Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender.
A/N: Okay, I've pretty much finished all of my other stories, because I see no way that I could continue them, although now that I think about it, I might turn Broken Hearted into a tiny little Taang thingy, not big though, like one more chapter, but that's if I feel like it. Anyway, I hope everyone who hasn't reviewed likes the story so far. I also hope that people actually read my author's notes… Oh well, not my problem if you don't. So yeah, for anyone who does, I just wanted to tell you all that me and my friends are going to the Renaissance Fair on September 16th probably, so that rocks! It's in New York, so if anyone else is gonna be there, tell me. It's awesome, and you get to dress up and stuff, so it's fun. Now I'm gonna stop rambling and get on with the story. This time no charge though. There's a mark on my forehead from last time…
It was a week after Aang had gotten together with Toph, and he was now talking to Katara and Zuko again. Sometimes, tensions got strained, but everything was pretty good. That is, until Azula caught up.
The group was sitting around the fire eating and discussing that day's training when there was the fire suddenly exploded, sending all of them flying backwards. As everyone staggered to their feet, a lightening blast erupted from the middle of the smoke, just missing Aang's shoulder. He immediately jumped up to get a better view of what they were facing, while the rest of the group scattered to await his report.
However, he did not need to tell them, because Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai bounded through the smoke on rhinos, followed by around a dozen firebenders on foot.
"Spread out. They're probably hiding in the forest. Try to flush them out," Azula ordered. "And I want them all alive."
As the firebenders started towards the trees where Toph, Aang, Zuko, Iroh, and Katara were hiding, Aang dropped back down behind Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee without making a sound. He then signaled to the group in the trees to come out. As he did so, he let out two of his newly-mastered fire blasts, knocking out Mai and Ty Lee. This gave him away, and gave the group a chance to get out and attack the soldiers.
Zuko and Iroh proceeded to fight the soldiers with fire, while Katara pulled up waves from the river that ran alongside the clearing. Sokka threw his boomerang and took out his sword/club, using it to attack more of the soldiers. Toph pounded the soldiers that were still standing into the ground like she was hammering nails, leaving Aang to fight Azula.
As they circled each other, Azula now on the ground, Azula said, "I see that my traitorous uncle and brother have been helping you learn firebending. Good so far, but you will never be able to beat me, and certainly not my father."
"We'll just see about that," Aang replied, bending a rock wall encircled with fire at Azula, which she promptly dodged.
"You will have to be better than that, Avatar," she called out, sending kicks and punches ablaze with fire his way. Throughout this, the last of the soldiers had been defeated, and Zuko, Iroh, Katara, Sokka, Aang, and Toph surrounded Azula. She realized that she would not be able to win, so she decided to make a distraction for them. She shot lightening blasts out all around her, none of them hitting except for one.
As the group was dodging the lightening, Azula jumped astride her rhino, pulling Ty Lee and Mai on with her, only so that they could not wake up and give away her plans to the Avatar. She then rode away, leaving a cloud of dust for the group to choke on in her wake.
As soon as Toph could breathe, she gasped. "Guys, I don't know if you can see yet, but someone's not standing. And their pulse is really slow!" she said in alarm. "Whoever it is is laying down in those bushes to my right."
When the rest of the group could see, they all (with the exception of Toph) shouted, "Katara!" and ran over to the bushes. Sokka was the first to reach them, and he pulled Katara gingerly out of the brush. He felt for her pulse, and confirmed what Toph had said. "Toph was right; her pulse is really faint," he said, his voice shaking. As he carried her over to where the light from the fire was the greatest, he saw that she had a large burn mark on her left side, and her clothes had been burned away there as well. Luckily for all of them, her wrap was still intact; the burn was just underneath it. As soon as Zuko saw the burn, he realized something.
"That burn is the exact same kind as my scar," he stated, his voice barely audible. As Zuko knelt down next to Sokka, Iroh said, "He is right. There is nothing you can do to heal that scar for now. Unless Katara can heal it herself later, it will stay with her forever. I remember caring for Zuko when he had first gotten his scar. Let me take care of her for now."
