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Zuko wakes up under Lake Laogai with no idea what he’s doing here and less idea what Lake Laogai is doing here. The Earth King flooded it years ago, or at least claimed to have, and Kuei’s not much of a liar.
Spirit stuff, he finds himself thinking for some reason.
Probably that means it’s spirit stuff, so he’s going to blame this on Aang.
Zuko ties back the sleeves of his long red robes and starts looking around for an answer. It’s not really the place to go around in full Fire Lord regalia, but he’s been more inconvenienced in his life. The halls of Lake Laogai seem to be deserted, and he doesn’t find anything of interest.
Although, something of interest does find him. A pair of Dai Li turn a corner directly into him, and both whip up their gloved hands. Zuko tilts his head.
They attack, so he does the obvious thing and puts them down.
Zuko doesn’t have much love for the Dai Li.
But the Dai Li were supposed to have been disbanded, so that’s a bit of a concern.
Either this is Aang’s fault, or Kuei wants to have a war again. Zuko’s really hoping for the former, for obvious reasons.
He leaves the Dai Li unconscious where they fell and keeps moving. Whatever’s going on here, it obviously requires figuring out. Maybe it’s a dream again. It’s been a dream before, after all.
Maybe not.
He hears running echo somewhere down the hall—not with stone shoes—and follows the sound of footsteps. It takes some doing, but . . .
“Nephew?” a startled voice says, and Zuko turns around and sees Uncle dressed in Earth Kingdom colors.
“Uncle,” he says, smiling at him. He hasn’t seen him in a few months. Uncle looks startled, like he’s done something unexpected. “Am I asleep?”
“I don’t understand,” Uncle says, his eyes flicking over him. “Your hair . . .”
“Mm?” Zuko touches his topknot absently, expecting to find it knocked loose by the fight with the Dai Li. It’s fine, though, and his crown is still in place too. He glances back the way he was going, decides it’s not important, and walks over to Uncle.
“Nephew,” Uncle says, still staring at him strangely.
“I’m lost,” Zuko says simply, because when he’s lost Uncle usually knows the right way. “Where are we?”
“This is Lake Laogai,” Uncle says.
“Yes,” Zuko agrees. “I saw some Dai Li earlier.”
“You did?” Uncle looks alarmed.
“Two,” Zuko confirms with a nod. “I took care of them. They might be awake again by now, though. What are you doing down here?”
“Looking for you,” Uncle says. Zuko smiles at him.
“Thank you,” he says. “Do you know which way I’m supposed to go?”
“No,” Uncle says, still watching him with that strange expression. “I don’t think so. Do you know which way I am supposed to go, Nephew?”
“You?” Zuko says, tilting his head in mild surprise at the question. Then he looks around, and . . . “Last time I was down that way, I think. I’m pretty sure, anyway.”
“Thank you,” Uncle says, then carefully reaches out a hand and touches his arm. He seems surprised to find it really there, but Zuko’s a bit surprised that he’s really there so he figures that makes sense. Uncle squeezes his arm, then looks past him towards the way he indicated. “I must go now.”
“Be safe,” Zuko says.
“Yes,” Uncle says. “You as well, Nephew.”
Zuko smiles at him, and they go their separate ways. Zuko still doesn’t know where he’s going or why he’s here, but again: spirit stuff. He assumes he’ll figure it out.
He has a feeling, though, a little niggling at the back of his skull, and he thinks: wasn’t Uncle wearing that same outfit the last time they were under Lake Laogai?
Yeah. He definitely was.
Hm.
Zuko hears footsteps again and follows them. He doesn’t find their owners.
He finds something, though.
“Hey,” a distantly familiar voice says, voice echoing quietly down the hall. “Don’t look like that.”
“Shut up,” another familiar voice says, choked up and pained. “Can you move?”
“Not much point.”
“Shut up. Get up.”
Zuko steps into a larger hall and finds some faces he knows, but hasn’t seen in a long time. Longshot and Smellerbee jerk their heads up and stare at him, and the body between them . . .
Oh, Zuko thinks as Longshot draws his bow and levels an arrow at him.
This is what he’s here for, isn’t it.
“What the hell?” Smellerbee says. Her war paint is streaked with tears. “Lee?”
