Oh damn! Back with another chapter! This one was taking me forever to write [read: a couple days..] because I had to keep stopping to work on projects and give a presentation at a conference (over Zoom, yay, coronavirus). But then I got towards the end and it just came right out of me. Ugh, I love when the writer's block suddenly clears and I feel inspiration flowing again.

A quick shoutout to reviewers (because I can't possibly love you guys enough):

milagro yuval: I tried to write it as not really a betrayal, so I hope that it didn't put you off from this story! I tried to make it seem realistic

Guest (who keeps typing 3's): Is that a good thing?

Other Guest: I didn't intend to make you cry, but I will take this as a compliment? :p I am such a sucker for emotional moments

Waterpologirl42: Your reviews always make my day (: hope you are also staying healthy and thank you so much for reading and reviewing!

ElinorSinclair: That's what I was going for! And don't worry, the fluff does not end here! Zuko does totally have to figure his shit out though haha

amethystfirechik: I hope you liked it! It really was a fantastic suggestion - gotta switch it up sometimes. You honestly have great ideas and I may nod to this again in the near future (;

Galexia.9.8: Thank you! I was upset about it too haha I am trying so hard to develop the characters at a semi-realistic pace, because the tension is everything to me in romance, but sometimes I am tempted to just write pure, unabashed fluff.

Thank you all so much, again!

This chapter was inspired by the song 'Only If For A Night' by Florence + The Machine from their 2011 album 'Ceremonials'.

Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 13: Only If For A Night

…

And I heard your voice

As clear as day

And you told me I should concentrate

It was all so strange

And so surreal

That a ghost should be so practical

Only if for a night

…

And the only solution was to stand and fight

And my body was bruised and I was set alight

But you came over me like some holy rite

And although I was burning, you're the only light

Only if for a night

…

Shadows were swallowing the hallway behind him, chasing him through the palace. He conjured a flame in his hand to light the way and ward off the dark fingers that were grasping at him. Whispers echoed through the long expanse of the hallway.

You have no honor-… You're a disappointment, Zuko-… You were lucky to be born-… You'll never be allowed to return home-… Father should have just killed you when he had the chance-… You're no Prince-… You're a failure, a disgrace-…

He started running, hoping that he could escape the voices, the shadowy hands that grasped at his limbs, tugging on his clothes as they tried to pull him backwards into the darkness. Rounding a corner, he was met with a warm light. Lining the hallway in front of him, the portraits of all the previous Fire Lords were burning, sparks raining down from above. Zuko watched the flames creep up Fire Lord Ozai's likeness, flitting across the cruel expression painted on his face until they finally consumed him. Movement at the other end of the hallway caught his eye. It was a woman wearing a red dress that trailed behind her, long dark hair falling loosely over her shoulders.

Mom?

She was walking away, disappearing into shadow. He ran after her but his whole body felt impossibly heavy and moving his feet became an endeavor in and of itself.

Mom, come back!

Suddenly, he was in the palace gardens, still chasing the elusive woman as she glided away, weaving in and out of the foliage. As he passed, the plants around him caught fire and flaming tendrils licked at his heels. He pressed on further, trying to catch up.

Please! Stop! Don't leave!

Then she turned to face him. The tears running down her cheeks glistened in the warm light of the fire behind him, but there was no light in her sapphire eyes.

Katara…

…

They flew away from the coast, between the open ocean and the cloudless sky. The wind tugged at her hair, blowing loose strands into her eyes that she occasionally reached up to brushed away. It was near mid-day and the sun was beating down on them, casting Appa's shadow on the calm deep blue sea below. She watched the shadow on the sea surface follow them, never straying too far behind; she wondered where he was – was he also following them, a silhouette trailing behind their escape?

Sighing, she decided she was hungry and turned in the saddle. Katara was met with several pairs of eyes, all displaying some level of consternation as if there was something left unsaid. That vibe was especially strong from Suki, who had been watching her closely ever since she hopped into Appa's saddle the day before. The man from the dungeons – who had introduced himself yesterday as Suki's brother in-law, Huan – had also been regarding her with a particularly strange expression, though not impolitely. She idly wondered if they had heard any of her conversation with Zuko before she left with them.

"So, remind me where we're going again," Katara turned to Sokka.

