Zuko POV
After getting the information from Sokka I waited outside of Katara's tent the entire night. She was always the first face I wanted to see in the morning, but today I had a reason.
"You look terrible," she greeted me while stomping away.
She was as radiant as ever. The crease of her pillow was pressed into the side of her cheek and her wild hair awaited her comb after a restless night. She kept her back to me while she groomed her tresses.
"I know who killed your mother. I'm going to help you find him."
This was not an offer. This was a required mission. Katara was holding onto pain that she could not make peace with until she dealt with it hands-on. This was an opportunity she couldn't, and wouldn't refuse. If she was going to tackle this beast within herself I was going to be a part of it. She deserves justice for her kind.
Katara looked at me with shock and disbelief, but there was no way she could doubt that if anyone could get this done, it would be me.
I was already packed and ready for this trip. I made sure we had supplies and our disguises when the time came. All she had to do was say yes. The next task was getting Aang to let us borrow Appa. I should've expected he put Katara on too high a pedestal to believe she would ever seek revenge. Truth is she's more like my kind than his.
"Um, and what exactly do you think this will accomplish?" The Avatar questioned.
"This is about getting closure and justice," I vouched for Katara.
She shouldn't have to explain her reasoning. Everything she does is a sacrifice. This pain is hers, this trip is for her, and if her closure comes in the form of getting revenge then that is for her too.
"Maybe that's what he deserves," Katara seethes.
Aang brought up Jet and I fought the shocked facial expression that launched onto my face. The guy with the bush for hair had a history with Katara? Given the way she was reacting I can see the similarity, but everyone has pain, it's just a matter of how we use and control it. Maybe Katara has a thing for bad boys?
Katara hit Sokka below the belt and I saw on her face she instantly regretted it. She was allowing her rage to talk but it shouldn't defer her from going forward with the trip. She may choose revenge or she may choose forgiveness, but she's not alone in this. She has me.
"It's hard to forgive." Aang offered Katara his monk-like wisdom.
"It's not just hard," Katara forced through her teeth. "It's impossible."
If Katara could face this man, this monster, and forgive him, there might be hope for me. I followed her after her departure and showed her the black clothing hidden in my bag.
"We leave tonight," I told her.
She glanced at me and offered a knowing smirk, "You read my mind."
Naturally, we were caught, but there was no stopping the wave that was Katara when she was set on a destination. Aang presented himself with a change of heart regarding the trip after a day of mulling it over. As if his opinion regarding the matter was requested or needed, he reminded her of forgiveness. I fought back the urge to remind him it was her choice.
"Okay, we'll be sure to do that Guru Goody-Goody." Not my best comeback but I'm still on thin ice with the gang.
My hair whipped around my face while Katara flew Appa at the fastest rate the bison could manage. Our first location was the communication tower to locate the Southern Raiders. In the Fire Nation, it wouldn't be too difficult to reach. They're always on islands with lighthouses, no more than 2 hours out. We rode in silence and when we landed I got to see up close what she could really do in stealth combat.
She was flawless. Katara was so adept in her skill she could bend a minute dish of ink from an air duct. The southern Raiders were located near Whale Tail Island, about 21 hours away from the island we were on. (17 if Katara was flying). I hoped she didn't plan to fly in silence the entire time, it would be a long trip.
We snuck back to the bison after a bathroom break in the tower. Katara made it very clear she was not going to make any stops on the way. Though the first part of the mission was accomplished, the hardness of her features did not lessen for a moment. If anything, knowing the raider's location made her even more intense. I wanted to take a moment to get inside her head. She was stoic, and griping Appa's reins with such force the veins showed in her wrists and knuckles. The emotional wall she built around herself was as formidable as Ba Sing Se. I opted for sleep and would try to reach the other side of her in the morning.
The nightmare of her came in flashes.
Katara is captured by the pirates, Katara at the hands of Zhao in the North Pole, Katara as a prisoner of Azula, Katara at the mercy of his father.
The worst-case scenarios played in my head on repeat until the dream settled in the South Pole.
I was dressed in vintage Fire Nation soldier armor and I felt the snow crunch under my feet. I had to find her. I traveled through the remains of the Tribe while women cowered and shielded their children while flames went ablaze around me. I had to find her.
I entered an igloo and called her name. A smaller, younger, more vulnerable version of Katara snuck out from under a tilted chair and met my eyes with a fearful gaze.
