The White Flame (An Avatar Story) Book 2: Warfare

by Aegis Whiteflame

The Rats and the Hornets are gone, but the streets of Citadel never change. Only its players. The Fire Nation's Siege of Ba Sing Se intensifies with every passing day, and the survivors of Citadel's latest turf war, now drafted into the Fire Nation, are on death row to see the worst of what war has to offer.

43. Contact with the Enemy

Danev

Somebody had to get the night's watch; it was only natural. Ideally, after a day of fighting, it would have been none of us who had spent the day before fighting for our lives to get here, but it was rare that things often worked out in a way that one could consider just or fair, because spirits' knew that when defending one's home, there was no method of defense one could call 'unjust' or 'unfair.'

At the very least, that was how the Earth Kingdom must have seen it, because as soon as they had retreated, the artillery had begun.

Not trained on us, but rather, on the river to our backs, on the troop transports we ideally would have liked to take us back to the rear for rest and recovery while the fresh battalions followed up the line to take our place.

But instead, the 114th occupied the same trenches they had just fought tooth and nail to secure hours earlier, and it was the least I could do to ensure as many of them would be able to get as much sleep as they could as possible.

Spirits knew we needed it all things considered, but I couldn't complain too much. Across the whole of the 114th, we had suffered only 24 casualties, only 7 of them deaths, and only one belonging to Dragon Platoon, Aomolam, not having survived the injuries inflicted upon him during the fighting.

Tiason, Uzak, Tisai, and a few others had sustained injuries, but non unsurvivable, stabilized now with the fighting having subsided, and it was them we gave what relief we could, even with artillery flying overhead.

It'd lasted since early evening deep into the night, and only recently ceased, likely in consideration of the fact that morning would be coming soon, and the Earth Kingdom had done their jobs more than well in depriving us of as much sleep as they could.

Little good it would do them. With sunup, reinforcements would come across the river, the 119th battalion would be relieved, and the rear it would be for us. Until such a time came, however, we had to get comfortable however we could with wounded, prisoners, and an embittered rival to our north.

Five men of Dragon platoon took the night shift: myself and 4 volunteers who had taken it upon themselves to do so: Shozi, Chejuh, Mano, and Murao who was less on patrol and more up tending to the wounded, but still counted among those who would not be getting a full night of rest today.

I passed by Shozi who was with Chejuh, the latter taking a huff from an opium pipe before offering it to Shozi, who refused it the same as he did on all prior occasions, and likely for the same reasons. His breathing was no good with smoke in his lungs rotting them away, he'd say, but still, Chejuh would find a moment to offer every evening, and get turned down every time.

Chejuh extended the same offer towards me, but I'd turned it down, none too fond of the experience I'd had with it both in Citadel and here with the 114th, thinking the latter time that perhaps what I'd been given in Taisho had simply been bad stuck. I was still sure it was, but the numbness I'd felt with the 114th too had hardly been any better, and was the last thing I, or any of us needed while on patrol.

"Go easy on that, yeah?" I said to Chejuh.

He looked up at me and said, "I know, yeah, I know, just, you know…needed something to take the edge off."

"Well, take the edge off when watch isn't yours," I answered. "Make that your last hit of the night and I'll buy your next dose when we're back in the rear."

Those words were all it took for Chejuh's next huff to be his last, extinguishing the pipe and offering me a salute.

Satisfied, I continued down the line, Shozi standing up from the wall to join me, eliciting a protest from Chejuh who complained, "Aw what? I said I'd stop pushing you to join me!"

"Standing next to you I may as well be," Shozi teased, joining me shortly thereafter on my rounds.

We continued eastwards, passing through the small tunnel network that led to a barracks we'd appropriated from the Earth Kingdom, finding outside of it Sho, a bandage around his head, but oddly enough, a smile still on his face in spite of the injury he'd taken last night.

"Hiya, Sho," I said, greeting the boy who should have either been asleep in the barracks or being tended to by Murao in the infirmary. "What're you still doing up?"

"Eh," he shrugged. "Couldn't sleep. Headaches."

"And Murao discharged you still?"

"Not really so much as I discharged myself."

"Kickass," Shozi said with a smile.

"Reason being?" I asked Sho.

"Wanted to sleep on my own bunk."

He understood the irony of his words quick enough, sighed, still smiling, and said, "That didn't quite work out."

"Take something for the pain and get some sleep," I said.

He shook his head. "It's fine. Not tired. Think I got enough sleep while I was knocked out on the beach and you were dragging me ashore. I guess I should thank you again for that, eh?"

"First twenty times were enough," I smiled. "Least take something for the pain then?"

Again he shook his head. "Think better without it."

I wouldn't spend the rest of the night arguing with him about it, and so I let it slide, heading now back to the frontline, the world ahead of us not yet having devolved to a no man's land, but certain to do so in due time.

Already a line of craters created by our artillery dotted the terrain ahead of us from when our guns had sullied an Earth Kingdom retreat, viable cover for an eventual charge, hopefully more usable to us than the enemy.

I stood up on the earthen firestep that Mano had unearthed for us and leaned forward against the trench wall, facing north over our hole.

I had no sight on whatever defense the Earth Kingdom had put ahead to the North. I wanted to believe, perhaps, that their failures the past many times at the reserve trench, the forest, and now the river had encouraged them to face us instead at their inner wall, an obstacle we would bring down in time no different than the last, but I doubted we would be so lucky.

They were somewhere, on the backfoot, sure, but they were there.

"So how much time you think we'll be getting back in the rear?" Shozi asked, sitting down on the firestep beside me, removing his helmet and setting his matchlock down beside him.

"'Til they need someone to get the job right," I said with a smile.

Shozi chuckled, the comment just his type.

I chuckled back, but said more earnestly after, "Fortnight at least; maybe a month if we're lucky. Doubt we'll get full leave."

"Not that there's much to do with one anyway. Hardly any towns or villages for us to enjoy leave at that's not fucking Citadel."

"Give it time," I said. "Earth Kingdom's got plenty of settlements across the outer ring; sure to take some eventually. Doubt it'll be a warm welcome, however."

Shozi shrugged. "Think they care that much? Long as we don't go around burnin' them out of their homes, if I were them, I'd just be happy to have some food again."

"Were that the case they would've thrown themselves over to us months ago," I said, shaking my head. "No; they're stubborn. This is their home and I doubt they're prone to go quietly, civvie or otherwise."

Shozi didn't contest the statement, only leaned back and closed his eyes.

I afforded him the brief respite. I had my eyes on the grounds ahead of us, and so clutched my poncho closer to me in opposition to the southwards wind that blew from the north. It was a frigid night for late Spring.

I found myself envying Zihe and the whole of Elephant Platoon right around now. Word was the boy'd grown proficient enough in his firebending that even outside of being a battlefield asset, such was his prowess that even those in his direct vicinity reported a sudden warmness in the air.

I didn't know if that same sentiment would last into Summer, but for now, the prospect of that seemed rather nice.

Another howl of the win and a shiver that followed, but even as the breeze pushed past me, its howling ring lingered in the air, a shrill whistle that didn't belong.

I leaned forward, cocking my head to the right so as to try and hear better, but nothing came to me.

It must have been noticeable as Shozi asked shortly thereafter, "Something the matter, lie-"

I shushed him, holding a finger out to him to quiet, which he did so for a long enough time that I still heard the whistle, it was there, but just the wind?

"Shozi," I said. "You hear that?"

He cocked his head too, staring up towards the sky at something I couldn't identify as he listened, only to shake his head, but I would soon learn I wasn't alone in what I perceived, Sho of all people wandering outside of the trench tunnels to find the two of us, and so asked, "You two hear that?"

"How the fuck did you hear that?" Shozi asked, amazed, the boy only shrugging.

I nodded in answer. "You too?"

Sho nodded, the whistle in the wind going nowhere, occasionally lost, drowned out by the wind's howl, only to resume once the wind subsided.

"Think it's one of ours?" Shozi asked, a logical conclusion, but regarding what?

"I can go down the line," Sho offered. "Check it out."

"Don't go too far," I ordered. "Check it out quick, and be back here on the double, yeah?"

Sho nodded. "Of course."

And he was off.

And the whistle still rang, now to a point that even Shozi could hear, more whistles, I imagined, now having been added to its choir. "Midnight drill?" he suggested.

We knew that was wrong as soon as he had said it, and soon enough, he was on the firestep with me, listening, watching.

And that was when it appeared out of the corner of my eye to the northwest, indistinguishable in the dark from an early morning mist creeping its way across a field as cloud touched the earth, carried with the wind, natural in all sense of the word but for a single defining characteristic–a color that was not borne naturally from this world.

"Gas," I said under my breath, the words having formed and rolled off of my tongue before I'd even processed what I was saying.

And then I did.

"Gas!" I said again, louder, now yelling, throwing myself off of the firestep as Shozi seemed as taken aback from my scream as he might be from a gunshot.

He scrambled for the gas mask on his belt while I did the same for the whistle around my neck, bringing it up to my lips to add to the symphony of realization that soon came to consume our line.

To the west, another whistle went up as I blew on my own too, gas mask still at my belt as I did whatever was necessary to ensure all of Dragon company was up in time.

I was back in the barracks tunnel, blowing again to let the ring echo across the earthen walls, doing more than enough for the thirty-so men that scrambled out of their bunks to determine what in spirits' name was transpiring as I now finally went for my own mask, removing my helmet to get it on, saying as I did, "Masks on, masks on! Gas!"

It was a drill we must have gone over a hundred times in basic training, and so the men of the 114th were quick out of their cots, reaching for gas masks that found themselves in their bags, beneath their helmets, or in some cases even beneath pillows.

Mano was up too soon enough from his infirmary, a question look of shock on his face in the wake of an eventuality we've all prepared for, but never had faced in actuality until now.

"Gas!" I yelled at him, my voice a muffled warble behind his mask, but he understood quickly enough, his concern less for him, and judging by the way he looked, for those that were his responsibility.

"The wounded," he said beneath his breath.

"Get theirs on," I ordered leaving the barracks as he retreated deeper into the trench network.

