Iron corridors lit with dying torches, an air of lifelessness, a dank, musty odor of human waste, suffering and despair; this was a Fire Nation prison. Constructed from the ground up with walls so thick, not even the most masterful earth bender could get in, or out, the maximum security prison of Ba Sing Se was by far the most fortified structure every laid by the hands of men. It had been years since the Fire Nation's lately banished prince had set foot on the metal floors of the 'Iron City'; frankly it reminded him of different times, not better, but different. With their hands in shackles and flanked by guards armed with short-swords and pikes, Zuko and his uncle were being escorted down a narrow passageway lined on either side with heavy cell doors. Behind those iron bars and locks were the worst enemies of the powerful Fire Nation, the traitors and rebels, each more dangerous than the last. The only thing that kept the banished prince walking further into the catacombs was the knife pressed against his spine.
"I can walk on my own," Zuko snapped at the guard behind him, feeling the tip dig into his back just a little farther at the snide comment. He earned a stern glare from his uncle, which he promptly ignored. "I don't need to be led around like a dog."
"Silence." The guard snapped in a raspy voice that reminded Zuko much like the sound a fire made as it was smothered by ashes.
The two captives were prodded down what felt like endless corridors, only occasionally able to glance through the slot in an iron door to peer at the prisoners losing faith. Every so often a pair of eyes would be looking back at them through the narrow, barred window. Somehow, even as he was led by the point of a blade, Iroh managed to maintain his composure, obeying the commands he was given by the guards without once fighting back as his nephew did.
Finally at the end of a long, narrow passageway, the two fire benders were brought to their new home in the labyrinth of prison cells. A combination of two keys used in tandem opened the heavy iron door, sliding it aside and revealing a chamber built with four beds, stacked with two on the north and south walls. At first glance the looming shadows made the dungeon look empty until the two inmates rose to their feet in a routine act of obedience. There was a man of medium build and short, choppy black hair; his face was wrapped in bandages save for his right eye. The other was a tall and lean with long blonde hair covering half his face; he was clad in green robes with gold trim, the traditional uniform of an Earth Kingdom Dai Lee agent. The two seemed rough around the edges due to their imprisonment, but though the bandaged one seemed vacant, the tall man was still a long way off from having his spirit broken based on his formidable stance as he rose before the guards and new inmates.
Zuko was about to make a complaint about sharing the sty with strangers, but was cut off as the neck of his robe was grabbed by the guard. The soldier gave his captive a hearty shove and sent him stumbling into the cell while Iroh stepped calmly behind the bars as the door slammed shut with an echoing clang. No sooner had the iron gate locked, than the previous residents took back to their previous actions, the blonde sitting on his cot and resting his elbows on his knees while the other leaned against the wall and eyed the newcomers.
"So who do we have here un?" The blonde grunted, looking over their guests with scrutiny in his one visible eye. "Don't tell me we are in the presence of nobility… It's been a while since I've laid eyes on such regal dresses un."
"I don't speak to prison scum." Zuko snapped haughtily, standing up tall despite the shackles still weighing heavily on his wrists. In retrospect, he realized he probably should not have taunted such a clearly dangerous man when his hands were bound together, but he kept his stance tall nonetheless.
"Well that's okay," replied the blonde in a low voice as he pulled himself to his feet and took a few paces towards the prince if only to see if he would back away. The raven-haired teen managed to hold his ground despite the cold glimmer in tall man's blue eyes. "Because I don't bow to royal pricks un." He paused for a moment, drawing closer to the fire bender with a kind of curiosity, the way a large, starving dog draws closer to food offered by a stranger. "Aren't you a sight. It's a shame, I'm sure your face was once beautiful un."
Zuko's lip curled into a snarl and he tossed his head to the side, turning his scar towards the man to signify that he wasn't ashamed of it. His hair bounced gently against his forehead, just barely long enough to touch the skin of his brow.
"And I'm sure you didn't always smell so bad." He snarled, his tone of voice so dark and angry it was as if he was ready to lash out and bite the man in front of him.
"That's the smell of a man who's actually got a pair, princess. Now I suggest you quiet down before you alert the guards and get us all lashed un." With a knowing smirk, the tall man turned his back of the younger prisoner, returning to the comfort of his mediocre cell cot.