"I can't find my mom," she said fighting back tears.
I said nothing as I felt my fist fill with fire and directed it at little Katara. My heart pounded in my chest, but I couldn't control my body no matter how much I urged it to stop what it was about to do.
The screams filled my ears when the igloo went up in flames and I looked away to a standing mirror in the corner. In the center of my chest was the emblem of the Southern Raiders.
I took a shuddered breath and lifted my pounding head off Appa's saddle. My eyes met the back of her head and there she was, shoulders taut, vice gripped, but alive. I let out a breath I was holding. She probably didn't sleep all night. She was determined but I couldn't help but wonder if she was the least bit scared.
She was about to face the man, the people, who raided an entire village just to see her dead. The last water bender of the Southern Water Tribe was alive and well. The raiders had failed their mission, and prideful firebenders do not take failure and deceit lightly. I was going to protect her with my life. She is precious. She's the last of her kind.
"I'm not the helpless little girl I was when they came," she spoke wearily but not lacking any punch.
She told me the details of that fateful day that mirrored my dream far too close for comfort. The spirits must be connecting Katara and me somehow, so at least that was in my favor. I hated the way she spoke of this pain and the way she described his eyes.
"He was cold and fixed me with a single gaze that felt as if he could see the truth right through me. He was targeting and determined. I should've known she wasn't going to make it out alive. I should've stayed with her."
Her mother had paid the ultimate sacrifice for the safety of her child. There was no banishment for her or hiding. No chance of one day being reunited. I held onto the hope of seeing my mother in the back of my mind after this war. Katara doesn't even have that.
"Your mother was a brave woman," I tell her.
"I know," she responds, and though her back is to me, I know she's touching her necklace.
After some deliberation and the weight of her memories crashing onto her, she agreed to let me fly so that she could sleep for a few hours. I won't like and say I was in the same hurry she was. We spotted the Southern Raiders ship right on schedule.
Flying underwater will be a tale for the grandkids. It beats swimming through a sewer in the North Pole, that's for sure.
With tears in her eyes, Katara took out the entire deck of soldiers. No one was going to touch her, no one had the chance.
"This is it Katara," I said outside the commander's chambers. "Are you ready to face him?"
She blasted the door open with a gust of water and I quickly entered before she could get the chance. If the man who wanted to kill her 10 years ago wanted another round, he would have to go through me first.
"You don't remember her? You will soon, trust me." I was trying to hold back my bending but I wanted him gone. He couldn't have her.
Just as he turned to send another fireball my way his fist flinched and his expression morphed into fear. His body jerked and his limbs flung in multiple directions like he was fighting against invisible strings. I relaxed my stance and looked at Katara. With a bow and her left foot forward, she lowered her enemy to the floor. Her eyes did not waver, she was in complete control.
My eyes widened in shock at the hidden power she possessed. Katara was like no other. She had reached in and touched the blood of a living being and bent them to her will. She did so calmly and silently. All this time training the Avatar, and all the world needed was Katara on a full moon. Despite the circumstances, I felt the most unfortunate sensation in this very serious moment. My dick twitched.
"You look her in the eye and you tell me you don't remember what you did," I demanded getting back to the task at hand fighting my growing erection.
Katara bent him upright with so much grace in that black robe that did wonders for her figure and ponytail I wanted to tug out with one hand in her hair and the other… naked uncle, naked uncle, naked uncle, naked uncle.
"It's not him," she breathed and quickly dropped his body.
She walked away defeated without another word but that wasn't good enough for me. My water bender needed a win. I slammed the leader against the window and demanded he clarify his predecessor. Yon Rha.
After getting his whereabouts we watched Yon Rha from afar. The man was old and weak against his mother who couldn't have cared less about him. Time to make it rain.
The arrogant asshole fire bent at a bush without a second thought of who could've been behind him. It could've been a child or children. He was careless and a testament to the kind of behavior that ran rampant in the Fire Nation rooted in our superiority. He was the worst of our kind.
Tripping him with the wire wasn't enough. He needed to feel the heat on his face.
"You're the little Water Tribe girl." Yon Rha admitted after a moment of reflection.
Yon Rha retold the story that haunted Katara every day of her life since and she held onto every word. These were the last words her mother spoke.
"She lied to you," she said looking away, "She was protecting the last water bender."
"What?" Yon Rha's wrinkled face contorted with confusion. "Who?"
"ME!" Katara jumped into her bending stance and slowed the rain with the calmest rage.
