Sorry this chapter has taken so long to get out. Life has been kicking my arse recently.

Enjoy!

Chapter 10: Yin to Yang

"All of my memories
Keep you near
In silent moments
Imagine you'd be here
All of my memories
Keep you near
The silent whispers, silent tears."

From the song "Memories" by Within Temptation

Azula glared at Zuko with one eye. Her other currently was gummed shut from blood. "If you think your some powerful bender for having some fancy colored fire then your gravely mistaken Zuzu. It's certainly not going to save you!" With that she started her assault.

Zuko couldn't help but think of all the fights they had done before. It had always seemed like Zuko was working hard to land a blow while Azula defended effortlessly. For whatever reason however he felt like Azula was slower and had to work more then him this time. For each blow she tried to land he had a counter, each counter she managed he had a defense against. He felt detached from the entire affair, almost like someone else was moving his body for him. He mentally creditted his detachment to not wanting to kill his sister. He might hate her with every fiber of his being, but she was still his sister. She had the same blood as his uncle, as his mother, as himself. Part of him felt there was a chance for her to redeem herself.

Finally his open hand slapped across Azula's face. She strumbled back in pain from the combined wounds now on her face only to trip over the unconscious form of one of her troops. Her back was to the trees and she was at Zuko's mercy now.

"Leave...now!" He snarled at her.

Even as he said it he knew his sister needed more convincing. She wasn't about to admit defeat at his hands in any way. I need something that will make her retreat, think quick the other's could be dying.

Almost like they had a mind of their own one arm shot out one way and his other arm another way. Before he even realized what he'd been doing the tree right behind Azula burst into flame and she stared at him. Thunder rang in everyone's ears and Azula finally gave into her animal instincts of self preservation and fled.

Zuko stood staring at the tree. He couldn't believe he'd actually done it! He'd manage to shoot lightning!

On the heels of victory however came pain, and Zuko collapsed into the dirt.

"Zuko!" He heard someone yell.

No! Stay awake! Get up! Katara might need help! He told himself. He could still hear fighting. Katara might be injured or fighting for her life.

Soft hands rolled him over and he looked up to see Katara looking down at him. She looked scared out of her mind.

"Zuko! Stay awake! You have to stay awake you hear me!?"

Quite suddenly Zuko remembered that he'd been dying earlier. Apparently his fight with Azula had pushed him to far. He found he didn't have a problem with that.

Katara obviously did have a problem with it though.

"It's ok..." He manage to wheeze out. He was starting to have trouble seeing. "I got here in time...I saved you." One hand found the strength to brush away some tears that were pouring down her face.

Katara grabbed his hand and hugged it to her face. "Yes you saved me. I'm ok. Now we'll make sure your ok."

That odd feeling was in his chest again, wanting to explode outward. He blinked in mild surprise. Everything suddenly seemed very clear to him even if his vision wasn't. "Katara...I..."

Whatever he'd been about to say was lost in a sudden sigh. His hand dropped from Katara's grip.

"Zuko? No...Zuko wake up!" She said shaking him some. He wasn't responding.

Panick started to swell. Katara looked around but the dust hadn't finished settling due to the airbending of Mari and Aang. She could also still hear fighting. She needed water though, now!

"HELP!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. "Someone please!" She hugged the dying prince to her for a moment before she started searching for his wounds. Her speech became limited to a mantra of no's and please-don't-go's.

Somewhere in the fight Aang knocked out yet another attacker. He swore he heard someone screaming for help but couldn't hear over the ruckus of the fight. Surely there couldn't be many more troops.

Aang swung around to attack whoever was standing behind him. His determination to win out against his opponent turned into shock as his hand passed right through the woman.

She cocked one eyebrow at him making him back up away from her.

She's...a spirit?

The steel haired woman gave a grin and a wink, then her face crumpled into a look of concern.

Your friends need you Aang. The enemy is crawling away.

Then Aang blinked and she was gone.

Looking around Aang debated for a moment if he should trust the spirit. Something in him told her she was an ally though.

Clearing the dust showed her to be correct. Few enemies were left and those still standing were on the run. Toph and Mari were chasing them off, the two apparently having found each other in the dust.

Iroh stood near Sokka looking about for more himself. Sokka looked about and suddenly went as pale as Aang had ever seen the teen get.

"Katara!?" He screamed in horror.

Aang looked over and saw the water girl. There was blood everywhere around her where she'd fallen. Aang felt like the world suddenly went very still and pain was stabbing at him.

