Author's Note: No reviews to reply to, so I'll make this quick. A short warning though, this one's a bit bloody. Just so you know. Anyway, thanks to everyone who follows this, please review! And most importantly enjoy!
Caldera, Fire Nation Capital, one year after the war
The visit to Ba Sing Se troubled Zuko greatly. His uncle's deranged appearance and his deep sadness were something he just could not forget. He's right, he thought, there's nothing he can do to fix this, which is the saddest part of the story. His head shot up suddenly as an idea crossed his mind. Maybe he couldn't fix the situation, but there was something he could do, to ease his uncle's mind, even if it was just a small thing.
Zuko immediately sent two servants to the archives for the royal records of the last month, twelve years ago. He probably could not bring his cousin back, but maybe he could find out what exactly happened and where his cousin was buried, so his uncle had a place to mourn.
He knew that the rest of the Gaang was also in the city, so he sent a third servant to call on them. Knowing how Azulon's records sometimes looked like, he could probably need some help going through them. Also, if he really wanted to find a grave, Toph would prove most useful.
His friends arrived before the records. It was already afternoon and Zuko was sitting in his study. "Hey, Zuko!", Aang greeted him, followed by the others, "You wanted to talk to us?".
Zuko smiled at them, nodding, before sitting back down, "Yes, please, take a seat. Back at Ba Sing Se, I've told you about my unnamed cousin, remember?", all of sudden they all had a sad expression on their faces. Iroh was such a nice old man, yet he of all people didn't have to lose one but both of his children. "Well, we cannot bring his sons back, but I thought, maybe we could at least find out what happened to my cousin and find his body. I think this would help my uncle, even if it's really not that much.".
The Gaang exchanged a few glances, then Aang smiled at Zuko, "Of course we're going to help. Where do we start?"
"I've already sent some servants to get the records from back then, maybe we can find something in there.", Zuko said, unsure if they'd approve.
Toph then leaned back in her seat, "Ok, so maybe I'm just going to take a nap here then. You can wake me up when you have found something.", while scratching her stomach, causing all of them to laugh at the blind girl.
It was not long before the records were brought. They all moaned at the huge size. Azulon must've written down everything, literally everything. What a control freak he must've been. But in the end, they just needed one month. Once they found that, it was much easier.
Suddenly Sokka claimed that he found something, beginning to read out loud, "15th of the second month of summer, 89 years after the appearance of Sozin's comet. Captain Shu of the seventh regiment came to me with an unusual preposition. It seems there is an ancient power sealed beneath Caldera. According to him we could use this to our advantage to win the war. All that is needed is a certain ritual to be fulfilled. Therefore, he claims to need a sacrifice, a human sacrifice. He added, a child would be best. He was literally shivering when he asked that, but I immediately had a particular child in mind. This way I will get rid of that disgraceful stain on our family tree, and he will be able to do his ritual. If it truly helps to win the war, I am not so sure, but at least it is going to free me of that boy. And who knows, maybe it will help our war efforts as well."
The teenagers all shivered at this. How could one man be so cruel, to immediately think, for a human sacrifice, his own grandchild would be perfect. He even was glad he would be "freed" of him. Sokka did not continue to read out loud but rather concluded the rest, "It seems two days later he and this captain, and a few of their men, snatched your cousin out of his room. Azulon then got back to his quarters while the captain and his men dragged your cousin down into the tunnels beneath the city. Their way is also noted here. Afterwards it just says, no one must talk about what happened, especially to Iroh and Lu Ten."
They all sat in silence for a few moments. Letting all the information, the imminent cruelness and thought about what might have happened down in the tunnels. The silence was broken by Toph who jumped from her seat, stretching, "Great! So, we can finally do something! Ok, map-boy, where does this description of yours lead us?"
It led them first through the royal bunker. Zuko explained that this was fairly new, some of it might not even built when Azulon reigned. But with the help of the description from the records, they got deeper and deeper into the tunnel system. They all came to a sudden halt facing a wall.
