Wandering Firebender
Fourty One: Prisoner
Elio groaned sluggishly, his head feeling heavy. He slowly sat up and tried to rub his head, but his hands were cuffed together. As his vision returned to him, he looked around and found himself sitting in an unfamiliar room.
Judging by the decorations, he was still in the Earth King's palace.
"Ugh, finally. It's about time you wake up. It's bad enough that I have to give you your food, but now you're making me wait for you to wake up?" A girl with a lower, raspy voice griped as he came to his senses. He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand and looked at her.
The girl had on a Kyoshi Warrior outfit but without the makeup. She stared back at him coldly as she held out some bread to him. He took it slowly and cleared his throat.
"Uh, sorry...thanks. You could've just left the food here." He said as he took a bite of the bread.
"Azula wants me to guard you in case you have any bright ideas about escaping." She said in a tone where she seemed to be talking down to him. Elio glanced sideways at her.
"Right, and who are you?" He asked.
"The name's Mai." She answered with a roll of her eyes.
"Mai...I'm Elio." He introduced himself.
"I don't care." She quickly replied.
"Clearly...we're still in the palace, right?" He asked.
"Yeah, for now. We're heading back to the Fire Nation in a few days, finally." She answered, sounding happy to be going home. Elio's eyes widened and he swallowed.
"We're going back home?"
"Yeah. We're done here in Ba Sing Se." She answered, starting to get up.
"What do you mean 'done here'?" Elio asked worriedly. Mai raised an eyebrow at him.
"The war's over, Elio. Ba Sing Se is now under Fire Nation control. The Earth Kingdom's ours and the Avatar is dead. The job's done."
"Aang is dead?!" Elio exclaimed in shock, his eyes widening even more.
Mai said nothing in response, leaving him to process this world-changing news. Had the Avatar really been killed? If that were true, that would mean that all hope is lost.
Being captured and taken home was already bad enough; it meant that his entire journey had been for nothing. But if Aang was dead, that meant he would be in prison forever as the outside world would become much worse.
That was a very weighty thing to come to terms with...
Sure enough, just as Mai had said, a few days later he was being taken in a prison carriage to the coast. From there, he would be taken on a ship back to the Fire Nation – back home. Elio sat alone in contemplation until then, but on the ride to the dock, he had someone there to sit with him.
"Hi, Elio..." Ty Lee greeted him in a low, sad voice as she sat down with him. "I...it's nice to see you, even like this." She said, unsure of what to even say.
"I can't say the same." Elio muttered bitterly, barely putting in the effort to speak to her. His cold demeanor quickly upset Ty Lee.
"Yeah... Is it...is it true that you killed your best friend?" Ty Lee asked slowly, looking at him. Elio glared up at her.
"Did the princess tell you that?"
"Yes."
"...yeah, it's true." He answered, looking down again. Ty Lee's eyes widened and she swallowed.
"Oh..." She was at a loss for words. Her perception of Elio was so far away from such an action that she struggled to even picture him doing it.
"I had no choice...hundreds would've gotten hurt."
"But Elio...those hundreds of people weren't your best friend." Ty Lee pointed out softly.
"What, like how Azula is your best friend?"
"I don't know what you mean by that."
"That's why you helped her, right? That's why you're here. You helped her take over Ba Sing Se and kill the one hope for peace in this world because she's your friend, didn't you?" Elio questioned her in an aggressive tone.
"Elio!" Ty Lee exclaimed. It was hard for him to gauge what emotions were being expressed by her sudden outburst, but he didn't care.
"Bet you didn't know that the Avatar saved my life one time, did you? Without him, we never would've even met way back when." Elio brought up.
"...no, I didn't know that." She admitted, looking down at her feet.
"Whatever. Just leave me alone." Elio huffed.
"Fine, I just won't say anything." Ty Lee declared, folding her arms and turning away from him.
"Good, do that. And while you're at it, feel free to forget about anything we had going between us. I don't need someone like you stabbing me in the back." Elio said harshly.
