Okay a short chapter fourteen, a small gift to you all. Dedicated to Whomever and Sarah, my favorite people in the world! Big thanks to Cala for editing this with me!
Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again
It was amazing what difference a day could make. One day, Katara had been a girl with a perfect family. The next day, she had been orphaned of her mother. One day she was just a humble village girl. The next day, she was the companion of the Avatar out to save the world.
Yesterday had started out so hopeful for the Water bender. Of course, hopeful had meant a single ship with thirty warriors sailing into the Fire Nation and taking on the Fire Lord, defying odds that were beyond impossible. Having spent time with Aang, Katara had believed that anything was possible. Aang, Sokka and herself had survived worse and managed to laugh about it.
Even her wounded brother, the eternal pessimist, had seemed a bit better. Katara had managed to help heal her brother's back, once she had gotten back some of her strength. There were still deep welts on his back, but they were now closed.
Sokka had been given staffs to help him stand. Though it was terribly painful for him to move at any pace faster then a crawl, he seemed eager to return to battle. He did not like traveling on a pirate ship very much, but thankfully had kept his mouth shut about the fighting prowess of females.
The two Water Tribe siblings had gotten Momo out of his cage and Katara had spent an hour petting the fuzzy little pet. "We're going to get Aang back," she kept telling the lemur, trying to convince herself that they could achieve the hopeless. She was sure Momo understood her.
Katara and Sokka still were horrified by the thought of teaming up with the women who had kidnapped the village but had decided not to press the issue. One of the pirates had told them the tribe was being kept on an island twenty leagues away and were not on the ship. "You can have them back as soon as we rescue my children," the captain had said acidly. "I haven't sold them yet."
Katara was beginning to notice the strong resemblance Mother and Son had. They had the same impatient walk, the same cold brusque manner and the same partially hidden pain in their eyes. She wondered if the captain had ever brushed Zuko's tears away after he had fallen or kissed him good-night. It was strange to imagine her worst enemies having families.
Despite the unlikely alliance, the trip had gone without incident, almost as if Sedna herself had blessed them with good luck. The only strange thing was in the morning, she had felt terribly weak. Katara could not believe how her body was reacting to the nervousness of the suicide mission. She had felt a great disturbance in the air, as if all the wind had been knocked out of her. A sudden pain had filled her stomach, which made her feel like it had been her time of the month. She was so queasy and nauseous.
"Not now, I can't be sick now!" she told herself as she doubled over in pain as a whirlwind of pain entered her midsection. She had too much to accomplish to be ill! She could not fight if she was ailing.
After a few minutes, the feeling subsided. Katara decided to forget about it. She should only concentrate on seeing Aang; her personal comfort meant nothing. Yet, something inside made her feel different somehow.
The journey to Azar seemed to take a lifetime. Katara was impatient to see Aang again; she had to apologize and explain what happened. He would be so happy to find out that she had been forced to trick him. Couldn't this ship move faster? She never thought she would actually want to enter the cursed Islands of Fire.
Finally, they reached the edge of the Fire Nation. She and Sokka had not mentioned that this day would likely be their last, though Sokka had given her a hug this morning. Katara had shrugged him off and smiled. She had always trusted in the good luck that seemed to follow Aang. Justice would prevail.
It was evening when they reached the outskirts of the archipelago. Katara always felt her bending was stronger by night. This was a good sign! She could not see the city besides for some dark shadows of buildings and some faint lights. Obviously something had happened to make everyone stay indoors. What she could see was a line of huge war ships, forming a defensive perimeter around the land. "Home sweet home," the general mumbled sardonically.
Katara tensed, feeling the rhythm of the water beneath the ship. She was fully armed and ready! The dark feeling had been replaced by grim resignation as the lone ship faced the blockade of ships. "Ready the catapults, full steam ahead," the captain said, standing a few feet away on deck. She looked fiercer then usual. "Run this blockade."
"You and Zuko have so much in common," she heard the general mutter darkly as the orders were obeyed. Katara had to say, she admired the strong spirit of the pirate ship. Everyone here had resolved to rescue their friends or die trying. Even when they had seen the huge cordon, no one showed any fear.
They had shown surprise though when the blockade had respectfully let them pass, raising their flags in a show of deference to them. "Ozai is allowing us in?" the helmswoman asked, her blue eyes wide. Katara was just as baffled.
