Then the blue glow around Zelda faded and her eyes returned to normal and the long rose glove was repaired and had no blood on it.
"It seems you are left with but a scar," Zuko said. "Your first scar it seems." Prince Zuko still felt bad about what he did to Zelda.
"No, very, very far from my first," she responded laughing a little. "Do you remember one of my titles Nayru said when that man hit me? General of the Hylian Army?"
"Oh, yes now I remember. Wait…you are general of your land's army?" he asked shocked.
"Yup, sure am," she said.
"Wow, but you are only a year younger than me so you're 16 and you've been a war already?" Zuko asked obviously still extremely shocked.
"3 to be exact," she said.
"How did you become general?"
"I defeated the former general in a fight. It's tradition for all children of the king to fight the current general to see if they can defeat him. Normally the children of the king don't win, but I did. So, I became general," she said nonchalantly.
"When did you fight him? How old were you?" asked Zuko still shocked that a princess became a general.
"I fought him about 4 years ago. I was only 12," she responded, amused by how shocked he was.
"You were only 12 and you were still able to beat a grown man in a fight!"
"Uhh…yup. Each of the 3 wars I fought in only lasted a year. We didn't lose any of them," Zelda said proudly.
"I don't see any scars on you though," he said, very impressed by her.
"You wouldn't. I use magic to hide them."
"Why would you hide battle scars? You should wear them proudly," Zuko asked with his right hand in a fist.
"Well, for a man it's okay to 'wear them proudly,' but not for a girl."
"Will you show me them?" Zuko asked curiously.
Princess Zelda sighed and said, "Fine…" She raised her right arm over her head and it glowed golden. Then she slowly brought it down in front of her face. It revealed red scars on her face. There was an "x" shaped scar on her right cheek. On the left side of her face there was a scar that started at the middle of her forehead and ended right near her chin. It formed the shape of the crescent moon and in the middle of it there was a small straight scar that intersected the crescent moon scar.
Prince Zuko stood there mouth agape at the scars on her face. Then he walked slowly closer to her and put his left hand on the side of her head. The astonished Prince slowly traced both of the scars with his finger.
Zelda broke the silence saying, "I got the scar on my left cheek in the…first war I believe. Along with this." Zuko removed his hands from Princess Zelda's face and head as she looked down at her right arm and removed her glove. It revealed that scar Zuko just made which was now red. Then he noticed that there was another scar that made a ring around her arm right before her elbow, it was red as well.
"My forearm was cut off here," she said as she traced the scar with her finger.
"Really? Then why is it still there?" he asked smirking holding her arm so he could examine it.
"Nayru put it back on for me," she said smiling.
"That must have been extremely painful," Zuko commented still tracing the scar and shocked that Zelda could go through so much pain.
"It was the most painful thing I have experienced in my life, well physically at least."
Zuko looked at her questioningly.
Before he could say anything else Princess Zelda said, "I think that it's time for my scars to go back into hiding for now." Zelda stepped away from Zuko and again her hand glowed golden and hid the battle scars.
Princess Zelda sat on the bed and Prince Zuko sat down next to her. The two royal teens were silent for a while until Prince Zuko said, "How do you do it Zelda? You go through all the pain and still keep going."
Princess Zelda looked at him and smiled, "The physical pain is easy to defeat when you have a war to win for your land. The emotional and mental pain…is difficult," she said, her folded hands tightening.
"What emotional and mental pain are you talking about?" Zuko asked, becoming curious.
Princess Zelda looked at him and her eyes became darker, "Many people have said that after the Agni Kai, I had become dark and distant. I never thought I would be the same and I was right…I could never be the same way I was. Hope, happiness, and optimism, those things seemed so far away. It felt like a part of my heart died that day. But, then I thought of something that made me feel better…do you know what that thing was, Prince Zuko?"
"…no…," he responded quietly.
"Hyrule. Hyrule was my source of hope, happiness, and optimism. I needed to be there for my people, I couldn't allow myself to be distracted by the past," Zelda said eyes brighter, thinking about her homeland.
"I didn't know that you were so…broken…by that day, Princess Zelda," Zuko said remembering that day.
"Oh, I was…more than you could imagine," Zelda said, reliving the pain of the past, "So broken that I interfered with the Agni Kai."
"What? You did?" Zuko asked unaware of this information.
"Don't you rememb- oh, wait you had been knocked out. Yes, after your fath-…Fire Lord Ozai scarred you, I couldn't take it anymore. Engulfed with pain, I ran out into the arena and stood between Fire Lord Ozai and you."
