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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
- 16
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Blue Mask, Two Swords, and Sozin’s Comet

Recovery

By Pat Squared

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She felt like an intruder.
She felt like a thief.
She delicately stepped into the wagon her patient call home of the past three months.
His room was simple. A thin, hand woven straw mat on top of a chest was on right side of the wagon served as his bed. On the left was a closet, a metal wood/coal burning stove that she was now using to boil water for his medicine, and a small chopping block with a cleaver that could be used to prepare some food.
Slowly, the healer rolled him over looking for ulcerated sores from prolonged bed rest and to help the excess fluid drain from his lungs.
She tossed a handful of herbs into a pot of boiling water.
Using the back of her hand the healer felt the young man’s forehead.
Fire benders were always warmer than most other humans, but his temperature was way too high. She spotted the signs that he was plagued by an internal infection. Worse, she spotted signs that his other organs were being impacted by his damaged lungs. She closed her eyes and let the water in his body tell her what was happening.
Her patient’s lungs and heart were in a war that was tearing up his body. His heart was being enlarged by the excess fluid his body forced out of his lungs and the lung force the excess fluid back into the left side of his heart. His organs were starting to suffer irreversible damage. In a best case and the gods granted him a miracle, he would be lucky to see ten more summers. His body had traveled beyond the breaking point and soon, the boy would be facing the judgment of the gods.
He muttered something incomprehensible as she laid him on his right side. She placed her ear on his chest and listened for the gurgling sound. Only the healer’s ability to bend some of the excess fluid out of his lungs allowing him to breathe on his own power kept him alive. He was drowning and yet he was on dry land.
The one who was born a prince would be fated to die in total anonymity.
The healer traced an extensive network of scars on the young man’s body with her right index finger. She saw where the Fire Nation surgeons had to repeatedly cut into his lungs to drain them of the excess fluid. She saw the various scars that he acquired during his battles. She saw the signs and marks of the physical abuse inflicted upon him.
With every new discovery, she grew to hate the Fire Lord even more. No one deserved this fate. It was as if fate wanted him to suffer before dying a painful death. He was stubborn. Once she cursed it. Now she knew that it was the one thing that allowed him to hang on to his life for so long. However, all the stubbornness in the universe would not keep him alive for much longer.
The patient twitched as he started choking on his own saliva.
The healer quickly bended the fluid out of his throat and examined it. She noticed that the fluid was now a bright pink.
Blood, the lungs are bleeding out. If he was not so stubborn, he would be dead already.
The healer took some of the water in a nearby basin and converted into ice. Carefully she packed the ice around his neck. Fever was the body’s defense against the invisible demons that brought sickness. However that defense would eventually kill the brain. By icing the neck, she would cool the blood supply feeding the brain. However, the rest of the body may be warm enough to kill the growing infection.
The tea was ready. The healer cooled down the tea and bended it into a mist. Using her powers, she forced the mist to travel down his throat and carefully into his gut. She liquefied the tea just as it entered his stomach.
The young man’s body was wasted. Being in the death sleep, the young man could not eat, save for the moments she was there. Now she had to do the same for the broth or he would starve to death.
Finishing up her treatment, the healer started to pack her herbs into a bag. She looked at his face. The unblemished side of his face reminded her of a little child. The scarred side that once fueled her nightmares now brought tears. She remembered that dream, how the gods told her that it was her fault that he had to suffer. He suffered because he loved her in a previous life and blindly followed her down a path that was evil because of his love for her. She accepted some of his onus. He was dying and she would know the pain of isolation.
The healer knew that she was losing her detachment. Back in the Water Tribes, young healers were warned to guard their hearts. Falling in love with a patient was a curse of the healer’s life. The Water Tribes had legends of healers falling in love with dying warriors and the pain of losing their soul-mates.
The healer knew that she was having feelings for the boy dying in front of her. She knew that she had already succumbed to the healer’s curse. Aunt Wu was right that she would fall in love with a powerful bender. What Aunt Wu did not tell her was that it would be a one-sided doomed love.
She took some water and slowly faded out the scars on his face until it was barely noticable. Maybe for the last months of his life, the dying boy would have some peace. Everyone believed that Zuko was dead and without the scar most people would just think he was some kid.
She removed the body paint and kissed his lips. It was her third kiss. The first he took. The second she gave to Aang in the Cave of Two Lovers
Too bad he not awake to kiss me back!
She kissed them again. As she pulled her lips away, her lower lip was for a moment attached to his. She felt a slight tug, a tug that felt alive, and a spark that traveled between the pair.
She knew that she could not come back. Aang and everyone else had to travel on and save the word. Aang had to find a fire bending teacher and defeat Fire Lord Ozai. If she returned, she would keep on returning to only the boy she loved to only see him slowly fade away.
