Disclaimer : I don't own Avatar or Nickalodean (how the HELL do you spell that?!)
Author's Note – Hey just want to send a shout out to my couple of faithful reviewers, Avatarlover1 and penz rite stuf. You guys are the reason I keep this thing going, so thanks : On with the story!
Zuko had found his true calling.
It was a little after midnight, about an hour after Avalon had tumbled out of the sky into his arms.
He had bandaged her back as best as he could, at least he had stemmed the blood flow. His shirt was in tatters though, and the crushed dock leaves he had used as dressing weren't exactly up to par.
She had slept through the whole ordeal. One of his biggest problems was her privacy. He was at a complete lost. He had to wrap the bandages around her front half too. Finally, he decided that civility be damned and did what he had to do.
And now he was sitting quietly on the ground, watching her sleep. This last half hour was very possibly the highlight of his last few months.
Avalon still slept the same way. There was no hint that she was even aware of the bloody mess that passed for her back at the moment. There was no trace of the pain that had been so evident in her every action during the waking hours.
Every so often she would still twitch, a suggestion of a smile darting across her face. And that little twitch would brighten the whole night up for Zuko. He decided that he couldn't help it any more. There was nothing he could do that would suppress these feelings. And it only made things worse when Katara spilled.
Because that gave him the ever-dangerous hope. It had been completely gone for a while, but it was back, creeping up into Zuko's heart like ivy vines crawling slowly around a house, devouring it.
Long before then, Zuko had decided he would never get involved with Avalon again. Not after he had unleashed his potential for hurting people. He didn't trust himself enough to become that close to her, or anyone for that matter, and know that with one little flick of his wrist he could destroy everything. He had come perilously close to taking his own life last time.
After another half hour of bliss, Zuko lay back, pondering the course this new journey would take.
"WHAT?!"
"Uh, yeah, and he went after her …"
"Wait, wait. WHAT?!"
Aang sucked in a deep breath. They weren't taking it that good. They being Avalon's friends from her home town, the Ruby Lakers as they were generally known.
It was the next morning.
"Why didn't you come to one of us?" Steevo pressed. Aang shrunk back, scared out of his mind. Though Aang was the most powerful being in the world, the sight of Steevo's clenched, meaty fists terrified him.
"I didn't think I would have to," Aang pleaded quietly.
"Lay off'f him," Katara warned gently.
"What are we going to do?" Steevo growled, his voice peering down over the edge of the cliffs of hysteria.
Just then, a scout ran breathlessly up to Aang, prodding his shoulder urgently.
"Sorry to … interrupt … but I think … we have … bigger problems … Azula … almost here."
The silence that followed was utter, broken only by Sokka.
"Shit."
"Unhhhhh."
From the very moment of waking, Avalon wished she hadn't.
"Avalon?" Zuko asked timidly. It was well into the morning, and he had been waiting with a frugal but filling breakfast since sunrise.
"Mehhh," she groaned. Movement was completely impossible. She was acutely aware of every layer of skin that had been removed from her back and how much they all hurt. She was pretty sure during her blissful sleep they had all queued up in a nice, single file line and were now sick of being ignored and were rioting like only preteen girls who are fed up with waiting to get into a NSYNC concert can.
Zuko clicked his tongue a few tongues, trying to distract himself. It was horribly awkward. Avalon lay as still as possible, trying to find that now-allusive state of unconsciousness.
"Where are we?" she finally asked, giving up on going back to sleep.
"About ten miles away from the camp. Here I got you some breakfast," he held it out for her.
"Not hungry," she mumbled.
"Nonsense, you have to eat," Zuko pressed the food into her lap. Avalon sat up stiffly, her back straight as a ramrod.
"My back hurts," she complained out loud.
"It should … Listen, Avalon, it might be a while before we meet up with the others because of your condition, which means we're going to be alone. If you have anything you want to say to me, say it now."
Avalon moaned and pressed her fingers against her temples, "Yeah, I got something to say. Why can't we have one normal conversation without it getting awkward or you bringing the past up? It doesn't matter. Now, my back hurts like hell, I'm in desperate need for a bath, you've gone and given me a headache, and I need a drink."
"There's a river a little ways away for your bath," Zuko said curtly as he got up and walked away.
"Great," Avalon said to herself, "Glad things are back to normal."
After inhaling the roots and berries, Avalon made an attempt to get to her feet. It didn't really work. By the third time, she made it, but walking was virtually impossible, so she floated less than a foot above the ground to the river.
Emerging herself in the cool water felt like heaven. She wrapped a sturdy-looking weed around her wrist and let the slow current of the river gently push against her. She heard crackling footsteps, and smiled to herself. Poor guy, she thought, I am being a bit of a bitch. And it's going to be a long time alone with him.
Zuko stalked around the woods for a while swiping at helpless ferns with one of his broadswords until he felt better. He ended up by the river. Avalon was floating not ten feet away. Zuko averted his eyes and was about to apologize, but Avalon had started to sing.
Zuko was shocked, she had to have heard him coming, he was making more than enough noise. He listened intently to what she was saying, convinced that the words were for him.
"I want to break free
I want to break free
I want to break free from your lies
You're so self-satisfied I don't need you
I got to break free
God knows, God knows I want to break free
I've fallen in love.
