The Blue Spirit ღ (Zuko x OC)

Chapter ⅠⅠⅠ: Give and Take

The girl spun on her heel and was quick to assume a strong defensive stance, swords drawn. Zuko found this very familiar and fought back the urge to snap at her.

"It's okay ... it's just me." He tried to assure her, but to no avail. She began to edge away from him, holding herself rigid. He felt his stomach drop. "I'm sorry about yesterday. I uh ... brought some medicine for your wounds."

His eyes lingered on the burns on her hand before moving to her eyes that were cast with shadows beneath her mask. She seemed hesitant, but she slowly removed the mask and sheathed the swords. He found himself studying her. Most of her face was still obscured by her garments, but he could see the red strikes he'd left on her lily white face.

"Here." He said coolly, holding a small jar of ointment out to her. He watched with curiosity as she edged over to it while crouched, almost animalistic, then leaned in to sniff it. She made a disgusted face. "Well, it's not supposed to smell good!"

He dipped his finger into the ointment, then reached out to dab it onto the graze on her eyebrow. She flinched under his touched, reminding him to be gentle. He felt her eyes were locked onto him, unwavering and unbreakable in a way that almost made him shiver as he slid his fingers down to the cut on her cheek. She rose slowly, cautiously to her feet. His fingers traced the cut on her cheek ever so gently, then lingered. Zuko was frozen in time for a moment as he met her eyes. Her hand moved up to her face, meeting his hand and his heart jumped into his throat. His stomach twisted in knots as he tore away from her, turning his back to her before he let himself get too close.

"I-.. I'm sorry for hurting you." He sighed. Silence. Why was she so quiet. He turned back to look at her. "I'm Zuko."

There was a pause, then her lips parted to reply: "Nala."

"That's a strange name." He couldn't stop himself and felt colour fill his cheeks as her eyebrow cocked. A smile crept up on her lips and a glimmer of amusement sparkled in her eye. "S-sorry. I guess I've just never met anyone like you."

Zuko felt himself shift uncomfortably. There was something in the way her opal-blue eyes were locked onto him that made him uneasy. Not to mention the fact she seemed to be a woman of very few words. Though, he figured she was just uncivilised. 

"So uh ... you're the Blue Spirit." He cleared his throat, trying to cut the tension. "I've heard people talk about you. There's a lot of myths about you, I think ... from a deserter, to a vengeful spirit. You steal things, right? They say you're an enemy to the Fire Nation. You make a lot of trouble..."

Zuko realised his tone had changed to accusatory and felt conflicted suddenly. This girl was a thief and known to the Fire Nation, and a particular nuisance, but in person she didn't seem as diabolical as the stories and posters had made her seem. He watched the amusement slip from her face and her brow furrow.

"I take only what they steal from the people." Her voice made him do a double take.

"What're you talking about?" Again, Zuko couldn't help himself. "You're taking vital supplies needed for the war."

"This isn't a war." She spoke with such conviction and so matter-of-fact that it nearly knocked the banished Prince over. Her expression darkened as he was about to snap back, but she grabbed his hand and gave him a tug, forcing his feet to relent. He followed her as his mind swirled like someone stirring a soup too quickly and making it spill. Who did she think she was? The Fire Nation was trying to share it's prosperity with the world and she was impeding on their efforts. She was a criminal. And worse than that, she was a commoner. No — she was less than that — she was a feral girl living in a swamp and thieving. And here he was, Fire Nation nobility, mingling with someone so beneath him. Before he could protest and begin to struggle free, Nala had taken Zuko to the edge of a small and ramshackle town. How fitting and unsurprising for someone like her, he thought.