Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar or anything associated with it except my fanfictions.
Long chapter. Ending rushed. Yeah.
Zhao was about to explode.
Even with the rank of commander, apparently there were still things out of his reach. The Colonel of this cursed citadel being a prime example of this.
Zhao stared longingly at the men below him. One of them, fairly new to the profession, took careful aim and fired a single arrow at a target. This was followed by a second and third arrow. The first arrow hit the bulls-eye. The second split the first arrow. The third split the second and flew right through the target. This occurred under the darkness of night, with no light to guide the man's aim. Such worthy archers, insulted by performing such a demeaning task. This colonel was too incompetent to see the opportunities in front of him.
Granted, the colonel must have been somewhat acclaimed to have attained such a high and exalted position - over this domineering fortress with a fleet of ships and a troop of snipers to boot! - but still, the matter remained that this colonel was too blind to see the importance of Zhao's request. "Absolutely not! The Yuyan Archers stay here. Your request is denied, Commander Zhao."
The Commander bristled. But he decided to take a more tactical approach to this matter. Jeong-Jeong would've been proud of his self-control. Not. "Colonel Shinu, please reconsider ... Their precision is legendary," Zhao began, tiptoeing lightly around his superior. "The Yuyan can pin a fly to a tree from one hundred yards away ... without killing it." His temper flared. Forget about deceptive politics. He didn't rise to the rank of Commander by sitting back and sipping tea - unlike a certain failure and disgrace to the Fire Nation. "You're wasting their talents using them as mere security guards," he snapped, all sugarcoating melted away by the anger that fueled his bending.
"I can do whatever I want with their talents, they're my archers, and what I say goes," Shinu replied. Zhao turned to look at the ground once more. He saw the same archer fire four arrows in quick succession. Three of them hit the targets dead-center. The fourth still hit the bulls-eye, but was not shot with the same strength as the other three and hit a little below the center of the target. Still. Especially for someone so new, that was impressive marksmanship. Zhao spun angrily to confront Shinu face-to-face. "But my search for the Avatar is-"
He was cut off when Shinu brought his face up to Zhao's and scoffed, "Is nothing but a vanity project! We're fighting a real war here, and I need every man I've got, commander."
"But!-"
"That's final! I don't wanna hear another word about it!"
Zhao fumed, and prepared to slink back in defeat when suddenly the sound of a messenger hawk's cry pierced through the air. The hawk flew straight towards the two high-ranking officers, coming to rest at Shinu. Shinu impassively extracted the roll of paper in the message tube and unwrapped it. His eyes widened as he read the contents, and his face paled.
Zhao took notice. "News from Fire Lord Ozai?" he asked nonchalantly.
Shinu went through a variety of faces - shock, anger, irritation, fear. He made as though to tear the message up, then finally relented and gave to Zhao with a defeated sigh.
Zhao passed the Colonel angrily reading the news, but his anger quickly disappeared, and the grin on his face grew wider and wider with each word he read.
He smiled in triumph. "It appears I've been promoted to Admiral," Zhao said with glee. "My request ... is now an order."
Shinu looked like he wanted to do something to the detriment of the newly-promoted Admiral - so soon after the Admiral's last promotion too! - but he decided against it, and with a low bow of respect, Shinu left to carry out his new superior's orders.
Aang was busy.
Running to and fro across the ship's deck, he frantically tried to grant the simple yet vital requests of the crew; water, cloth, the occasional cry for a bite or two of food. He was a very laid-back boy, which made him especially suffer when almost all of the crew had caught some strange sickness.
Granted, it wasn't strange, as it left a fever, and everyone knew what fevers were, but it still was nasty. Everyone who had it was bedridden, coughing to the point where handkerchiefs were kept on hand to soak up the blood expelled from the hacking coughs some of the crew suffered from.
Sokka had it the worst. He did not have any unfortunate bleeding episodes, but he was by far the furthest into the illness than everyone else. His insane ramblings convinced otherwise. "Oh, Appa, you're so hilarious!" Sokka cried when Aang entered the room.
Aang raised an eyebrow. "Um... Appa's downstairs."
Momo flew in and voiced his agreement with Aang. "Ha ha! Classic Appa and Momo!" Sokka chuckled. Momo's ears drooped as he observed his once-predator reduced to a messy mush of emotions.
