Holy hell. I'm so sorry for keeping you guys waiting! I know I promised that the next chapter would come sooner rather than later and then all of a sudden I made you wait like two weeks…. I'm so sorry! My local newspaper asked me to write a piece about a baker I used to work for and, obviously, that takes precedence over this! But, to make up for it, this chapter is longer than expected, so, yea.
Also, another note, while I understand my last chapter was a tad unsavory for some of you, I would like to reiterate a comment I made earlier in the week after I got simply mobbed with hate mail. First off, this is JUST A STORY. I do not think it is necessary to repeat that I don't own these characters and therefore whatever I do with them is my business. If you disagree, please feel free to politely say so in the comments, otherwise butt the fuck out. Anyone who laces their comments with insults or rude mannerisms will be reported; anonymous or not. I do not allow such slander and am keeping a thorough record of the comments I receive. However, for those of you who have been posting comments in the appropriate manner, thank you for you continued support! And if not support, then politeness!
That being said, please enjoy my next chapter! (Chapter rated T)
The monks of the Southern Air Temple always used to lecture Aang on the practice of patience and meditation, yet his mind scurried in doubt as he paced back and forth before the door of the Earth King's throne room. There was something wrong, he could just sense it. His hand skimmed over the carved rock, the grooves of the water sign meeting his fingers as he remembered earthbending the contours into just the perfect shape in the wee hours of the morning. He hadn't slept well, and he wasn't sure if it was because of the meeting that surely wouldn't go as smoothly as hoped, or because of his worries about a certain Water Tribe woman. Sighing, he stopped to glance down at the rock before pocketing it and continuing his pacing. Toph's amused smirk was audible across the stone entrance way, and he glanced over at her in mild annoyance.
"What?" Why are you smirking?"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe because you're wearing a rut in the floor and the meeting hasn't even started yet?" She smiled this time, letting her grin linger for longer than he thought necessary. He simply grunted in response.
"Aang…," she sounded concerned but her voice trailed off as running footsteps rang in her sensitive ears.
"What is it?" He was suddenly very alert, and had stopped his pacing to stand by her side.
"Someone's running this way."
"Do you know who?"
"Not yet, but they're in a serious hurry."
Just then, the wide marble doors groaned and parted and a band of men with flowing verdigris robes crept through, all arguing in heightened voices.
"Oh! Just the man we need! Avatar Aang! It is with great honor that we welcome you to our city again." The men bowed in respect as a shorter, slightly plump man addressed the airbender. Aang recognized the man as a general in King Kuei's military, and he knew the King would be keen on seeing this man in particular take over command in Omashu.
"I am honored by your words, General Fuo." Both Avatar and blind earthbender bowed in return.
"Perhaps you can settle a debate the lot of us have been having!" The stocky man looked back at a fellow robed men and shook his head, obviously exaggerating his displeasure as he fought back a smirk.
"I'll do what I can, sir." But Aang's attention was swiftly drawn to the messenger rapidly approaching the party.
"Sir! Master Avatar sir! There is urgent news for you!" The man puffed with exhaustion as he handed a slip of paper to the airbender.
"Well, as you may know-," the general had already started into his monologue and while he didn't want to appear rude, the messenger stood staring at Aang as if he was expected to read it right then and there. Another glance at the blithering older officer and his colleagues, who had since rekindled their arguments, and he unraveled the ties holding the paper together, reading and it unfolded. His eyes sprung open in fear and worry and Toph laid a hand on his arm, sensing the emotions coursing through his body.
"Toph, it's terrible. Apparently a rebel group took advantage of our absence and kidnapped Katara." Toph gasped and clutched his arm more tightly.
"What else? That can't be it!"
"Zuko found her, and rescued her, but at great cost to both the political ties and to his soldiers. He did not mention anything else about Katara." He paused, sucking in air as if it would make him feel better. "Toph, what am I going to do?"
The room had gone deathly silent and Aang glanced up to look at the men before him. Every pair of eyes were on him and he felt a cold sweat start to form on the curve of his back.
"Is she okay?" A voice questioned.
"I don't know. I'm sure he would have said if she wasn't."
Well, is she injured?" It offered again.
Aang took a deep breath and spoke. "Men, King Kuei, Toph. Please excuse my sudden and highly uncustomary tactlessness. I need to go. I need to make sure Katara is alright. Please continue this meeting without me. It is of utmost importance that we select a new leader for Omashu as soon as possible, and it saddens me to not be able to be a part of this meeting." he bowed to the men quickly. "Master Toph has been advised as to whom I would like to see in power, and I can assure you she can persuade you better than I ever could. I'm sorry men, but I must go!" With a final bow of apology the airbender ran from the hallway, grasping the engagement necklace in his hand and praying he would not be too late.
