Hey guys, this story is already written and completely published on ASN, it's about time I put it here! Read & review please! I own nothing!

From the Past…

Katara sat against the wall of the temple, staring into the fire. It had been hours since Zuko and Aang had left for their daily firebending training; not that she cared, since Aang seemed to be doing that a lot lately. It was all he ever talked about; firebending, firebending, firebending! And lately, Katara was becoming very annoyed with it. Aang never once offered to go practice waterbending with her, and yet he usually spent over six hours a day on firebending alone. Zuko had completely replaced her as Aang's primary teacher, and she wasn't too happy about that either.

Of course, nobody else seemed bothered by it; Toph had another earthbender to practice with, and Sokka spent his days thinking of new plans for the next invasion of the Fire Nation. Except for Teo and The Duke- with whom she didn't have much in common with in the first place- Katara was completely on her own. She had carefully observed Aang's first couple of sessions- just to be sure Zuko wasn't going to try and hurt him- but after a few days, she found herself growing bored of watching them shoot fire all over the place and stopped going to watch them.

"Hey Katara," Haru greeted her as he entered the room.

Katara looked up and gasped. "Haru! What happened?"

His eye was badly bruised, and his right ankle was swollen like a baby turtle-duck's shell.

He gave her a small smile; he was obviously embarrassed. "Uh…Toph."

Katara nodded knowingly. He didn't need to say anymore. Katara actually found it pretty funny how he got beat up by a blind twelve year old, but felt sorry for him at the same time. She had a feeling that his pride was more bruised than his eye.

Haru sat down next to the fire just as Toph entered the room. She definitely looked proud of herself.

"Those were very impressive skills," Haru applauded her. As he moved closer to the fire, Katara gasped as she saw his face in the light.

"That's a pretty bad bruise, Haru…let me see if I can heal it…" She reached for her water, but Haru motioned for her to stop.

"I'm fine," he tried to convince her, but she shook her head.

"No way, you look like Zuko. And trust me, one's bad enough," she joked. She laughed at her humor while the rest of the group forced themselves to laugh along with her.

"Uh Katara?" Everyone looked at Toph, and she pointed to the doorway behind Katara. She immediately stopped laughing and glared at Zuko, who had apparently just gotten back from his practice with Aang.

"How was training?" she asked; her voice as cold as ice.

Zuko glared right back at her. "It was great. He's a good firebender."

Katara scoffed. "Well Aang's already a good waterbender you know..."

Just before Zuko could fight back with an angry retort, Aang entered the hall and waved at his friends. Katara immediately turned away, intent on giving Aang the cold shoulder because of how much he had been ignoring her lately.

Unfortunately, Aang was oblivious to her angry mood and came to sit right next to her.

"Hey Katara, I have to show you this awesome trick Zuko taught me today…"

"That's great Aang," she interrupted. "Why don't you show Haru instead? I'm sure he'd be interested."

She watched out of the corner of her eye as Aang showed the rest of the group his new "trick."

As much as she hated to admit it: he was getting to be very good at firebending. And it was probably thanks to Zuko…

No! Aang's just naturally talented. Zuko has nothing to do with Aang's progress…

Somehow, in the back of her mind, she knew that wasn't true.

"He also showed me the basic technique for creating a double fire whip…"

Katara froze. Here was her opportunity to get back at Zuko…

"Oh," she started rather loudly, "You mean the same double fire whip he used to attack us? You know, in Ba Sing Se with his sister?"

Everyone was silent. Katara smiled smugly, knowing she had finally managed to prove that this "new Zuko" was still the same Prince Zuko that had hurt them so much in the past. Sokka was staring at Katara in shock, almost like he couldn't believe that she'd say such an awful thing about their new "friend."

And even Haru began inching away from Zuko- who was looking extremely uncomfortable- as though he feared what the firebender could possibly do to him.

"Things are different now," Aang whispered, breaking the awkward silence.

Katara looked at her friend in horror. Did he actually just say that? Did he forget that he nearly died, partly thanks to Zuko? Zuko, the one he just defended? She couldn't believe her ears.

Just when she thought things couldn't get any worse, Sokka spoke up as well.

"Yeah Katara, why can't you just move on? It's been days, and Zuko hasn't…"

Katara stopped listening. Why was everyone taking Zuko's side? As she tried to organize her jumbled thoughts, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye…

"Aang, is that a burn?" She leaned in for a better look, but he yanked his arm away.

