Ozai's Vengeance

Fandomme

Chapter 14

Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of Nickelodeon and VIACOM. No profit is made by this story.

Notes: I want to thank everyone who has read and reviewed. This story currently has 287 reviews, and is the best-reviewed story I've ever written. Thanks for that. And if you're a lurker, I want to hear from you! Your opinions matter!

Also, my buddy Rachel the Demon has a great fic out called Chong Sheng at GreatestJournal. Google it. It's awesome.

≅

The war had not been kind to Jun. Not only had the intervening years taken her right eye -- her hair hung over the patch now, and Zuko saw the odd strands of silver there in all the black -- but she sported a tough old burn scar on her neck. Glossy, lumpy flesh peeked out above her high collar. A firebender had clearly tried to choke her once. She hunched over her food. She sucked komodo thigh meat straight off the bone. Her lacquered nails shredded skin and tendons away from the carcass. She had eaten this way for almost half an hour. Zuko had begun wondering if she would ever speak up.

"What do you mean he doesn't want to see me?"

Zuko, Iroh, and Jun all frowned at the door. Jun continued chewing slowly. Katara's voice, muffled by wood and steel, sounded again: "I don't care who he's in a meeting with, he wants to hear this."

The pain between Zuko's eyes had grown from an irritating little spike to an all-encompassing cloud. He squeezed his eyes shut and stood. Sighing, he wrenched open the door. "What?"

Katara blinked and frowned. "What's wrong?" She peeked around him. "Is that Jun?"

Behind him, the bounty hunter piped up: "Hey there, Bloodbender."

"What is Jun doing here?"

Zuko folded his arms. "What are you doing here? I'm working."

Katara peered around him again. "Could have fooled me. It looks like you're giving Jun some lunch."

There was the tiniest little hint of a titter from one of the guards, and Zuko affixed the man with a silencing glare. He pulled Katara into the room by the wrist and shut the door. They stood inside the alcove. "What do you have to tell me?"

Katara eyed Iroh. Her chin rose. "It's private."

He pitched his voice low. "Let me guess. Family meeting?"

"Family ultimatum, more like. I'll tell you later. What is Jun doing here?"

"She says she has information on Tizo."

Katara's eyes popped. Hope lit them for just a moment before they narrowed. "How much does she want?"

Zuko had to restrain himself from kissing her. Instead he offered a tight smile and said under his breath: "You're a born Fire Lady." He nodded at the door. "I suppose it's no good asking you to sit this one out at the hotspring?"

She shook her head. "I have just as much a right to that information as you do, Zuko. That man made me doubt my own bending. And he made Kurzu's mother sick." And with that she breezed into the office and took a seat across from Jun.

"So," Katara said. "How's the bounty hunting business?"

Jun offered a greasy smile. "It's about to be a lot better."

"That's if your information proves useful," Zuko said, standing over the table. "We don't have time for another wild shirshiu chase."

Jun batted her single pair of eyelashes. "I seem to remember you enjoying the last wild shirshui chase, Fire Lord." She grinned. "And if I recall correctly, I predicted this whole thing years ago."

"What whole thing?"

Jun gestured between him and Katara. "This whole thing." Her hands came up. "Now don't get mad. Women in my line of work have to learn how to read people."

"She has a good point, Nephew," Iroh said, idly turning a cup of tea in his fingers. "Your attraction to-"

"Uncle!"

Iroh blinked. "Oh. Right." He cleared his throat. "Jun, it is lovely to see you again, but now that you have eaten a little something, perhaps you could share with us the information you promised?"

"I didn't promise anything, old man."

"Watch it, lady," Katara said. "I've got a friend down the hall who can tell if you're lying. Don't make me bring her in here."

Jun merely smiled up at Zuko. "So, when's the wedding?"

Zuko kicked the chair out from under her. Jun tumbled to her knees. She stared up at him with her single mutinous eye. "Talk," Zuko said. "Quit wasting my time."

