Hello everybody! I do hope you enjoy the story thus far.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. It is property of Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konieztko, and I will, in no shape or form, be making any profit off this fanfiction, only your kind reviews.

WARNING: This chapter touches upon the touchy subjects of homosexuality and teen sex. I support gays/lesbians/bisexuals and respect their decision (whether due to nature or some other force) to date within the same sex. As for teen sex, let's face it: Many teens have sex, many teens don't. However, if you or someone you love does decide to have sex, please be safe and use a condom.


Chapter Two

There would be no more laughter on their journey. All of the high spirits of Zuko and his soldiers were scattered to the winds along with Wan remains.

"Come. We still have a half day's hike if we intend to reach Full Moon Bay by tonight," Liang reported to his lord.

Zuko turned to look at his servant. "Very well. Let's proceed as quickly as possible. If anyone has to relieve themselves, do it now. I don't wanna get attacked again while we take a bathroom break."

Ahdou and Ning nodded, disappearing into the forest to take care of "business." Liang, stoic as ever, sat cross-legged and began to meditate. Zuko felt no need to relieve himself the the trees. Instead he turned his attention to Huang. The knife-wielding firebender had stopped crying. His eyes had ran out of tears.

Quite honestly, Zuko could not remember much about Wan and Huang from their days in his exile. Zuko usually kept to himself and his uncle. However, within the first year of his exile, he had once glanced upon the couple making out in the hallway. Zuko had heard stories about naval life, and what an elongated time away from a woman's body did to a man's mind and urges. His father, ever the poster child for machismo, had told him that these stories had been propaganda stirred up to discourage men from joining the navy. But here they were. Two men, not many years older than Zuko, kissing each other passionately, embracing one another as if their lives depended on each other. Still shocked, Zuko fled the scene and went straight to Iroh. Needless to say, that night there was an interesting conversation between uncle and nephew.

Now, older and more experienced, Zuko knew that the love between Wan and Huang was just as normal as the love between husband and wife, and just as strong. Which meant that the pain of one losing the other was just as devastating. Zuko wished he could have said something to comfort the grieving man, but decided against it, fearing that he could only make things worse. Once Ahdou and Ning returned, Zuko gave them all a silent nod, and they resumed their trek to Full Moon Bay. Now cautious against enemy attacks, Liang led the pack, with Zuko guarded by Huang in the center and Ahdou and Ning covering the rear. Not a word would be spoken between the group for the remainder of the trip.

They reached Full Moon Bay just before the ticket counter closed. No longer were refugees scrambling to board one of these barges to reach the "safety" behind Ba Sing Se's walls. These boats now served for mainly tourism. After the war concluded, the Earth King decided to open the figurative walls of the capital, advertising for people to come and visit the historical "last bastion" of the Earth Kingdom. This actually attracted a good flow of tourists. Also Aang's bending-made wildlife enclosure drew in plenty family-oriented vacationers. Money poured in from all over to help the government capitalize on the city's culture and military history. Even the ferries drew in money, telling people to "experience the journey of a refugee for a low price!" This basically meant that people paid to ride on leaky boat and eat bland shit.

"Ning, our passports," Zuko commanded.

"Yes, sir." Ning pulled out a leather pouch from beneath his shirt. He undid the flap and pulled out the fake passports specially forged for incognito entry, handing them to Liang. Liang selected one passport and held it back to Ning in his left hand. In Liang's right hand remained five.

"Oh," Ning muttered with a frown, taking back the sixth passport and returning it to the pouch.

Liang left the group for the ticket counter. The old crone working, eager to leave, did not even bother looking at the passports, simply asking, "How many?" She stamped the tickets, took the money, and Liang returned to Zuko and the others.

Fatigued from their battle and long hike, the group decided to skip the lousy dinner and get some rest. The ferry would reach Ba Sing Se around mid-afternoon the day after tomorrow, so all they could do was wait. Five hours into their voyage and Zuko lay staring at the ugly ceiling of the lower deck. He could not sleep, obviously. Something Liang had said earlier that day kept itching his brain. Could Zuko really be protected from such bloodthirsty monsters? He was the Fire Lord. He was born into a family full of them. Zuko knew that he had changed. Reformed and redeemed. But was what he needed protection against the evils of the world? As a leader, was it not his responsibility to confront these devils head-on and change the future for the better of his people? Zuko calmed himself down. Of course he was dealing with the evils of the world. That was why he responded to the Earth King's plea. That was why he had joined Aang and brought down his demented family. That was why he could not even shed a tear for his fallen guard.

Then, in the corner of Zuko's eye, something stirred. Huang got up from his spot on the floor and proceeded up to the upper deck. Zuko waited a bit before following Huang, quietly slinking past Liang, who had his back propped up against the wall as if he was ready to strike at a moment's notice. When Zuko emerged onto the upper deck, he saw Huang tightly gripping the ship's wooden railing, staring down into the darkness of the lake.

Zuko rushed towards his guard, "No! Huang! Don't do it!"

Huang whipped his head around, shocked at finding the Fire Lord grab his wrist and jerk him away from the railing. "Lord Zuko..." he trailed off.

Zuko stared straight into his eyes, "Don't do it, Huang. Don't let Wan's death pull you down. Don't let his sacrifice-- his love be in vain."

Huang, still with a shocked look on his face, just kept staring at his lord. Only the ambient noise of the boat and water rang between them. Until, out of nowhere, Huang began to laugh. Now it was Zuko's turn to have a shocked look on his face. Once Huang had recovered from his fit of laughter, he sighed, "You thought I was gonna jump, weren't you?"

