AN: Short chapter, well shorter than the others. I'm sorry that most of this chapter is just a novelization of the episode(s). I didn't want to change the way the series was for these parts, but I didn't want to just do quick summaries of everything that happened, so you'll probably find a lot of this stuff familiar. I promise the story will be getting original soon, just gotta get to post-war. Anyways, enjoy! and don't forget to review.

Zuko returned from his trip to the Boiling Rock, the prison where the most dangerous criminals were held. He and Sokka went in search of Hakoda, Sokka's father, but came back with not just Hakoda, but Sokka's friend Suki too. They just barely made it out alive after encountering Zuko's sister, Azula. She was two years younger than Zuko, but she was already a far more skilled Fire Bender. They never got along during their childhood and she was always the favorite of their father. Now, she was working together with their father to control the war. The day Ba Sing Se was taken over, Zuko had agreed to join her and return to the Fire Nation with his honor restored. After he decided to be a part of the Avatar's group, his sister tracked him down and tried to get rid of him at the prison, but failed when her friends, Mai and Ty Lee, turned against her. Zuko was thankful that they finally made the right choice, but he knew his sister would only be twice as furious after that stunt.

They left a note this time to avoid any confusion when they returned. Katara was ecstatic to see her father again and she even managed to thank Zuko for it, despite her strong disliking of him. Zuko could only enjoy the happy reunion for so long without feeling nauseous. He decided to take a walk to get some alone time. It was close to the middle of the day and the sun was still high in the sky. He knew that in only a matter of days, the sky would be filled with Sozin's comet. And somewhere out underneath the same sky, Jin was out there. It had been three days since she ran away and he couldn't bear to imagine what could be happening to her. If he didn't find her before the comet, she could be in a lot of danger. Of course, he wasn't entirely sure that Jin wanted to be found. If he just had the chance to explain things to her, maybe she wouldn't be afraid of him.

"Why does it even matter what she thinks of you? She's just some girl. I rescued her and now I don't owe her anything. Why should I even waste my time looking for her?" he thought outloud.

"Because you obviously care about her." Zuko jumped at the voice behind him. He really needed to stop talking to himself.

"Ahh! What are you…? Did you follow me?" It was Aang who had snuck up on him.

"No. Well…I guess…kind of yeah." He scratched the back of his bald head. "You looked kind of angry when you walked off, so I figured it was a good time for a firebending lesson!" He wanted to object. He actually wasn't in the mood to teach firebending, but he could sure release some fire. But he remembered the approaching comet and Aang was nowhere near ready to face his father.

"I guess you do need a lot more training."

"Hey! I'm not that bad, am I?" he asked.

"Uh, let's just go train." Zuko avoided that question. He really need more practice than they had time for. "So you know how to hold the fire in your hands now, but you need to work on extending it, without losing control. If you don't control the fire, it will control itself. Here, just try this." He widened his stance, inhaled, and punched forward his fist, releasing a burst of fire. Aang tried to stand firmly and punch forward, but he lost control of the fire and it spread in every direction, almost hitting Zuko. He ducked out of the way as the flames dissipated above him.

"I'm so sorry!" Aang said. "This is why I can't firebend. I always hurt someone." He looked down at the ground.

"It's okay. You didn't hurt me. You need to learn to associate fire with other things than hurt, as hard as that may be. There's a big difference between fire and the other three elements. With water, Earth, and air, they are all something you just manipulate. Yes, you can manipulate fire, but you can also create it. It's already inside of you. You created it, you control it. Don't let it control you." He let out a long chain of fire which followed the movement of his arm. It's not just a weapon, it's a light source, it's a heat source, it's life."

Aang tried once more to control the fire and he succeeded. The small burst of fire flew out of his fist in a continuing stream before it died down. He grinned at his accomplishment.

"That was…good. But you're going to need a lot more work than that. We need to work on stamina and…" Zuko was interrupted by Katara's voice calling to Aang.

"Aang, it's dinner time!"

"Oh boy! Coming!" He began to take of running towards the camp area, but he was stopped by a firm hand to his chest.

"Not so fast, training isn't over."

"But, Zuko…it's dinner time and…"

"Fine. Go. But I'm going to tell you now, even if we train for the next three days, you won't be ready to defeat my father." Katara, Toph, and Sokka walked over to them to see what was taking so long.

"Well…about that. We figured we would just wait till after the comet to battle the Firelord. I need more time to master firebending."

"Yeah," Toph joined the conversation. "and your Earthbending could use a little work.

