A/N: Hey guys! Sorry this is a day later than usual, but I hit writer's block the likes of which I hadn't seen before earlier in the week! Anyways, enjoy!
Disclaimer: Superbleh11 owns nothing! Nothing I tell you!
Zuko, The Former Prince:
I grit my teeth, clenching my jaw against the pain as I pull tightly on the bandaging. My shoulder screams out, the hurt of the cut ripping through my chest and down my arm, melting from a mere stinging into a broad, unquenchable fire. Through the tears that bubble up in the corners of my eyes, I wrap the coarse bandaging around itself, tightening it into a firm knot. I let out a long, drawn out sigh of relief, as I realize that the stitches haven't broken
I stand up, feeling the deep, sickly purple bruise that stretches up from my side groan painfully in protest. Stupid! Each of these injuries, a clear, distinct failure, a definable result of my own idiocy. It was moronic and pointless to bring both swords into that slash, leaving my back exposed for a clumsy tough with a knife blade. And if I had kept moving, stayed fluid and hard to locate, I wouldn't be nursing these damnable bruised ribs on my right side. Is this how I avenge Xiang? Like some clumsy oaf, whose only true advantage lies in having bigger weapons than everyone else?
No.
I'll fight through the pain, freeing my mind from the limitations it puts upon my physical and mental abilities, and enact the purge that I vowed to myself that I would complete. I won't make the same mistakes next time.
I let the roll of bandages flop from my limp fingers onto the supply kit, before walking to the mouth of the cave, to get a view of the morning sun that drenches the city. The gritty floor crunches underfoot as I let the slight heat of the fall daylight wash over my exposed chest, dulling out the painful bite of the shoulder wound.
The city doesn't look gilded this time. The light is too harsh, melting from an enlightening sheen to an exposing glare, uncovering the filth, the grime, the decay that stretches over what could be a great Nation. As the grimace tenses my face, I turn, descending back into the cave. It's time to plot my next move.
I can't go back to the apartment. Not for supplies, not for anything. I know, at the very least, that Sokka and Toph are going to have me in their minds upon seeing the sword wounds wracking the bodies of the dead filth, and I don't want to see them. I'd prefer not to get into a confrontation with the pair: not because I have any doubts in my abilities to beat them, but because I'd undoubtedly have to reach into my Firebending, which would give the military and the bastard Council a focus point on which to deploy cadres of soldiers that would make it damnably hard to move. And I'm not ready to leave this city yet.
I'm not stupid enough to believe that I wiped out the entire Family within the Imperial City. I purged twenty people at the most from the house, and the kinds of actions that the Family undergoes would require an extensive network of at least fifty or sixty people. There are a lot more targets to take out within that city, and I have to find a way to get them to expose themselves.
In addition, before I gutted him like the fish he was, that Lieutenant introduced two new names into my equations: Jiro, known as the Mouse, and an assassin named Singe. Apparently, these two had explicit roles in Xiang's death, which puts them very high up on my list of targets. However, I don't have any other leads on the pair right now, other than the names, which means I have a lot more work to do.
Someone within the Family is going to try and reconnect the network, now that the snake's head has been chopped off. At the very least, it will be held in order to decide whether to move on or disband, and it will be held sooner rather than later. This is what I need to get in on. These guys are smart enough to have some kind of information network at hand to be used in case of emergency, which I need to crack somehow. This means going into the city, under disguise, and listening in to some shady conversations.
I look back into the cave, my eyes resting upon the image of a thick, dark cloak pooled upon the ground like a thick liquid. Fortunately, it's cold enough to justify using it.
Sokka of the Water Tribe:
The scruff upon the man's face is matted and coarse; uncomfortable looking, as though it constantly prickles against the man's face, but he seems to take no mind as he looks up at me nervously. I cross my arms, putting on the hardest gaze I can manage as he digs his hands into his filthy coat pockets.
"I'm not here to bring you in," I tell him, as his nervous eyes shift to the busy alleyway that surrounds us, consistently resting upon escape routes and exit strategies. He seems to relax a little at the information, the filthy green of his long jacket seeming to shrug downwards slightly, as though the muscles in his shoulder were being suddenly relaxed.
"Listen," he says, his voice rough and coarse as his beard, "I can't keep snitching for you guys. Others are gonna start getting suspicious, and if they figure out what's goin' on, I ain't gonna have much longer on this Earth."
"We don't want any information from you," Toph says, beside me. Man, how does she do it? It's so hard to keep this tough facade up, to refrain from letting my personality slide through when dealing with agents and snitches like Pinzu, but she has that demeanor that is both stoic and dangerous at the same time, as though any possible spark of anger would light up into an explosion of Earthbending and pain. And it's totally effortless!
