Chapter 4

Here we go. Chapter 4. This fic is kicking my butt. I'm seriously trying to get Zuko and Katara onto the same continent, but the story just won't let me! You'll all have to suffer a bit more before that happens. :P

Thanks so much for the reviews, everyone. They really help keep me going.

Kimberly T – I definitely understand where you're coming from. I think this chapter may address your concerns to some extent, but I will say that over time, people change – sometimes for the better, but sometimes for the worse, falling away from what used to be important to them. I'm kind of trying to explore that a bit, having Katara struggle with this stressful position of power and balancing its demands with her desire to spend time with her family. I think it's plausible. When it's brought to her attention, she realizes of course how wrong she has been to neglect those bonds. But even Katara can make such mistakes. Aang, too, has had to struggle with certain things (which will be made clear below) on top of maintaining world peace. I think his character would change a bit as a result. He might become a little less happy-go-lucky, a little more focused. But you are certainly entitled to object to my characterization. That's the beauty of fanfiction. And thanks for the eye color catch! I based it on pictures of him, but they're grey! Go figure.

AnnaAza – Yay, Princess Bride reference! I'ma watch that movie now.

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Held in a firm hug by the Avatar himself didn't set her nerves tingling so much as it aggravated her. She was aggravated partly because of the truth of his words – she hadn't been taking as much time as she should have lately to visit her family and friends. Her letters to Toph had become more and more infrequent. She told herself that she was just too busy at the moment, that work would ease up at some point. Of course, it never did. But she was getting very good at arguing lost causes.

I'll write tomorrow. No, next week. No, I'm sure I'll get to it eventually.

It was the same with Sokka. He stopped by with Suki on his own, sure, but did she visit him? She always had a reason not to go, some huge event that needed planning, some council meeting that could not be put off.

Aang had hit the nail on the head. She had been neglecting the people who loved her most in all the world. Katara was consumed with guilt. When had family and friends become such an…afterthought? How could she have let her love for them slide under the weight of responsibility?

But even as she acknowledged her own grievous fault, she bristled with anger. Yes, she hadn't contacted Sokka or Toph in a couple months. But the reason she hadn't seen the Avatar face to face in years was as much Aang's fault as it was hers.

After the Great War, she and Aang had dated consistently. It was difficult given the amount of work they had to do, but Aang loved her fiercely and she loved him in return. Those two years were years she would not give back for the world. They were innocent, sweet, wonderful years, filled with promise.

But that had all changed as suddenly as a sunrise. When Katara had turned sixteen, she and Aang had visited the Fire Nation to congratulate Zuko on a newly-built airship factory. Zuko was beginning to have trouble ruling even then. Ozai had left a sour taste in the mouths of many citizens regarding his 'wayward failure' of a son. The taste was overwhelmed by the initial euphoria of freedom from tyranny, but it came back with a vengeance particularly when Zuko insisted on paying reparations to all peoples the Fire Nation had affected with their devastating army campaigns.

Thinking to comfort a friend during his distress, Katara slipped away from Aang and had a simple conversation with Zuko. Just a conversation. But oh, the repercussions were lasting. He had been sitting on the balcony, eyes fixed on the architectural ebbs and flows of a city he was losing to his father's psychological warfare. He had looked so distraught she had almost hugged him right then and there. But instead, she took a seat nearby and asked him how he had been.

Their conversation was nothing amazing. He told her of his break-up with Mai, of how he missed his friends, of his anger at the group of citizens who were now undermining his rule. She sympathized, saying she missed him, as well. He held a ring in his hand, a simple bronze loop. Unadorned. Tarnished. She asked him about it, and he said his father had owned it, that it was a symbol of the power Ozai still had over his life. His eyes were so pained as he stared at it that Katara grabbed it and put it on. It fit. She asked him if she could carry the burden of his father until he was ready to bear it himself. Brief eye contact, a smile of gratitude, a sigh of sympathy, and their words had ended in an embrace neither was expecting. A hug. That was all it had been.

