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

Screams of the Sea

If it were the Fire Nation, they would choose to fight.

How could his own people not understand that? How could they be such... Such cowards?

Allowing people to die left and right... It was despicable.

With each step he took, the snow below Oka began to sizzle and melt away.

He looked up at the moon.

Arnook was a coward and Hahn was nothing but a smug, prideful imbecile.
______

A month had passed since then. Oka stopped training, because what was the point?

He had worked so hard... Only to be rejected. He couldn't avenge his nation, his sister tribe, or his father? His father...
       He had been seeing his father instead of his own reflection. Sometimes it was what his father looked like when he passed.

He didn't go out as much, and when he did, he felt like an outcast. And anytime Yue saw him, she'd make a heart-wrenching expression.

Hahn's a curse to her, too.

It was late into the night, yet he was still awake. Oka got out of his sleeping bag and walked out of his home.

He began walking towards the wall of the Northern Water Tribe.

Bending a pathway for himself, he stepped in front of the wall and onto floating pieces of ice.

He wanted to get away.

The anniversary of his father's death...

...He ended up failing him, didn't he?

Oka grunted at that thought, making claw hands. His body trembled from the coolness of the air.

He placed his hands into the freezing water and sighed. He didn't feel much of a connection with the ocean, but the cold feeling was somewhat soothing.

"So, are you going to run away?"

Oka turned behind him and saw Hahn standing on the wall. Hahn hopped down on another piece of ice before stepping onto the one Oka was at.

"No response? Okay... You're all depressed because I'm marrying princess Yue, huh?" Hahn asked.

"That's not just it." Oka muttered.

Mimicking Oka's voice, Hahn spoke, "That's not just it... Come on, admit it! You think you're stronger than me, but the chief said-"

"The chief is blind." Oka stated.

Hahn stared at Oka, "Insulting the chief? Yue's father? Wonder how she'd react to that."

Oka grunted and slapped Hahn across the face, "You just don't know how to keep that babbling mouth shut!"

Hahn clenched his teeth and ran over to Oka, who formed a massive wave of steaming hot water and slammed it against Hahn's skin.

Before Hahn could scream, Oka sent an ice blast at his head, freezing his mouth shut.

"To let my father die a meaningless death because of cowards... I don't know who I hate more. Water... Or fire."

"...The Fire Nation is ruthless, you know that, Hahn?" Oka whispered.

Hahn gazed at Oka in pure fear.

"...They've destroyed the Southern Water Tribe. They destroyed my father's life. They wiped out an entire people." Oka muttered.

"Now that I think about it, the airbenders could have fought back. If they all killed the firebenders that attacked... Then some would have lived."

"But they were cowards. So they all died. Right? I think I'm right."

"Father... I spent my whole life fighting to avenge him. But everyone wants me to be some sort of... Tool. Some mindless puppet."

"Princess Yue... She's fully indoctrinated into that kind of behavior." Oka approached Hahn and grabbed him by his hair, "So stop being so cocky about a woman who doesn't love you at all."

"I worked... Harder. I worked longer. I do it better, I've always been better, I've never been below perfect, not even a step out of line, I've been humble, I've been kind, I've—I've..."

Tears started to fill his eyes, "I've been exactly what my father told me to be like. A fighter."

"...But you're... Utter filth."

"Oka!?"

The boy in question looked up and saw Yue, fear in her eyes as she peered below and saw what he was doing to Hahn.

"...Oh." Oka watched as she ran off with a blank look on his face.

He removed the ice on Hahn's face.

"Freak! You freak! No wonder Arnook wanted to keep Yue away from you! Maybe your obsession with the Fire Nation is warranted! No one could ever love something like you!"

No one could ever love something like you!

As Hahn scaled the wall, Oka stared into the water.

His eyes widened, "Dad? Dad... Is that you?"

"You failed me." His father whispered.

Oka froze the water, but the reflection wouldn't go away.

"You're not my son."

Oka let out a cry of pain and confusion before smashing the ice into small pieces.

"CØWARD"

Millions of tiny images of his father stared at him, some dead, some smiling, some tired, some angry, some sad, but all torturing him further.

"OKA!" His father shouted, standing on the wall with copies behind him.

Tears began pouring out of Oka's eyes, "I kept my promise! I kept it!"

"COME HERE, OKA!" His father screeched.

All Oka could see was the pale face of his dead father.

He couldn't take it.

Oka clenched his jaw and slammed his eyes shut, "SHUT UP!" Losing control of his own body, sharp, icy, long spikes launched upwards towards the walls.

...

There was silence.

He took a few deeps breaths
and turned around with a glare
to see what was on the wall behind him, when his eyes shot wide open.

His mother
was bleeding
from her
bright
blue
eye.

One of the healers of the tribe rushed over to Kharok,
who gazed at her son with a single eye.

They all readied their weapons, ready to attack. Waterbenders, non-benders, all together to fight "the bad guy."

The people who he'd tried so hard to fight for...

Oka's expression was unreadable.

There was no other term usable to describe it, other than...

Madness.

"Ah," He mumbled,

"...What's even the point?"

He gazed at his mother. He had done something despicable.

"To you... I'm sorry."

But before anything else could happen, the moon shifted in the sky, ever so slightly, and a wave slammed into Oka and dragged him into the ocean.
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