Iroh poked his head in. "How's everything going?" he said in concern, nursing a cup of chamomile tea. Iroh coughed into his sleeve, precariously balancing the scalding cup on one hand.
Aang shook his head. "Not good. It was only the day before yesterday that he was coughing as badly as you were. And now look at him! He thinks he's an earthbender!"
"Take that, you rock!" Sokka pronounced thickly, arms flailing around in what was obviously meant to be punching. Iroh shook his head. Then, to Aang's horror, Iroh started coughing, blood and tea indiscriminately splattering on the floor, and it was with great difficulty that Iroh pulled himself together. They both looked at each other with wide eyes.
In a low whisper, Aang said, "That was how Sokka was yesterday." He started pacing around the room, flapping his arms. "Even when I was flying, I couldn't find any place with ginger! I really don't know what to do now, what with myself being the only person having not caught the sickness yet."
Iroh peered at Aang curiously. "Are airbenders immune to certain diseases?" he asked.
Aang nodded. "But only airborne ones. Contaminated water and that kind of stuff can still do an airbender in. There's still a chance I catch this, although it's low."
Iroh sighed. "There is still one hope. Yesterday, during a brief lull in Zuko's fever, I took a quick walk outside. On the mountains some distance away, I saw a sort of building. I believe that building belongs to a herbalist; what kind of person will build such a huge place so far away from society? Besides the airbenders, but we are nowhere near the landscapes of the temples."
Aang's eyes widened. "But that means leaving you all here!-" Iroh started coughing wetly again. Aang facepalmed himself. "Nevermind. Just don't get into too much trouble while I'm gone saving this ship," Aang said, snapping his glider open and about to fly to the mountain.
A bolt of lightning missed Aang by a hair. He quickly landed, and tossed the glider-staff inside the ship. "Guess it's not weather for flying, huh," he said. He took a deep breath in, and then sped his way to the far away peaks.
Their job was so boring.
Day in, day out, looking at the side of a mountain.
Nothing ever happened.
Nothing would ever happen.
His buddy read a Fire Nation poster out loud in an effort to pass the time - some wanted poster of the Avatar. "Says here that the Avatar can create tornadoes and run faster than the wind. Pretty amazing!"
He snorted in derision at his pal's idiocy. "Ah, that's just a bunch of Fire Lord propaganda! There's no way that's true!"
A flash of movement caught his eye. His heart quickened. He wasn't expecting action out here. Monotonous though his post was, he would gladly take boredom over death any day of the year.
He peered through his telescope, and saw a cloud of dust going up and down the hills, coming closer and closer. It was moving faster than the wind, and showing no signs of stopping. He saw a blur of orange and yellow getting closer and closer.
He realized what was going to happen. In the wake of the flash passing by them, the wooden outpost was blown to the ground, screaming scouts still inside. Once they recovered, they looked at each other, eyes wide, and his partner sounded the horn.
Maybe some things in propaganda were true.
And maybe some action wasn't too bad once in a while. So long as he could still walk and talk and quip.
Aang finally reached the building, panting. His eyes widened as he took in the interior of the space. If Iroh wasn't raised as the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, this was exactly how Aang envisioned Iroh's abode to look like. Flora bedecked the entire stone building, plants of all different shapes and sizes and smells crowding the seemingly cramped institute. After wandering through the kaleidoscope of green, he finally saw an old woman at a table, with a cat preening itself next to her.
The cat meowed, and the woman glanced over her shoulder. Her eyes widened in pleasant surprise. "Well, well, well. What do we have here, Miyuki?"
Aang didn't bother wasting time with introductions. "HelloI'msorrytobargeinlikethisbutIneedsomemedicineformyfriends,theyhavefeversandtheywerecoughing- "
"Settle down, young man. Your friends are going to be fine." The herbalist said. "I've been up here for over forty years you know - used to be others, but they all left years ago. Now it's just me and my Miyuki. She affectionately petted her cat, who purred in contentment.
Aang didn't know how to react. He was here to save his friends' lives, and this herbalist was bothering with small talk? "Erm... that's nice," he said awkwardly, hoping the old woman would take the hint.
She didn't. "Wounded Earth Kingdom troops still come by now and again - brave boys - and thanks to my remedies they always leave in better shape they when they arrive."
Aang had prickle-snakes in his pants. "That's nice." he said dismissively. He saw that the herbalist was making a concoction while they were talking. Maybe things weren't as bad as he thought. "Are you almost done?" Aang said, pointing to the mortar and pestle in front of the lady.
