A/N: Hope everyone who celebrates it had a very Merry Christmas, and will have a Happy New Year. :) Mine was great, but due to all the crazy holiday busy-ness, I was barely able to write which is why I'm taking so long with these chapters. I'm hoping once the beginnings of January is over, things will settle down and I'll be able to write faster. Anyway, you may find MY version of Ursa a little OCC, but remember Ursa was barely put in the show, only in pieces, and from what I got she was a very elegant and quiet woman, yet at the same time with a fierce motherly protectiveness toward her son that can make her seem 2-sided, but it isn't that she's bad, she's just...doing everything for the best interest of Zuko. So, again, if she comes off out of character in this story I'm sorry, but I always try my best to stay with their true personality. Rant over, thanks for the reviews, they keep me going. :)

Song: "APOCALYPSE PLEASE" by Muse.

Why?: Because I needed something dramatic and fitting for this chapter that, for me, I personally went through a lot of emotions and depth while writing it. Hope it wasn't too over-dramatic, couldn't help myself. xD

Chapter Three: The War Begins

Night fell quickly in the woods behind the Fire Nation Palace, as Yue's presence appeared in the dark sky, another mysterious presence was lurking below.

"Do you have everything ready to go?"

"Almost Madam."

"Almost?"

Ursa turned her hooded head toward the carriage driver who was practically trembling,

"It seems...well..."

"Katara isn't coming Mother."

Zuko appeared from behind some trees, with his own well-worn hood in place.

Ursa sighed. She had a feeling the girl would bring her trouble, Water Tribe women were always very proud, therefore difficult. She glanced back at the driver,

"Take my son to the place where the river ends, I will meet you there."

Zuko put an arm out to stop her, "You aren't..."

"I will not take long, but you must get going."

Ursa saw it then, a slight moment of hesitation before Zuko dropped his arm and entered the carriage with a meek nod. She hated having to lie to her son, but it was the only way to protect him.

The driver quickly started the ostrich-horses and Ursa waited for the carriage to disappear around the road's bend before pulling out within some bushes an ostrich-horse of her own. She rode the animal skillfully and followed Yue's light, knowing exactly where she'd be.

~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~

It was such a long and tiring day that Katara actually felt sleepy by the time she reached her older brother's cottage. She knocked on the old wooden door and waited a few seconds before knocking again, louder, and then hearing from the other side something dropping and a low gruff that was followed by a high-pitched male "OW!"

Katara resisted the urge to laugh as her sleepy older brother finally opened the door and a red-ish mark clearly stuck out from his tan forehead.

"Huh?"

"Hey Sokka, can I stay over for a couple nights?"

The Water Tribe warrior yawned and opened the door wider, "Sure, whatever, come in."

Katara was slightly surprised he didn't argue or question why, but then again, lots of things had changed about her big brother ever since Suki had...left.

She walked in and noticed more than the usual amount of clothes and food cluttering Sokka had around the floor and over the furniture. She glanced at an upside-down frying pan that was most probably the cause of Sokka's outburst.

"Gee Sokka, what have you done to this place? Are you moving?"

She meant it as a rhetorical question, but he answered,

"No, I'm packing."

Katara suddenly turned on him, "Packing?"

He still had a half far away look in his eyes from an apparent hangover, "Yeah. Going with dad back home, don't you remember?"

"Oh."

She moved away, suddenly remembering the long trip back to the Southern Water Tribe Hakoda had offered his children. Sokka took the offer because he needed the distraction and Toph had sworn to send a messenger hawk the minute she'd hear from Suki. Katara declined, using the excuse that Zuko needed her here.

But the truth was...Katara wasn't ready to go back home. It was bad enough having to deal with Sky's illusions and nightmares here, going back to the place where she shared all her best friend's childhood memories would just be too painful. She wondered if she'd ever be ready.

She was brought back to reality by Sokka's obnoxiously loud yawn.

"Why don't you go get some sleep? I know where the blankets are and if I need help I'll just throw something at you."

Sokka's head tilted a little to the side as he stared at his sister with a blank expression until he mumbled, "K."

He walked to his room and when Katara heard the door close she sighed and kicked away a half-open can that was filled with La knew what. She started toward the linen closet when she heard a slight rustle from the cherry blossom bushes that surrounded the house. Sokka lived near some woods, so it could have been any old animal, but Katara didn't want to assume anything until she saw it with her own two eyes so she walked toward the back door and opened it just a crack to take a peek and nearly had a heart attack when she saw a hooded figure. But relaxed, only slightly, when she looked into Ursa's face.

"What are you doing here? How did you find me?"

Ursa looked at Katara for a few seconds before answering with another question, "So, your really not coming?"

Katara tilted her head toward Zuko's regal mother before she decided to step outside and close the door. The last thing she needed was Sokka waking to find her talking to someone who was supposedly dead.

"No, I'm sorry, I can't leave the others behind."

Ursa wasn't convinced in the slightest. "You don't trust me."

It wasn't a question, but a statement Katara couldn't deny.

"It's just...it would set me much more at ease if I knew the whole story first."

Ozai's wife nodded understandable as she started to take her hands out of the long baggy sleeves of her cloak. The Water-bender watched with interest, seeing Ursa's arms were nothing like a Fire Lady's should be. They were smooth, but with faint bruises and scratches scattered in various parts. Her hands were small, with slim delicate fingers, yet there were several callouses on the palms themselves.

Ursa didn't pretend to not notice, "Time has not been kind to me, but it has been particular worse for you and my son."

Katara suddenly looked up, "How do you know so much about me?"

Now the Fire Lady could not completely reach the younger woman's eyes. "You are my son's one true love. How could I not?"

