Chapter 10
A/N: Part ten of the series. I apologize for not updating sooner. Had some software problems but now everything's fixed. It's a small chapter but I'll try to fasten the pace and post more often. Thanks again to Rosey for proof reading this chapter.
Disclaimer: Avatar…, belongs to Nickelodeon
--
Strength
and Loyalty
The
impact almost broke Zuko's nose and sent him tumbling a couple feet
away. He had been trained before by countless masters and had learned
things merely by observing, but the man fighting against him now was
not holding back, like the others had.
The throbbing pain in his nose took his mind off the topic that mattered to him the most. Fire Lady Ursa, his mother, the only person in the world besides his uncle that had shown him affection, was alive. She wasn't very different from the image he had on his mind; the picture of his beautiful mother in his mind had not changed that much in the past years.
But he did not want to think about that. He just wasn't ready to even consider what had been happening for the past few years; and he was certainly feeling less guilty for betraying his uncle. After all, it was clear his uncle had known where his mother had been, and had not revealed anything about it.
"Stand up, Prince Zuko." Iroh said. "Your training is still far from over."
"I'm coming, Dragon of the West." Zuko bitterly replied, spitting a mouthful of blood aside, standing up. "As you said, we're still not done."
Zuko felt a rush of emotions twirling inside his heart. He was not focusing at all in the fight, and he only wanted to hurt his uncle. It was a horrible feeling, and he was experiencingthe all familiar confusion he'd felt for the past years. It seemed that every time he had sorted out his fate and things cleared out, something happened that brought him back to the starting point.
"Prince Zuko! Pay attention!" Iroh sternly said,
launching yet another brutal attack that showed Zuko why his uncle
had been the General of the entire Fire Nation Army. It seemed Iroh
had grown younger and more powerful; it was clear his uncle had
always held back in every battle.
Yet Zuko was angry, and he was
beginning to learn how to control that emotion to his advantage.
Avoiding the barrage of flames coming his way, Zuko focused more on
deflecting the attacks instead of returning them. He was
practicing; seeing if he could control his temper long enough to find
an opening. Iroh kept attacking him relentlessly; exactly the way
Zuko asked him to.
It
almost as if Zuko had challenged his uncle to an Agni Kai –such was
his anger- and the Prince was imagining he was fighting his true
enemy. It wouldn't do if he exerted his strength trying to match
power with power, even more when it was clearly obvious Iroh was much
more experienced and more adept at fire bending.
"What are you waiting for, Prince?" Iroh asked as he twirled around and two enormous waves of fire appeared from his legs. "Running around won't get you anywhere!"
Zuko did not reply nor tryto
dispel the fire with his own power. He was practicing his speed and
agility, not his power. But the task was proving to be extremely
difficult; his plan was clear in his mind, but his body was not
prepared.
The picture of Azula's
blue flames, and the incredible heat they exerted, were enough to
singe his skin off if he missed a beat.
'And that's without
counting those damned bolts of lightning.' He thought.
One tentacle of fire singed off a bit of his hair and Zuko's mind was brought back to the present. If he wasn't careful, Iroh was more than capable of killing him in the practice they were having. Zuko twisted in mid air and closely escaped the fire burning so close to his head. He wasn't afraid of being burned; he had long ago lost that fear, but his mind was not in avoiding getting injured. His mind was intent on increasing his reaction time and finding the opening he needed to end the fight with merely one incredible burst of power.
"Zuko! What is it you're doing?!" Iroh shouted. "You are fighting like an Air Nomad! Avoiding attacks instead of putting me on the defensive! Have I taught you nothing?"
'You taught me how to keep secrets.' Zuko thought. 'You taught me how to lie in the face of those you love. And you're teaching me how to survive in a fight against the best fire benders in the world.'
Iroh frowned when Zuko did not answer his taunts and only kept avoiding the attacks coming his way. That did not mean the Dragon of the West would stop his onslaught; he would merely increase the intensity of his attacks. If his nephew wanted to train in such a way, he would help him in every way he could.
