I lay on the floor of the earth palace's throne room, completely immobilised. My upper body had been chi-blocked, and I was forced to stare at the ground. A few moments later, I heard many footsteps approaching. Multiple strong arms grabbed me and pulled me up from the ground, and I found myself staring into the evil amber eyes of Azula. Mai and Ty Lee stood behind her. I craned my neck to see multiple Dai Li agents securely grabbing onto me. Clearly, they were part of the coup, too.
"Lock him up where his friends won't find him," Azula instructed the Dai Li. Handcuffs made from earth were placed over my wrists, holding my arms behind my back. A black blindfold was forced over my eyes before I was led away, unaware of where I was going.
I was silently guided around for about half an hour before we came to a halt. The blindfold was finally removed from around my eyes, gifting me the sense of sight again. I was in some sort of earthy cave. The chambers of the cave were lit by many large bunches of green crystals that illuminated light across the halls. The Dai Li agents removed the earth handcuffs from around my arms before earthbending a small hole in the wall of the cave next to me. It revealed a small chute that lead downwards somewhere.
"Enjoy your stay," one of the agents said to me, just before another Dai Li member shoved me into the hole. I fell into the chute and tumbled down the decline roughly before hitting the ground. Immediately I looked back up the chute and was able to see the Dai Li agents smirking down at me. Then, they covered the hole in the wall, leaving me alone in despair.
Punching the earthy wall in frustration, I looked around at the situation that I found myself in. I was in a small earth cavern, only illuminated by the same green crystals that had lit the rest of the cave. If it were not for the fact that I was trapped here, I would have described it as cool.
I spent the first hour or so pacing anxiously across the small cavern as I desperately tried to think of what to do. There was absolutely no water here, and there was not even the slightest trace of a liquid inside of the earth of crystals, either. With Aang, Sokka, Katara and Toph all far away, my opportunities of escape were looking bleak. If only there was a way that I could communicate with them.
But then I started thinking. Is there a way for me to communicate with them? I could always enter the spirit world and just pray that Sokka, who I had previously trained to enter the spirit world that one time at the Serpent's Pass, would also be there. But the chances were slim to none; I hadn't seen Sokka enter the spirit world since I had taught him. In fact, I doubted he would even know how to get back in. I could hope that Kyana would be waiting in the spirit world, and maybe she could sent a letter to the rest of the gang? But no, that wouldn't work, either. Ba Sing Se would fall to the Fire Nation way before any of the team even received the letter. Then I thought, what about Aang? As the Avatar, he would know how to get to the spirit world, and although he didn't know how to meet in the same area that I always travel to, maybe I could send some kind of message? It didn't seem likely, but it was better than nothing.
I sat in the centre of the room in a meditative state. Creating a peaceful atmosphere certainly wouldn't be an issue, since it was only me in the chamber. But what was an issue was that there was no water. Whenever I had entered my little area of the spirit world, I had always been next to water. I relied on the sound of flowing water being pushed and pulled around me, and without it, I was struggling to enter the spirit world. But maybe I didn't need to fully enter the spirit world to send a message to Aang? I balled my eyes shut and concentrated on my thoughts.
"Trapped underground. The Fire Nation is in Ba Sing Se," I thought in my head, and I soon felt the message leave my mind. Had it worked? I could only hope.
I spent the next hour or so doing press ups, sit ups and other exercises. I might as well not waste perfectly good training time, I reckoned with myself. Perhaps years of relentless training as a child had drilled that philosophy in my head. While I was starting my seventh set of press ups, I was interrupted by a loud grinding noise echoing through the cavern. Intrigued, I look up through the chute that I had been thrown down earlier, to see that it had been uncovered. A Dai Li agent stared down at me.
"You've got company," he said to me before throwing a body down the shoot. I quickly got out of the way as the person tumbled down the chute, groaning as they hit the rough earth below. I noticed that they wore yellow and green upper-ring earth robes as they hit the ground next to me. I heard the Dai Li agents seal the chamber again, leaving me trapped with whoever they had just thrown in. The person got up and dusted themselves off, revealing their face to me. Short, scruffy black hair lay on their head as their amber eyes looked into mine. The large red scar covering his left eye made it immediately obvious.
"Prince Zuko," I mumbled as he stood in front of me. I had only met Zuko once, very briefly, when we had worked together with the gang to try and take down Azula. But while we had worked as a team back then, I was no idiot; I had heard the countless stories of Zuko's relentless hunt to catch the Avatar.
