Amnesia Ch1 Dreamful Memories
Iroh, The Dragon of the West, lay currently rotting in a prison cell in the Fire Nation. He is back in his home nation but doesn't seem to realize it. He looks around his cell, everything a haze to him. He hasn't been getting the nutrition his body needs, making his bodily functions not respond as good as they once did. As an old man, malnutrition would normally do more damage to his body than if he were a young man. He feels chills running all over his spine. He sniffles, feeling some pus trying to exit his nose. He looks thinner than he used to be, due to his body feeding off on his fat as an extra source of food.
He remembers almost nothing that has happened to him or where he currently resides. He tries to remember but the only thing in his memory right now is his name. He doesn't even remember his relatives in the royal family. He remembers seeing a face, his face, the face of the teenage boy he keeps dreaming about. The face had a huge big scar over the left eye and always looked so angry towards him. Every time he sees the boys face in his daydreams he sheds a few tears, not remembering why he would do such a thing. It's ironic how he could remember his dreams for days and not even remember his own life story; it makes him sad.
He hears the outer door of his private cell open. He turns to look, a little faster than he should have, and began to feel a little dizzy. At the moment he craved to drink some water, thinking that it will help the dizziness go away. He sees the prison guardsman who was always assigned to watch his cell during the day with a tray of food in his hands. The man had a scowl on his face. Iroh didn't know why this man was always unhappy to see him. Iroh tried to open his mouth to ask for some water but no sound came from his throat; it was too dry to let him speak. The guardsman noticed this and smirked.
"It seems the Dragon of the West has had his firebreath taken away and his wings clipped. Now you're just a pathetic old man rotting in a cell, until the day you die…. You once used to be so great, now look at the stinking mess you have become to your nation and to yourself. You disgust me." The guard spit right in front of the bars of Iroh's inner cell and dropped the tray of food ungracefully to the ground, making most of the food and water spill out from their contents. The guard left, leaving Iroh to his loneliness and misery.
Iroh moved towards his tray on all fours in a hungry manner. On the tray he saw 2 wooden bowls of food, one with white rice and the other with sludge, and a half full wooden cup of water. He grabbed the cup and drank only a few sips, keeping in mind he needed the rest to drink with his food. He began eating his food in a sloppy manner, grabbing a handful of rice and slurping the sludge into his mouth, the food staining his face once he stuffed it in his mouth. Once he finished, he drank big gulps of water until it finished, having his thirst quenched and the area around his lips a little cleaner. He felt a little disgusted with himself after touching his grimy face but paid little to no attention to it soon after as he felt drowsy and stated to lose consciousness.
Iroh slipped almost immediately into a dreamlike state. At first he sees all black but then everything around him became more vivid. He was brought into a happy and bright place. He began to see trees and wildlife appear all around him. Then he saw 3 people together, a fully grown man, a teenager and a small boy, who seemed to be only a toddler. The man's hair was in a topknot while both boys had theirs in a ponytail, their hair moving freely whenever they moved. They all wore loose robes and swimwear. The 3 of them were moving in a quick manner, running off to somewhere. They all smiled and laughed on their way to their destination. They ran to a sandy area. That's when Iroh realized he was running with them, the 2 boys in front of him. He checked back to see if the man was behind him but there was no one there. He saw the 2 boys sitting on the sandy floor, near the shores of the beach. He ran to them and also sat with them. The older boy tugged at his robes, pointing to the sandy ground.
"Dad! Let's make a sand temple for my lil' cousin, he would like that a lot!" He turned to the toddler and smiled. The little boy laughed gleefully and started grabbing handfuls of sand.
"Yay, Unky Iroh! Make temple for me!" Iroh looked at the boys face and noticed something eerily familiar about him. Before he could say or do anything everything went black around him again. He was then brought to a scene with a roomful of many Fire nation soldiers. He noticed 2 soldiers nearest to him. One was a young man with monkey like sideburns and the other, unlike the rest of the soldiers in the room, was a young girl looking proudly and evilly at the sight in front of her. When Iroh turned to look at her viewing direction he saw a man with a fire shaped gold crown in his topknot and a teenaged boy directly across from him. The boy looked surprised at the man and sunk quickly to his knees in a begging manner as the man walked closer to him.
"Please father! I only had our nation's best interests at heart; I never meant to speak out of turn!" The man, unaffected by the boy's words, inched closer to him menacingly.
"Coward! Stand up and fight boy!" The man said in a scowling voice. The boy looked up at him, tears pouring like waterfalls from his eyes, begging the man not to do this to him.
"I am your loyal son, I cannot fight you..." The boy cringed, his fingers curling up once he said that, fearing the worst to come.
"You will learn respect. Suffering will be your teacher!" The man said viciously as he engulfed his fist in fire and brought it towards the boys left side of his face. The only noises heard afterward were that of fire burning flesh and a boy's scream of agonizing pain. Iroh looked away once the man did that. He looked again a minute later to see the boy moaning in pain on the floor, covering his left eye as blood poured out of that area.
"As an act of cowardice and disrespect I hereby banish you from the Fire Nation. You are now viewed as a failure and disgrace to your nation. You will be put on an errand to find the Avatar, only after you bring him to me will your banishment be put down and you will be allowed back here permanently. Understood?" The boy looked up at him crying, still in much pain, the hand over his eye never faltering.
"Y-yes father..." The man pulled the boy up by his right arm roughly, getting a surprised yelp from him as a response.
"Now get out of my sight you sniveling brat!" He pushed the boy towards the exit and the boy left the room without another word.
The Soldiers also exited the room, Iroh amongst them. He walked quickly to the direction he last saw the boy, not caring if anyone else noticed his rush. He needed to find the boy and tend to his wound. He wondered to himself who the boy was and why he would want to help him. He finally saw the boy, entering a room and slamming the door as a sign of not wanting to be bothered. Iroh opened the door anyway and heard the teenager crying on his bed, his back turned to him.
"Who's there?" The boy asked before turning half his face around, the good side of his face, to see his uncle at the doorway.
"What do you want Uncle?" Asked the boy with a little agitation in his voice and turned fully towards him. It was then that Iroh saw the other side of his face, burnt and bleeding, that he knew just how much pain the boy's father inflicted on him. Iroh's vision turned black again until he heard a faint voice calling to him. He didn't know for sure if it was in his dreams or if it was real until he felt someone shaking him lightly out of his sleep...
Wow, my first Avatar story. Ironically, I thought of this this morning, when I was half asleep. I'm not sure how long I will make this story but the more reviews I get the more I'll write.