Soldier’s Boy

Thirteen

The next morning, as they were loading up Appa to head out, Sokka pointed out that this was likely a trap.

"I don't think so," Aang said, slowly. "I'm sure the governor wants his son back as much as we want Bumi. It's a new day. I have a good feeling about this."

"You just jinxed it," said Kouji with a laugh, climbing aboard Appa and then taking charge of the baby again.

They reached the scaffolding where the exchange was to take place without incident. Instead of the governor, however, the knife-girl from the night they'd arrived in the city, flanked by two others, approached them. Lee froze a little again, staring at the girl standing to Knifey's left, as Bumi was lowered in a metal coffin, only his face exposed.

Kouji turned bright red and took a step back, his arms tightening around the baby.  "Th-the letter didn't say anything about g-girls…"

"You brought my brother?" Knifey called out.

"He's here," Aang called back. "We're ready to trade."

"I'm sorry," the girl on Knifey's left, the one who made Lee even more nervous, interrupted. "But a thought just occurred to me. Do you mind?"

"Of course not, Princess Azula," Knifey said.

All the colour drained from Kouji's face, and he looked up at Lee.  The princess!?   …I see it.  Will the others?  He took another step back.

The others all seemed more focused on the girls than Lee.

"We're trading a two-year-old for a king. A powerful earthbending king?" The princess looked up at Bumi, who nodded, grinning. "It just doesn't seem like a fair trade, does it?"

Knifey was silent for a few seconds, then, "You're right." She stepped forward. "The deal's off." She signaled, and Bumi was pulled up again.

"See you all later!" the king called out, laughing.

"Bumi!" Before any of the others could stop him, Aang ran up to the scaffolding, to try and climb it and get the king. The princess shot a wave of blue fire at him, which he avoided, then shot up the scaffolding.

His hat fell off.

Kouji froze, trembling, holding far too tightly to the baby as he stared where the fire had been.

The princess, ignoring the rest of the group, shot up the scaffolding to engage Aang.

Knifey and Pink shot across the platform to engage the others.

"Get Kouji and the baby out of here!" Katara yelled at Sokka.

"Way ahead of you," he said, blowing on the bison whistle. He grabbed Kouji and started running for the end of the platform. He cried out and fell when Pink, having somehow got herself under it, punched his foot.

The impact snapped Kouji out of his fear-induced stupor, and he shoved the baby into Sokka's arms and bounced to his feet as Pink ran at him.  There was no earth up here on the scaffolding — safe for what he'd gathered the night before as a precaution.  Imitating Katara's waterbending, he drew the small rocks from the bag tied to his belt and fired them off at Pink.

Katara, leaving Knifey to Lee, shot out a water whip to trip Pink up and give the others time to escape. Between the two attacks, Pink fell crying out in surprise. Sokka strapped the baby to his back and slid down off the platform, to a lower level.

Dipping low, Kouji jerked his hand back, calling his rocks back to him and readying for another attack.

Pink reclimbed the platform as Katara froze Knifey's arm. She hit the waterbender a few times, and the ice abruptly dropped. Katara couldn't raise the water again. She then turned her attention back to Kouji and Lee, as Knifey called out, taunting Katara, "How're you gonna fight without your bending?"

A boomerang knocked her three-pointed knife out of her hand. "I seem to manage," Sokka called down, grinning, from Appa's back. He landed between his friends and the two girls, whom Appa blew back by slamming his tail down on the platform. "Everybody on!" he said. "They might not've gotten knocked out."

"Lee!" cried Kouji.  "Come on!"  He ran to his brother, away from Appa.

Lee looked up from whatever he'd been doing--he was turned at an angle where Kouji couldn't see, but it looked like he dropped something shiny on the platform. "We need to find Aang," he said, grabbing his brother's hand and pelting back towards Appa.

"I think he and the princess are on the mail slides," Kouji managed to get out, half-running, half-dragged.

