Sorry this chapter took longer than expected, but writer's block was holding me up there for a while. Hopefully it was worth the wait.

This chapter unfortunately will not be featuring Azula or Kazumi since I need a breather from writing those two, since shit is officially about to get emotional. And this one is more or less meant to be a breather for me...

But at the same time some pretty important plot stuff happens so there's that.

With that said, let's get this chapter started!

Ozai let out a content sigh as he walked about his new office space, looking out the window. He was used to far more grand and nicer accommodations than this, but after spending a year in self-imposed confinement in that tower prison, he supposed that this would be adequate for the time being. After a long voyage across the sea and quietly moving around the Earth Kingdom between safe houses to conceal his presence here as much as possible, he had finally arrived at his destination.

A decently sized forward operating base that acted as a intelligence gathering headquarters for scouts in the area, it was well hidden by the thick and tall forest trees and only known by a select few for this purpose. There were dozens of structures like these in the Earth Kingdom that were left behind by the Fire Nation army when his idiotic son forced all their soldiers to withdraw, but it seemed that even in the time that the Hundred Year War came to an end, the fools from the Earth Kingdom didn't even bother making use of any of these former structures that belonged to the Fire Nation. Their loss, he supposes.

The best part about this base is that it lied near the city of Omashu within the Earth Kingdom, where his target would be. Another pathetic fool that belonged to his brother's little tea club.

King Bumi, the leader of Omashu and one of his brother's most powerful allies and member of the White Lotus. The doddering fool might be old and decrepit, but based on the reports he received about this Bumi, he was no slouch when it came to fighting, being considered an Earth Bending Master by many. It actually made Ozai a little excited facing down another powerful opponent and wanting to experiment more with his new powers that he has spent quite some time practicing more by mixing it in with his firebending. And the best part about all is that King Bumi was apparently an old friend of the Avatar. He was going to enjoy this.

Piandou was a nice warmup, now its time for a real challenge.

The door to his new office opened and Ozai turned his head just enough to see that it was one of his captains.

" Speak." Ozai said simply, not even bothering to turn to face the man.

" My lord, our spies have reported in from the city and have completed their assignment. We have secured safe passage and a way into the palace for you." The captain reported in." A few well placed bribes and some loyal fire nation sons and daughters living within the city have helped immensely."

Ozai smirked." Excellent. Tell the men that we will be departing soon and be making our way into the city and then into the palace where I may personally take care of King Bumi myself." The former Fire Lord was very much looking forward to killing off another member of his brother's little tea club and it may just be the blow he needs to deliver to cripple the group. According to the reports, this King Bumi was arguably the most powerful and influential member besides his useless brother, so killing him should break the rest of them.

" But my lord, there is something you should be made aware of. Our spies have reported in another White Lotus member within the place." The captain continued his report." Jeong Jeong, the betrayer is also there.

" The traitor admiral of the Fire Nation?" It had been a long time since he had heard that name. Jeong Jeong was one of his finest admirals, a pity that the fool ran away like a coward and joined his brother's pathetic old man club.

" The same one, my lord. We do not know the exact reason for his presence in the palace, but our best guess is that he is seeking refuge with King Bumi after the assassination of Piandou." The captain said with a grave expression on his face.

" I see...this changes nothing. We continue with the plan as needed." While he wasn't expecting to find another member of the White Lotus hidden at the palace, Ozai was more than confident in his abilities to handle both King Bumi and the traitor Jeong Jeong if it came to that. His unnatural powers have grown since then, and he's confident with those tricks than he can handle them. It saves him the trouble of having to track them down later, killing two birds with one fireball, as his father used to say.

" My lord, not to question your orders but are you certain you wish to face King Bumi by yourself?" The captain said with a worried voice." If need be, I could easily order my spies to slip in some poison in their drinks when the opportunity arises."

" You doubt my abilities?" Ozai asked with a raised eyebrow.