"The man is right, Prince Zuko," the elder man assured, putting a hand on his nephew's shoulder to calm the proud teen, "why don't we all calm down and sit? I'm sure they will be serving supper-"
There came a grunt from the opposite side of the room, and before either of the new prisoners could react, the blonde man was back on his feet, staring at the younger inmate with unwavering intensity.
"Zuko un?"
"I told you I don't speak to prison scum." Zuko snapped, staring back at the blonde man with his amber eyes glowing with distaste. "I won't remind you again."
The intensity in the blonde man's face didn't fade a bit as he launched himself forward, slamming a powerful fist into the teen's cheek before he had the chance to close his eyes and brace himself. As if a singular blow wasn't enough, the assault continued as the tall man's left fist followed suit, boxing Zuko in the ear as he began to fall backwards.
Surprised not only by the brutality of the attack but by the abruptness of it, Zuko still managed to recover fairly quickly. However very incoherent, he managed to thrust forward a halfway lucid attack forward at the other man, swinging his shackles violently and clipping the blonde man in the side of the neck with the heavy chain connecting the twin metal cuffs.
"What happened?" Iroh suddenly snapped, his cool breaking for a moment while he stepped in between the two sparring young men, holding them both back with his arms spread as far as the shackles would allow. "Just a moment ago you were worried about lashes, boy, what has spurred on this attack?"
"Zuko!" the blonde shouted, almost disregarding the stout that held him back from throwing his fists at the prince again. "I'll kill you for what you did to me you little shit! I'll tear your arms off un!" He shoved violently at Iroh, managing to make the fire bender stumble backwards enough for him to snatch at the teen again, perhaps trying to scratch the untouched side of his face. Before he could land another hit, there was a hand in the long, blonde ponytail atop his head. With a harsh jerk the elder man yanked on the tresses and dragged the unruly prisoner to the ground, but not before he throw a wild kick into Zuko's stomach, forcing the raven-haired boy to double over and fall to his knees.
"Guards!" Zuko managed to yell, hoping someone would hear him so he could have the violent blonde taken away. Iroh pushed a knee into the young blonde's back, effortlessly flipping his slender frame over with strong arms.
"Do not shout, Zuko. I am getting a headache." Iroh said, holding the wriggling earth bender beneath him as if he were a kitten rather than a furious full-grown man.
"Deidaraaaaaaaaaaa." The man with the bandages over his face suddenly groaned, his high voice somewhat muffled by the cloth. His voice was odd, high and sweet like a child but with a mature edge to it that made it sound like an adult changing his voice to sound like a child's purposefully. "You're being silly. You can't eat that. Get up off the floor you silly man."
"Shut up Tobi you crazy bastard un!" Deidara yelled Struggling against the surprisingly strong grip of the stocky old man; underneath that potbelly he was built like a rhinoceros-bear. "And get off me you fatass! That prince needs to get what's been coming to him for eleven years un!"
"Get what's been coming to me?" Zuko howled with rage, his jaw smarting a good deal now.
"What's going on in here?" a loud banging made everyone in the room jump a little as a metal fist collided with the metal door of the cell several times. "Quiet down before we put you all in solitary!"
"Do you think you can behave yourself?" Tobi asked, his one eye squinted up merrily; he was smiling beneath his bandages.
The blonde's chest heaved as if he was having difficulty deciding between calming down and trying to land one more punch at Zuko before they were all locked up in solitary confinement. Eventually his struggling died away and he let his breathing even out as he forced his blood to cool.
"F-fine un…" he grunted, adding under his breath "but this is far from over."
With the confirmation, Iroh released his grip on the earth bender, allowing him to gradually rise to his feet before brushing the blonde's back off.
"We're all fine here officer. Thank you for your attention" Iroh grumbled and bowed his head respectfully. As the guard quietly moved on, Deidara sat back on his cot, scowling at the man with the bandaged face who still appeared to be grinning underneath his wraps.
"The fuck are you smiling at un?" he growled quietly before turning his burning glare back towards the injured prince still nursing the bruise on his cheek.
"Smiling the fuck at you." Tobi said with a little giggle and sat beside the blonde man, draping himself over his lap like a large cat.
"What is your major conniption?" Zuko spat before shaking his head with a snarl. "Forget it. I don't care. I meant it when I said I wasn't speaking to you, or your freak."
"That's not very nice." Tobi said, ignoring Deidara when he tried to push the bandaged man off him. "You shouldn't speak so mean. You might get your tongue cut off."
"Is that a threat?" Zuko snarled at the bizarre man.
"Oh, no. Tobi is a good boy. Honest." the bandages man said, crossing a finger over his chest in an x-pattern.
"I don't see how you couldn't remember," the blonde snarled back, giving up and letting Tobi lay across his lap until he tired of bothering his friend. "After all, you nearly killed me when you were only a child un." The look Deidara gave the banished prince a look of hatred, cold and pure from the corner of his eye.
"Tch." Zuko scoffed, and though curiosity nipped at him while he wracked his mind for memories of this man in the past, he kept his jaw shut. He was too proud to break his own rule and talk to the man. He continued to stand near the wall, tall and straight as though he was waiting to be escorted back out of the room any moment.
Iroh, sensing the tension, sighed. "Oh, I wonder when they'll take these darn things off our wrists, eh Zuko? They're so heavy, and those two aren't wearing any."
"They're called shackles, gramps, and get used to 'em. The guards leave them on new prisoners for a week to make sure they don't try and escape un. No amount of good behavior or mind-games will change that." Deidara continued glaring at Zuko like a savage beast staring at its abuser through the bars of its cage, daring the teen to undo the lock and speak to him.
"So you two have been here a while then, eh?" Iroh said, sidling away from the fuming ex-prince and attempting to ease the tension a bit in the room. "What are you in for, exactly, if you don't mind my asking?"
"Traitors, plotting against the Fire Nation un… what else? The whole prison's full of traitors un." Deidara seemed rather off-handed about his sentencing, of course there were more pressing things swimming through his mind.
Following Iroh's example, Tobi also sat up, moving to the other end of Deidara's cot and studying their new cellmates with much less hostility.
"I'm sorry about throwing you down like I did." Iroh said with a friendly smile. "I really don't like making enemies. No hard feelings?" he offered his hand affably.
"Don't touch filth such as them, uncle." Zuko snapped at the elder man. "It's people like them that are the reason we have such wretched prisons in the first place."
Though he never removed the banished prince from his glare, Deidara took the hand that was offered him and shook it with a firm grip.
"I have now fowl with you, old man, only your companion." The earth bender clicked his teeth as if to egg the prince on, taunting him with his complete lack of respect for the disgraced noble blood. "And boy, the prisons are so wretched because the Fire Nation builds and runs them that way un. The guards break perfectly decent men behind these iron walls un."
"Well at least you're not upset with me." Iroh said, his smile not fading. "But I have to ask you not to attack my nephew in my presence. I may lose my temper again. While I do not want to be your enemy, even less do I want to be his."
"I can't believe you're even speaking to them after what they did to me!" Zuko snarled at his uncle. "You claim to be on my side and yet I expect you to ask the damn man to tea!"
"Don't be silly, nephew, there is no tea in prison." Iroh said, smiling back at the teen over his shoulder.
"Perhaps you could learn a lesson in respect from your Uncle, princess," Deidara hissed back with a slight chuckle in his voice. "I can see that even years have not taught you to appreciate human life and human suffering un. You only care that I hit you and not the reason." The earth bender leaned forward a bit more, as if trying to get a better look at the bruise he'd left on Zuko's jaw. "Please, try and think back, to a time when you were just a child in the Iron City with your sister? Now what business have two young brats of the crown have just outside the greatest penitentiary of the Fire Nation un?"
The last thing Zuko wanted to do was whatever this man said, but he was suddenly struck with a faint memory.
Walking up the road to the very prison he was locked in at that moment. The more he thought about it the more clear it became. He was young…five or six…no older than seven. Azula was with him, she was…she was holding something. She was speaking to him, there was a foul smell in the air, a man behind them – a guard. Following them. No, leading them.
"But I don't want to." He had said, a feeling of dread, a feeling of apprehension.
