Disclaimer: I do not own A:TLA or its characters!

Author's Note: I wanted the chapter to be short to see if anyone would like it and if I should continue. Remember, reviews give people life! So give me life, please!

Chapter One:

Proposal

That constant presence that he had known all his life just suddenly vanished. It was gone within just one night. He still had no idea why she had left and there was no explanation given as if it wasn't to be explained. The constant in his young life was completely gone and he could not turn back time to change it. He just had to deal with it. He just had to accept that she was gone. He had to just deal with it for a whole month now, and his feet kept running back towards the pond in the Fire Nation Royal Gardens to see if she would just magically appear but she hadn't. No, she never appeared or came back to him. It was all wishful thinking on his part.

No matter what did or said or how much he prayed to Agni…

His mother was gone.

Azula's torment grew worse now that there wasn't an adult figure to stop her. Essentially, Zuko was all alone. He had no one to turn to, no one to vent his problems to, and he had to bottle it all in. Azula would call his venting 'insistent whining' and further insult their mother. His father, well, his father would simply tell him to grow up; he was sure of it. And Iroh wasn't there and couldn't be reached. Zuko had no idea where the man had even gone after the death of Lu Ten.

The palace felt even more so emptier without her there. He constantly roamed about when he had no Firebending training, just constantly finding a place to go for solace and to accept that she was gone. How does a child at the age of eleven just accept that? There had to be a way, a way for him to distract himself but he couldn't find anything. His feet would always lead him back to the Garden, where he would just wallow in the sinking feeling in his chest. At night, he still even cried out to her as the scene of the last minutes he spent with her kept rewinding in his mind: "Zuko, please, my love, listen to me. Everything I've done, I've done to protect you. Remember this, Zuko. No matter how things may seem to change, never forget who you are."

What did she do for him except abandon him? Leaving him alone in the palace with no one at his side? His sadness was beginning to turn into resentment. How could a mother just abandon their child? What did she do that was to protect him? Did hurting him like this mean she was protecting him?

Biting down on his bottom lip, he strained to keep his eyes from fogging up with tears and tilted his head back, blinking them away. He was too old for tears, he was the heir to the throne; crying was a sign of weakness and he was never allowed to be weak again. He had to prove to his father that he rightfully deserved this position and he did not need to ruin it by thinking of her.

In order to strengthen himself mentally, Zuko decided that it was best that he kept up his knowledge of battle. Strategy was an important role in the war and he must do everything in his effort to make sure his father knew that Zuko was more than capable of handling battles or anything war-related depending on how long that this Hundred Year War lasted.

There were two studies in the Fire Nation Royal Palace, this study was abandoned some time ago due to an awful rumor that happened decades ago, even before his father was born. Zuko could recall his uncle telling Azula and himself that it was said to be haunted by their great, great, great grandfather that was killed here by his wife. Of course, Zuko was afraid and Azula, despite putting on a brave front, never entered the place herself. If his father and Azula never entered then that means it was seriou business, didn't it? But this study had old scrolls filled with knowledge on everything he wanted to absorb. If it was haunted, well, he was sure to find out today.

"A warrior is worthless unless he rises above others and stands strong in the midst of a storm…" Zuko repeated, taking the words into consideration. He wondered if that could be applied to him now. Was he in midst of a storm? The storm could be applied to his loneliness, the fact that he had no one here beside him. There were people that wanted to see him fail and he could rise above it and be strong. Would it give him the recognition he deserved?

"Are you in the midst of a storm?"

The disembodied voice made his eyes widen, his body jolting back from the chair he was sitting in as his body pressed against the shelf behind him. He was afraid, a natural reaction since the voice spoke without a body. It didn't sound dangerous but the whole situation wasn't ideal or unscary. "W-Who are you?!"

"Just a person."

Zuko's thick brows knitted together, his amber pupils narrowing out of anger and fear. "If you're a person then why don't you have a body? How do you speak?" He questioned, "And why show yourself now?"

A soft, orotund hum rung in the air for a few minutes, "Well, I thought you were talking to me. That's why."

"Why would I talk to a person that I did not know existed?" Were they tugging his leg or were they actually being serious? He had to question, even going as far as wondering if this was Azula playing a mind trick on him.

The voice didn't sound familiar so it could not be Ty Lee or Mai, and it didn't seem to fit any of the servants that he could recall but it could be one of them. Deciding to not stay in his frozen state of fear, the prince walked around the table and looked down the long aisles before him. "Are you looking for me?"

