Soldier's Boy

Twenty-Six

 

 

Katara was missing.

She'd never returned from her meeting with the Council of Five, and Kouji was trying to convince Lee to stay put while he went to find out what had happened to her. Before he could convince Lee, Aang, Sokka, and Toph landed in front of the house and came pelting in.

"No one's here 'cept Lee and Kouji," Toph reported, somewhat glumly.

"Katara is in trouble!" Aang said. "I knew it!"

"Oh, no…" Sokka said.

"I was just getting ready to go look for her," Kouji said, then gave Aang an odd look.  "How did you…?"

"He had a vision," Sokka said. "What do we do?"

"We split up," Lee said, calmly, eyes glittering faintly. "Only person crazy enough to pull a move like this is Long Feng. If he's out of prison and able to kidnap Katara, he's planning a coup. And he probably has help, so this is probably a trap and a distraction. Aang, you and Toph go rescue Katara. Kouji, you and Sokka go warn the King."

Kouji looked at his brother.  "Lee…"

"What?"

"What are you going to do?"

"Not much I can do," he said, quietly, eyes still glittery. "Broken ribs, remember?"

"Lee."

"What?"

"Promise me you won't do something dumb?"  Kouji gave him a plaintive look.

"I won't do anything unnecessarily dumb," Lee promised.

Kouji narrowed his eyes, but before he could say anything, Sokka had him by the collar and was dragging him out.

 

Taking inspiration from Lee's earlier Appa-rescue, they kidnapped a Dai Li agent, whom Toph bullied into confirming Lee's theory about Long Feng's plot and telling them where to find Katara — in the Crystal Catacombs of Old Ba Sing Se, beneath the palace.

He also revealed that Princess Azula was in the city, working with Long Feng.

Kouji's eyes went wide, and he barely managed to keep from trembling.  "She'll be focused on me," Aang reminded him, as they ran towards the palace, leaving the agent pinned in the ground. "She'll be down in the caves."

"Right.  Right," Kouji said.  "Good luck with that."  His eyes narrowed.  "I have a feeling time is running out."

Aang nodded.

"Well, what do you know," Toph said, examining the street outside the palace, "There is an ancient city down there. But it's deep." She opened the pavement, starting a tunnel.

"We'll meet you guys afterwards," Kouji promised, turning to the palace.  "Sokka, come on!"

"Coming," he said, following the younger boy in.

They made it up the stairs and were just making their way to the palace itself when each boy grabbed the other to pull into hiding.  Both had noticed the hidden Dai Li agents at the same time; Kouji with earthbending and Sokka with his eyes.  Two of agents shot out from pillars and chained General Hao. A third dropped from the ceiling.

"What's going on here?!" the general snapped, struggling.

"You're under house arrest," the agent replied.

"The coup is happening right now!" Sokka muttered frantically. "We've gotta warn the Earth King!"

"Then go!"  Kouji shoved at Sokka to get him moving.

The two of them ran through the palace, Sokka leading the way to the throne room.

"Thank goodness we're in time!" he cried, relieved, seeing the Earth King still on his throne, flanked by his bear and two Kyoshi Warriors.  Breathing hard, Kouji only nodded.

"In time for what?" the King asked, puzzled.

"Yeah," one of the Warriors added. "What are you in time for?" She flipped over to Sokka and giggled. "Cutie."

"Uh…" he said, rubbing at the back of his neck, "I'm kinda involved with Suki…"

"Who?"

Grey eyes went wide, and Kouji threw up a pillar underneath the girl's feet.  "Sokka, that's the bouncy girl!"

"Aak!" she said, eloquently, as she flipped off the pillar, landing on top of the decorations above the throne and the King gasped.

"Sorry to disappoint you," the other 'Kyoshi Warrior' said, smirking and flinging a handful of knives at them.

Remembering that it was the knife-throwing girl who had poisoned his brother, Kouji snarled in rage even as he blocked the blades with a chunk of earth; he spun and kicked, shattering that cover into bits and sending them flying at her.

She managed to dodge the debris, momentarily slowed.

Sokka was no help; the bouncy girl had jumped back down from the throne and was attacking him. Or was she flirting? It was hard to tell.

And then there was Azula, behind the King, whom she'd pulled sideways to expose his neck. A tiny tongue of blue flame danced over two of her fingers. "This fight," she said calmly, "is over."

Kouji froze, staring at the flame.  All the hatred drained from his face and became terror as he started to shake.  The bouncy girl hit him and Sokka a few times each, and both dropped. They were then dragged down to a basement cell.  Kouji didn't even seem to notice, caught up in his private hell again.

As soon as they were left alone in their cell, Sokka started trying to talk him out of it, the Earth King babbling questions in the background. 

At first, the boy didn't respond, but Sokka's words slowly began to penetrate, and his trembling eased.  Two blinks, and life flooded back into his eyes.  "S-s-sokka…?"

"We need to get out of here," Sokka said. "You got any ideas for getting us out of this cell?"

The boy took several deep breaths, trying to calm himself further, then got up carefully and examined the cell.  "Shame metalbending is impossible," he muttered as he looked.

