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

BAI HONG

Bai Hong tore you out of your restraints and grasped your neck with an unbreakable grip.

"NO!" 740 crossed his fingers and pointed at Bai Hong. Was he about to turn her to dust!?

Bai Hong... Glanced at him.

All she did... Was glance at him.

740 began to cough and clutched his heart, the area around his chest and neck darkening with marks of the void.

Baoshi ran to his side, holding him and staring at Bai Hong with animosity.

"You are my puppet, 740. I gave you worth. I gave you a name."

"Whatever you're doing to 740 and whatever you're doing to her, stop!" Baoshi yelled.
"Į ÐØN'Ţ FØŁŁØW YØUŘ ØRÐEا." Bai Hong looked away from 740 and back to you, her grip tightening. You winced.

"I-If you kill her, then the thing connected with her soul wouldn't have a host, would it!? I implore you, think!" Baoshi shouted.

During the last statement she made, Baoshi was looking at you.

You had to do something.

"...Work with me, or I'll have no choice but to kill you, child." Bai Hong muttered, dropping you to the ground and restraining you herself.

A sharp, burning pain shot through your wrists as she held you down with the void.

"Why... How are you so inhumane!? Are you even human at all!?" You cried, your voice was weak, yet it carried a peculiar power.

"We must create a balance."

You grit your teeth, "That's the Avatar's job, isn't it!? Stop talking nonsense and-!"

"You're working with the Avatar. As void benders, we must experience tragedy and inflict tragedy upon the world. That is the duty given to us." Bai Hong stated. It was as if she truly believed that every word she spoke was truth.

"You're wron-"

"YØU'RE WRØNG!" Bai Hong's scream silenced you.

"I was nearly executed by my own blood for these powers! This curse we share! So I did what was expected of me. I killed! I killed them all!" Bai Hong cackled.

You stumbled backwards, your wrists still in place. Bai Hong convulsed and laughed maniacally as she continued to speak.

"740 had to experience it, too! It was only fair! It would give us power! It would make things right!"

"Baoshi lost everything as a child, and I was there, waiting for her to realize her lack of power on her own! I drilled through this black hell up to the surface and dragged her down to us!"

Her face suddenly morphed into rage and hatred, "BŰŢ ƳØU."

The pain on your wrists increased tenfold.

"You're everything a void bender shouldn't be! YØŰ are the one who isn't human! YŒU are the one who is insane! ŸŒŰ ÆRĚ A MĮ§ŢÀƘE!"

"I'm no-"

"YØŰ ÐESERVE EVERY LAST BIT OF THIS! YOU ARE AN ANOMALY IN NEED OF SAVING! YOU ARE EVERYTHING A VOID BENDER SHOULDN'T BE!"

Your eyes widened and you struggled to get out of your restraints as Bai Hong screamed and approached you, her claws threatening to stab you.

"YOU AREN'T PLAYING YOUR ROLE IN THIS STORY! YOU WERE MADE TO KILL! YOU WERE MADE TO BE A WEAPON!"

You froze.

Made to be a...

"You're the space bender, correct?" The man, Ozai, asked. You nodded, slowly.

"Since my brother decided to leave you be, you shall become my weapon."

An anomaly in need of saving...

"I am going to have you trained. That's all."

You felt small.

Once again, at those words, you felt small and afraid.

This time, nobody could save you.

Not unless you reached out into the dark and cried for help. Not unless you took that risk.

Doing that resulted in your scars. From the very tips of your fingers to the lower halves of your shoulders.

A tragedy... That you had to experience.

But from that tragedy, your late mother and Katara had sown you those gloves.

One of the only things to provide you a sense of familiarity and the memories of your family's tender love.

You felt something growing.

You were stuck inside the nation that slaughtered your mother in cold blood, stuck with the ones who swore to annihilate your people for... Power.

A tragedy.

If it weren't for that, would you have met Zuko, Ty Lee, Mei, Ursa, or Saiyaka?

You felt something growing.

Because you were separated from your family, you ended up abandoning Zuko.

A tragedy you inflicted on him, unknowingly.

If it weren't for that, would you have remained the same? Wouldn't you have been forced to become a weapon of war? And what of him? Would it have changed things, or made things worse?

You were lucky you didn't have to know. You were lucky things could still be resolved between the two of you.

Right there, once again, you were stuck in a scary, unfamiliar place.

Once again, you have the ability to resolve things.

You glanced at your fingerless hands—What Bai Hong had taken away from you—and you clenched your teeth.

The warmth your gloves gave your fingers...

You felt something growing.

The cool feeling of the snow...

You felt something growing.

The excruciating pain when you first got your scars...

. . .

Your fingers had returned.

You looked up at Bai Hong.

She stared at you, dumbfounded.

Baoshi gazed at you in shock.

740 smirked.

白红
傀儡师也是傀儡。