*Zuko's P.O.V.*

"Hey..." I said to Asami as I sat down on her bed after entering her room and kissed her cheek. Asami hummed as she slowly woke up and turned to look up to me. She smiled tiredly at me and took my hand in hers. "Hey..." She said and kissed me on the lips before sitting up. I smiled back to her and pulled back to give her space to sit up. Asami stretched and gave out a yawn before looking to me. "Where were you last night? You weren't in your room when I went to say goodnight."

I mentally flinched to myself as I started remembering last night. I heard Zhao was in the town were we anchored last night. I went on the mainland to spy on him and found out that Zhao is going to use the Yuyan Archers to capture the Avatar. They are VERY good archers, they can pin a fly to a tree from one hundred yards away, without even killing it. Best of luck to the Avatar when he and the Archers cross paths.

"Just went for a walk." I answered with a shrug. Asami raised her eyebrow at me for a moment before yawning again. "Because I'm still tired, I am going to drop it for now." She said before stretching again and got out of bed. "Do you mind waking Kai up while I go get dressed?" Asami asked as she walked over to her chest that held all her clothes. "No, I don't mind." I answered as I looked over my shoulder and looked at the sleeping fire ferret behind me.

"Thank you!" Asami said as she closed the chest after taking out a turquoise dress with golden flower patterns on it. It wasn't an open back dress, and the dress went to her feet, so she didn't need a scarf or her boots. Asami also took out a pair of fingerless gloves that were turquoise with a turquoise flower pattern at the end of the fingers.

I quickly walked over to her and took the gloves from her hands. "You won't be needing those." I said to her before holding the gloves above my head when she tried to take them back. Luckily, for me, Asami is shorter than me, so she couldn't reach the gloves above my head. "Zuko!" She exclaimed and started jumping up and down as she tried to reach them, but I kept moving my arm around so that she could get them.

"I need those!" Asami exclaimed as she jumped again, but still didn't reach them. "No you don't!" I said with a laugh as I kept the gloves above my head. "Yes I do!" She exclaimed and jumped up again, but she still couldn't reach. "No, you don't." I said and threw the gloves to the bed and grabbed her hands before she could run over to her bed and get them. Asami looked up to me with a glare, but I just looked down at her with a smile.

"You don't need them." I said and gently squeezed her hands in mine. "Everybody on this ship knows who you are. You don't need to hide your tattoos. Not from them, and not from me." I said as I released the one hand and started tracing the Air symbol on her right hand. Asami looked up to me a slightly surprised look before looking down at her tattoos for a moment before looking back up with a sigh.

"Zuko, we're close to the mainland. The mainland that has Fire Nation soldiers. The second when one of the soldiers sees my tattoos, they'll know who I am and what my bending is. My life and everyone else's life on this ship will be in danger." She said and went to walk to her bed, but I just pulled her back to me. "We're on our way into the ocean. We'll be long gone from the mainland by early afternoon." I said and took her other hand back in mine. "You'll be fine. It will be save to show your tattoos."

"I don't know Zuko..." Asami started off as she looked down to her tattoos in thought. "Maybe I should just wear them until the afternoon, when we are far away from the mainland." She said as she looked up to me again. "Asami... No Fire Nation soldier is going to get on my ship and figure out who you are." I said and squeezed her hands again. "Trust me." "I do trust you!" Asami said and squeezed my hands as she looked me in the eye.

"Then you have nothing to worry about!" I said and let go of her hands and picked up her dress she dropped. "Now go get dressed." I said and handed the dress over to her. "I'll go and wake up Kai, and then I'll meet you in the kitchen." Asami stared at me for a moment, before smiling and kissed me on the lips. "Okay." She said with a bright smile and went to the bathroom. I smiled as I watched her before walking over to where Kai was sleeping, and started, well tried to wake him up.

***

After breakfast, Asami and I went to the control room. Lieutenant Jee and I was looking on the map, while Uncle Iroh and the other crew members were busy playing Pai Sho, and Asami playing with Kai with his ball. "We haven't been able to pick up the Avatar's trail since the storm, but if we continue heading northeast..." Lieutenant Jee said but slowly stopped when a larger ship stopped next to us.

