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Absolute Power	By : whirleeq Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > Het - Male/Female > Aang/Katara Views: 17985 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
A/N: Some pretty graphic violence in this chapter… you’ve been warned.
~*~
Admiral Zhao stood on the deck of his ship and looked through his spyglass, a grim expression on his face. His fleet was positioned just behind the break walls of the earth nation free port city of Kaffa. He was purposely hidden from view so that he could monitor the activities of a certain banished prince who may or may not have a positive lead on the Avatar.
He still did not know how that boy managed to escape him and he highly suspected that the errant prince had something to do with it, but he couldn’t prove anything. Losing the Avatar was humiliating – especially after he had already sent word to the Fire Lord of the boy’s capture.
When questioned by the Fire Lord on how the boy had managed to escape, he’d been forced to exaggerate the boy’s strength, skill and available resources. He essentially gave the Fire Lord the impression that the boy was a much bigger threat than had been initially assumed… and so as a result, the size of his fleet had been doubled and he was ordered back to sea in order to pursue the child.
Several months had gone by, and there was not a single clue as to the boy’s location. So, Zhao was forced to fall back into the detestable habit of trailing the banished prince, since the errant royal seemed to have better luck in tracking the child. And as each month passed, the Fire Lord grew more restless, more wary. Admiral Zhao feared it would only be a matter of time before the situation was taken out of his hands entirely.
He could not let that happen. The boy had bested him and now, it was personal.
His correspondence with the Fire Lord had been laden with false sightings and close calls, indicating progress when there had been none at all. He had hoped that his letters would serve to reassure the Fire Lord. But to his dismay, they had only served to increase the Fire Lord’s assessment of the boy as a threat.
And now, his time was running out.
With a slightly squinted eye, he looked through his spy glass towards the port where he could barely make out Zuko’s ship. Smoke was coming from the stacks, leading him to believe that the ship was preparing to leave and he frowned. For all appearances, it seemed that the prince was having no better luck than he in locating the Avatar.
Admiral Zhao was completely at a loss.
“Sir… sir, you’re tea is ready. Would you like me to bring it to you here, or will you take it in your quarters?”
Brought out of his introspection by the serving girl’s voice, Zhao pocketed his spy glass and scowled.
“In my quarters.” He answered gruffly.
The girl nodded and hastily retreated, bringing a smirk to his face at her reaction. Not that it was unexpected -- nearly all of the staff and most of his men chose to avoid him when he was in ‘one of his moods’ – as well as they should, he supposed. The lack of progress was grating at him and despite his rank, he had been known to lash out irrationally even when only marginally provoked. He watched the serving girl leave and then with one last glance towards the port, followed her.
Later, after a satisfying breakfast and several cups of strong, ginseng tea, Zhao found himself pacing the deck again – this time with a piece of correspondence in his hands. The correspondence was from the Fire Lord himself, having been sent by the way of a crow-lizard. The crow-lizards had been used as messengers by the fire nation for centuries. They were noted for their long wing span, razor sharp claws, and carnivorous appetites as well as their intelligence, swiftness of flight and tracking abilities. More often than not, the messages themselves would be covered with the entrails of the courier’s most recent kill, as the rolled parchment Zhao was holding in his hand was.
A brief look of disgust played over his face, and he withdrew a piece of cloth embroidered with the fire nation emblem from the inside of his uniform to wipe off the remains of the courier’s breakfast before unrolling the parchment. Upon reading the words written in the Fire Lord’s own handwriting, the look of disgust on his face amplified, resulting in the swift retreat of the other officers also present on the deck.
He read the Fire Lord’s words three times before he gritted his teeth and in an irrational burst of temper, incinerated the parchment in his hand.
“Sir?”
Warily, one of his junior officers approached him. Zhao turned to the young Lieutenant with a scowl, his eyes alight with fury. The expression on his face caused the junior officer to step back briefly in alarm.
