AN: I genuinely can't believe people are giving this the time of day. Thank you all so much for stopping by to read, favorite and follow, and a sincere special thanks to those who have left reviews thus far, I can't tell you how much reading what people think of my writing means to me. Much love to you all!
P.S. No worries about blind Sasuke, this is post-EMS.
Chapter 2: Misalignment
Narrowly avoiding a knife that swept past his ribs, Sasuke attempted a grab at the arm of the sullen young woman trying to slice him open, but to his surprise, a brisk show of speed put her well out of his reach before he could even begin the movement. He only had the briefest moment to acknowledge his failure before a scorching missile caught him in the back, searing painfully before his chakra flow dispelled it from dealing further harm.
Chakra… that's right. And my Sharingan.
His instincts and movements were becoming recollections as he recalled words and teachings from what seemed like eons ago. Turning to face the flame wielding young woman, he found himself quickly assailed by a flurry of hurled sapphire spheres that blasted apart whatever they touched, from the ground to the walls. His Sharingan allowed him to slip around them, though he nearly missed the woman's companion who slipped past the flames just as easily and sent two sharp jabs at his face. Tensing, he leaned back, focusing chakra in his feet to keep himself rooted and as she reached him, he was able to take her by the wrists and kick her over his head. He only had time to see her roll to her feet in a swift recovery before a tendril of fire snapped into him and sent him crashing to the ground. As he skidded a good dozen yards, he took his momentary respite to take stock of his foes.
This world was still very foreign to him, but if there was one thing he knew for sure, it was that he knew strong opponents when he saw them. Both of the young women were about his age, and just as well trained as he was in their respective arts.
The more aggressive of the two as far as fighting went, the flame wielding one had a powerful grasp on her skills and while very zealous with her attacks, there was a fierce control about her that told Sasuke she didn't place a fireball except exactly where she meant to. She continued to advance on him with a pretentious and avid smirk that told him she was also fully enjoying every attack she sent his way.
The other was much more reserved but no less skilled. She would wait for windows to attack when Sasuke was focused on avoiding the other's offensive, and she never missed a single one, applying a constant pressure that made getting any sort of real breather near impossible. Save for this very moment where he picked himself slowly up, Sasuke wasn't sure he had been able to stop moving during their entire engagement.
As they neared him and he saw them tense for another onslaught, he decided to probe a bit; if he could buy enough time, he knew his eyes could help him acquire what he needed from the both of them.
"So, this Avatar isn't a friend of yours, is he?"
Fire crackling around her wrists, the first young woman fixed him with a repulsed sneer, "Are you trying to make some kind of joke, or are you just stupid? The Avatar is everything the Fire Nation needs rid of, he gives hope to the weak and delays our permanent rise to power all the while, all in the name of some stupid sense of morality and stubbornness."
Straightening, Sasuke cocked his head while feeling the vague memory of a stupid, smiling face slip through his mind.
"Funny, that reminds me of someone I think I knew."
The woman's eyes narrowed to slits.
"You can take that humor to the grave."
Sasuke wasn't ready for it; all that time, he was certain he had seen the maximum speed and cohesion they could offer, but they had duped him perhaps the entire time. Coming in very near the ground, the knife wielder rose in the blink of an eye to leap over his head, striking downward with two knives. Sasuke batted one aside, but the second sank into his shoulder almost to the hilt. The pain was much less of a surprise as the fact that she had actually managed to hit him, but then the first woman threw a flaming sphere the size of a small boat at him, forcing him to leap away to avoid it, but this only led to the second woman, who was still in the air, to drive her feet down into his back and sending him skidding into the ground once again.
On his hands and knees, Sasuke saw something pitch black and swirling in the corner of his eye as he grit his teeth behind tight lips.
If these two keep this up, I might get mad.
But no. Amaterasu was not necessary, nor did he want it to be. If Sasuke had preferred, a taijutsu beatdown mixed in with some regular jutsu would likely have been enough to put these two in their place, but he also felt that time was not on his side. This would be quicker.
And some small vile part of him told him he might enjoy this.
Slowly standing, he raised his hands in another attempt to be diplomatic. "I don't want to fight. I just—"
This time, he saw it coming a mile away. These two women were not the type to squander an enemy having their back turned; they both came on full force and he used his chakra to feel them rushing ever closer before turning at the last moment, eyes flashing red.
You did this to yourselves.
Zuko scrambled on his hands and knees to the edge of the cliff, battered and injured and in no state to fight any further. He looked over the edge, hundreds of feet down into the raging sea below, as if contemplating hurling himself over the side to escape her.
"Zuzu… it didn't have to be this way."
Azula paced towards him, the last remnants of what she believed to be love falling away as she steeled herself with raw purpose. Her brother looked back at her, eyes wide and a hand raised pathetically as if to stave off what would be the finishing blow. Looking down at him, Azula raised her hand as Sozin's Comet passed above them, the world around them being consumed in flame.
"Goodbye, brother."
And as though she had been waiting her whole life, she brought her hand in a sweeping arc and with a shout of conviction, she cut down the last thing between her and finality.
Above her and the corpse of her brother, she saw her father's airships laying waste to the entirety of the Earth Nation, turning their pathetic stone barriers and walls to molten slag. Her father himself was likely near to finishing the Avatar off, if he hadn't already; Ozai had told her that he would wait until Aang activated the Avatar State before killing him. With that, there would be no successor to the young man and the Fire Nation would reign supreme forever. Azula threw her head back and laughed at the scorched sky, relishing the heat that roiled around her, gripping every part of her tightly in its embrace.
But she wasn't laughing.