"I think we might went the wrong way.", Zuko said. They stood in an almost quadratic room with no doors except the one they came through. It looked like a crossing, but then again, therefore it would have needed at least one more way out.
Sokka looked at the description, concentrating on it with an expression as if it had called Suki or Katara names, "But the description tells us to move straight forward through a heavy door. I don't understand, I'm sure we did everything according to it."
Without a word Toph stepped forward touching the wall, "Guys, these walls are not naturally grown rock, they are just made to look like it. Behind them are brick walls, each over a foot thick, especially this one," she pointed at the wall in front of them, "Behind those, there really are heavy doors. Should I open this up?"
The Gaang exchanged questioning glances, then all stepped back and nodded in agreement. Toph went through the first layer with ease, causing it to just disappear into the ground. Then she dug her fingers right into the brick wall, throwing out big chunks, while the Gaang tried to evade being hit by one. Finally, a big, heavy, dark red door with a golden, flame-like lock could be seen. It was dirty from all the years behind the wall, but still in place.
Toph suddenly stopped in her tracks when she touched it. "Guys," she said, the others were surprised. It almost sounded like fear to them. "There are things behind that door, it feels really, really bad.", that even the blind earthbender was apparently gripped by fear made the hair in the back of the other's necks stand up and sent shivers down their spines. But they came so far, how could they give up now. Zuko swallowed his fear and stepped forward, with a dry, low voice he said, "Open it.", Toph did as he said, behind the door was total darkness.
They all needed a moment to fight down somewhat of their fear, Toph was right, the aura of this tunnel alone seemed to scream at them to go, run, run far, far away from this place. Zuko was the first to regain his composure. With a determined look on his face, he stepped into the tunnel, lighting a small fire in his palm, before he let it become a little bigger, so the whole tunnel around him would be lit.
At first it looked like the tunnels they'd already passed. Cut into the rock with a smooth red ground. There were no torches at the walls, so it was probably only used by firebenders. Zuko began to walk further when Katara suddenly let out a short high-pitched scream, before she covered her mouth with both of her hands, a terrified look on her face.
The others wondered what she had, but she only pointed at the ground of the entrance of the tunnel. There were footsteps at the middle of it. Small, too small for an adult, and made with bare feet. Slowly Katara knelt beside them, touching it slightly with two of her fingers. They looked black and had a somewhat splattered texture to them. Katara held up her fingers, and in the light, she saw a crimson shimmer to it. Turning to her friends, she whispered, "This is blood."
For a moment fear gripped them again, before Sokka bent down to the footsteps as well, "They are too small for an adult. Do you think, they could be from your cousin, Zuko?"
Zuko was taken aback by this. He too now looked at the bloody footsteps, "But they point towards the door, that would mean that he made it out of here."
"Maybe we'll find out more if we get further down.", Sokka said, standing up, brushing off some dirt from his clothes.
Without another word they walked deeper and deeper into the tunnel. Sokka always having an eye on the footsteps. They somehow made him feel uneasy, as if there was something to them, he had not figured out yet. Suddenly he motioned for them to halt. "Look here, the pattern of the footsteps changed. It looks like he limped until here, maybe he had some kind of injury to his leg. On the other hand, that doesn't make sense, him first limping and suddenly he changes to a normal walk, as if he healed up along the way. Your cousin was no waterbender, was he?", he looked questioningly at Zuko, but the Fire Lord just shook his head and went on.
After a few more minutes they all saw the trail going to the side. "Here, I think he needed the wall for support until here.", Sokka said, pointing towards a bloody pattern on the wall, on some parts clearly showing the bloody impression of a child's hand, some might from other injuries on his upper body.
The next change they noticed was the wall trail going down to a lower height. The footsteps disappeared and were replaced by the marks of somebody dragging himself on his knees, at this point no one said anything, it was hard enough to look at it. Finally, the trail went away from the wall again, it went from someone dragging himself on hands and knees to someone crawling. Zuko had to close his eyes for a moment. If all this was his cousin's blood, what on earth had happened to him? He couldn't imagine the pain the child must've been in.
