Cold. Zuko felt so cold. This was different from what had happened at the Northern Water Tribe. He couldn't understand how though. The sun wasn't gone, it was merely being blocked. Zuko rubbed at his arms as he continued down the hallway. The guards waiting outside his father's room didn't move in the slightest when he arrived. Zuko didn't wait for them to acknowledge him - he stepped through their thin ranks and pushed the door to his father's hidden room open. The teen stepped inside, and as the door shut, he startled. The Fire Lord's throne was cracked in two, and above it- His father was held in the grip of a massive stone hand. Water swirled around the stone, lashed back from his father's rigid form by a soundless circle of wind.
"Father!" Zuko sprinted for him. The rock crumpled away as the water splashed down to the floor. He dived forward, arms outstretched, and caught the man. His father's eyes were a shining white, like Aang's were when he went into the Avatar state. Goosebumps broke out on Zuko's arms. He brushed aside the man's long, damp hair. The bright light dimmed from his father's eyes and he went limp. Zuko held his breath as the man slowly stirred in his grasp. "Can you hear me?" Golden eyes blinked up at him. They were strangely flat. Blank. "Father?" Zuko voice dropped to a concerned whisper. An expression he'd never seen before crossed his father's face.
"Father?" The Fire Lord asked. The man pushed himself up into a sitting position. "Father?" The confusion in the man's voice was rapidly changing to something Zuko couldn't recognize. Those golden eyes widened. His father abruptly leaned forward into his personal space. The man's robes were uneven, unsightly for one of his stature. Ozai paid it no heed, instead eyeing Zuko with that strange intensity. "You called me father."
"I... I did," Zuko stammered. Father's hands came up and the teen flinched as he expected fire. The hands swept past his face and closed around his back. Zuko sat frozen as his father hugged him.
"Are you my son?" Zuko's chest twisted at that hopeful tone. His breathing felt too light. The teen jerked back. He couldn't understand. This... This wasn't what he'd- Zuko pushed himself up onto his feet. He took a step back. Another.
"I- I'm going," Zuko tried to start. The rest of his planned speech withered and died in the face of his father's still disturbingly open expression.
"You can't go," Ozai insisted, "we just met!" The elements. His father's shining eyes. The spirits had done this to him. Made him forget, somehow. Zuko could picture with sudden, intense clarity his father wandering out of the bunker. Would the man's guards dare to stop him? What if he encountered the invaders? None of them would hesitate to behead him where he stood. It- That wasn't... wasn't acceptable. If Ozai was to pay for his crimes, then he had to know the crimes he'd committed. Surely true justice wouldn't come from punishing a man who didn't even know his own son. The twist in his chest dug a little deeper.
Zuko shut his eyes and focused on his breathing. In and out - the old pattern of how his ship rocked on the waves. Uncle had taken years to drill the rhythm into him. He needed to rescue his uncle. He needed to join the Avatar to start righting the wrongs of his past. Yet he couldn't just leave his father here. Not this man, who was still sitting on the floor and didn't know Zuko. Agni, did he even remember the war? Did he know his own station? Zuko... He... He offered a hand to his father. The man gave him a confused look.
"Take my hand." The Fire Lord raised a questioning eyebrow at that. "You need to come with me." Joy looked so wrong on his father's face. The man grasped his hand and didn't burn Zuko as the teen felt the warmth of the sun come back. Zuko let go as soon as his father was standing. He smothered his doubts and panic as he began to walk back towards the entrance. This... didn't change anything. Zuko had his plan - free his uncle and help the Avatar. He just had to stick to it and make this setback work. The teen had spent years making things work. He could do this.