"knowing the song I will sing
till the darkness comes to sleep
come to me, I will tell
'bout the secret of the sun
it's in you, not in me
but it does not mean a thing to you"
- aura
reset destiny; chapter III: "forbidden ones"
I
"My name is Seyvan and this is Pepper, and we are pleased to meet you, High Admiral Zhao," Seyvan said and the two of them gave a quick bow to the man in front of him, "We are honored to be a part of your fleet as of now,"
"They sure teach youyouths all the etiquette at the training camp nowadays, don't they?" High Admiral Zhao mused to himself. He looked at both of the soldiers – both of them looking tall, firm, and strong. The girl wore a medal. The boy had none, but he could tell he had a sharp wit in his eyes. He then spoke more directly to the two of them, "Seyvan and Pepper, huh? You're Zuko's children aren't you?"
"Yes, sir," Seyvan said.
"You're only a few years behind him though," High Admiral Zhao said.
"It's no secret we were adopted, sir," Seyvan answered.
"And what's this medal for, girl?" High Admiral Zhao said, as he looked at Pepper's medal.
"Bravery in the line of duty, sir," Pepper said, very quietly.
"Good then. Follow me," High Admiral Zhao said.
He led the two students into the war room, where he and various generals and admirals sat. A map of the world laid on a table in the middle of the room and several small pieces of wood carved to symbolize soldiers laid scattered here and there.
"We have already started to take the Water Tribe capital in the south pole," said one of the generals as he moved one of the pieces over the south pole area, "But we cannot hold it for too long. The area is enclosed in water and every night the Benders they have grow stronger than our forces,"
"'Rise with the moon and rise with the sun,'" Seyvan breathed to himself. He then said, "We're going to have to find out a way to hold onto that power or we're never going to get that area to be part of the new empire. We should try something simple…"
"Capture the noble family," Pepper suddenly said, "and hold them hostage,"
All of the generals looked in Pepper's general direction. It normally wasn't custom to have a female in the war room to begin with, but it was even more suprissing to hear these things come from her mouth. Pepper wasn't surprised, after years in the military and the first battle scene she had been involved in, she had become desensitized to violence and the ways of the army.
"Every capital has a noble family running the show, and the common people are very loyal to them," Pepper said, "If we capture the Water Tribe nobles and hold them hostage we can have the people's cooperation with our plans,"
Seyvan had a high dislike for this plan, mainly because of the idea of holding a whole family – women and children included – hostage sounded very dishonorable to him, but he didn't let it show on his face. High Admiral Zhao smiled – he liked the way this girl thought.
"The problem is finding them," said another general, "The noble family is hidden very well among the commoners in the city,"
"Then scour it," Seyvan sighed, "Search every nook and cranny for them. It's not that hard to distinguish a lady of birth from a peddler woman. It's all in the face, and mannerisms, and dialect. All you have to do is be quiet and observe. Mainly, we're going to need spies as well as soldiers in the army,"
"We already have spies in the capital there," said High Admiral Zhao, "I'll send them a message to inform them of the change in strategy," He then change the subject for a brief moment, directed towards Pepper. "I never asked you…where did you earn that medal?"
"The siege of the Earth Kingdom," Pepper said.
"…on the day of the comet," Seyvan added.
II
Zuko looked at his third child with a pleased look on his face. 'Four weeks and no powers,' he thought, a little bit more than overjoyed, 'No ghosts, no fits, no monsters under the bed, no Metalbending, no Firebending, no Waterbending…he's just normal,' Katara was happy about the Kyrei being a little less weird than his other siblings, but Sadako and Izuri, in turn, ignored their brother on a large scale. Sadako wouldn't go near Kyrei, and even if forced to, she would just make a face at her brother. Izuri would just pretend he didn't exist.
"Do you think they…know he's not…like them?" Katara said to Zuko one day, concerning Sadako and Izuri's neglectful treatment of infant Kyrei.
'They know more than we think they do,' Zuko said. He was growing more and more suspicious of Sadako and Izuri as they got bigger. There was always some sort of glint in their eyes, some sort of strange alien intelligence that was often foreign to small children. As if they had a knowledge of things normally forbidden to children, maybe even humans. Sadako with her mysterious powers and mismatched hair and eyes. Izuri with his lack of sight and his own powers as well.
"They know that and more probably," Zuko breathed. He thought for a moment, 'Sometimes I think Sadako and Izuri may know too much for their own good,'
Sadako was in her own room, lying on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. She was bored. She was tired of playing with her toys and tired of reading from the children's books lying around the room. She had no one to play with, since
(They know more)
Izuri was taking a nap. She had
(than we think they do.)
nothing better to do but sit on her bed
(Sometimes I think Sadako and Izuri)
and daydream about doing something
(may know too much)
far more interesting.
