In the Dark

Zuko sat quietly in the corner. He'd landed heavily, and quite unpleasantly, on his back after a rather large rock had come tumbling down far too close for comfort, causing him to jump backwards. Presently he lay motionless, not daring to move. He knew the girl must be somewhere nearby and wasn't sure how many of the others were on their side of the wall. He listened, ears perked for any sign of motion. It came, a small shuffling followed closely by the groan of the girl getting to her feet. He listened as she shuffled about in circles, never getting too far, evidently looking for something. She swore quietly under her breath.

"A torch, I need a blasted torch!" She hissed.

Suddenly, her shuffling stopped. She seemed to be standing perfectly still, he could no longer hear the small sound of breathing, where was she? Without meaning to Zuko shifted his weight only slightly on the ground and before he could register it he'd been hammered in the chest by a long tendril of water. So she could sense him in the dark almost as well as he could her. That was an unpleasant surprise.

"Who is it?" She called out from his left, only the slightest waver of fear in her voice. Zuko lay perfectly still, hoping she would think otherwise and assume she'd been hearing things. But the water had made contact with something, she knew he was there; she knew where he was. All she didn't know was who.

"I said, who is it! I can hear you breathing," she insisted. Zuko could see no way around it. Like it or not, she would recognize his voice, regardless of how few times she'd heard it. With resignation he pulled forth the torch and struck it on the ground, not bothering to make a display of bending.

It was a moment before Katara registered the familiar face. She couldn't forget the scar, and those bright eyes.

Zuko gave her a moment to register. He didn't want to fight her, it wasn't the time or place and there was really no need for it but all the same once she'd regained composure she lashed out at him.

The first blow caught him off guard, a slash at the back of his leg. The second though, he was ready for. She aimed at his head and he ducked moving to the side and shooting a small trail of fire just in front of her face. Close enough to scare her but not enough to hurt her. She fell back clumsily, onto her back. He took the chance and planted two strong feet over her, one on either side of her waist, preventing from her the privilege of getting up. He aimed a strong fist at her face, not striking, just showing power. She wasn't about to get off easy, he really wasn't in the mood for this.

"What-are-you-doing-here?" She spat, not seeming to realize that he was in control of the situation. "I should have known it was a dirty coward who locked us in here."

Suddenly, another memory of an encounter with the Water Tribe girl came flooding, so to speak, back. The North Pole, the Avatar, fighting. Yes, that was it, he remembered now. It was after he'd followed them through the caves into the heart of the village. She'd put up a good fight in that occasion too. Not to say that she didn't have a long way to go, he was still far better matched than her. One thing did stand out in his mind though, it was those eyes. So set and determined. They would have been inspiring if she wasn't just a Water Tribe peasant.

"Look, you," he seethed right back at her, "I don't want to be here any more than you or your little friends. I'm trapped; same as you are, so you could do both of us a favor and knock it off. I'd much rather get out of here than sit around fighting you for no relevant cause."

That got her to shut up. Her eyes narrowed. "The let me up," she growled. "I don't want to be here either."

In the midst of the short fight he'd forgotten the torch and left it lying on the ground several feet off. He stepped away from her and grabbed it off of the ground. She stood to her feet and ran her hands over her shirt, as if wiping away invisible dust. Suddenly, she looked up to him with the light.

"Give me the torch," she demanded, hand outstretched.

"Why would I do that?" Zuko wondered aloud, shifting weight so he could lean on the wall behind him and cross his arms.

"You don't need it! You're a firebender, or did that suddenly escape you?" She was right, he didn't need it. Zuko stopped, a little off guard, for the second time, this was beginning to be a bad habit. He'd give it to her but not without making her squirm first.

"Your fighting doesn't seem to have improved since last time," he observed casually, "have you been slacking off?" It struck a chord, he could tell the minutes his words hit her ears. Her brow furrowed. She didn't lower her hand.

"Give me the torch," she demanded again. She wasn't going to back down. If she didn't have the torch she'd have to follow him around to see and she desperately just wanted to leave him in the dust, or the dark.

"It would almost appear that the student is progressing faster than the teacher," he ventured. Another chord, a dissonant one, strung loudly. He could almost hear the tension begin to rise.

This time she said nothing, merely fixing him with a furious gaze. She knew it wasn't true; she was coming along far faster than Aang. She was his teacher after all. She knew it had to happen someday though; Aang would have to be better than her sometime if he wanted to defeat the Fire Lord, if he wanted any chance at all. The realization of it made her twitch.

Zuko almost wanted to laugh. Cruel as it was, it was rather amusing to watch the multitude of expressions and emotions wash over her face.

With emotion in check Katara finally trusted her voice to convey what she was trying to say without letting too much anger seep in. It wouldn't serve her any good to let him know he'd gotten to her. "If that's the way you want it then," she agreed. "We can stick together. Besides, it will give both of us a better chance of getting out."

