Published December 26, 2011

Disclaimer: "I'm Not Doing This For You" is a chapter title in "A Million And One Ways to Say I Love You" by BananaSwirl, and a bit of Katara's dialogue is based on a line from it.

A week went by. Another monotonous, melancholy week.

Ozai heard a slight disturbance outside his cell. The guard barked, "Who's there?" There was a pause, and then a horrified gasp. "Master Katara!" He said this with respect.

"I'm going inside. I'm going to heal him. You're going to stand guard. And no one is going to know about this."

A moment later, the door to his cell was unlocked, and more torchlight streamed in from the hall. "Ten minutes." Without the important Fire Lord, visitors had a time limit.

"Thank you." Katara turned and faced him.

"You again," Ozai noted.

"That's right," she said evenly.

There was a pause.

"Why did they let you in?" Ozai asked.

"Without Zuko, you mean? Because I'm an ambassador of the Water Tribe now, and a friend and ally to the Avatar and the Fire Lord." She removed the water pouch from her back. "Let's just get this over with."

Katara worked quietly. Ozai's burns from Sozin's Comet had healed almost completely; his bruises were now gone. His problem now was mostly fatigue and lack of movement.

Both were silent as she worked. Katara didn't like the silence; she wanted to say something to him. But what does one say to the man who very nearly destroyed the world?

He was the reason her mother was dead, why the world had endured so much suffering.

She was the reason he had lost his bending, his throne, his country, his respect.

Katara supposed could talk about Zuko, but Ozai hated him. She wondered about Zuko's mother, but she hardly thought it her place to ask. Maybe later …

"Are you all right here?" she asked hesitantly. "Do you have enough to eat? Do they let you have medicine?"

Ozai shrugged. "They let you in, didn't they?"

Another pause.

"I was in a Fire Nation prison, once," Katara said conversationally.

Ozai raised his eyebrows at her. She continued, "In the Earth Kingdom colonies, a friend of mine was arrested for earthbending. I framed myself for earthbending so I would also be arrested, and then I could find out where he was and break him out. Later he helped in the Day of Black Sun invasion."

"Hmph." Ozai knew she was almost done. She bended the water back into her canteen. He spoke up. "I suppose I should thank you."

Katara merely looked at him, understanding. He supposed he should thank her, but he didn't.

"I'm not doing this for you," she said roughly. "I'm doing this for Zuko – and his mother if she's still alive."

Ozai's eyes – gold, like Zuko and Azula's – widened at the mention of his wife, but then his features froze back into his expression of cold indifference and resentment.

Katara stood, and part of what she had kept bottled inside her came pouring out. "He loved you, you know. That's why he literally went to the ends of the earth to please you. He loved you the way you were supposed to love him: unconditionally." She turned on her heel and left the cell, slamming the metal door behind her.

Ozai stared at the door for a long moment after she left. Just who did she think she was? She thought she was so righteous, that she had all the right answers. Easy for her to say … she wasn't the one who had lost everything, after being so close to gaining everything.