"Yes, I want you to get out of the shadows and stop playing this game. I know this place was said to be haunted, and I also know that it's impossible. Ghosts do not exist."

"Pah!" The laugh was fruity, rich in sound but it only served to annoy the prince. He felt as if they were laughing at him, laughing in a way to mock him. "You're right," his brow rose, "ghosts do not exist."

If they were not a ghost then they were most certainly human. They were alive, and they dared to place such a trick on him. Furrowing his brows, moved by his anger, he walked down the aisles and towards the dark end of the study.

"But if I am not a ghost then what do you think I am?" The question made him freeze in place, "Do you think… that I am human?"

If they were neither ghost nor human then what were they? The only thing Zuko could think of… "A spirit?"

"Ah, so spirits have not been forgotten?" They questioned, seemingly pleased yet ultimately surprised.

"If you're a spirit then how are you here? In the Mortal world? Why aren't you in the Spirit World?"

A sigh escaped the entity that was within the study. "I'm stuck. Some might say cursed; I'd rather say bound. I don't like to think very much about it."

Stuck? Cursed? Bound? Whoever trapped this spirit here intended it, and for what reason? Zuko was afraid to ask. What if this spirit had done horrendous things and the only way to stop it was to curse it here? Due to no record of such actions, this is why this study was considered haunted. Did he dare go forward? If the spirit wanted to harm him, wouldn't it do so already?

Hesitantly, he dared to walk forward again getting closer to the voice. After a few steps, pale ruby eyes appeared before him. Zuko dared to move a little closer to look the figure in the face, and then some more to see their feet. He stops there. He dares, and doing nothing more.

Before him appeared be a peculiar spirit, one he did not expected to be the own of the voice. He thought he would see something much more frightening but instead, it looked like a young girl possibly of the age of eleven or older, maybe even fourteen to be exact. She just a bit taller than he was with hair that was white with, if he wasn't mistake, pale pink undertones. Her eyebrows were even old fashioned like, styled in Hikimayu style.

Her clothes were old fashioned too, she wore a red long robe that covered her feet and sleeves that were at the same length too. It was plain signifying how old it was and to most, it would look like it was way too big for someone of her petite stature.

She did not look normal, her human features were certainly something to question. No human had hair or eyes of those colors, which made Zuko know that she did not lie that she was not human nor ghost.

"Come here!" As if realizing something, Zuko stiffened. His heart beat loud in the air. "I need your help, so come on. Come here."

He didn't bend.

The entity spoke again, this time with a little bite. "The hell you waiting for?! Oh, oh, have I been rude? Have I been rude? Oh, well. You are cordially invited to move your dumb legs!"

Zuko's eyes widened more so in shock than ghastly fear. He hadn't expected to be spoken to like that and from the looks of it, the girl did not look like she wanted to say those exact words intentionally. "What?" It was the only thing he could manage to say after what he just saw and what she just said.

"Slow, are you? What does it matter? What're you pissing your trousers for? Get over here." He almost hoped that he imagined her rudeness but it appears that the spirit was actually, unbelievably rude.

"Why should I come over there?!" The prince barked, pointed to himself with his thumb before positioning his pointer finger at her in a rather accusing way. "And just who do you think you're talking to? I am the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, Prince Zuko! I have no idea why do you think you should speak to me in any type of way!"

A smile cracked along her face, "Crown Prince Zuko?" She repeated, "Ha!" Her arms slowly wrapped around her stomach as she tilted her head back, laughing rather maniacally, "Hahahahahaha! HA! CROWN PRINCE!" Wiping a tear that pooled at the corner of her eyes, she calmed herself. "Oh my. Oh my, oh my, oh my; when was it last that I laughed like this?"

Her grin, her grin was so bright, watching, chuckling while he shrinks back a little before forcing a flow of confidence to take his form. He straightens himself up a bit, his eyes nearly into slits. "You dare insult my title?!"

"Eh? Eh, eh now, person? Person, you're just perfect. A jester! Won't you lend an ear? Before I steal your crown~"

At her laugher, Zuko glared. Steeling himself, he spoke. "An ear? After you just insulted me?! What do you take me for? An idiot?!"

"Whaaaaat?"

"You know what I mean."

"Hell, I really don't."

Sighing angrily, he closed his eyes briefly and pinched the bridge of his nose. To think he was scared of such an ignorant, foul-mouthed, temperamental thing. "What do you want?" He finally asked.

"I want you to help me." She simply said, "I want you to help free me."