"Actually, the strangest thing about today isn't that we're walking through a tunnel dug by only five people to get past a sentient wall, but that giant snakes apparently have sensual voices," said Sokka, standing next to Aang. Upon hearing this, Aang paused for a moment.
"Good point. I hadn't really thought of that." Apparently, one of my past lives had an issue with one of them. Come to think of it, what other powerful entity was harassed by a past version of me? Will that come back to bite me in the future?" Aang pondered this, prompting Sokka to pat him on the shoulder.
"I wouldn't want to be you. When my parents find out you're with my sister, they'll hunt you down, especially my mom. You can't hunt any creatures in her honor to win her over. That would be even sadder," Sokka remarked in a low, mischievous voice. This caused the Avatar to roll his eyes.
"I don't know why, but I feel like you're expressing your own thoughts and opinions through your words. I'll find a way to convince your parents," Aang replied before setting off again to join Petra and Toph, who were knocking down a large rock blocking the path.
"So, Sokka, do you find that big snake's voice attractive?" Suki asked this question while staring intently at him, sending a shiver down his spine, as she appeared from behind and stood next to her boyfriend.
"Um… you know what? Yeah, I'll be honest. Bai Suzhen's voice is pretty sensual, but I still prefer yours," Sokka replied confidently, wrapping his arm around the warrior's waist and pulling her close.
"Youngs, you should try to control yourself a bit more," Iroh, who was nearby, said, feeling that this was a bit inappropriate. He was nearby and offered this advice, but both Sokka and Suki were lost in their romance and ignored him.
"Don't pay any attention to them. Besides, we're almost there. According to Bai Suzhen, this cave is connected to one inside Ba Sing Se," Shisui said with a mischievous smile, causing the old man to cough slightly in embarrassment.
"Well, it looks like we're about to make history now, huh? Wow, to think I wasted entire days just trying to get in here. Now, I'm finally making it," Iroh murmured, melancholy at the passage of time. He quickly cheered up, though, when he felt Lu Ten's hand on his shoulder.
"You're here, Father. That's what matters. You seem calmer now than when you were a general. I remember you being very stressed back then," said Lu Ten.
Iroh nodded as he glanced sideways at his son, feeling proud.
"I suppose so. I knew when to stop," the old man murmured. Shisui, standing nearby, nodded. In some parallel universe, Iroh had lost more than just that siege.
'But this is the real world, not a play manipulated by some bastard. It's these little things that make me realize that everything can change, that nothing is set in stone. So I must be grateful but also vigilant,' Shisui reflected, narrowing his eyes and letting the light filtering through the cave fall upon his face.
That thought filled him with a deep sense of peace.
...
That's how we return to the present. The group had already climbed through the cave and reached the interior of Ba Sing Se, though it seemed to be on the outskirts of the city.
As a city-state, Ba Sing Se was enormous, spanning many kilometers. Although there were no exact figures, it was estimated that the population of this great city exceeded 200,000. Clearly, only a fraction of these people were or could become fighters.
"So, your father was a veteran and was treated that way?" Zuko asked disbelievingly as he listened to Hui-Hui's account. He found the actions of the Ba Sing Se forces quite distasteful.
"Don't focus only on that, but on the fact that they've started to repress and persecute their own people. You must have suffered a lot. I can see it on your face," Azula added, gently touching the young woman's face. By this point, Hui-Hui had burst into tears.
She looked unwell, showing clear signs of malnutrition and hunger. Her body was abnormally thin, yet she found the strength to make such a drastic decision. She was still in shock, but her body was already responding to her emotions. Although she told her story in a neutral tone, tears streamed down her face. She wasn't sobbing; she was simply releasing something she didn't know how to express properly.
How could she? She had watched her parents die, and worst of all, she had killed them with her own hands. Having to resort to murder to spare them an even worse fate had clearly left an indelible mark on her psyche.
However, when she saw the motley attire of the people gathered in the cave, she felt a glimmer of hope. Before the repression began, she had received a proper education, so she could tell where these people were from.
The Southern Water Tribe, Kyoshi Island, and the Fire Nation. In the past, she would have been terrified to encounter someone from those countries, but now she was utterly numb and paid them no mind.
Only when she saw Aang's distinctive clothing and tattoos did she feel relief. It was said that the Avatar should be either an Airbender or a Waterbender. Clearly, this young Air Nomad was the Avatar. She wondered, however, why he was so young.
Much of the news and rumors couldn't reach Ba Sing Se. Since the Avatar's awakening had not technically happened that long ago, many Ba Sing Se residents were unaware of his reappearance. This made her a little sad because she realized she had missed out on more of the world than she expected. This sparked a desire within her to travel!
If the invaders brought about significant changes to Ba Sing Se, she wanted to explore the world she had once been isolated from. Hui-Hui didn't have high hopes, though. A handful of people against an entire government, even if the Avatar was among them, was a daunting prospect.
After all, she herself had lived through a popular uprising in which hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people protested and tried to fight oppression, only to be brutally suppressed.
