A: TLA © Bryke

A/N: Chapter has been edited. New readers, please read and review! :3

The Opposing Elements

Chapter 8 – Ashes and Dust

She couldn't breathe, she felt as if she was constricted, trapped... Breathless. Her throat resembled cotton wool; her head ached with a throbbing passion that rivalled her firebending. She watched with foggy eyes as her brother chipped away at the ice surrounding the vessel's bridge, Zuko could've bent it away, but he and Sokka weren't on the best of terms... Yet. Katara was still anxious about fully trusting her brother after years and years of sibling rivalry and trickery.

She wrapped the cloak around her, glancing across the ocean. Why did everything feel suffocated? So compact... It was depressing. She hadn't thought about what to do once she found Zuko again, she didn't expect to have Sokka to confess to all the things he had, nor to expect her to feel so caged. She felt like her inner fire was flickering, weaning towards extinguish. A sad smile graced her lips as she watched silently; Zuko trudged across the snow, his head hung low as he walked passed all the bloodshed, the corrupt colour of crimson tainted the crystalline snow, killing Katara's mood even more. A lot of blood had been spilt during the past fight.

She tilted her head back, staring up at the full moon, its beauty splashed across all of the patchy coldness. The sporadic stars in the sky shone with radiance; watching down on Katara.

Zuko looked back at the vessel, utterly surprised to see Katara directly behind him. He let out a little yelp as he lost his balance, his boots slipping from underneath him. He felt to the floor with an inaudible thump. Katara's light blue cloak swayed in the wind, just missing his body. She had attained it from the chest in her vessel before watching the boat sink to the ocean floor.

He stared at her; her golden eyes morphed into a bronze-silver colour, her skin looked darker than it was and she looked perpetual, she looked older than she actually was. For once, Zuko just stayed quiet, watching as she seemed to just stare at him, her gaze locking with his own. With a level of uncertainty, Zuko's gaze wavered, staring at the snow that was coating his fingers. Oh, right. I'm on the floor. With a huff, he heaved himself off the ground and carried on walking towards the sound of laughter and happy shouting.

Katara stared at his back, his form gradually shrinking as he sunk into the darkness. Without another thought, Katara's feet chased after him, her cloak following in the blistering wind. She walked alongside him, watching out the corner of her eye. His face remained the same as his feet sank heavily into the snow, his ethereal beauty was incomparable. You were the first one to ever listen to me, the first one to ever want the same thing as me.

Zuko led her into the border of the village, keeping his eyes peeled for his father. All the tribesmen and women stared at him; they were clearly surprised to see their waterbender back alive. "Where's my mother?" Fires flickered in an unorthodox way that couldn't be made by wind alone, "I wish to see her, where is she?" The flames grew larger, suddenly spouting into images. A large figure was created, by the looks of it, a firebender. It had a huge build, rippling muscle and destructive fire, beside him, a smaller, more fragile boy looked upon the monster. If one looked closely, it highly resembled Zuko; luckily, he was the only one who did. He watched in shock as the monster powered a lot of fire into one fist, striking the younger boy. The fires were all dancing together, people began to question their sanity; she arose from the floor, keeping their children close.

Zuko turned to Katara, expecting her to be moving her hands, only to find her with her head slightly bowed her hood was covering her face but he could see tears dripping from her face. Rigidly, Zuko paced his hand on Katara's shoulder, surprise eating away at her as she yelped and the flamed immediately extinguished. "Katara, what was that...?"

She looked up at him, "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking straight."

"How did you bend with your mind?"

"I-I-I don't kn-"

"ZUKO!" The frantic scream made the two benders face the village again, watching as his mother ran with her parka in her hands. Katara pulled the hood further over her face, shivering at the familiar voice.

"Son," the voice made her look up; to stare into the cold eyes of water, into ones that had permanently scarred Zuko, who had damaged him...

Ozai reared back as a fireball was suddenly hurled at him, his eyes going wide as the blue-cloaked form was instantaneously not so cloaked. He dived for the girl, his form pushing her down. She scraped her nails at his face, screaming a bloody murder, yelling at him in angry snarls and venomous poison, all the while, the village watched in shock.

"Father! Release her!" But Ozai didn't, instead he wrapped his fingers around her throat, radiating discreet heat into them almost to boiling point, watching as her skin began to blister. Then, the next minute, both of their bodies were encased in white fire. It was his turn to scream as if his body was being dragged across a thousand needles. The white fire didn't burn her skin though, because she was the wielder.

"Katara..." The soft voice was melodic and peaceful to the ears, it was calling to her, it wasn't high pitched and annoying nor was it low and dusty, it was just the right pitch... "Katara, wake up." With a grunt, Katara obeyed the command.

"Ursa..." Without a second thought, Katara wrapped her arms around the older woman, burying her face into her neck. Ursa's arms came around her, encasing her in safety.

"You've grown so much..." Tears began dripping down Ursa's face as she gripped the girl tighter, "thank you for bringing my boy home."

Katara gently pushed out of the hug, her eyes scanning her surroundings, "Ursa, he escaped by himself, I didn't do anything."

