Disclaimer: I own nothing from Avatar or Attack on Titan, save the various OC's I may implement throughout.
My second story! Leave a comment and tell me what you think.
Chapter 1
Titan Fall
"Please, Father, I only had the Fire Nation's best interests at heart. I'm sorry I spoke out of turn."
The top of my head lay pressed against the cold metal floor of the arena. All around me hundreds of Fire Nation nobles had gathered to watch the ensuing Agni Kai. For a participant, especially a Prince such as myself, to bow down so low and beg forgiveness was a grave disgrace.
"Rise and fight, Prince Zuko."
My hands clenched as I kept my head down, tears threatening to spill from my sockets at any moment. The thud of my Father's footsteps grew ever closer with each passing second. Soon he would be upon me. There was still a chance for me to save face. All I had to do was get up now. I just needed to stand up and fight. I had to fight.
"I won't fight you."
Coward. I didn't need to see his face to know what he was thinking, what every single person present was thinking. Hell, that's what I thought of myself. That's what I was. Nothing but a coward.
"You will learn respect. And suffering will be your teacher."
I couldn't help myself. I couldn't stop the tears from pouring down my face as I looked upon the man that I called Father. The man who had criticized me nonstop for years for not being strong enough or smart enough or good enough. The man who now held a burning fist heading straight for my face.
I blacked out from the pain.
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
"GAH!"
I bolted upright from my place on the bed, gasping for breath. Sweat cascaded down my forehead and my back. Faintly, I realized that I was still shaking. Even after I noticed it still took me a few minutes before I finally got the trembling under control.
It was just a dream.
But that wasn't right either. It was more than a dream. It was a memory. A memory that has been haunting me every time I close my eyes for the past year. Ever since I was banished.
That's right. Today's the anniversary.
One year ago today since that fateful Agni Kai. An entire year since I had been cast out of my homeland and stuck on this pitiful excuse for a Fire Nation vessel with a motley crew of misfits thrown together haphazardly and sent of a fool's mission.
Capture the Avatar. Hah! I may not have been the prodigy my sister was, but I was no fool. It didn't take a genius to figure out the true motive behind my father's decision. With me out of the way, Azula had a free pass to the throne. It was actually quite clever. The Fire Nation's golden child becomes heir while the problem child gets sent away on an impossible quest. Kill two birds with one stone.
I never understood why my father hated me with such a passion. It didn't always use to be like this. There was a time when he actually cared about me.
That was a long time ago.
Rising out from under the covers of my bed, I changed into a fresh set of black, leather pants and boots and donned a black, sleeveless training shirt with a gold trim. I pulled what remained of my hair into a phoenix tail and strapped my twin dao swords to my back. Taking a second to stare at the portrait I had hidden beneath a trap door in my desk, I walked out of my room and up to the deck above, leaving the smiling face of my mother behind.
-X-
I knelt on the deck of the ship using my blades to help support my weight. Sweat poured down my body in waves. I was exhausted. For hours I had trained nonstop in order to hone my skills. Whether I found the Avatar or not was of no consequence. I needed to use the time I had to improve my form and strength. If I didn't, then I would be wiped out long before I even had the chance to face him. There were other dangers that lurked at sea and on land other than a hundred year old man who could bend all the elements. Already I had been involved in several skirmishes with pirates this week; let alone the long forgotten number of skirmishes with them in the past year. Obviously, our small ship held the image of easy prey. Add in the few giant sea monsters and the occasional hurricane, and you begin to really hate the sea.
For the past year my world had drifted into a predictable routine. While at sea, I would wake up with the rise of the sun and head to the deck to work on my firebending. Occasionally I would incorporate my swords into the mix, like I had today, and train for at least two hours nonstop before I gave any orders to the crew. Then I would train for another few hours before taking a break to eat and study the maps.
I kept my distance from the crew. I didn't feel comfortable around them. They were all at least twice my age, and yet I was their superior commander. It was strange. I knew they resented me for it, I would often hear them when they sat together to eat. Mostly I just ignored them and ate in my room. My room was my fortress of solitude. In there I could practice my hand-to-hand combat moves and my sword techniques in peace without any wandering eyes watching my every move.
Back in the present, my Uncle waved at me from his seat at a table on the deck. A warm cup of tea lay in his hands as he sniffed it in pleasant content, an identical cup placed on the table next to an empty seat. A bowl of steaming noodles lay in the center of the table next to freshly baked bread and some neatly sliced cabbage.
"Come, Prince Zuko. Take a break and enjoy a nice bowl of noodles. It'll fill you up!" Almost as an after-thought he added, "Oh! Silly me! How could I forget about the tea! You simply must try this, Nephew. It's my own special blend of ginseng tea. It's quite delicious!"
I sighed in exasperation at Uncle's enthusiasm for tea. "I'm not hungry." As if to betray my own will, my stomach growled in hunger. My eye twitched at the sight of Uncle's knowing grin. He waggled his eyebrows at me and gestured at the food spread across the table repeatedly.
"Do you smell that, Nephew? That's the smell of happiness on a plate!" He held out his cup of tea for me to see. "And in a cup!"
Growling, I blew out a stream of fire from my mouth. Marching up to my smiling Uncle I snatched a biscuit from the table and bit into it fervently. "I'll eat when I'm good and ready!"
With the biscuit devoured, I began to walk back down to the deck to resume my training.
"Zuko, wait! You forgot to drink your tea! You mustn't forget the tea! It has special calming properties to ease that temper of yours."
Steam rose from my body. "I don't need any tea, Uncle. I need to resume my training so that I can capture the Avatar."
Uncle wasn't having any of it. "Nonsense, Prince Zuko. A cup of tea is good for the soul. Just one sip and all of life's troubles begin to melt away." As if to emphasize his point, he took another large gulp from his own cup and sighed happily. "Oh yeah, that really hits the spot!"
Realizing I was fighting a losing battle, I trudged back to the table, swiped the cup of tea from its place, and downed the whole thing in one go. I slammed the cup back onto the table and glared at Uncle. "There, I drank the stupid tea? Happy now?"
