A/N:
I'm bacK with more!
Chapter 2:
"They're in a better place now, Kya. There is too much suffering in this world. Now, they can have peace." Lady Shu explained as she looked to the woman that was supposed to be her granddaughter-in-law.
Sniffling as tears ran down her face, Kya felt nothing but grief as she was returning the heirloom Uhara gave her. She was devastated and torn to pieces. Her heart hurt so much. There had been nothing but death she had been faced with in five months. Uhara and then her parents. It was breaking her heart having to bury them. Kya was only twenty-two and she lost her parents and her fiancee. She felt she could go crazy with how angry she was and only one person she blamed for their deaths.
"Atsou, he took them from me. He made me attack Uhara, he made my parents kill each other, I hate him so much! I'll make him pay!"
Lady Shu patted Kya's back, "Return home and rest, child. I'll tend to his graves while you focus on the empire." Lady Shu told the young woman.
Nodding her head as she sniffled, Kya took one last look at the grave and felt her heart break all over again. She was supposed to be married and have Uhara hold their child in his arms but she would do neither. Uhara was taken from her. That merciless Atsou did this.
Returning home, Kya came upon the sounds of Zhiar and Mailan playing in her office. It annoyed her how carefree her siblings were able to be while she bore all the weight of their parents' deaths. Even Zuko didn't seem to mourn them the way she was. He just seemed happy to have his mother back and their crazy older sister. It pissed her off. Why was only she upset?
"Get out! I have work to do and you're both distracting me!" Kya shouted at them both.
Zhiar paused from chasing Mailan around the office and under a chair to look at Kya. He didn't have it in him to say something snooty to her or try to get under her skin as he knew Kya was handling things pretty bad. She lost not only their parents but her fiancee as well. It was tragic and no one dared to say a word out of the way to her. She was a walking ball of misery that could be felt like ticks under the skin. It hurt to be near and it was painful to watch. He would cut her some slack.
Picking up Mailan, "Come, I'll take you to Ryu."
"I don't wanna see Ryu. I wanna see daddy." Mailan said.
Zhiar sighed, "Mailan, I explained this already. Daddy isn't-"
"Daddy isn't dead! I can feel him! He's near! And he has mommy with him!" Mailan shouted at her older brother.
Zhiar sulked as he eyed his little sister. As cute and adorable as the little brat was, she was fiery like she belonged to their father. Maybe he just rubbed off on her. Putting his little sister to bed, Zhiar tucked her in and rustled her wavy locks before leaving.
Taking a stroll down the halls of the palace, Zhiar saw a bunch of commotion from the guards and got curious. He made his way in their direction and saw them huddled around what looked like two people. Soon a few minister pushed past him and ran straight through the crowd as more residents made their way over.
"Your majesty! You're alive!" The shouted happily.
…
"I told you!" Mailan shouted as she sat between her mother and father while Zhiar and Kya sat across from them.
The couple filled their kids in on the details of what happened to them and why it was they traveled on foot. The kids didn't really seem to care as much as they were just happy to see them.
"So, are you and dad going to be banging or fighting now? Or both?" Zhiar asked.
Ozai glared at him as Katara answered.
"Neither." She said in an upbeat tone. "We figured our relationship is best left platonic and we focus on our own paths."
Kya and Zhiar weren't buying it.
"Your mother has her own happiness she needs to find and I have mine. If we meet back in the middle some day, great. If not, we've accepted it. Plus, your mother understands she has a lot to make up to all of us. Me included."
Kya could understand that. She was just relieved that her parents weren't actually dead. Meant, she had two less people to mourn and she could focus on her mourning of Uhara.
Seeing the seldomy look in her daughter's eyes, Katara noticed the roundness of Kya's belly and her eyes lit up. Her daughter was pregnant. She was about to be a grandmother. Katara was forty, going on forty-one but she still looked every bit as young as her daughter, to be a grandmother made her finally feel her age.
"Expecting?" Katara beamed at her daughter.
Zhiar got up and told Mailan to come with him to feed Kiko. Ozai shifted a little in his seat as his other two children left and Katara hadn't picked up on the graveness of Kya's lamenting mood.
