You & I

The Storm: Part 1

Iroh's POV
As my soldiers returned to their ships, ready to depart, I thanked the general who had been sent with the Earth Kingdom's army, he had agreed to personally disperse his troops in the areas Y/N had specified on a map for him. 

He was rather timid but seemed to know what he was doing.

As the last of my troops boarded their assigned ships, I felt a soft hand clasp onto mine, I turned to see Y/N stood beside me staring back at Omashu with me, she sighed,

"Is it just me, or are you getting a bad feeling?"

"What do you mean, love?"

She paused for a few moments before leaning into me and exhaling,

"Nothing... don't worry."

The captain called out to me,

"We are ready to depart, General!"

I waved at him to signal that I had heard him and jogged over to the ship with Y/N behind me, the ramp had been closed prematurely, so as I climbed over the side of the ship I held my hand out to pull her over.

She faintly smiled and thanked me before retiring towards our room.

I paused and watched as she drearily walked away before speeding up and placing my hand on the small of her back, leaning over to her causing her to halt.

I tucked a loose piece of hair behind her ear before asking,

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?"

She shrugged me off and continued walking, I paused for a moment before following after her,

"Umm... did I do something wrong?"

"No. I'm fine."

I grabbed onto her hand and pleaded,

"Y/N, please, talk to me."

She looked up to me, worry evident in her eyes and sighed,

"I just... I have a bad feeling that I can't shake" She placed her hand on my cheek and brushed it slightly with her thumb, "I'm sorry, my love, you didn't do anything, it's just stressing me out."

I felt my gaze soften at her before pulling her into a tight hug, resting my chin on her head and sighing,

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

"There's nothing to talk about, it's just a horrible feeling in my gut..."

I slightly loosened our embrace and kissed her forehead gently,

"Well I promise I'm not going to let anything happen to you, so don't worry so much."

She exhaled and turned her head, watching as our ship parted from the shore, being followed by everyone else.

"Yeah... I'm probably just being paranoid..."

I pulled her back into the tight hug and mumbled,

"So, do you want to finish up work and then we can go down to the galley and grab some food?"

She managed a smile and nodded before following me up to the captain's cabin to finish our official work for the day.

Y/N's POV
After night fell, I laid sleeping soundly in Iroh's arms as the ship began to toss back and forth.

I woke up behind jolted out of bed and jumped up from the floor as I heard the roar of thunder and watched the flash of lighting fill the room.

I grabbed onto the doorframe, steadying myself, and turned to Iroh, he tossed me a satin, Fire Nation robe and pulled one over himself before declaring,

"I'm gonna go and make sure everyone gets inside safely, can you help?"

I nodded,

"I'll go over to the other ships, it's safer if you just stay on this one."

He agreed as we ran out of the door, trying to maintain our balance.

The rain was falling so rapidly that we could barely see, the ship was rocking so much that the harsh waves were crashing onto the deck, I turned to my boyfriend and nodded before jumping towards the next ship down, bending the water below me.

I quickly checked the perimeter of each of the other ships, scurrying everyone below deck and instructing them to wait out the storm.

As I made my way back to Iroh, I noticed a man hanging by one arm from the watch tower, but sighed in relief when I saw Iroh climbing up to help him.

As I landed on the front deck of the ship, a massive wave crashed into it, knocking Iroh overboard, into the dark, unforgiving ocean.

I felt my heart drop,

"IROH! NO!"

The man he tried to save screamed out as he dropped straight towards the deck, I pulled him down safely with my bending before freezing my feet onto the side of the ship and staring out into the pitch black ocean,

"IROH!?"

"IROH!?"

"IROH!?"

He didn't respond.

I felt tears streaming down my face and darted my eyes around, there was no one here, there was no one to help.

How was I supposed to find him in the black of the night?

Today was the night of a new moon, so the only thing lighting the sky were the dim stars that were hidden behind the grey clouds and the falling rain.

Every so often, lightning would strike the waters as I ran over to other sides of the ship screaming out my lover's name, desperate for a response.

After a couple of minutes I realised that I wasn't going to hear his cries for help when the roar of thunder, the explosions of lighting, and the crashing of the waves and rain rang in my ears.

I ran back to the side that he had initially fallen overboard and inhaled sharply before closing my eyes and begging to the spirits that at least he'd make it out of this alive.

You promised that you wouldn't let anything happen to me, but you lied, because the worst thing that could ever happen to me- my biggest fear- is losing you.

I felt my muscles tense up and I pushed myself off of the side of the ship, as the strong waves violently smashed my freezing cold body against the side of the boat, I used all of my strength pulling myself away from it before becoming emerged in the pitch black ocean.