Under the Cherry Blossom ↠ Zuko x OC ✔️

08 | The Southern Raiders

Everyone sleeps in the main room of the Western Air Temple. The sleeping bags are placed in a circle around the fountain.

Zuko and Arlington have placed their sleeping bags next to each other. From separate bags, they hold hands.

Usually, when birds begin to chirp, it signals a new day. However, the melodies of the birds are alarming and serve as a warning that something bad is going to happen.

Aang has just woken up when the first bomb hits the top of the cliff and explodes. Several more explosives fall from the sky.

Everyone scrambles out of their sleeping bags and prepare to fight the three Fire Nation airships rising up from the clouds.

Arlington rubs her eyes. 'It is way too early in the morning for this.' She quickly gets over her tiredness when another bomb explodes and focuses on keeping Peanut and Zuko safe.

Aang quickly twirls his staff to create a huge gust of air to close the metal doors. He hopes this will give them more time to devise a plan.

The ceiling begins to crumble and shake. A large slab of stone breaks off and falls.

"Watch out!" Zuko calls to Katara.

Arlington is the first to react. She quickly bends a stream of air to push Katara out of the way. The waterbender skids across the floor, gaining a few minor scratches.

"Spirits, Arlington! Couldn't you have been a little more gentle?" Katara complains. She is clearly not a morning person.
"You're welcome!" Arlington sweetly, yet sarcastically, says.

The floor beneath everyone begins to shake. The section Arlington stands on starts to crack and crumble beneath her feet.

"Arlington! Get out of there!" Zuko yells.

Arlington grabs Peanut and sprints to the center of the main room. Every time her foot hits the ground, it causes a chunk to fall. Arlington is almost to safety, however, she isn't able to keep up with the falling floor behind her. The stone collapses from under her feet and Arlington begins to fall from the cliff.

Zuko quickly dives and reaches for her hand. His fingers wrap around Arlington's wrist as he pulls her up over the ledge.

The Prince tightly holds Arlington. She buries her head in his chest. Zuko rests his head on hers.

"Are you okay?" He asks.
Arlington nods. "Thank you."

"Come on, we can get out through here!" Toph points to the tunnel her and Haru made.

Aang begins to pull Appa by his reins towards the tunnel. Everyone follows behind the Avatar except Zuko.

"What are you doing?" Aang asks.
"Go ahead, I'll hold them off. I think this is a family visit." Zuko looks at the airships and sprints towards them.
"Zuko!" Arlington puts Peanut on Appa before chasing after the Prince.
"Arlington, Zuko, no!" Aang begins to take off behind the duo.

"Come on, we gotta get out of here." Sokka grabs Aang's shoulder to prevent him from going any further. Katara, Sokka, and Aang proceed to pull on Appa's reins.

A bomb explodes to Zuko's left, he quickly and easily dodges the debris. On the other hand, Arlington gets assaulted with small pebbles. Zuko jumps out from the smoke and starts to firebend at the giant airship. Arlington stumbles out of the smoke, coughing. She pinches her nose. 'Wow, that smells awful.' She takes a stance on a ledge and plans to backup Zuko if he needs it.