But Aang did not consider the hug nothing. Of course he had walked in on this transaction. Of course it hurt him. Katara hadn't thought the kind boy, now fourteen, capable of jealousy. But he was human, in spite of his bending capacity. Later that day, he cornered her with a question and a ring of his own. Marriage. Affirmation was the answer he sought, but Katara was not willing to give it. At that moment she realized that though she loved him, though she truly wanted what was best for him, she did not want to marry him. She was not in love.

Their breakup was devastating, but it was right. The next time she saw Aang was months later. She was assisting with the gathering of tribes on the Southern Continent. Sokka was there. Hakoda was there. But they could not buffer against the Aang's obvious sorrow. He was hurt, and acted, based on that pain, so uncharacteristically cold that Katara withdrew. Subsequent meetings were formal and short.

It had been almost two years since she last saw him. He had come to observe the construction of new buildings in Ittialurvik, and stood, taller than before, grinning out at Sokka as the idiot tried to lift an entire canoe by himself. She had thought that perhaps they had gotten past the awkwardness, but while Aang had interacted normally with their friends, he still hadn't spoken more than two sentences to her. Did such pain last forever with an Avatar?

"So now you decide to speak to me?" She pushed Aang away, glaring up at him. He at least had the decency to look ashamed.

"Katara, I-"

"Okay, maybe I haven't been maintaining contact with my family. I regret that. I really do. And you're right, no position is more important than them." She crossed her arms. "But you certainly don't have any right to talk. How long has it been?"

"I know how long it's been. And I'm sorry, Katara. I really am. I…had some things I had to work through."

"You're important to me, Aang!"

"I know. I wrote to you."

"State letters with not a mention of what was going on in your life. Not a mention of me, Katara. Just me, Premier of Ittialurvik."

Aang sighed and sat down on the floor. "I get it. But I couldn't face you after…" He trailed off, blessedly avoiding the rejection they both wanted to forget. "I couldn't. When I visited, I did want to talk to you. But it hurt too much. I needed time."

Katara humphed and sat down, cross-legged, facing him.

"Too much time, I know. Forgive me?" Here he tilted his head. He looked so much older. So much…sadder. Like the weight of the world was resting on his shoulders even now.

"If you'll forgive me." Aang smiled, and all the guilt and stress of the past washed away. She felt...normal again. But as she glanced down, she noticed the bronze ring on her right forefinger. How could she have forgotten?

"Zuko!" Katara gripped her hand and leaned forward. "Tell me you know where he is."

"What?" Aang's eyes clouded over with confusion. "That was one of the things I came specifically to tell you. You knew he wasn't ruling the Fire Nation anymore?"

"Oh, please. The coup was obvious. We just couldn't do anything about it." She stood and began pacing nervously, trailing one hand along a long, dark table that buttressed the paneled wall. "I thought he was just being held under house arrest in the palace. Something he can handle, right? I mean, he's Zuko. Fire Lord. Master firebender." She stopped when she reached the end of the table, turning to face Aang. "But it's much worse than that. He needs my help. He's locked in some horrible dungeon-"

"What? How in the world could you know that?" Aang was now standing in the middle of the room, a look of bewilderment etched on his face.

She shook her head. "I'm not sure myself exactly how it happened. I dreamed him. But it wasn't a dream, exactly. I was there, in the cell. I saw him, masked. But when I pulled the mask off, it was him, and I knew it was him, but he didn't have a scar for some reason, and the guards were faceless, and the whole situation was just-"

"The Dreaming. That's what Roku was talking about." Aang crossed his arms thoughtfully. "The world created in a clash of spirit and manipulation, cut off from true existence for decades, keeping the manipulator from his prey." He sounded like he was quoting someone.

"Roku? Roku contacted you?"

"Yeah. Specifically about Zuko. He has a special place in his heart for his great-grandson." Here Aang smiled, almost as if he were feeling Roku's familial fondness for the Fire Lord. Weird. "Anyway, that's part of why I'm here." Aang moved to the wall and sat in an ornate cushioned chair. He fixed his eyes on hers. "Roku told me that Zuko is imprisoned…somewhere. That's the only information he gave me." Aang frowned. "He's kind of enigmatic that way."

Katara tried to speak, but Aang continued. "But don't worry; I'm sure that with Roku's help I'll be able to find Zuko. So here's the plan. I make sure your nation is well-defended, go rescue Zuko, defeat the Fire Faction, and reinstate him as Fire Lord. Simple." And I stand by and do nothing?