“That’s not really my name,” Zuko says. He remembers this part of the play. “Is he dying?”
“What are you wearing?” Smellerbee says. Zuko steps up beside her and looks down at Jet, who’s on his back on the floor and breathing painfully, unnaturally pale in the green light of Laogai. He doesn’t need her to answer his question.
“I’ll tell you later,” he says, kneeling beside her. Longshot’s still prepared to shoot him as it is. “What happened?”
“Rock,” Smellerbee sniffles. “He got hit.”
“Right,” Zuko remembers. Long Feng. Aang had told him some of the details, after the play.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Jet says, baring his teeth at him. “Firebender.”
“Jet—” Smellerbee starts, and Zuko reaches down to open the front of Jet’s shirt and, unsurprisingly, reveals armor. It’s dented.
“How does this come off?” he asks, looking for ties or clasps. Jet lifts a hand and tries to shove him away, but it’s weak. Zuko doesn’t even have to try to ignore it.
“Katara already tried to heal him,” Smellerbee says, her voice choked again. “She’s a—”
“Waterbender. I know.” Zuko takes off Jet’s breastplate and pulls open the second shirt beneath it, revealing vicious bruising that stands out starkly even in the dim green light. He wishes Katara were here, actually, but specifically the Katara who knows a hell of a lot more about healing than the one who was under Lake Laogai.
Spirit stuff, though. Zuko’s the one here, for whatever reason.
So if Zuko’s here, there’s got to be something he can do.
He doesn’t know what Jet died of, is the problem, and he doesn’t know anywhere near as much about healing as Katara. He knows things she’s mentioned in passing and the kind of emergency first aid he’d needed on the ship back in the beginning of his banishment and one or two other little things he’d picked up over the years, but nothing else.
Fire doesn’t heal. That’s not how it works.
But he’s the one here, for some reason.
“Don’t touch me, Fire Nation,” Jet hisses.
“Then stop dying, Earth Kingdom,” Zuko retorts shortly, running his hands up the other’s bruises and looking for broken ribs. He finds them. Nothing severe enough to be killing him, though. Although if he can feel them after Katara already tried to heal him . . . “Fuck.”
“He coughed up blood,” Smellerbee says, rubbing at her eyes and streaking her war paint again. Longshot lowers his arrow, but keeps it nocked.
“Fuck,” Zuko says again. He really hopes Jet just bit his tongue or something when he got hit, but he doubts they’re that lucky. “You need a healer.”
“We tried that!” Smellerbee says. “He still can’t breathe!”
“Is that the problem?” Zuko’s attention sharpens. Jet does sound like he’s struggling to breathe, and his skin’s cold and clammy. He can’t tell if his lips are blue in this light, unfortunately, or quite how bad the bruising is.
“Don’t touch me,” Jet says again.
“Deal with it,” Zuko says shortly, pressing his fingers to the other’s pulse. His heartbeat’s erratic.
He . . . might know what’s wrong. Maybe. He saw Katara deal with it after a scuffle between some soldiers that were refusing to stand down a few months ago.
He still has no idea why it’s not her here, though.
“You need to sit up,” he says.
“Fuck you,” Jet rasps, then coughs up frothy spit and blood.
“Just listen,” Smellerbee says in frustration, and she tries to pull him up. Longshot’s watching the doors, waiting for danger, which is probably the smart thing to be doing.
“It’ll be easier to breathe,” Zuko says, doing his best to help Smellerbee get Jet up without setting him off. They’re lucky he’s not angrier, but that might just be the shock. Jet wheezes painfully, then coughs again, but he does start breathing a little easier. Okay. Maybe it is what he’s thinking it is, then, Zuko thinks.
“Now what?” Smellerbee says, blinking tears out of her eyes as Jet bares his teeth again.
“Don’t take this the wrong way,” Zuko says as he wraps an arm tightly around Jet’s side, and then he pulls out his knife, heats the blade, and stabs him in the chest. Jet howls, grabbing onto him. Longshot jerks in alarm and Smellerbee shrieks.
“What are you doing?!” she cries, grabbing his arm. Zuko pulls the knife out of the shallow stab wound, which is normally a bad idea with a stab wound, but in this case . . .
