it's like I checked into rehab
and baby you're my disease

~rihanna

It was such a pleasant moment, sitting on top of a cliff facing the sea while waves crashed against the rocky formations down below with their soothing melody, a bright yellow sun set in the horizon, slowly sinking in that infinite blue ocean that seemed to go on forever and ever, the ball of flames turning orange with time and the sky above darkening as the last remnants of sunlight were doused out in the massive body of water.

In front of her was a humble firepit, the dancing tendrils of yellow flame feasting on the wood they sat atop, while a well-constructed stone wall kept the fire from spilling out and kindling the grassy field around it. Katara's blues were glued to the elegance before her, a small smile tugging at the tip of her lips. Holding her legs up to her chest she rested her chin on her knees, her arms wrapped around her legs, hugging herself. A chill was coming from the sea, and normally it would've made her shiver but not this time.

Another pair of arms were wrapped around her body, holding her close to his front, and like a puzzle piece she fit oh so nicely against the form.

Her smile never faltered, she knew the person was there and she didn't mind it one bit. He shielded her from the ice cold, his hug was cozy and protective, the strong chest she felt press against her back gave her a sense of being in complete safety, the arms wrapped around her curled up body were larger than hers, heavier than hers, stronger than hers. It made Katara's tummy feel good and her mind hazy with a series of thoughts, she resisted the urge to hold onto this person's forearms with her own hands. She was so warm and everything felt pleasant.

The Southern Tribe girl suddenly had an urge to plant her lips on someone else's lips, the person holding her's lips, more specifically. She swallowed hard, her throat feeling drier than a desert all of a sudden but she went on; turning her head to look over her shoulder at this mysterious man. He was looking back at her, her heart fluttered. He was completely covered in a shadow despite the glow of the fire in front of them but his eyes shone through and she lingered on them for what felt like hours, just staring at them. They were pure gold.

Her head leaned up with her lips parted, her eyes lidded now, wanting to thank this stranger for the pleasant feeling he was giving her. That seemed like the right thing to do. But the kiss never came. After an uncomfortable moment she opened her eyes and saw that the figure behind her was gone, and along with him her warm embrace. She looked around her but could find no trace of him in the shadows that suddenly were closing in on her. Katara inched herself closer to the protective glow of the fire and reasoned that he had only gone out to gather some more fire wood. That's it. Burying the pang of rejection that suddenly gripped her heart.

A dried fallen stick snapped behind her and for some reason it was the most terrifying sound imaginable, Katara sat up at lightning speed and turned to face whatever had caused it, she seriously doubted it was her warm hugger friend. She saw a pair of eyes watching her from the darkness; they were gold just like the unknown paramour. They were joined by another pair appearing out of nowhere to its left. Then another to its right, and then two to the right, three to the left. The numbers kept growing and Katara could now hear the rumble of growling coming from them.

Katara took a hesitant step back and felt her back bump into a strong chest. She immediately recognized it as the person who was just moments ago holding her and turned around, ready to fling her arms around his shoulders for more of that security this person exuded, but before she could lay her hands on him she noticed how despite the human shape of the body, the eyes were narrowed like some raging animal and from the pitch black of where his mouth should be a pair of sharp white teeth came into view instead, baring them with a snarl and shining from the dancing flames to his side.

Katara's heart was thumping so hard against her ribcage she thought she would break it. Then from behind her something heavy pressed down on her shoulder and pain shot through her body, it felt like a paw with its dagger-sharp claws sinking into her flesh, ripping and tearing.

Her big blue eyes shot open with urgency and she found herself breathing hard, her heart still thumping in her chest. Her eyes wandered about and she saw nothing but trees in front of her. Her heart sank when she realized something was touching her shoulder. Swallowing hard and closing her eyes momentarily to regain courage she turned her head suddenly and looked up at whatever was holding her shoulder.

Much to the girl's relief it was only Zuko. Wow, that was a thought she never thought she'd have, never ever in her lifetime would she think being woken up by a moody firebender with a scary-looking scar on his face would be a relief, but it was on this instance at least. He wasn't looking down at her, kneeling behind her his hand was on her shoulder, his touch very warm and pleasant, much like the man from her dreams, but his gaze was looking away into the forest, she could only see his scarred side from this angle but his eye seemed to be inspecting between the trees for any movement. From the corner of his eye he finally noticed her looking up at him.

"Good, you're awake. Get up, we have to move." He stood up after looking down at her and held out a hand for her to grasp and looked away from the drowsy girl yet again, his eyes once more roving over the surrounding area.