"Hold on there, I just need to add one last ingredient." The herbalist walked along her shrubbery, scrutinizing her plants with an expert eye, muttering to herself. "Oh, sandalwood ... oh, er, uh, that won't do. Banana leaf? Ah, nope. Uh, ginger root, uh-uh. Oh, where is that pesky little plant?" Aang was practically hopping up and down in his impatience.
Finally, finally the old woman found what she was looking for. "Ah! Plum blossom!" she exclaimed, stopping in front of a bush. She plucked a blossom from the tree, then added it to her concoction, humming all the while.
Aang brought his head up in excitement, having almost drifted off to sleep what with the sluggishness of the old lady. "Finally!" he said in relief, grabbing the bowl from the woman's hands. "Thanks for all your help!"
Instead of being greeted with a "You're welcome," he found himself slapped upside the head with the spoon the herbalist had used. "Ow!" he said.
"Hands off!" said the herbalist. "What do you think you're doing?"
Aang rubbed his head. "Taking the cure to my friends," he retorted, frustrated. Then, looking at the lady, the first female he had seen in a long time, he was reminded of a certain blue-eyed beauty from a different time and place...
The woman stared at him in utter confusion, mouth slightly agape, spoon held at the ready to hit Aang once more. Then she lowered the ladle, and laughed in amusement.
"This isn't a cure! It's Miyuki's dinner. "Plum blossom is her favorite," the woman said lovingly, placing the bowl on the ground for Miyuki to eat.
Aang's eyes bulged. All this time he'd been waiting... for this? Katara, he thought. Would she be angry at this lady? "...I'm sorry. But what about my friends? They're really sick and have high fevers. One of them is delirious. Could you please help me?" he asked.
"Well, all they need are some frozen wood frogs. There's plenty down in the valley swamp."
"What am I supposed to do with frozen frogs?"
"Why, suck on them of course!" the herbalist cheerfully informed him.
Aang's eyes became perfect circles, and they began to tic wildly. "Suck on them?" he asked in denial and disgust. He felt like he was going to throw up.
"The frog skin excretes a substance that will cure your friends. Be sure to get plenty because once those little critters thaw out, they're useless!"
Oh yeah, like that made things better. Sucking on frogs! The people he saved would never let him hear the end of it -
But then again, he wasn't in a position to leave people behind to die. He'd already done that to the Air Nomads. And to Katara. Katara... he'd left her necklace back at the ship, knowing something would likely happen to it between the storm, his mad rush, and the fact that he was the Avatar. He wasn't repeating the same mistake again.
He signed in resignation. "You're insane, aren't you?" he asked.
The herbalist smiled cheerfully. "That's right!" When Aang just stood there, gaping at her, she lifted her spoon threateningly. "Well, don't stand there all day! Go!"
Aang had never run faster in his life.
The weather had abated somewhat, although a light drizzle accompanied the Avatar on his journey to the swamp. He, however, thought of nothing except of what the herbalist told him.
Frogs? Frozen? Suck on them? Suck on Frozen Frogs? Yilch! What a crazy lady! Glad I'll probably never speak with her again. I hate her Miyuki, I hate her, I hate the stupid plants. I hate those frogs! Monkey feathers on top of monkey feathers! How am I going to live this down?
Suddenly, something made him trip and fall to the ground. He groaned in annoyance, ready to kick the rock that had tripped him once he got up to vent his frustration.
Except he was forcefully pulled back to the ground, and so he looked at the wooden shaft stabbed through his clothing.
That was no rock.
He heard a whistling in the sky as a hail of arrows homed in on their target. The airbender hastily put up a wind shield to sweep the arrows away. After tugging at the arrow on his shoes - who knew arrows were so hard to pull out! - some weird men dressed in red paint with bows and full quivers walked up to him.
Aang laughed nervously. "Eh-heh. You guys dropped this... heh, heh?" he said, holding up the arrow he had pulled free.
The archers simply nocked their arrows, pulled back, and -
Aang wasn't sticking around to see the result. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed as he scrambled away from the arrow storm flying at him. First frogs, and now this? Why couldn't the Spirits take some pity on one of their own?
He dodged, he climbed trees, he blew over some trees to mask his trail. The archers followed him, silent, deadly, and emotionless as they chased the screaming boy.
