Katara POV
I am the last water bender of the Southern Water Tribe. I've been abandoned, underestimated, captured, and ridiculed, but there is nothing like the eternal hatred I feel for the banished prince of the Fire Nation. Zuko. I spent my childhood haunted by his kind. A greedy people with no greater aim or purpose than power. When I found Aang I knew my purpose would be beside him to bring peace to the world and the Fire Nation to their knees. Starting with the banished prince.
I left the Northern Water Tribe with more assuredness in myself than I thought possible. With the mastery of my element I knew accomplishing my greater mission was on the horizon. I felt like I could freeze the sun.
Meeting those three girls in Omashu was a lucky day. Especially the one with the daggers. She moved swiftly and fluid almost like my kind. Appa blew her off the platform and swooped up for our escape. Among Azula and her friends, there were other Fire Nation middlemen threatening our mission. The Rough Rhinos and even a few Earth Kingdom providences hindered us on our trip to the Ba Sing Se. Best to use neutral Jing against those kinds.
Meeting Toph was like a breath of fresh air. Finally, another woman on the team. Though her element was more hardened than mine I could see that we had a lot of similarities. No one to teach us our element, we were underestimated and had to seek out the opportunity to prove ourselves. She's the perfect teacher for Aang.
Traveling through the Earth Kingdom was taxing as it was without Azula and her sidekicks chasing us down through the night. Nighttime was the only time I could focus on myself. The day was full of the gang's needs, night was when I could satisfy my own. The track record of lead character for my fantasies was dwindling. Jet turned out to be a menace, I could hardly picture Haru's face from our brief but epic encounter... the only face I could place night after night was his.
Albeit it was a different kind of pleasure. What it would be like to torture the banished prince. Watch him wither, watch him groan, watch him beg. There was no pleasure for him to have in these forbidden fantasies, it was all for me. I imagined what his face would look like drowning. The tension and lack of sleep was getting to me. I was taking my anger out on Toph when a promising thought came to me.
"It could be Zuko," I suggested for the mystery tracker. "We haven't seen him since the North Pole."
I tried to keep the hope out of my voice and my heart beat out of my chest when Toph said his name. Just to quip back at Sokka, "What's wrong with ponytails, Ponytail?"
Maybe Toph's too tired to notice, feeling for the tank. Come to find out it was those three girls from Omashu, and in my disappointment, I redirected my anger toward Toph again.
There's nothing like a crazy blue fire-bending princess to reunite us.
The scream Zuko let out when his Uncle was attacked ripped through my chest and my only instinct was to attack the assailant. I remember the feeling of watching someone you love get burned. All four elements struck the girl.
When I looked at him he was different. His ponytail was gone and was now replaced with an even growth of hair. He was in Earth Kingdom colors, worn and tattered. He had abandoned the comforts of the Fire Nation for this? Azula had described him and his uncle as traitors. Had it been that long? With his back to us, I could still see the tenseness in his shoulders, the worry, and the pain. In that moment my heart lurched for his helplessness, despite his kind.
"Zuko, I can help," I offered.
"Leave!" He bellowed with an arch of fire.
I fell asleep on Appa with a new dream of him. Not the banished prince in fine, Fire Nation robes, but the fugitive in tattered clothes.
The serpent's path put dealing with the elephant koi to shame, but it was all worth it in the end when I delivered the refugee's baby. Hope. I tried not to allow myself to dream of what this life would look like for me after the war. If I was lucky enough to have a life after the war. The gang would joke about what we would do if there was no war or after, but I never said the words "family" or "children." It felt too risky, too far out of reach to want. What would my little family look like anyway?
We arrived in Ba Sing Se without another run-in with Zuko. In a city this large it would take weeks, maybe months for him to get to us. It was a strange city full of secrets. Based on our travels the moral codes of the Earth Kingdom were questionable. Even while undercover the old bat Long Feng asked to meet my parents. Never mind the brainwashing and bison stealing. Better to deal with them than their kind.