From a safe distance, Fire Lady Ursa observed the former General Iroh try his best to destroy her son. She had been hurt incredibly when Zuko had refused to talk to her and had taken a step back when she tried to hug him.
She had also been horrified when she had seen the scar on Zuko's face. She had heard the tales, and had been told who had inflicted such a cruel punishment on her son, but she couldn't imagine how extensive the damage had been.
She cursed the dark haired bounty hunter when remembering the cruel nickname she had used when talking about the Prince.
'Scarface.' Ursa thought. 'Next time I see you, bounty hunter, you will never say those words again.'
Her eyes widened when she saw how close the flames were getting to her son; and much like Iroh, she did not understand why her son was not firing back. There was something different in the young man she was seeing, and it seemed her discomfort was slowly extending to Iroh.
"Prince Zuko." Iroh said, his voice considerably softer than before. "Is there a reason for this?"
Zuko did not reply; the former Prince kept jumping and avoiding every attack his uncle sent his way. In a second, Iroh turned his eyes to look at his companion, and found Ursa's eyes locked with his.
'Now.' Zuko thought, as he focused his power again, in the same way he did when creating lighting. But his intent was not to use something so dangerous against his only father figure; his intention was to concentrate all his power in a small and fast burst of power shot directly at a vital point in the enemy's body.
Aiming at his uncle's left shoulder, whilst twirling in middle air, was proving to be an almost impossible task, but he had only one shot. That slight distraction on his uncle's concentration was what he had been looking for since they began sparring.
Narrowing his eyes, Zuko released the power he had gathered in his right hand, hoping his aim was correct and wouldn't end murdering or gravely injuring his uncle.
The shot of fire was like a thin arrow, the heat giving it a bluish hue, similar to those created by Azula.
Iroh's attention was brought back to the moment, his eyes widening when he finally realized what the whole intention of the exercise was, and tried to move out of the way of the deadly fire arrow.
Iroh closed his eyes when the narrow shot of flame grazed his shoulder and the heat burned his right ear. Had the pain not shot so fast through his entire body, Iroh would have been impressed by the sheer power and the recklessness of Zuko's plan.
Fire Lady Ursa gasped, and quickly jumped from her position above the cliffwhere she had been standing, and skidded down to where Iroh had fallen.
"Zuko! What were you thinking?!" She admonished as she rushed to the side of the Dragon of the West. Zuko did not feel like answering; both from the anger he was still feeling and from the exhaustion of the intense amount of physical effort he'd just undergone.
"I'm alright, Ursa." Iroh said, as he slowly sat up, his shoulder slightly smoking.
"It's a deep burn." Ursa said. "That was very dangerous."
"He wasn't aiming to kill." Iroh replied. "At least I hope that was not his intention. Now I understand."
"You understand what?" Ursa asked.
"What he was doing." Iroh answered, looking at his injured shoulder and feeling his ear throb from pain. "He was using this as an exercise to tire me and find an opening. It's a dangerous plan, but it worked. Had I been another enemy, I'm certain Zuko would have pointed at the heart. No one could survive that."
"You're telling me my son is training to become a murderer?" Ursa said, turning her face to look at her son, sitting beneath the shade of a tree and breathing hard.
"He's training to have what it takes to incapacitate an enemy." Iroh sighed. "And if it comes to it, to kill him."
"That's not right." Ursa muttered, turning her gaze back to Iroh. "I did not raise my son to become a murderer."
"What you did that night," Iroh whispered, "defined Zuko as the heir to the Fire Nation Crown. We are in war, Ursa, what do you think Zuko would have done as Fire Lord?"
Ursa closed her eyes. She shook her head, and when she opened her eyes, serenity had returned to her face.
"I'll have my chance to talk to him." she said. "Now we have to get that injury in your shoulder healed."
