Heart of Fire (Post-War, Azula-centric, PG- 13)

[mastergandalf]

Heart of Fire

Prologue: Lost Girl

I am Azula.

The name is the one light in the darkness around me. Everything else is empty, cold, chaotic, but my name warms me and drives away the shadows… I am drawn to its flame. It is all I have left. I am Azula.

I remember things, sometimes. I see mother looking down at me with pity in her eyes- how dare she pity me- no mother, don’t leave, I didn’t mean it!- and then she is gone. Maybe I drove her away. I don’t know.

I see my brother. He is a small boy looking at a knife that Uncle gave him- no, he is older, and Father looms over him while he weeps- no, he is a man and he is looking down at me while I am lying on the ground in chains (no, no, don’t think about that!)

I see Father. He is regal, kingly, masterful, my ruler, my mentor. All I want is to make him proud… no, don’t leave me here, it was my idea, you can’t treat me like I’m not important, you can’t treat me like Zuko! (who?)

I see my friends. We go to school together, we serve our nation together, what, why are you betraying me don’t you see that this is the only way he’s a traitor you’re all traitors no no don’t leave me alone…

I see my nation. It is the greatest empire the world has ever seen. One day it will rule the world, and I will rule it. It is everything my life has been leading up to. It is my destiny. And it is snatched away from me and I am being carted away and left to rot in a cell just like father, and they come around and feed me and clean me but I don’t react.

I can’t react anymore. They aren’t real, are they? I am a princess, not a prisoner, this is all just a dream and I’ll close my eyes and when I wake up I’ll be in my bed and the servants will be asking me what I want for breakfast…

But there are no servants. There isn’t anybody here, in the dark. I chased them all away and now they won’t come back and I’m all alone in the dark and the cold where all the fires have gone out…

I am Azula. I am Azula. I am….

[mastergandalf]

Chapter 1- The Renegade

Fire Lord Zuko sighed deeply as he prepared himself for one of the most unpleasant activities on a schedule that seemed, lately, to be full of nothing but problems- his weekly visit to the mental hospital that housed his sister.

Had it been up to Zuko, of course, Azula would have been locked away in the deepest prison cell in the Fire Nation and promptly forgotten, rather than placed in the determined care of some of the most skilled healers in the Capital, but the decision had been taken out of his hands. Aang had launched into a passionate explanation of how the Air Nomads viewed all life as sacred and even an enemy should be shown mercy (it really was amazing the way he could be truly silly one moment and deeply philosophical the next. It probably, Zuko thought, was an Avatar thing.) Then, if that wasn’t enough, Uncle had joined in. Of course, when the savior of the world and the man who’d been a true father to him teamed up, Zuko found it quite difficult to say no. And so Azula was now being housed quite comfortably and given round-the-clock care, as well as round-the-clock guards.

The guards, though, seemed to have become a wasted precaution. Azula had been raving mad when she was finally brought down, weeping one moment, laughing maniacally the next, and generally shrieking death-threats at any living thing (plus a few inanimate objects) in the vicinity. According to the healers, though, she had gradually quieted during her first night in their care, ultimately falling into a fitful sleep. When she finally awoke, her mind seemed all but gone. The deposed princess now sat perfectly still for day after day, staring off into the distance and ignoring everything in her immediate environment. She allowed the healers to feed and bathe her, but otherwise it was as if she was hardly aware that her surroundings existed.

“Her mind is still there,” the chief healer had informed Zuko sadly. “She is plagued by horrible dreams while asleep, but her waking mind has completely withdrawn. We are sorry to say that we don’t know how to reach her.”

“Will she ever recover?” Zuko asked, torn between basic decency and the knowledge that it would be best for all concerned if Azula never recovered.

“I can’t say, my Lord,” the healer said, shaking her head. “Your sister will come back when she wills it, and not a moment before.”

That exchange had happened a month following the arrival of Sozin’s Comet and the downfall of Fire Lord Ozai. It was now almost a year since that fateful day and Azula showed no sign of returning to the world of the living.

None of that made Zuko any happier to be going to see her. Seeing as the last time she had been fully conscious Azula had been doing her best to send her brother to meet their ancestors rather prematurely, the young Fire Lord felt that he could be forgiven a certain lack of familial affection. Apparently his unease was showing on his face, though, because as the royal carriage rounded the last bend along the winding path to the hospital Mai turned to him and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“Relax, Zuko,” she said in a voice that managed to convey concern without ever changing its tone. “It’s not like you’re going to have an Agni Ki with her again.”

“I know. I’m just… not looking forward to this.”

Mai nodded, seeming to understand completely. Neither the Fire Lord nor his betrothed spoke again until the carriage rolled to the stop and a servant stepped forward to hold the door open.

