Fun Review Quote of the week:
Arwey: beats authoress into unconsiousness with my mighty WHACKING spoon NO! KATARA -twhack- CAN'T -thwack- DIE! You must update soon to make sure...oh nevermind. You're unconsious, aren't you dearie?
Zuko's mind was racing. Zhao was with the Rebellion, Zhao was the enemy, Zhao was deadly, twisted, ruthless, evil, sick; and Zhao knew something about Katara.
He felt the fires within him ignite in howling rage. He wanted to burn Zhao in hellish flames, engulf him in terrible, righteous fury. Devour him in torturous fires like the possessed servants of the devil would be devoured, their bodies soaked in horrible flame, their screams all echoes of the injustices they alone held responsibility for. Zhao was a demon-god among them, the snake that escaped his punishment all too often and all too easily. But now he was within Zuko's grasp, his judgement postponed by the Prince's present weakness but inevitable all the same.
The young fire bender was deciding on how to dispatch the cursed man when Zhao paused and cast an eye on him. They had stopped before the beginnings of a large, ice-coated mountain, the sides all frosted with snow and glittering like a pinnacle of angels.
"I must warn you Zuko. You may not like what you see," said Zhao slowly, forcing regret and pain into his normally crazed voice. Zuko winced as his body shook in pain, his scar still stinging from the wind, his vison blurred on both sides.
"Don't waste time. Take me to her."
Zhao nodded and turned away, making sure his grin was hidden.
As the approached the cliff side, Zuko made sure to study everything, whether or not his vision was blurred. Around him sentries appeared, Zhao's men, posted at intervals along the path. They gazed at Zuko but soon turned their attention back to the raging tundra behind him as Zhao led him into the shaded side of the mountain.
The ice on this side of the mountain had all been stripped away. The prince wondered, vaguely, if there had been an avalanche - but the mounds of snow seemed to have disappeared, leaving the earth beneath it brown and bare.
It was more of a rock slide, then. All the earth beneath the ice had broken loose off the mountain and slid down into a gigantic, heaping pile, covered by the shadow of the mountain. Zhao paused before the destruction and stood, silent as stone, as Zuko flinched and his fist began to smoke.
"This is where you bring me? To a rockslide? Is Katara in the mountain? If you -"
"I have not tried anything this far, Prince Zuko," hissed th Admrial, smelling the scent of smoke on the wind. He smiled slightly at Zuko's rage. "If you take a closer look, I think you will discover why I brought you here."
Zuko glared at the Admiral's back for a moment as the bitter wind whipped his face, rows of icicles hanging off his eyelashes, his cheeks nearly blue with cold. The smoke remained in his palm as he strode forth, taking a wide berth of the devilish man, and stepped forth towards the mountain of rock. He always kept Zhao to his right side, never showing his back, though he knew sentries were posted everywhere and there was no hope of escape.
At first he saw nothing. Mounds of earth and rubble, scattered abroad between large slabs of rock and stray ice shards, all flown about in a tangled web that resembled a natural mudslide. But there was something unnatural about the way the mountain faced and the way the rocks had fallen...to the right, where the mountain sloped more to the left. Shouldn't the rock have fallen that way? It was strange that -
Zuko heart numbed, stopped, and broke.
No, it was too devastating. It wasn't really there. His eyes were playing tricks on him. His vision was blurred. The wind was muddling everything in sight. He blinked, rubbed his right eye free of ice, and gazed back, expecting the horrifying vision to vanish.
But it didn't.
No.
It didn't register. Nothing registered. His mind was only screaming one word, constantly, over and over again, his heart clawing desperately to the idea that it wasn't true. No. NO. NO!
He fell hard, breaking through the thin, jagged layer of ice that covered the snow. It scathed his armor and tore through the fabric of his clothes, cutting deeply into shaking knees. The wind was biting his eyes viciously, tearing at the ouline of his face, but he didn't blink. The gold in his eyes faded to a dull hue, his thoughts shattered to pieces like the feeling of his disbelieving heart. The fire in his veins was gone, his emotions gone on mute. He did nothing but stare as Zhao grinned behind him, relishing his anguish.
