Ambassador Katara concept
Oh my Goooood yessssss thank youuuuuu!! ATLA TGS AU IS MY JAM! Rewrite the Stars is my favourite song from The Greatest Showman soundtrack omg. And I've already written Ambassador Katara a little bit in Not like everyone else over on my AO3, so I'll focus on the other one. Also, this is a Historical America with Powers AU, since ya know, it's me :)
Zutara Rewrite the Stars/The Greatest Showman AU
Zuko looked Father and Azula dead in the eyes. He wasn't that scared little boy anymore. The one who lived off alcohol and boring plays. The one who lived half a life. The one who never felt joy.
He wasn't that boy anymore.
And tonight was the night to prove it. Even only to himself.
"My place? Father, if this is my place... I don't want any part of it."
With that, he walked away.
She arrived at the circus before he did. Of course, she did. Zuko pushed the doors open and ran after her. He found Katara exactly where he expected her to be. In the ring, where she belonged.
And, where he was starting to realize, he may belong too.
Zuko slowed for a second in the ring's entrance, his eyes focused solely on her. His feet echoed in the otherwise silent circus ring. So devoid of its usual life, so lonely. He dropped his coat and top hat on a shelf and jogged over to her. Her hair was down, framing her face, and gone was the updo it had been in earlier. She'd shed her opera gown, having opted instead for her royal blue and pale blue practice leotard instead. Practical. Comfortable. Familiar. Her eyes - oh, did he want those eyes to look at him! - were downcast, staring at the bandages she was wrapping with too much force around her hands.
Zuko kneeled before her, and yet she avoided his eyes.
"They're small-minded people."
Still, she wrapped and wrapped and wrapped her hands in bandages. Avoiding him. He knew she was doing so on purpose; her jaw was set, her eyes stern. When his hand tentatively reached for hers, she pulled away.
"Why do you care what they think?"
Finally, Katara looked him in the eyes.
"It's not just them." Katara's voice was a whisper, with hints of tears, anger and pain. "You've never had somebody look at you the way your parents looked at me." Her face scrunched up in disgust. "The way everyone would look at us."
Without looking at him, she rose up and started to walk away.
No, he couldn't let this evening end like this.
Zuko rose to his feet. His inner fire burned brighter than ever before. Reaching out. Reaching for her. He couldn't let her walk away without knowing the way he felt. Whenever he looked at her. Whenever he talked to her. Whenever he watched her from afar, standing backstage while she glided in the air or danced on the ground during the shows. He couldn't let her walk away like this. He couldn't.
So, he did the only logical thing that came to mind.
Katara stopped. Her shoulders dropped.
"It's not a secret I try to hide."
She didn't look at him. But she didn't walk away either. Katara grabbed a rope hooked to a pillar and started to roll it up.
She was trying to ignore him, sure. But she was listening.
"I know you want me." Zuko started to walk towards her. Not up to her, but towards her. One foot forward. And another. Slow. Hesitating. "So don't keep sayin' our hands are tied."
Courage pulled at him, pushing him forward. Guiding him. Guiding him to her.
"You claim it's not in the cards..." He walked over to her. With renewed hope. "...and Faith is pulling you miles and miles away from me."
One of his hands settled on the pillar. He walked in front of her, gazing at her from between two pillars.
Their eyes met for half a second.
"But you're here in my heart...
She walked over to the next pillar. She reached for its rope...
"...so who can stop me if I decide you're my destiny?"
Katara hesitated. She bowed her head. Shoulders up.
Before she started to unwrap the rope. But he knew. Now Zuko really knew. He was certain of it.
"What if we rewrite the stars?" He walked over to her, standing on her left. Determined. Yet kind and soft. "Say you were made to be mine?"
Head turned up, she tried to ignore him. Until Katara looked down and their eyes met for longer. Lingering.
"Nothing could keep us apart," Zuko sang. He walked forward, eye to eye with her, and she turned away. Walking away.
Katara stepped over the edge of the ring, her hand still holding the rope tied to the ceiling, and she stood in bright golden light. Bright as sunlight. Zuko stepped over the ring, too.
"You'd be the one I was meant to find."
He reached down and his hands gently grazed over the fabric of her leotard, at her hips. Katara spun around.
They were so close, so very close. But Zuko didn't let their closeness get to him. She wasn't smiling, she wasn't happy. He wanted to make her see. That was all he wanted.
"It's up to you..." One hand on her hip, he spun them around. She reached for the rope. Avoiding him. "...and it's up to me."
Katara stepped under his arm. She tried to walk away.
He grabbed her rope and pulled her to him.
"No one can say what we get to be!"
One of his hand holding the rope and the other holding her, he stood in the light with her. His hand moved from her hip to her soft skin, on her cheek. He pushed her hair aside. Softly.
Finally, she gave him a smile.
"So why don't we rewrite the stars?" They danced around each other, him pulling her arm up, her spinning around him. One of her hands grabbed onto the rope and they stood face to face. "Maybe the world could be ours. Tonight."
Katara pulled on the rope. Schleek! She was lifted, graceful and weightless as ever, towards the ceiling. Thud! Somewhere in the dark, the counterweight fell. Out of sight.
Zuko looked for her. Looked around. Where was she?
He looked up. There she was. High, high above him, sitting in her trapeze hoop. Always out of reach.
Spirits, he'd missed the sound of her voice. Melodic and sincere.
Katara's legs dangled in the air as her arms held her on the trapeze hoop. Against all odds. Slowly, oh so slowly, she lowered herself towards the ground, not yet touching it.
"You think I don't want to run to you."
Her feet touched the ground. Grounding her. Weighing her down.
"But there are mountains," she sang, facing him once more, "and there are doors that we can't walk through."
