Before anything else, I own nothing but the original characters, and content therein related to them. Avatar: The Last Airbender is owned by Nickelodeon, and any mentioned creator's work belongs to them, and them alone.
Chapter 5 The Truth.
Zuko woke to the sound of footsteps outside of his bedchamber door in the middle of the night. Throwing himself from his bed, Zuko bolted to the door, and opened it, only to see a figure cloaked in darkness disappearing down the hallway. Prepared to give chase, Zuko stopped himself when he stumbled over a scroll in the hallway. Picking the message up, Zuko unrolled and read it. "You need to know the story of your great grandfather's demise. It will reveal your own destiny." He muttered to himself, before lowering the note to look down the hall.
In the morning, Zuko found himself standing in the palace's mural hall, decorated with illustrious portraits of Fire Lords, past and present. Footsteps came from his right, though he paid them no mind, as he was lost in thought.
Azula spoke in passing to her brother. "It's never too late for a sitting with the courant painter, Zuko… Make sure he gets your good side." She sounded as if she was legitimately concerned about his appearance… Though an attempt at crude humor would also be fitting.
"Wait." Zuko said, halting his sister. "I need to ask you something. What do you remember about our great grandfather's history?"
Azula turned and looked at Zuko. "Naturally you've forgotten common secondary school teachings." She stepped closer to continue speaking. "Fire Lord Sozin began the war of course. He knew war was inevitable and prepared in secret for the upcoming conflict. He waited for the arrival of the great comet, later renamed after him, and used its power to launch his full scale invasion on the world, and lead a preemptive strike against the Air Nation before the others could join in attacking the Fire Nation. In the end he died a very old and successful man."
"But how did he die?" Zuko asked, not being given the information he was expecting.
Azula put her hands on her hips. "Didn't you pay any attention in school? He died peacefully in his sleep… He was ancient afterall."
Before Azula could walk away, Zuko looked up at the mural of his great grandfather, and then over at Azula again, as a thought occurred to him. "What about… What about our other great grandfathers?"
Azula paused, mid turn from her brother, before facing him again, contemplation and confusion written on her face. "I… I've never been told anything about our family history other than that of the Fire Lords." She glanced at the mural, and then at Zuko. "Why are you so suddenly interested in our genealogy?"
Zuko looked over his shoulder, then turned, checking to see if all the hall was clear. He'd trusted Azula with more already. "A letter was left at my bedroom door last night. It said that to find my destiny, I had to know about my great grandfather's death."
Azula contained shock. Nevermind the cryptic letter, someone had either broken into the palace, or there was a spy among the staff who was working with an entity other than the royal family. "One thing at a time." She thought. "Aside from the present concern that the palace might not be safe now… Have you checked the letter for any hidden message?"
Zuko raised his good eyebrow at Azula, who rolled her eyes. "Where is this message?" She asked.
"I left it in my room." Zuko said, as he started walking towards his bedchamber.
Azula smirked.
Zuko held the scroll out for Azula, who took the paper, and unrolled it. She read the same characters in common over and over again, turning the letter upside down, and sideways. Zuko looked at her impatiently. "What's taking so long?"
"This isn't as simple as it looks…" Azula said, before looking out the nearest window, seeing the mid-morning sun. "Light a fire for me, will you?"
"What?" Zuko asked.
Azula sighed. "There might be a message written in a disappearing salinated ink. It'll appear in the presence of heat."
Zuko looked over at the oil lamp by his bedside. "This'll be easier." He said, picking the lamp up, and lighting the wick. Satisfied with the heat source, Azula pressed the paper to the glass covering, and within seconds, an unseen message appeared.
Zuko gasped, as Azula's eyes went wide in excitement. "The Fire Sages keep the secret history in the Dragon Bone Catacombs." Zuko read.
Azula smirked, as she rolled up the letter. "Well then Zuzu, up to visit our Great Grandfather?"
Zuko snatched the paper back from her. "Like I'd bring you with me, Azula. Thanks for helping me with the message, but this is my destiny, not yours."
