Morality Chain
I'm back! Anyone miss me?
Man, I'm too tired to talk that much. Here we go.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Azula's eyes flew open. Quickly her gaze darted to the left, and then the right. Waking up at the slightest of disturbances was something that had been thoroughly drilled into her from young, and now, as she focused, she could hear… Ty Lee whimpering?
Not bothering to suppress her groan, Azula pulled herself upright and glared at the lump under the blanket that was presumably her friend. Some corner of her mind noted that Mai's bed was empty.
"Ty Lee," she snapped. "What is it?"
The bundle writhed and her friend's head poked out from one end. "Oh…" she mumbled. "You heard me, Azula?"
"You weren't exactly being quiet," the princess yawned and folded her arms. "What was it, anyway? Did someone say something mean to you again?"
"N – no, it's… it's nothing," she shook her head, letting her long curtain of dark hair splay out across her bed.
"Well, that's an awfully strange 'nothing' if it could make you cry like that," Azula pointed out bluntly.
Ty Lee sighed. "I had a bad dream, okay?"
"Ty Lee, how old are you, again?"
"See, this is why I told you it's nothing. If I ever come to you about this sort of thing you just make fun of me."
"You call it 'making fun'. I call it seeking to help you improve as a person."
"Hey, I like who I am!" Ty Lee snapped.
"I'm sure you do, Ty Lee," Azula said and resisted the urge to roll her eyes. With another sigh, she settled herself back down onto her bed, letting her eyes drift shut. "What were you dreaming about anyway?" she mumbled into the night air.
There was a long enough pause that Azula had begun to think Ty Lee hadn't heard the question or simply ignored her, and she was on the verge of rolling over and going back to sleep when Ty Lee's voice piped up again.
"It was about you."
Her eyes flew open again she craned her neck to look at Ty Lee in the eye. "Oh?"
Her friend pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging her legs against her body. "You were broken."
Azula's only response was a single raised eyebrow.
"On the inside, I mean. I was like… I don't know. Your aura was going all black and crackly, and drawing tighter and tighter around your body, until it finally… snapped," the acrobat paused. "It was awful."
Azula's laugh was short. "Well, I'm happy to inform you that I am not in any danger of 'breaking', whatever that means, so you can safely dismiss your little nightmare. Now go back to sleep," and with that, she rolled over in her bed.
There was a short pause before Ty Lee responded. "If you say so, Azula," and then a moment later she heard the sound of Ty Lee pulling the covers over herself.
Several moments later, Azula drifted off to slumber once more.
(X)
Settled down on a stone bench, watching the bustling crowds of Ba Sing Se milling about all around him, Zuko drew in a deep breath and tried to calm himself down.
He was getting impatient. The Avatar was in the Inner Ring, and he was in the Outer Ring. Several miles now lay between him and his goal, and ever since they'd entered Ba Sing Se, he hadn't been moving any closer to it. He almost wanted to run off after the Avatar on his own again, but after Azula had dragged the story of his misadventure at the North Pole out of him, she'd made him promise that he wouldn't go off on any solo adventures without the agreement (and, it was implied, the involvement) of the rest of their party.
So right now he was stuck without ideas, and he knew Azula was busy formulating her own plans, but Azula being Azula, she preferred to keep her cards close to her chest until she was ready to reveal it all at one go. Which meant that he was currently left in the dark with nothing to do but wait.
He hated having nothing to do but wait.
He sighed and ran a hand through the tousled mop of his hair, idly wondering if he should go pay his Uncle a visit. On the one hand, he just wanted to make sure Uncle was doing okay for himself. On the other hand… Zuko's thoughts briefly drifted off to Jin, working in the same tea shop as her uncle was. It was probably for the best for the both of them that they not appear to be connected to one another.
Zuko let out the briefest of amused snorts. Since when had he started caring about consequences so much?
"Azula must be rubbing off on me," he mumbled under his breath.
"Lee!" the glad shout came from the left, and Zuko glanced up in surprise to see Jin running up to him, her face radiant.
"Jin? What's the matter?"