"I'll tell you one thing," the Fire Lord's voice rang through the room, as he shuffled the healers out the door, "Your wounds are healing a lot faster than I was expecting." He crossed the bedroom and sat on the silk sheets beside her. She lay between them, resting comfortably after a session of healing with the palace waterbenders. He stretched out a finger to run it across the faint pink scar on her cheek, the only remnant of the deep cut that used the be there the night before.
"Perhaps it's because I'm a healer myself. Maybe I just naturally heal faster." Her voice was sleepy and he frowned, almost having forgotten the ordeal she had been through. Not to mention their session the night before. Her eyes closed and dark hair splayed casually across the pillow was comforting and oddly reassuring to him, though he wasn't sure how.
"I should let you rest. You've been through a lot."
"Mmmm," a hum came from behind slumberous features before her breathe evened out and she fell asleep.
He watched her a beat longer, wishing he could rest as soundly. But Zuko knew he had work to do. While it wasn't enough to have simply killed the men who had done this to her and to both Aang and himself, he also knew that there would be serious political repercussions that would strain out of the events that had occurred; it was best if he got back to circumventing the damage before it got too bad.
He stood then, leaning over to plant a small kiss on her forehead, before closing the door softly behind him. His short journey to the throne room was met with official after official and each had a new issue or problem needing attending to. The other rebels are demanding this, the people of the city think that, always something only he could handle. But he had done what was necessary to protect her, and he would damn well suffer the consequences. Too bad the same couldn't be said for his quickly fleeting nerves about the evening prior.
While it had been amazing, and it had been, Zuko was swiftly consumed with guilt. For touching her, for kissing her, and for taking her, oh for taking her sweet curves and supple breasts, how they bounced as he- No, he thought to himself. No, we're not going to enjoy that. I need to feel guilty, not… aroused. But even through the arousal he knew the guilt would always creep back, seeping into his thoughts like a toxic gas. Damn him for being so foolish. It was one thing to make sure she was okay, dammit. It's quite another to finally take your fill of her…. But wasn't it great? The slow, sly image returned to his head, marking his thoughts and threatening to unleash it's fire once more. No. It doesn't matter. It was wrong and I was wrong to initiate it.
The throne room was cool, quiet and dark, a welcome change to the constant distress that had surrounded him for the past day. The Fire Lord sighed, and lowering himself into his throne, ushered the men who were waiting in so they could tell him what they had discovered.
They bowed before him and a man spoke.
"My Lord, my elite team has returned with information on the rebel force which kidnapped Master Katara. It appears they were a separatist group originating out of the eastern Earth Kingdom. Our intelligence shows that they were led by a man whose last known connection was to the Dai Lee."
"No. That's impossible! We wiped out the Dai Lee when we took back Ba Sing Se!" Zuko's expression had turned hard and angry, rage clearly written throughout his features.
"My Lord, our source is good. He would not knowingly give out false information."
"So you're saying that the Dai Lee are still out there? They're still mobilizing to attack again!" His voice rang out into the near empty hall, and the men moved slightly back in restrained fear.
"It is unknown at this time if there are further agents out there. For right now, our source only knew of three rebels forces in the area. One you've wiped out and the other two are firebender rebels, sir." The man gulped and Zuko settled back into his throne, displeased with the information, but thankful to have it. He nodded.
"Alright men, but I'll need you to stay diligent. I want to know the second you learn anything further about the alleged Dai Lee rebels. This is more serious than you realize." The men nodded, bowed before their king, and left the room without another word.
Rubbing his face in his hands, a servant entered the room, seemingly rushed and very nervous.
"Uh, your majesty? Avatar Aang has just returned from Ba Sing Se and he is demanding to see either you or Master Katara right away, sir."
"Oh gods, this'll be good." Zuko said with a pained tone. "Let's get this over with."
The servant rushed from the room as Zuko followed, scurrying towards the palace gardens where Appa stood, grunting in annoyance from having to fly so fast.
"Where's Aang?" The Fire Lord studied the beast before it's tongue shot out to lick him in affection, causing Zuko to jump back, surprised but laughing.
"Um, I'm not sure your majesty. I will go and find him." The servant squeaked and started to hurry away.
"No, it's fine. I'm sure I know where he is." The servant nodded, bowed, and backed away, but Zuko remained, rubbing Appa's nose in deep contemplation. It was only after a few minutes of mindless affection that the sky bison grunted and sauntered off, content to find a patch of hay somewhere, and to meet up with Momo and swap stories only the two could understand. Smirking, the Fire Lord meandered away in the direction of his study.
