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

Chapter 18

           The princess rose gracefully from her seat. "I had a hunch that you survived and now here you are," she clapped her hands together, feigning excitement, "And my brothers harlot has found her way home!"
           I bit back the things I wanted to say, instead demanding, "Where's your father?"
           "Where's Fire Lord Ozai?" Aang echoed.
           "Why? Am I not enough for you?" she brought her still clasped hands to her chest, "You're hurting my feelings."
           "Stop wasting our time and tell us," I snapped, rolling my eyes.
           Sokka pointed his space sword at her, "You're powerless right now, so you're in no position to refuse."
           "And stick to the truth. I'll be able to tell if you're lying," Toph added.
           "You sure? I'm a pretty good liar," Azula cleared her throat before saying in a completely deadpan voice, "I am a four-hundred foot tall purple platypus bear with pink horns and silver wings."
            We all glanced at Toph who just glanced back at us awkwardly, "Damn, she's good."
            But my friend stomped her foot and sheets of earth erupted from under Azula encasing her from the shoulders down, "You ought to consider telling the truth anyways!"
            Azula just laughed, then turned to me, "Should I tell you how ZuZu fairs without you? Should I tell you how you're leaving crushed him?"
           "Shut up," I snapped.
           "He longs for you day in and day out. Cries your name in his sleep. It's all quite concerning really—who knows how much more pain he can take,"
           "I said shut up!"
           She gasped, "Oh, or maybe you hope for that. Would it wound you more to hear that he's flourishing without you? That your leaving barely affected him at all—he barely bat an eye!"
           I shook my head. I didn't want Azula or even my friends to see how she was affecting me, but I felt dizzy. In truth, I didn't know what I wanted to hear. I didn't want Zuko to be in pain, but I couldn't stand the thought that he never really cared either.
           "...But which one is the truth. Hm...decisions decisions,"
           Finally I snapped, I raised my still nocked bow, "I said shut the fuck—"
           "Y/N, don't!" Sokka dove, tackling me. I loosed my arrow as we fell and it took off toward the ceiling, barely missing Azula's head.
The next moment, Tophs rock trap crumbled. For a second I thought I had done it, but then Azula brushed the dust off her shoulders saying matter-of-factly, "When I left Ba Sing Se, I brought some souvenirs."
            Two Dai Li agents dropped from seemingly nowhere. Aang threw a gust of wind at one, but it was easily thrown off. As we fought them, Azula took off through the passages. One by one, my friends took off after her. I tried to follow, but one Dai Li shot a hand at me (weird sentence, I know), which pinned me to a pillar by my neck.
"Y/N!" Aang cried.
"Go! Don't let her get away! I'll catch up!"
Reluctantly, Aang followed Toph and Sokka out of the chamber. I wrenched the stone hand from my throat, only for two more to grab me by the wrists and start leading me through the caverns. Azula's cronies were completely immune to my insults and curses which I threw at them—and were quite clever, thank you very much.
Truthfully, I knew I wasn't getting out of this. I counted down the minutes until the eclipse was over and prayed that my friends were okay. Screw the Fire Lord—if they were alive that was all that mattered.
Suddenly an explosion made the earthen walls tremble and smoke filled the space. Rocks fell from the ceiling and the Dai Li were too busy bending them away from us to catch me placing my bound hands deliberately under a falling stone they missed, before disappearing into the dust. The clouds got thicker and thicker and I realized I was running in the direction of the explosion—just as well, it was probably my friends.
That was when I crashed into someone in the clouds. I braced myself for a fight, but they kept running, snapping, "Watch it!" as he passed.
I turned to keep groping in the dust—it took a second to register the voice, but when I did, my heart stopped. It was like the weeks away hadn't happened, nothing had changed, nothing had gone wrong. And shamelessly I wanted to never leave that space.
"Zuko!" I screamed, "Zuko! Wait!"
But he was already gone. Why was he running? Was he okay?
Why did I care? Had I still not learned my lesson?
Still I turned to follow him when a pair of hands gripped my shoulders. "Y/N, there you are!" Toph's voice said, "Come on, we gotta get out of here! The eclipse is over!"
"I know," I said, weakly, feeling as if something had in fact changed, gone wrong, but not what had already happened.
Something new.