Wishfull-star: \( ω )/

Maldea: Thanks, I'm glad you like it!


Hearing this, Ace's hands started to shake, and the images of Azula and her torture came to mind. Arnook found him hurrying home, and he looked ashamed while doing so. "I want you to go to the spirit oasis and protect it, Ace." Ace was glad he wasn't at the front lines. He apologized, but the chief said he'd done more than enough to strengthen their warriors.

The older teen nodded, and hurried home first to get a face mask he put on over everything but his eyes. No Fire Nation person would know it was him. He also had the black hair and beads, along with water tribe clothing. He looked nothing other than water tribe, as his lighter skin was shadowed and he had gloves on.

Nobody would know it was him. Ace hurried to the oasis and stood in the entrance of it, behind the wooden door so nobody was expecting him there. "Don't worry, Tui and La, I won't let anything happen to you," he said firmly, no longer shaking now that he was disguised. He had a spear, just in case, though he didn't know how to use it well.

The fish glowed for a moment before they dimmed back down. Had they responded to him? He was going to keep that promise and protect them.

There was a knock on the wooden door. "It's me and Aang, Ace. We're here for an important reason," Yue said through the door, and Ace opened it before shutting it quickly behind them. The three headed to the spirit pond, and Ace didn't watch what they were doing, continuing to be the guard.

Behind him, Yue explained that the reason it was warm, was because it was the source of spiritual energy in the north pole. Ace had wondered why it wasn't the spirit forest. Maybe Tui and La were just the most powerful spirits on the continent. But there was no room for curiosity now.

Ace whipped around when he heard a male voice, who had come from the outside wall, and shot forward before he could firebend at all, before he knew Ace was there, quiet at his feet. Ace instantly pressed every single pressure point on his body in seconds, rendering him completely helpless and immobile.

"How dare you?! Let me go, I'm taking the Avatar with me!" Ace motioned for Katara to trap his whole body in ice. He didn't speak, and they didn't voice his name. "Hey! That's Ty Lee's movements! Who are you?!" Ace didn't respond. So, Ty Lee taught him. Someone from the Fire Nation. How ironic.

Ace dragged him to the entrance and dropped him into the water that Katara froze further. There was no getting out for him. Yue thanked him, not saying his name. Ace nodded. He didn't know who this guy was, but Ace wasn't going to reveal anything. Not even his voice. The firebender was furious. He was deadset on getting the Avatar while the boy meditated.

But the non bender, chi blocker wasn't going to allow that. When he melted the ice, Ace jabbed him once again. "Damn it!" he swore. He was pissed at Ace, and Katara was helping him. They were both working to restrain him.

"Yue, get help from others. Some chains will do, he keeps melting the ice," Ace called. He put his foot on the enemy's back and pushed him under the water while Yue quickly passed and through the hole.

"Thanks!" she called as she ran. Ace took his foot off of his back and the guy resurfaced. He tried turning around, but then frantically said that sounded like Ace's voice. Shit. He knew him, then. Ace wasn't interested in finding out how, though. He didn't respond, just chi blocked him again.

"Please, tell me, are you Ace?" he shouted. "It's me, Zuko! You've been here all this time?!" Ace's face hardened, though he couldn't be seen.

"Kataru, freeze him this way," Ace said darkly, and grabbed the block of ice his former "friend" was in, and hung him upset down. It would be very uncomfortable. Zuko asked why Ace was acting like this, why he was going against him. Ace didn't respond for a moment, but then he did.

He said, "I don't remember shit about you. Other than you left me to be tortured for two years. Don't try and act like my friend, I'm not the same as I was when I was with you." His voice was full of disgust, and Zuko looked emotional, but not angry.

"I didn't know where you were! I tried to find you, but father would let me know!" Ace wasn't moved by this information. He was perfectly happy here. So, he threatened to kill Zuko if he planned on telling Ozai or Azula where he was. "Never!" Ace still didn't care about him. Maybe they were friends once upon a time, but he wasn't going back to that. "Why aren't you firebending?"

Ace wasn't a firebender. He stated so. "But your so strong! And you can heal from anything!" Zuko was thoroughly confused. Ace took a rock, took off a glove and nicked his finger with it, showing blood.

"I guess I'm more different than before than I thought," Ace said. Zuko looked truly upset about the circumstances. His old friend hated him, and threatened to kill him, along with not remembering anything about him. If Zuko wasn't who he was, then Ace might have felt true pity for him.

But he was Fire Nation royalty, and Azula's brother.

"Katara, is there any way you can move Aang out of this area? He's already in the spirit world." She replied that, if they moved him, then he'd be unable to find his body. "Damn. If he's here, more people should be coming." But Zuko had lost all of his drive, he was silent and sad.

