It was all the confirmation he needed.
"She was here."
His voice was deadly low, and Katara ducked out of the way as he ripped lightning from the air and disintegrated the door and the man who'd picked the most inopportune time to try to open it. Zuko flew through it, ignoring Katara grabbing for him, and clamped his hand around the throat of the next person to cross his path.
"Where is she?" he demanded.
"We're looking—"
Any other response was obliterated as Zuko sent lightning through the man's body. It arced off Zuko's arm, singeing the wood and covering everything in an odd blue light. Zuko was prepared to ask the question again, but the man was limp in his hands. A dozen people clad in black were standing at the end of the smoking hallway, and Zuko cracked his knuckles.
"I will rip through every single one of you until I get my answer," Zuko growled, his whole body shaking, the fire around them burning hotter.
Instead of attacking, they hastily dropped to their knees and bowed before him. He didn't care. That was probably her blood covering the table, her blood because of him, blood that should still be in her body, and he wouldn't stop until every last one of those bastards was dead. Zuko swore then he would rip apart heaven and hell, challenge Agni himself, to bring her to safety. He was preparing another bolt of lightning when Katara threw herself into him, knocking him into the wall and stopping the charge.
"Zuko, stop!" she yelled between coughs
He fought against her, and the only reason she could hold him back so long was that his vision was starting to blur again. Adrenaline was rushing through him, making his heart practically vibrate, and he was getting dizzy. Zuko swayed on his feet, but he refused to let that stop him. When she bloodbent him against the wall, he brought his eyes to hers.
"These aren't those Phoenix Brigaders," she yelled.
"Fire Lord Zuko, we are humble servants of your country and of the Fire Lady Queen Mother Ursa," one of the women on the floor was saying.
It wasn't clicking, and Katara was dragging him out of the building and into the cold air, and they were surrounded by coughing people. The courtyard was littered with more bodies, and it soon became clear why they'd had a relatively easy time taking out the Phoenix Brigade. Zuko had supposed that it would take a small army to overrun the fortress, and it seemed that's exactly what showed up.
Confused, Zuko stumbled, and Katara supported him until she sat him down at the base of a tree. She was prodding his mouth open and bending water down his throat, then drinking herself.
"He had brass knuckles when he hit you. You wouldn't let me finished checking, but I don't think you have a concussion." She pushed him back down when he tried to get up.
"Where the hell are you keeping her?" he demanded of the man walking toward them.
"It would be best if we talked elsewhere," he was saying.
"And let you take him captive? Fat chance," Katara said, water at the ready, positioning herself between the man and Zuko.
"She is safe. Ask Minister Hau about the Lily of the Valley, he will tell you—"
"Your words mean shit to me," Zuko ground out, standing and pulling Katara behind him against her protests.
There was absolutely no way they were going to get out of this alive. He hadn't realized just how full the courtyard had become with these black clad figures, and even though his body ached and would be useless in a fight, he still pressed Katara against the tree. He would give up the idea of marriage to ensure her freedom. Mai had always called him a martyr, and he would be one for Katara.
People were coming out of the building, some carrying wounded. Others were sorting through the bloody mess that was the courtyard. Then Zuko saw those two men who'd been watching them at the inn. Fury flared up, and he stumbled. His head was killing him.
"We're going to die," he mumbled. There was no way they could take them all…
"Perhaps his majesty will remember me. I came with your mother to the palace as part of her household staff," an older man said, coming forward. He pulled the younger man back by the shoulder.
Zuko looked at him very intently. The harder he tried to focus, the more his head throbbed, sending waves of nausea through him. He wanted nothing more than to curl into a little ball, but he needed to protect Katara. The man kept coming forward, and Zuko swung his dao in an arc, keeping him back. Several people turned toward him, hands going to their weapons. He could generate his own lightning now; he didn't need a storm to help him.
"You have to leave," Zuko said to Katara. "You go."
"Alone you don't stand a chance, Zuko. You're still bleeding."
"My lord, if you would—"
These weren't part of the Phoenix Brigade. Their gear was cheap, their clothes worn. They looked tired, but thrilled by the battle, their faces smeared with ash and blood. They just might be more inclined to ransom Zuko and Katara, and it seemed like their only hope.
"Ransom us to the North. Chief Arnook will pay highly for us both."
