Dear, Daddy I didn't ever see you that much, but when you didn't come home for a week I became suspicious, Mama said that you were out at the fishing mart. I believed her for a few more days, but after that the only reason why I thought I believed her was because I didn't want to face the fact you weren't coming home. Finally, I asked Mama again, and this time she told me the truth. For a while she didn't have the money to support me and I had to go away. Soon she came for me again, but with another man…he was…firenation, at first I didn't understand, later I found out they were married she explained to me that he could provide us with money and support me so I accepted him. He was never fond of me…he said that he loved Mama not me…he said I was worthless.
He hits me, I wanna come home…Daddy I want to live with you, I'm afraid he is going to hurt me! He told me that he would hurt mommy if I told her, but I tried anyway, she didn't believe me and now she calls me a liar, I'm not a liar! I forgive you for leaving me and mommy, I just wanna go home, come take me home…please.
-Daddy's little girl, Zhy
Katara held the paper tightly and her knuckles began to turn white, "The girl in our dream…she was abused," a small tear found its way down Katara's tan cheek, she quickly wiped it away.
"Not only that, she was from the earth kingdom living in the firenation," Zuko held his chin and sat on the edge of the bed causing the sheets to wrinkle around him.
Katara closed her eyes and starred at the sun through the window. The letter was so sad, "She loved her dad so much and he left her, and the mom isn't much better, she told her mom she was being abused and yet she refused to listen to her," Katara sniffled and wiped away another tear.
"She only married him for the money." Zuko turned towards Katara
"Maybe, but there is so many other men with good money…why him?" Katara turned her head further to look out the window so Zuko couldn't see her tears causing the sun to beat directly on her face.
"Most rich firenation men don't settle for earth kingdom women…" Zuko looked down at the grimy wooden floor "… maybe she thought he was the only rich man she could get." He moved his foot across the floor like a mop, pushing away dirt and bugs. He didn't notice the bugs last night.
Katara wiped away some more tears and inhaled sharply, gradually anger rose from within her, "Are you standing up for this woman!"
Zuko looked at her and grimaced, "No, I'm just saying it might not have been her fault!"
"That's practically standing up for her!" Katara furrowed her thin coffee eyebrows
"Look, I'm not going to go back and forth with you on this, let's just get out of here." Zuko stood up from the bed and headed for the closed maple door carefully not to step on the large bugs scurrying back and forth across the room.
"Not until you explain to me why you think the mom isn't at fault!" Katara was obviously very serious about the letter. Zuko just opened the door and closed it behind him. Katara advanced right behind him.
"I know, you're a mama's boy!" Katara's anger was suddenly replaced with humor. She giggled.
Zuko walked pass the study and swiped dust from the table and turned around, "You… know nothing," fury rang through his voice like a pastor rings church bells.
"C'mon I'm just kidding…did I hit a soft spot?" despite the warning in his voice Katara had continued. She laughed.
Zuko slowly turned his head over his shoulder, and the look on his face made even Katara stop laughing by intimidation, "I don't have a soft spot," he then moved his head forward and stepped out of the infested old house and onto the cracked streets. Katara knew she hit a soft spot by the sound of his voice, her humor soon turned to regret. She jogged up to Zuko, with a remorseful look on her face; "Look, Zuko I'm sorry," Katara looked down at the burgundy book in her hands. She was about to continue until Zuko interrupted her, "See if the characters have changed."
Katara opened the book and skimmed through the pages, the characters were the same.
"They haven't," Katara looked up at Zuko while they walked through the deserted streets; it was palpable that Zuko had forgiven her in his own silent way.
"I almost forgot…our dream last night, the woman in it the man in red called her Shale, I've seen her before…"
Zuko just kept walking, "When?"
"Yesterday, she gave me the book, but when I left the house and came back nothing was there…and I was accused of being crazy." Katara pulled her hair and began to braid it, while she handed the burgundy book to Zuko. He smirked, "Crazy…" Katara smiled and pulled the bun into her chocolate hair.