"Well, when we were looking for you, we returned to Kyoshi. Suki and I convinced the Governor that staying out of the war was no longer an option. All those resistance fighters that you freed in Omashu- they told us about the Earth Kingdom bases. The majority of the official Earth Kingdom army is concentrated in and around Fong's Fortress, right here," He showed her on the map – Sokka always loved maps. "But there are a number of resistance bases spread around the western side of the Earth Kingdom, even one in the colonies, apparently."

"And so," Suki interrupted, trying to sidestep Sokka's winded explanation of battle strategy that she knew by now was coming, "We're heading over here to meet up with the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors. Then we'll move on to General Fong's base, where the rest of the resistance fighters that fled Omashu will join us, so Aang can convince him to coordinate with the resistance forces in the northern Earth Kingdom."

"Don't worry, Katara," Aang turned from his position atop Appa's head, a toothy grin on his face, "We'll still make it up to the North Pole to find a waterbending master, I promise."

"I'm not worried," She returned the smile, "Just hungry."

"You can say that again!" Sokka added as his stomach rumbled in agreement, "How much longer are we going for today, Aang?"

"We can stop in a few hours. I'll bring us a little closer to the coastline so we can look for somewhere to camp for the night."

"You know," Katara turned back to her brother, "I may have some nuts in my bag from Ir- when I was being held captive."

Sokka's face lit up at the mention of food, "Any chance you have some meat in there too?"

"Nope, no meat," She giggled back at her sibling as she crossed the saddle to her bundle of things. As she was rifling through the contents of her bag, her hand unexpectedly fell on something hard at the bottom. Wrapping her fingers around it, she realized it was a scroll.

"Where's that from?" Aang was watching her over his shoulder as she pulled it out.

Katara unrolled the scroll, worried for a moment at what she might find. However, when her eyes fell on the fading painted images of waterbending forms, her heart leapt into her throat. She had never seen this before – how did it get in her things? The only explanation was that… Zuko put it there.

"Oh! Um, er, it's just this waterbending scroll that I- uh, won in a bet from a sailor in Daiyu Village." It was a pathetic lie, she knew. What she didn't know was why her intuition had suggested she conceal the truth. For some reason, she found herself suddenly lying a lot to her friends now and it worried her. Of course, she didn't want to tell any of them what had happened between she and Zuko – she was working on putting it all behind her anyways – but she had begun lying about unnecessary little details now in fear that it somehow might lead them to the conclusion that something had happened between she and the banished prince.

"You were gambling in Daiyu Village?" Suki asked, laughing, "I would have loved to see that."

"It- I wasn't gambling necessarily," She defended, "But yes, I won this. I- um… thought that you and I could practice waterbending together, Aang. I'm no master, but we could still work on learning some stuff, at least until we make it up to the North Pole."

"Really? That sounds like a great idea, Katara!" The bald airbender remarked, excitement in his gray eyes, "I'll find us a place to stop for the night so we can start practicing!"

"Oh, so waterbending practice is a valid reason to stop, but my empty stomach isn't?" Sokka waved his arms emphatically, gesturing at his abdomen.

Suki snaked her arm around his shoulders and chuckled, "If your stomach was a valid reason for us to stop, we'd never make it anywhere," Then she kissed him on the cheek as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

Katara watched for a moment before averting her gaze, wondering if that's how she and Zuko might have been. Shaking her head, she quickly expelled the thought – she couldn't afford to look back.

…

Zuko stood on the deck of the fishing vessel he had commandeered from Daiyu Village, watching the waves lap at the bow. Upon losing their captive, they had returned to the village and procured one of the fishing vessels, along with most of its crew, to take them out to where Zuko's ship was anchored in a nearby harbor. To his dismay, his ship was gone. In a bout of rage, Zuko had threatened the captain and crew of this new vessel to lead him to the Avatar, while Iroh secretly handed out payments to remedy his nephew's threats and prevent a mutiny. He had been sure that he had lost them when, that morning, the second mate had come to inform Zuko that he spotted the flying bison to the east. They were now following the Avatar from a distance. Zuko had been volatile all day and the crew of the ship keenly avoided him.

Ever since he had watched Katara leave him, Zuko had been a boiling pot of conflicting emotions, teetering on the edge of overflowing. The emotions came in waves, following one another in a cycle that he was now able to discern.

