95 AG- Day 522 of the Siege of Ba Sing Se

The Agrarian Zone of Ba Sing Se is a vast expanse of fields, villages, and peaceful roads that stretches onward for miles upon miles. Subdued, quiet villages house farmers who spend every day of their lives growing food for the distant inner city that they've never known. Why do they do this? Because they simply need to grow food in response to the protection offered to them by the massive walls of their Great City.

The Walls themselves are massive, and many houses are built into the wall itself. Soldiers often come through the zone, enroute to and from the massive walls and the sizable encampments. However, unlike their brethren in the inner city, the citizens of the Agrarian Zone were all too conscious of the chaotic battle that raged outside. The distant crack of rock hitting rock became a common sound for many, as did the distant, fiery flashes of light as lit rocks pounded away at the wall. Legions of soldiers passed through the many villages commonly, and the stream of wounded that returned quickly filled up the local healers and hospitals.

"You always knew when an attack was coming," says Dr. Xun Shao of the Fifth Legion's Field Hospital Corps.

"There'd be a lot of talk amongst the enlisted men, which I would hear from my tent. The night before, the men would don their armor, their armored hats, and sharpen their weapons. The Earthbenders would spend hour upon hour throwing rocks at distant targets, and the 'krak' of rock hitting rock became routine, like the distant sound of Fire Nation artillery did.

Then, the camp would clear out, and then they would come back. Streams of wounded men would return, limping, crawling, and dying. Of course, the most common wound was burns. We healed a lot of those. We'd douse the wounds in water and give the boys a drink of Shaol to ease the pain. Then, we'd press leaves of the Ember Dragon plant after cleaning out the wound, and send them to the rear for special healing. Other than that, we got stab, slice, arrow, and all manner of other wounds.

What haunts me today is the screams. Spirits, the screams. They'd scream at the slightest provocation. Moans, groans, and other exclamations became ingrained in my head so much that I'd hear them even when there were no more men left to treat. They'd cry out for their mothers, their wives, they'd plead with me to save them, or they'd pray to the Spirits to take mercy. Some men would simply lie there, with no particular wound, and simply stare blankly in the distance. We called these men the "Hollow Men", for they had no physical wound, but the war had taken from them their very soul.

By the time the enemy broke through, we had run out of space to stow the dying and dead."

-The Lost and the Damned, page 223, Doctor Xun Shao.

As we sprinted towards the break in the wall, shouting with the fervor and zealotry of a schoolteacher, splinters of rock, massive boulders, and arrows arced down from the wall below. Men went down, screaming in pain as spikes, arrows, and boulders killed them at a rapid pace. I simply kept my head down and followed my squad.

Beside me, a few guys from Fifth Squad went down screaming as a swarm of rock spikes scythed through them. We sprinted across the wasteland, and every man's heart was beating rapidly. I know mine was. As it is when one goes into combat, my vision narrowed, and the only thing I kept in my mind was what my job was and what I would have to do.

Earlier, Captain Jirou had come around, explaining the plan.

"Our objective is to reach the Wall access stairs and take the walls. Our regiment and a few others will be securing this sector of the wall."

As we neared the hole, we could see the Earthbenders far above us hurling down boulders and desperately trying to patch the hole up. A few men with the Engineer Corp's rushed by.

"Give us some cover!" one bellowed as he lugged a large barrel full of blasting jelly.

Fujiko nodded to me, and we began shooting fireballs towards the distant ramparts, forcing the benders to duck backwards. I took a deep breath, and, summoning every bit of energy I could, summoned a massive wave of flame that I directed upwards. Several distant screams resounded through the chaos of the battle, and a few bodies tumbled down the walls.

A guy in an Engineer uniform ran up to me and started shouting.

"Fire at the barrels once everyone's through! We're blasting through!"

