The Firebender

My Honor, My Throne, My Country

Zuko only allowed himself to breathe quietly as he laid his back to a nearby pillar, avoiding the golden dragon decor that snaked up the column. He peeked his head around it, looking to see if anybody was coming, but it was still dead silent and empty in the large outdoor court between two buildings. The prince had been waiting here for hours after the Sage had entered the secret door in the center of the clearing in his elaborate red robes with golden decor. But what interested Zuko most was where the man in the pointy hat had gone when it disappeared below the ground.

Adjusting his red cloak silently, Zuko was thankful for the hood that came up and hid his identity. The cloak was outlined in gold, with two flames adorning each wrist, and whenever the Fire Prince had to do something he wasn't supposed to do, this was usually what he wore. Things were beginning to get more complicated for him now, since Azula began questioning the Avatar's death, and it made him nervous for a number of reasons. Firstly, he knew the kid wasn't dead, and if news about that came out...his honor, and his home would be taken again. Zuko clenched his fists at the thought, nostrils flaring for a moment and heat rising to his cheeks. Secondly, every thought of Uncle Iroh made the prince sick to the stomach, as if his entire body knew his mind had done wrong, but Zuko just shook his head. It wasn't his fault that Iroh was such a fool.

Deciding it had been long enough, Zuko glanced around for any watchful eyes before quickly creeping to the center of the room and looking down at the large Fire Nation symbol inscribed on the floor. Around it was a red lotus of some kind, whoch probably held some signifigance that Zuko could never remember from his days at school. The prince mimicked what he'd seen the Sage do, bringing his fist and knee to the ground together and letting out a pillar of fire that erupted into six smaller ones around him. The lotus part of the seal quickly split into pieces and Zuko watched with interest as they slowly slid away, revealing a spiral staircase around him. He thought about hesitiating, but his body seemed to carry him down the staircase, not paying any mind at all to his brain, that was screaming at him to stop, to just keep his honor on the safest place he could. His body had other plans though. 

Well this was going to be interesting.

The staircase finally gave way to an arched hallway, the roof designed in a way that made it look like you were in the ribcage of a large animal. Lining the walls were what looked like six ancient, skeletal remains of dragon heads, and six lit braziers on both sides in an alternating pattern. Zuko couldn't even hear the tap of his own feet on the tiled floor as he continued down the hallway, looking curiously at the dragon heads as he passed them. At the end of the hall, he stopped, looking up at the stone statue of a Fire Lord ancestor. His eyes swept down the statue until he reached the fire nation symbol resting on its chest. Zuko wondered what would happen if...

Reaching up, he placed his hand on the symbol before letting fire pass through it. The flames carried up to the statues hollow mouth and eyes, making them glow for a moment before smoke began pouring out of them. As the statue slid over to reveal a hidden room, Zuko grabbed a lit lantern from beside it. There was a foreboding feeling that entered the Fire Prince's body as he stepped into the room, like he was never supposed to be here in the first place. The latern lit up just enough to see forgotten statues littering the room, except for the one in the very center. A large, golden dragon wrapped around itself there, mouth open in an endless roar. Zuko threw off his hood and crept closer, looking down at the scroll boxes that lie in front of the dragon. 

"The Final Will and Testament of Fire Lord Sozin." He read quietly, picking up the box and opening it gently. As he sank to the floor, back against the small table before the dragon, Zuko pulled out the red scroll and pulled it open. "As I feel my own life dimming, I can't help but think of a time when everything was so much brighter. I remember my friend--my best friend. Roku." Zuko jolted. Roku? As in Avatar Roku? That didn't make any sense at all. Shaking his head the prince continued reading. 

We did everything together then, when I was still Prince Sozin instead of Fire Lord. We trained together, gave one another love advice, and most other things children do as they grow. We thought we'd grow up together forever, at one another's sides for the rest of time. But time, it seemed, had it's own plans. Roku and I shared many things, including a birthday, but that was when it was revealed to me dearest friend that he was, indeed, the next Avatar. 

Soon came the day when Roku had to leave the Fire Nation and face his destiny as the Avatar. He needed to travel the world so he could master the other elements. Roku went to many places: The Southern Air Temple, the Northern Water Tribe, the Earth Kingdom. Twelve long years passed before I saw my friend again. When Roku returned, he was a fully realized Avatar, and I had changed as well. Somehow, I was still his best friend. And later, his best man. On wedding days, we look to the future with optimism and joy. I had my own vision for a brighter future. 

I knew I had been destined to be Fire Lord, and him, the Avatar. And together, I believed we could do anything. Our nation was enjoying a time of unprecedented peace and wealth. Our people were so happy, and fortunate in so many ways. I told Roku I wanted to share that prosperity with the rest of the world. I believed it was time to expand the most powerful nation in history. He did not agree. But I did not need his consent in order to start planning a better future. Roku became an issue. I tried to get him out of the way, but it seemed fate had other plans, and the Avatar spared my life that day. It was his biggest mistake. 

It would be 25 years before we met again, when Roku's island began to fall apart. I offered my hand to him, in his biggest moment of need. But when Roku fell, I saw an opportunity for the future I desired. And I took it. With Roku gone and the Great Comet returning, the timing was perfect for change in the world. I knew the Avatar would be born an Air Nomad, so I wiped out the Air Temples. But somehow, the new Avatar eluded me. I wasted the remainder of my life searching in vain. I know he'd hiding out there somewhere, the Fire Nation's greatest threat: The last Airbender.

As Zuko finished the scroll, he lifted it up in confusion. "What?" He asked incredulously. "That can't be it! Where's the rest of it?" After seeing that it was, indeed, the end of the scroll, Zuko stood up angrily, leaving the the important document lying on the ground and stomping past it. Somehow, he was even more confused now that he'd been before, but he was too tired to ask anymore questions. He was going to go to bed, and try not to dream about the life he never knew his great-grandfather had. A life hidden from nearly everyone in the Fire Nation. A life that was far too close to his own. The sentence: I wasted the remainder of my life searching in vain, kept creeping into Zuko's mind, reminding him of the constant failure that was his search for the Avatar. He hadn't even been the one to supposedly 'kill' the Avatar, but the thought just made his skin crawl. It made his entire body tremble with emotion and passion and rage, so much so that Zuko just wanted to scream.

But he didn't. He just kept his mouth shut and let it all build up inside.