30
Hoshiko opened her eyes, looking around the room that had been given to Kagemi. She was in luck. She had finally driven Kagemi's consciousness away with exhaustion that night, but she knew it wouldn't last long. She had an hour at best. She needed to make the most of it. It was the dead of night, and almost everyone was asleep. She got up from the bed, groaning a little as she felt the weight of her limbs on her body, still tired from exhaustion. She used some of the strength she had to get out of the room, going to someone she hoped would help her.
She walked around, moving quickly and quietly through the palace as she snuck outside the grounds, heading for somewhere she had only seen through Kagemi's memories.
It took her a good little while, but she finally reached it. She looked up at the huge, winding building that was the Fire Nation prison. Using the same technique as Kagemi, she sunk into the shadows, turning into a little black blob on the floor. She traveled along the corners of the walls, staying still as any guards passed by, and then kept moving on until she reached the cell she wanted. The entire time she moved, she could feel her strength slowly depleting, and she knew that her body couldn't withstand so much work after such a great amount of time. She would return to the prison Kagemi had made for her soon, but hopefully not too soon. She snuck underneath the door, and reverted to her normal self on the other side.
Iroh looked in amazement at the Shinjun that had snuck through into his cell. He had seen her once before, when Zuko last came to visit him, but something about her appearance was significantly different. He knew that she was different from the Shinjun he had seen with his nephew during his last visit, but now she more resembled the Shinjun he had seen in Ba-Sing-Se when he first met her. She quickly went over to the bars of his cell, grasping at them. She looked exhausted.
"I don't have much time." She panted out, "Do you remember me, Iroh?"
"Yes, I remember you." Iroh said.
"Where?" Hoshiko demanded, she needed to know if he thought she was Kagemi.
"When I journeyed with the avatar to the crystal catacombs of Ba-Sing-Se." Iroh said, "After that… you changed." Hoshiko smiled.
"That wasn't me." She said.
"I am aware of the shadow bending legend of ni-nin." Iroh said, "She was your other half." Hoshiko nodded.
"I'm glad I don't have to explain it to you." She said.
"You've regained control?" Iroh asked, Hoshiko shook her head.
"Only temporarily." She said, "I'll collapse from exhaustion in a half hour or so." She moved closer to the bars, "I need your help." Iroh leaned in closer, showing that she had his utmost attention, "I'm only here now because I've exhausted Kagemi, and she won't know that I've spoken to you. She doesn't know that I've broken through her defenses, she doesn't even know I'm conscious right now. I need your help to get me back in control."
"How can I do that?" He asked.
"On the Day of Black Sun," Hoshiko said, "The avatar is launching an invasion of the Fire Nation. You need to escape this place." Iroh nodded, "And when you do, come and get me. I've been working non-stop to get back to my body permanently, and at this rate, my best chance is on that day. If I find out where I'll be placed, you have to come and get me."
"Why?" Iroh asked.
"Because right now, you're the only ally I have." Hoshiko said. Iroh's face turned into a grim frown, but he nodded, understanding. "If there was something I could do to increase the number of allies I have, I would."
"Actually, they're just might be a way." Iroh said, he moved over to his cell wall, removing a loose brick and pulling out a scroll. "Take this to the palace and place it outside Zuko's bedroom." Hoshiko took the scroll, "This may help him realize his path." Hoshiko nodded, tucking the scroll under her arm, "When he does, he will help you." Hoshiko nodded and stood up. "I hope to speak to you again."
"As I, you." Hoshiko said in return, going back into the shadowy blob form and went out of the room, sneaking out of the prison again.
Halfway through her trip back to the palace, Hoshiko's body was no longer able to hold the strain of being in that form and she had to release herself from it. She snuck to the front door of the prince's room. She intended to leave the scroll there and leave silently, but her body was still weak from exhaustion, and she felt as though her limbs had suddenly been turned to lead, and walking was becoming nearly impossible. She went over in front of Prince Zuko's room and placed the scroll at the front of his door so he would see it in the morning, if a guard didn't see it first. As she walked away, her body's exhaustion caused her to fall over on her face, and she was tempted to lie there, but she was sure the noise she made had awoken the prince, and she scrambled to get up. Just as she turned a corner, she heard the prince's door open. She peeked around the corner and saw Zuko pick up the scroll and open it.
"You need to know the story of your great-grandfather's demise." Zuko read aloud, "It will reveal your own destiny…" He stopped, and he looked around, and Hoshiko hid again, her legs shaking as they became slowly unable to stand. Once she heard his door shut, she dashed down the hallway to the room she had been given, pausing only in front of one room. Her breathing was ragged, and she was sweating profusely as she walked in. Before Kagemi locked her back up, there was just one thing she had to do, just one thing.
She went into the room where Kagemi had found Fire Lady Ursa's belongings, and went over to where the title-less books rested. There were dozens, and she grabbed the book that started the long line of dozens, and the one that ended at the long line. They were both surely her diaries, and one of them was the one that bore the last entry, that would perhaps reveal the mystery as to what had happened to cause the Fire Lady's sudden disappearance. She quickly went back to her room, hiding the two diaries under the chair of a vanity and then she went to the bed, collapsing upon it. She was asleep before her head even hit the mattress.
