Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender.
A/N: Hey everyone! Hope you all liked the last chapter, but I'm warning you: it's going to take me a while to write new chapters with school starting. And my inspiration's getting low, so that never helps. Yeah, this is going to go really fast (from now to the big battle, I mean), so I hope I'm not leaving more to be desired from my chapters. I try to write when I can, but it's not easy. Anyway, on a lighter note, I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to GEICO! Okay not really, but I felt that needed to be said. Yeah, so I've just started high school, so the pressure's definitely on, but I hope to write a lot anyway and get a lot of responses from my reviewers. Now I can call you guys dedicated without being sarcastic! Cool! And I did get the game Truth in here from a book I'm reading, The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen. Oh, and I just think that this needs to be said: TwilightNew Moon, and Eclipse are amazing!!!
It was three days until the group of rebels were scheduled to arrive at the Fire Nation capital; two days since Katara and Zuko's swimming session in the river. In the time that they had been traveling with their reinforcements, 27 more people had been recruited. They now had over 100 well-trained benders and non-benders ready and willing to fight anything to help the Avatar.
They had been walking all day, and after Sokka had had a few 'accidents' involving flaming leaves or icicles almost falling on his head, he agreed to let Katara and Zuko walk together. They were now hand-in-hand at the back of the group, walking quietly. Both were thinking about the days to come, and what would happen if both of them survived the battle.
Katara's thoughts were as follows: Things have gotten so tense around here, although I'm sure it would be much worse if everyone were still like enemies. Zuko's been pretty quiet recently too. I guess we all have. It will probably stay this way until after. And Aang agreed that we should just keep walking for the next few days instead of stopping like we have been recently. We'll get there the night before the comet comes to start the fight. We won't be able to get these people there by the Day of the Black Sun, that'll come right before. But hopefully the rebels living in hiding will break out that day. After that, who knows what will happen. If both Zuko and I are alive, then we'll definitely tie the knot. There's not much else for us to do now, we've gotten so close. Then… well, we'll see where that takes us.
While she was thinking this, her hand tightened around Zuko's, causing him to jump. He had been thinking as well, and his thoughts were along the same line: Everything has gotten so tough around here. People are straying back to their original groups, and the walking has taken its toll. Just ask my legs. Katara's been very secluded too. We spend as much time together as her idiot brother will allow, but she stays away from everyone else. Well, at least we might get a day of rest before the attack. And luckily Azula's been staying away. Hopefully, once this whole thing's over, Katara and I can get away from the group and finally finish things up. I hope she hasn't seen what I've been working on all these nights; that would be a waste. Once we win the war, which we have to do, Azula will be done with as well as my father, so I'll take the throne as Fire Lord, and if Katara accepts, which I know she will, she'll be my queen. Finally!
At this point his thoughts were interrupted by Katara squeezing his hand, causing him to jump. This brought him back to reality, and he smiled reassuringly down at her, squeezing her hand in response.
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It was right after dinner, and Katara and Zuko were trying to find a way to pass the time when they were walking.
"I still say we could sneak away for some privacy!" Zuko said for about the tenth time. Both he and Katara knew what was meant by this, and how much it would aggravate Sokka if he found out.
"I know, that would be great, but we can't! What if Azula or someone found us, and we were too far away for anyone else to know? We should try some kind of game," Katara suggested. She had put up this same argument every time Zuko suggested sneaking away, but they still could not pick a game to play. So far they had suggested 'I Spy', 'Last Letter, First Letter', and about six other traveling games. Then it hit Katara.
"What about 'Truth'?" she asked. 'Truth' had been one of her favorite games as a young girl, but every time she had made Sokka play he had cheated, so it could get very competitive.
"What's 'Truth'?" Zuko asked suspiciously. He already did not like where this was going.
"Well, it's this game where one person asks the other a question, and you can only answer the truth. No lying, so it can get pretty dirty. Sokka and I used to play all the time, but he would cheat, so there are a lot of rules that were thought up as we played, but the one main one is that you have to tell the truth," she explained. "The only way to win is if one person won't answer a question. Then the other person has to answer one, and if they do they win."
Zuko rolled his eyes, saying, "That's it? That's so boring. And easy."
"Well, why don't we try it now, just to see?" Katara suggested. By now they were walking in the woods surrounding the current camp.
"Fine. You go first," Zuko conceded. All Katara could think was that he did not know what he was getting himself into.
"Alright, hold on," Katara said, thinking. "What's your favorite color?"
"Okay, come on. I'm sure it's supposed to be harder than that," Zuko protested.
"Fine," Katara sighed, thinking again. "How about… What was going through your mind when you first sat down and watched me by the river?" she asked slowly.
Zuko was taken aback by this question, but recovered quickly. He answered slowly, as if weighing each word before speaking. "I guess it was just that I should have decided to come and help long ago, and then I was thinking of ways to get you to stop trying to kill me with your glares."
