Disclaimer: I don't own the Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of its characters.

The Shadow of the Past

Chapter 13 – End Game I

Story by Last Butterfly

Summary: Modern AU, no bending. The first chapter is the background of the two characters, and it is the base of the story. How did Zuko gain his scar? What happened to Katara's and Sokka's mother? Read it to find out! - Zutara, Zuko x Katara

Ozai felt that he hadn't chuckled this much for years. Oh yes, he had to agree with his daughter, messing with Zuko had truly proved to be so much fun!

The boy avoided his mother's eyes, murmuring an apology as he taped her mouth back in. Even from that distance his hand were visibly shaking as he tried to be gentle, and when he finally stood up, he clenched his fists hard enough to feel his nails dug into his palm.

"Ah, now that I remember, Katara…" When his father said out the name the teen snapped his head up, narrowing his eyes at the way the man slightly turned the girl's chin, trying to meet her gaze. "That is your name, right?"

As the knife was not pressed against her throat this time she made a small nod, but she tried not to look at him until she could. From the corner of her eyes she had seen how her boyfriend tensed in the middle of the room.

"So Katara," The man smiled while locking his eyes with his son's. "You have known my name; that made me flattered. Then tell me…" He slightly leaned closer to her face and took a deeper breath to inhale the girl's perfume. What an interesting choice, the ocean and some kind of flowers… indeed suitable for a little Water witch. He thought before continuing. "Have my son talked about me to you?"

Zuko literary felt his blood boil. Standing frozen to his place all he was able to do was watch how Ozai toyed with both of them.

Her captor's gaze moved from her back at his son but the situation only seemed to get worse. Because in a moment of time she started to feel how much the man had enjoyed this whole situation… She swallowed, trying to ignore that fact while averting her eyes. "N-no," Damn my stupid voice! "I've found an article about you… that's why I know."

What he heard seemed to please him because he went on in a husky tone. "Hmm, really?" The scarred teen started frowning, shifting his weight from one leg to the other when Ozai turned his head towards him. "So he never talked about his scar either?"

The boy stiffened completely. His father's following eyes meant nearly nothing in that moment but when Katara's blue gaze fell upon him, guilt struck him once again. He closed his eyes, turning his head to the left, trying to hide the marred flesh from both of their views while he heard her answer. "He said it was an accident…"

The laugh that followed seemed to echo through the room. "An accident? How convenient!" Zuko felt his throat turn dry but only when the feeling of being stared at felt unbearable did he finally open his eyes. "Zuko, my son…" His father was still chuckling as he slightly shook his head. "Were you too afraid to mention it was my parting gift to you?"

He averted his eyes from both when he heard his girlfriend gasp, fearing from the look on her face. But Ozai himself found this rather comical. "Well look at that," His smile widened a bit before he added. "Then it seems my final lesson did not go to waste in the courthouse's restroom, did it?"

His words hit him like lightning itself. His good eye went wide while he took a step backwards, his knees suddenly weaker than before. "W-what…?" Even against his hoarse voice, he sounded younger than his age. He could hear her mother muffle a cry behind him but he could not even turn to have a look at her. The cruel sparkle in his father's eyes was all he could see.

"You can't tell me you don't remember." Ozai let out a laugh before going on. "It took me quite a while to be able to arrange that after all…"

"But," Zuko's mind was racing. "That was not real." The dream he had a few nights ago… a memory his unconscious brought to the surface. The real reason he was never able to talk about his father. Not to the doctors, nor to Katara… "It-it couldn't be…"

He felt pressure in his chest, reality hitting him harder in the face than that very teapot all those years ago.

Ursa was weeping by then. He doesn't remember… The memory of finding her son back then, lying on the floor with his arms desperately clutching his knees which he pulled against his chest would have brought tears to her eyes in itself. His head was bleeding back then and one of the mirrors had been broken. She was told how it had been him who did that to himself, which she could never believe… but even though she knew now she was right, she couldn't feel any better… He had been able to forget and this monster dares to further torture him with what he already did to him!

"Oh, believe me son," His father's smile had been painfully familiar. Just like the way he always remembered… The man lifted a hand to the left side of his own face, placing three fingers onto his cheek and eyebrow, very much like the way he did to his son years ago. And that simple move felt like being struck by lightning for the scarred boy. It was impossible for him to know unless… And just as his mind found the answer, his father assured him with his words. "It's been very real."

