Zuko's POV

          Zuko marched up the ramp of his ship, the defeated crew hauling themselves back inside. There were many injured from the Kyoshi Warriors, and all were tired. 

          Zuko strained to keep his eyes forward, to focus on the problem at hand: the Avatar had escaped again. Still, every bone in his body ached to turn around. He gave in halfway up, slowly turning on his heel to look back down at the beach below him.

          The limp, crumpled figure still lay next to a big rock. The spiked stone surface was spattered lightly with dried blood, and was black at the top with scorch marks. The unconscious person wasn't burnt, but whenever the tips of the waves touched her head, the foam tinted red, only dispersing when it retreated back to the sea.

          You did that. A voice in his head reminded him, and his anger dissipated into regret and sorrow. He moved to take a step back towards her, but stopped, suddenly furious with himself.

          She's getting to be a distraction. He stared at the red tinging the sand around her head. Restore your honor. Your throne. That is more important. Always has been. Leave the desperate peasant. 

          Zuko turned back towards his ship, proud of his decision. He entered the ship, and a crewman pulled a lever, metal grinding as the ramp lifted up to close again. 

          Zuko knew he should immediately get to work, but he paused, glancing back at the closing door, barely catching a glimpse of her H/C hair, matted with blood and tangled everywhere. 

          Y/N...

                              Y/N's POV 

          Y/N felt herself waking up, and immediately regretted it, silently crying in her mind for someone to shoot her with a sleep dart, or knock her out. Her head throbbed uncontrollably, and a sharp knife of pain went straight through her brain as she opened her eyes to the bright sun.

          It took her a few minutes to sit up and get her wits about her. The memories didn't come back until she saw the partially destroyed village nearby. She whipped her head around to look back at the beach, and the indentation in the sand where the ship used to be, and where the ramp fell.

          He ditched me here. She thought in disbelief, slowly scooting back to lean against the large rock she's had hit her head on. After a moment, she realized it wasn't so much of a surprise. She had expected it to happen much sooner.

          "What's the matter? Your friends leave you behind? Awe." Y/N snapped her head up to see a girl, dressed in a Kyoshi warrior uniform. She stumbled up fast, unsteadily taking a defensive stance.

          "Stay back." She threatened, nervously glancing around as two others appeared behind the first. 

          "Or what? You'll firebend at us? We're pretty used to it by now, and you don't have your army to hide behind." The Kyoshi warriors advanced, and Y/N slowly stepped into the shallow water, thinking carefully.

          "It's not what you think. I'll be on my own way if you leave me be. This is your last warning." Y/N's statement was ignored, all three girls drawing fans from their waists and leaping at her.

          She yelled in fear and uncertainty, still feeling unsteady as she bent the water around her, slicing their fans in half and cutting the golden tassels that hung inches from their necks. She brought all of the water up, slowly exhaling to freeze them in place, a sharp icicle at each of their necks.

          "Now," Y/N breathed, a cold chill still on her breath form freezing so much water at once. "You're going to tell me which way the Avatar went."

                             —|〰️〰️〰️|—

          Y/N travelled for days, using the money she got off a piece of jewelry connected to a Kyoshi uniform she stole from the town. She didn't feel bad about it, not after all the nasty things the frozen warriors called her after she let them go. 

          She quickly bought and put on Earth Kingdom clothes, folding and keeping the Fire Nation silks in her new pack. The Earth Kingdom fabrics were rough, and uncomfortable, so she used them only as day clothes, but they did breathe nicely, and were very durable.

          After renting a one-person boat to the mainland, she was pretty lost, simply heading in the general direction the Kyoshi Warriors had specified, hoping they didn't lie to her. At least she always knew where she was, the maps ingrained into her memory.

          The money she had was also useful for medical treatment, and she finally got to bathe for the first time in way too long, which felt amazing.

          Still, all the paths looked the same, and she wasn't getting much good information from the other travelers on the road, and she was quickly losing hope in finding her siblings. What would she do next? She was in the middle of some Earth Kingdom forest with no way of getting all the way back home, even if she did find her brother and sister. 

          And I said  Zuko never thought things through. Y/N thought bitterly.

                             —|〰️〰️〰️|—

                                Zuko's POV

          Zuko screamed in rage as the doors to Roku's Sanctuary sealed shut, leaving the Avatar safe inside. All this chasing, back to the Fire Nation, avoiding Zhao, and he was getting away, again.

          "Open the doors!" He ordered the sages, firebending into one of the keys of the door, the remaining four loyal sages doing the same. The door remained motionless. "What's going on? Why won't they open?"

          "Whatever is happening in there," A sage spoke softly, "Roku does not want to be disturbed." Not happy with this, Zuko paced quickly, grumbling under his breath.

          "Fancy seeing you here, Prince Zuko." Zuko whipped around to see Zhao and about a dozen soldiers entering the room. "Arrest the banished prince, and restrain him." Zhao ordered, several soldiers grabbing Zuko and chaining him to another's pillar, similar to the Avatar's friends.

          "You can't get to him. He's locked himself in the sanctum." Zuko spat, struggling in his chains.

          "Then I will simply wait for him to come out." Zhao said with a smile, standing in front of the door patiently. The room fell into tense silence as everyone waited, save for the grunting and chains rattling coming from the pillar to Zuko's right. 

          He glanced over to see the younger waterbender girl, Katara, struggling futilely in her chains and screaming in frustration. She looked like a younger, angrier version of Y/N, but lacking the self control and charming demeanor. Zuko continued to stare at her, unable to get his mind off the difference.

         "What are you looking at?!" Katara spotted him looking, and spat in his direction. "Stop staring, creep." Zuko frowned, letting his shoulders slump. Y/N would've made a flirty comment and made a strange face.

          "What? You look regretful, yeah I bet that's how you feel. Stop giving me that face, you have no soul. Go and jump in the island lava flows, you jerk." Katara continued spitting insults, none of them very creative, and Zuko was getting tired over her annoying voice. 

          Y/N wants her back? I couldn't survive a day with her. He thought, finally looking away and leaning his head against the pillar, unable to do really anything but wait and think.

          "I wonder where you are right now?" Zuko said aloud quietly, sighing to himself. "Probably need another mode of transportation, watertribe peasant. I wonder who was insane enough to let you on their ship. Your sister is the worst, by the way."

          "What did you say? Look at me when I'm talking to you, unless your having a little conversation with yourself, sorry for interrupting." Katara's voice dripped with sarcasm, and Zuko felt like breathing fire in her face. 

          "Where's Y/N?" The words slipped from his mouth before he could even think about it first. Katara narrowed her eyes, lips pursed together.

          "How do you know her name?" She asked, and didn't get an answer, just a blank stare. She looked at him doubtfully, but continued. "We left the worrywart at home. She's too scared to leave the village, and would never let us go. The coward is probably cooking fish and-"

          "Do not speak about your sister like that." Zuko barked. "She takes every risk, puts her life on the line in so many different ways, to make sure YOU'RE safe! And you run away and talk rubbish about her? Dishonor on you!" 

          Zuko was shaking with rage, and something else. Jealousy. Azula would never go to such lengths for him, unless it benefitted her. Y/N loved her siblings, and would do almost anything to keep them safe. 

          Be thankful your family cares so much about you, bratty pest.