At long last, Aang stepped on empty air. Re-balancing himself, he saw that he was on the edge of a cliff. He looked behind him to see the archers had almost caught up to him.
Fed up with trying to escape the archers, he leapt off the cliff and slid downwards.
For a brief moment, Aang thought the archers wouldn't be able to follow him. Right on cue, the archers leapt down, fired grappling arrows, and used the trees to swing themselves in Aang's direction. They landed, and started running.
Aang saw this behind his shoulder, running all the while, finally stomping hard on something that made a splash.
He looked down, and saw water. Great... a swamp... he thought annoyed. His eyes widened. A swamp.
He hastily waded into the frigid water, and crouched to pick up anything that felt glassy and cold to the touch. After accumulating a sufficient number of frogs, he stood up - and four arrows embedded into the rock next to him - his right sleeve caught in the crossfire.
He raised his left hand to try and free his clothing, but all that succeeded in doing was disabling both of the airbender's arms. He stared glumly at the archers now walking up to him in grim triumph.
Yippee.
Although technically he was still a prisoner aboard Zuko's ship, he was certain his new captors wouldn't be so nice.
Case in point: he was shackled to iron chains, his wrists and ankles bound, prohibiting him from moving anything except his head.
Zhao walked up menacingly towards him. "So this is the great Avatar. Master of all the elements. I don't know how you've managed to elude the Fire Nation for a hundred years, but your little game of hide and seek is over."
Aang only glared up at him. "I've never hidden from you! Untie me and I'll fight you right now!" he shouted, in a desperate attempt to take advantage of the Fire Nation's supposed honor.
Zhao snorted. "Uhh, how about no. So tell me, how does it feel to be the only airbender left? Do you miss your people?" Each word was a blow to Aang's gut, and a piece of weight forcing Aang's shoulders to sag. "Don't worry, you won't be killed like they were." Aang's fire returned. "See, if you die you will just be reborn and the Fire Nation would have to start searching all over again. So I'll keep you alive, but just barely."
Aang had enough of Zhaos' conceited taunting. He took a deep breath and blew. Zhao, attempting to leave the prison cell, did not see the gale behind him and was slammed humiliatingly against the cell door. Zhao glared back at Aang, and spat on the boy. He flinched from the spittle landing on him. "Blow all the wind you want, boy, but your situation is futile. There is no escaping this fortress, and no one is coming to rescue you."
Aang's eyes shifted downward as he heard Zhao's triumphant laugh echoing beyond the cell.
Aang wished he never left the iceberg.
Or at least, never entered it in the first place.
He woke up to a commotion. Guards yelling, then shouting, then bursts of fire, then silence. The process repeated itself several times.
Aang wondered how long he'd been in the cell. One day? Two weeks? It didn't really matter; what matter was that it was long enough for Aang to fall asleep. And then be brutally awakened by whatever drinking fiasco that went out there. Or maybe it wasn't drinking, because he didn't hear any slurred singing.
Eventually, Aang heard a faint hissing only heard when water doused a fire. He perked up. Was someone from the Water Tribe here to save him? No, he reminded himself. Most of the world still didn't know he was alive.
Suddenly, the door to his cell burst open, and a man stepped in.
Or rather, a man with a blue spirit mask, teeth bared in aggression and determination. He carried two swords, one in each hand. Aang briefly wondered who had come to save him when the blue spirit man suddenly charged at him, spinning his swords around recklessly.
Aang cringed and shut his eyes closed, thinking that twelve years old was too young to die. He didn't count the century in the iceberg for obvious reasons. At least the blades were sharp and would do a quick job.
When he heard the clang of metal against metal, he opened his eyes - and realized his arms were free. He looked at his rescuer, wide-eyed.
With two swift strokes, the blue spirit also cut the shackles holding his legs in place, and rushed to the door. He stopped and beckoned to the newly freed boy behind him.
"You want me to come with you?" Aang asked. The spirit jerked its head towards the door. "Okay," Aang said. "Let's get out of here so I can help my friends - no no no!"
This last part was in response to the frozen frogs tucked under his shirt having thawed out somewhat. Using their hind legs, they propelled themselves away from their former captor, taking a different direction than the way out.
"My frogs! Come back! And stop thawing out!" the blue spirit huffed and dragged Aang by his collar. "Wait! My friends need to suck on those frogs!"
