of being
She grips the icicle tightly in her palm, pointing the tip directly at his throat. "Why are you here?"'
He smirks at her, his head tilted slightly to the side. "I am but the Avatar's humble servant," he repeats. It's all he's said for the past half hour.
"Don't mock me." She presses the icicle in ever-so-slightly, just enough to draw blood. "Why are you here? Tell me!"
A pause. "Because I have nothing left."
She opens her mouth, but no words come out.
He looks directly at her, as if daring her to say something. "Are you happy now?"
of caring
He ignores them.
He ignores Toph's almost-friendly teasing and wide, manic grins and the way she casually mentions his uncle in conversation. He ignores Sokka's increasingly forced antagonism, his short, barely-perceptible pauses whenever he speaks to Zuko. He ignores Aang's too-kind smile and face like an open book and incessant babbling about a friend he had named Kuzon from the Fire Nation, who Zuko really, really doesn't care about. Really.
Most of all, he ignores Katara.
"It's soup tonight," she tells them, spooning it out as she speaks. "Sokka finally managed to catch a fish."
"You should've let one of us light it, Katara," Aang says, the usual grin on his face. "I could use some practice with firebending."
The us sends a pang into his stomach, but not nearly as much as the almost-smile on Katara's face as she hands him his bowl. It's the only part of the day where she breaks the facade, shows any sign that she feels anything other than betrayed by him, but that only makes it worse.
It's only for duty he's doing this, he tells himself, only for his debt to his uncle. He doesn't-- he does not want this at all.
of failing
The palace is in flames. It scorches and burns everything it touches: the walls, the tapestries, the garden his mother had carefully designed and cultivated.
Azula only laughs. "Do you think a little fire can stop me, brother?"
"No," he admits. "But I can."
"You?" she says scornfully. "You could never match me."
He swirls the fire around her; she pushes it away. "You'll have to do better than that, Zuzu!" she calls.
Into the smoke he fires a bolt of lightning. Azula stops laughing.
He is shaking, but the shaking is the strength and the strength is the shaking.
of loving
"It's your choice," Katara tells him. "Either you come with us when we overthrow Ozai-- in which case you'll probably be the next Fire Lord-- or just leave. I won't stop you. Do whatever you want."
He smiles bitterly. "A choice between regaining my honor and throne and just running away? That's not a choice. It's a bribe."
"I didn't--" She sighs. "Does your honor really mean so much to you?"
"What else is there?"
"Isn't there anyone you care about?" she asks. "Someone you can come home to?"
"Not anymore."
She looks away. "Then stay. Come home to us."