59 Lines Drawn
In a luxurious office with many bookshelves, piles of scrolls, a massive mahogany table, different statues of different-sized dragons, and a huge Fire Nation banner right behind a padded sofa chair, a man with dark red robes, an imperial hairstyle that displays his receding hairline and quite impressive sideburns sits in contemplation while 'playing' with what looks like a weird knife that has a hole on the pommel.
From time to time his hand trembles as he keeps holding the kunai at different angles, rotating it on his finger.
"Are you telling me… you found this one in the scene of the rock slide, Lieutenant Hokai?" His deep voice echoes with a tinge of fear, his heart accelerating behind his mask of calmness as he keeps looking at the kunai.
Another man, a young one, maybe in his early 20s with impressively long hair that resembles much the late Avatar Roku responds with a nod "Yes Sir"
"And what about High General Shinu? Did you find him?" Asked Zhao with a hint of hope in his voice.
"We recovered… his body… sir…" Answered the young officer with sadness, the Admiral could see him almost crying.
Standing up, Zhao patted the young man's shoulder "We will find that criminal, and you will be there for his execution, Lieutenant."
Nodding, the young officer lowers his head.
"You are not the only one here to lose your father in the hands of a criminal…" Concluded Zhao while gripping the young Hokai's shoulder "Now go rest… I will find that bastard; you have my word."
After the young man left his office, Zhao couldn't hold back his smile anymore, and a low chuckle slowly evolved into full-blown laughter.
'Finally! Finally, that old coot died and left me as the sole commander of this stronghold and the Yuyan archers! Although that blue-masked bastard took the Avatar away from me, he at least had the decency to give me something in return!'
No longer could the Old General hold his reigns, calling his pursuit of the avatar a "Vanity Project". Even though he was promoted to the rank of Admiral not long ago and had quite a bit of freedom with the resources available, the Old General would still hold him back on several occasions, one of which he could've captured that banished Prince already.
His laugh slowly stopped as his gaze returned to the kunai resting on his favorite desk.
'Was it you…. G-Ghost..?' he swallowed hard as he thought that, but quickly shook his head in denial.
"No… if it was him… he would've come through the front door… without wearing any mask…" Zhao narrowed his eyes "He wouldn't resort to lurking like a thief… not only that why would he even try to save the Avatar? They probably never met…." his lips trembled when he recollected the scenes of that fateful day in the swamp.
His eyes narrowed as his grip on the kunai's handle tightened. 'But this weapon… it's exactly like his… the masked man even moved like him…'
Zhao clenched his teeth in hatred and fear 'But who is behind that mask?-'
It was then that a single memory came to him, a very humiliating memory but a useful one nonetheless, his most recent Agni Kai, and his opponent's movements during the final seconds of the duel.
Zhao's eyes narrowed as he walked back to his seat, his thoughts known by no one.
….
"So, how was your trip? Did you make any new friends?" Asked a tanned teen male with a frog in his mouth.
The trio are sitting around a bundle of sticks with a blue tent behind them, surrounded by trees and rocks while facing a decently sized lake.
Aang rolls over, the image of his most recent rescue still recent in his mind. "Perhaps…. I like to believe that I did-" he concludes with an innocent smile, staring at the fluffy clouds above.
"Hmm, this is tasty!" Interrupted Sokka, but a few seconds later… the frozen frog came back to life and started moving and croaking while partially inside his mouth, making the teen instantly spit it out and rub his tongue on his sleeve.
"UUUUUUUGH!"
""HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"" Both Aang and Katara started laughing at him, it was a good day for Team Avatar.
….
"Where have you been, Prince Zuko? You missed the music night! Lieutenant Jee sang a stirring love song!" Said Iroh with his ever-present smile, welcoming his nephew as the young Prince walked inside his ship.
"I'm going to bed Uncle. No disturbances." Replied Zuko as he ignored everything and everyone else and walked straight into his room.
The old General couldn't do much, so he merely rubbed his head and began to blow his horn for another round of song between crewmates, it's still quite early after all!
After closing the door, Zuko sat on his mat and took a deep breath while staring at the ceiling.
"What am I doing?" He asked absently minded to no one.
Honestly, everything that happened was quite … alien… to him.
"To think that I would have to actually free the Avatar from the clutches of the Fire Nation…" He sneered "Is that some sort of sick joke?" He shook his head and held his forehead with his palm.
