Chapter eight
They had been in Omashu for longer than they had liked, but Bumi insisted they stay for a few more days. Not one to disappoint an old friend, Aang complied. During those few days they stayed in the city, the six had decided what to do, and that is why now they were flying off in the sky on Appa, towards the Prison where Haru's father was held captive. They took Zuko on the outskirts of the town where he returned to his vessel, and the other five began to fly off towards it almost immediately.
Suki was with them now as well, before she parted with her Warriors, she told them to begin to assist any refugees within the Earth Kingdom, and to make their way towards Ba Sing Se, and that they would meet up in a few months. With that the group parted, not before wishing each other luck though.
Suki also had gotten a new set of bladed fans while in the city, and she also bought a katana as well, effectively diminishing their group's supply of money. However, she took full responsibility, and told them she would earn them some more money somehow, no matter how much they waved it off, saying it was no big deal.
Now, their goal had shifted from getting to Omashu to telling King Bumi everything, to recruiting people to the war effort. With the Kyoshi Warriors, the White Lotus, and the Army of Omashu beside them, they were all ready in a very good position. However, if they wanted to succeed without fail, they knew that they were going to need more help.
They had discussed this heavily the previous night before flying out, and they intended to recruit as many people as possible. Besides Haru and the other Earthbenders from this prison, they intended to get Sokka and Katara's father and his men, the Freedom Fighters, the Mechanist, the Northern Water Tribe warriors, and the Army of Ba Sing Se to assist as well. With that huge of a force striking on one day, they were certain that they could not fail.
The night ended with them deciding to get to Haru first, because the prison was the closest to Omashu. Zuko agreed to follow them there on his ship, and they intended to go slow so he could keep up. Then while they were there, they could give Zuko the instructions on where to go next, because they hadn't decided upon that yet. When that was clear, they would part, and the process would continue onward.
Their path was set, and there was no way they could fail now.
At least, they hoped not.
"We'll be there in about a week at this rate." Sokka said, "Judging by the speed of Appa and the distance."
"So we have plenty of time to begin training." Suki said, lifting up her new weapons, "When are we landing tonight?" She sounded a little bit too eager to use them.
"Only a few more hours of flying for today, then we can get off and set up camp." Sokka answered, "Ready for me to beat you then?"
"As if," Suki laughed, "I beat you easily the first time we fought in our other life, so it will be the same this time too."
"I don't think it works that way." Sokka said, "I'm a master swordsman, if you don't remember. I'm positive I can defeat you without even thinking."
"When do you ever think?" Suki teased.
He rolled his eyes, "That was too obvious. You gotta say something like that only when it'll be cool. You know what I mean?"
"Not really." She said shrugging.
"You don't even care." Sokka accused, and Suki didn't disagree, "I wonder why I married someone with such a horrible sense of humor."
"Because you love me for it," Suki said, not missing a beat.
"Oh, yeah," Sokka said smiling at her. The two got closer as they leaned in towards each other to kiss.
Toph was banging her head against the side of the saddle, but that did little to avert the images going through her head as the two talked, and she cried out, "Not while I'm around!"
Sokka and Suki either didn't hear her, or didn't care, because they went at each other excessively. Toph groaned, hearing their occasional moan, and vaguely feeling the movements from saddle. She opted to just hit her head against the side of the saddle repeatedly, and to punish both of them when they got out of the sky.
Aang glanced back at the scene, "They're annoying Toph I think." He told Katara, and he couldn't help but blush as he watched the two go at it, "Hey, Sokka, Suki, not in the air, alright?"
The two parted, hair a little messed up, Sokka looked dejected, "But it's so fun to annoy Toph and make out with Suki. It's two birds with one stone!"
"Yeah, well, try not to make it so…" Aang looked for the right words, "Sensual and loud, ok?"
Sokka laughed at that, "All right, but only if you and Katara could keep it quiet at night when you're of age. I swear, you guys kept me and Suki up all the time back when we were in our twenty year old bodies. You just kept going and-"
"SHUT UP!" Toph screamed, "I have NO desire to hear about your sex lives! So please, KEEP IT OUT, or I will jump off this flying bison right now!"
"Oh no, don't do that." Sokka said in a bored tone, getting a smack from Suki, "Oh come on. Aang would catch her if she did and you know it."
"All right guys, enough teasing Toph already," Katara said. She was up at the top of the saddle sitting next to Aang, and she had a blush on her face from Sokka's previous comment, "I swear Sokka, sometimes your mind can go to the worst places…"
"Oh, come on, you know it's true!" Sokka laughed.
"Sokka!" Katara growled warningly.
"You should stop Sokka." Suki said, "I don't know why you keep goading them like that."
Sokka finally ceded, "All right, I can see I'm clearly outnumbered here, I'll stop, I promise." The last part he said to Toph.
Toph couldn't sense that he was lying, though she could barely sense anything at all. However, her poor senses she trusted enough. "Good." She simply said.
"I'm going to go below the clouds so Zuko can see where we are now." Aang called back to everyone, so they could be prepared for the suddenly movement as Appa descended slightly forward until he was below the clouds.
"There he is." Katara said, pointing him out.
"Think he can see me waving?" Sokka asked, doing it anyway, "I doubt it."
"Then why are you doing that?" Toph asked.
"For fun I guess." Sokka said shrugging, "We've been up in the air for a while anyway."
Down on the boat Zuko stopped looking out of his telescope and sighed when he saw Sokka waving, "Do you think we could hit them from here?" He asked, turning to his uncle.
"No, they're way too far in the sky."
"I thought so." Zuko mumbled.
Back in the air, Sokka stopped waving and leaned back into his seat next to Suki.
The group continued flying for another few hours, Aang and Katara both on the lookout for anywhere they could sleep at for the night. They flew along the coast, so Zuko could keep track of them, so their camp site would have to be a little further inland so Zuko's crew wouldn't get any ideas to go capture him themselves. They eventually took a sharp turn inland, telling Zuko that they would be camping for the night.
On the ship Zuko turned to his crew, "We'll anchor here for the night and wait for him to come back." That decided the crew did as they were told.