I nodded, and the approaching infantry paused and backed up, keeping up the stream of fireballs and arrows that they fired at the distant Earthbenders. I took a deep breath, looked at the stack of barrels, and thrust my palm out, releasing a jet of flame that lit the topmost barrel on fire. There was a moment of silence as the barrel burned, then it exploded concussively, throwing several men backwards and disintegrating the flimsy barricade that the Earthbenders had thrown up.

Stuffing my helmet back on, I helped Fujiko up and we charged through the flaming rubble, emerging in the Agrarian zone and smashing into a squad of Earthbenders who were picking themselves up. There was a moment of tense silence as the Earthbenders stared at the approaching swarms of Fire Nation infantry, and then we clashed, throwing ourselves into battle.

An Earthbender roared mightily as he lifted a massive rock to throw at me, but I lunged forward, punching him in the stomach, putting the full force of my bending into my fist, throwing him backwards several feet. A spear arced towards me from a glaring soldier, and I dodged the blade, sprinting past his guard and bending a fireball directly into his heart, tossing him aside lifelessly.

As more regulars poured in the breach, Earthbender reinforcements arrived to bolster their frail defense. Captain Jirou, a few feet away, casually blasted a group of Earth Soldiers away with a massive fireball, and then waved us forward, pointing to a massive, circular tower that hugged the wall.

"Get to the top!" he bellowed, and the different squads of the Thirteenth Company rallied briefly. Fujiko beckoned us forward, and Keita, Sakai, Gyeong, and Shen hurried over.

"Where are Ryu and Tetsuo?" she asked, referring to the two replacements that had joined a few weeks ago.

"They got hit by a boulder," Keita said, grimly.

Fujiko sighed deeply, and then looked up, removing her skull helmet, revealing her determined look.

"We're gonna take this wall once and for all, guys. Remember the mission and your fallen comrades. We're sure as hell not gonna let those Dirty bastards get the better of the Fire Nation. Let's go."

With that, she said her visor back, and Third Squad joined the streams of 13th Company soldiers filing into the cylindrical tower. As we entered, we looked up in amazement at the spiral staircase that reached up seemingly forever.

"That's a lot of walking," Sakai said.

As we climbed the stairs, our bending at the ready, the distant sounds of battle raged outside. Every few minutes, artillery would impact inside the walls, and chips of rock would shower us as we climbed. The distant sounds of swords clashing, the foom of firebending, the thoom of rock landing and the distant screams of dying men wailed into the cylinder menacingly.

We climbed the stairs for nearly half an hour before the sounds of fighting above us began to trickle down the stairs. The man in front of Fujiko paused, listening to something someone said in front of him. Then, his helmet turned, and his skull visor leered towards us.

"The Wall is being cleared. Squads one through five are moving to the right once we get out, five through ten are going left. Heavy resistance, pass it on."

The message made its way down the gathered men of the company, and the line kept moving.

"We're like lambs being led to slaughter," Shen whispered, nervously.

"Keep your faith in the Fire Lord, and all shall be resolved," Keita muttered in annoyance.

I caught up to Fujiko as we steadily climbed up, and tapped her on the shoulder.

"You ready?" I asked.

She snorted in derision.

"Of course. I've been damn well waiting for a year to get here."

"About that kiss…" I said, thinking back to that night in the trench.

She glanced back at me, her golden eyes glaring at me through the slits in her visor.

"That was wrong of me to do, Qin Lee. I wrongly brought personal matters into our professional relationship. Think nothing of it and move on," she said harshly.

I was taken aback slightly, startled by the woman's hostility. No matter how much I had liked Ayako, I would have been remiss if I had said I didn't have romantic feelings about Fujiko also. More so, as we had been through hell together.

I quickly regretted bringing the topic up, but as we neared the top, the thought of that left my mind, and two small flames ignited themselves in the palms of my hands as destiny and fate approached.

We emerged on the wall at long last to be greeted by utter chaos. Throngs of firebenders rushed about on the wall above, and far below, on the distant fields of mud and death, we finally got to see our forces from the enemy's point of view.

