Avatar The Last Airbender Fan Fiction ❯ Smile Because It Happened ❯ Chapter 21

Chapter 21

 

The woman was finally pulled away from him, the bloody knife still in her hand. His eyes focused on the woman's pale face once more and he fell to his knees, his hands pressed against the wound in his stomach in a vain attempt to prevent more of his life's fluid from seeping out. A thin waterfall of blood flowed from underneath his hands and dripped steadily onto the pristine snow, bright red against pure white. He lifted one bloodied, shaking hand toward the woman now being restrained by several Waterbenders as Katara rushed to his side, gripping him by the shoulders.

 

“…Mai…?” he gasped out. “…Wh…Why…?”

 

He didn't hear her answer as he fell onto the blood-splattered snow and lay still, the crimson stain spreading underneath him.

 

Katara's head snapped up and her attention focused solely on the woman holding the knife.

 

The knife covered in Zuko's blood.

 

Although her hairstyle was different from the usual odangoes she habitually wore, her blank, seemingly bored expression was exactly the same. Zuko's supposedly kidnapped girlfriend was obviously alive and well.

 

Mai's tan eyes didn't even blink as Zuko collapsed onto the bloody snow. Katara put her hands on his chest, feeling with her healing senses for the flow of his blood and the beat of his heart.

 

Mai shifted in the grip of the two Waterbenders who held her and the knife she had used on Zuko flew from her fingers and embedded itself in Katara's stomach, in the same place she had struck Zuko.

 

Katara was too stunned to even cry out in pain as the Waterbender guards yelled out warnings and encased the Fire Nation woman in ice to prevent further movement. However, the damage had been done: Zuko and Katara both had been stabbed, perhaps fatally.

 

Katara gazed in detached wonder at the knife's handle, which protruded from just below her breastbone, for only a moment before collapsing onto the snow as well.

 

Arnook barked orders and called for the tribe's best healers as Sokka managed to push his way through the gathering crowd to kneel by his sister, who lay on her side facing Zuko, blood seeping from her stomach to join with the blood Zuko had already lost. Firebender and Waterbender blood flowed together to create a dark, gruesome pool under their still forms.

 

“Katara?” Sokka whispered, placing a trembling hand on her shoulder and shaking her lightly. “Katara?!”

 

A group of women rushed up with several waterskins. One older woman had to forcibly pull Sokka away from his sister so the healers could do their work. Sokka stared in horrified disbelief at his sister and friend as they continued to bleed out onto the snow.

 

Sokka's expression went from terrified for his sister's life to livid as his attention shifted to the woman responsible for the unmitigated attack. He was on his feet and running for the immobile prisoner, sword in hand, screaming in pure anger and frustration as he made to run her through.

 

Another Waterbender froze the furious Warrior just as his sword stabbed into the ice cocoon enveloping Mai's body. The tip of his sword stopped just before piercing the woman's heart.

 

“Sokka, stop this!” Arnook ordered, his face grim. “More bloodshed isn't the answer.” He turned to the guards surrounding Mai. “Take her to the detainment area. I want her interrogated before we decide her sentence.”

 

As the Waterbenders left, bending the ice-encased Mai in front of them, Arnook was signaled by one of the healers.

 

“The knife was poisoned,” the old woman murmured sadly. “We were fortunate to get to them both as quickly as we did, but we can only do so much. The rest is in the hands of the spirits.”

 

Arnook glanced at Sokka, who was being restrained too far away, grieving, to hear her words. “Do not tell him,” he replied just as softly. “He will surely kill Ami for what she has done. As is his right- but I want to find out why first. If her family had been attacked by those rogue Fire Nation soldiers under Azula's command as we suspected, her reaction to Fire Lord Zuko's presence would've been expected, but to stab Master Katara? It makes no sense.”

 

The old woman nodded and turned to the healers who were trying so desperately to save the couple. “The true test for them will be tonight. If they survive the night, it will be a miracle.”

 

Arnook's expression was grim. “They are two of the most powerful benders in the world,” he reminded her. “If anyone would be able to fight the poison, it would be these two.” His eyes grew sad. “But I fear if one doesn't make it… the other would no longer try to.”

 

.o(O)o.

 

Zuko slowly opened his eyes and became aware of two things. First, his stomach hurt like hell. Secondly, he was freezing.