“Sir? Is everything okay?”
“No. No, everything is far from okay,” Zhao grumbled under his lips, the words so soft that they went unheard by the officer addressing him. And then, he cleared his throat and paused for a moment, taking time to formulate his thoughts before he next spoke.
“Lieutenant… send word to the other ships in the fleet that we have been given new orders. As of right now, we are sailing north.”
“N-North?” The Lieutenant sputtered in confusion. “But the only thing north of us is the water…” The Lieutenant’s words trailed off as the implications of the new orders hit him, and he looked at the Admiral in surprise.
“Yes, north.” Zhao answered through gritted teeth. “Fire Lord Ozai… is taking the threat of the Avatar very seriously. He feels that the time to attack is now, when it is unexpected and before the Avatar has time to rally his forces against us…”
The look of surprise on the officer’s face turned to one of confusion.
“His FORCES? But… but… but the Avatar is just a… a young b—“
Zhao backhanded the officer, sending him sprawling across the deck.
Not just a boy. He couldn’t and wouldn’t accept that… not when that ‘boy’ had bested him.
“Never say that in my presence…”
The junior officer looked at him in fear before righting himself, shaking slightly.
“I u-understand s-sir. I a-apologi—“
Zhao cut off the officer’s stuttered apology with a wave of his hand.
“Never mind that, just… do as I say. And don’t question your superiors, lest you wish to spend time in the brig.”
The officer nodded and quickly turned, hastily making his way towards the lookout where he could signal the new instructions to the other ships in the fleet. His steps were swift, as the officer was very eager to remove himself from Zhao’s unpredictable presence.
As soon as the officer started to leave, Zhao pulled the spyglass out from his uniform to check on Prince Zuko’s ship once more.
There was no smoke coming from the stacks, which could only mean that the Prince’s planned departure had for some reason been delayed.
And there was only reason why the Prince would delay his departure…
Zhao swore under his breath. It would figure that the Prince would find some clue regarding the Avatar’s whereabouts just as he was being ordered to leave the area. With a scowl, he turned towards the retreating back of the junior officer.
“Oh, and Lieutenant?”
The officer had not yet left the range of the Admiral’s voice and he stopped. He turned around slowly and looked at his commanding officer nervously.
“One of our ships will remain here with instructions to monitor the activities of Prince Zuko. If there is any indication that the Prince has knowledge of the whereabouts of the Avatar, I want word of it… immediately. Understand?”
“But I thought the Fire Lord said that the fleet had been given new or—“
Admiral Zhao shot a flash of fire from his fists towards the young officer. It just barely grazed him, but the gesture was enough to get the point across.
“Haven’t I told you not to question your superiors?”
“Y-yes sir.”
“Good. Then do as I say. You are dismissed.”
“Yes, sir.”
~*~
“Are you absolutely positive that the boy is the Avatar?”
Juri was getting really sick of the Prince’s questions. Just what did she have to do to prove her claim? She had run all the way through the forest in half the time it normally took for her to reach the city and was quite out of breath. Now, the pompous idiot was glaring at her suspiciously.
“Short, bald, arrow on his head, air monk? Yes, I think he’s the one you are looking for.” She panted, her hands falling to her knees.
She had barely managed to catch the Prince before his ship left, and would have missed him entirely were it not for the last minute shopping spree of the Prince’s Uncle. And even then, it had taken her several precious minutes to convince the stubborn Prince to follow her. It probably didn’t help that the Prince had recognized her from the previous night, and therefore assumed that she was a local brothel girl, thus not someone who could be taken seriously.
It had taken her threatening to bring the information to someone else – there were a few bounty hunters that resided in Kaffa who would have found the whereabouts of the Avatar a valuable piece of information – before the Prince capitulated and agreed to follow her back to camp.
