[Trans9] - How the mighty have fallen

[princeinexile]

It was only a matter of time -- a matter of abuse, a matter of not eating, a matter of not sleeping right -- until one day, he was getting up to head to his little pod--

-- and then the ground rushed up to meet him.

It's not the first time Zuko's fainted from lack of food or proper rest, but it shan't the be the last if this moment is any clue. Laying there in an empty hallway, he is unmoving, still and pale.

Might be almost frightful, to find someone like that.

Comments

[allican-do.livejournal.com]

Not everyone would think so, though. Some may, in fact, consider it a blessing. At least this way, he can't open his mouth and say something stupid.

The next person to round the corner is someone he would view an enemy.

"...Zuko?"

Someone bent upon his destruction and pain.

"Zuko?"

Someone sure to always kick him when he's down.

"Zuko!"

Or someone who still feels guilt for a blow delivered to his cheek, rushing to his side to kneel and check him over carefully. Katara gets her hands on his shoulders, rolls him gently to his back and checks, water pulled from her pack to her hands - his heartbeat soft but steady, breath there but labored.

"Stacy? Stacy, I need help!"

[princeinexile]

Zuko is loose in her hands-- limp, even, but he breathes, and there's even a contractino of the muscles of his face. He can hear her, and she's noisy.

|| Yes, Katara? What assistance do you require? ||

[allican-do.livejournal.com]

She's the kind of noisy that's going to save your ass, so SHUT UP, ZUKO.

Her hands pull back, water returning to the pack and she looks at him worriedly, unsure. "I-- I don't know, I think--"

Zuko's belly takes this opportunity to speak up now-- loudly.

"Food. Food, please, and-- one of those needles that makes you not-thirsty anymore and-- He needs to lie down somewhere not the floor, can you help me lift him?"

[princeinexile]

A door dialated open -- to the pod that Zuko had either just left or was headed too when he hit the floor. But it extends things frmo the walls, too, to haul him inside to the tight sleeping space -- if Katara doesn't mind the close quarters, she will surely eb able to fit in there and... help him out?

That's the idea, right?

|| You will need to go to the mess hall to get nutrients. I will hydrate him here. || And one tentacle leapt out to BITE him like it bit her, and hydrated him a bit.

...not that it woke him up, but he flinched a little in his sleep before he went back to being still.

[allican-do.livejournal.com]

CREEPY, STACY.

Katara jumps back abruptly when tentacles appear, but after eyeing the walls warily, she starts to step back. "I'll be right back," she promises-- though if she's talking to the ship or the boy...

In any case, she runs off, coming back shortly with a tray and some slop. There is a moment of hesitation, peering into Zuko's pod, making sure--

Making sure he's still out of it. She doesn't want to crawl in there just to feel the need to bash his head against the wall.

After a minute or two of checking things out, she starts to crawl in beside him. It's tight, but-- she's a healer, isn't she? Sort of?

So she'll heal.

"Stacy, is he okay? I know he needs to eat, but is he sick, hurt...?" And while Stacy answers, she's softening a bit of broken tray in the slop to put in his mouth.

[princeinexile]

|| Zuko is depleted. He was not supposed to be released. There is no sufficient solar energy to sustain him. ||

Zuko is still out of it when she gets back with her little weird bowl of slop, but when he has dampness against his lips, he grimaces, tilting his head, eyes cracking open.

"...mom?"

And then he's gone again.

[allican-do.livejournal.com]

...Oh, no.

Lying there beside him, Katara reels internally, eyes wide and lips parted, hands frozen when she hears that. Her heart is suddenly beating hard against her chest and she swallows hard, swirls the tray-bit in slop and leans over him.

"," she whispers, and pries his lips open with the tray, drops it in his mouth. "."

Before he killed himself out here.

[princeinexile]

There's not much struggle -- but he does eat-- the response is slow and a grimace is appearent. Still, the body knows sustenance when it sees it, and Katara's able to nurse a bit of food into it.

Eyes's flutter open and then closed, but the indistinct feminnie shape -- dark hair down -- is enough that his brain says mother and he dosen't fight.

Soon, though, he gives up -- and goes back to sleep, eyes closed and breathing slightly less labored, murmuring something utterly incomprehensible.

[allican-do.livejournal.com]

But he ate, didn't he? That's what matters, and Stacy gave him a shot and he's back in bed. The tray and slop are nearly gone - he must have been starving - and when Katara slides out from his little pod, she lets the wrist of her sleeve rub against her eyes, just for a minute.

he called her mother

Where was Aang? Where was her mo--

There was a sound, perhaps a sniffling sound, and Katara set the rest of the tray down on the floor. "...Stacy?" she says quietly, moving back to the hallway.

[princeinexile]

|| Yes, Katara? You are distressed. Do you need medical attention? ||

Zuko slept on, undisturbed by the woman's voice.

[allican-do.livejournal.com]

"No-- I'm okay, thanks. Just... if something happens to him, will you let me know? Please?"

She's walking down the hallway, keeping her voice low just in case.

If Sokka heard this, he'd murder her-- and try to figure out who had switched brains with his sister.

[princeinexile]

The ship's affirmative was given -- the door to Zuko's pod clenched shut again, and the prince slept. He'd wake, a little bewildered later, but for now, was peaceful.