A/N: Chapter 17! I think I just have a thing for prime numbers. Anyways, I can't believe this is over, but holy shit, has it been a long journey 😊 Wow. I won't deny that sometimes it was like, agh, what's the point, but I'm glad I saw it through to the end.

TW for attempted suicide.

LU TEN

He dreams, or he occupies the space between waking and dreaming, for the figure standing before him in his cell cannot actually be Hanxin, but an apparition conjured up by his mind as it slowly dips into instability.

My greatest weapon is my voice, Hanxin says, its dulcimer lilt attesting to this statement. You have witnessed it at its most lethal, after all.

"I have." Lu Ten's mind fancies him in the Azure Dragon armor, a costume of regret, having conveyed him to his death. "My love, help me. I want to leave here more than anything and be with you again. Help me escape this place, please."

You don't have your swords here, but you do have your voice. Hanxin shakes his head sadly. Use it to your advantage.

My voice. He can work with that. It will take some effort, but he knows his enemy's weaknesses.

Leaves from the vine

Falling so slow

Like fragile, tiny shells

Drifting in the foam

Little soldier boy

Come marching home

Brave soldier boy

Comes marching home

His voice is nowhere close to its former strength, pitches splitting and sustained notes wavering in a frank concession to all that he has endured. He soldiers on, sure of his audience, driving himself to make her feel what he feels, need what he needs—an end to this suffering.

As his throat closes over the last syllable, he sighs and calls out to her. "Long Niu, please don't wait outside. You are welcome here."

Hanxin nods approvingly. Let her come to you, already seeking answers, already at an imbalance. You hold her captive now.

The door edges open, and as he suspected, Long Niu lingers in the opening, unsure of herself, unlike before. She closes the door behind her but does not advance into the room.

She's afraid. She doesn't know of what, yet, but she knows that she should be.

"Ge-er said you had something to tell me," she states without prompting.

He smiles, a contortion of cracked lips that approaches deranged, and Long Niu can't possibly fail to see it. He indicates the ground beside his pallet, his gesture wide and grand, to all appearances welcoming her to an official court audience when their reality is much humbler. She approaches and sedately lowers herself to the floor, sitting on her haunches and observing him, not without some suspicion. But what can he do to hurt her, as weak as he is now? She has nothing to fear, logically speaking.

"Why do you fight, Long Niu?"

She startles, not expecting this, and grows defensive out of surprise. "Who are you to ask?" she replies briskly. "My motives are not accountable to you."

"It's an easy question. I'm curious to know how alike we are, at the end of the day. Why do you fight?" He tilts his head to look straight into her eyes, their distant glow like the crystal lamps on the wall, eerie and unforgivingly cold. He does not touch her, does not even lean forward to draw closer, but she shifts, unnerved, and turns her gaze away.

"I'll tell you why I fought. You know, because I'm not exactly fighting anymore." He sits back, leaning the weight of his torso on his hands behind him, legs extended before him. Even though it jars his still-aching arms, he is so tired of sitting up straight, of trying to maintain some discipline and coolness of disposition, which he will need if he is to bend Long Niu to his will.

"With my lips, I fought for the honor of the Fire Lord and the glory of our empire. But in my heart, I fought for our people, who might find a better life in the conquered Earth Kingdom. I fought for my men, who depended on me to keep them alive through three years of mortal conflict. I fought for my young cousins, who have yet to see the cruelty of war themselves.

"Zuko especially—Azula might have made a name for herself, who knows, but Zuko… he's always been one to see things in black and white, not red and green. In his eyes, all lives are sacred, even those of our sworn enemies. And I suppose it's partly because I taught him as much."

He remembers Zuko sitting on the lip of a dormant volcano, staring at the ground in aggrieved reverie as Lu Ten told him about the past Avatars' fates, about the injustice perpetrated by the Fire Nation that was theirs to shoulder. No, he would not have weathered the battlefield well, the meaninglessness of victories that only churn the tide of death higher.

"You so remind me of him," he says softly, and if he means to twist Long Niu's heart with emotion, he wrings his own out as well, and at least he does it with complete sincerity. She shudders, unable to open up with the same vulnerability that he is dishing out in morbid dollops still.

