67Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.
I Am The Blue Spirit
Summary: Zuko, instead of saying that he is a prince in the end of Zuko Alone replies with, "I am the blue spirit."
"Thoughts"
"Speaking"
Memories
Zuko dodged and ducked around the boulders sent flying his way by the earthbender. He used his swords to block the ones that came to fast for him to dodge, but he was quickly tiring. If this went on much longer he wasn't sure if he would be able to hold out. One of the smaller boulders swept under his guard and hit him hard in his ribs, knocking him on his back.
Zuko wheezed for breath. His ribs felt bruised and he wondered if he should just give up and walk away. It was not his problem in the first place, after all.
"But you gave Lee the knife and that's why they have him," a traitorous voice in the back of his head whispered.
"I didn't tell him to use it on the soldiers!" he retorted.
"You might as well have. You give a boy a knife, what do you expect to happen!"
To his right Zuko hears a child's voice, Lee's, begging him to get up, to be all right. Zuko feels anger run through him as he thinks of what the soldiers had done to the boy. Before he could let the anger consume him, though, his uncle's voice came back to him from a time just after his banishment, when his anger often clouded his judgment.
Flashback
"You are special Zuko. You have the ability to think before you act out in anger. Anger is hard to overcome and even harder to defeat. This is why most firebenders use anger and hate to power their fire, for it is almost impossible to stop. But to act out in anger is also dangerous. Anger makes you slip up and do things thatyou might regret later, such as yelling at a friend or hurt someone that you didn't mean to," Uncle Iroh said as he sipped is tea and lit the candle in front of him.
Zuko sighed as his uncle gestured for him to begin meditating again. Sometimes hereally didn't get what his uncle was saying. Anger fuelled fire, without it a fire bender didn't have as powerful fire which could put them at risk.
Instead of arguing his point Zuko settled into a lotus position and began to meditate.
End Flashback
Blocking out all sounds Zuko closed his eyes and breathed in, held it for five seconds, and breathed out again, thinking over what he had been about to do. If he had acted out in anger his firebending would have come out, which would reveal him to be from the Firenation. In his anger he would have also probably said that he was not only from the Firenation but the fire prince himself.
Things would have gone downhill from their, Zuko knew. The townspeople would have looked at him with fear and revulsion, chasing him out of town. They would not understand, nor listen to reason if he tried to explain his actions.
Why was he doing this? Was it because Lee's mother had asked him to? Maybe, but Zuko felt that it was not the whole reason. Looking back on his emotions Zuko realized that he had been thinking like Lee, the wandering refugee who was without a home or family and had found someone that he could relate to in the younger Lee. He had been fighting with Zuko's anger of being unable to protect his mother.
But he was not just Lee, the refugee, or Zuko, the banished and unwanted prince. He was also the Blue Spirit, master swordsman of the Duel Dao swords, savior of the Avatar from Admiral Zhao, protector of those too weak to defend themselves, one of the most wanted criminals of the Firenation, and thief.
He had been fighting with a refugees mind and a banished prince's anger, but if he wanted to win, he would have to fight with the Blue Spirit's cunning, wit, and skill.
He had been the Blue Spirit long before he rescued the Avatar from Zhao, though he had never done anything before to warrant the attention of the Firenation until after the event. The Blue Spirit mask had been his escape from being a prince. He was the being that wandered the night with silent feet, protecting the late wanderers from getting hurt by the less honorable that would prey on the weak.
Many times he would rid a town they were passing through of a group of gang that was terrorizing the people. Whispers had even started to circulate about a spirit in a blue mask who was helping the people. It always made his smile inwardly when he heard this because he knew that he was at least helping someone, even if he could not help his own people.
He could still remember the first time that he wore the mask and why.
Flashback
Zuko scowled as he looked out over what look to be endless waters. Behind him was the small EarthKingdomfishing town that they had docked at for supplies. No doubt his uncle was out there buying a load of junk they would have to haul around before Zuko found some way of getting rid of it.
His uncle was hard to be around, always spouting off strange sayings and asking him to play Pai Sho. It made him mad that the Dragon of the West, one of the most famous firebenders of all time, acted like an old, slightly insane, man.
Zuko shook his head and turned away from the sun set, fighting back tears. He just wanted to go home. He wanted his honor back, he wanted his fathers love, but deep in his heart Zuko knew that this was impossible. The Avatar had been gone for over a hundred years, what was the chance that he would come out of hiding now?
Turning to go below deck Zuko bumped into one of the crew who he had forgotten the name of again. The man was one of the younger recruits who had been shunted to the Prince's ship for misbehaving. He was only a few inches taller then Zuko himself and was carrying a huge box of colorful festival decorations. Zuko scowled at the box and turned back to the man carrying it.
