Chapter 17: Reunion

When she woke, there was a charred scent in the air. Katara blinked blindly, the gray smoke obscuring her vision and stinging her eyes.

Raising her head from the cold stone with effort, she peered through the dim lighting to see the Elites and the Emperor on their feet, staring through the bars at the smoke coming through the crack under the door leading back upstairs. Shouts and screams and the clash of metal against metal reached their ears. Had rebels attacked the fort while she was unconscious?

"It would be seriously fucked up if we burned to death down here," said Lt. Ensei.

Katara stared at the door, hoping she wouldn't have to die today. There wasn't much left to live for, but the things that were still there tugged at her insides. Sokka. Suyan.

They stayed down there, on edge, for an hour or more. Frequent blasts shook the walls, probably Fire benders attempting to defend themselves. Then the earth shifted under them; had the rebels brought escaped Earth benders with them this time?

The Elites held onto the cell bars. Katara could barely sit up, her ribs aching from Zhao's beating.

Then the door opened.

A green figure ducked in, took a look at the surroundings, and saw two cells filled with Fire Empire Elites. He turned to go, but not before Katara took a chance.

"Warrior!" she called, in a raspy voice. "Warrior!"

He turned back, a white, painted face, and she recognized Kian.

"Katara?" he asked incredulously, hands still taut on his sword. His eyes darted to the Elites behind him and his face was dismayed. He thought he had just destroyed her cover.

She shook her head. "They already know."

Outside the sounds of battled filtered in, but inside the dungeons, it was dead silent.

The door opened wider, and eight more green warriors slid in. She spied four Earth benders among them.

"Holy shit," swore Lt. Ensei.

"We'll get you out, Katara," said Kian, ignoring the Fire soldiers. Kian made a motion with one hand and two of the Earth benders moved forward, bending and buckling the stone underneath the bars of the cage to create an opening large enough for Katara to crawl through.

She dragged herself forward, but her body protested. Face grim, Kian ducked underneath the twisted bars to help pull her out. Katara hissed as bruises and cuts scraped the ground, and Kian muttered, "Sorry, but we gotta move quick."

Katara nodded in agreement, understanding the need for haste. A crash sounded somewhere above them, and the entire structure of the fort shuddered. Dust and clods of dirt rained down on them from the dungeons' low ceiling. It was coming down, and soon.

The group headed for the door

The cells were silent behind her. The rebels didn't give the imprisoned Elites a second look.

Katara stopped limping, and pulled back on Kian's arm. "Please release them. Please."

"You're crazy," Kian said, eyes forward, pulling her along.

"Kian. You can't leave them here to die like caged animals."

"I can and I will."

"Fuck, Kian!" She knew she was wasting what precious time she did have, but she could feel six fiery gazes on her back. They wouldn't beg, and so she would beg for them.

"We don't have time!" Kian roared. "They'll fight!"

"They won't, Kian. None of them can bend," At least for the moment, thought Katara, "they'll come quietly."

Ignoring Kian's thunderous glare, Katara turned back to look at the Elites and the Emperor, saying, "They'll let you out but don't fight, don't fight. They'll kill you, just come on—"

One of the warriors nodded, and the Earth benders destroyed the prisons. The Elites shuffled out warily, Lt. Ensei in the lead with the Emperor next to him. The Fire Empire men exchanged alien looks with the Earth benders. A century of hatred and prejudice and violence filled the space between them. To the Earth benders, these were their cruel masters, the ones who broke them down and deserved nothing more than a painful death. To the Fire Elites, the Earth benders were stupid criminals good for nothing more than back-breaking slave work.

But the Elites didn't struggle or fight against the rebels. They knew it would be pointless here—they were outnumbered, over two to one, without weapons, without Fire bending, and Kaz wasn't even trained to fight.

"Fight back and we'll kill you," said one of the rebels, shoving her sword towards their faces. Kaz flinched. They filed out slowly and passively, although there was no lack of distrustful glares between the two parties. The Emperor kept his head down, trying to hide his face-

"Wait," said Kian, eyes sharpening. Katara's heart fell.

"You!" snapped the Kyoshi leader. "You in the back! Let me see your face."

The Emperor's shoulders tensed, and Katara knew what he was going to do a second before he moved. "No!" she said, reaching out, but he had already snapped around, bringing down a rebel with his legs, and then he was a whirling form of movement. "Stop!" she said again, even though she knew it wouldn't change anything.