"Lee! It's, oh it's fantastic! I can't believe –"
Zuko merely raised his eyebrows, wondering what had just happened as Jin pulled to a stop in front of him, panting for breath.
"It's – it's Eeroh."
"Unc – You mean the old man who works at the tea shop?"
"Not anymore," Jin flashed him a grin. "Lee, you'll never guess what just happened! One of those bigwigs from the Inner Ring stopped by our shop earlier today, took one sip of Eeroh's tea, and offered him a job!"
"A… a job?"
"Eeroh's getting his own tea shop. In the Inner Ring! The rich guy told us not to worry, he'd provide the building and all the materials and everything! And! And Eeroh offered me a job! As his assistant! Lee, do you understand what this means?" Strong arms were grasping his shoulders before he could react. "My pay's going to triple! I'll be able to pay for all of my mom's medicine now!"
"That's…" Zuko smiled. "That's great news, Jin." Uncle can gain access to the Inner Ring now? That means that we should be able to get in with him with a bit of work. I should probably go talk to him later.
"I know! I'm going to start the day after tomorrow!"
"This sounds like something worth celebrating," Zuko said thoughtfully. "Did you have anything in mind?"
"Oh. Actually," Jin paused, as if trying to gauge his reaction. "Actually, I was wondering if you'd like to go to the zoo with me."
"The… the zoo?"
"Yes. See, the Ba Sing Se zoo recently moved to the outside of the Inner Wall, and from what I heard, it's supposed to be really good now. People didn't really visit it before, but now it's ridiculously popular," Jin trailed off. "So, I thought maybe we could go have a look. You know, have a day out."
"It's already past noon."
"Okay, half a day out. You know what I mean," she chuckled. "Well, Lee? What do you say?"
Zuko sat there for a moment, considering his options. It wasn't like there were plenty of other things in the way for him to do, and anything that took his mind off his inability to do anything right now…
"All right," he said hesitantly. "I guess that sounds nice. But how do we get there?"
"Funny you asked," Jin grinned at him as she slid a piece of paper out of her robe. "See this?"
He frowned. "A map of Ba Sing Se's train system?"
"If you're going to be travelling, it pays to know how to find your way!" she pointed down at one of the many dots that denoted a station. "This is the station we're closest to. If we take this route…"
(X)
"Hey, Mai?"
At the sound of Ty Lee calling her (as well as the insistent tug on the side of her robes), she halted and turned to face her friend.
"What?"
"Over there! Isn't that Zuko? He's with someone!"
Raising her head to look in the direction that Mai was pointing to see someone who did indeed look like Zuko talking with an Earth Kingdom girl. A frown furrowed her brow for the briefest of moments.
"Azula told me he had found some Earth Kingdom friends," she said after a moment's pause. "I guess this is one of them."
"Oh. Wanna go say hi?"
"And spoil their fun?" Mai let a slight smile grace her lips as she waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. "No need for us to get involved."
"If you say so, Mai," Ty Lee shrugged and turned to walk away. Mai took two steps after her, before turning to look at the two of them sitting on the bench. Then, with a shake of her head, she followed Ty Lee.
(X)
"…" Zuko folded his arms and stared at the camel-llama in front of him. The camel-llama, in turn, simply stared back.
At his side, Jin giggled. "I think it likes you."
He shook his head and turned away, glancing out over the rest of the place. "This is a pretty nice place."
"Yeah, for sure," Jin nodded. "The funny thing is, they say that it almost sprang up overnight. They took only a single day to move nearly all the animals."
That might explain why the placement is so haphazard. Zuko thought as he continued walking past more of the animals. Just then, a rattling sound from of the enclosures caught his ear, and he glanced over the edge to look at the source of the noise.
"A Gila-rattlemonster!" he exclaimed in surprise. "Aren't these only found in the volcanic regions of the Fire Nation?"
"Well, it's a zoo. It's kinda of meant to showcase animals from all around the world," Jin pointed out.
"Well, it's extremely uncomfortable like this," Zuko insisted. "They like the heat that comes from being near volcanoes – it must feel like it's freezing all the time here." Whoever designed this zoo obviously had no idea what they were doing.
