Falling- A Zutara OneShot

Tumbling
He hears the ceiling give out a groan before the few pieces tumble downwards. He doesn’t gaze at them plummeting towards the ground. Instead, he only sees her, her shape growing closer as he runs toward the young waterbender, her stance on guard, but her face not registering the danger above her. He has already leapt into the air when he cries out his warning, and his arms were already circled protectively around her waist when she takes notice of it. They fall.

He twists during their inept crash, putting himself between her and the stone floor they are about to collide into. As some of the pieces of rock that had once been the ceiling finally hit the floor and as the dust from the debris starts to rise up, he rotates and puts himself, once again, in danger by placing himself between her and the uninterrupted threat as rock continues to fall. He tries to expand over her form, shielding her from any stray wreckage that may be falling, while simultaneously unclasping his hand from his wrist to prop himself up, not wanting to crush her like they almost had.
He looks behind, at the damage, and misses her eyes squeeze shut harder in fear. His face calms as he sees the stillness of the space. Their hands are touching, barely, but still the contact is there. Then she moves them, supporting herself as she turns to him. “What are you doing?”

The firebender’s face formed an expression of shock and surprise- and… disappointment?- as he answers simply, “Keeping rocks from crushing you.”
She doesn’t roll her eyes, but she might as well have for the emotion of annoyance was conveyed all the same. The girl says her voice sharper than blades, “Okay! I’m not crushed you can get off me now!”

Then she’s gone, slipping out of his arms as quickly as the element she had such control over. The teenager’s eyebrows furrow in disbelief at her lack of gratitude. “I’ll take that as a ‘Thank You.’” He says on the floor before getting up himself.

Blown Away
At the present time, he’s only aware the fight between the two of them. He and Azula.  Azula. His sister. She, with whom he shares flesh and blood. There’s a mad glint in her eye that he knows was never there before, at least not that he’s seen, and then there’s a collision of the two’s powers. He now tumbles, even less gracefully than minutes before, into freefall. He reaches out his hand for something to grab onto, when there suddenly is. She pulls him into the saddle, not holding on longer than she needs to. He can tell that now she thinks they were even.

Inceptive Understanding
He follows her, and meets the blue gaze as she turns to see who it is. His anger is evident when her gaze then hardens, and she turns her back on him.
Pale arms come up in exasperation, questions follow that had been burning inside. Once free, they don’t hold the same weight and importance. This is especially truthful when she turns violently, eyes wide and angry, and twists the queries into something with a different meaning. He shouldn’t be surprised; she’s always making him see differently. He asks, “What can I do to make it up to you?” and he’s genuine.

But the water tribe native doesn’t care, and spits back a retort that is supposed to be impossible and is supposed to tell him to give up.

But he’s persistent, and knows that despite the ulterior motives, she too was genuine with her response. He decides what to do next. It doesn’t take long.

Not Worthy
He sits. His head bowed in defeat. In some strange and bizarre way, he can almost make sense of this. He can almost grasp the fact that in his sixteen years he’s never been unable to persuade his way, but yet this one girl, as stubborn as he is, can resist his words and actions so carelessly. Almost, but not Truly or Deeply.  

He sits there all night wondering many things…. How this is going to go? What would her reaction be? What happened to the girl in the braid who cried at the mention of her mother? But when she steps out he sees a young woman with her hair in a fixture that was almost reminiscent of a Fire Nation style.

Blue eyes harden as she spots him. He knows she would rather go alone, but she needs, whether she thinks it or not, protection. He knows now not to ask, but to demand, and he tells her he going to go with her. She doesn’t protest, and he almost smirks.

Mirror
All throughout the trip, he sees a different side of her. A side cooped up and raging against the motherly façade that she showed around Sokka and the Avatar. She was darker, almost eerily so. And yet he felt a familiarity, a connection with this part of her. When he yelled at the supposed murderer… he was aware of a personal connection. He wondered whether he was substituting this for his own grudge.

Shock
In fury the girl unleashed a display of her talents. He only looked on, not scared for her… no, instead it was something… warmer, he thought he forgot the feeling of this emotion, but apparently not. It was crazy, but could he be feeling… pride for the girl?

Console
She was looking at the water, her eyes downcast. He wanted to comfort her, but he knew she wouldn’t be soothed by his presence, so instead he fetched the Avatar. The boy’s wide eyes and wise words worked. And he saw her smile.

Pieces
It had reached only one corner of that girls face, but he still felt a small feeling of triumph for the young Avatar, but then… wait… she was talking to him, not the Avatar. He finds he is the cause of the smile. He hears her words, and finds them more important to him than that of kings or even his own Uncle’s. The next thing he knows is that her shape is growing closer as she runs toward him. Her arms up and a smile on her face. She crashes into him and settles her head on his shoulder. His head is bowed down (as it often is around her) and he holds her as well, his hand locked on his wrist around her waist- for the second time in a week.
They fit together. The two of them. Their pasts, however different they seem at first, have significant similarities that created them into the people that they are today; they can understand each other’s fears and problems. These two people, in an embrace. They both have had life’s cruelest lesson of injustice pressed on them when they were young. They both had life’s hardships pushed down on them as well. Their mother’s had protected them until they could no longer. Their destinies were intertwined, with both the future of the world, and with each other…

Katara pulled away slowly, keeping one hand where it lay on his shoulder, and looked in to the prince’s golden eyes. As she turned, so did he, so the contact wouldn’t break, but eventually she turned to walk away, where as he kept his feet planted to the dock.

Looking after her Zuko spoke his piece to the Avatar… her newly discovered name, feeling almost at home, on his tongue. He looked ahead to where she was, not turning around until he needed to, in order to get his point across.


Yes, indeed, they do fit nicely together.