Foreign Blood

By THE Xenomorph (aka Xenomorph666)
Avatar: The Last Airbender and all related Characters are © Nickelodeon
Bao-Fai is © Me
Choronus Illadae is © Me
Story Beta read by: L1701E

Location

Zuko stared at the map on his table. It was the most detailed map the Earth King Kuei had to offer in Zuko's long and painstaking search for his mother, and Kuei had offered it up without even worrying about it being used in an invasion. That thought alone had made Zuko smile, that Aang had done so much to help foster trust between the nations once more and it had only been two years.

"Zuko..." Mai entered the room as it shifted to the side. "The Captain says the storm's going to be bad."

The Fire Lord sighed as he rolled the map back up and placed it in its case. "No more guessing tonight then."

"Hey, at least you finally have the time to actually search for her now." Mai's face formed a smile, with but only an upward twitch of her lips, imperceptible to anyone but Zuko or Ty Lee.

"What do I say to her, though?" Zuko asked as he sat on the edge of their bed.

"How should I know? Maybe you can ask that lunatic you brought with us." Mai answered, again and as almost always, with as little emotional inflection as possible.

"Who?" Zuko blinked, showing his desire for clarification.

"Sokka." Mai said, "He usually has something to say anyway."

"Let me guess, he wouldn't stop gushing about Suki?" Zuko laughed as he laid back on to the mattress.

"Yep." Mai confirmed as she joined him.

Thunder crashed through the sky outside and lightning briefly illuminated the room as Zuko bended the fire in the lamps to die. The duo then drifted off to a peaceful slumber.

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The world shook and Zuko shot awake as he quickly remembered that he was on a ship. He then bolted for the door and found Sokka there panting in shock.

"Big snake monster!" Sokka shouted in horror as he ran back to the deck.

"Mai! We've got trouble!" Zuko yelled as he grabbed his swords and raced to the deck just in time to see Sokka's new boomerang smash into the twisted face of a strange sea serpent and then return. "What is that thing?" He screamed.

'Eeldragon?" Sokka shrugged as he dodged the powerful jaws of the creature. "Man, why did Aang have to be at the – AHHH!" Sokka again barely managed to dodge the jaws.

"The temple needs rebuilding, you know that." Zuko reminded as he lashed at the creature with an arch of fire. The creature then roared as it focused on the young dark-haired Fire Lord.

"Zuko, what are you doing?" Sokka snapped in disbelief as he threw the boomerang again. "I promised to keep you and Mai safe!" A comical look of contempt and anger spread across the young warrior's face.

"And I keep my people safe!" Zuko said as he began to dodge the powerful jaws of the creature.

"Yeah, and then you get eaten!" Sokka retorted as he pulled out his sword and charged the creature's neck only to have it reel back in pain as pieces of stone rained down onto it's neck and back.

"What the?" Zuko and Sokka both looked in shock to see an Earth kingdom battleship launching pieces of itself at the bizarre creature. The creature then roared as it sunk back below the surface of the water.

"Well that is interesting." Sokka blinked as the battleship came along side the Fire Nation ship.

"What, that they saved us?" Zuko asked.

"No, that creature..." Sokka pointed in the direction of the creature's location as he pondered what to call it. "I've never seen anything like it."

"Yeah, neither have I." Zuko then turned his attention to the captain of the other ship who was waiting to be invited on board. Zuko did not disappoint.

"Thank you for your aid." Zuko bowed in respect to the captain. "Do you know what that creature was?"

The captain was an obvious seafaring man whose wrinkles seemed to almost be lined with sea salt, while his smile was disarmingly pleasant. The man even bowed in return as he spoke.

"Your thanks is not necessary, Fire Lord." The captain continued to smile. "We have been trying to scare this creature off the coast for nearly six months now, but have no idea what it is."

"Strange." Sokka frowned.

"Very. But right now I think we need to find a dock and make some repairs." Zuko noted as he looked down the side of his ship at the large dents and tears in the metal.

"Zuko..." Mai sighed as she came onto the deck. "We have a stone slab where our window should be."

"Oh, my apologies, Fire Lady." The captain of the Earth ship bowed. "Our aim was thrown off by the creature's sudden movements.

"I'm not the Fire Lady, not yet at least." Mai sighed again. "We need to find a port, don't we?"

At first the captain seemed confused, then a sly smile formed on his face. "Ah, young love. But the young lady is right. If your captain would follow us Fire Lord, there is a small port town nearby."

