Retroactive: Chapter 4

Interlude the First

The Past

Sokka and Zuko took their first steps into the Kingdom of Insanity.

It was a bright, warm day on the island of Mi Mang, but Sokka did not feel it. Passing through the front gates of the Home put too much of a chill in his bones, bones that withstood the deadly winds of the South Pole without a problem. Some chills, though, went deeper than mere flesh and skeleton. They could cast a gray pall over even the sun itself. Pausing at the building's front door, Sokka glanced to his friend standing beside him and asked, "You ready?"

Zuko let out a strong, completely defeated breath. "Yeah." Looking up from his feet, he added, "Thanks for coming with me."

Sokka shook his head. "Don't mention it. Unless I really need you to return the favor, then you can feel free to remember it." He pushed the door open and stepped inside.

The administrator was waiting as agreed. Lady Bokujin stood in the front hall, all serene grace and wise wrinkles. She bowed at the waist to Zuko, but said only, "Thank you for coming. Please, follow me. She's in her garden." As Bokujin led them deeper into the mansion, Sokka tried to take comfort in the large windows, the light and pleasant decorations, but it was a futile effort. They were merely things to see, like the sunlight, and they did nothing to appease his other senses. The side of him that was still partially animal had no trouble detecting the insanity within these walls.

The Home did not confine most of its residents. The Fire Nation's sciences of the mind were the most sophisticated in the world, and the current belief was that locking away those who posed no danger to others would be counterproductive to the healing process. Sokka liked the sound of this logic, but that didn't stop the results from attacking his innate feel for what was right and natural. He kept his gaze forward as he moved through the hallways, but he was not cruel enough to ignore those who sought his eyes. He nodded politely at a man with white bandages wrapped around his wrists. He muttered an, "Excuse me," when a woman with glassy eyes wandered right across his path. He didn't wince when he passed an old woman in a chair who screamed continuously for no reason that he could discern.

If only he didn't feel so much for these people, for what they suffered, and for the obvious lack of relief for them. It was a pain that he could only withstand by pretending it didn't exist. He had almost a lifetime of practice at that.

Too soon, not soon enough, Lady Bokujin led the young men out the mansion's back door. The gardens were beautiful, as only gardens in the Fire Nation could be. Tropical flowers were spread around as though their beauty could be massed against depression like infantry on the battlefield. The residents of the Home gathered here, too, under the watchful eyes of some of the staff. A group was even involved in a game that had them chasing a ball across the grass. One man stood in the center of the garden, just ahead of the intersection of two parallel lines of Fire Lilies. Only the skin of his arms and head were visible outside of his robe, and they were covered in long-healed burn scars. He lifted his face to the sun, and held his arms out wide towards the sky as though expecting an embrace.

Sokka couldn't help but stare as Lady Bokujin led him and Zuko past the burn victim. Without warning, the man lowered his face to look at Sokka, said, "I am the Agni Warrior made flesh," and turned back to the sun without waiting for a reply.

Sokka suppressed a shudder and willed himself to endure the chill in his bones.

Zuko and Sokka found the one they came to see in her private garden. It was closed off from the rest of the grounds by a circle of tall hedges, and boasted no flowers. Instead, it was a garden of candles. They sat on wide dishes scattered across the grass. The flames were small, but even under the noon sun they glowed strongly. The center of the garden had been given over to a stone platform, a simple disk of white rock that reflected enough sunlight to sear the eye. As always, she sat huddled in the center of the disk. Her dark, heavy robes matched her auburn hair, making her a blot on the disk that ruined its attempts to imitate the sun above.

"Hello, sister," Zuko said with uncharacteristic softness.

She didn't react. She just kept shivering, the same way Sokka wanted to at the sight of her. Of course, if he were wearing a robe as thick and heavy as hers, at the center of so much reflected light, he might have felt differently, but she shook like she had just been pulled from the icy seas of the poles. Sokka forced a smile on his face and gave her a little wave. "Hey, Azula. I'm here, too."

"I'm not Azula," she whispered. "The Princess must be dead."

Sokka and Zuko both looked to Lady Bokujin. The administrator motioned helplessly; it was just as she had written to Zuko.

Zuko approached his sister, stepping carefully so as not to disturb the candles. "Then who are you?"

