Born of Fire. (Zuko x OC) book 1

Chapter 13

Maddy's POV:

I woke up covered in sand. I opened my eyes to find a still sleeping Zuko still holding me, our legs entangled and our bodies pressed extremely close. He was wrapped around me like he was protecting something precious to him and it made my heart flutter, then I remembered he wasn't mine. He was holding me in such a way that I couldn't escape even if I tried, and I couldn't wake him cause that would just be extremely awkward. We had 'slept' together before, but it was nothing this close. Nothing this intimate. In the end, I decided to pretend to sleep until he woke up and let go of me.

He woke up twenty minutes later and when he did I opened my eyes.

"Good morning." He whispered, smiling. It was just a friendly thing, even though he was still holding me. I looked up into his eyes and forced a smile in return. In all honesty, I was dying inside because of the situation.

He was holding me like I was his and even though I never would be, yet here I was silently begging God or the spirits or whoever was in charge to make an exception of destiny and fate, already knowing they wouldn't. I bit my lip in silent frustration and it seemed his eyes brightened a bit in response, but that was just my imagination.

"We should probably, um, go and.. uh, find Iroh." I stammered, tearing my eyes away from his. He chuckled then hesitated a bit before letting go of me. I immediately felt his absence and cold caved in on me. He stood up and reached his hand down to help me up and I took it, electric shocks running through my veins; maybe he could lightning bend.

I giggled a bit at my personal joke and started walking with Zuko to find his uncle. We walked back to the port and hid our faces under hoods to avoid being spotted by anyone who might recognize us as 'those people who died last night'.

When we found Iroh, he controlled his emotions of happiness until we got out of public view, but once the three of us were alone he attacked us in a hug.

"What were you thinking!" He shouted when the 'glad you're not dead' moment passed. "I thought you were dead! I saw the ship explode!"

"Well, the pirates attacked me," I began, "And loaded the ship with blasting jelly. They tied me down and gagged me, but then Zuko found me and we ran for our lives to safety off the ship." I explained.

"How did they even find us?" Zuko wondered aloud.

"Zhao paid them. He figured out your..." I looked at Iroh. "other... self, and wanted you dead and I was just a bonus."

"Zhao." Zuko's voice dripped with poison as he said the name. "He tried to kill you!" he shouted.

"Ya, I noticed. You too by the way. But I have a plan." Both men looked at me expectantly as I told them the plan I had originally gotten from the show.

When I finished they were both silent for a moment. Then Zuko decided to be Zuko.

"That may just work. The only problem is you." He looked at me. "You're not coming."

"Excuse me!" I shrieked. "I'm sorry, do you know the future? Can you tell where Zhao will be and how to avoid him? Do you know his plans? I don't think so." I sassed. "I'm going and that's the end of story." Zuko dropped his head in defeat and sighed.

"Fine. But you know the rules. You can't-"

I know, I know. Listen to the Zuko. Stay with the Zuko. Do as the Zuko says. I get it." He gave me a dumb look. Iroh left to complete his part of the mission while Zuko and I snuck onto one of his ships to get disguises. We found a two closets filled with armor and stuff for both men and women next to each other with a door connecting them.

I stripped down to put on the scratchy fabric in the girls closet while I'm sure Zuko did the same in the men's. I had just put the pants when the door suddenly opened behind me. I literally had nothing to cover my boobs with except my hands and the bra I always wore, which was getting a bit small. I felt my face heat up and a sense of alarm come over me as I turned to see who it was, and I'm not sure what my feelings were seeing it was Zuko.

I was relieved that it was him and not some random guard. I was embarrassed at what I was wearing, or rather not wearing. I was sort of... happy? don't know what that emotion was but it was good. And all sorts of other feelings I didn't care to identify. Heat rose in my face as we sorta stood there in shocked silence as did it in his.

I'm not gonna lie, it was cute to see him all flustered. I then remembered I had a bra on and decided to screw it. If he was gonna stand there the whole time then so what, I still had to get dressed. I turned slowly and started to put my shirt on. When I did, the Prince decided to unfreeze and came over to help me with the actual armor, he also decided to speak.

"I am so sorry Madelyn. I really didn't mean to I just thought you were done and-" by this time my armor was on and I turned around, cutting him off.

"Babe, it's fine. You're not exactly the first dude to walk in on a girl and it's not like I was naked or anything. You're not the first guy to walk in on me anyway. At least you didn't start laughing."

"What do you mean? Who else-"

"Look, it's nothing. High school wasn't fun, to say the least. A guy walks in on the unexpecting girl and laughs at how her body looks. Girl being me and guy being some dumbass. No real biggy." I shrugged and started putting on my boots; they were a lot like the ones I wore when I first appeared on Zuko's ship but they were smaller and fit my feet better. When I stood up, Zuko's face was still a bit red. I giggled a bit and kissed his cheek. "It is perfectly alright, okay?" He nodded and we both put on our helmets and left the room. We wandered around a bit and eventually found a bunch of other soldiers. We tried to blend in and were very successful at it, then night time rolled around. I was pushed off by a bunch of other female soldiers to the women's quarters. I knew I would have to figure out some other way on how to not have nightmares without Zuko with me, but as I laid in my bunk it proved harder than I had anticipated. I heard the door open slightly and someone whisper-shout my name.

"Maddy?" It called. I sat up to see a handsome looking Zuko waiting for me. I rolled off my bed and snuck over to him.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I found a room for us." He was doing the blushing thing again.

"Really?" I was honestly surprised. "You didn't have to."

"I knew you wouldn't be able to sleep."

"How did you-"

"I know you better than you think. I pay attention." Stay still you stupid stomach! But despite my command, it still fluttered inside me.

"Okay," I smiled. He then took my hand and we snuck off to the empty room. The room he brought me to was exactly like all the others, except it had a certain lack of humans. We went to the back corner and laid down. It was surprisingly still not awkward and strangely comforting. He laid on his back and I placed my head on his shirtless chest as he wrapped his arms around me. Soon we were both drifting in our unconscious minds as the warship headed to attack the North Pole.