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

Dead End of Destinies

You paused, narrowing your eyes.

That was... Exactly what Katara had told you.

"Do I... Really act that distant?" You questioned, glancing at your brother.

"Pfft! You're like another galaxy with how distant you are!"

You rubbed your arm and tugged on your sleeve, "Sorry, I... Guess it's an issue of mine I've never noticed. Has it... Been hurting you? The way I act?"

"...I can understand why it's happening. It started right after you came back from the Fire Nation." Sokka put his index finger to his chin, and looked over at Iroh.

"I remember you mentioning something about being turned into a weapon by the previous Firelord. Did you... Meet Iroh there?"

"...I... Yeah." You whispered.

"Hm." Sokka paused. You could tell he wanted to lift the mood.

"...Say, do you know why it's been snowing? Do you think Sozin's Comet might not-"

Before anything else could be said, the person Iroh took to interrogate leaked an important piece of information to you all. "They're in the Crystal Catacombs of Old Ba Sing Se, deep beneath the palace!"

You all nodded at each other and ran away to help Katara, Zuko, and the Earth King.

"Well, what'd you know? There is an ancient city down there, but it's deep." Toph said, starting to earthbend a tunnel for everyone to pass through.

"We should split up. Aang, you go with Iroh to look for Katara and the angry jerk." Sokka looked over at Iroh, a surprised expression on his face.
"Oh... Yeah, uh, no offense."

"None taken." Iroh shrugged.

"I'll go with Toph to warn the Earth King about Azula's coup." Sokka turned to you,

"Y/N, I think... I have the feeling you'd better stay here with Aang and Iroh. Say hello to Katara for me."

You gave him a thumbs up, and followed Aang and Iroh into the tunnel Toph made.

Iroh was bending a small fire for everyone to see, while Aang earthbent the passage deeper.

You were off in your own mind, questioning your behavior.

The reason you never told them anything... Was because you were scared of their reaction to the truth. You were nervous that they'd be hurt by the truth.

But that was unfair, wasn't it? To doubt your own siblings... To leave them in the dark.

If anything, you made things worse.

You gazed at your tanned leather gloves.

No way were you going to abandon Zuko or Iroh if Katara and Sokka couldn't accept things. You would say things as they were, and hopefully... They wouldn't react negatively.

You sighed, rubbing your eyes in frustration. Why were you so scared to speak up!? You literally called the prince of the Fire Nation a prick!

You were nervous about how everything would go. There were so many different variables and possibilities...

"Sometimes, life is like this dark tunnel," Iroh said, "You can't always see the light at the end of the tunnel, but if you just keep moving..."

Aang bent the last chunk of rocks out of the way, revealing the Crystal Catacombs.

Iroh smiled, "You will come to a better place."

You froze, mouth agape, before laughing.

"Y/N? ...Have you finally lost it?" Aang inquired.

"No, no, not yet at least," You beamed, "That was just what I needed to hear."