Now we're changing moods just a little, but you'll see what I mean in just a moment. :P Anyways, I have a sweet surprise in store for you all next chapter, but I have no idea of how long it'll be. XD What I'm trying to say is that I literally just finished this chapter yesterday and haven't yet started work on my next chapter, so I'd like to ask you all to please be patient with me. Thanks in advance. :) Enjoy and review! :D
NOTE: The flashback in this chapter is straight from the leaked panels, and therefore is 100% canon.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. The show and its characters belong to Mike and Bryan, the brillant geniuses behind one of the greatest cartoon shows in the history of cartoons. Their work is legendary, and I salute them for it. I also do not own "The Promise" story, which is written by Gene Yang, and is also the property of Mike and Bryan. I am simply help to spread the news of the upcoming story and do not take any responsibilty for the development of the story itself; I am only going off of what is known thus far.
The Pressures of Royalty
"Are you almost finished yet?" impatiently asked Zuko as he glared in the mirror, standing as still as possible while he was being attended to. The tri-fold mirror reflected every aspect of the frontal side of the Fire Lord, allowing for one to expertly scrutinize him under the reflective images. He had been standing there for almost two hours already, and his patience was skirting on the edge of a thin knife blade.
"Almost, my Lord," assured Caifeng, the tailor of the Royal Family. Caifeng was a middle-aged man with a stylish goatee and a thin mustache, his ash-colored hair pulled back into a fashionable top-not. His face was sharp and angular, the face of one who likes to nitpick and flesh out the tiniest of details. One could call him obsessive compulsive, but the tailor would merely dismiss such thoughts with the fact that he enjoyed being very much professional and accurate in his line of work. Looking over in the corner of the dressing room, he said, "Daozi, could you please bring me a brush? His Majesty's cape is littered with confounded dust and hair."
"Of course, sir," nodded Daozi, one of the many servants in the Royal Palace, though his job was to be the attendant of the Royal Tailor. Daozi was a sickly-looking man with a pale face and somewhat dull amber eyes with no facial hair due to his lowly position. Moving over to a small dresser, he opened up one of the drawers and took out a brush, lined with bristles as to pick up any debris from clothes.
Daozi brought the brush to Caifeng, who kindly thanked him and sent back over to the corner he was standing at. Caifeng meticulously took his time with the cape, not taking his brush off the fabric until he was completely satisfied. "There we are, my Lord," pleasantly said Caifeng as he stood back, folding his arms behind his back as he proudly looked at his handiwork. "What do you think, Sire?"
"Well, I think he looks quite handsome," commented Mai from Zuko's left side, letting an appreciative smile play at her lips as she approvingly stared at her boyfriend.
Zuko glanced over at her and smiled, glad for her company during this incredible boring segment of his day. But she was right; he did indeed look handsome. He had been getting fitted for his new Fire Lord outfit, one that would distinguish him from his forefathers.
The outfit itself retained many features of the original regal robe, including the blazoned, pointed shoulder pads, the upper segment of the robe, and the pointed shoes that the Fire Lord wore. However, what Caifeng had added was leggings and a medium-sized robe-like section around his waist, tight gauntlets around his forearms, and a flowing crimson cape that billowed around him like the wings of a dragon.
Zuko took the time to admire himself in the mirrors, taking in all that he had become through the transformation of his office attire. "So this new outfit will still allow me to Firebend?" he asked as he turned to his right, watching as the cape swished around him.
"Absolutely, my Liege," beamed Caifeng. "The leggings I added will allow you the full use of your legs. After all, Firebenders must be able to use all parts of their body in combat, and it would certainly be a disgrace if our Fire Lord weren't allowed the same luxury."
"I really think you've outdone yourself this time," truthfully said Zuko as he turned towards Caifeng, sincerely smiling at the tailor. Caifeng had been a part of their family for years, and he did have an immense respect for the tailor, even if his meticulousness did get on his nerves sometimes. Caifeng was a kind-hearted man, one who was always happy to do his duty to the Royal Family.