He could've sworn the spirit almost tripped, but the spirit caught himself. And besides, Aang reminded himself. Spirits don't trip. They don't have anything to trip on.
Or maybe this guy was just a regular person.
Zhao was still buzzing from his elation at capturing the Avatar.
He had proven Shino wrong. He had done what even the hard-pressed banished prince had failed at. He had the Avatar, and he would be honored beyond his wildest dreams.
Head still feeling light after his speech, he animatedly talked to his personal scribe. "I want a full transcription of my speech sent to the Fire Lord, along with glowing testimonials from all of the ranking officers present, and –"
And he heard moans. Coming from the direction of the Avatar's cell, no less!
Everything suddenly turned for the worse. In daze, he rushed into the hallway, seeing the prone forms of the top-notch guards he had assigned to detain the Avatar. The Avatar was slippery, as had been proved the day the Fire Sages betrayed their nation - but still.
He kicked the door open, knowing what lay inside. Several coils of shattered chains - and no Avatar.
Noticing this change of situation, the scribe unhelpfully asked, "Sir, should I hold off sending that speech to the Fire Lord?"
Zhao, ignoring the imbecile, sprinted away from the ruins of his failure, determined to rectify his mistake.
They finally saw the pale light of the moon.
Going through spiraling stairs, over winding walkways, and doing everything in their power to escape detection, they had finally made it out of the heart of the fortress - and into its proverbial moat. Three of them, to be exact.
There were three walls they had to pass, each one harder to sneak through than the last. What seemed like a simple rescue mission before had become a prayer to the Spirits above for mere survival.
The first wall was further than a fruit pie shot away, and many guards patrolled the area. There were too many of them to remain hidden, let alone to overpower.
But still, they had to try. The next time a lantern light faded away, the two escapees simultaneously slipped their way to the walls. The Blue Spirit tossed a rope, attempting to loop it around the merlon of the ramparts of the inner wall. After tugging it to see that it held, the Blue Spirit motioned to the rope with one hand. Aang eagerly hopped on, the Blue Spirit close behind.
They were roughly halfway up the wall when a light was shone on them. The patrols were too frequent. Aang cursed. "Over here!" shouted one of the guards.
Another guard appeared above them, and cut the rope. Aang fell to the ground with a scream, the Blue Spirit with an audible "oomph!"
Hey, Spirits don't oomph like that, I think. And is it just me, or have I heard that sound before?... Aang quickly got up and found himself and the Blue Spirit surrounded by guards.
Without hesitation, the Blue Spirit jumped in front of Aang, brandishing his two swords, and began dispatching the guards, his two swords cutting through spear shafts like sickles through wheat. Aang noticed that despite the fierce fighting, the Blue Spirit avoided outright killing, instead preferring to simply knock his opponents out. My kind of guy, Aang thought approvingly. He shuddered. Yuck, that sounded wrong. At least for him.
It's not like anyone holds a candle to Katara though...
Jeez, what was with his mind on Katara? There was a reason he had left the necklace on board; in case something like this happened on his lonesome. But still. Couldn't he think about her later, when he wasn't in imminent danger of being stabbed by a spear?
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Zhao running on top of the wall, shouting "The Avatar has escaped! Close all the gates immediately!"
Immediately, Aang sprinted to the closing gates. He was about to squeeze through the last layer of spikes when he turned back and saw the Blue Spirit trying to hold off the soldiers as long as he could.
He saw a picture of his people... suddenly disappearing after a poof of smoke.
He saw Katara and her blue eyes... and remembered how she didn't leave her people behind, and how he had left her...
And he was transported to the present, about to leave yet another person behind.
Not. Happening.
Aang jumped into the fro, ignoring the closed gates behind him, airbending the guards to the opposite side of the citadel. At least, he thought. He couldn't see them, what with how far he blew them away.
Aang picked up a spear shaft that was on the ground next to him. He whirled it around experimentally. It wasn't a glider-staff, but it would do.
"Grab onto my back!" he shouted.
The Blue Spirit obeyed, and after frantically whirling his hands around, he managed to lift them both off the ground and over the first wall. Spears and arrows came at them from all sides, which the Blue Spirit deftly reflected with its twin blades. After several harrowing minutes, Aang managed to bring them on top of the second wall before his arms gave out from exhaustion and lack of blood flow from his imprisonment, and Blue Spirit and Avatar alike tumbled into a heap.
