star_kingdom | first flame ☀ video

So that's it. My entire world... gone. My country, my people, everyone...

[A teenager in red and gold clothing slumps dejectedly onto the steps in Traverse Town's first district. A moogle carrying the communicator is hovering beside him.]

I'm sorry, kupo. For now, you'll have to make a new life here!

[Zuko looks up, showing his mismatched eyes; one side of his face is covered with a burn scar. His anger flares as his gaze fixes a little above the camera onto the moogle.] I didn't want a new life! How many times do I have to lose everything?!

[He moves to stand abruptly. Bad decision; the still-fresh wound in his midriff jolts and he has to sit back down, gritting his teeth in pain. The moogle flutters beside him, worried.]

Are you okay, kupo?!

...Yeah. [Zuko runs a hand through his hair, obviously agitated.] Sorry. Getting mad at you won't fix anything. [He accepts the proferred phone from the moogle and looks at it with a blank expression.] What are you giving me?

It's a communicator! Maybe you can contact your friends with it!

How--? [He's curious, even in spite of his situation. He presses a button experimentally-- and the feed ends.]

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[Blue hair and blue eyes; not always a normal combination, but she's smiling sympathetically.]

I'll help as much as I can. Please try to calm down so you can decide what to do with a clear head. Do you have questions?

I'm completely calm.

[Said through gritted teeth. It's taking a lot of self-restraint to stay that way.]

The only thing I care about is getting my home back.

It's the same for all of us here. [A gentle, but firm, reminder. Others are suffering, too. But it works the other way: He isn't alone.]

Please help us.

[He nods stiffly, silent for a moment as he tries to cool his temper.]

...What can I do to help?

[She doesn't know him well enough yet to know his own talents and abilities, so she describes quite a few.]

King Mickey is recruiting people to fight the Heartless. The different worlds represented here need help rebuilding and various things, too. And of course, we all want to find a solution to restore our own worlds.

I can fight. [Said a little bitterly. He thought the fighting was over, not that it would start all over again.] I'm a Firebender-- I can help fight the Heartless.

[That's right: Aang had mentioned bending and the various elements and nations. She'd never heard of anything like that world before, so-]

A firebender? Could it be you know Aang?

Yeah, he's a friend. You know him?

[She met him as Mercury, so she says only what anyone could know, to avoid the question of her identity.]

I've seen him before, on the communicator. I don't really know him. But he's here. I'm sure he'll contact you.

He already did, but thanks for letting me know.

...So this king -- how do I enlist to help him out?

All you have to do is contact him (http://star-kingdom.livejournal.com/13680.html). I'm sure he'd be grateful.

Got it. Thanks.

Did you have other questions, too? I'm sure your friend will help you, but I can try to answer them until you two meet.

I think I know enough to get by for now.

...Although, there's one more thing... [Her blue hair has him curious. It's unusual, by his world's standards, but blue has always been the colour of the Water Tribe.] What was your world like? Are you a Waterbender?

[If she were here as Mercury, she'd explain that it's similar, that she's never been called that but she can use water the way his nation uses fire.

Instead, she plays ignorant.]

No, I'm nothing like that. I was studying to become a doctor back home.

Oh, right. [It was a pretty wild guess; he shouldn't have expected much.] Never mind, forget I asked.

[Some day, Zuko.]

No, it's alright. I don't mind. You're far from home, and looking for things that will still be familiar.

[She probably hasn't even heard of the Water Tribe. It was a stupid question.]

Something like that.

[She's feeling guiltier and guiltier for not being able to answer properly.]

Please don't feel badly.

Don't worry about it.

Have you eaten something yet? I don't know what happened right before you left, but you must be needing food and rest by now.

The moogle gave me some money and a room, so I'll get by. I'm used to this kind of thing.

[Being in an unfamiliar land having lost everything, being forced to survive relying on nothing but his own back, and the random kindness of strangers... He never thought he'd have to live through another repeat of his time in the Earth Kingdom. At least this time he's prepared -- and not a wanted fugitive.]

You sound as though you became very resourceful. You must have gone through a lot.

[Zuko shrugs evasively. His past isn't something he likes to discuss.] My entire world's been through a lot recently.

Ours was, too, before coming here. I suppose it's one of the signs of the Heartless coming.

[Video]

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