|•|W I T 卄 E R||•| Zuko X Reader ⚠SLOWBURN⚠

REGRET

Li and Lo began their speech to the crowd below,

"Your princess Azula, clever and beautiful, disguised herself as the enemy and entered the Earth Kingdom's capital. In Ba Sing Se, she found her brother Zuko, and together they faced the Avatar. And the Avatar fell! And the Earth Kingdom fell!"

"Azula's agents quickly overtook the entire city. They went to Ba Sing Se's great walls and brought them down! The armies of the Fire Nation surged through the walls and swarmed over Ba Sing Se, securing our victory."

"Now, our heroes have returned home! Your princess, Azula!"

The crowd erupted with cheers as my sister grinned.

"And after three long years, your prince has returned... Zuko!"

Once again, the crowd cheered. I stepped forward.

This... Is where I'm supposed to be. That's what I've always been told. But I... Feel so out of place. This feels... Dreadful.

I hate this feeling.

___/__

I entered the courtyard and sat down in front of the turtle ducks' pond. There were a lot more than I recalled. I could recognize some of the turtle ducks' which were still babies the last time I checked up in them.

Behind me was the same old tree I met Y/N at. It had grown a small bit, nothing crazy.

...I wonder if those butter-flies are still around.

"Zuzu, I know we've been separated around three years, but I really didn't expect you to be so depressed. I mean, your little Y/N's dead now, but geez!" Azula laughed.

I glared at her, "Don't joke about that."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Anyway, Father wants to speak with you."

"Father...?" I whispered, somewhat surprised.

Azula scoffed, "You're not deaf, are you?"

I sighed and stood up.

My father... The one who banished me.
And according to Y/N... The one who plotted to kill me.

...Maybe I can find that person... "Saiyaka."

___×___

While I was on my way to finally see my father's face again, I spotted someone.

"Oh. It's you." He grinned.

It was the same person from the Water Tribe Y/N and I met at Pao's tea shop... Oka.

I furrowed my eyebrows and walked past him, bumping his shoulder.

He didn't follow me. Instead, he said, "Say, I've noticed something odd. Your little girlfriend isn't here, is she?"

"...Shut up." I muttered.

"Huh? What was that?" Oka smirked, "I wonder what happened to her. It's really interesting. Why would you guys be apart when you claimed to love each other so much?"

"Shut up." I demanded, scowling.

"I don't take orders from you, I take orders from Azula." Oka approached me, "You've got nobody on your side now. You have no power. And honestly, we both know who the favorite child is."

I clenched my fists as Oka laughed. A familiar frustration and anger was starting to emerge from me.

He continued to throw insult after insult at me, but the thing I snapped at was...

"That girl of yours, Y/N, I bet she turned out to be a hussy, huh?"

Grunting with anger, I spun around and held Oka's throat, pinning him against the wall. "I TOLD YOU TO SHUT IT!"

He began to cough, but a cocky smirk was still on his face. "I-I was wondering why Azula wanted you around... Heh...! I-Insulting that Y/N girl really pissed you off, huh?"

My eyes narrowed and my grip around his neck tightened. "Keep her name out of your mouth!"

Oka laughed and spoke in a raspy voice, "O-Or what? S-She was nothing but a brat anyway."

I grit my teeth and formed a flame in my hand. Oka's smile dropped. Fear was in his eyes.

Fear...
___

"Do you truly believe your father loves you? If so, what do you think love really is?" You questioned.

Why can't I answer her?
Waves upon of waves of thoughts were crashing around in the cup of my mind. And then—I met your gentle eyes—Everything paused.

Everything except for one, tiny droplet of a thought.
How come I didn't notice the glint of fear  in your eyes?
___

I remembered a time when I was younger.

I remembered the feeling of everyone's eyes on me.

I remembered the heat of my father's flames.

"..." I let go of Oka's neck and he fell to the floor.

I'm... Acting the same way I did back then.

I'm relapsing back to the things that hurt her. The things that hurt me.

I'm doing what would make her and Uncle disappointed.

...I've already failed both of them, honestly.

Something's wrong with me.

I walked away from Oka and hesitantly headed straight to my father.

Something's horribly wrong with me.