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Katara of the Southern Water Tribe (k_waterbender) wrote in mirage_rpg,
@ 2008-10-28 21:43:00

Entry tags:

complete, day 20, katara, zuko

Day Twenty
Who: Katara and Zuko
When: Day 20 ; Late Afternoon
What: Katara confronts Zuko
Where: Building A - Zuko’s room
Rating: PG-13
Status: Complete

After healing Toph’s wounds, trimming her singed hair, and acquiring the story of how she came to look like she’d been attacked by a firebender, Katara set out after Zuko. Would he attack her, too? Yes. If he hadn’t remembered Toph, he would remember her. They had met in the South Pole when Zuko came to claim Aang. That was how they had discovered Aang was the Avatar. They had met again in the North Pole where Katara had defeated him to save Aang after the Fire Prince had first knocked her out to kidnap the then-twelve-year-old. Did he remember the Crystal Catacombs? That was doubtful. Why would he feel the need to still capture the Avatar if he did remember that?

Would he recognize her? She had aged, but she was still the same woman. If the former leader of the Southern Raiders could recognize her after she had aged six years from a child to a teenager, Zuko should be able to recognize her after five years of aging from a teen into a woman, especially because the differences would be less sharp.

Despite the fact that the golems had refused to help her find Vincent, she needed them to help her find Zuko. After all, he could be anywhere, including the forest where Toph had seen him. There were simply too many options in too large a space to search for the Fire Lord.

The golem she found happened to be made of clay. His graceful movements were nothing like a human’s, but they seemed strange for one made of an earthen substance rather than flesh and bone. He led her over the grounds to building A. Yes, the Planet probably foresaw troubles if an enraged and unremembering Zuko was to be in the same building as Katara and Toph. His building wasn’t even among the same cluster of three as the female benders.

As she entered the building, following the golem, her heart began to beat faster. Too many questions swirled through her mind, and her fingers subconsciously moved to touch one of two full water skins as if to comfort herself with its presence. Zuko had become one of the greatest masters of firebending over the years she had known him. Ever since he and Aang had gone on that trip so Aang could learn firebending and Zuko could learn to fuel his firebending with emotions other than anger, the Fire Lord had progressed quickly. Even wounded, Katara suspected her friend would be powerful. If only she knew.

She stood in front of his door, heart beating rapidly beneath her breast. His was the first door, number one hundred. Katara stood there for a moment, unmoving. She hardly noticed the golem’s departure. At last she raised her fist to knock, but she paused. The key was in the door. Why would he do that?

Using the key, Katara tentatively unlocked the door and turned the knob while pushing at the wood. The door swung open to reveal a Fire Navy ship-like room. She hardly had to turn her head to see Zuko lying on the cold steel of the floor, passed out- most likely from weariness and pain. He hadn't even made it to the bed.

From the way he lay, the healer knew his right foot was the wounded one, but she could see the dark blood that had oozed from the wound. Even in sleep the body was mindful of wounds. A wave of compassion wound over her. She wanted to heal her wounded friend, for she still viewed him as such. She didn’t like to see him hurt. The last time he had been severely wounded had been when he had tried to save her from Azula’s lightening. It had taken a while to fully heal him again, but she was eternally grateful that he had almost sacrificed himself for her.

Subconsciously, her feet moved her forward, but she found the way blocked by an invisible barrier. It brought her attention back to the present, back to what Toph had told her conspired between the two during a chance meeting. This was not the Fire Lord Zuko she knew. This was the old Prince Zuko she used to know inhabiting the body of the Fire Lord she had last seen. She needed him awake, but she also needed to be prepared. Taking a defensive stance, one hand at the neck of a water skin, she rapped at the frame of the door.

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fire_lord_zuko
2008-10-28 10:13 pm UTC (link)

The body of the passed out firebender didn't seem to rose when she opened the door wide. Beside him, this things were scattered in a heap. He'd literally fallen there and lay unmoving. Were it not for the erratic movement of his chest, she might have thought he was dead, from the way that he lay. Never before, not even when Azula's lightning had struck him in the chest did he seem so weak, and so frail as he did, laying there before her. Indeed, he seemed to have the room of the prince that she'd known, the fire bender who had chased her around the South Pole, and across the world until finally confronting her at the North Pole, where they'd had their first real dual after she'd learned water bending from Master Pakku.

And she did have a reason to be afraid. Even back then, with the moon high in the sky, Zuko hadn't gone down to her water bending without a fight... and once the sun had risen, the fight was pretty much over. Not that Katara hadn't gotten her adequate revenge when Zuko had exhausted himself carrying Aang across the frozen wastelands outside of the Northern Water Tribe's village... but then he and Azula had bested her and the Avatar in Ba Sing Se later on. Zuko was quite literally the fire to her ice, and while either of them could be argued to be the stronger bender, Fire bending was more focused on attack than water bending was, it's more masterful forms far more deadly...

He didn't rouse with the first knocking, indeed it seemed as if his wounds were more serious than Toph had let on, but Katara would only be able to guess at what they were, what could have happened to her former ally to make him unwakeable to the outside world. It would take a few times of knocking before finally he stirred, his golden eyes shooting open slowly. To favor his right foot he lay on his left side, his scar hidden from her as his good eye twisted around to look at her. Slowly, blurring in and out of focus, he finally blinked away the vertigo to see who it was who was at his door. She would see him clench his teeth in fury at seeing her, the look of the spoiled Prince who had once sworn to capture the Avatar... and yet, if it were possible, there seemed to be even more malice in his gaze, more anger seething from him, his face twisting into a scowl of utter hatred for her.

"You..." Zuko growled, and pressed his hands to the cold iron of the deck. She would see his muscles flex as he started to push himself up, and then watch as they gave out, his head coming down with a hard thump against the metal of the deck. His chest was heaving from just the effort of that alone, seeming almost like a fish out of water. She wouldn't be able to enter to help him, the room kept her out, for it was clear her former ally didn't want her inside to see him. Then again, that much she would catch in the gaze he gave her, filled with pure rage. Finally he forced himself up to one knee, seeming to do it out of pure will alone. He should have been resting, should have been trying to get away from her... but the Zuko he was had been filled with pride, so much so that it often blinded him into doing things that he didn't actually think out.

	k_waterbender 2008-10-28 11:12 pm UTC (link)
	Was this why Zuko hated them all so much? Then again, that didn’t explain his memory loss of Toph. “Zuko, please, let me heal you.” The waterbender begged. The tears were still in her eyes. One escaped to trail over her cheek. Her body felt heavy with sorrow. Was Iroh truly gone? How could that happen? (Reply to this)