Of course, then came the bargaining. After all, she was leading the Prince of the Fire Nation right into a camp filled with rebels and revolutionists – some who were high on the Fire Nation’s most wanted list. She had insisted on the Prince giving his word that he would not take anyone into custody other than the Avatar and his companions and that no harm would come to Koru or any other member of their camp. After a moment’s hesitation, the Prince agreed, stating that the others were ‘not of his concern’.
Now, she was swiftly making her way back through the forest towards camp, Prince Zuko and a few of his men following closely behind. Thankfully, the idiot she hoodwinked the night before was not among them.
‘Probably still fighting a hangover,’ She mused to herself.
When they got closer to the camp, she would break away from the group and make her own way back. The path was fairly straight forward, and besides, she didn’t want Koru to know of her involvement in leading the fire benders right to him – he would consider that a betrayal of the worst kind.
And she knew that she was betraying him. She even knew that putting the Avatar in the hands of the Fire Nation was contrary to their cause and for the briefest of moments, she questioned her actions.
But then she remembered Koru’s words and she frowned.
Perhaps she was doing the wrong thing but… she didn’t care. Koru was hers and the water bender had to go. And if she had to use the Avatar as bait to get rid of the girl, so be it.
~*~
“Aang, no!”
She hadn’t really put much thought into it. Momo had removed her gag and her reaction had been nearly automatic. Had she known that her scream was going to awaken Aang’s Avatar spirit, she would have bit down on her tongue in order to keep herself from crying out. Aang was not in control of himself when he was like this. Also, he was a danger to everyone and everything around him. Her ice blue eyes widened in alarm and despite the futility of it, she struggled in Koru’s arms in an attempt to gain her freedom.
“No! Koru, let me go – you don’t under—“
Her protest was cut off just as abruptly when Koru put his hand over her mouth.
“Quiet… this is between the Avatar and me and it’s for your own good anyway, so just be quiet and let me think!” He whispered harshly into her ear as he took a few hesitant steps back.
Her muffled protests faded into whimpers when Koru refused to remove his hand from her mouth. His other hand was gripping her tightly around the waist.
“Let her go, Koru. I’ve seen the kid when he gets like this and trust me; you want to let her go…” Sokka said levelly, his right hand wrapped around his boomerang. Peripherally, he could see Koru’s men closing in on them and he grimaced. “Also, keep your cronies back, Koru, unless you want them to get hurt.”
Koru snorted, his grip on Katara tightening slightly as he shifted her just enough to place her in front of him.
“That’s not how this is going to happen.” Koru’s eyes briefly caught those of Jin and Scar before settling back on Sokka.. “Take the Avatar and go… I will take care of your sister as if she were my own.”
And with those words, Katara found herself hoisted over Koru’s shoulders none too gently as the earth bender took off back into the woods, leaving his men behind to deal with her brother and Aang.
Behind them, she was sure she could hear screams and she silently prayed that none of them belonged to either Sokka or Aang.
Her hands and feet were bound with rope, but at least she was no longer gagged. Although the ability to speak did her little good, since Koru ignored her repeated demands to put her down and let her go. In fact, when she resorted to calling him a few things that were decidedly unladylike, she was almost positive that he snickered in amusement.
He was swift as he took them away from the camp and deep into the woods. His shoulder blade was jarring her in the abdomen as he ran; each time he put a foot down causing her further injury, and she was beginning to feel quite nauseous from all the rough handling. Not to mention that it was difficult to breathe when one was being carried like a sack of potatoes at a fairly high speed. She wished that her hands were free and that she had her canteen so that she could hit him with a water whip, but her canteen had been the first thing he took from her after he had restrained her.
To her credit, it ended up taking three of his men to hold her down long enough for Koru to bind her. And she had managed to bite the hand of the boy who had gagged her pretty hard – she really, really hoped that that boy wouldn’t be able to use that hand for days.
Finally, and right before the point where Katara really thought she was going to throw up, Koru came to an abrupt and sudden halt. He carefully set her down against a tree, glancing worriedly over his shoulder before turning back to her. Briefly, he looked at her ankle and then back at her face before sighing.
