.
.
Bolin walks beside his General, looking up at the clear sky and the sun shining down on them.
They're walking through the Earth Kingdom countryside as they make their way to Omashu.
Their car had been destroyed a few miles back. Bolin carries their bags as Iroh tries to identify their position on a map. They're on the way to meet the Avatar, Bolin's old friend, the Earth King, and the king of Omashu. It's one of the only places in the world that is safe from the Equalist invasion. They started in Republic City three years ago, when Bolin had first met Iroh. They'd taken apart their first fleet of planes, but they'd had to leave very suddenly.
"Are we getting close, sir?" Bolin asks.
"I can't read this map at all," Iroh says. "It's at least thirty years old."
"Okay," Bolin says. "Well, what do we do?"
"It claims there's a mountain path we can take to the north," Iroh says. "It looks like the fastest way there, except by air."
Bolin wishes that they'd brought a bison.
As they stop to adjust their course, Bolin hears the bombs.
"Spirits," he says, dropping his pack and opening a hole in the ground underneath them.
Iroh looks over to where the planes are dropping missiles, destroying the countryside and the farms of Earth Kingdom residents.
This is what they'd run from. What Bolin had run from, in Republic City, three years earlier when he'd decided to join the United Forces.
Iroh remembered the day well.
.
.
"General, sir," Bolin says from behind him. It's the middle of the night and they're talking around a fire underneath the city. They finished destroying the secret airfield, were captured and escaped, but Amon was still at large. Avatar Korra came back with Mako, able only to airbend.
"Yes, Bolin?"
"I was wondering...what would somebody do if they wanted to join the United Forces?"
Iroh was surprised, but saw the makings of an excellent soldier in the young earthbender.
"Well, you have to enlist, and then spend about a month in basic training. Then you receive an assignment. It's not difficult."
Bolin stands, contemplating his life with Mako and the aftermath of what was becoming a horrible war.
"I would like to join, sir."
"We'll be very glad to have you, Bolin," Iroh says, putting his hand on the boy's shoulder.
.
.
Bolin isn't a boy anymore. He runs with Iroh toward the mouth of the huge cave as a bomb hits outside of it, shaking for a few moments while they run for cover. When it detonates, a piece of shrapnel hits Bolin in the shoulder and another strikes the rock above them, making the entire cave quake. Bolin uses his one good arm to make a rock wall between the outside and them.
They become trapped.
Iroh ignites a fire in his palm, making Bolin take the shoulder bag off so he can look at the wound. It's bleeding moderately, but the enormous piece of metal lodged in it can't be bypassed easily. This is a fix requiring a healer, and they can't get to one.
"Sit down over here," Iroh says, taking his thick gloves off.
Bolin winces with any movement of his arm and settles down on a rock.
"We need to pull it out," Iroh recognizes, speaking slowly as his lieutenant bits his lower lip.
Iroh tears a piece of his uniform to wrap around Bolin's shoulder. He touches the metal, grasping it with his thumb.
"No, don't," Bolin says. "Sterlize it, and I'll take it from there."
Iroh uses fire to burn off patches of dirt on the piece of metal jutting out from Bolin's shoulder. The blood runs from where it's pierced the skin.
Bolin lifts his other hands and takes the metal by an edge, flattening it down to cover the rest of his shoulder to get it out of the way. He tears off what he can and throws it away.
"Okay," he says. "That will be fine until we can get to a healer."
Iroh's face contorts. He hates this. Over the past two years, Bolin has become his most trusted friend and officer.
"Let's get going," Bolin says, standing up shakily, his face pale in the firelight. "You'll have to carry the bag, General, sir."
Iroh picks it up. "It's not a problem, Lieutenant."
.
.
"I can't see anything," Iroh says, walking in front of Bolin as he holds the light up. It can only illuminate their immediate path.
"I know," Bolin says. "We're just going down the cave. It'll be fine."
Iroh looks shaky, glancing at Bolin's bloody shoulder before he turns away, grimacing.
"You trust me, right?" Bolin asks.
"Yes," Iroh says. "I thought that incident last month made that clear."
Bolin thinks about back in Republic City, when they were talking with Councilman Tenzin about the next course of action for their strike in the war. They wanted to remain as peaceful as possible, but it was difficult when the enemy was dropping bomb on innocent townsfolk from the air.
"I'm glad we got them evacuated in time," Bolin says, shifting his feet to feel the ground moving.
"Me too," Iroh says.
They continue walking in silence down the stone floors of the cave, feeling an incline downward, deeper into the earth.
"Do you know where we're going?" Iroh finally asks.
