Steam ::: Chapter 9

ZUTARA FANFIC. **Warning: There is no warning!!



Katara ran down the hall fighting back her angry tears to no avail. She wasn't sure what she was more upset about—the fact that he accused her of liking his stolen kisses, or the fact that he insulted her by saying that he thought of Mai every time they kissed.

The Fire-nation prince soon caught up with her and he reached out, grabbing her arm. “Katara!” he yelled. She spun around swinging, but he caught her arm. Her face was wet with tears and her eyes furious. Zuko swallowed hard as he looked over the waterbender’s face, only remembering now that he hadn't thought of anything to say. She jerked her arm back, trying to break free of the firebender’s grasp.

“Let go!” she screeched, “Let go of me!”

Zuko quickly released the girl, causing her to stumble a little, as though she wasn’t really expecting him to let go. He lowered his head, a solemn look on his face. Once she regained her balance, she quickly wiped away at her face with her sleeve—she hated how many times he caught her crying. The firebender reached a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Look, I... I don’t know,” Zuko muttered. The waterbender glared up at him, a few stray tears left behind on her cheeks.

"You don't know what?" Katara snapped, "You don't know why you're such an ass? I don't know why, either."

“I don’t know why I kissed you,” Zuko muttered.

"Twice," Katara added angrily.

The firebender lifted his golden eyes to meet hers. "Twice," he repeated quietly. Katara’s eyes softened and her heart began pounding in her chest. The two stood quietly for a moment. "Katara, I—" She took a step toward him, when an explosion down the hall interrupted. They both turned to watch the prayer room doors blow open with a blast of flames and there was only one person it could be.

Zuko clenched his fists and drew in a deep breath. Azula ran out into the hallway just as Zuko bended a massive, tumbling wall of flames down the corridor. Not waiting to see if she reversed or blocked the attack, the two benders fled down the hall, not sure where they were going—or what to say to one another.

The waterbender snuck a glance at the prince. She opened her mouth to try and say something, but Zuko cut her off. "Let's try this way," he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her into a sudden turn down a stone stairway. Zuko peeked back at her, releasing her hand as they continued down the dark stairwell.

Katara was so confused. It almost seemed as though he was trying to apologize. In the span of a few minutes, the firebender had insulted her, but also saved her and protected her—leaving her reeling. "Zuko…" she started, although she wasn't sure of what she to say. It seemed like things were always constantly going back and forth with him, with them. She slowed to a stop half-way down the stairwell and asked the only question that seemed to stick out clearly in her mind. "…Why do you keep protecting me?" she asked. Zuko slowed down while taking the last few steps of the stairway to listen. "I was going out of my way to be mean before," she admitted, rubbing her arm. His shoulders tensed up and he continued down the steps at a walking pace.

"Well, actually, I always go out of my way to be mean to you," she added quietly. She looked away from him for a moment and drew in a breath. She allowed her eyes to drift back to him and she caught a glimpse of his reddened cheek. “...I shouldn’t have slapped you," she apologized.

Zuko stopped at the bottom of the stairway. He reached up, lightly touching his face and realized his cheek still felt warm. He dropped his hand away from his face. “It’s okay. I deserved it.” He stood there, his shoulders slowly moving up and down with each breath he took. Katara stood half-way up the steps, watching him breathe. Feeling confused, slightly angry, and awkward, Katara sighed. She started down the steps, stopping when she noticed the prince turn his face towards her. “And well—” he began. The firebender turned away as though he couldn't say the next part to her face. “I’ll always protect you,” he replied quietly, “Because... I would never want to see anything bad happen to you.”

Katara drew in a quick breath, her heartbeat quickening.

“Y-Y'know… For Aang’s sake,” he added hastily.

Katara’s fluttering heart slowed and she nodded. “Oh. Yeah. O-Of course,” she stammered, “I mean, we hate each other so that makes... sense.” Zuko whirled around, his eyes wide. He stared up at her earnestly from the bottom of the stairs.

"I don't hate you, Katara."

Katara felt her heartbeat speeding up again. Zuko’s expression was genuine, his eyes never leaving her face. The waterbender looked away, laughing nervously with this newfound information. “Hah, it's okay Zuko. We were enemies for so long,” she said, ignoring his sincerity, "It's fine to admit it. I mean, I definitely hate you." Zuko winced—he already knew that she hated him, but it was hard to hear her say it so plainly. Katara forced another laugh—as if it were something to laugh at. The firebender took a few steps up the stairs, until his eyes were level with hers.

"I don't hate you, Katara," he repeated. "I never have."

Katara blinked, her head starting to spin. Her face felt like the prince had set it on fire. "O-Oh," was all she could manage to breathe out. Zuko quickly realized he was staring—and looked away uncomfortably. His thoughts involuntarily drifted to Mai and he began to feel guilty and angry with himself.

