Zuko
"How's your scar?" Toph asked all of a sudden as her and Zuko were sitting near a pond at the garden of Lord Beifong's estate.
"It's healing, but it's going to leave a terrible mark, i am sure." Zuko replied half-heartedly, touching the cursed spot on his left eye, he almost forgot that it was there for the moment, and Toph felt the need to remind him of it.
"I'm glad i've never seen your face at all.. i would have found it pitiful that they messed up that gorgeous face of yours everybody is talking about." Toph said, taking a sip of her tea.
"Who talked about my face being gorgeous?" Zuko asked, he doesn't even comprehend how he got engaged in such a conversation, curiosity was his best guess.
"Oh, come on, Zuko.. whenever girls walked by you, their heartbeats would rise tenfold, i might be blind, but i am not senseless." Toph responded, taking another sip of her tea, Zuko felt his cheeks burning up.
He stammered as he spoke, "It's not.. Ugh, forget it.. When are we getting out of this place? i wanna see the streets again." Zuko said changing the subject.
"Like i said, Zuko, you used to be easy on the eyes, now i am not sure if it's recommended for people to see you." Toph replied with a smirk, now Zuko was burning up but not with timidity.
"Just answer the question!" Zuko said impatiently.
"Ok, ok Sheesh.. Lighten up, i was just teasing.. I spoke to my father, he said that we can only walk the gardens.. so i bought us two tickets to the earth rumble tournament." Toph said grabbing two tickets from her pocket after she took another sip of her tea, Zuko was too astounded to talk, but he eventually found his voice.
"How the fuck did you.." Zuko trailed off, but Toph provided him with an answer anyways.
"What? you thought i would be as useless as you? to be honest, Zuko.. my ass isn't accustomed to sitting too long, i know it's a disease sometimes but one that i can manage." Toph said.
"You mad bitch, you did it again." Zuko said with a smile.
"Oh yeah, it brought back some nostalgia, when i used to run away from my parents' house to go to the tournaments.. although sadly i won't be in the ring to kick some butt.. but at least i granted you your wish." Toph said taking another sip of her cup, Zuko couldn't find the words to describe Toph, at that moment he just loved her so much.
"I don't know what to say.."
"Uhm, i don't know.. 'Thanks' would be a good start." Toph said with a smirk, Zuko chuckled lightly and thanked her.
They waited until it was night, and both of them sneaked out of the house to go to the tournament, as soon as Zuko made it to the street, he took a deep breath and released it, as if he just got out of prison again, with shawls over their head to cover their faces, the two friends made their way to the tournament.
"Don't you love it when you get out of prison?" Zuko asked with a sigh of relief.
"Don't get used to it." Came Toph's response, they finally arrived at the place, they handed their tickets to the security who never bothered to check on their identities, although he seemed to stare at Zuko's scar so much, not in suspicion but it in pity, Zuko didn't know what was worse, this is going to need some getting used to.
They arrived at their seats as soon as they bought some snacks, Zuko advised Toph against showing her face to many people, but her stubbornness got the better of her again, he wasn't one to judge though as he was a hot-head himself, also the snacks weren't so bad when Toph gave him a taste..
Finally the bell rang after the manager of the place Xin Fu greeted the audience and announced the opponents, and the first match of the evening was underway, and Zuko didn't know what he hated more about Xin Fu, his rough face, or his obnoxious commentary, his voice could be heard even through the roar of the crowd, it was so annoying.
"Loving the atmosphere so far?" Toph inquired from beside Zuko as she was crunching her snacks.
"It's acceptable, although i would much prefer it without the commentary." Zuko responded, and Toph chuckled.
"Eh, i never cared much for Xin Fu's yammering at ringside, i was too busy beating the shit outta punks.. although the last time i was here it didn't go well." Toph said the last bit in a lower voice, seemingly hurt by that fact, and Zuko finally found the perfect opportunity to tease her.
"What? you got your ass beat?" Zuko asked with a smirk.
Toph seemed to be fuming internally but managed to answer calmly, "No. I lost because i was distracted." Toph responded crunching another crisp.
