"Zuko?" a confused voice said to Zuko.

Zuko paused, still having a hard time recognizing the figure in his blind panic. But suddenly, as the figure got closer, he noticed thick, medium length black hair, moonlit-like porcelain skin, and big ice gray eyes.

"Rayna? …Rayna!" he cried out as he ran towards her.

She, however, immediately punched Zuko straight in the face. The power of her punch pushed him backwards and made him fall onto the ground. He looked at her with confusion, and slight annoyance.

"What was that for?" he demanded.

"For being a complete, utter idiot," she responded sternly. She then reached over to punch him again, but clutched her abdomen in pain. "I swear to you once I'm fully healed, I'm going to beat the living shit out of you,"

He pulled himself off the ground and walked towards Rayna, "I thought you died, and then I thought you died again, and then you were out cold for over a month. I've been worrying about you and scared that you'd never wake up. Now here you are, and I was completely overjoyed and relieved to see you. And you punch me in the face?!"

"You deserve it," she said coldly.

"What did I—," he began.

"You accepted Azula's challenge to an Agni Kai, even though you knew it'd separate us which was the first thing your uncle told us not to do! You thought you could take her because she seemed off her game, like a rookie fighter. And then, like a moron, you challenge her to fire lightning?! What were you hoping to accomplish?" she shouted.

At first Zuko felt a wave of guilt fall over him, but then he became angry, "You were the one who randomly started attacking Azula with no strategy!"

"Because she was going to shoot lightning at me!"

"What are you talking about?!"

"If you had been paying attention like a real fire bending master, you would've noticed that her form was different and she was pointing her body towards me! She knew that if she fired the lightning at me, you would try to play hero and jump in front of me to save me. That's why I attacked her, to stop you from trying to save me,"

Zuko froze for a second, "You…you attacked her to protect me?"

"Of course! In case you forgot, you were supposed to be crowned the new Firelord. If she hurt you, even if we won, you wouldn't be able to take over the throne and then we'd have no choice but to let her rule the fire nation,"

"But…well…you don't…," Zuko was stumbling over his words. He wanted to deny that he'd try to protect her, but that would be a blatant lie. If Rayna was in trouble, he would've immediately jumped in front of her. He felt himself get frustrated and sighed, "You're right. I…I should've listened to you from the beginning,"

Without warning, Zuko reached out and wrapped his arms around Rayna, pulling her into a tight embrace. She didn't fight back, but she didn't respond right away. She was frustrated and angry at him, but she couldn't deny that she was happy to see him. She sighed, and then leaned her head into his chest.

Tears began to run down Zuko's cheek; the nostalgic warmth and healing comfort of her body filled him with happiness, but his thoughts filled him with frustration and sadness. He embraced Rayna even tighter and rested his head onto her shoulder.

Rayna felt little wet tears stain her shoulder. She tried to push herself away from Zuko's chest, but he only pulled himself even closer to her.

"Zuko?" she asked with slight confusion and worry.

"You…you always get hurt because of me. I can never protect you, I can never be your hero…you can't depend on me even though it's my job to protect and take care of you," he responded, "Damnit, Rayna, why can't you just let me protect you? Can't you rely on me? What do I have to do to make you trust me? Depend on me?"

Rayna remained silent. She didn't know how to respond; she felt bad that Zuko was so hurt, but she was also frustrated with him. He never listened to her; she told him not to fight Azula alone, but he didn't listen; she said she wanted to fight alongside him rather than be protected by him, but he didn't listen; he knew how traumatic it'd be for her to simply watch yet another person she cared about be harmed and/or killed, but he didn't listen. She also disliked his insistence on being her hero and protector. It made her feel like she was weak, and she never asked him to be her protector, if anything she didn't want him to be. She knew that he only did this because he loved her, but it still irritated her.

Then she remembered how when she got hurt, he screamed and ran over to her in a panic. Or when he slapped the men who were harassing her in the store back in Ba Sing Sae. Or when Combustion Man dropped her from the ledge, she heard Zuko cry out for her even though they weren't together. Or how he spent days searching for her when she ran away. Or when he saved her when she was drowning. She then remembered all those times that he was there for her and stayed by her side, even when she didn't want him to.

