AU: What if the siege of the north had ended in the Fire Nation's favor? (eventual ZukoxYue)(implied SokkaxYue)
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar. Nor do I own the two-and-a-half lines I ripped straight from the show. I'll give you a virtual cookie if you can find them. On with the show!
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The sky grew dark slowly at the north pole, and the icy fortress began to glow against the dark sky like blue crystal. It was a sight to behold, taking your breath away as quickly as the frosty air it inhabited. It was not as beautiful as Kina remembered, however, back when she was just a young girl. Before the Fire Nation, almost inevitably, attacked.
Kina looked out across the canal that ran just outside her door and remembered how much brighter it seemed twenty years ago. So much had happened in that time, it seemed like an eternity. She was no longer a little girl, she had children of her own to raise. Speaking of which…
"Mo-om! You promised us a bedtime story!" A chubby boy, aged five, stood glaring from the top of the stairway in their home. He stood akimbo, fat fingers balled up into his blue parka. Kina could tell that his dark hair had not been brushed, but she decided to let it go this time. She walked up the stairway with a dramatic sigh, then suddenly picked up her son and swung him into his bed, both of them giggling.
"You're right, Bao. But perhaps we should wait for your sist-"
"I'm here! I'm here!" gasped a skinny girl, eight years old. In looks, she took after her mother's decidedly skinny frame, and was all knees and elbows as she skidded into the bed next to Bao's. Her hair had been neatly brushed and put up into the high bun she wore at night, and she gave her mother a look of superiority over her brother's nighttime routine skills.
"All right then, Jinni. Which story would you like tonight?"
"A new one!" Jinni said without a moment's hesitation. "But not some dumb made-up one like the one about the magic hog-monkey."
"A true story, huh?"
Jinni and Bao both nodded in unison.
"One with lotsa fighting!" added Bao solemnly. Jinni glared condescendingly at her younger brother.
"Nu-uh! It's gotta be romantic!"
"That's BORING!"
"Is not!"
"Is too!"
"Isn't!"
"Is!"
"Momma, tell him it isn't!"
"Hush, both of you!" Kina said, trying to break up the constant fight between the two siblings. "Let's compromise! I'll think of a story with fighting and romance, okay? Will that work?"
"I guess…" said Bao, giving in.
"Okay." Jinni replied grudgingly, crossing her small arms.
"Hmmm…fighting and romance…" Kina said, tapping her index finger to her chin and staring out into the distance. "Okay," she said finally, "I've got it."
"What's this one about?" Asked Jinni, sitting up straighter in the bed.
"This one is about a princess." Kina began.
"Oooh." murmured her daughter appreciatively. Bao remained unmoved.
"But princesses don't fight!" he complained.
"Do too! Princess Azula fights!" Jinni argued.
"Well she's Fire Nation! They don't count!"
"How do you know the story isn't about Princess Azula?"
"Mo-om! The story isn't about Azula, is it? I don't wanna hear a story about a dirty Fire Nation princess!"
"No, it's not about a Fire Nation princess. This princess was from our own Water Tribe." Kina interjected.
"Toldja." smirked Jinni.
"No you didn-"
"Enough!" their mother exclaimed "Do we have to go through this fighting every night?" Neither of the children had a reply, so she continued cautiously. "Her name was Princess Yue." Kina was interrupted again as her daughter leaned out of her bed and spat on the cold floor.
"The traitor!" Jinni exclaimed.
"Hey! No spitting indoors! It's not ladylike. And Princess Yue was no traitor. Where did you hear that from?"
"Ten-Dyen."
"The little boy who lives across the canal from us?"
"Ten-Dyen isn't little, momma, he's thirteen. He knows lotsa stuff like that!"
"Does he know more than your mom?"
"Well…I dunno. He knows lotsa stuff."
"I know 'lotsa stuff' too. I was about your age, Jinni, when this actually happened, so I think I know more about Princess Yue then Ten-Dyen."
"Okay, momma." Jinni said finally, crushed that Ten-Dyen had lied to her.
"This story is also about a prince." continued Kina. Bao listened in closely. Finally, a story that wasn't all about girls.
"Was he a Water Tribe prince?" interjected Jinni. She wasn't interrupting on purpose this time; she was now genuinely interested. Anything with a boy and a girl sparked seeds of tragic romances in her overactive eight-year-old mind.
"Actually, this was a Fire Nation prince." Jinni almost spat again, but a stern glance from her mother warned her not to. "He was Crown Fire Prince Zuko." Now it was Bao's turn to interrupt.