"your opponent was that charming?" Zuko asked sarcastically.
"i wasn't distracted by my opponent, idiot. i was distracted by a member of the audience who so happened to be our late arrowhead friend." Toph replied, and suddenly an unhappy feeling settled in Zuko's stomach..
first she reminds of my scar, now she reminds me of my best friend.. late best friend.. why do i even consider her as a friend? Zuko thought, trying so hard not to voice his thoughts out loud, he took his time to collect himself.
"How did he distract you?" Zuko asked as he turned his face back to the ongoing match.
"Just hearing his voice distracted me, he had gone away for a year, and hearing his voice in the audience took me offguard, and my opponent.. what was his name? Uh, yeah Tolan, that was it.. he was tough, one slip-up and he threw me outta the ring."
"Must have been a hard fellow."
"I would give anything to have a rematch with him."
"You would probably lose again." Zuko teased.
"Oh, shut your mouth or i'll do it for ya, Sparky." Toph warned, Zuko sniggered and brought his attention back to the ring, the second match was underway, The Boulder who won the previous match was facing a guy named The Chainsaw.
"The Boooulder is very conflicted about fighting an object that can only cut chains." Zuko heard the boudler say.
"Chainsaws can cut a lot of things, idiot.. not just chains." The Chainsaw replied.
"The Boooulder finds it hard to believe that this object has the ability to cut Booooulders.. Now Let The Boudler seal your fate with a rockalanche!" And just like that The Boulder throws the guy out of the ring in almost ten seconds, Zuko turned to look at Toph, and found a look of approval on her face, Zuko had to agree with her, that was entertaining, Although Zuko never placed any bets, he knew which fighter he would bet on.
"Ah, finally, A Break.. this bladder needs emptying.. i'll be right back." Toph excused herself, and as soon as she said the words, she was out of earshot, Zuko was too uncomfortable with the place as soon as Toph left, he kept waiting and waiting, trying his best not to stand up and look for Toph himself.
"Hello, Prince Zuko." A voice called from the back, Zuko rolled his head pretty quickly with an audible gasp coming out of his mouth as he stood up, whirled around and took a fighting stance, the fright very evident on his face until the guy who called him raised his hands, "I come in peace." He said.
"Who are you? How did you find me? What do you want from me?" Zuko asked in a rush, as he finally took a good look at the man, he was an old man, probably a little older than his uncle, with a thin physique and tanned skin, he was bald with a thin white Fu Manchu moustache under his nose that goes to the end of his chin, the old man looked peaceful enough, but Zuko never trusted anyone these days.
"These are a lot of questions for an old man to answer, i have a rather short but satisfying answer.. My name is Fung, i was a friend of your uncle's." The Old man said, grabbing something from his pocket and showing it to an unexpectant and shocked Zuko, he lowered his stance and stared at the object in awe, he might have heard of these people before from his late uncle, but he never thought he would meet them, and here of all places, as soon as he found his voice, his words were,
"Is that a White Lotus tile..?"
Azula
It was past midnight, approximately ten days before the coronation of Zhao, one which she vowed to abolish.
Azula was standing at a rendezvous point beside General Shinu to meet with the men who will carry out their plan, the spot they were standing on was very far from the docks and very far from civilization, which was probably fitting, since the people they are going to meet are as far away from being civil as possible.
"They are late." Azula complained to General Shinu as she rubbed her cold hands and provided them with some heat of her own, they have been standing at the spot for nearly an hour now, and there were no signs of their guests, the chilling cold wasn't helping either.
"Yes, but take into consideration that these are not your everyday normal people." Shinu replied, heating his own hands as he seemed to be feeling the chill as well.
"I don't care who they think they are, For this plan to be carried out, they have to play by my rules, General."
"These people are only loyal to money, provide them with money and they will be your loyal servants." Shinu told her, of course Azula knew of that fact.
"I plan to make them my bitch." Azula scoffed, and the general chuckled, unbeknown to him, Azula wasn't bluffing.
They waited for a couple more minutes, until they saw a ship making its way to their spot, the ship looked to be very small, but the smell of pirates could be identified even from this far.
