For so long, it was my destiny to find the Avatar and reclaim my honor. My home. A state of normalcy that for so long had been deprived of me – from me. For so long, I just wanted to be back in the warm embraces of my father – something I never really had from the beginning. For so long, I thought it was my duty and my fate to be bound to a rickety ship full of loyal, yet foreign, crewmates. For so long, I thought I would never return home.
And yet…
And yet, I am starting to question so many things. Everything – all that I do, each word that I say, every action I partake – just churns in my head, swirling like the haze of black smog pluming and tunneling my vision until there's nothing but white left. White like the flames that burned me. And yet, I'm beginning to realize I can't remember a home that wasn't steel-plated and fortified with layers and layers of loyal lives, here for me – to protect me. Me, a spoiled good-for-nothing. For so long, I just wanted to be back in the false ideals of a fathers embrace, and yet it is so clear and obvious who my real father has been all along. I may look like the replica of the Fire Lord, but it is his robust brother, the true heir to the Fire Nation throne, that has always been a father. No, not a father. A dad. For so long, I thought that my obligation to my crew was tedious and forced, and yet now I can't even begin to envision a life without them. A life without the sea, cast into a prison of walls and emptiness. I know that's all that awaits me back 'home' now. For so long, I thought I would never return home. And yet, I can't fathom what that word even means. To me, home is the soft lull of the tides with a crew of faithful men singing above me as I rock away into oblivion. Home to me is where my uncle is and where his embraces are ones of providence and not some fake façade. Home to me is anywhere I can light a hearth and hear the thrum of energy that reminds me of a place never truly my own. But that doesn't seem right; it's all just too confusing.
But now…
But now I know my destiny was always tied with the Avatar's. Only not in the way I had once thought of. It was not to capture him – at least not with shackles and chains like some barbarian. No. I had to capture something, but it wasn't his body or spirit, it was his trust. His friendship, one he had asked of me so long ago and my only response was to lash out in a fist of flames. Like always. But I've changed now. For so long, I thought my duty was bound to a life that I was merely condemned to. But now I know that my duty isn't bound to my father, a ship, or even me anymore. My duty is bound and guarded by a cause much bigger than anything I've ever had to face. For so long, I thought I would never return home. But now, I know my home is with the Avatar. My home is in the soft caress of emotions that stem from doing right in a lifetime of wrong.
I just hope that what the Avatar had said still held true. I hope and prayed to the spirits that we could be friends. And even if we couldn't, as long as I could fulfill my destiny by being his ally, I would take that. Take it in a heartbeat. Well… here goes nothing.
"…Hello. Zuko, here…"
A/N: And I leave you with the start(ish) of the Western Air Temple episode. You all know what happens next.