Carved In Rock || ATLA

Break

The grip Long Feng held on his patience and anger was quickly slipping, so much so he never noticed the fact that Murata was no longer with the Prince. "You and your brother? For the last eighteen years, you've hardly even been acquaintances with one another let alone true blood! I have been the one to advise the King since he was given the crown! I alone have been his confidant while you were busy spitting on your parent's graves and not even taking the slightest interest in the throne they died for!"

"Don't you dare," Kyojuro spoke through thick malice as the stone at Long Feng's feet began to steam and threatened to boil, "speak of our parents ever again. Not when you had a hand in their deaths. You knew what was coming and you did nothing to stop it, did you? You let them get killed."

"What?" Kuei was barely breathing now, looking at his brother in sadness and horror. "What did you say?"

"Lies!" Long Feng hissed before pointing an accusatory hand at the Akira. "If anyone should be held responsible for spilling their blood it's her."

Aang and Sokka both quickly moved to stand in front of Aelita at his words.

Long Feng glowered but strained to pull reign in his control. "Fine." He spoke calmly again. "Fine. I will admit that there were harsh realities of this world that I tried my best to shield you boys from time and time again. At such a young age you had already both been through so much, and over time I grew to love the two of you like my own. I can see now that I should've told you the truth sooner, but was it so selfish of me to want to protect your innocence? Maybe." His pleading eyes roamed to Kuei's, the twenty-two-year-old still trying to process the words he was hearing. "The truth of the matter is yes, the world is at war with the Fire Nation, the very country where that child hails from." His gaze sharpened and flicked to the Akira, stone-faced herself and staring back at him. "And more sinister than that, this child, the Akira, is not the heroine her friends claim her to be. Not only is she a firebender," he spat the word out as if it were dirty. "Aelita Kenshin was previously arranged to be wed with the eldest son of the current Fire Lord, tying her to the royal family that ordered the slaughter of an entire race of people. Her father was able to arrange this marriage not because he was a born noble, no, but rather as a General in the Fire Nation military. Sukomo Kenshin, or as we here in the Earth Kingdom know him, the Tenshi of Death was the very same man that ordered the deaths of your parents!"

Kuei struggled not to puke, shaking his head in disbelief. "No, our parents were killed right here behind the safety of our city's walls. Murdered in cold blood by their own citizens. That is what our history books say."

"That may be true, but that is only part of the truth. Ask your brother, My Grace, he saw the proof for himself. Ask the Prince what happened on Mount Natagumo and the slaughter that followed, or, better yet, ask the Akira. After all, her father was the man that ordered it all. General Kenshin beat and tortured a group of captured Earth Kingdom soldiers into submission and then ordered the deaths of the King and Queen!"

"Mount Natagumo?" Aelita spoke up finally. "The Smoking Mountain? That battle was fought a little over eighteen years ago."

The firebender may as well have shot herself in the foot with an arrow. The King looked at her with horror but Long Feng only grinned as she played into his hand. "Oh, so he told you all about his glory? How endearing."

"He didn't have to, it was in my school's history books. Fire Lord Azulon seemed to think it was rather important and inspiring."

"Aelita." Aang hissed in a whispered tone. "You might wanna shut up right now."

"Why?" She asked as if the matter were casual. "History is important, it's what we learn from and it seems that Long Feng could benefit from a little more study."