Fortune-telling
Summary: Aang is confused and tries to clear things up with a visit with Aunt Wu. Aang/Zuko yaoi.
Warning: This is yaoi, slash, boy/boy, M/M, if you don't like that then get out. If I get any flames for this reason, it's not going to be my fault.
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Air-Bender. Sadly, I don't own Zuko or Jet either. :(
.:Chapter 10:.
The Avatar and his Chang Ai were united, and unbeatable.
The chaos in the kitchen was seeping through the air. Everyone was running around like mad. Servant boys rushed with red faces to fill the ovens with coal, cooks were hollering with open mouths as fish were hurried to be roasted and fried, rice was being steamed and plated as rice balls, fried rice, rice soup, and mixed with sweet sauce for dessert. Spices were sprinkled over chicken and vegetables, as well as spilled over the floors and down the throats of poor unsuspecting victims. Herbs were grounded and mixed with the boiling water. Dried fruits that had been in storage were causing stress for some workers, all of whom were trying to remember where they had placed the jars.
It was what they could only suspect from such a demanding princess. After the victory, she announced a feast for the great mass of soldiers, generals, admirals, and all the rest that tagged along with her to defeat the Avatar and Chang Ai, and gave them only twenty-four hours to prepare. In a fair world, if the feast was a disaster it was the princess' fault.
They no longer lived in a fair world.
As the sun began to set, Azula's grand ship was presented with the first opportunity to eat their dinner. The ruthless princess sat at the head of the table, a coldly pleased expression eyeing the vast meal in front of her. Smoothly, she lifted a piping hot cup of tea and sighed in quiet satisfaction as she took a sip.
Sweet, sweet victory.
The other men near the head of the table were not quite so quiet when it came to winning. As usual, they would always talk loudly amongst themselves, looking sometimes to catch the eyes of servant girls and occasionally (hopefully) the princess herself.
"You sent a servant to check on our prisoners?" One of the men inquired another, and both of them sitting near the head of the table.
"He should be on his way back," The addressed man answered.
"Those idiot boys come from the belly of a farmer's whore. Does he even know which way to go?" Another man said.
"I'd hope so," He snorted.
"If he can't find his way to the room, I'd go there myself. I've been longing to give those two a beating for the trouble they've given my family," Yet another man said quite determinedly.
"I'd join you."
All of them burst into cruel and joyous laughter.
A sharp thud…and suddenly the whole table went silent.
All eyes fell on the cause of the noise: the one person sitting at the head of the table.
"The room?" Azula said, hushed. Her voice was a scalding brew of anger, disbelief, and accusation that mixed with the sizzling dishes on the table. Her dull eyes glared dangerously at the noblemen and warlords sitting around her. None of them knew quite what to say.
"Whatever happened," Azula continued to say threateningly, "Of the orders I gave?" Her head swiveled around to look all of them in the eye before finally shouting out the answer in frustration. "Throw the rats into separate rooms!"
They gulped.
Then, they all sprang up to point fingers.
"It was Benjirou! He told me they belonged in the same cell!"
"Shut your mouth, Zheng Huan, you were the one who boasted you had the honor of doing so!"
"Da Wei! Da Wei, you were the one! You shouted careless orders to minutemen guards, I remember!"
"It was not me you babbling fool! Daiki, don't deny you stand guilty!"
Blue fire scorched the tips of their lips and burned the ends of their fingers. They all yelped and nursed their injured parts and looked pathetically at the one who sat in the head chair.
The royal chair was empty, for Azula had already made a run out of the room. The calculations going on in her head were simple: find the damned little boy and her brother, before they could find each other.
Her silent, hare footed steps were soon followed by a near stampede of her worthless crew doing their best not to mess up the chance to gain a higher title. In her opinion, the one thing they must best avoid now was their own horrible deaths. For almost the first time in her life, Azula felt dread: a thundering offbeat in her heart.
