I am so so sorry that it took me this long to get over writer's block, I promise I'll never take a break that long again. Sorry for the inconvenience, I understand if you guys all hate me right now. Please forgive me, I am so ashamed. Please enjoy this new chapter, and thanks to all you people who reviewed- reading your comments reminded me just how much I wanted for this story. Thanks!

Zuko breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the flash of blue in the forests- they were close, almost close enough to touch. He strained his eyes for a hint of her face, anything to suggest that she was still doing alright, but as luck would have it, the trees obscured his view.

It was only hours later that they arrived at the Western Air Temple, and that he slid down a rope right after them. He gritted his teeth- he could hear Katara talking, her melodic voice carrying through the grounds and bouncing off the strange temples. He couldn't tell her he was here, not yet- the assassin wouldn't strike if he knew Zuko was there, because it was Zuko who held the purse strings. He dropped to the ground and rolled behind a statue of a monk as the group of bedraggled teens made camp, listening to them worry about their parents, about the failed invasion plan. He felt guilt burning in the pit of his stomach, knowing that it was his own father who had caused all the misery.

Katara sat staring into the fire, thinking of her father- she'd been so angry at him lately, then as soon as they had gotten things resolved, they had been ripped apart again. Stupid Fire Nation, she thought, then caught herself and shook her head, feeling a jolt of shame at the thought. Zuko was proof that not all Fire Nation was bad, even if he was conspicuously absent. Not to mention the fact that he hadn't done anything when Aang was almost destroyed, or that the half-remembered dreams she had of him were the only contact between them in what seemed like forever. Every time his face blossomed into her mind, it was a sharp reminder of her empty arms, of the fact that there were lingering doubts in her mind of his sincerity.

"I still need you," she muttered quietly. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around, seeing Aang staring back at her with his childish grey eyes. She blushed wildly, remembering the last time they had been alone together. Everyone else was exploring the temple or sitting off in the shade, but she had chosen to sit by the fire, trying to recall exactly how it had felt when Zuko's hot arms had wrapped around her. She regretted the choice now that her best friend had cornered her- he wordlessly grabbed her hand, pulling her up and around the bend to where no one else could see. "Aang-" she started, but he interrupted her.

"Don't worry Katara, I'm not going to try to kiss you again, I just want to talk." She bit her lip at the bitterness in his voice, and gently pulled her hand away from his. Before the invasion, she'd wished him good luck, and in turn found his lips against her own- fury had roared through her, and she'd shoved him away, hissing angrily. The moment it was over, she'd seen everything he'd felt in his eyes- there was love, which hurt her deeper than she could describe, and there was shame, humiliation and sadness. Nothing you can do now, she thought, and shivered.

"Look, Aang, I'm really sorry for the way I acted right before the invasion- I never meant to hurt you, or lead you on or anything, I just really… Zuko is…"

"Don't apologize, Katara." he said, and looked away from her, his shoulders drooping under the weight of the situation. "I know that you love him, but- well I want you to know that if he doesn't turn out the way you want him to, you'll have me. I can wait for you."

She swallowed the lump in her throat and twitched her fingers, desperately trying to contain her tears. "I don't know what to do. I love him, but…" she hesitated, then went on in a shaky voice, "I haven't heard from him in a while and- I just sometimes wonder if he loves me like I-" Aang whirled around, looking desperately into her eyes.

"Don't you realize that I'm the right one for you? Katara, he left you! He's Fire Nation royalty, and on top of everything else, he's hurt you so much in the past- I've been here for you. You never have to worry about how much I love you, because it's not going to change!" Wind howled around her for just a moment as his passion reached a peak, then he dropped her gaze and glared instead at the floor. She could see tears glistening in his eyes as well, and when he once again turned away from her, all she could stare at was the puckered, angry scar that Azula had left in the center of his back.

"I can't talk about this right now," she said numbly, and in seconds she was flat out running, away from Aang, away from the fury she held for the boy she loved, away from everything that tore her apart inside.

Zuko kept his breathing steady all throughout Katara and Aang's discussion, it was only when he knew they had left that he allowed himself to sink into the ground and bury his head in his hands. He should have expected that she'd been angry with him. He had known all along that he was coming back to her, but she'd had to deal with the uncertainty, and it had changed their bond. It was so much more fragile- he could tell that the little trust she'd given him had been worn away, like a pattern on a rock is worn down by waves crashing against it.