Katara looked up from her spot causing a huge burst of relief to the airbender. She'd pressed her head to Zuko's chest in an attempt to listen to his heartbeat. It was there but very weak. "Sokka! Get me some water!" She ordered.

Sokka and Aang had been running over. Sokka stopped at his sister's request. "What?"

"Water Sokka!" She yelled. "Hurry! He's almost gone!"

Looking down and seeing Zuko made Sokka sneer.

Katara could see the argument forming in her brother's mind. "Please don't start Sokka, he saved my life. We have to help him."

Sokka blinked at her then at the prince. Finally he gave a grudging nod and ran over to their ransacked supplies for water.

Iroh had seen his nephew on the ground and come over with some towels and bandages. While he was hoping for the best he'd seen enough battle wounds to know that Zuko's was deadly.

"Aang please go get Toph and Mari." He stated. "We'll need to move and they will be most helpful."

Katara looked at Iroh in shock. "We can't move him Iroh. It might worsen his condition!"

"If we do not move Azula will come back with more troops and finish us all for sure." Iroh informed her calmly. Although she could see in his eyes that he did not like the thought anymore then she did.

Sokka came back with the water and Katara got to work. She was already exhausted but hopefully she would be able to stabilize Zuko before they had to move him.

Please don't die Zuko.

He wasn't sure where he was. This wasn't his world that was for sure, but he'd never heard of the spirit world described as...well nothing.

There was earth under his feet. Dry, hard, cracked, and ash colored. He guessed he would've been able to see for miles around if there wasn't this fog around. It was gray and looked thick enough for a man to stick a sword into.

He walked for awhile, thinking to find high ground so he could see where he was. It felt like hours before he finally gave up.

"Hello?" Zuko called out unconsciously rubbing his arms against a chill. "Uncle? Mari? Katara? Anyone?" He whispered.

"They can't hear you."

He looked behind him. Seeing no one he moved around looking in all directions. "Who's there?"

Silence greeted him now, making him uneasy. "Show yourself coward!" He yelled taking a stance in case they proved hostile when they came out of the fog.

He felt something tap the top of his head and looked up.

"Boo." She said, her steel colored hair hanging around like a curtain. It was the eyes though that made Zuko jerk back and stare. He'd heard of people having two eye colors but this woman somehow had four. Her left was grey and green while her right was amber and blue. The whole impact of her eyes made him uncomfortable so he did his best to look elsewhere.

The woman flipped over and landed easily on her feet. "Well here I am. What are you going to do? Burn me to a crisp perhaps?"

"Your going to answer some questions for me." He ordered.

The woman cocked an amused brow at him and grinned. "If I don't?"

Zuko shot a fist forward. He intended to simply shoot a bit of flame past her to show he was a threat. When nothing happened he blinked in confusion and tried again. Still nothing.

The woman laughed. "Hard to be a scary firebender without your bending isn't it?"

"I don't need bending." Zuko snapped and grabbed at the woman. He was shocked when she moved and neatly flipped him over so he was on his back.

She grinned as she looked down at him. "Finished yet? Or would you like to go a few more rounds?"

Zuko glared at her and got up. If the woman was just going to torment him then he'd just find someone else to tell him what was going on.

"There's no one else here." She said as he turned his back to her. "At least no one you can actually talk to aside from myself."

"Where exactly is here?" Zuko asked in an annoyed tone.

The woman seemed to ponder his question a moment before answering. "If the physical and spiritual worlds are a coin, you'd be on the side."

"Which side?"

"The side. A coin has three sides to it despite what folks think. You have the two sides everyone sees and then the side that connects the two that everyone forgets and doesn't see."

Zuko frowned. "So...I'm in between the spirit and physical realms?"

"Yes."

"What am I doing here?"

The woman was walking about and quite suddenly was walking upwards. Zuko shook his head to clear it but when he openned his eyes she was standing upside down in front of him again, this time her face was level with his. "Where else would you go?" She asked. "You not quite dead yet although your physical body is slipping that way. You have people working to keep you there so you can't go to the spirit world yet."

Zuko mentally cursed. Katara and the rest should be fleeing not trying to revive him.

"Don't worry your royal head there. Iroh made it a point to have everyone move. Really smart one Mr. Iroh, I'm glad I managed to convince him to go home."

Zuko blinked at the woman. She'd dropped down again and was now lazing on the ground. "You know my uncle?"