(for their own good.)
Sadako sat up on her bed instantly as
(They know more than we)
she heard the voices wafting into her mind. They were
(think they do. Sometimes I think Sadako)
strange and foreign, and sounding nothing like her own. 'Who is that?' Sadako
(and Izuri may know too much)
thought, as she got off the bed and looked around to see if there was anyone nearby talking in the hallway that would make that voice. Suddenly, she
(for their own good.)
realized something and she fell onto the ground in shock. The voice wasn't coming from
(They know more than we think they do.)
outside but inside – coming from
(Sometimes I think Sadako and Izuri may know too much for their own good. )
within her own mind. And what she was hearing was
(They know more then we think they do. Sometimes I think Sadako and Izuri may know too much for their own good.)
her own father's thoughts.
III
In the lower city, the council of demons there (consisting of Beelzebub, Morningstar, and four other powerful mature demons) agreed to aid Lillith and Grimm's plans for the poppies that grew in the fields and went unnoticed and unused by the populous. Another member of the noble family died a mysterious death. This time, it was a female cousin of Zula, who was found in her bedroom with her face frozen in terror and gory holes in her face – where her eyes had been, ripped from their sockets. The day after that, Aang saw a ghost walking nearby a broken statue in the garden courtyardduring noontime. It was a small girl. She looked at Aang, her eyes also removed and blood running down her semitransparent skin.
"Zula…" Aang said to her that evening as she laid in bed. She often laid in bed. The recent string of murders in the noble family by supernatural causes made her very sick, "…I saw a ghost, and I noticed something odd about it…"
"What?" Zula breathed.
"It had no eyes," Aang stated.
Zula sighed and looked at Aang, "There was a special sect of all female assassins in the noble family – called the Akairei, 'red ghosts' – that are hired to kill certain people in a certain way. They always leave the bodies mutilate, often in some sort of symbolic way. One time my great-aunt had a servant girl killed for telling her secrets and the Akairei she hired had sewn her mouth shut with wire. Each Akairei is recommended to take the eyes of their victims and present it to the master Akairei as a way of showing that the target is dead, "
Aang gulped, "Are they…still around?"
Zula shook her head, "No. My father disbanded the Akairei after some years of service. They no longer exist," She then looked at Aang. "The ghost you saw must have been a victim of an Akairei from years ago,"
Aang didn't reply to this. All of these current events were worrying him greatly. Ghosts didn't appear during the day before, when the sun was out,but he knew that if one dared the feat, others would soon be along to follow it. He also knew that the demons in the lower city were up to something, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Both Beelzebub and Morningstar were being extra secretive about it and refused to relay any sort of information to Aang – friend or no friend.
Meanwhile, Sadako, out of simple curiosity, approached Zuko and asked him a question.
"Daddy, do I know too much?" Sadako asked him. It was a tone of both a curious child question and a serious one. Zuko tried not to look too surprised from Sadako's question – he could sense the girl was examining how he would react.
"No, of course not, honey," Zuko said, patting Sadako on the head. He then thought, 'But where in the hell did you hear that from, Sadako?'
Sadako tilted her head to the side.
(But where in the hell did you hear that from, Sadako?)
Sadako blinked at this, not letting shock come over her face.
"I see,"was all shesaid in a very neutral tone, and then left the room, her observation complete.
Katara could tell something was a little bit amiss about the conversation, mainly because of how hard Sadako was studying Zuko's expressions and his answer. She had had her share of experiences with the supernatural, and had learned over time how to guard her own thoughts, and she did it in the presence of Sadako, Izuri, and even Kyrei for safe measure.
"What was that all about?" Zuko asked Katara.
"She can hear your thoughts, Zuko," Katara said.
Zuko paused, "…can you run that by me again?"
Katara looked at him, "Sadako can hear your thoughts,"
"What?" Zuko asked.
"I sort of expected her to, actually – sooner or later, she was bound to pick it up, with her powers and all," Katara said, "All you need to learn is how to guard them from her,"
"I don't believe this!" Zuko groaned, "I have to learn how to guard my thoughts from my six-year-old daughter!"
"Well, I suggest you learn how to know, because when she gets older, she'll learn to pry into your mind without you knowing, and I don't think you'd like that," Katara said.
"Wait…how come you seem so…calm about it?"
"From my time with the past Avatar, I learned how to guard my own thoughts from ghosts and the like," Katara said, with a smile as she coddled small Kyrei, who cooed in reply, "I think about the Moon and the Water, the gods of the Water Tribe, and I use it asmy barrier and they can't get past it,"
Sadako was in the next room. As soon as she entered the room, Izuri sat up and looked in her direction.
