that her? Where is she?!" Sokka exclaimed.

"With Ozai!" he answered, heading toward the door. The looks of horror bounced off each of the faces in the small cell. Sokka let out a strained noise, his face losing all of its color. "Follow me!" Zuko ordered as he passed the two Water-tribe men and rounded the corner.

"Wait, Zuko—!" Iroh called after his impulsive nephew, "We should form some sort of plan—" Toph looked up at the older Firebender.

"That's not really his style, y'know," she informed. Iroh sighed and nodded.

"Yes. I know," he agreed, frowning a little, "But we can't just all go rush the Firelord. It's not a good idea."

"Well, regardless of that, rushing in seems to be the plan we're going with. So we'd better hurry and go catch up to them," the blind girl replied flatly. She smirked at the gray-haired Firebender and headed out the door. "C'mon, old man." Iroh smiled after Toph and followed her down the corridor and up the stairs. As he climbed the stairs, Iroh's smile faded into a frown as the reality of the situation donned on him. They would have to be the ones to take Ozai down. It wasn't right. It wasn't the way it was meant to happen. The Avatar was the only one able to save the world from this sort of evil. And because of that, the leader of the White Lotus was doubtful that they would win this fight. His eyes drifted to the top of the stairs, watching Zuko lead the pack. Iroh furrowed his brow as another thought donned on him.

No, they had to win.

And they had to ensure prince Zuko would come out of it alive. The prince was not the Avatar, but he was important. He was a great leader. His heart was honest, pure and strong—the prince had the next best chance of restoring balance to their broken nation by ending the war. The goal of achieving peace between the nations would be much more difficult not having the Avatar's help. But as he watched Zuko display this amount of courage, Iroh could see that it was not impossible.

It now fell on Zuko's shoulders to save the world.