AN: Posting before Labor Day weekend.
Chapter 16 In Love, And In Hate.
In the early morning before the sun had risen, Connor stirred from his sleep, pulling his arm away from Azula's waist. He sat up, and yawned, taking note that it was still dark out. Seeing that Azula was still asleep, Connor quietly got out of bed, and started his morning early. Forgoing a shave, he got dressed in the dark, then took his pack out onto the fountain pavilion.
After the usual morning leak, he forewent a shave, then made a cup of coffee over a small fire, and fried some bacon. Just before dawn broke, and the valley was graced with the first rays of sun peering into the walls of the canyon the temple was settled in, Connor heard the whirling of propeller blades in the air to the south. Leaning his head over the edge of the pavilion, Connor saw an airship approaching from above the canyon, some half a mile away. "Oh fuck me sideways." He muttered in English, before dousing the fire with his coffee cup, and shoving his things away in his bag, slinging it, as he ran back into the temple.
"UP! UP! EVERYBODY UP!" He shouted, as he passed by the chambers that were occupied.
"What's going on?" Sokka asked, as he rolled out of bed and threw his shirt on.
"What do ya' think? We've got a Fire Nation airship about two and a half Li's out." Connor said, as everyone started to get dressed and hastily pack their things. "And they definitely saw my camp fire, so this place is about to be crawling with soldiers." Connor said, as he grabbed three muskets from the stack they had in a back room, and made his way back to the pavilion, several others behind him.
"Oh good lord." Connor said, spying the airship descending into the canyon, parking in front of the southmost pavilion, the bison landing and stables. Men with carbines running off of the airship, before it pulled away, and began to approach the gang's position, maneuvering around the hanging buildings between them and the bison stable.
"Oh great, they cut us off." Azula said, going wide eyed, as she saw the muzzle flash from a cannon aboard the airship. "GET DOWN!" She shouted, diving behind one of the fallen pillars from their previous battle with the combustion man. Everyone scrambled, as part of the wall behind them was blown apart into a shower of stone, far more violently than if it had been struck by a normal cannonball, the impact accompanied by a concussive boom.
"What was that?!" Suki shouted, before Aang swept his staff across the hanging pavilion, closing the stone shutters with a hurricane force wind.
"Sounded like a bomb." Connor said, as he dug his finger in his right ear to ward off the loud ringing he was hearing.
"Since when could cannons fire bombs?" Zuko asked, as he pushed himself back to his feet, another boom echoing from the outside of the temple.
"Thirteen Seventy something, but forget that, we can't stay here." Connor said, as he jogged over to the back wall with Toph, tossing his bag up onto Appa's saddle along the way. "Need a tunnel?" He asked her.
"Make it big." She said, before the two earth benders shoved the rear wall of the temple inwards on itself creating an escape route large enough for Appa. "Come on, we can get to the airship this way." Toph said, as Chit Sang, his girl, Teo, pushed by Hakoda, Haru, three Kyoshi warriors and The Duke all took off into the tunnel.
Aang tried to lead Appa inside, but the bison firmly planted his heels and refused to move. More pressingly, several members of the group hadn't even begun to move towards the tunnel.
"Come on, what are you guys waiting for?" Haru asked, as Sokka, Zuko, Azula, Connor, Smellerbee and Yumi, (the tallest Kyoshi Warrior of the group,) all stood their ground.
"Well someone's got to save our skins." Connor said, drawing his sword, as Katara, Suki, and Toph tried to assist Aang in pulling Appa into the tunnel.
"You all go ahead, we'll buy you some time." Sokka said, as he took his short musket off his back and started to load it with round slugs, disappearing deeper into the temple. Another boom causing part of the stone shutter to crumble.
Smellerbee and Yumi quickly took two muskets from Connor, and loaded them as they jogged towards the southern stone shutters. "We'll keep the guy's on the ground occupied." She said, finding a suitable hole in the stonework to fire through.
"Zuko and I can handle the airship." Azula said with a scowl towards the forward shutter. "I've got a feeling this is Kozato's work." Another bombardment blasted open the shutter, and the rear guard for Team Avatar separated, taking off to new positions, as Yumi and Smellerbee both fired at the foot soldiers approaching along the narrow footpath between them and the bison landing.
From the bridge of the airship Kozato spoke to his Lieutenant at the communications station. "I think we've softened them up enough. Cease Cannon fire, and prepare for landing." He said, before both he and Mai left the bridge, splitting apart, as Mai began to ascend to the roof, while Kozato went down onto the catwalk hanging below the airship, clipping himself into the safety lines.
As Azula, Zuko and Connor exited the safety of the stone shutters, the bombardment stopped and the airship had come to a nearly level altitude with them, and there on the catwalk, alongside a dozen men aiming their carbines at the temple, and a dozen more in the loading bay, was Kozato, covered from head to toe in his suit of metal armor.
Zuko took the last musketoon off Connor's shoulder, and cocked the caplock hammer back. They hadn't been shot yet so that was a good sign.
Kozato called out to them, his voice muffled by the helmet he wore. "Bring me The Avatar! I know he is with you."
"Oh, so we're not good enough?" Azula asked teasingly.
"Oh, you'll suffice, but there's someone who wants to face you personally." Kosato said, as he pointed upwards. Standing on top of the airship, gazing down at Azula, was Mai. "As for Zuko and the ogre?... MEN, TAKE AIM!" Connor was fast to act, pulling the floor in front of them back into a curled wall for cover. "FIRE AT WILL!" Kozato shouted, before his men let off a volley of musket fire.
Peeking out from behind the rock after the volley, Zuko fired his cap lock at the soldiers, but rather than one scream of pain, there were two. While Zuko had managed to blow out a man's kneecap, causing him to fall over, and hang from the airship by his safety strap, a bullet from an unseen shooter had winged one of Kozato's soldier's from the landing bay in the neck.
Looking up towards the hanging building to his right, Kozato grit his teeth, spying the water tribe boy. "Men, separate fire by platoon. Alpha that boy up there, Beta, the Fire Nation traitors." Kozato ordered as he pointed to Sokka, then Zuko.
Inside of the Temple, near the emergency tunnel, Aang and the gang had no luck getting their bison to follow them. "Appa's not going in there, he hates tunnels." Aang said, finally giving up on trying to force his fluffy friend into the hole.