Chief Healer Chinatsu, a kindly old woman in pale red robes, was waiting for them at the entrance. “Good day Your Majesty, My Lady,” she said with as much of a bow as her stiff joints would permit. “I trust your journey went well?”

“It did,” Zuko replied. “Now, I would like to see my sister.” And get this over with, he silently added.

Chinatsu led them into the building and down a long corridor lined with rooms containing patients in various states of mental instability. At last near the corridor’s end they came to a single unmarked door. The healer hunted about in her robes for several moments and at last withdrew a silver key which she placed in the lock. After another moment of fiddling the door clicked and Chinatsu pushed it open.

The room beyond was comfortable, though plain. The walls and ceiling were white and unadorned, and the only pieces of furniture were a table on which sat a bowl of soup and a teacup, a small bed in one corner, and a chair. On the chair sat Azula.

Zuko’s sister looked much as she had for the several months he’d been visiting. She was dressed in plain clothing reminiscent of what Fire Nation prisoners wore, albeit far better made, and her hair, while neatly combed, was not done up in the elaborate styling the princess had once preferred. She sat perfectly still, hands crossed in her lap, and showed absolutely no sign that she was aware she had visitors.

Perhaps most disturbing of all to anyone who had encountered Princess Azula before her downfall were her eyes. Once they had been bright and penetrating, golden as a messenger hawk’s and twice as predatory. Now, though, the life seemed to have left those eyes and they stared uncomprehendingly at a spot just to the left of Zuko’s head.

“So there’s been no improvement?” Zuko asked the healer after a long silence.

“None, Majesty,” she said, shaking her head sadly as she often dead. “As I told you before- her ailment is her own, and only she can break it.”

“I don’t get it, Azula,” Zuko said, though addressing his sister now was rather pointless as she did not seem to comprehend any known language. “You were always, I don’t know, so alive, so determined, even at your worst. I’m standing right here, the person you want dead the most in the whole world, but you can’t even register me enough to spit at me. I always thought that if something like this ever happened, Azula, you’d at least have the decency to go out fighting. I guess I was wrong.”

“It’s no use, Zuko,” Mai said, looking at her former friend with her usual inscrutable expression. “The smoke’s still there, but the fire’s gone out.”

The royal couple remained in the room for some time more, attempting- and failing- to engage Azula in conversation. At long last Zuko and Mai seemed to decide that she was a lost cause and left the deposed princess to herself. As the two left the room, Healer Chinatsu turned to look back inside before she shut the door- and saw, for just a moment, a flicker of gold. Had Azula just blinked? Chinatsu couldn’t be sure with her failing vision, so when the princess reacted no further she simply shut the door. It must, the healer decided, have simply been a trick of the light.

#############

It was greatly to Vasuman’s surprise when his son called him to the front of the inn and he saw the war rhinos gathering in the village square.

It wasn’t the creatures themselves that put the innkeeper on edge- he’d seen hundreds of the things during his days as a soldier in Ozai’s vast war machine- but rather the fact that they bore armored riders upon their backs. The war had been over for a year now, and gone were the days when the army could lord it over the common folk as if the whole Fire Nation belonged to them. The new Fire Lord was a man of particularly strict opinions about such things.

Vasuman, at least, was simply glade that it was all over. As a young man he’d been conscripted into the Fire Lord’s forces and been dragged all over the Earth Kingdom by officers who seemed to think that their sole purpose in existence was coming up with inventive ways to get the men under their command killed. Finally his leg had been injured in the siege of Ba Sing Se, and so he’d been sent home with honor and some meager pay, free to marry and inherit the family inn. His greatest concern had been for when his young son would grow old enough that he too would be forced into the pointless war, but now at last that was over. Vasuman could raise his family in peace.

One of the rhinos marched up to the front of the inn, and its rider, a huge man wearing the fearsome skull-mask of an elite firebender, leapt to the ground and strode forward.

“People of the Fire Nation!” he called in a deep voice, “the guardians of your homeland have need of your aid. You will give us all the supplies in this village save for those necessary for your immediate survival, and you will also agree to board us for the night. Afterwards we shall leave you in peace, secure in the knowledge that you have helped your Nation prosper.”

Vasuman stepped out of the inn and limped forward until he was face to face with the firebending giant. “Your time is past, brute,” he snarled. “The war is over and you have no right to steal from us what we won by our own hard labor. When the Fire Lord hears of this you will all regret coming here-”

Vasuman would have said more, but he was cut off abruptly as the huge man seized him by the throat and hoisted him one handed into the air. “Traitor!” the firebender boomed. “Behold, citizens, the fate of those who defy us!” The man held his other hand out and a ball of fire formed in his palm. Vasuman suppressed a shudder, not wanting his family to see him end like this but determined to meet his death with dignity.

“Enough!” a commanding voice cut across the square. “Put the civilian down, Colonel. I wish to speak with him.”

