Story:Smokescreen
Pairing: ZukoxOC
Genre: Action/Survival/Romance
Rating: T-M
Okay, so yay, next chapter. Thanks for the reviews, y'all :) Also, I did some research on Sian's name (cuz I found it off of twitter) and apparently it's pronnounced like Shawn, which is great in my opinion for some reason...
BlackAngel91797: So, what happened to Sokka's gang was that they went back to the air temple, yada yada, and you'll see what they do to get Zuko back later :) thanks for your review c;
…
Sian was used to the hot temperatures, and humidity of the Fire Nation, and its islands. This was something else entirely. After about a day of drifting, she and Zuko had washed up on a rough and leafy terrain, surrounded by craggy and rocky beaches that ruined their little raft. The rocky shore lead into a huge forest, filled with tall trees and shrubbery that neither of the benders recognized. Sian sighed loudly, causing a few stands of unwashed hair to flutter up from her face, as she poked around in the shallows with her bare finger halfheartedly, hoping to stir up some shellfish, or anything edible from her perch on a particularly low rock, on the ugly shore. However, the only thing she managed to stir up was sediments. She dug deeper into the chilly saltwater, coating her finger with mud entirely. Her oh-I'm-so-independent male counterpart had vanished into the forest, to "explore", leaving her to hunt for food, like a certified male. Oh well, she thought; guess that's what happens when there are no real men around. Sian pulled her finger from the murky water and dried it on her thin, prison issued pants, leaving a muddy skid mark.
Lovely.
Oh well. Like another stain would make a difference. A crisp wind blew through the air, rustling the leaves on the trees and causing her to shiver slightly. Now who's skewed up version of summer is this? She thought to herself. Her thin clothes and the overcast weather weren't helping either. She rolled her eyes. And she was thirsty.
Just as she was about to nod off, something sharp pegged her in the back. She immediately stood and whirled around to face her attacker, when she saw what hit her. Laying there on a flat rock a few feet away was a single nut, still encased in its shell. And a few more feet away, stood Zuko, scowling, holding a handful of the same nuts. He strode over to where she was standing and took a seat, placing the nuts in front of him, and cracking one open with his fist.
Scary.
Sian bent down and picked up the nut that he had tossed at her, examining it closely. It resembled a walnut, but with a much thinner shell. Huh, she thought as she hefted it. I've never seen these before. She sat down opposing him and cracked the thing open.
"I take it you didn't find anything either," Zuko said, his voice sounding slightly raspier than usual.
"Not a thing," Sian said, inspecting the nut more closely, "Are you sure these are safe?" She honestly wouldn't put it below him to poison her, and leave her body to decay in the middle of nowhere.
"I'm eating them, aren't I?" he glared at her, and roasted his nut with a steady bit of fire before popping it into his mouth.
Sian did the same. It tasted awful, and she winced. Prison food would be an improvement. She stuck her hand into her shirt, ignoring the slight bulge of Zuko's eyes, what was he looking at her for anyway? And finally, her fingers brushed against what she was looking for.
Aha.
She withdrew a slim wooden box and removed one of its contents, sticking it between her lips. A spark jumped between her fingers and she lit it, inhaling the fruity smoke.
"Still sucking those cheap cigarettes?" Zuko asked, bemused.
"Looks like it," she answered, taking a drag, "You still setting fire to inanimate objects?"
"Nah," he answered, popping another one of those Agni-awful nuts in his mouth, talking while he chewed, "I'm trying to grow out of that phase."
She rolled her eyes and exhaled smoke out of her nostrils, watching it curl in the light of the setting sun.
"You shouldn't do that. You know, smoking."
Sian flicked her eyes towards Zuko. His were almost luminous in the low light. "Relax, Zuko. They're tea leaves."
"You were in prison. How'd you even get those?" he shook his head, a smirk etching its way onto his lips, as he lit up a few nutshells, watching them fall from his fingers and extinguish themselves against the bare rock underneath him.
