peacekeeping- zuko

Sozin's Comet

Bruh, I've been editing some of the beginning chapters and just realized how horrid my writing used to be, like, I can't even read the entire chapter without cringing and wanting to get rid of the entire book itself. But, I think it's fine, now (hopefully).

"More ferocious! Imagine striking through your opponent's heart!" Yelled Zuko, training me and Aang. I struck the air with a tattooed hand, blue fire circling around me. Aang wasn't having as much fun as me, though. "Come'n!" Zuko yelled at Aang. Aang stopped fire bending and turned to Zuko, growling, "im trying." Zuko ignored him, "Now let me hear you roar like a tigerdillo!" Aang gave a small roar, a bit of fire coming out of his mouth. "That sounded pathetic! I said roar!" Zuko yelled again. Aang roared once more, a more vivid and powerful flame coming out of his mouth. I clapped, "Nice." "Who wants a nice cool glass of watermelon juice?" Asked Katara, holding up two watermelons. I grabbed one, sitting down beside her, while Aang smiled, "Ooh, ooh! Me, me, me!",and running towards Katara. Zuko grabbed the back of his robes and turned him around, "Hey! Your lesson's not over yet! Get back here!"

"You let Y/N have one!" Whined Aang, struggling against his hold. "Yeah, 'cause she's Y/N. She's been training for years," Zuko said. "No playing favorites!" Aang exclaimed. "I'm not playing favorites! Even though she is. You still need practice," Zuko grumbled. "Come on, Zuko. Just take a break. What's the big deal?" Suki asked. "Fine! If you want to lounge around like a bunch of snail sloths all day, then go ahead!" Zuko yelled, walking away. Everyone turned to me. "What?" I asked. "Go talk to him," Katara said as if it were obvious. "Why?" "Because he's mad. Go calm him down or something." "Why me?" "Because your his girlfriend," Toph shrugged. "First of all, that doesn't make sense, and second of all, Zuko's better off alone when he's mad."

"Come'n, just go," Aang smiled, sipping his watermelon juice. "Alright, fine." I followed Zuko through the bushes. He was sitting on a rock, staring at the foam of the sea. "You good?" I asked. "Leave me alone!" Yelled Zuko. I paused, turning back around. "I knew it," I muttered more to myself. Arms wrapped around my torso. "Never mind, stay," said Zuko. "Oh." I blurted, surprised at his reaction. "You don't want to go to the beach?" I asked to Zuko, turning around in his arms. "Sozin's comet is in two days! We can't lounge around, we have to train!" Exclaimed Zuko. Oh. I guess no one told him. "Y/N!" Yelled Toph, appearing from the bushes. "Come'n, beach time! Prince Sulky can stay here if he wants." She grabbed my arm, pulling me out from Zuko's arms, before I could tell about the Sozins Comet thing.

Me and Katara were surfing while, Aang, Toph, and Sokka made sand sculptures and Suki watched. "Bet you can't catch the next one! No bending!" I yelled over the roar of the waves crashing onto the others. "No bending? Fine. I'll still win," smirked Katara. We heard commotion and shared a look, leaving our ice surfboards in the water and joining the others on the beach. "What happened?" Katara asked, as Sokka messed around with some sand. "Zuko's gone crazy! I made a sand sculpture of Suki and he destroyed it!....Oh, and he's attacking Aang." I face-palmed. What now? A loud crash from the side of the house signaled that Aang had kicked Zuko's butt. We all headed over there.

"What's wrong with you? You could have hurt Aang!" Katara exclaimed. "What's wrong with me? What's wrong with all of you? How can you sit around having beach parties when Sozin's Comet is only three days away?" Zuko exclaimed. Oh. I knew I should've told him. Everyone looked at Zuko, "Why are you all looking at me like I'm crazy?" "About Sozin's Comet ... I was actually gonna wait to fight the Fire Lord until after it came," explained Aang. "After?" "I'm not ready. I need more time to master firebending," shrugged Aang. "And frankly, your earthbending could still use some work too," Toph suggested. "Yeah, your spiritual senses also need a bit of sharpening," I added. Aang grimaced at the amount of stuff he had yet to master.

