ARE YOU READY FOR THIS????? HERE WE GOOOOOOOOOO!

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She woke up with a start. She could tell that something was different.

First, she was still alive. Unless she would still be chained in a cell in the afterlife, and well, she certainly hoped not.

Second, she felt healed. Her stomach was not demanding sustenance as it had been; she felt fed...satiated. Her skin was not as grimy as it was, though being held in a cell covered everything in a fine layer of dust and soot.

The only thing that was painful was her hands. As she tried to move her fingers, jolts of agony shot through her. She bit her lip hard with the realization that they'd made sure she wasn't going to be able to bend herself away, now that she was in better shape. The bones in her fingers were shattered.

She noticed someone sitting crouched outside of her cell. She startled back, unable to move far because of her restraints, heart pounding in her chest. It was a guard, and carefully he took his helmet off, tilting his head.

"I thought you were done for."

"Tahoe," Katara croaked, expecting her voice to be far more roughened than it was, "Why?"

"I owe Azula a great deal, and I have never assumed Zuko would be the better choice. It always seemed obvious to me that Azula was who we really needed as a nation. She will be a good Queen, Katara, you have to know that."

"Is it blackmail? Does she have something on you? Tahoe, this isn't the answer," she tried one more time.

Tahoe blinked, shaking his head. "You just don't get it. Zuko has poisoned your favor for her, but Katara, she's so smart. She has the answers, actual answers."

She'll burn the world to the ground, you idiot.

"So why save me, then?" Katara asked with bitterness, "Or did I magically heal?"

"No, no...I brought in a healer. We couldn't have you dying in here before Azula did it her way," he said, but there was no cruelty behind his words. It was a farce; it was what he said to justify to everyone else why he hadn't let Katara become past-tense.

"If you can't be honest," Katara huffed, and Tahoe bit his lip, standing.

"You've always been so kind, Katara. To me...to everyone. Call it a moment of weakness." He rolled his helmet between his palms. "Because I know I'm just delaying the inevitable. But I still..." He chuckled, shrugging. "And before you ask, no, you can't change me to your band of merry justice warriors, who may I add, are all here waiting for death as well. I might not want to see you dead, but my loyalty is to Azula."

Katara stared at him, distressed. "Did you ever really love Aiga? She was over the moon for you," she said, recalling how happy one of her best friends had been every time they met up.

"See, so good. Asking for others, not yourself. Worried about people who likely will survive, since no one can find her." Tahoe grasped the bars, sighing. Katara knew his answer from how he danced around and didn't even reply.

"Don't you have any questions for yourself?" he asked.

"What is there to ask?" Katara asked, glaring at him. "If you're not going to help me... if you're just here to gloat or get your conscience cleared..."

Tahoe frowned, as though hurt by her words. "Look, erm, out of kindness, Azula is going to stage the executions in a few hours from now. I know that you never got closure, and that's shitty. We're moving prisoners to prepare...the big ones will go first. And I think...I think I'm going to walk all the way to the end of the cell hall to get some tea."

Katara blinked at him because unless he was also going to 'oops' drop his key, he wasn't giving her an escape plan. She did not comprehend his hint.

"And I've heard these walls are quite...flimsy, Princess. And I might just take a few extra moments to really, really enjoy my tea. We just got a new shipment of Oolong in from the Earth Nation, and I've been told I simply must try it."

Katara blinked as he left, her mind still swirling with just an alarm bell of confusion...until she heard a groan from the cell next to her. And well, she'd know that voice anywhere.

"Zuko!? Zuko!" she cried, her voice pitching and breaking from the joy of knowing they were so close...just a wall separating them.

"Oh, great dragons," Zuko moaned, "My head..." He sounded woozy. They must have knocked him out to move him to a closer location for...later.

"Zuko, we don't have much time," Katara pressed, but she knew she could not fix the fog in his mind faster, not from here.

"Kat...ara?" Zuko said woozily, and then it was like it all fell into place. "Katara, you're alive, oh thank the spirits," he said, sounding close to tears. "How are you? Are you okay? Katara, just please, keep talking," he begged.

"I'm..." She almost said fine, but how could she be fine? "I'm still here."

"You are, oh, I thought for sure you were already dead."

"Maybe Azula plans to kill us as a pair, just to really dig our hearts out and prove her madness," Katara hissed, knowing that it would be a fate worse than death to have to watch Zuko die in front of her.

