Rebirthing

I lie here paralytic

Inside this soul

Screaming for you

Until my throat is numb -Rebirthing, Skillet

The darkening sky above was enough to tell the villagers that something bad was going to happen. Those who believed strongly enough in the omens had emptied out of the village weeks before, and it was lucky they had. Those unlucky ones who were forced to remain within the city were hidden away, hoping their own homes would be enough to protect them from the raging war that was raining through the city. A war of good and evil. Fire and water. It was true, and had been true for several days now that the war between the Fire Nation and Water Nation had yet to end. This particular village of Waterbenders was not willing to give up their homes and freedoms just yet. There were still those that believed that the Avatar would come and help them win the never ending battle.

Hope that the Avatar would soon return was dwindling away as days went by. The Avatar, after having disappeared for at least one hundred years had shown up a few short months ago and quickly disappeared again, leaving the three nations to fall into a world of chaos. Wars broke out across each village and across each Nation, killing off millions, and injuring thousands. There was very little hope of escape for these Nations now, unless the Avatar appeared again to bring the world back to peace.

Watching the never ending battle from a nearby hill, Zuko couldn't help but glare angrily over the town, thoughts swimming through his head. He felt angry for all of those people. He felt angry there was no hope left for any of them. But worst of all, he felt angry toward the Avatar. There had always been a rivalry between the two of them, and it was only because of the several times Zuko had tried kidnapping him or killing him. But, it was only after the Avatar disappeared again that this rivalry evolved into something more. Everyone knew the tale of the Avatar, and that he was going to be the one that brought peace to all of the Nations once again. But now, everyone had lost hope on this ever happening. The three remaining Nations were barely alive, raging wars on one another in hopes their never ending fighting would lead somewhere. It was only after the Avatar abandoned them all, and after the first of many battles took place that Zuko realized something. Fighting wasn't going to get them anywhere, except maybe kill of a few hundred people everyday. He had probably been the first and only Firebender that believed this though.

"Zuko…"

Behind him Katara's voice shook. The Waterbender was standing a few feet behind the Firebender, looking across at the never ending battle. She'd been one of the ones Zuko knew that was affected by all of these battles the most. The Avatar had after all been hers to say the least. Katara had gone through so much in the past months, which included - although much to Zuko's delight - the loss of her older brother, Sokka. Zuko couldn't really sympathize, because he had never lost a sibling, unfortunately for him. The closest he came to losing a sibling was losing his Mother, and he wasn't entirely sure she was dead to begin with.

Zuko sighed, taking Katara's hand in his.

The Waterbender stepped forward and stood next to him, her hand still in his. Tears slid down her cheeks as she watched the scene in front of her. "This is bad…" she said softly. "Don't they know how many they're hurting? Don't they know several have died defending what they think is right? Don't they…" she couldn't finish her sentence. Her thin frame was racking with sobs and Zuko had to wrap an arm around her, pulling her closer to him just to calm her down. "Don't they…" Katara started again.

Zuko held a finger to his lips, brushing a few stray strands of hair away from Katara's eyes. For a moment, the two of them were silent, Katara trying to calm herself down to the point of talking. Zuko just staring emotionless across the never ending battle. Katara was right; there was no point in ignoring that fact. He knew the Waterbending Girl was right about the fact that several had died already, all of them fighting for the wrong reason.

"It's….It's not right," Katara spoke now, her voice soft. "They can't do this to us anymore. Most of us have lost someone in the war, and the rest of us are lucky to still be alive." her voice was hard, almost as cold as ice with every word she spoke. "They've hurt all of us, and they've hurt themselves. It's not right. We've been waiting for Aang to return, we want the war to end, and yet we just keep fighting…It's not right. There's got to be something we can do…" with tear stained cheeks, Katara looked up at the battle, almost in any angry way. "We've got to end the war." she said.

"Katara," Zuko turned toward the girl, looking more worried then anything. "There's nothing we can do." he spoke this almost as if he was speaking to a child, trying to make her understand. Zuko opened his mouth to speak but before he could get the rest of the words out, overhead lightning flashed, bright enough to light the darkened area. With the lightning came the crash of thunder that was loud enough to shake the ground a little. Above, raindrops flew from the sky, landing hard and fast on any object that was in there way.

Again, Zuko opened his mouth to speak, "You can't go out there and tell them to stop fighting. If you do that you'll end up like Sokka. Dead."

This was enough to bring Katara's wall crashing down. She flashed Zuko a very dangerous glare, looking mad. "Sokka died protected us!" she snapped angrily at Zuko, "He died protecting you from them!"

Zuko backed away from the girl, not wanting to get in the way of her line of fire if she decided to attack him. "All I'm saying is if you go out there and tell them to stop fighting you'll end up dead! You're right, Sokka protected us. He protected you too, don't forget that. It'd be a poor way to repay him by getting yourself killed."

Another lightning bolt flashed across the sky, this time illuminating Katara's face even more, making her looking even more pissed then she was already.

Her features softened only after a moment of silence. Zuko was right. Again, tears slid down her cheeks. "It's not fair!" she snapped as she fell to the ground, her knees drawn up to her chest, wiping her tears away. "Why did he have to leave us like this? Why?" she snapped angrily into the night. "He was supposed to protect us! He was supposed to help us all!"

Zuko watched sadly as the Waterbender started crying and ranting. There was very little he could do to comfort her now. She had lost her hope like everyone else in the village and in other Nations. She had given up.

His golden eyes flashed upward toward the sky, 'You left us all, Aang.' his voice echoed inside his own head. 'You left the Nations to fall into ruins…They've all lost hope…They don't think you'll come back and help…Gods, as much as I hate you and as much as I don't think you'll ever be able to fix this problem, we need you back here…We need help…'