We both felt a lot better, about a lot of things, after we went through the mechanics of my plan. It still depends on Zuko, but both Toph and I feel confident that this will work, at least to the point of giving us the ability to discuss things with him. And, after all, he's come around before. Why not now? He's still got friends in me and in Toph.
So, our spirits were pretty high this morning, as we set out. Toph seemed to be a little more like Toph, and I felt the joking nature leak out of me, evaporating some of the seriousness that has plagued us over the last few days. It's been good. This will work. But for now, I have to maintain the seriousness and barely-controlled anger in order to successfully manage him.
"No information?" he asks, his suspicions and fears far from appeased, "What then? What else could I possibly do for you?"
"Relax, Pinzu," I say, letting an air of exasperation run from my mouth, "We don't need you to do anything too dangerous. We want you to plant information. Start a rumor, one that we need to spread throughout the city's underbelly by tonight."
His wet, beady eyes jerk back to meet mine, as confusion sets in. We've never asked him to do something like this before, which seems to instill more fear and suspicion within him. I see his eyes begin to moisten even further, taking on that feral, rat-like flight instinct as he begins to take view of the exit in the alleyway. I harden my expression, hoping to convey seriousness as a sudden, rhythmic slapping noise becomes prevalent in my ears.
I glance to my left, my gaze following the pops to Toph standing beside me, tapping her foot impatiently upon the coarse pavement. The fleshy slaps rip through the air, drawing not only mine but Pinzu's gaze as well. His tiny eyes seem to double in size as he watches her foot rise from the ground, then fall again, contacting and completing a circuit like lightening striking metal. Her eyes stare blankly out into nothing, her mouth curled into a slight frown, expressing nothing but perhaps boredom, yet the implied threat carried by her lethal foot resting against the ground carries through to Pinzu's cowardly heart.
"What..." he begins, his eyes darting furtively back and forth between me and Toph, "What do I need to spread?"
"A rumor about the Family. I want word around town to say that the remaining members are going to meet tonight, at midnight, in the log cabin. I need that term used verbatim. Do you understand?" I ask, lowering my chin and staring at him admonishingly.
He swallows. "Yeah, yeah I understand. I'll put the word out, by tonight, every scum sucker in the bars will have heard," he says, running a nervous hand through his greasy hair, "But what I don't get is why you need this out. The Family ain't gonna believe it, not for a second. Their information network is too solid to be penetrated like this, and I'm sure they've already got another plan going."
I can't stop the grin from worming it's way across my face as I rest a firm, yet somewhat affectionate hand atop his filthy coat shoulder. "We're not trying to fool the Family."
He shrugs the hand off before rounding on his heel and disappearing back out of the alley. He huddles like a crab underneath the coat, bringing it up so as to protect him from the cold day. I look down at the hand that had rested on his shoulder, observe the blackened grit sitting upon my palm, and brush it off disgustedly against my tunic.
"That was easy," Toph says, twisting her neck sharply to the right and stretching until she manages to coax a bony pop out of it. I look down at her, the grin on my face stretching even further.
"Toph. The tapping foot. Holy crap."
She flashes a smile that matches my own, slaps me playfully on the back with a little more strength than she needs, and says, "And don't you forget it, Snoozles."
Aang, the Avatar:
"Get down!"
The words bubble from my throat as a shriek, rife with hysteria, devoid of the composure typically expected of the Avatar. But these are extraordinary circumstances. I felt the tremor within the air as the Fire Nation ballistae were deployed, screaming a death song as gravity began to drag it home. My fists harden against the glider staff, as I fight through the desperation exploding within me to find the serenity and balance that I need. Years of training culminate in the flowing wind that circles around, blowing cold against my bald scalp, jarring the dust from the ground into a cloud that whirls away from me.
I feel the scrambling of Earth Kingdom soldiers behind me: the tremors of their voices carry through my body, the frantic nature of their pursuit of cover pulses in my chest, the beads of sweat that dribble from overheated faces to the ground, the swirl of dust they kick up. I perceive every motion, every action, yet not with any of my physical senses. Milliseconds pass, feeling like hours as the ever-present surrounding of air takes me into its embrace.
I leap through the air, allowing the wind to carry my lithe form up, swirling around and flipping me through the air, as I unleash the tornado that circulates violently in my chest upon the rapidly falling projectile. As I float to the ground, my eyes, sore from the tensed muscles of my face, focus upon the blast, waiting to see the decimation of the fireball.
