Fire and Flame [Iroh II x OC]

Chapter 90: Rogue

Saira's P.O.V

White...everything was white around me. I was either at the North or at the South Pole. Why am I here?
I looked around but could not see any person nor any animal or village. It was so calm here. The sun was shining and dazzled my eyes. I just stood here at one spot and didn't move.
Where should I go?
I decided to go in any direction, maybe I'd find a village or any living creature. My feet carried me in any direction of this lonely place.
The sun, that was in the middle of the sky just a few seconds ago, started going down. It wasn't a beautiful sunset. Something was different, something was strange. The sun was red all of sudden amd colored the snow red as well. I suddenly felt a breeze and felt cold, I could see how my skin went all goose-pimply because of the cool breeze that turned into a freezing wind meanwhile. I didn't wear anything except for a tank top and some combat trousers and boots. The last time I was dressed like this, I was at the Fire Nation military with Iroh.

Iroh..

I shook my head and kept walking in hope that I would find a hut or an igloo or something like that to warm myself. But I didn't. I didn't know how long I was walking, it felt like forever. The weather didn't get better, it was the opposite. It became colder and colder and I slowly couldn't move my finger.
I lifted my hands up to my lips and tried to warm them with my fire breath but it didn't help. The cold wind became a snowstorm meanwhile and I couldn't even see my hands in front of me. The sky was still red and I could see a ray of red sunshine. I put my hands in front of my eyes to prevent the snow to get into my eyes.

"Fuck..I need to get out here.", I thought. But how did I even get here?

The last thing I rememberd was that I left Iroh.

Oh Iroh..

"Aaaahh!", I yelled.

I tripped and fell but instead of touching a ground I was still falling. It looked like I was in a tunnel. I looked up if I could see anyone from the tunnel entrance but no one was there. I didn't know how long I was falling here but I tried to firebend myself to a wall so I could at least prevent myself from getting injured or killed by the impact.

But I couldn't. Before I could even reach a wall, I already touched the ground with my whole weight. I yelled in pain as I fell on my back and suddenly everything became black around me.

"No, you can't pass out now Saira. Stay awake!", I said to myself. But I couldn't, my eyes closed automatically.

"Mummy!"

I gasped and opened my eyes. I sat up and looked around. I was still in the tunnel.

Wait..I got up..but how? Nothing ached. I looked up to the tunnel entrance but there wasn't any entrance it must've been a really deep tunnel but how did I get here without getting injured? How long have I been laying here?

I put my head into my hands to calm down. My whole body was itching. I looked at my hands and saw blood everywhere. I hesitated and searched for any open injuries but I couldn't find any. I realized that everything around me was red. The walls, the ground and even me. I looked as if I had bathed in blood. The snow that was laying on the ground was also red. Was ist the snow that colored everything in red?

"Mummy!", I heard a young voice calling me.

"Mummy!", I heard again. It didn't stop. I heard the young voice every few minutes but I couldn't see anyone. The child whose voice I heard then started giggling. I looked around but still couldn't see him.

I closed my eyes and decided to follow the voice. Maybe there was an exit? Or someone who could explain me what's happening?

But as I found the end of this tunnel after following the child's voice, there's was something I didn't expect.

It was the Capitol.

I saw myself with Iroh and our children walking through the Capitol during a Royal engagement to a new school that was opening. It was named after Iroh's grandfather, Lord Zuko.
To honor him, we promised the principal that our children Zuko, Ilah and Rahul would attend the school.
I saw Iroh and myself shaking hands with several teachers and pupils. We tried to get our children to get used to the royal life so we asked them to shake hands with the older people and children as well. I only kept Rahul in my arms since he was still a baby in my eyes, although he was two years old already. We kept smiling and waving to the cameras and royal fans.

"No..", I thought as I saw my memories right in front of my eyes. A tear was running down my face.

"Why don't you help us?", I man was suddenly standing in front of my memory me and Rahul. I was shocked and could move. The man was wearing a mask. His uniform symbolized the-

"You are from Ember Island! You should help US not the Capitol! Free Ember Island Saira! FREE EMBER ISLAND!", the man yelled.

I closed my eyes as the explosion went off and couldn't stop myself from crying silently and in pain.

"Jaya! Wake up!"

I opened my eyes and let out a shaky breath. It was a dream...again.

My eyes looked around and I sat up.

"Jaya, are you awake?", a man yelled.

"Uh, yes. I'll be there in 20 minutes!", I answered.

As I stood up, I noticed that I was shaking and that I had cried in my dream. I hated this dream...this memory. Every night I had dreamed how my son Rahul died by a FEI attack. How his lifeless little body was laying in my hands. He was just two years old...innocent and didn't even understand politics. But they took him away from me. I should have been at Rahul's place, why couldn't they wait and attack me while I was alone? Why did they have to involve my children in this?
Suddenly I remembered.

The plan was not to take our children with us to the Royal Engagement. But Iroh had insisted to take them with us to get them used to the life as public people. It was his fault that my son died. It was his fault that my brother died. I should have signed the independence of Ember Island.

I walked to the mirror to make myself ready. The mirror was dirty and blurry, I could barely even recognise myself but the good thing was that no one needed to know who I was. We were all wearing masks here and no one was allowed to know each others identity. They couldn't even figure out who I was even if er would wear masks. I had a long bob hair cut which I had dyed pitch black a few days before I reached the FEI HQ. I barely spoke and when I did, I made sure it is deep enough.

I looked at the FEI poster.

"This is for you two. Rahul and Taemin. I will revenge your deaths and will make sure the Fire Nation will suffer as much as they let suffer us. It's time to free Ember Island."

"Jaya, the Big Brother is waiting, you're the last one who is missing."

The Big Brother..the Leader was waiting for me.

"Yes.", I said determined and put on my mask.

A/N:

Saira's maks is attached to this chapter.

Hope you guys had fun reading!

~Maheenasai