This is my first Avatar The Last Airbender fanfiction thank you to LunaStar07 for helping out with my writing and beta reading my work hope you enjoy the next chapter of Blades and Fans

Disclaimer I don't own anything related to ATLA

Zuko's mind was spinning; the smoke and fumes choked at his lungs. His eyes grew heavy, slowly losing consciousness as he laid in Suki's arms. He could still hear a voice echoing in his ears calling to him.

"Wake up!"

"Wake up."

"Wake up..."

"Time to wake up." Another voice called to him making Zuko stir, trying to open his eyes. "Mom?" He called out to the voice in the darkness, his eyes remained shut refusing to open. "Come on Zuko, it's time to wake up," the soft motherly voice called out again. "Mom?!" Tears began spilling down his cheek as he called out pleadingly. "Come on Zuko, don't make me ask again," the voice said in a cheerful, loving tone but the voice felt distant, slowly drifting away. "Mom?! Please no, come back to me," Zuko cried out his voice shaking.

Zuko's eyes finally burst open as his body shot up. His vision was blurry as he looked around to figure out where he was, but his left eye only saw darkness. He reached up to rub his eye but he felt fabric wrapped over it. "What's going on?" He reached up tugging at the bandage that covered his left eye and tore it off. He tried to blink to clear his vision as the room around him started to appear. It was one of the rooms at the inn that seems to be turned into a makeshift hospital room. When Zuko looked down at himself, he saw he was covered in bandages along his arms and chest as he sat atop a table in the centre of the room. His memory was still foggy on how he got here as he leapt off the table. He turned and stumbled over to a mirror and water basin at the edge of the room. He reaching his hands into the water and started to wash his face, letting the cool water wake him further up from his daze.

"Well look who's up and about," A girl's voice spoke behind and he quickly turned to see who had entered the room. Zuko raised his brow as he spotted a young Earth Kingdom girl carrying a tray of food into the room, resting the tray on the nightstand. She smiled sweetly at him as she folded her hands in front of her and fiddled with her braided hair. "I brought you some food, I thought you might be hungry when you woke up," she smiled sheepishly at him. Zuko paused as he looked at her then the tray of food. "Umm thanks," he said as he took the towel next to the basin to dry his face. "You're welcome," she said again, still very cheerful. "My name's Jin by the way. It's an honour to meet you, Blue Spirit," she said as she gave a little bow.

"Blue Spir-?" As Zuko tried to clarify what she meant, it finally dawned on him what's going on. His eyes shot open panicked, his mind racing, his cover was blown, they saw his face, and this girl heard his voice. He clenched his fists as his breath hitched in his throat as his nervousness began to overwhelm him, but he took a deep breath to calm down "She called me Blue Spirit, they don't know who I am. At least not yet," he spoke to himself as he fixed his gaze back on Jin. "Where is everyone, what am I doing here?" Zuko asked as he tossed the towel on the counter.

"Oh, well after the... attack last night you sort of passed out," Jin began to explain. "Your friends brought you here so the healer could tend to you. She said you nearly suffocated and you were covered in cuts and burns," she said and bite her lip as she looked up at him. "She tried her best to treat you, but she wasn't able to heal the burn over your eye," she said as she felt herself getting flustered.

When Zuko heard her, he was actually a bit relieved to have this scar. He reached up to touch his left cheek thinking if they think he got this scar from last night they don't know who he is, at least for now. Though he will still need to take precautions about them finding out. "Thanks," he said softly as he turned to glance at the mirror, looking at the scar that covered his left eye; the mark of the banished prince. "Well honestly it doesn't look that bad, you still look quite handsome," Jin blurts out as her cheeks become beet red. Zuko too felt his cheeks heat up as he heard her "Umm thanks," he spoke as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Jin then coughed into her hands clearing her throat "Anyways...you should eat and when your feeling up to it, your friends are waiting outside," she says turning to leave before she says something else to embarrass herself. Zuko nodded as he watched her leave the room before she quickly remembered something and turned around "Oh, almost forgot. Your mask is over there on the dresser with a new set of clothes," she said pointing to the dresser at the other side of the room; the smiling demon mask greeting Zuko when he turned to it. "We weren't able to fix your old clothes. I hope they fit," she says as Zuko grabs the tunic that was resting under his mask. It was a simple brown tunic with a dark brown trim that looked about his size. It may be a bit bigger but should fit just fine. "This should work," Zuko says as he sets the robes down. "Great, I'll let the others know," she smiled as we left the room taking one final glance at him before she left.

Suki and the other Kyoshi Warriors were doing what they could to help out the townsfolk. Though much of the town was destroyed and burnt to the ground leaving next to no buildings still standing. Even after all they've done the Fire Nation soldiers still succeeded in their mission. "So it's decided, we are gonna be taking these people with us to Ba Sing Se, " Suki declare after talking with the town's elders. "Guess we don't really have much of a choice," Aikio began as she sat on the stairs in front of the inn with the others. "Though keeping stocked on supplies will be a bit problematic, we definitely will need to do a lot more scavenging to at least keep everyone fed," she said as she was cleaning her red-stained katana. "Then that's what we will do; like you said we have no choice. These people need us and we can't leave them here for those soldiers to come back and finish what they started." Suki says rubbing her side neck. "Besides this is exactly why we came out here in the first place, to help refugees. It just so happens we get to do that before reaching Ba Sing Se."

