Preamble (because this author is bored): A teenage girl sits in front of a television, snacking and watching Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender, Episode Part 4: Sozin's Comet, 'Avatar Aang'.
Mai enters Zuko's royal room. They start blabbering.
"What the hell! I thought Zuko and Katara had a little something-something going on!" said teenage girl screaming and throwing her licorice sticks at a very stunned sister sitting near her.
Mai and Zuko kissed.
"Tell me this is a joke." Teenage girl crosses her arms over her chest and heaves a big sigh.
Very stunned sister says in glee, "Go Kataang!"
Teenage girl storms out before the episode finishes, grumbling to herself and reaching for the phone to call a friend to shout together about the audacity of Maiko in Avatar.
Therefore, she does not own Avatar.
"Well I damn wish I did!" teenage girl screams at the overhead narrator.
Pieces of Me (by Ashlee Simpson)
Fall... Sometimes I fall so fast,
When I hit that bottom 'crash',
You're all I have
And in the end, if the only choice that life has left you, is a choice between something and nothing, don't you in fact…
…have no choice at all?
Zuko's knuckles were turning whiter the harder he grasped the whip – it was as though his life depended on it. Beads of sweat trickled down his temples, as he watched Katara look at him, her face unreadable.
'She probably thinks I'm just like Azula. Like I'd pull another trick again, like I'm heartless and evil. Like the mutual friendship we had obtained meant nothing.'
Zuko's chest tightened, his breathing strained. Decisions like these were always so hard to make, and Zuko was bad with decisions.
'A peasant wouldn't understand. Royalty would. Azula and Father would,' The banished prince thought, straightening his shoulders and looking down at Katara with slight disdain. For a moment, his shoulders slumped a bit.
With a stunning realisation, Zuko mentally slapped himself, breathing in a ragged breath. That's when it hit him.
'This was a good thing. Forget all these feelings for her; even those little inklings I had. There wasn't even supposed to be any. Following the path that was against Azula would only lead to pain and regret. Indeed I shouldn't want this, should I? This was a good thing. A good thing…
…that I wanted no part of.'
He swung the whip down, and instead of striking the thick rope against Katara's hunched body, he let his arm swing all the way, flung his whole body around, and whipped Azula instead, who stood behind him. Everything happened in stop motion.
The whip made contact with the Azula's left cheek, sending her hurling back in defense. The guards ran over to aid their Fire Princess; the lieutenant standing there with his mouth agape in shock.
Katara wasted no time in hesitating, collected her breath and lifted her chained arms, her hands bending and swaying. In reluctance, the lieutenant started walking to her, his hand holding the bunch of keys.
"You fool! You're no brother of mine!" Azula shrieked at Zuko, the guards around her flinching at the intensity of her rage.
She shot a concentrated lightning bolt at Zuko, who sidestepped and dodged her attack, missing it by inches.
"Give in Azula, and maybe I won't hurt you yet." Azula narrowed her eyes and answered with mock sympathy.
"What are you going to do? Tell Mother?" The comment hit Zuko straight home. It was a verbal attack right for the jugular. He took a deep breath and focused driving out more flames at her, while Katara battled her own adversities.
The lieutenant had already, much as he didn't want to, unlocked her chains and was now thrown to the opposite end of chamber. Katara stood up and readied herself, slowly raising her hands up. Being vanquished from those chains had an effect on her – the liberation made her feel rejuvenated. The guards were still standing there in shock after seeing her controlling their lieutenant, and backed away cowardly, backing into the metal walls. The metal grates on the floor suddenly started shaking so violently, that everybody stopped fighting for a moment and looked around curiously. Even Azula stopped attacking Zuko and looked at a metal grate near her. In a few seconds, Azula deduced the source right away.
"Stop her!" she shouted, ordering the guards near Katara. They hesitated a moment longer than supposedly expected to.
"Then I will!" She started charging up another lightning bolt, but Zuko lunged forward and knocked into her, tackling her to the ground and causing the lightning bolt to go off course and striking the ceiling instead.
