Syndrome entered the secret bunker, pulling Jack-Jack by the hand. Syndrome nodded at the guards to shut the door.

One guard raised an eyebrow at him. "Shouldn't we wait for the rest of your family?"

"Who, Mirage and Dash? They're not firebenders. They'll be fine." Mirage could handle herself in case of an attack. Dash probably couldn't, but truthfully, he didn't care about that.

There were fast, sharp footsteps outside, and Mirage stormed in. "Syndrome!"

"Sweetie! I was just sending someone to look for you."

The guards shut the door as Mirage approached Syndrome. Her eyes were blazing with a fury he'd never seen.

"What's with that face, sweetheart?" Syndrome asked. He'd known something was off with her ever since their return, but he'd enjoyed playing dumb and pretending not to notice. He'd liked watching her squirm as she forced herself not to resist his kisses and late-night advances.

"I know what you did to Dash." Her voice was laced with bottled-up rage, like a rattlesnake's hiss.

"I don't know what you mean."

"Syndrome!" She was right in his face now. "Those scars were NOT from a training accident! You burned him!"

"Oh no, you caught me." He gave her a smirk that made her want to slap him. How could he be so cruel? And so unashamed of his cruelty?

"How could you do that to your son?!"

Anger flashed across Syndrome's face. "He is not my son! And he's not yours either! You picked him up off the street! Like trash! You should have let him die with the rest of the airbenders."

Mirage's chest tightened. She couldn't believe he was saying this. He'd always tried to tone down his hatred of Dash, at least in front of her, but now the mask was off.

Syndrome leaned forward, his face a fraction of an inch away from hers. "And soon, honey, I'm going to right that wrong and do what you couldn't!"

"I won't let you," Mirage said, holding his gaze defiantly. "I'll take Dash and leave."

She ran to the door, but she couldn't unlock it. She was trapped with him. At least he couldn't bend. For now.

Syndrome pointed at her, his gold ring gleaming. "I wouldn't try that."

"Put that away," Mirage scoffed. "You can't firebend now."

She screamed as lightning cracked across the room, barely missing her by an inch. She stared at the smoking black spot on the door.

"How did you—"

Syndrome fiddled with the ring on his finger. "Amazing what you can do with tech these days."

"Tech? Why would you need—" Mirage's eyes widened. "You're not a firebender. You're not a bender at all."

"I was wondering when you'd figure that out."

She almost couldn't believe it. They'd been married for ten years. How had she never noticed? In hindsight, it made sense. She'd naturally assumed he was a firebender like every other Firelord, but she'd never seen him bend actual fire, just lightning.

"So why are you hiding in this bunker then?" Mirage asked. His bending wasn't affected by the eclipse.

"I'm the Firelord. If someone invades, I need to be protected, sweetheart."

Alarm seized Mirage as it struck her that she was trapped in here with him. And he could lightning-bend. He was going to kill her, she knew it. There was no way he'd let her walk out of here now that she knew what he was going to do to Dash.

She jumped toward Syndrome, ready to chi-block him. But Syndrome was faster.

A crash of pain rocked her body. Heat, stinging, jolting up and down her entire body. She stared at Syndrome in shock. His finger was pointed directly at her, smoke curling off his ring. She dropped to the floor, clutching the hole in her stomach.

Syndrome stared down at her corpse, running his finger through her hair. It was a shame that such a beautiful face had to be marred by death. But she'd brought it on herself the day she'd brought Dash home.

