Hello, People of Fanfiction.

I can't believe I'm posting another chapter 9 just four days after chapter 8, that must be a record of some sort, right? lol

Anyways, I hope you enjoy,

PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW

He entered the hospital room to find his mother conversing with his sister's best friend while his sister was laying on the hospital bed in deep sleep, Toph and Ursa were clearly getting along well until Zuko interrupted them, and now they were both looking at him.

Toph stood up immediately looking very uncomfortable, "Uhm.. Family reunion Yaaaay.." She said enthusiastically, the situation was indeed very awkward, "You clearly didn't come here to talk to me.. So, I'll just leave you alone." Toph said getting herself out of the awkward situation.

Zuko looked at her as she was walking out and after she got out of the room, he turned his head to look at his still sitting mother. He kept staring at her while she was staring at the ground, it was at that moment that Zuko realized he missed her so much, he kept gazing at her like there was nothing in the world but her, he wanted to run over to her, to hug her and hear her say that everything will be ok like she used to, she reminded him of the good old days, but at the same time she reminded him of the cold new ones.

Suddenly Ursa broke the silence as she stopped looking at the ground and was now looking at her unconscious daughter on the hospital bed,

"Look how beautiful she is.." Zuko was surprised by Ursa's words, but still followed her gaze and looked at Azula, "Sleeping on the hospital bed like an angel.. Who would think that this beautiful, innocent girl on the hospital bed once told me 'Every day I wake up and hope you are dead'.." Ursa said with a shaky voice, as a single tear trickled down her left cheek.

Zuko was shocked by the words, "What?" He simply said.

Ursa was still looking at Azula when she said, "She thought I only loved you, that I didn't care for her, or for anything in this world but Zuko. It's true, Zuko.. I did and still do love you more than anything in this world.." Zuko looked at her in new found compassion, he couldn't believe the words he was saying,

Ursa continued, "What else was I supposed to do? You're my first born, there were times when I had nothing at all but you, there were times.. Countless times, where I thought of just ending my pain right then and there, but your existence made me feel safe. Even after Azula was born, I couldn't forget everytime you saved my life without even realizing it, and that's why I couldn't love anyone or anything in the world more than you, And I still can't." Ursa finished, turning her head to look at Zuko.

Her face was full of desperation, silent pleading, as if she was asking him to forgive her, he wanted to, he wanted too so bad that a tear gathered at the corners of his eyes, but he still wouldn't give up to his mother's words, he wanted confirmation that what she did could be forgiven, he wanted an explanation to why she left them, otherwise, he would never forgive her.

"If you do love me more than anything in the world, then why did you leave me behind?" Zuko started, and Ursa turned her head to look at the ground again,

"Do you even realize what you did to us? You made us feel alone, Just right after our father's arrest, you ran away. and then we came here to The Earth Kingdom to search for my uncle only to find out that he turned himself over. You know what's worse than our lives turning into shit? that our family were the ones responsible for that turn." Zuko said, he wanted to scream the words but he didn't want to wake his sister up.

Ursa looked like she was struggling to speak, like she wanted to say something but just didn't have the guts to,

"I'm sorry, My son.. I wish things turned out differently." She merely said.

Those words would upset anybody with a simple mind, but Zuko understood, She was hiding something, he got closer and looked at her impassively, Ursa still looked at the ground unable to meet Zuko's gaze.

"I know you are hiding something, Mom." He said, and he got the reaction he expected from her as the look on her face turned to that of fear, "Tell me the truth, Mom. I think I deserve that much."

Ursa tried to deny it, "What truth? the truth is I ran away and.. and I just apologized for it." She stuttered, his mother has never been very good at lying.

"I want the truth, Mom." Zuko still said with the same impassive look.

"I told you there's no-" Ursa was about to say but Zuko interrupted her.

"I want the truth, Mom."

Ursa was silent for a while, Zuko only kept staring at her intensely, Ursa couldn't fight for long, she only sighed and told Zuko the truth,

"I was the reason your father got arrested." Ursa said.

Zuko was speechless, he couldn't speak, so someone else did that for him,

"You Did What?!"

Ursa and Zuko were surprised by the sudden outburst, they turned their head only to find Azula staring at her mom, her mouth agape, and the color was driven out of her face, Zuko knew it wasn't due to her illness, because the color was driven out of his face too, he couldn't believe his mother was responsible of the destruction of their livelihoods, their lives were destroyed thanks to the woman who was supposed to be the most caring about them, Even though Zuko kinda understood where Ursa came from, after what Fung informed him, but his mother still owed them an explanation, and they were indeed gonna get one out of her.