He stares over her shoulder at the shadowy outline of Hanxin, who bows his head at the gravity of Lu Ten's pronunciation. Tell her what she needs to hear.

He pushes himself up off his arms and straightens his spine, face now on a level with hers, and though she has said nothing, he can tell that his intensified demeanor has struck her to the core. Her eyes of cold crystal are softening like jasmine tea reflecting warm sunlight. His voice will prevail.

"I know why you fight. Long Shu was right about you: you are deeply committed to serving the path of good and righteousness in this world, but that is not the path that your master walks. Why do you serve a master who values nothing but his own gain? What has he ever done for you?"

She glares at him, fierce in her defense of her master. "Nothing less than take me and my sister in and teach us his arts, everything that we know today—it's all because of him. I owe him everything."

"No." Lu Ten shakes his head calmly, as if this is a simple truth. "No, you don't know that. If he hadn't picked you up, someone else would have taken a shine to you. You would have made your own way; don't sell yourself short. You're talented, determined, and versatile. You don't need him as much as your people need you."

He starts in a near-whisper, as if imparting terrible secrets to her, and perhaps they are secrets, whether they were truly unknown to her or whether she refused to know them—until now. Now, she has no choice but to listen.

"I have seen the wreckage of the Earth Kingdom, and it has only diminished in strength since you entered Long Feng's care sixteen years ago. I have seen entire villages burned to the ground. I have seen men sell off their daughters to the invading armies in an attempt to escape just such a fate. I have seen men who long for nothing more than their own deaths, if only to seek respite from a living hell, and I cannot help but agree with them.

"Meanwhile the Earth King remains powerless to stop any of this from happening. Your master controls him like a puppet, but he does not have the gall to do what it really takes to end this war. On his orders, all talk of the war is suppressed within the walls of the city. He cannot conscript men for a war that does not exist. The people of Ba Sing Se live in peace and prosperity while soldiers drafted from the outer provinces die in droves at the wall. It is no wonder that they fight with such low morale, knowing they are doomed to die without help from the very ones they are protecting.

"Long Feng could end the war with ten thousand men. The city holds many times that number, but to mobilize them would require him to disclose the illusion he has maintained all this time. He would rather let the kingdom fall to pieces than give up the little power he still has clutched in his fists. The lives of his subordinates mean nothing to him. He sacrificed dozens of your brothers and sisters at the Battle of Lake Laogai just for a sliver of a chance at eliminating me, and he failed.

"Tell me again why you still serve such a master?"

She has no answer, and as she stands, resolute, he feels his heart stutter, as if it has lost its chance to end its beating forever. He cannot give up, though.

"Long Shu thinks I know who the Avatar is. For the record, I don't, but if Long Feng continues the war the way he has conducted it so far, it won't matter. Ba Sing Se will fall long before the fully-realized Avatar even comes into the picture."

She sighs, an admission in a whoosh of tired air, drained of all energy. "I know."

I know you know. You would not have listened to me for so long if you didn't.

"There is nothing left I can offer you in the way of knowledge, nothing that can endear you to your master, who so clearly favors your sister anyways." He smiles sardonically. "With no more purpose in captivity, I am now what you would call 'broken.'"

She takes a deliberate step towards the door, as if distancing herself by even one pace away from him will relieve the pain of these jagged truths. "You offered me your wisdom; that is different from knowledge."

He shakes his head. "All the things I have said… you knew them already. You were just afraid to take matters into your own hands, to defy a master you know is not worthy of you."

She takes another step and looks back at him, eyes narrowed in suspicion once again. "Nothing comes without a price."

Indeed. "You are right. There is one thing I would ask of you."

"What is it?"

Hanxin stands by his side now, and if he concentrates, Lu Ten can imagine that pale hand resting on his shoulder in comfort, so close and yet immeasurably separated, but not for much longer.

"On the southwest shores of Lake Laogai grows mourning blossom, a flower with small, white petals and leaves like butterfly wings," he says, seeing it in his memories even now. "Do not pluck its blooms, and avoid breaking the stem. If you can bring it here with its roots intact, so much the better. I need it… to facilitate the next step in my journey."

