Too much research. I'm dying.

I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender. I'm just a fan.

The Sparks Between Us

Chapter 2

"Well…. this is certainly an unexpected development."

Those dark eyes blinked, turning away. Talons scraped patterned tiles.

"I wonder what will be offered, in return for my leniency."

A breath was hissed through his beak, feathers scraping against sand and ancient walls.

Spirits were such an unpredictable bunch.

—-

Everything ached.

What a wonderful first thought when returning to consciousness.

Even his nose felt bruised, which was a bizarre feeling. He groaned, rolling onto his that. He began rolling onto his back, experienced a sharp pain and quickly flipped back onto his belly. His arm reached toward the pain. somewhere on his shoulders?

The sensation reached him, bewildering.

Are you serious?

His arm… had to be tied down or something. He could barely touch his shoulder, and it strained all sorts of muscles. Groaning, Zuko turned his head to look at his arm and discovered the sickening feeling of his neck twisting sideways, far beyond what was supposed to be normal.

Was…. was it broken?

Or was his mind

His vision was oddly warped, as if he was looking through curved glass that showed him far too much of his surroundings .

He froze. Charcoal grey scales surrounded his current position, a ruffled mane of black following its spine.

There was… a dragon. He was still in danger.

He held perfectly still, examining his surroundings carefully. There were sand-colored walls, odd columns similar to the ones in in the Firelord's antechamber. Two levels, with rails surrounding the top pathway. A dark archway at one side of the circular room and a suggestion there may be another archway on the second level. The ceiling was domed, useless for grappling.

The entire room was lined with small, glowing green crystals, while the ceiling had a large circular crystal at the top of its dome.

If he was quiet enough, he could probably escape.

Now, he just had to get up. Anxiety was thrumming through his veins once more.

His deep breath was louder than he anticipated, the shifting of scales causing him to whip his head around to face the sound. The dragon's body jerked with his movement, and Zuko threw subtlety to the wind, tucking his feet under him and lunging toward the archway.
He fell on his face, nose cracking into the tiles.

The pain lanced to the back of his head, creating an odd moment of disconnect.
Trying to remember how he arrived at this place, his memory grew fuzzy, flickers of blue light and the feeling of mud under his fingertips.

Zuko lifted his head, the feeling of vertigo increasing.
His ability to think clearly was rapidly decreasing.

He could see the floor from above, the tiles tiny. Yet… he could still feel them under his stomach and hips. Slowly, he looked downward, almost expecting the view of a long neck.

He could feel the pull of gravity, and his muscles working to keep his head upright. He clenched his hands into fists. The dragon's claws curled together into a fist.
A flood of curses crashed through his mind, his throat rasping as he began to spit them aloud.

They felt strange in his mouth, and a sharp pain nicked the side of his tongue. He couldn't understand his own voice, ears filled with a stuttering hissing sound.

Blood was rushing in his ears, panic blackening the edges of his vision.

Then, something shifted, a strange muscle in his back that he didn't even know he could move.

Movement swirled in the corner of his eye, and the thin thread of control snapped.

Orange lit up his vision, swirling forward and out.

Time seemed to slow.

He could feel the heat in his mouth, hot air swirling around his face.

A huge dark shape swept through the flames, appearing to his left. A flash of gold and black darted toward him.

Was he even firebending? He couldn't feel anything. There was no rush of energy and rage, just heat bubbling in his throat. There were flames everywhere.

His senses seemed sharper and slower all at the same time. He could perceive claws descending toward his eyes, the tongues of flame swirling around them, but could not move fast enough to dodge.

Time sped up again, and in a rush of colors, something had clamped around his head and slammed it into the tiles.

He could see twin bursts of flame curl out from his nose, unsummoned. He writhed in an instinctive attempt to wiggle free.

Zuko had a skin-crawling sensation of having his hips flexed up over his shoulders before his midsection was grabbed as well, pinned.
A voice was hissing in his ear, smooth and angry.

"-ou continue to spit fire, I will strip you of limbs and you will live as a common snake, so if you value your wellbeing-"

Zuko fell limp, breathing hard.

"-then you will calm down. Thank you."

Pressure was released from his face. (What a strange feeling. The pressure dynamics were all wrong)

The feathered, snake-like creature seemed to shrink in on itself, arrowhead face widening into a disc shape. The neck tucked down, tail tucking in until it looked like a predatory bird. An owl? Or rather… a Viper-Owl. Weren't those ridiculously endangered?

In a moment of semi-hysterical panic, he imagined one of them eating the Avatar's bison in order to grow this huge. Giant Snake-Birds, Dragons, The Ocean itself raising up and striking down their fleet? With all the insanity recently, he would likely believe Azula if she claimed to be a winged, purple platapus-bear.

He hoped this was a dream.

The giant Viper-Owl moved its beak, a voice appearing right in his ear once more.

"I apologize our first meeting began like this, dragonling, but Fire is one thing that I will not tolerate near my collection. You will not leave this room until you learn control."

Control.

The echo of his Uncle's teachings inspired a snarl and he turned to spit a furious tirade at the creature.

When his voice came out as a rumbling hiss, paired with the feeling of fire licking his teeth, he clicked them shut.

Those dark eyes were pinned on him.

Zuko stiffened, halting his movement. He tried to track the position of his own body, mind whirling with half-formed thoughts and an overwhelming feeling of anxiety.

Silence stretched onward.

He made an effort to bring his legs under his body, a small scream piercing his own thoughts when he realized how short they were. This was real.
This was real.

The Owl-Viper only watched him,

The prince closed his eyes for a moment, then lifted his head up to lock gazes with the creature.

It blinked, speaking once more.

"For your own sake, I'd advise you stay in this room until further notice.

Oh Agni, this was real.

An odd pressure was building behind his eyeballs, ringing growing in his ears.

The creature's beak was moving again, but he couldn't hear anything.

Darkness swamped his vision, the room tilting around him.

The pressure became too much.

He fainted.

Author's Note~

Not much to note, really. I feel like King Kuei's Bear should be the only not-hybrid creature, so anything else is just a hybrid of two similar things, or a really weird spirit. Like the Spirit ape could be an ape and a human... The messenger foxes could be fox and coyote... -shrug-