Burnt Out - Zuko x OC

Snuff You Out Pt. 2

A/N - Once again, this chapter follows very closely with the last episode of season 2. This chapter may have to be followed along with that episode to be completely understood.

The group split up into two teams when they got close to The Royal Palace. Toph and Sokka went to warn King Kuei about the coup while Aang, Iroh and Kai tunneled underground in search of Zuko and Katara.

Kai took on the responsibility of breaking up thick, hard stones that surrounded the catacombs while Aang airbended them out of their path. The tunnel she created reminded her heavily of the caverns in The Great Divide. She half expected a canyon crawler to come scurrying toward them at any moment, begging for a snack, a scratch between the nostrils and to be serenaded to sleep.

The two males fell far behind her, she could sparsely hear Aang asking Iroh for advice and it gave her hope. Aang was open to forgiveness, he believed everyone deserves a second chance. Maybe even a third or fourth, she prayed.

Her hand touched the stone again and she knew this was the final wall. She could feel the vast openness behind it. Kai turned toward her two caving partners and waited for them to catch up.

"What are you waiting for?" Aang asked when they made their way closer to her.

She had one last confession to offer the avatar. One that she was still coming to terms with herself.

"There's something else, Aang. Something that I don't think Katara and Sokka will take very well."

Aang cocked an eyebrow, "What could be worse than them finding out you slept with the Fire Lord's son?" He asked, then turned to Iroh, "No offense."

"None taken."

It was worse, alright. Finding out the truth about her mother had shaken Kai to her very core. When Long Feng told her, she instantly questioned everything she'd ever known about herself. As well as what else her father had hidden from her. It made her feel like a different person entirely, and surely her friends would feel the same.

"My mother is from the Fire Nation." She said. Kai noticed the slight flinch in Aang's fingers the moment it escaped her throat, and the nod of Iroh's head, "That wasn't a secret or anything. Long Feng just told me yesterday, when I took him down to the jail cell. But I thought it was important that you know."

She gave him a moment to process the information, but it was Iroh that ultimately spoke first, "It makes sense, really."

She looked at him with confusion and he continued, "I know the saying is 'opposites attract', but that isn't true. You and Zuko come from very different walks of life, yet still ended up on the same path. I never really pictured my nephew falling for an earth bender, but now that I know you're half Fire Nation, it makes sense."

Kai smiled at him and directed her attention back toward Aang, who was having trouble verbalizing his thoughts. She could see them swirling around behind those big blue eyes of his, he just wasn't sure how to express what he wanted to say.

"Thank you for telling me, Kai." He said, first and foremost, "But you're right. It's probably best that we don't tell Katara and Sokka until all of this is over."

Her heart sank like a stone falling into the ocean. The deep, gluttonous ocean. But he was right, now wasn't the time to concern the siblings with irrelevant matters such as her bloodline.

She turned to the final slab of earth that blocked them from their other halves and gave it one solid jab. It fell to pieces around her, leaving the three of them coughing on debris. But when the dust settled, spirits, was this place amazing. A cavern triple the size of their apartment sat before them. Crystals of all shapes and sizes hung from the ceilings and formed craters at their feet. In the middle of the room stood Zuko and Katara standing face to face.