Book 1: Fearless
Chapter 11: Who I Am Hates Who I've Been
There in front of him were the Crystal Catacombs where he had helped Azula defeat the Avatar and his friend. And where he had betrayed Uncle. With conflicting emotions running high, he walked down into the cavernous catacombs.
There were still evidences of the battle that had happened here not long ago. There were fragments of crystals scattered here and there, burn marks on the walls, and holes in the ground where the Avatar had earthbended against him. There were even some puddles left from the flood that Katara had used to race to Aang's rescue.
The thoughts of Katara made him feel guilty. She had offered to heal his scar, or at least try to, at a personal loss to herself. But even that had not been enough to make him turn his back on his country, his family. But now they had all turned their back on him, even Uncle. And it was all his own fault. He had had a chance to have friends. But he had made the wrong decision again.
That was all in the past. He was here to make up for those mistakes. At least the ones against Uncle.
He had made it into the city, but now he had nowhere to go. He couldn't earthbend, so there was really no way to get into the modern city by going up. He could perhaps try to find a path leading to the surface, but the chances of that were slim to none.
Still walking, he began to notice that not all of the dark spots on the walls were completely still. One was moving with him, almost like it was watching him. He didn't show any outward sign of his disgust. It was obviously a Dai Le agent, but had Azula sent him? Did he know that Azula had turned on him? Only one way to find out.
"HEY!!!" Zuko shouted to the shadow on the wall.
It stopped moving but no one answered him. It was only then that he noticed that the moving shadow was just that, a shadow. Relief came over him. It was just his own shadow. He sat down.
But the shadow did not sit with him. It grew bigger as the person who cast it approached him. Zuko stood quickly and turned around. As he did, he was engulfed in a great bear hug.
It was Uncle Iroh. Zuko just stood there, not knowing what to do. Iroh released him, place his hands on Zuko's shoulders, and looked him in the eye. After a few seconds of just looking at each other, Zuko understood that his uncle had forgiven him.
His ego couldn't take it. He collapsed on the ground. Spasms ravaged his body over and over again as he cried his heart out. All the years of pent up emotion, all his sadness, came out all at once. His grief over the loss of his mother. The humiliation of failing to capture the Avatar. The shame of his scar. He let it all out.
When he gained control of himself again, Zuko looked at his uncle and said, "Thank you Uncle. I feel...better."
After having such an emotional experience, he didn't know what to say. All he could think of was how grateful he was for his uncle's forgiveness. Then he remembered what he was doing here in the first place.
"Uncle. We need to get out of here. Azula betrayed me."
"You sound surprised at that. I could have told you that she would. But tell me. What did she do to betray you?"
"Well, we went after the Avatar's friends. Apparently the girl used her healing ability to heal him, because when we found them, he was still alive. So we started to fight them. But in the middle of the fight, this boy appeared. He said he was going to train Azula and eliminate the rest of us. So I ran away and came to find you."
"I see. And who was this boy that was going to train Azula?" Iroh asked.
"I don't know. I've never seen him before. He said his name was Kayo."
When Zuko said that name, Iroh looked surprised and alarmed, but the expression quickly passed. They quickly went out the way Zuko had come in. Once outside, they made sure none of the guards were in view, and then they stared the long run to the outer wall.
Hope you all enjoyed that. I've had a major case of writer's block recently. Hopefully it won't take me so long to write chapter 12. Please reply.
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;) Author of Fearless ;) marquee
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Random Quote
Katara: You can't keep us here. Let us leave!
King Bumi: Lettuce leaf? (eats a piece of lettuce)
Sokka: We're in serious trouble here. This guy is nuts.