Disclaimer: The following chapter is entirely fictitious. Any similarity to the history of any person living or dead is entirely coincidental and unintentional, except when specifically noted otherwise in the cast and crew credits. All celebrity voices are impersonated and no celebrities have endorsed any aspect of this fic.

Chapter Three: Surreal Reality

'-'

"And I've sent a messenger hawk to the nearest embassy in Eikando to clear out a room for you," the assistant checked off his list in the cart. "It's about a couple of meters away from the shrine so we can go there first thing in the morning."

"What about the coroner's office?" Zuko asked, staring out at the rain hitting the window of his carriage. "Is that adjacent to the hotel?"

"Not really," the assistant frowned. "It's some ways away, but it is supposed to be nearby. I mean, it's in the vicinity otherwise they wouldn't have her. But you have palanquin bearers at the ready, so you don't have to walk." The assistant stopped talking as he realized Zuko was not paying attention to him. "Sir," he said, "if you don't mind me asking, who was this girl? You've been looking for her for a while from what I've been told and now all of a sudden… well, who exactly was she?"

"I knew her a long time ago," Zuko mumbled. "Back when I was hunting the Avatar. My uncle invited her onto our ship when we were staying in Engoku. She helped me catch the Avatar, but she had a lot of problems. She wasn't like by many so I told her she could be my wife. She'd be able to have as much protection as she needed but I don't know what happened. I think she ran away before I could get her answer."

"My guess is she was trying to protect you," the assistant shrugged. "If she was hated as much as you implied she was then she would've been killed even as your queen. Hell, if you liked her that much she would have made a better Fire Lady than Marukai. That's why I hate arranged marriages. And I think you'd have been happier." The assistant scribbled a few notes down and continued to talk. "You must've been very heartbroken when you found out about her. I'm sorry for your loss."

"Don't be sorry," Zuko muttered with his face pressed to the window, "you didn't know her."

"I'm pretty sure she was a decent person if you liked her so much," the assistant replied. "The look on your face when the priestess told you… I've never seen you like that before. What was she like?"

"She promised me she would get me home," Zuko sighed. "And she kept her promise. I wish she could have lived it with me."

"I'm sure she wanted to, but she probably didn't want to hurt you," the assistant tried to convince Zuko. "Why don't you sleep, sir? It's getting late and we still have three hours until we get to Eikando." Zuko did not feel like sleeping but the stress was draining him of his energy. His eyes began to feel heavy and before he knew it he was drifting off…

"Zuko, I'm so sorry," Hiashi laughed at him while relaxing on his shikifuton. "I just had so many things to do."

"But I thought you were dead?" Zuko asked, placing his hand gingerly on her head.

"Oh, I was, but it was a mistake," she smiled. "So I'm alive now." She stood up and grabbed a pipe several feet above her with ease. "But the Resistance is still after me, though. They might have to kill me again." The sky outside was quickly darkening and a grey Hyroki was running on the floor underneath her.

"Don't worry about the Resistance," Zuko laughed as he walked over to her. "I'm the Fire Lord. All I have to do is tell them to stop and I can get rid of them."

"But can I get my dad back?" she asked cheerfully. "And my mom?"

"Sure," he promised. "I can give you everything you want."

"Well, I wish I'd known that earlier!" she cried. "Then I could have kept my stuff!"

"I'll get you new things!" Zuko smirked. "After all, the new Fire Lady deserves everything she wants."

"Oh, you're so sweet," Hiashi smiled. She let go of the pipe and let herself float to the floor. "But did you tell the Resistance that? Because they're watching me."

"They're watching you?" Zuko frowned. "Right now?"

"Of course," she replied. "They're always watching me. Didn't you know that? I thought I told you?"

"No, you didn't!" Zuko snapped. "They shouldn't be watching you like this! That's rude! Don't they trust you?"

"Of course they don't," Hiashi smiled wickedly. "Why should they trust a mudblood?" The reddened figure of Hiashi began to darken in color into a black shadow, engulfing the room in its darkness.

