Story: Smokescreen
Rating: T-M
Genre: Action/Survival(yes I consider this to be a genre)/Romance
Pairing: ZukoxOC
Hiiii everyone! So this is le new chapter. This is also known as the let me just crawl in a hole and die type chapter. 'tis like a museum exhibit- in Exhibit 1A, you can see Zuko and Sian forced to sleep in the same bed. And in the rubbish bin, you can see the crumpled remains of my pride. Hurr. Durr. Also, at the end, me and my friend came up with a little character interview thing, so if you want to read that, you can. I think it's funny c; but I'm kind of skewed and fucked up... anyway, Gaang in this chapter! And thanks to everyone who reviews and stuff. Also no, this isn't all that Team!Avatar's done to get them back yet. :D hope y'all like!
…
All was quiet in the Western Air Temple. The dusky light provided by the rising sun tinted the pale bricks on the buildings a faint pink color. Not quite sure as to why she was awake this early in the day, Katara neatly made her bed, and started to perform the menial chores for the day. She passed Toph and Suki's room, finding the latter of the two burrowed into a neat pile of blankets, and the blind earthbender sprawled across the bare floor, as she usually was. Next, she peered into her father and the prisoner Chit Sang's room, almost deafened by the loud snores of both men. Walking further down the hall, Katara checked on Sokka and Teo, finding her brother contorted into a position that required Ty-Lee like flexibility, snoring loudly, and the Mechanist's son dozing peacefully. The Duke and Haru weren't in their rooms; however this was to be expected. They had probably fallen asleep in some unexplored corridor, or secret chamber in the heart of the temple. They'd be back for breakfast. Reaching the main courtyard, the young waterbender noticed Aang curled up on Appa's tail, looking young in his sleep, like the thirteen year old boy he was. Normally Zuko would be there as well, awake and meditating in the early sunlight. But not today. Not for the past two days. Sokka had told the group that Azula had captured both Zuko and… and oh what was her name, Katara thought to herself, as she bent water into a pot, the one who's always shooting off lightning, ah, Sian. The group had tried in vain to send Hawky after them, but there had been no sign of the messenger hawk for a few days.
As far as Katara was concerned, the pair was good as dead. Not that Katara would ever admit it, but Zuko's absence tweaked her nerves a bit. Aang did need to master firebending, after all. And the fact that Zuko was travelling in the company of someone who had been through his past, and probably attributed to a good number of his mistakes grated on them.
…
"Look at this sunburn," Sian giggled, yes giggled as she rolled up the ragged sleeve of her shirt and shoved her filthy, dual toned arm in Zuko's face, stopping him dead in his tracks, "It's peeling like crazy!" she said as she exploded into a fit of giggles.
"That's rough, buddy." Zuko deadpanned, miraculously keeping a straight face as he pushed past her and let out a sigh of agitation.
"Watch yourself, Crabcake! Yours isn't that much better." She called as she leapt neatly over a fallen log.
For the second time that morning, Zuko stopped dead in his tracks. He slowly turned his head and faced the disgustingly chipper girl behind him who was currently rocking back on her heels. "Where the hell did Crabcake come from?" he asked, "Has the minimal amount of hydration finally gone to your head? Or are you just not used to being out of a prison cell?" Zuko turned back around and kept walking.
"No," she answered, as she trailed after him, "It's 'cause you're not sweet enough to be a Cupcake, and 'cause you're all red, like an urchin-crab!"
He pushed a branch out of his face and trekked on, "It still doesn't explain the scarily good mood!"
"It's just that we're so close to civilization! I can hear the river, Crabcake, and I can practically see that town, not that I know what it looks like, of course…" she trailed off, apparently lost in her own reverie.
Zuko sighed loudly; again, give it half an hour and she'd be back to her usual sarcastic and irritable self. The pair walked in silence for about another hour, Sian humming something that sounded suspiciously like "The Girls of Ba Sing Se" the whole while. The wind had picked up, and carried a pleasant chill with it, rustling the leaves on the trees and making up for the blazing sun above. Finally, the trees started to thin, and the sound of slow moving water became more prominent, and a cool silvery river came into view, along with a bridge that stretched over it and continued into a path.
