Prince Zuko stands on the outer wall of the Northern Water Tribe looking out at the ships receding into the early morning fog. It's the first time in nearly three years that he'll be away from his uncle for more than a day or two. They agreed that Iroh would go back to the Fire Nation and Zuko would stay with the Avatar. The impromptu peace meeting went surprisingly well and his uncle left after five days with high hopes for the future. Him leaving had been an emotional affair but it was over far too quickly. Snow crunches beside him. "We're about to leave."
"I know. I'm about to head up there."
Katara reaches out, laying a light hand on his elbow, completely ignoring the guard. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
She ignores that he obviously isn't and squeezes slightly. "Come one, let's go." She leads him away from the battlements wondering when exactly she began to be able to differentiate between his normal 'I'm fine' and the I'm not okay but I want you to think that I am 'I'm fine'. More than that she wonders when she started to care about just how okay he is.
. . .
Yue and Sokka are tangled in each other, each one's grip needy and hungry for more. It's more than lust or even love driving them now, it's pain and loneliness and the knowledge of upcoming loss. All too soon he'll leave and so they press their lips together and wish for more tomorrows.
"Will I even see you again?"
"I don't know, Sokka." She runs delicate fingers over his face, burning the feel of him into her memory. She knows it will never last. She knows her father is already picking out a new husband for her. She knows that this is a one time fling that can never be repeated and that if their paths ever cross again it won't be the same. He knows it to and he buries his face into her neck, gritting his teeth so as not to cry.
"I love you."
"I love you, too." Footsteps echo in the outside hallway and they pull away from each other.
Sokka strokes her shoulder, not meeting her eyes. "So this is it?"
She's had years of training, years of schooling her face and so she looks at him without tears and simply nods before placing a chaste kiss on his lips and squaring her shoulders. Sokka watches her leave.
. . .
The group stands in front of Appa, throwing the last of their packs onto the bison's back. Arnook and Pakku are there to see them off, Princess Yue is painfully absent. Chief Arnook nods and Master Pakku steps forward. "Katara?"
"Yes Master Pakku?"
"I want you to have this." He hands her a necklace with a small vial dangling from it. "It's water from the Spirit Oasis. It has special properties, use it well and don't lose it." He prays that she won't use it on the face of the boy beside her. He knows she was on his ship for awhile, he just pointedly ignores that fact.
"Thank you," She smiles widely.
He turns to Aang and hands him an ornate box. "Aang, these scrolls will help you master water bending, but they're no substitute for a real teacher. Sokka -" Sokka steps forward, excited to see what he'll get. "Take care. Protect your little family." Pakku hands him nothing and Sokka busies himself with Appa to avoid anymore embarrassment. Pakku looks at the scarred Fire Nation Prince with the ridiculous ponytail who is nervously looking at his feet. "Zuko -" His head snaps up, "people won't take kindly to who you are. I suggest you change your name at the very least. Now, all of you, fly towards the Earth Kingdom base we showed you. General Fong will help you get to Omashu to find an earth bending teacher."
"Good luck on your travels," Arnook smiles at the group. Thanking Sokka would be inappropriate but he knows that the boy was good for his daughter. Some other time he would have made an excellent husband for her. For now, all he can do is present Sokka with an ornate but functional dagger. "Thank you Sokka."
"It's so cool, thank you!" He unsheathes it and stares in awe at the beauty. The steel blade - a rarity in and of itself in the Water Tribes - is deadly sharp and the hilt is carved to echo the moon's phases.
"Come on Sokka!" Katara's crawling up Appa and Sokka scurries after her, tucking the blade safely into his belt. "Say hi to Gran Gran for us Master Pakku!"
Pakku smiles, "I will do that, Master Katara." Her entire face lights up, she's a master now! "Make sure the Avatar doesn't fall behind in his studies." She's too busy grinning like a fool to reply as Appa soars into the air. Zuko it seems doesn't enjoy flying all that much.
. . .
