Hello! The response I got to the last chapter made me cry tears of joy. I can't believe how many people reviewed! At this rate, I might have to either start shortening my review responses at the beginning of each chapter or stop doing them altogether (Though, I really don't want to do that because I love being able to interact with you guys)!

Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing! I will still be doing review responses this chapter because I do read all the reviews and I want to acknowledge all the kind people who have taken the time to leave reviews on this story!

MelodicalFlower: Thank you so much! Hope you enjoy this chapter :)

libbylu: Bro, I am so honored that you have continued following this story! I was super nervous about writing their first kiss and I'm glad it wasn't a total flop! Hope I don't ruin it too much with this chapter haha

demiXxfanXxsinceXx4EVERXX: Too soon for the kiss? Damn. Thanks for the feedback! I will keep this in mind for the future. It's so hard to write slow-burn romance sometimes haha

pukachujan19999: Aww thank you!

ElinorSinclair: Thanks! Eventually... he will join. I promise, there will be more zutara moments! ;)

tundraa1: You're so sweet, thank you! I hope this chapter was also worth the wait!

Plum: Glad to be back! That is so very kind of you to say! I'm trying! You stay safe too :)

Rose: Thank you so much! I try really hard to give characters depth but also keep them relatively consistent with who they are.

Cacilie Tenofsky: I'm in tears after reading your review (also in a good way)! Thank you so so much! This is an impossibly tough time and I'm glad that you are enjoying my attempts at distracting myself from all of the madness in the world rn! Thanks for reviewing and I hope you enjoy this chapter! :)

Signal-K: You are too kind! Sorry to keep you up so late haha but I take that as a huge compliment :D Thank you for your thoughtful words!

Surelybystarlight: Perhaps I will go for more in the future.. ;) and your last comment did indeed give me stuff to think about and I realized the opportunity was just too good to resist; credits to you, my friend! Thanks for taking the time to give me some input!

jjocasta: Thank youu! The gaang will eventually find out, but perhaps not all at once.. ;) Also, good luck on finals! Exams are a doozy hehe

Guests: Thank you all so very much for reading and reviewing! Given that I got a bunch of reviews from guests on this chapter, I don't know how to distinguish who said what and how to respond.. but I wanted to let you know that your thoughts and kind words are greatly appreciated and they melt my cold little socially awkward heart :)

Without further delay, this chapter was inspired by the song 'The Wolf' by Mumford & Sons from their 2015 album 'Wilder Mind'.

Chapter 19: The Wolf

…

Been wondering for days

How you felt me slip your mind

Leave behind your wanton ways

I want to learn to love in kind

Cause you were all I ever longed for

…

Hold my gaze love, you know I want to let it go

We will stare down at the wonder of it all

And I will hold you in it and I will hold you in it

…

"He's coming for the Avatar." Zuko breathed, his elbows resting on his knees as she tended to the burn wound that covered the top half of his ribs on the right side.

Katara blinked at him stupidly, having had little time to process everything that had just happened. He had come here to warn them – to help Aang escape capture. She struggled through the haze in her mind, which still clouded her thoughts from moments before when he had been atop her. Blushing at the memory, she tried to focus. Aang was in danger.

"He's coming here?" She repeated. "How does he even know where we are?"

"My soldiers," Zuko scowled. "Katara, you need to leave. We've already wasted enough time. You'll be safe at Fong's Base. Zhao is… someone you don't want to mess with. He's got a whole fleet under his command and he's relentless."

She tried not to be offended, silently storing his reference to their kiss as being a 'waste of time' in her memory, purposefully deciding to ponder on it later. Biting her lip, she thought on the situation. So, somehow Zuko's soldiers got wind of their travel plans and told this commander in the Fire Navy. And then he burnt Zuko.

"Why did he burn you?" Her voice came out as a whisper.

Zuko stiffened visibly under her healing touch before replying in a low tone. "He's trying to sabotage me. He stole my ship and tried to force me to join him…" A long exhale escaped his lungs as he looked back at her over his shoulder, the heat in his amber eyes simmering. "Or take me prisoner."

"Prisoner? But aren't you a prince?"

"A banished prince," He reminded her, sourly.

"But why would he want to take you prisoner? What do you mean 'he's trying to sabotage' you?"

