As Zuko began to climb up the ramp onto Azula's ship, he paused in his steps to look over his shoulder. Nope.... No sign of Shira. He felt a deep pain of regret strike his heart. He shouldn't have done those things. Constantly pushing her to try and become who she had been in her past. It was like asking her to be someone she wasn't.
"Prepare to set sail men!" The captain called. "We're taking the prisoners ho....."
Zuko snapped back into reality at what the man said, his eyebrows snapping down at the pale look of horror on Azula's face. Uncle Iroh immediately began striking down soldiers while Zuko went for the captain, throwing him off the ramp before he approached Azula.
"You lied to me!"
"Like I've never done that before," Azula taunted, turning to walk away while two fire benders approached Zuko.
Zuko let out a frustrated grunt, fire blasting both soldiers before he ran after his sister. He formed two fire daggers in his hands while Azula raised her hands defensively.
"Do you really think that father would want you back?" Azula taunted as they began to go at each other. "A failure.... A child who cannot even capture the avatar?"
Zuko yelled in anger and lashed at her but Azula blocked his strikes. "I should have listened to Uncle!" he yelled.
"Maybe you should have," Azula teased. "You never really were one to listen to anyone's advice. You should have listened to uncle when he told you to be quiet in the war chamber, then you wouldn't have been banished. And what happened? You had to have a little girl save you! Well, she isn't here anymore."
Zuko almost wanted to smack reality into Azula's smug face by telling her that he had found Shira, but he thought it was probably best if she didn't know about Shira's existence. It would become dangerous for Shira especially since Azula hated her with every vibe in her body... something that Zuko could never understand. Azula did always seem to hate everyone except their father, but Shira was so easy to love, yet Azula hated her.
The brother and sister jumped apart, both raising their arms in defensive manners, preparing to start again. However, just as Azula began to wound lightning from her hands, she let out a yelp when something jabbed her in the shoulders, making one of her arms jolt forward.
She went flying across the deck and the first thing that Zuko saw was a spike of ice that had appeared below his sister, which had thrown her across the deck. Standing on the other side of the ice... was Raven. She had left her hair down but had taken the scarf that she oftentimes used to hold up her hair and tied it around her face, concealing her nose, cheeks, jaw, chin and mouth. All they could see were her striking blue eyes that were burning like blue fire.
"Raven," Zuko breathed.
The girl snapped her head in his direction, slight surprise written on her features, but she kept it well hidden beneath the mask of slight annoyance. "We will talk about this later," she muttered.
Zuko nodded but he was snapped out of his thoughts by a yell behind him. Spinning around, he saw Azula running at him but before he could even begin to form fire in his hands, something grabbed him around the waist and ankles, pulling him a good distance away from his sister and behind Raven. He didn't have to look down to know that Raven had drawn him back using ice.
"Hey Ra...." He started.
"I failed to protect you last time," the girl remarked bluntly, not looking back at him but keeping her back to him and her eyes on Azula. "I won't let that happen this time."
Zuko tried to melt the ice around him but Raven just spouted more ice, pinning all his limbs down and slowly began to push the ice further away from them, toward the ramp as if forcing him to leave.
"I was wondering when you would show up," Azula smirked. "Zuzu doesn't really make friends with girls unless they know how to handle themselves."
Raven rolled her eyes before grabbing her sword, drawing it out and flipping it so it was held backwards, "Well it's a good thing he met me then."
Before Zuko could even blink, Raven had sprinted across the deck and began to slice at Azula, meeting every single one of her lightning jabs with the flat of her blade, returning them with a blast of ice. The two girls were well matched and Zuko knew that both of them were aware of that. Realizing that Raven was too busy fighting Azula to notice him, Zuko began to melt the ice holding him down.
When he finally broke free, he saw that Raven had done a backwards somersault to place some distance between herself and Azula whilst his sister had continuously blasted lightning at her.
"Raven!" he yelled.
Both girls turned to look at him but with opposite expressions. Azula's was a look of pure smug enjoyment while Raven's was pale horror.
"ZUKO NO!" the girl screamed but it was too late.
Azula fired a blast of lightning at her brother but with Zuko running and not expecting the attack, he didn't have time to put up a defense. He closed his eyes, waiting for the feeling of lightning overtaking his body... but it never came. Instead, he felt something cold and limp fall against his body.
"RAVEN!" he heard his uncle yell.
Zuko opened his eyes to see his uncle grab Azula's hand that was still firing lightning and Iroh redirected it away from Zuko. Zuko looked down only to see Raven standing in front of him, leaning limply back against him while both hands were flayed out as if she had been blocking his body.... she had blocked the lightning!
"RAVEN!" Zuko cried, not even listening to his uncle who quickly overpowered Azula.
The girl crumbled in his arms, weak and limp like a dead fish.
"Idiot," she muttered weakly. "Why didn't you run?"
Zuko bit his lip, feeling tears well up as the girl's head flopped to the side against his chest, her breathing becoming low.
"NO!" he screamed, not caring that his tears were splashing onto her face.
"Zuko!" Iroh called. "Let's go!"
Zuko quickly picked up the small girl and slung her carefully onto his back. With her head resting on his shoulder, her arms limply laying around his neck, he rushed after his uncle and off the ship.
He was going to make Azula pay for what she did.
