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Blue Mask	By : PatPat Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > AU/AR - Alternate Universe/Alternate Reality > Het- Male/Female Views: 11106 -:- 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.

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Blue Mask, Two Swords, and Sozin’s Comet
Players on Fate's Stage
By Pat Squared

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“Mother, please hold all these wedding gifts for me. All I can take is the travel kit you had made for me. If all goes well, Aang and I should be back in plenty of time for you to help me deliver your first grandchild.”

“Toph, I would not miss it for the world. I finally get my revenge. It took me...”

“Three days...I remember when you complained it about being a mere fifteen hours. You don’t have to pull another guilt trip on me, mother!”

“I am not pulling one on you, darling. I am just showing you how to pull one on your new husband and kids. Tell that no good lout of yours that he better bring you back soon or I will find you two make you both eat my grandma’s special recipe.”

“You mean the boiled grass and rock stew.”

Toph could not keep the tears out of her eyes. Katara and her father managed to get her mother to agree to the wedding and start actually looking forward to Toph having a baby. Although her mom wasn’t as forgiving of the practicing Toph and Aang did before the official (first) wedding.

Just before the wedding, Katara gave Toph the antidote to the dreaded purple horsehair root. Toph got to laugh at the memory of all the weird things that the wedding guests did instead of remembering the day as dark gray blur. In a way, it made Toph more appreciative of the things about her and she noticed things about her childhood home that she ignored during her childhood.

It was amazing what a couple water skins of cactus juice could do to a wedding party.

Aang and Toph were not the only ones to perform the traditional consummation of their love at the wedding (in private, perverts!). Some of the other guest had to be chased out of the spare bedrooms and using her earth vision, Toph picked up on several things that she was going to show Aang pretty soon.

The cactus juice broke through her parent’s usual reserve nature that the pair built up over the years. It removed a scar that destroy the love her parents once had for one another. The effect carried through even when the juice wore off. It was like her mother and father were teenagers again. Thankfully Katara knew about some teas that worked wonders for cactus juice hangovers. Even being blind, Toph knew from the way her parents started holding hands that she stood a good chance of having a little sibling within a year. Mother was young when Toph was born and not yet even thirty.

Sokka was upset that all his cactus juice was gone.

Sokka actually wanted to go back into the desert to get more, but Katara and Aang both were firm with the boy. Katara seized all his coins and his various stashes of smoke powders. Hopefully, Sokka would not be flying without the bison anytime soon in the future. When he pushed, Katara threaten to drop the boy off at Kyoshii Island and tell some girl Suki about Yue. Sokka quickly shut up after that threat. The way he hung his head afterward reminded Toph of her opponents in the ring after she defeated them.

It was fun.

Katara blackened Aang’s eye truly well.

That meant that Aang would provide her with lots of kids. Hopefully the gods of fate would follow through with that omen. If she had twenty kids and a couple hundred grandkids, it would be worth it if Aang was by her side when the god called her to her next life.

Sokka was the first on bison duty. Appa was ready. Everything was packed. It was past sundown and it was time for the group to leave for the Fire Nation via the Earth Kingdom city of Chongqing. Katara said that she had a loose end to tie up and Chongqing was probably the only place outside the Fire Nation that had any kind of accurate maps of the secretive nation.

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“Why?”

The Blue Spirit had successfully resisted the urge to smack himself in the forehead. He had seen that Water Tribe warrior perform that act one too many times - once. He might be a grave robber, gambler, thief, and assassin, but he would never sink so low as to imitate that brat.

“Your mom wants to see you.”

He resisted the temptation to grit his teeth and snap at the child.

Zuko, Tom-Tom is just a child. It is not his fault what his mother suffered. It was my fault for not letting his mother come with me on the journey. I thought I was giving a life and all she got was pain.

“Why?”

“Because she loves you very much and wants to play with you.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s what all good mommies do with their children and you have the best mommy in the world.”

“Why?”

Was I ever this bad? Why, why, why, why, and more whys? I am surprised that mom did not strangle me once I learned to talk!

