A/N: Hey there, soooorrrrrrrryyyyyy for the delay :-S! But first my beta was on holiday, then me... and then some other stuff... yeah... but finally I got it done :)! This time, things are getting a little thrilling (or at least that was my intention ;)!) - so ENJOY!

-3-

WORLD ON FIRE

„Zuko!?" Sureen awoke with a start by shouting his name… as she could already feel when she was still asleep that the prince wasn't there anymore. Great. He was gone. Instead of telling her he wanted HER to leave... he had left before she had even woken up! Oh no... please NO!

As she looked around she saw his empty sleeping bag.. but with relief she also realized that his luggage was still there. His backpack as well as... some scroll and a small package!? No... that's no concern of mine, these are his personal things. I won't look. It's none of my business. But that means he's still around! Pheeeww... thank God! That took a load off Sureen's mind.
Dozily she stepped through the front door, where she stretched and glanced around to look for Zuko. After a while she saw him walking along the road and coming towards her. But what was all that stuff he was carrying? When she looked closer she noticed that he was building up fresh water stocks – apparently he had found a creek or a river somewhere near the village. Furthermore he carried a bag filled to the brim with something she couldn't see clearly.

"Um… hello? Good morning?!" Confusedly Sureen stared at the prince as he walked through the door and passed her without paying the slightest bit of attention to her. "Did you have breakfast yet? 'Cause I didn't and…"

"Breakfast?" he answered moodily, "… here!" He took an apple out of the brimming bag and thrust it into her hand quickly. "Now c'mon and pack your bags. We have to leave."

'We'! Sureen caught her breath - Yaaay that was a 'we', Zuko just said 'WE', which means him and ME, I am so luck-yyyy! In spite of Zuko's harsh tone, the girl's heart jumped for joy and a smile flashed over her face. Meanwhile, the Fire prince left her standing in the doorway and began packing his things.

With a shrug, Sureen took a bite into her breakfast apple. "Well, but… why are you in such a hurry now? …And where do you wanna go anyway?" She asked with her mouth full, though she could already anticipate his reasons. She distinctly sensed his tension and his wish to leave this place. Or, actually, it wasn't exactly this place he needed to escape from... he just wanted to flee from this situation, from his thoughts, from… everything.

"No idea. Just get away from here." Zuko replied hoarsely, "The Fire Nation is after us… um… after ME – just in case you've forgotten about that! And, furthermore, nothing's keeping me here any longer." Hurriedly, he continued packing.
Sureen sighed. With her apple between her teeth she followed his lead. She was all too familiar with the need to escape from it all.

Loaded with their sleeping bags and stocks of food, they finally set off. Zuko's inner tension was steadily increasing. By now, something inside of him was protesting against his initial intention to escape. Wasn't it like... he had constantly been escaping from the day it became clear that the Fire Nation was after him?! He had been a fugitive ever since. And after having left even his uncle... he felt as if he had been running from him as well.

While approaching the big ash heap that remained of Iroh's cremation, even Sureen realized the slow change of Zuko's mood from flight instinct to aggression. With every step closer to that heap he seemed to get closer to the urge to... strike back. In a way. Sureen couldn't pinpoint it.

As they had just passed the heap, the prince suddenly stopped, turned around and stared at it blankly. Then, he pulled something out of his belt, flung it on the ground and squashed it with his heel. Sureen recognized it as the scroll that had been lying on his sleeping-bag this morning.

The Fire Nation... his father... the Avatar... his uncle... WHY couldn't ANY decision ever be easy in his life!

"No. This is the limit. Once and for all." Zuko mumbled soundlessly. The eerie blank stare hadn't left his eyes. The girl noticed that he was finally succumbing to his violent rage by speaking the words aloud. Although his voice had hardly been above a whisper, it had been so full of anger that it had made Sureen's chest tighten. She could almost feel him trembling with rage, clenching his fists and his teeth and tensing up with every single muscle in his body.

And then, finally, it just burst out of him.

He began shooting fireballs towards the remains of the scroll and, a moment later, towards the ash heap. The flames shooting out of his hands were that tremendous that they also torched the nearby buildings.
"I don't want to deal with this any longer!" Furiously, Zuko blasted fire in every direction now, until all the buildings and ruins around them were engulfed in flames. Sureen was not quite sure about the actual trigger of his fierce reaction. She just felt that suddenly he kind of wasn't himself anymore. He was losing his self-control.

Blindly steered by his rage, the prince kept on firing all over the destroyed village and burned down everything that got in his way. Only with great difficulty Sureen could manage to stay close behind Zuko's back, avoiding his attacks and blasts of fire by the skin of her teeth.

"ZUKO! Come to your senses! You can't get rid of anything like that! This won't help! Calm down!" But her voice couldn't get through to him at all. He was in some far off state... beyond reach.

