Adult-FanFiction.org : Cartoons

A Cursed Blessing	By : Yaoiandcoffeeaddict Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > AU/AR - Alternate Universe/Alternate Reality Views: 6939 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar Last Airbender or profit from this story... damn.

Chapter List
- 8
- 9
- 10
SHATTERED CRYSTALS
There was no knock before the door burst open, startling Iroh from his place on the couch where he had been reading a scroll on Ba Sing Se traditions. He barely stopped himself from spilling tea on the delicate yellowing paper before he rerolled the scroll and rose as gracefully to his feet as his large body would allow before two Dai Li agents filed into the room. Though their faces were expressionless in the shadows beneath their hats, Iroh immediately knew something was wrong.
“Prince Iroh, you and Prince Zuko are to accompany us to a more secure location,” the one on the left stated, his voice even but dripping in authority and urgency.
“Where is the prince?” the agent on the right asked, scanning the room for signs of the other suite’s occupant.
“He is in his room being examined by the doctor,” Iroh replied, then noticing the Dai Li moving towards the room, Iroh called out, “Wait!” The Dai Li agents stopped. “I doubt my nephew would appreciate anyone seeing him naked more than is necessary. Let me go in there first and help him get dressed…”
“We do not have time for this,” one of the agents responded, throwing open the door and revealing the fully naked prince and the doctor, who was pressing on two sides of the lower abdomen where the ovaries were located. Zuko gave a cry of outrage as a Dai Li agent quickly threw a robe on him, tied it, and picked the prince up without any signs of a struggle under the weight of the teenage Cursed Boy.
“Hey! Put me down. I can walk!” Zuko shouted and Iroh realized for the first time there was a creamy blue substance on his large scar.
“Come with us,” the Dai Li agents ordered Iroh and began walking out of the suite, ignoring Zuko’s insistence on walking. Iroh followed the pair down several winding corridors to a dead end, where the Dai Li agents finally put a furious Zuko down. Knowing his nephew hated to be seen as weak, Iroh approached his nephew and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder as both watched in confusion before the wall was broken to reveal a plain wooden door.
The door was opened and the smell of stale air and moist earth wafted through. A bad feeling sank into Iroh’s gut. To earthbenders, maybe the room was safe. They would be able to easily bend an escape if worse would come to worse. But to firebenders, those smells were the smells of death. Stale air meant fire would use up all the oxygen so a firebender would be blind in the darkness and that rich smell meant the chamber was deep in the ground. To them, this was torture.
Iroh turned to Zuko and saw his nephew’s face had gone from angry to fear. “Surely, there must be another secure location that is not underground?” Iroh asked as he subtly tightened his hand on his nephew’s shoulder.
“We’ve been ordered to place you in this room,” one the Dai Li agents replied. “This is the safest place.” Something was definitely not right about this.
“We are NOT going in there!” Zuko hissed, his hands clenched into fists. Iroh hadn’t seen this side of his nephew in weeks.
“There are intruders in the palace. Our priority is your safety, not your comfort, Your Highness.” With that, the two Dai Li grabbed Zuko’s elbows, breaking the hold Iroh had on his nephew, and forced the struggling Prince quickly through the doorway before Iroh could blink. Iroh soon found himself undergoing the same treatment. Iroh found his large body reluctantly colliding with the small, tense form of his nephew before the door was closed and the sound of earth building up echoed slightly in the narrow area.
Then, the two were encased in darkness.
Zuko, immediately tripped over Iroh as he attempted to claw at the door. “There… there’s no handle on this side!” Iroh’s heart was hammering in his chest as he heard the sound of fingernails scrapping over the wood before Zuko attacked the door with his fists. “LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT!”
Iroh sighed, pushing aside his own fear and reached for Zuko’s shoulder, instinctively knowing the height even in the darkness. “Prince Zuko, you must calm down. Screaming wastes time, energy, and oxygen. We need to get a point of reference.” A light suddenly flickered in the darkness. “NO ZUKO! Fight your instincts to firebend!”
The light was extinguished and the pounding stopped. “You… you’re right, Uncle. We have to get our bearings.”
“Hold on to my shoulder, Prince Zuko, with one hand and use the other to feel the wall. We will move slowly ahead,” Iroh ordered as he turned around. He waited before he felt the hand on his shoulder to proceed forward.