First it started with a crushing sadness, dejection at having lost something that he hadn't yet dared to claim. He had slumped against a tree as he watched her run away; the only person who had ever come close to accepting him for who he was, caring about him despite his many rough edges. Her words rang in his ears during this stage. Let me love you… Why couldn't he? Was he even deserving of love? Perhaps that was the problem; Zuko didn't even love himself. He hated himself most days and had a hard time accepting his own Uncle's love. He was a failure, a disgrace to his nation, and it were those thoughts that tended to bring on the next stage in his cycle of emotional turmoil.

He had failed again. His plan had crumbled before his eyes and he could only watch as another opportunity to capture the Avatar and regain his honor slipped through his fingers. Anger rushed through him at the thought; he was weak when he needed to be strong, and now, as if fate was intent on mocking him, he was without his ship. He'd let Katara get under his skin and distract him from his true purpose, his destiny. What was it about her that made him forget himself? She brought out a side of him that he thought was lost – the softer side that cared about people, about the state of the world, that wanted things to change. She gave him hope that he could change.

Anger and frustration transformed into desire when he thought of her effect on him – of all those nights they spent together when he had wanted to kiss her, to claim her as his. And he would, he would make her his. Her defiance and stubbornness only cemented his determination; she was a challenge, an endeavor, and he would conquer her. He wanted to throw caution to the wind and take her, make her writhe with pleasure and scream his name. Not surprisingly, Zuko had taken this opportunity – admittedly more than once – when this wave of lust rolled over him to retreat below deck and seek some privacy. He had been restraining himself the entire journey and now his body was demanding release to make up for lost time. His sexual fantasies had revolved entirely around Katara since that first day in Omashu and having her so close for all those days had only made it harder to think of anything else.

After his release, a moment of clarity would overcome him. Katara was nothing to him; or rather, she couldn't be anything to him. He couldn't throw caution to the wind because with caution went his destiny. Once he reclaimed his title, there was no place for a peasant like her in his life. A poor, title-less girl from a decimated civilization at the bottom of the world – they had no future together, regardless of how he felt about her. But then he would be reminded that whatever they could have had in the present had been lost; he had let the only person to ever get close to actually knowing him leave. Would anyone ever make him feel the way she did? Would anyone try to accept him for all his flaws? Then, the cycle began anew with crushing loneliness.

…

"This wood is too wet," Sokka was saying to Aang as they tried to light a fire.

"Cut it up into smaller pieces," Huan said, grabbing the axe.

"Yeah, and then I can try air-dry it?" The airbender suggested.

Katara was unpacking Appa's saddle when Suki approached her.

"Ok, so what happened?" The older girl asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Katara, I'm not blind," She eyed the shirt she was wearing – the one that was so obviously Zuko's, "You're wearing his shirt… and he practically let you escape back in the woods."

Katara forced herself not to swallow the lump that was forming in her throat under Suki's scrutiny, "I already told you guys what happened to my tunic," She scrambled. Had Suki heard what she had said to Zuko?

"And you expect me to believe that your tunic caught on some branches and ripped?" Before she could stop her, Suki grabbed her partially mended tunic from the top of her bag and unfurled it, "This looks like it was cut, Katara. I'm just saying… you can talk to me. I get why you wouldn't want to talk about it with your brother or Aang but… we're friends and I'm here for you."

She realized, then, what Suki had been thinking, the conclusion that the older girl had come to and why she had been watching her with concern. Katara cursed herself for being such a bad liar. She was inadvertently painting Zuko as a rapist, but there wasn't much she could do or say to remedy it without revealing the truth – that she had gotten close to him during her captivity. She just wanted to forget all about her time with the Fire Nation prince, but Suki wasn't letting up.

"I felt so awful when I turned around and you weren't behind me in Omashu," The Kyoshi Warrior continued, "You went into those dungeons because of me and I left you there. I felt like it was my fault you got captured by… that monster."

"Suki," The guilt was weighing heavy on her chest; she wanted to tell her that he wasn't a monster, that he could be sweet and caring, but she couldn't do that. "I already told you, it was my choice to go into the dungeons. I wanted to help the resistance, it wasn't your fault at all. I stopped to try free that old guy-"

"King Bumi," Suki corrected. Katara had nearly forgotten; apparently the man alone in the cell was none other than the previous King of Omashu and an old friend of Aang's from before the war. He had been the one to deliver Zuko's message to the airbender.