“As you command, Lord General,” the brute replied, and then roughly dropped Vasuman to the ground. The innkeeper staggered to his feet and faced the direction from which the voice had come. The rhinos were shifting and a man was striding between them, almost as tall as the colonel but far more slender, dressed in ornate armor such as only the highest officers wore. Perhaps he really was a general, and not just some self-promoted bandit.

And then Vasuman saw his eyes, and all doubt left him. He had only seen such eyes once before in his life, on the face of a soldier so maddened by battle-rage that he no longer cared whether he lived or died. This general’s eyes were like that in their intensity, but behind the feverish light lurked an intellect far superior to the long ago maddened warrior. Vasuman knew suddenly that although he had been on battlefields for a good portion of his life, he had never been in more danger than he was right now.

The general moved forward slowly with a nonchalant ease reminiscent of how great cats were supposed to look when stalking their prey. He looked Vasuman up and down, those fierce eyes seeming to take everything in, and then he smiled. “You are a brave man, innkeeper,” he said, “and from that and your limp I guess that you were a soldier wounded on the front. Am I correct?”

“What of it?”

“I have a vision, innkeeper,” the general said softly, “a vision of a world where the Fire Nation is restored to its glory. Our Lord now is but a child, and he is weak-willed, sacrificing our pride in the name of the phantom called ‘peace’. But I shall restore what he has taken and deliver the throne to one who shall guide us to heights undreamt of even by Sozin himself! But I have few men, and I could do with such spirit as you have shown. I sense that you are a respected man in this community, and I so prefer cooperation to coercion. Will you join me, and your village with you?”

Vasuman stared into those mad eyes for a long while, and then he laughed. “I served under General Iroh at Ba Sing Se. I only met him once, but I know one thing- he is twice the leader your kind will ever be. So I’m sorry if I don’t take you up on your offer- I’ve got a business to run.”

“Reconsider, I beg you!” the general said. “This is your last chance!”

Vasuman named a particularly unpleasant portion of the Spirit World, and suggested that the general and his men could remove themselves to that location.

“As you wish, but remember- it did not have to be this way!” Quick as a dragon the general lashed out, a thin whip of fire shooting from his hand and striking Vasuman’s uninjured leg. The innkeeper collapsed, and looked up to see the general standing over him. His prey now immobilized, however, the man seemed to have forgotten him.

“Ransack the village!” he ordered. “Take everything you think we might need, and burn the rest. If anyone resists- then they have proclaimed their allegiance. We have no mercy for traitors.”

[mastergandalf]

Chapter 2- the Spirit of the Flames

There was a time when the flames that surrounded the Fire Lord’s throne had blazed so high that nothing could be seen of the royal personage save for an inhuman shadow looming ominously over the chamber. Fire Lord Ozai in particular had made good use of this, wrapping himself in fire so completely that when he spoke, it sounded like flame itself given voice.

Under Zuko, however, the flames had withdrawn. Though he still lit them as a reminder of his skill in the firebending arts, the new Fire Lord wanted his subjects to see him as himself, not as some fearsome god-king to be avoided or appeased. Zuko was many things, but something he most definitely was no was his father.

But now, as he sat in the seat that had been Ozai’s before him, Zuko thought darkly that there were plenty of others who would be more than willing to carry out the Phoenix King’s legacy.

“This is the third raid that has been reported to us in the last month, Majesty,” General Akai, representative of the reduced Fire Nation military, was saying. “Though there may well have been more that left no villagers in condition to report their experiences. It happened largely the same as the others- a group of armed men entered the village, declaring themselves to be soldiers of the Fire Nation and demanding supplies. When they were denied, they simply took what they desired and cut down any villagers who stood in their way.”

“Have you done anything to stop these attacks, General?” Zuko demanded angrily. His father’s defeat was supposed to have put an end to this, by Agni!

Akai visibly paled, but stood his ground. “There is little we can do, Majesty. The attacks are random, and we do not know where the renegades are based. We cannot garrison every village in the Fire Nation!”

Zuko sighed. “Do you have any leads at all on who is behind this?”

“The report from the latest raid spoke of their leader, a man who was called ’Lord General’ and led a team of rhinos. But none of the surviving witnesses were able to get a close enough look at the man to describe him, other than the fact that he was very tall and wore ornate armor. He might be one of the generals who fled after you took the throne, or he could have simply given himself the title.”

“So you’re telling me you have nothing?”

Akai inclined his head. “I am sorry, Majesty. It shames me that I can provide no further aid, though I promise you that I shall redouble my efforts to capture these renegades and bring them to justice.”

“I have faith in your abilities, General,” Zuko said, and that was the truth. Akai was a competent soldier and a man of honor, both qualities that Uncle had vouched for (as well as his taste in tea). He just wasn’t prepared to deal with these kinds of hit-and-run tactics, especially not from his own people. “You are dismissed.” Akai bowed to his sovereign and departed.