"You helped him, he would've died in them prisons if it weren't for you," Katara scooted further away, pulling at the furs that were wrapped around her bandaged abdomen.

"Wh-what happened? I can't remember anything..." Ursa looked away for a moment, before turning back to Katara.

"After you seen Ozai, Zuko's father, you attacked him. And you were on the floor, him on top of you. He was strangling you and the rest was white."

"White?"

"White fire." Katara gasped, seizing with shame.

"I burnt him..." Another thought never crossed Katara's mind. She ripped away from the bed, bolting out of the hut and into the snowy morning. Her bare feet immediately froze and turned numb, her undergarments had been added to, her abdomen was completely covered. She watched as people around her smiled at her, as if she hadn't caused their chief injury, as if she wasn't a firebender. "Where's Ozai?" An old woman, with greying hair and wrinkled eyes pointed a bony finger to a hut on the other side of the barricade.

"Watertribe folk do not harm ones young, child. Go to him, dare if you may. He doesn't deserve your apology."

Katara pushed the tent flap back, taken aback, Zuko yelled immediately, until he saw Katara. His eyes lost their rigidity and were bare for her to see, all emotions played across his face in that moment, his hands halted over Ozai's torso, a nasty burn gently being soothed.

He dropped the water and ran straight to her, forcing her against the icy wall, the hut had been made with straight box walls instead of curved ones. His clenched fists slammed against the wall beside her head. His back was hunched over, his lips pulled back in a snarl. "Why... Why did you do that...?" Zuko's head slumped, black locks falling onto her bare shoulder, his breathing was heavy and non-rhythmic, and she could feel his heart pounding in his chest... Or was it her own?

"Do what...?" Instead of him answering, his arms fell from beside her head, weaving behind and wrapping his pale fingers in her messy locks. He pulled her into him, bewilderment played on her features as she continued to stand there, her head buried from view in Zuko's chest.

Tears welled in her eyes as she just stood there, her arms – by their own accord – lifted and wrapped around his waist, making the embrace even tighter. She let her tears fall, all her turmoil and anger towards Ozai, towards Sokka, towards the Firenation. Zuko listened to her tears, his arms tightened around her, her feet just skimming the ground. He had caused this, If I hadn't have been such a hassle, If I hadn't had been captured, If I hadn't-

"Zuko." Superficially, the waterbender pulled away from Katara, turning and pushing her behind him. He looked at his 'father', watching as he arose from the morgue-like table, the blankets falling away, revealing the intimidating form of the man he had once loved. "Bitch." He addressed Katara with a predatory grin, his tongue flicking out to lick along his lips. If people saw Ozai, they would call him a deity; an ethereal being just like his son, but also, people said Evil made someone ugly, they were right.

"Your secret is out, Ozai, no point in trying to deny it." Ozai just seemed to shake his head, running his fingers through his black hair, looking gorgeous with a sweat-glistened body despite the burnt patches on his arm.

"I knew it'd come out sooner or later, I just didn't expect it to come out in the form of the Firenation princess." Then, something clicked.

"You're the one who sold Zuko out! You sent your wife's own son to a death sentence! You scum-bag!" As Katara's fists grew alight, her abdomen suddenly poured of pain. She dropped to the floor, clenched fists in front of her. She watched as blood dripped into the snow-white fur on the floor, choked coughs tore from her throat; the blood was making her dizzy. With an ounce of strength, her fists flickered with white, her feet clumsily found themselves, and she threw a final fireball at Ozai, catching him off guard and striking his face.

Before she passed out, the calls of her name and curses could be heard. So violent.

It had been four days since that incident; the whole village had taken turns on looking after Katara, because she wasn't awake yet. Sokka had begun helping the elders of the village build huts and dinner with the supplies from the ship.

Toph and Aang had been extremely worried about Katara's condition, so they were occupying themselves with teaching the children how to read and right from manuscripts from the ship, it wasn't ideal, but any education was better than none. Ozai had been stored in a metal cell down in the ship, Aang and Toph routinely checked on him, when they weren't teaching the children.

She was running so far, and so fast. She had been running for eternity, it seemed. The light at the end of the forest wouldn't get any closer, no matter how hard she tried. She tried calling out for her friends, for Ursa, for her brother, no-one would answer her. She truly felt alone; as if she was drowning in her own fire.

Ursa rubbed her temples, watching over Katara. It had been officially a week now, and the Northern Watertribe had sent a letter to the South requesting they send their warriors to Omashu to fight the war that was going to happen in a few days time. Aang and Toph, with several warriors were already 3 days into their travel to the soon-to-be battleground, but now they were requesting more? There were only about 20 men to start with!

"...Ur...Sa." Ursa gasped, dropping the letter, turning to face the writhing princess, her mocha hands were clutching at the bend cloth, setting it alight with little embers. She was about to call for help when the broken words reached her again, "run... He's...co-ming." Immediately, she ripped open the tent flap, jumping when she found Zuko standing there, his cheeks flushed red and his chest heaving up and down.

