Borealis: A Zutara Story | By : jaded_priceless Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > AU/AR - Alternate Universe/Alternate Reality Views: 33965 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 4 |
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, Avatar: The Legend of Korra, any historical figures or events, or easily recognizable persons, places or things. I make no profit from this work of fanfiction |
Chapter 70
Zuko followed the visiting military leaders as they left the bridge and returned to their own ships. They had predictably inquired about the bruises on his face to which he replied “A pussycat without claws is no fun to play with.” As if on cue, Katara bristled beside him.
Once he was certain they were off the ship he took her to the brig to visit her brother. Sokka rolled toward the wall when he saw her and told her to go away. She begged and pleaded with him to talk to her but he refused. When he did face them it was to tell Zuko to take her away.
Katara clung to the bars when she saw his bruised face, split lips and black eyes. “I can heal you, Sokka please, let me heal you. I don’t want you to suffer. I’m sorry for not respecting your wishes the other day. Please let me heal you. I won’t do anything else I promise. Please don’t send me away while you are hurting.”
“Leave. Katara. I’m tired. Zuko take her back where you came from,” Sokka said before rolling back towards the wall and closing his eyes.
“Sokka, please talk to me. Let me help you. Zuko open the portholes. He’s injured. He needs fresh air. Sokka please,” Katara wailed as Zuko attempted to pry her hands from the bars.
The Water Tribe boy hardened his heart against the desperation in his sister’s voice. He could no longer hear the bars rattling so he guessed Zuko had given up on trying to pull her away and was letting her try to reach him through the bars. He could hear the soft scratch of hay sliding across the floor. He didn’t think he would be grateful that Zuko made Katara his plaything. Whatever he did to her was better than leaving her down in the cells with him where she would be prey for anyone looking for a good time. His lips were cracked, his jaw ached and he didn’t think he would ever be able to rid his mouth of the foul taste of semen. His rectum had been stretched so far he was unable to hold his bowels even if he could able to muster the strength to crawl to the latrine. It was better that he was left to die peacefully.
“No put me down! Zuko put me down! Sokka, no, I won’t leave you. Please don’t leave me, Sokka. Please don’t leave me!” Katara screamed reaching for the bars as Zuko hefted her over his shoulders like a sack of coal. He took her back to the room and chained her to the desk then asked Zhao 2 to stay with her.
“Doctor Bingwen, I would like a bottle of painkillers,” Zuko said quietly. The man looked at his face and asked no questions before giving him the dosing directions. Zuko walked to the kitchen and ordered one of the assistants to give him a bottle of nutritive wine and to prepare a platter of rice balls and a carafe of broth. Zuko opened the cell and walked towards the other boy.
“Is my sister not enough? You want play to?” Sokka asked when he saw Zuko.
“Here. It’s a bottle of painkillers. I also have water, broth, wine and a platter of rice balls. What you do with them is your business,” Zuko said gruffly, setting them beside him.
“Where is my sister?” Sokka grunted rolling over and stiffly reaching for the pain pills.
“She’s with someone I trust not to harm her,” Zuko replied.
The prince opened the bottle and poured two in the other boy’s hand. Sokka slowly brought them to his mouth and motioned for the wine. Zuko handed him the bottle and Sokka poured some sideways into his mouth. Sokka asked for two more pain pills and more wine. When he passed out Zuko lifted his head and slowly poured some of the broth into his mouth.
“I see you haven’t changed as much as you would like others to think,” a voice said from behind him.
“Do you have a problem with that, Mu?” Zuko asked tensely.
“No I do not, but others aboard this ship might. Leave all of that with me. I will take care of him. I’ll try to schedule the stable hands so someone inclined to take mercy will be always be near him,” the slightly older boy replied.
“Thank you,” Zuko said quietly leaving the cell.
Mu left and returned with a mortar, pestle, antibiotics, a funnel and a bottle used to feed animals when their mothers rejected them. He crushed two antibiotics, then added a riceball, wine and broth and stirred them until they were the consistency of thin watery porridge. He poured the mixture into the bottle and lifted the Water Tribe boy’s head and fed him. Mu brought a fresh bale of hay and arranged it so his charge was propped up at an angle on his side so if he threw up he wouldn’t drown in it. Then he went back and tended to his animals.
He liked animals. They weren’t complicated and were rarely this cruel to their own kind for sport.
Zuko returned to his room to find Zhao 2 performing a sleeper hold on Katara and telling her to relax. He eased his grip when Zuko walked in. “She went nuts Zuke. She started screaming for her mom not to take somebody named Sokka and asking somebody named Yue to protect him and keep their mother away from him. Sokka was all she had left. I had to do it. I was scared she was going to hurt herself. She’s little, but she’s strong,” he explained.
Zuko untied her and carried her to the bed. He sat beside her and took her shoes off before turning to his friend. “Katara’s mother is dead. Sokka is the Water Tribe prisoner downstairs. He’s her brother. I don’t know who Yue is but she must be dead too if she wants her to keep their mother from getting him.”
“Her brother, huh?” Zhao 2 whistled. It was no secret a some of the crewmen had no preference for gender and a prisoner with a hole was good male or female, “Damn. When we were kids, watching what that bastard did to Jianguo was far more painful than anything he ever did to me. I can’t imagine how she feels seeing her only family like that. I know I can’t stand to see my big brother hurting. He swears it was worse for him since he’s older and he’s supposed to protect me. I’m just glad the bastard is dead in case my little sister isn’t a Firebender either.”
Zuko froze.
“Zuke, what wrong?” the twin asked
The prince looked down at Katara as if she was something he’d stepped in, “He called her his baby sister.”
“What’s wrong with that? It’s a perfectly normal sentiment for a big brother to have. I feel that way about Jingfei. You try to hide it, but I know you still feel protective over Ozai’s little demon.”
Zuko slowly shifted away from her. “Yesterday she told me there was no way a fifteen year old planned the invasion. If he’s her older brother and he’s fifteen how old does that make her?”
“She can’t be that much younger. No offense, but a twelve year old doesn’t have a body like that; even Ty Lee didn’t blossom until she was at least thirteen,” He replied trying to console Zuko.
“Yeah but I thought she was older. She’s not even old enough to get married,” Zuko fretted pacing.
“Chill out, neither are you. Look, what’s done is done. On the bright side, thanks to that sicko ancestor of yours there is no minimum age to be appointed as a royal concubine,” Zhao 2 joked.
“It’s not funny, Jianjun,” Zuko said using the twin’s real name. “What if Water Tribe girls develop really early and she’s like five?”
He rolled his eyes, “Five, Zuko? Really? Five? There is no way she’s five. The age difference is probably only one or two years. If Water Tribe girls really do mature faster that makes her older than you so calm down. Besides even if she was five, you can’t undo what’s been to do her.”
“I…no I can’t can I?” Zuko groaned as reason sank in and lowered himself to the bed beside Katara. “Thank you for watching her.”
“No problem, man. I haven’t had a chance to see you freak out like that in a long time. Five, wait till I tell 1 and Mu about that,” he laughed shaking his head and chuckling as he exited. “Five.”
Zuko wrapped his arms around Katara and went back to sleep. He hadn’t gotten much sleep in the nights after their fight and this morning’s rude awakening came too soon. He needed to be well rested to deal with Azula and Bujing without making a grievous error.
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