After a moment, she realized she was crying. And not just quiet tears, but real sobs were wracking her body, painful and overwhelming. Her breathing came in jerking and uneven intervals as she fell to her knees, the same fire she had been embracing now crashing against her in with a restrictive and terrorizing grip. She couldn't be sure why she was crying until her hands fell over her brother and she gave a yell of shock and fell away from him.
Her heart pounded as she stared at his body.
Did… did I do that?
"Why are you crying?"
She rolled over in shock at the voice that seemed to echo all around her. As she clambered to her feet, hands raised in preparation to fight this newcomer, she saw that she was alone on top of cliff, no one to be seen.
Still, the voice persisted. "You've achieved that final goal you've been striving towards for years, and now you lapse into despair. Is it regret?"
Azula spun, eyes flashing wildly at the sky and the ground, desperate to put a face to this oppressive voice that almost seemed to be inside her ears.
"Where are you?! Show yourself!"
Even to her, the voice that usually was nothing short of commanding and purposeful sounded to her to be on the edge of breaking. She hated how she sounded, but she also was having trouble gathering the strength to care. "Don't you dare hide from me! I am heir to the Fire Lord, the ruler of all four nations!"
The voice was a despicable level of calm and controlled.
"The only one hiding here is you, princess. Hiding from yourself and your true feelings, and from the fact that you've been nothing more than a tool your whole life."
Screaming angrily, Azula drew up a cyclone of fire around her and blew it out from her in all directions; this invisible instigator would not be able to hide from that, and she blew out a relieved breath as she wipes her cheeks free from tears.
"You have nothing."
The voice sounded directly behind her and she turned in a panic to see the prisoner from Boiling Rock staring at her with a flat, impenetrable stillness. Shocked he hadn't been destroyed by her attack, but thrilled she could finally see him, she loosed a flaming bolt towards him. It passed directly through him without leaving the barest mark.
"You are nothing."
Generating a blaze of fireballs above her head, she dropped them towards him and they combusted in a wild burning tempest around him, but when they flame and smoke cleared, he stood untouched.
He took a step towards her. "All the ones who cared for you have died or left your side. Your father will abandon you, like a craftsman would do to an obsolete device of no further use."
Feeling her body howl in protest at the sheer force required to create it, Azula pulled to life a firestorm around him and directed it inwards, and the resulting explosion shone as bright as the sun.
He remained unscathed and took another step.
"You will be left behind, unloved and unneeded. Nothing but a shadow."
Azula raced towards him in a last ditch effort to silence his words, gathering intense heat around her forearm. It blazed and formed into a tight glove of energy, pointed at the tip of her fingers to become a spear of torridity and she launched it at his chest. Fully expecting it to pass clean through him as though he were just the same as the smoke that filled the sky, Azula felt her heart skip as her improvised weapon contacted his chest and sank right through him. She looked up to his face with glee, furiously excited to see him die.
But she saw not the hard stare of the prisoner, but the pained face of her Uncle Iroh.
He reached weakly for her face and she felt his rough hand caress her cheek as tears leaked from his eyes.
"Azula… I'm so sorry I couldn't be there for you… I wanted to help you and Zuko so badly…"
She blinked in utter disbelief and pulled her hand from her uncle's chest and he dropped to the ground, breathing in a rattling and unstable way. "I… I didn't want your help," she muttered weakly, but fresh tears stung at her eyes.
Her uncle gave her an agonized final look and whispered his last words, "I… love you, Azula."
"No, wait, NO! IROH!"
Azula heard herself shout as his eyes glazed and his breathing stopped. She fell to her knees again and put her hands over his body and realized how badly she was shaking.
"I didn't… I wasn't… "
Behind, the prisoner spoke. "You could have saved him."
From the ground, she turned to see him still staring at her with those eyes, those dammed eyes. She could see now a red pattern in each of his pupils, mesmerizing and hellish. Seeing no other recourse, she crawled the few feet between them and bowed her head.
"Please… stop this."
As her tears blurred her view of the ground, the reply she received was anything but sympathetic.
"You… you who are without mercy, without humanity, now reduced to what so many of your victims were."
Sensing a vast, looming presence, Azula turned up her gaze to see that the stranger had disappeared, but above her in the sky, two massive orbs peered down at her. Red holes with sinister patterns gazing down at her, judging her and condemning her. Closing her own eyes and completely surrendering, Azula rolled over and put her hands over her face. She cried then, openly and completely, wondering how it was that she could have come to this.
Sasuke looked at the two women whom he had places under genjutsu; on both accounts, he was surprised by what he had seen. The woman he now knew to be named Mai had been possessive of a fair bit more compassion then he had expected and subjecting her to the torture of the people closest to her and been more than sufficient to drop her into a momentary state of agony. She was on her hands and knees, quietly pleading with some unknown captor to stop hurting her boyfriend, or the other of the three girls he had seen, or Azula.
Azula…
Now this had been interesting. He had seen no immediate relationships he could torment her with, and nor could he see any real fears until he found something behind the last place he could have thought to look. Concealed behind her ultimate drive and motivation, her desire to completely win this war she was wrapped up in, was a true and absolute fear that she would be entirely destroyed by the resulting consequences. On the surface was teeming hatred for her brother and uncle, yet he saw her crumble when confronted with their deaths. She came across as a hardened warlord, but when stripped away, she was an emotionally stunted child.
She writhed at Sasuke's feet now, these nightmares plaguing her waking conscience with their cursed images. For a moment, Sasuke forgot about his own goal in the now, why he had placed the two of them under genjutsu.
Find the Avatar.
Both Mai and Azula had exceptionally strongly willed minds and without knowing how to actually subject them to Tsukuyomi, he was already starting to feel drained at the effort to keep them in his illusion. Chakra seemed to operate differently within them, as though it was more simple, yet much harder to combat. As though their very existence provoked the idea that chakra was less a part of them and instead, there was something else.
