By Your Side (Zuko x Reader) (Sequel to Torn Heart)

My POV:
"Don't grip so tightly," Zuko corrected, "You want a light, but firm grip...Now swing in one fluid motion. Good."
The prince held me from behind, both of us gripping the hilt of the sword. We stood on the beach, the midday sun cooking me from the front, my partner's body from behind. I could feel Zuko's breath tickling my ear.
"Now put some strength behind it. Harder. Harder,"
"Hey, that's my line," I teased. He kneed me in the back of my thigh.
"Focus, will you?"
"Why do I need to learn to use a sword anyway? I'm fine with a bow,"
"Yes, but that's all you're good with. You can't rely on one skill alone to protect yourself. You lose your bow and arrows and you're useless,"
"Hey," I made a face at him over my shoulder, "That's what I got you for."
"Right, but I'm tricking you, remember?"
I faltered, "What?"
"I'm tricking you," he repeated, "To get to Aang? Remember, Y/N?"
I let go of the sword and whirled to face him, backing up, "Zuko, please. He's my friend."
Zuko advanced, his face still in a gentle smile, "But I'm more, aren't I? You wanted to tell me you love me after all. You led me straight to the Avatar. After. All."
"That was a mistake. I didn't know—"
In a blink of an eye, Zuko's face contorted into pure rage, a way I'd never seen him, "Oh, please! You are so fucking naive! You couldn't protect him, you couldn't keep me around! Where do your loyalties really lie, Y/N? You still dream about me, while following him. Pathetic!"
He plunged the sword into my gut.
I jerked awake, screaming, grasping at my middle, but all I found were my pajamas and blankets. I was soaked in sweat and tears were streaming down my face, but I quickly realized I was in my room.
Moonlight and lamplight streamed through the window, accompanied by city noise as I perched on the windowsill. I'd never been in such a big city as Ba Sing Se, and I was learning this city never slept.
Maybe I was becoming one with the city too, as sleep was evading me as well.
"Y/N?" came a voice in the doorway. Katara stood there, rubbing one eye, "Trouble sleeping again?"
"Yeah," I turned my gaze back out the window. I wonder if she heard me scream, but they'd probably gotten too used to me screaming in the night. We all cried out sometimes in our sleep anyways and were too used to the sounds of each other's trauma's to react every time.
She sat across from me, "Something on your mind?"
I fought back a grimace, knowing she was just being polite. She knew full well what was on my mind. I sighed, "Same as always."
"Zuko," she said, and just hearing his name spoken was like that sword being stabbed through my center. "You still think about him?" she asked incredulously.
I sighed, closing my eyes. There it was. I had felt my friends' patience with me waning and now...
"I wonder where he is, if he's safe, what he's doing..."
If the nightmares are back, if he's sleeping okay, how Iroh's been annoying him lately, if he's eating well, and drinking enough water...
Katara couldn't hide the exasperation from her voice, "I'm sorry, I just don't get how you can still hold him in your thoughts after everything."
I laughed mirthlessly, "I love him. I can't help it. I always will, no matter what."
"But he tricked you. He tried to hurt us, he's tried countless times before,"
"I don't care. I know it doesn't make sense—I wish it did. And I wish I didn't, but I just love him,"
When Katara didn't answer (just kept staring at me like I'd grown an extra head), I snapped, "I wouldn't expect you to understand. You're dating the fucking Avatar."
She opened her mouth to retort, but I continued, "I'm going to try to sleep again. Do you mind?"
Her mouth stayed open for one more second, before Katara seemed to resign herself and stood up, "Okay, good night. Have good dreams now, okay?"
"Sure,"
But when she left, I stayed where I sat, thinking about Zuko, where he might be.
He could be thousands of miles away by now.

No one's POV:
The dirty teacups clinked together as Zuko placed them on his tray and carried them back through the restaurant. "Refill!" someone called to him as he passed their table, some middle-aged man in pea-green robes.
"Just a second," Zuko said, fighting to keep from grumbling out the words. Like it or not he had to keep this job in this shithole city. He couldn't decide if Ba Sing Se was better or worse than roughing it in the wilderness.
At least when they were in the middle of nowhere he had Y/N. But here he actually got some sleep, coming home exhausted from work. But sleep itself had it's pros and cons: when he slept he just dreamed of Y/N, but at least Uncle Iroh got off his back—a bit.
As he returned to the man with a teapot, Zuko's eyes landed on a familiar face, frozen in the doorway. He was sure he was imagining things. She appeared in his dreams each night, but now she haunted him during the day.
Y/N.