Back at the front line I now bore witness to the mist as it creeped closer to our line, visible from down below even now, a hiss I was certain I was just imagining mixing with the dying whistles from the battalion, the reality that if they hadn't done anything by now, then it was already too late.

The gas came over the wall of the trench, and I felt myself pause, wondering in those few seconds that it drew closer to me if these masks worked, if the gas was one whose intention was asphyxiation and now burning of the skin or some other effect. The masks had been tested back in the Fire Nation, sure, but in the field, with us, new to their use in a real situation such as this? I considered turning back, almost did, but it was already too late, and when next my eyes opened from a blink, I was lost in a fog of yellow, and my breath was still my own. Labored, panicked, but still mine.

I turned back into the tunnel, and as I did, couldn't tell if the fog was around me now or the mist I breathed into my own mask. All I could make out now was the barracks in front of me and the many faceless forms, one of whom sported a cough that called my attention immediately over to him. The man in question was Rinu, struggling with the straps of his mask, but with some small assistance from me and Penar beside him, was well-situated.

I turned back to face the exit of the barracks on account of a sound I heard that was not one of whistles, no more free mouths left to blow into them, but that of footsteps instead.

Appearing in the hallway was a masked soldier I recognized only by his uniform, that of a staff sergeant, Chejuh.

"Spirits' sake," his recognizable voice stated behind his mask. "Fuckers really don't want us resting easy, huh?"

But it wasn't the time for jokes.

"Chejuh," I said. "I want squads 1 through 3 on the front line now, riflemen at the ready. They might be trying to move men in through the fog." He nodded and saluted, but I had just as quick pulled Mano from the crowd and told him personally, "Mano; I need eyes and ears out for anything. If they're out there, we need to know first before they try anything."

He too, though he took a moment, nodded, and was on it, leaving alongside the rest of the platoon who barely had their full uniforms on in the haste of everything, I myself returning to my bunk to retrieve the pack I'd left beside my bunk, halted in my path, however, by something my foot collided with.

Myself facing downward, it revealed itself to me as a gasmask, and beside it, the bunk that was Sho's.

A turn in my stomach, and just as quick a dismissal. I couldn't think about that; not now. I had to tell myself wherever he'd wound up, he had managed one way or another. The world I emerged back into upon leaving the barracks, however, did not inspire that same confidence, the world shrouded in yellow toxic mist as Dragon platoon soldiers struggled to find their places along the front line, to our left the sound of a platoon that had none of the same luck as us: coughing, shouts of terror, pleas for help we were too far to provide, and eventual silence.

I felt the hairs across my body rise as I heard Chejuh ask to my side, "42nd Company?"

I nodded, and wondered just how many of the company had been lost to the gas, if Captain Ukao was among them, and a million other questions.

Chief among those other questions, however, was that of our own Captain.

I had to take the lack of screaming and struggle to our east as evidence that he and the whole of the 114th was still fine, but even as the preferable alternative, the silence still unsettled me, as well as, it seemed, the whole of Dragon platoon.

But we couldn't be focused on that of all things. The Earth Kingdom wouldn't simply gas our trenches in the middle of the night, scatter us, scare us, catch us off guard just as a 'fuck you.' They would be coming, but in what form? Infantry, earthbenders, could they be tunneling beneath us right now?

"Mano," I called out, hoping to get verification of that wonder in my mind. "Anything?"

"Not yet," I heard his voice say behind his mask, a few persons to my right amidst his own squad's ranks. "Nothing beneath us either. It's quiet."

"I don't like 'quiet.' Keep on guard."

"Sir."

"Shozi!" I called out next.

"Lieutenant." Him to the left of me.

"Get the platoon in firing ranks, all hand cannons at the ready. You're on first rank, Asaih's on second."

"Yes, sir!"

"Chejuh!"

An answer I did not get right away.

Damnit, where is he?

"Chejuh!" I called again.

"Sir?" he asked, as though astounded to hear me speaking in spite of having been right beside me. Spirits, I thought. We're all on edge. "Orders for squad 4?" he asked.

"We still don't know what the Earth Kingdom's up to. I want their swords and shields at the ready covering our rear in case they try to come at us from underneath."

Chejuh nodded, and in spite of his prior hesitation was quick to announce a proclamation of "Squad 4, swords and shields!"

"Swords and shields" the echo ordered from Tuzao, Squad 4's sergeant, loud enough that it nearly drowned out a call from our east.

"Officer on deck!" the voice, unrecognizable behind the filter of a Fire Nation gas mask, said.

And sure enough, there was, Captain Rulaan coming down our line, eyes on each of the men he passed, checking us each in turn for life as a good few men, myself included, moved to salute him, met only with a dismissive, "Hardly the time for that, eh?"

I stopped myself from standing at attention by the time that his gaze, or at least, I assumed was his gaze from behind his mask's goggles, found my lieutenant's uniform, and me in turn. "Glad to see you and Dragon in one piece," he said, clasping my shoulder plate with a gloved hand.

"Same goes for you," I said. "The other platoons?"

"Still in one piece," Rulaan said. "All accounted for here?"

"All but Sho," I answered. "Went down the line to see what the matter was before the gas came in."

I knew the grimace that was sure to be behind Rulaan's gas mask even if I couldn't see it. Rather than dwell and grieve on information we all lacked, he only nodded.

"Any word down the line?" he asked.

"42nd went quiet," I answered. "Gas got to them, I think."

"Gas won't be the end of it. Keep your men at attention, still need to check on Cat and Elephant."

"Sir," I affirmed, but not yet ready to let him return to the others. "Any word from command for you?"

"None," Rulaan said. "And I doubt Division will want to send more troops across the river without even an estimate of what the Earth Kingdom's doing. Could be just an effort to catch our transports on the river as anything else."

"Orders then?" I asked.

"Just…just hold for now. Earth Kingdom will play their hand soon if they have one; best not to reveal ours until they do."

"Understood," I answered, and with a nod, Rulaan was off towards the other platoons, needing to know more than anything that the men of the 114th under his care were safe and accounted for. I regretted I could not offer that security of knowing for Sho.

"I wasn't aware we had a hand to play with," I heard Chejuh scoff to my side once Rulaan was gone."

"Still alive, ain't we?" I asked. "Got that much going for us at least."

Granted, it wasn't much, but it was also everything, and it would have to do.

Chejuh grumbled something off to my side that I could not clearly hear from behind his mask, so focused instead on that which I could perceive, which wasn't much–just a haze of thick gas even further shrouded by the fog against my own gas mask's visor.

What I would have given to be able to take it off and wipe it down if it hadn't, well, meant choking around the gaseous death around me. That was something of a dealbreaker.

Spirits, I thought. Where the hell are they? This really nothing more than an effort to scare us out of our beds, catch a few of us in our sleep?

Because as the minute droned on by, it sure did feel that way, until such a time that a voice came to my side, just a muffled silent whimper at first, letting out a muted, "Hey" until it grew louder with its next utterance.

"Hey!" Mano said louder now, attracting all eyes and ears towards him, the prophet on whom all knowledge of what we faced was placed. "Something's coming," he said. His bare hands rested on the earth of the trench wall, eyes darting around as though searching for a confirmation that none of Dragon Platoon could provide, panicked, frightened.

"'Bout fucking time," I heard Shozi say.

"How many infantry?" I asked Mano, not receiving an answer right away, however, for a reason I assumed to be his mere counting of what we faced.

The longer he hesitated, the more I feared, but mere infantry against an entrenched position such as ours could only end one way, and so it meant little to me until I heard Mano answer, "Not infantry. Bigger."

"Bigger?" Tosa asked. "What? They riding badger moles into battle now?"

There was no immediate response, and I wasn't about to discount anything towards the realm of possibility. My head turned towards Mano only in time to see him shake his head.

"No," he finally said. "It's not alive…it's…they're big. Lots of them."

Something in his words, I felt the hairs on my arm raise.

"Eyes front!" I yelled, as much an order to myself as to the men of Dragon platoon as we all shifted our attention back now towards the dark expanse ahead and whatever may lay beyond that black-green mist.

Because while none of us could see what Mano had sensed, we could hear it–an inhuman grinding and whirring that reminded me of Citadel's inner gate, a monster not of flesh and bone, but iron and stone.

It hadn't been me who had given the order, but a flare shot into the air likely on the countenance of some officer whose heart was pounding as much as my own.

Yellow light shot into the air and bounced off of the great green haze that enveloped the horizon, and an unrecognizable form that hid in its shadows.

Slowly, albeit surely, it crept forward through the mist, unhindered by whatever mound, crater, or other miscellaneous obstacle that stood in its path, flexing over all like a worm composed of steel rather than anything this earth could form. And as it did, it was soon joined by others that unveiled themselves from the mist in kind, to either side and behind as well, one slowly becoming 3, 3 half a dozen, and a dozen shortly thereafter.

And in due time too, the one directly ahead of us came close enough that the emblem of the Earth Kingdom on its hull became unmistakable, now in our line of sight an army of Earth Kingdom landships. They had none of the speed or agility to match our own tanks, but from what I saw here alone, made up for it with a strength and presence that sent my heart into my throat.

I forced myself to swallow it back down and steady my voice in time to yell, "Get an artillery flare up there now!"

I was soon obliged by the pop, snap, and hiss of an orange artillery flare shooting into the air in an arc over the approaching enemy. Its red soon drowned out the light of the yellow light flare, drowning no man's land in a bloodied hue, certain to mean relief in only a matter of moments.

But the Earth Kingdom's behemoths rolled closer forward by the second.

"Fuck's sake," I heard Shozi hiss to my side. "Where the hell's our artillery?!"

"They even have artillery on standby?" Hash asked.

"Does Division not know what's going on?" I heard Murao ask.

"They've gotta," Chejuh answered. "Somebody's gotta've gotten a message 'cross the Taiga by now, right?"

By all accounts they should have, I thought, but yet, nothing was coming down, and they were rolling ever closer. We couldn't wait for a barrage that wasn't coming, even as other fire support signals went into the air up and down the line, inspired by my own, perhaps hoping with enough going into the sky, Division would take notice.

