literature

Zutara Week: Blood

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It would be over in a matter of minutes, she reassured herself, one man holding a knife to her throat, the second standing away from her, his face hidden by shadow. A knife glinted silver in the faint light from a lantern as his arm rose, the sharp point aiming at her briefly, before the man coiled his arm and prepared to strike. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see the knife spiral towards her. One knife dug into her neck, the second pierced her stomach. She gasped, and the man let her go. She fell to the floor with a thump, her own blood pooling around her. She looked up and could see the dim outline of a female figure, but as her world slowly turned dark, all she could feel was her own warm blood.

~

Zuko lay on the veranda outside the house in Ba Sing Se, the late afternoon sun, resting his head on his crossed arms. The sun’s warmth caressed his face and arms, and already his pale skin was slowly gaining a light brown. He sighed, and shifted his position slightly, his body wriggling. He opened his eyes, and saw a clear blue sky, with a few puffy clouds like sheep-frog wool. Zuko sighed again, before sitting up and leaning against a post. He began tracing patterns in the wood before a familiar group rounded the corner of the street and made their way towards him. Zuko immediately stood up.
“Mai! Suki! Sokka, Toph and Aang are back!” He called out, and two girls walked out the front door, one eager, taking small, light steps, the other hiding her eyes beneath her long black fringe, walked slowly and sedately, as if the excitement of the other girl was an overreaction. Suki, spotting Sokka, bolted down the street and launched herself onto him. Zuko smiled to himself as he heard Sokka’s cry of surprise, and Aang’s child-like laugh of joy. Mai slid closer to him, and touched his hand slightly. Zuko smiled at her, just slightly, but clasped his hands behind his back. Mai lowered her head again, concealing her scowl.
“Hiya Zuzu!” Toph said, waving at door to their shared house. Zuko laughed, and shifted his foot slightly. Toph’s head immediately followed the noise, and she waved at him. Aang waved as he approached, but he looked confused. Zuko looked behind him, but only Mai was there, a scowl still on her face. As he turned, Toph had already walked up the stairs into the house, and Sokka, carrying Suki on his back, was running up the street, laughing as Suki giggled and whooped. Aang was following behind, his face still confused, but with a little anxiety there too.
“What’s wrong Aang?” Zuko asked, as the giggling couple dismounted and walked inside hand in hand.
“Where’s Katara?” he asked, and Zuko’s brow furrowed.
“I thought she’d gone with you,” he replied, and Aang shook his head.
“She wasn’t here when we left, I thought she had stayed here.”
“Well, where is she then?” Zuko growled. Looking past Aang, he looked up the street. He turned his head the other way to look behind him. Both sides of the street where deserted, and there was no visible clues to where Katara was. “I’m sure she’s fine, why don’t we go have some tea?” Mai’s monotone voice sounded, but Zuko ignored her. “Maybe she’s inside?” Aang questioned, and turned to go inside, Zuko following. Together, they checked Katara’s and Suki’s room, before searching the kitchen and the courtyard.
“What are you guys doing?” Sokka asked, raising an eyebrow when he saw their frantic faces.
“Katara’s gone. We don’t know where she is,” Aang answered him, as Zuko leapt onto the high border wall around the garden, and stood, peering over the next streets and houses.
“You sure you don’t know? I thought she’d stayed here,” Sokka said, worry colouring his tone as he joined Aang. Aang shook his head, looking up to Zuko, who jumped and landed heavily on the ground.
“I couldn’t see her. We’re going to have to search the whole city,” Zuko growled as he brushed past the Avatar. Sokka, in spite of his worry, raised an eyebrow. He turned to Aang, who was frowning slightly.
“With reactions like that, you’d think he was in love with her,” Sokka said, crossing his arms. Aang didn’t reply, but began to follow Zuko outside, Suki and Toph joining them.

~

“That’s your reward for you arrogance. Thought you were the only one? I learnt it from that mad old bat too,” the voice taunted, and on the floor, the girl began to weep. Her salty tears mixed with the red that already stained the ground. She cried out in pain as her arms were twisted up behind her back, seemingly of their own accord. Her sobs grew louder, and the taunting voice laughed.
“The poison will keep your wound open for a few hours. By then, if your friends don’t find you, you’ll be dead.” With that the voice and its male companions disappeared from her line of vision. The girl slowly and gently pulled the dagger out from her stomach, staunching the blood with part of her green robe. She tied the last piece in place, and began to slowly pulled herself along the floor to the stone wall near her. Using what little strength her body still held, she hauled herself up the wall and stood. Her left arm shakily stretched out further along, and slowly, little by little, she pulled herself out of the shack and out onto the street, leaving a grizzly trail of red behind her.

