Chapter 2: The Fire Lord
Accelerator was lead out of the garden, warily following behind the smiling princess. He soon realized that there seemed to be buildings that surrounded their location, although they were partially hidden by the cover of darkness.
'Is this some sort of courtyard?' Accelerator asked himself, wondering why he didn't notice the buildings around him before.
The two of them approached the base of one of the buildings where a tall and somewhat wide door was positioned; it was very detailed and well-decorated with gold frames and bright red paint. Slightly above the door was an arch that seemed to be just as magnificent as the opening underneath it. In the center of the door was a circular plate that was attached to a loose ring-like structure; grabbing ahold of the end of the ring, Azula used it to knock against the massive door. Almost seconds later, the large structure began to slowly creek open as the two teens stared blankly at its movement. The door frame fully opened to reveal a long, well-lit hallway that seemed to go on forever; the walls were sleek in design and the floor was probably made out of some sort of granite or marble. Azula was the first to enter, not even bothering to look back at Accelerator who simply shrugged his shoulders and followed right behind.
As he took his first step into the hallway, the main thing Accelerator noticed was that there were guards stationed on either side of the chamber, standing uncomfortably still and straight. There was a long line of them that spanned the length of the hallway all the way down; each pair of guards were facing each other and stood about 30 feet away from the next pair. Although he didn't feel the least bit concerned, Accelerator still wondered whether this was meant to be some sort of ambush.
"Where are we going?" he finally said, ignoring the need to sound nice; his voice had an element of warning in it as he glared at the girl in front of him.
Turning her head slightly to the right, Azula looked back at the irritated esper before she responded.
"I'm taking you to see my father – the Fire Lord," she responded, half expecting him to be impressed, but she was met with a look of pure ignorance.
"the Fire Lord?" he said, still unamused by her grin.
"hm? Let me guess – you're not from around here, are you?" she asked, this time turning a bit more to face him.
Without answering, Accelerator simply shook his head.
"Are you a fire bender?" she asked.
"What the fuck is a 'fire bender'?" he questioned, becoming a little annoyed by this girl's questions.
This time, Azula fully stopped in her tracks, the sound of her halting footsteps echoed down the corridor; she then turned completely around to face him, her hands resting on her hips.
"Do you mean to tell me that you aren't a bender? Then please explain to me how you were able to dispel the flames of my guards?" she commanded. Now it was her turn to get irritated; was this guy joking? Did he take her for a fool?
Accelerator absentmindedly picked at his ear as he responded to the angered princess, "Flames are nothing but a mixture of carbon dioxide, water, oxygen, and nitrogen; your guard's attack weren't that special. As long as I can understand the complexities of something, I can manipulate them to my will."
"Anything?" she suddenly asked, wide-eyed.
"Yeah. Now, I think it's MY turn to ask some questions. Where the hell am I? And how did I get here?" he growled, leaning in closer to Azula.
The fire princess sighed, aware that she wouldn't get anything else out of him until she answered his questions. Well, some of them anyway.
Turning a bit to the side and gesturing to nothing in particular, Azula spoke with a loud voice, "This is the Fire Nation, the most powerful and feared empire in the entire world. Or, more specifically, the Fire Lord's palace."
Accelerator opened his mouth to speak, but eventually decided to remain silent as the fire princess turned back around and walked down the corridor. Following closely behind, Accelerator continued to examine the surrounding design of the walls and the ceiling; bright, diamond-like chandeliers hung down from above and sparkled with the shine of some of the nearby lights, illuminating the hallway. At the end of the large corridor, the two of them eventually came to a second door, about as big as the first, that stood in their path. Copying what she did for the first door, Azula knocked on the wood and waited as they slowly opened into a large room. Upon entering the room, Accelerator immediately noticed the change in mood; unlike the brightly lit hallway, the room was extremely dim and foreboding. Rows of thick pillars stretched from the beginning of the room all the way to the back; each pillar rose up from the ground and reached the ceiling, gradually disappearing into the darkness. Positioned on these pillars were individual torches that gave of very little light; the flickering motion of the fire made the rest of the room seem alive.
Azula turned her head to face him, "Wait here. I'll be back."
With those words, the fire nation princess walked further into the room, following an obvious linear path through the pillars. Finally she stopped, almost at the end of the room, and got down on one knee. It was at that point that Accelerator realized that there was another person with her. Although it was difficult to see through the dimly lit environment, he could tell by the figure's proportion and size that it was a male. While crouched down in front of this man, Azula began saying something, but her words were lost in the echoes of the room.
'Who's that?" Accelerator wondered to himself as he stared at Azula's interaction with this man, "Given that she's the princes, then that man must be….The Fire Lord.'
