Prisoner | An ATLA Fanfic | ZukoxOC

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝙴𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝

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Three Years Later

La'kea vehemently hated the cold, and the south pole was bitterly cold.

Three years had passed in Prince Zuko's search for the Avatar. Three years they had spent scouring the four nations, down to every remote location available. Both the prince and La'kea were understandably frustrated, the Avatar was impossibly hard to track down.

Zuko spent every waking moment on the deck of his ship, either scanning the skies or training ruthlessly. In the long years, he had refused to let anyone convince him that the Avatar was dead, refusing to believe there was no chance he could go home. Distracting himself from doubtful thoughts by meditating and sparring against one of the few people who understood how important finding the Avatar was.

He turned to see La'kea emerge from below deck, bundled against the cold wind. The guards on deck gave her a nod that she acknowledged. In three years she had recovered from her time in the mines, and had matured into a young woman. If he was being honest, there were moments she made him feel self-conscious of the scar. When they went into towns, they were stared at by people for entirely different reasons.

Leaning over the side of the ship, she watched the glaciers pass, bringing her hand down in sharp motions, she broke the ice into smaller pieces and watched it float away. Hailing from a warm climate, learning waterbenders could control ice and freeze water was a shock to La'kea and a tricky thing to master. She had watched the waterbenders of these Water Tribes from afar, and they were very different from herself, like most of the people from these nations.

Despite her persisting anger that three years had passed and she still was not home, there was still hope. She had to grasp at the hope that she would return home someday, or else she would have let the ocean reclaim her by now.

"Today's different," Zuko muttered, "I can feel it."

La'kea hesitated, glancing at him, the prince had let his frustration get the better of him in late, it clouded his judgment most of the time. She pushed herself off the rail, his eyes never left the sky as she circled around him to face him. "How can you tell?"

"I just know."

She just hummed in response, wrapping her arms around herself when a particularly nasty gust of wind hit them. "Spirits, I hate the cold." A tremor passed through her senses as the ocean suddenly shuddered.

The prince finally glanced at her, "The faster we capture the Avatar the faster we can both return ho-."

Just a couple miles away, a beam of light shot through the sky, piercing the clouds.

In three long years of traveling this world, La'kea had never seen anything like it, her breath hitched, "Is that..."

He recovered from his shock and glared at the light, "Finally. Uncle, do you realize what this means?"

Iroh looked up from his Pai Sho table, "I won't get to finish my game?" She still hadn't learned how to play the mind-boggling anomaly.

"It means," Zuko turned back towards the light, "My search is about to come to an end."

His uncle heaved a sigh as the prince continued, flinging an arm towards it as it vanished, "That light came from an incredibly powerful source! It has to be him!"