Lee nodded, helped his brother and a very shaken Katara join Sokka in the saddle, then settled into his usual spot near the back.

They found Aang on one of the slides, riding Bumi's coffin. He tried to toss himself into the saddle, and overshot the mark.  "Oh no!" cried Kouji, reaching along with Katara and Sokka to try and catch the cage.  Only a quick grab by Lee kept him from falling overboard.

They found Aang, having lost the princess--and, somehow, Bumi -- at the bottom of one of the mail slides. While he told them what Bumi had told him about jings and how they'd escaped the princess, Lee leaned back and closed his eyes.

"I'll bring the baby back later," he finished. "I'm sure his parents are really worried."

"Even if his sister isn't," said Kouji coldly.

Aang just sighed, and guided Appa back to where they'd left the refugees. He slid down, took the baby from Sokka, and shot off on his glider again, telling them he'd be right back.

Shaking his head, Kouji settled down by Lee, who hadn't moved since closing his eyes.

"How're you doing?" the boy asked him.  "Knife-girl looked like a hard fight."

"M'fine," he mumbled.

"You always say that.  Come on," Kouji reached down and took his hand, intending to pull him to Katara, "let's get you fixed up."

He was burning up. "'Kay..." He let Kouji pull him to his feet, swayed a little, then threw up.

The boy's eyes went wide.  "Katara!" he screamed.

"What is it?" she called. "What's wrong?"

"It's Lee!  Something's wrong!"

She hurried over, and quickly found the problem--a small hole in his right arm, that looked like it might've come from one of Knifey's darts, swollen and with an odd shade of purple, not like a normal bruise, spreading out from it.

Horror-struck, Kouji looked up at her.  "P-poison?"

She nodded, going a few shades paler. "Lee, why didn't you say something?"

"Di'n't know," he mumbled, then threw up again.

"I-I-I-I'll get some water!" the boy cried, springing to his feet and running off to do so.

Katara, trying not to panic, did everything she could think of--she didn't know how to get rid of the poison (she'd quit healing lessons at the North Pole in favor of combat before she'd gotten to complicated procedues lke that), and so focused on calming the symptoms and trying to keep him from dying.

Kouji, however, was more than capable of panicking enough for both of them, and did so.  Fortunately, despite this, he was ready and able to help her as she needed.

Finally, after two days, the poison seemed to have passed through his system, leaving Lee weakened, and visibly thinner (he hadn't been able to keep anything down), but at least alive.  As soon as he was certain his brother would make it, Kouji curled up against Lee's back and fell into a long, deep sleep.

By the time he woke up, they were flying again. Lee had clearly tried to stay awake for him again, the way he had after their trip through the canyon, but had dozed off several times.  Yawning, the boy sat up and winced as he realised his whole body ached.  "What're we doing now?" he asked.

"Looking for an earthbending teacher," Aang said. "Sleep well?"

"No idea," Kouji replied.  "I don't think I moved at all, I'm that stiff."

"I can probably help with that," Katara said. "Here, hold still."

"Okay," the boy replied, obediently freezing.

She pulled water from her pouch and ran it over him, easing the soreness a little. "Does that help?"

"Yeah," he said, relaxing.  "Thanks."

"No problem," she said, smiling and pulling her water back.  Kouji flushed pink and turned back to Lee, who was curled up in his usual spot, sleeping somewhat restlessly. He'd done that, off and on, since the fight with Zhao at the North Pole.

Worried, Kouji moved back to him, reaching out and lightly touching his left cheek.

He jerked awake. "Mm...?"

Kouji smiled at him.  "Hey."

He smiled back. "Hey." He sat up, rubbing at his eyes.

"Feeling better?" the boy asked, sitting down and leaning against him.

"Good."  Kouji smiled and closed his eyes, content for the moment.

*           *           *

The next couple days passed in uneventful flight, until they flew over a vast swamp. Lee was clearly tense, not liking this place at all. Aang, on the other hand, seemed drawn to it.

