Everything is black. And then, suddenly, everything is white. Pain flows through his body, emanating from his solar plexus, rolling over him in fizzling waves. He groans, and the pain only worsens.
"Zuko? Zuko!" A voice filters through to his ears, sounding as if he is swimming deep in the ocean and someone is trying to yell to him from the shoreline. "Stay with me, please Zuko, just hang in there!" The voice is familiar, soothing but urgent at the same time. A coolness combats the pain in his chest, stinging at first, but tapering off into a dull ache. The pain lessens, not by much, but enough so that he can bear to open his eyes.
The first thing he sees is Katara, bent over him with tears swimming in her eyes and trailing down her face. Her hair is disheveled, and her breathing is heavy. Why is she crying? He doesn't want her to cry, so he reaches his hand over to touch her knee in what he hopes is a comforting gesture (it hurts a lot, but he really doesn't want her to cry). She gasps and turns to face him, her eyes blown wide and still full of tears.
"Zuko!" When she says his name it sounds almost like a sob, and before he can comprehend what is happening, she's bent over him and her arms are wrapped around his shoulders. He brings his arms up to hold her as she starts to cry, and damn it hurts, but it's worth it. "I'm so glad you're okay. For a minute I thought…"
She buries her head in his shoulder, and as her tears seep into his shirt, everything comes back to him. The Agni Kai, Azula shifting her aim towards Katara, his unconscious decision to jump in front of the lightning despite the fact that he wasn't properly grounded. Holding the burning energy in his body for too long, the white hot sensation sparkling painfully along all his nerves, and then, nothing.
Katara had literally brought him back from the brink of death. Maybe even from death itself.
"Did I…" his voice is scratchy, and his chest still hurts like hell, but he has to know. "Was I... ?" He doesn't have to finish his thought for Katara to catch on to what he's asking.
"I think so." She pulls back from him and helps him up into a sitting position. "I couldn't get to you right after… by the time I got here…" Her eyes well with tears again. "But you're okay now, and that's what matters."
He stares into her eyes as she sits before him, and he thanks every god he knows for bringing her into his life. He has the quiet urge to kiss her, the want sudden and familiar, but he refrains. Now is not the time for that. Maybe, if he's lucky, he can tell her how he feels later before their friends return.
"Thank you, Katara." The simple words could never convey all the gratitude he feels, but he hopes that she can see it in his eyes.
"I think I'm the one who should be thanking you." She finally smiles, and he knows in that moment that, even more so than before, his life will never be the same again.