"Tell me, Miss Hui-Hui, can you draw a map of this city? Even if it's basic, it'll be useful to me. By the way, I'm Shisui, a Waterbender raised in the Fire Nation. Perhaps you've heard of me." The Sage's words caused tears to well up in the woman's reddened eyes.
If the Avatar and the Sage were here, then maybe there really was a chance! Hui-Hui nodded and began to earthbend. However, everyone noticed that she didn't use her legs much, relying heavily on her arms instead.
"My father said that if they saw me practicing Earthbending stances, they'd force me to join the army," she said. He said a soldier's fate isn't to be a hero but to be used by their superiors," she blurted out in response to the curious glances directed at her, though she didn't know why.
What Hui-Hui didn't realize at that moment was that this was the first time she'd felt truly safe after everything she'd been through. Especially given her recent shock, she tried to cling to that indescribable feeling she hadn't yet understood.
"Don't worry about it. We're not judging you. You've done your best. There aren't any purists here." Petra gently touched the girl's shoulder, careful not to trigger an emotional outburst.
"Well, this street is..." Hui-Hui sniffed, crouched down, and began to explain everything she knew about Ba Sing Se. As someone who had protested and lived her entire life in this city, she knew it relatively well.
Thus, they came to understand the structure of this city-state much better. They already knew it was divided by 'walls and rings,' but only now did they fully understand Ba Sing Se's social stratification and just how segregated it was.
They were currently in the city's inner ring. The most important things here were the army barracks and the main wall, the one that had held back the Fire Nation's advance for decades.
Those tasked with breaking down the gates and letting the Fire Nation army through were supposed to act here. Meanwhile, the smaller squad of four had to cross another wall to reach the inner ring.
However, this wall wasn't as imposing as the first one. It was just a normal city wall. After all, since it had not been breached in centuries, no one in the city had bothered to reinforce this structure much.
In fact, even though they suspected that the Avatar and the Sage would attack Ba Sing Se, their blind confidence in the city's outer walls meant that not even the king decided to station too many people there.
However, he began to have doubts and grow paranoid. What if someone close to him betrayed him and brought his enemies before his throne? For this reason, he surrounded himself with many Dai Li and Red Lotus members, though the outside world was unaware of this.
Thus, Aang, Shishui, Zuko, and Toph had to make their way into the middle ring and then the upper ring to reach the royal family's castle, the most important place in Ba Sing Se. Although Hui-Hui's map was poor since she wasn't a cartographer, her impressions of the city clarified many doubts and helped them plan their routes and attacks more effectively.
After all, there's a huge difference between acting without a guide and having a clearer idea of your objective. However, they couldn't stop to discuss these matters in depth since Hui-Hui's pursuers had been detected by Toph and Petra long before the pursuers realized they were there.
They could defeat them, kill them, or simply avoid them. Each option had its pros and cons. However, Shisui decided it was best to get rid of them right then and there.
"I don't think there are any innocents among them. But if Ty Lee and I see something in their auras that suggests otherwise, we'll just knock them out. But since they're enemies, we must show them no mercy," said Shisui, weighing all the options and deciding to take matters into his own hands.
"I don't think they've all fallen into depravity. There must be at least some among them who don't actively want to do evil." Aang knew that Shisui had decided to act this way because he was considering that possibility, so he let out a sigh of relief.
"I don't doubt it. We, humans, are easily influenced and adapt in ways we'd never imagine, all to survive. Believe me, we'll find citizens of Ba Sing Se who agree with what's been done in this city," said Iroh, who was well aware of this phenomenon. He had observed it in the men he had led in the Fire Nation colonies and in his own nation.
"I don't want any more existential doubts or philosophical questions. Let's just go beat people up!" Sokka exclaimed, backed up by Toph, who didn't want to hear all that talk right now.
She wanted to beat people up! She was sad about what Hui-Hui had gone through and wanted to avenge her. She had grown fond of the young woman because of her resilience.
Several members of the group lunged at their pursuers, among whom was a Dai Li agent. The battle ended quickly due to the ambush and excessive force. As had been said, several of these pursuers were relatively innocent people, soldiers who had been forced to carry out acts they didn't agree with but couldn't refuse.
However, most of these people had succumbed. They had adapted so completely that they had been corrupted and had become just as evil as their leaders. There was a brief debate: Were they evil because they allowed themselves to be corrupted, or was there some degree of redemption for them?
Only three people remained who had genuinely resisted as much as possible; the rest were eliminated, especially the Dai Li. Upon recognizing Shisui, the Dai Li tried to warn their comrades, but were quickly eliminated by the Sage.
Now, the attack on Ba Sing Se could begin.
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AN: My head is gonna explode. What a headache!
TheAnPlayer2 gave me a tip: Promote my original stories every 5 chapters. So, read my original novels: Steam and Heart, Lunar Mechanism, Blood Sequence, and Witch's Adventure. You may or may not like them, but give them a chance. c: