A/N: I'm Canadian, so if some of these spellings seem a little off to you... well, they are, but its right over here, okay? Also, this is what happens, kids, when you try to force your muse. Payback's a b*tch, and her name is ______(insert name of muse here).
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Avatar. Bryke does, and us Zutarians only call him that when we AREN'T mad at him. This is rare. Okay, closer to never. I mean come ON, Zutara all but happened. ...damn you, Bryke...
Healing Lightning
Chapter II: Present Day
Two years. It had been two years since the Avatar saved the world, and two years since Zuko's life had fallen from a semblance of normality to being consumed in a fiery blaze. Not long after his coronation, the Fire Nation council, by unanimous vote, had forced Zuko to cede the Phoenix Throne to Iroh until he "matured" to the age of ascension, in other words, 21 summers.
Iroh fought this, of course, but he eventually relented, but only when they threatened to put Ozai's top remaining general, General Tsao, as Fire Lord Regent. General Tsao, long ago, had been the general on the War Council that had suggested sacrificing the new division to distract the earthbenders before Zuko interrupted him. Iroh couldn't let that happen – it'd be tantamount to starting the war all over again.
In the years that followed, Iroh had made many reforms to the Fire Nation, such as slowly dismantling the army and navy, and putting the soldiers to work elsewhere. The Fire Nation now has the largest and most experienced merchant fleet in the world, and its economy, while not healthy, is certainly well on the road to recovery. Iroh resurrected many of the traditions that Ozai and the previous rulers did away with, and raised the minimum age of Agni Kai from 13 to 16 summers.
Zuko's life had been relatively unchanged from after he returned home from Ba Sing Se with Azula – everyday, he trained, had lessons for his imminent crowning the summer after next, and sat at his uncle's right hand for many meetings, learning Fire Nation politics firsthand. For the first year after the war ended, he had visited Azula in her secure cell nearly every day. The biggest change in his life for the first year after the war ended (besides being forced from the throne) was breaking off his relationship with Mai.
He had found her and one of his personal guards in his chambers one night when he got back from visiting Ba Sing Se on official business. He had arrived home a day early, and found his chambers to already been lit. He thought that Mai had prepared a "surprise" for him, and he was certainly not disappointed. He could still remember that night as if it was yesterday – after that, all his personal guards were either married or celibate firebenders.
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Not long after that, he finally managed to get through to Azula. He managed to get through the wall of insanity that she had erected around herself to shield herself from the pain of being betrayed by everything and everyone that she knew. He told her that even though she had tried to kill him, she was still his sister, and he loved her. He told her about that day, when Team Avatar had been forced to evacuate the Western Air Temple, and she had almost died before she managed to save herself. He told her how he had felt his heart plummet with her when he thought she was going to die, and he realised that he would miss her if she was gone. Of course, when she saved herself a second later, he realised that she wasn't going to die that easily, but the realisation stayed with him.
He continued to visit her, despite her outbursts and insults, and he eventually got through to her. Fourteen months after the war ended, he managed to convince Iroh to release her from the facility into his care. Iroh agreed, on the condition that her release would be a matter of national security – if word got out that she was free, there's no telling what could happen.
So Zuko became her constant companion, and eventually, she swore her loyalty to him. Since it couldn't become common knowledge that she had been freed (until Iroh and Zuko agreed it was the right time to tell the world), she practiced her firebending with Zuko and Iroh only. Zuko became her constant sparring partner, and while he still couldn't bend lightning, the time it took her to gather the energies necessary was more than enough time for him to ready himself to redirect it. As time passed, it became evident that he was at least her equal in power – in fact; he might have had a slight edge, because in his time spent with Team Avatar, he had learned the basics of other bending disciples: Incorporating fire whips, fire walls and other techniques from waterbending, and solidifying his stance and forming fireballs from earthbending.
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It had been three months since Azula had started sparring with Zuko. Her infamous blue fire had cooled somewhat and now Zuko could see the occasional flicker of orange red in her fire blasts. It was in a training courtyard off the main armoury that they were sparring today, and Azula was currently winning.
"Oh, Zuzu, you'll have to do much better than that if you want to beat me." Azula taunted as she threw a blast of blue flame at him. Azula never missed the chance to taunt Zuko, though now it was meant more as good natured teasing than for actual harm. Zuko dismissed the blast with a short burst of his own, then jumping and kicking a wide wave of his own fire right back at her. Azula propelled herself over the blast, not even bothering to diffuse it, and somersaulted in midair, bringing a tendril of flame from over her shoulder and directing it with her leg, as if swatting an annoying fly.
