"His room is a mess. He's gone."

Zuko doesn't even look at his wife and daughter before rushing out of the house and slamming the door open like he'll be able to see his son running off in the distance. But it's dark at night and it's already been too long; Kaz is gone.

He's shaking but he needs to stay strong. He can. The door stays open as he stalks back inside to where Katara is hugging Zuya — the little girl is crying, tears running down her cheeks, and his heart collapses. He runs up to both of them and envelops them in his arms, ignoring the empty space on his right where Kazou should be. He'll be there in a bit.

"Say it again," Katara says. "About where he's going. What did he say?"

"H—he just said people are g—going to help him with his bending. And it was weird, Mom. He lit up one of my lamps and it was purplish-blue. And then he just said that they were going to the Fire Nation. That's it."

Katara's hand spasms against him. "Blue fire?"

"He hasn't — he's been so angry at me I haven't noticed — it's been weeks since we've bent together —"

"Blue fire," she repeats and clasps down on his arms. Her grip is tight but he can definitely stand it. It's keeping him a little grounded right now. "Blue fire."

"It can't be," he shoves his face into her hair. It feels wrong to just stand here, feels like he should be running through every street in Ba Sing Se screaming his son's name. "She's in the Fire Nation."

"No," and when he looks at her she's turning pale, her eyes wide and her grip on Zuya leaving her knuckles white. "I didn't tell you, on that night that he came back late — Ty Lee told me that there are rumors that she's left. That she's not there."

"She can't be here."

"We wouldn't — we wouldn't know if she was. But she would know about us. We're not exactly —"

"Shit." His mind is blowing itself out of his chest, his thoughts spiralling. If Azula is in Ba Sing Se, if she's not in the Fire Nation . . . blue fire. She would have found them, she knows about Lee. He's been banking on her want for him to not exist for the past twenty years. If she knows about Lee then she knows about Kazou and Zuya.

Blue fire.

"Mom? Dad? What's happening? I don't get it, who's she —"

They should answer her questions but all he can think about are Kazou's — all the questions he's had over the years, ones about their families, about their nations, about the stories they tell. His son is perceptive and he knows that they're not Earth Kingdom and he's a firebender so he knows that he's not safe here. But Zuko's always considered his questions childish inquiries, always considered them harmless, always came up with another story.

He walked into a war room and made one of the most monumental decisions of his life when he was thirteen and that was too young. He commanded his own ship for three years and then fought the Avatar and then went undercover and then joined the Avatar. And then he counted his losses and got married at eighteen and he's been lying to himself since then. It's easy to be Lee. Lee has a wife and two kids and Lee can't firebend; he handles ledgers and boils pots and does dishes. He runs a tea shop.

Once upon a time this wasn't him; he used to be a prince. He was about to become Fire Lord when he ran away from his destiny because he'd lost everything and wanted to survive another day. He's lived two lives, two halves, and he likes this one more. This one is easy.

Katara has been saying for the past year that they should tell Kazou the truth but he's been fighting against that. To tell his son the truth would be to acknowledge the past he's been hiding so well from himself. It would lend to his unrest and maybe even heighten his discord; Kaz is an emotional mess at best. And maybe this is the universe conspiring against him. If Azula is in Ba Sing Se — and who else would teach Kazou how to channel himself so clearly, how to create blue — and Kaz is running away to the Fire Nation . . . he knows something.

If only he'd listened to Katara, if only he'd concluded one of their arguments about this and let go. Kaz would be here and he'd be suspicious and angry but he would be with his family, not with Azula or any number of the radical Fire Nation anarchists in the Earth Kingdom. If the pieces truly fit this well then he doesn't know what to do. What sort of twisted story would his sister tell his son?

Something about loss and betrayal and cultural heritage. He feels like a failure; he's known for ages that Kazou isn't happy here, is bitter about his inability to bend, but he's ignored those signs. Just like he ignored his son's sudden lack of interest in bending and newfound cool anger. It's much easier to stay oblivious than to acknowledge something is wrong. To him and Katara this is a utopia, the best life they can live. But what will Kaz see?

