I Do Not Own Miraculous or Avatar.
Chapter Seventy-One: Combustion Man.
"Yeah, pretty much everyone has tried to threaten me this evening alone. The welcome is noted." Zuko deadpanned as he unpacked his bag.
"Just be happy we aren't in Paris. My old team would have been a lot more explicit. Rena Rouge especially. She can get pretty fired up over stuff like this." Zuko frowned.
"Old team?"
"You know, with all of the other Miraculous holders? Fox, turtle, bee?"
"Uh… what kind of turtle exactly? Like a turtle duck?" Zuko asked. Adrien rolled his eyes and mumbled something about weird animals. Zuko was a bit surprised by how little Adrien owned as he set up his bed, just his old clothes, a sword, and a few things he'd collected from around the Earth Kingdom.
"Um, don't you have anything from Paris left?" Zuko questioned.
"No. I came to Ba Sing Se with only the clothes on my back, which were drastically different than anything you'd wear around here. I had to abandon those clothes when the Dai Li came after me. I think Marinette still has some sketchbooks though. She might've bought those along the way, I dunno. I do know she kept her old outfit. She doesn't like getting rid of clothes she could still use later."
"Huh." Zuko said, returning to his work. That's when there was a soft knock on the door. Adrien and Zuko looked up to see Sokka in the doorway.
"You two done settling in?" Sokka asked. Adrien nodded.
"Good, because goldy, you and I need to talk about this Jinx thing your father mentioned. I know that's why you decided to leave in the invasion, and I get that you're still trying to figure your weird spirit magic stuff out. That's all cool, but I need to know these things ahead of time."
"Jinx?" Zuko questioned. Adrien hiestated.
"My bad luck abilities." He explained, "Earlier this year I used them incorrectly and it's backfiring on me."
"And I know that you and Marinette are used to doing things differently on your old team and I know that when your father was against you, withholding information was normal because it was the safest option. But it really, right now keeping stuff like that to yourself can do more harm than good." Sokka scolded. Adrien hung his head.
"Yeah, we're kinda figuring that out." He said, "Going from a strict, 'don't share any personal information or intel that could give the enemy an advantage team' to a team that shares everything isn't exactly simple."
"Just tell me next time." Sokka insisted, "I can't be Plan Guy Number One if I don't have all the information."
"Um, Plan Guy Number One?" Zuko asked.
"It's a thing he and Mari have going on." Adrien said with a wave, "It's not important to you. Just know they make up all our ridiculous plans, you just have to trust they don't get us killed."
"I'm already regretting my life choices." Zuko groaned, falling back into his bed.
"Don't. We have cookies! Mari makes them constantly for Tikki and sometimes we get some too!" Adrien teased.
"I stand by my previous statement." Zuko deadpanned. Adrien laughed before his smile melted into a frown. His eyes narrowed slightly.
"Actually, Sokka. There are actually quite a few secrets we Miraculous holders have been keeping out of instinct… and I think you are right, we really should come clean more."
"Like what?" Sokka asked, crossing his arms. Adrien seemed to shrink under his gaze.
"Um, like what actually happened in Paris." He said, "And how that led to me in Ba Sing Se, Marinette in Omashu, and my father to Misty Palms." Zuko straightened, looking over at Adrien. Adrien had mention Paris plenty of times, but everytime it came to the topic of what had actually happened to it, Zuko had gotten the same lies and excuses that everyone else had gotten. He figured it was a sore subject.
"Oh, um. Yeah, it would be cool to know what happened there." Sokka said, walking into the room. Adrien laid back.
"Paris is located in a nation called France, and it is very, very far away. Litteral worlds apart." Adrien said thoughtfully.
"Um… worlds apart?" Sokka asked.
"You know how there's a spirit world and a physical world?" Adrien asked.
"Yeah?" Sokka asked.
"Well, the spirit world isn't the only other world out there. That's why Tikki is called the creator of worlds, which would imply there are many, many worlds that get close to one another on the solstices."
"So, wait… Paris is in a completely different world?" Sokka asked. Adrien nodded slightly.
"One with no benders." Adrien confirmed, "Or Avatar. The only magical, spirit stuff we've got are the Miraculouses and the Kwamis."
"You're kidding." Sokka deadpanned. Adrien shrugged, his expression completely serious.
"When my Father cornered me in Paris, he and I had this huge battle, and he won pretty badly. Mari showed up and he, still a bit on the crazy side, threatened to kill me if she didn't give up her miraculouses. It was the first time he'd ever won. And I wasn't exactly thinking clearly. My Cat Noir side took completely over until I was just relying on instincts. And that's when I used a power forbidden for Cat Noirs to use. Jinx. It's unpredictable and was banned when it started a plague a long time ago. I don't even know how I knew to use it, because Plagg had been careful to not mention it ever, but I did. It brought us here. And we'll be stuck here until the winter solstice, when Ladybug can reverse everything I did. Of course, if this war goes on much longer, I might never go back to Paris. Not that I would mind, because everything I need is here… but Marinette needs her mother and father and my father needs to go back to his business." Adrien explained, "And I go where they go." Zuko stared at Adrien, processing all the information the blonde had told them.