They trudged through the streets for hours with no rest, and the sun was still high in the sky beating on the back of their necks. Katara stomach grumbled and she held it tightly, that was the fifth time in ten minutes it spoke to her. Zuko smirked and she took notice, "It's not funny, I'm so hungry…can we please stop to eat," Katara stopped walking and Zuko trudged on, "Sure we can, when you find somewhere to stop let me know."
Katara trotted to Zuko to catch up, she looked around the desolate city and all there was, was house after deserted house. Katara rolled her eyes.
"Can't we find a river or something to catch fish, ANYTHING!?" Katara let out a long exaggerated sigh when he didn't reply.
"Shh!" Zuko held a thick pale finger in the air and Katara stared at it momentarily.
In the distance the faint patter on footsteps echoed through the silent city. It came from a house to the right of them. Zuko tugged on Katara's sleeve, and silently ran to porch of the house; slowly Zuko neared the door with Katara right behind him. His bulky hand reached for the knob, but before he could pull it open the person from the inside jumped onto the porch in front of them holding a frying pan. Zuko and Katara quickly stood in a fighting stance.
The man had on a white headband and a white outfit. On the back of it was the Yin Yang sign. He was small; he was taller than Katara but shorter than Zuko. He looked young…maybe his late twenties. His skin was bronze and he had short dusty brown hair. And his eyes were a piercing green.
Katara quickly stood down and pointed a finger at him, "You accused me of being crazy!"
The man placed the frying pan at his side and laughed. He had deep dimples on the side of his face. "Is she with you?" he nudged a thumb in Katara's direction. Zuko stood out of fighting stance once he was sure he wasn't a threat.
"Kinda…" The man in white laughed again and held out his hand and Zuko took hold of it, "The names Po Chen," he grip was firm. He then held his hand out to Katara, she unwillingly took it, "No hard feelings, right?" Katara eyeballed him and gave in to his stunning features; she slightly rolled her eyes and gave a tiny smile, "No hard feelings."
He turned to the door, "C'mon inside…it's the liveliest house here."
Katara and Zuko followed him inside. Inside was a small table with pillows around it and a study area, like found in the first house, a small window was above it. The smell of honey bread filled his house.
"Are ya guy's hungry?" Po Chen placed steaming rolls of honey bread in a wicker basket and placed them on the small table.
Katara lunged for the food and began to stuff the sweet rolls down her throat. She never felt like Sokka so much in her life before. Zuko and Po Chen looked at her disbelievingly.
Katara felt a hot glare on her back and she embarrassingly turned around with half a roll in her mouth the other half hanging out her mouth and another in both her left and right hands. She smiled with awkwardness and shrugged her shoulders.
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Po Chen, Zuko, and Katara sat around the table on small green velvet pillows. Each of them had a cup of tea in their hand. The moon was high and it cast light onto the trio from the window by the study table.
"So, Po Chen, you thought I was crazy, you are the crazy one living is such a deserted town," Katara chuckled a bit and waited for his response.
Po Chen smiled and his dimples dug into his cheeks, he took a sip of his tea and sucked his tender tongue to swallow the flavor within it, "I've lived here my whole life I couldn't image living anywhere else actually."
Zuko glance at Po Chen, and placed both of his pale hands onto the tea cup, "How did this place become deserted anyway?"
"The well dried up…but as Miss Katara knows," he pointed a bronze hand at Katara and Katara smiled, "I work sweeping up alleys and such, I bring home gallons of water to last me for months on the boat ride home."
"Oh," Katara leaned her head to the side and shrugged her shoulders, "makes sense."
"What brings you guy's here," Po Chen placed the brown pottery cup to his lips and took another long sip.
"A mystery," Katara simply stated as she leaned back onto the palm of her hand.
Po Chen looked amused he beamed and his chingy eyes got smaller, "About what? I always did like a good mystery?"
"About a girl named, Zhy… and now that I mention it any information about her would be good," Po Chen smile faded and he shook the small amount of tea around in the cup.
