Pre-Chapter A/N: Please do check out the first chapter of the novel I'm working on up on pa-treon- it's completely free to access.
What can I say except you're welcome? Here we go with the seventh chapter of 2025. Lovely to have you all here, and I hope you enjoy this one. If you do, feel free to head over to pa-treon and read the next two chapters- I update there on a daily basis so there's always something for you to read.
"And you are sure these things are loud enough?" I asked the man in front of me.
"I could always have them give it a good blow for you to check, General" the man replied. I gave the gigantic trumpet a look. Considering this thing was allegedly loud enough to reach the second gate from here, I would go deaf if it was played next to me.
"I'll take your word for it" I said with a shake of my head as I was led by Long Feng over to the next instrument in the array. Now that it was clear that combat with Zuko's forces was inevitable, I was setting up a sort of early warning system. Grandfather said he hadn't seen the avatar fight but that he was certain Aang had mastery over the elements. Part of me had hoped that he would be stuck on Earth because I had both killed Bumi and adopted Toph. There couldn't be that many powerful earthbending masters still out there, could there? I'd killed so many already. That hope had failed, and meant I could have the bridge between the spirit and physical world knocking on my doorstep at any moment.
So, I made a plan. A constant rotation of scouts with telescopes looking over the horizon. If they even spotted a glimpse of the sky bison, then they were to alert the trumpet men, who would blow the trumpets.
Blowing this trumpet made the folks on the next wall blow theirs, and so on. The sound would echo across the city and I would be forewarned enough to move in to the next step of my plan. Escape. Not for me, of course. But for Azula, the generals, the likes. I would never run from a fight, but that didn't mean I didn't recognise the possibility that I could lose. To be honest, part of me couldn't wait. There was no fear in me. Only the anticipation that came from the expectation of a good fight.
Done with inspecting the final wall. I turned to Long Feng, and we began to make our way down the wall and then to the carriage that would take us to the palace.
"Are the tunnels done?" I asked.
"Yes, Natsu. From multiple points in the tunnels, you can access multiple points in both the city and the palace. The broader evacuation plan is yet to be finalized, however" Long Feng said.
"Yes, yes. But only because we haven't decided on a fallback point. I know you're a fan of falling back within the city and maintaining control over it, but we cannot fail to recognise the possibility that the city would betray us to the Avatar in a heart beat." I pointed out.
"The citizens would never dare"
"They would" I said, taking a peek through the carriage's windows. No one was stupid enough to toss rocks at me again after Toji had taken a few hands the last time, but the glares were no less fierce.
"You think these are broken people? They are far from that. Bent, maybe. But so far from broken. No, if we deliver ourselves into their hands, then they will not hesitate to give us up"
XXXXX
It took weeks for the promised day to come. I was forced to keep Azula busy with daily spars to run out her energy. Or at least, that had bene their purpose at first, until it turned out that she was even more of a prodigy than I'd expected. She learned so quickly that she went from being someone I had to hold back against to someone it took actual effort to defeat, all in a matter of weeks. Of course, if it was a fight to the death, then it was a very different matter.
When the trumpet sounded, I felt myself freeze in place in my office. The Avatar was coming. There was only one thing to be done.
"Toji, you know your orders" I said, before relaxing into my seat.
He nodded, looking extremely sullen but still left. The plan as simple. Evacuate. I had doubts that if the Avatar found an empty palace, he'd tear apart much of this city searching for us, but not enough to risk it. Besides, there was another option. The option that dozens of people had taken when faced with the Avatar. My ancestor had had an excellent relationship with Avatar Szeto. The kind of relationship that historians in my old world would have referred to as a 'very close friendship.' Don't get me wrong, he never admitted anything in the journal. But it was telling that he spoke about Szeto more than he did any other. Add that to the fact that the family was forced to continue through his brother's son because he refused to take a wife, and I could read between the lines well enough.
I stood up and began to take care of the office, arranging it to deal with guests. By now, Long Feng would have gotten to Azula and begun the evacuation. She was to board a ship and take the fastest possible path to the shipyard. The shipyard was one of the centers of military innovation. A place where the Air Blimps that I'd intended to use in the siege of Ba Sing Se were waiting. She was to take control there and take a hold of all those precious resources. We were going to take the fight to Zuko, while he thought the fight was being brought to me. All I had to do was my part. Defeat the Avatar, wound him heavily enough that he would not be able to participate in the fight, or piss him off enough that he spent weeks chasing me around the Earth Kingdom rather than back at the Fire nation.
It was a game of chess. I was the sacrificial piece here. A Queen sacrifice to expose the enemy king and win the war in one swoop. Of course, I didn't intend to die here. I had plans on top of plans to make sure I didn't. I just had to stay calm and make sure I held my nerve.