Back to Aang, he landed Appa in the middle of a small wooded area, where a river was flowing nearby. They could get some drinking water from there, and the trees would provide them with the cover they wanted, but not necessarily needed. The sun had yet to go out in the horizon, though it would soon be setting in another hour or so. This gave them more than enough time to set up their camp for the night.
"Hurry up and unpack!" Sokka called out, "Then we can train for the night!"
His enthusiastic statement was met with groans of annoyance from everyone but Suki, but no one voiced any objections to it. They went about unpacking what they needed off Appa, everyone helping so it would go faster. Finally when that was done, Sokka and Suki both pulled out their weapons in the middle of the camp site.
"Whoa, guys!" Aang called, getting between them, "Go a little further away, please."
"Sorry," Suki said, "I'm just eager to try out my new weapons."
"And I'm just glad to finally have a sparring partner who can't bend." Sokka said, "We can finally have a real fight."
"A real fight?" Toph laughed, "Go have fun with your sharp toys, we'll go have a real fight over near the river if you need us."
Sokka was about to retort, but Suki covered his mouth, "Have fun!" She said, almost shooing them away.
When they were gone, she let go with a sigh, "She was just trying to get a rise out of you." She explained, "I only did that so they would leave sooner."
"Ah," Sokka mumbled, "You're pretty smart."
"It rubbed off on me." She said smiling.
Sokka laughed at that, "You don't give yourself enough credit."
"Oh well," She said shrugging, "All your brains isn't going to make you a better fighter though. Too bad my skills didn't rub off onto you."
Sokka narrowed his eyes at her, but still had a smile, "Was that a challenge?"
"Yes, dear, it was."
The two looked around, realizing they had been walking the entire time. Knowing they were far enough from the camp, the two jumped at each other with their weapons drawn, training for the night with each other.
Out at sea, Zuko's ship was stalled at sea due to the Anchor, the whole crew was in the wreck room while Zuko was in his room, sitting on his bed, allowing himself to relax for a little while. He would have fallen asleep, but a knock on his door brought his mind back. Zuko sighed as he sat back up, and allowed whoever knocked to come in.
"Zuko," Iroh said coming in, "I noticed you weren't eating with the rest of the crew."
"I wasn't hungry."
Iroh came in with a tray of food, "I thought you'd say as much." He acknowledged, "That is why I brought some food from the kitchens for you to have."
Zuko didn't argue, knowing it was pointless to do so. Instead he took some of the fruit on the tray that his uncle sat down on his bed, "Thank you."
"You're welcome." Iroh said with a small smile on his face as he watched his nephew.
From the corner of his eye, Zuko watched his uncle, "Is there something you want?" He asked when his uncle didn't say anything.
Iroh sighed, "There is something I do wish to ask of you, but I'm not sure if I should tell you what's on my mind or not."
"There's nothing on your mind that I can't handle." Zuko told his uncle truthfully, "I told you everything on my mind because I trusted you."
"I don't intend for you to believe I mistrust you Zuko." Iroh said seriously.
"I didn't mean to imply that."
"Even so," Iroh sighed, "It is something I don't think should be brought up. Please, forget I even said anything." He stood up to leave, but Zuko grabbed his wrist.
"You can trust me uncle."
"It's not an issue of trust so much as an accusation."
"An accusation?" Zuko said in surprise, "What would you accuse me of."
"Forgive me Zuko for asking this," Iroh said turning back to his nephew, "It has been on my mind ever since you revealed everything to me."
Now Zuko was beginning to get concerned, "What has?"
Iroh sighed, "I have wondered, what happened to the child you have replaced."
"What do you mean?" Zuko asked, not making the connection.
"The Zuko before you, the one whose goal in life was to capture the Avatar, to restore his honor. The child who requested me to train him constantly, who needed guidance. I need to know, what did you do to him?"
Zuko felt his insides go completely cold, an accusation, he wonders if I killed my past self... He started to come to a realization immediately, "Oh, spirits." He whispered. He was so focused on his goal, his mind in so many other places that he did not even consider what would happen to the previous owner of the body. His uncle said there was one, he just assumed that the world would fit to make his new mind work, but he just realized, that was not the case.
Iroh placed his arm on Zuko, "I did not mean to place this burden on you too, I thought you'd know what happened."
"I never considered what happened, or event thought of it." His breathing began to pick up at the implications, "Did I kill him?" He wondered aloud, "Uncle, I'm so sorry."
His thoughts were a jumbled mess, the food was completely forgotten.
"Please, Zuko." His uncle tried to calm him, "You need to calm down. I shouldn't have said anything."
"No, you had to." Zuko muttered, "I have to realize the sacrifices that have already been made so we could save the world. I killed an innocent child, and stole his body..." Zuko felt sick.
"Are you sure of that?" Iroh asked.
"What else could there be?" He snapped, but immediately regretted it, "I'm sorry uncle..."
"I'm just saying Zuko. I may have said that I had an accusation, but that was perhaps too harsh. I just know something happened to the other Zuko, and I figured you knew the answers. Please, don't hurt yourself too much over this. You have far more important things to do."
Iroh picked up the tray of food, knowing Zuko wouldn't be eating now. Regretfully Iroh left, but he couldn't hide the lost look in his eyes, that Zuko clearly saw.
I took his nephew away from him, and I thought I could replace him. Zuko shook his head sadly as the door closed to his room. I'm a horrible person; I killed a child for his body... He sat up against the wall, completely lost in thought.
And like that he stayed, until eventually he slumped forth into a very uncomfortable sleep.
Zuko opened his eyes, but all around him was darkness. He stood up from his position on the ground and looked around some more. "Hello?" He called out, his voice echoing in the darkness. He wasn't in his room, he wasn't on his boat, and he wasn't anywhere on his world. He was in a large black void, devoid of any light. Yet, he could still see his body perfectly.
"Is this a dream?" He wondered aloud, as he began to walk forward, "Hello!" He tried again, "Is anyone there?"
He walked forward, but noticed something off immediately. He looked down, and realized that he was in his adult body, "What is this?" He said in surprise, "I must be dreaming." He said, but didn't sound convinced. His voice was deeper, but the fact that he was older didn't hit his groggy mind until he had tried to move, "I must have been out of it for a while..." Shaking that off for now, he called out again, "Is anyone there?"
"Hello?" A distant voice called out.
"Who's there?" Zuko called, trying to find his way to the person.
