A/N In which I am very mean to Iroh... Or I'm nice, depends on your perspective

Trigger Warning: Murder, buried alive.

Permission Granted

In her spare time, Ty Lee had been working diligently to create Qiankun bags that worked in this new world.

She had never imagined (though she supposed that, for her, it was fitting) that what her first prototype would carry was a corpse. Still, she placed the dead body of Jet into the bag without complaint and handed it to Smellerbee and Longshot so they could bury him properly later.

With Jet taken care of, Jin insisted they still investigate the Dai Li stronghold. After the horrors they'd seen already, the nine of them thought they were prepared for anything.

They were wrong. Xue Yang had been very thorough in his carnage.

Aside from them, nothing under the lake was left alive.

Sokka had to cover Aang's eyes several more times as they walked through. Shielding his gaze from more ripped-apart Dai Li corpses. From a room full of women who looked like more Joo Dees, their unnaturally wide smiles still etched into their faces even in death. And from torture chambers that looked like the Dai Li used frequently, with the victims within them left to die terrible deaths.

Sokka was just beginning to wonder if he should either blindfold Aang for the rest of the night or ask someone to take him back outside to wait with Appa when Jin pointed at a section of the wall.

"Do you think you can earthbend this open, Avatar Aang?" she asked.

"Just call me Aang, but I'd need to see it to know," said Aang, sounding like he was trying to be his cheerful self, but was a lot more subdued than usual.

Since they were in a hallway that was actually pretty clear of horror (so long as you ignored a suspicious stain of something having been dragged along the ground), Sokka let Aang go so he could look at the spot.

"Why do you want him to earthbend there?" asked Ty Lee, spinning her flute in her hand in a way Sokka knew meant she was working off nervous energy.

Jin ran her hands along the wall. "It's well concealed, but the rock juts out a just bit more here than the rest of the wall, indicating an earthbent door. And if they took the time to conceal it, there must be something important behind there."

"Can you open it?" asked Zuko.

Aang felt along the wall in the place Jin indicated. "Piece of cake," he said, and earthbent the wall open.

Sokka hovered next to Aang, ready to slap his hand back over his eyes in a heartbeat if he saw anything terrible.

But the room wasn't another torture chamber. Instead, it appeared to be some kind of meeting room. An impressive one, with ornate decorations that were carved into the walls, a large table in the center, and shelves of scrolls at the far end of the room set underneath a massive glowing crystal illuminating the place in an eerie green light.

Zuko stepped in first, his lightning already in whip form in case of any surprises.

When nothing popped out to attack him, he nodded to the others, indicating it was safe to enter.

Smellerbee and Longshot stayed to guard the door while the rest of them entered.

As everyone spread out across the room, Jin made a beeline for the shelves and began sifting through the scrolls she found inside. Pulling out some that looked promising, she squinted as the light from the crystal wasn't quite bright enough to read by.

"Um, could someone with firebending please come and give me some light?" she asked.

"Certainly," agreed Iroh, moving over to join her.

Mai, meanwhile, noticed Ty Lee squinting around the room suspiciously. "What's wrong?" she asked her girlfriend softly.

"This room feels…" Ty Lee said, looking like she was trying to find the words. She closed her eyes as if listening for something only she could hear, before opening them again with a grim expression. "... it feels haunted," she said finally.

"Haunted?" asked Mai, still keeping her voice down.

Ty Lee nodded. "There's a lot of resentment in here, but it doesn't feel directed at us. Nor is it something Xue Yang stirred up. Still, it feels urgent. I wonder why?"

Mai pursed her lips and wished she had her guqin. If there was a ghost here, then playing Inquiry would have told exactly what the ghost would want, but even if she did, her cultivation wasn't yet at a level to play it. Without that, there was one other possible way to find out. "Empathy?" she asked.

"Empathy," Ty Lee agreed, moving to sit in the corner in a lotus position. "Sing our song to pull me out of it."

"I will," Mai agreed, not looking happy about this.

With that confirmed, Ty Lee closed her eyes and opened herself up to the lingering spirit so she could dive into their memories.

Iroh, meanwhile, held a flame above Jin's head and read over her shoulder, but would occasionally cast his gaze around the room to make sure the children under his care were still safe.

It was during one such surveillance that he noticed a shadow inside the large crystal lighting up the room.

That was odd. With the Dai Li consisting of some of the best earthbenders in Ba Sing Se, removing such a large flaw inside the crystal should have been simple. Especially in a room clearly meant to be a show of power. Why would they leave such a noticeable imperfection?

Iroh leaned closer, noticing the shadow looked to be clearer depending on the angle you looked at it through the crystal's facets. Lighting a candle for Jin to continue reading by, he stepped away to stand in the position the crystal was meant to be viewed in.

