On the day of the invasion, Kouji was the first one up, to nobody's surprise.  It was a rare thing when the colonist didn't rise with the sun.  The others, however, were up soon after that.  Sokka settled on the edge of the cliff with his maps, while Katara set about packing up the rest of their campsite and Toph sat there and did nothing.  Kouji wandered over to join the older earthbender.  Those three had already changed into the outfits they'd be fighting in that day; for the time being, Kouji and Aang were stuck with school uniforms.  "Hey," he said softly.

"Morning, Sunshine," she replied, as Aang shot up, announcing his own cheery wakefulness.

Kouji just shook his head.  It was a good change from the last few days.

"Sleep well?" she asked him.

"Well enough," he replied.  Surprisingly well, given that today was the day he would officially commit treason.

"Good." No one else seemed to realize he was thinking about that.

Kouji sighed and flopped back on the rock Toph was sitting on, then sat back up, tugging at his sleeves.  "When did these get short?"

"Probably when you got taller. It happens."

"When did I get t^all—"  Kouji clutched at his throat.

"Beats me. I don't get heights as well as I get everything else."

The boy sighed.  "Well, it happened to 'Chiro early.  I guess it's the same for me."

"Whatever."

Kouji shrugged and fell back again.

Toph wandered over to Aang to discuss strategy for a minute before the ships arrived, in a constructed fogbank.  Kouji and Aang were both drafted by Toph to help stone docks for the ships.  After that, Kouji retreated away from the group, watching the reunions with what seemed to be everyone the Avatar and his friends had met along their path.  One Earth Kingdom boy even rated a hug from Katara, which thoroughly confused the younger boy — though not as much as the men and women clad in leaves.  What the hell were they up to during the spring?

Toph was then promptly distracted by two very large and overdramatic earthbenders, followed by an explosion from one of the ships, from which emerged four other people — one of them in a wheelchair.  Kouji was dubious right until the kid hauled the front wheels of his chair off the ground and soared down the ramp on the back wheels.

Kouji smiled sadly, then was distracted by a very large man, accompanied by the boy Katara had hugged.  "You must be Kouji," said the man.

Thoroughly intimidated, the boy managed a nod, and the younger of the pair spoke up now.  "Bato told us about you, so as long as we were getting stuff made for Toph, we had this done for you."  He held out a bundle to Kouji, who accepted it.

Inside were Earth Kingdom-style clothing, hardy and durable, as well as the mantle, gauntlets, and helmet worn by soldiers of the Earth Kingdom.  Kouji's eyes went wide as he stared at the clothing, then he turned his gaze to the pair who had brought them to him.  The older man laughed and ruffled his hair with one huge hand.  "You're welcome in the Earth Kingdom any time, Kouji."

Utterly touched, the boy ran off to change.

The Duke ran after him. "Kouji, wait up!" He had a present for the older boy, too. He remembered how seasick he had gotten on the last boat trip, and brought him a tea that would help.

Kouji blinked, then laughed and hugged the younger boy.  "Thanks, the Duke."

"No problem!" He grinned and ran back to the rest of the group.

Kouji changed quickly and brewed his tea, then darted over just in time for the mission briefing.

"Good morning, everyone!" Sokka started, then tripped and fell flat on his face.  It only went downhill from there, until Hakoda stepped in. 

"Thank you, son," he said, putting a hand on the younger boy's back.  "Why don't you take a break?"  He then turned to the assembled warriors.  "Let me just clarify a few points for everyone."  From there, things improved, with Hakoda succinctly stating what would happen and keeping things in accordance with the timeline they'd be working on.

Kouji and Sokka were the only ones who didn't join in on the cheering.

Everyone then made their last-minute preparations, putting on the more uncomfortable protective garments, armouring Appa, and performing last-minute checks on all weapons.  Finally, all had boarded, and the ships headed off.  Thanks to the tea, Kouji took the travel much better this time.  He could only hope that nobody noticed how white his knuckles were as he held onto his sword.  No one seemed to, at any rate.  Between the waterbenders on each of the five boats, a huge fog was whipped up to hide them from the Great Gates of Azulon.

Unfortunately, an alarm rang out over the water, and the gates — really nets of metal chain — were raised.  All were surprised by the fire that spewed forth from the statues.

Then, to make matters worse, small metal boats shot out from the towers supporting the gates, heading straight for the boats. Everyone went belowdecks and into the secret weapon Sokka had designed months before — boats that went completely underwater. Using these, the invaders were able to sneak beneath the nets and past the gates.

