Chapter 33: Family Plot
Ultimately, the only power to which man should aspire is that which he exercises over himself.
- Elie Wiesel
The family endures because it offers the truth of mortality and immortality within the same group. The family endures because, better than the commune, kibbutz, or classroom, it seems to individualize and socialize its children, to make us feel at the same time unique and yet joined to all humanity, accepted as is and yet challenged to grow, loved unconditionally and yet propelled by greater expectations. Only in the family can so many extremes be reconciled and synthesized. Only in the family do we have a lifetime in which to do it.
- Letty Cottin Pogrebin
All power corrupts, but we need the electricity.
- Anonymous
After Will laid out the basics of the Guardians' plan to defeat Phobos and gain their freedom from his elemental Wheel, the reaction of Aang and the others was…less than unanimous.
"Has that lightning bending gotten to your brain?" said the incredulous Sokka. "That has to be the worst thing I've ever heard!"
"You can't do that!" insisted Aang. "We can't trust him!"
"Aang and Sokka have a point." said Katara. "There has to be a better way out of this...than putting all our hope in the Fire Lord!"
"I don't like it either!" replied Will. "But we have no choice! He's the closest to the Heart of Candracar! None of us can reach it in time! Plus, after Phobos is defeated, our problem will be the Fire Nation. This way, we get guaranteed safe passage out, and both our problems are solved!"
"If we can believe a word he says!" railed Sokka. "And with Aang right here, who the Fire Lord has been after since day one, I'd say that's a mighty big if!"
"You think me lacking in honor, boy?" said the irked Fire Lord Ozai.
"Did I say that? Can I rephrase? What I meant was..." said the backpedaling Water Tribe boy.
"Look, it doesn't matter. We Guardians have made our decision!" said the Energy Guardian, ending the argument. "We're going to help the Fire Lord get free and beat Phobos! We don't have time to come up with anything else! Phobos could rip open the Veil and destroy everything any minute! If any of you have a better plan, I'd love to hear it!"
There was only silence in response to Will's request.
"Okay, so we'll do our own Avatar State again," began the Guardians' leader, "then we'll direct our energy up above to free Fire Lord Ozai. Then he'll grab the Heart and..."
"No." said Prince Zuko, in an emotionless monotone. "He doesn't deserve it."
The Guardians and Aang and the rest were shocked!
Not just by what Zuko said, or even in the way he said it, but by the fact he said anything at all!
The young Prince hadn't spoken a word in the entire time they were there.
Plus, the Guardians were doubly concerned that this could derail their whole plan!
Guys, what do we do? thought the frantic Taranee. If Zuko denies Ozai access to the Heart, we're finished!
Then we'll just have to convince him not to do that! thought the crafty Cornelia. Right, Irma?
Me? Why me? Oh. Never mind. thought-replied Irma Lair.
Yeah, after being on this Wheel thing as long as he has, his will must be pretty low. So you can probably walk in his head and make him do whatever you want! reasoned Will Vandom, their tactical commander.
I get it! Sheesh! Just...let me handle it, okay? thought Irma, annoyed that the entire success or failure of their mission now depended on her.
"Zuko..." Irma called out to the banished Fire Nation Prince, who was disowned by his own father.
"What do you want?" grumbled Zuko.
"We need your help." said Irma.
At that, a dismissive noise erupted from the Prince's throat.
"I know we haven't exactly gotten along..." continued Irma.
"Huh." muttered Prince Zuko.
"...and I personally did things that hurt you. But you have to forget all that! Phobos is going to destroy the world! Is that what your friend Shen would want?" argued Irma.
"Shen is dead!" cried Prince Zuko. "So the rest of you can go..."
"Zuko...nephew." consoled Iroh.
"Leave me alone." said the despondent Prince.
"But that's not true!" Irma declared.
Uh, Luke, why have you turned off your targeting computer? thought-asked the confused Cornelia Hale. Irma, I'm not feeling any mind-zapping!
