Play With Fire ~Zuko X Reader~

-24- The Firebending Masters

Aang then tripped over a wire. Aang used his bending to keep him from falling into the pit of spikes that opened up. He then jumped over to the other side of the pit, "Zuko, I think the past is trying to kill me."

"I can't believe it," He examined the trap, "This booby trap must be centuries old and it still works."

"There's probably a lot more. Maybe this means we shouldn't be here."

He jumped and made his way across the pit, "Where's that up-beat attitude you were talkin' about? Besides, people don't make traps unless they've got something worth protecting."

I followed them deeper into the 'ruins'.

"Look, this seems promising," We came across a carving of a person being surrounded by two dragons who are breathing fire at them, "Though I'm not sure what this tells us about the original source of firebending."

"They look pretty angry to me."

Aang looked at the carving curiously, "I thought the dragons were friends with the Sun Warriors."

"Well, they had a funny way of showing it."

"Something happened to the dragons in the last hundred years," We stopped walking, "Something you guys are not telling me."

He answered for me, "My great-grandfather Sozin happened."

We found ourselves walking over a bridge, "He started the tradition of hunting dragons for glory. There were the ultimate firebenders. And if you could conquer one, your firebending talents would become legendary and you'd earn the honorary title, Dragon. The last great dragon was conquered long before I was born, by my uncle."

"But I thought your uncle was... I don't know, good?"

"He had a complicated past. Family tradition, I guess. Let's just move on."

I stopped, "You guys go ahead. I'm going to look somewhere else. I'll find you later."

They walked off.

I had been here before. That's how I was able to first learn how to firebend. I was never able to draw my flames from anger alone. So I came here when I was eleven. Iroh had told me about the place, saying that he believed I could handle it. And since my father only cared about my bending and not me, he allowed me to go by myself with zero objections.

"Chief!" I called out as soon as I got far enough from the others, "It's me! (Y/N) (L/N)!"

"Lady (Y/N)," He and his warriors appeared out of nowhere, "Welcome back."

"It's fun to be back," I placed my hand on my him, "But I'm not here for fun. I didn't tell them about you guys, but the Avatar, and another firebender, are here to learn about firebending from its source."

"Let us discuss."

It was soon nighttime. I followed the Sun Warriors to the temple of the Sunstone.

"Help!"

My eyes widened, "That's Aang!"

We approached a grate at the top of the temple, Him and Aang were stuck in the goop, with their heads sticking into the air, "Who is down there?"

He let them out, aardvark sloths cleaned them off, "For trying to take our sunstone, you must be severely punished!"

"We didn't come here to take your sunstone. We came here to find the ancient origin of all firebending."

Ham Ghao approached the chief, "Yeah, right. They are obviously thieves, here to steal Sun Warrior treasures."

I sighed, "I already told you. They're just here for the firebending."