Six hours later finds the gaang traveling southeast over the Northern Sea. Zuko is fine now - it was just the taking off that threatened to remove his breakfast from his body. Sokka is practicing thrusts - which Zuko severely wants to correct - with his new dagger. Aang is on Appa's head guiding the bison towards the Earth Kingdom compound. Katara watches the clouds while absent-mindedly twirling water around her fingers. Zuko is just about ready to pull his hair out in boredom as he sidles next to Katara - the only member of the gaang that doesn't want him roasted over a slow fire. He's already tried to meditate - Sokka proceeded to 'accidentally' kick him - he's tried reading some of Katara's water bending scrolls - the forms make no sense to him and just make his head hurt. So finally, he's here to try and initiate some sort of conversation to make the time go by quicker. He opens his mouth to talk to her when Sokka lunges forward, the tip of his knife getting within a foot of Zuko's face. "Sorry man, didn't see you there." Katara looks up but the knife is already away.
Zuko grumbles, "It's fine."
"Oh good," The Water Tribe boy plops down between them, effectively stopping any conversation with the newly christened water bending master. Sokka throws his arm around Zuko, being sure to make him as uncomfortable as possible before settling into the most drawn out boring story he can think of while the prince just clenches his jaw, reminding himself that he chose to join the Avatar's team.
. . .
They make camp that night on an iceberg, needless to say there is no warm cooked meal. Sokka pulls jerky out of his bag and they all chow down quietly before heading to their sleeping bags. Aang curls up on Appa's head. Katara lays down on one of Appa's legs and Sokka takes Zuko by the shoulders while the other two get comfortable and leads him away from the group. "Is there something you need?" Zuko asks gruffly.
Once they're out of earshot Sokka turns to face him, a deadly look plastered on his face. "I don't know exactly what happened on that ship but if you lay a finger on my little sister I'll rip it off." Zuko has to hold back a snort. This boy wouldn't have a chance against him, the Spirit Oasis was a fluke, he wasn't himself. In a real fight, the Water Tribe man doesn't stand a chance. Sokka scowls. "I mean it, you lay a finger on her and you won't have to worry about anything ever again." and he walks off to the campsite, pushing Zuko's sleeping bag off of Appa's leg and onto the ice and settling in between Zuko's bag and where Katara is nestled. She's curled up in her sleeping bag and to his surprise his cloak is wrapped around her shoulders. Her hair is coming loose from the braid she keeps it in and it sticks out haphazardly. Sokka clears his throat and Zuko glares at the young man before plopping down onto his sleeping bag on the cold ice. The sun is down and so it doesn't take long for him to get to sleep.
Sokka doesn't go to sleep for a little while, the moon is keeping him up. It's silver and glows, just like Yue's beautiful hair. Oh how he misses her even though it's been less than a day. He'll never see her again, or at least if he does it won't be the same and Goddess that hurts. He loves her and she loves him, he knows it but within a month she'll be engaged again and within three months she'll be married. She could do so much better than any jerk in the Northern Water Tribe, she could do so much more than what that place has to offer her with their stupid views of what women are capable of. She is so much more than they realize and his heart aches to think of her wasting her life up there. Silent tears streak his face and he curls up in pain.
Whimpering wakes Zuko up, even in his sleep he knows it's Katara's. He jumps up already in bending stance, ready to protect her from whoever managed to make into their room past the lock. In his half sleep he sees a shadow move and he bends towards it, it's in between himself and the girl he's supposed to protect. Another person jumps in and deflects the fire, knocking him back with a gust of air. He blinks in surprise and the last of the sleep leaves his vision. They're not in his room.
"What the hell was that!" The Water Tribe boy yelps, Aang standing in front of him with his staff pointed threateningly at Zuko.
"I didn't mean to do that! I'm sorry!"
"You tried to kill me!"
"No, I didn't. I just - ugh!" Katara starts to wake up. "I didn't realize it was you."
"Who else would it be out here huh?" Sokka shouts.
"Was goin on?" Katara asks sleepily and Sokka lowers his voice.
"Nothing, sis." Sokka marches away from Appa and Aang and Zuko follow, Zuko groaning in frustration. Why is he so bad at being good? "Now give me a good reason to not shove you in the water right here and now and leave you to drown."
"I think we should do that anyway," Aang mutters darkly, not meaning it but still.
"I forgot you were there!"
"How do you just 'forget' someone's there?" Sokka's exaggerated finger quotes show exactly what he thinks of that.
"I woke up to Katara's whimpering and thought, I thought there was someone trying to hurt her."
