For starters, I'd just like to thank you guys for getting this story to one hundred reviews which makes this the second story of mine to reach that milestone with the first one being Blinding Horizon. It's a bit ironic though that at 25 chapters, this story is at 100 reviews since 25 is a quarter of a hundred and some of the only maths that I remember, lol. This chapter was interesting to write, since it has both Akane and Zuko adjusting to their new lives of a fugitive and it included Song so it takes place during the Cave of Two Lovers so enjoy.

Irony of Hope

Life as a fugitive was not what Akane had expected it to be. But in all honesty, Akane had no idea what this life would be like for her. Going into it, Akane knew that it would be nothing like the luxurious life that they had lived the past three years. They were now enemies of the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom and were left completely on their own with nobody to help them. It was especially hard having to deal with Zuko after their argument about Azula.

Despite them both apologising to each other with sincerity, the wounds from their words still hurt and their friendship had been on thin ice ever since. It was almost as if they were equally afraid to say something that would hurt the other person, and that was something that they had never had a problem with before. In the span of a few weeks, their friendship had drastically changed to a point that Akane didn't like. They were supposed to be best friends, yet now it was almost as if they were strangers.

Their new lives as fugitives was something that Akane had coped remarkably well with. Mostly because she had already felt like a fugitive to the Fire Nation, yet now it was official. Shortly after reuniting with Iroh and Zuko, the trio had come across their official wanted posters which portrayed their likeness exactly accurate. Now they didn't have the luxury of using the Fire Nation card to get what they wanted, since exposing themselves would either get them captured or killed.

Unlike Akane, Zuko was hardly coping with his new status as a fugitive. There hadn't been a day that passed where Zuko didn't complain about their situation, and it made Akane to want to snap some sense into him that not everything was going to go their way. The trio were currently hiding in a forest, while Akane and Zuko tried to scavenge for food and Iroh took in the scenery.

"I didn't find anything to eat! I can't live like this! I can't live like this! I wasn't meant to be a fugitive," Zuko complained as he emerged from the bushes, with his hair now the shortest that Akane had seen it in years. "This is impossible!" Zuko yelled at the sky as he raised his fists in the air.

"Here we go again," Akane muttered as she rolled her eyes, not in the mood to deal with Zuko's complaining again. Out of the corner of her eyes, Akane spotted Iroh staring in awe at a red and white flower, which seemed to catch Zuko's attention as well.

"Uncle, what are you doing?" Zuko asked.

"You're looking at the rare white dragon bush. Its leaves make a tea so delicious, it's heartbreaking," Iroh doted over the flower. "That, or it's the white jade, which is poisonous."

"We need food, not tea. I'm going fishing," Zuko said before walking away.

"Hmm… delectable tea?" Iroh wondered dreamily before changing his voice to one of suspicion. "Or deadly poison."

"Try not to take any stupid risks, Iroh. We are fugitives, remember? It's not like we have a first aid team on standby if that plant is poisonous," Akane warned before heading off after Zuko, believing that Iroh wouldn't be stupid enough to put himself at risk because of a flower.

Although their friendship had been awkward as of recently, Akane didn't want to let this be what ruined her friendship with Zuko since after all, it was the most important thing in her life. Without Zuko around, Akane didn't know what she'd do. When she caught up with him, Zuko was too busy trying to fish that had didn't notice her standing there. Keyword: trying.

"Damnit," Zuko grumbled as one of the fishes stole his bait.

"Maybe you should try tightly securing the bait so the fishes can't steal it," Akane suggested, which noticeably caught Zuko off guard as he spun around in alarm.

"Akane! Don't sneak up on me like that," Zuko snapped.

Akane shrugged, "I had to see if you needed my help first."

Zuko shook his head, "You should be back with Uncle."

"Why should I?" Akane crossed her arms.

"We both know how uncle can be when it comes to tea. And you also know just as well why you shouldn't be doing vigorous activity like this. We can't afford to have you hurting yourself even more. Especially now that we don't have anything to help you," Zuko replied.