The trail stopped at a large, dried blood puddle, clearly showing the impression of a child's body laying in it, in front of a smaller version of the big door they had crossed. This one though was not tightly closed and covered in blood splatter. A thick trail of blood went through it's opening. Zuko knelt down at the puddle, the impression of a body laying in it was like a gut punch to him. Aang laid a hand on his shoulder, tears in his eyes, trying to comfort his friend. Katara also knelt beside him, "This doesn't look good, but it is no body, and we have evidence that he made it out of this tunnel. He could've still made it.", she smiled reassuringly at the Fire Lord.
"Besides,", Sokka threw in, "I still don't understand how he could get better along the way. Anyway, there is still a door to open.", and with that he reached for the handle. Opening it he saw them, bodies, a lot of them, at least twenty. All were more or less skeletons in rags that once must've been Fire Nation clothing. A huge pile of them was located near the door. One almost fell out of it when Sokka had opened it. He shrieked back. Looking up, seeing what he saw, the others stood there, frozen in horror.
Sokka and Zuko then stepped into the chamber, followed by the others, all of them careful not to touch, or step on, the skeletons. The room was round and benches for viewers had been cut into the stone in concentric circles. In the middle was a huge table made from stone. In the light of the fire in Zuko's palm they could make out some strange symbols on it. Sokka knelt down next to it and picked something up. It was an old, now rusty, chain, though the part where the hand or foot of the chained person should be, was somehow shattered into pieces. "Guys, look at this. How can someone, especially a nonbender child, do that?", no one had an answer to that.
Zuko saw something glimmer in the shine of the flame and also knelt down, picking it up carefully. "I think I know where all the blood came from.", he said, holding up the dagger which still had blood on it.
Katara looked at the stone table. In the light she could make out a lot of dried blood on it, so much, it was almost completely soaked in it. It also covered a bit of the floor. She staggered a bit backwards in horror, "I think I know where they did, whatever they did, to him.", she said, gesturing towards the stone.
Aang stayed a bit away from that thing, then something caught his eyes as well, "Hey guys, did they have birds in here? There are a lot of black feathers all around the room.", which made everyone wonder until Toph's voice was heard, barely more than a whisper, "Guys, these people, they've not just been killed. It feels like they've been torn apart, none of these skeletons is not missing at least one part of their bodies, yet there are some laying around alone."
After this revelation they hurried out of the tunnel, closing the heavy door tightly behind them, Toph bending a thick rock wall in front of it, "I think, it's better this way.", she said, shrugging her shoulders.
Caldera, Fire Nation Palace, a few days later
Zuko was still thinking about what they had found in the tunnels. It had only brought them more questions. What had happened? Could, after all this time, his cousin still be alive? And what should he tell his uncle, should he tell him at all? After all, they still had no trace of where his cousin, or his remains, was. He tried to shake the questions out of his head when a servant bowed before him.
"Sir, there is a man that wants to speak with you.", the servant informed him politely.
"I don't hold audiences today, tell him to come again when I do.", Zuko replied rather harshly. But he had scheduled days where he'd hold audiences for anybody, it was not like there was not enough time for such a request.
The servant bowed again, but protested a little, "He says it is very important though. He mentioned your visit to the tunnels a few days ago, but did not want to tell me more, Sir.", this made Zuko's eyes widen in shock. How could someone from the outside know? He had to see that man.
In the throne room a simple clothed man a little younger than his uncle waited, kneeling, shivering in fear, head bowed to the ground. Zuko wondered why this man came to him. He sat down on his throne and decided to begin friendly with this guy. Smiling down at him he said, "Please rise. What is your name?"