"What do you want me to say? He hates me, Katara. He thinks I'm weak and not worthy of being crown prince of the Fire Nation. He's sucking up to my father and wants to prevent me from regaining my honor so Azula can take the crown this year."

"Azula?"

Zuko looked away. "My sister."

"You never told me you had a sister."

"I don't like to talk about her," He breathed, leaning his face down to rest on his arms.

"Do you not… get along?" She probed.

A scornful laugh rumbled in his throat. "Get along," He repeated in a low tone. "No, we don't. My sister is crazy and cruel. She's just like my father." After a pause, he lifted his head and turned to look at her again. "But we don't have time to sit here and talk. You need to go warn the others."

Katara nodded, having finished healing the burn on his back which was now no more than a purple discoloration on his pale skin. She moved to get up but then turned to him. "You're not going to come with me?"

"No," He answered, averting his gaze once more. "I'll stand watch."

"But…" Her heart sank as she scrambled for a reason for him to come along with her. She wanted him to join her – to join them. "But I- I don't know all the details and the others-"

"You know all you need to." Zuko replied brusquely, "Now go."

Katara got to her feet, suddenly annoyed. He was here to help them, but why did he have to be so short with her? Especially after the moment they had just shared; she quelled the feelings that the notion stirred. But even the thought of their kiss did nothing to dampen her discontent. Why wouldn't he just join them? Why did he have to be so difficult?

"Fine," She finally huffed, turning away to retrieve her discarded clothes.

…

Zuko watched her go. When she reached the edge of the clearing, she looked back over her shoulder, as if expecting him to change his mind; her eyes twinkled in the light of the full moon, pleading him to follow. He only scowled and lowered his head.

After a moment, he looked up again and she was gone, having disappeared back into the shadow of the trees. Zuko growled, igniting a fire in his palms to match the churning flare of emotions inside. Once again, he was battling himself, questioning his decisions and the conflicting sentiments that were battering his resolve. Although he could no longer see Katara and her friends as the enemy – that position had been recently occupied by Zhao – they were certainly not friends. He still needed to capture the Avatar to regain his honor and his title. He wasn't here to join them, just to prevent Zhao from succeeding. However, kissing Katara had done little to temper his commitment to the notion.

The taste of her still lingered on his lips as they curled into a snarl. She was a beautiful, virtuous force that was steadily unraveling him. She challenged him and lent credence to the side of him that questioned his morality. In their kiss he had found serenity, quieting the unrest that so often occupied his thoughts. And the sudden silence in his mind had scared him.

However, the ramifications of her touch only added to the discord within him now, fraying the threads of his already deteriorating purpose. Steeling himself against the inevitable, he reminded his rapidly beating heart of his goal; he would not give up on capturing the Avatar and returning the airbender to his father in exchange for his honor and his home. Regardless of how he felt for Katara, he refused to cripple his efforts. Zuko had spent far too long searching for the boy, he had spent far too many years as an exile, banished from his home, from his position. If he allowed everything to fall apart now when he was finally so close to achieving his goal, it would torment him for the rest of his days.

Grimacing, he got to his feet and returned to where he had left the ostrich horse, tethered next to the burbling creek. As he walked his mount alongside him through the forest, he noticed the faintest light on the horizon to the east. Dawn was approaching, and with it, Commander Zhao.

…

When she had finally accepted that Zuko would not join her, she broke into a run, tearing through the trees towards their campsite. The shadows were fading and dew hung heavy on the cool air as the darkness of the night sky diminished.

Katara was breathless at the sudden realization of her situation; as if viewing the recent events of her life from an outside perspective. That had been her first kiss. With a man that she couldn't stop longing for. It was the most beautiful moment, a remarkable, otherworldly encounter, and it was promptly ruined. She hadn't even had any time to process the kiss – the feelings that suddenly made her want to kiss him in the first place, the way he held her in his arms, pulling her into him, the look in his eyes – before the whole experience had been wrenched out from under her.

In a way, she felt robbed. Did he regret kissing her back? Based on his assertion that it had been a 'waste of time' along with his subsequent apathy and the ice in his tone, Katara wondered if it had been a mistake altogether. It was as if a part of her had been lost in that clearing, a naive innocence, something she could never get back. And, in hindsight, as beautiful of a moment as it had been at the time, the ensuing emotions that weighed down on her now made her think it was wrong.

