Hi everyone! I'm super excited to post this, as I've been writing little bits and pieces of fic for years, but haven't had the guts to post anything.
I've been a long time fan of A:TLA (like, I watched it on TV growing up, and own all the disc sets). However, I've never been happy with the ending, and the subsequent pairings. So, I've been painting this fic in my brain for a while now, and finally had the time (yay quarantine) to get it typed out.
I'll try to keep my notes brief, beyond the legal disclaimer and some content warnings. Please PLEASE comment and let me know how you like it. I have many, many more ideas for fics, and some constructive criticism will go a long ways towards helping me write them properly.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own, nor have any rights to, the content, charachters, or story of Avater: the Last Airbender. The story depicted herein is a re-imagining of the story, and has no ties to the owners, writers and creators of the show.
Katara paced the brightly lit cavern. Once she had gotten movement back into her limbs, she couldn't seem to control it. Her worry about the Earth King, Aang, Sokka, Toph…
"Where did I go wrong?" she muttered, turning around to retrace her steps. She was doing a mental replay of the past few days, seeing all the advisors that she had met with, people she had seen. "Where did things get so out of control?"
She had been doing her duty to the Earth King; courying scrolls, attending war meetings, even giving a detailed description of their time at Won Shi Tong's library to the King's advisors. The steely resolve of the generals had given her extra energy, and they were all hopeful that once the Earth Kingdom soldiers landed on the shores of the Fire Nation, the war would soon be over.
A rumbling was felt all throughout the cavern, shocking Katara out of her review. She paused as a long corridor opened in the cave wall. The brightness of the cave walls around her made it difficult to see who was at the other end, and she tensed, waiting for another didn't have any water with her, unfortunately, but she knew some hand-to-hand. Hopefully it would be enough.
"You have company," a gruff voice called, and something was pushed down the tunnel towards her.
Katara backed up as a body, wrapped in Earth-Kingdom clothes, landed before her. Long black hair obscured most of the person's face, but Katara knew that scar anywhere.
"Zuko," she said, glaring down at the man. He looked up at the sound of his name, and looked surprised at seeing her there.
She waited for him to attack, her hopes of fighting him off dwindling. With bending, they were an even match. But without any water, Katara knew she would be helpless if he came at her.
Instead, to her surprise, he looked away, studying the walls of the cave they were in.
Katara was surprised; every time they had been in close quarters before, he had always struck first. But then her resolve hardened. He must be hoping she'll let her guard down. He was obviously working with his sister.
"Why did they throw you in here?" she demanded, advancing towards where he sat. Zuko continued to look away from her, which only made her more frustrated.
"Oh, wait, let me guess." She said sarcastically, venom infused in her words. "It's a trap, so that when Aang shows up to help me you can finally have him in your little Fire Nation clutches."
He glanced over his shoulder, throwing his scar into sharp relief. Katara waited for him to respond, but instead he turned away again.
She was furious. After all the things he, and his father, and his whole country had done to the world, he wasn't allowed to just ignore her! The feeling of rage crested over her like a wave, and she couldn't help but go after him again.
"You're a terrible person, you know that? Always following us, hunting the Avatar, trying to capture the world's last hope for peace!" She didn't know when she had started pacing again, but she stopped then, her mind spinning with anger and hatred. She turned away from him, unable to even look at the monster before her.
"But what do you care?"she asked, knowing that he didn't. "You're the Fire Lord's son. Spreading war and violence and hatred is in your blood."
"You don't know what you're talking about," Zuko said, looking back at her again.
Although she finally got a response from her tirade, it only made her more furious with him.
"I don't?" she yelled, indignation and righteous anger making her turn towards him again. "How dare you! You have no idea what this war has put me through, me personally!"
And all at once, her anger made way for a new, even more powerful emotion: despair. She hunched down, unable to bear the pain in her heart as she started crying.
"The Fire Nation took my mother away from me." Her hands on her necklace, she relived the scene from her nightmares; her mother, looking ragged and worn, telling her to go find her father. Coming back with him to find her lifeless body on the ground.
