I won't lie to you, this one was the hardest to write yet. I've tried to do these by taking personality traits of the Gaang members and twisting them, such as Suki's loyalty to the Kyoshi Warriors, Toph's desire for freedom and Sokka's protective attitude towards Katara. For Katara, I found that a lot harder because she's portrayed as so compassionate and because she's so, well, good, and also because she's so protective of Aang it's almost unfathomable to imagine a story where she turns against him.
The key word there being 'almost'.
Responses to Reviews:
Guest: Yep, could always be worse; at least Azula wasn't involved this time.
Phieillydinyia: So do I. These stories are never happy.
RonaldM40196867: I don't really have a favourite character; I like all the main six members of Team Avatar, as well as Mai, the most.
Northern Goshawk: Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it, and your analysis of it does generally line up with what I was thinking when I wrote it.
As Always, Please Review, and for our latest exercise in character assassination we travel almost to the end of the series, where we find Katara having just done not one but two separate terrible things in a matter of a day...
The marketplace of the small Fire Nation town of Kaen was abuzz with the sounds of trade and commerce.
It was market day; the farmers from around the village had brought their wares into town to sell them to the local villagers- and to officials in charge of the logistics of the Fire Army, who moved up and down the stalls commandeering what they needed.
Everybody was so busy buying and selling and generally getting lost in the atmosphere, that few paid attention to five teenagers in red slipping among the stalls, two of whom were wearing large, wide brimmed hats and one of whom had an obnoxious fake beard on.
"Sokka, that thing is only going to draw attention to us!" Zuko pointed out, as quietly as possible.
"Nonsense! It's a disguise! Besides, my name is Wang Fire, we've been through this."
Suki laughed as she stepped forward besides Sokka. "Well I like it."
"You would," Toph grumbled.
At that moment, Suki's hand brushed Sokka's and he turned and smiled at her, a warm smile full of love.
To Aang, it was a kick in the teeth.
He hung back, and took no part in the bickering going on in front of him. He couldn't get into the mood for it, no matter how hard he tried, and the constant public displays of affection between Sokka and Suki were not helping. It wasn't that he wasn't happy for them, because he was, at least on some level, but rather because every kiss, every look, every held hand he had to witness just reminded him of Katara- and dragged him back to that day two weeks earlier, the day it had all gone wrong.
Aangrushed to meet Zuko as he walked back into camp. The Firebender had been away several days, and Aang was anxious to speak to him.
"Zuko!" He called, spotting the Firebender. A pang ofworry crossed his mind as he saw that Zuko's expression was not a happy one.
"Hello Aang," the Prince greeted him sullenly.
"How did it go?"
"Zuko hesitated for a second.
"Aang... not well."
"Did you not find him?"
"Oh, we found him," Zuko replied darkly. "It's what happened afterwards."
Aang's heart sank. "Where is she?"
"On the Pier. She said she wanted to be alone."
Pausing briefly to thank Zuko, Aang hurried there immediately, every step bringing further worrying thoughts.
Eventually, he reached the shore. Ahead of him lay the pier, and on the far end of it sat a familiar figure. Aang began to approach, and then his heart sank as he heard sobs.
"Katara?" He called. The sobbing stopped.
"I did it," was the only thing she said.
"You did what?" He asked, although he had a terrible feeling he already knew.
"I killed him. I looked him straight in the eyes and I killed him. And that's not even the worst part. I bloodbent again. I bloodbent a man who wasn't even my mother's killer."
Aang was stopped in his tracks by this revelation.
"You-"
"No," Katara stopped him. "I already know what you're going to say. I'm a terrible person for bloodbending again, and for killing him. That I should have chosen the peaceful way- your way."
"Katara-" Aang tried again, but was cut off again.
"And the worst thing is, you would be right. I am."
Aang tried to open his mouth, tried to form the words "No, you're not," anything to comfort her, but he couldn't form coherent words all of a sudden. Instead, he moved towards her. Katara turned to face him, and he could see tears streaking her face.
"No, don't- don't come any closer!" She said.
"Katara, please!"
"I crossed a line," she told him. "But you shouldn't have to."
Suddenly, the water rose up behind her and lashed out towards Aang, who wasn't expecting it and so was sent flying; however, he landed softly in a bush. When he looked up, Katara was nowhere to be seen; only a distant jet of water quickly receding over the horizon.