"and if Aang was going to fight the Firelord now, he'd lose…no offence."

"How long have you guys been planning to do this?" Zuko asked. He tried to hold in his temper as much as he could. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Well after Ba Sing Se was taken over, the Fire Nation pretty much won the war. And the plan to fight the Firelord before the comet was to stop them from winning the war. It can't get much worse, so we might as well wait." Katara explained.

"Wrong. It's going to get much worse than you could even imagine. Before the eclipse, my father asked me to attend an important war meeting. " he paused for a moment to think of a way to explain it. Everyone was silent, waiting for him to continue. "On the day of the comet, he plans on burning the Earth Kingdom to the ground and bring an end to Earth Kingdom citizens, just the same way my great-grandfather wiped out the Air Nomads. It was my sister's idea. I wanted to speak out against these horrifying plans, but…last time I spoke out at a war meeting…" he brought his hand up to his eye. "…I got this." The gang continued to stand there in shock.

"I can't believe it." Katara shook her head.

"I knew the Firelord was bad, but this is just…evil." Sokka said.

"What am I supposed to do? Aang was almost expressionless, which was very unusual for him.

"I know you're scared. And I know you're not ready to save the world." Zuko looked him right in the eyes. "But if you don't defeat the Firelord before the comet, there won't be a world to save anymore. You have to take his life before he takes yours."

"Why didn't you tell me about your dad's crazy plan sooner?" Aang started to pace frantically in a circle.

"I didn't think I needed to! You never told me that you planned on waiting till after the comet!

"This is bad. Really, really bad!" Aang said, pressing his hands to his face. He dropped to his knees and shook his head.

"You don't have to do this alone." Katara said. She walked up behind him and gently touched him on the shoulder.

"If we all fight the Firelord, we have a shot at taking him down!" Toph said enthusiastically. Zuko still didn't understand how they could be getting excited about this battle.

"Alright! Team Avatar is back!" Sokka cheered. "Air, water, Earth, fire, fan and sword!"

"This fight is going to be the hardest thing we've ever done together. But I wouldn't want to do it any other way." Aang said. Everyone came together and made a group hug around Aang, but Zuko stood back.

"Get over here, Zuko." Katara yelled towards him. "Being part of the group includes the group hugs." Do I have to? Zuko thought. He gave in and walked over, wrapping his arms around Toph and Suki.

The gang had made their way into the Fire Nation. They went to Ember Island and stayed in Zuko's old vacation house. The location brought back a lot of memories for him. Although the memories of the island were good, the good memories lead to bad ones. He just preferred not to recall anything. By the time they arrived, it was dark and getting pretty late. They all headed inside the small beach house to pick out rooms.

"Aw, look at this picture!" He heard Katara say from down the hall.

"What is it?" Toph asked her.

"It's an old family portrait. There's a little Zuko in it!" She giggled. "Hey Zuko, look at this!" The last thing he wanted to do was look at that picture. He turned around and shot a small ball of fire towards the picture, igniting it on the wall. "Hey!" Katara yelled. She quickly bended some water from her canteen onto the picture, extinguishing the flames. "That was uncalled for!"

"No, the fact that the picture is still hanging in here is uncalled for. Those times are over, there's no need for it now." He replied without turning around. He just wanted to get away.

"I didn't know he felt so strongly." He heard Katara say to Toph. "I feel bad. Maybe I should go apologize."

"Nah, he just wants to be alone." He was grateful that at least someone realized that he hasn't been in the mood for company lately. He found the old guest room he used to sleep in. It was untouched and everything had a layer of dust on it. He didn't even bother lighting the room. He just jumped right into bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

"Zuko! Zuko, wake up!" This wasn't how he preferred to be woken up in the morning. It was Katara who was yelling at him. He sat up and stretched out his arms.

"What is it?" He asked through a yawn. Her face looked distraught. He immediately sat up straight. He could tell something bad had happened.

"Aang's missing!"

"What? When did you notice he was gone?"

"He wasn't in his bed this morning."

"Alright, let's go search." He told her.

"Hey guys! Come look at this!" Sokka called from outside the house. They quickly ran to where the voice was. "He left his staff on the porch. He would never leave his staff."

"Let's go look at the beach." Katara suggested. When they got down there, they discovered footprints that led to the ocean.

"They stop here…"Sokka said curiously.

"So he went for a midnight swim and never came back?" Suki asked.

"Maybe he was captured." Katara suggested.