“Because she is your mommy and she loves you and she is the best mommy in the world and you are her one and only special Tom-Tom.”

The child squealed in delight and pointed at the colorful stand. It was filled with bottle with brightly colored labels. Immediately the child tried running for the stand. The Blue Spirit barely caught up with the child.

“Can I? Pweese!” the child asked in a serious tone.

“No.”

“Why?”

The Blue Spirit took in a deep breath.

“See that symbol. It means medicine. Only a mommy or a healer can give you medicine.”

“Why?”

That was all the Blue Spirit heard since the kid woke up.

I surrender. The Blue Spirit has been officially defeated by a three year old and a single question, ‘Why?’ Now how did Mai ever handle the why without going nuts and trying to strange the kid?

“Just because.”

“Why?”

“Just because.”

Now it was the little kid’s turn to be scratching his head.

“Just because.”

“Why are you saying it?”

“Just because.”

You and your big mouth. It is getting the wrong kind of company. First, that damn tea that the healer fed me. Next, Azula’s tongue. Now I got to remember that slimy taste for the rest of my life. Now my foot. I have just created another monster.

A chorus of “Just because,” was now echoing in Zuko’s ears

Choking him unconscious is a no-no Zuko. You don’t know how to revive choked out toddlers. He is not ready for martial arts training yet. He is too young for fishing. There!

Zuko spotted the local toymaker and bought the little boy two small toy swords. The boy played with them in imitation of his new uncle Li.

“Onkee Wee…Onkee Wee. Can we pway pirates?”

“How do you play pirates?”

Zuko visibly relaxed. The little boy was on fixated on his new toys and the words, “Why” and “Just Because” were put aside...

“I see he likes you.”

Mai was looking at the pair play a game.

“Mommy, can I pra-way with Onkle Wee. I prwa-miss to be good.”

Mai shook her head and said, “I have to find us a new home.”

“Why?”

Zuko chimed in, “Just because.”

The little boy silently repeated his new words, “Just because.”

Zuko looked upon the boy.

The child did not understand that he did not have a home. He did not understand that there was no home left to return to.

It was bad enough for Zuko when he was force to left all he knew. The child would never know why he and his mother would travel as refugees in the war zone.

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“What about payment?”

“Mai, no payment is necessary. You saved my life once. You risked death and disgrace to deliver an ointment to a dying boy and you saved him. I am sorry that I did not let you come along with uncle and me on the journey. I thought that you would find another and have someone who deserves you.”

Mai looked upon him in shock.

“Zuko! But...”

Mai was crying, something that he had not seen happen since she slipped into his chamber with the burn ointment after the disastrous Agni Kai that launch his descent into a living hell.

“Mai, I never belonged in this world. I was the weak one in a culture that worshiped power. I never cared for titles like Azula. I just wanted my family to be proud of me. Now I am cursed. I will not live to see the snows. Azula is now hunting down Jian Li so that she can drag the legendary assassin and have him bred her a generation of little monsters made in her mold. She knows that Jian is the Blue Spirit. She does not know that I, Zuko am still alive.”

Zuko found his hand smacking himself in the forehead.

“This whole mess started off as a little trick to throw her off the chase, the lies, are all coming back to destroy me. You know what it is like to realize that everything you ever wanted will never be.”

Mai merely walked up and hugged him.

“Zuko, please. I still love you. I am still willing to follow you to the ends of the earth.”

“Mai, Tom-Tom needs a mother, not a martyr. Besides, it no longer does matters. I am dying from the lung flux and the healers told me that I won’t live to see the snowflakes fall.”

Mai was shaking her head.

“It’s true. I don’t have much time to make things right before I leave. Mai, you were my first kiss. You were the one that saved me and I left you behind. You suffered because you loved me. I am not worthy of your love. I have been a no good scum wasting the gift of life that you gave to me four years ago. Go to the village of Kami no Tsuyu in the mountains of Daibutsu province. My uncle was working there as a storyteller under the name Li when we split up. He may be able to help you. Keep the gems. Find a home. Raise your son well, that is all I ask of you. You have a new life. Use it well.”

