Responses to Reviews:

Zigzagdoublezee: Yes, Jet and Longshot are actual Earth Kingdom soldiers in the employ of the local Governor. With no war he's led a normal life up to this point.

RonaldM40196867: Jet's up there, but so is Pakku. A sexist prick who's also an awesome fighter and on the side of the good guys, and who changes his ways and takes on female waterbending students after the war. Or Zuko, who has a complicated backstory making him the person he is at the start of the show.

As Always, Please Review!

The cart trundled along the road, the family walking behind it just one of hundreds fleeing inland before the advance of the Fire Nation. Zuko followed them, just a couple of steps behind, separating himself slightly. They were near the front of the column, and were making good time inland.

It was obvious he wasn't particularly trusted; Lian, the mother, was on his side but he had caught her husband watching him warily several times. The daughter, meanwhile, was avoiding him entirely. She was guiding the ostrich-horses pulling the cart.

Zuko scowled as he trudged onwards. Whether they trusted him didn't make much of a difference, for he didn't plan to remain with them forever. He also didn't particularly blame them. These were troubled times, and he was a stranger after all. And that was without taking into account the fact they didn't know his real identity. They knew him as Li, a refugee from the coast. He suspected they wouldn't react well to finding out he was Zuko, Prince of the nation which was forcing them to flee.

Still, the suspicion did grate a little bit. So he just stayed back and forced himself to keep going, for mile after mile, hour after hour. At night he ate with them around a fire, saying little unless spoken to before retiring a small distance away to sleep.

He did not find that life on the road suited him. He was a prince, used to luxury, if not always respect. But that wasn't to say he couldn't cope; he always coped.

The road stretched into the distance, flanked on either side by thick, tall hedgerows.

There was a roaring noise from somewhere nearby. Zuko stopped, confused. He was not the only one. Chen brought the cart to a halt and looked around anxiously.

"What was that?" She asked.

Zuko frowned. The noise seemed familiar, somehow. And it was growing louder.

Suddenly, the hedge on one side of the road disintegrated as something big and grey ripped through it, reared into the air, and landed with a thud on the road, blocking their path.

Zuko's heart sank as he recognised it. He had seen enough of them on visits to armouries and regiments of his father's army in the months leading up to the North Pole.

The tank rotated on the spot until its front was pointed towards the crowd, who retreated, scared.

"Do not move!" The commander of the tank popped out of the hatch with a loudhailer. "Anyone who moves gets roasted!"

To make the point the driver's hatch fell open, ready to emit a blast of flame at the crowd the moment the commander gave the word.

Everybody froze.

Zuko stared. This was bad. This was very, very bad. If he was taken prisoner, he could be discovered, and his face was not unknown in the army. That meant he would be shipped off home, to the mercy, or the lack thereof, of his father. That would be a disaster, and was unlikely to end well.

His eyes flicked to the cart.

The tank commander was speaking again.

"Remain where you are," he said. "My army will be along shortly to take you into custody. You have my word, the word of an officer, that you will be treated honourably."

Somebody threw a rock at him.

Zuko didn't see who did it, he did see the heavy projectile arc through the air and smack the commander on his chest. He fell backwards, yelping in pain, but managed to catch himself before he fell out of the machine and clawed himself back into the hatch.

He scowled.

"Are you trying to die?" He demanded. "You idiot."

Zuko put his hood up and stepped forward, until he was standing right behind the cart. He began surreptitiously groping under the covers. Nobody noticed, too fixated on the wrath of the tank commander up ahead.

Zuko's hands closed around something long and thin, and he pulled them out to reveal the handle of the swords. Quickly tucking them under his cloak, he pushed his way forwards.

"Hello?" He called.

"What do you want?" The tank commander replied, scowling. Zuko admired the man's restraint for not attacking immediately after the rock.

"What are you doing?" Lian hissed as he went past her.

"To apologise," Zuko pointed in the general direction of the rock thrower. "Please don't do anything to us, it was just one person!"

The commander frowned.

"They will be punished," he said firmly. "But I gave you my word. I am not inclined to break it. Not unless you give me any more reason to, at least. Just sit tight and wait for the rest of my army to get here."

Zuko got closer and closer, doubt beginning to seep in. If he went through with this, there would be no going back. He was already on the run for accidental treason; this would be fully, one hundred per cent, absolutely intentional treason if he did it.

Oh well, he reasoned. At this point I might as well. Can't exactly get worse.

He took a deep breath, remembering his training with the sword-master his father had given him.

"We don't want to fight!" He said. "We just want to get to Ba Sing Se! Please! We're no threat to you!"

"No, you're not," the commander said. "But you can be of use to us, all of you can. Just stay and-"

Zuko drew his swords in an instant and jumped on top of the tank. The commander went for his own blade, but Zuko had the element of surprise on his side and so was faster; the other man barely had time to raise his sword before Zuko had swept it aside with one dual sword and was swinging the haft of the other blade towards his head.

"You!" The other man had time to say before he was sent crumpling back down the hatch by the force of the blow. As he vanished, Zuko turned and scrambled back towards the front of the machine, jabbing his sword into the driver's viewing hatch blindly, hoping to either incapacitate the other crew members or force them to close it so they couldn't fire on the crowd. He felt the sword hit something and suddenly the vehicle was turning uncontrollably on the spot, the driver presumably having fallen onto his steering gear. Zuko struggled not to be thrown off by the sudden, violent motion.

Above him, the commander's hatch opened again and the third crewman's face appeared, lined with fury. Zuko looked up in shock, and the Firebender drew himself up to his full height, ready to unleash a blast of flame that would either consume Zuko or force him to out himself as a Firebender.

Suddenly a shadow fell across the tank, and both of them looked up just in time for the Firebender to be plucked out of the hatch by something big and white. It dropped him a short distance away, as the tank continued to spin, and then circled back.

Zuko jumped off the tank and walked back towards his group as the air nomad sky-bison came in to land. The family were staring at him. He went to give Bei his swords back.

Then he heard a familiar, soft voice. For a moment he was suddenly back in the North Pole, helping a girl with white hair escape his family's surprise attack on her home. A girl with white hair who absolutely knew his true identity and could out him with one careless comment.

"Is everybody alright?" Avatar Yue asked from behind him. Zuko didn't dare turn around.

He closed his eyes. Oh, Agni. Not now. I don't need this.