A booming, white beam of light exploded on the other side of her ship, and screams and yells ensued. It was too late to prevent their rebellion from happening now, these powerful spirits had already begun fighting. But was it too late to separate them? Was it too late to keep them from going further? Azula's jaw tightened as she thought of how she was to do this.
She had never experienced their combined power, therefore she did not know what she expected to face. The element of surprise was against her this time.
She had no organization and no planning, which had been a large portion of the reason why she won before. They, on the other hand, did not need such things.
She did not even have the essential knowledge of their location.
They definitely had the upper hand.
Quick as the wind she sped down more hallways, and two more beams of light crashed through the ship. One was the blinding white she'd seen earlier, and the other was a new one, a shining gold. If she could find the heart of all this power, she could still save the fire nation. She could still give her home the glory it deserved. She had to do it, before—
Too late…the ship began to sink.
She dodged a flying wooden beam, flew out of a hole in the ship's wall, and dived straight into the cold water. Expertly, Azula inhaled at the surface and swam underwater to find the heart she was looking for. It was a new world underwater, darker and less clear, yet she could see a new perspective of the ship.
There it was, a sphere of mist and light, and ball of power surrounding what she immediately knew to be the Avatar and Chang Ai. It was most definitely them.
Azula darted to the surface like a bullet in the water and spurted out the water in her mouth. She felt relief, even happiness—she knew where they were now, and now all she had to do was to get on…
The…
Ship…
Which was gone.
The mast was the last thing to go, and it miserably sank down in bubbles. Azula looked with disbelief, how was she to reach them now? How could she possibly destroy them now? Determinedly, she swam towards where the ship disappeared into the darkness below…only to swallow a hacking mouthful of salt water on the way.
This could not work. How was she, a fire-bending princess to stay in the water, in the cold, and away from the warm sun? The Avatar and Chang Ai could not be reached unless she found another ship, a piece of land, anything strong and stable. Anything before she began to swallow more salt water.
As she grabbed hold of a loose wooden board, the last thing she saw was more eruptions of gold and white. Then, everything was clouded into black.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Though defeat hung heavily over her head and she was covered in soot of all kinds, Katara was still very capable of looking intimidating. Since she was able to accomplish such, she could glare at Meng without looking quite so ridiculous.
"Come on."
"No."
"You have to tell me."
"No."
"Why not?"
"No."
Katara stopped what could be an endless and pointless exchange. She let out an angry sigh instead.
"There's nothing to say," Meng pouted.
"I'm not an idiot," Katara said hotly, brushing away loose strands over burnt hair. "I've known for a little while you're hiding something. Zuko turns up, and then he sort of disappears. Then Aang will just…disappear one, two, sometimes three hours a day. You've been walking around with a smile—of course you know something!" She finished off in agitation.
Meng looked up from the ground and matched her glare. "No."
"Come on Meng," Sokka joined in angrily, though it was only from being fed up from hearing them bicker for the last five minutes. "Just tell us what Zuko was up to, or something."
"No."
"Why won't you tell us anything?" Katara said, her voice cracking. "What have you got to lose? Tell us what Aang and Zuko were doing…please."
"Why are you being so nosy?" Meng suddenly shouted. "Why do you care? Why does this matter, when the fire nation's won? You can't tell I'm upset, do you?" Infuriated, she wiped away a tear.
"You don't have to be so upset," Katara said as gently as she could, though her teeth were noticeably clenched. "This could help us!"
"Yeah? How?"
The question stung Katara like a slap on the face. She blinked, opened her mouth, and then closed it and glared once again. Silence ensued for minutes on end.
"Meng?"
"No."
And the argument was over.
After the verbal cat fight, there was not much else to take interest in. Katara sat back down with her tired brother, who was leaning against a tree twiddling mutely with his boomerang. Meng went away to be with Aunt Wu. Momo remained as a sort of spirit-lifter, one who could sniff hands and lick faces. Appa, on the other hand, was gone; naturally, for he was the last bison to go along with the last air-bender.