And perhaps they would, but by then, what would come of us?

I gritted my teeth. We couldn't wait. "Open fire!" I shouted. "Rank 1!"

A chorus of matchlocks resounded across Dragon's trench, my own shot among theirs.

"Rank 1, back and reload!"

Dragon Platoon soldiers stepped from their platforms and were replaced by those with fresh rounds to send, myself however maintaining my position, reloading from where I was as I watched the tanks come ever closer, yet unstopped.

Chejuh!" I shouted. "Keep them firing!"

A masked nod was all I got until he ordered shortly thereafter, "Rank 2, fire!"

Another symphony of gunshots, the enemy still rolling.

Past Chejuh's orders for rank 2 to retreat and rank 3 to take their place, I called out, "Mano; get some rocks on them, now!"

He obliged, but even that did nothing as the third rank fired, and the first again shortly thereafter joined by my own fire, all plinking harmlessly off of steel carcasses that rolled ever closer until, finally, they halted.

But it would not be for our sake. The fire of ranks 2, 3, and Mano's own endeavors continued, but past that all was a grind of the landship securing itself on the ground, and the hint of a forward hatch opening where the Earth Kingdom sigil had been seconds ago.

"Down!" I yelled, knowing what was coming, a hand instinctively reaching out to find the hem of the nearest soldier's uniform before leaping down myself into the trench. "Get down!"

And no later was the explosion of blasting jelly and stone against the crest of our trench, adjacent to where I'd been fractions of a second ago.

Echoed were the calls to get down as other soldiers of Dragon threw themselves to the floor of our trench, some lucky enough to do so in time, others not so much.

A call of "Rinu!" following another explosion turned my attention towards the soldier who had gone down, face torn from his head by the earthen fragmentation of the munitions fired upon us: blasting jelly bombs given shells of earth, every bit as lethal as the metal jackets of our own artillery shells.

Some persistent soldiers were dedicated to squeezing off their last shots while still on their platforms, but all were down in time as the Earth Kingdom tanks hammered away at our positions, most shots finding their end in no man's land as some wound their ways in our own line.

A lucky earthbending gunner's projectile found the rear wall of our trench about a half dozen yards away from me and exploded, earthen fragments finding both Demee and Eejulo, though the latter to a lesser degree.

"Stay down!" I shouted to the platoon as I picked up Eejulo and scanned his wounds, a mere graze to the shoulder. The men of Dragon were scrambling, reloading matchlocks, running to the barracks and back to collect supplies, Murao sliding to Demee's side to assess his wounds, picking him up and handing him off to Asaih to get on his feet.

The gas lingering in our trench, I could scarcely make out the whole of Dragon Platoon, much less the units we neighbored, but to west, what I could see was the sight of soldiers, remnants of the 42nd company, perhaps, rising from their trenches in an effort to run only to be cut down by new Earth Kingdom munitions and rapid earth fire as well, only one of every dozen making it over ten yards before getting cut down himself. And all by Earth Kingdom tanks that'd resumed their approach.

"Stay down!" I echoed again, finishing the loading of another bullet into my matchlock, stepping up on the trench step in time to make out the distance that'd been closed between their tanks and us–considerable.

Another shot I let fly, a fool's errand, before ducking back down into the trench, knowing any shot we could get off to be as ineffective as the last.

"Grenades!" I heard Chejuh yell. "Gather grenades now!"

"Move back through the trenches!" I yelled. "They're almost on top of us!"

And almost was an understatement. As soon as the statement had been said, off to our left, an Earth Kingdom tank was passing over the trenchline, its attention focused more westwards than on us, but the whistling of flying earthbending rapid fire spelling hell for whoever was unlucky enough to find themselves there.

A series of two curt whistles sounded to our right, the east, deeper in the 114th Company, sounding the order of retreat, an errand proving far more perilous by the second.

"Move back!" I shouted, picking up a downed Tosa and shoving him towards the trench corridor that led further south, covered in some small part from the tanks steadily overwhelming us at around the same moment that to our right, another Earth Kingdom tank passed over our trench.

Shozi let off a shot from his matchlock towards it, striking at nothing which I could see and it was barely in time that I shoved him into a retreat as well before an Earth Kingdom earth bomb struck right over him. "Back!" I yelled again to him and all those of Dragon around to hear.

"Help me with the wounded!" came a call from Murao who I could not yet see, ushering Chejuh, Mano, and a few of the other stubborn holdouts into the southwards trench tunnels. The western segment of Dragon's was still fundamentally on the line, and it was to them I now rushed, but too late.

"Tank!" came the call of Tuzao, followed promptly by the emergence of a tank above where a soldier, Jame judging by his screams, was posted. The trench wall gave way beneath the weight of the Earth Kingdom tank, and so it fell with a cloud of dust, earthen treads atop Jame's lower body, still rolling forward so as to crush that of him which was left, ending his screams with a squelch that wouldn't soon leave my mind.

A hatch along the tank's port side opened, a mere flash of light against an earthbender gunner's eyes before he opened fire. It was by chance I dived left into a trench alcove in time for the fire to avoid me, but so did it fill the trench, wall to wall that an already-injured Demee was killed, and so too was Murao, cut through like he was nothing and dropped dead to the ground atop the man he had stayed behind to save.

The tank rolled forward, flexing upwards with a metal groan of steel plate against plate, and so ascended out of the trench with as much ease as it had entered and killed 3 men like they were nothing.

Tuzao had been among the fortunate, still alive, albeit barely, an earth kingdom shard having shot straight through his right thigh.

I offered him my weight and he was back on a foot soon enough as we left behind the lifeless forms of Murao, Demee, and whatever was left of Jame, retreating down the southwards trench corridor that was no longer the haven that I'd have liked it to be.

The enemy had already rolled ahead, past now the point where we were ducking for cover, and a small glance behind was enough to inform those of Dragon platoon that a second wave was not far behind, already opening fire as well.

A munition struck the corner of the tunnel behind us, ahead and above, an Earth Kingdom tank laying down rapid fire on, from their position, what I imagined could only be troops of the 114th's other platoons.

So as not to throw ourselves into that same fire, our chances were slim, and so it was "Into the barracks!" that I ordered those of Dragon platoon still around to hear, some early in the retreat having made their own breaks for it, their fates as unknowable to me as they were uncontrollable.

But it was in good time at least that I with Tuzao leaning on me for support and the rest of Dragon were able to get inside, a stream of earthen rapid fire following behind us, but hitting harmlessly against the trench wall as the tank entered out of range.

But it continued in its path, out of our sight but with a vector that was unmistakable, the shaking of the earth around us already testament to what to expect. It grew only worse as the tank drew closer and I considered, for a moment, ordering Dragon across the corridor into the same tunnels that'd been used by Murao to store the wounded who no doubt were still there, but a single glance outside and the path of another tank directly overhead that put the notion to rest.

We were trapped, the world around us losing its integrity with every passing second as even through the earthen walls and ceiling we could hear the inhuman whirring of earth plates dragging metal wire treads overhead.

The ceiling collapsed. A part of it at least, and Mano was quick to place himself at the center of the room, arms raised above his head to prevent a total cave-in that would consume us all, but even he could only do so much, buckling under the weight of a crashing earth, but keeping the center alive.

Near the corner of the room, another segment of ceiling caved in alongside part of the wall, near directly atop Asaih and Chazu, forced to the ground caked in dust, staring up at the sky, screaming in horror as the Earth Kingdom tank passed directly above, treads and metallic carapace mere inches away from crushing them both.

But it passed, by ignorance sparing the two boys who Chejuh and Shozi rushed forward to help back to their feet, the latter yelling to me as he did, "We can't stay here!"

I was aware of as much, but my mind was still on the hallway that led out of the barracks, and across it, the entryway to the makeshift infirmary. I was only able to make so much as a single step towards it before the portal collapsed in a cloud of dust, the portside set of treads of an incoming tank all it took to bring the entryway to ruin, an audible cataclysm of earth beyond spelling a total collapse that could mean only death for the injured still trapped within.

I felt the knot in my stomach tighten, Murao's last efforts now lost too as Uzak, Tiason, and Tisai sentenced to an early grave, and us possibly about to follow as the responsible tank's starboard side met us with an opening hatch.

"Mano!" I yelled, and the man was quick on it, turning his attention from the superstructure surrounding us to erected a blockade to the barrack's entrance between the tank's gunner port and us. One could hear with ease the patter of rock projectiles against Mano's shield as he held firm until, for just a moment, they ceased.

But it was enough.

"Mano!" another yell came, this time from Shozi, knelt to the ground, matchlock in hand and raised.

With a turn of his head, Mano obliged, and the shield dropped.

Still there, the tank sat, gunner's port open, and I swore I could catch for just a fraction of a second the glint of understanding in the earthbender gunner's eyes before Shozi fired, and the starboard defense of the Earth Kingdom tank went idle.

Perhaps knowing its gunner dead and not daring to risk its port gunner, the tank rolled ahead through our tunnel, near caving in another wall as it did, leaving us safe for the moment, but a short moment it would be.

Mano was quick to the entrance, across the hall to try and verify the same grim conclusion I had come to, putting a hand to the collapsed entrance behind which Uzak, Tisao, and Tiason had rested. Affording a glance to his left too, he turned and returned to the barrack, affirming, "Infirmary's gone; 3rd wave of tanks coming. Infantry too."

We were going to be overwhelmed. Hell, we were pretty damned overwhelmed as we were already, but there was no safety to be found in here. We had to move. We had to get to the Taiga and get across before the Earth Kingdom could pin us with our backs to the river and kill us all with no means of escape

"Dragon!" I yelled, stepping towards the breach in the barracks that'd been created by the tank that'd passed overhead. "Through the breach and to the rear! We're retreating! Now!"

I turned back to face what was left of Dragon with me, just over two dozen men, near a dozen slain or lost in the last 15 minutes alone.

No more, I told myself, the knot in my stomach threatening to burst out at any moment. No more.

"Dragon, move! Move!"