Tsukuyomi… where have I heard that before?
He knew of the technique, what it did, but where had he seen it used? Had he seen it used? Scowling at the uselessness of trying to recall that what so eluded him, he dragged first Azula and then Mai to rest against the back wall of the courtyard. They had attacked him, but he had no interest in having them be killed by rampaging prisoners; he felt he knew what happened to those of royalty and privilege when an establishment collapsed, and these two might suffer grave consequences if they were found before his genjutsu wore off.
Leaving them out of sight and out of the way, he looked at the tower and the walkway that now only held a couple bodies, none of them moving. Focusing his chakra flow again, he ran directly at the wall and sped up it as though it were parallel to the ground below him. Within seconds, he had scaled the tower and touched down on what seemed to be a platform occupied by a gondola station.
"Suki, come on!"
Directing his sight towards the voice, Sasuke saw the same guard who had run off with his sword, now free of his mask, attempting to operate the gondola controls. Bodies were strewn about the upper pad of the tower, all appearing to be soldiers and guards that had been subdued or killed. He could also see a few figures shadowed and already on board the gondola and the only ones not amongst that number and were still standing were the guard who had yelled, and two young women who were engaged in a furious bout of hand to hand combat.
One was dressed in what Sasuke had gathered was standard prisoner garb and was having to fight on the defensive, though putting up quite the fight of her own. The second girl caught Sasuke off guard though as he had seen her not moments ago in Mai's illusionary world. She fought with a vigorous and smooth style, and seemed to have most of her offense focused on making short, sharp jabs, likely to try and disable her opponent through pressure points. She also seemed to be enjoying the bout, though not as Azula had; rather, this girl looked as though she were partaking in a friendly competition with no real stakes.
Ty Lee, if I recall?
As if she had heard him speak her name aloud, the second woman performed an acrobatic disengagement from the prisoner and landed atop the gondola to stare down at Sasuke with wide, intense eyes.
"Mai and Azula! What happened to them?!"
There was no longer any enjoyment behind her eyes and she looked more so as though she were about to spring for his throat. Still, Sasuke didn't speak a word, just watched her calmly. He remembered his duel with Rock Lee well enough to know how to deal with a fighter like this, if he let her make the first move.
Wait. Rock Lee? Who's—
His confusion nearly resulted in him receiving a violent kick to the head and he barely managed to move away in time, just enough to turn what might have been a concussive strike into a glancing blow that still sent him reeling away. When he straightened, he saw Ty Lee only a few meters from him in an aggressive stance, eyes both furious and terrified, and watering with tears.
"If you hurt either of them… if you so much as touched them, I'll—"
Sasuke finished her sentence coldly. "Cry?"
With a scream of fury, she rushed him, and he came under the same attack that the female prisoner had been subjected to moments before. She was quick, and more than quick, she was precise. Her movements would redirect with every attempt he made to juke, and he was being forced to dodge outright. There wasn't a great deal of room to maneuver, and she was relentless.
Then, as she leapt into the air to come down with a powerful overhead kick, something came spinning through the air behind her and clipped her hip, sending her unceremoniously to the ground. The object continued spinning to arc back around and Sasuke watched it return to the hand of the unmasked soldier, who then waved with his boomerang.
"Come on!"
Realizing both that the gondola was moving and that the guard was addressing him, Sasuke propelled himself swiftly to leap and land where Ty Lee had been moments before. Balancing atop the gondola, he looked back to see Ty Lee on her feet and staring furiously in his direction. She took a step towards the gondola and Sasuke realized that someone with her skill could probably traverse the wires with ease. Hoping to discourage her, he summoned Chidori to his hand, letting the blue electricity snap and flash around him. She saw this and paused. For a long moment, he thought she would rush after him regardless before she turned on her heel and raced for the stairs alongside the tower. Not sensing that he was in any more immediate danger, he banished the Chidori and swung through an opening on the side of the gondola to confront his fellow escapees.
The first person he saw was the guard who he saw then to be likely no older than him, late teens at the very oldest. Adjusting his armor that still looked absurdly unsized, he put on a large and grateful smile.
"Thanks for your help back there. Though I've never seen Ty Lee get so mad."
He walked past Sasuke and looked back the way they had come before glancing back with a cautiously curious look. "You didn't happen to… fight Mai and Azula at once, did you?"
Sasuke felt no need to lie, even to these strangers. With any luck, he would be rid of them as soon as the gondola reached its sister station.
"I did."
The guard stared in amazement.
"And you didn't die?! Holy smokes, I'd count your lucky stars, friend."
Before Sasuke could even think of a reply to that, he was grabbed by the shoulder and pushed against the wall of the compartment. He found himself then face to face with another familiar visage: a young man with short black hair and a violent burn over his eye that had resulted in a brutal scar. He snarled at Sasuke angrily, "Did you hurt her?!"
The guard as well as an older man with thick, shoulder length hair came up behind who Sasuke knew to be Zuko and gently pulled him back, the former muttering, "Hey, hey, Zuko, easy now, don't exactly think we need a fight to break out all the way up here, right?"
Knowing full well of the relationship between Zuko and Mai, as he had seen vivid proof of it minutes before in Mai's head, Sasuke shook his head. "She passed out, but she wasn't hurt. Just a little rattled perhaps."
This didn't seem to calm Zuko's temper in the slightest.