Almost as soon as his thoughts had ended, Accelerator noticed that Azula had stood back up and was now facing in his direction; she gently motioned for him to enter the room. With a heavy sigh, the white-haired esper begrudgingly strode down the isle that was bordered by the rows of columns. The closer he got to the end, the more details he could make out of the man in front of Azula. Like the girl before him, the man had straight, black hair that sat atop his head and fell to his shoulders; a long, pointy goatee stretched down to below his neck. His jaw was square and prominent cheek bones poked out from the sides of his head; his eyes were low and intense as his brow firmly rested just above them. The man was not smiling, but he also didn't seem to frown; his expression was that of someone who indifferent to most matters.
If Accelerator had met this man when he was younger, he would have been intimidated, but instead he approached the man with an equally indifferent face. Stopping next to Azula, Accelerator looked up at the man, realizing that he sat atop an elevated platform.
"So, you're the 'Fire Lord', right?" Accelerator said, not caring if it was considered disrespectful.
"How dare you?!" a voice suddenly exclaimed, but to Accelerator's surprise it wasn't the man himself.
A slightly smaller, and much less impressive man stood to the side of the Fire Lord's platform, glaring daggers at Accelerator. The white haired boy let out a huff mixed with a chuckle upon laying his eyes on the man.
"You'll speak when you're spoken to, maggot!" the man continued with a high-pitched voice, "Fire Lord Ozai has no patience for peasants who can't follow simple rules."
Accelerator would've simply ignored the man, if not for that 'peasant' comment; turning to face the man, Accelerator's crimson eyes seemed to glow with silent rage through the cover of near darkness. The man's eyes widened in shock and fear before he nervously looked down at the floor. He slowly shifted his attention back to the Fire Lord, not sure what he was expecting.
Fire Lord Ozai straightened himself a bit in his seat before he spoke, "my daughter informs me that you are powerful; much too powerful to be a mere bender. Tell me - Accelerator was it? – what business do you have with the Fire Nation?"
Accelerator simply shrugged, "No business. I don't even really know how I got here."
There was a lengthy silence, as Ozai closed his eyes in thought; he then turned to Azula and spoke.
"Daughter, how confident are you in his abilities?" he asked in a low voice.
Azula bowed her head as she answered, "I have seen his skill, my lord; his power is….terrifying, to say the least. I estimate that, with him on our side, we can easily overwhelm the avatar and bring any other kingdom to its knees."
Accelerator raised an eyebrow at the fire princess' comment; does she think he's just gonna join their side or something? What is she – crazy?
Ozai nodded his head, satisfied with his daughter's report and quickly addressed Accelerator once again.
"Accelerator, I would like to offer you a proposition," he said, staring intensely at the young esper.
"What is it?" the teen blatantly asked, although he was quite certain what was going to be said.
"Given your strength, I would like to enlist you in our forces. With your power, conquering our enemies will be quite easy. In exchange, we will provide you with whatever you may desire; food, shelter, women, power – anything you want."
Accelerator listened intently to the man's words, but was still somewhat uninterested; food and shelter were fundamentals, but anything else seemed boring to him. Just as he was about to deny the Fire Lord's request, he was stopped by Azula's interrupting voice.
"'the most powerful being in the world'," she began, "that's what you want, right? Proving your power to anyone and everyone who comes across you is your main goal. You don't simply want to be 'among' the best, you want to BE the best. Well here's your chance; if you accept my father's offer, I can guarantee that you will achieve your goal. The avatar is widely considered to be the most powerful being in our universe; if you defeat him, then your name will become legend…so, how does that sound?"
Accelerator eyed the grinning girl cautiously before he looked back up at the Fire Lord; although she wasn't exactly subtle, Accelerator had to admit that Azula knew how to play her cards right.
"Fine, I'm in," he said after he shoved his arms back into his pockets.
"Excellent," Ozai said, leaning back into his seat, "now then, if you will please follow the guards, they will lead you to your room for the night. Tomorrow, I shall send a messenger to awake you so that I may inform you of your future duties."
Accelerator inwardly groaned; the mere thought of being awoken by someone else made him aware of the fact that he could no longer sleep in. Noticing that one of the guards was beckoning for Accelerator to follow them, the teenage esper lazily walked toward them. Before he left the room, Accelerator noticed that Azula was not exiting with him, but he quickly ignored that and left as the large wooden doors were closed behind him.
Azula watched the white haired teen leave before she glanced back at her father, who already had his stern eyes upon her.
"Tell me, Azula, do you truly believe that this boy is worth such effort. I still have yet to see this 'power' of his that you claim to have seen."
"Father," Azula began with a lowered head, "I would not lie to you; I have seen him fight with my very eyes. He mercilessly slaughtered six guards in front of me in the blink of an eye; such frightful power cannot simply be ignored."
Her father gently stroked his goatee before he responded, "hmmm. Do you truly believe that he can defeat the avatar?"
"I'm not quite sure, but it doesn't really matter. He's powerful enough to weaken the avatar so that we can deliver the final blow. The Fire Nation shall reign supreme.
End of Chapter 2
A/N: hey, guys, how's it goin'? I don't really have much to say about this chapter. It was more like I was getting used to the characters' interactions, so I had to think a lot about the dialogue. Anyway, if you liked this chapter, blah blah blah – comment! Bye!