"It's not, Toph can do it."

Kouji blinked and looked back at him.  "She what?"

"Get her to tell you the story," Sokka said, waving a hand dismissively. "Can you get us out another way?"

"Maybe.  Hush and let me look."

Kouji ran his hands over every inch of the cell he could reach, probing for weak points.  Finally, he stepped back, frowning, and patted himself.  On finding his bag of sand still with him, his eyes lit up.  "I've got an idea."

"Okay," Sokka said. Knowing Kouji was too short to do it, he looked around. "There's no agents around, so do whatever it is you're planning on doing now."

Kouji stripped off his shirt and tossed it to Sokka, ignoring the King's reaction to the scar on his chest ("Oh, my!").  "I'm going to get hot doing this.  Both of you, get to the sides, I'm going to need space."  With that, he drew the sand from his bag and lashed it at the side of the door where the hinges were.

"That's how we killed the drill, only not with sand," Sokka said.

"Where — do you — think — I got — the idea?" Kouji asked, punctuating every other word with yet another slash at the door.  He attacked again and again, and finally managed to cut all the way through.  Panting, he put the sand back in its bag.

"Let's go," Sokka said, grabbing Kouji's hand and one of the Earth King's, as well.

"I'm not leaving without Bosco!" the man cried.

"You take him and go," Kouji said to Sokka.  "I'll go back for the bear."

Sokka shook his head. "Better if we stick together. Less chance of someone sneaking up on us."

"He needs to be taken out of here," Kouji argued.

"Then you take him, I'll get the bear. You can see behind you, I can't," Sokka argued back.

"I can take out Bouncy and Pointy without going into the room," the boy pointed out.  "And you're the better choice to protect him."

"Until someone sneaks up behind me!"

"I'm not leaving without Bosco!" the King interrupted.

"Argh!"  The still-shirtless boy threw his hands in the air.  "Do what you want, then!"  He bolted for the throne room.

Sokka, with the King, followed.

"It's easy," the bouncy girl's voice drifted out to them. "You just walk on your front paws instead of your rear ones, like this!"

Kouji closed his eyes and knelt, placing both hands on the floor.  He just needed to… there.  He twisted his hands, and both girls were suddenly sunk into the floor; Bouncy trapped by her hands and feet, Pointy sunk all the way to her neck.

Pointy sighed. "Just take the bear."

"We will," Kouji snarled at her, lashing his sand through Bosco's chain.

"Bosco!" the King cried, running over and throwing his arms around the animal's neck.

"Come on, let's go, before the Dai Li get here!" Kouji urged.

"Yeah," Sokka said, grabbing the King's hand again.

 

The four of them made it successfully back to the house. Appa was waiting for them.

Lee was not.

Kouji was silent for fifteen seconds.  And then he exploded.

"Sozin's balls, can't that idiot not do something stupid without me to hold his hand!?"

Sokka stared at him. "…Um…"

"I'm going after him!" Kouji snapped, grabbing his shirt back.  "You stay with the king."  Still angry, he pulled the cloth on over his head.

He was interrupted, however, by Toph and Katara joining them, the latter carrying an unconscious Aang. "We need to get out of here," the waterbender said, panicked and tearful.

"You go," Kouji said.  "I'm going after Lee."

She shook her head. "Not leaving anyone behind."

"Well, he's not here."

"We can't just — "

Lee came up behind them, blood on his shirt where his ribs had been broken a few days earlier, left hand cradled against his chest. "Need t'go now," he mumbled.

Kouji paused.  "…okay, now we can go."  Without pausing, he created a pillar under all of them and raised them up so boarding would be made easier.  "Hurry!"

Appa did not look pleased — having to carry all the usual suspects, plus the Earth King, plus his bear — but they got out of the city.

Katara laid Aang down on the bison's head and retrieved the special water Pakku had given her months before.  Worried, Kouji crawled forward to watch, and wound up by Toph.  "What happened?" he asked her.

"We got to Katara and started out, then we were cut off by Azula. She had maybe two thirds of the Dai Li with her?" Toph hugged her knees to her chest and rested her chin on them. "There were too many, even for all three of us together. Then Azula got Aang with lightning. I managed to kick up enough cover for her to get the three of us out. Then we came back to regroup."

"… I wonder where the rest…" Kouji's voice trailed off, and he twisted to look at his brother.  Lee was curled protectively around his hand, leaning against Bosco, eyes half-closed.  Biting his lip, the boy crawled over to his brother.  "L-lee…?"

"Huh?"

"Your hand…?"

Lee flinched and curled a little tighter. "Dropped a boulder on it."

Kouji went cold, and he crawled closer to Lee and curled up against his brother's leg.  The older boy reached out blindly with his good hand, found Kouji's, and squeezed.

Whatever Katara tried with the spiritwater seemed finally to have worked, judging by her sudden gasp of joy.  Still clinging to his brother's hand, Kouji sat up and looked over at the bison's head, where Katara sat with Aang.  She was hugging him tight; at that angle, they could see the star-shaped hole in his back.

Kouji swallowed hard, his free hand drifting to his chest.  "Oh, spirits…"

The King looked gloomily back over the retreating city. "The Earth Kingdom…has fallen."