"May they don't see that it's a pirate ship, Dafna?" asked another woman, an archer with intense green eyes.
"They are not blind, Midori. Someone gave them orders to allow us to pass. Someone knew we were coming," said a third pirate, this one of the Fire Nation.
"Zuko and Hotaru are dead already. He's playing with us," the general said, his voice shaking. "My brother has…has a sadistic sense of humor."
"We have to turn back! It's a trap!" Midori hissed, looking worried.
"Hotaru would understand," Dafna agreed, turning to the captain. "We need to turn back."
"We are not changing course. My children are not dead! I can feel it. This isn't Ozai's style. Something is going on," the captain had retorted, her hand clenched on the hilt on her sword. "I need to know if my children still live."
"Captain, Hotaru would not have wanted us to die for her," Yesenia, a younger pirate pleaded. "Once we get too close to land, we'll be sitting ducks!"
"Yesenia, if Ozai has won, then there is no point in turning back. He'll hunt us all down. He will make us into slaves and restore us to the hells we left. He will enslave the entire world," the captain retorted, turning to her crew.
"His navy will track us down," another pirate spoke up, a scar across her cheek. "We've raided too many of his ships."
"That is not a life worth living, my friends. Let us know freedom and die fighting!" Captain rallied, to the sounds of wild cheers. Even the two Water tribe siblings cheered along. Katara was coiled to fight back. She stood protectively near her injured brother, remaining ready for the ultimate fight!
It seemed to take forever to get to shore. Had she not been consumed with the thought of battle, she would have marveled at the enormous buildings that loomed like spikes from the islands. A great civilization maybe, but one built on the suffering of others. Katara had understood that the moment she reached shore, she was in for the fight of her life. Yet, she had been eager. The captain was right! If Ozai got Aang, then there was no point to living.
Katara had expected the entire Fire Nation army to be waiting for them on shore. As the crew dismounted, armed to the teeth, they waited for the inevitable ambush. The tension in the air made Katara's stomach ache again.
Yet, as the crew peered over onto the harbor, there were no troops. Out in the darkness, a single lone figure waited, with carriages a few feet away. What game was being played? "Your Majesty?" the messenger called as the ship docked.
"Who dares call me by the title of queen?" the captain spat, calling back from the side of the ship. "The Fire Lord holds no claim to me as his wife."
"Not queen, your majesty but Queen-Mother," the young messenger answered quietly, falling to a knee.
"Queen-Mother? But that means that ," the general said, his eyes widening. Everyone else pondered the bit of Fire Nation etiquette.
"Fire Lord Ozai is dead. Fire Lord Zuko has killed him," the messenger said.
For a moment, there was utter silence as the news sank in. Then everyone whooped for joy. There would be no more suffering. It was over. Aang had won! The war was over! Even the hardened pirates hugged each other and rejoiced at the downfall of the tyrant king!
Thank Sedna and the moon spirits! It was as if a weight that Katara had been born with had finally been lifted from her shoulders. She and the rest of the world were free! The guardian of the balance neither slept nor slumbered but had triumphed over all! "It's over!" Sokka shouted, giving his sister a hug. "Everything is going to be fine!"
"After a hundred years!" Katara answered back, barely remembering not to hug her brother too hard.
"Aang managed to do it! I don't know how but he managed to save the day. This means Dad can come home!" Sokka rejoiced. The world was filled with light and song and joy.
"Three cheers for the son of the captain, who conquered the Fire Lord!" Yesenia yelled, whirling Sokka gently around. "Don't forget him, handsome!"
"Hey, Aang's the Avatar. He is the one who saved the day," Sokka retorted back genially.
"Prince Zuko killed Ozai? I know my son is a powerful bender but my husband was a prodigy," the captain whispered, her voice shaking. "How is this even possible?" Katara didn't care who killed the Fire Lord, as long as the war was over!
"The Gods were watching our Zuko!" Iroh sang, pulling the captain into an embrace. "It's over! May Ozai rest in pieces!" The older man seemed to have acquired a new life. He had grabbed another pirate and was spinning her around in a dance. "My Zuko has triumphed!" he kept saying happily.
"What happened?" called down another one of the pirates, her brown eyes wide with excitement. "How did the noble Prince succeed?"
"Lady Hotaru is waiting, she will explain everything. Please come disembark and come along," the messenger said, waving them into the carriages.