Raising his arms above his head, Zuko brought them to his sides abruptly as the blast reached him, diffusing it with a globe of fire surrounding him. For a split second, as his arms fell to his sides, Zuko allowed himself to be distracted by the flickers of the flame as it completely encircled him. Wait... was that WHITE flame, flickering around the edges of my flame?
In that spilt second, however, Azula had reached the ground and was using her firebending to charge at him, propelling herself with one hand as her other formed a small ball of fire, ready to blast Zuko. The second his shield dissipated, she let loose with her blast. Zuko immediately dropped, the fire singing his bangs, and twirled in a circle as he stood up, releasing a devastating counterattack. The blast caught Azula unawares, and with her momentum, flipped directly over the blast and hit her back, momentarily losing her breath. But that was all the time that Zuko needed. As soon as he had released the blast, he had begun running for her, intending on finishing this fight. Just as Azula was beginning to get up, a dagger of red flame, edged in white, appeared at her throat.
"Yield, Azula." Her brother's strong, newly authoritative voice reached her ears. Just as she was about to open her mouth to form her response, a slow clapping was suddenly heard and both Azula and Zuko, standing over her prone form, turned to the source of the clapping.
"Fire Lord" they responded immediately, Zuko letting her get up as they bowed simultaneously to Iroh as he emerged from his "hiding place" among the arches lining the courtyard. He must have just come out from a meeting – he was still draped in the traditional robes of the Fire Lord, and his diadem was still tucked neatly into his small topknot.
"Very good, nephew. Your skills have improved immensely." Iroh said with a twinkle in his eye. For the past 5 years, he had all but adopted Zuko and had literally adopted him after Ozai disowned him while he was in prison, and he was forced to cede his throne. Iroh wanted no contestation as to who would rule the Fire Nation after him – although Azula was newly loyal to Zuko, he still didn't trust her on the throne – her loyalty was to Zuko, not to the rest of the world. "Shall we begin our lesson? Azula, you are dismissed."
At this, Zuko perked up. There was only one reason why Uncle would dismiss Azula: if he was teaching a technique that she had already mastered. With a slightly mocking bow, Azula left the courtyard in search of Ty Lee.
"Today, I shall teach you how to summon the cold fire, nephew. Your control of your inner fire has been remarkable these past few months, and your mind has quieted greatly. Running through the basics of lightning bending with Zuko again, Iroh showed him how he had to make the circular motions while simultaneously separating the yin and yang chi from his energies.
Clearing his mind of all distractions, Zuko envisioned the one place where he was at peace – in the Royal Gardens, sitting on the edge of the turtle-duck pond. As he let all emotions flow from him as water flows down the small waterfall to fill the pond, he felt at peace. At the edges of his consciousness, he felt a slight prickling forming and the occasional blue-white flash from behind his closed eyelids. Moving his arms in a fashion eerily reminiscent of waterbending, a pair of blue eyes, bluer even than the sky after a storm, opened in his mind. Distracted by the beauty of the eyes, he let his mind wander as he stood, entranced, by the beauty of the eyes. It was with a start that he realised that he recognized the eyes. Katara?.... Faintly, he heard his uncle screaming his name, but before he could respond, a blaze of burning cold shot through him and darkness engulfed him. The last thing he saw before he knew no more was a single tear dripping out of the blue eyes.
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As Iroh looked on as Zuko prepared to bend lightning, he could sense the distinct growing sensation of static electricity in the air. Just as most benders could sense their element in near proximities, he had been bending lightning for so long that he could literally sense the charge growing around his favourite nephew. He smiled as the charge continued to grow, keeping a close eye on the energies in case something went wrong. Just as Zuko was moving his arms in the final passes and electricity was beginning to trail from his fingertips, a furrow appeared in Zuko's brow and the lightning started to go out of control.
Dodging a stray bolt, Iroh leapt towards his nephew, intent on grabbing his hand and redirecting it himself, when a flash of blue-white light blinded him. Seconds later, when his vision returned to him, he looked on, horrified, as his nephew lay on the ground, his chest smoking and blood spatter on the ground surrounding him. As he called for servants to get the healers, he dropped to his knees and took off his outer robes in an attempt to staunch the wound; he heard his nephew gasp out a single word before his heart slowed than stopped.