Azula shrugged. "I don't know, anymore." Her shivering intensified for a second, making her wince, then went back to its original rate. "Azula is perfect," she gasped. "That's why people feared her. That's why her father accepted her. She could never be anything less than perfect. That's why I can't be her. I'm just nobody. A nobody with nothing who shouldn't even be alive."

Sokka approached her as well. Keeping his voice light and friendly, he said, "Well, perfection is over-rated. I've always been a 'good enough' kind of guy, myself, and life has never had a problem with me still hanging around. It's even given me a few rewards, you know?"

Azula looked up at him with eyes of faded gold. "No rewards," she whispered. "No mother, no brother, no… no father. I wasn't perfect enough to keep them. Azula would have found a way to get them back. I can't make the world she wanted. Let Azula live there. She would like it. She wouldn't like it here. It's too cold. I can't get away from the cold."

Zuko turned away, his scarred face tight, but then he leaned over towards Azula. "Maybe I can help with that. Do you want me to hold you? I can share my Firebending warmth."

Her face paled so suddenly that Sokka thought she might faint; all she did was look down sharply and continue her shivering. "I haven't been warm since he touched me. I don't think I'll ever be warm again. Please don't touch me. I don't want to be touched" She hiccupped, and a pair of tears fell from her eyes. "Az- Azula was always warm." Before the sobs overcame her speech, she managed to slur out, "Why can't I get warm? What did he do to Azula's fire?"

Zuko went to hug her, but Lady Bokujin was quicker. She dashed over to grab the Fire Lord's shoulder, and shook her head frantically, concern obvious on her face. Zuko froze and looked indecisive for several long moments, then sighed and let the Home's administrator pull him away from his sister. Sokka made to follow them, but stopped as an idea occurred to him. Perhaps he shouldn't, but if the alternative was to just do nothing, and no one else could help-

Smiling at Azula, Sokka said, "And what if you didn't have to be Azula to be happy?" She looked up at him, curiosity giving a little life to her eyes. He continued, "What if we let you be someone else? I'll make you a new name myself."

She blinked, and her sobs subsided. "Could I be someone warm?"

Sokka held back a grimace. "I'll look into that for you."

Azula nodded slowly, her auburn hair bobbing slightly with the motion. "Okay."

---

The Present

The first thing Sokka heard when he, Aang, Katara, and Toph reached what used to be the Kyoshi Warrior dojo was Mai's drawling remark. "Well," she said as the group came up behind her, "anyone want to tell me again about how my worst case scenario could never, ever happen?"

"Shut your awful face," Katara spat.

Sokka expected that to be the start of a fight, but Mai just gave Katara a look and went back to gazing at the devastation. Aang wandered off in the direction of the pile of ash that used to be Kyoshi's shrine; the expression on his face reminded Sokka of when the kid had discovered his mentor's skeleton in the Southern Air Temple. Katara reached down and ran her hand through the ashes of the dojo, grimaced, and brushed it off again quickly.

Sokka himself didn't need to do anything more than simply see the devastation; the town back at the docks was already sight enough for him. Turning to Mai, he said, "Where's our local Fire Lord?"

She nodded in the direction of the Warriors' huts. "He's 'debriefing' Vice-Commander Chijin. The ranting got so loud that I had to leave before I got a headache."

Great. Sokka jogged off to prevent a possible international incident.

Zuko's scarred face was intimidating enough when he chose to scowl, but when Sokka found him pacing in front of a whole squad of Kyoshi Warriors, the Fire Lord was in a full-blown tantrum state. Zuko was good at tantrums. He had apparently left his fancy robes and crown behind for this one, in favor of simpler traveling clothes, but his body language was more than intimidating enough. As Sokka approached, he saw Zuko whirl to face one Kyoshi Warrior who stood at attention, separated from the rest. "-can't believe they haven't stripped such an incompetent child of your position, never mind still allowing you to wear the colors and uniform of the Kyoshi Warriors!"

Yeah, totally an international incident. "Hey! Zuko! Chill. Um, if that isn't a horrible insult to Firebenders."

