Heart of Stone
Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last Airbender® does not belong to me in any way whatsoever.
Chapter Two: Captured
Aang spent the night next to a small stream, just a mile or too upriver from where his ex-companions were camped. He found a medium-sized rock next to a tree and gently lay down, resting his head against the smooth surface of the rock. His face was pale and hardened, all throughout the day he had fought with himself, forcing his emotions back into himself. He had fought long and hard to hold the back his tears, but he could feel his eyes beginning to water.
Aang thought back to the day he had been freed from the iceberg. He remembered opening his eyes and looking into the eyes of the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He remembered all the times they had shared together, the good and the bad. He had taken months to finally realise the undying love he felt for her, he had been prepared to tell her everything today, if it hadn't been for him.
Why.
A single tear ran down the side of his face, and he began to softly cry again, his emotions gradually overwhelming him.
I loved you.
More tears slid down from his eyes, rolling down his cheeks and onto his chin, eventually falling to the ground. His quiet sobs grew louder and he began to thrash about wildly. He seemed on the verge of insanity. He got up and continued to thrash about, screaming. He started running towards a tree, his hands clenched into fists. Just as he was about to smash his hands into the tree trunk, his feet made contact with a rock. He tripped and fell. He toppled to the ground and hit his head against the base of the tree and then slowly lost consciousness.
But not anymore.
0o0o0o0o0
Katara heard his screams echo throughout the forest, a look of sadness on her face. It seemed for an eternity that she heard them, until she could not take it any longer. Aang had not returned to their camp that night and she knew exactly why.
She got out of her sleeping bag as quietly as she could, trying hard to not disturb the other sleeping figures. She looked from Toph, then Sokka and Iroh, before finally her eyes lay to rest on the sleeping figure of Zuko. She smiled softly to herself, watching the slow but steady rise and fall of his chest. She loved him. She moved over to him and knelt down, kissing his forehead gently before walking off quietly.
The screaming had come to an abrupt stop and an eerie silence had settled over the forest.
Katara came to a small stream, unknown to her that somewhere up this river, Aang lay unconscious.
She looked up into the moon and the starlit sky and clasped her hand around her mother's betrothal necklace.
Katara began to cry. She didn't know why she cried, or what she cried for, but she could feel as if she had lost someone or something very important to her. It would only be later that she finally realised what.
Katara felt a hand on her shoulder, but she didn't look up to see who it was, knowing who already.
"What's wrong?" Zuko asked her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders as she did.
"I…I don't know. It might be my mother…or…" Katara trailed off.
"You're thinking of him, aren't you?" he asked her gently, his voice barely above a whisper.
Sighing, Katara nodded, making an effort to wipe away her tears.
"I-w-what if he is isn't okay, what if he-he does something stupid?"
"He'll be alright, I'm sure he can look after himself." Zuko led Katara, his arms still around her shoulder, over to a fallen tree log and gently sat the both of them down.
"You're right. But-but what if he doesn't come back?"
Zuko didn't respond.
0o0o0o0o0
They snuck up on him as he lay there unconscious, shoving him carelessly into a metal cage. Then they left, as quietly as they had come, leaving only his glider staff behind.
0o0o0o0o0
Katara and Zuko woke early the next morning, picking out some fruit from their supplies and shoving it into their mouths. Then they started rolling up their sleeping bags, placing them onto Appa.
The flying bison had been unusually quiet this night, usually, he would snore so loudly in his sleep that it would create a huge gust of wind, waking everyone up at the same time.
Katara let Zuko pack the rest. She walked over to the log she and Zuko had been earlier that night and washed her face, then flicking the water off with a wave of her index finger. She sat there, shortly joined by Zuko, embracing each other. Katara made the move first, moving her lips over his…
0o0o0o0o0
Sokka woke when the sun was finally up high in the sky, near noon. He yawned loudly, looking to see where everyone had gone. He groaned, he had been the last one up again.
"So you're awake at last" Sokka heard Iroh say.
"Um, yeah" Sokka replied. "Is there any meat left?"
Iroh sighed. "No."
Sokka felt his heart drop, but then he saw his sister over near the stream, with Zuko, still passionately making out. He felt his blood boil, he felt like picking up his boomerang and slicing the exiled prince's head off.
Seething, he walked over to the two. "What…are…you…doing?" he hissed.
The pair looked up abruptly, then laughed at him and continued to make out.
0o0o0o0o0
It was past noon by the time they finally set off. They had waited for Aang to return, but after several hours and no sign of him, they finally accepted that he wasn't going to come back.
They were all really worried now.
"You must have really upset him, Katara" Sokka said. "What was it about anyway? And no, I don't want 'It was nothing' from you this time, I want the truth, what happened?"
Katara shook her head. "I-I can't tell you".
They climbed onto Appa, who began flying low over the forest. They all kept a close eye out for any sign of the airbender, except for Toph.
"I heard him screaming last night." Katara said.
"That isn't good" Sokka responded. "After we find him, you'll tell me everything, or I'll force it out of you. I may be stupid at times, but even I know that Aang would never abandon us."
After several hours of endless searching with no luck, they landed in a small clearing, much like the one that they had spent the night in. Appa flew down into the clearing, tired and needing rest. He fell asleep promptly, Momo nestled on his head. The others stayed asleep on his saddle, but Katara jumped off, wandering near the lake to fetch some water.
She dipped her hands into the cool water, bringing her hands to her mouth, enjoying the tasteless water roll down her throat.
I shouldn't have just come out and told him I didn't feel the same way for him like that, Katara thought. It's all my fault. Who knows what has happened to him…
She looked up and her eyes immediately came to rest on a rock. The rock had a small splotch of blood on it. She got up and walked over to it, bending down, eyeing the blood closely. It was fresh.
No. Please, no, she thought.
And then, hidden behind the rock, she saw a long shaft of wood poking out from behind the base of a tree. There she saw a larger splotch of blood, not by much, but still larger. She picked up the staff and immediately it came apart to reveal a glider used by the ancient Air Nomads.
She screamed. "Aang!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's Note: There you have it, the end of chapter two! I'm sorry it was so boring, and that it took me so long to update. If you've taken a look at my profile recently, you might have read that I was planning to re-write chapter one…well, that idea has been scrapped.
I'm very busy at the moment; my next chapter might not be for a while, possibly after Christmas even.
I have to say, the season finale was…amazing. I especially loved the last part of Crossroads of Destiny, when Aang gets hit by Azula's lightning bolt. Not that I like Aang getting hurt, that is, but more like the way Katara saved him. It almost made me cry the first time. I guess it's safe to say that ZUTARA IS DEAD.
By the way, Katara looks way better with her hair down.
If you have any questions you need to ask me, feel free to send me a PM. Until next time, please review!