Zuko was angrier than ever. He hated the world. He hated himself for leaving his uncle and sister. He hated himself for not anticipating Azula's attack. He hated Azula for attacking. He hated the Avatar and his friends even more for not being the ones who were shot.

The only person that he couldn't bring himself to hate was his uncle. Zuko knew that he suffered dearly for the loss of his niece.

Zuko wanted to hate his uncle; he wanted to blame his uncle for Aiko's condition, and he hated himself for it. It's not Uncle's fault, he had to remind himself.

Aiko's injuries didn't look bad, but she had been out for three days; they feared the worst. Her breathing was ragged and shallow. Her expression was pained, even as she slept. It scared him. It scared Zuko.

He had just gotten to know his sister, and every moment with her reminded him of his mother. He loved the idea of having someone that he could talk to, other than Uncle, of course.

He'd miss the quarrels they always got in. He'd miss the times where she'd make comments that made no sense at all, and when he asked what she meant, she'd simply say, "inside joke," and begin laughing hysterically.

His sister.

Who was always there when he needed to be brought back down to Earth, when their uncle couldn't.

His sister.

Who would take lightning for him, but still never pass up the chance to make a sarcastic comment towards him.

He was losing his mother all over again.

Iroh had noticed his nephew's despair. Of course, his nephew had a very different way of expressing himself than he did. His nephew had pushed him away every time he tried to approach, let alone talk to him.

The young Prince hadn't left Aiko's side. Iroh knew that he felt guilty, but he was being irrational and unhealthy. The retired general couldn't help, but make a connection between the two.

When Zuko had gone off on his own, Iroh's niece refused to do anything, except search for her brother. Now, their roles were switched.

Iroh couldn't blame them, though. Other than himself, they were the only family that they had. They confided in each other.

And now she was gone, possibly for good.

Iroh hurt so much because of her loss, but he didn't show it- he couldn't show it. He saw them both as his own children, so her state hurt him as much as losing Lu Ten had.

He was losing his son all over again.

He had to remain strong for Zuko's sake. For his own sake.

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Aiko's POV

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I ran through the yard, being chased by my adoptive mother. The two of us had smiled on our faces. She just about had me, so I had tried to jump around her and run in the opposite direction, but I tripped over her, and we both landed on the ground, laughing.

The scene changed abruptly. It was raining, and the old oak tree from my home stood tall over a tombstone. My mother stood over my memorial sobbing silently.

"Eden, I'll miss you."

"Aiko" the voice was recognizable, but I couldn't place who it belonged to.

"Aiko." My eyes opened. When was I asleep? The first thing I noticed was the pain. That, and Zuko's concerned gaze hovering over me.

I tried to sit up, pained as I was, but Zuko held his hands up to stop me. He lightly pushed me back down.

That's when I noticed that we were in some sort of abandoned house.

"You were unconscious. Azula did this." Zuko spoke.

"You should take it easy." Uncle added.

"How am I not surprised?" I scoffed. Pain shot up through my chest, causing me to place my hand on my stomach to try to releave some of it.

I noticed that there were bandages across my abdomen.

I sat up against the wall, as Zuko handed me some tea. "I made you some tea. I hope you like it."

I rose a brow slightly. Why didn't Uncle make it? I took a sip, and noticed that it tasted sour. I cringed slightly, but put a smile on my face anyways.

"That was very... stimulating." Hey, it wasn't a lie. It awakened my senses to danger.

"So, Uncle. I was thinking-" Zuko began.

"Yep. That's a dangerous thing to do." I couldn't pass up the opportunity. I've been out for who knows how long, I've probably missed a few opportunities. Now's the time to make it up.

The weird thing is, instead of glaring playfully or annoyed, he simply smiled. How long was I out?

"I was thinking. It's only a matter of time before I run into Azula again. I going to need more advanced Firebending, if I want to stand a chance against her." He sent a meaningful glance my way, but it was so quick I could almost pass it off as my imagination.

"I know what you're thinking. She's my sister and I should be trying to get along with her." Zuko continued.

