Chapter 10:

Dreams and Nightmares

Days past trying to find a lead on the Avatar, sadly having no luck. Misa's days were filled with looking at maps and interrogating people; her nights filled with dreams she would rather forget. Wake up. Eat breakfast. Train with Iroh. Help Zuko find the Avatar. Look at some maps. Train. Eat. Help Zuko. Train. Eat. Help Zuko. Sleep. Nightmare. Repeat.

The dreams weren't as bad a before, it was either that or she was numb to the horrifying scenes she saw every night. She had stopped screaming before waking up, now only a gasp would be heard as her eyes would open and she would wake up panting.

She left her 'afternoon shift' of helping Zuko to take a bath. She figured that releasing some of the stress would help her sleep better, even having the possibility of not having a nightmare. She scoffed at that thought, she didn't even remember how it felt not to wake up in the middle of the night. Misa went completely under the water, letting the heat soak into her skin relieving all her tense muscles.

"Lady Misa?" A knock was heard from the bathroom door, it was one of the soldiers, "I've been sent to tell you to go to Prince Zuko's chambers." She groaned and slipped under the water once more, clearly too much of a good thing was wrong. "Lady Misa?" She had completely forgotten the soldiers presence and before he would began to open the door in panic she spoke, "Yes. Of course, please tell him I'll be there."

She assumed the man left after hearing a small grunt in approval. Misa got out of the bath and put on her simple day to day clothes. Pajamas would have been more comfortable and her first choice but sadly Zuko had interrupted all her ideas of relaxation. As she finished drying her hair a bit with the towel, she walked out ready to meet with the prince.

Misa didn't bother knocking on the door, simply opening it and walking in. "You called?" He was on the floor in a criss-cross position in front of his candles. 'He probably wanted some relaxation, too,' she thought to herself while standing awkwardly in the doorway. He breathed heavily and turned to face her completely. He looked between a mix of hope and exhaustion; clearly tired of looking for the Avatar but happy that there was something finally to look for.

"I wanted to know how you were doing." He got up and sat on his bed and motioned for her to sit next to him. She took a seat next to him and looked forward at the Fire Nation insignia hanging from the ceiling. "I'm fine. Thanks for asking." She said without looking at him. Zuko furrowed his brow, he wanted her to tell him how she was feeling, he knew that she was still having the nightmares. He could see it on her tired face every time they were making plans on how to capture the Avatar.

"Misa what do you dream about?" He started to ask calmly, "Why don't you talk about it? It's clearly bothering you." He was getting annoyed about how she was so quiet about it, acting as if they were nothing. Misa was still silent but this time her eyes were directed towards her hands. "They're not a big deal Zuko." She said rolling her eyes. She didn't want him to worry about pointless things, they were just dreams. Yes these dreams terrified her and showed her loved ones brutal deaths with her being completely useless, unable to help her family.

This time it was Zuko's turn to roll his eyes. "I'm not an idiot Misa I can tell you're upset about these dreams. If you talk about it they could go away." Even though his words were caring, his tone wasn't. He was mad. Which made Misa mad. "Zuko I said just let it go!" She was on her feet now standing in front of him, "we have way more important things to think about. Like, I don't know, where the Avatar is?"

Zuko stood to meet her gaze with a glare. "We already know where he's heading, maybe if you didn't slack and go take a 'relaxing' bath you would know." She glared back, one minute he could go from caring and the next to 'this is all your fault.' Misa scoffed, "I don't understand you. You let me leave!" He was closer to her face than before, "I don't control you Misa. You can do what you want."

She went closer. "I know I can! You don't have to remind me." He rolled his eyes and groaned grabbing her wrist for emphasis, "For example, go ahead. Keep on torturing yourself! Let these dreams consume you." She glared even more, she didn't think she could be she did. "I didn't ask for your help Zuko. I'm perfectly fine dealing with it alone."

Before Zuko could say anything the door opened revealing a soldier standing in the doorway looking quiet uncomfortable. Both Misa and Zuko turned and growled "WHAT" at the soldier. He coughed and continued to fumble with his hands, opening and closing his mouth like a fish. Misa looked back at Zuko trying to understand why the man was so flustered.

She noticed how compromising the situation looked like. They were so close together, he wasn't wearing a shirt and she was in a midriff shirt. Not only that but she never noticed when his hand which started on her wrist ended up on her shoulder pulling forward. Her hand had somehow ended up on his forearm, something she had no recollection of doing. She cleared her throat and took a step back, giving more space between them.