Kotaro sat in the back of Appa's saddle as he and the rest of the GAang flew through the air. Last night, Aang had received a message from Avatar Roku, telling him to meet him on his home island on the day of the summer solstice. No one really argued with the young monk about it.
After about an hour of flying, Aang started to dissipate some of the cloud cover. He pointed down to an island with two black mountains resting on it. "There it is! That's Roku's home." They went down the island, and instead of seeing a village there, all they saw was darkened ground and grey dirt everywhere on the island.
"But… there's nothing here." Katara said, looking around. Toph was the last one to jump down off the saddle, and she stopped once she did, her milky eyes wide.
"…Yes there is." She said, "An entire village. Hundreds of houses. All completely buried in ash…" Kotaro looked up at the mountains, seeing that the hardened ash went up to the tops of the mountains.
"The volcano must have erupted." He said, pointing to it, "I wonder if it's still active…"
"I don't feel any lava churning." Toph said, "I think we're okay." Kotaro nodded, but still felt a little wary of the looming mountain.
Kagemi awoke with a pounding headache that morning, groaning, and hiding under the sheets of her bed, blocking the sunlight away from her eyes. Why did she feel like this? She felt even worse than she did yesterday! Tonight, she'd get to sleep a little earlier, although she had strangest remnants of a dream, but she wasn't really sure what it was anymore, and she didn't really care, either. She was in too much pain to care about a dream that meant nothing.
When someone knocked on her door, she felt ready to kill.
"What?!" She snarled at the person on the other side, a feral growl coming out when she spoke.
"Princess Azula is requesting to see you, Miss Kagemi." A voice said through the door. Let out a low rumbling growl and got up.
"Fine." She said, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and went to change into her clothes for the day, a black and white kimono top and black pants. She went over to the mirror, and let out a snarl when she saw that the white-tipped cracks on her face had gotten even longer, going down to where her neck reached. "You better give up this stupid struggle…" She growled as she bent away the lines on her face.
She walked out of her room and went down the hall, bowing to the princess once she was in sight. "You wanted to see me, your highness?"
"Yes, I wanted your assistance with something." Azula said, "We're preparing against an invasion." Kagemi's ears perked at the word, "And we need someone to help train our soldiers against Shinjun benders."
"It would be an honor to help the Fire Nation army." Kagemi said. Azula smirked.
"As it should be." She turned around, "Come with me." Kagemi followed her through the palace, which was something of a great labyrinth to anyone that was unfamiliar with it, but Kagemi had been in the place long enough to tell which way led to her room, the dining hall, and now, the soldier's barracks. As they walked, they passed a hall of portraits, showing each Fire Lord in recorded history of the Fire Nation along its walls. Zuko was there, looking up at the portrait of Fire Lord Sozin, his great-grandfather.
"It's never too early for a sitting with the court painter, Zuko." Azula said as she and Kagemi walked by.
"Yeah, and make sure he gets your good side." Kagemi said with a smirk, pointing to where Zuko's scar rested. The prince watched the two girls leave, about to snap something at them, but paused, and decided to get their advice on something.
"Wait. I need to ask you something." Azula stopped, and so did Kagemi, "What do you remember about our great-grandfather's history?" Kagemi lifted a curious eyebrow at the prince.
"Oh, Zuko." Azula sighed, turning to face him, "It's so strange how your mind works." She walked over to him, Kagemi remaining where she was. "Fire Lord Sozin began the war, of course. He spent his early years secretly preparing for it, yet he was as patient, as he was clever. He famously waited for the comet, later re-named Sozin's Comet, and used its power to launch his full-scale invasion of the world. In the end, he died a very old and successful man."
"But how did he die?" Zuko asked.
"Didn't you pay any attention in school, Zuko?" Azula asked snippily as she began to walk away, "He died peacefully. In his sleep. He was ancient." She made a gesture for Kagemi to follow, and she did. Zuko looked up at the portrait, not satisfied with Azula's answer.
"So, how does this work, exactly?" Kotaro asked as Aang went up to a small jut of land as the sun began to lower behind the horizon, preparing to speak to Roku in the Spirit World.
"I just meditate, and I should be able to get there pretty easily." Aang said with a shrug, "I don't really know how to explain it. It just… happens." Kotaro sighed, clearly understanding that he wasn't going to get a better answer from the young avatar.
"Well, okay then." He shrugged, "Get to the spirit world, then. Don't wanna be late to see Roku." He walked away, giving him some space as he sat down in a meditating position, just as the setting sun hit the water, his tattoos began to glow.
Aang soon found himself in the Spirit World, looking like he did when he first entered it, dressed in his old air bending outfit, and a cleanly shaven head like before. He looked up when he heard the flapping of wings and saw a large red dragon coming towards him. Riding on its back was Roku, who smiled fondly at the young air bender.
Zuko tossed and turned in his bed, still trying to decipher the strange message that had been sent to him the previous night. He reached over where he had left the scroll and opened it up, reading the short message again. He frowned when he read it, seeing that there was nothing to make him think that there was some secret lying in the words.