Uncle merely smiled at me and chuckled. "Ah, it's so good to have a nephew who listens to his dear old uncle."
Groaning, I turned away with the intention of finally getting some more training in. "What's the big deal about tea anyway? It's just hot leaf juice," I grumbled.
Unfortunately for me, Uncle heard that last little point. With a gasp, he cried out to me. "Just hot leaf juice? How could a member of my own family say something so horrible!?"
Sighing, I halted in my steps and turned to face Uncle who was busy wiping an imaginary tear from his eye. "Look, Uncle, I'm sorry. It's just that I'm sick of tea."
Big mistake.
My Uncle's eyes shot open and he seemed to choke on air. "S-Sick of tea!? That's like being sick of breathing!"
I groaned.
When will I learn to keep my mouth shut?
And so, because of my big mouth, I was forced to listen to yet another riveting lecture about the importance of tea and the respect that it deserved and all that nonsense. For two hours. Two, excruciatingly long, hours.
I love Uncle, but sometimes I wish he had a mute button.
When his lecture had finally ended, I trudged myself up to my room for some quick meditation and alone time. Shutting my door, my room was plunged into darkness. With my firebending, I lit seven candles and sat down. Closing my eyes, I lost myself in the steady rise and fall of my own breathing, the flames behaving in sync.
-X-
A resounding boom shook me from my meditation. From above, I could hear several shouts from the crew. The whole room was shaking.
What the-
Leaping to my feet, I rushed out of my room and onto the deck above, my swords strapped tight to my back just in case. A large wave of water poured from the top of the deck as I was climbing the stairs and washed over me, the force of it nearly causing me to keel over.
Grabbing onto the railing for support, I made my way up to the deck where I was met with another blast of water to my face. Sputtering, I looked around me to see the crew running to and fro across the ship, each one working to keep the ship in working order in the storm. I continued to look around the ship until I came upon the form of my Uncle about 15 feet to the left of me.
"Uncle!"
My cry was lost in the wind. The crack of thunder boomed in the air. I felt the lightning before I saw it. The energy sizzled in my veins as I saw the arc of pure energy descend upon my Uncle in an instant.
"NO!"
To my surprise, the lightning did not fry my Uncle like I thought it would. In fact, Uncle seemed to actually catch the lightning in his hand, streaming the current of energy across his arm and out through his index finger on the opposite arm. The lightning followed his guidance and exited his body, returning to its position in the sky before it disappeared completely.
What the- Since when could he do that?
My musings were cuts short as another viscous wave rocked the boat. I struggled to maintain my balance when I heard a soft cry.
"The Helmsman!"
Looking up I saw the helmsman dangling from the crow's nest. A fall from that height in this storm would assuredly kill him. Without even thinking I was already halfway up the ladder. The ship was rattled by yet another wave and the helmsman lost his grip. Acting quickly I reached my hand out and caught him by the forearm just in time. Once he had safely begun his descent down the ladder did I finally begin my own climb down.
"ZUKO! BRACE YOURSELF!"
Huh?
Too late did I realize the warning. A monstrous mountain of a wave crashed into my ship, dousing the entire boat in water and blocking my vision. Trapped in the water I lost my grip on the metal railings and was swept away in the wave. I struggled and squirmed under the pressure of the water. I kicked out with all my might in my attempt to reach the surface and fresh air, but it seemed like I had been dragged hundreds of feet below the ocean. The surface eluded me.
I clutched my throat with my hands and accidently breathed in a large gulp of water. I had been under for too long. At this rate I wouldn't make it. I'd be yet another casualty lost at sea.
Can't… breathe!
Refusing to give up, I continued to swim upwards until I finally broke to the surface. I gasped for air and coughed up the water in my system. To my right, I made out the distant silhouette of my ship, several hundred feet away.
The sea carried me away this far?
With smooth, powerful strokes, I started to make my way back to the ship. It didn't take me long to realize that I was swimming in vain. The current was strong and pulled me further and further from my ship. Fear gripped my heart as the violent waves overcame my body time and time again. My strength was beginning to weaken and my vision grew blurry. Water entered every crevice of my body, filling my lungs with salty water and trying to pull me down into the depths of the watery abyss. My ship was nearly out of sight now.
The whooshing sound of rushing wind led me to cautiously look behind me. My eyes widened in horror at the sight of a whirlwind of water and wind. A tornado in the middle of the ocean only fifty feet away from my position and gaining nearly gave me a heart attack. The viscous churning of the water created a whirlpool that was slowly, but surely dragging me into its center. With renewed vigor I kicked out and began to swim as fast and as hard as I could.
It wasn't enough.
More waves, each more violent than the last, pelted me with the fury of the spirits, Mother Nature herself conspiring to my demise. Soon I was once again dragged under the surface and yearning for the sweet taste of fresh air.
No! I can't let it end like this!
I fought with all my might to overcome Nature itself. I was not ready to throw in the towel just yet.
There's still so much I have to do. I refuse to give in.
As much as I tried to overwrite fate, the Will of the Spirits was just too much for one man. It was too strong.
I don't want to die!
Soon I was dragged into the inner loops of the whirlpool. Faster, faster, and faster still I was spun around in the vortex of water. My body threatened to fall into unconsciousness, but I held on. Everything around me was dark as a moonless night, my head pounding from the pressure of the water attacking me from every part of my body. The last thing I remembered before I faded into the blissful recesses of unconsciousness was being dragged down the center of the whirlpool.
And then I was falling, like a comet in the sky.
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
The pain hit me like a thunderbolt, sudden and without warning. My pure, blissful, dreamless sleep was compromised by a never-ending and unrelenting burning throughout my entire body.
Ugh. What hit me?
My eyes refused to open despite me. After several unsuccessful attempts, I gave up and focused on gathering Intel with the help of my other senses.
Soft. Warm. I must be in some kind of bed.
A pleasant aroma entered my senses.
Food.
My grumbling stomach voiced my thoughts on the matter. I was instantly reminded of how I hadn't eaten since who knows how long. I had no idea how long I had been out.