She gathers his intent, and immediately, the rock gloves she keeps hidden away spring into action, closing around his neck without squeezing, merely resting over his pulse. "Why not just like this?"

He looks up at her, throat bared but for a pair of stone hands. "There is you to think about," he retorts. "Long Feng will not react kindly if he finds out you strangled me to death in my cell. But if you get me that flower, it can stay our little secret."

She retracts the gloves, holding his gaze for one long moment. Then she turns and is gone.

Soon, Hanxin murmurs, patient as ever.

Soon.

LONG SHU

"Your information has been invaluable, Shu-er," Long Feng remarks. He steeples his fingers in concentration, elbows resting on the arms of his grand, throne-like chair. Long Shu stands at the desk across from him, its stone surface spread with multiple sheets of paper detailing all the knowledge she took down from Lu Ten's admissions. "With some more forethought and detailed planning, we will be able to counteract the Fire Nation's most intricate battle plans and stop them in their tracks. They have tasted defeat once, and with repeated sampling, their appetite for war can only wane until it fades entirely, and they go crawling back to their islands like worms."

She grimaces subtly at his candid imagery. "I am glad to have been able to help," she says, the correct response, prepared and prim.

"If not you, then whom? Since you were a child, I have known." Long Feng's frown is thunderous in his disappointment. The firelight at his back, dowsed in green light from the wall lamps, casts his silhouette in ominous shadow. "To end the war will require careful handling of our limited resources. No one can take up my mantle except you, and certainly not your sister. Her performance leaves much to be desired."

She shifts, uneasy, at his mention of Long Niu. He wouldn't bring it up if it weren't something that troubled him deeply. Her sister's failure must be graver in his eyes than she thought.

"A dragon has nine sons, each of them unique in their own right," she says courteously. "Master, she tried her best. You know that Niu-er and I have absorbed your teachings differently, and that neither of our ways is superior to the other's. Though she did not achieve the intended result, her skills are not without value."

"Hm." He relaxes his hands, folding them before him on the desk, no longer analyzing with cold logic but speaking from the heart, full of wrath. "If it was only a question of her skill, I might not contest her worth quite so much. Her dedication is lacking as well."

Long Shu bristles at how contemptuously he speaks of her sister, as if he had never wanted to take her in at all. It's only recently that he has been so venomous about Long Niu, and she wonders if the strain of managing the city and the war effort is getting to him. No, her master is not an irrational, reactive man. If he speaks his mind, he truly embodies it, and more likely than not, he has felt this way for a time now.

"Master, Niu-er mentioned to me before I came here that she would like to go up to the surface for some fresh air, to recharge." She steels herself in justification of her sister's actions. "Forgive me for saying this, but I don't believe it's selfish of her to take some time for herself. You have high expectations for us, but Niu-er will come no closer to reaching them if you hinder her capacity to rest and replenish her fortitude. Torture and interrogation is not easy on us anymore than it is on our prisoner."

"That is not what I speak of," he says flatly. "Her dedication to our cause, more specifically her loyalty—is in question."

"What?" Long Shu did not expect… this. "How can you question her loyalty?"

"Before you ran into her in the hallway outside his cell, she had a very long conversation with Lieutenant Colonel Lu Ten, a conversation from which she emerged much more ambivalent about her duties as a Dai Li agent." He seems to be hinting at something, seeing if she will catch it before he throws her another clue. "Carving out the time to go up to the lake and pick some wildflowers to brighten up your rooms? You know this is unheard of for either of you. No, I have it on good evidence that she went up to acquire something he requested."

She stares at him hard, her hellfire wit usually so quick to connect the pieces, but now unable or unwilling to comprehend…

"Something to speed him on his way, in a manner of speaking." Long Feng remains occult as ever. It's as if he wants Long Niu to commit some misdeed so that he can have an excuse to dismiss her. "We've been going over strategies for the past four hours, give or take. Niu-er should have had ample time to make her trip there and back. I expect she'll be heading to visit Lu Ten even now with a little gift in hand—wouldn't you like to see what it is?"

