Author's Note: Hey everyone! First, thank you very much for the ongoing support and interest in this story. The stats alone are way ahead of any other story I'm writing. Reviews would be very much appreciated though. Anyway, in this chapter we're going to follow two storylines, one is Lu Ten (of course), and one the Gaang and Zuko. We're starting in Lu Ten's dream, and just a quick remark, it is not going to be a pleasant one, so if you have a problem with nightmares, probably skip the first section.
Caldera, 100 AC
Lu Ten stumbled through the Fire Nation palace, it was night, everything was dark, and a cold breeze shook him to the core. Familiar halls, galleries and rooms turned into shadowy dark masses around him, not a single lantern was lit. Stabilizing himself on the wall he walked forward, until he noticed where he was, the next door would lead him to the throne room. A warm light emerged underneath the massive door. Then he noticed a small trail of a dark liquid slowly making its way from under the door as well. He stopped for a moment, was that blood? Staggering forward he needed all of his power to open the door. Lu Ten nearly collapsed on his knees when he saw what awaited him inside. Bodies. Laying one over the other they were nearly spread over the whole floor, people from the invasion force, people from the army, old friends, new friends, Zhang was laying there, and Hakoda, Bato… as he stepped closer to the throne, he felt his knees shaking. There laid the teenage group, every one of them, Toph, Sokka, Katara, even Momo, and finally Aang. He cried; this couldn't be. When he looked to his side, he collapsed to his hands and knees. There laid his father and Zuko. From their positions, his father had tried to shield his Baby Cousin. He couldn't bring himself to stand up, so he crawled on all fours towards them, kneeling at his father's side he threw himself on him and cried into his shoulder, like he did when he was just a kid. After what seemed like an eternity he turned to his cousin. He cupped Zuko's scarred cheek, stroking it with his thumb. The skin was cold, no life left in the body. Lu Ten lifted Zuko's upper body from the ground and rocked him like a child. He heard steps behind him and as he turned around there stood his uncle in full Fire Lord attire. He grinned as he held a struggling woman by her neck, a knife on her throat. Lu Ten's eyes were blurry from all the tears he shed, so he needed a moment before he could make out her face, it was Lian. "Hello nephew.", his uncle snared, "What a pleasant surprise. Who do you think should be next?", and as Lu Ten only stared at him with a mixture of anger and horror in his eyes, he turned his head to someone Lu Ten couldn't see and called, "Bring in the boy.", a tied up, small figure stumbled into the room, the head all covered by a large hood that was closed on all sides. A cold fear shot through Lu Ten's body. He heard Lian scream, "No! Take me! Take me!", as she struggled violently in Ozai's grip. He laughed cruelly and shoved her to the ground. Lu Ten didn't know why, but he couldn't move. He had to watch as Ozai gripped the boy under his chin, just seconds away from killing him. The Fire Lord grinned at the shivering child. Another scream was heard, and Lian ran between them. She grabbed Ozai's hand and to Lu Ten's horror, guided the dagger right into her own chest. He didn't know if he screamed or not. The last thing he saw was his uncle grinning at him while raising the dagger again.
As if it came from far away Lu Ten heard someone say his name, time and time again. His eyes fluttered. He was in a room with stone walls, light colored, volcanic stone. He had a feeling he knew the voice. It was a man's voice, but for a moment he struggled to remember its owner. Suddenly he knew, Hakoda. He forced his head to turn in the direction of the voice and saw the Water Tribe chief, laying on a white bed next to him. On a second look he was chained to it. He looked at his own body, chained as well. Hakoda had bent sideways and watched him with a bit of worry in his blue eyes. Lu Ten groaned, "Hakoda? Where are we? What happened?"
The Chief smiled at him, "Good to see you awake. I almost got worried, you'd lost too much blood and would never open your eyes again. We're in a Fire Nation prison in Caldera, more exactly, in its infirmary, since I got a burn wound and you got stabbed. We're here because as the invasion failed, the kids escaped on Appa, and we stayed and surrendered. Fighting wouldn't have made any sense back then."
Lu Ten nodded, "Probably right, at least the teenagers are somewhere out there. How long was I out?"
Hakoda thought for a moment, "Maybe three days or so? The nurses said you lost quite a lot of blood. Also, they whispered something about lavabending, I didn't know that was even possible."
The Fire Nation prince grinned, "Well, I thought, since I was aware that I might lose that fight, I could as well put up a bit of a surprise.", both chuckled.
Then a nurse entered, "Prince Lu Ten, good to see you awake again. There's somebody wanting to speak to you immediately.", then two guards entered. Wordlessly they unchained him from the bed and put him in handcuffs before escorting him out of the room.
Western Air Temple, 100 AC
Zuko remembered visiting the Western Air Temple for the first time, three years ago, with his uncle. He flinched, that he hadn't been able to tell Iroh that he was sorry for what he had done still stung. He looked around and quickly hid himself when the Avatar's sky bison flew past him. It was too quick to have a clear view. Was his cousin on the bison? He had to be. If he really taught the Avatar firebending, he had to be with him. He thought about going down to them immediately, but then he thought, it would be better to prepare some kind of talk up front and climbed back up.
A few hours later he sneaked up to the Avatar and his friends. Finding cover behind the sky bison, he took a deep breath and thought to himself, don't worry, Lu Ten will be there. If anything goes wrong, he will come to your rescue, no matter how angry he is at you.
Suddenly he heard the blind earthbender say, "I think that'll have to wait.", and the bison moved to reveal him to the other teenagers.
Zuko put on a smile and waved his arm, "Hello, Zuko here.", he gulped as he saw them preparing themselves to attack. Hastily he looked around. Lu Ten was nowhere to be seen. Panic appeared in his eyes for a moment, and quickly he resumed talking, "Hey, I heard you guys flying around down there, so, I just thought I'd wait for you here.", he was suddenly interrupted by the giant animal licking him, twice. After blinking a few times, he continued, "I know, you must be surprised to see me here."
Sokka shook his head slightly, "Not really, since you've followed us all over the world."
Embarrassed Zuko rubbed the back of his neck, "Right. Well, uhh, anyway, what I wanted to tell you about is that I've changed and I, uhh, I'm good now, and well, I think I should join your group. I understand if you don't trust me, but I have a cousin, Lu Ten, he should be with you. If you ask him, he'll surely vouch for me. Where is he anyway?", he looked questioningly at them.
The blind earthbender gritted her teeth and a single tear ran down her cheek, "Don't act as if you don't know."
Zuko was honestly surprised, what was that girl talking about? Surprise plastered all over his face he said, "So, he was with you? What happened? I left Caldera right after you, I didn't hear anything about Lu Ten back then."
Sokka snapped at him angrily, "Your sister stabbed him! And then when she tried to follow us, he stayed back so we could escape."
Aang closed his eyes for a moment, "And now I need to find a new firebending teacher.", he said in a somber tone.
Zuko just stood there, flabbergasted. So, his cousin had been the Avatar's firebending teacher indeed, he had been right about that. But to learn that he was captured, injured, maybe even dead… It was a bit much to process at once. Then he dropped his head and grimaced. This couldn't be true; he had been so close and now… His thoughts were interrupted as the sky bison licked him again, much to his surprise.
Toph pointed out, "Well, Appa seems to like him."
Sokka crossed his arms, "He probably just mistook him for Lu Ten. Maybe they smell similar. I'm not buying it."
Caldera, 100 AC
As he was dragged through the hallway Lu Ten spotted an open cell door and looked into the cell. Inside was no prisoner, but only a very damaged cage. In a friendly, almost bubbly tone he asked the guards that were escorting him, "Hey guys, what happened to that cell?"
One of them chuckled, "That was the cell where the Dragon of the West was held. He busted himself out a few days ago, during the eclipse.", before the other guard shot his colleague a glare and thus, silenced him. The Fire Nation Prince smiled; his father was always someone to reckon with. He thought, Good that at least you're free, Dad.
Lu Ten was roughly shoved into an interrogation room, the only furniture was a chair. He rubbed his aching shoulder to diffuse the pain. Grimacing he looked down on himself, the scratchy, brown prisoner clothing almost didn't deserve to be called that. But at least he was allowed to have his hair in a topknot. Sighing he sat down on the chair, his hands still chained together in front of him.