I heard the sound of drums and noted that the process of evacuation had begun in earnest. We had a complex system of sounds and symbols to be used for different parts of the process while I sat in my office and waited for what would happen when the Avatar arrived. I arranged the kettles and cups over and over again before taking a set of herbs from the top drawer in my office, mixing them in hot water, straining it and then gulping it down in one swig. It tasted rank, but it would work. I set the tea leaves, tainted as hell, into the kettle and poured the water over it, leaving it to infuse.
Another trumpet sounded out. The Avatar was now within the walls. I walked to the windows of my office and noticed the fire Nation banner spread out across one of the towers on the innermost wall. The evacuation was done now. Azula would be on her way to secure vast military resources on our behalf. I just had to do my part.
A set of drums rang from somewhere close to the palace. That meant that the Avatar had landed now. If all went well, he would be escorted by a skeleton crew of guards here. The rest of the army was being loaded on to ships with different missions—each being spread out in different directions. Even if he somehow managed to defeat me quickly, he would have to pick one of three sets of ships, each headed in a different direction. That gave Azula a further 30% chance of escape. I was doing my best with the options opened to me.
There was another set of drums, much closer. I had about two minutes until the Avatar would be led in. I put my game face on and prepared myself. I hated this plan. I hated it a lot, but Grandfather was right. Winning the war was more important than proving myself against the Avatar. I could find Aang's successor and train them to the best of my ability, and then see if I could beat the bridge between the shirt world and the physical one. I didn't have to do it now.
When the door was knocked, I counted to three, and then it swung open. Hiroshi and Aiko led them in, with Takeshi bringing up the rear.
It wasn't just Aang, I could see Katara, and Sokka as well. There was also a man I didn't recognise, but he was dressed in the water tribe manner so some sort of warrior of theirs. They even had Jeong-Jeong here as well. How….interesting.
"My first impression, Avatar, is that you are somehow taller than I expected," I said to kick things off, watching the shock appear on his face. On all their faces.
"Surrender Natsu. You are beaten." He said, bringing his staff to bear.
"I agree. May we sit down for tea and discuss the terms of my surrender?"
I could see the shock on their faces. I could see the anger appear on Katara's while Sokka placed a hand on his sword. I just stop from my desk and began to arrange the teacups and prepare them to pour the tea.
"No tea. Lift up your arms now. We'll be tying you up and taking you with us" Sokka said. I gave the boy a look.
"You would try. Like I said, we will discuss the terms of my surrender and if you would rather not discuss, then I will be resisting this silly attempt of an arrest and fighting my way out of here. Maybe he would beat me" I said, pointing at Aang.
"But I could bet that I'd kill at least three of you before he could manage. This is a very small room, after all. And fire can be ohh so dangerous" I said. The door clicked to announce that it had been locked. I'd had the original vanity doors replaced with a set of heavy metal doors. Toph's metal bending had proven useful in preparing them so quickly and ensuring that they were ready for use.
"So now we shall sit and discuss" I said, pouring the tea into my cup first and then one for each of them. There were only two chairs right in front of my table, but I left the tea to cool as I walked around and picked up additional chairs from around the office. None of them even moved. This was the value in having a reputation for murder, mayhem, and chaos. I knew that they thought this was some sort of trap, but they could not just ignore me. And fighting me? Well, Aang would win. But he'd bleed for it. Maybe Kyoshi would have damned the consequences and fought either way, but Aang craved to solve conflict with dialogue. I just had to make him believe I was a kindred spirit.
Surprisingly, Jeong-Jeong was the first to sit. Aang joined him, and then the rest sat.
"So, what do you want?" The Water tribesman asked.
"And your name?"
"Bato of the Southern Water Tribe."
"Bato, then. I will surrender, I will ignore the murder of the rightful fire lord and recognise Zuko's place on the throne that was never his to take." I began the negotiations by doing what you weren't supposed to do in honest negotiations- lying through my teeth.
"In exchange for what, Natsu\?" My old master asked.
"All I ask is the same. I ask you to give me nothing other than what I have taken. The Earth Kingdom is mine. I will even support your attempts to bring the war to an end. All you have to do is recognise my authority over the earth kingdom, and allow whatever elements of the Fire nation military wish to relocate here to join me to do so."
"You have to be insane to think we'd agree to that" Katara shot out with such heat that I wondered which one of us was the fire bender.
"Do I? I hold the earth kingdom. If you want it, you'd have to take it, and considering you needed an Eclipse to beat Ozai, I'd give myself good odds" He said. This was another factor. They had the Avatar, but that was all they had. The Fire nation military would never listen to them. The Earth Kingdom forces had been put down, destroyed, and then scattered to the wind. The only army they could rely on was that of the Northern Water Tribe, and he'd eat those soft water benders for breakfast.
