Katara rammed her shoulder against the door, huffing in pain as it refused to give.

"Come on," she grunted, rubbing her shoulder.

Looking around the room, Katara searched for a way to get out, her frustration at being locked inside growing every second. Her eyes were drawn to a small water mark on the floor, the remains of the water she'd been playing with a while before. Flinging her hands out, Katara pulled all she could of it from the floor, stretching her fingers to catch any spare droplets. The small orb floated towards her, Katara turning back to look over the door.

The hinges seemed like they would be her best bet. With quick movements, Katara brought the water up and down across the hinges, slicing into the metal as she increased the speed. After a few moments, Katara managed to break apart the two hinges holding the metal door in place, using her fingers to pry it open enough for her to slip out.

She could hear yelling coming from somewhere, her feet beginning to run in the direction.

Aang? Sokka? she wondered as she began climbing the stairs. The yelling sounds were growing louder, fighting and banging adding to the noise. She reached the door that led to the deck of the ship without spotting anyone, but from the noise outside, it wasn't hard to know where everyone was.

Bursting through the door, Katara was stopped in her tracks with the view of a battlefield, hordes of people in black overriding the red, black, and gold dressed soldiers of the fire nation. She jumped backwards to avoid a rogue fire blast as soldiers screamed, trying to fend off their attackers.

In the middle of it all, Zuko fought beside his uncle, fire from the two of them forcing the invaders towards the sides of the ship, though they seemed quick to recover. Katara was struggling to comprehend what was happening when Zuko spotted her, eyes going wide as he hurdled one of the invader's spears and sprinted at her.

"What in the Fire Lord's name are you doing up here?" he roared, crashing into her, hands gripping her shoulders.

She gave a yelp of pain as his fingers dug into her, shoving him away as she glared at him.

"Why did you lock me in your room?" she demanded to know.

Zuko growled, throwing an arm to the side with a blast of fire to keep one of the strange warriors back.

"Because it's not safe," he shouted at her. "This is a battle, and you shouldn't be here!"

"You're lying, Zuko," she hissed, eyes narrowing. "You thought it was Aang, didn't you?"

Grabbing his arms, Katara yanked him forward to avoid a spear thrown. Her pull slammed her into the wall behind her, Zuko's arms coming up on either side of her.

"Is now really the time for this?" Zuko snapped, gold eyes glinting as he tried to cover his guilt.

Katara shoved him away from her, arm reaching out as she prepared to call water from the ocean to her, Zuko running from her to rejoin the fighting. Looking out at the invading figures, Katara felt her arm slowly drop back down to her side as she studied them, beginning to recognize their weapons and fighting style.

With a new urgency, Katara began scanning the figures, ducking down to avoid being hit by a blow from either side. She recognized some of them. Even though their faces were covered, she was sure she knew them.

There.

She saw him, attacking Iroh, spear in hand at the railing of the ship.

She started running from her hiding spot, eyes filling with tears.

Then her eyes locked on something behind him.

"Zuko, no!" she screamed, running faster, bending water towards her.

It was too late to stop the bolt of fire from being fired, though Zuko tried to cut it off in surprise when he heard her.

Leaping into the air, Katara took the blast in her side, not having had enough time to get more than a very thin shield of water in front of her.