"Hmpf, whatever. Next time try looking before trying to kill me." Zuko nods and makes to head back to camp but Aang stops him.
"Stay away from Katara." Malice that neither the Avatar nor Zuko knew existed in him drips from Aang's voice.
Zuko can stand Sokka trying to tell him what to do when it comes to Katara, after all she is his sister. Aang however has no right to at all which Zuko is more than willing to say. "Avatar, you don't get to boss me around."
"Yeah I do, you don't belong here and I'm the Avatar! I'm keeping the peace here."
"You're not keeping the peace, you're being a little brat!"
"I am no-"
"So what's for breakfast?" Katara's clear voice cuts through the tension and Aang visibly calms though still glares daggers at Zuko as he turns towards her. Zuko stares off at the slightly pinking sky, taking a few breathes to calm down. He can feel fire building inside of him in frustration and he forces it down before joining the others.
Katara watches the prince take measured steps back to them, she's not sure what all the yelling was about but Zuko looks only marginally murderous so it can't be that bad. She hands out jerky and rolls, taking a moment longer than strictly necessary handing them to the stressed out prince. She sits next to him and stretches. She had bad dreams last night and the water around them is calling to her to relieve tension. She ignores it instead waiting for everyone to finish before climbing onto Appa. They set off in the predawn.
The following days pass in the same manner. They fly on Appa during the day, Aang and Sokka ignoring Zuko unless he tries to talk to Katara in which case Sokka starts up boring stories as his sister rolls her eyes. She knows what he's up to and makes faces behind Sokka's back as he drones on and on about this fish or that knife, Zuko watches her with a blank face but enjoys the distraction from Sokka's talking. They stop for dinner in the evenings - the third day away from the North Pole they camp on solid ground and Zuko relishes the warm fire. Katara makes dinner and washes up before giving Aang a quick lesson in water bending. They go to bed and Sokka buries his face into his pillow trying to get to sleep without thinking too much. Then Katara's muttering wakes up the prince or Zuko's jerking wakes up the water bender. Either way Zuko has managed to not try to kill Sokka again.
"What was it this time?" Katara sits beside him sipping on some broth from the night before. Zuko sits beside her, staring into the flames.
"Nothing."
"Don't lie," She sighs and sets her cup down.
"It's the usual, that's all."
"Ah, okay." Katara pulls water to her hands and slips her fingers under the back of his shirt.
Zuko jerks and wiggles away, "What are you doing!"
She smacks his back lightly, "Come on, you know you're stressed. Three days on a flying bison listening to my brother's stupid stories is enough to stress anyone out."
Zuko groans in agreement, "He doesn't shut up."
"He never does, just ignore him that's what I do. Ask him about Gran Gran's fish necklace next time you want him to leave you alone."
"A fish necklace?"
"Just trust me, he'll shut up. You could always ask him about how a girl kicked his butt on Kyoshi, that would work too." Her fingers find the knots in his back and he leans into her, his ponytail brushing against her. "So why do you wear your hair like this?"
His shoulders slump, "I don't deserve a topknot."
"Yeah you do. You're doing the right thing now, you're on the right path." She twirls a strand of hair around her finger and Zuko stiffens but Katara ignores it, thinking it's related to the hand that's still working on his back. "Your hair is so different from mine, I've never felt anything like it."
Zuko frowns, "Hair comes in different textures?"
"Yeah, yours is finer, more silky than mine." She laughs softly, "It's like running my fingers through water. My hair's rougher."
Getting the knots in his back worked out feels good enough to make him forget the nightmares. The fingers in his hair are enough to make him not care about how stressful the past few weeks have been and how really he's nervous about people liking him even if he doesn't act like it. Her hand wanders from his hair down to his shoulders and along his spine, water again encasing her hand as she delves into him. He groans in relief but it's cut short by a cry of pain as she touches a cord of energy twisted around his heart.
"Are you okay!"
Zuko runs across a grassy knoll, laughing happily with his mother for a moment before seeing the small campfire in front of him now. His chest aches, "I'm fine."
"Zuko-" She reaches out to him but he stands abruptly and leaves. "Ass," she mutters under her breath though she doesn't mean it. This is what she gets for trusting a fire bender, for wanting to actually talk to a friggin fire bender. The sun is hardly even up, and she's up because of him, she should just go back to bed. No, Aang will be up soon and so will Sokka's stomach and she'll need to take care of them. The best part about the North Pole was that they didn't expect her to cook for them there. If she wasn't so damn mothering - and completely convinced they might accidentally poison themselves - she'd make them cook instead.
