A/N: In this fanfic Zuko arrives at the South Pole a week before Aang is found.

Chapter I: Until Death Do Us Part

It was an ordinary day on Zuko's ship. Uncle Iroh and the Lieutenant were drinking tea and having a conversation:

"I got to tell you, Lieutenant, the South Pole is a strange place, but I doubt there are going to be any signs of the Avatar here." Iroh said nonchalantly sipping his tea. The Lieutenant nodded:

"I have no idea why the prince would bring us here. This place is a frozen wasteland, there is no reason why the Avatar would be here. Furthermore, there are no benders left among the Southern Water Tribe."

Zuko who was training nearby and overheard this conversation. He approached the two and threw a death glare:

"I've been looking everywhere for the Avatar, we've been to every corner of the World. If the Avatar is not here, where would he be then?" He questioned, raising his voice.

"Nephew, don't stress yourself! Come, join us for some tea." Iroh made some room for Zuko to sit down with them.

"Uncle, I have no time for this, I am trying to fulfill my destiny and restore my honor. I have no time for your stupid tea. I need to prove to my father that I am a worthy son." Zuko slammed his foot on the ground in anger and walked away.

"We have time before we…" Iroh wanted to say but changed his mind. The Lieutenant shook his head in disapproval continuing:

"This is meaningless. The Avatar has not been seen for the last hundred years. It almost sounds like one of those false prophesies that never come true."

"Ah, but Avatar Roku did live during my grandfather's and great-grandfather's time, Lieutenant. Maybe not now, but a hundred years ago, the Avatar was an important figure." Iroh explained, to which the Lieutenant scoffed:

"Nothing but a legend now." With great skepticism, the Lieutenant sipped his tea.

"Most legends hold the truth, Lieutenant." Iroh said and looked at the blizzard that was coming to their direction from afar:

"Some legends say, that when you enter a blizzard like this, you might get a peek at your destiny in your dreams." Iroh commented. The Lieutenant looked at him with surprise:

"Have you seen yours, General?" He asked with great curiosity, putting down his tea, all his attention on Iroh.

"No, I have not. Once as a kid though, I dreamt of taking the great city of Ba Sing Se… those visions cost me dearly…" Iroh's voice shifted from sincerity to depression, the Lieutenant did not inquire further and stood to give orders to the men to prepare for the blizzard. There was still a day or two of sailing until they could reach the shore.

Zuko worn out by his thoughts and by his training went back to his chambers and lied down on his bed. He could hear the approaching blizzard. At first it did not bother him, and his mind took him back once more to a place, where it had taken him every single day since his exile a few years back: to the duel with his father, when he got the scar, that served as a mark of his dishonor and cowardice for refusing to fight his father. For the first time though, these sounds started fading in the background as he was falling asleep and were being replaced by the sounds of the blizzard. It was almost therapeutic if it was not for the cold that overwhelmed him.

The white color suddenly overwhelmed his vision. Was he awake? Was he asleep? Was he dead? He did not know, but something was not right. He could not think clearly: the blizzard was too strong and loud. When it slowly started to fade away, he found himself on an icy shore covered in snow, the blizzard subsided a little, so he managed to conjure fire that he used as a torch to see through the infinite snow.

"Uncle!" He called, but there was no response. He decided to burn his flames a little brighter. He moved forward and called again:

"Uncle!" His voice barely traveled farther. He saw someone bending the snow away, slowly but surely approaching Zuko. Their technique seemed very basic and erratic, but the person came through. It was a girl in a thick blue coat, with than skin, blue eyes and of slender build. She looked at him, there were resentment and sadness on her face. She was shivering from the cold:

"I've been here for a while now…" She said in a weak but melodic voice. "…And the person that…I meet is from the Fire Nation…"

"Who are you?! Where is my uncle?!" Zuko grabbed her by the collar in anger. It seemed to him that she was somewhat involved in this blizzard.

