The Fire Within - an atla fanfic (Zuko x OC)

And Thrown It All Away

I stood up and started running as fast as I could towards the ship that was completely in flames. I reached it and found Iroh watching from the dock, his face twisted in agony. "Iroh, where is Zuko?" I asked. No reply came, and I widened my eyes. I glanced at the water desperately. "He has to be in there somewhere." I convinced myself, starting to run towards the water. I dove in and opened my eyes, the heat from the ship making me feel as if I was burning. I looked around, the salt water making my eyes burn just as badly.

I swam deeper, trying my best to avoid the scrap metal that was strewn in the water. I saw a slight movement in the corner of my vision. I swam closer and nearly breathed in a sigh of relief as I saw the outline of Zuko. I grabbed him and pulled him close, kicking heavily, my chest feeling weak from the lack of air.

I gasped for air as I met the surface of the water, and looked at Zuko in my arms. I put my face against his mouth and widened my eyes anxiously. He wasn't breathing. I kicked over to the dock and Iroh helped me pull him up. After I hauled myself up, I searched for a pulse and found a weak one. I started doing chest compressions on Zuko. "He isn't breathing." I said in a panicky voice. I kept rhythmically pushing down, trying my best to stay focused.

Iroh watched with heavy concern as I kept pushing down. "It's not working." I added quickly, my breath coming out in ragged breaths. I looked at Zuko with desperation and then stopped pressing down. I threw my dripping hair to the side and leaned down. I grabbed Zuko's nose and clamped it, tilted his head back, and tried to clear his airway. I did this a few times and then went back to chest compressions. Still nothing happened.

I looked at Iroh with despair, and then went back to trying the rescue breaths again. I slapped Zuko's face lightly. "Come on, Zuko. Quit being a sissy." I said in frustration. Only a moment later, Zuko started coughing up water and opened his eyes at me, looking really confused.

I let out a large breath of relief and gave him a really tight hug. Iroh joined in and we both just hugged Zuko, who still was just confused.

"Uncle, the pirates blew up the ship." He said slowly. "And Ashley, you came back."

"Yeah, and I saved your life, by the way. No need to thank me." I responded, a few tears of relief leaving me. I let go of our tight embrace and grabbed his hands tightly. "I thought you were gonna die." I admitted. "You weren't breathing, and I had to do CPR and rescue breaths and I didn't even know how to do them and it was terrible." I explained quickly.

Zuko just kept staring at me, looking oblivious to whatever I was saying.

Iroh cleared his throat and we both looked at him. I let go of Zuko's hands awkwardly.

"Prince Zuko, I'm so glad you were okay. For a moment there I almost thought- well, I thought I would have lost you." Iroh explained, his eyes welling with tears.

Zuko smiled slightly and gave him a short hug again. "I'm okay, Uncle."

I stood up, my legs shaking from the adrenaline pumping through my veins. I extended my hand out to Zuko and helped him stand up. "Zuko, you have scratches all over you." I said, examining his face.

"You do too." Zuko responded, giving me a quick up-and-down. His reality was starting to set back in.

I looked down and saw a few large, but seemingly shallow cuts across my arms and legs.

"What are we going to do now?" He added hopelessly. "We will never be able to find the avatar."

I tilted my head and turned to look at one of Zhao's ships thoughtfully. "Maybe we can hop a ride on that thing."

"Oh, yeah, that's a great idea. Just go ask Zhao to take us to the North Pole." Zuko said sarcastically.

"He is probably going there anyway. And he literally invited Iroh and I. You can just hide in there." I responded.