It wasn't after a long moment had passed that Zuko realized that Jin was staring at him with an odd expression on her face. "You know, Lee," she cocked her head to one side. "You seem to know a lot about the Fire Nation. Or, at least, the animals in it."
Cursing his carelessness and trying to keep his expression neutral, Zuko raised and lowered one shoulder. "I like studying animals," he knew it was a lame line even as he said it, but Jin seemed willing enough to buy that explanation because she grinned and cocked her head to one side.
"Well then, Mr. Scholar. Maybe you should try to apply to the university of Ba Sing Se. It could be your ticket out of the Outer Ring, you know."
As they walked past an exhibit featuring turtle-cows, Zuko shook his head. "I'm not staying here permanently, Jin. I'm just a refugee."
"Yeah, but…" Jin sighed. "Almost every refugee who comes here ends up living here anyway," she paused in her step and gazed up the sky. "After all, it's not like the war's ending up anytime soon."
Following her lead, Zuko glanced up at the sky and for a moment he saw it, not bright and clear and blue, but painted crimson and orange, a streak of hellfire blazing across its great expanse. "Actually, I heard that the war's going to be brought to an end a lot sooner than we think."
Jin chuckled. "There're always rumours about that – some super weapon that the Earth Kingdom's cooked up to turn the tide, the Fire Nation getting some sort of power boost that will let them tear through the walls… well, it's been a hundred years, and we're still in a stalemate.
"…" Zuko kept silent as they rounded another enclosure, and the two of them were about head further into the zoo when a familiar voice caught their attention.
"Lee, Jin? You're here too?" Zuko looked up in time to see Jet waving at him as he approached, a familiar smirk firmly on his face. "What are you two doing here, then?"
"Same goes for you, Jet," Jin cocked her head to one side. "I didn't think you'd be the type to be interested in coming to the zoo."
"Well, that goes to show you how much you know," Jin laughed as she patted Zuko on the shoulder. "Lee here knows all sorts of things about the animals here!"
"J – just a few in particular," Zuko stammered, but Jet wasn't really paying attention anyway.
"Anyway," he replied. "To answer your question, Smellerbee decided her old clothes were getting to be a bit too tight and she decided to go out and grab a new set. Longshot went with her because… well, she thinks he knows more about clothes than I do," the frown on Jet's face only deepened at Jin's laughter.
"That still doesn't explain why you're here in the zoo," Zuko pointed out.
"Nothing better to do, I guess. And I guess I shouldn't be interrupting the two of you on whatever it is you're doing together-"
"What! Don't be silly!" Jin burst out. "We just had some free time and decided to spend it here. It'd be best if we all went together, right, Lee?"
Zuko sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Anything's fine."
"Then it's settled! Oh, look, a lemur-koala exhibition!" Jin pointed, and after Jet and Zuko shared an amused glance, the three of them set off down the path.
(X)
"All right, these should be good enough to gain us access to the Inner Ring," Azula held up a pass up to the light from the window. "I guess the next step would be to get ourselves the clothes we'd need to pass for people who live in the upper echelons of Earth Knigdom society."
"So, where'd you get this anyway, Azula?" Ty Lee questioned from over her shoulder.
"There are always places to find what you need if you know where to look," came the reply. "By the way, Mai, we're out seventy gold coins."
Mai merely nodded once.
Azula paused for a moment and then set the papers back down on the table. "Is something bothering you, Mai? More than usual, I mean?"
"… No."
A two second pause. She's lying. And she doesn't want to talk about it. Given the number of things her friend cared enough about to be affected by, discerning the cause wasn't very difficult at all. Speaking of which…
"By the way, where's Zuko?" though she directed the question to the room in general, she did not miss Mai's features tightening ever so slightly.
"I dunno. I saw him with some Earth Kingdom girl earlier this afternoon. I think they were planning to go out somewhere," Ty Lee helpfully supplied from the floor, where she was engaged in another impractical stretching exercise.
"Ah, right. Those Earth Kingdom friends he's made," come to think of it, I haven't even gotten the names of those people that he's hanging out with. I should probably fix that. "Well," she continued out loud. "It probably won't lead to any problems, so we can just pick him up later. Although I really wish he'd be more involved in the planning."