"He really got me, didn't he?" Iroh asked, his voice a mixture of pride and enjoyment.
"Yes, he did." Ursa replied, her voice not as excited as Iroh's. "But he could have also killed you. I have to talk to him."
"Ursa." Iroh softly said. "He's still angry. You may want to give him a chance to…"
"I have not spoken to my son in years, Iroh." Ursa interrupted. "And I'm still his mother. I still have some say in what he does."
Fire Lady Ursa stood up, helped Iroh stand, and walked to where Zuko was still sitting. When she approached him, she noticed his heavy breathing, and the small burns in both his body and clothes.
"We need to talk, Zuko." She said, trying to keep her voice calm. "What you just did was very dangerous, both to you and to your uncle. You should have…"
"You want to talk?" Zuko said, as he stood up. "Talk to my uncle. You two seem to be very good at it."
The Prince walked past his mother, not bothering to look her in the eye, and headed towards his uncle.
"Take as much time as you need to heal your wounds." Zuko coldly said as he reached his uncle. "When you're up to it, I expect you to continue sparring with me."
"Zuko, this is far too dangerous…"
"I may be have been exiled." Zuko interrupted. "I might have betrayed too many people. I may have done several things I'm not proud of, but I'm still the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation. I expect you to follow all those advices you gave me while growing up. Rest and get that injury looked at. I will continue my training and expect you to assist me as soon as possible."
Zuko walked away from his uncle and his mother, feeling their eyes boring twin holes in the back of his head; but he wouldn't dare to turn back.
When he was sure he was out of their sight, he ran towards the river as fast as he could, tears streaming down his one uninjured eye.
--
Iroh slowly walked to the place where Ursa had stayed immobile. The Dragon of the West had heard the words Zuko had told his mother, and while they seemed harsh, he was aware of the turmoil the young Prince was surely feeling.
"Ursa…" Iroh cautiously said. "What he said… He's surely confused and angry. It's been a long time since you last saw him, and all the thing's he's been through; all the things he's seen, have changed him."
"He's still my son, Iroh." Ursa replied. "I need to explain to him what happened, why I did what I had to do that night. I need him to understand."
"I don't think he's ready to understand." Iroh shook his head. "Or even ready to listen calmly. Zuko has always followed his impulses, and they don't always lead him to the right direction, nor have the results he expected."
"You didn't tell me…" Ursa said.
"What?" Iroh asked.
"His scar, Iroh." Ursa answered, her eyes seemingly very, very far away. "You told me his father had punished him, but you never told me to what extent."
"What would you have done had I told you the entire truth?" Iroh again asked. "If you had tried to reach him in any way, both of you would have lost your heads. Zuko may not understand now why things happened the way they did, but I hope someday he'll manage to come to terms with what happened."
"I abandoned him, Iroh." Ursa said. "That's all he must be thinking now."
"You left so he could live." Iroh said. "I can understand now what happened. I may have lost my father, but the pain of losing my son was even greater. No father should outlive his son. Perhaps Zuko will listen to us one day and let us explain."
"One day." Ursa nodded. "Now, let's take a look at that injured shoulder, and perhaps you can explaintome why my son is wearing a Water Tribe pendant tied around his wrist."
Zuko sat down once again in front of the river, hugging his knees, burying his face in his legs. He was shaking and crying freely. He hated feeling so lost, so confused and so useless.
But most of all he hated the feeling of betrayal from the two people he loved the most. He had placed all his faith in the memory of his mother; who had clearly loved him and he had loved her back, and in the man who taught him everything he knew.
Now he had discovered those two had lied to him all the time, and the sense of guilt he had been feeling was slowly disappearing, replaced by a feeling of loneliness.More tears kept flowing from the eye that could shed them, and he hated that his left eye could not. It was another reminder of all his mistakes, and worst of all, it always hurt. So he hugged his legs tighter, let out a muffled scream, and hoped that for once he wouldn't feel so alone.
End of Chapter