21. Orchestrated

Aang rubbed his lower back, feeling confused. Yet Zuko just sat on the throne again, looking quite bored.

“Why did you fix me?” Aang asked.

“Tell me something, Aang: do you think that your journey here was a coincidence?”

The boy’s eyes were wide. “What do you mean?”

“Think about it… You were freed from that iceberg because Katara shattered your prison with emotional swipes of her arm, correct?” The girl froze, having remembered that day vividly. “I know this since I visited the Southern Water Tribe months before you woke up.”

“You’re lying!” Sokka shouted. Yet his voice wavered.

“Am I…? Let’s look at the rest of your path. Bumi. You think he surrendered his city to the Fire Nation out of cowardice? I told him of your coming before you met him at Omashu.”

Aang flinched. “You’re wrong. Bumi would never do such a thing after you sent Zhao after us!”

“What about Jeong Jeong? You burned the girl you love and refused to learn firebending after meeting him, did you not? I know this because he was the one that reported it to me.”

Aang’s eyes suddenly burst wide open as Zuko continued, “Your meeting with the Blind Bandit, Toph? Who do you think funded Xin Fu’s Earth Rumble? The Beifong family has extensive trade deals with the Fire Nation colonies. Her father serves money, and money serves me.”

“Toph!” Katara yelled. “Tell Aang he’s lying!”

But the blind girl looked down as she clenched her fists.

“And that sword,” Zuko said, pointing a finger at the black blade in Sokka’s hand. “The one who gave it was Piandao. Is he not a Fire Nation citizen? Did you really think he would train a Water Tribe peasant without orders? Aang, he taught your friend because I allowed it.”

The silence following was absolute. Even the rebels ceased trying to break the barrier as the weight of the truth made Aang fall to his knees.

But Zuko wasn’t done trying to break Aang’s spirit. “The Avatar before you was named Roku, was he not?”

“Y… Yes… But—”

“He’s my great-grandfather… We’re like family, Aang. Everything you’ve been through was orchestrated by me to lead you here.”

“No…” Aang murmured as his head hung low.

From the moment the Avatar had come back to this world, he had thought he was fighting for freedom. Now, he was being told he was just a rat in a maze designed by the one on the throne. His agency, his choices, his victories—they all felt hollow.

Katara slammed her fist against the glass as tears streamed down her face. “Aang, don’t listen to him! Your life isn’t a game! We were always there for you because we wanted to be!”

He looked up at her, but his eyes were dull. The doubt had taken root.

Suddenly, Zuko felt the temperature in the room gradually rise. The moon slid past the sun, and the golden light flooded the capital. Then the flames behind the throne sprang back.

The Day of Black Sun was over.

“Avatar,” he began. “I’ve given you two chances already. The first time we met was in Ba Sing Se. Now this is the third.” Standing up, a section of the wall slid open, revealing a dark corridor. “I’ll only allow a few of you to leave. Your main team can go, but the rest of your forces… they belong to me now.” As he stepped into the shadows, his voice echoed. “Try not to be so boring when Sozin’s Comet comes.”

When he fully vanished, the glass barrier hissed and retracted into the ceiling.

“Go! Now!” Sokka yelled, grabbing Aang’s arm.

But before they could move, dozens of Imperial firebenders poured in with fists wreathed in fresh flames. They didn’t attack them directly, but instead, formed a perimeter that cut off the rebels from Sokka, Toph, Katara, and Aang.

“Fire lord Zuko has instructed us to let the Avatar and his chosen companions leave… The rest of you are prisoners of war.”

What could Team Avatar do now? They were outnumbered and had lost hope.

It was a tearful retreat. Appa had swooped down into the courtyard, and the four of them scrambled onto the saddle until they eventually left the others behind.

From a high balcony, Zuko watched the bison disappear into the clouds.

The invasion had failed as history dictated, but the psychological damage he had inflicted was far greater than any physical wound. Aang was leaving broken, doubting his own existence.

Azula soon stepped out of the shadows behind him. “You let them go again, brother…”

Although the Fire Nation had captured the majority of those rebelling against their reign, the eagerness to kill the Avatar was far too great for Azula not to be at ease.

Everyone in the world understood that the Avatar was the one and only force that could disrupt the Fire Nation’s reign. Giving such an important figure so many chances was making the people restless.

So just why was Zuko doing this?

“I thought I told you already: I’ll kill him when Sozin’s Comet comes.”

“Hmph,” she scoffed. “I truly don’t get you sometimes, you know that?” Then she let out a sign of relief. “Fine then, brother. I hope you don’t disappoint.”

“Come now, sister. You think I’d work this hard not to give us all a befitting ending?”

“Hmm. I guess not.”

There truly was nothing left to do but wait now. The final act was approaching, and Zuko intended to win the game with a perfect score.