A/N: I like to reply to reviews, so if you give me one, then I'll write you back! If I don't get back to you right away, or if I miss you somehow, then I'm terribly sorry! I'm going to start dedicating chapters to those reviewers who either give some awesome advice, stick around a lot, or I can even tell people to go to your profile to read your fics… :D Does anyone even read these? Because I do…
Onwards with what you all came here for!
(Okay wait… I feel as though I should put another disclaimer for the use of the poem in the beginning here. I do not own at all any poem or song that shows up before an actual chapter (and this goes for future ones, as well), unless otherwise noted. I find them on the internet. ^-^ thank you)
X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X
We have been friends together
In sunshine and in shade,
Since first beneath the chestnut trees,
In infancy we played.
But coldness dwells within thy heart,
A cloud is on thy brow;
We have been friends together,
Shall a light word part us now?
…We have been sad together;
We have wept with bitter tears
O'er the grass-grown graves where slumbered
The hopes of early years.
The voices, which are silent there
Would bid thee clear thy brow;
We have been sad together.
Oh, what shall part us now?
~Caroline Norton
X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X
Chapter Two:
"An Unpleasant Surprise"
X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X
"Birthdays, birthdays… You're 21 years old! Holy crud, you're a geezer!" Ty-Lee shouted across the dining hall at her royal friend.
"What is it with everyone saying that? It's not that old." Zuko replied, frown beginning to form on his face.
Raven giggled from the chair next to him. "You'll be this age in a few years, Ty-Lee. I wouldn't be saying that if I were you. It's kind of rude…"
"You were saying it this morning!" Zuko yelled at her.
"Yeah, well, I'm the best friend. I get away with everything." Raven shrugged as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Zuko sighed. "Of course you do."
"Oh, just eat your cake." Raven responded with a huff.
"Can't argue with that." Ty-Lee stated. "This cake is heaven. I haven't had this many sweets in a long time, which is very unusual for me..."
"I couldn't imagine. With you so hyper all the gosh darn time, I would've thought that sugar was all you ever eat. I never knew someone could be that happy every minute of every day." Raven muttered. "Alas, you've proven me wrong."
"Well someone has to be cheery. You two are the king and queen of stoic and solitary sometimes. Everyone steers clear of the both of you whenever you have a little tiff. You haven't noticed?" Ty-Lee asked.
Raven and Zuko just stared at her. They narrowed their eyes and scowled at the same time, making Ty-Lee squeak in fear. Then the two of them looked at each other, noticed the identical facial expressions, and simultaneously burst out laughing.
"Alright, alright. Maybe you've got a point there." Raven admitted.
Zuko nodded in agreement. "Are we that much alike?"
"Pretty much." Ty-Lee smiled.
"That's not much of a reassurance." Zuko added under his breath.
"Hey!" Raven shouted, hearing the muttered words of her friend. "What is that supposed to mean? Being like me should be an honor! Its being like you that's got me worried!"
"Being like me? I'm the leader of a nation! Shouldn't that be more of an honor? I'm royalty!"
"I may not be royalty, but I get treated like I am. So, I get the benefits of your leadership without having to do all of the dirty work. You have paperwork and official Fire Lord Business to take care of. All I have to do is lounge around and reap the benefits of being your best friend. It's the life!"
"You're a moocher is what you are. I wouldn't want to fall that low in life."
"At least I know how to enjoy life! All you do in your free time is read! Who does that but anti-social people who don't know what else to do with their pathetic lives?"
"Pathetic? Is that what you call being the best ruler a nation has ever had? Pathetic?"
"When that's all they do is sit on their throne and order people around, yes! Pathetic!"
"I can't believe you would—"
"Can't you two just eat your cake and behave like normal friends?" Ty-Lee screamed.
The two quarrelers were quiet at once. They picked up their forks and started eating in silence, eyes downturned and apologetic.
"Sorry, Ty-Lee."
"Yes, Ty-Lee."
The brunette heaved in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Much better."
The three ate in pleasurable silence for a while, peaceful for the time being. After Zuko had finished his first piece of cake, Raven was halfway through her first, and Ty-Lee was on her second already. As the brunette practically swallowed the second whole, and then went back for a third, the other two occupants of the room watched her in awe.
Zuko opted to start speaking, mumbling questionably, "How…?" To which Raven just shook her head in wonder.
"I don't know."