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
Fortunately, the guard stepped past Zuko in an attempt to calm the situation. Sasuke was grateful; he hadn't been looking forward on trying to explain genjutsu and was honestly more sure that he wouldn't have even mentioned it. He didn't know if he wanted letting this world know of his many talents, like his Sharingan and his various jutsu. It seemed clear that this world, whatever it was, had a viable difference in all of the constants that Sasuke had known, differences in chakra and in jutsu. Or bending, as he had heard.
"Look, we don't need to do this, Zuko. If your girlfriend tried to knock him off, he had to defend himself right? And he says he didn't hurt her, right?"
Zuko pointed sharply at Sasuke.
"And I'm supposed to trust what he says?!"
The guard shrugged helplessly. "I don't know what to tell you, buddy. All I know is that we all escaped the same prison, and there's no way to really verify anything he says. Unless you want Chit Sang to throw you back to the prison and check for yourself."
In the corner, a man that might have stood seven feet tall with muscles of absurdly large proportions stood and offered a subtle wave. Zuko spent several long seconds staring Sasuke down before coming to some internal conclusion. Turning away, he walked to another corner of the gondola and crossed his arms, eyes fixed angrily on the ground.
Turning carefully away from Zuko, the guard gave Sasuke an apologetic look. "Sorry about him. He's had a real rough go of it: father burned his face and vanished him, he lost contact with his uncle who was the one person who accepted him, he's been doing his best to try and win us all over—"
"Sokka, I'd rather you didn't," Zuko growled from the corner, still not looking up. The young man Sasuke now knew as Sokka winced.
"Sorry, yeah, me and my big mouth."
He scratches the back of his head for an awkward moment before seeming to remember something.
"Well, anyway, I'm Sokka, like he said. That's Chit Sang, Suki and my dad."
He pointed at each of them respectively: other than the behemoth prisoner Sasuke had already been acquainted with, Suki gave him a nod, but he could read the distrust and suspicion in her eyes. Sokka's father was much more amenable and actually reached out to shake Sasuke's hand. His face was tired, but his eyes glowed with the fire of a warrior. Pulling away after a short, firm handshake, Sokka's father, or Hakoda as he introduced himself, toed the last passenger aboard the gondola, a very vain looking man who was bound and lying on the floor.
"I don't suppose you've met the warden? We'll be dumping him off at the other gondola station, but if you have any parting words for our beloved caretaker, now might be the time."
From the ground, the captive warden muttered sourly, "You peasants dare address me in such a fashion… "
"Despite whatever skill and power he holds, he was supposedly delirious and clearly exhausted and our Lord Ozai and his personal guard were able to subdue him. He was then sent here and placed in this very lower cell of Boiling Rock."
While his face was not one Sasuke recognized, his voice surely was; reaching down, he grabbed the warden by the front of his garments and slammed him against the gondola wall. He stared into eyes that now shone with distinct fear as several voices rose up behind him in shock and protest. Ignoring them, Sasuke bore his eyes into the warden's.
"How did I come to be in your prison?"
He didn't feel it would be necessary to raise his voice, and his assumption was correct. The warden began spilling information as freely as if ordered by the universe itself. "You were brought in during a routine shipment! You were in a special transfer crate, just like we use to move all our prisoners capable of bending, but I only was made privy to your… history shortly thereafter!"
Sasuke didn't loosen his grip, "What history? You told that man that all you knew were rumors."
He narrowed his eyes.
"Do you believe them?"
The warden swallowed and raised his hands in a sign of surrender. "Please, I'm not paid to make guesses on such things! I only maintain the prison and its occupants!"
Sasuke briefly considered putting him in a genjutsu to test the truth, but he found that he believed the warden. That, and he didn't want to expose his abilities in front of all these people, especially since they seemed to be intent on letting him live. And on top of that, he still felt drained from putting both the princess and Zuko's girlfriend under.
Unbelievable. Just two people were that much of a drain on my chakra.
Releasing his grip, the warden dropped back to the floor just as the gondola gave a hearty jerk and stopped. Sokka looked out the door and sighed with relief before returning his look to Sasuke with a cautious edge to his eye.
"We made it. Let's get off everybody, before they come looking for us."
Sasuke departed the gondola last and watched them deposit the warden in the empty gondola station before Sokka and Hokuda stepped aside to exchange words quietly. Suki and Zuko joined the conversation and it quickly became heated and tense; Sasuke didn't need to use a jutsu to tell that they were talking about him. Hokuda seemed by far the most calm of the quartet, gesturing peaceably while Zuko looked hellbent on stressing something, eyes furious and fists clenched. Suki seemed to be pleading with Sokka about something and he said little in reply, risking an occasional glance in Sasuke's direction.
After something near a minute of hushed arguing, Sokka finally broke free from their tight circle and walked almost sheepishly up to Sasuke. He looked over at his shoulder at the members of his party who had just been engaging in a fervent debate: Hokuda looked calm, but politely concerned, Suki appeared nervous and Zuko had his back turned outright. Sokka looked back to Sasuke and fiddled with his hands nervously as he spoke.
"Look, stranger, we don't know much about you, but I do know two things. First, you were locked up, like us. Which means you're on the Fire Lord's bad side, which is a plus from us. Second, you managed to hold your own against two of the toughest ladies I've ever run into, which means you're good in a fight."
He seemed to almost not want to say his peace for a moment, before sighing and continuing, "I don't know what your plan from here is, but if you'd be at all willing, we'd be honored if you would accompany us back to our camp. If you have anything to tell us about your battles against the Fire Nation that might be of use to some fellow rebels, we'd really appreciate it."
His eyes lit up, "Oh, and we have food too!"
Sasuke stared flatly at the young man. He wasn't quite sure what to make of him other than that his energy was on a whole different level. But at the very least, he was offering food and shelter, and while Sasuke planned his next move, he would likely be able to make very good use of them for the time being. He had little to tell them by way of useful information, his memory still being deeply impaired, but they needn't know that.
