The New Avatar:
Hello all, welcome to the 3rd Chapter. So sorry that this has had the wrong chapter for around a month! Here is the proper chapter.
This is the one from Zuko's POV. Next chapter is back to Naruto's POV.
Book 1: Water:
Chapter 3: The Banished Prince
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Zuko took a deep breath. Warmth spread through his body, relieving the pinpricks the freezing air left on his skin. This accursed Antarctic air was only tolerable because of what he was chasing.
Three long years he'd been at sea. Moving from one place to another. Around and across the Earth Kingdom, several times over, looking for the Avatar.
That coward who had hid from their nation for a hundred years.
His search was in vain, he'd heard the whispers. People believed he'd been sent on an impossible quest. Something to get the embarrassment out of his father's sight. He'd begun to lose hope himself. Thus, this insane mission deep into the frigid seas of the South.
And then he'd seen it.
The most glorious sight, a pure white Sky Bison with silver markings, a figure swathed in orange on its back.
Even more miraculous, he'd spotted the figure playing with a ball of spinning air from a distance. At that moment, he knew. His search was finally coming to an end.
The Avatar may have escaped at first, but Zuko would hunt him down. His honor depended on it.
An iceberg brushing against the ship made the metal hull groan. Most soldiers would have found it unnerving, but he'd long since grown used to the quirks of this bucket of rusted bolts. It was the only ship his father the Fire Lord had been willing to spare: a relic of the early years of the war. There were no amenities or luxuries like modern ships, but it was sturdy, small, and swift.
Perfect for pursuing an Airbender on the back of a bison.
It had been obvious that the airbender had been using their smokestack to avoid them, so Zuko had ordered his men to take out the coal and use whatever wood they could find to fuel the steam engine. The white smoke would disappear in the mists, hiding their pursuit.
And it worked.
They'd managed to creep up on him, watching from afar as the Avatar rode his Bison through the water with a pair of water tribe members, a boy and a girl. Zuko could only guess that the beast was tired and couldn't fly.
After gauging where they were going–a nearby village, the remnants of a once proud city–they had fallen back, content to catch the Avatar at their own pace. That just left preparation.
"Remember your training Prince Zuko. The power of fire comes from the breath."
As a pair of his men helped him into his red and black armor, Zuko's uncle, General Iroh, lectured him. His uncle was a man that in his prime had been feared. It was hard to reckon that image with the slightly portly, balding man who was overly fond of tea that stood before him.
"I know what I must do uncle. It's my destiny to capture the Avatar and reclaim my honor."
The last piece was his helm, dark maroon, with a red crest resembling a flame. It felt cold against the skin of his head. His scar twinged as the faceguard brushed over his left eye. More of a phantom pain, a remembrance of the discipline that had left him permanently deformed.
The heavy armor felt odd to him. He normally eschewed the cuirass favored by officers, but this was a special occasion.
A foot soldier in light armor came into the room. The man was out of breath from running. He snapped to attention and gave Zuko a salut.
"Sir, we've arrived. We're making the final approach to the village and breaking through the ice. The mist will cover our approach."
Zuko smiled coldly. The mist would prevent the airbender from escaping. It seemed to him even fate wanted him to fulfill his destiny. He could practically smell the sulfurous air of his homeland once more, feel the sweltering heat of the throne room as he presented the Avatar to his father.
"Very well. Send a squad to join me on the boarding deck."
The man quickly left to fulfill his orders, the soldiers who had assisted in donning his armor followed. A tense silence came in their wake. The only sound was the sputtering of the red lanterns that lit his red-painted room. Finally, his uncle broke the silence.
"Good luck … Prince Zuko."
He nodded silently, before making his way to the staging area. Zuko wound through the maze-like corridors of the ship, to a cramped room lit a moody red. In the semi-darkness he stood in wait. He was joined by twelve others dressed in the full heavy armor of the Fire Army, their skull-like face plates an intimidating sight for enemies.
The ship shook and swayed, and a loud cracking sound surrounded them as they broke through the ice. Ever so slowly, it drifted to a stop. The ship shuttered, before the metal prow groaned.
Falling open like the leaves of a flower, the horned prow tumbled down, bathing the darkened room in light and forming a narrow ramp into the village.
Villagers huddled together in blue furs, recoiling from a newly formed crack that split their village in two. Zuko surveyed the gathered people. He was unimpressed. A combination of the old people, women, and children. Certainly nothing to fear.
He stepped forward onto the ramp, the first step to completing his destiny.