Placing her hand on her belly, "I am due in a few short months." Kya said somberly as tears formed in her eyes.
Finally seeing her daughter's hurt, Katara got up and went to sit beside her, placing her arm around her.
"What's wrong, Kya?"
"Uhara is dead." Ozai told her as his daughter buried her face in her mother's chest
Katara's eyes widened. She forgot about him and how he was dying. This must be his child. Hugging her daughter in her arms, the water siren rubbed her back and rocked her in her arms. She looked at Ozai and saw he looked equally as hurt as Kya. Uhara must have been important to him too.
"We will kill Atsou for this!" Ozai bit out.
Shushing him as she held her sobbing daughter to her, "We will take care of this family first and then we will make Atsou pay."
Ozai nodded in agreement. Pleased to hear her include herself in the mix. 'We' went a long way for him because he didn't want to keep doing this by himself.
"Your father and I will help you with the baby, Kya. You won't be alone." Katara assured her daughter as she held her.
Sniffling, "I just miss him so much!" Kya whimpered.
"I know the feeling, Kya. When I lost your father for those seven years, being young with two babies, it scared me and I missed him so much. But I knew I had to be strong. Even if I didn't feel that way and trust me, I felt pathetic and weak." Katara combed her hands through Kya's hair and rocked her in her arms. "You'll hurt for sometime, Kya. I can't tell you how long but we'll be here for you, okay?"
Kya looked at her father, who could only nod as he seemed to find her mother's speech more than enough to be spoken. She sat up and wiped her tears, hugging her mother one more time before getting up to hug her father. Ozai kissed the crown of her head and sent her on her way, telling her to rest.
When alone with his ex-wife, Ozai sighed and sent her a smile. "You haven't a clue how great it is that you're back. With your mom speeches and all. Cause I literally never do good with my dad speech, apparently, I 'curse' too much and make comparisons that aren't there."
Giggling as she got up to go sit on his lap, Wrapping her arms around his neck as she pressed her lips to his cheek. "So, are we doing this friends with benefits or is sex off the table?"
"As much as I'd love to bend you over my velvet couch, I think sex complicates things, don't you think, dear?" Ozai kissed her cheek and tabbed her thigh for her to get up.
Reluctantly, Katara agreed and stood to her feet. "Guess, I'll have to work extra hard to gain your trust again."
"And when you do, I'll have you cum more times than you have in your entire life." Ozai winked at her as he threw his arms over the back of the sofa.
"So…where will I be staying?"
"Oh, you're going to love it." He grinned.
…
Katara was given chambers he had long since been decorating personally. Apparently, Ozai truly believed one day she'd come back to him and had prepared for that day. Fortunately, he was right and she was happy to see that he incorporated her native colors. Not to mention, he had a worebrode prepared for her.
Kissing him goodnight on the cheek, Katara settled into her chambers and roamed around a bit. They were pretty massive. As if the king or queen was meant to live here. She figured the queen since Ozai gave these chambers to her. Even though they were trying to keep things from complicating their platonic relationship like sex and romance, it was hard to deny there was clear tension in the air. Ozai wanted her and she wanted him. But they were exercising restraint in order to make sure they didn't screw up again.
Soaking in her bath, the waterbender tried getting her bending to work but it wouldn't budge. She might need to see Hama about this. Something was wrong. Atsou did something to them. She didn't know what but she felt defenseless.
Going to bed, Katara tossed and turned a little, feeling like something was missing. And there was something missing. Or rather someone. She sighed and decided she wasn't going to bed and would rather read. But as she headed to the sitting room bookshelf, Katara heard the chamber doubldoors open. Expecting to see Ozai, she was surprised to see her son, Zhiar.
"Zhiar, what are you doing up this late?" Katara offered a smile as she walked up to him.
Zhiar didn't say anything as he marched up to her and grabbed his petite mother, embracing her tight as he buried his face in her hair.
"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do this." Zhiar told her.
Hugging her son back, Katara shut her eyes and chuckled. "I've missed you too, my love."
The two pulled a part and Katara took her son's hand to walk him to her sofa. Sitting, the water siren kept her son's hand in her lap as she caressed the side of his face and marveled at how much he looked like his father.