"Who are you?" The voice shot back.
Zuko rolled his eyes, "I'm Zuko! Now tell me who you are!"
It was quite for a small bit, but finally answered back, "I'm Zuko."
Zuko froze in mid step, No, it can't be. He recalled his conversation with his uncle; did uncle know that he wasn't dead? Is this a dream? What is going on? All valid questions, and none of them would be answered if he just stood there.
"Zuko," He called out, "Where are you?"
"Over here!" The voice called out, or if it was who Zuko suspected, his younger self.
Zuko ran towards the sound of the voice, and soon saw a small figure out in the distance. Picking up his speed, he rushed to the child, and stopped a few steps away from the child. The boy was sitting on the ground, looking up in awe at the person standing over him. There was a scar mark on the left side of his face, and he still had the same hair style that Zuko recently changed.
"Father...?" His younger self asked.
Zuko tried his best not to yell out at his younger self, so he held it in, "No." One thing he hated was to be reminded of was how similar he had grown to look like his father.
His younger self noted the scar, "Wait, you said you were Zuko... No." He shook his head, "You're me."
"I'm having trouble coming to that realization too." The older of the two said, "I thought you were dead."
"Dead?" Young Zuko said, "I came here weeks ago! One moment I was waking up, prepared to go hunt the Avatar in the South Pole, and the next I came to this place! I have tried to find a way out since I got here! There is no food, water, or anything, yet I don't die, or lose weight, or anything! What is going on?"
Older Zuko's mind crashed to a realization, "This is the darkest recesses of our mind."
"What does that mean?"
"I'm using your body." Older Zuko said, "And I have been for weeks now. I never once thought of you, and for that I apologize."
"Well then, give it back!" His younger self shouted, "I thought I would be stuck here forever!"
Old Zuko watched his younger self's desperation, and he hid his face as he tried to compose himself, "I can't." He said, "There are too many important things that I need to do right now, and you'd ruin everything."
"So you're going to leave me here?" Young Zuko's voice cracked, "I demand you to give my body back!"
"You would chase the Avatar." Old Zuko said, "My best friend. One of few people in the world I could truthfully call that."
"The Avatar is your friend?" the younger Zuko laughed, "I would never betray the Fire Nation. You're an imposter trying to pose as me."
"I'm afraid not. I remembered chasing the Avatar. I would travel all over the world once I found him, we would fight, and he would always come out on top. He was a master Airbender, and I was just a mediocre Firebender at best. I was no match for him, yet he always deluded me into thinking I stood a chance against him." He sighed, "I always thought that he did it out of pity, but he later told me that he had fun fighting with me, and in a way, I did too. Whenever we were close to him, I would always feel like I would succeed and get my father's approval."
His younger self glared at him, "You found the Avatar? You're chasing him in my body?"
"No." Old Zuko denied, "I did this in my own body, and you would have done it in your own body if I hadn't intervened. See Zuko, it doesn't turn out good. I failed to capture him at the North Pole, and do you know what our father did? He sent Azula out to capture uncle and me as prisoners. He figured we failed, and said that uncle betrayed the Fire Nation."
"I would never fail." His younger self mumbled.
"I all ready told you, he was stronger than you are. It was pointless, and he was right, I had failed. Don't you see Zuko, father never loved us. He only thinks of us as a tool, and once we fail on him, he sets us aside."
"No."
"Yes." Zuko sighed, "I'm sorry that I'm forcing all of this on you at once. It must be tough for you."
That was quite an understatement, "I refuse to believe that you're me. How did you chase the Avatar once before? What is going on?"
"I befriended Aang - the Avatar, and we traveled around the world together with a few other close friends. Unfortunately, the Fire Nation won the war in the end, and we were the only form of resistance. We found a way to 'fix our mistakes' written in a scroll, so we took it. We had no clue it would take us to the past like this."
"So it brought you to the past to replace me?"
"Not replace." Old Zuko sighed, "I'm using your body, but I think I could give you control if I wanted to. I never came in here before to see you because before this point I never thought of it. It was uncle who brought it up to me..."
"Give me control then... Living in this darkness, days on end, not being able to sleep, eat, or anything is driving me crazy." His younger self pleaded.
His older self looked at his younger body in a combination of pity and guilt.
"I - I can't." Zuko said, "You would eventually do the right thing, but it'd be too late..."
"I would never betray the Fire Nation." younger Zuko repeated, "You're lying to me, about everything."
"No, if there was a way to show you everything..." Zuko mumbled, but then a thought hit him, "Maybe I can... This is my mind after all..." He tried to think of everything from the past, and when he could, he knelt down at his younger body, and grabbed his shoulder. Suddenly, young Zuko saw a multitude of memories going through his head, memories of Iroh, his group of friends, the good times, bad times, his first love Mai, then Toph, and a lot of his father as well.
He watched as he helped his sister strike down the Avatar, he watched as he gained his father's approval over a lie, and how Zuko felt during the times he was back home. He saw when his father tried to kill him; he watched as Aang failed to save the world, he watched as he fought his sister in an Agni Kai for the title of the Fire Lord. Through all the memories, he could feel everything that old Zuko had felt during these times.
When it was all over, young Zuko was openly crying.
"I really messed up."
"No, I did." Old Zuko sighed, "I was the one who nearly destroyed the world. If it weren't for me, maybe things would have changed..."
"Everything I have ever known is a lie... Please, tell me, whatever happened to our mother?"
"I don't know." Old Zuko mumbled, "I tried to look for her occasionally, but I never managed to find her. I refuse to acknowledge that she is dead..."
"I- I'm glad that you're trying to change things." His younger self said, sniffling a little bit, "I could never do good in this world anyway..."
"You're too hard on yourself." Old Zuko said, patting himself on the back.
"Just go now." His younger self said, "Let me wallow here."
There has to be a way both of us can get out of here... He thought long and hard, the silence of the endless dark void was almost frightening. He finally sighed, "I refuse to leave you here alone. You will not sacrifice yourself so I can use your body. It's either you're getting out of here, or we both are."
With that declaration, the room suddenly turned a bright white, and both let out a startled cry.
"What is going on?" young Zuko cried out.
Old Zuko watched as a simple white woodened door appeared in the middle of the room, and somehow he knew what it was. "We both can get out of here, but if both of us pass through the door, nothing will be the same."
