"Hey did you hear the avatar is back?"
"That can't be possible, he's dead,"
"Admiral zhao found him and now has a bounty,"
"I heard it's a kid,"
"You hear this shit? The avatar is back?" Jay scoffed as he stood with Zuko and Lee with two other men.
"Wouldn't it be a water bender?" One of the men asked.
"No, it's an air bender," jay grinned.
"Air benders are dead," Zuko didn't believe him.
"I know that's what we're all saying but it's true, the avatars the last air bender, found in the South Pole or something," jay explained but they all thought it was bullshit.
"..so a water bender?"
"No it's an air bender!" Jay cried out.
"That they found in.. the water tribe?" Lee scrunched up his nose confused.
"I mean I guess he'll become a water bender but that's not the point!" He whined as the three men chuckled but Zuko didn't seem impressed.
"Does that mean the war might finish sooner than we thought?" He asked quietly. They all stopped laughing as the boy seemed to be in deep thought.
"If there's an avatar, we can win the war," Zuko looked at them seeing if any agreed.
"Problem is he's not on our side," Lee shrugged.
"I know, that's why they have a bounty and are hunting him, we get him we win," Zuko nodded and the men smiled a little.
"Then we go home," the men agreed.
Zuko gulped a little. He looked down thinking about what it would look like if they won, if he didn't have to be a soldier anymore. Where would he go?
Everyone heard someone coming as the sound of kimono rhinos coming through the woods. Zuko frowned not knowing why people were coming to their camp, he pushed himself off the tree walking towards the center of the camp with the other men.
"Attention!"
Xai stood at the front of the troops as they gathered together knowing there must be news for them. The rhinos came around and Zuko froze seeing zhao in front as he got off the animal and stood with Xai.
"Alright boys, as many of you know, the avatar has returned, and is now the fire nations duty to devote ourselves into capturing the avatar!" Xai yelled over the troops as zhao looked through the men and his eyes landed on Zuko.
"Admiral zhao, say what you need," Xai nodded to the man as he backed off.
"Thank you commander," zhao hummed with a smug look on his face.
"I will be taking half of you men with me to capture the avatar, he is making his way up to the northern water tribe to find his master, I am planning a full invasion on the northern water tribe to wipe out the water benders along with capturing the air bender!" Zhao barked harshly at the men.
"Told you," jay mumbled.
"By sun down I will call out each of your names on who will be joining me in this invasion! We need all hands on deck, is that clear!" He roared.
"Yes sir!"
Xai walked over to Zuko as they all were dismissed and grabbed his arm.
"Commander?" Lee noticed the boy as Zuko didn't fight.
"A word Zuko," Xai told him and the boy nodded silently as he followed to the tent. Lee's eyes widen as zhao went into the tent as well.
"What's that all about?" A man watched confused as Lee was concerned.
"I don't know," he pursed his lips.
-
"Long time no see prince Zuko," zhao chuckled softly as Zuko stood in the center of the room.
"It's just Zuko," Xai narrowed his eyes.
"I'm surprised you survived training, you sure grew up," he walked up to the boy, he was still shorter than zhao but he wasn't the child he last saw him as.
"Nice scar," he smirked.
"What do you want Zhao? I don't want you wasting my time," Zuko hissed as he didn't back down.
"I wanted you to look at my list of men, see if any of them are actually worth anything valuable in this invasion," zhao handed him a scroll.
"A lot of men are going to die, aren't they?" Zuko gripped the scroll looking up at zhao.
"Yep,"
Zuko gulped and turned to open the scroll. His breath hitched seeing all of the names, he knew every one of their faces. He's watched his friends get killed in the war but this felt different. This felt like suicide.
"My names not on it?" Zuko frowned. Neither was jays.
"Didn't think it'd be worth the ink," zhao shrugged.
He saw Lee's name.
"So, are they worth the sacrifice?" Zhao asked in a low tone.
"Do you want my advice?" Zuko asked closing the scroll.
"Sure, maybe it'll sound educated," he chuckled.
"Ask the men to volunteer, it's not just physical strength you'll want, it's their devotion, not every man in this list is going to put everything they got on the battle field because it's not where they belong, not on the sea, but if it was ba sing si that would be a different story," Zuko explained calmly to him as he handed the scroll back.
"And if I don't have enough men?" Zhao narrowed his eyes.
"Then you'll start calling their names off the list from the top, simple," he crossed his arms.
Zhao looked him up and down as Zuko didn't seem like he cared to much, but he offered his advice, it was worth a shot.
"Alright," zhao nodded and left the tent as Xai stood next to Zuko.
"Are you going to volunteer?" Xai asked softly.
"Yes," Zuko didn't look at him but Xai turned him around.
Suddenly he backhanded the boy and Zuko held his face backing away.
"Are you fucking stupid?!" Xai barked down at him.
"There's a reason your not on that list boy!" He snarled grabbing zukos hair to force him to look him in the eyes.
"I had zhao make that list so you wouldn't be going! God dammit Zuko!" He sneered but paused seeing Zuko didn't even bother fighting against his hand in his hair.
"Those men out there deserve to see their families again, and I know not a lot of them will get to if they go," zukos voice cracked a little as Xai let go of him.
"My age doesn't matter, neither does where I came from, I appreciate everything you've done commander but I'm not going to... I'm not going to have them be forced into death when they didn't even get a choice," he rasped as he bowed to the commander with his head down.
Xai covered his face with a small groan and went to grab his bottle to calm his nerves.
"I knew you were going to be a stubborn son of a bitch, I should've known," Xai scoffed shaking his head as Zuko looked at him.
"Don't be the first to volunteer, be one of the lasts if zhao doesn't have enough men," he breathed and Zuko nodded.
"Yes sir, I understand, thank you," Zuko put his fist against his palm as he bowed.