Only for his eyes to nearly bulge out of his head as the shape became clear.

Zuko's head whipped around at the inhuman wail of grief and horror that erupted out of his uncle, and he raced to his side.

"Uncle, what is it? What's wrong" he asked as the others aside from Mai and Ty Lee followed a step behind him.

Iroh had dropped to his knees, and could only point up at the crystal as agonizing sobs began to well up within him.

Zuko followed his gaze and screamed, and the rest of the group felt like they could join him.

Suspended inside the crystal, his eyes closed as if in sleep, was the body of a young man dressed in high-ranking Fire Nation armor.

Someone Zuko and Iroh knew all too well.

"Lu Ten!" Iroh wailed with heartbreaking sobs. "My Lu Ten! My son!"

Zuko was literally breathing fire as he shook with rage. "When I find who did this, they'll wish Jet had found them first!" he hissed.

Seeing what was happening, Mai crouched down beside Ty Lee and began humming Wangxian under her breath.

"I can earthbend him out!" said Aang, wanting more than anything to ease the distress they were in. "It'll be like my iceberg! I can-"

Sokka put his hand on Aang's shoulder to stop him. "This isn't an iceberg, Aang," he said gently, too late to cover his eyes to this one. "And he's not an Avatar. Even if he was alive when they put him in there, if you let him out he won't be… you know…"

Aang looked sick. "Why would anyone do this?" he asked in a small voice, looking up at the body again.

"It's a show of power. A way to say, 'This is what we do with our enemies.' The fact he's someone important to the Fire Nation only makes him a more impressive trophy, " said Smellerbee grimly. Not even the Freedom Fighters had done something like this. She hadn't let them. Jet once had suggested mounting fallen soldier heads on pikes, but she'd put her foot down and said no. The Fire Nation may be their enemy, but most of their Freedom Fighters were children. She wasn't going to allow the nightmares such a showing would inevitably give them.

Nightmares like Aang was sure to have after this night, given how horrified he looked.

In the corner of the room, Ty Lee came out of Empathy with a gasp and whispered something to Mai.

Jin, meanwhile, placed a comforting hand on Iroh's shoulder. "I don't know what you want us to do?" she asked. "Should we get him out? Get revenge? Let you lay him to-" She broke off as she noticed what was going on behind them and quickly moved to get out of the way.

The rest of them turned to follow her gaze.

Ty Lee was slowly approaching, wreathed in shadows and her glowing red eyes locked on the body of Lu Ten.

Realizing what she was about to do, Zuko said, "Ty Lee! Don't you dare!"

Ty Lee ignored him, drawing more resentment into herself. In this place, there was plenty of it.

"Ty Lee, I forbid it!" Zuko shouted, moving to step in front of her.

"It's not your permission I need," Ty Lee said, as she drew closer to the crystal.

"Uncle would never allow it either," Zuko said, though that may not be true given his grief over the loss of Lu Ten, but he wasn't about to explain it and ask.

"Not his either," said Ty Lee, still not looking in his direction.

Zuko still moved to stop her, but Mai pulled him back and ushered the rest out of the way. Iroh looked ready to protest, his confusion at the situation temporarily halting his tears, but Jin and Sokka, having also caught on, pulled him back.

"Wei Wuxian!" Zuko snapped in one last protest, still struggling against Mai.

Ty Lee paused at her old name and finally glanced in his direction. "I already asked. I have permission," she said, leaving no room for argument. Then, as she turned back to the crystal, she added, "Besides, we promised Song."

Zuko froze at the implications of that statement, allowing Mai to finally pull him out of the way.

With her way clear, Ty Lee brought her dizi to her lips and began to play.

Resentful energy poured into the crystal, blotting out its glow and turning it black. Despite that, Lu Ten's body remained visible to them as the darkness swelled around him and was absorbed into his flesh. They all watched as Lu Ten's skin turned a ghostly pale and the veins under his skin blackened like cracks set into porcelain.

"So this is how…" Smellerbee whispered in realization as she watched, then sent a look at Longshot.

Longshot nodded in response to her silent question.

Smellerbee turned pale and reached out to hold Longshot's hand.

Satisfied Zuko was too still stunned to stop them, Mai left him to go to Ty Lee's side and began pulling talismans out of her sleeves for her girlfriend to use. With their combined efforts, the crystal blackened further, until the body inside was the only visible thing in the room.

Finally, as Ty Lee's song reached its zenith, everyone watched as the resentment all coalesced around Lu Ten…

… And his eyes snapped open.

"LU TEN!" shouted Iroh, reaching out to the crystal and moving towards it, but Jin and Sokka pulled him back once more.

Just in time too, as Mai barely had a chance to yank Ty Lee out of the way before the crystal exploded.

And with that, the room turned pitch black.