"I thought he was the Fire Lord!"
"He wasn't always Fire Lord, stupid." Jinni rebuked her brother.
"Don't call your brother stupid, Jinni." Kina said sharply, but then let out yet another drawn-out sigh. "But you're right, he began as the Crown Prince. Now at this time, he and Princess Yue were about sixteen, and Admiral Zhao's siege of our city had begun…"
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The sun began to rise on the North Pole. Zuko, the banished prince, rowed back toward the massive fleet of ships as they approached the icy city he had just left. In his small rowboat, tied up at the other end, was the Avatar. He had been waiting for this moment for three long, hard years and through many fruitless searches. But now, the prize was in sight. The prize was bound and gagged in his boat, for Agni's sake! But somehow, Zuko was still not satisfied. He was still unsure of what to do next. Not just about what to do with the boy at the other end of the rowboat, but what he would do when he returned to his homeland and his father's good graces. Would he be satisfied to have his father's love again? The banished prince fervently hoped it would be enough.
But he still could not help but wonder with each dip of the oars through the sun-flecked water: What now? What now? What now?…
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Princess Yue was already awake as the sun began to rise. The sun seemed to get into her eyes no matter which way she turned her head, just like how her thoughts of the Fire Nation's imminent attack seemed to get into every inch of her brain. She had tried to get some sleep, she really tried, but what little sleep she had was fitful and restless. Yue threw the thick covers off of her bed and walked to the window in her room. The window used to overlook the ocean, but now all she could see were ships. Hundreds upon thousands of Fire Navy ships, blanketing the ocean with gray metal.
She finally pried her eyes away from the sight when she heard a knock on her door, and what sounded like someone clearing their throat unnecessarily.
"Yes?" she asked, turning to face the door.
"Uh…Princess Yue? I, um, hope I'm not interrupting…" Yue grinned. She could recognize that voice anywhere. Then the grin slipped off her face as she realized that she couldn't see him anymore. She couldn't like him anymore. Yue regained her composure as she opened the door from the inside.
"Sokka…" She really wished she could tell him to go away, but the words were frozen in her throat like almost everything else in the North Pole.
"It's not what you think." He told her, his eyes downcast. "I've been sent by your father to protect you."
"I don't need to be protected!" She snapped, a little too forcefully than she meant it to be. Sokka looked hurt, and he lowered his head even more, enough to be considered a bow. After a few seconds, Yue let herself put a hand on his shoulder. "I didn't mean-"
"If there's anything I can do for you, Princess, I'm willing to help."
"Please, don't act like this Sokka. What I meant is: I'm not the one who needs your help right now." The warrior looked up quizzically.
"If not you, than who?" Yue bit her lip before speaking, a habit Sokka found very attractive, if only for a second.
"It's the Avatar…Aang. He was crossing into the Spirit World when he and Katara were…attacked…by some man with a scar-"
"Zuko." Sokka breathed, fully upright now. "We've got to find them, and fast."
"They were at the spirit oasis." Yue supplied.
"Okay. You remember Appa, right?"
"How could I forget?" Yue replied, allowing herself a small smile.
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Zuko raised the boat up into the Admiral's ship as quietly as he could. When he finally pulled himself up to the lower deck, he was only half-surprised to see the Admiral himself waiting for him.
"Zhao." said Zuko, putting as much venom as he could into that one word. Which, being as exhausted as he was from swimming in icy waters, fighting a waterbending master, rowing the Avatar back to the Fire Navy ships, and most recently, hoisting the rowboat back up on frayed ropes by himself, it did not amount to much.
"Ah, Zuko, the banished prince," the Admiral said, leaving cruel emphasis on the word 'banished,' "I thought I ordered you dead. You're like a elephant-roach, you know, taking your sweet time in dying. No matter. I can kill you myself now."
"You wouldn't. I have the Avatar." Zuko replied, cautiously stepping off of the rowboat.
"But Zuko, that's what you don't understand. You can't have the Avatar if you're deceased." As he spoke, something clicked in Zuko's semi-frozen brain.
"You were the one who ordered me dead?" he asked.
"Oh, don't look so surprised, dear prince. You were in my way, and with the invasion of the North Pole fast-approaching, you still are. Now if you would kindly step down…" Zhao threw a fireball at Zuko's head, which he dodged at the last second while dealing a fiery blow of his own.