The blast of hurricane-force winds misses the center by inches, slamming into the side and twisting it violently in the air. My eyes widen in fear and despondency as it fails to shatter, instead separating into five separate missiles, hurtling downward. Something leaves my lips, drowned out amidst the scream of the falling fire as I slam the staff downwards, attempting to raise a solid earthen shield.
A sudden drum-roll of falling debris instantly deafens me as the staff makes contact with the ground. Too late!
I can't tell if I'm screaming, flailing, moving, anything as the force of the exploding fireballs turns my world upside down. My oneness, my center, is gone amidst the rush of violent heat, wind, noise, and dust. Suddenly, I realize that I've stopped falling, as I am awakened to a harsh pain in my side. I pick myself up off the ground, loosened earth covering my hands as I prop myself up. A fierce ringing, emanating from deep inside my skull, ricochets through my ears, dulling my senses.
Panicked, I suck in a deep breath of air, only to have my chest explode in pain as I violently cough up a thick cloud of dust. I open my eyes to a gritty sea of dull brown: the massive resonant dust cloud and sand cling to my eyes, defying the wellspring of tears that arise to fight them. I stumble away, realizing that, by some miracle, I managed to keep a hold of my staff.
Vague figures, black silhouettes against the muddy brown that surrounds me, make themselves known: figures of Earthbenders in full uniform, holding themselves as though wounded.
My hearing comes back slowly, accompanied by a low hum that takes me awhile to fully comprehend. Once it clarifies, whirring into a bright comprehensible noise, I realize that the hum is in fact the groans of the wounded; I wish that I still didn't have the hearing.
A violent lurch in the center of my chest doubles me over; coughs, violent, harsh and stuttered, rip their way from my chest into my throat. I see more than feel muddy saliva, browned with dust and grit, drip from my open mouth as I struggle to fully regain my senses.
A stuttered snare drum of pops suddenly bristles through to my consciousness as I realize what's going on. Lumps of fear, hopelessness and despondency settle into the pits of my stomach as the comprehension settles in: the Loyalist Firebender forces have attacked amidst the confusion caused by the explosion of the separating fireballs. We have no chance at this point: the Earthbenders, confused, out of rank, scattered will present no obstacle to the murderous Loyalists. We're caught, dead men. I have to signal a retreat, get as many out of the crisis zone as possible.
Xu was twelve steps ahead of us all day. General Heung's sudden flank offensive seemed like a sound strategy as we devised it at the table: in the dead of night, we pull a full battalion of Earthbenders from the city into the hidden safety of the outlying hills. Then, when the regular siege fire from the ballistae and trebuchets began, I would lead the battalion in to significantly hurt the much larger Loyalist invasion army from two fronts. We knew it was a dangerous move to make, but the Earth Kingdom reinforcements are still almost a week away, and there is very little we can do to hold Dai Tso for that long. We needed a gamble. But, when we gave the signal for the attack, we found that half the trebuchets had already been turned around, facing our imminent attack. General Xu had anticipated our move, and readied his army ahead of time. The only thing this offensive managed to do was divide our forces, with half of us totally unable to reach the city walls.
I thought I could hold off the trebuchet fire, at least enough for our battalion to still cause some damage, but I failed. The only thing left is to attempt to retreat, and pray that there's still some route left for our battalion to get into the city. But, if Xu has any kind of a brain on him, which he clearly has, we're not going to get through. Not even with the powers of the Avatar.
I see armored shapes through the haze of dust, and a rage builds within me: cold, furious, born out of awful, tumultuous disappointment. The rage turns into Bending, as I use the air to feel the dust flowing through the air, swirling it around, pooling it as I work to coagulate then, to condense them from a hazy cloud into floating boulders; projectiles.
I grit my teeth as I whip my body through the air, allowing the wind to pour from me and flow around the suspended missiles. They blast away, sailing over the ground with dizzying speed, breaking apart and slamming into the organized rank of Loyalist soldiers advancing up the hill. Gritty, earthen crashes and explosions decorate the air as the ranks fall, forming a sudden bubble in the front lines. My opportunity!
Muscular instinct whips the glider open, forming bulges of air underneath that whip me through the sky and away from the front line. I sail through the air in long, lazy swoops, feeling the wind blast across my face and through my clothes as I turn the craft away and float away from the field. The troops know that this is the signal for retreat, but as I peer down at the battle below, I see that my order is totally unnecessary. My stomach turns to lead as I watch the scene below me.
At least half the Loyalist army is on this attack. Full ranks, formed and unleashing plumes of flame in devastating order, push through the scattered Earthbenders. Blackened uniforms litter the ground; the few Earth Kingdom soldiers that I observe forming counter-ranks are overwhelmed in seconds, turning and fleeing as the flames lick into them. It's pure devastation, and I wince as the beginnings of tears begin to dribble out of my eyes. There's too many for me to have any hope of routing them.