"What do they want?" I asked in both frustration and curiosity. "Perhaps, a sporting game of Pai Sho!" Uncle Iroh said as he rubbed his hands together before moving a tile on the game board. I shook my head at him, as well as rolling my eyes. "Zuko..." I turned to Asami when I heard her and saw her looking at me in fear. "My tattoos..." She whispered as she picked Kai up in her arms and looked out the window to the ship in fear.

My eyes widen in realization before I quickly marched over to her and took out her gloves from my pocket and handed them over to her. "Here!" I said as I placed them in her hands after taking Kai from her and placed him on my shoulder. Asami looked down to the gloves in her hands before looking up to me in shock. "What?" I asked with a shrug. "I'm stubborn, not stupid." I added, but she still looked to me with wide eyes.

I sighed slightly before adding more to the comment. "I brought them along just in case something like this does happen." "Thank you." Asami said with a small smile and kissed my cheek. I smiled back to her as she put on her gloves, but my expression soon turned into a glare when a group of soldiers entered the room. The lead soldier took out a scroll opened it, showing us a wanted poster of the Avatar. "The hunt for the Avatar has been given prime importance. All information regarding the Avatar must be reported directly to Admiral Zhao."

"Zhao has been promoted? Well, good for him!" Uncle Iroh said as he moved another tile. Asami scoffed as she crossed her arms after Kai jumped back over to her shoulder. "I wonder how many butts he had to kiss to get that promotion?" She asked in sarcasm, making me smirk in amusement for a moment before I glared again at the soldiers in front of me with my arms crossed. "I've got nothing to report to Admiral Zhao. Now get off my ship and let us pass."

"Admiral Zhao is not allowing ships in or out of this area." The leading soldier said, making Asami scoff again and making me more angry. "Of coarse he's not." She muttered under her breathed as she petted Kai under the chin before I exploded on the soldiers. "Off my ship!" I yelled out and pointed to their ship. The soldiers left my ship as Uncle Iroh moved a tile and won the Pai Sho game. "Excellent! I take the pot!"

The crew members groan while one of them facepalmed himself. "But you're all improving! I'm certain you will win if we play again." Uncle Iroh said as he smiled cheekily at them. Kai looked over to my Uncle and yipped in agreement. Asami looked up to the fire ferret before she chuckled softly and shook her head with a smile before moving to me and wrapped her arms around me, hugging me, which I returned.

***

It was close to sunset and I was outside on the deck, practicing my firebending, actually shooting my anger out more than practicing. "Is everything okay?" Uncle Iroh asked as he and Asami, with Kai on her shoulder, came outside on the deck. "It's been almost an hour and you haven't given the men an order." He added. "I don't care what they do." I said to him over my shoulder with a slight glare before looking back in front of me, with my back to them.

"Don't give up hope yet! You can still find the Avatar before Zhao." Uncle Iroh said, trying to encourage me. "How, Uncle?" I asked as I turned to face them with a look of desperation and fear. "With Zhao's resources, it's just a matter of time before he captures the Avatar." I continued, getting sad looks from Asami and Uncle Iroh, but it didn't bother that much as usual. I turned back to stare at the sea while Asami handed Kai over to my uncle.

"My honor, my throne, my country, I'm about to lose them all." I added as looked in front of me with fear and sadness. "You won't lose them." Asami said as she walked over to me and placed her hands on my shoulders, made me turn to her. "Even if you do, you will never lose your uncle, or Kai, and definitely not me." She said and cupped my cheek as she smiled lovingly to me. I looked her deep in the eyes and placed my hand over hers.

"You won't leave me?" I asked as I rubbed my thumb over her hand. "Never." Asami said without even breaking her smile and stepped slightly closer to me. "You sure about that?" I asked as I moved my hand from hers and wrapped my arms around her waist. Her smile brightened as she removed her hand from my cheek and wrapped her arms around my neck. "Absolutely." She said and placed her lips over mine, kissing me softly yet passionately, which I quickly returned.

***

"You sure you don't want to join music night?" Asami asked while brushing her hair as I sat on her bed and watched her. "It could be fun." She added as she placed the hairbrush down and started braiding her brown hair. "Music really isn't my thing." I said with a shrug, getting a small chuckle from her. "Besides trying to capture my brother, what really is your thing?" Asami asked with a smile as she continued braiding her hair.

