Zuko

Prisoners

The solid rock wall shook. A seam appeared and split. Zuko threw himself towards the widening gap.

"Azula! Let me out!"

The silhouette of a girl appeared, and in the shadows of her face, Zuko cast the sharp cheekbones and cruel smirk he expected to see. But when the eerie green light of his prison cell illuminated her, the lines of her face softened and transformed, showing him the girl who was really there. Shock, confusion, and outrage crossed Katara's features in quick succession.

"No!" she screamed. She turned back towards her captors but one of the brutal rock hands of Dai Li caught her on the cheek. She went down, falling into the cell, into Zuko. Zuko reached out to brace her fall. But she stumbled and caught herself, glaring at his outstretched hands. By the time she turned around, the wall was solid and featureless again.

Zuko slammed a fist against it anyways and howled his sister's name.

"She's not here."

Zuko turned to see that Katara had already adopted a fighting stance. The water from the underground river stood in a silent wave behind her, ready to crest and obliterate him. The place where the Dai Li had hit her was already swelling and a thin line of blood had appeared. Zuko sunk to the floor.

"She didn't come," he said to his knees.

"Why are you here?" Katara barked, the wave still in place.

Because I'm a traitor. Because my sister has no soul. Because I can't help but ruin a good thing. But he couldn't say any of that to the waterbender. She hated him. It almost made him want to laugh. They were stuck in a cell together, both prisoners. Yet she still wanted to drown him.

"Why are you here?" Zuko spat. "Cuz you're a prisoner." Disgust puckered Zuko's lips.

"Why are the Dai Li working for the Fire Nation?"

Zuko shrugged. "Azula can be… persuasive."

A tendrid of water slapped his face. Zuko jumped to his feet.

"Hey!"

Katara took several deep breaths, shoulder heaving up and down. Blood was dripping off her face but she made no move to treat it. Both hands were fists, directed at him. Zuko wondered if she would prefer to hit him directly; was using water too removed for the kind of hatred she had?

Her eyes darted around the cell, though her gaze never strayed from him for long. Katara's irises flicked several times to the tunnel off to the right. There were no glowing green rocks there, only darkness.

Katara broke the stillness with a quick shift of her hips and a slash of her hand. The wave toppled, split neatly around Katara, and kept splitting, forming into icy shards. Zuko swung his leg around in a sloppy arc, blasting the air with heat. A few icicles melted at his feet, but most were obliterated. Katara was already dashing down the underground hallway. Water from the creek leapt to follow her.