She

Chapter 21

I woke up to the sun shining brightly on my face. I was back in my room, in the house. I sat up, wincing as my body ached. From what I could tell, the house was empty, or at least no one was talking. I stood up, walking out of my room and using the walls for support.

"Why didn't you just tell us?" I heard Toph ask. I jumped in surprise. She was sitting against a pillar on the ground, her side to me.

"What do you mean?"

"That you needed to rest a lot more than you had, that you used your bending. We only found out because Aang mentioned it to us after you fainted. And he thought we already knew," she said.

"I..." I sighed. "Because I didn't want to be useless anymore." She seemed surprised.

"You're not useless-"

"How would you know that? You're actually wanted here, you can bend without passing out every time you do. If I just trained more and ignored it-"

"You almost died!" She shouted.

"So what!?" I walked out in front of her. "Maybe after all this time, I'm okay with dying! Maybe I wanted to die!" 

Toph stood up and walked over to me. "What makes you think that your death would help anyone here?" She pushed me back.

"Because with me gone you won't have a burden anymore. That way, I can protect you!"

"Why do you need to protect me?" Toph asked. She seemed offended by what I said.

"Because I love you!" I yelled. She looked shocked. I would be too.

"Y/n-"

"Just... just go, please." I turned away from her, feeling warm tears trickle down my cheeks.

She walked over to the door. "Sokka, Aang, and I will be leaving... you can ask Katara more about it later." The door slammed just as she left.

I leaned against a pillar, clenching my stomach. "Great, you really messed everything up now." My forehead rested against it as I turned. It was hard against my knuckles as I began hitting it, gently, but the more I did it the more damaged it seemed to do to my hand.

"God damnit!" I yelled, turning and sending a fireball through the air. I shot out a few more. The room remained undamaged. I slid down to the floor, feeling the pain course through my body. Somehow it didn't seem like the worst thing in the world right now.

There was a knock on the door, catching my attention. I stood up, wiping away my tears and patting my cheeks dry. Hopefully whoever was there wouldn't notice. "Hello?" I looked at whoever was there, opening it. A woman stood dressed in makeup and wearing the same clothes Suki was from the serpent's pass. Beside her were two Dai Li agents.

"Hello, is this the Avatar's house?" She asked, smiling brightly at me.

"Yeah... do you know him?"

"Yes, I'm a member of the Kyoshi warriors. Is he home?"

"No, he hasn't been for awhile... I think." I began shutting the door. She stopped it with her foot, and kicked it open, knocking me back.

"I guess you'll just have to do." I threw a fireball at her, only for her to dodge it and launch herself at me. With a series of quick jabs all over my body I was on the ground, rendered immobile. I glared up at her.  The agents grabbed my feet and dragged me out. 

They threw me to the ground in some sort of cave. I groaned feeling my back hit one of the many crystals clustered around. "Y/n!" I looked up to see Katara, and Lee, from the tea shop.

"You, and Katara?" I looked at the two of them. "What are you doing here?"

"You know him?" Katara asked, from the man, to me.

"He's Lee, from the tea shop, why?"

"This is Zuko," she crossed her arms, "son of Firelord Ozai."

I froze. "You're Fire Nation." I stood up, using one of the many crystals as a support. "And that makes your uncle..."

"My uncle and I are enemies of the Fire Nation."

"Oh yeah sure, whatever," I turned to him, pointing a finger, "doesn't change the horrendous crime your father has committed." I grabbed my hair, letting out a screech causing a burst of fire to explode behind me. "Everything is going horribly wrong!"

"Hey, you need to calm down Y/n." Katara walked over to me, placing a hand on my shoulder. "You're burning up. Next thing you know, your nose is will start bleeding and you'll faint again."

I sighed, and sat back down on the floor. I rested myself against one of the crystals, cooling down and letting the pain run its course. I shut my eyes, listening to Katara and Zuko talk in the corner.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you before."

"It doesn't matter."

"It's just that for so long now, whenever I would imagine the face of the enemy, it was your face."

"My face. I see." I heard Lee-... Zuko shift.

"No, no, that's not what I meant."

"It's ok. I used to think this scar marked me. The mark of the banished prince, cursed to chase the Avatar forever. But lately, I've realized I'm free to determine my own destiny, even if I'll never be free of my mark."

"Maybe you could be free of it."

"What?"

"I have healing abilities."

"It's a scar. It can't be healed."

Katara shifted around, grabbing something. "This is water from the Spirit Oasis at the North Pole. It has special properties, so I have been saving it for something important." She took a few steps towards him. "I don't know if it would work, but..."

They were silent for a second. I opened my eyes to see what they were doing but before I got the chance, the door burst open, Aang and Mushi, Zuko's uncle.

"Aang!" Katara ran over to him, hugging him. "Aang, I knew you would come."

Mushi walked over to Zuko. "Uncle, I don't understand. What are you doing with the Avatar!!" He pointed a finger at Aang.

"Saving you, that's what."

Zuko snarled and lunged at Aang, only to be held back by his uncle. "Zuko, it's time we talked." He turned to us. "Go help your other friends. We'll catch up with you."

Katara, Aang, and I ran out of the tunnel, heading away from them. "We've got to find Sokka and Toph," Katara said as we ran.

Aang threw up a stone wall, blocking an attack from behind. He flew back as blue fire hit it. Katara blasted some water at the lady who was firing at us. She bore a similar resemblance to Zuko. The following attack left us with a wall of steam, preventing us from seeing her any more.

The girl jumped out from the steam, firing her strange blue fire at us. Katara and Aang extinguished it, using the water around. She landed on a column of rock. Aang sent out a shockwave, destroying it. We stood at a standstill as she stood between the three of us.

Suddenly a blast of fire, regular fire, landed in front of us. Zuko appeared. He glanced at the girl, and attacked us again, sending a fireball our way that Katara and Aang dealt with.

The battle resulted in all of us separated from each other. The girl threw up a wall of fire at Katara and I. I dodged it, bending the fire around us.

"Looks like we have ourselves a little firebender here," the girl said, smirking at me. She focused her attacks on me and threw a fireball, while separating Katara and I. I spun the fire back towards her, obviously she dodged with ease and launched another one at me, that I didn't have enough power to move, or at least a lot. Instead I dodged it, jumping to the side. As I did so she sent more towards me, most of which I could dodge, but with one good hit to my chest I was launched backwards. I hit a crystal with a thud, a burning pain spread through my body.

I saw a wall of blue fire surround me. Red fire splashed around in the background, alongside faint yelling. There was a bright white light, and suddenly it all ended.