Caifeng smiled so widely that Zuko was surprised that his head didn't peel like an Orange-Apple. "Thank you, my Lord," he gratefully said with a small bow. Standing back up, he added, "Someone such as yourself deserves only the best, and I thought this new outfit would help to give you…an air of command, if you will."
"Well, you've certainly accomplished that," chuckled Zuko, making Caifeng's face beam even brighter than the noontime sun. Quirking his good eyebrow, he asked, "Have you finished up the clothes for my friends? I want to be able to give them their new outfits whenever they arrive from the Southern Water Tribe in a few weeks."
"You needn't worry, my Lord," said Caifeng with a triumphant smile. "I've already finished work on the clothes for the Avatar and his Water Tribe companions. Those scrolls from the library on Air Nomad clothing certainly aided me in designing the Avatar's outfit." Zuko nodded, knowing full well of the countless manuscripts that had been kept from the time of Fire Lord Sozin regarding the Air Nomads. Caifeng disbelievingly shook his head and chuckled as he said, "Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine myself designing an outfit for the Avatar, and yet here I am, having done so."
"You're a good man, Caifeng," began Zuko, "and that's why-" The Fire Lord stopped himself as he saw Daozi burst to life from the corner of the room, bashing his way past the tailor and pulling a knife out of his robes, an insane and hungry look in his amber eyes.
"Down with the traitor!" declared Daozi as he raised the knife, now only mere feet away from doing in the Fire Lord. Zuko's eyes widened, knowing that the servant was too close for him to react. Suddenly, Daozi's entire being was jerked to the side, the sound of steel slicing through the air and impaling itself on wood and fabric. Daozi hit the wall, his arms pinned by several small daggers, cursing and struggling as he tried to get free.
Zuko snapped his head towards Mai, whose arms were extended after having thrown her deadly instruments, her blazing amber eyes full of deadly cold intent. "No one touches my Zuko," she hissed at the would-be assassin, standing back up straight, her spine as tense as a drawn bowstring.
Zuko looked back towards Daozi at the same time Caifeng did, who was staring in shock and astonishment from the floor. "What in the name of Agni…" he breathlessly said as he stood up, gaping at his assistant. He quickly turned towards the door and began to shout "Guards!" just before the door was suddenly thrown open. Four Firebender guards swarmed in, quickly identifying the threat and surrounding Daozi.
"Are you alright, my Lord?" asked one of the guards, whose emblazoned helmet identified him as the Captain, his hands held up in a fighting posture towards Daozi.
"Yeah," dryly gulped Zuko, his heart racing faster than a rogue wind. He could have been dead just now, slain before he could help bring peace to the world. Staring at Daozi, he asked, "Why did you try to kill me?" Daozi kept silent, staring indignantly at the shocked Fire Lord. When Daozi didn't answer for several moments, a furious flame sprang to life in Zuko, and he angrily bellowed, "Explain yourself!"
"I would not allow you to uproot my family," growled Daozi, his dark amber eyes full of contempt and scorn. "Your Harmony Restoration Movement with the Avatar would have removed the Shunzo colony from the Earth Kingdom. My entire family lives there, hoping to make a decent living for themselves in a new land, and you decide to destroy that dream!"
"Enough!" commanded the Captain, having heard enough. "Your crime is clear: you are hereby charged with the attempted assassination of Fire Lord Zuko."
"Bah!" spat Daozi as two guards advanced on him, brandishing metal cuffs. As the guards took him into custody, he said to Zuko, "There will be others, your Majesty" - tracing those two words with an unholy coating of venom – "others who will succeed where I have failed!" As the guards took him away, he definitely shouted, "You will fall one day, Fire Lord, and our nation will rejoice when that day comes!"
