Kuru shivered as the crisp, ocean breeze fluttered across her skin. It had been nearly two days since Nero and her set sail for the fire nation, and they were already less than half a day away. "The moon looks so beautiful reflected on the water…" Kuru crossed the deck of the large, water tribe boat towards the front, where Nero had been propelling the ship using water bending.
"Yeah…yeah it does." Nero turned towards Kuru, and flashed her one of his famous grins, which showed off his pearly white teeth. Even in the darkness of nightfall, his teeth shined like a beacon of hope. He then turned his attention towards the sea once more, and began moving his arms in a rowing fashion. "We should reach the fire nation by the afternoon, as long as we keep up this pace." Kuru nodded her head slowly, and then yawned loudly. "Go below deck and get some rest. I'll wake you in the morning."
"Aren't you tired? We can take shifts if you'd like." Kuru suggested, placing her hands on her hips and leaning in towards Nero.
"I slept earlier, so not really. I'll be fine, go ahead and sleep." Nero smiled, as the wind blew through his hair, as if someone were rubbing their fingers through it. Kuru nodded, and headed towards the back of the large ship, and descended the staircase towards the set of beds in order to sleep.
"Land ahoy!" Kuru leaned excitedly over the edge of the ship, her slender finger outstretched towards the fire nation's Capital city shores. Kuru had taken over control of the ship once she woke up, allowing Nero to lay his body out on the deck of the ship, and take a quick nap while basking in the sun's rays. After Kuru shouted, he sat up and rubbed his eyes gently, and prepared to help Kuru dock the ship safely at the shore. Plopping down upon the gray cement walkway, Nero quickly took the lead into the Capital city. "You walk as if you already know who your fire bending teacher is going to be. Shouldn't we be talking to people? Or maybe even asking for demonstrations of fire bending…"
"I have no intention of learning fire bending yet." Nero quickly cut Kuru off, partially with his words, but mostly by grabbing her wrist and shocking her. A crowd of fire nation citizens had been approaching the duo, and Nero began to gracefully weave himself and Kuru through them. Once the crowd past, Kuru jerked on Nero's arm hard, causing him to pause. He turned back to look at her, and immediately regretted doing so.
"What do you mean you have no intention of learning fire bending?! Why are we all the way in the fire nation if you weren't going to learn fire bending? This entire trip has been a colossal waste of time!" Kuru stuck a finger so close to Nero's eye, he squinted it a bit as a precaution, in case she decided to allow her finger to go rogue and embed itself within his pupil. Using his peripheral vision, he realized the argument had attracted much unwanted attention. Every where he turned, fire nation citizens had been staring at the two; their amber eyes glued upon them, as if they thought blinking, even for a mere instance, may cause the two water benders to evaporate without a trace.
"You're making a scene." Nero's voice lowered significantly, to just barely above a whisper. Kuru's dark cheeks turned crimson, as she immediately clasped her hand over her mouth. The two began walking once more, however once they were no longer the center of attention, Nero stopped and faced Kuru. "I have no idea what I'm doing, Kuru. The only thing I know is that I'm the avatar. I'm sure there's some type of order I need to learn bending in, and I know next to nothing about the avatar state or the spirit world or anything. Chief Sokka left behind a few tidbits of information, and a couple poorly drawn diagrams, but nothing I can actually make sense of. Everyone expected the next avatar to be reborn in the Northern Water Tribe, not the Southern. But there is someone who might be able to give me a little information…or point me in the right direction." Nero walked once more, leading a puzzled Kuru behind him. "Ah here we are…fire nation royal palace."
The building before the water benders was the largest building in the entire fire nation. It had three crimson and gold towers, with the center building being the tallest. The two proceeded to walk up the giant stairs, until they found themselves standing before the door. Twin guards stood on either side, dressed from head to toe in black and red armor. "And you are?" The guard to the right spoke, his voice gruff and seemingly aggravated.
"I'm here to seek audience with the fire lord." Nero's matter of fact tone of voice seemed to anger the guard. Nero felt the air in front of him suddenly spike in temperature. It was strange to Nero that the guard had gotten so upset. In these times of peace, the fire nation certainly received more tourists, and he was sure this wasn't the first time someone requested audience with the fire lord.
