Avatar The Last Airbender Fan Fiction ❯ White Room ❯ Chapter 2

White Room

 

Katara opened her eyes.

 

It was instantly decided that it had been a bad idea.

 

Light burned her eyes. She closed them, then blinked them open again to adjust to the setting.

 

Should it be this light?

 

Oh, no. She was staring at fire.

 

This set alarm bells of in her head and she jumped back, careful not to touch the flame. Unfortunately, by throwing herself back like that, she ended up hitting something else.

 

And it felt more like a someone.

 

There was a cry of surprise and the sound of glass hitting rock. She turned, sure it was her attacker, and stopped.

 

“Damn it,” muttered a far-too-familiar voice. “I liked you better when you were asleep.”

 

She paled.

 

Zuko.

 

“What did you do to me?” she hissed. Because of course this was his fault. He was the bad guy after all.

 

He turned to face her, no sign of attack in his movements. He stared at her lazily, an eyebrow arched at her defensive stance.

 

“I assure you,” he said, “I did nothing.”

 

Oh, likely story. “Then why are we…” She glanced around, stopping mid-sentence.

 

“First of all, you haven't even noticed where we are. Second of all, we are here. Obviously I would not be in the same room as you at any time, if I could help it.”

 

At first the comment didn't reach her. She was too busy noticing that the room they were in was dark and damp. The only light was the fire she'd woken up beside. There were apparently no doors and no way out. But there seemed to be a stockpile of something, since barrels were stacked up against the walls.

 

“So…” She sat down, still staring at her surroundings. “Do you know where we are?”

 

“No,” he answered. “But I do know what are in those barrels.”

 

“Oh?”

 

He scooted aside to the barrel he'd already opened. Bottle stuck out, but what were they filled with?

 

“Wine,” he answered her question without her needing to ask it. “Illegal wine, by the way.”

 

“How can you tell?” She glanced at his feet, where an empty bottle rolled sadly. He had been drinking it?

 

“There's no alcohol allowed in this city.”

 

“Oh. Are you… drunk?”

 

“Not yet,” he answered, pulling out a bottle and inspected it carefully. With a tug it was open.

 

“Hey!” She grabbed it and pulled it away from him. “You can't drink that.”

 

He rolled his eyes at her. Maybe he was already drunk. “And why not?”

 

“It's not yours.” Go her. The girl who'd stolen from pirates berates a prince on manners.

 

“It's illegal wine, and not very good at that. I'm trapped in a room with an annoying Water Tribe peasant with not a hint nor explanation. I think I'm allowed something to drink.”

 

“But…” She set the bottle down just as he pulled a new one from the barrel. Suddenly she looked up at him, eyes narrowed. “Peasant?”

 

“Yes, peasant. Do you need a definition?”

 

“No I think I'm quite well-schooled in the term. I'm still uncertain what you call a prince without a country.”

 

He remained silent, merely taking a swig from the bottle.

 

The silence reigned for a full minute before Katara spoke again.

 

“Why are we down here again?”

 

“Because the gods have decided they don't hate me enough. They thought it might be funny to stick me in a room with you.”

 

It was almost a joke, she thought. “At least they gave you something to drink.”

 

“I guess I should be thankful for that. And your company is far better than some, I suppose.”

 

She smiled. She had a suspicion he was complimenting her. The bottle at her side was still open, and she brought it to her lips.

 

Well, she thought, if I'm going to spend who knows how long with Zuko, then I think I deserve a drink too.

 

“Did you start the fire?” she asked.

 

He nodded.

 

“Did you have to put it to close to me?”

 

“I was hoping you'd smell the smoke and wake up.”

 

Liar. He was probably hoping it would burn her hair off. “How did we get down here anyway?”

 

“I assume someone knocked you out and dragged you down here, robbing your person of anything of value.” He closed his eyes, as if admitting defeat. “You aren't hurt, are you?”

 

She couldn't help but grin. “Is that-”

 

“Certainly not an attempt at decency. But you're sure to blame any injury on me. I don't think I can allow any more damage to my reputation.”

 

“Psychotic prince with anger issues? I think that reputation is damaged enough.”

 

He gave a sarcastic “har har.”

 

“As long as we're checking damage,” she sighed, “You're alright?”

 

“Why would I be anything but?”

 

There was a clatter from the corner of the room and she jumped. “What was that?”

 

“A rat.”

 

Her eyes went wide. “…Rats? There are rats in this room?”

 

He raised a brow. “I saw some earlier. They're rats. I'd think you'd be more worried about our captors.”

 

“People- men- I can handle. But rats…” She shuddered.

 

He shook his head. This was a strange girl indeed.

 

There was a scuttling noise. She inched closer to him. “You'd think the fire would scare them off.”

 

He decided not to point out she had moved away from the fire, and rats had probably learned five feet from the flames would not kill them. This was proven a moment later when Katara felt something brush by her foot. With a screech she launched herself elsewhere, landing right on top of Zuko. It took her a minute to notice, mostly because in the process, she had grabbed his arm, and suddenly his sleeve and her hand were covered in red.

 

Zuko, who had not noticed this, was trying very hard not to blush. “I think you're on top of me,” he said. Maybe he was drunk. He couldn't quite think straight.

 

Katara got off of him and yanked up his sleeve. “I thought you said you weren't hurt.”

 

“No. I asked why I would be. There was no confession therein.”

 

She reached to open her gourd, giving a sigh of relief. It had not been taken from her. She still had the means to heal.

 

If she could figure out how. She'd focused her water-bending on fighting, not healing. But it wasn't hard to levitate the water over the wound, letting it sink down so the skin began to grow over. Zuko watched in interest.

 

“I think that's good,” she said, closing her flask. “Does it hurt at all?”

 

“It didn't hurt in the first place.”

 

“Good.”

 

And then, she punched his arm.

 

Oh, yes. He felt that.

 

“What the hell?!” he shouted.

 

“Next time,” she warned, “Tell me.”

 

“Dammit that hurt!”

 

“Good!”

 

They sat apart from each other now. Zuko went back to drinking. Katara picked up her bottle, wondering if it made a good club.

 

They were running out of conversation. Katara thought, allowing herself another drink.

 

“So… Inbreeding?”

 

He choked on his wine. “What?!”

 

She shrugged. “You know, to keep the blood pure and all.”

 

He was still coughing.

 

“I mean, where else do you get a princess besides the daughter of the Fire Lord?”

 

If she didn't shut up he might cough his lung out. “What—What the hell are you talking about?”

 

“Well, I think some kings did it. I can't remember all their names. We haven't had a proper history lesson in a long time. But I figure someone's gotta be doing that somewhere.”

 

“What?! No!” He threw her a look. “No! Maybe hicks in the middle of nowhere but no!”

 

She laughed. “I didn't think you'd take such offense to it.”

 

He took a few more minutes to stop his hacking. She laughed again.

 

“How are we going to get out of here?” she asked. No, it wouldn't be that bad to team up with the boy (man?) she constantly fought. Just for this.

 

He shrugged, holding out another bottle of wine. “I figured this'll give us some ideas.”

 

She eyed it another moment before taking it.

 

It was the best plan they had.

 

Notes:

I just stuck a bunch of random ideas in here. Thank rashaka for the inbreeding comment. And possibly the drunkenness. I just wanted to get them drunk.