Prisoner | An ATLA Fanfic | ZukoxOC

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚂𝚒𝚡

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"Wait, stop here." La'kea pulled the reins unexpectedly, surprising Zuko enough that he let go.

"What?" He questioned.

The islander, who had been slowly picking up how to steer an animal, guided them over to two deep tracks in the ground. These weren't animal tracks, but it wasn't naturally made either. They ran in a deep straight line, unnaturally parallel to each other.

"Look up there," Zuko's hand was suddenly under her chin, gently tilting her head up. His hand lingered long enough to send her brain spiraling into disjointedness.

As soon as she managed to rearrange her thoughts, she saw what he was referring to. A billowing cloud of grey smoke and ash, moving farther away in the directions the tracks were.

"Well?" She asked, wondering if they should purse it. He only responded by snapping the ostrich horses reins.

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They rode fast through out the whole day, at one point pulling forward enough to see the monstrosity creating the tracks.

A metal tank pulling another one. The two machines roared forward unceasingly on heavy wheels, plowing through the earth with ease. Zuko suddenly jerked back on the reins, slowing them down until the tank pulled out of sight.

She shifted in her seat, turning slightly to look at him, "What are you doing?"

"It's my sister," His gold eyes narrowed dangerously on the horizon ahead of them.

Shuddering, she twisted back around to eye the smoke trail. "How are you sure?"

Zuko glanced back down at her, nudging the ostrich horse forward, they would have to stay on the tank's trail while staying out of sight. "I just know."

La'kea stifled her snort, "That's very reassuring." Relying on wishful thinking wasn't her strong point.

The prince rolled his eyes, leaning forward to huff in her ear. "Do you not trust me?"

She froze, swatting him away like he was an annoying fly as she tried not to let her shivers show too much. "Of course I trust you. If I didn't, I would have escaped three years ago."

He grunted in annoyance, disliking being reminded of his banishment, and didn't respond, only spurring their horse faster.

Eventually, the tank stopped abruptly in a forest, and three figures disembarked from the second tank, riding giant fast moving mongoose-lizards. She could feel the prince tense behind her as she craned forward, trying to get a better look at the three girls. One she could already tell was Azula, but the other two were unfamiliar to her.

"Who are those other girls," She felt the need to whisper as they ducked low in the tree line.

Zuko hesitated as his eyes never left the two girls that split off from his sister. "Ty Lee and... Mai."

Humming, she back slowly away from their cover to the ostrich horse. "So which ones do we follow?"

"My sister," He lifted her up into the saddle, mounting after her as he grabbed the reins. "She'll likely follow the Avatar." La'kea just gave a curt nod of confirmation.

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They followed the Fire Nation Princess all the way through the forest as the trees started to give way to desert. La'kea was starting to get sick of the hot and dry climates, wishing for once the Avatar would pick a tropical climate to be chased through. Did these nations have tropical climates, or was it all polar ice caps, forests, and desert?