I should have eaten those noodles Uncle had.
And then, a new sense resounded throughout my eardrums, a soft chirping of birds.
Birds? Shit! Birds!
Ignoring the pain in my body, I bolted upright and forced my eyes open. The sound of birds could only mean one thing, either I had been picked up at sea and we had approached land, or I was no longer at sea at all.
Looking around, I saw that I was in a house made of wood and lying on a large bed in the center of a room. Pictures and flowers lay strewn about in various places. The whole place had a cozy feel to it, a sort of pleasant air that made you feel at peace. However, my mind was anywhere but at peace.
Where am I? Where's Uncle? What happened to me?
A light sound caused my head to snap in its direction. There I found a young boy, maybe a year or two younger than myself, staring back at me with round, turquoise eyes. When he saw that my eyes had locked on to his, he got up quietly and left the room.
Before I could think much about the bizarre situation, the boy returned into the room with several other people in tow. The first was an older man, most likely the boy's father, who had long, dark hair pulled back, a thin, neatly trimmed mustache, and a pair of glasses. A pretty, older woman I took to be the boy's mother came in next. Her long, brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail that lay over one side of her shoulder. She had warm, brown eyes and an apron draped over her shirt. She smiled kindly at me and took her place next to the man who now stood next to me.
The boy from before entered the room behind his supposed parents, along with a girl about his age who had a large, red scarf draped around her neck. At first I thought that she was the boy's sister, but a closer look revealed that she looked almost nothing like the boy or any of his parents. Her long, dark hair seemed shinier than the others, almost naturally so, and her eyes were a dark gray, almost black color. Her skin also differed from the others. Whereas their skin was paler, practically white in nature, hers was more like my own, light, but not overly so. As such I had difficulty placing her relation to the other three in the room.
In the few moments it had taken me to deduce all of this, the older man cleared his throat, signaling that he was ready to talk. I turned my gaze back to his and waited for him to speak. He took my gaze as a signal to go on, so he began.
"Are you feeling well, young man?"
Ah, so the pointless questions come first.
"Better than before," was my curt response.
He seemed taken back, as if he wasn't expecting such a blunt reply.
"That's good. You're were in pretty bad shape when I found you in that field. You're lucky you weren't injured more. That fire I pulled you from was pretty fierce."
Fire? That doesn't make sense. And why did he say he found me in a field. Shouldn't I have been laying near a shore?
Clueless to my own thoughts, the man went on. "At first I thought that scar of yours was a result of the fire, but it looked too old for it to have been a recent injury. Mind telling me how you got it?"
A fist of fire collided with my face. I fell to the ground in agony as my father towered over my fallen form.
It hurts.
The fire, it hurts.
As if reacting to the old memory, my face felt like it was on fire all over again. This time, however, I didn't so much as flinch.
"It's personal."
The man sighed, clearly unsatisfied, but unwilling to press further. For that, I was grateful.
"It was strange though," he said. "You were surrounded in flames, though not burnt. And when I pulled you out of the flames, you were wet to the touch. Almost like you had been soaked in water."
Flashes of my battle against the ocean passed before my eyes. "That's not surprising to me," I told him, "considering I was thrown out of my ship and tossed into the sea."
This new piece of information clearly shocked not only the man, but the woman and the two children as well. The young boy, who had been eyeing me with distrust the whole time, now leaned in close to me and grabbed my arm.
"You were at sea? Then that means you must have been outside the walls! Do you hear that, father! There are other people out there!"
Yanking my hand out of the boy's grasp, I looked at him with disdain. "What are you talking about? What wall? And there are plenty of people who travel by sea."
The boy was persistent. "Really!? I can't believe it! Aren't you afraid of the Titans at all though?"
Titans? What is he talking about?
When I voiced this thought the entire room grew silent. Unease began to build in my stomach.
The man looked at me like I was an alien. "Young man, do you not know what a Titan is."
I looked at him like he was crazy. "I have no idea what you all are babbling about."
The young girl spoke for the first time. "Who are you?"
I raised my chin proudly and exclaimed, "My name is Zuko, son of Ursa and Fire Lord Ozai. Prince of the Fire Nation and heir to the throne!"
Not anymore.
I squashed that traitorous part of my brain. It didn't matter that I no longer held the right to the throne. Once I found the Avatar and brought him back home, Father would welcome me back with open arms. Everything that I had lost would be mine again.
Stop deluding yourself. You know that will never happen.
I kept the internal war raging inside my mind to myself, refusing to let my insecurity show to these peasants.
The boy tilted his head to the side.
"What's the Fire Nation?"
My jaw nearly fell to the floor.
"W-What are you talking about? The Fire Nation is the most powerful country on the planet! Everyone knows about us!"
The boy was unconvinced. "Never heard of it. Ne, tou-san. Have you ever heard of it before?"
The father shook his head. "No, I have not."
I don't believe this. Just what kind of rock had they been hiding under these last hundred years?
The man turned his grim face over to my own. "Zuko, just how much do you remember before you lost consciousness?"
I told him everything that I could remember. How I had been meditating in my room when the storm had struck. How I had saved the helmsman of my ship. And how I had been thrust into the unforgiving waters of the sea, as well as the whirlpool that had sucked me in.
The man listened to my every word intently. When I had finished, he closed his eyes and sighed. "Zuko, I have lived here for a very long time. I know this valley inside and out. The sea is nowhere near here at all. In fact, I've never even seen a sea like the one you speak of."
How is this possible? I mean, I could be in one of the more central regions of the Earth Kingdom, but that doesn't explain how he doesn't know about the Fire Nation, or even how I could have gotten here from the sea in the first place.
The man continued. "In fact, when I first saw you, I had no idea you were human at first. All I saw was a large ball of fire falling from the sky like a comet. When I went to investigate, there you were in the middle of a field, fire strewn all around you. To be honest, I'm surprised you survived a fall from that height and at that speed in the first place."
My face scrunched in confusion. This couldn't be possible. What was I doing in the sky? Could that water cyclone have been the cause of all this? My head was spinning with all this information in my head.
