The Storm and Zuko's Tale

Wooh! Chapter 23! 21 if you don't count the two author's note chapters. Sorry about those...

Anyway, you don't come here to listen to me chatter! On with the story!

Disclaimer: Don't own anything but Tora and the little OC's that come in every so often. Everything else belongs to Nickelodeon.

It had been a few days since my little... episode, if that's what you could call it. Since then, Iroh's been helping me out with the guilt, and I've gotten better. As better as can be expected, as I had told him those few days ago. Zuko has been... surprisingly nice to me, actually. Maybe he's starting to feel bad about treating me like he had been treating me.

Or maybe he was just scared I'd go all "Tora's Crazy Rage" on him, as all the soldiers and men on the ship have been calling it.

It was probably that.

Either way, I was glad to have him off my back.

I had been having a crazy dream. It was like a collaboration of that dream I had before the others and I saw the Southern Air Temple - the one where I was running through a forest, and I had to choose a jewel, but it ended up being a dead bird - and the dream I had a few days ago, the one where I had to choose between two me's. It was kind of crazy. First I had been running through the forest, and the two me's had been flying in the air above me. They had been fighting, fire and water everywhere. I had tried to get them to stop fighting, but then...

I had woke up.

Seriously. Right at the climax of my dream, I had woken up.

Don't you just hate that?

Anyway. Deciding I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, I got up earlier than I had intended to, got dressed, walked out the door... and slammed right into Zuko.

Pulling away from him, I grinned up at him. Even though we had told each other the truce was over that morning a few days ago, we had been getting along on better terms... sort of. "Good morning, Zuzu!" I said cheerfully. I was about to walk past him, but he stood in the doorway, glaring down at me.

"Don't call me that." He said through clenched teeth.

I raised an eyebrow. "Why not, Zuzu?"

He scowled. Someone's in a bad mood today. Unlike me. For whatever reason, I was in a rather good mood that morning. It was weird. Usually in the morning, I was basically a Demon - snapping at the first person who talked to me. It was almost always Zuko or Sokka, so I didn't feel too bad about it. "I said, don't call me that."

I rolled my eyes. "I can call you whatever I want. You're not the boss of me. Now, if you excuse me..." I shoved past him and walked down the hallway that was lit up with an ominous red lighting from the lanterns.

I walked up the stairs and onto the deck, where Iroh was standing and looking at the sky with a worried expression. Taking a position next to him, I looked up as well. "What's wrong?" Zuko came out onto the deck and started looking through a long telescope, observing the sky.

"There's a storm coming. A big one."

The words, though simple, left an ominous feel. I frowned as I looked at the sky. It was one of the best looking days I had ever seen. The sky was the perfect shade of blue, not too light, not too dark. Seagulls and other birds were flying around, making noise in the otherwise silent sky. The sun was beating down, making me shield my eyes with one hand. "Are you sure?" I asked, frowning slightly. "How can you tell?"

"I can feel it." He placed a hand on his stomach. "In my belly."

I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "In your belly?" I repeated skeptically.

"Yes. When you're as old as I am, you'll start sensing things that you never did when you were young."

After staring at him again, I shrugged. "If you say so."

"You're out of your mind, uncle." Zuko snapped, glaring at us from his telescope. "And you," He looked directly at me. "You're out of your mind for believing his nonsense. The weather is perfect. There isn't a cloud for miles.".

"Oh, I'm out of my mind, am I?" I muttered to myself.

Iroh continued. He said that since the storm was coming in from the north, we should change our course and head towards southwest.

"The Avatar is traveling north. We will do the same." Zuko said, turning back to the sky.

"Really?" I asked, barely able to contain my hope. Maybe now I could be reunited with my friends.

"Prince Zuko, consider the safety of the crew!" Iroh exclaimed, giving me a look that said, 'don't encourage him'.

"The safety of the crew doesn't matter!" Zuko yelled, finally losing patience. My eyes narrowed as he said this. How dare he... so finding the Avatar was more important than the safety of his own Nation's people, was it? I suddenly realized that Lieutenant Jee was standing on the deck, glaring at us. No, he was glaring at Zuko, not us. Clearly, he had heard Zuko's outburst. Zuko turned around and saw the Lieutenant glaring at him, and the banished Prince began walking up to Jee until he was in Jee's face. "Capturing the Avatar is more important than any individual's safety."

"Even your own?" I couldn't help but ask. "Capturing Aang is more important than anybody's safety?"

Zuko slowly turned to look at me, and I stared back at him calmly. He began walking toward me, and I clenched my fists, ready for a fight if I needed to fight. But he just walked right on by, only stopping when he reached the door. Without looking over his shoulder, he stood in the doorway. "Yes." Then he entered the ship and slammed the door behind him.

