Author's Note: Hey everyone! Thank you very much for the continuing support and interest in this story. Special thanks go to greenraven114 for the review., even though it was negative. I always take critique very seriously, but on this I must say I disagree with you. I'm sorry if you feel the story depressive, and I admit that sometimes writing it feels heavy too, but then again, I can't go around some things, but I would insist that some good things are actually happening, there are happy moments, and the overall arc will point upwards, even though there's a lot of struggles at this point. Also, thanks for the other review to the anonymous guest. I'm glad it earned your favorite. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the story.
Western Air Temple, 100 AC
A few days after they took Zuko's wife in, Sokka, Aang, Katara and Toph sat around the well. A certain tenseness filled the air as Sokka said, "Zuko's clearly too dangerous to be left alone. We're going to have to go after him. We haven't seen him in the last few days, but that can mean anything. Maybe he's just gathering troops."
"I hate to go looking for a fight, but you're right. I don't think we have much of a choice.", Aang agreed in a very serious, but darkened tone.
With a smug grin on his face, Sokka added, "He's crafty, but we'll find a way to capture him."
Suddenly Toph stiffened, and a moment later they all heard soft, slow steps and a thin voice, "No, please don't.", their heads shot around and saw Ming. She was still looking feverish, but obviously she had not only woken up, but found the strength to get out of bed. Unsure on her feet, she staggered forward and knelt down before Aang, tears running out of black eyes, "Please don't hurt him.", she begged.
Immediately, Katara got down beside her and put her arms around her, speaking in a soothing voice, like she was talking to a child, "Hey, it's going to be okay. You're in a safe place, you don't have to be afraid of him anymore. He can't hurt you here. Look, we'll make him say where he has your child and rescue it, you're both going to be safe."
The waterbender attempted to stroke Ming's back softly, but the Fire Nation girl shook her off. Bewildered, she looked at her, "What are you talking about? Zuko would never hurt me."
Katara looked at her like she really was a child, "I've healed you earlier. I saw the marks on your body, the traces of the abuse on your arms, and I've discovered the reason for your illness. You don't need to hide anything from us."
"You think this was Zuko?", the other girl asked, still disbelief in her voice. Everyone around her nodded quietly. Ming shook her head, "But he wasn't, I swear he wasn't. Nothing of what you've said was his fault."
"Then who was it?", Sokka asked.
Ming sighed, "Those marks on my arms, that was my father's doing."
"Wow. Who is your father?", the blind earthbender threw in.
Seemingly without any emotion, Ming straightened herself and her face became cold, "My father was the late Admiral Zhao.", at this, Aang shrieked back. He had not forgotten what that man had done to the moon spirit, and he had not forgotten what he, and the ocean spirit, had done to that man. Noticing this, Ming smiled at him, "Don't worry. I heard what happened at the North Pole. I'm not angry about it at all. He got what he deserved."
Aang gulped but nodded. Then Ming turned to Katara, "And about that other thing, there's no need to go after someone, really. You see, my child, it-it's dead.", she closed her eyes, "I miscarried our daughter a few months ago. After Zuko had left me at a spa in a colony to head for the North Pole, my father found me. He sent me back to the Fire Nation as a prisoner, even though he knew that I was expecting. First, I was kept in a locked room in Governor Ukano's house, his daughter Mai being my warden. We knew each other from our childhood. When she learned that I was pregnant she… Well, she made sure that I'd miscarry."
Katara gasped, "So, that other wounds…"
"Were caused by her. She then threw me into the prison tower. And she would have executed me if Zuko hadn't come to my rescue.", she said proudly. "It turned out that he was told that I was dead, so he hadn't searched for me before. But that night, the spirit of our daughter visited him, and she led him to the truth.", and as everyone stared at her, she added, "She has been with both of us nearly all the time until Zuko gave her a name. I think, you know more about this.", she gestured towards Aang, he nodded, a somber smile on his lips.
Still not trusting her words completely, Sokka asked, "So, now that my sister healed you, what where you and your husband doing here?", he wouldn't tell her what the banished prince had told them, so she couldn't match her story to his.
Ming smiled at him, "Over the course of the last few weeks, Zuko came to the realization that this war, and the Fire Nation's role in it, is false and hurts everyone, even Fire Nation people. So, he wants it to stop, and the best way he saw was to help you and teach the Avatar firebending. He wants this war to be replaced by an era of love and kindness and the world to be in balance again."