"Come on," Azula answered with a voice that was strangely sweet and bitter at the same time, "in those cages are some of the worst people in the world. They're robbers and killers, we'll just be giving them a taste of their own medicine." With that she set down the basket she'd been carrying, full to the brim with soft oranges, their thick rinds turning black and molding in places. Selecting one of the spoiled fruits, the young princess waited as a cart that had been working its way slowly up the road drew closer. When the transport was close enough, the child hurled the rotten orange at the group of chained prisoner cargo, pegging one of the detainees in the shoulder.
"I don't think their medicine involves rotten fruit." Zuko said, biting his tongue between his teeth at the rancid scent. "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Not an orange for a murderer, that doesn't make sense."
"Well then why don't you go kill one of them then?" She paused with another spoiled orange in her hand, eyeing her brother as if trying to judge if he'd actually try it. When Zuko twisted his mouth in to an expression of shock, disgust and fear, his younger sibling could only smirk and giggle a little. "See? There's only so much we can do, but we can still do our part to bring them to justice!" With that, the princess flung her next fruit, hitting another of the caged men in the back.
"I think the prison is bringing them to justice…" Zuko continued to argue, watching the man in the carriage turn and snarl at the children. Azula didn't seem fazed, and simply stuck her tongue out at him before hitting him in the chest with another fruit. "Azula, I really don't think we should be doing their job for them. The authorities have it covered, I don't think we should even be here…"
"Why are you letting them off so easily, Zuko?" the young girl asked in the most timid voice she could muster. "What if one of them had killed mother? Wouldn't you want to do something about it then? You're being selfish again!" With an expression as if she was about to start crying, the little princess dropped the rotten fruit she'd been holding, turning her quivering lip to her older brother. "You really don't care that they killed somebody's mommy or daddy or baby! You just care about yourself!"
"Wh-What?" Zuko cried, his hands flying up in defense. "I never said that! They didn't kill mother, so it's none of our business! If you want to punish convicts then work in the prisons when you grow up!"
"No!" Azula snapped at him, "when I grow up, I'm going to help you lead the world, remember? You're just afraid!" She picked up the orange she'd dropped and hysterically hurled it at the cart again, hitting another prisoner in the thick throng. "You're not strong enough to make them pay for what they did! You're… you're just a big fat coward!" She flung another fruit angrily.
"I'm not afraid!" Zuko said defiantly. "But we could get in trouble! What if we get in trouble, huh? Then what! I don't think father will be very happy if he finds out we were throwing fruit in the streets!"
"Father would be proud to know his only two children hate these criminals and traitors, but never mind." Azula waved her hand at him to dismiss her brother. "You're too much of a scaredy squirrel-cat, so don't even bother. Why don't you just go home where you can hide?"
Fury crossing his face now, Zuko lifted one of the fruits. It felt disgusting in his hand and he wanted to drop it and wipe his palm, but Azula laughed at him. He threw it with all his might at a passing cart and it sailed through the air, hitting a bar in one of the windows and bouncing harmlessly to the ground.
"Oh, great Prince Zuko, you'll surely have all those killers running scared with a throw like that" Azula taunted, smirking at her brother and lifting another orange of her own, tossing it and beaming another prisoner in the back of his balding head.
"Shut up!" Zuko cried, grabbing another fruit and throwing it with all his might – and a little more – and watched as it sailed through the window and splashed open in a sticky, stinking mess in a young boy's lap.
The child behind the bars looked at his soiled robe, soaked with rotten fruit pulp, at a loss for what to do for a moment before he rose to his feet, pressing himself against the bars to get a good look at his attacker. He had shoulder-length blonde hair and wore a green Earth Kingdom tunic that was obviously too big for his eight-year-old body. When he laid eyes on the prince grabbing another rotten orange from the basket, his sister watching curiously from a few feet away, the young Deidara scowled.
"Hey! Only a coward fights someone who can't fight back un! Stop throwing those things at us!"
"You're traitors to the Fire Nation!" Zuko cried, feeling a rush of adrenaline pull through his body. "You deserve this and more!" he threw the fruit and it smashed directly against the young boy's face in a putrid, slimy mess.