But that doesn't mean I can't help!
I allow the sweeping current of the air to pluck my glider from it's current route and bring it around, tilting the nose down to aim at the ranks of Firebenders. Up in the air, the powers of Fire, Earth, and Water are denied to me, but Air was my first discipline, and I am far from defenseless up here.
I close my eyes, centering myself as the air begins to build behind the glider. I feel the power of the wind intensify around me as the glider picks up speed, transforming the distinct images of Benders battling into a blurry haze of green and red. I whip around to the red side, and twist the glider down through the air. The light wooden frame of the glider creaks and bends dangerously, but I know that it's stronger than it looks, and I let the excess vortexes of air slip from the glider to the ranks of Firebenders.
It hits them like a brick wall moving at the speed of a diving falcon. As the glider slows I see the men blown over, ripped from the ground and tossed like toys through the air. The distinct ringing and clattering of metal sings through the air as the flying figures crash downwards, sowing disunity and disorder amongst the ranks, and stopping them in their tracks. A grin alights my face as I pull the glider through the streams of air back above the battlefield, only to have it dissipate as I see the minor dent it made.
The Earthbenders are still fleeing for their lives, and the Firebenders are still descending upon them like Platypus Bears to their prey. I grit my teeth against the wave of hopelessness that threatens to rip through my center, and prepare for a second assault. Any time I can give them will help save lives.
As I prepare to gather the currents around me, a sudden shrill ring flies through my ears, ripping my attention from the matter at hand to the central base with the steam-powered Rolling Fortress sitting amidst the siege. The towering steam whistle, rising above the center of the fortress like a freakish antenna emits a clear, distinct plume of evaporated water, wispily floating into the air. Confusion blossoms in my chest as I peer downwards. That whistle is the Loyalist signal to retreat!
Sure enough, the ranks of Firebenders begin to pull away, retreating in perfect order back towards the camp. Stricken Earthbenders begin to pull themselves up off the ground, watching the Loyalists leave, their movements mirroring the sheer puzzlement that runs through me.
They had us up against the wall, utterly decimated and totally without hope! For what possible reason did they retreat?
Toph Bei Fong:
The plan is a good one, but I have to admit, I'm pretty nervous. It makes a lot of sense: Zuko, having taken apart the main head of the Family in the city, is going to look to finish the job by taking out all of the other members in the city. So, he's going to come back into the city, to search for rumors or any information he can glean. That makes it easy for us to put down a false rumor that will end up luring him, and only him, to the location of our choosing at midnight.
A smirk comes to my face. The location. I've got to hand it to Snoozles, he out-did himself this time. The "log cabin". Anyone who knows anything about the Family knows that, in all likelihood, the leader is that fat businessman, Todhe. And anyone who knows anything about Fire Nation royalty knows that Todhe comes from a very famously influential family, that fell out of power during the fall of the Fire Nation all those years ago. They had a mansion, a wooden one, now abandoned on the outskirts of town. This will lead someone as smart as Zuko straight to that old mansion, figuring that "log cabin" is a code word for the old wooden house that Todhe's family originally came from. It's a smart play, and I'd take it as a sure bet that Zuko's going to sneak into the "log cabin" at midnight tonight.
Course, I'd never let Sokka know that I think it was a smart move. At least, not until he needs it.
But I can't quench the nervousness in the pit of my stomach. I tried to eat, but the food turned to ash within my mouth, dried and dissolved into a pile of dread. I know where the dread comes from: I know why it's there, and I know how it got there. It's the big flaw in the plan.
Even if everything works perfectly, even if we lure Zuko in and meet with him, the ultimate outcome is totally dependent upon how he reacts to us. If he refuses to stop, if he stands before us and vows to continue, then we have no choice. We have to fight. And that's not something that I want to do.
The mansion is held up by dry, rotted wood. I don't doubt that we can win a fight against Zuko, because his Firebending will be extremely limited by the surroundings. The place will go up like a pile of matches if he misses with even one blast, so he'll be stuck with the swords, whereas with a stone floor, I won't suffer from any such impediment. It's just that I don't want it to come to that. I desperately don't want it to come to that. Zuko is one of us, one of me, Sokka, Katara, and Aang, and he's suffered about as much as anybody I've ever known. He doesn't deserve to rot in a jail cell, not after what the Family did to him, what they took from him.
"Toph, we'll do everything we can to keep it from coming to that," Sokka says.