It wasn’t long before he realized they were in some kind of tunnel. Hopefully, they would be able to find an end.

“So…this is a train…” Kuei thought aloud, glancing at the various people to his left and right. The train’s interior was not unlike the palace in decoration- a pearly cream, dark green, and hints of gold paint, but a lot of the paint was flaking and some was scraped off accidently or intentionally. Most people he saw were adequately dressed, obviously servants to the nobles of Ba Sing Se returning home from a work. The workers paid the king and his attendants no mind, weariness having most of them dead on their feet. At the far left sat a student of the university who was too absorbed with studying a scroll to care whose presence he was in. In contrast, at the farthest left was one person, a middle aged man with graying hair, dressed in threadbare clothing far more worn than any clothing he had ever seen. The middle aged man was hanging his head in his hands, covering any view of his face.
Noticing he had captured the female in blue with the two hair loop’s attention, the King proceeded with his observations. “I…” Kuei began, “I never realized it was quite so public.”
“I take it you’ve never been out of the inner ring?”
Kuei scratched his head shyly and confessed, “I’ve never been outside the palace.” He turned his head and stared out the window at the magnificent beast and the Avatar flying alongside the train. Now that would be his more preferred method of travel. “Where are you taking me?”
“I’d like to know that as well,” his advisor Long Feng grumbled across from him. There was something about Long Feng’s behavior that was further driving Kuei’s suspicions.
“To the lower ring, Your Highness, so you can witness the devastation the Fire Nation has brought to the Earth Kingdom,” the boy with the bright blue eyes replied just as the train lowered to a halt at the Pi train station in the Middle Ring. Most of the passengers disembarked, filling out the small doors with heavy steps, until all that remained were the friends of the Avatar, Long Feng, four Dai Li agents, Kuei, the student, two people in servant garb, and the middle aged man in the back.
Kuei inclined his head to look at the two silent companions of the Avatar- the young blind girl, who was staring unseeingly straight ahead with one delicate foot on the ground, and the scruffy boy, who was displaying the worst manners Kuei had ever seen by picking food out of his teeth.
“The next stop will be the lower ring,” the girl with the hair loops said. A few moments later, they came to a stop at Tao train station, where everyone remaining rose to disembark. As they filed out, King Kuei couldn’t help but notice how rotting and damaged this station was that was beyond the appreciation of age some subcultures he had read about enjoyed. Beams were cracked and shattered and mouse-termite evidence was rampant.
As he left, he noticed the middle aged man from the back of the train had exited beside him and he saw tears streaking the man’s face. Without knowing why, he reached out a comforting hand and asked, “What is wrong, my friend?”
“My son,” the man rasped out, not lifting his gaze to him, “I received word today that my son’s village has been burned to the ground.” There was a wheezing sound that sounded somewhere between a chuckle and a scream. “I told him… I told him to come to Ba Sing Se. Told him he’d be safe behind the walls. Why… why did he refuse?”
“You said his village was burned to the ground?” Kuei asked, the sinking feeling in his stomach now nausea. “By who?”
“There have been reports of confrontation between Earth Kingdom villages, Your Highness. Scorch and burn is a common tactic in such scuffles,” Long Feng said, his voice harsh.
“Yeah. Common tactics of the Fire Nation!” the boy with the blue eyes hissed out. The boy with the shaggy hair had gone white and the blind girl was gently supporting him as he whispered something Kuei couldn’t make out.
“Is this true?” Kuei asked the man, who had gone white with fear and was shaking uncontrollably, his swollen eyes firmly fixed on Long Feng and the Dai Li.
“Y… Yes. It… w…w…was… another v…village,” the middle aged man stuttered out. “I… I have t… to… g… g… go.”
“Don’t tell me you believe that,” the blind girl spat out, her hand still comforting the shaggy-haired boy.
“That man was terrified of what the Dai Li would do to him if he told,” the girl with the hair loops said, shaking her head sadly. “It’s how the Dai Li have managed to keep the war a secret for so long. But the Dai Li cannot cover up everything.”
“Come with us, Your Highness,” the Avatar said, having joined them. Despite his childish body and face, his manner immediately commanded attention. “We’re going to show you the faces of those affected by this war.” With that, the Avatar turned on his tiny heel and proceeded down the cracking steps of the station to the dirt street below.