"This is neat," Kouji whispered, staring out one of the windows.  He felt a lot better than Toph did, by dint of the tea the Duke had given him.  The Duke had, unfortunately, given all of this tea to Kouji, so all he could offer the other earthbender was his helmet.

He wasn't sure how long they travelled, but eventually all of the submarines rose to get some air.  Kouji joined most of the invasion force in standing atop the subs and just getting some rest before they went in.  He turned his face to the shore and shuddered.  This is not going to be fun, he thought,

The Duke was busy washing out his helmet. Sokka, Katara, and Toph went to say goodbye to Aang — he was flying ahead, to make sure he got to the palace during the eclipse proper. It was anything but certain how long it would take for the rest of the invasion force to fight their way through to it.

Kouji stayed by Hakoda.  He wasn't sure that at the last minute Katara wouldn't spazz on him and have him stranded on an iceberg here, where he could do no harm.  At least this far back he could avoid her notice.  Finally Hakoda announced that their break was over and ordered everyone back into the subs.

Katara was the last one down, staying for a more private goodbye with Aang, then she went back to Appa's head and submerged with the others.  More time passed, then Hakoda ordered the earthbenders into the tanks.  It was time for the invasion to truly begin.

"See you on the other side, Sunshine," Toph said, then punched him on the shoulder and took her place.

"Yeah."  He managed a sickly grin at her, then followed the huge earthbender — Tyro, he had found out the man's name was — into another tank.

From there, they just had to wait until the subs hit land. It was a bumpy ride, but all five made it intact and then opened up, spitting out tanks and warriors. It had begun.

From there, thinking was done.  Kouji joined in the charge, firing off rocks to help take out the launchers in the towers.  He felt rumbling under his feet and turned his head to see Fire Nation tanks coming out to go against the Earth Kingdom ones.  "Incoming!" he called, but his voice was lost in the din.

At some point, Sokka, Katara, and Hakoda loaded up onto Appa and went to take out the towers that were causing the invaders the most problems.  Kouji scarcely noticed — he'd lost himself in the battle.  He didn't even notice the plant monster start taking on the multitude of tanks.

"Kouji, behind you!"

Tyro's warning was unnecessary; despite the confusion of battle, it was very easy to tell when a tank was coming up on you.  Rather than doing the intelligent thing and getting out of the way, however, Kouji ran straight at it, avoiding the blasts of fire coming from the hatches.  "Kouji!" shouted Tyro's son just before the boy jumped, landing on one of the treads.  He drew the sand and dirt from both of his bags and with a cry cut through the joints connecting the treads to the tank itself.

A soldier came out to deal with him, and Kouji ducked the fireblast, darted in close and managed to knock the woman off the tank entirely.  She was quick, and grabbed the boy's shirt, clearly intending to take Kouji down with her, but a boulder struck her hard and knocked her away.

"Thanks!"

Something had happened on the battlements, and now Sokka was in charge. He started shouting sensible orders and they headed straight for the tower in a wedge.  Kouji ran to catch up, finding himself running next to Toph.  As the walls were breached, the tanks were formed into a half-circle for cover while Sokka went over some last minute battle plans.  Kouji and Toph worked to keep the men in the tanks supplied with rocks to return fire, and did what they could from behind cover to take out the Fire Nation tanks.

And then Aang came back, with very bad news: the Inner City of the capital was deserted.

Kouji and Sokka realised what that meant at the same time; as Sokka said, "They knew," Kouji took a very wide step away from Katara.

"Maybe not," Toph said, thoughtfully. "I mean, whether or not someone's attacking you, the one day in ages you know you're going to be completely vulnerable, you make sure you take cover."

Kouji nodded, exceedingly grateful for her common sense.

"And gods only know what Azula discovered during her masquerade as a Kyoshi warrior," Hakoda added.

"Well, whatever the reason, we can argue about it later," Sokka cut in. "He probably hasn't gone far. He probably has a secret bunker, someplace he can be safe during an eclipse or a siege, but still be close enough to lead his nation."

"If it's an underground secret bunker we're looking for, I'm just the girl to find it," Toph chimed in.

"I'll stay out here and keep fighting," Kouji volunteered.  "We need to keep them distracted as long as possible."

It was quickly decided that Sokka, Toph, and Aang would fly back up to the Inner City and look for the bunker in the ten minutes they had left until the eclipse proper, while the others remained with the invasion force and pressed on to take the city itself.

