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Blue Mask	By : PatPat Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > AU/AR - Alternate Universe/Alternate Reality > Het- Male/Female Views: 11083 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 14
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Blue Mask, Two Swords, and Sozin’s Comet
Preparations
By Pat Squared

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Master Yu watched impassively as Xin Fu made a fool of himself. Xin Fu was always speaking which was a plus when his former career was being the barker for the fighting-ring, but was rather a poor trait in negotiations.

“I don’t have the time to listen about a certain little blind runaway and Jian Li’s defeat of the infamous Oni Challenge,” the raven-haired daughter of New Ozai’s governor snapped, “I have two fugitives for which I will only pay upon delivery - Iroh, the former Dragon of the West, and the Avatar. Iroh can be delivered dead or alive, but the Avatar must be delivered alive enough to present to the Fire Lord, neutered of his bending abilities of course.”

Her tone was devoid of emotion.

“I know where your precious avatar is. If you help me deal with the avatar and his companions, you get him for free. You can pocket the reward money as long as we get the blind girl.”

The Fire Nation girl just looked at them like they were the dumbest pair in the history of the world.

“I know of the kid’s location already. You must think of me as some spoiled Fire Nation brat couldn’t survive two seconds by herself. My agents keep me up to date. However, every time someone attempts to seize the kid, he manages to get away. An entire Fire Nation fleet did not stop him. The most determined fire bender I ever knew could not capture him. I am not wasting my time or coin unless you have him delivered to the Fire Lord himself or at least my ship in chains and neutered of his bending skills. Now unless you have something of value, leave.”

Xin Fu was turning red.

Master Yu stepped in, “The Avatar is a great prize. However, as long as he is in the lands of the Earth Kingdom, you can’t use all your resources to hunt him down being as you are in the middle of a war with the Earth Kingdom. The Earth Kingdom resistance looks upon him like your people would look on the reincarnation of Agni. You might have agents, but how many of your agents merely collect their coins, give you bad information, and slip away to warn the opposition about your activities. If you can help us get the blind girl, we will help you get the avatar. She travels with him. He must care somewhat about her.”

The Fire Nation girl took a deep breath and exhaled like she was starting to perform a mediation exercise as if she was on the verge of throwing a wall of flames at the pair. Master Yu was ready for such an event. If Xin Fu was not, Master Yu would have not shed a tear at Xin’s passing.

“Prince Zuko tried using that Water Tribe peasant as bait but that did not work. Admiral Zhao had a battalion guard the Avatar and yet the Blue Spirit snuck him out. The gods favor the Avatar. That is why I don’t waste my coins on plans and projections, no matter how you computed the percentages. Payment upon delivery is what I pay for. A word of advice to my two earth kingdom country bumpkins, don’t visit me again without something concrete. Bring me one of the Avatar’s companions and then we may talk about assistance and coins. Until then, be gone before my men cripple the two of you and leave you out for the carrion eaters.”

Master Yu knew that the girl was not going to help them once Xin Fu opened his mouth. Xin Fu hot air only deflated whatever advantages they held over the Fire Nation girl. He would adapt. He always adapted.

“Be gone.”

Xin Fu was about to erupt when Master Yu pulled him away form the campsite.

“Yu, our plan to recruit the Fire Nation was useless!”

“No. What do we know about the Fire Nation?”

“They like burning things and treating anyone not of the Fire Nation like serfs.”

Master Yu wanted to break his companion’s face.

“Not so true, my neighbor. Before the Fire Nation decided to descend into its collective pyromaniac frenzy a century ago, they were merchants who prized making profits above all other things. You could not go anywhere in the world without seeing a Fire Nation merchant hawking his wares and taking our gold. Why do you think the Earth Kingdom had so many half-breed villages before the war?”

“Rape and turning our sisters into wenches.”

“You are certainly not conscientious of your history, my fellow traveler. Merchants have acted dull and uninterested as a general tactic of negotiation since the Fire Nation invented the concept of international trade. No matter what the Fire Nation may preach about honor, they always instinctively follow the most profitable course. I would bet my share of the reward money that our Fire Nation associate is going to act on our information. When she does, we will take advantage of the confusion and rescue our little runaway. Thank you for playing the role of the foolish bumpkin.”

