Fire & Rain: Book 1

The Seige of The North: Part 2

Zuko's POV
I hauled the avatar on my back past the frozen walls surrounding the Northern Water Tribe.

I ended up in a blizzard, I could barely see and my fingers and toes were going numb.

Suddenly, the ground started to split from underneath me, I started to run and the crack grew larger and spread faster. I ran and ran, snow and ice erupted from beneath it and the impact sent me flying forward and the avatar was flung from my back into the snow.

I sat up, behind me there was puffs of snow in the air from the sudden earthquake. When I turned to my front I noticed something in the distance, I squinted my eyes trying to make out what it was,

"Shelter!"

I grabbed the avatar and dragged him into the tiny cave before tying him up with the rope I was carrying across my body. I then sat down and leaned against the cave walls, the only thing I could do was wait for the blizzard to stop.

I rubbed my hands together, breathing fire into them, warming myself up before turning to the avatar opposite me in the cave,

"I finally have you, but I can't get you home because of this blizzard. There's always something. Not that you would understand. You're like my sister. Everything always came easy to her. She's a fire bending prodigy and everyone adores her. My father says she was born lucky, he says I was lucky to be born. I don't need luck though, I don't want it. I've always had to struggle and fight, and that's made me strong. It's made me who I am."

I hung my head before continuing,

"I left my uncle behind, I left Y/N behind, I told her to leave, to go back to the army, I told her I didn't need her, that I didn't want her with us. Now she's gone, and hopefully after I bring you home to my father, I'll be with them both again, my uncle will surely return home to the palace, but Y/N... she's going to fight on the front lines in this war. Do you know how much I've had to struggle? How much I've had to give up to find you? Nothing is ever easy for me, and yes it's made me strong but now I'm alone. What if I never see her again?"

I threw my head into my hands,

No it's fine. She'll come back, she'll have come home eventually... I hope. Will she even return to the capital? She has this urge, this need to be where the action is... I doubt she'll ever return after having a taste of combat.

I stood up and stared out into the storm.

At least I'll be able to return home, I'll have my honour, my father's love, my throne. I'll have everything I've been working for.

Then, a beam of light entered the cave and the avatar woke up, he sat up and faced me, I stared back at him,

"Welcome back."

He furrowed his eyebrows before snaring:

"Good to be back."

He took a deep breath inwards before blasting me against the cave wall and blowing himself backwards out of the cave. I jumped up and ran after him.

He was wriggling across the snowy grounds, trying to get away, but I grabbed his collar and pulled him up,

"That won't be enough to escape."

The avatar's gaze shifted from me to the sky and his face lit up as he yelled:

"Appa!"

The sky bison landed before us and Katara jumped down from it's back where a white haired girl and her brother were sat.

I pushed the avatar to the ground before taking my stance and challenging her,

"Here for a rematch?"

She cockily replied,

"Trust me, Zuko, it's not gonna be much of a match."

She used the snow to block my first blast before sending it back towards me as I continued to blast flames at her, but she froze me in place high above where I was stood before dropping the ice and letting me fall into the snow.

Then everything went black.

Y/N's POV
I was making my way out of the Northern Water Tribe, deciding how I was going to get myself back to the fire nation when the sky went red, the moon glowed crimson and the fighting between the Fire Nation and Water Tribe stopped.

Everyone stood in confusion for a moment before the sky went back to normal, the fighting resumed but then the sky went dark, the moon went dark, and I felt all the energy drain from my body. I held my head, it was spinning and throbbing, I tried to pull some water from the rivers around me to heal my head, but I couldn't.

Something must've happened to the moon spirit. I loved the moon, when I was a child, I didn't have a water bending teacher, for obvious reasons, so I learned to bend water by copying the moon, but now the moon wasn't pulling the tides anymore, all the water benders around me cowered in fear as the Fire Navy attacked.

Suddenly, a blue light gleamed from the waters, and a giant being rose from the sea, the water benders bowed to it and the fire benders were thrown into the ocean, as it threw me into the sea I noticed something extraordinary, the avatar... he was controlling it.

The fire navy scurried back to their ships and I swam out from the sea and followed, but I wasn't too keen on jumping back into the water just yet. So I ran ahead and watched, the avatar destroyed our ships, he sent tsunamis and threw our ships into one another, destroying half of the navy until the Fire Nation were no longer stationed at the borders of the North Pole.

I collapsed into the snow, I was dizzy, being tossed into the water by a giant avatar sea monster had really drained any of the energy I had left and also put me in pretty bad shape.

Then I felt the moon's energy surging through my body, it was back, the moon was back.

But it wasn't enough for me to find the strength to pull myself back up to my feet again.

I laid there, in the snow, defeated.

Then I felt two hands scoop me up and lift me from the ground.

I opened my eyes to see him, Prince Zuko.

"Zuko..."

"It was you, wasn't it? You're the one who attacked the girl?"

I groaned and rested my head against his chest,

"I'm sorry... please don't be mad, I just-"

As he carried me towards the boat he interrupted me,

"Thank you."

I looked up at him, smiling,

"I think I'm the one who should be thanking you."

We ended up on a raft with Iroh, I dangled my bare feet over the edge, feeling the water splash against my toes.

Zuko was staring at the damage around us, the ships that had been rammed into ice bergs and such.

Iroh sighed,

"I am surprised, Prince Zuko, surprised that you are not at this moment trying to capture the avatar."

"I'm tired"

"Then you should rest. A man needs his rest."

I watched as Zuko lied on the floor and closed his eyes, finally drifting off to sleep.