Disclaimer: Nope, sorry, I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender or any of its characters. If I did, Zutara would totally pwn XD
A/N: I had a lot of inspiration for the first chapter from StrikingFalcon and her story "Second Chance". This chapter takes place before Zuko's metamorphosis. And there is a quote in here. See if you can find it!
"Oh, Mai, you look so pretty!" a girl clad in a pink dress exclaimed. Dark brown tresses bounced up and down, a smile beaming at her friend. "I can't believe you're going to marry the prince!"
Small, cold, gray eyes rolled and she waved a hand carelessly in the air. "Please, Ty Lee, don't be so cheery. It makes me depressed," Mai said in her usual monotone voice. Jet-black hair hung loosely around her pale, angular face. The bride wore a simple white wedding dress, for the tailor refused to make a black or red wedding gown.
"Come on, Mai! It's your wedding day, you should be happy!" Ty Lee said pitifully.
"Whatever," Mai replied.
Though she would never admit it, it was the first time in her life she could remember being happy. As a little girl, she would play with Ty Lee and Zuko's sister, Azula, and she saw Zuko almost every day. She would look away shyly, a faint tint of red staining her cheeks whenever she saw the cute prince. Even though it was a political marriage between a noblewoman and the Fire Lord's heir, and even though they were only marrying to sustain peace in the Fire Nation, Mai loved Zuko with all of her heart
xXx
"I'm so proud of you, Zuko," Ursa praised. Smooth, milky hands rested on her son's shoulders, pulling her face next to his from behind. Sharp, golden eyes looked at Zuko's fourteen-year-old face lovingly. Ursa wore the traditional Fire Lady attire, a uniform of dark reds. Her straight, black hair was pinned in a bun with a hair ornament in the shape of the Fire Nation symbol. She was beautiful and graceful, and her son had inherited the beauty in a masculine way. "You're finally getting married!"
"Yeah, to a pathetic wench," the spoiled prince scoffed, rolling his golden eyes.
Ursa gasped, a sharp slap on the arm soon making contact afterwards. "Zuko! That is no way to talk about your bride!" his mother snapped.
"But Mother! I don't love her! She's annoying, with her being depressed all the time, she's unattractive, and she clings to me like a blood-sucking leech!" Zuko seethed. He was not fond of the political marriage.
The Fire Lady gave him her hottest stare. "She loves you, and your doing this for the love of your country. The least you can do is go through with this marriage, though you don't have a choice in the matter!" She glared at him one last time before slamming the mahogany doors behind her.
xXx
The traditional organs began to play the familiar wedding tune. The bride walked down the aisle, a bouquet of white pandalillies in her hands. For the first time, Mai was actually smiling; gray stones on her soon-to-be husband.
When Zuko took her arm hesitantly and obviously disgusted, Mai had enough intelligence to figure out that something was up. "Zuko, what's wrong?" She looked at him worried, hand gripping his upper arm.
He turned to her sharply, amber eyes burning with the fires of Hell. "What's wrong? What I'm doing, marrying you, that's what's wrong! I don't even like you, yet I'm promising to spend the rest of my now worthless life with you, and," he paused from yelling at the top of his lungs and swallowed, as if an obese man had stripped in front of him, "promising to... love...you!" He gripped her trembling hands as his eyes cut into her own. "You don't deserve me, a Fire Nation prince who can't stand you! You should be with a nobleman who has the heart to love you, okay?" He shoved her away, storming off until he saw his mother and others assist the noblewoman up from the wedding benches. Zuko looked at her, a blank mask on her face. Beneath that very mask was a face of sheer horror and humiliation. Mai looked at him, her true expressions shining. Tears rimmed her eyelashes that soon gave way. He had just humiliated her in front of the entire Fire Nation.
"I'm glad you understand." the monster spat out at the rejected bride. He began to stride out of the room, bringing his cold, unfeeling heart with him.
Mai looked at him through narrowed eyes, her lips in a tight, thin line. "You aren't getting off that easily!" she drawled darkly. Mai pulled out knives from her sleeves and they soared through the air, pinning the spoiled prince against the Fire Nation palace wall.
Zuko's furious father approached what he would never admit to be his son, nor a human being. Ozai was even more monstrous than his spoiled son, killing off others for pleasure and for his own ends. Zuko had dishonored him as much as he had Mai by refusing the duties as the heir to the empire. Ozai looked at the boy pinned to the wall, anger lighting up his slitted eyes like flames. "You WILL learn respect, and suffering will be your teacher," he said in a deep voice. Ozai jerked his large fist out and flames emitted from it, burning the area around his son's left eye to almost his cheek.
"No!" Zuko cried as he tried to cover his repulsive face.
An emotionally scarred woman hover over the damaged Zuko, her shadow suffocating his entire body. "From now on you shall feel the pain and suffering you have put me through. You will be turned into your inner beast, a dragon. Forever you shall live this way, except the night of the full moon. When the full moon comes out of its hiding, you will be able to take on your human form, but you will be unable to tell who you are and what happened to you this day! I will curse you until you learn to love another and she loves you back!"
Mai held up her hands and did as she promised. Zuko's black hair turned red and stretched across his back. His pale skin became rough and scaly, the sun reflecting light off of scarlet scales. The prince's nails grew into claws, tapping on the marble floor. Stood before Mai was a red, heartless dragon with small, golden orbs in the shape of Mai's. He roared, ready to strike hen Mai threw a dart at him, puncturing the soft, vulnerable skin underneath his scales.
'I will have my revenge, Mai.' Zuko swore mentally as he fell into a dark world of nothingness.
Thank you to Ferousha the Panda Chick for Beta(ing) this chapter. It kinda sucked before Thanks again! Please review!