"You're that waterbender who travels with the Avatar," Zuko said to me.
"Yeah, what's it to you?" I huffed with attitude. I knew that Zuko wasn't to be trusted easily. He was the fire lord's son, after all. "Are you part of the coup, too? Are you just waiting here for Aang to show up so you can capture him?"
"No, I'm not like that anymore," he informed me, though I remained unconvinced.
"Yeah right," I scoffed. "I'll believe it when I see it,"
"Really," Zuko enforced. "You know, we're not that different,"
"You know nothing about me," I spat, annoyed that he would even suggest that we were similar.
"I know that you're the Prodigy of the North," Zuko claimed truthfully. "And that you were banished from your home. That's something that we both have in common," he admitted as he glanced away shamefully. Indeed, we had both been banished from our respective nations, but I still didn't trust Zuko.
"I learnt to grow as a person once I left the Northern Water Tribe," I told him. "You haven't learnt anything at all,"
"No, I have learnt," Zuko told me, and I looked at him doubtfully. "My uncle has been showing me that maybe my destiny isn't to recapture the Avatar and regain my honour. I've changed,"
"You've changed??" I chuckled sarcastically. "And how am I supposed to believe that,"
"Who do you think freed your giant bison?" Zuko looked me directly in the eyes, and I somehow knew that he was telling the truth. In all of the recent chaos, I hadn't even thought about how Appa had escaped from underneath Lake Laogai.
"You freed Appa? Why?" I asked him in confusion.
"Like I said, I've changed," he reiterated, and admittedly, I somehow started to believe him. There was an awkward silence for the moment, neither of us knowing what to do or say. "So, how do we get out of here?" he asked me as if I had the answer.
"Your guess is as good as mine," I shrugged at him. "If I knew, I'd have escaped hours ago,"
"There must be a way out," Zuko mumbled as he walked towards the earthy wall of the cavern. I followed behind him curiously. He stared at the wall of earth in front of him, before letting out a loud grunt as he threw his arms towards the wall. A moderate blast of fire exploded out and impacted against the wall, though the earth remained completely intact. Frustrated, Zuko blasted the wall with a few rapid punches before yelling with anger at the wall's durability, flailing his arms. The only thing that this achieved was accidentally sending a blast of fire in my direction. I only ducked in time thanks to my quick reflexes.
"Hey! Watch it!" I shouted at him with annoyance. Zuko turned around and noticed that I had ducked to avoid his fire, and muttered a quick 'sorry'. Despite his apology, I was still pissed, both at him and the situation that we were stuck in. "Aren't you supposed to be a good firebender? Azula would have blasted that wall to pieces," I taunted him angrily, expecting an outburst. This didn't fuel Zuko with rage, though. Instead, he dropped him hands helplessly to his sides.
"I wish I was as good of a firebender as Azula is," Zuko huffed as he stared at the ground, and his sudden vulnerability surprised me. "My life would be a whole lot easier,"
"Wait, you're saying that you're jealous of your sister?" I asked him with a raised eyebrow. I had never spent time with Zuko before now, but he never came across as somebody that would admit to jealousy. He always appeared as an angsty, overconfident teenager who had been born into the royal family
"She was born with insane firebending powers. I was stuck with only decent potential. Naturally, she was my father's favourite. He says that she was born lucky, and that I was lucky to be born," Zuko confessed with a sigh as he glanced off behind my shoulder. Then, perhaps realising how vulnerable he was being, he snapped. "Not that you would understand. You're just like her; blessed with fortune and power,"
"No, I think I do understand," I told him as I pieced together the story in my mind. "You want your father's love and praise. I used to train all day, every day, to make my father proud. He was proud, but it didn't make me happy. Only since I've left the Northern Water Tribe have I truly felt happiness,". Zuko slumped down against a nearby crystal as I told him my anecdote.
"I don't understand what you're trying to say," he sighed.
"I'm saying that, even if your father were proud of you, maybe you wouldn't be happy," I elaborated. I wasn't convinced that my theory was correct, but I could now see that Zuko had made loads of progress as an individual, and I was hoping that perhaps I could aid him. "You have to do what makes you proud of yourself,"
"You sound just like my uncle," Zuko groaned, though I could see that I had sparked inner turmoil inside of his brain. Maybe, just maybe, I had gotten through to him, and could help him see the light. Surprisingly, I was hopeful that Zuko could change to become a better person.
