❃ Waking Up ❃
Below the palace was an ancient part of the city where earthbenders had mined glowing crystals and precious metals for ages. Nowadays, this underground tunnel system was known as the 'Ba Sing Se catacombs'. It was the perfect place for the Dai Li to keep prisoners and hold private meetings. Today, the function of the catacombs was the former.
Two Dai Li agents dragged Keya's unconscious body to a hidden entrance. One of the two men shifted into an earthbending stance and forced the rocky entrance to slide open. They looked down a long tunnel that went from the palace basement all the way to the depths of the catacombs. Without any care for their prisoner, they kicked her body down the tunnel before closing the entrance again.
Keya landed on the stone floor with a rough thud! Had she been awake, the young woman would have surely groaned at the sensation. However, her voice kept silent in her sleep. Keya was not alone in the catacombs. Not long after having noticed the disruption in the catacombs' neverending gloom, a stranger clad in blue clothing came running to see what had happened.
Katara gasped at the sight of the tea server she had met only a day ago. She walked up to her limp body and inspected the girl for any signs of life. The shallow breaths that escaped Keya's lips were the only signs that Katara could find, much to her worry. In the meantime, Keya's tired body kept trying to heal her new cuts and bruises while she slept, but the process was tough and slow.
"Jun?" Katara whispered carefully, hoping to wake the girl up without startling her. The pseudonym that the Earth Kingdom girl had used during her stay in the big city did nothing to rouse her.
After waiting for an extended moment, the Water Tribe girl decided that there was probably a wound of some kind that was preventing her from waking up. She gently turned Keya's head to get a better look at the unconcious girl's state.
Ah, there it was.
A large cut presented itself on Keya's temple. The blood surrounding it was fresh, but quickly starting to dry. If only she'd had some water on her, Katara grumbled to herself, then she would have healed this in no time.
"Hang in there, okay?" Was all she could do and say for now. "I'll try to find us a way out of here."
The blue-clad teenager walked around aimlessly, looking for a way out- when suddenly, a loud rumbling startled her. Without any hesitation, she got into a defensive stance in front of Keya.
The long tunnel was being opened up again. Two new Dai Li members held down a third person clad in brown tea serving clothes. Despite being dressed as a typical Earth Kingdom native, the tea server looked nothing like his supposed kin. His hair was dark as charcoal and his golden irises sparked like heated embers. His skin was pale, save for a nasty scar on the side of his face.
"You've got company." The corrupt guards joked, before dropping the prisoner in with the waterbender and her tea server acquaintance.
The third prisoner grunted and yelped as he fell down the tunnel.
Katara looked onto the newcomer with surprise. Yes, she regconised him instantly. Hatred and fear bubbled up from her gut and twisted into a single name that forced itself out from between her chapped lips. "Zuko!" As soon as she had said it, she gasped as if saying his name had burnt her tongue and left her lungs constricted painfully. Then, a more ferocious look took over her face. This was it. This was a guy who attacked her village and tried to kidnap her friends! He was the one who stole her mother's necklace!
As the waterbender went through her blaise of fury, Zuko's eyes spotted someone familiar. His lungs constricted similarly to Katara's. However, the pain wasn't caused by his anger (for once), but by something much more serious. "Keya!"
Her real name sounded so beautiful when his voice spoke it. His strange Fire Nation accent somehow curved around the letters in a way that sharpened and blessed her name at the same time. It was too bad that she didn't hear him. Surely, the worry and affection that dripped from this one name would have warmed her heart enough to give her the energy of a thousand suns. But she didn't wake up.
The concerned Prince stood up to go over to his lover, but Katara intervened. The girl stood over Keya and held her arms out, like a saber-tooth moose lion mother in front of her yelping young.
"Don't you dare hurt her." She growled.
Zuko sighed and checked on Keya's sleeping form from a distance, before looking back up to Katara. "I'm not going to hurt her, she's my..." His hesitance was brief, but noticable to the Water Tribe girl. "Please, we're close. I just want to check up on her."
Katara squinted her eyes and started pacing in front of Keya's body. She had seen them work together, so his statement wasn't too crazy. But he was the Prince of the Fire Nation! He was evil as could be! Surely, he had to have some trick up his sleeve? She couldn't risk the life of this innocent girl...
Still, something seemed... off about the nasty Prince. Here he was, helpless and beat-down. This was her chance, the one moment she had been waiting for. Or was it a trap? Had he worked together with his sister to lure the Avatar to the catacombs? She needed to find out his plan as soon as possible!
