Our true destinies

The arrival

Republic city was a lot bigger than the last time I came here. The little plot of land that was once a the small town of Yu Dao was now a huge city with tons of buildings and cars. People from all four nations were there. We reached the shore and docked the fire nation boat. I stepped off the plank and took a deep breath. My nostrils burned and my lungs were burned to crisp. I coughed. 'Ugh zuko! Why is *cough cough* the air *cough cough* so....dirty?' I said, covering my mouth as I coughed.

Zuko laughed. 'Yeah, the cars run on fuel here. We're trying to solve that problem but so far, Future Industries hasn't been lucky. Plus there are quite a lot of factories here. You'll get used to it.'

We were just outside the council building when a big, red dragon landed in front of me and roared. When it had landed, the ground shook, causing me to fall back. It roared again and I closed my eyes braced myself. I waited for fire to come out of its mouth but nothing came. I opened my eyes to see zuko standing in front of me with his hand up, as if stopping the dragon. He slowly lowered his hand and laughed. I tilted my head to the side. He ran over and hugged the great beast.

'Druk! It's good to see ya, buddy!' I stood up. 'Druk?' I asked.

'Yeah....I kinda bought a pet dragon.' He said sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck.

'Wow. Super. Hey guess what? One day, I'll buy a whole pack of polar bear dogs.' I said sarcastically.

When we entered the council building, I saw toph, suki, Sokka, a few other people and-

'Aang.' I froze. He stood up from his chair, ran over to me and embraced me. I was shocked by his behavior.

He pulled away. 'Katara, where have you been? I've been worried sick! The moment I let you go, I realized I made a mistake. Please come back to me.' I hesitated. Was I ready to go back to being "the avatars girl"? That alone made her want to leave him for good.

'I...I think about it Aang.' I said as I walked around him but he grabbed my wrist. 'Katara, please. I'm begging you.' He pleaded. I pulled my hand out of his grip and walked towards my brother.

'So, why are we here?'

'Oh, just trying to solve problems here. And we had to get you out of the fire nation because the are people who remain loyal to ozai. We couldn't let you stand in such a vulnerable spot.' I turned to zuko and he looked down.

After the meeting, me and zuko sat on the steps of city hall as cars drove past us. Zuko spoke up.

'Katara, there's something I've been meaning to tell you for quite a while now.' He fumbled with his fingers. I looked at him. 'Oh?'

'Katara....ever since ba sing se, I......' he sighed. 'Katara, I love you. And ever time your out of my hands reach, it feels like there's no more hope in the world. And....as the firelord, I'm supposed to be married but, I'm not. And I have to choose a bride.'

I was speechless. I was about to answer when the doors opened behind us. We looked over our shoulders to see Aang walking towards me. 'Hey. What are you guys talking about?' Zuko quickly placed a small piece of paper in my hand.

Zuko stood up. 'Nothing important. I guess I'll be going now.' And he walked away. 

Aang smiled and extended his hand out to me, offering to help me up. Instead, I stood up by myself. 'Aang? It would be nice if you showed me where I'm staying.' His smiled vanished. 'Oh...okay.'

He showed me to my room in a small apartment. 'It's safer to hide in plain sight.' I nodded. I dug my hand in my pockets and uncrumpled the piece of paper zuko gave me. It looked like an address. Must be zukos, I thought. I walked all the way to where they would keep the firelord. In a big, red mansion. So now my life is more important than the firelords life? Smart. Real smart.

Zuko sat on the steps of his mansion. He noticed me walking up to him and his face lit up. He stood and walked towards me. 'Zuko, can we take walk?' I asked.

'In the middle of the night? Ummm....sure but it can get very dangerous.' I rolled my eyes and poked him. 'Says mister sitting-all-alone-outside.'

We walked in the middle of the empty streets. 'So...what's on your mind katara?'

I took a deep breath. 'What you told me this afternoon.' Before he could react, I continued. 'The truth is...I love you too. And my hand always tingles for you. I just can't help myself sometimes....and...you need a fire lady?' I confessed. He was smiling and looked at me. He reached into his pocket and pulled something out. I gasped. 

A betrothal necklace? 

'Zuko....I....' I started but he interrupted me. 'Katara. Try and remember that this isn't anything about politics. This is about my love to you and for everything we've been through together. We may have been young and didn't realize it, but I loved you. I still do. And there isn't a single person in the world who can replace you. Ever.'

I smiled. 'Zuko. I was going to say yes.' I said before my body took over and kissed him. There was a spark and i knew we both felt it. I pulled away after a while, turned around and lifted my hair up. Zuko removed my mothers necklace and put on the navy blue ribbon with a red and teal pendant in the shape of yin and yang.

'How long was this in your pocket?'

'Since you came to the fire nation.'

I cupped his face with my hands. He grabbed my arms and leaned forward. I slowly closed my eyes. Before our lips could touch, zuko was pulled away from me. I opened my eyes to see people in black holding him down.

'Zuko!' I said as I waterbent the water out of my pouch and water whipped one of them as they tried putting zuko into a truck. But before the whip made contact, the person extinguished it by evaporating it. I didn't have any other power source and it wasn't a full moon. I was doomed. I ran to the truck that started moving away but failed. I felt tears forming in my eyes as I ran after the truck. It was too fast. It swerved around the corner and disappeared.

'Zuko....NO!' I said, falling to my knees and touching the necklace he gave me.

'No....'