I couldn't stop, so here is chapter two! I hope you like it.

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They start by finding a fire navy communication tower to find out the southern raiders' current location, it all goes smoothly. Katara is determined to finish this. She doesn't know what she will do when she faces him, but she know she has to. And with the full moon out tonight, she feels powerful, she is finally strong enough to face him. So, when in one of their few conversations during the trip, Zuko tells her to get some rest and he will steer Appa, she knows she doesn't need any, not before she has faced him.

"Oh, don't you worry about my strength, I have plenty." She says coldly. "I'm not the helpless little girl I was when they came." She doesn't know what takes over her, but she tells him her story. How she ran to their igloo when she saw the black snow. How she saw her mother kneeling on the ground, and that monster standing over her. How she ran back to her father, urging him to hurry, desperate to get him there in time. And how none of it was enough because when she came back with him, her mother was dead, her burned body lying on the ground. She would never forget it; she would never forget his eyes.
Zuko listens to her without interrupting. He knows the pain of loosing a mother, but he can't imagine the horror that is seeing your own mother's corpse after she was killed by a firebender, one of his countrymen, one of his father's soldiers. No wonder she hates him. He decides to focus on how strong her mother was, just like his, protecting her and sacrificing herself for her.

"Your mother was a brave woman." It's all he can say.

Soon after he finally convinces her to sleep and takes the reigns, he sees the Southern Raiders' ship.

"There! See those sea raven flags? It's the Southern Raiders."

"Let's do this!" Comes her reply, and he can hear the determination in her voice.

She takes them under water to approach the ship without being seen, then washes away most of the soldiers in one huge wave. Zuko is amazed at her strength, he really just has to follow at this point as she swiftly deals with every soldier they come across. They finally get to the captain's door.

"This is it Katara, are you ready to face him?" He asks and hears the water come crashing at the door.

Zuko easily diffuses the captain's fire who asks "who are you?"

"You don't remember her? You will soon, trust me." Zuko replies as he launches a fireball at him.

The captain is about to attack again when he sees his arm stop mid-air, as if he'd lost all control of it. He contorts like a creepy doll and is soon kneeling on the ground. Zuko's good eye widens as he looks at Katara, she's doing this, he realises. How is she doing this? He's never seen anything like it, and he doesn't know if he should be scared or impressed, or both. But he doesn't say anything about it, now is not the time, she needs to deal with this first.

"Think back, think back to your last raid on the Southern Water Tribe." He instructs the captain who still seems confused and now in pain.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Please, I don't know." The man begs.

"Don't lie! You look her in the eye, and you tell me you don't remember what you did." Zuko is angry on her behalf now, how could this monster not remember her after everything he did to her and her tribe? But then she makes him look at her, and she realises it's not him. She releases him from whatever grip she had on him and walks away. Zuko angrily shoves him against the wall and manages to coax a name out of him, Yon Rha.

Katara can't believe she just bloodbent someone after she had sworn to never use that abiliy again, but she is too angry to feel bad about it for now. It wasn't the right man, but she had a name now, Yon Rha. Yon Rha killed her mother, and she was going to find him.

It took them another few hours to reach the island where Yon Rha lived. When they found the monster, they followed him long enough that Katara was sure it was him this time, before facing him. Zuko tripped him then she finally came to face him.

"Do you know who I am?" She asks the monster who is pathetically cowering on the ground.

"No…I'm not sure."

"Oh, you better remember me like your life depends on it." She shouts at him. "Why don't you take a closer look."

"Yes, yes, I remember you now." He finally says, gulping. "You're the little water tribe girl."

Katara looks at this broken shell of a man, this horrible man she thought about all these years, as he realises who she is and that he had killed her mother. "She lied to you; she was protecting the last waterbender."

"What? Who?"

"Me!" She shouts before creating a huge dome of water, she can feel the rain around her, every single drop. It's so easy to freeze it and to launch it at him, a hundred ice daggers that will tear him into shreds at her will. And she does so with all the strength of her bending, but she stops just shy of him, and he still cowers as she melts the daggers around him.

"I did a bad thing; I know I did. And you deserve revenge." The man suddenly begs "So why don't you take my mother? That would be fair."
And it all makes sense to her now, her monster was pathetic, a coward. "I always wondered what kind of person could do such a thing. But now that I see you, I think I understand. There is just nothing inside you, nothing at all. You're pathetic and sad and empty."

"Please spare me." He whimpers.

"But as much as I hate you…" she continues "I just can't do it." She walks away from the man, not looking back, not knowing if he was too pathetic to kill, or she was too pathetic to do it.

Zuko and Katara are back on Appa, and he doesn't know what to do. She had faced her monster only an hour ago and she hadn't spoken to him since. Everything she had done since had seemed automatic, as if her brain had completely shut down. Zuko reasons that it's better to let he be for now; she probably has a lot to think about and probably wouldn't want his comfort anyway. But the rain is getting stronger, and he can hear the thunder getting closer. Appa does not seem to like it either, and it's getting late anyway. He sees a cave along the cliff and decides to break the silence.

"We should hide there for the night." He says pointing at the cave "The storm is getting stronger, and I think Appa is tired, we can get back to the others in the morning." She barely nods at him, but he heads for the cave anyway.

Once they land, Katara bends the water out of Appa and their clothes and just stands still. Zuko is getting worried now. "Katara…" He starts but stops instantly as she drops to her knees and sobs start wracking her whole body. He runs to her without even thinking about it and kneels next to her. He almost puts a hand on her back to comfort her but hesitates.

"Can I- Can I hold you?"

She looks at him with eyes full of tears and nods, still crying. It hurts to so much see her like this, so he holds her tight, and she cries on his chest for a long time while he alternates between stroking her hair and rubbing circles on her back, wondering if letting her do this had been a huge mistake.
He is not used to comforting people, and he's never seen Katara let her guard down like this anyways. Sure the catacombs happened, but he had ruined it then, and he did not want a repeat of that now that she was being vulnerable with him once again.

After a while, she seems to calm down a bit and moves back to look at him. Her eyes are red and puffy, tears still coming out, but at least she's not sobbing anymore, and the firebender suddenly feels cold without her on his chest.

"I'm sorry, I'm a mess." She says, barely audible and still crying. And for the life of him, Zuko can't understand why she is the one apologising.

"What? No…I'm the one who should be sorry, I thought it was a good idea to do this, but it was selfish, I just wanted you to forgive me…Please don't apologise" He says honestly and sees a small smile form on the corner of her mouth.

"No, this was what I needed, I just need to sort through my feelings now, I don't know if I made the right choice or if I'm just a coward." She says looking down, tears still falling on the ground.

"You're not a coward Katara! You're one of the bravest people I know." He blurts out, feeling defensive on her behalf "I am sure it will take time to come to terms with all of this, but I am glad you don't regret finding him."

"I don't, she says with a small smile." She looks exhausted now and is shivering, he realises and starts looking around for something to make a fire. But of course, there is nothing in the cave and it's pouring outside.

"We should get some sleep; I think we're both tired." Zuko says, grabbing their sleeping bags, He hesitates then to add "We can sleep next to each other, for warmth!" He adds quickly when he sees her looking at him like he was crazy. "Firebender, remember?"

"I'll be fine, thanks Zuko." Always stubborn, but she seems a bit less angry at him, at least he hopes he is reading it right.

Katara is suddenly exhausted, and still very confused about so many things. Did she do the right thing? Was she just weak? Why was Zuko not judging her? Why was he so comforting and why did he feel sosafe? She closes her eyes and even as more questions keep invading her mind, the physical toll of her very long day wins and she is asleep in minutes.

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