Work Text:
A fishing trip. Those idiots left for a fishing trip just weeks away from Sozin’s Comet? The utter nerve of them to leave nothing but a letter in Zuko’s pristine calligraphy no less.
She knew better than to be surprised at this brash unpredictable nature from Sokka. He was always the one that Gran Gran had to worry about.
Taking the canoe out on the day they found Aang? Sure, she’d forgive him for it. It brought them Aang. It set them on a course to help save the world.
Venturing into a nearby village because he was bored?
Fine. They could use more supplies anyway.
Taking the Crowned Prince of the Fire Nation out on a fishing trip a week after he claimed to “be good now” for some manly bonding?
No. She would not let that one go so easily.
She wouldn’t trust Zuko. She couldn’t trust him. He lost that privilege. She had trusted him before anyone else. They had a connection in the Crystal Catacombs. She almost wasted the water from the Spirit Oasis on him to heal his scars.
She berated herself for it after the fact long after she used the special water to bring Aang back. It would’ve been for mute. Those scars would never heal just like his mistakes would never be forgiven.
By the end of the first day Katara had paced the entirety of the Western Air Temple for two hours waiting on Sokka and Zuko to return. Aang hadn’t done his “homework” given to him by Zuko no matter how much Katara urged. Instead he spent the day tending after Appa and competing with Toph to see who could lift the biggest rock.
The second day hadn’t been much better when the two still hadn’t returned, which left Katara fuming and Toph and Aang grumpy when their breakfast was extra soggy.
By the afternoon of the second day Katara began to worry. Her brother was smart and quick on his feet, but what if he had been manipulated by Zuko? What if he had been captured and the crowned prince was finally showing his true colors by turning Sokka over to the Fire Lord? Would she, Aang, and Toph be able to save him?
How was she supposed to rescue her brother when she didn’t even know where they had gone fishing?
All Katara could do was wait. Wait and hope. Hope that Zuko didn't return to the Fire Nation after all the words he spewed about banishment and helping Aang. Hope that her brother would return safe because they had no leads or information.
Three days they wasted. Three days Katara and Toph spent continuing to train Aang while Zuko, who she only agreed could join them for Aang’s sake, sat on his ass in a boat in La knows where. At least that’s what she hoped.
She didn’t want to consider if the banished prince was forgiven with the imprisonment of her brother. She didn’t want to worry if the Fire Nation were on their way to the Western Air Temple right now.
On the evening of the third day, long after Katara had cleaned up after dinner and was currently pacing the air temple, she heard Toph scream her name.
It was sudden. Toph never yelled for her except if-
She ran. She ran as fast as she could towards her friends.
There, on the horizon, a Fire Nation airship was heading right for them.
She yelled for Aang, screamed at him to attack but he did no such thing. Toph didn’t throw boulders or join in her protests.
It seemed like she was the only one with a clear understanding of what was about to happen.
Fine. It wasn’t the first time the Fire nation showed up unwelcomed.
Katara pulled water from the pouch hanging at her hip. It arched around her, swirling under her power.
She thrust both arms forward. The water answered her command as it lunged towards the airship.
“Katara, no!” Aang shot a burst of air towards her river of water, knocking it off course before it could hit its target.
“What are you doing?” She whirled, fury burning in his eyes as she looked towards the avatar.
He was her brother. Her friend. And currently the thing standing in the way of her saving all their lives.
“What if it’s not the Fire Nation? It could be Zuko and Sokka!” He replied, visibly as frustrated as she was.
“They left in a balloon! That’s a Fire Nation airship! They could be here to capture you!”
The imposing aircraft landed with a loud thud, sending debris scattering around her, Toph, and Aang as they stood near the entrance of the air temple.
There was still time to defend themselves.
“I knew they’d come! I knew we shouldn’t have trusted Zuko.” Katara seethed crouching into a defense stance.
She wouldn’t let the Fire Nation attack again. She’d die fighting.
“It’s not the Fire Nation. It’s- Sokka! Zuko!” Toph ran towards the large ship.
It was taller than the arches of the Western Air Temple. The weight of evil and fear it brought looking over them. This wasn’t an aircraft meant for peace. It was made for death.
Katara screamed her name, yelling for her to stop-to come back.
The girl would die. They would cut her down with a ball of fire. The Fire Nation had no sympathy.