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His rage flickered like the flames he wielded. That anger sat deep in his bones. It was hard to imagine a time when it hadn't been there, like a constant companion. Any of the men on his ship would be surprised to find that for a majority of his life, Zuko had been a rather happy child.
These days his temper could be set off by the simplest of things, his crew had grown used to avoiding it. The citizens of the water tribe didn't have that knowledge.
So when that up jumped peasant had managed to score a blow on Zuko in the most embarrassing, flukish manner with his ridiculous toy coming back around to slam into the prince's helmet, the fire bender's temper was set to a boil at the humiliation. He'd promptly dispatched of the boy once again, leaving him to rest in a pile of snow as Zuko stalked towards the other villagers.
"Where is he? I know you're hiding him."
The villagers looked like a bunch of sheep, cowering before a wolf. Old Zuko would have cringed at eliciting that reaction. Nowadays he found it only proper.
But it was entirely useless in this situation. He needed answers, and they were too scared to give them.
There was no spark of recognition in their eyes, only fear.
His gaze swept over the gathered people, spotting an elderly woman who seemed to be someone of importance. She was around the age of the one he was looking for, at least to Zuko's eyes. It was hard to judge the age of old people. They all looked like wrinkled prunes.
His temper got the best of him. Zuko lunged forward, seizing the woman by the hood and dragging her away.
A girl who looked remarkably like the old lady–likely a granddaughter–shouted in anger and fright, but he brushed it off.
"He'd be about this age. Master of all four elements."
Still no recognition. Growling in frustration, Zuko held his hand up, lighting a ball of fire and holding it close to the woman's face.
"Tell me where the airbender is, I know that you're hiding him!"
"There aren't any airbenders here!" The granddaughter screeched. Her fists were balled at her sides as if she wanted to fight. The gall! What would some little girl do?
The elderly woman remained admirably calm, shooting her granddaughter a stern look.
Katara froze, she seemed torn in between worry and anger. She ultimately listened to her grandmother. The muscles in Zuko's forearm relaxed just slightly.
"Elders truly are wise, Old Woman. Tell me, where is the Airbender I seek? He would have been with a Sky Bison that had unusual markings. Answer quickly and nobody needs to get hurt. I know he was here."
Unseen to Zuko, the old woman and her granddaughter shared a look. He only saw the genuine confusion in this Katara's eyes, missing the shrewd understanding that flashed through her grandmother's eyes.
"My granddaughter is right, there are no Airbenders here." Zuko growled, holding the flame closer to the water tribe woman. "However, there was a stranger here, with a bison no less. He was a waterbender. I saw it myself. But he's already gone, he has no intentions of returning here."
"What?"
His flame reacted to his burst of anger. Zuko couldn't help it. He felt everything he'd worked for slipping through his fingers. In his pique, he lost control, making the old woman flinch and throw herself away from the flame.
The peasant girl let loose a scream of anger at seeing her grandmother nearly maimed. That's when something quite unexpected happened. Under Zuko's feet, the ice shook and cracked as the girl waved her arms and the snow turned to a wave of water she thrust in his direction.
He let loose a curse, dancing aside from the girl's attack. His eyes never left her, studying her movements. They were slow, sloppy. An amateur.
Her attack had sent his men scattering. They began to lash out, blasting tents and attempting to wrangle the scattering villagers. Everything was getting out of hand. He had to regain control.
Zuko let loose a jet of flame, turning her water to steam.
In the confusion, he ran to the grandmother. He seized her, using her as a shield while holding a flame dagger to her neck.
"Enough! One more move and your grandmother will die!" He shouted. To his men, he gave a different order. "And you, cease fire! I never gave you an order to act."
His harsh rebuke drew the wary firebenders up short. They were none too happy, but they complied. It probably helped that Katara had immediately given up, holding her hands up in surrender as she looked at the dagger pointed at her grandmother's neck.
Zuko took a deep breath, steadying his nerves. He locked eyes with Katara. She was the easier target for information. The girl had a temper; something that could be exploited. He'd learned that lesson the hard way.
"The stranger fled, then? Not surprising. His kind are known to be cowards. I bet he ran at the first sign we might come."
Hook, line, and sinker. Underneath the fear, her blue eyes began to boil with anger.
"You're wrong! He is no coward. He will be ba–"
"Katara, no!"
Her grandmother's warning came too late. Even as Katara cut off in a gasp, placing a hand over her mouth in horror, Zuko grinned triumphantly.