As soon as the general was gone, Zuko snarled in anger. Extinguishing the flames around his throne, he swept through the door to his private quarters. Mai was waiting for him there.

“No luck?” She asked when she saw his expression.

“Nothing. We still don’t know where the renegades are coming from, who their leader is, or how to stop them.” The Fire Lord shook his head. “I thought that defeating my father would be the difficult part and that after the war was over it would all be so much easier. But ruling a nation is a lot easier on paper than it is in person.”

Mai stepped forward and put a hand on Zuko’s shoulder- the cold-seeming young woman’s equivalent of a fierce embrace. “At least it’s not your father or Azula running amok out there,” she said.

“It would almost be easier if it were,” Zuko said. “At least I know how they think. I don’t know anything about this ‘Lord General’ who’s leading the raiders.”

“You probably met him at one of those war meetings,” Mai pointed out. “If he really was a general, he would have been there.”

“But I don’t know which one- and any of my father’s pet lunatics is as dangerous as they come.”

Mai pulled back and looked Zuko in the eye. “Aren’t I supposed to be the gloomy one?” she asked. “I’m sure you’ll figure something out- and besides, you have something that Fire Lord Ozai never did.”

“What’s that?”

“You have the Avatar and the Dragon of the West on your side.” She smiled her slight, rare smile. “Between them and us, I think that the Nation is safe.”

Zuko put an arm around Mai’s shoulders. “I hope you’re right.”

#############

The origins of the Obsidian Citadel had long ago passed into legend. Exactly who constructed the great fortress of shimmering volcanic rock, and for what purpose, was not recorded in any of the histories of the Fire Nation, though peasants whispered that it had not been made be human hands. Serious scholars scoffed at such notions, of course- but they kept their distance from the Citadel nonetheless. There was something unnatural about the place.

Colonel Ki Mong, second-in-command of the Army of the Rising Flame, kept the old legend in mind as he stared up at the black spires that rose like the claws of some abominable spirit from the mountainside. “Is this wise, Lord General?” he asked the man sitting on the rhino next to him. “Do not think that I doubt your judgment, but give me the order, and I shall leave this place with no regrets!”

“Fear not, Colonel,” the Lord General said. “The legend serves us, now. No one dares approach within miles of this ‘accursed’ place, and so it shall be the perfect hiding place for our forces until we are strong enough to challenge the false Fire Lord for his stolen throne.”

Ki Mong bowed his head. “As you command,” he murmured, and then raised his voice to address the column that stretched out on the path behind them. “Do not fear the legends of this place! Are we not warriors of the Fire Nation, most fearsome war machine this world has ever known? Shall we cower before ghosts? No! We shall make this citadel our own, and we shall make it a cursed place for our enemies!”

Turning back to face the citadel, Ki Mong motioned his rhino forward, the Lord General’s keeping pace at his side and the other soldiers’ following a respectful distance behind. As they approached the ancient fortress, the colonel allowed his mind to travel back into the past, to his meeting with the Lord General- to the place where it had all begun…

During the war, Ki Mong had been a decorated warrior of Fire Lord Ozai’s cavalry, known for his skill and ruthlessness. Then, on the day of the Comet- the day that should have been Ozai’s glorious triumph over the lesser nations- it had all come crashing down. The Avatar, presumed dead, had brought the Fire Lord to his knees, and Ozai’s treacherous son had usurped the throne that should have been his sister’s. When he had heard the terrible news, Ki Mong had deserted the Fire Nation army and made his living as a bandit.

For a month he had stalked the back ways of the Fire Nation, stealing enough to live by but feeling a void in his soul. As a soldier his life had purpose- now, though, he merely survived. And then, one storm-tossed night, the lone traveler he had thought to be an easy mark had defeated him in single combat- seemingly without even trying. Then Ki Mong saw the man’s face illuminated by a flash of lightning, and he knew that he had found purpose again.

His intended victim was General Azun, a distant cousin of the royal family and one of the most important leaders of the Fire Nation army. He had vanished following the Day of the Comet, but now Ki Mong had found him again, alone in the wilderness. The former soldier bowed in the mud and begged forgiveness for his offense.

Azun had stared down at him for several minutes, and then he began to speak. He told his assailant of how, after the defeat of Ozai and his daughter, he had wandered alone for many weeks, until at last, almost dead from despair, he beheld a vision from the spirits themselves. The vision told of how the Fire Nation had become corrupt under its last two leaders, suffering from the madness of the father and the weakness of the son. But all was not lost, for the spirits had told General Azun that it was his destiny to find the true heir of Sozin and set that person upon the great leader’s throne, so that they might lead the Fire Nation to untold glory.