Zuko paces back and forth in the trees, trying to make sense of all the thoughts whirring around his skull. He still feels like a traitor, he knows he's not but damn he feels like it or at least guilty. Part of him says that standing by his family - even when they're wrong - is important. The smarter part of him knows that's not true but he still feels odd about the whole situation. Add to that the fact that Sokka seems to take great pleasure out of torturing him and the Avatar has hardly spoken to him at all and the prince is at a loss for what to do. He could knock them all over the head and fly the giant bison to the Fire Nation palace, in fact that's what the old him would have done. Now he's struggling with trying to keep his temper in check and resist the urge to correct Sokka's every knife move instead.
"Where's Zuko?" Aang's far too chipper for this early in the morning.
Katara sighs and drops the broth she was bending back into the pot. A good morning would have been nice. "I don't know, he walked off a bit ago."
"So what, you two were up again?"
She says nothing but her nostrils flare. He's accusing her of something or at least his tone says that but what the hell is wrong with comforting someone after a bad dream? She comforts Aang after a bad dream, Zuko is no different. "Why don't you wake Sokka up?"
"Uuhn," A groan comes from the Water Tribe warrior's sleeping roll. "I'm awake."
"Sure you are," Katara laughs to relieve the tension still wafting off of Aang. "There's soup over the fire, I want it all gone before we leave but make sure there's enough for Zuko too and there's porridge for you Aang."
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to go train, there's a stream nearby." She waltzes away from the boys without a second glance, more specifically away from Aang and his angry looks.
. . .
The group arrives at General Fong's fortress that afternoon and are greeted by gawking soldiers and screeching ostrich horses running away from the landing Appa. A large imposing man with a huge beard and equally huge torso stands in front of more soldiers, not gawking but standing quietly in straight lines. "Welcome Avatar Aang!" He booms.
Aang smiles and slide off of Appa before rubbing his rear tiredly. "Hi. You're General Fong?"
The general is thrown off by the complete lack of decorum. "Uh yes, and these must be your friends. I was told of Master Katara and her brother Sokka but the North Pole failed to mention another person."
"That's - "
"Lee," Zuko blurts out. "I'm Lee."
"Well, Lee, Master Katara, brave Sokka, Momo, Appa, and of course Avatar Aang it is an honor to meet you all! I'll have someone show you to your rooms and then we'll reconvene for dinner in two hours."
"Thanks," Aang smiles at the man before jumping onto Appa's back to start throwing things down. Servants quickly grab the bags - careful to avoid anymore falling ones - and whisk them off to their room. They all dismount and someone leads the sky bison to the stables as they follow a short spindly man into the compound to their rooms.
"Ah, bed!" Sokka plops down onto a mat, "No rocks or lumps or anything."
"Uh-" The man who had guided them there is ignored as Sokka luxuriates on the mat, Katara immediately heads to the sink and bends water to wash her face, Aang continues to rub his rear, and Zuko walks in awkwardly only to stand in the corner of the room and stretch his arms. The man eventually gives up, sighs, and walks away, closing the door behind him.
"I love Appa dearly but I'd forgotten how much I don't like riding on him all the time," Katara runs fingers through her hair, just generally trying to feel cleaner after a day of travel and three days of no baths.
"You guys really went all the way from the South to the North Pole on him?"
"Yupp," Sokka shoots Zuko a wicked grin, "And you chasing us sure didn't help our rears."
"Yeah, sorry about that."
"So, Lee now is it? Prince Lee or just Lee, hah prince Lee princely, see what I did there."
Katara rolls her eyes, "Yes Sokka, very funny."
. . .
The moon hangs high in the sky watching over the fortress. Sokka holds a small hairpiece in his hands that he found in his bags earlier that day when he unpacked. It'd worked it's way to the bottom of his pack and it's a miracle he even saw it as it tumbled out when he dumped his bag upside down. The stone is carved with the same design that adorned Yue's larger hair clips that he'd told her once were gorgeous. There was no note, nothing attached but he knows it's from her, knows it's her way of giving him something to remember her by. He just wishes he'd thought to give something to her. He just misses her and his chest aches. Their time had been far too short but the memories would last a lifetime, he knows that. His heart aches and he grips the hair clip, the moon reflected in his eyes as he sits at the window in the hallway outside the room.