Zuko, I promise you that I will try to destroy the man who broke you even if it costs me my life. You sacrificed everything for a failed cause. I can do no less and live with myself.
She finished packing her supplies away. She found her red string soul mate, but it was far too late. Taking out a damp cloth, she cleaned him up. Then she carefully placed the cloth in a flap of oil paper, before placing it into her bag.
“I am leaving. I guess that it’s goodbye. I am saying something that I thought that I would never say to you of all people. I loved you, Zuko. You were my enemy and the one who taught me that former enemies can become something more. Goodbye.”
She kissed him for what she knew would be the last time. There would be no other love. She would never know what it would be like to wake up next to the one you love. To see her love’s face reflected in the faces of their kids would be a blessing denied her. She would be old crone, the one that the girls would call an old stick. She would die. Sokka’s children and grandchildren would probably ensure that the spinster aunt would be properly prepared for her final trip out to depths of the sea.
She turned around and started walking out the wagon. Tonight, the four travelers would continue on the journey.
A weak voice gurgled out, “Katara.”
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Sokka sat in the window looking out at the moon.
Yue, I still miss you. You told me that the pain would fade away, but it still hurts so much. Nothing works. I tried drink and debauchery and I still can’t make it go away. I tried the poppy tears and all I could think about when I was in that stupor was about the moment you left me behind. All the smoke, all the alcohol, and all the warm flesh and the only thing I could successfully do to generate more pain.
He pulled out the whetstone and started sharpening his boomerang for the tenth time this evening. Aang and Toph were cuddling. Momo and Appa were asleep in their stall. It was late at night and his sister was all alone tending to a dying patient.
Katara, one day you will have to drop my corpse into the ocean. I don’t know how much longer I can hold out.
He examined the keen edge of his blade. It had taken down food. However, despite his claims to being a warrior, the blade had never taken a human life before. He knew that the odds were in favor that the only human life the blade would be his own.
Sokka had to do something. Unlike the others, he could not bend. He could not distract himself with the hours of bending practice that Katara, Toph, and Aang did on a daily basis. Instead, he spent his time hunting down food for the others to eat. He had too much time to think, to remember.
Sokka did not want to remember the pain. Contrary to what the others told him, the pain did not fade away. He had found his red string soul mate to only have her ripped away. He wanted to kill Admiral Zhao, even if he died in the process. Zuko, of all people, prevented the killer of his love from escaping before the Avatar spirit dragged him down to the depths of the ocean. For that, Sokka was jealous of Zuko.
Down the alley were a few of the pleasure girls that Sokka grew to knew. He did not care that their concern for him was commercial. He had long since lost his taste for soft flesh, but these girls also sold smoke powder. He placed reached into his money pouch and gathered just enough coins to pay for his temporary salvation.
It was late at night and only those such as him were up at this hour.
He hopped over the window sill and landed on the street below. He could not take being alone anymore.
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Azula watched as the nurse lead Mai’s son, Tom-Tom, to the turtle duck ponds. As long as she had Tom-Tom as her guest in the palace, Azula knew that Mai would be very loyal to Azula. Her program of having the young children of the nobles and powerful merchants in her academy was paying off. They were being indoctrinated and the parents knew to not support her would mean that their child would suffer a fatal injury while playing with the other kids.
Everything was generally working out as she planned. The only negatives were the fact that she had two problems. The first was Jian Li and Ty Lee.
Jian Li was an enigma. His past was as elusive as the rainbow. He was a bastard son of some fire noble. That she did not doubt. He was educated and knew things that were not common knowledge. He was perhaps the world’s best assassin. She got reports from spies about his legendary fighting skills. She also got reports about potential assassinations that he may or may not have performed.
Ty Lee was just the innocent child until Jian Li appeared. Azula knew that she lost a significant asset and gained a terrible foe. It was only her commercial relationship with Jian Li that prevented Ty Lee from seeking out Mai and Azula out for a final reckoning. Jian Li knew how to pit people’s personalities against one another. The last time she ever witnessed such virtuosity was seeing her uncle’s tactics in the game of Pai Sho against lesser players.
Azula’s other problem was her father, Fire Lord Ozai. Her father wanted her to marry and produce an heir. However to directly challenge her father would destroy Azula’s new found immunity. As long as she was Ozai’s only heir, her place in the games of power would be secure. She had some power of her own, but it would not be enough to hold unto the dais if her father dropped dead right now. So she had to act like she was acquiescing to her father’s will or risk banishment herself and watch as her throne would be given to one of her distant inbred cousins. Most of the upper nobility were cousins marrying cousins and sometimes it showed. In Azula’s opinion, the only two good things about her parent’s marriage was the fact that it produced her and the fact that her mother had no blood relations in common with the other noble families. That cleared out the inbred weaknesses that start cropping up in her family lines.