"What do you mean?"
"Our minds will merge into one."
Young Zuko's eyes widened in surprise, "Really? Is that really the wisest idea?"
"It's the only way we're both getting out of here." Old Zuko announced, "However, I will give you the choice." He turned to his younger self, "I stole your body, and for that, I apologize a thousand times over. Since this is your body, you can leave through that door by yourself, or we both can go. If we both go, you will have my memories and bodily reflexes, and I will have yours. We'll become one. Is that what you want?"
Young Zuko looked towards the door, and then towards his older body. After a moment's hesitation, he finally decided on what to do.
"Come on." He said, looking up at his older self, "I'm not going to mess up again."
Old Zuko smiled, and patted his younger self on the head, "I knew you'd make the right choice. Oh, when you, or rather we, get back into our body, you have a new haircut, and there are also a few other things you should know about-"
"I'll have your memories, right?" His younger self said, "I'll find out when we merge."
And with that, they walked through the door.
Waking up the next morning was probably the best he had ever felt, except that his neck was incredibly sore from leaning forward the entire time. Sitting upward, he groaned as he stood up off his bed and attempted to crack his neck to get the feeling to go away. He then did a few more stretches to get blood flowing through his entire body.
Then memories of the dream hit, if it could even be called such a thing. Zuko thought about how both his future and past self merged into one, and he had trouble trying to determine if he was in fact his future self with his past memories, or if he was his past self with the memories from the future.
"It worked." He said aloud, "I really need to thank uncle."
He thought of his friends, and a wide smile crossed his face, Aang, Katara, Suki, Sokka, and Toph. He wouldn't fail them no matter what. They were precious to him, even after the merge, at least in that regard, both Zuko's had wanted to be helpful. Thinking of the merge was odd, he felt like he had before he went to sleep, except that he seemed to have a different perspective on a lot of things. Shaking the thought off for now, he looked forward, determined.
"I can't afford to waste any time."
With that said, he left his room to begin a brand new day.
Getting inside the prison was easy, Team Avatar simply flew their bison above the metal platform and jumped down, prepared to fight for these men and women, who looked shocked as the children descended down and landed in front of them. However, the reaction of the Fire Nation was much more distressing for the group; they instantly started to shoot them with fire, and screaming for the alarms to go off.
As Appa flew off to circle the prison, the children got together, Aang and Katara protecting them all from the occasional fireball that would get close to them.
"Step one done." Aang said, "What now?"
"Yeah! Now what?" Toph said, "Can I metal bend now?"
"No!" Sokka shouted, "Gimme a second to think!"
"Let's go head first." Katara mumbled darkly, imitating Sokka's voice, "Well now look where we're at!"
"I said gimme a second!"
Sokka tried to think as the masses of Fire Nation soldiers began to come down to fight them in close range. "Toph, coal, can you sense it?"
"What?"
"Coal! There's coal in this place! We need to bring it up so these other guys here can bend and help us!"
"Nice idea Sokka," Toph said sarcastically, "Did you even have a plan other than to jump into this blind and hope for the best?"
"No!" Sokka admitted, "I was on a natural high after our last victory!"
The Fire Nation came closer, spears drawn at the children. "Spare the bald boy!" Their leader called, "He's the Avatar! He's worth a fortune!"
Suki saw Sokka beginning to stress out, "Toph, you and I will go find the coal and bring it up here, somehow. Sokka, you Katara and Aang stay out here and hold them off. Don't bother hiding your abilities when fighting them," She said looking up at the group, "You don't want to risk doing that, there's too many."
With that said Suki grabbed Toph's hand and ran for the sides, while Sokka let out a relieved sigh, "You heard her! We hold them off!"
"No holding back?" Aang asked to make sure.
"Don't Firebend." Sokka said, "The rest are ok."
With that said the three of them charged at the men sent to fight them.
Suki and Toph ran towards the group of people, one man in particular stood out from them, and he walked over to Suki and Toph, who were both arguing with one another. He had a long white beard, and his hair was the same length as well. He was pretty old, but like Bumi he was a lot more powerful than he looked, both Toph and Suki could attest to that. The man coughed, catching both of the girl's attention.
"What is going on?"
"We're here to bust you guys out." Suki said, "That kid over there is the Avatar. It's his job to do things like this."
"You shouldn't have risked your life to come here." He said.
"Listen here old timer," Toph said, "We will bust you out, and you will like it. You need to organize everyone here. We'll provide you the earth to bend."
"And where would you get earth out in the middle of the ocean?"
Toph was too busy feeling the metal floor of the ship, a look of pure concentration on her face. She then hit the ground a few times, the vibrations telling her everything she needed. "Ok, I think I know where it is. I can get there, but I would need to Metalbend." Toph said, turning to Suki, "Is that all right, or can he not see it either?"
The man was shocked, "Metalbending? That's impossible."
"Go for it, we don't have a whole lot of time." She looked over at Sokka, and then sighed. He was having a blast, easily able to defeat the men who had not had a real fight since their training school, "Well, we just don't want to waste too much time." She amended.
Toph smiled and cracked her fingers, "You two might want to step back."
"What are you-" The man didn't even get to finish as he watched Toph's fingers slide right through the metal like butter, and she pulled up a large sheet of metal and tossed it aside. He was speechless as he watched the awesome display of power.
Toph did this to several layers until there was a ventilation shaft below, "Ok, this shaft goes to the coal. If I go in there, I will be back out with coal in five minutes, give or take."
"You kids should-"
"I'm Toph by the way." She said to the man.
"Eh, Tyro, but as I was saying, you should-"
"Blah blah blah!" Toph mumbled, "Is that all you old people do, talk? You're getting out of here one way or another, so get used to it."
She then jumped into the shaft and crawled through it out of sight.
"She gets like that sometimes when she's annoyed." Suki said, trying to excuse her behavior, "Can you guys fight with us? It will make this a lot easier."
Tyro looked on at the three kids fighting on their behalf, and then to Suki, and then down at Toph. He was shocked - he was just getting ready for another day of living in this brutal prison, when suddenly five kids came and disturbed the peace. Now that they did however, he couldn't turn back, "I can't speak for everyone else, but I will fight with you." He decided, there was really nothing to lose at this point.
