Hi guys, thanks so much for sticking with me!
I hope you'll enjoy the next chapter!
TWs for violence and reference to torture. I think that's about it. Please let me know if you want me to tag for anything else.
"Sit down."
It was an order, not a suggestion, but the tone was surprisingly mild. Zuko's head shot up at the unexpected civility. Hakoda was wearing a painfully diplomatic smile, but his eyes were like ice. He gestured with a quick sweep of his hand towards to the back of the tent, where a selection of cushions and furs were arranged in a small group. There was a gap between them, perfect for a map to be rolled out and poured over, although any maps, or other indicators of strategy, had been swept away long before the enemy prisoners were brought before the chief. Zuko throat tightened at the realisation that he was in the war room. He shrank further into himself and hastily moved to sit. Yung spat on the floor, and stormed over to pour himself something strong smelling from a pitcher on the sideboard. The pungent scent of alcohol bit through the room, and Zuko flinched. Hurrying over to the seating area, he settled to his knees on a soft fur, and tried to swallow down his panic.
Hakoda's eyebrow twitched, as if it wanted to shoot up towards his hairline, but he was too much of a diplomat to allow such an obvious reaction. Zuko noted the man's professionalism, but his stomach still felt like he'd swallowed lead. This was not the welcome that he had been expecting, and he knew it was only a matter of time before the veneer of civility disappeared, and the true colours of the Chief came out. He watched out of the corner of his good eye as Shao surreptitiously slipped out of the tent, leaving him alone with the Chief and Yung. The bastard was already a spy, perhaps he was a coward, too.
"I feel like I should offer you a drink, Your Highness," Hakoda's voice was calm and level, but it cut through Zuko like a blade, "apparently we're entertaining royalty." Zuko focused his eyes on the floor, and tried to ignore the slightly sarcastic undercurrent to the words. Did the Chief not know that Zuko was no longer a prince, that he'd been tried, convicted and banished as a traitor in full view of half the nobility of the Fire Nation?
"A fucking drink, Hakoda?" Yung snarled from the corner, starling Zuko from his thoughts. "He's the Fire Lord's spawn, and you're treating him like some honoured fucking guest!" He took a large swig from his goblet, and strode over to the furs. He threw himself down next to Zuko and leant in close, smiling a little as Zuko flinched. "What's that, brat? Are you scared of me?" His mouth was close to Zuko's bad ear, so the words came through clearly enough that Zuko could hear the threat barely contained within them. He flinched.
"Yung."
"No, Hakoda. You don't get to claim him. One of my men brought him in. He's ours." Yung's attention left Zuko as he turned to face Hakoda. Zuko took a shallow breath, and managed not to slump with relief as the attention moved away from him. He'd learnt how to hide his happiness and his relief at a very young age. He had never been comfortable being the centre of attention, and his father had not liked that his son and heir visibly relaxed whenever he was ushered from his father's presence. It didn't look very well before the rest of the Court, apparently.
"And it was our intelligence that led to his capture, Yung. I shouldn't have to remind you that this was a temporary partnership and that it was our plan that you dragged off course." Hakoda was still standing, but it wasn't that that made him tower over Yung in that moment. His voice was calm and steady, but as firm as iron, as he spoke again. "You will, of course, continue to have our support as allies against the Fire Nation, but do not make the mistake of thinking that, just because we needed your aid once, we will do so in future."
"So that's how you want to play this? He's the Fire Lord's son, Hakoda!" Yung slammed a hand firmly into the floor, and Zuko flinched a good foot backwards.
"According to your informant."
"Manik is an honest man," Yung declared loudly, "if he said this boy is the Prince, then he's the fucking Price."
Zuko had to repress a bitter smirk at the idea that a man who had lived for two months as Shao, the fire nation rebel, when he was apparently an Earth Kingdom soldier called Manik, was anything remotely approaching honest.
"Well, are you?" Hakoda addressed Zuko so suddenly that it took him a good half a minute to realise that he'd been spoken to. He'd been enjoying the temporary reprieve from their focus, but apparently that was at an end. Zuko wondered how long it would be before the violence broke out.
"What?" Zuko's voice was low and hoarse when he finally gathered up the wherewithal to reply.