He kissed her lips. They were still warm. "Sorry, sweetheart. I had to do it." He casually sat down to wait for the eclipse to pass.

~~~~

Barley opened his eyes blearily. The dungeon was so boring. He spent most of his time imagining "Tales of the Four Nations" campaigns and sleeping. He spent a stupid amount of time imagining Ian and his friends on a quest to invade the palace and save him. Part of him hoped it would happen. The other didn't want Ian to put himself in danger just for his sake.

The worst part of his imprisonment was the crushing loneliness. The other prisoners were either brooding and didn't want to talk, or they would whine your ear off like Ercole. Jack-Jack wasn't exactly riveting company, and the guards watching them would have stopped them from having a meaningful conversation anyway.

He looked up. There was some kind of commotion outside. Yelling. Pounding footsteps, as if the guards were running toward something. Or away from something.

Edna looked at Barley with a devious smile. "It's time!"

A strong gust of wind broke her chains and blew the door off her cell. She emerged, brushing off her robes.

Barley stared. "You could have done that this whole time?!"

"Why of course, darling! I'm a master!" She blew the door off Barley's cell, then Ercole's. "Come! Time is limited!"

"What do you mean?" Barley asked as he emerged from his cell. "Why are we escaping now?"

"The Black Sun! The Fire Nation is weak!" She ran out of the dungeon, and Barley and Ercole followed.

"What's the Black Sun?" Barley asked.

"The eclipse!" Edna said. "The firebenders take their power from the Sun. So without it, they have no power."

Barley's heart beat hopefully. "So the guards—and Syndrome—are completely powerless right now?"

"That's right."

"Where's the Firelord?" Ercole snarled. "I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind until he gives me what he promised!"

"Yeah, you do that," Barley said. "We'll go find the Avatar."

They ran down the hallway toward the throne room. Edna blasted through the guards before Ercole or Barley had a chance to take a swing.

The throne room was empty.

"They're not here," Barley said. "They must be hiding somewhere until the eclipse is over." He tried to think of where they might hide.

Guards ran into the room, carrying swords. Edna blew them back with a powerful tornado. All three of them threw their swords at her. Two of them missed, but one struck her in the shoulder.

Barley gasped. "Edna!"

The guards advanced toward them. Edna sent more wind at them, but her bending was severely weakened by only having one arm.

"Run," she said weakly. "I'll keep them distracted."

Ercole pointed at Barley. "Get him! Not me!" He ran out of the room. Barley tried to follow, but his feet were frozen to the floor.

"Hey!" Barley yelled.

He swallowed nervously as the guards surrounded him. One guard hit him over the head with the butt of his sword, and Barley crashed to the floor. He just lay there, dazed, as they drew in closer.

One of the guards sneered at him. "Trying to escape, huh? Firelord Syndrome won't be pleased about this." He grabbed Barley's arm and yanked him to his feet. "You know what you need? Some time at the Boiling Rock, to think about what you've done."

~~~~

We need to be fast. Get in, find Barley and Jack-Jack, and get out. These words echoed in Violet's head as they raced through the hallways.

They looked for the dungeon first. Ian led the way, hoping his instincts were leading him the right way.

They descended a set of stone steps. This was the way to the dungeon, he was sure of it.

The door to the dungeon was wide open. Ian and Violet ran in. Ian ran through the entire place, calling Barley's name, but there was no reply.

"He's not here," Ian said, his heart sinking.

"Looks like he already escaped," Violet said, pointing at three open cells. The doors were blown right off their hinges.

Ian turned and sprinted out of the dungeon, taking two stairs a time. Maybe they'd run into Barley somewhere in the palace. His eyes darted around, desperately searching for any sign of his brother.

Violet saw a guard and sent a strong, hard gust of wind at him, pinning him against the wall. "Where is the Avatar?"

"I-I don't know. Really."

Luca splashed water at him and froze it. A long icicle grew toward his face. He craned his neck away, terrified. The icicle stopped, barely missing his eye.

Violet got in his face. "Tell me! Now!"

"In a bunker! Below the throne room! I'll show you!"

He led them to a small room and lifted one of the floorboards. They went down into a tunnel and stopped by a large round metal door.

"Open it," Violet said.

"I can't. Only a firebender can." He pointed at an opening beside the door, where fire should be placed. "It's a security measure."

"If there was ever a time for metalbending…" Alberto said.

Ian closed his eyes. He breathed in and out slowly, forcing his heart rate to slow down. As his seismic sense took over, he could feel the vibrations of the people inside the bunker. He sensed tension and confrontation. It was incredibly distracting.

He could also feel the tension coming off of his friends as they waited for him to hurry up. That wasn't helping.

"It's okay, Ian," Luca said finally. "I can freeze the lock."

"We'll do it like we did in Ba Sing Se," Alberto said. "Together."

He pulled the water out of Luca's pouch.

Luca tried to grab it. "Alberto, no! Wait!"

The water splashed against the lock and onto the floor.

"Alberto!" Luca scolded. He tried to pick it up, but he couldn't get that much. He froze the lock a little but it wasn't enough.

"I don't have any water left!" Luca cried. "Alberto, what were you thinking?!"

"I was just trying to help," Alberto said defensively.

"Well, you didn't help anything!" Luca snapped.

"Well, maybe if YOU hadn't tried to stop me, we wouldn't have spilled it," Alberto said.

"We?!" Was Alberto really trying to blame him for this? "I didn't spill anything! You were the one who dropped it!"