"He didn't mean that." Iroh said to both Jee and me. "He's just worked up."

"Yeah, sure." I scoffed in annoyance. Jee didn't look like he believed it either, the way he was currently scowling.

~~Water~~

I blinked as I watched the dark gray ominous looking storm clouds roll into the sky, covering the normal shade of blue. The birds had all disappeared. Jee, Ryuu, Katsu, and one other soldier were staring at the sky. Zuko stood at the other end of the ship, glaring at the storm cloud. As if it was the cause of all the problems in the world. I was shocked that Iroh had been right.

"Well, it looks like your uncle was right about the storm after all." Jee said sneeringly at Zuko.

"Lucky guess." Iroh shrugged, grinning. I rolled my eyes, but I was grinning too.

Zuko crossed the deck, quickly standing in front of Jee and glaring up at him. He jabbed two fingers into Jee's chest. "Lieutenant, you better learn some respect. Or I will teach it to you."

I clenched my fists, glaring at him. I was getting so sick of his "high and mighty, look down on everyone" attitude. It seemed Jee didn't like it either. Iroh started making decapitating movements with his hands, looking incredibly worried. Jee ignored him. "What do you know about respect?" He demanded. "The way you talk to everyone around here, from your hard working crew to your esteemed uncle, and to Tora - who you captured against her will, twice - shows you know nothing about respect. You don't care about anyone but yourself! Then again, what should I expect from a spoiled, banished prince?"

Iroh groaned and put a hand over his face, while Zuko turned around and glared at Jee. "That girl-" he gestured to me. "Is nothing more than a peasant!"

I snarled, eyes narrowing. "I may be a peasant," I said, imitating the way he said it. "But I am a Fire Nation citizen. If this is how you treat your people, then I will dread the day you become Fire Lord."

Zuko let out a yell, and raced toward me. Although I could have handled him, Jee stepped in front of me, assuming the firebending stance. Zuko took on the stance as well, and then their wrists were scraping against each other, steam coming out of Zuko's palm.

Iroh quickly stepped in between them. "Enough!" He yelled, startling me. He continued in a calmer tone. He said that we were all just tired and angry because we've been at sea for so long. "I'm sure that if we all just had a bowl of noodles, everyone will feel much better."

I scowled, but left with Jee and the other men anyway. I heard Zuko snapping at Iroh as I left. Something about Zuko not needing help keeping order on his ship. "That boy," Jee began angrily. "Is..." He was so angry he couldn't even come up with anything to say.

"Thanks for that." I said quietly.

Jee grinned at me. "Don't mention it."

Katsu ruffled my hair fondly. "Yeah, Tora! There's no way we would let you get in trouble for something as minor as that! Trust me, we've heard worse things said on this ship. Zuko's just in a mood today." He said as Ryuu patted my back so hard I nearly went flying.

"Wonder why." I said to myself, rubbing my chin thoughtfully.

"Who cares?" Jee muttered.

~~Water~~

Later that night, I sat around a flaming barrel, drinking a cup of tea with Jee, Katsu, Ryuu, and a few other men. It had started out as just a quiet after-dinner chat, but then it somehow turned into a complaining fest about Zuko.

"I'm so sick of that kid!" Ryuu yelled, waving his hand around in the air. He was holding a bottle, probably filled with sake. "He thinks just because he's the prince of the Fire Nation and the son of the Fire Lord that he can boss us around all the time!"

Isn't that a very good reason to think he can boss us around? I asked myself internally. I didn't say it out loud, though. I didn't need to add more flames to the fire.

"He's so annoying all the time, thinking he can do whatever he wants!" Katsu added, taking a swig of his own sake. "I mean, he knows he was banished from the Fire Nation, so what does he do? He tries to cross over to Fire Nation waters - through a blockade! He could've killed us!"

"I'm sick of taking his orders, and I'm tired of following his Avatar!" Jee said angrily. "I mean, who does Prince Zuko think he is?!"

"Do you really want to know?" Iroh's voice suddenly came into the room. We all looked up, and saw The Dragon of the West staring at us from the top of the staircase. The orange light in the room illuminated his face very clearly. It was kind of scary, really.

We all instantly stood in respect. Jee was clearly embarrassed - or nervous. After all, he had been insulting Iroh's nephew. "General Iroh, sir, we were just-"

Iroh waved away his explanation. "It's alright. May I join you?"

"Of course, Sir." Katsu said, completely sober now. Ryuu seemed to be sober now as well.

