"Where did she run off to again?"

Wendy sighed but decided not to worry. Carla ran off all the time. There were other things to worry about.

She had attended Zuko's coronation (unbeknownst to him). Her memory was cruel and remembered every detail of his handsome face as he solemnly swore to protect and guide his nation. For a while things were looking up. There were several radical changes, of course, but all for the better. Wendy thought there might actually be peace for once, what with all this talk of a joined city being built. A place with people from all nations and where benders and non-benders could live in equality? That seemed like a step in the right direction to her.

There was just one teeny, tiny problem. Azula had escaped. One would think that, after everything she'd done, she would be placed in a maximum security holding cell.

Wendy shook her head. No time to question the security guards' credentials.

She finished putting away the stuff from dinner and got settled for the night. The forest above her was beautiful. Stars shone brightly next to a full moon. If only you could see them, sister.

Zuko was beyond mad. Beyond furious even. What kind of idiot gives Azula a lit candle?

Sh-she was c-cold, sir? The guard stammered in defense. I didn't think she'd use it against us. I'm so sorry.

Zuko rolled his eyes just recalling the whole scene. The moron was lucky to be alive.

His advisers strongly argued against him looking for her. But who else could bring her back into custody? Sending soldiers would basically be killing them. No. He needed to do this.

A meow broke his focus.

"What's that?"

A pure white cat called his attention again from a tree branch. The cat was slim and... graceful? Zuko's eyebrow furrowed at the creature. It was different from the usually fat, friendly cats that roamed his nation. There was something in its eyes that resembled judgement.

The cat climbed down, never breaking eye contact. Zuko eyed it warily as it walked between his legs. After it was done, it walked a few feet towards Zuko's right then looked back at him. When Zuko didn't move, it looked back and meowed again.

"What?"

The cat gave him a condescending look.

"What the..."

The cat started walking away again, stopping every few feet to look back at him.

"Fine, fine. But you better not be leading me to trouble."

Wendy awoke with a start. She could feel someone approaching. Using the shadows as cover, she hid next to a thick tree.

"A camp. You have a master then?"

He leaned down over the fire embers. They fire must've been put out recently. He looked around more carefully in case he was being ambushed. However, all he saw was the cat unceremoniously licking its paws by the sleeping bag.

Wendy watched the man standing up. She recognized that voice. And she had no intention to let him know she was there. As long as she stayed still, he would leave soon enough.

Unfortunately, Wendy forgot Carla was there. The cat walked teasingly in her direction. Wendy shot daggers at her. Don't you dare.

The cat circled around a couple times, then continued walking.

"Who's there?"

You'll pay for this, Wendy cursed Carla with her eyes. Taking a deep breath she stepped out of the shadows.

The cat was acting strange. What are you up to?

Zuko watched it dance around a tree that was mostly covered in shadows. He was about to look away when he heard someone exhale angrily.

"Who's there?"

He wasn't ready for who came out. The woman in front of him was enchanting. He had to remind himself to breathe and blink. Blue, silky hair traveled down her torso, framing an angelic face. Her dress was loose but he could make out the gentle, smooth curves of her body. But it was her eyes that did him in. He knew those eyes. Even though they were staring him down with hostility, seeing them filled him with an unexplained sense of...

"There is nothing here for you. Now leave."

Her voice snapped him out his trance. He felt foolish over the effect she had on him.

"Well, hello to you as well. It has been a while."

Trying to regain some dignity he straightened and crossed his arms.

"I suppose."

"So what can I do for you?"

Her eyes narrowed at him. "What makes you think I need anything from you?"

"You sent your cat to fetch me, didn't you? And I'm pretty busy... with some things. So I hope it's not just because you missed me."

The fiery way in which her eyes widened at him made that line worth it. He wished she hadn't worn a scarf last time they were together, because he found seeing the full picture was so much more satisfying.

"I did not such thing. Carla," she said pointedly at the cat that had curled up and fallen asleep already,"likes to go off on her own sometimes."

"Yeah, right."

"And just for the record," she straightened and tilted her chin up, "I did not miss a bratty, arrogant child."

Zuko tried to hold back at chuckle from her clear over defensiveness. He arched an eyebrow at her. "That child is your Firelord. What are you doing here anyways? Don't you know it's dangerous?"

"I was about to ask you the same, your majesty," she said mockingly.

"I'm... taking care of some personal business."

She narrowed her eyes at him for a second. "You're chasing Azula."

Zuko was surprised that she knew. The news of her escape had been purposely kept from the public to avoid panic.

"If you know she's out, wouldn't that be more reason not to be out in the woods by yourself?"

"I'm not by myself."