Maybe because the force is with me? thought-replied the Water Guardian. Irma had never invaded the mind of someone in such a miserable state. It made her feel uncomfortable. Let me try it my way, okay?
But this is too important! If... thought Cornelia.
It's okay, Irma. thought Will. Do what you think best.
Thanks, Will. thought Irma, happy for the support.
"Your friend Shen is alive, Zuko!" said Irma to the Prince.
"You lie!" replied the hurt Fire Nation boy, recalling the words of Iroh, who warned Zuko not to trust the Guardians. "I saw Shen die in my arms!"
"No!! That was another one of Phobos' tricks!" exclaimed Irma. "Shen was severely injured, but he was still alive. We healed him and sent him on his way."
"It's true." added Katara. "I was there. I helped heal him."
"No. It can't be. I saw..." said the puzzled Prince, trying to reconcile everything he saw and heard that day with what he was being told now.
"Shen told us the way you are now, hunting the Avatar and grabbing power, isn't the real you. That you changed after you lost your mother." said the surprisingly compassionate Irma.
How would she know that? thought the Prince. Is it possible she's telling the truth?
"Shen said the two of you used to have such fun together when you vacationed at Fire Lakes. I can't guarantee everything will be that way again, but to even have a chance at that, we need you to let Ozai have the Heart." bade the Water Guardian.
Then Zuko remembered the 'Iroh ' who warned him about the Guardians was from that dream, and wasn't real.
It wasn't Iroh at all in that 'dream world'! It was Zuko's own, anger-filled voice talking back to him!
"After all this is over, we can even lead you to your friend, Shen. We know where he is." stated Irma, putting the cherry on top of her quite forceful case. "So what do you say? Deal?"
"Okay. Lord Ozai can have the Heart." uttered Prince Zuko.
"Pathetic." said the Fire Lord, who could scarce believe he had sired such a weak-willed whelp.
Zuko's anger burned at this!
"Nephew! Let it go!" cautioned Uncle Iroh. "Let Ozai have the power! You will gain so much more!"
Zuko's eyes briefly glared with fervor, then dimmed.
"Yes, Uncle. You're right." said the whipped Prince Zuko.
"To give up so easily? Even Ursa would be ashamed!" said the Fire Lord, mentioning Zuko's mother. "But it is for the best. You could never handle that power properly!"
Zuko was enraged!
How dare he? fumed the teen Prince.
Even wise old Uncle Iroh could not tame the fires burning in Zuko's soul this time!
No, it would take another.
"What is the matter with you?" Katara screamed at Fire Lord Ozai. "Haven't you done enough to him? And you call yourself a father? You should be ashamed of yourself!"
Struck that someone outside his family would dare say anything about it, Ozai could only offer a meek defense. "It is...not your concern, girl."
"Zuko, don't listen to him!" urged the Water Tribe girl. "He doesn't know the first thing about fatherhood, about family! You're not pathetic! You're, actually, one of the strongest persons I've ever met! Don't let him do that to you! Your scar is not you! It's not a symbol of your failure! It marks his failure, Lord Ozai's failure!"
"Katara...what?" Aang wondered.
"Not now, Aang. Please." Katara replied. How could she explain how she felt? She and Sokka and Aang had always hated Zuko, but after all she learned about him (including that he liked her), she didn't know what to think anymore. But Katara knew Ozai's conduct was outrageous, and he deserved to be called on it.
"I...Thank you." was all Zuko could manage to spit out.
Why is she sticking up for me? The question roiled his thoughts.
Stunned that someone, an enemy even, could see worth in him, Zuko's soul eased, and his spine stiffened.
"Now you let a Water Tribe girl defend you?" needled Ozai. "Bah!"
"Shut up, father." Zuko said, in a surprisingly calm, self-assured voice.
"Now that the soap opera is over," Will interjected, "we should get down to the whole saving the world thing!"
Will then detailed the scheme to all those roped to Phobos' elemental Wheel.