I jump a little at the voice, jerked out of my internalization back into the real world. My feet shift against the floor, pressing against the grit and reading the vibrations to form a better picture of him, propped up on his elbows in a chair. I feel his eyes locked directly upon me as I sit idly on the couch, leaning back into the soft fabric of the couch. It cradles me as I attempt to shield myself from his penetrating gaze.
"I don't know what you're talking about," I lie, folding my arms and attempting to look dangerous.
"Oh please," he scoffs, waving a hand through the air, "I don't need lie-detecting Earthbending superpowers to tell when you're nervous. And I know you're not nervous because you think you'll lose a fight."
Ugh. I can't stand it when he can read me. That's cheating. My scowl deepens as I retreat deeper into the overstuffed couch, wishing that he'd stare anywhere else but at me. Eventually, he does, rising from the chair and walking to stare out the window, into the night sky. His heartbeat betrays his nervousness too, lying in stark contrast with his confidence in Zuko's character. He runs a hand through his wolfstail, the thick, coarse fibers of his hair sticking out against the wind, emitting soft signals that read through the resonant stone of the floor.
"He'll come around," he says, as much to himself as to me, "He's one of us. He'll come around. Just three more hours, then he'll come around."
He'll come around. He has to.
I feel the footsteps outside, and the intent of the heartbeat before I hear the loud rap on the door. It emanates through the room, beginning at the thick wooden entryway and spreading throughout the walls and floor, exposing the plants, the drapes, and the window into an image almost as clear as Sokka. He walks over to the door, his steps hurried and nervous. His trepidation comes through even clearer as his steps impact the ground, stirring the blood in his veins and letting me feel just how deeply worried he is.
The door opens with a loud wooden squeak as he twists the knob and pulls. The man stands casually, weight on his left foot, slouching; too lackadaisical to be a soldier. He reaches forward, and I hear the soft rustle of parchment as he hands a folded message to Sokka, who takes it before dismissing the man. The parchment crinkles as he unfolds it, protesting the sudden movement as he studies the letter in front of him. I feel his heartbeat quicken dramatically as he reads, feel the blood flow faster through his veins, the pressure increase in his sinuses, and a thrill of fear traces cold fingers up my spine.
"What? What is it?" I demand, standing up as he reads the message.
He turns, silent, and I feel the muscles of his eyes twitch as they focus upon me. The letter falls from limp fingers onto the floor as he says, "It's a summons. An immediate summons, from the Fire Nation Council. For you."
Surprise, mixed with irritation flows through my body. "A summons? The Fire Nation Council wants to see me? Right now? That doesn't make any sense," I insist, angry that this puts a damper upon our plans.
"Yes it does," he responds. He wanders slowly to the open chair and promptly collapses into it, raising a hand to his forehead and cradling his throbbing face. "It's co-signed. By the Earth Kingdom Ambassadors, Mr and Mrs Bei Fong."
A silence ensues, as I process the information. This isn't good news. I know them, and I know this is going to be some ploy to pull me away from Sokka, and back into their clutches. The fear dissipates into a cold, powerful anger as I realize that these incredibly long council meetings will extend deeply into the night, and prevent me from helping with Zuko. I find that I'm suddenly standing, my fists clenched in rage.
"To hell with that!" I hiss, and I slam my foot against the ground. No technique is involved in the action, but the Earth still reads my intentions underneath, causing the floor to rumble and shake underneath. Sokka stumbles slightly, but retains his balance, catching himself and drawing himself up. I realize from the way his face muscles are clenched that he is feeling similar. "I'm not going to miss this opportunity to turn Zuko around just so Mom and Dad can try to pull me away from here!"
A sigh, rife with grit and stress whispers from between his lips. "I know how you feel. I feel the same way. But we don't have a choice. You and I are technically in the employ of the Fire Nation government, which means we can't refuse a summons to appear before the Council for any reason."
He's right, but that only serves to further fuel my anger. "So, what? Do we just lose this opportunity to bring Zuko back? Just to fuel my parents' stupid fantasies? No, I'm not ok with this. I'll quit the stupid Fire Nation first."
I can feel the beginnings of a headache in his sinuses, as the blood flowing through them causes them to flare up, expand under the tension of a quicker heartbeat. He leans back and looks in my direction as he says, "Toph we can't quit the Fire Nation that easily. Aang is counting on us here. We can't let him down."
I open my mouth to protest, but he quickly cuts me off by adding, "I'm not saying we shouldn't take the opportunity to turn Zuko around. The summons only has your name on it. I'll just have to go alone tonight."
