Author's Note : I finally got off my lazy bum to get the fourth chapter of Fire in the Skies up here. Squee. Again, it's a Zuko x OC fanfiction, so yeah. I'll probably throw in some Zutara somewhere along the line...maybe. I haven't decided yet. The liklihood of Zutara showing up in here is pretty small at this point... Anyway, I ask you to please read and review so that I can get the next chapter up as soon as possible. Thank you guys very much, I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer : I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender nor any of it's characters. Those belong to Mike and Bryan. The only things that Mike and Bryan don't own are my stories and the characters I create. Though I'm going to absolutely laugh my ass off if they bring someone like Kaida into the show...though I do doubt that.
Fire in the Skies
-- The Avatar Returns --
Three years have passed since Prince Zuko's banishment. Still no sign of the Avatar, though he feels we are growing nearer. I'm not quite sure if I can believe that… Iroh and I both agree that he has become…obsessed with restoring his honor. But what good is honor if his father still doesn't give a damn? All Ozai wants is the Avatar dead. And he's been gone for one hundred years. There is no way that the Avatar is still alive. Not after this long. And after three years of searching the globe, I doubt we have much luck anymore. But here we are, on this wild goose-rabbit chase…all for Zuko's sanity and his "honor and place in the throne of his nation." I have told him that his attempts are useless, but he refuses to listen. He's getting slowly better at fire bending, Iroh's lessons are helping. But how does he expect to defeat the Avatar after the hundred years he's had to master all the elements. I don't know what think anymore. It's Zuko's sixteenth birthday today. Iroh is making the crew help celebrate with us. I wrote him a poem that I will share tonight at the celebrations. I hope he enjoys it. Oh, bother…what is that boy up to now?
The sounds of the brush strokes that Kaida made on her private scroll as she wrote all that down diminished as she finished. Zuko was babbling on about something on deck and he was calling her name. Sighing, Kaida wiped clean her calligraphy brush and left her scroll open to dry. Sighing, she stood, causing her black cotton kimono to rustle as she did so. Kaida wrapped her arms around themselves, making sure that the sleeves of the kimono covered her arms. Yes, in the south pole it was really quite cold. The seventeen year old girl hadn't changed much since she was fourteen. She had grown another three inches, so she now stood at a height of five feet and ten inches. Zuko had, in turn, grown since he was thirteen. Though he wasn't nearly as tall as Kaida. He stood at a height of five feet and seven inches, only three inches shorter…but he did still have growing to do.
She surfaced and bowed to the Prince, receiving a bow back in greeting before getting dragged off towards the front of the metal ship. He was pointing towards a clump of icebergs.
"See? Kaida, don't you see?" Kaida raised her brow and looked hard at the iceberg. It looked just like every other iceberg in the damn sea. She turned to Zuko and shook her head.
"What are you pointing at? Another iceberg? It's not like we haven't seen every other damned iceberg in this whole damned ocean, is it?" Zuko looked flustered and quickly looked over to where he was pointing, his other arm still holding tightly on Kaida's thin arm.
"There…there was a light there earlier. Wasn't there, Uncle? I saw it, you saw it. The men saw it." Kaida blinked and rolled her eyes, trying to pull away from Zuko but failed. Even if she was taller, she was still thin and he was stronger than her. She sighed and raised her brow.
"I know it's your birthday, Zuko…but that doesn't mean you can claim glowing lights shining all over. Have you suspected that it was the Southern Lights?" At this, Uncle nodded and she smirked softly. So he had, but Zuko still didn't believe it.
"I'm not kidding. There was. Wasn't there Uncle? And besides, it was too powerful to be the Southern Lights. It had to have come from an extremely powerful source. And who else is that powerful but the Avatar himself!?" Zuko was becoming annoyed now…his temper had been short ever since his accident at the Agni Kai. Kaida watched his eyes quietly, shifting between his scarred and smooth flesh. He could tell she was watching him and he averted his eyes, not looking forward to hearing how it was all his fault that this had happened and they were all on that boat together because of him. Even though it was true, he didn't like admitting it. He had forced himself to forget that fact. It was not one of his favorite things that he had done in his life. Definitely not.