"Hey, you taking us down for a reason?" Sokka asked.

Blinking, Kouji scrambled to the saddle edge.  "What?  We don't want to be here.  Aang!"

"What?" Aang said, jerking himself out of whatever trance he'd fallen into. "I didn't even notice."

"Is something wrong?" Katara asked, hard on Kouji's heels.

"I know this is gonna sound weird," Aang said, "But I think the swamp is...calling to me."

"…that's usually a sign to get the hell out," Kouji said.

"I agree," Lee said, voice tight.

"I think it wants us to land there," Aang insisted, a little dreamily.

"No offense to the swamp," Sokka said, "But I don't see any land there to land on."

"I don't know...Bumi said to learn earthbending, I would have to wait and listen...and now, I'm actually hearing the earth. Do you want me to ignore it?"

"Yes," Lee said, before he could stop himself.

"I don't know," Katara said. "There's something ominous about that place..."

"And I'm not hearing anything," Kouji added.  "So I don't think it's the earth."

Momo chittered, and Appa groaned.

"See?" Sokka said. "Even Appa and Momo don't like it here."

"Okay," Aang finally gave in, slightly irritated. "Since everyone feels so strongly about this...bye, swamp. Yip yip!"

Kouji sighed in relief and relaxed, as did Lee. No sooner had they done so than a tornado sprang up out of the swamp and started chasing them.  "You have got to be kidding me!" screamed the boy, wrapping his arms around the saddle.  Lee, in turn, wrapped his arms around his brother, tight as he could. They couldn't outrun the tornado, and, when it hit them, he didn't want to lose track of his brother. And, if they fell, he could shield him from the impact, the way he had all those years ago with...

He firmly shut down that train of thought, as Aang made a windsphere to shield them, and the tornado swallowed it. The sphere wasn't strong enough, and the five kids were thrown, separated from their animal companions.

Screaming in fear, Kouji turned in Lee's arms and clung tightly to the older boy.  Lee shifted position, so, when they slammed into the ground and the foot or so of water, he was on the bottom.  At the very last instant, the earthbender flung out one arm, and the ground gave just enough to prevent his brother from getting seriously hurt.

Sokka and Katara hit the ground seconds later, then Aang landed between them, slowing his own descent.

"You okay?" Lee rasped, after he'd coughed out what felt like a gallon of mucky swamp water.  Shaken, Kouji nodded and got to his feet, pulling Lee up after him.

"Where's Appa and Momo?" Aang asked, worriedly. Without waiting for an answer, he shot up the tallest tree in the area to see if he could spot them.

"This place gives me the creeps," whispered Kouji.  Lee nodded and shivered a little, as Katara pointed out to Sokka that he'd picked up an elbow leech.  The two Fire Nation boys ignored Sokka's subsequent freakout to check themselves over for leeches.  Sokka seemed to be the only unlucky one, possibly because of them all he was the most fastidious about his looks.

Aang joined them at that point.

"You couldn't find them?" Katara asked.

"No," he replied, sounding a little weirded out. "And the tornado...it just disappeared."

"…Tornados don't work that way," Kouji said, moving close to Lee again.

Lee was trembling from tension. "We need to get out of here," he said, a little too quickly, watching the shadows under the trees so frantically his eyes were practically blurring.

"And fast," agreed his brother.

Sokka, apparently, agreed, picking a direction and cutting away the vines that blocked the path. "We'd better speed things up."

"Maybe we should be a little nicer to the swamp," Aang said, doubtfully.

Lee shivered again. "Seriously, Sokka, this place is already freaky enough, we don't need it angry with us on top of the general weirdness." He was still talking a little too fast, and a little higher-pitched than normal.

"Aang, Lee, these are just plants," Sokka said, exasperated. "Do you want me to say 'please' and 'thank you' as I swing my machete back and forth?"

