A/N: SO sorry again for the late updates! But bare with me and please, PLEASE let me keep hearing your awesome comments, and maybe some not so awesome critic. XD Anything that makes me a better writer. :) Ok, so I figured since this story is called FIGHTING Heart, that it needs some more action. It's getting that now, it's first battle scene. Enjoy. :)

Song: "LEAVE OUT ALL THE REST" by Linkin Park

Why?: Because it's a cool song that describes the struggle and vulnerability throughout this chapter.

Chapter Seven: Fighting Destiny

The Fire Nation Ruler was looking at himself in the mirror. But instead of seeing his usual scarred face in the long oval-shaped glass, the reflection staring back with sad lonely blue eyes was his girlfriend. More disturbing still was that it wasn't the Katara he knew, but a smaller version, when she was a little girl.

Mini Katara was staring, eyes so crystal clear...she finally spoke with a pleading little voice,

"Save me Zuko. Please come save me."

Zuko couldn't see his expression but imagined widening with horror. Foolishly, he brought his hand to the mirror, as if to pull Katara out of danger. When she saw he couldn't, the little girl sadly shook her head.

"You're trapped too. Now we'll both die."

Zuko pounded the glass, "No! I'll save you Katara, I'll save you!"

He pounded now with both fists until the glass shattered into tiny pieces of Katara's face and blew all over. Zuko covered his head and felt himself falling....falling, falling, falling....

. . . . . . .

"Katara!"

He sat up and shook the hair out of his eyes to better recognize his surroundings and realize...it was just a dream. Of course. A nightmare. Yet...something didn't feel right.

Zuko took a hold of the nearest weapon – his brand new pair of dual swords – and started sneaking out of the hotel room he was sleeping in, when a female figure appeared in his doorway. Zuko stiffened his arms, but then took a relaxed breath when he saw who it was.

"Mother, what are you doing?"

Ursa invited herself in and closed the door behind her, "I could ask you the same thing Zuko." She glanced at his hands, "Put those swords down."

Zuko lowered the weapons, but didn't let go. "I had a horrible nightmare Mother. I have this feeling..."

"It was just a dream darling." Ursa interrupted while swiftly making her way to her son's side and took the swords from him.

Zuko let her as he kept talking, "But, Katara was calling for me to save her. And the strangest thing was that she was little. Like, six years old..."

"You shouldn't keep thinking about that girl. It will only bring you trouble."

The Fire Lord stopped and felt himself go cold all over. He hadn't realized until now that Ursa had slowly, yet increasingly, changed her gentle protective attitude to a rather strict and harsh one. He slowly turned on her,

"That girl is the love of my life Mother."

Ursa didn't respond. Instead she turned her body to the side so her profile wouldn't give her away,

"You must understand darling...I want what's best for you, and I only seem to see how much grief she is bringing you."

"Only because she's not with me and I worry!" Zuko countered but then lowered his head and voice when he remembered, "You see, Katara has a way of...being in the wrong place at the wrong time usually."

The former Fire Lady tilted her head away and mumbled semi-sarcastically, "I can image."

Zuko was about to ask what she meant, when a sudden bang at the door distracted them both. By the violent shake of the door and his mother's expression, Zuko knew these visitors were not friendly – or welcome.

"Oh dear..."

Zuko glared at Ursa with those similar golden eyes she knew so well, "Mother?"

Ursa quickly handed him back the dual swords. "Go back to the carriage as fast as you can; kill anyone in your way."

The Fire-bender's heart leapt, "What about you? How will you defend yourself?"

The Fire Lady positioned herself and replied, "I have my ways. Now prepare yourself, and Zuko..."

The door went flying as mother and son ducked at the same time. Ursa quickly squeezed his arm and said,

"don't look back!"

Zuko's heart and mind were racing and reeling with contradictions at the same time, but when these masked men came running toward him, there was no time left for sentimentalities. His body got into fighting mode.

He used his swords, for his mother had instructed him not to use fire-bending unless absolutely necessary. He wouldn't have needed to anyway, for the attackers didn't appear to be benders. As he cut two down at the same swift movement, he glanced to his side and caught a glimpse of his mother.

