AN: People wanted it and I deliver! (Thank you dragonfriend123 and Royalty_Girl_ for your input! I hope it's all you wished it to be!).

___

Asha had decided that while her and Zuko worked great together, Aang and Zuko did not. Aang was much too gullible when it came to Zuko's antics while Zuko had issues differentiating his tone from when he was joking and when he was serious. Which was fine, because Asha had no qualms or issues differentiating. 

She supposed, in the end, it evened out. Aang got along swimmingly (Excuse the pun) with Katara while Asha and her...did not. Asha tended to agree that Katara was sort-of a prissy princess that like her pity parties while Katara thought Asha was too cold or mean when her emotions got the best of her, which, ya know, fair.

That doesn't take away from the absolute joy Asha got watching Aang and Zuko attempt to fire bend only for neither to do anything. It was quite funny actually. Even if Zuko didn't think so.

In fact, Zuko didn't seem to think about a lot of things, especially as he tries passing off the bullshit excuse of 'I've lost my ability to fire bend'. Like come on. You need a better excuse than that to get out of training, trust her-- she tried that one. 

"Asha?" 

The brunette pokes her head up as footsteps approach her. She was currently practicing her water bending (Goddamn water bending) outside with Gumi, who watched with snorts and growl-chuckles-- because he was an asshole. Putting away the water she was using, she watches as both Aang and Zuko walk up to her. 

"Make Gumi teach us fire bending." 

In what fucking world-

"I'm sorry?" 

Aang steps in before Zuko can, holding his hands up as Asha tries straightening out what she just heard. The dragon? The one behind her who refused to feed himself and instead made Asha bend the food to him? Teach fire bending?

"The original fire benders were the dragons and we were thinking that maybe Gumi could help us out?" Aang explains, doing a much better job than Zuko. Asha nods for a moment before shrugging. "Sorry. No can do." 

"Why not?" Zuko hisses, trying to sound threatening but Asha waves him off. "Because it's been over a hundred years since Gumi has had to breath fire. He doesn't have it anymore. A practically forgotten skill. You have better luck learning from sun warriors."

"Sun warriors?" Aang asks, tilting his head. Asha and Zuko both give him a tilted look, brows furrowed in confusion. 

"The first fire benders?" Asha hints, hoping Aang would clue in. He didn't. 

"They weren't around when we were kids." 

Zuko huffs. "They died off thousands of years ago. But their civilization wasn't too far from where we are now. Maybe we can learn something by poking around their ruins."

Both boys look to Asha, who rolls her eyes, patting Gumi's neck. "Alright let's go. I'm driving though."

___

They should not have let her drive. That was their first mistake.

Without having to wait for Appa (she loved the bison but for the love of god he was slow), she was free to go as fast as her and Gumi wanted, which was probably too fast for the first time flier. 

What a speed demon.

"I hate this. I hate flying. I hate dragons. I hate-" Zuko desperately holds onto Gumi's saddle, and his lunch, as Asha laughs to herself, maybe purposefully adding in an extra spin here and there. Aang sat right behind her, holding onto her so tightly she was sure her ribs were bruised.  

"Come on, aren't you always saying we should start our adventures off with a positive attitude, Aang?" She laughs, leveling Gumi out-- who chortled out with a roar.

Zuko groaned behind her. "I can't believe this."

"You'll get the hand of it!" She laughed again, this time preparing for a dive bomb with a wicked smirk.

___

The last sun warriors village was grand. Extravagant and lavish in all the ways one would expect. It was truly awe-inspiring.

If you were into the kind of stuff. Asha wasn't. She appreciated buttresses, but that was it. Heh, butt.

"So we learned about architecture. Hopefully we'll learn about fire bending too. The past can be a great teacher." Aang mutters as ever the optimist. Asha was beside him, eyes trained on the sky as Gumi followed them from the air.

In all honesty, she didn't trust this place. Like, a place this nice and you don't protect it somehow? Maybe that's why they were killed off thousands of years ago. Suspicious if she does say so herself. 