"Well, you're always so secretive, Azula. Remember two days ago when you asked him about what you were doing and you just told him to wait and see?"
"He's supposed to try to pry and figure it out on his own!" Azula grumbled. "I even left my notes out in the open for him to sneak a peek at!"
Ty Lee sighed and flipped upright into a standing position. "Azula… not everything has to be about deception and intrigue, does it?"
"It does when you're Fire Lord. Getting Zuko back home is just one part of the equation, Ty Lee," the princess sighed and pressed one hand to her forehead. "As he is, Zuko is just one more accident away from Father blowing up in his face." Or just blowing him up, which I honestly wouldn't put past Father. She blew out another sigh. "Zuko's too soft for his own good."
"But I'm even softer!"
"And you're not going to be in charge of the greatest nation on earth one day, so that's a moot point," Azula shook her head once. "Whatever. Just drop it."
"Okay!" Ty Lee nodded enthusiastically and glanced out the window. "Wow. It's almost dinner time already. Anyone else want to get something to eat?"
Azula paused, tapping her finger against the desk once. Then she shook her head. "No, I'm not hungry right now. Just buy something back for me on the way."
"Got it. What about you, Mai?"
"I'll be fine."
(X)
"No kidding. Free passage to the Inner Ring, huh?" Jet whistled as the two of them strode back down the streets of Ba Sing Se's outer circle. Jin had already left their trio earlier, heading back to her apartment to tend to her mother. "Guess dreams really do come true in Ba Sing Se after all."
Zuko nodded as he tried to mentally calculate how far it was from here to the tea shop Uncle worked at – well, for now. It would be sundown soon, and Zuko still didn't know where Uncle lived, so once the tea shop closed and Uncle left for the day he'd lose his chance to talk to him. He had to find some way to break off the talk with Jet quickly enough that he wouldn't attract attention to the connection between him and Uncle…
"So what do you think?"
"Huh?" Zuko blinked and glanced at Jet. "What do I think about what?"
"Not paying attention, huh. Figures," Jet let out an elaborate sigh. "I was asking if you wanted to join up with me."
"Join up with you… to do what?"
"I dunno about you, but all this 'There's no war in Ba Sing Se' stuff is starting to get on my nerves. The Fire Nation's out there, and pretending that everything's just sunflowers and lilies isn't going to make them go away," making a fist with one hand, he punched the palm of his other. "So I figure we'll get a little resistance force going aga… going. There are enough Fire Nation camps in the area outside the city for us to make life difficult for. What do you say, Lee?"
Zuko had to bite his tongue for a long moment as he scrambled to formulate a response. Finally, he opened his mouth, "Why ask me?"
"Well, I know you didn't get that scar from a Waterbender," Jet smirked as an invisible claw tightened its grip on Zuko's heart.
Zuko ground to a halt, turning to face Jet. "Okay, Jet, first off I'm not going to be joining any resistance group against the Fire Nation, so you can drop that idea. And while we're on the subject, you should probably also drop the idea of forming this resistance group of yours."
"Why not?" Jet was getting agitated now. "The Fire Nation is out there right now, hurting people and ruining lives! Those of us who have the power to fight back should! It's not like we've got any lack of motivation right now – my parents are dead because of them, and you've got that scar that-"
"Don't. Talk. About my scar," Zuko's voice was low, but still carried enough weight behind it that Jet knew to back off.
"All right, the scar's a touchy subject, sorry. But I still think you should at least think about it a while before-"
"I have thought about it a while. Long before you ever came up with this idea of yours, and no, I am not going to-"
A sudden cry of anger distracted both parties, Jet turning first towards the source of the noise down a narrow alleyway, leaving Zuko to plod along behind him, staring angrily at the ground. Ugh. It wasn't supposed to end up like this. I'd better just get this whole stupid thing over with quickly – I guess I could sneak off while he's distracted to go find Uncle-
It soon became obvious that the cause of the disturbance was a street brawl between two Earthbenders, and that a sizable crowd was quickly gathering – although at a reasonably safe distance. Standing further back from the others, Zuko could see a hurled rock flying through the air, and the sound of breaking stone.
