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.
Author's note: I'm updating a lot to sort of give this story some meat on its bones. Because right now I think it's lacking plot and excitement so I want to get into it more before I procrastinate in updating. So on we go with the story.
Chapter Four: I Will Always Regret
'-'
All the brown huts looked the same. There was a small path past the main temple that was gated off, like a small gated community just for the men and women who worked there. All the huts were small, only enough room for one person but they were all squished together on the large hill and a labyrinth of paths to the fifteen some hut which made it even more certain to Zuko that someone should have heard, if any, commotion within Hiashi's hut. The hill was much too steep and much too narrow for the palanquin bearers to carry him, so Zuko trekked uphill on foot to Hiashi's hut. "We're here, sir," the assistant sounded as they stopped at one of the huts midway into the hill. "The priestess said you may enter if you like." Indeed, Hiashi's house was surrounded, in front of one house, a neighboring hut to the side, another one behind the house, and a slightly larger hut across the path, behind them, that could not have been more than seven feet away. Despite only being killed a few days ago the place looked as if it had been abandoned for years. There was a small shrine set up at the front step with flowers, candles, prayer flags, wheels, and beads, and incense which had stopped burning due to the rain.
"You can stay for as long as you like, Fire Lord Zuko," the priestess bowed before unlocking the door. "We will probably burn the hut and rebuild it since it is unsacred to live in a house where someone died."
"Why?" the assistant asked.
"Because it is their home still," the priestess smiled. "But this is a temple with many people who need a hut, so normally we burn the hut so that no one else may live in it. But this is the first time someone was murdered. And she was so young, too." The priestess opened the door to allow Zuko and his assistant in. Despite being the early morning the room was dark from the rain clouds lingering above. The priestess lit an oil lamp in the space and soon the room was filled with a dim light. The room was in vast disarray, a clear sign of struggle. The bench that sat in the middle was pushed out of alignment while several shelves were broken, some of which held pottery since there were pieces of it scattered on the floor. And the worst of everything in the room was a large, dark brown trail that ran from between the bench and the wall to a spot next to a desk, where it spread out into a large stain puddle. "The message is over here," the woman said, motioning to the spot where the puddle had stained. Zuko walked forward while his assistant walked slowly behind him, but the lady continued to speak. "It is a bit hazy. The coroner suspects she wrote it after she was stabbed, but you can still make it out."
"She had a husband?" Zuko mumbled to no one in particular. The words he read sunk his heart lower into his chest.
"Yes, I guess," the priestess frowned. "I don't know who the other people are. She only mentions her son by name, but Kuzon is such a common name we can't exactly narrow it down." Zuko continued reading the last part:
And to Zuko, I'm glad you never found me.
His heart sank lower into his chest. She was glad I never found her, he noted. Well to hell with her then—
"What is that she crossed out?" the assistant suddenly asked.
"Oh, that?" the woman almost exclaimed. "Well, it was so shaky we were unsure if she was trying to write something, but it looks like she wrote…"
"'I will always regret'?" the assistant said slowly. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"We don't know, she crossed that out," the woman sighed. "That's why we asked you to come here. We already went to the other Zukos in the neighboring towns, but there weren't that many. You were the last Zuko we decided to check and it turns out we go the right one."
I will always regret what? Why would she cross that out if she was glad I never found her? What did she regret?
"You can ask Ichiko Yahzi," the priestess said to them midst Zuko's thoughts. "She and Shihong were very close to each other so she may know more about her if you would like to talk to anyone."
"Fire Lord Zuko, would you like to go?" his assistant asked. Zuko snapped himself out of his trance and shot his head up.
"Sure," he answered quickly, unsure of what he was answering yes to.
"Her hut is across the way," the woman smiled. "She or any of her roommates should let you in." The two followed the woman across the small dirt road to the hut that was several feet in front of Hiashi's. "Ichiko Yahzi? Ichiko Sukori? Ichiko Anjali? Is anyone in?" The sound of footsteps slowly approached the door followed by the popping of several locks.
"Yes, Priestess Nobuko?" a tanned girl in a white hakama and haori answered the door.
"Hello, Ichiko Anjali, is Ichiko Yahzi in?" the priestess smiled. The girl nodded and directed them inside the small hut. In the corner of the small living room was a teen girl crying in the corner. She was dressed as the other girl and she had the same dark skin tone and chocolate brown hair. "Ichiko Yahzi," the priestess said as calmly as she could, "Fire Lord Zuko would like to have a word with you. The priestess gestured to the two of them and left the house to let them speak in private.