"What does it mean?" He asked, in frustration, he tossed the scroll away, making it land on the small lamp by his bed. He looked over at it, wondering if the candle in the lantern would burn it, but he was surprised when he saw a smaller, red text showing in the light. Immediately, he went over to it, and held the scroll to the light to read the hidden message.
The Fire Sages keep the secret history in the Dragon Bone Catacombs.
Zuko narrowed his eyes, and rolled the scroll up. He went to where he had put his cloak and donned it, pulling up the hood and leaving the room.
He moved quietly down the halls, being especially careful not to attract any attention from any guards on duty, but as he passed a corner, he didn't see the shadowy blob trailing behind him, dark eyes showing on the blackness. The blob moved to a spot, too tired to go any further, and Kagemi stepped out of it. She watched as the prince continued to move down the hall silently, not noticing her presence.
"And just what do you think you're doing?" She asked him, her voice making the prince jump, pulling out a sword and pointing it at her throat. Kagemi was unfazed by the sudden motion, giving the prince a discerning eye, "Well?"
"It's just you." Zuko said, pulling the sword away and sheathing it.
"I thought you were finished with these visits to your uncle." Kagemi said disapprovingly.
"How did you even know I was here?" Zuko asked, changing the subject. Kagemi scoffed.
"You think that someone moves through this palace, and I don't know about it?" She asked him, she crossed her arms across her chest with a smug grin, "Give me some credit, Zuzu."
"It's Zuko." He said sharply, Kagemi shrugged her shoulders.
"Whatever." She said, "You still didn't answer my question. Where are you going?"
"I'm not going to visit my uncle." Zuko said, "I'm going to the Dragon Bone Catacombs, if that satisfies your curiosity." He turned around, continuing to walk.
"Why?" Kagemi asked, following him.
"Because… I just am!" Zuko said, not wanting to tell her of the message he received, "Go back to sleep."
"Can't. I'm an insomniac." Kagemi said as she followed him, "And a trip to the Dragon Bone Catacombs sounds boring enough to put me to sleep."
"You're not coming with me." Zuko said, turning to face her.
"Who's going to stop me?" Kagemi asked with a smug grin.
"I am." Zuko said, "I'm ordering you to stay here."
"I swore my loyalty to your sister, not you." Kagemi said with a roll of her eyes, "I'm coming with you. I don't want you causing any more trouble than you already have."
"I still say no." Zuko said stiffly, turning around and continuing to walk. Kagemi shrugged nonchalantly.
"All right," She said, "Have it your way." She took in a deep breath and began shouting, "GUARDS! INTRUDER! THERE'S AN INTRU-!" Zuko quickly ran over to her and covered her mouth. He could feel her lips moving back in a smile.
"Mwellm?" She asked through his fingers. Zuko scowled and moved his hand away.
"Not a sound. Got that?" He said, Kagemi mockingly made a motion of locking her lips together with a key. She followed Zuko through the palace as they went after one of the Fire Sages, following him to a small place, watching as he opened up the door to the catacombs with fire bending. Zuko and Kagemi stayed still, not wanting to be seen.
They waited until he left the catacombs before going over to it themselves, Zuko opening up the entrance, and Kagemi following him down the spiraling stairs to the underground area below. As they walked through the empty hallways, they saw the skulls of countless dragons resting on the walls. They moved quietly through the halls until they came to a door that bore a metal statue of Fire Lord Sozin. Zuko put his hand to the emblem in the statue's hands and moved fire into it, making it travel through the statue, setting Sozin's eyes and mouth a flam before opening up. Zuko walked through lighting a small lantern by the door and looked at four scrolls that rested in the middle of the room before a statue of Sozin's dragon.
Zuko looked to one scroll in particular, reaching out to it, "The Final Testament of Fire Lord Sozin." He opened it up and began to read the words that had been written inside it.
As I feel my own life dimming, I can't help but think of a time when things were so much brighter. I remember my friends, Roku and Hikaru…
Zuko's eyes widened. His great-grandfather was friends with Avatar Roku? And who was Hikaru?
Roku held out his hand to Aang, pulling him up onto his dragon. "Come, Aang." Once he was seated behind Roku, the dragon took off, flying somewhere at a speed impossible for a dragon in the physical world.
"Where are we going?" Aang asked him.
"To visit my past." Roku said, he smiled at him, "Our shared past." Aang smiled at the thought.
Roku took Aang to where a young Roku and another young man, who was wearing Roku's headpiece, were having a fire bending battle. Aang watched as they quickly went back and forth in their skills, the match ending when the young man blew back Roku with a blast of fire, making him trip over the root of a nearby tree. He smirked.
"Looks like I win again, Roku." He said.
"Are you kidding?" Roku asked him with a grin, "The tree root did all the work!" The other young man let out a chuckle and reached down to help Roku up. Once he was standing, he patted his shoulder, "Nice one, Sozin."
"You were friends with Fire Lord Sozin?" Aang asked in shock when he saw it.
"Back then, he was just Prince Sozin." Roku said with a smile, "And he was my best friend." As they walked through the palace grounds, a dark-haired panther Shinjun with bright green eyes came towards them with a smile.
