Authors note: this story is somewhat au only along the lines of some parts of the original story being changed such as Iroh becoming firelord and Zuko being next in line. The oc characters belong to me and anything not featured in Avatar the show but other than that it all belongs to the creators of Avatar The Last Airbender.

This story is told in my oc character Emmie's perspective. It begins after the final battle but not long after it and will have back tracks and such. This is a romance fic between Zuko and Emmie.

Cool light filtered in fragments through the large canopy above me. Strange that in a scary situation like this I finally seem to notice the simple and beautiful details that surround me.

Lying back against the chilled roots on the forest floor I look to my right.

Karata lays his body a little ways from mine against the base of the large tree. His face is calm now as he lays unconscious his breathing hitching slightly from the fatal wound in his chest.

Scrunching my eyes to hold back the tears I give a quick nod to Katara.

"I still don't understand Emmie, what exactly is going to happen?" she asks looking worried.

Giving a strained smile. I chuckle lightly; she really can be frustrating at times.

"Don't worry, I'm going to ask the mother spirit that lies in this tree to use my energy to heal Zuko, now just leave it at that for now okay I really need to begin."

She nods slightly and remains quiet.

How in the world do I get myself into these situations? I've never been much good for anything and now I'm turning into this weird hero.

Shaking my head I focus on the sprite within the tree, a strong spirit that gives life to these sacred woods that I grew up in.

No words are exchanged but I can feel the spirits reserve and I reveal my mind to her to settle her disputes against what is about to happen.

Relaxing, I can feel the slightly painful tug of the spirit side of me being yanked away. It drifts through the trunk and over to Zuko.

I may only be half spirit but it should still be enough to heal him.

I still don't know how it happened; I fell in love so quickly I barely had time to see my surroundings.

Maybe it goes back to how I was raised, simply wanting to be loved.

I hear my mother was a kind spirit and even kinder still when she fell in love with my human father.

Just before I was born though tragedy struck and my father passed away from a disease in his system.

My birth wasn't a happy occasion as it should have been, the healers said my mother took one look at me and noticed I looked very much like my father and ordered the nurses to take me away.

Childhood continued much like this as I grew, my mothers heart had seemed to disappear after my father and in its place lay hatred.

She was the queen though, she ruled over the spirits and half bloods like me who stayed on earth. Our forest was magical, each tree trunk and leafy foliage containing a voice of it's own.

Her malice continued to grow worse as I reached yet another year older, she barely spoke to me or looked at me and she became cruel to her people.

Truthfully I do not want to relive what she has done to our once proud race. She was never kind tough and she had an especially short temper with me.

I learned at a young age to keep quiet and stay out of the way. Thankfully being half spirit any wounds I received from her healed as fast as they appeared.

My sanctuary where the trees and plants around me, my mother being a spirit of the trees I was passed on the same connection she had with them.

I could converse with any plant and connect with them to see what they had seen. This was how I lived, through images and pictures.

So maybe that's why I fell for him so hard.

He didn't have an easy childhood like mine. I was drawn to him immediately, and while others were put off by his scarred features that only seemed to bring me closer.

We became fast friends when he joined the Avatars cause. I myself hadn't been with them for long. I had finally struck up the courage to run away and see anything that was outside of the woods I was restricted too.

Unfortunately I didn't get very far before I was caught by one group or another, first earth benders before I escaped and then fire benders.

Seems I don't have much luck at all as you can tell. Thankfully in my quarantine at one point in Ba Sing Sei, Sokka and Toph where thrown into the same sell as I was in and we bonded quickly.

They figured another body with different abilities could always be useful.

My abilities seemed to lie with the plants I could summon them and will them to grow as quick as lightning. It is much like vine bending but without bending the water in them.

The group was surprised that I knew who they were but quickly grew comfortable. In the last year before I left it seemed every plant was buzzing about the Avatar and his friends and their archenemy Zuko. I followed them closely before I left which seemed to help me out in the end with bonding with Zuko.

I was the first one to welcome him and trust him because I knew the events that had led him to this point and even the words he had spoken to others about it.

Such a handsome boy even being close to him now is intoxicating. If I were standing my knees would probably be jelly.

Sadly when Azula struck him only hours before, Katara was only able to heal enough to keep him out of deaths door.

That's when I had remembered this, a legend among my people.

It is said that if you lay against the life of the forest you can give up some of your energy to save someone you love. Unfortunately it didn't work for my mother but I learned later that it was because she wasn't willing to give up everything, all of her gifts, as she would become human.

I am though, for him I would give up anything just to see him stand and smile and live.

So here we are.

A soft voice emanates in my mind as the last of my spirit side is pulled out of me.

"Emmaline, you understand what may be after this. You will still have a connection to all living plants, your personality still mirrors them, but they will not follow orders from you. You may ask but they have the right to refuse. Unfortunately your spirit self is not enough to heal this young man but I can take some of your human side to heal him enough so that the wound won't bother him.

A warning though if I take from this side all of your old wounds will come back and resurface. Some have died from this but your soul is strong, and you may survive. What is your choice little one?"

I should be afraid or sad for giving up so much. I should but I'm not, maybe it's because I've always been the odd one amongst regulars. I've always been the runt, the one who couldn't do anything and always overlooked. Now finally the man I'm in love with could never over look me because I'm the reason he is still here. I can finally be the one that isn't left behind for once. Even if I said no I don't want to be irregular anymore, I want to be like everyone else. A split second of thinking and I had made up my mind.

"I understand and I want you to go ahead with using my human side as well. " I spoke in my mind back to the spirit.

Her voice emanated once more in my mind.

"Very well, I do want to thank you as well, your memories have been very useful and I realize that a change needs to be made down here on earth. You should be proud little one, because of you the people you belonged to shall be prosperous once more."

As her voice faded from my mind, I smiled.

Then pain erupted through me as it felt like my very soul was being ripped from me.

A couple seconds more and it stopped, even lying close to unconsciousness I could feel the skin on my break stretching and breaking.

Darkness took me quickly and kindly, but not before I turned my head suddenly caught hold of a surprised set of golden orbs boring into mine.