A/N A bit of a longer chapter than I intended, but I thought it was necessary. This one takes place during and after the Last Agni Kai, and it's basically how Katara and Zuko ended up together.
Lightning flashed before her very eyes, overwhelmingly bright, and through the brilliance, Katara could only just make out the dark silhouette of the scarred Fire Nation prince, a small pinprick of black against the malevolent, crackling white-blue tendrils that were stretching towards her.
A pinprick of black that was shielding her from those tendrils.
No. Her hands began shaking of their own accord. No.
Not again.
A memory flashed through her head in those split seconds: of a boy with tattoo arrows, rising in the air, his eyes glowing with controlled power. Of those same claw-like tendrils, generated by the same girl, the same enemy as now, racing towards him before stabbing deep into his back. Of the same boy, limp and heavy and falling—
Not again.
Katara snapped out of her haze upon hearing the crackle of lightning being directed away from her. In the split second that the memory had flashed through her mind, Zuko had apparently been able to redirect the lightning: the tendrils that had been reaching greedily towards her were now being sent straight towards the blood-red sky.
But the damage was done: the scarred teen fell heavily to the ground, his frame shaking violently as the white-blue aura of lightning flickered around him for a brief instant before joining its brethren in taking to the skies. Even from this distance, Katara could see his limbs twitching as his body convulsed, trying to get the excess electricity out of itself.
"ZUKO!"
Heart leaping to her throat, Katara bent water from her pouch, covering her left hand, reaching, reaching, no, no, please, don't let me be too late this time—
A giant stream of blue fire stopped her in her tracks, and she snapped her head back to see a crazed Azula cackle before sending another stream of blue fire from her knuckles towards Katara.
She had no choice but to dodge and engage in combat with Azula. She had to end this quickly, to get to Zuko and heal the burnt flesh on his chest.
Before it was too late.
Katara rushed over to Zuko's side, leaving a teeth-gnashing Azula chained to the gutter. She dropped rather ungracefully onto her knees before whipping out the water from her pouch. The stream rocketed out of the opening (too fast, too fast), and she forced herself to breathe, just breathe, stay calm.
She began her usual routine in administering healing, placing her hands on his chest and concentrated on the wound, trying to will the damaged organs to repair, the flesh to mend and the skin to smooth.
Unbidden, memories began to resurface, flashing with every movement she made as she grasped Zuko's lifeline, trying to mend it back together: Zuko's body, sprawling across the temple grounds by her violent shove of water; the terrified expression on his face, courtesy of her threatening him over Aang's life; the wounded look in his eyes every time she sneered or lashed out at him; the grim determination in his eyes as he stood by her side, a staunch defender in her decision to pursue the man who murdered her mother despite everything she'd done to him.
Tears constricted her throat, panic encroaching her as every action she'd done against him pushed its way to the forefront of her mind. It can't end like this, she found herself pleading to the spirits. She needed to make up for every wrong she's committed against Zuko, needed to—to repent and to let him understand how much she cherishes their friendship, to let him know how sorry she was at all the unfair hate she heaped onto him. She forced all her energy into the wound, eyes squeezing shut as she willed Zuko to pull through.
Please, don't let it end like this.
A quiet sigh from Zuko. Katara's eyes flew open as she turned her gaze upon Zuko and saw his face was relaxed, soothed. His barely audible whisper reached her ears: "Thank you, Katara."
Relief swallowed her whole, filling up the pit in her stomach and spilling out of her eyes in the form of tears.
She wasn't too late.
Later, the reason why she did what she did in the next instant would forever be muddled to Katara, a question that would continue haunting her to the end of her days. Maybe it was the overwhelming elation of making it out alive—not just for herself, but for Zuko too. Maybe it was the euphoria of taking down the most dangerous firebender alive—the very same one who killed her best friend, the Avatar—and emerging victorious. Maybe it was even just the relief that she was able to save Zuko from the same fate that had befallen Aang lifetimes ago. In the moment, however, her reasons felt as clear as day; none of the confusion that seemed to be present when she was with Aang were there when she was with Zuko.