"They have more ships, they just came here with this small ship to avoid-" General Shinu tried to explain until Azula interrupted him.
"I'm not daft, General, i know why they came here with only one small ship." Azula scolded aggressively, and the general lifted his hands in surrender, as if to tell her he never implied anything with his explanation, Azula sighed and shook her face.
Finally the pirates arrived ashore, they got out of the ship and looked as bad as they smell, except for the captain who looked considerably acceptable, with an iguana parrot on his shoulder.
"Evening, Gents.. i hope your sailing here was pleasant." General Shinu greeted.
"Aye, General.. sailing through restricted areas of the firenation can be very pleasant sometimes." The Captain responded with a gruff yet sarcastic voice, his accent was very strange, yet Azula found it acceptable, Azula couldn't help but smile at his answer though, it was funny.
"I am sorry for your troubles, Captain.. be sure that you'll be rewarded greatly." Azula spoke, and the captain regarded her with a yellow smile of his own.
"Now, this is how ye treat a captain, aye.. ye must be Princess Azula.. Name is Captain Zhou, The best darned pirate ye'll ever meet in yer life." The Captain introduced himself while extending his hand to Azula.
"Very modest of you, but you needn't to worry about it, i don't think i'll ever meet any pirate after you, so in my eyes you'll always be the best.. or the worst had any terrible turn of events occurred." Azula said with the same smile.
"Oh, needn't worry 'bout it, Princess.. It just depends on how much coin you have in your pocket, 'Cause My work is as good as my payment." The Captain responded with a smile of his own.
"I trust you have the blasting jelly you promised?" Shinu asked.
"Aye, it's in the ship, my men will load it off the ship and off to the place ye want to explode, but of course after i receive my coin." The Captain responded.
"Woah, Woah.. not that fast, we still need to devise a plan and discuss it, why do you think we called you here ten days before the coronation?" Azula asked.
"I don't know.. i thought you might wanna start early." The Captain responded.
Two kinds of people Azula hated most in the world, traitors and idiots, she made sure to contain herself in front of the latter that was standing right in front of herself, or General Shinu helped her contain herself as he interfered to explain to the dumb captain the situation.
"Listen, Captain.. this place we are going to explode isn't a random house in the city, we are going to blow up the royal palace."
"WOOOOOAAAAH! WHAT THE FOOK..?!" The Captain exclaimed in a loud voice that startled Azula and The General.
"Shut you mouth, you scoundrel, people might hear us." The General scolded.
"What's it matter to you? we'll all be sent to the gallows as soon as we carry out yer plan anyways." The Captain said, and Azula found it hard to disagree with his assessment, she never wanted to go on with this plan herself, but she needed to be strong.
"Have your balls gone missing during your sailing here, Captain? Man up." Azula provoked.
"Come to my ship and i'll show ye how much of a man i am, Little Girl!" The Captain scorned extending his forefinger in Azula's face, in a fast move, Azula took the general's forefinger and twisted it, making the man scream in pain, unable to break free of the princess's death grip over his finger, "STOP, Ye'll break it!" The Captain shouted, and his crew tried to interfere, only for Azula to hold a blue fire blast in her other hand directed at them, they cowered back as she expected.
"You call me Little girl again, and the sharks of the sea will be pleased with some human flesh tonight." Azula warned, still holding onto the screaming captain's finger, The Captain nodded his head, but Azula still held onto his finger.
"Azula, Enough!" General Shinu scolded, and Azula finally released her grip over the captain's forefinger, he held it in pain trying to pop it back to its place.
"Anyone of you scums tries to cross the red line with me.. i'll free him of his miserable life, you understand?!" Azula said in a menacing voice while filling her hands with blue fire, and the pirates seemed to oblige as they nodded their heads in fear.
Azula lowered her hands her face barren of any sort of joy, internally of course she was satisfied with their answer, it seems like she hasn't lost her charm,
"Good. General Shinu, you may speak." Azula said allowing herself a smile, and the general stepped forward to give his speech, it pained Azula to notice that the general himself looked terrified by her, but she needed to be strong, she knew she couldn't cower back now, it's now or never.