Kuei found himself unconsciously following the small form like a dragon-moth to a traveler’s lantern. Kuei had never before imagined how many people lived in the city but he had not thought there could be so many. Innumerable men and women were running back and forth between buildings that were in various states of condition and age, giving the small group Kuei was traveling with a wide berth as they moved deeper into the lower ring. It did not escape Kuei’s notice that many of the people were eying Long Feng and the Dai Li with fear.
Kuei did not like where this was leading. So far, it was becoming clearer by the second that the Avatar was telling the truth. The image of Prince Zuko shaking in the cold of an underground dungeon kept filling his mind. Even if what the Avatar said was true, Kuei would not allow that to happen.
A young woman around eighteen years old carrying a jar about the size of her head was stopped by the Avatar. “Excuse me, Miss, but where is the Refugee Clinic from here?”
“It’s right over there,” the young woman replied, pointing in the direction she had just come from. Then, Kuei watched as the young woman’s brown eyes went wide in fear as she noticed the Dai Li. She let out a strangled sound and the pot fell from her hands into the ground, where the Avatar dove to catch it before it could smash. “S…Sorry,” the woman stammered, before bending down to pick up the jar, exposing the burned skin of the back of her leg. “Thank you.” The woman then ran off.
“You’d think they had just seen the Fire Lord himself,” the shaggy-haired boy scathingly observed as he watched the young woman vanish into the shadow of an alley.
The group then walked to the clinic. The building itself wasn’t in anyway remarkable or distinguishable from the other buildings surrounding it except for the hastily carved sign of “Clinic” on the rough door. The inside, at least, was decently kept. As the small group filled the hallway, an old man in a grey robe came out of a side room to greet them. “Please don’t tell me any of you nice young people have been hurt,” he said, his eyes containing a wealth of horrors.
“No, Sir. We are here to help,” the Avatar said, placing his staff against the door.
The man’s expression instantly lit up. “Excellent! Thank you so much, my young friends.” He bowed in appreciation and as he stood, his eyes lit on Long Feng, “Ahh, and are you their father?”
Kuei almost chuckled at the sheer confusion and disturbed look on Long Feng’s face. “N… no.”
“Sorry, my mistake,” the man apologized. “My vision is not what it used to be. Please, my friends, wash up in the room at the far end and then come find me. I have too many patients to stay away for long.”
“Yes, Sir,” the girl with the hair loops said. The group then proceeded down the hall.
All did as the old man requested except Long Feng, who stood off to the side with his hands in his long sleeves. “Wash up, Long Feng,” Kuei ordered as he shook his hands dry.
“Your Majesty, you cannot be serious,” Long Feng said with disbelief.
“Wash up,” Kuei repeated sternly then entered one of the side rooms. The sickening smell of body fluids, cleansers, and burnt flesh assaulted his senses right away. Men, women, and children were carefully laid on thin mats with shabby blankets thrown over them.
“House fires, My King,” Long Feng said, “are quite rampant in such close quarter living.”
Kuei forced himself not to gag as he went to the old man as he prodded a patient and asked, “What do you want me to do?”
“There are jars of ointment on the bench over there. Please spread a thin layer of it on the burns of as many patients as possible,” the old man said.
“Come, I’ll show you,” the blind girl said, taking Kuei by the hand. Together they went down the many rows of men and women and did as the man instructed. Most of the burns were circle shaped or straight lines, signs of control. There was no denying it anymore. These burns were the works of Firebenders, not some common house fire. He couldn’t help but think of the severe scarring on his fiancée. As he spread the ointment on a young boy of eight, he couldn’t help but think that Fire Nation cruelty knew no bounds. After a few minutes, Kuei noticed the girl with the hair loops came behind them, her hands giving off a blue light that healed a majority of the burns.
“Unfortunately, I can’t heal everything,” the watertribe girl replied when Kuei asked. “Some burns are far too old or too deep.” In other words, she probably would not be able to do anything for Zuko.
Hours seemed to go by as Kuei worked side by side the others to comfort and sooth the patients until the sun began to set and the group moved to take their leave. Once outside, Kuei breathed a breath of the fresh air as he attempted to collect himself. He’d never witnessed anything like that before and he hoped soon he never would have to again.