Ty-Lee finished her third, wiped her mouth daintily with a napkin, and stood. She looked at her friends, completely unaware of their wonderment, and bowed slightly. "I think I'll be going now. I have a few things I'd like to get done before the day is up." With that said, she walked out of the dining room swiftly.
The two stared at where she had just been standing for a few moments, speechless. "Well that was a bit weird." Raven started.
"What could she possibly have to get done that will take her the rest of the day?"
"It is already midday."
"That is still a lot of time… I wonder if we should follow her." Zuko suggested.
"Nah…" Raven shook her head. "It's no big deal. Maybe she has some super secret birthday surprise for you. Or, you know, she could be the leader of some secret society that plans to overthrow you and she had to go finalize the plans to kill you tonight while you're sleeping."
Zuko didn't know what scared him more. The thought of Ty-Lee actually being the leader of a conspiracy group, or the fact that Raven had suggested it with a completely straight face. "Uh…"
Raven looked him in the eye. "You may want to get some extra guards around your room tonight, just in case."
After a few seconds of silence, Zuko muttered his reply. "You know, you can be really scary sometimes."
Raven smiled. "You know I'm kidding. Ty-Lee is way too innocent. I think we'd all die from shock if what I said were actually true!"
"Definitely." Zuko took another bite of his second piece. The white cake was good, but the chocolate frosting on top was a little too much for him to handle, and even thinking of taking another bite was giving him a stomachache.
Thankfully, he received a distraction from said cake. The door on the far end of the room, opposite the one from which Ty-Lee had excited, opened and in walked one of the Fire Nation soldiers. The man had a small piece of paper in his hands, and was moving directly towards the table they were sitting at. When the soldier stopped at the edge of it, across the seat Zuko was sitting in, the Fire Lord straightened.
The soldier spoke. "An important message for you, my lord."
"Go right ahead. I'm listening—"
"No. No, he is not listening. It's his birthday, and nobody is going to bother him with trivial Fire Lord Business things. You got that? So just leave."
"Raven… I can't just quit being Fire Lord for a day." Zuko turned back to the soldier who had spoken first. "Please, relay the message to me."
Raven sighed and spoke again before the soldier could get a word out. "Zuko, listen. I know you don't think you can have a break, but you can. I say you take that break now. It's your day! Come on! Finish your cake!"
Zuko fixed her a stern glare. "No."
Raven sighed again, but this time in defeat. "Fine. Soldier, speak this 'oh so important' message that is urgent enough to be brought up before the Fire Lord on this day of celebration."
The soldier gulped, obviously having second thoughts. He took a deep breath and began. "A few days ago, there was a scuffle in the royal prison hold, as you know." Zuko nodded in conformation. "Well, as of today, there are accounts of two prisoners missing from their cells." The soldier stopped there.
"…And? Do you have their identities? Are there people searching for them already? How much of a threat are these escapees?" Zuko asked calmly.
"Their identities were not given to me, sir. I have heard of no search parties, yet. And the threat is not large, so says the warden."
Zuko shrugged. "Then let's just wait it out. Make sure the warden gets the message that he needs to send out at least one search party for the escapees to make sure they are found and brought back to the hold. I expect to be updated of the proceedings on this case. Dismissed."
The soldier bowed briefly before turning on his heel and exiting the way he came.
"That was so not important enough to disturb you." Raven muttered.
"You want my cake?"
"Dear lord, I can't even finish this piece."
"But that one is your first! You couldn't even finish one?"
"No… not all of us are like Ty-Lee. Jeez." Raven frowned. She changed the subject. "So, you're not worried at all about these prison breakers?"
Zuko shook his head. "Not really. As long as the warden says they aren't of high threat then we shouldn't have anything to be worried about."
"Good. That's good and all, but what if the warden is wrong?" At Zuko's questioning glance, she elaborated. "Everyone in the prison did something to get themselves in there, right? So, I think we should at least find out what it was those escapees got in there for. They may have made good graces with the warden, but they could be a crazed psychopath in the first place. The warden wouldn't necessarily know those things. How could he, with a hundred inmates? He couldn't know all of them."
Zuko thought it over. "You've got a point, Raven."
"Of course I have a point."
Zuko glared at her playfully. "I'll see to it that the names of those two are delivered to me immediately, as well as their information. But for now, I think I want to celebrate my birthday."
"That's the spirit!" Raven grinned at her childhood friend.
"Now, finish your cake."
"Wait, what? You finish yours!"
"I'm the Fire Lord. I don't have to. But as the Fire Lord, I order you to finish your first piece."
