Chapter 9: "Nowhere is Safe"

In the present...

The visions I was having before, the feeling that there was a way home, I know what it was. But now, it may be too late.

"You have been very persistent, to continue resisting our efforts. But I warn you the damage may become permanent.", Long Feng warned getting frustrated with Itsuki's resistance.

"Spare me this pointless torture! You're in danger you fool! Get me out of here!", Itsuki became increasingly worried as he was unable to escape but the least he could do was try and reason with his captor.

"I have no idea what you-"

"SILENCE! You have no idea what forces are being unleashed!"

"Feh! You know nothing, I have everything under control!", Long Feng replied confidently.

"Anyone claiming to have it, only means otherwise."

"Don't forget, I still have you under my custody. I can throw into oblivion for your continued defiance."

"But then where would that leave you? If you kill me, then it will obliterate apart everything. Be smart, you need me.", Long Feng lent his attention to Itsuki now.

3 Days Ago...

"This is where it all started. I started getting used to my day job inside the city. I hadn't gotten wrapped up in any further trouble since I last saw Jet. Except when I looked up at the sky one day. For a few moments, I saw something I've only seen in a time of great crisis. The sky started to fade. Everyone saw it, the sky just was disappearing, like it was being erased like a drawing. I thought I was only dreaming, I had been losing more sleep as the days kept going. It was as if it was my body was telling me something was off. But it was no dream, it was real.", Itsuki explained.

"So what exactly did this mean for someone of your kind?", Long Feng asked.

"In the Mobius Strip, that was a sign, of a Breach. It happens whenever a world's dimensional connection is coming apart. Picture a swing hanging on a branch, the rope knotted to the branch isn't what's coming apart, branch."

Later I found that my intuition wasn't entirely off, the only part where I got it wrong was what part of the tree was falling apart, and it was the whole tree. When I saw the Breach forming I felt a sharp pain in heart.

"Hrrrggggghhh rrrrggggggggggghhhhhhhhh annnnngggggggg!"

"Itsuki! What's wrong?", Itsuki's boss said with concern.

The energy when a Breach is formed can be felt by anyone who is from the Order. We sense when things are out of balance, but this time I could feel the world's pain. Something I might have picked up from the chaos emerald. With it being so tapped into all kinds of energy, having it for a heart made the experience too much sensory imput. I didn't know this at that time until the Dai Li captured me, and the Breach was getting stronger.

The only way I could stop it, was by getting all the people I could to shut it down. In times like these, there had to be a nearby portal that was growing uncontrollably, so all it was just a matter of finding it. But inside the biggest city in the world. During my frantic search, I came across Jet's gang. They had already been looking for their leader trying to learn what was going on.

"Itsuki?! Have you seen Jet? We've been looking for him for weeks."

"That's why I tried finding you guys. I think the people who took Jet are what's causing the sky to act like this."

"The Dai Li? They are doing this, right now? How is that even-"

"Because they took something from me too.", Itsuki explained to them the whole situation and how exactly the Dai Li were able to alter the sky.

"So then where do we go? We storm the palace?"

"Not with the numbers we have. We need to find the Avatar, him and his friends will give us the strength we need to march into the palace, find Jet, and stop them from destroying everything."

"Well then how do we find them?", Smellerbee asked.

Just then a bystander holding a flyer walked by catching Longshot's notice. He took the flyer and showed it to Itsuki. "The Avatar is looking for his bison. We just caught our lucky break."

With the flyer giving us an address we headed straight to the inner ring. Not much trouble getting safe passage as the city transit was still running despite the pandemonium. We found their house but nobody was home. I figured they had been running around town spreading flyer across town. So we stayed until one of them came back. Sure enough they did...but not extending friendly courtesies.

"Itsuki!", the whole gang yelled as soon as they saw him.

"Avatar Aang it is an honor to meet you agai-ack!", without warning Itsuki got hit in the head with Sokka's boomerang and Toph restrained him in rock.

"You got a lot of nerve showing up here on our doorstep.", Sokka threatened.