Water droplets danced in the sky and the monster dared to look amazed. They collected and domed over our bodies even encasing a few trees. Agni help this man, he's not going to make it out of here alive. No, Katara was not the helpless little girl she was when they came anymore. She was a water-bending master. The last of her kind. I think her mother would be proud.
She spared Yon Rha with an inch of his life. Almost a hundred different-sized icicles floated a short distance from his body. This was what was on the other side of her glare. This was the wrath people should know better than to awaken. I swallowed the moment of shock and recognized the moment for what it was. Though Katara is more than capable of doing so, she is not a killer.
"I just can't do it," she concluded after dragging Yon Rha's character through the mud.
Offering your own mother for revenge. He's the greatest dishonor of the Fire Nation. I glanced at Katara and she said nothing else as she turned to leave. I gave the whimpering form of the former Southern Raiders Leader one last glance before following her. Disgusting.
She let me fly back home. She tried to fight it but behind me on Appa's saddle, I could hear her sniffling and struggling to catch her breath. I dropped Appa's reins and sat next to her in the saddle.
"I know I'm probably not the person you want to be with right now but you can let it out, you deserve it," I told her gently.
With a hiccup, she looked me in the eyes and the next second later she collapsed into me. Katara wailed and raged and screamed into my chest and ears. She clutched my robes shaking them vigorously and beat my chest with open palms and I took it. I took all her pain and I saddled it with my own because I was strong enough to carry this with her. No one else would be able to do this trip with her. No one could push her through the most difficult confrontation of her life. At that moment I found my place in her orbit. Not as her light, but somewhere she can keep it when the darkness creeps in and she doesn't know what to do with her fire. I am her Black Sun.
Her tears continued to run down her face silently, and her breathing began to even as I rubbed my hand through her hair then up and down her back.
"Your mother would be proud of you," I told her earnestly.
She nodded silently, her voice was likely too hoarse to speak now.
"Are you tired?" I asked her. The sun was beginning to set and we had a ways to go before we made it back home. She was in no condition to fly.
She nodded again and I shifted so she could rest her head on her nap sack. Just as I turned to head back to Appa's reins she stopped me with a hand on my forearm.
I looked back at her and she looked at me with pleading eyes. She was vulnerable, she was healing. "Stay," she said with a voice like gravel.
I took in a breath of air. I'd never been this close to her before. Even with camp, her nap sack was always far away from mine, but here she was willing to share space. Willing to share comfort. "Okay."
I shifted next to her on her nap sack and laid on my back. I let my arm support my head as I gazed up at the appearing stars. If the gods could see us now what would they say? In seconds Katara was asleep. Her eyes were puffy from crying and her lips seemed dry from dehydration. She wore herself to her thinnest on this trip. I wouldn't be surprised if she took on the sickness I had in Ba Sing Se. But Katara was not at war with herself. Now, she could have peace. I slipped away from her just as she turned her body to rest her hand where the center of my chest would've been. I ignored the pain in my chest from missing the contact and retook Appa's reins. I'll take the small wins. We'll be closer one day, just not today.
We returned home and Katara took a moment to sit by the water to heal. I didn't want to rush her, but the moment Aang saw Appa was back he rushed to see her. I followed him down the dock because there was no way he was going to monk-talk her into feeling bad about this trip. It was the right thing to do.
"I'll never forgive him," she clarified to Aang. "But I am ready to forgive you."
Katara shyly walked up to me and there was so much in her gaze that went unspoken. She threw her arms around me and I immediately entrapped her waist. I never wanted this hug to end. So much was felt in this gesture, this hug was long overdue. This hug was the one I should've earned in Ba Sing Se where we first learned of our shared pain and hope for freedom from our destinies. This hug was the end of our self-proclaimed rivalry. A year of growth and dismantling prejudices against each other's kind. In this hug, she showed me her fire and I showed her the stillness and nurturing when she needed it. This hug was harmony.
She released me keeping her small hands on my broad shoulders before walking away. I watched her leave and gave Aang his kudos regarding Katara and violence. Truthfully, Katara was capable of violence and would use it to reach her goal. I saw it. What she has is restraint but she is far from a lack of violence.
I needed Aang to get on the same page because I am a banished prince. The world has been burned, tormented, betrayed, and unbalanced, and there is nothing like the 100-year hatred it feels for the Fire Lord. The greatest threat against world peace.