I don't understand. What's going on? What happened to me? Where- Where am I?
A migraine washed over me and I clutched my head in desperation. Vaguely, I was aware of the man saying something to me, though I couldn't hear him. His wife and the boy tried to talk to me as well. I could see their lips moving though I couldn't make out what they were saying. Their voices only added to my aching head.
"Everyone just SHUT UP!"
I thrust my hands out to my sides and released a large ball of fire out of each palm. Gradually, my headache subsided and I steadied my breathing. Looking up, I came upon the shocked faces of the four people in the room.
"He-He just created fire out of thin air!" cried the young boy.
Realizing what I had done, I looked to my sides and saw the fire burning brightly against the wooden walls. Not wanting the whole place to burn down, I made a motion with my hands and snuffed out the flames. If possible, that seemed to shock the family even more.
"And now he made it disappear with his mind!"
The man leaned in close to me and grabbed my arm. He started to inspect it like there was something wrong with me.
"W-What are you doing? Let go of me!"
He turned to me and fixed his gaze upon mine. "How did you conjure up those flames just now?"
I didn't understand what everyone was so worked up about. It was just a simple firebending move. There was nothing that special about it.
Wait a second. These people said that they never heard of the Fire Nation before. That means that they probably don't know about firebending either.
But still, they must have some sort of bending here. Why did they seem to be so shocked?
When I told him of this, he looked at me and began to shoot off a multitude of questions, one after the other. What else could I do? Could I manipulate other elements? Were there others that could? What was the principle that enabled me to create and control fire?
I answered his questions as best as I could, though I was nearly overwhelmed at the intensity of his tone. For several long, tense minutes he was silent. The deep creases in his brows told me that he was thinking hard over all the information I had provided him. Finally, he spoke. But what he told me was enough to blow my mind away. He suggested that I had fallen to this world… from another world.
…
The idea was preposterous! There was no way such a thing was possible.
But it makes sense.
It did make sense, in a way. It explained how they had never heard of the Fire Nation, or bending, or anything I told them about my world. And it explained why I had no knowledge on these "Titans."
But still, another world.
A wave of nausea permeated my senses.
Everything I had known, my Father, my homeland, my throne, Uncle… it was all just a distant memory now. Out of reach.
Only with sheer willpower did I keep the tears at bay. I had sworn to never cry again, and I wasn't about to renege on that promise now.
A warm hand rested on my shoulder. I didn't look up, but the man talked anyway. "I'm sorry. We've been talking all this time and we haven't even introduced ourselves. My name is Grisha Jaeger. This is my wife Carla, and my son, Eren. Mikasa," he said, pointing to the small girl with the scarf, "is our adopted daughter."
That explains why she doesn't look like the rest of them.
The man, Grisha, continued. "I know this must be very hard on you. This is a lot to take in and you're still so young. If you'd like you are welcome to stay with us. We could always use a strong lad like yourself, and maybe you can find a place with us. I know it's not much, but I'd be happy if you would join our family."
The honesty in the man's voice caught me off guard.
F-Family?
It was not what I was expecting. These people were not Royalty. One quick look at their clothes was enough to confirm that fact. They were not a family of class. They didn't even look strong. But still…
Their eyes… they're kind.
The children were wary of me, that much was certain. But really, that was a plus in my book. It would be foolish to welcome some stranger into your home without some level of distrust. But the parents, they were honest. I could tell Grisha was a smart man, he had those eyes. But he was also compassionate. And the mother… her smile was warm and inviting. In fact, she looked overjoyed at the prospect of a new family member.
Years of abuse and constant criticism from my father and sister had left me wary of placing trust in others. The only exceptions were my mother, Uncle, and my cousin Lu Ten. Mother was gone, Lu Ten was dead, and now I was separated from Uncle across worlds. Still… there words and advice echoed in my mind.
Do not be so afraid to trust in others, Prince Zuko. While there are those in this world that prefer to work in loneliness, there is no one that can withstand it.
I took a deep breath, and nodded at Grisha. I would accept his offer. I would start anew in this world.
I had just one condition. "I want to keep my surname," I told him. In honor of my family.
In honor of Uncle.
"Zuko Kasanagi."
He smiled, along with his wife. Their boy, Eren, came up to me once again and began to ask me about what life was like where I grew up and all the things that I had seen. He told me how he had another friend named Armin who would want to meet me as well. Mikasa stayed by his side even as he talked, silent, and wary.
Overprotective of her sibling, eh.
I envied him. He was surrounded by loving parents and sister. I yearned for what he had.
Maybe I can have it.
Perhaps this would be a blessing in disguise. Perhaps I could finally have the family I always wanted. Maybe my hardships had finally come to an end.
If only I knew just how wrong I was.
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
It was strange. Since a young age I had been brought up to be stiff and formal on all occasions. That atmosphere was nonexistent in my new family. Everything was so carefree and happy that I soon found many of the manners I had learned over the years being flushed down the proverbial drain. I had only been a part of the family for a few days, yet I had already become accustomed to their lifestyle, and the refreshing freedom that I had gained now that I was no longer tied to my destiny of searching for the Avatar or living life as the Prince of the Fire Nation.
The only downside was that I had to hide my firebending. At Grisha's request, I had to keep that part of me a secret, for fear of the military taking action. He feared that they would see me as a threat to humanity and dispose of me or, even worse, use me as a tool against the Titans.
Titans.
During my first week I caught my first glimpse of a Titan. I had been out collecting logs with Eren and Mikasa when a thunderous booming shook the very ground I stood upon. I had rushed to the nearest gate and saw, to my horror, the terror known as the Titans.
They were big. They were ugly. And they were horrifying. I had been told of how they would leave all wildlife alone, all except for humans. They would feast on human flesh and wouldn't rest until all humans in their vicinity were eradicated. They didn't stop. They had no purpose. They existed simply to torment humanity.
For the first time that night, I had nightmares not of the day that I received my scar, but of the idea that a Titan could come and gobble up my newfound family.