"Nice moves, Roku!" He praised, handing him a canteen of water. Roku happily took a few sips from it. Aang's eyes widened as he looked at the Shinjun, and his heart clenched painfully at how much he resembled Hoshiko. "And Sozin, you're good, too."
"I know." He said, pretending to act like his ego was larger than his head. They all laughed at him.
"Roku, who is that?" Aang asked, pointing to the Shinjun as he took his canteen back.
"That is the great-grandfather of Hoshiko, his name is Hikaru." Roku said, "He worked in the palace, and we all became fast friends." Sozin took the canteen next and they walked out of the grounds. As they did, Roku stopped, standing stiff as a pretty girl walked by. He blushed a little when he saw her, and he sighed dreamily when he saw her walk away. Hikaru nudged him.
"Say something to her!" He said. Roku went after her, and he tried to speak, but she was gone before he could say anything. He groaned and fell backwards onto the ground. Sozin went over to him and sat beside his head, grabbing some grass and sprinkling it on his face, Hikaru moving onto his other side with a sympathetic smile.
"Love is hard when you're young." Roku said, looking at the younger version of himself.
"You don't have to tell me." Aang said sadly, thinking of Katara.
"Don't worry. It gets better." Roku assured, putting his hand on Aang's shoulder, "Now come with me, we have a party to attend."
Kagemi groaned as she walked around the room, "I'm so bored!" Zuko shot her a nasty glare.
"Quiet!" He hissed, "Do you want us to get caught?"
"There's nobody here." Kagemi said, "Who's gonna catch us?"
"Just be quiet." Zuko said, "We can't take any chances." Kagemi groaned again.
"But it's so boring!" She whined. Zuko let out a weary sigh.
"Why don't you read one of the scrolls?" He suggested, gesturing to the three other scrolls behind him. Kagemi let out a huff, but consented to it, grabbing one of the scrolls and opening it up, reading the first of the four. Zuko went back to the scroll.
The day of my sixteenth birthday shall be one I can never forget. Roku and I were celebrating it with a party, for it was his birthday as well. When I close my eyes, sometimes I can still see the brightly glowing lanterns, and hear the voices of the crowds of people speaking. The sages came to us, and I thought that something had happened to my father, but instead, they were there to announce the identity of the next avatar. When they said it was Roku, it came as much as a shock to him as it did to me. Instead of the elated reaction I expected, Roku was worried and upset, believing he didn't deserve such a power. Hikaru convinced him that such was his fate, and that he should embrace it, as he did his.
So when the day came that my friend Roku had to leave the Fire Nation, and face his destiny as the avatar, he did so with all the effort he could. He needed to travel the world, so he could master the other elements…
Zuko could almost see the scene playing out between his great-grandfather and Avatar Roku.
Sozin and Hikaru walked over to Roku's room, finding the recently-named avatar sitting on his bed with a solemn expression on his face, but they didn't notice. They were excited for their friend.
"Hey, why aren't you packed yet, all powerful avatar?" Hikaru asked, leaning against the door frame. Roku didn't respond, and the two friends took notice of how depressed he seemed. Hikaru shared a worried glance with Sozin, who walked further into the room.
"Come on!" He said, jumping in front of him, "Show me how it's done using all four kinds of bending!" He started imitating air bending, then water bending, then earth bending, then fire bending, giving Roku a wide smile once he was finished. Roku didn't return the smile.
"I started packing," He said, "But then the Fire Sages told me I won't need any worldly possessions anymore." Sozin brought his hands down, and Hikaru walked over to him.
"Oh. That stinks." He said, sitting on one side of him. Sozin did the same, sitting on his other side.
"It all happened so fast." Roku said, "Everything's going to be different now." Sozin and Hikaru were quiet, unsure of what to say to try and cheer up their friend. Sozin reached up suddenly, and removed his hairpiece from his topknot.
"Here," He said, holding it out to him, "I hope you're at least allowed to have this."
Roku and Hikaru looked at it in surprise, "But… this is a royal artifact." Roku said, "It's supposed to be worn by the crown prince."
"I want you to have it." Sozin said. Roku smiled at his friend's gift and accepted it, putting it over his topknot and pushing in the pin to hold it in place. Roku and Sozin stood up, bowing to each other.
"You shouldn't be so upset about this in the first place, Roku." Hikaru said as he stood up from the bed, "You're going to travel the world. You're going to learn all different kinds of bending, and experience so many different cultures! I wish I was as lucky as you. I'd give anything to get out of here. Visit the Shinjun Homeland in the Earth Kingdom, you know?"
"Well, why don't you come with me?" Roku said, "Fang can carry two, and I wouldn't mind some company." Hikaru looked at him with wide eyes, then looked at Sozin, then back at Roku.
"Are you serious?" He asked with a surprised laugh, "I mean- Is that even allowed?"
"Well, I don't think the sages will mind." Roku said with a grin.
Hikaru smiled widely, and he jumped into the air, shouting "AWESOME!" He went to Roku and pulled him into a brotherly embrace. Sozin smiled at the sight.