"Are you the Prince?" He sat down opposite Zuko, and regarded him shrewdly. "You see, I've been fighting this war for a long time, and I remember the day that I heard the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation had died. Word was he'd gone up against his father, made a play for the throne, and lost the fight. Just another crazy Fire Nation royal, desperate for power and too stupid to wait until his dad had burnt himself out trying to conquer the known world." Hakoda was watching Zuko steadily, a hint of challenge in his blue eyes.
Zuko took measured, shallow breaths as he tried to stay calm. He knew that the true story would have been mangled beyond all truth before it even left the walls of the Fire Nation palace, let alone the borders of the kingdom. Rumour was like a plague, it spread faster than any man could hope to control, and it hit the poor and the rich without prejudice. It didn't sting, Zuko told himself sternly, that people thought he'd died. It didn't burn that they thought it was his own fault.
"But if you are the Prince," Hakoda continued, as he studied Zuko closely, "it makes me wonder. If you had really turned traitor, why weren't you killed? Why would a loose end like you be allowed? The Fire Lord's insane, but he is a sharp strategist." Hakoda leant forward, and caught Zuko's chin in a vice-like grip. "I want to know why the Crown Prince wound up in a spirits-forsaken place like that mine, when the rest of the thought he was dead."
Yung's intake of breath was sharp and sudden, as if a sudden realisation had sidled up beside him and chucked a bucket of icy water over his head. Hakoda let go of Zuko's chin, and Zuko curled into himself; he didn't think that that could mean anything good for him.
"You think he was a plant?" Yung asked, cautiously. "You think the Fire Nation left him there for us to find? You think that whole death story was a cover up?"
Zuko almost snorted at the ludicrousness of the suggestion. Did they honestly think that his father would allow his son, the heir to the throne, to waste away in a prison camp on the off-chance that he might one day stumble upon a questionably useful source of information? Okay, admittedly, that would be something his father might do to a common citizen, but certainly not to his son and heir.
Hakoda shook his head, eyeing Zuko as if he were a riddle to be solved. "I don't know what I think, but I know that something here is not right."
"Then what are you saying?" Yung was already frustrated and growing worse as time ticked on without any clear answers.
"I'm saying that I'd be very interested to hear what this boy has to say for himself."
There was a long pause, before Yung reached over and grabbed Zuko's shoulder. He shook him hard enough that his teeth clacked together. "Well, are you going to answer the chief, boy?"
Zuko froze, and then nodded his head minutely. His eyes were entirely focused on the tight grip on his shoulder, and his mind replaying the screams that had been torn out of the guard from the prison camp. Zuko didn't want to be hurt, but he knew he'd have very little choice in the matter. He never did. He'd play along with their interrogation, even if it would only be a matter of time before things got bloody.
Hakoda reached over and grabbed Zuko's chin again, forcing his eyes away from the hand on his shoulder.
"What were you doing in that camp?" he asked calmly, as Yung's grip tightened.
"Digging for coal," Zuko replied, honestly. If his response was a little sarcastic, it was because he couldn't help himself. Hakoda released his chin, and sat back with a tut.
"Funny," Yung replied, and then backhanded him, hard, across his unscarred cheek. Zuko tumbled with the blow and fell to his side, both his ears ringing.
There was a good yard or so of chain dangling between his manacles, long enough to allow the prisoners to swing a pickaxe, but just short enough (and cumbersome enough) to hinder any attempts of escape. It had been pressed against Zuko's chest all day, with his hands held in stone cuffs behind his back, but it had been hanging loose ever since the earthbenders had released the Fire Nation prisoners and marched them to the main tent. It was also what Yung grabbed hold of, as he stood, dragging Zuko to his feet alongside him. He wrapped the chain a couple of times around his fist, pulling it tight, until he and Zuko were almost nose to nose. "Now we can do this one of two ways, boy," he growled, and Zuko did his best not to flinch. "We do this the Chief's way; we sit down and have a nice little civilised chat. I might only need to hit you a few times, to keep you honest, you know." Yung smiled widely, and yanked on the chains once, firmly, pulling Zuko into a hunched half-bow, as he leant over to speak in his ear. "We do this my way? Well, I think we both know what that means." He released the chain and stepped back; the sudden loss of tension sent Zuko sprawling forwards onto his hands and knees. "So, what's it going to be?"