"If you can't see," Sadako said to him, "why is it that you always know where I am?"
Izuri pointed to his ears and smiled, "Footsteps,"
Sadako scoffed and sat on Izuri's bed. Izuri looked at her. Sadako considered Izuri to be someone to talk to when Mom and Dad weren't listening or too busy.
'I can hear Dad's thoughts, and that means you probably can too,' Sadako said to Izuri, sending her thought towards him. Ever since the two had discovered they shared the same type of powers, they began to fine tune them – as if instinctive – and kept their little training sessions and discoveries to themselves.
'Daddy, yes. Mommy, no. Mommy thinks about the sea and moon. I can'tsee past them,' Izuri replied. While he wasn't as sophisticated as Sadako was in speech, he could still get a message across, 'Mommy protects them,'
'Mom knows a lot. Maybe Mom knows too much…' Sadako replied, her own comment a parody on her father's own words.
The sun was soon setting and night fell over the city. Everyone was sleeping…everyone except for Zuko, who could hear things. Odd things. Strange things not heard since chilhood. He could feel primative things crawling back from boyhood. Things forgotten. Things that he wished to forget and had them sealed away, but not they were coming back. Worse than before. Worse than they had ever been, He could hear scratching. An ood scratching noise. Coming from the closet.
'It's just my imagination…' Zuko thought. But his
(They do not see)
heart was pounding and
(as the spirits come close)
his instincts told him that
(but he still insists)
he was in more trouble than
(that he sees the ghosts!)
he was thinking he was.
The scratching grew louder.
Katara didn't stir.
(They do not see as the spirits come close)
Neither did infant Kyrei in his crib nearby the bed.
(but he still insits that he sees the ghosts!)
Zuko was the only one wide awake.
(They do not see as the spirts come close but he still insists)
Wide awake and afraid.
(that he sees the ghosts!)
The scratching turned to scraping and soon a moaning was heard from behind the closet. The scratchig to scraping. The scraping to clawing. The clawing to banging. The banging to…
(They do not see as the spirits come close but he still insists that he sees the ghosts!)
The closet opened.
A creature crawled out. A creature that
(mommy, there's a ghost man)
might have been human at
("I'll always be by your side, prince.")
one time but no longer was. It was a young man. His skin
(Ohmygodsthebliood is everywhere! It's on the walls…on the floor…everywhere! EVERYWHERE!)
was blue. His hair was long and black. He smelled like graveyard soil and
(a ghost man in my room)
ancient blood spilled. He gurgled and
(Ohmygodsohmygodsohmygodsohmygods…HE'S DEAD! THEY KILLED HIM!)
then looked up at Zuko. His eye sockets
(They do not see as the spirits come close but he still insists that he sees the ghosts!)
were empty. Blood ran down his face.
'…hellooooo theeeerrrre prrrriiincccee zuuukoooo….it's your old frieeeeennnnnd…' He gurgled.
He wanted to scream. He wanted to, but his vocal chords seemed to have shrunk down to thin wisps, so he couldn't. All he could go was stare at the creature crawling towards him. It left a trail of fresh blood on the floor.
"…liang…" Zuko coughed.
(They do not see as the spirits come close but he still insists that he sees the ghosts!)
'…prrrriiiiiincccceeeee zuuuuuukooooo….' He gurgled.
"…liang…I'm…" Zuko coughed.
'…zzzzuuuukooooo….yooooooouuuuu kiiiillllleeeed meeeee….' He gurgled.
He was closer now. Close to the bed. Too close now. Zuko got out of bed
(They do not see as the spirits come close but he still insists that he sees the ghosts!)
and away from it. He went nearby the window.
"…liang…I'm…so…sor…" Zuko coughed.
He moved towards Zuko. It smelled like death. It smelled like fear. It smelled like
(They do not see as the spirits come close but he still insists that he sees the ghosts!)
a rotting corpse that kept on crawling out the grave because he wouldn't be buried. No. Not just yet…
It's head snapped up and it looked at Zuko, straight into his eyes so that he could look at the blood on it's face and the death from long ago that he had been running from.
'You killed me, Prince Zuko! You killed me! You let me die! YOU LET ME DIE!' he screeched.
There was no more gurgling. There was yelling. A fit of rage given from someone beyond the grave that sought vengeance for it's wrongful death. Zuko sat onto his knees and looked at the sigh.
"…liang…I'm sorry…liang…I'm so sorry…I wish…I wish I could bring you back…" Zuko said as he looked at his old friend. He remembered Liang's once smiling face and realized it had been replaced by an undead hatred and anger.
