A Different Destiny

Part 35

There was a rush of heat and the sickening crack of bones. Zuko was no longer surprised at his lack of reaction to the scene in front of him. With every charred corpse that fell across his feet, Zuko could feel something change inside of him. He was almost ashamed that he wouldn't feel guilty about what he had done. He knew his uncle would be disappointed in some of his recent choices, but at the moment he couldn't bring himself to care either. The only thing that he could think about right was finding Katara.

He felt a twinge of frustration at the man on the ground in front him, this now made half a score of bandits - or daofei he believed they were called back in the day, that he had taken out. And yet he had almost as much as he had started with. This scrap of paper with the words with the same words that could change everything for him yet held no meaning to him.

Payment will only be delivered upon receipt of goods. Once incapacitated bring the water bender to the Chakara House in North Chung-Ling.Daily interest will be deducted for late deliveries. No water bender, no payment.

Zuko couldn't help but wonder what they had done to become so tangled with the likes of these people. He knew that he was wanted and hated across the nations but he had naively thought that in this tiny corner of the world that his existence wouldn't be so disruptive. How wrong he had been. Zuko laughed bitterly as realized this might be one of the only other things that the other 3 nations agreed on, loathing him.

For a brief moment he let himself feel his deepest desires. What would've it been like to not be him, Prince Zuko of the fire nation. To be of a name - or face of anyone else. Living out a life of honor through loving and caring for others rather than power and politics.

How did the universe choose who would be cursed? Who would be special?

Zuko's head had started throbbing with pain. It had started like a pin prick at the temple of his skull but had quickly escalated to feeling like someone was driving a steel blade straight into his brain. It was all too much. How much more was he supposed to be able to take?

He had thought when his father had banished him to wander the 4 nations that he had hit "rock bottom" but he now knew how wrong he had been. Yes, he hadn't been "on top of the world" after his ill-advised agni kai against his father, but he had more than he could ever dream of now.

Back then he could trust that his Uncle was somewhere milling about the ship with crew brewing up ginseng tea or trying to get someone new to try the Tsungi Horn. He knew that even if he spent days or weeks walking the empty halls of abandoned air temples or sailing through never-ending ice flows, that he would still have a safe place to lay his head at night. But now nothing was so sure.

Part of him wondered why he kept struggling. A darker part of him wondered if it would be easier if he just stopped?

Without thinking his eyes flicked back to the body that laid in front of him and he felt a mixture of sadness and jealousy, this man may be gone but so was his suffering.

But then his mind snapped back to Katara and everything they had been through in such a short amount of time.

Just a few weeks ago he thought he had found himself a "new" life with his uncle in Ba Sing Se. Of course, it might not have been the life he'd always imagined. He had traded the royal palace for a tea house, a life of luxury and privilege for one of honest work.

Then Azula walked back into the picture and burned his world to the ground in a flurry of blue flames. He had found himself cut off from his uncle, trapped in the catacombs beneath the city.

At first he had felt incredibly lonely and maybe even a little scared. He didn't know what Azula had planned at the time but he knew that anything that involved her was likely to only bring pain.

But then Azula's Dai Li agents had imprisoned him with Katara and suddenly the world didn't seem quite so awful. Despite her apprehension of him he could tell that not only had she begun to trust him but he was certain she had felt the spark between them too that night in the hut. He didn't know what it was, if it was the consequence of emotions running high while fleeing for your life - or something more?

He would need to find Katara if he wanted to know the real reason. Without anywhere else to start, Zuko figured he better start making his way towards North Chung-Ling. He offered up a silent prayer to avatar roku and avatar szeto - and every other fire avatar that's ever lived if that's what would help Katara.