Zuko was staring ahead of himself. He thought that his stomach was empty enough, but the dizziness and the gathering nauseous feeling he had, planned to prove it otherwise. He did not even realize that he fell on his knees until the floor seemed to be closer to him than before…

Katara tore her gaze away from his kneeling form before looking her captor in the eye for the first time. "Stop this! What did he do to hurt you?!"

Ozai's smile faded as he looked at the girl. Her blue eyes showed the same fire like before she got that slap, causing him to wonder whether the next one should follow soon. "What did he do you ask?" His voice is low but cold if not even more so than before. "Betrayal, disrespect, cowardice. That is all he has ever been capable of. And that is why I'll see to it that he suffers."

Each of his words had been more venomous, but that was enough to clear Zuko's head. He was about to rise up when his father's attention fell back at him. "Don't get up!" He snapped, making him freeze in mid-move of a crouch.

"On your knees."

He frowned and must have looked pretty confused because Ozai barked on. "Bow down before me, the way you were taught!"

His fingers clenched. Zuko remembered that while his grandfather had been alive he had certain expectations about his sons' behavior, and the same rules were meant for their family too. Her mother never liked the old man but to please Ozai they acted the way he wanted them to.

On his part, Zuko had always found bowing humiliating. And this request infuriated him enough to finally speak up. "That was enough."

"What did you say?" His father's eyes flashed anger as instead of bowing, he stood up, with his hands forming fists.

"This is what you've always wanted, right?" The words which left his mouth finally sounded like his own, the cool voice he was forced to obey on faded away. He knew it was daring, but if bending by his father's will did not bring them any further then he had to change tactics.

He raised his chin as he held Ozai's angered eyes. "I was the one who deposed against you. I was the one who stood up against you…"

"Zuko…!" Katara gasped as the knife returned under her chin but the scarred teen's expressions did not give away his feelings then.

"You've even gotten in prison because of me." He narrowed his eyes, saying his last. "And that's why this is going to be settled only between you… and me."

To their surprise, the man did not do anything rush. "Look at that," He barely let out a scoff and again he showed a smile. "You've finally grown a back-bone."

Zuko slowly let out the breath he was holding. Adrenaline was rushing through his veins even though he did not even move. Hazarding had never been his thing… but a bit of bluffing every now and then came in handy. Unfortunately, in this case he had not been convincing enough…

"But you know son… tch." Ozai slightly shook his head again. "I don't think it's going to work like that."

Damn.

"You see, your mother and I have a quite unfinished quarrel between us. And you know, the longer I'm holding your little girlfriend here…" He spoke, his smile resurfacing while his arm snaked around Katara's waist tighter. "The more attached I grow to her."

He couldn't help sneering as his father brushed the knife against the blue eyed girl's cheek, stroking without cutting into her dark skin. "She has nothing to do with this!" He said through gritted teeth, but only another chuckle left his father's mouth.

"She has much to do with you," He explained, pulling her against his chest. "So she has much to do with this too." His face looked more like one of a snake's, his gaze almost hypnotic as he added only one word, tilting his head to the side. "But…"

The scarred teen's palms felt sweaty while the man remained silent, leaving him the only option to count his own heartbeat. Damn, you bastard… "But what?"

"But maybe…" His foolish son believed that he would let him finish playing this game so easily? He had done exactly what he was waiting for. "One of them can go, if you're able to choose." The stunned expression which appeared on his son's face, made Ozai smile confidently. He just figured out the way how to make the kid sweat for real… "So what do say, Zuko? Who should I let go? Your girlfriend… or your mother?"

Silence fell upon them while sitting inside Iroh's car. Azula was staring at a certain point ahead of herself for a while now, while Sokka fidgeted in his place more and more uncomfortably as the old man went on with Ozai's story.

As none of them wanted to speak but him, the old tea-maker let out a sigh. "After that, when your brother woke up he only asked about your mother's state once then nothing else. He seemed to close out everyone and everything else for days… he only nodded or shook his head when the doctor and the nurses asked anything but," Iroh frowned sadly at the memory. "But he refused to talk. More than a week had to pass since he was allowed to leave the hospital when he finally opened up again, but by then it looked like he had thought a lot about what he said."

The Water Tribe teen looked up at the old man as he stopped at that as a part of him was itching to pop in with a 'what did he say? What did he say? What? What?' but from the way he was looking at his niece, he guessed it was better to shut up. To his surprise Azula did not move an inch when she indeed lowly asked. "And what did he say?"

Iroh made a small nod, maybe noting to himself that she was still with them. "Zuko came up with a decision that bothered me and your mother as well…" For a slight moment he hesitated, which finally made his niece meet his eyes. Her always calculating golden gaze seemed different somehow. They showed doubt because after all this time, things suddenly made sense.

