The Chong Sheng Trilogy: War by rachelthedemon

Shattered

Disclaimer: I own not, you sue not.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Chong Sheng Trilogy

PART I: War

Chapter 4: Shattered

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Fighting his sister was hard enough when he didn't have to worry about getting someone else caught in the crossfire. Fighting her in close quarters among innocent bystanders made him wonder what on earth he'd been drinking, and where he might find more. She continued to throw lightning bolts in a vain attempt to hit him, only to have them redirected and thrown back in her face with his signature pinpoint accuracy. By now, he'd ceased to care whether Iroh was watching, especially as he backflipped onto a table to avoid a blue fireblast.

"You never learn, do you?" she growled, throwing a whip of flames at his feet. "You were always a traitor. That's why you were banished in the first place!"

Zuko leapt off the table to avoid it, tipping it over with a kick to shield himself as she readied another attack. He had to take this fight outside if he was going to keep the shop patrons alive, and that was getting increasingly difficult with the way she was trying to corral him. He glanced across the shop at the door leading to the street, narrowly avoiding a fire whip. If he could lead her in the right direction...

He started to zig-zag across the room, jumping over and ducking under tables, dodging and redirecting lightning blasts as fast as she threw them, but refraining from any attacks of his own. There was no need for more fire to be thrown around a room full of innocent people. He looked up long enough to spot Iroh in the doorway of the kitchen, giving him a meaningful glance that he hoped would make it clear.

This one's mine.

Iroh's answering look was unreadable.

Not that Zuko had a whole lot of time to think about it before he spun out the door and into the dusty street, dodging a whip of blue fire. Without any further hesitation, he reached out to grab the whip itself, giving it a firm pull and trying not to enjoy the look on Azula's face as she came tumbling toward him. Her moment of imbalance and surprise was long enough for him to launch a fireblast squarely at her.

Azula reeled, letting go of the whip to clutch at her shoulder as the flames dispersed, and looked up at him with a frustrated growl. She knew it as well as he did: this would not be the cakewalk it was a few weeks go.

He drew back for a larger fireblast, noting her mid-defensive stance. But instead of following through, he aimed it for the ground, letting the flames spread just above the earth toward her feet. She leapt up in surprise to avoid it, and he took full advantage for her confusion with a well-placed smaller blast. She narrowly avoided it, wincing as it singed the ends of her bangs and landing next to a lamp-post.

He smiled to himself, despite having missed, because it was enough to visibly rattle her. He'd never understood it before, what his uncle said about fighting being like a dance. Only now that he saw the technique in practice -- by his own hand, no less -- did he finally get what he'd been doing wrong all these years.

Break her rhythm. She can't stay on a beat that's always changing.

She started to circle her arms again for a lightning attack, and he once again took the stance to receive it. But instead of throwing it back at her, he aimed his exit hand for the top of the lamp-post next to her.

The metal lamp-post.

He watched with something akin to pleasure as blue sparks crackled down the length of the pole, while she just grinned and readied another attack. Only to be literally shocked off her feet with a loud snap! as the lightning met the ground next to her. She screamed, rolling as she hit the ground, coming to a stop on her stomach. He bended a thick fire-whip into his hand, lashing at her while she tried to raise herself on shaking limbs.

She rolled to the side, pulling herself up to a crouch. "Hitting someone while they're down, Zuko? Have you abandoned your honor as well as your nation?"

He noted the low stance, tensing his legs in anticipation. "I can't abandon what I never had."

His hips swung in a ground-kissing sweep, fire shooting from his sole in a wide arc toward his siister's crouched form. He loosed the whip hardly a moment later, watching her rise to her feet just as he expected her to. Directly in the path of the hurtling flames.

Which she caught in her own hands, twirling and throwing them right back in his face.

He ducked, letting them singe the top of his head, but taking all his willpower not to wince and lose sight of her. Not for a moment.

She grinned, stretching her arms out in that all too familiar stance. "Two can play this game, you know. Let's see who's better at it."

* * * *

This, Aang suspected, was what Sokka meant that time when he referred to Ty Lee as the Pink Avenger.

He twisted and dodged in ways he was sure human spines were not supposed to move in order to avoid her jabbing fingers, as he quite liked having the use of his arms and legs. She stuck to the lightposts and rooftops, leaving a very frustrated Toph and an even more trapped Sokka on the ground to watch while she and Aang duelled for a chance to actually land a blow on one another.