They put their hands up in perfect sync, her holding onto the hoop and him trying to hold onto her. She spun the trapeze hoop behind him, her arms the shadow of a touch along his shirt's collar, and she sat in the hoop once more. Spinning around. Oh so graceful.
"I know you're wondering why because we're able to be just you and me within these walls."
He grabbed onto the hoop and was eye to eye with her... for barely a second. Katara spun on her hoop, upside down.
Their faces were so close. For another lingering second.
Katara's hoop started to go up. Up, up and away, back towards the ceiling. Zuko reached for her, grabbed onto the cool metal. Before he knew it, his feet were lifted off the ground. With her.
For a moment, they were suspended in midair, the lights casting their glows upon them. Everything shined. As if underwater.
Zuko didn't want to let her go away. Not right now.
"But when we go outside, you're gonna wake up and see that it was hopeless after all."
He fell back to the ground.
And she disappeared. Out of sight.
"No one can rewrite the stars!" Katara appeared from the shadows. She zipped past him on her rope and went back into the shadows again. "How can you say you'll be mine?"
This time, he didn't lose sight of her. She spun around in the dark and her rope pulled her back, like gravity, towards him.
"Everything keeps us apart..."
They collided and fell into the middle of the ring.
Zuko lost all his bearings. They spun around each other in the sand. He found himself fell onto his back, with her on top of him.
"...and I'm not the one you were meant to find."
Katara straddled his hips and his hands settled on hers. He never looked away from her. Too fast almost to comprehend, she pulled hard on her rope, let go, and stroked his cheek the way he'd had, softly, tenderly. Then he hand grabbed onto the rope and pulled.
She was back up in the air before he could say or do anything.
"It's not up to you, it's not up to me."
Yes, yes it was! It was up to them. He knew it.
Zuko jumped to his feet. He grabbed onto her rope and pulled. Trying to pull her down. Back to Earth.
But Katara stayed suspended in the air.
She moved around her rope, punctuating every word with a kick of her foot or a spun of her arms.
"When everyone tells us what we can be."
Finally, she started to fall back to him.
"How can we rewrite the stars?"
He grabbed onto her and then spun once more. Finally, her feet touched the ground and he held her in his arms. For a long second.
"Say that the world could ours. Tonight."
Katara spun away, yet stayed close. They held onto the rope together, holding it and bringing each other close. Her beautiful smile lit up his entire face. Zuko's heart swelled.
They were finding common ground.
Zuko pulled her close, one hand on her hips securing her to him. This time, he was the one who pulled on the rope. They were lifted up in the air, light as phoenix feathers. His whole body felt free, free to fly, free to be! Was it what she felt every time she jumped in the air, weightless and free?
Freedom was so addicting, just like she was.
"All I want is to fly with you!"
He let go of her and she fell, only held up by his hand reaching for hers. Her arms and legs spread out until she touched the ground.
"All I want is to fall with you!"
This time, she was the one who pulled him down with her.
"So just give me all of you!"
Katara held Zuko close and they sang to each other. Pouring their hearts out. Then she pushed him away.
A rope fell down from the sky into her hand. He reached for her.
They spun on each of their ropes until they met in the middle.
"Say that it's possible!"
His feet touched the ground and he let her go.
"How do we rewrite the stars?" They sang together. Katara appeared from the shadows, high above him. "Say you were made to be mine? Nothing can keep us apart!"
Zuko ran away. Hopping over the edge of the ring, towards the stands. He climbed over to the second floor. Climbing to her height.
"'Cause you are the one I was meant to find!"
He didn't want to pull her down anymore.
He wanted to fly with her.
"It's up to you and it's up to me!"
Zuko jumped over the railing and raced along the gangway. Grabbing onto one of the pillars, he turned to her.
"No one can say what we get to be!"
Their eyes met. Her smile could lit up the stars. He hoped his smile matched hers.
He'd never been more ready in his entire life.
"Why don't we rewrite the stars?" They spun around in the air, holding onto each other, singing to each other. "Changing the world to be ours!
They sang and flew. Together. In harmony.
But then something changed in Katara's face. Her smile vanished.
Reality had caught up to them.
Too soon, way too soon, their feet touched the ground.
They stood an inch away in the dark. Noses not quite touching.
"It's not a secret I try to hide."
He didn't want her to say it. Not now, please, not now...!
"But I can't have you. We're bound to break and our hands are tied."
She grabbed his hand holding her waist and pushed it away.
Katara walked away. Over the edge of the ring. And back in the depths of the circus.
Leaving him all alone in the dusty ring.
Katara swallowed. Everything smelled and felt and tasted of ashes. It felt like years since they'd danced and sang to each other in the ring. Now here they were. Aang's circus had crumbled to the ground, turned to dust and rubble. Their whole world had come crashing down in a fire.
He was still there in that hospital bed. Eyes seemingly forever closed - oh, did she want those eyes to look at her! - and his body more still than she'd ever seen him. Lifeless. And now his heart was bruised and there was a burn scar over his chest and... and his fire had almost been snuffed out.
Katara wanted to scream. To yell. To shout.
But she couldn't. She simply couldn't. There was no voice left in her, not enough breath in her to utter her frustrations.
He'd foolishly tried to save her.
Katara grabbed onto his hand and pulled it to her. Over her heart. What was she supposed to do? What was she supposed to say? She had to tell him. She'd wanted to believe him for so long, and now her chance had been... had perhaps been... taken from her. Her chance at having a happy life with him. She had to tell him. She had to.
So, she did the only logical thing that came to mind.
"What if we rewrite the stars? Say you were made to be mine? Nothing can keep us apart."
Her voice broke on the last part.
"You are the one I was meant to find."
