Amethyst

A/N: Thank you guys for all your lovely comments. I think it's really obvious where this story is headed now. ;) My cold from yesterday only got worse, so I spent a lot of time just sleeping today, so sorry this is so late! (It was also ridiculously hard to write!)

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Mad

There was an unnatural silence in the air. The police station was busy, as per normal, but between the three people standing at the check-in counter, the tension was thick. From her spot behind the counter, Lin Beifong frowned. She didn't completely agree with what they wanted to do, but she kept her opinion to herself. Standing from her chair, she gestured for the door beside her.

"This way."

Iroh held a comforting hand on Asami's shoulder as they followed Lin down a nondescript hallway. For the most part, Asami seemed calm. Her breathing was even, her eyes were dry, and her shoulders squared with confidence. Regardless of how put together she seemed, Iroh kept his arm around her shoulders, holding her close to him. For anybody who didn't know them well, it would seem almost sweet. But Lin knew better. She knew how much Asami wasn't okay, and how Iroh's hand on her shoulder was the only thing that kept her from falling apart right then and there.

Lin stopped them before a thick metal door with a small rectangular window and unlocked it with a flick of her fingers. Inside stood a simple table with two chairs placed on either side. Lin let them walk in before her, locking the door behind them as the young couple took up the two chairs closest to them. The metal chair legs scraped across the concrete floor with jarring sharpness. The silence was heavy, and the tension was thick. Lin's steps were loud as she walked across the room to the door that opened to the jail cells, the door slamming loudly behind her as she disappeared behind it.

In the remaining silence, Asami closed her eyes. Her heart was a frantic mess within her chest, pounding almost painfully against her ribs. She tried to calm herself by taking a few uneven breaths, but soon her hands began to shake against her will. Iroh was a quiet reassurance for her, gently taking her hand into his. He gave her fingers a warm, comforting squeeze. The long minutes of tense silence eventually passed and Lin returned, Hiroshi Sato in tow.

Asami locked onto him as Lin led him to the chair opposite of her, pushing the once esteemed owner of Future Industries into the cheap metal chair with little sympathy. For a long moment, none of them spoke. The tension was so thick it was hard to breathe. No matter how hard she tried, Asami couldn't pull her eyes away from the pitiful man that now sat before her. He looked so unlike the father she had known all her life, ragged and unshaven. His clothes hung from his body as if they were too big for him, the dull orange prison garb making his skin look a sickly shade of yellow. He looked so different, so wrong, that a sharp pang of sadness twisted somewhere deep in her chest, shortening her breath with a painful stab. Hollow dark circles dances beneath his eyes, and her heart gave an uncomfortable lurch as light green eyes, so very much like her own, met her gaze. She struggled to swallow the rock in her throat as emotions she didn't recognize flashed across his face eventually settling into a mask of strange, forced regret.

His cracked lips parted and he breathed out her name, almost in disbelief. "Asami…"

Under the table, Asami squeezed Iroh's hand in a death grip so tight her knuckles turned white.

"My daughter," Hiroshi said, his voice lifting in a slight plea. "My beautiful, beautiful daughter."

He shifted his hands, handcuffs scraping against the table as he reached for the hand Asami had on the table, desperate for a touch of sympathy. Unintentionally, her hand flinched away from his. The hurt in his eyes was like a stab to her heart. She pulled her hand into her lap, looking away. Slowly, he pulled his hand back.

"I hope you can forgive me, Asami," he pleaded. His voice was unsettlingly familiar. "I never meant to hurt you, my daughter. I could never hurt you."

His words were meant to be reassuring, but the lie cut deep. She still remembered the anger in his eyes, the rage in his voice from that day so many months ago. He had tried to kill her. Her mouth suddenly felt dry. She tried to swallow, but her throat spasmed in resistance. Like a punch in the gut, panic flooded her fragile mind.

I can't do this.

She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to push away the urge to get up and run. She had thought she was ready. She had thought that with enough time, she'd be able to approach him, push aside all that anger she held onto for months and finally ask him all the questions that plagued her mind. Why did he join the Equalists? Why didn't he tell her? Why did he choose to abandon her instead? She expected to be mad, to come in blazing and ready to scream at him until he understood how horribly hurt she felt.

But she hadn't anticipated the desperate sadness that warred so strongly against her anger. She hadn't anticipated feeling like her heart had been ripped straight from her chest and left to bleed upon the table from merely seeing the man that was her father for so many years look so utterly desperate and pathetic. How could she know if he was telling the truth anymore? After everything that had been done and torn apart between them, what was left for her to believe in?

Suddenly, she felt like crying.

"You have to help me, Asami," her father was saying. "I was only trying to protect you. I don't deserve to be locked up for that. Don't you agree, Asami?" His eyes pleaded with hers. "You don't think Daddy deserves to be in prison, do you baby?"

She closed her eyes, her head swimming madly. Distantly, she felt a hand squeeze her fingers, and warmth crawled up her arm. Suddenly, she remembered that she wasn't alone. Relief unlike anything she had felt before hit her like a tidal wave and she released a shaky breath in response. Opening her eyes, she saw Iroh, his gaze steady and calm. Slowly, she took a deep breath, her panic steadily slipping away. Eventually, things started to make sense again. She squeezed his hand in appreciation and turned to look at her father.

She took a deep breath and met his eyes.

"I want to thank you," she said. "For taking care of me and raising me for so many years. You provided me with a wonderful life filled with wonderful people and opportunities that have brought me so far. I will always thank you for that. But," she continued with a shaky breath. "I can't help you. You chose to follow a dark path that I didn't agree with. And I still don't understand why."

His face scrunched up in an ugly sneer. "What is there to understand?" he spat. "What kind of daughter abandons her father?"

She refused to look away despite the painful twist her heart gave. "I want you to remember the good things that life brought you," she said. "I want you to remember the moments when you were happy. When life was good and it was easy to smile. I want you to remember the good days rather than the bad. I will always remember you as the wonderful, loving father that brought me up with a gentle smile and a warm hug." She took a deep breath, the water on her lashes threatening to spill. "I will always love you, Daddy. But this is goodbye." She gave a soft sniffle as a lone tear fell down her cheek. "I hope you can find happiness again sometime in your life."

She closed her eyes briefly to close away the shocked expression in his eyes, and when she reopened them, she looked over at Lin to signal that she was done. Hiroshi was eerily silent as Lin led him away, his eyes never once leaving his daughter's. When the heavy metal door that separated them closed with a final, solid thump, Asami gave a soft, heartbroken sob.

Her tears came hot and fast, her chest heaving with the sudden onslaught of despair, but Iroh didn't let her cry alone, and pulled her into the safety of his arms. She clung to the front of his uniform with desperate, white knuckled fingers, her sobs heavy and heart-wrenching. He gently rubbed her back and whispered soft condolences into her hair until she began to calm. The tears fell slower and the pain in her chest lifted a bit. When she finally looked up at him, red-rimmed and watery-eyed, he placed a warm, comforting kiss upon her forehead.

"I'm proud of you, my love," he said, softly.

And despite the sadness that still stirred within her and the tears that still fell from her eyes, she felt proud as well.

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A/N: Whew. I worked hard to get this exactly where I wanted it to be, so I hope you guys enjoyed it! Thanks for reading!