AN: Okay I admit it, I'm probably too old to watch Avatar much less write a fanfic for it, but I was watching the final episodes of season 2 with my kids and this story just kind of popped out. Annoying really, considering how many fics I have on the go. I needed this like I needed to be smacked in the head with a shovel. For those of you who regularly read my other work, I apologize for this detour. I don't know where it will lead or if it will blossom into more.
His Mother's Son – By Ah Hael
Zuko sat in a lotus position at the edge of the cliff waiting for the sun to finish its ascent over the horizon. This was his favorite time of day.
He sat motionless as the sun's warming rays reached him, reaching into him, embracing him, embracing him like a mother to her beloved child.
The prince breathed the moment in deeply. The feeling was a pale imitation to what it really felt like to truly be embraced by a loving mother but it was as close as he was going to get.
Perhaps for now, anyway.
His plan was going along perfectly. No one, not even Uncle Iroh suspected a thing.
The scarred prince pushed away the bitter regret at having to betray the only person who had cared for him since his banishment. It was unfortunate, but there was no way for him to carry out his plan with Uncle by his side, and there had been no chance to warn him of what he'd been planning before it happened. He hoped that when it was all over, that Uncle would understand his motives and forgive him.
When he'd first woke up from that bizarre vision fever in Ba Sing Se, he'd been unsure of what to do. Nothing made sense anymore. The only thing that was clear about that dream was to never trust Azula which was useless because he'd known that already.
It was only when he was trapped in those crystal catacombs with that water girl that he'd had an epiphany and his path became clear.
The water girl had made a preposterous suggestion to try and heal his scar. To him, the idea was naive and foolish just like he would have expected from someone like her, but then she touched his scar and something happened to him. A tingling feeling blossomed inside of him and with it, a feeling of warm familiarity. Mom!
His mother had been gone so long, he wasn't sure if what he was remembering was real or just childish feelings, but his mother's kindness and strength seemed to radiate out of the girl to wash over him. He didn't know why he'd never noticed it before, but the Avatar's little companion was so very much like his beloved mother. Gentle and kind, a little naive, but fierce in her convictions and her will to protect those she cared about.
The familiarity flowed into him making almost drunk on the moment. Jus as it had almost completely filled him up, it happened. The wall exploded inward and his mother's voice from his vision screamed inside his head. Zuko! Help Me!
The water girl ran to her friend and for a moment Zuko was furious at the Avatar for stealing his high, when he recalled his mother's scream. It had seemed so real, like if he turned around he would see her standing there.
Did that mean she was alive? Did her disappearance mean something other than her death? There had been so many questions about what had happened on the night she had vanished from his life. Questions, that at the time he had been too young and too afraid to find answers for.
Did grandfather really threaten to kill him?
Did his mother somehow intervene and protect him?
How did his otherwise healthy grandfather suddenly die?
What deal did his father strike to become Fire Lord against grandfather's wishes?
Azula might know the answers to some of those questions, but Zuko knew he would never get the truth out of her.
No he needed to find his own answers, and he needed to find them in the Fire nation. And so, in that brief time when the water girl had fled with the Avatar to when Azula barged in an encased their uncle in crystal, he'd formulated a plan.
With or without the Avatar, he had to return to home to find out what had happened to his mother. If she was alive, he would stop a nothing to save her. If she was dead, he would find those responsible and destroy any trace of their existence.
And if, as he suspected, it was his father that was responsible for the disappearance or death of his mother, then the Fire Lord –for he would refuse to consider him father any longer- had greater things to worry about then the Avatar.
At quiet moments like this he needed to reinforce his determination in his plan. To remind his fierce pride not to balk at letting Azula think he was her little puppet, eager to do her bidding. He needed to conceal his strong will in order to convince his father that he'd been beaten into submission. He needed to endure Uncle thinking he'd chosen the wrong destiny; all that mattered right now was his mother and what had happened to her.
She was all that mattered, and she was counting on him. He would do anything, compromise everything, and be nothing to save his mother.
The young prince soaked up the rays of the sun letting them fill him up and strengthen him.
Let Azula think she controlled him.
Let Father think he'd cowed him.
Let Uncle think he'd been betrayed by him.
"I will find you mom." He promised the blazing morning sun before him. "And when I do…" the prince's right hand clenched into a tight fist that was immediately engulfed in flame.
End.
For now maybe.