“If I release your bonds, do you give me your word that you’ll listen to what I have to say?”
After taking a moment to catch her breath and regain her equilibrium, she blinked her eyes a couple times before looking at Koru incredulously.
“What? Why should I promise you anything? You… you arrogant bastard! You treat me like I’m helpless – which I am not, mind you – attempt to kidnap me, throw me over your shoulder like–“
“If I hurt you in any way, then I am sorry. I just want you to listen to me… to understand. Look, if after I explain myself, if you still want to go with the Avatar… then… then I’ll… I’ll let you go.”
“Gee. Why don’t I believe you?”
“Katara – listen to me, please.”
Katara snorted to herself. Truthfully, she didn’t care about anything Koru had to say at this point. In her eyes, he was as bad as Jet for abusing her trust like that. But still, if he was offering to release her bonds, she wasn’t going to do anything to stop him. She didn’t believe a word of what he said about letting her go, however. She figured that the only reason he would offer to remove her bonds was because of her ankle -- she couldn’t outrun him right now, so he really had nothing to lose by releasing her.
She didn’t answer, but held her hands up in front of him, meeting his gaze straight on. He must have acknowledged her non verbal response as an agreement, because he smiled, nodded and then with a bone dagger he had withdrawn from somewhere inside of his clothes, cut the rope that was holding her wrists together. She hissed and then immediately began to rub them as the rope had started to dig into the soft skin of her wrists, leaving bright red welts. Koru cut the rope binding her ankles and finally she was free of her restraints… but with her injury and without her canteen, she was still very much his prisoner.
She glared at him.
“You wanted to talk? So, talk.” She spat, folding her arms in front of her. She didn’t have time for this – she needed to get back and try to bring Aang back to himself. She was desperately hoping that Aang’s Avatar spirit didn’t kill anyone. Aang would never be able to live with himself if someone had died by his hands, whether he was aware of his actions or not.
But the Avatar spirit inside of him saw things in black and white. No shades of gray – you were either an enemy or an ally – that was it. And even allies were not necessarily safe. She remembered that time at the air temple… had she not calmed him down… had she not taken him into her arms, told him that they were family, she was fairly sure that he would have taken the temple down – and them with it – in his wrath.
A minute shudder passed through her at the thought of what Aang was currently capable of. The amount of power he wielded when possessed by his Avatar spirit was frightening.
Something in Koru’s eyes changed while he was looking at her, giving them an odd, possessive gleam and making Katara even more uncomfortable than she already was. He reached out and gently stroked the side of her face almost… affectionately. The action was so unexpected that Katara, in her shock, allowed it for a moment before jerking her head away with a frown.
“Don’t touch me!”
Koru withdrew his hand slowly and that strange, almost crazed look in his eyes faded. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly before speaking.
“I’m sorry… it’s just that you remind me so much of my sisters.”
‘WHAT?’
The implications of that stunned her, left her speechless and she just stared at him as everything started to fall into place. His attempts to seduce her… his bizarrely protective attitude towards her after knowing her only a few days… even his misguided, impetuous decision to keep her prisoner, just to ‘keep her safe’.
The conversation she had with Juri rang through her head with startling clarity.
‘Koru is a great man who wants to do the right thing. But he has a couple of flaws – one, he tends to be a bit impetuous, and makes rash decisions without considering the consequences. And two, he has a soft spot for girls who he thinks are in distress. He wants to be their savior. He thinks that if he can somehow make them love him, it will help absolve him of his guilt.’
Katara closed her eyes briefly, her anger subsiding slightly and making way for sympathy. With a sigh, she reached out and grabbed his hand as a gesture of comfort.
“But I’m not them, Koru. What happened to them was awful... I am so sorry that you had to live through that. I promise you, it will not happen to me. I am hoping to master water bending soon… and I have both Sokka and Aang to help keep me safe.”