"Katara?" His voice shook as he entered the room, the dark burgundy walls suddenly very reminiscent of a battle scene. When he heard no reply he cringed and forced himself further into the room, the bed coming into view as he opened his eyes. Empty. It was empty. But she's been here recently, he thought, quickly moving to its side. The sheets aren't drawn back properly and it's still warm, which means she has been in this bed within the hour. He stood looking about, hoping to find her. She's alive, but perhaps still very injured. The servants could have moved her to the healing room.
He was deep in theory as he wandered into the adjoining bathroom, so entwined in his thoughts that he almost walked straight into her, and she had to quickly step to the side to avoid him.
"Aang?!" A pair of strong warms arms encircled his neck and he blinked in sudden clarity.
"Katara, gods, you're okay!" He gazed her over head to foot, looking for anything that might give away her lagging health. "You look fine. Were you injured badly?"
"I was told I had a deep wound on my side and a gash on my cheek, but I was unconscious for most of it." Her voice was distant and suddenly her arms fell to her sides and she looked away. Instead he lifted her off the ground and carried her in his arms to the balcony.
At least he was happy to see me, she sighed to herself. But he'll be back to his aloof self in no time. This is just the novelty of danger. But, as she snuggled against his body, his arms holding her tight, she wished the moment would last forever.
"Katara?"
"Hmm?" She hummed against his chest.
"I'm so sorry that I wasn't there to protect you." His forehead landed on hers and his eyes sealed shut, holding back a fountain of uncustomary tears.
"Aang, it's not your fault…," Her hand lifted to his cheek, feeling the moisture.
"Yes, it is. Dammit." He looked away, cursing himself and she took a step back to look at him. "I swore I would protect you. And it's my duty!"
"Aang…"
"No, I promised you." His eyes shot to hers and she watched the grey turn to a glistening silver. "I let you down." He pushed on at her small protest. "I keep letting you down." She saw the regret flash in his gaze before he gave a final decisive nod.
After all this time, after all this waiting, was he really about to do what she feared he may do? And after last night…. She wasn't prepared for such tenderness after years of chill.
He shifted suddenly and bent himself, pulling her hand down with him as he held out a betrothal necklace, the dark obsidian stone bent and carved to form the Water Tribe symbol.
"Katara, daughter of Kya and Hakoda, will you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?" Her eyes grew wide with horror and, gasping, she took a couple steps backwards before turning to run as fast as she could.
Her mind raced as she moved from hallway to hallway, running blindly as servants and officials ducked out of her way. She turned a corner and stopped dead. With a whimper her eyes took in the doors of Zuko's private quarters. Tears streaked down her face as she threw them open, stumbling a few steps inside before Zuko turned to stare at her, his face lit with surprise.
"Katara, is everything-"
"You knew! You knew all along, and still you went ahead with your plan!"
"What?" His brows had drawn down in concern.
"You knew Aang was about to propose! He would have asked you for advice! And yet you just couldn't tell me that before you had taken your fill, could you?!" She threw her arms up, pointing a long finger accusingly at him.
"Katara, I-"
"NO! How could you Zuko?! You knew how Aang and I felt about each other, and then to go and lead me to believe that he didn't love me? Just so you could satisfy your desire? I trusted you, and you let me believe it was what I wanted, too!"
"What was what you wanted?" Aang's voice called from the doorway, his body moving into the room as Katara's had. "What's going on here?" His gaze moved between the Fire Lord and his refused fiancé.
"Aang, you and I need to speak in private." Zuko's tone was clipped and he face was oddly void of emotion as his eyes lingered on Katara's enraged ones.
She whimpered and looked down and away, her hand lifting to cover her mouth as fresh tears made their way down her cheeks. The Avatar watched her for a moment before drawing furious eyes on his old master.
"What did you do?" The airbender's anger was rising and Zuko's expression flashed in fear a moment before stubbornly returning to void.
"Aang, not here. Come with me." When he did not budge and the wind could be heard whipping about in the courtyard, Zuko moved to grab his arm. "She's been through enough, Aang. She doesn't need to be there to take sides when we have this conversation." Hot, maleficent eyes stared into his, and Zuko felt the subtle pangs of fear that only crept in when he lost control over a situation tie themselves around his heart. But the Avatar moved and left the room without any further words. With a quick, apologetic glance at Katara, Zuko followed him.
The second the pair entered the lower courtyard, Aang wheeled on his friend and froze him to the nearby stone wall. The Fire Lord let out a quiet curse of surprise and jerked at his confinement.
"Aang, seriously?! Be an adult!" His voice was testy and exasperated, made only worse by his struggle. The Avatar stood in front of him, eyes dark with fury. He said nothing and only stared as Zuko attempted to free himself. "Oh, yes, by all means. Stare at me. I'm sure that will fix it!" He spat at the quiet boy. "Let me out of this stupid trap or I'll do it myself." When no action was made the Fire Lord growled in displeasure and heated his entire body, melting the ice away as he landed on the cool grass. The pair glared at each other, defiant.