I sat there and thought before getting interrupted when Kai suddenly jumped onto the bed and climbed onto my lap. "Playing with Kai!" I said with a chuckle and scratched Kai behind the ear, getting a groan of pleasure from him. Asami chuckled at the comment as she tied her braid. I smiled to her before standing up, placing Kai on my shoulder and walked over to her. "And my favorite, hugging and kissing you." I said as I wrapped my arms around her from behind and looked at her through the mirror before kissing her cheek.

Asami smiled brightly with a blush before turning her head to me and kissed me on the lips. "You do know that was really cheesy right?" She asked with a smiled as Kai jumped over to her shoulder. I just shrugged with a smirk. "Hey, it worked didn't it?" I said with a chuckle. Asami giggled before nodding and kissed me again, before pulling away and looked me in the eye curiously. "If you're not joining us for music night, what are you going to do tonight?"

"I'll think of something."

***

The second the music started playing, I went to my room and grabbed a black outfit, my broadswords and my blue spirit mask. I heard a rumor that Zhao has captured Aang, I mean the Avatar, and is holding him prisoner on the mainland before they set off to Fire Nation, to home. What Zhao doesn't know, is that I'm going to break in and help Aang- THE Avatar, escape and when I'm in the clear, I will capture him for myself and sail straight to the Fire Nation.

On my way to the boats, I was mentally arguing with myself on reasons why I should and shouldn't I capture Aang- THE AVATAR! Why do I keep calling him on his name? I mentally scolded to myself as I opened the gate and started lowering the boat into the waters. Anyway, reasons why to capture the Avatar: to regain my honor, to return home, to reclaim my rightful place on the throne, and to proof myself to my Father and show him I'm not a failure.

Reasons why not capture the Avatar: he's Asami's little brother, and Asami. There is so many things that will happen if I really do capture Aang- AVATAR! Asami will hate me and never speak to me again, she'll personally make my life hell on the ship and will fight until the ship has sunk to the bottom of the ocean to free her brother and herself, but mostly her brother. And to top things off, my Father will either kill her or throw her into a prison cell the second we get home, then I really lose her.

No matter what decision I make, I lose. If I don't capture the Avatar, I lose my home and my honor. But if I capture the Avatar, I lose Asami. Each of them are important to me, and I don't want lose either of them, but I have to choose, and whatever I choose will cause me to lose something important. I have to choose what is more important to me. Honor or love...

Hopefully I'll have an answer after I break Aang- AVATAR, out of prison.

***

I arrived to where Zhao was keeping the Avatar and started brainstorming on ideas on how to get inside and how to get out with him, until I saw a wagon heading towards the gate. I run over to the road and laid down in the middle of it, quickly covered myself with dirt and laid completely still. A few minutes later, I heard the groan of a komodo-rhino and laid even more still and prayed to the spirits that the strong beast won't step on me.

Luckily, my prayers has been answered and it didn't step on me. After the komodo-rhino walked over me, I counted to three before pushing my whole body out of the dirt and grabbed onto the wagon, and pulled myself up and hang under the wagon. I released a sigh of relief when the wagon didn't stop, before I tightened my hold on the wagon as I waited for the wagon to get closer to the gate.

Not to long, the wagon got to the gate and stopped. "All clear!" One of the guards said with a torch after looking in the front of the wagon before he started searching the rest of the wagon from inside and out. I waited until the guard bended down to his knees before moving myself from under the wagon to the inside. The Guard checked under the wagon and the gave the all clear and allowed the wagon to enter.

Let's hope getting out will be so easy as getting in. I thought to myself as the wagon moved inside the fortress. The wagon soon stopped in the first courtyard and started unloading it. As the driver and soldiers unloaded, I quickly and quietly jumped out and run inside. Get inside, check. Find the Avatar, working on it. I thought to myself as I run around the tower in search of Aang- the Avatar! You know what, I already called him Aang so many times already, so I'll just keep calling him that! Just not in front of others.

I soon got to the wall and moved as quickly and as quietly as possible while crouching down, so that nobody could see me. As I moved on the wall, I heard Zhao's 'oh so amazing' speech. "We are the sons and daughters of fire, the superior element! Until today only one thing stood our path to victory, the Avatar. I am here to tell you that he is now my prisoner!" The soldiers cheered to him as I rolled my eyes in annoyance as I continued moving. Not after I break him out Zhao! I thought to myself.

