Zukaang Week: Day 3 - Scarlet and Gold
Title: Dancing Dragons - Scarlet and Gold
Characters: Aang, Zuko, Mai, Katara and Sokka
Rating: T
Warnings: lots of talk about death
Summary: What Aang had seen that day would always be in the back of his mind.
It wasn’t supposed to go like this. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Rendezvousing with the resistance was supposed to be the start of their campaign against the Phoenix King. Instead they had barely spent a few days on Lord Pian Dao’s estate before the imperial forces had caught whiff of the resistance’s activities and came upon the entire town with crushing force.
Aang had seen death before, while doing his duty of protecting his home village. He’d seen dead monsters, dead farm animals, even dead people when passing barbarians had gotten too close to travellers. Aang had even killed himself, when the bandits harassing his territory couldn’t be persuaded to leave.
Despite not being a stranger to death, either seeing or causing it, nothing could have ever prepared Aang for this. This utter massacre, the cruelty of the special unit deployed into the town, carrying the emblem of the royal family. They hadn’t cared if their opponent was a rebel or an innocent bystander. They had killed everyone, and then burned all the buildings down to the ground. Everything had been dyed red with blood and a bright golden yellow with flames.
All the resistance members that had not been slaughtered had scattered, trying to save whatever they could before taking off into the woods. But whatever had been preserved of the resistance effort would take a long time to put together into a functional whole after this.
A number of resistance members had stuck with Aang, Zuko and Mai during the escape. Zuko’s spirit dragon had been a great help in cutting a path through the soldiers. After putting a safe distance between themselves and the remains of the still burning town, the group had dispersed, leaving behind only a pair of Watriban siblings, named Katara and Sokka.
Katara, Aang hadn’t met before. She was the younger one of the two siblings, a beautiful young woman with a gift of healing. She also carried around a whip for the occasion she would need to harm others, preferring to keep a distance between herself and her opponent.
Sokka, on the other hand, was someone Aang had met before, if only in passing. Being a strategist and Pian Dao’s personal sword-fighting pupil, the young man had been constantly around the rebellion headquarters, offering his assistance to anyone who might need it even when they didn’t necessarily want it. And now both of the siblings were a part of the ragtag team Aang himself had started when he’d joined Zuko on his journey.
Now, however, the wind seemed to have vanished from even Sokka’s sails, as the other’s shoulders were slumped in defeat whenever Aang glanced at him. But everyone was feeling sombre with the recent events, so he didn’t stand out, and there was a collective sigh of relief after the camp had been set.
“We’re…really sunk, aren’t we?” Sokka murmured, the first one to speak. Katara gave her brother a disapproving look and insisted: “It’s not over yet! Not as long as there’s one member of the resistance left!”
“No, I’m pretty sure we’re sunk,” Mai drawled and Katara’s glare found a new target.
“The resistance will gather its forces and recruit new members,” Zuko said with certainty. “But there’s no guarantee it will be on time to stop the war.” There was something dangerous lurking in Zuko’s eyes and Aang had a feeling of foreboding.
“Your planning to fight the Phoenix King yourself,” Mai spoke out. Apparently she knew her friend well, because Zuko nodded once to confirm the words. “Even if it’s just by yourself?”
“It won’t be,” Aang cut in, gaining everyone’s the attention for the first time since they’d settled down. “I’ll be there, definitely.” Zuko looked like he was about to protest but Aang carried on before the other could say anything: “I promised you I’d protect you. I intend to keep that promise.”
“I can summon a dragon to protect me,” Zuko said, but it wasn’t with much conviction. They both knew even the spirit dragon’s strength had its limits and that Zuko himself, especially, had limits that stopped him from relying on the dragon indefinitely.
“You guys are serious,” Sokka spoke out, voice holding a touch of awe. Aang looked over to the other to see the beginnings of a smile. The strategist tilted his head towards his sister’s and spoke out: “What do you think, Katara?”
A bright smile came to the young woman’s face at her brother’s words, apparently hearing an underlining meaning in them. “Yes,” she said eagerly. “We should definitely join them. We could do so much more good together.”
“Wait,” Zuko cut in, sounding, and looking, immensely annoyed. “What makes you think you can just decide by yourselves to come along? We might not even want you.”
Katara looked offended by the words while Sokka lifted an eyebrow, a knowing look on his face.
“You said ‘might’,” the man said with a victorious note to his voice. “But, even if you hadn’t, it’s obvious your team could use more variety. Katara is really good at support, she can heal your injuries and shield you from the enemies’ attacks with her magic.” Sokka smiled with false modesty. “And me? I can find the weakness in any opponent’s defence.”
