Where normally the mess hall was an empty cell of steel save the rare occupied seat, it was packed to the brim today. While the whole of the 15th broke fast outside the walls, General Zahckrael's personal guard ate with us. The room was completely filled. We ate in uniform alongside actual soldiers, adults, twice if not thrice our ages. For once, the other students, well, ex-students, sat side by side, no longer looking down on one another, but seeking each other for support. It was the first-time other kids our age actually sat down with Luke and me. Not that it mattered to us, we had more on our mind.
We were biding our time at this point, waiting for the 2nd to arrive. None of us had heard much about them save that we would be going to Ba-Sing-Se with them. The sooner they arrived, the sooner the 5th Corps was formed, and we could leave for the city. Whether Aden came with us or not was still in the air. Zaydi had told me this morning that he would be released from the infirmary today, suited up, prepped for combat, and he would deploy with us tomorrow. Whether Aden decided to go through with it was another thing. Neither Luke nor I would be surprised if he ran off. Or did something worse for that matter.
That was the real reason we were ready to get out of this city as quickly as possible. The sooner Aden got out, the longer Luke and I would have to be looking over our shoulders. Luke's small-talk cut me out of my trance.
"I feel bad for the cooks."
"What?"
"I feel bad for 'em. They're used to making food for no more than 20 at a time. There's over 100 in here now."
"Zahckrael's got a big personal guard."
"You'd think he was paranoid with the company he keeps."
"Most paranoid people are the ones with the most to hide."
"You think he's hiding something?"
"You don't get that far up in the military honestly."
"Even the Dragon of the West?"
"Probably."
"I don't know. He seems like a good guy."
"The Dragon or the General?"
"Dragon."
"Of course he seems nice. History books aren't going to go around slandering him. Not unless he turns traitor or failure. Then every victory will become a deception and every minor victory a catastrophic failure."
Luke didn't respond. He just gave me a curious look in the eyes across the table that I only noticed as I bent over to spoon some more soup into my mouth. "What?" I asked before sucking on the spoon to get the warm food down.
"You okay?" he asked, a smiling growing on his face. "You only talk all philosophical and shit when something's bothering you."
"Nothing's bothering me." I realized my actions had betrayed my words when I heard the sound of me slamming my hand on the metal table, attracting the gazes of everyone else at the table.
I pushed the bowl out away from me, sliding it across the table. "I'm not hungry anyway."
I stood up and left the cafeteria, not bothering to look behind me. I had almost made it to an intersection in the hallway when Luke caught up to me, slowing down to try to get some words in with me.
"Danev" he called. "Dude. You alright?"
I kept walking, until he grabbed me by the arm, somehow managing to hold me at bay for a good second until I could force my arm away from his. The fact that he had managed to actually stop someone 2 years his senior that easily surprised me. Considering he could also control fire, I decided it would be the best to talk now on my terms. So I vented.
"No. I'm not alright. For one, Aden, who now knows that you're pretty much the reason the Hornets are dead because you couldn't shut your damn mouth, is more pissed than ever. I'm not sure if you've seen Aden when he's legitimately pissed off, but it's not good. He gets out of the med-ward today and don't doubt that he's going to look at us for the nearest source of taking out his anger. Next to that, we're being deployed to a damn warzone tomorrow morning and I'm not liking our odds of survival. Should I keep going?"
"No. Shut up."
"What."
Luke motioned his head to look behind me, so I turned. If the regiment of soldiers and their commander wasn't enough to give it away, the banner they carried was. The 22nd Infantry. We moved out of the way to let them pass. And now, we were being deployed even sooner than originally planned. There was no easy way out of this. In one way, Aden finds some way to kill us. In the second, the Earth Kingdom does it for him. In the third, I find some way to kill Aden before he kills Luke for me and if I get caught, which I will, I get court martialed and executed, but maybe Luke lives long enough to die on an Earth Kingdom spear.
We put our backs against the wall, allowing the small group of soldiers to pass by. Something seemed familiar about these soldiers. About the insignias on their armor. Then I saw a face I remembered. A face I remember belonging to a man who had nearly killed me. I knew where I remembered these soldiers from.
"Shit." I couldn't stop myself from murmuring to myself. "Fuck."
"What's wrong?" Luke asked.
I didn't respond. They couldn't recognize me, right? I was just a random street kid they beat the shit out of. Nobody important. But still. "Damnit."
"What?"
The soldiers had passed, but I grabbed Luke by the forearm and led him further down the hall away from the passing soldiers and when we were clear, I spoke. "Those are the soldiers we faced when I was raiding the Fire Nation camp with Aden and the others."
Luke looked down the hall at the passing soldiers as though he were expecting to recognize one of the men he had never faced before. "You serious?"
"Yeah."
"Is this bad?"
"Is this another thing to tip Aden over the edge you mean? They killed his best friend, so I'd say yes."
"Well shit. What do we do?"
