Find Me | Zuko x reader | Avatar the Last Airbender | Book 1

Chapter 54: Still

                               Zuko's POV

          Zuko felt bad not telling anyone that he and Sokka were leaving. They left in a balloon when night fell, leaving camp again for the third day in a row. Now they stood, quiet, the silence eating at his soul.

          "Pretty clouds." Sokka commented, avoiding eye contact. 

          "Yeah..." Yeah? "Fluffy." Fluffy?? Zuko played with his fingers, trying to think of something else to say, but Sokka spoke before he could think of anything.

          "Was it hard to leave the Fire Nation? You'd just gotten back, right?" Sokka finally decided to make eye contact, and Zuko leaned against the side of the balloon. 

          "Not really. My entire nation thinks I'm a traitor." He said simply, crossing his arms.

          "Really? It wasn't hard to leave anyone behind?"

          "Well, I had a girlfriend." Zuko frowned as Sokka stiffened strangely, before relaxing way too fast. Is he okay?  "Mai, but we never got along well, and I couldn't drag her into this."

          "Oh, that girl who's always grumpy and sighs a lot?" Sokka asked, checking the fuel in the balloon. Zuko smiled, looking at the ground.

           "Heh. Yeah. She's great, but it's hard, you know...?" He wouldn't look up, afraid of what Sokka's reaction would be. It was silent for a minute or two, then he spoke.

          "I forgive you." He said suddenly, and Zuko snapped his head up to look at him. "And I want to thank you for... for saving Y/N. I know it probably tore you apart." Sokka bit his lip, thinking. "I'd rather it was you than Azula or some Fire Nation executioner out there." 

                              F/N's POV

          "I don't believe this." F/N muttered angrily, pulling several levers and rushing outside to check her position. Sokka and Zuko had disappeared, and she was pretty sure she knew exactly where they went. 

          Taking out the 10 man crew of a small Fire Nation scouting ship wasn't hard, but in the process of taking the ship, the captain had tried to sink it, breaking a lot of the controls before F/N managed to knock him out. This left her with only left steering, no coordinates or navigation system, and the word of a threatened crewman. 

          She didn't have the time to take another ship, Sokka and Zuko had a 2 hour head start, and traveled by air. If she was going to get to the Boiling Rock in a timely manner, she would have to make due with what she had: maps.

          The ship was suspected as soon as she came into port, almost shooting her down with the ship, and she soon found out why they were on high alert. She ran to the top of the steep hill, looking down into the crater. The prison was in chaos, prisoners and guards scrambling everywhere, panicking below on the island in the middle of a steaming lake. Azula was there.

          "Great." F/N sighed, getting out one of her metal containers to slide down the gondola wire. "This looks under control."

                              Zuko's POV

          Through the chaos, Zuko managed to find the others, Suki had the warden tied at the wrists. They were watched closely by the guards as they slowly made their way to the gondola. 

          "I got him." Sokka said breathlessly, joining the group with Jet in tow. Jet looked out of breath, and was a little scratched up, and mildly burned, but otherwise okay. Zuko exchanged awkward glances with him before focusing on the situation.