"Katara...."
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Maraka was just returning to the Northern Water Tribe's diplomatic lounge in the palace when she heard a servant run by, screaming for a healer in the Royal Courtyard. Shedding her outer robes, the tall brunette began to run to the Royal Wing. As she ran towards the Wing, she nearly bowled over another servant, carrying robes from the Fire Princess Azula's room to the laundry. Grabbing the servant, she nearly yelled at the slight female.
"Quickly, which way to the Royal Courtyard? Someone's been injured, and I'm a healer!"
The servant, shocked at the news that the tribeswoman had told her, shakily pointed down a corridor. Giving her a firm nod, Maraka ran down the hall, her light under-robes flying behind her as she ran. Arriving at the archway to the courtyard, she was shocked with what she saw. The Fire Lord, sitting on his knees, with tears in his eyes, knelt over the body of the Crown Prince, whose smoking chest filled the air with a pungent smell. Ignoring all societal rules, she runs to them and bends some water out of a nearby fountain.
"Fire Lord, is there anything that I can do to help? I'm a healer" Maraka's desperate voice reached Iroh's ears, and he realised that they had a strong Water Tribe accent. Looking up through tear-stained eyes, Iroh managed to croak out "His heart.... it's stopped. You can't do anything."
With one of her hands gloved in water, she raised the other to her mouth in shock. "No...." Thinking back to her classes on chi healing, she thought of something. "Lord Iroh, can you still generate the cold-blooded fire?"
Seeing the direction in which her thoughts were going, Iroh wiped at his tears. "Yes... that might just work. But I'd need to direct the force extremely carefully...."
"Just give me the smallest charge that you can, and we'll work our way up, if necessary" Maraka said as she enclosed Zuko's torso in water. Iroh laid a hand on the water surrounding Zuko, and, waving his one hand in a circle, generated a miniature spark of lightning and directed it into the water. Zuko's chest jerked up, and fell down. Maraka plunged her hands into the water as soon as the electricity stopped dancing through it, and felt for a pulse of life in the increasingly rose-tinted water. Feeling nothing, she nodded to Iroh. "Again". With a nod, he generated a slightly larger spark and directed it into the water. This time, when Zuko's chest jerked, it began to keep moving a bit. Instantly plunging her hands in, biting her lip to ignore the pain of the residual lightning, she felt around for a pulse... and found one. "We have him!" she cried, and focused all her energies into healing his chest, making the rose-coloured glow a pure blue. Before she sank into a healing trance, she told Iroh to send word to the Northern Water Tribe delegation and bring back any other healers.
With a grateful nod, Iroh began weeping again, this time in joy. "Anything that you want, anything at all, consider it yours, dear lady" Maraka nodded half-heartedly, not even paying attention to the mighty Fire Lord as she tried to stabilise the seriously wounded Crown Prince.
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A few hours later, Iroh looked on as a Northern Water Tribe ship left with four waterbenders propelling it with all speed out of the Gates of Azulon. As he leaned heavily on the balcony, he heard a deep voice, tinged with a slight Northern Water Tribe accent, behind him. "If he can make it to the Northern Tribe, he'll survive. We have the best healers in the world there. Tui and La willing, he'll make it there. Maraka is one of our most skilled healers – if it had been someone else who found him, he might not have even made it this far." Iroh turned and looked into the familiar bearded face of Amaguq, the lead ambassador for the Northern Water Tribes, and a very skilled Pai Sho player. Amaguq was a fellow member of the Order of the White Lotus, as well. In fact, all the major delegates in the Fire Nation were members of the Order, to ensure that all agreements were made in the name of true global peace. As Iroh watch the ship sail off into the distance, his hopes went with the boy who could very well hold the fate of the world in his hands.
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A/N: I'm really not happy with how this chapter turned out... I'll probably go back and rewrite it later... but I had to get out the reason for the title of this fic. This is pretty much just puked out (the first part, at least), so I welcome criticisms. I'm actually kinda proud of the second half, strangely enough. I couldn't really think of a good place to end this, so I ended it here. In between this chater and the next, all that happens is that Zuko manages to get to the NWT. I really didn't want to make a chapter about that, so... Also, Maraka and Amaguq are MY OCs. Maraka just sounds Water Tribe (to me, at least), and Amaguq means "Father Wolf" in Inuktitut.
