A/N: This one was becoming longer than I expected, so I'm splitting it into two parts.
Chapter 12: The Siege of the North: Part 1
Prince Zuko stood on the brow of his personal warship, watching the Northern Water Tribe come into view on the horizon. His ship was leading the fleet, and would soon be in position to begin the attack. This was Zuko's chance to prove his honor in battle, to prove that he was worthy of being the crown prince of the Fire Nation.
Sitting near the ship's cabin were two old women, watching the young prince. Zuko had wanted to leave Li and Lo behind, but his father had insisted that they accompany Zuko. With any luck some waterbender will get rid of them for me Zuko thought.
"Prince Zuko, are you sure it is wise to be on the lead ship?" Li asked.
"It will surely be destroyed, and us along with it," Lo said.
"I have my reasons," Zuko replied. "Tell the fleet to stop just outside the catapult's range. This ship will stop halfway between the fleet and the Water Tribe."
On the ice wall Sokka watched the lead ship approach while the rest of the fleet remained behind. Behind the wall were Toph and Pakku, ready to literally change the playing field. Pakku waterbended the ice nearby into a hollow sphere around himself and Toph, then melted the ice beneath it. The sphere sank into the water, sending Pakku and Toph towards the seafloor.
With the plan in motion Sokka focused his attention on the Fire Navy fleet. He still had the ice spyglass Pakku made, and watched the lead ship move further ahead than the rest of the fleet. To Sokka's surprise the ship raised a black flag, signaling a desire to parley.
What kind of trickery is this? Sokka thought. The waterbenders on the wall whispered to each other, wondering what to do now. Sokka walked up to a group of warriors. "Excuse me, who would I talk to about accepting parley from that ship?"
A warrior with dark hair stepped forward. "That would be me, Hahn," he said. "And why would you care if we accept parley or not?"
"I don't," Sokka said. "Regardless of what they want to say it will buy us some time."
"Alright, if you want to go to the Fire Navy ship then be my guest," Hahn said. "Try not to die."
Within minutes Sokka boarded a small boat with two waterbenders and three warriors. They cautiously sailed towards the lead Fire Navy ship, waiting for any treachery. When the boat reached the ship the waterbenders raised the water beneath it, bringing the boat up to the deck of the ship. Once the boat was level with the ship's deck the waterbenders froze the water to keep the boat in position. Sokka climbed out of the boat first and his eye's met those of Prince Zuko.
"The Water Tribe sends a teenager to negotiate?" Zuko questioned.
"You're one to talk," Sokka said.
"I'm the prince, what's your excuse?" Zuko asked.
"Well I'm sort of the closest thing we got to a prince," Sokka replied. "So what did you want to talk about?"
"I'm willing to discuss the terms of your surrender," Zuko said.
"You're kidding right?" Sokka asked.
"No I am not," Zuko said. "As you can see my fleet is ready to destroy your tribe and everyone in it. If you surrender now we can avoid unnecessary casualties."
"You could have just stayed home and leave the Water Tribe alone," Sokka said. "That would avoid unnecessary casualties."
"Defiant, as I expected," Zuko said. "I will not make this offer again. Your tribe can fight, but your people will lose."
"This isn't some little Earth Kingdom village you can just march into," Sokka said.
"Indeed," Zuko said. "Well then if you're so determined to fight you better get back to your forces. Under the rules of parley I'll let you leave unharmed."
Well that bought us about half an hour Sokka thought as he turned towards the boat. While he climbed into the boat the warriors watched for an attack, but the soldiers on the ship let them leave. Toph should be ready any minute now Sokka thought as the waterbenders lowered the boat back to the ocean.
On the ship Zuko watched the boat move back towards the ice wall. He never expected the Water Tribe to surrender, merely using the parley to get his ship closer to the ice wall without being attacked. Zuko calmed his mind, preparing himself for his next move.
"What now Prince Zuko?" Li asked.
"Shall we begin the attack?" Lo asked.
"One moment," Zuko said. Peace of mind… Zuko thought and moved his arms in a circular pattern. Energy crackled around his fingertips, building up a charge of lightning. He extended his arm towards the ice wall, firing lightning at it. The lightning struck the wall and exploded, creating a breach in the wall wide enough for a warship to pass through.
