Okay, okay, okay - so I was thinking about this story after I was looking at my All You Have is Fire story, and I wanted to edit/update these earlier chapters, also, I changed the bit where Zuko already has the scar to no scar, at least not yet. I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender!
Heavy rain falls from somber skies as powerful gusts of wind screams through the forests – not the ideal weather to be marching through the expansive woodland, but the men of the royal Fire Nation cartel pay little mind to the brisk climate or the potential danger lurking within the dark. Their minds trained on their sole mission; escorting the young Prince to Ba-Sing-Se where he is to wed the soon-to-be King, Kuei. The men were dressed head to toe in heavy armor plates and pads, each item colored a deep, rich red, proclaiming their proud heritage to the world; their weapons sharp and minds sharper, their hands rest on the hilts of their weapons1 in case of surprise attacks. Five burly men guide the carriage while five cover the rear, two guards flank both left and right, while four are stationed within the fanciful carriage itself alongside the two Princes, both varying in age: Prince Iroh is the oldest of the two, a large set man and a retired general, his hair is gray with age, somewhere within his late 40s to early 50s, meanwhile, Prince Zuko is the younger of the two, a slender kid, still so young yet already witness to the world's unfairness.
Both Uncle and Nephew, as well as their guards, sit in relative silence, the exception being the rain striking the carriage, the carriage itself rumbling, and the winds howling to be let in – the Dragon of the West looks to his younger counterpart and allows a sympathetic expression to take hold of his aged features, a look that Prince Zuko would very much disapprove of if he weren't in such a slump. Those once wide, bright, honey-colored eyes were now dark, clouded over with despair, his usually proud, albeit awkward at times, form now slumped over with shame and self-loathing, the young Prince's carefree innocence was gone, and in its place stood a misrepresentation of honor and a sense of duty – this phantom of his Nephew came about after he'd learned that his childhood was to be sold off as a token for the sake of peace and an alliance, the young Prince had spoken out against his father's wishes of marrying him off to Prince Kuei and was rewarded with an ultimatum: either go through with the marriage, or be banished from the Fire Nation for life.
So in the end, he was still being forced into the marriage.
Now here they were, on a carriage, heavily guarded and sitting in relative silence, on their way to Ba-Sing-Se where Zuko was to be married off to the Prince of the Earth Kingdom capital – Iroh only hoped Kuei was a kind enough man to wait until the young Prince was of age before they consummated their marriage, or more ideal, not go through with it at all.
"Prince Zuko," Iroh calls softly, the young boy remains unresponsive, still staring dolefully at his lap, Iroh purses his lips before sighing dejectedly, "Life – life is like a cup of tea, it cannot be without a measure of sadness as well as happiness, in the end, it is what you make of it."
Prince Zuko remains as still and silent as a marble statue, and just as the old war general begins to think that he will get no response from the discouraged Prince like the many times he'd tried before, a quiet sigh escapes the small boy's still form.
"Uncle, you know I can never understand your tea metaphors."
Smiling tenderly at the first response he's gotten out of the boy since this damnable trip began, Iroh lets out a soft, amused chuckle, "That is true my Nephew, even if I were to make it as simple as possible, you still would not understand. I only hope that as you age, you will gain some wisdom ~ ."
All he gets in retaliation is a small huff of indignation, but it matters little to Iroh if it weren't a positive response for it's still something, the elder Prince's tender smile widens a smidgen more at the prospect of his beloved Nephew slowly coming out of that horrible funk he'd been in since he had received the bad news.
THUMP. GURGLE. THUD.
Jumping at the unexpected sounds, Zuko looks to the carriage's ceiling as if whatever it was would magically appear, or as if he could see through it, outside shouts of surprise and battle cries, accompanied by what could only be explained as choking sounds, disrupts the rhythm of the now soft pattering of the rain. Everyone within the carriage rises to their feet, although the young Prince remains rooted to his spot.
"Stay here."
A guard orders firmly, keeping his eyes on the young Prince in particular before he heads out into the dark with the other three guards – both Princes watch the doors shut, only to hear the two doors lock simultaneously. It's then, that Iroh moves gingerly to Zuko's side, placing a comforting hand upon the young boy's shoulder, outside, they can hear shouts, curses, grunts, thuds, the sound of metal locking, and fire roaring. A little more than shaken, Zuko looks to his Uncle with wide eyes, his amber eyes filled to the brim with anxiety and worry.
"Uncle?"
As the title reaches Iroh's ears, the doors on either side of the carriage swing open at once to reveal two rugged looking – boys? Nevertheless, the retired General rises to his feet and slips into a defensive position, eyes flitting from one to the other, and judging from the blood splatters on both males' clothing, they weren't friendly and weren't afraid to get their hands dirty.
