"Greetings, Earth King Kuei!" Aang and Katara bowed their heads in front of the monarch who sat on his throne, petting his beloved bear, Bosco.
He perked up at once when he saw the pair, standing up to greet them with a big smile and open arms. "Avatar Aang! Katara of the Southern Water Tribe! It's been much too long! I heard you were in the Earth Kingdom dealing with the situation in Yu Dao. Thank you for all your help with the removal of that colony! The remaining few seem to be more difficult than—"
"That's why we are here, your Majesty." Katara interrupted him before the topic got out of hand. "We'd like to set up a meeting between you and Fire Lord Zuko. Yu Dao... is still... Yu Dao..."
"For now." Aang stressed, still not convinced by Zuko's arguments.
King Kuei's expression turned from joyous to pensive. "So then, the Fire Lord persists in denying the movement his support... He wants to keep the colonies..."
"Earth King Kuei, I'm on your side. The people of the Fire Nation don't belong in your kingdom. So the Harmony Restoration Movement has to continue! With a little convincing, I'm sure Fire Lord Zuko—"
"—has legitimate concerns about the colonials who still live here! We really need to sit down and talk through our options. Maybe there's something we missed!"
The Earth King looked between the opposing pair. For once, the fate of his kingdom rested on his shoulders, in his very hands. After the disaster with Long Feng and the Dai Li, it was only right that he took full responsibility. The Earth Kingdom needs him now more than ever.
With a deep breath, he made his decision.
"Fire Lord Zuko!" An armored soldier entered the throne room running and knelt before the throne. "A message has arrived from the spies you sent to the Earth Kingdom!"
Zuko nodded. "Proceed, General Mak."
"Your suspicions are confirmed! The Earth King's army now marches towards Yu Dao!"
The shock was still there, but a part of him already suspected and accepted this turn of this events. "Father... you were right."
"Gather your men and the imperial firebenders, General! Load the tanks into the warships! Have the fleet ready by sunrise!" Zuko clenched his fists, his golden eyes burning with determination. "We're going to war."
"Prove yourself worthy of my throne, my son!" Ozai shouted behind him, loud despite the storm raging and the rain falling around them.
Zuko turned to Aang who stood beside him at the edge of a cliff. "Aang how am I supposed to figure out what's right when his voice is all I hear?! You could have silenced him forever! Perhaps then, I would've found peace! But you didn't! And now I can't!"
"I... I-I''m sorry, Zuko..."
A dim figure appeared beside Aang, tall and old, with the familiar robes of Fire Nation custom, the distinct royal artifact on his hair. Avatar Roku. "When he had a firm grasp of the good, your friend asked you for a promise!" His expression was dark as he said the words to Aang.
Aang's tattoos and eyes glowed to life. His feet left the ground as the winds blew harsher with the storm. The rain pounded harder, eroding the rocks, the fragments carried by the wind that Aang commanded. Fire ignited in his hands.
"Now fulfil that promise and restore the world to harmony!"
"NO!" Chiyo woke up screaming and in tears, heart hammering against her chest. It was the first nightmare she had in months and it looked real. Too real to be brushed off as merely a manifestation of her fears.
Luckily her outburst did not wake Lady Reiko who was peacefully sleeping by her side. She stood up and went to her desk, scribbling a quick note to Reiko and Noren.
Zuko never mentioned anything about the movement in his letters to her. For all she knew, everything was going soundly as planned. But the inexplicable worry she had been feeling in the past few months were affirmed by this nightmare. Something was wrong.
Chiyo left the note on the table and donned on a pair of work pants and a plain tunic. She had a fair amount of money which she can use to buy transport. She stepped out of Noren's home, an hour after midnight. There were no stars that night, and the cold winds told her that a storm was brewing.
She had to get to Zuko fast, or else her nightmare might turn to reality.
He sat alone in his quarters, meditating, staring into his uncle's portrait and needing his words of advice now more than ever. "I'm telling you, my actions make sense! The Fire Nation citizens of Yu Dao are my people! As the Fire Lord, I have a duty to protect them! But it goes beyond that..."
