Avatar The Last Airbender Fan Fiction ❯ Breath life Into Fire ❯ Part two ( Chapter 2 )

The sky is so vast and teasing from inside these confining walls. Birds fly by, so free and remind me of her. The wind blows and I think of her soft touch and at night, when the fires have all died, the darkness makes me think of her hair. I can never envision her eyes for another shares their hue and her voice has long since left my heart. It hurts knowing that it is gone but her song is stuck in my mind. Every ounce of my soul wants to believe that she is still alive and out there but I am not too sure. My father's tyranny knows no bounds and the city that I had hopped for her to find refuge in was now part of his shadow. I tried to move on, I so wanted to know what it meant to love and love in return again but I cannot allow them to know who I really am. Song; so sweet; was injured by my people, and Jin would never accept my blood however many times I renounce it. There is no love for me; my life is empty with out her.

 

“Nephew,” Iroh called out to Zuko who sat perched on the balcony of their new apartment, staring at the sky. “Come inside. I need you to help me pick out the dishes for our new tea house.” The former prince sighed; eyes hung low; but did not move from his spot. He had taken to looking towards the sky any chance he could. For what? Possibly false hope that she would come to him or that something would lead him to her.

 

Iroh rose from his seat and approached his nephew. “Zuko?” He followed his gaze to the stars then frowned. “Zu”

 

“It still hurts,” Zuko said, not turning to look at his uncle. “It's been so long since I left her and even after knowing what I know about Omashu, I still live in denial. My heart doesn't ache like it did the last time I saw her, it's worse. I'm beginning to forget her, if she spoke right behind me I would never know, if someone showed me a portrait of her, I wouldn't know who I was staring at. Why is she slipping from my mind? I think of her constantly and yet each memory gets fainter and starts to blur. I'm beginning to doubt that she ever existed and that she was merely a figment of my mind as it begins to crumble like my heart. I so wanted to move on but the truth always puts me in my place.”

 

Iroh's face began to show its age as he listened to his nephew's anguish. In so little time, he had lost everything that was dear to him, his pride, his country, and his love. The dragon of the west bowed his head. “What truth is that?” he asked.

 

Zuko smirked and looked down. “That I have nothing to offer these beautiful young women; that because I am a firebender they will never accept me; or is it because of this disfiguring scar? No, the truth that binds me is that regardless of whether she was real or not, I still miss her and please don't ask the obvious question. I want her name to be the last thing I forget.” He then dropped down from the railing and walked inside. “I'm tired. I'll help you in the morning.”

 

“Brother wake up!” Azula snapped. Zuko blinked realizing he was standing by the Earth King's throne of which his sister had made herself at home in. The small unit of the Dai Li had already dispersed with their orders. “You've been drifting off a lot lately. Day dreaming about home already?” she asked with a smirk.

 

He made himself look a little more dignified but his tone would betray him. “No it's nothing…” he spoke with a hint of longing.

 

“Zuzu, I would expect by now that after I've helped you so much you'd feel you can confide in me.” The look on his face seemed close to twisted revulsion. “Come on dear brother. I gave you your life back, father is waiting for your return as we speak and all I ask is that you tell me what has you so distracted.”

 

His gold eyes dropped to the floor before he sighed then raised his gaze. “It's a…girl,” he said almost regretting it already. Azula made a slight snort but stifled herself. “But there's no point in thinking about her anymore. The chances of us being together are slim to none. She might even be dead.” And with that in mind he wished the same of himself. He'd gone against his better judgment; turned his back on his uncle, the only member of his family to care for him; and worst of all, he betrayed his promise to her, for all he knew the avatar was dead and there was just as much blood on his hands as Azula's.

 

Azula stared across the large throne room with a keen concentration. “Perhaps I can help you with your little love sickness.”

 

Zuko narrowed his eyes. “Like there is anything you can do at this point that wouldn't make things worse,” he said with a bit of bite to his tone.

 

“But there is, well more so the Dai Li than me.”

 

“I want nothing to do with those henchmen of yours.”

