Zuko's POV
After leaving the village, I had come across my sister, Mai and Ty Lee, they were tracking the avatar, following the shedded fur from his bison.
After I realised that, I began following them, it took over a day but I eventually came across their vehicle, they'd abandoned it, so I confining following the trail of the bison and at the end of it was a small abandoned village.
I heard my sister, Azula question the avatar,
"Do you really want to fight me?"
I jumped in between them from the side of a broken building and replied,
"Yes. I really do."
The avatar's eyes widened and he gasped,
"Zuko!"
Azula was unfazed,
"I was wondering when you'd show up, Zuzu."
I heard the avatar chuckle,
"Haha, Zuzu?"
I ignored him and help my stance against them both, facing my sister,
"Back off, Azula. He's mine."
"I'm not going anywhere."
They both took their stances, Azula ready to strike and Avatar Aang ready to defend himself, I steadily looked between them both before Azula shot her blue fire at me, I blocked the attack, but the impact of it sent me backwards.
I saw Azula throwing flames at the avatar and getting extremely close to him, I jumped back up and threw flaming punches at her. She wasn't even focusing all of her energy at me, she was fighting us both simultaneously. I ran towards her and tried to hammer kick flames at her but she blocked it and we began fighting one on one, our flames colliding and hissing at each other.
She turned back to the avatar who had darted into a building and chased after him, I ran in after her but fell right down, there was no floor and the avatar was sitting on a ball of air whilst Azula had held herself against the wall.
She must've blasted me back outside because I opened my eyes and I was outside of a burning building and a figure stood over me,
"Uncle?"
He grabbed my hand and yelled,
"Get up."
Along side uncle, the avatar, the water bender, the water tribe guy and a small earth kingdom girl we backed Azula into a corner.
In this moment she had each of the elements surrounding her, potentially even a master of each of the elements.
She looked between us all,
"Well, look at this, enemies and traitors all working together. I'm done. I know when I'm beaten. You got me, a princess surrenders with honour."
She threw her hands above her head but none of us backed down.
We had her, we'd beaten Azula, I had never thought I'd ever- BAM. She attacked uncle, I turned and cried out in horror as he fell to the ground.
Then in unison we all struck Azula, my flames, the little girl's earth bending, Katara's water, the avatar's air and even the water tribe guy threw his boomerang at her, but she escaped.
I ran to uncle's side and the avatar and his friends surrounded us, I turned around in frustration and yelled:
"Get away from us!"
Then I heard Katara plead,
"Zuko, I can help!"
Then I screamed out,
"Leave!"
Throwing flames at all of them and turning back to my uncle, crying, holding onto him.
I didn't know what I was supposed to do. What if he died?
Maybe I should've let the avatar's friend help us.
I don't know! I was scared and angry.
I felt a presence behind me, a figure dressed in back with a hood and mask covering their face.
I threatened them with my fire bending and screamed,
"Don't come near us!"
But then, the person pulled her mask down and let her hood drop,
"Zuko, it's me."
I dropped my composure and broke down in tears.
She put her hand on my shoulder and instructed me,
"Help me move him inside, I can help."
I quickly nodded and pulled him up with her and dragged him into a building that wasn't on fire.
I set him down and watched impatiently as she pulled a flask of water from her backpack and streamed the water out, covering her hands with it before placing them on uncle's chest. I stared intently as they glowed and she closed her eyes, concentrating, moving her hands around where he was struck.
After a minute or so, she pulled the water away and returned it to her flask,
"Let him rest, he's going to be okay"
I felt hot tears streaming down my cheeks and I crawled over to Y/N and pulled her into a tight hug,
"Thank you."
She rubbed my back,
"It's okay. You're okay. Everything's okay now, you're safe."
Hearing her say that calmed my nerves, I don't know how she does it but she always makes me feel better and she is always there when I need her most, I leaned into her embrace and rested my head on her shoulder and steadied my breathing.
After a while I pulled away and asked,
"What are you doing here?"
She frowned and pulled a piece of parchment from her backpack and handed it to me, it was a wanted poster... for me and uncle.
"You're here to turn me in to my sister and claim the reward?"
She flicked my forehead.
Ow.
"Don't be stupid, Zuko."
I rubbed my head, where she'd flicked me, scrunching my eyes shut before opening my right eye and looking back to her.
She rolled her eyes and sighed,
"I'm here to make sure you don't do anything stupid, I promised you that you'd go home, but I'm not letting you go home in chains."
I felt warmth in my chest, but I frowned and retorted,
"You should've stayed put."
"If I stayed put, he might've died."
She gestured to uncle who was still unconscious on the ground.
I sighed, she was right, I'm lucky she came back.
"Did you even leave in the first place?"
"Yeah, I didn't disobey your orders, Prince Zuko. I'd been training for over a week in the 36th division in the Eastern Earth Kingdom but then, I was handed your wanted poster, so I decided to track you."
I nodded before turning back to Uncle and asking her,
"When do you think he'll wake up?"
She shrugged,
"I can't say, maybe a few hours... he shouldn't be out for more than just a day. What happened to him?"
"My sister happened."
Her eyes widened for a moment but then she regained her composure,
"Azula did this?"
I nodded, then we both sat in silence, it wasn't an awkward silence, it was a comfortable silence.
Then I yelled,
"Tea!"
Y/N raised her eyebrow at me as if to question what I was talking about.
"I need to make some tea, for when he wakes up..."
Y/N smiled at me, before pulling some a jasmine flower out of her bag,
"If I remember correctly, his favourite tea was jasmine... right?"
I sent her a small smile before asking,
"You wouldn't happen to have something to boil this in, would you?"
A little while later, uncle started to move and groan slightly, Y/N whispered,
"I'll give you guys some privacy whilst I go and put out the fires."
