Zuko
If there was a hell in the spirit world I was surely going there for cucking the Avatar, that and because I was going to get rid of him eventually, not that the spirits would care much despite what the monks said or what the many places that worshipped them said they were little better than humans, they were cruel and spiteful things just like people were and just as emotional and arrogant the only animals in the world that were truly worthy of being respected were the lion turtles.
They were fair and cared for humanity even if they didn't enjoy its flaws, but they understood that people were only people if they were different and that being different was the root of conflict, they who were the ancient protectors of mankind left when the era of the Avatar began and were hunted to extinction by humans, the fact that the lion turtles didn't take back the gift of bending was all the more in their favor but I was sure that it was the spirits who encouraged the humans to hunt them down, I had no proof but I had no doubts either.
My introspection about the spirits and the lion turtles came to an end when I came face to face with Sokka.
"Can we talk?" I nodded and waited for him to continue "I don't know why you want to help Katara and to be honest, I don't care, just promise me something. Don't let anything happen to her."
"You're talking as if you won't be coming with us." which was a surprise to be sure, Sokka isn't the most trusting guy and I hadn't exactly done anything to gain his trust.
"I'm not, as much as I would like to I can't. I have dealt with the grief of losing my mother, Katara…Katara I fear she can't and having me there will be worse than not being there"
"I understand" the solemn mood of our conversation was broken by him smiling
"You're not bad people, not really, the soldiers are fun and they remind me of my father's friends, your uncle may like tea a bit too much but he gives good advice and he makes me feel at home here even when I'm a stranger, you guys like meat just as much as me perhaps even more" he gave a friendly hit at my shoulder and I smiled "There! That too, you're a royal or whatever but you don't really care about it, what I'm getting at is that you're just people and I think that we can all get along"
"I have to be honest, those weren't words that I would hear a warrior say"
"Your uncle gives good advice and despite the fact that I enjoy a good fight, my talents lie somewhere else and I would like to learn more about them"
"Then you would be better served coming with us to the colonies, there are many things there you could learn and I know a swordmaster that I'm sure would take you on as an apprentice"
Sokka shook his head as he looked onto the horizon "I appreciate the offer but I want to see my sister tribe, I want to learn from them and I want to tell them about the possibility of peace"
"You're a good man Sokka"
He gave another friendly hit to my shoulder "and don't forget it! make sure my sister doesn't get into any trouble"
With those parting words, he slipped away to another part of the ship, leaving me to contemplate my future choices, I had planned to kill Sokka to push Katara further to my side but after really talking with him, even if it was just for a while, I didn't want to do it anymore.
I looked up at the sky and gave it a self-deprecating smile "Well there goes my god complex" I sighed, my mind was always wandering and with the chance I had been given, thinking of myself as superior wasn't difficult but it was another thing to do that when you could emphasize with the people that shouldn't really matter to me.
I needed something simple instead of this, I needed a group of pirates or something similar to clear my mind. Something not morally ambiguous and without people that I could relate to or that I could befriend to clear my head and get back in the game or I would end up with the same problems as canon Zuko.
I needed to say goodbye to my uncle properly before he left with the Avatar and warn him about the consequences of blabbering about my relationship with Yue, I wouldn't want him to give Yue any weird ideas or worse to have Iroh bring her with him. It was going to be difficult enough to have Mai accept my relationship with Azula once I finally seduced her.
Iroh
The dragon of the west was currently meditating in his room, with the only light being a small flame from a candle. Iroh didn't have to open his eyes to know that the flame was larger than it should be or that it was moving dangerously close to his beard.
Many thought that he had escaped the curse of his bloodline, that he lacked the fury of the old Fire Lords but that wasn't the truth, despite his jolly disposition and friendly attitude there was once a time when his mere presence in the battlefield caused armies to rout.
His anger was born from a strange place but one he definitely understood, Iroh cared too much, he cared about his soldiers, and their families, Iroh even cared about his enemies. It all caused him immense pain whenever one of his men died, when he had to send a message to their families, and even when he had to avenge them and all of that pain turned into fury, into a flame that once threatened to burn the world to the ground.
Katara's words had reopened an old wound that he always struggled with, his son. A couple of tears escaped from his eyes and he started singing as he did every time he spoke with Lu Ten.
"Leaves from the vine
Falling so slow…"
Like every time he sang Iroh decided to try his best and not cry.
"Like fragile tiny shells
Drifting in the foam
Little soldier boy…"
Like every time he sang Iroh's voice broke and soon he started sobbing.
"Come marching home
Brave soldier boy
Comes marching home"
Iroh opened his teary eyes and beheld the flame of the candle, there was only a tiny piece remaining but it was enough, Iroh had made peace with the death of his son and while the pain would never go away he wouldn't take it out on the world.