"Oh," was all Zuko said, as if it just hit him what was really going on. "At least we're here together now."

"Our guard has stepped away. Just for a second," Katara whispered. "Zuko, we're going to die."

The words hung between them, as solid as the brick walls that held them here. To say it out loud, to Zuko, made it all crash down on her. "No last-second fixes, no brilliant ideas, nothing. They broke my fingers, I can't waterbend," she whispered in a terrible, hushed cry.

"Katara, hey, hey..." Even hours from death, he was trying to comfort her, not focus on himself. Still, even he could not think of much else to say to her, something that would truly put her soul at rest.

"The thought of you dying...Zuko, I can't." Katara let out a sob, body slouching.

"You'll go first, I'll make sure of it," Zuko insisted, "Azula wants to hurt me more anyway."

"You shouldn't have to see that, though." Katara shook her head. There was a large pause across the space.

"I'll do it for your peace," he said.

"Tui," Katara groaned, "We were so foolish. All of us; all the contestants, thinking things like the dresses we were wearing or the meals or the trips were what was important that we missed all of this right under our noses." She gave a dry, dark laugh.

"Azula is scarily manipulative. Not even Mai figured it out," Zuko argued. "And not my father. Despite what Azula claimed, my dad is...was...bright. He wouldn't have made it so far if he wasn't. She got it from him."

Katara wondered how he was dealing with the fact he killed his dad, but there wasn't the time for that right now.

"Still, we dried up our time. Time that we could have been doing anything else, enjoying ourselves. Time we could have been spending together."

"Together?" Zuko said, a flicker of hope in his tone.

Would it be best to tell him now, as they were seconds from death, to give him a happy thought as he left this planet, or would it agonize him to know the truth and have it yanked away before he could ever enjoy it? She wasn't sure, so she settled for silence.

"Hey, at least...we'll spend the rest of our lives together," Zuko murmured to her. "We won't leave each other's side until the end. Few can get such a gift with the one they love."

"It's more an unfortunate side effect of semantics," Katara huffed, "But I appreciate you're trying to be sweet." And, if she had to die, there's no one she'd rather it be with.

"I should have..." Katara began, but everything she could finish, the hundreds of different paths she could have tread all clogged at her lips, and she was so overwhelmed she could not speak any of them. "I should have treasured you more when you were here. You, and Sokka, and my parents, and Suki and Toph and Aang and everyone. I guess I just always thought we'd have so much more time."

"Katara, I don't know exactly how much time we have left, but I don't want to spend it regretting things we didn't do. I don't want that, not at all. So let's not consider all of those ghosts, because we can't change time anyway."

Katara internalized his words, realizing that she would drown herself in pity and self-loathing and remorse before she ever reached the chopping block. If they only had so much time left...

"What should we do instead?"

"I want to kiss you," Zuko laughed. "Not a naughty kiss, but a sweet one. I just want to kiss you," he whispered."What we really can do, though? Talk about the good things. Some pretty great moments have happened, not just bad."

Katara closed up her sorrow and reached for the box in her mind of the rest of the time here; of dancing with her friends, laughing late at night, falling for Zuko and confiding in him, learning so much about herself and her family...

"Yeah, not all bad things, some very good things," she agreed, basking in the warmth of these memories.

"Are you glad you came here?" Zuko asked.

"Of course, a thousand times," Katara had no hesitation in her answer, "I would make that choice over and over again."

There was noise from down the corridor.

"I guess our number is up," Zuko said, trying to inject a joke, but gallows humor was doing nothing for Katara right now.

Katara hummed, trying to keep her tears in, expecting to hear the clanking of chains, the marching of a huge army to keep the pair from escaping, and perhaps even the maniacal laughter of Azula. Instead, she heard none of those things - a few scattered yells, metal hitting the ground, an explosion...

Katara tilted her head. "No, something's not right."

"What do you mean?"

"I-"

Before she could reply, a vibration like an earthquake shook the cells. Katara tried to brace herself the best she could as the walls around her tumbled down, leaving a triumphant Toph standing in the rubble, laughing and throwing her arms to the sky.

"I am Toph! Breaker of cells and chains! Fear me!" Toph cheered herself on.

