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Here is a small Zuko/OC story which I promised to write. Yes, I will continue working on my other fics, as well.
This story is in serious need of a Beta reader: Please send me a PM if you're interested.
And now, a small piece of wisdom:
"Sometimes life is like this tunnel. You can't always see the light at the end of the tunnel, but if you keep moving, you will come to a better place."—Iroh
Chapter 1: The storm is just the beginning…
It was terrifying.
I remember the sky turning from clear blue, the lovely clear blue, to a stormy, angry violet, almost black. It was as if night had fallen early. As if we had angered the sea.
I had never believed in the Gods.
The seafarers talked of them often. Of the Goddess of the Seas, who controlled the waves. She was merciful as she was cruel, they would say. She had no favorite and she bent only to her own whims. I would listen to them, liking the strange stories of betrayal and love and lust between different Gods. But, I had never invested myself in the faith.
Back then, it looked just like the Goddess had finally had enough.
The waves rose quickly, from small, playful splashes to giant, black walls of terror. The boat, the sturdy ship, made out of an old warship, swung left and right, tossed about by the enormous, powerful sea like a child throws its toy. We had no waterbenders on board. Not that it would've mattered anyway. The sea was like a raging monster, throwing its tantrum regardless of our innocent journey.
I remember running out onto the deck through the hallway. It had been a rough trip, as everything on the inside was freely swinging left and right and I had had to evade numerous objects on my way. The main deck was no better. The rain was falling like a bunch of icy daggers, the cold drops like steel on my tan skin. My hair had quickly gotten wet, sticking to my face like it had been glued there. Not to mention my clothes, soaked, like second skin.
Then, the wave rose.
Right in front of the helm, a huge, black wall of water rose from nothing, like it was preparing to crush us. For a moment, I wished that it would embrace us and send us into the icy depths of the raging sea. Perhaps, that sacrifice would soothe the Goddess in her anger and end this terrible calamity. Yet, I'd banished those thoughts quickly. I had been taught from a young age that there was only one thing that I could say in the face of Death.
I have just begun.
I struggled towards the control room, the wind and the rain making my limbs freeze with numbness and my eyes squint to see in front of me. I was almost there when the wave broke. The water, turning from black to white, washed across the deck like a herd of terrified animals, its rushing the only thing in my ears. My trembling fingers grabbed the closest thing in numb terror, squeezing it as tightly as they could.
The first blow wasn't too bad.
The white crown of the wave hit me, slamming my body mercilessly against the metal ship, swirling around me and going on its way. The water had entered through my mouth and nose, making me gasp and cough terribly, blinking to get rid of the cloudiness in my vision. I could only taste the salt burning its way through my nose uncomfortably now. I managed to catch my breath for a second.
And then the water receded.
The black, almost deathly calm, liquid moved to the sides of the ship, washing away everything from the deck. Suddenly, I wasn't waist-deep inside anymore, but it was swirling around my knees. Another wave, smaller, hit, washing over me once more and as it slammed me into the metal panel once again, my frozen fingers caved under pressure.
With a small crack, signaling at least two broken digits, I lost my grip on the metal handle and as the black water receded once more, I remember only whispering the name of the angry Goddess, hoping, praying, that she would be merciful.
After all, I have only just begun.
Zuko was sick of the sea. Well, he had never been a true fan, really. Once, he had wished that his father would take him onto one of the warships with him. He had wanted to see all of those things that they spoke of in the legends and tall war tales. The ships, the cannons, the mysterious islands, the Earth Kingdom and even the Water Tribes. His mother had often told him that he didn't need something like that. After all, he had been simply a prince of the Fire Nation, he hadn't been the crowned heir. That had been a role that his cousin, Lu Ten, had carried heavy on his shoulders.
Though, he had been jealous of his sister, Azula. She had been allowed onto his father's warship. Not only that, but their father had taken her with him on one of his patrols. Their mother, Ursa, had been against the idea, but their father had been adamant. After all, what harm could a simple boat trip do?
