Chapter Text
The wind whipped against Hakoda’s face as the familiar scent of salt touched the air.
They had been sailing for the past 2 weeks and all the crew were giddy at the thought that they would be reaching port soon, the excitement was contagious to say the least.
As the port came into view Bato walked up to Hakoda, a grin present on his face that’s showed that the upbeat mood had gotten to him as well.
“Have you heard about the rumour going around about this port?” Hakoda’s best friend and second command asked as he stood next to him on the bustling deck of the ship.
“You know I don’t keep up with gossip, Bato” The chief sighed, amused at his friends child-like antics.
“This is no gossip Hakoda” Bato sighed like he was explaining that you shouldn’t eat crayons or go penguin sledding in a blizzard, “ you know how this is a neutral port? Well I heard that when they get passing fire nation ships those ships never leave!” Bato explained
“ what do you mean “never leave?” Like they settled in the village?” The chief questioned, very confused.
“As in they disappear. They go in the village and never come back out. People speculate that someone kidnaps them and puts them in the abandoned prison in the woods but no ones has the guts to check” Bato explained with the excitement of a 2 year old with candy, a look that Hakoda knew the meaning of very well.
“ well who ever is doing this deserves a medal, less fire nation soldiers means less people to fight in the war” Hakoda announced, pointedly ignoring the look Bato was giving him knowing very well what he was going to say next.
3…2…1…
“Soooo… you wanna go explore the prison later”
There it was.
The chief made a show of thinking about it for some time to entertain Bato despite having made up his mind.
“Hmmmm… maybe, no.” Hakoda deadpanned, “I don’t want to touch that place with a ten foot icicle and neither will you” Hakoda ended the conversation there, not wanting to encourage any recklessness but knowing fully well Bato would keep trying.
The ship shook as they pulled into the port and dropped the anchor and Hakoda took his que.
“Everyone listen up!” He shouted to be heard of the chaos that was their crew.
Silence fell on the ship as they heard the chiefs voice.
“We have reached a neutral port, you are to be careful as we go around and collect our supplies. We will be here for 2 days to make repairs. We will disperse in 5 but everyone is to be back for the night in one piece and at least slightly sober, looking at you Kalaro!” That got a chuckle out of everyone.
“The list of supplies needed are stuck to the mast so distribute the work and let’s get going” he ended with a clap of his hands
“YES SIR!” The crew roared back with enthusiasm before scattering.
—————————————————— that night
A calm chatter had settled in the bunk as everyone winded down after the long day.
The crew had gotten back from errands and it was quite late.
Hakoda scanned the room before his eyes landed on a small circle of people gathered in the corner of the room whispering about something or the other. He was not surprised when he spotted Bato within the circle that consisted of mostly the youth of the crew.
Immediately Hakoda realised what Bato was doing with a bunch of young and daring people with the same sense of horrible self preservation as him.
Weaving through the crowds, the chief made his way to the circle and when he was close enough to hear them, Hakoda involved himself in a conversation nearby to not be seen while keeping an ear in the circle conversation.
“ I don’t know about this… I don’t thinks Chiefs gonna be too happy if he finds out” Arlow spoke out, he was a good kid.
“Eh, we have the seconds on commands approval, it’ll be fine” another cuts in
“ c’mon! What’s life without adventure!” Bato exclaimed, trying to convince the others.
“Well, whoever wants to jojn in, meet me at port 2 hours from now and we will go to the prison. I’ve already scouted the place earlier and found the location of the place. Make sure to be quiet and not let chief see you” Bato said before standing up and leaving.
‘ 2 hours ‘ Hakoda thought,
‘ well, if you can’t beat em, join em’
————————————————————— 2 hours later
Bato stood in-front of the shop they decided to meet with 3 other people from the crew that he managed to haul along, either by bribing them with liquor or with the promise of in unforgettable experience.
They agreed that they would wait till 1:05am till they left in case anyone else wanted to join but became late.
The 4 of them were hunched over a map of the village, figuring out the path when they heard someone approaching.
To their surprise they looked up to see the figure come into sight.
The chief.
(Insert swear word of your choice here)
Arlow (the person who objected earlier) started stuttering, trying to find an excuse when Hakoda put up his hand.
