I, Pandastriker, do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender
Moving on.
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I looked around the room I was in and figured this must be Saszin's office. There was a few furniture items, a chest, wardrobe, boxes etc. There was also a large desk where I figure he does his administrative duties.
I went over to it and sat in his chair. I think a little more investigating is in order.
The first thing I noticed was a paper on his desktop. From the looks of it, he was in the middle of writing this before he went to sleep. And it looks like a response to that other letter I read in the war room. This should be interesting.
To whom it may concern
You're perceived ability to affect my decisions is laughable, if not naïve my friend. Your blood has been tainted by governance and philanthropy. You have lost sight of what this situation really is. This is war my friend, and we as the military cannot afford to play nice with people who wish to kill us and harm our homeland. The Fire Lord does not wish to live peacefully, you know this and yet all you want to do is keep a running dialogue with him. For a lack of a better term, grow up.
No matter what you or the Imperial High Council think, I have the solution to this war. I can end this if I am allowed the resources I wish. But yet you stand in the way at every pass, convincing the court that I am not of sound mind and volition. It is you that has lost cognitive abilities. Why show quarter to an enemy who has shown mercy from the very beginning? As I said to the council, firebenders avoid my territories and it is no accident.
Have you forgotten your upbringing? Do you remember what happened? Or do you block out evil and still convince yourself the world is still right? You're jaded, and not fit to tell me what is right and wrong. The longer you stop me from conquest, the more people that die needlessly. The blood will be on your hands, not mine. I'm trying to protect you! Let the blood run rapid on my hands, not yours!
You call me deranged, you call me diluted, you liken me to a savage, but you cannot call me a coward. The Fire Nation is weakened right now, yet you continue to wait and offer diplomacy. You cannot reason with an animal with words, only with weapons. Let me be the sword of the Earth Kingdom and we can ride into a new world together!
Diplomacy will fail, and when it does where will you be?
And that's where it ends. He must not be finished with the letter. But what is this guy up to? Whatever he wants, he wants badly, and I have a bad feeling that with Azula now in the picture, he's going to try as hard as ever to get what he wants.
And my fears were confirmed when I picked up the letter next to it.
This message is to be given directly to the Imperial High Council
We seem to be in a precarious situation. You know what I want, and I have the exact thing you want. My army has been chasing a group of fugitives for a few weeks now, and we have now apprehended them. But we have seemed to stumble upon a greater acquisition than previously thought. In an odd twist of fate, we have captured three firebenders, including the Fire Princess.
Yes, the Fire Princess. Ozai's only heir to his throne, and his top war fighter. I know how much she would help you achieve some quasi form of a diplomatic solution, and I think we can help each other if you understand what I am saying.
So I'm going to cut right to what I want. In exchange for the Princess, I want six extra battalions of men, all siege engines, forty five Imperial Scouts, thirty war boats, and immunity of all war crimes me or my men may commit. If you refuse, I execute the Princess, and you lose any chance at a diplomatic solution with Fire Lord Ozai.
I realize this might be seen as bullying, but frankly, when I end this war you will thank me. Someone has to end this war.
Your move.
"This guy is bat shit crazy!" I exclaimed before realizing where I was and quieted down. Nothing happened so I let out the breath I was holding, he didn't hear me.
Is he serious? I knew he was playing a side angle. This guy is pretty good I have to admit, putting the council in a position like that. It was a genius move on his part, but unfortunately he didn't count on me here.
I grabbed the paper from the desk, rolled it up, and shoved it in my belt. I looked around the desk for more things that would give me information on him, but no other paper was on the desktop. I tried to open a top drawer, but it was locked.
I scanned the room for anything that might hold a key, because I seriously doubt he would keep the key on him while he sleeps. He is way too arrogant to be that careful. I searched the chests and other furniture items, but I didn't see where it might be hidden, and then I glanced behind the desk and there was another large picture of him.
I went over there and looked at it closely and felt around the frame. And as I thought I would, I felt a small metal key inside the corner of the frame. Of course an egomaniac would put it inside his own portrait. I couldn't help but chuckle a little at the irony.
I put the key in the hole of the top drawer and not surprisingly it turned and I opened the drawer. I looked inside and saw a few writing utensils and little odds and ends that wouldn't tell me anything. I unlocked the other drawer on the other side and there was a little more in there so sifted through the papers for something useful.
It was just more field reports and yet another reinforcement's rejection letter. I was about to move on to another part of the office, until something below the desk caught my eye. It was completely dark down there, but it wasn't completely flat.
I ducked under the desk and felt the ground and, sure enough, it wasn't flat. I felt the shape and it was a square slightly higher than the floor. A safe.
I felt around for the opening or a key hole and I found it in the bottom right corner. I put the key in and it actually opened the safe. I put the key on the desk and opened the door of the floor safe. I couldn't see anything in there so I grabbed one of the candles he had lit and held it down there to see what was inside.
I saw through the faint candle light a few papers, some Earth Kingdom currency, and a file with the word "Classified" clearly stated. Jackpot.
I took the file and loose papers out of the safe, put the money in my boot because I'll probably need it when we get out of here, and shut the safe. I looked at the first paper and it was a personal paper, written by Saszin himself. It looked to be a journal of some sort. It must be pretty important, and secretive. Oops.
This war is changing me. I'm starting to not care about what my actions bring. I'm starting to not care about my own men. It actually scares me. You always hear those horrible war stories, about how people turn to monsters without realizing it, but I never once thought it would happen to me.