" Of course not, my liege. I am simply concerned, you are our most important leader and the true Fire Lord. If something happens to you, than I fear this whole operation might go south quickly." The captain voiced his own concerns and Ozai could admit that it was reasonable.

" Your concern is quite touching captain, but unnecessary." Ozai turned to face the captain directly." I understand that some might be under the impression that my choice to eradicate the White Lotus is just to spite my dear brother, while that is a nice bonus on the side, it is not the main reason." Ozai elaborated on his reasoning for destroying his brother's little tea club." No, it is meant to act as proof to the Fire Nation that I am still capable of serving as their leader if I am to return our nation to its former glory. Our people need a symbol to rally behind and I mean to provide some very compelling proof."

" Understood my liege. My apologies." The captain bowed his head.

" Now make whatever preparations that need to be made. We leave at dusk." Ozai said as he turned back to face the window, as the captain left his office.

It was almost time.

Getting into Omashu was surprisingly easier than he thought it would be. His men had already made preparations which allowed them to effectively walk into Omashu without any issue, but the fact that the only thing Ozai was wearing to conceal his identity was a green cloak with the hood pulled up and that they walked in through the front gate into the city with even the guards at the front looking sleepy made Ozai wonder how this city didn't fall sooner.

He stowed that thought away for later as they moved through the city. Night had already fallen so there was minimal people on the street, while normally that would be good thing for his plan, that also worked against him as it looked suspicious for even a small group to be moving about at this hour. Ozai only had a small group of his most well trained and skilled men following him around to help escort him to the palace and ensure that there were no intrusions when he was taking care of King Bumi and Jeong Jeong. His men would take care of the guards, while Ozai handled Bumi.

With any luck, they would be in and out of the palace before the rest of the pathetic rabble even knew what hit them.

After around an hour of near endless walking, they reached the palace and slipped inside through a back entrance where the supply carriages were supposed to come in. His men had already cleared the way for them, so they encountered no resistance besides some bribed guards and loyal citizens of the Fire Nation that had managed to get jobs as servants. Ozai had learned from a very young age the power of a few well placed connections can do and this was one of them. Even the most well fortified palace can crumble from within when its own defenders are not all on the same side.

Ozai did have to admit that as he entered the palace that he found the decor to be surprisingly good for the seat of power for a supposedly insane King. He'll take note to conquer this city first when he returns to the Fire Nation and reclaims his Throne. They will need to mobilize quickly if they wish to reclaim all the territory that they lost because of his idiotic son's decision to withdraw. A 100 years of warfare and progress pissed away in such a short span of time, it makes him feel disgusted about the humiliation the Fire Nation has endured under his son's leadership.

He put those thoughts away as he focused on the task ahead. He had a king to kill.

They were currently in the South Wing of the palace near the kitchens, where his captain was currently speaking to some of the spies imbedded here in the serving staff. The rest of his men were keeping an eye out to make sure nobody stumbled upon them. They needed this done as cleanly as possible and Ozai was not in the mood to have his plan foiled by some passing guards.

After a few minutes of speaking with the servants, his captain turned back to him. " My lord, the majority of the patrols are concentrated on the east side of the palace. King Bumi appears to be...doing cartwheels in the garden?" The captain said with a confused expression and even Ozai thought for a brief moment he was joking, but the captain was being completely serious." He seems to be completely alone and isolated from the rest of his guards who he told to stay away or else they would disrupt his practice. We have been unable to ascertain where Jeong Jeong is unfortunately but he is not in his room at the moment."

Of course, my idiotic brother would make friends with this sort of insane rabble. Oh well, at least it makes my life easier. But where could Jeong Jeong be?

" Well done captain. Move out immediately. Take out as many guards as you can and keep them away from the gardens, I have a sneaking suspicion that the King will not go down so easily as Piandou did." Ozai was fortunate that Piandou lived fairly isolated away from any prying eyes so he didn't need to worry about any intrusions. The same could not be said for a heavily fortified palace with guard patrols roaming about." And try to ascertain where Jeong Jeong is, if you find him than do not engage. Stall him for as long as possible and I shall deal with him personally. I shall be waiting at the meeting point in one hour give or take. Do not be late."