His father could have been a king and turned down his legacy. His parents were masters to the Avatar — and even if Aang is long-gone, that still turns heads. He could have been a prince — he is a prince. His mother is the daughter of a water tribe's chief and he comes from a line of masters and leaders, a line of Sozin and Roku and Ozai and Hakoda, a line of power. These are things that don't matter very much to thirty-four-year-old Zuko but they sound like a young boy's fantasies. When he was fourteen he was captaining a ship and searching for his honor across the seven seas. Teenage boys make bad decisions.

And then what would Azula want with Kaz? The same as any group of radicals would want; Kaz is a powerful bender, fueled, and he has the potential for emotional control that Zuko never has had — the reason he was never as good as his sister at her sanest. He's young and impressionable and full of fire. But he's been sought out for a reason. There are a number of displaced young firebenders throughout the colonies, many victims of war and a soldier's cruelty. There is only one reason Azula would bother with her nephew, and that is — not something he can comprehend right now.

There will be time to deliberate on his decisions and have regrets later. Right now he has a son to find, and he will find him. There is one thing he hasn't lost over the years and that is his determination. He wants his family whole and he will have it, damn the costs. Everything else is in his way.

Zuko takes in a deep breath but when he releases it he doesn't know what to say so Katara, looking into his eyes with resolve, speaks for him. "Don't worry, sweetie. We're going to find your brother," she whispers into her daughter's hair. Then she releases the both of them and immediately starts looking for her extra waterskins. "The swords, Zuko. Whether it's her or anyone else they'll have to be in the Upper Ring and they'll leave through the gate."

"He'd really leave? Right now?"

"We have to plan for the worst case scenario, don't we? She could still have what's left of the Dai Li. I just don't . . ." she groans in frustration. "I just don't know where."

Zuya is pulled away from both of them, her eyes narrowed. "So something is really wrong and that's why he's leaving. Just tell me —"

It's Katara, again, who reaches out to hold her hand, and he feels terrible that he isn't being supportive enough right now. But Katara knows what she's doing and he knows that she shares his perspective on this; they'll get their son back no matter the costs. "We'll tell you. We will, okay? But after we get Kaz back. It's a long story and we don't have time right now."

"I . . . okay, fine," she scrunches her eyes together and Zuko leans down and kisses her on the cheek before grabbing his swords from the bedroom. He practices in the backyard several times a week but it's been literal years since he fought in combat with his daos. He's older now, broader and hardened and with less pure muscle mass, but the blades are a familiar weight in his palm.

There isn't much time but they both slide out of their sleep clothes and into all black, reminiscent of the outfits they wore when they'd confronted Yon Rha all those years ago. Zuya sits on the couch and stares at the wall, and when they emerge almost seconds later dressed like villains she startles. "You're going to —"

Zuko stares at her for a long moment and feels so many regrets. Then he scoops her up in his arms and makes a decision he knows is mostly sound, even if it tears him apart a little. "Zuya, you need to go to Aunt Ty's house, okay?"

"W—what? Why can't I stay here?"

"Aunt Ty is safe and she'll help you. You can't be alone here, I don't know who's watching you — we'll walk you there right now, okay? And then you need to go inside and you need to tell her — listen to what I'm saying very carefully — you need to tell her that she was right and that Azula has Kaz, and that they're both going back to the Fire Nation, and that we're going to the Upper Ring. Tell her she can stay or come but if she leaves she needs to lock you inside, okay? You can stay safe but you need to stay locked inside of her apartment. And she'll know that."

"Aunt Ty . . ." she repeats dazedly, and Zuko taps her shoulders as Katara comes up behind him with a worried look.

"We'll be back soon, okay? You just need to tell all of this to Aunt Ty. You can do that, right?"

Sometimes he forgets that Zuya is just a few months younger than what Aang used to be — she still feels like the child he almost lost, the small one which cried for days in his arms after she was born too soon. He was her age when he lost his mother, maybe less. He won't have her go through that type of pain; she will have the three of them back.