The pain tore through her as it always did. Her mother was her best friend, her confidant. She taught her so much, showed her what it meant to be a respectable woman in their tribe. Katara could still feel her mother's hands in her hair, teaching her how to braid it, to tie the ceremonial loops in it that had been passed down through the women of their family for generations. Her mother's arms wrapped around her on a cold night, telling her stories about when she was a child, how she met Katara's dad, how they fell in love.
Although it had been 5 years since Kya had been killed, Katara still felt the pain like it was yesterday. When her mother died, it had changed everything.
"I'm sorry," the rough voice cut through her revere. "That's something we have in common."
Katara paused, repeating his words over in her head. That's something we have in common. She looked over at him, tears blurring her vision so she couldn't see his face.
"What do you mean?"
Zuko sighed, looking uncomfortable. Katara had never seen him look anything but angry or tense, so seeing actual emotion on his face was shocking.
"I don't know what happened, exactly," Zuko began, turning to stare on the brightly lit walls of the cave. "All I remember is, one day Azula said that our father was going to kill me. I didn't believe her." Face darkened, resembling the angry Prince Katara had first met. "I hadn't seen how cruel my father could be yet."
He paused, as if a memory was replaying in his mind. Finally, he continued, "That night, my mom came to visit me. She told me to be strong, and that she loved me. I never saw her again."
Katara stared at him in shock. Did his father… She knew how ruthless and terrible the Fire Lord was, but had never thought that he would do anything against his own family. She couldn't imagine her own father laying a hand on her or her brother.
"I...I had no idea," Katara whispered. She was struggling to pair the two versions of Zuko she now had in her head. One, the angry, righteous prince, who had hunted her and her friends across the globe, leaving terror in their wake. The other, a sad boy who lost his mom at the hands of his own father.
"It's not something I talk about." the prince responded, turning away. He seemed to curl in on himself, so get away from his memories as much as she wished she could run from hers.
Zuko had always been the bad guy to her. He had invaded her village, threatened Gran Gran, and then proceeded to follow her and her friends all over the world. Every place they went, he was right behind them, causing destruction and chaos.
But now, hearing him speak, seeing the pain written across every sharp angle of his body, she felt pity. Katara looked at him, at the tense set of his shoulders, the rise and fall of his torso as he took deep breaths. And she understood.
She allowed her tears to dry, and took several deep breaths as she once again shoved down the pain. Thoughts of her mother, alive; of her family, whole; of her tribe, safe and secure; they all were neatly placed back into the dark corner of her heart.
She rose to her feet. As she brushed the dirt off her dress, she said, "I'm sorry I yelled at you before."
He rose as well, and took another deep breath, his back still turned to her.
"It doesn't matter," he said quietly. "I'm used to it."
She looked over as he turned towards her, meeting his eyes. She had been up close with him before, when he captured her, and had seen the harsh lines of his scar in detail. But now, with his face more relaxed, she noticed more about his appearance; the golden color of his eyes, and the way his angular face still had the soft edges of boyhood.
"But you shouldn't be," Katara surprised herself by saying. And she was right; nobody should be alright with being looked down on constantly, no matter who they were. "Just because you're the Fire Lord's son doesn't mean people should treat you like him."
Zuko looked shocked, his one good eyebrow raising up towards his hairline. After a moment, his face hardened again, and he turned away.
"You forget," he said, his voice acidic and full of loathing, "I have lived up to the reputation. The things I've done, the people I've hurt…" He crossed his arms, looking ashamed. "I deserve their anger."
Katara was shocked at his admission, and at the guilt she saw on his face. She had never seen him be anything but angry and ruthless, but now she had seen him hurt, ashamed, and...sorry.
"I make a mess of everything I touch," Zuko continued, seemingly unaware that Katara was still listening. "I push everyone away that tries to help. No matter how hard I try, I can't escape my past...I can't escape him."
Katara felt herself looking at him, really looking at him, for the first time. Behind the scar, the harsh words, and the rough facade, Zuko was in pain. She felt like she had been let in on a big secret, on something that had been going on longer than she had known of his existence. And, she resolved to herself then, she had to help him. It's who she was.
"So, she began, taking a tentative step forward. "Are you wanting peace, or change?"
Zuko's head jerked up in surprise, and he looked at her in confusion. "What?"