"Take him to the prison tower," ordered the Captain, dropping his stance as he watched his men drag Daozi off. Once Daozi was gone, his threatening cries still echoing down the hallway, the Captain motioned for the last remaining guard to follow them. Once that guard left, the Captain turned towards Zuko and said, "Do you want us to execute him in the morning for his crime, my Lord?"
"No," quickly protested Zuko as he raised a hand, using the other to lean against the mirror frame as he felt his skin go pale with fear, his amber eyes still wide with shock. He could just imagine the knife sticking out of his chest, draining all the life out of him and leaving him as a hollow corpse. As he dropped his hand, he swallowed down some bile and slowly said, "I…I won't have anyone's blood on my hands. I'm not my father…"
"As you wish, my Lord," obediently said the Captain, bowing in the traditional Fire Nation fashion before exiting the room. Shortly after he left, four more Firebender guards came into the room, having heard the commotion from further down the hall, and all of them took defensive positions around the Fire Lord.
"Are you okay, Zuko?" concernedly asked Mai, placing her slim hands on his trembling shoulders. Caifeng was still trying to recover from the ordeal, his shaky hand on top of his blustered head to try and keep it from flying off and exploding on the ceiling.
"I'm not my father…" murmured Zuko to himself, gazing down at the crimson floor with unmoving eyes. He kept repeating this one phrase to himself, over and over again, as if to convince himself that it wasn't true. "I'm not my father…I'm not my father…I'm not my father…"
"Where. Is. My. Mother?"
Despite his affinity as a Firebender, his words were laced with a frigid edge of intensity, chilling the air with icy deadliness that he had witnessed with Katara shortly after he joined Team Avatar at the Western Air Temple. He wanted answers from this disheveled man who was now trapped behind the impenetrable bars of his own prison tower, the low crimson lighting darkening his pale skin with malice.
Slumping against the damp wall, Ozai merely smiled in the low light, as if he were amused with his son's attempt to sound threatening. "You ought to bring me some tea, Zuko," he said with a playful banter, his voice echoing in the darkness of the prison. "We'll talk while sipping from steaming little cups, much like you did with my traitorous brother." His charismatic voice became venomous at the mention of his sibling, not even attempting to seal his contempt behind a mask of feigned regality. Tilting his head up towards his son, he casually said, "Perhaps even the subject of your mother will come up."
He narrowed his sharp eyes at his father, feeling utter and total frustration take hold of him. "I don't need this," he declared, turning his back on the cell and making his way towards the open door, where the guards awaited him.
"Do you think being the Fire Lord is easy?" bellowed Ozai from behind him, his voice roaring like the conflagrating flames of Sozin's Comet. With quickness and intensity in his voice, Ozai said, "The throne comes with many pressures, and those pressures will change you! But if you can stand the heat, you'll become something more." He continued to ignore his father, knowing that he would get nothing out of this man for the time being. "Of all the people in the world, I have the wisdom you need, the wisdom of experience!
"Be honest with yourself, Zuko…" said Ozai as he slightly lowered his tone, giving it an air of command and power that was strong enough to make him halt at the open door. "Do you really believe you can handle it all on your own?" He was silent for several moments, considering Ozai's words. His father was right; the throne was not an easy thing to ascend to. Many a Fire Lord had been broken by the pressures of the throne; but for those who preserved and conquered those challenges, they became the greatest men of their age.
But to ask his own father for help, the one man who had nearly destroyed the entire Earth Kingdom with the power of an ancient Comet…that was too far. No, he would not become like his father. He couldn't afford to become another Ozai, another monster that the Avatar would have to stop before it engulfed the world in another war.
As he slipped through the door, he heard Ozai certainly say, "You'll be back, and I'll be here waiting for you…son." The iron door slammed shut behind them, the booming sound bouncing rapidly in his ears as he walked away. The way his father had acknowledged him as a son rather than as a failure, it…it just seemed too good to be true. Would his father offer help if he but asked for it?