"What do you want?" She said a little too harshly, trying as hard to sound confident when in reality she was extremely embarrassed. The soldier found his calm and asked, "Prince Zuko, Lady Misa, General Iroh is requesting your presence on deck." And with that he left, leaving both teenagers alone. The air was still tense, Zuko was glaring at the empty doorway while Misa was staring at him, her face scrunched in confusion.

Their fight was pointless. It was stupid. She didn't understand why they got so mad for a pointless reason. She was confused as to why she got mad at him for simply caring for her. She thought it had to do with the fact that she felt that he didn't think she could handle herself. That she was fragile and that she would break. The thought made her mad again. "Let's go." Her thoughts were interrupted by his voice. She simply nodded and walked out the room without waiting for him.

It was sunset as she saw outside the window and she felt that the ship had stopped. She opened the door that lead to the deck, holding it open for Zuko, which she assumed was behind her. Once outside they noticed they were docked at a prison. Misa was confused yet again, she twirled on her feet to look at Zuko. "This is where the Avatar is?" He simply ignored her and walked forward.

He was wearing a shirt now, he had probably grabbed it before walking out of his room. "Prince Zuko we have arrived at the last place the Avatar was seen." Once Iroh had seen them he smiled but as soon as he saw the tension flow out of them his smile fell. He shook his head slightly, "go change. We are leaving the ship in 10 minutes."

Misa was the first one to turn and walk to her room. She changed out of her simple clothing into something a bit more elaborate. Something that made her seem more like a Lady. It was important to make an impression to the other Fire Nation citizens even they were technically banished. She put her hair in a bun and walked back to the deck.

She stood next to Iroh, who gave a little worried look, still thinking about the earlier tension he experienced between the two young people. Zuko came out a couple minutes later in his full Fire Nation armor walking right past them getting off the ship. Misa rolled her eyes at him, annoyed that he would ignore her like that. Her steps were a little too hard on the floor while she walked with Iroh down to the prison's docks.

She continued walking around not hearing the polite greeting toward 'Lady Misa' or the little nods they would give in her direction as she walked through the prison. It was until she stomped into the main courtyard. Coal was lying all around the floor, it looked like there had been a fight. She saw Zuko look at the floor and pick something up. She was too curious so she swallowed her pride and walked over to the prince.

"What's that?" She could tell he was surprised that she was talking to him, but he tried hard to hide it. He cleared his throat and refused to look at her, "it's a necklace." He brought it up so she could see it clearly, "It belongs to the water tribe girl that the Avatar travels with." Misa recognized before he said it. It was a beautiful blue collar with a simple water tribe symbol in the middle. According to her history classes that was what men would give their bride-to-be's in the Northern and Southern tribes.

"Here. You can have it." Misa looked up at him in shock, did he not know what it symbolized? What it meant to give a women a necklace like this one? Her heart was beating fast, she was sure he didn't know what it meant but a tiny part of her wanted him to know. "Keep it for safekeeping. I'm sure we can use it to bargain with them in some way." Her heart slowed down and she let out the breathe she was holding. "Yeah, sure," she took the necklace slowly, avoiding touching his hand. She turned and walked back to the ship, breathing slowly not wanting to think about what had just happened. Misa didn't understand why she felt so flustered about the necklace.

Water tribe engagement necklaces meant nothing in their culture. If Zuko were to propose to her he would have given her a fire lily and a golden band, but considering he was royalty he would have most probably given her family heirloom such as his mother's headpiece. She scoffed at her stupid thinking. She had no reason to think like this since she was never going to marry him.

She clenched the necklace as she walked towards her room and put it on her small nightstand, quickly taking off her clothes she fell into a sleep that was only filled with dreams of white lilies and golden bands. Her first nightmare free sleep in weeks.

Author's Note:

Hey guys! I don't really have much to say but to please review! Thank you to the new followers and favorites I got. I see that a lot of people read the story but I would really appreciate if you left a review I want to see what your thoughts are! I love constructive criticism and what you guys would like to see in the future. It's good to have a schedule: a chapter a month. I think it's reasonable, right? I'm going to try as hard as I can to release another chapter this month but no promises! Well, thanks for reading!

~ .okumura