Disclaimer: I obviously don't own the Avatar ;) enjoy!
"This is going surprisingly well... I'm definitely not that lucky, so where's the catch?" the blue-masked bandit thought as he was climbing the rope with the Avatar he had just rescued from his cell moments ago. He didn't have to wait long for the response, as in that very moment a loud alarm rang out.
"The Avatar has escaped! Everyone, return to your posts immediately! Close all the gates at once!" The shouts of Zhao echoed throughout the air, accompanied by the footsteps of dozens of soldiers rushing across the courtyard.
"There! On the wall!"
A moment later, the rope they were climbing was cut off, and they were both falling down. The Avatar managed to slow their fall in the last second by blowing some air at the ground.
There was no time to think, so the Blue Spirit pointed his dao at the closest gate and they began to run. Despite his advice to stay close, the Avatar rushed ahead thanks to his airbending, and when his companion was stopped by the soldiers, he was already taking care of the guards by the gate. It didn't help much, as the gate itself was already beginning to close. The airbender was about to run through it when he looked back and saw his rescuer fighting with multiple guards in the yard.
One of soldiers tried to use that moment of distraction and thrust a spear at the kid. Aang dodged the hit in the last second and airbended him away, keeping a hold on his spear. Then he broke the iron tip off and with this makeshift weapon rushed to aid his new companion.
Zuko was too busy fighting off dozens of guards to pay attention to the Avatar, so when they were suddenly blown away by the kid, he was really surprised.
"He didn't leave without me? That's the dumbest thing he- WHOA!"
Suddenly he was sent flying up the wall by the Avatar's wind gust. He landed with a roll and immediately took a battle stance to defend against the guards who surrounded him from both directions. The guards didn't have time to attack, for the next second the airbender leaped onto the bandit's shoulders, using his makeshift staff as a propeller to lift them both into the air.
If the soldiers were surprised, they didn't show it, as they began hurling their spears after them. Zuko skillfully deflected the projectiles, preventing any from reaching him or the Avatar. Soon, they landed on the middle wall.
The landing wasn't a smooth one this time and their weapons fell out of their hands on the impact. The soldiers didn't give them time to collect themselves as they were already rushing on the wall. One of them was even fast enough to kick the staff out of Aang's reach. He was about to slash the Avatar with his sword when the Blue Spirit grabbed him from behind and pushed him off the wall.
"Did I just kill one of my own nation's soldiers to protect the Avatar...? Let's hope not" Zuko thought as he picked up his daos and took the fighting stance. The kid didn't seem to have this problem, as he just airbent all incoming guards off the wall.
"Huh... And here I thought he doesn't have the guts to fight seriously."
The soldiers didn't let them catch their breath again as they were already climbing three bamboo ladders up the wall. Zuko was fending them off with his swords, while the Avatar was using powerful blasts of air that sent the soldiers flying into the air. They couldn't just stay on defense, and fortunately, the kid seemed to have an idea.
He released a bigger blow downside, sending all the soldiers on the ladder speeding to the ground. The soldiers on the ladder next to them froze upon seeing this, but it was too late, and soon they met the same fate.
After clearing the ladders, the Avatar pulled them up and then tossed one of them to the masked bandit, yelling "Jump on my back!"
With that, he jumped onto the last ladder, pushing it away from the wall.
Zuko caught the idea quickly and followed the advice. Together they used the ladders to push themselves gradually to the outer wall. Unfortunately, when they were on the last one, a more clever soldier used firebending to set the ladder on fire. Forced to jump off, they tried to reach the outer wall, but they missed it by just a little bit, falling down right in front of the gate.
The guards were already there - and unfortunately these ones were firebenders. Without giving them time to defend, they sent a great wave of fire in their direction.
"This is bad! If I firebend now, I'll blow up my cover" Zuko thought, still preparing himself to disperse the flames. But in that moment Avatar jumped in front of him and used airbending to protect them both from burning.
"Hold your fire! The Avatar must be captured alive." Zhao shouted order just as he arrived at the gate. The Blue Spirit saw their chance there and he immediately put his daos by the Avatar's throat. Fortunately, the kid was too shocked to react and didn't try to free himself.