"I should be asking the same questions, you Fire Nation scum. Who are you? Where is my mother?" She asked the last question sarcastically, but with even more hatred than Zuko, collapsing on her knees: "Oh, that's right, your people KILLED HER *cough* *cough* *cough*…"

The girl started violently coughing and it seemed like her eyes were half-closed. At first, Zuko continued asking her the obvious questions that a lost man would: "Where are we?" "What is happening" "Where is my ship?" "Where is my uncle?" "Where and others, but the girl continued coughing even more violently. Zuko commented:

"You are not well…" He made the fire even more intense, melting the snow around him, the warmth radiated both to him and to the girl, who smirked and collapsed into the snow.

"Hey, wake up! Wake up!" Zuko tried to radiate his flames enough so she could come back to consciousness. To his relief it worked, the girl spoke:

"Find us shelter… *cough* *cough*…" She barely managed to mumble, but he understood her all too well. Zuko took the girl in his arms and frantically started looking for shelter. There had to be a cave, there had to be something around here that would protect them from this deadly blizzard. He searched for an hour or so while trying to keep this girl warm. Maybe she did not matter to him at all, maybe she was just an insect to him, but she was the only person he could find in this white inferno and maybe the only way out of it was to speak with her. It all seemed surreal to him, it did not feel like a dream, it felt like reality. Had his ship crashed here? Was he kidnaped and left for dead? Why was he in this unknown land, with unknown people? He knew that this was somewhere in the south pole, though according to the Lieutenant they still had a day or two to sail. Something did not add up. With these thoughts, he wandered and wandered the snowy wilderness, until finally stumbling on a small cavern in-between two big rocks. He immediately crawled in there. It was big enough for two people. Zuko quickly conjured up more fire as to make the interior of this cave warm, when he suddenly noticed that there was no steam coming out from the girl, she was not breathing. He panicked, he did not know how to restore her breathing. He then remembered that during his training he was shown how to resuscitate someone who was not breathing. Zuko grabbed temples:

"I can't believe I am doing this." He whispered to himself, opened the girl's mouth wide open, took a deep breath, put his lips against hers and breathed warm air inside of her lungs. It did not work on the first try, the second try or the third try. Zuko started losing hope, he decided to try one last time, before deciding that there was nothing he can do to save her. He once again breathed warm air inside of her, and suddenly felt her lips move instinctively. It felt more like a kiss than a resuscitation at that point, the girl opened her eyes as Zuko removed his lips from hers, she started coughing violently while eyeing the prince with the same resentment. After she stopped she questioned, again in her weak voice:

"What were you doing?" She was visibly shaken up and angry, but unable to do anything. She resembled a fading flower during a harsh winter.

"You weren't breathing..." Zuko answered, also calmly, blushing a little. "Now, talk, who are you? Where are we?"

The girl thought for a little while, she did not want to answer at first, but looking at the blizzard outside, looking at Zuko and having series of coughs one more violent than the other she decided to open up to him. Her situation seemed futile one way or the other. Zuko meanwhile questioned her several more times, his patience was running out:

"Tell me, now!" He demanded. She looked at him with a blank stare, sending a chill down Zuko's spine:

"There is no way out for us from this. We are destined to die here. Might as well get to know each other before we starve or die of *cough* our illness. My name is Katara… *cough* *cough*… I am from the Southern Water Tribe. I got lost when I went out to find penguins and got caught in the blizzard… I've been wandering for days with no soul that crossed my path…"

"No, I am not destined to die here…" He whispered to himself and decided to introduce himself as well:

"I am Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation…" He said quietly as the girl spat in his face.

"This is who I am destined to die with… A prince of the nation with my mother's blood on their hands… *cough* *cough* *cough*…" She finally gathered enough to yell this out, but what followed was an even more violent cough. At first, Zuko wanted to end her life, swiftly. He was insulted that she dared to speak of him like that. Then he remembered how the loss of his mother affected him.

"I am sorry, Katara." He said putting his hand on her forehead, he noticed that her fever was rising. It was not noticeable in the cold, but being exposed to the elements for days on end made her extremely ill. Mean, hile the blizzard outside was getting stronger and stronger, so he had no choice but to stay in the cave. Tears started falling out from Katara's eyes:

"You cannot bring her back, she is gone! This could not be the end… Not like this… Not with you! Is there any hope in the world? Is the Avatar going to show up to save us from your stupid war..." Before she could finish Zuko sprang up to his feet:

"THE AVATAR?! WHERE DID YOU SEE HIM?!" He screamed grabbing her by the collar. Maybe she was his path to the Avatar, maybe his destiny lied in the hands of this girl.