The cells erupted into chaos. Kian yelled, "The Emperor! Get him!" and the Elites jumped into the fray, desperate to protect their monarch. Even Kaz attempted to punch a rebel before he was kicked into the wall, unconscious. Swords were drawn, earth shifted, and the Elites fought with just their fists. It was a maelstrom of violence and misunderstanding. She had to stop it before someone was killed.

She bent down, picked up a dropped sword, and pushed through, sliding along the wall, to the back where she could see Zuko fighting Kian and two other rebels. He was holding his own, trying to beat them off and get to the door. It was hopeless. Kian's face was murderous; this was a chance too good to pass up--the Kyoshian's mortal enemy was here, right in front of them, outnumbered, weakened, and completely at his mercy.

Katara lunged for Zuko, and he turned around. For a split second, his face was one of relief, like he thought she was here to help him. Then his expression changed, he remembered, he knew-

Katara slammed the hilt of her sword into his skull.

Zuko dropped to the ground, limp and unconscious.

Everybody froze.

"It would be better," Katara said nervously, "it would be better if we took him alive."

"You bitch!" snarled Oran, and he leapt at her, but two rebels tackled him to the ground. The Elites stared at her in horror.

Katara looked away.

Kian nodded slowly, understanding her meaning. The Elites were quickly apprehended. They were completely outnumbered, and they knew it.

"Tie their arms, just in case," Kian instructed.

Two rebels hauled the unconscious Emperor's body up. Pushing the Elites in front of them, the rebels shoved them all up the stairs, into the blazing inferno that was now the Luxing Fort.

"Hurry," snapped Kian, pulling Katara's arm over his shoulders to support her as they ran.

They reached the upper levels, and Katara was shocked to see green warriors swarming everywhere with bright swords and arrows, and almost as many Earth benders battling the few remaining Fire soldiers.

The rebels form into a group around Kian, Katara, and the Elites.

Swords flashed, and Fire soldiers who tried to attack them were cut down. Katara wasn't sure why none of the Elites bothered to help or attempt to escape.

Kian had the same thought, and shot the Elites a poisonous look. "Try to escape, and it'll cost me nothing if one of you dies," he snarled.

None of them said anything, not even Lt. Ensei. They wouldn't leave without the Emperor, and he was currently unconscious and in the hands of the rebels. Besides, this entire fort was filled with minions and lackeys of that bastard Zhao; to the Elites, they and the Emperor were the only ones here truly loyal to the Empire. Everybody else was a traitorous shit, as far as they were concerned.

The group broke into a side passage and the warriors checked the empty rooms for more enemies while Katara leaned against the wall, trying to keep upright. Her left arm with afire with pain; Zhao must have broken it. Her entire body was a mass of bruises and cuts. Nothing she could do about it right now, except to keep moving and try to ignore it all.

They broke into the dimming sunlight, onto the wall of the fort that rose above the beach. The water below them stretched away, and Katara could see the mid-sized boat that the Kyoshians had taken here, tied to the small dock.

All of a sudden the Lt. Ensei broke from the circle behind her, and launched himself towards the edge of the wall.

"Zhao!" he roared towards several figures below them, hurriedly mounting horses.

The rebels reacted and pulled him roughly back to keep him from escaping. Kian narrowed his eyes and made no comment, but pointed, and the rebels drew their bows to shoot down the Admiral and his soldiers as they kicked their horses to gallop away. One man was hit, and screaming, fell off his horse onto the dirt.

But the Admiral, as he escaped, shot one last look over his shoulder at Katara. Her entire body went cold at the eye contact.

And she knew she would be seeing him again.

Luxing Fort burned to the ground behind them as the rebels prodded their new prisoners along the dock and into the ship. Katara watched as the Emperor and the Elites were immediately shoved into the brig in the hold of the boat, with Lt. Ensei mouthing off every chance he got. He received a few new bruises from the rebels for his trouble, until the hatch was finally closed and his voice shut off.

Katara watched Kian help the wounded back on board. Other warriors carried the dead bodies of their fellow fighters back. She counted as many heads as possible while they were all moving. As much as fifty warriors were here, with a little under a third of them hurt or dead. So many for one mission. Had the Mistress authorized this trip? What had been the goal? Had they possibly known that she had been captured? Was it a rescue mission?