Fortunately, these walls that protected humans from the Titan threat had withstood the force of time for over a hundred years. Even with that assurance, however, Eren was convinced that humans needed to fight against the Titans and expand their territory beyond these walls. In his mind, there was no telling when these walls would give way. For my part, I was content. I had a family now. That's all that mattered.
-X-
Soon after my first experience witnessing a Titan, I had gone to the field where Father had found me to work on my sword fighting skills. I was so glad that I had put them on that day on my ship, and that Father had taken them when he had taken me. I always felt so free when I had a blade in my hands, it was the one thing that came naturally to me. My skill had only increased when Uncle had introduced me to the great Sword Master Piandao. Under his tutelage, my skill with blades had reached new heights. And I had never let that skill die over the years.
While I was busy working on my seventh set, my senses informed me that I was being watched. I stopped my movements and turned to my side to see Eren and Mikasa diligently watching me from the sidelines.
Smiling, I gestured them over. Eren had seen my graceful movements and wanted to try it himself. Handing him my swords, I laughed as he clumsily handled the dual blades. Taking the blades back, I explained that these were dual swords, two halves of a single weapon. "You can't think of them as separate, because they're not. They're just two parts of the same whole."
I demonstrated my technique expertly and sliced a flower evenly right across the middle. I handed the swords back to Eren and watched as he swung them more carefully this time. I smiled when he was done and turned to Mikasa.
"You're turn."
She seemed hesitant at first, but once she grabbed a hold of the blades, it was as if she had been handling them her whole life. With precision, she swung the blades like an extension of her own arm before she handed them back to me quietly.
Well I'll be damned. Another fucking prodigy.
Despite how much it reminded me of Azula, I didn't mind. She was nothing like Azula.
-X-
I met Armin by chance one day when Eren, Mikasa, and I were walking around town. He was being bullied by a group of bigger kids. Immediately Eren took off after the group of bullies. When they saw Eren coming towards them, the group of kids laughed and seemed unafraid.
That changed once they saw Mikasa.
She ran like a demon and I can only imagine her face was contorted into that of one as well. One look at her and those kids were gone.
"Looks like I scared them off," laughed Eren.
More like Mikasa scared the shit out of them.
Eren then introduced me to his friend, Armin. He was the one who had told him all about the world outside. Supposedly, his parents had gone out past the walls to see the world beyond themselves. They had yet to return.
Still, this didn't discourage the two boys from dreaming of the day they set foot outside the walls themselves.
-X-
"Zuko! Come play with us!"
The voice came from a small little girl in a blue dress, a teddy bear clutched tight in her tiny arms. The wind blew her blonde hair to the side and caused certain parts to frizz up. Her large, innocent, round eyes pleaded with me to play with her and her younger brother and sister.
I had met the girl, whose name was Amy, about a week before I had met Armin. I had gone into the market district alone to purchase some food for Mother to make. After purchasing a few cabbages, carrots, radishes, and several other assorted vegetables, I was about to head back when I noticed a commotion going on a few stalls down.
An old man was yelling at a frightened young girl with an apple in her hand.
The poor girl, who was Amy's younger sister, Emilia, had tried to steal the apple to feed her family. Later I would learn that the girl's father had fallen in battle against the Titans and now their family had no sustainable income. They were running low on food and starving as it was. Their mother tried the best that she could, but as hard as she worked she was unable to sufficiently feed her children as well as she would have liked.
"I'll teach you a lesson you won't soon forget, thief!"
The man lifted a knife he had pulled from his coat pocket and raised it above the trembling girl's arm. Her tear-filled eyes were overflowing with fear.
Having seen enough, I quickly made my way over to the scuffle and grabbed the man's arm before it fell upon the girl's. He turned back to glare at me, but I just glared right back.
"That's enough," I commanded. I pulled out the extra money I had saved and slammed it onto the man's stall to pay for the stolen apple. Grabbing the shaking, I made my way out of the market and into a more secluded alley.
"You should be more careful when you do something like that," I reprimanded. "If you're not going to do something right, you're better off not doing it at all."
The poor girl sniffed. "S-sorry, but I had to try."
Impressed at the girl's resolve, I laughed. "You're right. It's better to try and fail than not try at all." I grinned. "Although next time, just look for me and I'll help you out. That way you won't have to steal again."
The girl wiped her eyes and beamed at me. "Okay!" She extended her hand towards me. "I'm Emilia."
I smiled as I took her hand and shook. "I'm Zuko. Nice to meet you Emilia."
"I saw what you did back there."
Turning around, I young girl about ten years old jump down from a crate with a boy a few years younger than her follow suit. Unlike her graceful landing, he fell flat on his face.
"OOF!"
"Michael! I told you to time the jump!"
After helping her brother to his feet, the two sauntered over to where I knelt as if nothing had happened.
"Like I was saying, I saw what you did. You really helped my sister out there mister." She grinned up at me.
All I could muster at the strange situation I had found myself in was a curt, "No problem."
The girl grinned, showing off a missing tooth. "How'd ya like to be a part of our gang?"
I sweat-dropped. "No thanks."
The girl seemed crestfallen. "Aw c'mon! Why not? It's a lot of fun!"
I made to get up, but the girl wasn't about to let me go without a fight. I can respect that, but it's a little annoying when a ten year old girl latches onto your leg and starts saying "Please! Please! Pretty pretty please!" over and over and over again.
"Urgh! Let me go! Get off of me!"
I tried to shake the girl off my leg, but that only caused her to tighten her grip.
"Please! Please! Please! Please! Puh-lease!"
"I said no! Now let me go! Cut it out!"
"But we can go on adventures! And camping trips! Ooh! We can roast 'smores over a roaring fire and tell ghost stories! It'll be so much fun! Don't you want to have fun?"
I scowled at the girl. I gave a few more shakes of my leg for good measure. "No, I hate fun."
The girl's sister, the one I had saved, Emilia, clutched the apple she'd been eater closer to her chest. Her eyes grew large and wide, as if she had just heard something terrible. "Y-you h-h-hate fun?" she whimpered.
My eyes widened. I started waving my arms around desperately.
"No, wait! Don't cry!"
Too late. The girl began to cry softly.