"Right. But it wasn't your fault, I made all those decisions."

Suki sighed, "I just… know that you can talk to me about it, ok?"

But she knew she couldn't. She couldn't tell Suki the truth – that she had fallen for Zuko, the same guy who had burned down her friend's village. Surely, she would think that Katara was a traitor, or an idiot, or both – and maybe she was. Suki thought Zuko was a monster and Katara had to hold her tongue just to keep herself from defending him. What was wrong with her? Why couldn't she shake these stupid feelings for him?

Instead, she feigned a smile, "There really isn't anything to talk about. I don't know why he let me go."

Suki looked at her skeptically then shrugged, "Ok, whatever you say." She went to go help the boys resolve their fire issue.

Sighing in relief, Katara leaned against Appa's side. It couldn't be helped – she missed him. It was absolutely absurd and nonsensical but she couldn't forget him; she yearned for his touch again, to be wrapped in his arms, to intertwine her fingers with his. She wanted to ask him why. Why had he said he couldn't let her… – she tried to ignore the word she had used in her ultimatum. This wasn't love, it couldn't be; it was something like a mixture of compassion, infatuation, and a genuine connection between two people who had suffered through similar situations. It was an understanding between them and a fondness for each other's company. Appa let out a low bellow, "I don't know why either, Appa," she replied to the flying bison, "I can't get him out of my mind. Promise you won't tell anyone?"

…

"Your High- Prince Zuko, uh, Sir," The second mate approached him from behind, fumbling over titles, "It appears the bison has flown towards this cove," He indicated on the map. "Should we follow them or sail around this landmass to meet them on the other side of the peninsula?"

Zuko eyed the map then looked up at the sun. It was late afternoon, proceeding towards early evening.

"Follow them into the cove, but we'll drop anchor here," He pointed, "And continue on foot. They must be stopping for the night."

The second mate nodded and was gone, eager to be out of Zuko's vicinity.

Zuko smirked to himself. Another opportunity to capture the Avatar. He wasn't going to shy away from his destiny this time. If he had to drag the Avatar in chains back to the Fire Nation by row boat, he would. He stoned himself against the thoughts of Katara that entered his mind and tried to suppress the excitement and anticipation he felt at seeing her. He wasn't going to let her get in the way and he certainly wasn't going to fail again.

…

Katara ran her fingers over the waterbending forms on the scroll, picturing that rare smile of his – the way his eyes softened and how everything around them seemed to light up, like he himself was the sun. This was a gift, something he must have acquired in Daiyu Village. Her heart leapt with a mixture of delight and dismay at the notion that he must have been thinking about her when he bought it and she rushed to numb herself.

"Are you ready, Katara?" Aang broke the silence as he pulled off his shirt and splashed into the shallows.

She smiled up at him, removing her- Zuko's- shirt and following him into the tide, not noticing Aang's blush. The waterbending scroll that Zuko had given her contained four forms: a beginner's form, two intermediate forms, and an advanced form. The basic form was streaming the water, a technique she'd had lots of practice with already. Aang caught onto this very quickly, like a natural, and it wasn't long until they moved onto the intermediate forms.

The first of the two intermediate forms was creating a wave.

"Ok, this one shouldn't be too hard with the sea right here," Katara thought out loud, turning to Aang, "Just feel the water – the swash onto the shore and the backwash as the water is pulled back out to sea."

Back and forth, they followed the flow of the water as the waves broke onto the shore - feeling the push and pull of the tides, the balance of energy.

"Now we're going to start manipulating the waves," She told Aang, showing him the form as she piled up the water and brought a wave crashing onto the shore.

Aang nodded and did the same. She was surprised at how quickly he picked it up.

"Look, Katara!" He yelled as he brought a huge wave up from the water, guiding it up the beach.

"That's great, Aang!" Katara tried to seem happy, but something irked her; a tinge of jealousy, perhaps. She had worked on fine-tuning her control of the water for days on end before she was able to manipulate a wave that big without it breaking prematurely. Aang had only just started waterbending and he made it look so easy.

