Chp 1
Chp 1
Zuko woke up screaming, His face hurt so much. he reaches towards his face only to have his arm caught
. "Don't touch prince zuko," a woman's voice reprimands him. " It's still raw you need to leave it alone or you'll make it worse." she explains "It can't get worse!" He snaps the flames shooting up from the candles in the room. "You're still alive aren't you."
. They both turn at the sound of the door opening up. "General iroh" She says bowing. "Please leave us." He says leaving no room for arguments
"Of course." says bowing once more turning and walking out leaving the two of them "Uncle where's father?" zuko says hopefully, Iroh sits next to his bed tears forming in the corner of his eyes. "Prince zuko, your father has decreed that.. That you have dishonored yourself and he has banished you." B..Banished?" he ass voice small
"The only way you can return to the fire nation is to capture the avatar, who hasn't been seen in a century." "W..Why would he do this, h...how could he?" zuko says tears streaming down his cheek and iroh pulls him into a hug. "I'm so sorry zuko, there's nothing i can do, he won't even allow me to accompany you." iroh says breaking and crying along with him.
Half a day later iroh walks zuko towards a small metal vessel at the docks. "Zuko, i'm so sorry. i should never have let you accompany me. This is my i promise you nephew that i will find a way to bring you home." he says sadly
zuko not responding, just staring ahead trying to keep his head high, they reach the boat and iroh bows to zuko. "We will meet again prince zuko, one day. I know it." he says tears running down his cheeks.
Zuko turns not responding and shutting the door behind him, he was leaving his home, for what would most likely be the last time, even he didn't understand how he felt.
Zuko had been on his ship for weeks, Uncle had written out the steps to sailing the ship and filled it with as many supplies as he could gather, and zuko had been letting the currents lead him.
Zuko lays in his bed below deck, when the ship suddenly hitting something and the lurch throwing him from his bed onto the cold metal floor. he stands up quickly making his way above deck to find his ship surrounded ice, it had burrowed its way in deep before losing its momentum stranding him., he had reached a pole, but he couldn't bring himself to care,
even the chill in his bones seemed inconsequential to him, he had no one and nothin, he sighs turning and heading towards the helm. He closes the door behind him grabbing a blanket from the seat and wrapping it around his shoulders turning the ship's engines off and staring at the endless sheet of Ice before him. "Agni help me." he says softly scanning the horizon his eyes eventually finding grey smoke on the horizon and a wall of snow that he wasn't ready to try to reach.
He stands up wrapping the blanket tighter around him and walks out heading back below deck, Maybe agni would reward his father and he would die in his sleep tonight some dark part of his mind thinks.
"We should tell dad" a young male voice whines " the ships scary, and grangran says metal ships are bad."an arm wraps around each of their shoulders. "C'mon scaredy cats, Dad never said that this ship was forbidden like the other one, what if there's strange weapons inside sokka? And katara, what if there's a water bending scroll for us? "
"I do like weapons…"sokka says "A scroll?" katara asks eyes wide with hope "Then were all agreed let's go." She says letting them go and walking forward towards the ship
As They reach the ship the eldest of the group climbs a snow pile around the base walking onto the deck her feet making a soft metallic noise with each step "Strange" She mutters looking around her eyes resting on a metal door before walking towards it.
"WAIT THERE'S SMOKE!" she hears sokka yell as she pushes the door open coming face to face with a sword. "Leave." A rough male voice says and her eyes widen as she follow the sword to look at a boy in his teens with a heavy burn covering part of his face, "Your hurt?" She says ignoring the sword in her face
"Just go" he threatens her "The fire nation hurt you?" she guesses. " They hurt us too." She says as she unconsciously raises her hand towards his burn,
He flinches back and she takes the moment to slap the sword out of his hand and pick him up over her shoulder. "Were gonna get you something for that eye." "Drop me!" he says kicking and trying to get out but quickly tiring. Not taking care of himself a mistake that left him weak and he was paying for it, he never thought things through. "Korra are you ok?!" katara and sokka ask in unison running up onto the ship. "Who's this?" sokka asks suspiciously. "This is my new friend, were taking him to get his burns treated." she tells him.
"He doesn't look happy." katara tells her looking at his face. "Why wouldn't he be happy, a beautiful girl is carrying him around." she says grinning
"Are you going to hand me to someone else?" zuko asks spitefully from her shoulder earning sneakers from katara and sokka and angry words from korra.
Korra caries zuko into gran grans tent tossing him onto a spare cot. "Stay." She tells him turning and walking outside returning moments later with hakoda.
"Who's this?" Hadoka asks staring at the young man that his daughter korra had brought into their village. "This is the boy I found in the ship at the end of the ice."
He turns to her. "Korra that ship is forbidden." " not that one, the new one we found this morning" she says as if it was obvious "You found a strange metal ship, and you took your younger siblings too it without alerting any of your elders." He asks anger and disappointment filling his voice.
"I'll deal with you later." he says turning to zuko who was looking at the floor. "Raise your head boy." he tells him and zuko raises head golden eyes meeting blue ones. "Korra leave us." But." she protests.
"Leave!" he orders and she stairs eyes wide quickly turns and leaves, never hearing her father talk like that.
"What is a fire nation child doing all the way out here." zuko says nothing just staring defiantly "Answer me boy." he commands him..
"I was banished!" zuko says spitting the word as if it was poison. "Banished and burned, sent out to sea alone to die by my own father, he wanted me dead and he couldn't do it himself so he sent me out hoping the sea or starvation would kill me." the defiance slowly drained out of him throughout his answer, a brokenness that no child should feel taking hold. Making hadokas fatherly instincts get the better of his common sense This boy was around the same age as his children. What kind of father would try to kill his children?
. "Back before the war… the water tribe would often…" He pauses considering his offer and if he was sure . "Take in orphaned children of other nations, and i can't bring myself to kill a child, i won't. if you renounce your old nation and if you can prove yourself to the tribe you can stay here."
"J….Join the water tribe?" zuko asks confused. "If you work at it here you could live out your life in a sort of piece." "Piece?" zuko asks the word feeling foreign on his tongue. It was something he never thought he would find "That sounds...nice"