"And why… just… why… Do I not feel anything bad about the Avatar escaping me in the end? Why I am feeling relief instead of anger?!" He was very confused, wasn't his goal to capture the Avatar? Didn't he claim to his teacher that he would never betray the Fire Nation even if he became his disciple? Then... what the hell did he just do? Wasn't that betrayal?!
"Mother… you have no idea how much I need you right now… where...where are you?" Asked the banished Prince as he lowered his head and tears fell from his eyes.
….
"Alright, pack your things girls… We are going home!" Shouted a quite energetic young man with a long spiky black mane and luxurious red and black palace robes.
"Aye, boss!" Shouted a hot, Watertribe woman with an eye patch as she carried a whole sack of provisions back to their prized airship.
"Mr. Uchiha…" Asked another woman, this one more mature, with long black, green, and gold robes that accentuated her bright yellow eyes and long brown hair. "..Will you really bring her with us?" she asked while pointing to another girl, this one sporting a long high ponytail and red robes with plenty of gold ornaments.
The girl in question was already carrying her own backpack while saying her goodbyes to the rest of the Sun Warriors, the chief in particular was crying like a baby while hugging her, shouting all kinds of things while also demanding that she visit at least once a year!
Madara shrugged "Why not? I mean…. Kaliya could use another friend, and we barely have any benders in our ranks back at the Resort, she would be very useful to us…"
Narrowing her eyes, Nari replied "Is that so? There's nothing to do with her cheap demands?"
Coughing Madara avoided her gaze "I don't know what you are talking about Nari, she only requested a humble amount of money each month to help us, but we are also giving her a place to stay and she always wanted to explore the world, we are doing her a favor here…"
"… Yeah… sure…" She said with narrowed eyes before grinning, turning around, and walking inside the Airship.
A few seconds later, Xi shows up in front of Madara with a childish smile on her face, one could see the vast amount of excitement in her eyes to finally leave this goddamn island and explore more of the world.
"Alright Lord, I am ready!" She shouted like a Shonen protagonist.
That made Madara deflate instantly. "Can we… drop the whole title thing?" he was a very greedy man yes, he was also very proud and confident in himself… but the title that they kept calling him made him feel helpless, he knew nothing about how to rule, he didn't fit the said title.
"How could we?! You've earned it with blood and sweat, Dragon Lord Madara!" She said while bowing a full 90 degrees.
Letting out a final wry chuckle, Madara simply made Xi hurry up and enter the airship before he walked up to the top of the 'balloon' part and sat there, no different from that time when he "met" team Avatar.
It didn't take long for the engines to turn on and the Airship to finally lift off the ground.
While enjoying the wind blowing while relaxing on top of the vehicle, Madara and everyone else could hear a loud roar coming from the twin mountains, quickly approaching their location.
Nari the ever-perfect pilot, held the Airship in a single spot waiting.
"Look at you," Madara said while grinning at the massive blue dragon flying in circles around the Airship, before stopping and facing the Uchiha, almost touching him with his snout.
Extending his hand Madara patted the side of the large blue dragon's nostril "Don't worry buddy, I will come back to get you, it's just that I can't really bring a dragon with me back to the Earth Kingdom right now… I don't even have a place for you to sleep right now…. but I swear that in less than a year I will be back and when we meet again, you will be coming with me!"
ROOOOOOOOOAR!
The massive blue dragon seemed to have understood what Madara said, but sadness could be seen in his massive yellow eyes.
"Don't worry about it, it's just a year… tell you what… when I come back, you and I will wreak some havoc and burn things until you are satisfied, what do you think?" Madara said with a pyromaniacal gleam in his eyes
A gleam that the Dragon also shared and expressed with an even more excited roar.
"Good! Now, go back and chill… by the way, if a young teen with a half-burned face shows up with his bald friend in the future, make sure you and Ryuuka scare the shit out of them before showing them your flames, ok? Just don't hurt them, especially the teen with the half-burned face!" Asked Madara with a weird smirk on his face.
The Dragon even nodded! And Madara could've sworn that he saw the Dragon smirking as well.
"Now go back Seiryuu, and keep improving your strength! Next time we meet I will test your improvements!"
Shouted Madara as the Dragon started flying back to his mountain, just to meet with the Red Dragon who also came to say their goodbyes and flew together back to their home.
"Who would've thought that the red one was a female, and the blue one was a male… with the stupid names of Ran and Shaw I thought both were males…"
Madara took a deep breath as the Airship started moving further and further from the Sun Warrior Island. 'This trip back home will be the last peaceful days for a while… after that…' his eyes narrowed 'We are heading back to the Northern Watertribe.'
