Finally got ZuZu to behave. He was being weird. I'm not gonna say much, except, enjoy!
Chapter 9
Anger bubbled within him, familiar yet alien. Familiar because for a significant part of his life, anger had been the emotion he had most identified with. It had been the dominant emotion, coloring every aspect of his life. Alien because the siege of Ba Sing Se had defeated his fury, the poisoning crippling it further. It had been a while since he had felt real rage flare within him. But at that moment, he felt it rising within him, black and insidious. The flame in his palm burned brighter and hotter than ever before.
With a growl, Zuko pulled his hand and landed a punch, shooting a ball of fire at the Earthbender. The blast crashed ineffectually against the wall Toph had raised. She lowered the stone barrier and smirked, "All done, or do you want to go again?"
Zuko yelled and pulled his hand back again for a punch, fire engulfing his fist. He was about to send another attack when Katara grasped his hand, "Don't."
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Katara?"
"Think Zuko," she said, keeping her eyes firmly on Toph, "We're in a cave who knows how far underground. I don't have water. Tempting as the idea is, think what will happen if you burn her down? What then? Nowhere to go, no food, no water. We die a stupid and pointless death."
Zuko gritted his teeth, realizing the truth of Katara's words. Hating every moment of it, he allowed the flame's heat to diminish, allowing for the light to remain. He breathed in, the fingers of his other hand digging into Katara's flesh. On some level, he realized that she was standing, leaning against him and he had one arm around her, but he did not have the mental faculties to dwell on that particular detail. His focus was on his abductor. Having got a modicum of control on his fury, he said, "Okay. Okay. So now you have us here. Now what?"
"You. I have you, Princeling. That one," she said jutting her chin toward Katara's general direction, "is collateral damage."
"What?" Katara, rightfully, sounded furious. "So, you just brought me along for a fucking merry ride?"
Toph smiled and crossed her arms, "Well, you blew my cover. I couldn't just let you be after that, could I? Besides, I don't think you quite mind being here."
Zuko felt every inch of Katara clench in rage. The water vapor in the cavern turned into miniscule crystals of ice, raining on the occupants, hissing as they met his fire. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh come now, the way you're clinging to him –"
"Shut up," Zuko hissed, the flame in his hand corresponding the bite in his tone, but then took a deep breath and huffed. A vein throbbed in his temple, a raging headache was building somewhere in his skull, nudging at the back of his eyes. "Okay. So… you have me. Now what?"
"Now you be a good boy and wait here. I'll be back," With that, the Earthbender opened the rock to create an opening and disappeared into the darkness, the rock closing behind her.
"Well fuck," Zuko turned to Katara, "What now?"
Katara pried herself from his grasp, leaving a sudden and unexpected pang of loss in him. Zuko blinked, wondering what had prompted that bout of irrational reaction. He pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to rein in his mind from running in the hundred directions that it seemingly wanted to. Meanwhile, Katara walked a couple of steps away from him, such that she was still within the range of light. She seemed to be staring into the dark, lost in her own thoughts. All of a sudden, the stiff posture broke and Katara's shoulders hunched. She hid her face in her hands and let out a shuddering breath, "This was not supposed to happen. No. This was not supposed to happen."
At those words, something nasty twitched in his stomach, making him feel wretched. He was the target; she was just at the wrong place and wrong time. In a way, she was in this mess because of him. Guilt, he decided, was an unpleasant emotion. He licked his lips, grimacing at the chapped skin that met his tongue, and shuffled slightly closer to her. Was she crying? "Katara… I'm sorry. This shouldn't have happened. You're in this mess because of me. I promise you, as long as I'm alive, no harm will come to you."
She looked up and blinked, as though only now realizing that he was in the cave too. She swallowed and shook her head, "Don't apologize, Zuko. It's not your fault. If anything, I should be the one apologizing. You were right about suspecting her, but I didn't pay attention to it."
Zuko ran a hand through his hair, "Mutual apologies aside, what do we do now?"
Katara straightened and looked around, her blue eyes wide, "I don't know. I can't think."
"Honestly, neither can I," he massaged his temple, willing the headache to stay at bay, "Are you hurt from the fall?"
"Nothing I can't handle. You?"
"Some scrapes and bruises," He said, leaning against the stone wall. He looked up, trying to gage the ceiling of the cave, "We fell straight down. So we must be right under that tent."
"And what good does that bit of knowledge do?" She snapped, mimicking his posture on the opposite wall. "I lost all sense of direction when I fell. Can't see the sky or stars to figure out where to go."
"I'm just trying to get some bearing, okay? I hate feeling so… helpless."
She let out a sigh and shook her head, "I hear you. I hate it too. You at least have your bending. I can't even bend here."
"I have my bending, for now," Zuko said, voicing the thought that had come to him almost as soon as he had fallen in the cave.