Kotaro, Sokka, Katara, and Toph all looked at Aang strangely as, while he was still in meditation, he turned around, squatting. He grunted, making a pained expression on his face, and then he relaxed with a smile.
"Do they have bathrooms in the Spirit World?" Katara asked, wondering if Aang had just done something to his pants that he shouldn't have.
"As a matter of fact, they do not." Sokka said. Kotaro quirked an eyebrow at him.
"How would you know?" He asked him.
"I've been there before." Sokka said, Kotaro snorted in laughter.
"Yeah, and I'm Cao-Gaioju, spirit of the southern mountains." He replied sarcastically.
"I really did go there!" Sokka said, his voice rising as he defended his words, "A crazy forest spirit kidnapped me and trapped me there! Along with like, twenty other people!"
"Uh-huh. Sure it did." Kotaro said, turning and walking away.
"It's true!" Sokka said, "Katara, tell him it's true!" Katara shrugged, unsure of what to say to Kotaro, as he was already out of ear-shot.
Aang looked out over the scenery as he rode on the back of Fang, Roku's dragon. He smiled as he recognized where they were going.
"Hey! We're almost to the Southern Air Temple!" He said happily.
"This was the first stop on my avatar journey." Roku said, bringing them over to a take-off area where Roku and five other air bending students were standing with their gliders. "It was the place where I was trained to master air bending." Aang watched as Roku used some small amount of air bending to make his hair flow in front of another student's face with a grin. "And also where I met an old friend of yours, monk Gyatso." The student blew his hair back at him, and Roku elbowed him in response.
"No way!" Aang exclaimed, he looked to see leaning against the cliff side of the area was Hikaru, wearing some borrowed robes from the temple. The students all took off at the command of the monk watching them, and they took their gliders to the air, flying high in the sky. As they flew, Roku called out to his friend.
"Hey, Gyatso! Wanna see a new glider trick?" Roku performed a loop-de-loop with the glider he used.
Gyatso laughed when he saw it, "Check this out!" He said, he flipped his glider over and stood on it, keeping his balance as he flew back and forth.
"He's air-surfing!" Aang said in delight, "I can't believe I never thought of that!" He watched as Gyatso lost his footing on his glider and fell. Roku quickly came to his rescue and carried him on the back of his glider as they flew back to the take-off point they had started from, where all the other students had already gone. Roku found that, with the extra weight, he couldn't land, and he ended up crashing into the other students, Hikaru, and the teacher. When he moved to get up, Gyatso saw that Roku's hair had gotten in his face, and he used a powerful gust of air bending to blow it back before sitting up.
"That's amazing!" Aang said, "I can't believe you were friends with monk Gyatso, just like I was!"
"Some friendships are so strong," Roku said, "They can even transcend lifetimes." Aang looked at where Hikaru had just gotten up, and kicked down the Roku that had knocked him over with a grin, only for all three of them to be lectured by the monk watching over them a second later.
"Just like with Hoshiko." Aang said, "I can't believe you were friends with her ancestor." At the mention of his Shinjun friend, Aang got a little depressed. Roku noticed it right away.
"Hoshiko still lives, Aang." He said, "But not in the way she would desire."
Aang looked at him oddly, "What do you mean?" He remembered what Kotaro had said to him a few days ago, about the ni-nins of shadow benders, "Wait, do you mean that… Kagemi is the one in control of her body right now?" Roku nodded, a grim expression on his face.
"And if you and your friends do not intervene," He said, "That's how she may stay." Aang's eyes widened.
"How do I stop it?" He asked, Roku shook his head.
"Only Hoshiko could tell you that." He said, "I don't know the answer." Aang's head hung sadly at the mention of it, "But you can help her, as I did Hikaru, so long ago." Aang's head shot up at his words, "It happened only a few days after this event." Time suddenly moved faster as Roku moved Fang up higher until they were at the entrance to the air bending temple. Aang watched as dozens of air bending masters were trying to fight off a deranged-looking Hikaru. He was smiling in a way that sent chills down Aang's spine. He saw that Hikaru's eyes were black, his pupils a bright white. He easily used shadow bending to knock away every air bender that came to him, almost sending them over the cliff.
He laughed maniacally, his clawed hands seeming to be sharper than they were before. Roku and some of the other students were kept far away from him as he kept attacking. Roku looked down at him with wide eyes, unable to believe that this was his friend slicing away at the other air benders. He couldn't take watching it any longer, and he jumped down to where he was and grabbed his arms, preventing him from bending anymore. The ni-nin of Hikaru let out a stream of curses at him as he was restrained.
"Hikaru, snap out of it!" Roku said to him, "You're stronger than this! I know you are!" Hikaru said nothing, only letting out feral growls as he tried to break free. "Come on! Fight it!" Hikaru paused as strange cracks suddenly appeared under his eyes. They slowly grew larger, the crack's ends becoming white tipped as they moved further down his body. Roku looked at him in surprise and stepped back. The cracks grew larger and Hikaru tried to move them away with shadow bending but found that the more he took away, the more that grew back until it completely covered his body. Roku shielded his eyes as a bright light came from the cracks and overtook his form. A moment later, Roku looked at Hikaru's body, seeing that it was black of any cracks, and he lay unconscious on the ground. He went over to him, trying to wake him up, and Hikaru eventually did, his green eyes in place of the darkened ones. The second he realized what had happened, he jumped up, and began quickly apologizing to Roku, to the monks, to everyone, saying how sorry he was that he let 'it' take over him.
