Everything changed when General Iroh died.
Lu Ten refused to believe it when he was told. He couldn't bring himself to believe that his great-uncle had died. No one, not even his mother, could tell him otherwise. What convinced him in the end was his father's expression when he exited Iroh's room. He had seen his father wear a myriad of expressions, but never that one. Never that blankness. Even when they went to visit his Aunt Azula in her cell, his father never looked so empty. Lu Ten believed it then. Lu Ten felt the truth crash down on him as he turned, ran to his room and cried. The Fire Prince wished he still didn't believe it
Azula was expressionless when she learned of her uncle's death. Her nurse hesitated to leave her alone after telling her but she rescinded her initial fears after a few biting words from the former princess. As she sat alone in her room,mulling over the news, Azula couldn't help but feel a twinge of something. Not quite sadness, but definitely not indifference. She never really knew her uncle. Not the way Zuzu did. She always suspected that he had known she wasn't quite right. Ozai had always said he was a weak, pacifistic fool and she had childishly believed. Recently, she had been wondering if it, like everything that Ozai had said, was a lie. She reminded herself of her familiar mantra. Ozai always lies. She repeated this to herself as she realized what she was feeling. Regret. She wished she had known him better. Maybe she wouldn't be stuck in a madhouse if she had.
When Aang heard the news, he told his wife immediately. Toph's first instinct was to assume that he was lying but she couldn't feel his heart beating faster. Toph went and barricaded herself in rock tent as she used to do. The old man wasn't supposed to have died. He was supposed to have outlived them all. After all, they had all assumed that he would. Her especially. Toph abruptly brought down the walls of her rock tent and bent boulders just so she could hurl them at each other. It didn't matter if they couldn't feel anything, of they couldn't hurt. She just wanted to feel something, even if it was just the sensation of stray pebbles hitting her.
Aang went and meditated. He needed to know what to do. He had lost Monk Gyatso and now he lost General Iroh. As he became detached from his body, he became aware of his surroundings. He was back in the tea shop, watching his friends celebrate. Iroh was still there. Aang noticed Roku. He begged and he pleaded and her screamed himself hoarse. Roku just told him he would be alright. He was slammed back into the physical world. He stood and walked over to Toph. She sensed him but didn't turn around. She talked at him instead, saying that their child was supposed to know Iroh. That everyone else's children knew him but their child wouldn't get a chance to. She spoke about how unfair it was and why did he have to die. Aang knew she didn't want to hear a response, so he said nothing.
Suki took it in stride. She bore it stoically when Yu and Pema screamed themselves to sleep because they were so enraged by their uncle's death. Spirits, she even kept it together when Sokka stormed out because he needed to be by himself. But as soon as she was alone, Suki felt herself cracking. She felt rage building up inside of her. He wasn't supposed to die. It was his brother who was supposed to die, not him. She closed her eyes and all she saw was red. Murderous red.
Sokka was in a state where he couldn't decipher his thoughts. He didn't know whether he wanted to cry or stab something. The last time he felt like this was when Kya had died. He had seen her body when the fire benders left. His father didn't know but he did. She was burned horrendously. He felt like it was him, not her, who had been burned back then and he felt that way now. He briefly considered falling apart but he reminded himself of his family. They needed him. Sokka walked in just in time to see Suki shriek and break a plate. He quickly crossed the space between them and snatched the cup she had been about to throw. He set it down and held her as she thrashed and shrieked wordlessly. Towards the end of her outburst, he heard her whispering that it wasn't fair. He noticed movement at his peripheral vision. Yu and Pema were standing and watching their parents. He told them to go back to sleep.
Katara was in the room when Iroh died. She couldn't bring herself to leave, no matter how painful it was. So when Iroh became still, she briefly wondered why she had to be so stubborn. Zuko was in shock when his uncle died. He shook him, calling his name. He didn't get a response. He had then turned to Katara and demanded that she "fix him". His request broke her heart. Still, she had nodded and attempted to use her healing water on Iroh, just like she had when they discovered he was sick three years ago. Closing her eyes, Katara put her all into healing him. When nothing happened and he was still lifeless, the tears came loose. She let the water fall and backed out of the room, hands over her mouth. Zuko sat by his uncle's side, frozen. She walked away frantically, not caring who she encountered. This was the second time that someone she loved had died. She knew what she was going to feel but she was still unprepared for the wave of the emotions. The Fire Lady from the Southern Water Tribe leaned against a wall and slid down, tears silently streaking down her face. Katara saw small Fire Nation boots next to her. Looking up, she saw her son. He was so young and so contradictory for a member of the royal family, with his tan skin and pale eyes. He asked what was wrong and not knowing what else to do, she told him the truth. He shouted that she was lying and ran away, probably in pursuit of his father. As she watched Lu Ten run away, more tears fell as her heart broke some more. Unconsciously, she touched her mothers necklace, wishing she was here to hold her and pat her back as she cried. But her mother was dead too.
Zuko barely noticed Katara leave. He stared at Iroh. Iroh didn't deserve to die; Ozai did. Ozai was a horrible man. Iroh was more of a father to him than Ozai ever was. But that had gotten him nowhere in the end. At that thought, Zuko felt something inside of him shut down. He stood up abruptly and left the room, slamming the door behind him. He noticed Lu Ten running up to him but just as his face was beginning to soften, his son's eyes filled with tears before he turned and ran. Zuko's face hardened again. He went to go plan Iroh's funeral. Maybe that would keep him sane.
Typically funerals for his family were public but he and Katara had decided that this was best kept private. All of his friends were at the funeral with their children and even Ozai and Azula showed up. He briefly felt a flash of gratitude towards his sister and friends and a deep, burning hatred for his father before he returned to the empty state that he had been in since Iroh died. He saw the worried glances that his friends threw him but he didn't care. He just sat and gazed blankly at the Fire Sage who was proceeding over the funeral. He watched as everyone, save for Ozai, gave a speech about Uncle. He heard them as if from a distance. When it was his turn, he robotically recited his eulogy and backed away. The Fire Sage said the normal blessing and motioned for Zuko to step forward once more. He was to set Iroh's casket on fire. Briefly, he felt a wild streak of hope that Uncle was still alive but he remembered that Katara couldn't heal him. After his moment of hesitation, Zuko inhaled deeply and burned Iroh's casket. He felt Katara looking at him, but he didn't meet her gaze. Instead, he saw his sister staring at him intensely. They locked gazes and something passed between them. They nodded at each other.
Later that evening, when he and Katara were alone in their room, he stood and looked out the window. After the casket had been reduced to ashes, Aang had spread them through the wind. His uncle was still out there; he just wasn't alive. Zuko felt a hand touch his shoulder. Stiffening, he turned and slightly relaxed when he saw it was Katara. He looked past her at the wall. The wall was red. Everything in the palace was either red or gold. Iroh had hated red. Katara told him to look at her. He shook his head. She said that it was okay, that she missed him too. Zuko looked at the crown that was on his desk. It was Iroh's old crown, from when he had been a prince. Iroh had given it to Zuko when he was a boy. Katara said that Iroh would want him to be okay. Zuko looked at her. Zuko looked at her and he felt something shatter inside of him. He clenched his jaw repeatedly in an effort to keep it together but it didn't work. Finally, he bowed his head and cried. Katara wrapped her arms around his neck and cried with him. He buried his face in his hair and cried some more. He didn't know that it would hurt so much.