Elio and Ty Lee said nothing else to each other after that. Not on the way to the coast, not as they exited the carriage, and not as she dragged him onto the Fire Nation ship that would be taking them back home. As much as it hurt, they both maintained their silence.
In Elio's mind, they might as well have never met. At least, that's how he wanted to feel.
Ty Lee took Elio down into the brig and brought him into his holding cell. Elio turned and stared at her with furrowed eyebrows as she locked him in. She looked back at him and sighed, shaking her head before turning away.
"Step outside, Ty Lee." An unfamiliar guy's voice told her as she stepped away from the cell. Ty Lee turned towards the door and was surprised to see who was there.
"A-Are you sure?"
"Yeah. I'm sure."
Elio watched as Ty Lee quickly exited the brig. Her presence was replaced by a guy with a big burn scar on his face. At first, Elio recognized him as the guy from the tea shop with the swords. But upon closer examination, Elio was soon able to identify exactly who was in his presence.
"To what do I owe this honor...Prince Zuko?" He asked.
Zuko slowly entered into the room, not answering him right away. He removed the hood of his Fire Nation robe and studied Elio through the prison bars. Elio slowly got to his feet and maintained eye contact with him. Being this close to the prince of the Fire Nation, it was easy to see the resemblance between him and his sister.
They both had similar eyes.
"Azula told me about you. I wanted to see what kind of freak show could ever get my sister's attention." Zuko answered, not mincing his words in the slightest.
"Well...am I what you were expecting?" He asked.
"Not at all. You seem like just another guy." Zuko answered. Whatever he meant by that, he did not make it apparent through the neutral tone he spoke in.
"Well, I guess I can take that as a compliment." Elio shrugged, not sure what to make of the prince's assessment.
"I've seen your records. We went to the same school. Your father is General Sol: one of the youngest generals that sits at my father's table. By most accounts, we've had very similar lives." Zuko described.
It was odd to hear this coming from the prince, but Zuko said nothing that he could disagree with.
"Yeah. That's fair to say... What's your point?" Elio asked. Zuko, hearing a lack of respect in Elio's tone, slammed his hand against the prison bar to startle him. He curled his fingers around the bar as he continued.
"My point is if we started out so similar, why are we standing on opposite sides of these bars right now?" He asked. Elio's eyebrows furrowed and he turned his head.
Why would something like that matter to Zuko?
"Well, for one, my father didn't burn my face and banish me."
"No, you banished yourself. You ran away from your duties like a coward." Zuko responded harshly.
"I never wanted to be a soldier," Elio clarified. "But my father, the great General Sol, made it very clear that I had no other choice. I couldn't bare to face him, so yes, I did banish myself."
"You should have listened to your father." Zuko said before turning away from him. He started to leave the room. However, Elio responded.
"I saw you at your uncle's tea shop before. I didn't recognize you then. Was that a cover? Part of your plan for taking down Ba Sing Se? With the Avatar dead, your banishment should be lifted now, right?" Elio deduced.
"Yes," Zuko answered, turning back around and marching up to the bars. "And when I return home, I will be welcomed back as a hero. My honor is restored." He declared.
"I'm sure your father must be very proud." Elio commented, continuing to prod at Zuko's focus on their fathers.
"My father is proud!" Zuko said defensively. "That's more than I can say for you," He scoffed. "You're a deserter, a traitor, and a prisoner! I'd be surprised if he's even willing to call you his son after everything you did." He talked down to Elio forcefully.
"My father disowned me," Elio said, recalling what Cassian had told him before. "He was a good father that loved me and was proud of me...right up until I was no longer who he wanted me to be. I wanted to be a performer, not a soldier. Part of me knew he wouldn't understand, and I was too afraid to stand up for myself.
"I'm not proud of the things I've done. I've made a lot of mistakes, some of which I wish I could take back. But one thing I will not apologize for is doing the right thing!" Elio said, suddenly raising his voice.
"You're a fool!" Zuko slammed his hand on the bars again. "And you'll rot in prison for the rest of your life! Some good 'doing the right thing' did you."
"At least I get to keep my conscience. How's yours?" Elio responded with an attitude.
