Y/N's POV
Apparently "music night" was supposed to happen that night, something Iroh had made up to simply have fun for a little while. Y/N couldn't play an instrument, and she was dead tired after traveling via rhino for a couple hours to retrieve the paralyzed Zuko and Iroh, so she ended up going straight to bed, listening to the muffled music above her.
She had felt like she had fallen asleep for only a few seconds before she was abruptly awakened by someone shaking her shoulders aggressively.
"What? What's going on!?" Y/N nearly punched them as she sat up, eyes wide and adrenaline pumping. She got her bearings, looking up at who woke her up, and went pale.
"Come with me, and grab your bag, now." Zuko breathed. Y/N had never seen him in such a panicked state, his amber eyes wide with urgency as he pulled at her arm. She did what she was told, quietly following him out the door.
"What's going on?" She asked in a quiet voice, and Zuko shook his head, tugging on her arm to prompt her to go faster.
"Zhao is here, and he's taking my crew to join the ranks raiding the Northern Water Tribe. He's an admiral now, and if he finds you, he will take you, and I cannot stop him. You must hide." Zuko hissed quickly, peering around a corner, and quickly bringing his head back, the sound of marching footsteps filling the halls.
"I can't get you off the ship, we're surrounded." Zuko breathed, grabbing Y/N's hand and pulling her back the way they'd come. He yanked her into his quarters.
"There's a fake floor right here." He spoke quickly and urgently, never letting go of her hand as he opened the metal panel, helping her down into the small storage space. "If he doesn't know you're here, and all soldiers are accounted for, he won't search the ship too thoroughly. Stay here until I come get you."
Y/N nodded, now understanding why he wanted her to take her belongings to hide as well. She set her bag on the floor, and looked back up, only for her breath to catch in her chest.
—|〰️〰️〰️|—
Zuko's POV
Zuko held the metal panel open with one hand, and desperately grasped Y/N's hand with the other. He glanced at the door, then looked back down at Y/N. He couldn't pretend right now, the stern mask had slipped off the moment Zhao boarded the ship, taking everyone by surprise, and leaving Zuko minutes to react.
She looked back up at him and her eyes widened, and he knew she could see right through him, every confused emotion swirling inside of him. Panic, concern, worry, fear, dread. Zhao couldn't take her, who knows what he would do to her now that he was so highly ranked, basically anything he wanted to. He was appointed by the Fire Lord himself.
"Stay quiet. Promise me you won't let him take you." Zuko urged her, squeezing her hand tightly. He let go for a brief moment to grab one of the water vessels he had made, pressing it into her hand. "I don't care who opens this panel, if they try to take you away, you shoot a spike straight through their skull."
"Thank you." Y/N said quietly. She gripped it with a small nod, Zuko not letting go of the container until she did. She would use them to defend herself, in the event she really needed to. He glanced at his handiwork, it had taken him hours for him to be satisfied with the product. He didn't have any tools, so he simply heated his hands and crafted it himself, having multiple accidents where he spilled melted metal and burned himself.
He spotted a new engraving underneath his most recent message, and couldn't help but smile. "It's horrendous." She had written in response to his question about his hair.
Zuko closed the panel, sealing it shut and leaving the room to face Zhao.
—|〰️〰️〰️|—
Y/N's POV
Y/N quietly strapped the two containers to her belt, a difficult task, given she couldn't see, and she could afford to accidentally bang one of them against the metal walls.
Once Zuko's footsteps faded into the shouting above, Y/N could only sit there and huddle in the darkness. From briefly looking and feeling around, she concluded that there were no vents or places for air or light to come in. It was also a tight fit for her, so Zuko probably knew he had to come back soon, so she wouldn't suffocate.
It was somewhat soothing to know he couldn't take more than an hour, so she wouldn't have to wait in tense silence for as long as she had before, way back at the Fire Nation port the ship had been repaired at.
She sat there for about 10 minutes, trying to make out the muffled voices from above, and she finally relaxed a bit, letting her feet slide forward a little to hit the opposite wall, but they hit something in the process, the object making a loud clattering sound against the metal.
Y/N cringed, listening for anyone who might have heard before picking up the object. It was some sort of carved dense wood, with a strap on the back. How had she not noticed it before? She ran her fingers over the ridges, squinting through the darkness even though it wasn't possible to see anything.
