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Emerald Dragon chapter 33
🕑 Added 2022-04-11 19:56:21 +0000 UTCChapter 33 -
"What is the meaning of this?!" Zuko demanded angrily.
The exiled son of the Fire Nation was not in a good mood, not at all. The reasoning behind his current bad mood was none other than Ryu, son of Zhao.
Zuko had his ship following the Avatar's trail towards the Northern Water Tribe when suddenly they were stopped by a bunch of Fire Nation ships, some soldiers came aboard and sent them onto another ship with a few politely worded commands and threats. Zuko had been more than ready to blast the lot of them off of his ship but Uncle Iroh had intervened and stopped him, and suggested that they go along with the soldiers and see what was happening. This was why Zuko and his uncle now found themselves in a room with a bunch of Fire Nation soldiers and Ryu, something that Zuko was not happy with at all. Partly because this distracted him from his mission and wasted time that could be spent searching for the Avatar, and partly because he didn't like Ryu anymore than he had liked Ryu's father.
"Ah, General Iroh, Prince Zuko," Ryu said respectfully. Zuko's annoyed expression didn't change at all, he knew that Ryu was trying to suck up to him by using his title and he wouldn't be moved by any of his cheap tricks. "would either of you like some tea?" He asked with a smile.
"Oh, yes please!" Uncle Iroh said in a delighted voice, Zuko let out a small groan and resisted the urge to facepalm, hard. Ryu's tricks might not work on him, but apparently, anyone with a cup of tea was in his uncle's good books, the worst part was that everybody knew that.
"We have plenty of tea on the ship!" Zuko snapped at his uncle before turning his attention back to Ryu. "Now, what do you want?!"
"Have I caught you at a bad time?" Ryu asked innocently.
"Yes," Zuko said through gritted teeth. "now, what do you want?" He repeated.
"It's quite simple, Prince Zuko, your father has tasked me with capturing the Emerald Dragon and has given me my father's position in order to do so." Ryu smiled and paused as if waiting to be congratulated.
"So?" Zuko asked impatiently. Ryu let out a deep sigh before he finally spoke again.
"Tell me, who is travelling with the Emerald Dragon?" He asked, Zuko didn't say anything. "I think we both know that the Avatar is with him."
"What's your point?" Zuko growled.
"My point is that if I manage to capture the Avatar while also ending the threat of the Emerald Dragon and defeating the Water Tribe then I will become a living legend in the Fire Nation," He grinned briefly. "but then you...you would have nothing. You'd be stuck in banishment, hardly a fitting life for the son of royalty. I have an offer for you, tomorrow my men and I will attack the Water Tribe, I'd like you to join us."
"Join you?" Zuko blinked.
"Yes, I'll make you a deal, you will help me end the legend of the Emerald Dragon and defeat the savages and in exchange, I will help you capture the Avatar, I will help you go home." Ryu gave him a wide smile.
Zuko bit back on his initial response which was a big 'Yes!', he couldn't deny the temptation. With a whole army behind him, it would be far easier to capture the Avatar, the idea of going back home made him quite happy. But he couldn't agree, not to this. Firstly because he didn't trust Ryu anymore than he trusted Zhao, Zuko had no guarantees in place to make sure that Ryu wouldn't just take the Avatar from him and claim it as one of his own achievements. Ryu and Zhao were what Harry used to refer to as 'Malfoys'. Zuko would always get different answers whenever he asked Harry what that meant.
The most common answer he got was 'bitches'.
Another answer he would get though was backstabbing snakes, Harry didn't trust them, and neither did Azula. Besides, Zuko was pretty sure that Ryu was interested in Azula and there was no way that Zuko was going to willingly help this guy bag Azula. The second main reason for Zuko refusing Ryu's help was simple, Ryu wanted Harry dead and Zuko didn't.
Right now Harry was a major problem for him, but Harry was still Zuko's best friend and Zuko didn't want to hurt Harry any more than Harry wanted to hurt him.
"I'm afraid I'll have to pass," Zuko grunted. "now, if that will be all, we're going back to my ship."
"I'm afraid not," Ryu said with a disappointed sigh. "if you're not coming with me then I can't risk you interfering in this mission." He clicked his fingers and all the guards stepped forwards.
"Sorry to interrupt, but what about the tea?" Uncle Iroh asked, seemingly unbothered by what was happening around him.
(.)
"Excuse me," A small voice interrupted Harry's isolation.
He opened his eyes and stood up from his cross-legged meditation position and stared out of the small hole in his prison to find a small girl standing in front of his cell, judging by her age she looked to be about five years old. She had short black hair that fell just under her neck.
"Hello," Harry blinked. "how did you get in here?"
"I snuck in," The girl said proudly with a hint of trepidation, the look on her face was one of somebody who knew that had done something wrong but was happy that they got away with it. "I waited for the guards to go on break and then I snuck in when they were switching with the next guards."
"Smart," Harry said in an impressed voice. "what's your name?"
"Alia." The girl answered. "I know your name, you're called the 'Emerald Dragon'."
"Hmm," Harry snorted in an amused voice. "you can call me 'Harry'."
"Ha...rry?" She repeated, testing the word out.
"It's my real name," Harry nodded. "it's easier to say as well. So, why did you sneak in here?" He asked curiously.
"I want to talk to you," She began. "my sister doesn't like you." She whispered that last part as if it was an incredibly important secret.
"Your sister?"
"Kia."
"Oh," Harry resisted the urge to rub his eyes. "I suppose I can understand why."
"She won't tell me why," Alia frowned. "only she keeps saying that you took our big brother away from us."
"Hmm." Harry hummed, not really knowing what to say to that, especially when it came out of the mouth of a five-year-old.
"I need to ask you something," Alia continued.
