~ Your On Fire In The Water That Surrounds Us~

Chapter 3- Rain Mixed With Sorrow and Tears

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When Zuko had fallen fast asleep, footsteps from Mai could be heard. Katara kept on her toes and listened carefully, just in case it sounded like she was getting closer. She sat still and felt Zuko's short breaths on the side of her cheek as his chest slowly moved up and down against her back. After what seemed like 20 minutes or so, Katara heard Mai's footsteps slowly fade away. She could hear a guy's voice and another female but they didn't sound like anyone she knew.

Katara became a little alarmed and thought she should go out and see what was going on, but she didn't want to wake Zuko. Before she could get free from Zuko's grasp, all the commotion outside of the cave came to a silent stop. Katara swiftly pulled herself from Zuko's warm arms and quietly crept out of the cave into the pouring rain. Within a minute of being in the rain, she was once again soaked. Shivers shot up her spine and she started to tremble.

Her body was too small to produce the right amount of body heat to keep her warm, but she stubbornly ignored what he body was telling her and continued on. Seeing a fire nation guard about halfway up a hill, she ducked behind a tree and watched him rush up the hill. Not being able to contain her curiosity, she followed him up to an opening where Mai and even more fire nation guards were. She kept hidden and watched what it was they were up to from behind the bushes.

Peeking her eye out, she could also see a male who was forced down to his knees and a woman who was being dragged away from him. The guy screamed out her name and Mai waved her hand towards the soldiers who had a hold on the girl. Mai approached the woman who was held by her guards with an umbrella in her hands.

"Now I'm going to ask you one more time," she started, "So don't lie to me: is there anyone else here on this island besides you and your pathetic husband?"

Crying, the woman replied, "No, I swear it. I don't know of anyone else on the island!"

Mai scowled at the young woman, "It seems to me that you're lying. I guess you don't care much about your husband's life then, do you?"

"No, please!" the young woman begged, squirming to get free of the soldiers grasp.

The man on his knees knocked the guard's feet out from under him and stood up, running to free his woman. Before he could reach her, more soldiers had already gotten to him and pinned him to the ground. Mai nodded to her guards and turned her back on them. Katara gasped in shock when the soldier pulled his blade from his sheath and lifted it.

"NO! PLEASE! DON'T!" the woman screamed from the top of her lungs, tears running off her face.

Katara couldn't bear to watch what was going to happen next. Her body froze up and she squeezed her eyes shut with freight. The only thing that could be heard was the woman's agonizing cries of sorrow and her continuous struggle against the soldiers. When the water bender looked up, she saw a pool full of blood forming into a stream that was coming from the still body of the man.

Gathering up all of her courage, Katara jumped out of the bushes and ran over to the soldiers holding the woman. Knocking their helmets together, she had managed to stun them enough to make them release their grip on the woman. The woman immediately ran over to her husband's dead body and threw herself over him, crying her heart out. Katara stood in front of the woman, her defensive stance in effect.

Mai turned her head and noticed the water bender had arrived. Smirking, she gave the order for her men to attack and Katara braced herself for their attacks. She fought back against the soldiers with all she had but it didn't seem to be enough to at least hold them off. Her arms and legs had been cut by their swords because she wasn't fast enough to dodge their attacks AND protect the girl.

"Listen to me," Katara yelled out to the girl, "You need to run away from here! Now!"

"I-I can't just leave him! I'd rather die by his side!"she yelled back, running towards Katara.

'Dammit, don't run towards danger you fool!' Katara thought to herself, trying to reach the woman before the soldiers did.

Unfortunately, one of the fire nation soldiers had caught her off guard and at the last second, she saw his attack. She wasn't fast enough to counter attack it though so she prepared herself to take the attack. The second the guard made contact with Katara's body, the woman was once again captured.

"NO!" she yelled out.

The solider had been running full speed at the young water bender and managed to land a fist right to her stomach. The force of the punch had sent her flying across the top of the open area. She managed to land on her feet, skidding to a stop right before she went off the edge of the cliff that led into the cave. Although she landed, Katara fell to one knee in pain from the hit and tried to stand back up.

As soon as she lifted her head up, it was greeted with a fist coming right towards her. All she could do was put her arms up in front of her in a defensive stance. The fire nation soldier's fist managed to break through Katara's defense and send her flying off the edge of the cliff. She screamed as she fell, helpless.

