||| Disclaimer

I do not own any of the characters in Avatar: The Last Airbender and do not intend for this work to be used for commercial purposes.

||| Author's Note

First, a note from me, and then a big round of thanks! The note: I'm sorry for making everyone wait for so long. School kicked up with a vengeance, and I had a debate tournament after that first hectic week. I'm only just getting around to writing here again, so I hope you enjoy!

Thank you to my reviewers! I'm generally not one who waits on updating until reviewed, but with life busy as is, those notes are a nice way of knowing your work is appreciated by someone. Thanks again to everyone, being AnnaAza, DancingThroughTheStars, and DefyGravity2502!

||| Chapter Three

Boulders and withered shrubs whipped past him as he hurtled earthwards, surging seemingly towards his face. Zuko twisted and turned, flinching when obstructions approached from his blind side, looming larger than ever before.

The girl in his arms was making controlling his descent extremely difficult, her clothing flapping in the draft and obscuring his vision. The flashes of blue were incredibly distracting…

…wait! Blue? The prince reeled in midair, looking down at his charge for the first time. Everything slowed around him as he made out wavy, brown hair and tanned skin. A familiar necklace adorned her throat, the well-set stone reflecting the light. Spirits…it's the waterbender!

The startling revelation distracted him for a key instant, and Zuko felt a stray burst of air catch the falling pair, spinning them about perilously close to the mountainside. His forward momentum was starting to wear off, and the slope drew uninvitingly closer. Zuko swallowed, trying to drive an unpleasant image out of his mind.

He kicked with one leg, sending a jet of fire from his extended foot. The wind tore at him as he picked up speed, before being forced to repeat the stunt after a stream of flame thundered past him, fired from the mountaintop.

They sailed through a sparse stand of burning grass, set aflame by the mountain dweller's attack. Zuko coughed on the smoke, wincing before the air cleared and the forest loomed at last. Another kick, and they were slowing to a halt, the prince stumbling when his legs roughly came into contact with unfamiliar ground.

The waterbender's weight returned in full force, and Zuko staggered for several steps before righting himself, looking upwards in a vain effort to pierce the smoke. Satisfied with the cover it afforded, he dashed for the forest.

Now to make it to the tank—wait! Instinct bid him to swerve to the left as another streak of fire sped down from above, setting a large swath of trees ablaze. The acrid haze rising from the burning foliage rendered the entire area invisible, yet through sheer luck the flames had severed the way to Zuko's vehicle.

A moment passed, then two. The waterbender was growing heavier in his arms, and he lifted the girl back over her shoulder to free one arm. Zuko's good eye narrowed, shifting his focus to the dancing fire directly in front of him. He took a deep breath, raising one arm. For a second, the inferno flared, golden sparks erupting from the conflagration and spiraling into the soot. The tiny lights blazed fiercely amidst the murk before winking out entirely, dying with the parent blaze. Zuko continued his downward motion until the fire ceased, leaving a blackened, burnt wasteland.

No time, no time. That place will ignite again in seconds. The disconnect would have felt strange had Zuko not experienced it many times before, offering him a simple clarity in the midst of battle. It took all of his focus to jog forwards while keeping the flames at bay, careful gestures bending the blaze to his will. A safety ring about twenty feet wide followed his progress, only to falter and fail after he had passed.

The prince wiped away a droplet of sweat trickling down his forehead, continuing to struggle against the heat. Even firebenders were not equipped to run through the middle of a forest fire, and the situation was further complicated by a low moan from the waterbender girl.

This heat can't be good for her condition, he reasoned, before snapping back to awareness. In the moment of reflection, he had nearly tripped over a fallen bough, stumbling roughly and scraping his legs against the debris. A shout of alarm rang through the air as the girl slipped from his shoulder, falling in slow motion.

The moment before she struck the ground, Zuko bent one knee, throwing his arms protectively beneath the waterbender and bringing her fall to a halt. The moment she fell into his grip, Zuko felt a strange emotion race through him, leaving him tingling slightly.

…protectiveness…no, that can't be it. I'm just…guarding my shot at the Avatar. In case he's still alive… Even to him, the excuse sounded half-hearted, and the warm feeling was replaced quickly by concern and frustration. Why on earth am I being distracted by this? She's a prisoner, nothing more!

Yet he couldn't deny that he held her more gently now, cradling her shifting, groaning form as he walked more carefully through the flames. The heat felt further away now, distant, as if through a wall as he continued to trudge along, eyes searching the now-unfamiliar landscape.

He was weary. Zuko realized with shock that his hearing and vision were somewhat clouded. His singular focus had sustained him, but now he was perilously close to overdriving his limits. And I'm still in the middle of the forest fire…there's no other option. I have to find the tank.

His firebending was weakened by his condition, and already the golden flames were creeping closer around him, probing for a gap in his defenses. Tired eyes swept the surrounding space, searching for the clump of brush that he had hidden his tank in so long ago. Against a shifting, glowing backdrop, shapes flickered in and out of focus, with a wavering haze shrouding everything. Flashes of darkness appeared and disappeared with mind-numbing regularity, never lingering long enough for his eyes to lock on.

The undulating blaze was doing little to ease Zuko's weariness, instead threatening to lull him into sleep. He fought the soporific visions, trying to search for something, anything to anchor his mind. The former greenery had been scorched away, and had been replaced by a monotonous ring of gold and red. The skies were completely blanked out by a pall of smoke, leaving even less to focus on.

Another moan came from just behind his ear, and Zuko startled, remembering the waterbender's presence. Almost unconsciously, he shifted her back into his arms, his eyes drifting to her face. Stained by grit and dust as it was, he could see a quiet beauty in her sleeping face. Unconscious, she might have been, but she looked more at peace than he'd seen her before.

