Chapter 2: zuko vs. earthbenders


Zuko is already asleep, but soon his ears catches some kind of noise outside. His eyes wide open, he listens to what's going on and hears whispers around. Trying to make no sound, he rises from the bedding, his hand aiming at the dao swords leaning against the wall, next to the pillow. For a moment, Zuko glances at his Uncle, but he is sleeping hard, his front facing the wall. He wonders how Iroh can be such a heavy sleeper and so confident about himself when there are so many bandits around and a war going on, plus, they are refugees, anyone can recognize who they really are and take them back to the Fire Nation, and most importantly, to Azula.

Zuko slowly walks to the door, looks at his Uncle again, his eyes softening. Deciding not to wake him up, the young man lowers the handle and goes outside. His body is immediately shrouded by the cool air and the skin is shuddered by large, cold drops of rain. The rain had just begun, a big storm just waiting ahead.

But soon Zuko feels some kind of danger and ignores the cold. Holding his swords at his waist, he looks around and slowly walks forward. Suddenly, he senses a person beside himself, frightened, he turns around and instinctively lifts his swords. The opponent moves too, his somehow weird sword slides through Zuko's blade and then slams to the ground with tremendous power thus forcing Zuko to fall. As soon as his head hits the ground, he feels a tight grip on his neck, swords fall out of his hands and the boy is desperately trying to loosen the fingers that clench his throat.

Soon, he's short of air, eyes shut, feels as if the strength is abandoning his whole body. For a moment, Zuko thinks he's going to die, but with his other hand he finds a stone and with all the force hits the attacker. When the grip finally releases, Zuko turns around on his back and kicks him away. They rise from the ground simultaneously. Only then, Zuko sees that the guy is just a few years older than him. By his clothing and solid stance, he can tell that the guy is an earthbender.

"What are you doing?!" Zuko asks angrily.

"You won't fool me, I know who you are. The scar proves it all. Leave these lands or everyone will know you are from the Fire Nation."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Trying to deny it?" Zuko can see a smirk on his face. "Show me what you have then, you little pesk."

His piercing eyes glow in the dark. He tramples with his foot, and a boulder shots at Zuko incredibly fast. He tries to reach for swords, lying within a few meters of him, but another boulder presses him to the ground.

"Do you really think you can easily get me over?"

Zuko jumps up and gets closer to his opponent. Strangely, he can no longer see that strange sword, but sees the bender pulling out a dagger. Zuko frantically turns to the side, trying to get a slightest chance of grabbing his swords. From his turn, the opponent loses his balance, so Zuko clenches his fist for impact. But the hit is too weak and too sudden, after all, he is not a master of fist fighting and he doesn't want to use his firebending to reveal himself.

When the fist slides down the opponent's face for the second time, they both cling to the ground. Earthbender's hand entangles in his cloak and Zuko becomes superior, and starts hitting the opponent from all sides while trying to knock out his dagger. The bender frees his hand and hits Zuko in the ribs, tries to jab twice, but unsuccessfully. Then, he jumps up behind Zuko, but he turns around skillfully, falls on his feet and slips closer. The enemy holds the dagger with both hands, causing Zuko to grip it, protecting himself from danger. They struggle for a few seconds about the position of the dagger; the earthbender tries to target at Zuko, and Zuko doesn't let him.

And finally they jump on their feet again. The stranger throws a nervous glance at Zuko, ready to attack at any moment. Zuko strikes him right in the back of the head, the bender falls on his back, but doesn't lose consciousness and stands up. Then he punches Zuko in the jaw so badly the boy rolls ten yards forward. After that, he gets closer, grabs the child, but a strong hit pushes him away.

Zuko hastily lifts his head, the opponent jumps on him right away. They fall again and punch each other, rolling on the ground. The earthbender tries to press his opponent under himself, but he slips out in a deceptively sudden movement, rolls, and continues punching his face. Losing his patience, the bender lifts the boulder and throws his opponent down.

Zuko slowly gets up. The opponent looks tired and brushes the blood from his split lip with the left hand. When he sees youngster's looks on him, he smiles creepily, with desire to fight him more. Preparing for the attack, the opponents start circling each other. They breathe heavily, but at times they laugh, slightly carefree, however, Zuko feels his laughter burgeoning with hateress. He feels dizzy in his head, chest and knuckles hurt.

Zuko attacks the opponent and finally knocks dagger out of his hands. The stranger strikes Zuko so hard that he screams and smacks his opponent in stomach. Then they both jump off each other. Heavily catching their breaths, they look each other in the eye. The earthbender seems gone far crazy with excitement and impatience.

After a few moments, he sees a fist approaching him. By retreating backwards, he hits Zuko in already damaged ear. It seems as if the brain were turning over in his head, he feels his body slam into something, but somehow manages to stand up and push himself forward, anywhere but away from danger. But the earthbender catches up and hits him in the back. Avoiding, Zuko pushes something away, he can barely stand on his feet, vision is getting madly blurry. The opponent goes straight at him, clutching something long in his hand—a rod or a stick—it's hard to understand. He goes flabby as if he's drunk, his face is dirty and bloody. Zuko retreats, frightened that he didn't seem to understand that they fight until one of them dies.