It's malice, pure malice and bitter venom that trickles through his voice, as if he wants his disciple to fail, as if her betrayal will bring him nothing but joy. This is not the master who adopted them both and raised them to who they are today. She knows that he puts his own interests before the kingdom's, but she thought that… well, that she and Long Niu would at least be counted among these interests.

She stands, heart beating as quick as a hummingbird's, and normally she would bow in respect before leaving, but there is no time for that, not with this apparent betrayal in the balance. This is madness. If she reaches Long Niu before he does, perhaps she can at least talk some sense into her sister before the hand of judgment strikes.

He watches her fly to the door, vaguely amused, and listens to it clang shut in her haste. Once, once is forgivable. Long Niu's transgression? Not so much.

LLL

She throws the door open, fearing that she is too late, and before her, they two stand frozen as monoliths, just an arm's embrace apart. From Niu-er's fingers dangle a single flower, its stem and roots unbroken, its white blossom bleeding a stark contrast amid the somber hues of the cell.

"Niu-er," she gasps, some part of her having thought her disciple-sister couldn't possibly be capable of betrayal. That is all it takes for Lu Ten to gather that she is here to stop them, and he lunges for the flower.

"No!"

Long Shu's stone hands close around his elbows, forcing him to drop his prize, and his expression is wild as they drag him to the ground, eyes popping, teeth bared, his breaths coming heavy and labored like a dying thing.

Is he not?

"Niu-er, how could you? What were you thinking?" she exclaims, pointing at her sister's greatest mistake writhing on the ground between them. "His life is not ours to squander! Our master has a purpose for which we keep him alive, or have you forgotten?!"

She is only this enraged out of concern for her sister's fate. Long Feng's word is law, even if it is not reason. She doubts that Lu Ten's purpose is particularly relevant anymore, but that does not give them free reign to help him kill himself.

"But why?" Niu-er says in an anguished whisper, her eyes torn between the other two. "If everything he gave you is true, then what more need do we have of him? Why not let him go?"

Long Shu shakes her head. That is not the point. "Without our master's explicit orders, your interference is essentially treason. You knew that when you set out for the lake."

"Do you expect me to obey my human master, or my divine one?" she asks, tone intense and loaded like a balance about to tip one way, in favor of what? "Long Feng, or the discernment of right and wrong?"

What is this? "Niu-er… what did he say to you?" She looks at Lu Ten, kneeling on the floor in silence. "What did you tell her?!"

"Only as much as you told me," he says, and there it is again, that undercurrent of madness bubbling in his core, threatening to rise to the surface, his descent into inhumanity complete. "Your master is right; Long Niu's quality falls far below your own. A few whispered words was all it took to convince her of what I needed." He laughs, briefly but with abandon. "Thank you for your hospitality, but I am beyond your control now."

With that, he turns toward the wall at his side and rears his head back—

"Lu Ten!" Niu-er gasps, anticipating.

—and violently smashes his head into the merciless, cold stone, once, twice, over and over, hoping to split his skull along its seams and chase his dizzying demise.

Long Shu reacts, a cylinder of stone raising itself out of the floor to encircle him, molding itself to his form to completely restrain him, and he stares up at her in blinding rage.

"You can't stop me," he hisses. Blood trickles down from his scalp line, framing his face in shimmering, nauseating rivulets. "I will have this."

She raises her hand to strike definitively, her eyes cold with fury at his defiance; Niu-er falls to her knees. "Please, sister, don't hurt him!" She shuffles over to her sister, begging for clemency. "Don't you see he's suffered enough?"

"Go on, then," he goads, his voice sing-song, daring her to finish what has beenstarted. "Or are you too afraid of your master?"

"Long Shu," her sister sobs, clutching at her hem like a lifeline. "Don't end it like this, please. We've already done so much to him. Please don't hurt him… he deserves better."

"Coward. Just do it or let me do it myself." He is completely gone. She wonders if there even is any more Lu Ten to bury at this point, or if all she can do is put down this pathetic creature in an act of mercy.

