Avatar: The Last Airbender ((Major Series Spoilers))

Avatar:

The Book of Air:

Reign of the Black Lotus.

Excerpt from the diary of Zuko:

My name is Zuko. Once I was known as an outcast prince, and then Lord of the Fire Nation, but now I am an enemy of the one nation, worse than a traitor to my own people, but a terrorist, and leader of the dreaded Blue Demon clan. Even as I write this, I know that it is more than likely futile. Anyone who would truly care about my story now is gone, and those that remain do not know the truth that I know. For any who may read this beyond my passing, know that the rumors are true.

The Avatar is dead.

The line is broken.

And in no small way, I am to blame for all of this happening.

The happiest time of my life I can remember was on the day of my coronation, with my friends at my side. It is also the most bitter, for I realize now that I was still too arrogant to truly fulfill any of the wishes that Uncle Iroh had left with me. Though I was and still am one of the most proficient fire benders alive, though I was a hero who had lead the Avatar to victory over my father, I had no idea how to lead even a small group of people, much less be able to govern an entire nation of people. I did not realize it that day, but it would be the start of the downfall of not only the fire nation, but of all of the different tribes of the planet.

Not knowing how to lead, I leaned heavily upon my advisors to tell me how to govern the people. An outcast for several years, the lessons that my sister, Azula learned, I was not privy to. I had the most basic knowledge of what to do, but I did not have the prowess to manipulate the people in power, nor did I truly recognize how deep rooted their resentment for the outcast prince had been. Looking back on it now, with how easily my father ruled when he was the Fire Lord, I should have suspected. That... was my first mistake, as I would later discover.

My second was foolishly following my heart where it lead me. After the fall of the old regime and the beginning of my own, Mae stood by my side. She was the first girl who had ever shown a real interest in me, she was attractive, and sometimes we got along rather well. But as time went further and further on I realized that the feelings that I had for her were barely those of attraction, not of love, nor anything that would last. While I would speak kindly to her I found myself more and more reflecting on the feelings I had for another, until it became a dark thing inside of me that began to gnaw at me as my hatred towards the Avatar used to do when I had been an outcast.

Eventually, when I could stand the dull ache I felt in my chest no longer, I ended things with Mai, and went into seclusion. Rumors spread like wildfire that I had fallen for another of my traveling companions, rumors that I did not have my advisors deny, for they were true, after a fashion. That was my third great mistake. Meanwhile, the prosperity that the fire nation had known when it was at war began to dwindle once peace had settled in, and our claim over the colonies began to lessen.

Foolishly focusing on my own inner desires, I didn't notice that my advisors were keeping me less and less in the loop of the nations activities, while secretly they met behind my back for war meetings. A coup was brewing, and I was too blind to see it. At the heart of it was the one man they had learned to trust, and even robbed of his powers, the man that they respected, my father, Ozai. Under his guidance they began to formulate a plan to usurp power from me and lead the land into a new age of prosperity. Soon their conspiracy spread to other nations. Needless to say that it wasn't just the fire nation who had dissenters, people who believed that the current leaders were not leading them properly.

The most powerful benders from each of the tribes in their group formed the Order of the Black Lotus, the antithesis to the group that had helped bring about the end of Ozai's reign, and due to his influence he was named the head of their group, despite his lack of abilities. With each meeting their power grew, and with their help, Ozai figured he'd finally found a way to remove the one last thing in his path, the one thing that had managed to stop him from destroying the planet the first time.

Aang.

When I heard Katara was coming, I found myself elated and for the first time managed to get myself out of the meloncholy that had stricken me for so many months. Had I known then the future, I would have done everything in my power to prevent it. As Katara and Aang ascended the steps towards the royal palace, they were attacked by Azula. When I saw her fire bending, I knew instantly what was happening, but even as I tried to stop her, my own advisors surrounded me and turned on me en mass. They had us out numbered by at least 5 to 1.

Over the heads of my attackers I could see Aang battling Azula, if it could be called that. It was a brutal, quick thing, and he had her yeilding not more than a few moments after she'd started bending. I remember vividly yelling for Aang to kill her, advice I knew he would not take, but neither he nor I knew the terrible price his pacifism would cost us, and the world.

The next 2 minutes I have played over and over again in my head until it has tattoed itself so thoroughly on my mind there are nights when I cannot sleep, but rather dream of it over and over again.

Azula begins to bend, I scream out another warning, but my advisors swarm in on me... And then I see it. A bolt of lightning flies from Azula's hand, and strikes down the woman I love. Brown hair flutters outward as the water bender falls to the ground, and fire errupts around me. I don't even see it, nor do I pay attention. I've murdered my closest advisors, but I don't care. I step over their charred remains, not feeling the cuts their scortched ribs leave on my feet, and like mad Azula, I burn everything in my path to get to her side...

Cradling her in my arms, I do everything I can to revive her, but Katara had been bending water when the bolt hit her... I can feel it soaking into my clothes as I lay against the ground. She's dead, there's nothing I can do.

I look up, and see Aang in his glory, his tattoos glowing with the fury of the Avatar, the knowledge of the lineage as old as time flowing through him, and then I see a sword, black and cruel errupt from his chest as Ozai impales him with a fury I had never seen in him before. I feel numb as I realize my last mistake, that in the heat of that moment, I went to the remains of the one I loved, instead of guarding the Avatar's back... and I recall that Aang told me once that if he were ever killed when he was in the Avatar state, the line would be broken forever.

I see Ozai roar with victory as Azula rises from the ground, and realize I have to escape.

Ozai didn't even try to stop me. That night I held Katara in my arms, praying for some miracle from the heavens that would revive her. Trying to use my ability to bend to find any flicker of life inside of her. In the morning, I finally come to my senses and bury her beneath a cherry tree. And I run.

Ozai's coup worked perfectly, and in my abscence, a no name puppet Fire Lord assumes the throne. Ozai expected, I imagine, that I would be an easy mark to catch on the run. But what he didn't realize was that his banishment of me in the past taught me more than a few tricks about how to live around the world unnoticed. Under the name Lee I vanish into the earth nation, hoping to find a way to contact the white lotus.

But while Ozai underestimated me, I underestimated him as well. I waited, expecting to see his ships heading towards either the earth or water tribes. Little did I realize the true horror of his plan. Rather than try to directly attack the nations that he once fought with such a vengeance, the Black Lotus assassinated the heads of the remaining tribes, and installed their own governers.

Under the guise of peace they united the nations into the Great Empire, a 'coalition' run by the heads of each state. In reality, it is the Black Lotus which controls them all from the shadows. I was officially branded a terrorist and murderer by my own people, who were lead to believe that I went mad and killed my own advisors without provocation. 'Zuko' suddenly had become the greatest threat to world peace, and I became unable to show my face in public at all, even under a psuedonym.

It has been two years since then, and I am still running. I do not know what became of the friends I used to have. As time went on, I began to find amongst the populace people who suspected the truth... people who would join my cause. We are the 'Outcasts', a rogue group of people who are secretly cheered by some of the people, and viciously hunted by others...

But even more amazing, in the heart of the earth nation I found something I never suspected to see again. Air Benders.

I do not know if it is simply fate that there be each of the elements represented at one time, which some of the Outsiders believe, but I have my own theory about it. While the benders are the most prominant of any society, there were, before the Fire Nation started the war, peace, and relations between the tribes. I am almost certain that in that intermingling there was probably a marriage or two... could it be that the ability to bend air was latently passed down through the generations, only to emerge now at a time when the world needs them the most?