A/N: I kind of forgot to make it clear in the first chapter, but this story is going to span all three books, and maybe a little bit of something post SC. I won't be doing every episode and event, just the important ones, and maybe two episodes per chapter. This chapter takes place the night before the episode "Imprisoned." It's kind of a filler chapter. We explore Luzon's character a bit more as he explains his past to Aang Sokka and Katara.
We're flying really high. The sun has dipped below the horizon, and clouds are rolling in. The only evidence of daylight is a tiny speck of red orange in the distance, but that too has just disappeared. We're in darkness now.
"Fuck, its cold," I said, in between shivers and chattering teeth. I was only wearing my green tunic from the restaurant, and black pants. They looked exactly like the kind Sokka was wearing. How is he not freezing his ass off? I regret not buying any cold weather clothing, since it was almost always hot in Omashu, and I figured it would be the same all around the Earth Kingdom. Also, being a fire bender, I didn't take the cold weather so well. I refrained from using my bending to warm me, because it was pitch black, and I didn't want to burn anybody, or set Appa's fur on fire.
"How do you guys stand this in the South Pole? I know you have warm jackets and all, but it's almost insane to be outside in that kind of weather."
"You get used to it eventually. When your tribe is just barely clinging on to life, you have to do anything to survive, especially in those kinds of conditions," Sokka said. I could tell that he was thinking about how hard it was living there. I decided to drop the subject.
"Luzon, you're shaking like crazy!" Katara shrieked, motherly concern obviously in her voice. "Here, take my parka, I'm used to this kind of weather." She pulled her parka off and moved over to where I was on the saddle.
"Katara, I'm-"
"No! You're going to get sick. Put it on!" I relented, deciding that there was no way I could win against her. She slipped the parka over my shoulders and pulled the hood on. Immediately warmth flowed through my whole body, and my teeth stopped chattering.
"Thanks Katara." I smiled.
Just as soon as I get settled, Appa takes a nosedive into the wind once again. Flying is fun, but the sharp turns are a whole different story; my insides get all squeezed against each other and I feel like I'm going to pass out whenever Appa makes really sharp changes in direction. It's something I'll have to get used to, I guess.
There's a small clearing in the forest below, where I assume we're going to land. I can just make out a small village to my right. Maybe we'll head down there for some supplies in the morning. Appa glides down and lands softly on the ground. We all dismount, and Sokka immediately sets out to gather some firewood.
"Sokka, are you sure we need firewood? I mean, we do have a fire bender now," Aang said.
"I don't know about you Aang, but I'd like to be warm when I sleep. I don't want to have Luzon staying up the whole night with magic flames. He can just light the wood." Aang nodded, and Sokka set out to find some wood. I began to unpack the only provisions I had. We stopped in a small town outside of Omashu to purchase my personal supplies. Unfortunately, Sokka had eaten all the food again, so in the morning we would have to head into the village I saw from the sky. I made a mental note to tell Aang, so the two of us could go into town and buy supplies. Right now, I only had a sleeping bag, two sets of extra clothes, and a toothbrush. It would be enough for the night, and I had a whole bunch of money to spend. As I unpacked my things, I remembered about the wound on my arm, and went to check the bandages. They were about to come off, and were showing blood and caked with dirt. If I didn't get these changed soon, I'll most likely develop an infection. And with our ambitions of getting to the North Pole as fast as possible, me being out of action just wasn't an option. The infections here can get nasty. I saw a young healthy man get his arm amputated because he never bothered to treat a cut he received, and the infection had gotten so bad that not even the best healers in the region could save him. It was either his arm or his life.
As the three of us unpacked, I noticed a very quiet, but distinguishable sound of rocks rising, falling, and slamming into the earth. I walked over to Aang, who was lying next to Appa, staring at the stars.
"Hey, Aang, hear that?" I said, and paused to let him identify the sound. Aang furrowed his brow, and concentrated hard for a second.
"Yeah… it sounds like… rocks?" I nodded.
"That's what I'm hearing too. I think it's an earth bender."
"I don't know, the Fire Nation is awfully close. I don't think anybody would risk earth bending. They could be thrown in jail, made a slave, or worse…"
"Maybe that's why he or she is doing it now. It's the middle of the night. There's no way that the Fire Nation would patrol this area so late."
"I guess you're right."
