The Girl With Golden Hair

Chapter 15: The Cave of Two Lovers

A/N: This is a quick, self-indulgent chapter that strays only slightly from canon because I anted Ayaka and Zuko to have their cave of lovers moment. The only canon I broke is that the cave was accessible after the fire nation blocked it off, I'm justifying it by saying badgermoles cleared the caves entrance. Enjoy!~

 We travelled miles and miles, continuing on with Zuko's search for Aang. The trek lead us to a watering hole, with a large waterfall, surrounded by lush vegetation. My feet were hurting and I was tired. "Can we stop here for a moment? I'm tired."

"We can't stop now. Any sign of his direction could be lost in a matter of hours!"

"I'm sure we'll be fine. We can spare a rest for a few minutes, maybe a half hour." Zuko huffed, but sat himself on a rock by the shoreline.

"Thanks Zuko!" I said, taking of my shoes, and dipping my feet in the cool spring water. It was a relaxing thirty minutes until Zuko found white clumps in the water.

"This is his bisons fur!" He looked to his left and saw footprints that lead away from the watering hole, "He went this way! Come on, we're leaving!" He commanded, and I sighed, putting my shoes back on and followed him.

The three of us eventually came upon a cave, it appeared as through rocks had previously fallen, but have since been cleared. We looked up to the off hang above us, where smoke was rising from the top. It was a Fire Nation camp. "We can't go around or the Fire Nation will spot us, we have to go through." Zuko told us.

"Um, I'm scared of the dark." I told him.

"Don't be a baby," He scoffed, "You can firebend, remember, use that for light."

"Okay, whatever."

With our two ostrich horses, Iroh, Zuko and I entered the dark cave. Our only light came from small flames we held in front of us. We found ourselves at multiple dead ends, and seemingly we were lost in the caves. "I think we're lost." I said to the two men.

"No shit." Zuko grumbled, "I think these caves are changing, when we retrace our steps, we don't end up where we once were."

"That's impossible! Just admit we're lost and stuck down here!"

Iroh shook his head, placing a hand against it, "You two need to stop your bickering, I am getting a headache."

"I'm sorry Iroh," The cave started to shake when I said that. Ruble started falling for the ceiling, Iroh jumped to the left taking the ostrich horse with him. Before larger pieces hit me, Zuko tackled me to the right, getting us both to safety from the falling rocks. The darkness consumed us and I tried my best to not breath in the kicked up dust. Zuko help me up, hold a flame above me, "Are you okay?" He asked holding my chin between his thumb and forefinger, and tilting my face left to right. His gold eyes were filled with worry. I noticed in that moment that Zuko's hair had grown just a tad longer from the buzzcut he sported after cutting off his ponytail. He looked... nice.

"Yes, I'm okay." My voice just above a whisper as he continued to scan my arms for any injuries, "I promise, I'm okay. Thank you."
"You're welcome," He took a step back, "We should continue on ans try to find a way out and a way to get to Uncle."

"Yes we should." We walked in silence, the light from the flame in my palm bouncing off of crystal embedded in the cave's ceiling. We walked in silence for a long time. The cave smelled like petrichor and dirt. The occasional bat cried somewhere far from where we were in the tunnel. The floor of the cave was covered in damp gravel that crunched under my feet.

Eventually the tunnel opened up into a cavern blocked off by a stone gate. We pushed open the gate to find paintings littered the walls, as well as alcoves that held multiple statues. All of them were either a man or a woman. Down the large stone staircase, two sarcophagi sat in the center and appeared to be carved out of the mountain. They each took the shape of a man and a woman. The sides of the sarcophagi were carved to show a story.

I motioned Zuko over to where I was, "Look at this, these carvings. I think they tell a story."

"It does." He traced them for a second, "These two were in love, their names were, Oma and Shu. They lived in separate villages, who were at war for each other." The traced the carving of arrows volleying across a valley at the opposing mountain. His fingers glided over the carving over the two earth bending, "They learned how to earthbend from the badgermoles, and they made this cave in a labyrinth so that they could meet each other in secret. Until Shu died in battle. Oma threatened both of the villages with earthbending unless the lived in peace together. Giving way to the founding of Omashu." He told the story for me.

"That's so sad," between the two sarcophigi was a phrase in chinese characters, "What does this say?"

He side stepped next to me, and bend slightly to read the engraving, his cheek brushed mine, "Love is brightest in the dark."

"Oh," I was so thankful that the room was dark to hide the red blooming on my cheeks and the tips of my ears, "Do you think that..."

We turned to face each other, "It could get us out of here." He whispered, we gravitated toward each other ever so slightly.

"Zuko, I-" Before I could say anything, probably something incoherent anyway, his lips pressed against mine. My arms clung around his neck, and his circled my waist, pulling me closer. I could feel light hit my eyelid but we kissed for few moment longer before pulling away, our faces lingering close to each other, "I think it worked," I breathed.

Zuko gave me a lopsided grin, his cheeks dusted pink, "I think it did. Maybe we should..." He trailed off.

I looked up to the ceiling the crystals glowed a soft blue, "Before we lose light?' He nodded, and as we left the tomb, his hand took mine. We walked hand in hand until we found ourselves at the end of the tunnel. The daylight hit us, and as my eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness, I saw Iroh sitting at the mouth of the cave, drink tea.

His eyes landed on Zuko and I's interlocked hands, "I see you found your way out, I forgot to mention that this was the cave of two lovers. I'm assuming you figured it out though."

Our hands ripped away from each other and both mine and Zuko's face grew tomato red, "Come on we need to get moving!" Zuko barked, trying to cover up his embarrassment.