A shot of adrenaline proves her point when a pang of fear erupts in her stomach, her arm instinctively shooting out towards Aang. She snags the back of his robes millimeters before his untimely demise, holding him there as she feels her nerves unclench. With a bit of Earth bending, she sends Aang to the other side of the deadly spikes.  He flops with a satisfying 'umph'. 

"I think the past is trying to kill me." Aang grumbles from the other side, the other two ignoring him.

"Centuries old and the booby trap still works." Zuko huffs, plucking at the black trip wire. He looks to Asha who merely shrugs. 

"There's probably a lot more. Maybe this means we shouldn't be here. " Aang yells from the other side, desperately trying hype himself up to get back to Asha.  He stands defeated, and thoroughly impressed, as Zuko widens his stance, his hands interlocked in front of him as Asha backs up a few steps. She takes off in a run, jumping into his hands before he launches her up and over, which she lands with a graceful flip beside Aang. 

"Aang, one of the first things you should learn about booby traps is that they're aren't there, unless there's something worth protecting." She smiles,  squeezing his shoulder as Zuko uses the wall to join them. 

"What about that upbeat attitude you were talking about?" He smirks, before looking further down the alley. "Asha's right.  Especially if they're built to last centuries."

___

Looking up to the large carving before them, which depicted a person being surrounded by concentric circles and two dragon heads, it was obvious that moving forward was a good idea. Well, it was an idea that had results, no telling if it was a good or bad one just yet. 

"It seems promising at least." Aang tries, coming up behind Asha as she gently traces the shapes. She laughs before responding, "Not sure what you're seeing about this that tells us about fire bending."

"They just look angry to me." Zuko flanks Asha's other side, the boys not unlike pretty bookends.  

Aang hummed a though, "I thought the dragons were friends with the sun warriors."

"Funny way of showing it then." Zuko hisses, turning before Asha stops him. 

"What happened a hundred year ago, Zuko?" She doesn't sound angry, just curious, and maybe that's what makes him turn to look at. Turn to see the bright blue orbs that stare into your soul. "My great-grandfather Sozin happened."

The two air benders quickly follow him as he crosses a bridge to a large set of stairs, dragon motifs every where they looked. "He started  the tradition of hunting dragons for glory. They were the ultimate firebenders. And if you could conquer one, your fire bending talents would become legendary, and you'd earn the honorary title 'dragon'." 

Asha hums. "That must've been where you're uncles title 'dragon of the West' comes from."

"I though your uncle was good?" Aang pipes up, helping Asha up and over a large dragon head rock that blocked their path. 

"He had a complicated past. Family tradition I guess." Zuko jumps over the rock. "Let's just move on." 

And they did. They kept conversation light, enough, as they make their way to large set of golden circular doors. They're locked, as Aang helpfully provides after trying to wrench them open, forcing them to look for a key of some sort. They can focus on a red jewel, ruby if Asha had to guess, that  shone down onto a ring of circles below them. 

"Fun. Celestial calendars. Just like the fire sages used to do." She snorts, adjusting her weight to her other foot. "On the solstice too, I bet." 

Zuko's nod makes Aang throw his head back in exasperation.  "Again? We can't wait that long."

Zuko unsheathes his sword, laying in the path of the red beam. "We can't. But we can outsmart the Sun stone." 

'Damn. Here I was thinking it was a ruby.'

'You focus on the weirdest things sometimes.'

'It's a blessing and a curse.' 

Aang snorts at her response, getting a weird look from Zuko as he adjusts his sword so the beam of light moves shakily across the door until hitting the Sun Stone, glowing brightly. 

"Riveting." Asha jokes dryly. Zuko, in turn, also gives her a weird look. It's ignored as the door begins to shake, opening the entrance to a dark room.  Asha takes initiative as Aang and Zuko hang back,  smiling to herself as she hears Aang compliment Zuko.  She approaches the back of one of several statues, bending down to read the inscription.

"It's called the dancing dragons." She reads out, Aang behind her copying the move. A rock shifts beneath him, making her glance back as Aang gasps. 

