I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender, or any of the names or characters of the show. I merely control them for my own twisted pleasure from this point in the story on.

Chapter 22: We All Fall Down

Katara looked at the old face she now knew as a friend and then at the one above it that belonged to an old enemy.

"No…" the dismayed whisper escaped her lips before she could stop it and she covered her mouth with her hands. It wasn't true. It couldn't be true. She searched for something to prove that what was running through her head was false.

Horror filled her as events and circumstances started clicking together in her head like a giant jigsaw puzzle. It was like the big picture that she'd been missing had abruptly appeared and suddenly all the pieces fit wrong.

A mask to hide his face.

"So, does he have a horrible scar on his face or something?" She asked. When the old man tripped slightly on the underbrush and straightened with a cough, she looked at him in confusion

Silence to hide his voice.

Slowly the bruise disappeared and her face broke into a smile. "There. With your neck healed you can talk to me," she said excitedly, but when he shook his head, her spirits fell.

And evasion when all else failed.

The rescue from General Sho had all been to capture Aang for himself, nothing else.

Taking care of her had been nothing but taking care of bait. Not letting her die had been all because he'd need her later.

Cold rage filled her until it felt like someone had bended ice around her whole body.

How dare he!? How could he do something like this! Leading her on like he was a friend! Get her to trust him and then act the way he had been acting all along. Making her feel this way about him!

How dare he pretend to like her back? Using her own feelings against her, just…

Just like Jet. Only this time, it hurt so much more.

She tore the poster off the board and held it in her fisted hand as she made her way back to camp, fully prepared to ask him about it and then hammer him into a tree. Maybe even through a tree.

How dare he? It was all she could think as she marched her way back. She should have known all along, should have put it together. There were so many clues now that she looked back on their time together.

A big one was that she'd been sure he was a firebender. And now she was doubly sure. She felt like a complete moron! How could she have not known after all the time they spent together!

But as the thought reached her heart, she suddenly knew exactly why.

He'd done such a good job at acting that she'd believed him capable of liking her back, maybe even loving her back. And that was something she wasn't sure Prince Zuko could do. She wasn't even sure it was something he could fake either.

She stopped walking and dropped her fists to her side, not sure she wanted to go on. Could she even face him anymore? Something told her that the next time she saw him, she'd start crying. What was even worse was that despite what she'd learned, she wanted to see him again.

She started off towards camp again but veered off course to buy her some time to think. She knew she couldn't face him until she'd made some really important decisions. Most importantly, what would happen if she was right about who the Blue Spirit really was? And how could she make sure? Asking him directly would be rude, especially if he wasn't Prince Zuko.

Angry that she'd let her heart fool her again, she seriously considered not listening to it anymore. But the more she wanted to get angry, the more she asked herself if it was really worth it.

It hadn't mattered what he looked like before and it shouldn't matter now. Remembering all the things that Prince Zuko had done to her and her brother in the past, it was hard to believe that their enemy could do something like this. He didn't seem like the type to play cheap tricks on people; he had more honor than that.

She wanted to scream in frustration and take it all out on that stupid Blue Spirit! Katara was getting closer and closer to camp, and not at all ready for what might happen when she got there.

She could run; it was always a choice. But for some reason, it didn't feel like the right choice. Running would only make him worry. She wasn't sure if her assumptions were correct, and she didn't want to do that to Lee. But if she went back and he really was Prince Zuko, she would know. Now that there was a big picture, there were ways for her to find out the truth.

Having come to a decision, somewhat, Katara turned and started heading in the right direction. It would take her ten more minutes to walk to camp, and she would need every one of them to gather enough courage for what she was about to do next. Just enough to learn she was sure, and then she knew that rage would give her the rest.

She didn't nearly have enough on hand to confront him when, after only five minutes, she saw him through the trees. She almost called out to him and stopped herself from doing the automatic reaction. What was he doing out here in the dark anyway? She stopped walking and hid from his view, knowing she was being childish.

Hiding behind a large tree, she looked around the trunk to see if she could figure out what he was doing. His back was turned away from her and he was on his knees on the ground. Katara narrowed her eyes, trying to get a better look.

This would be the perfect time to talk to him alone, but when she tried to move forward towards him, something held her back. A deep empty feeling in her stomach hurt her so badly she couldn't move. Pain hit her from somewhere she couldn't place and she stumbled back around the tree, away from him.

The pain was fear; she placed it after a few seconds. So, this would tear her apart from the inside out? She felt hot tears fall down her cheek and she thought about how she could ruin everything they had, and destroy everything that might have been, all because she couldn't let things go.

