A/N: I changed the ending to this chapter a tiny bit... (by 'tiny bit' I mean a lot)
Zuko's POV:
"Sir, we are ready with your prisoner whenever you are." My guard knelt before me, waiting for me to answer him. Zari, who was sitting in my lap, leaned back against my chest and looked up at me.
"Are you ready?" She asked, taking my hand in her own. I could tell she was just as nervous as I was. I took a deep breath and looked over at my guard.
"We are ready. Send my father in." I was careful to hide my uncertainty. I wanted this meeting to be between my father, my daughter, and myself. If my guard thought I wasn't ready he most likely wouldn't leave us alone. Apparently I was a good liar because the man stood to leave.
"Very good sir." With a bow the guard disappeared to do as I asked. Only a few moments passed before my father was ushered into my throne room and shoved to his knees before me.
"That will be all." I waved my guard away. He opened his mouth to object but I didn't give him the chance. "You are dismissed."
"A bold move." Ozai chuckled after the guard left the room. "We all know what happened the last time the three of us were left in a room together. Your sister won't be swooping in to save you this time." It was clear by the tone in my father's voice that he was beyond displeased with Azula.
"I won't need saving." I spat at him. "I just want to talk for now."
"Talk!" Ozai laughed. "What could we possibly have to talk about?" I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. This wasn't exactly starting off well. Azaria squeezed my hand reassuringly. Her simple gesture gave me strength to go on.
"All I ever wanted was for you to love me." I shook my head. "It was such a simple thing that I wanted. I spent so much of my time trying to please you. I spent countless nights chasing down the Avatar just so you would restore my honor. None of that even matters now. What you did to my daughter is unforgivable."
"I never did give you your honor back." Ozai smirked, thinking the little jab would set me off. Before Azaria it may have done just that, but now that I had a family I had too much to lose from getting into that argument.
"Not that this is the point of this conversation, but I have learned over the years that honor is not something that someone can take from you. Nobody can give you your honor either. Honor is something that you have to earn for yourself." I looked down at the small girl in my lap before bringing my attention back to Ozai. "Let me tell you, I have plenty of honor."
"Huh… I never thought of it like that." The ex-Fire Lord said. He seemed to be thinking about my words. I narrowed my eyes trying to see through this facade, I hadn't expected such a dramatic change in character from my father.
"What are you trying to do?" I demanded, my voice raising higher than I intended. Azaria sighed. She stood up on top of my legs and wrapped me in a hug, she pressed her soft cheek against my scarred one.
"Daddy, don't get angry." She whispered. "He just wants you to be mad." Her words were the truth.
"When did you get so smart?" I asked, kissing her cheek. She giggled, one of my favorite sounds in the world. I was glad she'd insisted on coming to do this with me.
"It seems that fatherhood is doing some good for you." Ozai commented, a small grin playing on his lips. I was confused because I didn't sense any misleading or condescending motives behind it.
"You seem like you're up to something." I told him. He held his hands up in surrender, finally getting up off his knees.
"I promise I'm not up to anything." Ozai looked down at the ground. "It was one thing to have you turn on me after all I'd done to you." His eyes flitted up to the left side of my face, but he quickly looked away. "The other night when Azula turned on me too I knew I'd messed up. Zuko, I've been a horrible father and a horrible grandfather. I want to change my ways." His eyes bore into mine. I searched his eyes for any hint of a lie but saw nothing. "Surely you believe in second chances? Someone who has been bad in the past could change his ways and become good?"
"What is he talking about Daddy?" Azaria asked. I realized once she spoke that I had been silent for too long. This was everything I thought I wanted, but it still felt wrong. What would Uncle Iroh say to me? Probably something about forgiveness always being the answer.
"Nevermind that Zari." I smiled to her softly. Ozai cleared his throat.
"She seems to be the source of great happiness for you my son." Ozai smiled. "If I may, I'd like to properly introduce myself to the girl." Azaria and I exchanged a glance. Her thoughts seemed to be in line with those of my uncle's. She climbed out of my lap and walked over to her grandfather. I watched her intently as Ozai took her hand with a small grin.