"What did you do with Hiashi?" Zuko snarled at the shadow, but it did not respond, simply continuing to grow bigger. "Answer me!" he continued to snarl but again it did not respond.

"Sir," someone said distantly, which only angered Zuko even more.

"Give me Hiashi back!" Zuko barked at the shadow. "Someone's calling me and I need to go! You give her back! I could help her! Why would you do this to me?"

"Sir," Zuko heard his assistant whisper distantly, "Sir, we're here. The keeper wants to show you to your room." The lights from the hotel blinded Zuko slightly. He wiped off the condensation that stuck to his face when it was up against the glass and look outside the cart to see his assistant holding open an umbrella for him. "Are you okay, sir?" the assistant asked.

"I'm fine," Zuko answered curtly, stepping out of the carriage and onto the wet earth. "Where are the palanquin bearers?" he asked rudely when his shoes were covered in mud.

"Sorry, sir," his assistant apologized, "but unfortunately they won't be here until later. But it's a short walk." And it was, but Zuko was still annoyed to have to walk in the mud.

"Welcome to the Wangfujing Grand Plaza," the hotel keeper smiled when they approached the front desk. "I am the owner, Wang Fujing." The owner frowned as he saw Zuko stop with no one else but the help. "I am sorry, but I thought you would be traveling with your family?"

"No," Zuko answered curtly.

"Fire Lord Zuko would appreciate it if you did not mention his wife or her child in his presence," his assistant said quickly. The host looked at them funny, but led them up to the room. It seemed to Zuko that everything after his journey went by like a blur. He was led to his luxurious room clad in white, his assistant made sure everything was situated and as quickly as everything happened he was alone again, only to absorb the reason he was there.

Hiashi's dead, he sighed, throwing his coat on the floor carelessly, then himself on the raised king sized bed. She's dead after eight years. She was murdered… stabbed and poisoned and no one seems to know who did it. But I know who did. It was the Resistance, no doubt. It's always them. How do I find such elusive people?

Or maybe it wasn't them. There were those girls from Engoku, or maybe Hykiru, or someone else in the Fire Nation that might have found her… How dare they! They can't do that to her! She was the kindest person I knew! She could have proved it to them if only they gave her the time of day!

I swear it, they won't get away with what they did to her!

'-'

"Sir, are you ready to go?" his assistant pounded on the door. "The hotel has breakfast ready and the palanquin bearers are downstairs waiting for you. We were supposed to start before sunup, not after! You need to hurry!" Despite his assistant's yelling, Zuko was already up and ready. It was a long night for him and even though he slept easily in the carriage he could not sleep at all in the bed he was given. Even though he was hungry, Zuko did not want to eat, so when he opened the door he shoved himself past his assistant and straight to the front desk where the escorts were waiting outside in the drizzle. "Sir, they have breakfast waiting for you," the assistant called after his boss. "It would be very rude to leave them like this!"

"Tell them to save it for later," Zuko snapped. "I want to leave now."

"Fine," the assistant growled, motioning to one of the hotel staff. "Are we going to the coroner's office or the temple first?" Zuko stopped walking and stood in the middle of the hall.

"I don't want to see her right now," he mumbled. "Or maybe I do, I don't know."

"You have until tomorrow before they cremate her, so I think we can go visit her first before we see the note Madam Hiashi left us."

"Madam Hiashi?" Zuko raised his eyebrow as his assistant caught up with him. "You don't even know her."

"Yes, but you have respect for her, so I assume I should as well." Zuko let out a small smile and led the way out of the hotel. "Fire Lord Zuko has decided to go to the coroner's office before we go to the temple," the assistant announced to the palanquin bearers. "It's not quite raining right now so we have about a twelve minute's walk to the coroner's office. Let's get him there as quickly as we can!" Zuko climbed inside and was quickly whisked to the coroner. "How long will you like to stay before we go to the temple?" the assistant asked through the curtains of the palanquin.

"I don't know yet," Zuko answered quietly. "I haven't seen her for eight years. And I'm going to see her… She's not going to be alive. I'm not sure if I'll recognize her."