Ki Mong had been the first convert. Soon others had followed. And now Lord General Azun commanded the Army of the Rising Flame, almost a thousand men strong, dedicated to realizing the dream that Fire Lord Sozin laid down a century ago.

#############

The Army was dispersed within the Obsidian Citadel, some subdued but most laughing and joking about how gullible they had been to take the childish stories of a haunted castle seriously. Ki Mong stood watching them, and then turned to see the Lord General standing at his shoulder.

The colonel was a huge man in every sense of the word, but his commander was almost as tall, though far more slender- he was one of the few men Ki Mong had met who could actually look him in the eye. Facing Azun now, he snapped into a rigid stance.

“The men are seeking accommodations, Lord General,” he said sharply. “Save for the engineers who are fortifying the gates. No sense trusting on reputation alone to defend this citadel. Do you have any further orders?”

“You have done well, Colonel,” the Lord General replied. “I am pleased with your work. I must retire now, to meditate and seek the guidance of the flames. I wish for you to keep watch and make sure I am not disturbed.”

“As you command, Lord General,” Ki Mong said. Without another word the Lord General turned and stalked into the fortress, his second-in-command following closely at his heels. At last they came to the top of the Citadel, where there was a large room with windows that overlooked the surrounding mountains. It was a grand view, Ki Mong though. Truly there was nowhere else in the world as beautiful as the Fire Nation.

The Lord General looked around and nodded, then motioned for the colonel. “Remember, I am not to be disturbed.” Ki Mong nodded. “Then you may leave.”

The colonel shut the door behind him and positioned himself beside it. From within the room he heard a crackle as the Lord General summoned flames, and then silence. He wasn’t sure how long he stood there ,but he could see through the windows that the sky was darkening. Soon the stars were out, forming luminescent patterns in the sky. Surely that is proof that the Fire Nation is destined to rule, Ki Mong thought sleepily. Even the night sky is filled with flame…

Suddenly the colonel felt a hand on his shoulder. Realizing that he had dozed off, he spun and came face to face with the Lord General.

“I am sorry, Lord,” he said. “I did not mean to sleep…”

“No matter, Colonel,” Azun said. “We are all tired. Rest well tonight, my friend, for tomorrow I have a task for you.”

“Whatever you desire, Lord General, I shall procure it for you or die in the attempt!”

General Azun smiled. “I do believe you would,” he said. “Loyalty is all too scarce in the world, and the more precious for its rarity. But the spirit of the flames has spoken to me, Colonel. It has revealed to me at long last the identity of the one we seek- the one who alone can make Sozin’s dream a reality.”

“Who, Lord General?” Ki Mong asked.

“You must fetch her for me, Colonel, for she is held captive by our enemies and cannot come on her own. But once you have brought her to the Obsidian Citadel and she is proclaimed openly, the people shall flock to our banner. For Sozin’s heir is, of course, none other than his own great-granddaughter- my distant cousin, the Princess Azula.”

[mastergandalf]

Chapter 3- Abduction

“It begins.”

“Are you certain?”

“Absolutely. He has made his move. His pieces are all in position. It is time for him to prepare for his ultimate goal.”

“Is this… wise, what you’re doing? She is hardly the most reliable person with which to trust the fate of a nation, after all. She is too like her father.”

“She is a true child of fire, with all the traits valued by an element that inspires its followers to greatness. She can succeed at anything she puts her mind to, have no doubt of that.”

“I don’t doubt it- that is what worries me. Greatness does not equate to goodness, my friend. I learned that long ago.”

“Who knows that better than I? I am aware of your protests, old friend, and they have merit. But the girl is strong enough to survive what will transpire, something you could say for few others.”

“But will she be on our side, or his?”

“Fire casts light and life, but it is also burning death. It is a risk that must always be taken by anyone who would bend it. She is no different from the flame with which her soul is entwined. Life or death… it is in her hands now.”
#############

Healer Chinatsu sighed as she placed the tray containing food and drink on the patient’s bedside table. As head of the institution she didn’t need to lower herself to such work, but she felt that this patient demanded it, both from her station and the extremity of her condition.

Azula lay in her bed- how she knew when it was time to sleep was anyone’s guess, but when the sun went down the deposed princess always returned to her bed- but her rest was anything but peaceful. She was twisting and turning madly, moaning constantly. Every so often Chinatsu could pick out a word she recognized, but never enough at a time to make any sense of what tormented the princess’ sleep. She was a compassionate soul, and wished that there was something she could do to help, but even the strongest sedatives had proven incapable of calming Azula’s tormented mind. The cycle was unchanging- days of sitting on the chair staring at nothing, nights of horror.

Shaking her head, Chinatsu stood stiffly- it seemed to be getting harder every day!- and left the room quietly, locking the door behind her. She nodded politely to the firebender guards who stood nearby- both of whom seemed convinced that they had the most boring job on the planet- and made her way back to her office. She’d just poured herself a cup of steaming tea when the door opened and one of her apprentices stuck her head in.