Sokka seemed to be getting anxious at the lack of reply, and he nervously shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
"Sooooooo, is that a 'yeah'? Or a 'nah'?"
Remembering something, Sasuke reached towards Sokka's arms and yanked his sword free, growling as he did, "That's mine."
Seeming entirely okay with that, Sokka shrugged. "Yeah, sure, no problem. Real nice sword."
Sasuke gave him a look before gesturing forward.
"Let's go."
Clearly having not expected to have had his offer accepted, Sokka's face lit up into a wide smile. "Fantastic! Alright, we're gonna snag one of the Fire Nation war balloons they supposedly have stashed on the other side of this mountain and take that back, come on!"
He bounded away back to his group, where Hokuda, Suki and Zuko fell in line behind him, some more grudgingly than others. Chit Sang already was halfway up the hill and was waving them on. For a long second, Sasuke considered this choice he was making. It was very possible that keeping his existence a secret from as many people as possible might be one of his best advantages, but it also happened he was about as lost as he could be in this new world. Perhaps these rebels would have very little useful information for him, but it was his best place to start. Without his memories, without any real knowledge of where to go, or where to begin his search, he would have to play nice.
Sighing through his nose, he followed his newfound companions towards the airfield.
After all… what are the odds any of these people would actually know where I might find the Avatar?
With an explosive gasp, Azula sprang upright, panting and looking around frantically. There were no airships, no bodies, no great smoking sky, or massive pair of eyes staring piercingly down at her. She was sitting against the wall of Boiling Rock prison as the distant sounds of men doing battle touched her ears. For a moment, it was all too overwhelming as though she had just been shaken awake from the most terrible dream; putting a hand over her breast and feeling the violent pounding of her heart, that may very well might have been what happened.
It wasn't real… it wasn't real.
She repeated the three words in her head over several seconds before reality began to catch up. Annoyance and frustration began to dig their way back into her gut and she stood up shakily.
Of course, it wasn't real. Stupid of me to think it every could have been. As if I would ever regret my part in bring peace across the nation. It was just some cheap trick that prisoner used to save his hide. A drug to make me undergo some nightmare perhaps.
As her thoughts began to work on rationalizing what had happened, she gradually felt more at ease. Her only regret was that the young man who had tricked her had vanished, likely escaping. If she had him there now, the things she would do to him…
"Azula?"
A cracked voice sounded behind her and she turned to see that Mai was also sitting against the wall, looking as though she were just waking up. She looked as bad as Azula had felt moments before, though Azula was surprised to see tears still streaking down her friend's face.
"Are you okay?"
Momentarily perplexed at the question, Azula gave Mai a confused look. "Of course I am, why wouldn't I— "
This was as far as she got out before Mai launched herself to her feet and pulled Azula into a fiercely tight hug. Completely stunned, Azula could only stand there as she felt Mai pull in shaky breaths and hold her as though her life depended on it. She said nothing, and didn't release Azula until another voice called out above them.
"Azula! Mai!"
Turning to see where the voice had come from, Azula saw Ty Lee looking down at them from the walkway around the prison tower. Agilely leaping her way down, she raced over to the pair of them and threw an arm around each of them, pulling them into a three way hug. Starting to become annoyed with these needless shows of affection, Azula patted both her friends mechanically on the back in an effort to speed things up.
When Ty Lee pulled away, she too looked on the verge of tears.
"I'm so glad you're both okay… I was so worried!"
Mai seemed to have regained her composure and her voice had returned to its normal low and flat tone, "We got caught with our pants down, the young guy had an ace up his sleeve."
Ty Lee made a pouty face as she joked, "If I would have known pants would be getting let down… "
Azula snapped her fingers as Mai smiled slightly at her friend's juvenile humor.
"Enough, both of you. Ty Lee, what became of my brother and his comrades?"
Smile disappearing, Ty Lee made a face that Azula rarely saw, one of grudging anger. "They got away. The prisoner you guys were fighting made it up to us, that's why I thought you both might have been hurt. I fought him before the Avatar's friend, the cute one, hit me when my back was turned. I took a spill and by the time I was up again, the gondola was already on its way."
She looked at Mai.
"They had your uncle, but before I attacked, I overheard them saying they would leave him in the gondola station after they made it across." Mai nodded, a flash of relief crossing her face.
Waving a hand dismissively, Azula turned away from the both of them and stepped away from the wall and out under the furiously beaming sun.
"No matter that they escaped. Their only path forward will be to either trek by land to the ocean or to make off with one of the airships in the northern airfield. With any luck, they just might lead us right to the Avatar."
Mai stepped up behind her, "I can get to organizing a pursuit party."
Azula nodded.
"Do so. I want it to be small enough that we won't be easily detected when we are in pursuit. But make no mistake, I don't want—"
"Princess Azula!"
At a shout from across the courtyard, the three of them turned to see a high ranking soldier running up to them. He had scorch marks on his armor and seemed to be limping slightly, but he nevertheless dipped into a deep bow as he stopped ahead of them.
"You highness, the prisoners are mostly rounded up and are being returned to their cells. The warden has been retrieved and has been found to be unharmed: he is taking the gondola back now. The extra divisions made restoring order relatively easy."
Azula regarded him and smirked with satisfaction. "I would expect no less of my father's handpicked squads."
She gestured over her right shoulder at Mai. "I am having the warden's daughter organize a pursuit party of a small band of escaped prisoners, one of which happens to be my brother. Work with her to establish a team meeting my specifications and I will take command of them immediately once that is finished."
To her surprise, he didn't respond in the affirmative immediately and instead, when she looked to him, she saw that his face was one of worry. She clarified, "On the double, soldier."