The door opened and revealed a tall man. Angrily both glared at each other. Lu Ten forced himself to be calm and greeted the man, "Hello, uncle.", while smiling coldly at the Fire Lord.
Ozai's voice filled the small room, "For years I thought this day would never come. I thought you died on the battlefield at Ba Sing Se, but now I had to discover that you of all people betrayed not only your country, but your family, and sided with our sworn enemies. I am surprised and disappointed, nephew."
Lu Ten raised an eyebrow at his uncle, "You mean, you're surprised and disappointed that this assassin wasn't as good as you made him out to be? Do you think I wouldn't notice? What I don't know still is, what did you do to grandfather? He died suspiciously close to my supposed death…"
Ozai grimaced angrily, "You should watch your tongue, nephew. Such suspicions have proven unhealthy for a lot of people."
"You can't kill me, uncle. Too many people know that I'm alive and word always comes out. You'd probably have to face a wave of protests at least and at this stage of the war, you really can't afford anything like an enraged population. Even if it's just the two of us in an interrogation room, if only one comes out, people can guess what happened.", Lu Ten analyzed matter-of-factly.
He saw his uncle getting even angrier and wondered when the point would come that the man's face would turn as red as his robe. Nonchalantly he continued, "And you really can't keep me imprisoned here for long. You must've seen father's cell too. If he gets out of here, do you doubt I could do so too and maybe quicker? I really wonder what your plan is here, uncle. It can't be having me running free in the streets of the capital, or is it?", he didn't know himself where he was going in that argument, but it obviously drove Ozai mad, and that would probably lead him to make a mistake, while also distracting him from anything about Aang. "By the way, where's my cousin? I'm sure, Zuko would be thrilled to see his Sifu again.", he was interrupted by his uncle kicking the chair away from under him. He landed roughly on his back.
When Lu Ten looked up, he saw Ozai towering above him. "Aren't you a smart one, nephew. But my son is not here anymore, he won't save you. He chose to be a coward, like he always was.", he bowed down towards Lu Ten and a flame formed in his hand, "But maybe you would like a scar to match your student?"
Lu Ten stared into his uncle's eyes defiantly, just as the flame was only centimeters away from his face he said, "I'm sorry, uncle, but you cannot bully me around like your son.", then he breathed fire, as much as he could. Ozai shrieked back. He was mostly quick enough to shield himself, but his left sleeve was burning for a moment before he put it out, and Lu Ten wondered if the hand his uncle hid beneath it was at least partly singed. He rolled himself into a sitting position and looked grimly at his uncle, "Now, what do you really want here?"
A cruel smile appeared on Ozai's face. Like nothing happened he answered, "I guess I just came to bring you a letter that arrived here a few days ago, before the invasion.", and indeed, he took out a scroll that had been hidden in his right sleeve. He tossed it over to his nephew.
Lu Ten stared at it for a moment, his mind racing. Who had sent this and why? He could see that it was opened before, so his uncle most likely knew what was written in it, yet even the address surprised him, "To Prince Lu Ten, Royal Palace, Caldera."
He opened it and began reading. Ozai seemingly enjoyed the show as Lu Ten's hands began shivering and tears appeared in his eyes, Lu Ten knew that, but he couldn't help it as he read:
Dear Dad,
I know this might come as a surprise, but I wasn't able to send you a letter earlier. We have not that much money, and if I asked Mom, she would've said no. So, I used all the money I got for my birthday to send this.
My name is Taiyo, we haven't met yet, but I know that you're my dad and I miss you terribly, every day. I know, Mom does too, maybe even more. She's always so sad that you aren't here. Even Grandpa seems a little downcast sometimes.
I hope this letter reaches you. Everyone says you're most likely dead, but Mom doesn't believe that, and since she's always right, it must be true that you're alive. Grandpa also said something of the sort. He also said that I look a lot like you. He began teaching me firebending, and he says, I'm a natural talent at it. But he also said that that was not surprising, because of you being my dad. We have to hide it though, because of the war.
I don't know what keeps you away from us, but can you please come back soon? Mom, Grandpa and I are living in Lo Mong village, in the East of the Earth Kingdom, not too far from Ba Sing Se. Mom works here as a nurse, and I help her collecting herbs and other stuff. Grandpa joined us a few months ago and helps too where he can. Mom would surely be overjoyed to see you again, and I too.
Sincerely,
Your son, Taiyo
PS: I hope you won't find this letter a nuisance, if so, I'm sorry.
Lu Ten's gaze wandered upwards to the Fire Lord again, and his face grimaced angrily. Ozai smirked at him, but in a second the smirk was gone as he was pushed into the wall of the small room. Despite being chained, Lu Ten had let go of the letter and held his uncle now by his collar against the brimstone. Through gritted teeth he snapped at him, "What did you do to them?"
It took Ozai a moment to regain his composure. As the smirk reappeared, he said calmly, "I didn't do anything to them.", surprised, Lu Ten let go of him. Brushing the dirt off of his attire, Ozai walked towards the door, but turned around one final time, "But I ordered the Rough Rhinos to deal with the matter. Colonel Mongke always knows how to handle such mistakes thoroughly. Their report should be in soon, so don't think you'd have a chance to save them.", he closed the door behind him just in time to evade Lu Ten's attack.
The Fire Nation Prince collapsed to the floor, shocked, tears running down his face, screaming angrily at no one in particular. This couldn't be true. All these years he wasn't free to return to them, he had wished for any sign of them being alive and well, and now that this happened, it might as well had just caused their demise.
On all fours he hastily picked up the letter, read it time and time again, clenching onto it. What did he do to deserve this? What did his son do to deserve this? And Lian? Why did fate have to be so cruel. This child only missed his father and innocently sealed its family's fate.
Sometime later he stopped crying and just sat in a corner of the room, the letter still in his hand. Taiyo, he thought, my son. Taiyo means sunrise. He thought of Lian, her father, everything in this letter fitted so much. Eastern Earth Kingdom, as far away as he could get, if you left out the Poles. Still, not too far away from Ba Sing Se, so you had a place if you needed to take refuge. The refusal to believe in his death, still working as a nurse, that was so much like her, he didn't doubt that the letter was not made up. This was not Ozai composing something to torture him, this was his uncle, seizing an opportunity. His father's voice echoed through his mind, in our darkest times, hope is something we give ourselves, Lu Ten remembered, it had been on his first military campaign. The first time, a friend died. Lian's picture appeared in front of him, like it did so many times during his imprisonment under Lake Laogai. Her smile, her black eyes, should he really never see her again?
His eyes snapped open; he couldn't afford to lose all hope. If Lian was still hopeful that he was alive after seven years, he had to do so too, until he had proof that they weren't alive anymore. I will end this war, somehow. Then I'll come and find you, I promise. And if I should only find graves, I will take revenge and burn this stupid smirk off of Ozai's face, he thought. Leaving his lethargy behind, his mind began racing again, nothing was lost now. His father was still out there, Zuko was out there, and most importantly, Aang and the rest of the teenagers were out there too. Slowly he stood up and banged on the door.
Western Air Temple, 100 AC
After Zuko had left, the teenagers kept on discussing. Toph was the only one to take a stand for the banished prince, "I'm just saying that, considering his messed-up family and how he was raised, he could have turned out a lot worse."
"You're right, Toph! Let's go find him and give him a medal. The "not as much of a jerk as you could have been" award!", the waterbender threw at her sarcastically.
"Stop it!", the young Avatar yelled in between them. Suddenly everyone was silent. "Remember what Lu Ten said about him? He believed that there was good in him, and he wanted to talk to him, not fight him. Maybe we should do just that. But I'm not having him as my Sifu. If anything, he might fill the hole that his cousin has left until we have a chance to free Lu Ten."
Toph added, "All I know is that he was sincere the whole time. Also, if he wasn't, it would be a pretty big risk showing up here like that."