"Um," Bolin says. He pulls on the tight formal collar of his uniform, green to indicate his bending ability. "It's looking like," he scrapes his bare foot across the ground, "the tunnels are changing."
"Changing?"
"Yeah," he says, forgetting his formal speech.
"So how are we going to get out of here?" Iroh asks.
"Dunno," Bolin says. He hears rumbling in the cave, and settles into an earthbending stance for defense. Equalists appear on the walls like insects, and drop in front of them prepared for a fight.
.
Bolin is about to close his fist when Iroh stops him.
"The cave could collapse," he says.
"Oh, right."
Iroh jumps out first, building a wall of fire between them and the Equalists.
Bolin shakes the ground beneath their feet with earthbending, careful not to let the force touch the walls. The Equalists fall and he traps them, pieces of earth binding them to the floor.
"Ugh," he says, breathing out heavily and clutching his left arm.
"Are you okay?"
"Could be better," Bolin says. He stumbles forward quickly, past the Equalists, and Iroh runs behind. They get further in the cave, still allowing the fire to light their path.
.
.
"Why did you join the United Forces?" Iroh asks once they are deep in the cave and Bolin has sat down to take a break and rest his aching arm.
"I just wanted to help end this war more quickly, I guess," Bolin says. "Mako and Korra are working every day on this problem, and they had just gotten together, and I wanted to be useful. I feel like I've been draining my brother for years," Bolin slumps on a rock, breathing in heavily. "And I just wanted to make something of myself."
"I doubt he thought of you as a drain," Iroh says, remembering every time Bolin had bailed him out and vice versa over the years. He gets a fresh bandage out of the first aid kit they'd brought and wraps it around his shoulder, making sure not to tie it too tightly.
"He'd raised me since I was six," Bolin says. "Whether he ever thought it or not, he probably would be much better off if I could have done more...or wasn't there at all." He looks down, his eyes hooded. Iroh can't see into them. He crouches in front of him, catching Bolin's eyes.
"You've never been useless, Bolin."
"You think?" Bolin asks in a quiet voice after a long time, avoiding Iroh's gaze.
"How many people have you saved from the Equalists since this whole ordeal began?" Iroh says.
"I don't know, sir."
"You're very valuable, Bolin," Iroh says.
"Thank you, sir."
"You don't have to call me sir."
"What should I call you, then?"
"You could call me Iroh," he suggests.
"But that's too informal."
"I think we're past formalities."
"You're the General," Bolin says, looking up at the firebender and letting himself grin for the first time since they'd gotten caught in this cave.
"And you're my lieutenant," Iroh points out.
"And you're the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation."
"So?"
"Well, isn't it a little weird for me to call you by your first name?"
"I don't think so," Iroh says. "I've been calling you by your first name for a while now."
"But I'm just a kid from Republic City."
"That doesn't mean anything!" Iroh nearly yells, the fire in his palm flaring.
"But you're just so much better than me!"
"I don't care!" Iroh says, and drops the fire, putting his hands on Bolin's knees and pushing himself forward.
In the pitch dark, they sit there, Bolin surprised by the General's proximity and Iroh waiting. Their breathing mixes in the dark, everything at a standstill.
"Is this okay?" Iroh asks.
Bolin says nothing, but lifts his good arm to wrap his hand around the back of Iroh's neck.
"Yeah."
.
.
After Bolin closes his eyes, Iroh leans forward, their lips touching slowly, the kiss tentative and sweet. They stay there like that for a while before Iroh stands up, bringing Bolin with him, their eyes closed tightly as they continue kissing, their lips parting and joining.
Then the cave alights, blue illuminating the cave around them. Iroh pulls away reluctantly, looking into the green of Bolin's eyes. Bolin stares back, something in him wanting to stay close. He moves his hand from Iroh's neck to wrap it around his waist, pulling him closer.
"We're not lost anymore," he says.
Iroh wraps his arms around Bolin.
"No, we're not."
.
.
They make it through the cave, lit by the blue crystal lights above, Iroh helping Bolin along. The light at the end of the tunnel hurts their eyes a bit as they make it back out into the fresh air.
Mako and Korra are waiting for them there.
"Are you okay?" Korra asks, coming closer and taking some water to Bolin's shoulder. He winces as she works on it, looking at the metal as Bolin pulls it up by the edges.
"I'll get it," he says, pulling it out slowly as she heals him. Iroh sits beside Bolin as it happens, letting Bolin squeeze his hand.
"So how was your trip?" Mako asks. "Besides the injury."
"You know," Bolin says, looking at Iroh, "it wasn't as bad as it looks. You might even say it was good."
Iroh squeezes his hand.
.
.