Wild At Heart (Zuko)

Chapter Sixty-One

The High temple rises through the sky of the Capital, shrouded in darkness. A Fire Sage walks through a courtyard and stops over a large medallion fashioned in the shape of a flower in the middle of the courtyard. He crouches low and delivers a blast of fire into the centre of the medallion. It begins to open a hidden passage, under the courtyard of the temple. The Sage goes into the passage through the steps. Zuko hides and waits behind a pillar. When no one is around, Zuko goes to the secret passage and bends a blast of fire into the medallion. The passage opens, and a spiral staircase is revealed along with a very large secret chamber. Zuko travels through the chamber and down a hall lined with bones of dragons, all lined up along the walls of the hall. He comes to an ornate door with a metal sculpture of Fire Lord Sozin on it. The chest of the sculpture has a Fire Nation emblem. Zuko places his left hand over the emblem and bends a fire blast. The fire fills the door and comes out from the statue's eyes, nose and mouth. Zuko enters the room, pulls his cloak from his head, raises his lantern to look around the dark chamber, and sees that the room is filled with artefacts and various vessels. A large statue of a dragon sits in the middle of the room. Under the dragon's head, Zuko finds Fire Lord Sozin's history. He leans closer and touches the writing there.

"The final testimony of Fire Lord Sozin" He voices and then leans back to look up at the dragon's head. He lets out a breath and takes the scroll from the stand before sitting on the floor to read it. "As I feel my own life dimming, I can't help but think of a time when everything was so much brighter" He reads quietly to himself. "Soon the day came when my friend Roku had to leave the Fire Nation and face his destiny as the Avatar. He needed to travel the world so he could master the other elements. Twelve long years passed before I saw my friend again. When Roku returned, he was a fully realized Avatar, and I had changed as well.....On wedding days, we look to the future with optimism and joy. I had my own vision for a brighter future......." Zuko skips down parts of the scroll, rushing through the history before he is caught in here. "With Roku gone, and the great comet returning, the timing was perfect to change the world. I knew the next Avatar would be born an Air Nomad. So I wiped out the Air Temples. But somehow, the new Avatar eluded me. I wasted the remainder of my life searching in vain. I know he's hiding out there somewhere. The Fire Nation's greatest threat ... the last airbender." He reaches the end of the scroll, the last of the information on Sozin's history. Zuko frowns. "That can't be it! Where's the rest of it?" He searches the scroll to find more information but there is none. The back is blank. He stands and throws the scroll down, annoyed.

.........

In the Fire Nation prison where Iroh is imprisoned, Zuko bursts through the door, slamming it back against the wall. It didn't take him long to figure out that he would be here actually. Once he thought about it. It was here or the Boiling Rock, and he assumed that Ozai would want his brother close, just to keep an eye on him.

"You sent this, didn't you?" Zuko demands, angrily thrusting the scroll through the bars towards his uncle. Iroh turns hearing Zuko's voice, immediately standing to look at him. After Ba Sing Se, he never thought to see him back in the Fire Nation, let alone in his cell. Even if he did send the scroll. He never thought Zuko would come here. "I found the secret history, which by the way should be renamed history most people already know! The note said that I needed to know about my great-grandfather's death, but he was still alive in the end"

"No. He wasn't"

"What are you talking about?" Zuko asks, the anger seeping out of him, replaced with confusion.

"You have more than one great-grandfather, Prince Zuko. Sozin was your father's grandfather. Your mother's grandfather was Avatar Roku" That surprised Zuko. His mother never spoke of her grandfather, none of them did.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because understanding the struggle between your two great-grandfathers can help you better understand the battle within yourself." Zuko sits down, with his head facing down. "Evil and good are always at war inside you, Zuko. It is your nature, your legacy. But, there is a bright side" Zuko looks up. "What happened generations ago can be resolved now, by you. Because of your legacy, you alone can cleanse the sins of our family and the Fire Nation. Born in you, along with all the strife, is the power to restore balance to the world" Iroh stands and moves to the back wall where he wiggles free a brick and reaches inside for a wrapped bundle. He removes it and walks back to Zuko, unwrapping it. Revealing a headpiece. "This is a royal artefact. It's supposed to be worn" Zuko stands. "By the Crown Prince" Zuko takes the headdress from Iroh's hand and holds the artefact. Iroh stands quietly, looking at his nephew. "Why did you come back?" Iroh asks, Zuko look back at him.

"Because you sent that scroll..." Zuko answers. "Kali, she thought I needed to see it through" He admits. Iroh softens a little.

"Is she...?" Zuko shakes his head

"No, we're not....She's not here" He lets out a breath. "She has gone on ahead without me"

"But you are still...?" Zuko lets out a small laugh and nods.

"Yes, we are still...together" He assures his uncle who smiles and relaxes a little. He is glad that after everything they went through Zuko still gets a somewhat happy ending. He is with Kali. That's enough for now. "I will join her eventually" He adds. He knows he is going to go back to her, he's just not sure when yet or how easy it is going to be to find her again. They parted for the right reasons, but that doesn't mean he doesn't miss her or worry about her.

......

Somewhere in the Earth Kingdom, Kali sleeps in an abandoned and burnt building, though the interior is much greener. Soft grass beneath her keeps her from sleeping on broken wood flooring and there is a large leaf wrapped around her to keep her warm and covered, she misses the heat that Zuko radiates. Ran-Ya and Bing are curled up against her back.