There was a short moment of hesitation, but soon they heard admiral's decision: "Open the gate."
As the gates began to open, the bandit continued to slowly back away, still holding his sword against Avatar's neck. Whether the airbender truly believed he would slice it or not, he did not resist and so they slowly exited the fortress.
Meanwhile, on the stronghold's wall, Zhao had already gathered the Yuyan archers, and they were now waiting for his orders.
"Kill the bandit and immobilize the Avatar" Zhao said. "I don't care if he gets hurt at this point, just be careful not to kill him." As the last words left his lips, arrows shot into the night sky. He turned to the soldiers by the gates.
"Guards, prepare to retrieve the Avatar!"
The Blue Spirit was still backing up, swords at the kid's neck. They were still too close to the fortress for Zuko's liking. He glanced quickly at the distance to the forest surrounding the stronghold, but they were barely halfway there.
"Uh, excuse me… I know you don't talk, but… You're not a bad guy, are you…?" The Avatar began to stir nervously, trying to get a better look at him.
Zuko ignored him, clenching his teeth in irritation. "Damn it, just a little longer, and then... Guess I'll have to knock him out."
The Airbender didn't give up, as he was now trying to reach Zuko's wrist to pull the sword away. "I think we've come far enough," he said. "You can take these swords... Right?"
Oblivious to Avatar's pleading, Zuko was focusing on getting away. That's when he realized something was wrong.
"Is that it? Normally Zhao wouldn't give up so easily... I have to get us out of the reach of arch- DAMN IT, ARCHERS!" the moment he remembered the fortress was basically base of the best archers in the Fire Nation, he looked up just in time to notice arrows flying in their direction. The Avatar noticed them far too late to do anything, which left the reaction entirely up to Zuko.
The prince dropped his swords and pushed the kid aside, but didn't manage to dodge them himself. Soon, he felt two arrows hitting his upper torso and his face. Fortunately, it was covered by the mask, which broke in half from the impact. However, it didn't block the impact entirely, and he found himself on the ground, feeling dizzy.
The Avatar rolled onto his side as soon as he hit the ground, and quickly whipped up a cloud of dust with a swirl of wind to provide them cover. He turned to look at his savior. "Are you all right- wait, ZUKO?!" he realized with horror seeing now-uncovered face "You rescued me from Zhao?! But... and you just saved my life! What's going on here?!"
"We don't have time for this!" Zuko barked back, hoping that reason, gratitude or some other miracle would convince the kid to cooperate. He tried to stand up, but the dizziness made it difficult.
"Wait! You WERE hunting me, and now you rescue me? How do I know I can trust you?"
"Then don't trust me!" The prince managed to pull himself onto his knee, with his right arm still on the ground for support. He looked up at the Avatar. "But if we stay here, they will surely..." He suddenly turned his head towards something behind the boy. "Look out!"
Suddenly, the group of guards emerged from the smoke and attacked, throwing the flames at the unsuspecting airbender. He jumped away at Zuko's warning, but it left the prince in the fire's path. He managed to get to his feet and dissipate the flames just in time, catching the guards off guard.
Not expecting the bandit to be a firebender, they backed up a bit to take better positions for fighting two benders. However the dust was thinning already, and slowly recognition began to dawn on their faces.
"IT'S PRINCE ZUKO!" the guard's scream echoed in Zuko's ears cutting him off from the world.
"No! No! NO! They will report that to my father and brand me a traitor! I... I can't go home anymore..." he thought as he sunk back down onto his knees.
The surprise distracted the guards long enough for Aang to take them down with a single powerful blast of air. However, the attack blew away the last of their dust cover, and the Avatar turned back to see the Fire Nation prince leaned down on his knees, with a vacant look in his eyes.
A quick decision had to be made. Not thinking much, he threw the older teenager over his shoulder and ran to the forest. He chose not to follow a beaten path, so he was forced to jump over the fallen trees and bushes more than once. Still, they managed to get more than halfway to the valley swamp before Aang had to stop to rest.