Alberto opened his mouth to retort. But then the clamor of armor interrupted them. Five guards ran over.

Alberto laughed. "What's it like being non-benders?" He stuck his tongue out at them.

The guards suddenly shot a burst of fire at them. They stumbled back in shock.

"The eclipse is over!" Ian cried. "We have to get out of here!"

No. No. Violet turned to the bunker. Jack-Jack was probably in there. They'd gotten too close to just turn around now. Firebending was back, so maybe they could open the door now. They could quickly get Jack-Jack and get out. They couldn't leave empty-handed.

Ian shoved the guards out of the way with boulders. He turned and ran away. Luca followed. Alberto and Violet hesitated.

The guards closed in. Alberto locked eyes with Violet and nodded almost imperceptibly. Violet took a shaky breath, then lifted her hands. The guards stopped and looked at her, wondering what she was about to do. She faltered as she looked in their eyes. She couldn't do it.

Instead, she blew them away with a tornado. They could still win, even if she couldn't bring herself to pull the air out of their lungs. Alberto tried to help, punching out as many guards as he could, but there were too many of them. Ian was right. They needed to get out.

Violet saw an opening and reluctantly ran. Alberto followed.

She felt sick. Every step away from the bunker seemed to be a reminder of their failure. Failure. Failure. Failure. She could hear it in every footfall, in every beat of her heart. Failure. Failure. Failure.

~~~~

As soon as Dash saw that firebending was back, he ran to the bunker door, pulling a guard over to open it. He had a horrible feeling about Mirage being trapped in the same room with Syndrome.

"Hurry!" he said, tapping his foot impatiently.

The guard blasted fire into the lock. The door swung open.

Dash's eyes popped out of his head when he saw Mirage's body on the ground. How had Syndrome killed her so quickly? Firebending had just come back.

Syndrome looked at them. "What are you looking at?!"

The guard muttered an apology and walked away. Dash just stood there, staring at Mirage.

Syndrome's lips curled into a cruel smile. "Perfect timing, kiddo. Now that she's out of the way, I can dispose of you just like I should have years ago."

Dash looked up at him slowly. He didn't feel fear. Or anger. Or even grief. Instead, he just felt a dull, nameless ache in his chest. And a desire to know why. He knew Syndrome had never cared for him. But to kill Mirage, whom he had supposedly loved? All because his hatred for Dash was so much stronger?

"What did I ever do to you?" Dash asked. His voice rang through the bunker with a clarity he had never heard from himself before. "Why do you hate me SO much?"

"You really want to know?" Syndrome said. "Let me count the ways. You're not from the Fire Nation. You don't embody our values at all. You're messy and annoying and a stain on the reputation of the royal family! But the worst part?" His voice dropped to a low rumble that was somehow even more terrifying than yelling. "You're the only thing Mirage ever fought me on. You were the only hitch on my control of her, of this family."

Dash felt a strange sense of pride at this. He knew that wasn't Syndrome's intention. But he enjoyed hearing that all these years had been just as frustrating for Syndrome as they had been for him.

"She always thought you would be Firelord, since we had no kids of our own," Syndrome said, shaking his head. "As if I would ever let someone who wasn't from the Fire Nation take the throne."

"I mean, Jack-Jack isn't from here either," Dash pointed out.

Syndrome laughed. "Who said he was getting it? Neither of you are going to survive long enough to take it!"

"What?"

"Exactly what it sounds like, idiot. I'm gonna kill you both," Syndrome said. "You here and now, and him when I don't need him anymore."

"What does that mean?" Dash asked.

Syndrome didn't respond. He just pointed his finger at Dash. A flash of light blinded Dash. He ran away, somehow managing to outpace the lightning strike. He could feel its heat on his skin. He turned and ran down the tunnel, away from the bunker, then out of the palace entirely.

Outside, he just kept running. He didn't know where he was going, only that he couldn't stay here. Tears rolled down his face as Mirage's death finally sank in. He had nowhere to go, no family left.

Except for Violet. She was his blood relative, but more importantly, she wanted to find him, get to know him, accept him into her life.

He knew what he had to do. He had to find her. And join her. And help her get Jack-Jack and take down Syndrome. He owed it to Mirage. And himself. And Jack-Jack.

He was still afraid of what sort of hidden emotions and pain this might dig up. But it was time for him to face it. Maybe his sister could help him through it.

He slowed down but didn't stop. He couldn't stop now. For once in his life, he felt like he had a purpose. It was a good feeling. A light in this new darkness.

