Woo-woo, another Fire Nation fic. What is it about firebenders that says, "Write me! ME!" ? sigh...

"The Bluest Eyes"

I hate this place.

It is freezing cold, all the time. The chill seems to suffocate everything. I stand near the helm of my ship, looking out toafrozen patch of land ahead. Towards one of the Water Tribe's main villages. Why anyone would want to live in this godforsaken place is beyond my comprehension. But, then again, you would expect such stupidity from a bunch of Water Tribe barbarians.

Still, their simplemindedness doesn't make my job any easier. Having to come all the way out here to preform a raid. Information collected by scouts and spys say that this village has become especially prosperous, and formed a militia to help in the effort to stall our nation. Supposedly, they even have a number of waterbenders in their ranks. Not an especially big threat, but enough of a nuisance that my commander would order me out here to take care of this little...problem. My mission: destroy the militia, exterminate the waterbenders, and teach these foolish savages a lesson. That alone should be reward enough for my suffering through this barren wasteland.

When I can stand the cold no longer, I go below deck to order my men to prepare for the raid. As they arm themselves, I go to Prince Zuko's chambers. Lord Ozai had decided recently that if his son was to become king, then he would have to learn the ways of war. His Lordship rarely directly involves himself in battles, so he sent his son to travel and learn under different leaders of his army. My commander had become Prince Zuko's second keeper, but because of problems with the Earth Kindom, decided to move the boy away from the main fighting and station him somewhere safer with one of his subordinates. When I had heard that my commander was doing this, I jumped at the opportunity to take in the prince. By keeping Prince Zuko close, I can increase my chances of promotion. Any positive impressions I give the boy will almost certainly be passed onto his father. And I will miss no opportunity to gain favor with Lord Ozai.

However...the boy proves difficult. If he were not the heir to the throne, I would smack him for his impertinence. Everytime our eyes meet, I can see he looks down on me. He talks back without hesitation, and orders my men around as if they were his own. I have done my best to be polite, for the sake of winning good graces, but the little brat makes it extremely difficult.

I knock on the door. Before I can announce myself he barks, "Enter!" Exhaling slowly, I try not to lose patience. I enter.

Prince Zuko looks up and me, then turns back to his meditation. "What do you want?" he asks shortly. I unclench my teeth before speaking.

"Prince Zuko, we are about to begin a raid on a water village. While I cannot run the risk of allowing you to engage in the battle with us, you are free to watch from the ship. I believe you will have something great to learn from watching our noble army in action."

"Very well," he answers nonchalantly, though the quickness in rising from his sitting position betrays his eagerness to get away from meditation.

My men and I manuever our ship closer to shore, keeping hidden behind icebergs to avoid being spotted. We stop behind a large iceberg just off the coast of the village. Using the smaller raft-boats to help stay concealed, my troop of firebenders reach the shore undetected, and continue to advance on the village on foot. Luckily, the snow is hard packed and easy to walk on.

Somewhere, we are spotted and an alarm goes off. Of little use though, since we are practically at the village's gate. Upon the alarm's signal, the village reacts almost instantaneously, with its warriors flooding out the front gate to greet us. I take note that the borders around the village are being barricaded more strongly-meaning that most of the warriors have left the village to engage my men, and there are few to protect it from the inside. Good.

Now that my men have drawn most of the forces out, we fight to keep their concentration. Indeed there are waterbenders among the tribe; I watch as some of my men are swallowed by ice or overwhelmed by waves of water. The rest of the villagers fight with primative spears, clubs, and bow and arrows. My men are able to hold the villagers at bay, and work together to melt or evaporate any water-attacks against their comrades.

Moving onto my next kill, I dodge to the side as I hear a whizzing sound rush by my ear. I manage to turn around in time to see the strange whirling device that had nearly cut me fly off into the distance. Turning back, I see the man responsible for throwing the kinked blade: a water tribesman, panting, one arm outstretched from the throw, the other grasping a spear, with a frown on his face from having so narrowly missed me. Fire flows through my veins, and I make to charge, but find my feet frozen into the ground. The man gives a word of thanks to one of the waterbenders and grins at me. A familiar whizzing sound approaches and I duck just in time as the whirling device zooms viciously through where I had been moments before, into the hands of its master.

The man holds the bent blade ready and charges, prepared to cut me down where I am frozen. My fire flows through my hands to melt the ice imprisoning my feet. I have to go slowly though, or I will burn myself, but the man is approaching rapidly, he will be on me in moments, he raises his blade, his eyes flash, his arm moves down to strike me...!