"It's nothing…"

Katara grabbed his arm firmly and examined the injury. It definitely was a burn. A bad burn. She immediately looked at Zuko; his expression was a dead giveaway.

"You burned Aang?!" she screamed as she leapt to her feet. There was no way she could let Zuko get away with that…

"It was an accident! Burns happen in firebending!" Zuko tried to defend himself, but he didn't stand much of a chance against Katara's fury.

"Katara, I'm fine. It doesn't hurt…" Aang tried to break up the fight, but Katara was hysterical now.

"Only if you're not careful!" She looked at Zuko straight in the eye.

"That's probably how you got that scar," she whispered; her voice full of hatred. She almost didn't want to say that; she knew it was undeniably cruel, but Zuko had burned Aang and she wouldn't let him get away too easily. In fact, he was lucky that she didn't do anything worse to him…

Everyone seemed to have frozen in time. Sokka looked mortified at what she had said, and Toph and Aang looked outright disappointed; ashamed, even. She didn't make eye contact with anyone- especially not Zuko- and stood there, feeling more terrible with every passing second of the dreaded silence. She half expected Zuko to attack her for what she said, but he remained still and unmoving.

Finally, Katara couldn't take it anymore, and she ran to her room, leaving behind her troubles and problems with Zuko.

Katara couldn't sleep that night. It was almost as though she was stuck in a never-ending nightmare; the worst part was: Zuko seemed to be in every one.

"If I go with you, will you promise to leave everyone alone?"

"No, Aang! Don't do this"!

"Don't worry Katara, it'll be okay."

"No…" Katara moaned in her sleep.

"Then let's get out of here. Zuko will leave Kyoshi to follow us. I know it feels wrong to run, but I think it's the only way..."

"Tell me where he is and I won't hurt you or your brother."

"Go jump in the river!"

"Try to understand, I need to capture to restore something I've lost. My honor. Perhaps in exchange I can restore something you've lost…"

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't seem to wake up…

"What happened? Where's Zuko?"

"He took Aang. He took him right out from under me..."

"I thought you had changed!"

"I have changed."

And then, there was a flash of blue…

"NO!" Katara finally jolted awake; the awful dreams were gone. Unfortunately, Zuko- the enemy- wasn't just in her nightmares…he was in this very temple…and nobody seemed the slightest bit worried…

"Dad's going to kill you. Really, he is."

"Ha-ha Azula. Nice try."

"Fine, don't believe me, but I heard everything. Grandfather said dad's punishment should fit his crime. 'You must know the pain of losing a first born son, by sacrificing your own!'"

"Liar!"

Zuko shifted in his bed; unable to escape these nightmares…

"Please father, I only had the Fire Nation's best interests at heart! I'm sorry I spoke out of turn!"

"You will learn respect, and suffering will be your teacher…"

Zuko began perspiring in his sleep. He knew what came next…

"So, how'd you get that scar?"

"It's okay. I used to think this scar marked me. The mark of the banished prince, cursed to chase the Avatar forever. But lately, I've realized I'm free to determine my own destiny, even if I'll never be free of my mark."

"Maybe you could be free of it."

"I have healing abilities."

"It's a scar, it can't be healed…"

He kept fighting to wake up, but he was trapped…

"For so long, all I wanted was you to love me, to accept me. I thought it was my honor that I wanted but really, I was just trying to please you...you, my father, who banished me just for talking out of turn. My father, who challenged me; a 13-year-old boy to an Agni Kai. How can you possibly justify a duel with a child?"

"It was to teach you respect."

"It was cruel. And it was wrong…"

"You may have everyone else here buying your 'transformation.' But you and I both know that you've struggled to do the right thing in the past…"

"Burns happen in firebending!"

"Only if you're not careful! That's probably how you got that scar…"

Zuko instantly woke up and fell off his bed, landing on the hard, cold ground with a thud. He ran over to the fountain and held up a small flame. Yes, his scar was still there. Nothing Katara said would ever change that. She could mock him and abuse him all she wanted; however he refused to let himself feel ashamed of his mark.

Feeling a little better, Zuko went back to bed and slipped into a quieter, less-turbulent sleep.