Katara laughed softly, remembering how much she had loather Zuko that first day. Then it was his turn.
"Alright then, let's see… How did you know, when I first came to assist Aang, that I was not going to just lure Azula here or attack while you slept?"
"Well, it was probably that I had always believed that you would come around some day. After that day in the crystal caverns, I knew that we were more alike than I had imagined, and that deep down, there was good in you," Katara answered solidly. Zuko just stared at her before finally shaking his head as if to clear it, and motioning for Katara to go on.
The game progressed like this for the next two days, the questions getting more and more personal each time. Soon they involved topics like Katara and Zuko's mothers, what they had been thinking about that day in the crystal caverns, and even possible children's names. They played while they walked, while they ate, and all the time in between. It was all they did, and though they could tell that it was making Sokka even angrier, they continued.
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On the day of the battle, Katara woke early and went down to the river to relax. She had been restless all night, and hoped that the sound of her element would help her to calm down. She was very surprised when she encountered Zuko, sitting on a low tree branch and staring out over the water. He did not notice her until she touched his shoulder lightly.
"Hey. You couldn't sleep either?" Katara asked softly. Zuko shook his head as he helped Katara up to sit in front of him on the branch. They sat like that in the tree until they could hear the sounds of the rest of the camp beginning to awaken.
"Come on; we'd better get back," Katara said, starting to get down. But as she went to turn, Zuko caught her and kissed her. They held each other for a long moment before breaking apart abruptly; Sokka's snoring had stopped. As the couple walked together back towards the camp, Zuko thought about what he had spent the night doing thanks to his insomnia. As he smiled, his hand tightened around Katara's. She looked up at him, and immediately got suspicious.
"What?" Zuko asked innocently, after seeing her trying to read his face.
"Just wondering why you looked so accomplished, like you just finished something that you'd been working on for weeks," Katara answered. Zuko never answered, for they had just walked into camp and Sokka was on them already.
"Where were you? What were you doing? Do I need to separate the two of you?" Sokka scolded them. All they could do was stand there and let Sokka blow off some steam before Katara stepped in the calm her brother.
"Sokka, it's okay. Neither of us could sleep, so we went to the river to relax. Nothing happened, don't worry, everything's okay," she soothed, and soon Sokka stalked off to mutter under his breath as he packed up his sleeping bag.
As soon as he was out of earshot, Katara and Zuko burst out laughing. "We have to do that more often," Zuko choked out before being consumed by more hysterics. When they could breathe again, Katara and Zuko split up and collected their belongings, getting ready to have their final meeting with the reinforcements before the attack began.
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It is time.
The war is starting.
I hope I get to see her again.
I never got to say goodbye.
As the group marched forward, these were the thoughts that went through many people's heads. Aang had given the most moving speech that any of them had ever heard, and they now had complete trust in him. Each of the original party, that being Iroh, Sokka, Katara, Zuko, and Toph, were put in charge of different sections of benders/non-benders; Aang was the head of the entire operation. Even Suki was able to meet them before they started.
Everyone was given a few moments together before the invasion began. Aang and Toph walked off into the trees, while Sokka and Suki went in another direction. Katara and Zuko walked back to the river, farther downstream than they had been earlier. As they sat together, Zuko gathered his thoughts.
"Katara… I, umm…" he started, not sure what to say or do. Katara sensed his unease and wrapped her arms around him, gazing up at him comfortingly.
"What is it? You know we're going to be fine today, we can all take care of ourselves," she said calmly. Finally Zuko got up his courage and pulled out of her embrace gently. Katara looked at him confusedly until he got down on one knee; by this time her expression had changed to one of shock and utter happiness.
"Zuko, I," Katara started, but he held up a hand to stop her.
"Katara, I've loved you ever since I first joined this group and watched you by the river. I want to be with you forever, even if that will only be until the end of today. And I know how corny all of this must sound, but it's true. I love you, Katara. Will you marry me?" Zuko finished with a flourish, pulling out a beautiful hand-carved necklace. While he had been talking, Katara had been fighting back tears, and now she let them spill over as she fell to her knees and hugged him tightly.
"Yes! Oh, yes!" she cried happily. Zuko sighed in relief, then fixed the necklace for Katara. As she pulled away to look, she gasped. The necklace was a blue stone flecked with red, and carved into it was the symbol for fire being circled by the symbol for water.
"You are my life, Katara; my world," Zuko whispered.
Katara looked up and managed to say, "It's beautiful," before she and Zuko were kissing each other softly. After a few moments, they broke apart, and Zuko wiped the remaining tears off of Katara's face.
"We should be getting back," he said softly. As they got up and walked hand-in-hand back to the group, Katara tucked the necklace into her robes.
"For safety purposes; we don't need Sokka going crazy now, we can wait until after," she explained in response to Zuko's confused look. He chuckled softly, kissing the top of her head.
Then they walked into the camp, bracing themselves for the biggest fight of their lives.