The battle had finished, and then the group had nothing else to do but stay in the village, for the fire nation had no reason to take them along. Katara did what she could for the wounded, and Sokka helped put out the flames to keep them from spreading to the forest. The ones dead and mortally wounded still remained untouched. As polite as it was to bury them respectfully, they were a sight too squeamish to tread near.
Then, the footsteps came.
They came from near the center of the village. Soft steps came towards them, gingerly stepping away from fallen remains. Neither water tribe sibling could fathom who it was. It was too steady to be a wounded person, yet too gentle to be a brute soldier. Both were on the edge of being worried for their safety, yet not quite frightened enough to move from their spots. They lazily sat and waited to see who it was.
"Well, what have we here?" A voice chuckled pleasantly. Katara blinked and looked around. It was the jolly-looking fat man, the one who Zuko would always call "Uncle". He was the only fire nation man she could ever remember not despising. She felt her spirits lift a tad.
Sokka, on the other hand, viewed the comment as much more mysterious, much more evil. "You're that guy who's always with Prince Zuko," He observed, frowning. "Why aren't you with the others who've already gone?" He pointed towards the open sea.
The man smiled gently, knowing it had been a distressing day for them, but he knew quite clearly in both his mind and his heart that by tomorrow, the clouds will clear up. "You can call me Uncle Iroh," He said in his deep voice, sitting down cross-legged next to them. "Now, why would I have any reason to go with Azula?"
"You're fire nation, aren't you?" Sokka pointed out, gesturing towards the trademark robes.
"So if one dog bites you, do you consider all the rest of them just as bad?" Uncle Iroh inquired.
"No," Katara murmured, "But…the fire nation doesn't have just one bad one that bites. And they've done much worse than biting."
"True, true," Uncle Iroh said, stroking his beard. "But still, why be so rude to an old man who just wants some company and nice talk, fire nation or not?"
"Well we're not in the mood for talking," Sokka said grumpily.
"Why is that?"
"Are you blind, old man?! Our friend, the Avatar, just got kidnapped! The fire nation has practically won the war! Now that the Avatar isn't good for fighting, the people will have no hope in fighting! The only good thing that's happened today is that the creep who keeps trying to hunt us down and capture the Avatar is gone too!"
"Hmm…" Uncle Iroh pondered. "Well, Zuko is hard to deal with at times. In fact, he's hard to deal with all the time." Uncle Iroh chuckled, and Katara gave a small smile. "However, I never recalled someone calling him a 'creep' before. But it is a good thing that he was taken along with the Avatar."
"…Okay…" Sokka said, a bit of bewilderment mixing in with his eyes.
"Why's that?" Katara said.
"Would you two like to have some tea while we talk about this?" Uncle Iroh said, sounding seemingly random.
"Ye—" Katara began to say, but Sokka cut her off with a hand over her mouth.
"Whatever you're telling us, is it…it's probably what Meng's hiding from us," Sokka said wondrously in half a question, half a statement.
"I couldn't answer that myself, for I don't know what's on Meng's mind," Uncle Iroh said. "But this conversation is important. I suggest some nice, steaming Formosa Tea to go with it."
Katara gave Sokka a look. Sokka raised an eyebrow at Katara. In the end, the same thought remained in their heads: What have we got to lose?
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A peaceful atmosphere had settled in Fire Lord Ozai's royal palace. With the knowledge that his prized daughter had gone with nearly the entire nation's military, with the exception of those keeping watch of other nation's cities already under the rule of the fire nation, Ozai was in a pleased mood. Azula would be back by the next sunset, with the most powerful man on earth in chains. Not to mention his son, the Avatar's soul-mate.
Lord Ozai chuckled softly. It was ridiculous, but after all, that was the nature of things. Love being seen as good, disregarding it seen as automatic evil, and so on. Why would he need love, when he was about to rule the world?
It was then when two figures appeared.
