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Chapter 38: Shang

Zuko drifted awake less than a half-hour before dawn, shaken out of half-formed dreams of paradise by half-formed nightmares of his family. It never ends, he thought. He pushed himself to his feet, biting back a cry of pain when he put too much weight on his still-shattered knee. I have to end it. He steadied himself on a tree, and limped off in the direction of his sister's capital.

Shang woke as Zuko passed by his head; shifting slightly, as though still asleep, he watched through one half-open eye as the prince staggered off. Shaking his head, he waited until Zuko was out of earshot, then silently pulled himself upright and set off after him, taking care to stay several yards behind the younger man.

He kept moving, even after he fell over several times, each time taking him a little longer to get up afterwards.

Shang just shook his head, waiting for the inevitable moment when Zuko wouldn't be able to get up at all.

It came, after an impossibly long time--he was nearly halfway to the wall.

With a soft laugh, Shang approached his monarch. "You don't know when to quit, do you?"

"Why did you follow me?" he asked by way of reply, still trying to push himself back to his feet.

"In case you needed a hand. I figured you wouldn't get very far with your knee out." There was respect, not censure, in the older man's tone. "You got a lot further than I thought."

"Good for me," the teenager shot back, using a nearby tree to drag himself back up.

"No need for the attitude, Prince Zuko," said Shang, watching him.

"I know. Sorry," he said, shortly. He steadied himself, and tried to get moving again, and his knee gave out, and he almost, but not quite, managed to bite back a cry of pain.

Shang walked by his side now, not offering him a hand, but silently there if the Prince needed someone to lean on. They'd run out of trees sooner or later.

He tried, and failed, to drag himself back to his feet. His knee just kept giving out. He swore under his breath.

Without a word, Shang leaned down, grabbed the prince's arm, and hauled him to his feet.

"Thank you," he said, after a moment.

The corporal nodded. "Can you make it? Or do you need a shoulder? Keep in mind that lying for your pride will only make it worse."

"I'm fine," he said. "And I should go alone. No need for anyone else to get hung out to dry with me."

"Who's getting hung out for anything?" Shang asked him. "I'm certainly not."

"If you're with me, you might. I'm going to turn myself in, remember?"

"What would I get in trouble for? Collaborating? Hell, you guys captured me." He rubbed the back of his head ruefully.

"Yeah, but we let you go and you didn't un-defect," he pointed out.

"Who said I have to tell them that?"

"You'd lie for me? Why? You don't owe me anything."

"Maybe I like you, your highness. Maybe I'm just in a good mood since finding out my cousin's still alive."

"Good for you. But still. Why?"

"Who said I was lying for you?"

"All right, if you're lying for yourself, why come with me at all?"

"…could claim to have captured you? I dunno. I'm an army grunt, highness. Thinking isn't encouraged."

"You should go back to the others. I'll get to the city on my own."

"That's okay; I'll stick with you."

"You'll get arrested."

"Maybe, maybe not." He shrugged. "You can't know that for certain."

"You defected. It's pretty damn safe to assume there'll be fallout."

"Are you going to tell them that? I'm not."

"I'm not going to say anything, but you've probably already been reported missing, and if you turn up with me, assumptions will be made," Zuko pointed out. "It's too risky. You should head back."

"What, and bitch at the Water Tribe kid some more? This is more interesting."

"...How is watching me limp towards my own destruction more interesting than picking fights with Sokka?"

"Do you really want me to go back and tell everyone what you're doing? Guaranteed someone will be sent to bring you back. And odds are they'll be in time, too."

"No, I want you to go back and not tell everyone what I'm doing."

Shang grinned. "And what do you think the odds are on that one?"

He eyed the older man. "If I specifically told you not to?"

"Who had me pledge loyalty to Princess Zyra again? Oh, right, I remember."

"...Right, right, that. Well, if you come with me, it might jeopardize your chances of helping her. So, you should go back. And not send someone else after me. Because as soon as you leave, I'm taking a different path to the city."

Shang sighed, and dropped his jocular tone. "Zuko, in what universe is it all right for you to be the only one to accept the consequences of your actions?"

"When they're my actions, which I decided to take on my own. And when I'm the one who assassinated my sister, without anyone else there. That's when," he snapped.

"And I'm the one who defected," Shang coolly countered. "Like it or not, you're stuck with me."

"No one else needs to get in trouble for this. I'm the one who killed her, I should take the fall."

"…are you only listening to every other sentence I say?"

"I'm trying to stay on my feet until I get to the wall, I'm not really paying attention to much else anymore."

"Then pay attention to this: I'm staying with you. Accept it and move on."

"Yes, but why?"

"My reasons are my own, prince. And you're not listening anyway."

He took a deep breath, and turned to look at the other man. "I'm listening now. Why are you still with me?"

"Because I want to be. Because what's to stop someone from assassinating you on the way to turn yourself in if you go alone? Because I did defect, and because I'd have to own up to that sooner or later."

He thought for a minute. "It's unlikely anyone will try to assassinate me. I don't think anyone except Azula saw my face. As for the rest..." He shrugged. "I think it's a bad idea."

"They can see your face now," Shang pointed out. "The same people who would kill Zyra for being the Firelady's daughter would kill you for being the Firelady's brother, vanished or not."

"...and I lost my mask in the palace. Of course."

Shang shrugged.

"Fine. Follow me if you want. I don't really care." He started to limp off again, and fell over again.

Shang smirked, having won, and pulled the prince to his feet again. He didn't say a word again without Zuko initiating conversation.

Which the prince didn't, being more focused on getting to his goal. They were, of course, challenged at the gate--disorganized as the city was in the wake of the Firelady's assassination, Toph had managed to keep law and order to at least this limited extent.

"My name is Zuko, son of Ursa and Firelord Ozai," the prince said woodenly when challenged. "I assassinated my sister, and I'm here to face justice."

There was a long moment of silence, then a pair of guards in red uniforms arrested the completely compliant prince and led him away.

Another guard turned to Shang. "And who are you?"

"Corporal Li," the soldier replied, "late of Captain Zheng's unit."

"You'll need to come with us, then, Corporal," the guard said, quietly.

"Somehow, I expected so. Lead the way."

The guard led him to a prison--the one Ty Lee and Liang had originally been held in when they'd been arrested some time before. "You will wait here," he said, quietly.

"Sir," was the equally soft reply.

The guard locked him into a cell--not the one the two previous traitors had been held in, but one of similar design--and left him there to contemplate the universe, or his crimes, or whatever else he cared to think about while imprisoned.

Mostly, the soldier thought that he should have pranked Sokka before he left.