"Is anything ever 'just' something when Aang is involved?" Kouji asked him.

"Yeah," Katara said. "Something about this place feels...alive."

"I'm sure there are lots of things that are alive here," Sokka said, patiently, "and if we don't want to get eaten by them, we need to find Appa as fast as we can." He went back to hacking them a path through the vines.

Kouji shuddered and clung to Lee's arm.

They kept wandering until it got dark, calling for Appa and Momo, with no luck. Finally, they decided to just stop for the night -- it was too risky to keep wandering when they couldn't see where they were going.

They set up camp, making sure that Kouji remained far enough away from the camp not to damage anything but close enough to keep a close eye on him, then let him rejoin.

After a little while, Katara, nervously, asked if anyone else felt like they were being watched.

Lee nodded a little, but Sokka, exasperated, said, "Please. We're all alone out here." He swung his machete at a bug floating around his head. It abruptly lit up and flew off, illuminating several pairs of angry-looking eyes in the trees.

"Except for them," Aang said, nervously.

"Right," Sokka said, his voice shaking a little. "Except for them." The five of them all inched closer together, Kouji practically crawling inside Zuko's skin.

"I think I want to sleep in the trees tonight," the boy said.

"But that's where the screamy-birds are," Aang pointed out.

"I will take screamy-birds over angry eyes," was the retort.

Aang turned to look at Lee.

"This swamp is creepy enough. I don't trust it not to throw you to the ground for some reason," the teenager said, quietly. "Besides, I think it's safer if we all stick together."

Kouji sighed.  "All right."  He nestled closer to his brother and closed his eyes.

Somehow, the five of them, all squished together as close as they could get, managed to drift off into various levels of an uneasy doze. Sometime in the middle of the night, vines crawled forth out of nowhere, snaking around each of them, and yanked them all apart.

Rolling over, Kouji dug his hands into the ground and clung, desperately using his earthbending to keep from getting pulled who-knew-where.  "Lee!"  He could distantly hear the teenager calling him frantically, then even that faded away, and there was only silence.  The vines were still tugging on him, but he refused to release his grip.  "Lee!  Sokka!  Aang!  Katara!"  He pulled, and the vines finally snapped.  Freaked out, the boy scrambled to his feet, bolted for the nearest tree, propelled himself up to the first branch, and then climbed even higher.

He couldn't see any of the others.  Finally he stopped, breathing heavily and trying to control his frantically beating heart.  What had happened?  The swamp gave him no answer, just sounds of wildlife moving around.

Then he heard Lee scream.

"Lee!" he yelled in response, running along the branches and leaping like a monkey, following the sound of Lee's voice.

The screaming went in and out of focus. Day came and he still hadn't found his brother, but the screaming never faded away completely.  And still Kouji ran on, calling for Lee, and as he grew more frightened, calling for Zuko. 

It was almost midday before he found his brother, screaming raggedly, pressed against a tree, unable to move against whatever invisible threat had him so terrified.  "Zuko!" yelled Kouji, dropping from the branch he was running along and splashing into the swamp.  He floundered to the older teen and clung desperately to him.

It was a few minutes before the screaming stopped, then he just stood there, shaking, for a few minutes, before choking out, "Y-you're alive? Kouji? You're alive?"

"Yes, Zuko," Kouji whispered, taking one of Zuko's hands and pressing it against his heart so he could feel the beat.

He took a deep, shuddery breath, then sank down to sit at the base of the tree with a small splash.

Kouji knelt beside him, still holding that hand to his chest despite the scar there.

"It's all right.  I'm alive," he said.

"You're alive," he repeated, numbly, still shaking. "You're alive..."

"Yes," Kouji agreed.  "I've been trying to find you all night."  Lee just cling to his hand, shaking, and the boy crawled into his lap, sensing that they both needed the comfort right now.

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Tags: au, avatar, fanfic, soldier's boy

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