set my heart on fire (slow updates)

The Blue Spirit

Zuko's POV
Many days had passed and I still hadn't made any progress. When night fell, I dressed myself in black and covered my face with a blue mask that once belonged to my mother. On my back, I held my dual swords that were usually mounted on my wall.

Nobody was awake, even Y/N and her men had retreated to their beds. So I swiftly left the ship and disappeared into the night, ready to learn everything I could about my biggest competition in hunting down the avatar.

I watched from the rooftops as Zhao pleaded with Colonel Shinu for the Yu Yan archers to join him in his hunt for the avatar, but Colonel Shinu refused him every time.

However, as the Colonel tried to leave, Zhao received a message from my father- Zhao had been promoted to Admiral- smirking, he announced that his request for the archers to join him was now an order- the Yu Yan archers were now his to command, which would make capturing the avatar simple for him.

As the Shinu left, Zhao smugly watched over the Yu Yan archers as they continued to train and I ducked back below the rooftops and left towards the ship.

—

The next morning I stood in the captain's cabin with Y/N, uncle was sat a few feet away playing pai sho with some of the crew, whilst the lieutenant was walking me through what seemed to be the best strategy moving forward.

"We haven't been able to pick up the avatar's trail since the storm, but if we continue heading north-east..."

The lieutenant stopped as a shadow clouded over our ship.

Zhao.

Sometimes I forget that Y/N is a soldier, until times like this when she stands up straight, hands folded behind her back as Zhao's crew boards my ship.

They held out a poster of the avatar, "the hunt for the avatar has been given prime importance. All information regarding the avatar must be reported directly to Admiral Zhao."

Uncle responded, "Zhao has been promoted? Well, good for him!"

I turned away from them and mumbled, "I've got nothing to report to Zhao. Now get off my ship and let us pass."

They turned to Y/N, "Captain, you've been alongside the banished prince for some time, do you have anything to report about the avatar?"

I felt my heart sink, if she gives them all of the information we have, I'll never go home. This will be the end for me.

But without missing a beat, she replied, "nothing to report, sir. Tell Admiral Zhao that his interrogation of any soldier aboard this ship will be fruitless, and tell him that it came from me personally"

As relief washed over me, I quickly repeated, "I said get off my ship and let us pass."

"Admiral Zhao is not allowing ships in or out of this area."

I lunged forward and yelled, "OFF MY SHIP!"

Without another word they turned around and left.

I watched them depart through the window, before turning back to face the sea, the sound of uncle chattering about pai sho in the background.

—

As I faced the dreary sky covered in clouds, I took a deep breath before letting out punch after punch, each one followed by flames; I kicked and I punched and put all of my energy into every single flame that I created- but it wasn't helping anything.

"Is everything okay? It's been almost an hour and you haven't given the men an order."

I turned to face my uncle, "I don't care what they do."

"Don't give up hope yet. You can still find the avatar before Zhao."

I turned to him, almost pleadingly, my voice threatening to crack, "how, uncle? With Zhao's resources, it's just a matter of time before he captures the avatar. My honour... my throne... my country... I'm about to lose them all."

—

Later that night, I once again dressed myself in black, with my blue mask and dual swords.

I needed to stop Zhao.

As I left the ship and found my way to the outskirts of the forest, I kept going, hitching a ride on the bottom of a carriage to get inside.

Zhao had captured him, he had captured the avatar.

I snuck by as Zhao yelled out his speech to the crowd, boasting about having captured the avatar.

One by one, I took out each of the guards protecting the door that supposedly had the avatar behind it.

When I finally reached him, the avatar was chained up to two pillars by both hands; as I cut him free, he called out, "who are you? What's going on? Are you here to rescue me?"

I didn't respond, gesturing for him to follow me through the door.

"I'll take that as a yes."

I had made my way down half of the corridor when I noticed he wasn't following, I ran back to see him yelling at some frogs.

As I grabbed his collar he yelled, "wait! My friends need to suck on those frogs!"

I ignored him, pulling him away.

But as we tried to climb the wall, we were caught and shot down.

"The avatar has escaped! Close all of the gates immediately!"

We began to run, but he ran in front of me and yelled, "stay close to me!"

We both fought off countless guards, working as a team to get over each of the walls. The avatar was rather skilled in his defence, he fought a lot like Y/N and was extremely resourceful; but when we thought we had made it out of the last gate, we missed.

We were surrounded by guards who were blasting fire right at us, the avatar blocked the attacks, but they came to a halt as Zhao stepped in, "hold your fire! The avatar must be captured alive!"

The moment those words left his lips, I held my dual swords at the avatar's throat, daring Zhao not to let me leave.

Zhao furrowed his eyebrows before commanding, "open the gate."

"Admiral, what are you doing?"

"Let them out. Now!"

We backed out, I was still holding the swords at the avatar's neck when I felt an overwhelming ringing noise and everything went black. 

I woke up in the forest to the sound of the avatar's voice, "you know what the worst part about being born over a hundred years ago is? I miss all the friends I used to hang out with. Before the war started, I used to always visit my friend, Kuzon. The two of us, we'd get in and out of so much trouble together. He was one of the best friends I ever had... and he was from the Fire Nation, just like you. If we knew each other back then, do you think we could've been friends, too?"

I paused for a moment before jumping up and sending a fire punch right at him, but he dodged me and disappeared back into the forest.

I sighed.

I trudged back out of the forest, looking for the way back to my ship.

And waiting for me at the edge of the forest, leaning against a tree, was an unimpressed Y/N

"Y/N!? What are you doing here?"

She raised an eyebrow, "I could ask you the same question."

I sighed and continued walking.

She sighed as she pulled herself from the tree and followed after me, "I knew it was you leaving the ship last night. Where have you been?"

I ignored her question.

"Chasing after Admiral Zhao, perhaps?"

"No."

"You're lying."

"No, I'm not."

She shrugged her shoulders and picked up her pace, "regardless, you best hurry, people will start getting suspicious"