"Oh, I didn't see you were here, sorry." Sokka jerks around, he hadn't even heard Zuko coming up behind him but quickly composes himself.
"It's fine, I was just leaving."
"No, I'll go."
"No," Sokka sighs, "We might as well get to know each other, Katara would like that. I don't like you, fuck I still hate you but for her," Sokka shrugs, "I really do hate you. Your people destroyed my tribe, you took our mother from us. You personally chased us halfway around the world and kidnapped my sister but she thinks you're an okay guy. Why?"
Zuko just shrugs.
Sokka rolls his eyes. "That's helpful. So, what woke you up?"
"Couldn't sleep."
"Yeah right, you were out like a log when I walked out of the room."
"Well what kept you up then?" Zuko doesn't want to talk about his dreams with the practically stranger.
"Nothing," Sokka mutters.
"Sure."
After a moment Sokka talks, "You're a prince, if you went back, did all the princey stuff, what would make you leave it all for, well for a peasant?"
Zuko coughs, ocean breeze and Fire Nation spices spring to mind. Dark brown hair sticking out of a braid and big blue eyes.
"Oh yeah, you don't have a heart. So I guess nothing would make you leave it huh?"
"Hey, I'm not that bad." Sokka laughs. "Okay maybe I was but I'm not anymore."
"If you say so. Well, any girls back home waiting for you?"
Zuko snorts. "No, no one looks twice at a banished prince. Not there, not anywhere."
"Maybe try the whole beat you over the head and drag you back to the palace bit. That seems to be your kind of thing."
Zuko rolls his eyes.
Sokka gets up to leave. "Anyhow, I'm headed back to bed." He walks off and Zuko barely overhears "-didn't even see us off."
. . .
They all sit in a grand hall for breakfast. Sokka with a new clip holding his warrior's wolf tail together. Fong looks up from his meal, setting his chopsticks down. "Avatar Aang!"
The man has hardly spoken all of breakfast and so Aang's properly shocked at being addressed, "Uh yeah General Fong?"
"I've heard tales of the Avatar State, the amazing power it wields. I can't imagine what it feels like to wield such devastating power! It's an awesome responsibility." Fong grins and for a heart-stopping moment Zuko only sees Zhao at the head of the table not the Earth Kingdom man.
Aang shrugs, "I try not to think about it too much."
"Avatar, you're ready to face the Fire Lord."
Aang and Katara's eyebrows shoot up, Sokka chokes on his oats and Zuko's tea spurts out his nose. "You're joking, right? This kid wouldn't stand a chance."
Aang rounds on Zuko, "I am not a kid!"
"Yeah you are, you're like ten."
"I'm one hundred fourteen years old thank you very much!"
"Enough, guys enough!" Katara comes between the two benders before turning to Fong. "Aang still needs to master all the elements, he's not taking on the Fire Lord anytime soon."
"Why?" Fong booms. "With the power he possesses he could take down the Fire Lord in a matter of minutes!"
"But sir," Sokka cuts in, "He could only do that if he were in the Avatar State."
"And I don't know how to get in or out of the Avatar State, I've only ever been in it a few times and they were all accidents."
Fong doesn't even pause, "Well then it's settled, we'll help you figure out how to get into the Avatar State and then you'll face your destiny."
Katara's hands are on her hips and she looks very similar to the day she faced down Pakku, "No, nothing's decided! We already have a plan and he's going to pursue his destiny his own way, not your way!" She sticks her nose in the air and struts off, grabbing Aang as she walks out the door. "Let's go practice water bending, you haven't done that in a few days I'm sure your forms are getting sloppy."
"Yes Katara," Aang replies submissively.
Aang proceeds to have his butt handed to him multiple times over the next hour, unable to keep up with Katara's frustrated bending as she lashes out with days worth of pent up aggression. Eventually Zuko who had been watching from the sidelines with Sokka rolls his eyes as Aang - yet again - whizzes away from a wave on a little air scooter. Fire erupts in front of her waves, turning the water to steam. "Why don't you take your anger out on someone who can actually dish it back Master Katara!" Zuko calls and the avatar breathes a sigh of relief that he's no longer being relentlessly attacked. Angry mutters of ' fire bender' ripple through the soldiers watching.