"You know, I use to know this girl, her name was Ming and we were friends since childhood," the assistant said. "But then I moved to the city and I never saw her again for ten years. Then I saw her last month and I recognized her as if I saw her so many other times before. You don't forget faces, Fire Lord. You'll know it's her. And when you see her, you'll be at peace."

"I doubt it," Zuko muttered. The group arrived at the coroner's office and the rain had temporarily subsided for the time being.

"Hello, Fire Lord Zuko," the coroner greeted them at the entrance. "If you can please follow me I can show you to Maiden Shihong." To him it was Shihong, but to Zuko it was Hiashi. It was his Hiashi. "Right this way," the coroner smiled casually as if he was directing the Fire Lord to the nearest market. "Now I usually cremate the body two days after they bring it in, but they told me you wanted to take a look at it, so I had to freeze it a little longer. So forgive me, the body's a little blue." The man walked over to a blanket draped gurney and pushed it to the center of the grey room they were in. "She came in with a stab wound to the abdomen, but from what I saw she had traces of nightshade in her bloodstream. Though the stab wound would have killed her, I think the nightshade was the coup de grâce. Are you ready to see her?" Zuko took a deep breath and nodded slowly. The coroner smiled and gently pulled down the sheet to reveal the head of the person he once knew. Hiashi laid motionless on the gurney, her skin color reflecting the color of the metal she laid on. The scars that once covered her face were nicely healed and were barely noticeable, while her hair was black and choppy instead of long and red with the black ends like it use to be. It was her, but the waxy look of her made Zuko hesitate on deciding. "Is this the right person?" the coroner asked.

"Yes," Zuko swallowed. "That's her."

"Would you like some time alone?" the man asked. Zuko nodded slightly so the man left the two and closed the door behind him.

"Sir, I have to give you praise, she's kind of pretty," the assistant said quietly. "She would have made you happy."

"That doesn't matter now," Zuko mumbled. He walked up to the cadaver of Hiashi and stared at her. This could not be her. He was certain this was a different body in front of him.

"Sir, what are you doing?" the assistant hissed as Zuko placed his hands on her face and began to pry her eyes open. "You probably shouldn't be touching her body. She was poisoned and you can be poisoned by touching her."

"I want to make sure this is her," Zuko replied after checking one eye. "She had two different colored eyes and I want to make sure this was her. The body in front of him did. The eye on the left was gold and the other was green, just like Hiashi.

"Two colored eyes?" the assistant questioned. "But sir, nobody has two colored eyes. Well, my father said there are some, but that's only with…" The assistant stopped talking when he realized what he said. "Wait, is this… is this one of the daughters of Enjou? The mixed-bloods?"

"You, be nice to her!" Zuko snarled. "If you even say anything bad about her—"

"No sir, I was only twelve when I heard about her and her father getting killed," the assistant shrugged. "I really didn't care or even know what was going on or why they were killed so I never thought about it until now. I mean, she looks normal to me so I don't see why I would hate her. I am just really surprised that out of everyone out there you of all people would actually care about her."

"What, did you think I hated her?" Zuko asked quietly as he continued to stare at her lifeless body.

"Well, the probability of you not liking her were higher than the other," the assistant answered. "You are after all the Fire Lord and most would assume you disliked her. I only say that because your past relatives were not exactly tolerant of those who went against their belief system."

"I don't want to look at her anymore," Zuko growled, violently throwing the sheet back over her face. "Let's just go to the Temple and get this over with."

"Sir, if you want I can arrange it so that you can go to the cremation ceremony," the assistant suggested. "I think it would make you feel better."

"Let's just leave and we'll see what makes me feel better," Zuko muttered. The two of them left the room and to the front desk of the small building.

"Was there anything else you needed, Fire Lord Zuko?" the coroner smiled at the two of them. "Was that the person you came to see?" Zuko did not want to answer. He walked out of the building and back to his palanquin with his assistant behind him a while later.