Zuko did not respond the way that Elio expected. He expected the prince to reply with something along the lines of, "I'm doing what's best for our nation." or just disregard him altogether. Instead, he got a much more volatile reaction.
Zuko stepped back and roared as he threw a punch, sending a fire blast through the bars. Elio jumped away to avoid the flames, tripping and falling on his back with an abrupt grunt.
"That's enough, Zuzu," Azula's voice broke things up before they could progress any further. Azula stepped in through the doorway. She stayed by the door with her arms folded.
"You just got your honor back. You really wanna get in trouble now because you got provoked by some prisoner nobody?" Azula asked. Her tone wasn't to scold him; she seemed to be teasing her brother more than anything else.
Saying nothing else, Zuko turned away from Elio again and made his way out. Azula put a hand on his back, guiding him out as he left. Azula looked at Elio and smirked a bit oddly before she followed her brother out.
The expression that she'd snuck towards him wasn't disapproving in the slightest; it appeared to be quite the opposite, as if she approved of him pushing her brother's buttons.
Left in the silence of the empty brig again, Elio took a moment to really analyze his interactions with the Fire Lord's kids. From his first impression of the prince and his multiple interactions with the princess, he could tell that they both had a lot of things wrong with them.
The idea of either one of them succeeding Ozai and becoming the next Fire Lord scared him...
No one else came to visit him for the rest of the voyage. A guard would come by three times a day to bring him food and that was it. He was left in solitude the rest of the time, alone with his thoughts in a metal prison with no means of escape.
It gave him a lot of time to doubt whether or not he had done the right thing...
Finally, the ship arrived at its destination. Two guards brought Elio out in chains. He lifted his head up and looked around at the open field before being placed in another prison carriage. In the worst way possible, he was back home.
He was transported through the Capitol City quietly and discreetly. Despite having no bars or windows to look through, he could hear the familiar noises of his hometown just outside. He was likely passing by people that he knew, and they had no idea he was the one being held captive inside.
Finally, the carriage doors were opened again. Azula stood just beyond the open doors with a smirk on her face and her hands on her hips. Two of her guards stepped inside and pulled him out. Elio stumbled out of the carriage and steadied himself on his feet before her.
"Welcome home, Elio. I'm sure you must've missed it terribly." Azula said humorously. Elio took in a breath and sighed.
"I have."
"Well you'll have the rest of your life to get re-acclimated. Take him to his cell. I'll be following right behind." Azula ordered. The guards glanced at each other.
"Princess, it isn't recommended that you enter into the prison. It's not a good idea." One of the guards said.
"Do I look worried, gentleman? Let's go." She gestured for them to go. The guards obeyed her orders without saying another word.
Elio was escorted to a solitary cell high in the prison. He was brought through several halls, where he passed by dozens of hardened faces with varying expressions. He was very uncomfortable in here already. He was actually relieved when he got to his prison cell and saw that he wasn't being forced to be near anyone else.
"Stand aside. I'll take care of the prisoner from here." Azula said, stepping forward and grabbing the back of Elio's shirt.
The guards hesitantly looked at each other. Clearly, they wanted to protest again like before, but they also didn't want to get on the princess' bad side. They stood there awkwardly for a few moments, not doing anything. Azula spoke up again.
"I don't wanna hear it. Go." She pointed for them to go away.
"Yes, princess." The guards nodded, turning and quickly leaving them alone.
"Please try and run. This will be more fun." Azula dared him with a smile, letting go of him completely. She kept her eyes on him as she stepped away from him and opened up his cell door. Elio glared at her but did not try and escape.
"I'm not gonna indulge you. This is a life sentence, not a death sentence." Elio commented.
"You really think I would kill you, Elio?" Azula asked, putting a hand on his back and pushing him into the cell.
"I wouldn't put it past you." He answered. Azula chuckled.
"Good. Maybe now you're finally starting to learn who I really am then." She responded. Elio thought this comment strange, so he took a shot in the dark and guessed what she was referring to.
"I liked Su a lot more." He said, turning back around to face her.
