"Come on… Come on…" Zuko mumbled as he peered at the rumbling clouds above them. Lightning forked in the distance, too close for comfort for two people flying through the sky in a metal war balloon. One strike to the balloon and the whole thing would go up in a blaze of fire and fall out of the sky. Beside him, Suki cursed under her breath and gripped the bench as the balloon lurched in the sky.

"How close are we?" she asked in a tense voice.

"Not close enough," he replied, as he turned his gaze toward the ground. He slowly maneuvered the balloon down in a steady descent, searching for Capital Island amidst the turbulent iron-gray seas. He saw the blaze of the city lights a moment later, illuminated on the horizon like a distant, beckoning flame. He immediately corrected the rudder, but the headwinds resisted him, tossing the balloon around like the frothy foam in the waves far below them.

His hand gripped the rudder, correcting their course with every gust of the wind. His knuckles were white as he kept his gaze on the glow of the Fire Nation Capital in the distance, so maddeningly close and yet so far away from them. Another lightning strike sizzled through the sky, bright and hot. It made the hair on the back of his neck stand up as the rain pounded the windows of the carriage around them.

"That was too close, Zuko," Suki said, peering out the window.

Sweat popped out on his brow as the island and safety grew ever closer, inch by agonizing inch. The balloon dropped lower in the sky, coming in low and fast as the wind shifted, slamming into the balloon and causing it to whip to the left in a mad rush.

Zuko and Suki were both flung into the benches with a hard lurch. Zuko's head slammed into the window with a crack and a crash. Stars were flung across the blackness of his vision for one long moment, as everything spun and swooped. He heard Suki groan beside him, and tried to reach for her. Rain and wind poured in through the broken window, slapping him awake when he would have slipped into true unconsciousness.

He grabbed the seat and pulled himself up as Suki gained her feet and lurched toward the rudder. She yanked it to the right, blood pouring down her face from a cut on her forehead. Pain radiated throughout his skull and he felt blood trickling down the back of his neck, but he blinked back the blur in his vision.

"Are you okay, Suki?" he asked as she corrected against the drag of the winds threatening to toss them toward the sea. She nodded, looking pale, even beneath her white makeup.

"You're bleeding!" she said, her eyes huge. He clutched his head, his fingers coming away bloody. The storm poured in through the broken carriage window at his back, pooling water on the bench and the floor. The wind was a snarling beast, scrambling to get inside and send them off course.

"I'm fine," he shouted over the wind, and lurched toward the furnace. He opened the door and shot flames into it, hoping to stoke the balloon. They needed all the speed they could get. The storm—or hurricane, he was beginning to think—was getting stronger and it was biting at their heels. He glanced back at Suki, at the blood trickling down the left side of her face and the fear in her eyes. "I'm sorry. I should have listened to Aang."

"We'll fight about it later," she said, tugging on the rudder as the wind buffeted them with a stomach-churning lurch. "Let's just get back to the Capital in one piece."

"Agreed," he breathed, as he blinked the stars out of his vision again, rain dripping down his face, the wind twisting their hair into knots as it swept through the carriage. The island drew even closer as the storm intensified around them, chasing the balloon like a hungry dragon. Lightning forked above them, around them, threatening death and flame. His gaze hit Suki's and he felt his stomach churn.

It was all his fault they were in the storm in the first place. His fault that she was in danger. His fault that he hadn't listened to Aang when he'd warned him that a massive storm was brewing. He'd been so sure the war balloon could outrun it. So arrogant. And his arrogance had put her danger.

"Come on…just a little farther…" Suki said, breaking eye contact with a shuddering exhale.

The island loomed beneath them, the lights of the harbor and the city just beyond it shining bright against the storm.

"We need to land at the harbor!" she shouted over the wind, but he shook his head.

"There's too much of a downdraft and we're going in too fast! We'll get smashed into the walls or miss the road altogether and slam into the city. We need to aim for the Caldera!" he shouted back as he slid toward her on the wet, bucking floor of the carriage and put his hands over hers on the rudder, aiming for the Caldera above the city. The balloon was too low in the sky though and they had to climb higher and higher to clear the rim of the ancient, dormant volcanic caldera the palace had been built within. The wind blasted the balloon as it poured over the jagged peaks, threatening to send them spinning out of control again.

Lightning suddenly cracked around them, blinding them with a bright white light that seemed to fill them from head to toe. He gasped, letting go of the rudder as the balloon made a crackling popping noise. The light faded a moment later and he had to blink to clear his vision. Suki grabbed the rudder again, but something was wrong; he knew it by the way the balloon seemed to sag in the sky.

"Damn," he said, rushing to the broken window and thrusting his head out into the storm. He could clearly see the glow of the fire the lightning had started on the balloon. Cursing, he glanced at the Caldera slowly rising below them. The wind had the balloon now, twisting it to the left again, threatening to take them back out to sea as the fire on the balloon caught and spread. Suki was yanking the rudder to the right, to no avail.