"The avatar is dead, calm down *cough* *cough*… I've waited for him all my life, and I do not think I will get to see him during my lifetime. So, rejoice! You won!" Katara put a stop to his tantrum, he slowly helped her lay back down. His shock turned in to embarrassment. Why was he feeling it? This girl was a nobody, and yet he started feeling shame and guilt. He tried to hold these feelings back, but they were overwhelming him.

"I've been looking for the Avatar for years…" Zuko mentioned, trying somehow to explain his sudden outburst.

"So you can catch and kill him? Is that why *cough*…" Katara glared at him with hatred. "You do not have to justify yourself, Prince. I already know that you are an evil man. You have no idea how devastating it is to lose a mother…"

Zuko stared back at her. She was fading by the minute, she was in agony both physically and spiritually, dying near an unknown man that she resents. The blizzard was stronger than ever, so there was no way he could bring her out of the cave, they would have perished right then and there. At least the cave delayed the inevitable. He decided to do the unthinkable, he took off her glove and held her hand, the girl widened her eyes, but before she could pull her hand, Zuko firmly said:

"Katara, my mother left us without giving any clue about where she was going when I was little. I have wondered ever since where she is now" Zuko teared up himself. Why was this affecting him so much? He needed to get out of that cave and find his ship and his crew to get back to his quest to capture the Avatar and restore his honor, and yet he could not bring himself to leave this girl by herself. Suddenly Katara asked him, without responding to his story:

"Why are you looking for the Avatar, Zuko?"

Zuko decided to relay to her the whole story, there was no reason why he would hold back. He decided that at least this would be enough to entertain the dying girl. He told her how he spoke out of order during the meeting of the generals to protect a division of recruits, and how his father challenged him to an Agni-Kai afterward when he thought that he was going to be challenging an old general of the Fire Nation army. How his refusal to fight his father was labeled as cowardice and dishonor. He told her that the scar given to him by the Fire Lord during the duel served as a mark of his shame.

"…My father exiled me… and said that the only way I could restore my honor is by bringing the Avatar to him…" He concluded. Katara listened to him intently, her eyes widening in surprise. She squeezed back his hand:

"I think your father lied to you… There is no Avatar, there is no hope… He exiled you for the slightest kindness that you showed in that council… My story is a little simpler. They came in looking for the last waterbender in the Southern Water Tribe, my mother claimed that she was the last waterbender, when she wasn't. It was me *cough cough*…"

They lost the track of time, telling each other about their lives and experiences. Katara coughed and wheezed, but she continued telling her stories in her weak voice, while Zuko continued to tell his. Their hands still joined together. Zuko's free hand was warming up the room. For the first time in years, Zuko was enjoying himself. He genuinely happier than he ever had despite the dire circumstances both teens were in. He forgot about his surroundings and focused on the conversation with Katara.

Suddenly Katara's coughs became more violent and it was almost impossible for her to breathe. She could not tell anything, her body was spasming. Zuko looked at her, she was quickly deteriorating. Zuko wanted to step out to see if he could manage through the blizzard, but it was impossible to see through the infinite veil of white and it had gotten much colder than before. Finally, the coughs stopped, but the expression on Katara's face frightened Zuko. It looked as though she was already a corpse that was going cold.

"I hope my gran-gran, my brother Sokka and my father are not too worried about me." She said smiling at him. With the last of her strength, she took off her necklace and put it in Zuko's hand.

"If you ever find them… Give this to them... It was my mother's necklace… I know you will… you are not as bad as I thought you were… Bury me in the snow…" After mustering these words, she went into one last violent cough and drew her last breath. Hearing those words struck a nerve in Zuko, but before he could respond, he noticed that the girl stopped breathing or moving.

"Katara…Katara…" Zuko felt that panic set in again within him. "KATARA!"

