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Chapter Seven: The Long Road Back

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Ty Lee slept quietly on Zuko's back tied up with ropes as he rode the Ostrich Horse away from the Fire Nation settlement. Zuko shivered slightly when she leaned forward a bit more and pressed herself closer accidentally.

Zuko knew she wasn't trying to make him uncomfortable, but then again, Ty Lee was the bustiest girl he knew and was still leaning on his back. Zuko shook his head to ignore this as he rode past fields with distant statues in them. Squinting in the sunlight, Zuko looked more intensely at them, and somehow, they seemed to disappear. Sweating, Zuko reached for his water pouch and drank from it, feeling the sun wear him down.

The source of his power also proved to be his greatest weakness as he rode further down the path towards Ba Sing Se, the sun glowing brightly in the afternoon sky.

Eventually, Zuko camped out on the side of the road when night fell, setting out two bed rolls and a campfire. He shot out a blast of flames from his palm to light it and sat down looking at it.

Ty Lee yawned when she woke up. Zuko kept his eyes off her when she stretched upward and unknowingly revealed more of her body.

"Zuko?" Ty Lee rubbed her eye as she looked around the plains. "Where are we?"

"I don't know." answered the Prince as crickets sung. "We could be anywhere."

Ty Lee looked down at her binds. "And why have you tied me up?"

"You tried to capture Jeong Jeong." Zuko kept staring into the fire he made with his own hands. "Still don't trust you."

"Oh." Ty Lee frowned as Zuko remained silent. "They are pretty tight."

Zuko ignored this calmly.

"Zuko."

He turned from the fire to her with a look that yelled 'I heard you.' which silenced her instantly for a moment. "Why're you acting this way to me?"

Zuko blinked slowly. "You're with Azula, and there's no honor in that."

"Mai's with Azula. Do you hate her too?" asserted Ty Lee as laid down on her bedroll.

Zuko's eyes lit up as he turned to Ty Lee. "Mai's in Ba Sing Se?"

"She saw you with your girlfriend. She's really cute by the way."

Zuko breathed in tightly. "Is she angry?"

Ty Lee nodded. "She was, but then Azula stopped her."

"Stopped her?" Zuko asked alarmingly.

"Don't worry, I doubt she'll hurt her now. What's her name?"

Zuko turned back from Ty Lee's brown eyes to the crackling fire. "Jin."

"I don't think his Majesty would approve of that. She's an Earth Nation peasant after all."

"Well, it doesn't matter. All that matters is that I make it back to Ba Sing Se and make sure Jin and Uncle are safe."

Ty Lee gasped in pain when she rolled over on her bag right on her weak shoulder. Zuko stood up and knelt in front of her. "Here, let me." Zuko untied the bandages and saw the damage he caused, the smooth skin of Ty Lee's shoulder literally scorched off her body.

"Your bending is stronger than before," Ty Lee said. "Your training must've worked. Why'd you leave Ba Sing Se?"

Zuko sighed as he passed his hand over the burn he made on his childhood friend. "I was tired of running the tea shop, I wanted something new." Zuko looked Ty Lee in the eyes again. "Don't lie to me. Why did Azula send you and what is she planning?"

"She sent me to capture Jeong Jeong and turn him in to the Imperial Navy. She plans to take Ba Sing Se from the inside and liberate it for the Fire Nation."

Zuko took a moment to process this before shaking his head. "But why would she let you tell me this?"

"Azula doesn't think you're a threat to her or her plans. She thinks that the Earth Nation Authority won't believe you if you tell them and you and your Uncle won't be able to stop her."

"Azula always lies." Zuko stood up and returned back to his own sleeping bag. "I think that she could be able to fight me evenly, but Uncle? He's almost as strong as father, she has help doesn't she?"

Ty Lee smiled. "Perhaps."

"When we get back to Ba Sing Se, I don't want you to think I'm still friends with you three."

Ty Lee's smile slid into a frown. "W-Wait, why not?"

Zuko bit his bottom lip. "I won't let you or Azula take Ba Sing Se."

"You owe the city nothing, what're you talking about?"

He remembered Jin and others like her, as well as the legacy of the Blue Mask. "I owe the city plenty."

"You're going to betray our country and our cause?" asked Ty Lee.

Zuko turned to her slowly from the fire. "I'm already wanted by the Fire Nation, the last time I trusted Azula she tried to capture me. I won't ever fight for her or father."

"B-But, how could you decide to do this so quickly?" Ty Lee grew surprised.

"It wasn't quick," admitted Zuko. "I realized it as I trained with Jeong Jeong. Firebending is beautiful, it's an expression of one's self. Using it to destroy is a disgusting use of it."