"Light! Light!" Jin called out in fright, the candle Iroh had lit for her having long been blown out.

A glow lit the darkness as Zuko and Iroh each cupped a flame in their hands.

At the edge of the dim light, they could all see a figure crouched amongst the shards of the blackened and shattered crystal. With bated breath, they watched as it slowly straightened and looked at them.

"Thank you, Young Master Wei," said the now sentient fierce corpse that was Lu Ten.

Ty Lee sighed in relief, then couldn't help a laugh at his words. She never could get him to drop that formal title. "You really can't call me that now, Wen Ning," she called brightly. "None of it fits anymore. Well, maybe the 'young' bit."

Lu Ten huffed a laugh, then turned to the rest of the stunned group, his eyes locking onto one person in particular. "Father," he said softly in an almost shy tone.

Iroh let out a very wet gasp, unable to believe what he was seeing. With Jin and Sokka no longer holding him back, he took a step forward…

Then another…

Then he was racing to throw his arms around the son that had been returned to him. "Lu Ten!" he cried. "Lu Ten!"

Lu Ten hugged him with cold arms in a grip just shy of back-breaking. "I'm back," he said in reply. "I'm here."

Iroh continued to say his name and embrace him for a long time after that.

"So you knew Lu Ten before?" asked Aang the others quietly after Iroh's sobs had stopped, but he continued fussing over his son. Zuko was next to them, hovering awkwardly and trying to reconcile the fact his favorite cousin was someone in another life he really hadn't liked.

"I did," said Ty Lee. "Wen Ning was his name, courtesy Qionglin. He was one of my best friends."

Next to her, Jin gasped in mock offense and clutched at invisible pearls.

"I said one of, Jin," Ty Lee said, looking amused. Her face then fell. "I owed him so much. I did one small kind act to him that I barely remembered, and he and his sister saved mine and Jiang Cheng's lives when Lotus Pier fell. When the war ended, his family was treated horribly, and he was killed. When I found out, I tried to help them however I could, and I brought Wen Ning back from the dead like I did just now."

"So that's the origin of the Ghost General," said Smellerbee thoughtfully.

"Yup," said Mai.

"A bit different from whatever rumor you heard, right?" asked Ty Lee.

"Afraid so," agreed Smellerbee and Longshot nodded.

Aang noticed Sokka hanging back and looked confused. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Sokka opened his mouth and closed it, unwilling to admit to Aang that he was just a bit uncomfortable being in the same room as the corpse that, accident or not, killed him in his last life. It helped a bit he no longer looked like the Ghost General, and his resemblance to Iroh only associated him with good things, but that didn't change the fact he was intimately familiar with how it felt to get a fist shoved through his chest by the man.

He was also somewhat realizing this must be what Toph felt when confronted with Xue Yang.

Lu Ten noticed the exchange and shared a glance with Ty Lee who mouthed 'Jin Zixuan' to him.

Lu Ten's eyes widened in realization, and before anyone could stop him, he was in front of Sokka, dropping to his knees, and bowing so hard his head cracked the floor.

"Young Master Jin," he said in a hurried voice. "You have my most sincere apologies for what happened in our past lives. I didn't mean to kill you, and I'm sorry that I did. I will accept any form of punishment you require."

Aang sucked in a breath, and Iroh looked shocked to hear that.

In any other circumstance, Sokka would have found this hilarious. A prince of the Fire Nation prostrating himself to (as Zuko used to call him) a lowly Water Tribe peasant.

But this wasn't funny. Not even a little bit. Instead, it was uncomfortable and just… sad.

"Look, I… I'm not going to say I forgive you, because… yeah," Sokka said slowly, trying to get a hold of his thoughts and emotions that were thrown into turmoil. "But… I know it was an accident. We all did things that day we regret, and… Zuko told me you saved and protected my son when he needed it most. I'm grateful for that. So, let's just… move forward? I can't promise I'll ever be comfortable with you, but I'm willing to try and work past that for the people we both care about."

Lu Ten slowly looked up at him, and despite his fancy Fire Nation armor and the fact he was literally dead, he still managed to look like a kicked puppy. "I am grateful, and will not squander the opportunity," he promised. He then hesitated, and offered, "And… if it would not make you uncomfortable, I can share stories about Jin Ling in the future. He was friends with my cousin and we often went on night hunts together, if you would like to hear them."

That, if nothing else, made Sokka soften. "I'd like that, just… give me a little time to, you know, get used to things."

"Take as much as you need," Lu Ten said as Iroh came over to help him off the floor.

"I do not feel I fully understand what has happened, but I must ask," said Iroh, turning to Ty Lee. "Is this permanent?"