Perhaps it was the blissful ignorance of childhood that pulled at her heart – the fantastical notion that when two people kissed like that, it meant something. People who kissed like that were supposed to be in love. By that logic, she simply could not fathom why he had been so quick to push her away. The surge of emotion that had filled her during their kiss had overpowered everything, silencing her thoughts, stifling the voice in her mind. In that moment, it was as if she had dropped out of existence entirely. The profound impact that it had on her had changed her and she could feel that she was no longer the same girl that had wandered to the lake under the full moon, seeking release.

Katara had given a part of herself to him, and she couldn't ignore the burning disappointment that swelled in her as a result. How foolish she felt for expecting the kiss to change anything. Her vision blurred, obscuring the shadows around her into dark smudges as tears filled her eyes. When she tripped over a tree root protruding from the forest floor and landed hard on her hands and knees, the floodgates broke. Warm tears streamed down her cheeks and a shaky breath escaped her throat as she clutched at the ground. Hopelessness weighed on her, a force like gravity, pulling her back down to earth. Before long, she was sobbing and sniffling, unable to control herself.

Over her own sobbing and the thunderous pounding of her heart in her ears, she didn't hear leaves crunching under the heavy footfalls of Fire Nation soldiers.

"Now, now," Her breath caught in her throat as the deep voice resonated through the trees. "What is a little girl doing alone in the woods at night?"

Startled from her gloom, she turned to the source of the noise. Her eyes dragged upwards along the shadow that was suddenly looming over her. The shadow reached out and she screamed as the circumstance dawned on her; this must be Zhao. Soldiers stood behind the Fire Nation Commander, dim silhouettes in the trees.

Grabbing her wrist and yanking her up from her place on the ground, he clasped a hand over her mouth as he dragged her to her feet, bending her arm painfully behind her back. Instinctively, Katara reached down to her waist with her free hand, uncorking her water skin. The water was at her command before anyone could move. In a desperate attempt to free herself, she sent an ice-tipped whip lashing out over her shoulder. The water just missed her assailant as he lunged to the side with a grunt, catching her other wrist before she could attack again.

"Ah, you must be the Avatar's waterbender," Zhao sneered in her ear, "What a pleasant surprise." One of the soldiers supplied a length of rope, which he promptly used to restrain her, tying both her hands behind her back. The commander wrenched her back. "Take me to him."

Katara opened her mouth under the cover of his hand, trying to scream again. The situation was abysmal; she had been caught off guard in a moment of emotional turmoil. She couldn't fight them off, there were too many of them, and now her hands were bound. Nearby, her friends were probably still asleep at the campsite, oblivious to the imminent danger.

Zhao shook her violently as he commanded, "Take me to the Avatar, girl!"

With all the force she could muster, she closed her teeth down on the man's hand, biting the flesh of his palm as hard as she could. The commander hissed in disgust, jerking his hand away from her mouth.

"Never!" She snarled over her shoulder, moving to kick him.

"Filthy peasant!" Zhao shoved her forwards, eyeing her in revulsion as he rubbed his hand. The flicker of loathing in his eyes amplified her fears as he lit a flame in his palm, seething, "That will be the last thing you ever do."

Feeling the heat of the flame, Katara struggled against the rope restraining her arms, desperate to defend herself from the anticipated attack. She had been burned before and she did not wish to repeat the excruciating experience. Her eyes widened in fear when she realized there was nothing she could do, brought to her knees with her arms tied, she couldn't even get up. Refusing to look at the man who seemed intent on killing her, a tear slipped from her eyes as she squeezed them shut, waiting for the searing pain. But it never came.

With a flash of orange light that illuminated the faces of the Fire Nation soldiers, Katara felt heat on her skin, followed by the cadence of hooves pounding on the dampened leaves of the forest floor. Before she had any time to react, she was hauled from the ground and unceremoniously heaved into a saddle.

…

"I told you we didn't have time to waste," Zuko growled as he narrowly avoided a blast of fire, watching it collide explosively with a tree nearby. Pulling out his dagger, he hissed at the waterbender sprawled over his lap, "Stay still."

