You did not take 5 minutes.
You woke up to something hitting you. Groaning, and being annoyed, you scrambled awake and looked down to see what was going on.
"Zuko?!" You fell out of the tree, stopping yourself with air bended it before you hit the ground. "What?"
"What are you doing in the tree?" He asked, moving his ostrich-horse.
You got a better look of the guy. He was in earth-kingdom clothes and his ponytail was gone. He actually had the ability to grow hair, as it showed.
"When did you get hair- I mean." You cleared your throat, making it sound like you didn't care. "Why do you-how. The hair?"
He didn't answer you, he just looked away. You nodded, seeing he didn't wanna talk about. You then saw the sun setting in the distance.
"Oh shit- Aang- wait a minute." Lots of thoughts were running through your mind right now. "Where are you going?"
"Where are you going?" He asked the same question, looking at you with narrow eyes.
You both stared at each other for a moment more, a mini staring competition starting. You were the first to blink, shrugging and gesturing your hands. "Move over, we're both going the same way."
You climbed on the ostrich-horse and got yourself comfortable. Zuko looked at you confused as you mounted.
"What are you waiting for?" You questioned. "Onward, noble-steed!"
It took Zuko a moment, but he urged the ostrich-horse to move. He followed the tracks towards the tank, which stopped at a river nearby.
"Azula and her friends were in these tanks. They were on lizard things." You say, hopping off the ostrich-horse and moving towards the clumps of bison fur.
"This must be how they were following us." You picked up the trail, but you saw the clumps of the fur in the water and the trees broken in the distance. "Aang must have realised and washed Appa. He's leading them away, and they have figured that out. Follow the fur and we get to Aang."
"Have you forgotten how I am?" Zuko began, his mind was very confused on why you just trusted him all of a sudden.
"Firecracker, listen." His face cringed at the nickname. "This is like the north-pole. Your ponytail is gone now, and Iroh is no where near you. You've been announced an outcast to the fire-nation and your sister is tracking the Avatar."
"Your point is?!"
"Let's just work together for the moment! Aang will not be electrocuted by your sister under my watch, I'd betray what was probably the dying wish of all the air-nomads. So, come on. Those lizard things are fast." You got back on Zuko's ride.
"Your confusing." He muttered and you hit him on the back of your head.
"Never let them know your next move." You say, sighing and leaned back a small bit. "So, what have you been up to for the last few weeks?"
"I became poor." He groaned. "A little boy helped me, but when some earth-bending guards took him, I tried to help him. He didn't like I was a fire bender."
"Yeah, your not really well liked in the world." You straighten your back. "But your more awkward than scary."
He turned back to you with a look and you raised your hand in defence.
"I was raised by the teachings that the fire-nation was the right path. But...seeing what we did, what we do...it's confusing." He must of had this in for a long time if he was telling you, wasn't really his style.
"Do what you think is right then." You shrug. "I mean, yeah, it's what got be pre-banishment, but I knew it was the right thing."
Another thing Zuko wanted to know. "I told you how I was banished, and what my father did to me...why did the monks want to exile you?"
You took in a breath and held a long exhale, remembering the moment. "Remember when I told you that I was the most violent air-nomad? Well, when I was 13, stories above it a massive war were very popular. Mind you, this was before I was frozen for 100 years."
"You we-"
"No interruption!" You cut Zuko off, silencing him. "One day, when we were going around the earth kingdom, blessing babies and boring shit, a man came up to me...."
The sun was shining bright, not a single cloud in the sky. For the last two months, you've been taken away from your home in the Western Air temple and taken to another temple, one for boys as they thought the Abatar was among them, and you were chosen to protect since you were one of the first to get your tattoos.
You had just outgrown your bald head from when you got your tattoos last year, now your hair was at your neck, a small bob haircut. You walked around with a bored expression, stopping to look at puppet show nearby.
"Excuse me! Kid, are you an air-bender?" A voice called out to you, you turned around with a deadpan look on your face.
"Are the tattoos not evidence." You raised your arms, and the man just laughed.
"My wife, she just had my firstborn last week, I was wondering if you could bless him?" He bowed to you.
You turned behind you, seeing the monks and nuns not too far away. You looked back to the man. "Sure, what's his name?"
"I've named him after my best friend, uh, Huyn." He chuckles. "Right this way."
He lead you past a crowd and towards a house. He opened the door for you, and you noted how dark it was. No sign of a baby anywhere. That was when it hit you. He pushed you against the wall, your face smushed against the cold concrete. He had a knife in hands placed against your neck.
"You scream, and I'll kill you." He pushed his hips towards you. Tears brimmed your eyes.
"...you remember that move I did on Zhao, how I took the air from him?" You looked dead straight at the ground. "It was how I got my tattoos, but the monks swore me to never use it. I won't regret killing that man."
Zuko was quiet for a moment. "You should've done more."
