This chapter practically flowed from my fingers without any efforts. Technically, I am still working to finish Broken Hearts and Shattered Breaths, but this chapter has been bothering me, forcing me to write it. So here it is. This chapter. A reviewer asked me if the scenes in the cave will be like Crystal Catacombs. Now, this chapter will answer your questions. You will also know some background about how Aang came to know Katara and what happened there.

Trigger Warning: This chapter has some gory scenes. Be warned.


Chapter 10

"Katara, I love you."

"What, Aang? What did you say?" Katara screamed, cupping her hand behind her ear and leaning towards him. "I can't hear a thing over this noise."

Aang laughed and draped an arm over the woman he loved with everything he had in him. Around him, the Spring festival was in full swing. The Southern Water Tribe really knew how to celebrate the thawing, brief as it was. The fire shone bright, the drums loud, and the songs raucous. Sitting next to him, she looked beautiful. Her long, black hair cascaded down to her waist, with tiny beads of bones threaded through its strands. Her lips were painted a deep shade of red. A blush colored her cheeks, nose, and eyelids. Her blue eyes danced with joy.

Aang leaned towards her and raised his voice, "I said… I love you."

A loud call of a bugle drowned his words, or so he thought. But then, Katara leaned over and gave him a hug.

Sitting atop Appa, Aang rubbed his tears. He pulled out the betrothal necklace from his robes and gave it a kiss. How had things come to this? Wasn't his life supposed to be set? He was the Avatar, for spirits sake! He knew what he was supposed to do. Put an end to the war and come home to Katara. That was his destiny. He thought back to the day he met Katara for the first time.

"How much further?" Twelve-year-old Aang whined.

"Patience, young Avatar, patience," Pakku said in a tone that said the old man was close to losing his own. "How did you become an Air Bending Master by age ten if you are this impatient?"

Aang shrugged, "I'm a prodigy."

Even though Pakku was sitting in the saddle and he was at the front, with Appa's saddle in his hand, Aang could feel his Water Bending Master roll his eyes.

"I don't understand," Aang said after a while. "Why do I have to go to the South Pole? You taught me at North Pole, didn't you?"

Pakku sighed, "As I said many, many times before, until and unless you learn both styles of Water Bending, you cannot be a proper Water Bending Master. You would require both styles to finish the war. And now, here we are."

"Finally!" Aang said and flicked the reins. With a grunt, Appa descended on a patch of snow. With a loud whoop, Aang jumped off the bison's head, only to land on a patch of ice. His foot slid from under him, making him smack his head on ice. Stars winked in front of his eyes. Just as his vision cleared, he saw something that stole his breath. A vision in blue! The most beautiful girl he had ever seen was looking at him with concern written in her large blue eyes.

"Will you marry me?" Was the first thing that came out of his lips.

At that, she laughed and said, "Don't you think we should be a little older for that?"

He sat up, rubbing his head and grinned, "Yes, but no harm making up one's mind early on."

Katara giggled and said, "Yes, that's for sure."

The caw of a PigeonChicken started him and brought him back to present. Aang patted Appa's head and said, "We'll get her back, buddy. We will. These old coots don't know what they're doing. How could they take Katara away from me? How could they ask her to seduce another man? That too the Fire Prince. Zuko."

A shudder ran down his spine as he imagined Zuko touching her. Kissing her. NO. NO. He would not let Zuko defile Katara like that. Use her like that. No.

"I'm getting her back," Aang said, trying to erase the image that had burned in his mind. "I don't care if Zuko burns Ba Sing Se down for that. I am getting her back."


Zuuuuuukooooo!

The Prince spun around to find the voice but all he could see was darkness. Pitch black. He punched a fist of fire but there was nothing

"Help me, Zuko!" a woman was saying.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

Someone was laughing. A different voice. Then someone screamed.

Zuko's eyes snapped open and he blinked several times to rid himself of the sleep fogging his mind. Agni! That was a bizarre dream. He rubbed his eyes and stretched, wondering why his body was so stiff. He groaned slightly, hoping to fall back to sleep when a gagging screech startled him.

He shot up and looked around, seeing gray stone everywhere. Where was he? Why was it so dark? Then his brain caught up and he remembered. He was Toph's prisoner. A howl of pain echoed through the cavern, making him turn. Some way off, Katara was on her fours, pawing the ground and bucking, like an ostrich horse trying to shake off its rider.

Frowning he crawled up to her and tried to look at her face. "Katara? What happened?"

"Take it off, take it off! It hurts!" She screamed.

"Take it off? What?"

He lit a flame in his hand and looked frantically. He vaguely registered Toph walking over to them but he ignored her. It took a few precious seconds for him to see it, but once he did, Zuko wondered how had he missed something so ghastly in the first place?

On her back, underneath her cloak, was a bulbous mass that was moving. Her blue cloak was getting soaked by a slowly spreading amorphous blob of blood. Muttering a curse under his breath, he acted, purely on instinct as he pulled his knife from his boot and cut the cloak. He grabbed the collar and tore it open, revealing a sight that made him gasp. A bug, as big as his hand, was lodged between her shoulder blades, feasting on her. Blood gushed from the wound and Katara was writhing in pain.

"Fuck!" Zuko said and yanked the bug from her. Her scream of pain rebounded on them several times. The bug in his hand wriggled. Zuko lit a flame, setting the offending creature ablaze. In front of him, however, the Water Bender continued to thrash.