Katara took a deep breath and her arms rose higher, and hot water spurted out of the grates, scalding the unsuspecting guards who tried pursuing the Waterbender. Their collective screams ran cold in the chamber, and Katara started bending a long stream of steaming water around her to fend off the others.
Azula pushed Zuko roughly off her, and shot a lightning bolt at Katara in anger. Katara threw the jet of water up in the air and it fell down, forming a curved dome around her, and then quickly turned it into ice before the bolt came into contact with the water dome which would have short-circuited her. The lightning bolt cracked into the dome, resulting in small splinters falling off. Meanwhile, Zuko jumped onto Azula, his knees cracking down on her spine, pinning her down. A scream of pain mixed with rage rang out, and unable to move her arms, she started wildly kicking and pointlessly sending out blue flames in every direction her legs could swing in. The guards were unable to help, as they feared her uncontrolled blue flames.
Katara had trapped two guards in her dome and two metal grates, so she was sufficiently supplied with the source to detain them. One guard shot flames at her, and she dodged and whipped him aside with a hot stream of water that curled protectively around her waist. She made the water seep out of the grates, and it flooded around the guards, and they suddenly stopped attacking and hopped around, trying to avoid stepping into the hot puddles. She controlled pushing the water forward so that it cornered both of them and they had to step on the grates, one each. The water seeped back into the grates, and the guards looked up at Katara, who now gave a small knowing smile, thrusting her arms in the air, making the water shoot up from the grates and freeze around their legs. Then she let her arms drop and the dome of ice melted and midway, she froze the water droplets into icicles and shot them outwards all around her, pinning all the rest of the guards to the ground.
Azula looked on in fury as all the guards were rendered useless by a Watertribe peasant. She let out a scream, and blue flames shot out of her mouth, and everyone flinched. She burned a hole through the ceiling, and the melted metal dripped from the top. Katara ran and hit the dangerous liquid aside with a water whip, preventing it from making contact with the pinned guards below. She collected the hot water around her legs, and froze them upwards, making a roughly shaped staircase.
"Zuko! Let's go!" she said, running up without hesitation. Zuko glanced in bewilderment at her, and shot back a grateful look, then suddenly shook his head.
"You go on ahead!" he replied, still pinning down Azula. She kicked her legs again in response.
"Where's the rest of my guards?" she screamed, and as if on cue, footsteps came thudding down the metal corridor. Katara paused, and a look of fear was exchanged between her and the Fire Prince.
3 days ago.
"I know I shouldn't say this, Twinkletoes, but this is by far the most stupid, insane thing you've ever done," Toph commented, lying on Appa, her head propped up with her hands.
"What happened to Katara?" Sokka squawked, his voice breaking at the shrillness.
Aang sat on Appa's head and kept quiet, staring ahead stonily. "I don't know, Sokka, for the third time." His voice was monotonous, although it sounded concealed, as if he was hiding his feelings about it. Or maybe, just what he had witnessed.
"What happened to Katara?" Sokka squawked again, walking in circles nervously on Appa's saddle. Appa let out a growl, noticing the absence of one member in the group.
"Calm down for a moment, Sokka," Toph said, her voice even. "We'll just find 'em then break her outta there. Where ever she is. Easy." Sokka started chewing on his knuckles.
"What if Azula had – "
"Stop worrying, Sokka! I'm sorry, okay?" Aang interrupted, squeezing his eyes shut. "We'll find out where they are!"
Sokka sat down furiously, refusing to answer the Avatar. Ever since he and Toph found out about an hour ago, he had been particularly furious at Aang for leaving Katara behind.
"I still can't believe you left my sister with a couple of thousand Dai Li fancy pants and two poorly brought up Ozai-insane children!" he grumbled, lying against at the side of Appa's saddle.
Aang closed his eyes for awhile, and remembered the whole event again in pain and regret. "Look guys, I'm really sorry, but I wasn't thinking straight back there! I promise nothing will happen to Katara. We'll find her and get her out."