'You didn't do anything! You left me there! You left me to die!' he screeched.
"I…I can understand why…you're angry…but….I can't do anything now…" Zuko replied, "…I can't bring you back, Liang…"
He was face to face with the corpse now. He could smell how the flesh and insides were rotting away. He could fell it's angry undead lifeforce towards him. He could feel it's hatred.
"I'm sorry, Liang. I'm sorry you died," Zuko said.
The corpse looked at Zuko. He simply stared at Zuko, and he simply crumbled to ashes and was gone, just like a child's nightmare. Zuko let out a sigh as he looked at the pile of ashes.
Zuko looked at the ashes lying in front of him.
"...they do not see...as the spirits come close..." Zuko breathed, "...but he still insists that he sees...the ghosts..."
IV
"Where have you been all morning?" Katara asked Zuko. It was late afternoon. She was feeding Kyrei. Sadako and Izuri played nearby.
Zuko looked worn and tired. "Something that should have been done a long time ago," was his reply.
He had taken the ashes, put them in an urn, and buried them in the garden, like Liang's corpse should have been years ago before. He had finally given his friend a proper burial and felt some sort of weight lifted off of his back.
Katara ushered Sadako and Izuri out of the room so that they could talk.
"Where were you?" Katara asked again, "This is the seocnd time I woke up and you were gone,"
"I buried a friend of mine," Zuko said. He then explained, "When I was about six or seven years old, Aunt Sutashia took my sister and I down to the lower city because she wanted to see a friend of hers. I waundered off and away from the house we were in and found a boy my age. There weren't many children my age around the palace, or the upper city, as the time, so I was lonely. I didn't know about social rank or anything, or that peasants aren't supposed to mix with nobles. I just wanted a friend.
"His name was Liang and he had been born a landless peaant. He lived on the streets. He had no family to take care of him. He would have probably hated me, but he was so kind and nice to everyone and anyone. And he was lonely too. We needed companionship and we happened to find each other at the right time. Aunt Sutashia liked the idea of me making a friend - she never cared about social rank – and smuggled Liang up to the upper city for me as a playmate. Of course, this is agaisnt the rules and my ultratraditionalist relatives would have thrown a fit…and they did.
"Time passed nd Liang and me grew close. We were inseperable from each other, so I passed him off as a noble so that we could be official playmates. But things didn't go over smoothly. You see, it's all about comptetition in the family about whose child will be the best lord, or lady, or king, or the like. And my relatives saw this as a chance to get ahead in the game.
"One day, Liang was simply gone. I couldn't find him. I was upset, because I thought he might have abandoned me and our friendship. But then I looked…I looked in my closet…."
He paused at this.
"…I…I looked in my closet….and…I…saw…Liang…"
He paused again.
"….Liang had been murdered. His eyes had been gouged out. A stake had been stabbed through his heart. On the inside door of the closet was…was written…"
He paused yet again.
"…'peasants are filth'…in…Liang's…blood…"
He paused once again. It seemed like he would never speak again.
"Zuko–" Katara began.
"Liang had been my only friend," Zuko said, "and I was filled with grief, but…there was something else. The blood was everywhere. It was horrifying. I screamed. I cried. I went almost insane. I kept having nightmares about his death. I couldn't live with it, even after we had buried him in the garden. I was on the brink of insanity. I tried to kill myself multiple times…just so that I could forget Liang's death.
"Aunt Sutashia found a better altenative to my suicide. She used a little bit of magic and a little bit of hypnosis, and sealed away the memory so that I would forget Liang entirely, death included. All traces of Liang were erased from the palace. I don't know where they put his body, but I believe they may have burned it and put it in the river.
"…Sadako's powers must have awakened some of the spirits in the castle that are still lingering around from years long past…she must have…caused Liang's spirit to…come back…"
Katara didn't let him say anymore. She held him and he held her.
But what Zuko didn't tell Katara was that a doorway had been reopened and he could see things that he couldn't truly see before. And he could feel the presence of not only ten but a thousand different dead souls in the room and in the entire palace.
'They do not see as the spirits come close,' Zuko thought, 'but he still insits that he sees the ghosts...'
V
Aang went down to the lower city the next day and found a strange oddity. There was a group of six children playing all by themselves. They had dark hair, dark pupiless eyes, and ivory skin. They were dressed like peasant children, and yet it was obvious that they were not mortal. But neither demon. They were something in the middle. As soon as Aang looked at them, they looked at him back with chilling eyes, as if filled with some sort of forbidden knowledge.
'Half demon, half human' Aang realized, 'They're half demon children!'
I love these cliffhanging endings to each chapter. - ZeroSoul