I never truly appreciated how many men were in this siege until I saw it from the wall. The horde of men darkened the ground, and the large forms of komodo-rhinos rubbed shoulders with forests of pikes, spears, and swords. The distant white dots of skull helmets studded the ground, and the distant line of trebuchets loomed threateningly in the darkness, silent for the first time in months.

Then, the distant sound of combat greeted our ears, and we moved on.

Fujiko paused for a moment, conversing with another sergeant who had just emerged from the access tower, and waved her hand to the right, where the receding forms of Firebenders and the distant flashes of combat remained just out of sight.

Then, the familiar gold-trimmed uniform of the Colonel emerged from the crowd, and a bloodied, battered Prince Lu Ten clambered on a pile of boulders, his helmet in hand.

"Men," he bellowed, shouting over the sounds of swords and bending.

"We've made it to the Wall after a year of sacrifice and blood. What we do today will echo through the annals of time. We have begun the Great Conquest of the world's Greatest City, and it has come at the hands of the Fire Nation!"

A large crowd of men began gathering around the Prince's rock. From the walls, Fire Nation archers and benders fired into the swirling melee on the distant outer zone of the city. Squadrons of men sprinted in every direction, reinforcing the fight to secure the walls. I stood amongst the crowd silently, my heart pounding as adrenaline flowed through my veins.

"The task ahead is hard, but we shall overcome it as we have every other obstacle. For we are the warriors of the Fire Nation! What we do today shall be remembered by further generations and the Spirits above. Now, for the Fire Nation and Firelord Azulon, do your duty!"

There was a massive, resounding cheer, and the crowd dispersed, going to their respective positions. Fujiko gathered the squad next to a large rampart and cleared her throat.

"Guys, we're here now, so don't mess it up. We're too close now to lose anyone. We've already lost too many members of this squad. Aoke, Okada, Yuko, Liao, Hiro, and all the other brave soldiers that have given their lives in this damned siege will be avenged. We all have grudges against the Earth Kingdom scum, so let's bring the damned fight to them for once and make them pay. Do your duty, third squad, and be careful. Move out."

And with that, and a shared glance between Fujiko and I, we moved down the wall towards a distant tower, where the sounds of swords clanging and fire exploding made its way through the din of war.

Unbeknownst to us, however, the Earth Kingdom was planning a massive counterattack at the same time. In Tamura's History of the World, he examines the Earth Kingdom's response, given the Dai Li's practice of brainwashing that was in its stride during the period.

"Although those that lived in the Agrarian and Urban zones knew fully well about the Fire Nation invasion, given the disproportionate amount of refugees, action was slow to come, as the ruling government, particularly the Earth King, had little to no knowledge of the war, or the Breach.

Recently appointed Grand Secretariat Long Feng, however, knew fully well of the invasion, and had in fact been an active participant in anti-Fire Nation planning, having inserted Dai Li agents inside Fire Nation lines in order to cause chaos and sabotage. However, with the breach of the outer wall, he transferred full control of the military to General Mengyao, who was the leader of the Council of Five.

Mengyao immediately called the council together to discuss a response plan. After a day of discussions and planning, a plan was constructed that would push the Fire Nation out once and for all. Mengyao knew very well that once the Fire Nation erected more permanent defenses, like the trenchlines that zigzagged around the city, they would be very difficult to dislodge. Consequentially, he deployed the Palace Guard's First Legion, as well as the Fourteenth and Sixth Legions from their positions on uncontested sections of the city, and threw them into the fight.

However, it would take close to a month for the Legions to muster, rendezvous, and prepare for a direct assault, which Mengyao knew was too long of a wait. Desperately, Mengyao called the Popular Militia out of its solitude. The Popular Militia, which had been the force used to combat Chin the Conqueror's forces during the Chin War. Peasants from the Northern and Eastern sectors of the Agrarian Zone mustered quickly, were armed with spears, and were quickly sent into battle in a vain effort to maintain pressure on the Fire Nation's advance, which was quickly expanding.