Push anything too far and it will break, she thinks sadly. A hungry orphan like myself, stealing and casting the blame on others. Niu-er, Long Feng and Lu Ten playing tug-of-war with her mind, reducing her to well-meant treachery. And this… once a commander of men, now not even in command of himself.

Pity pierces her heart like a rose thorn, a beautiful concept but so painful in reality. With a final resolute gesture, she lowers her hand and seals a band of stone over his mouth so that at least he can no longer shriek his death wish to the unlistening walls.

"Niu-er, get up."

Her sister looks up at the hand offered to her, face tear-streaked and flushed from emotion, and struggles to her feet.

"This misstep of yours is not to be overlooked," she tells her sister seriously. "But he's still alive, so count yourself lucky. We have spent so many years serving our master. I am sure he will give you a second chance."

"It's a bit late for that."

Long Feng is here.

LLL

She leaves Ge-er to watch over their prisoner after their master leads Niu-er away. She would keep the vigil herself, but she feels that she cannot stay a moment longer with their prisoner, and Ge-er is not completely incapable.

In her room, she examines the flower taken from the lake shore, its white petals already starting to wither. Mourning blossom, she realizes, having been told in childhood to stay away from the plant, especially if its stem was broken. Niu-er was born and raised in Ba Sing Se, where the flower does not grow, and would not have recognized it.

It's a shame to let it go to waste, she thinks, reaching for a small bowl as she splits the stalk of the flower in two. She lets the glutinous sap drip out. It's a shame not to have a reason to use it.

She does not know what punishment Long Feng has in mind for her sister, but she is sure it will not be pleasant, at best ending in her dismissal from the Dai Li, and at worst… Would he really kill her? Long Shu is beginning to think that there is nothing he is not capable of.

She shouldn't have told Lu Ten about the history between Niu-er and her. He was too clever, twisting it to his advantage and driving her to do the unthinkable. She shakes her head self-deprecatingly; a genius after the fact is no genius at all, and her sister will pay the price for it.

LLL

She spends the rest of the night in a half-slumber, the events of the day having worn her down emotionally. Still, she cannot truly rest before knowing what will happen to Niu-er.

Long Feng's summons arrives shortly after dawn, and she hastens to his office, dreading what she will learn. He is standing behind his desk when she enters, absorbed in staring at a folding screen far to the corner of the room. Like all his décor, it is subtly stylish but not overly gaudy. Its surface depicts a qilin, the mythical creature of benevolence and kindness, with its body of a horse covered in fish scales, its dragon's head adorned with a single antler. It sails through the air, its body fanning through multiple panels enshrouded in clouds.

"Master." She bows, peeking up at his unmoved profile and wondering what he finds so interesting about the new addition to his office. It's just a decoration.

"Shu-er, there is someone I would like you to meet," he says without any introduction.

"Master," she interrupts, not wanting to be headed off with some other official business. Her sister is her priority right now. "Niu-er was wrong to act as she did, but she was not in her right mind. She was hoodwinked by Lu Ten, otherwise she would never have tried to aid him. Please, master, do not be over harsh with her."

He holds up a hand, grimly pausing her train of thought. "Niu-er's punishment is not your decision to make. She betrayed my trust, and she has paid the consequences. There is someone I would like you to meet."

He waits until she inclines her head, understanding that no argument will sway him. Only then does he turn to face her and reaches for a silver bell on his desk. Its frail ringing is tiny and cowed in the silent, high hall of Long Feng's lair. She looks at him, wondering who or what he means to summon.

Behind the screen, someone stirs, and Long Shu turns to face them. The silhouette stands and steps out to reveal its identity.

"Hello, my name is Joo Dee. Welcome to Ba Sing Se. We're so lucky to have our walls to create order."

Long Shu bites down hard on her tongue to keep from screaming.

It's Niu-er, but it's not her. She's changed, and not just in appearance. Dressed in elegant though simple silk robes, her hair is shorter, half up and half down, but the most repulsive thing is the blankness of her eyes, her face unfeeling even as she expresses words of welcome and security. It's the flatness of her voice, droll and without inflection, as if she doesn't know what she is saying and has merely been programmed to recite these words.