"Toph! I have never been so glad to see you," Zuko said, and all of a sudden, he couldn't stop laughing. The noise of his glee caused Katara to giggle too, despite the circumstances, and she didn't know if she should cry or not.

"Your timing is impeccable, Toph," Katara agreed.

"Hey you two, need an escape?" Toph asked gleefully, easily separating the metal bars (though the cells around them were basically gone). "Oof! Yo, Giggles! I need help over here!"

Ty Lee jumped, leaping and bounding over the ruins and waving brightly at everyone.

"Oh, you two sure are in a pickle, aren't you!" she said, eyes wide. She went to Zuko first, while Toph helped break Katara's chains and holdings.

"The guards-" Katara argued, looking over at the filled-in hallway.

"Oh, we took care of them," Ty Lee laughed, flipping her shoulder-length hair, and giggling behind her hand. "Easy, actually. I was expecting a bit more of a fight. So embarrassing for them."

"Tahoe, did you see him?" Katara said frantically as Toph broke the metal at her legs, "He's-"

"Dirty and two-sided. Yeah, we know." Toph made a face, and as Katara started to beg the question, she waved her away. "How about later, Sugar Queen?"

"Careful, they broke her fingers," Zuko said to Toph as she started to free Katara's hands. He was staring at Katara with so much warmth, so much relief, that it made everything feel more okay.

"No!" Ty Lee gaped, "Those monsters!"

"Awe, gee," Toph said, choked up, "That's awful. Does it hurt? This okay?" she asked, handling Katara more gingerly than she'd perhaps ever touched anything.

"Get me out of here," Katara ground her teeth, "Even if I cry out."

Breaking the bonds pinched and made her eyes tear up, but it was nowhere near as bad as having them broken as it was. As soon as she was free, Katara stood on wobbly newborn fawn legs. Zuko ripped off part of his pants to create bandages for her hands, held protectively close to her chest.

"We gotta go," Toph said, frowning. "C'mon! It's a rescue mission, not an assassination, though Azula does deserve a good punch-"

"But...but the others," Katara argued, "Everyone that chose Zuko's side. We cannot leave them!"

"Already saved," Ty Lee soothed. "You two were the most heavily protected, so everyone else we got earlier. We're waiting on you two. Let's go," she insisted, pushing them forward.

Katara tripped, but Zuko caught her. She looked up and smiled at him, sighing in relief. Zuko looked back at her, and for a moment, it was just them and-

"Ugg! Can we pause the sexual tension until we get on the bison?" Toph said, walking between them.

Katara stopped. "Did you just say...bison?"

"Appa!" Ty Lee clapped.

"Bless you," Katara said uncertainly.

"No, silly, Appa is a name. It's Aang's flying bison!" Ty Lee giggled, booping Katara's nose.

"It's a bit scary, but he's a pushover," Zuko said fondly. "But let's actually go and meet him before something bad happens."

Toph brought them down to the first floor by making holes in the floors. Zuko made a sharp, annoyed inhaling sound, but clearly swallowed whatever he was about to say.

"What? What?" Toph demanded, "The palace is already destroyed...not pretty from the outside. And it's not yours anymore, it's Azula's. And I don't want anything left for her."

"So you know-" Katara began again.

"Yes, Katara, we're all caught up. No need for exposition," Ty Lee said, "We will explain."

The guards around them were all either completely unmoving or still twitching, thanks to Ty Lee's chi blocking. Katara saw workers; mostly cooks, maids, and handmaids, streaming out of the palace and helping others.

"Let's see how Azula manages anything without any employees except her guards," Aiga said proudly, overseeing the exodus from the Royal Palace.

"Aiga!" Katara cried, "Look at you! Was the escape all the Gray Lotus?"

"We can sure as hell punch things, but none of this would have happened without Aiga getting a hold of some of the workers inside," Toph said. "She sent a hawk with a super-secret message, telling the workers to stay put and keep to the status quo. Good plan too, otherwise there would be a lot of dead workers, I'd reckon. But they knew something else was coming. And now that we're offering for them to leave, basically, no one is sticking around." Toph said, high-fiving Aiga.

"How is everyone getting out?" Zuko asked, his voice sounding like he'd swallowed gravel. "There's so many who denied Azula."

"We have more friends than perhaps we thought. Friends of Rodden are everywhere and certainly willing to help. We of course have to figure out a new location, but.." Ty Lee's forehead crinkled. "It's better than here."