She wiped away her tears, knowing that if he found her he wouldn't understand. She would pretend she hadn't seen the poster; it was the only thing she could think of to do. She would pretend she didn't think he was Prince Zuko and just lie in wait for him to do something to earn her distrust. As far as she knew, he'd been nothing but sweet and kind and caring to her, and to betray him like this was silly.

She inhaled deeply and went around the tree, only to find that he'd already gone. Equal parts disappointment and relief filled her as she just stood there for a moment. Turning her gaze to the night sky and smelling their campfire on the wind, she wondered if he knew how much he meant to her and how much this was hurting her inside.

She started walking back toward camp. As she passed by where she'd seen him, she looked down at the ground and saw a clump of earth that was different from the rest. Shock filled her and she went to the ground, digging through the dirt until her hands found what she had been looking for. As she held them up in the dark, her mind was full of questions.

The Eternity dolls? He'd buried them? She ran her hands over them, and brought them close to her face. Her name was still on the back if the female doll, but she couldn't bring herself to look at the male doll just yet. She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths.

What had he written, if anything at all? He might have buried it to make her think he'd put his name on it, leading her on even more. He might have even put a name on it, put she knew it would say "Lee" either way.

Holding her breath, she opened her eyes and stared down at the male doll, but soon everything went fuzzy as she became blinded by her tears.

The doll had a name on it, and that name was Zuko.

Zuko heard her walk up behind him just as he started sharpening the Daos he'd gotten back from his uncle. Knowing he'd get lost if he went after her and having nothing to do but wait for her to get back, he'd fallen into the old habit of working the blade back into the edge it had before battle.

He was nervous; he did things like that when he was nervous.

Her presence alerted him to the fact that his uncle was nowhere to be seen, and he thanked the old man silently for that one small favor. She took a deep breath behind him, and he turned to her.

Even in the firelight, he could see she'd been crying. Worried, he dropped his swords and rushed over to her, taking her face in his hands. When she didn't smile up at him reassuringly, he knew something was terribly wrong.

"I couldn't understand before," she began, and he tilted his head, "why you wouldn't talk to me." She visibly gulped, and his hands dropped to his sides.

There was a feeling at the very bottom of his stomach that he remembered from childhood. Whenever he knew he was going to get in trouble with his mother, that feeling would always be there. Except that now, it was so much worse.

"But I think I understand now." She looked down and he followed her gaze to her dirt covered hands, and the feeling got worse.

She knew.

"I mean, I'm pretty sure, but I was thinking the whole way back that, you know, you're not like him at all." Her fists clenched, and he held his breath. "And then I realized; you're not him. Not in the way I first thought."

She tilted her head up to meet his eyes and he saw she was crying again. "It's stupid isn't it?" Her tears and her forced smile cut him deeply, "I mean how could you be two people at once?"

He desperately wanted to reach out and touch her, but he was afraid that she would stop talking, and this was something he knew she needed to say. It had to take so much courage to confront him like this.

"And I think I figured it out." She reached up to his face, and laid the tips of her fingers on his mask. "It's the mask. You wear it to hide a face you're ashamed of. And not because of a scar, or dishonor, or anything like that, but because that face holds back who you really are. It makes you a puppet, and keeps you from being yourself."

He didn't stop her when she slowly reached behind his head to untie the mask. If she knew, then she knew; he would love her no matter what she did to him.

For the first time since the start of their journey, as she slid the mask from his face, he looked upon her with his own eyes instead of through someone else's.

"See, that wasn't so hard," she said warmly as she finally smiled at him.

She reached up to push his hood back and giggled. "I like your hair," she said as she ran her fingers through it gently. He couldn't help but smile; he took her hand and laid it on his cheek, closing his eyes and just feeling her. He froze when she ran her thumb over the bottom of his scar and his breath caught in his throat.

Did she think it was ugly? Did it repulse her like it did everyone else? He was afraid to open his eyes, afraid to see the look on her face. She placed her other had on his other cheek and drew him down to gently kiss his scarred eyelid.

That surprised him enough to open his eyes and look into her blue ones. He tried to speak, but she laid a finger over his lips and shhed quietly. He had no idea what to do, so he did nothing.

Nothing but look at her. What he wouldn't give to stay right here forever.

She lifted her head to meet his lips with her own, and Zuko felt time stop as he slid his arms around her, never wanting to let her go.

This is where my Author Notes go...Enjoy.

I wanted to get the fic finished by Friday because of Lake Laogai, but I didn't make it. I still have few more chapters to write, so don't worry: this isn't the end.

This chapter still turned out way different than I originally thought, just like the rest of the fic, and I like it a lot better this way…not that my opinion counts

-smile-

OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!! Someone drew a picture of the Eternity DOLLS!!!! -freaks out- Check out the picture on my profile.

Again, because I don't have time for a beta, forgive any typos you see. Please and thank you.

Reviews make our week. –giggle-