"We Guardians will direct our Avatar State energy upwards, to loosen the Fire Lord's bonds." said Will. Then the Fire Lord has to quickly grab the Heart of Candracar, before Phobos can react!"
"Then...and this is key," Will emphasized, "he has to combine with the power of the Heart, the dragon, and become his element."
"Why must I do that?" asked Ozai.
"Because then you will be at the very zenith of your power, and strong enough to stop Phobos! We'd do it ourselves, but we need the Heart to achieve this state," Will lied, "and we can't get to it."
As the Guardians' Avatar State-powered energy blast clumsily tore at the magical bonds on the upper level of the Wheel, where the Heart was encased behind a mystical barrier, with the two quarreling fire benders, Ozai and Zuko, on opposite sides of it, Zuko's restraints were loosened along with the Fire Lord's.
And all Zuko could think about were Will's words. He ran them over and over in his mind.
...combine with the power of the Heart...become his element...very zenith of power...
"No!!" Zuko shouted at his father. "You don't deserve power like that!" he said, as he broke free and lunged for the Heart of Candracar.
"Zuko! No!" Will yelled.
"Stop!" Irma screamed.
"Don't do it!" exclaimed Taranee.
"Nephew! No!" pleaded Uncle Iroh. "You don't know what you're doing!"
"I know exactly what I'm doing, Uncle!" Zuko declared, Heart securely in hand, after felling Lord Ozai with a fire blast that sent him soaring into a wall!
Unconscious, the dread Fire Lord fell to the floor in a crumbled heap.
"Heart...combine with me! Combine with the dragon! Become...fire!" Zuko exclaimed.
"Oh, no!" cried Will, as Prince Zuko transformed.
Zuko became a thing entirely composed of fire itself!
The flames he was made of were so hot, he burned the part of the Wheel he stood on!
"Yes...Now this is power!" said the literally fiery Fire Nation Prince, hovering in the air.
"What are you doing now??" demanded Prince Phobos, upon running into the room. "I'll...What??" he said, as he spied the flying fire elemental.
Fire Zuko casually tossed a fireball at the Meridian Prince, but Phobos parried it easily.
"Is that the best you can do?" goaded Phobos.
"No." replied the Fire known as Zuko.
The now Fire God for real sent massive fireball after fireball at the dark Prince in an attempt to punch through Phobos' mystical defense shield.
Will, directing what remained of their Avatar State power, used it to free her and the other Guardians.
Then, though weakened from their efforts, the Guardians scrambled to free the others lashed to the Wheel!
Phobos' magical globe of energy held, causing Zuko to re-double his efforts.
The Fire Prince 'turned up the heat'! Though all of his vast energy was aimed at the devious Meridianite, the temperature rise in the room was so great Taranee erected a fire wall which she and the others, even the now-captive Ozai, hid behind.
Timbers on the wall burst into flame!
The stone beneath their feet melted!
With the Fire Nation soldiers and Palace guards having long since abandoned their posts in an attempt to save their skins, the near-empty Palace of the Fire Lord was consumed in the conflagration, so massive were the fiery energies unleashed by the unrestrained Prince of the Fire Nation!
It was as if the sky had birthed a new sun, so intense was the heat and light given off by the Fire God!
And still Phobos was unbowed!
Taranee, though, was starting to feel the strain of absorbing so much raw, naked fire power!
"I...don't know...how much longer..I can.." she gasped, as she struggled to maintain her fireshield.
"You have to, Tara!" Will told her friend.
"You can do it, Taranee!" encouraged the other Guardians.
The only thing that saved them was that Zuko was not throwing his power directly at them!
If he had, the Guardians, Aang, Katara, Toph, Sokka, Iroh, even Ozai, would not have survived!
Fire Zuko, heedless of the peril he put everyone in, focused on his task - to crush Prince Phobos!
He called on all of the power of the dragon, and sent the whole of it at the merciless Meridianite!
Phobos, his source of power gone now that the Wheel was destroyed, was close to expending all of his purloined power.