~~~~

Ian ran down the hallway of the palace. He didn't know where the exit was. He just ran, hoping he could find it before any guards saw him.

"Did they ever find the escaped masters?"

He stopped. Luca bumped into him. He looked around the corner. Two guards were talking.

"Boss sent them all to the Boiling Rock."

The Boiling Rock. Ian had heard the name from Barley's game, but he didn't know where it was. All he knew was that it was a prison. A bad one. No one ever escaped from there, except in fictional settings like "Tales of the Four Nations," where you could pretend that everything magically came together to allow a prison break.

He wanted to trap the guards in rock and demand they tell him how to break in, but they walked away. They probably wouldn't have told him anything anyway.

Ian saw a window up ahead. He flung a boulder through it, and he and Luca climbed out. They dropped to the ground and ran. When they were a good distance away from the palace, they stopped and looked around.

"Where are Violet and Alberto?" Ian asked. They weren't still trying to fight the guards, were they?

Luca's jaw tightened at the mention of Alberto. "I hope he gets locked up and he can't freeze his way out." He didn't mean that, of course, but it felt good to say.

Ian stared at him, shocked. He tried to think of something to say, but then Violet and Alberto ran over.

"Alberto!" Luca shouted. He stormed over to Alberto and shoved him.

"Ow. What was that for?"

"We lost the invasion because of you!" Luca seethed.

"Because of me?!" Alberto exclaimed.

"Yes! I could have opened that bunker if you hadn't tried to do it instead!"

"I was just trying to help."

"I didn't need your help!" Luca snapped. "I only needed it in Ba Sing Se because we were chained up! I don't need it now! You know that, so why were you trying to 'help'?"

"Well, last night you were all on my case acting like I should be doing something."

"Not if you don't know how to do it!" Luca yelled. "You should have just stayed out of the way!"

Alberto tensed. "Out of the way?!"

"Yes! Or practiced, like I told you to!"

Alberto rolled his eyes. "Luca, I told you, we don't need practice!"

Luca's anger boiled over. How dare he stand here telling Luca he was wrong when he'd just been proven right. "We don't, but YOU do! You don't know how to do anything! And you must know that!" Why would Alberto even try to do something for the first time during such an important event? He must have known he wouldn't be able to do it. "You know what I think? I think you were purposely messing up the invasion because you couldn't stand that it was MY plan! Because you're jealous that I'm better than you! You want me to stoop to your level but I won't do that!"

He waited for Alberto to get defensive and angry like he always did. He hoped Alberto would say something objectively wrong and stupid so he could tear him down about it and let out everything he'd been repressing. But instead, to his shock, Alberto's face crumpled as if he were going to cry. He turned and ran away, toward a thick cluster of trees in the distance.

"Alberto, wait…" Luca said feebly, all his anger dissipating. But Alberto was gone.

Violet wanted to run after him. But there was no time. Guards were coming down the hill toward them. They needed to go. Violet grabbed Luca's arm and pulled him to the airship. Ian was close behind.

They ran into the airship and slammed the door shut.

"We were getting worried!" Buzz said. "The eclipse ended minutes ago."

"Where's Alberto?" Woody asked.

"He…left," Violet said.

"He left?!" Buzz said, concerned.

"Did you get Jack-Jack and Barley?" Woody asked.

"No," Ian said tersely. Did it look like it? "Get us out of here! Now!"

Luca looked down below as they took off. He searched for a glimpse of Alberto, but he didn't see him.

Nobody spoke as they flew away. A heavy, depressed silence hung in the air, smothering them all. Violet stared out at the horizon, replaying the invasion in her mind and thinking of everything they could have done differently. Ian thought of the Boiling Rock and morbidly imagined what kind of awful tortures they did there. Luca lay his head down on his arms, wanting to cry.

"Alberto?" Luca called when they entered the cave, hoping his friend had come here on his own. But the cave was empty. Alberto was just wandering around the Fire Nation, alone. Because of him.

They briefly discussed their next move but nobody had any ideas. No one knew where the Boiling Rock was. It wasn't on any maps. They practiced bending some more, but none of their hearts were really in it. Then they went to sleep.

Luca stayed up all night in case Alberto returned. He practiced his apology over and over until it was burned in his memory. But Alberto never came.

The others awoke to see Luca sitting by the mouth of the cave, staring out. They gathered around him.

"Now what?" Ian asked.

Nobody knew what to say.