Zuko had awoken with a start from hearing a female's voice in a scream of terror. When he noticed that Katara wasn't in between his legs any longer, he thought the worst of the scream and instantly stood to his feet. He ran to the entrance of the cave just in time to look up and see Katara's body falling from the sky. Becoming saturated again, Zuko was becoming quite used to the cold water, but the colder air is what sent shivers down his spine.

Zuko quickly ran to catch her and when he was sure he was in the right position to do so, he braced himself to break her fall. Her body collided with his and he was knocked off his feet, skidding a bit. The pain hit him once he sat up with her laying over him and he angrily rubbed his back.

"Zuko! Are you alright?" She asked, hearing painful grunts come from him.

He looked up at her with a cold glare. "I told you not to leave the cave, Katara. Are you hurt?" he asked looking at her cuts and small bruises that were starting to form.

"No, I'm fine." She replied quickly.

"What the hell is going on?" he yelled, pushing her off of him.

She stood to her feet and helped him to his, "The fire nation. They've found the people who must've been living in the cave and held them hostage. I heard Mai leave the cave so I followed her out. Zuko- they killed that woman's husband!" she screamed out in shock.

"Woah, slow down Katara."

"I can't! They're going to kill the girl if we don't get up there! Zuko please!" she begged, pulling at his sleeve.

"I guess I don't have a choice." He said, following her up the hill around the side of the cave.

Once they reached the top, Mai and Zuko exchanged a weird stare before the soldiers attacked him. He pulled out his swords and lit them on fire, lunging forward and easily defeated them. Katara bended her water, sharply whipping it at a couple of soldiers, sending them to the ground. After they finished with a couple of them, more came running towards them, attacking Zuko and Katara, showing no mercy. The girl's scream threw Katara off and she turned around to see the girl on the ground.

A solider had knocked her to the ground, and Zuko had quickly jumped in front of her, managing to push her out of the way and taking the damage. Although Zuko had taken a slice to his chest, another soldier came up behind the woman and stabbed a sword through her chest, ripping it from her body. Zuko threw his swords to the ground, infuriated that he had been cut across his chest and suddenly, he viciously charged. He created a giant ball of fire in the both of his hands and sent it flying towards Mai.

She dodged it and told her soldiers to retreat along with her. Instead of charging after them, Zuko stood still, glaring at Mai as she retreated along with her guards. Mai saw the horrified look in his eyes and Zuko noticed that she had a bit of sorrow leaking through hers. Katara clumsily ran over to the women to try to use her healing hands to keep her alive. Once her hands touched her wound, Katara realized how cold she was, but still continued to try and heal her. As she moved her hands around the woman's torso, she gasped in shock when her hand ran over her stomach.

Katara tried everything she could to help the woman stay alive, but after 5 minutes or so, Zuko put his hand on her shoulder and shook his head. The broken water bender put the water back in her pouch and sat there beside the lifeless woman, tears coming to her eyes. Zuko sat on his knees beside her and put his arm around her shoulder, helping her to her feet. They had both become completely drenched from the rain but Katara wasn't concerned about that at the moment.

"Katara, I don't think there's much more we could do to help them. I know you tried your best." Zuko said, trying to help her.

"Yeah but if Aang or Toph or Sokka were here, or even you had come to help her at the same time I did... She could've still been alive. And she looks so young..." Katara said, feeling useless, "I can't do anything. I couldn't even help her. I wish I could be strong..." She said, tears falling off her face.

"Katara..." He said, speechless.

"No, Zuko," she snapped, the tears finally showing, "You don't understand: she was pregnant!"

Zuko's eyes widened in shock as the words finally registered in his head. He didn't know what more to say so he helped her stand to her feet. Before he could do anything more, Katara turned around and hugged him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. She had seen people hurt before but she had never really seen anyone die right before her eyes in such a way that this couple did.

It scared her more then she thought it would and upset her because she felt she didn't do enough to help. Katara felt helpless and like she was nothing but a burden to Zuko. Tears rolled down her cheeks as Zuko wrapped his arms around her back, holding her close to him for comfort and some warmth. She released her grip on him as he did the same to her. She wiped the tears from her face as she walked over to the girl lying on the ground.

"I'm so sorry..." she whispered.

To be continued!