A terrifying scream of pain echoed throughout Zuko's ship at early morning. Zuko was quite startled from his sleep and in annoyance, decided to go see what was going on.
"What's the meaning of al-!"
Prince Zuko stopped in mid-sentence as he saw all his crew crowded around one of his men who had a hunk of flesh torn from his forearm and was pale and shaking from blood loss.
"What happened!"
The shaken up man pointed to a broom closet with a trail of blood leading to it. Zuko shook a bit himself as he put his hand on the knob of the door and the crew yelled out to him to be careful. Zuko was in shock of what he saw. Here was Rera curled up in the dark with blood and flesh all over her mouth. Sensing Zuko's presence, she threw herself to his feet and began to sob.
"Laerah sowee! No meeinu hort!"
Zuko almost felt like crying himself as he poor Rera crying with sweet innocence, even though her mouth indicated that she truly DID bite the man.
"THAT GIRL IS A DEMON!" cried out the suffering victim.
"SHUT UP!" cried out Zuko in anger. "IF SHE SAY'S SHE DIDN'T MEAN IT, THAN I BELIEVE HER!"
"I saw her attacking me this morning and the proof is all over her face! …Or has your love for her made you as blind as she is?"
To Zuko, that comment felt like a slap to the face not only for him, but also for sad and suffering Rera as well. Rage began to fill his body. Luckily Uncle Iroh came to the rescue and stopped him before he could char the man to death.
"ENOUGH!" shouted the old man. "Now I know we're all scared, angry, and a bit confused now, but we shouldn't be losing our heads over all of this. Now I suggest that we get this man some medical attention and Zuko and I will watch over the girl."
As the men took the victim to the medical room, Zuko lifted Rera up into his arms and walked off with Iroh.
"Forgive me, Uncle." Zuko said apologetically. "If it wasn't for what that man said earlier, perhaps I wouldn't have almost lost my temper."
"You're forgiven, but he was right about one thing though. You do love Rera. Don't deny it, Prince Zuko. You can't fool your own uncle."
Prince Zuko sighed as he held whimpering Rera close to his chest. As Zukop sat Rera on her bed, Rera began to sign.
"Please help me, Zuko. I don't want to hurt anyone else again."
Holding onto Zuko for dear life, Zuko hugged her back to let her know that he would help her.
So what did you think? Please R&R.