~

No, Zuko thought. Not there either. His frantic amber eyes searching the buildings around him for any trace. After leaving the house, each of the five companions had split up (Suki and Toph stuck together) at a cross roads to search for Katara. Zuko had taken a darker, dingier alley, hoping to Agni that he wouldn’t find Katara here. The light grew dimmer as the afternoon sun faded into a flared sunset of orange and pink streaks across the sky, before it began to fade to black. As it grew harder for his eyes to see, Zuko used his anxiety to light a flame that hovered just above his hand, the flame strong and unwavering. He wished he felt like the flame, not cowardly and worried sick, but when it concerned Katara it made it a lot harder to think clearly. Zuko shook his head to dispel images that kept creeping into his mind, images of Katara broken and hurt, or worse.
He came to a turn in the road, guarded by a wall. The way left lead back to the centre of Ba Sing Se’s metropolis. The right led deeper into the dark back alleys. Zuko peered down the left, but couldn’t see anything that made him believe he would find Katara that way. As he turned to the right, a flicker of reflected light caught his eye, and he peered at the ground, and his eyes widened as he spotted the trail of blood along the wall, dripping and sliding down to the ground. The fire light sparkled over it, making it seem unearthly. Zuko touched it hesitantly, but he knew what it was. The blood curved around from the front of a building, and travelled down the right path.
Zuko, with the taste of bile in his mouth and a pit in his stomach, began to follow the horrific trail down the dark path. The longer he followed, the more he realised that the person must be gravelly injured. The amount of blood did not grow any less, but the injured person seemed to have fallen further down the wall as they struggled to keep moving. The houses to the right of Zuko grew shabbier and shabbier, at first they were houses made of stone, to wood, to sticks and now even some were makeshift tents, simply coats and robes propped up on sticks. No-body was here either, either in the city centre or busy in their homes. Zuko turned his head away from the ‘houses’, and back towards the bloody trail. It seemed from now, that the person had begun crawling, and the red stretched out past a line of shops, to a water fountain, filled with floating candles. Zuko hurried along the path, and when he reached the fountain, the blood ended with a girl with long, curly brown hair and wearing a green robe, but was mostly stained with blood.
“NO!” Zuko screamed, and ran to Katara’s side, immediately turning her over, and cradling her form in his arms. Her normally healthy brown skin was as nearly as pale as his, her eyes were closed, there was a gash across her throat, and a wound in her stomach that she had tied over with torn bits of her robe. Stroking her forehead, Zuko’s tears came hot and fast, whispering her name over and over again, listening to her shallow breathing.
“Zu…ko,” her faint voice murmured.
“Katara? Katara, I’m here, it’s me, it’s Zuko,” Zuko said quickly, a smile breaking out over his features, as he carefully braced her body against his legs and cradled her head, one hand gently stroking the side of her face.
“I can’t feel my legs.” Her voice was weak, it seemed a huge effort just to get the simplest sentence out. Zuko fought back tears that threatened to spill over again. “It’s ok, I’ll get you back home, you’ll be fine. Someone can heal you,” Zuko rambled, trying to reassure himself and her. Katara shook her head ever so slightly, turning her head both ways once. “I can’t…the wound…it’s poisoned,” Katara whispered breathlessly. Zuko carefully untied her makeshift bandages with one hand, and fury filled him as he saw the deep knife stab, the cut ringed with green, it stained the flesh around it, and was spreading across her stomach. “Katara, who did this to you?!” Zuko said, trying to keep calm, when the fire in him threatened to explode.
“A woman…two men…she knew…bloodbending. She was threatening a shopkeeper…I tried to help…but…she…” Katara’s breathing grew shallower until Zuko could barely hear it. Unable to hold them back anymore, Zuko swallowed as the first tear slid down his old scar and over his cheek.
“Katara, I can get you back. Aang, he can help you. He can waterbend too,” Zuko stammered, his voice catching as Katara opened her eyes. Her blue eyes were dull, there was no sparkle. The lifeless eyes caught Zuko’s tortured amber.
“I can’t…you saw how much blood I’ve lost,” Katara whispered, one of her shaking hands cradling Zuko’s cheek. He interlaced his fingers with hers, tightly holding her hand under his, too afraid to tear his eyes away from hers, and not caring that tears the caught the dancing flames in the water fountain slid down his face like liquid gold. Katara sighed softly, closing her eyes briefly. As she opened them, her hand began to slip from Zuko’s fingers. He caught it and held it strongly, as if it were his lifeline.
“Zuko, I’ve been a fool,” she began, using one finger to gently stroke along his jaw line. “I should have acted on my heart so much longer ago, but I couldn’t let…” her voice trailed off, and her eyes closed again.
“Couldn’t let what? Katara, stay with me!” Zuko yelled desperately, lifting her body closer to him. Her body was motionless, her head fell back limply as he gently raised her. Sobs racked Zuko’s body as he cradled her to him, crying in earnest. Her head lay on his shoulder, her arms hung down her sides, her legs tangled over his.
“I love you…” her voice faintly whispered. Zuko gasped, and her heart pounded frantically for a minute, before stopping entirely. Zuko, holding her head carefully, separated their bodies, looking for any flicker of life in Katara’s face. Her eyes were closed, her chest did not rise and fall with her breath, her hands did not move. He stared at her face, choking on sobs, before he pulled her to his body, cradling her tightly, and screamed out into the night sky until his voice grew hoarse. He sobbed, stroking her hair, murmuring, “I love you,” over and over. It wasn’t until the dawn sky rose, the sky painted purple, then pink and orange, did Zuko stir from his position on the ground. Gathering what little strength he had, he carefully stood, with Katara’s body limp in his arms, and followed a path, out of the alleys. He passed by shocked passers-by without a glance. He walked past the shared house, where none had slept that night. He walked past the city centre, and followed a path out of the city. He didn’t glance back, he didn’t wait for anyone, he didn’t even gather any possessions.
She was dead. That thought consumed him.
***Authors Note***
I know the above picture is a bit of a spoiler, but I apsolutely TRIPPED OUT when I saw it. It was exactly the same as the end scene I imagined.
It was beautifully drawn by :iconneato123:

I never thought I would get this finished. I'm glad I did though.

Just a note, if you're not really into lotsa bloodstuffs you should probably not read the above.

Enjoy, otherwise!

:iconzutaraweekplz:
© 2009 - 2024 no-road-jess
Comments5
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DragonWarrior24's avatar
wow, that was deep and sad... but it was a great fic to read. nice work