When Hatred turned to Love (ATLA Zuko x OC)

CHAP2 - REWRITTEN AND EDITED!

"You know I'm right," She leaned close enough, eyes meeting his lips that were only inches apart from her own. Foreheads, touching. The tip of his nose brushed gently against her own. But she was still messing with him, and her closeness, instantly made him lose his focus. "And then, I went after the entire family, and you know what happened?" She pouted. "I failed. Too bad you dropped my success rate as an Assassin at 99.9%," she snickered.

The prince parted his lips to say something, but the door snapped open, and a soldier walked in. "Prince Zuko! The Avatar has escaped!"

The man's eyes widened, and she threw her head back and started laughing as she watched him so hastily running right out of her cell and shutting the door behind. She figured they hadn't actually chained the boy as much as they had chained her. The boy was not as dangerous as she was. Even if he was the Avatar, she doubted he knew how to bend the elements except maybe air.

Wait. He had the familiar tattoos of an Airbending Master. And he looked young. A fucking ten-year-old that had ruined her plans of hanging the prince's head on her wall and getting herself captured. Iris frowned deeply. She knew of only one this young airbender who had earned his tattoos at this age.

Iris shut her eyes and allowed her head to rest back against the metal wall behind her. There was no way it was him. It had been so long ago. It had been a hundred years. No, she had lost everything and everyone. She had nothing. And she preferred it this way. It had been like this for a long time now. She had nothing – which meant there was nothing precious for her to lose. The smile returned on her lips, and she looked down at the chains in her hands. If she never figured out who that boy really was, then she was going to be fine. She'd keep having nothing to lose.

Idiots. Did they really think that rusty chains could keep her restrained? They had no idea what she was, hadn't they? Iris looked at where on the wall the chains were connected. She stood up and with a grunt, she snapped the chains off of the wall, freeing herself with ease. They would need thicker chains if they wanted to keep her down. Not this rusted piece of trash.

Iris reached for the door and she pulled a hairpin from her braided, blonde hair. That hairpin never really served any purpose in keeping her pretty. That was the last thing she ever cared about. She didn't have the luxury to look pretty. She was going to break out and finish the job herself. She was going to kill everyone on that ship, including the prince and his fat old man and throw the bodies on the water for the sharks to feast on. And if the ship had enough fuel, she'd take it to the Fire Nation and complete the mission she never did – kill the Fire Lord, because anger and hate were the only two emotions that she could remember herself ever feeling.

The door clicked open, and she tucked that hairpin back in her hair. It had always been useful. She walked out into the empty hallway. Everybody was probably outside, dealing with the Avatar's escape. If that boy really was the Avatar – the only beacon of hope to stand against the Fire Nation – then they really were screwed. Iris wasn't stupid enough to sit back and wait for a saviour. She was going to take out the Fire Lord herself – starting with the son, and then the bratty daughter.

But for now, she walked within the empty, dark halls. Torches on the walls bringing enough light. She was looking for a way up on deck. She needed to jump into the sea. The freezing temperature did not scare her. She thrived in the cold. She loved the darkness. She thrived in the sin. She preferred loneliness over the company of anything else. She adored destruction. Blood was always warmer than any other kind of embrace. She was a beautiful calamity, and she had made sure that everybody on the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation knew that. And that's why she was a wanted criminal everywhere.