The girl's day with Toph went better than expected. After the royal treatment, we ran into some girls from high society enjoying their war-oblivious day being bitches. It must be nice to be a woman like them. Adhering to their set expectations without having to rise above them and constantly meeting challenges. For Toph and I, girl's day was a luxury, for them, it was another Tuesday. Toph showed me the fun of not rising above their antics, so when they struck the water I envisioned them as the Azula and her friends. I wondered if Zuko would end up with someone like them, and then Toph literally knocked the intrusive thought out of me.
The search for Appa persisted without permission from the Dai Li. I tried to keep my focus on the task at hand but I let my mind wander. Appa is as new to the world as much as Aang is. What if he went to someone familiar? What if he found him?
"Katara?" A voice I remember from what feels like forever ago says behind me.
Jet stood behind me looking just as handsome as I remember. I fought the blush that crept to my face and channeled the onslaught of emotions into my bending. In my dreams, their features would blend. It must be something about bad boys, it's not smart to believe they can change.
"Tell it to some other girl, Jet!"
Pinned to the wall he tells us how he was troubled and let his anger get out of control and I tried to not see the features blending before me.
The build, the long slender nose, his determination, how adept he was in his skill, the leadership, it was all so attractive. I wish he wasn't so much like his kind.
"Was this guy your boyfriend or something?" Toph asked.
My denial was quick. I couldn't be with someone like him.
"I can tell you're lying," She sang.
I'll have to remember that about her when the time comes.
Jet was someone I decided was an enemy, but I wasn't prepared to see him lying motionless after Long Feng's attack. Aang said his purpose as a freedom fighter brought him back to himself after the brainwashing. I wonder what moments flashed through his mind just before the attack. I wonder if some of those moments involved me. Involved us. It's not smart to believe bad boys can change, it's always painful.
"Don't worry Katara, I'll be fine," he said with a gravelly voice and finished with his signature smirk.
Healing from Jet was going to be a process for after the war. The gang's next mission was to get Ba Sing Se more involved with the war resistance. Before heading back to the King I thought it would be a good idea to stop for tea. It was until I heard his voice.
There he was working in that tea shop barking orders. Months after the banished Prince in my dreams changed form. Once again, he was in Earth Kingdom attire, but they were no longer tattered and worn. He was dressed nicely, looking accustomed to the upper ring of Ba Sing Se. He stood straighter and seemed like the weight on his shoulders became lighter. His hair grew past his ears and onto his forehead. In a few months, he might have something akin to Jet's style. Catching his side profile and the small smile he saved for his uncle, I ran. I was not ready to face him with so many conflicted emotions. So much for being his greatest threat.
Racing to the palace I encountered Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee disguised as the Kyoshi warriors. I was quickly captured and immediately regretted disclosing Zuko's whereabouts. The enemy of my enemy is at minimum a distant ally against Azula.
I was wandering the crystal catacombs feeling helpless to our circumstances. The king was mostly aloof making him unideal to count on in times of conflict. The Dai Li had always been skeevy, almost as bad as mercenaries. Sokka was on retreat with our father, Aang is on a spiritual journey with a guru, and Toph is Tui knows where. It was a shame to say our only hope for the city was Zuko and his Uncle.
"You've got company," a Dai Li agent spoke from above.
Speak of the Moon Slayer and he shall appear. Zuko unceremoniously tumbled through the tunnel and landed with a soft thud. So much for our last hope, I knew his pride would keep him from being anywhere near productive or helpful. All he did was sit there with his back turned to me in silence and I tried not to take in the broadness of his shoulders and the sharpness of his jaw. Time to pick a fight.
"Spreading war and violence and hatred is in your blood," I sneered at him.
I got caught up in my monologue. I could feel the weight of feeling powerless once again fall upon my shoulders. I couldn't help my friends, I couldn't help this city, I couldn't help my mother. I resorted to relying on my enemy, and as expected he let me down. It was too much, this war was too much.
"That's something we have in common," Zuko said softly.
