London 1885
It was always a pain for her to think of the past. Nothing would hurt her more than this memories. The mess her family was and the terrible happenings she had to see made her sad.
Now she was in another world, she had built up a new life, she married and she was caring a child. And suddenly all the old memories floated her mind.
7 years before
"Akiko! Akiko!" Zuko cried. The almost-eighteen-years-old bent down to her little brother and looked at him with sorrow. Pure agony seemed to be in the nine-year-old's eyes. "What is it, Zuko?" She asked calmly, trying to calm him too. Now Zuko started to sob. "A- A- Azula said that father wants you to, to, to marry." Could have gone better, but could have also gone worse. "Zuko, you shouldn't take too serious what Azula says. You know she is often not even close to the truth." she started , but was interrupted by the child "But I think this time she could be right. Father seems to plan something and there is this creepy guy around."
She knew who he meant. His name was Zhao, an admiral or something and if she didn't know that her father was as cold as stone when it came to feelings she would have said he was in love with this guy.
"Zuko, wouldn't have father told at least me? Anyway we can't do anything about it, can we? Now, where is Azula? We should check on her before she makes some mess again like yesterday."
Later that day
The three children of Prince Ozai were sitting on a large table waiting for their parents to attend the dinner. They sat one next to another, Akiko in the middle to keep Azula and Zuko from fighting. "Akiko?" little Azula started to talk to her elder sister "You're not going to marry, are you? You know this Zhao is an ugly brute, I wouldn't like the thought of him having you in his claws." The other siblings turned their heads, it wasn't normal for their little sister to care about the others.
"Why do you stare at me like that, I admire my big sister, I have respect for you Akiko. It's such a mean world and you stay always calm and friendly, that's something I cannot do." , "Yet." Azula added.
The door swung open and three figures appeared out of the shadows behind it.
Prince Ozai seemed pleased while his wife, Princess Ursa, looked really disgusted. The third figure was Zhao. He had a grin on his face and Akiko could guess what he was thinking. Her face looked as disgusted as her mothers.
They sat down and no one, not the children and their parents neither, said something nor even greeted.
" Father?" Akiko started. She decided to clear the fronts as soon as possible "Why is this creep attending our dinner?"
For a second Ozai's mouth hung open. His elder daughter never spoke like that, not even in private. But he regained his composure at once and answered her questioning look. "Darling, Admiral Zhao is eating with us today so you two get to know each other better. Your mother meant that it would be cruel of me to tell you who your husband is right before the wedding, which will be in two weeks at the dragon festival."
Now it was Akiko's turn to leave her mouth agape. In the next second she stormed out of the room towards her chambers.
" She sure will be willing in two weeks. And you stay here." Ozai held the arm of his wife to secure her stay. "Zhao, you're her future husband, why don't you take care of her while we finish our meal and let you two flirt a little?"
"Yes, my Prince."
London 1885
Akiko shuddered of the next memory and her hand clenched over her stomach. Suddenly tears appeared in her eyes and she looked at herself in the mirror. Was her father planning all what happened next? Why don't her mother or some servant, somebody else, anybody, kept him from doing that to her?
She fell down to the floor as the emotions and memories overwhelmed her again.
Back in the past
Akiko cried on her bed when she suddenly heard a knock on the door.
"Go away!" she shouted.
The door swung open and revealed Zhao's angry look. "I was never a man of patience." he said walking straight towards her bed. Akiko turned to see him standing besides her bed. Suddenly she knew what was going to happen. Her body shivered. No, No, No was all she could think.
She tried to call for help. The guards, the servants, her family, anybody had to hear her.
While she tried to call for help Zhao had undressed and was now crawling on the bed. Akiko tried to get away from him and soon her bed ended. She fell from the bed, her head hit the floor and for a short moment she was unconscious.
As her eyes opened again she saw him on top of her. Akiko realized that her dress was ripped into pieces that lay around her exposed body.
Zhao grinned evilly and spoke " I just waited for you to wake up so you get used to it before the wedding night." "no, please not" she pleaded quietly. Her next sentence was interrupted by a giant pain in all parts of her body. She must have screamed, but she wasn't sure.
He kept trusting in her for what seemed to be the whole night on the floor beside her bed and left her in the early hours of the next morning crying and screaming, praying to Agni to kill her.
As Princess Ursa came into the dining room for breakfast she was worried for she hadn't seen her daughter yesterday after the dinner. The first thing she saw in the dining hall was Zuko and Azula fighting with food. A fight she stopped in a second. But no signs of Akiko.
" Ozai, I'm going to look for Akiko" she said to her husband and as she saw his angered look she added "Don't try to stop me.".
