The sea hissed at the black rocks below the ridge, and the partial moon threw a pale road across the bay just beyond the river town. Fires blazed in hands or on torches, Zuko's soldiers hustling their damned selves back to his cruiser, and leaving the Earth Kingdom soldiers too busy quenching flames to chase as the caught breath before the lowered prow ramp.
"Your highness! You escaped!" a firebender called out at first sight of him sliding down a gravelly embankment.
Zuko had a certain menace to his stride that gave even his rage-tempered men more than the usual pause. He glared, head tilted back and eye's wide with a fire quite new even to him, and he powerfully commanded. "Hold the line. I'm dealing with 'Lady Raven' PERMANENTLY this time."
Teeth clenched all around at his tone.
"She's injured—just over the ridge. Just need—hahh—a moment," he growled and sucked in air, seeing his men glancing with worry at the orange glow of smoke blending into black with the night sky over the briefly raided town. "Give me those! Now!" he pointed at a spearman, and the metal manacles on his belt.
Aaaand... Raven broke through the brush, just around the foot of the embankment, a streak of grey and pale white skin as she flocked the the light, brushing soot and sweat matted hair off her cheek, and her boots skidding on needles, but simply refused to fall, and she definitely wasn't going to come quietly. "Zuko... you... coward... stop... running..." she huffed, rolling the shoulder she fell on, shaking the soreness off the matching foot.
"Thanks for making it easier!" he scoffed, motioning firmly to the spearman with the irons, who fumbled for them.
Every helm on the path twitched. None stood to bar her, or him, and they all but forgot the burning town over yonder.
Iroh, amongst the soldiers, slowly approaching the furious tow, hands raised. "Oh, little miss, if you could stop and just—"
"I am NOT a child," she snapped, without looking at him.
Iroh tensed up, glancing at Zuko who was way, way past boiling, the pot dry over flames at this point. "You should have run," he growled lowly, still utterly furious at her interference and even more obnoxious refusal to stay at the bottom of the cliff he'd flung her off only moments ago.
"You'd know all about that!" she downright barked at Zuko.
Zuko didn't shout. Anger had been his steady companion for so long; tonight it was tempered. She was done. She just didn't know it yet.
"Not again," he said, dry and certain, but he spoke up loud, firm and clarion, "we're never doing this again, Raven! No more 'Agni Kai', no more of your little AMBUSHES. No more BULLSHIT." And he yanked the iron manacles away from the spearman, stuffing them haphazardly to hook on his own belt, and stomped right for her, growling, "I should have done this at the Southern Water Tribe." Then he sneered, "none of your little friends to help this time, BRAT."
Zuko's soldiers started forming up, at least to face her, still lost on why the two betrothed teens were fighting, so none were in a hurry, and most of all Iroh had an exhausted impatience, like he'd been waiting days for his chance to speak, but it wasn't going to ever come. It was so bad he actually handed his teacup to the nearest spearman.
Those spears and the men that held them meant nothing to Lady Raven Arza, glossy back hafts unsteady well before she simply grabbed them and pushed them aside, not through strength, but status alone saw the men recoil in self-preservation.
She was catching breath from the sprint, but her hands were steady, fingers already flexing with showers of sparks in each grasp as she barged right past, even furious Zuko halting, wondering where she was going, till she planted her feet in the wet sand, depressed and displaced by the prow ramp. Voice low and very controlled, she said, "you don't run from this."
He just scowled at her. He didn't need to say 'idiot'. But he did nod to his ship and say, "I've a nice frosty cold cell for you up there, give up now and MAYBE I won't put you in there naked." He patted the weighty manacles with a heavy clatter.
The soldiers silently wanted to be elsewhere.
But she instantly scoffed, looking at the men who overheard that. "Y-you!" and she waved her hands, arcing up a display of flames at anyone else daring to still be present. "Get out of the way, you buffoons!"
The spearmen and firebenders fanned out, away and around the two, just close enough not to be charged with desertion. Iroh, however, wasn't having it, and stepped between them with a tense smile like a peace banner holding a knife. "Let us assume there is a… misunderstanding. PERHAPS we could all—"
A red arc cracked off Raven's palm—not aimed to maim, but close enough to hiss in front of Iroh's feet. The soldiers flinched as one. Not one moved.
