CHAPTER TWO
The thoughts in Zuko's mind were racing faster than ever before, despite his best efforts to still them with deep breathing.
If Azula and Zuko had anything in common, it was their reverence for war. The very idea of the graceful movement of a sword, the thought of chi flowing steadily through a warrior's body, and the finality of a finishing blow were enough strike a chord in each of the siblings' minds. However, this was not the time for aesthetics: it was the time for strategy.
The scout reports over the last few days had been very useful. By mapping out the course of rebel sightings, it soon became clear that they were intent on wiping out major supply lines, especially the iron flow from the eastern tip of the northern portion of the Nation to the capital city. Obviously, the rebels were still somewhat slow, and the metal-bending arrivals already had enough time to construct their weapons. Now, it was just a question of who would stand their ground.
A few hundred miles in front of the capital city, Zuko had gathered his forces for the attack he knew was inevitable. Their formation was of the Arrow, with the Fire Lord at the forefront on a lizardhound. Supporting him were the metallic earth bender tanks, powerful, moving cannons each manned by an earth bender on the inside, the royal cavalry on bisonhorses, and the Fire Nation foot soldiers. They were all his giant, obliterating ball of flame, washing away his problems from the battlefield like the harsh bars of white soap that lined the bathhouses.
In the distance, he could see them. They approached like a thick hair increasing in breadth before dissolving into a swarm. The tanks and soldiers clanked and prodded the ground behind him, straightening themselves for orders; Zuko kept them still. The approaching hordes became more defined and their furious faces more visible as they rushed toward the royal army. Their palpable disorganization surprised him: weren't these the rebels that had been learning?
The Fire Lord smiled. The internal chaos that would eventually ruin the rebels today was the perfect asset. Things he could not identify tickled his face gently. His lungs expanded in anticipation, and his feet begged to be lifted and pulled into motion in the vast expanse of green ground and blue skies. But only when he could see the brightness of rebel fire bending, and smell the scent of charred earth, did he release his deadly battle cry.
Less than a moment after the sound left his lips, he felt the thunderous roar of his forces right behind him. Instead of falling back into the middle of the sea of troops as they rushed forward, in order to lead them from the center, Zuko did the unthinkable: he raced ahead. He was a mere few yards in front of the lines of rebel armies when he flipped off the lizardhound and assumed a bending stance, eyes closed. The stupidity of his actions took some rebels so off guard that they stopped running altogether, and prepared for a death blow.
But before they could take a single step further, the Fire Lord struck. Out of his arms, he had produced blindingly bright sleeves of white fire. They extended dozens of yards beyond his limbs, but were completely in his control as if they had been born from his mouth. With an aggressive swipe of one arm, he dissolved the bursts of fire that would have otherwise taken his head. With another, he finished off the stances, and probably limbs, of the first row of soldiers before him.
The rebels just behind were eagar, like impatient ants crawling over eachother for a morsel of food. Zuko blocked attacks and burned dozens before him with quick slashes of each arm, but rebels started to surround him in all directions. Not that this was a problem, but it was a shame that so many would be losing their lives today.
Zuko spun into the circle of soldiers and welcomed their feeble attempts to take him down. His deadly tentacles twisted about like a furious hurricane, burning right through anyone who dared to put themselves in his presence. Each second was a whirl of colors as he spun with his ropes of fire, but the thuds of falling bodies of fleeting expressions of horror told him that he was precise. They were his trophies.
The ring of benders around Zuko diminished. Many who had faced him with angry calls and fire in their veins now lay dead, almost dead, or screamed in pain as they ran to locations unknown. Ths sound of the earthbender cannons firing and the increased trotting of bisonhorses was a sign that the majority of rebels were now immersed in the Arrow. But in the midst of the usual sounds of war was something alien.
An insistent whine, both grinding and shrieking, pierced his ears. The skin on the back of Zuko's neck prickled through the shroud of sweat as he listened to the thing that was obviously out of place. Whatever it was, he needed to get to it. Fast.
Anxiety hung in the cool air as he made his way to the cluster of fighting. Occasionally, he fought a rebel or two single-handed, employing his terrible white fire, but he didn't divert too much of his attention from whatever it was happened in the middle. The source of noise soon became clear in the midst of the flight of fireballs and the frenzy of men: one of the earth bender machines had collapsed.
Miraculously, Zuko managed to get to one of the machines without having to fight off a score of men on the way. With his knees in the blood-stained grass, he peered into the hunk of black metal he didn't expect to understand. It was clear that whoever was in it had escaped, but it showed no battle scars. The only evidence of damage was the thick, dark liquid dripping from somewhere on the inside onto the grass. Puzzled, he began to pull away until he felt sharp heat on his back.
As Zuko turned, he barely ducked out of the way of a fireball racing for his face. Waving away another, he ducked exhaled fire at his attacker. He dodged Zuko's attack, and issued a greater mass of fire from his hands, and flipped to produce one from his feet. Zuko flipped over the small wall of fire, and landed behind the rebel. A quick kick to the enemy's torso with a whip of white fire issuing from his foot finished him off.
Suddenly, another wail of crunching metal issued from the active battlefield. In the haze of battle, he could see the tumbling of another metal giant. Zuko sprinted to it as fast as his legs could carry him, ducking and dodging obstacles along the way. As he reached, he saw a man coated with the familiar dark liquid struggling to emerge from the shining darkness. Gathering his strength, Zuko tugged the man onto the grass with his arms and turned him over. His eyes were met by startling green ones, and a mustache that didn't really suit its owner.
"Haru!" Zuko gasped, pulling him to safety under the shield of the machine. He was covered in grease and bruises, but his tank seemed unharmed. "How-"
"GO!" Haru wheezed hoarsely. "Oil's leaking. It's only matter of time before-"
"OIL?" roared a rough voice from behind. Zuko turned to see a rebel soldier, fireball in hand. "Sounds like fun."
Still beside Haru, Zuko knocked the man on his feet with a slide of his leg. As the man's body slammed onto his own leg, Zuko ignited his foot underneath him. The smell of charred flesh was sickening, but was not as terrible as hearing the crackling of skin and the screams. As the man clawed the ground and struggled to lift himself up, a steady stream of orange fire left his lips as he screamed, and pointed in the direction of the machine.
Oh. Agni.
Zuko's thinking ceased; instinct would rule the next moments, if there were any. In a flash, Zuko roughly grabbed Haru's arm. In the next second, he had roughly flung his body and Haru's some distance away, and remained as his cover.
The tremendous ear-shattering bellow had started, and the world was only a mix of grass and orange sky. Sharp sounds whizzed by his ear, and he felt something clanking against his armour. Then all he knew was the pain. Zuko's head spun and his body felt like it was being pulled in all directions, especially forward.
Was he screaming? The feeling seemed to extend beyond the need for screams. His head emptied quickly, and all that was left was black.
Whoo! Finally, the battle scene. This chapter just did not want to be written, so thanks so much to the following users for keeping me going:
ItaSaku29, Niori, MoonClaimed, xyzisme, and Sagen-Water-Spirit.
In case you're wondering, Zuko's head did not explode. Plus, I really liked the idea of white fire. It's wayyy hotter than blue, and its fun to say that Zuko's now a better bender than Azula. So nyah.
R&R!
-Ava