Po Chen looked down at his cup, "No, I've never heard of her." Po Chen stood up from his pillow, "There are some fortune cookies in my cabinet, d'you guys want any?"
Katara grinned, "That sounds nice," Po Chen walked into a different room and Zuko and Katara could hear him rummaging through the cabinets.
Zuko pulled Katara down below the table, "Something's not right," his voice was well below a whisper Katara had to strain her round ears to hear him.
"What are you talking about?"
"He's not telling us something," Po Chen entered back into the room and saw two head bob back up from under the table.
He grinned, "I'm not going to ask what you guys were doing, but here's the cookies you wanted," They both took one cookie. Katara quickly ate it and read the fortune.
"Good things come to those who wait…" Katara nodded her head, "Not the first time I heard that, Zuko open yours." Zuko looked up at her and shook his head, "Not now, my mind is stuck on that letter," Zuko nudged Katara's shoulder and she looked at him questioningly.
"I'm going to put the cookies away I'll be right back," Po Chen walked into another room and Zuko yanked Katara down under the table.
"If we show him the letter maybe he'll give more information then he let off," Zuko pulled Katara back up after he heard footsteps coming.
Katara winked at him, "Well, here's the letter if you wanna look it over." Katara pulled the letter from her torso and handed it to Zuko as Po Chen sat down. Po Chen's eyes seemed to be glued to the letter, it seemed to set him into a trance.
"Me and Katara were at a debate, here read this letter do you think the mom or the dad is at fault?" Zuko handed the letter to Po Chen he looked over it.
"Where did you find this?" Po Chen held the letter to his heart and held his head down. Katara could tell he was holding back tears.
"A house by the entrance, so who do you think is wrong?" Katara planned to persist until he caved in.
Po Chen pounded onto the table and slammed the letter down onto the floor, "The evil, sick, twisted man who took her away!" he was gasping in between breaths and a bundle of tears fell town his cheeks and flowed through his dimples, which were apparently visible when he was crying too.
"Po Chen do you know Zhy?" Katara placed her hand onto his and he laid his head onto the table and gently placed his large bronze hand over top of hers.
"She was my…" Po Chen took a sharp breath, "…daughter." Po Chen's back rapidly moved up in down with every sob he took.
Katara recoiled her hand and brushed it past her head, "She wrote this letter to you?"
Po Chen nodded, and put both of his hands over his eyes and held his head up with his elbows on the table.
"And you didn't come to save her!" Katara stood from the table and rage welled up inside her.
"No, Katara you don't understand," he took a deep breath and looked at her, "I tried, but I couldn't get through the firenation docks…it was too crowded, and when I finally reached her home, I saw Shale in the middle of a dead garden crying!" Po Chen grabbed at his hair and continued weeping.
"If I had only gotten there sooner…" Po Chen stood from the table whispering to himself. Katara began to pace the floor.
"Wouldn't the firenation arrest you as soon as you got to the dock, considering the war of the nations?" Zuko stood along with everyone else.
Po Chen looked bewildered, "What war?" Katara and Zuko exchanged glances, "The war that has been going on for 100 years," Zuko looked around the room and then back at Po Chen.
Katara stopped pacing the floor and walked over to Po Chen, "How old are you?"
Po Chen wiped away his tears even though more fell, "27, but you could say I'm 127,"
"But, how?" Katara persisted the interrogation
"Zhy, she wasn't the reason I left her mother…and Zhy knew that I still loved her when she got taken away by that evil man, I was cursed with longevity, it was nice at first. But I hate living and everyday thinking of how I couldn't save her." Po Chen grabbed a brown sack from and corner and began to stuff it with various items including the letter.
"Where did they take Zhy, is she dead?" Zuko walked over to where Katara was
Po Chen shook his head, "She's very much alive,"
"Where is she?" Katara endured
He shook his head again, "I don't know, I would find her by myself but…I can't, she has picked two individuals to relive the curse so we can be free." Po Chen entered the bathroom and pulled a piece of parchment from under a bucket. "The only way the curse can be lifted is if the two individuals…" he paused and looked towards the floor, "Never mind…it wouldn't matter much to you anyway, you aren't the two individuals…" he paused once more and looked up, "Are you?" Po Chen looked at them with a gleam of hope.