"That man," Kian said, voice clipped, joining her at the railing. "That was the Emperor, wasn't it?"

Her throat was dry. "Yes." No use in denying it.

"Why didn't he Firebend, and try to escape us?"

"He can't, right now," said Katara. "Admiral Zhao drugged him so he couldn't Firebend."

"Why did you stop me from killing him?" Kian's voice was direct and didn't allow her to dodge anything. "Why did you do that?"

"Do what?" and she still tried to escape.

"You wanted to keep him alive," said Kian. "When it was your job in the first place to assassinate him! What happened? Are you friends now? Maybe you even love him?" His tone made a mockery of her.

"No," said Katara desperately. "No. He doesn't trust me anymore. None of them do." It was always about what they felt, and never about her.

"I don't care what you try to say, Katara," said Kian, turning his face away. His voice was iron cold. "Obviously something went on down in that dungeon that I know nothing about. What I do know is that it involved you, the Emperor, and Admiral Zhao. Maybe it was a confession, and you got beat up in the process when the truth came out. And maybe it was a nice chat with a hot cup of tea."

"Kian—"

"I don't want to know what you did," said Kian, walking away. "I have no authority with which to punish you—your story is for the Mistress to hear, and for her to judge." He stopped before going down the stairs into the ship's hold. "But I must say our capture of the Emperor is an unexpected bonus."

Katara stared at his back.

"He will be very useful in the coming negotiations. The Mistress will be… happy to see him."

Her heart sank.

"And she'll be happy to see you."

With that, Kian left and Katara slumped against the side of the ship, holding her broken arm to her stomach. Maybe she could get a healer to look at it later, when the more seriously wounded had been tended to. Hopefully sooner than later.

Because it hurt more than it was supposed to.

"This is great," snapped Lt. Ensei in the darkness of the hold. "Just fucking great."

Zuko woke up slowly, his head leaned against the wooden bulkhead. Where was he? A ship of some kind; the rocking motion beneath him combined with his blasted headache told him enough. He was alone in a cell by himself; the Elites were in the one across from his, separated by bars and the narrow hallway.

"I can't believe it," said Qin. "I can't believe Katara… I can't believe it."

"Same," said Faozu, shaking his head.

"You're all fools," said Oran coldly from his corner. His voice was disdainful. "You've been working with her for, what, almost a year, and none of you suspected anything?"

In a flash, Oran was pinned to the wall with Lt. Ensei's snarling expression staring him in the face.

"You have no idea what you're talking about," said Ensei, giving him a shake. "Absolutely no fucking idea. So keep your mouth shut before I shut it for you, soldier."

Lt. Ensei let Oran go, and the younger man slid down the wall, coming to a rest on the dirty floor.

"I don't want to go to Kyoshi," said Kaz softly.

"Kyoshi?" Zuko said aloud.

"We're on their stupid ship," said Qin flatly. "They got us."

"Why aren't I dead?" asked Zuko. "Why didn't they kill me? They knew who I was."

The brig was silent for a moment before Lt. Ensei spoke up again, uncharacteristically calm.

"Katara knocked you out, before that rebel leader could put a sword through you," said Ensei.

"Why?"

Lt. Ensei shrugged, face becoming ugly again. "Don't ask me how a rebel thinks," he snapped. "She's obviously deranged."

"And a good actress," Kaz whispered.

"A damn good one," said Ensei. "and I'd kill her for it, if I could."

Kaz looked away. "She saved us."

"She did bullshit!"

"She could have let Zhao kill us, you know," the younger boy said, shaky voice slowly becoming more confident. "She could have let Zhao kill us but she told him everything! She didn't have to, and it blew her cover, and the rebels probably want to kill her now too, but she saved us!"

"Don't pretend like you know anything about war, kid," said Ensei. "You don't know the first thing—"

Kaz broke through, eyes bright. "You're not even listening to anything I'm saying!"

"—don't you dare talk back to me, you insolent son of a—"

"You won't admit that what I say makes sense, because it'll keep you from your self-righteous anger, and you—you'd rather hate than try to understand!" Kaz burst out.

Ensei turned his back on them and said nothing.

The hold of the ship was silent again, except for Kaz's soft sniffling.

Zuko stared up at the grimy ceiling and thought that he himself was very much like Ensei—he didn't want to listen to Kaz's convoluted reasoning.