Katara's eyes narrowed, "Zuko helped me find my mother's murder, did you know that?"

Ursa slightly glanced into the fierce blue eyes, "No, I did not."

Katara took a step forward, "But you did know my name, where I'd be, and that I am a Water-bender. You probably even know what region I'm from, don't you?"

She finally met Katara's angry stare. "You are a stubborn one Katara of the Southern Water Tribe. Stubborn but cautious. Those are good traits in a leader. My son has chosen well."

Katara's heart accelerated at the former Fire Lady's words, but she didn't let herself become that easily distracted by compliments.

"Maybe so, but that doesn't answer anything, does it?"

The side of Ursa's lip curled upward as if she was suddenly amused with something. "You are apart of the Sun and Moon Destiny that occurs only every 100 years."

Katara's uptight demeanor suddenly vanished and she furrowed her eyebrows, "The...Sun and Moon? You mean like...the elements?"

Ursa looked at the Water-bender as if that was both obvious and stupid. "It has something to do with it, but it's far more complicated than that..." she paused herself, suddenly listening to the night breeze. Then she closed her eyes tightly and whispered as if she was in deep pain,

"I wanted so much to protect him from all this."

Katara took a couple more steps toward the older woman, until they were side by side and she pressed a gentle hand on her arm. Ursa opened her eyes, that were shining with tears, and Katara stared into them pleadingly, practically begging,

"Ursa, please...just tell me."

For a moment, Katara thought she would actually finally bear her soul, tell her her story, but something changed and while staring straight into her eyes Ursa replied coldly,

"He shouldn't have fallen in love with you."

That hurt Katara more than a slap on the face and she instantly dropped her hand and backed away, the shock and pain written all over her expression. Ursa lifted her hood and walked away, back into the path of the nearby woods.

A cat-owl hooted somewhere in the distance, and Katara took a few more seconds to recover before slowly turning around and touching the doorknob of the old wooden back door tentatively.

She thought about Zuko. About how their relationship affected everyone, on both a political and personal level. It seemed at most times the whole world was set against their union. But she learned the hard way that trying to deny her feelings hadn't worked out for either of them, so she wasn't going to try that again. But something had to be done about all this.

Love was pushing them together, but everything else was pulling them apart. How much longer could they fight for their hearts?

Katara closed her eyes tightly and felt the shiver of a cold touch in a place on her arm where goosebumps rose. She knew she had to deal with her own issues first before she could try proving to the world that she and Zuko belonged together. But the age-old question rose – how?

Maybe a visit back home wouldn't be such a bad idea after all.

Maybe.

~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~

Two carriages pass each other at a crossroads. The man inside one is silent and covered by shadow. The man inside the other is similarly silent and covered in a faded red hood, but he wasn't so cautious to stick to darkness like the other.

Zuko sighed and lowered his hood to gaze more clearly at the beautiful moonlight that wasn't nearly as beautiful as another person in his life that also radiated moonlight. Katara would have both laughed and blushed at that statement. Oh Spirits, it had been less than twenty-four hours and he was already missing and thinking about his girlfriend like crazy. He would drive himself insane at this rate.

Although the young Fire Lord was only too ready to leave with his long lost mother to a destiny unknown, he was starting to have some second thoughts if whether Katara right...maybe he had rushed into this a bit too blindly.

But what other reaction was he supposed to have? This was his mother. The first person that had abandoned him, yet in that one act had shown more love and care than anyone else in his family. She was the one person in his childhood that had shown compassion, protectiveness, and yes favoritism. But Ozai always had made it obvious his favor of Azula over Zuko, so the Prince at the time found no reason to wrong his mother's actions. Later he realized, all too late, how much Azula had yearned and needed her mother's love more than Ozai's. But that was all in the past and Zuko couldn't keep dwelling on everything that had been said and done. Yet with his mother back, everything around her, including her very self, brought the past and all its raw emotions and memories right back.

Zuko heaved yet another sigh and lifted his hood back up, trying not to think about the long journey ahead of him and the secrets his mother was hiding.

~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~

The other carriage kept a comfortable speed, not seeming to be in any sort of hurry for its destination. Yet the driver knew if he didn't arrive before midnight, it would have been better that he'd be left to wander in the desert with nothing but a half-filled canteen. Because that's exactly the sort of punishment his master created for those who didn't obey orders precisely.

Said master was calmly laid back against his cushioned seat, fumbling with something in his large hand, thinning dark eyes casted downwards and the tone of his skin couldn't have been told with the way he was dressed. He demanded respect and fear with just a glance. And those who didn't respect him were taught to fear, and those who didn't fear were shown the consequences of those who didn't respect. Even the mention of his very name was spoken in low, submissive tones.

A cruel smile curled upwards on the right side of his lips as he wondered if even the former Fire Lord had had such power. He assumed not, for the way his reign fell to the musings of his pathetic son and tree-loving Avatar.

Now, as he approached the highly secured prison made to contain only one of the most dangerous members of that royal family, he knew his most recent plan would be the greatest he had ever had.

True power did not come from public leaders who were in the front line and beat their chests loud to proclaim rule while they challenged anyone and anything. Thinking their armies, brains, or brawn could protect them. No, true power was held from the person sitting behind the scenes. The silent, inactive type who didn't have to lift a finger to make a person die, a country fall, or a war start.

True power came from The Shadow.

Which was who he was.

The carriage reached the stepping stones to the high-walled prison and stopped. The Shadow stepped out and filled his lungs with the cool night air as he rubbed the smooth sapphire stone with his thumb before placing it in his cloak's pocket.

"And so..." he whispered, gradually looking upwards, "the war begins."