A Year of Silence (ATLA Zuko x OC)

Chapter Nine - A Mistake

"Sokka!"

He heard a voice from behind. Toph was beside him as they walked together towards the interrogation room where some of the servants would be waiting for them. Sokka and Toph stopped walking and they turned around. Toph felt the light pounding on the floor from which she could say that it was Aang.

"Aang, what can I help you with, buddy?" Sokka asked.

Aang crossed his hands and he said "Well, I had this small visit to the Spirit World searching for my sister,"

"Great. What did she say?" Sokka asked and Toph raised an eyebrow noticing her friend getting ready for another long lie.

"She wasn't there," Aang snapped.

Sokka did a fake double-take "What?!"

"Sokka, she wasn't there. I'm so confused. The Spirits told me that Iris is alive and-" Aang tried to say but Sokka cut him.

"Aang, this is impossible. We both know it. We've been there when it happened, we..." Sokka hesitated "...we saw it. If she was alive then why not come back? Why keep hiding? If she wasn't alive, she wouldn't have let us deal with this alone," Sokka said.

Toph crossed her arms and she stood behind Sokka, impressed from his lying abilities. He must have learned a lot those six months when he'd been working for the Red Shadow Demons.

Aang focused his gaze sadly back on the floor. His friend might have been right. He was sure that Iris wouldn't have left them dealing with something as serious as this without helping.

"I suppose you're right," Aang said, sorrow coloring his voice. He bent over his head and he turned around walking away "See you around,"

When Aang moved down the hall, Sokka and Toph were still watching him. Toph shook her head negatively, clearly not liking watching one of her best friends in so much sadness.

She placed a hand on Sokka's shoulder and she said "Sokka, you're killing him doing that,"

Sokka turned at her "You know I have to do it," he said softly taking her hand in his. "This will be over soon. I promise,"

>*<> I <>*<> I <>*<> I <>*<>I<>*<

"Where were you three nights ago?"

Of course, she would never ask a question that'd give signs about the four murders that had happened in the Palace. She had taken direct orders from the Fire Lord. Elin pursed her lips. She didn't need a reminder. The Fire Lord was sitting beside her in the entire interrogation. Why did he have to always be there? Didn't he have a Nation to govern?

Elin had suggested that there was no reason to interrogate one servant at a time among the twenty she had suspected to be the spies. All of them stood side by side as she walked around them asking that one single question. She had assured Zuko that she could recognize some of them after almost a year of working for the Red Shadow Demons.

But that wasn't the only ability she could use. Elin would never rely on her memory. Not that her memory wasn't perfect, but she wanted a much more... solid way to come up with a conclusion. She knew all too well what to do and she had become perfect at it.

She passed in front of all the servants that stood before her and the Fire Lord. Most of them were afraid to answer. But she didn't need their voices to understand their intentions and figure out their identities, their thoughts were enough.

She raised her finger pointing at some of them "One, two, three, four, five, six, guards, lock them up!"

The guards in the interrogation room immediately obeyed and they grabbed those six servants. Though some of them tried to resist, they dragged them away.