Blazing: An Avatar AU

Chapter Eighty-One

I closed my eyes and let my arms relax, facing my inevitable death with only one thought:

    Sorry, Zuko.

I thought about the pain death might bring me, although I was already in an unimaginable amount of pain from the previous lightning attack. My resistance to lightning hasn't been put to the test for... four years? Five? I shut my eyes tighter than they already were and braced myself for impact.

    The impact never came.

I opened my eyes to see Zuko standing in front of me, breathing heavily. The new blast in the ceiling and Zuko's stance indicated that he redirected the lightning. He glanced back at me, his hair a mess of sweat, and grinned, "It's been ten minutes."

          I gave him a weak smile, "Right on time, Prince Zuko."

          Azula scoffed, "No one likes a lovers' reunion."

          "I'm not the prince-" Zuko ignored Azula's comment and frowned, "Why didn't you redirect it yourself? And why do you look like you're- (Y/N)!"

I felt my knees buckle and started to fall, clutching my side. Zuko raced forward and caught me before I hit the ground, cradling my head in his hands.

          "(Y/N)? What the fuck?"

His voice felt so far away, yet so close at the same time. The room started to spin and my head started to pound. My side felt cold, which was odd since it had just been burnt through with lightning.

No, it wasn't odd. We learned this in healing classes. It feels cold because the skin there is so burned that I can no longer retain heat. If healing via waterbending didn't exist, I wouldn't be able to ever recover from this. The pain and shock have been known to kill. Literally.

          Zuko looked at me worriedly as I fought to stay awake, "What happened? Were you hit?"

          I coughed and more blood spilled from my mouth, "Lightning hurts like a," I coughed again and Zuko's brows creased, "Bitch," I finished and removed my hand from my side, letting Zuko see the damage.

          Zuko's eyes widened, his expression distorted with terror, "When did that happen?"

          "Two minutes-" I paused, feeling the blood bubble up in my throat, "-before you came?"

          "You were-" he shook his head, "You were moving! How is that possible? This wound... how were you moving? How are you...??"

          Despite the situation, I forced myself to laugh, "You'd be surprised how much worse I've endured," I fought the urge to cough up more blood, "If this was four years ago, I guarantee you I'd be fine."

          Zuko shook his head, "I'm not a healer- we need to get you to Katara, or the hospital, we need to go right now. We need to," his voice broke, "You need to be okay. Oh my god," Zuko ran his hands through his hair, "Fuck," he looked down at me, "Fuck! Where's my phone? Where's Katara??"

        "I'm," my vision turned almost completely white, "I'm totally okay," I laughed, "Don't worry about me," I jerked my head towards Azula where Azula was, although she didn't seem to be there anymore, "You have bigger problems, Zuko," I frowned, "Where is your-"

        Zuko didn't even bother turning to see where Azula was, "(Y/N), you're not-"

          "It all ends right now, mother!" Azula cut Zuko off.

Zuko and I both turned our heads to the source of the voice, only to see Azula facing Noriko, backing her up against a wall and igniting a blue flame in her right hand. It looks like she used our distraction in her favor.

          "I don't know... what you're... talking about," Noriko said, her voice strained.

          "Oh really, Mother?! So I've imagined all this? You haven't been trying to take me down from the moment I was born?!" Azula replied.

Zuko looked at me, then at his mom and Azula, then back at me. He seemed to be debating something.

          "Go, Zuko," I said, "I'm going to be fine. I'll just close my eyes and-"

          "No!" Zuko yelled, "Do not close your eyes," he placed my head softly on the ground, "Do not close your eyes," he let out a deep breath, "Stay here. I will deal with this," he turned to Azula and his mom for a split second and turned back to me, "Do not close your eyes."

          "Noted," I laughed, "Honestly, the wound isn't that bad," I started to sit up, only for the pain to shoot all around my body, "On second thought," I coughed, "I'll stay on the floor."

          Zuko nodded and turned to Azula who still had her mother trapped, "Azula, let her go!"

I felt my eyes start to droop.

    Don't close your eyes, (Y/N). Stay awake.

          "Stay back, Zuzu! I'm warning you! All it takes is one hit and (Y/N) will be completely gone. Is that what you want?"

I could barely register what everyone was saying. My head spun and my side felt as though it were frozen.

          "Stay away from (Y/N)!" Zuko's voice was laced in anger and worry at the same time.

    I blinked, hard.

Stay awake.

          "If what you say is true," Noriko's hand trailed to Azula's cheek, tears in her eyes, "If I really am your mother ... Then I'm sorry I didn't love you enough."

I glanced at Azula, in an attempt to fight the pain, and saw tears start to form in her eyes.

Maybe, if I stand up I'll feel better. I did it before, right? My father did this shit to me all the time. I should be fine.

          "Get away from her!" I heard Zuko yell again.

I started to stand up.

          "No!" Azula screamed, blasting fire at Zuko, who dodged.

Unfortunately for me, Zuko didn't seem to notice that I had started attempting to stand up. He turned his eyes towards me and watched in horror as Azula's fire blast started coming for me. I blinked and looked at the water on the floor around me. In a rush of adrenaline, I put up a very thin ice wall, shielding myself from the fire. At the same time, however, that seemed to be the last of my strength.

         "(Y/N), NO!" I heard Zuko scream.

My eyes rolled to the back of my head and the world turned completely black. 

(A/N): If you simp for Katsuki Bakugou, the first 3 chapter of Katsuki Bakugou x Reader: Bloodlust will be published tomorrow