Jun picked herself up and threw her shoulders back. "Fine." She took a deep breath. "I'm in trouble."

He clasped his hands behind his back. "What else is new?"

"I know where your precious overseer is."

"So do my forces. They're apprehending him as we speak."

Katara's jaw dropped. Zuko winced. In the midst of the recent goings-on -- the baby's illness, the potential plot against him, Sokka's arrival, his own decision to adopt Kurzu -- he had neglected to mention that little detail. She gave him a look that he'd seen reserved only for Aang and Sokka in the past -- he was in trouble, and he'd pay for it later.

"They're not," Jun was saying. "They're too late."

"How do you know this?" Iroh asked.

Jun swallowed. "Because I gave him back to the people of Tetsushi."

Silence. Zuko nodded slowly. "You sent him to his death."

"I was just doing my job. I didn't know what they wanted with him. I thought he'd run out on some debts." She smiled. "Then, of course, I saw the wanted posters."

"How convenient," Katara said. "Let me guess -- you want two rewards for the price of one?"

"Come on, Bloodbender, everyone knows how cheap Fire Lord Zuko is. He hasn't named a price for Tizo the overseer. If he had, he'd have found him a lot sooner."

Zuko straightened. He looked into Jun's good eye. Crows' feet had begun to feather the skin. She looked tired, thin and scared. She tossed her hair and avoided his gaze. "You're not doing yourself any favors," he said. "No tell me what you're so afraid of. It should be me, but I know it's not."

Jun snorted a weak laugh. "I'm not afraid. I'm prudent." She licked dry lips. "I have information you want."

"You've given it to me already. Give me something new or get out."

"Tell me I'll be looked after, first." One perfect eyebrow rose. "I've heard you're pretty good about financing charity cases for the right kind of girl."

Behind her, Katara stood up. Iroh stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. Zuko focused on Jun. The image of Sokka's drawn sword surfaced in his mind. "I've demonstrated remarkable self-control today, Jun. Don't make me break my record."

Jun shifted weight. "Do you think your son getting so sick was an accident?"

Zuko clenched his hands so hard he felt the fingernails leave behind little tears in the thread of his sleeves. Jun smiled smugly. She still stained her lips an almost purple color, and he briefly imagined what she'd look like dead -- if she doesn't cooperate, if she holds back, I don't know what I'll do.

"How do you know about that?"

"I know that the men who hired me were more than happy to see 'that dirty halfbreed' leave with 'the whelp and his Water Tribe whore.'"

Zuko saw white. Belatedly, he realized it was fire. And it was in his hand. And he was about to throw it at Jun. The bounty hunter didn't flinch. She merely nodded. "Nice to know some things never change."

With great effort, he opened his hand and let the fire dissipate. "Those were their words, not yours."

"Exactly," she said. "I don't care who you sleep with."

"And I don't care what slow-witted backwoods morons think about me," he said. Katara and Kurzu are another matter entirely. "So try again."

"The men who hired me are part of a larger organization," she said. "A much larger organization. Full of more than just 'slow-witted backwoods morons.'"

"How would you know?" Katara asked.

Jun half-turned. "I do my homework," she said. "How else would I know how much to charge?"

"And how much did you charge?" Iroh asked.

"A lot." She grinned. "There are a lot of people who don't like you very much, Fire Lord. And they've got a lot of money."

His skin went cold. It was a nightmare scenario: a well-funded, hidden rebellion with contacts inside the palace. The pieces slowly came together in Zuko's mind. Tetsushi. The missing dragon-hawks. Kurzu's illness. Possibly even the rumors about him and Katara. When he stepped away from the problems they merged into one, like the White Lotus pattern on a Pai Sho board. Dear sages, what if they planned it to happen in Tetsushi? What if Katara and I narrowly missed a worse fate through sheer luck? What if that weasel-snake was meant for me? I was alone with my men enough times, why didn't they strike? Was I saved only because the people of Tetsushi were too weak to attack?

