Scars

Madara ended up accepting Kaliya's request when she asked him to go with her, she seemed a bit… scared?... when talking about going back to the Northern Water Tribe, which was odd for Madara since the show portrayed them as good-natured people… Well except for Unalaq, but that's one villain that we should never talk about.

It was decided that they would move north in a week, why one might ask? Well, Madara was the owner of a very big and profitable business, he had many things to prepare since he would be absent for some time, he also tried to track Lei but during that 1 week it was hard to find him, "Is he busy? What's wrong with him?"

The day of their departure finally arrived and his close friends came to see him and Kaliya off, Lei will also be going with them because someone needs to pilot the ship, Madara tried to learn it once but… just like Unalaq… we should never talk about it..

Jackie hopped on the ship in silence and went towards his seat, preparing all the mechanisms to pilot it properly.

Madara went to the boiler and filled it with fuel, and ignited it with his firebending.

Kaliya sat down in silence in her corner, she seemed very… on edge…

The mood of the whole team was weird, and Madara wasn't liking it, not one bit, what the fuck is happening here?!?!

'I understand Kaliya's behavior, something happened to her that forced her to leave and now she has to face it.. but what about Jackie? What the fuck man, what is the matter with you?!?'

He took long strides and went towards the pilot cabin, opening it with a bang that startled Lei.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong with you?" Asked Madara with an annoyed look on his face.

"M-Mr. Uchiha, there's no problem…Nothing is wrong with me…" he said while avoiding Madara's gaze 'Yeah right… ' thought Madara.

"You are a good fighter but a terrible liar Jackie, you are as bad at lying as Zuko is with intimidation, stop pretending that everything is fine when I can clearly see that it isn't…"

Lei trembled a bit when he heard that and lowered his head.

"M-Mr. Uchiha… do you still want us to learn the chakras thing?" asked Lei with a depressed voice.

"Yeah, I always did… you and Nari are like family to me, what's the big deal here?" he was quite lost here.

Lei took a deep breath and leaned back on his chair "Mr. Uchiha…. neither I nor Nari are benders… are you sure that you want us to accompany you for the centuries to come?"

Madara started to chuckle, the chuckle evolved into a full laugher that lasted for minutes, it even made Lei a bit scared of it.

"You.. are all down like that because you can't bend any element?" asked Madara while calming down from his laughter.

"Y-yes… " Lei nodded his head.

"Why? I mean…" Madara was about to talk but was interrupted by Lei.

"Because of how you trained Prince Zuko, I haven't really paid attention to these details before but… you are probably the strongest firebender of our era, are you sure you want a nobody like myself to follow you around when you can find strong benders to be your teammates?" asked Lei with a depressed voice.

Madara let out a long sigh and walked towards Lei and sat on the co-pilot seat.

"You are a fool, Jackie…"

Then came silence, no one said a word... it lasted for a while until Lei couldn't wait anymore and said.

"… And?"

Madara raised an eyebrow "There's no 'and' you are a fucking fool, period." He said with a blank face.

Lei's eyebrow twitched at that comment 'what the fuck… why are you so fucking mean?!'

"Let me ask you something Jackie, do you think that I am after the strongest benders to follow me around like a squad of goons?"

"Well... you were looking for an earthbender before…and there was that calligraphy teacher that you wanted with us…"

Madara raised a hand "Let me stop you right there, I never said I wanted an earthbender with us…. Honestly, I don't think that there's any earthbender in this world that will match my little sister in the future, there's no point in actually chasing one… Mr. Shinzu was a different case, I don't even know if he is a bender or not, but I felt something about him… he isn't a simple man and I wanted to know what that feeling was."

"B-but.. isn't having benders as followers better than having a regular person like myself?" asked Lei while lowering his shoulders

Madara scoffed "You think that bending makes others superior? Don't make me laugh! In terms of power yes, someone that can bend the elements has more destructive power than someone who can't… but at the same time it limits them."

Lei kept staring at Madara with a confused face.

"They are pretty predictable, aren't they?" Madara chuckled "Earth benders will always attack with earth, fire benders will always punch and kick fire and the same go for the other two… easy to predict, easy to counter."

"B-but that's better than having no bending at all!" Said Lei.

"Is it? Do you think your chi blocking technique is inferior to any bender? Then explain to me how you managed to win against Kaliya 7 out of 10 times?"

Lei shook his head "It was luck, she underestimates me because I have no bending."

"EXACTLY!" said Madara as he slapped Lei's forehead "Your enemy WILL underestimate you, your enemy WILL NOT try to predict you because they believe that you are no threat."

"OUCH!" said Lei while holding his red forehead with both hands.

"A hidden blade is more dangerous than an exposed one, people will lower their guard against you because you have no bending, and you, my friend…" said Madara while pointing at Jackie "…Will make them pay a heavy price for doing so." He grinned.

Lei chuckled a bit ".. But what about the Avatar? They aren't predictable either."

Madara raised his eyebrow and snorted "Now you are demanding too much Jackie, are you really trying to get stronger than the fucking Avatar? Do you think that's possible?"

Lei just shrugged "It may not be possible for me… but I believe it's not impossible for you…" he said while staring at Madara while piloting the airship, it's not like they have the possibility of crashing into something, they are pretty high up in the sky after all.