"Well we can't fly out of here, we'll be shot down." Katara said.
"I don't think so…" Aang said, looking out of the hole in the stone shutter where Zuko, Azula, and Connor were crouched behind a hastily made rock wall. "The Fire Lord wants me alive so I can't reincarnate. Kozato won't shoot at us if he thinks I could die."
"So you're just going to use yourself as a human shield?!" Katara asked in shock.
"There's too many of us to guarantee everyone's safety if we try flying out." Hakoda said, stepping away from Teo's wheelchair, The Duke Taking his palace. "We need to split up, the fewer people going with Aang the better."
"What? No, dad, we just found each other, we can't spit up." Katara said, nearly crying at the thought of being torn away from her family again.
"It's ok, Katara." Hakoda said, putting a hand on her shoulder, before she hugged him. "We'll see each other again soon. I promise."
Having to be gently pulled away by Toph, Katara released her father, as Aang looked over the tunnel party. "Fly north first, then head east into the Earth Kingdom, either the occupied territories, or the colonies. If you can blend in, you should be safer there." He said, before assisting Katara up onto Appa.
Suki broke away from the tunnel party, and jumped up onto Appa's back, before Haru closed the wall behind them, and Smeelerbee called out over her shoulder after firing a shot. "We're almost out of lead!"
"We just need a little more time." Aang said, as Toph climbed up onto appa with him, Momo clinging to her back.
After a volley of fire, the three Fire Nationals broke from their cover, with Azula getting a running start, before using four jets of fire, one from each limb, to thrust herself up into the air, and into the landing bay full of soldiers. From the ground a few men's shouts could be heard, before a blast of both blue then orange fire flashed out of the door, then there was a boom, as if someone's cartridge box had been ignited.
Taking it as a sign of progress, Zuko dropped the borrowed musket, as Connor used his earth bending to launch the older boy across the gap between them and the airship with a stone fissure. Zuko landed on the catwalk North of Kozato, coming to a sliding halt at an intersection, and to the south, Connor had catapulted himself onto one of the cannon firing platforms.
Looking between the two, Kozato groaned. "Kill them, you idiots." He said to his men, who were only now beginning to reload.
Zuko was nearest, with five men between him and Kozato. The first he blasted fire at, aiming for the man's feet, which caused him to jump backwards, and become unbalanced. Seeing his opportunity, Zuko backfisted the man, who fell off the platform, and now dangled by his safety line.
For Connor, there were seven men to contend with, and none he cared to waste time on. Sword drawn, he slashed at the first man lined up on the cannon firing platform, only to find the torso armor he wore was impervious to his sword. Ducking his head back to avoid being struck by the stock of the forward man's musket, Connor then kicked the man in the chest, which knocked him back onto his rear. Slicing through the safety strap above the man's head, before striking him across the head with the flat of the blade, sent the soldier falling into the canyon below. Drawing his pistol on the second man, Connor aimed low at the man's unarmored hips, not bothering to test if his gun could penetrate their chest plates, and shattered his opponent's pelvis, causing the soldier to fall off the catwalk, dangling by his strap.
Zuko, having slowly advanced to his second opponent mid reload, had only just poured his paper cartridge down the bore, before Zuko grabbed the muzzle, and sharply rammed it up into his jaw, and sweeping them man's legs over the side, leaving now three men to hang below the catwalks by their waists.
Connor stepped forward, as a soldier approached him, having slung his carbine in favor of using a field knife to fight with. Backstepping to avoid the first slash, Connor swiped his sword at the man, hitting him in the leather conical helmet, which disoriented the man enough for Connor to plunge the tip of the sword into the man's throat, causing the soldier to choak, and grasp at his neck wound while he stumbled off the platform, only narrowly avoiding a dangle by his toes. The fourth man Connor faced had been quick to reload his musket, and had it aimed at Connor, before the red headed young man slapped the muzzle away, the shot ringing in his right ear. With his blade low, Connor sliced the man's left forearm in a draw cut, before shoving him over the side to hang.
Now facing his third enemy, Zuko put a fire blast into his chest, the armor and wool jacket absorbing the heat and flames, though the man, still freaked out, as he was smoldering, falling off the platform as he dropped his half loaded weapon, while removing his cartridge box before it caught fire.
The fifth man Connor attacked had blocked a high vertical slash with the forestock of his carbine, before having his balls kicked up into his groin. Falling back in nauseating pain, the soldier bumped into the man behind him, the two getting tangled in each other's safety lines. Connor tucked his gun away, then grabbed the cables above them, and jumped over the two, his momentum pulling them off the catwalk to hang in the air.
Kozato, content to watch the fight continue, took note of the stark contrast between the two boys he was faced with. While Zuko was hesitant to even severely injure the men he was fighting, Connor had no such qualms about simply killing them.
Zuko at an intersection in the catwalks, jumped from the main walkway to one of the cannon platforms, to dodge a musket shot from the fourth man between him and Kozato, the ball ripping a hole in his loose robe top. Twirling his arms to balance, Zuko regained his footing, before creating a whip of flames, and lashing the man who shot at him in the arm, causing the soldier to stumble before then grab his own safety strap to remain upright while he fell off the catwalk.
The seventh soldier Connor had to deal with was a firebender, who dropped his musket, and sent a gout of fire at Connor. With the only way out of the line of fire being up, Connor jumped up and grabbed the overhead metal work of the airship with his left hand, tucked his body into a ball, and kicked the firebender in the head with both feet. The man's nose broke, and he clutched at his face, as Connor landed, then sliced the man's safety strap, before striking him in the side of the temple with the pommel of his sword, causing the fire bender to fall to his death.
Zuko nearly went wide eyed as the last soldier trained the carbine's muzzle over his chest, before the back of the man's head exploded into his helmet, and his body slumped over the side. Looking over his shoulder, Zuko saw Sokka still standing on the hanging building to their northwest.
Kozato glanced up at the tribesman, noting that Alpha company hadn't killed him yet. "If you want something done right…" He said to himself, drawing his six shot pistol off of his belt, and extending the muzzle towards Zuko. "... You do it yourself." With a fire lit by his thumb, the repeating pistol went off with a bang, and Zuko fell over onto his back, a hole in the right side of his chest, leaving him shouting in white hot pain, a small trickle of blood seeping into his robe.