"When you have the end of the world on the horizon, you tend to throw caution out the window.", Itsuki remarked.

"Lemme guess, you know what's going on?", Katara questioned.

"Yes."

"You know how to stop it?", Sokka followed.

"Yes."

"And you want us to help you do just that?", Aang followed.

"Yes."

"What made you think we would?", Toph finished.

"You need him.", Smellerbee intervened. A small surprise took Aang and the others seeing Jet's freedom fighters let alone taking your side.

"It's true, hear me out. But first, kindly let me out of this.", Itsuki asked politely smirking at how he easily saw how much the others wanted to smack him around but needed to restrain themselves.

"What's happening is what I called, in my time in The Order, a Breach. The thread linking your world to the many others in the multiverse, is unraveling and coming apart. We have little time, days at least. We must find where exactly the Breach is and we must close it."

"How do we close it?", Aang asked.

"I cannot close the Breach alone. But our combined power and energy will be enough to fix and close the Breach naturally and save the world. We must work together otherwise we all die. Simple as that."

Later my intuition wasn't entirely off. The world was unraveling, but what I got wrong wasn't just limited to the world I was in, but the entire multiverse itself. It only took me a while after my imminent capture that I learned how high the stakes were.

"Well how far do we have to look? Inside just the inner ring? The city?", Sokka asked.

"The world worse case scenario."

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?! Well I guess stopping the Fire Nation is put on hold. Because now we have the end of the world to stop...which is more or less the same thing were doing, only there is a more literal END to the world we have to look forward to.", Sokka jested.

"We can't cover that much land in days. We'd never have any idea where to even look.", Aang said somberly.

"True but I believe were not in such a hopeless predicament as we think. I said worst possible case, but seeing that the phenomena occurring within the city and seeing how it is continually growing, I'm positive the Breach is around within the city.", Itsuki reassured.

"But how can you be sure?"

"I'll be able to sense where it is given enough time, and I have had enough experiences with these to know they form where the largest amount of energy flows. Ba Sing Se is the largest city in the world and is flowing with Earth Benders, I'm almost certain it is somewhere nearby. We just have to find where it is."

"Then maybe I can help narrow the search.", a familiar voice echoed.

To Itsuki and everyone's surprise it was Jet.

"Jet! We thought you were captured by the Dai Li."

"I'm dead!", Itsuki grabbed his swords in defense expecting him to attack, but instead he just stood around showing no signs of hostile intent.

"What? I've been living peacefully in the city this whole time. Why would someone want to capture me?"

Itsuki wasn't sure why Jet was pretending what happened, but something was certainly feeling off.

"And Itsuki what are you doing here? I thought you were staying out of trouble.", Jet finished. This had to be a trick, Jet wouldn't be faking it. He's just waiting to get the right moment while his guard was down.

"He's not lying, both of them are telling the truth.", Toph said.

"How can that be?", Aang questioned.

"He's been brainwashed by the Dai Li!", Sokka realized.

"If the Dai Li had in fact took hold of his mind, how far back did they alter his memory? If they altered it to the point where we just reached the city than maybe...", Itsuki thought.

Despite Jet's disbelief we tried finding a way to bring his memories back to normal. I was praying that he wouldn't remember my betrayal, but kept the thought of his need to save the world outweighed any ill-will of me. He managed to remember the place where the Dai Li had taken him, but said that there wasn't anything that indicated that was where the Breach was.

He swore he couldn't remember anything past that, whether there was any truth in his story or not, it was a step closer to the Breach. We headed for Lake Laogai.

Later just prior to being captured...

It was time to pay the Dai Li a visit. The whole place was giving vibes of sinister intent. The dungeon aesthetic and the green lighting, both just rubbed me the wrong way. Places like these reminded me of pure evil back in my time in The Order. Nothing else made more uneasy than just this type of setting. My worst nightmares were always related to seeing places like these as if they were visions foreshadowing my future.

We walked around the area looking for the Breach, but the Avatar of course was hoping to also find his Bison. To me getting to the Breach was more important. I was hoping the further we went I could have some type of reaction like I did when the sky first broke apart. But nothing. Jet led us to a room that he believed had Aang's bison. We entered but instead of the bison the room was empty.