"I don't think so. There's no sign of a struggle."

"He ran away." Toph said.

"No, he left his glider and Appa." Sokka objected.

"Well where do you think he went?" Toph said, sounding annoyed.

"When Aang disappears before a big battle, he's usually on a Spirit World journey!" he said confidently.

"His body would still be here." Zuko pointed out.

"Oh yeah."

"He's gotta be on this island somewhere. Let's split up and look for him." Katara ordered.

"I'm going with Zuko!" Toph quickly ran over and latched on to his arm. He felt his face get warm. Of course, he would rather be in a group with Toph rather than Katara or Sokka. He knew they had both lightened up to him, but he wasn't sure if they exactly liked him yet.

After a few hours of searching the island, the gang met back at the beach house.

"No luck either?" Sokka asked them.

"No. It's like he just…disappeared." Zuko sighed. This was not good. The comet was just two days away.

"Hey, did any of you guys notice that Momo is missing too?" Toph pointed out.

"He must be with Aang." said Sokka. They all stood there for a moment, pondering Aang's possible whereabouts.

"So…what should we do, Zuko?" Katara asked him. He was caught off guard by the question.

"I don't know...why are you all looking at me?" he looked around, avoiding eye contact with the gazes that were focused on him.

"Well, you are kind of an expert on tracking Aang."

"Oh…right." He tried not to remember that part of his life sometimes. He thought hard about how he used to track the Avatar. He remembered one method in particular that worked well. He led the gang to an old Earth Kingdom tavern. They were quite confused on why he would bring them all the way there, but he knew exactly what he was doing. When they entered the tavern, they saw a familiar woman.

"Hey, I remember her! She helped you attack us." Sokka noticed.

"Yep. Good times." Zuko rolled his eyes as he approached June. She agreed to help them find Aang. They went outside to where her shirshu was tied up. She tossed a piece of raw meat to it and patted her on the back of the head.

"I need something with the Avatar's scent on it." she told them.

"Here's his staff." Katara handed it to the dark-haired woman. She held it infront of the shirshu and allowed it to sniff the staff. It started to run around frantically like it had a lead, but then it just bowed its head down behind June and held it's paws to its nose.

"Well? What does that mean?" Zuko asked.

"It means your friend's gone. He doesn't exist."

"What do you mean he doesn't exist? You don't mean like…dead, do you?" Sokka hesitantly asked.

"Nope. We could find him if he was dead. Well, see ya."

"Wait!" Toph said. "Maybe we can find Jin this way."

"I don't have anything with her scent." Zuko said almost sadly. "But, I have another idea." He pulled out an old sandal that belonged to his uncle and let the large animal sniff it.

"She's definitely found a lead. Let's go!" June said. They followed them a long ways up a rocky slope. The place she led them too looked familiar.

"This is Ba Sing Se." Zuko said. There was a small crack in the wall that was big enough to walk through.

"Your uncle is close by, just beyond those walls. Good luck." Said June as she rode off. They entered through the small crack and found themselves between the outer wall of Ba Sing Se.

"Well look who it is!" said Bumi, who was standing next to Pakku, Piandao , and Jeong Jeong.

"Who are these people?" Toph asked.

"These are great masters and good friends of ours!" Katara explained. They chatted for a moment before Zuko interrupted.

"So where's my uncle?"

"Ah, Iroh. He's in his tent, I believe." Pakku told him.

"I have to go talk to him." He proceeded to the tent where his uncle was staying. He paced outside for a moment, thinking of the right words to say. He stopped when he felt a hand touch his shoulder.

"You okay?" She asked him.

"No. My uncle hates me. He was the only one who ever supported me and I turned against him. How can he ever forgive me?"

"You're sorry for what you did right?"

"More sorry than I've ever been in my life."

"Then he'll forgive you." He inhaled deeply before entering the tent. His uncle was facing opposite of the entrance, reading a scroll of some sort. He didn't turn around to acknowledge Zuko's presence.

"Uncle, I know you must have mixed feelings about seeing me…" his felt tears well up in his eyes. There was no point for him to try to hold them back, so he let them flow. "…but I want you to know that I am so, so sorry Uncle. I'm so sorry and ashamed of what I did. I don't know how I can ever make it up to you but I'll…" He was cut off by the old man pulling him into a tight embrace. Zuko was surprised. He was almost unsure of what to say. His rehearsed apology didn't include this situation.

"How can you forgive me so easily? I thought you would be furious."