"We'll fight too." Another group of Earthbenders came to surround Tyro and Suki.
"Good," Suki let out a sigh of relief, "We need all the help we can get."
Katara was having a great time, she was finally able to expel all of her strength and ability for the first time since she came back to the past, and the results of it did not disappoint. She was easily able to take out quite a few soldiers with just a swift movement of her arm, using the ocean water to do the work for her. These men were amateur though, they were obviously not ready for something like this to happen, they relied solely on mistreating their prisoners to make themselves look tougher.
However, when faced with a bender in her natural habitat, these men were like an afternoon snack that even Momo could handle. She wiped a few of them over the edge into the water, and turned the water around them to ice, so their heads were sticking above the water, allowing them to live.
Even though almost everyone else in the group had given up the idea of sparing the people they fight in the future, Aang still held firmly onto the belief that no one deserved to be judged solely based on what side of a war they fought on. He never killed, and she couldn't recall a single time he ever did. It was an admirable goal, but it seemed almost pointless. These men would come back later on, stronger than before, ready to fight and kill people of the Earth Kingdom, like they had before.
She had never liked killing, still remembering each time she struck down another person. She usually just weakened them, and someone else in the group would finish them off. She only killed people herself if it was entirely necessary. Zuko was the only other one who hesitated as she did. Sokka, Suki, and Toph on the other hand, knew what they were doing was serious, and their kill count was much higher than the she and Zuko. It was brutal to remember that, especially now, seeing them in their much younger bodies.
However, when they came to the past, there seem to be an unspoken agreement between everyone, they wouldn't kill unless if it was extremely necessary. The men they were fighting would be part of a soon to be ravaged Nation once the war was over, and if they knew the kindness of the Avatar, maybe it would make it just a small bit easier. It was a long shot, of course, but it was what the group, and most importantly Aang lived by each day, and that is why he and his friends continually spared people.
She looked up to see the leader was beginning to cower in place. Good, She thought, grinning up at him, giving him a frighteningly cute smile. That caused him to scream out loud and run into the barracks within the prison.
"Great, he ran." Sokka sighed as he cut a spear in two and used one of the broken parts of the spear to trip another soldier, and then he slammed his foot onto the fallen man's stomach, making him lose his breath, before he hit the guy hard across the head, knocking him out cold.
"Do you always have to be so violent?" Aang asked, seeing how Sokka took the soldier out.
Sokka shrugged, "He'll live."
Aang rolled his eyes and turned back to the two Firebenders he was facing. His masterful use of Airbending made it so using the other elements wasn't even on his mind. These soldiers were so surprisingly inept that he didn't even have to think about doing that.
"You ever get the feeling that things are going too well?" Aang asked, waving his staff, and sending the men flying away.
"Why do you ask?" Sokka said, looking over at him for a second before returning to his fight.
"Well, usually when something goes our way, something really bad happens."
"Aang, please!" Sokka laughed, "We're on a roll, nothing can go wrong now!"
Katara looked towards her brother, and couldn't help but feel a shiver go down her spine at that declaration, why does it feel like he just doomed us all?
"General Zhao! It's so good to see you!" The Warden got onto his knees in front of the man.
They were out on the docks of the prison, Zhao's large metallic ship contrasted sharply with the small boats that the prison personnel used to traverse between the land and the prison.
"Hello Warden, I trust everything is going well for you?" Zhao asked, stepping off his ship onto the metal platform. His men followed him off, as if they knew that they would be needed, "It appears that there is a bison flying in the air, rather unusual, isn't it?"
"You have to help us! The Avatar, he is trying to free the prisoners here!"
"And is he succeeding?"
"Yes!" The Warden whined, tears freely falling from his eyes.
Zhao looked on in disgust, "you're to be stripped of your rank, boy. The Fire Nation doesn't need fools like you running high security prisons like that."
"What?" The man cried out.
"Get out of my sight. I'm taking over operations here for the day."
The ex-Warden looked at Zhao for only a few seconds, before he scurried off.
Zhao watched the man flee, and felt anger well up in his stomach. He was forced to flee very similarly to the Warden had. It was a horrible feeling, and one he fully wanted to let the Avatar and his friends know of. They were children! No match for the might of General Zhao! With those thoughts swirling in his mind, he stepped forward to begin his fight. His soldiers only a few steps behind.
Toph was close, she knew it. The heat was beginning to get unbearable, but she toughened up, and trudged on. Soon she felt a metal grate, so she punched it through, and felt the source of the heat. The coal was down below, some of it was burning, but most of it was still fine to use as a form of earth. She knocked a few times on the wall of the shaft she was in so she could get a feel of the whole place. When that was done, she got to her feet, her back pressed firmly against the top of the ventilation shaft, and she buried her feet into the metal.
She let out a small breath, and breathed in deeply. She did this a few times, before she brought her hands forward, and slowly began to lift the large batch of coal up. It was difficult for her, but slowly it rose, until she jabbed her hands upward. The coal then went flying towards the top of the place, easily destroying the metal grate at the very top, and all the coal began to launch itself out into the open where the Earthbenders and the rest of Team Avatar were.
"Yes!" She whispered, before she turned back to crawl back up to the top.
Tyro watched in amazement as the children fought, and then his shock grew even more as a metal grate was sent into the air a few yards away, and then a ton of coal burst from the tiny opening, littering the ground with earth for them to bend. He and the other Earthbenders there were momentarily stunned; until they too began to help the children fight.
What little Fire Nation resistance was left was utterly crushed when the full might of the Earthbenders came into play. Suki even joined in, effectively beating any person that came into range of her. It didn't take long once the coal came, that the soldiers were running for their lives towards the barracks, praying that they would be able to escape the wrath of the Avatar.
"I think we did it." Sokka said, a smile on his face as he watched the men flee, "Take that you Fire Nation scum!" He shouted at them, "Tell them Team Avatar sent ya running!"
"Well, that did go well." Aang said, "A lot better than I thought."
Even Suki was in a great mood, laughing along with the two. Only Katara was feeling an ominous feeling, and soon that feeling was shared with Toph, who came running towards them, a frown visible on her face, "Guys, bad news."
"What?" Sokka said, turning to her, "Bad news?"