"And what makes you think the fire lord has time to visit with you?" The guard on the left spoke while shifting his balance slightly. Both guards seemed ready to strike at any sudden movement; a fact Kuru seemed to notice, since Nero watched her hand stealthily float towards one of her water skins.
"Because, I'm the avatar." Nero watched the two guards exchange looks. Although their helmets prevented their faces to be seen, Nero could probably guess the looks of embarrassment currently etched on their faces. The two bowed to Nero and Kuru, and opened the doors to the palace. Nero and Kuru walked inside, and were immediately amazed at their surroundings. The carpet they walked upon was red, while the walls were a steel color with a gold strip going across the center. After wasting valuable time searching the palace, even more valuable time getting lost within the palace, and placing together theories as to why the palace was currently empty, Nero and Kuru found themselves at twin doors, extending towards the ceiling. It was here that they found the only person they had been able to locate since entering the palace.
"Ah. I've been waiting for you, avatar…" The person in front of the door had been an elderly looking man. His amber eyes were nearly engulfed by his bushy eyebrows which resembled cotton, and his long, pointed beard had been a similar color. He wore a large, crimson gown with brown sandals, and a pointed red hat. He fumbled at his sentence, as if he had to go through strenuous effort in order to speak.
"…Nero." Kuru provided the man with the avatar's given name, and placed a hand on the man's fragile and shaking shoulders. "Where is everyone?"
"The servants are off for the day…but the fire lord and fire lady are inside the throne room. You may enter, if you wish." Nero stepped forward once the old man finished speaking.
"You said that you have been waiting for me…what did you mean by that?" Nero and the old man stared at each other; Nero making his best attempt at discovering the reason behind the old man's toothless smile, which offset the look of disgust he had been giving Nero. He said nothing after that, but simply opened the doors to the throne room. Nero and Kuru exchanged looks, and decided it would be best to remain silent. The two walked inside, and down the crimson and gold lined carpet, towards the twin thrones. Fire licked at the walls on all sides, and danced wildly behind the thrones, and the two figures in them. On the left throne sat a male, whom although not quite as old as the feeble man outside, still had been of advanced age himself. His topknot had been a dull gray color, one shade away from pure white. Behind his topknot, he held a golden crown which was reminiscent of flames. His brow had been wrinkled slightly, but otherwise the fire lord seemed to be in decent physical condition. The most curious thing however, was the fact that the left side of his face had been fleshy, pink, and burnt, especially around his eye. Nero bowed, and Kuru followed suit. "Thank you for seeing me, fire lord Zuko."
"Rise, avatar. I should be bowing to you. If you're here, I'm guessing that you're seeking information about your quest." Fire lord Zuko spoke with a voice that leaked calmness and wisdom, that made Nero feel at ease. He knew that the fire lord would be able to help him on his travels.
"I am, fire lord Zuko. I have no idea what I should be doing, or even how I should be learning the four elements."
"Five." Zuko's correction caused blank stares to fall upon Nero and Kuru's face. "The order that you should follow in order to master the four elements should be the same order as the reincarnation cycle. I'll assume you've already mastered water bending, so you should learn earth bending next. Then, you should learn fire bending, and then air bending. Once you've mastered those four, you should be able to learn energy bending after you master the avatar state." Nero had heard the term energy bending once before. He recalled it was the sole reason why the air nomads had been restored, even if only partially, but the specifics evaded him.
"What happened to the other members of the original avatar team?" Kuru's curiosity overwhelmed her, and she finally spoke.
"They died." The voice was dry, with a hint of sarcasm and boredom in its tone. The fire lady, Mai, had finally spoken up. Her hair, in a style which slightly resembled a bowl cut from the top, yet had long hair in the back, had been a medium shade of gray. Her original, jet black hair color still showed through her hair, but it had long since lost its vividness in her old age. Her face was long and slender, with slightly masculine features. However, she was still a beautiful woman, even with her youth behind her. Overall, with her matching crimson and raven colored robes, she looked very eloquent upon her throne, sneaking quick glances at her husband. Their amber eye's met for a brief moment, and immediately it appeared as if their love became tangible. Even after the countless years of marriage, the two still loved each other as much as they did when Zuko first became the fire lord. "Well the majority of them anyway." Mai added in, sensing her husband opening his mouth to object.
