AketchiDragon –It's good to know that my plan worked! I didn't want this to turn into a completely KxZ-fluff story. That was my motive for sending Zuko with Sokka.
Khazia – Aye, will, thankee kahnly.
Deamon – Do they really say that? (What does "golden middle" have to do with anything?) There are more things at work here than his past training and royal blood. He's…well, you'll see in this chapter. Thanks!
Aangsair – I will, thank you very much! You shall see!
SheildmaidenofEdoras373 – All things shall be explained in time. Never fear. I shall not forsake you or your confusion; it's all up here points to head. By the way, did you catch that LotR excerpt in the last chapter? It was originally a Gimli line from TT, though it was slightly altered for my purposes. Can you find it? If you can, monkey points will be awarded, and honestly, who doesn't want monkey points?
Insert shameless plug for myself here: Anyone who likes HP fanfics about Lupin or the Marauders in general, please check out my other stories; I really need some reviews so I know how I'm doing. I don't know how good they are, so I need some serious CC to get myself going!
I don't own Avatar.
Chapter Fourteen"Katara! Katara come here for a second!" Aang called excitedly to his friend from where he and Jay stood, having just mastered the boulder-moving form. Katara walked smiling over to them.
"What is it?" she asked. She had a small handful of red blossoms in her hands.
"What are those for?" Jay asked with concern in his voice.
"Zuko. What did you want me to see?" she asked, brushing off the question.
"Look what Jay taught me!" Aang said, balancing a large rock in midair a foot above his hand. It swirled ominously in circles, and trembled slightly every now and then, but Aang seemed completely in control.
Katara was very impressed; she stood slack-jawed, though a smiled played slightly at the edges of her mouth. "That's amazing, Aang! I'm so proud of you!" She would have hugged him, but the boulder was looking more and more precarious as Aang began to lose his concentration, and she didn't want to break something, or someone.
"You had best be getting back to camp, Katara, if there's something wrong with Zuko," Jay pointed out, his brow furrowed.
"It's no real rush; some of his cuts are infected, that's all," she said offhandedly.
"Infected!" Jay cried, his eyes shooting wide open and all the muscles in his arms tensing.
"Yes, it's not that bad right now, Jay. Now that I have the bee balm, he'll be found. Lucky I found some though; I was scared that there wouldn't be any on this is—"
"Katara! You have to get back to camp now! Zuko could be in horrible trouble, if he's not dead already!"
"What?" Katara exclaimed, getting riled and frightened by Jay's tone.
"Come on; I'll explain on the way."
It was an odd sensation, or lack there of rather. It was an odd numbness, strongest in his toes and feet, but slowly creeping up his legs beyond his knees. He could even feel it spreading to his fingertips, although there was still some feeling left in his wrists and above. His head swam, and the world seemed to revolve slowly in circles around him, though his eyes were still closed. Behind his eyelids, he could see tiny purple and yellow dots swarming like millions of tiny insects over a dying…something. He tried to sit up, but those muscles that he could feel protested painfully, and the others didn't want to work.
"Zuko?" he heard a voice from somewhere in the dark void above his head. He opened his eyes and was immediately barraged with extreme and agonizing light.
"Sokka?" he muttered, willing his lungs to expel the required air. "Wh…wh…why did you tie my legs down?" He couldn't make out the details on Sokka's face for all of the spots obscuring his view.
"I haven't, Zuko. Can't you move them?"
"No..." Zuko breathed. Oh snap, he thought to himself. I'm…I'm…I can't be paralyzed…can I?
"Come on," Sokka said, bending down and trying to pick Zuko up.
"What are you doing?" Zuko tried to shout, though it came out a meek and throaty grumble.
"I have to get you back to camp," Sokka said feverishly. "I don't know what's going on, but I think something's gone horribly wrong with your cuts. We need to get them cleaned as soon as possible."
"But we're lost," Zuko whispered, "and you hate me."
"You're point is…?"
"Why would you want to save me?"
"Katara would kill me if I just let you die out here."
"Oh..." He felt a sudden throb at the back of his neck and an excruciating sting coursed throughout his body. He blacked out again.
"The draught I made for Zuko, do you remember what I put into it?" Jay asked Katara and Aang as they all ran back towards camp.
"Echinacea leaves and flowers," Katara said, trying to remember.
"And Echinacea seeds and roots," Aang recalled.
"And the sepals of a plant I've never seen before," Katara said, though she was quickly running out of breath.
"Right. See, a simple Echinacea tincture is good for preventing influenza and colds. But for the Earth-Nation draught, we add the sepals of a Corncockle flower which combines with the Echinacea and mutates in the hot water to form the virus which ties the bending powers."
Katara tried to understand and keep up, but it was getting increasingly harder the farther they went.
"Since the virus has spread throughout Zuko's body, his immune system will be severely weakened, and he won't be able to fight the infection on his cuts. And since these were cuts given to him by the Earth Nation, they have foreign substances embedded into the bloodstream."
"So who knows what they could be doing to him!" Aang finished for him, putting on a burst of speed.
"What do you think is happening to him?" Katara asked as she and Jay fought to catch up.
"He could be having delusions and hallucinations, spasms, even problems breathing."
Katara ran faster. He can't die…he just can't...
"We're going to need more than just bee balm to clean the cuts now. I'm going to have to prepare a healing salve. I have most of the ingredients, although we'll need some beeswax."
"I'll get some," Aang shouted back at them, suddenly launching himself into the air and flying off in search of a beehive.
Hurry, Aang, Katara thought. Please hang on Zuko, don't give up yet. Let us help you...
/chapter fourteen
A/N I'm not going to update anymore until I get at least 45 reviews on this story. We've been over this before people! You've been getting better with the whole reviewing process, and I applaud you applause but I'm becoming increasingly busier lately, so I need major INCENTIVES here folks! So, if you want Chapter 15 (the big 1-5) be sure to let me know what you think so far!