She headed to her daughter's chambers and soon heard loud screams which made her almost run. Ursa turned to a servant standing in her way. "Why is my daughter crying? What's wrong with her?" the servant gave her a questioning expression "I don't know m'lady. I had free yesterday evening and found her this morning like that. I tried to help her up but she doesn't want me to touch her." Ursa's eyebrows lifted and she went through the wooden doors to Akiko's bedchamber. She stopped in the door frame.
She had never seen such a terrible thing. It wasn't the chaos in the room, it was tiny as ever, but the terrible look of her daughter made her almost cry.
Akiko lay besides her bed, naked with marks all over her body. The dress she wore the last evening lay in pieces around her and there was a little blood on the floor. Her daughter rolled from one side to another, screaming, calling for someone to kill her, crying. She had never seen her in a state like this.
Ursa tried to get closer to her touching her arm, but Akiko turned away and screamed louder "DON'T TOUCH ME! PLEASE, PLEASE DON'T TOUCH ME!"
It took Ursa an hour to calm her so she only sobbed and cried. She hugged her daughter and got her dressed in a red, loose robe.
"I want a new room, new chambers with all new furniture and new clothes, or better a new palace with a family that loves me and protects me. I want to go away and not just to ember island." She quietly repeated ever and ever again.
Ursa decided to tell her husband as soon as possible, but as she got out of her daughter's bedchamber she almost bumped in two little, worried faces.
"Mother, is everything alright with Akiko?" they both asked unisono. "No, it isn't. But you two do not go in there, understood? I think she might not be capable of your visit now and you shouldn't see your sister like that." And with that she rushed off to meet her husband.
London 1885
Akiko suddenly felt two strong arms around her shoulders. As she looked up she saw bright green eyes. "Bad memories again?" the Undertaker asked. "Unfortunately yes. I really don't know why this keeps appearing ever and ever again. I wish I could delete this from my memories." her answer sounded weak even in her own ears. "No, you wouldn't want this. Think only of the reaper who has to collect your soul one day. It is a lot of work for you to search for deleted pieces of cinematic record. " as he saw that she wasn't pleased with that he added "Besides, it made you who you are now and I love who you are now. Furthermore we never would've met and would that be a pity, wouldn't it?" he finally managed to make her laugh again. "I love you too, you crazy man." she said cuddling into his shirt. "Oh, I almost forgot what I wanted to tell you." he looked surprised "You're not going to leave me, are you?" he looked really terrified, but Akiko only laughed louder. "No, not in a hundred years. I wanted to tell you that we're going to be parents ourselves when my memories turned over me." she said blushing a little. "What?!" now he looked really confused. She decided to repeat it calmly and slowly "We are going to be parents. I am pregnant. We are going to have a baby soon. Understand daddy?" "I think so..." "Are you happy about it?" "Yes, of course yes." he stuttered. Instead of more conversation he started to kiss her.
The Undertaker's shop stayed closed that day.
A Fire nation prison (1885)
A young man was walking down the floor towards a certain cell. As he walked in he backed his hood and a red scar was seen.
"Come to ask for advice again, my lord?" the prisoner said. Zuko knew he only wanted to mock him, but couldn't resist to answer "I don't think I need your advice, but maybe we both can help each other.". "You know I don't know where your mother is." "That isn't my issue anymore. I have found her already. She's happily living at ember island with a little daughter named Kiyi."
"What's about your sister?"
"I think she will be fine one day, but not in the next time."
"What do you want to talk about?"
"Akiko" and suddenly a huge silence filled the small cell.
"Are you joking? Akiko is dead. My little girl is dead."
"Maybe not. I asked Toph to do a few investigations with me and the result was that all the people who said that she's dead lied. So I am going to bring her back so she can meet you all. The doctor said it could even be good for Azula's health for she admired her much."
"Why did you come here?"
"Oh, my big sister always said that family is the most important thing in the world and that conversation and trust are its ground, so here I am."
As the Fire lord was out of the cell the prisoner started to cry silently because of all the things he didn't know of his children.
Azula's room
"Why are you here?" Azula asked laying on her bed, staring up to the ceiling.
"I just wanted to tell you that I might not visit the next weeks." her brother repeated. "WHAT?!" she almost fell to the floor "Do you want to let me rot like a prisoner, like father?!". Her words hurt him, but he quietly answered "No, I'm going to search for Akiko and bring her back."
Suddenly Azula was on her bed again, staring at the ceiling, totally calm. "Oh, Yes, You have to find her, yes, you have to bring her back, so I can be with her again. Two sisters reunited, three siblings, four with that little brat, a family reunited." She kept on repeating "reunited" till he walked out of her room, shudders on his back.
