I know I have a bunch of fics that I need to update, but I came up with this idea a while ago and have been wanting to write it. It was originally gonna be part of a longer fic (that I still plan on writing), but it came out kinda one-shot-ish. So I'm gonna leave it a one-shot.
As for my other fic, Storm...I wrote the next chapter, but it needs some serious re-doing before I'll post it...
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, or it's characters.
"Prince Zuko, are you awake yet?" Iroh asked, knocking ont he door.
Inside the room, Zuko opened his eyes. Yes, he was awake. No, he didn't want to be. It was only two days after the Agni Kai with his father and his banishment from the Fire Nation and he had no reason to be up that early. But in leaving the Fire Nation indefinitely with Zuko, his uncle had done much more than Zuko could have ever asked of him, and for that, Zuko was not going to be rude.
Sitting up, the young prince answered, "Yes, come in."
Iroh came into the room, shutting the door behind him, and looked at his nephew.
Zuko knew he must have been a sight: Bandages covering the burn across the left side of his face, his hair unkept with most of the front burned off and the rest cut unevenly, not to mention that he probably neither looked nor smelled very clean, having been too depressed to even bathe.
"What's that?" Zuko gestured to a piece of rolled up parchment in his uncle's hand.
"It's a letter," Iroh said slowly, "from your father."
Zuko's eyes lit up with hopeful anticipation. "My father? What did he say? Did he change his mind? Can I go home?"
Iroh sighed and sat down next to Zuko on the bed. "he will allow you to come home under one condition."
"Anything." Zuko said, looking intently at his uncle, the hope of returning home never leaving his eyes.
"You must bring the Avatar with you."
For a moment, the hope left Zuko's eyes. It was a hard task: The Avatar hadn't been seen for almost one hundred years, and most believed that he was never coming back.
But Zuko would capture him.
He turned to his uncle, his face showing nothing but unrelenting determination. "Uncle, have the helmsman steer this ship to the nearest Air Temple. We're searching for the Avatar."
Iroh, slightly surprised by Zuko's quick change in emotion, smiled at his nephew. Zuko had been so depressed the last few days that seeing any hope at all within the young boy made Iroh happy. Even if it was an impossible hope.
"Yes, Prince Zuko." He said, standing to leave.
After his uncle left, Zuko got up out of bed, and stood in front of his mirror.
I really do look a mess. He thought. He'd have to get cleaned up before directing the crew his father let him bring. I can start by removing these bandages. He reached up to his left eye.
Slowly removing the bandage, he saw, for the first time, exactly what his father had done to him.
His right eye widened at the sight of the burn scar that covered the left side of his face, taking the shape of the flame that caused it and a constant reminder of his weakness and insubordination.
"I will make you proud, Father. I will capture the Avatar."