Leaning away from the bars, the blonde shook his face but made no move to wipe the spoiled pulp from his face, instead as soon as his eyes were cleared, he pulled himself against the bars again shouting as he rolled past the prince.
"You're not a prince, you're a coward and brat! You're spoiled more rotten that those fruits un!"
With a dark scowl, Zuko pointed at the guard standing next to the carriage.
"You there! Make sure he's suitably punished for his words against me! You talk like that to me and you talk like that to the whole Fire Nation, you Earth Kingdom scum! And the Fire Nation likes to call names back!" he stuck his tongue out at the boy as the carriage continued to pull forward.
Not another word came from the gaping mouth of the young blond; he could only look at Zuko with a horrified expression. As the cart rolled past the gate, it was stopped momentarily while Deidara was unloaded and escorted in chains by the guard the little prince had ordered. Still the little earth bender couldn't take his disbelieving eyes off of Zuko, shocked that such a young child could have sentenced him so harshly.
Crossing his arms with a smug look on his face, Zuko nodded his head curtly at the blonde before turning away and looking back at his sister for approval. "How was that?" he said with a wide grin on his face.
"Wow, Zuko" she said with false awe in her voice, "I didn't know you had that kind of cruelty in you, I mean throwing oranges is one thing, but what if that boy gets really hurt?" She smiled inwardly as the seeds of guilt were discretely planted in her elder brother's brain. "Oh, but he probably won't, they'll probably just give his rear a good switching for speaking out against you. That'll teach those traitors not to raise their voices against the Fire Nation, won't it?" She smiled and giggled, squeezing Zuko's hand reassuringly.
"It sure will!" he said, though not completely confidently. He might be hurt…? Oh, but what did it matter, he was a traitor anyway! He deserved it, certainly! Certainly…
He remembered that sense of triumph. He remembered the sensation of power he had, a feeling that not most five year olds got to experience.
He must have been deep in thought for several long seconds, because the people around him seemed to get impatient.
"Zuko…nephew, are you alright? You've gotten pale all of a sudden." Iroh said, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder.
On the other side of the room, Deidara bowed his head as he smirked, having grown a little irritated as the fire bender lost himself to memory for a minute. But in the end, Zuko had recalled the day, and this was enough to bring a crooked, halfhearted smile to the blonde man's face.
"He remembers. He remembers the day he ordered the prison guards to break me." There was a kind of dark, painful chuckle as finally the earth bender looked up to see the shock on the teen's face. "But you didn't succeed, brat. They couldn't break my spirit. And so they settled for breaking my arms and a few of my ribs un." With a cinical look on his face, Deidara rolled the sleeves of his tunic up to reveal twisted flesh and scars where crude stitches had held his arms together in the past. "And all this because little Prince Zuko ordered it so. All because I called him what he was then and still is now. A brat."
"You really shouldn't be so harsh with him." Iroh murmured, squeezing Zuko's shoulder comfortingly. "Zuko barely knows life outside the palace, and – " he flinched when his hand was smacked away.
"Don't talk about me like I'm some pampered babe!" Zuko snapped. "I'm seventeen years old and I'm not the way I was then! I wouldn't dare throw oranges in his face, I'd use fire instead!" he looked up at the blonde with fury burning brightly in his eyes.
"Boys, boys, you're going to call the guards over here again." Iroh said, awkwardly trying to play peace-maker.
"Listen to your uncle and sit down, hot-head, before you do something you really regret un." Deidara smirked and leaned back, folding his arms across his chest. "Wouldn't want the guards to take you away and punish you too un, no… That would put such a damper on your quest for the Avatar and honor, wouldn't it?" His cerulean eyes flashed in the shadows, daring the teen to try something.
Zuko raised a fist as if ready to charge, but his rage was suddenly dampened along with Deidara's with one sentence from Tobi.
"I wonder if we ask really hard, will they let us install a skylight? I wanna sing to the stars. They sing back pretty, but only if they can touch you."
Everyone in the cell became totally quiet and all eyes were focused on Tobi, except for Tobi's eye, which was focused on the ceiling.
"Oh…Oh my God, Tobi, you are so fucking stupid, un."