Azula narrowed her eyes at Zuko. "You made it my destiny when you told me about the letter…" She smirked again. "I wonder what would happen if father found out you were receiving coded messages like this from an unknown source?"
At this Zuko looked down at the scroll, and simply tore it in two as he lit the paper on fire, burning it to ash. "What message?" Zuko asked with a shrug.
Azula stuck her tongue in between her molars. "Touche, brother… I'm still going to follow you though. This is just like when we were kids sneaking around all the hidden spaces in the palace."
Zuko grunted, before shaking his head. "Fine… But stay out of the way." He said, before grabbing his cloak from the nearby closet.
Late into the night, Zuko and Azula crept into the catacombs beneath the Fire Sage temple at the northern edge of the city. They walked through the tunnels lit by gaslight, and upon entering the urn filled tomb deep below the city, Azula raised a lantern to see.
"The final testament of Fire Lord Sozin." Zuko read, as he approached the five scrolls displayed on the tomb's center stone. Zuko cracked the box open, and sat on the floor, as Azula placed the lamp on the center stone near his head, before resting on the ground beside him.
Zuko unrolled the long scroll, and started from the beginning. "As I feel my own life dimming, I can't help but think of a time when everything was so much brighter…" Zuko started. "I remember my friend… Roku."
Azula's eyes widened and she looked over her brother's shoulder to read the scroll. "Ruko… Avatar Roku? But… Fire Lord Sozin and Roku were sworn enemies." She said.
"I guess our great grandfather saw his past differently in his final days." Zuko said, before continuing. "We shared much of our early life together, but soon came the day that Roku had to leave the Fire Nation and face his destiny as The Avatar. He needed to travel the world so he could master the other elements. The day he left, I parted with the hair piece worn by the crown prince, as a memento, a reminder of our friendship… A self fulfilling prophecy if ever there was to be one… Shortly after Roku left the Fire Nation, my father died, and I ascended to the throne."
Azula looked away from the scroll, as her brother kept reading. "Twelve long years passed before I saw my friend again. When Roku returned, he was a fully realized Avatar, and… I had changed as well. Life in the palace had made me bitter, and cold… But he was still my best friend. And within the year, I was his best man. Ruko married his childhood sweetheart. On wedding days we look to the future with optimism and joy… But I had my own vision for a brighter future… During the celebration I pulled Roku aside, and confided in him my desire to share the Fire Nation's prosperity at the time with the rest of the world… Unifying it under a single banner… Roku sternly objected, but I'd already decided by then to begin colonization of lands in the Earth Kingdom… In only a decade's time, the Fire Nation gained control over several coastal cities in the Western…" Zuko looked over at Azula, as he trailed off.
"I thought that the colonies were created on wildlands before the war started. Why is Sozin mentioning cities?" Zuko asked.
Azula swallowed, as she read the same sentence over Zuko's shoulder. "It's… It's entirely possible that Sozin remembered events out of order in his old age."
Zuko continued reading. "... Gained control over several coastal cities in the western Earth Kingdom, and had begun to acclimate the people of the kingdom towards Fire Nation culture. The Earth King was in no position to do more than make idle threats towards the march of civilization, as his kingdom was a fractured one of independent states. Only The Avatar could have stopped the advance of the world…" Azula's heart began to sink. "... When Roku returned to the Fire Nation next, it was to confront me about the creation of the colonies. I deemed him a traitor that day, and attempted to take his life… But I was hardly a match for Roku by that point in our lives. He'd beaten me in nearly a moment, and destroyed the palace throne room by that moment's end. He'd spared my life, but I had lost a friend… I halted all attempts to continue colonizing the Earth Kingdom, and for twenty five more years I waited. Made preparations in secret for the day that the next Avatar would be born into the world… But fate had decided I waited long enough… Twelve years before the comet came, Roku's Island, volcanic, like many in our nation, erupted…
Roku's island was over one 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. The Fire Nation mainland was at risk. No, the empire itself. A winter of ash in the midst of summer would have starved our country, and the unending quakes would take their toll on Caldera in time… I mounted my dragon, and flew East towards Roku's island.. For a while I aided him in his battle against the volcano, bending away heat and smoke from the air… But all the same, when the worst of the damage had been controlled, I turned my back on Roku. He was weakened by the toxic gasses covering the island, and by the time I had left, a cloud of ash had settled where Roku once stood…" Zuko took a moment's break from reading, both he and Azula sitting in silent discomfort.