Slightly disgruntled, Katara stepped deeper into the sea, and pulled a wave up under her feet, riding it onto the shore before stepping gracefully onto the sand as the water flowed back into the shallows.

"Whoa! How did you do that?"

"It's the same idea," She told him, "Pull the water up underneath you and balance on the crest of the wave while you finish the form. Then just ride it onto the shore."

Aang fell off the wave on his first try, landing with a splash. Watching him topple over into the sea and stand up soaking wet, a toothy grin on his face, made her laugh and forget the bitterness she had felt moments before. Truthfully, she had ridden a wave almost instinctively for the first time to save Zuko when they were in the swamp. It wasn't something she had thought about, it was her first reaction. She reminded herself that Aang was the Avatar and she should expect him to be a quick learner.

"The key is maintaining your balance and-" But Aang was already doing it, smiling joyously as he rode the wave farther up onto the shore than she had. Again, this bothered her. Was he trying to show off?

"I got it!" He exclaimed, bounding back to her in the sand, "What's next Shifu?"

"Shifu? I'm not good enough to be called Shifu, Aang. And we only just started with this form, we still need more practice."

"What are you talking about? You're so much better than the last time I saw you bend! Were you practicing while you were with Zuko?"

For some infuriating reason unbeknownst to her, her face flushed when Aang casually said with Zuko, and she turned her head away to hide the telling redness in her cheeks. Stupid, she chided herself, why are you blushing over that?

"Thanks, Aang. I practiced every day for hours," She breathed, her lips curling at the corners as she thought back fondly on her lengthy evening training sessions with Zuko. "But that's besides the point, we need to keep working on this form some more."

"But Kat-"

"More waves, let's go."

"But I already got it!" Aang argued.

Katara sighed as she reached up to place her hand over her eyes and the bridge of her nose; then, noticing that it was a very Zuko-thing to do, threw her hand back down to her side.

"Maybe we should just take a break for a while," She suggested, "We haven't had anything to eat since dawn."

"I am getting hungry," The airbender agreed and they turned back towards the campsite, "Sorry if I snapped at you, Katara. I'm just… a little nervous. Everyone expects me to be some fully realized avatar – master of all the elements –" He emphasized by emulating some made up forms that looked more like an imitation of a hog monkey than any kind of bending, "But I hardly know how to waterbend yet. And now it seems like we're getting roped into the war by working with the resistance and I… I'm scared. What if I can't learn how to bend all of the four elements in time? It's just so much pressure!"

"Aang," Katara turned to him, a resigned smile on her lips as she placed her arm around his bony shoulders, "We can't avoid the war, it's tearing the world apart around us. But I think working with the resistance is a good thing! We'll get to meet the other people who are fighting back against the Fire Nation and, who knows, maybe you'll be able to find an earthbending master within their ranks?"

"You know, I hadn't considered that," Aang looked at her, returning the smile.

"The only thing we can do is keep moving forwards and keep fighting. You're still a kid, but you're one of the best benders I've ever met! And you're already picking up waterbending like a natural. Just give it time and try not to worry too much." She squeezed his shoulders and he leaned his head on her shoulder.

"Thanks, Katara. I think needed to hear that... You really think I'm a natural?" His eyebrows wiggled at her and she couldn't help but giggle.

"Yes," She pushed him away jokingly, "So much so that I was jealous of how quickly you were learning back there."

Aang blushed, "Well, uh, maybe I can start teaching you a couple things then?" He joked with a cheeky grin.

Incredulous, but still laughing, Katara kicked sand at the bald airbender and chased him back to the campsite.

They sat around the fire, finishing their meals, as sunset approached. After going over their travel plans for the near future, Sokka launched into the story of his first hunt.

Suki was feigning reverence at his embellishments, her voice a higher pitch than normal. "Oh, really? The size of snow hut? How did you manage to carry it all the way home?"

"It was actually a baby tiger seal and the village crone chased him out of the hut with a slab of uncured seal jerky that was nearly as big as Sokka for killing it," Katara laughed.

