A Kindred Spirit [Reader x Zuko]

Chapter twelve

A Kindred Spirit
Chapter Twelve

Trembling muscles were your reward even as you were finally allowed to sit down. You took in rapid, shallow breaths even as you tried to regulate your breathing. It was never a good thing to be out of control of something as basic as breathing, even you knew that. Knowing such a thing didn't make it any easier though. Your entire body ached even though you had just finished. That was probably because for the last three days you had been training under Zuko. He pushed you beyond what your body was capable of every day. The aches you felt were proof.

With a distinct lack of grace, you fell down onto your side. You didn't have the willpower not the muscle strength to stay sitting up. After a few a short breaths you turned yourself onto your back to clear the air way. The ground below you was cold but under your warmth it felt good. Unfortunately because you were so warm, it too heated up. Even the sweat that ran down your face offered little respite from the heat and even less motivation to move. Everything hurt.

"Get up," Zuko called out shortly.

"...I can't," You responded quietly with a massive load of hesitation in your voice.

His command should have been complied with easily enough. Normally it would have been less difficult than looking him in the eye, as he had commanded day ago by this point. Right now all you could feel from your limbs was trembling. And for the most part all you could hear was your own heartbeat because it was so loud.

"What do you mean you can't?" He asked in a somewhat hash tone. "You're the Avatar. Start acting like it."

You squeezed your eyes closed as you curled up in on yourself on your side. You felt like you were close to puking but there was nothing in your stomach to heave over. After a few scant moments of trying to catch your breath you finally put your hands and knees underneath you. It was easier to get up after that. But you still felt wobbly.

Zuko looked at you as though watching a dangerous animal. He wasn't exactly sure what to do in this situation and you could tell that much at least. Though in all fairness you weren't sure what to do either. So you tried to put yourself back into the stance that he had started to show you at the beginning of all this. The same one that he'd shown you and guided you into while you and he were still on the ship. Your body moved sluggishly and you felt like there was a hundred extra pounds on your arms. Your heart beat frantically and you felt like your head was swimming. But you held it. For a little bit at least.

Golden eyes looked on approvingly as he moved over to you. He didn't need to correct your stance, though he thought he might have needed to. Not until you started to drop it once more. Zuko reached out with his arm to restructure your posture even as he watched you crumple to the ground. With one arm already on the way to correct you it was easy to catch you before you completely hit the ground. Not that you would have noticed of course, seeing as you'd completely passed out.

Without calling for anyone's help until he was already out of the room, Zuko carried you to where he remembered there being physicians. He used to visit them pretty often as a kid. Or rather, they visited him in his chambers before the whole scarring of his face. He walked in the direction that they always came from though. Eventually he ran into a wayward servant who looked scared out of their minds and was able to follow them to where the old bats were.

It never crossed his mind that he could have called for a guard or a servant to move you there.

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Everything hurt. That was pretty much the summation of your experience. You felt dizzy and sick to your stomach. And when the bright light invaded your eyes you felt a pounding headache replace what had once been your heartbeat. Then fear set in; you didn't know where you were. You didn't know what was happening.