I was first out, ushering past me those that remained of Dragon Platoon, a glance northwards to my right the advance of a new wave of approaching Earth Kingdom forces: tanks now accompanied by infantry too.

Tanks still fired, but at such a range as they were, most shells went wide, exploding either short or firing off into an unknown distance.

They'll be on top of us at any moment.

From my belt I recovered my flare gun, and checking the capsule for a brief instant, fired into the air as I was joined by Chejuh and Shozi, the last of Dragon Platoon's retreating forces.

Orange shot into the sky again, myself praying that Division knew by now from across the river just what the hell was happening, but seeming to serve to the contrary concern of Shozi and Chejuh.

"Are you crazy?!" Shozi yelled as he fell into step beside me to run, perhaps hastened by that which I had just done. "You'll call artillery right on top of us."

"That's the idea! Frontline is lost; we need to stop them there if we can!"

There was no answer, perhaps out of understanding, or perhaps just to conserve breath as we ran. Scattered fires across the trench tops revealed the dissipation of the gas that'd tormented us just moments ago, but still, we dared not remove our masks from our faces even with the difficulty they offered us as we ran, to all sides of us retreating men of the whole of the 91st Brigade.

And somehow, it was those of us in the rear who had it easiest, Earth Kingdom tank rapid fire pounding into those Fire Nation soldiers unfortunate enough to have been in front of them or to their immediate sides, near as fast as a running man.

They would pursue us all the way to the Taiga if nothing was done, and such seemed to be the same realization that the two veterans who ran beside me came to, Chejuh already from his belt unhooking a grenade.

"In the treads and the gunner ports!" Chejuh yelled as we ran past and over craters and bodies, yesterday's Earth Kingdom and today's Fire Nation alike.

A grenade of my own was out next, Chejuh sprinting ahead to reach the same tank that'd taken our ceiling, and lit his grenade's fuse with a flick of his finger.

Focused on laying into retreating Fire Nation soldiers ahead of it, the gunner had taken no notice of Chejuh who reached the tank and set the grenade gently into the tank's tread before hurrying away.

A second or two later, it detonated, blowing apart the metal wiring of the tread and dislodging a number of the earthen disks that pushed them forward.

The smoke cleared as Chejuh unslung his matchlock from his back and took aim as my turn came, rushing forward to the gunner's hatch that'd been open second ago. Lighting the fuse of my grenade, I took hold of the hatch and raised it open, tossing the grenade inside.

I could hear only a second of shouting protest from inside before a muffled explosion sounded.

Unslinging my own matchlock as well, I joined Shozi and Chejuh's side, and took aim just in time for for one of the tank's starboard steel starboard plates to swing open, a small contingent of men lucky enough to have not been taken by the fragmentation now throwing themselves out.

The first who stepped out took a bullet from Shozi. The next two who threw themselves to the ground took bullets from Chejuh and I while the last, diving out as well and attempting to clamber to his feet in time to run, was impaled by Shozi's bayonet.

Shozi set to reloading his matchlock while Chejuh and I stabbed the bodies of the men we'd downed for good measure, not noticing until we were done that Shozi's eyes were set in horror on a sight behind us that we had not been aware of.

To our rear, from the north, the newest wave of Earth Kingdom tanks and infantry had reached our line, and while I had thought most men of the 91st Brigade to have left the trench behind, I would be proved wrong by the screams.

Tank gunners cut down Fire Nation soldiers who attempted to flee from their trenches while those who huddled down for presumed safety would meet no better a fate, the ground itself shifting to swallow them whole as earthbenders approached the trenches and pushed their walls together, crushing and drowning in the earth those who had not fled in time.

Earth splintered up from the ground and the shake of it could be felt beneath our feet as well, accompanied by a low groan of earth against earth, but not enough to drown out the screams of the men being swallowed alive by the earth and by an ever-approaching enemy.

"Run!" I yelled. "Run!"

It was an order that would get no complaint from the men beside me, quick in joining me as I turned the other direction and ran, against our better nature towards another line of Earth Kingdom tanks, but at the very least towards one that wasn't facing us.

Through yesterday's battlefield we stormed, the bodies of Earth Kingdom soldiers from yesterday's battle now being joined by the fresh numbers of their opponents, cut to the ground with no more mercy than we had given them yesterday.

In the cleared foxholes, I saw Fire Nation soldiers huddling for cover, daring not to draw any closer to the tanks that they'd been lucky enough to be passed over by, none the wiser of the fresh line that still approached.

Chejuh, Shozi, and I would say what we could, but few would budge, and so we still ran, past Earth Kingdom tanks that'd been disabled in similar a manner to that which we had done, but nowhere near enough to make a difference.

The route we took had been the complete opposite of that which we had done just over half a day ago, retracing the very steps of yesterday's attack and yesterday's success, now replaced by the mad scramble which we suffered from now, all progress of yesterday wasted, our crossing a success for less than a day now about to be lost to a fury we never would have anticipated.

We ran. Artillery from the Fire Nation's side of the river began finally to rain down upon the enemy, but too little too late. So we ran. Past more foxholes, through service tunnels that fed the coastal barricades, but not fast enough.

The tanks were faster, passing leagues upon leagues of Fire Nation soldiers, making direct way for our landing craft intent on cutting off all escape.

Down they went on the embankment of the Taiga, disappearing behind its slope to the beachhead that'd been ours for only an evening, and I felt that knot in my stomach grow all the more fierce, running forward still because I knew what lay to our backs to be only worse.

And as I ran, I prayed. Prayed that a miracle would await us on the Taiga: prayed perhaps that the Marines had secured the coast anew, provided reinforcements to combat the enemy's armored, prayed perhaps that armored units of our own, that Fluke and the 44th Armored were just past the horizon ready to come to our aid, prayed that, somehow, my grave would not be the depths of the Taiga's waters as I inevitably joined the rest of the 91st Brigade in an attempt to swim across only to meet a similar fate.

Yet as Chejuh, Shozi, and I finally reached the edge of the Taiga's upper embankment, the sight which we were afforded was not one of Earth Kingdom tanks destroying landing craft atop the river as, simply put, the river was not there.

The sight instead was one of Fire Nation soldiers ducking for cover amongst the bodies of their comrades and the hulls of grounded landing craft, and Earth Kingdom tanks descending deeper down the slopes into the depths of where the Taiga had been only yesterday, but was no longer.

"Where-" Chejuh said. "Where's the Taiga?"

"It's," Shozi started. "It's gone. How…how is it gone?"

And as my eyes were met with the sight of the impossible, I remembered that which we were fighting, the enemies of our nation not only those who controlled the earth alone, but its waves and seas too, not near as numerous, but our enemies all the same, hidden, spread throughout the world, but our foes all the same, and they were here.

"They emptied the Taiga," I breathed out. "They dammed it and emptied it."

"No, that's not impossible," Chejuh gasped out, refusing to come to terms with that which was right in front of him. "They can't have-no."

But they did.

From the coast, red emergency flares touched the sky, and I wondered which of those, if any, might have come from Rulaan. I could not see him, could not make out where he might've been, or hell, where Dragon, much less the whole 114th was, only Shozi and Chejuh to my side, watching as the Fire Nation split itself in half, some soldiers daring to rise back up the embankment towards the advancing Earth Kingdom forces as some threw themselves deeper into the dried out Taiga.

But I knew what awaited the latter: a mass grave of corpses, Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation alike resulting from a month of failed river crossings from both sides, a scrapyard of sunken and abandoned landing craft, undetonated naval mines, and however else the hells has chosen to manifest themselves on this earth.

Because one thing it was not. It was not an escape.

There was no escape. Not anymore. With the Taiga still a body of moving water, our chances had been slim, but a chance there still was of reaching a landing craft before we could be encircled by the Earth Kingdom, but the Earth Kingdom was not simply interested in the annihilation of the 91st and 217th Brigades. They had the opportunity to completely crush the Dragon's Host and pierce through them, sending back all the way to the wall if not beyond, and the Earth Kingdom was intent on taking

There was no retreat by death on the other side of the Taiga. All that was left to us was that which we had on this side of the river, as little as it was. I knew not what was in store for our men, if it was surrender or fighting back to the last breath, and at that time, I was still too busy attempting to come to terms with reality to even deeply consider, but I just knew one thing at the time–We need to find the 114th.

I turned, and so they came–not the 114th, but the Earth Kingdom's third wave, tanks and infantry alike, storming over annihilated and crushed trenches, beyond, and now over foxholes I had resorted to for cover just moments ago.

"Cover!" I shouted, needing practically to shove Shozi and Chejuh out of their dazes. "Find cover now!"

The Earth Kingdom infantry had stormed ahead of their tanks, and so were nearly upon us now by the time we turned, a timely bullet from Shozi's matchlock just barely finding an Earth Kingdom spearman before he could reach me, outfitted with a gas mask no different from ours, his, however, merely a sack hood outfitted with hoses and goggles, but still enough, it seemed, to let them stand against us

I let off a shot as well towards an approaching crossbowman, downing him before drawing my sword, the time for ranged engagements having reached an end. "Move now!" I yelled. "Move cover to cover! We need to find the others!"

And as limited as said cover was, we moved, the Earth Kingdom tanks making up the third wave's rear not obliging their frontline of artillery, bombarding the way in front of them without regard, some projectiles finding Fire Nation personnel, and some their own.

Parallel to the embankment slope, we ran, the dried Taiga ever to our right as Fire Nation soldiers struggled back up the embankment, behind the gas masks and without a force but for some panicked cries, impossible to tell if they were of the 114th or otherwise, none bearing the mark of a lieutenant that may help to narrow down our frantic search..

I had thought that the knot in my stomach could grow no tighter, but here I was, Rulaan nowhere to be found, Earth Kingdom infantry atop us now, and their tanks growing ever closer.

But still we ran, at the mercy of whatever the Earth Kingdom could throw our way as we attempted to break for the coastal fortification maintenance tunnels, until one Earth Kingdom shot proved luckier than the rest. That wasn't to underscore our own luck, however, none of the fragmentation of the Earth Kingdom shell having impacted us in spite of exploding just a yard or two behind us.