Blinking, Katara took a moment to try and reach out for his hand with her own, but when she did try she failed miserably, her arms bound to her side kept her from accepting his help. She awkwardly cleared her throat to get his attention and said, "Uh… a little help?"

For a second Zuko stared down at her wondering what she meant? He was already giving her a hand to pull her up, what else did she need? Then a torch flicked with fire in his mind and he knelt back down, aiding in standing her up, Katara could swear that for a brief moment as he knelt back down that she caught the beginnings of an embarrassed blush painted across his pale cheeks.

As he got down and began pulling her up the last memories she made last night came flooding back to her mind. His hand on her back pushing her up brought back the recently familiar warmth of his chest and abs pressed against her back, his other hand grabbing one of her hands for stability as he stood her up made her reminisce about how his arm protectively wrapped around her waist last night and stayed there till she fell into a slumber. She didn't need any contact with her bottom to recall how she'd rubbed herself against his warmth before getting a hold of herself, though.

She fought back hard the blush that threatened to break out on her face as those memories came back at her. Katara also shook from her sleep-rattled head this preposterous notion that Zuko was charming in any way. He was still the enemy, his ilk killed her mother, his people made the world into the mess it is today, and most villainous of all, he wanted to still capture Aang. Ok so he wasn't as unredeemably evil as she thought he was, Zuko had shown her comfort last night without him even asking, but that didn't make him a particularly good person, not at all. But… Katara wanted to give him a shot, maybe if he wasn't a great person he was at least a decent one, no? Or perhaps even, if he wasn't the greatest guy around, he could hopefully change for the best?

Katara finally stood with the Prince's help and Zuko gave her a once-over, she picked that moment to talk.

"Thanks," and shot him a small appreciative smile, nothing too major, nothing to give him an inkling of a thought that she'd surrendered and become his bargaining chip against Aang and the rest, but enough that he could see she was giving him a chance for the two to get along. She cringed at how stiff her shoulders and arms felt from being tied for nearly a whole day now.

"Would… would you mind loosening up the rope? Please?" she asked him, wincing as she tried to rotate one shoulder to stretch it. Zuko stared at her, his eyes burning into her and he seemed to really be considering it, but before he could move or give her an answer a growl came from the woods behind him, even Katara heard it, the two teens quickly turned to face it.

...

...

...

"I don't know Aang, I still don't see her…" Sokka spoke, peering over Appa's sattle, one hand over his brow to shield him from the sunlight, the Water Tribe warrior looked out into the grassy fields below hunting fruitlessly for any signs of his little sister.

Toph was about to make a joke at her expense on how she didn't see Katara either to lighten the mood, but before the blind earthbender could do so Aang interrupted her, the young monk sitting atop the flying bison's head holding onto the reigns with so hard his knuckles had gone pale.

"Keep looking, Sokka!" the airbender shouted back, his voice nervous, "She's got to be around here somewhere…" the young boy couldn't shake off the feeling of guilt, he should've never let her get off the bison.

Katara's sibling let out a tired sigh after looking over at Aang and went back on his search. The hunt had been going since before dusk last night and they were all tired by this point, even Toph who could've just as easily napped the night away since her blindness made her nigh useless at the moment had soldiered through this for the sake of the team. They were all worried for Katara, but none so much as Aang.

"Fine, but when we find her," Sokka was back peering over the saddle, his eyes narrowed and that hand back up to cover his brow despite the fact that it was only dawn and the sun wasn't fully out yet, "We're going to come up with a new rule for the group; nobody –especially Katara– is allowed to get off Appa to go smelling flowers while everyone else is busy making their way to a sleeping lodge. All those in favor say 'Aye'"

"Aye" Toph said, sitting lazily against the rim of the saddle, her legs spread and arms crossed over her chest, for the voting she let go of one arm and even raised it up to confirm her decision.

"… Aye" Aang spoke after a moment. It hadn't seemed like such a bad idea when Katara proposed it. She caught eye of something pretty down there and asked to be let off and picked back up again when the matter of where they'd be lodging for the night was dealt with. Aang couldn't believe she'd gotten herself lost.

"Great, we shall inform her of our newly reached agreement once we-…" Sokka narrowed his eyes even more so, some movement not too far away catching his eye, "I think I see something…"

Aang looked over his shoulder at where Sokka was staring at, his face lighting up with joy that they had found her, "Is it Katara?" the monk excitedly asked but before actually listening for a response he already turned Appa to head in that direction, relief flooding through his whole being. Sokka unexpectedly went rolling on his back from the sudden change of direction till he slammed against the hard rim of Appa's saddle. The warrior sat up next to Toph, who seemed unaffected by the whiplash, and rubbed the back of his head while wincing.