General Shinu discussed the scheme with the pirates, informing them of their part, which was almost doing everything as they were the objects, they were the tools to finish Azula and Shinu's piece of art, while they are the schemers, they are the planners, Azula felt useless in all of this as Shinu came up with the plan and the pirates will carry it out, but if it means getting her to the throne, then she is all for it, sacrifices tend to be made before receiving a prize. Shinu finished unveiling his plans with the pirates and it was time for questions.
"I have a question, General if ye dun' mind.. If me and the boys are going to do everything, then what's your role in all of this?" Asked the captain.
"For my part, I'll make sure you go in and out of the basement of the palace without being seen, I already scanned the surroundings of the palace and i know the positions of every guard and servant around, i'll give the necessary ones a break for the day before the coronation so you could finish the deed with ease, as for the princess, well.. hers is the hard part." Shinu said, Azula turned to him sharply in confusion.
"What do you mean?" Azula asked, The General sighed deeply and turned to look at her, this can't be good news..
"You'll have to attend the coronation." Nope, it definitely wasn't..
Aang
A Slight breeze of air hit his face, he made sure to take it all in, for he was convinced no breeze of air could ever pass without enjoying it.
Aang was standing in the middle of vast green fields, on a usual day the sight would look marvelous, on this day, not so much.. he was standing on his own two feet waiting for Shun with nothing on him but a troubled conscience, and of course Appa, Momo, Kori and her friends Bao and The Archer Shu, Bao was a sweet girl, troubled Aang none, but Shu was a talker, Aang was hopeful that he would at least stop talking once Shun arrives, of course Jet's friends agreed to stay after their leader took his leave, not on their own free will, Jet ordered them to stay, but that doesn't mean they were obligated to go with Aang to meet Shun as well, the only people who agreed to meet with Shun were Aang and Kori, and so they have to carry out the pursuit for peace themselves,
while Jet's friends, Smellerbee, Longshot, Pipsqueak and the duke were standing back a couple of miles away from where Aang is standing, with the rest of the freedom fighters, Kori's fighters and Senge who Aang told to stay in the back, even though the small army stayed intact, it still troubled Aang that Jet stormed off unhappily, this was his battle, Aang only agreed to join this fight for Jet, and now he is no where to be found.
but then again, why fight in the first place when you can sue for peace? in Aang's view, Shun awarded them a golden opportunity, and they had to take advantage of it.
"Do you think he will come?" Asked an anxious Kori from behind Aang, she has been worrying non-stop ever since they agreed on this meeting, and Jet's departure did her no favors, it only helped worry her more.
"I know he will come." Aang answered, not bothering to turn back to her.
"I wish we could just trust him, but we can't, we don't even know whether he will come empty handed, or with a back-stabbing knife in his hand." Shu said, his voice expressing concern.
"I don't think he is that bold, Shu." Aang said, trying to boost his confidence.
"Ugh, Spare me the arrogance, Avatar." Shu groaned.
Aang never bothered to turn back to him as well as he said, "Not arrogance.. Information.. Shun thinks i am as strong as i used to be, and so he won't risk angering me." Aang informed.
"I guess him downgrading himself doesn't make him an arrogant one, right, Shu?" Said Bao, obviously defending the avatar and teasing Shu at the same time, who groaned again in retribution.
"Woah Woah.. what do you mean you are not as strong as you used to be?" Asked Kori all of a sudden, it was Aang's turn to groan as he was getting tired of all the questions, he turned back to them and said,
"How about this? we focus on the meeting ahead and then i promise i'll listen to all your yammering afterwards, deal?"
The group looked uneasy, but eventually they nodded their heads, making Aang sigh in relief, he turned his head back to the view ahead again, waiting patiently for the Leader of the colonies.
Their wait finally came to an end, as two firenation tanks appeared from the distance, coming at average speed, taking its time to arrive to Aang's position.
"Here they come." Aang said preparing his friends for the meeting.
Shun and his companions came out of the tank, they were also four, wearing their usual firenation military attire and looking very serious even by meetings standards, Momo hurried to sit on Aang's shoulder and chirped fearfully, Aang pet the lemur to comfort him.