"This is the year Sozin's Comet returns to grant us its power!" The soldiers cheered again while I mentally groaned in annoyance while moving. "This is the year the Fire Nation breaks through the walls of Ba Sing Se and burns the city to the ground!" The soldiers cheered again while I thought about how Asami will try and choke the Admiral for even suggesting burning down a city before kicking his butt for capturing her brother.

I soon got to the other side of the wall and threw a rope down and used it to go the wall. I quickly run over to the sewer system and jumped in before I started running through the water and squeezed through the pipes. I continued moving until I got another opening inside the fortress and entered. After getting inside, I started searching for Aang again.

Wasn't long until I found out where they were keeping him. Only problem was the four guards guarding his cell. Okay Zuko, think! What would Asami do? I thought to myself and started brainstorming again until I saw a soldier's helmet. I smirked as I grabbed the helmet and threw the helmet to the guards. I watched how the helmet rolled to their feet as I readied the chains in my hands and waited for the guards to come to me.

Only one guard came to investigate. The second he saw me, he shot a fire ball at me, but I quickly jumped over it before I grabbed the soldiers hands and tied them with the chains. Before he could cry out a alarm, it tied his mouth closed with a cloth and then tied him up to hang from his arms from the ceiling pipes. While waiting for the rest of them, I quickly jumped up and hid between the pipes with the chains in my hands.

Two more guards came and stopped in front of their fellow hanging soldier in surprise. Before either of them could look up, I threw the chain down and grab one soldier with it. I pulled him up as I jumped down and tied the rest of the chain around the other soldier before he even could fight back. I went around the corner and saw the last guard grab the horn to sound the alarm. I quickly grabbed my knife and threw it at him, knocking the horn out of his hands.

The guard cried out in surprise before glaring when he spotted me charging at him. He quickly got in firebending stance and shot a blast of fire at me. Instead of jumping over or dodging it, I threw a bucket of water, that was behind my back, and killed the fire instantly, before using the bucket to trip the guard and then knocked him out with it as well. After making sure he was out, I grabbed the keys and unlocked the door.

I opened the door and entered the room and closed the door behind me. Aang looked up when he heard the door open and closed, before gasping in fear as his eyes widen in fear as well. I stared at him as I took out my broadswords, twirling them as one sword before separating the twin swords from each other, and started slicing the air with a sword in each hand.

After separating the broadswords from each other, I charged straight to Aang, who screamed for dear life in fear and closed his eyes. When I got close enough, I stopped and sliced the chains in half, making Aang's arms drop to his sides. Aang's eyes opened and looked down to his now free hands in surprise before he looked up to me with wide shocked eyes. Seeing that he now knows I won't hurt him, I twirled my swords again and stepped closer.

I stopped in front of Aang and used my broadswords to slice the cuffs off his hands first and then sliced the cuffs on his feet off. After freeing his limbs, I placed one of the broadswords back in my sheath and walked back to the door. "Who are you? What's going on? Are you here to rescue me?" Aang asked as he watched me walk towards the door. Instead of answering him, I just opened the door and looked over my shoulder to him and motioned to him to follow me with the sword.

"I'll take that as a yes." Aang said as he started following me out the room. Thinking that he is following me, I headed straight to where I entered, but I quickly stopped when I realized he wasn't behind me anymore. "My frogs!" I heard him exclaimed and walked back to where I saw him last. "Come back! And stop thawing out!" Aang said as I quickly walked back to him. When I got to him, I saw him on his knees picking up half frozen frogs.

I rolled my eyes before grabbing him by the collar and pulled him away from the frogs. "Wait! My friends need to suck on those frogs!" Aang exclaimed as I pulled him away from the frogs. Instead of stopping and asking why, which I really wanted to know, I just kept pulling him away until we got to where I had entered from the sewer system.

***

Aang and I got inside the sewer system and quietly walked through the water. "So..." Aang started off as he looked up to me curiously, but I just kept looking in front of me as I continued to walk. "Not much of a talker, huh?" He asked before shrugging. "That's okay! You don't have to if you don't want to." He said as he looked back in front of him. I mentally sighed in relief when he got quiet, but I soon groaned when he gasped excitedly.

"Wait! You can save my sister!"