"What are those idiots doing?" someone yelled. "The Dai Li will be here any minute!"
For several long seconds Zuko stood, watching the spectacle. Then he shook his head and began to leave. This has nothing to do with me.
Then it happened. An errant stone missile soared through the air, slamming into the stone walls rising above the alley that Jet and Zuko were currently in. For a moment, there was no reaction, and then with a crumbling sound, a chunk of stone was dislodged from the building, hurtling towards the ground – and a lone figure standing beneath it.
Jet! That single thought seared its way into Zuko's mind as his body exploded into action, moving by instinct. He's further ahead of me, he's too far, I'll never reach him in time-
A surge of energy within him, a blaze of orange and red, the sound of cracking, crumbling stone, and a sudden hush that descended on the crowd , and Zuko stood there for a very long moment, his outstretched fist trembling, the rest of his body frozen in shock and horror.
"Was that…?" came a soft whisper from the back of the crowd, sounding as loud as a roar to Zuko's ears.
Jet's eyes were wide with shock and disbelief. Slowly, his lips began to form the words that Zuko knew had to come.
"Firebender," the voice was soft, hesitant, as if Jet couldn't believe was he was saying. Then again, with more conviction – and mounting anger. "You're a Firebender!" a flash of movement and suddenly Jet was advancing on him, twin hook swords held at a ready position. "You're from the Fire Nation!"
"No, I –" trapped and desperate, Zuko cast a quick glance around for an escape route, but could only see a press of people, staring at him with expressions of revulsion and horror on their faces.
"You're one of them!" the last words from Jet came in a roar of anger as he lunged forward, blades slashing downwards. Instinctively, Zuko parried the blow with his fists, summoning just enough flame to prevent the blade from cutting into his hand. Dodging, weaving, always moving backwards to get away from Jet's wild attacks, the prince of the Fire Nation tried desperately to find some way out of his current predicament.
"Jet, stop it! I'm not your enemy!"
Suddenly, he spotted the slightest of gaps in between two people, and he whirled, legs pumping as he tried to flee from the area. Once he could get away, he could find and alleyway or some corner to hide until they'd given up looking for him, and then-
Suddenly his legs were seized by an incredible force and Zuko was sent tumbling to the ground, face impacting hard with the dirt. As he tried to pull himself back to his feet, the same pressure suddenly appeared at his wrists, and as he glanced up, he could see the objects that had seized him to be… stone hands?
Raising his gaze, he caught sight of a trio of men standing in front of him, dressed in robes of thick green and wide-brimmed hats that easily signified their status, and Zuko felt a chill go down his spine.
"Now. What's going on here?" the eldest of the Dai Li agents stepped forward.
"Officer," Zuko could hear Jet's voice from behind him. "This man is a Firebender! He's found his way into the city to try to subvert us!"
The man's eyes widened slightly. "Is this true?"
"Yes!" another voice piped up from the crowd. "I saw it myself! A blast of fire from his hands! That's what Firebenders do…. Right?" murmurs of agreement came from the rest of the crowd as the Dai Lis' eyes hardened.
"You're coming with us," strong hands seized Zuko, pulling him to his feet. "The rest of you, disperse. There's nothing to see here."
"Let go of me!" Zuko snapped as he struggled against the two men. He could have taken them on in a fair fight, but with those glove things restricting his arms, he was all but helpless against them.
"Quiet," the elder Dai Li snarled. "I don't know how a Fire Nation dog found your way into Ba Sing Se, but we'll find the truth out soon enough. Now, march!"
As Zuko was dragged off, still cursing and protesting, Ty Lee, her face still pale with fright, turned and scampered unnoticed back in the direction of the apartment.
(X)
"So that's everything, isn't it," Iroh nodded with satisfaction and turned to the owner of the tea shop. "It's been a pleasure working with you, Pao, but then, all good things must come to and end."
The owner sighed and nodded, obviously dejected at the prospect of losing Iroh's tea-brewing expertise. "I take it Jin's following you?"
