Whenever I write stories, I always tend to follow the outline that I had planned but I seemed to have forgotten that with this chapter. For the most part, I followed the outline where Izanami and Gen had their talk, but then I deviated from the plot a bit with what I had originally written after that. What I have now added was in the original plan for this chapter, but I completely forgot it until I was going back over the outline of the story. Also, this chapter has nothing to do with that earworm of a song "Let it Go" from Frozen, I just thought that the song was an appropriate title for this chapter.

Let it Go

Sitting there after her revelations from Gen's words, Izanami had no idea how to react. There was a possibility that Gen was the mother of her nephew – a nephew that she didn't even know she had. It would've explained why Izanami had recognised Niko from somewhere. Despite the shard of doubt that she was just reading too much into this, Izanami knew that the chances were, that was her nephew who was in the clutches of the Dai Li.

"I just hope that wherever he is, Kazu can still remember me and that despite our different backgrounds, he still loves me," Gen whispered.

It was then that Izanami realised that Gen wouldn't know that Kazu had actually died and she found her heart breaking all over again. Not just for Gen, but for herself, too. Losing Kazu was something that Izanami was still yet to deal with.

"He's in a better place now, but I'm sure that he died loving you," Izanami found her voice.

Gen whipped her head towards her, "What makes you say that?"

"Because I know my brother, and he's not the kind of person to stop loving someone no matter what happens," Izanami replied.

"Your brother?" Gen's eyes widened.

"Unless I've gotten this incredibly wrong, then the Kazu that you know is the Kazu that was my brother," Izanami clarified.

"Wait a minute… You're Izzy?" Gen questioned in shock.

"I guess I am," Izanami murmured, remembering the nickname that her brother had affectionately called her.

"Kazu told me that he had a younger sister, but he only ever referred to you as Izzy just like he referred to his parents as mother and father. I never would've connected those dots…" Gen trailed off.

"We live in a small world," Izanami remarked.

"You said that he's in a better place…" Gen's face fell.

"I'm sorry, but he died during the war. It's been over a year," Izanami confirmed.

"Oh. I suppose that this would be a stupid question, but did he ever mention me?" Gen asked.

Izanami shook her head, "I never heard from Kazu personally after he left when I was seven. The only times I did hear from him were from letters, which only ever came rarely. The last letter that I even got from him was three years before he died."

"So the last time you saw him was when you were a child? That's horrible," Gen sighed.

"Believe me, it was. I missed him every day he was gone. There wasn't a moment that went by when I didn't think about what he was doing or wondering if he was thinking about me," Izanami recalled.

"He did talk about you a lot, if it's any consultation. There was a way that he talked about you that wasn't like the way he talked about anyone else. His eyes just lit up whenever he talked about you. I always hoped that I'd get the chance to meet you one day. Certainly not under these circumstances," Gen said.

"I share the same sentiment with you, although I never would've expected to meet you since I had no idea that someone like you existed," Izanami admitted.

"Kazu did say that it would be safer for both of us if nobody ever knew that we were involved," Gen stated.

"I have to ask you this question though… did he ever know about Niko? Was it something that you kept from him?" Izanami questioned.

Gen sighed, "I found out that I was pregnant with Niko shortly after your brother got transferred again. I tried tracking him down, but there was only so much that I could do without putting all of us at risk. I knew that Kazu would've wanted us both to be safe and that he'd come find me if he could, so all this time I've been waiting for him to find me. Now I know that he never will."

Sympathy welled up inside of Izanami, since she knew exactly how Gen was feeling. For nine years Izanami had sat and waited for Kazu to come home to her like he promised. Only when Kazu did come home, it was certainly not the reunion that Izanami would've expected. The closest that Izanami had gotten to a reunion with her brother was looking at his bruised and battered face before he was buried. That certainly wasn't the kind of reunion that she was expecting to have.

