It made me sad to see him this way. I watched as his face relaxed into a fitful sleep again as his coughing subsided. "I'm sorry, Zuko..." I grabbed his hand that felt as though he was holding a fire ball in it and pressed it into my other hand. I l...
When we arrived back at camp, Zuko helped me undo my leather armor. We hung it on a tree to dry out the cloth that held it together. I sat, still wet, at the edge of the tent with my knees pulled tight to my chest. I sighed. "That was a waste of time..."
Zuko sat beside me. "Your right..." He looked at his hands in his lap. "Are you cold?"
"Yes..." I stared straight in front of me for a moment before I turned my head to see him. "Can we start a fire?"
"Yeah..." Zuko stood up. "I'll get some wood."
"Okay." I hit my heel into the ground and a small hole appeared a few feet in front of me.
Zuko had soon found enough wood to fill my little pit and had lit it for me. He then sat down with me again. "Better?"
"A little..." I leaned into his shoulder because he was warm.
"Here." Zuko draped something around my shoulders. "This should help."
"Thanks..." I stared at the fire. "I... I'm glad we left... things might not be working for us yet but they're already better than before..." I snuggled into his side as I began to feel my energy get low as if the ground itself were zapping it. "...and I'm glad you brought me with you..." I closed my eyes and passed out at the edge of the tent, leaning against Zuko.
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It was already dark when I woke up. Zuko had laid me down in our little tent and was asleep with his arms around me. I wasn't sure what had woken me but I didn't care since I had to pee anyway. It might have been the need to pee that woke me but I wasn't sure. I left the tent slowly and quietly. I was wrapped in Zuko's cloak and my hair was still a bit wet and cold. I snuck off and did my business. No sooner had I returned and crawled back into Zuko's arms than I heard the sounds of leaves and twigs rustling.
Zuko woke up groggily at the sound. He pulled his warm arms away from me as he sat up. "Who's there?" Zuko's arm swept out as he fire-bent a defensive ring around him. "Stay back!"
"It's me!" The fire illuminated a pillar of earth. "Ow!" The pillar dropped to reveal Toph on the ground, her face tinged with pain as she held her feet. "You burned my feet!"
Zuko rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he looked towards the girl he had accidently burned. He jumped up when he saw Toph. "I'm sorry, it was a mistake!" He rushed toward her as I got up to follow.
"Get away from me!" Toph threw a chunk of earth from the ground towards Zuko who dodged it. She began crawling back towards her camp, chucking rocks at Zuko with every move.
Zuko continued to dodge earth chunks as he caught up with Toph. "Let me help you," Zuko pleaded. "I'm sorry."
Toph earth-bent another slab of earth and Zuko dodged it again. He laid a hand on her shoulder. "Get off me," Toph yelled as she pushed Zuko away. "Get off me!" Toph hit Zuko in the chest with a column of earth.
I rushed forward to the prince as he fell to the ground. "Zuko!" I dropped to my knees beside him.
He sat up as I reached him. "I didn't know it was you." Zuko held his side and grimaced in pain. "Come back!" Toph disappeared into the darkness. Zuko laid down and groaned in frustration. He dropped his limbs out in a star formation. "Why am I so bad at being good?"
"I don't know, Zuko..." I shook my head as I looked down at him. "I don't know..."
***
We stood watching for the assassin we knew would show up. Zuko hadn't told me who the assassin was but when he showed up I knew exactly who he was.
Masaru was a boy about four years older than me whom I'd met not long after running away. He hadn't been hunting me, we'd just happen to run into each other while he was training with his sensei. The boy had a third eye tattooed in the very center of his forehead and could use it to manipulate energy to cause explosions. He had told me it was called combustion-bending and that it was a rare style of fire-bending that allowed him to trigger explosions from the tattoo on his forehead. He had explained to me that this was done by channeling chi energy from his stomach and focusing it into his forehead. I had thought it was pretty cool when he showed me that he could evaporate water or destroy big rocks with a single blast from his head.
I recognized the assassin, all grown up and muscular, as he prepared to fire on the Avatar and his party who hadn't seen him.
Zuko grabbed me by the waist and lifted me, causing me to grab on to him swung on a vine towards Masaru, hitting against into Masaru just before he fired. "Stop!" Zuko let me go as we reached Masaru. Zuko fell from the vine (not sure where the vine came from but I didn't really care either) and stood himself back up. "I don't want you hunting the Avatar anymore." Zuko stood in front of Masaru. "The mission is off. I'm ordering you to stop!"
Masaru shoved Zuko out of the way and fired another blast at the top of the fountain Aang and his friend were at, destroying it.
Zuko ran towards Masaru pulling his hand back and surrounding it in flames. "If you keep attacking, I won't pay you!" Masaru responded to this by grabbing Zuko by the shirt. Zuko threw his fireball, but missed and it hit the ground. "All right, I'll pay you double to stop!" Zuko swung his arms down, making Masaru let go. He turned and executed a shot of fire with a jumping sidekick just as Masaru fired another shot, knocking his aim off and knocking Zuko away. Zuko landed on his hands and feet. Zuko as he turned around, a look of shock on his face as he looked up at Masaru.
Masaru inhaled and fired a blast at Zuko. It was my turn to do something. I threw myself forward, sliding on my back to reach Zuko in a good position. I put my arms up in a defensive gesture and created a shield of fire that covered us, blocking Masaru's attack. The blast hit my shield and exploded, the blast pushing us across the floor of the air temple. We were thrown over the edge of the temple floor. We grabbed hold of a vine that hung from the over grown space and hug tight.
I'd grabbed it about six feet lower than Zuko had, putting my face in a spot just below his feet. I saw the vine tense with the new weight. "I think we need to hurry and get up there, Zuko... this vine is going to..." I saw the vine begin to stretch further and narrow at a spot only two feet above my head. "Zuko! The vine's gonna snap!" I rushed to get my hands above that spot. I reached the exact spot and the vine snapped. "Zuko!"
Zuko's hand grabbed mine. "I've got you... don't worry..." Zuko had slid three feet down the vine to catch me.
"If you swing me closer to the wall, I can earth bend a landing."
"Okay." Zuko began to swing on the vine. "Can you reach?"
"Just a little further... almost... got it!" I pulled our a slab of earth with one hand and looked up at Zuko. "You can let go now. You've got to get up there and help them."
"I don't want to leave you here though..."
"I'll be up soon after. Don't worry. I'll catch up to you." I smiled at Zuko. "Besides, I already know you're a good person..." I released his hand myself and dropped onto the stone slab below me. "Go prove you're a good guy to those guys."