It's… abominable. She looks to Long Feng for an explanation, but he positively preens with smugness at her lost expression.

"What do you think of my experiment? It's been on my mind for several years now, and at last, I took the opportunity to use a live subject, to brilliant success." His self-adulatory praise holds no shred of regret for what he has done, nor any sympathy for Long Shu's shock and horror. "Joo Dee will be an invaluable promoter of order in Ba Sing Se, greeting all fresh arrivals with the information they need to live peacefully in the city. The Dai Li work in the dark, but she will operate in the light, making clear to our newest citizens what is and is not acceptable to discuss in Ba Sing Se."

So this is his purpose, to tighten his control over the city even more and prevent anyone from speaking out against the Dai Li's misdeeds. She swallows her apprehension and stands tall; she can afford no misgivings right now.

"Then I must congratulate you, master. Your diligence in protecting the security of the city knows no limits." Indeed, it does not.

Niu-er (no, it's Joo Dee now) continues to stand there, her face vacantly sweet. Long Feng smiles, seeming to accept her display of loyalty. "I hope to gradually train more Joo Dees and assimilate them into the city over time. Until then, there is someone else to whom I plan to apply my results: Lieutenant Colonel Lu Ten.

"He continues to withhold the identity of the Avatar from us, and there may be more besides that he refuses to share. His knowledge is too valuable to discard in death, but right now, he is too much of a suicide risk. I don't care to waste my agents' time on guarding him when there is another way to keep him in check: by brainwashing him into a new identity."

"Are the effects reversible?" She tries not to sound hopeful, but if there is any chance she can recover Niu-er from the prison of Joo Dee's person, she will take it.

He shakes his head. "Not at my present level of experimentation, which is why I want to resettle Lu Ten into his new persona as soon as possible. If, at some point in the future, I manage to devise a way both to mine hidden memories and restore old ones, then he may finally finish serving his purpose. Until then, we can rehabilitate him as a relatively well-adjusted refugee from the outer provinces, place him in the city under a retired operative's supervision, and await the progression of my research."

"What if his memory comes back in the meantime?" she asks.

"Then we terminate him," he says simply. "Some risks cannot be taken, and that includes him remembering everything that has happened to him and turning against the Dai Li as a result."

His plan is all so… theoretical, unlike the master she knows, who deals in concrete facts and steel statistics. But she cannot disagree with him, not if it means risking losing his faith in her as well.

After he dismisses her, she walks back to her room in a daze, replaying her sister's last words to her.

Please don't hurt him… he deserves better.

The flower, now completely wilted, lies on her desk beside the bowl of poisonous sap. She closes her eyes, bitterly grateful for a moment. She has reason to use it now.

LU TEN

The door opens. It's Long Feng alone this time, a rare occasion. In one hand, he holds a lit stone lantern. He circles Lu Ten silently, and of course Lu Ten has nothing to say to this, still gagged from Long Shu's last visit.

Long Feng stops in front of him. "Everything will be all right," he says, his tone neither comforting nor ironically menacing. Lu Ten arches an eyebrow, his means of expression rather limited, but Long Feng only looks back at him placidly and repeats, "Everything will be all right."

At a curt command, the stone gag falls, and he breathes freely as Long Feng steps back. Despite the reassurances, he only feels an impending sense of doom. The saying always goes that the student surpasses the master, but he isn't so sure here. The master's plan for him will likely be even more cruel and unusual than what his disciples saw fit to dole out, and he's not eager to learn the hard way.

From the floor around him, Long Feng raises a perfect circumference of stone with himself at its center, its top surface grooved all the way around like a water trough. He rests the stone lantern in the trench and folds his hands into his sleeves, looking grimly at his victim.

"The Earth King has invited you to Lake Laogai," he says. "Do you accept his invitation, Lu Ten?"

…what is he talking about? As he puzzles over this, Lu Ten notes the stone lantern begin to move in its track, its smooth, circular trajectory going round and round. He follows the bright flame with his gaze as it orbits the center, and slowly, he finds himself falling into a trancelike state.