Zuko sighed deeply before he continued. "When Mayor Morishita's wife, an earthbender, invited me to stay with them, I didn't just get to see what Yu Dao was like. I got to see what their family was like! They ate together, sitting at the same table, they talked, and laughed, and when they argued, they didn't challenge each other to Agni Kais... They're so... normal."
In his heart, he knew he was right to defend his people. He was right to defend the bond the people of Yu Dao had formed with one another. Firebenders, earthbenders, and non-benders alike. But a shadow of doubt was always lurking at the back of his mind.
Leading an army to Yu Dao is exactly what his father would have done in this situation.
Was he slowly turning into his father? Even if his reasons for defending Yu Dao were different?
"You wanted a quiet life after the war, and that's the one thing I can give you, to begin repaying you for all you've done for me. I can't disturb your peace, uncle. I won't." He steeled his resolved to look strong, even if he was just in front of a portrait of his Uncle Iroh. "Even so, I wish you were here, uncle. I miss you."
"Fire Lord Zuko! We've landed on the shores of the Earth Kingdom!" General Mak entered holding something in his hand.
It was his father's war helmet. a royal artifact worn by Fire Lords during the Hundred Year War, leading conquests and battles.
After securing his armor, he took the helmet and wore it. He left his quarters and followed General Mak to lead the army.
"You okay?" Katara followed Aang who was perched on top of the gates of Yu Dao, looking over the horizon for any sign of incoming forces.
"My head hurts." He sighed and closed his eyes. "I think I figured out why the nations have to be separate for harmony. Whenever two nations come together, the stronger one can't help but hurt the weaker one. They'll conquer, or burn, or at the very least, make a joke of the weaker nation..."
Katara cradled Momo in her lap, running her fingers over the short, smooth fur. "You once told me that separation is an illusion. Guru Pathik taught you that. The four nations are really one and the same—"
"But I don't want them to be the same! I love being an Air Nomad! I love our philosophy, our temples, our holidays, our food, everything that makes us different from the rest of the world! And now that I'm the last one left, it's up to me to preserve our way of life!"
She didn't have it in her to be angry with him, but she could tell that he was just as confused as she was, as everybody was.
"I do know this, Katara. Air Nomad culture can't survive in a world where nations invade and corrupt each other. I have to see the Harmony Restoration Movement through to the end."
"Even if it means fulfilling your promise to Zuko?"
"Yes."
"But isn't that against Air Nomad philosophy? Isn't that what you are trying to preserve?"
"It's a contradiction, I know! That's why my head hurts..."
"FIRE NATION OUT! HARMONY NOW! FIRE NATION OUT! HARMONY NOW!"
The silent morning was filled with the shouts of the Freedom Fighters. "It's been three days, Avatar Aang! Did all that talking get you anywhere?! Is the Fire Nation out of Yu Dao?!"
Aang flew down from the top of gates down to where Smellerbee was, leading the group. "Please, Smellerbee, just a little bit longer—"
"People of the Earth Kingdom! ATTACK!"
"When he found out that the Earth King had sent his army to remove the colonials from Yu Dao, Zuko decided to lead his own army there to defend them!" Suki told Sokka and Toph all that she had heard from General Mak and Fire Lord Zuko's meeting. The action might be seen by others as a betrayal of trust, but something tells her that she was doing the right thing by attempting to stop this war. "We have to stop Zuko's army before it reaches the city gates!"
"You think the three of us can stop an entire army?!"
"Hey, we've stopped an entire air fleet before, haven't we?"
Sokka shrugged. "Good point."
Toph agreed as well, standing up and cracking her knuckles. "So what's the plan, Sokka?"
"Ah... The burden of being the idea guy..." He grinned as he too stood up and paced around, hoping to come up with a plan fast. "Well, first of all, we have to get into one of those war tanks undetected--"
"Piece of cake." Toph leapt into the air and aimed a solid punch to the ground. The rocks and the soil gave way under her fist and went down further than what they can see.