As Suki was addressing her sisters, Ami walked out of the inn her face grim and eyes full of sadness. "Lost another one?" Suki asked as she turned to face the young girl. Ami nodded silently as she wiped her nose "I couldn't save them, Captain," she whimpered as Suki walked over to her pulling her into her arms. Suki cradled Ami's head. "I'm so sorry Ami," Suki said as she rubbed her back. Kikki sighed and walked over to Ami and Suki patting the smaller girls shoulder "Come on, I got some dumplings with your name on them," Kikki smiled softly wanting to cheer her up. Ami glanced up at Kikki giving her a nod as she silently walked over with Kikki to go sit and eat.

Suki hated seeing Ami so down, especially since it wasn't her fault. She knew Ami was doing her best, it's just sometimes people can't be saved. She let out a sigh as her mind seemed to drift to the Blue Spirit. She felt her heartache just thinking about last night, she sent him to what could very well be his death. She had never even come close to losing someone like that before, especially on one of her orders. She remembered holding him in her arms, his mask barely holding on to his face. It took everything she had to not peek further to see his face, she tugged the mask back on. It wouldn't have been right for her or her Kyoshi Warriors to see what he looked like without him revealing that himself. She knew now that it was a little hypocritical thinking of his privacy now after she was sneaking a peek earlier. Nonetheless, he deserved to keep his secrets.

As they waited outside, Jin walked out of the inn and approached them."How're the dumplings, do you like them?" She asked as she walked over to them. Tam was the first to speak "Yeah, thanks these things are great," she mumbled, a few dumplings stuffed in her mouth. Suki rolled her eyes and chuckled along with the rest of the girls "Yes they are, thanks again." Jin nodded and smiled back at her "Hehe no problem." Suki then bite her lip as she looked up at the young woman "So how's Blue doing? Has he woken up yet?" Suki asked as the girls became silent as they were still worried about their masked friend. Well mostly everyone, Aikio was still rather salty about last night, and she is known to hold a grudge.

Jin grinned at Suki "Yup, he's up. I just gave him his breakfast and left him to get changed." The Kyoshi Warriors all sighed in relief, glad he was alright. "Thank you for letting us know," Suki smiled up at Jin, but arched her brow as she watched her grin slowly died down "Ummm, I thought I should mention this. The healers did what they could but, he still has some scarring from the fight," Jin said and raised her hand to cover her left eye. "He has a large burn over his left eye and ear, the healers said that the ointments they used weren't clearing up the burn, like the other ones he had," she said apologetically. "They said that he may have some trouble seeing through that eye, though time will tell." As she spoke Suki became confused and mumbled under her breath "That doesn't make sense." She clearly remembered seeing similar scars on his face when she was spying on him at the Inn. "Maybe they mistook those scars for ones he got during the fight?" Suki wondered to herself, not wanting the others knowing she was spying on him last night.

"Though truth be told, even with that scar he's still kinda cute," Jin smiled dreamily which made all the Kyoshi Warriors look at her bug-eyed. "You saw his face?!" Tam and Kikki blurt out in unison which just earned another eye roll from Aikio. "Ummm yeah, why?" Jin asked shocked by their outburst. Suki sighed and shook her head. "We... haven't seen what he looks like. He's always wearing his mask around us," she said feeling oddly jealous of the young girl. "Oh, wow, really," Jin was actually genuinely surprised that they hadn't seen his face which made her grin on the inside. "Well, either way, he should be out soon after he's done changing. Let me know if you guys want more dumplings, I'm gonna head back inside." she smiled and waved to the Kyoshi Warriors heading inside as they waved back. "Thanks, we will," Suki said as she watched the girl disappear inside.

Zuko had finished the meal left for him rather quickly. Not realizing how hungry he actually was, he stuffed down the ramen and dumplings that were left for him. After finishing his food, he slipped on the robes and tied off the sash around his waist, and then slipped on his mask. He felt an instant comfort when he felt the engraved words on the inside of the brow. Even just feeling his mother's name in his mask eased his mind and was enough to soothe him. He then let out a long, deep sigh before going to reach for his swords and realized they weren't there. He arched his brow and looked around, still not able to find them until he remembered he gave them to Suki. "She must still have them," he said softly as he rubbed the back of his neck. Zuko than made his way downstairs, seeing if he could find Suki and the others.

When Zuko made his way down to the main hall, his eyes went wide in horror. The room was filled with tables and beds, all with dead men and women laying on top, with sheets draped over their bodies. He could see several families gathered, mourning and crying over their loved ones. Zuko watched silently, his heart just ached and twisted in his chest. "My people did this, is this all we do? Bring death and suffering?" Zuko had heard what his people had done and seen some of the damages they have left behind, but this was different. Seen what they do, seeing the victims first hand, it was hard to stomach. Zuko quietly left the room as he decided it was best to leave them to mourn.