"I played the good inmate image," her mouth twisted, "a guard gave me them. You know, the one who the Warden thought was an imposter."
A flicker of recognition crossed his face, and he was silent after that, amusing himself by setting fire to more nutshells, then extinguishing them, and setting them on fire again. Finally, by the time they were reduced to a black powder, the moon had made its appearance, and Sian had ground out her cigarette and curled up on the ground, half asleep, ignoring the dry patches on her tongue and pounding headache, Zuko broke the silence.
"We're in the middle of back ass nowhere."
Too tired to raise her head from the rock, Sian raised her gold firebender eyes to meet his own, "What?" she asked, "You didn't see anything? No water source, nothing?"
"Not as far as I looked," He pinched the bridge of his nose, and Sian couldn't stop her sleep laced brain from thinking that in the moonlight, he looked older than seventeen. "There's probably much more, since we're probably in the Earth Kingdom, but I didn't see anything useful."
"We'll look again tomorrow," she mumbled sleepily, hearing his words, but not understanding, "It's late at night. The night is evil."
And with that, her thoughts closed off, and her mind retreated into the void known as sleep, leaving Zuko staring at her and wondering how a person so formidable could be so damn weird.
…
"You gonna lay there all morning?"
Shut up. The girl groaned and covered her eyes, shielding them from the sunlight that seemed adamant in burning through her eyelids.
Something blunt nudged her in the side, "Hellooo?"
Stop. She turned over onto her stomach and was hit again with the blunt object.
"Ugh," she groaned loudly, as she staggered to her feet, eyes half shut, as she made out a fuzzy silhouette. Zuko, she thought, as she grumbled off towards the water.
Zuko only chuckled as he watched Sian brush past him, mumbling angrily something that sounded suspiciously like, "Stupid idiot's poking me in the side and making noises, and what the hell, the universe hates me." She never was an early riser, Zuko thought as he watched her dunk her head into the ocean water and not come back up. Maybe she was trying to drown herself.
She returned a few minutes later with dripping wet hair streaming down her back, and a mouthful of water that she'd apparently been rinsing her mouth out with, that was now deposited all over his shoes, as she spat it in Zuko's general direction.
"That was for waking me up so damn early in the morning. The morning is evil." She said crabbily as she sat down and tried to finger-comb the ends of her long hair.
"We're firebenders, Sian, we rise with the Sun, remember?" he asked as he stepped out of the puddle she had created, "And I thought you said that the night was evil?"
She nodded slowly, her eyes widening suspiciously, "That too, yeah…" she trailed off.
"So what part of the day do you like, hmm?" He asked, voice dripping with sarcasm, as he picked something out of the tread of his shoe.
She frowned, and her bottom lip jutted out, "Afternoon."
…
The forest was also evil. The ground was nothing but uneven, with rocks, twigs, and roots, along with fallen logs littered all over the place. Sian and Zuko trekked through, keeping an eye out for any possible threats. Hour after hour of the same boring trees and absolutely no sign of any civilization. Both of the benders' were extremely tired and thirsty.
Mind over matter, mind over matter, Zuko chanted in his head, ignoring the fact that he hadn't had anything to drink for almost 36 hours, and that what little urine he'd been able to pass had been a dark brown.
This is bullshit, this is bullshit, Sian chanted over and over again, silently, as she rubbed the dry patch on her tongue and ignored her pounding headache, nearly tripping over an overly large root.
As the hours inched by, it didn't get any easier.
Especially when Zuko went down.
Sian didn't see it at first, since her eyes were mostly closed, trying to prevent any light from further provoking her headache, but she heard a groan and a loud thump that sent the birds flying, and she saw a faded image of Zuko crumpling to the ground. She rushed over immediately, her heart and head pounding, and saw him face down in the dirt. She sank to her knees beside him and flipped him over. His golden eyes were fluttering, and his lips moving, but no sound was coming out. Sian brushed his hand over his forehead—hot. Hot even for a firebender.
