A/N: OMFG FINALLY NEW CHAPTER LIKE OMG RIGHT? Haha anyways this is the big day! The wedding and please don't be mad about anything it took me forever to type this and i was deathly afraid i lost all of my work cuz my computer froze and wouldn't work...thank god for recovery mode! XD Anyway hope you like thier wed- wait read it i'll say it later .
Chapter 22: Zuko and Katara's wedding, part one
• • •
About 3 months had passed.
Aang and Toph had returned from their trip about 2 weeks after they left, Zuko and I had been planning for our wedding and it is now just a few days away. I was so excited. Everyone was coming. Even Gran Gran and Master Pakku since they were married now. Dad and Bato and their fleet of water benders, or former soldiers were coming and other friends and family we knew.
Gran Gran and Pakku had come early. After they got the messenger hawk, Zuko sent out ships to pick them up and take them here. They had to leave A.S.A.P because they were in the South Pole.
It was so nice to see Gran Gran again. And to my surprise she was very excited for the wedding and she really liked the fire nation.
"It's so warm here and I actually get to see grass!" She had exclaimed. We had just laughed.
Since the wedding was tomorrow, Zuko and I were both busy to get our dress and tux and to pick out hair styles, well more for me not for him, and to make everything perfect.
Everything WAS perfect. Especially my dress. It matched the description I gave Midori.
It was white, strapless and at my knees it frilled out in layers of purple, see-through fabric and had the icy blue roses and fiery red roses running up the side of my right leg. Midori even made a beautiful veil that was a crown of red and blue roses with the same purple see-through fabric going down my back.
"It's perfect!" I exclaimed, the first time I wore it. Midori and Suki stood next to me, excitedly clapping and giggling as I spoke about the perfection of my dress. Toph was happy for me and all but she wasn't into all of this girly-ness so she just kind of sat there and "stared" off into space.
After I had tried everything on to make sure it fit, picked out a hairstyle and makeup designs, I headed off to my room and plopped on my bed and sighed. I couldn't be happier but the past month has been so stressful! Everyone is always asking questions about the wedding and making last minute plans… it was so nice to just lay down and relax.
I day dreamed about our honey moon. We'd be going to a privet beach on Ember Island in a giant beach house. It was going to be like a dream because Zuko made it very clear that he didn't want anyone to be on our privet beach with us so his servants made sure NO ONE would be at the beach.
I closed my eyes and smiled until Zuko came in, "Phew!" he let out a tired sigh and plopped on the bed, "Glad that's over with," he said laying down.
"Glad what's over with?" I asked, propping myself with my elbows. He did the same, "They were fitting me for my tux to make sure it was PERFECT. It was horrible!"
"The tux?" I asked stupidly.
"No, the fitting! I never want to be fit for a tux like that ever again!" I giggled, "Well my dress fitting wasn't bad. It was dare I say, fun?"
"I don't know how you could think a fitting would be fun,"
"Come on Zuko, it's a bunch of girls with their best friends making a sure a dress fits their best friend who's getting married…that doesn't sound right does it?" I asked. He laughed, "No it does not," I too, laughed, "Well I think we should go to bed…"
"No," Zuko said holding the O in no.
"Why?" I said, sounding whiney.
"Bachelor and Bachelorette parties?"
"Ugh," I groaned.
"Come on it will be fun." He said, not sure if he was right.
"Yeah I guess," I said getting up.
We both walked out of my room and down the hall to group of boys and a group of girls. The group of boys was small, it was just Sokka, Aang and Haru, who had come up for the wedding. Jet would've been here but… I didn't want to think about Jet right now…The group of girls consisted on Suki, Toph, and Ty Lee. Ty Lee, had come up for the wedding and after a lot pleading, she became one of the brides maids. Suki was my maid of honor, Sokka was Zuko's best man. Toph was the first brides maid, Aang was the first groomsmen and then Ty Lee and Haru were at the end of each line. Then The Duke was the ring bear and we had Mang be the flower girl.