Covering his face with his palm, Deidara laid back until his shoulders pressed against the iron wall. Zuko's shoulders slumped as he tried to figure weather the one-eyed man was profound or mad. Iroh on the other hand chuckled joyfully; privately thankful that with a single line the hostile situation had been defused.
"Ah, Tobi. I'm afraid there are many more levels of prisoners above this one, and the guards won't allow a hole in the roof." Pulling his nephew's shoulder so that the teen sat as he did, the stout elder sat on the southern cot, stroking the top of his balding head. "It would be a fabulous idea though, wouldn't it? Say, you weren't ever in the Fire Nation military were you? You remind me so much of a general I used to know."
"Uhh…nope. I don't think so." Tobi said, his eye still squinted with a smile. "Sorry, maybe you can find your friend if you keep looking. But friends are hard to find if they're dead, in case you were wondering. I know…I've tried looking."
"He's psychotic, uncle." Zuko groaned, grinding the heel of his hand into his unscarred eye. "Absolutely mad."
"Hey," Deidara grumbled, looking up and peering through his fingers at the two fire benders. "Tobi may have a brain… thing… but he's one of the most decent guys in this festering rathole un, and I'd appreciate it if you treated him with respect un."
Iroh nodded, honoring the blonde man's wishes and agreeing not to mention Tobi's obvious madness in discussion.
"Of course. Tobi, you wouldn't mind if I asked you a few more questions, would you? Your likeness to General Madara simply fascinates me."
Tobi's body suddenly tensed, as though someone had touched his back with a cold hand. His one visible eyebrow scrunched along with the bridge of his nose. "M…Muh…" he mumbled. "I can't have a likeness to anyone, silly, you can't see my face. I…you… Muh… Madara?"
"Not your face, your voice son, you sound just like the man. Madara was a great general of the Fire Nation. He commanded the most powerful fire benders in the nation, the lightingbenders." He paused to see the one-eyed man studying him with firm concentration, as if hanging on every word of Iroh's story. "Anyway, one day one of his own subordinates turned traitor. Kakashi Hatake, top of his class, tried to assassinate Madara by striking him through the brain with a bolt of electricity. Madara survived and Kakashi was taken into custody, but it was said that the general wandered out of the infirmary and was never seen or heard from again."
Tobi's gaze suddenly drifted to the floor in what looked like rapt concentration. "Deidara…make them go away." He muttered, shrinking against the wall, his voice suddenly dropping three octaves as he slid to the floor. He fisted the material of his pant legs, his visible eye caught in an expression halfway between sadness and anger.
Deidara raised a brow and sat up, for a moment the concern for his friend overshadowed his irritation with the new residents of his cell.
"Hey, come on Tobi, what's the matter un? You can't take him seriously, can you? He's just making stories up to pass the time, aren't you old man?" The earth bender looked up at Iroh with a firm gaze, but the elder must have missed his gaze because he continued looking curiously at Tobi.
"Of course not. Madara was a real man, and if I didn't know better, I'd say you were him!" he chuckled in reference to the bandaged man.
"Nooo!" Tobi suddenly howled, flinging himself from the floor and flying at the door, reaching his arms desperately through the bars and clawing frantically at the air. "Out! Out, out! Help me! I can't – !"
Guards were there in an instant, relatively used to this sort of behavior from the man. He was quickly let out of the room and could be heard howling all the way down the hall until another loud clang signified that he'd been led through a door.
There was a long, tense silence in which Iroh seemed to shrink very small.
"Way to go, uncle." Zuko hissed.
Having leapt to his feet in shock, Deidara turned his gaze to the two remaining fire benders, the older in particular, with a look of disbelief and frustration.
"Why'd you have to push him un?" His frown intensifying, the tall man put out his hands in a begging motion as if asking for a feasible explanation. "He's got a fragile reality, you just can't go throwing his name around like it's some kind of toy un! You have no idea what he's lived through un."
"Yeah, uncle." Zuko teased. "Why'd you have to make the crazy man go bonkers?
"So he is Madara?" Iroh said, feeling a bit pleased with himself that he could recognize him despite being only able to see 10% of his face.
Heaving an exasperated sigh, Deidara slouched back on his cot, not having the energy to get angry at the innocent old man after already having so much excitement.