I was thrown to the ground, as were Shozi and Chejuh, the former forwards and close to me, but the latter backwards, over the edge of the embankment hill, and out of my sight.

It was upon realizing that I could no longer see Chejuh that the adrenaline coursing through my system allowed me to scramble to a crawl in time to watch the soldier roll down the hill and hit the bottom with a metallic clatter of armor plate against armor plate. What was initially absolute dread slowly became relief as I saw the soldier still moving, struggling to roll himself back onto his stomach so as to pick himself up, Chejuh alive.

For a moment, I considered descending as well to help Chejuh back up, but that notion was put to rest by a barrage of rapid earth fire coming from our north, myself only spared by Shozi who too had risen to his feet, and yanked me out of the cone of fire.

The tank responsible for the latest blast and barrage of earth was ahead by approximately fifty yards, between it and us, Earth Kingdom as well as Fire Nation infantry, though the mix of friendlies and hostiles alike seemed to make no difference for the tank that pushed forward

Through friend and foe alike, it opened fire, cutting through the two with a total lack of prejudice as, back on my feet, I reached for my belt, feeling the last of my grenades, and so unclipped it.

"One chance!" I yelled to Shozi as he, eyes near visible behind the goggles of his gas mask, furrowed his brows and nodded, unclipping his as well.

Returning his nod, we moved, narrowly running past and around the ongoing slaughter of Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom soldiers, those not already dead throwing themselves to the ground to escape the line of fire. Shozi and I used the distraction however we could, and ran towards the tank, keeping its very bow ahead of us so neither side cannon could achieve an angle.

But the line of sight on us from their main forward gunner was unquestionable, the hatch opening in time for an earth-shelled shell to careen towards us.

It struck somewhere behind me, knocking me momentarily to the ground, but it would be too little and too late from the tank's efforts. I stood back up, daring not to look behind me lest I lose my momentum, and so staying low so as to avoid a second hit, lit my grenade, and slid it beneath the Earth Kingdom tank's right tread.

I threw myself backwards to the ground, praying it would go off before the tank could crush me into a paste the same way it had Jame. And so thankfully, it did just that, detonating beneath the tank's treads, sending it listing to the ground with a steelish dead throe, within kissing distance from me, a mere second if not two from complete running me over

Putting that thought aside and rising to my feet, I turned to catch eye of Shozi, kneeling, back where the first Earth Kingdom shell had struck, but grenade in hand all the same, affording me only a single nod that told me what to do.

I understood, and so put all my faith in Shozi as I reached forward and upward and swung the Earth Kingdom tank's forward hatch open as wide as I could.

When next I turned towards Shozi, the grenade was no longer in his hand. I was turned away from the tank when I heard the clank of something falling inside the hatch, and I knew then that it'd been done. My heart skipped a beat as it understood what'd been done, and so I let the hatch shut, diving to the ground just in time for an explosion to sound within the metallic beast, and for it to burst into flames.

My mask was in the dirt when I opened my eyes again and realized that, against all odds, I had been untouched by any flying debris, the fruits of our labors directly to my back as I returned to my hands and legs in a quadruped position as I began to rise, and turned to watch as the trank was consumed in flame. Burning Earth Kingdom personnel threw themselves from the hatches and to the ground in the hopes of suffocating the flames that ate away at them, but it wouldn't be enough, meeting their ends squirming on the ground.

There was little to be thankful for today, little to find relief in as near all had been lost from half of Dragon platoon to the whole of yesterday's gains, but I had to find what joy where I could, and so I let myself let out a simple chuckle of joy and relief at still being alive. But I knew it foolish of myself to consider it now the time to start running the numbers and acting like all had come to rest.

It hadn't. The Earth Kingdom had hundreds of tanks more where this one had been lost, legions of infantry moving in, the 114th scattered, and what little of the 114th was still with me, Shozi, still lying on the ground behind me.

The realization had taken a moment to settle in.

No.

I scrambled to my feet and ran towards him, his name escaping my lips as I slid to a kneel down by his side and rolled him onto his back so his eyes could face me rather than the earth. I was met immediately with a groan of pain and an agonized protest.

He was alive, I could tell as much from his screams and from how he felt in my arms, but so too did I feel something else. In his side, past a bloodied mess of torn uniform, skin, muscle, and bone was the fruit of the Earth Kingdom tank's labors–a fragment of earth no smaller than Riu's dagger at my belt.

No, no, no, no, I thought to myself as panic suddenly set in.

"Shozi," I yelled. "Stay with me!"

The destruction of the tank had done little. Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation soldiers who'd thrown themselves to the ground for cover now rose again to hack one another for pieces. We couldn't stay here. I had to find cover, I knew. I had to find somewhere to tend to his wounds, to do something. Anything.

"I'm gonna move you, Shozi!" I yelled. "Just work with me here! I got you!"

I stood, and Shozi moved with me as I pulled, a pained grunt escaped his lips behind his mask as his helmet fell from his head, but still I dragged him, a hand beneath each shoulder, pulling him along the earth. It was by chance alone that neither the attention of Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom was placed on us, not as Fire Nation reinforcements poured in from the south where they'd given up on the depths of the dried out Taiga, or Earth Kingdom from the south, accompanied by a new tank that simply took the place of one that'd taken so much to destroy seconds ago.

It was a haze to me, all of it, nothing important enough to reach my attention in those seconds of haste as I pulled him however far was possible from immediate danger and into the nearest of foxholes deep enough that we might be offered some relief. It was little, but it had to do.

"Medic!" I called out, no way of knowing if anybody was around to hear that wasn't already in the midst of fighting for their lives or fleeing for cover the same as us. I even found myself midway through yelling for Murao before recalling his fate and coming to terms with the fact that I was alone, and, however I could, needed to tend to Shozi on my own.

I had to get his pulse, had to know how much of him was still with me.

I didn't like my answer.

I reached for his hand, taking it in mine as I held another against his wound, near cutting myself on the edge of the fragmentation that protruded from his side. It was there, weak, but there, myself panicking in trying to remember what to do here as Shozi's own hand, with an uncharacteristic fluidity and calmness that now evaded me, simply reached for his mask, and removed it from his face, setting it down by his side. His head turned towards me and bore on its face an expression I would have liked to demand he wipe that instant–one that wasn't zeal, wasn't anger, wasn't fighting.

I needed him to fight, needed the pale face I saw that I knew not to be his to change itself in that instant, to become the Shozi I remembered. I placed both hands on his wound now and pushed, pleading for the blood that flowed around my hands and through my fingers to stop, felt myself growing angry with Shozi, on the verge of demanding he stop being a lazy bastard and help me help him.

But the words did not come..

Not choked behind the lump in my throat as they were, because with every glance I afforded Shozi, the larger it grew, only worsening as Shozi's eyes turned upwards, away from me and towards the sky instead, resting his head against the foxhole's edge, and breathing in, for the first time since this hell began, that which was fresh air.

And would be his last too.

Shozi died.

Shozi died in my arms, and the lump in my throat had only grown larger against the seal of my gas mask that I was sure was the problem, was sure was choking me, but even after I took it off and threw it to the ground beside me, I still could not breathe, and Shozi was still dead.

I thought I might never breathe again, by gas or otherwise, but the gas was gone to the night, and still I could not breathe, staring down at a body that'd been my comrade, my friend only seconds ago, but was nothing now, merely a corpse.

Shozi was dead.

And as the seconds passed and realization finally set in, breath did return to me, accompanied then by the first of more tears that were soon to follow. Still, I held Shozi's body tight, and with bloodied hands, closed his eyes and near embraced the man as I set him down gently against the wall of the foxhole for his final rest, and it was there that, for perhaps the first time I had done so in living memory since being a boy in Citadel, I did something I would never have expected from myself.

I closed my eyes, and I prayed.

Aegis

It was hard for me to know what it was these days that prevented sleep from overtaking me as it once had been so prone to do.

It wasn't for lack of comfort. Had such been the case, I'd have forsaken the turret of the Shanzi in favor of the small tent erected beside her chassis. And besides, so it'd been in recent months that her turret had proved more of a comfort to me in rest than anywhere else I could have found to sleep.

The rest of the crew had stopped questioning it after the first couple of months, and I welcomed it, finding it easier to sleep when they weren't commenting behind my back about the oddity of it as though I didn't know.

But I wasn't sleeping, instead just looking through my gunner's hatch at a clouded western sky, and an early morning fog that hung low below, close to the ground. It made sense for the hour, probably close on 0400 or something of the sort. I'd had earlier mornings before, and considered myself fortunate to have gotten any sleep at all in the first place earlier.

Soon the sun would be rising in the opposite direction, and the day would resume in the wake of a Fire Nation victory. What that would mean for us, I couldn't yet say–cleanup, search and destroy, perimeter establishment, patrols, hell, raids if we were lucky. All was up to chance, but I knew already that none would match what the 114th had faced before, their crossing of the Taiga, and their victory for the Fire Nation, the hell they raised on the Earth Kingdom.

Doing what a soldier was meant to do.

And all while I sat on the outskirts, watching the horizon, and the morning fog that drifted southwards, towards the Taiga, no doubt.

It was odd. I'd have normally anticipated fog to form over the river itself, not drift towards it. I was likely mis-seeing things, I confessed to myself. Far as it was, it was hard to know what I even did see. With the dawn of the morning to come, things would be more clear about both the world that surrounded us as well as our purpose for the day, dispelling any false notions about my place as a soldier, or the things I saw, be them an improper fog, or the yellow sun that rose to the west.

No. Too small to be a sun. And there were far more than one on top of that, the horizon to the west slowly lighting up now by merit of dozens, no, hundreds of flares firing into the sky, lighting the sky above and the alleged fog that touched the ground, now the pale gray of morning dew, but the sickly gray-green of something far worse.

Gas.

And added to that the yellow artillery flares lining the sky, this was no Earth Kingdom scare tactic. We were under attack.

There was almost no hesitation between that moment and the reflexes kicking in that sent me off of my seat, down the gunner's hatch, and into the main cabin, stepping through the threshold that brought me into the command cabin, and sounding the horn of our tank.