No, he told himself. I won't become like my father. I'd rather die than have that happen; I'm not my father…
"Zuko?" Mai's worried voice snapped Zuko back to reality, her lithe fingers gently cupping his taut face, which was now dripping with nervous sweat. "Say something, Zuko," she pleaded as he looked over at her with wide eyes, seeing concern and worry brilliantly raging in her normally dull eyes. While Mai was not one for emotions, she wasn't completely heartless; she did indeed have a heart, but it could only be seen by those closest to her, and Zuko was the closest person she had ever known.
Forcing himself to smile a little to ease her concern, he lightly said, "You…you look really cute when you're worried." She gave him a slightly annoyed look as her pale cheeks flushed a little, making him give off a hollow chuckle.
"Scares me half to death, and he tries to be a sap," she irritably muttered under her breath, just loud enough for her and Zuko to hear. Heaving a heavy sigh, Mai looked over at Caifeng and said, "He's fine." Seeing Caifeng's shoulders sag with utter relief, she added, "Inform all the other royals, dignitaries, generals, and so on that His Majesty will be unable to attend any more meetings today due to nearly getting skewered by an assassin."
"You don't wish to keep this event a secret, Lady Mai?" asked one of the guards as he looked over his shoulder, his skull plate of his helmet becoming just visible in Zuko's line of sight, making him shudder a little.
Mai gave the guard a sour look and sardonically asked, "How can we keep an assassination a secret when everyone in the Palace is going to see your other guard friends dragging Daozi down the hall, twisting and screaming like a maniac about how there'll be other attempts on the Fire Lord's life?"
The guard considered Mai's point, giving a silent nod of recognition as he returned his attention to his duties as Caifeng said, "Yes, Lady Mai. I'll ensure that no bothers you and the Fire Lord until things cool down a bit." He walked out of the room, muttering, "Never in all of my days did I imagine…" His voice trailed off as he exited the room, his footsteps echoing down the hall.
"This way, my Lord," beckoned the guard that Mai had questioned. "We'll get you and Lady Mai safely back to your quarters." Zuko immediately felt Mai slip her arms into his, making his cheeks flush a little but doing nothing to keep a small smile from taking hold of his face.
"I couldn't imagine going anywhere without my personal bodyguard," said Zuko, casting a glance towards Mai to indicate that he was talking about her.
The knife-thrower rolled her eyes, thinking to herself that he had picked up some of his cheesiness from the Avatar. "And now His Majesty might be a bit delirious because of this assassination attempt," she dryly said, pulling Zuko along as he chuckled and as the guards advanced in front of them, forming a tight circle around the Fire Lord and his girlfriend as they walked down the lengthy corridor.
As they walked, Zuko could still his father's words echoing in his head, a ghost-like whisper that refused to dissipate no matter how many times he tried to banish it from his being:
Do you think being the Fire Lord is easy? The throne comes with many pressures, and those pressures will change you!
Trying to survive assassination attempts would certainly be a challenge to the young Fire Lord; to be constantly looking over his shoulder to make sure that no one was trying plunge a dagger into his back, to make sure some Firebender doesn't try to burn him to a crisp, it was enough to drive anyone utterly mad.
However, there was one thing that his father had said that still bothered him, and he had a feeling that this one phrase would continue to haunt him for a long time.
But if you can stand the heat, you'll become something more.
The question that Zuko kept asking himself was what he would become if he could handle the pressures of the throne.
What would happen to him?
What would happen to Mai?
What would happen to the Fire Nation?
What would happen to the world?
What would happen to his friends?
So many questions, the troubled, scarred Fire Lord thought to himself, and yet I have no answers to any of them.
Refusing to die, the sly, cunning voice of his father coldly said, You'll be back, and I'll be here waiting for you…son.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Remember my advice, my loyal readers:
BUY THE BOOK, AND SUPPORT THE WORK OF THE PEOPLE WHO STRIVE SO HARD TO BRING THIS INCREDIBLE STORY TO US.
