Burnt Out - Zuko x OC

Battle of the Sexes

The gang laid on top of one of the many massive boulders that lived in the valley. It was a clear night with a beautiful navy sky. Kai rested between Toph and Sokka, whispering to her friends of the lore and legends behind each celestial family.

"Those three stars—" She said while pointing Toph's finger in the direction of the constellation, "That's Aries. He's said to have saved two children from their cruel step mother and delivered them back to their father. He had golden fleece that was harvested and given to the Gods after his death."

"What's that one?" Aang asked, pointing to a group of seven nearby stars.

"That's Cygnus, the swan." She said. "His friend drowned during a friendly racing competition. Cygnus begged the Gods to help him save his best friend, so they made him an offer; give up his immortality and become a swan, or allow his friend to perish. He chose his friend's life."

"That doesn't sound like a very fair trade. Who the heck would wanna live as a freaking goose??" Sokka said.

"He became a swan, Sokka." Katara replied. "And he did it to save his friend's life. You wouldn't give up immortality to save one of us?"

Sokka thought for a moment and then shrugged, "Eh!"

This went on for some time, Kai telling them stories and the gang asking questions. It reminded her of when she'd do the exact same with Bumi. As they were about to call it a night, meteors began to sail across the sky, putting on a once in a lifetime light show for them all.

"Wow, this is so amazing to watch." Katara said. She laid between her brother and Aang, whose hand was inching closer to hers across the rock.

"Kinda makes you realize how insignificant we are." Said Sokka. He'd listened diligently to Kai's tale of Hercules, the warrior constellation, and daydreamed of ways he could earn his own place amongst the Gods in the sky.

"Eh, you've seen nothing once, you've seen it a thousand times." Just as Toph spoke, a bright flash of light blazed above their heads. One of the meteors was drawing uncomfortably close. Its flames were just as blue as Azula's lightning

"Oh man, you've never not seen something like this!" Sokka said as the foreign heat licked their skin. It flew past them and over the horizon. Dark, billowing smoke began to fill the air in the valley. The lot of them jumped onto Appa's back and rode toward the scene of the crash.

The sight amazed them all. A space rock much bigger than how it'd looked in the sky sat in a crater of fire, and the flames were spreading. Katara pointed out a nearby town, yelling over the roar of the flames that it would soon be destroyed if they didn't do something about it. Kai followed the direction of the girl's finger, but she didn't see the same village that the rest of her friends were jumping into action to save.

A short film of a familiar Earth Kingdom village played out in front of her. It was just a flash, but it was enough to terrify her. A small rental hut was blazing out of control, the fire quickly spreading to nearby trees, businesses and homes. Lowly townspeople worked diligently to haul buckets of water from the nearby stream, splashing them onto the hut without making even a dent in the catastrophe. It wasn't until a group of benders strolled by that the fire was put out, they suffocated it with mounds of dirt and then pushed their way inside the crumbling structure with hopes of saving someone's life. But the man that they found had been killed long before his body was burnt to a crisp.

"What are you waiting for?! Come on!" Toph yelled from the bison's feet. She snapped back to real time to see that the only thing they were waiting on was her. She slid down the side of Appa and left Katara in the driver's seat to fetch enough water to spare the town.