Of course, his sister had never let him live it down. He had heard numerous tales of her epic journey to the nearby military base and back. Now that he thought about it properly, he didn't doubt that Azula had lied. Azula always lies. She was a master of deception. He would know, as he had been tricked into her cruel games numerous times. She loved pain. Especially if she was the one dealing it out. And even more so if he was on the receiving end. He could imagine her now, grinning, her golden eyes crinkling in the corners, as they always did when she felt superior.
Sometimes, when he looked in the mirror, he could see his sister in his own eyes. However, his Uncle always told him that he was nothing like Azula. If anything, it brought him a smidgeon of comfort.
"Prince Zuko!" One of the soldiers on his vessel called out. Zuko turned, his hair swishing in the wind. His piercing gaze gave a silent permission to the man to speak. "There is a storm ahead us, sir." Said the unnamed soldier. "It would be best to head below deck, the Captain says."
The Captain, Zuko almost snorted. Now that was a conceited man if he had ever seen one. The banished Prince had read the crew members' files before getting on his vessel, of course. The man had been trained as a professional naval officer and he had excelled in the Academy for regular firebending corps, as well. Though, the man had never managed to rise in rank, despite his skills.
Zuko had a suspicion that that was because the man was quite unconventional with his beliefs. After all, he had married a young woman from the Earth Kingdom, whom he had met during his time at the outpost in the colonies. His father undoubtedly wanted the liberal Captain as far away from the Fire Nation as possible. Zuko had been a change sent from heavens. Though, despite their mutual dislike for the Fire Lord, the young Prince couldn't find it in himself to get along with the man. He was simply too obnoxious. As if he had drunk all the wisdom of the world with nothing to show for it.
"If the Captain says so." Sneered the Prince, and gave the soldier a look which would've burned him if he could firebend with his eyes alone. Unfortunately, such a skill still wasn't mastered. Not even by his prodigal sister.
"I meant no disrespect, Prince Zuko, sir." Saluted the soldier, holding the door for the royal. Zuko couldn't help another snort, stomping into the metal hull of the warship. They never did, he thought.
"It's the Storm Belt, Prince Zuko." Explained his Uncle, sitting at the small table with his nephew. The warship was rocking wildly from side to side, sending the people inside left and right, making them hold their possessions and sometimes even lose grasp of their lunch. But, the former great General, now simply Uncle Iroh, sat on his pillow peacefully, not minding the way the light above him swung back and forth, casting ominous shadows all around. He was drinking tea, as usual.
"It doesn't matter." Zuko replied, his voice snapping just a bit less than usual. He loved his Uncle dearly, despite the fact that he would never admit it. After all, the man had always treated him like his own son. "This warship was built for stormy seas."
His Uncle looked like he wanted to sigh or berate him, but he did neither. It was much later that Zuko would actually start to realize and properly value his Uncle's wisdom. Then, he still thought of it as a foolish chatter of an old man.
"It is wise to know the seas, Prince Zuko." The former General spoke. "Most of the Fire Nation's military power lies in its fleet. We have numerous outposts and colonies and it takes an impeccable schedule to maintain them all." The old man kept explaining, making Zuko roll his eyes.
"I know, Uncle." He groaned. "I went to the Fire Nation's Academy for boys, remember? They taught us all about that there." How could he forget. School. Another thing where Azula had excelled. Unlike her, he hadn't been too good at making friends. There were two types of people at his school: those who feared him and those who admired him. And, none of them were honest in their intentions. He had learned that the hard way.
He could still recall his first friend, a nobleman's son named Hesen. The boy had been a little bit too friendly from the start, and that should've been Zuko's first sign that something was off. But, he had been too young back then. Too naïve. Hesen had quickly warmed his way into a visit to Zuko's house. And then a friendship with Zuko's sister. And then smiled and laughed his way through a family dinner.
