Author's Note: Hey everyone! As always, thank you very much for all the support and interest in this story. Reviews would be very much appreciated. Anyway, in this chapter we'll be heading for the season finale of book two, the crossroads of destiny, so, be prepared for quite a bit of drama.

Caldera, 100 AC

Ming sat in her cell, leaning against the brick wall. The spirit of her daughter sat in her lap. She had just finished telling her everything that had happened to the child's father in the last few days. Ming had been worried, since she hadn't heard from the little spirit in that time, but now she knew about her husband's fever and, as the child told her, that it hadn't been a natural sickness, but that he was over it now. The little spirit was overly excited about her father's seemingly new optimistic outlook and she also reported every little detail about the Jasmine Dragon, Iroh's new tea shop. Ming smiled down at her daughter, stroking through her ghostly blue locks.

As the child stopped, it looked up into her eyes, "You seem worried, Mommy. Aren't you happy that Dad is now better?"

"I am.", Ming started, "But I have a feeling that something bad is about to happen, I can't help it. Something doesn't seem right."

Ba Sing Se, 100 AC

Iroh and Zuko walked right into the heart of the palace, Iroh carrying the ingredients he needed and Zuko the porcelain. With a content smile the elder man spoke, "Many time I imagined myself here, at the threshold of the palace. But I always thought I would be here as a conqueror. Instead, we are the Earth King's personal guests, here to serve him tea. Destiny is a funny thing."

"It sure is.", Zuko agreed, smiling as well. Since his fever was gone, he felt great. His thoughts wandered to Ming, he could picture her smiling proudly at him. They had come into this Kingdom as refugees, living homeless and in poverty, and now, his uncle owned a tea shop in the upper ring of the capital and they were guests of the king. What a change. If he only could bring her here, they could live a happy life here. Maybe the Earth King could help him with that. Happily, they continued their way into the palace.

A while later they sat in a salon, facing a small throne. They had prepared the tea on a small table in front of them as they kneeled and waited for the Earth King to come in. Zuko leaned over to his uncle and whispered, "What's taking so long?"

"Maybe the Earth King overslept.", his uncle whispered back, but couldn't even convince himself with that.

A door opened and Dai Li agents began to encircle them. "Something's not right.", Zuko whispered to his uncle.

Just then his sister walked in front of them, wearing Earth Kingdom clothing. In a fake happy tone she said, "It's tea time!"

"Azula!", Zuko quickly stood up to face his sister.

"Have you met the Dai Li? They're earthbenders, but they have a killer instinct that's so firebender. I just love it.", she said nonchalantly, as if they were just her for a casual talk on a beautiful afternoon.

Iroh took a sip from his tea, "Did I ever tell you how I got the nickname 'The Dragon of the West'?

Azula seemed more interested in her fingernails, "I'm not interested in a lengthy anecdote, Uncle."

Calmly, Iroh answered, "It's more of a demonstration, really.", then he sat down his cup. Zuko looked over to his uncle and smiled as he got what the old man was going to do. Then he hastily went behind his uncle and ducked as the former general began to breath fire at the Dai Li agents. Before the earthbenders could regain their fighting stances, the banished prince and his uncle were out of the salon and ran through the palace. Rock gloves flew around them, but they managed to evade. Iroh then created lightning and it destroyed the wall in front of them.

Hastily, Iroh jumped through it and landed in some bushed below. He looked back up to his nephew, who seemed frozen in place, he yelled up to him, "Come on! You'll be fine!"

Zuko shook his head, "No! I'm tired of running! It's time I faced Azula!", with that he turned and walked back into the palace.

Iroh smacked his head. There was nothing he could do to help his nephew now. Suddenly he heard a little voice, "What is he doing?!", and really, the child spirit stood not far away. She looked panicked.

"Something incredibly stupid, I fear, Zhinu.", he said defeatedly.