 

“Just hear me out big brother; I'm sure you'll consider the offer.” She rose then began to lead him down a corridor.

 

“What could you possibly tell me to make me consider the Dai Li's assistance?”

 

Resting one hand on his shoulder, she leaned in to whisper to him. “They can make you forget.” His eyes shot open, heart skipping a beat. “That's right. You could forget everything about her to make your transition back to your old life perfect.”

 

“Everything…” The word seemed to echo in his head for some time before the full meaning of the word hit him. “No! Not everything.” Azula arched a brow as her brother stepped away from him. “Just the feelings I had for her.” He was doing just fine forgetting her on his own, her face, the scent of her hair, the feel of her skin. He didn't need much help there, but to cease the sickening pain he felt being so far away from her was something of which he did.

 

“Why just feelings? Why not her whole existence? If this girl is causing you so much distress why not erase her completely from your memory?!” she hissed becoming quite heated. An apparent plan was already being thwarted by her brother's stubbornness.

 

Thinking fast to cover his tracks somewhat, he smirked, raising his head. “She might come of use one day,” he said coldly as he walked further down the dark halls. The look in his eyes was almost sinister but his heart was taking yet another blow. Feeling that, in the coming months, he would greatly regret those words.

 

Silver eyes shot open, as her heart pounded in her ears and she breathed as if for the first time. Jaherah quickly shot up, looking into a dieing fire. Around the small camp lay five other bodies and the nearest stirred. A young man a little older than Zuko with long brown hair and sharp green eyes, sat up close to her, worried. “Jaherah, what's wrong?!” he asked in a hushed voice so as not to wake the others.

 

“I had a vision,” she gasped, resting a hand on her chest. “Something that has already passed. Something terrible has happened to someone.”

 

“To who, the king?” he asked in shock.

 

“To my brother.” She inhaled then calmed, the fire growing a little.

 

“Then we must find him. He'll need our help.”

 

“No.” She gulped hard on the word as if it pained her to say it. “We were given a mission by Bumi and we must complete it. Even if he's been left for dead we must move forward. There's no possible way we would find him in time. He could be anywhere.”

 

He sighed and sat beside her, staring into the fire. “You're right. We have to stop thinking that he's the last hope this world has. It's the reason Bumi created us, to be a plan B.”

 

“To keep the fight going and to keep hope alive.” Her eyes began to haze as she sat mesmerized by the fire.

 

In what seemed a blink of an eye to her, the nomad had been transformed into a killing machine for the sake of the world. She, along with her bending companions Ren; seventeen; of Omashu, Kai; thirteen; of the northern water tribe, Kinta; ten; of an earth province near Kyoshi island, and Sun-Lei and Jun-Lei; nine year old twins; the daughters of a fire general turned traitor; have traveled through many of the nations, freeing those that were being oppressed and struggling to gain a better resistance to the Fire Lord's tyranny. Their black attire and almost eerie air of their presence has dubbed them a nickname. They are simply called The Jaded.

 

Ren rested a heavy hand on her shoulder. “You should get some rest, we both should. We've got a lot of walking to do in the morning.” She smiled, nodded and laid back, trying her best to sleep. Bumi had not lied. The closer they moved to the fire nation, the harder it became to move freely.

 

“There are so many perils awaiting us my friend,” she spoke in a somber tone.

 

“Another prediction?” Ren asked, throwing a bit of dried grass into the fire.

 

“Just a feeling.”

 

She smiled and sung a song so sweet it would tame even the most savage of beasts. The body of a goddess draped in white gold and the face…unseen; shadowed from the bridge of her nose up. No eyes to bore into his own, to speak to him volumes what the voice could not. “Who are you?” Zuko asked, chasing after her as she danced. “Answer me.” She stopped and tilted her head, that smile still held on those lips. “Who are you?” The song stopped and as she opened her mouth to speak, her clothes turned black and the smile was gone. She clutched at her throat as a fire swirled around her. “No.” Zuko rushed forward but as he neared, the fire thrived. “NO!”