Zuko awoke to a banging on his private chambers. Sitting up, he groaned, knowing it was the middle of the night. The only light in his room was the moonlight that peeked in from his balcony window. The eerie glow wasn't enough for him to properly see around him. With a deep breath, he allowed fire to shoot from his fists and light the candles that were standing all around his room. The sudden light made him squint his eyes as if it were the morning.
Throwing his legs off of the side of the bed, Zuko grabbed his red silk robe that hung on the bedpost and tied it around his bare chest. By the time he made it to the door, the Fire Lord had muttered all of the curses he knew. Iroh would have cringed if he had heard the language.
Opening the steel door, Zuko found a guard standing outside his room. "What is it?" the Fire Lord asked, not bothering to hide his irritation.
"I know it's in the middle of the night, sir, but we have a matter that we need you to address."
Zuko began to shut his door. "If a war hasn't started, then I believe this can wait until the morning. Goodnight."
The guard slipped his hand inside the door so the Fire Lord couldn't shut it. "It's urgent."
Turning away, Zuko shot a flash of fire into his room. "Leave me be!" he exclaimed. "Whatever it is, it can wait until the morning! As long as there is no war and uncle is not dead or hurt, it's not urgent enough to disturb me at this hour. GOODNIGHT!" With that he slammed the door, returning to his bed, not bothering to strip himself of his robe.
When Zuko was waken the next morning, he was in no better mood. He blamed it on the lack of sleep from the night before. However, did a few minutes of lost sleep make one so bitter?
That was what his uncle asked as he helped Zuko place the crown in his hair. "Zuko, why must you be so angry all of the time?"
"Angry? Uncle, I am Fire Lord. It is my duty to run our kingdom, how can I properly do that if I'm soft and let people walk all over me?"
Iroh nodded, reaching for his cup of tea on the dresser. "Ah, but who will want to be under a ruler who is nothing but angry?"
Rolling his eyes, Zuko brushed off the last remark. He had understood Iroh's point, but he wasn't going to change, and he knew this well enough. "Uncle, do you know what the guards wanted last night?"
"Yes, that is why I came here."
Zuko looked at his reflection in the mirror, straightening himself. "And what is it that is so urgent?"
Iroh fell silent, sipping his tea. He didn't respond, and the longer Zuko waited for a reply, the more impatient he grew. Finally he threw his hands back, fire shooting from his fists. "What is it, uncle?" he asked, shouting.
"I'm sorry, Zuko. I'm just very confused about the whole situation really."
"Then out with it!"
The door to his chamber swung open, and the guard from the night before stood in the doorway. "Fire Lord Zuko, we ask that—"
"I'm coming!" he shouted.
Iroh straightened the Fire Lord's crown, stepping back as he finished. "I'm proud of you, Zuko."
Ignoring his uncle, Zuko followed the guard out of his room.
He was led through the many hallways of the palace, down into the dungeons. He wondered why they were taking him into the palace's dungeons. Those prisons were only for prisoners they caught breaking in, and even then they were moved out of there so quickly that he never saw them. That was their purpose. The Fire Lord wasn't supposed to see the prisoners.
Swinging open a huge gate, they came into a cold room where a single prisoner stood tied up by his wrists. His head hung down, hair covering his face. Zuko furrowed his brow, standing as straight as he could to try and look at the prisoner. The man's knees were shaking slightly—Zuko could see it. The guard whipped the prisoner who barely made a sound when he was hit. "Look up when your leader walks in," he said roughly.
Slowly the man raised his head. His stare was softened when a pair of blue eyes stared up at him.
As a sudden pain went through his stomach, the Fire Lord turned away so he didn't vomit. His hands were shaking and he closed his eyes tightly, hoping what he saw wasn't real. He turned back again, and the prisoner had blood dripping from his lips, scratches across his cheeks, and there were tears welling in his eyes. Zuko's bottom lip shook. "Oh my god," he whispered. Tears stung in his own eyes, but he blinked them back.
"We caught him trying to break into the palace last night. He tried to say that he had been in here before, and he said his name is Sokka. I didn't believe him, but we decided to ask you before we sent him over to the prison. Fire Lord Zuko, do you know this man?" the guard asked.
Zuko stared at the prisoner. The prisoner stared back. "No."
The guards violently grabbed the warrior and rearranged his chains so that they could lead him away. As Sokka was led away in chains, he fought against the restraint and shouted, "Tell them Zuko! Tell them about us!"
Narrowing his eyes, Zuko watched as the guards threw his down on the ground to further restrain him. They beat him until he stopped shouting, and that was when Zuko looked away and didn't look back.