“What a sales pitch.” Zuko might have grumbled the words with a displeased tone, but Aang had been around the other long enough to see the signs of giving in. “Fine, do what you want. It’s not like I’ve been able to stop anyone else from butting into my business.” A meaningful glance at Aang, who just smiled in self-satisfaction. Zuko then turned to Mai. “What about you?”
Mai gave Zuko a deadpan look. “Honestly, if I had the sense to stay away from you and your dangerous missions, wouldn’t I have abandoned you long ago?”
A deep chuckle escaped from Zuko, followed by the summoner saying: “Good point.”
Aang allowed himself a wide smile. Somehow, the future didn’t seem nearly as scary when there were so many of them willing to face it together.
However, none of those hopeful feelings followed Aang to sleep later that night, when the attack on the rebellion base played over in his dreams in vivid shades of crimson and yellow. But, suddenly, Aang was startled awake from his nightmares by a hand gripping his shoulder. The young warrior peered through the darkness and saw a glimmer of gold much friendlier than the one in his dreams.
“Zuko…” Aang murmured groggily. “What’s wrong?”
“You.” The answer was curt, and Aang was too fuddled with sleep to make sense of it, only glaring up at the other sleepily. “You had something wrong. I wanted to see if I could help.”
“It’s been a rough day,” Aang said helplessly and saw a softening in Zuko’s features. “I’ll be okay.”
“I’m sure you will,” Zuko replied, surprisingly gently for him. “You’re strong.”
“Saying that…” Aang smiled up at the other. “That’s actually kind of sweet of you.”
“Go back to sleep,” Zuko grumbled and Aang thought he could see an embarrassed blush on the other’s cheeks even in the darkness. “I’ll be here.”
A grin came to Aang’s lips. “So I was right.” He settled down more comfortably under the covers, Zuko’s hand still a warm pressure on his shoulder. “You really are sweet.”
“That’s not what sleeping sounds like.”
Too tired to even laugh, Aang released an amused hum as his eyes slid shut.
The scarlet and gold were still there, at the edge of his subconscious, but they stayed there, a bad memory rather than a haunting nightmare.
---
Author’s Notes: Every RPG has everything fall apart after the first act. That’s how these things go. Also, both Mai and Zuko’s spirit dragon were/will be introduced in theme five, which is actually set chronologically before this one. That’s why both aspects are treated as something familiar to Aang’s P.O.V. here; he does already know about them.
Characters: Aang, Zuko, Mai, Katara and Sokka
Rating: T
Warnings: lots of talk about death
Summary: What Aang had seen that day would always be in the back of his mind.
It wasn’t supposed to go like this. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Rendezvousing with the resistance was supposed to be the start of their campaign against the Phoenix King. Instead they had barely spent a few days on Lord Pian Dao’s estate before the imperial forces had caught whiff of the resistance’s activities and came upon the entire town with crushing force.
Aang had seen death before, while doing his duty of protecting his home village. He’d seen dead monsters, dead farm animals, even dead people when passing barbarians had gotten too close to travellers. Aang had even killed himself, when the bandits harassing his territory couldn’t be persuaded to leave.
Despite not being a stranger to death, either seeing or causing it, nothing could have ever prepared Aang for this. This utter massacre, the cruelty of the special unit deployed into the town, carrying the emblem of the royal family. They hadn’t cared if their opponent was a rebel or an innocent bystander. They had killed everyone, and then burned all the buildings down to the ground. Everything had been dyed red with blood and a bright golden yellow with flames.
All the resistance members that had not been slaughtered had scattered, trying to save whatever they could before taking off into the woods. But whatever had been preserved of the resistance effort would take a long time to put together into a functional whole after this.
A number of resistance members had stuck with Aang, Zuko and Mai during the escape. Zuko’s spirit dragon had been a great help in cutting a path through the soldiers. After putting a safe distance between themselves and the remains of the still burning town, the group had dispersed, leaving behind only a pair of Watriban siblings, named Katara and Sokka.
Katara, Aang hadn’t met before. She was the younger one of the two siblings, a beautiful young woman with a gift of healing. She also carried around a whip for the occasion she would need to harm others, preferring to keep a distance between herself and her opponent.
Sokka, on the other hand, was someone Aang had met before, if only in passing. Being a strategist and Pian Dao’s personal sword-fighting pupil, the young man had been constantly around the rebellion headquarters, offering his assistance to anyone who might need it even when they didn’t necessarily want it. And now both of the siblings were a part of the ragtag team Aang himself had started when he’d joined Zuko on his journey.