After the evening meal, Mai put her son Tom-Tom to bed, reciting a rhyming story just like Zuko’s mother once did for the young prince. With the child safely asleep, the conversation turned serious.

“Please Zuko. Just one night together. When you left, you promised me that you would come back. Please don’t break your word.”

Mai kissed her former fiancé, “Just one night, can I be your wife for just one night.”

“No, I can’t. I’m sorry. I can’t give you that hope when I have no life left to share with you.”

Zuko would never forget the look in Mai’s eyes as he turned down her offer.

He hated himself. The fourteen year old boy he once was is gone. Four years of exile had broken his soul. If he accepted her offer, it would be like a lecherous old man preying upon a recently bereaved widow.

Mai kissed him.

As she pulled back, their lips were sticking together for an extra moment.

He returned the kiss.

In spite of his intentions to the contrary, Zuko found himself kissing her again as he removed her blouse.

Mai was strong. She hugged Zuko and pulled him down to the earth.

“I once hated this. I remember once scrubbing my flesh until my skin bled in a futile effort to be clean of my father’s taint. Please, replace those nightmare and show me the pleasures that I could only read about in those naughty books we discovered in the library when I was ten and you were twelve.”

Zuko could not say no. Mai suffered because of his refusal to let her sneak onboard his ship when he was banished. He owed her that much and more, even if his conscience would forever damn him to a lifetime of regrets.

He kissed her first softy, gently nibbling on her lips. Slowly he sucked on her lip as he pull her closer to him.

Their hands started exploring underneath their clothing, probing the hidden mysteries. Slowly their tunics came off. Her fingers traces the lines carved by fate into his flesh as he kissed every part of her face and neck. Unlike children during the Solstice Celebrations, they did not race to unwrap their presents to one another, but instead savors every discovery.

Zuko tasted Mai’s nipples. Unlike Ty Lee’s, they were darkened and marred by nursing, yet there was something exciting about them. They fed her child and a part of him wondered if they would feed the child he instinctively knew that he would sire tonight.

He kissed her naval as his fingers lingered on the drawstrings that held her skirt together.

Slowly he untied the knots and opened it.

Her patch appeared to be missing, but upon feeling it, he noticed the fine, almost invisible hairs. It was the harlot’s traditional mark and he was both excited and shamed that Mai had to endure having her public hair waxed off repeatedly.

Mai pushes his face down to her already moist slit. His tongue darted tasting the juices of the woman beneath him. Mai moaned as his tongue probed inside her passages, darting and diving in between her sensitive lips.

“Take me. Make me only remember you.”

Zuko slide off his pants.

Mai rolled her lover over unto his back and slide his rod as deep as it would go into her passage.

Zuko was quite a bit bigger than the man who sired her, raped her, and force her to bear her brother-son. However, the trials of childbirth allowed her to stretch sufficiently to please the tip of his leaking organ to her cervix. Without moving up and down, her experienced cunt muscles clamped down and the tightness slide up and down as she rotated slightly trying to drive him deeper into her flesh.

Slowly she rocked her hips back and forth.

“Zuko, Zuko, Zuko.” she moaned as she approached the first pleasure that she had never before experienced.

Mai bit her lip to suppress the scream.

Zuko instinctively shoved harder as if the gods were commanding him to ensure that Mai would have more than a memory. Despite the fact that he would not be around to raise a child, generations of instincts still commanded him to plant his salty essence as deep as possible into her womb.

Zuko found himself releasing his seed and yet his rod was still solidly driving, pounding his seed deeper and deeper like one of those huge pile drivers the labors use to plant the huge piles for a dock. Rythmicly he pounded away.

Mai yelped and contracted a second time, her womb expertly extracting every ounce of essence into her. Slowly the pair slowed to a more comfortable side by side position, yet she would not release his rod.

“Again.”