He looked up and standing behind Jun was Katara, her eyes fear-wide but steely. And just when we were doing so well. Iroh looked like a man made of stone; his eyes carried that dark, terrible weight that only burdened them when he mentioned Lu Ten. The sight gave Zuko an odd sense of comfort -- if the family was in danger, Iroh would protect them, and Iroh was an army unto himself.

"Tell me more," Zuko said.

"Make it worth my while."

You could, you know, said a voice that sounded like Azula's inside his mind. You could chain her to a bucket of water and shoot lightning at her until she told you everything you could ever want to know. And if she held out, there's always Katara. She could fix up whatever damage you cause, and then stop the poor woman's heart if she gets bored. She is the Bloodbender, after all. You two could make a pretty good team, Zu-Zu. Think about it.

Zuko looked into at Jun's single, smiling eye. "You're free to go," he said.

Genuine surprise flitted over her face. "You're just as cocky as I remember," she said, recovering herself. "Fine. Have it your way."

"Out."

He watched Jun leave. He waited until his breathing had slowed to look at Iroh. "Make sure she's followed. And find your Pai Sho friends."

"You read my mind, nephew," Iroh said. "I'll just be on my way. You two have plenty to discuss." Iroh left the room, and then it was just Zuko and Katara staring at each other across the silent, suddenly-too-large office.

Katara sighed through her teeth. She tilted her head at him. "I saw you make the decision," she said. "It was right there on your face. You could have done a lot worse to her."

Zuko shut his eyes against the image of Jun's already-scarred body writhing in a cage of lightning. "I know."

"And I would have helped you." His eyes opened. Katara looked at the floor. "I mean, I like to think that I wouldn't have wanted to, but it's you and it's the family and it's Kurzu and I don't know…and you spared me from having to make that choice." She crossed over to him. She began adjusting his jacket, tweaking the collar, straightening the seams. Her face rose. "That's not the kind of bloodbender I want to be."

He covered her hands with his. "It's not the kind of Fire Lord I want to be, either."

Katara rose on her toes and planted a single chaste kiss on his lips. "Thank you." She leaned against him and her arms slid around him and up to his neck. "Thank you."

He laid his cheek on her scalp. "It looks like it's time for dragon-hawks and poetry," he said.

She squeezed him tighter. "Not yet." She pulled away. "You can't get rid of me that easily."

He leaned their foreheads together. "Did your family meeting re-ignite your stubborn streak?"

"No, that would be you being stupidly old-fashioned," she said. "Well, you and Sokka. And Suki. And your uncle."

Despite himself, Zuko laughed. "With friends like these…"

She leaned on him again and held him tighter. One of his hands came up stroked her hair. He had missed this part -- usually it only happened in bed on the edge of sleep, but he had always enjoyed it. He had even liked it with Mai -- the closeness, being allowed to be close, feeling that for once he wasn't an imposition on another person's space, feeling genuinely wanted and not pitied. Fitting somewhere. Belonging.

"It's not even what they suggested," Katara was saying. "It was hearing how happy Suki sounded. She kept on saying that I had yet to know the joys of motherhood and Sokka kept on asking why Aang and I had never…" Her grip on him stiffened. "He said I'd be a great mom if I just…" She shrugged. "It was on the tip of my tongue to tell them, you know? I lost a baby and Aang didn't want to risk it any more, so he gave up. He did it because he loved me. There's nothing wrong with that."

"There are all kinds of things wrong with it."

"Why can't I tell them the truth? How come I can tell you and not them? They're my family. You're…"

"I'm just the man that loves you," he said, and instantly wished he could un-say it. Really, you'll never learn when to shut up, will you? First Ozai's war chamber, then Ba Sing Se, now this.

She was already pulling away. Her eyes searched him. He had to look at a point somewhere past her shoulder. She was quiet: "What?"