"What? How?" Kuru tilted her head towards the right side. She often did this when she was confused, and Nero always made an effort to tease her about it. She often rebutted with a physical attack, or a strike with the nearest source of water.
"Well Katara is sick, currently on bed rest at the Southern Air Temple. She probably won't last much longer. Actually, our son, Kuzoh is visiting her currently. Toph is the current Earth Queen of Ba sing se, but her loud mouth will easily be the death of her. She hasn't quite grasped the fact that her skills have diminished since she was a child. She'll end up losing power…again…but this time permanently." Nero attempted to question what she meant by losing power, but as soon as he opened his mouth, Mai spoke both louder and quicker. "Azula broke out of prison and attacked Ty lee a few years back, so Ty lee is gone. Iroh, in return stopped Azula from attacking anyone else. Struck by your own lightning attack; such a horrible way to perish. Iroh passed away peacefully last year, and I think the Earth Kingdom is still in mourning. Various members from the Order of the White Lotus keep his spirit alive however, since they pitch in to keep the Jasmine Dragon running and up to par. The tea will never be quite as good however." Zuko gripped his robes tightly at the painful memories of his uncle. Mai took notice, and quickly moved on with her story. "When the Southern Air Temple dropped from the sky seventeen years ago, Aang used the last bit of his strength to save it, combining his earth bending and air bending. Without Appa around to catch him after he passed out however, he plummeted to his demise." Mai gently tapped her finger to her lip before she spoke again. "Am I missing anyone?" She turned to her husband, whom gave her a brief but stern stare, and then the two redirected their attention on the water benders.
"Sokka and Suki passed as well. Their ship was attacked on the way back from Kyoshi Island…but you should know that, since you're the son of the Southern Water Tribe Chief." Zuko shocked Nero with his knowledge.
"How did you…" Nero was quickly cut off by Zuko's chuckling. It almost seemed unnatural, that someone with such power possessed an ability as trivial as humor.
"The tradition of tattooing the moon upon the Water Tribe Chief and their families started when Sokka became chief. He always had a…well, let's call it a fascination with the moon." Zuko had shown Nero and Kuru a smile that said, "I know something that you don't." The two decided if it was necessary, Zuko or Mai would have informed them, and decided to pay it no mind.
"Well, we already knew Chief Sokka had been attacked by pirates, but I didn't realize how many members were still alive." Nero's statement was met by an exchange of blank stares between Mai and Zuko.
"Pirates? Is that what they told you?" Zuko sat forward, his robes shifting slightly. They looked so magnificent, so radiant and eloquent, that Kuru found herself mesmerized by their simple swaying.
"That's what happened…right?"
"The Rebellion attacked Sokka, certainly not pirates. Sokka could have easily bested meager pirates, and when he teamed up with Suki, he would have ended up stealing their ship and goods." Zuko was, then in tem, met by the blank stares of Kuru and Nero. "You weren't informed of the Rebellion, I'm assuming. To make an incredibly long story short, they are a group composed of benders from every nation, with the intent to start their own super powered nation, and conquer the remaining four. Glorified pirates, if you will, so I suppose it wasn't a total lie what they told you. But if you're supposed to bring balance to the world, you at least deserve to understand the full story." Silence fell within the throne room while the two water benders processed this information. However, before they were able to question any further, the doors slammed open. A young child, a little girl to be exact, came running in the room as fast as her tiny legs could carry her. Although she had amber eyes like the fire lord and fire lady, her eyes were large and filled with naivety. She had fair skin collection; not quite as pale as Mai, yet not quite as tanned as Zuko. Her moonless sky colored hair was pulled back in a tight, ponytail, which stopped at her shoulders. Her clothing appeared similar to Mai's, with the exception being the pink sleeves she had replacing Mai's blood red ones. Upon her shoulder sat the fire nation's main means of communication, a crimson messenger hawk. Nero and Kuru needed no explanation to realize she was the princess of the fire nation.
"Daddy, daddy! Mr. General Chit Sang sent you a hawky hawk! And that old guy you always tell me not to talk to is sleeping in the middle of the floor." Her bubbly, adorable voice was nothing like the wise voice of her father, nor the sarcastic voice of her mother. Zuko removed the message from the hawk's carrying pouch, hugged his daughter, and whispered something into her ear. She nodded, and skipped away smiling, and shut the door behind her.