Katara looked up with a frown before understanding dawned, "You… the sun. You need the sun to keep bending."
"We need light. We can't navigate in darkness like our kidnapper."
She crossed her arms and looked at him, "Speaking of, what do you think of her?"
"Obviously, except for her name, everything she's said at the camp is a lie."
A strange look passed Katara's face for a moment before she shook her head. "No. I checked her. She is really blind."
Zuko clicked his tongue, "Listen to yourself, Katara! Do you really think that chit of a blind girl kidnapped the two of us? You are the best Waterbender I know, and I'm a reasonably skilled Firebender. This doesn't make sense!"
Katara crossed her arms and chewed her lower lip contemplatively, "Zuko, I sensed her Kundalini energy and she's on a different level altogether."
Zuko raised a brow, leaned against the cave wall and propped one foot against it, "I thought you said you can't tell how skilled a bender is, just whether or not they're benders?"
"I can't. For a regular bender, it is true," Katara explained. "For a regular bender, the Kundalini houses a whorl of energy that they use for bending. Now, the more bending a person does, the freer the chi-paths get. My theory was that I would check the chi-paths to figure out how often she used them. But I didn't even get to that. The energy I sensed there… it was… enormous. Unlike anything I have ever seen."
Zuko considered her words, chewing the inside of his cheek, watching the flame dancing on his palm, "You said you had never tested an Earthbender before her. Maybe it's an Earthbender thing? I mean unlike water and fire, earth is stubborn. Water is life, fire is destruction. But earth? Earth is relentless. I would think an Earthbender would need more energy to bend an element that is unyielding."
Before Katara could answer, stones crumbled somewhere to their left, making her scamper back to him. Not having her element had unnerved her thoroughly. Without taking his eyes off the little Earthbender, he placed himself between the two.
"You're both right and wrong, Sparky," Toph said as she sauntered in with a bundle in her hand.
"S-s-sparky?" Zuko sputtered. "What the hell?"
While Katara, taking half a step to the side to better see their adversary and said, "You heard that?"
"Obviously," Toph said setting the bundle down. She opened the knot on top and grabbed what looked like a long stick and handed it to Zuko. "Here. A torch so you don't have to keep bending."
He caught the torch with his hand, bemused. Without taking his eyes off Toph, he lit the torch and allowed the flame in his hand to die. "Thanks."
Meanwhile, the little girl retied the bundle and handed it to Zuko. "There are more torches there, for when this one runs out. Now keep walking."
Zuko slung the bundle across his shoulder and held Katara's hand without giving the action a thought.
"Why are you doing this, Toph?" Katara asked. "Why are you giving us the torches?"
"I need the prince alive. I can't have him use up all his energy bending that little flame."
Toph started to walk. She opened the way in front of her, while simultaneously closing the cave behind them, forcing Zuko and Katara to follow her. She seemed to be doing this complex work with a frightening ease.
"What did you mean when you said I was both right and wrong?" Zuko said after a while.
"Earth is stubborn," Toph said after a moment, "But that doesn't mean an Earthbender requires any more reserve of energy than other benders. I have that much energy simply because I'm the best."
"Are you really blind?" Zuko asked, unable to believe it.
"In the conventional sense, yes. But I don't need eyes to see. I use Earthbending for it. In fact, I can see better than you. I can see the depths of this cavern. I can see where you both are. I can see where I must go. I can feel your hearts and the scrunching of your feet."
Zuko opened and closed his mouth, not sure of what to say. Next to him, Katara muttered something in a language he didn't understand.
The icy winds of the north pole hit her face, so familiar, yet so strange. In her hand was a scroll with a sketch of the Fire Prince Zuko. She was meant to memorize his face, so she knew who her quarry was to be. Upon qualifying, she had received a trunk full of scrolls, each of which she was supposed to memorize. They were supposed to make her task easy. Katara had gone through every one of them, committing every word to memory. She had, however, put off seeing the sketch. The sketch that would put a face to a name. The face that would become the target of all her rage, bitterness, and hatred. A face that would become synonymous with Fire Nation for her. Maybe, just maybe, this was the face that the man from her nightmares would take. Even today, fourteen years after the event, she was haunted by the images of a faceless man gutting her mother like a penguinseal, her innards spewed out. Katara could still see the pristine snow turn into a crimson slush.
"Katara?" Sokka's voice pulled her from the abyss and she turned to find her brother heading towards her.
She gave him a small, trembling smile, "Hey."
Sokka walked next to her and as one the siblings peered out to the sea, the vast blue expanse dotted by white ice-bergs. This was the one place in the entire North Pole which the benders hadn't turned into a bustling metropolis of ice. This was still the tundra. A piece of home away from home. The two of them stood in silence, the icy wind whipping against their faces.
