Force of Iron

Chapter 17

Ozaian's Mark

Aang stopped dead in his tracks when he heard the sounds of a woman sobbing coming from behind the door which he currently stood in front of. Pushing the door open he found Katara broken and sobbing on a bed with rustled sheets and her arms clutching her stomach.

Approaching her he asked, "Katara are you okay?"

Katara seemed to jump at the sound of his voice. Then she looked at her old friend with surprise and shock as to why he was here. She immediately asked, "What is going on?"

Aang could tell that she had been in this room awhile and wasn't up to date on what was going on. He patiently began to explain what he knew, his only interruption being Katara exclaiming; "Zuko's alive!" followed by a temporary look of relief on her face. When he mentioned that Zuko had been gravely injured by Ozaian and was now in the infirmary she jumped off the bed and raced down the halls towards where Zuko was.

It wasn't long till she arrived at the infirmary. But when she did she burst through the doors and ordered all the nurses and aids out till it was just her and a unconscious Zuko. She immediately knew it was her Zuko just by looking at him. She wasted no time in tending to his wounds and would do it completely by herself even if help was offered, because he was her Zuko and she currently trusted no one on the ship except Aang.

She found that the nurses had already started in trying to bandage up his blood covered chest. She felt her stomach drop when she noticed this, knowing full well how fatal chest wounds could be. Peeling away the blood soaked bandages she let out a sob once she saw the deep incisions of the knife wounds.

As she summoned water from a nearby water jug she couldn't help but recall the time she healed him when they where in prison not so long ago. As the water began to glow she gingerly began to heal him. When she first touched one of the incisions she heard him let out a small grunt of pain, then he barely opened his eyes only to close them and be rendered unconscious once more. Katara felt a small feeling of relief wash over her. He was alive, but in a lot of pain.

One by one she healed the knife wounds until they where all healed completely, leaving only small white scars on his porcelain white yet still bloody chest. Ozaian may be gone for now but he has left his mark.

Taking a washcloth she began to clean up the remaining blood scattered across his chest. Once that was done she dried her hands and took his face in them, caressing it like a mother would a child. She noticed that he seemed to sleep very peacefully now and couldn't help but be at ease for once, in a long time.

"Zuko are you there? Are you alright?" asked the future Fire Lady to her future husband. At first she received no response. But eventually the muscles in his face began to twitch and he began to stir. Slowly he opened his eyes and looked at his future bride.

"I'm fine now thanks to you," he said through tired eyes and a thick breath. He was in fact very tired and overall exhausted. But he himself felt just fine because he had what he thought to be the most beautiful woman in the world staring down at him with love in her eyes. All Katara could do was smile and kiss him fully on lips happy to be with him and safe once more and they would be just that for a long, long time.

A/N: duh duh dun! the final chappie! I cant believe i finished this story..wait i should be saving that for the epilouge. yes there is an epilouge and it will be posted right after i this chapter is posted, which wouldnt be too long for you guys. I loved working on this story even though it took awhile and i would love to hear what you guys have thought of it overall. I want to be the best writer i can be and any comment whatsoever is greatly appreciated. Im just going to thank everyone now because something tells me i'll forget by the time i post the epilogue.

I would like to thank all of the readers, even if you only read a paragraph or sentence i still want to thank you. I want to thank all those that reviewed, all those that put this story on story alert, and all those that faved. I love you and appreciate everything you have done. Thank you so much!

Thanks for reading, thanks a bunch for reviewing!

onto the epilogue...

-See ya :)