Zuko's mask. Y/N realized, turning it over in her hands. That means...
Y/N almost screamed in fright as the door to Zuko's quarters swung open with a sharp bang, and two pairs of footsteps entering the room.
"Why is the Admiral having us check the entire ship again? All of us are here, accounted for, and ready to go, I don't see what we have to check for."
"He said something about stowaways, I don't know. Just get it over with, get the report in, and we'll get out of here."
Y/N didn't dare breathe as the two soldiers moved around the room, the only sounds were their footsteps, and the opening and closing of drawers, cabinets, and ripping the cloth from the tabletop. It seemed like they might be done when one stepped on the panel, the space making a more hollow sound than the rest of the floor.
"Woah. That's weird." The voice was right over her. "It sounds hollow." Y/N swallowed nervously as there was little scraping sounds, probably the soldier looking for a hidden hatch or something.
"This ship is an old model, there might be a few kinks not worked out, and probably hasn't seen proper inspection in years. C'mon, we should get our report in."
"Should we include this in our report?" The soldier above Y/N knocked on the panel. "It's really the only suspicious thing we've seen."
"Yeah, sure, whatever, just get your butt over here and let's go." Y/N waited until their footsteps faded down the hallway, then gasped, her breathing becoming quick with panic. They were reporting the sound, so someone may come back to check.
She had heard of the Blue Spirit, and there was no information commonly known for gender, identity, abilities, or anything except for their weapons of choice, the duel dao swords. She didn't know why Zuko had decided to go out that night as this mystical spirit, or what the Blue Spirit had done, but he had made quite the first impression.
The reputation of this mysterious figure might just save her life.
She grasped desperately in the darkness, and found what she was looking for. The black clothing Zuko wore with the mask.
Y/N wasted no time, struggling to pull on the clothes over the ones she was wearing in the cramped space. It made her feel really warm, and she began to sweat, but a little ice coating the walls for a minute or two fixed that problem.
She melted the ice when she was satisfied with the chilly temperature of her space, and put the water back into her containers, which she had strapped on over her black clothing. Zhao didn't know that they belonged to her, so she shouldn't have a problem with him seeing them on her.
She slung her bag over her back, and held the mask in her lap, listening closely. Just as she suspected, the door swung open again, but the footsteps were much less hurried.
"I do hope you don't mind me taking your crew. It's for a good cause." Zhao drawled. "I will capture the Avatar very soon, and bring him in. Too bad you will have to stay here, given you'll have no crew to sail." There was a grunt, and some shuffling sounds.
"Control yourself, Prince Zuko." Iroh warned, and the shuffling hesitantly stopped. Footsteps moved across the room, probably belonging to Zhao.
"I didn't know you were skilled with the twin broadswords, Prince Zuko." He commented, standing right on top of the panel. Y/N held her breath, remembering the swords displayed on his wall.
"I'm not. They're antiques, gifted to me awhile ago." Zuko explained, and Y/N didn't have to see Zhao's face to know he recognized them.
"General Iroh, have you heard of the Blue Spirit?" Zhao casually asked, turning around, his shoes tapping loudly on the panel.
"I have heard rumors, nothing more." Iroh replied. "I do not believe he exists." Zhao hummed in response, chuckling to himself.
"Oh, he's real, and a sworn enemy of the Fire Nation. He will be brought to justice for his crimes against the Fire Lord." He said, the sureness in his voice sending a terrible chill down Y/N's spine. "Anyways, I came down here to address the report that came in from one of my soldiers." His foot tapped on the panel, the hollow sound obvious.
"I was given a pretty run-down ship when I left the Fire Nation. Several things have fallen apart over the two years I've had it." Zuko sounded annoyed. "The patch jobs have been less than adequate as well."
"I see." Zhao dismissed, moving off the panel, at which point Y/N pulled the black hood over her head, exposing only her face. She carefully put on the mask, controlling her breathing.
"Where is she?" Zhao asked bluntly after a few moments of tense silence. There was no responses for a few seconds.
"Where is who?" Zuko asked in a low voice.