Azula hated many things.
She was the youngest. She was supposed to be the favorite child. Yet every time she ever had some alone time with her mother, it seemed that Zuko would pick that moment to have another near-death experience from the lung flux. Then her mother would race out to save her pathetic brother and Azula would be left alone.
She hated being left alone.
She never had her father’s love. Her father wanted sons and his only healthy heir was a girl. The other lords had scores of concubines who produced lots of brats. Ozai has many concubines, but he could not product another child. All she had was his acceptance that she was his only hope for the continuation of his line.
Next to her was one of the weaklings that her father hoped would convince her to give in and bear some heirs.
Captain Wong was a bright, young staff officer assigned to the war council as an operations and training officer. His father had a minor title. His mother was a merchant’s daughter who brought in enough wealth to make him one of the most eligible minor nobles of the Fire Nation. However, after a few minutes, Azula crossed him off the list of potential husbands. He was too clever and not ruthless enough to be worthy of fathering her heirs. He reminded her of Zuko. He had the small straight-back honor code. He would do well in pitched battles, but was not the type to embrace the dagger in shadows.
“Captain Wong, your discourse on philosophy had been quite enlightening, but I would like to hear more about the use of agents. My father still has assigned me the task of dealing with the Avatar and my uncle. If you were me how would you hunt him down?”
Captain Wong’s answers were straight out of the classics. He knew which lines to quote, but he was no Jian Li.
Azula suppressed the urge to grit her teeth in agony. Instead she feigned interest. Out of the names on her father’s list, Captain Wong’s was the most likely. He was a powerful fire bender. He was not a total inbred idiot. However, Azula wanted the one name that was not on her list.
Jian Li.
Azula dreamt of him every night since he tackled her to the moss covered earth the night he brought her Zuko’s remains. She could feel his muscles. While he was nowhere near as bulky as her father, he was quite strong.
Jian Li fell on top of her and had his dagger to her neck. She could feel the sharp blade cutting into the sensitive skin of her neck. There was a thin line of blood starting to well from the small cut.
“The only thing stopping me from raping you and releasing Ty Lee's need for vengeance on your pal is profit, highness. Dead men can't enjoy it."
He extended his tongue and licked her jaw line playfully.
Azula would curse herself for not kissing him.
Jian whispered into her ear, "You have called the tune, highness, now it’s time to pay me what is mine. Tell Gloomy Girl to drop whatever knife she is holding and keep her hands up so that everyone can see them. From this moment until I leave, if her hands are not up in the air, one of you two will be sporting a new fashion accessory - a crossbow bolt going through your back and coming out the center of your chest. Slowly nod if you understand what I am saying."
Azula remembered nodding and giving Mai the secret signal to cooperate.
Jian Li slowly crawled off her without uttering another word.
With exquisite grace he bowed.
"Your brother, your highness. He was one of the better clients that I have serviced. He learned much from his time pursuing the Avatar and it was a worthy chase. Unlike the others who saw my blade, he never whimpered or begged or even offered to buy me off when I cornered him. He was sick, wheezing like a leaky bellow. He could barely stand and yet when I fought him, he neither gave nor asked for any quarter. If he wasn't weakened by illness, it would be my flesh that would have been roasted for the benefit of the wild animals.
"Thank you, highness, for giving me such a marvelous creature to hunt. Hunting down your brother was a worthy capstone to any assassin's career. If it wasn't against my principles, I might have done that hunt for free. I just hope your father can provide the same type of sport if and when you decide to take me up on my offer. Behold my latest Tophy, Princess Azula. Behold the head of Prince Zuko, son of Fire Lord Ozai, and your older brother."
Jian Li displayed the contents of the box. Azula spotted her mother’s locket.
She smiled as she pocketed the locket and whispered, “Zuko stole that when he left. He would never give up his mother’s precious locket. He is definitely dead; otherwise no force on earth would stop him from reclaiming it. Too bad the wire portion of the necklace was damaged or I would wear it to my brother’s funeral so that I can taunt his shade one last time.”
Azula motioned to Mai and Mai brought out three small velvet bags each bearing the lead seals of House Kozun. Jian Li handed over the box. With a single motion, Jian sweep the three velvet bags into his pack. He turned around and started to walk away.
“Aren’t you going to check your gems?” she asked the man who dominated her.