He forces her to put on a jacket and then hoists her up over his shoulder, covering her tell-tale features with her hood, and opens the door as Katara snuffs out the lights of their home. Kaz's door is still open and he can see clothes spread across the floor. No.

And then the second they close their door they're running through the streets. He can't tell what time it is but it's past all activity and before dawn, when he usually awakes; the streetlamps are still on but dim enough that they can't see much beyond every block. Ty Lee's place, the one she sleeps in, is relatively far away, but it's a path they both know well. And it's also closer to the Upper Ring, closer to Kaz.

They're two blocks away, enough to see the building standing proudly, when he lets go of Zuya and kisses her on the forehead one more time. Katara pulls her into her arms as well and he thinks his wife might be crying as she asks if Zuya knows what to say; when the little girl nods her hands clench as she tears them away. They both watch in silence as she runs up to the door. When they see it open they turn away and sprint the opposite direction.

"Over there," Katara whispers. There's a water tank standing above what looks like a collection of restaurants. They're closer to the second level and the places here are more cultured than the ones he knows. Most of them have sealed doors and are raised on platforms.

Their plan is silent but they've discussed something like this before. What would we do if we had to go back?

We'd go out with a bang. If we had to get caught we'd make sure they'd catch us. We won't go silently, we won't make it easy. We're not weak, not yet.

Zuko thinks about Kazou; his baby, the child playing with stuffed dragons and fish and giggling under a glass mobile, the boy asking him about bending and for more stories and trying to hold his swords. He's not his father and he never will be. He doesn't know how it's possible for a father to love his child any less than this. His feelings burn through his throat.

That's all it takes to remember the dragons, remember breathing, remember energy and life. And as Katara widens her stance and reaches out to hold his hand he squeezes it and inhales.

When they pull away from each other a tidal wave falls over the earthen streets of the area and he's breathing fire with his eyes closed. This life can't be meaningless.

Aunt Ty looks like she's seen a ghost.

"You're sure — they said Azula? The name? Azula?"

"Y—yeah," she shudders, curled up on the couch. "They said that she has Kaz, or something. But he just told me that he's going to the Fire Nation with people who are helping him bend."

"Oh no," the woman says. "No, no, no," she shakes her head, looks down, and when Zuya looks up again her eyes look like they're about to release tears before she gets up and stands straight. She turns around and stares at the wall for half a moment; something sounds like it's erupting outside, loud and cacophonous.

Zuya runs over to the small window on the side and peeks out. Then her jaw hangs open. There's a small layer of sludge covering the roads and the water tower in the distance has been blown apart. In the distance it looks like something is burning. It seems strange that a natural disaster would happen at this very moment, when it feels like nothing makes sense anymore anyway.

After a second Ty Lee joins her and loudly gasps. "They're doing it," she says almost reverently before her mouth turns into a thin line. "I have to go help your parents, Zuya."

"But what are they doing?"

"You'll understand in a bit. But I'm going to — you can't leave, alright? I'm going to lock the door and you don't open it for anybody besides me or your parents, okay? Nobody."

"You can't just go!"

"I need to, Zuya. I'm sorry, but you'll understand in a bit. Right now I need . . ." she sounds like she's choking, "there's something I need to do, too. Closure."

"Closure?"

Before she can say another word her mentor and de-facto family member leaps through the door, already dressed in her combat gear from her classes. Zuya is left to see a door slammed shut, a single flame glowing in the empty apartment.

She really, really wants to figure out what's going on here. And she doesn't want to stay here. So she runs to the open window and can make out the edges of a person in pink moving towards the flames. And if she squints her eyes she can make out the telltale green of the Earth King's soldiers.

That's Dad. Dad is firebending.

You can stay safe but you need to stay locked inside of her apartment.

She bites her lip and tests the window hinge — after a few tugs, it opens. The jump to the ground isn't too bad and if she lands it she'll make it. She's been training for a long time, she can jump a few feet out of a building.

So she blows out the light and then does, dodging behind empty stands as she traces a figure in pink.