"What did you need to know?" the girl named Yahzi sniffed, wiping the tears from her eyes.
"How did you know her?" Zuko asked curtly.
"Well," the girl coughed to clear her throat, "Shihong and I—"
"Hiashi," Zuko interrupted roughly. Yahzi looked at him with wide eyes.
"Pardon?" she whispered.
"That wasn't her name," he grumbled. Yahzi held her stare but narrowed her eye.
"So you already know," she said monotonously. Now it was Zuko's turn to narrow his eyes.
"So you know who she really is?" Zuko gasped.
"Yeah, I use to live on Engoku," Yahzi answered, now suddenly professional. "We were in the Youkyou gang together."
"An ichiko who use to be in a gang?" the assistant smiled. "You don't look like a girl who would be in a gang."
"Well it doesn't matter now," Yahzi bleakly smiled. "I barely made it out. I was in it before Hiashi was."
"But you're young now," Zuko stated. "How old were you when you decided to join the gang?"
"I didn't want to join," Yahzi said quietly. "My father left my mother before I was born and my mother left us when I was six. All I had was my brother, but he was addicted to crystals. He sold all we had for drugs and it got to the point where we had no more stuff. So he sold me to Sureiyaa."
"Your brother sold you?" the assistant gasped, but Zuko was unfazed.
"That's how life is in Engoku," Yahzi shrugged. "When you're sold into the gang as opposed to joining yourself you're seen as property. I had to do whatever I was told to do and if I didn't I was beaten. Which that meant I was… well, I was… um… how you say… victimized by the men's gang. Hiashi was the only one who protected me. Nobody knew who she really was but I did. She didn't know that I knew, though."
"How did you find out?" the assistant asked, but again, Zuko seemed unconcerned.
"Her eyes, obviously," she replied bluntly. "There were so many interracial couples and many more interracial children on Engoku, probably hundreds, maybe thousands, but they were all from Water and Earth people, never Fire Nation and something else. It would have been a lot easier for her had her dad and mom had brown eyes or even grey so when she was born it would look normal, but it was the green that gave it away. Still, the two different eyes was usually a sign of mixed heritage. I mean, she was open with us that she was a firebender, but she hid the green eye all the time. I saw it by accident once and I never said anything. Then Sureiyaa found out and beat her out of the gang, then I think she killed her brother Kyyoku for dating Hiashi, and then she sold the information to these two Fire Nation people. I was sold a little while after that because I was close to her."
"Well how did you end up here?" the assistant asked since Zuko was not asking any question. It was clear to him that his boss was not interested in anything the girl was saying as he was still mad at Hiashi for turning down his proposal, but he was sure these were the questions he should be asking.
"That was about a year ago," she frowned. "I told you I was… well I ended up… pregnant and one of the guys got mad so he stabbed me. I just ran away after that. I lost the child and from what I understand I can't have children anymore. I figured this was the safest place for me to be. I was here for a while and then four months ago Hiashi came under the name of Shihong. From what I understood she said she needed to protect her family so she came here."
"Why would she say she's glad I never found her?" Zuko suddenly asked quietly. Yahzi jumped when he spoke but she contracted her eyebrows in thought.
"I don't know," she answered honestly. "She never made mention of you or even said she knew you. I mean if anyone mentioned you she would just smile and nod but that was about it, nothing out of the ordinary. I guess if she was glad you never found her it would be because she didn't want you hurt. From what I understood she didn't even tell her family where she was going. She said no one knew she was there, and that she told her family she was leaving but didn't tell them where she was going."
"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Zuko snarled, jumping to his feet. "Everyone keeps saying she ran away because she wanted to protect me. That's ridiculous!"
"No, not really," Yahzi growled. "Hiashi was very protective of people she liked. I don't know if you saw it, but I did, and maybe that's because I was one of those people she liked! So I would appreciate it if you didn't say it was ridiculous! She saved me a lot. She protected me and I wasn't even related to her. There were a lot of people she went out of her way to protect and maybe you were one of them. She was who she was and in this world it's very dangerous so she had to distance herself."
"I'm leaving," Zuko growled as he glided to the door. "You, come." The assistant scowled but nodded slightly.
"You take care, Ichiko Yahzi," he smiled at her. "If you need anything we are more than willing to help." Yahzi smiled back and wiped the rest of the tears that streamed down her cheek. "Why do you have to be so callous, sir?" he snapped when they finally exited the hut. "I don't know this woman but I think her friend has a point."
"I don't care," Zuko mumbled, shooting past the umbrella his assistant handed to him and straight for the gates. "She should have married me. She would still be alive if she did. She wouldn't have to go to some damned temple in order to protect herself."