"I've met him." She stated. "I wouldn't say I know him all that well though."

"But...you know he's my uncle." This woman was confusing Zuko to no end.

"Yes, and I know you Zuko. Just like I know alot of other people in the worlds."

Zuko kept attempting to puzzle out who she was but finally gave up. "Who are you?" He asked with mild annoyance.

The woman sat up straight and frowned. "Once my name was Sen. People have forgotten my name though. I'm commonly referred to as Sagakou now."

Katara tucked the blanket around Zuko in a motherly gesture. He was stable but still very pale and he hadn't regained consciousness in the days since the attack. Katara fretted over it. It was bad enough she'd been unable to heal him through her water bending due to exhaustion when he'd needed her most. She hoped healing him later had helped.

"He'll be ok." Toph told her. "Iroh was telling me he's a fighter, he'll be back to his princey self in no time." Although there was an attempted good cheer to her tone Katara knew it was forced.

Mari was sitting with them, looking miserable. Katara had a feeling Mari was kicking herself for her last words to Zuko being an argument. The grey eyed girl grinned a bit at Toph's statement. "He is just that stubborn you know."

"Yes, that he definately is." Katara said looking down at her patient. Some of his hair was hanging in his face but she had to resist the urge to brush it away. It had gotten longer over the time since she'd fought him in Ba Sing Se and he'd surely have to pull it into a topknot again to keep it out of his face. She found she rather liked it hanging free and wild looking though. Quickly she forced her mind off the track of Zuko's looks. Bad enough she kept wanting to find reasons to check his bandages so she could get another look at his naked chest. Her mind was certainly drifting in scandalous ways these days.

Sokka came walking over from the fire. He had a bowl of soup for Katara. Since she was refusing to move from Zuko's side Iroh had taken over her cooking duties. Thankfully Iroh was decent enough at it.

"Would you two mind if I talked to Katara alone a minute?" He asked as he handed his sister the bowl.

Mari looked about to argue when Toph kicked her gently. Toph had been around long enough to feel a sibling battle brewing. From the vibrations Katara was radiating around Zuko she also had a guess of what Sokka wanted to talk to his sister about. She was however understanding that Mari did not want to leave her friend.

The airbending girl grumbled but walked off with Toph.

"Katara I want to know what's going on." Sokka stated plainly. "You've been acting weird for awhile now, since Ba Sing Se. What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong." Katara replied.

Sokka gave his sister a look that stated his disbelief. "What did he do to you in that cave Katara? I'm your brother and I'm suppose to protect you but I can't do anything if you won't talk to me." Sokka's imagination had run away with him a number of times over what Zuko could've done to his little sister. One of the reasons he'd clubbed the firebender so at the river that one time.

"Sokka he didn't do anything to me. We just talked and..." Katara stopped a minute thinking of who she was talking to. Sokka might be accepting Mari slowly, though the two still fought like cats and dogs at times. He might be friendly with Iroh who was impossible to hate. Zuko however was another story, Sokka had plenty of reasons aside from his prejudices to hate Zuko. Not the least of which was linked with the fact that Zuko and him seemed evenly matched as warriors.

Her brother stood with arms crossed glaring at her. "And?" He prompted.

"And he's not that bad." Katara said quietly.

"NOT THAT BAD!?" Sokka yelled at her. His calm dissolving into nothing from Katara's words. "Katara it's Zuko for crying out loud! He tied you to a tree! He used mom's necklace against us! He kicked your butt at the Spirit Oasis!"

"Hey I kicked his right back later." Katara said with injured pride.

"That's my point!"

Katara sighed. She knew her brother was just worried about her but she needed him to understand that Zuko wasn't the enemy. "What about all the good he's done?" She asked.

Sokka openned his mouth to say Zuko had never done anything good but stopped.

"I'm not asking you to be his best friend Sokka. I'm asking you to trust my judgement. There's good in Zuko, I've seen it."

Sokka grumbled. "Fine, but he does anything funny I will be introducing his head to my club again."

Katara gave him a huge smile and hugged him. "Thank you Sokka! I promise you won't regret this!"

The water warrior couldn't help but cringe though when Katara brushed the hair off Zuko's forehead. He wasn't sure but he thought his sister might be falling for Zuko, and he really did not like this idea.

To say Zuko was confused would have been a drastic understatement.

"Why is the spirit of balance sitting here between the worlds?"