"I won't let my life torment me any longer! I don't want to have anything to do with all of that! Never, ever again!" Zuko screamed while he still kept shooting fireballs all over the place. Beads of sweat had formed on his forehead by now and he was breathing heavily because of the tremendous effort, but even his exhaustion could not stop the enraged Fire prince. Finally, the whole village was ablaze… except one single building that stood slightly away from the other houses. It was a great deal bigger and somehow… alarming. It didn't have any windows, thus it couldn't have been a residential house. It seemed to be some kind of storage facility. An uneasy feeling arose in Sureen and got stronger and stronger the longer she stared at that strange building. Something wasn't right.

The moment it finally hit her, it was already too late.

"ZUKO! NO! Whatever you do, don't hit tha-!" Damn.

She was abruptly cut off as a large blast of fire shot from Zuko's palm and headed straight for the building. Sureen watched with wide eyes and moved back a ways, fearing the worst. As though her world was suddenly thrown into slow-motion, she perceived the tremendous explosion that was sparked immediately as the flames made contact with the roof and watched helplessly as the explosion came hurtling, mercilessly, towards her.
The last thing Sureen observed was the enormous blast wave that hit her hard and swept her away… before everything around her became black.

-x-x-x-

Ouuuch… my legs… my back… my HEAD! And where is… "ZUKO?!" For the second time on this day Sureen awoke with a start by shouting his name – but this time her anxiety was far deeper than it had been some hours ago. She wanted to jump up immediately and look for him… but she found she was unable to do so. Her aching body prohibited her from moving too quickly and forced her to struggle to her feet slowly. When she could see clearly again she started scanning the whole meadow around her… and finally she saw him. He was lying in the grass some meters in front of her, completely motionless. Although she was hardly able to stand, she stumbled towards him as fast as her legs would carry her.

The first emotions to surface in Zuko's mind were pure horror and awful panic – what had he done? This hadn't been his intention, so… how could this have happened? What the hell had gotten into him?! He had grown so sick of all the confusion and despair in his mind… but it just didn't disappear. Since his uncle's cremation it kept terrifying him, no matter how hard he tried to get his mind off things. It drove him crazy! Would it ever stop?
He tried to sit up but failed in the attempt as acute pain flashed through his ribcage… Great! Had it coming to me…! He needed several tries before he finally managed to straighten himself up. Just as he righted himself, he heard the sound of somebody flopping down in the grass right beside him.

"Zuko... are you all right?" Sureen asked in an exhausted voice. Instead of answering, he averted his gaze guiltily –

"I... I didn't mean to do that… I don't know what's going on with me…!" He hugged his legs tight to him and pressed his face to his knees as if he couldn't bare to see what had just happened… as he knew quite well that he was to blame for all this destruction around them.

After just sitting next to the devastated prince for a while, Sureen replied in soft-spoken words, "I guess you DO know what's going on with you… you just have to look at this…" she pointed at the village that was still wrapped in flames. "…looks like what's in front of us amounts to the same thing like what's inside of you." Without lifting his head, Zuko just shrugged his shoulders.

"Seems like my fa... the Firelord has recently sent a scroll to my attention. It served to inform me that..." he breathed a deep sigh before he went on. "... that he is sorely disappointed as my mission to capture the Avatar has still led to no success since the day of my banishment. Therefore he additionally commissioned my sister with this mission." The prince laughed cynically. "As a consequence he hopes that his measure will increase my efforts to do whatever is necessary to redeem my honor."

"Stop. Wait a sec. You've been... banished? And the only way to change this back is to capture THE AVATAR?! But why...? I mean... did you commit some crime or whatever... in order to get such a harsh punishment... by your own FATHER!?" Sureen looked at him in disbelief. As she realized that Zuko wasn't willing to answer that question, she kept on.

"And that girl... yesterday... was that your SISTER?!" Without looking up, Zuko nodded indiscernibly. "But... how could she do that? I mean... she didn't even feel sorry... not at all... it was the exact opposite! She had a sneer on her face when she...! DAMN! He was HER uncle as well, how could she just...!?" Bewilderedly Sureen shook her head. "Oh dear... wow... I think I kind of prefer having no family left at all... instead of having THIS family. Um... I mean... don't get me wrong. But that's just... so cruel...!"
Sympathetically she reached out in his direction but pulled back her hand just right before it touched his shoulder. Just in time…, she scolded herself, remembering the last time she tried to do that.

Meanwhile, the prince just ignored her comments. At the back of his mind he knew she was right and that her questions and remarks were justified... but not just yet! Instead he went on.

"I found that scroll in my uncle's luggage. Seems like he was hiding it from he. I guess he wanted to spare me from its content." After a moment's hesitation Zuko added, "Besides the scroll, I found... this..." he pulled something out of his pocket. It was a bracelet, made of small threaded stones with engraved symbols. "It was wrapped up in a letter by my uncle, addressed to me. He wrote that he originally got the bracelet made for his son. But he never got the opportunity to make him a present of it, since Lu Ten fell in a battle before he could hand it to him. But my uncle finally decided..." he tried hard to swallow the lump in his throat, before he went on.

