Chapter 80

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The days passed, with me doing nothing but training my hand to hand combat with Ty Lee every now and then, while deep underground, Azula alongside Feng planned the coup, with Feng having no idea the Dai Li was under Azula's control.

As for Azula she was moving more than one piece at the time, so while she controlled the coup to her liking, she had also invited Iroh and Zuko to Earth King's palace under the guise of an esteemed invitation to serve the King tea.

And, I had to be honest, I had hoped Iroh was long gone after what I told him, I had after all, warned him about his niece, but even then he didn't flee, even after knowing Azula was controlling everything around him, he decided to come to the castle, and as soon as he entered he was immediately surrounded by the Dai Li, with a smirking Azula walking towards them, clapping her hands very slowly.

"I warned him… why in the hell he stayed…." I muttered, as I watched the Dai Li circling the duo like predators.

Zuko in response took a defensive stance, "It will take more than a few earth benders to defeat us," he said trying to sound confident, but his emotions betrayed his act.

"Prince… please," I chuckled, "Have you ever win against her?"

"And who are you?!" Zuko said glaring at me with anger.

"He's my boyfriend Zuzu," Azula answered before I had the chance.

"As if," Zuko chuckled bitterly, "I doubt there is someone crazy enough to date you,"

"Ufff, that's the closest thing to damage you'll deliver on this fight," I chuckled.

Zuko growled and took a step forward, ready to fight me, in the meantime Iroh took a different approach, winking at me. He calmly asked the audience if we ever heard why he earned the nickname, Dragon of the West, and while I knew the answer, I decided to see how things would play out.

At this Azula rolled her eyes in annoyance waving him off as she said, "I have no time for lengthy and useless anecdotes,"

Iroh chuckled at her predictable response before taking a deep breath followed by a torrent of fire coming out of his mouth as he exhaled. With this, he managed to break the Dai Li circling formation surrounding him and Zuko, after that he ran urging Zuko to follow him, but Princess Honor decided to do otherwise, challenging Azula to a duel, Iroh sighed looking at his nephew with disappointment before he started to run once again..

"Not so fast, general," I said with a smile jumping to the action, running past the Dai Li and Zuko, this was my chance to fight Iroh, and see what the guy is made of.

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I followed Iroh as he ran out of the castle, waiting for him to get as far away as possible, so that we could fight without interruptions, I didn't want to capture him just see how good was Iroh as he was now, he was out of his prime that much was obvious but even now I could feel he held a formidable amount of strength, and I wanted to see how much would that power push me.

"You are not going to stop following me?" Iroh chuckled, as I ran behind him.

"No," I shook my head off. This was, after all, a golden ticket to see the old general in action, why would I throw that up?

My chase eventually led us to a very secluded place, where the closest human was a few miles away, even now this man was able to read me. He didn't ran here to escape, he could've gone any other place, but… he knew I wanted to fight him.

"We are alone…" Iroh sighed, "Now… I would like to ask that if possible I would rather avoid violence, but I know that request will fall into deaf ears today am I right?"

"I don't plan on capturing you," I clarified, "So consider this a training match,"

"Ah, I see," Iroh chuckled, "Very well, if it is for educational purposes, I can't say no,"

"It will be my honor to fight you," I smiled, "The strongest fire bender in the world," one that could've stop all this madness if he wanted.

"You flatter me," Iroh smiled with a sad look on his face, "Avatar Akira,"

"Can I ask you a question?" I wanted to know why someone like him, had allowed the world to fall into despair at the hands of his kingdom the one he was meant to originally rule.

"Of course, go ahead," Iroh nodded.

"Why?" I sighed, "Why did you let your brother take your place… why did you allow him to bring the world you preach to love some much to this state… and why… why did you let him hurt Azula and Zuko….?" I had to know what was the reason behind him doing nothing.

"A complicated question," Iroh said, his emotions going from happy to sad in the blink of an eye, "At first… it was the pain of losing my son… without him I had no reason to fight anymore… and by the moment I was able to think without the loss of my son affecting me… I already knew that ruling the country wasn't my destiny…"

"And Azula and Zuko?" I asked.

"For that I have no excuse," Iroh admitted with tears in his eyes, "I was a coward for letting my little brother hurt them so bad," clearing the tears away he looked at me, "you know… it haunts me… every night I can hear the screams of Zuko as the fire of his own father burns his face… scarring him beyond repair… every night I have that awful dream as the reminder I could've stopped Ozai… I had more than enough time to stop the Agni Kai… and defend my nephew… but instead I looked away… and that is something I will never forgive myself…"

"I see," I sighed, not knowing what to think of his answer, but at least one thing was clear, he was sincere about his regret, "Well let's get started," I added getting into position.