"Asha. Love of my life." Zuko grimaces behind them as Aang grabs his girlfriend's shoulders. He was going to ask her to do something she wouldn't want to do. "Dance with me."

She shoves him him, gently and playfully of course before moving to grab Zuko. "Make Zuko do it. It could be a bonding exercise between the two of you. After all, we are here for you two." 

Zuko gives her a mean glare, which she waves off with a small smirk as she moves him into position. They recreate the moves easily, which become apparent they're fire bending poses, the lone female watching as they finish the...dance still seemed the best word for it, their fists pointed towards each other.

She stumbles back with a small yelp as the ground beneath her spins and turns, a small column with an egg on top popping out of the are she was just standing on. Both boys quickly rush to her side, Aang helping her up as Zuko eyes the egg maliciously. 

"What is that?" Asha hisses, eyes narrowed on the offending egg. 

"Looks like a gem stone." Zuko steps closer to the pedestal, Aang pushing them both back with his arms outstretched. 

"Don't touch it!"

"Why not?"

"Do neither of you remember what happened with the spikes?!" Aang asks incredulously, Asha and Zuko looking at each other with raise brows (They were just fine, what was he prattling about?). "Don't you think you should be a little more-I don't know- suspicious of glowing gems sitting on pedestals?"

They seem to think it over for a minute before Asha dashes under Aang's arms with an excited 'Nope!' picking up the egg with zero remorse.

___

In her defense...

She didn't regret anything. Not when green goo shot straight out from the pedestal. Not now when the three of them were stuck, faces poking out of a grate. Not even when night fell above them. 

"You just had to pick up the glowing egg. Didn't you?" Aang sounded unimpressed. Not that it dimmed Asha's self-satisfied grin. "Yep."

"At lease she did something. I'm sure if it were up to you, we'd never make it past the courtyard." Zuko hisses, Asha snickering at the response. 

Aang soon takes to yelling for help, which Zuko shuts down quickly. 

"What do you think we should do?" Aang snaps back at Zuko, who seems to loose all bite. 

"Think about our place in the universe?" 

It's silent for a minute. 

"I want my place to be beside a bakery. That'd be cool. Maybe have you guys there." Asha muses, looking over as a tribal man sneers down at them. 

"Who's down there?!"

___

On the plus side, they were out of the goo. 

On the not-so plus side, she was certain Aang and Zuko were going to die.

(She also hated that Aang was like 'I don't play this card' than plays the very card he's played like a dozen times. But she loved him so that cancelled out, she guessed. )

She waved at the duo as they carried a small flame up a large hill, Asha watching from a distance.  The chief had looked at her, almost as if urging her to join them, but she never did. 

"Do you not wish to also learn fire bending?" He had asked, Asha turning at the question. She shook her head. 

"My mother was a natural born fire bender, so it's not like I have no basis for it. If anything, I'm probably more equipped to handle fire than both of those two boys at the current moment. Plus, worst comes to worst, I'll have Gumi by my side to give off the illusion I can fire bend."

"Gumi? A man, who accused them of being thieves at first, questioned, popping up from behind the chief. 

"Man you guys are going to loose your shit." 

___

God complex? Nothing complex about it, these people were convince Asha was a goddess based on her connection with Gumi. Which, yeah, was pretty neat, wasn't really that cool when the sun warriors were suddenly convinced that Aang and Zuko played a crucial role when the dragons went extinct. 

Fire blazed around her and drums echoed heavily as Zuko and Aang moved to face the 'masters'. She could from where she sat on Gumi that Aang's fire was too small for it to last the slightest breeze, which proved true when the rumble of the masters extinguished it. 

Zuko's went out right after, because Aang had tried grabbing some, the dragons soon popping out of they're caves. They were much bigger than Gumi, who seemed shocked at the sight of them, but Asha just watched in awe of the beautiful creatures. 

Jumping off of Gumi, she slowly walked to where the sun warriors were bowing. The one that called them thieves snickered under his breath. "Dinner for the masters."