This night couldn't have taken a worse turn after their kiss; First, he got scared and almost immediately pushed her away. Then he heard her screaming in the distance, only to find Zhao already there and Katara on her knees with her wrists bound. And it wasn't even dawn yet. His utter lack of sleep was really starting to get to him, souring his mood. At this rate, how was he even going to escape Zhao?

After he sliced through the rope binding her wrists, Katara scrambled to sit up in front of him while being jostled in the ostrich horse's saddle. When she swung her leg over the animal, he lurched back to avoid her foot which seemed conveniently aimed at his head.

"Watch it," He snarled.

She turned to look at him over her shoulder. The tears on her cheeks and the redness of her eyes quieted him. Why had she been crying? Surely her tenacity had not been broken so easily by Zhao. Katara was anything but weak; she was a fighter. It dawned on Zuko then that the tears might have been for him, recalling the look in her eyes before she left him at the lake.

"Katara…" He mumbled, as she turned away.

"Why, Zuko?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you kiss me?"

"Wh-what? You kissed me," He responded indignantly.

"Well, why did you let me?" She sniffled, stiffening in the saddle. "Why did you even come here if you aren't going to join us?"

"I told you, I came here to warn you about Zhao. I didn't come to join with the Avatar... but I wasn't going to let you get hurt," Zuko grumbled.

"Come with us." She bid him, turning back to meet his gaze. Her blue eyes conveyed the depth of the ocean as they shimmered in the fading light of the moon. "We can figure this out together. We don't have to be enemies."

Zuko was speechless as his eyes widened, caught in her stare. He knew she wanted him to join them, she had subtly hinted at it many times before, but her sudden boldness startled him. The look she gave him brought him back to the lake, tempting him to renounce his destiny.

"Please, Zuko," Her soft voice wavered, "I'll- I'll do anything. Just… come with me."

He felt his features soften, considering the prospect as her words echoed in his mind. Come with me.

Zuko wanted her; every part of him yearned for the waterbender who had once been his enemy. He wanted to sink into her depths and never return to the surface. He wanted to spend a lifetime lost in her gaze. His breathing faltered as he leaned his head forward to rest on the junction between her shoulder and her neck.

"Katara…"

With a long exhale, she tilted her head back to nestle against his, savoring his touch. In that brief moment, the world around them melted away and everything was still. He felt suddenly tired.

"What's that?" A familiar voice sounded from up ahead.

Wrenching himself away from her and back to reality, Zuko straightened in the saddle as they crashed through the trees and into the Avatar's campsite.

…

Suki and Aang were getting out of their bedrolls by the time they arrived back at the camp and Huan was just waking up. Sokka, however, continued snoring, oblivious to the commotion around him.

"Katara, what's going on?" Aang asked as he and Suki looked up at her atop the ostrich horse, confused.

As she slipped out of the saddle, their stare fell on Zuko behind her and their eyes widened. Suki was the first to catch her gaze once more, giving her a questioning look.

"What's he doing here?" The airbender gasped, taken aback. He was on his feet and ready to defend his friends when Katara held up her hand to him.

"I don't have time to explain, we need to leave. Now!" She said, rushing to gather their things scattered around the campsite and wake up her sleeping brother. "There's a Fire Nation Commander on his way here. I ran into him in the woods and he'll be here any minute!" The distress in her tone broke the trance that Suki and Aang seemed to be trapped in and stirred Sokka from his slumber as Huan sat up.

"A Fire Nation Commander?" Huan repeated, his voice still hoarse from sleep.

"His name is Commander Zhao," Zuko finally spoke up, sliding down from the saddle himself. "And he's coming for the Avatar."

Suki and Huan quickly joined Katara in collecting their supplies while Aang continued to eye Zuko suspiciously.

"I'm not here to try capture you, if that's what you're thinking," Zuko grumbled at the airbender.

"We have to head to Fong's Base," Katara breathed exasperatedly as she practically pulled Sokka from his bedroll.

Her brother's eyes lazily scanned the clearing and he jolted up when he saw Zuko standing there with his arms crossed. "It's- it's him! What is Hot-Head the Human Torch doing here?"

Zuko scowled and averted his gaze as Katara frowned at her brother, "Didn't you hear anything I just said? We need to leave! Zuko came to warn us."