It was no soft one, needing to be heard somehow over the treading of earth, grinding of gears, and chaos of war, so one could imagine it was among the less pleasant sounds to hear in the middle of the night.

Giving the horn another squeeze for good measure, I had no doubt in my mind that the Shanzi's crew would be well on their way up by now, along with, possibly, half of the 44th armored company. As such, I was already back up on my turret, opening my hatch in time to watch Boss and Hizo exiting the tent, Zek close behind.

"Aegis?" Boss questioned, the only one attentive enough mere seconds after waking to make words. "Hell're you doing?"

"Flares to the west," I said, pointing. "Invasion group's under attack."

The trio turned, and there were no questions from that point on.

By the time the crew of the Shanzi had packed camp and equipped themselves in a speedy 5 minutes, myself having only needed to slip on my armor over my underclothes, a second series of flares had gone up.

"New flares," I announced, the only one maintaining a constant visual while the others now boarded the tank. "Further south."

"Any further south and they'll be calling artillery right on top of themselves," Zek commented as he entered the command capsule hatch after Boss.

"I think that's the point," I muttered beneath my breath, Shanzi setting into motion not long after.

The 44th armored was well alive by now, moving lights and horns around us telling me that so too were the other armored companies of our expedition, the word either having emanated from us, or the same realization having been made by those of the other crews on their own.

Were the choice my own, we would already by now have been halfway to the frontline, halfway to the 114th and wherever the hell Danev was, but things were never quite so simple, and it wasn't my hands at the helm.

There was talk, more than was necessary between the command staff of the different companies, Boss among them, and the appointed commander of this armored expedition.

I hardly even processed what was being said as they went on, my eyes locked to the western horizon as a red flare now rose from what I could only assume was the coast of the Taiga, waiting for transports to come in time to retrieve the survivors.

Whether Danev was among them, I could not know, but from the positions of the flares alone, it was clear that the frontline had been lost, that the Fire Nation had been forced into a total retreat, and now had their backs to an insurmountable body of water, awaiting evacuation.

They were trapped, and our commanders were talking.

What the hell is there to talk about?

We should have been finding some way to forge the Taiga, some way to get across, be it some bridge that hadn't yet been destroyed by the Earth Kingdom, or, hell, creating one of our own. Of course I understood the ridiculousness of it as I thought it, but I figured that anything had to beat staying still.

But on they droned, every fifth word only reaching my head as commanders discussed logistics, how to divide forces, if such would leave us vulnerable, if such was potentially an Earth Kingdom trap, how to get across the river, and every other concern that faced us.

Because it all came down to that–the damned Taiga.

At that time, none of us had known. None of us had known that overnight the Taiga had ceased to exist, and none of us had known that in only a few minutes' time, everything would change.

But then another flare had gone up–a red emergency.

South of where the last had gone up.

The flare did not come from those trapped North of the Taiga, but rather, it came from the South.

I did not remember saying something to warrant Boss's attention, especially as he had otherwise been engaged speaking to the commander of the armored expedition, but his attention was on me now, a simple question on his mind. "What is it, Aegis?"

And I turned my head towards the flare.

"The Earth Kingdom crossed the Taiga."

Danev

I was not a spiritual person; never really had been.

As I grew up, a kid in Citadel, the spirits had been a bedtime story to help me sleep or keep me up at night depending on whatever mood the person telling me the story had been in.

It'd been that way for everyone.

As we grew older, it would become more than stories for some, but for others, it would stay the exact same. And then, for an even smaller group, it would become something even less-just lies told that were meant to control the masses. It was hard not to see things that way when it was said that the spirits had blessed the Earth Kingdom in Taisho only for them to have been overwhelmed and conquered by a Fire Nation who claimed also to have been blessed by the same spirits. No doubt if the Fire Nation fell in Citadel, it would be some new divine conqueror who would also claim to be blessed by the spirits.

I had trouble believing them, then, seeming to me to be nothing more than convenient explanations for the way of the world. I held no disdain for those who did claim to believe, their beliefs their own. I believed that they believed, and if it was good enough for them, then who was I to say otherwise? Their beliefs were theirs, and mine, or rather, my lack thereof, were mine own too.

So it was a surprise to me too then that I closed my eyes at that moment, the body of a friend lifeless in my arms, surrounded by death, past, present, and future, and chose instead of fleeing for my life, to try and speak to something I did not even believe existed.

I don't know what I'm doing here.

Everyone, everyone that I swore to protect, is dying, and I can't protect them.

I did not even know which of the thousands of alleged spirits I was hoping to speak to. The great harvest spirit in whose name parents left sweets beneath their children's pillows, the Lady Tienhai who guarded the waters between the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation, or hell, the spirit of light, Raava, herself, but I prayed either way. Prayed as men rose and fell around me, dead by the dozen if not hundred, their screams traveling across the bloodied plain.

I don't know what to do; I don't know how to save them.

Another explosion sounded to my rear, closer than the others, unknowable to me as artillery, ours of theirs, mines, grenades, or the work of this war's benders, but sooner or later, one would come close enough, and with it, the end.

Please, I prayed.

Show me what to do.

Another impact; I shut my eyes harder, able to listen only to the cries of the men who surrounded me. For a moment, I thought I'd been brought to the point of desperation so as to be calling out my own prayers, but it was not my voice that I heard.

"Help me," one said.

"Spirits, get me out of here," another.

"What the hell do we do?" a third.

And dozens more on top of them, begging, pleading, asking the very same questions I was and getting no answer, but perhaps their uncertainty was the very answer I sought.

I couldn't say I knew yet what that answer was, but I knew at least it wasn't to simply lie dormant and accept death. Gently, I set Shozi's body down, promising him silently that I would be back. I would.

But I couldn't sit here and do nothing as more like him, more of the 114th stood to meet a similar fate.

From that same foxhole, I rose, trying not to let the realities of the hell around me take hold, but it was impossible. If ever there was a place where the earth had abandoned all hope of sense and sensibility, it was here. I had once thought that place in the world to belong exclusively to Taisho's slums, and that nowhere else could it be rivaled, but I was now questioning what it was that actually separated the two.

I'd thought maybe that on a battlefield, a sense of mature civility would somehow endure, a respect between opponents that was lacking from slumdog turf wars. I'd thought maybe that on a battlefield, one's desire to fight for a cause greater than themselves would allow for acts of nobility and honor in place of brawls on a squalid street where one's aims ultimately always came down to saving one's own skin.

But I was wrong. There was no decency, no honor, no civility, no higher call to warfare that accompanied one in their final moments other than the same instinct that has persisted with humanity since first we graced the earth–survival.

So I watched that desperate struggle around me as I stood.

Fire Nation soldiers, in a desperate bid, charged a distracted Earth Kingdom tank, cut down by a portside earthbender gunner in quick succession of one another, falling to the ground a mess of blood and guts, dead.

A firebender enacted revenge on another tank, burning alive a crew of Earth Kingdom soldiers as they fled a burning hull only to be impaled and forced to the ground by an Earth Kingdom spearman's charge.

An Earth Kingdom tank rolled over a foxhole occupied by a cowering pair of unarmed soldiers, leaving nothing and nobody in its wake.

Around me, only death, suffering, and fear as men tore each other apart with the last moments of their lives.

But amidst that hell, recognition. Scattered, though existing, faces I recognized–those of the 114th. Raza of Bat Platoon took aim with his matchlock and fired, the result of his shot unknowable to me. Penar stumbled across the battlefield, a gash in the side of his head that slowly leaked his blood away, ignored by most those around him, already considering the man dead. Aosore held the body of a masked comrade in his arms as he wept from where he and his brother in arms rested in a foxhole.

I saw eyes meet mine, but behind them was no room for relief or hope, their thoughts only on if they would still be alive in the minute to come. But that would change. They just needed their commander.

And Rulaan, he yet lived. He occupied a foxhole of his own to be sure, and whatever relief I felt upon seeing him alive would soon be thrown into question as I saw the expression that painted his face. I could liken it easily to what I had seen before in the worst of times faced by the 114th, but the degree to which it overtook him now was unmistakable. He's cracking.

"Captain!" I said, lowering myself quickly into the foxhole beside him.

His eyes, focused previously only on the dirt of his foxhole wall, now turned up to look at me, a blank emptiness behind his yellow eyes. He said nothing, only watched expressionlessly as I made my plea.

"We have to move. The Earth Kingdom's advancing, and if they make it to the rear, the other brigades will be cut off from the wall, and every man here will be at the Earth Kingdom's mercy."

Still, he looked up at me, mouth partially agape in shock, perhaps to see me alive, perhaps to hear me even suggesting there was still something that could be done. But I had to believe there was.

"You need to rally the men, the 114th, and do whatever we can to disable those tanks before they reach our line."

And when he finally spoke now, his answer was simple. "It doesn't matter," he said.

What? I thought, having voiced that very same question without even realizing it.

"They won. They broke through. The most now we can do is surrender and hope we're shown mercy."

I shook my head. No, he can't be serious.

"If-" I started, forcing myself to catch my breath with it having been nearly blown out of me by Rulaan's surrender. "If we surrender now, maybe the 114th will live, but all other companies, all other brigades, they will be killed, and all of this will be for nothing."

Still, Rulaan shook his head.

"We have to fig-"

"My responsibility is for the 114th. If we fight now, I sentence them to death."

Now it was me shaking my head. "It doesn't have to be that way if-"

"Danev!" he yelled, and I saw it. I was wrong before to believe that Rulaan had been cracking. He had cracked, and whatever was left, I could not see, but what I did see, it was not Rulaan. Or perhaps it was. Perhaps it was simply what I knew Rulaan always to be, a man who put his men above all else, even to the bitter end, even above duty, even above the lives of all others in the world. And when he spoke again, he confirmed that much to me. "We accept defeat, and we save the 114th, or we fight, and we all die."

No, I thought as I shook my head. No.

I can do both, I thought to myself, perhaps even voicing the thought without having even realized. I stood from the kneel I had been at by Rulaan's side, and turned, and watched as the men of the 114th grasped desperately for their lives, and beyond them too as thousands others did the same. I wouldn't let this end in death. Not for the 114th, not for anybody else as long as there was anything I could do.