The word awoke something primordial inside of Zuko. That animal side silenced the voices of doubt that haunted the young man for failing to meet some standard of honor. The primordial urge for sex and reproduction did not care about the past, the guilt, the sorrow. Instead, it commanded him to sate her need for not only his flesh, but someone guided him to making her more of a complete lover.

Again and again the pair made love in an effort to banish the demons of their past that night.

________________________________________

Zuko woke up knowing that he was the most lecherous male that ever came out of the Fire Nation. Mai was naked, laying by his side on the blanket they shared last night. He could not love her that way and yet something inside of him allowed him to perform as if he was. Even now, his xaio didi was rising in anticipation of more lovemaking.

He had to leave before he dishonored Mai again. As for Zuko, he knew that he truly had no honor left.

Last night, Mai listened to his rambling confessions in between their love making sessions. Mai knew that he loved the water tribe girl and made love to Ty Lee and yet Mai still shared her body with him.

Mai still loved him even though he was a creep. Worse he accepted her gift of love knowing that he could never accept the responsibility inherent with the love she had for him. He did not deserve anyone’s love. He was the one responsible for so much pain and suffering and yet the women of his life still felt sorry for him.

u are not the Fire Nation crown prince anymore. You are not even the clan master of Clan Kozun. You are not even in the Fire Nation. And yet you are acting like you are the master of a harem. A girl makes her eye at you and you...fornicate at the merest suggestion. The only good thing is that you did not give into your sister’s temptation, bastard.

Even though Mai was not a fire bender, she still instinctively awoke with the sun. She smiled, rolled over, and kiss him.

“Thank you. You have turned something that once broke my spirit into something I will treasure forever. Tom Tom is still asleep. Thank Agni that he is not old enough to experience the sunrise curse.”

Mai kiss him again and Zuko found himself returning the gesture.

He looked upon the nude form of his former fiancé.

Everyone thought of Mai as the plain, silent girl and thought that he was nuts to have selected her out of all the available maidens in the Fire Nation to be his future wife. She was nobility, barely. Her family had wealth, but nowhere near as much as his mother’s family. She was no great charmer like his maternal grandmother. However when Mai smiled, it was like the rising sun to a fire bender in dire need of qi. She gave him one of her rare smiles and he gave her one of his.

With her smile, she rose above the scars from the whippings her father performed on her and scars from carrying and breast feeding her eldest child. In her way she was just a beautiful as any painted face noble lady in the court. His fingers traced over her rubs exploring the varying textures of her skin.

Ty Lee skin was smooth, reminiscent of her untouched status. Their love making was gentle. It was both their first time and there was the confusion as both had to interpret what thousands of generations of instincts screamed in their ears. It was delicate as if each other feared shattering the other.

Mai was experienced.

Both partners knew how to please one another. There was no false modesty or virtue.

Mai whispered for him to please her and Zuko complied.

It was the first time he delved into a woman’s fold and tasted a woman's skin. It was the first time he breathed in deeply of her scent. At first, she guided him in the ways of love and he followed her lead willingly. As they made love, she let him experiment learning things were only recorded in the ancient scrolls of the courtesans. Mai trembled quietly and a part of Zuko was happy when she smile and dragged him back to her embrace.

Zuko and Mai gave in again into their growing lust for if both read their fortunes correctly they would be parting forever after breaking the morning fast.

A xiao didi knows no conscience when it’s up.

Sometimes it takes a couple weeks to properly say goodbye. Every time Tom-Tom slept, Mai and Zuko lived a life that was suppose to be theirs but for the perversity of fate. It was as if they were trying to live a life time that they were suppose to have in a few short, stolen moments.

Zuko knew without having to wait a couple months for Mai’s morning sickness that Mai would have to raise two children alone.

The former prince was in love with three women and did not know what to do about it. He waited for Mai to fall asleep on the last night. Then he kissed her on the cheek, kissed Tom-Tom on the forehead. The Blue Spirit left the closest thing he ever experience to a normal family life behind and returned to the shadows.