All eyes turned to Sokka as he ambled up to the scene. This close, he could see how tight Chijin's face was beneath her makeup. She was obviously exerting a lot of energy holding back whatever she was really feeling. Sokka reached over to give the Fire Lord a friendly pat, and nearly found himself taking a step back at the animalistic fury on his friend's face. "What business is of it of yours how I choose to address my allies?"

Sokka met that gaze confidently. "Are you really saying I don't get to be involved? After the part I've already played?"

Zuko turned away. "No."

"Thanks." Sokka glanced at Chijin. "Now, what's with the ranting?"

Zuko's hands formed fists, but Sokka couldn't detect the scent of smoke in the air, so things were safe enough. "I was just investigating why no one realized what my sister was doing and organized an appropriate response. From what I've heard, they behaved like a bunch of amateurs, and the Vice-Commander here accepted responsibility for that. She failed to explain why she was looking for a mysterious arsonist when 'Suki' was missing."

"Did she, now?" Zuko didn't answer. Nodding, Sokka turned to Chijin and smiled politely. "Hi. Nice to see you again. Could you explain what went on? I heard the summary from Oyaji at the docks, but any details you want to share would be fine."

Chijin held on for only one more second before she finally burst out with, "I thought you told us she wasn't a Firebender anymore!"

Sokka raised his eyebrows at Zuko. "That's an excellent point, Chijin. So, Zuko, what did your 'investigations' find out about that?"

The Fire Lord suddenly found his boots to be utterly fascinating, judging from the close attention he was paying them. "Nothing. Yet." He raised his gaze and looked Sokka right in the eyes; there was still fury in his expression, but this was a cold anger. "But now that Aang's here, it's time to talk to the best clue we have." He immediately began stomping away, with far more gusto than should have been appropriate.

Sokka threw one last apologetic smile at Chijin and chased off his friend. "You mean the man who can give us the best clues."

Zuko shook his head and growled, "He's no man. Men don't hurt their own children."

---

The Past

It had been days. Days spent immersed in the world history of madness. Days locked up in the Home's library, reading scrolls and books, pretending that he understood any of it. He wasn't sure whether he should be pleased by his confusion or not; was this one of those cases where insanity could only be understood by the insane? But that would be a disservice to the people who put their efforts into trying to unlock the code.

Then again, the Fire Nation's knowledge of the human mind was superior to the other nations only because past Fire Lords didn't see any need to place limits on what its nobles could do in the name of appeasing 'curiosity.'

Sokka continued his reading, making his way through an account of a young man afflicted by "melancholy," who was given a treatment of regularly drinking Qi-enhancing tea when doctors decided that the problem lay in a lack of "inner fire." He seemed to improve after that- his Firebending even grew from its previous weak state to something more normal for someone his age- and the doctor was heralded as a genius by the patient's wealthy father. It all seemed to be going very well up to the point where the young man killed himself for no reason that anyone could discern. The accounted ended with a note that the young man's father petitioned the Fire Lord to have the doctor banished.

Sokka sighed. He would be adding Qi-enhancing tea to a list of unviable treatments that already included periods of sensory deprivation, forced expressions of physical affection, and drilling pressure-relieving holes in the skull.

He moved on to the next book, a collection of academic papers assembled and bound for the Home's reference. Like the others of its kind, it was labeled with a number instead of a title; there was an index somewhere detailing the library's full contents, but Sokka scarcely remembered which titles had originally caught his interest all those days ago. Opening the book, he dived in and hoped for buried treasure.

The first thing that caught Sokka's interest was the author of the first paper in the volume. The name of Dong Min seemed familiar, in some vague way.

Then he saw what this professor of Ba Sing Se had theorized, decades ago. What interesting, horrifying theories...

Treasure, indeed.

---

The Present

Sokka had asked Aang to wait just outside, in the main hallway of the healer's building. His presence would only agitate the 'patient.'

The prisoner.

Zuko walked into the darkened room first, Sokka right behind him. They left the door open, and the light from the hallway fell upon the single bed and the wheezing man lying in it. He was bare-chested, the sheets pulled up only as far as his waist, and his sweaty, gleaming skin contrasted oddly with the raw burn wounds scattered over him.

As the young men approached, Ozai turned his face away from the light and barked a pained laugh. "And now the Fire Lord comes from halfway across the world to see me. I am honored beyond all others. One would think you almost care about me."