I froze and looked down at Aang with wide eyes, but he didn't see my expression because of the Blue Spirit mask. Aang looked up to me excitedly and took my stopping as an 'explain more' instead of a stopping in shock. "My older sister! She's the Avatar's Protector! And she's being held prisoner, along with her pet fire ferret, on Prince Zuko's ship!"

Yeah, go and tell a total stranger who and where your sister is along with her pet! I thought to myself as I rolled my eyes and mentally shook my head. And she's not being held prisoner! I exclaimed to myself mentally, before flinching when I remembered locking her in the prison cells, and locking her not once but twice inside a room. Okay, she's not being held prisoner anymore!

Aang opened his mouth to talk some more, but stopped himself when I turned placed my back against the wall. He quickly followed and placed his back against the wall next to me. He looked to me with wide eyes, but just I placed a finger against my mask's mouth, motioning to be quiet and pointed up. Aang looked up and saw the soldiers walking past us.

We both slowly and quietly started moving down the wall as we looked up and watched the soldiers walk past. We got to the end of the wall and waited until we didn't see any soldiers. I moved from the wall and pulled myself slightly up and looked through the pipes, looking around to make sure the coast was clear. After seeing that it was save, I looked down to Aang and pointed up before pulling myself out of the sewer system, Aang soon following behind.

After we both got out, I pointed to the wall where the rope is and run over to it. Aang got to the rope first and started climbing up, with me soon following behind. But we were barely halfway up the wall when alarm bells and horns went off. "There! On the wall!" One of the soldiers cried out and pointed to us. A soldier appears at the top of the wall we were climbing with a sword and cut our rope.

Both of us fell down, with Aang screaming before he airbends an airball under us to soften our landing. After we landed, I took out my broadswords and pointed towards the gate before I started running. Aang immediately followed after me without question. "The Avatar has escaped! Close all the gates immediately!" Zhao ordered from the balcony.

"Stay close to me!" Aang exclaimed to me as he run past me and started running in front of me. He caught me by surprise for a moment before I snapped out of it and followed close to him. The gates started closing and was soon blocked by many soldiers. Aang jumped forward and airbends a blast of air that blows them out of the way. Aang started running again and got closer to the gate, but I was unfortunately cut off by two guards with spears and soon surround by more soldiers.

I started fending them off as best as I could by cutting the spear heads off, but I kept getting surrounded by more guards. As I defended myself, I saw from the corner of my eye Aang grabbing a spear from a guard near him, kicking air at the guard, blasting him away. He then spins the spear around and breaks the head off the spear on the ground and started charging back to where I was fending off the guards as the gate closed behind him.

Aang runs around me and used his airbending to send all the guards away from us. I looked to him in shock. But he soon surprised me again when he used his new staff to airbend me up in the air towards the wall like a catapult. I luckily landed on the wall safely with a quick flip roll before jumping back on my feet. Not even a second later, I was instantly surrounded again by soldiers with spears. Here we go again! I thought to myself as I got in battle stance.

Before either of the guards or I could strike, Aang appeared. He was using his staff to fly up to us by spinning it above his head. He quickly flew over to me and grabbed me with his legs and headed towards the exit. As we flew, I noticed Aang struggling to keep us both up in the air. As if that wasn't bad enough, the guards started throwing spears at us. I quickly sliced and kicked them away before they could hit us.

Luckily, Aang was able to get us both to the next wall. Unfortunately, we crashed and dropped our weapons. I looked up and saw guards charging at us, only this time with swords. Are you kidding me! I mentally groaned before I saw Aang jumping back up on his feet. After getting on his feet, he run over to his staff, but one of the guards got there first and kicked his staff off of the wall. The guard started swinging his sword at Aang, but Aang dodged and ducked each swing.

The second the guard had his back turned to me, I jumped up to my feet and run over to them. I grabbed the guard from behind and threw him over the wall. After throwing him over the wall, I quickly picked up both of my broadswords and started fighting the guards while Aang airbends the other guards off the wall. Before we knew it, more soldiers came as they run up the wall with scaling ladders.

I knocked each soldier off that came to the top of the ladder by kicking them and fighting them off balance with the swords. Aang on the other hand knocked each soldier off by blasting them off by air. But what he did next surprised me just as much as the guards. Aang took a deep breath and shot a very a strong blast of air down one of the ladders and knocked each and every soldier clean off the ladder.

