Force of Iron
Chapter 12
Curse of the Darkness
After explaining everything that had occurred within the past hour to Elsa, Katara found herself out of breath, not realizing she had been talking so quickly. She blamed it on her shaken nerves.
Elsa on the other hand was shocked at Ozaian's actions, not realizing he was willing to do such things when his scheme of impersonating Zuko was at stake. Then again he was drunk on a hard core brand of whiskey. She made a mental note to hide his stores to make him think that he had simply misplaced them.
"From now on make sure that the door to your room is locked if you don't want that to happen again," Elsa advised Katara as she healed her arm with her bending.
It took her longer to heal broken bones then just plain cuts and scars, mostly because it wasn't on the surface of the skin; it was deep within the body, therefore making it take longer healing sessions.
But nevertheless, within minutes her broken arm was completely healed. It was in that instant when a guard barged into the room rudely and without knocking. He was obviously a rogue. "Ozaian demands that you put your healing abilities to good use and heal him from his injury…as well as the injured crew members," and with that he turned on his heal and left as quickly and unexpectedly as he arrived.
Katara was annoyed and somewhat angered by the man's rudeness. And what makes him think that I'll heal Ozaian after all that he has done to me and Zuko.
"You should hop to it," began Elsa as she picked up some things that were scattered on the floor of Katara's room. "The last thing we need right now is him angry and drunk again."
Katara nodded as she began to change into a fresh piece of clothing, one that wasn't ripped, torn and bloodied. As she slid the dress over her shoulders she said, "The crew members will be the first to be healed, Ozaian will be last."
Elsa looked at Katara questioningly, and was about to say something when Katara said "Could you see if there are any nurses on the ship and send them to Ozaian to keep him occupied before I arrive."
Elsa nodded, understanding why the future Fire Lady wouldn't want to be around Ozaian after what he had so recently attempted to do to her. "And could you also make sure that Zuko gets some medicine and proper nutrition, he's been coming down with some sort of sickness lately and its only worsened because its been neglected."
Elsa nodded once more as Katara left the room to find the crew members who needed her. She didn't know if it was just her or if Katara was toughening up due to the circumstances that constantly surrounded them. It was something that she had seen a while ago, when Ursa was the Fire Lady.
It was late by the time Katara finished tending to the three crew members who were injured by the lightening strike. One had a very seriously injury because part of the lightening blast struck him severely on the arm. The other two only had minor burns from scorching metal that they accidentally touched while trying to help their injured shipmate. Katara healed every single one of them carefully until their pain receded and they were able to heal properly. They each thanked her as she left with tired eyes.
Then her next task was to find her way back to her room. She figured she could go to Ozaian in the early morning, when he would hopefully have a rather large hangover and not remember anything from the day before. But as she walked through the similar dark hallways of the ship she found herself lost, like a small child in a maze. All the hallways looked the same, the same dark red metal walls and floors, with similar sconces that showed the same dim light as they hung from the walls.
She soon began to wonder if she passed her room a ways back because she closed her eyes in order to let out yawn. She refused to let herself believe that, despite the frustration that was growing inside of her.
She turned around a corner for what seemed like the hundredth time and ran straight into a heavily armored guard. She stumbled back on her feet, while rubbing the tip of her nose that received the majority of the impact. She looked up at the guard she mindlessly ran into, while still holding her sore nose. She immediately recognized him as one of the burly guards that held her while Ozaian almost killed Zuko. She forced herself to turn and run away knowing nothing good could come of hanging around him, but her feet and legs refused to move.
Without a single word spoken he grabbed Katara by her arm, not even bothering to find out if she had healed her arm or not, and half pulled her, half dragged her down a few hallways and around a few corners, until he finally stopped in front of a door, quickly opened it, pushed her inside, and closed it just as quickly as the rest of his actions were.
Katara was speechless and slightly shaken by the guard's quick and merciless actions. She found herself in a pitch dark room, and did not want to wait and find out why he put her in here.
It didn't take her long to start banging on the door demanding that the guard let her out. She jiggled the doorknob consistently, but to no avail it was locked and she was stuck inside. She felt her heartbeat quicken.
She quieted herself to see if she could hear if the guard was still outside the door. She heard nothing, nothing but her own breath.
Sad and defeated she turned around to see if there was a bed in the room that she could curl up in for the night, and begin the search for her own room in the morning.
She felt to hands reach out and grab her biceps. She shrieked from shock, not realizing that someone else was in the room. One of the hands on her biceps quickly moved to cover her mouth, silencing her. She squinted her eyes to see through the darkness, but could only make out a figure standing right in front of her. She struggled but his grip was firm.
"How nice of you to join me," said a venomous voice. "I was wondering when you were going to show up."
Oh No! Please don't tell me!
"You know I've been awfully lonely since you left the palace," he continued, speaking just barely above a whisper.
He had let his hand drop from her mouth, allowing her to speak, "You deserve to be after what you've done and what you will do."