"Whatever you say, Zuko. Anyway, Happy Birthday." She said, turning with a swirl of fabric and hair upon her heels as she went back to her warm room beneath the ship. There she could at least continue her day of solitude in silence. And in solitude. Before she closed the steel door that separated the deck from the rest of the ship, she heard Zuko barking orders to begin heading towards the light. She sighed, shaking her head as she disappeared.
--
Within a few minutes of Kaida finding her solitude yet again, she was interrupted by the sounds of the ship scraping against something that didn't sound like it was supposed to be scraping up against. She sighed as she set down her calligraphy brush once again and let the parchment dry up silently. She grumbled to herself as she made her way to the deck of the ship. Before she could ask someone what the bloody hell was going on, Zuko ran past her, smiling like a damned maniac.
"Zuko! What the hell are you up to?" She shouted after him, slowly becoming a little more infuriated with him at his actions.
"We're at the water tribe where the Avatar is hiding!" Kaida sighed and shook her head. She would watch from the deck, like always whenever they invaded towns to look for the Avatar.
--
Kaida sighed, she was sitting on the edge of the ship with her legs hanging over the edge beneath her. Her hair sat still as she watched Zuko go about his business looking through the small water tribe village for the Avatar. She thought his efforts were useless as she watched him handle an elderly woman roughly. She would have called down to the banished prince against his actions had she not been watching a girl with a braid and looks in her hair trying to hold a boy back. The only boy around Zuko's age at that village was painted as a warrior. This village had a past. And it didn't seem like a good past.
"Where is the Avatar?" Zuko shouted yet again, pushing the old woman away from him and back towards the girl and her brother.
"We don't have him! We don't know who you're talking about! The Avatar hasn't been seen for hundreds of years!" There went the old woman again, turning around in the girl's arms.
"Lies! Men! Search the village!" With Zuko's order, the Fire Nation soldiers assembled around Zuko scattered to look for the Avatar. But before the first soldier arrived at the one of the ice huts, a young boy dressed in yellow and orange clothing floated down from above, landing in front of Zuko.
"Stop!" The boy cried. Both Kaida and Zuko knew from his clothing that he was an Air Nomad. They also knew that this had to be the last air bender. And therefore, the last Avatar.
"The Avatar." Both he and Kaida whispered. Kaida was much more interested now. The boy sent a jet of air at Zuko, causing him to stumble back. Within a few seconds, however, the prince was back on his feet and soon sending a blast of flame towards the boy.
"You're the Avatar! But you're just a boy!" Zuko called, as the boy dodged yet another blast of his fire.
"Well, you're just a teenager!" He retorted. Kaida couldn't help but to giggle at that. She received a glare from Zuko, causing other water tribe natives to look up at her. With a swift movement, however, Kaida hopped back over the side of the ship and landed on the deck with a soft thud. She smiled as she poked her head back over the side. In their distraction, Zuko had managed to get guards surrounding the Avatar. Kaida smirked, her boy was learning.
"Surrender now, Avatar. If you don't want us to hurt your water tribe." Zuko stated, bringing the attention of everyone back to him and the Avatar rather than Kaida and the ship. She watched as the young boy gave up, hanging his head and allowing the soldiers to lead him to the ship.
"Aang! No!" Kaida's attention once again got torn back to the girl, who was leaving her family to protest the boy getting carried away.
"It's okay, Katara. I'll be alright." He stated, sparing a final glance back as the door that had so previously allowed Zuko and the soldiers to invade was closed. Kaida left her perch with a twirl of hair and silk.
Below the deck, Zuko was barking orders to the soldiers, telling them to put the Avatar in his room.
"But, Prince Zuko, what if he tries to escape?" The head of the crew came up to him, bowing before him quietly.
"Then watch him and make sure he doesn't escape!" He shouted, his temper rising slowly. The soldier sensed this and he quickly bowed and began ordering those lesser than him around. Within a few seconds, Zuko was standing alone in the steel corridor. He quickly made his way up to the deck, but Kaida beat him into meeting her.
"Kaida, I finally have him! I have our ticket back home!" The eager voice of his brought a smile to her face. She smiled at him once again, and he actually had the small hints of a smile back at her. They hugged, and before Kaida new it, their lips met.