This time, I was in a room that smelled like jasmine and chamomile. White roses in blood-red vases decorated the room. The bed I was sleeping in was unbelievably comfortable, with warm, fluffy covers and equally fluffy pillows. Mentally, I checked my body. My toes were still there. So were my legs, torso, arms, hands, fingers, and everything else a human body should have. The only difference was that the whole left side of my body hurt, and I was naked. Well, partially. I could feel my underwear, and bandages wrapped from my torso all the way down to half my thighs. I looked like a partially-wrapped mummy.

I sat up in bed, feeling my body ache as I moved. Throwing my legs over the side of the bed, I saw a door open just a few inches. I saw candles lit in there. A bathroom. As I got up, my knees gave out and I fell to the floor. Why were my legs hurting so much? Slowly but surely, I got back up, and limped to the bathroom. There, a solid red kimono was hung up, with a golden sash to tie on the waist. I put it on, having a bit of trouble tying the sash around my waist, but eventually, I did it. I looked into the massive mirror in that equally massive bathroom. I looked like a mess.

Soon enough, I heard footsteps and male voices coming from the hallway outside of the room I was staying in. I blew out the candle in the bathroom, and hid behind the door, cautiously waiting. They entered my bedroom. One of the voices was far too familiar.

"Where'd she go?" That was the guy that gave me CPR in the arena. "Check the bathroom, lieutenant." He did. I didn't know what to do, so I sucker punched the lieutenant right in the nose when he came close. He fumbled backwards and landed on his rear end. I exited the bathroom, limping, and in a fighting stance.

"Take me home," I demanded, looking from the lieutenant, to the young man. "Now."

"We came here to check on you," the young man said. He looked so familiar . . . not from the arena, I mean from somewhere else. "My name is Bruce, and the man you just punched is Lieutenant Doctor Gunther. Just, please calm down so we can check on you. You've been unconscious for three days."

I gulped. Three days? How bad of a state was I in? "What're you going to do?"

"Doctor Gunther is going to take those bandages off of you and check how bad your burns and bruises are. We think you fractured your shin in your left leg. Other than your burns and shin, you're just really sore."

I sat down and did as I was told. Doctor Gunther gave me some painkillers, as he took some, too. I apologized for punching him in the nose and making it bleed. I was just thinking he was going to do harm to me. But, he wasn't. Him and Bruce were taking care of me, unwrapping the bandages in such a careful way, as if they were afraid to peal off my own skin.

"Have I seen you somewhere?" I asked Bruce.

"Maybe," he said, putting antibiotic ointment on my burns. I winced. "I'm the Fire Lord's son."

"The Fire Lord has a son?"

"My sister and I have the same father, but different mothers. Ever since I was born, my father has kept me a secret. He betrayed his wife, which is my sister's mother, and nine months later, I was born."

Doctor Gunther nudged him, saying, "Should you really be telling her this?"

Bruce ignored the doctor, and kept on talking to me. "Father has tried keeping me from the media since my mother died. To him, I'm a mistake. I was never supposed to be born."

"You weren't a mistake," I said to him. "Trust me, I know what that's like. I'm the oldest of my siblings, and my parents were never expecting, nonetheless expecting three others after me. I was a twin, but my sister was a stillborn. Doctors thought I drained my sister of her life. For a long time, my parents believed that, until my twin brothers were born. They treated them as if they were royalty. I had to tend to myself. Eventually, my parents asked for my forgiveness, and hoped I'd forgive them. It took me a while, but I forgave them."

"I'm sorry about your sister," Bruce said. "Must be hard losing a sibling."

"I'm sorry about your mother. Must be hard losing a parent."

He grinned. "Fair enough." He finished wrapping the bandages around me, and he helped Gunther pack everything into his medical kit. "I'll walk you out, Doctor." Bruce walked Doctor Gunther out of the room and closed the door. He waited a while until he turned around, and he walked quickly to me. "You need to leave."

"Wh-?"

"You need to leave. Now."

"Why?"

"When Karina hit you with lightning, I knew you were going to die. So I rushed to you. When I gave you CPR, your eyes started glowing. Whatever you felt or saw, I saw. And it was the most phenomenal thing I could ever experience. I know who you are. I know what you're capable of."

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Meria." He knows my name. "I know you're the Avatar." He whispered it, as if everyone else could hear. "I think my father saw your eyes glow, too. I'd rather not risk it, so you need to get away. Far, far away from the Fire Nation."

"You're getting a little ahead of yourself," I said. "I'm not the Avatar. I can only bend fire."