"... he decided that I was a worthy receiver for the bracelet... because he felt like I had become another son for him during the last few years." The Fire prince dug his fingers into his knees as he whispered, "And my last words to my uncle some days ago... I mean... the last words I EVER said to him, were... that we no longer had anything to gain by travelling together... and that I prefer finding my own way. Then I left." He dug his nails deeper into his knees and hugged his legs tighter to aid him in choking back his sobs. "And now I'll never ever... I will never get the chance... to..." His voice failed.

With a desperate effort he tried to fight back his tears, but in that moment all the terrifying memories of the last days descended upon him with such a vengeance that it was more than he could handle. Although the Fire prince did not make a sound and his face was still pressed on his knees, his shaking shoulders revealed his uncontrollable sobbing.

The pain Zuko was feeling hit Sureen with the same intensity as the blast wave that came along with the detonation.

"My life's intention has been to torment me ever since I can remember. I am NOT willing to accept that any longer!" he croaked out. Sureen sighed.

"All too often life doesn't ask in advance whether we are willing to accept things or not. It just happens. You know, my people... they had a saying back then: 'Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end'1)," she replied in a soothing tone.

"Yeah… maybe that applies to YOUR life… whatever. All I know is you're talking the same way like…" he broke off in mid-sentence. Once again his voice failed.

Finally tears flooded the girl's eyes as well. She struggled for her composure. For the second time she reached out... now without pulling back at the last moment. Instead she came a little closer and put her hand on his back comfortingly. This time the Fire prince kept still.

Suddenly the words his uncle once had addressed to him returned to his mind: 'In your darkest times, hope is something you give yourself. That is the meaning of inner strength.' Was that so? What if... there were even darker times. Without anything left. No hope, no inner strength. What if you couldn't find any of such things within yourself anymore? Couldn't there be another possibility? Like... maybe you could find it elsewhere? Like there was someone at your side who...? He noticed that girl's touch... her warm hand gently resting on his back... and the calm way she was simply sitting close to him. Again he closed his eyes, causing another flood of tears run down his face.
He felt like the ground had just been pulled away right under his feet and he was floating in the wide open space without knowing where he was or where to go... but it was just like Sureen's touch brought back a tiny bit of the stability he had lost. And deep inside he was so glad about that. Glad about not being forced to handle this on his own. But he would never, ever admit it though. He would never let her get that close. No way.

Meanwhile, Sureen didn't leave his side. Oh honey if you only knew how close I actually am... in fact. No. You should never know about that. I hope you'll never find out THAT much. It's better this way. I'm always way too close to everyone, that's the problem... and all I can do about it is… not letting it show. She supressed another sigh.

Whilst sitting next to Zuko in silence, her hand still gently rubbing his back, the bracelet caught the girl's eye again. She picked it up from the ground and took a closer look at it.
"These symbols engraved on the stones... do you know what they mean?" She asked.

"Yes..." the prince answered tonelessly. "In his letter, my uncle explained that the star in the middle is a symbol for orientation and guidance. It's a guiding star. The symbols on the stones next to the star are ancient Fire Nation letters. It reads 'challenge'. Altogether it means... I shall always find some orientation in my life, no matter which challenges are getting in my way."

Sureen looked at the bracelet with a smile. Without hesitation she grabbed Zuko's wrist, put the bracelet around it and knotted it. She held his wrist a second longer than necessary.

"You'll find a way through this. 'Cause there's ALWAYS a way. Don't give up!"

'Never give up without a fight'. The words popped up in his mind immediately. He could clearly vizualize that dagger's blade. A present from his uncle as well. In a hidden manner Zuko wiped his face with his sleeve, before finally straightening his back and looking straight in the girl's eye.

"No. I won't. That's my promise." He was glad that Sureen had just reminded him of this promise though.

Another smile flashed over the girl's face. That statement sounded quite familiar to her.

But only a second later her smile died away. As the prince leaned back he revealed his blood soaked shirt. On closer inspection Sureen detected some kind of big, sharp-edged splinter or shard sticking in his ribcage. Frantically she scanned the rest of his body with her eyes and finally got caught on his left foot. Zuko's boot was frazzled and through the holes she could see blisters and burned skin. The girl could not hide the shocked expression on her face.

"Zuko! My God! Why didn't you say anything about… being injured?!"

Hearts are worn in these dark ages
You're not alone in this story's pages
Night has fallen amongst the living and the dying
And I try to hold it in, yeah I try to hold it in

World's on fire
It's more than I can handle
Dive into the water
Try to bring my share
Try to bring more
More than I can handle
Bring it to the table
Bring what I am able

I watch the heavens, but I find no calling
Something I can do to change what's coming
Stay close to me while the sky is falling
Don't wanna be left alone, don't wanna be alone

[SARAH MCLACHLAN - WORLD'S ON FIRE]

LINK TO THIS SONG:
www. qtom. tv/ sarah_mclachlan-world_on_fire/ ?clpid= m0o0Gwn6BUYYti6PwURO9w
[copy+paste - remove blanks - enter :)!]

-x-x-x-

1)In real life, this is a quotation by Oscar Wilde. Not by Sureen's people. Just for the record. ;)

So?! The review box is right below :)... can't you hear it whispering? "I'm so empty ó.Ô ... please fill me with some comments...!" :)