"I'm sorry, your highness, it's just… we can out together a pursuit party of course, but… "
He reached behind him and revealed a scroll that had been tucked away. Handing it to her, he bowed his head.
"It's just that the Fire Lord has requested you return to the capital at once."
Not daring to believe it, Azula tore open the scroll and read it over once, then again, and then again. But there was no mistaking the commanding verbiage her father had sent her. Whatever his reason, he needed her back at the capital at once, and though her soul was howling at her to hunt down the Avatar once and for all, this had to come first. It wasn't until Mai spoke up that she realized she had been standing there shaking angrily for quite a long moment.
"We'll accompany her highness back to the capital. Do you still have the Scorcher Division on standby?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Have them take the lead on this. We'll depart as soon as the princess's airship is ready."
The soldier bowed low again and strode away quickly to relay the orders. Mai looked after him, an annoyed tone in her voice. "I hate when these assholes call me, 'ma'am'."
Ty Lee nuzzled up beside her, digging her elbow in Mai's side.
"That's what you get for looking like an old lady so young."
She dodged a swipe from Mai and then slowly slid up to Azula.
"Hey, 'Zula? Are you okay?"
It took Azula a few seconds more to ensure she would be able to speak in a level tone. "Of course. I'll meet you two on the airship once I've spoken with the warden."
She pretended not to see Mai and Ty Lee exchange concerned looks before the two of them departed for the airship. Azula waited until they were gone before igniting the scroll that had informed her of her summons home. It was quickly consumed in a sapphire blaze and she crushed the remaining ashes in a fist before striding briskly towards the prison tower, loudly shouting a pair of guards out of her way.
"They're back, they're back!"
Aang shouted the words as he zipped by overhead on his glider, extenuating his good mood by doing a pair of tight loops around the pillars that made up the camp. Katara felt a flood of emotions wash through her veins as she leapt to her feet, hardly daring to believe it. It wasn't until Toph rushed by her and landed a stinging punch in her ribs that she finally moved and started with the rest of the group towards where she could see an airship coming in to land on a piece of the temple jutting out from the side of the mountain.
"Ouch, Toph!"
The blind earthbender waved a hand over her shoulder as her bare feet rushed her towards everyone's destination. "Sorry, Katara, but you were the only one not moving for some reason! Just reminding you that your brother is back and still alive and not dead and all that!"
Allowing herself to laugh at Toph's bizarre sense of humor and ways of showing affection, Katara followed her friend and the others up the steps. Coming in to land next to her and join her in the rush to greet Sokka and the rest, Aang looked over at her with a wildly happy look.
"You were right, Katara. I just had to trust them."
She returned his smile and pulled him into a brief bearhug. "You can still hit Sokka if you want, I think I still might myself."
Aang laughed, a sound that never failed to make her heart swell. "Don't go too hard on him, he's probably had a long couple days."
On the constructed plateau that had left by airbenders long since passed, Katara came to a halt with the rest of her companions. Haru looked amazed, and Katara realized this was likely his first time getting a good look at an airship.
"I can't believe that thing can fly!"
Toph leaned over and gave Aang a similar punch she had just bestowed on Aang, "Hey, I can't believe this doofus can fly either, but stranger things have happened."
The airship touched down and the large lower basket opened. A collection of people exited the massive flying vehicle, but Katara only had eyes for two people. Pushing past her friends, she raced to Sokka and her father, half-blinded by tears and leapt into their arms. They hugged her back with similar intensity and Katara found herself wishing she could feel this way forever. The relief and love racing through her heart were enough to send the tears flowing freely, but she found time to mutter with a voice that cracked, "Don't think you're out of the woods yet, Sokka."
Her brother laughed. "How did I see that coming."
Her father kissed the top of her head and pulled away, a wide and joyous smile spread across his face. "Sokka has quite the ingenuity about him. And certainly some truly hardheaded stubbornness."
He reached out and pinched Katara's cheek.
"I think you might be rubbing off on him."
"Oh, stop it, dad," Katara grinned as she pushed his arm aside playfully.
As she clung to her family, Katara slowly found herself becoming aware of the rest of the passengers that had traveled back with Sokka and her father. She was thrilled to see Suki again who didn't look that much the worse for wear being stuck in prison for a great many weeks. Wrapping her arms around the warrior, she received assurances that Sokka had been the utmost gentleman whilst springing her from prison, taking out guards and all around making a mess of Boiling Rock. It was then Katara gave Sokka the first slap on the arm as she was reminded of the danger he had been in, before pulling him into another tight hug.
"Girls… " she heard him mutter as she turned back to the rest of the group.
She also surprised herself by feeling great relief in seeing Zuko again and that same surprise was echoed on his face as she pulled him into a hug of his own. She felt heartened to see him smiling as he gave Aang a rough hug, but there was a very distant look in his eyes, as though something were eating at him.
Chit Sang was a new face, and one that Katara had to practically crane her head upwards when introduced. He was surely nice enough, but she was glad he was on their side; his size practically made her think that the plateau was about to drop away at his added weight alone.
"Ah, and last but not least," Sokka intoned as he looked past Chit Sang, "we have… hehe, I actually think I didn't catch your name, fellow prisoner?"
Chit Sang walked to the side to join the rest of the group and Katara saw who her brother had been addressing.
