Prologue: The Truth Ruins

The long hundred year war between the Fire Nation and other territories has finally ended. Things have finally changed and still would change. It's been years since Prince Zuko became the Fire Lord, and the avatar finally restoring balance to the world.

A lot of things were still unresolved. There were some uprisings in different parts of the Fire Nation and its territories around the world. Still, different lands were fighting against each other, minor wars and random destruction of areas around the world especially in the Fire Nation are happening currently.

And with that, the avatar, especially Fire Lord Zuko were so worried. They are still planning on how to stop all those insignificant things that may be a catalyst of another world war. But there were a lot of problems that Zuko resolves presently other than those mentioned before. First, he is trying and looking for information about his mother by traveling from one place to another. Second, he is worried about his sister's current situation.

It's pretty surprising that she had recovered miraculously after 4 years of stay in the asylum. Though she was bought back to sanity, the memories and the things in her past that scarred her will forever remain in her mind. Zuko, Aang and even Sokka had truly never given up in that span of time. What are even more surprising are the things that Zuko currently discovered about his sister.

A few months earlier, the fire sages came to the royal palace to confront Zuko about a certain matter regarding the royal family. They revealed everything they should tell and everything they know. Some were fine, but some were… just so surprising to hear… Of course, Zuko believed in those words coming from the Fire Sages…. But there is one thing they told him that really had struck into him…

*few months back*

"I… I don't seem to understand… We looked really identical to each other… How? How come were not related? And if that's the truth, why did my parents did that to her...? What family is she from then…? How...? I don't seem to get any of it… I don't know if I should believe this or not…"

"Fire Lord Zuko, You actually had a younger sister who died shortly after her birth. And because of your father's fear of ruining the reputation of the royal family due to that incident, he ordered his staffs to find a newly born female infant who should look pretty identical to some members of the royal family." The sage explained.

"You know that you could identify if a person has the ability to fire bend as early as an infant. So when the staffs along with the other sages found your 'sister', she had a really great potential." The sage explained further.

"I feel sorry for what this family had done to ruin her life so bad… Maybe if she wasn't adopted by my father, then her life wouldn't be like this…" Zuko commented.

"I know you are right, but Azula was born from a very poor family… If she wasn't adopted, she might be suffering as well right now… But I agree to what you said. She doesn't deserve all of what your father has done to her…" the sage clarified and told Zuko.

"What should I do then? Should I take her back? Should I take her back to her real family...?" Zuko asked out of the blue after a long pause of deep silence and pondering. He has a slight hint of confusion in his voice.

"According to the law, you should… But you should tell this to her and let her decide…."

"Of course… I would really want to meet them actually, rather than staying in this loathsome hellhole with you, Zuzu…" Azula spoke out loud with her usual tone, still inspecting her nails as she jumped in the scene surprisingly.

"You were here the whole time?!" Zuko exclaimed with a shocked expression on his face as he turned his back and faced Azula.

"Well haven't you heard what I said, Dum-dum? Of course I was here!" she replied loudly with her usual tone as she stated the obvious.

"Now Fire Sage, tell me where they are and I'll be leaving immediately so that all of you wouldn't have to worry about a single thing…" Azula requested with her arms crossed as she faced the fire sage with a raised eyebrow. She was playing a smirk on her face.

"Are you crazy?! Azula, I thought everything was okay… I thought we could make things right for once… You can't leave… I… I thought you're happy for once…"

"You thought I'm fully healed and alright after spending a year in that horrible place?! Well heck Zuko, I'm not! Deep inside I'm still hurt and don't know what to do... All those terrible mistakes and events that happened to me won't stop haunting my mind! Father has scarred me for life... I… I need a way to escape… I want to forget everything…" she sobbed as the tears she held back for too long finally escaped from her eyes.

She sighed as she wiped the tears away and tried to calm down herself. "And you know what? I'm willing to do or sacrifice a thing to make things better myself…. Even if the Fire Sage told you that my family is poor, I'd be staying with them no matter what the circumstances may be…" She told him and finished her statement in a whisper- like voice.

"Now please tell me, where are they?" Azula asked with a frustrated tone as she wiped the remaining tears while facing the Fire Sage.

And so the Fire Sage told her everything and she ran away through the hallways in tears.

"Wait! Azula! No!" Zuko shouted hysterically and tried to reach out for his sister, but the Fire Sage stopped him.

"Please, Fire Lord Zuko. Just let her be…" the Fire Sage advised calmly as he tried to hold back Zuko.

"This can't be…. Why is it happening so fast…?"

And so Zuko stopped and stood there catatonically, breathing heavily with teardrops falling from his eyes. Everything was supposed to be perfect, but the truth ruined it. The truth would always ruin everything.

Hi guys, I'm kind of new to this... Please bear with the grammatical errors, if there are any. I'm not that fluent in English like all the other writers out there.

I wrote this story because I didn't like the ending of "The Search: Part 3". Also, this is has a very different story line from "The Search".

Please do a review and give me some suggestions like if I need to work on something...

Chapter Plot: Zuko and Azula were finally treating each other as true siblings. Everything was going all perfect... until the truth suddenly came out. Knowing that Azula is not a part of the royal family, she runs away and decided to live with her biological family instead.

Good Day ;)