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

And Spit in My Eye?

Next thing I knew, my vision was blurry again. I had woken up from some sort of sleep. I looked around. I was in some sort of cell with Gaku laying on my lap. I peeled him off and struggled to stand up. Everything was spinning. I was obviously drugged.

I stumbled forward and grabbed onto the bars of the cell. I felt a slight rocking to our room, which made me realize we were on a boat. Most likely back to the capital. I suddenly felt sick. I vomited in the corner and sat back down on the ground in pain. I had too much of a headache to realize Gaku calling me.

"Hello? Hello? Hello?" He was saying over and over.

I snapped my head over at him. "What?" I was frankly annoyed with Gaku. I was only in this mess because of him. Clearly he was set there as bait for me. But I had to feel bad in some way, his mother was dead, and his father was, well, Lei Liang. And I obviously knew how terrible that was.

"You threw up." Gaku said, pointing at my vomit on the floor.

I rubbed my eyes and glanced over at him tiredly. "Yes, I know."

He walked back over to me and wrapped his hands around my arm. "We are on a ship! Where will we go?"

"I don't know, Gaku." I said quietly. "Nowhere good."

"Maybe Momma will be there." He said excitedly.

I didn't know how to break the news to him, and this definitely wasn't the best time. I sighed and put my head in my hands. "This is not good this is not good..." I said aloud in frustration.

"Where are we going?" Gaku asked, pulling on my arm.

"I don't know!" I snapped back at him.

His lip quivered and he started holding in tears. "You act like dad."

I widened my eyes and lifted my head back up. "No I don't. I'm- I'm sorry. Don't think I'm like him." I scooted closer to him and ruffled his hair a bit, trying to make him feel better.

He looked up at me and smiled. "Where do you think we are going?"

"The capital city probably. Y'know, where you live." I stated dryly.

"Home."

"Yes, home." I said in agreement as I stared at the concrete walls.

"Is dad mean to you too?" Gaku spoke up after a while.

"Yes, he is. He is a bad man." I said as a clutched onto my stomach in discomfort.

"Dad didn't like Momma. They would fight all the time."

I tilted my head. Liang and my mother never fought. She truly loved him. Don't know if I could say the same for him. "That's not good." I stated. "But he never hurt you, right?"

He shook his head softly.

"Good. You are a firebender, right? You must be a strong boy."

He smiled and punched a tiny flame. "I just learned that!"

"That's good!" I said encouragingly. "Maybe I can teach you some." I added. I punched my arm out, and gasped when no fire sprang from my fingertips. "What the-"

"Do you need a firebending lesson?" Gaku asked. He started punching a few more times to show me.

"No, no. I can do it." I stated. I punched a few more times, but nothing happened. Not even a spark. It seemed as though I lost my bending.

"I think you need more practice." Gaku said sarcastically.

"Don't patronize me!" I said, reminding myself of Zuko. Zuko. If they were back from that dumb play yet, surely they'd be worried. What if I was the real bait? Hopefully they wouldn't be dumb enough to come try to rescue me. I could fend for myself. Although, maybe not now since my firebending was gone. "Gaku, when the next guard comes to let us go, you need to firebend at him. Burn him, and we can run away." I explained.