"Of course he's Madara un. And who do you think picked him out of the gutters of Ba Sing Se and put him back on his feet un? He may not be all there, but he's the only fire bender I've ever met who hadn't sold out to the Fire Lord, and the only man who had no fear of him un."
"Sold out!" Zuko repeated indignantly, sitting forward on the cot before being pushed back down by Iroh.
"Calm down, nephew. This is prison. Everyone is entitled to their opinions here." The elder man said with a wise smile. "If you're going to get all hot and bothered over every little thing that's said that offends you here, then you're going to burn out very quicly."
"I take it you don't hold the Fire Lord in high regards either then un?" Deidara said offhandedly, stretching out on his cot and propping his head up with his hand. "I suppose he did give you that pretty little scar un… Anyway, join the club; not a man, woman or child behind these bars who has any sort of liking for the Fire Lord or his occupation of the Earth Kingdom un."
Zuko gritted his teeth and turned his head away defiantly again, refusing to speak of the matter any longer, remembering what he had said before about not speaking to prison scum.
Deidara's eyelids lowered as a sign of aggravation that the banished prince still thought he was too important to be speaking with his inmate.
"Look, you don't have to talk if you don't want to, but don't give me the silent treatment because you think I'm some filthy jailbird un. You know, you're in the same spot as me un, so doesn't that make you prison scum too?" The whole bit of irony made the blonde give a victorious smile as he watched for the teenager's reaction.
I'm not filthy and vile like you are. Zuko thought to himself, still refusing to speak to the man. And I haven't been here as long.
"Well…not that this isn't fun." Iroh said calmly. "But I think I want to sleep. I'm going to go ahead and take the bottom bunk since it's easier on me, okay nephew?"
"Yeah, ok uncle." Zuko sighed, pulling himself to the top bunk and lying down on the thin grimy mattress, folding his arms beneath his head and busying himself with counting the lines that had been etched into the stone ceiling. It was a bit uncomfortable having his arms beneath his head with the shackles, but he paid them no mind.
There was a long silence for a while, but it was clear that neither of the younger men were at all tired, though with no sun to guide them, there was no way to tell the time of day. Deidara eventually gave up and glanced upwards and across the room, realizing that all the while Zuko had been doing his very best to keep his eyes fixed on the ceiling.
"You know, if the shackles really bother you can always get them hot enough to melt them off un. There aren't many fire benders actually held here because for the most part they're loyalists, so the guards don't really take fire bending into account when they put shackles on the new prisoners un."
The blonde watched carefully, hoping he might get a peek at the prince's true power in the process. Something that he might be able to take advantage of if he was ever to take his full revenge on the teen.
"It won't do me any good." Zuko muttered, grudgingly speaking to the man. "I'll just end up burning my skin when the molten metal touches it. Just because I'm a fire bender doesn't mean I'm impervious to flame." He tapped his scar to emphasize his words. "Just like you can be crushed by rock or a water bender can drown. Besides, I would get in trouble with the guards, and that's the last thing I need. And on top of that, I'm not going to wreck a perfectly good pair of shackles that they can reuse. It's wasteful and discourteous."
"Right un…" In all honesty Deidara hadn't even though about the boy burning himself. He'd never actually seen a fire bender get scorched, so he'd naturally made assumptions. "So… how did you two end up here anyway un? Had to be big for them to arrest Fire Nation nobility un. You kill someone important or something un?"
"None of your damn business." Zuko snapped quickly, turning onto his side so his back faced the blonde. His back had all sorts of angst written across it, but he said nothing else.
"Zuko isn't terribly social." Iroh hissed quietly.
"Weren't you sleeping, old man?" Zuko snarled.
Deidara snorted indignantly and folded his arms behind his head, staring at the rusted-out springs of the unused bunk over his own head.
"Fine, didn't wanna talk to your royal-tightass anyway, princess. I hope your bed has lice un." With an irate frown on his face the earth bender closed his eyes and tried to force himself to sleep, knowing very well it wouldn't work very well.
"It's gotten so cold in here all of a sudden." Iroh chuckled awkwardly.
"Then light yourself on fire." Zuko snapped.