Now that gets my emotions all boiled up. A nasty cocktail of fear, anger, anxiety and love flares up through my chest, and the words just begin.
"No, you're not going alone! What if Zuko doesn't come around, huh? And what if he's so enraged that he uses his Firebending, despite the fact that it will bring the mansion down around him and you? Sokka, with me, at least if he chooses to fight, we have a sure victory on our hands. I'm not going to let you put your life in danger like this!"
Sokka stands, his heartbeat and the soft patter of his feet against the floor resonating, painting a near perfect picture of him as he walks towards me. My fists clench even tighter, causing the muscles in my palms to become sore in protest.
"He might not see reason! And you know how good he is! It's not that I don't think your capable, it's just that I can't let you take the chance here! It's too dangerous, and if he goes insane with rage like he has in the past, he'll bring the whole building down around him! You'll have no backup!"
He continues to walk, the skin stretched tightly across his face as the thick, knotted wrinkles clench up between his eyes. His heartbeat has changed, suddenly, the beat becoming slower and more regular, but it does nothing for the frustration that cascades like an avalanche through me.
I open my mouth to lay into him with another barrage of my emotions and fears, but to my shock and surprise, he wraps his arms around me, snaking them around my shoulders and drawing me into a tight, firm hug. My anger quickly begins to dissipate as he tightens around me, filling me with his warmth, his roughness, his humanity. His heartbeat, resonating against my cheek as I lay my head against his chest, creates a flawless perception of him: one that sight could never hope to create. I feel the individual hairs flowing in the wind atop his head, the drawn muscles around his eyes, the corded tendons of his neck, the grit underneath his fingernails. I lose myself into the embrace, wrapping my arms around him in response, grasping the fabric of his shirt underneath my fingers and holding tightly.
"Toph, there's no other way," he admits, and I know it's true. We can't let this opportunity slip by. It may be our only one.
"It's not fair," I add lamely, relishing the coarse scratches the fabric of his shirt leave on my cheek as I squeeze him more tightly, refusing to let go.
His right hand releases my back, trailing through the air until it cups my chin. I feel the hard, rough callouses against my skin, cradling me gently as he tilts my head up towards his. He leans down, his lips softly brushing against the side of my cheeks, kissing away tears that I hadn't realized had fallen.
"I love you," he says, and I can feel through his heartbeat that he means it.
The words stun me, ripping the thoughts from my head as I allow my head to rest back against his chest. We don't say that often; not because it's not true, or we're uncomfortable saying it, but because neither of us are prone to displaying that kind of feeling openly through words like that. We know how the other feels: we know through each action, through each kiss, through each embrace, and it's not something that typically needs to be said. This also gives the words the full strength they deserve, as each mentioned "I love you" has the power to wrap a powerful fist of feelings around our hearts and squeeze tightly.
"I love you, too," I whisper, "Please, tonight... Don't take any chances you don't need to. Just come back in one piece, no matter what happens. Promise me."
I can feel him smile at me, the expression of happiness traveling through his muscles into his resonant heartbeat and into me. Argh, was what I said really that cheesy?
"I promise, I'm not going to take any chances that I don't need to. K?"
I don't say anything, merely nod as he releases me, falling back against the couch as I try to quell the swirl of girly emotions that I can't seem to curb. I just want him back safely! That doesn't make me less tough!
"Toph, you give them hell at that meeting," he says, the stupid grin still planted on his face, "I'll be back by morning, with good news!"
I sure hope that he's right.
Zuko, the Former Prince:
I can see the flickering hone of torchlight through the darkness, glaring slightly through the sheen of a filthy window. This is a good sign.
"Log cabin". What a stupid code, as if someone like me wouldn't be able to figure out what it meant! Todhe's family mansion, one of the only wooden ones in the entire of the Fire Nation! I'll admit, I was worried at the simplicity of the puzzle at first, but I got it from a fairly reliable source, and it was the only bit of information that I was able to glean all day. I had to take the chance.
I ease my way through the forest, placing my feet carefully so as to dampen the noise they produce. The muscles in my shoulder stretch the stitches, but I sealed them with a thick, tough line, and they shouldn't come undone, no matter how I exert myself tonight. The painfully bruised ribs, however, are another matter. Each step causes them to scream and throb in protest: but I am highly trained and capable mentally, and it doesn't take much to shunt aside the pain, to retain my focus and my physical capabilities.
The swords feel heavy on my back, the steel pulling me down as I clear the tree-line, observing the slowly rotting mansion sitting in front of me. I clear the open ground quickly, taking long, powerful strides as I sprint into the cover of the night shadows. My body twists into a quick roll as I approach the overgrown bushes, snaking around the deep, dark wood of the mansion. As I roll through, totally concealed amidst the overgrowth, I wait, motionless, my ears tuned to the world around me. The thick rasp of my breath against the wooden Blue Spirit mask is the only noise that coaxes my ears, and after several minutes, I prepare myself for the infiltration.