“Long Feng, you are under arrest for crimes against the Earth Kingdom,” Kuei said after a minute had passed.
“What?!” Long Feng shouted as he tried to evade the hands of his former agents. “You must be in shock, Your Highness. Yes, there were burn marks on those people but there still is no definitive proof that there is any ‘war.’ No one besides these intruders who, may I remind you, invaded your palace and threatened you with weapons.”
“Oh come on!” the watertribe boy exclaimed in exasperation.
“Wait… we do have proof,” the blind girl said. “The drill.”
“That’s right! There’s no way the Dai Li could cover that up!” the Avatar said.
“Where is this ‘drill’?” Kuei asked.
“The outer wall,” the watertribe girl replied. Kuei froze.
“No Earth King has ever been to the outer wall! You see, My Lord, they’re here to destroy you,” Long Feng yelled.
Kuei swallowed. Long Feng was right. Since it had been built, no Earth King had been to visit it. It was not safe. But the Avatar and his friends had not demonstrated really anything that was threatening to him in particular. Should he trust them? To see this drill would prove whether or not they were telling the truth. This was the Avatar.
“You can ride Appa,” the Avatar suggested, indicating the bison that was off to the side playing with a group of toddlers.
That decided it.
“Let’s go.”

Iroh breathed a sigh of relief as they finally reached a source of light, a large chamber filled with glowing crystals and the sound of running water. The air here was fresher than it had been in that long, winding tunnel. He sighed in relief, then turned around and adjusted his nephew’s robe in the new light.
“Hey, Uncle!” Zuko cried out in embarrassment, his face almost like when he was a boy and Iroh found him after he ‘accidently’ fell in the pond.
“Just making sure you would not catch chill, Nephew,” Iroh replied, not the least bit affronted. He spotted a few rocks that looked like they would serve as suitable chairs for the moment. “Let’s rest here for the time being.” He settled his heavy body against the coolness of the rock and breathed a sigh of relief of being off his feet for the first time in hours. Zuko settled on the rocks across from him.
For a while, Zuko wasn’t talking. He also hadn’t said anything in the tunnel other than to comment when one of them had tripped over something on the path. Of course, that was not unusual. So Iroh was completely taken surprise by the soft, “I…I’m sorry, Uncle.”
“Sorry?” Iroh repeated, observing his nephew’s face, “What are you sorry for, Nephew?”
“I do not believe for one second that this is simply a secure area. I think because I was upset with the king that Long Feng has decided to cut his losses and find someone else for the king to marry. This is my fault,” Zuko stated, leaving back against the cool rock, causing shadow to conceal the scars of his face. For a moment, Zuko looked so much like his mother that Iroh was taken back. “I’m sorry for being cursed. You had your tea and your freedom and because of me it was taken away.”
“Zuko!” Iroh yelled, lunging forward and seizing the boy’s shoulders.
“Now, you’re trapped here and it’s all my fault,” Zuko whispered as his Uncle gripped his shoulders hard enough to bruise.
“No, Zuko. Never say such things,” Iroh said. “I don’t care what you are and this is not your fault.” He released one hand and forced his nephew to face him, before he drew the boy to him in a hug. “If anything, you are amazing, Prince Zuko. You may be seen as “cursed” by our nation but you have surpassed a majority of firebenders in your abilities. Who would have thought such a thing would be possible? And on top of that, you have an amazing heart even if it longs for the love of someone who does not deserve it!”
“But none of this would have happened if I wasn’t…”
Iroh pulled back and held Zuko at arm’s distance and held him by his upper arms. “Zuko, I think the Earth Kingdom is right. This is not a curse. It is a blessing to be able to carry and bare life.”
“A blessing?” Zuko repeated with a snort. “It doesn’t feel like it.”
“It may not now, Prince Zuko, but the first time you have a child and you hold that being in your arms and stare it in the eyes… there is no other feeling like it in the world,” Iroh said, a soft smile as he remembered the first time his wife presented him with Lu Ten and the way those half-closed eyes had stared up at him. “My wife bonded with Lu Ten even before he came into this world with odd little kicks that only she could feel. A mother experiences it more than a father.”
Zuko was silent for several more minutes before saying, “We should probably keep moving.”

“Ahhh!” Kuei screamed as he clutched to the thick white fur for dear life as the group came into view of the wall. “It’s so exhilarating… and yet terrifying.”
