Hellfire
"How much farther?" Zuko asked his uncle, making Iroh bite back a sigh as he pondered the question.
". . . within the hour, Prince Zuko." Zuko scowled after his uncle answered him. He was so close. So close to capturing the Avatar. All he had to do was break into Omashu, battle the Avatar, capture him, fight his way out, and then get home before anything could go wrong. Yeah. No problem at all.
". . . . you aren't going to beat Aang." Zuko's eyes snapped over to Katara. She was looking ahead as she spoke to him. "He been practicing Earthbending and Firebending. He's already mastered water." Finally, her piercing blue eyes landed on him. "You won't beat him." Zuko turned his gaze ahead and felt a smirk work its way onto his face.
"I will beat him. You forget, I am a Fire Master now."
"That's not enough to stop me, Zuko!" Zuko barely had time to knock aside a ball of fire. His golden eyes narrowed as the Avatar landed in front of the group. With ease Zuko slid off the rhino and dropped into a fighting stance.
"I'm capturing you today, Avatar." Zuko growled as he stepped forward and punched, sending out a blast of fire while Iroh got off of his rhino. Aang ducked under the fire and stomped on the ground, causing a small earthquake. The rhinos let out snarls and reared up, throwing off their riders. The soldiers quickly go to their feet and charged forward, intent on fighting only to have Earthbenders come out of the forest they had been traveling through and the soldiers began to fight the earthbenders. Katara herself was thrown from the rhino she had been riding. She managed to roll and get to her feet when she noticed a shadow over her. Katara looked up and her eyes widened in surprise before she rolled out of the way of Yumi's heel as it crashed down into the ground. Standing up, Katara looked at Yumi while uncapping the waterskin at her side.
"Well, I am surprised." Yumi muttered quietly as she and Katara circled each other.
"And why is that?" Katara challenged Yumi.
"You would actually abandon your brother and Aang for the Prince of the Fire Nation." Yumi smirked and Katara created a water whip and smacked at the spot Yumi had been standing in. Yumi was gone. Looking around frantically, Katara tried to find the vanished Yumi. "Too slow!"
Katara turned and used her water to create a shield to stop the fiery kick coming towards her face. Steam rose up into the air and Katara gritted her teeth in frustration at her only source of water being gone. Yumi charged forward and slammed her elbow into the side of Katara's face, sending the waterbender to the ground. Yumi stared down at Katara and forced the girl to look into her pitch black eyes by grabbing her chin and making the girl face her. Before anything could happen, Yumi felt heat coming towards her and she had to jump away as fire scorched the spot she had been in. Katara looked up and smiled at Iroh who helped her up onto her feet.
"Come, I will deal with this woman. You try to talk to your brother and the Avatar to figure things out." Iroh glanced back to see Prince Zuko fighting the young airbender and smiled. "That is, of course, if my nephew doesn't mind." Iroh looked ahead to see Yumi staring at the ground, her eyes in shadows.
Zuko panted as he dodged a wave of fire. Aang had certainly been practicing his firebending, that much was for sure.
"Aang!" Zuko and Aang looked over to see Katara coming towards them.
"Katara!" The young monk called out with a smile. Zuko took the opportunity to send a fiery punch towards Aang.
"Never let you're guard down! Didn't your firebending teacher tell you that!" Zuko hissed as he sent another punch out with fire shooting forth. Aang narrowed his eyes and brought his hands up, ripping the ground out from under Zuko's feet. The prince of fire managed to land on his hands and do a handspring to avoid landing face first in the dirt.
"STOP!" Katara ran in between the two.
"Get out of the way, Katara." Zuko growled as he glared at Katara and Aang. "You have no water. Do not put yourself in the middle of this."
"Katara! How could you leave us to stay with him?" Aang asked, hurt and confused. Katara looked back at Aang, equally confused.
"What are you talking about? You and Sokka-"
"Katara!" She looked up to see her brother coming into the clearing.
"Sokka!" The waterbending master cried out with joy as she saw him. However, there was a cry of pain as Iroh was sent tumbling back while Yumi lowered her foot from a kick.
"Uncle!"
"Iroh!" Katara gasped in worry as the old man's young nephew rush to his side.
"You actually care for this old firebender?" Yumi asked with a slight smirk. "What's next, you care for Prince Zuko?" Before anyone could speak, Yumi was knocked back by a ball of fire. Eyes turned to Zuko as he cradled his Uncle in one arm and the other one was held out in a fist with smoke rising off of it.
"You will pay for hurting my uncle!" The young prince snarled before laying down his unconscious uncle onto the ground. "Lieutenant Ji!" The lieutenant hurried over to the prince's side.
"Yes, sir?" Zuko stood and glared at Yumi as she got up from the ground.
"Take care of my uncle." He ordered before stepping forward. 'Uncle . . . . please forgive me for what I am about to do . . . .' Zuko slammed his fist into the ground and a wave of fire sprung out of the ground and raced towards Yumi. Her dark eyes widened in surprise as the fire knocked her back to the ground. "You should never hurt those close to me. It will only make your death that much more painful!" Zuko began to move his arms and hands about quickly as he stood in a light stance. Fire spewed out with his every movement. Soon fire had erupted into a large towering shape of a dragon. Zuko moved faster as he controlled this complex shape. Yumi looked up and her eyes widened in surprise as the dragon flew up into the air and then plummeted down and swallow, leaving her in an inferno. Though he breathed heavily, Zuko turned to the Avatar, ready to face him.
