Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender

WARNING: Characters, events and overall mostly everything is DIFFERENT than the series. I'm sorry, but it's my vision and a story at that.

I hope that you enjoy anyway =]


Rabbit Heart

Chapter 3

Katara ran.

She ran as fast as she could. Although she did not know why she was running. Whether or not she was running away from something or towards it. Was she running away from her friends, or towards her doom?

Katara wasn't sure which was true, maybe both. All she knew was that she needed to run, and that is exactly what she did. Her feet moved swiftly underneath her to the point where she didn't even feel them hit the ground as she dodged people and swerved to and fro. She had a general idea of where to go, and so she ran. The water bender figured that the place where the Fire Lord was hidden would not be hard to miss.

She continued to run, past people, trees, buildings. Until finally, she reached it. The Fire Lord's Temple. Katara could not believe it. The building itself looked at though it had been built out of molten lava and towered over ten stories above her head. She stopped when she saw the guarded gates.

Katara was prepared for this. For who wouldn't have guarded gates in the Fire Nation?

She ducked behind the trees and ran around to the other side of the wall where there was no one guarding. The water bender gathered her courage and grabbed a piece of jagged rock that formed the wall and began to ascend. As she reached the top, she became so proud of herself that she smiled and bounced over the edge.

Upon her way down, she felt something grab hold of her leg and froze.

"Girl!" screamed the guard, "Where do you think you are headed?" His face was masked with anger and he had two large scars across his right eyes that stretched to his mouth. And on his hands that were grabbing her, he had a very large burn mark that covered his entire hand.

Katara did not know what to do, so she remained silent and fell to the ground. He ordered her to stand and grabbed her arm forcefully, pulling her up and towards the Temple.

"Guess where I'm taking you?" he smiled an evil smile as he dragged her. Katara knew not to speak at this point and to just do as she was told. "The Fire Lord. He will know what to do with you."

But if he had only known that she wanted to go to Fire Lord Ozai, he might have not been so eager. Katara, although she was frightened of what might come, she was also very anxious to see him. To face the murderer that had killed her mother those years ago. The very man that she had sworn to kill that very night.

"Be prepared to suffer," the guard joked, "Suffer greatly."

When she reached the inside, she was tossed to a bench that was by two large doors, and the guard stepped through then. But not without threatening her that if she were to move, she would not be able to make it out of he Temple alive. And because of that, Katara sat on the cold, and hard cement bench that was surrounded by portraits of the many Fire Lord's before Lord Ozai.

But one portrait stuck out to her.

It was one of Zuko. It looked to be recent because he looked so distinguished, so sure of himself. Katara was reminded of the time when she had been trapped with him by his sister Azula. He had confided in her and she had confided in him of her mother's death and how it had been the Fire Nation's fault.

After that time, Zuko and her had a mutual understanding, and connection. Both of their mothers were killed when they were young and they were expected to live their lives normally as if it hadn't happened. But, as they both knew, life doesn't work like that. Life was cruel to them, but it shaped them differently. Zuko had grabbed onto his hate and used that to fuel him, while Katara, although she did have plenty of hate, she did not let it control her.

At least, not until recently.

Katara took a deep breath and automatically coughed. The air was musty and filled with smoke. She waited for what felt like days for the guard to return, and when he did, she wished that he didn't.

"Come with me," he said and grabbed her arm again.

"Ouch!" Katara exclaimed and took hold of her arm in agony. He merely looked at her and continued on. She felt like she had made a terrible mistake. What had she been thinking coming here? She couldn't possibly use water to save her. For all she had was a vile of it stored upon her person. And she sure as hell knew that the Temple did not have any abundant water sources lying about around her.

Her heart sank.

Katara felt as if she had gained two hundred pounds and her feet dragged on the floor. How could she be so stupid?

Finally, she felt stillness and noticed that she was no longer being dragged. She opened her eyes and looked up, only to find the Fire Lord, Zuko and Azula looking down on her.

She was thrown to the floor by the guard and left alone, waiting for her punishment.

"I hear you were trying to trespass by climbing over the wall?" the Fire Lord asked nonchalantly, head down, fingers twirling.

Katara gulped and nodded.

The Fire Lord looked up towards her and yelled, "You are a fool for trying to trespass here! Do you know the consequences?"

Katara took a deep breath. Now was her chance to do something. Anything. It was worth a shot at least. She came so far.

"Is it any better than what you had done to my mother?" she mumbled.

"Speak up, girl!"

Katara glared at him in the eyes and screamed, "IS IT ANY BETTER THAN WHAT YOU HAD DONE TO MY MOTHER?"

His eyes narrowed, "Is this what this is? Petty revenge?"

Kataras blood boiled with rage, "You KILLED my MOTHER! You BASTERD!" And with that she took her vile of water, changed it into an icicle, and threw it towards his heart. The Fire Lord was shocked, and did not block the blow. But Katara's aim was off because her eyes had began to fill with tears and instead of hitting his heart, the icicle punctured his left arm.

"A Water Bender…" Fire Lord Ozai said softly.

"Yes," Katara choked out, her throat closing in, "You came to my village five years ago and killed my mother!"

The Fire Lord waved his hand in a motion saying that he wanted someone to come closer. Katara felt arms underneath both of her armpits and soon she was in the air, going closer and closer to the Fire Lord.

He took her chin and examined her, pulling her chin this way and that. Until finally, his hand fell fast and he looked away.

"Look at me!" Katara exclaimed, "Remember my face! It is the same face as my mother. The woman that you MURDERED!"

"ENOUGH!" the Fire Lord blared.

"I remember your mother," he said softly.

Katara's eyes widened and she stepped back, tripping down a step.

"And I also remember how she looked," he began, "when I killed her!"

Katara burst into tears. Her face was covered by her hands and she was kneeling on the floor, shivering. Completely forgetting where she was and why she was here. For this moment, she finally received the recognition that she had wanted for years.

"And now, to see her daughter," he began, "What a pleasure. It is unfortunate that you will have to suffer the same fate."

"To the dungeons!" he ordered. Katara looked towards Zuko for support or a simple look of emotion on his face, but instead saw nothing. His face was turned away and his sister was chuckling to herself.

And before Katara knew it, she was locked into a small, dark and smoke filled dungeon. Just waiting for her release.

Authors Note:

I hope that you liked this chapter. I know, I know that a lot of things aren't making sense. But I'm sure that things will come together and there will be some twists and stuff coming at ya.

And I also know that everything is different and you must be mad. But hey, this is a FANfiction. It doesn't have to go with the book or the show.

But I do hope you like it.

And I do hope that you will review it.

=]