It was absurd for him to think that he never protected her. It was also absurd for him to think that he was never her hero. He didn't realize that all those times he worried about her, cried out for her, comforted her, cared for her, and reminded her that she deserved love and happiness were him being her hero and protecting her from harm. He had such a good heart, and she didn't understand how she was the one he chose to love. After all she'd done and how she'd treated him, she honestly didn't deserve him.

"You really are an idiot," she sighed, "I'm sorry for making you worry so much. I acted reckless back there…actually I always act pretty recklessly now that I think of it," she half-heartedly chuckled to herself, "And it's not that I don't trust you or think you're unreliable; I do trust you and I know I can rely on you, even if I don't act like it. It's just that, when you say that I need to let you protect me, it makes me feel weak and undependable. After what happened with my parents and my village, I have worked my butt off to make myself stronger and a better fighter. I told you before, it's no good to depend on others unless I can be depended on too.

"There's another thing too. When I realized that Azula was going to shoot lightning at me and that you were going to get hurt trying to protect me, I was terrified…I thought I'd lose yet another person that I care about. I'm not…I'm not strong enough," she said.

"What…what do you mean you're not strong enough?" Zuko asked confused, "You're probably the strongest person I know,"

"I don't mean physically strong," she paused, "I'm not strong enough to witness anyone else I care about die trying to protect me. If…if it happens again, I know I'm going to break. Even the thought of someone getting hurt because of me is hard to handle. I refuse to be the same helpless girl I was when I was 6 years old. That's why I attacked Azula…because I was scared and I panicked," she said, "You need to understand that. And if you can't…then maybe we shouldn't be together,"

"You'd break up with me because of that?"

"Yes. If you truly care about me, you won't make me go through that trauma again. If you truly care about me, you'll try and understand my feelings even if you don't completely agree with them," she looked up at Zuko and stared into his eyes, "If you can't do those things, then you're just going to hurt me," she said seriously.

Zuko paused. He didn't know how to respond. Obviously, he could never understand everything Rayna had endured and all the trauma that permanently scarred her. But, at the same time, he was worried that she'd get hurt if he didn't protect her. Like she said, she was reckless and she always placed others above herself in dangerous situations. However, he didn't want to lose her. Not again.

Rayna lowered her head and pushed herself away from Zuko, "I see," she mumbled as she started to walk away.

Without warning, Zuko then reached out and grabbed her arm. She turned around in shock, and saw that Zuko's head was lowered. "If you've got something to say, then look me in the eye and say it," she said

"I know you find it irritating when I insist on protecting you and keeping you safe, but you're so reckless and you always care more about others than yourself. That's the kind of behavior that can get you killed. But you just don't care. You think you're expendable…but you're not. Not to your family, not to Team Avatar, and not to me," he looked up at her, "I can never understand everything that's happened to you, I know that, but even so, that doesn't mean that it's less traumatic for me to lose someone I care about," he said almost angrily.

"And that's why I want us to depend on each other!" Rayna responded, "Neither of us can keep going and trying to play hero for the other person. For the sake of our relationship, I'm willing to work on my recklessness. I still want to care for others, but I'll be more careful in dangerous situations. I will try and try again until I take better care of myself. If I'm willing to do that, then you also need to be willing to put your pride aside and try to work together with me and trust me to make my decisions,"

"I—," Zuko started to protest, before sighing, "Okay. If you promise to take better care of yourself, I promise to trust your decisions and fight alongside you. Do we have a deal?" he said extending his hand.

For the first time in a long time, Rayna smiled. It'd been so long that Zuko almost didn't recognize her when she was smiling. He was taken back by how beautiful her smile was, and how much it made his heart soar. He couldn't help but smile back at her. He gently embraced her, and, once again for the first time in a long time, she returned his embrace. The feeling of having her arms wrapped around him, her sweet scent envelope him, and her body heat soothing him overwhelmed him; he thought his heart had burst out of his chest with happiness.

"I missed you so much," he whispered softly.

"I would say I missed you too, but I was unconscious," she said honestly

Zuko chuckled, "Fair enough,"

"The last thing I remember is talking to Azula—," her eyes suddenly went wide, "Wait! Where's Azula? What happened after I collapsed? Is she okay?" she asked worried.