Nobody said anything for a while, and Momo sat there, purring in her lemur language.
Toph bit her bottom lip and said the obvious question in everyone's minds.
"How?"
1 day after that, still 2 days ago.
"This place is way better than Ba Sing Se," Toph grinned, as they walked around a Fire Nation village.
"I have an idea guys! We find somebody here and ask him where Katara would be at!" Aang perked up, Momo startled by the sudden jerk when Aang stiffened his shoulders.
"Oh yeah, we could just march up to an old man and say 'Hey mister, do you know where your crazy Fire Princess has taken our friend to?' and the man will say 'Oh no I don't know, but how in Four Nations did she even get caught?' and we'll say 'Oh well, the Avatar here just left her behind to eat blue flames and have a shockful of lightning to the mouth.'" Sokka made a cutting motion at his neck. Aang glared at him then sighed.
"I told you I'm sorry, Sokka!" Aang said in indignation, crossing his arms.
"Yep, and that's the fiftieth time so far you have," Toph shrugged, picking up a stray apple on the ground. Sokka glared at Toph.
"You don't care, do you, Toph?" He jabbed an accusing finger in the blind Earthbender's direction. She rubbed the apple against her dirty shirt and shrugged again.
"Look, Snoozles, Twinkletoes did what he did, and there's no going back. It's clear as day obvious the only way we can contribute to all this unnecessary grief is to all help and try to find out where Sugar Queen could be imprisoned at." She sunk her teeth into the apple, and juice trickled down her chin, and she licked her lips. Sokka sighed in defeat and crossed his arms at his chest.
"Fine," he grumbled, tossing his head. Aang nodded once in approval, and they started walking again.
Sokka accidentally bumped into an elderly man, who wore a sun hat that shaded his eyes. He wore old red Fire Nation clothes, and had a portly stomach. He looked up briefly and quickly glanced down.
"I am sorry, young man." He continued walking on his way.
Aang stopped midway. "His voice sounded familiar!"
Toph stopped midway. "His footsteps sounded familiar!"
Sokka stopped midway. "His hat looked familiar! I saw it in one of those small shops around!"
Aang looked at Sokka, blinking, and Toph sighed. Sokka shrugged. "I can't be gifted like the rest of you."
Toph and Aang cracked up laughing, doubling over and then they realised guiltily, that this was the first time in a long time they had a good laughter like that.
They hurried after the old man, rounding corners trying to find him. Aang ran ahead, using his air bending as an advantage, and Toph tried feeling his familiar footsteps. Sokka, well, Sokka tried to find him too, in the traditional way, by running. They scoured almost the whole village, before finally getting a breather in an alleyway.
"I think he disintegrated off the land," Sokka commented, bending down to touch his knees, breathing in raggedly.
"I think he melted. Disintegration sounds a little off, even for you Sokka," Toph mused.
"I don't think so," Aang disagreed, sitting down.
Toph's eyebrows knitted in confusion. "Wait guys. I hear something."
Sokka pointed at Momo. "It's probably Momo's stomach. I noticed recently that he digests noisily," Sokka mockingly tut-tutted at the stunned lemur.
"Out of all the lemurs in the temple, the only one that survived is the one with the poor digestive system." He threw up his hands in proving his point.
Aang kept quiet, and looked down. "I understand you're upset at me because of Katara, Sokka, but don't start jabbing insults pointedly at my nation or anything about it!"
Sokka flinched, and turned to Aang. "Sorry Aang, I'm just a little cranky with the whole chasing thing, and plus with Katara's incident, I'm just irritated." He sat down too, and placed a hand on Aang's small shoulder. "Sorry about that comment." Aang looked up and gave a small smile.
"Guys, it's not Momo, quit your male bonding!" Toph said, trying to get their attention. "It's him!"
Aang turned his head and saw a figure approaching them from the end of the alleyway. He strained his eyes, and tried figuring out who he was. Sokka noticed Aang squinting his eyes.