“Mistress?” the girl asked softly. “There’s a man out front who wants to come inside. I think he’s a soldier, but I wanted to check with you before I did anything.”

“You did the right thing,” Chinatsu said, getting to her feet. “Now show me to this mysterious visitor.”

The man at the door of the hospital was clearly a soldier- big enough for two soldiers, in fact- and he wore the fearsome skull-mask of an elite firebender. Chinatsu looked him up and down, unimpressed. She’d seen plenty of brutes like him in her time, and in her opinion they caused far more harm than they solved.

“We’re closed for the night,” she said in her strongest voice, hoping the man would take the hint and leave. “If you wish to bring us a patient of visit someone already in our care, you can come back in the morning.”

“I apologize for disturbing you at this hour, Healer,” the man said in surprisingly polite tones. “I am Colonel Ki Mong, and I have instructions from the highest authority that the Fire Lord’s sister is to be released into my care.”

“If Lord Zuko wants see his sister,” Chinatsu snapped, “then he should come here himself. That’s the order he gave me the day she was brought here- I wasn’t to release her to anyone but His Majesty personally, under any circumstances.”

Ki Mong seemed to smile beneath his helmet. “You misunderstand me. This wasn’t a request.” He turned and motioned to the woods behind him- the hospital was built outside of the capital, as some of the patients didn’t do well in city environments- and several more soldiers joined him. The huge colonel shoved his way through the door, past the protesting Chinatsu, and down the corridor, his men following behind him.

#############

This is almost too easy, Ki Mong thought as he and his men proceeded down the main corridor, looking for the door with the Princess’s name on it. Truly Zuko was a corrupt Fire Lord- the colonel could think of few worse things than wrongfully confining one’s own kin to a mental institution! It was cowardly and dishonorable, and it went against everything the Fire Nation stood for.

There- the door at the end was guarded by a pair of firebenders who appeared to be engaged in some sort of chance game. Ki Mong didn’t want to kill them- they were not the first fools to be duped by Zuko and the Avatar- so he raised his voice and addressed them clearly. “Hear me, brothers!” he called. “We have come to liberate the rightful heir from her unjust imprisonment. Stand down, and you can survive- we will even allow you to join our ranks!”

“You’re the one who’d better stand down,” one of the guards said, leaping to his feet. “We’re Imperial firebenders, and-“

He never got to finish his sentence. Ki Mong leapt forward with a speed surprising in so large a man and grabbed both guards by their collars. They barely had time to register their astonishment before he bashed their heads together, knocking both unconscious. The life of two trained Imperial firebenders, corrupt as these might be, was not something to be wasted lightly.

Speaking of firebenders, Ki Mong thought as he smelled smoke behind him. He spun around and pointed angrily at one of his men, who was holding a handful of flame. “Douse that, now!” he ordered. “We don’t want to burn this place down, fool. You might harm the princess.”

“Of course, sir,” the man said, quickly dousing his flame. Ki Mong nodded and turned to the door the traitors had been guarding. It had no name, but this must be it. The colonel tried the handle, then growled angrily when he realized the door was locked. A flying kick, though, proved most effective in remedying the problem.

Ki Mong strode through the ruined door and found himself in a small, cell-like room with a table, a chair, a bed and little else. It was the last of these that most attracted his attention, because in it lay a teenaged girl moaning in her sleep, apparently in the throes of some nightmare.

“Your highness,” the colonel said softly. “I am Ki Mong, a servant of Lord General Azun. We seek to return you to your throne. Will you come with me?”

The girl- the Princess- sat up, but her eyes were vacant and staring. She didn’t even seem to know that the colonel was there.

“Oh, my poor princess,” Ki mong whispered. “What have they done to you? Drugs, poison? No matter. The Lord General will help you.” Bending down, the huge man lightly scooped Azula up in his arms and left the room.

“Come along, men,” he said as his soldiers fell into step behind him. “We’re going home.”

############

She was being carried.

That was the first thing she became aware of as the fog that had hung about her for so long dissipated. She was being carried in the arms of a huge man, moving quickly down plain wooden hallways. She didn’t know where she was going. She didn’t quite know where she was coming from.

Part of her wanted to sink away, let the man carry her wherever he wanted. It was better to let it all slip away again, so that all the horrible things that pursued her couldn’t find her again. (No, don’t think about that!)

But another part of her- a part that had been buried for so long- sprang to life just then. This part didn’t know any better than the rest of what was going on, but it knew all too well that armored strangers couldn’t mean anything good. And it decided to fight.

Twisting in the big man’s arms, she hit him squarely with an elbow to the mask. Her captor stumbled back, cursing, and she dropped to the ground, landing lightly on her feet. “Grab her!” the big man shouted as he stumbled back to his feet, and for the first time she saw that there were others with him.