"Put me down" the quiet, rasped voice demanded.
Aang lowered the firebender to the ground and sat down next to him, trying to catch his breath. The prince tried to push himself up to sit as well, but with the adrenaline from the fight gone, that action resulted in a wave of blinding pain from his chest, and he couldn't suppress a hiss.
He tried to locate the wound with his hands while still lying on his side and soon he found it – the arrow had hit him right below his right collarbone and exited near his shoulder blade. He examined the blood trail left on his hand without any emotion. "Maybe this is the end, after all. I have failed..."
The Avatar finally noticed the arrow as well which raised his panic "Wait, you're hurt?! AHH, what do we do? Let's-"
"So what? If anything, you should be glad. I've been hunting you for months now." The prince interrupted him with a tired voice. "You'll have one enemy less. Just go."
"What...? No! I'm not glad! I..." Aang's voice broke slightly as he tried to focus. "A-and you just rescued me from Zhao! I'm not leaving you here!"
"Don't be foolish! I only did it so I could deliver you to the Fire Lord myself." Zuko admitted bitterly "You owe me nothing."
"But... even if that's true, you didn't have to save me from those arrows, did you?"
The prince didn't know how to respond to that and it gave Aang a bit of hope. He sat in front of him.
"Come on. I don't know much about this stuff, but I think we should try taking that arrow out of you." He reached for the offending object sticking out of Zuko's chest. Immediately, searing pain shot through the firebender's upper body.
"Stop! Don't pull it backward, you idiot!" Zuko rasped angrily through his clenched teeth. The kid moved away, clearly scared, and the prince took a few steadying breaths while glancing at him.
"What's wrong with him...? He should leave me here, not tend to my wound!" Zuko tried to make sense of what was just happening when he noticed that the airbender's eyes were starting to shine with determination once more. It seemed the Avatar wasn't going to let this go, so the only thing he could do was try to instruct him how to do it correctly.
"To remove it, you need to cut it as close to my chest as possible and then pull it from the back."
A small grin entered the kid's face and he quickly moved closer to the firebender and the words started just flowing out of him like one big logorrhea "Okay, okay! Wait, cut... Oh no, I think your swords were left by that fortress! But don't worry, we'll figure something out! Uhhh, okay! I'll try to break it with airbending, don't move!"
Zuko felt a sting of sadness upon hearing his precious daos were gone and he almost didn't notice Aang leaning over him and sending a precise blast of wind at the arrow, breaking the feathered end off.
"See? It worked! Now, from the back, right?" he asked, leaning over Zuko's face, bringing him back to reality.
"Uh, yeah. Just pull as hard as you can. And once you start, don't stop. No matter if I'll scream or tell you to stop"
With wide eyes, the kid carefully moved behind the teen, but he hesitated before taking the bloodied arrow in his hands "Is there no better way to do this...?"
"You mean the way it won't hurt me...?" Zuko laughed bitterly "What world are you living in...?"
The kid looked down, guilt-ridden, unable to answer. Zuko felt kind of bad for bringing him to the sad reality, so he stopped taunting. With awkward movements, he took off his black hood, revealing his hair from underneath. Lying disgracefully on the ground was not really a comfortable position for talking with the boy.
He looked around and noticed that there was a tree right next to them, so he could at least sit by it.
"One more thing," the firebender continued as he moved closer to the tree. "Once you remove the arrow, I'll start bleeding. I can cauterize the front wound with firebending, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to reach the other end of it, so you may have to do it."
"Me?" Aang objected, clearly scared "But I can't firebend!"
"Are you not the Avatar...? The master of all four elements..." Zuko asked through gritted teeth as he struggled to pull himself into a sitting position, unable to hide the pain it caused him.
He managed to sit up, but he had to lean his left side against a tree so the arrow wouldn't touch it, which meant he was facing the Avatar again.
"Well, I have to learn how to control them first..." the kid murmured, looking at the ground.
