The Fire Within - an atla fanfic (Zuko x OC)

I'm Just a Poor Boy

I struggled to catch my breath in the freezing water. I can't believe I was back in the water again. I heard the call of the animal and they began flying away. "Aang!" I called as I waved my arms frantically in the water. "Aang!"

Aang looked down at me with pity. The girl aboard looked at Aang eagerly. "Aang, we have to go!" Aang nodded and kept flying without even trying to get me.

"Shoot them down!" I heard Zuko yell. I widened my eyes as I saw a huge streak of fire stretch across the sky. Aang deflected it, and the fire hit into a glacier, and caused ice to fall from the sky. I widened my eyes as the ship crashed into the ice. I swam as fast as I could to the ice, hoping I could somehow make it back on the ship. I scrambled to the deck of the ship. Several of the guards were frozen in ice and were still being melted from the ice. Zuko turned around and widened his eyes as he saw me standing there weakly. "Why are you here?" He questioned.

I closed my eyes and kneeled on the ground, not sure what to do or say. "Please forgive me, Prince Zuko. I should not have tried to go with the Avatar. I was blinded by fear, and I thought that the avatar could help me." I looked at the ground for a moment. "I was wrong. If anyone could help me, it'd clearly be you."

I saw a glint of surprise in Zuko's eye.

"The avatar is no match for you." I replied, trying my best to butter him up. "And he is just a little kid."

Zuko shook his head slightly. "I have no use for you." He said. "You would be a waste of resources."

I looked up into his golden eyes. "Please Prince Zuko. I can help you." I said, thinking quickly. "The Avatar may not have taken me with him but he wanted to. He might come back for me, and when he does, you can capture him. I promise you I will never be in the way, and I will help you with anything." I said pleadingly. "Anything."

Zuko stepped forward and reached out his hand to me. I widened my eyes and grabbed his hand, the warmth filling me up. "The waters really cold." I mumbled as I stood up. Zuko huffed and crossed his arms. "Obviously it is, we are at the South Pole."

"Thank you for letting me stay, Prince Zuko." I dipped my head and started walking back to my room. "Hello Iroh," I added, fighting my teeth to stop chattering from both fear and the cold.

———

It was nighttime when I heard a knock on my door. It opened and Iroh came in. "Hello, Ashley. Would you like to come have dinner? We have roast duck." I got up from my bed and nodded. We walked to the dining area and I sat down. "Is Zuko going to eat with us?" I questioned.

Iroh shook his head. "My nephew is meditating."

"I'm guessing Prince Zuko doesn't eat with you very often." I said with a tiny scoff.

"He typically prefers to be by himself." Iroh explained.

"Well, while I'm here, I'll eat with you." I replied with a smile.

"Thank you, Ashley."

I nodded and looked at the food that was served to us. "So I never got an answer- why does he want to catch the Avatar?" I asked curiously. I grabbed the chopsticks and used them improperly, but I didn't really care.

Iroh sighed. "My nephew has had a very rough past. When he was 13, I took him to a meeting. His father said something he didn't agree with, and he spoke out about it, which was not a good idea. Zuko was forced to fight his father in an Agni Kai, which is a duel of sorts. My brother, Ozai, gave Zuko that scar and banished him, saying that he could only come back if he got the Avatar."

I widened my eyes as I listened to the whole story. My stomach turned in on itself. "That's so... horrible. His father is a horrible person, why would he want to go back?" I questioned him.

"Zuko wants his honor back. It is very important to him."

"Yeah I could tell." I said with a slight eye roll. "But that's just terrible. I had no idea that's what the scar was from."

Iroh nodded solemnly.

I closed my eyes and sighed slightly. "Where is Zuko?" I asked with pity, opening my eyes again.

Iroh tilted his head. "In his quarters."

I nodded and stood up. "I need to ask him a question," I replied as I started walking towards Zuko's room. When I got to it, I briskly knocked on the door.

"Come in," I heard Zuko say from inside.

I opened the door and saw Zuko appear surprised. "Why are you here?" He asked, sounding much more calm than usual.

I dipped my head slightly and looked at him. "I was bored, I didn't know who else I would want to talk to."

Zuko nodded and gestured to a chair. I sat down and looked around at the beauty of the room. "So what do you want to talk about?" Zuko asked, breaking me from my gaze.

I shook my head. "I'm not sure, maybe about where I came from."

Zuko nodded and crossed his arms. "Go on then."

"I lived in a city, it was called New York. There were so many people there..." I said, closing my eyes. "I lived with my brother and my mom."

"What about your dad?" Zuko questioned.

I opened my eyes again and sighed. "When I was younger, my dad said he was going to go to work, and he never came back. He ditched us." I said with a trace of hatred in my voice. "And I've never heard from him since... that asshole." I shrugged and sighed. "He was my father, but not my dad."

Zuko widened his eyes.

I looked at him and tilted my head. "What?"

Zuko shook his head. "Nothing."

I blinked. "Iroh told me about how you got that scar." I said slowly.

Zuko clenched his fists. "That's none of your business." He said with anger.

I closed my eyes tight. "I know. I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry. No one deserves that."

"Tell me more about your family." The prince commanded after a moment of hesitation.

I opened my eyes again and recalled my memories. "My little brother, his name was Ben. I miss him so much. He always used to call me Ash for short. We used to always walk home after school every once and a while and get ice cream from the stand near my apartment. And we would get in fights all the time, but within the next hour it was like nothing even happened." I wiped my face, trying not to cry.

"What's ice cream?" Zuko asked

I blinked a few times. "Oh yeah, it's like milk that is frozen and.. well it's kinda hard to explain I suppose."

Zuko nodded.

"And then there was my mom. She loved me more than anything."

"Yeah, my mom did too."

I frowned slightly. "I understand."

Zuko shook his head. "No, you don't."

I nodded. "You are right, Zuko. I do not understand much here, but I respect it either way." I stood up. "I'm gonna go to sleep now."

Zuko nodded and opened up the door.

I walked across the hallway. "Goodnight, Zuko." I said with a dip of my head.

He closed his door in reply.