Because like Kaz had said, hating was so much easier than understanding.

Lt. Ensei shook the damp metal bars of their cell. They rattled, but didn't come loose. The rebel soldier at the end of the hall turned towards them and raised his sword. "Stop that," he said.

"Or what, you'll chop off my head?" Lt. Ensei snarled back.

"Don't try me," said the warrior calmly. He pointed his sword towards the Emperor. "He's the only one we really need. The rest of you are just baggage."

"Then why are you keeping us here?" shouted Oran, standing up and coming over to the bars next to Ensei. "Why did you take us with you?"

The nameless warrior shrugged. "Katara wanted you kept alive, for some reason." His tone of voice told them that Katara's reasons were unknown to him.

"You don't have to listen to her! She doesn't even have any rank!" Oran seemed beyond reason.

The warrior stared at him. "Her brother will be the next Master of Kyoshi Island. She is very important to us."

They were surprised. "Her brother?" repeated Faozu.

"She betrayed you, you know," Oran said snidely. "She told every secret from that traitorous mouth of hers. We know everything."

The warrior shrugged and turned his back on them. "Like I would trust anything you say." He left to take up his position at the end of the narrow hallway again.

The healer was a tired, grimy, and bloody man who did the best his shaking hands could do to splint Katara's broken arm.

When he left, Katara examined it and thought that maybe instead of having wasted the healer's time, she could have fixed her arm by herself, like she'd done with Gian back in the army hospital.

But it seemed like too much effort.

And she thought she sort of deserved the pain. It made the guilt easier to bear.

Instead of focusing on what she'd done and what she'd said, she could think about how her arm ached, how it pained her to move, how breaking it had been the least thing Zhao could have done to destroy her. How it—

A knock sounded on the door.

"Come in," she said, raising her head from the small cot.

Kian opened it and came in before closing it behind him.

"We went with Admiral Zhao's idea," he said first, sitting down on the cot next to her, "and we're drugging the Emperor's water with Guozhe. It'll keep his Firebending out of the picture and him under control."

"That's not what you came to tell me," she answered.

"You're right," he said slowly, after a bit of silence. " I would prefer—I would prefer it if you stayed here for the duration of the trip back to Kyoshi."

"What?"

"To be exact," said Kian, "I don't want you visiting the Fire soldiers in the brig. Especially not the Emperor."

Katara stared at him.

"I don't want you trying to explain yourself to them," Kian continued. "I don't want you to feel guilty."

A bit late for that, Katara thought. Maybe you could have taken that into account before the Mistress sent me on this fucked mission.

"You should stay here and rest," he said. "I won't lock the door, because I trust you."

He left, and Katara lay back down to sleep.

"Are you sure you're supposed to be here?" the guard asked worriedly, sneaking a glance over Katara's shoulder.

She cradled her broken arm to her chest. "Yes," she lied. "Kian said I could."

"I don't—" the guard stumbled. "I don't know if I should let you—"

"You should," Katara reassured him. "I need to ask them a few things about confidential information. Privately. It's important to the Mistress."

Those were the magic words. The guard knew who she was; how important to the island people she was. He stepped aside, and let her descend down the stairs into the dark. He closed the door behind her.

Every step Katara took down into the hold made her chest tighten with anxiety. Fear. They didn't want to see her. She didn't want to see them. Why was she doing this? Why was she purposefully disobeying Kian's orders, and going against his wishes to see a group of people who most likely wanted her dead? Maybe she was trying to punish herself.

"Isn't it time for you to feed us?" called Lt. Ensei, as soon as the Elites heard her footsteps.

She stopped.

"We're hungry!" said Qin. "I thought you said we were to be kept alive!"

She said nothing.

"Where are we going?" called Kaz, "Where are we—"

Somebody shushed him.

And Katara knew that by her silence, they had realized who she was.

Nobody said anything.

"You have a lot of nerve coming down here," Lt. Ensei's low voice eventually drifted out, disturbing the darkness. "A lot of fucking nerve."

Katara swallowed, and clutched her arm closer to her body. Now she was here, she didn't know what to say.

"Maybe you should leave," said Oran, "before we do anything drastic."

"What can we do?" snapped Kaz. She couldn't see any of them. "We're stuck in a cell, with no weapons, no fire, no—"

"Katara," somebody said from behind her.