Kozato turned to face Connor now, ratcheting his pistol's barrel cluster with his free hand. Finding the red headed ogre to have produced his own pistol, keeping the lower barrel aimed at the center of Kozato's chest. The prince to be smirked beneath his helmet, putting his gun back onto his belt. The two locked into a stare, Kozato's amber irises visible through his helmet's eye slits, though only just. "Go on then." Kozato said, standing up square and proud. "Take the shot." Connor grit his teeth, seeing a dent in the shoulder of Kozato's armor, a proofmark.
"Alright." Connor said with a small shrug, before he lifted his point of aim and pulled the trigger. Shooting at nearly fifteen feet, left handed, fatigued, over caffeinated and his blood boiling amid the fighting, Connor didn't actually expect to hit Kozato in the head with his gun, but despite this, there was a loud yell, and ringing coming from Kozato. After the gunsmoke cleared, Connor saw Kozato holding onto his helmet still yelling, before twisting it clockwise, and looking at Connor. A dent and a scuff from the lead bullet had made their mark on the left side of the forehead. By a complete stroke of luck, the round had deformed and glanced off the sloped metal surface, though the impact and sound of the helmet reverberating had probably just given Kozato the mother of all headaches.
With a grunt, Kozato stood upright, and fire swelled in his metal covered palms, as Connor put his gun away.
Outside, the gunfire had finally stopped, and Aang had made the judgment call. "Alright, everybody on!" Smellerbee and Yumi, now out of bullets, climbed aboard Appa's saddle, before Aang whipped his reins, and the bison took off out the open space left in the stone shutters by the cannon fire. Flying at the fastest pace he could muster while ascending, Appa flew clear over the top of the airship, gaining height, before banking left as Katara saw her brother still taking pot shots at the airship's glass windows from his vantage on the hanging building. Appa didn't stop to land, only slowing to a hover beside the building's floor.
"Come on Sokka, let's get out of here!" Toph said, as the older boy jumped into the saddle.
"Zuko's been shot!" Sokka said.
"What?!" Aang asked in surprise.
"Kozato shot him, but he's still on the airship with Connor and Azula." Sokka said, as he reloaded his gun.
Azula shoved the top hatch of the airship open, and once standing on the roof, found Mai waiting for her. "Are you ready to snap out of whatever trance has taken your mind?" Azula asked.
"So you fought your way up here just to talk?" Mai asked.
Azula shrugged. "I was hoping that perhaps you might see reason."
"Oh, Azula." Mai said, as she untied the knot in her outer robe, her red dress falling away with it, revealing the black silk bodysuit she wore beneath. Darts surrounded her wrists and ankles, knives were sheathed all along a leather hip skirt, and belt, while throwing blades sat against her thighs, upper arms, and abdomen. "We're far beyond reasoning with each other."
Azula couldn't count the number of blades Mai had on her, and more importantly, she'd never seen her former friend remove her robe or dress amid a fight, always preferring the element of surprise it gave her. Mai wasn't being cocky, no, she never was. Mai was wholly confident she didn't need to mask her attacks behind fabric to face Azula. Removed was the cloak, and now all that remained was the dagger. "Then I've put myself in a disadvantageous posit-Whoa!" Azula said, cutting herself off as she limboed back to avoid a dart Mai had thrown from her wrist. Landing in a handstand before flipping backwards again and to her feet, Azula narrowly avoided a throwing star to her hand. Taking the initiative, Azula bounced off the roof of the airship, and spun in mid air to generate a fire kick with both legs.
Mai knew the attack was coming, and kicked her robe up to catch the flames before it could reach her, snuffing the attack, she then pulled four knives off her back, and threw them in a wide arc.
Dropping forwards onto her hands and toes to duck the flying blades, Azula took a page from her brother's book, and kicked one leg out wide, spinning on her hands to send a wave of fire out towards Mai. The older, and far leaner between them had no issue leaping over the attack, and landing in a tripod as Azula got to her feet. "What happened to you Mai? You used to be my friend." Azula said, before sidestepping another dart.
"I used to be your toy!" She threw a larger knife that whistled as it passed by Azula, a strand of hair being shaved off. "I used to be the one you'd laugh at and embarrass for fun!" Another dart this time, that Azula kicked out of the air, before Mai pulled out three knives for each hand. "And I used to be completely powerless." She spread the knives out between her fingers, and put her right foot behind her. "Because your daddy could end my father's career with a snap if you asked him to." Mai smirked a little despite how bitter she looked. "But now, I'm allowed to do the one thing I've wanted to since we were little girls."
Mai kicked her leg out, losing three darts, before swinging her arms after, letting the six blades she held go flying, filling the air with needles and razors. Diving through the only opening she could find, Azula landed into a roll, now within spitting distance of Mai, before the older teen tackled her, straddling Azula's abdomen. With her longer arms, Mai grabbed Azula by the hair and pulled a knife off her belt. Attempting to bring the blade down with a hammer fist, Mai's forearm was caught by Azula's still free hands.
The two struggled, and Mai chuckled, as she realized that Azula wasn't trying to burn her now that they were so close. "Finally grew a sense of empathy?" Mai asked, as she let go of Azula's hair, to help force the blade down closer to her neck. "Well, that's too bad for you, because mine died about about a week ago." The tip of the blade hovered hardly an inch away from Azula's skin. "I'm going to enjoy watching you drown in your own blood. I'm sure it'll be incredibly painful."
"Mai, please!" Azula said loudly, as her arms started to shake.
"Please what?" Mai asked while grinning, finding enjoyment in being the tormentor for once.
"Please don't make me hurt you." Aula said, before taking a breath, and then exhaling hot air into Mai's face, causing the girl to pull away, raise up onto her knees, and cover her eyes, enough so that Azula could get her feet planted and buck Mai off of her. Rolling to her feet, as Mai stood up, Azula saw Appa flying towards them. "I'm sorry it's come to this." Taking off, Azula ran in a dead sprint, and Mai gave chase, as Aang pulled his bison up to the side of the airship.