They were translucent figures, and the tinge of blue could remind one faintly of lightening; bright, electronic blue lightening. One was shorter and naïve looking, with large white eyes and an odd-looking arrow coming from the back of his neck to the end of his forehead. He walked around and looked with everything with his young eyes, twirling a wooden staff in his hands.
The taller one was clearly older and the more experienced. Bad experience, it seemed from the horrible scar over his left eye. He walked with the other, his armor a sharp contrast from his companion's comfortable-looking garments. An angry look filled his amber eyes as he looked around, recognizing his old home and being reminded of bad memories.
The ghostly figures continued to walk silently, following the Fire Lord into his throne room. The jaw of the taller one was now noticeably clenched. His eyes flitted towards the side, and realized that the shorter one was facing him. A look of reassurance given, and then the taller nodded slightly, ready to keep moving steadily. They walked behind the great throne, next to the glowing hot flames spurting from the floors.
They allowed some silence, some time to allow the Fire Lord do his thinking, or whatever he was doing. Then, continuous cracklings of the fire were broken when the taller one spoke out.
"Hello father," The Chang Ai said.
There was an odd noise, a sort of obscured gasp, and then a quiet rustling of cloth signified Lord Ozai had stood up. The powerful man came around to the back of his throne cautiously, yet still imposing. When he saw who stood there, he carefully guarded his surprise.
"I was under the impression you two were coming home on Azula's ships," He said coldly. The use of informality was carefully noted. He described the castle as home, and the gigantic fire nation fleet as Azula's ships. It was a mystery; did he want to seem friendly? Or did he hold such a small amount of care for his son that he did not bother sound important for him?
"We are," The Avatar said surprisingly cheerfully. "Well…if you could call them still Azula's." He looked challengingly into the eyes of the Fire Lord. "They've probably sunk to the bottom of the ocean now."
The Avatar found himself to be carefully observed from top to bottom. "You are the Avatar?" Lord Ozai said. He received nothing more than a nod. "Hn…well then, I made a mistake for taking you so seriously. You are nothing more than a child, making up ridiculous stories for his elder's to hear and be entertained."
"He's not lying, father," Zuko grounded out, eyebrows already knitting together in the beginning sparks of anger. "You think Azula's great at everything? You think she always wins at whatever she comes by? Think again."
"We're going to have to defeat you now," Aang said, still sounding strangely happy. "Even if I can sort of think of you as family, you've scorched too many lives with this war. It's a pointless battle, and you have to stop."
"Pointless?" Lord Ozai repeated disbelievingly. "This war is far beyond pointless, Avatar. This war proves the fire element to be great, stronger, and magnificent in comparison to all others. We have been right so far. Why stop now?"
"No, Ozai, you're wrong," The Chang Ai said, his voice staggering only slightly.
Lord Ozai's head snapped around to stare steely into the eyes of his son. "What was that, Zuko?"
The Chang Ai took a deep breath. "I love the fire element, Ozai, but the nature of things can go better when it is balanced out with three elements just as good."
"I would watch your attitude if I were you," Lord Ozai said in a hard tone. "You have already dishonored yourself and smudged the fine family name. Don't think to go further by tempting me to scar you again."
"You can't harm us, Ozai," The Chang Ai said. The fight was edging closer, but to him, he had already won. He could finally look at his father without fear, and think of him without wishing for some respect. To him, he was already victorious.
"But we can harm you," The Avatar said, now beginning to radiate shining white power. "I'm really sorry to see you go…I was never really good at killing people. But…"
"We have to," They both finished, united, and unbeatable.
La Fin.
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A/N - To all my reviewers, you have a wonderfully valid reason for hating me and not reviewing, so I grant you permission to do such. I'm very sorry I haven't updated in a while, I've been trying to focus on school. I'm also sorry for the rather depressing chapter, I've been in a bad mood this past week. I promise an epilogue, though, to hopefully make up for it a bit. Happy 2008 to everybody!! n-n