"Aww, do you want me to go and get her for you?" She asked teasingly. Elio rolled his eyes.
"Very funny."
"You started it," Azula scoffed. "You know what I find interesting, Elio? This new side of you that you're showing. So much attitude now." She chuckled.
"I'm not in the mood to play nice with you, princess." Elio quickly said, trying to shut her point down. However, she continued to share her observations.
"It's exactly like I said before, isn't it? With nowhere to go and nowhere to hide, no backup on its way, now you show your true colors. You're letting that side of you out now; what you've been trying to hide this whole time." Azula pointed out, gesturing towards him with two fingers extended.
"You don't know me, Azula. You said as much yourself. Why do you even care so much?" Elio questioned.
"Oh I don't really care at all. But you do, don't you?" She smiled sideways at him, looking back over her shoulder as she walked away from him, "You care a whole lot about what other people think of you. That's one of your biggest weaknesses." She said as she closed his cell door.
"What's your weakness? Everyone has one, even you." Elio asked, humoring her teasing. Azula simply smiled and shrugged.
"I'll let you know when I find it." She answered simply before leaving him in his cell.
Elio sighed irritably, sitting down in his cell. Being broken down and analyzed was annoying, especially when he wasn't able to dispute anything she was saying. Perhaps he was a coward after all; he was never brave enough to stand up for himself the right way before.
In solitude and silence, Elio was forced to spin thoughts around in his head for hours on end. With little ability to do anything else, he had no choice but to try and come to terms with everything he had gone through and everything he had done to get to this point.
For a week, he ran through different scenarios in his head, trying to find things he could have done differently and how they might have turned out. It was a boring exercise, but it did allow him to at least make peace with a few things.
However, his emotions were brought back up when he finally received his first visitor.
"Wake up, kid. You got someone here to see you." A guard pounded on his door before it was opened.
Elio was sitting on the floor slumped against the wall. He turned his head over to look at who was there. He was expecting it to be Azula there to mess with him again. But when he saw who had come, his heart sank.
"Dad?" Elio said in disbelief.
He watched as his father silently came into the room. He waited until the door closed behind him. He stood before the bars for a moment before lowering down to his knees and sitting down on the floor. He sighed sadly, looking down at his knees.
His expression said a lot: he was sad to see his son in prison like this. Elio could only imagine the magnitude of disappointment he was feeling, how angry he was. He looked older now too; even though it had been less than a year, he looked tired – probably due to so much stress.
With nothing else to say, Elio waited for his father to say something to him. For the first time in months, he would get to hear his father's voice.
"I had this...terrible feeling that I would see you here one day. Soon as I read your little letter, my two fears were that either you would be killed or you would become an enemy of the Fire Nation." General Sol spoke to his son slowly and solemnly.
Elio looked down at his hands in his lap, feeling guilty. Up until now, he could only imagine the shame and heartbreak that he had brought upon his family. Now that he had to face his father for what he had done - now that he had to see and hear his father's pain, he wasn't sure if he could make it through this conversation.
"...I'm sorry, father...I should have put in more effort to resolve my feelings with you before making the decision to leave. Perhaps we could've...come to some sort of agreement." Elio expressed. Sol shook his head and sighed.
"Were you really so afraid of what I might have said?"
"You're a Fire Nation general, a high-ranking one... What else was I supposed to think? I would've brought shame on the family if I did what I really wanted."
"As opposed to this? You're a traitor, son," Sol said, as if not yet believing it himself. "I would've rather you serve no purpose at all than this."
"I know...I'm sorry, father. I-I wanted to be a performer," Elio stuttered, starting to get emotional. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen." He said sincerely. Sol sighed and shook his head again.
"You were destined for so much more than this, Elio. More than performing and certainly more than prison! Do you have any idea how much grief you've caused us? Me, your sister, your mother." He listed.
"I...can't imagine." Elio admitted quietly.
"Yeah, well if I gave you any details, it would break your heart."
There was a short period of silence between them as they both thought over what they had said to each other. Far too late now, Elio finally let his original desires off his chest. Even with that weight off his shoulders, he didn't feel any better. He just felt stupid.