“You – you know? You know what happened to them?” He asked in a small voice. The expression on his face made him look several years younger and Katara found herself wondering what kind of boy he would have been had he not suffered such losses. He’d probably be a nice boy, she supposed. Certainly not someone capable of taking her prisoner…
But even that, she was beginning to understand. After all, if she still had her mother, she would never even have considered accompanying Aang on his journey. ‘War hardens you… and forces you to grow up.’ She mused.
She met Koru’s eyes again and nodded.
“But… but… how?” Koru mused aloud to himself. After a moment, his eyes widened in realization briefly and then narrowed in suspicion. “Juri. Juri told you… didn’t she? She probably also warned you to stay away from me, didn’t she? That’s why you asked me about Juri the other day when I… when we…”
“Yes, Juri told me.” Katara responded. Koru’s lips pulled back into a frown.
“She loves you, you know.”
Koru shook his head.
“No, she only thinks she does. Juri can take care of herself. When you love someone, you depend on them… you need them. Juri doesn’t need me.” He paused for a moment, took a breath and then gently caught her hands with his.
“You, however… you need someone to protect you… that kid… Aang… no matter what kind of power he has, he is nothing but a magnet for trouble. Leading you right into the fire is not protecting you. Don’t you understand? And that brother of yours… I know you love him, but he is poorly trained. I’d be surprised if he could protect himself, let alone someone else.”
Katara opened her mouth to rebuke him, hastily pulling her hands away from his, but he silenced her with a shake of his head before continuing.
“And your water bending? Your element is weak, Katara. Weak. All the other benders can use their skills nearly anywhere.” To demonstrate, Koru flexed his hand, causing a slight crack to appear in the earth by his feet. “Earth is everywhere. Air is everywhere. Fire benders can draw their element from inside themselves. But water benders must rely on the presence of water. You don’t have your canteen on you and we are a good five minutes away from the nearest source of water. What good does your bending do for you right now? Face it - you need me, Katara. And in time, you’ll grow to love me, too.”
She didn’t know whether to be hurt, shocked, scared, or angry. Koru’s definition of love was… warped, to say the least. And the cold, clinical way he had assessed her friends and her water bending had her gritting her teeth in indignation. Plus, that he’d so blindly assume that he could make her fall in love with him… how dare he?
“I am not weak! I don’t need you – or anyone else, Koru. And if you think for one minute that I will ever love--”
Her words were cut off by a sudden gust of air. She had been so upset with Koru that she had let herself momentarily forget the more important and immediate situation. Slightly dismayed, she turned to see Aang standing in front of them, glider in hand, eyes still glowing a malevolent blue.
“Aang…” She whispered in a hushed tone. “Aang, no…”
Koru turned from her then; whipped around so fast that she didn’t even see him do it, throwing the bone dagger in his hand straight at the Avatar. Aang didn’t even move or do anything to dodge it, and she heard a sickening thud as the dagger hit and lodged itself just below his right shoulder.
She stared for a moment in shock, not quite believing what she was seeing. Aang… wasn’t even moving. He hadn’t even folded his glider back up – he was just standing there, his glowing eyes locked on her, completely ignoring the presence of Koru. He started to walk towards her, the dagger still embedded in his flesh, his facial expression blank, his entire demeanor not betraying even the slightest sign that he was feeling even a hint of pain from Koru’s dagger.
“What… what’s up with this kid?” She heard Koru say to her right. Peripherally, she saw that the earth bender was getting into a fighting stance; a ball of earth already in his hand and she panicked.
“KORU! No, DON’T PROVOKE HIM!!! Please, Koru – stop!”
In front of her, Aang stopped abruptly, his head turning slightly to stare at Koru with glowing, vacant eyes. The area where Koru’s dagger was embedded had started to bleed rather profusely, dying the yellow part of his tunic a dark crimson. Horrified, Katara got to her feet.