"The cat doesn't count."

She pursed her lips at him. "I was not the one that nearly got killed by her, if I remember correctly."

"I like you better this way. So chatty," he teased. He was rewarded with her trademark angry look.

"I have a lot to do tomorrow. So if you don't mind, I have to go to sleep. Goodbye."

She walked past him to her sleeping bag and tucked herself in.

"I understand," he replied. He took off his backpack and began unrolling his own sleeping bag.

"W-what are you doing?"

"I'm going to sleep, clearly."

"Here?"

"Where else? Besides, I can't just leave you here by yourself. What if something happened to you?"

She turned her back to him. "Suit yourself."

When he was finally settled, he glanced her way. The moonlight reflected off her hair, making it give off an otherworldly aura. He felt like it called for him to touch it. Realizing what he was thinking he looked away. What are you doing, Zuko? You can't let yourself be controlled by a pretty face. Think of Mai. Mai. Mai.

Mai was waiting for him back at the palace. They had fought over this trip, but Zuko didn't want to think or worry about it much. They always fought. And they always made up. That was just who they were.

He couldn't help himself and stole another glance towards the girl across the fire embers. He felt a pull that he couldn't understand.

"I don't even know your name..." he whispered. He didn't think she would hear him even if she was awake. Mostly he said it to himself, unconsciously voicing his curiosity out loud.

"Wendy," she whispered back.

He blinked several times. Had he imagined it? He couldn't tell for sure.

Wendy, his mind lulled him to sleep. Wendy.

~Go back to your palace. Azula will be back in prison soon. Make it so she can't escape this time.~

No name, no formalities.

Zuko held the short note in one hand. He sat motionless for a few seconds, reading it over and over again. When he snapped out of it, he rushed to pack and get moving. She's going to get herself killed.

He tried to track the girl- Wendy- at first, but had no luck. He recalled a conversation he'd had with his uncle several years ago.

"You will not find her unless she wants to be found."

He realized he didn't have time for this. Luckily, Azula wasn't as careful hiding her tracks. After a couple hours of fast walking and stressing, a rush of wind knocked him on his ass. Aang? What the hell?

He jumped up to follow where the wind came from. As he got closer, the sounds of a fight became louder.

"Please, Azula," he heard Wendy beg. He increased his speed. No. No!

He came into the clearing just as Azula stood back up.

"I don't wish to hurt you. Please surrender."

Zuko stood frozen at the scene. He expected Wendy to be hurt or worse. Instead, Azula limped forward. The crazy look in her eyes was mingled with fear. Wendy approached her slowly.

"It doesn't have to be this way. Just come with me. Please."

Zuko saw Azula's pride chipping away under Wendy's kind eyes. Just as she was about to take Wendy's outstretched hand, her pride resurfaced. A blue bolt shot out of Azula's fingers.

"No!" Zuko couldn't hold back. He threw a ball of fire at Azula, which managed to catch her off guard and knock her back. Desperately he ran to where Wendy had been, only finding burning grass.

"I told you to go back to the palace," she scolded. She stood behind him with her hands on her hips. Without another word, she shoved him forward. He was about to protest when he saw lightning cut through the air where he had been standing.

From the ground he watched Wendy face Azula, too shocked to move.

"I'm sorry," was all Wendy said. But she didn't say it to him. Her eyes had locked with Azula's manic ones. Wendy's arms circled in front of her.

"Sky Dragon: ROAR!"

A tornado shot out of her mouth, enveloping Azula before she had time to dodge. Wendy turned her head away at the impact. Dust and dirt filled the air where Azula had been. When Wendy opened her eyes, the pained look took Zuko's breath away.

Wendy walked reluctantly towards the body. She blew gentle wind to clear the air. Without all the debri in the way, Zuko was able to see Azula's body on the ground. As he stood to walk towards them, Wendy knelt. He watched silently as she softly brushed loose hair out of Azula's face.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, closing Azula's eyelids. She cradled his sister with tenderness before looking up at him.

"I told you to go back. You shouldn't have seen this. You shouldn't have been here."

He was stunned speechless, still trying to process what just happened.

Wendy looked back down at the head resting on her lap. "She almost gave in. If I'd had more time maybe..."

"Don't do that," he said softly. "She would've killed you without a second thought."

"No. Perhaps you. But she couldn't have hurt me too bad."

Maybe she was right about that. Zuko had to admit he'd never seen bending of that magnitude. But if his uncle had been right, instead of telling him some delusional tale, she wasn't a bender.

"That's why I had to do it. She would've killed you. And if you die...," she trailed off weakly.

She shook her head. "She would've killed you," she whispered again.