“I know what you are doing and where I you are going.” He stated with his chief voice,
“ do you think you could defy what I said on MY ship and get away with it? You think I wouldn’t know?” Bato rolled his eyes knowing that Hakoda was just trying to scare them into thinking that this was a bad idea.
“Sorry sir, we will go back now” one of them apologised looking ashamed at the ground.
“No. We are water tribe men, now that you have started it, you will go through with it” with that Hakoda starts to walk in the direction of the prison. In reality, it had nothing to do with that fact that they were water tribe and more to do with the fact that Hakoda knew that if he cancelled this little adventure, Bato will find something more dangerous to do later. So he came to conclusion that this would be safe as long as s he tagged along to ensure it.
They walked in lively chatter for an hour before coming to a stop at the entrance of the abandoned prison.
From what Hakoda had learned, the prison had a lot of secret passageways and it was easy to get lost, so he brought along flame torches with the knowledge that no one else had.
They stood at the entrance, a heavy atmosphere settled around them as the rustic, crumbling building seemed to be daring them to enter.
“Welp! What are we waiting for?” Bato said, breaking the silence.
“We are waiting for this place to get less creepy” someone whispered underneath their breath.
Ignoring the comment, Bato took lead and strode into the building and the other following close with Hakoda sticking to the end with a lit torch.
The place smelled old and musty with a hint of sweat clinging to the place from the times it held prisoners.
The dim torch light allowed very little vision other than the tattered fire nation flags on the walls stirred anger in his gut, the memories of his wife’s abduction creeped to the front of hakoda’s mind.
“Eep!” Arlow jumped after looking into a prison cell that held a skeleton making everyone else shudder.
They walked through the labyrinthine of a prison with no sign of life exept for the blood that occasionally splattered the walls.
“ I don’t think any one is holding fire nations here” Hakoda spoke after a while of walking, hoping everyone was satisfied with what they had seen.
They was a few relieved sighs as they turned around to leave, but before they could start the trek back to the entrance Hakoda tripped and grasped at the wall to regain balance but the wall gave away and swung open.
Hakoda stood and stared at the hidden door that he had just opened by accident.
The pitch darkness looked back at them from beyond.
“We should leave” one of them said, but Hakoda wasn’t listening to that,
“Shh, do you hear that?” Hakoda hissed, hoping that it was just him.
Silence.
“Hear wha-“ Bato started to say but was cut off by a noise
SCRAAAATCHH
Everyone stopped breathing. There was something down there.
“I’m going in. You all go outside” Hakoda’s tone left no space for argument but Bato didn’t care,
“I’m coming” Bato announced, “the rest of you go back to the ship”
There was scuffling and they all left, leaving Bato and Hakoda alone.
They looked at each other before Hakoda took the torch and stepped into the dark to reveal a stair way.
Down, down, down, they went, their footsteps echoed through the narrow space but there was nothing else, no other sound.
Finally they came to a landing when the stench hit their nose, sweat and rot and death.
They walked down the hallway, every step step causing their stomach to drop a little with dread and anticipation.
Finally they reached a clearing and realised why the smell got stronger.
Bodies.
Bodies were scattered all over the room. Some were tied to the wall and some were left on the floor. Some old, some newer.
At a second glance they realised that all the bodies were wearing the fire nation uniform.
Hakoda realised that he should have been happy, Bato got what he wanted and these were all people who have done wrong, but he couldn’t get himself to feel anything except pity and disgust.
Disgust for the person who was capable of this. Disgust for the fact that they were nearly as bad as the fire nation for this.
On some level, Hakoda was aware that Bato had left the room to throw up, on some level he was aware that this was a bad idea, but it must have not registered because he found himself moving deeper into the room, deeper towards the sound.
At the back of the room there was the door where the sound had come from.
Hakoda turned the handle, unable to stop the action that he had set in motion.
The door creaking on its hinges as it swung open to reveal a cell.
But this one had a person contained in it, alive.
A person was chained to the wall by his hands, knees touching the ground.
A boy.
Around 14 years old.
Hakoda’s guy churned as his dinner threatened to make a reappearance when the sharp unmistakable smell of blood hit his nose.