Zuko held up the scroll again, and continued to read the last paragraph. "With Roku gone, and the great comet returning, the timing was perfect to change the world. I knew that the next Avatar would be born an air nomad, so I wiped out the Air Temples, and hunted the air benders for years. Their nature as pacifists made the task seem almost too easy, but somehow The 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 Airbender…" Zuko trailed off as Azula narrowed her eyes.
"Pacifists?…" Azula asked. "I… I distinctly remember learning in school of the Air Army, and the horrible things they had done in wars past."
Zuko flipped the scroll over, attempting to search for more answers. "There's got to be more." He said, before holding the scroll over the lamp, trying to see if there was invisible ink written on the parchment.
As Zuko meticulously searched for a continuation to Sozin's testament, Azula stood up, rubbing her temples. "This doesn't make sense. Sozin's account differs vastly from historical texts."
Zuko looked up at his sister and shook his head. "But why would our great grandfather lie, in his final days, only to make his own actions sound so much more... Unnecessary than what history tells us?" Zuko asked. "And the testament itself wasn't even followed by any account of his death."
Azula looked up, and faced the giant stone statue of the dragon behind her, an uncomfortable thought entering her mind. "I've… I've a theory… But… If we're to confirm it, we're going to have to see someone."
Zuko entered the prison cell holding his uncle, Azula following shortly behind him, before she closed the door. Hearing two sets of feet, Iroh opened his eyes, finding his niece and nephew standing on the other side of the bars dividing the room.
"What does this mean?" Zuko asked, holding Sozin's testament out in front of him. "You sent that message to me somehow. I don't know how, but you did." Iroh remained silent, eyeing Azula. "I did what you told me to. Discovering the secret history of my great grandfather, except, unsurprisingly, it was mostly history people already knew." Iroh remained silent. Zuko looked over his shoulder at Azula.
"She does not need to hear this." Iroh said.
Azula was about to speak, before Zuko shouted over her. "Azula's the only reason I was able to figure out the stupid letter in the first place. She has just as much a right as I do to know what was so important about Fire Lord Sozin's death."
Iroh looked between the siblings again. Before closing his eyes. "It was not Fire Lord Sozin's death that you were meant to discover… Something I believe Azula has already figured out for herself."
Zuko's good eye went wide. "Our other great grandfathers…" Repeating what he'd said earlier.
"Fire Lord Sozin was your father's paternal grandfather, but your mother's paternal grandfather was Avatar Roku." Iroh said, opening his eyes again.
The assumption Azula had held, paled in comparison to the revelation of the truth. Suddenly she felt light headed, and braced herself against the nearest wall. Zuko fared no better, as he fell to his knees, and held his head. "But why… Why does it matter?" He asked.
"Because understanding the struggle between your two great grandfathers will help you better understand the struggle within yourself…" Iroh said, looking at Zuko. "The struggle among your own family…" Azula took several deep breaths to calm herself. "And the struggle you have with The Avatar…" Azula slid against the wall as she sat on the floor, knees close to her chest. "Evil and good are always at war within you Zuko. It is your nature, your legacy."
"Then what is my grand purpose in all this?" Azula asked, standing again. "Why was I not supposed to know I'm a descendant of Avatar Roku?"
Iroh closed his eyes once again. "Azula, your destiny has always been that of your father's, and his father's, who you were named after. Even from an early age, I could see that within you, there was darkness, and fear…"
"No, no, I don't believe that, not for one second." Azula said, cutting off Iroh, tears in her eyes. "You've been gone for so long, you couldn't possibly know anything about who I am, or who I'm destined to be!"