"Katara, don't let the facts get in the way of a good story! It looked way bigger when I was seven, ok?" Sokka chided, "Anyways, I was creeping up behind the pod and…"

Sighing, Huan got up from his spot next to the fire, casually announcing, "I'm going to go take a leak," before sloping off into the woods. No one paid him much mind and continued listening to Sokka's completely inaccurate rendition of his first hunt, poking at all the holes in his story. Their attention was turned back to Huan, however, when he came crashing back through the trees, pulling up his pants and swatting at the hem of his shirt, which was burning.

"Firebenders!" He yelled, "We're under attack!"

…

One of the soldiers that Zuko had sent out scouting came rushing back through the woods.

"Prince Zuko, I've found the target. Their campsite is west of here, about 500 paces."

"Good," Zuko declared, his tone emotionless, "And the other?"

"I left Teng to keep an eye on them. He's well hidden."

"Alright. Let's move," He commanded his remaining troops. They had taken a row boat to shore, leaving the fishing vessel anchored on the other side of an outcropping on the peninsula.

"Prince Zuko," Iroh piped up from behind, "If you are able to capture the Av-"

"If?" Zuko's temper flared, "I will capture the Avatar, Uncle. I won't fail again."

The old general put his hands back in his sleeve and nodded, "I am only asking how you anticipate transporting him once he is caught."

"What do you mean?" He followed Iroh's gaze and cursed. The fishing vessel they had commandeered had pulled up the anchor, opened the sails, and was setting off without them.

"Worthless peasants!" Zuko fumed. It was looking like the idea of bringing the Avatar back to the Fire Nation in a rowboat wasn't such an unlikely scenario after all. No matter, he thought, I can't pass up this chance. "We'll continue with the plan," He ground out, "I'll figure something out once he is captured."

They proceeded west, following the scout to where his other soldier was hiding. When they reached him, he informed Zuko of the information he had gathered.

"Prince Zuko, I heard them say they were going to meet up with Kyoshi Warriors and head to Fong's Fortress."

"To join with the resistance?" Iroh pondered aloud, "It will be very difficult to capture the Avatar if they make it to Fong's…"

"That's why we are capturing him now, Uncle," Zuko snapped, "I won't stall any longer."

Before he could give the command to move forward, a man stepped through the bushes in front of them. They stayed perfectly still as the man – that Zuko recognized from the rescue attempt – turned towards a tree and pulled down the front of his pants, apparently not noticing them crouched in the shadows a mere fifteen paces away. When Zuko realized what was going on, something like disgust flooded him and he gave the command, standing up to shoot fire at the man's back.

…

Huan's sudden disruption startled Katara and, before she could react, she saw flames. Soldiers were pouring out of the forest behind him, setting fire to the trees around the campsite as they shot flames towards the group. In all the commotion, a strange sense of calm came over her when she saw him, his amber eyes a whirling dance of embers that threatened to claim her again.

Katara's heart took on an irregular rhythm when their eyes met; increasing in tempo with each step he took towards her. The world around them seemed to fall into a placid silence as she watched him. The expressions crossing his handsome features displayed a variety of emotions, only a few of which she could name: sadness, regret, worry, tenderness, delight, lust, and anger. The last one caught her off guard as he broke the silence and she watched it shatter around them.

"Capture the Avatar!" He commanded, as his troops advanced on Aang, uncoiling chains.

Her heart broke at his words and she chastised herself, for what must have been the thousandth time that day, for expecting anything else. He averted his gaze from hers as he and his soldiers moved to surround Aang. Sokka grabbed his boomerang from their pile of supplies, while Suki ran at one of the soldiers moving towards the airbender. Huan was turning on another soldier, yelling expletives. Katara remained, fumbling to locate the fragments of herself that had scattered at Zuko's appearance.

Aang conjured a strong wind that knocked over the soldier nearest him and mounted his air scooter, bolting between two other soldiers that shot flames in his direction. In the background, Appa let out an anxious bellow as Momo scrambled behind him. Katara watched the scene unfold in shock.

It wasn't until a blast of fire knocked Aang off his scooter that she came crashing back to reality. She had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but lately she had come to realize that things she hoped for rarely came to fruition. The only solution was to stand and fight, so she did, tearing herself from her seat at the fire and sprinting towards Aang as soldiers surrounded him. She uncorked her water skin and, as instinctively as breathing, whipped a stream of water at the back of one of the soldier's legs, swiping his feet out from under him. Aang jumped up to the trees, avoiding a collective blast of fire from the remaining soldiers around him. As Katara rounded to strike again, Zuko, appearing out of nowhere, caught her wrist. She choked on a gasp at his sudden proximity but refused to stop. With her free arm, she bent the water to swipe at his throat, an attack that he barely avoided by releasing her from his grasp.

