Archive of Our Own ^beta

Zuko doesn’t— can’t understand what happened. One moment he’s confronting his father, who manages to trick him into staying long enough for the man to regain his fire bending and shoot lightning at Zuko. Then, someone jumps in front of him. Zuko sees the back of his sister’s head and suddenly, he’s being thrown against the wall with Azula being thrown against him and she has been struck by lightning . She spasms on him as the lightning dissipates and Zuko can only whimper in shock as Azula’s head rolls back and he’s forced to peer into her now dull eyes.

“A…Azula?” Zuko says, knowing deep down that he won’t be getting an answer ever again. Her name echoes through the now silenced room. Zuko looks up to his father, blinking through sudden tears despite his chest feeling hollow. Ozai just looks annoyed rather than full of the distraught that racks through Zuko’s whole body.

“Look at what you made me do, now stand still so this time it actually hits my target .” The man sneers. Zuko can’t even bring himself to react properly, he just looks back down at his limp sister.

“‘Zula…?” Zuko says again, his voice cracks on the second syllable. He carefully grabs Azula’s shoulders to softly situate her onto the ground. Her body gives one more twitch and Zuko’s face finally falls to show off his grief as a sob bubbles from his throat.

“Oh, stop being so emotional ! Stand, coward!” Ozai shouts, causing Zuko to flinch and look at him. Zuko stays kneeling at his little sister’s body though.

“You.. You killed her…” Zuko states, his hands curling into fist at his sides in a sudden rage. “You KILLED HER!” He yells, his voice louder and heavier than Ozai’s had been. The man in question just bares his teeth animalistically at the show of emotion.

“You’re really pathetic enough to have loved that little pawn?” Ozai asks before throwing his head back and cackling at the obvious answer that’s probably written on Zuko’s face. Zuko is suddenly filled with so much anger and with his adrenaline still rushing through him, he growls and grabs half of the Dao that laid discarded on the ground from when Azula’s body flew at him. Ozai didn’t even have a second to react before a sword is being buried through his ribs and into his heart. Zuko just screams as his father gurgles and his body goes limp under him. Zuko pulls the sword out, letting his father's blood splatter and gush onto his clothes, just to shove the sword back through the now dead Fire Lord multiple times.

“HOW COULD YOU?!” Zuko screams, his voice finally the only one in the room. He’s trying not to hyperventilate as he sobs raggedly and stabs his father again and again. His tears only fall from one eye. “YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO LOVE US! HOW COUL-” His sobs render him silent. “How could you be such a monster ?” Zuko asks, his voice falling quiet as he cries against his father’s chest. He doesn’t even bother pulling the sword out of his father as he forces himself back to his feet. He silently drags his feet back to his sister. He falls to his knees, and the pain that shoots through them doesn’t even register. It still barely sets in that his poor baby sister is dead , as in never coming back. His face scrunches up at his eye stings with a new flood of tears. He grabs his sister by her shoulders again, pulling her close to his chest as he sits his head on her shoulder. His sobs come out screaming and they echo loudly through the room. 

“WHY?!” He asks his dead sister. “WHY DID YOU TAKE THE HIT?! WH-what was the point ?” Zuko asks before he, defeatedly, just pulls her closer. “A-Azula always lies,” He whispers, tears and snot dripping from his red face. “‘Zula always lies…” He continues to chant this, rocking back and forth and trying to hold his sister a little tighter each time.

“Y-yeah, it definitely came from here,” Came a muffled voice, and suddenly, Zuko’s mourning is interrupted by the doors rumbling open. The tunnel's light floods through the bunker’s space, and through his blurry eyes, Zuko’s met with the sight of the Avatar and his group. They look shocked at the contents of the room, two corpses and a sobbing teenager latched to one of them. “Woah! Z-Zuko?” Zuko doesn’t know which one said that, but he can’t even answer them. He finally and reluctantly sets his sister back down, grabbing the other half of the Dao. The group collectively takes a step back but Zuko just falls to his knees in front of the Avatar, simply holding the sword up for the boy.

“Y-you’re here, Avatar, you have to kill me,” Zuko orders, trying not to sound as pathetic as he probably looks. The Avatar takes another step back at the request. The small boy looks so conflicted. “ Please , you have to.” Zuko says, his voice becoming heavy again and his face muscles move to show his emotional distress involuntarily.