"So, you all knew Aang was going to wait?" Zuko asked. "Well, I was gonna tell you but Toph dragged me away." "Honestly, if Aang tries to fight the Fire Lord now, he's going to lose," Sokka said. "No offense," he added seeing Aang's defeated face. I turned back to Zuko,"The whole point of fighting the Fire Lord before the Comet was to stop the Fire Nation from winning the War, but they pretty much won the War when they took Ba Sing Se. Things can't get any worse." "You're wrong. It's about to get worse than you can even imagine. The day before the eclipse, my father asked me to attend an important war meeting. It was what I dreamed about for so many years. My father had finally accepted me back. We were trying to figure out what to do on the day of Sozins Comet. Azula suggested burning everything down, and my father agreed, even though it was so horrible. I wanted to speak out against this horrifying plan, but I'm ashamed to say I didn't. My whole life, I struggled to gain my father's love and acceptance, but once I had it, I realized I'd lost myself getting there. I'd forgotten who I was," Zuko admitted.

Oh. Well, frick. "I can't believe this," Katara breathed. Sokka turned back to Zuko, "I always knew the Fire Lord was a bad guy, but his plan is just pure evil." "You should've seen his dad," I scoffed, referring to Fire Lord Azulon, who was even more evil, in my opinion. "What am I gonna do?" Asked a panicked Aang.
Zuko stood up from his rock, "I know you're scared, and I know you're not ready to save the world, but if you don't defeat the Fire Lord before the comet comes, there won't be a world to save anymore." "Why didn't you tell me about your dad's crazy plan sooner?" Exclaimed Aang. "I didn't think I had to. I assumed you were still going to fight him before the comet. No one told me you decided to wait," Zuko shrugged. True.

Aang held his head, sinking to his knees, "This is bad. This is really, really bad." "Aang, you don't have to do this alone," Katara assured. "Yeah, if we all fight the Fire Lord together, we got a shot at taking him down," Toph smiled. "Mhm, a bunch of crazy powerful kids versus a nation? I think we can we do it. I mean, despite our age, we're better than anyone in the world no matter how long they've been training," I said. "All right! Team Avatar is back! Air. Water. Earth. Fire. Protection..or whatever you can call Y/N. And fan and sword!" Yelled Sokka, holding up a leaf as his sword and handing Suki a bunch of leafs in the shape of her fan.
"Fighting the Fire Lord is going to be the hardest thing we've ever done together, but I wouldn't want to do it any other way," Aang smiled, gathering us in a group hug, besides Zuko. "Get over here, Zuko. Being part of the group also means being part of group hugs," Katara laughed. I lifted an arm, inviting him in and he hesitantly stepped in, face lifting into a smile. Appa flew down from above, knocking us all over.

*********************

Everyone was watching Zuko teach Aang how to redirect lightning. He had already me, as well as Iroh. "There's one technique you need to know before facing my father - how to redirect lightning. If you let the energy in your own body flow, the lightning will follow it. You turn your opponents' energy against them," Zuko explained. "That's like waterbending," Aang smiled
"Exactly. My uncle invented this technique himself by studying waterbenders." "So, have you ever redirected lightning before?" Asked Aang. Zuko turned serious, "Once, against my father." Aang stared at him with big, curious eyes, "What did it feel like?"
"Exhilarating...but terrifying. You feel so powerful holding that much energy in your body, but you know if you make the wrong move, it's over."

Aang chuckled, worriedly, "Well, not over over. I mean there's always Katara and a little Spirit Water action, am I right?" "Actually, I used it all up after Azula shot you," Katara said. "Oh."
"You'll have to take the Fire Lord's life before he takes yours," Zuko explained. "Yeah, I'll just do that," Aang shrugged. He didn't want to, and I could tell, even without the spiritual connection between us. The day of Sozins Comet is gonna be loooong.