He pushed her against the door, obviously insulted by her words. "Please, you know what it is like to be lonely, so lonely that you might do the unthinkable. Betray the one you love in order to save the one you love."
Both his hands had now wandered down to her waist and pushed her hips against his own. She kept her hands pressed firmly against his chest trying to push him away, but he wouldn't budge. He wasn't giving up.
She could understand what he was trying to do but she wasn't falling for it. She wasn't giving up either.
"What do you want?" she asked, although she already knew the answer.
"You know what I want," he replied grimly.
She couldn't tell if he was drunk or not, even though she did catch a small whiff of alcohol on his breath.
She suddenly felt his lips on hers. It was gentler then his previous attempts at kissing her, but nevertheless she wasn't giving in and didn't kiss him back. She sealed her lips shut preventing him from continuing to smooch her.
He pulled away defeated, yet his hands on her hips remained firm. She couldn't tell if he was looking into her eyes or not, the darkness was too great.
"Why don't you ever give up, I'll never give into you," she said defiantly.
"We'll see about that."
She felt his grip on her disappear, then footsteps recede, and bed springs squeak under a new weight. He had gone to bed, he had given up, for now.
But yet she was still stuck in the room. She quickly turned around and tried to open the door again and this time more desperately, not wanting to be stuck in the room with him the rest of the night.
"You're not getting out of this room even if the ship is sinking," she heard him say from across the room. The thought sickened her, and she jiggled the knob of the door even more fiercely.
"Relax and come to bed with me, I'll let you out in the morning," he spoke again. She shook her head even though she knew he couldn't see her.
Silence ensued. She wasn't sure if that was good or bad. She could feel her eyelids drooping from exhaustion. Yawning she leaned her back against the door and slid to the floor. With her head leaning against the door and her shoulder she fell into a deep and uncomfortable sleep.
Katara awoke a few hours later. Her neck was stiff and sore as well as her back and various other muscles. She stood and stretched them out as best as she could. Rubbing her eyes she realized that the once dark room was now slightly brighter. She assumed dawn was approaching. She saw Ozaian lying sprawled out on his bed, still within a deep sleep. His chest was bare except for the bandages around and over his right shoulder.
She felt somewhat safe. Even though her situation was more like a mouse stuck in the lion's den while the lion was sleeping. Any minute the lion would awake and feast on the helpless mouse.
She wasn't sure how she was getting out. The door was locked from the outside and only the guards would open it at Ozaian's command.
She sighed at how helpless her situation was, or seemed.
Moments passed and she had settled into a plush chair near the door, waiting for something to happen.
She felt as if she was going to fall back asleep, as she was still really tired, and only had received a few hours of sleep previously.
More moments passed and out of the silence came a clink from the other side of the door. Katara jerked up in the chair, realizing that someone was opening the door from the other side. She wasn't sure if it was a miracle or not. If it was a servant they would let her leave. If it was a guard they would not. She prayed it was a servant.
The door opened and in walked Elsa carrying a covered tray, most likely Ozaian's breakfast. Katara let out a huge sigh of relief as she thanked the spirits.
"Elsa!" Katara spoke.
Elsa almost jumped where she stood, not realizing that Katara was in the room. "Katara what are you doing in here?" she said surprised.
"Ozaian locked me in last night, nothing happened though. How's Zuko?"
"I was just about to go and check on him," she said as she set the tray down on the table in the room, and then turned to Katara. "Sweetheart you look terrible," she exclaimed noticing Katara's stressed and exhausted eyes, her hair in a tangled mess and her clothes wrinkled.
"I know I slept against the door last night," she said gesturing to the door of the room.
"Well get back to your room, rest and wash up," she said sympathetically.
Katara nodded and began to make her way to the door. She stopped at the threshold and said, "I got lost last night trying to find it."
Elsa was starting to tidy things up around Ozaian's room. "It's just down the hall and to the right."
Katara muttered her thanks and proceeded her way down the hall into her room. She felt embarrassed for having to ask Elsa such a simple question. But Elsa was kind and gentle enough to understand. Katara felt lucky for having an ally like her, no matter how old she was.
As soon as Katara entered her room, she locked her door, and fell down onto her bed, exhausted and still fully dressed. Then fell into a peaceful slumber.
A/N: Hi! sorry it took so long to update I've been really busy during the last few weeks of summer and first weeks of school. I still am busy. But after recieving a complaint about the long update i decided to start picking up the pace with this chapter. So I did, but even that took a long time.
In other news I have started working on a couple other zutara stories. Personaly I think they are better then this one. But first I want to finish this story first, just to prove to myself and you that I can finish a story. Then I will publish them. I have forgotten about PM, more of that is on its way. I don't know when, it just is.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, to me it just seems like a filler, but it fits well with the plot. I'll try to make the next chapter more exciting. There might also be another long update, at least until the middle of october, because after that I will have more time.
-Hope you have a lovely late summer and fall season! See ya!!