Luke

The sun was outside. So that meant, it was the next morning. I'd been here a day. I have no memory of the first day. I only remember entering the camp, loud with the activity of soldiers in the early morning and being brought into a white tent marked by a red cross and being placed on a medical bed. I saw a face look down on me and that was it of that day.

Now, I was awake. At least I believed I was. My left leg was being suspended. From the roof. My right was in a cast. My right arm was off to the side, also in a cast. All I had of use to me was my left arm and there wasn't particularly much to do with it. So I thought. I thought of how. Would take the wall down, because by the power of whatever spirits there were, I would tear down that damn wall.

I heard the tent open and in came the host of that face that had the honor of being the last thing I saw yesterday. He was a light skinned man, bearing aging and scars providing evidence of a long career on the battlefield. However, I put him no older than 30. He was young, but there were years of horror and experience behind those eyes.

"Good." He said. "You're awake."

"So I am."

"How do you feel?"

"Like I broke 3 limbs and was forced to walk over 20 kilometers before you found me."

"Adrenaline is a beautiful thing, is it not?"

"It is until it's gone."

To that, he chuckled as he fiddled with equipment next to my bed in a manner I was unable to comprehend. How may times in the last year have I been in Medical Tents just like this one? Far too many times, that was for sure. "Very true." He replied. "Can you raise your left arm and give it to my for a second? Thanks."

"I noticed that the wall isn't down here either. The attack here failed too, huh?"

"Oh yeah." He said, distracted by the obviously more important medical matters at hand.

"You seem in one piece though. At least compared to the 5th."

"Compared to the 5th, you could say we're in paradise."

"So you saw what happened?"

"The ones who brought you in did. Thy heard your account then sent some back to check it out. You're lucky kid. 1 person in 5,000 survived and it was you."

"I don't feel very lucky. That wall's still up and I'm down here."

"Yeah. You'll find many men here with the same attitude. They came here to tear down an indestructible object and they've invested far too much time to just give up and go home. They're eager to win this."

"Good. So am I."

"Hey. So I've got to know. I had some buddies in that last attack who didn't. Make it back. Unlucky bastards were in the Van during our assault. Why all the extra reinforcements? What happened with the 5th? I thought you were supposed to draw them off of us? Were they ready for you too? Did we time our attack wrong?"

"No. Iroh played his troops exactly like he was supposed to. It was my commanders that fucked up. One in particular. Zahckrael. He thought he saw an opening and sent his men. He launched the 15th straight into a trap. Half of us were dead within 15 minutes of scaling the wall and it was all dominoes from there."

"Yeah. We assumed as much. When we heard about the 5th, all the men started coming up with theories about how Zahckrael, in his Zahckrael ways, botched the whole mission in some mad pursuit for glory."

"They'd be right."

"And from what our scouts brought back, it seems the men they had deployed to that portion of the wall, went to where we were by means of train and repelled our attack. Once we were thoroughly repelled, they attacked the 5th Corps' camp, and, only facing one ill-trained division, the 22nd, they wiped them out."

"There was a fight, but yeah. From what I saw, it was an all-out massacre."

"Sorry, kid. I imagine you had some friends there."

"Yeah. I did."

"Look. I hate to burden you even more, but the men here completely blame the 5th as the reason they're not plowing through Earth Kingdom lines right now."

"Rightly so. Too bad there's no more 5th for them to take their anger out on."

"Right. Nobody but you."

I looked at him, and he looked at me and I knew he could see my face that just screamed "You're fucking kidding me, right?" Now that I think about it, I probably said it aloud too.

"I wish I was. They'll see you and see the 5th Corps."

"So that's me now and my future in this army? I'm the 5th Corps and the memory of their long line of fuck ups?"

"Until you prove yourself otherwise, yeah."

"Fucking hell. I already dealt with this 'proving myself bullshit' back in the academy and the 5th. I got to do it all over again?"

"Wherever you go, you'll always have to prove yourself worthy to be there. Second and First hand accounts of your actions will only go so far. They have to see it for themselves."

"Gonna be thought to do while in here. Is there another assault being planned."

"Speaking of, there's 2 people who want to see you."

With that, he left, and the 2 highest ranking commanders left in my life approached me. When I failed to salute with my right arm, shaking the table next to me and inflicting some unpleasant pain, I saluted with my left, seeming to amuse Lu Ten, but sparking no reaction from the currently stone-faced General.

Iroh, of course, was the first to speak. "We want to hear the details of what happened. We want to hear of the preparation of the assault, of its execution, and why it failed."

"I just told the medic."

"Then tell us too." Said Lu Ten. "But leave nothing out."

"Lot to talk about then. Goes back a long ways too. Where should I start?"

Iroh spoke now. "From when he received his orders."

"Well. I wasn't there when he received the orders from you, but he didn't tell us of the orders until the day before the assault. We had already been pounding their walls with artillery, but our orders for the actual assault were only relayed to us the day prior."

"Sloppy." Commented Lu Ten. "Why would he keep this information from you until the day before? Did he believe the men not needing of the information, but only the commanders?"

"He didn't tell the commanders either. My own, Zand, learned when we did. He seemed convinced that it was because he didn't want him arguing with the orders and the battle plans."

Iroh now. "Those were my orders and my plans. What would Zand have to argue to Zahckrael for?"

"At that point, sir, they weren't your orders. The Lieutenant General let his personal anger get in the way and moved all insubordinate tank crews to the vanguard of the attack, including mine own. He didn't want Zand changing anything, I guess."

Lu Ten spoke now. "So he purposely changed the arrangement of troops to deal with personal problems? That hardly explains why the entire assault failed. What more happened?"

"Zahckrael also sent us out about 30 minutes before your orders had told us to."

"What?" Asked Iroh.

"He sent us out early. He believed he saw an opening and thought he would take the wall right away and claim the success of the battle for himself, breaching the wall, and pacing the way for his 22nd infantry to storm the city. At least, that's what I take from his actions."

"Can anybody attest to this?" Asked Lu Ten.

"Probably the Earth Kingdom General manning the wall. Anybody else, on our side at least, well, probably not."

Iroh now, moved up, past his son, and said to me "Are you telling me the truth now, Luke of the Fire Nation?"

Odd choice of words. All the same. "Yes. I am."

"Then rest." And with that, he turned to leave, but I had a question of my own.

"Sir. If you don't mind my asking, how long until I'm back out there?"

Iroh replied first. "You're arm's broken and you're worst leg will take a month to heal. You're going home, son."

"No sir. Sorry sir, but I can't. I only need one arm to bend, even an offhand. Put me back in a gunner's seat and I'll fight. I don't even need my legs for that. My driver went almost a month driving with a broken leg."

At that, Lu Ten shook his head, saying "We're not Zahckrael kid. You're too injured to fight. And besides, why in the hell wouldn't you want to leave here and go home. It's hell out here."

"Because sirs, if I go home now, wherever the hell that is, how am I going to be able to burn this city to the ground?"