Death by Lightning (OC x Zuko) book 3

Chapter 13

Maddys POV
My eyes fluttered open, and light surrounded me. My chest convulsed forcing a series of coughs from my lungs making my eyes close once again into darkness. When they opened finally, I saw the open skies of the air temple before me, and as I looked around more and more came into existence. It was then I felt the warm yet choking restraints around my ribs, and the hot breath blowing across my skin. I turned to see a mess of black hair and a head buried in my shoulder.
"Please come back." Zuko whispered, beads of sweat hanging off his ebony locks. "I don't want to hurt you."
"Zuko?" I asked timidly. His head shot up to look at me with an apprehensive fear, his eyes wide and glowing amber as his breathing suddenly stopped. "What are you doing?" He said nothing, but his respiration returned. I felt something warm and wet roll down my skin and drip off my arm. My eyes wandered down to see a deep and ugly cut tracing along his forearm. "You're hurt!" I tried to push away from him so I could get some water to help, but he only pulled me closer. He spun me to face him before pressing his lips cautiously to mine. Half a moment passed, and neither of us moved, but before long he began to kiss me tenderly. One hand moved from its position on my back to instead cup my cheek while the other pulled me close.
I closed my eyes once more, but instead of complete darkness I found myself almost seeing the warmth I felt. The amber glow surrounded me and touched every part of me until I was drowning in it, but I didn't want to leave. Zuko pulled away from me and pressed his face into my neck.
"I thought I lost you. I love you. Please don't forget I love you." I pushed him away far enough to look into his eyes, but he still held me tight.
"Zuko, what's going on. I don't-" I glanced over his shoulder to see the rest of the team. Sokka stood by the fountain with Toph and Suki beside him. Hakoda was leaning against the wall with his arm wrapped around his stomach, blood seeping through his clothes. Katara kneeled over Aang's unconscious body, desperately healing his head and chest. "Aang!" I screamed. Escaping from Zuko and running to my brother. Sokka and Toph heard me and quickly blocked my path.
"You're not getting to him!" Sokka yelled at me, his eyes glaring holes into my own.
"Sokka, I can help. If Katara tells me what to do I can-"
"We won't let you hurt him again!" My eyes snapped to Suki, who now stood next to Toph.
"Hurt him? I would never hurt him. You know I would never do anything to Aang!"
"Sokka," Toph interjected, "her heart beat is normal, I think it's Maddy." Despite her assurances, no one stood down.
"Of course I'm me! And I would never hurt Aang!"
"Toph, are you sure? He said Maddy was dead." Sokka asked the shorted girl. "I don't want to take any chances."
"I wouldn't say anything if I wasn't sure. That is Maddy. The other one is gone." Sokka dropped his boomerang and sword, his gaze also falling away from me.
"What are you guys talking about?" I asked, my voice wavering slightly.
"You did this." Sokka pointed at Aang's fallen from. "It wasn't you, but your hands bruised him and your bending hurt him." I fell back a step, one of my legs nearly giving out.
"N-no. I would never..." I looked down at my hands before looking to the others for answers.
"It's true, Maddy." Suki spoke up. "I was like you weren't human. It was all fine at first... but then you started acting weird." My eyes began to throb.
"We're almost home!" Sokka said excitedly, his eyes trained on the air temple that was slowly getting bigger. "Pretty soon we'll be basking in the glory of being the heroes who escaped the evil Warden and his Fortress of Boiling Rocks." He grabbed Suki and pulled her into a tight side hug as he raised his other arm victoriously.
"That's a lovely exaggeration." I smirked as I entered the room. "Did you guys know they have baths on this thing?" I ran her fingers through my wet hair. "It was magical." I giggled for a second before sitting into the cushioned chair on the other side of the room from Zuko. He stared at me discreetly and watched the sun set behind me. It silhouetted me, bringing out the shapes and contours of my face and body as the light in front of me kept her illuminated.
"No, That's not me." My voice wavered as I saw this unfold in my memories, but I watched as someone outside of my body.
Zuko shook his head and looked away from me and instead looked at the looming temple as Hakoda docked the balloon at its side. The rest of the team was already there waiting. Sokka and Zuko got off first to go along with his plan for the most drama possible.
"Aren't you coming?" Zuko asked me.
"No. I'll be last. Go ahead." I smiled and gestured for me to leave. Sokka and Zuko walked down the ramp without me.
"What are you doing in this thing? What happened to the war balloon?" Katara asked immediately, clearly confused.
"It kind of got destroyed." Zuko rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly.
"Sounds like a crazy fishing trip." Aang smiled.