Zuko wasn't sure what to do with the body. Ideally, Azula would be buried next to other family members. However, her body would start decomposing way before they reached the family mausoleum.

After a while, Wendy began digging a grave under a peach-cherry tree.

He noticed the usually blunt girl was avoiding him. It wasn't like she particularly seemed to enjoy or seek his company before, but this felt different.

"Hey," he said softly once they had filled the grave back up. Wendy had picked an arrangement of flowers and made a circle with them around the spot. Silence had hung heavily in the air until now. She looked up at him with those big brown eyes and he almost forgot what he was going to say.

"You shouldn't feel guilty. My sister was dangerous."

She looked away.

"I know you two weren't on the best of terms. So I understand why you aren't upset by this."

"I lost my sister a long time ago," he said as he looked back at the flowers on the ground.

They were quiet for a while after that.

"I remember when she was just a baby. Your mother loved you both so much. But even she could see the jealousy when Azula looked at you. At the time we thought it would pass, you know? All siblings fight for their parents' love. It was only natural. But one day I came back and I knew. I could see it. And I tried but... I couldn't fix it."

"Y-you knew my mother?"

"Lovely woman."

"But... how? I mean you can't be that old and- and you aren't a fire bender. How would you have been allowed in the palace?" He furrowed his eyebrows at her. "I don't understand..."

She grimaced at her lack of self control. She'd said too much. It's just so easy to forget that...

"Has your uncle not told you about me?"

Zuko sat down. Trying to make sense of things was making him dizzy. "He did... but it was some wild tale about other worlds and strange things..."

The Fire Lord blushed. He sounded silly to his own ears. Her eyes softened and she sported a small smile. He'd never seen her smile at him like that; it made his cheeks darken further. She sat down across from him.

"I can't fault you for not believing him. It's quite unbelievable."

"Why don't we just start over? I'm Fire Lord Zuko," he bowed his head,"leader of the Fire Nation."

She bowed her head slightly at him. "I'm Wendy Marvel; a Fairy Tail Dragonslayer."

He eyed her questioningly. She chuckled slightly at his confusion.

"You must have a lot of questions."

His eyebrows raised at her. "That's an understatement."

He tilted his head as he studied her. "Why don't we begin with... simple things? For example, where do you come from?"

"Fiore. It is a nation," she stated.

"Where is it? I don't recall seeing it on any map."

"That's because it isn't on any map your people would've drawn."

Had his uncle been telling the truth? Could she really be from... another world? He shook his head to clear his mind. It was starting to be too much already.

"Is your hair color... normal... in Fiore?"

"As normal as yours, I suppose," she shrugged. He nodded once.

"What's a Fairy Tail?"

"It's my guild."

Guild. Okay. Zuko knew about guilds. There were fishermen guilds and merchant guilds in his nation.

"What does your guild do, exactly?"

"We take jobs to help people."

"What kind of jobs?"

"Jobs that require certain... abilities."

"Like your air bending?"

"Something like that."

For the sake of keeping things simple he decided not to push that answer.

"You mentioned, uh, Dragonslayer. Is that a rank?"

"Not exactly..."

Her face scrunched up as she tried to think of an easy way to put it for him. He noticed her nose wrinkled when she did that, and her cheeks puffed out a little bit as well.

"Let's say my guild was a guild for benders. Dragonslayers are a specific type of bender. Like metal benders. Or combustion benders."

"Those are rare."

"Yes. There were only a few of us."

Sadness seeped into her brown orbs. She looked away, her eyes eventually landing back on the grave.

"How is it you knew my mother?"

The change of subject seemed to snap her back to reality.

"Your uncle introduced us. You were only a few months old back then."

"How is that possible?"

Iroh knew her? She didn't look a day past 18, and Zuko was 20 himself. How could she had been there when he was a baby?

She drew her knees close to her chest and put her arms around them. Her chin rested on them. "Time passes differently where I'm from. When I first came here your uncle recognized me by my hair. He insisted I stay at the palace and I accepted. Ursa was the kindest person there. She had this way of knowing just what to say, as if she could see what was wrong."

Zuko's heart melted at her words. Her voice filled with love when she spoke of his mother, something he wasn't used to.

"That's how you knew it was us then? Because of my uncle?"

Her answer took half a beat too long. "Yes."

"Why did you hide who you were then?"

Her eyes locked with his but he couldn't read them.

"Why did you hide who you were then?"

Wendy scolded herself mentally. This is why she couldn't be near him. With a few gentle words he could bring her walls down. Walls that were specifically meant to keep him out.

She thought about his question, but there was no truthful way she could answer it without opening a can of worms. Well, I'm destined to love you, and you me. But if we do, one, or both, of us will surely die.