There! My feet are free and I manage to scramble out from under his attack, just as the blade comes down to lodge itself several inches into the hard-packed ice. The ice is slick, and I have difficulty standing, but the tribesman is on me in a moment. I ball myself into a fetal position where I lay and unload like a spring, driving my two feet into his stomach. He lets out a sharp grunt and goes flying.

Quickly standing up, I am surprised to find my men being overwhelmed and driven back. The water villagegrows more confident with its momentum, and its people fight with every ounce of strength to beat us back.

It is time to crush that strength. I grab a flare from my belt and place it onto the ground. One of my men sees what I am doing and comes to guard me. Snapping my fingers, I create a spark to light the fuse and back away quickly. The fuse fizzles away, and with an angry scream the flare shoots up into the air and blasts a red flash into the sky, catching the attention of everyone on the battlefield. Horrified realization spreads on the faces of the Water Tribe.

My ship, once I had taken half of my men to attack the front entrance of the village, had stealthily moved around to the back of the village, awaiting the signal of the red flare to send the rest of my men to attack from behind. The village, empty of protection since most of it had been preoccupied keeping my diversion at bay, would be easy to break into and sieze control. I laugh. It was just like these simpletons to fall for such a basic trap!

Screams start to come from the village, and simultaneously the water-warriors all rush back to it. But my warriors are ready, and position themselves to delay the tribesmen from entering the village as long as possible. The water-warriors grow desperate as they hear screams escalate and smoke billow from the village, but my men stay steady and keep most from re-entering.

It does not take long. Within a few minutes, a signal goes up from inside the village, declaring a successful takeover. I turn back to the battle and bellow, "If you value the lives of you women and children, you will surrender immediately!"

"You low-life filthy bastard! How dare you! Women and children! Fire Nation scum!" Shouts of this and the like fill the air, but the warriors have no choice but to lay down their weapons. As my men quickly round them up and bind them, I enter the village. What wasn't melted was burning, and the women, children, and remaining soldiers were herded into a group like cattle.

Knowing this victory would reflect positively, I decide to bring Prince Zuko closer in to see my success. I'm sure Lord Ozai would be pleased to hear ofmy valorfrom the admiring lips of his son! "Bring the ship around!" I snap to one of my men, "Bring the ship in close so that Prince Zuko can see my glorious victory!"

By the time the ship is anchored just offshore, we have alreadymoved the tribespeople outside the ruined village so that Prince Zuko could have a better look. The waterbendersare singled out and placed in a line; the rest of the warriors are placed facedown on the ground with hands laced behind their heads, including the one that had attacked me so persisitantly earlier, guarded by a group of my firebenders. Women and children huddled together in a group nearby, also guarded. The bodies of the deadarepiled up on one on top of another a little ways off, smoldering.

Looking up, I see Prince Zuko watching from the edge of my ship, eyes narrowed. He smells the air and his lip curls. I frown. Was there something offensive in the smell of victory? Or perhaps he was displeased that I had made him stay on the ship and miss out on the raid...that was it! I would bring him out to enjoy the executions, but I can't afford the risk of a desperate watertribesman making an attack on our Prince. He would have to watch from a distance.

The waterbenders are brought forth and forced onto their knees. I step forward with a chosen few of my men. With movements so in time they could have been choreographed, we step forward and thrust with our palms in one smooth motion, engulfing the waterbenders in flames. They scream loudly, but not as loudly as the other captives. Eventually the screams die, and all that is left to testify of the waterbenders' existance are charred bones.

"Let this be a lesson to the peoples of the Water Tribe: any resistance to the Fire Nation will be met with unrelenting fury. You can either bow, or perish. There is no mercy to those who oppose the innevitable." I signal my men to bring the rest of the prisoners forward. In the first line, I recognize the warrior who fought with the bent blade. "I will especially enjoy destroying you..." I sneer at him. But just as the last of the group is brought to their knees, a woman from the civilian captives races out from under the gaurds and places herself between me and the warrior. A small boy and girl from the civiliangroup cry out loudly for her.

"Please," she begs, "You have won. You have made your point. Our village is destroyed, many of our people are dead...there is no way we can stand against the Fire Nation anymore! Please, have mercy! We are of no threat anymore! Please, please, have mercy!" She covers her hands over her mouth and whispers, eyes closes and tears streaming, "Please don't kill my husband...please...please..."

