Avatar The Last Airbender Fan Fiction ❯ The Dark Spirit ❯ A Fight, A Punishment, A Friend, A..... Lover? ( Chapter 4 )

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

Amaya was leaning against the wall of a building in a small Earth Kingdom village. A young looking woman exited. Her pale skin had a couple tattoos. She carried a whip. The woman went to a large beast that looked like a mole. Amaya approached her. "Hello, you're June right?" Amaya asked. "Yeah," the woman said. "What do ya?" "I need to find someone," Amaya replied. She held up 50 gold pieces. June smiled. "I'll need something that the person's scent is on," June said. Amaya handed June a shirt that she had borrowed from Azula's chambers before she left the palace. June held the shirt up to the creature's nose and it sniffed it. "Hop on," June said, mounting the creature. Amaya got on behind her and the creature ran for a couple hours straight. Amaya could sense Draco following from above. The creature stopped at the mouth of a cave. It was getting more twitchy and antsy. "She getting excited," June said. "Your friend is in here." She gestured toward the mouth of the cave. Amaya handed June the money and June left. Amaya entered the cave quietly and was soon surrounded by Tai Li agents. She smiled. *Now time for the fun,* she thought. She took a stance and simultaneously encased every Tai Li agent in ice, using water in the air. She was then assaulted with a blast of lightning, which she took in through her left hand and shot it back at her attacker, Azula. Suddenly a young girl leaped over Amaya and landed next to Azula. She hit Azula with a few quick jabs and Azula couldn't firebend no matter what she did. She screamed in frustration. The girl turned to Amaya. "She's all yours now," she said. Amaya encased Azula in rock from the cave floor and then pinched the back of her neck, knocking her out. "Thanks," Amaya said to the strange you girl. "I'm Tei Lee," the girl said. She smiled. "Zuko sent me to help you."  Amaya smiled. "Thanks for helping." "No problem," Tei Lee said. They both rode Draco back to the Fire Nation capital with Azula unconscious the whole way and being carried in Draco's claws. When Azula was brought before Firelord Zuko, Amaya was present. She had never seen Zuko so angry before. "You had Mai killed didn't you?" he asked Azula. She nodded proudly. She was happy that she had done so. “I sentence you to execution,” he said coldly. Azula was dragged away in chains and was executed the next morning. There was no mourning for her; no funeral where her body was burned. No, she was buried where all other criminals were. Zuko spent a lot of time in the garden after that. He would sit and feed turtle ducks by the little fountain. Amaya came and sat beside him. He looked at her, sadness in his golden eyes. "I should have protected her," he said. "No," Amaya said. "I should have told you what Azula was planning." She hugged Zuko as he broke down in tears once again. She whispered words of comfort to him and he soon calmed. "Zuko," she said. "I understand your pain." Zuko gave her a look that said, "Yeah right." "My father murdered my mother in front of me when I was five years old," she said. "My father raised me; actually he more spent most of our money drinking." Zuko hugged her. I'm sorry," he said. "Don't be," Amaya said.  Amaya's scent was intoxicating, as she hugged Zuko to comfort him. When she told him what her father did to her mother he felt the deepest sympathy for her. He had lost his mother, but he knew she was alive somewhere. Amaya had watched her mother die at the hands of her father. "Thanks," he told Amaya. "Thanks for being here when I needed a shoulder cry on." He put on his serious facade and left....

Zuko couldn't understand what was happening. Every time he saw Amaya he felt different. His knees went weak and he became very nervous. He would stumble over words and he'd get really sweaty. He thought. What could be happening to him? Then he gasped. He recognized this feeling. He had gone through this situation before. "I'm in love," he whispered to himself. He went to the garden and sat down beside Amaya. "Hello," Amaya said. Zuko's heart melted at the sound of her voice. She smiled. "How are you Firelord Zuko?" she asked. "I'm fine," Zuko said nervously. "A-and please call me Zuko. No need to be formal when it’s just us." *Just us,* he repeated in his head. He smiled. "Amaya," Zuko said. "Can I show you something?" Amaya nodded. "Come on." Zuko guided her to a barn in back of the palace. He gave her the reins of a horse and had one of his own. The one she held was black with a white flame shaped marking between its eyes. Zuko's was white with a black flame marking between the eyes. Both horses had blue eyes. They mounted the horses. "What's his name?" Amaya asked. "Shadow," Zuko replied. "He was Mai's horse. Now he's yours." Amaya held Shadow's reins and guided him to follow Zuko. Zuko led Amaya down a back pathway and down through a tunnel and under the city. They came out in a forest. Amaya heard the sound of water nearby. "Where are we?" Amaya asked. "It's the last beautiful place anywhere near the Fire Nation capital," Zuko replied. He kept going.  He stopped at a place where vine hanged down and blocked the view. He dismounted and helped Amaya get off her horse. "Close your eyes," he said. Amaya did so, trusting Zuko. He guided her through the curtain of vines and she heard the sound of loud running water. “Ok,” Zuko said. “You can look.” Amaya opened her eyes and gasped. Zuko had brought her to a high waterfall that poured into a crystal clear pool of water. There was a rainbow mingled among the mist at the base of the falls. “It’s beautiful,” she whispered. Zuko nodded. “You haven’t seen the half of it. He guided her up a path along the edge and behind water that fell in crystal clear sheets. Behind the waterfall was a large crystal cave. The walls were of red, blue, white, and green crystal. Zuko led her deep into the cave. They walked for a long while and arrived at another opening in the cave. This opening opened onto a beach of snow white sand. The waters on the sands were sapphire blue and the horizon was dark. Amaya looked around. “Where are we?” she asked. “We are at the center point of the world map where all elemental energy is focused and balanced,” Zuko replied. He took Amaya’s hand. “I was going to bring Mai here to propose, but…” he couldn’t finish and he began to cry again. Amaya took him in her arms and her intoxicating scent calmed him again. He looked into her eyes. “And now I bring you here, to ask you the same.” He got down on one knee. “Amaya will you marry me?” At first Amaya was speechless. Then she suddenly threw her arms around Zuko once more. “YES!” she exclaimed. “YES YES YES!!!!”