Mang had matured since we had last saw her and was hitting it off well with The Duke. Aang was pleased to hear this because he didn't want her to be stalker-ish with him again. Especially since him and Toph had just fixed their relationship.
I snapped back to reality when I felt Zuko's soft lips on my cheek, "Have a good time, love," He said. I liked it when he called me "Love." It was one of his new nick names for me.
I just smiled and said, "You too," and walked over to the small group of girls, "So what are we doing?" I asked them. Toph groaned, "What?" I asked.
"Miss. Prissy pants over here wants us to go to this club place with the crowded room and the people playing music," Toph gestured to Tylee when she said, "Miss. Prissy pants." Ty Lee just grinned, "Its true! It will be fun! Come on girls let's go!" Toph groaned again and Suki and I just shrugged and followed Ty Lee.
Once we got to this said club, Toph was right. It was a small crowded room with a small band playing music and tons of people dancing. All of the people dancing were mostly young girls in skimpy clothes. It was also dimly lit with candles everywhere lighting the place. I furrowed my eyebrows, "This is where my bachelorette party is taking place?"
"Yeah!" Ty Lee exclaimed.
"Come on Katara it will be fun," Suki said, not sure if she believed what she said.
"Come on, lets get something to drink," Ty Lee said, walking over to a bar where a man was serving fruity drinks. I slightly smiled. It made me think of when we were in the desert in the place where we met Professor Zei and enjoyed those fruity drinks the man made.
I, once again, snapped back to reality when Ty Lee nudged at me asking what I wanted to drink, "It's on me!" She smiled and said. I just asked for a tangy, fruity drink.
I sipped at the blending together fruits and viewed the whole place in general. All's I saw were slutty dressed girls and guys who wanted all these girls…why is it that whenever you have a bachelor or bachelorette party you go to night clubs with tons of girls and guys? I hoped Zuko would be in a better place than this…
Suddenly I spotted someone who I had sworn I had seen before. A girl with short blonde curls with a red mini dress on was talking to a girl with short brown hair…I nudged at Suki, "Hey, see that girl with the short blonde curls?" I pointed in the general direction she was in, "Oh yeah her? Um yeah what about her?" Suki asked, confused.
"Well I feel like I've seen her before…" I gave Suki a confused look. She just shrugged. Then it clicked, "She was the girl who was talking to Zuko and I at the ramen shop! What is she doing here?" Both Suki and Ty Lee looked at me confused, "What?" They both said.
"Some girl…THAT girl had came up to Zuko, said Hi, asked him what he was doing then ran away….it was so weird." They both gave me a confused look.
"Um…ok…?" Suki said as Ty Lee squinted to see this girl. After a few seconds of looking Ty Lee said, "Oh yeah I think I know her…well I think Azula did…why would she be here?" Ty Lee wondered aloud. My eyes widened, "AZULA knows her?" I asked.
"Yeah…Oh! Um but I'm sure it's no big deal…here lets go dance!" Ty Lee dragged us to the dance floor and we danced the night away.
I tried to forget about this girl and her links to Azula but it was hard. So, I did the only one thing I could do to get my mind off things; day dream about Zuko.
I awoke at dawn.
I hadn't slept with Zuko because we wanted to make sure neither of us would see anything we'd be wearing today. We believed in "if you see the bride before the wedding, its bad luck" superstition.
I crawled out of my bed and starting brushing my hair, getting all of the knots out. Afterwards I threw something simple on since I'd be changing some time soon, and headed out the door.
I met up with Suki, Toph, and Ty Lee in the main hall. We'd all be going to get our hair done now and since Toph, Ty Lee and I had long hair we'd need to be there early.
After standing there in awkward silence for a few moment, Suki broke the silence, "So Ty Lee, those guys were ALL over you last night!"
"Oh I know! But I think that Chan guy was the cutest!" She mused. I just rolled my eyes. Ty Lee was just like any other single girl. So naïve but then I thought about it for a second, Ty Lee is OLDER than you and she's the naïve one? Are you sure you're not being the naïve one getting married at 16?
Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, I thought get a hold of yourself Katara, you're getting married TODAY! You can't be thinking about backing down now, You and Zuko are in love and you're doing the right thing by marrying him. I took a deep breath and did what I told myself to do; get a hold of myself.
Just after, a tall, slender woman with long black hair came out and announced that she was ready for us.
When we walked into the hairstyling room, three other women like the other were all standing behind chairs and sinks ready to do our hair. We all sat in each chair and the women went right to work on our hair.
They started off washing it thoroughly and drying it but not too much so they could style it. Afterwards they began styling it so the could make nice up-do's for our hair.
For me, the woman made my hair extra curly and gave me two "hair loopies" that look so elegant that went down my face and into the back in a low bun the she put in my hair. At the top of the bun, she put a half red, half blue rose in it and let the rest of my hair flow elegantly down my back.
After that she decided to put the veil in now and not worry about it later. She carefully placed it in and went straight to work on my makeup.
She put on black eyeliner and black mascara for my eyes with a light purple eye shadow that was enough to see but not too much so it complimented my blue eyes nicely. After that she put on a light red lip gloss that gave my lips some color.
Finally we were all finished with our hair and makeup.
Suki's hair consisted of to curly strands of hair on each side of her face with a elegant pony tail that was long and curly. Her stylist must have used some hair extensions to make her hair long. She also had light blue eye shadow and like pink lip stick. Well, every girl had the same makeup because the maid of honor and all of the bride's maids had the same blue dresses. The girls would be dressed in blue, the boys in red, and the bride and groom had mixed colors. That was an idea Zuko had thought of.
Toph's hair was pretty much normal. Her basic bun except her bangs were clipped to the side so you could see her face and Ty Lee's hair was the same with the bangs except her hair was pulled back into a pony tail except her pony tail was a bunch of braids coming out the back.
"You guys all look beautiful!" I exclaimed.
"Well so do you!" Suki said, running to me and hugging me.
"I know! I'm so excited for today!" I said.
"I know. I still can't believe you're getting married." Suki said.
"I know… I feel like you're my sister." I said.
"Well I might be soon!" She said. My mouth dropped, "Kidding!" she kind of yelled. I just laughed. Then, one of the women spoke up, "Sorry to ruin you're…erm…moment but, you need to get dressed!" She said.
"Aw ok," we all said, simultaneously, reluctantly following the tall, slender woman.
She led us in to another room with three other women like her only this time they held dresses and all kinds of accessories. Once again, we went to each girl as they dressed, and dolled us up for my- our big day.
It was finally time for the wedding.
For the past 3 hours we were all swarmed by makeup artists and tailors dressing us and making us look beautiful. Don't get me wrong, everyone looked amazing but, it was nice not to be crowded.
I stood outside the biggest ball room in the palace. The Groom and the groom's men we're all already inside waiting and all of the girls, and my dad (he was giving me away) and I waited outside.
First Mang and The Duke walked down the isle. Mang tossed red and blue roses on each side of the isle and The Duke carried a small, fancy pillow with our rings on it.
My heart beat faster and faster as each bride's maid went down the isle. I was so happy to be marrying Zuko but then I thought, was this going too fast? I mean I was only 16, could I handle this commitment?
No Katara, I thought, you can't be having seconds thoughts now. Get a hold of yourself. This is what you've been waiting for. You fought for this with your brother and you need to go through with what you planned.
I nodded to myself and took a deep breath. Suki was just about to the end of the isle and it was about time for me to go. I looked at my Dad who was as nervous as I was. We linked our arms and got ready to go. The music signaled for us to go and we both walked slowly down the isle all the people in the room except Zuko stood up and watched us. It was amazing that all of these people came to see us get married. Even Aang was finally, truly, happy for us and back with Toph.
It was perfect.
As we walked, I mentally prepared myself to make the biggest commitment of my life. I took several deep breaths and looked up.
Even from the back Zuko looked as handsome as can be. I had serious dèjà vu. The memory of my dream came crashing back and I thought it was so weird that I had a dream of my own wedding. I smiled to myself; dreams really do come true.