Zuko tried to resuscitate her, get her heart beating again. The first time she had stopped breathing he needed information, he needed to get out, but this time he needed her to be there with him. At that moment, he did not care about the Avatar, he did not care about his honor, he did not care about the Fire Nation. He cared about her and only her. He tried many times but to no avail. His last attempt to resuscitate her turned in to a kiss goodbye: her lips were cold. She was gone. He broke down like a child, crying his eyes out, his tears falling on her coat. It was not some fairytale that miraculously would bring her back. This was it. At that moment he was ready to give up everything just to bring her back. He felt more hopeless that he ever had in his life. After gathering his thoughts, he took her lifeless body and finally went outside the cave. The blizzard was still raging. Her words "Bury me in the snow…" rang through his ears, as he dug as deep as he could into the snow and buried her under it. He did not care for the cold, or the blizzard or his wellbeing. He wanted to keep the promises that he gave to this water tribe girl that made him feel whole for a sliver of time.

When he was finally done, he looked at the necklace and suddenly he awoke from his slumber, in cold sweat.

"KATARA!" He yelled as he woke up, his uncle rushing over to him:

"Prince Zuko! What happened?" Iroh asked looking at his nephew with utmost concern. Zuko was trying to orient himself to his environment. Was it all a dream? It felt all too real, it was impossible!

"Uncle?!" He looked at him shocked. He eyed his surroundings, he was on his ship. He looked at his hand, but there was no necklace.

"WHERE IS THE NECKLACE?" Zuko yelled looking at his hands. The prince frantically started looking for it. Iroh tried to call him down:

"Prince Zuko, you had a bad dream! You've slept for a whole day, we are approaching the South Pole." Iroh explained putting his hand on Zuko's shoulder.

"It can't be a dream! I felt it, I saw it… The cold, the blizzard, the girl… I buried her, I buried her myself…" Zuko broke down hugging his uncle. Iroh surprised about this sudden show of sentimentality.

"A girl? There, there, Zuko. It was a horrible nightmare… It might have been a prophecy of sorts. Remember not to take those too literary." Iroh said smiling. What was he talking about? Something did not add up. He knew that a blizzard might cause prophetic dreams, but not realistic visions.

"Uncle, her name was Katara, she was a girl from the Southern Water Tribe. We were in a cave… she died… I had to bury her with my hands… she gave me a necklace…I have to give it back to her relatives" Zuko teared up once again. Suddenly the lieutenant walked in and said, ignoring the scene before him:

"We've arrived at the Southern Water Tribe Village. Get ready your majesty." He said firmly and strictly.

Zuko released his uncle, rose up from his bed and nodded to the Lieutenant, who nodded back and left. Zuko was glad that this awkward moment was finally over. Iroh looked at him with concern:

"Remember, you are here for the Avatar." Iroh tried to remind him, but Zuko looked like he was in grief, as though he had lost a loved one. He knew that feeling all too well since he had lost his son. This was a bit unusual for the Prince, so the uncle told him:

"I will make tea for both of us, we can discuss your dream after we are done with our business in the village." He said cheerfully and smiling, to which he received a sad nod. Iroh again was taken aback, Zuko would have never accepted his offer, but something within him after a long sleep.

Zuko put on his armor half-heartedly. It was not his day. He was still recovering from his nightmarish vision, but he had to finish what he had planned. He could not just abandon these plans, he and his men worked hard at sailing here, it was his duty. He commanded his troops to join him as the ship approached the shore. Zuko eyed the village, the residents were already beginning to hide after witnessing their ship. One warrior was standing in front of the village, ready to fight.

"Is that all they've got?" Zuko asked the Lieutenant unenthusiastically.

"It seems so, your majesty." The Lieutenant laughed and commanded the ship to stop. Zuko and his crew departed from the ship, only to be met with this warrior attacking them. Zuko threw him to the side without much effort and marched into the village. Suddenly he felt a splash of water on his face. It felt almost like a weak whip, it was cold, but it did not affect him. His eyes widened when he saw the person who attacked him: There she was, in all her grace. The girl that he saw in that realistic vision: Katara. She looked healthy and ready to take him and his army on. It felt like a miracle or a messed-up trick played by his broken mind. He was glad that she was standing there, alive and well.

"Katara!" Zuko shouted, looking right into her eyes. He looked like a madman. The girl gasped in shock, her voice shaking:

"Z-Zuko..." She responded, with her voice shaking.

To be continued…