I groaned.
Great. I just made a little girl cry. Good job, Zuko.
"Wow, smooth move their, Hothead. Do you enjoy making little girls cry?" taunted the girl still attached to my leg.
I growled in anger. "Alright! Fine! I'll play with you!"
All three of the siblings beamed brightly at me. "Great! Let's play house!"
Groaning, I began to wonder what I had gotten myself into.
-X-
"Zuko dear, could you pass the soy sauce."
"Sure thing."
I passed the sauce to Carla, my new adoptive mother, and went back to my chop cutting the vegetables. The two of us were making dinner tonight. I enjoyed spending time with her doing things like this. It reminded me of my real mother.
"I'm sorry to make you help me out like this. Eren means well, but he just doesn't care for cooking at all. Mikasa would help, but I know she prefers to be with Eren."
"It's fine," I told her. "I used to do things like this with my mother all the time."
She smiled warmly at me. "You must miss her dearly."
Grimly, I nodded. "Yeah, I do."
She must have sensed that this was a sore subject for me, so she didn't press me any further. Instead, she asked me what it was like to grow up as a Prince.
I told her how everything was always so stiff and formal. As a Prince I was expected to always be on my best behavior. It would be unseemly for me to act in any way less than perfect.
"It was pretty stuffy actually. Being a Prince wasn't as easy as you would think. Sure, we were rich, and we always had a lot to eat, along with servants to cater to our every whim and desire, but there was always so much that I was expected to do."
With exasperation, I explained how I had history lessons and calligraphy lessons and etiquette lessons and lessons about lessons. And on top of all that I had to keep up with my firebending forms.
"Unfortunately, I was never the greatest or brightest of students. I tended to mess up pretty often. I wasn't the worst firebender, especially considering how late I started compared to other benders, but it was still a disgrace for a Prince to be so... average." Flashes of Azula passed by my mind. "Also, I was always overshadowed by my younger sister, Azula. She was younger than me by about two years, yet she was still a solid fourteen or so forms ahead of me. Because of that, to my father, I was a disgrace."
My adoptive mother placed a comforting hand upon my shoulder. "I'm sorry you had to go through so much. I never would have thought royalty would have it so tough."
"It wasn't all bad."
My mother was the rock that kept me anchored to the ground. Together, we would sit at the royal pond and feed bread to the resident turtle-ducks. She would tell me all sorts of stories and jokes and everything.
"But then, one day... she just disappeared."
Just like that, one of my anchors was gone. My cousin had fallen in battle a few days earlier, and now two important people in my life were gone. The only one left who still gave a damn about me was my Uncle, but after the loss of his only son he went on a spiritual trip around the world. He wouldn't be back for a few more years.
That left me alone in a palace with my father and my sister.
Not the most pleasant of company, let me tell you.
Before I could say anymore, Carla pulled me into a tight hug and squeezed tight. "I'm so sorry, my son." Her scent was pleasant and warm. Just like my mother's. "Don't worry, I promise that I won't leave you."
I sank into her tight embrace and closed my eyes. "Thanks... mom."
-X-
It was night on the eleventh day since I had been adopted into the Jaeger family. The father had given me an old storage room that they didn't really use anymore for a room and had placed a makeshift bed in the center. It wasn't much, especially considering the environment I had grown up in, but I appreciated the gesture all the same.
I was just about to fall asleep when a creak from the door set my senses on high alert. A ball of fire was in my palm as I sat up straight in my bed.
Hey, old habits die hard.
After realizing that it was just Eren and Mikasa, I sighed and extinguished my flame.
"What are you guys doing up? Shouldn't you be asleep by now?"
Instead of answering my question, Eren approached my side and gazed at my arm in awe, Mikasa dutifully right behind him.
"That's so cool how you did that. Can you show us some more firebending?"
I knew he wouldn't be satisfied if I just sent him away without showing him anything. Besides, I relished in the opportunity to show off a bit.
"Watch this."
I began to play an old game that Lu Ten had shown me when I was younger. He would carefully form his fire into intricately designed shapes and objects of various sizes. Azula never cared for it as it served no practical military purpose, but I was awed by the amount of control and concentration it took to create something so beautiful.
At night, when I was alone, I would practice creating objects of my own. I showed my progress to my mother who would laugh and tell me how proud she was of me.
I miss those days.
Still, seeing the overjoyed expression on Eren's face, and the spark of awe in Mikasa's own reserved eyes as I created a long, slithering dragon of fire, made me think that this whole situation wasn't so bad after all. There was no more pressure from my father to be the perfect son, no more viscous taunts from Azula. The whole ordeal surrounding my banishment and my mission to capture the Avatar was long gone. This world was a second chance for me, a new start on life. I intended to make the most of it.
"It's too bad I can't show you the bigger stuff without the risk of someone seeing," I told them. "If you think this is amazing, you should see what happens when I really go all out!"
Eren looked at me in awe. "With this, humanity just might have a chance against the titans!"
I looked at him warily. There was no point in me telling him that I had no interest in fighting the titans. Once he got worked up about the titans and how he planned on joining the Recon Corps, there was no stopping him. But that didn't mean I had to agree with him. I had finally gotten a chance at a normal life, I wasn't about to squander it to fight some monsters.
"R...Right. Anyway, it's getting pretty late. The two of you should probably go to sleep now, otherwise Kaa-san will wonder just what the two of you were doing in the night."
It was always fun to see them both blush profusely whenever someone poked fun or suggested that they were a couple.
It can't be helped, they make it to easy.
Reluctantly, Eren exited my room. Mikasa shut the door behind her and I was once again bathed in darkness.
I closed my eyes.
-X-
"Thank you for the tea, Madame Amy."
"You are most welcome, Master Zuko."
"Ooh, ooh! Me next! Me next!"
"Quiet, Michael. You are causing a scene." The blonde girl turned back to me with a quick 'Tut, tut.' "I do apologize for the savage behavior of my poor brother, Master Zuko. He can be so uncivilized at times," she drawled.