"And so Jeong Jeong taught you this?"

"No." he remembered him spending hours staring at the riverbank by Jeong Jeong's hut reflecting on his training. "His teachings let me realize it. And it's why I'll never rest until Jin and Uncle are safe."

Ty Lee laid back down on her sleeping pad and turned around. "You've changed Zuko."

"Yes," he mumbled as he stared into the fire. "I have." He looked into the fire and thought aloud as Ty Lee tried to sleep. "One day I'll fight father again. And this time I'll try to win. This time, I won't be weak." the reflection of his own flames whipped and snapped in his eyes. "This time, I won't hold back during our Agni Kai. Even if he takes my life."

"What made you start thinking this way?" Ty Lee groaned from her bag.

Zuko answered simply. "Jin."

After a bit of silence, Ty Lee rolled back in her bag. "Don't die Zuko. I don't want you to die."

Zuko didn't respond, but he could understand that she still considered him her friend even after all he said. Reflecting on his realizations, Zuko's version of honor had changed. Death didn't scare him, he had seen it when his father burnt half of his face off to teach him a lesson. Now he'd embrace it if it came from the same fist, but he wouldn't be kneeling this time around.

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Zuko woke up to see Ty Lee still snoozing. For such an energetic girl, he was surprised to see she enjoyed sleeping so much. Zuko untied his ostrich horse from a tree to go find something for both of them to eat. Out in the plains, Zuko heard a flock of pigeon quails chirp and dismounted his steed quietly. Crouching and approaching slowly, Zuko already planned his attack.

Bursting out from his hiding spot, Zuko punched out fireballs and struck as many as he could before they could flutter away. The three that remained twitched on the ground before Zuko put them out of their misery.

Ty Lee awoke to smell the aroma of multiple birds being cooked on a spit by Zuko above a small flame.

"Got us breakfast," Zuko mumbled as he slid them off the spit onto two small plates.

She took the food Zuko passed to her. "Th-Thank you." Ty Lee picked a small bone out of her teeth as Zuko finished his pigeon quail much quicker than she did. "Mm, so where are we going?"

"Through a village, it's a place that leads right to Ba Sing Se."

"Can I ride in front please?" Ty Lee gave him a bright smile.

Zuko put his plate back into the ostrich horse's saddle, taking a second to consider this. "All right. But I'm still holding the reins."

Ty Lee offered him the last cooked quail pigeon. "We can share."

Zuko shook his head.

"Really? Come on."

Sighing, the banished Prince stripped off a wing and chewed on it quietly much to Ty Lee's appreciation.

[Congratulations! You have gained +10 Affection points with |Ty Lee|!]

They rode out from the campground Zuko cleaned up with Ty Lee riding in front of Zuko. After feeling the morning sun on their backs for a few hours, Ty Lee smirked as she wiggled back on the saddle. Zuko looked back and saw there was no more space to back up on otherwise he'd fall off his ostrich horse.

He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Uh, Ty Lee? Can you move forward please?"

"Why?"

"I don't have that much space back here."

"Well, feel free to put your hands on my hips." she turned back with a smirk. "I don't bite Zuko." Groaning as he had no other choice between falling off or giving in, Zuko leaned his head forward onto her left and bandage free shoulder. The system registered that Zuko was doing something Ty Lee desired and promptly notified him about it.

[Congratulations! You have gained +10 Affection points with |Ty Lee|!]

"See? Not so bad huh? This can't be the first time you've been so close to a girl."

Zuko remembered snuggling with Jin once and agreed with a small nod on her shoulder.

Ty Lee giggled. "I knew it. Mai would be so jealous."

'Mai.' Zuko frowned. 'I don't know why, but I miss her. Could be all this time I'm spending with Ty Lee.'

"You going to tell her?"

Ty Lee kept smiling. "What? That there 'wasn't enough space' on the horse and you had to get closer? Please, that'd be asking for a knife to the face."

Zuko contained his snort, knowing that would not be unlike Mai to do. Feeling himself doze off slightly from the sun and hours of riding, Zuko wrapped his arms around Ty Lee to not let himself slip off and felt the small ropes he tied around her on his hands. Ty Lee enjoyed the fact that he was willing to hold a small tender moment between them in reminiscence of their old friendship in the Royal Palace.

[Congratulations! You have gained +15 Affection points with |Ty Lee|!]

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Zuko woke up when he heard Ty Lee's voice. "Zuko! Zuko wake up we're here."

He shook his head off Ty Lee's shoulder and saw the village approach. As the ostrich horse began to near the town, Ty Lee brought something up. "Zuko, I'm not going to run away. We're traveling companions on the way back to the city all right?"

Zuko accepted. "All right. I trust you."