"He said that when you came home we should tell you how he caused the fire." Azula's eyes rounded and she straightened up on the backseat completely. "And that your parents' divorce happened because of the two of them blaming each other."

"What the hell?!" Sokka slammed his hand against the seat between him and the girl. His blue eyes became icy cold, and for a slight moment he reminded Iroh of Zuko with his fists clenched and anger radiating from him. "Why would Zuko do that? Why would anyone want that?!"

The old man took a side glance at him as he answered to him, so he could not see the forming tears in his niece's eye before she turned her head away. "You must understand that from that day a part of my nephew died, leaving only a shell of himself. It is a horrible burden when somebody has to grow up so fast…"

Azula was staring straight out of the window when the rain started to pour. The world outside had been washed away, just as the words seemed to fade for her in that car. She heard the other two argue while a strange pressure built inside her chest. She remembered how years back she heard this for the first time. She was yelling with her mother. She claimed she wanted to live with her father, and when she was refused she felt anger compared to nothing else. Even then it was Zuko who put a hand on her shoulder, asking her to drop it for that time, asking her to go with him and play instead… she remember she pushed him away. She remembered her yelling at him. She remembered calling him 'scar-face'… and she remembered that for the first – and so far last – time her mother slapped her. She could not understand… how could she understand it back then…?

When her reflection had been the only thing she could see, she found herself crying. She never cried. She was not that type. Stupid, stupid Zuko! This was all his fault again… When she spoke her voice sounded distant and faint. "And who asked him to do that?"

The other two suddenly went silent, looking at her with frowns but none of them spoke when her teary-face turned towards them. "He was an idiot back then and he still is till this very day." Her words cut like a blade leaving the men in the car with mouths agape. But she did not care. "Self-sacrifice is completely pointless, he should know that." Her eyebrows furrowed furiously as she gazed at the window once again. "If anything he only managed to build up this distance between the two of us, instead of bringing us together how it should have been!" In that moment she froze. Her mind raced as the words she just said brought something back. How things should have been…?

'So tell me now… how is your mother doing?' There was a chill in her bones as she realized the most horrible thing of all. She was not only kept in the dark by her brother and mother, but in the end it came in so handy for her father. She believed he wanted to see her and she did not even care when he asked about the others. She was stupid… more than that…

A curse left her mouth and she suddenly jumped out of the parking car, running through the rain as she picked her cell phone out of her pocket.

She had to make sure… she had to make it right. She told him things she knew now she shouldn't have…

Her fingers were trembling as she dialed the number, stopping just below the edge of the closest building to cover the device from the rain. She heard hurried footsteps coming her way, and heard how that dumb brother of Zuko's girl yelled her name. But she could no longer listen to that because after ringing the phone of her father three times, something unexpected happened.

The voice at the other end was not Ozai's, and that even made Sokka shut his mouth who had reached by her side, because the feminine voice belonged to no one else but Katara. And the words which reached their ears came with a loud yell.

"Help! Somebody please help us…!!!"

Zuko could hardly breathe. The smile of his father made his eyes light up in a cruel way, while his fingers slowly brushed Katara's side up and down. He was toying with them, playing with the thought of what else he was able to do while his son could do nothing but watch. It twisted him inside…

"Tick-tock Zuko," Ozai let his knife's tip touch the girl's chin as he spoke with delight. "What's taking you so long? Wasn't it you who wanted to me to let someone go?"

He frowned at the scene, peeking back at his mother tied to the chair. One, he would let one of them go…

"I…" His thoughts raced. He wanted his girlfriend to be as far away from his father and that knife as she could be but on the other hand… Ursa had been tied to that chair. There was no way he could free her without Ozai's knife, but to get that knife he would have to take him out of the picture. If it came to somehow distracting him though, enough for those left here to move fast they might have a chance…

His mother though seemed to understand his torment and with a move of her eyes she motioned towards her husband and the dark skinned girl he held close to him.

"Choose son, one of them leaves…" His father spoke, making him slowly turn back to him and his girlfriend. His thoughts were visible on his face; doubt, fear, worry… And he thought that he could play the game while avoiding the rules? He went on while using an almost cheerful voice. "The other probably dies."

Oh, how that hit! Bull's-eye! Ozai's smile turned into a smirk as his son quivered. "Don't…" The words escaped his lips with the breath he was holding. "Don't make me…"

But he had been adamant. "Say it."