"What is that?" he snapped, glaring at the box.
The man gulped and shuffled back a step but did not stutter when he answered, "General Iroh bought it, Sr. He told me to bring it on and put it below deck."
Zuko contemplated setting the box on fire but decided that it wasn't worth the effort. If his uncle was going to buy something there was no stopping him besides not letting him into port.
He turned away and stocked to his room. The door slammed shut behind him and Zuko collapsed into his bed, only to jump back up again when he felt something jab into his back. Frowning, Zuko turn to see a deep blue mask with white outlines sitting on the bed. It was a mask commonly used in festivals. The grinning face and empty eyes stared up at Zuko from its place in the center of the bed.
It must have come from the box. Curious, Zuko reached down and flipped the mask around where two straps were sewn to make it easier to keep on. Picking up the mask Zuko fitted it over his face. It almost seemed like the mask was made for him. It was nether too large or too small.
With a grin Zuko hid the mask under his bed, deciding to put his sneaking skill to the test that night.
The figure dressed in full black and wearing a dark blue mask darted from shadow to shadow, easily slipping from the ship right under the drowsy guard's nose. He moved like a shadow, his feet silent and his breathing nonexistent to normal hearing. Indeed, if any had seen him, which no one had, it would have been like seeing a ghost.
As Zuko jumped from rooftop to rooftop he felt a calm come over him that he had not felt since his mother died. The silence of the night brought a peace he thought he had lost.
Taking a deep breath he bunched his muscles in preparation for the next jump to a higher roof. He landed silently with a slight bend to his knees and a grin formed behind his mask. He felt so free. Wearing the mask made it possible to forget that he was Firenation, that he was a banished prince unwanted by his father. Here, under the mask, he was just another shadow in the night.
After sitting for a wile on the roof, which was the tallest in the town, Zuko got up to go when he heard the faint sound of a scream. He paused, listening. There was another scream, slightly louder but coming from the same direction as the first before it was muffled.
An uneasy feeling overcame him and Zuko shifted his feet uncertainly. Should he help? He had to be back at the ship before dawn. With first sunlight so close he was hesitant. It was much harder to sneak around when the sun was chasing the shadows away and a locked door would not hinder his uncle for long.
He wavered for a moment, before dashing off after the scream. He could not let someone be hurt just because he was scared of getting caught.
His flight over the rooftops brought him to an abandoned ally where a young girl was pressed up against the wall by a larger man. Behind the man were two more, most likely bodyguards. The first man held the girl to the wall with his hand over her mouth to muffle any sounds she might make. The man was large and looked to have several teeth missing when he smiled. His long, shaggy black hair hung down around his face like a wild animal.
"Well, aren't you a pretty catch? What is such a beauty like you wandering around at such a time as this? Don't you know that it's dangerous?" the man taunted with a sneer.
The young lady, no more then fifteen now that Zuko could see her clearly, whimpered behind the hand and let a few tears leek loose from her eyes.
Anger ran through him as Zuko saw her helpless. How could someone do this to another person? It was just plain wrong. Even though he was Firenation, right now that did not matter to him. An innocent person was being hurt and it was his responsibility to help her.
Observing the two bodyguards Zuko determined that they would not be much of a problem. Though both carried swords they were of poor quality and had several dents in them. If he dropped from the roof of the ally he could take out the first easily, but he would have to move fast if he wished to get rid of the other before he alerted the man they were guarding.
Zuko glanced around for a weapon and his eyes landed on a loose tile in the roof. It was heavy when he picked it up and would probably through off his jump a little, but it would work. Taking a deep breath and judging the distances Zuko leaped. The fall seemed to last forever before he hit his target, his feet landing on the man's shoulders and bringing his head down on the stone ground with a crack. Without hesitation Zuko swung the tile at the second guard's head hard. The man crumbled without a sound.
Not wasting a moment Zuko darted into some of the darker shadows as the man they had been guarding turned around to scold them for thenoise, only to freeze at the sight of the two crumpled to the ground.
Zuko took the man's astonishment as an opening and darted forward. He swung his leg at the man's face, hoping to knock him unconscious but luck was not on his side. The man saw the blow coming and instinctually ducked away. Zuko's foot only just managed to skim the man's jaw.
The man staggered away and put his hand to his cheek, letting the girl go in the process. She slumped to the ground with her eyes darting between Zuko and the man, as if deciding which one was the bigger threat. She had seen how he had jumped from seemingly out of nowhere and took out the two guards without hesitation, but he had also attacked the man who was hurting her.