Aang ran forward next and she reached in vain for his arm. He was just out of her reach.
No. No! After all they’d been through! They had her brother. They were going to kill her and her friends next.
It wasn’t too late.
“Aang stop!” She flung a water lasso towards him, but he only propelled himself into the air to evade her.
“Katara it’s them!”
A large door in the side of the airship opened, lowering to create a ramp. She expected fire and screams from her friends. She expected to fight tooth and nail against a dozen or more soldiers.
She didn’t expect the mop of familiar brown hair and blue eyes. Sokka.
Time slowed with each step forward until she was breaking out into a run to reach him, nearly knocking him over with her embrace.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” She hissed into his ear.
“It was just a fishing trip.” He laughed and wrapped his arms around her. She didn’t stop the sigh of relief or smile on her face.
“Zuko! I knew you wouldn’t betray us.”
Aang words had her pulling back from her brother, eyes landing on the banished crown prince of the Fire Nation.
Sokka and Zuko finally decided to show their faces on the evening of the third day, not in a war balloon with fish strapped to their backs, but in a damn Fire Nation airship.
Some fishing trip.
Zuko walked down the ramp, warm golden eyes finding Aang and Toph before landing on her still clutching her brother.
She glared. “What are you doing in this thing? What happened to the war balloon?”
Sokka laughed, and she frowned up at him. She took a large step back.
She didn’t find anything about this particularly funny.
“It kinda got destroyed.” Zuko replied and looked towards Sokka. The two shared a look and chuckled.
Some fishing trip.
“Sounds like a crazy fishing trip.” Aang said with a smile stepping towards the fire bender. “I’m glad you’re back!”
Zuko smiled and it was the first time she had truly seen a genuine smile on his face. It made her blood boil.
“It’s nice not to be in prison.”
“What?” She yelled in reply, but it was heard on deaf ears.
“Did you at least get some good meat?” Toph asked from behind her. Katara turned towards her, mouth agape.
Zuko just mentioned imprisonment and the girl was asking about food?
“I did. The best meat of all.” Sokka said, looking back towards the airship. Three shadows walked towards the ramp before she saw their bodies.
The first she recognized immediately. It was a girl. The tendrils framing her face were tied back at the back of her head, the rest of her brown hair falling to her shoulders. Suki. She looked thinner than the last time Katara had seen her, but maybe it was because she had never seen the girl in red before. Or maybe it was because the thin red robes she wore engulfed her frame.
“The meat of friendship and fatherhood.”
Fatherhood? No. It couldn’t be.
But no. She was wrong.
Her father stood beside Suki. He too was thinner than before in the South Pole, but still strong. Her father would always be strong in her eyes, leading the Southern Water Tribe with understanding and respect.
Another man, much taller and broader than her father, stood behind them and waved with a wide smile. “I’m new. What’s up everybody?”
As much as she missed Suki, seeing her father was everything. She nearly collapsed at the sight of him for the first time in two years.
Tears welled up in her eyes as a choke fell from her lips. “Dad.”
“Hi, Katara.”
At his words she ran past Sokka and Zuko and straight into the open arms of her father. He was everything she needed. Warmth. Comfort. The smell of a sea breeze on a cold summer day in the South Pole.
“How are you here? What-What is going on?” She pulled back from his arms and looked toward her brother. “Where did you go?”
Some random spur of the moment fishing trip would not have led them to her father and Suki.
Sokka smiled and behind him she found Zuko doing the same.
Again with that stupid smile. It seemed genuine. So real. It couldn’t be, yet here Suki was. Here her father stood beside her, his caring eyes warm as they drifted between her and her brother.
“We kinda went to a fire nation prison.”
The prison. Zuko mentioned imprisonment, but not Sokka’s. No. Had they actually rescued her father from a Fire Nation prison?
She grabbed Sokka, pulling him towards her as their father wrapped his arms around them.
“Seriously? You guys didn’t find any meat?” Toph asked incredulously.
Zuko sighed, smiling down at her. “I’ll get you some meat, Toph.”
A winning smile was her reply and took a step towards him. Her small body was shrouded by his tall, lithe frame as she wrapped her around his waist. “I won’t forget your kindness, sparky.”
Her brother and father chuckled, the reverberation all around her. Aang, Toph, Suki, and the other man, who introduced himself later as Chit San, laughed. Katara did not.