There had certainly been plenty of times when Izanami had imagined how her reunion with Kazu would have gone, filled with tears and hugs. Tears had certainly been involved but not the tears of happiness that Izanami had thought she would experience. Even now it was hard to think about Kazu without crying tears of sadness.

"I know what you mean," Izanami spoke up. "I spent nine years hoping that I would see my brother again. There were some times when I even forgot what he looked like or wondered if I would even recognise him and just that alone was enough to destroy me."

"Now I have nothing to look for. Knowing that Kazu won't be coming to find me, it's just like, okay there's nothing waiting for me anymore," Gen murmured.

"But there is," Izanami grabbed her hand. "You have Niko out there, fighting off the Dai Li agents who are trying to make him into something that he certainly won't be. We've gotta get out of this together so that we can be with Niko."

"You're right. I won't let those men corrupt my little boy," Gen nodded.

Having this newfound connection with Gen, Izanami knew that they had to get out of this mess together. Maybe once they were out, they both could finally be free from the grief that still hung over them. Finding out that Gen was the mother of her brothers son made Izanami realised that she was certainly not over her brothers death like she thought she was.

It was time that Izanami stopped wallowing about something that she couldn't change. If anything, she owed it to Kazu.

~*•°•*~

Most dreams that Izanami had were strange. Strange in the sense that they were all so vivid and she could see herself in them, but when she woke up the next morning she could hardly remember anything that happened. So when Izanami recognised herself standing in front of Kazu, she hoped more than anything that she would remember this dream when she woke up.

"Kazu?" Izanami murmured.

"Hey, Izzy," he smiled.

Tears fell down Izanami's face when she realised that this dream was really happening. But those tears also came from the fact that this was something that she'd never get to experience in real life.

"What is this? What's going on?" Izanami wondered.

"I don't have much time, Izzy. I just needed to speak with you, to clear the air between us since I never got the chance to," Kazu said.

"What do you mean you don't have much time?" Izanami asked.

"You were right in saying that I was in a better place. But that place means that I can't be with you like I would like to be," Kazu replied.

"Oh, Kazu. I miss you so much," Izanami cried. "Why did you have to leave me?"

"Believe me, it wasn't a choice. If I could've had anything to do with it, I certainly would not have left you for as long as I did and I definitely would not have gone out the way that I did. But in some way, I am glad that I got to go because it made everything become so clear to me, even if it did bring me my untimely end," Kazu said.

"You always made something bad turn out to be something good, like the time when we were both grounded but you made it one of the best days ever. I liked that about you," Izanami sniffled.

"And I liked that you were my sister. We had a relationship and an understanding that was unlike anything that I had with mother and father. You loved me no matter what and there was nothing that I could do that wouldn't make you love me. As for mother and father, I had to work to earn their love and admiration. I thought that fighting in the war was something that would give me that, but it didn't," Kazu revealed.

"When you left Kazu, it was like anything that was holding our family together fell apart. It was almost like I was nothing to mother and father. They only started acting like I was worth something to them when I befriended Princess Azula," Izanami muttered.

"That certainly wasn't something that I would've expected from you to befriend someone like that. Then again, you always did love playing with your princess dolls so I guess you befriending a Fire Nation Princess makes sense. You always tried to save the princesses from the evil knights. It's a shame that you couldn't save the princess from herself," Kazu said.

Izanami's face fell, "I tried, Kazu. I tried so hard to keep Azula together. But the harder I tried the more I seemed to be losing myself while at the same time, realising things that I never even realised before. If I hadn't befriended Azula, I never would've realised just how messed up things were in the world. I would've just remained an ignorant Fire Nation citizen, completely oblivious to the turmoil in the world."

"Then it was good for you to befriend the Fire Nation Princess. But you need to stop making your entire life about her. For almost five years you have just let your life revolve around her and what she's doing or what other people want you to do. Stop trying to save her because the only person who can save the princess is herself," Kazu proclaimed.

"But then she won't even be saved. Azula has no idea that what she's doing isn't right. She needs someone to help her," Izanami insisted.

