"No. Stop." Noren spoke out, his voice low, head bowed. Zuko had gotten up to leave, but his conscience could no longer take it and he knew he had to set things straight. He turned to his wife and held her hand in both of his. "Noriko, I knew this moment would come sooner or later..."
She was puzzled. "W-what's going on?"
Instead of answering her, Noren looked up to Zuko. "Go ahead, young man. Do what you came to do. Tell her... that you have not forgotten who you are."
He looked at the faces gathered round the table; an expectant Noren, a bewildered Noriko, a confused Kiyi and a silent Lady Reiko. There it was again, that inner conflict that raged inside him. He had conceded defeat for his mother's happiness. What was Noren thinking? "I..."
Zuko glanced once more at Noriko then to Noren, who nodded in further encouragement.
"My name is Zuko. I am the Fire Lord... And I am your son."
They sat there in stunned silence before Noren got up, dropped to his knees and bowed deeply to Fire Lord Zuko. "When I saw you in the crowd, I recognized you immediately... because of the scar. I had learned all I could about Ursa's life in the Royal Palace. And I knew it would come back to haunt us someday."
He looked down at the man bowing before him. Noren, no... Ikem. His mother's first love. The man who might turn out to be his biological father.
"Forgive me for not confessing the whole truth when you and your friends were here, Fire Lord. I had hoped to give you enough information to satisfy you, yet still protect my home here with Ursa."
"U-Ursa?" Noriko turned to her husband, questions arriving faster than answers.
He pulled back from the bow and faced her. "That was your old name, my love. From your old life. You were once a princess, and the Fire Lady. You had two children, one of whom grew up to be the Fire Lord."
"What are you saying, Noren?" She held Kiyi in her arms, clutching the girl to her chest tightly.
"You don't remember any of this because a powerful spirit altered your memories. But once you return to the Capital, maybe—"
"Wait!" Zuko, with tears in his eyes, knelt in front of them. "M-maybe this is where I belong too! W-with my mother, my sister, a-and my true father..." He looked at Noren as he said the last word.
But Noren was alarmed by this. "But.. that's not possible... Ursa and I... We... We never—"
Too engrossed in the revelation, they failed to notice the ceiling give way until it was too late. Sokka came crashing through the roof, narrowly avoiding Azula's lightning attack.
The moment she saw Zuko, she kicked him to the far end of the room, adrenaline-fueled rage in her blood as she then turned to the woman she had been longing to face for months, if not years.
"YOU! Finally!" She stood on top of the table, looking down at Noriko menacingly. "I can't tell you how long I've dreamed of this moment!"
"Mommy!" Kiyi held on tighter to her mother, terrified by the sight of Azula's disheveled hair and hate-filled eyes.
Something snapped within her as she watched the young child clinging onto the woman.
Lightning ignited from her fingertips as she stared down at them. "Tell me, mother! Did you have to have a new daughter because your last one turned out to be such a monster?!"
"Stay back, Azula!" From behind her, Sokka shouted, breaking her from her stride.
"HA! Looks like you still haven't learned your lesson, snow peasant! Where's your little toy?"
"Right. There." Just as Sokka pointed behind her, the boomerang hit the side of Azula's head, disorienting her momentarily long enough for Lady Reiko to take Kiyi and help Noriko up.
"THAT'S IT! No more distractions!" Not heeding the throbbing pain of her head, Azula lunged at Noriko, grabbing her by the hair and slamming her against the wall. With one hand, she took hold of Noriko's neck, raising her other hand and letting the blue flames claim it. "It all ends right now!"
"I-I don't know... w-what you're t-talking about!"
"Oh really?! So, I've imagined all this?! You haven't been trying to take me down from the moment I was born?!"
"Azula, let her go!"
"Stay back, Zuzu! I'm warning you! One more step and I'll...I'll—" One moment, she had turned her head to address her brother.
The next, she felt a calloused, warm hand touching her cheek.
"I-If what you say is true... If I really am your mother... Then I... I'm sorry... I'm sorry I didn't love you enough."
Unbidden tears welled from the corners of Azula's bloodshot eyes as she stared into the woman's face. Unfamiliar, yet still... she held the same sad look in her eyes.
The same look that has haunted her for months.