Sokka reluctantly got up, letting Iroh in to look at Katara's burn. Through the entire night, he and Zuko stood there and watched Iroh clean and bandage the wound. Then, they both sat together next to her, in case she woke up, even Iroh had warned them that this would not happen for another couple of days.
Sokka decided to break the silence between them at around midnight. "So… you really care for her, don't you?" he asked Zuko, causing him to jump. He had been completely zoned out, remembering watching her that first day, when he had sat next to the river.
"Yeah. Yeah, I do," was his only response at first. Then he added, "Have you ever had anyone that you cared about greatly, but lost? Family or otherwise?"
This question caused Sokka to wince slightly, before replying, "Yeah. My mom was killed by the Fire Nation, and this girl, Yue, gave up her life to become the Moon Spirit. What about you?"
"Yes. My mother left when I was young. I'm not sure if she is still with us or not. I just hope Katara doesn't become one of them…" he said quietly. As they sat there in silence, watching Katara, they began to realize that however much they hated each other, they were a lot alike. Zuko and Sokka fell asleep next to Katara (Sokka between Zuko and Katara, of course), their minds filled with thoughts of Katara, how much they were alike, and whatever they would do with themselves if Katara did not make it through this.
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The next day was very uneventful. Sokka sat next to Katara for most of the day, until Iroh insisted that he help him find herbs for tea. Zuko trained with Aang (just techniques today), although neither had his mind focused, and they ended up stopping early. Toph filled the rest of Aang's day with both bending and just her presence there. Zuko, after teaching Aang, filled Sokka's place next to Katara. Iroh forced each of the group members to play him in pai-sho, which went pretty fast for some people (coughSOKKAcough) but was very drawn out for others. By the end of the day, everyone was exhausted, both mentally and physically, and they all went to bed early, with the hope that Katara would wake up the next day embedded in their minds.
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The day after that went much the same: Iroh and Sokka looking for tea herbs after Sokka had sat next to Katara; Zuko and Toph training with Aang; Toph busying Aang with other things; Zuko sitting next to Katara; pai-sho with Iroh. After an especially long game of pai-sho between Toph and Iroh, everyone walked away, save for Zuko, to do their own thing. This left Zuko to sit by Katara, alone with his thoughts.
Zuko suddenly thought he was seeing things. Had Katara's eye just squinted? He rubbed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he saw her eyes squint again. He immediately went and sat behind her, putting her head in his lap. Soon, Katara opened her eyes and blinked up at him.
"What did I miss?" she asked sleepily. Zuko smiled wanly, glad that Katara was finally awake and seemed fine.
"You were hit in the side by a lightening bolt by Azula," Zuko explained, helping her to sit up. "It's been two days since she attacked. We were afraid you wouldn't wake up," he said, hugging her gently. She hugged him back, but pulled back suddenly.
"Where is everyone?" Katara asked, looking around, worry etched into her face.
Zuko laughed softly, catching her arms before she jumped up to find everyone. "Don't worry. Everyone's still alive, just not here. We've been in the same place as before Azula attacked, because we didn't want to move you. Aang and Toph are out doing something together, they've actually gotten really close. Uncle dragged your brother off to help him find more tea stuff. I stayed here to watch you."
Katara stayed silent for a moment. Then she registered something Zuko had said before. He had said that she was hit by Azula. How bad was it? She pulled her shirt up to see bandages wrapped around her middle, and she felt a bit sore on her left side. As she reached down to undo the bandages, Zuko grabbed her hand.
"Katara, I'm going to warn you, the effects of Azula's lightening bolt are always horrible. You're lucky you weren't killed. The bolt's effects were permanent; Uncle did all he could," Zuko explained. He looked at her with pleading eyes, hoping that she would not get upset when she saw the result of the bolt.
"I need to see," Katara responded calmly. She pulled her hand from Zuko's grasp softly and began undoing her bandages again. She took her time, bracing herself for what she was about to see. When she finally got the bandages off, all Katara could do was stare. The scar that the lightening had left was an exact replica of Zuko's.