"Did you at least get some good meat?" Toph asked. That was the question Sokka had been waiting for. He closed his eyes to say the line he had prepared the day before.
"I did.The best meat of all. The meat of friendship and fatherhood." He smiled widely and turned to see everyone else get off the ramp. Suki and Hakoda stepped off the ramp shortly followed by Chit Sang. He raised his hand and waved uncomfortably to the welcoming party.
"I'm new. What's up everybody?" Katara ignored him as she stared at her father for a moment, tears welling in her eyes.
"Dad." She ran to him and jumped into his arms.
"Hi, Katara." Hakoda smiled as he hugged his daughter.
"How are you here? What is going on? Where did you go?" Katara turned to Sokka in confusion.
"We... kind of went to a Fire Nation prison." Sokka shrugged, hoping she wouldn't get mad at him. Katara reached out and grabbed his arm, dragging him into the family hug. Zuko caught myself smiling at the sight.
"Seriously, you guys didn't find any meat?" Toph complained. I then decided to get off the ship, my face lit up in a smile as I saw everyone, but it grew when I saw Aang. "Who is that?" Toph asked, pointing a finger at her.
"That's Maddy, Toph." Sokka nonchalantly slapped the girl's back.
"No it's not." I breathed.
"No it's not." Toph said firmly, taking a defensive step back. "I know Maddy, and that's not her. Her heart beat is different, and she walks weird." Zuko glanced between the two of them, unsure of what to do.
"Toph, Madelyn has been with us the entire time. Don't take this the wrong way, but we can see her and she looks like Madelyn." He tried to reason, stepping slightly in front of me.
"That's not her! I know it isn't!" Toph shouted. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm really the blind one around here, but that isn't Maddy." Zuko glanced behind him at me, but I only smiled at everyone's confusion.
"Well, I guess you're both right." She finally spoke, the grin not leaving her face.
Scenes of fighting filled my head. Encasing Hakoda in a tomb of rocks, and Toph in ice. I stole the breath from Suki's lungs with a funnel of air, but before I could kill her Sokka stole my attention. I threw him against the wall and I heard a sickening crack. I knocked Zuko off the cliff without a thought. Katara tried to fend me off, but even she couldn't save herself from an onslaught of fire and earth, one of which hit her head and left her barely breathing on the floor. Aang saw her- saw them-, and his Avatar State was triggered. He rose into the air surrounded by the four elements and attacked me. We destroyed most of the temple; sacred groves and grounds were left in ruins and pillars were destroyed giving way to the collapse of ceilings and balconies. When he had the upper hand and was going to beat me, he suddenly stopped and fell out of the Avatar State in an unconscious heap. He just didn't want to kill me, but I wanted his obliterated. I rose to end his life, when Zuko suddenly wrapped his bleeding arms around me. My body thrashed in his arms in an attempt to get him off, but soon I grew numb and stopped all moving at all.
My gaze rose to look at the three people in front of me, then Katara who still tried to heal Aang, and then to Zuko who stood behind me. "I did that to you? H-how are you alive? You went over the cliff and-" Zuko hugged me and cut off my words.
"I didn't fall that far. The stairs were beneath me and I used my firebending to soften the impact. I'm fine." I nodded into his chest before turning to the others. 
"I'm so sorry." I whimpered, barely able to get a word out without a tremble. "I didn't- it wasn't me. I'll never, ever, hurt you again."
"What happened, Maddy?" Sokka asked, looking down at Aang and his sister. I took a few shaky steps forward until I stood over Aang.
"I can't... I-"
"What happened!" He shouted at me. I was taken aback at first, but eventually I started to speak.
"I- I'm not like Aang. He's the Avatar because the spirit chose him to be. He's perfect for it because of his overwhelming need to be good. I was an accident. When Aang's avatar spirit got to him, it had to go through me first because I was the first to be born. She is the spirit of peace and of all the things we want for the world, but within her there was a piece of her opposite, the spirit of chaos. When she passed through me the chaos dug its claws into my soul and pulled his way out of her and made a home within me. He preyed on me for years to try and take control of me, but only recently did he make any progress. I was so scared when Azula hurt Aang, and that's what gave him the advantage. After that I was so angry all the time which gave him more power without me knowing it, but the worst was when I would sleep. He was always in my dreams ever since I was a kid, but now he could hurt me and I couldn't fight it. So I stopped sleeping a week ago, but that was a mistake. Not sleeping weakened my body and he took over. You know the rest."
"How did you come back then?" He asked.
"I don't know." I turned to look at my answer. "I think Zuko..." A touch of color spread across the prince's cheeks as I mentioned him. "...what did you do?"
