-Two Months Later-

Zuko stared at his father's back and gripped the cold prison bars enclosing the previous Fire Lord in his cell. "I came here to tell you that you failed." Zuko grit his teeth as his father sat in stony silence, not even bothering to turn to face his son. "Despite your best efforts, Anika is alive and well. You were captured and thrown back into jail, and Kuzen is locked somewhere where he'll never see the light of day again. You can't control me. I'm going to live a long, successful life despite everything you've ever done to try to drag me into the mud."

Zuko's face twisted into a snarl as his father continued to sit in silence. "Well?! Don't you have anything to say?"

One beat of silence.

Two beats.

Three.

Zuko pushed himself away from the prison bars as if they had burned him. "Have it your way, then."

Just as Zuko turned to leave, Ozai's cruel laugh began to bounce off the stone walls. "You're even more foolish than I remember." Zuko slowly spun back around to face his father as Ozai stood and turned, his eyes glittering like two living flames. "Have you already forgotten what I'm capable of? You really think Kuzen was the only one I visited during my escape?"

Ozai lunged forward in his cell, and Zuko stumbled back a step out of old instinct. Ozai grinned in satisfaction. "I knew Kuzen might be unsuccessful. He is skilled and loyal, but he has a flare for the dramatic that is his downfall. I was prepared for him to draw things out and ultimately fail. Betting on it, even. I spoke with others, men you haven't even heard of. They'll come for you. They'll come for your precious girlfriend. You will become the kind of ruler I desire you to be, or you will die as a weak fool. It will be interesting to see which one you choose."

Ozai turned and settled back down onto the floor, still managing to keep his air of superiority despite the circumstances. "As you said, have it your way."

Zuko scrambled for a confident comeback, but his heart had turned to ice in his chest. His mouth worked silently up and down a few times before he balled his hands into fists. "You're wrong. I can take anything you throw at me, and so can Anika. I'm not afraid of you or your men."

Ozai didn't reply, but his turned back began to slowly shake as he let out low, mocking chuckles. Zuko turned on his heel and stormed from the cell, desperate to escape the terrible sound. He hurried from the prison and out into the streets of the Fire Nation Capital. A terrible feeling suddenly overcame him. The other men his father had talked to were waiting for a moment when he was separated from Anika to attack. A moment like this one. A sudden image of a man digging a knife into Anika's throat shot across his mind.

No. No, no, no. Zuko felt a cold sweat bead on his forehead, and he broke into a sprint for the palace. Ever since he could remember, he'd been one step behind his father. Houses and carriages flew by in a blur as Zuko's heart climbed into his throat. One step was all it took for someone to die, to be killed because of his foolishness. Why had he left her alone? Zuko somehow managed to push himself to run faster as he neared the palace and what waited for him inside.

He was going to be too late. He was going to—just as Zuko reached the palace courtyard, his eyes fell on Anika, who was casually squaring off against a training dummy.

"Anika!" Zuko was by his girlfriend in an instant. He scooped her into his arms and spun around three times as he buried his face in her soft hair.

"Zuko, what are you—" Anika was laughing as he set her down, her eyes bright with amusement. Zuko stooped down and brought his mouth right to her still-laughing lips, reveling in the sound of her laughter, the feel of her lips, the touch of her skin... the normalcy and safeness of it all.

Zuko pulled away and cupped one of her cheeks in his hand. "For a second there, I thought... I thought that..." Zuko took a shaky breath and shook his head. "It doesn't matter what I thought."

Zuko's hand slipped from Anika's cheek, and he stepped back a few feet. "Firebend at me."

Anika titled her head at the sudden change of subject. "What? Why?"

Zuko shook his head impatiently. "Doesn't matter. Just give me everything you've got."

Anika blinked, then settled back into a fighting stance. "Oka-ay..." She took a deep breath, then launched towards him, a ball of flames swirling in front of her punching hand.

Zuko snatched Anika's fist and smothered the flames flickering over her knuckles with his own bending. He pushed her arm aside and furrowed his brow in frustration. "No! That's not fast enough; there isn't enough power. Again!"

The last of Anika's happy smile fell from her face. "Why are we doing this?"

"We haven't been training enough, is all." Zuko waved her on impatiently. "Do that again, but better this time."