"… I think it's some old chubby guy drinking tea."

...

...

...

Footsteps were quickly dashing through mats of dried leaves, overgrown grass, and fallen sticks, heavy breathing coming from two teenagers that were running for their lives could also be heard just as loudly.

"Hurry, they're getting close!" Zuko ordered her over his shoulder while leading her through the dense forest, his face sweaty and smudged with dirt from a few stumbles.

"I'm trying, okay?!" Katara tried to argue, if she wasn't running so out of breath she would've already tried to justify her slower pace due to those damn rope bindings keeping her from balancing properly. Her face was just as wet as his, but her clothes and skin considerably dustier from all the times she had accidentally fallen and tripped, Zuko had to run back to pick her up and pull her along with him at his pace for a few seconds before resuming the lead.

Zuko looked back at Katara and scowled, not at how much slower she was being but at the distant orange furred bodies he saw rapidly approaching, dashing through the trees with remarkable speed for their size, he could almost hear their heavy footsteps as they ran, and he certainly could hear the intimidating roars, growls and hisses they make. Zuko knew there was no use in duelling with these two monsters, even if Katara didn't have her waterbending abilities suppressed by the stupid rope he'd tied around her, the Prince wasn't sure two benders would be enough to properly fight back and defeat the tigers. They had to lose the pair yet again and quickly gain some ground of their own and hope they'd make it far away enough that they won't get caught once more.

The banished royal looked ahead of him and his eyes shot wide, he skidded to a halt at the sight before him, he even held out his arm to grab securely to a tree to make sure he wouldn't take one last deadly step.

Carefully Zuko inched closer to the edge and peered down at it. It had to be at least a 100 feet drop, but it was hard to estimate it properly as a huge canopy of trees littered down below. Who really knew how high of a drop this would be.

No, there was no way. No freaking way he was even going to consider this.

Katara's eyes stung with exhaustion, her pace was getting slower and slower and the beasts looming behind her only seemed to be getting quicker. Her lungs were burning and her leg muscles cramping. But she persisted and kept running, she had to or she'd die, she knew it, and she wasn't about to accept it.

No way. No freaking way was she even going to consider dying.

She peered ahead and saw Zuko just standing there, unmoving and facing away. Why did he stop? Did he seriously forget about the pair of ferocious tiger-rabbit monsters chasing after them?

A warning growl was heard within arms distance behind her and she didn't need to look back to see she was in very real danger, the warm misty breath that tickled against her tunic's back was enough to let her know that. Closing her eyes hard she willed one last charge, this was all or nothing. She meant to warn Zuko to move out of the way and keep running but in her panic it completely slipped her mind.

It was never fun to crash into someone face-first, and as Katara learned right there, crashing into Zuko's back was like smacking against a brick wall, but her speed and momentum ended up being enough to break that wall. Two surprised grunts echoed up on top of the cliffside, one hers more of a surprised squeak and one was Zuko's, genuinely startled. Katara could feel herself rotating in the air and eventually falling. Why was she falling? She opened her eyes and last thing she saw was the scarred moody teenager falling alongside her down into the bushy tops of a sea of trees. She never knew vegetation could be so rough till she blacked-out when a branch hit her square in the head.

Katara's head felt like it was about to burst, her eyelids were heavy and she felt dizzy beyond belief. It took her a few moments to struggle opening her eyes and when she did the waterbender saw something she never thought she'd see; the whole world was upside down. She looked around, which caused her head to throb, and realized that it wasn't the world that was upside down, it was her. She swayed from side to side with her legs and rope tangled up on a tree branch above her. Katara cursed her rotten luck, even in the fall and getting the rope tangled her arms were still bound uselessly to her side. Her headache kept getting worse making her close her eyes tight. Ugh, she really hoped Zuko'd cut the rope, all she wanted right now was to rub her temples with her hands.

Her eyes shot wide suddenly and she fought the migraine swelling up in her head to turn her head from side to side in search for the Prince. Had he died? Gotten injured? It felt like a pretty high drop, the possibility of death wasn't far fetched at all.

"Zuko?" her voice had a bit of panic to it as she called out for him.