The soldiers on the ladder next to the now empty ladder stared at the empty ladder shock. But their shock expressions soon turned into fear when they saw Aang standing above them, glaring. The second they saw his glare, the soldiers screamed in fear when they realized what he was going to do. With his glare, Aang took a deep breath and repeated what he did on the previous ladder.

Seeing that the soldier I was fighting with was looking over to Aang in shock, I took it to my advantage and knocked the soldier off the ladder with my sword. I looked up and saw Aang running over to me with the two ladders. Realizing that he might have a plan, I quickly placed my broadswords back in my sheath and waited for him to tell his plan. "Take this!" Aang exclaimed as he handed one of the ladders to me.

I looked down at the ladder in my hand with a frown before looking back up. But my eyes soon widen in shock when I saw Aang jumping on the ladder that was still against the wall and pushed himself away from the wall. "Jump on my back!" Aang yelled out as he moved away from the wall on the ladder. Having no other choice but to trust him, I complied and jumped onto his back while still holding the ladder he handed to me earlier.

As we moved away from the wall, the ladder started heading towards the ground. But I quickly realized what Aang's plan was when we tilted down he took the ladder he was holding and placed it in front of him before jumping on it and started tilting forward. "Give me the next one!" Aang exclaimed and took the ladder after I handed it over to him. He then jumped on that ladder and tilted forward, closer to the wall, our last wall to escape from.

But before we could get to the last wall, one of the soldiers set the ladder on fire. Having to choice, we had to jump off the burning fire and jumped towards the wall. Aang manage to grab the wall, but his fingers unfortunately slipped. I quickly grabbed onto the wall as well, but like Aang, my finger unfortunately slipped as well, and we fell straight to the ground.

I quickly stood back up on my feet and took out my broadswords as I got in battle stance, along with Aang standing back up as well. We were soon surrounded by four soldiers and each one started to unleash their fire at us. Before I could us my firebending to move the fire away from hitting either of us, Aang quickly pulled me behind him and airbended an air-bubble around us, protecting us from the fire.

"Hold your fire!" Zhao ordered as he walked over. The soldiers stopped immediately, which made Aang drop his air-bubble before slumping down out of breath. "The Avatar must be captured alive!" Zhao exclaimed as he glared at us, giving me a plan, a horrible yet good plan. "Asami is going to kill me." I whispered to myself before moving closer to Aang and crossed my swords in front of his throat. Aang grunted in surprise and froze. Zhao send me a death glare before ordered thought gritted teeth.

"Open the gate."

"Admiral, what are you doing?" One of the officers asked in surprise, but Zhao refused to move his eyes away from me. "Let them out, now!" He ordered and not a second later, the gate behind us opened. Without looking away from Zhao or taking my swords away from Aang's throat, I started walking backwards, exiting out of the gate, pulling Aang along with me. "Good plan." Aang said nervously as we walked backwards.

I just grunted and kept my swords crossed around his throat while continuing walking backwards, away from the fortress. The second I drop the swords and turn my back to the fortress, Zhao will order his soldiers to shoot spears and arrows at me, and probable shoot a net at Aang and recapture him. Then Asami will really kill me. For not just getting hit by spears and arrows, but letting her brother get captured again by Zhao.

"How do you know my sister's name?" Aang asked suddenly as we continued moving backwards. I mentally flinched at his question, realizing that he heard me before I crossed my swords against his throat. "You told me about her, remember?" I said without stopping walking backwards, while hoping that he won't recognize my voice and realize who I am. Luckily, it seemed like he didn't recognize my voice. Last thing I need now is for Aang to realize who I am.

"Yeah, but I never told you her name." Aang said, making me mentally kick myself when I remember that Aang in fact didn't tell me her name when he told me about his sister. "Now is really not the time for this discussion Aang!" I quickly said nervously, as I looked slightly over my shoulder to see how far we are from the woods before looking back in front of me. He is just like his sister! Having discussions on difficult timing!

"I never told you my name either." Aang said, making me mentally flinched again when he pointed out my slip up again. Not again! I mentally groaned to myself without stopping moving backwards. "How do you know who I am?" Aang asked, and luckily without stopping walking backwards. I quickly started brainstorming on what to tell him, when something suddenly hit me right on my mask and caused me to blackout.