Later that night Zuko sat by a fire at his campsite. He had wanted to sleep, but his thoughts would keep him from it every time he tried. The unclear fate of his cousin nagged on him. Back then they were very close, more like brothers than cousins, and he always, even after his supposed death held his cousin up as a hero. Staring into the flames he remembered the last day they had together.
Zuko sat by the side of the turtle-duck pond when he saw a tall silhouette walking down towards his cousin's chambers. He instantly knew it was Lu Ten. Smiling he followed swiftly. Lu Ten hadn't been around for a few days, he had to meet up with some admiral, Zuko didn't know a lot about that. He sneaked into Lu Ten's chambers behind him, hiding behind furniture, tapestry or curtains. Today he was sure that his cousin had spotted him most likely right from the beginning but acted differently. He watched as Lu Ten walked up to a small table with a basket on it. His cousin opened it to look inside and stopped in his tracks for a moment, cursing under his breath, "Bleeding hog monkeys!", then he closed the basket again. Without even turning to look at him he said firmly, "Zuko!", with a slightly guilty look the eight-years-old left his hiding place behind a curtain.
Trying to look innocent he met his cousin's gaze. It was disappointed, maybe even a bit angry. Lu Ten towered above him, arms crossed, "Zuko, where are my creampuffs?"
Zuko gulped, he knew where they were. Still trying to appear as innocent as possible, he said, "I don't know that you had some, Sifu. Why would you ask that?"
His cousin's expression was now clearly disappointed. Sighing he knelt down on one knee and held Zuko's chin up. "So, I guess these blue and pink marks on your face are not colored cream but instead marks of your dedication for studying firebending, hmm?", Zuko's face went red, not just the cheeks, all of it, "Zuko, don't lie to me. At least not about something that is so easily disproven. Honesty will serve you better, but if you have to lie, at least put some effort in it.", with that he pulled out a handkerchief and started to wipe his cousin's face clean.
"Why would you have creampuffs prepared for you anyway, Lu Ten? I thought you don't really like them.", the child asked curiously.
Lu Ten raised an eyebrow but smiled down at his little cousin. "You're right, I don't. But my father does like them, and by a lot. Also, I know a little boy who likes them very much as well, must be my imagination…"
Zuko suddenly looked very guilty, "So, they were for me anyway?"
His cousin laid a hand on his head and ruffled his hair a bit, "One of them was, yes. The other two were for my father. Let's say I tried to bribe him a little. But don't worry about it, Baby Cousin.", the nineteen-years-old sat down on a couch and gestured for his cousin to join him, "I wanted to speak with you anyway."
Giggling Zuko hopped on the couch next to Lu Ten and looked up at him curiously. Bubbly he said, "Are you going to teach me lightningbending now? Did you and uncle think of a new technique? Are you…"
He was cut off by Lu Ten taking Zuko's hands in his and kneeling down before him, shaking his head slightly, "No, Zuko, I'm afraid nothing of the sort. I'm needed at the siege of Ba Sing Se; thus, I'll leave this evening."
Immediately tears shot up in the boy's eyes, "But, but, but… you can't just leave me here! I won't let you! At least take me with you!"
Lu Ten smiled sadly at him, "No, Baby Cousin. I can't take you with me, I'm afraid."
"But you did accompany uncle at my age!", Zuko's voice became high-pitched from panic.
His cousin looked deep into the child's eyes, "On travels, Zuko. Not to war. That is different and much more dangerous. I don't know what I would do if something was to happen to you."
Tears were streaming down Zuko's face by now, "But who's going to teach me firebending then? Can you really not stay?"
Lu Ten pulled his cousin in a tight hug, "No, Baby Cousin, I can't stay. Master Zhang Wei Fu will take over your education until I come back. I also sent a note to Master Piandao, since you're so fascinated with swords. He's a friend of my father's and will surely teach you well. Now, student, I only want to hear positive things about you when I return.", he smiled at his cousin as he pulled away from the hug.
Hesitantly Zuko smiled back, while still sobbing, "Then come back soon, Sifu. I'll miss you."
