For round 4 in the Pro bending circuit

Prompts:

Spades- represents the laborers who work the land. Write about a hard-working individual who comes across riches.

AU non bending bender

Moldy bread

Words: 2347

Prince of Nothing

Zuko grunted as he brought down the till into the dry, ashen dirt. Heavy beads of sweat rolled down his face, falling to the ground. He lifted his tool back up over his head, bringing it down once again as hard as he could. It was exhausting work, but Zuko had gotten used to it a long time ago.

"How many princes have to do this?" Zuko muttered, continuing his work. Bit by bit, he expanded his farmland. Not that it was his, he just had to work it.

For months now he had been working for this Earth Kingdom family, helping them fix up their home and take care of their farm for food. They had gotten along well enough, and Zuko had even taught some knife play to the family's youngest son, Lee. But he was lying to them. They knew him as Lee as well, much to everyone's amusement, because he couldn't tell them his real identity. He couldn't tell them that he was really Prince Zuko, heir to the throne of the Fire Nation.

Or at least was.

Three years before, Zuko had spoken out at a military conference, foolishly worrying over the well-being of the soldiers when the others obviously had no qualms about sacrificing them for a strategic advantage. For his insolence, Zuko had been forced into an Agni Kai. Many had worried about Zuko's chances, particularly his Uncle Iroh, because the officer Zuko had challenged was one of the most accomplished fighters in the entire Fire Nation. And to make matters even bleaker, Zuko himself was not even a Firebender. It was yet another thing that he had disappointed his father with. Speaking of his father…

To the surprise of everyone in attendance, Zuko's opponent was not the officer, but rather Zuko's own father, Fire Lord Ozai. Zuko, in shock, had fallen to his knees and pleaded for his father's forgiveness.

"I'm sorry father!" He had said, tears rolling from his eyes. "I never meant to disrespect you! Please! Forgive me!"

His father had looked down at Zuko silently, his face emotionless. But even Ozai couldn't hide what his eyes showed, and all they contained was pure disgust. Finally he said, "I have always prided myself on being a just and fair ruler. I have to be, to truly make the Fire Nation great. And that is why I can know with certainty that I cannot justify showing you forgiveness. You have disappointed me for too long." With that, he struck with his Firebending.

Zuko's left eye blinked rapidly at the memory, reliving the indescribable pain. There wasn't any moment in his entire life that was more clear to him, nothing that could compete with the sheer impact of that single moment on his life. With that attack, Zuko had gone from handsome young man to scarred abomination, from prince to beggar, from Zuko to Lee. Azula had become heir, Zuko had become banished, and everything had gone to ruin around him. His Uncle Iroh had followed Zuko into his banishment, and they had spent three years wandering around the globe, eking out an existence.

Zuko knew that it was impossible, but he still dreamed of returning home a hero. There had to be something he could do to make his father accept him back. There just had to be.

He shook his head. "Stupid." Even if there was something, nothing short of bringing down Ba Sing Se would ever make his father relent, and thus was far out of Zuko's reach.

He would just have to accept that he would never return home.

Zuko stopped his work. It would be getting dark soon, and he had a couple hour's ride back to the family's home. He slept in their barn, and it was better than nothing.

He packed up his tools and then clambered up onto his ostrich horse. He remembered how he had gotten it, stealing it from a kind Earth Kingdom girl despite Iroh's protest. Iroh….

Zuko had not seen his uncle in months. He had decided to split ways with his uncle because he felt that staying under the old man's wing was going to stunt his growth as a prince. And if he ever wanted his inheritance back, he would need as much growth as he could possibly get. So he had left the crazy old man.

More often than not, Zuko missed his uncle. Iroh had been one of the only people to see more than a failure in Zuko. To Iroh, Zuko wasn't the Prince that couldn't bend and wasn't good at anything. He wasn't the disappointment that Fire Lord Ozai and everyone else saw. To Iroh, Zuko was like a second son, and since Ozai refused to be a proper father for Zuko Iroh would be there for him. When Lu Ten died, Zuko was all that Iroh had left, and sought to help the boy as much as he could. He even followed Zuko into exile when he was banished, and had helped him survive the last three years. But Zuko had come to a realization recently, that he wasn't able to grow anymore with Iroh there. He had to go out on his own, find his own way, learn to trust his own instincts.

And that had led him here. He had found a family looking for help to work on their farm, and Zuko had been willing to work for a few days to get some much needed food into his belly. But a few days had turned into a week. Which had turned into a month. And now he had been here three months, helping them with their farm and their animals, and even fixing up their house. That time had passed so quickly, and being valued for once had been a much needed change for Zuko.

But the past always came back. For a week now, memories had been resurfacing in Zuko's mind, of his father calling him a disgrace, of him needing to find some way to redeem himself. It was driving him crazy. But now he was becoming more and more certain of one thing: he would have to return soon.

He was the Prince. He was Prince Zuko. Firebender or not, disgrace or not, Uncle Iroh or not, he would need to return and claim what was rightfully his. He needed to bring honor to his name, he couldn't live with being known in history for being a disgrace who lost his right to be a prince.

"But how could I possibly do that?" he wondered out loud. He reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a loaf of moldy bread. He couldn't afford to be picky, so he wolfed it down. He gazed out at the empty land, which he would in the coming days turn into a farm to sustain the family he was with and make some money at the market.