Aang watched the scene with wide eyes, "Hikaru was strong enough to fend off the ni-nin when it began to control him for only a few moments. Hoshiko has let her other half be in control for many days, and she has not overcome it." Roku said, "But, with time, I can only hope that she can defeat it."
"Me, too…" Aang murmured.
"Come," Roku said, having Fang fly up in the air and over to another place, "We have much more to see." He watched as Roku flew him to the Northern Water Tribe, "After my years master air bending, I traveled to the Northern Water Tribe. Water bending was especially challenging for me, but in time, I mastered it as well." He watched as Roku went up against one of the masters and used water bending to knock the teacher back with a powerful wave. Hikaru let out a laugh when he saw the master lying against the snowy wall outside the training grounds.
They went off again, to a place in the northern earth kingdom, "I moved on to the Earth Kingdom." Aang watched as Roku competed in a race between him and another man, both of them sliding on rocks up a large hill, "My earth bending master, Sud, was uncompromising, stubborn, and blunt." The two of them got lost in the trees up the hill, "And a life-long friend." Sud raced up to the top of the hill, raising his arms up in victory when he reached the top. He stopped, and his mouth gaped open when he saw that Roku was already there, pouring him a cup of tea casually. He smiled as he handed him the cup, and they raised it in a toast, "It was also in the Earth Kingdom that Hikaru met his wife, and Hoshiko's great-grandmother, Akane." Hikaru came over to them, an orange-haired tiger Shinjun, with a pair of bright blue eyes, and orange and black-striped fur beside him. Roku and Sud smiled at them and offered them both a cup of tea. "It was bitter work, but the results were worth it."
Zuko moved more of the scroll to keep reading the words of his great-grandfather.
It was twelve long years before I saw my friend again. When Roku returned, he was a fully-realized avatar, and Hikaru had returned home with his wife, Akane. And I had changed as well.
Once more, the scene played out in front of Zuko. He could see Roku walking through the throne room, with the Shinjun Hikaru just behind him, and his wife beside him.
"Sozin!" Roku said happily, "Or should I say 'Fire Lord'?"
"Customarily, my subjects bow before greeting me." Sozin said, his tone stiff. Roku and Hikaru paused, unsure of what to do as he walked off of his throne towards them. He smiled when he reached them, "But you two are the exception." They returned his smile and shared an embrace.
Aang watched the scene from the side as Hikaru introduced his wife to Sozin.
"After all these years," Roku said, "He was still my best friend." The scene changed again to a wedding, "And a few months later, he was my best man." Roku stood at the altar, beside him was the face of the young woman who had had a crush on when he was a teenager. Sozin had been the one to bring them together in marriage, and the ceremony had just ended. Roku lifted up the veil of his bride, and she smiled at him.
"Roku, it's that girl who didn't even know you were alive!" Aang exclaimed, looking at her as she and Roku turned to face the crowd of people who had come, all of them cheering for the newlyweds.
"Ta-win," Roku said, "I was persistent. When love is real, it finds a way." He smiled, "And being the avatar doesn't hurt your chances with the ladies, either." Aang grinned at his words.
Zuko moved through more of the scroll, glancing up at where Kagemi was. He saw that she was hanging upside down from one of the shelves, lazily reading one of the scrolls, seeming to try and force herself to read it because she was so incredibly bored. He didn't say anything to her, and went back to reading the last testament before him.
On wedding days, we look to the future with optimism and joy. I had my own vision for a brighter future.
Sozin went over to Ta-win during the reception, "Excuse me," He leaned down and asked softly, "May I borrow him for a minute?"
"Well, it's not very traditional, but… okay." She said, Sozin smiled at Roku and he led him away, coincidentally where Hikaru and his wife were speaking, having a private moment with each other. When he saw his two friends coming by, he excused himself, kissing his wife's cheek and rubbing her swollen belly before going over to see them.
"Roku!" He said happily, "Congratulations, my friend!" Roku smiled at him.
"Thanks Hikaru." He said, "I'm glad you could make it."
"So was I," Hikaru said, "But, the baby won't be coming for some time now, so Akane and I came. I'm glad I did, it was a beautiful ceremony."
Sozin cleared his throat, getting their attention, and they both looked to him.
"Sorry, Sozin." Roku said, "What's on your mind?"
"I've been thinking hard about the state of the world lately…" Sozin began, Hikaru rolled his eyes and came over to him, putting his hand on his shoulder.
"Sozin, come on!" He said to him, "It's Roku's wedding day! Have a cookie! Dance with someone! Lighten up!"
Sozin lightly shoved him off, "I know, I know, but," He turned to Roku, "Just hear me out." Roku nodded, showing him that Sozin had his full attention, so he continued, "Right from the start, I was destined to be Fire Lord, and although we didn't always know it, you were destined to be the avatar. It's an amazing stroke of fate that we know each other so well, isn't it? Together we could do… anything!" Roku frowned at his tone of voice.
