By Your Side (Zuko x Reader) (Sequel to Torn Heart)

Chapter 17

My POV:
           "Y/N?"
           I started at the sound of Aang's voice and turned to look at him in my periphery. He had shaved his head and carried his new glider. The sea lay in front of me, stretching into the horizon, the morning sun dancing on it—usually one of my favorite sights, but now all I felt was anxiety, longing, guilt.
           "Everyone's almost ready to leave," Aang continued.
           "I know. Sorry, I was just thinking," I ran my thumb over the Earth element insignia on my new bow.
           "You are nothing more than an Earth Kingdom slut."
           Maybe Azula had a point. Truth was, I was terrified to go back there, to be so close to Zuko again. I didn't deserve to be trusted, I barely trusted myself.
           Aang seemed to read all this on my face, "I already gave Sokka a pep talk. Am I gonna have to do the same to you?"
          "No, no, don't worry about me,"
          "I was just teasing you," he punched my arm—much lighter than Toph ever had, "For what it's worth, I'm really glad you'll be with us."
          "Really?"
          "Hell yeah, you're my friend," I started at the word and he added, "You are, Y/N. You made a mistake. That's okay. I trust you."
          I took a deep breath to force down the tears that had bubbled up, "Well, if you trust me, than I trust you enough to trust myself so you can really trust me."
          Aang pulled a face, "Um...what?"
          I laughed and grabbed his arm, "Never mind. Come on, that eclipse isn't going to wait."

"I need more arrows," I panted, jogging up to Sokka and a few other troops. They pointed me towards one of the tanks they crouched behind.
As I refilled my quiver, Hakoda limped up, leaning on his daughter. Me and Sokka gave them big smiles. Sokka broke away from the troops and raced up to them, "Dad! You're on your feet again."
"Thanks to your sister..." Hakoda was saying proudly.
I turned away from the family's private moment as Toph crouched next to me, "This is quite the party, huh?"
"Having the time of my life," I said, sarcastically. I wonder where Zuko is, what he's doing right now, the words were on my tongue, but instead I voiced another thought, "I hope Aang's okay."
"Eh, Twinkle Toes is pretty tough—Don't tell him I said that—He's probably—"
She was cut off by Katara, "Is that Aang?"
We watched the Avatar circle over our heads before landing and racing up to us, looking defeated. "What happened?" I asked.
            "Nothing happened. The entire city and the palace are abandoned,"
            "Of course," Sokka grumbled, "Ozai must have an emergency bunker. Somehow they knew..."
            "Azula," I offered, feeling sick to my stomach.
            "Dammit," Sokka held his head in his hands.
            "Um...hello!" Toph sang, drawing our attention to her, "Underground bunker? I'm your girl!"

            Aang, Sokka, Toph, and I took off on Appa, circling over the city. I could see the palace from here and fought a pang of longing. I noticed Sokka peering down at it all too out the corner of my eye, "What was it like living there?"
           "Honestly? Perfect,"
           It seemed like the next second, we landed. Toph almost immediately could feel the bunker and led us down into it. We wound through the caverns, passing pools of lava. "What would we do without you, Toph?" Sokka muttered.
           "Perish in burning hot magma," she replied without missing a beat and making me laugh.
           We finally reached the door a terrified guard had pointed us to. Aang paused, "I'm ready to fight the Fire Lord."
           He blew the door down and surged in, the rest of us storming in after him. I nocked and prepared to take out any guards, but there were none. Only one solitary figure sitting on the throne.
           "So you are alive after all,"
           Azula.