Appa was bigger than Katara expected. He was the size of a stable itself and was groaning and batting away guards. Sokka, Arrluck, and Hahn were already loaded on, and Katara saw the rest of the contents being loaded into a carriage.

"Okay, okay, let's go, we're here!" Toph said, being grasped into the saddle by Sokka.

"Wait, wait? My mother? Lu Ten?" Zuko waved his head around.

"Your mom is already gone; she's with us. And Lu Ten..." Aiga hauled herself up, lip quivering. "He wasn't in his cell. We came late...Azula had already started the executions...we have to assume-"

"Azula already killed him," Zuko said, his shoulders hunching low, wiping his eyes. Ty Lee gave him a sympathetic, lip-quivering frown, but Toph shoved her shoulder.

"Uhm, I think we gotta go, girl! I can't see for shit up here, but I can hear things!" She pointed, and any of the guards that seemed to escape Ty Lee's chi-blocking were running right for them.

"Appa! Yip-yip!" Ty Lee yelled and Appa rose into the sky, soaring high above the clouds until they could see the whole palace, burning and a shell of the once wonderful beacon it was. Zuko pressed his chin against the saddle, watching it vanish below them.

"Where are we going?" Katara asked. It was hard to talk up here; the wind whipped around them and took her voice far away.

"Southern Air Temple! We can't stay here long, but we have time to re-group!" Ty Lee yelled back. "Just sit back, and sleep. You're safe now."

There wasn't much else to do. She couldn't talk with Zuko, not properly. It was hard to even have side-by-side conversations. Hahn was curled at the front into a ball, Arrluck offered Aiga a chest to sleep on, and Sokka and Toph were already curled up in an untangleable ball of limbs.

She looked at Zuko who just patted next to him. Katara let him wrap his arm around her shoulders and she rested on his chest. She could hear his heart beating and reminded herself, no, they were not dead. He was alive and so was she.

This comfort, mixed with the rocking of Appa's flight, eased her to sleep.

XXX

"Wake up!"

Katara yawned to bright, hot sunlight.

"Katara, look at this place!" Sokka said, excited, "It's incredible."

Katara sat up on Appa's saddle to see high white buildings lined with light blue, intermingled with the earth having taken over, crept around the buildings. The nature, the sheer sunlight, the beauty of it...she felt choked up.

Ty Lee jumped off Appa and offered Katara her hand. As she more or less fell off the large mammal, she couldn't help but spin around to just take it in, the wind whipping around her loose hair.

"Are you sure we're safe here?" she asked. It was Zuko who answered.

"It's incredibly difficult to get here, and most of the blimps were destroyed in Zhao's attack, so Azula would have to scramble. Even making one at double pace would take a few moons. Plus, they're likely to look for us in the Fire Nation first, maybe Ember Island. Yes, I think we're safe here for a while."

Katara let out a breath of relief. As soon as they were unloaded, Ty Lee jumped back on.

"Where is she going?" Katara asked.

"There are many refugees to bring up here," Aiga replied. "Everyone we saved, for now, we have to keep here. There's plenty of room, but it will take quite a few trips."

"Oh," Katara said, relieved that no one would be left to fend for themselves. "Why isn't Aang manning Appa?"

Aiga winced. "Err, about that...well, Iroh wants to speak to all of you anyway. And Ursa." She motioned for what looked like the main hall. As soon as they entered, they were greeted by the smell of fresh food and tea. Katara's mouth watered.

"You all must be starving. Please, eat," Iroh said, motioning to the pillows.

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Sokka said, tugging Toph over to a seat, "Oh, I'd eat bugs right now I'm so hungry!"

Katara sat. 

As she sat, Toph came and whispered something to Iroh. He waved a woman over, one Katara recognized as a water-bending healer from the palace. She had a bowl and motioned for Katara's cracked fingers. Katara let her work as they all settled, the feeling of bones setting something familiar to her.

Around the table were a whole group of men and women, older in nature. They were all wearing the same frock.

"The White Lotus." Zuko guessed at the same time Katara realized. There were a few familiar faces; Piandro, Pakku, Iroh, Shen, Ursa, Aunt Wu, Bumi...and so many more. Aiga came and sat proudly next to Iroh, representing the Gray Lotus. She had an air of authority that Katara had never seen