The boy seemed to be unconscious until he looked up, golden eyes laced with fear pierced Hakoda.
The boy had a burn over almost half of his face but that looked older, and not the most concerning.
Burns and deep cuts painted his exposed upper body, as blue-black bruises filled any space left and more.
Bruising formed a ring around his neck under the blood that had likely come from a head wound.
The floor around him was pooled with blood that made Hakoda question how the boy was even alive.
Hakoda came back to the present when he heard a gasp from behind him but he couldn’t take his eyes from the boy long enough to look at Bato.
Bato’s appearance seemed to jolt the boy fully aware from the dear-in-the-headlight state he was in.
The boy recoiled backwards, his back hit the wall with a painful slam but he showed no reaction to the pain. His arms strained against the chains as he tried to curl up protectively away from the intruders.
It was clear the kid was fire nation but what did he do to warrant this kind of treatment?
Hakoda couldn’t help but imagine Sokka or Katara in this situation.
“No more. Please.” The voice came from the boy, raw and hoarse as if he had been screaming before, his head looking downward at the ground.
Something in Hakoda’s heart broke.
“Hey, we are not going to hurt you, we are going to get you out” Bato stepped forward slowly speaking softly.
The boy’s head jerked up and there was a sparkle of hope in those molten gold eyes, but they vanished before it got real.
He shook his head before abruptly stopping because of the pain.
“You are wearing blue, just like her. You hate the fire nation just like her…. Did she send you here? To kill me?” His voice got quiet at the end.
It took Hakoda a moment to realise that some time before, Bato had left the room and he just returned, keys in hand.
He walked forward and inserted the key into the handcuffs, the boy tracked every movement with eyes akin to a predator even though he was the one chained.
Klink. One chain fell off and Bato went to remove the other one with a pause, knowing that hesitation from him might be misinterpreted by the boy.
‘We really ought to give him a name’ he thought
“ what’s your name?” Hakoda asked, trying to put him at ease while the other chain was in process of being removed
The boy seemed startled at the unexpected question. The hostility reduced and the kid looked younger when he answered
“I’m Zuko”
Hakoda saw Bato stiffen as he felt his body go cold.
‘Maybe Zuko is a common name in the fire nation? It doesn’t have to be-‘ Hakoda’s thoughts were cut off.
“The prince of the fire nation” Zuko replied as if he read Hakoda’s minds.
Zuko had his eyes trained on both of the men, waiting for the other shoe to drop. His body went ridged, expecting a blow.
His eyes widened when the other chain came off and he stumbled forward at the sudden change.
Acting on reflex, Hakoda reached forward and caught him before he could meet the ground and pulled him up but it was clear he couldn’t stand on his own.
“Get away from me!” The kid, Zuko, growled, trying to weakly push him away but failing.
“Look kid,” Hakoda started
“I’m NOT A KID” Zuko replied
“Sorry, Zuko, you can’t walk out, we will have to carry you” Hakoda said, hoping that he would see reason.
“I’m not weak, I can walk! I’m not some baby” he growled again
Hakoda remembered how the kids back at the village would act like this when they were powerless
“ needing help is not weak, you are hurt badly, anyone in you position would need help” Hakoda tried.
But before Zuko could answer, Bato strode forward and grabbed the kid without touching any of the injuries and put him in Hakoda’s back as softly as possible.
He struggled against Hakoda’s grip and Hakoda internally winced knowing how much this would hurt the kids injuries, but there was no other way.
Bato and Hakoda strolled out of the room with the fire nation prince in tow.
after sometime of struggling and shouting, the kids seem to wear himself out and stopped moving. The only sign that he was alive was the shallow movement of his chest, a sign that he was breathing.
They climbed up the stairs and found the way back to the entrance using the torch that was handed over to Bato.
Hakoda could feel blood from the wounds seep into his tunic but said nothing.
Once they reached outside, they took a deep breath and felt grateful for the fresh air.
Hakoda shook his back a little,
“Zuko, you okay?”
No answer.
“Hey kid?”
Silence.
“Hakoda, I think he is asleep….”
The soft snores confirmed this and they continued the track back to the ship.
Part 2 coming soon!