Xin Fu was obviously upset at Yu’s pointing out his short comings.

“Yu and your deep thoughts have not captured her yet. All you do is say, ‘Not yet’ or ‘This is not a good time.’ When will you ever say, ‘It a good time to act now, Xin Fu.’ Action, not acting will be the only thing that gets us the child, Yu.”

“Xin Fu, you should have stopped staring at the Fire Nation child’s breasts and looked in her eyes. She is a predator, like a hunting cat perhaps. Predators don’t always hunt for meat. Sometimes they chase just for the thrill of the chase. Let us hurry back to Chongqing. I have a feeling that our little, twisted vixen is going to act soon.”

**

The Blue Spirit sat on top of the slate roofs of Chongqing surveying his domain. Next to the Fire Nation capital, Chongqing was one of the world’s wealthiest cities. Chongqing was the most corrupt of cities. Its inhabitants were industrious and clever. Its officials lived on a steady diet of bi (corruption) and qian (money). Nothing moved without some government official being paid an expediting fee.

The Blue Spirit inhaled the cool night air as he waited for the rain to come. Soon the local would be inside and the streets of the world’s most corrupt city would be his.

The only sound was the gentle patter of rain and the beating of his heart.

The banished prince created a myth. The banished prince died. The myth lives on. Was the prince the Blue Spirit or the Blue Spirit the banished prince? Another koan that Uncle would insist on contemplating over a cup of tea.

His past was dead. His honor was gone. He had once believed that in doing what was right that he would learn his father’s love and his nation’s respect.

The Blue Spirit smiled behind his mask. As a child, he was dense to the event flowing around him. Father was right – Pain is my teacher.

There was no right or wrong. There was only power, desire, ruthlessness, and the ability to get want you want.

It was all a lie. Everything they taught him to believe was a lie.

He now rejected their teachings. He rejected their suffocating codes of conduct. If he wished to take, he would take. If he wished to hurt, he would hurt. The gods made him. They cast him into his role as the fool who would never know that he was a cosmic joke.

He learned his lesson. He learned that the gods and fate were his enemies. He vowed to defy every one of them and become his own master. He would show them that with enough determination and hard work that a man can beat the gods and cast them down from the heavens.

The rain was coming down harder. All was as it should be.

Caring not if he was going to slip of the slick slate tiles, he rapidly leaped from roof to roof careful only to not make noise. He was near the halls of the Fong Banking House. Distant cousins of the Ming’s, his maternal grandmother’s family, the Fong operated the most active banking house that did business (albeit illegally through smugglers and their family connections with the Ming Banking House) with both the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom.

Once as the loyal prince, the Blue Spirit was upset that his uncle had set up an account with the Fong’s Earth Kingdom counting houses to facilitate the purchases of supplies from Earth Kingdom merchants during Zuko’s hunt for the Avatar. Even now his uncle used the accounts albeit through his White Lotus Society contacts. Now he knew that the only way he could safely communicate with his uncle was to rely on the good graces of the Fong Clan.

Tonight, he was going to buy a lot of good graces with the gems that Azula paid Jian Li for Zuko’s death.

It was late when the Blue Spirit concluded his negotiations with the Fong’s. Like many bankers on both sides of the boarder they did not ask where or how he acquired a handful of gems he sold them. They just merely inspected the merchandise and negotiated a price. While it was not as high as he would desire, it was reasonable. He had enough coin to buy his freedom.

There is no freedom. A slave will forever wear the shackles even if he runs away- His freedom is forever destroyed by a memory. What is a prince but a slave with a nation as his master? Even though Zuko is dead, I cannot ever be free to live openly again.

The Blue Spirit once despised the temple training his jaio lian (weapons teacher) and his uncle inflicted upon him. Following the Tao (path to enlightenment) does not feed an empty stomach. Yi (intent) did not guarantee that the results of your actions would be positive or even if your actions would be virtuous. He would never be a Zhen Ren, a true person, but a flitting shadow stealing away the light.