Both Sokka and Suki looked down at the hole. "What is that?!"
"An underground slide that'll take us directly under Zuko's army." The earthbender jumped fearlessly into the hole and called out. "Come on!"
They followed her into the darkness, stumbling through the rocks and loose earth. "It's so dark in here."
"I can hardly see a thing."
"Shhh! Toph's really touchy about that!"
"Sorry..."
"Quiet both of you!" Soon, they heard the deep rumbling above ground as the Fire Nation war tanks crossed they path.
Once she was certain that the last tank was near, Toph punched her way through the tunnel, and through the metal underside of the war tank. She made quick work by tossing the two soldiers manning the machine outside and helping Suki and Sokka up. "Okay, first step complete! What's step two?"
"I'mmmmm... Nnnnnnot sure. I was sorta hoping step two would come to me while we were working on step one."
"Are you kidding me?!"
"Oh, I see! Let's all blame the idea guy!"
Suki shook her head and took the driver's seat to steer the tank before they go off-course. "While you two figure that out, I'm gonna try and get us to Zuko. If we could just talk to him—"
"What?! You think some polite conversation can convince him not to turn evil?!"
"I don't know..." She sighed, looking out of the window to the front lines where Zuko was. "He just seems so... lonely."
"Of course he's lonely! Chiyo is still in god-knows-where doing god-knows-what! They got separated again for a year that's why he got a few loose screws in the head!"
"Oh! Oh! Oh! That's it! That's step two! Screws!" Sokka turned to Toph. "How close do you have to be to metal bend something small, like maybe a screw or a bolt?"
"If you're close enough to see it, I'm close enough to bend it!"
Satisfied, Sokka joined Suki at the front. "Great! Suki, pull us up alongside as many tanks as you can."
"Let's do this!"
Both Aang and Katara got caught up fending off the attacks of the Freedom Fighters and the Yu Dao resistance led by Kori. "How come nobody ever wants to just talk?!"
He was ignored once again as Smellerbee led a second wave of offense. "Attack!"
Kori wasn't to be deterred as well. She led the group of earthbending and firebending warriors forward. "Defend yourselves, Yu Dao resistance! Defend our home!"
"Smellerbee, I agree with you! I want the Fire Nation colonials to leave, too! I just want them to leave peacefully!" The Avatar stepped between them, using a glider to send a gust of wind in both directions to stop their advances.
As she fell to the ground, her head towards the east, Smellerbee said, "I don't think that's an option anymore, Aang. Looks like the Earth King's finally stepped up to his responsibilities.
Indeed, hundreds of soldiers marched, along with tanks and air ships, leading them was General How, one of the Earth King's most trusted war counsel.
"Monkey feathers!"
General How went down from the ostrich-horse, pulling a scroll from his belt and reading the Earth King's decree aloud. "Attention! By official decree of Earth King Kuei, the Earth Kingdom reclaims the former Fire Nation colony of Yu Dao! Fire Nation colonials who remain in the city are hereby declared criminals and shall be arrested on sight! The Harmony Restoration Movement shall be completed on this day WITH or WITHOUT colonial cooperation!"
The Freedom Fighters cheered, knowing that the offense was now in their favor. "FIRE NATION OUT! HARMONY NOW!"
He couldn't help but curse. "Double monkey feathers!"
Kori approached Aang with her ultimatum. "This is it, Avatar. Defend Yu Dao with us or doom us."
Not long after that, the ground shook as the Fire Nation foot soldiers, rhinos, and war tanks arrived as well, led by Fire Lord Zuko in full armor. Ready for war.
Aang knew cursing was against Air Nomad philosophy, but he really couldn't help himself in this situation. "Monkey feathers on top of monkey feathers!"
So I let my cousin read a draft of this chapter.
D: So you're telling me, Chiyo is gonna travel. Alone. At night. With a f-- storm brewing?"
A: Yep.
D: Bruh...
A: What? *suddenly realizing something* Oh, nonono! It's not what it looks like!"
D: You rat-bastard...
War for You Dao (Part 2) coming soon!