"Morning, Avatar.. I pray your travel here wasn't so tiring." Shun greeted The Avatar with a smile, finally getting rid of the seriousness, but the thing is Aang liked his smile even less than his serious face.
"It wasn't the travel here that was tiring, it was the wait, we agreed on a specific time and you are late." Aang responded. internally angry, but his words came out as passive aggressive.
"My apologies, As you can see, we travel in tanks, while you travel on a sky bison." Shun said, his eyes lingering on Aang's friend Appa, does he really admire my bison?
Aang was still holding a grudge against the colonial leader, but decided to brush it off to carry on with the meeting, "Apology accepted, Now shall we discuss terms of peace?" Aang proposed, and Shun nodded, Aang then waited for him to start..
"First and foremost, let's not get ahead of ourselves and say that i proposed this meeting because i am afraid to fight you, spirits know that i want this fight more than anybody else considering you can no longer use the avatar state." Shun finished his face flashing seriousness, Shocking Aang to his core.
Aang lowered his head, "I guess you have been informed.." Aang said, suddenly Shun broke into a fit of laughter, everyone in attendance ,save for Shun's soldiers who were smiling, were confused by the ordeal.
After the laughing died down, Shun clarified, "Yes, Avatar.. i have been informed.. a few seconds ago.. by you." Shun said, his mocking laughter could still be heard in his voice.
Aang felt like a complete fool, in their first encounter, and they haven't even completed two lines, he has been fooled by Shun, and now he lost one of his biggest advantages, at that moment Aang knew exactly why Zhao chose this man to lead the colonies in his stead.
"We're not here to play mind games, Shun.. where is Sneers?" Kori interfered since Aang decided to shut his gob.
"Ah, The Beautiful daughter of the former mayor.. How are you and your family, Kori? though i am pretty sad you took my generosity for granted, and opposed me after i spared you and your family.. but i am not one to hold grudges forever, i will forgive you eventually." Shun said, and a look of disdain passed on Kori's face making her forget her question about Sneers.
"Alright, Since we have no secrets to forbid from each other, now we can talk more freely.." Aang started again, "Yu Dao and the rest of the colonies are earth kingdom territory, you'll take your army and leave the city, my promise to you is that no harm will be laid upon the firenation citizens, they will be as safe as they are in the firenation, although i doubt any of them wanted you as their mayor in the first place, but nonetheless, those are my peace terms." Aang finished with a stern face, Shun kept staring at the youngman as if he was crazy, touched by a spirit in the head, eventually Shun just guffawed.
"You don't seem to understand that you are in no position to make demands.. Oh, i get it now, you think because i sent you a message to offer peace that i am afraid of you? you are dead wrong, Avatar.. even if you still had the avatar state, i would have never abandoned this city without a fight.. a fight to the death.." Shun said, his eyes narrowed, his face angry, suddenly his face returned to normal, and he continued, "But.. as everybody knows, i have the leverage, and so you'll listen to my terms, or else the leverage dies." Shun finished shrugging his shoulders, as if to make it further known that there is nothing holding him back from doing it.
Aang looked at the man in disgust, as soon as he heard the word 'dies' he shut his eyes briefly before opening them again.
"Alright.. what are your terms, Shun?" Kori spoke up since Aang shut his mouth again.
"There is a bright lady.. My terms are simple, give up the pursuit for power, leave the colonies in our good hands, people that actually care about the welfare of this area, and leave in peace." Shun said, Aang and company stared at him as if he was mumbling gibberish, is this guy for real?
"Are you being serious? You are the usurper!" Kori reasoned.
"Hey hey hey hey!" Shun snapped, apparently that word struck a nerve, he continued, "We are not usurpers, we want to make the world a better place, your existence defile the reputation of human beings, with your ignorance, debauchery and lecherousness.. Could you name a place filled with pirates and bandits? that's right, The Earth Kingdom, Could you name a place that neglects women and uses them as tools of pleasure, and also is filled with dirty politicians and rapists? That's right, The Watertribes.. The Firenation is above all these insults, The Firenation is the world's only hope, as opposed to what you think, our purpose isn't to destroy and sabotage, our purpose is to save the world from itself." Shun finished,
this came out of nowhere, Aang never thought this man would have such a candied tongue, he makes everything seem so right and fair, no wonder Zhao chose him to be leader of the colonies.