 

Oh, yeah. We're at the North Pole. Of course it'd be freezing.

 

He lifted a hand to his head, aware of a dull ache. A face suddenly appeared above him, blue eyes wide in surprise. “Oh, praise La! You're awake!”

 

Zuko blinked at the unfamiliar Water Tribe woman. “Excuse me?”

 

The woman called for assistance and soon the room was filled with several women- and soon, Arnook himself, a delighted and relieved grin on his face. “Back among the living, Fire Lord Zuko?”

 

Wincing, Zuko tried to sit up. A couple of the women assisted him into a reclined position with piles of furs propping him up. He glanced at his stomach, which was wrapped with white bandages. “Did I miss something?”

 

Arnook lifted an eyebrow. “You don't remember being stabbed in the stomach?”

 

Gold eyes flew wide. He didn't. “I was stabbed?” His hand drifted to his stomach. “Then… Katara healed me?”

 

The Chief's eyes grew shuttered. “Master Katara… was injured as well.”

 

Zuko felt his blood run cold. A pit settled in his stomach and he felt like he wanted to vomit. “Katara…?” he breathed. “Is she…?”

 

“She lives,” he said quietly, “but she has not awakened yet. You both have been unconscious for several days. The Avatar and your Earthbending friend arrived a few days ago and have been trying to get information out of the woman calling herself Ami.”

 

The young Fire Lord felt extremely confused and utterly exhausted, despite awakening just moments ago. “Where is Katara?” he demanded. “I want to see her!”

 

Arnook nodded, as if expecting him to say that. “She has been taken to the Oasis for healing, but she has been by your side since you were both attacked. We felt that… you two could heal better together.”

 

The doormat was pushed aside and Aang and Toph both rushed into the room- Aang leading Toph by the hand. Zuko's good eye widened slightly at the sight, but remembered Toph couldn't see on ice and attributed the gesture to Aang's sense of chivalry. “Zuko! You're okay!” Arnook smiled and exited with the healers, leaving the friends to their privacy.

 

Toph snorted as she was led carefully over to the Firebender's pile of furs and sat near his feet on a particularly thick wolf-bear pelt. “Needles should've known she couldn't take out Sparky with a measly knife. The man's survived being burned and shot with lightning, for cripes' sake.”

 

Zuko blinked at her as Aang knelt down near Toph's other side. “Mai? She's here?”

 

Aang was shocked. “You didn't know? Mai is the woman who stabbed you. Then she used the same knife on Katara.” He shuddered. “They say your blood was still on the knife when she threw it into Katara.” He took a deep breath, then continued. “She's been calling herself Ami, an Earth Kingdom refugee whose family was killed by Fire Nation soldiers.”

 

Toph nodded, her blind gaze decidedly to Zuko's right. “That's the weird thing. She's in a metal cell, so I can sense her heart rate and stuff, but she's not lying. And there's something distinctly odd about her attitude, too.”

 

“Yeah,” Aang added. “She seems… off. All she'll say is that her name is Ami and that she comes from a small village in the southern islands of the Earth Kingdom, and that her family was killed. When we asked her about Azula, or even about you, she only says that she's `happy to be here'.”

 

Azula's words drifted back to Zuko's mind. “I? I did nothing. She merely realized the error of her ways and came to me to beg my forgiveness.” 

 

He closed his eyes and groaned as he leaned back against the furs. “That bitch…”

 

“Who? Needles?”

 

“No,” he replied, gritting his teeth. “Azula. Remember she said she didn't do anything to Mai when we confronted her in the Cave of Two Lovers?”

 

“So?” Toph looked confused. “Maybe Needles finally snapped from that knife-happy emo attitude she's got.”

 

“What if she took Mai to Lake Logai and had Long Feng brainwash her?”

 

Aang smacked his forehead. “How could we be so dumb? All this time we thought she was following Azula's orders!”

 

Toph shook her head. “She still could be. Azula could've ordered her to stab Sparky and Sugar Queen. Or maybe…” Her pale green eyes turned toward Zuko, almost as if she could see him. “…she knew about your secret and wanted to make you both suffer for it.”

 

Aang frowned. “That's possible too. But which is the truth? We'll never get it out of her.”