“Hey, get back, pal, you’re making Aang uncomfortable.” The WaterTribe boy stepped between them with a raised boomerang. A broken whine escapes Zuko’s throat and he grabs the boy’s pant leg as he turns to kneel in front of him instead. 

“Then you, y-you’ll do it, right? I-I’ve been so horrible to all of you, o-one of you has to do it, please ,” Zuko begs, hanging his head in shame. “H-he killed her, I just can’t do it, so please.” He tries to wipe the tears, snot, and blood off his face, but it’s quickly replaced with more tears. He looks up and into the boy's eyes. “He killed my little sister.” And all he can do is let out another pathetic sob as his grip on the boy clothes tighten as a silent plea. The boy recoils his top half in shock looking around the room and then back at his friends before landing back on Zuko. 

“And so, you… killed your father?” The WaterTribe girl asks, her voice weak with disbelief and a hint of disgust. Zuko lets go of the boy to turn to the girl who quickly falls into a defensive stance.

“No, you have to understand!” He pleads, his voice high pitched and cracking all through his sentences. “H-he’s a monster and he was laughing- I-I had to stop his laughing,” Zuko says, his attention going to the floor as he dissociates before he begins to laugh himself. It comes out a little hysterically, until his face scrunches to show his inner pain once again and the laughs change into louder sobs. 

“Well, I-I’m sorry, Zuko, but we won’t kill you.” The Avatar says defiantly, though his voice wavers a bit. Zuko turns towards the Avatar again, crawling a bit to situate himself back in front of the boy.

“But i-it’s all my fault- if I had just left , he wouldn’t ha-” He cries, his words cut off by wetness ripping through his throat causing him to cough with his whole body causing him to curl up slightly. “I……” Is all he can say before he’s laughing again, more in self-pity this time. “For the first time, I am finally and truly alone. ” He whispers to himself before devolving back into sobs.

“Oh, my nephew,” Zuko hears; it’s a voice he hasn’t heard in a while. It’s full of pity and something Zuko can only assume is contempt. Zuko’s head shoots up and he looks around before his eyes lock on the familiar shape of his uncle, who's stepping around the Avatar's friends. Zuko’s expression crumples once more as he picks half of his Dao back up. He shuffles miserably to his uncle’s feet, grabbing the man’s hand and trying to force the Dao into his palm.

“Y-you’ll do it, Uncle, right? Please, you have to,” Zuko begs once more, trying to make the man’s grip on the sword stronger. His Uncle just gently pushes Zuko’s hands away before throwing the sword to the floor, causing the clang to echo through the corridor. Right when Zuko tries to go grab it again, his uncle is suddenly at his level and then Zuko is being enveloped by his uncle’s arms; his uncle is hugging him, and Zuko doesn’t deserve it.

“I am so sorry, Prince Zuko, I am so, so sorry…” Is all his Uncle says, holding Zuko a little closer when the boy flinched from the title. Zuko can only hold the front of his Uncle’s tattered prison garb and cry into his Uncle’s chest.

“H-how can you be sorry?” Zuko asks, because he can't possibly understand. His hands shake and turn white from how harshly he’s holding on to Iroh. “I b-betrayed you, I- killed my father , and I let him k-kill Azula .” Zuko tries to make his uncle understand instead. Iroh just breathes and holds Zuko a little tighter. 

“You did what you had to, Nephew, do not doubt that,” Uncle says, using one of his hands to run through Zuko’s loose hair. Zuko just shakes at the words.

“But I was too late, Uncle, Azula’s… ‘Zula’s dead ,” Zuko states it like the fact it is, and Iroh can only rub the boys back. “I-I said I would protect her, Uncle, when she was born. I promised to protect her, a-and I– I’m the worst brother ever ; I'm no-not even a brother anymo- ” Zuko has to stop his rambling when he feels so nauseous that the room starts to spin; coming down from his adrenaline high like one would fall off a steep cliff. He pushes his uncle away weakly as his body catches up with his actions, he gags at the smell of the room. 

“Oh, he’s gonna-” The small earth kingdom girl is cut off from the bile spilling from Zuko’s lips and hitting the floor; he can’t recall what he’d eaten last, but he can tell it was almost done digesting. He lets out one more involuntary retch as his diaphragm spasms painfully before he pants while wiping his mouth. He clutches his stomach as he tries to stand “-And now he’s gonna-” Zuko doesn’t hear the end of her sentence as his unconscious body crumples back down to the ground.