Yeah edits! Silent Jee, edited (for the most part) and back in action!
I do not own any other the avatar original characters, all fan characters are mine
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Chapter 2: True Colors
Jee's grip tightened on Zuko. 'This man is insane!' Zuko's mind kept shouting. He wanted to fight free, but Jee's eye, it was almost hypnotizing. 'What's going on?' He thought. Zuko blinked rapidly, and broke Jee's grip. Jee stepped back, the red of his eye now hidden by his eyelid. "What do you say, boy?" He asked. 'What is going on?' Was all Zuko could ask himself. Zuko felt his heart race. This man had killed two others, and after weeks of being mute, he wanted to help Zuko. This didn't make sense, but Zuko's mind wandered back to his uncle. He had hurt him, and Iroh was probably worried about him. "What's your price?" He finally asked.
Like his eyes, Jee's smile shine through the darkness of the prison, "I'm not going to kill you, boy, if that's what you think. What would be the point?"
This was true. "So what is it?"
Jee laughed. Zuko's heart began to beat faster. His laugh was evil; it was dark and maniacal. "All I want is payment. I don't ask for lives or deals. All I'm asking for is some money. By some, I mean, a lot."
Zuko sighed. His heart slowed down a little, but he was still curious of how much.
"500 gold pieces should get me on my way, how does that sound?"
'500 gold pieces!' Zuko thought. As for money, Zuko only had 50 gold pieces at most. "I don't have that much." He confessed to Jee. He looked down at the floor. This may have been his only way out.
"Uh-huh." Jee said. He stared at Zuko, then asked, "What's your name, boy?"
Zuko looked back up at him. "Zuko," He told him.
"Zuko, eh? Well how much do ye have?"
"Not much. Only about 50 gold pieces, and my uncle holds most of that."
"Really?"
Zuko nodded.
"All right. Let's go."
Zuko watched the man in curiosity. 'Let's go? What does that mean?' He asked himself.
"Well, come on!" Jee called from him cell. He was standing on his bench, ready to crawl out of his no longer barred window. 'How?' He thought. Jee threw another rock at him. "Through the bottom, Let's go!"
Zuko realized the set of missing bars from his cell. He crawled under the cell wall, and followed Jee out the window. They made their way over rocks and into the woods behind the prison. They ran for an hour. Jee was surprisingly fast. He ran a good five feet ahead of Zuko the whole time. They stopped at a small brook that ran through the woods when the sun began to break through the trees. They caught their breath, and Zuko looked over to Jee. "Why did you do that?" He asked.
Jee laughed, "Do you really think I was going to get hanged? You don't know me very well." He got up and fixed his hat. This was the first time Zuko had really seen Jee. All the other times it was dark, or he was in the corner of his cell. Zuko looked up to get a good look of Jee. Jee wore an old, worn black three-pointed hat and a long coat that reached down to a pair of boots, booth in the same condition as his hat. Though he was covered in old clothes his face was as young as his voice. His skin was a dark ivory color, and of the hair he could see, it was a light brown. He reached his hand down to Zuko, and helped him to his feet. Zuko dusted off while Jee washed his face in the brook. Zuko looked at him, and asked the same question he had asked nights before, "So what's your name?"
Jee looked up at him, and stood up to be closer to eye level. He held out his hand and responded, "Pay up."
"Pay up? Now? I just asked your name!"
"I don't share my name to traitors. I'll tell you my name, once I know you are dedicated. Pay up the money you have. When you are back with your uncle, he can pay me the rest."
Zuko took out 10 gold pieces, and handed them to Jee. He took the money, put it in his pocket and said, "The name's Toshiro, Captain Toshiro. Now come on. We'll need to get going before the guards realize we're gone."
Zuko stood in one spot. The night before, Zuko had the right to be scared of "Jee." Captain Toshiro: the most feared pirate of the four nations. He had the biggest bounty on his head than anyone in decades. He had become the deadliest pirate in only four years. The captain of The Black Swan, Toshiro had never actually been seen, or at least seen by survivors. Everyone who laid eyes on the captain never lived to tell.
"Zuko?" Toshiro waved his hand in the boy's face. Zuko shook his head, and his heart began to beat faster now than ever. "Ca-Captain Toshiro? It can't be." He told him.
"Why not? The stories of me never told what I looked like, and they state I've never been caught. I wasn't caught before; I was just 'delayed' for the time being." Toshiro started walking into the woods, then turned, and yelled at Zuko to move. Zuko, now scared even more of his current companion, didn't hesitate to move when commanded. The two walked through the woods; it was nightfall when they arrived back in town. Zuko walked up to the inn. Toshiro followed, and they went inside. Once inside, Zuko spotted the inn owner with her son. He walked over to join them, leaving Toshiro by the bar, and sat down to question the reunited family about his uncle's whereabouts.
Toshiro made himself at the bar, asking the bartender for some rum. The bartender gave him a bottle accompanied by a shot glass. He sat at the end near the door, drinking from the bottle, he didn't ask for the shot glass, only the rum. Zuko sat next to him, his hand over his eyes as he leaned over the bar. Toshiro stared as he finished his chug, then asked the boy what his troubles were. Zuko explained that when Kyo returned home, he did tell Iroh where Zuko was, but Iroh left to find him.
Toshiro laughed.
"I fail to see the humor in this," Zuko told him.
"That may be so," Toshiro said, "But I find it funny. You two are a lot alike, trying and failing to be a hero."