"You know who I'm talking about, boy. The pretty waterbender girl you ran off with. I know she is here, and I'm taking her." Zhao's voice rose with anger as he stepped closer to Zuko. Y/N took a slow breath, picturing in her mind where everything was in the room, and how close it was to her.
"We fought back at Kyoshi Island, and she ran off with the Avatar and her siblings." Zuko voice had a hint of disappointment and regret. "After I knocked her out and left her to drown when the tide came in." It sounded convincing, but Y/N knew he didn't have to make up that story.
Is this his version of an apology? He's terrible at this. Y/N was snapped from her thoughts when suddenly she could see a little, a little sliver of light piercing the darkness. The panel was opening.
"What do we have here?" Zhao laughed, but abruptly cut off as Y/N leapt out of the hole, snatching the twin swords from their rack and brandishing them in front of her, the chilly air washing into the room. She had to play the part, even though the closest thing she had wielded to the swords were twin daggers, she knew enough to hold her own for the amount of time she needed.
She needed to trust the fear that the Blue Spirit caused among Fire Nation soldiers, and escape. As much as she would love to drive an icicle straight through Zhao's skull, she knew he was too smart and quick for that to work.
Y/N carefully watched Zhao for his next movement. Zuko looked just about as shocked as he was, Iroh obviously making the connection quite fast.
"I was mistaken, here I thought the banished prince himself was the legendary warrior." Zhao laughed, recovering his wits as he also watched Y/N closely. "And here I thought your stowaway was your little waterbender, although she'll be all mine soon enough, if she is with the Avatar like you said."
Y/N seethed with rage, lunging forward and taking a swipe at Zhao, which he easily dodged, but left the path to the door wide open. She bolted, running up the stairs to the main deck, Zhao roaring with rage and right behind her.
"Get him!" Zhao roared at the idle soldiers on deck as they burst out the door, Y/N running straight towards the side. A few soldiers tried to firebend at her, but she dodged, and a few threatening swipes of her blades was enough to make the rest hesitate, more than long enough for her to jump over the side, doing a backflip with a little taunting salute.
Zhao's POV
Zhao wasn't fast enough to catch him, and his cowardly soldiers simply stood back as the Blue Spirit turned around, saluted to him mockingly, and flipped over the railing. The enraged Admiral got to the rail just in time to see him hit the water in a perfect dive, quickly swimming to shore and disappearing into the trees.
There was no point going after him now, by the time someone ran after, he would have vanished. The soldiers that had witnessed the dive and disappearance muttered among themselves.
"Did you see the way he looked at me? Freaks me out..."
"It's just the mask, he wasn't looking at you."
"His blades got this close to me!"
"He came out of the water and wasn't wet! Is he a waterbender?"
"Can waterbenders even do something like that?"
"Maybe it was a firebending trick."
"No, we would've seen it! He just hopped out of the water and was completely dry!"
"Maybe he's not even human! A real spirit!"
"SHUT UP, THE LOT OF YOU!" Zhao roared, causing all the commotion to go silent. Iroh and Zuko came up onto the main deck.
"Where did he go?" Zuko demanded. Like you weren't stowing him away, you bratty teenager.
"You were the one hiding him in your quarters, you tell me." Zhao challenged. Zuko marched up to him, getting in his face.
"I assure you, Admiral, had I known the Blue Spirit was hiding away on my ship, I would have attempted to capture him myself." He spat. The sincerity in his words and eyes confused Zhao, but he didn't show it. Maybe the prince had gotten better at lying... still, I could have sworn the prince was the spirit...
"Forget it. I will capture the traitor myself when it comes time. I have no further business here, General Iroh, would you reconsider my offer to join me?" Zhao turned towards the old man, who shook his head politely.
"Thank you, but I think it best to stay here, with my nephew." He said, and Zhao brushed it off, signaling to his soldiers to move out.
The Blue Spirit, camped out in Zuko's ship. Zhao smiles as he left the ship, walking back to his own. Perfect. I'll kill two birds with one stone.
The pirates were waiting for him when he reached the ship.
"I'm glad you've come. Your payment is waiting." Zhao smirked at the lot of them, most with skeptical faces.
"You still haven't told us what you are paying us to do."
"I believe you're acquainted with Prince Zuko."