I snapped back to reality when I realized my father was about to give me up so the wedding ceremony could start. My Dad kissed me on the cheek and whispered, "This is your big day Katara. I hope you know I'm happy for you and that I love you,"
"I know Dad, I love too," I whispered back. I already wanted to get teary eyed but I held back the tears.
Finally Zuko turned around. He looked so…beautiful. His hair was straight and styled to the side so his hair was down but you could still his beautiful face. He had the exact tuxedo we designed and it was absolutely perfect.
He lifted my veil gently and placed backwards on the back of my head. He grinned, "You look beautiful Katara,"
"I'd have to say the same for you," I grinned back and I held his hands and stared into his eyes.
I didn't even pay attention to the priest. I was so lost in Zuko's eyes. This was the greatest moment of my life. It felt as if that there was no one else in the world. Just Zuko and I.
I finally paid attention to the priest when he asked us to exchanged our vows. The priest asked Zuko to go first. Zuko took a deep breath and said:
"Katara, from the first day I captured you," He paused and we all laughed as he smiled, "I always thought you were quite pretty…I knew we were enemies but you were still quite attractive," He blushed as I did, "But when we became allies I was unhappy because you seemed to hate me and you didn't trust me," We both frowned at the memory, "But as time went on we became closer and closer and my feelings for you grew. I realized that I was falling in love; with you. Katara you are the most beautiful, compassionate, amazing woman I've ever met. And there's not another soul in the world that I'd rather spend my life with. I love you Katara, so much," I couldn't hold back the tears any longer. I let one slip down my cheek.
"Zuko that was beautiful," I whispered. He blushed a bright red. Then the priest said, "Katara, you can now say your vows to Zuko."
"Ok," I turned to Zuko and looked deep into his eyes, "Zuko, I know we weren't always the best of friends. I mean, you trying to capture us and following us was rather weird," I too paused as everyone laughed, "But I couldn't help but to fall for you. Every time I looked at your beautiful gold eyes I felt myself falling deeper and deeper into this hole of what we call love. Zuko, I love you with all my heart and I will never let go of you. You are the most strong, handsome, honorable man I've ever met. You have no idea how happy I am. I've probably said this a million times but I love you Zuko, with all of my heart." The tears came rolling I once I was done. Even Zuko let a few tears fall from his beautiful eyes. I smiled.
It was then we exchanged rings. The Duke gave the priest the rings and Zuko picked up mine, repeated the priests' words and placed the ring on my left ring finger. I was golden with a blue diamond in the middle with the words, "I love you, Katara," engraved in the inside. We did this to each ring as a permanent reminder that we loved each other.
I did the same with Zuko's ring. I repeated the words the priest said and put the band on Zuko's left ring finger. His was only a golden band and it also said, "I love you," on it but it said, "Zuko," instead of "Katara,"
After the final words of the ceremony the priest finally said, "Zuko of the fire nation, Katara of the water tribe; I know pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride," the moment finally came to seal the commitment. Zuko pulled me close and gave me the most beautiful, passionate kiss you couldn't even dream of. It was absolutely perfect.
Everyone clapped and cheered and I finally looked at everyone.
Suki and Ty Lee were crying, Sokka, Aang, and Dad were misty eyed and Zuko and I…well the tears didn't stop coming. We were the happiest people alive.
We were finally married and I didn't regret a single thing about it. I was now holding the hand of my husband.
Everyone threw rice and cheered as made our way down the isle. The wedding was done and over with but now we'd have to go to our reception.
A/N OMFG DON;T YOU LOVE IT? I DID! THIS IS MY FAVORITE CHAPTER! PLEASE REVIEW AND PLEASE DON'T GIVE ME BULL CRAP REVIEWS! I worked really hard on this guys and its pretty late to be changing stuffs! Also R&R and let me know what you thought of their wedding vows! I LOVED ZUKO'S! THEY WERE SO CUTE! :D tell meh what ya think! R&R!