Katara struggles with her newfound power and Zuko questions his place in the Fire Nation,

Part 4 - Mirrors - Shard 8/11 - What Lies Within

"What you did tonight, I know you did it to save Sokka and I, but it wasn't ok." Aang's troubled face looks up at her.

Katara stood amongst the circle of dead plants. The slight breeze of the balmy night played with the ends of her hair and bathed her skin in the light of the full moon.

Once again, she was sneaking off into the darkness while the others slept. It was quickly becoming a bad habit of hers. But she couldn't stay there, not without Hama. Without the old woman, the inn felt like it had lost its soul and the emptiness of the old cottage was too much for her to bear. So she took a page from Aang's book and simply left.

"I know that Aang." her voice was soft, still fragile from the night's events.

So much had happened and too many things were at war in her head. Did she do the right thing? Hama was kidnapping innocent townsfolk. Attacked her with bloodbending and even tried to hurt her friends. Hama had done terrible things yet she felt like she was the one who had done something wrong. Had she just betrayed her own? Should she have sided with Hama despite all she had done?

"You won't- you won't do it again, will you?" he's so hopeful, she feels like she has to give in to keep it alive.

For a little while, she was no longer the last waterbender of Southern Water Tribe. She finally had someone who could connect her back to home and help her find the parts of her bending heritage she had thought were lost. But because of her, they were gone. She had turned the one woman who could reconnect her to her people over to the Fire Nation authorities. Back to the same people who locked her in a cage, like an animal and kept her barely alive for years.

She hesitates, "I don't think so."

Hama's look of satisfaction haunted her, her fellow tribeswoman was right, she was a blood bender. She remembered the raw power she felt under the moon's light. Their pulse, the flow of blood through their veins, she had complete control of how it moved but even more than that. She could decide to stop it all, to hold their frantically beating heart in her hands and make it still.

"Promise?"

When that power flowed through her, it filled her with a terror that chilled her to the bone and tasted like honeyed ecstasy on her tongue. She was scared of this newfound power within her, but she did not fear it nearly enough. A teasing thread wound around her asking for more and a darker part of her wanted to sate it.

"I promise."

Tears slipped down Katara's cheeks as she dropped to her knees, the desiccated leaves crackling against her skin. She may have done what was necessary of her, but it had made her a monster.

/|\

"Go Zuko, your father and your sister are already there. I'll be here when you get back" Mai promises him.

Zuko abandoned Mai and Azula in the hall and went in search of the much-needed solitude of his quarters. Once he was past the gauntlet of servants and through the doors he immediately made for the full moon and balmy night air of his balcony.

"I see you finally made it Zuzu, we've been waiting." his sister gave her usual mocking smile.

He had no time for his sister's remarks nor did he care what her, Ty Lee, and his girlfriend had planned for the evening. None of it was important. He needed to be far away from them, the war room, the generals, and most of all his father. He was confused and his thoughts were a wreck.

"After over four years, my son has returned." his father announced to the filled room.

This meeting was the last piece. Everything he had lost was restored. He was back among his people as the rightful prince. His father had given him a warm welcome, his approval and even asked for his advisement. Agni, he had even found love with Mai. He should be blazing with joy but he wasn't. The entire time he had been here, nothing had clicked. Why didn't he fit, why did this feel so … wrong?

"He has accomplished what the Fire Nation has been able unable to do for 100 years. He has slain the Avatar and restored his honor."

He had spent so many weeks trying to fit into this life he had craved, that he hadn't been paying attention to all the things that revealed themselves. He was in love with a girl who loved not him, but an image of a prince that no longer existed. An image he was trying to maintain but he could feel crumbling more and more by the minute. He had his father's approval but what did that mean coming from the man who had scarred him as a mere child? That had been the direct cause of all of the destruction and strife he had witnessed in the last four years?

His father turns to him, "We welcome you home, Prince Zuko"

He was finally home, but in a nation that had waged war against innocents for a hundred years under the guise of bringing prosperity. He had gotten everything he had wanted but it was only now that he was understanding the lies, blood, and destruction it all had been built on. He didn't fit because deep down he already knew the cost and he had been suffocating under the weight of it ever since he left Ba Sing Se. Ever since he had left her.

"Thank you Father, it's an honor to be at your side once again."

Zuko leaned against the balcony and dropped his head, tears spilling into his hands. This wasn't him. This wasn't where he was supposed to be.

I know, I've made these very beans sad and they've been through a lot but were getting there!

Katara has a new power that is as enticing as it is terrifying and Zuko has finally come to terms with the fact that the Fire Nation isn't where he's supposed to be.

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