|•|W I T 卄 E R||•| Zuko X Reader ⚠SLOWBURN⚠

Bruises

⚠️Part of this chapter contains potentially triggering moments. When you see the roses (🌹) It's alright to continue reading.⚠️
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Today was your first day of training.
And the person who would be training you, was... "Oh, it's you. The water tribe peasant." Zhao.
You gave him a glare. "Oh, spare me the annoyed stares. You have unique abilities, and I intend to let them grow." Zhao said. "How are you even going to train me!? You can't even bend the way I can!" You declared.

"I'll just teach you the basics." He replied, turning away from you. "What do you mean by basi-" "SHOOM!" A fireball was hurled towards your head. You barely avoided it.

"Always be prepared. I'll give you a hands on learning experience." You took a step back. Surely, he didn't mean what you thought he did...!

Suddenly, he sent massive balls of fire swerving in your direction. You dodged them by hopping to the left, but he prepared an attack from there as well. As you were busy trying to avoid his flames, he leapt high into the sky and hit you with a whip of fire. "Gah!" You cried, falling to your knees. "Pathetic." He growled. He formed to whips of fire into his hands and controlled them as if they were an extended part of his arms. He captured you in a cylinder of fire. If you moved an inch, you'd be burnt. You were already on your knees. He shot flames out of his foot, and you tried blocking the attack with a shield of void, but he shrunk the flames surrounding you, burning your arms.

You let out a cry of pain and fell down. You were lucky that most of your body was alright, but the back of your leg had an ugly bruise and burn. Zhao let out a sigh. "It's no surprise your mother died so easily." He hummed. Tears fell from your eyes. You wanted to scream at him, but you were in too much pain. "Get up." You tried, but you were too weak. "It would be so easy to kill everyone in your tribe." Zhao chuckled. "SHUT UP!" You stood up and launched void matter at him, only to collapse again.
He easily dodged your attack. "You're weak. You're pathetic. You're worthless. In the end, fire will always be the superior element." Zhao walked away, leaving you on the ground.

You let out a choked sob. "It's not fair... It's not fair at all..." All you wanted to do was save your family. The family you got after your old one left you. Then you found out your mom died. And you were kept away from the family you gained. Kept away from the people that loved you. Now here you were, hurt and bruised, being trained as a weapon to hurt and kill more people. By the very nation which murdered your mother. "I have nothing... I don't have my friends, my mom, my dad, my sister, my brother... All I have are these stupid, worthless powers, which only connect to the people that left me." You whispered. Zhao was right. You were pathetic. Nobody would care enough to help you.

You tried to stand up, but fell over again. You hated how weak you were. You tried again, one foot at a time, but no matter how hard you tried, you failed. Over and over again. You hated the fact that you were crying. You felt so... Frustrated. Frustrated, confused, scared, and broken. You needed to help yourself, but you were to powerless to do anything. "Why am I so weak...?" You whimpered.

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"I don't think you're weak." You looked up to see... Him. Zuko. "You're hurt... But it's not your fault. When I came over here, I saw his attack from afar. There was no way for you to dodge that. You're not weak at all." He stated. You looked away from him. "...What do you want from me?" You questioned. "Not much. I just want to help." He carefully picked you up, making sure not to touch your injury. Normally, you'd try to make him let go of you, but... You weren't going to be able to move any other way. So, obviously... You got comfortable.
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"This... Isn't my room." You mumbled as he placed you on a bed. "I know. It's mine." He opened a drawer and got a roll of bandages. "Why do you just randomly have a roll of bandaids in a drawer?"You muttered. "...Azula." Zuko approached you and gently lifted up your leg. He wrapped the bandages around your bruise. "Why... Are you being so nice to me?" You questioned.

"Do I really have to have some big crazy reason? You got injured. Badly. You couldn't even get up... So why wouldn't I help you?" He replied, catching you off guard.

"So... You're helping me... Just because you want to?" You whispered. "I mean, yeah. What did you want me to do, leave you there bleeding?" You glanced down at your now bandaged leg.

"Hey, Dr. Zuko? Will I still be able to walk?" You inquired. "Oh no, this is horrible..." He stared at you, shocked.

"Wh-What's wrong!?" You exclaimed. "You're regaining your energy and calling me stupid nicknames!" He exclaimed, pissing you off.

"Alright then, Prince Zuko, shall my wound healeth after thy bandages have been firmly tightened-eth around my legs? Or, shalt my injury persist, granting me an unspeakable pain-est in my leg-eth!?" You cried, trying to sound as royal(stupid) as possible.

Zuko let out a soft chuckle as he finished wrapping bandages around your leg. "You should be fine if you rest. Don't move around to much, and try not to poke your injury." You nodded at his instructions.

"You should take a nap for now." Zuko said, rising to his feet. "B-But this is your room!" You exclaimed, waving your hands. "And?" He replied. "Well one, you're a prince and I'm some random girl you met a day ago, and two, you're from the Fire Nation, I'm from the Southern Water Tribe." You huffed. Right... He's from the Fire Nation. It was kind of him to help you out, though... Maybe he's not so bad?

No, no, what are you thinking!? Should you really trust him? "You're right about all of that. I am from the Fire Nation, and I am the prince. But everything I've been taught has told me how the Fire Nation always tries to spread the good they have to other nations. We give to the other nations. It's something to be honored. And although there are a few weirdos like Zhao-", Zuko looked at his bedroom door for a few seconds, then turned back to you, "Most of the people here aren't bad. They love this nation. All we want to do is share that with the other nations, like what my Uncle's trying to do at Ba Sing Se." Then it hit you. Zuko... Probably doesn't know how awful the Fire Nation is. He's being lied to. And based on everything he said... It'd be hard to help him believe the truth about this place. There are probably- No, definitely other people like him being lied to. Being brainwashed.

"... Prince Zuko, do you know what the Fire Nation does to Water Benders?" You muttered, looking him in the eyes. "...Is everything okay? Your tone completely changed..." He mumbled. "Please answer my question." You pleaded. "I don't know too much about that, but I know they get taken to the Fire Nation. Why'd you ask?"

You let out a sigh and looked away from him. You were right. He didn't actually know... "Are you alright, um, Y/N?" He gave you a look of concern. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Well, if you don't count that bruise Zhao the child abusing cow so generously gave me." You smiled. "Maybe... Maybe I can arrange things in a way that makes sure you'll never have to train with him again." You raised an eyebrow at those words. "So then... Who would I train with?" You quizzed.

Zuko walked to his door and turned his head towards you. He gave you a smirk and pointed to himself. "I'll see what I can do."