He stared at her confused, "Why do you care?"

"Because I'm worried about her. You saw what happened to her. She was in so much pain, and she was so broken inside— it hurt me to see her like that. How could I not be worried?"

"But she hurt you!"

"You did too, and yet here we are,"

"But mine was an accident,"

"You did it purposefully. It's only an accident because you didn't realize it was me,"

"But…but…but she hurt you!"

"Do we need to go over this again?"

"But she…you were…I didn't…," he then sighed frustrated, "No, we don't. Ugh, why are you always right?"

"I'm not always right," she smirked, "I just am when I'm with you,"

Zuko smiled at her, "Yes, yes, I know. I'm an idiot,"

"A cute idiot," Rayna smiled back.

Zuko then gently cupped his hands on Rayna's cheeks, and slowly closed his eyes as he moved his lips to meet hers. The anticipation of the kiss was killing him; he'd never wanted to kiss her more badly in his life. He felt her hot breath touch his lips as he moved in to kiss her.

The door to the room then slammed open, surprising Zuko and Rayna and forcing them a part. Sokka suddenly ran into the room in a panic, sprinting right past Rayna and Zuko and instead going to Rayna's bed.

"Oh no, no, no. She's gone! She's escaped! How can she escape when she's practically dead?!" Sokka cried as he tossed the pillows and blankets off the bed. He then turned around and saw Zuko, "Zuko! Have you seen Rayna?! She's escaped...or…what if…IS SHE DEAD? DID THEY CARRY THE BODY AWAY?" he yelled straight into Zuko's face.

"Hey, dumbass, I'm right here," Rayna said to Sokka, peaking her head out from behind Zuko.

Comical tears of relief then ran down Sokka's face, "RAYNA!" he shouted as he ran towards her and hugged her and picked her off the ground.

"Ow! OW! That's hurts, you stupid idiot!" she yelled as she punched Sokka away from her, "I know you're happy to see me, but if you could please refrain from injuring me I'd appreciate it!"

"But…but…I missed you," Sokka said, giving Rayna a pouty face.

Her eyes narrowed, but then she sighed, "Fine. Come here," she said as she opened her arms wide.

In a flash, Sokka ran over and hugged Rayna again, but more carefully. Even though she hated that idiot, she was happy to see Sokka again— he was her best friend after all.

"Did you miss me?" Sokka asked.

"As if," Rayna chuckled.

The rest of team avatar appeared and ran to Rayna, all happy and relieved to see her awake. They tried to do a group hug, but it didn't work since it hurt Rayna's injury. Nonetheless, each of them hugged (or in Toph's case, lightly punch) her individually. After that, Zed, Loch, Saber, and Aram all appeared and they too ran over to Rayna.

As she was being smothered with affection, Rayna looked to the door way and noticed Morro leaning against the door. She then pushed herself away from everyone and walked over to him.

"Hi, Morro," she said.

"I'm disappointed in you, you know. I ordered you to be careful, and you disobeyed me," Morro said sternly.

She laughed, "Nice try, Morro,"

He then smiled and hugged her like a father hugging his daughter, "I missed you, you little punk," he said kindly.

"If I had known I was trapped in an unconscious state, I definitely would've missed you too," she responded.

Tears began to run down Morro's face as he hugged Rayna. Even though they weren't biologically related, he saw and treated her as if she were his own daughter. He'd already lost one daughter, and he definitely didn't want to lose another. He was just so happy to see her awake and alive.

"Come on, old man. Don't tell me your growing soft," Rayna joked

"Who you are calling old man, you teenage brat?" Morro responded

"Um, an old man?"

"Why you little—," Morro said as he started to give Rayna a noogie on her head. All Rayna did was laughed in response and try to push Morro away from her.

Soon her friends and family informed her on everything that had happened while she was unconscious; they'd won the war, Ozai's bending was taken away and he was imprisoned, Azula had been placed in a mental asylum, and Zuko had just been crowned Firelord. Although she seemed disappointed about Azula's circumstances, Rayna was relieved that everything seemed to be going well. She then talked with her friends and family for the rest of the day. And for those moments, everything was well.