Fire and Ice
Rating T

A/N: Trying something new here, using lines from Robert Frost's poem as prompts for drabbles. From all over the series, some alternate timeline events.

Some say the world will end in fire

Tears streamed from Katara's face as she ran her glowing hands over his chest, over the rough skin, the tatters of his black shirt singed and torn.

"Please…please Zuko please…" She repeated over and over again as the water ran up and down his skin, his porcelain skin discolored in an ugly red star over his heart. She couldn't feel the heartbeat of the Prince. Zuko's body was curled in the fetal position on the cold stone of the courtyard.

But as the smell of molten iron filled her nose and a high pitch screech filled her ears, Katara knew she had much bigger problems than healing her enemy-turned-friend.

She turned around slowly, pulling water off the stricken boy, to face her destiny of fire and lightning and punishment.

Some say in ice

He slammed into the ice wall of the oasis, the water freezing him spread-eagled and prone. Zuko growled, struggling against his binding and praying the sunrise would come quickly.

She was quicker, however, spinning water into a large orb as she gritted her teeth.

Katara swung her arms forward as Zuko yelled, the water hitting him full force and freezing on contact.

And as the moon still shone down on the two, he was frozen solid in a coffin of crystallized water.

From what I've tasted of desire

They tumbled down the hill's rocky face, having met in combat on a dusty cliffside road. A mess of limbs, red and blue fabric and armor, the two sworn enemies came to a halt harshly as his armor clanged against the ground.

Zuko landed flat on his back, groaning as he tried to sit back on his elbows. In the split second he had gotten up on his elbows, a body crashed straight into his chest.

She yelped in pain as he groaned, the wind knocked out of both of their lungs.

"Agni…." He moaned as Katara dug her elbows into his chest, trying to move.

She lifted her upper body as he turned his head upward. Eyes met and the world slowed.

Katara placed her hands down on his chest – his hard chest – and tried to lift herself off him but found his thigh between hers, brushing against her core. She had to stifle a moan as he grasped her forearms tightly.

He was a boy and she was a girl tangled up in each other in a very compromising position for two teenagers. Two possibly hormonal teenagers. Her breath hitched in her chest.

However, the second he yanked her braid harshly she screamed, rolling off him, smacking Zuko in the face. The fight was back on.

I hold with those who favor fire

She knew this would happen, it had to happen. He told her it would and refused her help. She had fear in her heart and tears in her eyes as she let go of his arms and he strode to face his fate.

Katara had to throw her arms up to shield her eyes as the world exploded in light and fire, when two royal siblings dueled in a flaming dance that would decide the future of a nation, and the world.

But if it had to perish twice

In the instant that the lightning struck, his heart stopped. Not that he had been hit, but from the gravity of the situation.

Zuko had been fighting Katara evenly, fire and water whips filling the catacombs of crystal.

He let his guard down, purposefully, and let Katara force him to fall, letting her escape.

He disguised it well, of course, but he could not hide the shock that his sister may have just killed the Avatar.

I think I know enough of hate

Katara punched him hard, catching his jaw in a furious swing. He stumbled back and saw the fire in her eyes.

"You deserve so many traitor's deaths!"

The stone room of the Air Temple seemed too small all of a sudden, and he knew he couldn't escape her vitriol. Part of Zuko thought he deserved it, especially after Ba Sing Se.

The waterbender continued her assault, energetic and fueled by a rage Zuko knew so well, a rage that drove him for years when he was a different person.

Strange, that Zuko could see fire in the depths of her blue eyes. But as she screamed and swung again, he remembered that his vengeful, hateful sister could created blue fire.

To say that for destruction ice

In between shades of consciousness, Zuko could see Katara and his sister whirling around the arena, with shots of lightning and water between them.

He prayed to Agni. Not for his own survival, but for hers. She didn't know how to redirect lightning. He couldn't let Azula take her too. Azula had already taken too much.

The great god of Fire must have been listening, because as electricity continued to wrack his body, the last thing he saw was Katara freezing herself and Azula and chaining the Princess down, finally defeating her.

Is also great and would suffice.

All of their fights had been a struggle for control, of opposites, of the sun and moon. Of fire and water, heat and coolness, of the strength and speed and of the grounding and flowing.

But as their journey went forward, from fumbled kisses and awkward touches, to passion and life and breath, Zuko and Katara realized that while they were opposites, fire and water, they brought balance to each other, equal in the great energy of life.

FIN