"Then what are you doing standing around here? We need to help him! Come on! I'll show you where the Avatar lives.", she said in a commanding tone that remembered him of his nephew. A small smile appeared on his lips, then he followed her.

Inside the palace Azula and the Dai Li agents walked causally over to Zuko, a smug grin on Azula's face, "You're even more dramatic than your pretty little wife.", and as she saw his grim and determined expression she added, "What? Are you going to challenge me to an Agni Kai?"

Angrily, Zuko replied, "Yes! I challenge you!"

"No thanks.", she refused.

Zuko shot a fire blast at her, but the Dai Li agents raised a portion of the floor, forming a wall to protect her. Then they shot their rock gloves at his feet, knocking him off balance. The banished prince put his hand down to support himself, but it too was quickly covered in rock. He yelled angrily at them as they took him prisoner.

Quickly they took him down several stairs and then earthbended a tunnel in which he was thrown. He landed flat on the ground. Before he could look up, he heard someone gasp and say his name. To his surprise he knew the person. Shocked he looked up at her, it was the waterbender, one of the Avatar's friends. Angrily she looked down on him.

While Zuko sat down a bit away from her, the waterbender started yelling at him, "Why did they throw you in here?", he didn't answer that, how should he explain that he had been again, stupidly, not following his uncle's advice and that his sister was behind all this? She continued, nevertheless, "Oh, wait, let me guess. It's a trap. So that when Aang shows up to help me, you can finally have him in your little Fire Nation clutches!"

He looked at her, unsure of what to say. After everything that happened, she wouldn't believe him anyway. The Water Tribe girl still went on ranting, "You're a terrible person! You know that? Always following us! Hunting the Avatar! Trying to capture the world's last hope for peace! But what do you care? You're the Fire Lord's son. Spreading war and violence and hatred is in your blood!"

Zuko looked back at her, "You don't know what you're talking about!"

But before he could go on, she interrupted him, "I don't? How dare you! You have no idea what this war has put me through! Me personally! The Fire Nation took my mother away from me.", she sat down and began to cry.

Now he turned around to her. In a compassionate tone, he said, "I'm sorry. That's something we have in common.", surprised she looked at him, wiping the tears out of her eyes.

After a long, silent moment, she said, "I'm sorry I yelled at you before."

Zuko shrugged his shoulders, "It doesn't matter."

The waterbender continued, "It's just that for so long now, whenever I would imagine the face of the enemy, it was your face."

"My face? I see.", Zuko said sadly, touching his scar.

"No, no. That's not what I mean.", the girl hastily added, approaching him.

"It's okay.", he said, even though he didn't feel like it, "I used to think this scar marked me. The mark of the banished prince, cursed to chase the Avatar forever. But lately, I've realized I'm free to determine my own destiny, even if I'll never be free of my mark. If I only realized this earlier…", he trailed off. If he hadn't been hell bent on catching the boy, he could've ended this chase a long time ago and just live somewhere peacefully and with Ming on his side. It probably wouldn't have been easy, but he wouldn't be held in a prison under the Earth King's palace and Ming wouldn't have been forced back into the Fire Nation, wherever she was now. He just hoped she was doing fine.

The waterbender's voice ripped him out of his thoughts, "Maybe you could be free of it."

"What?", was he dreaming now?

"I have healing abilities.", she added.

"It's a scar, it can't be healed.", he sounded like he tried to have it healed before, which he did, whenever they had encountered a place with a famous healer or something of the sort, he of course, paid that person a visit.

She held up a blue vial, "This is water from the Spirit Oasis at the North Pole. It has special properties, so I've been saving it for something important. I don't know if it would work, but…", she put up a hand on his scar. Zuko closed his eyes, but suddenly they were interrupted by a loud noise.

A tunnel had opened and his uncle and the Avatar stood in the room with them. The waterbender ran up to the young airbender and his uncle ran up to him, pulling him in a hug. He and the Avatar glared at each other over the shoulders of the other two.