She almost laughed at herself. She could only imagine what his face would look like at the truth.

"You should go back. I'm sure the fire nation is missing its Lord," was all she said in the end. She stood and dusted herself off. A hand suddenly grabbed her wrist.

"Wait."

He looked down at where he was touching her. Her skin was soft and warm. He found himself wanting to touch more of it, so he let her go.

"Where will you go?"

Wendy had a few places throughout the nations, but she wasn't sure where she would go next. Either way, telling him where she might be wasn't a good idea.

Before she could think of an answer, they heard the voice of someone calling for Zuko.

I'm gonna kill him. If Azula hasn't yet.

It took Mai a full day to calm down enough to rationally think of the situation. She understood why Zuko had to be the one to go after Azula. But understanding didn't equal approving. He had a tendency to put himself in danger without thinking of how it would affect her. It didn't matter how many times she fought him over it, they always found themselves back to the same problem.

Not this time, she thought. You're going to know what it feels like now.

After days of tracking him, she managed to catch up. She came across a clearing with patches of scorched earth. If she didn't know any better, she would've thought some of the damage was caused by an air bender. A wide trail led away from the clearing. From the looks of it, a body had been dragged through the grass recently.

"Zuko?!"

He had to be close.

"Zuko?!"

It was the first time he had seen Wendy truly surprised. In fact, he thought he saw a bit of shocked fear at the voice.

"That sounds like Mai, my..."

He wasn't sure why but he didn't really want to tell Wendy that Mai was his girlfriend. The feeling made him feel ashamed.

"Your girlfriend. I know."

"Oh."

"You should go to her. She must be worried about you."

Wendy turned to leave. His heart flopped inside his chest. He could hear Mai getting closer but he didn't want Wendy to go. There were still so many questions. And the thought of not knowing when, or if, he would see her again saddened him.

"Will you come to my birthday celebration? It is next month. At my palace."

"I..."

"Zuko?!"

He glanced quickly in the direction of the voice, then looked back at the bluenette, his eyes begging for a 'yes'. "Please?"

"I'll think about it," she said quietly.

"Zuko!"

He turned at the voice. Mai stood with a scowl on her face.

"Are you deaf? I've been calling your name for the past half hour."

He looked back to where Wendy had been, expecting having to make introductions that he really didn't want to do. However, it was as if no one had been there. Trying to hide his expression, he put on a smile and turned to his girlfriend.

"Oh. Hi. What are you doing here?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I realized I can't yell at you if you're dead."

It was then she noticed the fresh dirt surrounded by flowers. She froze with her mouth hanging open. Her wide eyes jumped between it and him.

"Is-is that...?"

He nodded solemnly.

She quickly wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. "I'm sorry."

He returned the hug, feeling somewhat uneasy. After a moment Mai tilted her head back to look at him. Her hands found his face and brought him in for a quick kiss.

"Common," she said taking his hand. "Let's go back home."

Zuko let his feet follow her lead. He focused on her fingers locked around his. You love Mai, he told himself. Somehow it didn't feel genuine.

When they set up camp for the night, he connected their sleeping bags to form one. When she got inside he brought her in close.

"I love you, Zuko."

She hooked a leg around his hips and pulled him in for a kiss. Her lips were familiar to him. He knew every curve, every inch. For whatever reason, his thoughts strayed. He began thinking of what it would be like to know Wendy's lips like that. He stopped the kiss immediately.

"What's wrong?" She asked, clearly concerned.

He shook the uninvited thoughts away. His hold on her tightened. "Nothing."

This time it was him that began the kiss. He let it deepen more and more, as if that would erase his betraying thoughts.

Juvia appeared out of thin air into the living room.

Wendy heard the loud thump and rushed down the stairs.

"Juvia?!"

The water mage had been missing for over three months now. Wendy had nearly gone out of her mind searching for her sister but had found no trace of her.

Now, she was sprawled in the living room floor, a puddle of blood forming around her. Wendy kneeled in front of her, tears openly streaming down her cheeks. Her hands hovered over her sister but try as she might, she knew she couldn't save her. Juvia weakly reached for her little sister's hands.

"Don't be afraid, Wendy."

Wendy clutched her sister's hand tightly, as if that could keep her life force from escaping her body. Juvia's blue eyes focused on Wendy's brown ones.

"Second drawer... to... the right. You'll understand... soon."

Wendy put one hand under Juvia's head for support. Through the tears she could make out a smile on her face.

"I love you, little sister."

"I love you, too, Juvia."

The light in her eyes went out shortly after, producing a painful scream from Wendy's throat.