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A week later, the Blue Spirit waited at the clearing in the bamboo groove. He knew that someone was following him and decided to let his pursuers catch up to him.

The Blue Spirit had seen the updated wanted posters. The Blue Spirit and Jian Li connection was now public knowledge. Twice rookie bounty hunters and opportunists have tried to collect the prize on his head. The Blue Spirit had to burn four corpses.

Between the local Earth Kingdom governor and the Fire Nation crown princess, the Blue Spirit carried a higher price on his head than the Avatar and his traveling companions combined.

The Blue Spirit waited. His back was resting against an ancient strand of bamboo, he was slowly cooking his noon meal – a broth made from mushrooms and wild game.

He did not bother putting his hands on the hilts of his twin broadswords when they appeared. He did not care if he lived or died. The only thing he cared for was making sure that the legend of the Blue Spirit would include a passage about a worthy death in battle for the assassin.

A lone man walked out. The Blue Spirit’s pursuer was an overly-built, muscular man with long hair and wore a green outfit like a country gentlemen. On his belt was a mace.

With a gesture, the earth bender flung a stone summoned from the earth. The stone hit the bamboo strand just right next to the Blue Spirit’s head. The Blue Spirit did not flinch. Instead, he merely covered the wok with a lid.

“So you are the Blue Spirit. They told me that the Blue Spirit is a fire bender with ice running in his veins.

“How many have men you murdered?

“How many sons seek vengeance for their father’s death?

“Rumor is that you, not Princess Azula, were the one to slay the bastard Fire Prince. If so, that will explain the price that she put on your head. I was impressed by your magic performance at the circus, Jian Li. You picked an impressive place to hide. A magician assassin – I guess that all the up and coming killers are going to follow your example for the next hundred years. Too bad coming back from the dead is not in your repertoire of magic tricks. Your time is up! Surrender and I will end your life quickly.”

The Blue Spirit smiled and waited for the talker to lose his center. He had learn the hard way that excitement in the middle of a life and death struggle blinds a warrior.

Calmness in the face of death rattles an opponent and they will make a mistake in their fear.

The man was getting frustrated already. There was no talk and no action. Two minutes pasted as the Blue Spirit merely stirred the broth and tasted it.

The man’s mouth was tight and the skin around it white.

Death has a white face.

“Die, then fool. I am going to crush you!”

Two boulders can flying at the Blue Spirit’s head. The Blue Spirit waited and just moved his head so that the stones would barely miss him.

“No one makes a fool out of earth bending master Xin Fu. Especially not some war baby who mother can't recall how many times she spread her legs bearing war babies for the Fire Nation!”

Zuko palmed a stone.

No one insults my mother.

Once the Blue Spirit would have just burned the fool to ashes. Now he was going to deliberately disgrace the fool by killing him with his own element. And to make things worst, it would be a fire bender who did it.

It was time to distract the earth bender.

The Blue Spirit spoke in a dry voice, “Earth. Hard, obnoxious, and of limited intellect. You are a truly Fire Nation textbook representative of your element, Xin Fu. For your information, I am not a war baby. I am Fire Nation born and bred, mudsucker!”

Xin Fu was so distracted throwing boulders that he did not see the Blue Spirit pitch a rock at his head. The first one knocked him unconscious. The Blue Spirit walked up. He lifted one of the boulders that Xin Fu launched at him and threw it down on the skull of the earth bender crushing it.

The Blue Spirit looked upon the remains of the former earth bending master.

From the leaking pink and grey matter, Xin Fu was obviously dead. The earth bender was felled by his own element wielded by a fire bender of all people. Knowing that he had a temporary moment of peace, the Blue Spirit continued cooking his meal. He will deal with body of the foolish idiot that try to collect on the bounty.

The Blue Spirit would let himself perish save by the hands of a true professional.

________________________________________

Toph warned Katara and Aang that she sensed trouble ahead.

Sokka was guarding Appa, as Appa was never to be left alone after that incident in the dessert. Someone was going to ambush a lone traveler camping out in the woods. Aang, being his old-self again, decided to do the right thing and rescue the victim.