The man snarled and reached for his own swords, a set of Dual Dao and swirled them through the air. It was plain to see that he had some training with them and the swords were in good condition. Zuko himself did not have anything to fight with though he had learned the way of the sword himself when he was younger.
With an angry yell the man rushed at Zuko who twirled away at the last moment into the shadows. The man spun around, his eyes darting every which way as he searched for his attacker. Zuko knew that the shadows were not as deep as they had been before. The sun was rising, he could feel it, and he new that he had to end this fight fast.
The man spotted him in the shadows cornered against the wall and grinned as he ran forward, ready to swing the two blades down on him from each side, but he left himself open. Anger made him careless. Zuko used the wall behind him as a place to spring from as he did a flip over the man, easily plucking the Dao from the mans loose hands as he did so.
The man didn't have time to stop before he slammed into the wall, knocking himself out.
Zuko looked around and noticed that the young lady he had rescued had vanished sometime during the fight. He glanced down at the swords he now held in his hands and then up at the lightening sky. The swords were good quality even if they weren't that decorative.
They were better used for purposes other then threatening people with, anyway, he decided. With a silent chuckle Zuko pulled the swords sheath from the unconscious man's back and slipped it over his own shoulders.
Then as suddenly as he had come, Zuko disappeared, using the windowsills to propel himself up and onto the rooftops once again.
Zuko had just slipped out of the black cloak and cloths that he had been wearing and into his normal everyday robes when the expected knock came through the door.
"Nephew, are you in there? You've nearly missed breakfast and I must say the cook has made something that smells delicious even from here!"
Zuko let a small, almost invisible smile quark up his lips as he hid his new swords under the bed with the rest of his disguise. He was back to being to banished prince, searching for an Avatar long lost in time on board an old, rusted ship with only his uncle and crew for company.
"But", he thought as he slipped out of his cabin and followed his uncle down the hall, "at night when the sun is down, and when the normal people rest . . ."
He was the Blue Spirit.
Flashback End
Ignoring the pain in his ribs Zuko opened his eyes, his thoughts only taking up seconds of real time, and rolled to the side to avoid a large bolder being dropped on him. He came up in a crouch, but instead of charging forward like he had before he stopped and observed the earthbender with narrowed eyes.
The earthbender sensed the change in tactics and he too stopped. A sudden nervousness came over the earthbender as he realized that this boy was different then he had been seconds before. Instead of holding himself high and with dignity and with a solid if swift stance, the boy was now hunched slightly, balanced on the balls of his feet, ready to move at any moment. He almost seemed lighter to his earth sense too.
Zuko felt the rumbling beneath his feet just before the attack resumed. He jump and did a forward roll in the air, landing him just a few feet away. The earthbender grabbed his hammer again and prepared to slam it into the ground to give him self more force, but Zuko was ready for that. Years of fighting as the Blue Spirit had giving him clear advantage over a normal opponent: the ability to analyze any fighting style and counteract accordingly.
Before the hammer could reach the ground Zuko had darted forward and sliced upward with the sword in his left hand wile the sword in his right swung down to meet it. The earthbender saw this and had to let go of his hammer or loose his hand.
With the hammer out of the way it was more of a fair fight. The earthbender's earthbending was weaker as he had depended on the extra force of the hammer to enhance his bending.
Zuko was once again back to dodging away from the rock, though they came forward, taking the hammer he had picked up with him and throwing it to the side. As Zuko he had always fought solidly, but as the blue Spirit he had learned that the best way to win an opponent with bending abilities or multiple opponents without was to dance.
And indeed it looked like a dance. He spun and twisted, never staying in one place to long. The earthbender, on the other hand had not moved since he had lost his hammer, as a typical earthbender normally did. Zuko was slowly but surly making his way closer to the bender with every rock thrown at him, and with the earthbender so angry, he didn't realize the danger that was knocking at his doorstep.
A rock was thrown directly at Zuko but instead of dodging like the earthbender expected him to he slashed his swords through the rock and kicked forward, his foot hitting solidly in the earthbender's chest.
Startled, the earthbender flew back against the wall and hit his head. Though it didn't knock him out it still dazed him, and when he looked up he could see two glinting swords at his neck. He froze, his eyes darting between Zuko's face to the swords.
"W-who are you?" he stammered, wide eyed.
Zuko was silent for a moment, just letting his gaze unsettle his downed opponent. It was at this point that he registered that everyone else who had been watching had fallen silent, they too were waiting for an answer.
His gaze never leaving the earthbender Zuko replied, his voice soft and dangerous, "I am he who stalks the night. I am he who is one with the shadows. I am he who wields the Dual Dao and wears a mask in the darkness before dawn.
"I am the Blue Spirit."