You looked back at him, only seeing his jawline and hair, but you smiled at him anyway. You leaned into him, and rested your head on his shoulder. You were still tried as hell.
You had fallen asleep on his back, and you woke up when Zuko started to shift. You looked around you, seeing the bison fur was coming to end, Aang was standing at the end of it and Azula was far too close to him.
"Do you really want to fight me?" Azula smugly asked.
The ostrich-horse ran into the open, and you and Zuko jumped off. You landed on your feet, but Zuko landed on one knee, posing.
"Yes." Zuko got up, throwing his hat away dramatically. "I really do."
"Zuko?...Y/n?" Aang was confused. A lot of confusion today. You patted Zuko's back no moved towards Aang, winking at him.
"Tell you later."
"I was wondering why you were going to show up, Zulu." Azula folded her arm, you and Aang both held back a laugh you made a mental note to use that on him.
"Back off, Azula." Zuko posed dramatically again. "The Avatar and Y/n are mine."
Double-crossing bitch.
"First name? That's interesting Zuzu, I didn't take you for that kind of person." Azula's eyes went to you. "Very interesting. Mai will be disappointed."
"Anyway!" Azula got over it quickly. "I hope you'll understand, Zuzu, I'm not going anywhere."
There was a moment where everyone waited for someone to strike first. You cracked your knuckles, waiting for movement. Azula smirked, then drew blue fire at Zuko, blowing him back.
"Move!" You pushed Aang as opened his glider. You got on the top of it as he flew away. You felt the hot flames lick your back and Aang moved out of the way, falling to the ground, you made a air scooter for him to land on and you both run away as Azula followed you.
Zuko was back and now you were in the middle of the two siblings. You dodged their attacks and blew multiple air balls at Azula, flying all over the place. Eventually, you and Aang ran up to a building, Aang almost fell down the hole, you grabbed him. You both made air-scooters as you went to the other side.
You found a lot of joy in watch Azula struggle to keep her balance, but she perfectly balanced. Zuko then charged in me fell straight down. You hissed as he landed, but your air -scooter was running out of it, so you quickly moved along the side of the wall, pushed Azula down and ran out the building with Aang.
Zuko was then thrown out of the building. But Azula was running at you. You pushed Aang forward and you followed him up two walls in an alleyway. Azula's fire knocked you down and you fell on the ground.
"Aang, keep moving!" You yelled out, charging at Azula.
You slid between her feet, hearing her scoff. You elbowed the back of her head and jumped in the air as she turned around, as you were in the air, you air balled her to the ground and landed on your feet. She sent flame after flame at you as you used your mouth to blow air back, she hit you and you were sent flying into some abandoned bar.
You pushed the pieces of wood off, running back outside to find Katara, Sokka and Toph, running after Azula. "Thank the spirits."
You say as you cornered Azula. Zuko and Irohnwere here now, and while you weren't sure where Iroh came from, you didn't question it at the time. You walked forward, airman up and protecting your centre as you had your eyes trained on Azula.
"Well well, would you look at his? Enemies and traitors working together. What a splendid sight. I'm done, you got me. I know when I'm beaten. A princess surrenders with honour." Azula puts her hands up, but something was wrong. It didn't feel right.
You made eye contact with Iroh, he wore a skeptic look on his as he gestured his head over to Azula. Before you could even tell, Azula had struck Iroh down, making him fall to the ground. With widened eyes, you heard Zuko's gasp and cry before you attacked with Azula with as much wind power as you could conjure.
This caused an explosion, but you didn't stick around and wait for the ash and smoke to settle$. Zuko was already by Iroh's side. You skidded to Iroh, air-bending all the dust off him. Zuko gripped his hair, groaning out loud.
"He's breathing." You say, sighing, but still worried for the leaving loving man.
Aang, Katara, Sokka and Toph walked up to Zuko, slowly.
"GET AWAY FROM US!" Zuko yelled at them, the first time you've seen him want Aang to go away.
"Zuko, I can help!" Katara offers, holding that necklace.
"LEAVE!" The angry teen sent out flames over their heads, and they all got the message
"Zuko, you listen to me." You make your words very clear as you turned his head, touching the sid rod his face where he wasn't burnt. "Clean the wound and bandage it. Give Iroh as much water as you can, with hot water, put a wet towel over his forehead and change it every so often. Don't move him too much. Do you understand?"
He just looked at your eyes, darting between the two. You shook him, repeating your words. "Do you understand!?"
He gave one from nod. You glanced back down at Iroh, then back to Zuko, cupping his chin and squeezing him slightly. "Good luck."
That night, as the group finally got to sleep and Appa laid down to rest, you could barely get sleep. Looking down at Aang and the friends he's collected along the way, you smiled, grabbing a blanket and putting it over the lot that were bundled together.
"Your all too young to burden this war." You sigh as you crawled away, moving down to Appa and patting the bison before nuzzle into in his fresh and warm new coat.