Zuko was about to leave the Inn when he spotted another room down the hall. There were beds and tables laid out like the other room, but instead of the dead, the healers were tending to the wounded. Zuko watched as his own guilt grew, seeing so many hurt from the battle. He silently wondered if he could have done more, if these people were hurt because he didn't use everything he had to keep them safe. Zuko let out a sigh as he looked down at his hands feeling the warmth in his palms flowing to his fingertips. "If I firebent maybe..." his mind trailed off as he clenched his fist. Zuko turned away from the room heading outside needing to clear his head.

When Zuko went outside, he was instantly greeted by the sight of the Kyoshi Warriors. They were all sat around the front porch of the Inn eating and tending to their weapons. Zuko wasn't sure what to do when he saw them. "Do they know I can talk, did they see my face, and more importantly do they know who I am," Zuko thought as his eyes glanced up to Suki, his memory little foggy, but he remembered clearly when she held him as he passed out. Her voice calling for him begging for him to stay awake. "Did she really care about me, or did she just care about the Blue Spirit," Zuko cursed himself. She didn't care it was just his mask she cared for, not him.

"Hey, it's Blue!" Tam called out seeing the Blue Spirit standing by the doorway of the Inn. The Kyoshi Warriors all turned to see the masked warrior as they all got up to welcome him back. When Suki saw him, she was instantly relieved. She smiled wide as she joined in the warm greetings. "Hey Blue, glad to see you're up," Suki said as she saw him give her nod and a thumbs up. "Cut the bull," Aikio blurted out causing everyone to turn to the female warrior in shock. "We all heard you talk so cut the crap, we aren't buying the mute act anymore," she said still quite annoyed with him. Suki gave Aikio an intense glare, not liking her growing attitude. "Aikio that's not-" "Fine," Suki was cut off as they all turned back to the Blue Spirit. Zuko gritted his teeth as he stared Aikio down, their eyes locked like two predators fighting over a meal. "So you are gonna start talking?" Aikio asked in a challenging tone. "Yes," Zuko says crossing his arms as the rest of the girls remained silent, watching the stared down.

"Are you gonna tell us your name?"

"No,"

"Are you gonna show us your face?"

"No,"

"Are you gonna say more than two words?"

"Maybe," Zuko says looking away from her turning to Suki. "My swords?" he asks holding out his hand. Suki was still quite taken back hearing him talk that it took her a second to realize what he actually said. "Oh right, your swords," she says as she pulls the broadswords off her backhanding it to him. He took the blades and strapped them on his back, adjusting the strap. "Thanks, is there anything you need me to do?" he asked ignoring Aikio. Suki nodded. "Umm yeah, if you want you can help the villagers over there load up those carts," she says gesturing to the villagers near the carts tied to their Ostrich horses. "We are gonna be taking them with us to Ba Sing Se. So the sooner they are packed, the sooner we can leave before the Fire Nation attacks again," she explained as the Blue Spirit nodded again. "Okay," he said softly as he walk off heading over to help the villagers.

"Thanks, Blue," Suki sighed then she glanced to her warriors "Kikki, Tam, go help see if you can help them speed up and Ami go to the Inn, see if the wounded will be ready to be moved soon," she said giving out orders. "Yes, Captain," the girls all nod in agreement and they went to do their tasks. Aikio was about to follow along but Suki grabbed her arm stopping her. "Not you, we need to talk," she said in a firm commanding tone. "What do you want?" Aikio said defiantly. "What's your problem?" Suki asked.

"My problem?"

"Yes, what's your problem? You've become insubordinate and arrogant. Well, more arrogant than usual."

"Oh really, I hadn't noticed," Aikio says, rolling her eyes.

"What is going on with you? I'm your captain, you can't be talking to me like!" Suki says, getting pissed as she gritted her teeth.

"Fine, you want to know my problem? Him, he's my problem!" Aikio growls in anger. "You welcome him with open arms, instantly trusting someone we don't know a thing about. Putting all of us at risk, our sisters at risk!" she yelled. Suki was not expecting this kind of outburst. "I don't want to lose you, I don't want to lose any of you. You guys are like my family." Suki bite her lip seeing the sincere look in Aikio's eyes. "Look I don't trust him, we don't know him, okay? If we did maybe I would, but right now I don't," she says sternly. Suki let out a heavy sigh, putting her hands on her hips "Okay, okay I understand, you are right, we don't know much about him," Suki said softly. "Look how about this after...after we get these people out of here and we set up camp, we will talk to Blue, get him to tell us about himself. If he refuses, if he doesn't want to tell us anything, we will vote whether he should stay with us or not," Suki said with reluctance. She really not wanting the Blue Spirit to leave them, but her sisters do come first. If they don't want him, she can't argue no matter how much she disagrees. "Thank you, Captain," Aikio smiles, glad Suki is seeing reason. "You're welcome Aikio. No matter what, we are sisters, sisters for life" Suki returned the smile as Aikio pulled Suki in for a hug. "Yes, sisters till the end," they smiled as they gave each other a gentle squeeze. "Now come on, we can't let the others do all the work," Suki said as they both went to join the rest of the girls to help pack the carts getting ready to leave.