"It's just fishing, Buster. It's not like I'm getting into a fight or anything. And Iroh is the wisest person that I know. I highly doubt that he would risk his life over a stupid tea," Akane dismissed his concerns.

"Akane, don't make me order you to go back to Uncle," Zuko warned.

"What authority do you have over me, Buster?" Akane asked.

"I'm the Prince of the Fire Nation," Zuko proclaimed.

"Not anymore," Akane argued, since his wanted poster had made it clear that Zuko wasn't to be respected with his title.

"I'm older than you," Zuko stated.

Akane scoffed, "You certainly don't act like it."

Zuko sighed in resignation, "If you're going to make that big of a deal out of it then fine, you can help."

"Great. I'll help you find some better bait," Akane said as she went off to do her part.

They continued fishing for about half an hour, still having as much luck as they had so far, with that luck being nothing. With every fish that they missed, the more agitated Zuko got. Even though it was clearly frustrating him, Akane had to admit that it was highly amusing to watch Zuko fumble like he was.

If there was one thing that Akane had learned from that experience was that neither she or Zuko were expert fishermen. Although Akane almost changed her mind on that statement when it seemed like Zuko managed to catch something on his bait, only for it to be the tiniest little fish that Akane had ever seen before in her life.

"Wow, that's really tiny," Akane giggled.

"It's better than nothing," Zuko grumbled.

"Like we're totally going to get a proper meal out of that thing. There's barely any meat in it," Akane argued.

"Let's just go back to Uncle. Maybe he's had better luck in the food department," Zuko suggested.

Nodding in agreement, Akane followed Zuko back to their spot with Iroh. Upon arriving back in the forest, Zuko made it seem like they'd been hard at work when all they had to show for it was just a tiny fish that flapped about helplessly on the branch that was used for a fishing pole. When they spotted Iroh, he was hunched over with his back turned towards them.

"Akane, Zuko, remember that plant I thought might be tea?" Iroh asked.

"Please tell us…" Akane trailed off in shock.

"You didn't," Zuko finished in equal shock.

"I did..." Iroh turned around, revealing himself to be swollen and covered in red marks. "And it wasn't."

"Ahh!" Zuko yelled as he dropped the branch out of shock.

Akane did a facepalm, "Iroh! I told you to forget about the stupid plant!"

"When the rash spreads to my throat, I will stop breathing," Iroh said surprisingly calmly before his voice changed to one of excitement as he held out a branch of berries. "But look what I found. These are bacui berries, known to cure the poison of the white jade," Iroh revealed before speaking unenthusiastically. "That, or maka'ole berries that cause blindness."

Zuko grabbed the branch of berries and hurled it into the bushes, "We're not taking any more chances with these plants! We need help."

"And where are we going to find that?" Akane asked.

"She's right," Iroh agreed as he knelt down and scratched his rash vigorously. "We're enemies of the Earth Kingdom and fugitives from the Fire Nation."

"If the Earth Kingdom discovers us, they'll have us killed," Zuko started.

Iroh rose to his feet as he continued, "But if the Fire Nation discovers us, we'll be turned over to Azula."

"Well, I think that settles it then," Akane stated, knowing what option she preferred without even considering it.

Zuko nodded as he looked at Iroh, "Earth Kingdom it is."

With their decision made, the trio headed off to find a way out of the forest so that they could hopefully find some help in the Earth Kingdom. While neither option out of the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation sounded nice, Akane would much rather face her death at the hands of the Earth Kingdom instead of Azula.

~*•°•*~

Luckily for the trio, it didn't take them too long to find a nearby village with a small hospital in it that was willing to treat Iroh. It was also handy that they were able to give Akane a few herbs and medicine to help ease her condition. The whole time Akane and Zuko just ignored each other as they blamed the other for them being in this situation.

Looking around, Akane could see that this was a pretty good place for them to seek help as it didn't look like there as any trouble nearby. Nearby, one doctor was treating a man with what appeared to be a cupping treatment, which made the man grit his teeth in pan. While Akane and Zuko blamed each other for Iroh's condition, Iroh was getting treated by a young girl who couldn't have been any older than they were.