Anika frowned slightly, but she raised her fists all the same and repeated the move, this time adding a powerful shout that added more flames to the the blow. Zuko sidestepped the punch and grabbed her arm. He used it to twist her around and into his chest.

"Ahrg!" Anika let out a grunt of protest. "Zuko, you're hurting me!"

"I am?" Zuko immediately released her, reprimanding himself for being too rough, too soon.

He felt a jolt of guilty alarm as Anika reached a hand up to her scarred bicep and rubbed it gingerly. "Still a bit sore."

"Of course. I'm sorry, I guess I got a little carried away. That's enough practicing for today." Zuko crossed his arms over of his chest. "But we're getting up bright and early tomorrow morning to get back to work. I want to teach you a couple firebending moves that are based off of waterbending. You should be able to get an extra bit of power from those."

Anika put her hands on her hips. "Why the sudden obsession with training?"

"I just want you to be prepared to fight back if you ever get attacked again. You need to be more skilled than you were when you were abducted by Kuzen's thugs."

Anika frowned irritably. "That's a bit unfair. They chi-blocked me, Zuko. Azula is one of the most powerful firebenders in the world, and even she was helpless after that kind of attack. Some things are just beyond my control."

"Well, maybe if I had trained you better, you could have fought Kuzen enough to get away."

Anika balked at him before her face clouded with anger. She stepped forward and jabbed a finger at Zuko's chest. "By the time he unchained me, I was so hurt I couldn't see straight. You have no idea what I went through, Zuko. You don't know what you're talking about."

Zuko backed away defensively. "That's true, I don't. But I do know that you almost died, and maybe if you were a better firebender, it wouldn't have happened. You need to improve, to become the best of the best. I can't let you get hurt that badly again, Anika. I can't let you die. You could be a target at any moment, and you're all but helpless!"

"I can take care of myself!" In a burst of anger, Anika launched forward and reared back her arm. Caught completely off-guard, Zuko didn't think fast enough, and he stood frozen as Anika slammed a fist into his jaw. The force of the blow sent him sprawling backward and onto the ground.

Stone connected with skin, and his palms burned as they were rubbed raw by the ground. Zuko raised a hand to his already-throbbing jaw and stared up at Anika in hurt surprise. Anika's chin wobbled, her expression a broken mixture of hurt and anger and regret. She opened her mouth as if to apologize before spinning around and running into the palace.

Zuko groaned and rolled gloomily onto his back. He was so stupid! He had meant to get across that he was concerned for her safety and wanted to make sure she was a prepared fighter, but everything had come out wrong. He'd made it sound like he blamed her for not being talented enough to escape during the attack.

"Fire Lord Zuko! Back from the prisons, I see."

Zuko pulled himself to his feet at the sound of his advisor's voice. "Yeah. Just... err, resting."

"Well, there's no time for basking in the sun, I'm afraid. You have a meeting with an Earth Kingdom representative in a few minutes, and then I have you booked for three different..." Zuko gloomily listened to the long list of duties scheduled for the day as a fist of dread tightened it's grip on his insides.

He wouldn't have time to apologize to Anika like he wanted to. It was probably for the best. He wasn't sure what he'd say, and somehow his apologies always seemed to make situations worse. "That's all fine, but I have a request," Zuko blurted, cutting off his advisor just as he began to prattle on about a dinner with the top generals. "Think you could get a bouquet of flowers sent to diplomat Anika's room?"

His advisor blinked in surprise before letting out a sigh and making a mark on the scroll he was carrying. "It could be arranged. I must remind you that I'm not the florist, Lord Zuko. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to ask one of the servants in the future. What is it, her birthday?"

"Huh? Oh, no. She's just a little angry with me."

"I see." His advisor made another mark on the scroll as he muttered dryly, "better ask for an extra large arrangement, then."

"Yeah..." Zuko winced as he remembered Anika's hurt expression and his jaw ached in memory of her fist slamming into it. "Let's go with that."

"You look worried, Fire Lord. Try to ease your mind and focus on the tasks at hand. In my experience, when two people love each other, arguments and bumps in the road find ways to resolve themselves."

Zuko nodded absently as his stomach twisted itself into knots of worry. "I hope you're right."