Zuko's POV
It was hot. Dry.
Zuko was feeling extremely lethargic, struggling to stay conscious on top of his ostrich horse. The world was blurry, and his eyelids were heavy. The ringing in his ears was only getting louder, taking the place of any other sound. His canteen was empty, filled with dust.
"Keep your head up, soldier." He jolted upright at the familiar voice, but his vision was still fuzzy.
"Y/N?" He mumbled squinting and shaking his head a little in an attempt to clear his head.
"Who else would it be?" Y/N's voice asked sassily with a short laugh. Her strange, but beautiful laugh. He missed it. "You're going to fall right off your mount. I know you're drowsy, thirsty, and hungry, but you need to push forwards."
"I'm so tired..." Zuko muttered in response, cringing at the ringing in his ears.
"Stay here with me, hey. You won't wake up if you fall asleep now." She sounded calm, but commanding, and Zuko lifted his head again, opening his eyes.
Y/N walked in front of his mount, guiding the animal with the reins. She was looking back at him, a sad smile on her face. She slowed to walk beside the animal, reaching up and cupping his face in her palm, lifting his chin up.
"Keep going." She whispered.
Then he blinked, and she was gone.
Zuko rubbed his face with his hands upon realizing he had imagined the whole thing. He closed his eyes, trying to shake himself into reality, but the fuzziness would seep in whenever he closed his eyes for too long.
He had left two people he cared about behind. First Y/N, now his uncle...
Minutes later, he came to the top of a hill, seeing an Earth Kingdom town not too far away.
"I will." Zuko murmured quietly to the wind.
—|➖◾️➖|—
Y/N's POV
"Alright, stuff went wrong." Y/N noticed, earning an annoyed look from her siblings. "The Beifongs can handle the 500 gold piece ransom fine, but we've got Avatar issues again." She looked over at Sokka. "How much you wanna bet they're going to sell Aang to the Fire Nation? 50 silver? 75? I'll bet more."
"I'm not giving you free money." Sokka refused. "We don't even have that much."
"C'mon, we have to get the the arena in the next hour for the trade off. Come prepared, we're in for a fight." Katara prodded them out the door, Y/N strapping her containers to her sides on the way out, sighing.
Katara hadn't been wrong. Several of the earthbending competitors from the ring were guarding the two hostages. The ransom was quickly paid, and Toph released, being escorted towards the exit immediately.
"What about Aang?" Katara asked, and Y/N tensed at the competitors' gazes.
"We're taking him to sell to the Fire Lord. We'll be rich." One spoke up, and Y/N rolled her eyes, looking over at Sokka. Katara turned on her heel and ran after the Beifongs. We need the Blind Bandit.
"We kinda already knew that." Y/N said, stalling a bit for time. "We didn't come to negotiate prices." Sokka gave her a nervous look.
"Are you threatening us?" Xin Fu, the tournament announcer stepped forwards, and Y/N resisted the urge to step backwards.
"Are you assuming?" She shot back questioningly, and he seemed to be at a loss for words on that one.
"Yes?" He didn't sound sure. "What you said implies-"
"Release the Avatar immediately!" Toph called from across the arena, and Y/N's shoulders slumped in relief.
The earthbender faced off with the girl, and Y/N stood her ground, but Toph's first move hit one clear off the arena floor, and she decided it was best to get out of the way.
By the time Y/N was out of the way at the edge of the arena, Toph had KO'ed every single one of her foes, and was releasing Aang from his bonds.
"Can we just send Toph to fight the Fire Lord?" Y/N asked Katara quietly. Her sister gave her an annoyed look before running to meet Aang.
—|➖◾️➖|—
"We've got an incoming." Y/N noticed, finishing loading up Appa with their belongings. Toph ran up to them, grinning.
"Toph? What are you doing here?" Aang asked, jumping down to the ground.
"I'm gonna teach you earthbending, Twinkle Toes. My father changed his mind. I'm coming with." She patted Aang on the shoulder, then stomped on the ground, causing a chunk of earth to fling Aang into the air. He landed in a nearby tree. "That's for the arena stunt."
"Sounds great! Welcome to the Gaang!" Y/N smiled down at the girl. She had to admit, the earthbender was a little intimidating, but she was looking forward to seeing her beat up Aang.
"I'll have my belt back, thank you." Toph held up a hand, indicating for Sokka to give her championship belt. Sokka sighed and nodded, tossing the belt down to her before Y/N could think to stop him.
The heavy belt hit Toph in the head, and she fell over, Y/N letting out an involuntary snort.
"Sorry." Sokka said sheepishly. There was a small thump as Aang fell out of the tree.
—|➖◾️➖|—
Zuko's POV
Zuko woke to the sound of the barn door squeaking on its hinges. He knew exactly who it was, and what he had taken.
An Earth Kingdom boy named Lee and his family had taken him in for the night, allowing him to eat with them and sleep in the barn for minimal work.
He rose from the haystack, opening the door to watch Lee swing around his dual swords wildly, hacking at sunflowers as he fought an imaginary enemy.
Zuko smiled to himself, watching the boy wildly flail the blades around, before walking forwards and clearing his throat.
"You're holding them wrong." Lee jumped, looking up at Zuko guiltily before offering the blades back. He didn't take them, instead adjusting the boy's grip on the handles.
"These are dual dao blades. They are two halves of the same weapon, so think of them that way. They aren't separate at all." He backed away to give Lee some space, and the boy grinned, slicing away at the sunflowers with more fluid movements than before.
He went on for several minutes, and Zuko sat down on a rock nearby to watch, calling out advice every now and then.
The smile faded from his face as he remembered the last person that had wielded the weapons. She would love Lee, his loud but charming personality. Zuko had seen the way she looked at children over their travels, stopping if she could to encourage or interact with them.
Y/N felt for them, all the souls effected by the war, and felt like it was her job to give these people a sense of hope.
She would feel for Lee, the fear of family's safety in the war. The kid's older brother was fighting, and news was slow to get all the way out in this deserted area, so they didn't hear much from him.
"Aren't the stars pretty? You can see them so well outside the big cities." Lee commented, stopping his practice to look up at the sky.
She would watch the stars with him. Zuko thought, looking up at the thousands of lights scattered across the heavens. She always liked pointing out the constellations, and how to tell where you were based on them.
"They seem so far away..." Lee marveled, watching the glowing points closely. "I bet they're prettier farther away anyways, when you can see a lot of them. What do you think? Are you looking? Aren't they pretty?"
Zuko found the constellation Y/N had deemed her favorite, one that resembled a turtle duck. He smiled again, folding his hands.
"Yeah." He responded simply, not breaking his eyes away. He didn't know a sleepless girl on a flying bison was also watching the same stars.