She turned around, and could see glimmering gold in the darkness of the cell. So he was here, kept by himself. Like a caged animal. Untrustworthy. Dangerous.

She took a deep breath and stepped closer, until her nose was almost touching one of the bars.

"What?" she said softly.

A blur moved, and she knew what was coming before it hit (but she would take it because she deserved it she did)—

His fist slammed into her face, pain exploded behind her eyes, and she let herself fall to the floor.

"Get out," he said, voice calm and controlled. "Don't make me look at you again."

She stumbled back up the stairs, past the confused guard, and into her room.

When Kian saw her at dinner, his eyes lingered on the bruise, but he said nothing.

It was early dawn when Kyoshi Island was sighted.

When the call was circulated around the ship, everybody, warriors and sailors and cooks and healers alike, grew excited and movements became hurried, smiles appeared. They were relieved and happy to be getting home. But this gaiety was interposed by the somberness and anguish that came with breaking the news to families of warriors who had fallen in battle. They stood on the shore, the people of Kyoshi, desperate to see that one special person—father, mother, brother, sister, daughter, son, and lover—come home to their arms.

What some of them would be getting was a dead body, all that was left of a loved one.

Katara hid in her room.

When Kian brought her the news that they would be arriving on the Island in less than an hour, she merely turned her back on him and faced the wall, still lying on the cot. She heard him sigh, and then leave, the door clicking shut behind him.

How long had she been homesick for Kyoshi, lying in the cold army barracks of the Fire Empire? How often had she felt alone and strange, far from family and those she loved?

Her body ached, sometimes, just for a glimpse of Sokka's face, of Suki's smile, of her island home.

Now, she no longer needed, or wanted, anything.

She just waited. Waited for judgment, waited for forgiveness.

Kian stepped down first, to a loud cheer and rumble of applause and happiness from the crowd assembled on the beach.

The returning warriors came next, everybody rushing forward to find their best friend, their father, their lover, their darling child—

Those who couldn't find their loved ones watched in shock as the bodies were solemnly carried down from the ship deck. Families broke down sobbing, or denied it all by standing there, in the sand, and saying, "Impossible, impossible," over and over again.

Then the Emperor was lead out, with an entourage of six warriors around him.

The noise on the beach died down slowly as everybody realized who was in their midst.

He passed them all, head held high, refusing to look anyone in the eye or break down. The sun illuminated his scar, and hundreds of eyes fixated on the brilliant red color.

As he was lead away to a holding room, a malicious cheer began to rise. Kyoshi Island was triumphant. They had the leader of the enemy; the Fire Emperor of the world, the ultimate key to their freedom, and his country probably didn't even know where he was. Fists raised in the air, warriors congratulated each other, and mothers wept happy tears for the children they wouldn't have to send to war, if all things went well. As Zuko disappeared beyond the sandy hill, jubilant cries went up.

It was to this welcoming crowd that Katara appeared. Faces turned, surprised and shocked, eyes squinting through sunlight at the person standing on deck. A figure dressed in Fire Empire soldier uniform! Black from head to toe, grimy with dirt and sweat and blood. Who was this? An escaped Fire Elite! Why weren't the warriors apprehending him?

She walked down the gangplank to a confused, muttering crowd. As she drew closer, the ones in the front began to recognize her.

"Is that—is that who I think it is?"

"The Waterbender girl? The one who left?"

"Is it Katara?"

"Somebody get Master Sokka, quick!"

"Tell Sokka! Hurry!"

And all of a sudden he was there, on the rise above to the beach.

He looked down, she looked up, and their eyes connected over the gulf of unsaid words, long-ago childhoods, and the utter ache of abscence and longing.

Sokka tore down the hill, and then she was in his arms, breathing him in, feeling him warm around her. Then something released, and she was crying, crying everything she hated and loved and just wanted to forget. He was speaking to her, murmuring something into her hair, that it was alright, she was back, she was safe, and it was going to be perfect.

Katara broke away, laughing through her tears, and reached up to feel her brother's face. It was the same face, the same eyes, but there was a difference there too. The planes were harder, matured, and there was stubble on his jaw!

He pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head.

"Welcome home, Katara."

Zuko watched through the stolid forms of his captors as Katara embraced the strange man. She was touching his face, he was speaking to her, the entire beach erupted in a happy cheer. She was crying, and smiling, and living—

And he realized he'd never known her at all.

