Over one month ago, Iroh had insisted the Avatar and his friends attend his nephew's wedding. And for over one month, the group had lived in the Fire Nation palace, helping with the preparations for the wedding and being treated like royalty.
On the day of the ceremony, Katara found herself in Zuko's room, trying to cheer-up the surprisingly depressed prince while pushing away all her own negative thoughts.
Like the thought of impaling Mai, Zuko's soon-to-be wife, with an icicle.
During her stay at the palace, Katara and Zuko had become very close friends. As it turned out, the pair had a lot more in common than dead mothers, and had gotten along quite well.
So well that Katara found herself developing very strong feelings for the prince.
Which was so wrong, because he was already marrying someone. Plus, who in their right mind falls in love with the enemy?
Except Zuko wasn't the enemy. In a way, he never had been, because capturing Aang hadn't been his choice. It was a chore his father forced upon him, as Katara had discovered during one of their many chats.
But Katara would never admit this to anyone, especially not Zuko, and especially not right before he got married. She highly doubted he returned her feelings, anyway. He was a prince, she was a peasant. It didn't help that they'd both almost killed each other on at least one occasion. Things like that just weren't a strong foundation for a relationship.
So, pushing away any thoughts of killing Zuko's wife, Katara said, "Hey, cheer-up, you're getting married!"
This only seemed to make Zuko more upset.
"I know I'm getting married, it's just…"
"What?" Katara pried. She desperately wanted to see Zuko happy again, even if it meant he married someone else.
Zuko, who had been sitting on the edge of his bed, stood up and walked over to the door. After making sure no one was nearby, he closed the door and said, "I don't want to marry her."
Katara, who was genuinely surprised, asked, "Why didn't you mention that before?"
"Because, I just – I…It's always been tradition for marriages to be arranged, and, well, I've already messed up so many things…" Zuko seemed at a loss for words. After a few moments of struggling with his thoughts, he continued. "When you told me about how your gran-gran ran away from an arranged marriage, and how you fought against tradition to learn waterbending, I just… stopped caring about it."
"So, What are you saying?"
"I wanna get married, but not to Mai," Zuko looked Katara square in the eyes. "I want to marry you."
Katara felt like she'd just been punched in the gut.
"Wh-Wha-"
Suddenly Zuko was pulling her to her feet and saying, "Let's elope."
Finally, Katara managed to stammer, "But-What about the wedding?!"
"Screw the wedding! Let's get outta here!"
And that was what Katara's wedding was like. No fancy ceremony or lavish gowns, no bride's maids or wedding cake.
It was completely secret.
But Katara wouldn't have had it any other way.
Author's Notes: Wow, season three hasn't even started and I'm already writing alternate endings for the possibility of Maiko! XP I have no life.
Anyway, I wrote this for a challenge in my Zutara Guild on Gaia. Hopefully people enjoy it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar or any of its characters.
