Bitter Taste

A/N: Hey, there. So last night I was wondering what it would be like if the Agni Kai hadn't just given Zuko a scarred eye...but took his sight away completely. I'm not sure if it's been done before, but...I promise that if it has, this one will be very different from the others. You'll see why.

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Avatar. I would love to own Zuko, Toph, and Iroh.

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His head hurt. No, Zuko corrected himself, flexing his fingers from underneath a thick blanket, his entire body hurt. Soreness radiated through his limbs, originating from his chest; he felt like he'd been kicked down and stepped on by a particularly nasty mule. Even his toes ached, although he didn't understand why little flesh nuggets sticking out of bigger flesh nuggets would hurt in the first place.

At least I'm not dead, he thought, shifting a little under a mountain of cloth. He couldn't remember what had happened, only a large flash of light and—oh. The Agni Kai. Father had burned him.

His actions were justified, a small voice in his head protested. Zuko squashed the voice—Father's actions were not justified. He had burned his firstborn son, and why? Because he had spoken out in a war meeting. If anything, he should have been reprimanded and sent to fight an Agni Kai with the lazy idiot he had spoken against.

"Nephew."

The voice was quiet, but he heard it all the same. Uncle Iroh?

"Prince Zuko, are you awake?"

"I'm awake." His mouth felt like it was filled with cotton. Had he swallowed a few chunks of gravel during the time where he had been unconscious? Maybe Azula had shoved them down his throat. "What happened, Uncle? I can't remember."

Iroh sat down on the edge of his nephew's bed, placing a hand over the boy's sweaty forehead. The fever hadn't yet gone down; it would probably take a few more days for him to be completely cured. "You refused to fight, so my brother burned the left side of your face. Infection set in a day later...we weren't sure if you would be able to keep your eye. Don't worry—it's still there. But I don't know if you'll..." He trailed off.

Frowning, Zuko said, "Uncle?" He tried to open his eyes, but they seemed to be glued shut. "I can't open my eyes."

With a wince, Iroh shook his head vigorously even though he knew his nephew couldn't see him. "Keep them closed for a little while longer," he pleaded. "Let your eyes heal. The infection was bad, and it would be very easy to cause damage to the tissue."

Zuko ignored him. He opened his eyes with an almighty wrench, and scanned the room. "Why is it so dark?" he snapped. "Turn on a light."

"The light is on, Prince Zuko."

He turned his head about and finally spotted the light: a very faint pinprick of red. "That's a really dim light," he finally said.

As he tried to sit up, Iroh pushed him back down. Zuko looked over at him, only to see a red silhouette. There was nothing else around him—only a spot of scarlet, and the outline of a person. "It's a very bright light, actually," Iroh was saying, but the words sounded like they were coming from the end of a very long tunnel; he struggled to put all the pieces together in his mind. His eyes wouldn't open...he could only see things that gave off heat, and even then they were hard to make out...and there was something about an infection... "There was an infection?" His voice was small.

"A very bad one. I'm afraid it spread to both eyes, causing much damage...Prince Zuko, would you like some tea? It'll help with the shock," Iroh ventured. "Jasmine tea—"

Tea? At a time like this? "Uncle, am I blind?" Zuko inquired.

His uncle didn't answer, but hugged him instead. Zuko blinked a few times, trying to see something other than red and black. He...was blind? No, that couldn't be. For a moment he wanted to cry. Before he could, realization struck him like a lightning bolt.

It's Father—no, Ozai's fault. He took my sight away.

"What does Father have to say?" he wondered aloud. "Does he even know about my"—the word was sharp in his throat—"blindness?"

He goes blind, and the very first thing he asks about is what his father thinks, Iroh thought incredulously. "He knows," he said slowly. "He decided to banish you a few minutes after he was told about it."

And now he was banished. First Ozai took away his ability to see, and now he was going to send him away to die. Fantastic. What a stupendous parent. But wait...he could use this to his advantage, if he was careful. A plan started to form; he bowed his head to hide a slight smile. "Is there any way for me to come back and become the Fire Lord?" he asked.

Iroh sighed, leaning back in his chair and rubbing his weary eyes. "You have to find and capture the Avatar. If you bring him back to the Fire Nation, you'll regain your honor."

"He wants me to capture the Avatar?" Zuko frowned. That would be difficult. Nobody knew where the Avatar was, so what made his father think that he did? That's because he doesn't. He really doesn't want me to come home, does he? he mused, feeling almost amused. "And I'll be able to come home if I do?"

"That's right," Iroh agreed.

Excellent. He had the perfect plan. "I'll do it," Zuko decided. Iroh slumped in his seat, resigning himself to years of traveling, searching, and trying to get his nephew to see the wrong in his brother's actions. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Zuko. "I'll be a good son and find the Avatar for my dear father. And when I do..." Iroh's heart skipped a few beats when a crazed grin spread across the Prince's face. "And when I do, the Avatar will kill him for me."

What has Ozai done? thought Iroh helplessly, as Zuko brought himself to tears with his laughter.

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A/N: Ack...it feels a little stiff, and I think Iroh or Zuko might be OOC. Maybe I'll loosen up a bit later on...because this is probably going to be a very long fanfiction.

So how do you all like psychotic Zuko? He'll be mostly the same, except for his plan to murder the Fire Lord. No biggie, right? Haha.

If you're wondering why Zuko didn't totally break down and start bawling from his loss of sight, it's because he's still in shock. He's being irrational and not thinking right.