To Lose or to Gain: Boiling Point (Avatar: The Last Airbender Fanfic)

Unpreparedness

They had so many plans, yet they were so unprepared.

Specifically, even Lu Ten noticed Aang wasn't making the process as he should, but this was no fault on Zuko's part. Even Lu Ten tried reminding Aang that he shouldn't be goofing off, but then he learned that Aang planned on not doing anything. He wondered in the back of his mind if the play might have unsettled the boy, but there was also this feeling that Aang simply kept running from reality.

"Katara won't talk to me about what happened," Aang told him once.

"Is that really the most important thing to be worrying about now?"

"Well..." Aang knew the answer but avoided it, yet there he was with Zuko having to tell everyone about Ozai's plans—plans Lu Ten didn't even know about, yet rightly agreed with Zuko that Aang shouldn't have waited as he had regarding mastering the four elements, particularly when Avatar Roku gave quite clear instructions.

"Children shouldn't have to fight this war we adults started." Lu Ten thought on one hand. "Would we even be in this war if Aang hadn't disappeared?"

Of course, Aang understanding the urgency of defeating the Fire Lord didn't mean he understood the urgency of killing the Fire Lord. Ty Lee dramatically chopping off the head of the dummy they created to represent the Fire Lord likely didn't help, yet a dummy would do nothing in the long run in that said dummy didn't move as the Fire Lord would move, nor did it change the fact Aang struggled with the concept of killing.

He wanted to believe that Aang was simply naïve about how the world worked when he stated he thought showing Ozai his baby pictures would work, but then Aang quipped something about what he learned from the monks and Lu Ten had enough. "That's a lie."

"What?" Aang looked at him.

"You're lying to not only us but yourself that the monks taught you that."

The young Airbender became angry at this point, his hands clenching at his side. "Are you telling me what they teach in Fire Nation schools is true? Because I've been in one, and I tell you what they teach about us Airbenders isn't at all true."

Lu Ten sighed. "Your right. They shouldn't be teaching that at the schools, and that will be one of the first things to change if we win this war. But Aang, you're still lying to yourself."

"Don't talk to me as if you know my own culture, that you're some kind of expert on it!" Aang snapped.

Lu Ten's eyes narrowed. "Zuko?"

"Uh, yes?" Zuko stood there, tense from their current situation, yet also taken aback by Lu Ten's comment.

"Tell me. At age sixteen do you consider yourself an expert on Fire Nation culture?"

"Well, no."

"Ty Lee?"

"The circus culture maybe."

He didn't want to ask where that one came from. "Sokka? Katara? Are you experts on your own culture?"

"Of course not," Sokka let out a snort, standing there with his arms crossed.

"I'd say I know nowhere near what Gran-Gran does about our culture and history."

"Toph?"

A grin spread across the blind girl's face, a rather wide one. "I'd say I'm absolutely cultureless, so no."

"These are your peers Aang, those who are of similar age as you, so how can you say that you're the expert on your own culture if they themselves can not?"

"That's not fair! I'm the only one left who knows about the Airbenders, what they were really like!"

"Except your understanding of what the Airbenders are like comes from the point of view of a twelve-year-old boy, not an elder from the Airbending community. Even then, even among elders, there will be some sort of bias regarding what they know and understand regarding their culture."

Aang glared at him, his hands clenched, the anger still there. "That doesn't mean you're right in telling me that the Airbenders weren't peaceful people!"

"I never said they weren't, but the way you're painting them, you'd honestly want every one of us here to believe not a single adult Airbender would lift a single finger to protect the Airbending children, even if that meant killing" Lu Ten watched Aang open his mouth. "You want us to believe they stood by, listening to the screams of children as the Fire Nation burned them to a crisp. Can you honestly tell me that?"

"He can't," Sokka stated. "Because he knows that at least one Airbender did fight against the Fire Nation, but it was his own Airbending Master."

"I can't though!" Aang was nearly in tears. "You want me to kill."

"Not necessarily, but if necessary." Lu Ten stated. "You talk about life being precious, that Ozai's life is precious, but what about your own life Aang? Is it not also precious? Are you not allowed to protect yourself?"

"That..." Aang looked at the ground.

"Compromise?" Lu Ten watched the boy look up at him.

"What kind of compromise?"

"If you can't dole out the justice, I will. I will go with you when you face Ozai, though it is your battle." He made the sign of the flame in his palm. "I promise on my honor that I won't let him kill you if things get that far, but if you are unable to kill him, you understand I will do what I see fit regarding the matter. Right?"

"Yes." Aang looked at him warily while the others looked at Lu Ten in relief. "I guess so. You're going to kill him?"

"I said I'll do what I see fit regarding the matter," Lu Ten stated, looking over at Zuko who looked at him uncomfortably, fidgeting as they discussed the further plans. Later, the boy would approach him.

"So..."

"You don't know how to feel about Ozai possibly dying."

"Well..."

"I heard you call him father."

"Because..." Zuko tilted his head. "I might have jumped to conclusions when you said he wasn't my father, though it's still there, this feeling he's not. I still don't want to know, what you know. I mean, the hurt he caused, it's not going to go away if he isn't my father, but I don't know..."

"Well, I don't know either. I do know I can't leave that decision in Aang's hands. He's too young. You're too young, but..." Lu Ten let out a sigh. "Are you really going to face your sister?"

"I've got to like you've got to face father."

Zuko didn't know how much it stung hearing him call Ozai father again, but instead, he just ruffled Zuko's shaggy hair. "Promise me Zuko, that you'll take care of yourself and come out alive. We've still got a lot of catching up to do."