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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
2008-10-30 01:19 am UTC (link)

Zuko had just had a moment filled with sense. Of course Joo Dee had poisoned him. Neither his Father nor anyone attending him would have known about it, and the creepy smile woman could have gone back to the Avatar to report what had happened. The Avatar would then challenge him to a fight, kill him, and make it look as if he'd bested another one of the Fire Nation royalty, that he was unstoppable. Zuko gritted his teeth in anger at how much it made sense, how well it fit. If the Avatar truly was trying to rule by fear, it would be the perfect ploy. Destroy the last son of the Fire Lord, and end the dynasty that had ruled the Fire Nation for hundreds of years.

And then Katara took that moment full of sense and totally just threw it right out the window in a hurry. It started off with the fact that she told him that his father was in prison. Zuko stared at her as if she was completely insane. Even if somehow they managed to get Ozai inside of a prison somewhere, there is no way that it would hold him. Zuko's father was the most powerful firebender that he knew... Zuko couldn't imagine a prison that could withstand some of the explosive power that his father could generate, when it so pleased him. "No, he's not..." Zuko said, staring at Katara. A part of him was wondering if this was some sort of ploy to get information out of him. But his father had made it sound as if he were still well known as the fire lord. "I saw him when I woke up... I saw him wearing the rhobes of the Fire Lord..." Zuko said. He'd even had the hair piece that went along with the title...

Then came the biggest, and most ridiculous bombshell. "I'm... what?" Zuko asked, his eyes almost crossing as Katara told him that he, of all people, was the Fire Lord. A part of him almost wanted to laugh, it sounded so funny. It was like a child trying to lie about stealing a cookie from the cookie jar, and blaming it on a monster that lived in the closet. "I was banished, Katara... my birthright was stripped of me... even if... even if something had happened to my father, which it didn't... my sister would be next in line for the throne until I restored my honor..." he said simply. He didn't point out the fact that his Uncle would likely have also succeeded the throne before him, had Iroh been alive.

He caught the glitter in her eye as he mentioned the lake, and worried that he'd said too much about his Father's location. Surely she must have recognized where he was talking about... but then she threw out something even more ludicrous than her last two statements. His father, had brainwashed him. Why in Sozin's name would his father do anything as silly as that? For as long as he could remember he'd been trying to get his father's love, his father's attention, his father's acceptance... why would his father need to brainwash him into it when he more than likely would have done whatever his father had asked, just to see his father smile at him and tell him that he was proud of him? "You... can't be serious..." Zuko said... there was no way that this could get any more insane, and yet Katara seemed as if all of this was... perfectly normal.

And then she drove the dagger home. His Uncle was alive? She would see the hope in his features, the twisting of his face so much that a part of him wanted to cling to what she was saying, no matter how insane it sounded, no matter what she said next. In fact he was too dumb founded to even the process the fact that she mentioned her Uncle saving the moon spirit for a moment or two afterwards. He shook his head, and stumbled back a step. His head was spinning and it felt as if the room was starting to take on a pulse of it's own, like the walls were throbbing in and out. It was all in his head, but for a moment Zuko really thought as if he was going to pass out. Sweat began to bead at his forehead, but he shook his head fiercely.

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