Raised in Earth (OC x Zuko) book 2

Chapter 5

When I awakened I felt no pain, I didn't feel anything. My whole being was numb and without any feeling of the bed beneath me nor the heat on my skin. Something inside me felt different, scary different. Like I was a completely... unnatural.
"Z-zuko..." I managed to get out of my cold lips.
"Madelyn!" Zuko was suddenly by my side placing a towel on my face, the temperature of which remained a mystery to me. I looked into his eyes and tried to move, but my hands were held down. Lifting my abnormally heavy head, i looked down to see myself cocooned in blankets so tightly bound that my feeble attempts were pointless without help. "Are you alright? Are you comfortable? Are you thirsty?" He bombarded me with questions. I nodded my head at the last and he called for his Uncle. The old man entered the room with a tray of tea things. He poured me a small cup and Zuko lifted my head, bringing the cup of hot liquid to my lips. I took a sip and was immediately relieved of any discomfort I had felt-- Iroh. That was his name. The old man had been there since the beginning, always helping Zuko and myself in predicaments. Sometimes being wise and others time acting childish.
"I remember you." I smiled at him. I forced myself up to a sitting position, which loosened the blankets and gave my body some feeling back. I really needed to talk to Zuko about his healing methods.
"First the damn frog and now this." I joked to myself.
"You remember that?" Zuko sounded relieved, yet a bit wary of how I would handle the information.
"Mmhhm. The tea was good General Iroh." I complimented.
"Now that we are all situated, I would like to understand what is going on." Iroh said calmly.
"I don't know how to begin." I stated. "I guess I... Died, or something, and then I appeared in the Earth Kingdom. Zuko came a month later and we then found you." It sounded so simple, other than the fact that I was somehow alive and teleported halfway around the world. "And I can bend two elements."
Iroh sat still, contemplating the information he had just received. "You don't know anything else?"
"No."
"Alright then."
"No other questions?" This was unexpected. No 'how' or 'what' to be answered?
"If you had more to say you would. And if you remember anything you will say." Iroh said simply. He then turned to Zuko. "Now about this Azula business...."
"Uncle, I've been thinking." Zuko began. "It's only a matter of time before I run into Azula again. I'm going to need to know more advanced firebending if I want to stand a chance against her. I know what you're going to say: she's my sister and I should be trying to get along with her."
"No, she's crazy and she needs to go down." Iroh insisted. I giggled at the unexpected words from the usually neutral man. "It's time to resume your training." Zuko seemed very pleased by his uncle's words. "For both of you."
"That would be good for you- wait, what?" I asked. "I don't think so Iroh. I'm gonna just work with my rocks and dirt and stuff. Maybe we'll find the Avatar and the other people soon. I mean, you both firebend so I'd be useless and they have an earthbender. So this will even stuff up." Please don't make me firebend, please don't make me firebend.
"That would be good I suppose." Iroh contemplated thoughtfully.
"Other people? You mean his friends?" Zuko asked.
"Well, yeah. Who else?"
"You don't remember them?"
"Should I?" If they were part of my past I should most certainly know them. Zuko stayed silent for a long time before shaking his head.
"No. You didn't know them." He finally answered. Iroh gave his nephew and off look but said nothing. I stood up from the bed."Where are you going?" Zuko asked.
"Well, you are gonna practice making lightning for god knows how long meanwhile I will practice my earthbending a safe distance from any possible explosions." I smiled cheekily and walked out the door before he could argue.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Time skip brought by Zuko's amazing ability to not bend lighting~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had been bending for what felt like forever in my own little area of the woods. As predicted, I heard small explosions every now and again, but I trusted Zuko and Iroh to handle themselves. Something inside me knew they would be alright. There was however, one explosion that seemed larger than the others and it caused me to emerge from the trees.
"Well, if you won't help me, I'll find my own lightning." I heard Zuko promise. What had happened? He brushed past me without making eye contact and mounted the ostrichhorse before riding off towards the mountain.
"What happened?" I asked Iroh. "Why is he searching for lightning?" I couldn't keep the concern from my voice.
"I wouldn't throw lightning at him and try to kill him so he is going to try and do it himself."
"What?!" I shouted. Before Iroh could stop me I started off in the same direction as Zuko, using the earth beneath me to propel myself along faster. I wouldn't be able to catch an ostrichhorse, but maybe I'll get there in time to keep my stupid boyfriend  from committing accidental suicide.
By the time I was anywhere near the top of the mountain, the sun had set completely. Wind whipped around me and tossed my hair into my eyes and my clothes about my body. Rain felt like needles sticking my skin and thunder rolled in the distance, the unfortunate after effect of what Zuko was searching for.
"Zuko!" I called into the storm. Something about the commotion around me felt slightly familiar, but what didn't these days. "Zuko!" I called again, but there was no reply.
I stumbled around in the strong winds for a bit longer before hearing muffled cries in the distance. I followed them to the plateau of the mountain and in its center kneeled my lost prince.
"You've always thrown everything you could at me! Well, I can take it! And now I can give it back! Come on! Strike me! You've never held back before!" He commanded the sky. His back was to me so he didn't notice my presence. I saw him shaking in the storm, not because of the cold but instead because of his uncontrollable sobbing.
I ran up behind him and embraced him as tightly as I could. He was shocked at my being there at first, but didn't fight me off. He simply laid there in my arms like a small child needing someone to protect them.
"It's okay. It's okay. I'm here for you, it's okay." I said rhythmically in his ear. After a few minutes he gained the strength to stand and we stumbled under a tree for cover from the storm.
"I'm sorry." was the first thing he said to me.
"You should be! You nearly scared me half to death. I searched for you and found you trying to get yourself killed all for some stupid electricity." I chastised. Zuko hung his head in shame, making me feel bad. "Look, it's not that big of a deal. But think what would have happened to me if you had died. I would be left here alone and I don't think I could survive that."
"You did before." He said simply.
"Ya, and apparently it took me getting kidnapped my spirits and my memories taken for that to happen. But now that I remember I won't ever go back to that kind of life again. I never want to leave you for as long as I live." His amber eyes met mine and he seemed even more wistful than before.
"But that wouldn't have happened if I had protected you better. Same with when Azula struck you," his hand moved to where her fire had nearly burnt a hole through me. "It's my fault you were even there. I should have left you with Lee."
"Ya, you should have left me in that depressing village with those bullying soldiers. The men who did nothing but harass me and that family. Left me to waste away with the emptiness of my mind and eventually die of misery and hopelessness. That would have been great Zuko."
"You could have had a family... someone other than a banished prince."
"You are my family. You and Iroh, you two are all I have. I wasn't happy there and you took me away from it. You have always been there for me, therefore you are my family Zuko."
"Pretty messed up family I brought you into." Zuko scoffed.
"So what. Your sister's a monster, big deal. Try having two satans for brothers. And your father, he actually probably is Lucifer but that's beside the point. He may be your biological father but he didn't raise you and he hasn't been there for you. For god's sake look what he did to you." I brushed his scar with my thumb. "If anyone is your father it's Iroh. You mother is a completely different story but she loves you more than you think. She left because she was banished and she had no choice, at least that's what I remember... but your family is made up of the people you care about and who care about you."
"This is why I love you." A rare smile was flashed my way. His hands tightened around my own. "You always know what to say. But I have a question... who's Lucifer and what's a satan?" He asked. I broke into laughter, hurting my wounded torso a bit.
"I honestly have no idea. I don't remember. Really bad things I think."
Some more time passed and we talked lightly of things. When the rain turned light, we left the tree and headed back to the shack where Iroh was probably worried.