"Yeah, I can feel an old friend coming."
"Zuko?" Aang guessed, but then he shook his head, "No, that's not bad." He mumbled
"No!" Toph shouted, "Him!"
They turned to see Zhao standing over them on a railing, as he smiled down at them, "Isn't this cute? Just because you guys helped take out another prison, you decide to tackle another. This will be your downfall boy, and I will capture you this time."
"I really doubt it Zhao." Aang said, getting into a fighting stance.
"Oh, on the contrary, I don't." Zhao said, signaling forth with two fingers. Suddenly, dozens of Firebenders began to pour out of the barracks, "Now you fight my men!"
The two forces collided in a huge fight in the middle of the platform, Earthbenders versus Firebenders. Unfortunately, the Earthbenders were malnourished and weakened, so they were naturally at a disadvantage. Even with Team Avatar there to help, they weren't in the best of positions.
"I'm going to hold off Zhao." Aang said, "Toph, Sokka, can you guys takes these guys to the boats so they can get out of here?"
Sokka kicked a Firebender away before ducking below a blast from another, and swung his sword at the man to keep him at bay, "Uh, yeah, sure Aang. I'll try." He then ran forward, "Earthbenders!" He called, not sure what else to address them as, "Follow me!" He went over to Toph and grabbed her shoulder, "Come on, I need you to direct me to the docks."
Toph sighed, sinking the feet of several on coming soldiers into the metal platform, "Do I always have to do these things? You guys get to do all the fun things."
"No complaining." Sokka said, "It's important."
"Fine." She mumbled, using coal to knock out a few other men, "We got to go that way." She pointed to the barracks door, "It's on the other side of the prison."
"Then to the other side of the prison we go." Sokka said, running there with a large of pack of Earthbenders behind him.
Aang jumped in front of Zhao, who didn't even greet the Avatar before blasting fire at the boy. Aang dodged all of them, even deflecting a few at some other soldiers, "Leave us alone Zhao!" Aang said in as deep a voice as he could muster.
"Let me think about that." He said, tapping his chin a few times. "No." He said flatly, firing a few more fireballs at Aang.
Aang sent a few blasts of wind towards the man with his staff, and followed up with using coal, firing them one after another, forcing Zhao to either dodge the dangerous projectile or to destroy it in mid air. Once that small exchange was over, they were still in the same spots they had been, neither had gained any advantage over the other.
And that infuriated Zhao.
He attempted to knock Aang off his guard, but each time only served to cause Aang to strengthen his defenses. Every time Zhao sent a fireball off to try to hit him in the side, Aang would either build up a wall of coal, or just blast it away with Airbending. No matter what, they were dead even.
Aang looked down at the prison yard, and was glad to see that it was just Katara and Suki remaining there.
"Suki, Katara!" Aang called, "Get out of here! I'll hold Zhao off a little longer!"
"Ok!" Suki yelled, "Come on Katara."
Aang smiled as he watched the two run away.
Zhao let out a yell of rage, and Aang quickly built up his defense for the oncoming projectile of fire. However, he watched in horror as the flame passed by him, and went directly towards Suki, "Suki! No!" He shouted. Sokka had just gotten pass losing her once, if she was hit with that, she might actually die.
His heart jumped when Katara, ran towards Suki and pushed her out of the way, the momentum carrying her out of the way too, but it was too late, the blast hit Katara right in the torso, causing the girl to scream out in pain. Her pain was Aang's pain, and he cried out as he watched her collapse into a heap. Suki wasn't doing much better, crying out as she stumbled back up to her feet and ran to Katara, who was suffering a lot of second degree burns, and a few third degrees.
"Looks like your girlfriend is hurt," Zhao said, goading Aang into fighting, "Going to cry?"
Aang held back the tears of fury as he looked on towards Zhao, "I will never forgive you for doing that, you coward!"
"Use whatever tactics you can to win." Zhao said, "That's why the Fire Nation will always prevail over you weaklings. We don't abide by any rules like you people set during your fights. If I see an opening, I will take it, and I will kill you."
What Zhao said had more meaning that anything the man could have imagined. Aang saw in Zhao's place the Fire Lord, and Aang's refusal to kill had cost him that fight. He remembered in the war when the Fire Nation enacted a policy of warpaths, destroying all the land, crops, and life, of the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes. The other nations would never do such a thing. It destroyed the balance of the world, and all because the Fire Nation wanted to win a war even faster than they were.
Aang growled, "No Zhao, I… I'll kill you." He whispered, the words were almost foreign to him. When had he ever said that to anyone? He let out a breath; he couldn't afford to be thinking of those kinds of things.
If possible, Zhao seem to smile even more than he was before, "Good. You're finally serious. Now let's begin."
The two collided with each other in a match bred from hatred.
Down below, Suki was holding Katara, "Katara! Please, wake up!" She was shaking the girl, and watched as the Fire Nation slowly began to surround them. She grabbed her fans, and took down a few that got close, but it wasn't enough, there were too many. She then opted to pick up the girl, and try to run to the ship. However, she didn't want to touch the fresh burns that were easily visible, due to the fact that her clothes had burned away around her abdomen. Suki tried to delicately pick up the injured girl without causing even more damage.
Unfortunately, one of the Firebenders chose that time to try to light her up, but she just barely, threw herself and Katara to the side. Katara let out a yelp of pain as she landed painfully on the ground, reassuring Suki, She's only unconscious, thank the spirits! She thought, wiping the tears from her eyes. She got up and faced the two dozen men in front of her. She didn't think they would use Katara as bait, but then again, she wouldn't put that pass Zhao's men.
"Suki, get out of here." Katara whispered, leaning against the barracks, she was breathing heavily, and she whimpered every breath she took.
"Get out of here Katara!" Suki shouted, "You're awake now, just run! I'll hold these guys off!"
"No, I will hold them off." Katara said, she let out a gasp of pain as she slowly stood up, and she used the wall as support. Suki was about to protest, but Katara lifted an arm and swept it across the deck, and a large wave of water from the ocean came forth, knocking a lot of the unsuspecting Firebenders off their feet.
"Are you crazy Katara? You're way too badly hurt to be fighting!"
"I can't even walk without collapsing in pain." Katara said, "If I stand here, I can fight them. If it comes down to it, it's better if one of us makes it out of here instead of none of us."