She crashed into the railing, flipping over it, head crashing against the side of the ship as she fell. She heard the invader and Zuko shout her name, their voices beginning to fade as she fell and the pain took over, everything fading to black just before her body hit the waves.

~~~Time Skip~~~

"Katara. Katara, can you hear me?"

Who is that?

"Come on, Katara. Wake up.

That's Zuko's voice.

"Katara, please."

"Where am I?" Katara murmured, eyes still closed.

Her senses had begun to return, and she could feel sand beneath her fingers, the rocking of the ship she'd become accustomed to gone. Her head felt fuzzy, and bright sunlight was shining into her eyes.

Then the pain hit.

Katara gasped, eyes fluttering open as her hand went to her side, desperately trying not to cry.

"Oh gosh," Zuko said, bending over her, worry in his eyes. "Don't move, Katara. You're hurt."

"I noticed," Katara muttered through gritted teeth, squeezing her eyes shut against the pain. "Where are we?"

"An island."

"An island? What happened? How'd we get here?"

"Our ship was being overrun, so when Uncle Iroh saw you go overboard, he dropped one of our boats into the water. We managed to get you on board, and we rowed to this island."

"Iroh's here?"

"He's out looking for some food right now, but he'll be back soon."

Everything that happened last night began to return to her, Katara's eyes opening again.

"What about him? The person I jumped in front of?" she asked.

"Him? He's probably fine," Zuko grunted. "But why would you jump in front of him? That blast could've killed you!"

Katara glared at him as best she could with her pain.

"Well, that blast would've killed him," she retorted icily.

"He invaded my ship, of course I'm going to attack him," Zuko shot back. "Why are you defending him?"

"That man was my dad, Zuko," Katara told him.

Zuko flinched back.

"What?"

"You heard me," she snapped, trying to sit up. "The man you almost killed was my father."

She'd recognized the weapons, the battle tactics. She'd seen someone who looked a lot like Bato. The voices yelling, the glimpses of blue eyes amidst the black masks they wore. She'd known it just had to have been her dad's fleet, since he'd been out there for years, attacking Fire Nation ships.

"I...I'm sorry, Katara," Zuko said with surprise in his voice. "I had no idea it was your father."

Katara sighed, losing the anger as she collapsed back onto the sand.

"I know," she mumbled.

She looked up at the lost looking prince, his hands clenched into fists as he stared at her with wide eyes.

"Zuko, could you get me any water?" she asked.

"Right," he realized, jumping to his feet. "Water. I'll be right back."

She sighed again after he'd rushed away, trying hard to fight back the tears from the pain she felt. She couldn't decide which pain was causing her to start crying then, the pain from her side, or the sudden heaviness her heart was feeling.

"Katara?"

Iroh's voice interrupted Katara's thoughts, Katara turning her head to the side to see him with a bucket of water, approaching her.

"Iroh," she replied, happily.

"It's good to see you awake, again," Iroh told her, walking to her and placing the bucket beside her. "With this help with your wound?"

Katara nodded, lifting one of her hands. Iroh edged the bucket closer to her outstretched hand to make it easier for her to bend the water to her, water encasing her hand and beginning to glow blue. Her eyes closed from the relief of the pain she felt as she placed her hand over the burn, the water immediately beginning to work its magic.

"How long was I unconscious for?" Katara asked, looking back up at Iroh who had sat cross legged down beside her, watching the healing process with a crease of worry in his forehead.

"Less than a day," Iroh informed her with a smile. "I think your head is becoming quite resilient after all the injuries you've been sustaining recently."

Katara smiled at that, wondering just how much damage her head had been put through.

"I heard what you told my nephew," Iroh admitted, sympathy filling his gaze. "How long has it been since you've seen your father?"

"Years," Katara whispered. "He left when my brother and I were still kids."

"It must be hard then," Iroh guessed correctly. "Having spent so long without your father, only to catch a glimpse of him in the middle of a battle."

Katara nodded, flicking the water off her hand now that the healing was done. Her side remained sore, but at least now she didn't have to grit her teeth from the pain.

"Are you angry with my nephew, Katara?" Iroh asked, voice soft. "I will understand if you are."

Considering his words, Katara slowly shook her head.

"Not because of that," she admitted. "My dad attacked his ship, of course Zuko is going to fight back. My dad couldn't have known I was on board, and Zuko never could have guessed the people attacking his ship were led by my dad."

"Is it because he burned you then?"

"No," she said softly. "He was doing what he thought he had to in order to protect his ship."

Iroh waited beside her, silently, giving her time to collect her thoughts.

"He locked me inside his room again," she whispered, tears once again pricking her eyes.

"Katara…"

"I know why he did. He must've thought Aang was trying to free me or that maybe I could get help from whoever was attacking him, but I thought we'd gotten past it."

Sitting up, Katara whipped the tears off her cheeks with the back of her hand.

"I just thought he trusted me, you know?" she cried.