Sen cocked an eyebrow at him. "Because it's between the worlds. You have to pass it to get to either one you know."

Zuko scowled. "I thought spirits were tied to one world or the other unless it the solstice?"

"Correct."

"But you can run between worlds as you please?"

"In a way yes."

It took all Zuko's self control not to rip his hair out, the blasted woman wasn't explaining anything. In fact now that he thought of it why did he care at all. "Well that's nice." He forced out. He certainly didn't want to offend a spirit. "Now if you'll excuse me I need to find a way out of here."

"It helps to know where you want to go first."

"I'm going home." Zuko stated.

"What and where is home then?"

Zuko openned his mouth but stopped.

Sen simply stood staring at him with her strange eyes. "Do you even know?"

Silence fell and stood there as Zuko puzzled over the question.

"Once..." Sen started then stopped looking unsure for a moment. "Once I had a home and a family. I had it taken away though and nothing I did for people would earn it back." She told him. Quite suddenly she seemed so old.

"Why didn't you just take it back? You could've fought and taken your home on your own terms."

"I don't know Prince Zuko. Why don't you?"

Zuko blinked at Sen. "Sorry?"

"You were thrown out of your home and your place in society. Why don't you just fight and get it back on your own terms instead of your father's terms?"

Zuko said nothing and stared at the dirt. Sen eventually sighed and with a gentle hand on his chin made him look at her.

"It is so much easier to be forced into a destiny someone else has made for you, then to go finding your own isn't it?"

Zuko was once again unnerved by her. She didn't act like a spirit, she made him think more of a real person. "Who...or what...exactly are you?" He asked in confusion.

Sen frowned and looked like she was attempting to figure out a thorny problem. "Does the Fire Nation still happen to teach about yin and yang?"

Zuko frowned at the odd question. "Yes."

Sen smiled a bit. "What is it exactly?"

"A yin yang? It's a balance concept. For every cosmic force there is an equal and opposite."

"So for instance fire and water are equal and opposites?"

Zuko scowled which was the natural reaction of any person from the Fire Nation these day when someone tried to state that fire was not superior.

"Then may I ask your highness. If the Avatar is Yin...who's the Yang?"

"What? The Avatar doesn't have an equal or opposite."

Sen simply gave a mischievious grin. "That people remember."

Zuko openned his mouth to correct her only to blink and find Sen no longer there.

"Oh Zuko." Sen's voice sang out from the fog. "Your much prettier without that scar on your heart. Now that it's healed are you going to let people in?"

Looking up thinking Sen might be hanging above again Zuko blinked at the stars in the sky.

Stars? He thought to himself. He hadn't even seen a sky the last time he'd looked up.

Slowly Zuko came to realize he wasn't standing anymore. He was laying down with a blanket wrapped around him. There was an arm laying on top of him with someone's hand over his heart.

Turning his head Zuko found Katara laying at his side. The darkness around her closed eyes told him she'd gone awhile without sleep and had finally lost the fight against it.

Has she...been at my side the whole time?

Reaching out he wrapped one arm around Katara and pulled her closer. She mumbled a bit in her sleep and snuggled into him for warmth.

With a small, tired smile Zuko pulled the blanket around her too. He was pretty sure that brother of hers would be screaming in the morning but he didn't care right now. He would take a thousand beatings from that club of Sokka's for the peace he was feeling right now with Katara dreaming in his arms.

"Mmm?" Katara blinked open sleepy eyes. Part of her mind processed that she'd fallen asleep uncomfortably but was now rather cozy. The other part just wanted to go back to the nice dream she was having.

"Shhh." Zuko said and brushed his lips across her forehead. "Sleep."

Katara smiled and snuggled in more. Her exhaustion clouding over anything else other then that Zuko was ok. That was enough for her. She felt Zuko rest his head on top of her and soon both benders were off dreaming.

Someone else however wasn't dreaming despite his wishes.

Aang had heard movement by Zuko and had looked up. He'd been about to go yell at Zuko to take his hands off Katara when she'd woken up. Now he simply stared at the two snuggled under a blanket. Zuko looked oddly at peace, which Aang had never seen, while Katara had a small smile on her face.

Tears spilled over and ran down Aang's face, the pain in his chest made him want to rip out his heart so he'd never feel it again.

As much as he wanted Katara it occured to him that she was just what Zuko needed. They would be like the Yin-Yang.

The thought however didn't make him any less miserable and certainly wasn't a balm for his broken heart.

He really was alone.