But I've seen too much. I can't block the memories out, as hard as I try to. The horrible, despicable acts of terror I've seen haunt my every dream. I haven't slept in 48 hours, I don't want to. I can't stand the images that won't go away. I don't want this life anymore.
A green private died today. He came from a very small village in the northwest, wanting to fight the Fire Nation. He died a despicable death, hiding from the Fire Nation as they tore through our ranks. What a coward, a young coward, young enough to not even have to shave yet. That would be tragic news for everyone with any once of human decency right?
But yet when I saw it, I didn't care. I was almost glad he died. It meant I didn't have to deal with him anymore. That isn't normal. I'm not normal.
I'm changing, and I can't do anything about it.
Wow…that was…interesting.
But it doesn't sound like him, at least how he is now. It's almost as if another person wrote this entry. I looked at the date at the top and it was dated to over ten years ago. So that explains why he sounds so different, but why would he keep this document, locked up, for this long? I don't peg him the type to be sentimental or nostalgic.
The other paper was another letter, and it was written in sloppy handwriting and the sheet is crumbled, showing wear and tear. It has to be very old.
Saszin
I'm sorry Saszin, but I am leaving. I don't have any other choice considering the position you have put us all in. I can't continue to lead the life you want me to. I'm tired of worrying if you're even going to come home to me every night, and I'm tired of waking up to you gone, and I'm just tired of being tired.
I no longer want to be a part of the "future" you're building. Every day I see you start drifting towards recruitment, and every day I see you state longingly at the troops that march through our village on their way to the front lines. You say you have no interest in serving the military, but I know you too well Saszin, it's the burden of knowledge I bear.
I'm not stupid Saszin. I know what is going to happen. You are going to make the choice between me and your family, and serving the military and I fear I'm not going to like what you choose. So I'm making the decision for you.
I love you, and I'm sorry
Goodbye
"Wow." I relented softly. He joined because someone he loved left him? That is harsh. That definitely puts a new spin on things.
I shook off the thought and put that paper aside and picked up the classified file. This will tell me what I want to hear, hopefully. I opened the file and looked at the first page. It was his military recruitment paper and then I realized what the file really was. It was his military file.
But why does he have it? Shouldn't this be in Ba Sing Se where they keep the other military files? Something stinks about this, and I intend to find out what. I read through the first page, it was just his personal information, nothing useful to me.
The second page was his marks in training and field work. "A star pupil." Was one of the comments left by military officials. "Excellence in execution."
"Innate sense of honor and duty."
"Blah blah blah. Insert clichéd expression here." I groaned, shoving the paper aside. That was early in his career, I need the late stuff. The next couple of pages were advancement in rank approvals, as well as the jump to commanding his own men. But then I came across a paper that really intrigued me.
It was a psychological evaluation of Saszin, dated to just a year ago. It was a long evaluation, so I just scanned it for key words and read a little bit of it. But some key phrases stood out to me.
Subject exhibits long term physiological and psychological trauma, probably due to a traumatic event occurring in either childhood or adolescence.
Subject appears to lack moral ambiguity
Subject talks in circles and is unclear if questioned about his beliefs, causing me to believe he has weakened his own grip on reality.
"Subject is bonkers." I added, moving aside that document to continue on to the next one. I looked at the title of the next document and I leaned forward in the chair to read it more clearly. This is what I was looking for.
It was a field report, set to two years ago, right when the other letter said an "incident" happened.
Date: 07/14
Time: 1800
Location: Earth Kingdom Southeastern Shore
Seven Fire Nation soldiers were spotted by Imperial Scouts on the outskirts of a small village with a residency of approximately five hundred or so. This finding was reported to General Saszin moments later, and he was sure they were going to attack within the hour. He mobilized his group of defenders to the rear flank of where the Fire Nation soldiers were spotted, in an attempt to form a pincer between his force and the sea.
When Saszin ordered the battle lines to advance, the Fire Nation Soldiers had already begun marching on the village. Saszin pushed the troops forward and when the force got to the village, the Fire Nation soldiers had already begun raiding it. Saszin ordered his men to stop at the top of the hill that leads down to the village.
The men were ordered to use the rocky slope, by rolling the rocks down the hill to stop the Fire Nation from raiding, and it was pointed out to him that it would put the innocent Earth Kingdom villagers at risk. He reprimanded the man harshly, promising a dishonorable discharge for insubordination, then ordered the attack.
The village was heavily damaged by the rocks, crushing homes and ruining shops and food supplies. The number of civilian casualties was thirty seven, with 23 killed and 6 in critical condition. Two of the seven Fire Nation soldiers were killed in the attack, the other five captured when Saszin's force entered the village.
He then ordered the surviving Fire Nation soldiers to be executed on the spot, with all surviving villagers watching. The order was carried out, the bodies thrown in the ocean with no regard to burying rituals. General Saszin ordered silence to the villagers, promising proper burial for those that perished.
When asked about the attack by a mother whose child died in the onslaught, he replied "A necessary sacrifice for the greater good."
"This man must be stopped." I whispered to myself when I finished the report. He killed innocent people, and covered it up. If he is willing to kill his own people with reckless abandon, what is he going to do if the Imperial High Council gives him what he demands? That thought can chill you.
I stood up, pushing the disturbing document away and buried my head in my hands, sighing to myself at the situation I've stumbled upon.
The woman I love has been captured by an egomaniacal, psychologically disturbed man who has the strongest force of men in the Earth Kingdom, and is gaining power and momentum with every second that passes. I'm sitting in his personal quarters, no plan of action yet, no bending ability, no allies, and all I have is a sword and a boomerang.
Grrreat.