I turned back to look at Rulaan.

"I can do both."

And with my first step out of that foxhole, I made my choice.

Earth burned, and I walked through it. An Earth Kingdom tank shell exploded somewhere behind me as I walked, ducking beneath a sudden burst of earthern rapid fire from a passing tank, and set my sights on a nearby foxhole, occupied by two men of the 114th I recognized.

An earthbender approached them, sure to collapse the foxhole in on the two men, Fahin and Eejulo I saw now, but did not give him the chance, cutting with a swing through the man's stomach, dropping him to the ground to allow my eyes to set on two soldiers who looked up at me now with a mix of graciousness and shock.

But there was no time to deliberate over what to allow them to feel.

"Both of you up!" I said. Find other men from the 114th and rally them to me! We're moving!"

Oh Dragon Platoon or otherwise, the two men nodded, and obliged, perhaps by fear of knowing what would ultimately become of them should they choose to do nothing and pray for the Earth Kingdom's mercy. They stood and disappeared from my sight to do as I ask as I now found my way to the next foxhole, occupied too, this one by Mano who I was grateful to see alive.

And so the message passed down the line, men now joining beside me, others back to find Rulaan until such a point that soon, the 114th, or what was left of them, had found one another by my side. Our numbers weren't great, but this was the 114th, and we hadn't gone through Citadel and near on a year of war in Ba Sing Se to let it all end like this.

The Earth Kingdom was moving south, tanks down the basin of the dried out Taiga and back over towards our lines, the third wave of Earth Kingdom tanks just now approaching the shore. Added to those that'd already crossed, things weren't to look good for the Fire Nation, but it wasn't for them we were fighting.

I turned to look at the 114th, and I knew what to expect–hesitation, doubt, fear, all things that I felt as well, but they were. They were those who hadn't surrendered, and now, I would send them to war, and myself along with them. Because when the only alternative was turning our backs on those who fought beside us, what else was there to do.

"The Earth Kingdom approaches our lines!" I said for the remnants of the 114th to hear, among them Mano, Asaih, Chejuh, Zihe, Ele, and other soldiers I had known for what now felt like my whole life. "If we let them, this siege falls apart, and all this will have been for nothing." But that's not the important part. "But that's not what this is about!" I continued. "Don't fight for the Fire Nation. Don't fight for a Fire Lord you've never seen. Do this for the men out there, those who wear the same uniform as you, who pray to see tomorrow. For your comrade! For the 114th!"

"114th!" was the cry then of all men beside me, and so we fought.

Into hell we charged.

Before us stood Earth Kingdom soldiers, benders and nonbenders alike between us and the nearest Earth Kingdom tank moving southwards to our left.

Together the 114th charged. I cut through an Earth Kingdom spearman's chest as his attention was on Asaih, who knelt and brought down an Earth Kingdom crossbowman. To my right Zihe sent a kick of fire that brought down an earthbender who had been attempting to block Mano's path as he took his course to the right alongside another contingent of Fire Nation soldiers to another tank.

We cut our way through and the Earth Kingdom tank that had been our target now took notice of us, and it did not take long for an explosive munition to be shot from the side hatch towards us. It killed Chomee of Elephant platoon and sent Eekasu of Ant falling to the ground, but we pressed forward, even as the tank fired again, claiming another life.

It was a fireball from Zihe striking the tank's rear that gave the men by my side and myself the opportunity to reach the tank, their last shot going wide over our heads and missing us entirely as we through ourselves to the deck beneath such a point that we were in range.

By my side, Chejuh and Asaih, their grenades were in hand, at the ready, and with a nod, we were up.

They waited no time for the tank to be brought to a halt before shoving their grenades inside the hatch of the gunner who had given us hell, a crescendo of two synchronous explosions following soon thereafter, the tank rolling to a halt.

The hatches hardly had time to open before the three of us threw ourselves out of the way as Zihe poured fire over the tank's rear, catching the desperate Earth Kingdom soldiers who attempted to escape, hopeless.

But it was no time to stop. We gathered ourselves and moved forward, past the burning husk of the tank and further into the field, to our right another Earth Kingdom tank, their bow directly towards us, seemingly ready to fire. But it would not be given that chance, a cascade of rising earth catching the tank in the side, a wall erupting from the earth to completely capsize the vessel, allowing the flames of another firebender who had joined our ranks to torch the armored behemoth from beneath.

Further ahead, past ranks of Fire Nation soldiers of the 114th cutting down another wave of Earth Kingdom soldiers with desperate discipline, another explosion sounded as a third Earth Kingdom tank in the span of a mere two minutes was destroyed, crumbling forward like a dying animal.

We were doing it, but our work was far from done. Sword in hand, my eyes now trained south on the Earth Kingdom waves that moved away from us and towards our allies, I directed the attention of the 114th and the soldiers who had attached to us. Our target was in sight, and we weren't laying down our arms until, in victory or defeat, our people were safe.

Aegis

The smoke of the battlefield obscured the visibility from my turret, but even that was more telling than whatever little I had been able to see miles away in the dark of the early morning.

The 44th armored company rolled along at the spearhead of this desperate maneuver. Behind us, we were joined by the other companies too, not a unit spared in this effort to give the besieged men of the Dragon's Host a fighting chance.

Emergency flares still lit the sky, fewer and further in between, however, at such a point now that there was nobody left to signal an emergency to who weren't themselves caught in the fighting.

We sped ahead with the River Taiga to our side, if even it could be called a river. It lay empty, a stark contrast to what it had been just hours ago yesterday. The Earth Kingdom's benders must have dammed the thing days if not weeks ago. The lack of flow of the river had been attributed to a slowdown of the melting ice from the nearby mountains and we had paid no heed to it beyond that, nor as the water level had slowly begun to go down. But they had finished the process overnight. Watebenders in the Earth Kingdom's service, I imagined, and they had outplayed us.

There was little to do about it now, however.

While the death of the river at any other time, with us a chance to prepare, would have been a grace from the spirits, it today was our curse, and threatened to unravel that which we had given our lives for the last near year towards.

We emerged from the current patch of smoke dealt by scattered artillery into another clearing lit by the red of flares that hovered in the sky above. We were drawing closer, the sight ahead of us a bleak one.

Fire Nation bodies littered the field, not concentrated, but scattered, in the midst of retreat, the trail leading all the way northwards. By where they were and the uniforms they wore, it was clear that the men were marines, sent earlier than infantry yesterday to attempt to distract the Earth Kingdom forces.

And with the loss of the river, so too had they lost their landing craft, and when the Earth Kingdom had pushed back, their journey would be one on dry land to make it back to friendly lines.

I wondered how many were lost, how many managed to get away, how far they had been pursued by the enemy, and if among them were the Southern Raiders who had so tormented Boss mere days ago.

I looked beneath me to try and see if I could identify any shift in his body language, but all I would receive was another call from him as he announced, "Another smoke patch, incoming."

And so it was. We rolled into darkness again.

It was lit sporadically by still-burning fires that found their places in the plains alongside craters and corpses of the dead, friend and foe alike. We were drawing near, and as the world around me was consumed yet again, there was only the mind's eye that could see as it sought to know what was ahead, what had come of the Fire Nation in Ba Sing Se, and with them, of what had befallen the 114th, of what had befallen Danev.

But I could only think so much, and so gave myself the time to breathe in and out, telling myself that what would come of Danev and the 114th would be dependant on one thing alone–my capacity to fight, and my willingness to do whatever needed to be done.

Danev

The basin of the Taiga was a mass grave of the fallen, paying no distinction to Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom. But it was now occupied by the living as well as the dead.

The 114th had delved into the depths of the Taiga amongst corpses and metallic carcasses of Fire Nation landing craft and the occasional Earth Kingdom tank.

We all understood that the ascent out of the river basin would be that much more difficult than our descent, but moving quickly was our only chance. Behind us, the remnants of the Earth Kingdom's 3rd tank wave were advancing, considerably slowed by our efforts, but advancing all the same. And before we could leave the Taiga back to the river's south and help the Dragon's Host however we could, there was work to be done.

"Mano!" I called out. "I want barricades up now. It won't stop those tanks, but it might stop them for a while."

He nodded and began his work, bedding earthen pillars up from the floor between the bodies that littered the surface as I now turned to the other men of the 114th. "Rest of you, our landing craft were equipped with naval mines for emergency. Get them away from the crafts and have them armed!"

More affirmation, and more men scattered to do their jobs. The barricades and the mines would buy us time, perhaps even bring the third wave to a halt. Only if we're lucky.

We had to be ready for anything, especially with our time as limited as it was. With some good few Fire Nation soldiers still awaiting orders, I had them with their files at the ready, taking aim at the northern crest of the Taiga basin, the lot of us knowing that soon, the Earth Kingdom would be coming over as well. It would be little use against their tanks, but against mere infantry perhaps, it might slow them down.

Hardly a minute after I had given the order and moved towards Ele and Tosa to assist them with the moving and arming of a mine, shots had already begun ringing out, and to my right, the north, one could already make out the sight of Earth Kingdom soldiers falling dead and halting in their tracks as they took retreated or took defensive positions, and began to return fire.

I prayed that nothing would prematurely set off any of the naval mines, and so returned fire as well with my matchlock, managing to strike an earthbender whose thrown rock had come too close to comfort.

But our efforts could only do so much. We were outnumbered, and soon to be overwhelmed too by more incoming Earth Kingdom forces, those, namely, that were not in our current means to counter.

And sure enough, so they came, the first appearance of an Earth Kingdom tank, likely further ahead than its compatriots, showing due north over the crest of the Taiga basin, flexing like a beast to already begin its downward descend, halted only momentarily by Mano's barricades before its earthbenders demolished them themselves.

And so if they hadn't been aware of our presence, they were now, side hatches opened, myself wondering if it would be earth-coated explosive rounds they'd send our way or earthen rapid fire.