Wait…what am I thinking? Jolted by the sudden thought, the prince shook himself, his good eye scanning the forest again with renewed vigor. And at long last, he was rewarded—in the distance, a bedraggled clump of brush refused to move, ruling hallucinations or heat mirages out of the question.

His feet pummeled the ground unrelentingly, propelling him forwards towards the familiar, scorched metal. The distance seemed to stretch mercilessly, the tank almost appearing to be driving away before all at once, it materialized directly in front of him. His vision was swimming again, threatening to give out altogether as he fumbled almost blindly for the entrance hatch. Katara lolled gently against the vehicle's side, where the exhausted prince had laid her down mere seconds ago.

At last, his hands curled around the release lever, and he pulled upwards, his strength fading after the first hard jerk. For a moment, he froze, wondering if the surrounding heat had somehow melted or damaged the lock. Fear gave way to relief, however, when the stubborn latch shot upwards, the tank's entrance looming from the cabin.

He gave a weary snort as he turned back to Katara, who had slumped to the ground. Picking her up for what felt like the hundredth time, he staggered over to the entrance, his strength lasting just long enough to lay the waterbender gently on a bench usually used for troops. Comfortable it wasn't, but it had to be better than the steel floor.

Falling more than walking, Zuko collapsed into the driver's seat, blacking out momentarily as his exhaustion caught up with him. His ears filled with a mindless, senseless roar, accompanying him even into the darkness where it railed at him with the fury of a raging storm. Slowly, unwillingly, he was dragged back into reality, shaking off the splitting headache rising behind his eyes.

A burst of flame caught his attention, sending a distant pang of worry through his clouded mind. Mechanically, he turned to the engine chamber, pulling a hatch open and sending a weak puff of flame inside. With the surrounding heat, even this weak burst was enough to ignite the reserve coal that he'd piled into the chamber before leaving.

A good…choice, it seems. Dragging his gaze back to the view slit, Zuko shifted the tank into drive, the barest hints of a smile catching his grim mouth upon hearing the slow grind of machinery. The tank's wheels ground into the dirt, slipping for an instant before catching. Ash drifted back into the air, upset by the tank's lumbering progress while the vehicle began to pick up speed.

Zuko's later memory of those next few minutes was obscure, and twisted by the ravaging heat. Everything seemed to come to him through a thin, gauzy film that cast the entire scene into a devilish light that sprung straight from nightmares. The steady rush of the tank's engines were punctuated here and there by the crack of a breaking bough or exploding tree, sparks shooting across the narrow view slit in sporadic cascades of fire.

The entire vehicle was rocked by a sudden impact from above, followed by a loud rending sound as a fallen tree was torn to pieces by the relentless turn of the tank's massive wheels. Yet while the tank shook off this latest assault with near-impunity, Zuko grimaced at the effects of another, more deadly attack, one that even the tank's thick armor could not deny.

The fire itself was becoming deadly. Smoke billowed into the air, filling the air with a choking haze. And all around them was the suffocating heat, the natural blaze nearing temperatures that even Zuko had only rarely encountered throughout his hunt for the Avatar and his own training with Iroh.

…the waterbender! Panic flitted across his face as he whirled around, seeing the girl's slumped form with alarm. In the lurid, dim light cast by the flames, he could at least make out the slow, but steady rise and fall of her chest, her mouth opening and closing in long, slow intervals.

A blush crept across his face as his eyes noted something else entirely. She was sweating, causing her clothing to cling to her body. Even in the middle this horrific inferno, she was…beautiful…

Again! Stop it! Focus! That same inner voice returned with a vengeance, banishing all of his side thoughts and forcing him to focus on his task again. This, at least, seemed close to completion. Far in the distance, he could make out a smudge of deep blue against the endless black. The sky beckoned to him, the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.

Those last few minutes went on into infinity. He was in the tank. He was on the beach. Mai was next to him, holding his hand.

The hand morphed into the waterbender's.

He scarcely realized had moved backwards until the dizzying images stopped, and he found himself holding onto the girl's cool hand, her touch soft and inviting amidst the burning heat. For once, he fought the urge to fling himself away, and continued to do that simple act.

Just holding her hand. It was harmless, right?

The tank jolted upon hitting one last bough, and Zuko clambered back to the front, his brief moment of solace clearing his mind for this last leg. A gentle slope rose in front of him, across an almost idyllic plain of gently rustling grasses. The wind was blowing directly towards the tank, holding the fire at bay from this paradise.

At that moment, the prince could have sworn he'd never seen anything so beautiful. It took only half a second to remember the waterbender behind him, and he began to swear out loud to divert his attention from her.

The springy, resilient grass hid the tank's passage as it made its way to the slope, clambering up the loose rock with an ear-splitting whine. The cabin rocked when all four wheels settled firmly onto the rough mountain road, and Zuko finally felt reassured in nudging the throttle forwards, letting the spinning wheels carry him towards his destination.

He only had three near encounters with death before arriving, the tank having almost plunged off of the steepening roadside in moments of distraction or weariness. Yet he managed to steel himself each time, bringing the bucking, battered vehicle back under his control. At last, the darkened opening of another cave loomed to his right; a secluded cavern that he knew appeared on no charts.

The engine hissed and steam exploded from an overworked smokestack as the tank ground to a halt. Stones and gravel spun for several seconds longer before slowing to a stop, and a cool breeze wafted the tank's fumes away on the winds.

Zuko, exhausted beyond words fell asleep right then and there, slumping into unconsciousness and falling into his own arms as he sank onto the dashboard, spiraling into a dreamless sleep.