Raised in Earth (OC x Zuko) book 2

Chapter 4

~Good god. I leave you alone for one day and BOOM. My notifications blow up. Maybe I should leave more often...~

Zuko and I had been following strange tracks through the desert for some time now. They were definitely Fire Nation because they were mechanical and very very fast. Our ostrichhorse fought to not loose the machine, though I'm not sure why.

Zuko says it's a family matter but all his family is royalty in the Capital, so I'm not sure what to think. We come to a stream and see two separate paths of footprints leading away from one another, one with two sets and the other only one pair. We decided to follow the single pair to a small ghost town.

We slumk through the abandoned buildings until we came to a face off between a Fire Nation girl and a boy with arrows on his head. The boy looked slightly familiar, but I didn't know why.

"Alright, you've caught up with me. Now who are you and what do you want?" The bald kid demanded to know. He looked like he hadn't slept for a week.

"You mean you haven't guessed? You don't see the family resemblance? Here's a hint." She put her hand up to her face and covered her left eye, much like Zuko's scar covered his face. She was his family?! I looked at Zuko alarmed but he concentrated on the duel. "I must find the Avatar to restore my honor. It's okay. You can laugh. It's funny." This kid was the Avatar? Cool! That explained the tattoos.

"So what now?" The little Avatar seemed unamused.

"Now... Now it's over. You're tired and you have no place to go. You can run, but I'll catch you." Part of me became extremely defensive of the monk. She wasn't allowed to touch him and I would make sure of it. Why did I feel this way.. I have no idea.

"I'm not running." The Avatar stood up to face his opponent. I was about to run down to protect him but Zuko held me back. He tied some fabric around my face to block it from view and gave me his stupid hat to wear. I gave him a questioning glance but he was gone.

"Do you really want to fight me?" The little girl asked bemused. She was clearly younger than me, but still very dangerous.

Zuko suddenly appeared in the scene below in between the two adversaries. He stood to face the girl I assumed was his sister.

"Yes, I really do." He growled.

"Zuko!" How did the avatar know Zuko?

"I was wondering when you'd show up, Zuzu."

"Zuzu?" The avatar chuckled, voicing my thoughts precisely.

"Back off, Azula! He's mine!" He claimed the Avatar? Why?

"I'm not going anywhere."

The little bitch then launches a stream of blue fire at Zuko, who blocks it with his own red fire wall and falls to the ground. The Avatar then opens the staff he held into a sort of glider and tries to run away but Azula knocks him out of the sky before he can get far. A ball of blue flames shoots at the Avatar but he dissipated them by twisting the staff.

He tries to get up but the girl is already attacking again from the roof above. Zuko then stands and starts to attack his sister, and that's all the information I need to decide who's side I'm on. I run from my hiding position and start attacking the girl as well. I refused to hurt the Avatar, but she was fair game. She launches blue fire at me and I block it with walls upon walls of earth. Zuko went after the Avatar and I wasn't going to interfere with that, he probably had a good reason. The little girl seemed surprised at first at my appearance, but she quickly regained her composure and attacked harder and faster than before. She ends up getting close enough to knock me down with a quick punch to my jaw. Before I can get back up she is gone and after the Avatar, and Zuko, once more. I feel anger well up inside me but I force it down.

I run to the building I had seen them go to and almost fall into the hole below along with Zuko and his sister, but as I am about to fall the little monk zipps past and inadvertently pushes me back on the ledge.

I chase after him but am drawn back by a sudden crash; I look back to see Zuko doing battle with his sister again. She eventually breaks away and comes after the Avatar again but I shoot a blast of fire at her, stopping her dead in her tracks. She seems shocked and I am confused as to why, until I remember I was earthbending earlier and now firebending... crap. She then comes back to her senses and runs straight passed me after Aang- wait, how did I know his name? I must've heard Zuko say it or something. They disappear inside another building that suddenly collapses. Zuko takes my hand gently and pushes me behind him as we walk inside together.

I see a girl a little younger then me fighting off the fire brat with some water.

"Katara!" The monk- Aang, exclaimed. Azula twists in her water cuffs and fires a few shots at the Katara girl but she is smart enough to run away.

Azula and I chase after her, Azula to hurt her and me to save her, but the brats path was cut off by a machete. A water tribe boy then steps out and he, the waterbending girl, and the Avatar start to back Azula into a corner.

The princess loses her footing and falls to the ground, which was apparently not an accident at all when an earth kingdom girl comes out from behind her.

"I thought you guys could use a little help." She says smugly.

"Thanks." Katara smiled.

We chase her into an alley and see her on the ground and an old man I have never seen before standing over her. Zuko then comes from behind him and seems to be friendly with the old man so I know I can trust him.

We all start to back her into a corner and she realizes she has no where to go, I stand between Zuko and the old man.

"Well, look at this. Enemies and traitors all working together. I'm done." She raises her hands into the air. "I know when I'm beaten. You got me. A princess surrenders with honor." What honor? Zuko casts a concerned look to me and I give him a small smile. Suddenly Azula attacks, sending a stream of blue fire at me before anyone can react. I don't know much of what happened next.

I heard Zuko shout and I knew I was on the ground. I felt a searing pain in my chest and stomach that is too painful for me to even cry out about.

I see the old man above me along with Zuko looking down at me concerned. I hear the water girl offer help and Zuko shout at her to go away.

"Zuko..." I say weakly, "She can heal me." He gives her a dangerous look, almost daring her to do something to hurt me. The pain in my torso doubles in pain abruptly, before cooling down tremendously. I take a deep breath in. The girl looks intently at my now bare stomach and focuses her magic water on what would most likely become a scar. Her friends stood over me warily watching Zuko, but the guy with a ponytail kept looking at me suspiciously. I still had the makeshift mask covering my face so he couldn't see it, which was probably the problem. The girl then removes her hands from my wound and stands up.

"Something's wrong..." Katara cast a wary glance at Zuko. "I healed you the best I could, but there's something about your body that was already healing you a bit. I sped up the process so you should heal well now. No firebending for too long unless you want to make it worse."

"She's an earthbender." Aang inputted.

"She was firebending earlier." Katara argued.

"Just leave. Before I change my mind about letting you go." Zuko barked at the team. They slowly backed away and left us alone.

When they were gone, the old man took off my mask and gasped. What was his problem? Zuko took my hand then let it go before picking me up bridal style and takes me to where we left the ostrichhorse.

"Zuko... what is this?" The old man asked.

"It's her Uncle. She's alive." Despite the current situation, Zuko smiled a bit at remembering that information. Uncle... huh, this was more of a family matter than I thought. The old man just nodded briefly. I looked up at my prince as he carried me off away from danger, before snuggling into his shoulder and doing something between passing out from pain and falling asleep.