She couldn't help herself at being briefly struck by how attractive the newcomer was. He was younger, likely near her own age, though his face reflected a maturity of someone who had seen his fair share of hardship, something she often saw in her own reflection. Dark eyes and with an ever-present calm expression, he regarded them all flatly, and Katara found herself feeling naked under his gaze, rather as though he were sizing them all up like prey. His garb too was curious, as it was hardly something that a prisoner might wear and it didn't remotely match the uniforms worn by Chit Sang, Suki, Zuko and her father. The high collared shirt, the blue cloth around his waist and the lavender rope belt all struck her as particularly foreign, at least in regards to any of the garb she knew to be worn traditionally by any of the four nations.
Katara noticed that he had turned his attention to a carving of a map on the wall that sported the majority of the relevant temples all across the Four Nations, as well as the nation capitals. He spoke to Sokka without turning away from the map as though intent on committing it to memory.
"You mentioned you had food."
This was all he said, with a mature, low tone to match his look. Sokka's eyes widened as though he hadn't just been rather ignored. "Oh yeah! Can someone get him a bag of grub?"
Barely moving, Toph stomped her foot on the ground. A long strip of earth rose up between them and their camp a few dozen yards away, morphing into a slide of sorts that sloped downwards towards their camp before rising up with all the fluidity of a snake, sending a package of food gliding down its length to drop at Sokka's feet. The earth then dropped back down into the temple itself and despite the dust that had been kicked up, it was though it had never moved at all.
Sokka bent down, picked up the food and handed it to the stranger who accepted the satchel after a moment and slinging it over his shoulder. Katara noticed that his eyes never left Toph the entire time since she had displayed her earthbending and she found herself inching protectively between the two of them.
Smiling widely at the newcomer, Sokka spoke for him, "This guy is the reason we were able to make it out of there in one piece! I… "
He paused for a moment, looking actually rather displeased about something.
"… I don't know how we would have made it out without him. Azula, Mai and Ty Lee showed up at the prison just as the riot kicked off that we used as cover to escape. If all three of them had tried to stop us, I don't know what we would have been able to do."
Katara cocked her head at him. "But?"
Sokka's smile returned, "But, when this guy showed up, Azula and Mai went after him instead of us. From there, we were able to hold off Ty Lee until he shows up again. She goes to try and take him out and I got a lucky shot on her with my boomerang… "
Suki slid up alongside him and interlaced her fingers with his. "It was hardly luck. Best throw I've ever seen." Sokka's cheeks reddened before he continued with a stutter.
"But, uh… yeah, but I tagged her with the ol' boomerang and that took her out long enough for us to get away."
He looked at the stranger with a grateful smile.
"We really owe it all to you, friend."
The stranger said nothing more and simply stared at Sokka passively, who bit his upper lip and rocked on his heels awkwardly. After the unpleasant bout of silence that lasted for a brutal few, long seconds, the stranger walked towards them; Haru and Aang moved out of his way as he started towards the path that led up the temple and back towards solid ground. Sokka took several steps after him, looking discouraged as he started up the stairs on the right that would take him out of the temple.
"Wait! I still had things I wanted to ask you!"
Stopping, the stranger tilted his head a few inches to the left to reply without turning around.
"I'm sorry, but I don't have any information that you would find prudent or useful. I can tell you the truth as best I know it; I woke up in the depths of that prison before I was able to escape during the riot. I don't remember hardly anything of my life before then, as though something took my memory. I'm not some rebel like you all, I have one commitment and it is finding someone who might be able to help me find myself again."
He paused before adding.
"My name is Sasuke. Though I doubt that does you any good."
Looking back forward, he started on again leaving the group behind him in silence. Katara found herself rather relieved to be watching him leave. The vibes he had been giving off were mysterious and worrisome, and there was a part of her that had been wanting to demand that he leave.
She found herself jolted back to reality as Aang bounced past her, running after the newcomer with his usual energy. Katara reached after him as he passed her, hissing angrily.
"Aang, wait!"
Either not hearing her, or choosing to ignore her, Aang ran up alongside Sasuke and gave him a large, friendly smile.
"It's great to meet you, Sasuke! Thanks for helping my friends."
Sasuke stopped walking again and his entire body language suggested he was fighting back some level of impatience. When he didn't reply, Aang continued on.
"I really think it might be best if you stay with us for a while, you know? It's not a good idea to be walking around the Fire Nation if you don't even know who you are, let alone much of anything else."
Replying without looking at Aang, Sasuke adjusted the satchel of food he had slung over his shoulder.
"I'll make my own way, thanks anyway."
Aang persisted jovially.
"Oh, come on! If you were locked up, then that must mean the Fire Nation has it out for you for one reason or another, and that means we're on the same side!"
"I'm on no one's side, kid."
Face scrunching up as though deciding whether or not to take offense at the "kid" remark, Aang seemed to choose to blow it off and instead forged on against the brick wall that was Sasuke.
"Well, we'd love to have you on ours! Maybe we can help you find yourself, wherever you left him!"
Toph, Sokka and the Duke all chuckled at the joke, but Sasuke seemed to tense up and Katara gently eased her hand towards her water vial. Aang extended a hand towards him.
"I'm Aang!"
Sasuke didn't move, nor look at him and Aang gave a long sigh, though his smile remained. "Look, I can tell you're not one for making friends or really just talking in general. But I have to be honest with you, I really need all the help I can get right now. If you were really able to fight Azula and Mai at the same time and come away on top, we need that kind of power on our side."
He looked back to the rest of them as if for encouragement; Katara tried to make a motion to indicate he move away from Sasuke, but he missed it.
"It's too dangerous for you to be out there on your own, even if you're really strong! And when we take down the Fire Lord, I promise we'll be able to help you figure out your memory full time! It'll be hard enough trying to solve that one your own and with the Four Nations at war. And we even have a flying bison!"
There was another pause before Sasuke replied flatly, genuinely sounding like a parent trying to explain terribly simple to a child.