She smirks wickedly as her gaze falls on Zuko. "Okay Lee, I'll take you on. I'll wipe the floor with your face!"
The two stare at each other, each daring the other to make the first move. Katara twitches and Zuko shoots flames towards her face. She rolls and directs water spikes at his stomach. He ducks and kicks out but his fire is blocked by a massive rock rising from the ground between the two.
"What is the meaning of this!" Fong roars from a balcony nearby before jumping down. "There is no fire bending here! If you weren't with the Avatar you'd be thrown out like the trash you are!" He spits at Zuko's feet and Zuko flares.
"How dare you-"
"Lee," Katara rushes forward, placing a calming hand on his chest, that one word reminding him of what he's trying to do. He has to calm down. "Sorry General. It won't happen again." Zuko's jaw tightens.
"Keep that filthy fire bender away from my men, they've seen enough flames to last a life time."
Katara can't keep her mouth shut at that, "He's not filthy! He's a perfectly nice guy, so what does it matter if he fire bends!"
"Look around you child, look at the soldiers here." He seethes," They're tired and wounded and most of it comes from fire benders so forgive us if we aren't to happy to see one in our base." Katara glares at him a moment longer before actually looking at the men who had been gathered to watch the going ons. Most have bandages, a few are missing body parts. Burn scars abound. Aang sees them too. "This is why we need the Avatar State, to keep our people safe from the Fire Nation. Every day our people die and you want your precious Avatar to sit by and slowly master the elements when we need him to end the war today!"
"Screw you," it lacks venom and she knows it. That afternoon finds her in the infirmary, water glowing around her hands. Zuko stands close by, careful to make sure she's safe.
. . .
"Katara?"
"Yeah Aang?"
"I saw the soldiers today. I told General Fong I'd help him. I'll go into the Avatar State."
"What!"
"I don't have time to do this the right way, I have to defeat the Fire Lord now or else more people will get hurt."
"If you want to throw away everything we've worked on by blundering in half cocked fine, go ahead, glow it up."
. . .
Katara doesn't talk to Aang that evening.
Katara doesn't even look at him the next morning. Sokka however thinks it's a great idea. Zuko vehemently disagrees but is ignored. Aang and Sokka go off with Fong after breakfast. Katara and Zuko wander through the halls. "Why are you against Aang doing this? I would've thought you'd be all over it."
"Really Zuko?"
"Hey-"
"Sorry, Lee. I don't want him to get hurt is all. He's not ready for it."
Zuko chuckles darkly, "You're right about that. My father would destroy him the way he is now."
"That's what I'm afraid of." They walk down stark brown and green halls in companionable silence, each contemplating what would happen if Aang were to take on the Fire Lord now. They're both positive that they'd be looking for the next Avatar soon afterwards if they even managed to survive the fight. "So, going up against your dad, are you okay with that?"
Zuko exhales harshly, "He was okay with going up against me."
Katara lays a hand on his elbow, forcing him to stop walking. "I learned something in the North Pole."
"Don't," He removes his arm from hers and keeps walking. "Not again."
"I can actually do it this time! I can't make it all go away but damn I can help!"
"I don't need your help or your pity!" He snaps.
"It's not pity dumbass!" Somehow the two have ended up nose to nose glaring. "If you don't want my help fine, but it's not fucking pity."
Zuko doesn't ease up on his glare, "Fine but I still don't need your help."
Katara rolls her eyes and steps back, "Okay. I'm here if you want me though."
Her words send a jolt through the Fire Nation Prince. He knows what she meant but.He blushes and immediately turns around. "Uh, let's go outside. We can practice some hand to hand," No, that's a bad choice, "Actually why don't you just go do whatever it is you do. I'm going to go meditate." He scampers off, a bewildered water bender left in his wake.
"What was that all about?"" She mutters to herself.
In the privacy of the bedroom Zuko groans, dropping his head into his hands before kicking the table. She's your friend dang it. Be happy with that, nothing more!
. . .
"Katara!" Aang swoops into the dining hall.
"What?" Her voice is icy.