Zuko looked up to the pirate, and sighed. He looked back down at the table. 'I disobeyed Uncle, now I don't know where he is,' Zuko thought.
"Well, let's go," Toshiro said slamming his empty bottle on the bar. He walked out the door, leaving Zuko behind. Zuko stared out; the person that had helped him was now gone, and now he had to find Iroh on his own. "Well, come on!"
Zuko looked up to see a very annoyed Captain staring at him from the door. "Wha…"
"Get moving. Your uncle's going to get lost trying to find you now." Toshiro moved away, again, this time followed slowly by a confused teenage boy. "Why are you still helping me?"
"Why? Because the deal isn't over, there for, you still owe me money. That's why."
Zuko followed after his mysterious comrade, and they went back into the woods. They made their way back to the prison to look for Iroh.
"Sorry, Zuko, no one new has come in all day," one of the prisoners told him. Zuko climbed down from a pile of rocks to rejoin Toshiro. Toshiro was leaning against a tree at the bottom, playing with his hat. "He isn't there," Zuko told him. Toshiro stopped with his hat long enough to see Zuko sigh in defeat. "Where did he go?" He asked himself.
Toshiro looked behind them and his eyes widened. He pushed himself off the tree and said, "Well, that's too bad. Now if we should be moving on…" He grabbed Zuko's hand and began to walk off.
"Wait," Zuko stopped him, pulling back his hand, "We still need to find him."
"And we will, just somewhere else, now, come on…"
"Stop right there, Jee!"
Toshiro closed his eyes. Zuko and he both knew that voice; it was one of the guards. "Thought you could escape, did you?" another guard added on.
Toshiro turned around on his heel, and pointed at the guards as he said, "Actually, I didn't think, I did. For your proof, here I am outside the walls."
"Don't get snippy with us, Jee."
"I'm not 'snippy.' I'm merely stating that which is obviously true. That shouldn't be a problem."
"Jee! Zuko, you're a good kid, you'll come back, right?"
Toshiro stood in front of Zuko, "I don't think that's a good idea. You see, Zuko here, he isn't feeling very well. He may just get everyone sick, and you don't want that, now do you?"
One of the guards pushed Toshiro to the side, and grabbed Zuko. Zuko tried to pull his arms away, but the guards began to pick him up. Toshiro's eyes widened as the guards then came for him. He opened his coat, revealing a rusty sword hanging on his belt. He grabbed it and as he pulled it out, slit the throat of a guard whose hand was on Toshiro's hat. "You can fight me, but no one touches the hat!" He threw the sword from one hand to the other as he slit throats and sides. The men holding Zuko dropped him on the ground, and went after their new sword-wielding foe. Zuko watched in amazement as Toshiro rotated the sword over his fingers.
In the end, Zuko was still on the rocky ground when Toshio put his sword back where it belonged: hanging in a sheath on his belt. Zuko stood up as Toshiro came closer to him. "How? How did you do that?"
Toshiro looked up at his baffled companion. "Do what?" He asked.
Zuko himself had trained himself in twin swords, but he had never actually killed anyone. "How-how can you kill so easily?" He asked.
Toshiro looked at the boy. He seemed to have mixed feelings. He was scared, confused, and somewhat relieved. He was staring at the bodies at the ground with a grim expression. Toshiro scratched his head, and explained, "Aww, they're not dead."
Zuko looked back at the captain. He was confused, more ashamed. It was as if he felt he didn't want to worry him. "I knocked them out. Except for the one that touched my hat! That one's dead."
Zuko looked at the bodies again. He was pulled away by Toshiro, and they headed back into the woods. "You knocked them out? How"
"Old trick I learned on the Swan. Clever little device it is. The areas I hit were on nerves. The cuts weren't deep, so they are more 'temporarily paralyzed' than anything."
Zuko saw his logic, and the two headed deeper and deeper into the woods. The sun began to set, but they didn't make camp. They continued on through the night. The "stars were leading them," as Toshiro said. He had told Zuko that their way of finding Iroh was directly under the North Star. Hours past, most of which were in silence. They occasionally spoke, but nothing of themselves. They seemed to speak only of what was around them, nothing of pasts or personalities.
Toshiro astonished Zuko, however. He was supposed to be the most bloodthirsty pirate to sail the world. The Black Swan was the darkest ship on the sea. Crewed by an evil crew that was said to have been raised from hell by Toshiro himself. Stories said the ship's black wood and red sails made it easily recognizable.
'Where are we going?' Zuko kept thinking to himself. Wherever they were going, Zuko was afraid. His question was finally answered when they came up to a large ship. "Here it is," Toshiro said happily. Zuko looked up to the ship. It was old and falling apart. The sails were obviously repaired multiple times, and the wood was showing many signs of aging. "What is it?"
Toshiro looked at him, taken back. "What do you mean, 'what is it?' This is the Black Swan," he said. He led Zuko on board. Zuko wasn't sure if he should be afraid from the stories of the crew, or relieved after seeing the ship's true colors. This question was also soon answered. The crew was evil; there was no doubt.
When he and Toshiro stepped on deck, Toshiro wasn't greeted, but let by, Zuko, however, was cornered. Men missing teeth, eyes, limbs all cornered him to the edge of the ship. Their clothes were torn, bloody; some men held knives, while others held rusty daggers. One man pulled a dagger out of his own arm to use it against the boy. Zuko began to brush up against the edge of the ship. 'Toshiro, you bastard,' he thought.
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