"I just... hugged you." His eyes wandered around the temple to avoid our gazes.
"Why? I was hurting everyone, I threw you off a cliff, why did you hug me?"
"I don't know! I just wanted you to calm down. It always seemed to work when you were angry or having a nightmare in the past..." His eyes met my own, "I just wanted you back."
"You slept with me when I had nightmares... you chased him away." A wavering smile lifted my face. "You saved me."
"So... what? Is Zuko gonna have to sleep with you every night to make sure this spirit doesn't get to you?" Sokka's sarcasm returned.
"I don't think that-"
"I'm good with that." I interrupted Zuko. "It will keep us all safe until we find a permanent solution." I smiled softly at Zuko in assurance, but he only glared in return.
"Is Aang going to be okay?" He asked Katara, but he didn't get a response. Suki leaned in and laid a hand on her shoulder.
"What?" Katara gasped, her eyes tearing from Aang's wound. "Oh, um... ya. Aang is going to be fine. I just need to concentrate." And like that she was lost again in her work. Without a word, Zuko turned and headed down the mountain. I looked to Sokka.
"I'm just gonna..." I pointed in Zuko's direction before running after him. When I caught up, he acknowledged my presence by walking even faster. We reached the bottom in no time, but he continued into the trees. "Zuko?" I called quiety. I took a few more steps until I saw his form standing cross-armed between two trunks.
"What was that?!" He asked harshly, his fingers gripping dangerously tight to his arms.
"What do you mean?"
"You may be good with me sleeping next to you, but I'm not!" He turned to shout at me. I stood still as he continued, letting him get out everything he had to say. "I want to be okay with it but I'm not! If you are going to be sleeping in my arms I want it to be because you love me not because you need to to protect everyone! I can't really argue it though because it's the only way to protect the whole team." I waited a moment before responding.
"Zuko," I took a step towards him, "I'm not angry at you."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"When Aang fell in Ba Sing Se, I was so angry. Whether it was the spirit within me or just my own rage... I don't know. I hated your sister for what she had done, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't hate you. I convinced myself that I did, and my anger grew, but instead I was angry at myself. I don't know if it was because I couldn't hate you or because I wanted to so bad, but I hated myself for it. When Azula brought me to the capital and you broke me out, I began to focus that hatred on you and I was so mean to you, but I didn't hate you. Slowly, you made me want to be good not just to you but in general, and when you kissed me in that hellhole I realized all of this. I realized I never hated you. I may not have trusted you, but I still loved you and as ridiculous as that sounds it's true. It showed when you brought me back." I put a gentle hand on his cheek and made him look at me. "You love me Zuko, and I love you. That saved me. So I'm not angry at you for anything you have ever done, I never was."
He put his hands on my hips and gazed into my eyes, a small almost invisible smile on his face. "You love me again?"
"I know now that I always did, but I didn't know then because I didn't love myself. I couldn't forgive myself. But now that the spirit is now deep within me I no longer feel that way. His influence in my head is null. I love myself, so now I can finally love you without any anger." I smiled fully and placed my other hand on his other cheek, pulling his forehead to touch mine. "I love you Zuko." I touched my lips to his and snaked my arms around his neck. One of his hands moved up between my shoulder blades while the other traced around the small of my back to bring me closer to him.
"Guys! Aang is awake!" Sokka screamed down at us. I loosened my hold on his neck and leaned back in his arms to look at Zuko as I laughed.
"C'mon. We should probably go. Your wound needs healed still." I nodded in the temple's direction. But before I could take a step Zuko spun me around and kissed me once more.
"Just one more. We can't kiss in front of them."
"Why not?"
"I will never hear the end of it from Aang. It's almost all he talks about when we're training." Zuko groaned slightly at the thought. "Why not keep it a secret for a little while?"
"That secret will be revealed the minute they see us." I giggled.
"Why?" He asked in concern. I tapped his mouth with two fingers.
"Your lips are kinda swollen." I smirked before running to the mountain.

I am so sorry. I'm sure you are sick of hearing it, but I truly am. I have had parts of this written for a while, but I'm rubbish at writing fight scenes so I was puzzling over that for a while. Today I finally decided to screw it and I think it turned out pretty well. What are your opinions on this chapter and the overall story so far? How do you feel about the way I mended things with Maddy and Zuko? Your opinions and comments are what inspire me to continue writing this more and more, and I thank all of you who have given me such inspiration and motivation. Happy New Year to you all! My resolution is to publish more often. Not every few months, not every month. I'll work to publish every other week at the least. I owe you all that much.

~ Caramel Rage