Zuko heard slow clapping coming from the door to the ship's cabin. Turning towards the cabin Zuko saw a teenage girl in dark red clothes standing in the doorway, toying with a knife in her hand. "You finally did it," she said.
"I had you to inspire me, Mai," Zuko said.
"Really?" Mai said. "It seemed kind of bright for my taste."
"Flirt after the attack," Li interrupted.
"Romance can wait," Lo said.
"Fine, begin the… attack…" Zuko was cut off when he saw cracks appear in the ice wall, spreading from the breach his lightning had created. Pieces of ice broke off and crashed into the sea as the entire wall began to crumble. Zuko could see warriors fall off the wall as it collapsed beneath their feet, requiring the waterbenders to rescue them from drowning.
The entire wall collapsed into the sea, revealing the city made of ice. When Zuko signaled the ships to advance the water where the wall used to be began to swell upward. Something beneath the surface was moving and displacing the water. Zuko's ship was pushed back as water flowed away from the city, bringing it back to the advancing fleet. Suddenly the water burst open, revealing a wall of rock slowly rising to replace the ice wall.
"They have EARTHBENDERS!" Zuko yelled. He watched the wall of rock rise just behind where the ice wall used to be. Grabbing a spyglass Zuko observed the top of the new wall in detail, finding an old man and a little girl on it. "Fire Everything, bring down that wall," Zuko ordered.
On the top of the new wall, Toph fell on her back, exhausted from her greatest earthbending feat yet. She was glad to be back on solid earth, even if she had to raise it from the seafloor. Pakku stood nearby, refusing to show his amazement at Toph's work. He observed the Fire Nation fleet, examining how the new wall would change how the battle would proceed.
"Are you ready?" Pakka asked.
"Give me a moment," Toph said, out of breath. "I'm just going to lay down here for a few minutes."
"You don't have a few minutes," Pakku said. He saw the Fire Nation ships fire their catapults, throwing large fireballs at the new wall. Several fireballs hit the wall, leaving craters and shaking the wall with each impact.
"Just five more minutes…" Toph groaned.
"You wanted to fight, now get to it," Pakku said.
Toph stood up and stretched her arms and legs. Throwing her arms forward she earthbended the front of the wall, shattering a foot of it and sending the pieces flying towards the fleet. Unable to see where the ships were, Toph scattered them in a wide pattern. Most of the rock projectiles fell into the sea, while others punctured the hulls of ships caught in the wide pattern. Dozens of ships were hit and started to sink, their crews bailing out.
The ships behind the barrage of rock increased their speed. They moved forward, ignoring Toph's next barrage of rock and letting the ships be damaged. Several ships sank, but others reached the wall at ramming speed and crashed into it. Several impacts from abandoned ships left large cracks in the wall. It was too much for Toph to repair while attacking the fleet. The wall started to crumble and fall backward, forcing everyone behind the wall to flee as it came crashing down.
As the wall fell Toph earthbended the rock around her into sand to cushion her fall. After surviving the fall she earthbended the sand back into rock in time to feel the vibrations of ships ramming through the remains of the wall's foundation, entering the harbor. The front of the ships opened, deploying a stairway for soldiers to charge into the harbor.
Stumbling through the rubble of rocks, Sokka ran towards his friend. "Toph! Are you alright?" he called out.
"So much for plan A," Toph said. "Got a plan B?"
"Working on it," Sokka said. "Can you bend all this rock into a form to take with you?"
"Not all of it," Toph said.
"Okay. Take as much as you can and make some kind of armor out of it," Sokka suggested.
"Got it," Toph said. She earthbended the surrounding rocks into a large sphere around herself. Then the sphere was earthbended into a shape resembling a twenty foot tall Golem, with a small slit at the mouth to let Toph breathe.
"Now Toph, ROCK SMASH!" Sokka commanded.
The Golem walked towards the soldiers rushing into the harbor, catching them unprepared for it. Toph swung the Golem's arms around, striking soldiers and tossing them into the water. Firebenders attempted to blast the golem, but only scorched the surface of it. The Golem struck back, charging at them and tossing them aside.