"That explains a lot. Whatever. I'll figure something out" he closed his eyes breathing heavily. It was just a few seconds but suddenly the Avatar shook his shoulder nervously.
"Hey, Zuko! Don't sleep!"
Zuko opened his eyes and glared at the boy, but the action was surprisingly a bit more difficult than he expected. "I'm not sleeping! Let's just get this over with" he added with a sigh.
Taking a deep breath, Aang glanced once more at the firebender, then moved quickly behind him. He grabbed the arrow with both hands, squeezed his eyes shut, and pulled with all his might. Zuko did his best to keep himself from screaming, but the excruciating pain he felt was beyond anything he had ever experienced (well, except for having half of his face burned off).
When the arrow was yanked out, the blood started to flow out quite fast and eventually the firebender was becoming aware that it needed to be stopped.
"I'm so sorry! Did it go right? Zuko? ZUKO?!" the Avatar was beginning to panic again when he realized that the teen wasn't reacting to his words.
The firebender slowly reached to the wound under his collarbone with his eyes still squeezed close. Focusing some chi in his hand he used it to heat up the skin around the wound to the point of burning, until the bleeding stopped completely. The horrible smell of burnt body filled the air and Aang had to take a few steps back to not throw up. Looking for an excuse to avoid watching it, he remembered that Katara and Sokka were still waiting for a medicine.
"Uhh, ok, so while you do that I could get some frozen frogs for my friends, ok? I'll be back in one minute, it's really close. You hear me, Zuko...?" he asked nervously.
"Yeah, sure… go" the prince answered blankly, giving him one last look. He appeared exhausted, and his normally pale skin looked almost white in the moonlight. The Airbender hesitated for a moment, but then pushed those thoughts aside, not wanting to keep his friends waiting any longer.
"Don't go anywhere, I'll be right back!" he called as he ran off.
Zuko laughed humourlesly to himself "Where would I go...?"
He was tired, but the other end was still bleeding. He tried to reach over his shoulder to cauterize the wound on his back as well, but he found it difficult to achieve in his current condition. At last he managed to do it by leaning more to the front and propping himself on the ground with hurting arm. He struggled trying to sit upright again, while trying to think his situation through.
"The wound should heal, but... Does it really matter anymore...? Father won't accept a traitor back, even if I deliver him the Avatar. The same Avatar I just broke out of our prison. Yeah, he would probably execute me right away... Azula would probably find it amusing though. I wonder if I'll ever see her again... Maybe Uncle? He- no, I can't drag him into this. He would become a traitor himself by helping me from now on. I'm on my own..."
Suddenly, the quiet sound of footsteps behind him snapped him out of his thoughts. Far closer than where he should have noticed them. He cursed himself internally for zoning out and leaning against the tree slowly got to his feet, ignoring the dizziness it caused.
"Damn it, my screams must have led the stronghold guards here. I don't want to hurt any more of ours... That's if I'll even be able to. Maybe I should just surrender." Zuko thought, focusing on the sounds. Soon he heard them split into two directions and realized that he would be surrounded if he didn't act now.
"Wait, hold your fi-" he said as he stepped out from behind the tree with his arms raised, but instantly there was a ball of fire sent in his direction from the right side. He waved his arms and dissipated it instinctively right before it reached him, taking a step back from the impact.
"I guess that settles it"
Not thinking much about it, he quickly shot a beam of his own fire in the direction the first shot had come from, and he heard a scream as it hit its target. The soldier hadn't been prepared to defend himself against the counterattack and was now desperately trying to put out the flames consuming him.
Three other guards joined the fight on that cue and shot their own fire at the prince. He quickly threw himself behind the tree he was next to, and took a deep breath. He didn't have many options; he didn't even know where his opponents were exactly.
He stepped out from behind the tree, and threw a few quick shots of fire in their general direction. His shots had set a few bushes on fire, so at least he could see their positions now. Although he hadn't hit any of them, by being forced to dodge, they lost initiative for a moment.
