A/N: I hope you enjoy this story. It is quite dark – hence the M rating – but I thought the premise could be engaging, so I began to write. Months later, the story is unfinished but it still intrigues me because I know virtually every detail of where the plot is heading. I'm hoping to get it all written in the near future. In case you don't know/remember, Fong is the general from Book 2, episode 1, "The Avatar State." This story comes chiefly from that episode, and kind of runs in a seamless parallel to the plot progression of Book 2. Enjoy!
The Ozai Letters
Chapter 1: Beginnings of the End
CLANG.
General Fong jolted forward, waking with a start and breathing hard. What the…
Where was he?
The bed he was sitting on was not his own, that much was certain. The chamber pot, the blank walls and metal tile, the ominously heavy cagelike door, nothing making sense—
Metal. All of it. Prison. How?
Slowly, with each successive throb of his delicate skull, he patiently awaited his memory of what had happened to return. Putting his face in his hands, he sat gingerly. He knew from experience that sudden movements were a bad idea.
This wasn't the first time he had been knocked unconscious, that's for sure. Local medicine men that had tried to remedy him were at a loss as to whether his skull was thin or his brain was swollen, but ever since he was left for dead on the frontlines so many years ago, it hadn't taken much to knock him out.
At the thought of that horrid battle, he closed his eyes against the memories. After six hundred days of fighting, they were left for dead. No body count, no thought of searching the battlefield for any survivors, any fathers and brothers and servants of the Earth Kingdom who might have made it – how could they? How could they?
He grit his teeth and bit down on the memory, but then relaxed. Never did he let savagery show through his mask. He couldn't. Slumping down on the bed, he rested.
Bits of much more recent memories were beginning to return… There had been a fight, he knew, but not really a battle. A non-military struggle. For… For what, though?
There had been a kid, a kid in orange and yellow.
The Avatar.
He groaned aloud with realization as the memory of the events of the previous days flashed through his mind. It all made sense. Everything from the lump on his head to the very cell in which he was confined made perfect sense. It was exactly as the Master had threatened in his last letter: locked in a fully metal cell, without so much as a speck of –
Clang.
The enormous deadbolt rang like a bell after swinging out of the locked position on the doorframe. There, as Fong watched, a man heaved the door open and stepped inside.
The door slammed shut and the man looked directly at Fong, who gasped. He knew who this was. The dark, fine robe with gold trim; the intimidating and confident stature; there was only one thing missing...
And then Fong saw it. The humble rice farmer's hat, held in the man's right hand. His eyes widened in recognition, but he felt his face curl into a smirk.
The man's sharp eyes narrowed. He was dangerous, clearly, and a silent threat seemed to exude from his intense gaze and finely trimmed lengths of moustache. "So here is the great General Fong. I must say, if I were to betray my nation and find myself tightly locked in a cage like this, I don't know what I would have to smile about."
"Of all the people they could have sent, I never would have expected a... politician."
The man's scowl deepened, but then relaxed. He placed his arms into the opposite sleeves behind his back. "Do you know why you are being held?"
Fong closed his eyes.
"No? Perhaps you can answer this instead, then." The man took one ominous step closer. "How long does it take an ostrich-horse courier to reach your military base from Omashu?"
No response.
"How long does it take a courier to reach your encampment from Ba Sing Se?"
The man waited for a response this time. Eventually Fong opened his eyes. "Where are you going with this?"
"Treason." The word hissed in its echo around the room. "You offer no answer, but it would take nine days. Nine days, tops." His voice grew louder. "Here you are, being held in a cell made entirely of metal just inside the inner wall of Ba Sing Se, and do you know how long it took to get you here?"
"Maybe five days, but what does it matter?"
The man straightened up, and Fong realized he had been leaning over him on his cot in a stance of intimidation. "It matters because Omashu, as you ought to have known, fell to the Fire Nation well over nine days before the Avatar visited your encampment. It matters because you knew the Avatar was heading to Omashu and by the honor of your oath to the Earth King, you would be bound to tell him that he was flying into a trap. But you did not." Danger dripped from the last three syllables the man spoke.
Fong felt his face curl into a smile once more. "Believe me, Zhang Wei, if that was all I was guilty of, I don't think this cell would be necessary."
Zhang Wei, who had been steadily bearing down upon the prisoner again, stepped back and studied him with his sharp eyes. He knows my name. He is guilty of more than this. It is as we feared... But it was not unexpected, none of it. It was all a part of his plan. Their plan. "There is more. You are being held under suspicion of other treasonous activity. Believe me, if the rumors hold true, there is enough to indict and bury you so deep that not even you can dig your way out."
Fong shook his head. "How is it that such a high ranking politician is stuck here in a cell with a lowly traitor? I know I ought to be honored, but I am curious."
"The Dai Li are, and always have been, much more than a political party, as you are well aware," Zhang Wei snarled. "Without our executive power, His Majesty's decisions would never be fully realized. It is through our loyalty to the Earth King that our greatness is achieved. Perhaps you may learn from that sentiment."
Fong sat up. "I'm aware of your famed loyalty and power as the Earth King's 'yes men'. I was simply inquiring as to why a Dai Li agent so close to being the head of the corps would be stuck in here with me."
This time, it was Zhang Wei who smiled. Both long strands of his mustache twitched as he smirked at the prisoner. "I personally chose this operation. Do not think that this is an undesirable position." Then the smile vanished. "I could ask you the same question. As a general of your stature, with none between you and the Council of Five, you were certain to become one of the most powerful generals in the Kingdom! Were it not for these walls of metal and the fifty feet of earth over our heads, I'd say you would be one of the most successful commanders in our nation's history."
Fong looked up, studying his interrogator's eyes. Certainly he was an interrogator; he wasn't fooled by this exchange of words. Zhang Wei wanted to know how deep he was buried, and he would tell him. "Generals fall far," Fong finally whispered, reminiscing. "And earth means nothing to me. Not even metal has any meaning to me."
"How so?"
"The Fire Nation wants me dead now more than ever. Metal will not keep them out. I'm lucky to be safe here now."
Zhang Wei laughed confidently, and (it seemed to Fong) naturally. "You think the Fire Nation can reach you in here? I will not detail you on the complexities of your present situation. But nonetheless, you're caught. You won't escape here -"
"-I don't plan to-"
"-and no faces, friendly or otherwise, will penetrate this cell except for those of the Dai Li. You have had your arrest, and your trial is soon to come. Prepare your alibi, but be warned," the agent stepped towards the door and narrowed his eyes, "the Earth Kingdom is not known for its fair justice system."
With another CLANG, the door slid open. Someone on the outside must have opened it for him, because their was no latch release on the inside.
Without ever taking his eyes off Fong, Zhang Wei said, "I will see you soon." And with that, he stepped outside and the door immediately clattered shut.
General Fong smiled.