"That was not a very wise decision, especially in the midst of the whole Fire Nation."
"At the time, I was 12. Only 12, and watching her best friend being hurt by their own father, it was a wise decision at the time for me."
"What did my father do to you?"
FLASHBACK
I watched as Fire Lord Ozai walked toward Prince Zuko. Zuko had streams of tears flowing from his eyes and was bowing to his father. I myself was crying and shaking with fright. Looking at the people of the Fire Nation around me, I saw that some of them were smiling. My father, the King of Hyrule stood next to me, an obvious expression of disgust was adorning his face. Then I looked back to the middle of the arena. Zuko was now begging for mercy.
'No! No! No! Stay away from him!' I thought as my heart was being torn into shreds. 'Zuko, you're normally so strong, it pains me to see you like this.' He looked so vulnerable and weak.
I wanted so badly to run out into the arena and protect my best friend. But, I didn't wish to interfere with the Fire Nation's twisted traditions because that would have been rude.
'But, just sitting here and watching as my best friend is destroyed feels so…wrong.'
Ozai had stopped walking and now fire was forming at his fists. I watched Zuko lift his head and look at the man he called father. Drawing his fist back preparing to punch, the flame around it grew. Then it felt as though time had slowed and then I saw him come through slowly with his fire punch. The fire erupted off his fist and flew towards Zuko hitting him in the face.
"NOOOOOO!" I screamed, being the only voice to rise from the crowd. Everyone turned and stared at me, it looked like Ozai was going to attack again. I quickly jumped out of the audience and put myself in between Zuko and Ozai, spreading my arms out wide to block any attack on him. The entire crowed gasped loudly at my actions.
"Leave him alone!" I yelled at Fire Lord Ozai as I stared the heartless man in the eyes.
"Little girl, I don't believe you understand what is going on here," he said smirking. He spoke as though I was 4. "Prince Zuko is being taught a lesson by his father," he said his smirk getting larger.
"What lesson? That his father is a heartless monster! How can you call yourself a father! A father loves his son. A father cares for his son. A father is someone to rely on. You do not love your son, you do not care for your son, and your son cannot rely on you!" I screamed at him, tears falling from my eyes.
Ozai glared at the young princess and then said, "Move, girl, or I shall do to you the same thing I did to Prince Zuko!" he shouted as fire came to life in his fists.
"I'm not moving!" she said bravely as she stopped crying.
"Fine, I will burn you as well!" Ozai shouted.
"You can try," Zelda said smirking.
Ozai roared at this smart remark and shot a large fireball at Princess Zelda, who stood her ground and used a blessing of one of the three goddesses to protect herself. Nayru's Love was the name of the attack, which formed a giant, diamond-shaped crystal around her. Zelda's feet lifted off the ground as she was in her giant, spinning, blue crystal. Sharp, square, pieces of the same, hard crystal, sparkled and danced outside the crystal following her outstretched hands. The fireball was caught in between the pieces of crystal and circled the giant crystal. But the fireball had changed color and speed. It was now golden and the speed of the spinning crystal had increased. Suddenly the crystal encasing Zelda disappeared and all that was left were the sparkling pieces of crystal and the fireball, now following Zelda's hand as she spun and suddenly the pieces of crystal spread apart and released the golden fireball back at Fire Lord Ozai. It flew through the air so quickly that Fire Lord Ozai, trying to get out of the way of it, was grazed on his arm by it. The fireball, now heading straight for the crowd, disappeared because Zelda made it. In the aforementioned crowd, she saw General Iroh…smiling.
"HOW DARE YOU!" Ozai roared, holding his burnt arm.
Zelda knew he would want to continue fighting, so, in a flash of magic, she changed her appearance. She was now Sheik, a disguise she used often to escape Hyrule Castle. Sheik wore a blue one-piece outfit. It was so tight that you could see the muscles of her arms and legs. She wore a small, white, poncho-like covering that covered from her waist up. It was tightened by a white piece of cloth that she used as a belt to tighten the poncho. At the neck, the poncho had a collar that was so long that you couldn't see Zelda's/Sheik's nose or mouth. On her head she wore a helmet like object that was made of thin, white strips of cloth. It held her hair up within it but there was some hair that stuck out from under it. So, it made her hair look short. The oddest thing was, the only feature visible on her face, her eyes. They were now red, not their normal blue color.