“Aang… Koru… please, please stop.”
But they both ignored her cries.
“Avatar, stay back. I don’t want to kill you, but you take another step forward and I will… Katara is staying with me.”
Aang’s eyes narrowed just a fraction at Koru’s words, but other than that, he appeared not to hear them as he continued to approach Koru.
Katara whimpered. She started to take a couple hesitant steps towards Aang, but found herself roughly shoved backwards by Koru and fell to the ground with a pained cry as her injured ankle got caught up underneath her.
“Stay out of this, Ka—“ Koru started to order her, but was quickly cut off as a fire ball came whizzing by his head, leaving him barely enough time to dodge it. It passed by him and fizzled out right before it hit the tree just above Katara’s head.
‘Did… did Aang just firebend?’ Katara wondered to herself briefly. She didn’t quite see where the fire ball had come from… but it couldn’t have been Aang, could it? The spirit wouldn’t attack with her vulnerable and in the way, would it?
Her answer came in the form of a deep voice… one that sent shivers down her spine, and she groaned.
Just when she thought the situation couldn’t possibly get worse…
‘Zuko.’

“Back off, peasant. The Avatar is mine.”
Koru’s eyes widened briefly and he turned to the new threat, a hint of surprise playing over his face before he schooled his expression into neutrality. He took in the sight of Zuko and his men behind him, and frowned.
“You… you’re that banished prince. How… how did you find us?”
Zuko scowled. He slowly began to approach Aang, his hands lit with fire and held out in front of him. Nervously, Katara looked around and saw that Zuko’s men were now surrounding them.
“It doesn’t matter. You will hand over the Avatar and the girl and you will leave. If you do this, we’ll leave you and your camp alone. Otherwise… ”
Zuko made a motion with his right hand and the fire increased. The implied threat was well understood by Koru, whose mouth was set into a grim line as he regarded the fire nation prince with suspicion.
‘Me? What… what does he want with me?’ Surprised, she continued to look around – and briefly caught a glimpse of Juri, attempting to hide behind one of the trees. The older girl had a very a satisfied expression on her face.
Katara paled, realizing what had happened. Juri… Juri had betrayed them, had come to some agreement with Zuko… in order to get her out of the way.
She didn’t know whether to cry or scream.
This… this was all Koru’s fault – all of it. With his so-called efforts to ‘protect’ her, he had doomed them all. And by the crazed, possessive look he was giving her now, it was obvious that he didn’t even care.
“No.” Koru said, moving in front of her in an attempt to block her from Zuko’s view. “Take the Avatar if you must, but leave the girl.”
“I’m not bargaining with you.” Zuko said, continuing to slowly approach the Avatar.
Aang remained still, the blood from his wound soaking through the whole front of his tunic.
Katara whimpered; silently praying to whatever god would listen that he’d be alright.
“Aang! Please, please move… please come back to yourself… to me… and get out of here! Aang, please!” Katara pleaded, even as the circle of fire benders started to close in on them. She felt a hand on her shoulder and jerked away, almost barreling into Koru who reflexively turned and wrapped a protective arm around her, pulling her closer to him.
The fire bender who had snuck up behind her grabbed her and tried to pull her away from Koru… abruptly, she was caught in the middle of a quasi-tug-of-war between the two benders. She struggled as much as she could, but that only caused them to grip her more fiercely.
“Let me go!”
Peripherally, she could see that Zuko had almost reached Aang. The young Avatar’s glowing eyes were still vacant of any expression as he continued to remain immobile. In the midst of her struggle, she began to cry, seriously worried that Koru had wounded Aang more than she thought for him to stay so still. What was going on?
When the fire bender succeeded in ripping her away from Koru, she screamed.