"Hello little one." He spoke sweetly. I didn't like this one bit. This complete 180 he'd done didn't sit well with me.
"Azaria." I warned.
"What's wrong Zuko?" Ozai grinned. I noticed he was still holding her hand in his. I took a breath, willing myself to speak calmly.
"Nothing is wrong." I forced a smile. "Zari, come here baby." I watched as my father dropped her hand and Azaria turned to walk back to me. Part of me was relieved, but the other part was still on edge.
"Azaria, wait." Ozai reached out, grabbing her left hand. After a second my daugher winced trying to pull her hand out of his grasp.
"Ow! It's hot!" She complained. I realized what Ozai was about to do but I was frozen in place for what seemed like an eternity.
"DON'T!" I yelled. When I finally figured out how to move again I jumped out of my throne and ran to Zari, but It was too late.
"OW!" Azaria's screams of pain echoed throughout the room as flames erupted in my father's palm, effectively burning her hand and a little bit of her wrist. I was beyond angry as I tore the two of them apart.
"Who do you think you are?" I screamed, tackling my father to the floor. I knelt over him with one arm pressed tightly against his neck, the other holding a ball of fire above his head. I brought my fire closer and closer, making him squirm. I knew this wasn't right but I couldn't think straight. All I could see playing over and over again in my head were the flames enveloping Azaria's hand.
"Daddy!" Azaria sniffled. I felt her tugging at the back of my shirt as she tried to pull me off of my father.
"Azaria find Mommy so she can heal your hand. Daddy has to take care of this right now." I pressed my fire even closer to my father's face. "All I wanted was to work things out with you! Why did you have to make me choose between you and my daughter! Why?" I screamed. Again I felt the tug of my little girl pulling on my shirt.
"Daddy! It hurts!" Her voice sounded hurt and broken. I sighed.
"Guards!" I screamed. Instantly four members of my guard ran in the room. "Take him to the freezer! Get Katara down here right now!" The four men nodded, terrified that if they did anything wrong I might direct my anger towards one of them. As soon as they had Ozai restrained I turned to my daughter.
"Azaria…" Words couldn't express how sorry I was. I was sorry she'd been kidnapped, sorry she gotten burnt, and sorry she'd had to see me acting so irrationally. She stood before me crying. She had her left hand cradled against her chest, hiding it from my sight. I shook my head and pulled her into my chest. "I'm so sorry."
"Daddy!" She sobbed, leaning all her weight against me. I rubbed her back, praying that Katara would get here quickly. I knew the pain my little girl was feeling all too well.
"You're going to be okay." I whispered to her. "Mommy's going to heal your hand and it's going to be okay."
"What happened!?" Katara demanded as she ran through the room to get to us. I looked away, unable to face her.
"Ozai burnt her." I held back hot tears. I was so angry.
"Let me see your burn sweetheart." Katara crouched in front of me and Azaria, speaking softly. She was doing everything right to keep our daughter calm.
"No!" Azaria cuddled closer to me. I could feel her shaking against me, I squeezed her tighter.
"You need to let Mommy heal your burn baby girl." I ran my hand through her hair gently. "I know it hurts you and you don't want anyone to touch it, but Mommy knows what she's doing. You'll be okay."
"I promise I won't hurt you Zari. I just want to look." Katara reached out to move Azaria's right hand out of the way so we could see how bad the burn was. Zari's head was still buried in my chest but she sensed it.
"Stop. I only want Daddy to help it." I frowned at Azaria's statement when I saw the hurt in Katara's eyes. "It's hot! I don't like it! Please make it stop!"
"Honey, I have more experience with burns." Katara explained chewing on her lip. I sighed, already knowing what Azaria would say. The little girl in my arms turned to face Katara, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Do you have a burn on your face? Did you get your shoulder burnt up? What about your hand?"
Zari wasn't trying to hurt her mother's feelings, she was simply hurting. I felt bad because I didn't know who's side to take.
"Azaria… it's going to leave a nasty scar if you don't let me help you."
"I don't care!" Zari screamed, letting her head fall against me again. "Daddy! It hurts so bad!"