The thought of moving the battle somewhere else occurred to him, but he knew he couldn't risk it when the scary one with the daggers was still conscious, though trapped behind a wall of solid rock. While he knew Toph was more than capable of taking care of herself, he didn't like the idea of leaving her and Sokka by themselves.

He closed his glider, twirling it for a jet stream of biting current, one that made her shield her face with her arm in mid jump from flying dust. If he could just get her to fall so that she'd be at Toph's mercy...

He leapt into a twisting kick, landing on all fours and sending a surface blast of wind along the rooftop. Ty Lee dodged admirably, leaping over it to land behind him. He turned to follow her, narrowly avoiding a jab to the neck. "Sorry, but I don't have time for this!"

She chuckled, spinning into a sweep at his ankles. "Funny, little guy. I sure don't see you running."

It was his turn to leap away, jumping across the decorative brick platforms along the roof's edge. "'Cause I'm not gonna leave my friends alone!"

"My, how sweet." They both turned, watching as a hand grabbed the roof's edge from below, straining to pull up until the other girl's eyes peered over the top, slowly hoisting herself onto the roof to join them. She tucked the leather strap and dagger back into her cloak, glaring. "I think I'll just throw up right here."

Aang stepped back, taking stock of any advantages he could possibly pull from this as they both grinned at him, closing in from either direction. He had no water, and air, as good as he was at it, was proving to be not nearly so effective once they knew what to expect. And while Toph had taught him some useful moves, they weren't on the ground anymore...

Or are we? Earth Kingdom...the houses are made of clay. From the ground...

He refrained from grinning, doing his best to still look nervous as his toes twitched across the flat shale tiles. All he had to do was get them in the right place... Center of the roof. Perfect.

He stomped forward, shoving a fist at the ground. The tiles flew up from all around them just he leapt into a spin, landing and aiming them for the two very surprised assailants. They backed away from the now rather painful beating, toward the edge of the roof, trying to shield their faces at least with crossed arms and hunched shoulders. Until one by one they both disappeared over the edge with surprised shrieks.

He ran to see after them, shouting for Toph's attention. "Now, Toph! Right in front of you!"

She twisted her feet, sending a travelling crack through the ground toward the exact spot they were about to hit, stomping her other foot in front of her and crooking her thumbs in precise form. All poised for the perfect strike. The ground began to heave ready to catch them both.

Until the unmistakeable sound of flying rocks made him gasp, Toph's face melting into a mask of startled horror as her arms wrenched painfully in back of her. The two girls hit the ground, Ty Lee in a crouch and catching her partner to break her fall, just as another set of those signature rock shackles flew over their heads. They both took off running into the shadows at full tilt.

He heard it behind him a moment later, turning to face what he knew was coming, only to feel the cold stone clamp around his wrists from the side.

Dammit!

"What are you doing!" he shouted. "They're Fire Nation! And they're getting away!"

"Orders," came the cold voice, followed by the advancing officer. "All of you are under arrest by the order of Long Feng. You are coming with us."

* * * *

By all accounts, things were not going well. The one drop Zuko thought he might've had on the Fire Nation's Golden Girl turned out to be a non-issue, as she was apparently as good at catching on as he was. The singes at the edge of his hair and clothes told the story quite nicely. She was starting to expect his unexpected, to adapt to the new rhythm. He knew he had to change beat again, but to what...

He spun to avoid a blue fire whip, kicking the remnants of a decorative steel screen in front of him to shield the blast that followed it. There were a couple of options he was considering, but both of them were a fool's move and he knew it. Techniques Iroh had not completely trained him on yet, since it wasn't like they could Firebend worth a damn with the Dai Li breathing down the city's collective neck.

You don't need to change the dance. Just the beat...

He looked up as she leapt onto the other lamp-post to avoid one of his fireblasts, proverbial gears turning. Things his uncle had told him during training, about how a direct attack is not always best... Yet he couldn't generate lightning himself, and he dared not attenpt it and fail in such close quarters. Yet, the post was metal. There had to be...

He readied a fire whip, sending it along the ground toward the pole. She cocked an eyebrow at him as through he'd grown a tail, watching the stream of flames wrap the base of her perch. He counted, focusing on her hands as they clutched the metal, waiting for the inevitable. He didn't have to wait long. Her fingers twitched for a moment, the shock barely registering on her face before she let go with a shriek, falling to the ground and clasping her burned palms together.

"You little bastard!"

He allowed himself half a smirk at least, flicking the whip back to the ground. "I've had some wonderful teachers."