"What's wrong?" Suki screamed as he withdrew his head. He turned on her and swallowed hard. "We got hit, didn't we?"

"The balloon's on fire. We're going down," Zuko said, fear welling in him. Fear of the storm, of the crash that was inevitable now, and fear of what might happen to her. "I'm sorry, Suki."

"We can still save this," she said and he saw the fear well in her as it had in him, and then she shut it down. An icy determination took hold of her and he saw her jaw tighten. "I'm not dying in this damned balloon. How much time do we have left?"

"About a minute before the whole thing disintegrates and we plummet."

"Then we need to get as close to the ground as possible. We're going to jump and you're going to slow us down with your Firebending. Got it?" she said just as the balloon lurched to the side again. She tugged on the rudder and sent them down in an angle toward the mansion-lined plain of the Caldera. His eyes narrowed on the distinct inner ring of the palace, as she aimed for the wide plaza that separated the palace from the home of the other nobles. It was the only place a burning, crashing war balloon would do the least amount of damage.

"Suki…"

"We're going to survive this, Zuko."

He turned on her, his heart pounding out of control. "Suki, I…I need to tell you—"

She freed one hand from the rudder, grasped the front of his wet, blood-stained robes and slammed a rough kiss to his mouth that was all too brief, but still made his racing heart pound frantically against his rib cage. She pulled away a moment later and shouted over the rain, "Tell me when we're safe!"

He swallowed, staring into her eyes for a long moment. The fear was back, along with worry for him and the banked emotion he'd glimpsed in her more than once. He took a breath, the wind tearing at them through the open window, and then nodded. Then he turned back to the window, watching as the world rushed up to meet them.

The heat of the spreading fire had started radiating from the roof of the carriage, blasting them with the blistering warmth. They were two-hundred feet off of the ground, heading straight for the empty patch of cobbles when the balloon gave another sickening, stomach-lurching rush. The carriage plummeted toward the ground, slamming Zuko and Suki into the windows again.

"SUKI! HOLD ON TO ME! DON'T LET GO!" he screamed, reaching for her. He grabbed her around the waist as she threw her arms around his neck. Then he reached out, gripping the broken window frame hard enough to dig shards of glass into his palms, and then heaved them both out of the window and into the open sky.

The rain-lashed air swept around them, the wind blinding as they sped toward the ground in an uncontrolled tumble. The burning carriage slammed into the ground and immediately exploded, sending a blast of heat tumbling them backward. Suki screamed in his ear, her grip on him slipping. Thirty feet from the ground, he managed to shoot flame from one of his hands, slowing their fall enough to allow them to hit the hard ground in a skin-scraping, cloth-tearing tumble that sent them sprawling in a bloody, bruised and broken heap a few feet from the crashed balloon. Suki rolled away from him as he landed on his stomach.

The rain pounded him as the air was knocked out of his lungs. Blood was in his mouth, bitter and real, and the heat of the flames was like a wall of lava at his back. The puddled cobbles beneath his cheek were spotted with blood. Darkness crept across his vision in little dots, threatening to take him.

"Suki…" he managed through bloodied lips. He moaned, his scarred eye opening and closing as the rain stung his scraped cheek. "Suki…where are you?"

"FIRE LORD ZUKO! CHECK THE CARRIAGE! WE HAVE TO GET THEM OUT!"

"S…Suki…" he managed, recognizing Ty Lee's voice on the air. He tried to lift himself and found he couldn't move. Everything hurt. He was dazed, dizzy and his arm had a funny bend in it that made him sick to look at. He ignored it, thinking only of Suki, and how she'd rolled out of his arms mid-tumble.

"…ZUKO!"

He lifted his swimming head and saw several figures running flat out toward him across the wide plaza. Chief among them, he saw with the oddest touch of pride, were the Kyoshi Warriors, their painted faces blazing like white flames in the storm.

"Suki… Help Suki…" he said as his gaze easily picked Ty Lee out of the group. She was leading the charge across the plaza, her wet green skirts plastered to her legs, her helmet long gone, hair plastered to her skull. She hit her knees before him, skidding to a stop and throwing herself over him. She rolled him in place and gasped.

"Zuko!"

"Crashed…balloon. Barely got out," he coughed. "Where's Suki? I need to… Suki… M'fault…"

"Suki's here!" one of the other Warriors called. "She's hurt and bleeding!"

"Get a stretcher! Get the Royal Healers! NOW! We need to get them away from this fire and inside before they go into shock!" Ty Lee screamed.

He was vaguely aware of the other Kyoshi Warriors around him, of Ty Lee's worried face as she hovered over him, blocking as much of the wind and rain as she could. Thunder boomed around them as the storm increased in strength, blasting them from all sides.

"Is she okay?" he asked Ty Lee as the darkness spun through his vision and he felt his grip on reality slipping away. "Please…"

He heard Ty Lee bark at someone in a worried, terror-filled voice. The next moment, she bent over him, "She's alive. Zuko, she's alive."

