Avatar The Last Airbender Fan Fiction ❯ Prophesied ❯ How Could This Happen? ( Chapter 8 )

“I can't stand the pain…

And I can't make it go away

How could this happen to me?

I made my mistakes

Got nowhere to run

The night goes on

As I'm fading away

I'm sick of this life

I just wanna scream

How could this happen to me?”

~Simple Plan, Untitled

 

Chapter 8: How Could This Happen?

 

Katara knelt beside Zuko in the sand, her own adrenaline long gone and the gnawing hunger and exhaustion returned. She shook him gently.

“Zuko?”

When he didn't respond, her already frayed nerves gave way and hot tears ran down her face. She rolled him over onto his back as she cried, determined still to do what must be done. Katara bit her lip and peeled off the prince's blood-soaked shirt and threw it onto the sand. Inspecting the gashes left by the tigress, her despair deepened at their severity.

She turned and looked at the waves, their gift of life at her fingertips. If only she had the strength to bend, but she knew she didn't. A sob broke through her lips. She couldn't get him back to wherever his camp was, she couldn't heal his wounds; she couldn't even stop the bleeding.

Suddenly, she just stopped caring about herself. She looked at his face, so peaceful in his unwilled slumber. Now that she thought back, he'd never looked this peaceful, not even when he'd been unconscious at the North Pole. Then it had seemed as if the same frustration that plagued him daily was still there in his subconscious, now it was gone.

She gritted her teeth. Even if it killed her, she'd heal his wounds.

“Shasa help me!” She cried as she bended the water to her and around her hands until the blue ethereal light shone about them. Carefully, she pressed her hands to each of Zuko's wounds in turn. A strange power filled her as she did so, keeping her hands steady until the process was complete.

The last of her strength gone, Katara collapsed; her body strewn unconscious over Zuko's still prone form.

Iroh, Agni, and the crew sailed into Earth Kingdom waters the morning after Agni's Kai. Agni was in a thoughtful mood and hadn't said more than three words since waking. He was dressed in black pants and a loose crimson tunic. The wind pulled at his loose hair, which was held back by a gold circlet, and gold bands encircled his wrists. The sun reflected off a ruby embedded in a gold ring on his right middle finger.

Iroh was watching the Fire God as he watched the world pass by. He was thinking about how playful the god was and was forming his own opinion about him. In the Spirit World, Agni couldn't directly affect anything in Aye, but here, he could. He could touch everything and see the world in a completely new light.

Iroh didn't resent the god anymore for his childish behavior. He felt almost sympathetic for Agni. Suddenly, a playful look came into Agni's eyes and he spun to face the retired general.

“Isn't Anrik nearby?”

Iroh couldn't help but be excited by the mention of the most prestigious Earth Kingdom market. He took one look at the god's eyes and smiled.

“Helmsman, change course, head for Anrik.”

Katara woke slowly as the sunlight filtered in from the opening in the hut. As she slowly sat up, she couldn't quite believe where she was, lying on the floor of a crudely built but functional mud hut. But she didn't take long to wonder about her setting for the subtle scent of cooking fish wafted to her from outside.

As she stepped into the sunlight, Katara wondered how long she'd been unconscious. She barely remembered someone talking to her, carrying her, holding her head up.

Here, drink this. You'll feel better.

But that couldn't have been Zuko. Zuko hated her, and now as she looked around the clearing, he wasn't there. There were the remnants of a fire, now nothing but coals, sitting beneath what looked like half a gourd.

“You're awake.”

Katara turned around to see Zuko standing at the edge of the clearing. He was shirtless and carrying something she couldn't see on his back. He walked towards and past her, to the fire. She saw now that the package on his back was something wrapped in the tigress' skin.

Zuko knelt by the fire and let the skin fall to the ground beside him. He'd deal with it in a moment. He saw the girl sit down next to him out of the corner of his eye as he stirred the coals and sighed angrily. Why'd he take the girl in again?

“Did you just wake?”

She nodded. He took the gourd off the fire and took up the crudely carved spoon he'd fashioned from the stem of the gourd.

“Here. Eat. You'll need your strength.”

She did so without hesitation, and he went to work with the skin, hauling it back to the stream. He could feel her watching him, and he didn't care. Cutting the plant fibers that held the skin together, he peeled it back to reveal the carefully cut pieces of meat he gleaned from the tigress' body.

Zuko heard her gasp behind him and looked up. She met his gaze.

“Is that from the tigress?”

He nodded, and she bit her lip. Growling angrily, he straightened up aggressively.

“Girl, we're on an island. Meat is scarce. It would be a crime against nature for us just to leave this. It's just as good as anything else you might have eaten before.”

She looked at him for a moment, and then nodded. Zuko continued with what he was doing, which was storing the meat in a niche behind the waterfall, which would keep it fresh and cool.

“Katara.”

He turned around and looked at her, noticing that she still hadn't touched the broth he'd tediously cooked for her.

“What?”

“My name is Katara, not girl.”

Katara…it's nice. “And please tell me how that makes a difference.”