"And we can arrest you right here, right now"
"Sure you can. But you must wonder. Where is everyone else? Toji, my second in command, and the Princess Azula are deep within the Earth Kingdom right now preparing my troops to resist you. Long Feng, my man, holds this city under his thumb. You can kill me now even, but I am nothing but one man, and you are beaten" I said grandly, before taking a sip of my tea. Perhaps sadly, none of them took sips of theirs. Aang moved a hand to it, but Katara slapped it away so quickly that it might as well have been a trick of the light.
"So your threat is that we have to negotiate with you, or we won't be able to beat you? But if we couldn't beat you, then you wouldn't even be here negotiating in the first place" Sokka said. I took another sip of my tea.
"What if I am just as tired of the war as you are? I have fought in this war since I was a teenager. I have fought in this war, lost friends and allies. And just when it was over, you now add the possibility of having to fight in my own homeland then I guess I'm simply tired".
"How rich." Katara scoffed.
"Now that the war has come to the Fire Nation, you've had enough? But you never had enough when you pillaged, burnt, and looted your way through the Earth kingdom, did you?" She said heatedly. I sighed, and took another sip.
"I have made my offer."
"No."
"Excuse me? I assumed the Avatar would be the one to give me an answer here" I said to the Water bender who was beginning to get on my nerves.
"I don't care. Your deal is ridiculous. You will surrender. A real surrender. The earth kingdom will be returned to its rightful rulers, and you will thank us for not removing your head from your shoulders." I couldn't help it, I laughed. The audacity.
"Kuei is dead. So is Bumi. Bumi, his son, and his granddaughter are dead. Fong is dead as well. What rightful rulers? There are no rulers other than me".
"You monster" She called out.
"I'm not the monster here. I tried to negotiate with you. If you want my head, come take it." This was a good enough place for a last stand. Aang would be near impossible to hit. The Airbender was willy like that. I would go for Jeong-Jeong first. He was the greatest threat after Aang himself. No. That had to be Katara. She was a water bender. I'd never fought a water bending master before. She had to be the first one to go. Sokka was a non-bender, and he was no Toji. He'd die if he dared get close to me. Aang? Well, I'd deal with that when it came up.
She tensed in her seat. I looked at them one after another.
"Wait. There's no need to resort to violence. You wanted to talk. Let's talk." Aang said, and I nodded at him, but remained ready to be attacked at any moment.
"I have given my terms"
"That's not enough. Zuko would never stand for that. He wants you arrested at the least".
"Tough titties for him. No deal ends up with me not at the top of the Earth Kingdom".
"I can't do that. I have to restore balance to the world, and to do that, the Four Nations must return to being Four."
"You woke up a decade too late for that then, Aang. May I call you Aang? I'll call you Aang. There is no Earth Kingdom anymore. The Southern Water Tribe is a collection of hovels, no more than that. The Air Nomads are gone. Where are the four nations, Aang?" I asked, watching how each statement hit him like a bullet.
There was silence in the room at that.
"It doesn't matter. We will rebuild and restore everything you and your people have destroyed. We will do it. You just have to surrender. You are beaten. Do this and spare the rest of your men. Only the criminals like you and Sung will be punished." Katara said. I wondered for a second why she had mentioned Sung, but then remembered that he had received a Commendation for killing a Water Tribe Chieftain. What was their dad's name again? Aikido? Akuda? Oh, Hakoda.
"Funny that you mention Sung. You're Hakoda's kids, aren't you? Please do accept my condolences" I said, sporting a smirk. Katara had gotten on my nerves.
"I wish I could tell you that he died easily. Maybe even that his last words were about the two of you. But that would be a lie. He died screaming, and his last words were him crying for Sung to stop the torture and grant him the sweet release of-" The Ice dagger came within two inches of ending my life as I moved my head sharply to the side. Turns out I wasn't the only one preparing a quick attack.
Except that my attack was much deadlier. Taking inspiration from Ozai, I rose from my seat with lightning between my fingers. Aang had already brought his staff to bear. Good thing he wasn't the target. Katara, still extended from the dagger she'd thrown, never got to regret her actions. Thunder boomed, lightning struck, the water bender died, and the room exploded a second later.
A/N: And so we dance with the Avatar. As always, the next two chapters are up on pa-treon. If you just want to read complete chapters and not my work in real-time, then feel free to purchase this story as a collection on my pa-treon page so you get to read each chapter after I finish it and not neecessarily the daily updates available with a regular pa-treon membership- nice way to support this story and me while you're at it. Enjoy!