Zuko couldn't remember the time his father had been that angry.
Well, actually he could. Just a couple of weeks ago, when he had banished his own son onto a fruitless journey. But, that wasn't the point. Hesen had been his own father's loyal subject, attempting to worm his way into the Fire Lord's family through the weakest link and gain control from the inside to further his father's propaganda. And that link had been Zuko. The weakest. Well, he had never truly been anything but that. There was always Azula to outshine him.
"-and it is said that the Goddess rules those seas, as beautiful and terrible as the depths of it themselves." His Uncle's voice entered Zuko's ears once more, this time not in the form of 'blah blah blah' as it often did. The young Prince shut his eyes briefly, willing the image of his former 'friend' away. He tuned into his Uncle's story. "The sailors have always been superstitious, but in these waters, no amount of persuasion can get the natives to let go of their pagan beliefs." The former General caught his tea mug as it slid down the table. The ship was rocking even more violently than before. "We've tried everything, believe me."
"Let them have their religion." The Prince sighed. His scar itched again. Well, his developing scar. The burn over his eye had been healing nicely, as the ship healer said. There had been only a couple of infected places, due to Zuko's own relentless search for the vanished relic, the Avatar. Though, those were on their way to recovery, as well. The healer had told him that he was quite lucky to have kept his eye, as he had seen worse wounds from firebending battles. Lucky. Zuko was anything but lucky. "It doesn't matter." He growled, attempting to scratch the itchiness away over the bandages.
"Does your wound itch again, Prince Zuko?" Of course, his Uncle didn't miss the stolen movement. "Should I call for the healer?"
"No." The Prince's voice took an angry growl, already annoyed with his relative's overprotectiveness. "It's fine." He really hoped that his Uncle would leave it at that. But, the old man didn't.
"If your blisters burst again, you could lose control over your eyelid and-"
"I said it's fine!" Zuko burst out, the flames of the candles in the room surging upward as an answer to his rage. His Uncle looked at the fire calmly, smoothing it down with his own firebending.
"As you wish." And then the old man grabbed his mug, leaving the Prince's room. Zuko sat at the table, staring at the couple of drops which had escaped his Uncle's mug. The swinging light made them look alive in the storm. He sighed, his hand coming to his unhurt eye, making it close and enveloping him in darkness. For a hundredth time, he wished that he was someone else. Not a Prince. Not a firebender. Not even from the Fire Nation.
The warship swung once more in the raging sea and Zuko groaned, opening his good eye. He couldn't change his fate. He was from the Fire Nation and he was a firebender. And most importantly, he was the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation. He would never forget who he was.
The teen stood, staggering a bit as the ship took another dip in the ocean. With a silent curse under his breath, the Prince left his room. He stumbled along the corridor, heading towards the operations room. His path took him across the main deck, which was being washed by violent waves, one after the other. Zuko had been taught what to do in case of a storm, though. He grabbed onto the railing tightly, his fingers going cold from the wind and water. He took a deep breath, concentrating his chi and managed to warm up a little. He wished that his Uncle had taught him more.
The door of the operations room, all the way up at the top of the navigation tower was like heaven to his squinting eye. The Prince pushed the door open and entered the warm inside of the ship, forcing his shoulders to stop shaking. He couldn't show weakness to the soldiers.
"Prince Zuko, how may I be of service?" The navigator of their ship, a tall and lanky man named Sori asked with a polite bow. Now, this man knew his manners, unlike their Captain. Sori always treated the banished Prince with proper respect, like one would a royal in the Fire Nation. The Captain, he thought that Zuko was a spoilt brat and didn't miss a moment to show his convictions clearly.
"Sori." Zuko greeted with a nod. It was as much of a respectful greeting as he could give the navigator. "How is the storm?" The Prince neared the controls, looking out. Now that he was all the way on the top of the command tower, he could see the storm properly. It looked positively terrifying, not that he would actually admit it.