Still shivering the man stood up, he had a somewhat athletic build, but must've been out of regular training for a while. He straightened his clothing and hesitantly looked at the Fire Lord, "My name is Lee, Kang Lee,", he said, stuttering a little, "I need to speak with you about the tunnels under the city and what happened there, twelve years ago."
Zuko took a deep breath, this man seemed to know something, "How would you know about what happened back then down there? As far as I know, there were no witnesses to be found."
Kang Lee looked to the side, his expression showing shame. "My Lord, I was once a palace guard. Me and three of my colleagues were stationed at that crossing down in the tunnels on that night. I was the only one to survive. It was by sheer luck,", he took a deep breath before he added, "and because I was a coward."
Zuko just stared at the man, his feelings somewhere between shock, surprise and disbelief. His voice almost whispering he said, "Tell me everything that happened."
Kang Lee bowed his head, his face showed that it was not a pleasant memory. "On this evening we saw how Captain Shu and his men dragged your cousin down that tunnel. Your cousin, that kid, he struggled like hell, I mean, he put up a good fight, but it was to no avail since there were four men holding him at all times. Please Sir, we were not allowed to intervene, please don't punish me.", he whimpered, losing his composure. Zuko just waved it off with a hand gesture, "Continue."
Regaining somewhat of his dignity, Kang Lee did as he was told, "They closed the door behind them. I couldn't see what was going on, but I heard his screams, up until the early hours of the morning. They still haunt me every night. Then suddenly everything went silent, I felt a strong cold breeze waving through the tunnels and the torches went out. After a few moments they lit up again and I heard another noise, it was only after a few moments that I got aware that these were many people shouting in agony. We had looked at each other at the crossing, but we weren't allowed in there by death penalty, so we stayed outside of the tunnel.
It must've been ten minutes or so and everything went silent again. I heard a door creak, but it was none of the ones we guarded, so we did not move. A while, maybe an hour later I heard soft footsteps from behind the door. I panicked, but the others said I was seeing ghosts and laughed about me. Suddenly the steps stopped, and the heavy door opened slowly, only enough that we saw the kid behind it. It was your cousin, he looked terrible. There was a lot of blood all over his body, dripping from him. I could make out at least a dozen stab wounds on his bare chest, and additional ones on his arms, legs and throat. There was also blood coming from a wound on his skull which was hidden by his hair. I froze where I was. I was unsure what to do. When the others got aware they attacked him, or at least, they tried.", he started shaking violently, "Please, Sir, you must believe me, what happened next, I did not make this up.
His eyes began to glow, not like the avatar's but his irises glowed in a bright red, with slim pupils like an animal. And something glowed on his hand. He dodged one attack easily, breaking my colleague's spear in half, shoving him into the ground. That kid then took the sharp end of the spear he had just broken out of the air and rammed it into my other colleague's throat. Straight through the armor. My third colleague stormed at him, but the boy just took the unconscious man from the ground, using him as a shield, so that my colleague killed my colleague. He then used the momentum my colleague still had, evaded, and grabbed his helmet, turning it around sharply, breaking his neck.
Then he stood in front of me. I couldn't move, I was just shivering, panicking. For a few moments he just stood there, blood still pouring out of him, breathing heavily. His eyes stopped glowing, so did his hand. It had a strange symbol on it, where it had glowed. I still don't know what exactly it showed. The boy, your cousin, then straightened himself and looked at me. He was smiling, but I think there were also tears in his eyes.
Then he spoke, "I guess I cannot stay here, and you shouldn't either.", and with that he began to disappear into a dark fog that soon vanished as well. I then ran away, and never would I have returned if not one of my few friends that still work here had informed me that you're investigating down there."
Zuko looked at the man in pure shock. The story really was unbelievable, yet he did not doubt the man in front of him. Slowly he stood up from his throne and walked over to the man. He laid a hand on his shivering shoulder, pressing it gently. Kang Lee's gaze shot up in shock and disbelief. With a stern, but friendly tone, the Fire Lord said, "Thank you for your courage, Kang Lee."