"I fear soon I'll only be able to tell you apart from your father by your eyes." Katara looked her beautiful son over and beamed joyfully. "Tell me, how have you been?"
Zhiar sighed and averted his eyes, "I've sort of been doing some fucked up shit."
"Like what?" Katara tilted her head.
"Like leading a gang of bandits, murders, a pligers. Dad sort of had to hunt me down and one night I showed up and Kya threw me in prison." Zhiar rubbed the back of his neck as his mother was now giving him a disappointed look.
Katara stood up and hit him upside the head and reprimanded him about how Zuko put his best foot forward with him in place of his father. "And I know I didn't raise you to be a gang leader! What the hell made you do that?!"
"You died." Zhiar told her somberly.
Calming down upon hearing her son tell her this.
"You died and I felt responsible or rather, I blamed everyone for why you were gone. Dad and Kya didn't seem to petition for your release and Zuko thought handing you back over to Arnook was the answer but none of them saved you. Especially dad." Zhiar explained further how he just wanted to cause chaos and make everyone else as miserable as him. However, he destroy many lives and he witnessed his father do all he could to restore harmony to the places that he ran through. "I started seeing dad in a different light but before I could talk to him or anything, you guys were dead. But now, you're back and I really don't need this emotional rollercoaster again."
Katara cupped Zhiar's face and shook her head, promising not to die again on him and his siblings. She told him she was here to stay and regardless of the relationship between her and their father, she would be there always. Zhiar asked if he could stay up with her since he couldn't really sleep and Katara made arrangements for a servant to bring them something from the kitchen so they could snack.
The mother and son duo spent the entire night talking, passing out on the sofa and floor just before dawn. They were interrupted from their short lived sleep when Ozai waltzed in and stepped on his son to snatch the book off of Katara's face.
"Get up, I need your help." Ozai told her in a bit of a stern voice.
Katara sat up and rubbed her eyes, "What's going on?"
"Come." He took her arm and pulled her along with him.
Zhiar got up and followed them.
Brought to the palace garden, Katara was surprised to see Zuko as well as his mother and Azula. Ozai pushed her to them.
"Tell Zuko to send them away." Ozai told her.
Katara raised a brow at her ex-husband before looking at the trio. Zuko came up and hugged her before she could even open her mouth while Azula came around the side to hug her. The water siren giggled as then Ursa wanted a hug and kissed her temple.
"We're glad to see you're alive, Kat." Zuko said with a wide smile.
Eyeing him up and down, "See us 'both' alive."
Zuko glanced at his father briefly and then returned to smiling at Katara. "I wanted to ask if you wanted to stay in the Fire Nation with me. Mother and Azula live with me now but I'm sure you wouldn't mind. They tell me you three got along find."
Got a long? Katara remembered they did all get along but that was between Ursa kicking her ass and Azula talking her shit nonstop. But moving in?
"Zuko, actually I was-"
"She's staying with me." Ozai chimed in with his hands in his Yukata's sleeves. "Katara needs to be with the children and be a support."
"Ryu is also her child." Zuko pointed out.
Ozai rolled his eyes, "I've told you before to just let Ryu live with me. Him and Mailan are two peas in a pod. Keeping them separated is not good."
"Like hell I'll hand my son over to you, you asshole!" Zuko growled as his eyes glowed.
Ursa placed her hand on Zuko's shoulder, "Why not allow Katara to come back and forth between here and the Fire Nation?"
"What are you, the peacemaker?" Azula snorted as she rolled her eyes.
Katara sighed as Zhiar exchanged an exhausted look with her. Looked like she needed to interject before things got ugly.
"Hey, people, how about this? I do as Ursa suggested. It's only fair. Ryu is my son as much as Zhiar is, Ozai." Katara looked to her ex-husband and then looked to her ex-boyfriend. "And Zuko, I promised to help Kya through this hard time with her pregnancy. She needs me. No one knows better than me what it feels like to have children with a dead man."
The two men backed off from one another as Zhiar wedged his way in and took his mother's arm in his. "Can I have my mom back, now?"
