Author: RobinsFanGirl
Prompt: # 003
Title: Poverty
Word Count:
Rating: K
Summary: This is Katara's half of the story about the little combo I'm doing with Poverty and Wealth. Katara is Poverty and Zuko is Wealth. This is when the two worlds collide for the first time.
Author's Notes: Listened to "Numb" by Linkin Park for no particular reason while writing this. Also, I know this is not how they actually met. It's how they should have met.
Poverty
The waterbender softly carrassed the boy's head, staring down at him tenderly. Sokka wasn't feeling well. Maybe he had eaten too much again, or had scarfed down his prunes too quickly to get rid of the taste, but now it was her responsibility to make sure her older brother felt better. He and Aang were supposed to go penguin hunting today. She knew Aang didn't want to go - she had found out he was a vegetarian very quickly - but he would go if Sokka did.
Katara stroked Sokka's wolftail softly before letting it down and watching his brown hair fall over his eyes. She smiled and patted his head before reaching across him to pick up a soft wet cloth. She placed it on his head and left the small tent for a moment to get some fresh air.
The girl watched a soft snow gently dance to the ground and she looked around. It was mere days after Aang had arrived, and they were going to leave soon. She watched as the peaceful village life went on around her, completely oblivious to the importance of the boy playing in the snow a few yards away.
Aang spotted her and gestured for her to come closer. Deciding to play along, she crossed her arms and made her way over. "Hey, Aang." She pulled her hand-knitted parka over her chest a bit tighter and shivered.
The Avatar looked up at her, looking slightly worried. "How's Sokka?"
"Sweaty. Very sweaty," Katara said off-handedly with a smile. "I think he'll be fine."
Aang relaxed and grinned up at her. "Are you cold?" he asked, grey eyes sparkling kidishly.
"It's kinda hard not to be when you live in the South Pole," Katara explained, crossing her arms and shrugging. She smiled softly as the snow landed on Aang's eyelashes. Pulling her hands out of her mittens, she gently waterbended the snow off of his head and pooled it in her hand. Quickly she melted the snow into ice cold liquid. Cupping the water, she took a sip and then let the rest of it drop to the ground. Aang's eyes followed her hands before rising to her face.
"You do that pretty well," he complimented her.
Katara smiled softly. She wrapped her arms around herself and blinked. "Not really. I'm not nearly as good as I could be."
She looked up at Aang. "Maybe you-"
"AACHOO! UGH! KATARA!" The indignant bellow came from the tent, and a sniffling Sokka peeked his head out.
Katara sighed and went back to Sokka, shivering. "What do you need?" she asked, feeling his forehead carefully.
"Food!" roared her brother, flopping back on his sleeping bag. "And why is my hair down? The other warriors will make fun of me!"
Katara held back a retort ; he was practically the only warrior left in the village. Sokka obviously thought of this, though, because he silenced and frowned, muttering, "Just please feed me."
Katara oblidged, going outside to gather food, penguin-fish meat. Rare. She held the floppy meat in her bare hands and rose her gaze to meet a dreaded image on the horizon ; a Fire Nation ship. Alarm rose through her body and she flinched.
"Sokka!" she cried, turning and dropping the meat. Nearby, Aang rose to his feet. "What's wrong?"
She ignored him. "Sokka! The Fire Nation!" Immediatly Sokka was out of his tent and stumping across the ground. Katara grimaced as snot dribbled down towards his mouth.
"What's going on?" demanded Aang, grabbing his staff and approaching quickly.
"Fire Nation," Sokka replied, not looking at him. His gaze locked with Katara's.
"I'll let everyone know," Katara said, then turned and shot down the path through the village.
"Fire Nation! Fire Nation! Get ready!" she called, blue eyes meeting the alarmed gaze of her fellow villagers. Cries of "What?" and "Hide the children!" met her ears, and an uncomfortable flashback met her.
She was running through the village again. Fear pierced her soul as the ash danced near her ears and fluttered past her shoulders in deadly beauty. "Mom! Mom!"
She faintly remembered looking at one of the ships and cursing the black birds on the flags. They waved so defiantly and powerfully, and just watching them made her run faster.
Katara saw a boy on one of the ships, a little bit older then her. His dark brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and his arms were crossed over expensive-looking red armor Katara had only dreamed she would ever wear. His gaze met hers and before she looked away he saw a flash of pity in his eyes, mixed with slight horror. When she looked back, he was gone.
Then, of course, running away from her mother, knowing it was wrong and at the same time not understanding that disobeying her mother might have saved her.
Katara shook it off painfully. She had a job to do.
Once she reached the end of the path, she looked at the ship again. Two others had joined it. She narrowed her eyes angrily, wishing she could fight with her brother and knowing that her waterbending was basically useless because she had no idea how to use it. Hopelessly, she watched the ships come steadily closer.
Katara was ushered into a random hut by some village woman. Things were blurry ; she didn't know who it was. There she waited.
