I am dedicating this chapter to one of my dear beta readers. She's all nice and stuff and thinks this piece of crap is pretty good. She told me she really liked the WTF looks the crewmembers were givin' Zuko. My crazy little friend…
Disclaimer: I have something in my pocket. What is it, you may ask?! WELL IT'S NOT AVATAR CUZ I DON'T OWN IT! That's right! I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender! Whatcha gonna do about it?
Chapter 3- Escape
Another week and a half of sleeping and Katara was finally able to walk to the other side of the sickbay. Her drive to recover so she could escape and find her friends was taking a profound effect on her. She was slowly but surely regaining her strength and Zuko saw an opportunity to interrogate his prisoner. As he entered the room, she scowled at him, hoping he was just passing through.
Calmly he sat down next to her bed. He sat quietly and stared at the door for a moment before it opened to reveal a kind looking old man followed by one of the kitchen servants that brought her her meals carrying a platter with a pot of tea and three small cups. The servant set the tray down on the bedside table and, after bowing, left the sickbay. Only then did anyone speak.
"Now my dear. My nephew says your name is Katara. Is that right?" Katara nodded as the old man went on. "Good. My name is Iroh. How are you today?" The man's voice was relaxing and gentle, not menacing and rude like Zuko.
"Fine, I suppose." She was a little startled by the question. And relatively speaking, she'd been much better. She had just been stabbed and left to die a week ago! "Thank you," she added as an after thought, remembering her manners. But then she noticed something else. "You said nephew?"
"Yes. I am Zuko's uncle."
"Enough with the pleasantries, Uncle! Can we get on with this interrogation?" the young prince asked impatiently.
"Now, Prince Zuko! Have you no manners? This girl has been injured and is still recovering. You could be a little more polite to her."
"But she's a prisoner! And a common Water Nation peasant at that!" the prince almost whined.
"That doesn't mean we should be any less respectful. Now, Miss Katara, could you kindly tell us about what happened before my nephew and I found you in that forest?" Iroh asked politely.
"No. You just want to find Aang! I won't help you destroy the world," she told them defiantly.
"Please. We want to know who did this to you," Iroh convinced. The old man had a kind face, much kinder than the scarred and perpetually angry visage than the Fire Prince. Seeing a loving spirit within the man, she reluctantly let her guard down.
"A-alright." She folded her hands in her lap and sat quietly for a moment. Katara's deep blue eyes went foggy in memory. "I was picking berries in a clearing near the one we were about to camp in. I heard a rustle in the bushes, but thought nothing of it. I thought Sokka or Aang had come over to help me." Her foggy eyes now glistened and tears welled up and began to roll silently down her cheeks, but she continued her story. "I was just about to turn around when an arm grabbed me around my waist, pinning my arms down at my sides. I shouldn't have squealed! I should have fought harder-" she broke off and began sobbing again. "She took them," she began to babble through her tears. "Now they're gone and I don't know where and she took them!" Katara was going into shock. The thought finally hit her, really hit her, and she started rambling. "They're gone!"
"Who took them?" Iroh asked calmly, trying not to upset the already shaken girl.
"I don't know, but she took them and now they're gone!" she continued senselessly. She finally stopped talking, and devoted all her breath and energy to her tears.
"There, there my dear," comforted Iroh. "Rest now. Why don't you go to sleep? Maybe you and I can talk later." He left her a cup of tea and took the pot with him. "A little tea will help, too." He led Zuko out of the sickbay, who was more than pleased to leave the girl alone again. I have to find a way to not get caught up with crying girls, the prince thought.
Alone in the sick bay, the abandoned waterbender continued to cry until she was all cried out. A few shaky breaths later, she spotted the cup of tea left by the gentle old man. Taking a sip to calm her breathing and her mind, she snuggled down into her bed and fell back asleep, exhausted by her weeping.
Katara awoke to the sickbay lighted only by candles in one corner of the room and the moonlight streaming in through the window. My nap must have lasted until nightfall. She suddenly had the idea to escape. Well why not, she argued. Everyone must either be sleeping or eating. I could easily sneak out and get to the deck. I just hope we're near land.
The girl slowly eased herself out of the bed and began walking toward the door. She started out strong, although she still kept one hand on the bed to steady herself. Reaching the end of the bed, she cautiously strode forward, confidence with every step. She could feel her lungs work a little harder than usual. She reached the door, panting only a little. Nothing I can't handle, she thought. She took a deep breath, filling her lungs, and slowly opened the door.
It opened noiselessly. Cautiously, she looked down the hallway stretching out in either direction. Just as she stepped out, she realized she had no idea as to which way was up and out. Katara noticed a steep set of stairs leading up a short ways down the hall and shuffled over to it. Her confidence in escaping was beginning to wane slightly, but she put pessimistic thoughts such as failure behind her and slowly ascended the stairway. Going up was much more strenuous than she would have imagined. Reaching the door at the top, she rested her hand upon the handle, hunched over a little, trying to focus her drive into physical energy.
How much luck can a girl have!? The young waterbender turned the handle on the thick metal door and stepped outside and onto the empty deck. Her heart practically leapt out of her chest for the joy of it all. She stumbled to the rail at the prow and pulled herself up using the bar to hold herself steady. But then she looked out onto the first rays of the coming sun over the ocean.