"The cremation ceremony is tomorrow, Fire Lord," the assistant huffed when he caught up with him. "If you want to go, it's going to be at the temple."

"I said we'll see," Zuko grunted from behind the curtains. "I don't know if I want to go."

"But sir—"

"She left me and I'm just going to go to her funeral? I shouldn't be upset about this. I offered her everything she wanted and she turned it down!"

"I don't think she turned it down, sir—"

"She could have been protected. She could have lived. Instead, she decides to leave me and look what happened. And now she's dead! I can't say she doesn't deserve it."

"Fire Lord Zuko, you should never speak ill of the dead!" his assistant snapped. "I don't care how mad you are at her for turning down your proposal but that doesn't mean you can speak of the dead like that!"

"I'm the Fire Lord! I can speak however I want!" Zuko snarled through the curtains. "You have no right to be speaking to me like this!"

"I think I do, especially since smack talk about those who have already passed is not only bad luck but disrespectful. And I think you should know a thing or two about disrespect."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know how you felt when that Earth King came in yesterday demanding so much from you and basically taking advantage of the situation we're in!"

"That's different. I gave them what they wanted."

"I'm not even going to argue with you," the assistant finally sighed. "You go ahead and be mad. I know you're happiest when you're mad." The rest of the few minutes they walked in silence and for Zuko that was okay with him. He did not regret a single word he said because he knew it was true. As much as he was upset to see she had died he could not help but believe she could still be alive if she had accepted his offer.

And now she's dead, so I guess we'll never know. They arrived at the temple within a few minutes just before the rain began to pick up again. The palanquin bearers stopped to let the assistant ask one of the priestesses to direct them to the proper hut.

"You may want to ask Priestess Nobuko," Zuko heard the lady answered. "I don't know the maiden who was murdered and even if I did it is considered unsacred for anyone in the temple less than a priestess or a monk to be near the place where she died. You can find Priestess Nobuko in the Shrine right now. I think she may be sweeping."

"Of course she wouldn't know her," Zuko grumbled when they started moving again.

"Sir, this person we're looking for had two names, remember?" the assistant sighed. "We'll find the hut."

"Did you need something?" Zuko heard the familiar voice of the priestess he saw yesterday chime from in front of him.

"Yes, we're looking for the hut, Priestess," the assistant answered. "Can you lead us in the right direction?"

"Of course," the priestess replied and soon they were walking again.

"And you said she left a message behind for Fire Lord Zuko, would you happen to know where that is?" the assistant asked.

"Oh, I informed Fire Lord Zuko that it is actually written on the floor," the priestess responded. "I thought he might want to see it himself. I don't quite understand it, so I thought maybe he would." Zuko rolled his eyes. He knew this was only the beginning of his problems.

'-'

The wall is going to keep writing every little thing that happens, Kurogane thought to herself as she stared at the wall in front of her. The timeline the Resistance had construed continued making small engravings in the wall, every second something new was added. If this is going to write down every event then isn't there a way to stop it? It knows when people die so there must be a way to delete a person's name. The wall continued to write events in the small column, noting that someone in Omashu had moved houses or someone on Kyoshi Island had just given birth to a child. How does it know if a person dies? It has to be a part of the mechanics. She reached out over the name of one of the people she had to kill. Kuzon's name, she sighed. I wonder if I can delete him. She pressed her thumb over the name and bended a line through the stone. The wall continued writing but instead it wrote 'Kurogane tries to erase name from timeline.' "Damn it!" she hissed, bending the line out of the wall. Still, the wall wrote 'Kurogane fixes wall.' She furrowed her eyebrows and watched the wall continue to write. It only says my name, but that's because I don't have a last name… The wall writes out full names, but if you only have a first name then that's all it can write… So if I kill three people with the same name as her children, can I stay under the radar?

'-'

Yeah, I've decided to dub the secondary plot to Kurogane and her journey through the complex nature of the Resistance. Hope you enjoy that. NEHO, until next time… Also I need to update my DA page with more art. Also, I do request of meh OCs you may want to see. I still have a lot more pictures I want to scan in general… huh. So