"No. She's crazy, and needs to go down!" He corrected.

"I mean, look at what she did to me!" I laughed lightly. I've always been able to make light of hard situations, but they didn't seem to appreciate my joke.

"It's time to resume your training."

I smiled, and began to stand, until Zuko pushed me back down again.

"Would you stop doing that? I was hit with a flame, not a thousand boulders. I'm fine!" I swatted his hands away, and stood up. When Zuko tried to get me to sit back down, I punched him in the shoulder.

"I'm. Fine. I feel fine. There's no need to play overprotective brother right now." He frowned before looking to Uncle for back-up.

"We should at least allow her to watch. She's a very visual learner, watching the techniques will help her greatly." Uncle winked at me, and I smiled. I was going to learn some more Firebending.

"Uncle!" Zuko growled, but ended up complying anyways. It's not like he had much choice either way.

I still needed to do some major work on my basics, but Uncle decided that hearing and watching the lesson will help in future training.

Uncle wasted no time to get to work.

He made us some tea, and began to explain what we were going to learn. "Lightning is a pure expression of Firebending: without aggression. It is not fueled by rage or emotion the way other Firebending is. Some call Lightning 'The Cold-Blooded Fire'. It is precise and deadly like Azula." He poured the tea and handed a cup to each of us.

"To perform the technique requires peace of mind." I took a sip, happy to be drinking some of Uncle's tea. Let's just say that he knows what he's doing.

"I see. That's why we're drinking tea: to calm the mind." Zuko noted aloud.

"Oh yeah! Good point." Uncle chuckled, and so did I. Typical Uncle. "I mean, yes."

He nodded, before speaking again. "The next part of the lesson would probably be best outside."

I stood up slowly, as to not agitate the wound any further, and follow the two outside.

They stood at the edge of a cliff located just outside our shelter, and I sat a good seven or eight feet from Uncle in order to let him do his thing. Zuko stood on the other side.

"There is energy all around us." Uncle began. "The energy is both Yin and Yang; positive energy and negative energy. Only a select few firebenders can separate these energies. This creates an imbalance. The energy wants to restore balance. And in the moment the positive and negative energy come crashing back together, you provide release and guidance; creating lightning." He gestured for Zuko to stand back, considering that I was already a good distance away.

He slowly circled his hands in front of himself in large sweeping motions, creating electric sparks around his fingertips as he went. He then stopped and shot his hand forward, releasing lightning out into the open sky.

It didn't take a Sherlock to know Zuko was excited to try.

"I'm ready to try it!" Zuko smiled.

"Remember: once you separate the energies, you do not control it. You are simply its humble guide. Breathe first." Uncle advised.

Without hesitation, Zuko took a deep breaths and followed Uncle's motions exactly. One small difference was that it wasn't creating sparks, so when he finally went to shoot it, he ended up with an explosion that nearly hit me. It did, however have enough force to shove me about five feet to the side.

Zuko have me a wary glance to make sure I was okay. Once I got over the quick surge of pain, I sent him a smile, so he knew that he hadn't done too much harm.

He immediately went to go try again. Repeatedly.

He tried a good 10 or 11 times before he finally began complaining. "Why can't I do it? Instead of lightning, it keeps exploding in my face. Like everything always does." I frowned at his statement.

"Why are you so upset? Just give it sometime, you'll get it eventually." I spoke gently to him. Now wasn't the time to make his day worse.

"I was afraid this might happen." Uncle's voice came from behind us, scaring me half to death. I forgot he was there; I was too busy watching Zuko fail at creating lightning.

"You will not be able to master lightning until you have dealt with the turmoil inside you."

Zuko snapped. "What turmoil?!"

"That turmoil." I coughed inconspicuously. He understood anyways, and glared at me.

Uncle sighed. "Zuko, you must let go of your feelings of shame if you want your anger to go away."

"I don't feel any shame at all. I'm as proud as ever." Zuko retorted.

"Pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source. True humility is the only antidote to shame." Uncle explained.