"You did not let me finish." Iroh said. Azula sniffled once, before letting her uncle continue. "There is darkness, and fear. It still exists within you… But there is however, light, and joy, buried under the same history of pain you share with your brother… It was not your place to know who your great grandfather was, because good and evil do not fight within you, as they do your brother, one merely dominates and controls the other because of your surroundings. Simply knowing your heritage does nothing to change that. The day that you are free from our family's curse, the day you reject your father, is the day that the light will outshine the darkness inside of you, and you will find peace."
Azula wiped a tear from her eye, a small smear of her makeup coming with it. "That..." She started, before her frown curled into an angered snarel. "That's not fair! I've done everything that the Fire Lord has asked of me! Everything! Father, he... He loves me, and I won't betray him like you did." But was it not father who taught you love is a tool to control the weak?
Iroh hung his head. "Azula, my brother feels love for no one... He married your mother, Ursa, only because she was the granddaughter of Avatar Roku. He had his father, Azulon murdered, so that he could take the throne. He burned your brother, for showing humility. And he has done nothing but use you as a weapon..." Azula felt herself shutter. "... Azula, there are people in this world who love you. Your mother loved you, your brother, despite your fighting, will still love you, and though you make it difficult at times, I love you as well, my niece." Azula sniffled again, feeling the room around her become cold.
"My mother..." Azula looked away. "My mother thought I was a monster."
Iroh shook his head. "No, Azula. Ursa, struggle as she may have to express her love for you, thought that it was your father who was the monster... And that he had far too much control over you." Azula clenched her jaw, as her uncle spoke. "Your mother would have died to protect you, Azula." A single tear began to trail down Azula's face, reaching the edge of her lip, where it lingered.
Iroh looked back at Zuko. "What happened generations ago, can be resolved now. Zuko, because of your legacy, you can cleanse the sins of our family, and the Fire Nation. Within you exists the ability to restore balance to the world." Iroh turned to the far wall, and pulled free a loose brick, revealing a hidden shelf, and resting on it was a wad in linen. "This…" Iroh said, unraveling the cloth. "Is a royal artifact." Zuko stood as Iroh held out a two pronged hair piece and it's pin. "It's supposed to be worn by the crown prince."
Zuko reached out, and took the iron and gold hair piece, as Iroh looked at Azula. "If you truly wish to change your destiny, Azula, as your brother must change his, then you need only look to those who love you, and accept it."
As Iroh spoke, Azula felt the tears fall from her face, and before anything more could be said, she left the room.
In the Fire Nation Colonies, in a trading port town along the river, the citizens of the Fire Nation and her second class subjects of earthen descent went about their morning. Store owners sold their goods. Fishers docked in port. Children played games along the road.
There were only a few town guards, as the war had moved far and away from the settlement, and conflict with the locals was far too infrequent to justify any more than a Company's worth of men. On patrol, Shin, a new soldier recruited from the colonies, one of the first women to serve in the army outside the homeland, was walking around town with her musket slung on her shoulder, and her partner at her side. All was right in the world.
Shin smiled and waved as a couple of earth bending kids kicked a ball made of stone as they ran by her. Passing an alley, Shin stopped to drop a copper piece for a beggar. Making her way to the riverside port, Shin saw a ship that she didn't recognize. A pre-gun Fire Nation cruiser, with no flag, or markings. There seemed to be no crew around or aboard it.
As Shin stepped onto the wooden dock, the ship, packed full of powder and blasting jelly, blew up.
Shin and her partner were ripped apart by the explosion, reduced to nothing more than shredded meat and torn clothing, as the dock and the three nearest ships were blown apart, or set on fire. The town, well within the range of a stone's throw had dozens of buildings collapse from the blast, the remains having been set on fire...
By the time that relief had arrived from the Fire Army and Navy, almost a day later, the death toll was estimated to be nearly two hundred with thousands injured...
A formal investigation concluded that the ship was one captured by the Northern Water Tribe, originally set to resupply the Army in Ba Sing Se.
Author's note.
I said Azula was about to get a vibe check, I just never said that it was going to be the revelation that almost everything she knows is a lie.
As for the ship bombing... The truth is that war is cruel, and both sides in every conflict do horrible things.
Coming up... Na, I don't want to spoil that one, I've been building it up for so long.