Afterward Adventures (ATLA Zuko X OC)

Chapter Twenty-Three - Death and Despair Pt. 1

One Month Later,

D

arkness fell everywhere in the old Fire Nation Prison. It was the most secured one, the Prison of the Capital. The only sources of light were the torches that spread sporadically at the heavy stoned halls. There were guards outside each most important villain's cell. At the left side of the tower, there was only one, Ozai. Only one guard stood outside of the cell. The other guards were on the other side of the tower.

It'd passed hours of standing, unmoved, his legs wanted to inflect and rest for a while, but his post wouldn't allow him to do so. He felt a strong hit at his head with the bricks of the wall behind him, as if someone pushed him or forced him to hit his head on the wall. Blood slipped out of his shuttered skull coloring his pitch black hair with its deep red color.

The guard fell down at the floor. His blood slipping in the cracks on the floor from the plaques it was build from. The intruder looked down at him with a smirk on his lips. The hall's darkness fell on his face, anyone who would barge in, wouldn't be able to recognize him.

The intruder walked in the cell. The man behind the bars, Ozai, wasn't sleeping. He sat straight. An evil smile creaked over Ozai's lips, fists clenching, legs crossed. He'd been waiting for that visit for far too long.

And he knew, that, would be his chance, not just out of the bars, but a chance for revenge...

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"We're here! We're finally here!" Aang's voice sounded excited.

Iris's eyes snapped open and she sat straight on the saddle. It'd been a whole night of journey on Appa towards the Fire Nation Capital. Sokka, Toph and Katara were there too. Everyone would be there. It was Zuko's Nineteenth Birthday.

Aang wrapped Appa's reins directing the bison down, closer to the ground. Appa covered some height with the ground with a sudden shift in the air. Toph's shout heard as she slipped from the one side of the saddle to the other. She wrapped her hands immediately around anything that would keep her from falling.

Sokka gasped surprised when he noticed Toph having her hands wrapped around his torso. Face pressed on his chest and eyes shut closed, waiting terrifyingly, for a strong impact.

"Aang! A little warning next time?!" Sokka asked irritatingly as he passed one hand around Toph.

"I think we'd all appreciate that," Katara said half awake from her sleeping bag.

"Sorry, guys, I'm just excited to see Zuko," Aang apologized.

"Wasn't Iris supposed to be excited about seeing Zuko?" Toph asked pulling away from Sokka.

"Who said I wasn't?" Iris asked and she sat beside her brother on the saddle.

She knew everyone would notice the ring on her finger, so she wrapped it in a thread around her neck with the Defender's Pendant, and it wasn't visible to anyone... well, except Toph. Caldera City could be seen from above. It was such a beautiful City, the Palace lied in the middle and there was a lake in the Royal Garden. Iris smiled, that was where he had proposed to her. She couldn't wait until they'd reach the Palace and see him again. It'd been a month, and she had missed him.

They finally landed on the Palace's yard. The servants would take care of Appa and one of the guards guided them in the Throne Room. Zuko held some documents in his hands and he was discussing something with General Mak. At first, he seemed too busy to notice the others being there, until the guard, who escorted them through there, caught his attention.