Her previous sense of calm had been replaced with indignant rage as she moved to attack him again, sending a rapid progression of water whips at the frowning prince. He retreated towards the woods, fire exploded from his limbs to meet her water, blocking every attack, and she was suddenly reminded of their training sessions – all the times he had shown her his forms and how to block them, how their elements had danced back and forth, how he had pushed her backwards against a tree more than once and growled 'I win'. She was panting now, not from exertion but confusion and disconcertment.

When a poorly blocked blast of fire knocked her backwards, Zuko's voice rang in her ears.

"You should concentrate, waterbender."

Then, as if everything fell into place, she recognized the form he was executing and a smirk tugged at her lips. Before he could blink, she was on him, meeting every burst of fire with a watery shield, jabbing at his weak points between his attacks, pushing him backwards. They were distancing themselves from the rest of the fight, moving through the woods towards the beach. She needed to keep him away from Aang. His eyes widened in what she assumed was surprise and then narrowed in rage, but he wasn't looking at her anymore. His stare was focused on something over her shoulder as he stopped blocking her attacks. Then her back exploded with an agonizing pain and her vision went white.

…

Zuko could only watch as one of his soldiers approached Katara from behind, following them through the woods. He opened his mouth to shout, say her name, say anything, but his voice caught in his throat as the fire connected with her back. Then, he lost control. He sidestepped, catching Katara's falling form with one arm and firing a hot blaze at his own soldier with the other. The man was startled, not anticipating Zuko's attack, and the fire caught him square in the chest, singeing the exposed skin of his neck that the armor didn't cover as the force of the flames threw him backwards.

"Pr-Prince Zuko," His soldier sputtered, scrambling back, gasping at the pain in neck, "I- I just thought that- I came to help!"

"Get out of my sight." The command came low off his tongue like a threat, dripping with venom.

"But-"

"Now!" Zuko stepped towards him, igniting a flame in his palm, entirely intent on burning the soldier to a pile of ashes. The man must have recognized the malicious glimmer in Zuko's amber eyes, because he clambered to his feet and ran at a full sprint back the way he came.

Recollecting himself, Zuko eyed the limp girl in his arms, turning her over to reveal the gruesome burn that spanned the middle of her back; the shirt he had given her and her bindings underneath were falling in tatters around the melted, charred flesh.

"No, no, no…!" The sight, the smell, the knowledge of what this meant, sickened Zuko to his core and brought back all his worst memories, but he couldn't delay. Water, he thought, she needs to be in water. She can heal in water.

He carried her bridal style, careful not to touch the burn wound on her back, and rushed to the beach. Tears filled his eyes and blurred his vision as he splashed into the shallows and eased her into the water.

"Katara…" His voice was a whimper, "Katara, please…" The tide came in and water flowed over them as Zuko stepped in deeper, submerging her body in the sea, while keeping her head above the surface. Nothing else existed in the world but them and the water; the fight was nothing more than a collection of distant sounds that neither of them heard.

Nothing was happening. The waterbender in his arms gave no signs of life and an overpowering sense of dread washed over him as he watched the tide pull at her long brown hair. This couldn't be it. After everything they had been through, he couldn't live with himself if she died now in his arms.

"Katara… come back to me," He whispered through tears, planting kisses on her forehead, "Please… come back."

After another couple moments, that in Zuko's perception seemed to drag on for an eternity, a faint blue glow emanated from the water around her back and he could breathe again.

"Zuko…" When her voice finally came it was small and distant, but it was the most brilliant thing he had ever heard.

"Don't worry," He breathed into her hair, nuzzling into the soft brown tresses, "I've got you."

If only for now, he thought, if only for tonight, I've got you.

Sorry this update took a little longer than my previous ones! I also totally need to go update my other Zutara fic, Metamorphose, at some point soon because I have just been completely immersed in this writing this since I posted the first chapter.

Please let me know what you guys think!

...

With love,

A Storm