"I asked you to protect her, Zuko. And I return to find her having been abducted and something else she won't tell me? Why don't you start telling me just what exactly happened in my absence." The wind rustled to life again, a cool threat lacing the boy's words.
"Yes, she was abducted," Zuko sighed and bowed his head, regretful that he had to confirm that fact. "Honestly, I'm still working on the details of that one, but it appears the messenger I had assigned to you was really an Earth Kingdom rebel informant." Aang's expression rose in surprise, remembering the man Zuko mentioned.
"Lee was an informant?"
The Fire Lord nodded. "It appears so. But luckily I'm not as stupid so as to not suspect a traitor, which is how we came to discover her missing so quickly. One of my informants followed them and watched as she was ambushed. He was able to kill Lee but the others escaped into the forest. It only took a few hours to assemble a small army and find the camp, which we destroyed. I doubt we brought back prisoners... I was pretty upset." Zuko's voice trailed off for a moment before continuing. "I found her in a stone hut towards the middle of the camp. She was... injured." His eyes lifted to meet Aang's and he watched the grey turn to a molten silver. "There was a guard watching her, well, not watching; he was trying to grab at her- Uhm, nevermind." Zuko backtracked as he watched Aang's upper lip twitch into a snarl. "I grabbed him and killed him! Actually, I think I may have melted his face off, now that I give it thought..." His voice trailed off again and he bit his lip trying to recall all the murky details. He really had been desperate to save her...
"How had she been injured?" Aang's questioned pulled him from his thoughts.
"From what I could tell she had a gash on the side of her face, though I think that was self inflicted. She was thrashing about pretty good when she came to, and she watched me kill the guard. I think she was confused and didn't recognize me." He hurried on at Aang's increasingly distressed look. "At any rate, she passed out again after I entered the tent and I broke the stone cuffs off her arms and legs before rushing her out of there. I didn't have time to check for further injuries. When we got back, the only other one the healers found was a deep cut on her side; we're not sure how she got it." He watched Aang process the information and he sighed. "I don't think I realized just how badly she had scared me until after I got her back here. Until she was safe."
"Then what happened?" Zuko flinched, knowing it had been coming. He let out a long breath of air, preparing himself mentally for the conversation about to happen.
"Aang...," stalling for time, he hoped he would come up with something better to tell his friend. "You have to realize how vulnerable she looked. I don't think I've ever seen her like that... helpless. It was terrifying. It wasn't enough for me to make those who had hurt her suffer, I wanted to comfort her, to fix it however I could." So much for honor. "Aang... I slept with her."
"YOU WHAT?!" Zuko had expected fury, but he had never expected the Avatar to shake uncontrollably and suddenly lift off the ground, his eyes and tattoos glowing. The wind picked up and knocked the Fire Lord down, vines running across his body and picking him up so he hung limp in the wind. He would have struggled, but Zuko knew there was no point. It was in the hands of the gods now, whether or not he lived or died.
A sudden spike of ice slit the vine closest to his face, and Zuko called out in surprise as he dropped to the ground, Katara rushing over to check on him.
"He hasn't hurt you badly, has he?" Her voice was concerned but clipped. Zuko could only shake his head, a mixture of bewildered surprise and admiration for the girl rising up yet again. She was already gathering enough water to settle into her octopus pose, the watery tentacles encircling the glowing man and shaking him unmercilessly. The wind howled in his ears and the firebender watched as woman and Avatar struggled for control, the glowing body lifting higher and the waterbender yanking him back down again, his knees touching the ground before his arrows shadowed and ceased their glowing.
She ran to him then, holding him close as his body regained control over itself.
"By the gods, Aang, get a hold of yourself!" His eyes shot open to glare at her.
"You're defending him?!"
"Yes, I am, seeing as you were about to kill him!"
"I'd have good reason to kill him!" The Avatar stared daggers at the Fire Lord laying on the grass before him. "He swore to protect you, and look at how he succeeded! First he lets you get abducted, then he forces himself upon you!"
"Aang... I let him." Both men stared at her in astonishment. All were silent for a moment before the Avatar stood, shaking free of her hands.
"That's what you were arguing about. Whether or not you were going to tell me. I understand. No-" he cut off her attempt to protest, "I get it. You want to be together. Well who am I to stop you."
"Aang, that's not it!" But the boy had shrunk away, making a path back to the palace wall looking as broken as could be.
"Please, Aang, come back!" Her voice called out to the night, and she rose to face him, but he simply kept walking, his shoulders slumped and his feet dragging.
Zuko touched her wrist and, watching the Avatar's thin frame disappear around the corner, she fell into his arms, sobbing into the warm fabric of his tunic.