Her heart calmed down as she heard a moody grumbling coming from behind some thick foliage on a branch not too far away. She could recognize that annoyed mumbling anywhere. Soon enough she saw, with an upside down view, the scarred teen sit up in his own branch, hand going straight for the top of his head to rub, seemed like he'd had just as much of a rough fall as she had. Katara breathed a sigh of relief, but convinced herself that she'd only done it because she'd rather not face the tigers by herself, rather than truly caring about his well-being.

Zuko rubbed away at a bruise on the rightmost side of his forehead. He winced at the touch, he winced at the sore feeling all throughout his body, actually. It was a miracle how none of his bones had been broken by a branch or he'd been skewered by some sharp stick. As he sat up he kept rubbing at his head to ease away the pain, flinching slightly as he sat, okay maybe he had a few slightly cracked ribs, but he'd endured worse. He groaned loudly as he attempted to stand up and held one hand out at the tree's trunk for balance. He looked over past the branch. He was still way up, enough that jumping down would be a real pain, and he had enough pain already.

"Zuko!" a girl's voice called and the firebender immediately whipped his head at the source, but saw nothing. The voice called again, "Down here!" was he hearing things? He took a step forward, carefully keeping his hand on his tree to not slip, fall again, and break his damn neck, and saw the bizarre sight of Katara hanging upside down from a branch a few trees away. One would've assumed the waterbender was blushing by how red her face was, but Zuko knew better, all the blood was pouring into her head. Damn, how long had he been out? How long had she been like this.

He eased his way to Katara, jumping from tree branch to tree branch carefully, whenever he'd land and grab onto a branch he always instinctively looked at Katara so he wouldn't lose sight of her, and he could always see the stressed look she had, how she'd cringe and flinch with every jump. It would almost be cute if it didn't feel so patronizing.

Finally he made his way to his dangling partner's tree, inching slowly on her branch for fear that the shaky wood would snap in an instant and cause them both to fall to their demise. Zuko tried hard not to peek over at the ground, suddenly developing vertigo. He knelt down by her legs and held onto her feet for fear she'd slip and fall without his help. He investigated the best course of action, rubbing at his chin with his index finger; Katara would have rolled her eyes at this if her head wasn't searing with pain.

"I need you to try and curl up and I'll grab onto the ropes, then pull you up to the branch," he explained it down to her, his eyes locking with hers to see if she understood him.

"Got it," she nodded up at him, wincing as she tried to do a sit-up, her whole abdomen seared with pain, she had undoubtedly hit a couple more branches after she'd blacked-out, Katara would be quite bruised tomorrow. Zuko reached out with his arm, stretching it as far down as he could to help make this easy on her, his fingers uncurled and ready to cling at the first inkling of rope to pull her up.

One loud, heavy body fell from the sky, landing on the bushy foliage just above them. Then another followed it mere seconds later. The bushes above the teens were rattling and leaves were being moved around as two large bodies regained their bearings.

Katara mid-sitting up stared up past Zuko, her eyes wide to show her big blues. Zuko, still with his arm stretched out for her had also looked up, even with his constantly narrowed scarred eye he stared with the same wide vision as the girl. The blood disappearing from their face before one feline roar came up from above, followed suitably by its companion.

"You've gotta be kidding me…" both of them spoke in tandem, same lack of enthusiasm, same fear, same tone. They looked at one another and shared a surprised look, whether it was because of sharing the same thoughts at that particular moment or for fear and understanding of what was about to happen, one would never know.

"Quick!" Zuko told Katara, his arm reaching down a couple inches now that he lowered himself a bit more dangerously on the branch.

Katara was of the same mind and doubled her efforts to sit up, but whether because of the massive headache, the blood poured into her head, or the cracking pain on her ribs she was curling upwards for the sit-up slowly. Gritting her teeth hard, sweat rolled down the side of her face.

Impatiently Zuko often found himself looking up to see if the damn cats had jumped down. Much to his horror he noticed one blurry figure jumping from one branch to another, and another, and another, it was slowly making its way down, and from the rustling noise coming from the other way, so was the other bastard.

"Hurry up!" he called out to her, peering from the corner of his one good eye.

"I'm trying!" Katara said with a huff and inched upwards a bit more.

One snarl came from a few trees to the side of the two of them, Zuko whipped his head and saw that one of the tigers made it down to a tree not too far from them, maybe 4 branches away, it was hard to be certain. It made Zuko gulp hard, but he kept eye contact with the beast, his amber eyes fighting with the matching pair the beast had. The big cat seemed to have no other goal other than attack Katara and Zuko, it began jumping quickly from branch to branch making its way to the two of them in no time, he was just one single lunge away from their branch. Zuko never looked away.