It must’ve all been going according to his plan. He would get on all their good sides. He would gain their trust. Then he would break it. He would squander any hope of change or retribution in this warm torn world. It had been so easy for him to do it before? What’s stopping him from repeating it now?
“We need to talk about what happened.” Katara said pointedly to her brother half an hour later as they sat with everyone around the fire.
Jokes were spoken, laughter shared. Zuko was amongst them, sitting on the other side of the fire looking far too content for Katara’s liking.
It wasn’t fair that she couldn’t seem to bring herself to stop thinking of him and his potential threat while he just sat there.
“Katara, you can trust him. He helped me find Suki. He was locked away in some cooling chamber because of me. Spirits he broke up with his girlfriend and fought against his sister to help us escape!”
Katara paused.
Hold on. Zuko had a girlfriend? Or, ex-girlfriend. Not that she cared about his love life. She just found it strange that the banished prince could care about anything other than finding his honor.
“I don’t believe that.” She muttered, turning to look at the dancing flames.
For all she knew he did, yet here he was. Zuko sat between Aang and Chit San, looking incredibly out of place between the Avatar and the Fire Nation escapee.
He helped Sokka save her father from a Fire Nation Prison after getting himself caught as well. He didn’t turn his back on her brother, Suki, or her father.
There wasn’t a way a person could change that much. He tied her to a tree! He used the scent of her mother’s necklace to send bounty hunters and assassins after them. He chased them around the word and kidnapped Aang in the North Pole.
The price must’ve been planning something. There was no way that he would’ve fought against Azula now, not when he rushed to her aid before in the Catacombs. The day that happens would be the day she would consider any forgiveness.
Katara hated how much she thought of that day. It was the first time she had approached him without any trace of anger. She had touched him and he welcomed it. His cheek had been so warm under her palm that she wondered if it had been his fire bending that made him run hot. It struck her how empty and tired he looked as she rested her hand against the rough scar tissue. It hadn’t healed properly and Katara had wondered if that had been on purpose. He looked as if he knew her actions wouldn’t work but let her try anyway.
She hated how she wanted to help him, but he made his choice. He wanted to return to his father and retrieve his honor.
The warmth in his eyes disappeared into apprehension when he found her glaring at him.
Had it been all for nothing? All the time he wasted just to save her family and friends from Fire Nation imprisonment? To help Aang save the world?
She wretched her gaze away, standing abruptly and walked out of the circle of people and into the cool night.
Yue smiled down at her, offering her the comfort only a moon spirit could as she stood outside the temple. Katara stood in silence for minutes or hours-she wasn’t sure. Her brain was silent except for her Gran Gran’s words.
“Never trust something that seems too good to be true.”
It was all too good to be true.
Her father’s presence, her brother returning to her, and finding the Avatar. They were so close to the end. There were weeks from Sozin’s comet where Aang would defeat the Fire Nation and finally bring peace to the world.
She heard steps against the stone ground behind her. There was no scent of ash or sounds of a certain lemur. The person stopped beside her, smelling of the sea and something incredibly foul she attributed to his time in prison.
“What’s the matter?” Her father asked, piercing the silence of the night.
“What if it doesn’t work? What if Aang can’t defeat Oazi?” Katara asked honestly.
“He’s the Avatar. He was destined to save the world.”
“But what if it doesn’t work?!” She yelled in anguish.
Her father smiled softly down at her, a hand coming to rest atop of her head.
“With you as his water bending master? With the way Sokka and the prince talk about you? It will work.”
She tried to find comfort in his words until they settled uneasily under her skin.
Zuko would never have anything good to say about her. He was the last thing she wanted to talk about with her father, especially considering that he just escaped from The Fire Lord’s prison.
“I don’t trust him.” She muttered stiffly.
Her father breathed a long sigh through his nose. “I didn’t trust the Fire Nation for a long time, Katara. They are not all bad. Don’t forget that there will always be a bit of light in the darkness.”
She scoffed, “He betrayed me-us before. I won’t let him make that mistake again.”
The hand resting on her head moved to her shoulder, pulling her to his side. If he noticed the way she corrected herself he said nothing of it.
“The last thing I could ever want for you is to hold onto resentment. That is not who your mother and I wanted you to be. You are so much more than that.”