"Okay," Sian mumbled to herself as she leant Zuko up against a tree, "Okay, okay, okay, water. Where the hell can I find water in the middle of this dry ass forest? Oh no you don't," she addressed Zuko, as his eyes started to flutter shut, "Don't you dare die, you're my ticket out of here. They're gonna look for you, not me." Her thoughts were racing in her mind, thoughts of ice, and waterbenders, oceans, and rivers. Places where water was normally found. She leapt to her feet, eyes darting, looking for a certain silvery liquid that might appear out of nowhere.
No luck.
She swore again, feeling helpless as she looked down at him. He was still conscious, but barely. His lips were still moving. Wringing the ends of her still wet hair, she rejoiced as a few drops of water appeared in her palm. Saltwater, she remembered. Of course. She angrily flicked her hand to the ground.
A thought occurred to her.
Where there is life, there is water, right?
Well, she prayed that she was right, as she started beating the tree Zuko was leaning against with a pointed rock. Trees were alive, right? Oh what I wouldn't give to be a waterbender right now, she thought as she inflicted even more damage on the tree, smashing the bark repeatedly, as a result, her headache pounded in rhythm with the rock, until she found wetness on the stone that she withdrew from the trunk. Suffering Sages, please don't let that be all that's there, she pleaded, hitting the tree once more.
The spirits must've been smiling on Sian today, because as luck would have it, a thin steady stream of water leaked its way down the trunk. Cupping some of it in her filthy hand, and ignoring her own pounding headache and thirst, she held it to Zuko's dry and chapped lips, praying that he had the strength to drink.
He did.
Lapping up the water in her hand greedily, his eyes started to open a bit more. She filled her hand once more, and held it to his mouth. He drank again. Consciously.
"Thank you, Sian," he uttered quietly. She filled her hand once more, as the pounding in her head started to fade. Zuko drank again, and Sian managed a lopsided, tired sort of grin. And there it was. Her headache was back.
Great.
"You'll be fine, okay?" She murmured, as the pounding in her head reached a crescendo. The last thing she remembered were two golden eyes widening, and a hand catching her head before it hit the ground.
…
Memories from the other day flashed through Sian's head.
Right, she thought, feeling her brow furrow instinctively, so it wasn't a dream after all.
"I know you're awake." a voice said flatly.
Sian opened her eyes, pleased to note that she and Zuko weren't still in that awful part of the forest where the "water incident" had happened. Instead, they were situated underneath a hanging rock ledge, and laying in the dirt like animals. Not like it would make the slightest difference. They had dirt practically worked into their skin anyway. "How?" she asked, pulling herself into a slumped sitting position and turning her head in his direction.
"I've known you long enough to know whether you're asleep or not. You only frown when you're awake." He muttered in the same emotionless voice, fixing his eyes on a spot on the overhanging rock that must have been absolutely fascinating.
"Right, er, well, thanks." She mumbled, "For yesterday."
Zuko nodded curly, and jerked his head towards the darkness outside of their little makeshift cave. "You'll probably be happy to know that there's a village a little while away from here. And a river."
The duo sat in silence for a while, Zuko staring into the fire that he had created, and Sian staring at the moon steadily climbing the sky, and both benders felt the decrease of power that came with the arrival of the moon. The hours crawled by, and Sian dozed off, as she usually did, when there was a lack of activity, and her soft snores provided the only source of noise in the cave.
Zuko looked down at her and a flood of memories came rushing back.
A Fire-Navy ship with the exiled prince going through his forms, sweat clinging to every limb, while his Uncle and a small, dark haired girl chatted over a pot of tea.
The Southern Water Tribe, her flanking him as he exited his ship.
Him climbing up the Crows Nest of his ship to reach the helmsman, and climbing back down to see the look of disgust in her face.
The Blue Spirit passing her, while she smirked, and vanished into her room.
The day she bought a pack of cheap cigarettes, and smoked until she threw up.
