Everyone was getting ready to leave, ready to separate after the long journey. Ryoko stood conflicted on what she would do. She stayed with them all, waiting for something to happen when she could leave and go back. And now she has some reason, but she felt the immense amount of guilt when she thought of leaving the kid who ruined his own life. 

Katara goes up to Ryoko, a bag on her back. "You're not going with him are you?" she asks, but Katara already knew by the look on Ryoko's face. She didn't know why Ryoko would be so conflicted, and she wouldn't pretend to know. 

Ryoko holds Katara by the shoulders and looks deep into her eyes, pleading. "Are you sure you want to leave him? Think about it more." Ryoko didn't know why but she kept trying to talk to Katara. She grew fond of the water bender. She didn't want to see any of them hurt, and Ryoko knew what Aang did hurt them all. "You left your home for him in the first place. He did something stupid, he was acting on a terrible impulse, but he felt guilty and made the right decision before it was too late." She pauses and looks over at Aang who sat on Appa alone. Even if he was missing for over 100 years, he was still young. The same age as her when her father forced her to leave and go onto the ship. "And I don't think he just needs you. I think you guys need him too."

Katara didn't know what to say to Ryoko. She thought hate was all she could hold for the firebender, and yet here she was tearing up saying goodbye to her. Katara reaches for Ryoko, pulling her in for a hug. "He also needs you too," she whispers. Katara lets go and goes over to Aang. The both of them spoke lowly from where Ryoko was standing. It looked like a farewell, disappointing Ryoko. She sighs, her eyes finding Sokka. She walks over towards the boy who stood far from Aang and close to Bato. 

"I know what you're going to say, but I already made up my mind," Sokka says when he sees her approach him. Ryoko nods with a frown. She knew he was hurt by what Aang did. She couldn't simply change either of their minds and she accepted it. 

"Just be careful then." Ryoko couldn't say anything else and hugged Sokka suddenly. Sokka sighs, wrapping his arms around the firebender he was growing used to. 

"You too." Ryoko lets go and backs up, a ghost of a smile on her face and passes Katara, heading towards Aang again. She looked up at him and he perked up. Aang was an open book, Ryoko could tell he was expecting a goodbye from her.

"We should get going." Aang barely smiles, but he still appreciated the word we. She wasn't abandoning him. Yet. 

Ryoko climbs onto Appa's saddle, being the only one on it, she stays near the front so she can be closer to Aang. "I'm an idiot, Ryoko," Aang mumbles while Appa walks out of the abbey. 

"You're not an idiot, Aang. You just made the wrong decision at the time. We all make decisions, we have live with them." Ryoko sighs, bringing her knees to her chest. She knew she had to make a decision and live with it, eventually.

---

At the peaceful abbey, the growling shirshu broke through the entrance, the scents of the waterbender and the firebender letting it see everything around. The purple and red colored scents mixed together, swarming around the abbey. The shirshu lets out a growling yell. "We're getting close," June tells the two, whipping her whip to make the shirshu move again, but as they approach the entrance, Nyla halts, shaking its head and looking in two directions. 

"What's happening? What is it doing?" Zuko questions loudly. 

"Their scents are going in opposite directions." Zuko looks in the directions, wondering where Ryoko could have gone. Did she decide to leave the Avatar and get back to the ship? Was Ryoko trying to find him?

June takes the necklace from her grip and lets the shirshu take in Katara's scent once more. Nyla now having a clear head, digs it's claws into the dirt and takes off in a run with high speed. Zuko looks back to the direction he knew Ryoko went in, hoping she would understand when he did see her again. 

---

Ryoko stood on the beach with Aang as he tightened the reins around Appa's horns. She kicked the dirt, looking around at the forest in front of her. "Looks like we're going alone, guys." Aang stares down at Ryoko who paid no attention to him but instead on the ground below her. "I don't think she's coming with us, Momo," Aang then mutters to him sadly. Momo only makes a noise, his head twisting.

"Avatar! You must leave," the superior of the abbey trudges through the sand towards the two. Ryoko looks up at the superior, startled by her sudden announcement. Aang didn't comprehend her tone though. 

"Okay, I get it. Everybody wants me gone." 

"Aang, stop." Ryoko turns to the superior with a concerned expression. "What's wrong?" 

The superior looks between her and the Avatar, and then speaks directly to Aang. "A group of people came to the abbey looking for you." 

"Who?" This finally alarmed Aang. Ryoko's eyes widen realizing it could have been anyone.

"A fierce looking woman with a horrible monster," Ryoko looks away in thought, not recognizing anyone she knew, "and a young man with a scar." Ryoko's expression becomes stern as she stares into the older woman's eyes.