Skeptically, the Water Tribe boy commented, "you say this as if you're not in on anything. What's your motivation to join him on this?"
Calmly, Ming replied, "I'm his wife. I love him. Of course, I'll join him. Besides, it wouldn't have been safe for me if I was left in Caldera. I'm no warrior, I can't do much in a fight. But I thought, maybe I could still help… somehow…", she trailed off, and they could see that this conversation had taken a lot of energy for her.
Next to her, Katara turned the other girl towards herself, "We can figure that out later, the important thing is that you recuperate now. Let's get you back to your room."
"Promise me that you won't hurt my husband first.", Ming said weakly, clenching to the other girl's arms.
Aang smiled at her mildly, "Don't worry, we won't. Avatar-Promise."
Suddenly they were interrupted as an explosion hit the pagoda above their heads. All of them quickly ran for cover, Katara pulling Ming with her. She gasped as they heard a voice, "Stop! I don't want you hunting the Avatar anymore! The mission is off. I'm ordering you to stop!"
With wide, black eyes, Ming stepped out behind the column, whispering, "Zuko…", before the waterbender pulled her back into cover.
Zuko had been watching the temple from the other side of the cliff a few times in the last days. His heart jumped when he saw Ming on her feet again. But then he noticed something moving beneath him on a ledge. It was the assassin he had sent back then. He had to do something, now. So, he jumped down and attacked that guy, not caring about his own safety.
It caused the first attack to miss its target, but now the giant man focused more and more on him. Seemingly annoyed he almost effortlessly shoved the banished prince away to attack the group in the temple again. Desperately, he tried, "If you keep attacking, I won't pay you!", he attempted to firebend at the man, only for the assassin to grab his shirt and lift him off his feet, "All right. I'll pay you double to stop!"
From her view at the temple, Ming watched in horror as the giant took aim at her young husband. Unconsciously, she stepped out of the cover of the column and slowly walked in his direction. Her eyes widened as the assassin fired at Zuko. The banished prince was quick enough to bend a flame shield in front of him, but the sheer force of the attack drove him backwards and sent him over the cliff. Everyone at the temple just stared for a moment, as smoke engulfed the assassin.
Zuko hadn't anticipated that the flame shield would actually protect him, but surprisingly, it did. Still, the force behind the attack managed to drive him off the cliff. For a split-second, he panicked when his body lost all contact to some kind of ground. Then he quickly grabbed the next material thing he could, the root of a nearby plant that was hanging there. He praised Agni inwardly when it actually held his weight. The next moment he heard a heart-wrenching scream, it was Ming, she screamed his name. For the moment though, he just held on to this root. If the assassin got aware that he was still alive, well, in his situation, he wouldn't even have a chance to defend himself.
Silently he climbed from one plant to another, making his way to a lower platform. Over the noise of the ongoing fight, he could hear the waterbender, "Toph! Get her out of here!", quickly he climbed a bit higher and caught a glimpse of the spot by the fountain where the group had been. The banished prince panicked as he saw Ming laying there, not moving at all. Had she been hit by an attack? Grimacing, he accepted that he couldn't do anything about it right now and made his way to the lower platform. Just as he entered the tunnel leading away from it and towards the temple, he heard an explosion above him. Debris rained from the sky, some of them crashing into the platform he had just been standing on and taking parts of it with them down into the foggy depths of the canyon. Amongst them something glinted in the sunlight, a metal arm.
It took him a little while to find a way back to the group's gathering at the well. They were all a bit surprised to see him on his feet and more or less unharmed. For a moment tenseness filled the air again, everybody unsure of what to say or how to act. Then the young airbender stepped forward, smiling, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but… thanks, Zuko."
"Hey, what about me? I did the boomerang thing.", the Water Tribe boy peeped up from the background, but was largely ignored.
Zuko sported a small smile and bowed towards the Avatar, "Listen, I know I didn't explain myself very well yesterday. I've been through a lot in the last few years, and it's been hard. But I'm realizing that I had to go through all those things to learn the truth. I thought I had lost my honor, and that somehow my father could return it to me. But I know now that no one can give you your honor. It's something you earn for yourself, by choosing to do what's right. All I want to do now is play my part in ending this war, and I know my destiny is to help you restore balance to the world. I'm sorry for what I did to you. All of it. I've seen, and experienced, that fire can cause a lot of harm. But I'm willing to make up for the harm I caused."