Her hands shot forward, and waves of blue fire shot from them. She didn’t know who these people were, but they were going to learn that she wasn’t’ just some helpless damsel to be dragged off without a fight. The men dropped into defensive stances and diverted the fire away from their own bodies, but it was all the diversion she needed. She didn’t know if she could beat that many warriors, and she wasn’t terribly interested in finding out.

Turning away from her captors, she bolted down the hallway- far faster than they could run in their heavy armor. The door was open at the end of the hall- how long had it been since she’d tasted fresh air- and she hurtled past a startled looking old woman, out the door, and off into the night.

#############

Ki Mong stood in front of the hospital, his helmet under one arm while his other hand nursed his bruised chin. The girl- the Princess, he corrected himself- had quite a punch.

“What are we going to do now, sir?” one of the men asked him. “Princess Azula’s gone- we can’t find any trace of her. And I don’t think she wanted to come with us in the first place.”

“We need to find her,” Ki Mong rumbled. “The Lord General demands it. We will find her and set her upon her throne.” He placed his helmet back upon his head. “Move out, men. We have work to do.”

[mastergandalf]

Chapter 4: His Master's Voice

Many years ago, the boy who would one day become Lord General Azun had been taken from his home and sent to the Royal Fire Academy for Boys, one of a pair of institutions for the highest quality learning, reserved only for the sons and daughters of royalty and high nobility. The boy Azun had hated his first day there, hated the menial tasks the students were set to perform, hated the fact that he had been taken from his family. At the end of the day, however, the boys had been led into the school’s central auditorium, and the headmaster- an old and distinguished Fire Sage noted for his particularly impressive voice- had stood up and told them the tale that had set the Fire Nation onto its present, glorious course. He told them the story of Sozin.

It was not the first time that Azun had heard the story, of course, but he had never heard it told the way the headmaster did. The old man with the ringing voice spoke of how Sozin had conceived in his heart the idea of a world of peace and order, united under one banner and the benevolent guidance of the Fire Nation. He told of how Sozin’s one-time friend, the Avatar, had betrayed him, for the Avatar knew that with the Fire Nation taking on the heavy mantle of rulership, he had become obsolete. The headmaster told of the final, terrible battle in which Sozin at last vanquished the Avatar, and how the great leader had ordered the attack on the Air Nomads with a heavy heart, for he knew that the Avatar must not be allowed to rise again. In the end, Sozin died an old and honored leader, secure in the knowledge that his deeds, terrible though some of them had been, had led the world to a brighter future.

At last the tale had faded, but the fire it had lit in young Azun’s heart never died. He was captivated by the heroism that would prompt a man to make such sacrifices for his Nation, and he devoted himself from then on to realizing the dream that Sozin had first conceived. Peace, the old Fire Lord and the young student both knew, could not last if it flowed only from idealism. It required an iron fist to build, but in the end, the world would thank the Fire Nation.

Now, as the Army of the Rising Flame stood almost a thousand strong in the courtyard of the Obsidian Citadel, Azun looked down on them and smiled. He had brought these men and women to his cause by shear force of will, and he would hold them there by the same power. Iron determination was a gift that marked the children of the Sun, a fire of the spirit that would never go out. Azun intended to use that to his advantage.

Stepping forward, the Lord General raised his hands in a sweeping gesture, drawing all eyes to him. When he was confident he had his audience’s undivided attention, Azun began to speak. “Sons and daughters of the Fire Nation,” he began, imbuing his voice with power that his old headmaster would have envied, “We stand at last upon the threshold of final victory. Soon great Sozin’s dream of a united world shall be fulfilled!

“You all remember what you were scant months ago. Outcasts, brigands, bandits, because you refused to bow before a treacherous Fire Lord and the dark sorceries of the Avatar! It was at Zuko’s ascension that you who were loyal to the ideals of our ancestors were driven out, and you know that it was then that our glorious Nation was corrupted, that it was then that the flame of our destiny was dimmed!

“But I tell you now, that is a lie.

“The Fire Nation was corrupted long before Zuko, else we could not have lost the war. Our leaders jockeyed among themselves for power and influence, and they lost sight of our glorious cause. We should have fought not for the glory of one man, but for the glory of our empire- but our leaders forgot that. Many of you no doubt recall Admiral Zhao, who in his arrogance believed that he could lay even the spirits themselves low, and gain glory in doing so. Folly! But it was not even Zhao and his ilk that were the source of the corruption.

“We were betrayed at the height of our strength from the highest reaches of power. Who but Fire Lord Ozai himself could have derailed our glorious undertaking? I see you muttering among yourselves even now, believing that I have gone mad, or become corrupt myself. Surely, you ask, who could have known Sozin’s dream better than Sozin’s grandson?

