Lilyana
By: Kaytlin Hubbert
12/05/11

I shivered as I ran through the forest at a fast pace, I was dead tired and kept tripping over my own feet, but I knew to keep going. He killed them; my entire family was dead because I refused to marry his son. You see I was born into a very noble firenation family and was the first born daughter to them; the Fire Lord wanted me to marry his son and me being me, refused straight out in his face. I didn't want to be in an arranged marriage, I wanted to be in a loving relationship with the man I loved not some pompous jerk that is only looking out for him.

I heard shouting behind me and screamed when I felt the heat of a fire brush against the back of my torn shirt. I sped up and skidded around a slick turn in time to get out of the way of a huge fire blast. I cried in pain as my leg was hit and continued running faster then before. I kept running until I reached the docks where I jumped into a small boat and bent the water to push me out into the sea. Okay more explaining I know, but I could care less right now, I was doing the happy dance in my head. My father was born and raised in the fire nation as a firebender, but my mother- she was born and raised in the northern water tribe as a waterbender. Two halves of a whole as they always say, any way back to the topic, my other younger brother and my self are waterbenders while my two brothers and father are firebenders. We were somewhat outcasts in the firenation but being so high up in rank nobody dared to mess with us.

Leaning against the sail I slid down and slowly drifted to sleep, my hand leaning out over the side of the boat. I was jolted awake by the feeling of wet sand hitting my hand, I lifted my head to see blurry, yet colorful, lights in the distance; I rubbed my eyes with my left hand and stood up wobbly in the boat. I stepped out of the boat, my bare feet squishing into the sand; I looked down at my ruined clothes before sinking to the ground in anguish. My parents, siblings, everyone was dead and I was at fault for it, slowly I became to cry, it was just sniffles at first before I was full out crying loudly, crying to the point I thought I would pass out from how I was gasping.

I began calming myself down and after I had reached a point where I was calm; I wiped my tears away and looked at the small village. It was beautiful, small and…antique looking my kind of place really. I stood once again and looked at my reflection in the still water, my hair was a tangled black mess and my pale skin was now deathly pale. Right above my right ankle was a burn mark that wrapped around my skin already getting infected by the sand I had just stood from, my knee length red skirt was burnt in several places and was ripped on the left side, the rip went all the way up and ended in between my calf muscle and my knee; my shirt was worse though it was barely covering my…girly parts and was almost split all the way in half at the back but it was still on me at least. The worst part of my reflection was my eyes, they looked…haunted, worn way beyond my years, the once glow of happiness in my crystal blue eyes was gone- or at least hidden behind all the anger and sadness. Casting my eyes downward, I decided to jump in the sea to clean myself and wounds off, I stripped down to my undergarments and dived into the crystal like sea, delicate yet fierce at the same time. Once I reached the surface I hissed in pain as the salt water entered the burnt marks on my leg.

After the pain dulled I relaxed in the cool water and let it do the healing for me, I focused my energy on my healing abilities and watched in fascination as a pale blue light appeared around my injured leg, soon my leg healed over completely and I waded deeper into the water wondering on where I would go from here. I had nowhere else to go and nobody would take me in because by now the fire lord had probably told the city some cock and bull story about how my family betrayed the firenation in trying to aid the Avatar and how I was this huge threat and blah, blah, blah. Ugh, that was one thing, of the many, that I hated about the Firenation, they are such liars and could drive any sane man insane. I heard a bang come from the ship beside me and watched as a boy my age came out angrily with an older man following behind him.

"Nephew, I am just trying to say that maybe you should settle down and live a good life here." The elder man said as I swam closer to the shore to hear the conversation better.

"Uncle, I will not settle down until I find the Avatar, so stop pressuring me!" The boy said angrily, I smiled at the fixation of it all and lowered myself deeper into the water before swimming under the dock. I heard the boy sigh before he spoke again. "Uncle, you know what this means for me. I want my father to accept me again; I want to be known as Prince Zuko heir to the thrown again not the exiled prince of the fire nation. I will come back soon I just need some time to my self." I swear I had stopped breathing as anger coursed through my veins, he was the reason my family was dead, the reason I was now an outcast. The water around me began to ripple as I tried to get a hold of my emotions and I watched as Zuko stripped down to just a pair of boxers, my eyes bulged and I blushed before looking away from him, I heard a splash seconds later and watched as he shook some water out of his hair, he may have been a pompous jerk but he was a hot one, what jerk wasn't; all I could think of now was how was I going to get out of this? His head turned in my direction and I froze like a deer stuck in a headlight. "Who is there?" He demanded and I began swimming away.

I was free for a total of three seconds before he swam up and grabbed my lower arm, spinning me around to face him, I gasped at the almost none existent space in between us before looking into his deep amber eyes.

"Who are you?" He asked in curiosity, I opened my mouth to tell him before immediately shutting it, why the hell would I want him to know who I was. "You aren't going to tell me are you?" He asked slowly with a half smile forming on the non-scared part of his face, from what I knew about him he had spoke out of turn at a war council and faced his own father in an Agni Kei, that was when he received the scar and when he was banished from the fire nation. With out thinking I reached up and tried to touch the scared flesh, and I was snapped out of my thoughts when he grabbed my wrist, I looked down in embarrassment but I was surprised when he gently placed my hand against the tissue, I ran my hand over the tissue, not taking my eyes off of his and in that quiet moment I thought about how he didn't seem so bad and I thought about what I was thinking when I said no to the Fire Lord.

"I could heal it for you." I heard myself say before I could stop myself, dear lord I could have slapped myself right then. He looked at me shocked before he smiled gently.

"You don't have to; I would like to keep it as a…reminder. Thank you though, would you care to tell me your name now?" He said with a hint of amusement, strangely enough I found myself smiling.

"Not yet Prince Zuko, I need to make sure this is real before I tell you who I am, though I suppose you can guess, and I'll give you a hint- you know me." I said in a teasing voice before swimming away from him.

"Hey, wait for me." He said quietly catching up to me quickly, my lips quirked upward partially in amusement as I turned to face him. We ended up talking for what seemed like hours, talking about all sorts of things, and playing all sorts of games and before we knew it Zuko's uncle was out looking for him. "Will you be here tomorrow?"

"I don't know." And in truth I didn't know, if the soldiers were still looking for me I would most likely try and run some more to put more space in between us.

"Please, for me." He said his breath hitting my face; I looked deeply into his eyes and nodded slowly.

"Sure." I said quietly, Zuko smiled and kissed my cheek before swimming back to shore, I felt as though I only knew one side of Zuko until now, he wasn't as bad as I made him out to seem. "Hey Zuko." I said louder swimming to catch up to him, it was now or never, and I can't believe this was happening to me. "My name is Lilyana." I said before kissing him lightly on the lips, he was more shocked then unnerved and soon he was kissing me back, we broke apart for air and I swam backwards while he was in a somewhat daze. "It was nice to meet the real you."

I can't believe I had fallen in love with the man my family died for.