Sokka glanced at Zuko, but with his hair unbound and the only source of light directly behind him, he wore a shadow in place of his face. "You're the last person I care about in this world," Zuko said, "but you have information about people who do actually concern me. Like Azula. And whatever masters have turned you into their pet dog."

Ozai made a sound that could have been a laugh or a cough to Sokka's ear. "And who have you brought with you? I recall seeing a boy who tied his hair back like that, the day the Avatar touched me. Is he the one who's been taking advantage of Azula's confusion to help himself to her?"

Sokka's fists clenched and his stomach flipped simultaneously. He was torn between emotions, wanting to deny the phrasing of the accusation even as he worried how Zuko would react to the grain of truth within.

Zuko's gaze remained solidly on Ozai. "And everything you've done is in Azula's best interest? If I believed for a second that you were capable of caring for someone other than yourself, I'd have to wonder why Azula left you behind. Why she felt the need to hurt you the way she did."

Ozai turned to look at them, finally. Sokka's stomach took another turn as he got an eyeful of the main injury, and he was glad that being backlit would keep his face hidden. He imagined he looked rather sickened right now. He glanced again at Zuko, but the Fire Lord was still stoic. In retrospect, it was a good thing that the healers had described the wound to them ahead of time.

Ozai bore a fresh burn where his right eye should have been visible, vaguely shaped like a human hand and extending up over the hairline and out to shrivel the ear. Where Zuko's own scar was dry and rough, Ozai's was a weeping mess yet.

He stared at his scarred son and said, "You cannot fathom my thoughts and cares. You are Fire Lord, but you still think like a child. That's why you gave our nation's colonies away. You didn't see that they were like children to the Fire Nation. If a parent coddles the child, values the child's successes above their own, both are weakened. A child has to be made strong. If a failure, the child should be discarded. If a success, the child should be put to use." Ozai pushed himself to sit up, never turning his face away. "And when the parent is no longer strong, it is up to the child to take up the role. Azula is now coming along quite nicely, despite your considerable interference. Bask in that knowledge, and celebrate it."

Sokka crossed his arms and finally spoke up. "That was very pretty. Bravo! Either you spent a long time on the trip here to Kyoshi coming up with that, or you have a real talent for trotting philosophy-soundy-stuff out of your sad, sad little backside. How about you explain the part where being such a good father and trying to ruin Azula's new life was worth The Invisible Hand breaking you out of prison and smuggling you over here."

"The Invisible Hand," Ozai said, still looking at Zuko. "Did the savage come up with that himself?"

Zuko said nothing.

Ozai sighed and leaned back in the bed, finally turning his face away again. "People came to me and asked if I could provide chaos. I said I could not, but I knew of one who could, most ably. People still talk, Fire Lord. Especially to me."

Sokka was sure that Ozai wouldn't be able to see, but still raised his eyes mockingly. "Oh, wow. That's helpful. Zuko, did you know that random guards and servants who have contact with your father knew about Azula being out here? Gee, I wish we had thought of the idea that people can talk when we first set all this up. I don't know how we missed it. Just think, all kinds of secrets about the state of the world and your policy decisions might be out there, right now."

Zuko gave a grunt that was his equivalent of a chuckle. "If we're not going to get any trustworthy information, we have no reason to be here. Last chance. Who is masterminding this?"

Ozai snorted. "Your mother. Have you found her yet? She's this 'Invisible Hand' you speak of. She had me free Azula. Go ask her what this is all about." He waved a hand dismissively.

Zuko made a retching sound and turned away. "Never mind. Let's go."

Both young men walked out together, and found Aang waiting right where they left him, smiling sadly. "We had to try," he whispered. "Maybe he'll change his mind and offer us something useful before we have to go. But for now, we need to talk about what we're going to do."

Zuko nodded, and let Aang lead the way out of the healing house. As they approached the door, Sokka caught Zuko leaning over to the head nurse and hissing, "Do what you can for him, but I won't be upset if that isn't very much."

---

The Past

Sokka had rehearsed his speech at least a dozen times, to the point where he could recite it without even looking at his notes. He had paid for copies to be made of the referenced articles, enough for everyone. He was more than ready, but that didn't keep his stomach from swirling like a tempest the whole time he talked. That it was his friends who were giving him this feeling made it even worse. Some of them looked at him with confused expressions, others flipped through the copies of Dong Min's theories. Mai fingered her knives.