"He had a scar over his left eye?" The woman nods. "Zuko," Ryoko breathes out, while Aang's expression grew sour. Ryoko hadn't said his name in front of them since they saved her from her father's wrath and saying his name felt relieving. She would see him again. But how would he react when he saw her with the person he was trying to capture?

"The beast was using a necklace to follow you."

"A necklace?" Aang gasps. "Katara!" Aang jumps off of Appa and comes up next to Ryoko. "We have to go," Aang says to Ryoko. He opens his staff and looks at Ryoko who groaned. 

"Do we have to?" Aang just nods and she holds onto the staff over him, a grimace, a whine, and then a long yell from Ryoko when he takes off into the sky. 

---

Katara and Sokka walk on the trail, their decision made about going back to Aang and Ryoko. As they go towards the direction of the abbey, Sokka hears loud footsteps. He hold Katara to stop and the two jump away, the shirshu's ferocity backing them up against the dirt hill. The purple scent took over and the shirshu finds the owner of the scent. Zuko gets off of the shirshu and faces them. 

"So this is your girlfriend. No wonder she left, she's way to pretty for you." Zuko glares at the two water tribe members while Iroh quietly chuckles to himself. He leans in towards June.

"Wrong girl," he whispers to June who laughs. His nephew's feelings were clear to him, though they were not clear to the young girl who lived with them for two years. 

"Where is he? Where's the Avatar?" Zuko asks. Sokka glares at him and holds his arm out against Katara.

"We split up. He's long gone." 

"How stupid do you think I am?" 

Sokka smirks at Zuko. "Pretty stupid. Run!" The siblings run in the other direction, but couldn't make it far when the long tongue of the shirshu hits them, paralyzing them. 

"What are we supposed to do now?" June holds out her hand towards Zuko.

"Give me the sword." Zuko hesitantly takes the sword from behind his back and hands it to her. June was smart enough to know already, the opposite direction was not only where his girlfriend was but where the Avatar he was looking for must be, if they were together for most of the trip. To her it seemed like the scarred boy didn't want to admit it. 

June puts the sword in front of the shirshu's nose, before taking it back and then kicks lightly. Nyla starts walking slowly, the red scent leading it towards the siblings. "It's looking for your girlfriend's scent." She chuckles as the shirshu smells the siblings who gasp in fear. "She spent a lot of time with these two." The shirshu continues smelling, the map falling out of Sokka's bag and rolling onto the ground. Nyla smells and the red scent starts to mix with a blue scent. 

"I think your girlfriend is riding with the Avatar," June says with a smirk. Zuko clenches his jaw, ignoring her words as they grab Katara and Sokka and throw them on the back. They ride off towards the scents, but Zuko couldn't help but think what was Ryoko doing with the Avatar? How come she wasn't with her father and now was with them? Was she planning on coming back to the ship with him? Would he have to lose her again when he barely got her back?

He couldn't help but look around, trying to get any sight of her, but she was nowhere to be found. It was like the shirshu wasn't fast enough. There was no way he couldn't spot her when they did get close. Her golden eyes, her smile, her movements were all hard to miss. 

The shirshu breaks through the abbey once more, but starts moving in a circle, sniffing the ground. "What is it doing?" Zuko asks June. "It's just going in a circle." He was growing more irritated as the moments went on, like if he didn't see the Avatar or Ryoko in a moment he would break. 

Nyla looks up, the red and blue scents soaring into the sky, just like Ryoko and Aang who flew with his staff. Aang starts to move down, closer to the beast that was hunting them. "Aang, what are you doing?!" Ryoko yells as they closer until he pulls up last minute, causing Ryoko to scream and the shirshu and the rest of them on it to fall down onto the ground. 

"Aang!" Katara yells happily. 

"Ryoko!" Sokka yells at the same time as his sister. Zuko glares daggers at the water tribe member, holding himself up by his arms. His head whips around to see Ryoko land on her feet, her fist hitting the floor, before she stands tall on the left of the Avatar.

"Up!" June orders the shirshu, cracking her whip. She gets onto her shirshu, sword behind her, the targets on Ryoko and Aang. Ryoko puts her fists up, ready to defend herself against the large beast that had its eyes set on her. The shirshu takes off, picking up speed until with a large thud, it's thrown into the wall by Appa. 

Ryoko lets out a breath of relief to not have to fight it, but her head then turns and her breath hitches. Zuko stood across the way with clenched fists. While he glared at the Avatar, when his eyes met hers, his expression changed. He wanted to show his hurt but he hadn't seen her since she left and now she was finally there in front of him. She was alive, away from her father who countlessly manipulated and hurt. 