She kissed him.
Katara felt, rather than heard, the startled sound that thrummed in the back of Zuko's throat as she pressed her lips against his. For a moment, he stayed as rigid as a board, as though unbelieving of what was happening in the moment.
By that time, Katara's brain was finally catching up to her (WHAT are you DOING?), and she suddenly came to her senses, the fog of pure relief penetrated by a sharp pang of fear. She quickly pulled away and cringed upon seeing the comically (but also not) shocked, gape-mouthed expression on Zuko's face.
And that's when Katara realized something.
Zuko was handsome.
The scar over his left eye had done nothing to hide his chiseled features, nor the passionate fire that flared within Zuko's golden eyes; when he directed that gaze towards her, she felt her breath leave her at the intensity that they shone.
As these thoughts began formulating in her head, her memories began dredging up images of Zuko's muscular body as he instructed Aang, the sheen of sweat that glinted off his skin and the way his muscles expanded and contracted as he went through the motions of the firebending kata. Heat flooded Katara's cheeks, and she stubbornly kept her eyes locked on Zuko's golden ones.
"Wha—" Zuko's shocked look was melting into astonishment, and he pointed at her before glancing behind him, almost as though he thought someone would be present. "But you—" he stammered. "And Aang—! I—you—he—I thought—"
At the utterance of Aang's name, her mind immediately conjured the image of her best friend and, by its own volition, compared Aang's younger, childish, boyish features with Zuko's older, more mature, masculine appearance.
So? He's your best friend!
Yeah, but Zuko was far more mature, understood her far better than Aang ever could. After all, he was the one who backed her when she sought her mother's murderer, the one who stood by her side when Aang blew up against her—and all because he was being too childish to understand the stakes of war.
Not to mention, Aang forced himself upon me!
But did you really think he did it on purpose?
Katara struggled to untangle her jumbled thoughts about the two boys she had come to love: the calm, gray-eyed airbender who shouldered the responsibility of the world and the passionate, fiery-gazed firebender who turned against his own father to fight for a brighter tomorrow.
Does it matter? Katara finally shot back to the nagging voice in her mind. I may have forgiven him, but he shouldn't have even crossed the boundary I laid out for him. He shouldn't have been so… so possessive!
Zuko understood her. More than that, Zuko respected her. He wouldn't have done what Aang did that night during the awful play. He was more mature.
A better fit as a romantic partner.
Katara waited for that voice in her head to refute, but surprisingly, it kept silent. There was a pause so long, Katara was beginning to wonder if it would just stay silent. Then:
If you're so sure about that, then do whatever you want.
But if you regret it, don't say I didn't warn you.
Zuko's mouth was still moving, clearly stumbling over his words as he spouted half-coherent sentences—maybe telling her that this was wrong and that he belonged to someone else and that she had to think of Aang—
Katara silenced him with another kiss.
This time, Zuko seemed to overcome his shock faster than before. He stayed stock-still for two heartbeats, evidently caught off-guard at the turn of events. Soon, however, Katara felt him relax against her lips, even lean in and kiss her back.
As her mouth moved against his, only one coherent thought came to the forefront of her mind, filled with unexpected regret: I'm sorry, Aang.
A/N I think I just died a little on the inside.
Nothing against Zutarians or anything, but writing that bit about Katara fawning over Zuko's physical appearance was just... eurgh. Honestly, that's one of the reasons why I'm not huge into Zutara. But you guys ship whatever you want, no skin off my nose.
And the arguments that Katara uses on reasons why not to be with Aang was stuff I've heard from Zutarians who argue against letting Aang get with Katara. I have some... opinions about them. But for the sake of NOT starting the age-old Kataang vs Zutara war, I'm just leaving it at this.
I feel like I wrote Katara a little bit OOC here, but it's kind of a given in order to make her be with Zuko, ig? I dunno. Honestly, the entire time I was writing this, I just felt so... disjointed. Let me know what you guys think in the reviews!
It wasn't until years later that she realized that the voice in her head was right all along.
But by then, it was too late to correct her mistake.