"Now this is more like it." Zuko said, as the faintest hint of a grin etched itself onto his face.
After gulping down roughly forty-five percent of the river's cool water, and scrubbing the grime off of themselves as best as they could, the two benders tried to piece themselves together by turning up the ragged edges of their prison garb, scrubbing gunk out of their hair and busied themselves with personal troubles. Zuko desperately rearranged his hair, so that it covered his scar, and unfortunately, about half his face as well, all the while ignoring Sian's laughs and taunting remarks about how ridiculous it looked. His female counterpart had managed to find a short but strong stick, and was working on wrapping her tangled hair around it until it resembled a crude imitation of her usual bun. Finally, the pair made their way over the bridge and started following the shoddily paved path. After walking until late in the afternoon, Sian's knees started to hurt, and her natural irritation at everything and anyone threatened to spill over. However, those thoughts were soon wiped away as the outskirts of the village came into view.
She had to give Zuko his props for walking this far to see it. Certainly cleaner, larger and more secluded and well kept than she imagined, the town sprawled across all visible land. And in the distance—were those mountains? Apparently. In the center of the town, a long building stood, with a statue of an elderly woman placed in front of it.
"Why do I feel as if we've been here before?" Sian asked, searching for any sign of Fire Nation soldiers.
"Because we have," Zuko said as he made his way into the town, making a 'follow me' gesture over his shoulder. "This was the town with the crazy fortuneteller lady."
"Oh!" she said as she followed him, "You mean the one who told me that I'd live a life of guilt and misfortune, and marry someone with a shaped destiny? Yeah, what a crock of bullshit."
He chuckled, pausing at the door of what looked to be a tavern, "Well, looks like she was right about the guilt and misfortune. Now wait here. I have to take care of something."
She grabbed his shoulder as he started to push open the door, "Oh no you don't. You're not leaving me here when my face is probably on every single wanted poster in this nation."
He rolled his eyes, "Okay, fine, whatever, come with me, and don't say anything."
Sian smirked, and followed him through the door. The tavern, like the town, was much cleaner than she expected, but at the same time, managed to maintain an aura of rowdiness and rebellion. When the two firebenders walked through the door, the bartender, an old balding man looked up from polishing a dusty bottle with a rag, and narrowed his eyes. Zuko led Sian away from the bar, to a quieter corner of the bar where there was an elderly man with white cotton wool hair, seated at a Pai Sho table.
"Are you kidding me?" Sian hissed into Zuko's ear, "A Pai Sho game? You're turning into your uncle!"
"Quiet!" he hissed back as he took the seat across from the man, leaving Sian to stand behind him with her arms crossed, tapping her foot impatiently.
"May I have this game?" Zuko asked the man politely. How he managed to completely change his personality in about two seconds, Sian would never understand.
The white haired man inclined his head, "The guest has the first move."
Slipping his hand into his shoe, Zuko fished out a sweaty Pai Sho tile. The White Lotus. Unfortunately, Sian was too busy trying not to gag to notice the design.
"I see you favor the White Lotus Gambit," the man uttered, "Not many still cling to the ancient ways."
"But those who do can always find a friend."
"Then let us play."
There was much slapping down of the Pai Sho tiles, and Sian thought she was slowly losing her mind. Seething at the length of the game, she folded her arms tightly and rocked back and forth on her heels, making a mental note to verbally berate Zuko after making her sit through this. Just as she was about to flip the table over, the placing of the tiles stopped. And a design was revealed. An open lotus.
Fabulous.
"Welcome, brother," the man said, "The White Lotus opens wide to those who know her secrets."
"What the hell." Sian muttered under her breath.
"My name is Pao," the man said taking a sip of the tea that sat next to him, "And you," Pao said, addressing Zuko, "Are quite lucky to have an uncle who is so high up in our ranks."
