Fire and Flame [Iroh II x OC]

Chapter 9: Traitor

Saira's P.O.V

"That's what the little girl said. It's all my fault. I shouldn't have taken that route. It's all my fault.", I cried. It felt like my tears burned my face. I let them die...I could have saved them but I was stupid enough to forget the deal. Suddenly I felt strong arms wrap around me. "It's not. You couldn't have known that.", Li whispered in my ear. "I knew that those bastards were terrorizing this island, Li! I was stupid and unprofessional! We could have saved all of them! But I failed!" I realized that I was shaking. Li gave me his warmth and calmed me down. Then he stood up:"We have to go now, Saira. There will be survivors and they need to be rescued." I looked up at him. He was right. I wiped my tears away and took Li's hand, who offered it to me.
We kept walking, listening and looking carefully for any rogue. But we only found corpses or red snow. Then I realized, that the people in my dream looked different. They were from different nations. These people were only from the Northern Watertribe. I still didn't get, why the main Northern Watertribe didn't help this island. They were strong enough to handle these rogues alone. Something was very fishy.
A few hours later we saw smoke. There must've been people. I grabbed some makeup from my bag and started applying it on Haku's face. "What the hell are you doing? I'm not a girl!", Haku yelled. "I have to change your faces. Or do you want to get harassed your whole life by them? I guess not. So please let me do my job.", I said harshly. As I finished painting our faces, I continued:" We are rebels and want Ozai to return because he is the real Fire Lord and not Zuko. We got to know about these people when we were in jail. You two are brothers and met me at the IAZO group." "What is the IAZO group?", Haku asked. "It's an organization which is against Gr- the great Fire Lord Zuko. They got jailed a few years back back. General Minho brought them to the Fire Nation. I guess that's the reason, why you're hiding your face and why you know so much about them? Because you were a part of that mission?" "Indeed. It's our duty to make peace and after all the Fire Nation did, we can't let a psycho like Ozai reign the Fire Nation. Fire Lord Zuko brought peace to our beautiful country. And of course the late Avatar Aang.", I answered. Haku nodded, showing that he understood everything.
We then headed forward but we were stopped after I guess a half kilometer. The people who stood in front of us wore masks, not letting us identify their faces.
"Who are you?"
"We are presents of the fallen IAZO. We managed to escape from the traitors."
"What is your purpose?"
"A Coup d'État. We want the real Fire Lord to reign our nation.", I answered a masked man.
"How did you come here?", he asked.
"The United Forces were friendly enough to give us a lift."
"What makes us sure that you are not traitors?"
"We have brought you a gift. A whole fleet with crewmembers of the United Republic.", I answered.
The man nodded in another man's way:"Why did you paint your faces?"

Iroh's P.O.V

"Because we don't want you to see the poor faces who were hiding all these years. We needed to get stronger to be worthy enough to join you again.", Saira explained. Haku and I were quiet because we didn't have any experiences with these people yet and it seemed like Saira knew, what she was doing. Even though she told them about our fleet. "Show me your gift.", the man in front of us stated. I saw a huge grin on Saira's face: "It would be a pleasure, chief."
Did she just call him chief? Was all this a real plan? Was that the reason, why Saira didn't care about my family and knew so much about IAZO? Because she was a part of this organization? But General Minho was my father's best friend. This couldn't be. On the other hand, there was a huge escape from the Boiling Rock. Did Saira help them to escape?
Saira walked away with the chief while the other people took us with them. They locked us up in a jail made of steel and in a cold room so we couldn't firebend.
A few hours later, we heard a door getting opened, I could see some of my men coming in. The rogues opened the door to the jail and let them in.
I didn't expect this from Saira. All these days I haven't seen any signs, that she was against my family. She even praised my grandfather. Saira was a brilliant actress, that was sure.
Some time later, the chief came in, opened the door and dragged me out. As I looked back, I could see Haku's concern in his eyes.
I was brought to a room and saw Saira with a huge grin on her face in it.
"If you need any slaves, tell me. It's your mission to take over the whole Northern Watertribe. I don't care if they are bender or non-bender, which gender or old or young. I want them all. And you,"he pointed at me,"bring me the most beautiful." Saira nodded but I just stood there, frozen until Saira stepped on my foot and I nodded. "You'll head out tomorrow. How many do you need?", he asked. "All plus the slaves." "You can't take all." "I need all. If you want Ozai back on the throne, you have to sacrifice a few people. Or are you weak?", Saira challenged. The chief stared at her for a while:"Fine." Saira smirked:"Follow me." I did as she said and she led me back to the prisons. "I want you to take out all firebender. And if you try to act smart, three will loose their lifes.", Saira said harshly.
I went into Haku's prison first. "Did Saira betray us?", he asked.
"Yes."

((For everyone who doesn't know what IAZO is, it's just Ozai spelled backwards))