Disclaimer: I don't own the characters.
This one-shot is a what would have happened (in my opinion) if Katara had gone on the trip in the Boiling Rock episodes part one and two. Also it is a what would have happened if Zuko and Katara were together and if Mai was in the fight on top of the gondolas.
This picture inspired me by GoEnzoGo it's called Sozin's Comet: Katara vs Azula. Except, I didn't want to write something about the Comet but I wanted to do something different and this is what I came up with.
"Run!" Chit Sang carried the warden over his shoulder as he darted into a gondola. Suki and Katara stood by the doors of the two gondola's they had stopped. They were guarding them so their friends could get out of the prison. Katara looked over; seeing her brother, boyfriend, a random prisoner, and... her father.
Her eyes filled with tears as she ran into his arms. "Dad!"
"Katara," Hakoda hugged her, his voice soft and loving.
"Did they hurt you?" Katara pulled back to look at his face, "Are you okay?"
"They didn't touch me-" Her father started.
"Not to break up the family reunion," Suki interrupted us, holding a guard by the neck, "but we need to get out of here." Sokka ran over to her, intending to help with the man but Suki had already thrown him into the steaming, gross water below. Sokka frowned.
Katara hugged her father once more before turning to Zuko; her boyfriend. She put her hands on his face, searching for injuries.
"I'm fine." Zuko said, smiling slightly before removing her hands. She nodded, ushering him into the gondola.
Katara looked at Sokka, "We've got two. Do you think that's enough?"
Sokka smiled, "More than enough, great job, sister." Katara opened her mouth to speak again, Sokka cut her off with a wave of his hand, "And yes, I'm alright."
She rose her eyebrows, "I was going to ask how you want to separate everyone."
"Katara, come with me." Zuko reached to grab her hand.
"Excuse me?" Hakoda asked, a in a very fatherly tone. "I'll take my children."
"Dad," Katara blushed, "We don't have time for this."
"She's right." Sokka pushed his father and the banished prince into one gondola. Sokka followed them in. Katara's eyes widened with fright, just before the doors of the moving cart shut, she grabbed onto Zuko's arm.
"Don't let him kill you." She whispered to him. "Don't let him ask any embarrassing questions and please don't break up with me after you talk to him."
"I won't." Zuko chuckled, kissing her forehead.
"Katara, come on." Suki said impatiently, hearing the screams of the on going prison riot. The waterbender slowly let go of her boyfriend's arm, slightly concerned for his life as the gondola moved away. Suki grabbed Katara's shoulders and pushed her into the second gondola.
In that same moving cart was Chit Sang, the captured Warden, Suki, and Katara. They started to move into the air, getting away slowly. All was quiet for about thirty seconds, until they heard the screaming of a princess. The inmates of the gondola all snapped their heads to see the horribly familiar Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee.
The two friends of the princess jumped onto the robes and started running towards their gondola.
Katara and Suki moved to get on top of the moving cart.
"Who do you want?" Katara asked the woman warrior.
"The one that throws knives." Suki replied. Mai.
Just after she spoke, Mai and Ty Lee were about to jump down onto the gondola. Quickly, Katara moved my hands up; making a wall of stemming water from below come up, she clenched my fists and the water turned into a frozen wall, then the waterbender kicked her foot out- the wall sped out towards the advancing enemy. Unfortunately, Ty Lee, with her outstanding balance, jump right over the wall. Mai had a little more trouble but jumped over it as well.
They landed on the gondola.
Faintly, in the distance, Katara heard a shout that was turned into a whisper from the distance. "Katara, no!" The voice was all to familiar to her, she had heard it countless times before: in the dead of night, during their kisses, but the voice had never had that much agony. That much pain.
I'm sorry, Zuko. Hoping that in some way her apologetic thoughts would enter his mind.
Ty Lee and Katara started to fight as Suki and Mai fought behind them. Katara continually tried to hit the circus woman but she kept dipping and ducking out of the way, Katara became frustrated resulting in her waterbending getting sloppier. Ty Lee realized this and attacked harder. Quickly, she had blocked the chi in Katara's arm.
Zuko's voice started to yell louder, his girlfriend looked up to see a few spurts of fire escaping the gondola that they were in. Katara wanted to prove to him that she could fight on her own without help, she hadn't yet. Her hands came up without her brain moving them and suddenly, Ty Lee was frozen and looked frightened.
It took the waterbender just a moment before she realized that she had caught Ty Lee with blood bending. A small smile formed on Katara's lips, knowing now that she had nothing to fear. Katara moved her hands to make Ty Lee kneel down before her, the circus girl was still whimpering in a scared way.
Katara quickly moved Ty Lee down onto her stomach, laying face down. Katara straddled her, pulling the tie that held her hair up to tie her wrists together. Then, the waterbender stood up off of her body, and lowered it down into the window. So that Ty Lee was a second prisoner inside of their gondola.
Katara quickly climbed to the top of the gondola again, to see if Suki needed help. But of course, she didn't. Suki had Mai on the ground, head down- just like Ty Lee was a few moments ago, but like I hadn't seen before Suki had been cut by Mai's knives on her cheek and shoulders. Before Suki could make another move, however, a shot of blue fire had made the warrior jump away from the enemy. Mai darted to her feet as Suki and Katara watched Azula storm towards them.
The princess landed on top of the gondola.
Azula's gold eyes, like Zuko's but not like Zuko's at all, looked Katara over, "If it isn't the woman that has stolen ZuZu's heart."
Katara said nothing, but got her hands ready as she dipped into a fighting stance.
"Do you have nothing to say?" Azula taunted her, "You, the water tribe woman has nothing to say about dating the banished prince of the fire nation? Is that why you are dating him?"