The former princess jumped across the two foot gap into the saddle, landing safely, as Mai lept behind her, roaring in anger, knife raised to strike. Appa couldn't fly away fast enough, and as Mai landed she dug her knife into Azula's thigh, causing the shorter girl to scream in pain. Sokka, musket in hand, saw an opportunity, and cracked Mai over the head with the butt plate, dislodging the knife wielding teen off of Azula, and rendering her unconscious.
Katara, almost always ready to deal with injuries, pulled water from her side pouch, and held the liquid in her hands over Azula's fresh stab wound. "Are you alright?" Aang asked over his shoulder, as he made a loop, prepared to pick up Connor.
"I'm fine." Azula said, as Katara's water began to glow, and the stab began to slowly seal. "It's her you need to worry about." She pointed to Mai's unmoving form slumped against the back of the saddle.
Kozato stood between Connor and Zuko, who was still writhing on the catwalk in pain. Raising his hands, his fingers spread out like claws, the young man, taller than Conner by a head and a half, grit his teeth.
Connor, seeing the fire Kozato held, and the armor he wore, sheathed his sword, before kneeling down, and pulling up a piece of the catwalk, scrunching it in his fist to make an improvised shield, or something similar.
Kozato snarled. "And I thought the little girl was the metal bender."
"Who do you think taught me?" Connor asked, before throwing his shield at Kozato, who held up his left forearm to block the attack, before Connor pulled the metal back into his grip, while rushing the bigger man down. Kozato struck with his palm, spreading fire across the shield, before backstepping, and adding his other hand, to increase the size of the flames, which mushroomed out in every direction, as Connor tried slamming the now hot plate of iron into Kozato with his weight behind it.
Making use of the safety strap, Kozato jumped off of the catwalk to his left, avoiding the strike, and then planned his feet as he swung back onto the platform, now behind Connor. He made a noise that sounded like a hiss, before commenting on Connor's form. "You're not very good at it though." Connor threw the makeshift shield at Kozato again, only for the armored firebender to catch the metal sheet with his left hand, and chuck it off of the airship. "You've got no form, no formal practice… This power is new to you both then."
The two stepped up to each other, and as Kozato tried to bring two flaming fists down at the same time to strike Connor over the head the sixteen year old caught him by the plated forearms, then tried to squeeze them in his hands, hoping the armor would cut Kozato… Only the armor didn't budge. Kozata glanced down at the red head's grip, and chuckled to himself. "Well would you look at that?" Kozato asked rhetorically, before kicking Connor in the gut.
Backing off, Connor took a second to recover from the kick. "Who made this steel?" Connor asked, remembering how Toph was almost unable to bend his sword.
Kozato gave the honest truth. "Mr. Wong, the blacksmith, whom I believe you know…"
"Yeah, I showed him how Europeans remove impurities from metal…" Connor said.
Kozato hummed in thought. "Then that's how you and the little girl can bend metal, the earthen crud left over is what you're bending… This has been quite the learning experience."
Unseen while hidden behind Connor, Zuko, though injured, had begun to go through the motions to create lighting, if modified due to his back being to the floor.
"Learn all you want, I'll break you in fuckin' two either way." Connor said, raising his fists.
"Oh, I'd love to see you try." Kozato said.
Glancing to his right, Connor saw Appa flying towards him, and heard Zuko yell from behind him. "MOVE!" Taking the gamble, Connor jumped off of the side of the catwalk, clearing Zuko's line of sight, before the former prince, having never been able to create lighting, thrust two fingers out towards Kozato. There was a concussive boom, and a flash of fire, as both princes, past and future, were sent flying apart.
While Kozato was knocked back off his feet, shouting in surprise as he fell off the catwalk, before his safety strap caught him, Zuko slid along the smooth metal surface on his back, nearly the entire length of the walkway, before rolling off of his own accord, entering a freefall with Connor.
Orienting himself while still hanging by his belt, Kozato watched as the sky bison, guided by The Avatar, dived down, and caught the two men he'd faced. As a further insult, he saw Azula and Mai riding south with them. Confronted by the fact everyone had escaped, Kozato grabbed his safety cable, and pulled himself back up to stand on the catwalk. Taking a calming breath, Kozato spoke to himself. "Where are you fleeing to now?" He looked around at the still living men, left hanging by their own safety cables. "We've a hunt to continue, pull yourselves up, and get the injured their care." He began marching towards the bridge as the platoon he'd dropped off to assault the temple on foot had gathered on the pavilion they had previously fired on. "And load up the men on the ground!"
"Zuko!" Azula shouted, seeing the state her brother was in.
Katara, having finished healing Azula's wound, turned to the former prince, as he gasped for air. "Hold on, I can help." She said, before Connor put his arm between her and her patient.
"Slow down, or you might end up killing him." Connor said, before grabbing his bag, finding it exactly where he threw it up on the saddle. "And Aang, keep us steady, I'm already getting sick back here."
"Sorry!" Aang said, being unable to do much about how Appa naturally flew.
"What do you mean kill him? I'm trying to heal him." Katara said, holding up a blob of water between her hands.
"He's been shot, Katara, you have no idea what his insides could look like." Connor said, before looking at Zuko. "Can you hear me?" He asked.
"Yeah, I can hear you." Zuko said, trying to sit up.
"Good, good. Whatever makes breathing easiest, do that." Connor said, before untying Zuko's robe top. Allowing his friend to sit as he pleased, Connor began an examination. Upon visual inspection, he saw the small bleeding hole In Zuko's upper right chest wall, and ignored it at first, before looking at his back.
"He's still bleeding." Katara said.
"It's a deep red bleed, it's not as important." Connor said.
"What do you mean not as important?" Suki asked, confused by how someone could just ignore the obvious signs of someone's life seeping out of them.
"Dark blood is dirty, bright blood is clean, think of it that way." Connor said, before laying his ear against Zuko's chest to listen to his breathing. While he was there, Connor poked and prodded at his friend's ribs, and shoulder blade.
"What's he doing?" Smellerbee asked the group.
"I don't know, but whatever it is, I trust him." Azula said.
"Would you all be quiet?" Connor asked, before once again, listening to Zuko's breathing. Keeping his ear to Zuko's chest before closing his eyes, Connor placed his hand over Zuko's heart, and let the vibrations the organ generated, and the patterns of breathing, (which were becoming more labored,) paint a seismic picture of his chest. Pulling his head away, and blinking twice, Connor looked at Zuko's back again, then bit his tongue then turned to Katara. "Need your healing magic for a moment."
