Like waves washing away the footprints of sand, Ember Island gives everyone a clean slate. Ember Island reveals the true you.

Zuko pondered these words as he sat up in his room, unable to sleep. He had suggested the idea of going to Ember Island to Azula earlier that day with those words that Lo and Li had spoken to them two years ago in mind. If Ember Island supposedly gives people a clean slate, then perhaps it can help finally bridge the gap between him and Azula and bring them closer once again. There was a time where the two of them had gotten along, but that had been years ago, before she began to firebend.

As he watched Azula playing with Kiyi, having regular conversations that didn't become an argument, smiling at the small girl whenever she was around, Zuko couldn't help but feel jealous. Why couldn't his own relationship with Azula be like that? Two years have passed since the war ended, they weren't trying to kill each other, and he helped her heal after the Agni Kai, against the wishes of Uncle, who had suggested placing her in an asylum. Zuko had decided that the best thing for Azula was to have her stay in the palace with him where she would be cared for by the best doctors he could find, people he could trust to look after her and keep him up to date on her condition on an hourly basis.

Despite all of that, however, the relationship between the two of them was still rocky. And for the life of him, Zuko couldn't figure out why. Things seemed to have been going well between them. She was even helping him rule the fire nation, a co firelord of sorts (and really, he was grateful for her help. He couldn't even imagine how hard this would have been without Azula's help) but there was still something there, a wedge that just could not be lifted no matter how hard he tried.

That's when he remembered Ember Island

The place where one time they're family has been happy. A time when he and Azula would play with each other to their heart's content and no rivalry existed between them. Those were some of the most precious memories he had with his sister.

He hoped that tomorrow when they arrived at Ember Island and could just sit down and talk, have a real talk about everything and put the past behind them, that they would be able to make new memories together.

And perhaps they would be even better than the ones from a time so long ago.

"We're here."

Azula looked around at the old beach house and said "No, you don't say. Now are you going to tell me what's the reason for this visit, brother? Like I said to you before, this place is depressing."

I should have known that she would get right to the point. So much for small talk.

Zuko took a deep breath. "Yeah that's…actually why we're here, Azula."

Azula blinked "What?"

"Why do you find this place to be depressing?"

She glared at him and then looked away, where the house stood "Why do you think, Zuko? It's because of the past, the memories that we made here. The fun that we had playing together without a care in the world for hours, and how that all came to a crashing end when grandfather died and father was crowned fire lord. I never said anything, but I miss all of that."

Me too

Zuko gave her a soft smile "I know, so do I. That's why I wanted to come here, to make new memories with you and to start over. A clean slate for the both of us."

She looked at him and chuckled "You actually took what Lo and Li said to us back then to heart, didn't you?"

"Hey, it worked for me back then. I don't see why it can't work now."

"Alright, fine. You want to talk? Then let's talk. Follow me."

"Why did you want to come all the way here to the beach house? I figured you would be more comfortable talking on the beach, like we did back then."

"Well, this is where everything started, is it not? The source so to speak. Everything started here, so we may as well let everything out here too."

He supposed that was a fair point. He sat himself down in front of Azula and began to think. Where would be a good place to start this conversation?

My own mother thought I was a monster. She was right of course, but it still hurt.

That was as good a place as any to start

"Back then, you said to us 'My own mother thought I was a monster. She was right of course, but it still hurt.' Why did you think that? Or rather, why do you think that?"

She scoffed " How could I not think that? No matter what I did, I could never earn that woman's love. You had it, and you got it so effortlessly. It didn't matter to her whether you failed or succeeded, she was always there for you to wipe your tears, to pick you up when you were down. Unlike you, I didn't have the luxury of failing. I succeeded at everything I did, because I knew what would happen to me if I didn't. And was she there for me too? No, because I wasn't you, Zuko. Whenever I did something right she never glanced my way. The only time she ever gave me any attention was when I would say or do something that she didn't approve of, which is why I did it. I figured that negative attention was better than none at all. Based on that, how can I not think that she saw me as nothing more than a monster?"

Zuko was surprised by this. He had never noticed that the relationship between his mother and sister was that bad, but he had been a child then. A child who wasn't getting love from his father, but he was getting it from his mother. Plus, he and Azula weren't exactly on the best of terms by that point. He had been extremely jealous of her, so the fact that their mother spent more time with him than her felt like a win to him. But now? Now he saw how fucked up that truly was, especially since he realized that Ozai did not love either one of them. He at least has their mother, and then when she left he had Uncle Iroh. But who did Azula have?

"Azula", he began, "I know that I didn't say this to you back then, because I was so wrapped up in my own personal problems to realize that you were suffering just as much as I was. So, I'll say this to you now. You aren't a monster, Azula."

Silence

He wasn't really sure what he was expecting her to do after he said that, but he definitely wasn't expecting to hear a sniffle.

Azula was crying.

His sister very rarely cried (he tries to not remember the last time he saw her cry) so to see her doing so now was weird. He didn't know what to say to her, but he did know that there was one thing he could do for her right now, as her big brother.

Zuko reached forward and grabbed her, pulling her into a tight embrace.

Which felt even more weird because he couldn't even remember the last time the two of them had even hugged each other.

As he expected, she immediately stiffened in his arms, unused to the physical contact just as much as he was "Wh- what are you doing?"

"I'm doing what nobody in this fucked up family of ours has done for you in years: giving you a hug. So just…let me hold you like this for a while."

He knew that they still had a long way to go in repairing they're relationship. Years of abuse and being pitted against each other by the adults in their lives couldn't be fixed within a single conversation. And Zuko knew that.

But it was a start. A first step towards reconciliation. And for now, that was enough for him.

Zuko didn't expect her to say anything else, but he couldn't help but smile when he heard a muffled "Fine… dum dum."