Zuko gave Zhiar the middle finger and Zhiar bended a flame under Zuko's feet.
"Fight me, Zhiar! I've wanted your ass for years! Now that you're a man, I'm gonna teach you a lesson!"
Zhiar sighed, "Again with the gay shit, bro. Cool it."
Zuko only got more furious as Ursa pulled her son away and Katara did the same with Zhiar. Ozai could only sigh as both his ex-wives and sons were annoying him. Why were they at the same place at the same time. It was fucking weird. Ursa and her two children with him and then Katara and Zhiar. Ozai didn't enjoy this reunion at all.
As Ozai slipped out, leaving his ex-wives to deal with their sons, Azula followed her father out to have a word with him.
"Father," Azula said in a shaky voice.
Pausing, Ozai turned to the side and looked Azula over. "What?"
"Umm, I-I I was-"
"Spit it out." He groaned.
"I wanted to come here with you, if that's okay."
Ozai sighed and pinched his brows, "It's to my knowledge that you and Kya don't get along. It's best you two don't deal with each other regularly. At least for now."
Azula swallowed the lodge of rejection down like a champ and nodded. "Okay, then come visit?"
"Sure, why not?" Ozai turned back around and walked off.
…..
Katara and Zuko discussed Atsou and their current alliances, both aligning with the family over fear of what Atsou would do. After what took place with Kya and then her and Ozai, they both felt that the only way to stop Atsou was working together to protect their family. However, with Katara deciding to visit only a few times until Kya had the baby, Zuko became curious of the relationship between Katara and his father. Where they together again?
Shaking her head, "Your father tells me I'm indebt to him and the family. I've wronged them… and I need to make up for it. He said he loves me but he doesn't trust me. So, I'm hoping to earn back his trust."
"Katara, you were only looking out for the family." Zuko said.
"Doesn't matter. I've hurt everyone in the process. This is the least I can do." She explained.
Zuko sighed and patted her back, "Well, if you get lonely, you know where I am."
Laughing, Katara shoved him, "Shouldn't you be looking for a girlfriend, wife or something?"
Scoffing, Zuko told her he was but none of them were his type. He needed to look outside the Fire Nation, he concluded. All the noble ladies were snooty and ditzy and he only found them physically attractive. Katara sighed and told him to search the world if he had to because regardless of how things were between her and Ozai, she didn't want to string Zuko along.
"You know your father and I don't stay a part for long." Katara sighed. "Once I've gained your father's trust back, he and I will be official again. You know he struggled the whole time back here not to have me, he and I are very much still in love. We're just working out the kinks."
Zuko eyed her, "Sounds like you're optimistic."
"I am."
"Then what about Ami?" Zuko folded his arms and smirked, "I know you know her and father have something going on."
Katara rolled her eyes, "Ami is nothing but a palace pooch. Your father likes women with more to them than mere royal or noble status. Why do you think he's been so infatuated with me all these years?"
Zuko nodded, "Fair but I'll warn you. Ami is more than a palace pooch. Watch out."
Feeling that Zuko's warning was unwarranted, Katara waved him off to leave her be for the moment. He chuckled and kissed her forehead before going to look for his mother and sister to leave.
…
Ozai looked over all the documents Kya had given him and allowed her to debrief him on the state of the Empire. Apparently, all was well the last few months from the provisions he had in place to save the empire in the event that he was absent for a prolonged period of time. Not to mention, his daughter handled matters very well considering she had been grieving the entire time.
"OZAI!" Ami ran into the office out of nowhere.
Both Ozai and Kya were taken aback by the teary eyed woman as she barged in without a summons.
"Ozai, thank the heavens!" Ami shouted as she ran around his desk and threw her arms around Ozai, jumping into his lap as she caressed his face all over, happy to see him. "My gods! I've prayed for your safe return! I knew you couldn't be dead!"
Chuckling at the hysterical woman, Ozai patted her back and tried to ease her in her emotional state. "I am indeed alive but I must return to my work, Ami."
Climbing off his lap and straightening herself out as if to finally get her composure together, "Ah, yes, sorry. I was just so delighted to see you, Ozai. You haven't a clue."
Ozai nodded as he offered a smile.