************
Zuko strode back and forth, creating a pattern on the other side off the clump of bushes that his uncle had banished him to. It was one thing to be banished by one's father and to then be put on the run when one's sister tries to trick you into coming home only to try and capture you. It was a totally different thing when your uncle wouldn't let you near the person you cared deeply about whilst he bandaged said cared for person.
Uncle Iroh made the excuse that since Zuko was still a lad and wasn't married, he should remain a gentleman and give Raven/Shira space. Of course, Iroh was apparently a more appropriate candidate for tending to Raven's wounds than Zuko because he had married. That was what Iroh told Zuko anyway.
Finally, Zuko couldn't stand being patient anymore and pushed through the bushes, "Uncle, how is...."
He froze when he took in the sight before him. Iroh had laid the girl on her jacket so that she wouldn't get covered in soil. She was lying on her back while Iroh had been winding bandages around her upper arms and waist. Zuko couldn't see the extent of the burns but there were no bandages yet on her left arm and there was a long red puffy gash that was oozing blood, surrounded by red hot burns.
"Zuko," Iroh whispered, knowing full well that the main reason he sent Zuko off whilst he bandaged Raven was because he knew that Zuko would lost his mind if he saw Raven like this.
The boy slowly stumbled out of the bushes and over to the girl before falling on his knees on the other side of her, across from his uncle.
"Raven," Zuko breathed, reaching out to brush a strand of hair from her closed eyes. "How bad is it uncle?"
Iroh shook his head, "It's bad. We need to find a town or place somewhere soon. She will not wake if she is not treated properly.... The longer it takes to wake her.... the more chances there will be that she will never wake."
Zuko's head snapped up and his eyes widened in fright. Iroh finished bandaging the girl's arm and pulled her sleeve down. Reaching over, he patted Zuko on the shoulder.
"Keep an eye on her. If you keep talking to her, it may help to bring her out of it," Iroh explained.
Silently the old man got up and went off to look for food while he left his nephew with the girl. Zuko looked down at the girl and hesitated a few times before scooting closer and scooping up her head into his arms. Gently, he laid her head on his lap before slowly running his fingers through her long black hair.
"Hey Raven," He whispered. "Do you remember the day of my fourteenth birthday... It was four months before I was banished and you.... Lost your memories. You probably don't remember it... but I remember it perfectly to this day...."
FLASHBACK
"Good morning Prince Zuko!" a young stable boy called.
Zuko smiled and waved as he hurried out of the palace into the courtyard in search of Shira. He finally found her by the pond with Ty Lee and Mei. Luckily, Azula always found an excuse to never be around Zuko on his birthday since even their father had insisted that the siblings be civil to each other on the other's birthday.
Of course, Zuko never minded that Azula was absent on his birthday since it meant that he could spend time with Shira without being worried that Azula would spoil it.
"Do it again!" Ty Lee squealed.
Shira took a running start before doing a handless cartwheel in the air, landing firmly on both legs, her long blond hair flapping about in her face. Mei and Ty Lee chuckled when Shira had to part her hair to clear her face.
However, Ty Lee was the first to notice Zuko's appearance and waved her hand, "Morning Prince Zuko!"
The boy smiled as he hurried over. The three girls quickly curtsied and Zuko waved it off cheerfully.
"Having a pleasant birthday?" Mei inquired.
Zuko nodded, "Yes, thank you."
However, as he turned his eyes on Shira, he found her eyes wide in shock and her face pale. What he didn't know was that the girl had completely forgotten it was Zuko's birthday, thus forgetting to prepare something for his birthday.
After about an hour of playing cartwheeling with Shira and Ty Lee, Mei and Ty Lee went off in search of Azula, leaving Zuko alone with Shira at last. The boy looked over at Shira who was walking in circles by the pond, gnawing on the curve of her pointer finger in deep thought.
"Say, what's wrong Shira?" the boy inquired.
Shira didn't seem to hear him so Zuko approached the girl and bent down, so his face was right in front of hers, making Shira jump.
"What's on your mind?" he inquired.
"Oh.... Erm.... Well.... prince Zuko.... I er..... I kinda forgot to make you something for your birthday."
Zuko's eyes widened and a huge grin filled his face, "Is that all? Shira, you don't have to worry about giving me anything for my birthday. You being my friend is more than enough."
"But I want to give you something!" Shira objected, suddenly becoming stubborn and clenching her hands together in determination. "You're always being so kind to me and I feel like your birthday is the best time to return it!"
Zuko chuckled as he leant over and wrapping his arms around her, drew her close to his body in a hug, "Don't worry about it Shira."
Shira felt her face heat up at how fast Zuko's heart was beating against her ear. Biting on her bottom lip, she gently pushed away from the boy and looked up at him. Already at age fourteen, Zuko was a head taller than the petite girl who had grown very little since she had arrived in the fire nation.
"Actually," she whispered. "I do have something for you. Close your eyes."
Zuko chuckled before he obliged, closing his eyes with a smile on his lips. Shira pursed her lips together in thought. This was a lot harder than she thought. Finally, she placed her hands on his shoulders and gave herself a little boost onto her tiptoes before pressing her lips softly to his. When she drew back, she noticed Zuko's eyes were wide in surprise and she was about to step back when Zuko bent down, capturing her lips in another kiss, so gentle and sweet that it made Shira want to cry.
"I apologize Prince Zuko," the girl whispered as she stepped back. "This was all I could think of to give you...."
Zuko smiled, capturing the girl's hands in his, making him look up at her, "It is the best birthday present that I could ever hope for."