Yet he still stood against Zuko! He would not let a mere boy beat him!
Desperately, he sent waves of sorcerous might at Fire God Zuko!
Zuko was pushed back, but quickly recovered and pressed the attack.
The Guardians, though, were not faring as well.
Taranee's knees buckled!
Her face awash in sweat!
Licks of flame erupted from Taranee's skin, as she was quickly losing the ability to block Zuko's fire!
Even if Fire Zuko succeeded in ending the threat of Phobos, they would never make it out alive!
Unless...
"Everyone! Join hands! We have to combine our power and give it to Taranee!" ordered Will.
The Guardians, even Toph, Katara and Sokka, quickly complied.
One, however, hesitated.
"Aang?" Katara said, her eyes making a silent plea.
Which was answered, when Aang's hand grasped hers. Katara smiled, and Aang brightened in reply.
Even the recalcitrant Ozai, quickly enchained in rock by Toph, opened his hand when his older brother Iroh gave him 'the stare'.
"We're all with you, Tara!" Will told her beloved comrade.
And it was true.
Strengthened by the love and support of those around her, Taranee rose up and reinforced the decaying fireshield!
"Ahhhh!" she screamed, as all of her power was brought to bear on saving her friends!
Phobos, with naught but his stolen mystical power to keep him safe, a power rapidly failing, decided on the better (though for him, worse) part of valor.
He ran!
"Some other time, Guardians!" said the perspiring Prince of Meridian, who was finally feeling the effects of Zuko's intense firebombing, the sweat dripping from his pores even though encased in his magical shield, as he vanished from sight!
With Phobos no longer there to sustain it, his mystical sphere shattered under Zuko's assault.
"What happened?" Will asked Taranee, the glare from the Zuko-Phobos fight so bright she could barely make out the two opponents.
"Phobos rabbited! The coward fled!" spat the angry Fire Guardian, eyes aflame, who maintained the fireshield until she determined it was safe to lower it.
"Which means he's still a problem!" commented Will.
"He's not our only one!" said Cornelia, pointing to Prince Zuko, who had flown off to pound the Fire Nation's military forces into the dust.
Soaring into the air, Fire Zuko easily spotted the mighty Fire Nation army's weapons and munitions storehouses.
He quickly reduced them to slag!
Then Fire God Zuko set off for the shipyards and harbor, and decimated the Fire Navy fleet, including the last submarine the Fire Nation possessed!
The sailors barely had time to leap to safety in the water, before Zuko sent ship after ship to the bottom of the sea!
Flying back to the ruined Palace of the Fire Lord, Zuko reveled in his victory.
"I did it!" he said. "I ended the war! Now the world will know peace...The peace of the Fire God!"
The people cheered!
They called his name.
"Zuko! Fire Lord Zuko!" they shouted.
Iroh tried to give him a hug, but had to keep his arms at a distance as Zuko was still made of fire.
"I'm so proud of you, Prince, I mean Fire Lord, Zuko!" said Uncle.
"I always knew you could do it, Zuko!" said his friend and cousin, Shen.
Even his father, Ozai, was happy for his success.
All of which pleased him. But there was one person whose opinion he especially desired.
"I did it, Mom! I did it all for you!" said Zuko, losing his fire aspect and regaining his human form, as he called to the woman in the shadows who gave him birth.
Strolling forward out of the mists, Ursa greeted her scar-free boy with a loving embrace. "Thank you, my son! I knew you would never give up! You always keep fighting, no matter how difficult!" she said. Then Ursa placed the crown of the Fire Lord upon the child she loved so much she sacrificed her own happiness for him.
But Zuko, son of Ozai and Ursa, had forgotten the last words his mother had said to him: "Never forget who you are."
Lost in a dream inside what was left of his mind, of his humanity, and with no one else there to remind him who he really was, Zuko created his own world.
The reality, however, was much different.
There were no cheering throngs.
There were no beaming parents, or proud relatives.