Zuko simply let go of Huang's wrist and looked down at the floor.

The guard smiled and stood beside his lord, placing a hand on each shoulder. "Hey, I'm sorry that I made you think I was suicidal. Honestly, I did think about jumping, but I know that Wan wouldn't want that. No, I was just remembering," he said as he led Zuko to the railing. "Me and Wan used to do this all the time back in the good ol' days. Just staring out into the darkness. We never told our families about our relationship. They would disown us and beat us out the house! Especially my father, the fundamentalist jackass! Instead we kept it quiet, in the darkness of the night. Hidden from the eyes of people who didn't understand, who didn't want to understand. And most importantly, we had each other." Tears began to seep out of Huang's eyes, and his voice began to crack. "Of course I miss him, like crazy! I'm sad, distraught, angry at the world, and a whole bunch of shit! But Wan left me with so much love, that I can't let these bad feelings destroy my memories of him! I love him so much--" Huang could no longer speak and sank to his knees.

Zuko knelt down beside his guard and gave him a consoling pat on the back. "We have a long ride ahead of us. Take as much time as you need."

Huang nodded rapidly between the flurry of sniffs and hiccups. Zuko stood up and returned to the lower deck, creeping back to his spot.

"That was a wonderful thing you did for him," Liang spoke from his upright position. Even with the horrible lighting down below, Zuko could still make out Liang's closed eyes and tiny smile.

Zuko, not even bothering with stealth anymore, returned to his former laying position. He closed his eyes attepmting to gain some much needed sleep.

"It helps tremendously. Knowing someone cares," Liang spoke. His words definitely reached Zuko's ears.

The next day, Zuko woke up to the light seeping through a crack in the ship. He rubbed his eyes and sat up.

"Good morning sunshine," Ahdou said in a playful tone. Zuko looked around to see the others had already left the lower deck. "If you're wondering about the others, they're out getting lunch, if that's what you can call the slop. Shall we?"

The remainder of the day was rather uneventful. Scattered throughout the day were magic acts to keep the tourists entertained during the seemingly long voyage. Zuko could care less. He found himself staring out at the vast lake in front of him. Wan and Huang existed in the darkness, hiding away in their own special world just for them. Such a world did not exist for the Fire Lord. His romance would always exist in the light, whether he wanted it or not. Mai, Zuko thought, I wonder what those priests back home are advising her to do right now.

For the past month, with the longer-than-expected political turmoil, many of the adviser/priests had forced upon Zuko the idea to quickly produce an heir. Zuko was infuriated every time the issue was brought up. He and Mai were not even married yet. True, he loved her, and she loved him back. True, they had sex. In fact the week after Ozai had been defeated it was sex, sex, sex every night. They performed intercourse several times between then and this point in time, but they had never conceived. And, more recently, now that his advisers were breathing down his neck to impregnate Mai, Zuko very rarely ever felt in the mood to make love. It sounded like a chore to him now. He did not need the stress of producing children on top of trying to create peace in a chaotic world.

Before Zuko knew it, night had come again. This time, Zuko had decided to eat the crappy dinner with the rest of his soldiers. They ate in silence. Zuko, deciding to be bold, said, "Two years, and it still tastes like badgermole snot."

This earned a forced chuckle from the group. Zuko decided to quit while he was ahead. He did not think that it was that funny either. All these years and he still could not tell a good joke.

Ahdou decided to break the renewed silence, "So... what are we supposed to do once we get into the city?"

Once again there was silence. Then all eyes turned to Zuko. Almost on cue, he pulled a folded piece of paper out of his robes. "We are to meet with one of the Earth King's agents at the old Refugee Processing Station. The agent will be dressed in yellow-green robes and will have a green headpiece in her hair. From there, we will be led to the Earth King's palace via wall trolley."

"Sounds simple enough," Ahdou commented. "You got any idea what the Earth King is gonna request from the Fire Nation?"

"No, he didn't specify. But it sounds desperate if he sent out a request for assistance." Zuko folded the paper back and placed it back in his robes.

"Stay on your guard," Liang advised in a commanding voice, "In a city as large and populated as Ba Sing Se, there is likely to be trouble afoot."

Zuko knew all to well. The Dai Li did excellent work in keeping their brainwashing operations a secret for as long as the organization existed. And now, without the Dai Li to keep their sense of "order," there could possibly be another organization underground pulling the strings of the city from the shadows.

"Liang, lighten up. You're depressing," spoke Ning.

Liang rose from his seated position, "Oh, depressing am I?" A heavy tension hung in the air as Liang's eyes pierced Ning's. He walked towards Ning, stopping right in front of the firebender, and knelt down until both men's eyes were on the same level. Zuko felt himself gulp. "Blo-lo-lo-lo-loop," Liang flickered his tongue.

This earned a roaring laugh amongst the group. Zuko wondered why he could not do this. Why he could not just seem to connect with these people who would lay down their lives for him?

After "dinner," they retired. They woke up the next day, and an excruciating amount of time later, complete with another painfully dull magic act, they arrived at Ba Sing Se. The "authentic refugee subway" brought them to the processing center. Once they stepped out of the subway car, they found the Earth King's agent there waiting for them. It was a woman, wearing the same outfit as described on the paper. She looked normal enough, except for her creepy, disturbing smile.

"Hello. My name is Joo Dee."


Please review? I guarantee you things are about to get a lot more interesting/twisted... least I think so?