Zuko searched Katara's face for any sign of emotion. When she finally looked back up at him, there were no tears in her eyes. She took his hand in hers and placed it on her scar, reaching up her other hand and placing it on his scar. She just looked at him for a moment before saying quietly, "Now we're the same."
They sat there for a few moments, just looking at each other. After what seemed like hours to them, but was really only a few moments, Katara let her hand drop and leaned forward to hug Zuko. Then she got up stiffly, saying, "I should get some new bandages."
Zuko agreed and they walked into the tent where Iroh had put the bandages that he had prepared earlier. After they had put the new bandages on, they stepped outside. Just as they were deciding what to do, Sokka and Iroh came back. Sokka's eyes widened for a moment before he shoved all of what he had in his arms (which wasn't a lot to begin with) in Iroh's arms and ran over to hug Katara tightly.
Katara smiled a bit before patting Sokka on the pack and saying, "Sokka, I kind of need to breathe." He let her go then, smiling broadly. It looked painful to Zuko, but it caused him to smile a bit too.
He actually began laughing, along with Katara and Iroh, when Sokka ran over to Iroh and began shaking him saying, "She's alive! Katara's alive!" This was more a way to reassure himself than anyone else, but just the fact that Katara was alive and well (all except for her scar) was good enough for the rest.
Sokka was just calming down when Aang and Toph walked into the camp. Aang's reaction was much like Sokka's, in that he shoved all of the fruit he was carrying into Toph's fish-laden hands, but then she shoved it back into his, causing him to drop it all. Katara laughed and walked forward to help Aang pick it all up, while Zuko took the fish from Toph and left with his uncle to give the four original friends some time alone.
"So Sugar Queen, looks like you're up and about," Toph commented. Katara and Aang stood up, their arms filled with fruit. Katara walked over to the basket they kept the fruit in, placing her armful in with Aang right behind her. Then they all sat down; Katara next to Sokka, who was holding his head in his hands, and Aang and Toph across from them.
As Katara sat down, Sokka raised his head. Katara saw something there that she thought she would never have to see again. Sokka had tears running down his face. The last time she had seen that, they were in the South Pole, and their mother had just been taken from them. He answered her worried look with, "I thought we were going to lose you. I couldn't take that. Not again."
Katara leaned forward and hugged Sokka roughly, beginning to tear up a bit herself. They sat there like that until Toph cleared her throat loudly, earning her a jab in the side from Aang. The siblings broke apart, locking eyes for a moment before turning back to Aang and Toph.
"So, what are we going to do now?" Katara asked.
"Well, as long as you're feeling okay, we can go ahead and keep moving. Azula will be back on our trail soon, and we want to get out of the way," Aang ventured. Everyone else nodded in agreement, knowing that the consequences could be deadly if Azula found them again.
They talked some more, then decided to stay to the trees and river, meaning walking. Aang sent Appa off to wait outside the next town, telling him to make sure he kept to the trees and clouds as much as possible. Katara went to find Zuko and Iroh to tell them their plan. This resulted in a rather upset Zuko, as he did not want to walk at first, but he was soon 'persuaded' by Katara. Iroh was good with the decision; as Zuko reminded him, he needed more exercise. Toph and Aang prepared dinner, which meant that they were having burnt fish. By the end of the night, they were all argued and tired out.
Zuko and Sokka both insisted on sleeping next to Katara, so she ended up sandwiched between two snoring boys, one who was quieter and one who was beginning to drool on her. ((You can guess who's who.)) Katara finally got tired of this and quietly pulled her sleeping bag over to the other side of the clearing, where she could not hear any snoring.
As she lay there, trying to fall asleep, Katara thought about talking to Sokka and Zuko about how protective they were. Sokka had always been this way, and it was getting on her nerves, but she thought Sokka was starting to rub off on Zuko. That was a bad thing. She would have to talk to them while they walked the next day. As she thought this, Katara finally drifted off to sleep.