Her vision grew blurry at the mention of her mother and she turned into him, shielding herself against the cold of the night and war of the world.
“I don’t know if I can be that person anymore after everything.”
Could she be the caring person her parents wanted her to be? After everything? After running around the world with the Avatar hiding against banished princes and war generals? After facing battles and wars? After becoming a bending master in her own right when she had to fight to even be considered worthy of learning to use her bending?
Her father kissed his head, protective large arms wrapping around her. “You are Katara of the Southern Water Tribe. You are a water bending master, from what your brother had told me. You are the Avatar’s water bending master. You were born for greatness, my dear.”
Tears fell silently down her cheeks at her fathers words, at her brother’s appraisal, and the hope that it brought her.
Maybe she could be great? Maybe she could help change the world into something that will outlive her, something full of hope.
A dark thread snaked under her skin as she thought of all those she’d lost and the justice they deserved. Her mother. Her family. Her home.
She would give him the retribution. She would make it right.
The morning came too soon. Before Katara knew it, everyone was jumping from their bed rolls at the sound of an explosion.
“Is that-” Suki asked, peering out into the open expanse beyond the Western Air temple where strange shadows were forming.
They looked to be getting closer, more pronounced with their sharp angles and two large oblong shapes on either side.
“Run!” Toph yelled as the airships launched another bomb towards them.
Katara could only watch as Aang led Appa inside the temple. He spun, using his staff to shut the large shutters of the temple in an attempt to shield them from more bombs.
One bomb hit. She screamed at her body to move, to run. Another bomb crashed into the shutters that sent the earth quaking beneath her feet. She stood as still as a statue as rocks cascaded around her. A bomb hit somewhere above the temple and the ceiling began the shutter. She didn’t notice as it came crashing down towards her. Everything was happening so fast. The next thing she knew she was being thrust out of the way.
“Watch out!”
Something wrapped around her waist and a heavy weight rolled with her, landing on against her back. A body. Someone saved her.
She looked over her shoulder expecting a bald head or blue eyes that matched her own. Instead, wide golden eyes were staring back at her. She blinked in recognition as the world came crashing into focus. Zuko was laying on top of her.
“What are you doing?!”
There was a strange ringing in her ears. She couldn’t tell if she was yelling or whispering. It was so loud. There must’ve been another blast by the way more rocks came raining down around them. Zuko’s body pressed closer against her back. She shut her eyes as the dust rose and debris fell.
After a moment she looked back at him as the dust settled. His lips moved above her shoulder, and she could just barely make out his raspy voice. “Keeping the rocks from crushing you.”
“Okay, I’m not crushed. You can get off me now.” She spat, sliding out from underneath him.
“I’ll take that as a thank you.” He grunted, running after her.
The first thing she saw was Appa's large white form amidst the plume and darted towards him. Stones and rocks continued falling when she finally reached them, Toph and the others stood before a large tunnel they created to escape.
“Come on! We can get out through here.” Her rang through Katara’s head along with the continued ringing in her ears.
She winced in pain.
“Katara!” Aang watched in concern.
He was straining against Appa’s reins, trying to pull him back towards the tunnel.
“I’m fine!” She replied and reached to help him.
Beyond Appa, standing with his back angled towards them was Zuko.
Would now be the time he finally turned on them?
“What are you doing?” Aang yelled and she didn’t try hiding her wince at the sound.
She was taller than him, something she always forgot when he was something as important as the Avatar.
With the whine in her ears it sounded like he screamed into her eardrum.
“Go ahead, I’ll hold them off.” Zuko turned, planting his feet in a fighting stance.
“Alone? No way!” Aang moved to run towards him, but Sokka gripped his shoulders and pulled back.
“Stay back!” Zuko commanded and punched a ball of fire straight towards the impending air ship.
Sokka’s short brown hair fell loose around his face as he shook his head. “Come on, we gotta get out of here.”
“But, Zuko- “
Part of her wanted to say to hell with it and good riddance, but could she leave him to die? She didn’t trust him, sure, but she didn’t wish death upon him.
“Let’s go, Aang. There’s no time to argue.” Katara cut him off and grasped Appa’s reigns.
Aang looked from her to Zuko as he sent another flaming ball towards the Fire Nation’s army. With a sigh, he nodded and held tighter to the rope. Together the three of them managed to pull Appa to the mouth of the tunnel as Zuko leapt over the side of a fallen boulder. With every pull, the bison fought back with a growl.