Despite having searched for several days on Appa, they had found nothing; Katara was nowhere to be seen and eventually they had been forced to return to training to fight the Firelord.
"...Aang?"
Aang was shaken from his thoughts by the sound of his name, and came back to the present to find the rest of the group looking at him.
"Aang, did you hear anything I said?" Sokka asked.
"No, sorry."
"I was asking if you wanted anything in particular from the market."
Aang shook his head. "Not really, no."
"Are you still thinking about her?" Suki asked.
"Of course I'm still thinking about her!" Aang exploded, his sudden outburst causing the rest of his group to shrink backwards. He saw this, and deflated again. "I'm sorry," he muttered. "It's just hard."
"I know," Sokka said, and when Aang looked up his face was deadly serious. "I want to find her as much as you do, Aang. Maybe more."
"We all do," Toph added.
Aang opened his mouth to respond, only to be interrupted by a loud and familiar voice.
"Avatar Aang!"
Aang whirled around, recognising the voice of Azula and fearing the worst. However, instead of standing right behind him, she was standing on a platform in the centre of the square.
"I know you're there, Avatar Aang! And I know you have my traitor brother too!" She shouted. "We spotted your sky-bison in the area!"
"What do we do?" Suki hissed. "Do we fight, or do we get out of here?"
"And don't even think of trying to leave! I've got a perimeter up!"
"So I guess we fight," Suki groaned, looking around for the nearest improvised weapon.
"Wait!" Zuko stopped her. "There's something... off about her."
"What?" Toph asked. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know, but she's not the same as she normally is. She might make mistakes."
"Spirits, I hope so," Sokka muttered.
"Surrender now!" Azula shouted. "Don't worry, we will be merciful! To you, at least, we need you alive..."
The group just looked at each other, and exchanged a mental not a chance.
Azula looked around for a few seconds, and then appeared to grasp that they weren't going to come quietly.
"Fine!" She barked. "In that case, allow me to give you some extra incentive! If you don't surrender now, everyone within this perimeter dies!"
Suddenly, the square, which had been deathly quiet, burst into a cacophony of noise as the people in the square processed what their Princess had just told them.
"Please," Azula told them. "You should be glad to lay down your lives for the Fire Nation! Yes, you'll all die, but it is a sacrifice I am willing to make."
"I'll bet it is," Toph snarled. "Permission to flatten her?"
Sokka and Aang exchanged glances, and then Sokka turned to Toph.
"Let's get her."
"With pleasure."
Before they had a chance to act, though, a sudden noise came from the stage. They whirled to find a second figure had joined Azula, and Aang's heart stopped when he saw who it was.
Katara opened her pouch, and a stream of water rushed towards Azula, trapping her hands before she could bend. It then lifted her up and slammed her down.
"You're pathetic," she spat. "You've hurt and killed so many people, including your own people. That ends today. I will not let you hurt these people to get to the Avatar. Not any more."
Katara advanced on the downed Fire Princess.
"The Avatar has to defeat your father to restore balance," she said. "But nobody said anything about you."
Azula laughed. "Your boyfriend is a pacifist," she said. "You wouldn't."
"Why? Because he might disapprove? Because he might reject me?" A tear rolled down Katara's cheek. "He already did."
In an instant, the water trapping Azula's wrists returned to her hand, froze into a spear point and lanced towards the Princess. There was a sickening noise, and then the Fire Princess stopped moving.
The whole confrontation took fifteen seconds at most. A deathly silence fell over the square, as nobody could believe what they were seeing.
It took a while for Aang to stop staring in shock at the stage, and by the time he had realised what was happening Katara was jumping off and running away. By the looks on the faces of his friends, they couldn't believe what they had just witnessed either.
They looked at each other, and as one began to chase her.
Ahead of them, a guard began to give chase, running after Katara as she made her getaway.
At least, he was until Toph raised a small ledge of rock just in front of his foot, causing him to trip and go sprawling as they ran past him.
Aang saw Katara look over her shoulder, and for a second they made eye contact. Katara's eyes widened, and she faltered for a second, but then she continued to run.
"Katara!" Sokka shouted, as she dived up a side street. His sister didn't even look back at his call.