Zuko nodded solemnly, "I—we need some help." He jerked his shoulder back at Sian, who bowed her head slightly, in greeting.
"Sian Sakai, nice to, er, meet you, I suppose." She twisted her mouth wryly.
"If you two will follow me," Pao said as he stood from the table and led Zuko and Sian through the maze of tables that littered the inside of the tavern to a storage closet. Leading the two firebenders inside, and closing the door behind him.
What looked like a storage closet apparently wasn't one. Along with the occasional box of alcohol, there were three chairs, a safe and a small table.
"Please, have a seat." Pao said as he strode over to the safe, and unlocked it with a stone key that he had produced from his robes. He returned to the table in front of where Zuko and Sian were seated and placed a small pouch filled with what presumed to be money in Sian's outstretched hand. "This town has been untouched by the Fire Nation from the moment it was established. Hiding you two, who are both wanted fugitives, poses a threat to the safety of Makapu Village, and all its residents. I can persuade the fortuneteller here to turn a blind eye to you two, which in turn will cause the villagers to, but that unfortunately will not last. In the town east from us, there is a pier, with a ship that leaves for the Fire Nation in a week,"
Ignoring the sounds of protest from both teenagers, Pao held up a hand and silenced them, "However, you will have a chance to get a message to whomever you need to before then." Pao reached into his robes and held a scroll out to Zuko who took it gingerly and unrolled it.
Sifu Hotman,
Hope you didn't get captured by Crazy. Where are you? Is the merc with a mouth still with you?
Sokka and Aang
PS. Toph came up with the nicknames. She says she still needs to get back at you for burning her, so you'd better not be dead.
Zuko grinned slightly at the thought of the look on Sian's face when someone called her a 'merc with a mouth,' and tucked the scroll in his rope belt.
Pao continued, "This money is enough to get you a room in an inn, and some new clothes. Good luck, you two." He led them out of the room and into the tavern. When Zuko turned to thank him, he found that the elderly man had disappeared.
"That," Sian said as she twirled the pouch of coins around one finger, "Was the most boring thing I have ever sat through in my life."
"I told you to wait outside." Zuko said, following her for once as she stepped out of the dark tavern and into the bright sunlight. "I told you."
"Shut up."
…
Turns out, finding an inn in this little town wasn't the easiest thing. After being turned away from the first two inns with 'what are you trying to pull' looks being shot at them the entire way, the two firebenders found themselves standing in a slightly sketchier inn, who's owners apparently had no qualms about their guests if they were willing to pay. The woman at the front desk exchanged coins for a key and candle with an abnormally large smile on her face,
"Here you go!" she said as she placed the key in Zuko's palm and the candle in Sian's.
"Er," he began, "we wanted two rooms."
"What for?" the woman asked, as her smile grew bigger, "we're all full anyway."
Bullshit, Sian thought as she realized what the woman's gargantuan smile was for. Apparently, Zuko had come to the same realization as her, because his visible eye widened in horror.
"N-no," he stammered, "That's not what—"
He was cut off by the woman shooing them away from her desk with a loud, "Now you kids have fun!"
So they'd have to deal with sharing a room. No problem, they both thought. They'd shared an apartment before in Ba Sing Se, how different could this be?
Apparently, quite.
Zuko turned the key in the lock and pushed the door open, revealing a dimly lit room. Sian followed, wielding the candle, casting a dim light onto everything. Small bathroom, desk with a set of spark rocks on top of it, and a queen sized bed. Zuko closed the door behind her, and Sian lit the lamps in the room with a few quick jets of fire, leaving the original candle provided on the desk, useless.
"Why is there only one bed?" Zuko asked, apparently confounded by the situation.
Sian walked past him, and sat on it, feeling herself sink into the worn mattress. "What do you think? They probably have kids eloping here all the time, Dum-Dum."
He bristled at the sound of Azula's nickname for him. Eloping, Zuko cringed at both the thought of the woman at the front desk with her horrifying smile and what she probably thought what he and Sian were doing. "Well, I'm not sleeping on the floor."