" Understood my liege. May Agni protect you." The captain and all of his men bowed their heads in respect to him, before they went off on their assignments. Ozai was annoyed that they had no idea where Jeong Jeong was, but no matter. He would deal with him soon enough.

At least King Bumi is nice and alone at the moment.

Ozai thinks its time to go acquaint himself with more of his brother's dear friends.

Ozai encountered surprisingly little resistance on his way to the gardens. He had already memorized a map of the palace so he knew where to go as the last thing he needed was to get lost. The palace was near deathly quiet at night with minimum servants and guards moving about at this hour. It reminded him a lot of the Fire Nation palace with the main difference being a change in color scheme, and how it seemed like a completely different place at night when there were no servants, dignitaries, generals or advisors moving about.

Still that didn't mean he didn't come across the occasional two or three man guard patrol.

" WHAT THE-" The guards didn't get so much as a chance to scream for help as Ozai ingulfed them in black flames that silenced any scream that came out of their mouths.

He dealt with them rather swiftly. He snuffed out any flames that threatened to spread since he did not need any servants raising the alarm because of a potential fire. Ozai walked quite calmly through the palace, not even bothering to try to sneak since he was never trained in such tactics. He preferred a more upfront approach when it came to destroying his enemies compared to his brother's subterfuge. As if it did him any good when besieging Ba Sing Sae and getting his own son killed.

After a few minutes of walking, Ozai finally arrived at the gardens where he could see that whoever was in charge of the gardens had done an admittedly wonderful job with the arrangements of the flowers. Ozai recognizing several distinct kinds of exotic flowers native to the Earth Kingdom and even the Fire Nation. The grass pristinely cut and the exotic flowers were magnificently placed to create a sort of calm serenity whenever one walked into the garden. Ozai would almost say its on par with the royal garden back at the palace-

" WHOOOO! 1,2,3, 1,2,3!"

It would have been perfect if there wasn't a very old man, older than his own father was when he died performing cartwheels in the garden. The would be King Bumi shouted like a child as he did cartwheels around the gardens, completely crushing the fine detail that had gone into the garden with his trapezing like a damn monkey. Ozai wasn't sure if he should be astounded at what this clearly crazy old man was doing or be mildly impressed at the fact that he could still do several cartwheels in a row despite being a 100 years old.

" WHOOO! I love the feel of that burn on these old bones!" Bumi said to seemingly no one and completely oblivious to his presence.

Well, better make myself known.

Ozai walked out from the behind the pillar he used to hide his presence and towards Bumi, crushing a pair of nice flowers under his heel and practically announcing his presence with how loud his footsteps were on the grass. He stopped about 20 paces away to give him some distance when he begun his attack on the king.

" I certainly hope that I am not causing any interruptions in your activities." Ozai spoke with a smirk making the old king turn his attention towards him. The look the King gave him was one of more surprise than recognition or shock.

" Eh? Who the heck are you? Are you the new cake maker?" Bumi asked in what seemed to be a genuinely confusion. The question itself shocking Ozai more than anything, did this old fool seriously not recognize who he was and somehow managed to think that he was part of the staff? He's honestly not sure if he's more offended or shocked by how stupidly crazy this old fool was.

" What? No, I am not your damned cake maker. I am Fire Lord O-"

" What?!" Bumi cut him off with his shout and seemed to focus his ear at him, indicating that he did not hear him despite the short distance.

" I said that I am Fire Lord-"

" Sorry what did you say?! Can you repeat that!?" Bumi pulled out what looked to be a crooked tube and held his ear up to it, to enhance his earing. Ozai was becoming increasingly irritated by this fool and was wondering if he was intentionally trying to piss him off.

" I SAID THAT I AM FIRE LORD OZAI!" Ozai finally shouted in a burst of anger and irritation.

