Avatar: The Last Airbender

Yin and Yang

Chapter 12

By Mdalia and RebLaw

Zuko breathed a sigh of relief. He was at the North pole-crossing it in order to return to his own world. Not only was he going to be back where he belonged, he also had the Avatar with him. So he could go back home to his country with his head held high.

Aang wasn't as happy about the arrangement- but was homesick for his friends, especially Katara and Sokka. He hoped he'd be able to flee from Zuko after returning to his world.

Aang nervously smiled at Zuko, who was the closest thing to a friend he had there. Fe scared him.

Fe couldn't wait. He had never gotten to see the Fire Nation on the other side. He knew from what he saw of the scarred Prince Zuko and Iroh, that it likely had a lot of room for improvement.

The trio made their way to where Zuko believed his ship was. As they approached it they saw two figures, a boy and an old man, talking. As the got closer Zuko's heart started to race as he realized that the boy was Prince Zuko of the world of the Avatar of war. Just the thought of another version of himself made him feel weird, to have an opportunity to meet himself, he wasn't quiet sure what to expect.

Aang, on the other hand, was not excited to see two of Prince Zuko in the same place. Much less two of Iroh. He just walked slowly with his head down. There was no hope of escape for the air-bender.

"Nephew!" Iroh happily greeted his nephew. His enthusiasm waned when he saw Fe following his nephew and the Avatar.

"Uncle," Zuko said, relieved to see his uncle again. The prince made sure he held Aang's chain firmly, so the boy couldn't take advantage of the moment.

"Let me introduce you to my new friend," Iroh smiled diplomatically. "Nephew, this is Prince Zuko, Prince Zuko this is my nephew, Prince Zuko."

The unscarred Zuko smiled and followed the joke, "General Iroh, I'd like you to meet my Uncle Iroh. Uncle Iroh, this is my friend, General Iroh."

Aang desperately wanted to run away by that point. Unfortunately the bindings on his arms were too tight to allow him to air bend. Also Zuko and Fe both could easily hold onto his chain and prevent him from running away.

- - - - - - - - -

"Aang," Katara called to the Avatar of War. It was getting late, dinner had finished and the boy had gone to his tent bored with the conversations.

"What is it?" The child asked grumpily. He really didn't want to hear about any more water-tribe stuff. He was starting to suffer from wanderlust again, never wanting to settle down anywhere too long.

"We'd like to talk with you Aang," Sokka said firmly. "Somewhere private."

Aang groaned, that didn't sound good. "Can it wait 'til tomorrow? I have a headache."

"No," Sokka barked. "We're talking about it tonight, either somewhere private, or here where everyone can hear."

"Fine fine," Aang gave in, and pulled himself out of the tent, putting on a "misery" face.

"Let's go by the shore," Katara suggested. "Thanks for coming along Aang."

Aang grumbled about not having much of a choice. But he was compliant. When they arrived at the beach Sokka wasted not time beating around the bush, "Who the heck are you!"

Aang, the Avatar of war was very taken aback by the teenager's anger. "I-I'm Aang."

"Liar!" Sokka yelled. "Aang would never STEAL. He knew stealing is WRONG!"

"Sokka," Katara gasped taken aback. "You need to calm down. Yelling at him won't help."

"But," Aang scrunched up his face as if he were holding back tears. "I- I really AM Aang. I know what I did was wrong, b-but you gotta believe me."

"Why?" Katara asked. "Aang does have his bad points, but you've got worse ones."

"Fine!" Aang shouted. "If you guys think I'm a big liar and that I'm not Aang, I'm leaving."

"Good!" Sokka yelled back. "Leave!"

Katara stood still, shocked as Aang created an air-ball and rode away on it. Her brow furrowed as the tried to make sense of why Aang was acting so weird. Part of her wanted to blame her brother- to just write his observations off as him being too suspicious. But she understood him, and he – to some degree- was right about this. Aang was acting weirdly. Normal Aang would've talked it out, not ran away.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Admiral Zhao was pleased. He was on his way to the North Pole, where the Avatar had last been seen. No mentions of Zuko or Iroh either, so hopefully there would be no interference this time. Just a water-tribe, which would be enough of a pain.

Even since he had captured the Avatar only to have him escape, Zhao had been eager to regain his pride. It had been more than just a little embarrassing to explain what happened to the Fire Lord. Despite hearing back via a letter, Zhao was aware that the Fire Lord was not at all pleased.

He stool watch at the bow of the ship, watching the artic land draw closer and closer. He loved this adrenal rush of the hunt. Especially when hunting the most cunning prey of all, a human.

He pictured in his mind how the avatar would look captured and guarded by as many men as humanly possible. He imagined how the child would look when officially handed over to the Fire Lord, and how the Fire Lord would praise him- taking back all past harsh words. Zhao's crew wondered about their Admiral's sanity as he stood out in the cold chuckling to himself.

- - - - - - - - - -

"I must depart now," the unscarred Prince Zuko said, he had been unable to look other Prince Zuko in the eye the whole conversation. The glimpse of the horrid disfiguring scar made the boy wonder just how different the other boy's life had been. But, knowing himself he figured it was best not to ask. He threw a glance over his shoulder as he walked away- he saw that the scarred Prince Zuko was not smiling and looked as if a smile never graced his face.

"Well," Fe said, glancing from Iroh to Zuko, relieved that he did find his nephew and his nephew was on his way back home. It's not that he cared about the adolescent that much, rather, he knew who'd get the blame if the only prince never returned form his trip. "We should get going. Soon."

"You're coming along?" the scarred Prince Zuko asked. He hadn't heard of this.

"Yeah," Fe said, shrugging as if it were not big deal. "Why not? I figure your world may be fun. Oh, for the sake of avoiding confusion, please call me Fe."

"Sure thing," Iroh said. He didn't like the more muscular, aggressive man using his name anyway.

"How long will it take the men to ready the ship?" Prince Zuko asked. Fe was amused by this; it seemed that that Iroh took orders from the prince.

"It's ready now nephew," Iroh stated pleasantly. "Come, you too Fe, we should depart while the tide is good."