I walked back over to my sleeping bag, and lay down, staring up at the clouds dissipating in the night sky. I could see stars, and for the first time in a while, I wasn't thinking about work the next day, or paying the rent at my small studio. I feel like I had finally found my destiny; aiding the re-emerged Avatar in mastering the elements, and not just as an accomplice, but as a friend; same with Sokka and Katara. Growing up, I always had friends. Zuko was almost like a brother to me; if one got in trouble, the other followed. If we ever fought, we would make up within minutes. I never noticed this type of relationship with his sister and her friends though. Azula was naturally beautiful, and she had everything handed to her. She was a fire bending prodigy after all. Ozai was to make her the heiress to the throne, denying Zuko's rightful place at the top. Her best friends, Mai and Ty Lee, were always with her. I think Azula thought less of them though, being non benders, and I think that their friendship was based on fear and control, rather than true feelings of camaraderie. Her relationship with Zuko was never a good one; she would always strive to one up her brother, no matter the cost. She frequently insulted him, and berated him because of his lesser abilities, despite him being older. I never liked Azula because of this. Agni and Kai only know why she had to choose me…
"Sokka, you're back!" I heard Katara say, rising up from her sleeping bag.
"Well, obviously…" I muttered. Katara shot me a look and Sokka and I both snickered.
"What took you so long?" Aang questioned.
"You have no idea how hard it is gathering good firewood using the moon as your light source; it's useless! I can't believe these trees either! Most of the wood was so bad, most of the time I was sorting through all the logs that weren't falling apart." Sokka remarked, obviously regretting that he hadn't make me stay up all night fire bending.
"Here's the wood Luzon. Work your magic!" Sokka exclaimed, relief washed over his face as he dumped the pile of wood at my feet.
"Sokka, for the last time, it's not magic. It's called bending!" Katara fumed.
"Oh, so shooting fire out of your fingertips isn't magic? Please Katara, think of a better argument." Sokka said, satisfied with his comeback.
"Don't be jealous because you can't bend Sokka. I can tell you would love to hit me in the face with some magic water, but wait! You can't." Katara retorted.
"But you just said, uh, that it wasn't magic..." I coughed meekly.
"Ha! Nice one! Sokka exclaimed, and we exchanged high fives."
This visibly angered Katara, and thes began yelling at each other, back and forth, with no stopping in sight. Aang and I looked at each other and groaned, and I motioned for him to step back. He did, and I held out my palms at the wood on the floor. I took a deep breath, and exhaled. Almost instantaneously, fire shot out of my hands and onto the dry wood, igniting it with several cracks and sparks. This startled the arguing siblings, and they finally quieted down. We all took seats around the fire, huddling near the open flame, trying to get warm before going to sleep. I could tell that nobody really wanted to sleep just yet, so I decided to strike up a conversation.
"That's a beautiful necklace Katara. Where did you get it?" I asked. She smiled, and sub consciously placed her hand over the necklace. It seemed to be a habit.
"It was my mother's. My father had given it to her when he asked her to marry him. She was killed in a Fire Nation raid when Sokka and I were little. This is all I have left of her…" Immediately, the consequences of what my country has done the past one hundred years hits home. A group of cruel, heartless soldiers marched into their village and killed an innocent mother. They most certainly killed more. I can't imagine my life without my mother or my father. I love them with all my heart, and to imagine life without one of them isn't even fathomable. Anger wells up inside me once more, further reminding me of why I defected; why I need to fight against my own country, and my fellow countrymen and women. My fists clench once again, and there's no hiding the anger I have towards my own nation.
"Luzon, please… you're a good person. I won't judge you for what your country did. You had no part of it." Katara reassured me. I looked over at Sokka, and he nodded, and I nodded back, a sort of mutual respect between two different warriors from two totally different worlds.
"Hey Luzon, what's that beady-looking thing on your wrist? I've never really seen anything like it before." Aang said. He was staring intently at my family heirloom, something that I had completely forgot about the past few days.
"It belonged to my great-grandfather on my father's side." I explained. It was a bracelet, held together by volcanic rock, with beads that were engraved with old Fire Nation art, along with various small images that represented Fire Nation customs; a comet, two balls of fire, and images of Agni and Kai made up the five beads on the bracelet. "He got it from the last Avatar, before you. Avatar Roku." Aang looked stunned, and ran over and sat down next to me, grabbing my hand and inspecting it very closely.
"You have something that belonged to Avatar Roku? That's incredible!" he exclaimed. He couldn't keep the mixture of excitement and disbelief off of his face.
"Yeah… well, my family has some pretty interesting connections." I chuckled, and this seemed to interest Katara.
"Tell us about your family, Luzon. You haven't really said much, other than that they live in Ba Sing Se. How was your childhood?" Should I tell them everything? About how my father was imprisoned, how I personally know Firelord Ozai and all of his direct family? I'll hold off on most of that. Maybe I'll elaborate about my childhood. That seems okay.
"I had the easy life growing up," I began. Memories began to fill my mind, of when I was actually proud and happy to be a Fire Nation citizen. "My father was one of the Firelord's top advisors, so we lived in the palace. I had everything you could ever want, and more. The finest silk in the world, food second to none, and people who treated you like you were part of the royal family." Everyone looked on, intent on hearing the rest of my story.