She jumped back, spreading her arms in stance and hurling a rather large fireblast to his right. He dodged easily enough, despite a few fresh singes on his hair and clothes and his skin prickling uncomfortably in its wake. The dust and ash cleared as he looked up, watching her just stare at him with an expression that looked as pleased as it could without smiling. He couldn't help letting confusion get the best of him for a moment. "You missed. What are you so happy about?"

No answer, save for her lips finally breaking into a grin.

And then he heard it. The gasps and shouts from the small audience that had gathered around, the scrambling of their footsteps as they started to clear away down the street. The distinct roaring crackle that a Firebender of any skill level would know anywhere. Felt it, the searing heat at his back that his hands were so well acquainted with. Smelled it, the stench of burning wood and cloth. He turned around, icy dread turning his stomach to stone.

The facade of the shop was burning.

Crumbling down in sparks and showers, smoke rising in steadily growing plumes. He cursed inwardly, shielding himself from flying red-hot embers and avoiding more surgical fireblasts from Azula's hands. He couldn't even look up for all the heat, relying on his feeble ability to feel the ground with his toes and the condition above by the cracking of the wood, narrowly dodging the burning pieces as they fell.

Until he felt it. The long metal rod that held up the awning, heavy and hot, crashing into his back and knocking him to the ground. Face first, scraping against the rock. Feeling warm, sticky fluid slide down his cheek and that familiar coppery taste on his lips. The world spun despite him not being able to see it for a minute, and blurry as though he were looking through a dusty window when he finally dould.

She grinned down at him, arms twirling in that motion the he knew so well by now, and on reflex he tried to pull his arms up to redirect what he knew was coming. But they couldn't quite cooperate while pinned by a piece of metal that may or may not have not broken his back. His still fuzzy mind barely managed to process the thought that his sister was about to turn him into a human lightning rod, and there was ansolutely nothing he could do about it.

A loud splash! met his ears, a sound that shook him from that dense fog of impact in an instant. Perhaps because it was such an alien sound to be hearing in a dry climate like this, but whatever the reason, his head snapped up immediately, enough to meet the cool spray of water.

Azula shrieked, drenched from head to foot, clothes heavy and hair hanging in her face, normally dagger-stiff topknot lying flat against her head. She backed up, turning around with a feral snarl. "Who would dare...?"

He knew that blue dress and those blazing eyes anywhere.

Of all the stupid, careless... "What are you doing! I told you to--"

"Shut up!" she yelled, flinging a wave from the nearby cistern to quench the blaze at the shop, further soaking Azula in her process. "It's my turn, now." Her eyes flicked back to his sister, growling under her breath. "You really want to try that again?"

Azula sucked in a breath, the water on her skin evaporating into a steam cloud as she grinned. "Actually, yes I do." Her arms waved again, only to bestopped dead as a thick stream encased them in solid shackles of ice. "That was rhetorical, y'know."

Zuko watched them both, unable to help feeling just a little out of sorts at seeing a Waterbender completely overpower his sister. Though he couldn't find himself complaining much at the moment.

She growled, bringing her arms up to her face to melt the ice with a breath, hands shaking and pale from the cold as she deflected the other girl's barrage of water whips with deadly accurate fireblasts, making steam clouds puff and dissipate between them. "You little bitch. You've caused me trouble for the last time."

He strained underneath the metal, no longer dizzy and reasonably sure nothing had been broken. His momentary ally flung an extra whip at one end of the pole, knocking it away to allow him to get to his feet. But no sooner did he then the sounds of flying rocks reached his ears. One he'd only heard once, but that was enough to know what it meant.

Shit!

The two girls looked up from their battle, Azula standing confused for a moment before thinking better of the situation and running, while the Water Tribe girl spun to face the shadows, deflecting a second shot with a well-placed ice blast and backing up toward the shop's burned-out storefront toward him. As the dark figures advanced on her.

They didn't speak. Nor did they need to. He growled low in his throat as she gathered some water from the cistern into an ice shield for them both as they backed up past it. Wonderful. Cornered like pigeonrats.

"When we get to the shop door? Run," she commanded softly after a pause.

"What? Are you--"

"I said run." Her teeth were bared, the look of them sending a shudder down his back as he knew she meant business. "Don't argue with me. Just do it."

He didn't like her tone as they backed over the step to the front deck, the shield already sporting some cracks in it. "You're out of your mind. There's no way you can--"

"I'll be fine. I know what I'm doing, okay?"

"You have any idea who they are?"