"I leave tomorrow," she said. Her voice sounded small even to her own ears. She wondered if her brother even heard the words she said.
"I know," he said in an equally soft voice. "I'm so proud of you."
"Will you still be proud after I have done all of that?"
"I will be proud of you, no matter what."
"My hands will be tainted by the blood of the innocent," her words carried a sob.
"Kala knows," Sokka said. "Necessary sacrifice."
"I don't want to kill anyone. Can't I just pretend to be her apprentice and –"
"Katara!" Sokka said sharply, grabbing her shoulders. "Killing her is a mercy. Don't forget, this is an insurance. Should you fail, and you and Kala are taken into custody, you will still have your bloodbending to end your life. Kala won't. Not only that, Kala's death will reduce the chances of you blowing your cover."
"But… she's a healer, not a soldier."
"This is a world war, Katara. Everybody is a soldier. This is for the greater good."
Katara nodded, her breath fogging in the cold. Her fingers tightened around the scroll, drawing her brother's gaze to it.
"Which scroll is that?"
"The Fire Prince's sketch."
"You haven't seen it yet?"
She shook her head. "I don't want to put a face to my nightmares."
Sokka nodded and draped an arm around her shoulders, "Let's see it together, shall we?"
"Zuko."
Katara looked up, blinking a few times in confusion. "What?"
"My name. Zuko. Not Sucka."
"Sucka?"
"You looked straight at me and said Sucka."
It was only then that Katara realized that she had been looking at him, but not really seeing him. She allowed her taut shoulders to relax. A while ago, Toph had asked them to sit and wrapped their legs up to their shins in rock, and had walked away somewhere into the darkness. Currently, the two of them were sitting in what was essentially a rock prison, with a torch casting a flickering light around them.
"It's Sokka, not Sucka."
"And who is that? Your boyfriend?"
Katara made a face, "Eww, no. He's my brother."
Zuko nodded.
"I was just thinking… I'll probably never see him again."
Zuko had a faraway look on his face, "You miss him."
"Yes. You have a sister. You know what I mean."
"Yes, but then she's not… wait," Zuko whipped his head and fixed her with a piercing stare. "How do you know I have a sister?"
Katara could have slapped herself. Trying to come to terms with what had happened, she had lost track of the things she was supposed to know about Zuko. She licked her lips and opened her mouth to say something, but her mind refused to cooperate. Caught in the slip, she had no idea how to wiggle out of this situation. She was saved from an unexpected quarter.
"Common knowledge, Sparky," Toph said appearing suddenly from below, carrying a bag.
"You're creepy, you know that?" Zuko scowled. He craned his neck and looked at their abductor, "I need to relieve myself. Any chance I can get some privacy here?"
Toph opened her hand, palm up and pulled her fingers into a fist. Their stone cuffs crumpled away and Zuko stood up. The Earthbender hooked a finger and pointed to her left. She lowered her hand and the stone obeyed, creating a small opening for him. "Go. Dinner is in five minutes, so don't take forever."
Zuko eyed Toph from head to toe, annoyance radiating from him in palpable waves. With a muttered curse, he walked into the small opening, while Toph walked over to Katara.
Handing her a bao bun, she whispered, "Couldn't the Water Tribe find something better? You're shitty spy."
Katara gaped at the Earthbender, her heart hammering like a jackaroo, "What are you talking about?"
Toph hissed, "Work on your lies. He's not cottoned on yet, because I'm here. His attention is focused on me. But if you keep slipping up like you have been doing, he's going to catch it. Be careful."
Before Katara could reply, Zuko walked back. He settled down in front of them, grabbed a bao bun and began to eat. Silence hung heavy and tangible between the three. Normally, Katara would have loved the bun. It was a ball of fluffy dough with a center of soft, succulent, flavorful meat. It was delicious. But to her, it felt like she was chewing sand.
What am I going to do now?
All her instructions and training had not prepared her for an abduction by a blind Earthbender. When she had come to the mission, she had been prepared to do whatever it takes to sully Zuko's name. Even sleep with him, should that be needed. Fire Nation was full of racist, ethnocentric people who considered themselves superior. They would never allow a prince who was sullied by a Waterbender's touch on the throne. But she had to do it in the war camp so his soldiers would be the witness to his dishonor. How was she going to do that now, when they were so far away from the camp? Where were they?
Katara looked at Toph who was now munching on an apple, "Just out of curiosity, where are we?"
"We are under Mount Noneya."
Zuko frowned, "What? Where's that?"
"Noneya business," Toph replied and laughed uproariously at her joke. Katara groaned while Zuko looked like he had bitten into a lemon.
"Are you really sixteen?" Zuko asked after a moment.
"No. I'm twenty."
"Then why did you say you were sixteen?" Katara wondered, genuinely curious. "Why lie about your age?"
"Saying I'm sixteen would lower the defenses."