Raven grumbled as she picked up her fork and stabbed her cake brutally. "You're so mean…"
X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X
Zuko was in shock. Pure and utter shock. "I thought you said that these escapees were of no threat?" He breathed, too stunned to sound half as angry as he should have been.
The soldier, who was the same one that had come to deliver the message of the prison break two days previous, seemed to notice that the Fire Lord was on thin ice at the moment. He had to word this perfectly, or else the blame would be put on him, and although the current Fire Lord was not as cruel as the previous, the newly twenty-one year old could be quite terrifying at times. The soldier had heard stories from people who had been on the receiving end of that wrath, and he sure as heck did not want to become one of those people with a story to tell. He took a deep breath. "The warden strongly cautions that you need to put the area on high alert. The escapees are supposedly highly dangerous targets. There are a few search parties out now, and the warden says that by the end of the day, the escapees should be back in their cells."
"I was told that these escapees were of no threat. Two days ago." Zuko growled. "Whoever they are, they could have done some serious damage within two days."
"My… apologies, my lord." The soldier mumbled.
Zuko sighed deeply, hand sliding down his face in exasperation and tiredness. "What were their names? Did you at least get that information for me?"
"N-no sir. My apologies once more. The warden would not release the information to me."
"Did you happen to tell the warden that the information was wanted by the Fire Lord?" Zuko blanched.
"U-uh… I-I guess not."
"Then go do that now."
"Y-yes sir."
"Not needed." The new voice came from directly behind the soldier, making the man jump slightly in fright. Raven had appeared at his back soundlessly, no doubt coming in from the same door as the soldier himself had walked through. Her tone had been scathing, fierce, and angry.
Her black hair was pulled back into a low ponytail. The bangs were pulled out of her face, showing off her mismatched eyes to the world. She only did so when she wanted to intimidate someone, and Zuko knew this for a fact, making him quite suspicious as to Raven's whereabouts for the day. Her arms were crossed over her chest and a deep scowl was imprinted onto her face. "You wouldn't believe the little tidbit of information I picked up today, Zuko. It was very surprising. Considering, that this was quite a big lie." She sang out the next bit in a sickly sweet voice, shocking the other two inhabitants of the room into a tense silence as said man was dragged in by two other soldiers. "Oh, Warden?"
The warden was an old, hardened man who looked as though he had hit nothing but the rough bumps in life's long, winding road. He had graying hair that had once been a lighter brown, wrinkles deeply etched onto his forehead and cheeks, and bags underneath his eyes. He looked worn down and tired, different then the strong awareness and authority that the man's aura usually held. When the soldiers let go off him, he sunk to his knees in front of Zuko, head bowed and hands clasped together in prayer.
"Why don't you tell the Fire Lord what the escapee's names are, warden? Maybe then we can get on with things." Raven growled.
Zuko shot her a worried glance, hidden from the others by the suspicion and anger directed to the warden at his feet. Raven just shook her head at him, sending him a message to just listen to what the man had to say. Zuko directed his gaze to the warden, who had just begun to speak.
"I had no idea what to say… I just didn't want anything to happen to me… I was just—"
But Raven cut him off. "Enough with the pitiful chitter-chatter. If you wanted someone to sympathize with you, you've come to the wrong place. You shouldn't have hid any of this behind lies and reassurances. You would have gotten off better without doing so."
"The escapees… they were strong. Our search parties found them the first day, but the two of them teamed up and killed all of our soldiers and guards. All but one… sent him back with a warning. Saying that if we wanted to get off alive, then we would lie to the Fire Lord and say that they were of no threat. They wanted us to fake the names and crimes. To make you not worry…"
"Oh, for God sakes, man. Just tell him what the names of the escapees are!" Raven yelled.
The warden flinched violently. "Th-the-they… I-I… A-Az—"
"Azula and your father." Raven muttered, defeated, tired of waiting for the warden to blurt out the names. "The escapees were Azula and Ozai." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them, she was looking at the soldiers who had dragged in the warden. "Take him back to the prison. Just… just keep an eye on him for a while. Further orders will come soon."
The soldiers nodded and grabbed hold of the now sobbing man, practically having to drag him once more, leading him out of the door and back the way they had come. Raven nodded to the other soldier, the deliverer of the message, and he left swiftly as well.
With that done, Raven glanced back to Zuko, only to find that his eyes were trained on her. Both adults were blocking out the warden's still hearable yells of 'forgive me, forgive me'.