"It's not magic." Katara said, as she walked behind Zuko on her knees.
"Whatever. He has an exit wound, here, see it, just below the scapula." Connor said, pulling Zuko's skin apart a little to show her the wound. "Heal, that, and only that. I need it sealed up before we do anything else."
With her instructions given, Katara pressed the glowing water to Zuko's back. "Whatever you say, Doctor Connor." Katara said with an eye roll.
"Not a doctor." Connor said. "Not yet at least, and it would be Doctor Campbell anyways, like my father." He moved around Zuko and back to the front of his chest. Connor then stuck his pinky into the point forty five caliber hole, and burped the wound, air once trapped in Zuko's chest cavity was now free to escape, and near instantly Zuko found breathing to be easier.
"What did you just do?!" Zuko asked, in awe that Connor has seemingly improved his health with a finger.
"Digital thoracostomy." Connor said in English. "I used my finger to drain your chest of air."
"Isn't air supposed to be in the chest?"" Aang asked, not quite sure what he'd just heard.
Connor snapped the finger's of his free hand. "Air only needs to be in the lungs, and the lungs, like a bellows to a forge, contract and expand to move it. There's space in between your lungs and your rib cage, and if air or fluid builds up in it, the lungs can't completely expand, and you stop breathing. If you pop a lung, or, like what happened to Zuko here, get a hole put in your chest, every time you inhale, air comes in through the hole, and sometimes it doesn't want to come out when you exhale."
"So what now?" Katara asked, as she crawled to sit in front of Zuko with Connor.
"Get your healing water, and listen carefully." Connor said, as Katara held up the water surrounding her hands. "I need you to do whatever it is your water can to reconstitute his lung tissue."
"You want me to heal internal wounds?" Katara asked. "That's going to take nearly all day."
"He's got a hole running through his right lung, and if I'm correct about my observations of your healing power's effect on exposed tissue, then you should be able to repair his lungs at the same rate as you did the hole in his back by making the water contact it directly." Connor said.
"Like a water bending surgery." Azula commented.
"Can you do it?" Connor asked Katara.
She huffed. "I hate bending water I can't see, but yeah."
"Run your water through the bullet hole and heal the tissue inside. Pull it all out once you're done." Connor instructed, using two fingers to splay the two flaps of skin in Zuko's chest.
With one hand, Katara pushed a small stream of water into the bullet hole Zuko had, and "feeling" it slither through his perforated lungs, began to pull his chi to the wound.
"How do you feel, Zuko?" Connor asked, putting his ear up against the young man's chest to listen to it.
"Like I've got water in my lung." He said, already feeling as if he was suffering from pneumonia.
"Yeah, respiratory edema is the point here." Connor said, before Katara, finished with her healing, slowly pulled the water out out the way it came in, the fluid being stained a dull red.
"Now would we stop his bleeding?" Katara asked.
Connor nodded affirmatively. "Zuko, when I tell you, I need you to take as big a breath as you can, then exhale absolutely everything. Katara, when he's exhaling, you can seal the wound with your water powers."
Katara placed her hand over the hole in Zuko's chest where Connor's pinky was still stuck holding a flap of skin open. "Ready." She said.
Connor nodded again, his fingers keeping the hole open. "Alright Zuko, deep breath in and out." As ordered, Zuko took a deep breath, before forcing all of the air out of his lungs, and Katara healed the small hole with her bending. After the healing was complete, Zuko took two more breaths, and found it was both nowhere near as difficult or painful as before.
"Right, now comes the fun part." Connor said, pulling a knife from his bag.
"Whoa! What's that for?" Zuko asked, pointing to the knife.
"You've got blood in your chest." Connor said with a shrug.
"So you're going to cut me to get it out?" Zuko asked, his good eye going wide.
"Seriously, what is with you and surgeries?" Toph asked.
"Connor, remember the argument we had about the sacredness of a royal body?" Azula asked.
Connor sighed, as he put his knife away. "Yeah, yeah it's an offense to your people… If you start having trouble breathing again, let me know." Connor said, as he turned around to face the direction of travel in an attempt to alleviate his air travel induced nausea.
Thankfully, Zuko had gotten no worse after Katara had healed his wounds, and by nightfall the gang had managed to make it all the way to a small treeless island, north of the Fire Nation mainland. They pitched canvas tents, or built them from earth with Toph and Connor's help… Additionally they made a cell of sorts out of the earth to keep Mai contained, after her weapons had been taken, and she'd woken up.
Shortly after their campsite was complete, dinner was served. "You know, I actually kind of missed sleeping in tents. It's just like old times." Aang said, as a pot of rice was passed around by smellerbee.
"If you're feeling nostalgic I could chase you around and try capturing you." Zuko said light heartedly.
"Yeah, or maybe we could pull the old switcheroo and I chase you around throwing fireballs. It'd be like hide and explode, but with running!" Aang suggested.
"Neither of those sound particularly safe." Connor said.
"Oh please, hide and explode is harmless for most fire bending children…" Azula said with a hand wave. "What about you Connor, what did you used to do for fun as a child?" She asked.
"I used to have a wooden cup on a stick with a ball and string attached to it. Loads of good fun when I wasn't working or learning." Connor said, getting a few blank looks.
"A cup and a ball?" Toph asked. "I might sound a little bit spoiled here, but didn't you at least like… Have a rolling wooden ostrich horse?"
"You do sound spoiled." Smellerbee said with a smirk.
"I mean, I went sledding down the hill when it snowed." He shrugged. "That or tree climbing, oh, or hunting. Hunting is always fun."
Sokka picked up his cup of tea. "Hey, well I'm just glad you three aren't actually hunting us anymore." He said, before raising his chipped cup. "To the three Fire Nation citizens among us, who knew that after trying to kill us for six months that they'd end up saving our lives three times in only a few days."
"Here here." Aang said, raising his teacup
"I'll drink to that." Connor said, holding up his flask, before taking a swig, having to swat Momo away from his liquor.
The only one who didn't seem entertained was Katara, who broke away from the campfire, and walked off towards the nearby rocky cliff. "What's with her?" Sokka asked.