"How would we know if we are," Zuko finally spoke, he furrowed his eyebrows comprehending all Po Chen had said.
"You would know…" he sighed, Po Chen tied his sack to secure his items.
"We have both…" Katara pointed to Zuko and back to herself and continued "had dreams of your daughter…the garden and everything," Po Chen's face glowed and hope flushed over him like rivers of crystal water.
He grabbed Katara and Zuko's shoulders, "Find her, I'm sure she will help you. She wants our family to be together again, you can save me, no, you can save us!, from this torment." He slightly rustled and shook their shoulders.
"How can we fix this curse and not relive it?" Katara didn't want to relive any curse
"Find Zhy and she will help you on the rest…because quite frankly I don't know either."
He opened the door and the moonlight strongly showed through, "We have to find a way out of this town, this is just the first step of finding her," he grabbed the sack and ran onto the road.
Zuko and Katara rushed out the door after Po Chen. "We have tried to leave, there is an invisible wall around the city," Chen looked at the small book Katara held in her hands. "May I see this?" he reached for the burgundy book and Katara handed it to him.
He skimmed through the pages and reached the page with characters on it, they began to change form and both Zuko and Katara stared at the forming words.
Zuko read it aloud, "Alone you are powerless together you are invincible,"
"Hmm, wonder what that means," as if on cue men dropped down from the rooftops of the houses.
They were a ghastly white and green. They were transparent and they were dressed as fire nation soldiers, each one equipped with a sword.
"Ghost," Po Chen grabbed the burgundy book close to his masculine chest and backed away. Zuko and Katara rapidly stood into a fighting position.
The soldiers began to near them, and Katara and Zuko neared each other until there backs were almost touching. A slight draft swayed into the dark streets, and Katara arm hairs stood on end, and Zuko's grew goose bumps.
The ghost unsheathed the swords at their side and began to run towards the pair.
Po Chen sat, crouched, on the side of a house and watched as the brawl unfolded, and sat the book to in between his legs and chest and began to pray, frantically.
Zuko stood with his legs spread apart, his knees were bent slightly at a right angle. His arms stood straight out in front of him and fire erupted from his palms, he moved his stiff arms in a circular motion and the fire swirled and glowed with them. He pulled back his arms and the fire turned into a sphere.
Katara pulled water from her flask, and squatted slightly. She moved her hands freely and the water whipped around in an alluring motion. Her wrist began to flicker and she moved her arms in wide circular motions.
Zuko released his first shot. It hit one of the soldiers arm holding a sword. His arm dissipated and Zuko smirked slightly ready to release another. Before he freed another fireball from his palm the fog began to gather around the wounded soldiers arm and the white mist quickly dissipated and appeared at their feet. When Zuko reverted his gaze to the soldier, his arm was back holding a sword lunging for him. Zuko let his body fall to the ground to dodge the soldiers attack
The water moved like waves across the foggy street. It hit a cluster of soldiers and they vanished into the mist. Katara quickly water whipped another soldier without thought. He also fell into the fog, disappearing. The fog began to rise from the floor of the streets and took to the air it swirled furiously around the empty spot were the soldiers had stood. The fog rapidly fell back to the floor and all of the soldiers stood, un-phased.
"Do you see this!?" Katara yelled over the noise, she shot her arms straight out and water shot straight across, she quickly blew over the water and it turned to ice, stabbing a soldier. She started to whip it around like a sword as the soldiers got closer and closer to them.
"A hit seems to at least phase them! Just keep hitting them!" Zuko threw an array of fireballs at the soldier's non-stop. He started to slowly back away and Katara inched back with him, still swiping the ice sword worriedly at the ghost.
They unintentionally started to near Po Chen. And Po Chen slowly shook his head behind them, "I know what they want," he quietly said
Zuko turned around, he was unaware Po Chen was behind them, "What!?" he got distracted Po Chen was terrified.