"Sokka, there's no time for this," Suki added, throwing a bag of their supplies up into Appa's saddle.

"We can make it to Fong's Base this afternoon if we leave now," Aang shouted, gathering his staff and propelling himself into Appa's saddle with Suki and Huan at his heels. "Let's go!"

At the urging of his friends, Sokka got up on his feet, grabbing his boomerang and tossing his bedroll over his shoulder.

Fire erupted from the trees behind them and Zuko lunged forward, rolling to avoid the blast. Pulling the remaining water from her waterskin, Katara backed away as the commander and his soldiers poured out into the clearing.

Zuko was on his feet in no time, pushing back some of the Fire Nation troops with a series of fiery attacks. Katara sent forth a whip, lashing at the commander who blocked the water with a cruel smirk.

"Katara, let's go!" Aang called from Appa's saddle, preparing to take off.

"Stop them!" Zhao commanded, aiming an attack at Katara.

She narrowly avoided the flames as she turned, bringing the stream of water back around her for another whip at the commander.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Zuko stumble backwards, blocking attacks from Zhao's soldiers. Anxiety washed over her as she watched the troops – perhaps twenty of them – approach the firebending prince as he struggled to keep them at bay. Unsolicited, her feet were moving under her, drawing her towards him.

She blocked another bout of flames aimed towards her and Zuko, the water sizzling as it evaporated in the fire. Katara cursed herself for not filling up the waterskin more when she was at the lake, having almost none left now. Zuko caught her gaze as she fell in beside him.

"What are you doing?" He hissed at her.

"Helping." Her whip coiled around an ankle of one of the approaching soldiers, swiping him off his feet as he collided with another.

Katara scanned the vicinity for more water, desperate to add to her diminishing supply, when she remembered something Huu had told her back in the swamp. Water flows through every particle of every living thing. A blast of fire roared towards her and, in a last-ditch effort to defend herself, she reached down, coaxing the water from the grass below their feet.

At first it was a mist, rising from the greenery, but with a harder pull, the water drained from the grasses, sucking the plants dry as it made its way up into the air, blocking the oncoming flames.

Adrenaline coursed through her veins at the realization of her ability. Luring water from a nearby tree at the edge of the clearing, she sent a stream crashing down on two more soldiers as Zuko watched in amazement, avoiding another attack.

A sudden gust of wind blew by them as Aang blocked a bout of flames sent towards Appa.

"Katara!" Suki called from the saddle, her tone thick with worry.

"Katara," Zuko bit out, "You need to go!"

"I'm not leaving you!" She sent another couple soldiers flying back into the trees.

"We can only hold them off for so long," He growled, with a flaming crescent kick. "Go!"

"Zuko-"

"You need to get the Avatar out of here," Zuko reminded her coldly, with a sidelong glance.

"But-"

"Don't worry about me!" He yelled, cutting her off as he blocked another attack. "Go, Katara!"

Her friends were frantically calling for her from behind as another gust of wind deflected flames.

Katara backed away, still not prepared to leave him behind. Then a hand grabbed hers, pulling her away. Aang had descended from the saddle, knocking soldiers over with blast of air from his staff to come for her. Not taking her eyes off Zuko, she stumbled backwards as the airbender pulled her along.

"Katara, c'mon!" Aang cried.

At the sight of the Avatar, Zhao charged forwards, jumping as he sent flames towards them. With a twirl of his staff, Aang absorbed the attack and, snarling, Katara lashed out at him with a whip. The water collided with the commander in mid-air and sent him tumbling backwards.

Her friends all but dragged her backwards into the saddle as Sokka yelled, "Yip yip!"

"Wait!" Katara yelled, turning back in time to see soldiers crowd Zuko as he staggered back. Two soldiers caught his arms while another delivered a sharp blow to his gut.

She was hysterical as she watched him crumple over in pain, gasping for breath. "Stop!" She yelled to Sokka, who was directing Appa upwards, away from the forest. Tears filled her eyes. "We have to go back!"

"What?" Her brother turned, shooting her an incredulous look, "We are not going back, Katara! The human torch will be fine! They're all Fire Nation buddies."

"No, you don't understand," She sputtered, looking between her friends, "He came to help us! We can't just leave him back there!"