"Sir, I think you got enough information for today," the assistant tried to convince him. "Why don't we go back to the hotel—"
"Pack everything, we're leaving," Zuko said curtly.
"Sir, does that mean you don't want to go to the cremation ceremony?" the assistant queried slowly.
"If this girl is so adamant that Hiashi is protective of people she cares about I want to hear this from someone who never liked her," Zuko answered. "Get everything from the hotel: we're going to Engoku."
'-'
I know there's someone in here that knows how to surpass the system, Kurogane thought to herself as she entered the headquarters for the Resistance. If I can figure out what's making the wall write, then I can remove myself from existence. But how?
"Darja!" Kurogane called to a silver haired woman when she stepped into the small office in the back. "Darja, are you busy?" The silver haired woman had the same violet eyes as hers as did everyone else in the training facility. She too was dressed in purple like everyone else only she wore a black apron to match the black mask she wore over her mouth and the black kerchief she wore on her head. She stood in the back behind a curtain where three metal beds sat perpendicular to the wall.
"Don't bend for a few days, Phong Hai," the lady smiled as she drew the water she was using and placed it in the bowl next to her. "If High Master Keme finds out you're not working he'll kill you."
"I know," the man smiled. He hopped off the table and left the office.
"Darja," Kurogane repeated, "can I talk with you for a moment?"
"Let me wash my hands," Darja nodded. "Come with me, you can talk with me in the back room."
"That's the thing," Kurogane frowned, following her to the back where more beds were, "there are more people back here and I was sort of hoping I could talk to you in private."
"Oh, silly Kuro," Darja laughed as she washed her hands. "To do that we'd have to go outside and I have too much work here. They're practicing and you know I'm going to have to revive a lot of people, heal the others, and make sure the ones that are dead get out of the morgue and are cremated properly. I don't have time to be walking up that tunnel so whatever you want to say you can ask me here."
"Well, you've been here longer than me, so I thought you might know more about the timeline than I do," Kurogane said slowly. "Like, how does it work exactly?"
"What exactly are you planning?" Darja suddenly snapped. "If you want to compromise something I swear I will turn you in myself—"
"No, that's not it at all," Kurogane lied. "I mean, you know I killed Hiashi the other day, and—"
"Oh, I remember her," Darja grinned. "You did a very good job. Better than I did."
"Then you did- excuse me?" Kurogane exclaimed. "What exactly do you mean?"
"Oh, she was one of the elusive ones," Darja rolled her eyes. "A lot of the mudbloods were easy to find, but magbloods aren't as popular. I went through a lot of hell on Engoku, being around so many mudbloods and not being able to do anything about them because I was there to kill that magblood, it's really frustrating, you know?"
"I could imagine," Kurogane muttered.
"Anyways," Darja inhaled, "I got someone to convince her to come to me to get rid of her earthbending abilities, and I told her some phony BS about me being able to give her a tattoo with this ink that can neutralized the earthbending in her. But the ink was laced with a chakra blocker which inevitably can kill you. And it was working, but then the damn Youkyou bitch had to sell her out to the Fire Nation, which screwed me over because the stupid ink can't be exposed to heat. So what was supposed to kill her just fucked her up for a bit." Darja rolled her eyes and dried her hands on her apron. "I'm sorry, I digress. I was twenty-six, stupid, thought I'd get creative, but I failed miserably. I'm just mad is all. Anyways, what was your question?"
"Um, yeah," Kurogane coughed. "Well, I was just curious because I killed… her and while walking over here I got curious so I stopped by the timeline and I saw my name there next to hers and it got me wondering how the whole wall worked, and I guess I was wondering if you knew how it worked." Kurogane followed Darja into the check-in station next to them while she filed her patient's file.
"I don't know what to tell you," Darja shrugged. "Yeah, I've been here a while, but I don't know much about the wall. You might want to ask someone who's been here longer than me." Darja pulled the face mask covering her mouth and turned to Kurogane. "You can try Ihsan, he might know more than me."
"Ihsan?" Kurogane repeated. "Who's he?"
"Oh, he's the really old man upstairs who does the firebending training," Darja replied. "He's been here for about fifty years so he probably knows more than I do." She wiped her hands on her apron then looked up at her friend. "I wish I could tell you more, but I guarantee you already know what I do, so it'd be pointless. Now I have to get going, the waterbenders are almost done with their training and I am going to have many veins to reset and a lot of dehydrated and confused people to care for, so if you'll excuse me I need to get ready." Darja twiddled her fingers in a wave and left the check-in station to the room they were just in to check on her patients.