The ghost quickly got closer to Zuko taking the chance.
"Zuko!" Katara yelled to get his attention. As Zuko turned around he was met with a sword, it passed through the skin of his chest and through the flesh. Zuko fell to the ground in a heap. Katara quickly jumped in front of him to protect him from further attack.
Po Chen stood up behind her, and walked toward the soldiers.
"Po Chen! What are you doing?!" Katara turned her head slightly while still hysterically swinging her sword. "They want me!" Po Chen walked straight in front of her and the soldiers stopped attacking.
"No! Po Chen stand behind me I'll protect you!" An array of tears started to pour down her face, she already lost Zuko she couldn't loose Po Chen too; she didn't want to be left alone. Katara held her sword at the ready behind her ear.
Po Chen turned to face Katara and the soldiers grabbed him, "I'm protecting you," his eyes were full of worry and remorse, "Find my daughter."
The soldiers pulled Po Chen and began to retreat to the sky.
"Why you?!" Katara yelled to Po Chen as he took to the skies, "Don't you understand?! That firenation soldier doesn't want my family to be together!" And with that the soldiers and Po Chen vanished into the air and the fog slowly soaked into the ground like water.
Katara gazed into the sky with tears hammering down her face staining her tan cheeks. She quickly fell to the ground were Zuko lay. She looked at his wound, it went through his shoulder. She began to examine it through the blurriness due to tears. The wound spurted out blood and Katara quickly pulled off a piece of her robe and wiped it away. Around the wound was a grisly green glow. She tied the robe around his chest to stop the bleeding. She put her hands to his chest and he wasn't breathing. She placed two fingers to his throat and there was barely a pulse. She knew she couldn't heal him, but he was still alive. Katara summoned the last bit of water from her flask and she placed her hands on Zuko's mortal wound. The water began to glow and quickly turned dull and ran off the sides of his body. She began to shake Zuko furiously, "How am I gonna do this without you?!" she was screaming at the top of her lungs even though she knew Zuko couldn't hear her.
Katara laid her small tan head across his chest and her arms and began to weep over him.
A strong wind blew and Katara held her head up. She grabbed her arms for warmth. She placed a hand on Zuko's abdomen and he was so cold. She had never felt someone so cold before, a new batch of tears ran down her face.
Another breeze ran across the deserted town. She heard a crackle beside her and she quickly turned to see what it was. It sounded like paper and it blew beside her. It was brown and worn out, she picked it up. It was the parchment Po Chen pulled from under the bucket in the bathroom. She further examined it, it was a map. A gleam of hope grew inside of her. She quickly studied the map, then she folded it up and stuffed it into the tie of her robe.
"C'mon Zuko," she stood and looped her small arms under and around Zuko's muscular arms. She bended down and began to drag him through the abandoned street. The map led to the back of the city.
Towards the back of the city was a beach. And at the edge of the beach was a small canoe and she dragged Zuko across the sand onto the boat. The sand flitted side to side as Zuko's legs lagged through it.
Katara pulled Zuko up onto the Canoe, and carefully laid him down between the two seats. She hurriedly got in and grabbed the ores. She wiped away the dried tears, and began to row, following the map into town.
She reached the dock of the city and stepped on to the pier. She pulled Zuko out and looked to find help. Two men guarding the pier spotted her dragging Zuko off the boat and one of the men rushed to aid her.
"Ma'm would you like some help," his voice was low and strong, yet he looked young, his voice certainly surpassed his years. He wore green and brown armor and had a small beard.
Katara began to cry frantically to the man, "Yes! Yes please…I need a doctor!" she stumbled over her words and the man quickly took Zuko from her hold.
"Follow me ma'm the doctor isn't far from here," he hoisted Zuko onto his back and ran off of the dock towards the doctors office with Katara closely behind.
A/n: Plz review and a thankyou to ppl who already have, or ppl that has favorited or ppl that has alerted...thanks again, so tell me did you hate it, like it, love it? REVIEW