Admiral Jeong read the note three times before he could respond. The Fire Nation has been attacked. The Earth Kingdom and the Northern Water Tribe took advantage of the eclipse. Sustained losses; gained prisoners. Fire Lord Sozin is injured, but alive. Return immediately. –Lee. He crushed the note in anger. "Take us back to the Fire Nation," he told his crew. "Now."

"S-sir?" Lieutenant Soku stammered. "Is there a problem?"

The admiral tossed the note behind him at Soku's feet. "The Fire Nation has been attacked, by the Earth Kingdom and the Nor—" He paused, as he realized again where he was, and turned around. "Let me ask you something," he said slowly. "Has there been anything—anything—out of the ordinary in the past month?"

Lieutenant Soku swallowed hard. "Yes. Four Fire Nation uniforms went missing about two weeks ago."

"And you didn't report this because?"

"I-I took it to be something that needed to be handled locally. Vandalism, nothing more."

Admiral Jeong turned his back on the younger officer. "Lieutenant Soku, your negligence has proven costly to the Fire Nation, possibly to the Fire Lord himself. Your punishment will be severe… but it will not be at my hand. Right now you will accompany me back to the capital." The admiral went back to his ship, not bothering to look behind him to make sure Soku was following him. He didn't need to. He barked orders at his crew, and the ship set sail within minutes.

Lieutenant Soku sat by himself in a secluded area below deck. Why, why, why did this have to happen at his post?

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Three days after the attack, Fire Lord Sozin had recovered from his injuries enough to once again take his place on the throne. General Lee took over his duties while he recovered—the story given to the public was that he was taking a short leave of absence. It was well-known that the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribe had indeed invaded the capital city, but what took place inside the palace was known only to the guards, and to Sozin himself. This was carefully maintained.

Still, rumours abound. In some places, the commoners insisted to each other that the invading force had been only a small number, every single one of which was being held captive. Others maintained smugly that it must've been hundreds strong, because only a force that large would have been able to penetrate the capital city. But everywhere, in dark alleys or deserted tea shops, people whispered to each other that the invaders had reached all the way to the throne room—that the Fire Lord himself may even have been attacked. Some believed he had been beaten. His message of superiority, that fire was the superior element and firebending the height of elemental mastery, began to unravel.

It was mid-afternoon on the third day that he took back the throne. He still winced in pain at times, but he wasn't about to let something so temporary keep him from rule any longer than absolutely necessary. "Fire Lord Sozin," an attendant bowed as he approached the throne. "Are you ready to make your reappearance to the people?"

"Yes," the Fire Lord replied.

"And what shall we tell the historians? Already they are writing down the events of the past few days."

"Let me make this clear. The invaders did get to the palace, and they did enter during the eclipse—but not a single one came into the throne room. And I certainly was never beaten." What cowards, Sozin thought to himself. Those frightened earthbenders and waterbenders, reduced to using the eclipse to try and stop me. And they didn't even succeed, he added, smiling to himself.

The attendant bowed and left. Fire Lord Sozin was later presented to a handful of nobles to assure them he had returned. He was careful to hide his injuries.

Later that evening, he held a war meeting with his top military leaders. "Our plans have not changed," he told them before any of them could ask the question they were all thinking. "When the comet arrives, we shall use it to eradicate the Air Nomads. The Earth Kingdom's and Water Tribe's attack has not changed my mind; it has only made their eventual defeat all the more triumphant."

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A year later, the comet arrived. As planned, Sozin spread his naval power across the globe and attacked all four Air Temples at once. The Air Nomads, an inherently peaceful society, had no way of answering to the military power the Fire Nation wielded. Even the most powerful airbenders were unable to hold back the terrible onslaught from the newly-empowered firebenders. One by one, the Air Temples fell.

The Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribe tried once again to attack the Fire Lord, after the comet had passed. But without the help of the eclipse, the mission ended in sorrowful failure. Kuku and Tyro, once again at the forefront of the attack, were killed. Leng was taken prisoner, and died some months later. Of the four waterbenders, only Yao survived. After seeing his friends fall he was unable to return to the Fire Nation, and eventually replaced Master Kengen as the Northern Water Tribe's waterbending teacher.

Fire Lord Sozin found himself at something of an empasse with the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribe. Neither of his enemy nations were strong enough to overtake him, but neither did he have the forces to invade as he had with the Air Nomads. At his death, both nations still thrived, quite independent of the Fire Nation. Throughout this time, the day of the eclipse had been effectively wiped from the memories of the public. The people of the Fire Nation were convinced and reconvinced that nothing of any importance had happened that day. The earthbenders and waterbenders, even those who had been part of the invasion, remembered only their failure to overthrow the Fire Lord. The rest of the world took the day of the comet to be the day that changed everything, the day the War was officially declared, the worst day anyone had ever lived through. But to Sozin and the few of his guards who were there to experience it, the worst day was the day the Fire Lord was very nearly overtaken in the heart of his own stronghold, the day the whole Fire Nation and even firebending itself was cast into darkness—the darkest day in Fire Nation history.