Zuko must overthrow his father for his rightful place on the throne. But he needs help. From some banned fire warriors, and even stranger enough, a female fire berserker. Temperatures flare between the two. Hate, love, hope, and strength form true fire warriors.

The Heart Of A Fire Warrior
By: The Obsidian Goddess

I can hardly breathe
Lost and hopeless
Down so low
Something died inside
I just can't believe it

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"Uncle, what on Earth are you doing?" Zuko asked as he watched his uncle examined a flower.

They had made their way from that deserted ghost town and into a thick forest. Stopping to figure out where they were, his uncle began to examine a flower. Zuko hated to admit it, but he knew they were hopelessly lost. The forest was extremely thick and showed no sign of ever ending.

"It looks like a rare purple lily that would make for wonderful tea," his uncle blankly stated.

Zuko smacked his hand of the top of his head. They'd already gone through something very similar before. The last time his uncle tried to make tea out of some rare plant, he got a horrible rash. Well, Zuko would be damned if that happened this time. They couldn't risk his uncle getting sick again.

Before he could get up to stomp the stupid plant into the ground, a voice came from the forest.

"I really wouldn't try to mix that with your tea," the unknown voice said.

Zuko jumped up from under the tree he occupied, and went for the swords haltered at his side. A figure emerged from the trees and paused before the two. He wore Fire Nation armor, but wasn't heading for his weapons.

"Who are you?" Zuko demanded from the man.

The unknown warrior ignored his question and proceeded to explain that the iron in the plant was very deadly if consumed.

"Be at ease Zuko. The man seems to mean us no harm," Iron consulted his nephew.

But of course, Zuko argued otherwise. During their little conversation, the known man heard Zuko say the older mans name.

"General Iroh?" he asked.

The two paused amidst of their argument and brought their attention to the man.

"That is me," Iroh stated with a hint of suspicion in his voice.

The man suddenly dropped to one knee. "I had a shaking suspicion that it was you, I just wasn't sure." He brought his head up. "It's me, Lee. You trained me and my father before the you left for the war."

Iroh's eyes slightly widened and a smile appeared on his face. "Lee, my goodness," he exclaimed. "You have grown up so much."

The two quickly got re-acquainted and Iroh began to explain their predicament. Lee in return explained what had happened to him when he was sent off to war and how he had been banned from the Fire Nation. He told them of the others in his platoon and the hideaway they had in the very woods they were in. Lee offered them to stay with him for the time being. Iroh gracefully accepted. Zuko didn't seem too happy about it, but he didn't have much say in the matter. It was better than living in the open woods like they had been doing.

Weaving their way through the forest, Lee and his two followers made it to the hideaway of the forsaken Fire Nation warriors. The house didn't seem to be what Zuko expected. It was bigger than what most people would think a hideaway to be. It reminded him of the houses he saw back home. The traditional walls matched the skillfully crafted roof and the makeshift pound added a soft touch to the landscape. It took the attention away from some of the trees that were scarred with burn marks which seemed to hide behind the fuller, richer trees.

"This is one of the safest places we could find from the Fire Nation," Lee explained. "The woods are thick and make it hard to see the house from a far distance."

Lee noticed General Iroh examining the burnt trees.

"However, no place is completely safe from the Fire Nation; not even here," Lee sighed. "We do our best to keep a low profile, but we do get a few soldiers that come through this way."

"I see," General Iroh replied. "But how did you manage to keep this place a secret if soldiers have been this way and have engaged you in battle?"

Lee turned his back to the General and continued to walk down the grave that lead to the hideaway. "We had to use a last resort to keep this place a secret," he mumbled over his shoulder. "We dumped the bodies several miles away from here to throw off the Fire Nation. Understand this, General Iroh, we did what he had to do."

Iroh nodded his head, understanding the situation. He knew what it was like to be in the boy's shoes. It was either them or the enemy, and they chose them. It wasn't fair, but things are rarely fair to begin with.

They walked around the pound to the sliding door on the side of the house.

"You must tell me," Iroh inquired, "how did you manage to make a house with such perfect craftsmanship?"

"One of the warriors' fathers' was an architect." He started to chuckle, "he wasn't as skilled as his father though. It took us several weeks to figure out that you need a few support beams to keep the thing from caving in. But we finally got the hang of it and in a matter of months, we had it the way it should be."

"So where is your commander?" inquired Zuko.

"Inside with the others," Lee replied.

Before Lee could slide the door open, someone flung it open. A girl walked out with a rope wrapped around her arm. She stormed out and at the other end on the rope was an older man. He was tied up and had some strange cloth shoved in his mouth. She paused in front Lee with a frown on her face.

"I'll be back in a little bit," she calmly stated. And with that being said, she stormed off into the woods.

