A/N: Sorry for the delay! Life has been… life. Also, what I thought would be one chapter has turned out to be two. Anyway, enjoy!
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Sozin's Comet, Part 4 – Zuko's collapsed after intercepting Azula's lightning meant for Katara
The ground burned, and Zuko was right in the middle of it. Katara sprinted toward him. That one moment, that endless moment where lightning met flesh and it was meant to be hers, that moment was when all her conflicted feelings crystalised into certainty. She had to heal him. Fix him. Put the world to rights again—her part of it, anyway.
The world flashed before her. She barely blocked the first bolt of lightning, and dodged the second. Damn it. Azula. The girl was unhinged, anyone could see that, but unhinged didn't mean weak. If anything, she was more aggressive and more unpredictable.
Her cackling laughter echoed through the grounds, but not loud enough to drown out Zuko's groan. "I'd really rather our family physician look after little Zu-Zu, if you don't mind."
Katara hesitated, but she was already too far from him to change direction. And Azula was already readying another bolt, the energy hissing and crackling at her fingertips. No choice. Despite her instincts demanding otherwise, she sprinted further away from Zuko, toward the long gazebo where the poles could provide cover.
Azula's blasts pursued her, but couldn't keep up. Now there was a creature reduced to nothing but feral instinct. Katara ducked as flames hit the pole she sheltered behind, but the flames passed harmlessly around it. She risked a glance back at Zuko's prone body, her heart clenching tight within her.
Azula stood triumphant on the roof of an adjoining gazebo. "Zu-Zu, you don't look so good."
He couldn't last much longer without healing. No human could take that much raw power and survive. How long would this fight with Azula last? If the so-called 'Fire Lord' was even a shadow of her former self, it could be hours. Zuko would be gone by then. Gone, beyond of her reach, beyond the words that welled up inside her.
You are my guiding flame in the mist. You illuminate the darkest parts of my soul, and accept them.
If she surrendered to Azula now, begged for mercy, perhaps Azula would let her heal Zuko. At the very least, it meant that healers could be summoned immediately. Azula launched another explosive bolt, and Katara leapt for the safety of another pole.
But if she surrendered—and if Azula wasn't already too unhinged to accept it—that psychotic piece of work would be Fire Lord. The citizens of the Fire Nation didn't deserve that. The world, already strained from this war, would buckle under that, and shatter even more.
Azula had to be defeated, no matter the cost. No matter if the flame was snuffed out and Katara's heart consigned to a cold, lightless void.
Stay alive, Zuko.
Time to show Azula the power of a Waterbender.
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A/N 2: Back to the fight! Watch iiiiiiiiiiit. Badass Katara is badass.
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The moment Azula was secured, Katara sprinted to Zuko's prone form. Be alive, be alive, be alive!
He groaned as she approached, soft and weak but it meant he was still conscious. Still breathing. It was the most beautiful sound she'd ever heard. She knelt beside him on shaky legs, and turned him onto his back as gently as she could.
The lightning had left a pulsing wound, red and raw, in the shape of a star. Zuko's comet, flaring from him in that brief blazing brilliance of lighting, now contained within him once more. Drawing the water from her flask, she began the healing. There was so much damage beneath that wound, internal damage hidden deep within.
She redirected his chi to the worst of the damage, but it felt like too little, too late. He was all ripped up, and she could only do so much at her current level of expertise. Why hadn't she focused more on healing instead of fighting when she was at the Northern Water Tribe?
Fight, dammit! Don't leave me!
Then Zuko winced, and let out a gasp. His eyes fluttered open to meet her gaze, and she could feel his sluggish chi stirring under her hands, fighting to repair the injuries. Fighting to stay.
He searched her face, staring intently as though he was etching every part of it into his mind. "Thank you, Katara."
His words were no more than the breath of a whisper, but she heard them as loud as a voice ringing from the hilltops. He would make it. He would, because in his eyes was a promise—and, a question.
The mistiness in her eyes solidified into tears, rolling down her cheeks and splashing into the pool of water she held over his wound. She'd guided his chi as much as she could, and the rest was up to him now. "I think I'm the one who should be thanking you."
Because this time, you stayed.
She helped him push himself upright, grunting against the pain. And she decided she wasn't waiting any longer. No more denying, no more delaying. Because in this uncertain world, who knew how much longer any of them had left?