"Well, my life has been nothing, but humbling lately." I rolled my eyes at him.

"No, it hasn't. Apparently, this experience hasn't dampened your pride at all, so it can't be that humbling."

Before Zuko could reply with comeback, Uncle cut in. "I have another idea. I will teach you a Firebending move that even Azula doesn't know, because I made it up myself!" Uncle's smile brightened my mood.

We sat down. Well, more like they sat down, and I scooted over to them. I still had a hard time standing up with this stupid injury. Someone, please remind me to give Azula one to match.

Uncle began drawing symbols in the dirt and explaining them. "Fire is the element of power. The people of the Fire Nation have desire and will, and the energy and drive to achieve what they want.

"Earth is the element of substance. The people of the Earth Kingdom are diverse and strong. They are persistent and enduring.

"Air is the element of freedom. The Air Nomads detached themselves from worldly concerns, and found peace and freedom. Also, they apparently had pretty good senses of humor!" I smiled and shook my head. Zuko just stared at him blankly. Spoil sport.

"Water is the element of change. The people of the Water Tribe are capable of adapting to many things. They have a deep sense of community and love that hold them together through anything."

This was all new to me. Something tells me that it shouldn't be, but it was. "Wow. I never realized that each group of people had ways of life so much like the element that they manipulated." I noted in awe.

"Why are you telling us these things?" The way Zuko said those words made me wonder if he had really matured as much as Uncle said he had. Zuko was considering Uncle's words without anger or brashness, but true curiosity.

"It is important to draw wisdom for many different places." He took the staff he was holding and drew lines in the dirt between each symbol. "If you take it from only one place, it becomes rigid in stale.

"Understanding others, the other elements, and the nations will help you to become whole." He drew a circle around all the elements to represent unity.

"All of this four elements talk is sounding like Avatar stuff." And he lost it. He was doing so good with not even mentioning him in the past hour. He just had to go ruin it.

"It is the combination of the four elements within one person that makes the Avatar so powerful, but it can make you more powerful, too." He poked Zuko's chest.

"You see, the technique that I am about to teach you is one that I learned by studying the waterbenders." Zuko's eyebrow raised was something close to shock, but then it turned into a smile.

I nudged him with a smile. "Hey, Zuko. If we learn the techniques of the other elements does that make us, like, Fire avatars or something?"

He gave me a deadpanned look. "No."

I attempted a frown, but it came out more like a laugh. "Well, I thought it was funny."

He rose an eyebrow. "You seem to be easily amused."

I nodded, finally finished with a fit of giggles. "I am. Although, it could just be the injury. Possibly the blood loss, or the treatment I received caused me to be delusional... Not sure."

He looked almost regretful. I just hit a nerve. "I've been meaning to ask. What happened that caused you two to become so touchy about it? You more than Uncle, which I kind of felt was weird."

He shook his head. "We should probably go see Uncle." Without another word he stood up, and walked over to Uncle, who was standing closer to the cliff's edge once again. He was waiting patiently for us.

What has gotten into him? I mean, yeah, I got hit, but it wasn't too bad. Was it?

I attempted to stand up, but ended up collapsing again from the pain. What did she do to me?

With a grunt of effort, I got into my knees and crawled my way over to them. Uncle met me half way, and helped me to my feet.

With his help, I made it to where they were practicing.

Zuko gave me a wary look, before taking over as my crutch. I smiled at him, but he seemed too preoccupied to notice.

After a few minutes in place, I decided I was capable of standing on my own. I let go of Zuko's shoulder, and set myself in a solid stance that kept me balanced while not putting too much pressure on my abdomen.

It was a challenge.

Zuko shook his head, and sent some sort of pleading look towards Uncle, who nodded. What is going on?

Zuko picked me up bridal style- despite my protests- and placed me back down on the floor of the house.

"Stay here." His voice was stern, yet kind.

"But-" I tried, but he cut me off.

"Please, Aiko. Do So this for me. I don't want to see you in anymore pain." He walked out slowly.

I'd really like to know what happened now.

I let the comfort of sleep embrace me.