He who pursues righteousness and loyalty finds life righteousness and honor
~ Proverbs 21:21
"When are we gonna show Sokka our secret hideout?!" Haru asked as the boys made their way up the streets of Ba Sing Se covered in coal dust.
Jet chuckled as he swung his canteen around pretending to knock out invisible Fire Nation soldiers.
Sokka kept walking silently his hands in his pockets wondering if his sister would be okay after getting in trouble this morning. He knew his sister was fearless, but this was beyond stupid.
The sound of footsteps and voices caught the boys attention. They turned around and noticed a bunch of soldiers, civilians and running frantically with buckets of water in their hands. The boys wondered what was happening and Jet was the first to ask.
"What's going on?"
One of the civilians was a woman carrying an infant on her back, she stopped to look at the boys trying to catch her breath.
"Fire in the orphanage."
The boys spared no time asking any more questions and immediately ran.
"Come on, I know a shortcut!" Haru hollered leading the way.
The boys got there in there in a matter of minutes and stepped back in shock. Jet's mid froze as the memory of his village came into view his mother and father 's screams pierced his ears. He fell to the ground gasping out shallow breaths. Sokka tried scanning for his sister among the crowd but she couldn't spot her anywhere. Haru quickly joined the earth benders and soldiers as they tried to creating a ditch to divert the flames. Passerbys stopped to help and the women cried out tears of pity. Sokka looked at Jet the sight of the determined boy was gone and only a scared little boy remained. He needed to find Katara and knew he couldn't do it without him.
He leaned down roughly tugging the earth kingdom boy.
"Jet! Jet you need to snap out of it!"
"N-No! it's too painful!"
"My sister might be inside, I need your help!" Sokka begged.
The young boy remained where he was unable to move as he couldn't stop the memories from coming. Sokka knew there was no time to convince Jet, he quickly grabbed a bucket someone was holding and dumped the water over his body. Shielding his nose from the smoke, the young Southern Water Tribe warrior went into the flames.
The flames continued the lick towards her flesh as she staggered backward, dark smoke filled her lungs and her vision went blurry. Katara felt sick to her stomach and could feel the bile rising to her throat. She began to stagger and felt her balance giving up on her until a hand-scooped her from the ground.
Katara jostled from her trance as she jostled from the person carrying her. She blinked to squint at the figure and she realized it was Lady Ming with panic torn across her face. Katara wondered what was going through her mind as she knew the Lady disliked her. The orphanage was clearly falling apart now. Pieces of wood came crashing down in embers, the kitchen and dining room all unrecognizable. Katara looked towards the back where she had shown Sokka her healing abilities until another large column came crashing into them from above.
Before she had a chance to react, Lady Ming pivoted to the side, her whole body obscuring the waterbender. Katara screamed and the column connected with Lady Ming knocking both of them backward. Katara tried to stand but the weight of the woman and the column pinned her to her spot. She tried to pull herself out to no avail, Lady Ming was unrecognizable as her perfectly made-up face concealed with blood and soot. Katara heard voices and noticed three figures approaching but the smoke was becoming too strong overtaking her consciousness.
Luten ran as quick as his legs could take him and ran into the coronation room. It was dark and empty, but he didn't miss the pile seals stationed in seats of noble and officials.
He quickly walked across the tables looking at the row of seals and names protesting his title of crown prince.
"Zhao" he spat.
"Nobleman Ukano"
"Lord Xie Lou"
"Colonel Shinu"
"Captain Li"
"Captain Chey"
"Bujing?"
"Even General Mak?!"
The officials he had mentioned were just a handful of the hundred more seals placed on each seat in the room.
"This is outright disrespect towards me." He scoffed.
A chuckle snake it's way into the room and Luten turned towards the figure at the door, his anger boiling even more.
"Zhao! I know you engineered this? Call off the protest this instant! You can't take my birthright away from me."
The commander's frowned at the prince
"Your birthright is a privilege, not an entitlement and if you have been shown to abuse it like you or your father it is taken away."
Zhao snapped, and two soldiers appeared and grabbed the prince, he tried to bend but they were strong and rougher thus demobilizing him. They forced the prince to his knees and he looked up glaring daggers at the commander.
"You will regret this Zhao! I will make sure of it!"
Zhao replaced his expression with smugness as he enjoyed the sight of the prince on his knees
"Your empty threats and disrespect will no longer be tolerated. Your father is gone Luten and there is no one to protect you. The question is,"
The commander slowly stepped away from the door.
"Will you protect the last air bender?".
Luten's eyes widened as two bigger men brought in a bag that seemed to carry someone and tossed it to the ground in front of the prince.
"Aang? Aang!". Luten tried to scurry for the bag to open it but the grip of the two soldiers was strong
Zhao's smugness turned into a smirk watching the spectacle
"Don't worry, he's knocked out, so he won't feel much."
"What?" Luten gasped with panic as his eyes widened with horror.
Zhao looked at the men signaling for them to begin. Both men raised up big brown clubs and began striking the body underneath the bag.
Luten screamed frantically trying to wrestle out of the guard's grip.
"Leave him alone!"
Both of the men ignored the prince and kept striking the Airbender. Blood began spewing into the bag and Luten screamed even more hysterically.
"LEAVE HIM!"
"Our destiny was never to rule my son. It is to protect and help the oppressed that our nation has terrorized throughout all generations."
Tears began to appear in the brim of his eyes and Zhao smirked at how frazzled the ignorant prince looked.
Luten continued to scream until his voice became hoarse. With his father gone, the Airbender was the only person he had left.
"Fine! Fine! If you leave him alone, I-I will!" The prince took a deep breath finally realizing his destiny.
"I will give up my crown"
Zhao stopped the men.
"What was that your majesty?"
The prince huffed loudly, every part of his body aching from the soldier's grip and his screams.
"I said. I will give up the throne."
Zhao boomed into a heavy laughter.
"The council already withdrew their support for you. But I'm glad we came to a mutual agreement, your majesty."
The commander gave him a pat on the shoulder as the men released him. The prince fell to his hands and knees, realizing what he had done. He suddenly remembered Aang and rushed to the bag. Quickly unraveling it, he froze at the sight and quickly turned to look at Zhao speechless and shocked.
"Now do you understand where power comes from Prince Luten? It isn't such an easy thing to have, but is possessed by those who know how to use it."
Zhao smirked as he turned to leave.
"Try causing an uproar in the palace and next time it will really be an air bender in the bag."
The door slammed leaving the prince with a mangled bleeding fox. Luten looked at the beaten innocent animal, his hands trembling and sank into tears.