13 - The Attack

Zuko did finally allow the doctor to take a look at him after a lot of nagging from Iroh and Katara. He had one black eye and his bottom lip was pretty badly split. But, his upper arm was so badly burned he couldn't use it for awhile and he was sure to have another , considering how he had gotten this one, Zuko was going to wear it with pride.

Katara's injuries were much more extensive. Her face was so bruised Zuko couldn't tell where each one started. Her arms were littered in bruises and her wrists were rubbed raw from the ropes. One of her shoulders had become dislocated from hanging from just her bound hands and a couple ribs were cracked from where Jee Lee had punched her stomach. There was a very nasty bruise from that, but luckily according to the doctor no injury to any of her organs. Her upper back was badly burned and she had several cuts everywhere from his knife, many requiring stitches. Her dress was blood stained and burnt so she was now wearing a pair of Zuko's pants and tunic. They were way too big on her, but were all that was available until they stopped at another port to buy her clothing.

They had all agreed with Zuko to not tell the crew that Ozai was aware of their plan and most likely sending ships to attack them soon. It consumed Zuko's every moment trying to figure out what to do next. He had stopped vigorously hunting Aang and the crew had taken notice. But, Zuko saw no point anymore. If his father knew he had betrayed him, no avatar was going to get him back on track. They needed a new plan.

It had been a week. The dreaded letter would have reached Ozai by now and Zuko still had no idea what he was going to do about it. They were getting close to the earth kingdom where they would stop to resupply and get Katara some new clothes. Not that she didn't look adorable swimming in his own clothing and the red certainly didn't make her look even more beautiful than she already was. Zuko would never admit noticing any of this outloud.

Today the doctor had finally cleared her for bending again and Zuko knew how excited she was. He couldn't imagine being separated from his own element for any amount of time. He insisted on being there in the arena to help her when she did it. He had become extremely protective, much to Katara's anoyance since the attack last week. He barely ever let her out of his sight anymore. Zuko realized that Jee Lee was the only traitor among them. He knew he could trust his whole crew with his life, and has in the past. He just wasn't willing to trust them with Katara's. Katara was the opposite. She had grown friendships with several members of the crew and like Zuko they had grown protective of her.

It was just the two of them in the training arena and Zuko had insisted that she sit on the bench with a bowl of water to bend out of so she didn't strain herself. "Zuko," said Katara. "This really isn't necessarily. The doctor did say I was strong enough."

"I think it it necessary," he replied. Unless you want to end up right back in the infirmary?" Katara just rolled her eyes in response and dipped her hand into the bowl, immediately the water began to glow a bright blue and she let out a startled gasp. Zuko immediately turned back to see what was wrong and seeing the glow and Katara's shocked face, he raced over and pulled her hand out of the water. When he examined her hand her got the shock of his life. Her wrist even after a week had still been severely burned from the ropes. But, now it was completely healed. There was no burn, not even a scar to show it have even been there. Both teenagers stared in wonder at her wrist, before switching to the water, then back to her wrist again. "Did you know you could do that?" asked Zuko astonished. "No, of course you didn't," he answered his own question after a moment.

Nervously, Katara placed her other hand in the bowl and they both watched in anticipation. They both jumped when the water started to glow a minute later watched and Katara's hand came back unblemished. Quickly she bent a ball of water up and used it to cover her hand before placing it on a cut on her arm. They both watch the glowing water heal the cut to nothing but smooth skin. A smile broke out over Katara's face as she glanced up at Zuko. She quickly replaced her hand on his blackened eye, to which he protested, insisting she finish healing herself.

"I just want to see if it works on you too," she said. And the excitement in her eyes quickly made him relent. She placed her hand back on his face and he immediately felt the effect. It was a cooling, soothing feeling that had had him involuntarily leaning further into her hand. He barely noticed when she switched to his lip. But, suddenly the sensation was gone and so was the pain. He opened his eyes to see a very excited grin across Katara's face. "Okay, now take off your shirt so I can heal that burn on arm," she said tugging on his tunic.

"Hold on, hold on," he said laughing shrugging her hands off him. "Okay, you found out you can heal other people. Now focus on healing yourself. Your already looking tired." Katara opened her mouth to bite back that she was fine but was intrupted by a loud boom follow by a huge jerk of the ship. Zuko quickly caught Katara before she could fall to the ground. "It's not possible. Ozai couldn't possibly have found us this quickly," he said confused. "Stay below deck," he told Katara as he raced up to face who was attacking them.

The ship was in chaos when Zuko arrived on deck. The enemy had boarded his ship and were viciously attacking his men. But, it was not who he had assumed it would be. His men were fighting off earth kingdom soldiers. They must have seen Zuko's approaching ship and been in more of a defending mood then trading. Zuko got to work fighting alongside his companions and it became apparent very quickly that they were loosing. Finally, they were able to remove all the invaders and start the ship away from port. Once the ship started to move away the earth kingdom ship didn't pursue them. They must have thought it was enough to just chase them away.

"What's the extent of the damage, lieutenant Cogan?" Zuko called out. When he went without a respond another soldier answered him.

"Sir, our hull is severely damaged and we need to stop to make repairs as soon as possible. We also have quite a few men in the infirmary with injuries and we lost three members in the fight. Lieutenant Cogan was one of them sir, he said softly.

Zuko clenched his jaw in anger and fire flew out of his fists. "Find another port to resupply and make repairs, have anyone with medical training help in the infirmary and we'll have a funeral tonight for the men we lost."

Zuko found Katara and Iroh down below deck. He had seen Iroh fighting so he must have come to check on Katara after the fight was over. "How bad is it?" asked Iroh.

"Cogan's dead," Zuko said. Iroh sighed and shook his head in anger and Katara looked down and stayed quiet. "It's ironic, isn't it. We're both fighting for the same thing, but that doesn't put us on the same side. We don't even have a side anymore. Ozai knows I betrayed him and the rest of the world hates us. If we continue to fight each other like this, Ozai is sure to win."

Hey, thanks to everyone who followed, favorite and reviewed. Let me know what you guys think of this newest chapter and I'll see you next week.