now or never || an atla fanfic

𝔰𝔬𝔩𝔬 𝔪𝔦𝔰𝔰𝔦𝔬𝔫

"That's him?" Zuko asked in confirmation, still not believing his eyes as he discreetly stole glances at the Northern Water Tribe prince.

The avatar nodded, a grim expression on his face.

Hurt turned to confusion to anger after Katara had left the ballroom. He had no idea if he should've run after her or drink himself silly or brush off the incident as a small mishap. After scouring the room for minutes, his eye caught on a particular party guest that he hadn't noticed earlier.

His mind reeled at the thought of the Northern Prince finding their location.

Prince Hahn wasn't an enemy to their cause, per se, but after the shit he pulled, he was an enemy to Aang.

"Something happened between him and Katara," Aang recapped, and by the looks of it, it wasn't any good.

"Well, shit," the Fire prince took a swig of the amber liquid in his glass. "Did you even get to dance with her like I suggested?"

"What--no, we didn't dance."

"You had one job, buddy."

"Now's not the time, Zuko. She just ran out of the ballroom in tears and told me to stay away from her."

Zuko snorted. "Must be a sign then."

"I know Katara. She wouldn't tell me to stay away if there wasn't a good reason. It must've hurt her to say that, but there must be a motive that is beyond my current knowledge," he reasoned, beginning to leave the ballroom to retrieve his coat from the coat check. Zuko followed suit, stumbling every so often.

"You are definitely not talking like you've had a few shots of whiskey."

The avatar raised a quizzical eyebrow at his friend, continually walking at a brisk pace. "And just how many shots have you had?"

The prince raised a shoulder. "I dunno. I lost count after eight."

"Eight shots?" Aang asked, taking his coat from the coat check and retrieving his leather gloves from its pocket.

"After 8pm."

Aang looked at his pocket watch and clicked his tongue. It was a quarter after 10pm. He was grateful that he chose not to drink at all tonight, for his own safety and to ensure that a repeat of the last incident wouldn't happen to Katara.

"Shit man, just go to your room and rest. I'll take care of this on my own," Aang decided, handing his friend his coat and nudging him towards the direction of the stairs.

"And just where are you going young man?" Zuko asked, utterly perplexed by his surroundings. He blindly held the coat to his chest, clutching it as if it were some emotional support belonging.

"Some stalking," he said arbitrarily, tugging on his leather gloves. It wasn't anything new to their group, and he was damn good at it. "You should go to your room and get some rest."

Zuko reluctantly agreed, trudging off to his room, and Aang trusted Toph to make sure that he got to his room safely, even though he was fully convinced that Toph herself was high on sugar as well. Aang even thought against involving Suki or Sokka in this situation. After all, he'd asked Suki a number of times to help him out during emergency situations like this. She deserved a night to enjoy herself.

He would be going on a solo mission this time.

- ♚ -

Her back pressed against the back of the door, knees brought up to her chest and her head resting in her hands. The dark green tulle of her dress lay crumpled around her, which would no doubt be wrinkled by morning.