Katara must have looked incredulous, because Aang raised his eyebrows. "What? It's not like I haven't saved the world before, Katara." He was starting to sound like an impetuous 12-year-old again.

"Zuko is in pain right now, Aang. He can't wait for us to establish our defenses."

Aang sighed. "I know that. But the Fire Faction is ruthless, and completely unpredictable. What if they attack your people when I'm trying to rescue him? Can you stand against a siege as you are now? You haven't even finished building your city wall."

"Well…no. Of course we need your help." Katara shook her head. "But Aang, I've seen him. I've been there in his cell. And he's my – our – friend, Aang." She stepped toward him, pleading her case. "And I can help him. I know it. He needs me."

"Katara-"

Aang's voice cut off, not because Aang stopped speaking, but because Aang stopped existing. The very space Aang had been standing was now filled with darkness. It wasn't dark as a room is when the lights have been extinguished. No, it was filled, as if the darkness had substance, had presence. But as in her earlier dream – Dreaming? - Katara was unafraid.

MMMMMMMMMMMMaybe you should be afraid.

Katara looked up, and all at once she saw Zuko. Her heart beat sped up. She was in the room with him, standing at the doorway, hearing someone pounding on the wooden door behind her. She considered his form. His dark hair sort of wavered – flickered – between clean-cut locks that ended at his collar and long, bedraggled strands that hadn't seen a brush in weeks. His clothing similarly shifted from smooth red silk to dirty sackcloth. But even grimy, he was as powerful and beautiful as an unbridled steed.

Katara was suddenly aware of the ring on her hand. Ozai's ring. It was getting warm, and somehow heavier than usual. Someone with an unstable voice was yelling, viciously hurling insults at Zuko. Someone sitting on a cot in the corner. She couldn't see him clearly at first, but she felt something sort of click in her mind, as if someone had pulled a lever, and the blurred image resolved into a broken figure of a man with a grey-tinged beard and hollow eyes. Was that…Ozai? She hadn't seen him in her earlier dream. But now, here he was, hurling insults at someone named Ryouga while Zuko, his back to her, sat motionless on his cot.

She was about to call his name when he sprang bodily from his cot and hurled himself at Ozai. His fingers closed around the older man's throat as if his own life depended on choking the life out of the tyrant.

Zuko was trying to murder his own father. Zuko would never do such a thing. But the evidence was right there, before her eyes.

H H H H H H H H H H Help him.

Katara shook herself from her horrific reverie and tried to grab Zuko's arm-

But she couldn't move. She couldn't even step forward. Her previous freedom was now completely restricted.

Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Your voice.

Filled with sudden conviction, she heaved a huge breath and let out the loudest yell she could manage.

"ZUKO!" His head lifted slightly. "NO!"

She saw his hands falter and his head turn, catching a brief glimmer of amber as the world faded away to nothing.

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When the guards had finally entered, they had checked Ozai for a pulse. Blessedly, life was still in him, but barely. The guards knew they would be held accountable for a dead prisoner – especially a royal one. So they removed Ozai to recover in a separate room. Zuko noticed that they gave him a wide berth as they carried his father from his sight.

He had almost murdered his father. He had almost murdered his own father. The thought shook him to the core, but as he sat, stricken, silent, lost, he knew he was not alone.

Katara had been there. Katara had saved him from doing something he would never have forgiven himself for. But how she must despise him now. Did evil bleed from father to son?

I I I I I I I I I I It was not you. It was not your blood. It was him.

Somehow comforted, but by he knew not what, Zuko leaned back and stared at the ceiling.

H H H H H H H Help is coming.

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYou have no power here, wise one!

"I heard that." Zuko said. His voice was shaky, but clear. "I said, I heard that." The room was silent.

Zuko stood up, not letting the voices go this time. "I said, I heard you! You said "you have no power, wise one," didn't you? Who are you?" Zuko waited for what seemed like an eternity before a man's voice spoke directly into Zuko's ear.

"Nice to finally meet you, prince."

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Whew. Annnnd submit. Let me know what you think!