It was in the moment when she heard warrior yells that she broke free from the hut and ran to support her brother. But it wasn't him who needed support. It was Aang.
He was standing across from a group of Fire Nation soldiers with his staff raised in warning.
"Leave these people alone," he demanded, pointing his staff forward.
"Who's going to make us? You?"
The voice sent chills down her spine and she peered into the soldiers to see a figure walking forward. The others parted ways for him and stood protectively beside him. Katara curiously looked over Aang's shoulder and her gaze locked with the figure's.
Alarm coursed through her as she saw gold under the burned red skin. A huge scar ripped across the boy's face and made the eye subjected to it a slit. The other was narrow, too, but the scar drew her attention until the boy noticed her staring.
Katara saw a spark of something in his eyes, but he seemed to shrug it off and returned his gaze to Aang.
"You're what? Ten?" The soldier smirked and Katara felt a surge of dislike go through her. She tried to fight down the other feeling - fear. The boy could hurt her, grab her and crush her under his powerful-looking arms...hug her to death. Katara could not hold back a smile, but she concealed it behind a hand and coughed weakly. He noticed.
He pulled off his helmet and Katara spotted a dark brown ponytail dangling behind him. With the helmet tucked under his arm, he walked forward until his face was mere inches from hers.
"Who's your friend?" He breathed on her face, but she knew the question was directed at Aang. His breath smelled like the ash that had danced around her face so long ago.
"How about you tell us who you are?" Aang pushed his staff in front of the boy's stomach and pushed him back. Katara's face chilled as the boy retreated.
"I am Prince Zuko," he said grandly, turning to Aang and raising his arms into the air, letting his helmet crash to the ground. "And we will take this place." He gestured to his fleet.
"Not if I can help it."
Aang stepped forward and suddenly Katara saw a flash of something in the prince's eyes. The prince smirked and narrowed his eyes.
"Bring it on, little boy," he purred, and he took a fighting stance, snow crunching sharply beneath him.
Katara felt complete awe that this boy, maybe three years older then her, would be willing to take over a peaceful village. Why?
Zuko's eyes met hers again, and Katara felt lightning coarse through her very veins. He seemed to feel it too, because he suddenly cringed and closed his eyes in pain. He looked up at her in awe-filled curiousity, as if wondering why looking at her had caused him pain. Nevertheless, after that glance, he did not look at her that way again.
But Katara wished he would.
The lightning that had gone through her had hurt, but it was exilirating. She could almost feel her hair stand up from the static between them. But Zuko did not look at her. He faced Aang with intensity, like he was trying not to look at her.
Obviously, he could not resist. He glanced her way.
Katara saw a flash of blue, a grunt of pain, and she felt herself scream.
"Zuko!" She ran over to his seemingly dying form and placed her hands on his chest. A glow came from her hands, and she saw Zuko - with shaggy hair - relax. Katara was bewildered and did not recongnize the flashback, but it couldn't have been a flashback, because this was the first time she had ever seen the prince, and he was obviously older here.
"Thank you, Katara," he whispered, laying before her with shaggy brown hair laying over his golden eyes.
"I'll save you from the pirates..."
Katara stared as the mental picture began to fade.
"I'll save you from..."
Zuko's face was barely visible as the darkness began to close in.
"I'll save you..."
"I'll save you..."
"I'll save...you..."
Katara was suddenly back to the present. She blinked away the picture of Zuko's body and was met by the concerned gaze of her brother.
"Katara! Your okay!" Sokka's face morphed into relief. Snot was now dried on his upper lip. He sniffed. "You just passed out on the ice. We thought you had a seizure or something. Anyway...
"The Fire Nation is gone. Aang fought them off. Kinda. So you're okay, right?"
Katara held her head and sat up. She was in her home, in a sleeping bag. She lay back down and nodded silently.
"Katara?" Sokka grabbed her cheek softly, as if she was fragile. "What's wrong? Usually you'd be teasing me for being concerned."
"I'm...fine. Really." She blinked slowly and sat up again. "Where's Aang?"
"He's keeping watch in case they try to come back. That guy's eye was jacked up, huh?" Sokka's weak attempt at humor made her smile.
"Yeah. His eyes...what color were they? Gold?" Katara caught Sokka's suspicious glance. She stared at him until he replied.
"I'd prefer to call them yellow. Like fire. Fire is yellow." Sokka tugged his wolftail and stood on a knee.
"I'll save you some bear-seal. Better hurry." Katara flinched wildly at his words. Sokka glanced at her oddly before shaking his head and leaving.
"I'll save you..." Katara heard herself whisper the words and she lay down yet again. Shivering, she wrapped the blanket tightly around herself. What did the words mean? And her vision...?
Katara sighed. She was either really tired or this boy meant something. Prince Zuko...he would play a part in her life...somehow. It was only a matter of time.