"That's something she can figure out on her own, just like I did. It was only once I was away from the influence of anyone else where I started to think that what I was fighting for wasn't right and actually started doing what I wanted to do with my life. Even if I did get punished for it, I at least died fighting for what I believed in," Kazu stated.

"What do you mean?" Izanami asked.

"Listen, Izanami. Not everything is what it seems to be. Surely you would have realised that by now with what you have seen in the world. There are certain things that have been swept under the rug and you don't even realise it," Kazu replied.

"That's basically everything in my life," Izanami muttered, since everything in her life up until this point had almost been a mystery to her.

"I'm running out of time to speak to you, Izzy, but just remember that justice always prevails. Justice prevailed in the war with Fire Lord Ozai and there is still more justice that needs to be done," Kazu said cryptically.

"I don't want you to go again," Izanami sniffled.

"You have no idea just how much I wish I could be with you right now, Izzy. But I have to go," Kazu sighed. "Just remember to be a good Aunt Izzy to my little boy and train him to be a kick ass firebender."

Izanami smiled, "I'll train him like we would've wanted to be trained."

"And tell Gen that I still think about her too and that I'm glad she's safe, even if she isn't right now," Kazu stated.

"You've got it. I'll see you on the other side," Izanami said.

"But not too soon though, Izzy. You've still got so much left to do in this world. It's going to be fun to see what you become and just know that through everything, I'll be watching you from where I am," Kazu smiled.

Izanami nodded, "I've always liked to have thought that you were standing over me, but now that I know you are for sure it'll definitely give me some comfort."

"Now get my son and my girl out of this mess," Kazu ordered.

"You can count on me," Izanami smiled, since she planned on doing just that.

Waking up with a start, Izanami looked around to make sure that she knew where she was. When she realised that she was still in the same place where she had gone to sleep, Izanami rested back down onto what was her bed, even if it was hardly a bed. Slowly, Izanami glanced over to where Gen was sleeping peacefully after struggling to do so with worries of Niko keeping her up all night. Only now Izanami was the one who would be struggling to get to sleep with thoughts of her brother still lingering in her mind.

Of all the dreams that she has had, that dream with Kazu would have to be the most bizarre one of them all. Simply because it had almost come at the perfect time, right when Izanami needed something like that to happen. He had showed up in her dream to inspire her and give her courage, which was exactly what he had done. But Kazu had also instilled questions in her that she didn't even think needed to be answered.

What had he meant by saying that everything wasn't what it seemed? Even before going off with Azula during the war Izanami had known that not everything was always the way that people wanted it to be seen. It almost sounded like Kazu was talking about himself in a way. But Izanami could worry about Kazu's words later because right now, she had something more important to worry about. Like figuring out how the heck was she supposed to get her nephew and his mother out of this mess.

~*•°•*~

After surprisingly seeing Kazu in her dream, Izanami had stayed up all night wondering about what he had said to her and what it could possibly mean. Some of the things that he had said sounded very vague, like they were supposed to be that way and he expected her to figure out what they meant. But figuring out her brothers riddles was the last thing on Izanami's mind at the moment, because all she wanted to do was break out of this cellar with her nephew and his mother. Her patience was running thin, and there was only so much that Izanami would put up with.

As a firebender, patience was never something that Izanami had on her side. She wasn't an impatient mess, but waiting around was never something that she liked doing. Especially when she couldn't afford to wait around, like now when her nephew was in danger. Understandably so, Gen was still a mess about the thought of losing her sweet little boy to the Dai Li agents. But if they were to rescue Niko from them, that was something that they'd have to do together.

"Gen, I know you're scared and worried about Niko, but we can't wait around like this," Izanami proclaimed.

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Gen asked.

"We get out of here. I can use my firebending to blast through that door and then we can find Niko on our own somehow. If we have to deal with any Dai Li agents, just make sure that you don't get your hands rocked together," Izanami ordered.