I braced for the answer to come, but rather, none came. Instead, an explosion from the tank. It was not one of a grenade, or a mine we had somehow set, but that of a firebender. It hadn't been Zihe, him further south dealing with Earth Kingdom infantry, but rather, some figure due north who I hadn't noticed until now. But when I did, the source of that lucky and overpowering shot became instantly known to me.

If I didn't recognize him by that gold-lined general's armor, then I did by the two tricloptic firebenders that flanked him.

Because there he was, now looking towards me and the 114th from above, watching as we struggled to make our way northwards up the wall of the Taiga–the promised prince of the Fire Nation, Lu Ten.

There was silenced disbelief from myself as well as from the other men of the 114th as that gold-clad royal turned his back to the tank he had seamlessly destroyed in a single well-placed shot through the front gunner's hatch, and slid part ways down the wall of the Taiga to join me.

I would have stood straight to salute, bow, kneel, do something were I not afraid of losing my grip and sliding back down towards the depths of the Taiga. But Lu Ten, he demanded no such recognition, simply reaching my side, and asking me, a lieutenant yet somehow the highest ranking officer of the Fire Nation forces present, "What's the situation here?"

That voice was his, it was beyond all doubt, and a part of me wondered as he outstretched his hand to take mine and help me with my next few steps up the Taiga if he recognized me as well. I did not let my thoughts linger on that question, however, and instead answered, saying, "Gathered what survivors we could from the Taiga's north. We've mined the Taiga, but are ready to assist in the South however necessary, Sir!"

And with his hand helping me up again, further up the Taiga near to its southern crest, I saw now that Lu Ten was not alone. Far from it, but instead hosting behind him a cohort of soldiers numbering perhaps fifty to a hundred who themselves partly descended the Taiga to help the 114th and our attached men up.

Turning away from the sight of the forces now numbered near a quarter of a thousand, I turned back to Lu Ten and him towards me as he said, "Then you're the reinforcements I came here for."

Looking above me, he turned his sights on the Fire Nation forces who now had nearly reached the surface once more and declared, "Join me and take back this battle!"

It needn't be an order, and he needn't be royalty to have the desired effect. We were ready to fight, but only now, we were joined by a leader who didn't sit in a tent and watched as a situation deteriorated, backup upon backup point on hand to retreat to. Now we were organized, now we were spirited, now we fought.

And so went up the cry of battle once more as the survivors of the Fire Nation rose from the Taiga like the dead out of hell and began their charge south. Through infantry, crossbowmen, and grounded benders we cut our way southwards towards the rear of Earth Kingdom tanks who had yet to notice us.

But they soon would.

I plunged my sword through an Earth Kingdom soldier's back. Asaih to my side knelt and fired his matchlock into the heart of a turning Earth Kingdom archer. To my side and over my shoulder, Lu Ten fired a blast of fire that perfectly flew beneath the chassis of the nearest Earth Kingdom tank between its treads and blew the damn thing up from beneath, near splitting the thing in half as both sides of the tank crumpled aflame in opposite directions.

I put my amazement aside for the moment and quickly unslung my matchlock to take a shot at an Earth Kingdom spearman who took it upon himself to try to charge and impale the Fire Nation's prince who had since sent his own personal body guards away to spread their fire support across our offensive line.

Giving me a curt nod, he turned back to the fighting and charged forward, me beside him.

An Earth Kingdom tank forward and to our left, its side hatch had opened and prepared to open fire, but not before Mano, beside us too without me having noticed, bent up a wall that absorbed the rapid shots, and sent it in a slide across the ground, catching the tank in its side. Its punishment did not end there though as the inertia of Mano's attack allowed him to create a quake in the ground that near sank the Earth Kingdom tank halfways into the ground.

From there, 2 Fire Nation soldiers, one I recognized as Penar, tossed grenades inside, killing and burning all those within, exits blocked by Mano's own doing.

The Earth Kingdom was made more than aware of us now, their rear line turning back from their overwhelming offensive against the Dragon's Host to turn to us now, but we were ready.

Abandoning my matchlock to the floor, I had my sword in hand again as I cut through an Earth Kingdom swordsman's chest and Lu Ten sent a sprout of fire towards a pair of spearmen, catching both.

My eyes turned to an Earth Kingdom arblaster who prepared a second shot of his crossbow, but was cut through by Chejuh, by momentum kicking the body aside and parrying a spearman's thrust to cut through him too a second later.

An explosion sounded to my left, and I turned in time to see another Earth Kingdom tank erupt into flame by the efforts of both Zihe and one of Lu Ten's personal guards down the line, friendly infantry quickly dispatching the survivors.

I pressed forward, taking temporary cover from an earthbender behind the tank Mano had disabled, joined by Asaih who, from said cover, shot through the head of that very earthbender.

The coast cleared, we emerged, and my sword found that of the Earth Kingdom soldier who had been beside the earthbender, but while locked in a contest of arms with me, had his stomach cut through by Chejuh who was beside me now to my right. And to my left, Lu Ten, eyes on another approaching Earth Kingdom tank.

And in a matter of seconds, it too had burst into flames, toppling over to its side. I turned my head to Lu Ten, expecting his arms raised in clear sign of who had dealt the killing blow, but they were by his side, his helmet set forwards however in equal shock to mine on what had created that ball of flame and smoke.

And a second later, that question would be answered, through said smoke and fire emerging a tank, but not one of the Earth Kingdom's, but our own.

The cavalry has arrived.

Aegis

Through the smoke and fire of the wreckage we created, we rolled ahead.

"Hell of a shot!" Zek exclaimed from the cockpit, but I refused to let the praise go to my head. The tank was one of many. I would be lying, however, if the sight of cheering Fire Nation soldiers to my right hadn't put a smile on my face.

Across the line we rolled, between Fire Nation infantry and over the enemy taking us to our next target as other tanks of armored set targets of their own.

An earthen munition from the tank we approached shot and landed behind us, a miss, and I retaliated with a sprout of fire from my turret, catching a shielded tank hull, however, the hatch having closed in time to ensure the crew's safety. The damn thing was armored in layers that operated like scales, overlapping one another to ensure nothing short of a direct shot through an exposed hatch could bring them down.

But there was a way.

Past that tank we rolled, a shot from its starboard hatch now able to catch us, but our path went unintended, myself turning my turret in time to see a tank behind us claim that enemy for their own, its gunner scoring a lucky hit of their own, sending the enemy up in flames.

Dead in our sights was a third tank, and I had an idea.

"Get a hook in it now!" I said. "Direct heading at point 0!"

"What?!" Zek cried out.

"Do it!"

I was met with no opposition, be it by trust, or a similar equation that the crew below me had made.

Shanzi shook as a grappling hook from our bow shot forward and caught hold of the Earth Kingdom tank's rear port side ahead of us. From said port, a gunner's hatch opened, and from it spurted a flurry of rapid fire earthen projectiles, but Boss was quicker, leaving the hook and cable attached as sent the Shanzi to the right, out of harm's way but a few grazing shots, and towards the tank's rear.

I could hear the tension of the cord as it bent, but did not break. Around the tank's rear Shanzi advanced, and now turned left, confirming to me that Boss had made the same observation as myself.

I lay down fire on the Earth Kingdom tank's starboard side as we passed lest an ambitious gunner seized the moment. Suppressed, the tank was capable of doing nothing as we rounded a full circle on them, and their tank bent to accommodate the holder of their leash. Back now to where we had first shot our cable, the Earth Kingdom tank sat coiled on itself like a frightened worm, its overlapping armor plates now stretched, the gaps between them visible.

Firing to my left, I let out a stream of fire, flowing in through the gaps of the Earth Kingdom tank's armor plates, burning all those within as we severed our cable and advanced, leaving them to their fates.

And in our dispatching of the tank, the battle had continued around us, Fire Nation tanks now ahead of us and to every side, rolling through Earth Kingdom infantry, bringing down their tanks, the 327th armored even observable to have been forming a defensive perimeter around our remaining trench lines to protect them the Earth Kingdom.

So we had pierced through the Earth Kingdom's line, the Shanzi turning around now to perform another strafing run against their remaining forces, us ready to end this fight once and for all.

Danev

Through the fires of the Earth Kingdom's collapse, we advanced. Through the scattering Earth Kingdom infantry and armored, the 114th as led by myself and the prince of the Fire Nation, Lu Ten, advanced, what remaining pocket of Earth Kingdom resistance remained promptly torn apart by the Fire Nation tanks that had now joined us.

To our rear, one could see and hear the chaos that had befallen the Earth Kingdom's third armored wave, welcomed by our mines that littered the Taiga's depths and an entire armored company that took positions along the coast and rained fire into that filling mass grave.

But still, forward we charged, over the very trenches that'd been lost to our rear guard, now claiming them back for ourselves, putting the Earth Kingdom between the Dragon of the West's forces, and those of his very son.

Firebenders filled occupied trenches with fire as infantry such as myself dispatched whatever enemy infantry attempted to flee above to the surface, cutting them down in kind until such a moment came as when they would realize the inevitable because, eventually, they finally would.

It would come eventually that encircled, confined to trenches that weren't their own, the first cluster of Earth Kingdom soldiers who put up their arms in surrender, and following them, another cluster, followed by two more, four more, eight, until finally, all Earth Kingdom soldiers south of the Taiga had surrendered.

And there the Fire Nation, no, the men of the 114th stood, weapons raised towards the surrendering enemy, and I gave the order to stand down.

They had shown us hell, and I could never have known what mercy they would have shown us had we stayed north of the Taiga, but I would not allow ourselves to become the evil we ourselves expected of the enemy.

And so came the surrender of the Earth Kingdom's forces amidst a field of fire and blood, and as I turned to the north to see a frontline that, with the loss of the Taiga crossing, had returned to what it was since before this operation, I forced myself to accept fate for what it was.

Looking around me, I saw men of the 114th, staring down at hundreds of Earth Kingdom soldiers laying down their arms, our own forces standing beside other men of the Fire Nation who would be dead otherwise, but weren't.

Because we'd done it, I finally realized as my breath began to slow and the adrenaline began to leave my system.

We had survived hell. It had been a defeat, but one that we had survived.

The Battle of the Taiga had ended.