She leaned in and kissed him.
He kissed her back.
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Sozin's Comet, Part 4 – Zuko is in his palace dressing for the crowning ceremony
Zuko stood at the railing of his bedchamber in the royal palace, gazing at the charred ruins of his city. His people were still hurting, but at least now they could begin to recover.
Like me. The wound on his torso, while bandaged, tugged painfully as he pulled on his robe for the crowning ceremony. His stomach twisted at the reminder of what was ahead. Even if his father had been a terrible leader, he'd still left some very big shoes to fill and Zuko wasn't sure if he could do it. He forced one hand through the robe, and the room echoed with his irritated growl.
"You need some help with that?"
He froze at the voice, then turned slowly to find Mai leaning against the doorframe. How exactly did one face an ex-girlfriend you'd insulted, locked up, and then left to her fate when she saved your life?
He opted for surprise. Hopefully it wouldn't be followed by a stiletto to the heart. "Mai! You're okay!" Despite the guilt that gnawed at him, he added, "They let you out of prison?"
She smiled. That was a surprise. She never smiled unless—
He hastily wrapped his arms around his torso, eliciting a yelp of pain. She let out a huff of laughter, but took her hands out of her sleeves to show she was unarmed.
"My uncle pulled some strings," she said, walking right past him to the railing where she looked out over the city. "I wasn't serious about helping you, by the way. I just wanted to see how you'd react… and your little girlfriend, though I guess she hasn't come by yet."
"She's not my—" He stopped the instinctive reply, corrected it. "She's probably with Sokka and her dad. I'll see her after the ceremony." He watched her nervously. "Does this mean you don't hate me?"
Mai turned around. "I think it means I'll no longer be defined by our relationship, or by my relationship to anyone else."
While her face was expressionless as always, there was steel in her words. This was no longer the bored girl who thought the world meaningless. This was someone who would go out and find her place in it.
He smiled, though he kept his arms around his torso just in case. "I'm happy for your, and if there's anything you need, well, lucky your old friend is the Fire Lord."
She strode toward him and while he didn't exactly back away, he might have shrank into himself just a little bit. But she didn't stab him, or even elbow him. Instead, she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.
Drawing away, she winked at him and pointed at the door. "Your girlfriend's here."
That was definitely a smirk on her face as she swept past him and left the room. He sighed as he turned to face yet another girl who had every right to be mad at him.
"Katara."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "I spend some time away from you with my family, and come back to find you canoodling with your ex-girlfriend?"
That was completely unfair. "She canoodled me! I was an innocent bystander!"
Katara buried her face in her hands, shoulders shaking. He stepped forward, unsure of what to do or say, but he was damned if he'd let her cry over a terrible misunderstanding. Then a snort escaped from her hands, and he realised she was trying to hide her laughter.
He flung a small gout of flame at her, which she deflected with an easy wave. "She canoodled me!" she said, imitating his outrage, and this time her laughter rang out through the room.
Glaring at her had no effect, and he was forced to wait until she let it die away. "Very funny."
"Aw, the poor little Fire Lord is getting pouty."
He made a disgusted sound. "Now you're starting to sound like Toph."
But, he realised as he attempted to catch her and exact some form of revenge, his stomach had at some point untwisted itself. Wrapped in the all-encompassing mist that was Katara, he could blaze like the beacon his nation needed. He could lead his people forward knowing that if he ever strayed, she would help him find his way home again.
Eventually, he resigned himself to the fact that he was never going to catch her—at least, not with this wound and his robes flapping all over the place. Even without them, he doubted he'd catch her. He held his hands in the air. "I yield!"
She crowed in triumph, and the sound made his heart leap. Her eyes glinting with pleasure, she came to him and kissed him on the other cheek. "Now it's even."
Then she helped him into his gown. "I heard you talking to Mai, so I waited. You needed to clear up everything between you." She tied the sash around his waist. "But you should still make it up to me for that kiss." Leaning in, she added, "With interest."
He didn't need to be asked twice. Wrapping one arm around her waist, he drew her in.
This time, one kiss wasn't enough.
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A/N 3: I nearly made this the last line: It turned out that when fire met water, things got steamy.
Sorry not sorry.