Asha stomped on the back of his head, pushing it into the dirt with a snarl. He grumbled beneath her foot, but at this point the god complex was too strong. "Quiet now. They may not seem like it, both those two are some of the most gold-hearted individuals I have ever met. Though not always right..."

Bright burst of colors she could never have imagined circled Zuko and Aang as the dragons perched down the pedestal they were on. 

"They always wanted  to do good by someone."  Gumi lets out a bellowing roar beside them, taking flight without any que as he jumps into the brightly colored fire. He seems in his element, at peace, and Asha loves seeing the look on her dragon. A smile graces her features as a white thread of fire spews from Gumi's mouth, wrapping around the tornado of colored fire.

The fire dissipates as the dragons curl their bodies, springing up and circling each other one last time before retreating to their caves. Gumi lands besides the boys, who climb on quickly, the dragon bringing them down to where Asha finally got off the one she was practically standing on. 

He spat out dirt as she ran into Aang's awaiting arms.  He pressed a soft kiss to her temple, artfully ignored the man trying to scrape his tongue free of dirt. 

"Their fire was beautiful. So many colors."  Zuko huffed in awe, slowly getting off of Gumi.

"Like fire bending harmony." Aang whispered against Asha's hair, despite the fact that she was there. 

Zuko still seemed in shock of the entire thing, leaning against Gumi with small pats. "I just- Uncle Iroh said he faced the last dragon and killed it." 

Asha laughed, pulling away from Aang ever so slightly. "You're uncle obviously lied. I don't think Iroh has a truly mean bone in his body."

When Zuko's mouth popped open to retaliate he was interrupted by the Fire chief. "It wasn't a total lie.  Iroh was the last outsider to face the masters. They deemed him worthy and passed the secret onto him as well."

"I was right then." Asha nods to herself as she draws to her final conclusion. "Iroh doesn't have a mean bone in his body. He lied to protect them so no one would hunt them. "

She was shocked into silence as Aang gently pulled her hand to his face, looking at the soft palms and calloused finger pads. "I thought fire bending was all destruction, especially since I burned you. But now, it's fairly obvious what it really is...Energy. Life. "

He presses a soft kiss to where the smallest of burn scars remained, Asha watching with wide eyes. Zuko came up beside them, running a hand through his hair. 

"It's like the sun, but inside of you. Do you guys realize this?!"He asks, to the sun warriors. The goddamn sun warriors. 

It was a good thing he was pretty, because sometimes Asha wondered how he got this far in life. 

"Maybe that was why your fire bending sucked." Asha hummed to herself. "Because for so long your purpose was hunting Aang, but then you lost that purpose. So you had no drive when you joined us." 

Zuko looks down to his hands before jumping into a fire bending pose, belting a flame double the size of anything he did prior. Aang lets go of Asha before following his example, Asha clapping her hands excitedly at the fire that sparks around them. Controlled and bright. 

Both boys turn to her with excited smiles making her own lips twitch up until the sin chief turned to face all three of them. "Now that you have learned the secrets, and you know about our tribe's existence, we have no choice but to imprison you here forever. "

The trio look to each other in shock, mentally prepping themselves to fight their way out of her until the chief smiles. "Just kidding.  But seriously, don't tell anyone!"

___

Gumi excitedly roared out in happiness as he lets small billows of fire  around where him, Appa and Asha were situated. They were warm and bright and it was obvious that the dragon was more than happy to have the power back. 

Watching Gumi excitedly show his bison partner the fire made  Asha's own gut bubble in happiness. 

"Thank you."

Looking over, her smile widened. "For?"

Zuko easily jumped onto the rock bench Asha had built for her to sit on. He leaned on his palms beside her, looking a lot more relaxed than he did with the others. She felt pride in that face. 

"For coming with us. You didn't have to, but you did. So thank you." 

"Not a problem Zuko. But next time you want to go on a life changing adventure, maybe you should leave me behind." She laughed, Zuko smiling softly at the response. 

"Not a chance, have you met these people? You're the most sane one here."