"Please, I'd beg on my knees were I not already embarrassed, but do please stop by and catch up with me in your freeetime tonight. I have missed you greatly." Ami said as she looked longingly at him.
"Very well." Ozai said. "I'll come see you once I'm done here."
"Thank you, your majesty." Ami bowed before hurrying off.
Kya rolled her eyes and groaned, "That woman gets under my skin."
"Don't talk about her that way, Kya. Ami is a good friend of mine."
"Friend?" Kya raised a brow. "You two are more than friends from what Zuko tells me."
Shuffling his paperwork, "Zuko isn't getting any. Of course, mere friendship looks enticing to him."
"You had sex with her."
"So?"
"So…what about mom? Aren't you two working things out?"
Ozai groaned and rubbed his temple, "We are trying to be co-parents and fix our friendship. I never promised your mother we'd get back together."
"I'm sure you didn't make it clear to her either."
"Not like it matters." Ozai scoffed, "Ami and I are simply friends. I see no harm in me catching up with a friend."
Kya was so sick of the lying her father was doing to himself that she had to leave. He knew damn well her mother would not be okay with this because he didn't make it clear that a relationship was not desired and he knew Ami wasn't just a friend. Her father was about to create more drama for himself and it seemed he didn't even care. Well, fine, if he wanted to punish himself, he could go right ahead. Her father was on his own now. Self-loathing bastard.
….
Kya's chambers had several spare rooms that Katara took a look at, attempting to pick the best one to turn into a nursery. She wanted her first grandchild to have the best. Once they picked a room, she'd have an interior decorator come and begin working on the project of the nursery.
"I like this room for the nursery," Katara said as she looked at the massive window in the room. "Natural light is everything for a little firebender. At least, I would assume they'd be a firebender since you and Uhara wer-"
"Actually, mom, I'm not going to have the baby here." Kya said in a somewhat nervous voice.
Katara turned to look at Kya in confusion.
"Lady Shu, Uhara's grandmother, invited me to stay with her and raise the baby in the Fire Nation. Their father and mine's birth place. I hope you're okay with that." Kya told her mother, wary of her response.
As much as Katara wanted to baby to be here and raised amongst the family, she refused to slight her daughter's decision. She remembered when Ozai was beheaded, how she wanted to stay close to his home with the children. She wanted her children to be with their father in the only way she thought was possible at the time. If Kya wanted to have the baby in the Fire Nation, Katara supported her decision.
Nodding her head, "Very well…I'll just visit as much as possible." Katara offered a smile.
"About that…I think it's best the baby is raised away from the family drama, mom." Kya looked at her mother and saw the hopefulness in the woman's eyes die a little.
"Is this about…m-me?" Katara waved to herself, swallowing hard the guilt she felt.
Kya shook her head. "I just want peace for them until they are old enough to safely be around the family. I already lost Uhara to the family drama. I can't lose them too."
Katara nodded her head and said nothing. What could she say? She felt despite Kya saying it had nothing to do with her that it did. Katara hadn't been the best mother but she wanted to make it up to all her children. She loved them with all her heart and she wanted to be there for Kya through motherhood but she understood Kya was afraid for her young. Katara remembered being terrified with all the assassination attempts on her life and children's lives when they were young. It was hard to get a good night's rest. Kya and Zhiar didn't know about those bumps in the nights but she remembered staying up for nights on end to defend them as they slept in their cribs.
"So, when can I come see them?" Katara wanted to know.
Kya explained that she wanted her to be present for the birth with her father and then she'd visit with the baby when she had the time. She wanted to keep her child safe within the Fire Nation and with the Totomi clan. Apparently, she knew it was a boy and had decided the name, Jotaro. But the boy would be raised as the heir to the clan and she needed to protect the future head of the Totomi clan.
Excited to find it was a boy, Katara gleefully stated she was making his quilt whether Kya was okay with it or not. Kya accepted and laughed at how excited her mother was.
"Your father is going to be so happy! You know he was just saying that he felt like Ryu was the last boy in the family." Katara said all giddily. "If your father and I ever have anymore children, I hope we can have another boy together."