Katara could barely sit still as she and her brother were hustled into down the gangplank and into the elegant carriages. "Wow, Aang is getting us in style," Sokka mumbled happily, admiring the interior of the vehicle. As she peered out the windows, she realized that people only needed the fire in their hands to navigate, hence why it seemed so dark. As they were transported through the city, crowds of people were standing and whispering in the street, looking confused. Huge buildings loomed over Katara's carriage, making her feel small.
Katara reminded herself that she didn't care about seeing the Fire Nation way of life though. She could think of nothing but how happy she would be to go home. Now Aang would have a normal life! She and Sokka chattered about how happy the village would be, once they were freed. They would celebrate for days. Bato and Dad would return and life would go on, happy and wonderful!
The party arrived at the palace and was shown inside the lavish interior. Katara's eyes searched for Aang amidst the red and gold designs. He must be waiting for them to come and see him, she was sure he would want to brag about his victory.
Instead, it was that witch of a pirate princess waiting for them. She was dirty and disheveled, but a royal mantle had been draped across her shoulders. Her eyes were red from weeping. "Mother, Uncle!" she whispered, throwing herself into their arms, before hugging all of her crewmates.
"Hotaru!" the captain said, her voice choked up as she kissed her daughter's cheeks. "You are alive!"
"Ozai's dead," Hotaru whispered, falling into her mother's arms again, completely exhausted. "He's gone forever."
"Where is Zuko and the Avatar?" the general crowed. "Where is my brilliant and brave Zuko and the little bald monk, the heroes of the century?"
Katara watched tears run down the princess's cheeks. "Zuko's in a trance, he hasn't moved. The court thinks he's just wounded, but he is so cold. Nothing can warm him. I've just left his bedside myself."
"NO! He has to be all right. I can't let him die without telling him the truth," the general said, paling. "I can't lose him now."
"Taru, how did this happen?" the captain asked. "My little boy. How did he kill Ozai?" she pleaded. "How badly was he burned during the Agni Kai?"
"There was no Agni Kai. Everyone says Zuko took on the powers of an Avatar; he became a spirit of Fire. No one knows how, but he glowed with blue power. With a burst of fire that no one had ever seen, he struck down Ozai. Zuko's not burned at all."
"Then what's wrong with him?" the general demanded. "If he isn't burned, what happened?"
"He is all beaten and bruised. He is breathing but he's very weak. The healers have been unable to help him," she wept. "His little Water tribe slave is with him now."
"What about Aang?" Katara said defiantly, standing in front of her brother. She would not let the she-demon touch him again.
"He's dead. Ozai killed him. He's been cremated already and buried with the heroes of the Fire Nation." Katara absorbed the words from the princess's lips. Aang was dead. Her funny little friend, the last Air bender in the world had sacrificed himself so that the Fire Lord could be stopped. He had died after living twelve years. The boy who had been the incarnation of life, fun, energy and joy now lay cremated in an urn in the cemetery of the Fire Lords.
"You are a liar, you sadistic trollop! Aang can't die!" she screamed, flying at the princess. Hands held her back. Katara struggled against them, sobbing hysterically. "Aang can't be dead!"
"Look girl, I am sorry for your loss but I have no time to deal with your hysterics," Hotaru spat.
"You murderers! You killed him, didn't you? He was only twelve, you monsters!" Katara shouted. Sokka was staring, still in shock.
"I didn't kill you, you fool. He just died, there was no attack," the pirate princess retorted.
"Aang, no!" Katara wept. She just could not believe it. Aang could not be dead. She had never told him how much he meant to her, he was like a second brother to her. Why did she keep losing the ones she loved?
"Enough! Take her and her brother to a prison cell on the first level. We can decide their fates later. We need to get back to Zuko. He needs us. The crew can have the guest bedrooms in the Branch Palaces. Servants will attend to their needs," the pirate princess directed. "We need to get back to my brother."
As they were dragged away, the awfulness of the situation sunk into Katara's head. It was all over. Katara wanted to weep, but she did not feel tears were enough. All the hope and dreams she had once had were dashed against the rocks. Everything she had thought wonderful about the world was finished.
Katara and her brother found themselves sharing a small cell. Perhaps they would have been treated better had Katara not lost her temper, but she doubted the pirate princess would have been kind to any of them.