Suddenly the tips of the banished Prince's fingers grazed against the rope going across Katara's chest and he grabbed onto it, the girl's form was shaking from the effort of pulling her body weight up through broken ribs, but Zuko had a quick surge of strength and with a single pull of his arm he managed to pull Katara up, the ferocious beast within jumping distance chose that exact moment to throw itself at them.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion. The tiger with its long claws out soaring through the air, mouth wide open to show off the deadly teeth that went past its jaw. Katara being pulled up by Zuko on top of the wobbly branch, her look of relief from getting rid of all that tension building up in her sore core, unaware of the immediate danger the two of them were in, she even flashed him a small smile as she finally got up at level with him. Zuko met eyes with hers and he caught that smile. It was a shame that they couldn't pull her up fast enough and now they were about to be clawed to death. The slowly approaching doom looming from right behind Katara was a powerful wake-up call, Zuko still with his hand grasping the rope tied across the girl's chest pulled her up close to his body, it looked like a hug, the Prince's free arm wrapping around her shoulders. One last moment of comfort for both of them.

And then, everything moved in the blink of an eye. The saber-tooth rabbit-tiger missed Katara's back by a mere inch, those dark razor-sharp claws tearing away not at flesh but at rope and fabric from the waterbender's back. The additional weight of the creature as it landed on the branch was the straw that broke the camel's back and with a loud ear-piercing snap the whole thing fell down, the two benders and raging animal along with it. Katara's arms naturally wrapped around the body in front of her as she felt themselves falling. Her eyes, widened since he'd pulled her close now closed vigorously, she clung to his body and he held onto hers as both fell into the ground below.

The predator managed to, like a cat, use its claws to hold onto the closest tree and skid to a halt up above in the tree, glaring down with a snarl at the two hugging humans. Its eyes narrowed viciously and even though the animal wasn't a firebender, its eyes shone with just as much fire and malice.

The two teens clung to each other as they fell, more out of instinct to brace their bodies than anything else, really. Neither quite knows who hit the ground first, but they both felt it just as hard with matching pained grunts. Their bodies absorbed every hard place they landed upon and the annoying ache as they rolled down a slope. Both should be glad that it was a slope they landed down upon rather than flat ground that'd squish them in a second but neither was thinking about that as they held onto one another. If the two thought they were bruised and sore from falling down to the trees they were sorely mistaken.

It genuinely felt like they'd rolled down this slopped terrain for several minutes until they began to grind to a halt as speed wavered and the ground slowly flattened, by the time they finally slowed down both bodies were in each other's arms. Zuko was the last to roll on his back while they hugged, the remaining momentum made Katara roll over onto her back at Zuko's side as he let go of her body, feeling the immediate danger of sharp rocks and hard tree roots gone.

Zuko wheezed for air, his lungs burning and his body smoldering in pain. He closed his eyes tight and his hands went to rest at his ribs, clutching them painfully, gritting hard his bloody teeth he rolled to the side, away from Katara, but even that simple act made him jolt. Yeah, his ribs were definitely broken now. Shattered even, if that one jagged rock he remembers quite stabbing up at his side while they rolled down had anything to say about it.

Katara breathed next to him, her eyes were a second away from bawling at all the pain she felt. Her mouth felt bloody, her arms stung from a collection of freshly made scratches and bruises and her back was killing her. At the sound of painful coughing she turned her head to the side, movement that made her realize even her neck ached painfully so, and saw Zuko curled up facing away from her, coughing violently and cursing low at sharp rocks and dumb rabbit-tigers.

It was too painful to stand, so the idea didn't even cross her mind, but Katara managed to roll onto her stomach and slowly crawl up to Zuko. Getting on her hands and knees she reached out with her hand and touched his shaking shoulder, only for him to pull away from her touch.

"Don't… touch m-me…" his voice reached her ears, followed by a fit of bloody coughs, she'd never heard his voice so shaky and weak before.

Katara herself coughed and sat with her legs to her side, using one arm to keep her up and then had another look at Zuko, being mindful not to touch him while he was so aggressive and angry with… whomever it was, himself most likely. She noticed with a small gasp that he'd taken the blunt of the damage as the two rolled down the hill. His larger body just naturally protected hers, it only made sense with how snugly she curled up into his embrace and how tightly he'd held her. Katara clearly had her own bruises, scrapes and aches, but it was easy to anyone with a pair of working eyes that Zuko was worse off, even if you ignored the blood that spurted from his mouth with every cough.