“Yeah, I hate it too,” the blind girl commented beside him as they began to descend.
The large sandy-white walls growing closer stilled his breath as his anxiety built. What would he see on the other end? What would he do if there was nothing? And what would he do if there was something? What if there was a secret war with the Fire Nation? Sure, he would be obligated to send troops to meet the invading force but what would he do with Zuko? Would marrying the enemy at this time send the right message, would he wait until they were victorious, or would he have to break the engagement?
Kuei liked Zuko because he knew him (which was more than what his parents could have said when they got married) and the boy was intelligent with a beautiful face even with its scar. He could easily come to love someone like that. But he could simply keep Zuko as a friend and encourage his marriage to one of his generals. He would not send the boy back to the monster that burned him nor would he throw him to the political wolves.
“We’re passing over the wall now,” the Avatar said. “You will be able to see the drill Princess Azula was using to try to breach your walls.”
Then, there the proof was- a long, beaten red monster of metal with the undeniable Fire Nation symbol, an orange banner that burned all his hopes of falsehood to the ground.
“That?” Long Feng dismissed, causing Kuei to turn towards him. “That’s nothing, Your Highness. It’s an import we’ve been using for construction of a new entry way.” The tone was the even and silky voice of a raccoon-fox.
“Save your lies,” Kuei spat. “The Council of Five will decide your fate. Guards secure the prisoner.”
The Dai Li secured Long Feng’s hands behind his back. “YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME!” the man spat, his braid flicking in the breeze and hitting the hands of those trying to secure him.
“I believe I just did,” Kuei said turning his gaze to the wall when he spotted movement. There on the top were guards. “Avatar, can you please land? I do not wish to suffer this traitor’s presence more than is necessary.”
“Sure thing, Your Earthiness,” the Avatar agreed, “Appa, yip yip.” The landing was smooth and the small party except for the Avatar dismounted the giant animal as the guards came running.
“Your… Your Majesty?” the Lieutenant choked out in surprise as he and a squad of five came closer and were able to see Kuei clearer.
“Greetings, my friend. We have a prisoner that is to be escorted back to the dungeons,” Kuei ordered.
“BA SING SE WILL NOT SURVIVE WITHOUT ME!” Long Feng shouted as he was handed over to the guards.
“I think we’ll manage,” Kuei replied coldly, then turned on his heal to climb back aboard the bison as the Avatar reached down to offer him a hand up.
“IF YOU DO THIS, YOU’LL NEVER SEE PRINCE ZUKO AGAIN!” Long Feng spat.
Kuei turned in alarm. “What are you talking about?”
“I told you so,” the watertribe boy said in a sing-song voice before his sister hit him. “Ow.”
Long Feng chuckled in self-satisfaction for several minutes before the sword poking into his back finally forced him to talk. “I wasn’t lying when I said I had Prince Zuko moved to a secure location but no one knows the palace like me. With all those twists and turns, you’ll never find him without my help.”
Kuei barely contained himself from the urge to beat the man to a pulp. “Are you so desperate that you would add murder to your charges?!”
For a while no one moved, no one spoke.
“He’s not lying about hiding the prince,” the blind girl said, flexing her tiny foot a little, “But he’s wrong about no one being able to find him. I can sense vibrations in the Earth. It might take a few hours but I should be able to find him.”
The smirk fell from Long Feng’s face. “Take him away,” Kuei ordered, then watched as the struggling form of his former advisor was dragged away by the guards.
“Come, Your Majesty,” the Avatar said with his hand outstretched. “We’ll help you find Zuko.”
TBC
PLEASE review REVIEW rEvIeW.
A/N: I changed the character info because so far it has been Kuei/ Zuko. This is still subject to change and may or may not be the final pairing. Also, yes I have paraphrased or quoted from the original script so I must give credit where credit is due for some of the Gaang’s and Kuei’s speech.
Golden Feathers Edward: Yeah. The question is does Kuei feel the same.
Abby panther: sorry it took so long to update. I was dealing with school and writer’s block.
Sliver/ Iamhappyjustbealive: nope. Not dead. Just slow.
DiedinTheVault: No prob. Glad you liked it.
L.D.: hope you liked this chapter too.
- 8
- 9
- 10
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

A Cursed Blessing