~*~
Zuko didn’t know why the Avatar was remaining motionless, but if the kid wanted to make it that much easier for him to capture him, then so be it. He was a little wary about the kid’s eyes and tattoos glowing the way that they were – the last time he had seen that, it had necessitated keeping his ship in dry dock for almost a week for repairs because of the damage the Avatar had caused – but the boy also appeared to be injured, so perhaps he was currently incapable of wielding that kind of power.
Still, he knew what the boy was capable of and by no means intended to underestimate him.
Cautiously he approached the Avatar; well aware that one of his men was attempting to wrestle the water bender away from the rogue earth bender. Truthfully, he didn’t care either way about her fate, but he had given his word that he would take her as well in return for the Avatar’s location.
In all honesty, he hadn’t really thought that the wench – what was her name? Oh yes, Juri – was telling him the truth. Who in their right mind would trust the word of a low class brothel girl? But Zuko had been so desperate for any news regarding the whereabouts of the Avatar that he’d listened to her anyway. Surprisingly, her words had proven to be true and she led him straight to the boy. Here was his best chance yet to capture him. He wasn’t going to waste it.
He had almost reached the boy when the water bender screamed.
Zuko found himself roughly pushed back by a whirlwind that came out of nowhere. He was taken off guard for just a moment before his battle reflexes kicked in. He jumped back up to his feet and issued a lit, roundhouse kick in the Avatar’s direction.
The ball of fire shot forth from his foot was swept away by the whirlwind surrounding the Avatar like a protective shield before it even came close to hitting its mark. Zuko pulled his arms back, prepared to throw a small fireball in the kid’s direction when he realized that the boy wasn’t even looking at him.
‘How dare he ignore me!’ He thought, the fire inside him burning hotter. Enraged, he shot fireball after fireball at the Avatar’s back, but they were all just as effortlessly defected. And then the kid took to the air briefly, closing the gap between him and the two benders struggling to take possession of the water bender. As he landed, the whirlwind around him faded into nothing.
“Let her go, Shi…” Zuko shouted, knowing that the other fire bender was no match for the boy, and Zuko didn’t particularly want to see any of his men get hurt.
The fire bender let go. Suddenly it was just the so-called rebel peasant holding the water bender. With a gesture of his hand, Zuko instructed his men to hold back… but to still remain in position. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Juri approaching him, apparently no longer concerned about hiding from the earth bender.
“You… you have to *do* something! Why aren’t you doing anything? You can’t just stand there…”
Zuko’s frowned, but otherwise ignored her.
Frustrated, Juri ran into the center of the circle, drawing the Koru’s attention to her. The earth bender’s eyes were filled with shock when he saw her.
“Juri? What—“ He sputtered while holding a struggling Katara.
“Let her go, Koru. Let her go, and we can go home… together. Let her go…”
“You! You… you did this, Juri! You led them to me; you betrayed me… us… after all that was done to you by the fire nation, you now consort with them? I will never forgive you for this… never!”
Koru pulled Katara closer to him with one hand, a large ball of earth in the other. He turned towards Aang with a crazed look on his face. “I will never let you have her, understand? You’ll only get her killed… no, she’s staying with me. She is mine!”
And with that, he released the ball of the earth, aimed directly towards Aang’s head.
Several things happened all at once, and Katara would later find that what happened over the next sixty seconds would haunt her dreams for years to come.
The ball of earth was easily deflected by the Avatar and he held out a hand for Katara.
Seeing it, Katara wrenched herself away from Koru, trying desperately to get to Aang. Koru reached out to keep her from leaving him and only succeeded in grabbing her arm, which twisted with an audible snap.
An agonizing cry of pain escaped her lips and she stumbled. Koru’s eyes widened and he let go of her arm, but the damage was done. Katara fell to the ground with a whimper. She rolled to her back, her tear filled eyes looking up to see Aang and Koru above her. Koru produced another dagger from inside of his clothes and pulled his arm back as if to throw it – only to be caught dead on by a massive ball of fire; much bigger and hotter than anything Zuko had ever thrown at them. In horrified shock, she turned to see Aang with his hand held out and his expression blank. The pain in her arm was acute, she was near unconsciousness from it, but nothing at all could draw her away from what she was seeing. Absently, she recognized shouts and voices around them – Zuko’s, Juri’s… and heard a keening, horrifying cry as Koru fell to the ground, his entire body wracked with flames.