She sighed once again, "First of all, It's good to see you again, My daughter.." Ursa said looking at Azula with a warm smile that almost broke her daughter's intense stare, but since she got no reaction from Azula,

she decided to continue, "I'm going to tell you exactly what happened, but you are gonna sit there and listen to me without interruption." Ursa said, and the siblings only nodded and Zuko sat back down in his chair.

Ursa took a deep breath, trying to collect her thoughts as she was trying to remember painful events,

"It all started when your grandfather Azulon forced me to marry your father because of my heritage. my father was a simple farmer but he also was the only heir to the island of Roku as he was the only living son of Roku, your grandfather wanted to buy that island badly, he was willing to do anything to buy it, but he was a very famous man in Caldera city, he didn't want to force my father's hand, so he offered friendship instead, how can you achieve friendship in a country like ours? marrying a son to a daughter. that's the only way. So, my father told me of the situation, and also told what Azulon could do if I refused, so I agreed to save our family, even though I was in love with someone else.." Ursa stopped for a second as she said so and took a look at Zuko and Azula's shocked faces,

she continued, "I never loved your father, I spent my time in this castle in pain, feeling bad for being in the house of drug dealers and murderers, and also feeling guilty for the heart I broke by consummating this marriage.." Ursa looked at the ground again as a single tear trickled down her cheek, she wiped it away and then she looked at Zuko with fondness in her eyes and a sad smile,

"But then I got you.." Ursa said, she then looked at Azula with the same fondness and smile, "and after him, I got you.. You were the reason I kept on, to this day I can't look at the both of you without thinking how you saved my life without even realizing it." She said looking at her daughter who couldn't keep her intense stare and turned her eyes away from her mother's, Ursa then looked at Zuko, whose eyes got incredibly softer after seeing the tears on her face.

Ursa then wiped her own tears again and continued, "Which bring me to the point of how your father got arrested. There was a man named Zhao, you probably heard of him a lot.." Zuko and Azula nodded with looks of disgust on their face, the man who worked for their father and after getting closer to him, he turned out to be an undercover Police officer,

Ursa continued, "Zhao knew of my situation somehow, he knew I would do anything to hurt Ozai, and since I was the only that had access to Ozai's private room, He knew I could be of help to him, but he also knew that I would be too afraid to do it because of the both of you, so he offered me peace of mind, If I give him the papers that would condemn Ozai, he'll give all three of us safe passage to the earth kingdom, but in separate places, because I am the one they are going to look for, I'm the one that they want killed. That's why I stayed away, to keep you as far away from harm as I could." Ursa finally revealed.

Zuko and Azula were to speechless to say anything, so Ursa kept on with her story,

"I went to my old city and found my love, we finally married and now we have a daughter, Kiyi, who would really like to meet her brother and sister."

Zuko already knew about the existence of Kiyi but this was new to Azula so she spoke up,

"You have another daughter?" She said, her voice cracking up.

Her question was left unanswered as Zuko got closer to his mother with a look of new found fondness in his eyes, he sat down next to her as she kept her eyes on him, he then moved his thumb to her cheeks to wipe away her tears, and then he hugged her, the hug surprised her at first but then she reciprocated the hug as she wrapped her arms around him, she was glad that Zuko missed her as much as she did, deep down in her heart, she knew that Zuko couldn't keep his cold treatment to her for long, she was glad that she still understands Zuko, and that her son never changed despite the woeful events.

"I've been wanting to do this ever since I saw you at the entrance of the hospital, I missed you so much, Mom." Zuko said with a warm smile as he kept hugging his mom.

"I missed you too, My Son." She answered, hugging him tighter, they were so engrossed in their hug that they never seemed to realize the fuming person beside them on the hospital bed.

all the feelings of jealousy that Azula had for Zuko because of their mom rushed back to her, she wanted to fight them, not just because she grew up and not just because she doesn't feel the same for her mother anymore, but because Zuko has been really nice to her and she doesn't want to ruin that, she questioned whether she really doesn't feel the same for her mother anymore, as a child she wanted nothing more than for her mother to hug her and tell her everything would be ok, but she only did that to Zuko, Azula remembered looking at them conversing for hours, she knew their mother's love was the only thing Zuko had, but still she wanted that, more than anything. She kept looking at them as all those feelings rushed back to her, her life has never been so miserable, first Katara took Aang away from her, and now Zuko is gonna take their mother away from her, again.

What's next? Meng is gonna take Toph from me? She could only hope that wasn't her challenging the universe again.

I wish things were different, I wish my mother loved me, I wish Aang loved me.

and More importantly.. I wish I loved myself.

Awww, Sad :(

I hope you enjoyed this bittersweet reunion.

AND AGAIN,

PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!