The Dragon (Avatar the last airbender story)

Chapter 14: Zhao AKA The Jerk Who Tried To Kill Us

"I don't care if she isn't awake yet, let me see my sister!" I blinked the sleep out of my eyes as I slowly took in surroundings. "Zuko?" I mumbled out as I shifted and saw him standing in front of the doctor yelling at him. They both turned towards me, "Kaida, how are you feeling?" "Better, still a bit tired though. What happened?" I asked siting up, he looked hesitant about something. "You had a bad nightmare. You were shaking and didn't want anyone to touch you. Your friend used waterbending to calm you down." He explained, I nodded. Then I noticed his scar was redder than usual, "What happened to your scar?.......Wait..." I had a flashback of me lasting out last night with my firebending. My eyes widened, "Zuko, I'm so sorry! I wasn't thinking-" "Kaida, Kaida! It's fine. I promise, I'm just glad you're feeling better now." He reassured me with a smile, then he turned towards the doctor. "Leave." He hissed at him, the doctor nodded and quickly ran away. "What aren't you telling me?" I asked, he looked surprised. "W-What? I-I'm not hiding anything from you. Why would you even think that?" He exclaimed stuttering. I gave him a look and raised an eyebrow at him, "I'm not stupid, I can tell when you're hiding something from me." "I'm not, I swear." He stated, I stared at him for a few minutes. "Okay, but you better not be hiding anything from me." I stated, he nodded then Uncle came in to tell Zuko something. "What?!" With that he took off out the room. I fiddled with my thumbs as Uncle Iroh turned towards me. "Princess Kaida." "Please don't call me that." Iroh sighed and sat down next to me. "Did I ever tell you about how your name was chosen?" I looked up at him in confusion, he smiled at me. "I remember the day you were born. Your mother was very strong during the whole thing. I had gone to help a midwife clean you, it was then I noticed the red streak in your hair. It was small, but it was there. After, I had given you back to you mother, I was asked to leave by Ozai. I didn't know your name until three days after you were born, and yet I still loved you as if you were my own daughter the minute I held you in my arms." For some reason, my eyes had started to sting as I continued listening to him. He chuckled slightly, "You were so small and fragile. I was afraid of breaking you. But, I could tell that one day you would grow up to be a strong, young woman. Your mother, had a certain fascination with dragons. Which, is why she named you Kaida.  Because when they are born, like any newborn, they're small and fragile. But as they grow they become stronger and more powerful. They are complex, but wonderful creatures. They protect their own and never back down from their enemies." He explained to me, "Like me?" "Yes. Kaida, though you may not be my own daughter. I love you as if you were. You and Prince Zuko are the two most important people in my life. That will never change, even if Ozai is not your father." I smiled at him and hugged him. "I'm so sorry Uncle. I love you too. You're the closet thing I've had to a real father. Thank you for that and for everything you've done for both Zuko and I." He hugged me back, a couple tears ran down my face. 'Uncle's right. Blood doesn't mean family. Family are the bonds that tie us together. Family are the people who are there for you in your darkest times.' I thought to myself as I released him. I smiled as I wiped my face with my hand. "Thank you Uncle." "No need to thank me Kaida. Now get some rest, you've had a very long night." I nodded and laid back down as Uncle walked out of the room, leaving me alone. 

I jumped as I heard a loud bang, I got out of bed and went to see what the sound was. "Hello? Zuko? Anyone?" I walked out of the room and down the hall towards the bridge. "Mira? Mori?" I turned a corner and bumped into Mushu which caused me to accidentally punch him. "Gah! KAIDA! What was that for?!" "Sorry! I couldn't see and you scared me. What are you even doing creeping around like that?!" "I was looking for the noise! I think you broke something..." He touched his nose, and cringed. "Ahh! Yup, my poor snout! Now I'm nothing but an over grown-lizard! I'm useless!!" He whined, I rolled my eyes and patted his head. "Stop being dramatic Mushu. I didn't even hit you that hard." He grumbled something as he lightly touched his nose. I heard a bang again, "Come on, let's go find the others." "Uh, shouldn't you be running away from the creepy noise, not running towards it?" "Where's the fun in that?" I joked as I continued down the hall with him reluctantly following after me. "You're gonna be the death of me." He mumbled as we turned another corner. I spotted Zuko, "Kaida, What are you-" I didn't hear the rest of his sentence as an explosion went off and we all went flying out a window. "KAIDA!!" I felt something cover both Zuko and I before I blacked out and hit the water below. 

