Day 22: Blood Moon
The whole world is flooded with red light, and the air seems to stand still. No wind blows, as the raven cats fly across the sky, crowing loudly.
Zuko proceeds into the forest, following the scent of blood.
Suddenly he stands in the middle of a clearing, watching as two of his friends dig themselves out of the ground.
Aang's and Toph's eyes are completely black, as they run to attack Sokka and Katara, who just appeared next to them.
The siblings' bodies are ripped apart by their friends. Sokka doesn't say anything, while Katara screams loudly. She begs her friends to stop, says that this is not them.
Zuko cannot move. He can only watch and he hasn't even got a body. He is a spirit, has no matter and can't interfere. He can't move forward, can't stop his friends from ripping his other friends apart.
There is so much blood on Katara and on Sokka. Pieces of flesh are torn from their bodies, and blood rushes by the litre from their veins.
Zuko wishes he could scream, but it is futile.
He tries to scream, tries it very hard, very loud, but it is almost impossible. He barely hears his own voice.
Katara's screams are louder, piercing through his ears, but then they suddenly become deeper. Katara's voice starts sounding like a man's voice.
Zuko is confused, but keeps screaming, and suddenly realised that Katara's voice is his own.
He opens his eyes wide and sits up with a start.
His room is dark, nothing is red, and there are also no hurt friends, no possessed friends and no one is screaming but him.
His throat hurts as he takes in deep gulps of air and starts coughing. Only then does he realise that Katara's arm lies around his shoulders, her head presses against his other shoulder and she strokes his back, murmuring calming and soothing words.
He raises a hand and touches her arm. Swallowing he notices that his dream was from the past. He had only thought about Katara as a friend, not his girlfriend.
"Sorry," he murmurs. "I, uh..."
"It's okay," Katara whispers.
He grabs her and pulls her onto his lap to hug her, hold her close and check that she is okay.
She makes soft, complaining noises.
But then his hands find something warm and wet. It feels like blood, and it smells like blood, too.
He pushes Katara away, panicked, only caring about why there's blood. "Katara!" he whimpers, trying to find the source of all the blood. Is she injured?
Katara struggles against him. "What the deep sea, Zuko?!"
"I dreamt you were dying! Why is there blood on your thighs?" His voice cracks with panic and fear.
Katara manages to grab his hands and hold them in place. He stares into her eyes, and thinks he imagines the red colour on her cheeks.
"Hey, no, it's okay," she says to calm him down. "I'm just on my moontime."
Zuko blinks. "What?"
Katara takes a deep breath. "My period? It's very strong, that's why I was so reluctant to sleep in a bed with you, because I always get the sheets very bloody." She bites down her lip.
"So you're not injured?" Zuko asks, his eyes still wide, but tries to calm down a bit.
Katara shakes her head. "No. I'm okay."
"Okay?"
"Well, I have cramps and my back hurts, but that's normal. And it's only every four weeks, so don't worry." She clasps his face in her hands and smiles reassuringly at him.
Zuko breathes to calm his inner fire and also his panicked thoughts. "Is there anything I can do for you?" he wants to know.
Katara raises an eyebrow. "You could task a group of scientists to find something that will make me stop bleeding so much."
Zuko lets a smile show on his lips, an almost desperate, but also relieved one. He raises his hands to hug her, but realises they are still coated in blood.
"Uh, I'll go and get some towels," she murmurs, grumbling.
Zuko frowns. "Are you hurting now? Maybe you should take a bath. I can take care of the rest."
"That's sweet, but I won't take a bath. The cramps don't go away this way, but I'll clean myself up." She kisses him shortly and stands up from the bed to walk to the bathroom.
Zuko quickly gets out of the bed, too, and follows her. "Then I'll lay towels for you on the sheets," he offers.
Katara blinks, as if she were surprised and then her gaze becomes suddenly very soft. "I love you," she whispers.
A smile spreads on his lips. He can't get tired of hearing this. He can't believe he's that lucky to have her. That her voice doesn't scream anymore and that the only bleeding going on is from her moontime, which is totally natural and normal.