"Why would I trust you? Is this another one of your schemes? Why did they even throw you in here?!" She stopped pacing for a moment. "Oh, wait- let me guess, it's a trap! So that when Aang shows up to help me, you can finally have him in your little Fire Nation clutches!" Katara stopped to take a breath and pointed her finger at Keya's still body on the rocky ground. "All I need to figure out now is how she fits into all of this."
Zuko wanted to plead his case and drag Keya back himself, but he stayed where he was as he tried to control his breathing and keep the temperature in his fists cool. The Water Tribe girl was not worth his anger.
"I just need to check up on her." Was all he said instead.
Once it became clear that she wasn't about to get a more elaborate reply, Katara continued her angered rant. "You're a terrible person, you know that? Always following us, hunting the Avatar, trying to capture the world's last hope for peace?! But what do you care," she grumbled, "You're the Fire Lord's son. Spreading war and violence and hatred is in your blood. I'm sure that this situation is no exception."
This time she had crossed a very personal line, personal enough to encourage a stronger reaction. Zuko's eyes focused on Keya. His chest moved up and down rhythmically as he used his breathing technique to stay in control of the fiery rage that was bubbling up beneath his skin. He could physically feel the heat in his pores. Oh, how his body tempted his mind to firebend, but he controlled himself.
"You don't know what you're talking about." Zuko rasped as the tickling heat of anger spread through his body. He had to be careful now, for his breathing technique would not calm him for much longer. As a matter of fact, his lungs seemed to only fuel his power. This wasn't too surprising, of course.
Air always fans the flames of fire.
Keya groaned softly from her position on the stone floor. She adjusted herself in her sleep, turning her head away from the harsh light of the catacomb crystals that littered the caves. The smeared blood on her temple now clearly presented itself for the Prince's golden eyes to see. His eyes narrowed and his brows frowned at the curse that kept his lover unconscious. It looked worse than he had expected. Stay calm. Stay calm. Stay calm.
In the meantime, Katara had processed his last words with a baffled sense of offence. "I DON'T?!" She gasped and stepped forward. "How dare you! You have no idea what this war has put me through. Me, personally! The Fire Nation took my mother away from me." Tears streamed down the girl's cheek, her hand touching her beloved necklace with grief. She collapsed onto the ground and held her face in her slender hands as she wept for her deceased mother.
Her pain was a kind of grief that Zuko knew all too well. His attention focused on the Water Tribe girl, whose sobbing never ceased in the meantime. A mix of pity and empathy overtook him. She was around his sister's age. He wondered if Azula had ever cried over their mother like this.
"I'm sorry." It was the only thing he could think of. Katara sobbed softly in the background while the Prince revealed his own share of trauma. "That's something we have in common."
Keya coughed and tried to sit up. She found the action harder than anticipated, but thankfully, her speech had not been harmed by the nauseating blow she had received to the head. "Yeah... make that the three of us."
"Keya!" Without any hesitation, Zuko ran over to the injured young woman and scooped her up in his arms gently. Katara didn't stop him this time. He inspected the wound on her temple more closely now. It wasn't as bad as it looked, but that didn't stop the guilt from tugging at his heart and stomping on his stomach. "Oh, no... What have I done...?"
"You left me behind so you could pursue your evil sister, you idiot." She smacked his chest weakly. Keya's grey eyes darted around the catacombs. When she realised where they were, she frowned. "Seeing as we're both in some sort of prison, I assume that your plan didn't work?"
"I'm sorry." Was all the Prince said as he embraced her tightly. Despite her scolding, Keya's arms wrapped around his frame with equal passion.
It was through this embrace, that Keya suddenly noticed the familiar Water Tribe girl behind him. She recognised the girl from when they had spoken back at the tea house. Katara looked slightly disturbed at the sight of her enemy hugging the girl.
"Wait a minute..." Katara gasped with disgust. "You guys are together?!"
Zuko flinched and turned his face toward her. It was a comical sight; both teens stared back at Katara with wide eyes and bright red faces.
The fourteen year old cringed. "I can't believe it!" She turned to Keya. "How could you fall for someone so evil!" Her eyes shifted to the 'evil' Prince himself. "And how could you of all people convince someone to like you?!"
Keya released Zuko and stood up (with his help- which didn't go unnoticed by the waterbender). She regained her breath from the strain, before opening her mouth to speak. "People aren't always as they seem, Katara. I've seen Zuko travel down a better path since I've met him. We've known about the Avatar's presence in the city for a while now, but he has abstained from attacking you, has he not?" She gave Zuko a stern look, but the young man nodded earnestly. He hadn't.