For a moment, I am stunned silent. She dare ask me for mercy! This common Water Tribe wench? "Mercy?" I shout, "You should have thought about the consequences of yourdefiance before you stood against us! There is no mercy for those who bring defeat upon themselves, you impudent little bitch!" I grab her arm and roughly swing her around, so that all the village may view her. "Here is my mercy," I yell for all to hear, "the mercy of a quick death!" I swing her to face me, look into her frighted, tear-filled eyes, place my palm to her chest...

and fire.

Her husband screams insanely and makes to attack me, but the guards hold him back. The women and children wail, but none so loudly or miserably as a little boy and girl who rush out from the group towards their burning mother. One of the gaurds catches them and throws them towards their father. I back away to watch my handywork. The gaurds can no longer hold the father and he rushes towards his wife. He tries to hold her smoking body, but she merely crumbles at his touch. The warrior crumples to the ground, took weak from his slobbering grief to move.

The little boy turns and shrieks at me, "You bastard! YOU BASTARD! How could you do that! She was just...she was just...how could you! She couldn't even fight back! She's not a warrior! She was my mom! My...mom! Moooooommm...Uggnh...she...y-you...you can't do that...it's wrong...y-you can't h-hurt girls...it's ag-gainst the r-rules..." I walk up to him and kick him squarely in the face, sending him sprawling into the ground. The little girl crawls to him and holds him tightly to her. "Mmm...moommm...mom..." he moans into her chest. She turns and looks upat me. Her tears bubble and flow, making her ocean-blue eyes look as though they were pools of rippling water. Her face is wet with tears and drippings from her nose. She shakes and makes little noises, but her big blue eyes show no fear, not even hate...only sadness...

"Very well," I say, closing my eyes to break the stare, "Since you have begged for mercy I will let you live, so that you may mourn over the ashes of your dead!" I give the signal and my men begin to move out. Looking back as we withdrew, I see hardly anyone from the tribe has moved, save to embrace another or help a comrade up. The little girl is exactly as I left her, holding her sobbing brother, staring at her grieving father and dead mother with the bluest eyes I have ever seen.

I enter the ship and scan the deck for Prince Zuko. He is nowhere to be seen.

I find him in his chambers, meditating as he was before. His concentration is poor, as the candles placed before him constantly flicker.

"Prince Zuko, I am sorry I upset you, but you know I couldn't bring you along, it was too risky..."

"You make me sick."

I stare for a moment. "Excuse me?" I ask.

He turns around and looks straight at me, face contorted with an expression of complete disdain.

"How a loathsome, sorry piece of filth like you ever became a captain I will never guess. No...I probably can. Your actions show that you have no honor...trash like you have no right serving under my father's grand army. I will see to it that you are thrown from this army immediately, so that you may never blemish it with your shameless deeds again!" he spits.

"You little...!" I start, feeling my temper flare. "How dare you address me in such a tongue! Calling me filth! You dare call me filth? You dare tell me how I should run my army? You dare to speak illy of my great deeds when you scamper back to you father?" I rage, no longer caring it was the heir of the Fire Nation I was addressing. "It is by my victories that the Fire Nation stays strong and your father stays Lord! My efforts are what propel this nation to domination! It is by men like me that savages like them have been beaten down to make room for our glorious Nation! What does a pampered little Prince know about anything! If you weren't Lord Ozai's son, I would have thrown your spoiled, impertinent little ass overboard! I won't be spoken down to by a snot-nosed little...!"

By this time, Prince Zuko has lept to his feet, body a aflame, eyes burning into mine. "I am your Prince!" he shouts, "and you are nothing more than a coward, a great shame to our Nation! I'll have you shown as the disgrace you are and expelled from the army!"

"What! I won't be chastized by some spoiled brat fresh off his mother teat! My victories are worthy of reward! What makes you think you can expel me, who has given the Fire nation victory after victory, from the army I have so loyally served?" I bellow

"When we get back to the palace," he growls, the fire around him glowing brighter, more intense. "I will prove you the honorless coward you are! Before my father, before everyone, I will defeat you in Agni Kai! I challenge you, Captain Zhou! Will you fight me, or turn and slither away?"

I glare at the boy, matching the intensity of his stare. I look into his glittering, sharp, amber eyes, filled with hate and disgust. How different they are from those sad, ocean-blue eyes...

"Prince Zuko...I accept."

Yeah, you probably figured it was Zhou a few paragraphs in. No real surprise. I have no idea if Zhou really killed Katara and Sokka's mom, but I'm such a conspiracy theorist, I couldn't resist.

Commader Zhou is such a bastard. Which is why he's great for fanfiction. :D