"Plenty," she replied as they made it to the threshold. "Now do as I say!" She didn't wait for his next objection, using one hand and an ice whip to shove him through the gutted doorway before charging them. The sound of the ice shattering under the onslaught of rocks followed, and he peered up long enough to see them encase her wrists in granite, dragging her away despite her struggles and shouts.

It was enough. Cursing a proverbial bue streak in his head, words he'd never even heard his own father say, he slunk through the burned out shell of the building to the back exit, ducking into an alley to wait for the officers to move on, knowing they had to be out of the way before he could even chance escape.

And at the same time, there was no denying the sick feeling in his gut as the sight of the Dai Li officers dragging that girl away replayed itself for him. She'd told him to get out. Had charged them as a diversion so he could get away. Had sacrificed her freedom to spare him the sword, despite all the times he'd tried to condemn her with his own. She knew what was going to happen. He knew she knew. And he hated it.

Not for the first time did he wish his sense of honor had the wisdom to shut up at times like these.

Honor? He saved your life in a blizzard, and you're still trying to capture him. You have any idea what the word even means?

...Why did he need to hear this now? He felt scared and confused and ashamed enough without the voice of some crazy Waterbender shouting things in his head that he really didn't want to think about. He knew what the hell honor meant. It was... Well it was about...

Silence. Try as he might, his mind could not fashion an answer to that one. Not one that felt right, at any rate. Not one that felt like he wasn't simply repeating the rhetoric he'd been fed at home. Did honor mean stealing and robbing to stay alive? Did it mean hurting people to whom he owed his life? Did it mean regarding even those who offered aid to him "the enemy?"

He swallowed, not liking the answer in his heart one bit. That was not the way things were supposed to go. He was supposed to capture that child and bring him back to his father. And they were supposed to crown him Prince once again, and possibly hold a Fire Festival in celebration. He'd been promised this.

if you sincerely believe that, I know some long lost Air Nomads who would love to kick your butt at Pai Sho.

By Azula, he remembered. Azula had promised him the Sun, Moon, and Sozen's Comet. And he remembered how well she'd delivered on that one. How well she'd managed to sucker him into turning against every last shred of his common sense just by telling him what he wanted to hear. To pit him against Iroh, of all people. Against the only member of his family still around who actually cared whether he lived or died. There were few times in his life that he'd felt so completely ashamed, so utterly deserving of a slap across the face and a good kick to the ribs for being an utter fool.

'Cause you're too busy letting your whole crazy nation tell you what to do with your life...

And it was all lies. The quest for the Avatar, something he knew he would never have taken up for the sheer insanity of it had he not been told it was his ticket back to the palace. Something which he knew was not the case anymore, and was fairly positive it never had been.

There was no chance of going home. It hurt him to even think about it, worse than any attack his sister had ever thrown at him. That the tower of hope that had kept him standing these last three years was built on a lake of quicksand. And only now did he realize how far he'd been sinking. How much of his life he'd let them, the people he was supposed to be able to trust above all others, ruin. How he'd valued their opinion of him over his uncle's.

His uncle. The first person since his mother to make him feel like family wasn't an illusion. Who had put his own safety -- and sanity -- on the line for him. Who had sacrificed his freedom and willingly chosen banishment right along with him. Who had pulled more strings than a master puppeteer to ensure their safety in this city.

Safety my ass. He knew it, as he'd known ever since the moment he severed his topknot and the ties to his homeland. No matter how well-meaning Iroh had been to keep him going, he knew he'd only been poking wet ashes. There was no ember left. His fate had been sealed with the failure at the Northern Siege, though in his heart he'd accepted long before then that his quest was nothing but the denial of a homesick madman.

His honor was gone. His throne was gone. He was a traitor, branded as such three years ago. Even if he had completed his quest, there was no way the country would take back a Prince who'd walked out on an Agni Kai. Against the Fire Lord, no less.

And now, they had no chance of staying in Ba Sing Se any longer. Not when he'd just demonstrated in front of a few hundred witnesses that he was a highly trained Firebender. He had to find his uncle and not waste his chance to get out while it was still possible. There was no other alternative, unless Iroh knew of a Mindbending discipline or something.

There was nowhere left to go. No place was safe, as long as he was still a traitor and the world still at war. He wanted to stop running. He wanted to stop hiding. He wanted his old life back, and there was no way in Hell that was ever going to happen. He was on the run not just from the Fire Nation, but from the world until this war ended. And that didn't look like a possibility in this lifetime.

And he knew what Iroh would be telling him the moment he found him. Don't give up. Don't give in to despair, as long as you have some fight left in you. And then would come the wonder at how Iroh, of all people, could say such a thing with the conviction he did. A man who had lost his country, his throne, and his only son, yet still had the hope to keep on going. He had a secret somewhere. One that Zuko could certainly use at the moment.