Zuko had chosen Arnook after brief consideration. If he was sent to Kuei, he might actually become a prisoner and be put on trial. There were far too many in the Earth Kingdom who suffered at the hands of the Fire Nation, and they would demand revenge. He knew that the council worked with him reluctantly, still holding him responsible for his part in the coup, and Kuei's lack of actual leadership was starting to cause problems among the people. Zuko would be the perfect scapegoat. The North, however, suffered very little damage. Arnook, though he didn't care for Zuko all that much, would at least want to keep Katara safe. It wouldn't do to hurt the chief of the Southern Water Tribe's daughter. And Hakoda liked Zuko; he wouldn't let Zuko rot after all he'd done for the family. And if Hakoda even thought about leaving him at the mercy of Arnook, Kanna would knock some sense into him. So, Arnook was the least likely to have him killed.
"It is not my intention to take either of you prisoner," the man said tersely. He looked satisfied with the situation, the corner of his mouth turned up in a way that said he wasn't exactly looking for peace at the moment.
He held his hands out, but he was still coming toward them. Zuko and Katara acted together; she bloodbent the man to the ground while Zuko threw fire out in a wide arc. Several people jumped back, but others not quick enough. The horde moved in closer to them, and they fell into bending stances, ready to strike at any movement. Zuko was still unstable on his feet, and he wasn't sure how much longer he could last.
"Stay with me," Katara ordered.
He'd thought he couldn't last much longer in that final battle, either, but they'd done well. One of the horde growled, and Zuko couldn't really tell who it was or where the growl came from, but he readied his lightning all the same, directing it at everyone in the front lines. He was going to throw up, and he started leaning to one side, and the blood was trickling down the back of his neck like sweat.
"Stop! Stop!" The man yelled, getting off the ground. "Put your weapons away." The horde did as he commanded, but they remained at the ready. The man's face was red, and he was furious, and perhaps humiliated as well.
"What's your name?" Zuko demanded, trying to watch everything, and seeing twice as much as was really there.
"Chem. I served as your mother's personal secretary. This is Bo, one of my officers."
Zuko tried to think. The name was familiar, yes, but everything was taking so long to process.
"Perhaps his majesty should let Master Lady Katara inspect your wound." Chem pushed his people back even further, giving Zuko and Katara a wider birth.
"His injuries should not be your concern," Katara said, swirling the water protectively around them. Zuko could tell she was just as weary as he was. It was in the way her voice quivered, and she was swaying, too. She kept her left arm close to her body, bent at a slight angle, not quite in the proper bending stance. Her shoulder was likely dislocated, and she had a number of nasty bruises, including one on her temple. Neither one of them would last long in a fight. They would be taken prisoner, and then who knew what would happen to them.
"If my Lord and Lady Katara would stand down—"
"Never," Katara yelled, pushing the water outward into the crowd. They were all pushed back as far as the brick wall would allow.
That's when Zuko collapsed. His vision was blurred, and his ears were ringing. He could faintly hear screaming and fighting, several people were arguing, then there was cold surrounding him. Them. There was Katara, pulling him toward her. One arm was around his back, and the other was hovering over his head. He could feel her trembling, and he felt certain they were going to die.
"I love you," he whispered to her.
"No. You will not start that." But there were tears in her voice and in her eyes.
He was starting to say that more and more, and it didn't seem so weird in his mouth. The first time he told her was when he was sure he'd die after redirecting the storm's lightning in the final battle. He would regret it if he never told her how much she meant to him. But he was young then, sixteen and desperate for someone beside his uncle to show him tenderness and affection, desperate for validation. He didn't know what love was. Now—now he was sure he did. He felt it in his heart every time he looked at her. He could smell it on her, and it smelled like the salty ocean. It was the touch of her skin, the way she felt in his arms, her lips on his. It was the way she tasted. Funny, when you think you're about to die, the world becomes clear, and he still wasn't sure that Katara would be able to accept everything that came with being Fire Lord—the court intrigues and the poisoning and the bargaining with criminals—but he knew she would try to understand. For him, she would try.
"I love you," he said again. "I'm sorry I'll never get to marry you." He asked Agni that, whatever the outcome of this battle, he not let anything too bad happen to Katara.
He was sorry that he let his mother down again.
A/N: You thought that last cliffhanger was bad? Mwhahahaha!
No, seriously, I want to thank everyone who's put this story on alert and marked it as a favorite. Thank you to everyone who's reviewed, and thank you to those who're just reading. I am still doing a few revisions as I go along, though, and would very much appreciated your feedback (all of you reading). Feedback doesn't have to be along the lines of "This didn't work for me." I'm also very much interested in what did work for you, so that I can continue to do that. Also, feedback applies to all my writing, which is helpful.