I was sitting on a log watching Zuko rant about how he was going to try to convince everyone to let him teach aang firebending. "Hello, Zuko here. But I guess, " he  scratched back of his head nervously," you probably already know me... sort of. Uh...so, the thing is, "He put his arm down and looked to the side hesitantly," I have a lot of firebending experience, and I'm considered to be pretty good at it. "He continues while smiling, "Well, you've seen me... you know, when I was attacking you?"I face-palm after he says that. 'That's great. Remind them of why they don't like you in the first place.' He continued talking, "Uh, yeah...I guess I should apologize for that. But anyway, I'm good now. I mean, I thought I was good before, but now I realize I was bad. Ugh, but anyway... I think it's time I joined your group, and taught the Avatar firebending." I look at him as he stands facing a badger frog that just croaks,"Well! What's your answer?!" He yells at it which causes it to jump on his head. Zuko slumped his shoulders as the badger frog hopped off his head. I walk over and place a hand on his shoulder, "Maybe you should try something else, think of what uncle would say." He proceeds to imitate Iroh's voice and pretends to hold an imaginary beard on his chin as he starts pacing. "Zuko, you have to look within yourself, to save yourself, "He releases his finger and points," from your other self." He turns and paces in the opposite direction as he raises his finger as he pretends to be lecturing,"Only then will your true self reveal itself." I look at him and hit him on the head gently, "That is not what I meant when I said think of what uncle would say." "Well then what would you say huh, they would probably trust you more than me." He shouted at first then slumped his shoulders again. I look at him sadly, "I think they trust us both the same amount at this point." I slid down to the ground against the log, thinking about what happened. Zuko looked at me as he came over and sat beside me. "You never did tell me what happened." I sighed and brought my knees up to my chest then looked at him. "All I know is that Aang won't come anywhere near me. At least that's what it seemed like during the Eclipse." I stated then Zuko frowned, "Kaida." "Yeah?" "KAIDA!!" 

I coughed spitting out water as I shot up, "You're awake!" I felt someone hug me, "Mori? W-What happened?" I asked coughing slightly after he let go of me. As I looked around I saw we were in some sort of cave. I saw Mira kneeling on the other side of me looking relieved. "There was an explosion, we thought you and Zuko were gone. Until we heard Mushu yelling for help. You two are lucky he was there to protect you." "Mushu? Where is he?" I asked noticing he wasn't there. "He's fine, he got burned pretty bad from the explosion, but he should heal just fine." I nodded as Mira pointed to where Mushu was sleeping. "Where's Zuko and my Uncle?" Mira and Mori looked at each other. "They went after Zhao. He thinks you two are dead, so Zuko decided to go undercover on his ship while they headed towards the northern water tribe." "What? Zhao is heading towards the Northern water tribe? What for? Was anyone else on the ship hurt because of the explosion?" "No, you and Zuko were the only two on there at the time since Zhao took the crew." "That jerk! How dare he! When I see him again I'm gonna make him wish he never messed with-" "Calm down." I let out a deep breath to calm myself down, "Wait, why aren't we with Zuko then? If Zhao is up to something then he's going to need help." "Well, he kind of is planning on kidnapping the avatar so Zhao can't." I crossed my arms angrily, "Of course he is. Alright, well as soon as Mushu is better we're heading North." They nodded, "Uh, there's one more thing we need to tell you." I looked at them confused, "Why do I get the feeling this is not going to be happy news?" I asked as I noticed the looks on their faces. "It's not really bad, but it's not great either." Mori said holding something, "Stop beating around the bush and give her the mirror already." Mira stated crossing her arms. Mori handed me the mirror cautiously. I took it as I looked at both of them, then I held the mirror up to my face. I gasped in shock as I saw that not only had the red stripe in my hair taken up a majority of my bangs, but I had scales along the sides of my face. They were slowly disappearing though, "Are-What the hell is wrong with me?!" "We don't know, all of your skin was like that when we first found you, they started fading as soon as you were away from the fire though. I think it might be a defense mechanism. Kind of a side effect of you Dragon powers. I think they protected you from getting burned, but I wouldn't go marching into a giant flame if I were you. Since we don't know exactly what caused them to appear." Mori stated smiling at me awkwardly, "Maybe Mushu will know. We can ask him when he wakes up. Besides they're almost gone now." Mira stated. I nodded still staring in the mirror, 'This Dragon thing just keeps getting weirder and weirder.' I thought as Mori went to check on Mushu. "You should rest, you need as much energy as you can get." Mira told me as she gently pushed me back down. I nodded and laid down on the make-shift bed they had made.