Avatar The Last Airbender Fan Fiction ❯ Nothing But Your Servant ❯ Protector ( Chapter 19 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

~Zenaida~

Rock suddenly rises tightly around our body, the waterbender retireving the water out of her sack, the Avatar staff pointed toward us, the younger girl in an earthbending stance, and the boy who cannot bend holding a piece of metal in the air. I groaned before thrusting my foot farther into the ground, the rock around me and the prince crumpling to the ground. Our fists lit on fire and I thrusted my foot into the ground once more, a large boulder rising behind us.

" Face it, Zuko, your outnumbered." the Avatar said and a smirk crawled onto my face.

" I don't think so. Did you forget that your on a small island that inhabits 100 guards searching for you. And not to mention the 32 ships around this island. In your state, Avatar, you won't be able to take us all out. And even if there were no guards or ships, I still count as 101 people." Aida said and with a quick jump in the air, I rammed my fist into the ground, creating a little crater under me, but rocky spikes shooting up under them. I could hear them scream as they scattered to dodge the lethal rocks and I stood back up again, fist pulled back and ready to shoot fire, when Prince Zuko grabbed my wrist.

" No, Zenaida. Stop." he said lowly and everyone stopped to look at him. What did he mean, "stop"? We were just where he wanted to be, am I not right?

" What do you mean, 'stop' !? Are you crazy!? Isn-" Aida began to complain, hands in the air and everything, but Prince Zuko held up a hand to our face and gave us a deadly look.

" Silence yourself, Aida." he commanded and I could feel her anger boiling as she shut her mouth. The Avatar's group gave us a confused look as Zuko growled in frusturation. " Go on your flying rock and retrieve my Uncle on the ship. Do not bring any guards back with you, is that understood? And don't let anyone know where I am or that we found the Avatar, is that understood?"

" Yes, Master." I said before bowing and slamming my fists together, removing the pedestal from the ground and levitating myself over to the boat, confusion and curiousity tugging at my head.

~Katara~

We watched the woman rise and float away, as if she were purely levitating in the darkness, her cloak moving like waves on a calm, bright day. Staring at Zuko in curiousity, something about him made us believe that he wasn't going to do anything as he faced us, the flames on his fists fading. But our elements were still up, and ready to strike if he did.

" Hey.....uhm, Zuko here...." he began with a shy smile that made us feel slightly uncomfortable because we never seen the prince like this before. He was always so angry that seeing this side of him felt slightly awkward.

" No duh......" Toph said with a chuckle that made Zuko's face scrunch in anger once again, flames lighting his fists.

~Zenaida~

" My nephew has found his way, Zenaida. His true destiny...." General Iroh said as we floated quietly through the forest. I looked at him curiously, but he was staring into the darkness with a serious look on his face. He was in deep thought, so I kept quiet and didn't ask him about it. Was Prince Zuko alright? I mean, I'd only been gone for less than a few minutes, and they are strong benders. Damn, why'd I leave him alone there?

" Because he commanded us to." Aida said in my head with an obvious chuckle. Sighing, I looked forward to see the stone wall that the earthbender girl had raised and my body became alert. General Iroh became more attentive as I raised the stone pedestal over the wall, letting us see Prince Zuko bowing on the floor in front of the Avatar. This caught me extrememly confused and uncomfortable because Prince Zuko never bowed to anyone except his father, and even then he did not get on his knees. I gave General Iroh an uncomfortable glance as I settled the pedestal in the hole that waited it's return.

" Please forgive me...." Prince Zuko said as he stood back up. The benders still had their defenses up, but were looking between themselves as if they were having a silent conversation. Well, that is except for the blind girl, who looked still in our direction.

" You expect us to let you in after all of those times you nearly KILLED us?" the waterbender girl asked, voice high and in disbelief. Everyone's features scrunched in anger when she said this and I could tell that this wasn't going in the direction Prince Zuko wanted it to go in.

" I can assure you that my nephew is a changed man, Avatar Aang." General Iroh said in an unusually serious tone. The Avatar and his friends exchanged glances before the Avatar looked back at us. I wasn't sure what was going on, but my intuition was telling me that Prince Zuko was asking the Avatar's forgiveness for hunting him down all those times and putting him through so much trouble. But, I wasn't sure where this was going to lead to.

" General Iroh, we know that your a good man, but we still can't trust him..." the Avatar said and they turned their backs on us. Still confused at this point, I turned to Prince Zuko who looked at his Uncle for help.

" We can't trust that crazy woman either!" the boy with the boomerang exclaimed as he turned around and pointed a finger at me. I could feel Aida's presence jump up.

" How dare you call me crazy! I could fuck you up right now!" Aida yelled, causing the whole group to turn around and look even more hateful at us.

" Aida!" Prince Zuko yelled and grabbed my arm to drag his my face closer to his. " That's enough!"

Aida's presence shriveled and I could only feel my energy flowing. Prince Zuko's eyes seared through mine and I gulped.

" She's done talking." I said lowly and he released my arm which I rubbed from the aching pain that came after.