" Sorry! Still not getting it! Can we please eat some cake first!?" Bumi still did not seem to get the message and Ozai was at his wits end.

" Oh never mind." Ozai decided to skip introductions entirely and just cut straight to the murder.

Ozai sent forth a blast of black fire straight at the insane king, hoping to burn him to a crisp entirely for his mockery. But the king managed to leap away with some earthbending to dodge the blast of black fire. Bumi didn't stop there, making several more quick and consecutive jumps to put more distance between himself and Ozai. The old man displaying an almost unnatural agility that could only be found in men 80 years younger than him.

" WHOA! You are pretty strong for a cakemaker!" Bumi said in shock as he flitted through the air and dodged another fireball that Ozai sent hurling towards him.

He could practically feel the veins on his head pop in anger and frustration at not being taken seriously by this doddering old fool, who was clearly much more skilled than his fragile appearance would have one believe. The fact that he still didn't seem to be taken seriously despite his obvious attempts to burn him alive just made him even more aggravated." I am not a damn cake maker you fool!" Ozai shouted as he sent several blasts of fire at the agile king who kept flitting through the air like a monkey.

Bumi stopped jumping through the air with the assistance of earthbending and landed on the ground a few paces away from Ozai." That so? Well then, its time for me to get serious." Bumi gave him a smirk as he got into a stance.

Ozai glared death at the annoying king as he got into an offensive firebending stance. He was very much looking forward to burning this fool.

Bumi made the first move, stomping his foot on the ground which caused several large rocks to emerge by his will before they were hurled at him at max speed. Ozai rolled his eyes at the pathetic attack as if throwing rocks at him would be enough to take him down. He easily blew the rocks to dusts with several powerful blasts of fire, using his black fire like a blade to slice through the stones as if they were parchment. He felt confidence building up that he could soon deliver the killing blow...

That was until he sliced through another rock and was unprepared when a follow-up rock hit him.

" AH!" Ozai let out a gasp as the rock hit him square in the chest and sent him back a few feet. He did not fall to his knees and he was fairly certain nothing was broken, but a rock of that size still felt a nasty bruise.

Ozai glared at the King Bumi who surprisingly did not press the attack, instead seeming to take the time to admire the flowers. The bastard king had sent an additional rock that was hidden behind another to catch him in his blind spot that he did not consider. To do such a thing would require fine control over his element, strategic planning and a cunning that he had seen in other firebending masters. Perhaps Ozai had underestimated this King Bumi more than he thought.

And perhaps he would need a bit more help if he wanted to beat this dirt bastard.

His left hand emitted an ominous smoke as he focused the power as close as he could get to Bumi. Within the blink of an eye, he felt his body shift and he was right next to Bumi in that moment. He did not waste anytime throwing his hand forward and unleashing a powerful Windblast that sent the mad king flying through the air. But instead of reacting with surprise or shock at suddenly being violent thrown by a powerful gust of wind, the king was squealed like a child.

" WHEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Bumi spoke like a child going on a ride as he flew through the air, before rolling on the ground. His clothes a bit scuffed up but otherwise fine. He quickly got up and gave him a look of amazement." Wow! How did you do that!? Are you a showman too!? Can you pull a rabbit out of your hat?!"

Ozai did not bother gracing the fool with a response this time. There was no point.

He transversed forward again, this time with the intent to burn the crazy king's face off but Bumi was prepared this time as he quickly erected a wall made out of stone to block the flames before they even reached him and forced him Ozai to retreat when he threw said stone wall at him in a straight line. Ozai attempted the strategy a few more times, but each attempt led to him almost getting hit by a stone wall. It would seem that the mad king had switched to a more defensive strategy, even as Ozai's flames started to spread through the garden and catch fire. They would both not yield.

Ozai was starting to get increasingly annoyed as the fight went on longer than he wanted it too. He knew it was only a matter of time before his presence was discovered here and reinforcements were sent in. Ozai would prefer not to have to fight an entire army along with an annoying earthbending master on top of it. The smoke rising in the air that was coming from burning bushes and flowers might have already given away his presence here. He needed to bring this fight to a close and fast.