Uncle started to open his eyes slowly.
"Uncle. You were unconscious. Azula did this to you.... it was a surprise attack."
He winced in pain and groaned as he sat up and replied,
"Somehow, that's not so surprising."
I poured him a cup of hot jasmine tea and handed it to him,
"I hope I made it the way you like it."
He took a sip from the cup before replying,
"Go- uh- good"
He then finished the rest of the tea from the cup before adding,
"That was very, um, bracing."
I poured out another cup for him before starting,
"So, uncle, I've been thinking... it's only a matter of time before I run into Azula again. I'm going to need to know more advanced fire bending if I'm going to stand a change against her. I know what you're gonna say: she's my sister and I should be trying to get along with her."
He placed down his now empty cup before replying,
"No. She's crazy, and she needs to go down."
I nodded to him before he pulled himself up to stand,
"It's time to resume your training."
He left the room before returning with Y/N and more plants to make tea with, this time he made the tea himself and thanked Y/N for healing him after expressing how great it was that she'd be joining us again.
When Y/N realised I'd be training, she asked if she could observe and I agreed that she could.
I sat opposite uncle as he begun,
"Lightning is a pure expression of fire bending, without aggression. It is not fuelled by rage or emotion the way other fire bending is. Some call lightning the cold blooded fire. It is precise and deadly, like Azula. To perform this technique requires peace of mind"
He handed me a cup of tea and I responded,
"I see. That's why we're drinking tea- to calm the mind."
He raised his eyebrows,
"Oh yeah, good point! I mean, yes."
Once we had finished our tea, he led me outside and said,
"There is energy all around us. The energy is both yin and yang. A positive energy and a negative energy. Only a select few fire benders can separate these energies. This creates an imbalance. The energy wants to restore balance and in the moment, the positive and negative energy come crashing back together, you provide release and guidance, creating lightning"
He gestured for me to step back as he demonstrated the creation of lightning before me.
I excitedly declared,
"I'm ready to try it!"
Uncle stepped back and replied,
"Remember, once you separate the energy, you do not command it. You are simply it's humble guide. Breathe first."
I began to recite the movements I had seen uncle do, but when I tried to shoot the lightning out of my finger tips, I just created an explosion that sent me backwards.
My uncle shook his head and so did Y/N.
I tried again and again and again, but I kept receiving the same result.
"Why can't I do it? Instead of lightning, it keeps exploding in my face, like everything always does!"
Uncle stroked his chin,
"I was afraid this might happen. You will not be able to master lightning until you have dealt with the turmoil inside you."
I angrily yelled back to him,
"What turmoil!?"
There's always something. There's always a reason that things don't work out for me. What had I done so wrong in a past life to be living a life of endless misfortune?
"Zuko, you must let go of your feelings of shame if you want your anger to go away."
"But I don't feel any shame at all. I'm as proud as ever."
"Prince Zuko, pride is not the opposite of shame, but it's source. True humility is the only antidote to shame."
"Well, my life has been nothing but humbling lately."
"I have another idea, I will teach you a fire bending move that even Azula doesn't know, because I made it up myself."
I turned to him and smiled.
He grabbed a stick and Y/N came over and sat next to me to watch.
He drew the symbols of each of the nations before explaining,
"Fire is the element of power. The people of the Fire Nation have desire and will and the energy and drive to achieve what they want. Earth is the element of substance. The people of the Earth Kingdom are diverse and strong. They are persistent and enduring. Air is the element of freedom. The air nomads detached themselves from worldly concerns and found peace and freedom. Also, they apparently had pretty good senses of humour. Water is the element of change. The people of the Water Tribe are capable of adapting to many things. They have a deep sense of community and love that holds them together through anything."
I grew more confused,
"Why are you telling me these things?
"It is important to draw wisdom from many different places. If we take it from only one place, it becomes rigid and stale. Understanding others- the other elements, and the other nations, will help you become whole."
"All this four elements talk is sounding like avatar stuff."
"It is the combination of the four elements in one person that makes the avatar so powerful, but it can make you more powerful, too. You see, the technique I am about to teach you is one I learned by studying the water benders."
I raised my eyebrows and turned to Y/N who was just as surprised as I was.
I stood up and uncle helped me take my stance, Y/N followed, watching me intently.
Uncle began to explain again,
"Water benders deal with the flow of energy. A water bender let's their defence become their offence, turning their opponent's energy against them. I learned a way to do this with lightning."
"You can teach me to redirect lightning?"
He nodded,
"If you let the energy in your own body flow, the lightning will follow it. You must create a pathway from your fingertips, up your arm to your shoulder, then down into your stomach. The stomach is the source of energy in your body. It is called the sea of chi, only in my case, it is more like a vast ocean."
He then laughed, I didn't, but I heard Y/N giggle from behind me.
"From the stomach, you direct it up again and out the other arm. The stomach detour is critical, you must not let the lightning pass through your heart, for the damage could be deadly. You may wish to try to physical motion to get a feel for the pathway's flow, like this."
He demonstrated the action and I mirrored him before he asked,
"Now, are you focusing your energy? Can you feel your own chi flowing in, down, up and out?"
"I think so."
"Come on, you got to feel the flow."
We practiced again and again for a long time, Y/N behind us had fallen asleep on the floor.
Uncle finally said,
"Excellent. You've got it!"
"Great! I'm ready to try it with real lightning!"
"What? Are you crazy? Lightning is very dangerous."
"I thought that was the point, you teaching me how to protect myself from it!"
"Yeah, but I'm not going to shoot lightning at you! If you are lucky you'll never have to use this technique at all."
I looked out into the mountains,
"Well, if you wont help me, I'll find my own lightning."
And so I grabbed the ostrich horse and rode off towards the mountains.