He falters at her tone but presses forward after a beat, "I wish you could have been there today! They gave me this drink that gave me super energy and, and they tried scaring me - let me tell you, Momo isn't all that scary. Some weird old guy threw dirt on me, it was crazy!"
"That's nice Aang," She continues to pick at her food with chopsticks.
"Do you want to come see us tomorrow?"
"No thanks."
Aang's shoulders fall, "Oh, okay then."
. . .
"Can we talk about something Aang?" She's cornered him outside of their room before bedtime.
"Sure, what is it?"
"You remember when we were at the Air Temple and you found Monk Gyatso's skeleton? It must have been so awful and traumatic for you. You were so upset that you weren't even you anymore. I'm not saying that the Avatar State doesn't have incredibly and even helpful power but you have to understand that for the people that love you, seeing you in that much pain with so much rage is really scary."
Right then Aang only sees the compassionate innocent girl that she was before Zuko captured her. Still though, he knows what he has to do and she can't change his mind. "Katara, I saw those men out there and I can't let more people get like that. I can't - I can't let people like Zuko capture people like you ever again. I have to protect you, I mean them."
"So that's what this is about, you protecting me? What is this, some kind of self-induced punishment?"
"No!" he twists his hands together nervously, "That's not what I meant! I just want everyone to be safe that's all and to do that I have to defeat the Fire Lord. I have to do this. I'm already a hundred years late, I can't get any later."
Katara shakes her head sadly, "I can't watch you do this to yourself, Aang, I won't. Goodnight."
"Goodnight." Katara closes the door behind her and Aang's forehead furrows. He doesn't know what to do, he knows this is wrong, but what else can he even do? What else will possibly end the war?
Tonight it's Aang's turn to have nightmares. He dreams of terrifying spouts of water jutting him up over Zuko's ship in the South Pole. He dreams of hellish storms and a forest falling to pieces beneath his anger. Mostly though he dreams of horrifying blue eyes devoid of emotion, soul, or even thought. The world falls under those eyes' uncaring gaze and the world burns out of control. Aang wakes up in a cold shivering sweat, sitting upright in fear. Katara jerks in her sleep but doesn't wake as he slips out of the room.
. . .
"I don't think this will work."
"What?" General Fong looks up from his papers, the morning sun streaming in through the open window.
"I don't think this will work," Aang reiterates. "I don't think we can or should try and trigger the Avatar State. It's too dangerous, I can't control it."
"Are you sure I can't change your mind?"
Aang nods, "It seems like I can only reach the Avatar State when I'm in genuine danger."
"I was afraid you'd say that," Fong pinches the bridge of his nose in a show of frustration. It's cut short when the desk he sits at shoots forward, knocking Aang out of the window.
Sokka, who had been headed to join Aang for the day's activities, sees and lunges forward. "Aang!" Two guards restrain him. Sokka elbows one in the gut and headbutts the other but Aang's already in the courtyard far below.
"Men, attack the Avatar!" Fong booms and without question soldiers react. Fong leaps from the window, earth reaching up for him to land on.
"What are you doing!" Earthen disks rise in front of the benders surrounding him and levitate there.
"I believe we are about to get results," Fong replies cooly before raising a disk of his own and propelling it towards the young boy.
"I'm not your enemy!" Aang's words fall on deaf ears. Appa's growling in the distance, twenty soldiers holding him down. The booms and rolls of earth shake the entire compound, jerking Katara out of her scroll about more advanced water bending techniques, Zuko out of his stretches on a balcony at the rear of the building, and Momo out of a well deserved nap of Katara's lap.
Katara scratches Momo's ear affectionately, "I wonder what crazy thing they're trying now." Even though she doesn't want him to see her there, doesn't want him to think she's supporting him, she wants to go check on Aang. She walks down the hall and out onto the main stairs to an unexpected view. Aang is dodging giant disks that are being thrown at him, rolled at him, and smooches towards him along with spears thrown from non-benders. Sokka runs up to her, panting. "The general's gone crazy!" he shouts before pulling his boomerang out of it's holster. Katara uncorks her water and jumps into the fray. Sokka takes down soldiers with conks on the head while Katara sends jets and whips towards men, pulling them off balance or flat out knocking them unconscious. She knocks one off an ostrich horse that runs away scared before Sokka grabs hold of the reins and mounts it. It immediately takes off, Sokka holding on for dear life. Aang is still being chased by the earth and leaps up the stairs trying to avoid it.