"Have you tried bending something else? Like water or air?"

" . . . No."

"How do you know you can't bend anything else if you haven't tried it."

"And even if I am, what makes me so sure that you won't tell anybody?"

"Because I've had my fair share of not fitting in. If you're the Avatar, which I'm pretty sure you are, you will have more enemies than you could ever count, and they will be out looking for you. You will not fit in, but you will have to try your best. They'll come for your family, for your friends, anyone and everyone you care about, so they can get to you and take your life. You need to flee while you still can."

I couldn't think of something to stay. The only thing that I could think about right now was my family. My siblings. "Take me home."


At night, Bruce snuck me out of his home, and managed to help me run through the Zen garden, passed the guards, and hide through the market place. Soon, we were in the park, where my family usually sleeps at night.

"Where's your home?" Bruce asked me.

"This is my home." I gestured towards my surroundings. "My family is homeless."

He wasn't phased. I was expecting his eyes to widen, but he didn't flinch. As if he already knew this. I led him to the cave we usually sleep in, and was greeted by a little dark-haired ten-year old boy. One of my little brothers, Tai. He had tears running down his face.

"Where did you go?" Tai asked, hugging me harder than I ever thought a little boy could hug. His twin brother, Zai, came running towards me, and then Jules, the littlest sibling, jumped onto Zai, trying to climb over him. She was only six years old. They all asked where I was, why I was gone that long, and why I was wearing a kimono. They also asked about Bruce.

Soon enough, my parents had woken up. My mother was the first one of them both to get up and hug me tighter than all of these kids' hugs combined. She cried and told me how she thought I had been kidnapped and killed. Dad hugged as all. Bruce stayed behind us, looking around for guards.

"Who's this?" Dad asked, nodding towards Bruce.

Bruce extended his arm to my father. "I'm Bruce Tren, son of Fire Lord Zi. I helped your daughter escape after she battled my sister."

"She battled princess Karina?" Dad asked, turning towards me. "Who won?" Typical.

Mom made a clicking sound with her tongue and said, "Who cares who won? At least our baby is back alive!"

Bruce kept looking at his watch. "Want to walk with me, Meria?"

I looked from Mom, to Dad, and vise versa. They nodded. "Yeah," I said. I let go of my family and walked around the park with Bruce. The moon was full, and there were no clouds in the sky, allowing us to receive all of that magnificent moon light. "I hope you and your family the best."

"Thank you," I said, clearing my throat. "Can I ask you something?"

"Go for it."

"How did you know my name? I didn't tell anyone my name."

He smirked and said, "Please don't think of this as weird, but when I was a kid, I used to run away from home a lot. I'd always end up at the park or somewhere around the city. And one day, I saw a girl around my age, sitting under a tree looking through a basket of fruit that have already been eaten. She was trying to find something to eat. There was a family of four just yards away from her, sleeping. But she wasn't tired. She was too hungry to sleep. I was only eleven at the time, and she was, too. I bought some bread, fruit, and water for the little girl. I was going to leave, and then she asked me if I could join her. She said she'd never had a friend. We talked a lot, until she really got tired, and fell asleep on my shoulder. She told me her name that night. Her name was Meria. Ever since that day, I was too nervous to speak to you. Don't ask me why, I don't know the answer to that myself. But I would leave money and food for you whenever I could. Until I was fourteen and got caught by my father. He punished me by not letting me leave home. I still snuck out to see you."

I smiled a little. "I had a little stalker back in the day?"

He cleared his throat, and I could see him blushing. "N-no. I was just simply keeping tabs. Making sure you were okay."

"You're very kind, you know? For someone who grew up with a father who doesn't accept you, and with a half-sister who's tougher than nails."

He laughed. "I've been told that. My mother raised me to be kind. My father taught my sister how to be a leader, in his words."

"Leaders don't have to be mean like how they are. You can be kind and still be a great leader."

"I can lead. But this lifestyle they're keeping me in, it's not for me. I don't like being royalty. Sure, having anything you want with a snap of your fingers is great, but it's nothing when you aren't happy. What I saw back there, with your family, that's true happiness and love. I haven't had a hug since my mother died eight years ago. Not once has my father said I love you or showed that he cares."

"I'm so sorry."

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be saying all of this to you. You probably don't even care."

"Excuse me? Of course I care. You saved my life, literally. You've taken care of me without me knowing and the least I can do is listen to you. Not all of us have friends to talk to."

"You're my friend?" he asked, a little smirk forming on his lips.

"Haven't we always been friends?"


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