"Good, because he's one of the best people that I've ever met," I said sternly, and I saw Zuko's eyes widen slightly. He opened his mouth to say something, but I predicted his question. "Yeah, I've met him. I know that you're troubled because your dad is the fire lord, and because he's a villain and a tyrant. The same goes for your sister. But you're also related to the kindest person on Earth. I know that he's had a complex past- I've read the stories- but he's learnt from it and had become a man that he is proud of," I finished my speech. Zuko remained silent, but I could tell that my words had gotten through to him. There was hope for Zuko, I just knew it.
The two of us sat around the cavern in silence for about an hour, though it could've been more. Zuko, for the most part, sat quietly, seemingly deep in thought. Eventually, a large rumbling sound could be heard through the earth walls of the cabin. There was a brief delay between each noise, but whenever it could be heard, it vibrated through the room. Both myself and Zuko stood up when we first heard it.
"What's that noise?" Zuko questioned as we looked at the wall that the sound was coming from. I simply shrugged my shoulders in response as the rumbling continued. Within a minute the noise had begun getting much louder, as if it was coming closer towards us.
Then, out of nowhere, the wall exploded. I dove out of the way of the flying debris, and I saw Zuko do the same. A cloud of earthy dust filled the cabin as a result of the imploding wall, making me cough. However, once the cloud of dust had disappeared, the result of the incident could be seen. Standing in the newly-punctured hole in the crystal cavern wall stood Aang and Katara! But stood next to them was... Uncle Iroh? Although confused, I was still very glad to see them.
"Aang! Katara! Iroh!" I gasped in surprise as I ran towards the group. Aang and Katara gave me a quick hug of relief while Iroh embraced his nephew.
"Zuko?!" I heard Katara shout as she noticed the fire nation prince's presence. Her voice was angry, but I quickly intervened.
"It's okay," I whispered to Katara and Aang. "He's... friendly now, I think,"
"Uncle, I don't understand. What are you doing with the Avatar?" Zuko exclaimed with an angsty shock as he realised who else had come to rescue us.
"Saving you, that's what," Aang quickly retorted, and Zuko lunged towards the boy, before quickly being held back by his uncle.
"Zuko, it's time we talked," was all that Iroh said before turning back to myself, Aang and Katara. "Go help your other friends. We'll catch up to you,"
I nodded at the wise man before quickly running out of the room with Aang and Katara. We had a coup to stop, after all. Just before I left the cavern via the hole that Aang had earthbent through the wall, I looked back at Zuko. We both connected gazes, and I gave him a subtle nod, almost as if I was urging him to make the correct decision.
Then, with little time to spare, myself, Aang and Katara all dashed through the tunnel. We left the small cavern as we ran into a much larger cave. Similarly to the cabin, it was made of grey rocks and illuminous green crystals. It was much more spacious, but my favourite difference was the large streams of water patterning some of the room. Stemming from a large waterfall at the back of the cave, the water ebbed around the room, filling me with confidence. Finally, I had access to water again.
"Where are Sokka and Toph?" I asked my friends as we ran into the large room.
"They've gone to get the Earth King to protect him from the coup," Katara informed me. I then turned to Aang as he ran beside me.
"How was your meeting with the guru?" I asked the boy. "Did you master the Avatar state?
"Uhh yep, completely mastered it," he said, though very unconvincingly and with a clearly faked a smile. Something was up, I realised as he unpersuasively continued. "No setbacks whatsoever. Completely mastered,"
"We've got to find Sokka and Toph," Katara interrupted our brief conversation as she reminded us of our priority. However, before anybody could say anything else, a loud whooshing sound could be heard from behind us. I swiftly turned around to face it, and saw a large wave of blue flames rapidly approach us. There was no doubting where the flames had come from; Princess Azula was here. Luckily, Aang was quick on his feet as he raised a protective wall of earth to protect us from the blast. The wave of fire impacted the earth wall harshly, sending me flying backwards, though I quickly stumbled back onto my feet to face Azula, who was standing with an evil grin on her face. Something told me that this would be an intense matchup.
Word Count: 2794
(A/N: Hey everyone, sorry for the shorter chapter, but I think that the Book 2 finale chapter next week will make up for it. As some of you may know, I'm studying abroad this month, so I won't be able to write. But don't worry, I've scheduled the next few chapters to release automatically, so fingers crossed that it works! The next chapter, the finale of Book 2, will release on Monday 13th, so I hope to see you all there! Have a good week! -JetDragon09)