𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐑𝐒

THE TALES OF SEUNGMIN

it was the day of seungmin's coronation. and his thirteenth birthday. he'd be the crown prince of the earth kingdom.

looking at himself through the mirror, he tried to hide the bruise on his face with the make up he was given.

the public wasn't supposed to know that his father hit him. not like anyone would try to stop the king from doing that.

king oh was never satisfied. no matter what subbending technique he wanted seungmin to master, he would never be satisfied.

so whenever king oh did not like something seungmin did, he wasn't scared to voice it out. or act it out.

hence the throbbing bruise on his temple. the make up barely even concealed it, though his hair was partly covering the darkened spot, he was still scared.

jungsu was sitting on his bed, smiling at him. "the crown will suit you" he smiled, feeling his cheeks redden at the sight of his best friend in these pretty clothes.

he truly looked majestic, the green fitting his complexion perfectly. was seungmin a dream?

"i don't want it" the soon-to-be crown prince blatantly answered, looking at himself in disgust.

seungmin clearly suffered from his image. he knew that the rest of the world hated him for who he was.

and jungsu was the only one who didn't. standing up, he walked over to his best friend to hug him from behind.

he put his chin on his shoulder, looking at the prince through the mirror. "don't worry - you'll change everything once you will be king.."

that was correct. but would this ever occur? the nations are at war. what if they destroyed the earth kingdom?

what if he'd die in an attack? or be publicly executed? like his father executed the fire nation's king and queen.

seungmin was glad he managed to change his father's mind about the young prince. otherwise he would never be able to forgive himself.

the fire nation's prince would never be the same again and seungmin knew that. he must hate him.

and the water tribes hated them, too. having sent multiple spies, it happened quite often that the earth kingdom bombed the villages in the most unfitting moments.

him and his father probably were the most hated people on the world.

his father planned an attack on the air nomads. their assassins killed his wife, seungmin's mother - queen oh.

while she slept, an assassin pulled out all the air out of her body, killing her instantly. the killer was never found again.

tears filled his eyes as he reached for jungsu's hands, touching him gently with a sigh. "yeah but that will be a long time"

"not if someone kills him in the next few years." they both laughed. that sounded amazing. but seungmin wasn't really looking forward to be king at thirteen.

"what are you planning?" he questioned with a loud laugh, but immediately shut up once he heard someone walk in the hallway.

jungsu quickly understood, walking towards the window - that's how he always got inside. there was a tree across seungmin's window, jungsu used that to come inside. and that was his way out, as well.

so while he climbed out, seungmin pretended to get ready. it was his maid.

"come on, the ceremony starts."

[...]

seungmin marched through the alley, everyone's eyes on him. the quartett played traditional earth kingdom music, everyone was cheering.

but the only thing seungmin saw was his father sitting on his throne, the ice cold glare burying deep into his bones.

the pope was standing in front of him, a pillow with seungmin's crown in his hands. seungmin then dared to look around, trying to find jungsu in the crowd.

he wasn't invited, though. he had no value.

everything happened faster than he had expected. seungmin just blinked and suddenly he had the crown on his head, the crowd applauding and cheering loudly.

when did that happen? when did he manage to get to the front?

the crown was heavy on his head, it was hot, it was too loud. seungmin knew it was time for his speech so he rummaged through his pockets.

and he froze. he forgot his cards, which included his speech. standing there, sweat dripping down his forehead, he was shaking.

"i..." the thirteen year old stuttered, nervously playing with his hands as he once again searched for jungsu.

jungsu promised to sneak inside. was he caught? no, this can't be.

he tried to get himself to talk. every important person from the kingdom was watching. his mother must be watching him, too.

"talk!"

next thing seungmin knew was him lying on the floor, his head throbbing from the impact on the floor, the crown clinking loudly.

"is that what you call a crown prince?" his father shouted, kicking seungmin in the stomach, the teen groaning in pain.

the audience gasped, the pope stepping forward to stop the man. but hate must be blinding for king oh, he kept kicking his son, not caring about his small noises of pain.

just when a piece of glass stabbed his lower stomach, did he realise that his son was indeed able to defend himself.

king oh's own weapon backfired. having forced seungmin to learn the art of glassbending, his son now used it to stop him from hurting him.

the whole hall fell silent. paramedics quickly rushed towards the king, stopping the bleeding while the pope pulled seungmin away, leaving the crowd with nothing.