"Who's that?" Toph quietly asked, her question directed at Aang.
Aang snapped out of his trance and looked questioningly at Sokka and Toph. "Who's who?"
Sokka pointed lazily at the figure who was getting closer. "Uh, the guy who's breaking your neck."
Toph stifled a giggle and covered her mouth. Aang rolled his eyes and stood up, ready to greet the stranger.
"So the Avatar is hiding from the Fire Nation in the Fire Nation lands." The voice sounded familiar. Sokka and Toph stood up as well, wondering who he was.
"I won't hurt you. I just want to ask you what happened to my nephew."
"Iroh?" Aang questioned in disbelief.
Exactly 1 day ago.
"After we found them in the catacombs, I slipped out to make sure guards weren't coming so you could get out," Iroh explained, walking around the table pouring tea into their respective tea cups. Aang, Toph and Sokka were seated around the table, and Iroh settled down at the head of the table. Aang nodded, remembering.
"Katara and I fought against Azula and Zuko," Aang cut in. "Then I kept dodging Azula's lightning bolts and fire. Then an explosion happened, and the next thing I knew, Katara was on the ground, bleeding and hurt."
Sokka's eyes widened. "Then what happened?"
"Azula shot a lightning bolt at the top, and the sharp green crystals almost speared a defenseless Katara," Toph interrupted coolly. All of them glanced questioningly at Toph.
"What?" she shrugged, feeling the silence. "It sounds like it happens in stories." She took a sip of her tea, innocently blinking.
Aang nodded. "Yeah, that's what happened. I was going to save her, but out of nowhere, Zuko pushed her aside, helping her." Iroh looked impressed.
"My nephew did that?"
"Yeah, I was shocked too." Iroh smiled warmly.
"My nephew is no longer the disillusioned boy he once was, I'm supposing." Sokka shook his head, not believing it.
"I don't believe that!" Sokka flared up, hitting his fist on the table, spilling tea on the rough wood. "We can't trust him!"
Toph straddled a leg, and swung her arm over the backrest. "Maybe he's changed." Sokka glared at her.
"You just love challenging me, don't you," Sokka grumbled, wiping up his spilt tea.
Iroh and Aang exchanged a look, wondering if Zuko had indeed changed.
Toph shrugged, her composure calm and smooth. "Look, I don't know this Zuko very well, but if it seems that he can be trustworthy in saving a person's life," Toph continued. "And in this case someone we love, Katara, then I don't see why he can't be trusted with anything else."
Iroh nodded approvingly. "She's right, as they say; the darkest man even has the lightest heart." They raised their eyebrows at the weird remark.
"O-kay," Sokka said slowly, understanding nothing.
"Then after that, I wanted to escape with Katara, and I touched her…" Aang said, trailing off. Sokka leaned closer. "But she flinched back, into Zuko." He looked down solemnly.
"What?" Sokka shouted, standing up. "That guy has brainwashed her!" He pushed his chair aside roughly and folded his arms across his chest.
"Maybe she likes him," Toph sang out in a teasing manner. "And maybe, just maybe, he likes her back."
"Not possible," Aang quickly cut in, looking at Toph. "Not possible, right?" He looked at Iroh questioningly.
"I do not know Prince Zuko anymore, if he has really changed for the better. Since I'm not with him, I don't know what's running through his mind right in this instant."
Sokka grabbed his chair and furiously sat down, breathing deeply. "This is insane!"
"Relax, Snoozles. Sugar Queen knows what she's doing." Toph picked up her teacup and asked for thirds.
"Iroh, do you know where Azula might've imprisoned them at?" Aang asked, offering his teacup too, for seconds.
Iroh thought for a moment. "If she hasn't already killed them, they would probably be at the Boiling Rock." He picked up the teapot and poured the tea for them.
"Where's that?" Toph asked, taking back her filled cup.
"It's a volcano area with hot water surrounding it, known as the prison for the worst criminals in the Fire Nation, other captives, and refugees." Sokka looked up in horror.