"But what if they hurt my baby?" Gen murmured fearfully.

"They're already probably hurting him now after what he did with his firebending. We can save him and make sure that he's alright, and I can help him become the firebender that he was supposed to be," Izanami declared.

"But what if they hurt us?" Gen worried.

"If they hurt us, it won't be that bad. I'm a firebender and you're a kick-ass mom so we should be able to handle a few men with ponytails and their gloves," Izanami said, trying to encourage Gen.

"If you're sure…" Gen trailed off hesitantly.

"I'm sure," Izanami nodded.

With Gen on board, Izanami slowly headed up the stairs that lead to the door that the Dai Li used to enter the room. It wasn't like any normal door, because it was made out of earth so the Dai Li could only enter it using earthbending, which was why Izanami would have to break through it on her own. Mustering up all of the power that she could, Izanami unleashed a powerful blast of fire that was more than enough to break through that door.

"Let's go!" Izanami yelled to Gen.

Since Niko could've been anywhere, they really didn't have the time to mess around which was why Izanami grabbed Gen before the woman could even react. Within a few seconds Izanami could hear a commotion coming from down the corridor where their cellar had been, so she knew that the Dai Li would be chasing after them.

Sure enough, just as Izanami and Gen ran past a corner she saw several rock gloves get fired at the wall that they had just ran past. As she felt the Dai Li approaching them, Izanami augmented fire into the hallway, hoping that it would be able to slow the Dai Li down as they searched for Niko. Having no idea where he could possibly be, all they could do was check each and every room for any sign of him while being prepared to face off against any Dai Li agents.

Each room that they found seemed to lead to nothing, so Izanami was beginning to get frustrated at not being able to find her nephew. There was no way that she'd be leaving him in the clutches of the Dai Li, not after she had just found out that he existed. Just when Izanami was beginning to worry if she'd ever find Niko, she had passed a corridor and was basically shocked at what she saw.

Because standing right before her was Niko with his fists outstretched and a Dai Li agent knocked out under his feet. There was no doubt in her mind that he had done that, and she couldn't help but be proud of him.

"You're momma's friend!" Niko exclaimed.

"Yes, I am," Izanami smiled. "And I'm going to get you back to your momma, so come with me."

There was no time to worry about how Niko had managed to get away from the Dai Li's clutches, all she wanted to do was get out of here with him and Gen. In the process of trying to find her kidnapped nephew, Izanami had lost track of Gen and groaned at the thought of having to track her down as well. But it didn't take her long to track Gen down again, because once she passed the nearest corner, she found her restrained by a Dai Li agent.

"Momma!" Niko cried, clutching onto Izanami fearfully.

"My baby!" Gen exclaimed.

"Yes, your baby that should be with us," said the Dai Li agent who had his arm wrapped around Gen in a choke-hold position.

"No, he shouldn't be, because he's not your son. Regardless of who his father is, that gives you no right to take him away from his mother," Izanami said.

"Ah, so you know your relation now," the Dai Li agent stated.

"Yes, I do. And that just makes me more determined to get you away from them because they're my family," Izanami glared at him.

"You would really claim a half-breed brat?" the Dai Li agent hissed.

"Yes, because he is my nephew and I'll protect him just like I wish I could've protected my brother," Izanami declared.

"How do you plan to do that? You're surrounded," the Dai Li agent gestured to the other agents who had found them. "If you surrender now without a fight, we promise that no harm will come to that brat of yours."

"Never!" Izanami seethed.

Before anybody could react, Izanami got into a firebending stance and conjured a powerful blast of fire behind her and unleashed it on the Dai Li agents surrounding her. That had given her enough time to think, but not enough time to get out. But Izanami didn't know how to get out. How could she, when she had no idea where to go? She needed something to cause destruction, because if this place was falling apart before their eyes it would leave the Dai Li defenceless. But how?

If there's anything that provides destruction, it's lightning.