Still, he powered on, and described his plan to turn Azula into a new girl who could go away somewhere and just be happy.

When he finished, Katara was the first to speak. "Are you on cactus juice again?!"

"I-"

"This is insane," Zuko growled.

"It-"

"It sounds like a kind of torture," Ty Lee said, hugging herself.

"She'd-"

Toph slammed a fist down on the table, sending an echo through the Fire Lord's throne room. "I don't even get how any of this would work!"

"The-"

"I bet it wouldn't work," Mai pronounced. "She'd wake up one day, remember she's actually Azula, and then kill everyone she sees."

"No-"

"Sokka." Aang's voice was a cooling wind that cut through the heat of the moment. "We all have a lot of questions about this. But first, how about you tell us why you actually want to do this?"

Sokka sighed with worry and happiness. Good ol' Aang. "I've talked it over with Lady Bokujin and her doctors at the Home. I don't think this is a good thing, exactly, but I think it's the best we have to work with." He motioned at the Fire Lord. "Zuko had a chance to get away from his father, and he had his Uncle to help him figure out who he really was. He got a chance to see things beyond the world of lies where he came from. He had a chance to take a new name, and live like an actual human being."

Sokka turned to look at Zuko and said, "But your sister didn't have that chance. And now she never will. She broke, and we don't have the pieces we need to fix her. This is the best I can do to make it up to her."

No one made a sound. Then, leaning forward, Zuko said, "If we go along with this, we would need controls. Someone we trust to watch over the process. Someone to watch over Azula even after the treatments are done, and if I'm reading these papers right, reinforce the programming. And a contained environment that we could control, right down to the population."

Sokka nodded. "I'd oversee everything. I have the months to spare. And I have some ideas about where we would eventually put her, but we can discuss it."

Ty Lee sat up and said, "I guess... I... I'd help, if we decide to do it. We used to be friends, a while ago, and I'd like to fix that. If I can."

Mai snorted. "So, let me get this straight. We'd be doing all this effort, half this table would get their moral hackles up about it, and the best-case scenario is that Azula gets to be a happy girl somewhere. Worst-case scenario is that the whole thing falls apart, people die, and a new scourge is unleashed on the world. Gee, what a decision."

Aang cleared his throat. "I already took her Firebending. How much harm could she do?" He looked down to his lap, and slumped in his seat so profoundly that Katara felt the need to put her arm around him. "I thought I was doing a good thing by taking Ozai's Firebending," he said softly. "And I think I was right, but he was so broken afterwards, that when I did the same to Azula, I tried to make it… gentler." He blinked. Once. Twice. "That obviously didn't work out, and now it's looking more and more like it would have been better to let her be killed. I think I made a mistake." He looked back up, and gray eyes met Sokka's blue. "I'm willing to fix that mistake, if it would really work. I support your plan."

Sokka nodded. "Thanks. Dong Min said that he'll need to do some Qi-therapy on her, to complete the transformation. We could use your help with that."

There was another long moment of silence. Everyone's eyes were on Zuko. Calm under the scrutiny, he stood up and said, "I want to talk to Dong Min. I want a full plan with all the details before the treatments begin. I want you to give the same speeches to the Earth King, Chief Arnook, and your father and get their approval, too. The home we eventually choose for her will get an overriding vote as well. And I can end this whole thing at any point if I decide I don't like it." Sokka nodded to all that. Zuko leaned forward and said, "And I want you to tell me that this is the only way to save my sister."

Sokka stood as well. "I truly think this is the only way to avoid us indirectly killing Azula."

Reluctantly, the rest gave in, one by one.

---

The Present

"Again," Mai said as she sat down at the conference table in Kyoshi Island's central meeting hall, "I just want it clear that I was completely right."

"You didn't predict the part about her randomly getting her Firebending back," Toph noted.

Mai shrugged. "Details, details."

Katara glared at them and remained standing at her place at the table. "Are you two done?"

Neither one replied.

Aang took his own place and said, "That's actually a good point to begin with. Does anyone have any idea about how that could have happened? I'm all Avatared out on that subject right now."