"Why are you doing this?" the prince said angrily as the fire began to warm him again.
"Don't make me repeat myself. I told you: you are in my way. You are in the way of my siege of the north, of my search for the Avatar, and my rightful place as ruler of the Fire Nation!" Zhao said, this time releasing two fireballs and kicking Zuko's feet out from under him as he moved around the room. Although he was at a definite disadvantage, Zuko still found the breath to tell Admiral Zhao:
"You're crazy."
"You may call me crazy. But I do not take the words of a banished prince to my heart. I am an innovator. I am the face of progress! Do you not understand what I have done for this nation? I am saving it!"
"Our nation doesn't need to be saved. If anything, we must save the Fire Nation from itself." Zhao snapped out of his reverie to glare at Zuko.
"You don't know what you're talking about, boy. In fact, you sound just like a certain uncle of yours. He won't realize what's coming to him, either."
"What have you done with uncle?"
"It shouldn't matter to you what happens to him, seeing as you'll meet him in the Spirit World soon enough, anyway." At these words, the fire not only burned in Zuko's eyes, but in his entire body. With a swift kick at the Admiral's legs, he threw Zhao to the ground, taking his turn to stand over him.
"Never. Touch. My. Uncle." the prince said, taking time to draw out every syllable, smoke billowing from his nostrils.
"Oh Zuko, Zuko. Always so melodramatic."
Zuko's only response was to throw a wave of fire at the Admiral, knocking him onto the rowboat still hanging outside. The combination of Zuko's firepower and Zhao's considerable bulk snapped the already-fraying ropes on either side of the boat, sending it teetering into the sea fifty feet below. Zuko moved before the flames even died out, grabbing Aang from a watery death. He didn't even look down as Admiral Zhao fell to his own death. He still had the Avatar, and he now knew what to do next. Finding his uncle was his first priority.
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When Sokka and Yue found Katara alone at the spirit oasis, they knew the worst had happened. Sokka slid off of Appa's saddle and placed a hand on his little sister's back as she knelt over the pool in the center of the oasis.
"Katara…where is Aang?" he asked her slowly, afraid of the answer.
"He…he…fought me and I lost. He took Aang away. I didn't see where. But he…they're both gone. I can't believe I lost him." She was halfway to hysterics by this point, so Sokka knelt down beside her.
"You did everything you could. And now we need to do everything we can to get him back. Zuko can't have gotten far. We'll find him. Aang's gonna be fine." Her brother reassured her, helping her to her feet.
"Okay."
Momo followed them slowly, looking back at the spirit oasis for perhaps the last time. Sokka couldn't tell if Momo understood loss at all, but it surely looked like he did now. He picked up Momo awkwardly, not sure if he was supposed to comfort the lemur or not. He patted him roughly on the head twice, saying "there, there" in a way that he hoped was consoling. Momo was indifferent.
Katara and Momo climbed back into Appa's saddle, while Sokka took the helm.
"Yip yip." Sokka said, his face determined. As they flew over the battle raging below, they could see that the waterbenders were in a bad way. The firebenders had the advantage of daylight, and their ground troops used that advantage well. They were now just yards away from the palace gates, burning everything in their paths and leaving a wake of smoking destruction. "This is bad. Really bad." Sokka remarked as they narrowly missed another fireball that was shot at them. Katara's eyes narrowed at him through her tears.
"You think? They've got Aang!" Yue tried unsuccessfully to calm her down.
"The sun will be down in a few hours. Then our tribe will have the advantage. We can surely find Aang by then." She glanced at Sokka for help.
"Uh, yeah, right! I'm sure the waterbenders can hold off until then." he reassured his sister.
"The firebenders are minutes away from the palace! After that it won't be long until they get to the spirit oasis…where Aang's spirit will be…" Katara stopped herself as not to break out into another round of tears.
"Now is not the time for doubts. First we will rescue Aang's body. Then we can worry about his soul." Yue said, her voice hardening.
"You're right." Katara said finally. The only sound after that was the sound of war below and silent dread above.
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"Uncle! Uncle, where are you?" The sound of Zuko's voice reverberated down the ship's walkways and throughout the entire ship. Zuko ran below decks, slamming in doors, scorching walls, calling for his uncle and basically making as much noise as humanly possible. He knew that he probably shouldn't be making this much noise if he wanted even the tiniest chance of keeping his survival a secret, but he didn't care about his safety anymore. All that he cared about was his uncle and the Avatar. And now that the Avatar was safely stowed away in a cell below decks, there was only one thing on his mind.