"But... that doesn't mean I like you. I just... don't hate you," Zuko mumbled awkwardly, turning to descend back down the stairway. Katara stood frozen on the stairs, trying her best to interpret the firebender's ever-conflicting words. Her heart felt like it was going to burst out of her chest. She reached up and rested a hand on her mother's necklace, as she sunk into her thoughts. Staring at the back of Zuko's head, she wondered how differently things could have been if they didn't meet under the circumstances they did. The prince turned and looked back at her. "Come on, we should really keep moving," he urged. Katara quickly snapped out of her thoughts and with a nod, she hurried down the last of the steps. The two of them wandered down the dark corridor together in silence.

Hearing footsteps and conversation up ahead, Zuko and Katara hurried toward the familiar voices.

Aang, Toph, and Sokka came running towards them when they spotted them, and Zuko watched as Aang pulled Katara into a hug. The embrace lingered as Katara closed her eyes, resting her head comfortably on Aang's shoulder. Zuko frowned, Katara very obviously had feelings for the airbender, but she denied him being her boyfriend. A feeling similar to jealousy nipped away at him.

Suddenly Sokka was standing in front of the Fire-nation prince, furiously thanking him (over and over) for getting his sister to them safely. Zuko shrugged in response. He found it odd that Sokka was thanking him, when it was Katara who came to help Zuko, and he likely wouldn't have escaped without her. The thought stuck in the firebender's mind. When the castle was under attack, she was the first one to come find him. He felt his face grow warm, as he snuck another glance at the waterbender over Sokka's shoulder. Toph had joined the waterbender and airbender, so Katara was no longer in Aang's embrace. The three of them were just out of ear shot, but suddenly, Aang was blowing on his airbison whistle, calling Appa back to them.

Zuko assumed Katara must have told him about Azula.

"So what happened to you guys? We got to your room and I heard Katara call out... but some Fire-nation soldiers came around the corner so we had to fight them off first," Sokka explained. His eyes darted back and forth between the firebender and waterbender. Sokka added, "When we got into the room, we saw the war balloon smashed through the wall, but no one was inside."

"It's Azula. She's here. I think she must've followed or tracked us back here from the prison," Zuko replied solemnly. Sokka turned to Aang to relay the information, who waved his airbison whistle at him, letting him know Appa was on the way. Sokka turned back to Zuko, going into another round of very grateful "thank you"s.  

Katara scoffed and mumbled something about not needing the firebender's protection, but no one heard—or was listening. The group reached the zen gardens, located at the top of the Western Air temple—lucky for them, the managed to avoid running into more soldiers or Azula. A few tense minutes passed until they saw Appa in the distance, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.

They sat together atop the large wooden saddle of the bison, silence washing over them as they flew away from the temple towards the rendezvous point in the Fire-nation forest. The sun was high and bright in the sky. Aang and Sokka sat together toward the front of the saddle, Aang guiding Appa while Sokka navigated. Zuko and Katara sat as far away as they could from one another, their gazes fixed in separate directions. Toph sat beside Zuko, resting her arms and head over the side of the saddle.

Zuko stared at the sparkling waters of the sea as the grassy cliff came into view. There were a few tents set up right along the tree line. "There! There they are!" Sokka called out excitedly. Aang guided Appa in the direction of the campsite and Sokka whistled. "Suki!!" he called down.

Toph flinched at the sound of Suki's name coming out of Sokka's mouth. She felt her stomach churn and she held her breath, trying to block the image of Sokka and Suki running to one another. She squeezed her pale green eyes shut. As her mind imagined their lips pressing together, she felt like she was going to be sick.

Zuko noticed the strained look on the earthbender's face and nudged her a little. "Hey, uh.. you okay?" he asked hesitantly. "You're not going to get sick, are you?" Toph tensed up, surprised with Zuko's concern, but quickly relaxed—glad to have a distraction.

"Nah... I'm just never going to get used to this flying stuff," the blind earthbender muttered miserably. Nearly on cue, Appa took in a deep breath, a low growl rumbling through them as he exhaled.

"Gotta say, flying on the back of an airbison is an adjustment," Zuko said, "Whether you can see or not."

Toph smiled toward the firebender. "It doesn't help that I gotta take a dump," she added, resting her head back onto her arms. Zuko blinked in surprise and did something that had even caught himself off guard.

He burst into laughter.

Everyone turned and looked at him in a state of shock, but he didn't notice. Toph immediately joined in with his laughter, the sound of her snorting making him laugh harder—the tiny girl was hilariously crude. No one ever spoke that way around him. So, immature or not, he laughed.

Katara's face flushed and Sokka frowned a bit as Toph and Zuko laughed together. The two Water-tribe siblings felt a small, unexpected bit of jealousy run through them.

Zuko's laughter started to wind down, but bubbled back up as he glanced around at Aang, Katara, and Sokka's faces. He didn't know why, but he found their serious expressions hilarious in this moment.