"…Who is that man? I've been meaning to ask you." Kuru questioned, once she was sure the princess had moved far enough away from the door.
"Well, judging from the status report we just received, I think it's time to refer to him in the past tense. But that man was my father." Zuko clutched the unopened note in his hands, while the flames behind him seemed to rise along with the tone of Zuko's voice. It was hard to believe that a man so fragile looking, had once been the great and powerful Fire lord Ozai. Kuru opened her mouth to comment, but quickly closed it again. She had been shocked into a state of forlorn words. "I'm assuming you're wondering why he was standing there. When Aang passed, and the fire nation entered a day of mourning, Ozai had been out of prison on parole. He then grabbed a torch, headed to the center of town, and set fire to the monument built in Aang's honor, and cursed his name. And since giving him a real punishment would have been far too severe for a man of such…elderly age, I suggested a different punishment." Zuko smirked a bit, and the flames behind him returned to their previous, dancing state. "I ordered him to remain in that spot, until the next avatar returned to this very palace. Ironic, isn't it? To have to wait for the one person you despise most in your life, to appear in your life once more?" A cold shiver rushed down the spines of Kuru and Nero. Fire lord Zuko, was not the person you wanted to anger. "Uh, oh. It looks like you guys were followed. Your boat is under attack. We better move." Zuko tossed the paper into the flames behind him, and rose to his feet. Mai followed suite, and were soon being lead by Nero and Kuru back to their ship.
Once they successfully reached the shore, they found a group of fire nation soldiers spread out across the ground, along with several citizens. Some were injured gravely, and some much worst. Five warriors, dressed in pure black pants and shoes, along with a long sleeved black sweater and half mask around their mouth's had been destroying their ship, while a sixth man lingered around in the background. The five seemed to be taking orders from the sixth, as they all stopped their assault on the ship once the man pointed out the newly arrived combatants. "The Rebellion…" Zuko murmured under his breath.
"You and Mai stay back. We'll handle them." Nero then took off in a sprint towards the one's destroying his ship. He had always been rather impatient once it came to fights, and his over confidence didn't slow him down any better. The only reason he had survived so long was the sheer fact that he was good at what he did. The first man stepped towards Nero, and swing at him with his first two knuckles. At the last instant, Nero recognized the attack as the same one the Kyoshi Warriors blocked chi with, and quickly withdrew the white jian from his back in order to block the blow.
"Duck!" Kuru had sent a whip of water to follow Nero, and once Nero slid onto his knees, the whip smashed into the man Nero had been fighting, and pushed him off into the water. Wasting no time, Nero drew water from the sea in front of them and with a quick tug of his hands, smashed it into the back of a second man. The third man must have been an air bender, since Nero suddenly found himself flung into the air by a large gust of wind. However, Nero recovered quickly, and landed gracefully on his feet. Kuru then shot an ice spear at the air bender, while Nero used the small puddle of water that had cumulated on the ground from the duo's previous attacks, to catch the two other men off guard. With a quick, upward movement with his hands, Nero sent the water flying in their faces, and froze them. Just as the two had finished their attack however, they noticed a jagged stream of blue light flying towards them. Before either was even capable of reacting however, Zuko had stepped in the way. With his right index and middle finger pointed towards the blast of light, he braced himself and allowed the lightning to crash into his hand. His entire body flashed blue for a second, before he pushed his hand forward. The lightning then flew from Zuko's bodies, back to its original target. Instead of hitting the mystery man however, it instead flew harmlessly into the horizon.