"You three must not be from around here. We know better than to touch the White Jade, much less make it into tea and drink it," the girl scolded Iroh and flicked his hand away as he tried to scratch his rash.

"Whoops!" Iroh exclaimed in an even worse condition than before with the rash having spread to his face and his cheeks swollen.

"So where are you travelling from?" the girl asked.

"Yes, we're travellers," Zuko nervously replied as he rose from his seat.

"Do you have names?" the girl inquired.

"Names? Of course we have names," Zuko answered as he tried finding believable names for them. "I'm, uh… Li. This is our friend... err, Nene and my Uncle, uh… Mushi?"

Akane cringed at the names he had given them, while Iroh shot him an angry look, "Yes, my nephew was named after his father, so we just call him Junior."

At that, Iroh leaned over to give Zuko a pleased smile while Zuko glared at him and move his finger across his neck to say he's dead meat, but abruptly came to a halt and put his hands behind his back when the girl turned to look at him and Akane.

"Nene's an embarrassing childhood nickname," Akane quickly recovered before giving a far more suitable name. "It's short for Naoki."

"Mushi, Junior and Naoki, huh? My name is Song. You three look like you could use a good meal," Song said before slapping Iroh's hand away when he went to scratch at his rash. "Why don't you stay for dinner?"

"Sorry, but we need to be moving on," Zuko denied the offer as he looked away.

"That's too bad," Song gave an innocent smile as she screwed the cap back on the lid she was holding. "My mom always makes too much roast duck."

"Where do you live exactly?" Iroh asked excitedly.

"What Mushi means to say is that we would love to join you for dinner," Akane accepted Song's offer in a more polite way.

"That's wonderful. I'll take you to my house once I'm finished here," Song said before heading out of the room.

"What?" Akane asked as Zuko gave her a glare. "She's offering us free food and don't even deny that we need it."

"Like I said, we need to be moving on. We can't risk staying here too long and exposing ourselves," Zuko hissed.

Akane rolled her eyes, "Oh yeah, like I'm sure we have a reason to be afraid of Song with a name like hers."

"Names can be deceiving," Zuko argued.

"Like Mushi, Nene and Li?" Akane crossed her arms.

Zuko blushed as he scratched his neck, "I was under pressure!"

"I could've given us better names," Akane muttered.

"When you two are done arguing, could you give me a hand over here?" Iroh interjected.

Glancing at each other, Akane and Zuko nodded as they went over to help Iroh while Song was gone. The rashes had seemed to go down, but Iroh was still trying to scratch them when lead to a whole lot of swatting in order to get him to stop. This was what they got for leaving him alone with a plant he thought was tea, since Iroh had clearly shown he valued tea more than his life. They could only hope that they wouldn't get themselves into more trouble like this again.

~*•°•*~

By the time night arrived, the three of them had arrived at Song's house where her mother had prepared a large spread of food for them. Just look at it had Akane's stomach watering, as it was the best meal that she had in ages. Upon eagerly sitting down, Akane started to politely shove as much food down her mouth as she could while Song introduced them to her mother.

"My daughter tells me you're refugees. We were once refugees ourselves," the woman stated as she set down a platter of roast duck and took a seat.

"When I was a little girl, the Fire Nation raided our farming village. All the men were taken away. That was the last time I saw my father," Song revealed, which earned a sympathetic look from Akane.

"I have never known my father. I've been with Ir-Mushi and Junior for as long as I can remember," Akane said.

"I haven't seen my father in many years," Zuko admitted, which surprised Akane.

"Oh, is he fighting in the War?" Song asked sorrowfully.

Zuko hesitated as Iroh slurped up a bowl of noodles before he gave his answer and looked down in dismay, "Yeah."

Song's mother sighed, "It's a shame what the War has done to so many families. I can't imagine the amount of people that must be in misery like we are."

That seemed to be enough for Zuko as he barely excused himself from the table and exited the room. For a moment, Akane considered going after him but Song beat her to it as she volunteered to see if he was okay. Akane wasn't sure what it was, but something inside of her just didn't sit right with Song checking on Zuko when she barely knew him. If anyone should be looking out for him, it should be Akane, not Song.