"It's quite alright, Madame Amy. Though I would prefer if he could keep that animalistic screeching to the confines of his own private quarters, it's beginning to grate on my nerves."
"Oh, Master Zuko, you are most too kind."
The two of us laughed haughtily at the expense of the now pouting child.
"Humph! Why am I always the one being picked on?" he cried.
His sister grinned and wrapped her arm around his neck. "That's 'cuz ur the youngest, brother dear!"
While the boy tried to fight off the wrath of his older sister's dreadful "noogie of love," Emilia approached the flat rock we were using as a make-shift table and placed a tray with a plate of cookies and some carrots, dressed in a cute little maid outfit.
"Excuse me. Your snacks are ready."
Amy ceased in her attacks on her brother and immediately regained her haughty composure with a cough. "Ahem. Yes, thank you for your good work. Now, begone peasant!"
It was hard to keep a straight face when Amy, drunk with power, started acting just like Azula had as a child. The thought that this little girl had the mindset of a young Azula was frightening, yet amusing.
I never would have thought that I would be playing house with a bunch of kids.
So much had changed in the two months since I had entered this world. It had only been a short time, but I was already a fully-fledged member of the Jaeger family.
Two months ago I never would have believed that I'd be hanging out with a bunch of kids younger than me and playing house instead of training for some inevitable showdown with a legend. I never would have imagined that I'd spend my days relaxing, enjoying the refreshing breeze of a gentle wind as I gazed at the peaceful sky above. I never would have dreamed that I could find a family that loved and cared for me like these had.
It was like a dream come true.
"-uko. Zuko! Are you listening to me? Zuko!"
The gentle tug on my shoulder broke me from my reverie. I glanced at the pouting Amy who had dropped her pompous façade. "Zuko!"
Smiling, I apologized for blanking out. "So what were you saying again?"
Still pouting, the girl pointed to the top of my head. "I was asking you when you were going to get rid of the stupid looking ponytail! It's so weird looking!"
With a mock gasp, I pushed the girl away lightly. "Never would I ever! How could you even suggest something so terrible!?"
"It makes you look bald!" she screeched.
I wagged my finger in front of her nose. "It makes me look manly," I corrected.
Truthfully, I just wanted to hold on to the phoenix tail that I had grown attached to. When I had been burned by my father, some of my hair had caught on fire. The barbers had wanted to cut it all off so that it would grow back evenly, but I persuaded them to leave that one patch. I didn't want my hair to grow out. I didn't want it to cover my scar, not even a tiny bit. I would carry myself with the pride of a Fire Nation Prince, no matter how hideous my face was or how ugly my hair made me look.
The ringing of bells in the distance caught all of our attention.
The Recon Corps. They're back.
Knowing that Eren would be waiting at the front gates to witness their return, I bid my farewell to the kids and headed off in the direction of the bells.
-X-
A crowd of people had already formed along the streets. The Recon Corps trudged along on their horses silent like a grave.
So few, I thought to myself.
Looking around I caught sight of Eren, smiling like a fool with his mouth open wide, and Mikasa. In no time I had made way next to them.
"Hey," I called out.
"Oh, Zuko! You're just in time! The Recon Corps are back!"
Nodding, I turned to face the march of the soldiers. Men and women covered in bandages and blood walked solemnly through the streets, defeated. Not a single one of them were smiling. They looked like ghosts, like a bunch of livestock that had escaped the butcher today, but knew they soon be sent back to the slaughterhouse.
A pretty accurate analogy, if I do say so myself.
Whispers began to run like wildfire throughout the crowd.
'Why are there so few of them?'
'A bunch of them got eaten, I guess."
'Well, this is what you get for going outside the walls.'
An old women pushed her way past the crowd and began to plead for the whereabouts of her son. The man she approached signaled to a man behind him and revealed a cloth with something wrapped inside. Handing it to the woman, she unwrapped it to find the bloody remains of an arm. With a gasp of fright the woman dropped the bloody carcass to the ground and fell down to her knees.
"I'm sorry, that was all that we could salvage of him," explained the man.
The woman cradled the severed arm tightly to her chest like a mother to her newborn and locked eyes with the man.
"But… my son… he was useful, right? He… he might not have been a hero… but he at least died helping mankind fight back, right?" screamed the woman.
At first, the man nodded his head and agreed.
Liar.
I could see it in his eyes. That woman's son had died in vain.
As if feeling the guilt press down on him, the man fell to his knees and told the truth.
"No… during this mission, we… No… even after all of our missions, we… we still haven't made any progress at all!" he screamed.
The woman looked as if she was about to faint then and there. She was deaf to the rest of the man's speech."
"I'm a failure. I've just gotten soldiers killed left and right! And we still haven't learned anything useful about the Titans!"
-X-
The soldiers soon passed on their way after that. Like a switch, the murmurs of the crowd ignited once again.
'Well that sure was some heavy shit right there.'
'You're telling me.'
'Still, who would've guessed that all of this was for nothing?'
'So all we've been doing is offering ourselves to them as free lunch?'
Eren, seething from the comments of the men around him, grabbed a stick from his sack and wacked the last man to have spoken across the head with it. The man turned to see who had struck him and growled in fury.
"What the hell was that for, kid?"
I readied myself for a fight, but Mikasa pulled Eren away by the scruff of his shirt before anything serious could happen. Sighing, I followed after her.
With strength that betrayed her petite figure, Mikasa tossed Eren into a wall like a sack of potatoes. The sticks that were stuffed into his sack scattered across the floor in a mess.
"What did you do that for!? Look at what you've done to all the wood!"
Mikasa pierced Eren with her gaze. "Eren, have you changed your mind about joining the Recon Corps?"
I watched in tense silence as the two faced off. Dodging the question, Eren began to pick up the fallen wood. With a sigh, Mikasa and I helped him out until all the wood was back in its place.
"Let's go home," I offered.
Away from all this madness.
-X-
Going home was a bad idea. Mikasa told on Eren, revealing his wish to join the Recon Corps. Immediately, Mother rounded on him.
"What are you thinking!? Do you have any idea how many people die outside those walls?"