"Wait, you can't stay here?" Zuko asked, a bit conflicted.
"Even if Marinette and I wanted to, we couldn't. We are Ladybug and Cat Noir. We have a responsibility to protect our world and the secrets of the Miraculous. My father might be reformed, but my world has the Miraculous for a reason. It needs it's protectors, just like this world needs the Avatar." Adrien said, "I told Marinette not to say anything, because I didn't want you guys to worry about us having to leave when this war is way more important. We won't leave until the war is over, but we do have to go back one day."
Sokka paced the room, not sure how to take the information.
"Adrien, you should have told us."
"I know." Adrien replied, "I'm sorry. And I-" Adrien was interrupted when there was a loud boom that shook the entire temple. The three boys snapped their attention to The Duke, who came running into the room.
"Guys! It's combustion man!" He yelled.
"Oh, man." Zuko groaned, facepalming, "I knew I forgot something. Sokka, your sister's gonna kill me for this. Adrien, Sokka, you guys have got to keep him off of Aang long enough for me to talk him down."
"Dude, you forgot to cancel the assassin? That's kinda important!" Adrien yelled.
"Yeah, well, I was busy that day, between confronting my father, getting Akumatized, discovering Iroh is missing in action, and running into you, it's easy to forget a few details!" Zuko argued.
"But, no offense buddy, the assassin should have been at the top of your to do list." Sokka pointed out.
"I know, just, ugh! Distract him!" Zuko ran out of the room, hoping they would take his advice. Zuko noted where the assassin seemed to be attacking the temple and began to dart from pillar to pillar as he made his way up the temple walls and over to the other ledges. He saw that Adrien and Marinette had transformed and where doing their best to deflect any explosions while the others took cover.
Zuko leapt onto another ledge that led to where the Combustion man was standing.
"Stop!" Zuko called, "I don't want you hunting the Avatar anymore!" Combustion man breathed in deeply to strike once more. Zuko ran at him, shoving into the man before he could fire down at Aang again.
"If you keep attacking, I won't pay you!" He promised, thinking the man was still only in it for the money Zuko had promised. Combustion man grabbed Zuko's gi, Zuko attempted to firebend the guy so he'd let go.
"Okay, I'll pay you double to stop!" He called, swinging his arms down onto him, forcing the guy to drop him. Combustion man breathed in to fire again, but Zuko kicked at him, knocking Combustion man off balance, but unfortunately losing balance himself. The man turned towards Zuko in annoyance, he breathed in deeply and Zuko's eyes went wide. He summoned as much fire as possible to shield him from the blast, but to Zuko's surprise, a blur of red jumped in front of him, taking the shot. Standing in front of Zuko was Ladybug, who spun her yo-yo and wore an aggravated expression.
"Zuko…" She said in an uneven tone.
"I offered him double to stop. Still won't go for it. He's set on killing Aang regardless of what I say." Ladybug's blue eyes settled on Combustion man, who breathed in to fire at them again. She smirked a little, before reeling her yo-yo in and throwing it straight back out so that it hit his forehead. Combustion man staggered back, completely dazed but the simple attack. He breathed in to fire, when sparks ignited around him due to his lack of focus. Ladybug barely had time to shield herself and Zuko when the entire floor beneath combustion man gave way. He began to fall, Ladybug swung her yo-yo down for him to catch, but the man made no effort to take it. He vanished into the darkness below. Zuko blinked up at her.
"How did you know to do that?" He asked.
"The last time he showed up, he couldn't use the combustion bending properly when he was unbalanced. I realized knocking him on the forced head where his eye was, even just a little, was enough to off balance him and discourage his abilities." Ladybug explained, her eyes still fixed on where he'd vanished.
"...I'm sorry." Zuko said. Ladybug looked up.
"This one was your fault." She said blandly, "But Adrien is a man of forgiveness. Something tells me people should learn from that. I'm starting to."
"I would understand if you kicked me off the team." Zuko said, "I should have known he was still following us."
"And the fact that you believe that is exactly why you must stay." Ladybug replied, offering him her hand. Zuko stared at it for a moment.
"I know that you and Adrien have to leave one day." He said softly. She flinched a little.
"I just hope he knows I couldn't have asked for a better brother." Zuko said, "Because if I ever said that to him aloud, he'd lord it over me forever the rest of my life."
"Sounds about right." Ladybug agreed with a smirk.
Apologies for taking forever to upload again. As I said on my last post, my internet on my old computer decided it didn't want to internet correctly and quit altogether. So, I had to switch to a Chromebook, which is a billion times harder to use for uploading on FFN. I eventually figured it out, but I was also dealing with a bunch of new things and my classes have started. So, by the time I actually got around to writing this chapter, I realized it had been months since I did anything on this website. I am very sorry for that. I am also sorry if this chapter is a little blocky and weird, I wrote it over the course of months and didn't read it all together until just recently. I apologize for any spelling errors, grammatical mistakes, and poor writing in this chapter. Sorry for making you all wait this long and thanks for the support so far!