"Yes, well, she's told you about her sick mother, hasn't she? I should be able to give her a good wage at the Jasmine Dragon," he stroked his beard contemplatively. "She's a good girl; bright and eager to please," he paused, his smile widening. "The kind I wouldn't mind my nephew settling down with."
"Oh, you have a nephew? I've never heard you mention him before."
"Yes, well," Iroh heaved a sigh. "We've been… distant for a while, but lately I think that there are signs that we'll be moving closer again."
"Well, good luck on that end, Eeroh. And… and with the Jasmine Dragon."
"My thanks," Iroh gazed up at the sun, all but set over the horizon. "And yes, I do believe that things are looking up for me."
(X)
"Azula! Azula!" Ty Lee burst into the door, panting and gasping for breath.
"Well, you've been gone a while, Ty Lee," Azula smirked and held up a poster. "Take a look, apparently the Avatar's bison has gone missi-"
"They've taken Zuko!" she burst out.
Absolute silence descended on the tiny room for several long seconds. Smoke began to rise from the pamphlet that Azula was clutching in her hand, until there was a sudden, brief flare of light, and the ashes of what had been the pamphlet crumbled to the floor.
"What." Azula's tone was entirely flat, and all the more terrifying for it.
"The – the Dai Li," Ty Lee stammered. "Earlier, Zuko Firebended for… for some reason, I'm not sure, I didn't get there in time. All I saw was this boy with hook swords fighting and Zuko yelling at him to stop or something. And then the Dai Li showed up and cuffed Zuko and led him away-"
"And you didn't stop them?" Mai's voice rose in outrage from behind Azula. "You just let them grab Zuko and leave?"
"I – there was a crowd all over the place! I – I didn't want to blow our cover-"
"And you did that by letting them arrest Zuko?" Mai's glare was poison. "They'll be free to interrogate him at their leisure, and who knows what kind of torture instruments these Earth Kingdom savages have in their dungeons! You could have done something! Why didn't you?"
Ty Lee took a step back, shaking her head. "I – I wasn't sure – I didn't know what to-"
"Enough," one of Azula's hands descended on each of her friend's shoulders in a grip of iron. "Ty Lee, you did the right thing under the circumstances. Mai, I cannot believe I'm saying this to you, but you can't let your emotions get the better of you."
"What?" Mai's wrenched herself free from Azula's grip. "Zuko is your brother, and he's been captured by the enemy-"
"Which is exactly why we can't afford to let our emotions get the better of us. We need to plan out a proper course of action, and I didn't travel halfway across the Earth Kingdom to recruit a nervous shrew who loses it the instant her boyfriend gets threatened; I need Mai, the girl who can give me an objective view on everything because she's equally disinterested in everything, and the girl who's skilled enough to pin a fly to a wall at a hundred paces with a knife. Now, are you the person I need, or not?"
Ty Lee could practically feel the rainbow of emotions surging through Mai right now, to say nothing to the flaring colours that burst through her aura for a brief moment, but eventually they settled down as Mai took a deep breath. "I am," she said softly.
"Good," Azula turned and gazed out the window. "Ty Lee, what do you know about this boy that Zuko was fighting?"
"Oh? Oh! Um, I – I think his name was Jet or something like that."
(X)
The door was shoved open with a resounding bang, causing both Smellerbee and Longshot to glance up at the doorway where Jet was standing.
"Hey, Jet!" Smellerbee grinned. "Was wondering where you'd gotten to. I got my new clothes and-" she was cut off as Jet stormed past her into his own room without so much as glancing at the either of them, slamming the door shut with all his might.
After a moment, Longshot turned to look at Smellerbee and she nodded sympathetically.
"Yup, that'd be my guess too. I always thought that Jin girl would choose the scarred boy over him, but I didn't want to hurt his feelings."
(X)
"Jet," Azula rolled the name off her tongue. "And the Dai Li…"
Ty Lee paused, hesitant. "So… um, what are you going to do, Azula?"
"I should think it obvious," she said, in an eerily calm voice. "I'm going to hunt down every last person responsible," she turned to face Ty Lee and Mai, her golden eyes glinting in the very last rays of the dying sun. "And then I'm going to burn them to the ground."
Chapter End
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