"Fine then," she said unbothered as she examined the dirt caked nails on her still shackled left hand, "I'll sleep in the bathtub, if you give me all the pillows except for one."
Zuko nodded, "Okay," and removed the scroll from his belt and placed it on the table next to the candle and spark rocks, "then I get first bath." He said as he entered the bathroom.
"How about ladies first?" she called, lying back on the mattress. Might as well enjoy it while I can, she thought. After days of sleeping on a thin futon or the hard dirt ground, this was almost equal to heaven.
"How about chivalry is dead?" Zuko called over the sound of running water.
Sian chuckled to herself, some prince. She turned to face the window, noting that the sun was just above the horizon. With the tension ebbing itself from her body, and the sound of swishing water in the background, she let her eyes drift closed.
Her half sleep was interrupted by the sound of the bathroom door opening and the arrival of Zuko with his shirt in one hand and his scar fully visible. "It's all yours, but you'll have to heat the water yourself." He said as he tossed his shirt on the bed next to her.
Sian stood up and made her way towards the bathroom. Once inside, she was pleased to note that Zuko had surprisingly cleaned up his dirty clothes, and left her a towel. How courteous. As Sian passed the mirror, she caught sight of her reflection, which she hadn't seen for weeks. There were no mirrors in prison. She had almost forgotten what she looked like. Raising an eyebrow at her reflection and plucking the stick out of her hair, she took in the wild mane of long, tangled black hair that looked as if it had been tied in knots, the once pale skin burnt to an angry reddish color and peeling like a lizard-snake, with dirt stubbornly clinging to it.
Sian stripped out of her oh-so-comfortable-and-clean prison garb, and ran the bath water, realizing that Zuko was right, and it was nothing short of freezing. As the tub filled, Sian placed a filthy hand in the water and exhaled, changing the temperature to somewhere below scalding. Stepping in, she resolved in using the cheap, jasmine scented hotel soap to scrub her skin and remove all the caked in dirt, and some of the peeling skin as well. She also washed her hair properly for the first time in a while—submerging her head and scrubbing the locks furiously with soap. By the time she was done, she felt like a newborn baby, just crawling out of the womb. The only thing that was missing was a razor. To kill herself with? Not yet, but she really did need to shave. Examining the rest of her body in the mirror, she questioned how easily a person could get to look so horrible.
Self-esteem at an all time low, she dressed back in her wrappings and dirty prison garb- there would be no comfortable and silky sleeping robe that night, she grabbed the half empty toothpaste container by the sink, and grabbed the toothbrush, that had probably been used by Zuko, however, at this point she really didn't care. Brushing her teeth and hair, Sian headed back into the now dark main bedroom, to find an asleep Zuko sprawled on the bed, clutching a pillow to his chest. Retrieving the other three pillows—and he blanket, since he obviously wasn't using it, and retreated back to her bathroom sanctuary, where she lined the inside of the tub with a towel to absorb the water, placed the pillows and blanket in, and finally, herself. It's surprisingly comfortable, for a bathtub, she thought, but even those thoughts melted away as she fell asleep.
…
"Motherfucker!"
Zuko was jolted awake by the piercing curse that echoed from the bathroom. The first thing he noticed was that it was still dark outside, nowhere near sunrise. The second thing he noticed was the smell of burning insect. He frowned as he saw Sian slam the bathroom door shut, clutching a pillow to her chest, and looking like someone had tried to assassinate her while sleeping.
"Wha' happened?" Zuko asked, his voice slurred by sleep, as he squinted in her direction.
"Suffering Sages, I hate spider-roaches." She said, her voice several octaves higher than usual.
"Did you kill it?" He asked.
"Did I kill it," she snorted, "Of course I killed it, idiot!"
"So go back to sleep," Zuko said, cranky from being risen at such an ungodly hour.
"I can't!" she whisper shouted, "What if it has babies!"