"Of course." Zuko said as he bowed and nodded to Sokka, who went off to deliver the message to the captain.

"Just keep a safe distance in case that creature comes back." The Earth Captain warned as he got back onto his ship.

"Wait, what creature?" Mai blinked as she looked down the side of the ship. The annoyed soon to be Fire Lady then punched Zuko in the shoulder. "Next time wake me up!"

"I yelled for you to wake up!" Zuko exclaimed as he rubbed his shoulder.

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Less than half an hour passed, and Zuko now sat at the docks while his captain negotiated a fair repair cost for the boat. He looked at the buildings in the village, and sighed as the people stared cautiously at the ship. Looks of fear crossed their faces, and Zuko's sigh became a heavy admission to himself that his people still had a long ways to go before the war was forgotten.

"Let's go eat!" Sokka suggested as he came down the dock.

"I don't know if that's a good idea." Mai said.

"Actually, I think it's a good idea." Zuko added as he stood up, "As long as it's just us, though. I don't want to scare these people."

"Well, alright." Mai reluctantly agreed as she walked alongside her boyfriend.

As the trio made their way into the town, Sokka stopped a man and asked for directions to the best tavern. The young warrior promptly received directions to a building called "The Solid Sun". When they made it to the building, Zuko was surprised to see a slight element of Fire Nation influence in the building's design, but he brushed the feeling off as he entered the building.

"Welcome!" A young boy, about seven years old, smiled up at the trio. "Follow me, I'll take you to your table."

"Well, that's nice." Sokka smiled in approval.

"It's how mama wants the place run." The boy explained as they came to a medium sized table. "I'll bring you some water, then mama will be around to take your order."

"Thank you." Zuko said with a smile. "May I have some Jasmine Tea instead?"

"Sure, mama keeps a lot anyway." The boy answered as he energetically dashed to the back.

"So how long do you think the repairs will be?" Mai asked Sokka as they waited.

"Well that depends on the captain and the Fire Benders on board, but no more than a day or two." Sokka remembered.

"Here you go!" The young boy grinned as he came back with both the water and the tea. "Mama had some on the stove already so she said to use that." He gave Zuko the cup and tried to carefully lift the pot, but was obviously struggling with the low angle he had.

"I've got it." Zuko smiled as he gently took the pot from the boy and poured the tea. "There you go. Thank your mother for me."

"Oh she'll be out in a minute so you can thank her yourself." The boy said as he handed the trio their menus. "Now I gotta go make sure Muak doesn't burn table nine's food." The boy seemed to roll his eyes in frustration.

"Well what are you going to get, Zuko?" Sokka asked. "I want the boar-q-pine roast!"

"Not surprising..." Mai snorted. "I'll just have their crab puffs."

"Komodo Rhino sausage?" Zuko blinked. "Must be a taste we left here..." Zuko sighed.

"Leaving different cuisines behind is a lot better than bodies." Mai countered sagely.

"I know, but..." Zuko huffed. "It just goes to show how much damage we did." He let his head hit the table in a sign of despair.

Then Sokka noticed the owner of the tavern was standing by the table.

"I'll have the boar-q-pine roast, ma'am." Sokka ordered.

"Crab puffs for me." Mai said as she handed the woman her menu.

Zuko remained as he was and didn't say anything.

"Come on, she's waiting for your order." Sokka shook his friend's shoulder. "Zuko!"

The woman's pad of paper dropped as soon as Sokka said his friend's name.

"Sokka, you idiot." Mai huffed, smacking the warrior's arm away from the Fire Lord. "He didn't want people to know who he was on this trip!"

"Oh, right." Sokka realized his mistake too late.

Zuko pulled himself to look at their hostess in an attempt to reason with the woman, whom he assumed was terrified of the Fire Lord being in her restaurant. Instead he froze in shock and awe as the two locked eyes. Mai then looked at their hostess for the first time and though it took her a few seconds, the Fire Lady's face showed awe. Sokka's jaw just dropped in amazement as he realized who was standing before them.

"Mother?" Zuko breathed in amazement.

AN: Normally I write X-Men stuff, normally I write INSANE stuff. One of my few attempts at a story you can comprehend is about to begin.
Some background info though, Choronus Illadae is an OC of mine meant to replace John Constantine in my own DCAU world. The problem is he's pretty much just as bad if not WORSE than Constantine. As such I figured the first story I should write him in should depict him in a slightly softer light as the things he normally prone to tend to be more villainous than heroic.