“I point you to Ozai’s final plan- to lay waste to the world so that none but himself might claim it, elevating himself from a royal title to a divine. Indeed, it was the madness of Ozai that led to such as Zhao gaining power, that resulted in the weakness of his son, that stirred up the Avatar against him. It was not our Nation’s way. It was not Sozin’s way.

“But who then, you ask, could lead the Fire Nation if not Fire Lord Ozai? Does Azun seek the throne himself? Fear not, warriors of the Rising Flame! I am a man of arms, and I desire no throne. But in my heart, I know who must sit upon the throne. Beyond that, I believe that it is no lesser power than the Sun himself, great Agni, who has spoken this to me.

“In all the darkness of the war’s final days, only one royal remained true to the cause. It was she who brought down Ba Sing Se in a single day, she who should have killed the Avatar had not cruel fate intervened. She vanished from sight the day her brother stole her throne, but now she is being returned to us. Rejoice, my warriors, for our own Ki Mong is bringing to us the Princess Azula, and when she sits upon her great-grandfather’s throne, at long last our destiny shall be fulfilled, and Sozin’s spirit shall look down upon the Fire Nation and pronounce our work good.”

The crowd raised their voices in a thunderous cheer, and Azun smiled, allowing himself to bask for a moment in the adoration of his warriors.

# # # # # # # # # # # #
Later that evening, the Lord General stood in his private quarters, drinking idly from a steaming cup of tea one of the officers had poured for him, when he heard the call of the flames. The teacup fell from suddenly nerveless fingers and smashed on the floor, but he pain it no mind. He couldn’t. Azun’s whole body was being wrenched towards the fire that blazed in the grate in the corner of the room.

The general fell to his knees as he approached the flames. Looking into their depths, he could see shapes forming and dissolving, flickering forms that tugged on the edge of his mind. The moment he tried to focus on them, however, they vanished again. It was maddening, but strangely hypnotic.

Then the Voice spoke, and all other concerns were driven from his mind.

Azun, the voice said softly. Today it was that of a woman, low and melodious, but that was never constant. Other times it had been an old man or a child, and once something savage and inhuman. But the tone never changed, soft and compelling, but with steel underneath.

“Master,” the Lord General said in a shaking voice. “I am yours to command. Tell me what I must do. Show me the revelation that will lead the Fire Nation to victory!”

Your minion has failed, Azun. The voice didn’t sound angry, or sad, or happy. It couldn’t, in fact, be said to carry any emotion at all. The Princess escaped from him. He is not bringing her.

“But… how?” Azun asked. “From what I saw during my few meetings with my cousin, she would have jumped at the chance to assume the throne. Why would she run?”

She does not know what your men offer her. Her mind is confused and lost. I can bring her to our side in time, but for now you must proceed without her.

“What do you mean?”

You must seize the attention of Fire Lord Zuko. He must fix his mind upon you and you alone, so he cannot rule well. Then, when the people’s neglect and anger reaches its peak, you shall present the true heir, and they shall flock to her banner.

“I dislike this,” Azun said. “I do not wish to cause undo harm to the people of my own Nation- they are not my enemies-“

Do you question me? They have allied themselves with a traitor Fire Lord, and deserve nothing less than to share his fate! But I am generous, and so we shall give them a last chance to repent. They will learn that only the true heir can offer them salvation. The flickering shapes vanished from the fire, and the pressure lifted from Azun’s mind. The spirit of the flames was gone.

The Lord General, though, remained on the floor, lost in thought, for some time.

She ran through the forests, determined at all costs to escape her pursuers. They were strong, whoever they were, but she was fit, and driven by a core of strength she barely understood besides. They would not catch her so soon.

But at last she could run no more. The girl collapsed by the side of a forest pool and panted heavily. She wanted to keep running, but her body refused. She needed air. Something about that thought struck her as deeply ironic, but she was too exhausted to wonder why.

Looking into the pool, the girl studied her reflection while she rested. Eyes that gleamed like burnished gold stared out from a pale face framed by long dark hair. Something about the hair seemed, wrong, she thought. It shouldn’t hang loose like that… but when she pursued that line of thought further, she suddenly found herself lost in memory, seated on chair while hacking savagely at her hair with a pair of scissors, while a voice from the past crooned about love…

She came back to the present in a flash, gasping far harder than she had just after her run. That memory, there was something horrifying about it, but when she tried to grasp hold of it, it slipped away.

“No,” she said thinly in the voice she hadn’t used for months. “This can’t happen to me. I’m in control here. My name is…”

She paused. In her darkness, her name had been her last refuge- she remembered that much. But now, no matter how hard she hunted in the dark recesses of her mind, she couldn’t find it at all. She could still see memories- nothing in any coherent order, but she inundated by images from the past nonetheless. But her name- her name was gone.

She hunted and tore through her mind for what felt like hours, but the name did not return