“It’s no use!” Sokka yelled between one pull after another.
“I can’t get him to go in there. Appa hates tunnels. Don’t you remember the last time he was in one in Ba Sing Se?”
“Aang there’s no way we can fly out of here.” Katara said staining against the reins.
She sighed, thankful the ringing in her ears was finally subsiding. The bombs seemed to be coming to a stop as well.
“We have to find another way then!” The boy beside her yelled.
Aang dropped the reins, rubbing his hands along Appa’s face, somewhat soothing him. Above his head Katara met Sokka’s determined gaze. Her brother looked so much like their father with his hair down. She cast a look over her shoulder at him.
Sokka followed her gaze and shook his head. “We can’t leave Aang and Appa. We need to split up.”
“No!” Katara said firmly.
“We have to find another way.” Sokka gave her a pleasing look and turned towards their father, Toph, and the rest of the group. “Take the tunnel and get to the stolen airship from last night.”
Had it only been last night that they’d been reunited? Her family was only allowed mere hours together before they were once again pulled apart.
“No!” She repeated taking several long strides towards the gaping hole where her father stood. “The Fire Nation can’t separate our family again. I won’t let them!”
“It will be okay.” Her father said gently, but eyes the crumbling temple wearily.
Did they even consider if the tunnel was safe?
“But what if you get crushed? What if it collapses?”
A hand on her head halted her thoughts, his comforting blue eyes silencing her worrying thoughts. “It’s not forever, I promise.”
Her lips quivered and she wrapped her arms around him quickly before running towards the flying bison, Sokka following closely behind as he grabbed Suki.
With everyone piled into the saddle Toph began pulling at a weakening area of the temple.
“Just a few more pieces! I can clear it away and we’ll be safe to fly from there.”
Suki hesitated, “Safe? Isn’t there a hell of a lot of fire coming out there?”
Toph smiled but Aang cut her off before she could reply, his voice firm as he gathered the reins.
“We’ll be fine. Let’s go.”
They shot through the sky, the clear sky all around them for seconds before balls of blue fire began streaming towards them. They narrowly avoided an airship as they arched overhead where red flames were colliding in battle against blue flames.
Katara’s brows rose in surprise. He was doing it then. He was actually fighting her. His sister.
In a flash of pure light she watched in horror as the two siblings were thrown backwards. They soared through the air.
“There! Go, Appa!” Katara yelled, pointing down at the boy she tried so hard to hate. “Closer, just a bit closer!”
He tumbled through the air, falling like a stone in water. Appa flew in a downwards spiral heading right for the falling fire bender.
He had to see them coming, right?
She reached up, straining against the force of the wind. His body angled, he reached towards her. She fought harder, holding her brother in a death grip for just one more inch. The force of his hand hitting hers sent her flying towards the back of the saddle, once again held tight against his body. They rolled in a series of grunts to a stop with him landing underneath her body.
“Katara! Zuko!” Shouts of joy came around them.
She gasped as she pushed up off of him, cheeks blazing in heat. “What are you doing?”
He gave her a smug smile. “Softening the blow.” She was the reason he was alive. She grabbed him in midair. She watched as Sokka helped him stand. His hand clenching one of his shoulders as he attempted to rotate it. Her brows knit in confusion, gazing flickering between hiss of pain and the strangely rotated shoulder.
Softening the- oh.
She turned away, eyes scanning the scene before her as Azula continued to fall.
“Oh, spirits!” Suki clapped a hand over her mouth.
“She’s not gonna make it.” Zuko’s voice was almost fragile and Katara found herself sucking in a deep breath as the seconds seemed to slow.
Then, with a push of blue fire from her feet, Azula shot towards the cliff side, using something from her hair to slide down several feet before coming to a stop.
“Well?” Toph shouted and all eyes looked towards her in confusion. “It’s not like I can see if she died, y’know.”
“She made it. Of course she made it.” Zuko grumbled, crumbling into a sitting position.
He sighed, once again grabbing for his shoulder.
Katara let out a low huff at the action and turned away. She watched as the Western Air Temple grew smaller and smaller. The air shifts were no longer visible. Beyond them the sun was setting and the moon would rise to greet them wherever they landed next. But right now? She just wanted to sleep.