"Well, no, but wait!" Kurogane called back to her. "When do the firebenders get out of their lesson?"
"I think they already did," Darja shouted back from a patient's bed. "This guy has hypothermia and the bed across has a high fever, so I think they finished earlier, go ahead and see if he's in his office." Kurogane frowned in disbelief but did not ask her friend anymore questions.
I don't know where the firebending teacher's office is. It's probably upstairs, but there are no offices upstairs… well not including the morgue and the IVF lab… She sighed in frustration but decided to leave the small doctor's office. I didn't even know teachers were given their own offices… Makes me wonder if it's hidden just like Keme's office. I guess I could reach him tomorrow after the lesson, but—
"Look, children!" a voice called Kurogane out of her mind. "It's one of my old pupils, Kurogane! She turned around only to realize she was walking past the earthbending stage. Up on the training stage were probably twenty children with an elderly man who she remembered from long ago.
"Teacher Fengge, so nice to see you again," Kurogane bowed.
"Don't be bashful, my students would like to meet you," the old man beckoned. "I told them all about you and how you made Resistance history by assassinating the Fire Lord!" The children began to mutter with excitement amongst each other after the words left his mouth. "Why don't you come up and give the children a demonstration? You were my best student after all. She was able to master all three parts of bending, element, analogous, and body quicker than any of my students!" The children began to squeal but Kurogane just smiled.
"I couldn't possibly," Kurogane tried to say nicely. "You have much to teach them—"
"Nonsense!" he laughed. "There's nothing to learning like a great demonstration! Come! They want to see!" The children cheered her on to come and demonstrate what made her so special.
"Fine," she finally sighed. She walked up the steps and opened the gate to the ring and stepped inside. "What am I demonstrating?"
"I think you can teach one of my pupils a lesson," the old man said cheerfully. "Hibai, go ahead and show Miss Kurogane why you think you are so good at earthbending." A boy stood up in the crowd of children and made his way to the front. He could not have been more than twelve since he still had his brown eyes, and brown hair that covered them. "Hibai thinks he is good enough at earthbending that he does not need to practice his forms or go to tutoring, so maybe you can show him how much more he needs to learn." The boy puffed some air at his bangs to push them out of the way and flexed his fingers. "Maybe she can teach you a thing or two."
"I can kick her ass," the boy replied in a slight growl. Kurogane raised her eyebrow.
"Are you ready, Miss Kurogane?" the man smiled. Kurogane took a deep breath. She did not know why she felt nervous. Maybe because this was a child she was battling. Maybe because this kid was probably as good as he claimed to be. Mostly to her, though, she was tempted to go easy on him but to do so would make her look bad, especially if he ended up beating her. And if eventually she did bring herself up to her real skills it may be harder than she thought. But of she started at her real level, she could kill him. She got into her beginning stance and faced the kid who looked as if he could care less. "On three, ready?" The man got in between them and held his hand up. "One… two… three!" He dropped his hand and quickly got out of the way to allow them to fight.
Standard, Kurogane though to herself when she saw the boy flex his arm and project two rocks from the ground. He's still learning. He doesn't know anything about the other two branches of earthbending. And yet he so cocky. He needs to learn but I can't kill him. That'd be too easy. She dodged his shots one at a time, simply keeping the young boy at bay for the moment. His attacks were predictable, just simplistic earthbending after earthbending moves. She rolled her eyes when he kept trying his best to defeat her with amateur moves. Let's end this now. She curled her fingers in and held her palms up, and swung her hands outward and inwards in a big circle, pushing her palms to the outsides. In a split second the boy dropped the rocks he was holding and crumbled over in pain, his arms handing at his side like limp noodles.
"And that's end!" the old man exclaimed! "Zelai, please take Hibai to Miss Darja to have his arms placed back in their sockets." The little girl in the front jumped to her feet and helped the squirming boy on the floor to his feet. "Now I expect to see you at tutoring today, yes Mister Hibai?" The boy nodded vigorously, but kept his head down to keep his tears of pain hidden. "Thank you so much for gracing us with your presence, Miss Kurogane," the old man said with unadulterated cheer. "Please, stop by any time. We would love to see more demonstrations from you. You are after all a celebrity." Kurogane bowed to her old teacher and smiled sheepishly.
"Thank you," she nodded. "I'll keep that in mind." Instead of going down the stairs she hopped the fence and landed hard on her feet. Because I guess pulling children's arms out of their sockets is a great way to teach a lesson…
'-'