These people here were the ones who knew her. The ones who'd raised her, laughed with her, and loved her. Her brother, her best friend, her family. She'd had a real life before going to the Fire Empire and joining the Elites. It was hard to believe, but here it was, the evidence in front of his eyes.

"It makes me want to cry," one of his guards said gruffly to another, "just seeing the Master and his sister together again." The other warriors nodded in agreement.

So the man was Katara's brother, the famed new leader of the Kyoshians.

And this, more than anything, erased any doubt Zuko had left about Katara's true loyalties.

Before, in some dark part of himself, he'd harbored a secret fantasy that maybe it had all been a bad dream. That it had been a conspiracy, some kind of convoluted plot with an obscure goal that would eventually make sense to all of them. That maybe Katara had just been acting, that she was still loyal to him, that she still-

And when he'd punched her in the darkness of the brig on the ship, he'd hoped that he could have provoked an reaction from her. He imagined that she would have jumped up, snarling in his face, yelling that he had no right to abuse a true soldier of the Fire Empire!

Instead, she'd merely stood without saying anything and left.

It hollowed him, the realization that there was no hope left.

He was a prisoner of the rebels, and would most likely be killed as soon as judgment was passed and a ceremony of some sort was arranged.

He watched the tableau unfolding on the beach; a touching reunion. A woman dressed in green, with short brown hair, ran through the crowd, holding something to her side that he couldn't see from his position.

Katara's brother drew the newcomer in close, and kissed the top of her head. His wife, then. The two women, Katara and her sister-in-law, hugged each other. There was a look of happy surprise on Katara's tear-stained face; she reached for the bundle in the other woman's arms, and lifted up—

A baby girl.

"Meet your aunt, Suyan," Suki said, smiling as Katara cradled her niece carefully, "Meet your Aunt Katara."

"So this is the Avatar," Katara crooned, laughing as the baby waved tiny fists in the air and gurgled happily. "Absolutely adorable."

Sokka smiled proudly, but it was stiff and worried. "Yes," he said, trying to make up for his expression. "Creating mini-earthquakes in the garden, setting her crib on fire, among other things."

Suki, eyes shadowed, reached for Suyan again. Katara willingly gave up the baby. The warrior mother cuddled her daughter close, hands tight and arms encircling her darling child.

"The Empire's looking for her," Katara said softly.

"They don't know where she is," Sokka said, holding his wife and child close. "They don't know she's our daughter."

Katara looked away from the happy father, the joyful mother, the innocent child.

"Katara?" Sokka persisted. "What's wrong?"

She was dirty—unclean everywhere—not fit to come back to this happy family, this blessed life that she no longer deserved.

"Katara?"

She would taint them with her bloody hands, and she would destroy them with her weakness.

She already had.

"They know she's here," she answered her brother, and her voice broke. "They know she's here, Sokka."

A/N: Not much to say. Um, I accidentally forgot to save the 2nd half of this chapter, and I had to rewrite the entire thing after I discovered what I did. It was incredibly fucked up, and I felt like killing somebody, but it turned out alright, I guess. That's why the update took so long.

Q&A Time:

Have you seen the Waterbending Master episode 18? -waterbenderkatara
It kicked so much ass. Katara equals Win.

Why no sequel, huh? -hppartygirl
Because I have no plans for one, and this story is a sequel to my other story, The Hunter and The Prey, although it can be read as a separate fic.

How many more chapters until this story ends? -mtm123
If I tell you, won't that kind of ruin it for you?

I live in Seattle! Cool. Small world it is.-MereImage
Ooh! Maybe we've even passed each other on the street and not even known it! XD

URBANESQUE- Your well thought-out comments have been duly noted, and thank you for taking the time to explain to me your views on the possibility of a happy ending. I will take everything you said into account- it made me think.

AIRBENDER- You too. I accept your review as honest criticism, and not as a flame. XD Thank you. I know you think Katara was OOC in terms of revealing everything to save Zuko and betray Kyoshi, but I believe that it was, to me, in character of her. She is an incredibly emotionally-driven person, as we see on the show, and it can be a horrible weakness, as we saw in Chapter 16. She'll do anything to save the people she cares about (which includes both her new friends and old family) But while it can be a weakness, it can also be her greatest strengh, this ability she has to empathize and feel. Still, I understand your point-of-view, and thank you very much.

Plot twist. Review and tell me what you think? XD