“I think there’s fluid around his lungs,” he says over Jet’s agonized panting. “We need to drain it.” He can’t waterbend it out, unfortunately, and he doesn’t have a shunt like the other healers there had offered, so this is the best he can do for the moment.
“You could’ve said that!” Smellerbee says shrilly.
“Sorry.” Zuko inspects the wound, letting it bleed and feeling a little dizzy from stress. It’s leaking blood and fluid, so . . . he was right, then, right? Wasn’t he? Jet’s still breathing painfully, but he did just stab him, so that’s not really much help.
“Bastard,” Jet rasps hoarsely after a few minutes.
“Yeah,” Zuko says. He’s not sure how much to let him bleed. He can’t keep it in like Katara’d be able to. “Smellerbee, Longshot, do either of you have bandages?”
“No,” Smellerbee says, sniffling again. “I can tear something up.”
“That’s not going to be sterile,” Zuko says.
“We don’t have anything else,” she says.
“Mm.” Zuko looks at her, then back to Jet, whose breathing is finally starting to settle. He still looks rough, but he’s not wheezing as badly, at least. He’s mostly just bleeding, now, so . . . “This is going to hurt,” he warns.
“You already stabbed him,” Smellerbee says, giving him a disbelieving look.
“Just don’t kill me,” Zuko says, and lights a little flame along the blade of his knife. Jet’s eyes widen, and Smellerbee shrieks again. Longshot whips his arrow back up. Zuko looks back at them, just holding the flame steady. “I’m going to cauterize the wound. It might get infected otherwise.”
“You are a firebender!” Smellerbee says in horror. Jet’s staring at him with mute fury; Longshot’s just staring. “But you didn’t bend when Jet attacked you!”
“Would you have?” Zuko asks, and quickly presses the red-hot flat of the knife against Jet’s wound. Jet howls again and shoves back from him, falling back onto his elbows and panting in pain. Blood sizzles off the knife, and Smellerbee and Longshot keep staring at him. There’s a blade in Smellerbee’s hand and Longshot’s aiming at him.
Zuko . . . sighs.
He deserves that, probably.
“It’s going to scar,” he says, putting down his knife and holding up his empty hands. “Sorry.”
“Fuck you,” Jet gasps out, struggling to keep himself upright. “Firebender!”
“That’s actually not an insult,” Zuko says. He feels . . . very strange, looking at Jet. It’s been a long time since he last saw him.
“Fuck you!” Jet snarls hotly.
He looked about this mad the last time, though.
So that hasn't changed.
Unfortunately.
"How do you feel?" Zuko says, since that's the bigger concern right now.
"Like killing you," Jet growls.
"Okay, but I meant, like, physically," Zuko says in exasperation, wiping the blood off his hands. They might not be out of the woods yet. They don't need Jet passing out and dying on them, for sure.
"Why are you here?" Smellerbee says, eyeing his hands warily. "What firebender would come down here?"
"Long story," Zuko says with another sigh. "I'm going to be Aang's firebending master." He figures it can't hurt to tell them. They aren't going to see Aang again, at least not before the war's over. He's more interested in not getting stabbed than he is in preserving the sanctity of the timeline.
Anyway, if the spirits wanted someone who'd do that, well, they shouldn't have sent him of all people.
"You're what?" Smellerbee says inanely.
"What do you mean going to be?" Jet says.
"I mean going to be," Zuko says. "You should get out of Ba Sing Se."
"Why?" Smellerbee asks.
"It's not safe here," Zuko says, since "it's going to fall" would be a bit more . . . chaotic. Anyway, it's true. The Dai Li know their faces now, and they don't have the Avatar on hand to back them up. "At least we need to get you out of Lake Laogai."
"Why do you care?" Smellerbee says.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Zuko says. "Come on. Help me get him on his feet."
"Go to hell," Jet says.
"That's not helping," Zuko says. Smellerbee stands up, and he does too. They both grip Jet's arms and pull. Jet staggers upright, then clutches at his chest with a pained groan. Zuko isn’t sure how much to expect him to be slowed down or if moving him is even a good idea at all.
Alternate option: sit around and wait for the Dai Li to drop in.
So yes, moving him is the only idea.
“Should fucking kill you," Jet says roughly.
"How about we wait on that until you're out of here," Zuko says dryly, pulling the other's arm over his shoulder. "Just as a thing."