"Fallen, maybe," said Kouji softly, thinking of Jet and the network.  "But I don't think the Fire Nation will have an easy time of it."

Somehow, this didn't seem to comfort the others much — and, truth be told, it didn't comfort Kouji much either.  But there was still time.  There was still a chance.

Sokka quietly took over directing the bison, heading south, towards Chameleon Bay.

Kouji fell asleep on the way there, pressed against his brother's legs and clinging to his hand. He didn't wake even when they landed.

 

*          *          *

 

When he woke up, he'd been settled in a tent oddly reminiscent of Bato's living space last winter at the abbey. Lee wasn't with him.  Groaning, he dragged himself out of the tent and blinked in the daylight.  There were… many other tents.  Then his brain engaged and he realised that they must have joined the Water Tribesmen at Chameleon Bay.

"Afternoon, Sunshine," Toph greeted him from where she was eating what must be her lunch.

Kouji wandered over to her.  "So, what's the story for now?"

"We're hanging out here until we decide. Katara's giving Twinkletoes another healing session — he's still out — and Sparky's arguing with the doctor here."

"Arguing?  Why?"

"They want to cut off his hand."

Within seconds Kouji had his brother pinpointed and was running to him.  "LEE!"

The teenager was curled protectively around his mangled hand again, glaring at a man who must be the medic.  Kouji promptly got between them, also offering a glare.  "It's the best option," the medic said, with the weary and slightly impatient air of someone who had tried explaining this several times before.

"I don't care. My hand. You can't have it."

"Do you have to?" Kouji demanded, hostility present in his voice.

The medic sighed, visibly counted to ten, and tried again. "There is no chance you will regain normal function, even if it doesn't become infected. Crush injuries like this are essentially impossible to treat and leave you open for gangrene and other complications. Cutting it off now is better in the long run."

"But do you have to?" the boy persisted.

"The chance of gangrene and other complications is too high for me to feel comfortable doing otherwise."

Kouji twisted to look down at Lee.

"My hand," the teenager insisted. "You're not cutting it off."

Turning back to the medic, the earthbender shrugged carelessly.  As far as he was concerned, the matter was closed.

The man sighed, threw his hands in the air. "Fine. On your own head be it."

Satisfied, Kouji sat down beside his brother.

Lee relaxed a little. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just overextended a little yesterday.  Cutting through metal with sand?  Not easy."

The teenager nodded. "How's Aang?"

Kouji wriggled guiltily.  "I haven't seen him.  Toph said he was still out and Katara was healing him."

Lee nodded. "Let's go find out?"

"Yeah."  The boy stood and waited for his brother to rise as well.

Lee stood with only a little bit of difficulty — he had allowed the medic to rebandage his ribs, even if he wouldn't allow the man anywhere near his hand.  Kouji tilted his head to one side, then nodded.  "Okay, got 'em.  Follow me?"

Lee nodded, and gestured with his good hand for Kouji to lead on.

It didn't take long for them to reach the tent holding waterbender and Avatar; standing outside the closed flap, Kouji called, "Knock, knock."

''Come in," Katara said sadly.

The earthbender slipped in first.  "Hi," he said quietly.

She managed a shaky smile up at him, and Lee, who followed close after.

Kouji looked over at Aang, and closed his eyes.  "How's he doing?" he asked, voice rough.

"He's alive. He'll be out for a while, I think. The spirit water saved him."

"Good," Lee whispered, shifting uncomfortably.

"Very good," his brother agreed, looking down at the unconscious twelve-year-old.

"What about you two?" Katara asked.

"I'll be fine as soon as I've eaten," Kouji told her.

"Good. Lee?"

"I'll be okay," he said, manoeuvring his injured hand behind his back. He clearly didn't want someone else to suggest cutting it off.

"I'm about to take him for lunch," the boy added.

"All right."

"You want anything?" Lee asked.

She shook her head. "I ate a couple hours ago. I'll go again a bit later."

The earthbender fled the tent without waiting for his brother, but Lee followed close behind.  Once outside, Kouji found a tree and leaned heavily against it.  "Oh, gods," he whispered.

"You okay?" Lee asked, settling down next to him.

"Yeah.  It's just…," the boy's voice trailed off for a moment.  "Gods, Lee, he's not that much older than me, and seeing him like that…"

Lee finally uncurled his hand, offering his brother a hug.  Gratefully, he moved into Lee's arms, pressing his face into the teenager's shoulder.  "He'll be fine. Remember what Pakku said? That water has special properties," Lee murmured, stroking Kouji's hair with his good hand. 

"Yeah.  Yeah.  But Lee… he was dead…"

"And Katara brought him back," Lee replied. "She'll help him through it. All of it."

Finally, the boy nodded.  "Yeah.  You're right.  She will."

Lee sighed, and fell silent for a few seconds. "You should prolly get some food."

"You too," Kouji pointed out, pulling back to look up at him.

"I'll come with you."

The boy nodded and followed his nose to where they would at least get a feeding.  Lee followed mutely, curling his hand against his chest again.