They quickly got back up, dispatching the guards on the wall with relative ease, when Aang noticed some weird sticks poking out from the crenel of the wall.
"Ladders!" Aang shouted, quickly rushing over to the wall. He and the Blue Spirit eventually depopulated the ladders - Aang being twice as efficient due to his airbending - and with that done, Aang had a crazy, desperate idea. He hauled up his two ladders, gave one for the Spirit to hold, and then motioned to the ladder the Spirit was stationed at.
"Jump on my back!" Aang cried, and once he felt the heavy weight of the Spirit on his back, he stepped onto the highest rung of the first ladder.
Slowly, they careened away from the wall, and quickly approached the ground. However, at the last moment possible, Aang brought the ladder in his hand to the ground, and catapulted the two escapees off the ground once more. He motioned for the other ladder, and repeated the process again. Finally, he jumped for the wall at the exact same time another soldier finally thought of the idea of lighting the ladders on fire.
But it wasn't enough. Their grips on this last wall weakened with their earlier exertion, and they fell to the ground.
When they got up, they shakily got into fighting stances, the Blue Spirit's swords quivering, Aang's arms shaking. Zhao walked up to them in triumphant smirk, and four firebenders shot flames at them.
Aang pulled the Blue Spirit behind him and swept his leg. The fire was dispelled into the still-dark skies. "Stop!" shouted Zhao. "The Avatar must be captured alive!"
The next thing he knew, Aang felt two sharp blades of steel on his neck. He gasped as the Blue Spirit calmly carried out its last gambit. Zhao and the Spirit stared each other down, each daring the other to make the next move, Zhao with his angered expression, the Spirit with its emotionless mask.
Zhao caved in. "Open the gates," Zhao said calmly.
"But sir!-"
"Open. The. Gates."
After hearing the rumbling of the gates, the Blue Spirit forcefully backpedaled Aang, the swords still at the young boy's neck. After they had gone some distance away, Zhao grinned.
"What do you find advantageous in this situation, Admiral? The Avatar has been extracted from an elite group of warriors and an impregnable fortress. You should be anguished over your failure, not -"
"Aim."
The Yuyan Archer no one took heed of suddenly came into view, carefully aiming at the Blue Spirit. Everyone gasped as they realized it was not the Blue Spirit that had the final move.
Although the Blue Spirit itself may have made its final move.
"Fire."
The arrow sliced through the air.
Aang saw everything in slow motion.
The arrow whizzing past his ear. The clang of the missile on the mask. The fall of his rescuer.
He quickly raised up a dust shield, blocking the view of the duo. At long last, Aang cautiously pried away the mask, wanting to see exactly who had broke him out. He gasped.
It... it couldn't be...
A man in a mask, hiding on top of the roof of the tower, quietly made his leave.
Zuko contemplated what he had heard.
When he had woke up, he still felt slightly confused over his sudden development. He didn't feel so... angry... anymore. He assumed it was because he had finally made peace with his inner self.
But still, to make sure he had made the right decision for himself, he donned his spirit mask - one that his Uncle Iroh had claimed as a spoil of war from the Northern Water Tribe - and set out to reflect on what happened.
His last clear memory was of letting Sokka join them - and then he saw white stars, then black stars, then a starry night, and then after that the heat and the thirst. And two voices screaming inside his head.
"Follow your heart!"
"Follow your destiny!"
"Bring honor to the world!"
"Bring honor to your nation!"
And it went on... and on... and on... and on...
Eventually he snapped and grabbed onto the first voice, not caring at all who it was, hoping the mad ramblings would stop... he held the arm of Roku? The other voice revealed itself to belong to Sozin, who then hissed, "Traitor" as he faded to nothingness.
Roku shook his head. "You are the traitor, Sozin, for destroying the balance of the world."
And Zuko jolted from his bed, no one there to greet him. It was night, and he quietly crept from his room, leapt off the ship, and wandered aimlessly.
He had almost been caught by some Fire Nation soldiers - a pair of bumbling fools with less brains put together than a nut. Still, his heart hammered as he heard their footsteps fading into the night.
After walking for some time, he saw where they resided. The Po-Huai stronghold. Of course. But then that meant... that he'd been out.. for over three-quarters of the journey so far? Man, no wonder his stomach rumbled for food. Good thing he took a tip from stowaway Sokka and nabbed some lychee nuts to eat.