The sky was becoming increasingly dark and forbidding, even in the early light. The sea beneath the ship began to churn and a great storm arose in the distance. The wind danced through the girl's hair, spinning and twirling as the rain began to fall.
"Prince Zuko, we need to alert the men. There is a storm in the distance. It's moving faster than I've ever seen. It will reach us in mere minutes!"
"Prepare the men then, Captain," he calmly replied.
"And, sir?" the man asked tentatively, acutely aware of the prince's wild mood swings.
"What is it now?"
"Who is that at the prow?"
Her happily beating heart threatened to stop right then and there. Water. It was her element. And it was everywhere. No land. Just water. And more water. Never in her life did she expect to hate her own element. Her head drooped over the railing in exhaustion and sadness. The wind became increasingly violent and buffeted her weary body. The motion of the waves made her already tired legs feel like jelly.
As she stood there, she heard a scraping noise behind her and spun on her heel. But the waterbender's luck was again not with her as an extremely violent wave hit the hull and washed over the deck. Because she had spun so quickly, and because the water made the deck so slick, Katara lost her balance and was thrown into the tossing sea, all before the eyes of the young prince.
She hit the water hard, and of course she just had to hit it on her injured side. Pain shot through her body and the last thing she saw before unconsciousness took over was a pair of golden eyes, full of sorrow and concern.
He leaned over the rail and watched her fall, saw her eyes before she passed out, and saw her fear of death. He spun around, and spied a long coil of rope as more and more men piled out of the hatch onto the deck.
"Hold on and don't you dare let go!" he yelled over the howling wind as he tossed his men one end of the rope. He tied the other end around his waist and prepared to jump in after the girl.
"Prince Zuko! What are you doing?!" Iroh called into the storm.
"I have to save her uncle! She- she's my only chance at getting the Avatar! I have to do this!" his voice was full of desperation.
The old man replied with nothing more than a simple nod of the head as his beloved nephew jumped into the raging sea. "You heard him, men! Hold on to that rope!"
Prince Zuko's lungs burned for air as he dove after the slowly sinking waterbender. She was ever so slowly getting closer and he could see blood disperse around her side. Her wound had opened up and she was in even more danger. Blood loss, hypothermia, and carnivorous sea creatures could prove a fatal combination. He reached out his hand to grab the unconscious girl around her waist and began to kick furiously. He felt the pull from his men as they reeled them in. His arms and legs slowed as fatigue took its toll and he struggled to stay awake. Sleep would surely mean death.
His head soon broke the surface of the churning water and he gulped big breaths of air and focused on keeping the girl's head out of the water. The men hoisted them up and Zuko pulled himself and the girl onto the deck. Rain washed over his face as he looked down upon her. He put his face near own and listened over the whipping winds and crashing sea.
"Uncle! She's not breathing!" he cried.
The old man hurried over and kneeled down beside them.
"I know a trick I learned from the waterbenders. Occasionally, someone would drown and they found a way to 'bring them back to life' in a sense. Plug her nose with one hand, and breathe into her mouth." His nephew hesitated before lowering his mouth to hers, but only for a moment. After a few breaths, Iroh said, "Now I'll do this next part. You have to keep the blood pumping." He laid one hand over the other and closed his fingers over it, and pressed hard on the center of her chest. He pumped about five times and motioned to Zuko to continue breathing for her. He only gave her one breath when she started coughing and retching. She spit out the water in her lungs and started gasping for air.
"What did you think you were doing?" he whispered to her. "I don't think even a waterbending master could survive long enough out there to find land, let alone an injured one." Zuko lifted her up, supporting her back with one arm and holding her legs under the knee with the other. He carried the barely conscious girl back down the sickbay, where he carefully lay the waterbender on top of the bed. A scowl that was considerably lessened by her exhaustion from her newest ordeal crossed her face before she dropped into deep sleep. Zuko turned to the doctor and unnecessarily whispered for him to get the girl out of her wet clothes before she caught something that might complicate her already precarious health. The young prince sighed as he left the sickbay. She's going to be a handful when she's healed.
"Thank you," he heard whispered by the sleeping girl. She must not be as asleep as I thought.
"Just don't try escaping anymore!" he snapped, although quietly, and with that, he opened the door and left.
Katara awoke in her bed the next morning, momentarily forgetting how she got there. But only a moment. It all came rushing back. She was almost there but with nowhere to go, and then all that water, and those eyes… Now she was right back where she started. In her bed. And he put her there. Does he actually have a heart?
As Katara hugged her knees, she noticed her left ankle was dragging something. She brought her leg out from under the sheet and saw her leg was shackled to the bed. Long enough to not be uncomfortable. Short enough to keep her from reaching the door across the room.
Katara scoffed. I guess not.
Now, now! Don't worry!! I'm a'getting' to the fluff 'n' stuff!!! I'm just working up to it. It wouldn't make sense if suddenly they were head over heals in love with each other. I mean, she's been asleep most of the time, and he's no perv!!! Now don't worry! They will be together!!! This story would really suck if they didn't. And technically, they've already kissed… although one of them was unconscious, but what does that matter?! A lot actually…
Muck thanks to my reviewers!!! Keep 'em a'comin'!!! I have recently realized I very much enjoy opening my inbox and finding I have a review. Even if it's flames. I just like seeing I have a bunch of reviews. They rock!!!