"It's something my Gran Gran always says." Katara continued, remembering all the times it had been said to her. "When I made a mistake, and I asked her for advice, she would always ask that. If I wanted peace, it meant that I had to go and fix my mistake as best as I could, apologize to those that I had hurt, and work to keep it from happening again. If I wanted change, it meant that I would resolve to change my ways, and then never look back."
Zuko continued to look at her, so Katara went on.
"The thing about this choice is, a lot of it depends on whether you care about the person you've hurt. If you want peace, it means taking their feelings into account, and working with them on a better solution. But if you just want change, they will never know how you felt about your actions." Katara chuckled at a memory. "My brother can be annoying, but every time I've tried the change option he stays upset for weeks. And there's not many places to hide from your brother in the South Pole."
"I can imagine," Zuko muttered, causing another laugh from Katara. He seemed to be contemplating her words, turning them over in his head.
"So, it's up to you," Katara continued, taking another step towards him. "You are free to choose how to live your life. But, you also need to be aware of how others see you."
Silence feel between them as Zuko thought about what she said. Katara was worried that she'd pushed him too far, that she'd been too forward in what she had said. She knew how hard it was to face your inner demons, and see how wrong you truly were.
When she had stolen the waterbending scroll, she justified everything with the fact that Aang needed to learn water bending. But she knew now, as she should have known then, that the real reason she stole it was because she wanted it. She wanted to learn, to prove to her brother and her tribe that she was powerful, important, and had directed that drive towards Aang, who just wanted to exist and have fun.
She smiled at the thought of Aang. Right now, he would be at the Eastern Air Temple, studying the ways of the Avatar. She was so happy that he was getting the chance to learn about who he was, and the powers he was trying to control. Even though she had told Zuko that he was coming to rescue her, she was hoping that he would put his training first.
"Why are you helping me?" Zuko's questions echoed around the cave, and she turned back to him to see a curious look on his face. "After all that I've done…"
Katara considered him, and then said, "For so long now, when I think of the enemy, it's your face that comes to mind."
Zuko flinched, as if her words had hit him. "I see…" he said, putting his hand to his scar. "My face…"
"No, that's not what I m-"
"It's ok." Zuko looked away from her, off into the distance. "I used to think this scar marked me. The mark of the banished prince, cursed to chase the Avatar forever." He paused, and Katara heard him take a deep breath before continuing. "Recently, I've realized that I'm free to choose my own destiny, even if I'll never be free of my mark."
Katara's thoughts flashed to the Spirit Water, hidden away with her things. Could it...could it work? She knew the water had special properties, had imagined all the ways that it could be used. But every time since they had left the North Pole, when someone was injured, she always thought, not yet. Zuko's scar must be years old, and any healing that it needed would have ben done naturally over time. She wasn't sure if it would do anything.
Katara was so focused on that, on the possibility, that she almost missed Zuko's next words.
"Do you think I still have a chance?" Zuko asked quietly, still turned away. Katara gaped, then walked over to him and gently laid a hand on his shoulder. His body froze, except for his head, which turned to look down at her. Ocean blue eyes met scarred golden, and she said, "You always have a chance."
They held each other's eyes. Zuko let out a breath that Katara hadn't seen him hold, and watched as he broke eye contact, looking down. He seemed relieved, and Katara could imagine that he hadn't heard that much.
A rumbling suddenly surrounded them, echoing around the cavern. Katara and Zuko both took a step back, looking around, preparing to fight.
All of a sudden, the cave wall exploded outward. Shards of stone and crystal shattered across the opposite wall, and dust floated all around them, blocking their eyesight. Katara waved her hand in front of her, trying to clear the debris, and suddenly saw a short bald boy through the dust, followed by a wide, graying older man.
"Aang!" she cried out, racing towards him. He turned towards her, happiness written across his face. She hugged him tightly, whispering, "Thank you," in his ear. Instead, he tensed up. She let go of him to look at his face, afraid that she had hurt him. Instead, he had locked eyes with Zuko across the room, who was being dwarfed in a giant hug from his uncle. While Aang looked angry, Zuko just looked surprised to see him. Katara searched his face, looking for any malice or anger, and found none. A small bloom of hope opened in her chest, and she truly hoped that Zuko had listened to her words.
You always have a chance.