You & I

The Dark Avatar

Iroh's POV
The conflict did not, in fact, get better soon- it only worsened, to the point where the United Forces were given a direct order from the president to stay on standby.

Y/N stayed watching over the second division, whilst I stood alone with the first, waiting in anticipation of an attack.

Though, when the attack did come, it wasn't like anything I had ever seen- a giant dark spirit stood towering over the harbour, and as it turned to us, I felt my stomach drop.

Please stay safe, Y/N.

"General! What do we do!?"

"Wait for my command!"

And as it stepped closer I yelled out, "FIRE!"

But the attacks from my ships, and those from Y/N's, were doing absolutely nothing.

"General! General, what are your new orders!?"

I had no idea.

"I didn't give new orders! Keep firing with everything we've got!"

"But, General-"

Before he could finish, a harsh wave crashed against our ship, forcing us to collide with the other ships, almost tipping us on our side.

As we steadied ourselves, I quickly looked out of the window to see the giant spirit ripping down the statue of Avatar Aang.

The rest of the ships.

Y/N.

I rushed to the door to look out at the other ships, and almost as if on cue, I heard her voice through the speakers on the ships under her command.

"ATTENTION, SECOND DIVISION. THIS IS YOUR COMMANDING OFFICER. ALL WATER BENDERS, YOUR NUMBER ONE PRIORITY IS TO RESCUE YOUR COMRADES WHO HAVE FALLEN OVERBOARD. FIRE BENDERS, CONTINUE TO SHOOT AT THAT THING WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH. EARTH AND NON BENDERS, AS YOU WERE."

I felt my heart relax and turned to the microphone, "ATTENTION FIRST DIVISION, MAKE AN EXAMPLE OF COMMANDER Y/N'S DIVISION. WATER BENDERS, I WANT TO SEE YOU RESCUING YOUR COMRADES!"

In the end, our efforts to take it down were ineffective, and at long last, a giant blue version of Avatar Korra arrived at the scene, wrestling the dark spirit.

"CEASE FIRE! DO NOT RISK HITTING THE AVATAR! AID YOUR COMRADES!"

As the troops rushed to the waters to assist in the rescues, I dove in and swam over to Y/N's ship.

"It's the general! Hold on, we'll help you up, sir!"

One of the soldiers threw down some rope which I used to climb on board, "thank you, soldier."

She saluted before rushing back to help her comrades.

Where's Y/N?

"Iroh? What are you doing here?"

And suddenly everything felt lighter as the smile formed on my face at the sound of her voice.

I quickly turned and rushed over to her, pulling her into my arms and breathing in her scent, "you know, I love that you're a commander, and I'm so, so proud of you, but every time we face a great threat, and you're not by my side- I swear my heart stops."

She squeezed me back tighter, "hm, well I do recall you promising me a trip around the world, I'm not gonna let myself die and give you an easy way out of it!"

I felt my breath shake as I chuckled, even though it had all been so sudden, in the moment that I couldn't think of another order to give my troops, I thought it was the end for me.

I thought it was the end for all of us.

And there was nothing I could do to protect her.

But she was with me now, she was in my arms and she was safe and smiling.

But I sighed and joked back, "and there was me thinking I had an easy way out of it, what ever will I do now?"

She pulled back slightly, so that our eyes met and leaned forwards to peck my lips before assuring me, "you have no need to worry, I can take care of myself just fine."

I lifted one of my hands away from her waist and used it to delicately caress her cheek as I muttered, "I know that better than anyone, darling, but that doesn't stop me from wanting to protect you."

She chuckled into a sigh, "I was worried about you, too. I'm glad to see you're okay."

"Accompany me in bringing the troops back to the docks?"

She nodded before gesturing for me to follow her up to the cabin where she made an announcement through the speakers, "attention second division, this is your commanding officer- I am handing over command and control to General Iroh, all announcements to the first division, now apply to you all."

—

"And we're done, everything's been processed so after this Friday, we will officially be taking our holiday leave."

Y/N exhaled, "woah, this is gonna be so weird... all that time without work! I hope everyone will be okay without us..."

"Don't worry, they're in capable hands! Besides, when we return, we'll be doing what I did when I first met you- heading to the Earth Kingdom, Water Tribes and Fire Nation for new recruits."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention this but, it would seem that when we get back to the Fire Nation, there might be a familiar face among the recruits."

"And who might that be?"

"Your sister."