"I need some fresh air," Akane declared as she got up from her seat and carefully slipped outside.

After looking around for Zuko, she noticed him sitting on Song's front porch as Song went to join him. Despite wanting to walk right up to them now, Akane chose to stand back and listen to their conversation instead. Normally, she'd feel guilty about spying on people but in this scenario she didn't care whatsoever.

"…The Fire Nation has hurt you," Song observed, glancing at Zuko's scar. What she did next surprised Akane as she reached her hand out to touch it, which sent a rare feeling of rage go up inside of Akane. Before Akane could react, Zuko pushed her hand away.

"It's okay. They've hurt me, too," Song admitted compassionately before pulling up her pants leg to reveal burn scars on her leg. That earned a surprised look from Zuko, and one with even more rage from Akane.

Instead of feeling sympathy for Song like she normally would've, Akane only felt anger at the girl for pushing Zuko's boundaries like that. Who did she think she was to just try and touch his scar? Not even Akane was allowed to touch Zuko's scar when she'd known him all his life. You just don't intrude on someone's personal space when you've barely met them. And Song showing Zuko her scarred leg only added more to Akane's resentment that was building inside of her.

One thing that Akane always believed was that you never shared personal secrets like that with someone you've just met when you don't even know a thing about them, just like Song didn't know anything about Akane and Zuko. So for her to just act like she understood their pain and suffering really irritated Akane since Song knew nothing about the hardships that they had faced.

So when Zuko got up and excused himself to leave, Akane prepared herself for what she was about to do and headed towards Song, ready to give the girl a piece of her mind.

"Hello," Song greeted Akane as she approached her. "I didn't realise that you were there."

"Listen, I'm sure that you're a nice girl and everything, but you don't have the right to go around acting like you know what we've been through when the fact of the matter is that you know nothing. You don't know anything about Li and I and what we've had to go through so don't think that you can understand because you don't. You might have won him around with your sob story but it didn't work on me because there are thousands of people out there just like you so don't go thinking that you're any special," Akane ranted.

"That wasn't what I was trying to…" Song trailed off.

"And you had no right to try and touch his scar when that is a very personal matter for him. And after seeing your scars I would've thought that you'd know better than to push someone's boundaries especially when you don't even know them," Akane snapped.

With that, Akane turned back around and headed back into Song's house, without even feeling the slightest bit guilty for what she had said. While Iroh continued to engulf himself in the food, Akane searched for Zuko to find him sitting out behind the house. The look on his face was one that Akane couldn't quite register but nevertheless, she sat down next to him on the bench that he was sitting on.

"I'm sorry about what Song did," Akane apologised, despite feeling as though it was Song who should be apologising. "She had no right to try and touch your scar like that."

"It's okay. She wouldn't be the first to try and touch it anyways," Zuko sighed.

"But still, it was wrong of her to do so. You should never invade someone's personal space, especially when its sensitive to them," Akane said.

"You know, listening to Song talk about her father made me think about mine," Zuko admitted, which caught Akane by surprise.

"What's there to think about?" Akane grumbled, not wanting to spew her hatred for Ozai right in front of Zuko.

"Do you think father will ever let me come home?" Zuko asked.

"Only if you can capture the Avatar," Akane replied.

"Do you think that he thinks about me?" Zuko questioned.

Akane shrugged, "He had to if he sent Azula to bring you back, so that's gotta count for something."

"You're not really helping, Akane," Zuko sighed as he wistfully looked up in the sky. "I just want to go home."

Putting her arm around Zuko, Akane leaned her head against his shoulder to give him the comfort that he needed. Hearing Zuko talk about his home made Akane wonder about her home. Not the home that she had grown up with, but the real home where she belonged. The home that she never knew. But those thoughts were interrupted when Akane felt someone looking at her and Zuko so she turned around to see Song peering through the window. Narrowing her eyes, Akane gave her a look that basically told her to get lost.