The warship would climb up and then further up the large, dark wave, before the monstrosity would fold on itself and wash over the deck, sweeping it clean. The white crown of the water broke on the ship, the foam flying wildly in the wind, whipping about like a violent armadillosnake. As the water receded, the next wave rose, looking like it would sink the warship. Zuko found himself pushing his fear down like he had done many times before.
"It isn't letting up, sir." Said the navigator, looking out to the sea as well. "I was hoping that we would reach the Tun Chain before the storm hit us, or at least before we reached the eye of it. But, it seems that the Gods are against us."
"Tch." Zuko rolled his eyes. The Gods, again.
"The Archipelago isn't too big, and most of the islands are uninhabited or unexplored, but it's always better to be docked during a storm like this." Sori explained, looking at the map in front of him. The warship shook and something somewhere screeched like it was being twisted painfully.
"When will we reach the islands?" Zuko demanded, ignoring the way the navigator flinched at the obviously bad sound. Ships shouldn't screech, Zuko knew that well. But, he also knew that they had a very capable crew with a couple of good engineers on board.
Sori gave him a solemn look. "We should've reached the Chain this morning." Another scream tore from the ship, followed by a small boom of a telltale explosion. Zuko frowned.
"Did we hit something?" He peered out the window, trying to see something other than humongous waves.
"These islands aren't well charted, sir." Sori added, this time measuring the distance on his map. "I suggested a different route but you insisted-"
"So it is my fault!?" Zuko growled, his tone rising.
"I would never suggest such an atrocious thing, Prince Zuko!" Sori dropped everything, falling to the floor in a formal bow. For a second, Zuko stared at him from above, watching the way the man's hands trembled. He wondered what had Sori done to get shipped off on the banished prince's ship.
Zuko caught the rolling pen which Sori had dropped, motioning with his free fingers for the man to stand up. "Just find where we are." And the navigator rose quickly, avoiding Zuko's piercing eyes. Well, that couldn't be helped. The young Prince had thought that his crew had finally relaxed a bit around him, at least enough to look him in the eyes when they spoke to him, but, he had just set Sori back. And, undoubtedly, that would spread through the rest of them like wildfire. The ones that respected him would become distant and fearful once more and the ones that thought nothing of him would become even ruder.
"We should be seeing Dir Sul in a matter of minutes on the horizon." Sori quipped, his voice a little thin. "It is the first of the islands, and it's uninhabited. The log book says that there is a river with drinkable water and even herbivore animals which can be caught rather easily." The man pointed with his slim finger to one of the dots on the map. "Hopefully the storm will calm enough for us to dock into the river."
"Indeed." Zuko stared at the little dots on the map for a moment, counting them. He'd gotten to fifteen when the warship took a plunge into the oncoming wave, rocking again. The map vanished before his eyes as he lost his footing and slammed into the navigator's chair on his left.
"Prince Zuko!" Exclaimed Sori, his surprisingly strong and quite bony hands grabbing the teen around his forearms and pulling him up. "Are you alright?" Asked the sailor, his eyes searching for any wounds.
"I'm fine." The Prince brushed him off, moving a few steps back. He headed back down, towards the hatch which would take him to the hull of the ship. He felt like practicing some firebending. After all, he couldn't do anything about the dreadful storm or their uncertain location. The last thing he saw as he left the operations room was Sori bowing formally once again to him. He almost sighed, a little miffed about the overly formal greeting. He wasn't the Fire Lord. He was just himself, Zuko, the banished Prince.
The journey across the deck was as icy as the first time around, the violent waves making him feel like he'd taken a dip in the sea. His forearms still ached where Sori had grabbed him. Sure, he'd had worse in his hand-to-hand training, but he knew that the spots would be sore for a while. The navigator was deceptively strong. Of course, Zuko could take him in a fight. After all, Sori was a non-bender. Zuko could take him alright.