Iroh walked down the stairs and took a seat next to me, giving the tea cup in my hands an approving nod. "You must understand. My nephew is a very complicated young man. He has been through so much for his age." Iroh bowed his head for a moment, before he looked up at us. "Three years ago, when Zuko was thirteen," So when I was twelve. "There was a war meeting I was expected to attend. When I got there, however, I saw Zuko arguing with the soldiers guarding the room. I tried to tell him that there was nothing interesting happening in there, but Zuko told me that if he was going to run his Nation one day, he should start learning everything he could. I relented, but told him not to speak out. You see, the room was filled with old war generals, some of them having not seen a true battle in many years. I was one of those people. Those war generals could become rather sensitive if their plans were questioned. The meeting was going well, and I could sense that Zuko was rather interested in what he was learning. Until..." Iroh went silent all of a sudden.

"Until what?" Katsu looked at him sideways. I felt panic growing inside me. Whatever happened, it couldn't have been good.

"One of the generals was talking about a dangerous battalion of the strongest Earth Kingdom troops. He recommended using the 41st division against them, a division of the newest recruits our army had to offer."

I gasped in horror. "No..." My voice was barely above a whisper. It seemed I was the only one who had dared to speak out against the silence. The rest of the men in the room were staring at the flames, though I could see the look of horror reflected in their eyes.

Iroh nodded. "Yes. The general said that while the earthbenders were fighting the 41st division, while the rest of the army there would mount an attack from behind. He said," The old general closed his eyes, before speaking through clenched teeth. "'What better to use as bait than fresh meat?'"

I felt like I was going to be sick. That bastard...

"Zuko spoke out against the general's plan. He told them that they couldn't sacrifice an entire division like that. He was met with disapproving silence. Zuko was right, you see, but it was not his place to speak out, and there were... dire consequences." Iroh lowered his head, looking sad at the memory. After Zuko's outburst in the meeting, the Fire Lord became very angry with him. He said that Prince Zuko's challenge of the general was an act of complete and utter disrespect. There was only one way to resolve the problem."

"Agni Kai..." I whispered, my voice barely audible, even in the silence of the room. The only sound was the crackle of the flames. It took me a moment before I realized I was shaking in my seat.

"Fire duel." Jee muttered, looking horrified as well.

"That's right." Iroh said, closing his eyes. "Zuko looked upon the old general he had insulted and declared that he was not afraid. The general was getting old, and he was becoming blind in one eye. He even had an old war injury that prevented him from moving his arms too much. But Zuko had misunderstood. When he turned to face his opponent, he was surprised to see it was not the General."

My head snapped up. If it wasn't the general, who could it have been?

"Zuko had spoken out against a general's plan, but by doing so in the Fire Lord's war room, it was the Fire Lord whom had been disrespected."

No... oh no... no, no, no, NO! I started screaming in my mind as the final piece of the puzzle clicked into place.

"Zuko would have to duel his own father."

I put a hand against my mouth, feeling bile start to rise up in my throat. Agni, Hei Bai, Moro No Kimi, oh Spirits, oh Gods...

"When Prince Zuko saw that it was his father who had come to duel him, he begged for mercy. Zuko said that he only had the Fire Nation's best interests at heart, and that he was sorry for speaking out of turn. The Fire Lord only said that Zuko would fight for his honor. Zuko simply knelt on the floor, in an attempt to show his father mercy. He said that he meant no disrespect to his father, and that he was Ozai's loyal son. Ozai ordered Zuko to rise and fight. Zuko only said that he would not fight his father. My brother." Iroh closed his eyes, looking incredibly saddened. "The Fire Lord said, 'You will learn respect, and suffering will be your teacher.' My nephew looked up at his father with tears in his eyes. And I looked away."

I imagined Zuko's pained scream. It echoed through my brain, rattling my eardrums. I felt tears start to run down my cheeks, but I didn't bother to wipe them away. Oh, Zuko... I'm so sorry... I thought. I'm sorry for every mean thing I ever said or thought about you. What you had to go through is ten million times worse than what I had to go through. It doesn't even compare. My father had never raised a hand against me, even when we were fighting our worst fights, which had never even been that bad. We had never really raised our voices at each other, much less fought in an Agni Kai against each other. And Zuko had been burned... and scarred by his own father… when he had been apologizing to his father…

Oh Spirits...

"I always thought Prince Zuko was in a training accident..." Jee said quietly, looking abashed.

"That's what he told me." I agreed, though I hadn't stopped my silent crying. I raised a hand to my cheek and used the palm of my hand to wipe away the tears, though that really only smeared them across my face.

"It was no accident." Iroh said forcefully. He continued, explaining that the Fire Lord proclaimed that by refusing to fight, Zuko had shown his father and his people "shameful weakness." Zuko had been banished without a second thought, and had been given the order of finding and capturing Aang.