Again Katara attacks but the men she knocks down seem to be replaced instantaneously. She doesn't realize that the disks are forming a v-shaped wall around her until it's too late. She flings her water toward Fong but the ground rises up and turns it to mud. The ground beneath her opens up, sucking her feet into it up to her knees.
"Maybe you can avoid me Avatar, but she can't." Fong bellows.
"Don't hurt her!" Aang sends a blast of air at the general but he simply raises a wall of rock in front of him. Sokka charges but is town from his mount, landing with a solid thud in the square inside the disks. Fong had expected the brother to attack, what he had forgotten to take into account was the fire bender. Katara sinks lower in to the ground - up to her hips - when an enormous wave a fire rolls down around the man.
"Let - her - go," Zuko seethes.
"Tell your friend to go into the Avatar State and I will."
Three soldiers converge on Zuko but blasts of fire easily knock him down.
"Stop, you'll burn her!" Aang rushes forward, grabbing Fong's arm. "Stop this, you have to let her go!"
"You could save her if you were in the Avatar State." Fong smiles maliciously at the begging boy.
"I'm trying!" She sinks farther. Panic sets in and she can't seem to breath right. Zuko roars and kicks out at Fong, blast after unrelenting blast knocking him back as Aang hurries to Katara, trying to free her. Zuko fights with a power he didn't even know he had as his vision tunnels in on the man responsible for the jagged breathing coming from the woman he's supposed to protect. Earth walls are raised and Zuko blasts them away, getting closer and closer to his prey. Fong still casts glances at the Avatar, trying to see if he's in the Avatar State yet. There's no glowing and so in between raising walls to protect himself he sinks her completely into the ground, not even her long braid still in view.
Aang screams and Zuko turns to look. A boulder knocks him back.
Aang's arrows and eyes are glowing.
Aang doesn't care about anyone who might get hurt, he only cares about protecting his Katara or at least ending the man who threatens her.
"It's working! It's working!" Fong shouts but Aang doesn't - can't hear him. Air swirls around him, creating tornadoes in his wake as he flies towards Fong on a large whirlwind. Dust flies and even the earthen disks and soldiers are knocked aside. Sokka comes to just in time to avoid getting hurt. Zuko looks up at the Avatar, remembering the day the forest not too terribly long ago. "Avatar Aang! Can you hear me? Your friend is safe, it was just a trick to get you into the Avatar State." He makes a motion and Katara rises - trembling violently - from the ground but Aang doesn't see, he's a thousand miles away in the Spirit World and the previous Avatar, Roku, is telling him not to use the Avatar State like this. If he's killed while in the Avatar State, no other Avatars will be born ever. He'll not only be the last air bender, but also the last avatar.
The winds die down. The tornado dissipates and Aang lands softly on the ground, staring in horror at the courtyard. He did this, he did all of this and he's sick to his stomach about it. Tears form in the corners of his eyes. He finds Katara, the girl he did this all for, in Zuko's arms clutching onto his shirt for dear life, her eyes wild and scared.
Fong strolls up joyfully, "That was almost perfect!" He crows, "We just have to find a way to control you when you're like that."
"You're out of your mind!" Aang retorts.
The general ignores him, "I guess we'll figure that out on the way to the Fire Nation!"
Sokka, who somehow managed to get on another ostrich horse, comes up behind the man and with a solid thwack, Fong falls to the ground unconscious. "We're leaving now. I'm taking my sister, the Avatar, and the fire bender and we're leaving," he calls to the entire courtyard. "Does anyone have a problem with that?"
No one has a problem with that.
. . .
Okay, quick author's note. My updates will become a little further apart considering a)I've been super sick b)conventions most weekends that I sell at c)holidays and d)inspiration comes and goes. Also, I went back and tweaked Chapter 5 where Katara said how old she is. I decided, based on the content of this story that everyone should be two years older. Please tell me if there's anywhere else I need to fix ages.
And to Epic Romance, thank you so so much for your encouragement, kind words, and support! Your PMs mean a lot to me and your encouragement really helped get my butt in gear when I was stuck halfway through the chapter.