"Son...is it true that you killed Cassian?" Sol asked slowly. Elio swallowed and looked down. He immediately got a lump in his throat, but he sat up to make it easier for his answer to come out.
"Yes."
"Oh boy...what happened?" He asked.
"I-I didn't have a choice, dad. He was going to hurt and kill hundreds of innocent people! I begged him to stop but he wouldn't." Elio defended. His voice quickly got choked up as he spoke. He was barely able to finish his last sentence as he spoke through tears and a quivering voice.
"He was your best friend, Elio. He was like family to you, to all of us! When his parents adopted him and brought him here, you were his first friend. You remember that, don't you?" Sol reminded him.
Elio gasped for air through his heavy sobs. He could feel his chest tightening in on itself. He wasn't able to respond verbally, but he nodded in response to his father's question.
"You both should have been on the same side, Elio! This situation could have been completely avoided!"
"I never wanted this! I never wanted to fight no one, I never wanted to kill no one!" Elio yelled, his voice breaking several times, "I was stuck in an i-impossible situation!"
"An impossible situation that you put yourself in! You should've came to me, Elio! We could've talked this out properly and come to an understanding!" His father raised his voice.
"No! You would've just tried to convince me to join the army! It all just runs around in a circle anyways!" Elio argued. Sol growled in frustration.
"So you leave your family behind and betray your country? Murder your best friend and become a fugitive? Become a full-blown enemy so outright that even the Fire Nation royals know your name?!" Sol argued back.
Elio closed his eyes and let out a long, shaky sigh. He had nothing else to say in response; there was nothing he could say to make his father understand. He was sure of that. Sol stood up and brushed his clothes off.
"Elio, my son... You are right; I had big dreams for you. You have the intelligence, the ability, and the social standing to go anywhere you want in life...or rather, you had those things. Sadly, you wasted them all and allowed the misguided ideals of the outside world corrupt you.
"You're so young, Elio, and you've already ruined your life...and there's nothing I can do for you."
General Sol turned away from his son and knocked on the door. The guard on the other side opened it up for him. He looked back at Elio more one time before leaving him alone. Elio sniffled and wiped his eyes with his hands still cuffed together.
The entire time, he had expected these things: he expected his father to be disappointed in him, he expected his father to not understand where he was coming from, and he expected these emotions to hit him hard when they came...
But that didn't make this any easier to deal with.
For awhile, Elio was unable to process anything he was feeling. He was just so overwhelmed with everything weighing down on him all at once that all he could do was just cry his way through the brunt of it. Eventually, he was able to relax and breathe again.
And that's when a voice spoke to him.
"I'm sorry, Elio. Try not to despair too deeply over your father's expectations." An older man's voice spoke to him from somewhere unseen and distant. Something about it seemed vaguely familiar, but Elio was more focused on the warm and comforting tone.
"I...where are you?" Elio asked, looking around.
"Come to the wall on your right." The voice beckoned him.
Elio slowly looked over at the wall. He crawled towards it and searched it for some kind of hole. He found nothing immediately noticeable, but evidently there was enough vacancy within the wall itself for him to be able to speak to whoever was on the other side.
"I can't hear you very well." Elio said, leaning up against the wall.
"We can only speak quietly so the guards outside can't hear... Are you alright?" He asked. Elio swallowed and sighed.
"I'm...not really...I can't believe this is happening."
"I overheard you talking with your father...I can tell that your intentions were never to betray or disrespect anyone. It is unfortunate that things had to go in this direction, but your father was right about one thing...
"You are destined for much, much more than this prison." He said.
A chill ran down Elio's spine. Who was this person to say that and be so convinced of it? How did this person know who he was?
"Who are you?" Elio asked.
"The more important question is who are you, Elio? Take some time to think deeply about what you want, son...and we will talk more tonight after the guards have gone to sleep."
"O-Okay." Elio agreed, moving away from the wall.
Something else was going on here, clearly, but Elio couldn't say what it was yet. He would just have to wait and see...