Ember Island
"I want to come with you. You can not keep me from that. No one of you." Ursa said with an angry expression towards her son and her youngest daughter. "But Mom, it'll may be dangerous." Zuko repeated "And I want you to stay here mommy", the four-year-old added.
"I'm sure you won't notice my absence and speaking of danger, do you honestly think I didn't face danger in my life, son."
Zuko knew, when she called him "son" he had lost.
Southern Air temple
"Are you sure this will work? You know, I lived her for a long time and I never heard of that portal to another world thing." , the avatar told his fire bending master.
"I'm not sure, but if you would look at the notes of my sister you would notice, that this is the only thing she could have done.", Zuko repeated. "But how could she get enough energy, so the portal would open? I mean I can use the avatar state, but your sister can't, right?"
You could tell by the look of Zuko's face that he was really annoyed "Just do it ,okay?!"
Two seconds later a bright blue light shone threw the room.
London 1885
Akiko went down to her husbands shop. As she opened the door she saw him looking on a picture. It was a photography of their wedding nearly a half year ago. He looked deep in thought, almost lost in the memories, and didn't notice her presence as fast as usual.
" A penny for your thoughts, Mr. Crevan.", she said making him almost jump. With a last look on the photo he answered hanging it back on the wall, "I was just nostalgic, Honey. I remembered the early blossoms of our love." , this answer made her laugh as she came near to him taking his hands in hers. Pulling her closer he asked, " Do you remember how we first met?" , "How could I forget this day?" , "You know I will take your word serious and ask again in fifty years?" , he whispered in her hair. Both of them enjoying the presence of the other one as well as the shared memories.
London 1880
Akiko couldn't believe what she just did. She just told her boss that she would no longer work for him. She didn't want to quit but every time she got a new job it took two or tree days till the first of her "co-workers" tried to reach under her dress.
Since the happenings in the Fire-nation, no matter they were two years ago, she couldn't stand the touch of a male.
She cursed herself for it because now she had another day without food and the search for a new job. She new that the work with the machines would make her dying from sickness one day, but it was the only "honorable" way she saw to earn enough money to buy food and maybe a place to stay. But with her system of tree or two days a job she nearly ended up poor and frozen to death. She wanted to give up all hope and just die when suddenly a dark shadow rose before her.
"Greetings, Miss. You look like you could use a job." . Akiko just looked up to the black-haired man before her, her eyes wide and filled with disbelief. Finally she managed to speak out, "Sorry?" "Oh, it seems like I forgot to introduce myself. My apologies for that. My name is Sebastian Michaelis. I am the head butler of the Phantomhive household, a noble family you might have heard of. And I have an offer for you.", the figure said a smile on his face. As Akiko didn't respond he continued, "My master has a, let's call it, friend. We kind of had an argument last time and so my master doesn't wish to go in person to return him this." he held out a golden piece of jewelery "And to give him this letter. So, Miss, would you go and give it to our friend? I'll pay you well. You'll get 3 pounds. Interested?" A small nod was her only answer.
He gave her the money and the address of the man she should go to.
Meanwhile Akiko wasn't sure if she should really go there. Maybe it was just a trap of some ugly men? She decided that it was not important if she died here or there.
Over the whole street a boy was heard advertising his newspapers "New murders in Whitechapel. Is Jack the Ripper back? Terrible murders in Whitechapel.".
It was a silent afternoon in the Undertaker's shop. He walked over into his small kitchen only used to brew tea humming a little melody.
As the tea kettle was ready the front door opened. "Hello? Anybody there?" a thin voice asked . The Undertaker decided not to respond. Silently like a cat he walked back to his shop and as he stood behind the stranger he bent down and whispered directly in her ear, "Yes, of course I am." To his surprisingly little amusement the stranger jumped a few meters back and almost hit the floor. He bowed down to her and held her small shoulders so she wouldn't fall while she stared at him with horror yet confusion.
Both of them stared for a moment in the other one's eyes. He admiring her golden Irises, she wondering about his green, shining ones. Then her eyelids decided to close.
The Undertaker stood for a moment in silence, the strange girl in his arms, before he started to carry her into the rooms behind his shop.
Finally laying her down in a coffin he had made for the funeral of a noblewoman, whose family close to this day decided that it was cheaper to let their relative burn, he spoke half to himself and half to her , " My, my... What have they done to you? Your hands so fine, your skin so white, such a noble-looking face... and yet such dirt, such common clothing, marks of hunger, close to a cold death in the streets of London, such fear in those beautiful eyes of yours, what could they've done o you, my beautiful little lotus flower?" , with the last words he cleared her face from her hair, took her hand in his and began to stroke it carefully. As he did so her coat opened and a letter and his golden treasure could be seen. "My, my, what treasures you carry... what are you, a thief?" He whispered reaching for it.