The Fire Within - an atla fanfic (Zuko x OC)

From a Poor Family

"I really cannot think of anything wrong. If the pain continues, I may have to refer you to another doctor." The doctor on Ember Island told me.

"Really? Which doctor?" I asked.

"Doctor Liang." He responded. "Taught me all I know."

I began to sigh, but caught myself and went silent. "Really? I've heard all about him. When did you work with him?"

He shrugged. "Only a few years ago, once he came back from his hiatus 6 years ago."

"Hiatus?" I questioned.

"Well, yeah. When he took a 12 year break from medicine in the capital to help in the Fire Nation colonies."

I narrowed my eyes. "Great story."

He looked at me in suspicion. "What? Do you not believe it?"

"No, not really." I said. "Why would a pioneer of medicine waste time in the colonies when he could be at the capital, learning new stuff instead?" I asked.

"He told me the spirits told him to do it." He answered.

"Well why aren't you still learning from him?" I questioned.

"He didn't have time to teach me anymore, with his family and all."

I froze, chills infesting me. "Family?"

"Yeah. His wife and child. Are you okay? You look green."

"I'm fine. I need to go." I snapped.

He opened a drawer and handed me a bottle. "This might help with the pain."

"What is this?" I asked.

"Liang calls it opium." He told me.

I scoffed. "Do you give this to everyone?"

"A lot of people, with pain like yours."

"And you get a lot of people coming back, with nausea, insomnia?" I asked, handing him back the bottle.

"Yes, actually."

"Uh-huh. Yeah, this is an addictive drug. And when you stop taking it, you get withdraw symptoms."

He looked at the bottle in confusion. "I didn't know... you can't be right."

I thought it out in my head. "Makes sense that Liang would do that, too. He knew that if he gave it to people, they would come in several times, and give him more money. The only thing that would help is more drugs, so they would never stop coming. Liang isn't a good person, he's just a con." I spat.

The doctor seemed saddened by my realization, and placed the bottle back in his drawer. "I've hurt so many of my patients."

I scoffed. "Those aren't your patients, they're your customers."

"You're right. What do I do?" He asked desperately.

"I'm not a doctor, I wouldn't know. If I were you, I would confront Liang, clearly he isn't the person you think he is." I said with a shrug.

He looked confused. "You said earlier you know all about Liang. How should I know you aren't just trying to pin me against him?"

"Do you think I'm some sort of mastermind? I'm only 16." I said. "If anything, this makes you seem dumb. You should've realized this by now. It only took me 5 minutes to figure it out."

He kept silent, and I stood up. "Thank you for trying to help. I wish you the best." I said, doing a fire nation equivalent of a handshake.

He nodded slightly, and I walked out, feeling a mix of emotions. I felt slightly proud, because I clearly presented myself as a badass in there, but I also felt sad, but mostly, I felt angry. I used to think my father was just terrible to me, but now I knew he was exploiting people even here. He even had a family? I wanted to find them and warn them. God knows, he could be hurting his kids like he hurt me.