Somewhat surprised everybody went silent for a moment, before Aang spoke, "I think you are supposed to be my firebending teacher. I'd like you to teach me.", he too bowed before the firebender.
Zuko's smile widened, "Thank you. I'm so happy you've accepted me into your group."
"Not so fast. I still have to ask my friends if it's okay with them?", Aang looked back at his companions expectantly.
Toph grinned, "Go ahead and let him join."
"Hey, all I want is to defeat the Fire Lord. If you think this is the way to do it, then, I'm all for it.", Sokka shrugged his shoulders.
The waterbender glared at Zuko. In a tense voice she said, "I'll go along with whatever you think is right."
Excitedly, Zuko stepped forward, "I won't let you down, I promise."
As everyone was retrieving, he stood there a bit helplessly until Sokka approached him, "Come, I'll show you where we put Ming. I guess, you two want to share a room?"
He nodded decisively, "Yes, uhm, thank you.", and followed the Water Tribe boy into the temple. As they walked through the half-lit floors, he asked, "Do you know how she is? I mean, did your sister say anything about her sickness? I just heard her scream earlier and…"
Sokka looked back at him for a moment, before turning to his way again, "Well, from what I understood, she's still sick, but she should get better. Katara said she actually had childbed fever.", he didn't see the firebender's eyes widen for a moment, "she said, it was caused by some remains of the placenta still left inside of her, the infection, I mean. But she told us, she should get better. Might take some time though. She also discovered traces of older wounds and we thought, you caused them. But she insisted that it had been her father and that you had nothing to do with it. She had been sleeping most of the last days, so we were surprised, she was actually up. Even more so when she knelt down before Aang and begged him not to attack you.", he made a brief pause and looked at the banished prince's raised eyebrow. "Anyway,", Sokka shrugged his shoulders, "we could all see that it had taken her a lot of energy already when Combustion Man attacked, and when you went over the cliff, we all thought, well, we thought you couldn't have made it. And there she just collapsed. Here we are.", he opened a door and gestured for the banished prince to go inside. He could see a bed, a greyish mattress on the floor, a lighter gray cushion and a white blanket. Ming laid there, beneath the blanket, her hair sprawled around her head, unmoving and still, but silently breathing, much to the prince's relieve.
Smiling he stepped inside the room. Unsurely, Sokka still stood at the door, "So, here you go, home sweet home, I guess, you know, for now. Unpack? Lunch, soon? Uhh, welcome aboard?", hastily he closed the door behind himself.
Slowly, Zuko sat down on the bed and took one of Ming's hands in his. He put a kiss on it, before he laid it back next to her. The banished prince quickly laid a hand on her forehead, checking her temperature, she was still warmer than usual, but cooler than she had been. So, she really seemed to be recuperating. Smiling contently, he took a picture of his uncle out of his bag. He remembered them being here three years ago. How determined he had been on hunting the Avatar and his uncle telling him that destiny is a funny thing.
Suddenly his gaze shot up as someone opened the door. It was Katara. She looked unamused, maybe even angry at him. She came closer, her tone threatening, "You might have everyone else here buying your… transformation, but you and I both know you've struggled with doing the right thing in the past. So let me tell you something, right now. You make one step backward, one slip-up, give me one reason to think you might hurt Aang, and you won't have to worry about your destiny anymore, because I'll make sure your destiny ends…right then and there. Permanently."
As she slammed the door behind her, Zuko's shoulders slumped down. This could be a problem. Then he heard someone gasp behind him. As he turned around, he saw Ming's eyes flatter and open. Quickly, he sat back on the side of the bed and held her hand. Her eyes widened as her vision got clearer, "Zuko?"
Smiling, he raised her hand to his lips and put a kiss on it, "Qing Qing, you're awake."
"But how? I saw you fall from that cliff. Or, are we both dead?", she seemed genuinely confused, as she raised her other hand to cup his face.
Still smiling, he bowed down and put a kiss on her forehead, "No, Qing Qing, I was able to grab onto a root and climb away from there. I'm here with you now, Aang accepted me as his firebending teacher. We're going to help him end this war. But first, you need to focus on recuperating, yes?"
Ming smiled back at him, then she pulled him down for a quick kiss. "I'm trying my best, I promise.", winking at him, she turned to her side and slept in again.