In all the years of his life, Zuko had never once seen his gentle loving mother fight. So he never would have expected in a million years just how violent she could be. It appeared they were going at her more than him, yet Ursa cut them down by using martial arts, similar to those taught in Earth Nation academies, and darts hidden up her kimono sleeve for far away targets. And she did it all with such precise agility and speed.

Zuko was so awe-struck that he left himself open for an attack, and would have had one if his mother hadn't whizzed a dart right pat him. Zuko turned in time to see the poisoned dark sink into his attacker's neck. He collapsed without a sound.

Zuko didn't turn his eyes after that and fought until he had a clearing through the door, but his mother was still surrounded.

Don't look back! Her command rang loud and clear, but at that moment, he couldn't will himself to do it; to leave the person he had been missing and longing for over half his life. In that desperate moment, he jumped into his mother's circle and knocked a man down in the process. Ursa glared angrily at him,

"Your supposed to have left!"

She swept her legs under another man and kicked his rib cage while he was down. Zuko ducked and tore one of his swords through yet another one's middle.

"I'm not leaving you!"

"Dammit Zuko!"

Ursa sent her rage with a dagger that hit it's marked target straight in the heart. Another first, hearing his mother swear. But Zuko had no time to be in awe again, instead he was thinking of an escape plan, which they needed...quickly.

"Listen, on my count, we'll jump down the window and..."

"You forget, we are on a fifth floor!"

"I know what I'm doing mother!"

Ursa gave him a sharp glance and Zuko bit his tongue as he got hit on one of his old lightening wounds but gave the man who did it a sharp slash.

"Just...what other option do we have?!"

The former Fire Lady briefly looked at her surroundings and did the math. They were still surrounded and more men were coming...only Agni knew...there must be fifty of them.

She sighed and gave him a curt nod. Zuko lost no time in slashing an enemy in his way before leaping toward the small room's window and quickly opening the glass as Ursa covered his back. When he made sure no one was down, he grabbed his mother's hand, and holding her as close as he could...jumped.

He used his body as a shield for Ursa's body, and his fire-bending to balance out the fall. As they neared the ground Zuko reached out one hand to grab unto a ledge, causing his body to go at an angle and have Ursa land over him.

It was all over within a few seconds. The grass on his underside didn't soften the impact like Zuko hoped it would. He lay motionless for a moment as Ursa swiftly untangled herself and worryingly looked at him,

"Did you break anything?"
The young and scarred body groaned as Zuko thought, My spine? Instead he answered in a hoarse voice, "I'm f-fine."

He tried lifting his head, but it was like a boulder was crushing his chest down. This time Ursa put all her son's body weight on her and half carried, half limped, toward a nearby forest trail. When they were in deep enough so as not to be seen, she settled him against a tree trunk and knelt beside him to start inspecting damages. She only got as far as opening his night-shirt, though, when she saw his lightening strike scar she gasped and snapped her hand back as if she'd been struck. Zuko stared at her with sad thoughtful eyes, suddenly forgetting his recent pain to remember a far greater one.

"How..." her voice barely came out as a squeak. She swallowed and tried gaining control, "how, did this..." The woman who always seemed to know exactly what to say, had no words to finish her sentence now. So she shook her head as tears filled her eyes.

Zuko cleared his own emotion-filled throat to explain, "It happened while I was having an Agni Kai with...Azula. She...broke the rules and shot lightening toward Katara."

Ursa's eyes widened, at first with shock, and then as she processed what her eldest was saying...

"You put yourself between her and the lightening?"

Zuko gave a little shrug, as if it was a matter without question. "I had to save her."

All tender emotions disappeared and were replaced with a rush of blood to her pale cheeks, a sharp angry tone to the mothering voice, as Ursa stood and said,

"Why Zuko? At what costs?! And when were you planning on telling me all this?!"

It was Zuko's turn to get surprised and then extremely pissed off when he was spoken to in such a manner, especially from his own mother.

"She's worth it! And I don't know Mother, maybe around the same time you were going to tell me what you've been up to all these years!"