From the ships dozens of tanks were deployed. One of the tanks rammed into the Golem, pushing it back several feet before stopping. The Golem grabbed the tracks of the tank that hit it, lifted the tank into the air and threw it at another tank, destroying both tanks. More tanks attempted to bring down the Golem, but each one was smashed by it instead.
On Zuko's personal warship, the Prince was observing the battle. His ship had stayed behind during the earth barrage and ramming of the wall, waiting for his fleet to establish a foothold before getting involved personally. Through a spyglass he saw the Golem fighting soldiers and tanks, inflicting more casualties than Zuko expected.
"Bring this ship in," Zuko ordered.
"Prince Zuko, we should wait," Li said.
"For the harbor to be secured," Lo said.
"It won't be secured if I don't deal with that earthbender personally," Zuko explained. "Bring us in."
"You heard the Prince," Mai said.
The ship moved forward and entered the harbor, stopping at the ice. The front of the ship opened on its hinges, creating a path for Zuko to walk on. He walked to the end of the metal path and then charged a lightning blast. Zuko fired the lightning at the Golem and hit it in the shoulder. The lightning exploded, blowing off the Golem's arm, shattering the chest section and sending Toph tumbling out and onto the ice.
"What hit me?" Toph muttered as she lay on the ice.
"You fought well," Zuko said. "Die with honor."
As Zuko was about to send a fireblast at Toph, Sokka charged at the Prince with his machete in hand. As Zuko's fire emerged from his fist Sokka got in the way, shielding his face with his arms. He charged through the flames, not caring that his left arm was being burned as he swung the machete. The weapon struck Zuko's arm, deflecting the worst of the fireblast. Sokka swung his machete again, hitting Zuko's chest and knocking him to the ground.
With the adrenaline wearing off Sokka felt the pain in his burned arm. Holding his machete in his right hand, Sokka was about to bring it down on Zuko's head when a knife hit his right hand, forcing him to drop his weapon. He looked forward and saw Mai standing nearby, ready to throw another knife at Sokka.
"Back off," Mai said. She threw three knives at Sokka which hit his burned arm, the pain bringing him to his knees. Mai slowly walked forward to finish Sokka and get her boyfriend to safety, but was interrupted when a water tribe warrior with dark hair got between her and Sokka.
"Hahn?" Sokka questioned.
"Take your girl and go!" Hahn ordered. "I'll hold them off as long as I can."
"But what about…"
"GO!" Hahn yelled.
Sokka hurried to Toph, who was barely getting up. "Is it time for plan C?" she asked.
"Yea, run!" Sokka yelled. He grabbed Toph's arm and pulled her away from the battle, heading for the palace and its healers.
Hahn watched Sokka and Toph leave while keeping an eye on Mai. She grabbed Zuko and dragged him away, letting other soldiers take their place. "The Fire Nation must be stopped, no matter the cost!" Hahn said to himself.
Hahn charged at the soldiers, dodging their weapons while striking with his spear, aiming for crippling blows instead of killing ones. Several soldiers had been disabled when the firebenders moved in. He dodged their fireblasts as best he could, the flames grazing his uniform as he struck down the firebenders. Two soldiers rushed in and brought down their swords, which Hahn had to block with the side of his spear. The swords cut into the spear before Hahn broke the lock and hit the soldiers with the spear hard enough to break it into pieces.
Then a fireblast hit Hahn's back, badly burning him. Using adrenaline to ignore the pain Hahn grabbed the blade end of his broken spear and threw it at the firebender, hitting him in the head and bringing him down. More firebenders moved in, which Hahn had to defeat with punches and kicks, taking burns with each firebender defeated. With over a dozen bodies on the ground Hahn collapsed from exhaustion, too weak to block the last firebender that remained nearby. The last thing Hahn saw was the firebender's fist releasing fire directly at Hahn's face.
A/N: Even for a minor character, Hahn's canon death was really pathetic. This is much better, and for those of you who want music for that scene I recommend The Touch by Stan Bush. Hahn's last words should have automatically played the song for readers familiar with Transformers G1.