"Nobody is coming after me, nobody knows I'm here. I can leave and nobody would know. If you let me go, I'll leave and never bother the Northern Water Tribe again. If it's your home, I won't harm it," Zuko said, sounding truly sincere. Ace looked at Katara, who admitted that he sounded genuine.

Ace looked down at him with a frown. He did sound sincere, and his eyes and nose were red like he was holding in tears. Ace now did feel pity for him. "Fine, I'll get you out of here. If you come back, I will kill you."

"I won't," he said in defeat. Ace asked Katara to make an ice staircase up to the tundra. Katara did it, and they lost one threat. Ace grabbed the frozen Zuko and ran up the stairs. Zuko said nothing until they were up there. Ace ran with him far from the city and into the tundra. But then he spoke. "I'm so sorry that I couldn't save you. Are… you happy here?"

"I am," Ace said quietly. He broke the ice encasing Zuko, and Ace told him, "A couple miles that way, there should be an igloo. It'll still be cold inside, but it'll be protection from the storm that's coming. It'll be here pretty soon… I'm not sorry I don't remember. I'm still upset nobody found me for two years. But I hope you survive."

Zuko said, "I will never approach you again. I swear on my life and honor." He bowed his head, and left. Ace said a quiet goodbye to his old life completely. He waited until Zuko was out of view, and then went back to the spirit oasis. He saw somebody was there, and enemy, and he was targeting the fish.

Ace jumped, dropping down and hitting all his pressure points before flipping him over and into the water. His mask was back up, he was safe, and nobody would say his name. Katara took out the others who'd come with him. "Let me go! I am Zhao the conqueror! I will destroy your precious moon, and defeat all waterbenders!" Ace was silent.

This was starting to get scary, because this one was a big wig. But then reinforcements came, Marco and Sokka. Yue waited outside. "Ace, I thought Zuko was here!"

"Ace? I recognize that name. The dragon, here? How interes-" But Marco never let him finish before he waterbended a huge amount of water into Zhao's mouth and up his nose, drowning him. The guy was unable to move due to the ice as well as still affected by the chi blocking. He thrashed his head around, trying to cough the water out, but Marco forced it to stay.

The four others pinned to the wall were silent and still, watching their leader be drowning outside of the water. His eyes started to turn red, and then he stilled. Marco kept the water in by freeze his face as if plugging the water into his body. He was dead. Then he suffocated the other firebenders.

"Not a soul will know Ace is here," he growled. Those in the clearing were shocked, including Ace. Marco took a deep breath, and apologized to them for seeing that. Sokka said it was his fault for saying Ace's name in the first place. Katara admitted that was the truth. Marco then waterbended them all out onto the tundra. He climbed the steps to dispose of their bodies. When he came back down, he hugged Ace tightly, and Ace hugged him back. He wasn't afraid or bothered by Marco saving him. Zhao would have told everyone Ace was there. The only way to permanently silence him was to kill him.

They both were to defend the door as Aang still meditated. But he came back, seemingly confused. He saw the two fish were okay. "Aang, are you okay?" Katara asked. Aang nodded, and asked what happened. The koi spirits were in danger! "It doesn't seem anymore. Zuko's gone and the one who aimed to destroy the moon as well."

"They're okay?! That's great! I guess I went into the spirit world for nothing!" Aang said happily. Ace wasn't surprised he wasn't frustrated by his efforts not being needed. But they could hear the Northern Water Tribe being destroyed. If Ace could do anything to help, he would. This was his home, and it was hurting. He ran up the stairs and looked to see there were still a ton of Fire Nation ships and weapons.

What would they do? The city was falling!

"These stupid humans keep wrecking the forest!"

"Stop, this isn't the way!"

"But they're killing all the animals, not just targeting us spirits. I'll drive them out without burning them, are you happy with that?" Ace asked. The human sighed but nodded. Ace blew out fire that scared the humans, and it was almost solid as it forced them far, far from the forest, but didn't burn anything around.

No foliage and no animals were harmed. "Wow! You have to teach me that skill!" Ace looked at him and said he would not. "Well, thanks for not hurting any of the humans. I appreciate it."

"You're the only good human around, Wan."

Ace came back, and dropped down. "The Fire Nation is destroying the city! It's being pummeled with fire and flaming rock!" he shouted, pulling his mask down. "I think I could save everyone." Everyone but Yue looked surprised by this, and Marco asked how. "It might be stupid, I don't want to say, but it has to do with them," he said, pointing to the fish. Aang said he couldn't enter the pool, defensively, but Yue told them to do it. She was confident the spirits would be okay. She told him to hurry, and Ace didn't hesitant to step into the pool and sit down, only his head out so he could breathe.

It felt like the world faded away when the moon spirit distanced itself from the ocean koi and started to circle Ace. The ocean koi continued its circle dance alone. Ace took a long deep breath and put his head under. Then he saw everything.


Poor Zuko. :(