Scars Never Fade

Scars Sometimes Fade

Ch. 1

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Zuko breathed slowly, watching the flame of the candle rise and fall in time with his breaths. But, of course, something broke his attention on the tiny fire.

Zuko watched as the Avatar, 'I mean Aang,' inhaled a breath as if he was the Big Bad Wolf-bat about to blow down the Three Little Sheep-pigs houses, and exhaled watching as he got the flame to rise higher depending on the measure of his breath. The young Airbender smiled lightly at his accomplishment and Zuko couldn't help but smile. "What are you doing?!" he asked in feigned sharpness.

This broke the boy's concentration. "Zuko. Uh-I mean Sifu, sorry I was just­–"

"Having a little too much fun…" Zuko finished with a laugh which relaxed his nervous pupil. "It's alright. I just want you to know the purpose of this sort of meditation. Aang, you're a great Firebender and you're learning quickly but as a monk you should know about this sort of thing. Meditation with the fire, putting all your focus into the tiny flame, in getting it to match your breaths, your demeanor truly makes you one with the fire and gives you the proper focus you'll need when we start on more advance moves."

Aang nodded. "I understand. Sorry Sifu, I'll try to be more diligent next time."

The firebender smiled lightly, "It's alright. I just wanted you to know that. But let's call it a day, you've worked really hard and now you deserve some rest."

The young monk's smile grew. "Really?! Ah thanks Zuko!" he said rushing out of the room on his air scooter. Zuko listened to the abrupt stop and "Oomph" of a crash from just outside the door. A soft, and now slightly annoyed, female voice spoke next:

"Aang, I've been looking for you everywhere. Come on, I've got some new moves to teach you. You've been pretty lax on your waterbending training and I think you could use some practice," Katara said pulling herself from the tangle of arms and legs they had become, "Besides, I haven't seen a lot of you lately…you've been so busy practicing Firebending and I miss you."

Zuko could almost see the blush rise to both their cheeks; Aang's blush probably deepest as he tried to come up with an answer. The tension between them that started to grow more and more lately was, although amusing, very distracting for his young pupil and he needed Aang's complete concentration if the boy wanted to master Firebending and so he hoped the young couple would stop avoiding what is right in front of them. 'But I suppose they both don't have a lot of time to think about it.' It was true that Aang was constantly working, either with Zuko on Firebending, Toph on Earthbending and fighting strategies with the Water Tribe warriors and the newest additions to the group, Suki and Chet Zang, who didn't know much about strategy but was ready to help out whenever possible.

Zuko shook his head. 'We're quite the team, but they're all determined to win. All ready to fight for what they love.' Zuko thought back onto what he loved, Mai, his country and he was ready to fight for them and make amends to all those that this war had hurt and that he had hurt personally. The small flame rose higher as he thought about those people he had hurt. He tried to get them out of his mind but he lost control when he heard herscream of pain and the flame grew and rose, exploding in a series of embers that disperses across the ceiling of his room. 'I haven't thought about that in a while,' Zuko thought the scream still echoing in his mind.

--

The flames that danced across the ceiling from her recent outburst reflected in her cerulean eyes. The girl, her shiny black hair now glistening in the light lowered her head and began breathing, trying to calm herself down. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. She hate it when she lost control, her temper was a weakness of hers and she usually never let it show to her troops. 'Anger is just a sign of weakness. To be a true leader you must never show it, you must always be cool and collected ready for everything, always able to calculate your opponents next more without any emotions getting in the way.' Her masters' voices echoed in her mind. Their teachings held truth and with her calculating, calm ways she was able to climb to the status of general in the military hierarchy. Those masters, once her superiors were now her contemporaries. They actually looked to her for advice these days. She couldn't help but smile at the thought, gazing affectionetly at her uniform, the new gold detailing reflecting in the flame that had finally calmed down.

'It's hard to keep myself from getting angry on this day' she thought to herself falling onto her back to look up on the black metal ceiling of her room. It was the anniversary of many things. It was the day she was saved by the Fire Nation from becoming an uneducated, unruly water tribe peasant and taken to live with a man she had treated like her father. "Iroh..." she murmured feeling a pang of grievance for having to leave him so soon, of being taken away from him. The grief was gone in a flash and was soon replaced by anger. "It was all Zuko's fault!" she whispered angrily the flames exploding to the height of the ceiling again, this time she did nothing to calm down.

The creak of the door swinging open interrupted her internal triage and the flames again dispersed the small candle going out entirely leaving nothing to light up the girl except for the eerie moonlight shining through the porthole.

"Yes? What do you want?" she asked harshly, rubbing her temples.

"We've arrived at the Boiling Rock. Do you want to come get the prisoners for transfer, General?" the soldier replied calmly, although sensing that something was wrong. There was a pause, a silence when the young general didn't answer. "Kya?" he asked sincerely worried about his friend. "Is anything wrong? I know it's the anniversary but you've never let it get in the way before.

The general, Kya, laughed coldly. "I'm a top general for the Fire Nation yet here I am transporting prisoners, a job that I believe is far beneath my title."

He gave a weak smile, "To be fair it was you who suggested the move of Mai and Ty-lee, so Zuko and his friends wouldn't cause anymore havoc. Make the nation actually worry about an attack by them."

Kya nodded, "I suppose it's my fault then that I keep getting involved in his life." Her brow crinkled deeper into confusion. She stood up and gave the soldier, her second-in-command Shang a reassuring pat on the shoulder. He smiled at her with shining golden eyes.

"You're not doing this for him. You're doing this for your nation…"

The girl nodded again a ghost of a smile reaching her lips. Shang always was there to calm her down. "Well, as my second-in-command I'm sure that you can handle getting the prisoners on the boat without having them escape."

Shang nodded in reply, "I'm on it." He took off toward the hall but paused at the doorway. "You going to be ok?"

"I always am," she said simply before turning her back on her friend. She heard the door shut behind him. "It's for your nation" she told herself. "This is the last time you'll have to be involved in such things. Then you can go on with your life. Fight for your country and fight the Avatar and his team. Zuko is no different. He is one of them. He's just a traitor now." She tried to block Zuko out of her mind but all she managed to do was make her own screams of pain echo in her brain.