Sokka shrugged and shifted his chair. "You're the guy with the no-Bending-touchy powers. If you don't know, then I can only think of maybe one or two people in the world who would."

Zuko nodded from his place beside Mai. "I've sent notes to Uncle and the most learned Fire Sages. We can go to the Sun Warriors as well. But however it happened, our main concern needs to be the danger Azula presents. She's back, and she's worse than ever."

"No!" Ty Lee jumped to her feet so quickly she almost hit the ceiling. In the past, such a move would have sent her braid bouncing, but her unwanted shorter haircut wasn't affected by the motion. "She's confused! And feeling betrayed! I don't think she really wants to hurt people, she just reacted to what she thought was danger. Like when Appa sees a torch."

Katara shook her head. "Even if that's true, our responsibility is to the people she's hurt, and might hurt. Sick animals are put down when they become a danger. We need to consider the same."

"Hey!" Sokka didn't even realize he was speaking until everyone turned to stare at him. "Suki is not an animal! She's a person, just like all those people you want to 'protect' from her. We need to keep that in mind, whatever we decide. We need to help her, too."

"See, this is half the problem," Katara retorted, throwing her hands out. "You had to keep poking at the situation, coming to visit here, no matter how many times we warned you. Maybe that's the real reason Ozai was able to do what he did, because you were messing around where we all told you shouldn't be!"

"We can't forget how Zuko took her back to the Fire Nation that one time," Toph said. She crossed her arms and added, "We said from the beginning that we were gonna put a whammo on Azula to fix her, and drop her where the whole world could forget about her. I don't remember anyone saying that Zuko could borrow her as a bodyguard when things like the Yu Dao crisis is going on. Never mind whatever Sokka was borrowing her for."

"Stop it!" Aang's voice echoed with the power of an Airbending Master, pushing everyone who was standing back into their seats. Sokka's butt hit the wooden chair hard. "This is exactly what the Invisible Hand wants. Whatever their plan is in the colonies, whatever the reason they sent Ozai here to awaken Azula, I have to think that part of it was to hit us where our teamwork is weak. We have to focus on how to fix the situation, and keep as many people from getting hurt as possible."

Sokka found himself nodding. That's why the kid was the Avatar. "We need to track Azula down, and bring her in gently."

"I agree that we need to track her down," Zuko said, "and I had hoped we could have saved my sister with all of this, but we failed. She's a danger to the world, the situation in the colonies, and the throne. Whoever or whatever is causing all the chaos there, this 'Invisible Hand,' has finally revealed themselves. We couldn't even be sure that someone was controlling everything, but this finally proves it. My father was released and aimed here with precision, and the people who did it knew about Azula, one of our most guarded secrets."

"So we nail Azula, and then we nail them when they're vulnerable." Toph pounded fist and hand together. "I like it."

Sokka looked around the table. "But what about Suki?" He flinched at the glares everyone sent back to him. "I mean Azula."

Zuko glared at him with the same intensity that Ozai had mustered before. "My sister is an unfortunate failure on our part. She's a criminal, a fugitive, and a danger to everyone in the world. My forces will have orders to use all due force, and I'll be recommending that the Earth King give the same order to his own people. And the bounties will allow for dead or alive."

Sokka looked around to see heads nodded around the table, some vigorous, some sad. He realized that there would be no salvation here, not for him, and not for Suki. Azula. He couldn't even bring himself to hate his friends for it. He knew that, if he were thinking like he used to, he would be agreeing with their logic. They were right, he had made a horrible mistake, but… but that didn't mean that their way wasn't also a mistake. He looked around the table, and everyone met his eyes with confidence.

Except one.

After everyone else filed out of the room, Sokka made straight for Ty Lee. "Do you," he said, "want to save her as much as I do?"

The Kyoshi acrobat choked back a sob. She crossed her arms over her green dress and nodded.

Sokka smiled. "Then I'm leaving tonight. Ahead of everyone else. Want to come?" He held out his hand, waiting.

She reached out and clasped his wrist in the traditional Water Tribe affirmation of trust. Then she slid her hand up and held his own with a strength few people knew she had.

He had a plan, and a partner. Time to go save Suki.

Azula.

TO BE CONTINUED