Through my tears, I glanced over my shoulders and saw him facing towards me. We still weren't close enough for details, but he genuinely looked sincere and empathetic. He was not the arrogant boastful prince I had met many months ago. This was the man in Earth Kingdom robes, someone who has seen the world and recognizes the pain and destruction this war has brought to us all. He shares my sentiment. How did he lose the most protected woman in the Fire Nation?
"She sacrificed her safety for me," he began. "Ironically I am not the first member of the royal family to be banished from their nation. My father sent her away the night of my grandfather's death. I haven't seen her since."
There were so many details to his story left unspoken, but the pain was felt nonetheless. To be raised without your mother is a loss that's felt every day. Zuko's mother sounded selfless and loving, someone who risked her security walking the world as the Fire Lady, forced to leave her child in his father's clutches. An act such as that was brave, almost like my kind.
His mark showed that his time in the palace was not as safe as she assumed without his mother's protection. At least he had Iroh, he seemed to genuinely care about the banished prince. Clearly, his uncle was all he had in this war, and though I do not have my mother, I am no less surrounded by love. He was an outsider, even to his kind.
"Whenever I would imagine the face of the enemy, it was your face," I admitted.
"My face," he looked away and touched his scar.
I let the ice slice through my core at his reaction. His scar was no doubt painful to acquire, but painful to wear. His mark is what drove him to a predetermined destiny written by his assailant. To believe that you were to hunt forever, then have hope, and have it constantly snatched away from you would drive anyone to madness. He was a threat to the world's peace, and we were a threat to his. Hopefully, the next destiny he chooses involves the peace we want.
I touched my hand to his scar and he rested against my hand. I wanted to give him his peace. The peace we all longed for. A way to erase the past and maybe he'd continue to work in his uncle's tea shop, and teach Aang fire bending when the time came. Then maybe one day after the war and all the nonphysical scars had healed, we'd come back to this city where it all started and create a little Hope for our future too.
Just when the shock of the thought struck Aang blasted through the walls of the crystal catacombs. This was no time for fantasy. We had to survive to make silly dreams a reality. Maybe there would be hope for his kind. Or at least, hope for him.
The moment he reacted to Aang's rescue I should've known he'd never choose our side. He is the Firelord's son. All he knows is anger and destruction. I should've never believed he would want to know peace. I kept my eyes on Azula. I had no doubts that she was the reason for Zuko's sudden change. His resolve was already so fragile it was just like her kind to manipulate him. Like father like daughter. When Zuko broke the water whips I had on her my rage flared.
"I thought you had changed!" I bellowed and let our whips clash.
"I have changed," he calmly stated. He was a dragon in Earth Kingdom clothing.
The Dai Li had entered the fight and I took on the octopus form. I knew Aang's avatar state was compromised, and if he found a way to enter it, I knew I'd be caught in the crossfire. Either way, I planned to go down fighting. So much for hope.
"I'm sorry, Katara." I heard Aang whisper before encasing himself in crystals.
I took a moment to glance in Zuko's direction. The sweat broke out over his brow, and his eyes shook ever so slightly. The part of his fire-bending form that held his fist displayed his thumb rubbing over his index finger rapidly. As if he was trying to remember a specific feeling between his fingers. He was conflicted, and my necklace never felt heavier around my neck.
Lightning struck, and with all the power of my element I summoned the wave to catch him. If Iroh hadn't shown up I don't know where we'd be. My heart ached for many reasons while bending the spirit water into Aang's body. We were in control of the Avatar's safety, and we failed because I was too trusting. I was too sympathetic to his kind. Zuko was willing to leave the last person who truly cared about him for the sake of his destiny. His kind only knows pain, betrayal, and destruction. His kind doesn't deserve peace.
Aang breathed life into my arms and I promised myself I would not allow myself to fail my mission. I am the last water bender of the Southern Water Tribe. I've been abandoned, underestimated, captured, ridiculed, and betrayed, but there is nothing like the eternal hatred I feel for the banished prince of the Fire Nation. Zuko. The greatest threat against world peace.