There was only...one very sad old man.
"W, what happened to him?" cried Uncle Iroh, as he stared at the hovering figure of fire that was previously his nephew, Prince Zuko.
"He...combined with the dragon...and lost his humanity. I'm so sorry!" said the melancholic Guardian leader. "The only way I know to get him out of that is if he hears the voice of someone who loves him! If there was anything I could do, I would."
"Haven't you done enough?" said the upset Iroh. "Zuko? Nephew?" he called out to the lost boy he considered like a son.
"Yeah. I think we have." said the despondent Will Vandom.
If we had never come to this world, none of this would have happened! she thought.
"It's not your fault, Will!" said Taranee, trying to cheer up her friend.
"Sure. Makes me feel lots better!" replied the sarcastic leader of the Guardians.
"If there's anyone at fault here, it's me!" said the depressed Irma. "If I would have done like Corny said, and mind-blasted him..."
"No, Irma! You did the right thing!" insisted Will, her friend's distress bringing her out of her own funk.
"I always do. So why does it always come out wrong?" wondered the pensive Irma Lair.
Before anyone could truly consider what Irma meant, Katara ran towards the teen consumed by his element of fire.
"I can help him!" she exclaimed, as she uncorked her vial of Spirit Oasis water.
But as she was about to use the special healing waters on the fiery form of Prince Zuko, a Guardian knocked the vial out of her hand!
Irma!
"Stop, Katara!" yelled Irma, her swing sending the Spirit Oasis water to the floor...and one other place.
"What are you doing? What's wrong with you??" Katara demanded to know why the Water Guardian had interrupted her act of mercy.
"Me?" said the baffled Irma Lair. "What are you doing?"
"Look!" she said, as she placed some of her own water near Zuko's being, composed entirely of fire. The water boiled away. "That's what would have happened if you tried to use that Spirit Oasis water! You would have lost it forever!"
"Oh. Thanks, Irma." said the Water Tribe girl, grateful for being prevented from making a mistake, but upset with herself for almost wasting the important healing liquid.
Katara quickly bent the spilled Spirit water back into its vial, but neglected to absorb the drops that fell on Irma in her act of salvation.
In fact, the Spirit drops that fell on Irma went unnoticed by all.
Perhaps it's for the best I didn't use the Spirit water, Katara told herself, as she watched the elderly Fire Nation general try to talk his beloved nephew out of the state he got himself into. I'll probably need it later!
All creatures possess the ability to heal themselves...if given the chance. Katara remembered her words, and so very much wanted to believe they were true.
Katara then fixed her gaze on the Fire Lord.
Though still a captive of the Guardians and Aang's gang, the infuriating fire bender...smirked.
"You just couldn't leave Zuko alone, could you? You're a terrible person!" she lectured the Fire Lord.
"I only sought to make him strong!" argued Ozai. "It was your mewling compassion that made him weak! He deserves his fate!"
"You monster!" said the maddened water bender, who was thisclose to throttling the Fire Lord!
However...
"Let it go, Katara! He's not worth it!" said Irma, holding the enraged Water Tribe girl back.
"Are you really angry because of what happened to Prince Zuko?" teased Lord Ozai. "Or because I didn't fall into your trap, and clear the way for your precious Avatar to meddle in other nations' affairs?"
"Well, pal, the way I see it, there's family, and then there's whatever you have! Enjoy the hogmonkey!" said the acerbic Miss Lair, scoring a direct hit in the zinger department! "Come on, Katara, we're getting out of here!"
"Go?" Sokka said, befuddled. "But we've got the Fire Lord beat! Why leave now?"
"Avatar Roku said I had to defeat the Fire Lord in battle, Sokka!" Aang clarified. "As long as we're free, we'll make that battle a time and place of our choosing! Not anyone else's!"
"Plus, Aang still needs to learn fire bending." Katara pointed out.
"But, but..." Sokka moaned, really bothered by the fact they'll have to go through this yet again in the future. "Awwwwww!"