The wood is rotting, the finish long since evaporated from years of neglect, but it is not so soft yet that it presents a significant structural problem. The splintering wood presents painful but solid footholds that I am able to use in scaling up the wall. Sharpened bits of loose wood impale my hands as I ascend, but my steely resolve, fueled by the cold, stony rage that pumps through my veins doesn't allow me to stop.
As I crest the top of a large balcony, I thrust my legs over the top of a banister, easing myself back onto two feet. Not pausing for breath, I immediately race into the open entryway, long since rotted into nothing.
The house has none of the majesty that I recall upon visiting here in my youth. The deep dark wood now only serves to provide the house with a creepy air: something dark and deep never intended to be lived in by humanity. Dark halls seem to suffocate me as I make my way to the overlarge foyer, closing in, and reaching for me with hands made of shadows and death. Solemnly, unbowed by the eerie atmosphere, I continue my trek, certain that I will find the surviving Family members gathered in the huge open area right inside the main door. The firelight seemed to imply that, as does the fact that it is nearest to the door and simplest to escape from should an emergency occur. Like me.
Suddenly, the narrow halls expand into a massive banister; an overhanging balcony connected to the lower foyer by a series of twisting stairs. Yellow light stabs through the overwhelming dark, sending a grim sense of satisfaction up and down my spine as I crouch down, and ease over to the edge, peering down over the side to get a glimpse of the numbers that I'll be dealing with.
The sight of him shocks me, sends a cold chill up through my chest.
There are no Family members. There is only Sokka, sitting calmly in a chair, beside an upright torch in the center of the room, safely away from the wooden walls. It's a trap!
I have to get out of here. Certain that he hasn't seen me yet, I begin to ease backwards into the shadows, the creaking wood under my feet barely audible, even to me.
"Zuko, please come down. We need to talk."
Damn it! Sokka's voice, rebounding off of the room, sitting in my ears. I had a feeling that this was too easy. But I'll be damned if I'll be stopped here.
As I descend the staircase, no longer bothering to hide myself, I keep an eye focused firmly on Sokka, looking for any signs he may give to troops outside that I failed to notice. At the very least, I can be sure that he has Toph sitting outside, waiting to capture me within the stone floor at a moment's notice. However, while Toph is unmistakably incredible with Earthbending, if I'm quick, and fleet of foot, I should be able to avoid the Earthen cage she'll unleash.
I watch the sword strapped to Sokka's back, seeing the gilded hilt of the jian, and I'm struck by the memory of the last man I killed who held such a weapon. The mewling, murderous coward.
"Please, Zuko, take off that stupid mask," Sokka says, folding his arms up underneath his chest, "I know it's you, and I'd rather speak to your face than to the Blue Spirit."
Wordlessly, I oblige, prying the wooden thing from my face and tossing it to the floor. It clatters loudly as it impacts, stabbing into the otherwise total silence of the room. Sokka's piercing blue eyes, hardened and tight, are locked firmly upon my own, stabbing deep within my soul. I refuse to be cowed, meeting his gaze with equal steel.
"So, is this it, Sokka?" I ask, my voice rife with sarcasm and barely contained frustration, "You set a trap for me, keep your Earthbending girlfriend outside and grab me when you get the chance? Luring me into a kindling house so I can't Firebend to defend myself?"
He sighs, long and drawn out, the sound raspy and thick, as though exhausted. "No, Zuko, that's not it at all," he says, and I am shocked by the sincerity of his voice, "I'm the only one here tonight. And I'm not here to take you down and bring you in, though I will if I have to. Zuko, I'm here because I want you to stop what you're doing."
A laugh escapes my throat, though there is no humor in it. The mirthless cackles reflect across the distant walls of the room, echoing lazily and remaining in our ears. Stop what I'm doing? Never! I will make these bastards pay with their lives for what they did!
"Please, Zuko, listen to reason!" Sokka begs, the hardness disappearing from his eyes, replaced instead by something soft and palpable that I vaguely recognize, as though a distant memory that I no longer have a connection to. "You have to understand, the government can't let you wipe the Family from the face of the earth with impunity! You butchering these people... it weakens the whole Nation, and it could throw the country into a horrible, bloody civil war! All I want is for you to give me your word that you'll stop, and I swear, on my mother's soul, that I will let you walk out of here, and not pursue any charges on you whatsoever. Total freedom."