"Good luck, you guys," Kouji said quietly.  I hope Uncle is safe.  Deliberately he refused to allow his thoughts to turn to Prince Zuko.  He watched the bison take off with Toph, then ran out to join in on the fighting.

Along the way, he somehow managed to get separated from Tyro and his son, but this didn't bother the boy overmuch — Toph's training had paid off.  As they moved up the mountain, Kouji wound up towards the rear, keeping those soldiers who weren't benders from doing anything… foolish.

He was just preparing to take on a charging man when that soldier stopped dead, staring at him.  "…Kouji?"

The boy's grey eyes went wide.  It can't be…

The soldier removed his helmet, revealing his older brother, Ichiro.  "What the hell are you doing here?"  Relief was the foremost emotion on Ichiro's face, with worry a close second.  Kouji glanced behind him at the invading army, then quickly made an earth wall around him and his brother.

This done, he threw himself at Ichiro.  "Oh, gods, Ichi-ni!"

Ichiro caught him and held him tight; Kouji could feel Ichiro's heart pounding and wondered that he could feel it through the armour — and then realised that he was actually feeling it through his feet.  Thank you, Toph.

Then Ichiro was holding Kouji at arm's length, looking him over.  "Sozin's balls, kid, we've been worried about you.  What the hell's been going on?"

Kouji shook his head.  "Not enough time to explain.  Where's Yui?"

"Hiding," Ichiro explained.  "After the moon went out and came back, I enlisted to get dad off my back— I barely got any time to practise my firebending.  Yui came with me."

Kouji nodded; this made sense.  Except for the part where it really didn't.  "They let you bring her along?"

Ichiro coughed into his fist.  "Not so much.  Of course, I never actually asked…"

That was his brother, all right.  "Look, you can meet us after the invasion.  I can vouch for you, and—"

Ichiro shook his head.  "Kouji, the invasion is going to fail.  Even if there hadn't been advanced warning, do you really think a day like today wouldn't be prepared for regardless?"

"But—"

Ichiro put a finger on his brother's lips.  "No buts.  We'll catch up, yes.  But not here and not today."  He glanced around, then lowered his voice.  "Go hide.  If they can't catch you, they can't throw you in the Boiling Rock."

"No," Kouji replied.  "I won't abandon this.  Even if it will fail.  I made my choice, Ichi-ni."

Ichiro looked stunned, but then he smiled.  "You've grown up, Kou-kou."

He pulled off Kouji's hat, ruffled his hair, then leapt to the top of the earth wall, and then out.  Kouji blinked, lowered his earth wall, and then scowled.  "He stole my hat!"

 

~*~

 

The eclipse was ending.

 

Somewhat shaken by his conversation with his brother, Kouji ran back to the rest of the invasion force.  However, something seemed… off.  Very off.  And then, behind the palace, five balloons large enough to hold people in the baskets beneath them rose into the air.

And then it got worse.  Kouji's eyes widened as he saw the huge behemoths behind the war balloons.  "The airships…"

Aang, Sokka and Toph returned with more bad news — Azula had held them up. They hadn't even seen the Firelord.

"Oh, this is going to Hell in a hand basket," Kouji moaned as Aang and Katara went off to slow down the Fire Nation Air Force.  Sokka called the retreat, and all followed his lead.  On the way down, after the Avatar and the waterbender rejoined them, the airships overtook them.  The earthbenders made some quick cover just in time — bombs were dropped on them.

There was no way they could all escape. After much protesting, they all finally gave into Hakoda's plan for the children to escape on Appa while the adults stayed behind and went to prison.

"What about me?" Kouji asked quietly. 

Bato gave him an arch look in return.  "Are you a child or not?  Get on the bison!"

Kouji quailed and launched himself aboard, landing next to the boy in the wheelchair.  Katara chose to resume her pattern of Ignoring him, and didn't object, for which Kouji was grateful.  If she'd gone off him, he would have ditched the bison and taken his chances with being captured.

"I know just the place where we can hide, where we'll be safe for a while," Aang called back to them. "The Western Air Temple." He steered the bison in that direction.

"Define 'a while'," Kouji said softly, staring towards the rear.

Tyro's son, Haru, looked over at him.  "You think they'll find us?"

Kouji didn't answer.

"We'll be safe as long as we need to be," Aang said, determined to be confident.