Don't Leave Me (Zuko x OC)

Chapter 18

Surprisingly, it worked. By nightfall, we were on a ferry from Full Moon Bay over to Ba Sing Se.

"Who would've thought after all these years, I'd return to the scene of my greatest military disgrace..." Iroh pulled on a straw hat with a flower, "As a tourist!"

Zuko grumpily leaned on the railing, "Look around, we're not tourists, we're refugees." He took a sip of the soup we'd been handed out and spat it out immediately, "Ugh, I'm sick of eating rotten food, sleeping in the dirt, I'm tired of living like this."

"Aren't we all?" A boy emerged from the shadows with wheat in his mouth, "My name's Jet. And these are my Freedom Fighters, Smellerbee and Long-Shot."

"Hello." Zuko awkwardly greeted.

Jet approached us, "Here's the deal; I hear the Captain's eating like a king while usrefugees have to feed off his scraps. Doesn't seem fair, does it?"

Iroh looked intrigued, "What sort of king is he eating like?"

"The fat happy kind."

The great Dragon of the West started to drool at the thought.

"You wanna help us liberate some food?"

Zuko stared at his bowl for a bit before chucking it in the lake, "I'm in."

Hours later Zuko returned with heaps of good, warm and cooked properly. He passed me a bowl, pouring far too much food than I could eat onto it.

"Zu-Lee, that's too much! I'm not going to eat it all and I'm sure someone else would need it more than me." I pushed his hand away from adding more meat. I picked up a couple chunks and fed it to Nalo.

"You don't eat enough." He scolded, "You're looking a lot thinner and I don't like it. Eat as much as you can while you can, we don't know when our next meal will be."

He was concerned for me.

I nodded, allowing him to add as much as he deemed fit before delving in, resting against him and chilling out with everyone.

"So Smellerbee, that's an unusual name for a young man."

"Maybe it's because I'm not a man! I'm a girl!" She bit back.

She got up and stormed off while Iroh called out apologies, "Oh now I see! It's a beautiful name for a lovely girl!"

Longshot went after her, leaving us with just Jet.

"From what I heard, people eat like this everyday. I can't wait to set my eyes on that giant wall." Jet smiled.

"It is a magnificent sight."

"So you've been there before?"

Iroh looked away shamefully, "Once. When I was a...different man."

Jet also couldn't face us but his look was more scornful, "I've also done things in my past that I'm not proud of. But that's why I'm going to Ba Sing Se, for a new beginning. A second chance."

"That's very noble of you. I believe people can change their lives if they want to. I believe in second chances."

I looked up at Zuko, clinging to his arm, "I think a fresh start would do us some good. Start anew."

Zuko kissed my hair through my hair, "Yeah."

The prince managed to track down a single pillow and blanket. While we attempted to force Iroh to have it, he insisted he wasn't tired and implored us to rest. Zuko took the pillow for himself, stretching out his arm for me to rest on. Wrapping the blanket around us and his other arm slung around my waist tightly, he pressed a kiss to the back of my head before we fell asleep.