"No." Zuko said simply, disbelief written clearly in his eyes.
Raven sighed wearily. "I'm afraid so. They're more capable than any other is, when it comes to traveling far in two days. They'll be long gone by now. I don't know what they think they could achieve, though. I really don't. Your father doesn't even have his bending to use."
"He doesn't, but my sister does. And my father still has some of his followers. He'll be able to find someone who would help him with anything. Even fight against the current Fire Lord and his soldiers…" Zuko trailed off in deep thought. "This is a problem."
"I don't see what the threat is, other than the fact that your sister is crazy." Zuko gave her an incredulous look. "I'm serious!" Raven threw up her hands in expression.
"You can't be. You just can't. You don't see the threat? My sister is enough, but you are underestimating the power my father still has, no matter how long he's been out of the public eye."
Raven shook her head. "Sorry, Zuko. But I think the best plan of action would be to stay put and wait for them to make the first move. That is, if they make a move at all. You know, it's possible that they just wanted to escape and hide. They may not have any plans of 'ultimate doom'." Raven smiled and wiggled her eyebrows in laughter.
Zuko narrowed his eyes at her. "Look at you, smiling. Are you serious? This is not a laughing matter, Raven. This could be life or death for someone! This could be putting the entire nation in danger! And you're laughing and smiling like there is nothing wrong!" He spat.
Raven immediately sobered, and spoke her next words sternly. "I didn't say nothing was wrong. And I'm not trying to insinuate that those two aren't dangerous. I'm merely stating a few possibilities as to why they chose now to escape and what we should be doing against it."
"Well, it didn't sound that way to me at all. I'm sick of your constant disregard for my duty! I have to take the safest option here, and that would be for me to find them, as soon as possible, not wait around for them to make what could be a very dangerous move for us!" Zuko yelled. He scowled down at the woman in front of him, anger seeping through his eyes, glaring at her.
Raven went silent. After a few seconds, she started up again in a whisper. "Take a chill pill, Zuko. I think we both need one."
Zuko did not heed the warning. "I think you should just come away from your stupid ideas about letting them be! Be sensible! Think straight for goodness sakes!"
"I am thinking straight, thank you very much." Raven replied, breathing deeply and trying to stay calm.
"If that's what you think, then maybe I made a grave mistake making you my advisor." Zuko growled.
"If you're not even going to consider my opinion, then maybe I made a mistake accepting the offer!" Raven screeched right back. "Get down off of your high horse and think of other people every once and a while! You're so selfish sometimes!"
"Selfish?" Zuko cried out in disbelief. "Sometimes I think I would have been better off at this job without you coming back home with me!"
Raven froze with her mouth open, about to retort. Her eyes downturned in hurt. After a little longer in silence, she looked up at Zuko. However, as soon as they connected eyes, her face became devoid of all emotion. Blankly, she stared at the wall over his shoulder instead.
Oblivious to the change, Zuko just continued. "Maybe you should just leave the palace! Go back to the Water Tribe!" He bellowed to the echoing walls, making him louder than he was before. His face was still alight in furiousness.
"The… Water Tribe…" Raven mumbled, blinking rapidly and shifting to meet eyes with Zuko. "You want me to go there?"
"Yes. Just leave!" Zuko rasped.
"O-okay." The woman whispered in confusion. She turned to the exit and started walking. Once she got about five steps from the door, though, she turned back around and asked, "If you don't mind answering… um… w-why are you making me leave? Are you angry with me?"
Zuko stared with one eyebrow raised. His scowl grew nastier. "Of course I'm mad at you! Did you not just hear what I said?"
"Fine! I-I just don't understand why…" She turned and walked out of the door, mumbling one last thing to herself that she thought Zuko would not hear.
However, Zuko did hear it, and it filled him with a load of dread.
"I don't even know you."
X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X-x-x-x-X
A/N: Don't take this the wrong way, because I greatly appreciate all of the favorites and alerts on my stories and such :) But, it angers me when people favorite or alert, yet do not review. If you have time to read and fave, then why not just say a few words to let me know what you liked?
^^Pointing out any grammar mistakes would be welcome, too. I don't have a beta. Any inconsistencies between the story and the show (especially in terms of the palace/prison workings and such) are not really intentional, just my mind going all creative-like…
Anyway, hope you liked this chapter! (Had a lot of dialogue, I noticed.) Next one does include the rest of the gaang. (Such long author notes I have….)
Review?