"Yeah… we could." He said.
"Our nation is enjoying an unprecedented time of peace and wealth." Sozin continued, "Our people are happy, and we're so fortunate in so many ways."
"Where are you going with this?" Roku asked.
"I've been thinking…" Sozin began, "We should share this prosperity with the rest of the world! In our hands is the greatest empire in history, it's time we expanded it!"
"Sozin, no!" Hikaru said quickly, "The four nations are meant to be just that! Four! You don't need to expand this empire any more than you already have! If we're enjoying a time of peace, then let's keep it that way!"
"I didn't ask you." Sozin snapped at him coldly.
"I agree with Hikaru." Roku said, "A war is just unnecessary, especially during a time of peace and prosperity."
"Roku, you haven't even stopped to consider the possibilities!" Sozin said, trying to get him to warm up to his idea.
"There are no possibilities." Roku said firmly, "This is the last I want to hear about this." Roku put his hand on Hikaru's shoulder and directed him away from Sozin and back to the wedding, where both their wives waited.
While I didn't have Roku's support, I still went ahead with my plans. I invaded and occupied a coastal Earth Kingdom village. When Roku discovered it, he came to me, saying that I had no right to occupy Earth Kingdom territory. I told him that his loyalty was to his nation first, and nothing else, if not, he was a traitor. I challenged him, and I lost. At the end of it, Roku spared my life in the honor of our past friendship, which had long since dwindled since the day we spoke at his wedding.
I didn't see him again for well over twenty years. It was late one night, when I was awoken by a strange quaking in the ground. I went to investigate, and in the distance, I saw the island where my old friend lived with his wife and children. I could see that the volcano on the island was erupting for the first time in well over two hundred years. Roku's island was a hundred miles away, but I could still feel it rumbling, and see the black plume of smoke. I had never seen anything like this catastrophe. I couldn't help but think of my old friend, and how he must have been battling to save his island with all his strength.
In my memories of him, rested my memories of our friendship. My mind set, I went out to my dragon and mounted it, flying over to the island on his back. I arrived when Roku seemed to have settled the first volcano, and just as the second one started its eruption.
"Need a hand old friend?" Sozin asked as he went over to where he was. Roku turned around in surprise.
"Sozin?!" Roku exclaimed in surprise.
"There's not a moment to lose." Sozin said, he reached out his hand to the aged avatar, and he took it, climbing onto the back of Sozin's back and they flew over to the smaller, still erupting volcano. Roku used a combination of earth and fire bending to push the lava down to a manageable level while Sozin used fire bending to take the core of the heat of the lava away from it, hardening the lava into stone. A lightning bolt struck nearby, and the earth underneath Sozin's feet broke. He let out a shout as he began to fall, and Roku used earth bending, making some rock shoot out beneath his feet, letting him gain some balance. Sozin looked to his friend, nodding in thanks, and Roku opened his mouth to say something, but he was cut off by the rumbling of the volcano. He and Sozin both leapt away, running down the side of the volcano to get to safety, as they ran, geysers of black gas shot out of the ground.
"Don't breathe the toxic gas!" Roku shouted to him, he started using air bending to move the gas away from him and Sozin as they ran. Sozin kept his sleeve above his nose and mouth, and Roku did the same, but it wasn't much good, for as he stepped on one piece of ground, the toxic gas shot up into his face. He stepped away, coughing and choking on it. He had breathed in such a large amount of the gas, he was unable to focus his eyes, and he felt as if he could barely breathe at all, "It's… too much…!" He fell to his knees, trying to regain his breath. He looked up at Sozin and held out his hand, "Please…"
Sozin didn't reach for him, "Without you… all of my plans are suddenly possible." Roku looked at him with wide eyes, "I have a vision for the future, Roku." He waved his hand, and his dragon came to him. He hopped up on his back, sparing one last look at Roku, whose face had twisted into a fierce mixture of incredulity, shock, fear, and pure, unadulterated hatred. Sozin rode off into the night on his dragon, leaving Roku on the volcano to die.
As Roku coughed and convulsed, he heard a rumbling, and looked to see a huge wave of volcanic ash was rolling down the side of the volcano. He heard a loud screech, and he looked up to see his dragon, Fang, calling out to him worriedly. Roku was too exhausted to speak any words of comfort to him. He knew these were his last moments. Fang, not wanting to leave his side, not even at the end, flew to him and wrapped his snake-like body around him in a protective circle, even though they both knew it wouldn't do any good.
As the ash covered them, Roku breathed his last. There was a bright flash of light, and Aang and Roku watched as a little, brown haired boy was brought up in the hands of one of the air bending masters.
"Who's…? Oh." Aang smiled when he realized who it was, "That's me, isn't it?"
"Make sense of our past, Aang." Roku said to him, "And you will bring peace, and restore balance to the world." Roku's form faded away, and Aang looked at where he had been.