Zuko sighed. "I'll go ask." He said, standing, and leaving the group.
"And I guess that we should bring some food to Yumi and Mai too." Suki said.
"I've got it." Azula said, taking two bowls, and scooping rice into them. Standing up, the former princess walked past appa, who groaned at her. "We'll get you some food in a moment, big guy." Azula said, in passing before she reached the only real "building" on the island, that spouted a single hole for air and food. Yumi sat on a rock beside the hut, and looked up at Azula.
"Care to take watch over the prisoner?" Yumi asked, as Azula handed her a bowl.
"Only for a moment. I need to talk to her." Azula said, as Yumi stood up, and walked over to the campfire.
Turning her attention to the small hole in the wall, Azula looked in, seeing Mai, seated against the wall, wrapped in the blanket that had been provided for her. "Mai…" The girl inside didn't respond. "I brought you some food…" She placed the bowl of rice in the window, and left it there. "Look Mai, I understand why you hate me. Truthfully, a part of me hates me too for what I've done in my life… But I-"
"Save it…" Mai said, interrupting her. "I don't want to hear anything you have to say."
Looking at the grass, Azula pouted to herself. "Would you prefer Zuko come see you?" Mai refused to answer, and rolled over onto the grass ground, facing away from the window. "Enjoy the rice." Azula said, as she got up and left Mai to brood.
On the cliffs, Zuko approached Katara from behind. "What do you want, Zuko?" Katara asked.
"Well, first I wanted to say, thank you for healing me." Zuko said, rubbing his neck. "And I also wanted to ask, why are you in such a bad mood all of a sudden?"
Katara huffed, as she heard laughter coming from the campfire, Connor having made some funny face using his crooked teeth. "I'm not in a bad mood."
"Storming off in the middle of dinner isn't exactly what someone in a good mood does." Zuko retorted. "Do you still have some kind of problem with the three of us?"
"No, not the three of you, just you." Katara said, pointing a finger at Zuko.
"That's not fair. Azula seems to think you two get along well, and Connor said you wouldn't shut up about how much you loved that disgusting black bean drink he makes. It's like you're getting along with them, but not me on purpose."
"I healed you didn't I?" Katara asked.
Zuko sighed. "Even enemy soldiers in battle are given medical care when wounded. But you're treating me like I've got Septapox."
"Fine, do you want to know why I don't trust you, but I do trust them? It's because Azula and Connor make sense to me. You're the only one that I can't understand. You're the only one who's made completely illogical, irrational, and unreasonable decisions. Like dragging Aang out into the middle of the tundra as an escape plan, or betraying your uncle who's only ever wanted to help you, or sending an assassin after us when you wanted to be part of the team." Katara said, as she started walking towards her tent. "I don't trust you, because you're more of an idiot than I thought Connor used to be, and that makes you dangerous to the entire group."
At that Zuko closed his eyes. "I really am an idiot…"
"Mai?" She heard Zuko's voice call to her from outside of her stony cell, and stopped picking at her rice to look up at the hole in the wall.
"Nice of you to finally visit." Mai said tersely, disregarding her former love.
"I'm sorry, Mai." Zuko said, leaning his head against the wall, and closing his eyes.
"For dumping me with a letter, or for becoming a turncoat?" Mai asked.
"Mai, I…" Zuko paused, opening his eyes. "Mai, I love you, more than anything else in the world, and everything that I've done since the day of the invasion, I've done so that maybe someday we can live together without constantly having to guard against assassins in the night, or be ripped apart by a mob of angry peasants, or watch our own families become the casualties of a war we created."
Mai cut Zuko off. "Who cares if we started the war, you and Azula both betrayed your county… You betrayed me."
Zuko sighed. "If you believe I betrayed my nation, then I betrayed my nation for you. Because I want it to be a nation where we could live our lives in peace… And… And maybe start a family." The two locked eyes, before Mai turned away. "And even then, teaching The Avatar firebending, helping him defeat my father, that's not betraying the Fire Nation, that's saving it from itself. My great grandfather's vision, the war, our culture, it's all become twisted, and it's corrupted the minds of our people… Not even you were spared…" Mai sniffed. "I know that hating the world is a part of who you are, and it's always been beautiful in a way, but what hate you have for the people of the Earth Kingdom, or the Water Tribes, wanting them to be wiped out, that's not really you."
Mai gazed at Zuko now. "But it really is…" Zuko pulled his head off the wall, as Mai stood up, and placed her hands on the other side. "I don't believe what I believe because of the state propaganda, Zuko. I believe what I believe, because for the past seven months, the stone chuckers and dirt people that I had the displeasure of meeting and working with, conformed to every stereotype we made about them. They are every bit as primitive, dimwitted, volatile, and unsanitary as we've made them out to be. They play with rocks for fun, Zuko. Hog monkeys and two year olds play with rocks for fun."
Zuko looked away from the window. "Then maybe you just need to see the good in them… Like I had to…" Zuko stepped away from the cell wall, before it sank into the earth. Mai nearly fell over, before taking a step forward into the open air, finding the little dirt girl standing there.
"Hey." Toph said. Mai narrowed her eyes at Toph, not sure what was going on. "So, I'm in charge of you for a while. Don't bother trying to run or anything, I can't even feel the next source of land."
"What is this?" Mai asked Zuko.
"Exposure therapy." Toph said, before kicking her heel into the ground, creating seats for them both.
"You're joking?" Mai asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Spending more days than I can imagine among the people of the Earth Kingdom did a lot to change the way I looked at the world." Zuko said, as Toph sat down. "And even though we might only be here for a day or two, it could do you some good too."
"I think it's a bunch of ostrich-horse shit, but I ain't got anything better to do for the evening." Toph said as she crossed her arms.
"So you're just as stuck with me as I am with you?" Mai asked.
"That's about the gist of it." Toph said, blowing a stand of hair out of her face.
"Well that sounds miserable." Mai pouted.
"I said we should have just thrown you overboard once we hit the ocean, but Zuko was practically crying "I can change her," the whole way here." Toph said, mocking Zuko's voice.
"Ending my miserable existence would have been preferable to this." Mai said with an eye roll as she sat down across from Toph. "I don't see how talking with a ten year old is going to somehow convince me that you're people are not a bunch of brutish savages."