Suki looked back at Katara, and the Firebenders, still undecided.
"Go, Aang will get me; he can fly me over with Appa." She said trying to give a reassuring smile.
Suki didn't buy it, but she hugged Katara, "Don't do anything stupid." She said gruffly as she ran off towards the boats.
Katara let out a sigh of relief as she watched her friend leave, and she watched the men advance towards her, "Come on." Katara whispered challengingly.
And like that the men began to fight a wounded child.
Back at the docks, Sokka and the Earthbenders were boarding the boats, while Appa landed next to them and roared, "hey boy!" Sokka said, patting the bison.
A fireball came flying pass him and the bison, causing Appa to roar and fly away as fast as he could. Sokka looked at the annoying Firebenders left on Zhao's ship, and watched as a wave of coal launched upward at them to make them stop, "Keep firing!" Tyro commanded, getting onto the smaller vessels, "We're almost home free!"
"Where are Katara and Suki?" Toph asked, "Aren't they supposed to be here?"
"They'll be here." Sokka said, trying to reassure himself as well.
He looked toward the entrance of the barracks, and let out a cry of relief as he saw Suki rushing out of the building, but she was visibly crying, and then he noticed Katara wasn't coming out. He could feel his heart stop for a moment, and the blood rushed to his ears, and Suki slammed into him, hugging him tightly.
"Katara?" He whispered.
"I had to leave her behind." Suki cried, "Zhao hurt her, and I couldn't bring her, I would have been defenseless…"
Sokka blinked several times, holding back the tears, as he looked to Tyro. Even Toph was very quiet.
"We're almost out of coal," Tyro whispered, "We can go back for her, but I don't think these boats can take much more of a beating from these Firebenders. It's your call boy," He said to Sokka, "Your group saved us, we're indebted to you."
Not again. He thought, getting flashbacks to when he had to make a very similar decision on Kyoshi Island. No, no, no, no! He mentally screamed. His restrain at holding his tears at bay were forgotten as he fell to his knees.
"We can't afford to go back." One of Tyro's men said, "There's another Fire Nation boat coming this way!"
Sokka looked up, and could have shouted for joy he was so happy, "Zuko!" He said, a smile crossing his face. Tyro looked at the boy and raised an eyebrow.
"Friend of yours?"
"Not really." Sokka said, remembering that he didn't want to give away Zuko's position as their ally, even to his future allies. Wiping his tears away he said, "But he will take care of my sister. We have to get out of here."
"What about the Avatar?"
"He'll come." Sokka said, "He's holding off Zhao."
"All right then," Tyro said, seeing that the boats were ready to go, "Let's go home men!"
The Earthbenders, Sokka, Toph, Appa, and Suki left the docks, heading for the mainland.
Zuko watched the ships leave from his deck, but he didn't veer off course to intercept them. Instead, he fully intended to dock at the base, what is going on? He thought as he saw a few of his friends leave, they're supposed to tell me where to go. Nonetheless, he still kept on course, not seeing Katara or Aang on the boats.
Upon docking, he got a dozen men, and his uncle to come with him, "The Avatar is still here."
"Are you certain?" Iroh asked.
Zuko looked at his uncle, a huge wave of emotions washing over him. Thankfulness, relief, appreciation, and many others continued through. He shook his head. That had been the first time he even looked at his uncle since the merge had occurred.
"Y- Yes, I'm sure."
Iroh nodded, and the group of men went through the prison and came across a scene that completely shocked Zuko. The whole platform was a watery puddle, and Katara was dealing with the men. He watched as they were slowly being dragged around, but Zuko narrowed his eyes at the scene, Katara should be able to handle this easily enough since all around us is water. He then looked at her, and his eyes widened in shock.
She was burnt, badly, and she was also very bloodied, with blood coming from her nose, and several cuts covering her body. Her clothes were in tatter and her hair was unkempt, and overall she looked like a complete mess. He could barely stand to look at her without losing his cool and going after the men who had done this to her.
"Enough!" He shouted, stepping forth, "She's just a girl! Can't you guys see you've tortured her enough as it is?"
The Firebenders who had been fighting her looked up at Zuko, their guard let down slightly. Katara looked up at Zuko, and finally she felt safe enough. She felt the fatigue, and pain catch up to her, and her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she collapsed to the ground.
"She needs a doctor, immediately." Zuko said, turning to his uncle.
Iroh could see that Zuko was panicking, "Calm down Zuko, don't blow your cover." He whispered to the boy.
Zuko forced himself to breath in and out several times, and then he looked up to see Aang fighting Zhao fiercely. The rest of the men down below also began to watch, and then seconds later began to send fireballs up to assist Zhao.
Aang was not doing well. His anger blinded him, and he was being beat by Zhao of all people. He was being burnt left and right, and he could feel the effects of fatigue beginning to set in. He breathed heavily, but soon had to move again as several dozen fireballs were sent towards him. He dodged a lot of them; the heat of several near hits had him sweating even worse than he was before hand.
"You've lost Avatar." Zhao said, "Now come quietly, or I will have to burn you like I did to the Water Tribe girl."
Aang growled, and looked down at Katara, but his breath was caught short. He looked down and saw Zuko and Iroh near her body, protecting her from any of the other men down there. She looked very badly injured, even dead, but from the look on their faces, she was still alive. He could have cried, but knew what he had to do, and that prevented him from doing any celebration.
Zuko, please, I trust you to take good care of her. He saw Zuko look up, and the two locked eyes with one another. Zuko nodded, and Aang didn't show any visible sign of acknowledgement, not wanting Zhao to see.
"I have to go." Aang said, "I'll… See you around Zhao." Aang said, and he flicked his staff to make his glider appear.
"No you don't Avatar!" He shouted, but his protest died when Aang shot a huge blast of wind towards him before flying off, making Zhao unable to counter attack. "Run!" Zhao shouted, "Just run away like a coward! I will make an example of your girlfriend! I will kill her!" Aang didn't even respond, but just kept flying off.
Zhao growled as he watched the Avatar flee until he was a dot on the horizon, and then he went down to the courtyard where all the other Fire Nation soldiers were. He made a beeline for the fallen girl, his eyes filled with malice, but he was stopped when Zuko stepped in front of him, "She comes with me."
