A/N: Yes, I know, I shouldn't start a third story, but it'll help me relieve my writer's block – whenever I try to write A Different Fork at the Crossroads of Destiny (DFCD) or Dancing with Wolves (DW), I keep getting ideas for a post-series Zutara... Just a note: THIS STORY IS NOT A SEQUEL TO DFCD. I'm just going to make that perfectly clear – here, I stayed canon until, well, the story starts. Regardless, if there's any Kataangers reading this, I'd recommend hitting the back button right now – I'm keeping up with Vathara's Zuko fic (Embers, possibly one of the best fanfics out there PERIOD, even though it's not a Zutara), and it makes me feel angry at Aang, so he's not cast in the nicest light here. Sorry, Aang fans. And yes, I know, this seems disorganised – that's because it IS. I've written this in bits and pieces, not more than a paragraph at a time... I promise that I will restore cohesion.

DISCLAIMER: I, in NO way, shape, or form, own Avatar or any of the characters. I merely play with them, as a sort of omnipotent god. They are the sole property of Nickelodeon.

Healing Lightning

Chapter I: Two years previous...

Life was going great for Zuko, for once. His father, the cruel Fire Lord Ozai, had been reduced to a mere shell of a man when the Avatar took his bending away. Zuko was still in shock that the normally goofy 12 year old could DO such a thing. He IS the Avatar, and all, but to take someone's bending away? Zuko thought that he might as well have killed Ozai, and quite a number of other benders, including those from the other nations, agreed. Taking away a bender's powers... it seemed worst than the tortures that the Fire Nation put captured benders through by denying them access to their element. Zuko was walking down the long, ornate corridor to the Grand Balcony musing about this when he was interrupted by the Avatar, Aang. Aang slowly raised his head from where he sat, beside the curtained door to the Balcony, and looked at Zuko. Although Zuko gave the Avatar a warm smile, Aang returned it coldly. With a slight confused frown on his face, Zuko greeted him.

"I can't believe a year ago my purpose in life to hunt you down, and now I consider you my friend. Life has a funny way of changing on us, doesn't it? I mean, a year ago, you were frozen in a block of ice..." Zuko drawled off as he noticed that Aang's face had twisted into an ugly grimace.

"How did you know that?" Aang demanded "By the time you came to the South Pole, I wasn't even in the iceberg anymore."

"Oh, yeah... Katara told me as we were... as we were coming here to face Azula."

"Oh so KATARA told you. What else did she tell you, then, or maybe on your little "field trip"?" Aang said in an accusatory tone, giving Zuko a dirty look.

"Aang, what's wrong with you? Katara and I are just friends. Why does it sound like you're getting jealous? I have Mai." Zuko, trying to reason with the adolescent boy, put a hand on Aang's shoulder.

"I know that's not true, Zuko." Aang said, slapping Zuko's hand off his shoulder. "Why did Katara go with you instead of me for the last battle? Why is she telling you all these stories? Huh?"

Seeing that the Avatar was clearly distraught, the new Fire Lord didn't try to replace his hand, merely looking at him sideways and telling him that they'd "talk about it later – could they just get this ceremony over with?" Zuko parted the curtains, and, without even waiting to see if Aang was behind him, stepped out onto the short hallway beyond the curtain and began his ascent up the stairs to the Grand Balcony. A heartbeat later, Aang rushes from the curtains and airbends himself up the stairs until he right behind Zuko, glaring at the back of the new Fire Lord's head. Zuko could feel the eyes boring into his skull, but, in the name if diplomacy, wisely decided to his best to ignore it. Reaching the Balcony, a fire sage sounded a gong as Zuko made his presence known. Looking out onto the Coronation Plaza, he saw everybody arrayed in 4 equal ranks – running from the waterbenders wearing leaves, the Water Tribe warriors, the Earth Army and his own Fire Nation citizens – and felt a sense of pride and accomplishment: the war was finally over. The crowd erupted into cheering as he walked out, but Zuko held up his hand in signal for silence:

"Please, the real hero" he starts, moving to the side to reveal Aang "is the Avatar. Without him, Ozai would still be ruler of this proud nation. Without him, this alliance would not have been possible."

What's his motive? Trying to be all humble for MY girlfriend, I'll bet. I know you, Zuko. Just know that Katara is MINE. Aang continued glaring at Zuko's head, trying to bore a hole through it.