"Freedom?" I demand, a dangerous smile flowering across my face, "What kind of freedom is that? The Family deserves the justice that I will bring upon them, and if you're government won't exact it, then the government be damned! I won't let that filth hide behind the laws anymore!"
His startlingly oceanic blue eyes falter slightly at that, but his face retains the desperation and sincerity.
"Then, please, Zuko, please, do it for us. You're one of us. I'm proud to call you my friend, and that's why I want you to stop," he insists, "I don't want to have to hunt you. I swear, we'll find the Family, and we'll exact justice for what happened to Xiang, through the laws, in such a way as to bring the Nation together, with order."
"I care nothing for your justice," I reply, my grin dissipating into a sneer, "Or this damn Nation. Not anymore. Xiang didn't deserve this, and your police force let it happen. The citizens are too stupid and selfish to make decisions that benefit the country as a whole, and I don't care what happens to them. I'm sick of caring. All my life, I cared, I cared so much about protecting the Fire Nation people, doing all that I could, giving up everything! And this is how the people repay me? Killing the one thing that gave me a normal life, the one person in the world who brought out the best in me? To hell with them! I'll purge the worst of them like the plague that they are, and in doing that, I will benefit the people that deserve benefiting!"
Despite the distance that separates us, I see the tears begin to spring in the corner of Sokka's eyes, but I am incapable of being moved. I will not bow, or bend.
"Damn it, Zuko, who are you doing this for, huh?" he demands, the frustration building within him, "Do you think that Xiang would want this? Do you think she would want you to throw the nation that she loved so much into a civil war? Kill people, without regards for the law? You're not doing this for her, for the people, for anybody but yourself! Your letting the grief turn you into a killing machine!"
"You don't know anything!" I scream, cutting him off and jabbing an accusing finger at him through the air, "You don't know what I felt when she died! Grief?! Shut your stupid mouth! You have no idea what went through me! I know you've lost people, but I have lost and gone through so much more! You don't know the kind of hell that can wreak upon your soul! So go home, Sokka, get out of here, run back to the love that you share with Toph, safe in the knowledge that she will be alive in the morning. Run home, and leave the justice to the people that can stomach it!"
The tears spring to life in his eyes, running down the sides of his face and dropping to the ground.
"Zuko... I can't do that. I can't let you kill anyone else," he says softly. His sword sings softly as he coaxes it from the sheath on his back, drawing the unique black blade and pointing it towards me. Surprise floods through me, almost dulling the biting anger as I see the sheen of the metal reflecting the flickering firelight.
"Would you really fight me, Sokka?" I ask, slowly pulling my own swords from their sheath and whirling the large blades into a distinct attack stance, "You have half my skill and half my mobility. I've seen you limp, and I know you can't feel the upper part of your leg. Even without Firebending, do you really believe you can beat me?"
"If I have to," he says, "But please, please Zuko, reconsider. You can still walk away!"
The blades sing in the air as I slash them through the air, screaming "If you don't leave, if you don't get out of my way, then I'll cut you down, just as I did Wazha! We were friends, Sokka, which is the only reason that I'm giving you this last chance, to leave with your life!"
He doesn't move, but I notice that the steely gleam within his eyes now mirrors the sheen that flows across his sword.
A scream leaves my throat as I charge, the twin swords arcing and screaming through the air.
A/N: There it is! Chapter 7, hope y'all enjoy! I know I promised that the return of Xu would happen in this chapter, but I ultimately felt that it is more suiting to the fic if he returns in the next one, so bear with me! He's coming back!
Hahahahah cliffhanger! I've been looking forward to this fight between Zuko and Sokka foreeeeeevvveeerrr, and I'm psyched about writing it for the next chapter! But I gotta ask, who do you think has the edge? Yes, Sokka has the limp, but remember, Zuko is wounded, and those bruised ribs might serve to be an impediment as well! So, whose gonna win? What do y'all think? I already know how its going to happen, but I'm curious as to what y'all as the readers think will happen.
The Bei Fongs return and stir up some mischief! They're going to play a major role in the story from here on out, so don't think I just threw them in there to get Toph out of the way! Hehehehe
Alright, that's all for now. Hope y'all enjoyed it, and if you're feeling nice or you enjoyed the chapter, howsabout clicking the review button for me? :D
Keep reading!
Superbleh11
Next time: Zuko vs Sokka, in a sword-on-sword matchup where any mistake is sure to lead to disaster! Also, the return of Xu (for real this time!), a strategic meeting between the Avatar, Katara, and General Heung, and a Fire Nation Council Meeting that could change the lives of everyone involved!