Clearly, Song couldn't take a hint since she seemed to enjoy getting into people's business and eavesdropping on strangers conversations. Akane no longer felt like staying at this place that she didn't feel comfortable staying in with Song snooping around.

"Come on, we should get going," Akane suggested as she pulled Zuko up to leave, ready to move on to the next part of their journey.

~*•°•*~

Getting Zuko to agree to leave had been easier than it was to get Iroh to leave, since he had become too engrossed with the food that Song's mother had made them. Despite her initial interest in the food, Akane didn't really feel like taking anymore of it given how she felt towards Song. Although as they were getting ready to leave, Akane noticed Song giving her an apologetic look and started to think that maybe she had been unnecessarily rude to the girl who was just trying to be nice to them.

Dozens of fireflies flew in the air as Akane and Zuko prepared to depart Song's house. It was ironic how the fireflies were desperate to find light off of Song's house, just like the three of them had sought food from them. In a way, Akane found that they were a lot like the fireflies, trying to find something to give them what they needed to move on.

"Thank you for the duck. It was excellent," Iroh showed his gratitude as he took an extra meal from Song's mother.

"You're welcome. It brings me pleasure to see someone eat my cooking with such… gusto," Song's mother replied.

"Much practice," Iroh patted his stomach in a contented manner as Akane and Zuko turned to leave. "Junior, Naoki, where are your manners? You need to thank these nice people."

Both Akane and Zuko turned and bowed out of respect as Zuko spoke, "Thank you."

"I know you don't think there's any hope left in the world, but there is hope," Song called out to them. "The Avatar has returned."

"I know," Zuko muttered bitterly and Akane couldn't help but cringe at the irony of Song's words.

They started to leave Song's house, but were stopped when Zuko noticed an ostrich horse. Quietly, he walked over to the animal, unfastened it from its post and lead it away. When Akane and Iroh noticed that Zuko had disappeared, they saw him riding the ostrich horse.

"What are you doing?" Iroh asked. "These people just showed you great kindness."

"I agree, this is wrong," Akane added, feeling as though they had already taken enough from Song and her mother.

"They're about to show us a little more kindness," Zuko replied as he offered his hand to them. "Well?"

Disappointed and reluctant, Iroh mounted the ostrich horse before he and Zuko helped Akane get aboard as well. They then road away in the darkness, while unknowingly being watched by a sad girl who let them go.

This chapter turned out shorter than I thought it would, but then again, there wasn't really that much Zuko and Iroh in the original episode. The bit on the fireflies at the end came out of nowhere since I looked up their symbolism online and apparently they're symbolic for hope which I found ironic since Song was talking to them about hope while the fireflies mean hope. Now I'm just reading too much into things so I'll just let you guys review and tell me your thoughts on the chapter. It's also worth mentioning that I might not be updating next week, since I have some assessment that I've been procrastinating on for too long and should probably start working on so sorry about that :/.

Naoki is a Japanese name that means straight tree, and we all know that Mushi isn't a real name just like there's a million Li's.

SPECIAL MENTIONS

Mogor: Here's your new chapter. Unfortunately, the next one might be a bit delayed since I have some other life stuff that I need to focus on first. But I will be back soon with the next one so don't worry about that.

Powerpuff: For a live-action series to be a good live-action series, it has to have good live-action which was something that the movie didn't have despite having a million dollar budget which is something that I'm sure Bryke won't have. It also probably won't be the exact same team who was behind the original series, since they'd all move on with their careers and stuff. But it makes me wonder if they'll actually change anything about the episodes or just leave everything the same as it was.

Silver-Dragon66: Thank you for being my 100th review, since that's a huge milestone for me as it would be for any author :). I'm glad that you enjoy reading my story and hope that you continue to do so, since it will only get better from here on out. As for my favourite element, I would much rather be a firebender since I think firebending is pretty cool and not to mention, lightning generation. Personality wise, I think that I would be more suited for waterbending but firebending is my favourite. I'm not gonna lie, there have been a few times where I've imagined crazy battle scenarios with me in the mix and one song that always gets me pumped for bending is Lightning by Little Mix, and the title should be pretty self-explanatory on why XD.