" Missiles!" Ozai sent forward a swarm of sharp arrows at the mad king who jumped out of the way just in time...but he was still caught in the radius of the explosion of the missiles. It was one of his newer abilities that he had gained that gave him more destructive power and may just be what he needs to end this fight. The explosion of the missiles set even more of the garden on fire to the point that they were surrounded by it.

" AH!" Bumi may not have been directly hit by one of the missiles, but he was caught in the outer radius of one of the explosions that resulted on the sleeves of his shirt catching fire. " Hot hot hot hot !" Bumi shouted in surprise as he tore his shirt off, revealing a surprisingly well toned body for a man of his age.

Ozai did not waste his advantage, as he pressed this opportunity with a wave of fire that would have completely engulfed Bumi had he not quickly formed a circular barrier made out of stone around himself for protection. Ozai smirked as the mad king had trapped himself in his own stone tomb and with nowhere to go. The former fire lord started concentrating his blast into the center of the little stone barrier and could see that the stone itself was turning into melted and blackened rock that was being chipped away with each passing second even as the earthbending master brought up more rock to reinforce it. Ozai could only imagine the intense heat the mad king must be feeling inside it, as the end came near.

Soon it would all be over...

But that was when he heard the screaming...and the ground beneath his feet cracking. Suddenly even the buildings around them started to shake as it seemed like an earthquake was happening. Ozai almost stopped pouring his energy and concentration into his fire stream as he was briefly worried that the buildings around him would come down on his head.

" AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He could hear the intense screaming of Bumi coming from inside the circular stone barrier that shifted into a wall and was sent hurtling towards him. And Ozai was not fast enough to dodge.

Many things happened all at once.

The now very large stone wall hit him directly and sent him flying back down the doorway he came in through. The stone wall that sent him flying collided with the doorway and sheer force alone caused it to crack and send it all tumbling down. And Ozai ended up hitting a wall. Hard.

Ozai let out a few coughs and grit his teeth as a wave of pain flooded his senses. It was impossible to tell if anything was broken because almost everywhere hurt. He looked up and could see that the doorway that led into the gardens had been caved in by the rubble so that gave him a slight reprieve from any battle. He forced himself to stand on his feet and almost fell back down because of an intense pain in his leg and he realized that his leg was probably broken or sprained.

Damn it, I can't keep fighting like this!

Ozai hated it but he knew a losing battle when he saw it and he couldn't risk the possibility of facing that damned idiotic king again in this condition. He had to move quickly since there was the possibility that the mad king might continue to pursue and the rubble would be child's play for him to move. Ozai pushed himself to stand and started to move back down the way he came in where he could meet up with his men to get out of here.

He transversed as much as possible to speed up the process to get to the exit. Ozai was positive that their cover here was blown and they needed to make a quick getaway now before they locked down the palace and reinforcements were dispatched to capture them.

But as he hurriedly moved towards the exit, he saw an old man with white hair on his head and a small beard emerge from the corner looking very surprised at what was happening. The man didn't look like a guard, a dignitary perhaps?

" What the hell is all that noise going-AAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

The man didn't get much of a chance to speak as Ozai instantly lit him on fire in a surprise attack, the poor bastard falling to the ground as his screams were silenced.

Ozai didn't care much to wonder who that man could have been, he just kept continuing on his way to the rally point where the rest of his men should be waiting to depart from this wretched palace.

" My lord! What happened to you?"

That was the first thing his captain said to him as he did his best to avoid looking like he was limping towards them at the rally point where the rest of his men were waiting for his arrival. Ozai did a quick count and it seemed like all the men he had brought along for this mission was accounted for, their blades in hand slick with blood indicating that they had managed to succeed on their side of the mission of keeping the palace guard occupied and thinning it as much as possible.

It just made his defeat at the hands of that damn mad king even more bitter, almost as much as when he got defeated by the Avatar and had his bending taken from him. The fact that his men had managed to accomplish their objective while he was not made him even more angry at that idiotic and insane king for managing to gain the upper hand on him.

