Chapter Three Part I
For a while, the only sound in the elegant hallway was the footsteps of Katara and Zuko. Both of their eyes avoided one another, but they were certainly not ignoring each other.
Quite the opposite, actually. They were so aware of each other they could hardly stand it. The minute that had passed by felt as if it were an hour.
Zuko was the one to break the unbearable silence.
"Katara–" he let out with a defeated sigh, "you don't have to do this for me."
She shot a sideways glare towards him.
"Don't be so narcissistic. I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing this for Aang," Katara paused and her cold eyes softened, "and your mother."
As much she hated to think about it, Katara still remembered when Zuko had helped her face her own mother's killer. That was when she finally accepted Zuko, and for a short time, they were the closest of friends. . . inseparable. Their bond was strong enough that they would take their own life for the other– or a lightening bolt.
It's not that Katara hated Zuko now, she knew that she didn't. But after what happened, she didn't know how else to face him. After such a long time of him avoiding her, how could she act like nothing had happened? How could things go back to the way they were before? Katara couldn't find the answers, and she didn't know if she wanted to.
It hurt Katara, to treat him like this, because she knew that she really cared for the Fire Lord. They had overcome so much together. If only, if only Katara could forgive him for what he did. Then, maybe she would be able to do what she wanted to do: give her friend that she has missed so much a tight embrace.
Katara had promised herself, though, that she would never let Zuko get a chance to betray her yet again. So, this meant that she had to keep the coldness between them, for if it were to be broken, she would only be hurt another time. Probably more so than before. It was selfish, she knew it was, but Zuko was like a wound. It would begin to heal, and just when she thought it was gone, it would open up again, much deeper than before.
"I see," Zuko whispered, barely audible.
Katara felt the need to reach out to him, but she knew she couldn't. She felt her fist clench tightly to restrain her urge. She needed to escape from him. His very presence was overwhelming her with these unwanted emotions. Katara couldn't take it anymore. She tried quickening her pace, but realized she must have sped up too much because of the loud "RRRRRIP" she heard.
She stopped, and so did Zuko. He wore a confused expression, and then realized what had occurred. Zuko swiftly averted his eyes, and his face filled with heat.
Her dress had ripped, all the way up to her thigh on one side. Katara swore.
Frustrated and embarrassed, Katara gathered the hem her dress in her hands and took off running to her room. Zuko thought about following her, but decided against it. It would only make things worse.
Sighing, Zuko continued to walk to his room. Maybe Mai could cheer him up.
When Katara arrived at her room, she slammed the door behind her hastily. Short gasps were now escaping her mouth, and she couldn't stop them. Her body crumpled against the door; she couldn't control herself any longer.
Sitting on the cool floor, Katara cried. The tears were hot and angry, and despite her constant effort of wiping them away, they continued to fall.
Once she seemed to have run out of tears, she stood up. Katara took a deep breath, trying to calm herself.
Zuko was nothing. Zuko should not be causing this to her. She could not let herself be affected by him any longer. This was the lie Katara had to repeat to herself over and over again.
Katara caught sight of her dress, and remembered the rip. Not wasting any time, she stripped the ruined dress off of her body. Inspecting the long tear closely, she realized it was beyond repair. It's not as if she liked it anyway.
The waterbender wadded the blue fabric into a ball and threw it into the garbage bin sitting next to the dresser, not giving it another thought.
That's when she heard someone knock on the door. Katara froze.
Who could it be? She thought, Zuko wouldn't have followed me, would he?
Katara decided to see for herself, so she opened the heavy door. Standing before her was not Zuko, but Aang. Relief swept over her, until she realized she was standing in only her underwear.
Aang looked surprised– very surprised. Red covered his face, but he didn't turn away from the exposed waterbender.
This was the most he had ever seen of Katara. Of course, he had seen her when she wore her wrappings when training Aang, but never as revealed as she was now, and he couldn't look away.
He eyed her from head to toe. "Uh, do you wanna, er, should I wait for you to get changed?" Aang asked, making the situation even more awkward than it already was.
Not bothering to respond, Katara slammed the door in her boyfriend's face.
How could he look at me like that? Katara thought, He should have at least turned away. . . or something. . . just not that.
Katara haphazardly rummaged in her wardrobe, pulling out an old shirt and her worn out pants. She didn't want to bother dressing up for Aang. She took a quick look at herself in the mirror, and noticed her eyes were pink and puffy from her crying earlier. Of course, Aang hadn't even noticed due to her lack of clothing before.
In an effort to remove the evidence of her previous breakdown, Katara bent a small amount of water from the air surrounding her. She placed it over her eyes, and could feel the soothing effect of the healing. When her eyes opened, they looked as blue as ever, and Aang would never be able to guess she had been crying earlier.
Katara let the water dissipate back into the air, and then opened the door once again. She gave Aang a forced smile, and invited him in.
He stepped into the room, and gave it a once-over. "You've got a nice room." He stated.
"Yeah, thanks." Katara said, "What exactly did you come here for Aang?"
