Percy Jackson and The Fire Prince

Chapter 7: The Play

  a short filler?  

---

While training on the island, Percy watched Zuko slowly succumb to the stress that surrounds any war. He was reminded of some of the older kids at Camp when they were training the younger demigods to go to war for their parents. (TBH, he probably did the same exact thing, so who was he to judge?)

"Again!" Zuko called, going through a kata with Aang once more as they both honed their fire-bending skill. 

"Again!" 

"No, again!"

Katara was taking a little breather from her own water-bending practice on the side. Sokka and Suki had headed into town earlier to gather some supplies. 

Percy took the chance to pull out his sword and hack away at some dummies. He told Toph to pull out all the stops and try to destroy him. Her evil laughter would haunt his dreams for the next few weeks.

"Feel my wrath!" Toph cackled, creating dummies of Fire Nation soldiers to attack the demigod as he struggled to keep up.

"Whoa!" Percy exclaimed, barely dodging a stone dummy when it actually lifted its blade and slashed at him rather than just rushing forward like the others had. 

She didn't let up, continuing until they both almost passed out from exhaustion. 

"That . . . was . . . awesome!" Toph gasped, throwing her fists into the air and causing a minor earthquake when she slammed them back down.

Sokka and Suki came back the idea to go to a play about their lives. Percy wondered how the Gaang's entire journey could possibly be recorded. There had to be some events that were fabricated or taken out of context. But, then again . . . maybe they could all wind down over some entertainment and snacks?

The journey to the theater was lighthearted. Everyone seemed really curious about how the play would go. They were expecting something cool, maybe not completely correct, but still interesting. 

"So their sources for the play includes a cabbage seller?" Percy laughed, looking over the poster. He couldn't read the words well, obviously, this language was still pretty new to him, and his dyslexia didn't really help.

When they sat down, Percy felt bad for Aang. He and Zuko were essentially cock-blocking the poor guy, sitting between him and Katara like that, but Zuko didn't seem to notice anything and the play was soon starting. 

"I'm so sorry," he whispered. It probably didn't help. Aang just slumped forward in his seat, leaning his head on his hand with a pout. 

As the characters came on screen, Percy was surprised to finally see the events from before he met up with them, "You actually thought Aang was gonna be some hundred-year-old man?" Percy laughed, leaning against Zuko's side in the darkness. The former prince flushed, turning away even though nobody could see his face.

"Well, when you're looking for someone who's been missing for a hundred years, wouldn't you usually assume he's really old?" the teen argued. His face was heated and he seemed to really take Percy's teasing seriously. He laughed inwardly and wrapped his arm around Zuko's. 

"Not really." 

Everyone seemed extremely irritated at their character representation. Percy thought it was a little accurate, if slightly exaggerated (okay, very exaggerated). 

"I don't make bad jokes about food all the time," Sokka complained, arm wrapped securely around Suki.

"Yeah, you make bad jokes about plenty of other things too," Katara giggled, getting laughs all around.

Sokka tossed his free arm forward. "Right?!" Sokka sounded offended, but at the play and not his sister's words.

"Well I think it's amazing," Toph cut in, trolling as usual. Percy laughed and the play continued.

When Toph's character was introduced, Katara tried to get a laugh in, but it backfired and made Toph a lot happier than before.

"It's okay, Katara," Percy whispered, "my jokes fall flat all the time." She pouted, and Percy grinned. The bad acting and horrible story continued, eliciting annoyed comments from the group every once in a while, and cheerful laughs from Toph.

When the time came that Percy would appear, he perked up. Zuko was still moping about his own character, but he turned and pointed at the others grinning at himself.

Obviously, the playwright hadn't been able to figure out when Percy came onto the scene. The scene when they fought Azula in the desert didn't even feature him.

Percy pouted at his lack of appearance, "What the heck?" he grumbled, "I was there too!" He was important too!

Sokka laughed at his expense, and Zuko placed his arm around his shoulders to comfort him. "You were there?" Katara asked, not having noticed his presence. He pouted, and the others laughed again. Even the Ba Sing Se scene didn't have Percy in it.

"Did Jet just . . . die?" Zuko asked, still enjoying the play despite his boyfriend's discontent. Percy shrugged, looking over to Sokka and the others. They were there at the time, after all.

"You know, it was really unclear," Sokka replied, shrugging it off.

Percy and Aang glared at the scene about Zuko and Katara in the underground. Aang's uncomfortable expression shifted as he looked over to Katara, unsure about where their relationship lay.

Then, it was Percy's turn to comfort Zuko when the scene about the events leading to their withdrawal from Ba Sing Se came about. He knew the event was still sore for the former prince, he hadn't even had the chance to make up with his uncle yet, but there wasn't much he could do.

The second intermission came around, and tensions within the group were only rising as the play continued. Maybe it wasn't quite the stress relief Percy thought it would be. Zuko was sitting on the floor beside Toph and Percy was standing beside him. Zuko's hood was up in a half-baked attempt to mask his identity, but there were enough cosplayers around that he didn't even get noticed. 

Despite all the angst, Percy could tell that Toph and Zuko's conversation made the former prince a lot happier. As the play continued, Percy finally showed up, but only as a background character.

"You have got to be kidding me," the demigod mumbled, crossing his arms and huffing. His character just stood in the back and did some lame water-bending.

Later, when Zuko's character died, Percy couldn't help but grip the former prince's arm tightly. They were all surprised that the crowd cheered so loudly at the ending. It must have been the Fire Nation conditioning its people to hate the Avatar.

"That was a horrible play."

"Agreed."

"Yep."

"Uh-huh."

Percy sighed as they left, glad that it was finally over. They continued training the next day, each determined to get the monstrosity off their minds. 

"Things will go better than that play," Katara sounded determined, "we won't let that ending come to pass."

They could only hope that she was right.