"Zuko-" The growling of the shirshu broke through her low voice and it growled from across the way, running at her. She groans, her nostrils flaring and rolls her eyes, jumping out of the way, while Zuko took the chance to throw large flames at Aang, his attention now back on the Avatar. "Are you kidding me?" Ryoko growls out, rolling out of the way of the shirshu's tongue. She swipes fire in a swift direction towards the shirshu, trying to defend herself in some way against the beast. She flips in the air, punching fire from her fist towards the outstretched tongue, burning part of it. The shirshu growls in pain, and then lets out a roar. 

June would be more angry, but decided to speak with the girl who seemed to get the scarred prince riled up. "You made your boyfriend pretty mad," June says, seeing the shirshu now recover from the burn. Ryoko's eyebrows furrow in confusion at the woman she didn't know. 

"My boyfriend? Zuko?" 

Appa lets out a growl from behind Ryoko, and she lets out another sigh of relief to not talk about her relationship with a random woman whose beast was trying to paralyze her. Appa stood in front of the firebender, as the shirshu then shoots its tongue out to hit Appa, causing him to fall to the floor. Ryoko slowly backs up from the two, the fight between the large creatures starting. She looks around and sees the older man who was as close as family and runs over to him. 

"Iroh!" Iroh smiles at her, despite the way they found her and lets her hug him tightly, him wrapping his arms around her as well. He smiles warmly even with the chaos surrounding them. "I've missed you." 

"We have missed you too." As she lets go, Ryoko turns her head, seeing Zuko and Aang continue to fight on the rooftops. Her eyes grow determined, slits replacing the pupils, but Iroh holds her wrist lightly. She turns back, yet he did not seem frightened by her changed eyes. "Let them be, Ryoko. Let it be their fight for now." Ryoko looks back to the two boys with a frown, and nods. She had no control when she grew with power. Iroh starts smelling the perfumes around him, showing her one of them to smell when she sighs. He hides one bottle in his sleeve. 

"How can I just sit here and watch this, Iroh? I- I-" Ryoko stutters, she didn't even know what she would do if she went into the fight. 

"Save your strength for another fight, Ryoko." They boys had fallen to the ground and their range of fighting grew closer.

Ryoko moves closer to the fight, prepared to take any necessary action, as Iroh moves with her. Aang is driven towards a wall, with Zuko and the shirshu both cornering him with attacks and his eyes meet Ryoko's. Her eyes widen while he pleads with her with his eyes.

Before Ryoko could make a move, Sokka, Katara, and the sisters of the abbey move the large jars of perfume across the ground and knock them over. Katara bends the perfume, throwing it up and dropping it to the ground on top of Nyla. The shirshu shakes its head, the scents all around it confusing it. The shirshu shoots its tongue out, hitting Ryoko first before she can react, then Zuko, and then June. The shirshu starts shaking its head, walking over the buildings, onto rooftops. Iroh catches June, letting her fall on him. Ryoko lay in between Zuko and Iroh, looking up into the sky. She couldn't move anything, not even her head, just her eyes. 

Aang wiped his forehead, tired from the fight as he stood far away from the paralyzed people. Sokka and Katara walk up to him, both of them putting a comforting hand on his shoulders. They glance at Ryoko, seeing her unmoving body on the ground and Aang looks up at them. "I think we should go, Aang," Katara says, trying to hide her disappointment. They knew eventually Ryoko would go back to Zuko, just not now. 

Ryoko didn't see her new friends take off in the sky on top of Appa, but she assumed they did and left, knowing her decision to not come along after all. She didn't have the ability to move or stop the stray tear from her eye falling down the side of her face. 

Zuko couldn't turn his head either but he could see the pain in her expression and her frustration. His eyes look to the side as one of the women come up to Ryoko, hesitantly looking at the fire nation members and putting a substance to her nose. Ryoko smells the substance and slowly starts to get feeling in her body. The woman puts down the bottle next to her. 

"I'm sorry," Ryoko whispers to the woman who nods and walks away from them. 

"Uncle, I didn't see you get hit with the tongue." Ryoko heard the older man shush his nephew. 

Before she could even make a decision, they seem to be made for her each time. She clenched her fist, the feeling coming back in her body to match her emotions. Ryoko begins to try to hold herself up. Her legs wobble but she manages to stay moving on the ground, her knees moving around. She takes the bottle, and slowly approaches Zuko who was completely paralyzed. Her bright eyes met his darker ones, he had been waiting for that moment, but not like this. Ryoko wanted to cup his face, to hug him in relief but she knew now was not the time. She knew they both had a lot to explain when they got back to the ship. 

---

Sokka, Katara and Aang all sat quietly, feeling a piece missing as they rode through the sky. "So, where do we go?" Aang asks the siblings, almost hesitant to ask. 

"We're getting you to the north pole." 

"Yeah, we've lost too much time as it is." 

Aang stops holding the reins, leaning over the saddle towards the two. "Don't you want to see your father?" 

"Of course we do, Aang, but you're our family too, and right now you need us more." 

Katara remembered what Ryoko said when they said goodbye to each other and sadly smiled. "And we need you," she tells him, knowing Ryoko was right.

Aang smiles at them and then looks away in thought. "I wish I could give you a little piece of home, Katara. Something to remind you-" 

"I'll be okay."

"Still, just a little trinket. Maybe something like ... this?" Aang pulls out her necklace, holding it up. 

"Aang! How'd you get that?" Katara asks as she puts the necklace back on her neck where it belonged. A part of her wished it was her new friend that promised to get the necklace back for her, but she knew it was too good to be true. Loyalties lie in strange places.

"Zuko asked me to be sure I got it to you."

"Oh, that's so sweet of Zuko. Would you give him a kiss for me when you see him?" She feigns a thankful look as Aang sits there proudly.

"Sure." Katara leans over, pecking Aang on the cheek causing him to blush. The three of them turned silent again, letting themselves think of the member of their team that was missing. They weren't upset because Ryoko was gone or that they couldn't see her, but because they knew they would see her once again. She was back to fighting them.

---

It had turned to night by the time they came back to the ship. Ryoko looked confused at the hole in the deck, where Iroh told her the shirshu tore a hole through it to catch a stowaway. Ryoko just shook her head and went to her room. She didn't have the greatest experience with the shirshu, she was glad it would be out of her life. 

She didn't waste any time talking to the crew, Ryoko wanted to make her presence known on a new day. Barely anyone was out anyway, she felt calmer when she wasn't bombarded by the crew member's confusion of her whereabouts. 

Ryoko steps into her room, her steps making small sounds on the metal floor. It hadn't been too long, but long enough where she missed it. It was so different than when she was with Aang, Katara, and Sokka. They only had Appa and the camps they made at night. Always different as they came closer to their destination. She was glad to see the one constant still there. She had nothing to put away or drop, just the clothes on her back. Ryoko rubs a hand over her face and wanted to leave the room just for a bit. She chuckles to herself, thinking how she was already leaving the room she had missed so much.

Ryoko felt like her feet were moving on their own as she made her way to the upper deck, feeling the light wind hit against her when she opens the heavy door. The firebender closed her eyes, her hands gripping the railing harshly. It didn't take long for the door to open, the metal creaking slightly. She knew who it was, who was looking for her. 

Zuko went looking for Ryoko as soon as he got settled and had a moment to grab her belongings she was missing from his room. His feet rushed to her door, not far from his. Zuko adjusts himself, knocking on the door and waited for a moment. He opens the door after hearing nothing, finding no one inside. Like the days she was gone, he would peer in, but this time he was expecting to see her there. Once again he was led to disappointment. He puts her bag and sword onto the floor and closes the door, knowing there was only one other place she would be at the time. At least this time he would be able to see her and not just think about it.

Zuko takes a deep breath and opens up the door to the upper deck, seeing the back of her head. Back on the ship again, where she belonged. 

"I have your bag and your sword," Zuko's voice says low, Ryoko almost couldn't hear him. It was different than he ever spoke, always loud and ready. 

"How did you find them?" Ryoko asks without looking back at him. She felt ashamed to look him in the eyes now, when she can be vulnerable. She hears his footsteps grow closer and and he was next to her, nothing in his hands. He holds the railing too, matching her stance. 

"Your father sent them here." Ryoko scoffed. Of course her father would remove any trace of her at his base and send them to Zuko. Ryoko knew her father's games, trying to confuse and distract him. 

The anger on her face was evident. "He used me, he lied to me, and then he tries to sabotage. I expected the worst, and then I got it! What kind of father does that to his daughter? How can he not care?!" She stops, her knuckles turning white from gripping the railing so tightly. Even when she wanted to forget her father and act as if he had no affect on her emotions, he dug his way through her head and heart. He was her father. At one time he was the man she was supposed to depend on most. Now he was the man she needed to fight. "I'm sorry." It was all she could think of then. The tears formed in her eyes, her chest tightened. She leaned her head down and shut her eyes tightly, the few tears dripping down onto the metal floor. 

Zuko looked down at her, caught up by her emotion. He couldn't be mad at her, he never could.  Being truly vulnerable was something she struggles with, and would never show to anyone. A soldier never looks away, a soldier doesn't show weakness to enemies or friends, that is what Zhao taught her. Zuko knew if she could cry and apologize like this, something had broken her. 

"What happened?" She looks up, the tears staining her face and she tried to look for the anger in his expression, exploring his eyes for the rage toward her, but there was none. There was concern, there was love. She had to be honest. She didn't know where to start.

"You saw me in Roku's temple. It was like that then." She paused and looked back out into the sea. "My father didn't trust me, he wanted to take me down, so I fought back. He was right to not trust me. I fought him and his men, and then I fainted. Just like in the temple." She remembered the day and she remembered the temple, the look in her father's eyes. "He's seen me like that before, even before the temple. I know it." 

"What is it?" Zuko had seen her eyes, the change in them at Roku's temple. The change in her. How much more powerful she grew in a matter of seconds. But he couldn't explain what it was that made her change like that.

"Avatar Roku's... guide, his dragon gave me abilities. I have a connection to him and to the Avatar. My bending grows stronger." She looks back to Zuko again who was ready to listen. "And I have dreams. Memories. They're not mine. It's like I'm trying to understand what's inside me, and I just don't know." She moves closer to him and she gulps. "I've tried to ignore it, I've tried to stop it but I can't. My destiny was chosen for me before I could even make my own. I can't help but feel confused." 

She pauses once again, letting Zuko take in the information she spewed before she spoke again, too impatient. "I can't be here to capture the Avatar, it was a mistake for me to be on the ship." She turns to leave, but her left hand was grabbed harshly by Zuko's. The look of urgency written on his face.

"Don't say that!" She didn't know the lengths he would go to, the money he would spend to find her and bring her back to the ship. She couldn't leave him again. It didn't matter if he found her with the Avatar. She was still Ryoko, not the Avatar's guide, or the reincarnation of some dragon. She was his Ryoko. 

Ryoko turns, facing him once again looking up at him. "Face it, I'm a liability to everyone and their failure." 

"Those are Zhao's words, not yours. You don't give up like that! You fight and you stand up. He's an old fool for not trusting you." His grip tightened around her fingers, trying to keep her there, but she wasn't planning on moving. 

"You went to find the Avatar and you fo-" 

"I wanted to find you!" Zuko snaps at her. The way she spoke lowly of herself bothered him immensely. She couldn't see herself the way he did. Despite being near the Avatar and going to her father, she was Ryoko. His best friend, the girl he loves. She was always there, and she continued to be there with him still, even when she was unsure about her own destiny.

"And you found me. Are you disappointed?" She's dealt with disappointment for so long. Her mother died, her father hurt her, held her back and pushed her away until he could ship her off. 

Her light gold eyes dug into his amber ones, and his breath caught in his throat. "No, you belong here." It was innocent and it was genuine. Ryoko gave a small smile, her hand still in his, the both of them not realizing. 

She steps forward, slowly, as if afraid he would run away. Her hand reaches up just as slow and cups his cheek, underneath his scar. The intimate act surprised him, but he didn't flinch at her movements. Ryoko's heart was beating too fast, but she was making a decision for herself for once since she left. She wanted to do this, to see for herself and give herself what she wanted for once, and possibly something he wanted for once in both of their lives .

She leans up with her feet pushing up, her right hand cupping his cheek, the other holding his hand. Their lips meet, slower than the other two times. It wasn't a rush from Zuko seeing Ryoko faint in the temple, or to say goodbye as Ryoko was leaving him. His left hand brushes against her back, holding her closer. It was different from the others, it was better. 

Ryoko moves back, removing her hand from his cheek. There was a look of shock on Zuko's face, surprised she took that moment. Neither could say it was a spur of the moment, and neither of them thought it was. She looks out into the horizon, a blush on her cheeks, and leans against the railing once more. Zuko stood closer next to her, their shoulders brushing against each other, neither of them letting go of the other's hand still. She leans her head on his shoulder, finding comfort in him being close. 

Ryoko knew how she felt about Zuko. She knew how she felt about her friends and her father. In the short time she knew she would have to make a decision, Ryoko would have to make a choice and face the consequences when they came.

___

A/N: So I'm obsessed with she ra: pop and if any of you watch it, know that Ryoko and Adora would totally be best friends and that is a fact 

The next chapter will be the deserter which will probably include some flashbacks :) Thanks for reading