"I was never angry with you, I was sad. I was sad because I thought you lost your way." Iroh told him.

"I did lose my way."

"But you found it again…on your own. And I'm so happy you found your way here."

"I'm happy too." That sat there for a moment, just happy to be reunited. Iroh broke finally spoke up.

"I believe there is someone else you should talk to. She's in the next tent over." Zuko was confused. He didn't know who he else he could possibly need to talk to at this campsite. He didn't question his uncle. He hesitantly walked over to the tent. He opened it up to see Jin lying down, staring at the tent ceiling. She jumped slightly as he walked in. She seemed to be just as surprised as he was.

"Jin." he said. She sat up and eyed him, but didn't say anything right away. "I'm so glad you're alright."

"Your uncle found me and brought me here. He's really kind."

"Yeah…" This was too awkward, even for Zuko. He tried to think of a way to opt out of the situation. "Well, I just wanted to make sure you were safe. I'll just go now." He started to turn around, but she stopped him.

"No, it's okay. You can stay."

"Oh." He didn't know what else to say. He took a seat across from her and folded his legs. She mimicked his position and looked at him.

"Your uncle wouldn't tell me anything about you. I mean the real you. He said you would want to explain yourself"

"You actually want to hear?"

"Yes." She looked up at him. Her hazel-green eyes were wide as she stared at him, ready to listen.

"I don't think it's necessary to burden you with my life's story. I just want to tell you that I'm sorry for lying about who I was." Before she could respond, he began to talk again. "But you have to understand why I did it."

"I do underst…" she started to say.

"I know you think I'm like one of the bad ones. But I'm not." He kept going, disregarding Jin.

"I don't think you're…"

"I used to be, but I've changed now. And I would never…" he interrupted again.

"Stop!" She half-yelled at him. "You don't have to keep apologizing. I understand why you lied. It's okay."

"It is?" He was not expecting that reaction.

"Yes. I should actually apologize to you for overreacting. After all that you've done for me, I don't know why I ran away from you."

"I know why. Because this war has given people every reason to fear firebenders."

"I'm not scared of you, I'm scared of…I'm just scared of this war. I feel like I just got sucked in the middle of it so quickly. I was living a perfectly normal life until…"

"Until you met me." he looked down at his feet. Without looking up, he felt her arms wrap around his shoulders, but there was still distance between them. She rested her head on his shoulders. He twitched for a second, but then relaxed. He actually felt…comfortable.

"That's not true." She said.

"How can you deny it?" He straightened up and she released her grip. "It's my fault Ba Sing Se was taken over in the first place, and you wouldn't have even gotten captured if you didn't go looking for me."

"How could it possibly be your fault that the city was taken over?" She asked. He forgot that she still didn't know an important fact about him.

"Because I'm the crown prince of the Fire Nation."

"What?" She just looked at him. "You've got to be kidding."

"No. I sometimes wish it wasn't true, but it is."

"How do I manage to get myself involved with the prince of the Fire Nation?" she groaned. He couldn't help but laugh at the whole situation.

"You must have some really bad luck." He chuckled.

"Or maybe it's really good luck." She smiled.

"Your arm is healed." He changed the subject. Her arm was no longer in a sling.

"Oh yeah. A waterbender here fixed it, Pakku, I think his name was. He had to rebreak it first because it began to heal improperly." Her eyebrows turned downward as she spoke.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, now I am."

"I'm sorry."

"You can't be sorry for everything bad that happens to me."

"I can." She sighed and continued on with a different topic.

"I don't understand. If you're the prince, why aren't you…in the Fire Nation?" she raised an eyebrow at him. "and why were you going undercover in Ba Sing Se?"

"We should save the stories of my past for another day. Right now we need to focus on the future. Like...two days into the future to be specific."

"What's in two days?"

"Sozin's comet."

"What's that?"

"When the comet comes, firebenders will be able to draw power from it. My father, the Firelord, plans on using that power to wipe out the whole Earth Kingdom unless the Avatar stops him." Jin gasped.

"No…there's no way!"

"Yes there is."

"Well the Avatar is going to stop him, right?"

"If we can find him before then. He went missing yesterday."

"But, my family! My whole life was in the Earth Kingdom." Her voice cracked. "It's all going to be gone."

"I won't let that happen." Zuko said firmly.

"Do you promise?" she sniffed. He didn't know what to tell her. He didn't want to make a promise he couldn't keep, but he didn't want to upset her more.

"I promise." He said uneasily.