"I attended the Royal Fire Nation Academy. All the rich kids and nobles went there, and it was great. I never thought I'd say this, but I actually enjoyed going to school there. The teachers were great, the school itself was beautiful, and I had tons of friends, who, despite being the highest class, were never snobby or arrogant. When I was six, my father enrolled me in advanced fire bending classes. I was a quick learner, beating my fellow pupils easily. My master saw great things in me, and notified Firelord Ozai. He was pleased, and one day, came to visit me in one of my training sessions. It was one of the most amazing, yet scariest experiences in my whole life, seeing such a powerful and dominant man, up close, and watching me, and only me. I was so happy, as was my father. At the Academy, I also met my best friend. Prince Zuko." Their reactions varied from Katara gasping, to Sokka jumping and burning himself on the campfire. He cursed loudly, and immediately starting running water on his hand.
"What's wrong? Do you guys know Zuko?"
"Know him? He's been chasing us ever since Aang was let out of the iceberg! The guy's insane! He practically destroyed an entire island trying to capture Aang." Sokka exclaimed. He was obviously confused. How had I not known of this? I'd never heard anything about him since he was banished years ago, and nobody ever released the details of his mission to me.
"How could you possibly be friends with him? He's obsessed with Aang. He'll kill anybody just to get to him. It's only because he wants his father to accept him or something. I refuse to believe that you associated with the likes of Zuko." Katara spat. She was fuming; she had obviously had an incident with Zuko before. I didn't know what to believe. Had Zuko, the nice, hardworking teenager who was once my best friend, turn into a monster whose sole purpose in life was to kill a twelve year old kid, and kill anybody who stood in his way? Iroh would never allow this; I knew the old general too well. I just can't believe what I've just been told. As I was lost in thought, I didn't notice Aang waving his hand in front of my face. This struck me out of my stupor.
"Wha…? Oh… right…" I murmured. "I can't believe how much Zuko has changed. He was always my best friend; we would stick by each other no matter what. We ate together, studied together, practiced fire bending together… My mother loved him. She treated him like one of her own, and he treated her like his mother." I paused at the thought; tears welling up in my eyes, my throat closing up, as I thought of Ursa. The pain that her departure caused Zuko was unfathomable. It impacted me too, as I had a close relationship with her as well. Somehow, I knew Ozai had something to do with this. My fists balled up and I couldn't contain my rage anymore. I jumped up, and launched a huge wave of fire out of my hands, and the bright orange flames soared into the distance, bent on burning and destroying whatever it came in contact with. Katara shrieked, and Aang jumped up and held out his staff at me. Almost as fast as the rage and anger appeared within me, it vanished, only again to be replaced by sadness and confusion. Tears began to slowly fall down my cheeks, and Katara and Aang looked on, with sadness and pity in their eyes.
"I just… I can't believe it…" I whispered. "I can imagine Azula doing this… but…" Tears began to flow again as I thought of the Princess. At this Katara rose up and enveloped me in one of the tightest hugs I had ever received. It reminded me of my father, who was still back home, working under the tutelage of one of the most savage dictators the world had ever known. At this, the tears began to fall even harder, and I began to cry into Katara's shoulder, staining her blue shirt with damp tears and dark smudges.
"It's going to be okay. You're with us now." Katara said gently.
"Yeah, we're you're new best friends!" Sokka said, as he and Aang rose too. They all formed a tight group hug around me, and Momo came flying in, landing on my shoulder, chattering for affection. Appa lumbered over too and rubbed his muzzle against us. We all laughed and broke apart, and that's when I realized this is where I belonged; not serving merchants and security guard at some restaurant. I smiled, and everybody smiled back, their kind words reinforced in their eyes and faces.
"Well," Sokka let out a huge yawn. "I think it's time to hit the hay. I've had enough kisses for the night."
Katara shot him a look and Aang and I laughed. Before we turned to our respective sleeping bags, I walked over to Katara, and grabbed her shoulder.
"Hey Katara?" I said softly.
"Yeah?"
"Thanks. It means a lot." She smiled, and I could see the red creep up her face.
"Don't mention it."
"Oh, I almost forgot. Here's your parka; I don't think I'm going to need it tonight. That sleeping bag is really warm." Katara laughed, and at this, I beckoned her goodnight, and went to wrap myself in the sleeping bag. Immediately the soft fabric of the inside of the bag made me almost instantly sleepy. I stared up at the stars, losing myself in thought once again. This is going to be amazing, I thought. We're going to do incredible things. I smiled as the blackness of sleep crept up on me once more, warm and inviting.