Lu ten cupped his face with both of his hands, "I'll miss you too, Baby Cousin.", then Lu Ten kissed his cousin's forehead and stood up again. Brushing off some imaginary dirt from his armor he said, "Now that you've already had creampuffs, what else do you want to do today?"
The sun was already beginning to set as Fire Lord Azulon walked into the royal gardens. He smiled when he heard laughter and turned towards it. For a moment he just stood there and enjoyed the scene before him. There were both of his grandsons, Lu Ten, the older one, was teaching Zuko some firebending forms, and it looked like the little one finally made progress. Mirroring each other they performed a series of kicks and blasts. When both noticed the Fire Lord, they quickly ended their training, bowing to each other, smiling. Then they turned around and bowed to him. Zuko smiled, but Lu Ten's face was serious, he knew what was coming. Azulon's face was serious too, almost a bit worried, he said, "Lu Ten, it is time."
Zuko's expression fell apart. Of course, his cousin had told him before that he'd go, but now that it became a reality, anxiety gripped his heart. Lu Ten bowed again and said, "Worshipped grandfather, when we meet again, I'll bring you the Earth Kingdom's crown as a present."
Azulon put on his usual, tight-lipped smile, "I would expect nothing less of you, grandson.", then the Fire Lord left.
When Lu Ten turned around he looked into big, tear-filled, amber eyes. A second later his cousin hugged him tightly, crying into his armor. He hugged him back and tried to calm the eight-years-old down, "Shh, Baby Cousin.", but the child wouldn't let go. He pulled away from the hug, knelt down in front of Zuko and cupped his face with both hands, "Hey, Zuko. Look at me.", he said, rubbing away the child's tears with his thumbs, "I know you don't want me to go, I don't want to go either, but I have to. For our people, our country, our family."
"But why can't I come with you, Lu Ten?", Zuko sobbed.
"Zuko, we've already talked about that, didn't we? Look, I'll be back soon, I promise. And when I do, I'll take you out to travel, how about that?", Lu Ten smiled slightly at his cousin. The child stopped crying.
"You would?", he asked curiously.
Lu Ten laughed, "Sure. It might be about time that you learn about the history of firebending anyway. How about you do some research about it while I'm in the Earth Kingdom?"
"Okay.", Zuko said way less thrilled about it already.
Chuckling Lu Ten stood up again, he put a hand on his cousin's shoulder, "And don't forget your homework, the basics are important. I'll be sure to test you on that when I come back.", as he walked away, he turned around one last time, "And Zuko, listen to your mother. She knows what's best for you."
Zuko snapped out of his memory when he heard someone, or something, approaching. Hastily he got up and into a defensive stance. "Who's there? Show yourself!", he yelled into the dark forest around him.
"It's us! It's us!", the voice of the young Avatar answered. Then he and the earthbender stepped into the light of the fire. "We just want to talk.", Zuko stayed in his defensive stance for a moment, before dropping it and nodding.
He gestured towards his campsite, "Okay. Have a seat. I'm sorry I can't offer you tea."
As they all sat around the fire, Aang began talking, "So, uhm, we discussed what you told us in the group. But no one of us is ready to trust you unconditionally.", Zuko nodded, "The thing is, before the invasion, Lu Ten talked to us about you, since there was the possibility that we'd run into you during the eclipse. He begged us to let him talk to you before we'd fight you, because he said, that you have good in you. He said, he'd knew since you two were more like brothers than cousins, and that he was your Sifu. He also told us somewhat of your family.", Zuko's eyes widened slightly, his cousin must've really trusted these children if he told them all of that. "And this is basically why we'll be giving you a chance to prove yourself. Earlier, Toph said that I need a firebending teacher, and she's right about that. But I already have one, he's just not here. So, would you be my substitute teacher until we can free your cousin?", Aang held out a hand to the firebender.
Zuko stared at him for a long moment, was that a serious offer? Then he quickly grabbed that hand before the Avatar could pull it back. He bowed before him, "I won't let you down, I promise."
"Don't you fail on this promise. You're still only working on Lu Ten's credit. And I can sense if you're lying, remember that.", Toph interrupted.
Zuko smiled at her, "Don't worry, my cousin taught me a long time ago that honesty serves me better."