"Do you really believe anything of what you just said?" Aang started, looking at Shun dead in the eyes, "Because if you do, probably all your countrymen know it too, and that makes the problem even more severe than i thought, Apart from the fact that you never mentioned The Air nomads.. whatever they taught you in school, or what Zhao convinced you with, that's not how the world views you, Shun.. Do you know what Firelord Sozin's plan was for the airtemples had he succeeded in murdering Roku?" Aang asked, Shun looked confused by the question but he shook his head nonetheless clearly curious to hear the answer, "His plan was to use The comet that comes every hundred years to wipe out the air nomads, his plan was to murder us all, remove entire generations from history just to get the avatar out of his way, you think someone like that cares for the people of the world and give them hope?" Aang asked, a rhetorical question but nonetheless Shun seemed to be in thought, Eventually he smiled and looked at Aang.
"I didn't mention the air nomads because you have no place in this world.." Shun said, startling Aang, Shun smiled at the look on Aang's face and continued, "You are nomads, you have no influence on this world, just to sour our moods with an avatar every some hundred years, making us sick with his conservative traditions and customs, Apparently Firelord Sozin wanted to save humanity from such mockery, that's right, Avatar.. the air nomads are a mockery to the world, perhaps you should have been wiped out after all." Shun spit out, his own soldiers looking at him briefly before turning away, Aang was still shocked by the words Shun spit out, mostly because apart from his talk about the air nomads being wiped out, he was absolutely right, the air nomads never served the world, in fact they worked on detaching themselves from the world to free their spirit, even Air nomad avatars have no history in saving the world whatsoever, except for a few like Avatar Yangchen, Aang was repulsed by Shun's words, but mostly he was saddened by them.
He composed himself before answering, "Maybe you are right.." Aang started, The smirk on Shun's face was removed quickly, and his look turned to that of surprise, Aang continued, "But as you probably know, i broke those rules a long time ago, you are not fighting an air nomad, you are fighting The Avatar, you are fighting the man that's going to bring you and your leaders down, freeing the world of your dull system, and i promise you, Shun.. i promise you, this fight won't end until you are captured or DEAD!" Aang said, making Shun narrow his eyes, his features darken from the anger, Aang then continued by proposing,
"Let's end this in a firenation way, Shun.. You and Me.. Agni Kai." Aang finished with determination.
Internally however, he felt like he was crumbling, he never would have thought in a million years that he would suggest murdering someone for any gain, even if it means safety of the people, Now, he had no problem challenging Shun to an Agni Kai, life truly is wondrous.
The effect on his friends beside him and Shun in front of him wasn't any different, Although Shun displayed more of fear, they were all rendered speechless and Aang kept staring in Shun's eyes, waiting for his decision.
Eventually the shock wore off, and Shun broke out laughing, Aang looked at him in disgust as he did so, "Did you really think i would risk our advantage in a blasting fight with you? I expected naivete, but this is unbearable, Avatar.. I've heard stories about you hunting down our rebel order, even without the avatar state, you are probably one of the most gifted benders out there.. maybe i'll beat you in The Agni Kai, maybe not.. but either way, why should i risk it?" Shun asked.
Aang snorted, perhaps Shun didn't accept his proposal but it gave him advantage, Aang averted his eyes to Shun's soldiers, he then shrugged and said, "Well, that shows you what kind of leader you are following, Gentlemen.. a man you would fight for bravely, yet he wouldn't return the favor and fight for you." Aang finished allowing himself a satisfied smile, Shun looked around at his men, clearly disturbed by Aang's remarks, and Aang knew he finally had an advantage over Shun.