Desperately, Katara forced herself to stand up, her knees begged her not to put any weight on them and her ribs felt like they were strangling her lungs, so she wrapped an arm around her ribs, wincing at the pain but choosing to ignore it. She frantically looked around, trying to see for anywhere the two could hide, she needed to heal him and heal herself before they could even think about going back to escaping.

It seemed they'd slid down to less of a forested area, and more of a rocky field with only a handful of trees spurting out from the ground. About 20 feet ahead the ground inclined yet again, but far less steep, as a calm river coursed through, on the other side of said river the ground leaned back up in a shallow rocky hill and then a rocky formation too steep to climb, shortly past the hill at the base of the crag something caught Katara's eye.

"A cave!" she breathed out with relief, if her mouth didn't taste like blood she would even be smiling. Crouching down behind Zuko she put her hands on him, expecting him to bark back at her another command to unhand him along with a threat that he'd burn her to smithereens, but he kept quiet. His form still flinched at the gentle touch of her hands on his shoulder and arm but he did not complain this time.

"Come on, we'll be safer there than out in the open," Katara told him, putting her whole weight into pushing him up into a sitting position as gently as she could, still unaware of how potentially injured Zuko was, and for his part Zuko clenched his teeth as she brought him up, pain roaring through his body. It was beyond bizarre to see the foe she'd so long feared look so frail and hurt all of a sudden. For the longest time Katara always pictured Zuko as the unyielding monster he made himself out to be with the way he always came back for Aang and how determined he was in his pursuit of the Avatar, but with him as a bleeding young man, holding onto her for support as she helped him stand put everything into perspective. Zuko was no less of a human than her.

The Katara from not too long ago would have berated her present self for how she kept humanizing the scarred menace.

It took them painfully long to make their way down to the river, Zuko mutely walked beside her, one arm draped over Katara's shoulder after she insisted he use her to support himself, one hand going to his own ribs, clutching at a particularly wet spot on his clothes, his pale hands stained with the dark red of blood as it gushed from the wound. Katara's arm wrapped around the firebender's waist to help move him along and her free hand going to press on his chest to keep him steady as they walked. Although feeling up the hard pectorals underneath his ragged tunic did feel pretty nice. Her eyes moved to the Prince next to her often, worry overflowing from her blues.

The Katara from not too long ago would also have berated her present self for not only 'coping-a-feel' of him, but daring to feel sorry for Zuko.

Thankfully, once they made it to the river their work was cut out for them. With Katara's freed up arms she conjured up an ice float using her waterbending. She bent the water underneath to move them through to the other side.

It felt good to be able to move her arms freely like that again, and even more so to bend her element to her heart's delight, it was liberating. So liberating that the aches on her arms seemed to dull as she carried both of them through the water in than thin little floating ice-circle. Once they got off the float the strain came back to her arms, helping Zuko off and trudging the slope up to the cave. The rocky safety of the dark alcove just a few feet away now gave her hope. Katara so focused on the cave they could hide in that the small, rusty, moss-covered helmet that lay on the ground just by her feet went completely unnoticed.

The empty eyes of the long-abandoned helm watched as the Water Tribe girl aided the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation into the darkness of the cave. The metal was rusted beyond repair and cracked on the side, the moss coated the topside that'd been let to the mercy of the elements, but even though it was in a pathetic state the shape of it was evident for anyone who born within the last 100 years as to who it belonged to. A Fire Nation helmet.

AN: Woo-hoo! Third chapter's done! Thank you all for all the lovely support, I truly appreciate all the faves, alerts and views you guys have been giving! I've had a reviewer ask through private message why I add a little music lyric at the top of each chapter; it's either a song that I was hearing whilst writing that stuck with me or the song brings up themes present in the chapter. I also think having a little blurb at the top before the chapter starts proper is a bit better than jumping straight in, but that might be just me! Let me know if the lyrics are getting annoying and I'll reconsider having them up for my next series, but for now, and for continuity sake, I'll keep it going for the upcoming 2-3 chapters till this is finished.

By the way, that's the window I'm giving myself to finish this mini-series, I've noticed I keep rambling in the chapters and writing 5-6k word updates. I don't think anyone wants 20 chapters of that, you're all here for Zutara goodness. So yeah, 2 or 3 more chapters for a 5/6 chapter total.

Next chapter Katara finally gets her chance to shine!

Reviews with any mistakes on my part, tips, or general feedback are always welcome :]

rebornrose