Avatar Zuko

Chapter 45

Everything was a blur once they'd gotten off the ship.

Zuko had barely had time to wave at Sokka, nevermind kiss him passionately, before the flurry of arrows in their direction meant he had to glide out of the way. The others, meanwhile, he hadn't even seen. He trusted his friends to deal with the army and advance to the Palace, but there was still an uneasy feeling in his chest when he left them behind.

It was too nice a day for bloodshed, he decided whilst up in the air, breeze whipping through his hair and sun shining down on the city below him. Zuko was ahead of their invasion party, so he got to watch the soldiers lying in wait for his friends. Most had ran to the beach but clearly some had been ordered to stay back; what if they had known about the invasion? The firebender tried to convince himself that it was impossible, but his sister and father (though mostly his sister) were very tricky. Taking a deep breath as he swooped over a particularly tall tower, he prayed that they'd be alright. There wasn't much he could do about them having lost their element of surprise now.

Soon Zuko reached the Palace, a garish gold structure that looked molten in the heat of the sun. Just glancing at it burned his corneas, but he still carried on forwards. He wondered briefly how such a hideously extravagant building had managed to elicit such homesickness from him. He estimated that it was only a ten minute walk from the shore to the Palace, most of it being across the town that the royal guards lived in, and his group had a good twenty minutes before the eclipse. Plus Aang was probably already around there somewhere.

Their plan was simple: Zuko was to go on ahead and find his father, challenging him to an Agni Kai as soon as the eclipse started, right in front of all the nobles. That meant his father would be forced to participate due to the witnesses, and they could set up during the eclipse whilst Azula wouldn't have the power to sneakily kill him (unless she resorted to literally stabbing him in the back which, to be truthful, he wouldn't put past her…). As all of that was going on, his friendly group of invaders would take down the Capital’s defences, preventing there from being a coup as soon as he (hopefully) won, before meeting him at the Palace to watch him fight his father. If he won they'd then have to deal with Azula, which Sokka had decided to ‘strategically figure out later’. But currently Aang was supposed to be keeping an eye on her, with his ‘amazing’ stealth skills.

Overall Zuko guessed they were screwed.

Still, as he watched his quiet childhood home, not so much as a single guard at their post, he hoped to the spirits and back that they'd survive to try again.

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Toph couldn't believe she'd been given the whiny job.

Her! The greatest earthbender to ever live, mastermind of their group and complete badass overall had been ordered away from the fighting. At first she thought it was to keep her out of trouble since she wasn't even thirteen yet, but then she figured it was because the prison she had to break into was made of stone.

So at least, she thought as she sprinted over an earth bridge that she'd created to arch over the fiery line of defence, they hadn't been too patronising. Still, Toph resented that she could sense only two guards at the prison, both of which she took down easily with only a wave of her hand. Their spears were snapped like swigs and their flames snuffed out, the only trace of them the slight scent of smoke.

The other earthbenders had stayed with Sokka and Katara, so Toph was alone- not that it mattered. She could easily get around on her own, protecting herself.

Reaching through her seismic sense, she looked for Iroh- but couldn't discern his heartbeat among the dozens of others in the prison. It was strange… Usually her senses were extremely precise. Still, she figured she could just get closer to him and would then be able to figure out his cell.