Zuko glanced up at Hakoda, but the other man's face was hard as rock, his lips pressed into a thin line of displeasure. The chief didn't like it, but he'd let it happen. Zuko forced himself to sit back down, and bowed his head as he took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself down.
"Well, I asked you a question," Yung pointed out, and Zuko made himself take another steadying breath. "What's it going to be?"
"The Chief's," Zuko answered quietly, since Yung seemed to be expecting some kind of answer. He wasn't sure if his choice would actually be taken into account, but he wasn't going to chance Yung taking his silence as another excuse for violence.
"Then answer the question," Hakoda cut in. "What were you doing in that camp?"
Zuko took a quick moment to gather himself, and then answered quietly, "I was banished." That was common enough knowledge in the Fire Nation; he didn't feel like he was giving away too much of himself, if he said that.
"So you are the Prince?" Hakoda's voice was completely emotionless; there was no way for Zuko to read him. He didn't know what the safest reply would be. If he said yes, there was a chance they'd just kill him outright, it wasn't like he was much use as a political hostage. If he said no, he'd be a useless prisoner, another mouth to feed, and too expensive to keep alive. In the end, he decided that it didn't really matter, whatever he said, they'd be able to figure out the truth easily enough; Zuko had always been a terrible liar. A strange calm washed over him, at that realisation, and he only barely quashed the sudden desire to laugh.
"I used to be," he replied quietly, making sure to meet Hakoda's eyes.
If he'd been expecting some kind of dramatic reaction, he would have been disappointed. Hakoda merely peered at him, thoughtfully, before nodding in acceptance. He sat back to study Zuko from across the cushions.
"You're working for the Fire Nation." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. Zuko scoffed, and answered anyway.
"Only until recently," he said, eyes still locked with Hakoda's. He licked his lips; they felt incredibly dry. Some dull part of his mind registered that he hadn't had any water all day.
"You were their spy?" Hakoda asked quietly. "But something changed?"
"I was digging their coal-" Zuko snorted in derision "-and then you set it on fire."
He expected the slap that came from Yung, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. He sat back up from where he'd fallen, and met Hakoda's eyes again as he waited for the chief's next question.
"You seem fixated on coal."
"I was mining it for three years; it's hard not to be."
Yung slapped him again, but this time Zuko stayed down.
"Are you done being funny, boy? Tell us the truth!" Yung snarled at him. "Or do I have to start getting creative?" Zuko nodded tightly, staring at the floor as he breathed through the pain and slight dizziness. There was nothing funny about this, at all.
"I am telling the truth," he bit out through gritted teeth, as he forced himself to look up. "My father branded me a traitor and then banished me. I've been in that camp for three fucking years. So no, I don't know anything about the war, or what the Fire Lord is up to, but I can tell you a whole fucking lot about coal."
"You little shit," Yung hissed. He raised his hand to hit Zuko once more, this time his fist closed tightly. Zuko flinched and braced himself for the impact, but Hakoda spoke up before Yung threw the punch.
"Don't."
"What?" Yung asked incredulously. "You believe this bullshit."
"Why banish you?" Hakoda asked, completely ignoring Yung. "Why not just kill you?"
Zuko sighed, suddenly feeling very tired. He let his mind flit through a few possible responses, but decided, in the end, to just go with the truth. He was too tired and his head as swimming too much to come up with anything creative. He also highly doubted he'd leave the tent alive, so it would be nice if at least two people outside of the Fire Nation knew the truth.
"It was an Agni Kai," Zuko finally admitted, his voice low and hoarse, "an honour duel. With fire." He glanced at the two men, to see that they understood. "I… well I wasn't expecting it to be him. I hadn't…well." He paused, his heart pounding. He'd told this story to a few prisoners before, those curious enough to ask and intelligent enough to believe him. He hadn't expected that it would be so hard to talk about it to these men. Taking a deep breath, he began again. "I lost. Badly. I didn't even fight." Zuko took another deep breath against the thumping in his chest. "He..." He couldn't get the words out; it had been three years and Zuko still found it all but impossible to confess that his father had tried to kill him. He coughed and shook himself. "Didn't die though. Means Agni intervened."
"The Sun spirit?" Hakoda's voice sounded more than a little incredulous.