It was as he was crossing the small amount of deck that the wave surprised him. It was a large one, dark, with so much more force than the rest of them, and it slammed twice into him, making him let go of the railing for a brief, naïve second. And then, Zuko found himself flying over the edge of the warship, the pull of the sea too strong for him to resist.
Zuko came to like he had many other times. After all, he had been through a number of tough training sessions, due to the will of his father. However, he had never been this wet. He pushed himself up, shaking his head. The developing scar on the left side of his face itched like crazy. He gingerly touched it only to see that his bandage was gone. Great, he thought, he was bound to pick up an infection or two in this dump.
The banished Prince looked around. He was lying, face first, on a fine, sandy beach of an island. The waves were calmly washing over him, pushing his body even further towards the shore. Clearly, he had found the Tun Chain.
A searaven sounded somewhere above him, and Zuko managed to push himself on his back. His arms ached from his trip in the storm. His chest felt heavy. His right leg had a telltale shooting pain going up from the knee, telling him that he had probably broken it. However, the skies were peaceful above him, blue and clear, with only a couple, pure white clouds floating lazily about. Just how long ago had the storm been there?
Zuko laid there for a while, boneless, before managing to pick himself up and push himself into the shade of the palm trees of the island. His lips were already cracking and he was thirsty as a walrus yak. Zuko knew the survival basics. His Uncle had drilled them into him as soon as they had set out onto the sea. And, despite the fact that he often pretended not to listen, he had mopped up all the information like a greedy sponge. There were a couple of rules.
"Rule number one: Fresh water." Murmured the banished Prince to himself, gathering his energy both mentally and physically. After a couple of moments in the shade, he felt a bit cooler and stood. He began his search with a heavy limp. Water dripped from his clothes, but he didn't stop. Instead, the Prince simply undid the front of his shirt, letting it flow freely so that it would dry faster. After a few meters, he got annoyed by the squishing sounds of the water in his shoes and stopped to take them off.
The ground was sandy, yet there were patches of grass here and there, and the grains stuck to his wet feet in an uncomfortable way. He was going deeper and deeper towards the center of the island and the Prince decided to take a turn to his right, towards the East by the sun's position, so that he wouldn't move too far away from the beach. He was sure that by then his Uncle had already realized that he was gone and had begun searching for him, but it would take the ship a while. He wanted to stay close to the shore just in case he spotted the ship.
After a hundred or so meters, Zuko took a break. His leg was hurting and he had begun to limp quite badly, glad that there was no one beside him on the island, that he knew of, to see his undignified state. He spotted a branch on the ground and took a moment to fashion himself a walking stick of sorts with a little aid of his firebending. He created fire daggers, something which he had been practicing in the recent weeks with his Uncle, and burned the unnecessary side branches completely, rolling the stick in the dirt to keep it from being set on fire. Soon, he was once more on his way, this time walking with a little bit more ease.
It took him around twenty minutes to finally hear a sound of rushing water and the Prince couldn't help but grin, strength returning to his limbs a bit. He hurried towards the source of the sound, only to find a small stream of water. Surprisingly, it wasn't blue, but a pale, yellow color. However, Zuko didn't care.
Water was water. He scooped up as much as he could, gulping it down greedily. His throat burned in a familiar way like he hadn't drunk anything in ages. It was only after a couple of scoops that Zuko slowed down, choosing to sit next to the stream instead, his sore feet in it. He splashed some water onto his forehead and then slicked it over his bald head. The yellow liquid dripped down his face, over his eyebrows, and onto his open shirt.
Then, his vision swam.
And that's all I've got. I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts :D
Again, if you're interested in being a Beta for this story, please give me a shout in a PM.
A little bit of general info:
Length of story: Will have multiple parts
Length of chapters: Each will be 4k words or above
Frequency of updates: Irregular (quality over quantity)
Pairing: Zuko/OC
Rating: T (for our dear Prince's language)
Until next time!