"Katara!" he squealed, his voice sounding like a child in shock.
"Where's that?" Toph asked again, not getting the answer she initially wanted.
"In the Fire Nation waters. It's in the middle of the journey from here to the Western Air Temple," Iroh informed them, taking a sip of his tea.
"The Boiling Rock, here we come," Aang and Sokka stated together, gritting their teeth. Iroh nodded.
Toph lazily put her arms behind her head and sat back. "Fun, here we come."
Present.
"Come on, we can rush it!" Katara shouted at Zuko, who still held on to Azula. He glanced back at the door.
"You go first!" he shouted back. Katara hesitated, looking at him. "Go!" She climbed the stairs, and finally reached the top. She peered down.
"Zuko! Come on!" She beckoned. Then she heard Azula shout out in rage.
She saw Zuko running up the stairs, but was still almost at the bottom. She saw Azula getting up, her face contorted in fury. Katara made a wall of water below, splashing at Azula's face as she trashed through it with ease and made a grab at Zuko's shirt. He made an attempt at swatting her hand away. Just when everything couldn't have gotten any worse, the door flung open, and in streamed a fresh new batch of guards.
Zuko glanced up at Katara. "Get rid of the stairs!"
With shaking hands, she did a pushing motion downwards, the ice stairs melting and splashing back onto the floor. Zuko leapt up on one of the once solid ice steps and reached out his arm. For a moment, Katara thought he was too far away to hold, but then she inched herself closer to the side of the gap and managed to hold four fingers of his right hand.
Below them, Azula was now burning a hole through the ceiling on the part where Katara was lying on top. Her eyes widened in horror as she felt the heat seep through the material. She let go of one of hands from Zuko's grip, and bended the water out of her water skin and used it to whip at Azula's face. She smacked it away in anger and continued heating the metal.
"Pathetic," Azula snarled to herself. "Once I have you lowly scum under captive there won't be survival anymore!" Her blue flames increased with each word she spoke.
Katara held his fingers with two hands, while Zuko fought off the newly summoned guards with his other free hand.
"Zuko…" He looked up, his face creased with worry. "We can't make it."
The veins in Katara's hand stood out at the pressure of Zuko's weight, and the sweat between their skins lubricated the grip. Zuko slipped further down an inch as Katara held onto three fingers now.
"Don't say that," he whispered, and then frantically tried searching for other ways they could get out of the situation.
Then suddenly, Katara felt a sharp pain on her stomach. Azula had burned the metal right through, and the melted metal scalded Katara's soft skin.
"Ouch!" Katara shouted in pain, feeling the sudden burn. And instinctively, she let go.
"Zuko!" she screamed, tears falling from her eyes, realising in shock. She looked down and saw him falling back into the torture and pain they once were so close to escaping.
Commentary:
- ['This was a good thing. Forget all these feelings for her; even those little inklings I had. There wasn't even supposed to be any. Following the path that was against Azula would only lead to pain and regret. Indeed I shouldn't want this, should I? This was a good thing. A good thing…
…that I wanted no part of.']
from Miki Falls (Winter), a comic book by Mark Crilley. Adapted to make it in Zuko's POV.
- ['Oh well, the Avatar here just left her behind to eat blue flames and have a shockful of lightning to the mouth.'"]
'shockful of lightning' came from Sokka's actual dialogue in Part 1: Invasion, The Phoenix King.
- ["Who's that?" Toph quietly asked, her question directed at Aang.
Aang snapped out of his trance and looked questioningly at Sokka and Toph. "Who's who?"
Sokka pointed lazily at the figure who was getting closer. "Uh, the guy who's breaking your neck."]
from Episode 'Kiss', Season 1 of Dawson's Creek. Adapted to Avatar and storyline.
That's all the little quotes and stuff that didn't come originally from me.
Much appreciated to all of you who've kept on going strong with reading WTR!
xoxo
- Scarlet