Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Korra, or any of the characters used in this fic. They all belong to Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. I only own any of my original characters that I choose to include, as well as any of my own original plot ideas.

Soldier Boy

A/N: Set during "Skeletons In The Closet." I actually wrote this on the thirteenth, but got too busy to post it here until now.

With the water rushing over his head, pushing him under, he remembers her face, her warm eyes, looking down upon him as he rests his head in her lap. She strokes his hair, smiling, lips parting in the recital of an old song his great uncle used to sing.

Iroh had always wanted to be like that brave soldier. To go to war against those who would threaten the ones he loved.

Looking up, he sees the foam staring down at him from atop the water as the waves crash, his mother's smiling face appearing as her hand reaches for him, the song in his ears.

She was still home in the Fire Nation, wasn't she? Waiting for his return from war. What would she say, what would she do, if word came that he had lost his life to the Equalists? And what of his grandfather?

He comes up above the water, the hand having taken hold of him, wrapping itself around his waist to tow him back to shore. Expecting to see his mother, he turns, but it is the Avatar who looks back at him.

"Thank you, Avatar," he says.

Like the song of the soldier, he will return home, and his dear mother won't have to cry over an empty grave.