Shun looked at Aang with a smile of his own, and.. is that a look of admiration? "Pretty clever of you, Avatar.. but that would work on mindless people like your own, not trained firenation soldiers.." Shun started, yet the look on his soldiers' face said otherwise, clearly Aang struck a nerve, nonetheless Shun continued, "Why don't you want to surrender, Avatar? We have your friend in our custody, we take parts of his body everyday, i don't even remember how many fingers we took away off his hands and legs.." Shun said, Aang then looked at Kori whose eyes glistened with tears by Shun's words, Aang was fearful she might do something rash, and so he kept staring at her, but surprisingly she just kept staring at Shun in sadness and disgust, Shun continued, "Not to mention that we have the whole city of Yu Dao in our custody. You make a move on us, then we are going out of our way, we will do anything necessary to avoid surrender." Shun said.
Aang was disturbed to say the least, the images of the people of Yu Dao screaming for help couldn't be avoided by his mind, even the look on Shun's soldiers was the same, They looked uninformed of such new tactics by their leader.
"You are the lowest form of humanity i've ever seen in my life." Kori said all of a sudden from beside Aang, Aang was so shocked himself that he kept looking at the ground in agony, not even bothering to look at Kori or Shun.
Aang finally had an idea, perhaps Jet's departure was for the better after all, he prayed for the spirits to forgive him as he was about to take a leap of faith and lie to avoid this massacre, Aang brought his head up to Shun with a look of disdain, "I thought you might say that, Shun.. a low human being like you would do anything to survive.. but what i realized is that you haven't asked me the important question i was expecting you to ask yet.. Where is Jet?" Aang said.
"I already know the answer to this question, he is hiding from me, he never had the balls to confront me or face me like a man." Shun responded with a smirk.
Aang was about to elaborate, only to be cut short by Kori who spoke up all of a sudden, "We are coming for you and your city in two days, Shun.." Kori startled all the people in attendance who turned back to look at her, "And if you are man enough, you'll come out with your army to face us.. I suggest you sleep well, it's going to be a long and hard battle." Kori turned on her heels but not before sparing Shun a disgusted look, then walked off to where Appa stood, her friends following her soon after, leaving Aang alone with Shun and his men.
Aang stood there motionless, not uttering a single word after Kori left.. Yes, they have devised plans in case it came to war with Shun, but planning is one thing, fighting is another, Aang hoped this might have been a better day.
"Well, since she put it that way, that settles it then.. See you in two days, Avatar, i hope the rest of your small army are as bold as your fine lady." Shun said, taking his soldiers and going back to their tanks, leaving Aang to think this through. Eventually he broke out of his daze and walked back to Appa, he jumped to the saddle to where Kori, Shu and Bao were waiting for him.
"Why the fuck would you do that? i thought you wanted Sneers back, what about all those innocent people he is going to murder?" Aang scolded.
"I am sure you know that was an empty threat, Aang.. you never needed to lie to him about Jet when you know for sure that he is not going to destroy Yu Dao, it's direct orders from Zhao to never harm a firenation citizen in the colonies, you think Shun will risk Zhao's anger? even a blind person would notice the look of uncertainty on his face." Kori responded.
"You haven't answered the question about Sneers." Aang asked, making Kori conflicted again.
"I am sure Sneers doesn't want us to stop fighting on his account, he only threatened us with Sneers because i was there, otherwise he wouldn't have mentioned him.. Me appearing to not give a crap about him will spare us his empty threats." Kori responded, appearing to be unsure about the matter.
"And what if you are wrong?" Aang asked.
Kori stared at the distance pensively, looking uncertain but answering nonetheless, "If i am wrong then.. then at least Sneers w-will d-die for a noble cause." Kori responded.
The trembling in her voice made Aang feel even more fearful, with Kori's words to Shun, they will face total war in two days, with Aang leading the freedom fighters, waiting for Katara and Sokka's aid who were supposed to arrive days ago, and make sure he doesn't kill anyone in the meantime.
Aang knew dark times would ensue sooner or later, but he never thought it would be this soon, you are never fully prepared for battle, Master Iroh used to say, Now he was sure of it.
Like it or not, he will have to face Shun's wrath until the aid arrives, or their demise arrives.