Katara fidgeted in her place, trying to lean away from the knife held under her chin but it only made her end up closer to the man behind her. She bit her lower lip when she caught her boyfriend's eyes…

Damn it! Zuko was trembling. He felt sweat roll down his forehead, which was the surest sign of panic. He stood there almost hypnotized by his father's golden gaze until he was able to focus on the pair of blue pools. And her name left his mouth in barely a whisper.

"What was it?"

"I said Katara," His face was burning with shame but he raised his voice while bowing his head. "Let Katara go." He could hear it when she let out a small sob…

"So is that your decision?" For a moment nothing happened, only a thunder sounded from the distance.

Then Ozai's laugh filled the room. "I can't say I didn't see that coming, son. How low of you to forget your own mother so soon…" The teen swallowed when he met the man's eyes again while he offered him the most wicked one of his smiles. "Too bad I've said 'maybe' when I mentioned of letting one go."

It only took a blink for Zuko to realize he had been further tricked; mocked more like it. "You sick… bastard!" He sneered, his fists clenching by his sides while his father laughed and slowly circled into the room, pulling Katara with him. He followed them with his eyes, taking a step backwards to remain in front of Ursa even though there was not much he could have done.

When Ozai reached the side of the bed, he blew a kiss to the blue eyed girl's temple before finally letting go of her, making her end up on the bed. "Stay there girl," He spoke lowly, pointing the knife towards his son who tensed just a moment before. Of course the fool wanted rush in to be near her… "Don't even think about it, Zuko."

The scarred teen stayed between his parents and saw from the corner of his eyes how Katara scooted away from the man but stopped at the far corner of the bed. Her cuffed hands made the whole move difficult but even this short distance between her and that man made wonders to Zuko's nerves, until…

The metallic click made him wince. In the next moment his good eye turned round when he faced his father again, who held up a gun in his hand. Hardly had his heart rate somewhat calmed down when it decided differently, pumping blood through his veins feverishly.

"Much better," Ozai's grim smile reappeared while watching his son. "Don't you think so?"

He swallowed. This was definitely something else. Up till now he was so concerned about Katara that he didn't have time to think about himself. He was not that sure which situation was better.

"Yeah…" He answered, clenching his jaw. "Better in a twisted way."

His father let out a chuckle, looking at the weapon in his hands then back. "You know son, I've been waiting so much for this day… to see you once again." For some reason this 'compliment' of sorts only sent a chill down the teen's spine.

"You have tried to make it hard to be found and it could have worked if you hadn't forgotten one certain detail..." Zuko's eyes finally broke away from the barrel of the gun, holding contact with his father's paler gold ones. "Your uncle."

He frowned up at Ozai, whose smile turned wider at his confusion. "My brother's life-long dream, remember?"

It was enough for his son to realize what he meant. "The shop…?"

"The shop!" He laughed again, recalling the events of last night and how he left that pathetic place. "That stupid obsession; one little mistake, which made my search so much easier!"

Zuko slightly paled. His gaze moved to Katara, who kept a hand before her lips while tears ran down her cheeks. "You should have changed your first names too, son. I have never liked ordinary." The sinking feeling in his stomach only turned worse as Ozai went on. "And, by Agni, who knew I would be so lucky that on the first day I had spent in this wretched place, I would pass by my own son and his little girlfriend?"

Katara let out a gasp, but his son only made a small nod. Hmm, he must have seen the car outside… oh well.

"By the way, I've seen the anklet you've given her. The one with the flame…" The man peeked at the dark skinned girl with the small golden chain around her ankle before flashing a smile. "Blood runs thicker than water, doesn't it, Zuko Fire?"

A/N: Oookay, I owe you an explanation because I've messed up the 'timeline' here a little bit - the second part's end and the third's should have finally met, XD but it haven't - Yet. But as this chapter had already been long enough, so ^^; it'll happen in the next one. Which consequently will have the same title as this one 'cuz it's basically cut in half. XD I hope this made sense.

Also, to make things clear: Zuko and his family had been part of the 'Witness Protection Programme' after Ozai got in jail; that was why it was not supposed to be easy to find them. (I did not know what last name to give them, so I've picked two I've already read in other fics. So originally they were called 'Fire', because that was Ozai's and Iroh's last name... and after the trial they changed their name to 'Prince'. Basically because I wanted to see 'Prince, Zuko' written down.) XD

So, this story is getting darker than my usual ones but I hope that in the end it will be worth reading. :3 I'm really fond of crime stories so I thought mixing it up with Zutara cannot be a bad idea.

R&R, reviews make me write faster! :D So until the End Game II, have a nice time! Bye~