"Stay OUT of it, general!" Raven reinforced, actual jets of flame between her teeth for a puff. A heavier wave crashed up to kiss her heels as if to emphasize her malice.
Zuko's eyes cut toward the men. "All of you, whatever happens," he told them. "She's Lord Arza's daughter. You touch her, you'd be lucky to ONLY to be banished." His mouth twisted. "I'm handling her myself."
"You won't," Raven said, and came at him. "And why aren't you still injured?!"
He just looked at her with disappointment, throwing up his hands. Somehow she was disregarding her own much worse injuries having vanished miraculously, so he gave her only, "really good gravy, Raven. What does it matter." And he dropped to a ready stance.
Her first sweep was even more textbook than usual: low, heel-led, a crescent of heat that ate shadow off the path and cook every drop of moisture from the salt-laden sand. Zuko stepped through, elbows out and riding the edge of her flame to shear it apart on both sides, then snapped a jab that would have cracked a lesser block. Raven met it palm to palm in a flash of white, pivoted, and the surprise of her actually blocking him flawlessly for once left his guard down just enough. She launched up with a knee, too close to dodge, it was take the hit or eat the flames. He swept his hands, let the little girl have her tiny, insignificant win, and he grunted as the fire died to wisps, but he slid back from he force.
Raven saw it, urgency of a rare moment where she had him stumbling, but had solid footing herself as she landed like she could do no wrong into a perfect lunge after him again. A quick narrowing of her hazel eyes came with her mad grin.
"Oh," she said, a knife of satisfaction. "Got you pretty good, HUH?!" she blurted out, her breath igniting as she used the strongest bending kick she dared sacrifice speed for.
Despite the flames bathing around him, Zuko still grunted, "that was luck and you KNOW it!" He lost two more steps back, shook embers from his sleeve in a halo of smoke as he couldn't quite bend it all away. "Gah!" he breathed out, not loving that burst of searing pain at all, but he'd repay more than full...
She wasn't going to be baited, she bit her tongue, and held the advantage. Still close, and the bastard in no position to just grab her, she cut a short, brutal kick at his ankle, throwing a loud cracking burst of explosive flame, throwing him back enough to have to roll to his feet. It strained her throat as she sucked in air, trying to keep the bending combo ignited, and settled for the ease of her House's signature move. Zuko didn't read her quite in time for once, her streak of 'luck' was lasting, she beamed with vile joy, and swept the searing thin lash as hard as she could, not even caring where it hit him.
But he simply raised his still well wrapped arm and let it connect, accepting the fast and weak blow shredding and eating his sleeve to give him time to find footing. "That it?" he sneered, sending a hot blast back at her feet, although at least she nimbly hopped away, and didn't have to scramble.
Her teeth clicked. "Die."
Iroh sighed, very softly. "Spirits give me patience."
"Uncle!" Zuko snapped, not taking his gaze off Raven.
"Not now!" she agreed.
"Exactly now..." Iroh murmured, mostly to himself. "Just try not to kill each other…"
"You're so fucking sure of yourself." Raven circled, boots grinding gravel. "You've gotta little quip for everything, huh? So cool, so calm, bet you think you look like damn hero to those gawking fools," she nodded to his soldiers keeping a distance. She made a quick step forward, a direct blast. He leaned, bent the rest, threw one back, she ducked. She took a deep breath, he took the brief moment to close with her again. They both knew it was over if he got his hands on her again, but she held her ground anyway, and spat, "bet you can't say her fucking name straight." He paused, head tilting just a smidgen. She grinned, she knew it would rattle him, she KNEW it. She grinned, wild, and demanded, "say Asha's name!"
Zuko stared, not understanding and not trying. "How would THAT prove anything?! Gah, you're so... nuts!" And he had complete confidence as he advanced at her suddenly again, she reeled as if he meant to grab her, but instead he threw blast after blast of well formed and well timed fire to shred her guard and ruin her stance as it pushed her back into the unreliable tides, creating a cloud of hissing steam from the wet sand. She blinked, bewildered, thinking she'd thrown him off, but she was the one trying to find her feet all the sudden!