Ursa narrowed her eyes, a warning. "Don't talk to me that way young man."

Zuko bit his tongue but didn't stop there, "When are you planning to tell me? You seem to know all the secrets Mother. You know Katara and I are in danger, but wouldn't tell us from what. Know where we're going, but won't say the location."

"Its difficult to explain." She turned her back away again, a habit Zuko was now recognizing she did when she didn't want him to read her emotions.

"What about the attack? You seemed to know that was coming too..." Zuko stopped when the memories started coming back; how she had appeared in his room the precise moment he was about to go out, the expression on her face when the knock came, how most of the men surrounded her. Realization hit him cold yet again.

"You did know." He slowly pushed himself up against the trunk, and clawed his nails into the bark as his face twisted in horrible anguish, "You...your betraying me?"

Ursa quickly twirled back and faced her son with compassion in her features, "No! No, of course not! Zuko, I would never. I want to tell you, Spirit's know there's been far too many secrets for too long. But I...I can't. Not yet."

Golden orbs narrowed with distrust as one syllable came out from Zuko's mouth, "Why?"

The Fire Lady's throat constricted yet again, "To protect you."

Zuko slowly walked up to her, the movement dramatic and when they were mere inches apart he whispered in a cynical tone, "Too late for that."

She swallowed hard, glanced at his chest scar again, and the anger returned. "You could have prevented that."

He looked down, "No, I couldn't."

"You speak as if you didn't have a choice."

He looked right back at her when he answered, "I didn't. I don't abandon the people I love anymore."

The snub in that remark burned Ursa and before she knew it, her hand swiftly made contact with the former Prince's face, the un-scarred side.

The sharpness of that slap seemed to echo for a long time, though it must had taken less than five seconds...but the pain and consequence of it lasted a lifetime.

Zuko's face was still tilted, the spot now progressively turning red. Ursa twisted the attacking hand behind her back and looked sincerely horrified by what she had just done. She had never had to raise a hand to her eldest, and it broke a part of her soul that she did so now, especially without reason.

Zuko finally turned his head and took a large step back, unbelievable hurt behind eyes that had turned slightly darker with the pain that had nothing to do with the sting on his face. He stared at the woman in front of him for what seemed like ages, until a quietly humbled voice said,

"You've changed Mother."

Tears fell from Ursa's eyes at the truth of that statement, yet how she didn't want him to mean what she knew he now meant.

"My love..."

"Save it." Zuko turned around and walked off, farther into the forest. No longer worried about the enemies from the outside...there was more pain to be gained from those closest anyway.

~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~

Aang was not a very patient person by nature. But he held great respect for the elder Fire Nation General, so because of this reason alone, he didn't rush or pester Iroh with questions he knew the White-Lotus member would answer soon enough.

The twenty minute walk from Sokka's house near the woods to Iroh's place smack in the middle of the capital, near his tea shop, seemed endless. For the Avatar, the minutes dragged on ever-so slowly, his thoughts only worrying about Toph's condition and the sudden absence of his closest friends. Now those worries surrounded whatever news Iroh had about the past war, and how that affected his friend's reason of disappearance. He was sure he wanted to know, in fact he needed to know, but unraveling dangerous secrets was something that always made him nervous.

They reached the town, and soon after that, their destination. Iroh rattled the keys he kept in his pocket and as he opened the door he hummed an old tune Aang thought he slightly recognized. He had no idea how Iroh could keep such a light demeanor when he knew something was wrong.

He opened the door and held it back for the Avatar. Aang entered with hast, but still, this did not rush the elder in the slightest. He closed the door gently yet firmly, and went to close the shades of the windows, one by one. Aang stood impatiently trying not to tap his foot. Iroh gave him a long side-ways glance, holding in a chuckle. Finally, he lighted a lamp and put it on a table at the center of the small loft.

Aang's arrow seemed highlighted as the lamp's tiny flame flickered and danced on some unforeseeable force. Though he had feared it at one point, Aang held some awe and respect for the life fire held. Shaking out of his thoughts, the Air-bender's round gray eyes met Iroh's shadowed face, usually open and friendly, now held a strict sort of fierceness that could only belong to a Fire Nation General that has seen too much in the world.