While Katara's eyes were focused on Azula, two knives came hurdling towards her as Mai lost her temper. Katara dodged them as quickly as she could as Ty Lee, free of her bondages, gracefully jumped back to the top of the gondola.
"Sorry, kids!" Chit Sang called from inside of the cart, "I couldn't hold onto both of them!"
Mai looked ready to kill, "You're the peasant that Zuko left me for!"
"No!" Katara shook her head, "He was single and we just-" She cut herself off, not wanting to say how Zuko kissed her.
"Calm down, Mai." Azula smiled, delighted with what was happening, "The waterbender will be killed soon."
"It will be right now." Mai hissed, running at Katara. She quickly dodged her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend and Mai dashed straight off the gondola.
"Mai!" Ty Lee screamed, tears filling her eyes as she ran over to the edge. Watching her friend hopelessly, Azula looked concerned but didn't run or scream she just turned her head away; probably to not watch her friend fall into the steaming water below.
Katara opened the canteen around her waist and shot her arm out, the water grabbed Mai's arm. Katara froze the water, making Mai's arm trapped with it which let Katara start to pull her back up slowly.
When Mai was back on top of the gondola, Katara fell to the ground; exhaustedly trying to catch her breath. Suki and Ty Lee both tended to their friends as Azula watched the place where they had come from, for once she looked calm.
"Hey, I'm not that fat." Mai, just for a moment, looked like a kind friend to Katara. The fire nation girl smiled, just slightly, joking with the waterbender.
"No, you're not. You just fell very far and I had to pull you all the way up." Katara smiled back at her. Mai nodded, understanding before her face twisted in disgust and she stood - turning back into Katara's enemy.
"Looks like your good deed will not be rewarded, but punished." Azula said and as usual her voice was at normal speaking terms but something in her tone made Katara's bones shake with fear.
Before Katara and Suki could ask the three enemies had jumped off their gondola and onto a different one that was on its way towards the island.
Katara's eyes widened with fright once again as she saw the guards of the prison cutting the line of the gondola's. She looked back around at her family's cart, seeing that they were close, very close, to getting to the edge. Where they would be safe. Katara looked at Suki, who nodded; understanding.
Katara wasn't going down without a fight, however. She turned back towards the guards cutting the line before she moved her hands up. Katara moved the water up to the swirling ropes that held the gondola up, quickly she drenched the robes and then froze the water.
Unfortunately, this stopped the robes from moving; stopped their escape.
"How can you let them do this?" Ty Lee screeched at Azula.
Azula glared at her, "Do you want me to just let them get away? They are the enemy."
"You can't just let them die, they have Mai's uncle." The circus woman said, looking back sadly as the waterbender and warrior tried everything they could to stop the guards from cutting the lines.
"Ty Lee," Azula whirled on her, her eyes wide with shock and anger, "If you want to help them so bad, go do it. But just know that you will never be allowed back into the fire nation."
"What do you have to say about all this?" Ty Lee looked back at the princess, then to her knife-throwing friend.
Mai turned to look at the two gondola's and then shrugged. She didn't know what to do; Zuko was on one of those carts and she wanted to save him, but she didn't want to save that peasant that he was now dating.
Ty Lee narrowed her eyes, "She did just save your life."
That was precisely why Mai was confused. "I don't know, Ty Lee. I hate her, but-" Mai shook her head, not allowing feelings for the waterbender as their gondola reached the island.
"Walk with me, you two, if you would both like not to be banished." Azula started to walk in a different way. "We have things to discuss."
Mai started to follow the princess as Ty Lee hesitated, then she blocked the chi in the guards limbs. Mai sighed and helped the circus girl with throwing knives to make the guards get stuck against the walls.
Suki and Katara gasped, "They're helping us. Quick melt the water!" Suki told the waterbender who did as the warrior said. The robes started to move them back to escape once again.
"Should we save them?" Katara asked as she saw the two once-called enemy girls get caught by the guards.
"We need to get out of here." Suki looked upset, but shook her head. "We'll see them again." She said confidently, jumping down inside the gondola again.
After a moment, Katara joined her and soon they were safe. Zuko grasped onto Katara's hand, Sokka held Suki's, as Chit Sang threw the warden back into the gondola before following the rest of them. Zuko led them all to the fly war ballon that Azula had flown to this island, before he got them into the air and had them flying away.
That night, when they had finally landed back in the Air Temple. Before Katara could exit the ballon, Zuko grabbed her arm and pulled her to him. Zuko kissed her before his hands were on her face.
"Are you hurt?" He asked, looking over her skin.
Katara shook her head, "Zuko, Mai and Ty Lee. They helped us escape."
Zuko's eyes widened in shock, "What did my sister do?"
"I'm not sure," Katara looked at his chest, "It looked like she banished him."
"That sounds like Azula." He nodded, frowning.
"Zuko, should we help them?" She looked him back in the eye.
"How do you know they were helping you? They could've been just tired of Azula being Azula and decided to teach her a lesson." He suggested.
Katara looked down again and whispered, "Mai wasn't helping me."
"The who was she helping?" Zuko asked quietly.
She didn't reply, just looked up at him. You.
Zuko sighed, "We'll find them later. Right now we need to help Aang get ready to face my father."
Katara nodded, "I guess that is the right thing to be doing right now."
Zuko grinned, kissing her on the lips. Katara sighed into the kiss, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pulling him closer. Zuko shivered at her cold skin as he in return wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her flush against him.
Katara sighed happily as Zuko's lips moved to her neck, "I love you." She whispered before her eyes shot open and her hand covered her mouth. The words had come out before she could stop them, before she could even think about them, but it was what she was feeling. Katara just wanted to say it in a different setting.
Zuko pulled away from her, looking into her sapphire eyes as she shook with nerves. He smiled gently, "I love you, too."
A/N: Thanks for reading!