"He's... Escaped! I'm the only capable bender here; you need to take the villagers and run, mom." The wind howled outside, Katara's writhing intensified, her body arching up off the bed, her head hitting the ice-wall. Zuko covered the distance in three large steps, kneeling beside and feeling her temperature again, she was as hot as she was before.

Katara's writhing stopped, "Zu...ko." He whispered reassurances to her, watching as she seemed to calm down, "run." With that, her body dropped, her head lolling to the side.

"WHY?! Why won't you let me go back!?" Her arms pounded against the huge, oval egg; the shell not even breaking.

"You can go back as soon as he deems you ready." The calm voice drifted to her ears.

Katara's tears fell as she wrapped her arms around the red thing, "they need me!"

"Who?"

"The Watertribe!" She clutched at the egg tighter, begging for something to happen, wanting to go back so she could help... She felt so useless. "My friends will be slaughtered because Zuko can't defeat Ozai! They need me!"

Zuko watched in horror as Ozai stepped into the sunlight, his face held a cold, malicious smile, his eyes scanning the village with a blood lust. "Living a double life is exceptionally hard, Zuko." Zuko hurried with his bending, trying to seal the village in the ice-globe as quick as he could. "You think that could stop me? I will take my revenge, Zuko."

With that, he fired jets of embers from his fists, scorching the vessel before landing gracefully yards away from Zuko. "I have to admit, I'm at a disadvantage with me being surrounded by water," he tutted as if it wasn't a dilemma he just put himself into, it put Zuko on edge.

"What did you do to Katara?!" Zuko's snarl was vicious and desperate, his previous task finally completed.

"Oh, the Bitch? It's nothing, really. I just sent her to the Spirit World. If she's there and dies, so will her actual body. Slowly, her Chi is boiling her alive, you know." With that final speech, the battle began.

Zuko, please. Run, don't fight him... Katara watched with fright as the battle ensued, water whips and fire-daggers slashing at every part of each others' body available...open. She was petrified; her torment was making her shiver in fear, fear of the village, fear of Zuko's life.

"He's a powerful bender, Katara; even you had trouble with him." Katara glanced at the red egg, "he needs to learn how to want something, Katara. He needs to feel the pain of Evil. He needs to know what he'll become if he wins this fight." She didn't understand him, if he won the fight, he won the fight... "No, child. If Zuko is the victor of this fight, he'll be cast aside because of his secrecy. He let Ozai's deception live for longer than need be."

"And if he loses?"

"He dies."

"How does he win?" The egg seemed to rattle on the pedestal.

"Now that is the right question," on the egg's surface, a crack appeared, a red light shooting from the slim line. She stood, walking towards it. "How would this event occur if the roles were reversed?" That confused Katara... Roles were reversed? "If you were the waterbender." Katara's hand drifted to the light, everything stayed the same, except, when the hem of her long-sleeved shirt was encased in the light, it began to change colour; from a crimson red... to an oceanic blue. The light began to bleed blue, instinct told her to keep her hand there, it told her that it'd make her troubles go away, no longer the heir to the throne, no longer a wielder of such a destructive element, Zuko not being captured wouldn't have occurred, either.

But her heart told her otherwise, that it'd be worse than how it was now, that the mythical Avatar, wielder of all elements would no longer be an element; that she would care for him and he'd be the burden of her. She and Zuko would never be on the terms they're on now... With that, she pulled her hand away; the blue that had nearly overtaken the red disappeared instantly.

The fight was getting worse and worse, Ozai and Zuko were covered in each other's blood, gashes running along both of their bodies, clothes ripped and lying scattered around the battlefield. And Zuko was losing.

"He doesn't need me," the egg cracked more, light beginning to leak out and splash across the forestry of the Spirit World. "I need him." With that, the egg exploded.

Light. Katara threw all her weight behind its scaly body, ducking her head as it shot through the ice like a red line, the globe of ice turned a crimson red, before shooting outwards and covering every inch of white, blue, and every colour in different shades of red. It was like the sun had turned red. Everything; red. Except her.

The coiling amphibian wrapped itself around her body, not touching her, just around her. It hid her body from view, wanting to keep her power away from everyone but itself, its words were whispering in her ears, in her minds, in her gut. "Save them, use your power, Katara. Show them what you are made of." Red scaled enraptured her body; its heat was licking at her from all directions. And now it was time.

With a small breath, her hands were raised above her, her eyes opened; they were completely misted over in a red glow. Without a word, the dragon sunk into her skin, letting her absorb its power, its strength, its weaknesses; completely and wholly.

Zuko stared, his mouth slightly agape from the sight, it was so beautifully powerful... Ozai seemed to be thinking along the same lines. And then the world returned to its normal colour, Katara's eyes also returning.

She looked down as she floated, hitting the white snow with a soft thud. The long-sleeved arms had disappeared, now, her mocha appendages were revealed, red striped decorating her shoulder and wrists, and they were literally pulsing with power. "Thank you, Flame." She turned to Ozai, "This is my win, Ozai, stand down!"

Edited. :3 Please review! :)

BlackTorment