Poor Momo had been put back in a cage. Sokka was lying on his stomach, staring into his space while Katara sniffled into her hands. "How could Aang be dead?" she kept asking.
Sokka swallowed hard. "Because the gods are sleeping. They didn't protect Mother and Aang's good luck just ran out." His voice was so cold, much like it was after Mom had died.
"I still can't believe it. Aang was so young, he had so much to live for," Katara whispered sadly, twisting her mother's necklace. "He deserved to live."
"I know, Katara. I miss him too, that bald air-head was my friend," Sokka mumbled.
"I just hope he didn't suffer. I never even go the chance to say goodbye," Katara sighed sadly. "The Air Benders are gone. The Avatar cycle could be completely broken now. Now the comet will come and the Fire Nation will have no one to stand against them. We have to escape and warn the world!" Katara exhorted, as she stared at the horizontal and vertical bars which barred them from leaving.
"And do what? Warn them that they are all going to die? They'd never believe us and even if they did, there is nothing they can do to stop the Fire Nation. What's the point?" Sokka retorted, as he reached for the water jug and drank a bit.
"So what happens now?" Katara whimpered, picking up straw from the floor and ripping it up absent-mindedly. The gray walls were a testimony to the torture seen here, the stones stained red with blood, and charred black with flames. She figured she'd be sharing that fate soon enough.
"I suppose Scarred bastard will take the throne, if he survives his injuries. If not, She-Devil takes the throne. Either way, it doesn't matter. The Fire Nation will crush the world. We failed. We should have never left the village."
"It's better to love and lose then to never love at all," Katara whispered, citing something Mother used to say.
"Katara, false hope is like a wave. It lifts you up and then drops you down even harder. The higher the wave, the more pain. Give up and accept it," Sokka sighed, as he drank some more water.
"If Prince Zuko takes the throne, I believe we'll have a chance." Katara had not forgotten his attack, but she also could not forget the way he had saved her friend and her brother.
"Are you crazy? Katara, wake up and smell the seal blubber. One despot was killed just to make room for another," Sokka mumbled angrily. "He's the one who tracked Aang like a wild animal. He's the one who made this whole situation by kidnapping our village and letting his greed take over his life. He's the last person we need help from."
"He was willing to humiliate himself for Aiiro and he's the one who stopped your whipping," Katara reminded, clutching her stomach. She felt so queasy now. It must be the depression.
"It was his sister that beat me," Sokka muttered, not addressing the issue of Aiiro. Katara knew Aiiro was important to Sokka, he had been an honorary little brother to the two siblings and was dearly beloved by them both. Aiiro was a good judge of character, what did the little boy see in the burned prince?
"He still saved Aiiro. He's evil, but he also has a seed of good of him," Katara retorted, wondering if it was her time of the month. Her stomach was really churning now, as if a whirlwind was inside it.
"A seed of good, maybe? A seed that's been smashed, destroyed, and burned is more like it. He might be the one who killed Aang, after all." Sokka was always so darn pessimistic.
"I think he'll end the war. I think we still have hope," Katara whispered, trying to convince herself that there was some spark of righteousness in the Prince's dark soul.
"Katara, you're an optimist. I'm a realist. That Zuko is a Fire-bender, he's rotten to the core. His sister is even worse. Face it, we are doomed," Sokka said, now eating some of the bread.
"I believe in Zuko. He'll free us, you'll see." Katara needed a strand of hope to hold onto. Because if she was wrong, then there was no point in living.
"You keep hoping. I'm going to sleep," Sokka said, still sounding so hollow. He closed his eyes. "Wake me when dinner comes."
Katara sighed and lay down on the other cot, still wishing she knew what to do, or why she felt so sick. For a few moments, she watched the dawn light flood in from the barred window, wishing she too had hope for the new day. She really missed Aang.
Wishing I could hear your voice again
Knowing that I never would
Dreaming of you won't help me to do
All that you dreamed I could
No more memories, no more silent tears
No more gazing across the wasted years
Help me say goodbye
---Phantom
AN/ My computer broke so updates will not come as fast, but I hope to give you a chapter once a week. Just because Ozai is dead doesn't mean life will go back to normal. There is still a peace to forge and a world to re-shape. Lots of surprises ahead and next week, Zhao gets put on trial. That should be fine. Tell me what you want to hear about in the next chapters and you might just get it. Also, which of my OCs is your favorite?