They rounded the corner just as their quarry turned another.
"Hold on," Toph shouted. "I have an an idea."
She stopped, concentrated, and then swiped one of her feet to the side. There was a sudden rumble from the alley that Katara had just run down.
"What was that?" Sokka demanded.
"Relax, Snoozles, I just blocked her escape route," Toph replied as they resumed the chase.
They rounded the corner to find Katara trying to climb an enormous slab of rock that had risen up in her path. At their approach, she froze.
"Katara?" Aang called, tentatively.
"What's going on?" Sokka asked.
"Did you see?" Katara asked.
"Did I see what?"
"You know what, if you're here."
"You mean killing Azula," Toph said. The blunt way in which she said it caused Katara to whip around.
"You don't understand," she shouted. "None of you do!"
"Then tell us," Aang replied simply.
Katara paused mid-rant. "What?"
"Tell us," Aang repeated. "What's going on? Is this because of the man who killed your mother?"
"Like I said, I crossed a line," Katara told them. "And I know that you're judging me for it. You're an air nomad, you don't kill."
"No," Aang agreed, "I don't, but-"
"Aha! You admit it!"
"But that doesn't mean I think you're a bad person for killing," Aang finished.
"Believe me, if that was true Aang and I would have fallen out long ago!" Sokka interjected.
"You're not seriously trying to compare hunting animals for food with murder?" Katara asked.
"Look," Zuko butted in before Sokka could respond. "Believe me, I am an expert on making mistakes, and I should know, it's not too late! You may think it is, but we're still here for you."
Katara only snorted. "Considering that you were the one who did this to me, don't give me that."
Zuko looked taken aback, causing Katara to go onto the offensive.
"That's right, who made me a killer? Who wanted my trust so badly that they were willing to get me to do terrible things to get it? Oh, it's you. Trusting you was a mistake, and look where it got me!" She yelled.
At this, Zuko looked crushed.
"That's not fair-" Suki began, but before she could finish her sentence Katara gave a strangled cry of anguish and launched an ice javelin straight at the Fire Prince.
It was fast, but Aang was faster, and with a movement of his arms Aang returned it to its liquid state, dousing Zuko with water but doing no harm.
"Katara, stop!" He shouted.
"So you're taking his side now?"
"That's not what I said-"
"How could you? He chased us all over the world! He kidnapped you, at least twice! He betrayed me under Ba Sing Se! He practically killed you there!"
"It was Azula who did that," Aang retorted.
"But she never could have done it if Zuko hadn't joined her! He's- he's evil, Aang! Why can't you see that!"
Katara assumed a waterbending stance, and the water that was on Zuko returned to her. No sooner had it done so than it raced back towards them, towards Aang. The water slammed into him and sent him flying backwards, and then it was gone again as it raced towards Zuko. The Firebender blasted the stream as it lashed towards him again and again, each time only barely managing to avoid getting hit. Then, it was gone from him too, racing towards Suki and Sokka who were running towards Katara. The water formed a whip extending from Katara's hand that the waterbender used to slam the two non- benders into a wall. As soon as they had fallen to the ground, she turned it back towards Zuko.
Just then, ten of Azula's guards came running around the corner, having heard the sounds of battle.
"Stop right there, Avatar scum!" One of them spat, and sent a fireball towards Toph. The Earthbender couldn't see it coming, and so it might have hit if Aang hadn't blasted her out of the way with his airbending.
The benders of Team Avatar turned to face this new threat, and behind them Katara had clearly sensed her opportunity to escape. She formed her water into a large blade that she used to carve through Toph's barrier, and then she turned back to the inert forms of Suki and Sokka. A tear rolled down one of her cheeks at the sight. She then turned to look back at the fight, where Aang and Zuko were back to back, fighting multiple guards each.
For a moment, Aang and Katara locked eyes again, his grey eyes wide and full of questions. Katara hesitated for a moment, and then she turned.
She ran.
Author's Note: I feel this disclaimer may be even more necessary for this chapter than the others, but this is not intended to be an attack on Katara's character. I do like Katara, and she's normally so good that something drastic would have to happen. Also, this got way darker than I thought it would. Only one one-shot to go now, but it's the big one- Aang himself. In the meantime, I'll try to write something happier.