~Katara~

The way her features slowly relaxed and shifted made goosebumps crawl on all of our skins. I had never seen something so.....wow, I can't even explain it. So........fluid and smooth happen with someone. It was.....wierd. Zuko and Iroh either must've not noticed it or was already used to it. Sokka gave me a cocked eyebrow and Aang let out a, "Oooh...".

" Please, I realize my mistakes and am willing to redeem them by being your firebending teacher." Zuko said, but something in his tone made it sound so...real. Like he really meant what he was saying. And with his uncle around, it probably was. But Zuko was a good liar. He could've easily lied to his uncle as well, right?

" This must be a joke...." Sokka said as he twirled his boomerang around, a small chuckle escaping his lips. He sounded so believable, and as I glanced at Aang, I could tell that he was considering it too. But I felt that still this was a lie.

" Your a liar, Zuko." I stated and I could see him inwardly grimacing. His uncle sighed and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

" We can't trust you, Zuko. Just leave." Aang said, and I could tell that he was speaking more on our behalf than his. A wave of regret ran over his face as he turned away and sighed. I felt bad because he wasn't doing what he thought was best, but I had a feeling that this was just some kind of plot.

" How can I prove to you that you can trust me, then?" Zuko said as he took a step forward, frusturation and sorrow on his face.

We glanced at eachother, trying to read eachother's expressions. But no one said anything and we just looked back at him with blank faces. He groaned and looked at the woman next to him, who now looked as innocent as a fly.

" Zenaida, bring me and my uncle to the ships. Then come back here and protect them." Zuko said and the woman bowed before her fists collided and they were on the rock pedestal again. Soon they disappeared in the darkness of the woods.

" Did you see that girl??" Sokka exclaimed, mouth open as he looked from me to Aang. Toph walked closer to our group and blew her hair out of her face in irritation.

" No, but that hot-head wasn't lying when he said he was sorry. And who said that we need her to protect us? We can hold our own!?" Toph said as she plopped on a nearby rock and placed her head in her palms. That kind of made me wondered too. Why would we need to be protected?

" I know he wasn't.....and I need a firebending teacher. I have a strong feeling that Zuko is the one....." Aang said as he held his hands behind his back and looked down in thought. It was going to be a difficult choice, I know, but it was one that we would let Aang base on feeling since we knew how crucial it was to learn all of the elements.

" And her eyes!! Did you see her eyes! And she was firebending one second and pow! She eartbends the next!" Sokka exclaimed, jaw hanging lower as he pointed to the spot where she disappeared in the darkness. Aang groaned and shot an angry look at Sokka.

" Yes, we did, Sokka! But I'm worrying about Zuko, right now! Not the girl!" Aang yelled, obviously frusturated with this choice, a strong wind escaping his mouth as he did that. We heard a small thud and everyone turned around to see the woman putting the stone back in the hole.

" Would that girl be me?" the woman asked in a voice different from when she talked to Zuko. It's was a strong and powerful one that also came with a raw smirk and daring eyes. Her head was held high as she walked up to us, and I could feel Sokka and Aang gulp as she swayed her narrow hips.

" Hey, we don't know who you are or what your doing, but keep your distance!" I said and brought out my tentacles again. Aang realized the seriousness of the matter and shook his head before pointing his staff at her. She stopped walking and faked and innocent look.

" Fine." she said and jumped on the edge of Toph's stone wall, watching the darkness. Everyone, well except Toph, blushed when we seen the rim of her butt cheeks from her robe being so short. We could tell it was ripped.

" Wow...." Sokka said under his breathe in amazement and the woman looked over her shoulder at us with a smirk and a wink. Aang and Sokka turned a deeper red and I smacked their arms.

" Ouch, what was that for?" Aang asked, rubbing his arm where I had hit it. Sokka groaned, but didn't take his eyes off the girl, which made me get even more frusturated because we were supposed to be discussing whether Zuko could join or not!

" Remember? Zuko?" I said and Aang rubbed the back of his neck with a little chuckle. I have to admit that this woman was getting me jealous. She took Aang's eyes away from me.

" Oh, yeah." he replied sheepishly and we began to discuss Zuko.

~Zenaida~

Spotting guards, I quickly jumped in front of them and Aida kicked and punched them down. It amazed me at how fast she could move our body and how strong we were. In less than a minute, all seven guards lay dead on the floor, at least one piece of their body dismembered.

" Wow...." I said as I stared at the bodies. Aida chuckled and used the rockets to get us back over the wall where their little group stared at me.

" What'd you just do?" The Avatar said with furrowed eyebrows.

" Nothing...why?" I asked, trying to hide the fact that Aida just killed another 7 men. But they stared at my body in horror and I looked down myself to see I was splattered with blood. Damn, Prince Zuko's going to be pissed when he knows Aida killed again.

" I ran into a boar. No big deal." Aida said with no hesitation and hopped on the ledge of the wall again. " Zuko told me to protect you while he takes care of the fleet, whatever the hell that means."

~Katara~

She layed comfortably on the edge of the stone wall and looked over down at us as we spoke.

" Do you mind? We need our privacy!" I told the woman and she just scoffed before turning away.