Her long hair chopped short and the look of hate in her eyes as she slapped the Pearl Dagger into his palm.
Hiding in a cave with him and his Uncle for months.
When he was sick with an awful fever, and remembered seeing her face along with his Uncles as they nursed him back to health.
The day she was able to bend lightning, but lost the ability to bend fire.
The opening of the Jasmine Dragon, and how she despised bussing tables.
The shade of brown their eyes had turned after being separated from the Fire Nation for so long.
Fighting the Avatar's waterbender in Ba Sing Se, seeing her and his sister fighting the boy side by side, and feeling the sizzle of electricity in the air radiating from their auras, then the feeling of his sister's overpowering hers completely.
The look in her eyes after seeing him and Mai together again.
The feeling in the pit of his stomach when he saw her enter someone's bedroom on Ember Island.
The Day of Black Sun, when she had chased after him as he was leaving the palace, her screams as the guards thought that she was the traitor, him screaming that he would find her someday, as she was dragged out of sight.
Zuko squeezed his eyes shut as her screams replayed in his head. Her pleading with the guards that she was innocent and the sound of her screaming his name grated on his nerves. It was like re-living the moment over and over again, and how he wished that she was there with him at the Western Air Temple, so he wouldn't have to impersonate his Uncle and Sister to a badger-frog.
The fire had died down, leaving nothing but a pile of glowing embers. Sian stirred, feeling the claws of sleep release her, as she opened her eyes to find that Zuko was still awake.
"Couldn't sleep?" she asked, sitting up next to him, and running a hand through her dirty hair.
He shook his head, and found that he could barely look at her.
"So you want to explain what's going on?" she let the question hang there.
"What do you mean?" he retorted, raising his good eyebrow.
"This whole jerkass loner type thing that you've got going on right now." She stated.
He turned to face her, his eyes glowing softly, like the embers. "Seeing you back there was like everything all over again." He frowned, "It was like re-living the hunt for the Avatar, and Ba Sing Se, and the Day of Black Sun."
"I know." She stated simply, her voice thicker than usual. Zuko turned to look her in the eye. He took notice of the tired slump to her shoulders, the frown lines starting to etch themselves into her forehead, and the lines starting to appear at the corners of her eyes from squinting and scowling so much, when he realized that he probably fared no better. They both looked old. Much, much older than seventeen. Sian pulled another cigarette out, but before she could light it, Zuko had knocked it out of her mouth and was glaring at her intently. He didn't like what the effect of the "tea leaves" or whatever the hell was in those cheap things had on her.
And instead of getting mad at him, or yelling, or knocking him out with a bolt of lightning, Sian did something worse. She cried. Not because he took her cigarette, not because she was stuck with him, but because she was so painfully weak, and so hopeless, and they were in such an awful yet slightly comedic situation that the only alternative situation would be to start laughing, which she was not about to do. So, she cried. Silently. And for the longest time, he just looked at her like she had grown an extra head. And after that minor setback, he pulled her close to him, exactly like he used to when she had thrown up from smoking too much, or when she had lost her firebending. Or like she did, when his sister had come to threaten him, and when he was coming down with that fever.
The wind sent an unwelcome gust throughout the cave, playing a haunting melody on the trees outside. The moon and stars shone down in the sky, twinkling innocently, they seemed to laugh at the misfortune of the pair below them.
"It was so awful," she mumbled, "What they did in prison. You wouldn't understand what they're capable of."
"I would, Sian," he said, burying his chin in her hair, "Trust me, I would."
She pulled away from him, her golden eyes flashing in the moonlight, and fixing on his, "I'm glad it was me."
He pulled her closer, "It'll be fine," he murmured, "We'll be fine, everything will be fine."
Zuko uttered those words with such confidence, that even he started to believe himself.
AN: Well, hopefully y'all liked that! Um, yeah it was like 7 pages, but that's because I like to make unnesseccary paragraphs lol.
ye...reviews are always appreciated. they make me very happy.
Alright:)