"Aang, I appreciate what you're saying, but I don't have time to go attempting half-baked coups against Fire Lords, not when I already know who has the best chance of beating him. So thanks, but no thanks."
And he continued his walk up the stairs again. Aang looked at the ground, furrowing his brow.
"Dang, I really though the flying bison line would work."
Something Sasuke had said had stuck with Katara, however, and she called after him.
"You said you know who has the best chance of taking down the Fire Lord?"
He nodded without ceasing to walk. Zuko stepped up next to Katara and added after him.
"Who, then?"
Sasuke replied flatly, "The Avatar. I'm going to find him and help him defeat the Fire Lord."
Katara found herself exchanging glances with Aang, Sokka, Zuko and just about everyone else standing in their group. Did he truly not know a thing about the state of the world? But before she could stop him, Aang had called out in a triumphant tone.
"Well, you happen to be in luck! We've got him on our team."
This caused Sasuke to stop walking and he turned to give Aang a challenging look.
"Oh? And where might he be?"
Katara's heart skipped a beat as she implored Aang not to answer, but of course, he did.
"You're looking at him!"
He put his hands on his hips and gave Sasuke a last great big smile. Sasuke stared at him for a long time and Katara waited for him to either laugh off the claim or to simply turn around and continue on his way out.
Moving so fast, it was as though he had been standing there the entire time, Sasuke was on top of Aang and had lifted him off the ground by the collar of his shirt. Katara moved as quickly as she could and within a second, several thin spears of ice were pointed at Sasuke's head. Zuko whipped up several flaming coils around Sasuke's throat and ankles and Toph threw up a hammer of stone that hovered just behind Sasuke's back. The three of them stood tense with their arms outstretched, ready to bring their elements crashing down on Sasuke, but he hadn't seemed to notice their display. His eyes were fixed on Aang's as he spoke in a low, final tone.
"You… are the Avatar."
Aang was still smiling though he had picked up much more on the fire, ice and earth that were all poised to turn Sasuke into a smear on the temple floor and was looking markedly more nervous.
"Hehe, yeah, that's me."
"You're the great warrior who I was told will be the one to defeat the Fire Lord."
"Well, I wouldn't call myself a "great warrior" per say, but I guess—"
Sasuke released Aang who dropped several inches to step back from him; he turned towards Katara and the others, waving his hands desperately.
"Guys, it's all good! Let him go!"
Toph spoke for all of them, "I'm not so sure about that, twinkle-toes. I'm not exactly digging how this guy feels."
Katara jerked her chin at Aang without taking her eyes off Sasuke. "Step away from him, Aang."
Turning his head as much as he could with Zuko's fire circling his throat, Sasuke fixed his eyes directly on Katara and she felt a chill run up her spine.
"Get… "
He suddenly was no longer standing where she had last seen him and a splash of water dropped down onto the stairs where his body had been just a second before.
"… that crap out of my face."
Katara gave a yell as she spun to see that he was now somehow standing behind them, but she collected herself quickly. Together with Zuko and Toph, they directed their powers towards him; Zuko's fire reached him first, but with a quick hand motion from Sasuke, the fire was reduced to a puff of smoke. Katara's spears of ice reached him next, aimed at his head and joints, but he motioned again and the ice burst into a cold spray of wind that rushed gently past him. Then, Toph's great hammer of earth rose up and swung down towards his head, but his hand made two quick symbols and then shot up, pointer and middle finger outstretched. As soon as they touched the earth, it blew apart into rubble, tossed every direction, but missing Sasuke entirely.
Giving a yell of frustration, Katara gathered up her energy and drew from the basin beneath them. All at once, a great wave had gathered all around Sasuke, ready to rush in and crush him beneath its weight. She heard herself call out as the roar of the water swirled around him.
"Guys, get ready!"
But no earth or fire or air coalesced into an offensive state and she shouted again.
"Guys, come on, if we—"
Toph's small hand reached out then and took her by the wrist. Looking down, Katara saw that the girl's face was alight with an expression she had never seen before: awe. Beside her, Zuko's eyes were wide and his fists were tightly clenched. It was then, that Aang walked alongside her, utter disbelief on his face.
"Katara… he's… like me."
And as the realization struck her, Katara lost grip on the water and it fell down around the precipice that Sasuke stood on down into the massive canyon. Her knees wobbled and she saw Sasuke staring at them with intensity and readiness, but now with a fair bit of confusion.
Aang whispered, his voice breaking with astoundment.
"He can bend more than one element."
On the helm of her airship, Azula tried to reason out her infuriation. She had no doubt that Mai and Ty Lee were watching her from one of the bridge's windows, keeping a watchful eye on her state of being, but she couldn't be bothered to care what they thought right then.
Father… why?
It hardly made sense, why he would be calling her back, after being the one to send her to Boiling Rock in the first place. The Avatar was close, and Azula could have been the one to finally bring him in. But now here she was being summoned home to be denied victory again.
It was hours before she realized that this wasn't why she was so agitated.
The words that had been written on the scroll echoed mercilessly in her head.
As my loyal servant, I must ask that you return to me in the capital at once.
Servant. Servant, he had written. Of course, she was his to command as he wanted, to do with what he pleased, but… would it have been so difficult for him to acknowledge her as more than a tool? She wasn't Zuko or Iroh, some embarrassment to the family; quite the contrary, she had led many a military success, and had never left her father's good graces.
So why… why is it so much to ask to be recognized as such?
Shaking herself free of her thoughts, Azula cursed her own foolishness. She was making this into a far bigger deal than it needed to be. Of course her father appreciated her more than his writing might indicate, and it wasn't her place to question it regardless. She would go to him, kneel at his feet and ask for his bidding.
It was her purpose after all.