The fight is even more violent now than before. Zuko jumps to his opponent, but the rod smashes into his shoulder, and it all gets numb. The kid never realized that he could be in so much pain. The earthbender, as if losing his head, squeezes Zuko in his arms and slams him on the ground.

As soon as he is on top, he picks up the dagger, grabs Zuko by the head and presses him to the ground. Zuko seeks to strike, but the guy bents over and shoves the dagger in his stomach, feeling a narrow short blade yanking his clothes, getting into the body. Zuko doesn't understand immediately and still resists. The stranger clings to him, as if hiding in his arms could avoid hits. The dagger goes even deeper. Zuko moans, his hands suddenly loosens and falls down. The earthbender deftly jumps off, his muscles all tense.

Zuko, please, my love, listen to me. Everything I've done, I've done to protect you. Remember this, Zuko. No matter how things may seem to change, never forget who you are.

Zuko lies motionless, eyes closed. He hears his mother's voice in his head. No, he can't show he is a firebender. Not this time. The last time he listened to that voice, he was rejected and hated. He can't fall for that again. He needs to hide who he really is.

Zuko can't see, but feel the earthbender coming closer, imagine the smile on his face when he knows he is winning this fight. But he can't move and save himself, he's too tired. Wants to fall asleep permanently, let everything end as soon as possible. Wait, no, he doesn't want to die! He can't die, even if his whole life has been nothing but suffering and lies.

Suddenly, he hears voices and his eyes wide open. There are several people around, probably also benders. They aren't moving, just looking at him and waiting for something. Of course, Zuko heard some whispers before leaving the house, how could he forget? The earthbender didn't come here alone, and now that Zuko has been defeated, they will lock him in the cell and take him to the Fire Nation. To Azula. He lost again. Even though he didn't show himself as a firebender, he still lost. He hated failure, but he hated himself even more for not knowing how to win, how to think things through. Maybe his father was right, maybe he was lucky to be born. He's a loser, a disgrace for his family.

At that moment, Zuko sees the fire coming down in front of him. Earthbenders retreat.

"Uncle! Uncle!" Zuko screams joyfully, feeling relieved, tears run down his cheeks.

"Crush his hands!" One of the benders says in an agitated voice. "Hurry up!"

Zuko tries to use his fire—his Uncle showed them that they are the firebenders anyway—but huge boulders oppress his hands before the fire comes out. He hears a dreadful scream and only later realizes it's his own voice. It's so dreadful that he is terribly scared himself, he doesn't understand how he can scream like that, he has never heard such a painful scream in his life. Even when his father burned his face in front of everyone, he quickly lost consciousness and didn't feel physical pain for long. But not this time.

He tries to pull his hands out from under the boulders, but only rips an even more painful voice from his throat. He feels his muscles tearing apart and his bones crack. If he tries to pull again he would probably lose his hands permanently, so he tries not to move them anymore. And everything will be fine, right? Uncle will save him... soon, just wait a little more... a little...

And he feels the legs tighten. They want to crush his legs too that he couldn't escape! But suddenly he remembers the fire breath, his only solution. Without waiting, he tries to calm down and inhales deeply. As he exhales with a sudden blow, fire spreads around and the earthbenders retreat. Somebody's screaming, probably got hit.

Zuko wants to inhale again and just breathe the fire until all the dangerous obstacles will finally leave him, but the one he had fought before, raises a boulder. In his arms, that boulder changes into a sword and without a doubt to have mercy he makes a swing amain. The voice gets stuck in Zuko's throat when his eyes suddenly goes blank and he sees nothing but darkness. Blood floods his whole face, running through his ears and neck. He cannot understand what he is feeling because the pain is too great to call it pain.

"Uncle, Uncle, please!" He cries out with a voice that is still left. But nobody responds. He knows his Uncle won't save him, but desperately seeks for the last hope. Iroh can't protect him, he is still wounded after Azula struck him, and the enemies are too much to overcome for one man. He probably lost that fight just as terribly as he did.

Zuko wants to get up and save his so beloved Uncle, he knows he's the only one who loves him like no one else would. Even more pain flooded his chest when he thought that maybe Iroh is now lying somewhere nearby, wounded worse than him, but he just can't see him. Or maybe things are worse, maybe Iroh will never get up again and he will be left forever alone.

Zuko already knows—and doesn't feel now—that something is wrong here. Uncle wouldn't let him suffer, be injured or die, he would surely save him, he would have saved as soon as he heard his screams. But he doesn't show himself, no longer shows even the slightest sign that he is alive, that the earthbenders haven't hurt him.

He is praying for spirits and for all the higher powers to bring this nightmare to an end. He even thinks that if the Avatar showed up and saved him, he would take that humiliation to keep his Uncle safe. And he feels the rain... The small droplets slowly fall on his face, gradually turning into large drops, washing away the blood that flows down and absorbs into the ground. Nobody moves or he hears anything in a rustle. Are these trees? The body is permeated by an even greater cold and fear. And darkness...

But no one shows up...

And nobody saves them...


To be continued...