"Of course we can," Sokka shrugged. "He might have been trying to help us out this time, but who's to say he still wasn't planning on capturing Aang after?"

"He wasn't! Commander Zhao- he's going to hurt him or- or take him back to the Fire Nation," Katara stammered.

"I can go try to help him," Aang declared, standing up with his staff, but Huan grabbed his arm.

"Definitely a bad idea," Huan breathed. "That Zhao guy is after you, there's no way we're going to let you go back there alone. And I gotta say, girlie," He turned his gaze to Katara, "I'm with Sokka on this one. Not so sure that it's a bad thing if that commander takes the angry prince back to the Fire Nation… that's one less person trying to kidnap Aang."

"Exactly," Sokka agreed.

Aang gave her a helpless look and she tried to force a smile for him; she appreciated Aang's compassion, he wanted to save everyone.

Katara dared to glance over her shoulder one last time and bit her lip when she glimpsed Zuko, surrounded by soldiers, being thrown to ground by Commander Zhao. What had she just done by leaving him? Holding in tears, she averted her gaze as a low-lying cloud obscured her view.

Suki moved next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "All is not lost," She whispered, for only Katara to hear, "You have to believe that."

…

Zuko grunted as Zhao came up behind him and shoved him face first into the ground. Before he was even able to catch his breath, it was knocked out of him again. The commander knelt on his back as a soldier tied his wrists and ankles. Exhausted, Zuko finally stopped struggling.

"You're a disgrace to your country," Zhao spat. "A traitor."

The banished prince ignored him, the fight in him quickly diminishing as the adrenaline faded.

"I would have had the Avatar now, had it not been for your interference!" The commander delivered a swift kick to his head and he dropped out of consciousness.

Zuko groaned when he came to tied up on his own ostrich horse, draped sideways over the saddle. A fleeting thought passed through his brain – was this how Katara had felt? – before he slipped back into an insensible state.

He woke only momentarily when they transferred him into a rowboat. Lifting his head, he realized a number of the soldiers appeared to be shooting him strange looks; some amalgamation of guilt, disbelief, and acrimony. Dropping his head again, he decided he was far too tired to try to dissect the meaning behind their stares.

The clanging of metal against metal jarred him back to reality as two of Zhao's soldiers dragged him through a door and down some stairs. He realized belatedly that he was back on his ship, heading down to the brig where the prisoners were kept.

As they passed the iron cells Zuko heard scrambling and muted gasps. He couldn't bring himself to look up. He already knew the prison hold of his ship was full of Earth Kingdom children and a number of Kyoshi Warriors. And now he was being paraded by them all in chains.

They marched him to the very end of the hallway and threw him into one of the smaller holding cells. He couldn't recall having ever used this cell when the ship was under his command. Rarely did he even keep prisoners. The state of the cell supported his thoughts; it clearly hadn't been used in years. Cobwebs filled the corners and a sooty grime covered the iron floor and walls.

He listened as the footfalls of the soldiers became no more than a distant echo. Then the metal door squealed open once more and closed with a sharp clang. Voices muttered through the metallic groaning of the hold, but Zuko – either from exhaustion or lack of ability – could not make out their words. Turning to look through the barred door of his cell, he saw into another cell across from his. A small girl in a grimy white and green dress huddled against the back wall with her knees pulled up to her chest, gazing blankly into his cell with milky green eyes.

"Stop staring at me." Zuko grumbled, suddenly annoyed at her unwavering watch.

After a moment, when it seemed the girl realized he was talking to her, she responded nonchalantly. "I'm blind."

"What?"

She scoffed, "It means I can't see, genius."

Ignoring the insolent little girl in the cell across from his, he scowled and turned away. Idly, he wondered if Katara and her friends had made it safely to Fong's Base. He hoped his capture hadn't been for nothing. It would all be worth it if she was safe, he tried to convince himself. Zuko lay sprawled on the ground, staring at the ceiling for a while before sleep finally took him.

…

Thoughts on the aftermath of the kiss? Introduction of Toph?

Sorry to separate our favorite pairing once more, but there's some important stuff that has to happen before they can reunite for good.. ;)

Please let me know what you think (review?)!

...

With love,

A Storm