Avatar: Shadows (Zuko x reader)

Chapter 3

You'd been for about another hour in silence when Zuko looks at you over his shoulder. "you asked me before why the other village locked me up." he frowns. "I never answered."

"yeah." you nod.

"I was with my uncle... we've been traveling around the earth nation looking for the avatar." Zuko faces forward again. "we stopped to rest too close to the village and we were ambushed." He glances at you. "of course I tried to fight them but some of them can bend earth and my uncle told me I should try not to hurt anybody. I held back too much and ended up caught. My uncle however managed to escape." He looks at a tree and frowns.

"and where are we heading?" you question.

"Omashu." Zuko nods. "my Uncle said if we get separated he would go to Omashu and wait for me. You see they have a tea shop there he is very fond of." He frowns. "but it's already been three days and he hasn't come to look for me... or at least he didn't find me." Zuko grabs the back of his neck and sighs. "I'm a big boy I can handle most stuff but... I seem to be prone to accidents."

"you wet the bed?" you tease.

"NO!" Zuko growls. "stop trying to be funny I'm being serious." He pouts. "I meant I always seem to have bad luck when it comes to villagers. They take one look at me and it's like..." he looks away. "it's like they can't see past my scar."

"because it's a distinguishing feature of the banished prince." You reply looking at Zuko. "that and the fact that you wear your hair up in the imperial fashion. Your whole look just screams fire nation prince."

Zuko looks up like he believes that looking up means he could see his hair. "my hair?" when he realizes he can't see it he reaches up to touch it. "oh yeah... your right. I forgot." He chuckles. "well I guess I could always pretend to be somebody I'm not, but then I would be a lie and call my existence into question."

"I suppose that's true." You reply.

(I'm sorry this update is taking so long guys... I meant to have it done yesterday but I got a wrist cramp so after bandaging my wrist with an ace bandage cuz it hurt to bend it.... I kept trying to type but it just wasn't happening so I went to bed early. On a brighter note my sister works at mcdonalds and she brought me home adorable toys! Yey!)

"how long till we reach Omashu?" Zuko wonders. "we've been walking for a while."

"well if I had known we were heading towards Omashu before I would have said something but... it's the other way." You point over your shoulder the way you had come from.

Zuko pauses and looks at you. "are you serious!?"

"no..." You stick your tongue out a bit. "I'm only teasing you a little. It may not seem like it but Omashu is a pretty far distance from where we are it may take us another hour of walking. That's only if we manage to stay on course and not walk into any traps or villages."

Zuko frowns. "don't scare me like that I really thought I was going the wrong way." He grumbles and begins walking again. He looks at the sky. "another hour you say? It'll be dark by then."

"well it wouldn't if we hadn't got caught up in that pit nonsense." You reply. "but you were trying to arrest me."

"it's my job." Zuko frowns. "technically your betrayed my family. I said I would let you off since you saved me but that doesn't mean they're aren't others out looking for you. if somebody like Zhao catches you then I'm sorry there just isn't anything I can do."

You remember Zhao from the palace. In the past he had been the kind of guy that insults the staff members because they are beneath him. Even though he is technically only the captain of the fire nation's naval fleets he still has a ton of power in the government of the fire nation so nobody ever questioned how he treated others. "is that a possibility?" you wonder.

"hu?" Zuko glances at you.

"that somebody like Zhao will come after me." you mumble. "catch me and force me to go back to the fire nation?"

Zuko shakes his head. "not at all." He frowns. "actually they would most likely have an order to take you dead or alive so if you offered any resistance they would probably just kill you."

"oh I see." You frown.

"just so you know... I won't be staying along with you once we reach Omashu." Zuko looks over his shoulder. "if they do come after you and find you with me I'll be in trouble too and I don't want to deal with that."

"oh. I understand." You nod. "once we reach Omashu I was going to go my own way anyway."

"alright then." Zuko nods once and continues onward towards Omashu.

You glance at Zuko. It's hard to imagine this same boy your looking at had once been a very kind soul. Years of living under his father had turned him into a hard ass who only seeks his father's approval but it seemed that out of pure spite his father never cared about Zuko. It's hard to get attention from somebody who never looks at you much like the way you had always been looking at Zuko. He never noticed but even when you worked at the palace you had always been looking at him. 'it's better this way... better if I don't tell him... better if I never tell him.'