I've fallen in love for the first time
And this time I know it's for real
I've fallen in love, yeah
God knows, God knows I've fallen in love
It's strange but it's true, heya,
I can't get over the way you love me like you do
But I have to be sure
When I walk out that door
Oh how I want to be free, baby
Oh how I want to be free
Oh how I want to break free
But life still goes on
I can't get used to living without, living without, living without you
by my side
I don't want to live alone, hey
God knows, got to make it on my own
So baby can't you see
I've got to break free
I've got to break free
I want to break free, yeah
I want I want I want I want to break free …"
Zuko's eyes stayed trained on the ground as he walked slowly away. The words were meant for him, of that he had no doubt and one of Avalon's curses was the incapability to communicate directly with people, which was why she had sung to him, instead of telling it directly to his face.
That's strange, Zuko thought, she's got no problem being in someone's face …
He sighed. It was going to be a long trip.
Avalon came floating back into camp, her feet mere inches above the ground. She grinned at Zuko, surprising him to say the least.
"I feel good," she smiled again.
"Uhuh," Zuko responded warily.
"That bath worked wonders," she exuded happiness.
"Yeah, there didn't happen to be any cactus juice involved, did there?"
"Cactus juice? What are you talking about?"
"You know, cactus juice …" Avalon smiled warmly at him, polite confusion brightening her eyes.
"Never mind," Zuko broke off.
Avalon shrugged at him, "So, where do we go now?"
"I don't know."
"Sweet rescue plan."
"Look who's talking."
"Yeah, got me there."
There was way too much left unsaid for the silences that followed not to be awkward.
"I suppose we should try to get you to a healer or something," Zuko finally suggested.
"Oh yeah, I happen to know one actually. Her name's Katara. You might know her, Waterbender, long, brown braid, travels with the Avatar?"
Avalon snickered at her joke as Zuko rolled his eyes at her.
"Whatever, let's just go back to camp."
"Aww, Zuko, you can't be getting sick of me already!"
Zuko was caught off guard again. Why did she do that?! One minute she was moody and testy, the next she was flirty and happy. It was killing him. He had been prepared for moody, and he got flirty. Not fair!
He shook his head in wonder. He thought he had known her so well, her little give-aways, her quirks. But he had never mastered this double-sided part of her. That's because he had never experienced it.
"Come on, it's this way," he said. She followed him, still hovering above the ground so she wouldn't have to walk. After about five miles, her back was agitating her too much for even that. She wrapped her arms around Zuko's neck and he piggy-backed her for another five miles. Dusk was falling when they stopped.
"It should be around here somewhere," Zuko thought out loud. Avalon looked at him with alarmed eyes, but held her tongue. Zuko cursed himself, he hadn't meant to say that to her, but it was too easy to let things like that slip.
"Another mile," he reassured her. Avalon drifted the last mile and Zuko led out in front of her.
"It was right here! I don't understand," Zuko exasperated.
"Maybe we went the wrong way," Avalon said quietly.
"Nonsense, I know it was here!"
"Maybe you're wrong."
Zuko gave her a withering look.
"Just saying. I mean, you say it was here, but, well, this spot is sort of lacking those things by which we define a camp. People, for example."
"I know," Zuko snapped.
He looked around a bit more, looking for clues that this spot had once been bustling with life. He found what he was looking for.
"Look!" he called Avalon over, "It was here. I knew it!"
There was a small, hairline-thin line in the ground.
"Ooh, a crack in the ground, yes, that does prove it."
"No, no, look. That crack is in a perfect square. There was an earth hut here."
Almost magically, the crack connected with another crack and another right before Avalon's eyes.
"I see it!" she exclaimed like a child that had just figured out one of life's greater mysteries.
Zuko groaned inside. She was beaming at him. This was SO not fair.
"Where do you think they went?" Avalon asked
"I don't know that. But I know they didn't want to be followed. Their tracks are covered up extremely well. I only spot things like this and the strange swirl of dust over there and that shallow, almost invisible, light footstep that belongs to Aang because I tracked him for so long."
Avalon nodded. If there was anyone she would want tracking the Avatar, it was indisputably Zuko. Avalon whimpered all of sudden. Zuko became a flurry of activity, his hands fluttering uselessly around her.
"What?! What's wrong?!"
"Ow, ow," Avalon sucked in her narrow chest, "Nothing."
Zuko sighed, giving her a come-on look reserved for only the truly stupid.
"Really, it's gone. I just had … sharp, shooting pain for a sec."
"Oh boy," Zuko breathed after they had unwrapped her back. The stripes criss-crossing her back had only just begun to scab over, but a few areas looked like promising spots for infection. For one, they were turning black.
"What? You can't 'oh boy' and not say anything else!!" she almost screamed at him, her voice cracking with panic.
"There are some parts," Zuko lightly grazed his fingers over one, causing Avalon to yelp in pain, "that are getting infected."
Avalon groaned, "Nooooooo."
"Come on, we're going to the nearest town."
"What about Azula? She's bound to be searching everywhere."
"Screw Azula," Zuko hissed, his eyes tightening.
"Yeah, I agree and everything, but you know I'm right."
"Not necessarily. I think Aang split because he got a whiff of Azula on his trail. Which means she's following him, not looking for you."
"Wow," Avalon was taken aback. She had never given Zuko props for being so … smart.
Zuko smiled to himself. He knew exactly what she was thinking.
"Let's go."
"Wait," Avalon smiled slyly, "You think you're so smart, don'cha? Well, listen to this plan. I don't feel safe going to some random town where Azula can just sneak up on us while I'm trying to heal …"
"She won't," Zuko interrupted.
"I'm not done," Avalon reprimanded him lightly. He smiled apologetically. "So we should go somewhere not random. And completely safe from Azula."
"Where?"
"Ruby Lake."
