Chapter 18 Rescuing a prince from fear.

Katara helped move Zuko onto the bed. She placed a hand on his head. He seemed to have a slight fever and was sweating profusely. Even though he was asleep he seemed like he was being attack. Cuts would appear every so often on his arms. Whatever his fear was it was injuring him.

"What happened?"

"Fear, I mean Shadow, got to him. He was sleeping and she used that to her advantage. She seemed to use a special sort of arrow." Iroh looked down to see his nephew tossing and turning.

"Katara, please forgive me." He muttered. "I don't want to see you get hurt. Katara!"

Katara ripped a piece of her dress and used the water from her canteen to place it on Zuko's forehead. She tried to calm him down while petting his scalp. It wasn't working to well.

"Is there anyway to stop this?" Katara asked pulling Zuko so he was on his back.

"His sister is the key to stop this. Just like if this is to happen to you your brother would be the key for you." Iroh explained as the door opened. "They're twins and they share a special bond with each other."

"Sir, Nyla has boarded the ship and demands to see her brother." The fire-bending princess pushing him out of the way cut the solider short.

"I thought so." She muttered to herself. "Uncle Iroh how is he?" She pushed Katara out of the way and knelt down next to her brother. "I saw Shadow leave and I thought something was wrong."

Iroh nodded. "He's not doing to well. He's out of it, he's allowing his fear to get the better of him."

"Uncle Iroh, I need you to get me that stupid book you used to read to us as children. I need a spell out of there." Nyla instructed. "You."

"Katara…"

"Whatever. My brother seems to have some sort of liking to you." Nyla paused and looked Katara over. "I don't see why but either way I want you to try to pull him through."

"But I could care less about what happens to him." Katara lied.

"Look I can tell you love him or like him or whatever. It's in your eyes. Don't you think that I've had that look before?" Nyla asked the shook her head. "Anyway just call out to him and do something you know he'd like. It might pull him through."

"Zuko." Katara said softly stroking his scar. Nyla smiled at her. Katara was like a younger sister that cared for her brother.

Nyla wasn't sure what the relationship was between her brother and this water bender. But either way she knew that Katara cared for Zuko in a way that nobody else did except for maybe Iroh. And even then it was a different kind of love.

She looked towards her brother and muttered, "Brother what is going on that you're letting this stupid myth over come you?"

Zuko's Dream (Zuko's POV)

I was in a dark area. I didn't recognize anything around me. One minute I'm asleep dreaming of capturing the Avatar and getting my honor back. Then the next I'm in the middle of nowhere with a black area. I didn't know what was going on. My fight with Katara had really gotten me nervous. Again I looked around my surroundings. It was definitely a dream. I was worried about Katara. She was in danger from 'Fear'. Occasionally I could hear someone calling out to me. But I didn't know whom.

Things cleared and I got a better surroundings. I was back on my ship again in front of my door. This time the door was unlocked. Katara was lying in our bed crying herself to sleep. She looked over at me and then turned her head.

I was confused. Then I remember what I did. I called her a slut. I felt like a heartless bastard when I did that. After all I kind of did ruin her plan to save her brother and the Avatar by breaking her legs. My uncle was there trying to calm her down. He paid no attention to me walking in. I saw both my sister and this 'Fear' chick off in the corner. Both had evil grins on their faces. It seemed odd. I was confused things were starting to creep me out. And that rarely happened.

I walked over to Katara and put my hand on her shoulder she shrugged it off before turning her back to me. I looked at my uncle who just turned away from me as well. I knew things were different, but neither of them really gave me the attention.

I sighed and put my hand on Katara's shoulder she pushed me away but when I looked down I saw a dagger in my arm. She smiled evilly something that didn't suit her. It was then when Iroh turned around and shot out a blast of fire at me.

"Uncle?" I asked questionably. "What's gotten into you?"