However, they trained him in the old ways that his father and the new generation despised. They trained him in the ways of Chan (better know by the Earth Kingdom name of Zen). The Blue breathed in and filled his dan tian (center of power) with qi (vital energy). He let his mind travel on the four winds seeking a kind of enlightenment. Not of truth, but the ability to pick up on hints that his conscious mind overlooked. Even though he was bound by the events of his life and would never find the Tao, the Blue Spirit prized the clarity of thought that he experienced after meditation.

He remembered the Bai Shi (ritual initiation ceremony) he underwent on the eve of his 13th birthday. He swore Bao Yi (to embrace the Tao). Yes, Gongfu (martial arts) and bending required knowledge of the forms, intense physical conditioning, and knowledge of qi manipulation. However, the true master could defeat an opponent without moving and yet moving. A master was the calm in the middle of a tempest.

The Blue Spirit took in a deep breathe and relaxed. He imaged separating his essence. Yin and yang would cease to flow together and started flowing apart. He could feel the static charge building up.

However, on the verge of success, he lost the calmness that bending the javelin of the gods required. He failed again. He failed a dozen times before and would fail a dozen times again. However, he knew that given enough time and practice that he would be able to summon the lightning instead of merely redirecting it.

The rain intensified. Steam rose from his body.

Now all that he had to do was wait a while and slip away.

Jian Li, master magician would soon disappear among the masses of refugees.

The Blue Spirit would select another persona and another trade to perform as he wandered the world. He would select something that would allow him to blend into the population of refuges fleeing the war zone. It would not be as glamorous as his last profession. Being in the public eye was a calculated risk, however too long and the façade would be torn away.

**

Katara was having a restless night.

More and more, she dreamt of a sickly boy.

He was alone in a dark room crying. He was hugging himself, rocking himself.

His sobs were punctuated by his attempts to breather.

“He hits her. No matter what I do, he hits her.”

She looks at the weeping boy. His back was covered with welts.

“Who did this to you?” Katara asked.

The dream boy just sobs, “It’s better if I just die like the healer predicted when I was born. Maybe then he won’t hurt her anymore. It’s my fault he hates us. All I do is make him angry, no matter how much I try.”

She watches in horror as the young boy starts banging his head into the walls of the darkened room. She tries to stop him, however he is insubstantial her hands passes through him.

The boy would not stop punishing himself. Soon the walls were covered in his blood. She could see the grey of his skull as he actually intensified his self punishment.

The boy wouldn’t stop hurting himself. She witnessed as his body shattered like a crystal ball dropped on a tile floor. Yet she could hear the sound of his flesh striking the wall.

A dry voice spoke to her in dispassionate terms.

You know that you should not be here. You have already atoned for your misdeeds, child.

“I am here. Why must the boy suffer so?”

“He must pay for his deeds in his past lives as you have paid for yours. He must suffer the torment that one of your previous incarnations spared him in one of his.”

“No child deserves …”

“Be quite peasant! It’s your fault that he suffers so. You were the one who pushed him on the path to damnation. You were the one who had him kill men, women, and children. He killed thousands because of you. Everything he did, he did because he loved you. You paid your price to the gods, murderer and kin killer. Now it’s his turn.”

“When?”

“Two lives ago. Like the avatar, all men follow the cycle of death and rebirth. You killed your kin and murdered countless innocents. However, you made sacrifice. Two lives of pain and misery. You have paid and now free of your onus. He has to make his payments.”

Katara could hear the gasping as the boy tried to breath.

“You are going to kill him.”

“No, merely killing him is not good enough. He would just be reborn and continue to suffer. He will be needed in the next life. You and he will have a task. For now, he will suffer until his spirit is truly broken. He must lose everything he values. He must sacrifice everything he loves. He must leave this life knowing naught but pain. He will suffer in this life until the balance of his soul is repaired. Interfere and you will only suffer yourself and doom the both of you to another lifetime of pain.”

Katara could not stand it. The boy was attacking his own flesh.

“Stop it, can’t you see that he is just a boy. If it was my fault, it should be me.”

“This boy was born with a mighty debt upon his soul. It’s his lot in this life to suffer in so that he can be free in the next life. Do not interfere or it would be worse for the both of you!”