"Do not test my patience Zuko." Zhao said, "This is your only warning, get out of my way."
"No. I challenge you to an Agni Kai over her." He said.
Zhao was taken aback by the offer, "The girl is such small stakes though." Zhao said off handedly.
"If I lose, you can keep the girl, and I will forfeit my life to you." Zuko said, "If I win, I get the girl."
Zhao smiled, "A little overconfident are we?"
Zuko didn't smile, "No. I will defeat you."
"You better be willing to bet your life on that boy." Zhao said, cracking his neck, "I just fought the Avatar, but I can easily deal with an insolent insect like you."
"We'll see." Zuko said, taking off his armor, and then his shirt. Zhao did the same, and soon the two were surrounded by their men in a large circle. Both of them were facing one another. Off to the side, Iroh was tending to Katara, he didn't have any medicine, or anything to ease the pain, but he was able to cut up his robe and use it to cover the wounds on her. It was the very best that could be done at the moment.
Zhao didn't wait to saw anymore, stepping forward and shooting a fireball straight at Zuko, who just swept his hand across and sent the fireball straight to the ground. And like that they just exchanged a few warming up shots, Zhao cracking his neck, and stretching his muscles the entire time. Zuko knew it was an intimidating tactic, Zhao had more than enough of a warm up against Aang.
Regardless, Zuko kept it up to appease Zhao for now, and to warm himself up. Soon however, Zhao made the first move, and the true fight began. They exchanged several blows, even getting so close that they tried to kick and punch each other without the aid of fire. Zhao was the stronger of the two, no doubt, but Zuko knew his speed was key to winning the match. He would move out of the way of every blow Zhao did instead of trying to block it. Each time would wear Zhao down just a little more.
It was obvious to Zhao what Zuko was doing however, and so he tried to predict Zuko's movements ahead of time. It worked once, catching Zuko completely off guard, and nearly burning his chest badly, but Zuko was able to redirect the fire at the very last minute.
Zuko was not holding back, the stakes were far too high. Not only were his friends trust with him to save Katara, and that his life was done if he lost, but he felt a sort of glee when he fought. He loved the feeling of being able to match Zhao in terms of mastery of Firebending. He assumed it was part of the merge, and again he couldn't tell if it was his past self happiness at being a master, or his future's self at being able to get revenge of Zhao for all the horrible things the man did in his life. Regardless, Zuko still kept going.
Zuko finally got a good hit in, kicking Zhao right in the abdomen. Zhao stumbled back from the blow, and Zuko followed it up with bending fire in with his punches to his chest. Zhao let out a cry of pain, and he fell down to one knee.
"Give up now, Zhao." Zuko said, standing over his body.
"Never," Zhao said harshly, "I refuse to be beaten by a failure such as you!"
Zuko knew that the stakes meant that they would likely fight until they collapsed, so Zuko did something that he knew he would probably regret later on. He took a deep breath, before doing several smooth motions with both hands, and a trickle of electricity began to form at his fingertips. He heard several people gasp from the sideline, and even Iroh was looking on in shock and awe. Zuko felt the attack was ready, and aim it at Zhao, before at the very last second he aimed it to go right by his head. The close proximity of the blast easily burnt the mans head, but he was too shocked to care.
"I can beat you if I wanted to Zhao." Zuko said, "You're too weak now."
Zhao was shocked by Zuko's display of strength, and he growled, knowing Zuko was right. He was quiet for several minutes, before he glared upward at Zuko, "They girl's all yours." He then walked away, "Men! We're leaving!"
Zuko let a small smile cross his face at defeating Zhao, and he turned to Katara, "We need a doctor immediately. Do we have someone on the ship that can look at her?"
"We have some ointment that we can use on her, but we'd need to go to a village to treat her properly." Iroh said.
Zuko rubbed his hand against his the hair on his head, "Ok, that's what we'll do now." He decided, "Men, to the ship!" He said standing.
Iroh very gently picked her up, one hand holding her knees, while the other holding her shoulder. He followed a near panicked Zuko back towards the ship, along with their crew.
Tyro opened the door to his house, and his wife let out a gasp as she saw who it was. Soon the distance between the two was covered, and they were hugging each other tightly.
"What is going on?" She finally asked as they parted, "did they let you go?"
Tyro smiled, "The Avatar saved us."
Her eyes widened in surprise, "So it's true? The Avatar is back?"
"He's right here." Tyro said, waving in Aang, who was quickly followed by Sokka, Toph, and Suki.
"Hello." Aang said, waving at the woman.
"Oh my, you're a lot younger than I thought you would be." She said.
"Yeah, I get that a lot." Aang said shrugging.
"Thank you for saving my husband," She said, bowing to him, "We are in your debt."
"It's my job." Aang said, smiling at the two.
The door suddenly opened, and a young boy rushed in, and upon seeing Tyro he allowed a gigantic smile onto his face, "Father! The rumors were true then! The prison was taken out!"
"Yes, Haru," Tyro said, "It wouldn't have been possible without them though." He again pointed out Aang and his friends.
Haru looked toward Aang, "Thank you Avatar."
"No problem." Aang said, getting a little uncomfortable.
"If there is anything I can do, all you need to do is just ask." Tyro said.
Sokka chose this moment to talk, "Actually, there is something you might be able to help with. In the summer there will be a solar eclipse. During that time, we are going to launch an invasion on the Fire Nation. We would be honored to have you and the other Earthbenders here assist us in this assault."
"A direct assault on the Fire Nation?" Tyro said, "I like the sound of that. I'll do it, and I will recruit anyone else who wants to come as well."
"Good." Aang said, "We will contact you with a letter on the specific details in time."
"Thank you for helping us Avatar." Tyro said, "You have restored my hope, and I wish you the best luck in your future endeavors."
Team Avatar left the house, and the mood quickly dropped from then on as they walked to Appa. Aang grabbed the reins to Appa, and Sokka patted him on the shoulder, "You know, you can talk to me about it."
"There's not much to say." Aang muttered evasively, "Zuko is taking good care of her. I trust him to do that for me."
"And he won't fail. Zhao did not get Katara." Sokka said.
"I hope you're right." Aang sighed, and the group flew on to their next destination.
Chapter eight - End