(1) Augmentum | Zuko

Chapter Fifty-One

Fire. Fire burns through the spirit trees as Zuko watches. Rooted to his spot. Literally rooted. His legs and held down by huge tree roots. He holds out his hands, to bend the fire away from the trees but nothing happens. He has nothing here. He can't help. He can't put it out. He can't save them. A hand grabs his shoulder and pulls him back. The roots disappearing from him as he tumbles with the hold. He blinks and when he looks back at the trees, they are fine, untouched by fire. Nothing bad happening to them. He looks up, to seek out his saviour but he is pretty sure he already knows who it is going to be. Rana. She touches his face, eyes shining with worry as she looks over him. He closes his eyes and lets out a breath, leaning into her chest as he calms down.

"What happened?" She asks him.

"Just a nightmare" He whispers, leaning into her hand. He had no idea where that nightmare came from. It just happened. Maybe he was more bothered by the past. Maybe it did bother him a lot more than he thought that his grandfather destroyed the last spirit tree. Rana's hand finds his chest, resting over his heart as it rapidly beats.

"Zu" She starts, he shakes his head and holds her hand there when she goes to pull away. They both can feel his heart calming. Iroh would read something into the imagery. That's what dreams are, right? Manifestations of the subconscious. Like Zuko's the fire and Rana's the spirit tree. It's a manifestation of his fear of hurting her. Of destroying her. Maybe he also thinks she's the only one to save him. To protect him. To stop him from making a mistake.

........

Zuko follows Rana as they leave the forest, the spirit trees now far behind them. He takes what he can from these dreams. Moments he will only ever have here with a dream version of her. The version of her that his mind invents. In a place, he can freely show emotions and affection without risk of betraying the Fire Nation. Only in dreamland, can he feel good about betraying them. He knows what admitting that in the real world means. What choosing her means. It means turning his back on his father. On his family. His home. His honour. His life. It's a risk. To lose everything. But she's lost in thought too. Quiet. He touches her back and she glances at him.

"You're quiet" He comments as they move to the edge of a field, the trees now behind them. She shrugs and lets out a sigh.

"Thinking about things" He gives her a soft questioning look. "Fine, I'm thinking about leaving them" She admits as she leans on the rock, her eyes on the field beyond, where Bouffalant, Tauros, Ponyta, and Gogoat are all frolicking together. Pokemon. More pokemon she hasn't seen before. Zuko she gets. But why is she dreaming about these pokemon?

"Leaving them?" Zuko asks as he leans next to her. "I thought the Avatar was your destiny?" He adds, she looks at him and raises an eyebrow.

"What's that tone?" She muses, rolling her finger in a circle in front of his face. "Jealous?" She teases with a smirk.

"The Avatar has all of your attention, of course, I am jealous" He answers, the two of them sharing a look. She blushes and looks down, her fingers playing with the belt of her dress. She then shakes her head a little.

"The Avatar is my destiny" She agrees. "But I'm not ready" She turns to lean back against the rock and holds out her hands, producing two flames in her palms.

"As the True Elemental?" He asks, she looks at him surprised. "Uncle Iroh" He admits. "He told me about the legend...." She lets out a breath, leaning up to turn to face him, her eyes studying him. That's a little weird. If this is her dream then he would know about the Elemental stuff, but not because of his uncle. But because this is her subconscious and therefore knows everything she knows. She shakes her head.

"Well, yeah, that thing" She grumbles. "I can't..." She takes a deep breath. "Seem to use the other elements without trouble..." She hangs her head and lets out a heavy sigh. "What use am I, if I can't do what I am supposed to do?"

"You don't remember, do you?" He asks her, she frowns at him. He leans up and steps closer to her. "When we were children, it was easier for you" She doesn't remember ever using any of the others before. "I never thought anything about it" He touches her arm, drawing his hand down to take her hand. "But you tapped into those elements....almost every single time you were at the palace with me. Water animals in the pond. Blooming flowers. Iced floors. I remember little things...." He looks down at his hand. "You even healed my hand" She follows his eyes to his hand and lifts it up, turns it around in hers, no sign of the burn that Azula branded him with years before Ozai did the same to his face. The same burn she used spirit-bending to heal. "You're too in here" He presses a finger to her forehead. "Stop thinking about it...." He moves his hand to her cheek. "Fire comes easy to you because you don't...." He presses his forehead to hers. "Remember when we're taught fire-bending" He offers. "We're told to feel it...not think it...so just do that with the others"

"Why would you want me to learn how to better defend the Avatar?" She asks him, moving her hand to his chest, touching the fabric of his uniform.

"It's not about the Avatar" He argues and cups her face in his hands, he leans closer to her, leaning in to kiss her. She closes her eyes and curls a hand around the back of his neck.

......

Rana wakes, cold and back in the cave. Ninetails watching her. She sits up and lets out an annoyed breath, slams her hand into the ground and small rocks fire off into the wall. She lets out a breath, calming herself down. This is ridiculous. They get so close. Every single time. But it never happens. She wakes up before it does. It's no wonder she feels like she's going crazy, feeling things, hearing things, seeing things.....Zuko. Seeing, hearing, feeling Zuko. Her subconscious is torturing her.