"Hey! Now when has it been wrong for a guy to want to see his girlfriend alone every once in awhile?" Aang grinned at the waterbender, hoping he would get a laugh.
"Since you're the Avatar and you're supposed to be at the meeting right now. How did you even escape that room without getting attacked?" Katara questioned.
"With my charms, of course," Aang smirked and waggled one of his eyebrows. "You should've known that– baby." he winked at her, and tried his best to have a "seductive" look on his face.
Silently, Katara met her eyes to Aang's, before they both burst out into a fit of laughter. Aang was her friend after all, as well as her boyfriend. She couldn't help but be happy when they could just talk like they used to. He was the boy who changed and saved the world, hers especially. Behind his now important and powerful status, he was still the same fun-loving boy she met four years ago.
"Katara?" Aang asked, now over his laughter.
"Yeah, Aang?"
"Will you marry me?" At that moment, the world seemed to stop with a jerk. Katara could feel her chest tighten as she struggled for air. She sat down on her bed silently, but did not do anything else. Seconds passed by.
She knew what she had to say. It was just one word. She knew that he was planning this, so why was she acting so surprised? All she needed to do was to accept his proposal, and be done with it.
Katara finally met Aang's expectant eyes. She tried speaking, but no words came out of her lips.
"Katara?" Aang asked, "Katara, are you all right?" Katara blinked, and felt her voice return to her.
"Aang. . ." She whispered, ". . . I–I don't know. I just–"
Aang's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. "What? How can you not know?" He paused, and then seemed to let his emotions overtake him. "We've been together for four years now! I love you, you love me! How can there even be any question in this? How can you not say yes? I've made a necklace and everything!"
"Don't you think you're rushing into things, Aang? I'm only 18. I–I'm not ready to settle down."
"Why would us getting married make that much of a difference? It wouldn't change anything except for letting the world know we belong to each other! You're just making excuses, Katara."
"No, I'm not. . . I'm not ready. I know this. It's not you Aang. . . you know that I love you." Katara didn't meet Aangs eyes when she said this, but she didn't have to. He had thrust himself onto her while he messily kissed her unresponsive lips, with a fierce passion.
He wanted her to be his, he had never wanted anyone else. He blindly viewed the world with Katara at it's center, the person he could not let go of. She brought out the worst in him, but he refused to even second-guess his devotion to the waterbender who had rescued him from the iceberg. There were no other options for the last airbender. There was no turning back.
"Suuuuuki," Sokka droned to his wife, "Why was I so excited about this mission earlier?"
"Because, you are a warrior, and Zuko is your friend. And it's been quite awhile since you kicked some butt." Suki smirked, but didn't even look at her melodramatic husband.
"But who knows how long it could last? And if we're all together in a group. . . that means. . . no alone times with my snuggle koala-bunny."
"Oh be quiet." She said, "Do you have all your things together?"
"Almost. . ." He murmured, looking for his sword. Suki sighed, and pointed at the sword sitting directly behind him. He smiled a bit embarressed and grabbed it. "Ready."
"Then let's go. We should stop by Katara's room, and Zuko's too since they didn't here where we were supposed to meet to leave." Sokka opened the door and held it open for Suki. Once through, she grabbed his hand and they continued walking.
Zuko pulled away from Mai, breathing heavily. Wrapped inside his arms, she kissed him again, trying to get another taste of him before he left on the mission.
She stopped her kissing briefly to speak, "I'm going to miss you, Zuko."
"Me too." Zuko agreed before pressing his lips against Mai's once more. Parting, he stood up and retrieved his bag.
"I still don't get why I can't come too. You always leave me behind." Mai pouted. Zuko winced.
"I told you, I don't want you to get hurt, or kidnapped. Your engaged to me, the Fire Lord. . . those rebels would snatch you up right away if they had the chance. You'd be the perfect hostage."
"I'd be able to fend for myself. I'm not weak, Zuko. The Avatar's girl is coming along, isn't she? She's also the one who took down Azula. If anyone would be in danger it would be her."
"They're too damn afraid of Aang to do that. I'm just the measly Fire Lord, and he's the Avatar."
"Zuko, come on. Let me come in place of her." Mai pleaded.
"Mai–" Zuko started, but was interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Hey Zuko!" Oh, it was Sokka, Zuko realized. "Are you ready yet? We need to leave!"
"Yeah, I'm ready. I'll be right there." Zuko called, while fixing his clothing. He want over to the door and opened it.
"Zuko!" Mai called.
"Bye, Mai." He said, looking back at his fiancé before shutting the door. He sighed.
"Lady troubles?" Sokka questioned? Zuko glared at him, and then noticed his other company. Suki and. . . Katara. She wasn't looking at him. He couldn't tell if he was glad or upset about it.
"Let's go." Zuko mumbled, waiting for Sokka to show the way.
A/N: I decided I was taking too dang long on this update, so I split chapter 3 into two parts. Sorry. The next part of Chapter 3 should come eventually, along with my promised introduction of Toph.
Reviews, Faves, and alerts are awesome. I love you people for being so dang patient.