A/N: MeganAMusicLover here again. So here's the second chapter in this little angst fest! Anyone else curious as to what Zuko could have possibly done this time? Me too!
Hope you enjoy Zuko's temporary anguish, and thank you for reading!
Zuko was sitting at the head of the dining table, reading over the Daily Nation while eating breakfast, when he heard a small mutter of "oh!" and a hasty retreat out of the room.
Knowing exactly who it was, he got up quickly and followed the fleeing person out into the grand hall where he grabbed them by the shoulder in an effort to get them to stop.
The person made a sound resembling a growl and then turned to face him moodily, her eyes blazing. "What do you want, Zuko?"
Zuko pulled his hand away from her hostility, his face falling, and a stinging rising in his golden eyes. He still wasn't used to this violent reaction to him, and was of course clueless as to what had caused it.
He thought that they had moved past this perpetual hatred towards him years ago… but apparently he was mistaken.
Only a few seconds had passed for him to realize all of that, and then another two and thirty-five hundredths for him to get angry himself. "Oh, nothing Katara. Just thought I would maybe catch up with one of my best friends who has somehow been living under my roof for three weeks without telling me a single 'hello,' let alone having a conversation with me. But I can see you still aren't interested in that. Good day," Zuko bowed to her with contempt and turned quickly on his heel.
As he was halfway across the hall he heard a small, "wait," followed by a sigh and the sound that one makes when their throat is closing off with grief and just breathing becomes too much of an effort.
He stopped, head bowed and grief closing his own throat. "I know that I've acted deplorably. And I'm sorry. I've just been having a rough time of it, with all that's been going on…" Katara's voice was nearly inaudible as she confessed her sins and the reasoning behind them.
Zuko pushed his hair back from his eyes and looked toward the ceiling. He had taken to wearing it the way he had during the portion of the Hundred Years' War in which he fought for good. It made him feel like he was that much less connected to his father and this monarchy which had been tainted by selfishness and evil so many times.
Turning on his heel again, more slowly this time, Zuko walked toward Katara and hugged her in his arms, burying his face into her long locks that smelled so sweetly of arctic springtime and spices from that distant land that she called home. Her arms encircled him as well, and he felt her bury her own face into his torso; he also felt her tears leak out and leech through his traditional Firelord robes.
Pulling her back from him, he searched her face and wiped her tears away with his thumb, before bringing her back to the dining room.
As they sat down, speaking seemed to again become a difficult task, and the air was thick with grief and other charged emotions; one of them namely being anger, accompanied by frustration. However Zuko tried to keep these in check as he looked into her Sapphire eyes, bright with tears.
"I know you're hurting, and I can understand why Katara. I just wish that for everyone's sake, especially your own, that you would enjoy yourself during the time you take away from the South Pole," Zuko tried to reason with her. "You being miserable isn't going to help anyone."
She shut her eyes tightly and covered them forcefully with her small hands, wound into tight balls. "Zuko, how can I enjoy myself at a time like this? I shouldn't even be here. Being here is a waste of time and not at all necessary. Sokka and I don't both need to be here, yet you demand both of us. You know how difficult a time this is for us! Why would you make us both come here!?" Her voice was rising steadily with anger.
Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose. He tried to keep his anger in check, but already he could feel the frustration peeking out from within him in the form of the smoke inhabiting his nostrils. They flared as he said, "I know you hate these meetings of diplomacy. But they are a necessary evil to keep balance and peace between all four nations. And as for why both you and Sokka need to be here, you know that you are two of the most highly respected citizens from the southern water tribe, let alone the entire world, and that you especially need to be here because you are the second most powerful waterbender in the world. The fact that you are so willing to accept the idea of shirking your responsibilities over such a typical matter is ridiculous. You should be ashamed." Zuko had only gotten the poorly planned words out for two seconds before Katara exploded.
"I should be ashamed? Do you have any idea how hard I have tried to hold myself together for exactly those reasons that you listed? Any idea how hard it has been for me to be here when my father is dying Zuko, dying?! He is on his death bed, and might take his last breath at any moment while I'm not even there to comfort him, take care of him, let alone say goodbye to him, and you want me to feel ashamed for disliking the fact that I have to be here for routine peace-keeping meetings? If you thought I would take that lying down then you have another thing coming. Do you think I haven't noticed you trying to court me in the past few weeks? That I haven't noticed the way you have been looking at me, and trying to woo me? Well here's a news flash, I have much more important things on my mind than having casual chats with you while you try to work up the nerve to finally make a move on me. And how hypocritical of you to tell me I've been ridiculous to want to shirk my responsibilities, when you don't even wear your hair the way that you should, and you've been going after a girl whose dad is near death! I'm not the one who should be ashamed Zuko, no, you are!" And with that out, Zuko saw tears finally escape from Katara's eyes and flow down in streams over her red, upset face.
She stood so fast that her chair was knocked behind her, and she yet again bolted from the room, but this time Zuko followed her even more slowly than before. He barely caught up to her in the great hall in time to get slapped with all of the water that had previously taken up space in the fountain inhabiting the middle of the room. In his frustration and rage at having said exactly the opposite of what he meant to, as per usual for him, he punched the wall and accidentally blew up the entire great hall.
Yet even through all of the noise from the collapsing walls and ceiling, the fire now raging through the palace, and the pounding of angry blood in his own ears, he could still hear the haunting noise of Katara's sobbing getting softer and softer down the hallway. And it broke him.
A/N: And there you have it folks: Zuko's latest screw-up. What will the gang think of that? I daresy we shall find out in the next installment of A Guide to Losing Love and to Winning It.
Hope you enjoyed, and feel free to review if you liked, or if you didn't like; have a wonderful day!
