The day finally came when Zuko must present himself to the fire lord, though he wasn't quite prepared, he nervously tried, but like always, he ended up failing. Afterwards, he ran into the garden to be alone, Omi was there, polishing utensils.
"Hey, Zuko... uh..." She paused, noticing he had a frustrated expression on his face,
"What's wrong? what happened?" She asked worriedly, seeing him this way, she knew something did gone wrong.

"I suck," Zuko hung his head, clenching his fists. Omi placed a hand on his shoulder, wanting to reassure him.
"You don't, Zuko," She said calmly,
"I do!" Zuko shouted

"Today we had to present ourselves in front of the fire lord and I couldn't even bend one flame!" he kicked the ground in frustration and grabbed a pebble and threw it so high and hard out of sight.
It hit the roof of other side of the wall, a person notice it fell and wondered that it probably came from the other side, the place where she'd never go.

She crept up behind the wall, in the brush where it lead towards the garden, she stopped when she heard two voices.
"Don't worry, someday you'll be even better than Azula," She heard one girl say,
"You really think so?" A boy said.
"Of course you will! you're basically a prince! you will be powerful," The girl replied.
"You can be my servant,"
"I am your servant, remember?" Omi said giggling,
"Yeah but you'll live in the palace, in a room next to mine," Zuko said,
"That way, we can hang out everyday, and no Azula will be there to bother us,"
Omi blushed lightly,

"In fact, you can have her room," Zuko thought. Omi laughed whole-heartedly, The girl behind the wall stood wide-eyed and furious. She ran out of the garden without notice, the two children remained in the garden, while Omi polished, Zuko started to tell her more about his uncle, how he gave him a gift from the earth kingdom, and to Azula, a silly girl doll.
"She hated it so much!" Zuko laughed,
"I could totally imagine her-" Omi was cut off when they heard an explosion not so far away.

"What was that!" Zuko stood up, he grabbed Omi's wrist and ran out of the garden, making her drop the basket of utensils to the ground.
The children couldn't understand, when they reached the outside near the palace there was smoke, servants ran to and fro, almost knocking them children over.

There was a fire.

"Zuko, I think we should get away!" Omi said, quite scared.
"What happen?!" They heard a soldier shouted,
"The kitchen! The kitchen's on fire!" a servant yelled back. Omi's eyes grew with horror, her mother was working in the kitchen! she let go of Zuko's hand and ran.
"Omi wait!" Zuko called after her, she didn't stop at all and kept going,
"No, Omi! it's too dangerous!" Zuko ran after her.
Omi ran as hard as she could, to get to the kitchen, to get to her mother.

She skidded to a stop when she caught a horrifying sight of a building caught on fire. Everything was in flames, big and roaring. Servants brought watered from where ever they could get and began splashing it on the building, but it was no use, the fire hissed and it kept roaring and burning all that there was, and everyone in it. Omi couldn't do anything but cry, She felt the arms of Zuko wrapped around her.
"Omi we have to go! we could get burned!" Zuko yelled, dragging Omi away,
"Mom! NOO!" Omi cried, She saw her father finally running into the building, she yelled once more seeing him disappear into the flames.
"Father!" She cried, all of a sudden the building started shattered and collapsed, Omi's father jumped out before the kitchen building collapsed upon him. A couple of servants help drag her father away from the flames and burning wood, he was a bit unconscious.

"Water... she needs water..." Begged her father unconsciously,
"We have to take him out of here," A soldier said, helping a man carry the unconscious servant.
Omi hid her face in Zuko's arms, Zuko teared when he heard her stifled. He hugged her tightly, feeling her pain.
A servant ran up to the children, her intentions was to take away Zuko from the area but he shouted that he wouldn't move anywhere unless Omi came with him, the frantic servant immediately agreed and took Omi and Zuko away.

~Meanwhile~

"What a shame," Azula said from a window of the third floor of the palace, her father standing beside her.
"I'm surprise this doesn't concern you my dear," The fire lord said.
Azula shrugged
"Why should I feel pity over some slaves?, they come and go," She hissed.
The fire lord silently smiled in agreement.

"What I worry is, who's going to make our dinner?" Azula continued.
"Don't worry, we will have everything in order," The fire lord said.
"About order, father," Azula smiled evily,
"I hope you don't mind talking about Zuko,"
The fire lord hardly winced,
"I rather not talk about that limp,"He said in disgust,
"Yes, but do you know why?" Azula said reeling in her father's attention.

The princess ran down to the halls, she caught up with the servant who escorted Zuko with Omi in his arms.
"Zuko! Omi!" She said as she knelted down to hug both of them.
"Mom, The kitchen..." Zuko said with worried.
"I know..." She looked over to Omi, and hugged her tightly, Omi once again allow tears to flow.
"My mother," She whispered sadly. The princess hugged her tightly.
~poor child~

Zuko ran to his room, he grabbed his hair in frustration and kicked his furniture, it hurt his foot, he fell onto his bed and cried until he fell asleep.
What ten minutes seem to become an hour, Azula came barging in,
"Dad's going to kill you... really, he is"

Zuko didn't believe what Azula told him.

~The following morning~

Zuko thought it was a dream, his mother came in, she said she was protecting him and said... goodbye?
What?
He ran through the halls, he called for his mother, but the princess was no where to be found.
"Where's mom?!" Zuko shouted, Azula only mocked him...
He couldn't believe it..
she's... gone?

Omi stayed alone in the shack. Her father was being nursed and hospitalized at a nursing inn located in the marketplace, she didn't move when another servant came to get her, telling her that they found her mother's body within the ashes,she picked up a stick and threw it at the door. Meaning that she wanted to be alone, the servant left without saying another word.
A few minutes later, another servant came in and forced Omi to go outside towards the gardens, Zuko was waiting by the pond, he slowly looked up, the servant bowed and left.
Zuko, as well as Omi, was watery-eyed.
"Z-z-zuko?" Omi started to say,
"She's gone, too," Zuko's lip trembled, Omi stood there, who else other than her mother is gone?
"My mother is gone," Zuko allowed one tear to fall, he pulled up his knees and and buried his face in his arms, he sniffled quietly until he felt two arms wrap around him. He faced Omi, and hugged her back tightly as well.

Somebody hand over the tissue box, this is sad. *sigh* life's unfair, especially when you realized you lost someone you love,

I hope I don't get any hate but I just had to do it, even in the series, everything wasn't all bright and bubbly, right? But I hope you guys enjoy a little drama, it's what makes a good story, otherwise, it would be cheesy, and I ain't going for cheesy.

Though I do enjoy cheese. (Great. Now I'm hungry . )