Zuko nodded tightly. "Duel's in his name, his honour. You lose but you survive, it's because he wanted you to." He huffed out a laugh, and met Hakoda's sceptical gaze. "My father couldn't kill me after that, the people would riot. Interfering with Agni's mercy is probably the only thing left that could make the Fire Nation revolt. But it's perfectly reasonable, perfectly honourable, to banish a traitor." Zuko knew that he sounded bitter, but he didn't care. It hadn't taken him long in the camp to realise that his father's ruling was really just a very slow death sentence. Zuko wasn't supposed to have survived the camp; that he'd done so for so long was really down to spite and the primordial instinct to fight for life.
"Then why tell the world you died?"
Zuko shrugged. "Wishful thinking?"
Yung scoffed. "I can't believe you believe this crap, Hakoda."
"I think it's an incredibly convenient little story." Zuko's heart fell at the cynicism in Hakoda's voice. He'd been telling the truth! Why didn't they believe him?
"It's the truth!" he bit out, meeting Hakoda's eyes squarely. The chief just shook his head, his expression grim and heavy as lead.
Yung drew his fist back, once again, and Zuko flinched. This time, Hakoda let the punch land.
After a few more hours of pointless questions, none of which Zuko could provide satisfactory answers to, they finally decided to leave him alone. He had a bloody nose and what might have been broken ribs, by the time that they finished with him. He was honestly surprised that he left the tent alive, particularly as Yung had been getting increasingly irate with his responses. It wasn't that Zuko had been being obdurate; it was just that they didn't like what he had to say. Hakoda might have accepted that he was the Prince, but that only served to make him more confused. To him, Zuko had to be working for his father; there was no way that the Fire Lord would have let a traitor live. It was almost funny; they were so wrapped up in this picture of the Fire Lord as a tyrannical despot that they thought there were no lines he wouldn't cross. Zuko knew better. His father had never been stupid, even if he was a sadistic prick. Still, that particular line of questioning had gone on for far too long for Zuko to find their incomprehension amusing.
As soon as Hakoda decided to call it a night, a couple of burly men in blue water tribe outfits rushed in to drag Zuko's limp form out of the main tent. They marched him a few yards, and then deposited him in a significantly smaller one, directly in front of the campfire. There was a dark blanket laid out on one side of the room, with a bowl of some kind of soup and a clay cup filled with water lying on top. One of the men followed behind him in to the tent, and Zuko stiffened, but the man only moved past him to sit on the other side of the room. It took a good few minutes of Zuko peering at him from the corner of his good eye, before he finally allowed himself to relax a little. The guard simply sat there, watching him back, his hand on his dagger and his eyes watchful. Tentatively, Zuko lowered himself onto the blanket and, after a nod from his new guard, set about eating the food.
His manners were as revolting as they had been back in camp, the night before- which now seemed so long ago to Zuko- but he was ravenous, so he didn't care too much. He gulped down half the bowl in a matter of seconds, glad to have something in his aching stomach, but he took his time with the rest. The soup was lukewarm and salty, peppered with some kind of aromatic spice. Zuko couldn't place it, but his taste buds had probably shrivelled and atrophied from years of burnt rice and jook. The guard watched him closely, an odd expression in his eyes, as Zuko slowly sipped at the rest of his meal, and then, once done, settled down on the blanket. It was disconcerting, to say the least, but Zuko knew there was nothing he could do about it. If he was going to be killed, he suspected Hakoda or Yung would have done it back in the tent. For some reason, they still wanted him alive; the guard was there to watch him, not execute him. Still, it was difficult not to focus on the sharp blade in the tight grasp of his captor, only a few feet away from him. Eventually, of course, pain and exhaustion won out, as the adrenaline that had been pumping through his body all day finally ran out. Zuko's eyes drifted close one final time, before he collapsed into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Chapter five is all but written, so I'll try and have that up by the end of the day.
I'm sorry Hakoda is being a bit ruthless at the moment, he will chill out, I just really don't see him casually accpeting that the Fire Lord's son is not on his dad's side- not without Sokka there to vouch for him and a prison escape, that is. So he's just very skeptical right now. Also, I don't want Yung to be the big bad, but he is pretty ruthless in canon, he's totally up for killing people until Aang shows up, I think he'd be the kind of man to do some nasty things, if he thinks it's necessary to win the war.
As always, please let me know your thoughts!