"So sleep here with me then!" he hissed, ignoring the flush that started to creep up her sun burnt face, "Just shut up and let me sleep!" Zuko rolled over, his back to her, as he felt the mattress give on the opposite side, and she curled up next to him, basking in the heat that was rolling off his body in waves.
"Just know that if you kick me, you're getting smothered in your sleep." She said.
AN: Reviews make me write faster ;) I hope y'all like it. What do you think of Sian? Also, do any of you like pineapples?
(Non "canon") Character Interviews!
Interviewer: Hello everyone, please welcome Zuko and Sian!
Interviewer: First of all, tell us a bit about yourselves!
Zuko: Hello, Zuko here.
Sian: Hi, my name is Sian and I'm a mercenary- ER, I MEAN, SOLDIER, but not really anymore because I got arrested for treason and illegal whanot, but Zuko here busted me out of prison, well not really me, I just kind of tagged along, and we've winded up on some stupid bit of the Earth Kingdom and hiding from the butthurt firelord and officials and stuff, so we're trying to get back to wherever Zuko was before all this happened, because apparently he joined Team Avatar and is all good now, so we're trying to get out of this mess together, 'cuz we go waay back because him and his uncle hired me to hunt the avatar with them, but it's really hard to get back to Jabooklaflack, or wherever Zuko last was, because bad things keep happening to us but it's okay because we have our firebending and White Lotus friends, and badass sneaky skills so... yeah... it's all good...
-crickets-
Interviewer: So tell us, you two, what do you do for a living?
Zuko: I teach fireben-
Sian: I already told you what I do for a living, so I'm just gonna talk about Zuko here, 'kay? He's like, completely bipolar nowadays because apparently he has no more inner turmoil, and he's a REAL BANISHED PRINCE, you know, like he's been completely screwed over by his crazy sister and jerkbender dad, anyway, it's kind of cool because everyone thinks he's so badass with his scar, but he's really just super serious and has no sense of humor, and he's a really big pushover, so yeah, and he has this evil side which I secretly call Lei, but he doesn't know that so I don't think I should mention that, anyway, he's my ticket out of here and yeah, apparently he teaches firebending to the avatar so...
Zuko: Shut up, Sian! Don't give out my personal information so freely!
Interviewer: Are you two benders? Do you have any other skills worth sharing?
Sian: Firebending mercenary.
Zuko: Firebending bandit, er... Blue Spirt at least.
Interviewer: What are your opinions of eachother?
Zuko: SHE IS A CHILD. NO MANNERS, NO QUIET, NO FINESSE, NOTHING. SHE IS LOUD, OBNOXIOUS AND EXTREMELY IRRITABLE.
Sian: HE'S AWFUL. HE'S GONNA HAVE GRAY HAIR BY THE TIME HE'S THIRTY WITH ALL THE WORRYING HE DOES ABOUT EVERYTHING.
Interviewer: Do you have habits? Good or bad?
Sian: Er, well I have pretty shitty language or something. And I'm pretty loud. And sometimes I forget how to bend fire, and rely on lightning too much, but I don't really think that's a habit, I think it has something to do with spiritu-
Zuko: Well, I wake up at sunrise and make fresh tea every morning. I also meditate and train-
Sian: Half naked.
Interviewer: Are either of you single? Attatched? Do you have your eye on anyone?
Zuko: Er, well... my current lifestyle...doesn't exactly...allow such frivolities...but sometimes...no, nevermind.
Sian: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH OH, AGNI, HAHAHAHAHAH WHAT IF.
Interviewer: Second to last question- Who is your enemy, or do you not have one at all?
Zuko: My father, my sister, the Fire Nation- whoever is disrupting the balance of the world.
Sian: Whoever's assigned to me next. Or recognizes me off of a wanted poster.
Interviewer: Last question- would you two hug it out right here and now?
Zuko: No.
Sian: No.
Haha, thanks for reading, and please make sure to review! Hoped you liked Sian's obnoxiousness and Zuko's... idk in the interview thingy, lol.