"You do nothing. I go talk to Aden while he's still fucking infirm and make sure he does nothing stupid."
"You didn't cripple him, Aden. He could choke you to death if he so desired."
"I'm going to make sure he doesn't desire that. I'm going to make him an offer."
"What offer?"
"I'll tell you if it works."
I still had no idea what I was going to say. I didn't know then and I still didn't know when I saw Zaydi talking to one of the doctors in the medical wing. Her smile upon seeing me faded away soon after seeing the look of seriousness on my face. She knew this wasn't a courtesy visit. "He's inside." She said, knowing why I was here.
I nodded and gave her a wane smile before passing her and going to the area where I knew Aden was. I got the sheet and took a deep breath before sliding it open. He hadn't been sleeping. He shot straight up, rocking the bed he was lying in, a thick white bandage covering the side of his head where I had thrown him against the wall. The look on his face told me there was no amnesia. Unfortunate.
Aden spoke first. "I can get out of this bed and choke you to death right fucking now."
"That's funny. Luke said the exact same thing."
"I can choke him to death too. Hell, he's small enough. I bet I could break his neck with my hand."
"Then why are you still lying in bed."
"Because I've known you for 5 damn years in the Hornets together and I would be remiss if I didn't give you a chance to explain yourself before I fucking killed you."
"And what good would that do?"
"What? Killing you? It would take a damn load off my chest. I know that much."
"Aden, the Hornets died because we fucked up. It wasn't anybody's fault. Nobody on our side at least. If you want to blame someone, blame Janick, and he's dead. Died on Luke's sword."
"Luke actually killed that son of a bitch?"
Killing was a strong word. Janick more so literally fell on Luke's sword than anything else.
"He did. I know you blame him for making a deal with the Rats, but it was a solid fucking plan. It would have worked too if Janick hadn't killed Miro. We've all made mistakes, Aden. I made a mistake when we went for that Raid on the Fire Nation camp. We should have stuck together. I shouldn't have sent you and Meeko to distract the soldiers."
"No. You shouldn't have. Is it true they're in Citadel?"
"Who?"
"The fucking 22nd. The ones who killed Meeko. Are they really here?"
I sighed. I didn't want to think where he was going with this. "Good. Get out."
"Aden. Please. Be smart about this. You don't even know who did it."
"You weren't there. You have no fucking idea what I saw. I saw his face as he looked me in the eyes while he shoved his sword in Meeko's heart. I remember his face."
"Aden. They'll kill you."
"Don't sound so fucking heartbroken. Like you actually give two shits about me."
"I do."
"If you did, you wouldn't have told me my family was alive while they were all rotting on some stupid street in the middle of the slums. Just go."
"Look. You have two options. You can suck it up and go to Ba-Sing-Se with us, or you can just leave. Go back to the slums. You'll be hunted, but you're free to do that. But you do not come near Luke or me, okay?"
"I said fucking go!"
There was nothing more I could say. I saw that much. I stood up and left. There was nothing more for me to do.
I made my way outside of the medical ward, shut the door behind me and leaned against the wall next to the door, sliding down the ground, grasping my head with my hands, having no idea what the hell I was doing.
It wasn't long until I saw Zaydi open the door next to me and sit down on the ground next to me. "Didn't go well?" she asked.
I shook my head. "He's going to get himself killed."
"I can't keep him in there." She said before I could even ask. "The warden says he has to be released to report for duty tomorrow morning."
"Warden?"
"Zar'un's not a captain anymore. Has a new title now."
"More befitting of what he actually does by the looks of it."
"I guess so." She turned to face me. "I'm going to miss you."
"Going to miss you too, I imagine a girl like you won't be lonely for too long here, though."
"You kidding me? You're the closest person to me in age in this damn city. It's gonna be hell."
"So they're not deploying you, I imagine. I'm surprised. You're young. I figured the Fire Nation was into that kinda thing."
"I'm to replace the doc."
"Doc's being deployed?"
She nodded her head. "He was made a medic by the 22nd just an hour ago."
"Hell. You gonna be okay?"
"I don't really have a choice."
"You'll do great. You're good at this kind of thing."
She chuckled. "I hardly know anything. I'm just hoping one you lot leave, there'll be a lot less beatings and deaths."
I chuckled with her. "I would imagine so. You know how us slum kids are."
She smiled at me. "I do. We still on for tonight?"
"Yeah. I have PT, but after that, I'm all yours."
"Good." She gave me a peck on the cheek and rose to return to her duty. "There'll be more waiting for you tonight."
And with that, she re-entered the medical ward, to return to her duties. I got up and didn't bother waiting for the messengers to hunt me down. I smoothed out my uniform and started for the yard. It was going to be a busy day.
And so 12 hours later, I found myself knocking on the door to Zaydi's room to have her open it to me only a few seconds later. I was still sweating from the day, but that didn't dissuade her. She grabbed me by the uniform and pulled me into her room. Everything after that was more or less a bliss.