"Twelve year old." Toph corrected. "And I'm not going to make an argument against us being a bunch of meat heads, but we're hardly savages. I'm a member of the Beifong Family, it's kind of like being royalty, but without the divine right to rule."
"Sounds like being a politician." Mai smirked. "You must have hated it."
"Why do you think I ran away with Aang?" Toph asked, grinning. "My parents were stifling, and overbearing. You know the type."
"Ugh, I do. If I didn't care about them, I'd have probably done something similar." Mai said dropped her head into her hand, resting her elbow against her knee.
Zuko smiled to himself, seeing the two take to their conversation. Convinced he didn't need to babysit Toph or Mai, Zuko then wandered back towards the tents to see if he could figure out how to solve the problem he had with the other woman who hated him at the moment.
Thinking it best, Zuko decided that the one person who would understand Katara more than anyone else, would be Sokka. Coming around the rock that sat just outside of Sokka's tent, Zuko shoulder checked Suki, and the two took a step back. She was quick to apologize, as a blush appeared on her face. "Oh. Wrong tent." She said, smiling innocently before walking away, leaving Zuko confused.
"Did you need to talk to Sokka too?" He asked.
Suki only half turned to respond to Zuko. "Nope, not at all."
Duking under the tent flap, Zuko glanced at Suki as she walked away. "Right." He thought to himself, before looking into the temporary abode, and going slack jawed.
The inside of the tent was lined with candles that smelled like cherry blossoms, and hanging from the tent pole at the back, was a bushel of roses… Oh yeah, and then there was the fact that Sokka was laying in the tent, shirtless, hair down, with one of the flowers held between his teeth by the stem.
Both Zuko and Sokka made eye contact, before Sokka spit out the flower, sitting upright as quickly as he could. "Um. Zuko… Hi… What ah, what brings you to my tent?" He asked, half stuttering.
Zuko took a seat. "It's your sister."
"What?" Sokka asked in confusion. "Wait, do you… Like Katara or something?"
"Wha-?" Zuko was confused for a second as well. "No-no-no! I mean, she hates me for one, but that's kind of a problem for an entirely different reason. Everyone here has accepted Azula, Connor and I, except her. She thinks that I'm a danger to everyone, and she doesn't trust me."
"But she trusts Azula?" Sokka asked skeptically.
"Apparently more than me." Zuko said.
"Ya know, that actually makes sense." Sokka said with a nod.
"How?" Zuko asked.
"It's some old saying…" Sokka said with a shrug. "A dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. It's the honest ones you can not trust, because you can never predict when they're going to do something stupid."
"Well, she did call me an idiot." Zuko said, rubbing his neck. "What would I have to do for her to trust me? For her to see that I'm not going to screw us all over in the end?"
Sokka looked up at the canvas above them and sighed. "Short of bringing our mother back, maybe reclaiming Ba Sing Se?" He suggested sarcastically.
Zuko glanced down at his lap for a second in thought. "What happened to your mother?"
"That was dark humor Zuko… Our mother's been dead for a long time." Sokka said, leaning back onto his hands.
"Yeah but… How did she die?" Zuko continued, looking up at Sokka again.
The two made eye contact and Sokka saw the cog wheels turning in his friend's head. "Our mother was killed in the last Fire Nation raid on the Southern Tribe… The last raid until you showed up."
"Can you remember anything about the soldiers that carried out the raid? Anything? Uniforms, weapons, flags, ship types?" Zuko asked.
"Yeah, I remember…" Sokka said, recalling the exact day from his childhood. "Every one of the landing party soldiers were firebenders, with open mouth helmets, they had paddlewheel ships, a little smaller than the regular old cruisers, and the flags had some kind of black bird on it."
Zuko's good eye went wide. "The Fire Navy Sea Ravens… Thank's Sokka."
"Glad I could help." Sokka said, before leaning forward and helping Zuko to his feet and out of the tent.
Rolling his eyes, as he could reasonably understand why Sokka wanted him gone so badly, Zuko made a short trip to the other side of the camp where Azula's tent was pitched, expecting his sister to be asleep. He figured she'd be irritated about being woken up, but he needed her advice.
"Azula?" He asked, as he pulled the tent flap out of the way to enter. Unprepared for what he saw, Zuko screwed his eyes shut, and immediately exited the tent. About twenty seconds later, Connor ducked out from under the canvas, buckling his belt.
The red head sucked air through his nose, and then spoke shortly. "I'm just going to pretend that didn't happen. Have a good night." And with that he walked a short distance away, and made a rock tent with his earth bending, closing the "doors" shortly after.
Zuko bit his tongue, and waited for another few seconds before speaking through the material of the tent flap. "Am I allowed to come in now?"
"I'm clothed, if that's what you're asking." Azula said from inside the tent.
Zuko parted the canvas flap and entered, finding that Azula was sufficiently dressed, hair let down, and arms crossed. A displeased pout was stuck to her face. Zuko rubbed his neck. "Sorry about that."
Azula made a noise of disapproval. "As you should be, and if you ever barge in on us like that again, I'm letting a gerbil-rat loose in your room."
Zuko sat down, feeling particularly irked by the maliciously strange threat. "It won't… I needed to ask you something though… Do you know anything about The Fire Navy Sea Ravens?"
Azula raised an eyebrow. "Why so interested?"
"It's Katara." Zuko started. "She doesn't trust me, and I want to do something to prove that I'm not a liability to the group."
Azula put a finger to her lower lip. "The Sea Ravens were the primary raiding detachment of the fleet tasked with containing and fighting the Southern Water Tribe for almost four decades. They had great successes after the navy stopped capturing water benders, and instead began executing them."
"I only need to know about their last attack on the South Pole." Zuko said. "Who was in charge?"
Azula nearly smirked. "Commander Yon Rha. Personally accredited with carrying out the last, and "most successful" raid in the unit's history. He's been retired for some time now."
"Thank you…" Zuko said, as he moved to stand up.
"You're planning on telling all of this to Katara, aren't you?" Azula asked. Zuko, now on his feet, nodded. "Well in that case, wait until morning. I suspect she's going to desire revenge, and if you go with her, the two of you will need plenty of rest… Yon Rha lives in the southernmost island in the Fire Nation archipelago, a village in the mountains. It's the only one on the island."
