I'm really happy with the way this chapter turned out, I hope you all are too.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender


Chapter 2

With Jeong Jeong's sudden waning health, our pointless encounters became less and less frequent. This didn't affect me in the slightest, though I chose to suggest it was when I was fortunate enough to receive a rare visit. The truth was I could tell Jeong Jeong had lost faith in me, as I had lost faith in. He had become less aggressive over time which could be seen as an increase in his appreciation for me as a student, but an intelligent man can recognise that he hated me, his eyes would fill with disgust every time I sarcastically asked him a question; I of course already new answer. So when I learned of his defection, I was overcome with joy; I had almost forgotten what that felt like.

A fire runner came to me in the dead night, early in to the fourth year of my training, a term I use loosely to refer to my time with the old man. He had been sent by Colonel Rozun of the Shimmering Isles insisting that he had heard whispers of my progress. The runner asked me what I thought of the good general and I told him the absolute truth, that Jeong Jeong was dirty old feckless smear on the good name of the fire nation, a feeble and backwards minded fossil that had no place in the modern army. The runner smiled and offered me a fine job, the position of Jeong Jeong's fatal facilitator. It seemed the ancient freak had been a very bad boy; his journal had been discovered and inappropriate things had been written in it. Naturally I accepted in a professional manner, but inside the fire coursed through my veins and I struggled to hide my intense pleasure and excitement.

The runner left me in a unique position, a once in a life time opportunity to be remembered throughout history as the finisher of a dirty betrayer. The walk from my tent to his lowly hut felt incredible. For the first time in my life, I could really sense the future melting into my vision, like wax dripping down the side of a lit candle. All my ambitions suddenly seemed brighter, my future glowing. I stepped into his hut and stared as he meditated. My lips curled into a smirk, a smirk of true meaning. I said at the top of my voice, "Master Jeong Jeong, you are a traitor of the fire nation, I have been instructed by Colonel Rozun to use any means necessary to apprehend you". I lied to Jeong Jeong at that moment, I had no plans to arrest him, only to finish him, become his executioner, those were my orders and he probably knew it. I shifted my feet and carefully stiffened my hands forming a stance I had invented myself and said, "it is time for you to come with me, old man".

At first, the fool did not move, did not speak. Perhaps I had shocked him, filled him with fear, but then he stood up. I had never seen him move so fast. He turned and gazed at me and I remember exactly what he told me. The old man said- SQUAWK!!!

Suddenly, Zuko fell back onto the ground with a bone crunching thud. He was caught completely unaware by a stray messenger hawk that had hid itself down in the shadows of the shack. The hawk frantically flapped it's wings, Zuko huddled on the ground, protecting his head, protecting scroll number two. The anarchy quickly ceased as the hawk screamed the loudest cry Zuko had ever heard, lifting his head up for moment to catch a glimpse of the hawk's tail as it soared through the gash in the ceiling, forcing the flecks of dust to scatter like disturbed ants before they returned to simply float through the sunlight.

A single hawk's feather floated carelessly down through the hole, floundering downwards dreamily, loosely, swaying from left to right, right to left, before settling gently onto a bed of dust and debris. Zuko rose to his feet and took a deep, deep breath, calming himself before returning to the scroll, losing himself to it's words once again, re-entering Zhao's history.

The old man said, "So, you finally found the courage to attack me, Zhao, how brave of you, how very brave". Jeong Jeong was, taunting me, applauding me sarcastically. His arrogance, his indifference; it enraged me.

"Don't you dare act so conceited you old mess", I replied, my rage increasing, "I will take you down with a single blast".

"We shall see". With that three word sentence, he launched a ball of fire from his fist, but not at me, no, at the roof of his hut. Almost instantly, the entire hut burst into flames. I leapt backwards, slipping into a pond, narrowly avoiding critical burns. I rose from the water, firing blast after blast from my raging fists, but each fire ball lacked the ferocity it should, the water blocking my true ability. I soon came to my senses and ran to the fire, attempting to put the flames out, the embers charring my skin, this was no ordinary blaze.

After an hour of careful fire fighting, the inferno was no more. His body was no where to be found. My immediate thought was that he had perished in his own blaze, completely charred, but suddenly, I was overcome with doubt. He may have been an outdated fool, but he was a clever fool. Perhaps he had escaped. This doubt also existed in the Colonel. He was dissatisfied with me, told me to remove myself from his sight, told me that as long as he played a part in the army, I would never find myself there. He died 3 days after our encounter, the final laugh was mine. I would later discover that my old Master did survive, but the next time we met, I would be ready for his dirty tricks.

Zuko set the scroll down and let out a long sigh. He rubbed his face and put scroll number 2 on the floor. Another sigh and he took the third scroll out of the bin, unravelled it from it's golden binding and began to read once more…


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