A ghost of a smile caressed his bloody lips as he heard running footsteps coming toward them. A moment later, true darkness took him and spun him away from the pain, cold wind, stinging rain, and hot fire.

Suki's head drooped toward her chest as her eyes threatened to close on her. She jerked her head up and took a deep breath of ointment-scented air, blinking rapidly in the dim light of the Fire Lord's bedroom. She sat forward on the chair, ignoring how exhausted and sore she was, as she stared at Zuko's scraped, bandaged face.

He was breathing steadily, his broken arm wrapped and splinted atop the heavy red covers. His scar was thrown into stark contrast by the candlelight. He moaned a little in his sleep and the sound made her bandaged hands fist in her lap.

He could have been killed, she thought for the hundredth time in the three days since the balloon crash. Why didn't I insist on staying in Yu Dao when Aang warned us about the storm? Why did I let him talk me out of it? Because he gave me that look. Damn him. I can't resist him when he gives me that look.

Or maybe I just can't resist him at all?

"Suki?"

Her head snapped up again, and she realized that she'd dozed off a little. She found herself staring at Zuko, who was watching her with a peaceful expression on his face. She let out a breath and nearly burst into tears. She held herself back as relief flooded her.

"Zuko, you're awake!" she breathed and leaned forward, lifting a hand to touch his cheek, but pulling back at the last minute. "The Healers said you'd be okay, but you hit your head pretty hard. I was starting to worry."

"What about you?" he asked immediately, grasping her hand. "Are you okay? Your face…"

She lifted her hand to her cheek, which had been scraped on the cobblestones. "It'll heal. I broke my ankle and got pretty scraped up, but I'm in better shape than you. You broke your arm and some ribs, not to mention the concussion. We're both lucky we didn't get killed."

"Don't feel lucky," he said, lifting his broken arm and staring at the splint with a weary, accepting gaze. "How long have I been out?"

"Three days," she said as she reached for the glass of water on the bedside table. She poured the glass and then helped him to sit up enough to take a deep drink.

"And how long have you been here?" he replied after he'd gulped half of the glass. He sank back against the pillows with a sigh. "You don't look like you've slept."

"Two days and I haven't," she said, taking the glass from him and setting it down. "Not really. I wanted to be here when you woke up."

"To yell at me?" he teased, making her smile.

"Oh, no, Ty Lee's going to handle that one. She already ripped me a new one for flying through that storm," she said, stroking his hand with hers. There was a hitch in her chest as she held his gaze. He looked at her and wordlessly let the tiniest of smiles touch his bruised lips. "She's going to yell at you too, just as soon as she knows you're awake and okay. She wrote Aang and Katara and they're coming in a few days."

"Can't wait."

She brought his hand up to her scraped and bandaged cheek. "You could have died."

"So could you," he said, guilt in his eyes. "I'm sorry I didn't listen to Aang."

"I could have insisted we stayed. I thought we could make it, too."

"But the decision was mine. I put you in danger."

"I don't care about me. You could have died, Zuko," she choked, and to her horror, the tears she'd been fighting since the crash spilled out of her in a flood. She couldn't hold them in any longer. Couldn't hold her feelings in. She had denied herself for so long. She remembered with perfect clarity the moments before the crash, the look in his eyes, the brief, desperate kiss she'd pressed to his lips. The fear in his eyes for her. The emotion. "Don't you ever do that to me again!"

"Suki…" he reached out, tugging her into the harbor of his arms. She slid to her knees beside the bed and buried her face against his chest. Tears, of relief and fear, streamed down her face, soaking his robes. He curled his good arm around her, his face buried in her hair. "I was so scared when we crashed… I was terrified for you… Suki…I… I mean, I need to… You and me…"

"Just say it, you idiot!" she said, lifting her head, sniffing back the tears. "Or does it take a life or death situation for you to finally tell me you're in love with me?"

Zuko stopped, licking his lips as he stared at her. A slow, watery smile crossed her split lips. "You…you know?"

"Of course I know."

"And you're…?"

"Of course I am."

"And I wasn't dreaming that kiss?"

"No."

"Oh."

They stared at one another for a long moment before she laughed. "So say it."

"I'm in love with you, Suki."

"I'm in love with too, Zuko. So don't you ever do that to me again."

"I promise. Now come here," he said sincerely.

"Why?"

"Because there's something I've wanted to do for a long time," he mumbled, catching her bandaged hands. She grinned at him as he drew her down into a kiss that lingered. His lips were dry and his hands shook with fatigue and pain, but neither of them seemed to mind. Eventually, he shifted on the bed, pulling her in with him. She curled up under the covers beside him, her exhaustion finally coming to claim her. Zuko's arms wrapped around her gingerly. They were both bruised and aching, but all of that seemed very far away.

She laid her head on his shoulder and breathed in his scent. She listened to his heartbeat as he gently stroked her hair. She slipped slowly into sleep with Zuko murmuring soft words into her ear that she couldn't quite make out. It didn't matter though.

He was alive. And he loved her.

Everything else seemed very far away and unimportant.

(end)