And then, after a few moments, the cries stopped. She turned her head to the side, immediately wishing that she hadn’t as her stomach churned from what she saw. Koru’s body was completely engulfed by the flames, his face already black and charred and sightless, his head turned towards her and his hand outstretched as if to reach her. He wasn’t moving… wasn’t breathing… and oh god, there was no water… no water anywhere… and maybe Koru was right, maybe she was helpless because she couldn’t help him, couldn’t save him and Aang had just… just…
She found herself hoisted up by a pair of familiar arms and she shivered, her stomach bottoming out. Her face was twisted in an expression of horror and disbelief, and then Aang took to the air. She felt something warm and sticky against her and knew without looking that it was Aang’s blood… Beneath them she heard shouting, one of the voices Zuko's... several blasts of fire followed them into the air, but none of them hit them, and she clung, clung onto Aang as hard as she could with one arm, inhaling the air around them which carried the distinct, all too undeniable scent of a burning body. She cried, tried to move her other arm but couldn’t, knew that it was broken, broken like Koru was and oh god… she whimpered, the pain intensifying, coming in strong, hard waves and her eyes fluttered closed… sleep, she welcomed it, found herself lulling off in the Avatar’s eyes as he flew, turning briefly to look at her with his glowing eyes.
It could have been her mind playing tricks on her… it certainly could have, because of the pain and the horror and the emotional stress… but for just a brief second, before she allowed herself to fall into the blissful state of unconsciousness, she thought she saw a spark of fierce protectiveness in those otherwise vacant incandescent eyes.
~*~
“NO! Koru!”
Juri screamed inconsolably. She started to run towards Koru, but found herself pulled back against a strong chest. She beat him, she hated him… this fire bender, this banished prince was supposed to help her, but instead he had cost her… had cost her everything. She was choking on the smoke, on the scent of the burning body of the man she loved and her tears were scalding as they made their way down her cheeks.
“NO… nononononono… Koru… let me go, damn you, he needs me, he’s… fire… I… I need to put it out…”
The arms gripped tighter, nearly like a vice, and she turned, looked up into the face of the banished prince. His face was carefully blank, the burned eye slightly more closed than normal from the smoke and in the other one there was a hint of… compassion? No.. she hated him, hated him more than anything… hated that girl, the Avatar… she hated them all.
“Let me go… let me go, you bastard!!! This is your fault! Yours, that… that bitch and that damned kid...”
The prince released her. She stumbled, trying to put one foot in front of the other, and made her way over towards Koru, choking on the scent and the smoke. She caught a glimpse of him and had to turn away… eyes radiating hate, she looked at the banished prince and then back at Koru before turning her back on all of them.
“Pay… you will all pay… the girl, the Avatar, even you, Prince Zuko… will pay for Koru’s death.”
And with that, she left, hot tears falling from her eyes as she ran through the forest and towards Kaffa, leaving behind her the most painful memory of all.
Zuko let her go, himself still… somewhat taken aback at the amount of power shown by the Avatar. The kid had pretty much immolated the earth bender where he stood. It had been the first time the prince had seen the boy use fire and… he wasn’t even sure if his father could compete with the boy. Somewhat unnerved, he cleared his throat and looked to his men.
“Let’s get back to the ship… they’ll be leaving the island soon on that bison of theirs… and I want to be ready to follow them when they do.”
~*~
A/N: There! Finally! The next chapter… and another cliffie… so sorry about that… Anyways, chapter 10 will mark the end of ‘Part I’. I have three parts planned for this fic – three major story arcs.
- 7
- 8
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Absolute Power