"Prince Zuko isn't obvious?" Iroh asked me. I raised my eyebrow in confusion. "You're not wanted any more. After all you're just a banished prince and all you care about is yourself."

"Not true." I tried to defend myself. "I care about other people…"

I was cut off by 'Fear' or Shadow as I found out is what she preferred to be called. "Zuko you're too late. You're girlfriend and uncle doesn't even want you any more. You're father never wanted you…"

"My father is going to allow me to come back now that I've given him the Avatar!" I yelled.

"Dear brother, you've failed to protect people you care about. Katara is going to die shortly after you. And the people of our country are going to suffer because you're a bastard." Nyla glared. "You know what else you're lucky to be alive now. Father should have killed you when he had the chance." She shot out a flame at me. I jumped to dodge it but found Shadow behind me.

"It's time to face your fears. Let them over come you. You'll die by the hand of the person you care about most." She whispered into my ear softly. I looked over to Katara and saw her on her feet.

Her tear stained face made her look like she was ready for revenge. I noticed that she had a dagger and my sword in her hands. I looked around for some help. Nyla and Uncle were gone and I knew Shadow wasn't going to help me at all because she wanted to see my downfall more than anything else.

"Katara don't. You don't know what you are doing!" I said holding my hands up to defend myself. I decided that it was best if I used my fire bending to defend myself. But when I tried to light my fists the flickered out slowly. I was defenseless and Katara was going to kill me.

End Dream (Normal POV)

Zuko tossed and turned his fists occasionally lighting up with fire. Nyla used her fire bending to put them out before the fire from him set well fire to the room. She watched her uncle flip through pages until he found the spell that Nyla had mentioned earlier. He held it up to the fire bender princess so that she could see.

"Katara back away if this doesn't work you're going to lose your boyfriend to his stupid fears." Nyla snapped. Katara did as she was told and watched Zuko began to glow and orange color. She muttered the spell softly and Zuko began to glow a dark red. When he returned to his normal color Nyla sighed, "Didn't work. He should have turned gold according to this book. You're on your own chicky. I've got me a funeral to prepare." Nyla stood up and made her way towards the door.

"Are you saying that Prince Zuko is going to die?" Iroh asked as Katara stood up. His eyes darted back from Katara and Nyla.

"Yup he's hopeless. He's closed his mind off to anyone." She said opening the door.

"So that's it?" Katara asked as she found herself in front of Nyla. "You're just going to let your only brother to die."

"Hey you don't understand something. Your prince over there and I never got along at all during our childhood. The day he was banished was the best day of my life." Nyla turned around. "And when he dies. I get the throne to myself making me the first girl leader of the Fire Nation."

"You're a heartless bitch." Katara snapped clenching her fists.

"Yeah so what?" Nyla (being taller than Katara) bent over so she was face to face with the girl. "What are you going to do about it?"

Katara hit the girl in her face. She smiled as Nyla staggered backwards. Shocked that the water bender could even throw a punch like that. Nyla scowled and walked out of the room quickly to hide her bleeding face. Satisfied that the princess was gone Katara walked back over to Zuko.

"Zuko you've got to pull through this. You're strong and brave." Katara said wiping her tears away. "And I can't live without you." She placed her head on Zuko's chest as his breathing evened out.

Iroh smiled and watched the girl fall asleep by the prince. He took a spare blanket and placed it over Katara before leaving the room himself.

With Shadow

Shadow sat in a tree watching Zuko's ship sail past her hiding spot. She knew that all the trouble she caused was just to get her up into this point in time where the prince would die. And her pawns would just only make things go faster.

"Is he dying?" She asked as a person in a brown cloak walked up to her.

"Yes," The cloaked figure answered in a deep voice. "He should be dead by morning. And the Avatar?"

"Him and that water bender warrior are trapped on Lord Ozai's ship." He replied. "The water bender with Prince Zuko has finally given up hope."