Madara snorted and made a dissatisfied expression when talking about this specific topic, which Lei noticed right away.

"You don't like the Avatar?" asked Lei

Madara just took a deep breath and shook his head "That's not it… it's not about liking it or not."

Lei was confused and raised an eyebrow "What do you mean? Mr. Uchiha… the Avatar exists to bring balance to the four nations."

Madara snorted and said nothing while crossing his arms and looking outside "I have nothing against the Avatar, I dislike the idea of having an Avatar."

Lei raised an eyebrow "Why?"

Sighing, Madara replied, "The Avatar is… a variable… and a very unstable one at that."

"What do you mean?"

Looking at the clouds outside Madara said "The Avatar might pursue the balance of the world, and that by itself is not bad but… every Avatar haves their own ideals, their own biases… and every Avatar alters this world before passing the torch to the next one, who will do the same but in their own way…"

Looking at the intrigued look on Lei's face Madara continued "Take Avatar Kyoshi for example, she is considered one of the strongest Avatars ever… and she managed to maintain balance but she claimed her own island and developed her own culture. Avatar Kuruk was a free-spirited man, who wanted nothing but to enjoy his days so he didn't do much in preserving the balance… and just like him many other Avatars that came before him had their own morals, goals, and biases and changed the world as they saw fit because of their position."

"But the Avatar is the only one that can bring balance, Mr. Uchiha."

Madara snorted at that "That's depressing, the whole world depending on one person that is just like them to maintain peace… that itself is very sad don't you think? It's like we are a bunch of toddlers and we need our nanny always watching so we don't hurt ourselves."

Lei tried to say something, but what Madara said felt very…. Accurate…

Shaking his head Madara just said, "With or without Avatar, wars will continue because we are humans, humans will never be satisfied with what they have, if tomorrow peace is achieved... in a few years just peace won't be enough, they will want more… and even if granted to them, it won't take them long until they to want for even more, it will never be enough Jackie."

"But having peace is a good thing.," said Lei.

"Well that depends on how long the peace lasts… peace is good but if it's too long it will lead to stagnation, look at us, do you think that this Airship would ever be thought of or developed if it wasn't for the war and what it demands? Wars are not good, but they do force the world to develop, peace is not bad but it forces the world to slow down… both are needed... and that is what 'balance' is to me."

Lei didn't know what to say, he could see Madara's point but at the same time, he didn't really believe that wars were as important as peace.

As they stood there in a comfortable silence a knock came from the metal door

"Come in Kaliya" said Madara

She walked in with a serious face and looked at Madara straight in the eyes. "I need to tell ye a few things before we get there…" Anyone could see that she was nervous.

Nodding, Madara said "Go ahead, you know that Jackie is family, there's no worry about sharing things with us." He then smiled to give her encouragement.

She nodded "I want to let ye know a few things… I just…" she paused trying to find out the right words, and after a few seconds, she continued "Me family was and probably still is very influential in me tribe."

Madara raised an eyebrow "So … are you telling me you ran away from marriage or something?"

COUGH.

Kaliya nearly choked after hearing that "Don't spout bullshit boss!" she was angry, but Madara was amused.

She snorted "No man in me tribe ever caught me eyes, I don't like their culture of not letting women be able to learning proper combat waterbending techniques "."

"Ohh, so that's why you ran away… because they refused to teach you?"

She shook her head "Partially…" taking a deep breath she spoke with a saddened expression.

"Me dad was taken from us in battle, I was young and couldn't do anything but when I learned that I was a waterbender, I tried to practice it in order to grow strong."

'What a cliché story…' thought Madara "Well, I believe that many share the same story with you, wanting power for vengeance and for protection."

She snorted "It's nothing like that, vengeance on whom? The Fire Nation? Yeah, would be great if I could destroy them but let's be real here... it will never happen! As for the specific person who took his life? I have no idea who the fuck he is… for all I know he might be long dead at this point."

"Then what?"

"I wanted to join the war and follow me dad's footsteps, he was a strong waterbender and respected, but … me uncle refused it, and said that it was against our rules to accept women going to war... they refused to teach me proper waterbending too."

"So, you left?"

"Nah, i loved me tribe, so I tried to change it, I gathered a bunch of unsatisfied people that who were against those rules and faced our leader, not in a battle of course, but we wanted to prove to them how many soldiers they were denying just for the sake of stupid rules, how many of our people could be saved and how many battles could've been won if they just accepted taking women!"

Madara frowned 'That's a pretty stupid rule, I have to admit' but then he looked at Kaliya and saw that her nervousness came back.

"And…?" he asked

"A-and…w-well… me Uncle charged me for a riot, trying to incite civil war or something like that … I denied… and we fought…"

Madara was frowning more and more

"I-I'm telling ye this now because I don't want ye to get angry when you discover that from their mouths…" she said while sweating a bit, she was very scared of his reaction, but at the same time, he accepted her as family, so he has the right to know.

"T-these scars were not from me pirate life… t-these scars were from me battle with me uncle… h-he was the one that…. Took me e-eye…"

The temperature suddenly skyrocketed inside the Airship, Madara's eyes instantly turned red and the three tomoe started rotating.

"…Come again?..."