He turned to his uncle, "Uncle, I don't understand. What are you doing with the Avatar?"

"Saving you, that's what.", the airbender said bluntly. Zuko took a step towards the boy, ready to fight him, but was held back by his uncle.

"Zuko, it's time we talked.", the former general turned to the Avatar and his friend, "Go help your other friends. We'll catch up with you."

As they walked away, Zuko looked at his uncle, hurt in his eyes, "Why, uncle?"

"You're not the man you used to be, Zuko. You are stronger and wiser and freer than you have ever been. And now you have come to the crossroads of your destiny. It's time your you to choose. It's time for you to choose good.", he said, smiling at his nephew.

The child spirit's voice rang through his head, "Doing the right thing is easy when you think about it.", Ming wants you to do the right thing, he thought. But that would also mean to let go of the idea of ever returning home, return to her and their child. As he was pondering about it, all of sudden, his uncle was encased by green crystals.

A tunnel opened and his sister, along with two Dai Li agents, entered. "I expected this kind of treachery from Uncle. But Zuko, Prince Zuko, you're a lot of things, but you're not a traitor, are you?", instinctively, Zuko had moved in between his sister and his uncle, protecting the elder man.

"Release him immediately.", he barked at her.

"It's not too late for you, Zuko. You can still redeem yourself.", she said calmly, but with a hint of tension behind her voice.

His uncle interrupted her angrily, "The kind of redemption she offers is not for you."

"Why don't you let him decide, Uncle?", she snapped furiously at the old man. Then she turned again to her brother, "I need you, Zuko. I've plotted every move of this day, this glorious day in Fire Nation history, and the only way we win is together. At the end of this day, you will have your honor back. You will have Father's love. You will have your wife back. You will have everything you want. Shouldn't it be time for your child to arrive?"

"Zuko, I am begging you. Look into your heart and see what it is that you truly want.", his uncle said desperately as their gazes met.

He stood in between the two, contemplating, he heard his sister say, "You are free to choose.", suddenly he knew what he had to do. It was not the right thing, he knew it. Ming would probably be angry at him, but she'd understand, at least eventually, that he had to save her, save their child. He'd rather have her being angry at him than to potentially never see her again.

So, he turned to his sister and said in a serious tone, "I'm in.", as his uncle dropped his head.

They quickly followed the Avatar and the waterbender and Azula jumped right into attacking both of them, while Zuko waited until both were involved in the fight for him to attack the airbender with a set of quick blasts. Then the boy airbended at him, knocking him off his feet. He quickly evaded another attack and got back on his feet. His fight with the Avatar got more and more heated as his sister focused on the waterbender.

Suddenly he heard Azula screaming in fear and saw that she was held up by two tentacles of a water octopus. Quickly he rushed to help her, cutting the tentacles off with firebending. Azula smiled at him and went to attack the Avatar, leaving the waterbender to him. "I thought you had changed!", she screamed at him.

"I have changed.", he retorted, firing another blast at her. His sister joined him in his attack, and they knocked down the waterbender. The Avatar tried to interfere, but he was quickly blocked by approaching Dai Li agents, sending him flying off. Meanwhile the waterbender had regained her focus and defender herself, forming a water octopus around herself. Looking over to the airbender, Zuko saw that he had formed a small shelter of crystals around himself.

Suddenly it opened and the boy emerged from it, flying towards the ceiling of the catacombs, his tattoos and eyes glowing in the Avatar state. Zuko's eyes widened in shock. Now they would hardly stand a chance. Before he could finish the thought the Avatar was struck down by a lightning bolt. He looked to the side and saw his sister grinning menacingly, smoke coming from her fingers.

The waterbender created a huge wave to catch the falling boy and it drove Zuko and the Dai Li agents back. Just as he wanted to resume attacking her, a fire blast was shot in between them, followed by his uncle's figure. The old man yelled to the Water Tribe girl, "You've got to get out of here! I'll hold them off as long as I can!", as he began to attack his nephew and niece, but soon was taken over by Dai Li agents. The waterbender had meanwhile escaped, still carrying the presumed dead body of the Avatar.

Later that night, Azula sat in the Earth King's throne, Zuko standing by her side. "We've done it, Zuko. It's taken a hundred years, but the Fire Nation has conquered Ba Sing Se.", she said triumphantly.

"I betrayed Uncle.", he almost muttered to himself.

Azula however, wouldn't let that stand, "No, he betrayed you. Zuko, when you return home, Father will welcome you as a war hero. And just imagine how happy Ming will be to hug you again."

"But I don't have the Avatar. What if Father doesn't restore my honor?", Zuko questioned.

"He doesn't need to, Zuko. Today, you restored your own honor.", she said reassuringly, laying a hand on his shoulder, but he looked away, unsure of himself.

A Fire Nation ship, 100 AC, a few days later

It was already late in the night as Zuko stood on deck of the ship that would bring him home, watching the dark waves below him and the bright moon above. He heard soft steps next to him, Mai walked up. "Aren't you cold?", she asked.

"I've got a lot on my mind. It's been so long since I've been home, three years. I wonder what's changed. I wonder how I've changed.", he answered cryptically.

Mai had a compassionate expression on her face as she touched his arm, "Zuko, there's something I need to tell you. It probably won't lift your mood, but I figured, you should know before you hear it from someone else or before it goes public somehow."

He raised an eyebrow at her, whatever could she mean?

"You see, I hate to be the messenger for something like this, but… well, I think it's my responsibility to at least tell you. When Ming was sent home by her father, he asked me if I would take care of her.", she fidgeted with her hands uncomfortably. "About a week before I left for Omashu,… I… Ming… she, she lost the child. I'm sorry, Zuko."

Zuko stared at her in disbelief. This couldn't be true. Slowly he shook his head, whispering, "No… no, this can't be.", then he suddenly grabbed Mai's shoulders, shaking her, raising his voice, "No! This can't be true. Please tell me that you just developed some kind of weird humor in the three years we haven't seen each other. Please!", his face had turned into a grimace of despair and two single tears ran down his cheeks.

Mai just looked at him apologetically. Quickly he let go of her and leaned on the railing of the ship, facing the water. He dropped his head, hiding his face in his hands as he sobbed. He felt a hand on his back, Mai looked at him as if there was still something she hadn't said yet. "But how?", he asked, "What happened?"

Mai's smile turned sadder, "We immediately got a physician, but there was nothing he could do. He didn't have an explanation for it, sometimes these things just happen. Maybe it was not meant to be."

Zuko looked out at the sea, everything seemed to turn around him. He bit his lower lip, "How is Ming doing?"

Mai stopped in her tracks for a moment. She closed her eyes, her voice becoming even more grave, "That's another thing. Again, I hate being the messenger for this. Ming couldn't cope with everything. A few days after she miscarried, I found her in her room. She… she took a white silk, I'm so sorry, Zuko."

Zuko turned towards her and stared at her, tears streaming down his face. Then he collapsed on his knees as if someone had just stuck a sword right through his chest. He shook his head, it couldn't be, not her. "But… but she would never…", he whimpered.

Mai laid a hand on his shoulder, "I know it's hard. I wish I could've changed anything. She didn't leave a letter, so maybe she just wanted to make it easier for you, so you don't have to reject her or live with this bad omen.", sighing she added, "I took care that they were both taken care of. Unfortunately, the law was painfully clear regarding Ming, since the bodies of, well, you know, are not to be incinerated, but thrown out into the sea. The child was buried at the Graveyard of the Lost Children. I can give you the number of its grave if you want."

Zuko nodded slowly, "Yes, that… that would be great. Thank you, Mai.", but his voice sounded hollow, even to himself.