Embers

Ch 6 – Sparks

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I followed the trail of destruction to the same square where we fought. I expected to see the kid there, with Mai right behind him. I did see the two of them, but they were… Arguing.

"Mai, don't forget who's in charge here. It's not me, it's not you, it's Him. You know what would happen if he found out… You'd be killed, and so would your precious little Zuko, so stop whining and get on with it!"

Nobody talks to Mai like that. I don't care if he is a teenaged bomb, I would show him who's in charge. My fists curled up and my breath grew jagged. Normally this anger would fuel some powerful flames, but heated strength was all I needed right now.

"HRRRAH!"

I sprung out of the dark corner and landed a flying punch on the kid's face. He was shocked, hurt, and slowly getting angry. I jumped to land another hit when the butt end of a knife knocked me back. Mai was defending him? It didn't make sense, but the look on her face confirmed it.

"Zuko what the hell are you doing?"

"Mai I won't let him talk to you that way! He's a disgraceful pig who deserves to go down."

"No, you just don't understand. You never did."

"You're right, I don't understand. Tell me why you are defending this freak when he nearly killed me and Toph?"

"Because you don't know why he's fighting. He's trying to help us all, and you're just getting in the way. Stay out of it Zuko!"

"Fine. If you want me to stay away then I will."

I felt hot tears brewing in my eyes. I couldn't believe this was happening, and that the kid was right; I lost more than my chi by coming back. I began to walk away when that freak began to talk.

"He's not good enough for you Mai, you deserve better. Now we can move on without him in the way."

He was dead to me.

"GRRAHH!"

I charged him, knocked him down and savagely pummeled his body. He broke free and stepped back, starting to glow again. This was my chance. He fired a bolt of multicolored energy and I jumped right into it, letting it hit my center. What happened next was indescribable. You could say it was pain, or perhaps pleasure. It was what warm and cold felt like, what life and death would feel like. Just pure energy swirling around inside of you, it was almost too much to handle. As soon as I began to feel my consciousness slipping, I redirected the energy out of my right hand, straight towards that kid. It was like lightning and fire, but as Toph said, much more refined, almost like a stream of water. I was bending again, and this time, I would not be beat.

He dodged the redirected bolt, and moved a slight bit. He was ready to take my punches, but I was through with fistfighting. I jumped in the air, flipping backwards as I did. Flames began to cluster around me, and as I hit the ground, I exhaled forcefully, pushing the fire through my fist towards the kid. The resulting blast of fire was larger than I had expected, erupting with the force of a volcano and sending me flying back as well. The teenager slammed a bolt of energy into it's path to try and intercept it, but his power was useless against my flame, and he was sent hurdling towards the wall.

However, I wasn't paying attention to what happened because of my blast, because Mai was caught in the collateral, sending her flying backwards too. I didn't mean to- I would never hurt her. She hit the ground pretty hard, and didn't stir once she did. I felt remorse the instant I saw her face, a confused frown that I used to wear before the war ended.

Toph arrived just then, grabbing me and pulling me back to the spot outside of town. She tried to explain that staying there would be bad when the bender kid woke up. She was bleeding and clutching a large gash on her arm. Apparently, Mai had gotten her before getting hit by my blast.

"Hey flame head, nice girlfriend you got there. At least you have your bending back."

Yeah. At least I had that…