Mengyao also redeployed wall garrison forces towards the sections of the wall that the Fire Nation possessed in an effort to take the Walls, which would have given the Earth Kingdom the so-called 'high ground' in the battle.

The bloodshed and chaos of the coming days would reflect Mengyao's effectiveness, but not before the Fire Nation took a bloody toll on the Earth Kingdom forces."

-Tamura, A Complete History of the World, Volume 3, page 124.

As night fell on that first day, the Third Squad relaxed in a captured tower on the wall, watching over the troops below and the distant section of the wall that contained enemy forces. Our battle had been ongoing for most of the day, and the Fire Nation army had made good progress on both the Walls and the Agrarian Zone below. Up above, the 122nd Regiment had led the charge in taking the Walls, and Prince Lu Ten had been very satisfied with the regiment's progress.

Progress, however, came at a price.

The casualty count was staggeringly high. The tower that we were holding had been transformed into a field hospital of sorts, and row after row of wounded soldiers filled the tower's several floors quickly. We went on top of the tower to relax after the stench became too much to handle.

Down below, the other regiments had dug in for the night, erecting crude barricades and trenches (more like ditches) in which to defend from. There had been heavy fighting for a while, then the Earth Kingdom soldiers had retreated to a nearby village to fortify their position. Every few minutes, the crack of rocks flying and the distant flashes of fire would flare in the deep night as roving patrols of earthbenders probed the Fire Nation lines.

I, for one, was completely exhausted. We spread out on the top of the watchtower, laying out our bedrolls and leaning against the cold, hard ramparts in exhaustion. Sakai broke apart a few crates with his sword and started a small fire, and we all simply laid there in exhaustion, staring at the flickering flames.

Shen huddled against a stone battlement, nursing his broken arm in pain. The regimental healer had applied a crude splint for his arm, but the wound wasn't severe enough to warrant a spot down below; a simple boulder hit from an Earthbender had shattered his forearm, yet puncture wounds, lacerations, and multiple fractures took priority.

Then, after a while, the warm air opened in a massive deluge, and rain began to pour down, drenching us in water and forcing the embattled fire into a tiny one. I shifted my position, sitting up, and wrapped myself in my blanket, putting it over my head to protect myself from the rain. My helmet sat beside me; it was uncomfortable on a good day, and there was little chance of being attacked on the top of the wall.

There was an overbearing silence amongst us, and the distant sound of fighting was the only thing to be heard, the echo wafting over us like a stray breeze.

Then, Gyeong sat up, humming a familiar melody to himself. I recognized it immediately, as my mother used to sing it to me when I was little.

"Is that Leaves From the Vine?" I asked, smiling with the memory as I shielded myself from the pouring rain.

Gyeong grinned.

"Yeah. My father used to sing it to me."

Leaves from the Vine

Falling so slow

Below, there was a clatter of boots on rock as a squad of regulars sprinted through, their sergeant shouting orders to them as they ran towards the distant enemy quadrant of the wall.

Like fragile, tiny shells

Drifting in the foam

Keita woke quietly, listened to Gyeong's soft singing and smiled for the first time in a long time, undoubtedly thinking of better times.

Little soldier boy

Comes marching home

In the room below, the muffled sound of a man screaming in fear echoed up through the trapdoor, followed by the hushed whispers of healers trying to calm a frightened soldier.

Brave soldier boy

Comes marching home

Then, as Gyeong's singing trailed off, and my eyes struggled to stay open, there was a moment of complete silence as the war seemed to stop for a moment as the lullaby's words drifted through the embattled city.

In the next installment, the Earth Kingdom strikes back, hard, and the soldiers of the First Army are forced to confront the possibility of defeat.

One quick deviation: yesterday was June 6, marking the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasions of 1944. I just wanted to take a moment to remember all the men and women that lost their lives during the Normandy Invasions and the Second World War. May they Rest in Peace.

Thanks for reading and please review!

-IGdude117