Before his eyes flash the memories of two decades past, things he remembers fondly, not so fondly, things he did not know he still remembered, things he wishes he could forget forever. Names, places, conversations, faces. His mother, his father, Aunt Ursa, Zuko. The men of the 18th regiment. Hanxin. Long Niu. Long Shu. They all rise to the top of his mind like steam from a boiling pot, but what lies in its depths?

The lantern's revolutions continue, and time grinds to a halt here. Here, there is only the flash of light every time the flame comes around, and the sound of Long Feng's voice, a low murmur that he cannot make out against the roar of his memories. It is not until he realizes he cannot remember his mother's name that he begins to have some inkling of what is happening.

"What are you doing?" he asks, somewhat unnecessarily, his words thick and slurred.

Long Feng does not answer, and the light continues to whirl through his field of vision. His mother's face has long since been lost to him, but now he cannot see his father's face either, nor anyone in his family. He is not sure he even had one.

"No…" This can't be happening. "No… stop. Stop." He is inside a grand complex of buildings, a palace of sorts, but he cannot remember any of the places he used to go. There are people around him, but he does not know any of their names.

"Stop… stop this. I say, stop this! You can't do this to me!" He twists effortfully against his bonds, but it is futile. "No, stop!"

It is night, he is standing amid a crowd of people under a sky bright with fireworks. Where he is, whose tiny hand is tightly cradled in his, he does not know.

"Lu Ten, look!" That tiny hand points skyward, and a brilliant firecracker lights the sky with the word 'peace'.

Who is Lu Ten?

It is day, he is crouched low to the ground as the overpowering smell of sulfur and acrid smoke fill his nose, and bodies dot the ground all around him. He does not know who the fallen are, or what brought them down, but he does know whose hand clamps down hard on his shoulder, trying to pull him back from the wreckage before him.

Hanxin.

Who is Hanxin?

He does not know, but he knows that he made a promise to this Hanxin. He swore never to forget him.

"No…" he chokes out. "No, Hanxin, Hanxin…"

He can't forget Hanxin. He must not. He hangs on to the name desperately, and for a long moment, it seems the memories associated with that name will prevail. A dazzling voice singing verses so broad and heartfelt, a shaky hand tracing characters in the dirt, a sword at his throat, a hand at his waist, passionate kisses in the dark, a last embrace, tight enough to hurt, and he does not know why these matter, but only that they do, that he cannot, he cannot lose Hanxin—

The light seems to shine brighter, and the name is on the tip of his tongue—

"—I said I would never forget you, Hanxin, no, no…"

He struggles, clinging to the name, those two syllables imprinted on his mind, but slowly, he wearies, his body going limp, his tired, tired brain wondering what it is that he was trying to remember all along.

Hanxin?

And then, nothing.

LONG SHU

"I have finished wiping his old memories. Now, his mind is preparing to populate itself with plausible new memories appropriate to his time in Ba Sing Se. Judging from your reports, he has extensive knowledge of life in the Earth Kingdom from his travels through the northwest territories." Long Feng explains his strategy as Long Shu joins him. His hands remain at his sides, the eternal revolution of the stone lantern on its track controlled only by the slight roll and twist of his fingers. "I am thinking that Pao would be an acceptable placement for him. He might be less than happy wasting his time brewing tea for a living, but heaven knows there are worse ways to live. You wouldn't happen to know his birthdate, would you?"

She watches the lantern revolve, passing before the restrained figure, eyes now blank and staring straight ahead, wiped of terror and all emotion. "Qingming Festival, in about two weeks. He will be twenty-one."

"Ah. I merely wondered if he was older than he looks, and whether he's of an age to have a wife yet. Or at least to have had one. He did cling to the name of one Hanxin for a disproportionately long time, so I couldn't be sure."

Long Shu shrugs, catching her irreverent gesture a second later, and her eyes quickly dart towards her master. He does not seem to have noticed her misstep and continues with his unaffected monologue.

"I suppose Niu-er could have served that purpose, but even I can see that what slight charm she possessed would have been wasted on accompanying Lu Ten into his miserable new life. No, as Joo Dee, she will be far better suited to my needs."