While she was definitely still loyal to Azula, Zuko never knew Ty Lee to lie about anything. He untied her ropes and threw them on the side of the road.

They strode into town and Zuko recognized it. "There's a place we can stop for the night. If we get up early tomorrow morning we can ride all the way back to Ba Sing Se by the next day if we don't stop."

"Sounds exhausting." Ty Lee said. "But all right, we'll rest up for today then."

They rode past a small infirmary and Zuko got down first to help Ty Lee off the horse before he tied it up. They walked inside and the woman attending it grew wide-eyed as Zuko approached.

"L-Li?" Song asked.

"H-Hello Song." He cleared his throat.

Ty Lee turned to Zuko. "Li? Really, that's what you're going with?"

Zuko raised a hand to motion to Ty Lee's shoulder. "My friend here was burned by a soldier. Can you heal her?"

Song stayed silent for a moment but nodded quietly anyway. She led Ty Lee into a treatment area and sat her down on the table, Zuko sitting on a nearby bench as he watched. Song spoke in her light voice as she examined Ty Lee's shoulder burn. "This seems to be a very deep wound, whoever healed this did so well. Unfortunately, it still needs time to mature before it can heal completely."

Ty Lee saw Song mix a few herbs into a small pot over a stove Song set as she created a simple ointment. "Here." Song pressed the rag dipped in ointment against Ty Lee's shoulder.

She let out a satisfied groan at Song's work as she felt it.

Song removed the rag and bandaged up Ty Lee's burn with new material from a drawer and spoke to her. "Take the ointment I am going to give you and apply it daily. After a week or so it should begin to heal on its own and you can stop using bandages."

"Thank you Song," Zuko said as she drained the small wooden bowl into a glass stopper and handed it to Ty Lee.

Zuko reached for the money he had in his pockets and Song shook her head. "There's no need for that."

"Song, I'm sorry for-" The look on her face was enough to get Zuko to stop talking. He opened his mouth again. "About your home, I have gold. I can repay you for-"

"There's no need for that. I'm afraid my home isn't open to visitors at the moment." Song motioned to the door of the treatment room. "Thank you for coming."

Ty Lee muttered to Zuko as they left. "She was nice to me but what was her problem with you?"

"I stole two ostrich horses from her."

Ty Lee gasped. "Why?"

"I was walking with Uncle for days. I thought I deserved it." Zuko frowned down at his shoes. "I'll never steal like that again, that was before I met Jin."

"Oh." They approached an inn in front of which Zuko tied his steed to. When they entered, the innkeeper looked at Zuko from his desk. "A single or double bed room?"

"Double." Zuko placed a few silver coins on the desk and the innkeeper led them to their room on the second floor of the inn. After opening the door for them the innkeeper scratched his beard. "Feel free to come down after sundown, we serve dinner free of charge. Enjoy your stay."

It didn't take very long for Zuko to sleep in his bed after an exhausting day of riding.

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Zuko woke up to hear a small commotion in the streets. He walked out of the inn to see Ty Lee and a few others mumble as a small gang of men carrying weapons rode into town loudly.

"What's going on?"

Ty Lee answered quietly. "Bandits," she said as they dismounted and began to walk towards Song's hospital.

Zuko felt anger seeing them enter it. He waited a moment before they entered and threw Song out of it. "That's it woman?" the leader yelled and threw the box of coins at her, the money clattering against the street as it broke. "Where's the rest?"

"P-Please!" Song begged. "Take what you want but just not the medicine!"

The bandit nodded to his underlings and they entered the hospital again and Zuko stepped up. He did what he felt was right and bent fire right at the bandit's chest. The [Fireball] struck him so powerfully that he flew backwards with his clothes on fire and collapsed against the wall of Song's hospital.

Many watching gasped in surprise and Ty Lee struck the men who ran outside when they heard the commotion.

Ty Lee dodged spears and swords and chi blocked multiple men before Zuko untied his ostrich horse and brought it around with a yell. "Ty Lee!"

The acrobat did a backflip under a sword slash and flew backward into the air right onto another ostrich horse a bandit brought with him. The two rode off as the bandits chased after them. Zuko bent fireballs at them and eventually they dispersed as they were left far behind.

Zuko and Ty Lee rode off together and continued their journey to Ba Sing Se.

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Due to a lot of reasons including a lack of free time now that I've started school, I'm declaring hiatus on all my stories for a while until I can find both the motivation and time to write.

It's been long overdue I needed a break and this announcement will be up on my profile as well in case anyone who follows my other stuff wants to know what's going on. I'm doing this because I'm sure there will be curiosity surrounding a lack of updates.

But I thank you all for reading and I appreciate it a lot. Thank you.