Unaware of Aang's thoughts, Zuko continued on with his speech. "Today, this war is finally over. I promised my Uncle that I would restore the honour of the Fire Nation, and I will. This, I swear by the very fires of Agni. The road ahead of us is challenging. A hundred years of fighting has left the world scarred and divided. No-one knows who they can turn to, or whop to ask when they need help." With a backhanded gesture to Aang, Zuko continues. "But with the Avatar's help, we can get it back on the right path, and begin a new era of not only peace, but of wisdom and stability"

At this point, Zuko kneels down onto his knees as Shyu, the new Head Fire Sage (on Aang's recommendation) held the Royal Headpiece high above Zuko's head.

He looks every inch the ruler. Katara thought, looking on in pride. He's worked so hard for this, he deserves it.

Hakoda, standing beside his daughter, looked at the look in his daughter's eyes as she looked at the young ruler-to-be. He wondered where he remembered that look from, but couldn't recall. He shrugged – if it was important, he was sure that he'd remember it eventually...

On the balcony, Shyu readied himself for the end of the ceremony. "All hail your new Fire Lord, blood of Agni and the wielder of the sacred flame, Fire Lord Zuko! " With that, he lowered his arms and inserted the amber-coloured diadem into Zuko's topknot. He bows, and, keeping his head lowered as a sign of respect, backs away from his newly crowned lord.

The crowd beneath them cheers wildly as Zuko stands and gestures for the Avatar to join him.

--- --- --- oOo --- --- ---

Hours later, Zuko is alone, and walking swiftly on a rough mountain path on the edges of the Crater district of the Fire Nation Capital. He eventually makes his way to the Huan Shi Tong Prison, the prison of choice for politically dangerous prisoners, or prisoners who managed to bargain their way out of the Boiling Rock. The irony is not lost on Zuko – When Ozai declared Iroh a traitor to the Dragon Throne (Zuko intended to rename it the Phoenix Throne, to symbolise the rebirth of the Fire Nation after a century of war), Iroh was tossed in here, and now that Ozai was the traitor, he was tossed in the exact same cell. With a grim chuckle, he arrived at the heavy steel and stone doors of the prison.

The guards, recognizing the visitor, immediately set to opening the doors for the young man, one or two of them recognizing him as the same person who snuck in to see the Dragon of the West when he was incarcerated here. As Zuko walked the halls to Ozai's cell, he was overcome with memories of the last time he had been here, on the Day of Black Sun, to break his uncle out of prison, only to discover that he had, in fact, already broken out. Sooner than he realised it, he arrived at the cell door. With a deep breath, he pushed the door open and entered the small room.

Against the wall of the small cell sat Ozai. Even though it had only been a day or two since his defeat and the loss of his bending, you could see it in his eyes that he was a mere shell of the powerful bender that he once was. He was dressed in dishevelled rags, and his hair was stringy and dirty. Zuko had taken little care to hide himself in the shadows, so he wasn't very surprised when Ozai suddenly spoke.

"I suppose that I should count myself lucky. The new Fire Lord has graced me with his presence in my lonely prison cell." Ozai stood, leaning heavily against the wall as he spread his arm to indicate his cell.

"You should count yourself lucky that the Avatar spared your life." At this, Ozai smirked and sat back down heavily against the wall. "Banishing me was the best thing you could have done for my life. It put me on the right path; perhaps your time in here can do the same for you." Zuko looked on at the pathetic human that he had once considered invulnerable, and felt a tiny twinge of sadness. It quickly dissipated, however, when he reached up to brush his hair out of his eyes and his fingers traced against his scar.

"Why are you really here , traitor son?" Ozai drawled, knowing that Zuko wasn't the type to come down and brag. No, he was too much of a "good guy" to do that.

"Because you are going to tell me something, Ozai." Not Father, not to this man. Fathers don't scar their children. Fathers don't banish their children at the age of 13. But most of all, fathers love their children, something that Ozai couldn't claim. Iroh had been more of a father to Zuko in the past three years than Ozai had in Zuko's entire life. Zuko kneeled down, so he could look Ozai straight in the eye. "Where is my mother ?"

Ozai got a strange light in his eye, almost a deranged look, and started laughing.

--- --- --- oOo --- --- ---

Closing A/N: And that's chapter one. I hope to post the second chapter in the next couple days, providing that my fickle muse doesn't abandon this story, and make me work on another story (though SOME people would definitely enjoy that). Anybody got any ideas for the name of the Fire Nation Capital? I heard a good one once; it meant something like City of Morning Dawn... I'd appreciate it, and they'll get credit in all my stories that mention it.