"Avatar-" Aang's eyes were glued to where Yumi had been.
"Y-Yumi?" The young boy stuttered in shock.
"No." Croaked a familiar voice. Zuko turned and stared at his uncle in surprise.
"Uncle," Zuko moved to Iroh's side. "Are you alright?"
"Oh Zuko . . . . what have you done?" Iroh looked up at Zuko with such disappointment in his eyes.
"I'm sorry, uncle." Zuko whispered softly.
"You knew it was forbidden." Iroh chided him. "Yet you practiced her teachings? Why?"
"I just wanted to be a Fire Master. I had to bring some honor to my father." Zuko bit his lip and and looked at the ground. "It would shame him further had my sister become a master before me."
"He is a fool!" Zuko's head snapped up and he looked over at the large fire that was where Yumi had been. "I've told you time and time again, Zuko," The fire began to lower. "You are destined for great things. Things you're father couldn't even dream of."
". . . . who?" Zuko narrowed his eyes in confusion as the fire lowered enough for Yumi to step out. She clothes were burnt, barely hanging onto her and their were patches of torn skin, revealing a light peach color beneath the porcelain skin. But it was her eyes that drew the air out of Zuko. When he had attacked her, he hadn't even bothered to look at her eyes. It was those pitch black eyes. The same eyes that belonged to his teacher. "Hellfire?" The world seemed to stop. All the earthbenders and soldiers had stopped when Zuko had let loose that enormous fire dragon, a technique that only one person was suppose to know. A person who was cast out of the Fire Nation on mysterious grounds while the prince was only a boy.
Yumi reached up and grabbed the skin on her face and pulled. It tore off to reveal a peach colored face. Unlike the one Yumi had worn, this one looked in the mid twenties. While Yumi had looked like she had just lost her baby fat, this one looked like it had reached full maturity. Fire grew and consumed 'Yumi', burning away the dusty black hair to reveal pitch black hair, as dark as the voids she called her eyes. The fire took shape around her and turned solid. Her clothes were all black. Black books had black baggy pants tucked into them. The pants hung on her slim hips. She wore a sleeveless shirt that conformed to her frame and exposed her flat stomach. Her neck was covered by the collar. Black leather gloves adorned her hands as they wielded blades in each. The skin was no longer porcelain but a soft peach. She was no longer the strange firebending master named Yumi.
Throwing her blades down, hard, she embedded them into the ground and reached up. She pulled her long hair into a twist at the top of her head and tied it with a black ribbon, letting the loose hair spray out of the twist. The woman knelt down, never taking her eyes off of Zuko, and pulled her blades out of the ground.
"It's been a long time, my dear prince." She began to walk towards him. "I promised that I would come back for you when you were away from that hateful man."
"Hellfire?" Zuko had stood up and took a step towards her. A shadow of joy passed over his face. The woman nodded.
"Yes, dear prince, it's me, Hellfire." She smiled lovingly at him. "Look at you, all grown up. You've mastered my teachings, even without me there to help. You truly are destined for great things."
". . . . Hellfire . . . you haven't aged a day . . . you haven't changed at all . . . but . . . . what are you doing here?" She came to a stop and looked over at the Avatar. Aang stood with Katara and Sokka.
"I am teaching the Avatar firebending." Zuko took a step back in shock.
"W-what?"
"Zuko! Get away from that thing!" Iroh yelled, causing Zuko to turn and look at his uncle, confused.
"But . . . . it's Hellfire."
"Zuko!" Iroh pushed himself to his feet. "Run while you still can!"
". . . . I . . . . I don't understand." Zuko looked back and forth between Hellfire and his uncle. "What did she do to get chased away like she was? Tell me, uncle?" Iroh sighed as the truth came out.
"She murdered your mother." Zuko shook his head in disbelief.
"My mother died when I was four. She died of illness."
"It's true, Prince Zuko." His head snapped back to look at Hellfire. "I killed her." Zuko stared at her in shock and horror.
"No. NO! You raised me like I was your own!" Zuko yelled at Hellfire. "Why would you kill her?" Sokka looked at Zuko then at Hellfire and then turned his attention to Katara and Aang.
"What going on here?" He asked and Aang could only shrug while Katara started to walk forward.
"This is Hellfire, Zuko?" Zuko backed up and shook his head.
"No. This can't be her. She wouldn't do that." Hellfire sighed and took a step towards him but Iroh moved in front of Zuko.
"Prince Zuko, get away while you can! I will hold her off!" Hellfire narrowed her eyes and disappeared from where she was standing and reappeared behind Zuko.
"Like you could." She grabbed onto Zuko and disappeared.
"Zuko!" Katara gasped as she looked around for him. Iroh shook his head in defeat.
"Don't bother. Wherever she's taken him, there's no way to track her."
Wow, a lot happened in this chapter. Please review and tell me what you think. It helps me a lot if there is a part I missed or what not.