"Bastard," Jet growls.
"Does Aang know you're here?" Smellerbee says, eyeing Zuko warily.
"No." Zuko loops an arm around Jet's waist and starts guiding him towards the door. Jet struggles for a second, but Smellerbee grabs his other arm and starts pushing him along too.
"Smellerbee!" he protests.
"Don't look the gift ostrich-horse in the mouth," she says shortly. "He's with the Avatar. That's gonna have to be good enough. Longshot, can you check if the way's clear?"
Longshot nods and goes to the door. Jet bares his teeth at Zuko, who probably also deserves that but isn't really thrilled about it either.
"Why is your hair like that?" Smellerbee asks as they drag Jet after Longshot. "It can't have grown that fast.”
"It's been a longer time for me," Zuko says.
"That makes no sense," Jet says.
"Spirit stuff," Zuko says.
"What?" Jet says incredulously. "Bullshit!"
"You were literally just fighting side by side with the Avatar," Zuko says. "Are you really gonna question spirit stuff right now?"
"Yes!"
"Keep it down, idiot!" Smellerbee hisses. "We don't know how many more Dai Li there are!"
"I don’t care!"
“Everyone else does!”
“Jet,” Zuko says, squeezing the other’s side carefully, trying his best to avoid his broken ribs. “You can worry about killing me later. We need to get you out of here first.”
“I should be killing you right now,” Jet says.
“Again, that’s a later problem,” Zuko says. Jet growls at him, but somehow they manage to get him out of the room and down the hall, and Zuko’s doing his best to remember the way out. It’s been a long time, though.
Longshot stills ahead of them, and Smellerbee and Jet bristle. That’s all the warning Zuko gets before four Dai Li are coming around the corner gloves-first, ready to attack. Longshot whips up his bow and Smellerbee yanks out her knives and Zuko does the only thing he can do without dropping Jet, which is breathe an enormous blast of fire in their faces. The Dai Li recoil, and Longshot and Smellerbee throw themselves after the flames and crash into them.
“Fuck!” Jet says.
“Hold on,” Zuko says, gripping the other’s arm. Longshot and Smellerbee tear through the Dai Li brutally, and the agents’ bodies hit the floor one after another. Zuko exhales roughly, flames licking at his teeth, and Jet stares at him with wide, furious eyes.
Not much gratitude, Zuko thinks, and squeezes his arm.
Longshot and Smellerbee come back.
“We need to move,” Smellerbee says.
“Yeah,” Zuko agrees with a nod, looking behind them. Jet growls again, but they advance down the hall.
It takes some doing and they have to double back more than once, but they finally find an exit, and Longshot scouts ahead and scuttles up the ladder to push the hatch open and let in daylight. He glances around, then nods down to them and reaches down a hand to help Smellerbee up.
“I still don’t trust you,” Jet says as she’s climbing, and Zuko looks at him. He’s alive, and this close to freedom.
“That’s fine,” he says. “Don’t trust me yet. Especially not if you see me after this.”
“What?” Jet says, scowling at him. “The hell does that mean?”
“It’s a long story,” Zuko says, glancing up towards the open hatch. He’s got the feeling he’s not going through it, or maybe just the feeling that he shouldn’t. “Just—be careful up there.”
“You say that like you’re not coming,” Jet says.
“I don’t think I can,” Zuko says, and they step forward and daylight slants across their bodies. Jet inhales sharply, eyes widening again. Zuko looks down at himself, and oddly isn’t surprised to see he’s not quite solid outside the dim green light of Laogai. He can see the stones of the floor through his feet, and Jet’s body through his own.
That seems right, he thinks.
“Yeah. Not this time,” he says as Jet stares at him. Smellerbee’s saying something to Longshot above them, though he doesn’t quite catch it. They’re not looking at them; she’s pointing off into the distance.
“Lee?” Jet says, visibly confused.
“You can call me Zuko, if you see me again,” Zuko says. He hopes he does. “Take care of yourself, Jet.”
“I don’t understand,” Jet says, and Zuko thinks—spirit stuff. Definitely spirit stuff.
“Don’t worry about it,” he says gently, squeezing the other’s side for a moment before letting go as Longshot and Smellerbee’s hands reach down through the hatch; as his own fade away in the light. “I just missed you.”