Ash & Steel (Male OC x Zuko)

The White Lotus

Knock Knock! Knock!

Hiro blinks blearily, barely even comprehending what's happening in his sleep-addled state. Chika's warm weight suddenly becomes taught as she sits up, ears pricked at the door.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Hiro shouts, heaving his feet over the side of the bed and unsteadily standing up. Just for good measure, he snags the sheathed knife from where it sits with his spear against the wall and tucks it into his nightclothes' pants.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

"Can't you just shut up for one second?" Hiro grumbles, and finally reaches for the doorknob, but in a sudden burst of movement and sound the door is kicked in and Hiro is seized.

His face smacks against the hard wood of his table and strong arms pin his own behind his back. "What in Agni's name is going on?!" Hiro spits out, his face smushed against the table, as boots stomp toward him. Chika barks, teeth bared and lips curled, and jumps onto one of the guards. They fall onto the ground together, a tussle of fur and armor.

"Hiro of the Fire Nation, you are hereby under arrest for forgery of a royal document and theft of a Fire Nation artifact." He can't see the man talking, but Hiro recognizes the voice as that of the man with the axe who had checked him in and out of the Reliquary.

Uh oh. Was the forgery not good enough?

"That's preposterous! Why would I steal a stupid crown, anyway?" Hiro struggles, but a sharp pain at the back of his neck quickly stops him.

"Search him," the axe man orders, and another pair of hands pat him down. His knife is found and removed, vanishing into the axe man's belt, and with it goes Hiro's last hope.

Chika snarls, victorious at last against the now-pinned guard beneath her, but the axeman's steel-tipped boot finds her stomach and she rolls off with a whimper.

"Hey, stay away from her! Chika, down! C'mon guys, can't we be reasonable with this?" Hiro pleads. "I swear, Prince Zuko has the crown. Ask him yourself!"

The axe man scoffs. "And why should we believe you? It's not like he wanders around here at night, we can't exactly ask-"

"What. Is. Going on here?" An icy voice asks from the now-broken door, and the guards whip around. From his position pressed against the table Hiro can just make out the cloaked figure of Zuko, and never in his life has he been so grateful to see anyone.

"M-My Prince! We were detaining this criminal, who stole the Crown Prince's crown from the Reliquary!" One of the guards stutters, and Zuko scoffs.

"Do you mean this crown?" His cloak's hood comes down, and on his head is the very crown that Hiro had taken from the Reliquary only a few hours prior.

The axe man gapes. "B-But the document was fake! A well-made fake, but we eventually found out it was a definite forgery!"

"My scribe is new, he may have made an error. Now, release my guard at once!" Zuko demands, and the weight on Hiro's back vanishes. He stands, massaging his neck and stretching his arms, and gives the axe man a dirty look. "Now, leave us!" Zuko huffs, and the guards bow and begin to leave.

"Wait."

Everyone in the room turns to look at Hiro, who glares at the axe man. "In the old customs, the Sun Warrior ways, if you had falsely accused me of a crime I could have your hand removed. Actually, that law is technically still in effect today."