Katara and Aang could witness the battle, but they were not close enough to interfere.

The victim they came to save easily slain his attacker and then returned to his preparing his meal as if nothing happened. They stood back and watched the man finish eating his meal in view of the dead. The lone traveler cleaned up his camp and packed his gear. Only after it was done did he deal with the dead.

Earth benders would merely sink the body into the earth and walk away. Robbing the dead was against the law and Earth Kingdom tradition.

However, this man lifted off the rock.

He methodically went trough the pockets of the dead, pocketing a few coins and a scroll of some kind. He drew an axe out of his pack and started to cut down the bamboo. Slowly there was enough fuel to start a pyre.

With the axe, the man hack the body, tossing various pieces into the pyre. Katara and Aang had to hurl after watching the dismemberment of the earth bender's corpse.

The killer lifted up his left arm and a column of fire came down from the heavens to incinerate the body. The young man turned away and started reading the poster. He reached into his bag and pulled out a writing stick. With a few quick motions, the young man wrote a message.

Four hours later, the clearing smelted of burnt flesh. The fire was out. The young man merely dropped a scroll by the body and walked off. Aang, Toph, and Katara was awed by the callousness of the young fire bender at the taking of a life. The fire bender did not even bother to use his weapons or his bending, instead the lone man just used a small rock and a good sized boulder.

The man walked off and vanished into to the bamboo forest.

“Aang, the man is gone. I can’t sense him. He might be up in the bamboo strands. They wave in the wind so I can’t really pick up any vibrations.”

Aang ran off and grabbed the notice. He had a hard time with the hanzi (Fire Nation calligraphy) but managed to make them out.

To whoever finds this scroll;

Please post it in a public place or hand it to the nearest Earth Kingdom patrol.

Self-proclaimed earth bending master, Xin Fu, tried to collect on the bounty for the Blue Spirit on the fifth day of the sixth moon. He was felled by his own overconfidence that a fire bender could not use a tossed rock to fell an earth bending master. That was his undoing. I tossed a rock at his head and knocked him out. I dropped a second, larger rock on his head and crushed his skull. I did not need to touch my blades or use my gift of fire save to cremate his already dead flesh.

Your bounty is making me waste my time on bumbling idiots whose greed outweigh any sense of caution. Killing is my art. You have defiled my art by sending these amateurs to hunt don’t a professional.

Do not send anymore amateurs to collect a bounty on the head of a professional assassin. It is an insult, governor, and I don’t take kindly to insults.

I may be paying you a visit soon. I warned you to reform your corrupt way, but you ignored my message. Then I will show you the difference between the posturing of an amateur and the art of a professional. Governor Mao, make your peace with the gods for soon Yuanlao will send me for your soul.

Jian Li, The Blue Spirit

Katara could not believe that Zuko became so twisted, so immune to the taking of life. Yet she witnessed the act. Worse she witnessed the boy she love desecrate his enemy's corpse. She loved him, but she did not like his actions.

Toph was too busy cheering the death of the man who broke her arm for kicks. Getting killed by earth was a risk for an earth bender, but to have the earth manipulated by someone who can't manipulate earth was the ultimate insult.

Aang knew that he spotted his fire bending instructor, but could not figure out a way to approach the ill tempered prince without being hacked into piece.

Zuko wondered when someone would relieve him of the burden of his life and free him from his guilt. Hacking the body into piece was something that he had hoped to never do again, but otherwise he would have to spend days chopping down wood for a sufficiently large pyre. Next two, he will get some burning oil.

He walked off towards the port city of Hirakou. There he will let the corrupt Earth Kingdom governor have his chance to kill the Blue Spirit. If Zuko survives, then he planned on going into the Dragon’s Liar and deal with his family once and for all. Maybe in his death, he can free his homeland.

The fates had carefully arranged for a meeting that could have saved the world, and yet no one followed the script. The moment passed and the player went on to do their own thing.
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Blue Mask