"If you're asking if I can make him wholly alive again, then no, I can't," said Ty Lee. "If you're asking how long raising him lasts, then it lasts until someone kills him or…" She glanced over at Lu Ten, as he had 'outlived' her (thankfully very long) last life but if he was here now he had to have passed at some point.

"Until I am content to let go of my remaining resentment and let myself pass on," Lu Ten answered. "Last time I waited until A-Yuan had passed in his sleep, and his grandchildren were settled before I let myself rest."

Given how long cultivators lived, that had to have been a great while.

"That's what Song Lan did as well," said Smellerbee, vaguely remembering her soul as Xiao Xingchen waking up after shattering and mending to find Song Lan's sentient corpse and A-Qing's repaired soul waiting for him so they could all pass on together. It was her last memory before her life as Smellerbee started.

Lu Ten looked at her in confusion until Ty Lee whispered "Xiao Xingchen" to him. She then took a moment to introduce everyone else to alleviate any remaining confusion.

The dangerous fierce corpse really needs to stop looking like a lost puppy. Associating the Ghost General with the word 'cute' was not something Sokka had ever wanted to wrap his head around.

"So what are you doing here, anyway?" Lu Ten asked.

"Getting dirt on a corrupt organization," said Jin cheerfully, holding up several promising scrolls she'd found rummaging through the room.

Lu Ten still looked confused, but said, "Fun," with a little fist-pump at her words.

Ty Lee sighed, knowing she would be giving him bad news. "Sorry, Lu Ten. I hate to tell you this, but-"

"-You're probably still the nephew of an evil dictator in this life too," Zuko said bluntly, seeming to be dealing with the complicated emotions of the Wen Ning-Lu Ten issue by ignoring his feelings completely. For now, at least.

Lu Ten looked at them in surprise, glanced at the clearly not-Fire Lord Iroh, and then let out a bone-weary sigh. "That makes far too much sense," he admitted, seeing the same red flags the rest of them did.

"But, good news," said Ty Lee quickly to cheer him up. "We already found Wen Qing!"

That made Lu Ten perk up. "Jiejie?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Ty Lee. "Her name is Song. She's an Earth Kingdom doctor over in the northwestern part of the continent treating soldiers in the war. She's looking for you, but was afraid if she left her clinic you'd come through as a patient when she wasn't there." Ty Lee started to trail off, remembering Lu Ten wouldn't have ever come through her clinic since he was already dead before she even became aware of their connection.

"Jiejie's still a doctor?" Lu Ten asked, looking thrilled.

"Sure is," Ty Lee said, focusing on the bright side.

"She is quite the charming girl," said Iroh, remembering her kind bedside manner when not being exasperated by Ty Lee.

"You're also older than her now," Zuko added bluntly. This was doubly true, since not only was Lu Ten older than Song, but Wen Ning had 'lived' far longer than Wen Qing.

"Doesn't matter," said Lu Ten. "Jiejie is still Jiejie." She was his older sister no matter what.

"We can send a letter to her and take you there when we get the chance," Ty Lee offered.

"How?" asked Lu Ten, figuring the place Song lived was quite far.

"Well, she did lend us an ostrich-horse for until we found you," Ty Lee said.

"Also, I have a flying bison," Aang offered, happy that this nightmare of a night was finally getting more positive. "He can get you there pretty easily."

"Though even on him, it'd probably take a couple of weeks," Sokka muttered more to himself.

Lu Ten gave the Avatar a shy smile. "Thank you, I appreciate that."

Aang beamed back, happy to be making a new friend.

Smellerbee, meanwhile, was watching Jin gather up her haul of top-secret material. "Do you need help with that?" she asked.

"Maybe," said Jin from where she was trying to juggle far too many scrolls and piling more onto Longshot. She then glanced at Ty Lee and added pointedly, "Unless, of course, Ty Lee happens to have another Qiankun bag she can share."

Ty Lee rolled her eyes in an amused manner and held out her second prototype bag.

"Thank you~" Jin said sweetly, dropping all the scrolls into the bag, then stuffing said bag into her cleavage to hide it, making the boys in the room choke.

"Then I would suggest we leave this place," said Iroh, moving to help remove Lu Ten's armor so he was less obviously Fire Nation when they reached the surface.

"Sounds good to me," Zuko said, glad this night finally seemed to be coming to an end.

Or so he thought.

Of course, the second they leave Lake Laogai they get arrested.

A/N I thought long and hard about who to have be Wen Ning. There were a few options. Haru was a high contender for a while, but eventually I settled on Lu Ten for a good few reasons. We have no idea of Lu Ten's personality, only that he was very loved by Iroh and Zuko, so I had some freedom to write him how I wanted. It seemed fitting that if Wen Ning came back again it would be as a corpse (poor guy), and also as a guy with an evil uncle. And finally doing it this way gives Iroh his son back. That, and I had a good idea how this can shape things later on.