Honest Intentions
Author/Artist:
MuffyTaj
Pairing: Zuko/Katara
Fandom: Avatar: The Last
Airbender
Theme: #7. Superstar
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, or the series.
Zuko strutted down the streets, the Avatar and his two accomplices trailing after him, their hands tied behind their backs. Each of them had a firebender standing directly behind them, shortblades poised to finish them if they even looked like thinking about escaping. Not that there was a lot they could do with bound hands and gagged mouths.
In his daydreams this had occurred often, but reality was a little different. For one thing there were no strings of adoring females pressing up against him (a must in every young man's dreams). Instead all the young people kept their distance from the scarred and battle-hardened exile, while the elder generation would quietly come up and congratulate Iroh on a job well done. No matter, Zuko decided, they would be flocking to him as soon as he was reinstated in his proper position as prince.
In his daydreams he hadn't had the two water tribe brats with him either. But he had found that they had been extremely useful in keeping Aang complacent, and the one escape attempt had been cut short when he had burnt the boy's face.
He slightly regretted that, even when the girl had healed the boy. And her healing had stirred up old thoughts, thoughts of looking normal once again, and removing his shame from visible sight. Something in her evoked the old feeling of security, reminding him of the days when a mother's kiss would heal all ills.
Maybe once the Avatar had been securely incarcerated he could request that his father let him deal with the other two. He could have her heal him in exchange for their lives. Maybe once she had healed him he would accidentally show them the tunnels out. He did not want them tangled up in this, and they had been good enough opponents to earn his respect. That giant flying bison was still around somewhere, and they could make their way home to live happily for a few more years, before the fire nation came to wipe them out.
Maybe he would show father the wisdom of having a few waterbenders around, to help clean up the all-too-frequent training accidents. Now he had caught the Avatar, his father would surely listen to him.
And then maybe he would meet the girl (though likely not the boy – the fire nation would never let foreign warriors live), this time not as enemies, but as something as close to equals as they could ever be. They would meet, and he would smile (or maybe just nod at her?), and she would know that it was because of him that she was still alive.
But what would happen after that even his daydreams could not answer.