Niu-er… Long Shu thinks helplessly, not for the first time today, full of regret for her younger sister. She can't be gone. She must still be in there somewhere.

I will come for you, sister, as soon as I am finished with this one.

LLL

A few hours later, Long Feng emerges from the cell. With one look at him, Long Shu knows that he has finished the hypnosis at last.

"It is done," he reports, tired but triumphant. "Lu Ten is no longer Lu Ten. Tomorrow, we may begin the process of moving him to his new surroundings in Ba Sing Se. As an alleged refugee, he will need some time to adjust, but I am confident that his transition will be a complete success."

"I am glad though unsurprised to hear it," she says stiffly. And she is glad. If everything is as Long Feng says he has done, then she will have references for how he did it, and potential leads on how to reverse his damage.

"I took the liberty of preparing a celebratory drink for you, master." In her hands rests a tray with a bronze flagon of wine and two cups. "I knew you would not fail." She pours the wine out within his sight and deliberately places one cup on the edge of the tray closer to him, another closer to herself, and extends the tray towards him.

He looks uncertain for a split second; this is not how Long Shu normally conducts herself. She is distant and formal, rarely familiar enough to presume to celebrate with him. But his delight from succeeding with Lu Ten's brainwashing overwhelms him, and he decides to take the risk. She hopes she has anticipated him correctly.

His hand hovers over the cup offered to him, then passes it over, reaching instead for the cup closer to Long Shu. The wine inside is the same: pale and clear, a faint astringent odor and biting burn as it goes down the throat. He suspects, and he makes his choice accordingly. She takes the other cup with a sense of relief.

"I had high hopes for you, Long Shu."

And I for you? No, not at all.

He raises his wine in cheers to her, and she does the same. They hide behind thick sleeves as they drink simultaneously, each cup no more than a mouthful. Once the cups are empty, she waits patiently.

She notices the change in him half a breath before he realizes it himself: a tightening of the muscles, a contracture that cannot be relaxed. He stares at her, his pupils constricting, fear and disbelief ruling him now. She revels in the pain in his expression, wanting it to be just as much as Niu-er and Lu Ten felt when he took away their memories and personhood. Now she will take his—permanently.

He collapses to the ground, still refusing to go all the way down, shaking on his hand and knees and sucking in pained breaths. His lungs will cease to function shortly, and then it will be over. She watches him from high above, passive and uncaring.

"You truly are… my greatest… legacy," he gasps out, and then he fails, dropping to the floor with a heavy thud, and says no more.

Always has to have the last word. Long Shu does not bother saying anything or checking for a pulse. A man like Long Feng does not deserve to have any accompaniment in his last moments.

She steps over his body and passes into the cell that holds what was once Lu Ten. He lies seemingly comatose, and it will take some time for his memories to settle, especially in sleep; Long Feng made that much clear to her before the end.

I'm sorry. It is no use to apologize at this point, but there is nothing else she can do. She does not have the means to turn the clock back, to rewind the cogs of their minds and undo what Long Feng has wrought there. Regret and woe are all she can offer. For Long Niu's sake, however, she will keep him alive in the hope that he will live to see better days.

He opens his eyes, cloudy and unfocused at first, and gradually, he fixes a bemused gaze on her. She takes a deep breath.

"Hello, Mushi."

A/N: …and that's a wrap. Now, we fast forward about five years until Zuko is 16 and the events of the series' plot begin. Continue following Lu Ten's trials and tribulations in blood in the breeze (probably starting chapter 3). Thank you so much for sticking with this insanely long and circuitous side fic (can it be called that if it's longer than any of the main fics? :D) Thoughts on the author's development of this overall plot are available in the notes.

Archiveofourown dot org/works/7019827/chapters/34712120

Also, for any old (or new) readers who are just catching up to the last few chapters, I want to share this beautiful art that god-of-dust on Tumblr made for this fic! It's based on chapter 10, when Lu Ten and Hanxin go to Lake Laogai. Check it out here! (does FFN allow me to directly copy and paste pictures into the chapter? Why must this be so difficult D: )

god-of-dust dot tumblr dot com/post/174921332422/finally-finished-it-hanxin-and-lu-ten-having-a