Far too spacious... it turned out to be a trap.

Dai Li all over.

I don't remember what else happened as soon as the plight of our situation hit me, that feeling I was expecting hit me again. My heart was pounding. It was like a migraine only I was feeling it in my chest, and the tingling went to all of my nerves instead of being limited to the brain.

When I noticed the fighting started I worked through the pain and just attacked any Dai Li in my path. It didn't matter how many came, I just surrendered to the compulsive nature to succeed. I think this was the very first time the chaos emerald was guiding my body, like it was using me. I could see all what was happening but not what I felt.

The number of Dai Li didn't seem to end, the waves of them kept increasing and the others desired to follow their leader. So I followed, but what came next shocked me out of my focus.

"Wait, what are you doing?"

"Figured you believed I didn't remember after Katara restored my memories? You were careless.", Jet said. He locked the door cutting you off from the group.

"Grrrrr, you have to let me out! The longer the breach is left-"

"Aang will put an end to it, and we'll be there to help him. You've done enough.", Jet said leaving Itsuki behind.

"Now isn't the time for revenge Jet! JET! Get me out of here! Jet!", Itsuki yelled as her ferociously tried ramming through the metal door. His inexperience with the element couldn't even let him slip out. He kept trying to batter through it, but soon enough the Dai Li cornered him.

"Now this is a lovely turn of events.", Long Feng openly mocked. "Take him alive."

Itsuki attempted to fire back with a chaos flame, however the Dai Li's strikes moved in a flash and tied Itsuki's arms together in a grip. The last thing Itsuki saw the the sunbeam growing smaller as he was pulled away from it.

They needed me alive to see what I knew, and so they put me, where they thought I belonged.

In the present...

I knew I didn't have much time. What had started to be just a faint whisper, started to sound like a locomotive beginning to roar. The Breach was continuing to grow, the more it festered the less likely I could stop it from destroying everything. But with the Dai Li not listening, and Long Feng intending to harness its power. All I could do was wait for the end. But only now did I start to strike some kind of nerve that's making him listen to reason. My guess, it is becoming more unstable, and now needs to find a way to stop it. And I knew only one person capable of helping me...

"I will consider it until you provide me with some long awaited answers. Now tell me who is this Saren, what has he unleashed, and how do we control it?"

"Saren, is only a title. I used it for myself when I worked for The Order. Whatever voices you are hearing, it's either coming from the other side, or my memories. Breaches can be very revealing, since they only come from people who entered a world unnaturally. Hence why you have been seeing visions of that persona. But what is really important is what your dealing with. The Breach is a literal rip in the tapestry of reality. The more it grows, the sooner the whole world is be erased."

"Then how do we stop it?"

"You can't but I can."

"Then do it!"

"I can't."

"WHAT? But you said-"

"I can, under the right circumstances. As I am, my connection to the breach allows me some degree of manipulation. But I have nothing close to the power needed to close it all the way. Not something that large. But there is only one way to compensate for it."

"And what would that be?"

"The Avatar."

"I see. You would combine his energy with your own, yes that could be what we need to stabilize the Breach."

"Don't misunderstand me Long Feng, at your disposal you couldn't possibly control the Breach for as long as you intend. You need to let me go, find the boy, and let us close it otherwise were all dead. You're cunning, but have any wisdom to temper it?"

Long Feng took a minute before he gave an answer, "You have a point, but instead of allowing you to go free, Princess Azula will make use of the Avatar and force you both to maintain the Breach. With the two of you conditioning it, I will have unlimited power. And overthrow all nations, including the Fire Nation."

"FENG! WE DON'T HAVE ANYMORE TIME FOR THIS! IT WON'T WORK! FENG! YOU FOOL! YOU'VE DOOMED EVERYONE!"

"Were safe they kept telling me, but nowhere was safe. There was nothing I could do except wait for the end and remember the beginning. At least that was what I thought having given up. But not anymore. Today I'm getting out of here, and today, I'm going home."