"How do you know that?" Zuko asked, as he put his hand on the tent flap, ready to leave.
"Because some of us paid attention to the current events of our childhood. He is considered a national hero of our time." Azula said, before sighing, then pounding her fist into the ground beside her bedroll three times.
As Zuko left the tent, Connor exited his rock shelter and approached. Zuko opened his mouth to apologize, but Connor held a finger up, not bothering to look at him. "Didn't. Happen." Connor said, before ducking back into Azula's tent.
It was getting late, but Zuko once again checked in with his ex-girlfriend, to see how well she and Toph were getting along. Approaching the two, Zuko found Mai to be smiling as Toph laughed.
"Oh, Zuko, we were just talking about you." Toph said, before turning her head to "look" at him, something he was sure she did only to make other people more comfortable in conversation.
"Only good things, I swear." Mai smirked.
Zuko nodded his head to the shorter blind girl. "Thank you for keeping her company, Toph."
"Eh, it was nothing. " Toph said, getting off of her rock seat, dusting off her hands as she walked away. "I'm getting pretty good at this whole, conflict moderator thing."
Zuko chuckled lightly at that, before taking her seat and facing Mai. "So… What did you think of Toph?"
Mai sighed. "She's less terrible than I thought she would be… Still a brute despite her size."
"She'll grow on you I'm sure…" Zuko said, before looking over his shoulder at the cluster of tents. "And the others?"
Mai rolled her eyes. "Look Zuko, you're not changing my mind about the entirety of the world in one night. Regardless of how nice your new friends are, there's an entire kingdom of savages out there who'd like no better than to have us both beheaded."
It was Zuko's turn to sigh. "I figured as much."
"You don't have to worry..." Mai said. "I'm not going to try killing anyone here... Not like you'd give me the means to." She mumbled.
"Did you get all of your anger out at the Air Temple?" Zuko questioned.
"Most of it... That and the Avatar's pet is probably the only way off this rock. He doesn't seem like he takes commands from other people very well."
"Well I wasn't worried about you trying to run really… Actually I was going to ask if… Perhaps you'd wish to share my tent tonight?" Zuko asked.
"And keep everyone up?" Mai asked teasingly. "You do get loud when we make aggravated love."
"I'm pretty sure half the camp is going to be up late anyways." Zuko said, rubbing his neck.
Mai made a sound that was almost a giggle, before looking off towards the moonlit horizon for a brief second. "You know… If you had sat down and talked to me about all this before you left… I would have understood. I wouldn't have gone with you, but I would have understood, and wouldn't be so upset."
Zuko took Mai's hand. "I just didn't want to risk you coming with me, putting you in danger like that, making you an enemy of the Fire Nation... I could never."
Mai nearly shed a tear. "I can't believe how much of a bleeding heart you can be sometimes…"
Zuko sighed. "... It's pathetic…"
Mai smiled gently. "It's adorable, like a turtle-duck."
"Are we… Ok again, then?" Zuko asked, as Mai took hold of the hand holding her own.
"I'm still mad at you…" Mai said. "And honestly, the first thing I'm going to do if Azula tries to talk to me again is slap her in the face… But… Yeah, we're ok again."
"But you aren't willing to help us?" He continued. At this Mai looked away, and Zuko knew her answer was no, I won't be helping you. "I understand, and I wouldn't ask you to in earnest..."
"You do realize, when the time comes, I'll be returning to Kozato's side to continue hunting you?" Mai asked.
"Then I'd hope to make the most of what time we have right now." Zuko said, smiling warmly. "So... About your sleeping arrangements?" He asked, while standing. "If you're my prisoner for now, I have to ensure that you'll be treated well."
"I'll accept a shared tent if I must, so long as it's with you." Mai smirked, rising to her feet.
AN: Cutting it here, because damn I didn't think it would get this dialogue heavy. Posting the next chapter shortly.
So for one, The Southern Raiders actually canonically introduces bomb launching cannons to ATLA. They were primitive and mounted to the airships, and if I'm right, are black powder (or some other explosive) fired. Speculation on its development on my part is that the giant crossbows and trebuchets would be too heavy, and cumbersome for an airship, and someone in the war ministry when first drawing up how to arm the airships probably said, "didn't we used to use cannons over four three hundred years ago? What if we made them bigger and out of steel?"
Of course the projectiles were the already in production oblong bombs instead of bannon balls, but still.
...
Also, yes Kozato's armor is bulletproof (at least in the torso for muskets, and small pistols for the helmet, IE the two most vital places to armor) as it didn't really take that much steel to stop black powder propelled bullets due to the fact that BP can't get bullets faster than the sound barrier, and most bullets were not jacketted in a metal harder than lead. Skallagrim has a video where a .45 Colt revolver round bounces off a steel repo helmet if you don't believe me.
...
Katara's conflict with the Fire Nation always seemed... Off to me, in the show. She was usually pretty compassionate to the civilians, the painted lady obviously being the strongest point towards that, but then when it comes to Zuko she was a complete ass. Hell, I can't think of any lines that she directed at Azula that were anywhere near as heated, and in canon Azula killed Aang.
As something of a remedy, I first made it clear that Katara warmed up to Azula and Connor eventually, because Connor was mostly ignorant to his own wrongdoing, and Azula for all her prior evil, has such an outlandish reason to help them that it's too crazy not to accept, being "I'm helping you overthrow my father so that me and my alien boyfriend can end the war, challenge societal standards, and then get married."
Zuko on the other hand has proven he's not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, making a lot of dumb if not just dangerously desperate decisions over the course of the first book alone. (And that was canon too.)
Both that, and by raw exposure, Katara has encountered Azula half as many times as Zuko when they were still enemies. Katara rightfully doesn't want to get close to the one person who she's had to fight or run from more often.
...
Then there's Mai, hot damn writing her breaking point was fun. Dropping all the pretence and just trying to murder Azula. Good thing she got that all that childhood trauma induced rage out before being captured... Right?
I mean she's still kinda racist, and isn't willing to help the gaang, but at least she's calmed down enough to hold civil conversation and get back together with Zuko... Can't wait to see what happens when Kozato sees her next.
...
And YES, the teenagers do be fucking while not under adult supervision.