"I'm sorry, you don't have to answer, I know you don't-" But she had already covered up his mouth with hers and he was already stumbling backward against his desk. He hooked his hands under her legs and hoisted her up and switched their position, blindly pushing papers out of the way as she landed on the desk. Her legs curled around him, pulled him in. "Don't tell me you didn't know," he said, lips tingling, when she surfaced for air. He kissed down her neck. Dear sages, how he'd missed her. Her fluttering breath in his ear and her fingers clenched in his hair. "Don't even try pretending with me."

"I'm not, I just wasn't sure…" Her voice faltered and her breath caught.

"Please, how could you not have known?" He nipped her a little, felt her flinch. "Don't tell me my favorite waterbender's still so innocent."

"It's not innocence, I was just…"

"Dense?" He kissed her. "Myopic?"

"I didn't want to get my hopes up," she said in a small voice. He froze, withdrew. She bit her lip and gripped his jacket loosely between her fingers. Zuko rocked on his toes, still breathing hard. "You kept on saying all the right things and doing exactly what I needed..." She swallowed. "I get scared that one day I'll say 'I thought you'd changed!' and you'll say 'I have changed,' and it'll be Ba Sing Se all over again, only this time you won't come back."

Zuko took hold of her hands. They were cold and he gripped them so hard they shook. "No," he said. "I won't do that. Not again. I'm not that person any longer. I swear to you I'm not."

She looked away. "Then you'll say that I need protecting and that I need to leave and then suddenly it's years later and you're who-knows-where fighting who-knows-what, and I'm stuck at home taking care of everyone." Her eyes found his. "Is that what you're going to do, Zuko? If Jun's right and you do have powerful enemies, are you really going to try to send me away?"

He kissed her forehead. "Sweetness…"

"Being with me means taking all of me, all the time," she whispered. "You don't get to put me away when it's convenient for you."

He squeezed his eyes closed. "If someone hurts you or the baby or Iroh, I don't know what I'll become."

"I do," Katara said. "You don't get to have this both ways, Zuko. If you want to be my partner then that's what you have to be. My partner. We have to be on the same team. You don't leave me and I don't leave you."

He pulled away. Their hands slid apart. "But you'll leave me for the orphanage? I thought it was unfair of me to ask you to give that up. I thought that was your objection."

She gave him a hard look and crossed her arms. "You aren't going to convince me to leave behind everything I've worked so hard to maintain for a man who's going to leave me behind when the next threat looms on the horizon."

Zuko slammed his palms on the desk. "I'm asking you to be my wife, not my admiral!"

"And I'm asking you to be my husband, not my dad!"

Her eyes bore into his. For some reason he thought of the Spirit Oasis. Her eyes were always so blue when she was angry. Her lips had firmed to a single line. "I won't be left behind and I won't be shut out," she said. "If you want me to be Fire Lady, then start treating me like it. Start telling me everything. Don't keep secrets from me, Zuko. Don't break my heart and insist it's for my protection."

She hopped off the desk and slid around him. He saw her brush something from her eye as she made for the door. She pushed through it and he heard her steps ringing on the marble outside. He listened to their rapid retreat. You missed something important, Zu-Zu. His memory caught up with his breathing, and he was running after her. Pillars and scrolls blurred past him. Torches flared in his vision. He skidded around a corner and she was there; he caught her by the wrists and pulled her around to face him.

"Did you just ask me to marry you?"

Katara blushed to the roots of her hair and looked at the floor before meeting his eyes. "I opened negotiations."

There was a feeling like a Fire Days festival inside his blood, and he took hold of her face before kissing her once, hard, on the mouth. "I've done more with less. Let's go see Toph."

"Toph?" She frowned. "You're not scoring too many points for romance, here, you know."

"Katara, in the span of a single day, I've adopted a child, told you I'm in love with you, and begun negotiating with you. What more could you possibly want?" His good eyebrow rose. "Unless you have plans for this evening?"

She stuck out her tongue. "Don't push your luck, Sparky."