He had no prospects, nothing going for him. No reason why his father would ever let him back or choose him as heir to the Fire Nation over his sister Azula.

Everything always came easy to her. Zuko thought. She's a Firebending prodigy, and everyone adores her. My father says she was born lucky. He says I was lucky to be born. I don't need luck, though. I don't want it. I've always had to struggle and fight and that's made me strong. It's made me who I am.

He couldn't let things stay the way they were. There had to be some way to give him power.

Suddenly he noticed a glint in the distance. Something was reflecting light off of that rock sitting there among some bushes. Zuko reined in his Ostrich Horse and turned her towards the strange gleam. Upon reaching the rock Zuko saw a very strange metal door connected to the rock.

Zuko had no idea how this could have gotten here. This place was as far away from anything strange and important happening as it was possible to get, yet there was a door here. Leading to what, he didn't know. He got down from his beast, and approached the door cautiously. It seemed to be very old and was covered in rust, and even had vines growing over it. Zuko withdrew his dual bladed swords. If there was anything he had any talent in, it was swordsmanship. With precision only a well experienced swordsman like him could attain to achieve, he sliced away the vines. There was a small handle to pull the door open, turned orange by rust. Zuko noticed a lock on the ground that must have eroded away, leaving the place open for anyone to enter.

Zuko briefly wondered if he should enter. He knew of the ruins of the Sun Warriors, and that booby-traps were still being found to this day. What kind of horrors could be inside this? But on the other side of that, what kind of treasures could be found within? There could literally be anything inside.

Zuko's curiosity won out. He decided that he would check it out. Who knew? Maybe there would be something of value. And it wasn't like there was much for him to lose. Iroh would be the only one who would mourn him, and he might not even find out if Zuko died.

He pulled the door open with a loud creak. Inside it was dark, and the sky darkening wasn't helping matters. Firebending would have been great to have at the moment. But, like everything else, it was a skill only Azula possessed. And naturally, she was considered a prodigy.

Luckily, Zuko did have some flint with him. He wouldn't have anything to light however. Thinking quickly, he bundled up the vines that he had cut off of the door into a ball, then broke off one of the sturdier branches of the bush. It wasn't pretty, but he soon had a working torch. He used the rock against his flint and soon had a going fire. "See, Azula? I can still do it; it just takes me a little longer." He remarked with a bitter smile.

He entered the cave behind the door, waving his torch around. There was nothing besides a narrow tunnel, leading deeper. He decided he would follow it and see what waited below.

He couldn't believe his eyes when he found out just what that was.

At the bottom of a long, winding tunnel lay a massive cavern, large enough to fit the entirety of the Fire Nation Royal Palace inside. And in this cavern, for as far as Zuko could see, we gold. All sorts of gold, with coins, goblets, necklaces of all sorts of gems, and all such manner of riches covered every inch of the ground. Zuko could scarcely believe what he was seeing. He bent down and picked up a coin, just to make sure it was. "How in the world…" he wondered out loud.

There was a rock jutting out from the ground like a podium, with stairs carved into that reached to the top. And sitting at the top was a closed chest. Zuko approached the chest, feeling that if it had been placed in such a spot that it must be important. The chest was breaking down, the wood long ago spoiled. There was a keyhole, but the chest was in such disrepair that no key was needed. Zuko opened it up and found just two scrolls, each having suffered from their own wear. Zuko pulled out one and opened it. It was faded at parts, making it a bit hard to read.

If you are reading this, that you must have found the riches that I, Jarra the Pirate, pl ed here. I am getting old in age, a rarity for my line of work, and have become possibly the most famous man of my century. And, as you can see, stinking rich. Isn't t s genius? They will be looking for some island to find all of my treasure since I am a pirate, when in fact all my treasure is hidden away in the middle of the damn continent! I love it! Now, I'm a s fish bastard, and I don't want any ne to get ahold of what is mine by right. S I had me and my most trusted men everything we took here to hide it. And then I ki d every last one of them. Even my best friend, Po. I saved him for last, because I to do it. But I did in the end. It was for best. And now I'm just going to let myself die here. Now, I know that as much as I d love this to stay hidden here forever, I know someday somebody to find their way in here and find this place. well, as the owner of the gold, I think I have so right as to what you do with it. Honor this. I m a legacy with these riches. I'm sure n whenever you are alive they will still be talking about the incredible Jarra, aren't they? Well I demand that you use to continue that legacy. That's what my memory deserves. Do something big, risky. Change the damn world. Put and don't waste a single copper. Now get to it.

Zuko gently laid down the scroll and rolled it back into its original state. Then he chuckled. And then the chuckle broke into a laugh. And the laugh grew and grew, eventually becoming maniacal in nature. "I have it! I have it! I finally have it! What I've been needing for so long!"

Zuko knew what he had to do. With money like this, he couldn't appease his father. Gold would never sway the Fire Lord that his son was worthy. But money could buy him an army. An army that Zuko could use against any opponent he so wished. Who said he had to come home peacefully?

It was time for Zuko to reclaim his throne.

Although this was intended as a one shot, I could actually see this continuing further. If you guys want me to, then I could continue this, see where it goes. Thanks for reading!