As Aang saddled up Appa, who was found safe in an underground bunker (Momo by his side), the Guardians prepared to leave the Fire Nation behind.
"Time to go." Will said, picking up the long lost Heart of Candracar, abandoned by Zuko when he became one with the dragon of fire. "I think we've all had enough, and really don't want to face the Fire Nation when they re-group!" she said, as she prepared to use the Heart for the first time in way too long.
"What are you going to do, Will?" asked Irma. "Tele-transport us?"
"No. There's too many of us. And I'm not familiar enough with this world to do that." Will answered. "I'm going to fold back to our world, then open another fold back to the Earth Kingdom."
"But what about the Veil? Didn't you say it was pretty strong, and separated us when we came here?" asked the concerned Hay Lin.
"Which is why the first thing I'm going to do is open a communication link to Meridian." Will explained. "I'll tell Elyon about Phobos, then have her anchor us a path through the Veil!"
"You're going to talk to Elyon?" said the excited Cornelia, as Elyon was her oldest friend.
As Hay Lin, Cornelia and Irma crowded around their leader, one Guardian, who had sat down to rest after her arduous efforts, was almost forgotten.
"Hey, guys! Wait!" Taranee called to her friends. "I want to talk to Elyon, too! I...Huh?" Taranee looked down. Her foot was stuck under a warped, wooden floorboard. "Just be..a sec!" she said, as she struggled to free her foot.
As the Fire Guardian's foot popped out, a portal was opened and, with a WHOOSH, the other four Guardians...were gone!
As Taranee stared at the empty air that a moment ago hosted a portal that sucked her compatriots into it, she only had four words for the situation. "Oh no. Not again!"
Next:
Act IV: Air
Our final act, in which the Guardians learn about themselves,
the secrets of Aang's world, and the Avatar's connection with W.I.T.C.H.!
But it won't be easy. In fact, someone may not make it!
It begins when the Guardians find themselves in the Spirit World!
They're in a lot of trouble, too, as there's a war going on!
But guess who isn't concerned? Cornelia!
That girl! What is she, half-psycho or something?
Plus: Caleb makes an appearance! Swear to God! (Heh! It makes me giggle!)
Taranee, Aang and the others will be back later.
Notes
The title, Family Plot, is also the name of Alfred Hitchcock's last movie, a thriller about scheming family members and a fake psychic. Haven't seen it, but it's a good title. It's a way to refocus on the theme of Act III: Water, which is family.
Irma's hard luck continues, and its not over yet! She still blames herself for her past mistakes, and she's going to face more trials in the future, until she...well, keep reading!
In Z is for Zenith, the Guardians became one with the Four Dragons and the nymph Xin Jing.
"If we know anything, it's that Zuko never gives up!" - Sokka, Siege of the North, Part 2.
So true.
Zuko's stronger than the girls, so he actually retains some part of himself, whereas the Guardians (in Z is for Zenith) had a hard time remembering who they were. But Zuko mistakenly holds on to his idealized, Dream World self instead of his real self, and he doesn't have anyone there to steer him onto the right track, like the girls had each other in Z is for Zenith, or like Zuko had others (particularly Irma) in the Dream World in Chapters 28 & 29 to set him straight. He's all by himself, having rejected both his real family (his father Ozai and Uncle Iroh) and the offer of family from Irma and Katara.
Why doesn't Zuko hear Iroh? That will be explored later.
Aang doesn't break his vow to Avatar Roku. He only lends the Guardians moral support. Taranee can draw on the power of the other Guardians, but not on the benders.
Tele-transportation is known as transposition in the comics, and all of the Guardians can do it. (Yan Lin can do it in the cartoon, but she spent years practicing).
This was originally the big finale to the story, with a wrap-up chapter/epilogue to follow, but the tale became so big, plus I realized I had a lot more to say, that I added a whole 'nother act! But Act IV Air should be shorter than Act II Earth or Act III Water.