The freezing wind on his naked scalp ceased bothering him, too high on the prospect of finally achieving his goals. He glanced down at his hostage with a knowing look.
"Gone for good, huh? Let's try again. When will your guest be back?"
The old woman sagged in on herself. The girl tried to stop her grandmother.
"Gran Gran, don't tell him!"
Gran Gran shook her head wearily."It's no good Katara, he knows now. The best thing to do is tell the truth to keep them from harming us."
"A wise decision." He said.
The elderly woman sighed, and finally gave him what he wanted.
"He should be back within an hour."
An hour? That was too long for Zuko's tastes. He had no desire to wait here on this hunk of ice. His topaz gaze narrowed on the water tribe girl. She'd revealed even more than she meant to with that outburst. She had some form of friendship with the Avatar. In fact, the more he looked at her, the more he was convinced she was one of the ones who had been on the bison with the airbender.
"You, you're coming with me."
He gave his men a nod. Two of them stepped forward, grabbing the girl around the arms and holding her tightly.
"No, you can't!" His hostage protested.
Zuko pushed the woman away. She immediately tried to free her granddaughter, but his men held her back. He strode over to his men, glancing back at the woman without a care.
"I've no interest in this girl. But she's friends with the one I'm looking for. Tell the airbender he can find her on my ship."
His men fell into line, frog marching the girl behind him as he strode up the ramp. The villagers were held at bay, unable to do anything but watch as one of their own was shipped off yet again. Zuko paid their grief no mind, he was finally close to reaching his goal.
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The walls thrummed with the steps of his men. A pair of burly firebenders escorted his prisoner to her holding cell. Katara had long since given up the idea of escaping. She trod sullenly between them with her arms bound in front of her.
Her water skin lay at Zuko's waist, it wouldn't do to let her use her element.
Katara turned and shot him with glare. "So, are you going to haul me off to wherever you've kept the other waterbenders?"
Zuko scoffed. The time it would take to pass her off to the divisions responsible for hunting waterbenders would be pointless. Though perhaps he couldn't fault a peasant for not realizing that.
"Like I told the old woman, I have no interest in you. I'm after bigger fish, and you are the bait. After all, compared to the Avatar, the freedom of Waterbender is a paltry price. "
The anger bled from her face. Her blue eyes–painted purple by the red lamps–widened to the size of two coins. She began to shake, from fear or worry he couldn't tell, nor did he particularly care.
"The … Avatar?" She said in disbelief, stumbling over her words. "You can't mean N–" The girl caught herself, before she could reveal the Avatar's name. Unfortunate. "–That he's the Avatar. He said he was a waterbender, his mother was from the Water Tribe!"
Zuko's eyes alit with triumph. "Really? And you believed it? Have you ever heard of a non-airbender taming a Sky Bison in any of the old stories?"
"Well … no."
The girl's eyes wavered. She was no longer looking at him, lost in thoughts of the mysterious airbender.
He snorted in amusement and turned to leave.
"Make no mistake, this 'young waterbender' is the Avatar. My father will be most pleased when I deliver him to reclaim my place as heir to the throne."
"Heir to the throne?"
He paused, glancing back at the peasant. Her gaze was locked on him intently. Something danced in her eyes. An anger, anger at something that had been stolen from her. It disturbed him to recognize that in someone like her. He didn't want to have anything in common with her.
"Ah yes, I suppose I forgot to introduce myself to your village. My name is Zuko, Prince of the Fire Nation. And I'm going to do what three generations of my family have failed to do. I will capture the Avatar. Congratulations, you'll be a footnote in the history of my victory. A high station for a peasant like yourself."
Zuko turned and strode down the hall purposefully, back straight and head held high, arms behind his back. The clang of the cell door chased him down the corridor. Soon, he would have his honor restored.
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What did you think? I wanted to give a glimpse into Zuko's character early on. He and Naruto will be the primary POVs in the first story, with one or two more occasionally thrown in.
Next chapter we will have a surprising reveal about Naruto. Anyone who has read the prequel books about Kyoshi/Yangchen will recognize a twist on something shown in there.
They're written by F.C. Yee, and I highly recommend them. I've only read the Kyoshi ones so far, but I plan to read the ones about Yangchen, and I suspect they'll be just as good. The Kyoshi ones managed to marry the established lore and world of Avatar and lend it a slightly more serious air than even LoK, yet in my opinion kept just enough of the humorous nature of the original series that it fits.
As always I'd like to thank my patrons. Chapter 6 is on pa tre on right now.
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Until Next Time,
RinneTaicho, Signing Off!