Katara catches Zuko and there are consequences. Set during The Southern Raiders
DAY 11: FALLING WITH YOU
She's a waterbender, not an airbender. Maybe that's why she falls.
One moment she is reaching up, pulling the Fire Prince out of freefall. The next, she is jerked over the side of Appa's saddle.
Suddenly the only sounds are the air rushing around her and her own frantic breathing. It's loud—too loud—and her stomach is in her throat and—
Her mind catches up. Far above, the sky bison soars—the sky bison dives. The sky bison will not make it in time.
She blinks the water from burning eyes and meets the horrorstruck gaze of the firebender still attached to her hands, an invisible force keeping them glued together. His mouth is forming words, but they are lost to the wind.
Time stands still, yet the Western Air Temple grows smaller and smaller above them. She is weightless, yet gravity pulls her toward terminal velocity.
There is no lamentation on what could have been, no final confrontation, no regret, no anger. These are luxuries.
Blind, paralyzing fear is reality. And Prince Zuko, son of Fire Lord Ozai. The source of much of her suffering and the very reason she is plummeting from the sky.
But in this liminal space, he is nothing and no one. He is a boy with inky hair, whipping like angry seas. She can see the moment the acceptance sparks in his golden eyes. It catches alight, the blustering winds stoking it until it consumes her, as well.
She doesn't know exactly when he pulled her into his arms—or maybe she was the one who pulled. His muscles have gone slack. In these final peaceful moments, she drinks in the smell of his sweat.
His voice rings out somewhere through the fog, his breath tickling her ear. "I'm sorry, Katara."
She closes her eyes and squeezes him tighter.