"She will die by midday tomorrow. I will kill her myself personally." Shadow said swinging her legs back and forth.

"What about the General Iroh?" He asked.

"He does not pose a threat to anyone at the moment." Shadow replied looking off into the distance. "The sun should be up in about three hours you should get some rest my faithful servant."

"Yes, master." He muttered walking off.

Shadow watched and smiled. Her plan was not going to fail. After that prince has died, things she would receive life and able to create an heir to her throne instead of having to be reincarnated every time there was a threat to the Fire Nation's empire that was to soon exist.

With Aang and Sokka

"I'm hungry Aang." Sokka moaned clutching his stomach. Aang nodded and looked at the doorway. "What are you thinking about?"

"I wonder if I can burn down the door?"

"Probably not. After all that Shadow girl meant business when she trapped us in here. I don't even think that the Fire Lord himself knows we're in here." Sokka guessed.

Aang nodded and wondered if his Avatar spirit could help him get out of this mess. He didn't want to bother Avatar Roku but if it came down to that then so be it.

"Aang just don't kill us." Sokka said breaking his thoughts.

"Of course not Sokka and Avatar doesn't kill unless he has to." Aang replied.

Sokka nodded trusting Aang's decision. If anyone was going to get them out of this then it was going to be Katara or that Orange Spirit girl.

With Katara

Katara clutched Zuko's hand closer to her heart as she slept. This was the closest that they had gotten in a few days. She really wasn't speaking to him because she was still upset for breaking her legs. But now she could see why.

"Zuko I need you." She muttered in her sleep.

Zuko's dream

I quickly closed my eyes as Katara came down for the kill. I tried my hardest to put up a firewall but I knew that it would fail and it was useless trying anyway. I heard someone call out to me once again. The word's caused a shiver to up my spine.

"Zuko I need you." Those four words would change the out come of my battle. I understood that these were just my fears and I was to over come them just like anything else in the world. And Katara was going to be there to help me through it all since she was also hunted by 'Fear' as well.

I shot a fireball at Katara. I knew if it was her, she would block it with her water bending then yell at me for even considering a thought like that. But as it turned out that it wasn't Katara after all but just a girl of my fears; the evil part of Katara. She fell to the ground touching where I had hit her. The swords she had dropped to the side I grabbed and shoved them into her. She disappeared and the scene began to change.

End of Zuko's dream

Zuko opened his eyes and saw Katara lying on the ground next to him. She had helped him get through this just as he thought she would. He knew that no matter what they went through she was always going to be there for him. And he was thankful for that. He gently pushed Katara in an effort to wake her up.

Her eyes fluttered open and her blue eyes stared into Zuko's amber ones. She let out a little scream of excitement and threw her arms around Zuko tackling him to the bed she almost felt like placing kisses over his face like a dog but she decided to do one more civilized. She closed the gap between the two and kissed him gently.

Zuko smiled as she pulled away from him. But he was surprised by her next action; she hit him across the face. "You jerk don't ever call me a slut again. If you do you can forget about me saving your life for like the third time." Katara yelled.

Zuko grasped her hands sitting up. "Deal," He chuckled as Katara rested her head on his shoulder. "So in return tell me about the chicken suit plan."

K15: Yeah go chicken suit! Finallly you're proably thinking. Anyway this is five pages on word! Longest yet... I was bored I tend to write more sometimes. Anyway. Has anyone else noticed that Zhao looks like a monkey? I was watching Blue Spirit last night (Because that episode was on) and when he got mad he looked like a monkey... and the guy that was with him looked like an ape... anyway. Worthless info. Sorry that I skipped around at the end. I needed to get some Aang in there and then I had to add Shadow, 'Fear', in there as well. Anyway. I hope to update soon. School starts for me about the 22nd of August so I'm trying to keep updating as much as I can. When school starts it's going to be like once a month... maybe less depending on my homework. Anyway i'll try to update soon. Plz review. Later. K15