"Your aim is slipping in your old age, Fire lord!" The man's voice was rather gruff, which matched his bulky body. However, acknowledging the fact that he was able to dodge a lightning attack, he was by no means slow. Four knives then soared dangerously close to Kuru's cheeks, and propelled themselves towards the man. Mai had pin point accuracy when it came to throwing sharp objects, but it didn't put Kuru's mind at any ease. The man began to rotate, while engulfing himself in a sphere of fire, which resulted in the knives melting into a liquid metal. By the time the flames settled however, Nero was already upon the man. The two then began a furious exchange of blows, with water and fire spiraling off into the sky, and zipping past the two warriors. The exchange finally ended, in the man's favor, when he elbowed downward and summoned a massive wall of fire that pushed Nero back and rolling upon the ground. He slid to his feet as a blast of fire came straight for him, and defended by quickly dragging water from either side of the man to the front of Nero's body. He then drew his sword out its sheath once more, and dragged it across the pool of water sitting below him. He then began slashing wildly into the air, which sent crescent shaped waves of ice at the man. One barely grazed his cheek, but wasn't enough to stop him from shooting a small blast of fire towards Nero's hand, and causing him to drop his weapon. Nero propelled himself into the air by forming a geyser out of the water below him, which had been a huge mistake. Moving his arms in several circular motions, he shot a bolt of lightning towards the air borne and defenseless avatar. Nero tried to focus on the cries of his friends down below, but they all had been drowned out by the mixture of thunder, and his own heartbeat. He closed his eyes, wishing for the lightning to go away. He wished that Zuko knew how to air bend, and would be able to save him. Neither of those wishes would come true today, however.
Suddenly, Nero's eyes began glowing pure blue, and the crescent tattoo on his forehead matched his eyes. With pure instinct, he mimicked Zuko's previous stance, and successfully redirected the lightning blast into the sky, while falling back to the ground. "Nero can't redirect lightning…" Kuru found herself bewildered at Nero's current appearance, as well as his hidden combat techniques.
"No…but Aang can. Nero is in the avatar state right now. He's at his most powerful…but also his most vulnerable. If he's stricken down while in the avatar state, then the avatar cycle will be broken, and there will be no more avatar. But, Nero doesn't have nearly enough experience to control this, so this may not be as big of a blessing as we thought." Zuko watched as Nero landed on the ground.
"You've made the avatar as an enemy…big mistake." When Nero spoke, it held a ghostly echo to it. Multiple voices seemed to be blended in with Nero's one, which only made his anger all the more intimidating. His fists were bawled up tight, and water seemed to be moving towards him. From the ground, from the sea, and most peculiarly, from the eye sockets of everyone within a one mile radius, as well as the sweat from anyone within the one mile radius, all fought to be by Nero's side.
"This isn't good. He can't control it!" Zuko watched the man back up, his eyes large from fear. Nero nonchalantly flicked his wrist, and sent nearly fifty needles of ice toward the man. The man was assaulted by the majority of the needles, but avoided some by jumping. However, from seemingly thin air, a large hand composed of water formed in the sky, grabbed the man's hands, and slammed him back into the ground. As a last ditch effort, the Rebellion member blasted fire from his feet, and towards, whom defended by forming an ice shield. The resulting mixture however, formed a heavy steam, which the Rebellion man used to mask his escape, as well as giving his comrades time to recover enough to move as well. Once the steam lifted, all six Rebellion members had left, with the only trace of their presence being the destroyed water nation boat before them. Nero hadn't calmed down any however, and in fact he seemed even angrier than before. Water now began escaping from the citizen's mouths and nose, as well as from homes and any other source of water. "Try calming him down!" Zuko pushed Kuru towards Nero, much to her disapproval.
"Me?! What can I do?"
"I don't know! Something!" Kuru followed Zuko's limited commands, and began walking toward Nero.
"Um…hi…Nero. It's me, Kuru. Remember me? You're really scaring us…" Nero stood motionless as Kuru talked, but water continued to rush towards him. Any second now, Nero would turn around and lash out at her, Kuru feared. However, nothing happened, even after she ended up directly behind him.
"Protect." Nero whispered, as Nero's objective finally appeared in Kuru's mind. He had been gathering water, so that he could travel. The exact details as to where, Kuru remained unsure of, but wherever it was Kuru determined two things. That he would be searching for the Rebellion, and that he planned to leave Kuru behind.
"Don't go!" Kuru began embracing Nero's backside tightly, as she spoke. "You don't have to do this alone, Nero. I'm here for you, Zuko is here for you, and we're going to help you along the way. Don't do anything rash! Just please…stay." Kuru had finally gotten through to Nero, as not only had his shining eyes and tattoo faded, but he had turned around and embraced Kuru. The embrace was very brief however, as Nero lost consciousness and slid out of Kuru's arms and onto the cement.
"Let's get him up. You two can rest here tonight, and we'll prepare a boat for you in the morning." Zuko and Kuru picked up the unconscious Nero, and began heading back to the palace for the night.