"Zuko." Katara closed her eyes as she spoke. There is a burn kit in Azaria's bathroom." She took a deep breath before opening her eyes. "Please take care of her. It's obvious that she doesn't want my help right now."
"You're coming too. If nothing else you can at least talk to her to help keep her mind off of the pain."
"Okay." Katara nodded, She stood up and offered me a hand, I took it and scooped Azaria up. Together Katara and I wove our way through the halls of the palace. Azaria's cries of pain echoed through the corridors causing a few guards to come running. One look at my face told them not to ask any questions. Once we got to the bathroom I set Zari down on the counter, Katara took the medicine and a little towel out of the cabinet.
"My hand hurts really, really badly." My sweet little girl cried.
"I know. Let me see." I asked gently. Slowly, Azaria lifted her right hand away from her left and I saw the angry spiral that circled from her wrist to her fingertips. Her deep red skin was bubbling and already had quite a few blisters. I had to clench my teeth to keep from saying something she shouldn't hear. I was beyond angry with my father. I didn't know what was giving me the strength to keep my cool as I helped Azaria.
"Oh sweetheart." Katara sounded just as upset as I did as she looked at Azaria's charred skin. "Please let me help you. Please."
"But…" Azaria covered her hand up again, looking at me with her piercing blue eyes. I nodded slightly, willing her to give in and let Katara help her. She sighed, reaching out to squeeze my hand while she looked at Katara. "Be gentle!"
"Okay. I promise I will be gentle." Katara told our daughter as she soaked the little towel in water and very gently I started cleaning the burn. She was going as easy as she possibly could but Azaria still flinched with every dab her mother made.
"It hurts!" My little girl screamed, kicking her feet against the bathroom cabinet. With each of her screams of pain I felt more and more rage bubbling up inside me. As soon as I finished up here Ozai was going to pay for what he'd done.
"I know baby, I know. Cleaning it is the worst part but it's all over now." Katara tried to smile as she surrounded her own hands in water before taking Azaria's hand to work her magic. "You're being a very brave girl. I'm so sorry this happened to you."
"I don't like Grandpa Ozai." Zari frowned and turned to look at me. I realized I was rigid and my teeth were still clenched. "Can you tell him he's mean just for me?" She sniffled, flinching a bit when Katara's water hit an especially sensitive spot.
"I'm going to do more than that Zari." I frowned. There were so many different methods of torture going through my head right now. I wasn't playing Ozai's little games anymore.
"Zuko." Katara pulled me away from my murderous thoughts and held out a little tube of medicine. "I've done just about all I can for her right now. She's definitely going to have a scar but at least I fixed any serious damage."
"Thank you." I sighed, I felt a little bit better knowing that. I watched Zari as I untwisted the cap off the tube, she seemed to be physically less distressed now.
"Daddy don't hurt it." She whispered as I took her hand gently in my own.
"I would never." I whispered back. I kissed her forehead before softly dabbing the cream on her hand. I noticed it looked better already even with the small amount of time Katara had used to heal her. "Everything's going to be okay now." I wrapped her hand and wrist up in some gauze and hugged her tight. "All done."
"Thank you for helping me." She sniffled carefully draping her arm around me as her right hand pulled Katara in for a hug too. We stayed like that for a little while before she released us.
"I have some business I need to attend to." I announced. Zari opened her mouth to speak, and I already knew what she was going to ask for. It seemed Katara did too because she spoke up quickly.
"Perfect, Azaria can come help me get things ready in the kitchen for when Azula gets here tonight." I could sense that she still wasn't happy about having my sister for dinner, but that was a discussion for another time.
"Good idea." I kissed Katara gently and messed up Azaria's hair. "Stay out of trouble and be a good girl for Mommy."
"Fine." Azaria sighed. I helped her down off the counter and walked to the end of the hall with her and Katara. My eyes met Katara's and she silently reassured me I was doing the right thing by punishing Ozai. I already knew what I was doing wasn't right, but with each step I took towards the prison I felt more and more rage starting to come back. Burning me was one thing, but my father had crossed the line when he decided to scorch my daughter's hand.