Kya listened to her mother talk about herself and her father being together. It made her feel a little uneasy. Earlier, her father didn't seem to be concerned with the future of their relationship or that he was going to see Ami while her mother was literally fantasizing about having more children with him. It was sort of hard to listen to, knowing her father's interest in Ami had multiplied from what Zuko told her he witnessed. Her father and Ami were physical now. Did her mother know at all about Ami?
Clearing her throat to cut her mother off from her daydream, "Mom, what if dad is wanting to move on?"
Katara felt her daughter was referring to Ami. The princess scientist that Ozai was briefly involved with. Sure, she thought about it. What if the real reason he wasn't trying to have an intimate relationship with her was because he wanted to try things out with Ami and honestly, Katara banished the thought to the back of her head as she couldn't deal with it. If Ozai moved on, she didn't know what to do. She'd be distraught as she had loved him for every minute she had ever had with him. She was just in a bad spot and couldn't be honest with herself or him. Ozai was her one true love and if someone else got to have him, she'd be devastated.
Gazing down at the floor, "I don't know what I'd do if your father decided he didn't want me but someone else. I know he deserves better than me but I've loved him all this time and to protect him I've been made to be cruel. I just hope he understands I truly want to be with him and make our family work."
Feeling the sincerity in her mother's voice, Kya hugged her tight and hoped her father wasn't an idiot enough to pursue things with Ami. As much as Ami and her father had in common and how well they got along, Kya knew her mother cared very deeply for her father. She sacrificed so much for him and their family. He had to see that. He had to know.
…..
It was easy to talk to Ami now that he decided to tell her everything. Ozai never thought he'd have it so easy being open with someone but he did. She didn't have to pressure him or beg him for an answer, he just came out with it. He hadn't been able to do that much in his life. Ami wouldn't let go of him either. She clung to him, afraid to lose him again to forces she was not strong enough to fight against.
Sitting with the woman in his lap, pressing a damp cloth to his face as he had a scratch just above his brow, Ozai smiled at her and placed his hand over hers.
"I'm fine."
Ami shook her head, "Ozai, you just told me you died. Like nearly gone forever. How can I not be concerned?"
Caressing her face, Ozai grinned. "I'm here now. Safe and sound. You needn't worry of me. How have you been doing?"
A few tears prickled her eyes, "Ozai…my family…they've all but been wiped clean from the earth. Katara….she…she did it." She cried.
Ozai took Ami's hands in his and shook his head as he looked her in the eyes. "Katara was under the control of Atsou at the time. She didn't mean any of that. She had no real control of herself."
"I still hate her!" Ami bit out in frustration. "I know you still love her but her hands are stained with my family's blood."
Ozai could say nothing to that but simply hug her. He knew Katara meant nothing by killing innocents. She was not herself. But that didn't change what happened. He couldn't fault Ami for hating her. That was fine. He knew Katara didn't much like Ami either so there was no point in trying to save feelings when they were bitter on both sides.
Standing outside her chamber doors as he was preparing to leave, Ozai received a kiss on the lips by Ami and passionately returns it. He takes her by the waist and holds her to him as their mouth move together against one another. Their tongues even collided in the heated moment shared. Ozai was about to push her back into her chambers and have her, getting carried away.
However, on the other end of the hall was Katara, staring in shock and distress at the sight. Her heart sank into her stomach and she felt sick. Ozai…what are you doing? Her fist clenched at her side as she watched Ozai lift Ami up and carry her back into her chambers, slamming the door behind him. Katara nearly vomited from how distressed she was from seeing him take the woman to bed. Naturally, she would have ran up and tackled a bitch but she was paralyzed and in disbelief.
Katara whisked herself off to her chambers and threw up in the toilet, feeling sick from how hurt she was. The entire bathroom froze, bursting the pipes and freezing the water mid air. She lost control of her bending again. Her emotions conjuring the worst of her abilities. Sobbing at her reflection as she couldn't see what was wrong with her. Why did Ozai want someone else when he told her all she needed to do was earn his trust back? Was it only physical between them or more?
…
A/N:
Ozai is moving on and Katara is not happy. Wonder will this play out? Anyone team Ami?