Izanami wasn't sure why Azula's voice entered her head at that point in time, but in a desperate attempt to save those she cared about, she decided to go with it anyways. Her fear of lightning was incomparable to the fear of losing those she cared about, and she feared losing Niko and Gen right now. Never before had Izanami even attempted lightning generation, so she had no idea what she really was supposed to do. She then remembered watching Azula's lessons, and how Azula had always said that you needed to have a piece of mind or complete absence of emotion.

Despite the chaos that was around her, Izanami was able to clear her mind and get rid of the panic that had outdone any other emotion that she was feeling. With that in check, Izanami slowly moved her arms around in a circular motion, trying to mimic the movements that she had seen Azula done so many times before. When Izanami heard the cackling of electricity around her, she almost couldn't believe it until she saw the lightning that was coming from her fingers. It wasn't anything like Azula's lightning, but it was still lightning.

Once it was powerful enough to Izanami's standards, she thrusted her left arm upwards, unleashing a powerful strike of lightning at the roof which destroyed it upon impact. The impact of the lightning strike had been enough to cause the roof to collapse, but Izanami could see the light that was above her. That was the escape route that she needed. There was no time to freak out about the fact that she had just performed lightning generation. She could do that later. Right now, she had to get her nephew and his mother out of here.

While the Dai Li agents scrambled to keep their structure upright, Izanami grabbed hold of Gen who had been released from her hold and Niko as well. After ordering Gen to keep Niko held tightly on her, Izanami remained focused until she saw the perfect opening and kicked her feet down, allowing herself to propel them up into the air with her firebending. This was something that Izanami had only ever done once before, during the events that occurred at the Boiling Rock since like lightning generation, jet propulsion was a difficult move to learn.

Whatever blast Izanami had conjured was enough to get them into the air, narrowly avoiding the falling debris that came from the collapsing roof. As sad as it was, Izanami felt no sympathy for the Dai Li agents who were undoubtedly being crushed by it as they rocketed away. But Izanami could only hold onto Gen and Niko for so long as their weight became too much to carry, and she knew that she had to get them off her safely.

"Be careful!" Izanami yelled as she let go of them, allowing them to fall onto the roof that was collapsing behind them.

Having completely drained herself of any energy, it was only a few seconds later when Izanami landed on the roof as well, struggling to keep herself steady. But knowing that the roof was collapsing behind them and that if she didn't run across it fast enough she'd end up right back to where she started was enough to keep Izanami moving, racing after Gen and Niko.

When they reached the edge of the roof, Gen jumped off of it first before gesturing for Izanami to throw Niko down to her, which she did before jumping down herself, just as the roof collapsed behind her.

They had made it out. They had escaped, and in a pretty incredible fashion too. But before Izanami could jump up and celebrate, she spotted two figures approaching them from the distance. After dealing with what they had just dealt with, Izanami wasn't going to take any chances so she instantly got into a battle position as she waited for them to make any sudden movements.

As the two figures approached them, she noticed how one of them was quite clearly bigger than the other which made her nervous for a fight, since she wasn't that big. But as they got closer and closer, Izanami found her eyes drawn to one of the two figures before she looked directly in the eyes of one of them and gasped in recollection.

She had seen those eyes before.

To those who read the original chapter, I'm sorry for confusing people with the sudden change around but for the sake of the outline that I had planned, I needed to go back and add that part in. But damn, that escape turned out longer than I thought it would. It was necessary to have it in this chapter because of the new cliff-hanger at the end, which you'll see in the next chapter. Bet you guys weren't expecting to see Kazu pop up like that, but I figured that Izanami at least deserved one last proper goodbye with her brother so that she could finally finish her grieving and help Gen cope too. That doesn't mean that Izanami will be over it, she just won't let it bother her as much as she has so far. It would seem as though Kazu's parting words have left his sister with something to ponder, so I'll leave you guys to ponder that in the reviews which I really would appreciate.