“Then he will not suffer alone. It is not fair to beat someone up if he did not know what he did wrong. You are just hurting him for your sick pleasure. You are not a god. You are more twisted than a snake about a branch.”

“I should have known you would insist on sharing his fate – Over one hundred generations and the fates tied your souls together ninety nine times. Your loyalty is commendable. The fates had to link the two of you together again in this life. I had rather thought that they would be merciful in this life considering how you were used in your past lives. However, fate loves using its familiar tools. Loyalty to a soul that you have known for so long and yet you don’t recognize in this life. You have asked to take on his burden. His burden you shall share for all the days of his life. He shall stab your heart and you shall crush his soul.

“Katara, Katara wake up. It’s been all morning and you wouldn’t wake up. And the you started screaming.”

Sokka was shaking his sister violently.

“Stop it, otherwise I will hurl on you.”

Sokka quickly stopped and stood back.

Aang and Toph were in her room.

Aang looked at Katara and said, “Avatar Roku once told me that sometime we travel to the spirit world in our sleep. Katara, tell me what you saw. It might point us to a Fire Bending master.”

Katara didn’t know what happen. She tried to relate what happened, but the harder she tried the more the details slipped her mind. She couldn’t remember what the boy looked like, just the horror she felt as he shattered.

**

“Three brass hills, thank you sir. My sons will be surprised that I actually met the great magician Jian Li. It's an honor.”

Jian Li examined the top that he bought from the toymaker.

The last time he held a toy was when he tossed his favorite wooden top into his mother’s funeral pyre.

His father hated his mother and refused to release his mother’s soul. It was up to him to cast the flame that would free his mother’s soul. With that gesture, he had left all things childish behind. It was Zuko who burnt the banknotes of hell so that his mother could bribe the celestial judge and the kings of hell. It was Zuko who crafted the paper offerings so that his mother would have the things she needed in the afterlife. It was Zuko who gathered his mother’s ashes and had them interned near the turtle duck pound. It was Zuko who spent two years craving his mother’s marker stone.

His father and sister never loved his mother. To them his mother was a curse inflicted upon his father simply because his grandfather needed the wealth of his mother’s family. She suffered his father’s brutality first for duty’s sake and then to shield him from his own father. His sister hated their mother for having disgraced blood and ensuring that the young bending prodigy would be tainted by the other noble children for her disgraced blood. His sister pretended that mother was merely some nameless concubine.

The top in his hand was nowhere near as grand as the top that he surrendered to his mother’s pyre when he was only eleven years old. However, it would be the focus the he needed for tonight.

His mother’s spirit came to him in a dream and told him to find his destiny in the spirit world.

The magician knew that traveling to the spirit world was dangerous. Usually a Fire Nation prince would have a power Fire Sage to guide him. No one wishing to return back to the real world traveled alone. However, some have returned as long as they had a focus of great significance. Using a top just bought in the market would be considered suicide. However, Jian Li knew that he would have no regrets if he never returned back to the land of the living.

Jian returned to his wagon.

Everyone of the performers instinctively knew that now was not a time to annoy Jian Li. There were whispers about him being an oni, a demon, wearing the skin of a human. He had won too much money, gained too much power and fame. Jian smiled to his fellow performers as he past them. He could see their reactions of disgust. Comradeship was dangerous for lies were needed between friends. Lies always lead to the truth and he could not afford the truth to come out.

Jian lay down in his cot. He placed the top over his heart and started to let his soul travel.

He was alone in the dark. He watched as the child Zuko curled up crying. He knew that he could not do a thing. The child did not yet know the truth and would have to be banished from everything he knew before he would even set foot on the path that he now traveled.

He walked out the same door.

His mother was being beaten.

“It’s your fault whore. Zuko is not my son! He is too sick and weak to be my son. Which scrawny servant did you spread your legs for? Maybe I should be merciful and end his pain?”

“No, Ozai, you were the only man that ever...”

“That is what all you whores tell all their clients. You are like all your great-aunts and great grandmother. You spread your legs for any man with coin. Tell me who fathered Zuko!”

“You did, Ozai. You raped me and ensured that I was carrying your son. You were the only man who...”

He hit her.