"Oh, and what is that?" Harry asked.
"Can you give me my brother back please?" She asked hopefully with wide eyes. "Please, I've never met him and I really want to meet him, Kia said that he was the best."
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Harry sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I am so sorry."
"Why?" She asked, clearly confused.
"I can't bring your brother back," Harry said apologetically. "I would if I could, but I can't."
"But why not?" She pouted.
"Because your brother went somewhere that he can't leave," Harry said in a sad voice. "I sent him there, but I can't bring him back."
"Why did you send him there then?" She said with a hint of anger.
"I didn't want to, but I had to."
"What do you mean?" She asked, looking confused.
"We're in the middle of a war," Harry sighed. "in a war, people have to do things that they don't like, I've done a lot of stuff that I didn't want to do. For me, one of those things was taking your brother away from you. If it was up to me, your brother would be here with you."
"C...can I visit him?" She asked.
"No," Harry quickly shook his head. "you can't."
"Why not?"
"Because if you where he goes then you can't ever come back here, ever," Harry told her as seriously as he could manage.
"Why not?" She repeated.
"That's just the way it works," Harry told her apologetically. "I don't make the rules."
"If you can't leave then how do you know about it?" She gave him a questioning look.
"Once you get past a certain age then everybody knows about it." Harry shrugged.
"Where is he?" She asked.
"In a special place," Harry answered, he decided to quickly change the topic before she could ask him again. "anyway, are you a waterbender?" He asked in a curious voice.
"I don't know yet," She said, sounding irritated. "my sister is, and so are my parents, but I haven't done any waterbending yet."
"Hmm, well, you are young," Harry pointed out.
"I'm five and a half!" She said indignantly.
"That's very young if you're over twenty," Harry countered. "anyway, I wouldn't worry about it. Maybe you'll start waterbending soon."
"Maybe," She bit her lip, looking a bit worried. "but what if I'm not good at it?"
"Then you keep practising until you are," Harry told her. "I have a friend from the Fire Nation called Zuko, he wasn't really all that great at firebending, but he practised and practised, now he's much better."
"Hmm, my dream is to be the best waterbender ever." She told him with a grin. "What's your dream?"
"Just to end the war really," Harry answered her with a small smirk.
"What are you going to do after that?" She asked curiously.
"I don't know," Harry paused. "I think I might end up staying with my family."
"Your family?"
"Yeah, I've got a few friends, a couple of uncles and a mum and dad waiting for me." He smiled at her.
"Hmm, that sounds nice," She smiled back briefly before she frowned again. "I don't know how I'm going to be a good waterbender though, Mr Paku doesn't want to teach girls."
"I'm sorry, but what?" Harry blinked, not sure if he had heard right. "He doesn't want to teach girls?"
"Yeah," She nodded, looking disappointed. "he said it's because they're not as good as the boys."
"Well, he's wrong," Harry rolled his eyes. "I know the princess of the Fire Nation and she's strong enough that she can beat most water and firebenders."
"Really?" Alia's eyes lit up.
"Oh yeah," Harry grinned. "a very dangerous girl, nobody messed with her. I was the only one our age who could beat her."
"That's so cool," She gasped.
"Yep," Harry agreed, "she was really strong and she..." Harry found himself interrupted when suddenly Aang, Sokka and Katara walked in.
"Harry, we..." Katara began but trailed off when she saw Alia. "...um...what's going on and who is that?"
"I'm Alia," Alia introduced herself with a wave of her hand.
"I made a friend!" Harry said, loudly and proudly.
"O...kay..." Sokka trailed off, not knowing what to say.
"Hi, I'm Aang, nice to meet you." Aang waved at her. "And these are my friends, Katara and Sokka. We're Harry's friends too."
"It's nice to meet you," Katara said. "but we need to talk about something with just Harry. So if you don't mind, can you please go somewhere else?" She asked as nicely as she could, hoping she didn't come off as rude.
"Hey kid," Harry called out. "we'll talk later, okay?"
"Okay," Alia chirped before giving him a wave. "it was nice to meet you." She added before she paused and turned to the others. "Um...are the guards still outside?"
"No, now we're inside." A voice said just as two guards came into the room. "What are you doing here?" One of them asked Alia.
"Um...looking for the bathroom..." She said with a forced smile.
"Come with us, now, we'll be talking with your parents about this." The other instructed.
"Aw!" Alia groaned before she began following the guards out of the room.
"Bye, Alia!" Harry called.
"Bye, Harry!" She called back before she left.
"What was that about?" Sokka asked once she was gone with the guards.
"Neglectful parents," Harry said in a solemn voice. "anyway, did any of you get me a shank?" He asked hopefully.
"Um...no...no, we didn't..." Aang replied.
"Damn it," Harry sighed deeply, looking like his whole day had just been ruined. "anyway, what did you guys get up to?" He asked.
"I've been getting better at waterbending," Aang reported. "but our teacher isn't really that great."
"He's a total jerk." Katara agreed. "He refuses to teach girls."
"I guessed the first bit about waterbending and I already learnt about the second part from that five-year-old that just left, come on guys, do better than that." Harry turned to Sokka and gestured for him to speak.
"I... I've learnt a few things just like you told me to and...well...I...um...uh..." Sokka's incredibly well-worded explanation was interrupted by Katara.
"He spent the rest of the time making eyes at the Water Tribe princess."
"Hey!" Sokka protested.
"You know what? Fuck it," Harry groaned. "someone please call the five-year-old back, she's literally the most useful spy I have right here."
Comments
Josh Robbins
Your stories always get me to laugh my ass off. Thank you.
Christian Jeffress
Great kid lol. Also, excited to see Azula in the future. Thanks for another exciting and very entertaining chapter.