It was her jacket sleeve, all covered in dust and debris, torn open with dried blood staining nearly every inch. She had been crushed beneath a slab of monstrous earth, her free arm hanging, limp, cold, and pale, from beneath the heavy stone. Her hand was blue as the underlying tone of snow beneath her, lifeless as the cold rock that covered her. He reached out to touch the outlines of her motionless fingers, but couldn't.
The blue sparkle of her mother's half-necklace glittered mockingly at her wrist, the straps blowing faintly in the wind. Death hung over the scene and descended on Zuko, a cloud of utter despair.
Zhao took a step forward and his foot crunched into the snow. The sound made Zuko's brain turn back on and reality began to enter his mind.
"I am sorry, Zuko...so sorry..." Zhao expected it. He had expected it from the moment the plan began to form in his mind.
Zuko's eyes snapped open, his pupils shrunk, his teeth bared. He gave an despairing, furious, ear-splitting roar. When his lightning bolt of fury turned upon the Admiral it was in a wrath unequaled by anything on this earth. His whole being screamed in wrath, his whole body blazing, threatening his own demise, the flames seeping even from behind the framework of his startling gold eyes, his skin torn with burns, his armor blackened, the ice on his body disappeared instantly. A column of smoke rose into the sky as he sprang the full eight feet between himself and the Admiral, roaring, lost in fiery confusion, the unbearable heat of his own anger, his finger tips flooding, spilling scarlet flame like a river of ruthless redemption.
Zhao caught his arms at the wrists and Zuko's face reared up to his, his mouth opened, teeth bared, still screaming the injustice into the demon's face. The Admiral shifted backwards from the pure rush of fury, the adrenaline in Zuko's body pumping double from his fury.
"I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU! GO TO HELL YOU FUCKING -"
"I did not do this, Zuko!" roared Zhao. The man's fist lighted briefly and a blow was landed square in Zuko's chest and he doubled over, his flames dimming instantly. The Prince rolled over to his side and got up onto his knees, coughing terribly, and stared back at the mountain of rubble and the dead, lifeless hand.
"It was an earth bender, Zuko," Zhao whispered softly, letting each word drop with fierce, brutal impact. "It was an earth bender, Zuko. I did not do this."
Zuko stared at the necklace. Tears swelled into his eyes, tears he had before saved only for her. Tears that now streamed down his scarred face and made his left eye sting, tears that fell heedlessly into the snow and turned to ice. Zhao bent down onto one knee and leaned in close to his ear.
"This is what Earth Kingdom does, Zuko," he whispered. Zuko eyes began to clear and his expression changed to one of oncoming fury. Zhao saw it and continued.
"This is why the war was started, Zuko. This is why your father fought. Because this, is what all the other elements do. Fire Nation is not the killer, Zuko."
The Prince's hands clenched slowly in the snow. Flames simmered at his elbows. Zhao's voice echoed into his earlobe.
"Earth Kingdom, Water Tribe, the Air Nomads...they are all our enemies. They are the ruthless ones. They are the killers. They like causing suffering, Zuko. Fire Nation began this war to create peace. Without Fire Nation in control, this would be happening everywhere...everyday...every hour. Killing, destroying innocent lives. Only the Fire Nation can bring peace. Only the Fire Nation can protect this world from itself. You must understand that, Zuko."
Zuko's teeth clenched. His shoulders began to shake and fire ensnared his shoulders. Zhao did not pause. He knew exactly what to say.
"She was killed by an earth bender. We have her killer in custody, and you may dispatch of him how you please. Just promise me one thing, Prince."
Zuko twitched and growled at the mention of the killer and he lowered his gaze to the snow. Blood was staining the ground from the cuts on his knees.
"Help me save the world, Zuko," said Zhao slowly. "Help me rid the earth of these evil men. Help me revenge all these innocent, unnecessary deaths. The only way to bring peace, to yourself and this world, is to bring it under the Fire Nation's control."
Zuko took one long, last look at the dead hand. His legs were shaking terribly, but he stood despite the cold and the pain. The fire glittered across his chest, his arms, his shoulders, his back, anywhere it could seep from skin and cast a red glow onto the frozen, white landscape.
And in that moment, every scrap of his soul, the moral thoughts in his tortured mind, the heart that Katara had helped him discover, gave one last breathe of hope, and died.
He turned to Zhao, his gaze fury, his tone merciless. Hatred. Barbarity. Ferocity. Fury. Fire.
"I'll do...whatever you say."