"Now, now Old Man," the smaller of the two titters, wheat grass moving within his mouth as he speaks, and there's something about the way he talks that unsettles the older firebender, "We just want Prince Zuko, hand him over and we'll be on our merry way ~ ."
"You will not be taking him from me." Iroh growls, eyes darting from the wheat-boy on his left to the giant of a boy, no man, on his right, "I will fight back – even if you are just a child."
"I'm not just a child, I'm so much more." the wheat-boy huffs ostentatiously, pouting for effect, the boy is wild and it shows when a smile slips across his lips, "In any case, I had wanted to do this without a fight," which is a lie considering the men outside are most likely dead, "But oh well ~ Pipsqueak!"
The behemoth of a man lunges at Iroh who manages to sidestep and avoid the man's charge within the small confines of the carriage, both men surprisingly spritely despite their sizes: the behemoth for his size and width, and Iroh for his age and girth.
"Uncle!" Zuko shouts, taking a step forward, ready to help his Uncle until a hand roughly seizes him by the forearm, he casts a glance over his shoulder and he spots the tanned boy from earlier.
"Nope ~ you're coming with me, Prince-ling!"
"Get off of me!"
Zuko manages to yank his arm away from the boy's hold until another hand clasps his wrist, with a yelp, he's yanked out from the transport by the unruly, wild-eyed boy, but despite being in the cold, Zuko continues to struggle within the boy's hold, the two snarling and snapping at one another as they try to gain some sort of leverage over the other. The commotion and the wild movements they make fortunately captures Iroh's attention when he turns to dodge another incoming attack:
"Zuko!" Iroh shouts, his fight with the large man forgotten.
The retired General starts moving to help the younger firebender only for the man to block his way and his view on both his Nephew and his captor, unable to see his Nephew, he can only hear Zuko's angered shouts until he suddenly goes quiet, because of this, Iroh feels his stomach drop. Terrified for his most treasured relative's safety, he releases a large wave of fire that gets the man, Pipsqueak, to move as the flames come close to burning him. The carriage catches fire because of this, but that's the least of Iroh's worries as he steps out of the vehicle, his eyes immediately searching the surrounding area in hopes he'd see what became of his Nephew, nothing, a small part of the elder firebender is glad for this means Prince Zuko may still be alive, but what he can see though are the surprised faces of the attackers – with the fire beginning to envelope the carriage behind him and highlighting his figure with red light, he's sure he makes for an ominous sight. Before any of them can move, the whistling of a local bird echoes throughout the vast forest, seemingly coming from everywhere, the bandit children gaze at one another shortly before they scatter in different directions, making it hard for him to follow even if he wanted to, so all he can do is watch as they disappear into the night, all except for one who slips in the mud, ultimately falling facedown.
As the boy tries to get back on his feet, Iroh shoots a burst of fire that explodes beside the kid's head, the child shouts out in surprise as he desperately scrambles away from the blast, he bumps into Iroh, the kid looks up, eyes filled with a mix of fear and hate:
"Where have you taken my Nephew?" Iroh demands, voice cold and fire daggers blazing from his fists.
"I'm not telling you anything, Ash-Maker!"
Growling, the fire swallowing his fists burns brighter, its then as he glowers at the child before him that the days of his son's death rushes to the forefront of his mind like a bad nightmare, a terrible play, he promptly cuts the fire off and turns away from the child which could have ended badly considering the child's associates, but that doesn't matter.
"Leave!"
He doesn't look back, doesn't care to, all he can hear is the child running away from him, disappearing into the forests as the others had done before him, alone, he looks over the battlefield. There are numerous bodies of the guards littering the muddy forest grounds, all except for three who, by some miracle, managed to survive with wounds that weren't exactly fatal, but had a large chance of becoming infected by exposure. But at least some men had survived the onslaught.
"I – I am sorry for your loss, General Iroh." one of the three guards speaks up, "We had tried our best but, there was too many of them, too quick, and with the weather being as it is, it was harder for the firebenders to bend a flame properly."
"It is – I – thank you." Iroh sighs, settling on thanking the guard, for what more was there to say?
Casting his gaze towards the dark forests once more, Iroh can't help but wonder as to the origins of the children – dazed, the young Prince finds himself staring at the muddy ground and realizes that he's being carried a few seconds later, he doesn't know by whom, but the person is one of incredible strength and pretty tall, he hears talking, the voices all sound like children except for the deep rumble that escapes the man who carries him like a wet rag doll, he thinks he hears something about Ba-Sing-Se and recognizes one of the voices as the boy with the wheat stalk in his mouth, the one who'd knocked him out sometime during their struggle from earlier. Before he can think further on much of anything beyond that, his mind drifts off into an unconscious state once again, he was incredibly tired and he just wanted to sleep, preferably somewhere warm and a lot more comfortable.
This is a sister story to All You Have is Fire ~ I'm also thinking of changing the title once again!