She placed the gourd on the ground next to her and crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, if you want me to call you Prince Zuko, you have to call me by my name. Not girl or peasant or anything like that. My name is Katara.”

For a moment, Zuko just glared at her, fighting hard to keep his hands at his side from forming fists. Several times he clenched and unclenched them in contemplation.

He let out a deep breath and Katara didn't miss the thin trail of smoke that left his nostrils. Turning back to what he was doing, she also didn't miss the ill-disguised frustration in his voice.

“Fine…Katara. Now eat.”

It was out before she could stop it. “Why? Did you poison it and now you're eager for me to die?”

His back stiffened and he swiftly stood and marched over to her. Grabbing the front of her tunic he drew here up to his eyes' level, which meant her toes were barely brushing the ground. She grabbed onto his clenched fists desperately, fear creeping into her gaze.

“You stupid girl, you dare to impugn me? Even if I wanted you dead, I wouldn't stoop to cowardly poisoning your food! I'd kill you in a battle, with honor, something you no doubt know nothing of! I want you to eat so you can regain your strength and stop relying on me! Is that so hard of a conclusion to come to?”

He released her and she stepped back away from him, knowing her mistake but refusing to admit it. Their eyes met, and she refused to look away. In fact, he looked away first.

“That…and I worked hard to fix that for you.”

After stating this, Zuko promptly turned and disappeared into the woods. Katara quickly followed him after grabbing the gourd and spoon.

“Z…Prince Zuko!”

He turned around.

“Where are you going?”

“To burn the rest of the tigress.”

“I'll go with you.” His eyes narrowed.

“You need to eat.”

She held up the gourd, but he remained suspicious.

“Why?”

Katara sighed. “I just don't want to be alone, ok?”

He shrugged and continued walking, Katara at his side.

Aang and Sokka stopped at an island marketplace to stock up on supplies. Aang was still depressed and determined to find Katara. He'd flown Appa all the previous day and most of the night until Sokka made him go to sleep and had let the poor bison rest. Even now, Aang was desperate to continue.

“Sokka, can't you pick out apples any faster?”

Sokka sighed, taking his time on purpose. “Have patience Aang.”

“Patience? Patience! Zuko could be hurting her!”

“We don't know if Katara is with Zuko. I don't know how you came to that conclusion.”

“Look, even if he isn't the Son of Agni, he'll know who is! That's why we have to find him!”

Sokka snorted as he paid the woman for their food. “What are we going to do Aang? Land on the deck of his warship and just ask who the Son of Agni is? He'll have you in chains in less than seconds.”

Aang glared at the back of the boy's head before turning away and lifting his staff.

“I'm going to fly over and see if I can spot anything from the air.”

“Make sure you don't get spotted while you're trying to spot something.”

Aang made a derisive sound before tossing his glider forward and leaping on. He disappeared over the trees and Sokka kept on shopping. Gods above, he missed Katara and the way she could handle the stupid twelve-year old.

The air-bender glided over the woods, saddened by the absence of his friend. He'd always thought he'd loved her; maybe perhaps Shasa had been right. Was there something more to this world that he didn't yet understand? Was he still too young to comprehend?

A sound somewhere in between a scream and a laugh came from below, causing Aang to dive into the woods below.

Fire Nation soldiers cornered the young girl against a tree. She was dressed in an outfit that was tailored as the Air Nomads but was colored in a mixture of greens. Even as they advanced against her, she smiled, so young in her innocence.

Aang landed in front of the young girl, glaring down the Fire Nation soldiers. Finally, there was some way to release the pent-up frustration building within him. He quickly dispatched the Fire Nation soldiers and those not incapacitated ran for their ship, fleeing the wrath of the Avatar.

At long last, he turned to face the young girl who walked fearlessly up to him and smiled.

“Thanks. That was fun. You're an air-bender so you must be the Avatar. I can bend earth and air, just like my parents. But they're busy all the time plotting against the yellow dragon which I think is wrong because the yellow dragon is such a nice man. Well, they told me to go and play here so I came here and can I play with you?”

Aang stared at her with wide eyes, but she just smiled.

“Yes, I'm the Avatar. You can bend both earth and air?”

She nodded. “Mommy and Daddy control the elements, so it makes sense that I can too!” She laughed at this announcement and rocked back on her bare heels.

“So, can I play with you?”

Aang couldn't help but smile. “Why don't you come with me and Sokka to Omashu? I have to learn earth-bending.”

She laughed again. “That sounds like fun! I've never been to Omashu before! My name is Kioko and it means `meets the world with happiness.' At least I think it does. I'm eleven years old.”

Aang opened his glider. “I'm Aang. Grab on, and we'll fly back to the village.”

Laughing, Kioko wrapped her arms around his waist and added her own bending to his as they launched into the air. Aang hoped Sokka wouldn't mind, but he couldn't have let the girl stay out there by herself with the Fire Nation around.

Could he?

The Fire Nation warship weighed anchor a little ways away from the Earth Kingdom market so as not to frighten the residents. A couple of fire-benders they'd allow. For them to permit a shipload was highly unlikely. So Agni and Iroh went alone.