"What's happening?" Zuko asked, feeling a sliver of panic creeping up his spine. "I got it out, didn't I?"

"The stinger!" Toph said from behind his shoulder. "You need to get the stinger out."

Zuko looked at Katara's back and realized that the wound was obstructed by her bindings, which was now soaked through with her blood. He tried to part the strips of cloth, but he could not see anything except red. There was no other way.

"I'm sorry, Katara," he said tersely, as he peeled his own shirt off, "I need to get the stinger out and stop the bleeding. But I can't see your wound. I'll have to cut your bindings."

"Just do it!" She said through gritted teeth. "Get this off me! Please!"

He handed his shirt to her and said, "Here. Cover yourself."

She sat on her knees and clutched the shirt to her chest, trembling furiously. Gritting his teeth, Zuko grabbed her bindings with one hand and slid the blade into the gap that he had created. With one swift action, he cut through the cloth and pulled the binding apart. Her entire back was bathed in blood.

"I can't see the wound," Zuko said.

"Hold on," Toph said in clipped tones. Moments later, she was back with a canteen of water. Zuko upturned the water on her back to wash off the blood. That was when he could see a large circular wound, with chunk of flesh eaten away. Lighting a flame, he studied it keenly. It took him a moment but then he saw it. A round solid object, big as a nail, embedded in her flesh.

"Found it. But it's deep."

"Use your knife," Toph suggested.

Zuko nodded and used his hand to sanitize the blade. "This is going to hurt like hell, Katara."

Toph undid her leather belt and held it out to Katara, "Here, bite on this."

Without a word, the Water Bender complied.

"Toph, hold her."

The Earth Bender walked in front of her and grabbed her by her arms.

"Ready?" Zuko asked, vaguely aware of how breathless he sounded.

Katara nodded. Zuko lay one hand around the wound, pressing it slightly, and then dug the blade in. Katara's entire body arched, as a pained scream was muffled by the leather belt.

"Hold on, hold on, Katara," Toph said, holding on to her body.

With a twist, Zuko managed to hook the blade on the stinger and yanked it out. Katara let out an ear-splitting scream as the black stinger, as long as his middle finger, dislodged itself from her back. But as soon as it was out, blood gushed out.

"Stop the bleeding, now!" Toph said.

"Katara, I'll have to cauterize the wound," Zuko said, feeling sweat bead on his skin as Katara grew cold under his touch.

He didn't know if she even heard him or not. She made a whimpering noise that could mean anything. Taking it as consent, he lit his fingers and pressed it on the wound. Katara's scream jarred him to the bone as he burned the wound closed. That done, the woman collapsed on the floor, unaware of the fact that his shirt had slipped away, exposing her blood covered breasts to him. Taking a deep breath, he draped the shirt on her. Zuko laid a hand on her forehead, frowning at how cold she was.

"What the hell was that thing?" He screamed at Toph.

"Canyon Muncher," The Earth Bender replied, sitting cross legged on the floor. "Nasty buggers, those."

"Will she be okay?"

"You want the good news first or the bad news?"

"Good news?"

"Those things are not fatal to humans."

"A relief," Zuko snapped sarcastically. "What's the bad news?"

"She is going to be in a world of agony for the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours, depending on how much toxin has entered her system."

Zuko sat back, shaking his head. He cast a look at the pale, sweat covered face of Katara. "That looked terrible."

Toph gave a snort, "Terrible? I have known big, muscly men wail like babies when bit by one of those. Most pass out before the stinger is pulled out. She was conscious, albeit barely, till the wound was cauterized. This woman is tough as nails."

Zuko nodded, "Clearly."


The walls of Ba Sing Se loomed in the distance. From what he knew, Zuko's war camp was outside the walls, in a field next to a the Yungste river, Ba Sing Se's water source. Guiding Appa to the side, where he knew the camp to be, Aang clutched the betrothal necklace in his hand so painfully that its sides dug into his skin.

"I'm coming, Katara," Aang said, "I won't let Zuko touch you. You are mine."

After what felt like ages, Appa groaned and made his way down. Even from this distance, he could see the cluster of tents. But… something was wrong. Something was seriously wrong, even though he could not put his finger on what was bothering him. Appa landed some way off, hidden away from sight by a clump of trees. He flew down to the ground, landing noiselessly. Pocketing the necklace, he made his way through the jumble of trees, towards the tents where she was. As he neared them, however, with a sickening feeling in his stomach, he realized that none of the tents were properly erected. The very ground looked as though it had been upended. Not a single soul was to be seen anywhere.

"Katara!" Aang screamed, throwing caution to the wind. "Katara! Where are you? Katara!"

"Aang?" A male voice called out in surprise.

Spinning on his heels he found himself looking at a familiar but unexpected face, "Hahn?"

"What… Are you here to take me home?" The man asked.

"What?"

"You didn't get my hawk?"

"What hawk?" Aang's heart was thudding so loudly that he could barely hear Hahn over its noise.

"Two days ago, all of a sudden, Earth Benders attacked the camp. They literally came from nowhere and they attacked at night. The Fire Benders were defeated soundly. A lot of them died. Whoever is alive has been taken prisoner."

"What? What about Katara? And Zuko?"

Hahn shrugged, "Who knows. A couple of hours before the Earth Benders attacked, Katara and Zuko vanished. Traceless."