 

Zuko stared at Aang. “Uh, Aang…?”

 

The Avatar waved him off. “I already know you're in love with Katara,” he said. “And I'm sorry for not realizing it sooner. But I made an agreement with Hakoda, and I can't go back on it. I can't break my word.”

 

Zuko blinked and caught Toph's carefully neutral face out of the corner of his eye. “Toph, did you…?”

 

“He saw you two back at your mom's tea house,” she clarified, using the same tone she used whenever she wanted to avoid an uncomfortable subject- meaning she sounded like she could care less. “But by then it was too late to stop the betrothal.”

 

Zuko heart leapt. “You… you'd give up Katara… if Hakoda would allow it?”

 

“That's not the problem,” Aang replied. “I made a promise. I must honor it. No matter… who it hurts,” he finished in a whisper, gazing almost sadly at Toph.

 

A pair of male Waterbenders entered the room, a gurney supported between them bearing the motionless form of Katara. They placed her on a pile of furs near Zuko and covered her carefully. Her eyes were closed and her tanned skin was paler than Zuko had ever seen it- and it scared him to death. “Katara?”

 

Arnook and Sokka entered the room as the Waterbenders left. “Her body is still fighting the poison, it seems,” Arnook said quietly. “This has gone on for too long. Our healers are at a loss of what to do next.” Sokka knelt down on Katara's other side, his expression shadowed in sorrow.

 

Zuko reached over and grasped Katara's hand, his heart clenching at how limp and cold it was. He held it to his chest, trying to warm it through the fire burning in his own soul. “Katara,” he whispered.

 

Aang's hands squeezed into fists, and at first, Toph though it was from jealousy, but when she touched his hand to reassure him, she realized it was because he was grieving for his friends- for Katara's coma, for Sokka's suffering, for Zuko's anguish, for his own stubbornness.

 

Zuko managed to carefully pull Katara into his arms, staring down at her as she lay limply on his chest. Reverently, he brushed his fingertips over her smooth cheek and his vision blurred. Water dripped onto her cheek- and he realized he was crying.

 

“Katara,” he whispered, “don't leave me. You're a fighter, remember? You, who has never given up on anything- don't you dare give up on me. Where's my stubborn Waterbender? Where's my arrogant Peasant who always tries to put me in my place?”

 

His voice began to break on the intense emotion threatening to overwhelm him. “You're my moon, Katara, my ocean. I want to be your sun. I want to be your sky. Our blood has already been mixed. I don't need any sage or holy man to perform any sort of fancy ceremony- you're already my wife in my heart and in my soul. And I know… if I lose you… part of me will die with you.” He wiped the tears off his cheeks, but they continued to fall regardless. “I love you. So… don't leave me, okay?”

 

“Always… ordering me… around…”

 

Eyes the color of the ocean opened slightly and slowly blinked. Her voice was rough and sounded like she had swallowed a frog-fish, but she was awake. And that's all that counted to her friends and brother.

 

“I love you, too… Zuko…”

 

.o(O)o.

 

“Avatar Aang?”

 

The young Airbender turned to see Arnook emerging from the room where Zuko and Katara were now sleeping peacefully, Toph and Sokka watching over them and quietly discussing theories about Mai. “What can I do for you, Chief Arnook?”

 

“I have heard that you are engaged to Master Katara.”

 

A pause, then Aang nodded. “I have asked her father for permission to marry her and he agreed,” he explained, “but that was out of ignorance- I did not know that Zuko was in love with her.”

 

The older man lifted an eyebrow questioningly. “And would that knowledge have changed your decision to ask for her hand?”

 

Aang pondered that seriously. “At first, no,” he conceded, “but having seen how much Katara cares for Zuko in return, I was wrong to think that she and I could be together. She was the first girl I ever loved… but I guess it's about time I grew up.”

 

Arnook clapped him on the shoulder. “And I would say you have, young Avatar. “ He took a deep breath. “However… I would like to point out that Zuko's vow a few minutes ago can be considered binding, as there were witnesses- and the tribe Chieftain present. And since Katara apparently feels as strongly toward the Fire Lord as he does toward her, I can legally declare them husband and wife.” He gave Aang a direct look. “But, as she is betrothed to you, I can only ask for your decision in regards to this matter.”