In a brief, vulnerable moment, Aang was scared. But then he remembered it was only Uncle Iroh, this was a man he could trust. He stopped his nagging thoughts when Iroh finally started talking,

"Tell me Avatar Aang," He began, folding heavy-set arms that were no doubt stronger than the Air-benders, "what do you think the 100 Year War was about?"

"Power." Aang answered automatically. This answer drilled into his head countless times, but when he truly started thinking about the question, another more elaborate explanation unraveled.

"The Nations lived in harmony with each other, even the Fire Nation. It wasn't the Fire Nation itself that sought control and dominance, but Fire Lord Sozin...then Ozai continued the legacy. Glorying destruction and what started as a fight for control, almost ended with a future of world domination ruled by an evil psychopath."

Aang glanced at Iroh timidly, suddenly remembering who he was talking to and hoped he hadn't offended his elder friend, "Sorry."

Iroh lightly shrugged, though his eyebrows creased with sadness, "Don't be. My brother was...is...a regrettable sick man. Greed and power turned into a lust of madness in his soul. So, yes, you know the obvious meaning of the Great War. But what Sozin, my father, started on a whim to gain more power, turned into so much more. It has much more meaning than that."

Aang was silent, listening, observing. The way Iroh spoke his words was a hundred times better than reading from a dusty history scroll. They held wisdom, depth, conviction. He didn't want to interrupt, but Iroh seemed to wait for some sort of response. The young Avatar nodded encouragingly,

"What is the greater meaning Uncle?"

The royal eyes, slightly losing their fiery gold with age, squinted with either amusement or annoyance. Aang couldn't tell which and wasn't sure if he wanted to know.

"You said so yourself, before the war the Nations lived in harmony with each other. Why do you think that is?"

Aang was greatly thrown off by such a question. One thing was explaining why something happened, and quite another was explaining why that something happened. He was hoping it was one of those rhetorical questions, but sadly, Iroh was waiting for an answer.

"Well...um...because..."

The stern look on the General's face faltered slightly and he continued the story, a little less solemnly.

"We need each other to survive. You've always heard how each element has it's own power and purpose. When one overpowers the other, it causes imbalance, disruption, chaos. In our world we need many things to survive. Elements such as the Sun and Moon, fire and water, hold specific importance. We need them, but they also need each other to survive. There is a legend..."

The Avatar's ears perked up at this. Legends were his focal point, after all, his whole life was formed out of one.

"The Sun – and Moon – need each other. Both literally and figuratively. There is a legend about a boy and a girl, chosen by their element. They are children who hold a special talent for their element, which they usually show later on in life but become eventual masters. As they grow, these children know nothing of each other, for they share such different countries, cultures, and personalities. They seem like total opposites, yet they hold many similarities. When, eventually, destiny brings them together in one way or another, they share a special bond - some would call it love - a bond that held so much passion and balance that it lasted 100 years. Ever 100 years, though, the bond would be renewed and new children would be chosen to complete the balance yet again. But it was rumored, that if one of them could be broken apart, the balance would be ruined and one element would rise to dominate."

Iroh stopped, all throughout the story he had avoided eye contact, but now he stared directly into the Avatar's eyes and seemed to try to pass unto him some unspoken meaning that held great importance.

Aang tried to process it, but he couldn't quite get the connection between the past, present, and how that had to do with his future. Iroh spoke low his next few words,

"This is called...the Sun and Moon Destiny. My father was trying to separate and destroy the children of the fire and water bond, while at the same time gaining new territory, but he wanted the Sun to overpower. He wanted most of all, the Water-benders dead."

Aang still didn't get it...until he did. The puzzle pieces snapped together, just like that, and he felt incredibly stupid for not realizing it sooner. His eyes widened more and more,

"You mean...no...it can't be."

Iroh sadly nodded, "It is."

Aang pounded his fist on the raggedly table and it shook, "Iroh, where are Zuko and Katara?!"