The two of them argued back and forth on the matter until Father interrupted. To my complete surprise, he supported Eren on his decision, even promising to show him the basement when he returned from some business in the inner wall.
When he left, Mother resumed her argument with Eren.
"I won't allow it. I forbid you from joining something stupid like the Recon Corps."
Eren was furious. "Huh? Stupid? People who are content living like livestock are more stupid!"
With that final statement, Eren ran off. With trembling fingers, Mother grabbed Mikasa and begged her to watch over Eren. With a nod, Mikasa took off after the boy.
She turned her gaze to me, showing the tears that were ready to fall any second now.
"Zuko, my dear, I'm sorry. But please look after the two of them. I know that you've gone through a lot. I know how much you just want to live a peaceful life. Please, look after my stupid boy. Please, protect both of them."
She didn't have to say it. I would have done it without her telling me to.
Pulling her into a tight embrace, I whispered into her ear, "On my honor, you have my word."
The tears finally fell as the sobs wracked her body. With a final smile of farewell, I took off after my foolish siblings.
-X-
I found them on the steps of the plaza overlooking the river. The two of them sat with a beat up Armin. Silently, I joined them on the steps.
"Zuko!"
I nodded my head towards Armin. With my back against the wall, I crossed my arms and closed my eyes, feeling the wind brush against my face. Soon enough, Eren continued where he left off.
"Che, we just want to go outside. What's so wrong with that? It's our lives we're risking."
"You can't do that," spoke Mikasa. "You can't."
As if just remembering, Eren questioned Mikasa as to why she had to tell his mother on him.
"What does she know anyway?" muttered Eren in reference to his mother.
"She's right."
All eyes turned to face me after I had spoken.
"Zuko! You too?"
With only one eye open, I fixed Eren with a glare.
"All she wants is for you to be safe. You saw what happened today, with that old woman. Do you want the same thing to happen to your mother? Do you really want to put her through that kind of pain?"
For the first time since I had known him, Eren seemed ashamed.
"Well… it's just that…"
Without waiting to hear how he would dig himself out of that one, I pushed on.
"Do you really want your mother to grow through the pain of outliving her own child?"
That last thought was meant for me. I remember Uncle and how crushed he had been when he had lost Lu Ten. Even when he had finally returned to the Palace after several years, he was still never the same, no matter how hard he tried to hide it.
I never want to see that kind of pain on someone I care about ever again.
Tense silence washed over the four of us. I shut my eyes and lost myself in the relative peace. After a few minutes Armin, ever the strategist, spoke up using logic to defend Eren.
"People are crazy for believing that these walls will protect us forever."
What he said made sense, no matter how much I wished to deny it. My eyes were shut, but I could hear the voices of children at play, and loving mother's and father's doting over their children. I could feel their energy, their chi. It was so warm and comforting.
It's so peaceful.
I don't want this to end.
"Even though these walls have been intact for the past 100 years, there's nothing that can guarantee they won't be broken down today…"
I was content. Everything was so peaceful. The quiet lull of the setting sun relaxed my muscles. Slowly, I began to drift off, intent on enjoying a relaxing, peaceful, and blissful slumber. I began to concentrate only on my breathing, blocking out every other noise around me.
In… out… in… out… in… what the!
With a start, my eyes flew open. I jumped to my feet and fell into a fighting stance facing the direction of the gate far off in the distance. I had felt something, some strange, twisting energy that scared me to my very bones.
This feeling…!
A bolt of red lightning struck the ground where I was facing and a thunderous boom shook the ground. From the top of the walls, a monstrous red hand clutched at the rock for support.
Titan!
Armin was in complete shock, as were the rest of us. "No way… That wall is 50 meters high!"
"It's them," gasped Eren as a large, skinless head peeked out from atop the wall. Steam seeped from its flesh so hot, that I could feel the heat from where I stood. "Titans!"
"What is it doing?" I asked to no one in particular.
As if to answer my question, a massive crash resounded throughout the air. Smoke and debris flew up into the sky. Meteors of rock fell from the sky and spread out through the city. I watched as a family of four got crushed by the massive rocks, their blood splattering the walls and staining the ground. A mother and her baby were smashed by another falling rock.
Looking back, the colossal titan seemed to disappear. But no one was celebrating that particular bit of news. Something worse had happened.
"T-t-the gate… there's a hole in the gate."
Sure enough, a large hole could be seen in the gate. Already, titans were pouring in through the gate and picking up stragglers. Soon, they would be upon us. Soon, everything would all be over.
Humanity was finished.
Author's Note:
So here we go, my second story. For those of you who haven't read my first, I humbly beg you to check it out. It's called "Comet on the Grand Line."
Hope you enjoy this little rendition of mine.
For those of you who believe that Zuko acted a little OOC, especially in regards to how he played with the younger children, keep in mind that he was only at sea for a year. When he was a kid, he was a lot more happier and nicer. Granted, that was before his mom disappeared and his dad went all psycho, but I'm making a play on what would happen if the cruelty of time hadn't completely eroded that part of him just yet. Also, this new world represented a second chance for him. He's not under any pressure to please his father or anyone else anymore and he's been freed from the burden of searching for the Avatar. Royalty though he may be, he's still a kid, and not as crazy as his sister. Plus, it's just a story I'm writing for my own entertainment.
As for his last name, I remember reading a story before where they used "Kasanagi" as his surname. I thought it fit since the first part could be taken from the Japanese word "Kasai" for "fire" or "conflagration." I believe "nagi" can be taken to mean "calm" or "lull." So "Calm fire," I guess. Eh, it sounded cool so I'm rolling with it.
Don't expect future chapters to be anywhere near this length. I just wanted to set up a good base for the future. Also, I wanted to post a 10,000+ word chapter for the first time. I usually proofread myself, but I may have missed a mistake here or there. Just try to bear with it. If there's something really big, just message me or leave a comment and I'll replace the chapter with a fixed version.
Not sure when I'll be updating this story, though it wouldn't be more than a week or two. Still, go ahead and follow it so that you can see when I do. Next chapter, the Titans invade the city and shit really goes down!