Zuko's eyes widened, that wasn't what he'd planned on. He'd expected her to put up a fight, to try and prove him wrong, anything but agree. She still wanted the torch though; she wasn't going to give up that single luxury. With resignation he tossed it to her.

Katara was surprised, that wasn't what she'd expected. She'd thought he'd make her fight for it, beg for it, anything but comply. She caught it easily and held it close, as if it were the one comfort she had in the cold darkness.

"If you'd been more careful in the first place you wouldn't have to ask me for it now." Zuko commented dryly, talking almost as much to the wall as to the girl. She huffed to herself and began to walk on ahead. He wasn't sure what he was thinking but he grabbed her arm and pulled himself in front. "I'll lead," he explained. " You'll only get both of us lost."

Katara couldn't decide whether he was trying to be a gentleman or if he was just conceited. She decided it was more likely the latter. Being a prince and a firebender both he was probably just arrogant by nature. She pointed an icy glare at his back as if determined to wear a hole right through him.

Zuko felt a cold tingling on his back. She was staring at him through narrowed eyes, he could feel it. Nothing like being stared at felt quite as awkward. Something about having his back turned to this girl who hated him so much almost made him uneasy. It wasn't that he couldn't outmatch her if she tried anything; it was something else he couldn't put his finger on.

"Why do you hate Aang so much?" she wanted to know. It wasn't that she truly cared, she just didn't like the silence; it was unnerving. He kept walking.

"I don't," he answered bluntly. That was strange. Try as she might to weigh it down, interest began to well up in her mind. Something about the way he said it made her want to understand. She took a few quick steps to catch up with him and then looked up at the side of his face; he wouldn't return her gaze.

"Then why do you follow us around constantly, like some kind of animal?" He cringed. Animal? What kind of analogy is that?

"It's none of your business, girl." It was Katara's turn to twitch.

"Katara, my name is Katara." She offered. She didn't want him to call her by name. She just wanted him to know, calling her "girl" bothered her somehow.

Zuko sighed. He really didn't care. He was tired, hungry, and just wanted to be alone. He couldn't help but to admit, though, that sticking together gave them a better chance of running into an exit.

Katara plodded ahead and turned to walk backwards in front of him. She hadn't noticed but he wasn't wearing his usual medley of armor; he was dressed like an Earth Nation boy. Two could play his game, she decided.

"You know, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were just some Earth Nation peasant. Did all that useless armor get heavy, or what?" She teased mercilessly. It bothered him. She didn't have to say it to know. He was just a stuck up Fire Nation prince.

She waited for an answer but it didn't come.

"What, your mouth stop working? Or are you ashamed?" Zuko glowered ahead. This girl was really getting on his nerves. Anything to get her to shut up at this point would be amazing. He could feel the beginning of a migraine coming on. He might as well tell her, it's not like it would matter anyway.

"If I explain, will you keep your mouth shut?" She looked as if contemplating the idea.

"It's a possibility" That was good enough for Zuko at the moment. If she didn't he could always just fry her to a crisp. That's a lie. He couldn't kill Zhou and he couldn't kill her either, no matter how much his head hurt.

Where to start? He wondered to himself. He'd just have to get by with the bare minimum. "Two years ago my father banished me for speaking out and gave me this in a duel," he explained, pointing to the scar on his face. "He told me I could only return with my honor if I caught the Avatar. Now he wants me prisoner because I've failed him. So now I'm a refugee of my own nation, hence the Earth Kingdom clothes." Short and to the point, she couldn't complain; he'd told her what she wanted to know.

Meanwhile the silence was held as Katara had fallen into the depth of thought. I see now why he wanted to catch Aang so badly. His own father gave him that scar? No wonder he's so messed up, having his own father do that to him. I loved my father so much until he went off to war. My mother too, I wonder what happened to his mother.

For the first time, Zuko looked down at her. Apparently she'd found her way back from the front to his left side again. She was looking at the ground, not actually seeing where she was going. Jaw set and brow furrowed, she must not be paying attention, he figured. At least she was quiet.

Katara sighed, why did she have to ask? Now that she knew, try as she might, she couldn't hate him quite as much as before. It still didn't make up for everything he'd done though.

All of a sudden her thoughts were interrupted when a loud rumbling came from the right of the tunnel. Both of them winced as it grew steadily louder until the noise was a monstrous roar in their ears. All at once the side of the wall began to crumble to the ground, louder than ever before. For a second they shared a mutual thought.

Not again.

A/N: Thanks again! I'm trying really hard to stay on a pretty steady pace for updating. As I've mentioned before, I'm more of an artist so please forgive me if I don't update for weeks at a time. Also look forward to summer! I get a lot more done during that time since I've got mostly all day to do whatever I want! Yay! I'm so excited, aren't you? Once again, leave me a review! I'd like to hear what you think! Oh, yes, and before I forget, I can't quite tell if Zuko is teetering on OOC land, is he? If you leave me a review, be sure to mention that!

Special thanks to:

Rebirth of the Poenix and FirebenderKitty for their reviews. Thank you!