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

Burning

"Sorry." Aang said.

You waved your hands in dismissal, "You're not the one I need an apology from."

The boy paused for a moment, before asking, "Remember when we were in that desert?"

"When we nearly died of thirst? Yeah. Why wouldn't I?" You inquired.

"You mentioned someone that you abandoned. I was just thinking, since you apparently went to the Fire Nation a long time ago, and that time where everyone, including Zuko and Iroh got together to take down Azula..."

"You had to leave without saying or doing anything for them. Iroh got wounded pretty badly. Was the person you were talking about... Zuko?" Aang quizzed.

"...Yeah." You mumbled.

"You two must be close." Aang inferred.

Both of you arrived at your destination, and you noticed Aang looking over at Katara.

"Hey, Y/N? Zuko... Do you..." He made a sound of hesitance before smiling and waving goodbye, "Nevermind."

You sat down beside a fountain when you heard Katara's footsteps. She handed you a bowl of food and sat down beside you.

The two of you ate in silence, until Katara spoke up and asked, "Why?"

You furrowed your eyebrows, "Why what?"

"Why do you care so much about...Well, him?" She asked, puzzled.

"What, do you want some long spiel? I already said it before, but you weren't listening. Are you looking for things to refute?" You questioned.

Katara scoffed, "No, I'm genuinely curious why you care for such a terrible liar. If it weren't for him, would you have disappeared in Ba Sing Se? Would Aang have gotten hurt?"

"If it weren't for him, I'd still be gone. And that's not even the only thing he's done for me! People do bad things, but they do good things, too." You stated.

"Well, sometimes the bad outweighs the good!" Katara stated, spurning your statement.

You grunted, "So you don't care what I think."

"I'm not saying I don't care, I'm saying that you're not thinking logically. Your time in the Fire Nation is making you act-"

"Not everything is because of the Fire Nation! This is me, this is how I feel, based on my own experiences!" You yelled.

"So you felt like you could keep me out of your life and ignore me!? You were so distant ever since you came back from there!" Katara shouted.

"It was because I knew you'd react this way! And now that I'm telling you, you're doing the same to me!" You argued.

"Wasn't I the one who sat down beside you and started this conversation? You're telling me I'm ignoring you!?" Katara huffed.

You clenched your teeth in frustration, "You're trying to do what you think is right by distancing me from someone I care about! But I learned that what I did was wrong, you aren't! You're ignoring everything I'm trying to tell you!"

"He's dangerous, he's a liar, he's the cause of so many problems–He chased us all over the world! I can't believe you'd care about someone like that!" Katara pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.

"I keep on saying this–He's done good things, too!" Your muscles felt tense and your eyebrows were as furrowed as they could be.

Before Katara could reply, the sound of collapsing rock echoed through the room. Toph emerged from the rubble, stumbling with each step.