Zuko knew he was too wobbly on his feet to come any closer, and with his eyesight beginning to blur, he decided to put all his energy into one final burst. He spun, sending the big wave of fire out with a kick. It hit all three of them directly, with enough force to send them flying back, burning them and setting the trees behind them on fire as well.
It took a lot out of him, and he couldn't help but fall flat on the ground, breathing heavily. The pain he had pushed to the corner of his mind was now coming back with double force, blinding him from the surrounding world.
"We're simple soldiers, you know...?"
The voice alarmed Zuko, and he struggled to even look for its source. It was right next to him, the first soldier whom he had struck. He had already forgotten about the man, but it seemed he'd dealt with the flames, as his armor had taken the brunt of the damage.
"We're supposed to be spreading the Fire Nation greatness, and instead we're sent to raid villages and fight children... But the order is the order" he kept talking as he came closer "I have to admit it, breaking the Avatar out of the stronghold was really impressive. So, where is he now?"
The soldier tried to sound casual, but it was hard to hide that he was nervous. Whether it was because of how Zuko had just defeated the other guards, or simply the fact that he was still a Fire Lord's son.
"I have no reason to tell him anything, but maybe I can distract him enough to take him down..." Zuko thought as he tried to gradually put more of his weight on his wounded side to get a better view and free his other arm.
"How would I know? Probably far away" the prince answered clenching his teeth.
"He took you with him, so it's obvious you two are working together" the soldier glanced around quickly, as if he expected the airbender to show up and attack him suddenly from behind.
Zuko took the opportunity and freed his arm, quickly throwing a fireball at him. However, the soldier managed to dodge it. He was about to launch his own attack when he noticed that the prince was still lying on the ground, even more exhausted after that failed attempt.
"Try that again and you'll lose that arm! And you better start talking!" he barked as he took fighting stance, ready to attack at any moment.
Zuko knew he wouldn't get another chance - and even if he did, he no longer had the strength to try anything. His breathing was shallow and rapid, and he had to focus to see straight.
"The Avatar owed me for breaking him out," Zuko said finally. "He knew I'd try to capture him myself as soon as I could, so he left afterward. We're not allies."
"Too bad. You see, we were sent to retrieve the Avatar and kill you. Admiral Zhao's orders. And since you can't even help with finding the kid..." the man sounded oddly hesitant somehow.
"You don't seem very happy for a man who's about to receive a medal of merit" Zuko smirked and laid his head on the ground, closing his eyes.
"Of course Zhao wouldn't wait for an official death sentence."
"Yeah. I never thought I would have to do something like this." The man actually sounded sad. He took a step forward but then hesitated, suddenly looking around again. Some voices could be heard in the distance, most likely more guards alerted by the burning trees, but they were still quite far away. The man quickly came closer and leaned over the prince.
"I know people weren't supposed to find out about the details of that Agni Kai, but... something always slips eventually, and you know, people talk. Tell me, was it true? About you and the 41st Division?"
Zuko snapped his head up and looked at him with wide eyes. He hadn't expected anyone to care or even know about it. He saw that the man was waiting for his answer, and he realized that he could never lie about it.
"I... It doesn't matter anymore. I had no right to speak out, and they were sacrificed anyway." He answered quietly, closing his eyes. The soldier inhaled deeply upon hearing this, and his next words came more as a whisper.
"So it's... The one time someone actually cares and... You know, my brother was part of that division. Maybe if..."
The guard stood up and looked away with a sigh. "It's a shame you don't actually work with the Avatar" he said. "Maybe he could stop all this madness."
Zuko didn't understand what he meant by all of this. For a few seconds nothing happened, but the voices just kept getting louder until finally the guard turned back to face him.
"I'm sorry, but it's better if I do this," he said with a shaky voice. "Stay still, Prince. I'll try to do it fast."
The Avatar ran back, worried that the firebender might not have been able to close his wound, but when he got closer, he noticed the flames bursting high from the trees near the place where he had left Zuko. Afraid of the worst, he tried to quicken his steps even more.
When he arrived at the clearing, he noticed that many trees were ablaze, and the flames were beginning to spread across the ground below them. In the fire's glow, he saw a soldier preparing to attack Zuko, who was lying on the ground.