But she finally caught one. She saw the chance, took it. Her foot barely raised in time. "Stop calling me CRAZY!" The flash was brilliant, painting the ship and beach white, turning each soldier pale as a ghost, and searing beam shot his way too fast to dodge... if he hadn't expected it, having hopped aside before his flames even met the sole of her boot.
"You ARE crazy!" he bellowed back, rushing forward, foot sliding in damp sand but he didn't give a damn, because landing that counter of hers took her ages to recover from. His kick shot hard against her chest, she caught the fireball, struggled as is turned molten and dared splash right over her. Her feet splashed heavily in the waxing tide as she turned silhouette in a brief cloud of steam from it all. "Asha!" He snapped. "Asha, Asha, Asha! Wow, I'm amazing! I hope you just LOVE never seeing her again when I LOCK you in a damn CAGE!"
Her composure fractured, jaw shaking. "Agni… burn… you," she got out. "Have you no shame at all!?" she rasped, she managed to get out between throwing aside each mighty burst of flames into the sizzling shallow water, the rage making it easier again.
"Raven," Iroh tried again, stepping closer, "if Asha—"
"Stay OUT of this!" both of them barked, perfectly in chorus, but his voice was a deafening roar, and only he went on, "back on the ship! ALL of you!"
Despite her urge to call him a coward, something had changed—something tenuous in his gaze, searching for meaning, had finally found it, and was very, very certain. Her skin prickled from head to toe. Just the ocean wind nipping at her from behind, surely. She knew Zuko would only ascend that ramp if she did, and she was proven when his heel left the sand at the first scarce flicker of her turn.
Steaming sand gave way to packed gravel and hardy grass under her heels, every step a risk as sight failed in the tangled streaks of almost pitch black, with ghost grey brush and trees, and she heard his right behind. Neither even checked if his men had followed orders, the dim lowest lights on the cruiser only visible in weak embers through the dry bark of old windswept forest. He was hunting her, whether she was truly running or not. Her heart skipped a beat as she wasn't sure, not that she'd admit it, but the heat of her rage overtook it and she swung herself around.
She skillfully spun round and sliced her palm as if to drive away his attack, but no light came to bend away. For a moment, her eyes danced in the dark, grasping for what the dim outlines meant, then locked on his breath. It was an almost meditative, long pull, and his utter stillness of expression, sinking slightly as he exhaled, was wreathed in embers and orange-hot smoky wisps from his slightly parted lips, and his closed but no longer clenched teeth.
She was looking right at him, he surely could barely see her, she was in a ready stance and he stood almost off-guard, and yet when she moved...
"AAAAGHk!" she cried out, raspy and pained.
That slice of her palm, she'd turned smoothly and stepped into an open palmed blast, but it puffed as smoke when he hooked her wrist, rolled it, she felt something pop under his grip and pain shot up her arm. He'd never hurt her like THAT before, and again it made her heart skip. She froze for a moment, only able to stay on her feet as he barged forward and she had to stumble back, her hand still in his possession and twisted. There was something careless about it, like he really had always been holding back—until now. It was only a breath as the thought struck her, and it just made her... so fucking mad.
"RrrrRRAAAHH!" she bellowed, pushing back as he nearly slammed her to the ground, perhaps just catching him in an ideal position to break his hold, she jerked that throbbing hand again and burst flames, after terrifying seconds of almost pitch black.
It was just in time to see his other hand, and she flung her body aside too. Jets of searing hot fire went just past each other's cheek, both like only one of them was walking out of this patch of woods. That rage of hers disregarded his killing eyes, but she knew he wanted his hands on her, so slammed her elbow into his chest with a burst of flames just strong enough to set them smoldering.
Back only one step, Zuko did lose her hand, but he just gave a breathless cruel laugh, sneering as she furiously rubbed her throbbing wrist, and he said, "you're not getting away." So flat and thin it slipped between her ribs, and it burned.
She twisted up, tried to think of anything, just wanting to hurt him any way she could. "Do I look like a bald kid in the dark?" she snapped back. "Your eye giving you trou—"
He instantly stepped into a sweeping kick, the orange arc washing over her, leaving flickers on sooty bark and turning tall grasses into candles, but she parted it.
"You will be shutting up now," he said as fact, as he barged up to her in the now at least dimly lit environs, wreathed in a vague circle of flames.