"So that's why he's so obsessed with this hunt." Ryuu said in realization. "If he captures the Avatar, his life will go back to normal."

Iroh disagreed. And I agreed with Iroh. Things would never return to normal. Not truly. "But the important thing is, the Avatar gives Zuko hope." Iroh said.

I couldn't help but smile slightly. "He's always been good at that." I agreed softly, thinking of Aang.

The dead silence that followed was suddenly shattered by a loud BOOM!

"What was that?!" I yelled, quickly jumping off my seat.

"Everyone to the deck!" Jee yelled, everyone else quickly leaping off their seats and rushing up the stairs onto the deck. It was raining so hard I could barely see anything that wasn't within three or four feet of me. But I could see that Zuko was there as well.

"Where were we hit?" Zuko yelled.

"I don't know!" Jee yelled back. I suddenly heard someone screaming. Squinting and shielding my eyes from the rain, I looked up to where I had heard the screaming. I could only see a blurry figure hanging from the watchtower.

"The helmsmen!" Zuko yelled. Instantly, he and Jee were sprinting for the ladder, and scrambling to climb up onto it. I suddenly saw something yellow shooting toward the ship out of the corner of my eye. It was a lighting bolt... heading straight for Iroh. Before I could even scream, Iroh had somehow... redirected the lighting bolt into the water. That left him standing there, covered in ash, with his hair all electrified and sticking up everywhere, looking very confused. Or startled. Maybe both. Suddenly, Zuko and Jee were on the deck, next to me. Jee was helping the helmsmen stand.

Iroh sighed in relief. "I think-" Before he could finish his sentence, however, Zuko suddenly yelled out, "The Avatar!"

"What do you want to do, sir?" Jee asked, a new respect for Zuko in his eyes.

Zuko was silent for a moment as he considered. "Let him go." He said finally. "We need to get this ship to safety."

"Then we must head directly into the eye of the storm!" Iroh said, sounding pleased at his nephew's realization that the Avatar was not as important as the lives of the crew.

"HEAD A COURSE FOR THE EYE OF THE STORM!" Katsu screeched, rushing off to the steering room.

"AND STEP ON IT!" Ryuu yelled, racing after his friend. I couldn't help but laugh. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Zuko and Iroh were standing together, with Zuko looking almost ashamed of himself.

A sudden jolt of the boat knocked everyone off their feet. I looked up and saw a large, luminescent blue sphere of air rising out of the water, right where the bow of the ship was. Inside there was a vaguely humanoid form, that looked suspiciously like... Appa.

Aang.

That was the only thought that flew through my mind as I stared up at the Flying Bison rising out of the sea into the air. I saw him. I mean, I saw Aang. He was looking back at us, and I followed his eyes to see he was staring at Zuko. Then when I looked back at him, I saw a look of pure shock flicker across his face for a moment.

He saw me.

Aang saw me.

He knows I'm alive.

Or maybe he didn't see me. Maybe I'm just imagining things.

~~Water~~

Sokka held out one hand to the old fisherman in front of him. "Seriously, you're still gonna pay me, right?" In response, the old man dropped a fish into Sokka's hand, making the Water Tribe boy make a loud squeak.

At the mouth of the cave, Aang was speaking to Katara. He said that he was done dwelling on matters of the past. Katara looked pleased with this.

"Really?"

Aang shrugged. He explained that, since he had already done it, he couldn't think about how things would have been different if he had done something other than what he had done. "I'm here now and I'm going to make the most of it." He grinned at her.

Katara smiled back. "I don't think you're gonna have those nightmares anymore."

Aang suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up to see the old man standing there, looking awkward. "Uh, if you weren't here now, well, I guess I wouldn't be either. Thank you for saving my life, Avatar."

Aang grinned in response, before he remembered something. "Oh! You guys!" He turned to his friends with an urgent look on his face. "I just remembered something!"

"What is it?" Sokka asked, Katara looking a little concerned.

"I... think... I think I saw Tora on Zuko's ship." Aang blurted out.

This was met with two shocked expressions from both Water Tribe siblings. "Are you sure?" Katara asked, frowning slightly.

"Well, it was just for a second, and I couldn't see her very well, so I might be wrong-"

"Then you were wrong." Sokka interrupted, his shocked expression becoming stoney. "Tora's dead, Aang. You were just imagining things."

Katara nodded, though she was still frowning. "The lack of air caused you to hallucinate."

Aang looked away. "Maybe you're right." He said quietly.

NO AANG! YOU WERE RIGHT! DON'T LISTEN TO 'EM!

Sigh.

END OF CHAPTER! NEXT IS THE BLUE SPIRIT! YAY!

Warning - more references to a certain movie in next chapter. Proceed with caution.