Title: Yesterday's Hero
Rating: K
Summary: After Zuko's fateful Angi Kai, Iroh has a decision to make. Preseries, one shot, genfic.
A/N: I don't have to spoiler warn for anything from Seasons 1 or 2 anymore, right? This is an Iroh based fic meant to take place immediately after Zuko's Agni Kai against his father, using canon info from both The Storm and Zuko Alone. (Also: Hi! I do actually still write fanfic!)
Zuko spends the weeks after the Agni Kai in bed, swinging back and forth between delusional fever and desperate self-awareness.
There are only a few things he knows for a fact: that the healers had miraculously saved his eye, that they were not yet sure how much vision he'd retain in it, and that his father has not come to see him.
What he does not know is that Ozai will not come at all – he's already passed down Zuko's sentence: exile, until the Avatar is captured.
Iroh spends the weeks after the Agni Kai counting the footsteps between his own bedroom and the quarters where the prince is resting, trying to decide whether or not he can yet face the proof that he's destroyed yet another young prince's life.
He knows only two things for a fact: that Ozai knows that it was him that let Zuko into the meeting, and that he's been "invited" to accompany Zuko in exile.
What he does not know is if Ozai will let him choose whether or not to accept that invitation.
Ozai had sent him the message the morning after the Agni Kai, the announcement of Zuko's sentence, with this charming message added onto the bottom in Ozai's elegant script:
I have hopes that this sentence will not only serve Zuko practically in the form of capturing the Avatar, but also emotionally and spiritually. Since you've such extensive experience in the practice of spiritual journeys, I would be honored if you would consider lending your expertise to Zuko.
A polite way of telling Iroh that he was no longer welcome at court either, yet unlike Zuko, Iroh was still well respected, well liked, and willing to fight back if faced against Ozai in an Agni Kai. And to think some had accused his brother of lacking diplomacy.
He can't deny that he's a little disturbed by the tacked on "until the Avatar is captured" at the end of the sentence. One of the Fire Nations most honored traditions is sending the princes off to search for the Avatar before welcoming them home with eager, placating arms. His own "search" for the Avatar had involved spending several months going from port to port in the Earth Kingdom, bemoaning his fate to search for the elusive Avatar and offering to show the girls who'd given him comfort his quarters. It had been this trip that had helped lay the groundwork for his invasion of the Earth Kingdom – he already knew which ports had been the least guarded and the farthest from aid.
(Ozai's trip, from what he'd heard whispered around the crew, hadn't been nearly as successful. He'd spent a lot of time holed up in his room, sulking.)
It seems unfair of Ozai to grant Zuko that hope, to seemingly prepare him for a role he was never intended to fulfill. And it seems unfair of Ozai to ask Iroh to help prepare Zuko for a role he was never intended to fulfill.
Still, he doesn't have to go. He could easily dig his heels in the dirt, resist Ozai, and he would win, because everybody knows that General Iroh only fights when it's important.
Zuko might have a better chance without him; Zuko might actually have the opportunity to escape the palace and the crushing weight of who he feels he has to be and learn who he truly is. It may turn out that simply leaving the palace, leaving the Fire Nation, leaving his father will be enough for him, and he won't need Iroh or the strange sense of obligation Iroh can't deny he feels to him.
And it's not that Iroh would not have a worthwhile project with his time, if he should let Zuko go ahead of him…
Azula is the daughter Iroh never had, and yet for every way she proves herself the opposite of Zuko she reminds Iroh of Lu Ten in ways that will always make him ache; the difference lies mostly in the way they were raised. Iroh taught Lu Ten to have appreciation for the finer things in his life; Ozai has taught Azula to feel only greed for them.
Iroh stands outside of the door to Zuko's room, knowing the boy wants only his father and wonders if he should cut his losses and try to make a difference in the young princess' life, if his influence on her could be less catastrophic than his influence on that of Lu Ten and Zuko.
Or, he thinks, remembering the sickeningly sweet way she had asked Iroh if they'd managed to save Zuko's eye, if his influence could be less catastrophic than that of Ozai's.
He could take Azula under his wing in Zuko's absence. He could teach her things that Li and Lo haven't dreamed of, and in the process sharpen not only her prodigious firebending talent but also educate her in so many ways that her father and the Academy find unimportant. She wouldn't have much patience for the tea ceremony and Pai Sho, not right away, not until he could teach her the symbolism behind tea culture and what she would be saying each and every time she served, not until he could prove to her calculating mind the advantage of planning out her strategy with porcelain tiles and how quickly those porcelain tiles come to represent the soldiers she so clearly wants to direct.
He could give her these things she so clearly wants, he could guide her in the way that Ozai assumes will be wasted on Zuko, and in turn he might also make Azula understand:
Ozai is not the end all and be all, and while he may sit on the throne now Iroh was the one who was actually trained for the position, the one who actually went out and saw the world that the Fire Nation is trying to conquer, and as a result he knows. He knows the world, he knows how to take it over, and he knows tricks that would make the rest of the world happy to have the Fire Nation ruling it.
He could teach Azula, and show Ozai at the same time.
Behind the closed door he can hear Zuko whimpering. Changing his dressing is a torturous process, and everyday Iroh stares at the wood paneling before turning and walking away, resolving to face Zuko tomorrow, as soon as he can think of the appropriate words to say when he finally sees the boy. He can't apologize for Zuko's quick tongue, and won't lecture the prince for his honest words.
Iroh sees two visions before him: one is of Zuko leaving and growing stronger, wiser, and better than his own father as he sees the world and sees how it works. The other mostly involves Zuko sulking in his room. Iroh is not sure of his place in either of these visions.
Iroh also has two visions of Azula. Both involve her becoming more powerful than her father. Iroh is sure of his place in each of them.
With a deep breath, he makes a decision and finally pushes open the bedroom door. The healers have finished their ministrations and are merely trying to get Zuko comfortable. What portion Iroh can see of his face is flushed, dripping sweat, and contorted in pain.
"Uncle?" he asks faintly, confused and only vaguely aware of his surroundings.
"Your father is sending you to capture the Avatar," is the first thing Iroh says to him. The second is, "And I'm coming with you."
Years later, surrounded by earthbenders in the catacombs of Ba Sing Se, Iroh sees Zuko standing next to Azula, and wonders if he made the right decision.