He pulled the dagger out of his cloak, staring at the inscription as if it were a divining pool. There had to be a way out of this mess. There had to be a way to get what he wanted, Avatar or no Avatar.

No matter how things may seem to change, never forget who you are.

He didn't know why those words decided to echo in his mind again. Right at this moment, when things seemed so dark. When he had no idea what he was supposed to do, where to go, or how to get there. Even after all this time, he never got what his mother meant by those words.

Perhaps, he supposed, because he'd never had a reason to heed them as well as he did at the moment. She had given him the answer to a question he would not ask himself until years later.

My name is Zuko. Son of Princess Ursa and Fire Lord Ozai. Prince of the Fire Nation and heir to the throne.

While that whole night still felt like a bad campfire tale he'd never heard the end of, those words in particular always stood out clearly when everything else faded. Maybe because they were her last. Maybe because he knew, even then, that she was driving at something he would only understand when the time came.

That time was now.

The footsteps were starting to fade, the soldiers' voices with them as they moved off. He risked a heave to his feet, peering around the corner into the crowd that had come to such a standstill. They couldn't see him, he was sure as he turned and headed down the small back street, disappearing into the night.

* * * *

"Just what in the name of Fenghuang were you thinking, Mai? She told us not to attack the Avatar! She's gonna--"

"I don't care what the hell she said. He was right there. I wasn't going to sit there and tear off my fingernails until he decided to move." She ducked behind a couple of empty barrels, Ty Lee beside her as the place was starting to crawl with enough uniforms to make even them twitchy.

"But...her orders...You know how she is... Mai, if she finds out--"

"I don't care, okay? She can hurl all the fire and lightning she wants, I just don't care anymore. I'm sick of her orders, 'cause they don't make any goddamn sense! No, don't attack the Avatar. Just tail him so you can tell me where he is when we have no way to actually send word to each other in time!" She growled, tucking the retrieved blades into her garment.

"She's our friend, Mai."

"She is? Then why are we sent off to do all the legwork? Why does she get to go after all the big fish while we're left with the slim pickings? She doesn't treat us like friends. We're her servants. We always have been. And to be honest, I've had enough."

Ty Lee winced at the thought, remembering having to crawl through the slurry and failing anyway. "What'll you do? If she tries to kill you, I mean. And trust me, she's gonna find out and you're gonna be toast..."

"Simple," Mai quipped. "I'll kick her ass."

"But she's a--"

"Yeah, a Bender. I know. Ask me if I care. I'd rather get killed fighting her than serving her."

"...What about me?"

Mai looked at her. "What about you?"

"What...What will I do if you...?"

The look on Mai's face turned to one of mild bewilderment, as though she'd been asked a question she didn't quite know how to answer. But that only lasted a moment, her Pai Sho face returning at full strength. "You do what you want. I can't tell you that. Go on and stay with her and save your skin if you like. Just stay the hell out of my way."

* * * *

The footfalls had faded into stunned silence as Iroh carefully picked his way through the ruins of the shop front, pushing blackened wood panelling out of his way and stepping carefully to avoid the broken glass. He knew he should've expected it sooner later out of a city such as Ba Sing Se. A city which had defeated him once before, and was about to so again.

Even the thickest walls will have cracks in the masonry. Where armies can't go, spies will.

The words made him wince inside, more for remembering who had spoken them than how right they were. But no. He could not dwell on the past when the future wasn't looking very good at the moment.

The sound of crunching glass made him turn on an arrowpoint, stance ready, breath taken as creaking wood followed it. Footfall. But lighter and more careful, not at all the heavy, we-own-the-place steps of the Dai Li when they wished to be heard. His eyes narrowed in the direction they came from, able to discern a lone figure coming through the shadows.

He knew that silhouette anywhere.

"Are you all right?"

"Fine," Zuko murmured. "Get ready to leave."

"I was going to find you to do just that. We mustn't stay here another minute if we can--"

"You go on ahead, Uncle. I'll catch up. I have something here I need to take care of first."

Iroh's brow arched, confused by the boy's tone. It wasn't the blazing conviction he normally used when he spoke about his quest, but a cold, quiet determination. The likes of which he'd never imagined hearing out of that voice. "What are you going to do?"

Zuko looked up finally, the sparse moonlight glinting in his eyes like chips of diamond. "The right thing."


TO BE CONTINUED...

Back to Summary Page