Which is why it surprised him when he kicked in a door to find General Iroh safe and sound with a cup of tea to his lips. Zuko lunged forward to slap the cup from his hands and onto the wall. The porcelain cup shattered against the wall, and Iroh finally looked up.
"Zuko! You are well!…And you've ruined a perfectly good cup of jasmine tea." Iroh remarked.
"Yes, well, it was probably poisoned. Zhao told me he was going to-"
"Zhao? When did you speak with the Admiral?"
"He…isn't the Admiral anymore." Zuko said, choosing his words carefully.
"You mean he is dead?"
"Yes." Zuko turned his gaze to the floor.
"He was a good soldier. He tried to do so much for our nation, even if he did it in his own way."
"You can you say that, uncle? He tried to kill me!" Zuko snapped, meeting his uncle's golden gaze.
"It is always wise to respect the dead." Iroh said solemnly. Then, with a smile, he added "Even if they do not always deserve it." After a moment of silence, Iroh asked the inevitable question: "How did he die?"
"I…well, he was attacking me…and threatening you…and I…"Zuko stared at his hands, the magnitude of what he had just done to another person finally dawned on him. He had been in such a fit of rage that he had actually killed another man. No matter that he had been attacked first. That didn't make it right that he had just taken another life, and not felt any remorse until now. Could he live with the guilt? Knowing he was a murderer? There was no turning back now. "I killed him."
"Nephew-" Iroh began, but stopped when his saw the pained look on Zuko's face. He knew exactly how he felt. He had felt the same way many years ago, when he had first taken someone's life. He had felt many horrible things in his life, but he remembered that was one of the worst feelings he had ever had. Iroh stood up to level his gaze with his nephew's. "I know."
Zuko didn't reply. The relief in his face was enough for them both.
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Katara was the first one off the saddle, jumping before Appa's feet even hit the ground. The fall jarred her slightly, but she quickly picked herself up and ran across the deck of the Admiral's ship.
"Katara, wait, you don't even know where you're going!" Sokka called after her, but she had already yanked the handle of the door that led below decks and disappeared into the darkness.
"I'm sure she'll be fine." Yue reassured the worried brother shakily.
"I hope so. In any case, she's probably going in the right direction. They wouldn't keep Aang above decks where he could easily escape. Firebenders are stupid, but not that stupid."
"How stupid are we, then?" came a low, sandpapery voice that was about as pleasant as shooting yourself in the foot. Sokka and Yue turned slowly to see a very large, muscular man holding a very large, metal hammer. His eyes gleamed menacingly, his metal hammer gleamed menacingly, and even his shaved head gleamed menacingly. Despite all this, Sokka found it necessary to add a witty comeback.
"So stupid you have to ask how stupid you are." Yue gave him a look that translated roughly as 'what-are-you-doing-you-loveable-idiot-who-I'm-finding-very-hard-to-love-right-now.'
The man gave them a low growl that sounded even more terrible than his voice.
"Sokka, why in the world did you find it necessary to do that?" Yue asked him in a terrified whisper.
"Sorry," he whispered back, "reflex wit."
"Well, your 'reflex wit' is about to get us killed!"
"Hey! What're you two whispering about?" came the grating voice from below.
"I was just telling her…yip yip." said Sokka with the slightest hint of a smile.
"Why wouldja tell her tha- HEY!" the man cried as he was thrown over the side of the ship by a sudden gust of wind from Appa's takeoff. As they settled back down on the ground, Sokka slid down Appa's back onto the deck.
"Come on!" he said, calling for Yue.
"What? Where are we going?" she said, sliding onto the deck next to the warrior.
"Well, I can't let Katara go after Aang alone, and I can't just leave you here. I'm supposed to protect you, remember? So let's go!" Yue looked uncertain, and Momo peeked up inquisitively from Appa's saddle. He then flew down on Yue's shoulder, content to go wherever she went. Yue nodded in response, then followed Sokka into the dark underbelly of the ship.
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A/N: I will begin by apologizing briefly for the amount of pointless dialogue and exposition that goes on in this chapter. It will all pay off in the end, trust me. I really didn't expect it to be this long. And trust me, more of Bao's "fighting" will happen in later chapters, but I'm not so good at action scenes and generally try to get them over with as soon as possible. Any advice would be helpful, since this is my first fic here. So, as usual, read and review! And happy belated thanksgiving!