The Fire-nation prince has fought with them all on multiple occasions, trying his absolute best to hurt them—and them trying their best to hurt him—only for them to narrowly escape again and again, usually atop the airbison he rode on now. The path of his life has strayed so far from what he felt his destiny was. His life was so different from what he'd ever planned or imagined for himself, it was comical.

Zuko was the successor of a nation that started a war with the world over 100 years ago, mostly due to an inflated sense of superiority and desire of power. Then, the prince was raised to hate waterbenders and earthbenders alike, he was raised to feel pride within himself and his people for the successful genocide of airbenders. But, most of all, he was taught to hate the Avatar, as he was the "greatest threat" to the Fire-nation. Zuko laughed at the fact that he'd spent most of his life completely misguided and insanely brainwashed—desperate for acceptance. In the years following his father's lesson, Zuko spent so much energy training for, and in pursuit of, finding and capturing the Avatar.

And now, most hilarious of all, he has betrayed his own father, his own nation, and become the Avatar's firebending teacher. Zuko was helping Aang overthrow his father, his sister, and the Fire-nation as a whole. It was the right thing to do, but when he compared it to his upbringing—it was too much.

Zuko's laughter whittled its way into a cough as Toph elbowed him in his side.

"Hey, who knew you had a sense of humor?" she chuckled. Zuko winced a little at the sharp little elbow prodding his side. His eyes eventually landed on the waterbender, who had a curious look on her face—one that Zuko couldn't decipher. The firebender could've sworn Sokka was glaring at him, but the Water-tribe warrior looked away too quickly to say for sure. "Y'know, you're okay in my book, Zuko," Toph said, "I mean, it's not everyday you find a prince that can appreciate my sense of humor." He half-smiled at the blind girl and appreciated her ability to be so authentically herself.

Getting over the initial shock of hearing Zuko laugh—Aang began to chuckle. "Man, I wish I could've been a part of that conversation," Aang laughed. Katara forced herself to smile—he had no idea how badly she wished she heard was what was said to make Zuko laugh that way.

Appa landed in the clearing near the cliff's edge. As soon as the beast's massive feet touched the Earth, Sokka and Katara were scrambling past each other to climb out of the saddle, and away from their jealous feelings. Aang, on the other hand, smoothly spun into the air and floated down to the ground after them. Zuko bit back the annoyance her felt at Katara's haste and threw his leg over one side of the wooden saddle to climb down after them.

It was then that the prince noticed Toph hadn't moved at all. "Oh. Uh.. do... do you need help down?" Zuko asked hesitantly, not wanting to insult her. Toph shook her head, her face suddenly serious. Unsure what was going on in her mind, Zuko nodded and quickly realized that she couldn't see him. "Alright, I'll see you down there then."

Zuko's feet touched the ground and he shifted the thick leather strap of his bag to the center of his chest. He watched as Sokka and Suki kissed and embraced upon meeting. He wrinkled his nose as Katara and Aang walked over to Hakoda together, all smiles. Teo, the Duke, and Haru emerged from the forest carrying fruit and firewood before they rushed over to greet them. Momo flew over head, chattering loudly and eventually landing on Aang's shoulder. All smiles, laughter, and excitement—as if they hadn't all narrowly escaped a dangerous situation.

Or maybe that's why they all smiled. Either way, Zuko grunted at the happy little scene. It might have been jealousy, or negative self-talk, but it made him feel like he would never fully fit in with the group. He glanced up at the airbison, noticing the earthbender was still seated in the same spot. "Uh... Toph?" Zuko called out, "You coming?" He felt strange calling her by her name, but he supposed that was only because he never really called her anything. He would never say this out-loud, but he barely knew Toph existed before he joined the group.

"Are they gone?" she asked flatly.

Zuko glanced over as everyone walked further away, getting their things out to set up camp. "Yeah, they're at the tree line, getting ready to set up camp," he confirmed.

Instantly, Toph jumped down, landing next to the Fire-nation prince. "Finally," she muttered. The firebender looked at her curiously. She wiggled her toes and rubbed her feet into the earth, smiling. "Yep. Feels good to be able to see again," she said happily.

Zuko shifted the strap of his bag again. "Come on," Zuko said, "We should go get set up and settled in with everyone."

"Ugh, do we have to?" Toph whined half-jokingly. Zuko chuckled a little. He had never really spoken to Toph much. It was nice to know he wasn't the only negative person that existed. It was hard not to feel that way being around Aang and everyone else all the time.

"Unfortunately," Zuko said, smirking a little.

Toph sighed as the two of them begrudgingly trudged toward the group. Zuko's thoughts began swirling around with what happened between him and Katara at the temple. Toph swallowed down the lump in her throat as she thought about Sokka and Suki. Neither of them vocalized it, but somewhere deep down, they desperately wished that they could climb back up on Appa and fly away from it all.