***

I groaned quietly in pain as my eyes slowly opened as I slowly woke up from my blackout, blinking now and then to get the blurry away. As I blinked, I looked around me and noticed that I was in the woods and that it was morning. With groan I looked to my right and blinked a few more times when I still saw blurriness before I noticed Aang sitting slightly above me on a root from a tree.

"You know what the worst part of being born over a hundred years ago is?" Aang started speaking as he sat on the root, holding his legs against his chest. "I miss all the friends I used to hang out with. And Asami, man I can't even imagine how she feels... how much she misses her fiancé, Zian. He meant everything to her, and she meant everything to him." He said as he looked down at his knees in sadness for his sister.

"Before the war started, I used to always visit my friend Kuzon while Asami would visit her fiancé Zian. The two of us, we'd get in and out of so much trouble together that both Asami and Zian had to save us sometimes! He was one of the best friends I ever had! And Zian would have been the best brother-in-law ever!" Aang said happily as he thought his past friend and would have been brother-in-law.

"And you know what, both Kuzon and Zian was from the Fire Nation, just like you." Aang said and turned to look down at me with a small friendly smile. "If we knew each other back then, do you think we could have been friends, too?" He asked as he looked to me with a kind smile while I looked to with a small shocked expression after hearing Aang's story. I already knew that Zian was Fire Nation, but I didn't know that Aang's best friend was Fire Nation as well.

I moved my head slightly when I then suddenly realized that my Blue Spirit mask was off my face and that meant Aang knows who I really am. Not really knowing what else to do, I jumped up and punched a blast of fire at Aang. Before the fire could hit him, Aang jumps up and blasted himself straight up to the tree. I lowered my fist and looked up to the trees and watched how Aang jumped from tree to tree, getting further and further away.

With a glare, I stood up to my feet as I watched him get away before my glare slowly turned into a frown when his story repeated in my head. Could Aang and I have been friends if it weren't for the war? Would Asami and I have met in a different way? Would we still have ended up together? Would I still gotten banished and lose my honor if it wasn't for the war? I thought to myself as I watched in a distance.

***

After I cleared my mind with thoughts, I returned back to my boat and returned back to my ship as I got out of my black outfit and back into my armor. As I got on deck, I saw Uncle Iroh sitting next to a table, which had a sleeping Kai on it, while playing his tsungi horn. Uncle Iroh stopped playing the horn when he saw me and looked up to me with a smile. "Where have you been, Prince Zuko?" He asked as I walked past him before he petting Kai softly on his head when the fire ferret snored.

"You missed music night! Lieutenant Jee sang a stirring love song." He said with a big smile. "I'm going to bed. No disturbances." I said as I entered inside the ship. I walked straight to my room and entered. After opening and closing my door, I was caught by surprise when I saw Asami laying in my bed asleep. Seeing her sleeping peacefully, I couldn't help but smile. I went to my bathroom and got out of my armor and changed into my sleeping shorts.

I exited my bathroom and walked over to my bed and got in bed next to Asami. As I sat down, I turned to Asami and gently kissed her on the lips. She hummed as she returned the kiss and woke up. "Hey..." I said as I gently pushed her hair out of her face. "Hey..." She said and sleepily smiled up to me. "Not that I'm complaining or anything, but what are you doing in my bed?" I asked as I laid on my back and pulled Asami into my arms.

"I wanted to tell you goodnight before going to bed..." Asami said before yawning. "But you weren't here when I got here..." She continued before yawning again and then cuddled into my chest. "So I decided to wait here for you until he came back." She said and slowly went back to sleep on my chest. I smiled down to her before I looked up and saw the Fire Nation banner on the wall from the corner of my eye.

I turned my head to the banner and just stared at it as Aang's words repeated again and again in my head. "What's keeping your mind so busy that you won't sleep?" Asami asked in mumble as she cuddle into my chest. I looked down to her for a moment before looking back to the banner. He meant everything to her, and she meant everything to him. Aang's words suddenly repeated in my head again, and I couldn't help but worry.

"Do you regret starting a relationship with me?" I ask before I could even stop myself from asking as my thumb run up and down on her shoulder. "Never." She answered immediately without even thinking about it and cuddled deeper into my chest. "You sure about it?" I asked, smiling a small smile, knowing what she will say next. "Absolutely." I smiled again before turning my back to the wall, to the banner and wrapped my arms around Asami before closing my eyes and went to sleep.