passion & pain. ((zuko x o.c.))

beginnings.

heyo again! this is a bit of a prequel :D enjoy!

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I'm eight years old, sitting by the fire with my mother as my siblings Sokka and Katara gather with my father and some of the other children outside.

"Ma?" I ask, looking up at my mother.

"Yes, sweetie?" she hums.

"I.. do you think I'm... weird? Different? I just... I can do things... things that normal kids can't..."

"Oh, Nikara, honey~ Are you- are you a waterbender? That's absolutely nothing to be ashamed of!"

"Ehh.. it's that, yeah, but.. Something else as well..." I confide in my mother, telling her the secret I've kept inside for just over a year now. "I can.. I can bend fire and water."

My mother drops the shoe she was patching up and inhales sharply. "No..no, I thought... no."

"Ma? Are you..."

She inhales sharply and shakes her head. "I... I think it's time I told you a story. About your father~ your biological father."

I'm taken aback. So.. what... what does that even mean? Katara... Sokka... they-they're not my family? F-father... isn't even related to me?! Is this why I look different? I have dark red-gold eyes and black hair... I never thought it meant anything. Cou-Could this mean...?

My trail of thoughts is interrupted after my mother says, "Before you were born... there was a Fire Nation raid. Right here, in our tribe. I... I was young, and..." She looks away, on the brink of tears, fingers fidgeting with each other.

"The-the raid captain, he made me h-have a child with him. A..and that child..." She smiled sadly at me, eyes full of the pain of her past. "Is you, my dear."

I sat, eyes wide, heart not beating. Every fiber of my being wants to say, No. No! She's lying. You are NOT from the fire nation. There's a reasonable explanation for this! There has to be... But the look of sadness and pain in my mother's eyes tells me that it's all true. Every word.

"Look, I- sweetie, I know this is a lot to process, but... how? How can you bend both water and..." A gasp escapes her lips as she speculates different possibilities to herself.

"I've always felt..." I start as my mother looks up, out of her thoughts. "that I was always... ah, different. Not even with what I look like, but just how people acted..." I shake my head, blinking back tears. I- I'm only 8, Ma, I- I'm just a kid. W-why me? Why me?"

My mother holds me close, rocking slowly. "It's ok, Ni. It... it'll be alright."

At that point, my father- no, my stepfather- bursts into the tent. My mother looks up at him, eyes welling with tears. He pales a little bit, nods, and joins the hug. No words are needed. He understands.

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A few days later, I'm playing with Sokka, using waterbending to throw snowballs at his head as he ducks and laughs.

"N-Nikara? Honey, come in here please." My mother calls.

I throw one last snowball at Sokka, sticking my tongue out playfully as he gets hit in the arm, and jog to the tent.

"Hey Ma, what did you need me for?"

"I think I know. Why you can, ah, bend two elements." She cocks an eyebrow at my amazed expression, knowing I've interpreted what she said incorrectly. "Ahah, no, you're not the Avatar, honey." My face drops and I puff my cheeks out. "But," my mother continues, "I think you are connected to them, though, wherever they are. When you were a baby, there- there was a light. Coming from you. Sometimes, you would glow red, sometimes blue, and a white glow would come up from the sky and go into you. I don't know what it means, but I think you may be destined-" she pulls me into a hug "for greater things than you and me."

I never forgot that. Even after she died two years later- I never forgot. For years, I pushed myself- honing my water and firebending abilities the best I could when I was alone. 6 years later, I'm still training, pushing myself to be the best I can. For her. For the only person who knew I am the only dual bender to have existed.

And that, my friends, is where our story begins. Let's go back to the beginning. I'm walking out in the cold before starting my morning training. Now here's where the fun part starts...