Flameheart | Zuko

PROLOGUE

The sun was so bright it was blinding, no hint of cloud in the clear, blue sky, and even though it was just morning, the heat was scorching, a sign the rest of the day would go on to get even more torturingly hot. It was a kind of day a firebender would love, but she wasn't a firebender. In fact, she happened to detest the heat of this annoyingly peaceful morning and the only thing the sun was good at - at least, according to her - was making her already hard attempt at winning this duel even harder.

She barely managed to block the next punch that was aimed at her shoulder, only to be blinded by the sun. She gritted her teeth, her eyes narrowing in the direction of her opponent - her 'enemy' smiled an extremely wide smile - somehow got behind her and before she had the chance to stop her in any way, she had thrown two punches at her ribs and had kicked her to the ground.

The ground was solid and hard against her cheek and she groaned at the impact, slowly rolling off to lay down on her back only to regret it - the sun was blinding her yet again - she groaned, mainly in frustration at her own luck - it was as hot as the Boiling Rock here, the highest security Fire Nation prison, and she was fortunate enough to be dressed in full, heavy armour, sweaty and sticky and just gross - it was then her analysing of the terrible situation she had found herself in was interrupted as glorious shade was cast over her eyes. She looked up to see her opponent hiding the sun, the same bright smile from before adorning her face as she looked down at her.

"Are you alright there Homura?"

"Just fine, I'm bonding with the ground," she snarked with a roll of her eyes as she pushed herself up, fighting to hide her smile at her opponent's giggles. She turned around to face her once she had stood up with her hands on her waist. "I told you, Ty Lee, we should have changed positions, it's not fair for me to be fighting with the sun facing me all the time."

Ty Lee blinked, an almost mischevious glint in her eyes. "I'm sorry, haven't you been training as a Kyoshi warrior ever since you were ten?"

"Yes but-"

"I do think you've a bit more experience. It's only fair you're the one facing the sun."

Her eyes narrowed at her smug smile and without thinking, she reached up and tugged at her lone braid. She yelped, and Homura smirked in victory - only to realise her hair was longer than Ty Lee's and only pulled half up, therefore, a lot easier for her to grab - she started taking a few steps back, her hands raising in front of her defensively.

"Ty Lee, reconsider-"

"Too late!"

Homura shrieked as Ty Lee reached forward and she barely managed to keep her hands away from her hair. Homura held Ty Lee's hands up as she tried to grab it, her eyes narrowed. In a matter of seconds, they had both found themselves on the ground, rolling like little children, Ty Lee trying to grab her hair, Homura trying to keep her at bay. They somehow ended up on the ground with Ty Lee on top of Homura. It was proving to be a struggle to keep her away and Ty Lee had grown a lot stronger since she had joined the Kyoshi warriors a few years ago - she had an iron grip at this point - and perhaps challenging her hadn't been a good idea.

"What exactly are you doing?"

At the sound of the voice, both of them stopped. In a matter of seconds, Ty Lee was off of her as Homura slowly stood up, looking over at the woman standing a few ways away, her hands on her hips as she watched them. She was about to explain what happened when-

"Ouch!" she yelped as she felt a pull on her hair. Homura turned to Ty Lee, furious, but she only smiled as she took a few steps back.

"So, let me guess," the woman cleared her throat, "you somehow managed to turn training to a kids' fight?"

In a matter of seconds, Ty Lee was grinning as she flung herself at her former opponent and put an arm over her shoulder. "You know us, Suki, we might fight but we have a pretty good time in the end."

Homura let out a sigh, finding no lie in her words as she turned to Suki who seemed mildly unimpressed.

Suki was the leader of the Kyoshi warriors, older than Homura by just a few months. She had short brunette hair and eyes to match, and overall, she thought she was extremely pretty. All of the Kyoshi warriors respected her and thought of her in the best possible light, especially Homura. She was her first friend and the person she trusted the most in the world. Ty Lee came close second.

"I wouldn't call whatever you're doing a fight, it's more like a competition," Suki mused with a slight smile and Homura couldn't help but laugh as she exchanged a look with Ty Lee. She wasn't exactly wrong.

"So, why did you come out here, Suki?" Homura asked as she placed a strand of dark hair behind her ear, noticing the piece of parchment she was holding in her hand. Suki didn't waste a moment to raise the paper to show it to them.

"It's a letter from Sokka." She cleared her throat. "Dear Suki, it's been some time - anyway I'm going to ignore the cheesy stuff-" they giggled, "- You're invited to the festivities taking place in the Fire Nation, in Zuko's palace in a few weeks. Zuko's a busy man, he would have sent you a letter himself if he could, I'm sure. I took the liberty of sending you a letter myself. I'm going to pick you up from Kyoshi island on the day of the full moon. Feel free to take some friends with you, I'm sure Zuko wouldn't mind."

Homura and Ty Lee exchanged yet another look before turning to Suki who was watching them with a slight smile. "Would you like to be my plus two?"

Ty Lee squealed in Homura's ear and she winced but couldn't help but smile as Suki struggled to disguise her laughter at Ty Lee's reaction. Once Ty Lee had stopped squealing, she jumped over to Suki to hug her in a hug so tight Homura was pretty sure it was cutting off all circulation in her body.

"I'm going home!"

Homura smiled as Ty Lee finally released Suki. "The full moon is tomorrow."

"We better get ready quickly then!" Ty Lee exclaimed and with a spring in her step, she walked off. Suki and Homura chuckled as she left, and they shared a smile before Suki walked away. Homura took the route to the place she lived in in order to get ready herself, almost distracted, her eyes set on the golden ring on the middle finger of her right hand.

Ty Lee was right. They were going home.

Welcome, everyone, to my first Avatar fanfic!

I watched the Avatar series properly just about a month ago and I really couldn't resist writing something for Zuko. I just like the guy. There seriously is something with me and guys with a tragic past who end up following the right path. There's also something with me and characters with ambiguous motives and psychology, but that's a story for another time.

I hope you like reading this book and that I won't bore you into leaving the book. For anyone reading this, thank you, you just made my day a little better.

I hope you'll like reading this as much as I liked writing it!

Love, Olga.