Sheik lifted her hands revealing that all of her fingers, except for her thumbs, were covered in metal that came off to a sharp tip at the ends of her fingers. What Ozai didn't know was that the metal casing on her fingers were not only used for slashing and slicing, but they had metal darts that could pierce almost anything within them.
Ozai then laughed. "You are going to fight, Princess Zelda?"
Silence responded him. Sheik was crouched low into a fighting position.
"Fine, have it your way," he said laughing still.
He awaited her attack, but instead Ozai saw Sheik start running toward him so low to the ground that it looked like she would fall over. Suddenly, Sheik had disappeared. Ozai stood and looked around for her.
"What are you too afraid to face me, Zelda!" he shouted at someone he couldn't even see.
"Fire Lord Ozai," said a voice in the crowd behind him. Ozai turned to see his brother looking at him. "The Princess has not used her magic to disappear. She is moving so fast that you cannot see her."
At this comment, Fire Lord Ozai's eyes opened wide in shock. Then Sheik reappeared right in front of him and fired her fists at his stomach. Her punches were so fast that you couldn't see her hands. The punches were continuous. Ending her relentless barrage of punches, Sheik bent low and kicked him in the stomach, spun, and kicked again. Ozai held his stomach, but then fired a flaming fist toward Sheik's face. Sheik bent low backwards, forming an arc with her body, stomach facing up. Then she stood with her hands as her feet went up and kicked Ozai square in the chin, sending him backwards. Sheik rolled backwards landing on her feet watching for Ozai's next attack. Ozai turned and looked at Sheik, blood trickling from his mouth. He sent many fireballs heading in Sheik's direction. Then Sheik, using her speed, disappeared again. Ozai once again, looked around for her and became infuriated. Unbeknownst to him, Sheik reappeared right behind him and grabbed his shoulders and thrusted her knee into his back. Ozai cringed in pain and turned around to see that Sheik again was not there. He turned and saw Sheik crouched low once again. Ozai was about to attack, but someone had stepped in front of him.
The figure was heavy and had gray hair and wore a great, red cloak that was lined with black-spotted white fur. He wore a lot of golden items, like a crown that bore the symbol of the Triforce. It was the King of Hyrule. He had a sword drawn and up against Ozai's neck.
"Stop where you are Ozai!" he commanded. "If you harm my daughter you will regret it."
"She interfered! SHE CHALLENGED ME!" Ozai roared.
"She was right to challenge you, too. She was right to defend Prince Zuko. She was right when she said that you are no father. When I see what you did to your son, I wonder what kind of a ruler you are. Good rulers do not rule with an iron fist. They rule with compassion, which you obviously don't have," said the great King of Hyrule.
"Hyrule shall no longer have any ties to this land. Seeing how its ruler treats his own son, we don't want ties with such a violent nation," the King of Hyrule said.
Ozai stood there dumbfounded with rage. "YOU WILL REGRET BREAKING TIES WITH ME!" he said.
"Maybe some day we will re-open ties with the Fire Nation, but not as long as you are on the throne, Ozai," the King of Hyrule said, glaring at the Fire Lord.
END FLASHBACK
Prince Zuko sat on the bed staring at Zelda, pondering over the information that she had revealed to him.
"You fought my father?" he said shocked.
Zelda nodded in response.
"Did he even touch you?" Zuko asked curiously.
Princess Zelda responded, "No, he laid neither flame nor finger on me. The look on his face amused me when he found out that I was too fast to see," she said laughing.
"Hyrule broke ties with the Fire Nation that day, huh?"
"Yes, but I spoke to my father about it. He said that once you are Fire Lord we will happily re-open ties with the Fire Nation."
Prince Zuko looked away from Zelda at that moment and his eyes darkened, "If I ever become Fire Lord."
"You have to. You are the only heir to the throne. Any living heir has the right to the throne."
Prince Zuko smiled at Zelda. She returned the smile. 'She always knows how to make me feel better,' he thought. 'With her wise words, and her beautiful smile.' They stared into each other's eyes for a long time. Neither of them ever wanted it to end. Zuko looking down into Princess Zelda's brilliant sapphire eyes and Zelda looking up into Prince Zuko's mysterious golden eyes. 'They are so deep, so full of feeling. They are windows to his heart and soul. Torment, pain, anger, but deep down…love, caring, and kindness.'
Princess Zelda yawned and said, "Pardon me. I think I am going to get ready for bed."
"Well I am going to go bathe, so you can change out here while I am in there," Prince Zuko said pointing to the bathroom.