“Never say that again. Never call me by my name whore! I am your master, slut!”

He hit her. However, not matter how bad he hurt her, she muttered the name Ozai.

The watcher knew that it happened every time he was ill or when his father was drunk on mao tai Fire Water. He felt the urge to strike down his sire. He wanted destroy the man who destroyed his family. However to do so would destroy the fabric between the real world where his body rested and the spirit world he inhabited.

He walked on, every step summoning a memory. Each step brought him more pain.

There was a mandrill sitting in the lotus position meditating.

“Go…away.”

He was surprised for a moment that the mandrill could actually talk. Something in him wanted to burn the speaking mandrill. However, he knew better than to challenge any creature that he would find in this fantasy landscape. Every a butterfly in this world is more power than he was.

“May I ask your name?”

“That last one that was here was too obstinate to know that he didn’t belong here either. Nor do you belong here. You know that you are not supposed to be here when she is visiting here.”

“Who is the she you are talking about?”

The mandrill looked at him and merely sighed.

“You have to be the dumbest, most obstinate soul ever. For the past several dozen reincarnations you have been asking the same stupid questions. Can you at least ask the one you are supposed to ask me so I can tell you where to go to find the answers to your questions?”

“What is the answer that I am looking for?”

“A miracle. You got close to the question you are suppose to ask, child, without wasting half an eternity of my time. As for your answers, looked in the cave of Koh. However, the price will be steep. With your face, he will only be one step from returning to your world. After you he will only need one more face.”

“Who is the other face?”

The mandrill ignored him and merely shook his head.

"Please tell me who is the other face?"

“You would think after 99 lives together that a spirit would recognize its red string partner. The gods are rooting for your downfall, stubborn one. You two seem to upset everything they seem to plan.”

“Tell them that they didn’t do me any favors in this life!”

The mandrill looked shocked, “Of course they didn’t. You and your mirror soul destroyed everything they planned every time you meet up. You two have been responsible for so much chaos and uncertainty. The gods don’t want right or wrong. They want order. Hell or paradise on earth is okay as long as things are orderly. You lived to unravel what they weaved. My advice is just to suffer in this life and maybe they will take pity on you in the next.”

“Nice try, monkey. I will just have to make my own way.”

“Nice to see you. I see that the only thing that changed about you is the body that they gave you, trickster without a name. However, you remain the same stubborn old coot that has to waste my time every time you reincarnate. You must have spent more time in hell than any other soul.”

He smiled at the compliment. In trying to push him away, the mandrill gave him a purpose.

“I do my best. Where do I find this Koh?”

“Follow that.”

He chased the glowing bug.

“Good riddance until the next life, trickster without a name.”

The traveler followed the glowing bug that the mandrill pointed out. He was lead deeper into a swamp.

“I would not go in there,” a little girl voice said.

“Why?”

“Sons of Agni should not play in the land of Earth and Water. Go to the fiery mountain and play with the others of your kind.”

He looked around, but he could not see the child.

“Don’t bother. You are not ready yet to face Koh. You are going to need that ugly mug of yours in this lifetime if you are to do what the gods don’t want you to do.”

“Then where are the answers I seek.”

“Silly. You boys are not only silly, but stoooopid, in a cute sort of way.”

He resisted the urge to erupt and provide a figment of his imagination some entertainment.

“I am as real as you are, Koko.”

“Why Koko?”

“It’s was the name of my cat in my last life. He was cute, but a little slow upstairs, just like you.”

Normally, Zuko would not think of, let alone prepare to start throttling young girls, with the exception of his little sister. However this little girl was annoying.

“Hey, I did not ask to babysit some boy who used to hugs his blankee!”

“Blankee, the last time...”

“You admit it. Last time you were here, it took an eternity before you confessed to hugging Mr. Blankee. I must be getting better. She will give a brand new dolly for it.”

“Who is she?”

“Why do boys have to be so stooopid and cute at the same time? Bye Mr. Koko. You can go into the cave, but don’t smile, frown, or do whatever. You will be playing the ultimate card-game and I suggest that you keep your face like so until you leave this swamp.”

He took a deep breath and entered the cave.
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Blue Mask