Jian Li did not bother to turn around. He just stop, merely smiled, and said, “I don’t have to bother counting. I know that if you have any brains, you would not cheat me until I have the Avatar in captivity. Besides, I am not the one with a tick off assassin’s apprentice who is too eager to collect on a debt. Girls, enjoy yourselves girls and next time don’t try to play these silly little games with a professional killer. I will leave a message in the usual spot when I get another Tophy for your collection.”
“One day I will kill you and your apprentice. I vow that on the soul of my brother!”
She did not want be seen as weak by this creature. However, his reply cut her illusion of superiority.
“Sure you will. Ozai will marry an air bender! The Avatar and the other Kingdoms will surrender just because you wish it so. Keep dreaming, princess. Reality just ain’t your thing, highness. Have a wonderful evening, highness and don’t run with sharp items in your hands, at least until I collect my other two fees. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t tell a soul what really happened. Go ahead and lie to everyone. When I drove my sword into your brother’s chest, his last words were a warning to me, ‘Azula always lies.’”
Jian Li walked away. Azula remembered the sleepless nights that came afterward. He defied her. He played with her. He got want he wanted, and yet he did not give her what she desired.
In her dreams, he would rip off her clothes and dishonor her. He would force her to acknowledge him as her true master. He would force her to disgrace and abase herself before he would give her want she wanted. However, she knew that she would be truly happy if that ever happened. For that moment, someone loved her and for that she would pay any price.
Azula hated her father. He told her that if she push her mother to kill her grandpa that her father would love her. He told her that if she left the knife in her mother’s writing desk that he would love her. He told her every time he needed a problem dealt with that if she made it disappear that he would love her. Her father used her need for love.
Since then Azula learned to use others as she had been used. Jian was a product of betrayal like she was. For a moment, she knew that was something in Jian’s golden eyes that spoke of kinship and perhaps a chance of finding someone who would love her.
And for love...real love...the princess would destroy the world.
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Toph knew that she dreaming for in her dreams, she could see.
Aang was there and the couple were bouncing up and down on the bed and fighting with pillows. There were feathers flying everywhere about the room.
Suddenly she was trapped in the grey mists. Her blindness was not a total black that everyone else would associate with being blind. Her blindness was not the total lack of sight, but a film that grew over her eyes rendering everything into a giant dizzying blur. For her the world was even a bright blur or a dark blur.
She did not feel so good and ran to the slop bucket.
Aang was asleep, oblivious to her stomach cramps.
Troph knew that something was wrong and that she needed Katara. However, Katara was working as a healer to gather information and earn enough coins to provide food and shelter. Intellectually, Troph knew that her honeymoon was coming to a rapid end. Inside eight months, Aang would be a father and she would have to leave behind a lot of the things that she enjoyed to take care of her child. She wanted to tell Aang, but she couldn’t. Things would change and Troph did not want things to change. She did not want Aang to distance himself from her like her father did from her mother after she become blind.
She was weak and lightheaded from bringing up her meal. She put on a short silk robe that Katara give to her as a wedding present, took the slop bucket, and headed downstairs to dump it into the trash pit.
The smell was enough to make her fill the bucket twice more. She started making her way back when the earth suddenly dropped out from under her bare feet.
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“Katara … what are you doing here?”
“You almost died. I’m a healer, Zuko.”
Due to his recent illness, Zuko's face could not turn any paler, but she knew that he was scared.
“So you came to gloat. The mighty prince, fell by a childhood curse. Tell me how long before you have me delivered in chains. I can even give you a two for one deal. Prince Zuko was worth ten thousand gold talons. The Blue Spirit is worth more. Inside my bag is enough proof to collect. Just please kill me before you deliver me. My swords are over in the closet. Just cut off my head. I won’t even try to stop you.”
His eyes rolled into the back of his head. Katara propped him up so that he would sleep in a semi-reclined position.
Two hours later, Zuko awoke to find her lying next to him. He was naked, but he knew that nothing happened. He was far too weak and besides, she was clothed.
He sniffed the air and smelled the familiar scent of medicinal tea. He hated tea. As a child, the healers were always pouring the vile stuff down his throat. They used other teas in a futile attempt to disguise the vile taste of the medicine. Now she too tortured him with that stuff.
I could never figure out why uncle loves the stuff.
He wanted to die at the very moment. He was weak and pathetic. His enemies now controlled his destiny and he was as powerless as the moment his father punished him for his audacity. He knew that it was only three feet to salvation. One slash and he would no longer be cursed by his weakness.
She turned over in her sleep.
Zuko stared at the face of the Water Tribe girl that defeated him. She was young. Her skin was dark. In normal circumstances, a young man like him would start imagining what was under all that clothing and even maybe trying get some of it off.
Zuko now knew that he was indebted to her, whether he wished it or not.
He closed his eyes trying to figure out how he was going to deal with this situation.
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