"Alright," Zelda agreed.
Prince Zuko strode into the bathroom and bathed, while Zelda changed into her (well Prince Zuko's) baggy pajamas.
Princess Zelda climbed into bed, but left the candle lit. She thought about many things.
'Aang, I hope you'll be okay without me.'
'I miss Hyrule.'
'Prince Zuko…I think I love you again.'
She couldn't fall to sleep. Then she heard Prince Zuko come out of the bathroom. He put his dirty clothing away, took his shirt off, and climbedlightly into bed. He put the candle and said, "Good night, Princess."
"Good night, Prince," Zelda responded. They both smiled quietly, enjoying each other's company.
About an hour later, Princess Zelda was still awake. Prince Zuko was tossing and turning and sighing, which meant he was probably awake as well.
"Are you having troubles sleeping as well, Prince Zuko?" Zelda asked.
"Yes…"
"I think I know something that will put us both to sleep," Princess Zelda said as she sat up in the bed. Prince Zuko looked over towards her, but couldn't see anything because it was too dark. He jumped when he saw a shimmer near where the candle sat. Realizing it was just Zelda's magic, he sat up. The candle suddenly came to life and he saw Princess Zelda sitting up with her left hand raised in the air so that the Triforce of Wisdom was facing the ceiling. It began to glow golden and a light came out of it. Suddenly Zuko saw something beginning to appear within the light. It looked like some sort of instrument. The object was of a purplish-blue color and was shaped like a miniature football. It had many holes in the front and had a tube sticking out from the left side of it. On the tube was a silver ring that had the Triforce engraved into it.
"What is that?" Prince Zuko finally asked, unable to hold in the curiosity.
"This, Prince Zuko, is a sacred instrument in Hyrule. It is called the Ocarnia of Time. The Ocarnia of Time can control time, which is why I have it, since I am the Sage of Time," Zelda explained smiling at the strange instrument.
"It controls time!" Zuko asked shocked.
"Well, in Hyrule it does. I'm not exactly sure whether it would work here, but I am not going to try it."
"And how might that thing help us sleep better?" Zuko asked roughly, becoming irritable from the lack of sleep.
"Well, Prince Zuko, there's a song that I will play on it that will put us both asleep...hopefully. It is formally known as the "Ballad of Hyrule," the divine song of my land. I have to play that song to access the Temple of Time and to access many other things. The Ballad of Hyrule was also known as "Zelda's Lullaby." My guardian made that name up, because whenever I had troubles sleeping she would always play it and it would always put me to sleep."
"Well play it then. Let's see if it actually works," Zuko said getting even more irritable.
"Fine," Zelda simply responded. Zelda put her left hand on the side that had the tube emitting from it and put her hand underneath the right part of the instrument so she could use her fingers to cover the holes to change the sound of the the instrument. Zelda put her mouth on the tube and took a deep breath, closing her eyes. She began playing the instrument. Out of it came the most beautiful sound Zuko had ever heard. It was so tranquil. So relaxing. As Zelda was playing the "Ballad of Hyrule", she thought of the green fields, the grass blowing in the wind. Lake Hyrule, with the sun dancing on its calm surface. The town outside the castle, bustling with life and movement. Then, Zelda's home, Hyrule Castle, the sun radiating off of its white surface. The banner of Hyrule flying in the breeze off the castle's highest tower. Her private gardens, filled with flowers, surrounded by a sparkling stream. Lastly, the Princess saw her family, her guardian, her people. It brought great joy to her heart to see everything she loved and hear the song since she's heard since she was a baby.
The song finished and she opened her eyes to see Prince Zuko laying down looking at her. His golden eyes seemed softened and not as hard and cold as normal.
"That was beautiful," Zuko said in the calmest voice Zelda's ever heard come from his mouth.
"That song is Hyrule. Hyrule is beautiful. The heart and soul of Hyrule lies in that song. The entire time I played it I saw my homeland," Zelda said.
"I feel like I can fall asleep easily now. You were right," Zuko said smiling at Zelda.
"Of course," she said smiling back.
Princess Zelda made the Ocarnia of Time disappear and she put out the candle. She laid down in the bed, with her back to Prince Zuko. She closed her eyes...but then she felt something wrap around her waist. Opening her eyes wide in shock, she realized it was just Prince Zuko. Then he slowly pulled her close to him, so close that she was up against his chest. 'So warm,' she thought, 'so comfortable.' The Prince and Princess smiled to themselves and silently drifted into sleep.