"NO!" the Avatar shouted as he sent a blast of air, pushing the soldier away from the teen.
Aang rushed to Zuko's side and were relieved when he noticed that the boy was alive, though half-conscious, and breathing with fast, shallow breaths. He didn't even look at his savior, instead he kept watching as the soldier hit the ground at some distance from them. A silent moaning could be heard, so it seemed that he had survived.
"Zuko! Are you all right? What happened?"
"You're actually back...? Get out of here, you idiot... More soldiers are coming" Zuko hissed quietly, still not raising his eyes to look at the airbender "You've done enough."
Aang stood up processing his words. He looked up and saw a few lights getting close to them, most likely firebenders with fire lit to see better in the dark. He didn't want to leave the firebender here, but in this case...
"Okay, so we don't have much time," the Avatar said, hauling the prince to his feet and over his shoulder, which caused him to gasp loudly from the pain. "Are you hurt? I mean, more hurt than before?"
The answer was just a little louder than a whisper "I... No. It's... I closed the wound but it must be bleeding internally. Why are you doing-"
"Not now" Aang interrupted him "You're right, the guards coming. Just hang on!"
So he began to run towards the ruins, where his friends were waiting. Zuko didn't understand what had caused the boy to care about him, but he knew one thing - if he didn't do something, he would probably die. And despite what he had been thinking earlier, somehow he didn't want to die just yet.
He focused on the wound, and then tried to do the reverse of what firebenders usually do - taking the warmth out of this part of his body. Lowering the temperature slowed the blood flow and thus the bleeding.
He felt a cold sweat on his face, but he concentrated all his attention on that action. He didn't notice that it was already dawn when they reached the ruins, or how the Avatar laid him down next to Appa's paws and gave the others frozen frogs to suck on, and how he eventually lost consciousness.
"Hey, Aang, did you make a new friend?" asked Sokka sheepishly through his fever.
"Uh, I'm not sure? Don't mind him; just suck on this frozen frog while it lasts. It will make you feel better" the kid answered quietly, glancing at the unconscious firebender.
He recalled that when he had carried Zuko, he had felt colder than before, so he probably needed to warm the firebender up. Their two sleeping bags were already in use, and Aang didn't have his own since he slept on Appa.
He was exhausted himself, so he just gestured to Appa to scoop the wounded teen up a little more, and the bison hesitantly did so. He considered asking Katara about it, but she was half-asleep and mostly didn't notice anything, sucking on her frog absentmindedly.
Eventually Aang laid down on the bison's tail and fell asleep as well.
"What do you mean they escaped...?! Am I supposed to believe that this pathetic excuse of a traitor, was to much for experienced soldiers?!"
All the troops sent out in the forest were gathered, regardless of their state. A few soldiers who had misfortune of encountering Zuko could barely stand with their armors half burnt to their bodies, but it was no excuse to their newly appointed admiral.
For a moment nobody dared to breathe louder, until a silent voice spoke from the back line "But even you lost to him in Agni Kai, sir"
"THAT WAS-" Zhao had to stop himself and regain his composure before he spoke again "He was already wounded, wasn't he? You reported he was hit with the arrow"
The only answer was quiet murmurs from the soldiers.
"YOU! What's your name?!" Zhao glared at the guard who was supported by two other guards due to his badly broken leg.
"Mukan, sir" the soldier kept his voice solid.
"They told me you had the traitor on your mercy, and still you didn't kill him. Is that truth?"
"I wasn't fast enough, sir. The Avatar saved him."
Even though that was what the three burnt soldiers had confirmed to witness, Zhao was sure that something in his voice sounded mocking. Mocking his powerlessness as there was no way to prove that wasn't the truth. And Zhao has already lost his face to the soldiers enough to know to back off.
"Continue the search. Wounded are dismissed for now. And one squad, with me. We need to pay someone a visit in docks."
*
Thanks for reading! It's my my first take at writing fanfiction (or anything at all), and english is not my main language, so I'll be happy if you have any feedback for me.