People spoke of him abandoning the siege of Ba Sing Se when he was so close to succeeding with scorn but they didn't understand that had he succeeded in entering the city he would have left nothing but ash in his wake, in his grief Iroh had taken countless lives, he had burned so many men he could sometimes smell their burning flesh and hear their screams.
The dragon of the west had rampaged in his grief and only stopped when he realized that Iroh had become the same thing that he so hated. When he heard the broken scream of an older man as Iroh burned his son until not even his bones remained, he saw the soldier crying out his son's name and kneel in front of his ashes.
That had finally broken Iroh from the grief-induced rage that had taken control of his body and when he looked at his hands and all the blood that had been spilled he ran, Iroh ran back to his tent in the camp of the Fire Nation and refused to meet anyone for two days and when he finally came out his first order was to retreat from the siege, the dream he had chased all his life, the vision he saw in his dreams didn't matter anymore and he returned to his father.
Iroh had expected many things when he first returned after his failure, he expected angry words or even silence but his father had grieved with him and had taken a week to share in his grief, it was more than what Iroh had expected, it was more than what his father had done ever since Iroh became an adult.
It made it all the more painful when his father passed soon after, Iroh lost his son and father too close to each other but he had found purpose in taking care of his nephew, Zuko looked so much like Lu Ten when he was a boy, he was so earnest, so happy as a child, he was a good child.
One of Iroh's many regrets was not defending him from Ozai's cruelty, Iroh should've come down from the stands and taught his brother a lesson in humility instead of watching silently as his nephew was cruelly burnt in the throat. Had Ozai been less careful Zuko could've died and Iroh would have had to live with the reminder that he did nothing as he died.
It was the reason that Iroh had accompanied him at first, then he had started seeing Zuko as a son, bringing him to this. To a position where eventually Iroh may have to choose between his son and the balance of the world, the spirits were cruel.
A knock on the door startled him out of his thoughts and after wiping the last few tears from his face he called for the person to enter, Zuko entered silently and sat right beside him, with his arms wrapped around his legs, they sat there in silence enjoying each other's company until Zuko finally spoke.
"I spoke with Sokka, he says he wants to go with you…they-I, the water Tribes aren't bad people"
Iroh turned to look at him with a smile "They aren't"
"I want peace uncle, I truly but I want a peace that favors the Fire Nation despite everything that we have done…does that make me a bad person"
Iroh slung his arm around his nephew "No Zuko, it makes you human. The trick is finding balance"
"Do you think we can? We owe the world a lot, we've taken a hundred years of its time"
"Chin the conqueror did the same"
Zuko laughed and it made Iroh smile wider "I know that's a lie uncle, his conquest only lasted about ten years before the Avatar dealt with him"
"But the point remains, despite current events it had always been the Earth Kingdoms who waged war on the world, this is a first for us and hopefully the last"
"This time we're going to be apart for longer than a week…" Zuko turned around and embraced him "I will miss you a lot uncle"
"I will miss you too Zuko"
Zuko separated himself from him and smiled again, it was a smile full of hope and it carried a promise to see the other again, or at least that's how Iroh saw it "take good care of yourself and don't do anything unnecessary, I don't want to hear of you kidnapping the princess of the Northern Water Tribe"
"If anyone will take her from her home it will be you Zuko" Iroh finished his words with a laugh that only got louder as Zuko's face went red.
"I know I don't say this as much as I should but…thank you for always being with me, I don't think I would have gotten so far without you"
With that Zuko left the room without seeing that Iroh's eyes had tears on them once more but this time they weren't there because he was sad, Iroh turned to the flickering flame that had helped him in controlling his anger and saw that it would soon burn out before he started singing again.
"Leaves from the vine
Falling so slow…"
This time he would not sing in mourning but as a promise to himself that he would be there to see Zuko come home again.
Author note: so this was the other chapter i wanted to share with all of you, it comes as the end of an era aproaches. Despite my best efforts to find an alternative to and to salvage the small following i built, it looks like this might be the end for the majority of my stories (what a time to be alive, when smut about fictional people is too offensive and dangerous to get paid for it). I didn't update this before because i was very sad about the fate of my which has helped me a lot in the past year it's been in service. From what i've been told only my star wars story will be left there (also some of my stories that are works in progress and that have no public chapters but they don't count). I don't know what i will do with the update schedule or the extra chapters i have for the stories that won't be allowed on if i'm honest, but once i know i will tell you.
Anyway i hope you're all having a nice day and that you're in good health but this is it for me, at least for now.