The light made it clear she'd gotten herself into a biiiit of a dead-end of thick brush leading right up to a crumbling bank of loose turned earth that her heel was already slipping on slightly, so she lunged forward, half trying to get past him, but the impulse to attack him still clung on for dear life, and in the end if was a mess of movement he easily blocked on all accounts and clenched hard on her still good wrist, but she still pressed as if to break right through him.
He raised his eyebrow at her unmitigated failure to even struggle properly, her eyes flickering as she dug deep for something mean to say at least, and he intoned, "looking for another kiss, Raven?"
The flickering stopped, her eyes met his. She did not kiss him. "That was just to throw you off! And it worked, huh?!" she shouted, mad as all hell and utterly unconvincing.
He just raised that eyebrow a little higher.
He didn't even bother calling her on it.
They both knew.
Her face burned red, for once, with more shame than rage, and he gave her the oddest look, like... he pitied her? Whatever it was, she hated it, and felt his grip loosen just enough. She STOMPED her foot down while he had her half-way grappled. The toe of his boot roasted as he pulled back, the burst of flame giving her space again, but still nowhere to run. Her heart wrenched in her chest, and her stomach, hell just about everything in there was trying to abandon ship at the sight of him smoothly taking a stance, with absolutely certainty he had already won. That way he looked at her like he knew her better than she knew herself. It always made her SO MAD. So it would give her the fuel she needed to at least get past him, surely, at least.
A quick one-two punch like motion, open palmed, her small quick jets of flame he flicked aside. She knew she needed to follow up instantly, duck low, feint a sweep, get just enough space to get off her one-two kick as well. Bring flames up under him. Force him to move aside. Even if he saw it coming, she could get past. He noticed the delay—her stiff jerking down, but back up. He knew she was uncertain. He can't know that. He doesn't get to. Absolute panic.
"Don't make me seriously hurt you, Raven." He told her like he was scolding. She felt for an instant very, very small. "Give UP," he demanded.
"N-never!" she bit. Her voice warbled. Why? She wanted to curl up under the smoking leaves and die. She wasn't even afraid, she was... well, 'angry' wasn't quite right anymore. Her chest fluttered so hard it hurt, and she gulped awkwardly to force it down. "Don't give me that smug look!" she growled.
She ignited her whip, a blazing line of cutting vengeance springing forth from her clenched hand—the one that still worked—raised over her shoulder with the near electric tip snaking and skirting in volatile leaps across gravel and sizzling patches of rapidly wilting grass. He just took a breath, grimaced, and moved for her like it amounted to nothing.
She lashed high across him. He ducked low, flickering a glance at the seemingly reckless arc. He stepped closer.
Raven's hand went above her head, she took in a deep breath, puffing out her chest. His gaze flickered down. Her face burned. Her whip fell. He jerked ever so slightly, but didn't quite dodge, nor block. Her hand trembled with the sputtering whip, barely still entwined, and he just looked at her again like he knew fucking everything all over.
"You ASSHOLE!" She shouted. It carried, but it was a shriek, lacking the menace she wanted...
She swung her whip, again and again, five, six, maybe seven times. One of them maybe, almost accidentally hit him. He largely ignored her flailing. She didn't even try to turn and run as he seized her. He clenched her still good wrist, and the whip dangled, flickering and wisping, and it curled the tattered fabric of what was left of his grey-burned-black sleeves. He had her other wrist too, and she felt herself falling back, the whump against the embankment not as painful as it was jarring, at least, winded by it her whip finally sizzled and popped out of existence with a trail of thin smoke, drifting into the almost golden orange patch of woods.
His face was right there, again. She HAD to look him in the eye, she forced herself to. He wasn't even struggling. She writhed under him, pinned down completely, her boot sliding down his leg and finding no purchase. "I HATE YOU!" she bellowed, all the anger she wanted coming back to do her bidding at once.
He took in one deep breath, lips pursed, then teeth bared briefly. "I KNOW." He shouted back, like it was the most frustrating thing in the world.
Every part of her face twitched. What the hell was she DOING? He moved closer, why, no, don't do that, he can't do that, because then she'll... do it too.
Raven's lips met Zuko's. Neither was surprised this time. Neither fought, nor pulled back, they couldn't if they wanted to. And that just made it all the more infuriating.