At the gate, the two were stopped by a grizzled soldier who addressed Iroh…considering Agni was a little preoccupied.

“Such quaint building techniques, is everything made from some type of earth? I'll have to ask Mamoru next time I see him.”

Both Iroh and the soldier looked at the god strangely before returning to their conversation.

“What's yer business here, fire-bender?”

Iroh smiled gently. “My nephew and I came to do some shopping.”

“So? You and yer nephew could be plantin' blastin' jelly in my market `ere, and that I can'st allow.”

Leaning forward, Iroh carefully whispered to the soldier. “Sir, my nephew isn't quite right in the head. The healers say he doesn't have too long to live and all his life he's wanted to see the great market of Anrik.”

The soldier wiped innocuous tears from his eyes. “You two go right on in. Just don't lemme hear about you getting' inta any trouble.”

Iroh nodded and luckily Agni had heard most of his conversation and so grabbed his arm.

“Come on uncle! We have so much to see!”

And even once they were inside, Agni didn't get much better. He flitted from stand to stand with as much fervor as the retired general himself, and the merchants were happy to help them.

“Uncle! Look at this!”

“No, you come here and look at this!”

“That's handsome! It would look great with that monkey thing you have in the galley!”

“Come! Let's see if they have some woodwinds!”

“…Woodwinds? Alem help us, NO!”

“Come now, my lord, we need some woodwinds!”

“No we don't. Oh, look at that!”

Agni rather desperately pulled out of Iroh's reach but didn't need to fake seeing an interesting item for something had caught his eye across the marketplace.

He stopped at the stand, the young girl sitting behind the counter eyes him thoughtfully as he swept the golden cape into the air. She smiled at the awed look in his eyes.

“The cape is threaded and crafted to look like dragon scales, my lord.”

Agni twirled the cape around his shoulders and let it fall into place around him.

“Iroh! Look, little red dragons on the collar!”

The girl smiled as her work was admired. Iroh came up and smiled at the Fire God. She took a small gold dragon clasp with a thin chain on each side and stood, walking over to Agni.

“Here.”

She fastened each chain to each side of the cape's collar and then fastened the dragon itself to Agni's crimson tunic, and the god laughed, spinning so the cape flared out behind him.

“I love it! How much miss?”

She blushed slightly. “15 silver pieces or…2 gold?”

“Only 2? It's worth at least 4!”

But Agni placed five gold pieces in the young girl's hand.

“Sir, you gave me five!”

“No I didn't, I gave you four.” And Agni smiled at her so she knew it was all right. She blushed crimson.

“It's wonderful to meet someone nice from the Fire Nation.”

The smile faded from Agni's face. “Did you have a run-in with the Fire Nation?”

She nodded. “They burned my village not a month ago. It was about a league that way.” She pointed west.

Agni took her hand gently. “Will you take me there? Please, I must see it.”

Iroh stepped forward as the girl bit her lip, then steadied her resolve.

“Yes, I will take you there. Please wait here.”

Iroh placed a hand on Agni's shoulder. “My lord, is this wise?”

Agni sighed. “I must see what my people have done. I must.”

The girl returned to lead them around the back of the store, leaving an older man in charge of running the stand. There they found two horses, one brown, one gray, and she motioned for the men to mount. After they did so, she mounted behind Agni and pointed them in the right direction.

They rode until the sun began to set when at last the girl stopped them and slid from the brown horse's back. Agni asked what was wrong.

“I cannot go further. The memory, the grief, is still too near to my heart. I will wait. You go on.”

Agni nodded and he and Iroh continued on. They rode for barely a minute more until they merged into a clearing. The Fire God took in a sharp breath at the sight before them.

There was nothing but a blackened wasteland where a village had once stood. The remnants and rubble of what had once been houses, shops, and inns stood in ashes and soot, ghosts of what had been before.

Agni guided his horse through the emptiness with Iroh just behind him. When they reached what had once been the town square, he dismounted his horse. In the center of the square was a statue of the Earth God Mamoru, reaching his hand out in welcome.

It was barely a whisper but it echoed around the clearing.

“Iroh…I gave them this great gift…the ability to create fire…” his voice broke.

“And this is what they've done with it!!” Agni screamed, causing crows and ravens to fly from nearby as he fell to his hands in knees in the thick soot that still covered the ground.

Harsh sobs wracked his body as the pain and frustration of one hundred years took their toll on the Fire God at once. Iroh could do nothing but try to comfort the weeping deity.

“I can't stand it Iroh; I can't stand this pain, this agony. Every life that my people take I feel in my soul. It wasn't supposed to be like this when we created life. I sick of it! Sick of it all! Sick of the war, of the death it ensues! What do I do? What can I do? Oh Iroh, how could this happen to me?”

The setting sun cast an eerie glow over the world.

A deity swore he would end the folly his people had started.

A prince and a water-bender stood with a tiger cub, watching the smoke of an enemy darken the sky.

A flying bison flew over the Earth Kingdom towards Omashu with its three passengers and a single lemur.

The setting sun sent its last beams over the world, and they illuminated a Fire Nation warship, just leaving the harbor of the Fire Nation city, Kusho Di.