Fire was everywhere. Explosions. Wreckage. Death. Destruction
All around them, a war was in full brew, and yet Zuko knelt in the middle of the battlefield, arms cradling a fragile figure.
He had found her like this, barely breathing, clinging to life with the very tip of her delicate fingers. Air lapsed past her lips in short, heavy gasps. There were metal daggers, sharp and shined, sticking from her lower abdomen and chest. Burns covered her skin as did gashes and cuts, barely bleeding, due to the fact most of her blood lay all around her.
Red and blue don't mix.
His eyes pooled. Body shaking and limbs weak.
Sharp pains erupted in his back, then his head.
Screams and shouts could be heard from all around, Fire nation artillery zooming past him. Metal flying everywhere.
Daggers and debris had struck him, but he didn't move. The prince was accustomed to pain.
Yet, in all this death, why was she, of all people, dying here alone.
No, anyone but her. Anyone but the girl he secretly cared for.
She would not die here alone.
His vision was slowly beginning to blur. Zuko had forgotten about the injury he sustained to the back of his neck.
It no longer mattered.
Her breaths were shorter now, slowing to a barely audible whisp.
" Katara…" He whispered, pulling the daggers from her body. Zuko then leaned down and rested his head on her chest.
The prince was so tired.
There is darkness now, all around our Zuko, and our Katara
Only whispers were heard.
" Ill follow you into the dark"