The young waterbender felt like she was being scolded by her mother. It was a foreign sensation to the girl. Seeing someone defend her lover with such passion was a romantic sight and it would have made the fourteen year old swoon, had it not been for the fact that Keya was defending the guy who had attacked her and her friends several times. Still, it made her wonder just how much the dangerous Prince had changed since she had seen him last.
"He hasn't attacked me or my friends for a while, as far as I know. But his sister is the one who's leading a coup against the Earth King! How could I not be suspicious?" She defended herself.
To both Zuko's and Katara's surprise, Keya let out a sweet giggle. Zuko looked at the young woman with concern dancing in his eyes. Just how hard had she hit her head?
"That's a good point," Keya said, "but Zuko and his sister aren't exactly the best of friends... or did something change when you ran after her?" She looked at Zuko with a playful gleam in her eyes. Zuko looked down at her and rolled his eyes with a smirk.
"Yeah, sure. If you consider 'trying to give me another scar to match' the same thing as becoming friends."
Katara's mouth fell open in shock. What was she witnessing? This was a totally different guy! Suddenly, all the nasty things she had said to him felt like a bitter reminder of her own prejudice against the Fire Nation and its people. Guilt seeped into her eyes. Katara shuffled her feet and grovelled before the couple. She looked at Zuko specifically. "I'm sorry I yelled at you before."
"It doesn't matter." He sighed.
"It's just that," Katara continued, "for so long now, whenever I would imagine the face of the enemy, it was your face."
"My face..." Zuko turned his face away. His hand reached up and touched the soft scar tissue around his burnt eye. Damage caused by fire... done by the Fire Lord himself. "I see."
Gently, Keya reached her hand up to his own and pulled it away. She stood on her tippy toes and kissed his scar softly. "Remember what we discussed, it doesn't define you." She made sure to give Katara a subtle stink-eye as she pecked the Prince.
Katara realised her mistake and scrambled to correct herself. "No, no- That's not what I meant!"
"It's okay." Zuko gave Keya a brief smile of gratitude, before holding the girl's hand and turning back to Katara. "I used to think this scar marked me. The mark of the banished Prince, cursed to chase the Avatar forever. But lately, I've realised that I'm free to determine my own destiny, even if I'll never be free of my mark."
"That's right." Keya squeezed his hand and smiled proudly.
Katara stepped forward. "Maybe you could be free of it."
Her statement perplexed the teenage duo. "W-what?" Zuko stammered.
"I have healing abilities..." She hinted.
Keya shook her head. "It's a scar, sweetheart." Zuko nodded in agreement. "It can't be healed."
However, to both their surprise, Katara reached into her tunic and took out a small vial. Blue and richly decorated, it was obviously a Water Tribe heirloom. It seemed to contain some water, the kind which must have been very valuable, considering the care with which the waterbender held it out. Other than that, Keya had no clue what the thing was (or how it would help Zuko get rid of his scar, for that matter). Thankfully, Katara wasted no time in explaining.
"This is water from the Spirit Oasis at the North Pole. It has special properties, so I've been saving it for something important. I don't know if it would work, but..."
With that said, Katara trailed off as she stepped forward to inspect Zuko's scar. The girl placed her slender hand against his cheek. Her sensitive digits felt the skin in order to determine whether or not her talent could help the young man. Keya raised a single eyebrow curiously. Could she really heal a three year old scar?
"Hmm, I think-" Before Katara could give her opinion on the Prince's scar, she was cut off by a loud blast. Zuko shielded the two girls as the wall of the rocky catacomb was forcefully bent open. Crystals flew and rocks tumbled, but none managed to harm the prisoner trio.
The three teenagers cautiously relaxed their defensive stances in order to see who had managed to blast through the catacombs. Was there another enemy who wanted to fight them? Keya desperately hoped not. She held the back of Zuko's tunic nervously as they waited for the dust to settle.
As the dust did so, two figures started to appear. Zuko clenched his fiery fists for battle, Katara hid her spirit water vial, and Keya focused on her breathing- each preparing themselves for a potential fight in their own way. Who would come out of the dust?
❃
A/N: I <3 the combination of these three characters. Also, we just hit 4.1K!! Wow?? And we're not even done with the story yet >:) More to come... more to come...
But seriously; thanks <3