Suddenly the ground around him exploded, and he cried out, swinging himself up onto the ledge of a window as the rock crumbled beneath his feet. He heard screams and looked around wildly for the assassin, his heart beating in his throat. "No!" he roared, and propelled himself onto the next platform, running towards the sight of the large man who could explode the ground. He'd kept him from attacking so far- he cursed himself, furious that he'd gotten too caught up in the conversation between Aang and Katara to look out for the assassin. Another blast shook the ground beneath him, and he gritted his teeth as columns of stones collapsed behind him, where Katara was. A quick prayer went up to Agni as flames licked in the palms of his hands, and he was almost certain the sunshine intensified minimally at his request to keep her safe. He sprung off the rock and grabbed hold of a vine, dangling dangerously above empty space as he began to climb, hand over hand, to where the exploding man was standing.

Katara threw herself behind a pillar just as the statue she'd been taking cover under shattered in a fiery blast of rock and flames. She felt Sokka brush against her and saw Aang helping Toph up, and thanked Yue that none of the other children were out in the open. Toph was whimpering in pain, the first blast has burned the soles of her feet severely. She couldn't attack from the angle she was in, and a frantic sort of helplessness overwhelmed her. She sank to the ground as something flashed through her mind- the face of the young man she'd been unable to keep alive, then her mother's dead body.

Sokka moved from beside her and she grabbed at him, pleading with him to stop, but her voice was lost among the next explosion. She tugged his sleeve desperately, thinking, you can't leave me too, but he grabbed her wrist and looked at her reassuringly. She let go and wove water between her fingers, ready for an attack. He ducked behind a fallen boulder and surveyed the scene quickly, his eyes widening as he caught sight of something. All at once, the world went silent, and she heard a familiar shout- "No!" Sokka flung himself back to their hiding place and took his boomerang from its sheath.

"Zuko's here. He's fighting the dude who's attacking us." Katara gasped and stuck her head around the cliff just in time to see the larger man throw her beloved to the ground. He rolled and laid still, and fear stuck in her throat. She moved forward with her hands drawn out towards the fountain, and a huge wave rose up on her side. She watched as Zuko picked himself up, and just then, she saw a movement from the corner of her eye. Sokka pitched his weapon forward, watching the object fly to the side, and in a millisecond, Katara knew who he was aiming at. She flexed her fingers and flicked one out as fast as she could, creating a long, thin needle of ice. Sokka howled in outrage beside her as it deflected his attack at the last second, and the collision was enough to make it miss Zuko's head by a foot and strike the man right in the middle of his forehead. She felt her brother grab her roughly around the waist and haul her down, and she struggled uselessly, crying out and trying to see what was going on. He let her go and she bolted out into the open again, just in time to watch as the cliffside was blasted to pieces.

"Zuko!" she screamed. The whole world stopped. The smoke billowed slowly as she searched desperately for any sign that he'd made it out alive, that her sudden horrific fears were nothing more than baseless assumptions. She stepped forward, almost as if in a dream, and saw nothing but the rocks crumbling. She whispered his name, the feeling of it not registering on her numb lips. Her eyes remained focused on the ledge, though it was consumed by smoke. "Please," she whimpered.

The silence was deafening, his ears were ringing and his vision was red. He could feel that his arm was swaying over nothing, but the rest of his body was heavy on the ground. The world faded in and out in his vision, and he trembled, struggling away from the darkness. Burns covered his forearms, the evidence of how he'd escaped the surprise blast. The blow to the head had made the assassin's third eye malfunction, and Zuko had had only a few seconds of warning. He'd rolled to the edge of the cliff and hung over it, intending to drop onto the next level down- but he'd waited a second too long, and a rock had come hurtling towards him with the heat of the explosion. His fingers had slid free of the earth when the stone cracked his head, and the flames, so unlike his own fire, scorched his forearms.

He groaned and tried to lift his head, tried to roll away from the precipice he was laying on, but pain wracked his body and he only got as far as flipping over onto his stomach as the world suddenly spun and writhed like a living animal. "Katara," he groaned, and slowly began to drag himself to where she waited for him. He could feel the blood dripping into his eyes, but she was so close, she was right there, all he had to do was make it to her. A flash of red caught his gaze and he torturously turned his head to the side.

A great crimson air ship was slowly rising through the cavern, and on deck was none other than his sister. Energy surged through his body and he moved faster, desperate to keep Katara safe, even as a foreboding laugh chilled the air.

Again, sorry, and I would be honored by a review. Sorry.