" Silence yourself and get me a damn medic." Ozai said through gritted teeth, doing his best to hide his weakness in front of his men who were looking at him with worry.

" O-Of course sir, medic!" The captain called over the field medic who hurried over to check on him.

The medic silently looked him over for injuries across his body, Ozai mostly drowned out whatever medical terms he was speaking to him. " Here sir, this should numb the pain." The medic said as he handed him a bottle filled with some kind of pain relieving medicine.

Ozai took the medicine bottle and downed it in a single go. The taste was bitter on tongue, but he did feel the pain alleviate a bit on his leg.

" We need to move now. We've caused too much noise here." Ozai ordered his men to move out.

" You heard your lord. Let's get out of here." The captain said as his men quickly got a move on.

They had prepared a carriage for a quick exit which was fortunate since Ozai was still in no condition to move quickly out of the city and it seemed as though the guards at the gate had been pulled away from their station, which allowed them to leave with no further issue.

As the city of Omashu grew distant and small, Ozai could only imagine burning the whole city to the ground in vengeance for this defeat.

This was not over. Not by a longshot.

Now I'll be honest with you all, I was originally just going to have Ozai kill off Bumi straightaway in this chapter but I didn't want to make things too easy for him and make the White Lotus look like total pushovers. And I thought it would be pretty funny for Ozai to encounter an enemy who just does not take him seriously at all. Hope you all enjoyed reading that as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Bumi being batshit crazy makes him one of my fav's unironically.

XD

And for those of you wondering, yes, the man Ozai killed on his way out was in fact Jeong Jeong who died mostly because I do not care about him that much and don't have any huge plans involving him. So he kinda just dies here unceremoniously since I don't want to deal with the White Lotus that much.

Next chapter will probably be Azula and Kazumi, along with their reactions post spirit temple.

Now let's respond to some reviews shall we?

To Eagle-Eye2029:

Thank you so much for your kind words! I'm glad you were as excited as I was about the chapter. I have been waiting for literal YEARS to get to the last chapter and make the big reveal that Kazumi was actually the one who killed her baby. And you are right like how Kazumi played a big role in putting Azula back together, now its her turn to help Kazumi face her demons.

But I will not lie, it is going to be a bumpy road.

Since this is going to be revealed in the next chapter anyway, to better explain why Kazumi killed her daughter is because she was possessed by a dark spirit that tailed her back to the house and made her kill her baby. So you can probably imagine the amount of trauma Kazumi feels from all that. As for Azula's reunion with her former family, no spoilers but that's not going to end very well.

Thanks so much for reading!

To Lord 770:

Glad the last chapter had the intended effect I was going for.

:P

That is pretty accurate for what happened to Kazumi and her baby, the dark spirit possessed her and made her do the deed.

To be clear, the reason why Azula was able to resist the spirit's illusions was because it was trying to use guilt against her when she feels little to no guilt. She was in a war and she did what she had to do to survive. If anything a lot of what the spirit had the illusion say to guilt trip her comes off as hypocritical coming from Ursa, Mai and Zuko who all did some bad things but got off totally free after the war, while Azula rotted in an asylum for over a year. This is also admittedly me throwing shade at a lot of Azula 'Redemption' that basically turn her into a pathetic self-blaming woobie who lets other characters walk all over her. While I do think that Azula is capable of feeling guilt, like she said in this chapter she's not nearly that self-blaming.

Take that as you wish.

I will not say anything about the bond between Azula and Ursa, since I still have not made up my mind on that. Undecided between having the two on a civil relationship or completely breaking it off. Azula setting the fake Ursa on fire was mostly out of spite towards the spirit's petty tricks.

You are correct in all of your statement that Kazumi fulfills all of those roles, but now its Azula's turn to try and help Kazumi. How well that goes, even I don't know yet.

With that said, I will see you all in the next one.

Angel Out.