The Blue Spirit ღ (Zuko x OC)

Chapter ⅤⅠ: Burning Low

Nala's fingers rubbed the fabric of the clothes Zuko had left behind. She raised them to her face. As soon as his scent hit her, her eyes weld. She wrestled with her feelings. On one hand, he was a firebender who'd she had known very briefly. On the other, he'd been the first real friend she'd had in such a long time. And again, that Fire Nation fury had lost her a friend. She thought about that rage in his eyes, holding those angry, hate-filled eyes in her mind. She held that memory as she reminded herself of how terrible his temper was. Then those eyes turned to that honey gold from the day before by the fire ...

And the way he had looked at her ...
And how warm he felt touching her ...

'I hate you...' The words cut through like a hot knife. She felt her insides twist. Did he really mean it? Even if he didn't ... did it matter? What's said was said ...

Even if he felt ... something. Would he even know how to say it ? Would he act upon it, or just shoot flames as usual? She remembered the way he touched her wrists, always trailing after her like a lost puppy. There was something that kept him coming to her.

'I'd had kind of a bad day and being with ... has kept my mind off things.' His voice came through, kinder, more sincere. She almost laughed. Even when he was saying how he felt, he couldn't even say it. How hard was it to say "being with you"? He was truly terrible with words.

... except when he was angry. He knew exactly what to say to make it hurt.

Nala let out a heavy sigh, slumping onto her bed. But then again, she had to admit she didn't know what to make of any of it, herself. A part of her didn't want to see him again, but another part hoped he would come back as he had before.

*✧*

Zuko couldn't sleep. Once the crew had gone to bed, he stood on the bow of the ship, looking out over the water contemplatively.

He knew she was right ... as much as it hurt, she was right about everything. Deep down, inside he felt as twisted, and angry, and hate-filled as she'd said. And no matter how hard he tried, all of his emotions manifested in furious bolts of fire. All he wanted to say was he was sorry ... but she was even right about how empty those apologies were. For every sorry he'd said, he'd gone back on it a moment later with another outburst.

He wished he could simply sit by the fire again beside her.
Things seemed simple there and easy. It was almost enough to allow him to forget everything going wrong in his life. Almost enough to convince him that honour meant little next to a campfire that smelled of her cooking. ... Almost.

He curled his lips as he thought of it ... only yesterday had he been so close to her. He could almost feel the heat of her skin, the heat of the fire, the taste of the pumpkin and mango stew ... the longing to be closer to her. He bit his lip hesitantly. It played so vivid in his mind, he could almost smell the campfire ... no ...

He could smell the campfire. 

His daydream broke back to reality as he noticed plumes of smoke billowing out of the swamp.

"No ..." 

*✧*

Nala awoke suddenly from her sleep. She felt herself tense realising something very wrong with the air. She quickly made her way to the opening of the burrow, peering up and out to see a faint glow in the distance. Her mind questioned if she was still in a dream, but her body was already acting. She dressed with incredible haste, fastening the swords and mask to her waist, shoving what she could into her pockets then scurried out of the burrow. She looked around, trying to discern the best way out of the trees that wouldn't lead her to fire, feeling suddenly all too familiar.