They almost gave him away. He had popped the last juicy nut into his mouth when he overheard Captain Zhao's haughty voice yelling at the residing Colonel - probably not Shen anymore, as Shen used to be good friends with Zuko and Iroh.
Sure enough, he saw who was formerly captain Shinu rejecting Zhao's request - Zhao was a Commander now? What in the Four Nations did he do to acquire that title?! - to use the Yuyan Archers to capture the Avatar. Their little spat concluded when Zhao received a message promoting him to the rank of admiral, and then practically rubbing it in Shinu's face.
That settled it. That was the final hammer strike to the nail in the coffin. His nation's honor was dead - if it had ever existed in the first place. He couldn't believe he had been so proud of petty men like them. He was done with the lies, done with the fake inadequacy, done with pursuing nonexistent hope.
He would set on his own path, and find his own honor.
He crept back to the ship, hid away his mask, collapsed on his bed, suddenly lightheaded, and stared at the dual swords hanging on his wall.
When Zuko woke up, he found Iroh lying on the floor next to his bed. Zuko became concerned. "Uncle, are you okay?"
His uncle croaked out, "Crew... sick... here... days... Aang... cure..."
Zuko's eyes widened in comprehension. He looked at his uncle, sighed, and - making sure his Uncle was asleep - took out his mask, grabbed the broadswords, and made haste towards the PoHuai stronghold.
Everything after that passed in a blur... the infiltration... the escape... the gambit... the... the arrow and the dust cloud... and... and...
He slowly opened his eyes, seeing... trees? And the soft glow of dawn?
That meant only one thing: he wasn't captured. He turned to face his strange savior, eyes widening when he realized it was...
"How's it going, Zuko." Zuko blinked, surprised that he was called by his real name. Aang sat on a log, looking out into the distance. Zuko opened his mouth to say something, but Aang beat him to it.
"You know what the worst part of being born over a hundred years ago is? I miss all the friends I used to hang out with. Before the war started, I used to always visit my friend Kuzon. The two of us, we'd get in and out of so much trouble together. He was one of the best friends I ever had, and he was from the Fire Nation, just like you. If we knew each other back then, do you think we could have been friends, too?"
Aang visibly tensed, likely preparing himself for the angry fireball that Zuko would shoot. But Zuko was done with that life. His anger and his humiliation had disappeared with the intensity of his migraines. He was new. He was changed. He was different. He was better. And he wanted to show it. Starting with the Avatar. The world's hope to peace and balance.
He opened his mouth to say the seven words that set his destiny in stone. For good.
"What's keeping us from being friends now?"
Aang blinked in shock. Zuko had said what? The boy who screamed at everyone, who shut him from the world, the person who swore to hunt down the Avatar - asking what was holding them back from being friends? And, before he knew it, he was hugging the person who was supposed to be his bitterest enemy, biting back tears.
Maybe some things really would never change.
But the things that did, maybe were for the better.
When they broke apart, Zuko had a wry smile on his face. "Now, what was that you were saying in the fortress about making me and my crew suck frogs... A-vuh-tar?"
"Helmsman! Full steam ahead!" He added to the cheers of the crew, "We have an Avatar to escort to the North Pole."
Jee walked over to the reformed former prince. "Can't believe you went with us."
Zuko smiled cheekily. "Can't believe it took me this long."
Jee sighed. "And I still can't believe what you did to us."
After both boys - two friends, two surrogate brothers - went back to the swamp, it did not take long to procure the necessary items. They returned to the ship, distributed the frogs, and within the day, all of the crew members were retching from the disgusting things that were put in their mouths, Iroh included.
"Yeah, seriously, Hotman and Airboy. You couldn't have given us something different? Medicine would've been great. Even some tea would've been nice! But of course you had to stick with the frogs," Sokka complained.
Iroh nodded. "And you two won't know the sickness we have weathered, the suffering we have endured, the humiliation we have experienced."
"Hey, at least we didn't have to suck on some of tho-" Zuko was cut short by a series of coughs, and Aang followed soon afterward. After a short reprieve, all those present stared at each other.
Faces burning, heads hung low, the two boys stuck their hands out, and a beaming Sokka presented them with two frozen frogs. "Happy sucking!" he said cheerfully as his friends cursed and muttered evil things under their breath.
Please Review. I know the ending is rushed, but... heck of a long chapter.