Lee casually walked into the room with two bugged-eyed people trailing him. Five people sat around a roaring fire that lit up the room. An animal was skewered and roasting across the fire. Zuko noted that there were four male fire benders, and strangely enough, a female water bender in the room. He wondered how a water bender could be found amongst fire benders.

"What did he do now?" Lee asked with a cocked eyebrow.

The female water bender put a hand over her mouth and lightly giggled.

"He decided that his dinner would be one of the adult turtle-ducks. Least to say, Sonya wasn't to happy about it," laughed one of the soldiers. "I guess she warned him about touching those things, but it didn't get through his thick head."

Lee hung his head down and his body shook with laughter.

"Okay, but what on earth was that in his mouth?" he asked.

The others snickered. A soldier explained that it was a dirty sock she had used to shove in his mouth and shut him up. After telling Lee that she planned to hang him in a tree, he then proceeded to ask Lee who his to travelers were. Lee explained that the two were General Iroh and Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation. Before the others could react, he told them that they were banned from the Fire Nation as well, and it was safe to have them stay here.

Lee motioned for Iroh and Zuko to sit down and happily offered them some ginseng tea. Of course Iroh went on about how ginseng tea was his favorite. The room lit up with light conversation as the others were interested in knowing more about the two. Right in the middle of the conversation, Sonya entered the room with a satisfied expression on her. She sat immediately down and took the offered tea that Lee gave her.

"So…," Lee asked, "how long to do you planned to have him up in that tree?"

"Until I feel like he can come down," she bleakly replied. "I warned him not to harm those creatures, but he didn't listen."

"Fair enough, but why tie him up in a tree?"

"I was running out of ideas on what do to with him," she smirked.

After a few more back and forth comments from them two, Sonya inquired on who the two men were that she saw when she passed them earlier. Lee explained to her what he had explained to the others. She nodded her head in approval and started up a conversation with Iroh. Some of the others stated they were off to bed, but Sonya didn't notice much as she was conversing with the former general. The conversation held no real importance; just something to get the two acquainted. During that time, Zuko couldn't help but notice the color of her hair. It was a deep red; the color of rubies, but with orange highlights in it. It looked like fire itself. It came barely past her shoulders in light waves. Her eyes were a rich color of gold and she had light colored skin. Something Iroh said made Sonya laugh and he snapped back into the conversation.

"Ahh yes, his nickname as a child was Zuzu. Oh, how he did hate that name," Iron chuckled.

"Uncle," Zuko exclaimed, "why must you tell people these things!"

Sonya observed the two with her eyebrows raised in amusement as they lightly argued. While Iroh was being light-hearted, Zuko, as hot tempered as he was, wasn't acting calm at all.

"Oh calm down nephew, most of the others left, and I'm sure Sonya won't tell a soul. Now will you dear?" he asked her.

Sonya looked past Iroh to Zuko. "Of course not," she said with a grin. Iroh turned his head to Zuko with a satisfied look on his face. "I won't tell a soul, but as for living beings, I'm not sure I can promise that."

Zuko scowled at her, which in return widened her grin.

Iroh's laugh made them both look at him. "Oh I like this one," he said, "she's very good at finding loop holes in what people say.

"Of course she is," Lee interrupted them. "She's our commander. She has be good at finding all sorts of loops holes."

That last statement caught Zuko off guard. He wondered how on earth a girl, who seemed his age, could be commander. Lee had to be ten years older than she was; yet she was their leader, not him. It was ridiculous! Right at that moment, Sonya caught Zuko's surprised expression out of the corner of her eye.

"What's that look for?" she demanded.

"I was just wondering how a young girl like yourself could be commander of a platoon such as this," he snapped back at her.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"You heard me."

Sonya arose with anger blazing from her eyes. "What, you think a girl can't be a commander?" she asked through her bared teeth.

Zuko stood as soon as he saw her get up. "Well excuse me, but it's well known that women can't lead people into battle all that well."

Sonya's jaw nearly hit the ground. "This kid has GOT to be kidding," her mind screamed at her. "I bet I can take you down with both hands tied behind my back," she snapped at him.

Zuko proposed they have a spar at sunrise to challenge her last statement. Iroh and Lee tried their best to calm the two raging teens down, but their wise words went in one ear and out the other for both.

Sonya stormed out of the room with smoke blaring out of her nostrils. It was on. She thought to herself, "At sunrise I'm gonna knock some sense into that little twerp. I'll show him that he isn't as big and bad has he thinks!" As her mind was scrambling with even more thoughts, a small one whispered in her head saying how he was a little bit cute. Her mind screamed for that little voice to shut the hell up and not to speak again. With that being over, she went to her bed, her body aching for tomorrow's fight.

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Hope you all enjoyed it so far! Please Read and Review! Chapter two should be coming out soon.

Edit: Thanks to those who helped me spot them out. And a special thanks to my friend BitchInBlack for proof reading my story and helping me with my errors!