"Roku?" He called out for him, "Roku?" He walked into whiteness, before suddenly finding himself at Roku's island, just as the moon began to rise into the middle of the sky, signalizing that it was midnight, and that the summer solstice had ended.
With Roku gone, and the Great Comet returning, the timing was perfect to change the world. I knew the next avatar would be born an air nomad, so I wiped out the Air Temples. But, somehow, the new avatar eluded me. I wasted the remainder of my life searching in vain. I know he's hiding out there. Somewhere. The Fire Nation's greatest threat. The last Air Bender.
Zuko looked onto the next part of the paper, and saw that it was blank. His eyes widened and he pulled out more of the scroll "That can't be it." He pulled out even more of the scroll to find only blank paper, "Where's the rest of it?" He looked on the underside, and found nothing. He let out a huff in frustration and put the paper down. He looked over at Kagemi, who was looking at him with an expectant face.
"Can we go now?" She asked him, "I'm so bored of this place."
Kagemi followed Zuko as he took a direct route to the Fire Nation prison from the Dragon Bone Catacombs. He went straight to his uncle's cell, Kagemi with him. She slammed the door behind them as they came inside. In Zuko's hands, he grasped the scroll that bore the message he had been sent not one day ago.
"You sent this, didn't you?" He demanded of the old man as he stormed into his cell, holding up the scroll, "I found the 'secret history'. Which, by the way, should be re-named 'the history most people already know'!" He slammed the scroll down on the floor, "The note said that I needed to know about my great-grandfather's death, but he was still alive in the end!"
"No…" Iroh said, speaking the first words to his nephew since he had been imprisoned, "He wasn't."
"What are you talking about?" Zuko asked, his voice much softer than it had been before, so struck was he by his uncle's voice speaking to him.
"You have more than one great-grandfather, Prince Zuko." Iroh said, "Sozin was your father's grandfather. Your mother's grandfather was Avatar Roku." Zuko's eyes went wide. His great-grandfather had been the avatar before Aang? Kagemi's eyes were wide as well, not expecting the blood of an avatar to be running through Zuko's veins.
"Why are you telling me this?" Zuko asked.
"Because understanding the struggle between your two great-grandfathers can help you better understand the battle within yourself." Uncle said wisely, Zuko fell to his knees in front of his uncle's cell, his hands threading through his own hair as he tried to think, "Good and evil are always at war inside you, Zuko. It is your nature. Your legacy. But, there is a bright side." Zuko lifted his head at the mention of it. "What happened generations ago, can be resolved now, by you. Because of your legacy, you alone can cleanse the sins of our family, and the Fire Nation. Born in you, along with all the strife, is the power to restore balance to the world." Iroh moved to another part of his cell, picking at a brick in the wall, and moving it to reveal a small, hidden chamber, where a wrapped something awaited inside. Iroh pulled it out and pushed the brick back in, "This is a royal artifact." He stood up and walked over to Zuko as he unwrapped it, "It's supposed to be worn by the crown prince." He held out a flame-shaped topknot holder to Zuko, who stood up and reached through the bars of the cell to take it. He looked at it in awe.
"Great, so we came all this way for nothing." Kagemi said with a roll of her eyes. She stood up.
"Oh, and, Kagemi, was it?" She turned around to face the old man with a scowl.
"Yeah, what?" She asked. Iroh gave her a small smile.
"Say hello to Hoshiko for me."
Kagemi's eyes widened for a fraction of a second, then she ran at the door, clawed hands reaching for the old man, who was smart enough to stay away from the door. Kagemi let out a roar as she spoke, "You better be thankin' the Spirits for these bars you deranged old-!"
Zuko pushed her away from the door before she could do anything. He grabbed the back of her shirt and dragged her out, which was very difficult to do as she kept struggling, shouting various things at Iroh.
"You better watch yourself! If I ever hear that name come from you again, I'll take your head off!" Zuko shut the door before she could do anything more to his uncle.
Kotaro and the others looked at Aang, having just heard the story of Sozin and Roku (He had intentionally left out the part about Hikaru).
"You mean after all Roku and Sozin went through together," Katara began, "Even after Roku showed him mercy, Sozin betrayed him like that?"
"It's like these people are born bad." Toph said.
"No, that's wrong." Aang said, "I don't think that was the point of what Roku showed me at all."
"Then what was the point?" Sokka asked.
"Roku was just as much Fire Nation as Sozin was, right?" Aang asked, "If anything, their story prove that anyone is capable of great good and great evil. Everyone, even the Fire Lord and the Fire Nation, have to be treated like they're worth giving a chance. And I also think it was about friendships."
Toph hung her head slightly as she quietly asked, "Do you really think friendships can last more than one lifetime?" Kotaro smiled and reached over, taking the hand of the blind earth bender in his.
"I don't see why not." He said, Aang smiled and came over, taking Toph's other hand, Katara reached over and took Kotaro's hand.
"Well!" Everyone looked over at Sokka, "Scientifically speaking, there's no way to prove that-"
"Oh, Sokka, just hold hands!" Katara snapped, interrupting him. Sokka didn't seem offended by it as he took his sister's free hand.
I'm sorry this chapter took so long. I hope it was worth the wait!