Now, however, the wind seemed to have vanished from even Sokka’s sails, as the other’s shoulders were slumped in defeat whenever Aang glanced at him. But everyone was feeling sombre with the recent events, so he didn’t stand out, and there was a collective sigh of relief after the camp had been set.
“We’re…really sunk, aren’t we?” Sokka murmured, the first one to speak. Katara gave her brother a disapproving look and insisted: “It’s not over yet! Not as long as there’s one member of the resistance left!”
“No, I’m pretty sure we’re sunk,” Mai drawled and Katara’s glare found a new target.
“The resistance will gather its forces and recruit new members,” Zuko said with certainty. “But there’s no guarantee it will be on time to stop the war.” There was something dangerous lurking in Zuko’s eyes and Aang had a feeling of foreboding.
“Your planning to fight the Phoenix King yourself,” Mai spoke out. Apparently she knew her friend well, because Zuko nodded once to confirm the words. “Even if it’s just by yourself?”
“It won’t be,” Aang cut in, gaining everyone’s the attention for the first time since they’d settled down. “I’ll be there, definitely.” Zuko looked like he was about to protest but Aang carried on before the other could say anything: “I promised you I’d protect you. I intend to keep that promise.”
“I can summon a dragon to protect me,” Zuko said, but it wasn’t with much conviction. They both knew even the spirit dragon’s strength had its limits and that Zuko himself, especially, had limits that stopped him from relying on the dragon indefinitely.
“You guys are serious,” Sokka spoke out, voice holding a touch of awe. Aang looked over to the other to see the beginnings of a smile. The strategist tilted his head towards his sister’s and spoke out: “What do you think, Katara?”
A bright smile came to the young woman’s face at her brother’s words, apparently hearing an underlining meaning in them. “Yes,” she said eagerly. “We should definitely join them. We could do so much more good together.”
“Wait,” Zuko cut in, sounding, and looking, immensely annoyed. “What makes you think you can just decide by yourselves to come along? We might not even want you.”
Katara looked offended by the words while Sokka lifted an eyebrow, a knowing look on his face.
“You said ‘might’,” the man said with a victorious note to his voice. “But, even if you hadn’t, it’s obvious your team could use more variety. Katara is really good at support, she can heal your injuries and shield you from the enemies’ attacks with her magic.” Sokka smiled with false modesty. “And me? I can find the weakness in any opponent’s defence.”
“What a sales pitch.” Zuko might have grumbled the words with a displeased tone, but Aang had been around the other long enough to see the signs of giving in. “Fine, do what you want. It’s not like I’ve been able to stop anyone else from butting into my business.” A meaningful glance at Aang, who just smiled in self-satisfaction. Zuko then turned to Mai. “What about you?”
Mai gave Zuko a deadpan look. “Honestly, if I had the sense to stay away from you and your dangerous missions, wouldn’t I have abandoned you long ago?”
A deep chuckle escaped from Zuko, followed by the summoner saying: “Good point.”
Aang allowed himself a wide smile. Somehow, the future didn’t seem nearly as scary when there were so many of them willing to face it together.
However, none of those hopeful feelings followed Aang to sleep later that night, when the attack on the rebellion base played over in his dreams in vivid shades of crimson and yellow. But, suddenly, Aang was startled awake from his nightmares by a hand gripping his shoulder. The young warrior peered through the darkness and saw a glimmer of gold much friendlier than the one in his dreams.
“Zuko…” Aang murmured groggily. “What’s wrong?”
“You.” The answer was curt, and Aang was too fuddled with sleep to make sense of it, only glaring up at the other sleepily. “You had something wrong. I wanted to see if I could help.”
“It’s been a rough day,” Aang said helplessly and saw a softening in Zuko’s features. “I’ll be okay.”
“I’m sure you will,” Zuko replied, surprisingly gently for him. “You’re strong.”
“Saying that…” Aang smiled up at the other. “That’s actually kind of sweet of you.”
“Go back to sleep,” Zuko grumbled and Aang thought he could see an embarrassed blush on the other’s cheeks even in the darkness. “I’ll be here.”
A grin came to Aang’s lips. “So I was right.” He settled down more comfortably under the covers, Zuko’s hand still a warm pressure on his shoulder. “You really are sweet.”
“That’s not what sleeping sounds like.”
Too tired to even laugh, Aang released an amused hum as his eyes slid shut.
The scarlet and gold were still there, at the edge of his subconscious, but they stayed there, a bad memory rather than a haunting nightmare.
---
Author’s Notes: Every RPG has everything fall apart after the first act. That’s how these things go. Also, both Mai and Zuko’s spirit dragon were/will be introduced in theme five, which is actually set chronologically before this one. That’s why both aspects are treated as something familiar to Aang’s P.O.V. here; he does already know about them.