Zuko had grabbed her arm and manage to free Noriko from her grasp. Another fight ensued between them, but this time, the sense of urgency and desperation was driving them both, fuelling their attacks and their fire.
Even to the point of almost tearing the house down.
With redirected lightning, Zuko overpowered Azula, sending her crashing through the furniture and to the wall.
"Don't you get it, Zuzu?!" She snarled as she struggled to stand, refusing to be defeated by her brother. "You and I will finally be free! You of a throne you never really wanted, and me of this incessant nagging in my head!"
"You're wrong."
"Oh, stop kidding yourself! The other morning, when you had me over that cliff, why didn't you just let go?! You could've gotten rid of me and this letter!" She whipped out the parchment from her robes, Ursa's letter. "It would have been so easy! Admit it! You need me to help you be free!"
Azula thought she had won. She thought she had once again succeeded in manipulating her brother, succeeded in making him give up the throne for her to take her rightful place. So it shocked her when she saw him gathering his hair in a tie.
And take out the golden emblem of the Fire Lord from within his robes. "In my heart, I know... I've always known..." Zuko stared into Azula's eyes as he carefully pinned the emblem into his hair. "The throne is my destiny."
He walked towards his sister slowly, shielding Noriko behind him. "That morning on the cliff... Azula, our relationship is so messed up. It's been like that for as long as I can remember. And maybe it will be like that for the rest of our lives, or maybe not. But one fact never changes. No matter what, you are still my little sister."
"S-shut up..." Azula hissed.
"Azula..."
"SHUT UP!" She kicked up a wave of blue fire towards them before dashing through the door.
Zuko chased her through the quiet town. No matter how many times he called to her, she refused to slow down and turn. "Come back, Azula! Please! I can help you! I want to help you!"
"You're lying!"
"I am not! All I've ever wanted was for both of us to get along! Yet you've never given it a chance! You've never given me a chance!"
She stopped at the edge of the forest and finally turned to her brother, tears streaming freely as she took deep breaths. "Same as always, Zuzu... Even when you are strong... you're weak."
Behind Zuko, Noriko had followed them. Azula took one look at her and wiped her tears harshly with the back of her hand. "I hate you."
With those last words, she ran once more and disappeared in the dark shadows of the forest.
Hours had passed since Azula's disappearance, yet Zuko and Noriko still stood by the edge of the forest in awkward silence. Neither of them knowing what to say to the other.
Slowly, the first rays of light began to peek from the horizon. And along with the light, Appa flew through the sky.
Behind them, stood the Mother of Faces, surrounded by an eerie mist and faint light. "Human," She called out to Noriko who stood still, yet unafraid. "Do you wish to return to who you once were?"
"Yes." Noriko said with no hesitation at all.
"No! You don't have to!" Zuko grabbed her shoulder and spun her around to face him. "You have such a beautiful life here... You can stay here!"
The older woman shook her head, touching his cheek under his scar. "I need to atone for my sins... to you, and to your sister. Let me remember and make things right."
"Mother..."
"I've been in the shadows long enough, not knowing how much pain I have caused you both. I was living this peaceful life... while... while my...children..."
"It seems that the pain never really left, despite your new identity." The Mother of Face remarked, watching mother and son below. "Do you wish to remember, Ursa?"
"Yes."
The Mother of Faces reached out and clasped Noriko's head. Soon, blinding light shone from her grasp, rivalling that of the sunrise that rose in the east.
They had returned to Noren's house that morning. Aang, Sokka and Katara helped with the repairs while Chiyo took care of Kiyi with Lady Reiko.
The child had repeatedly asked where her mother was, but Chiyo continued to distract her with making rice cakes and stories of her travels.
"You should go to them." Zuko said as he stood beside his mother, the former Fire Lady Ursa.
Still the same, but older now. Her fair skin, her golden eyes, her heart-shaped face, her long dark hair. She was Ursa once more, no longer the plain Noriko. "Later... You and I need to talk."
He nodded and followed her to the small garden she had tended with Kiyi and Lady Reiko. "Zuko, what I said to Azula... I owe you that same apology. I know that an apology would never be enough to make up for the years I left you and Azula. But I will gladly spent the rest of my days atoning for all the pain I have caused—"
"Don't say that, mother..."
"But... It's true, I... I forgot you. And I chose to do so... What kind of mother forgets her own children?"
Zuko reached out and wiped the tears from his mother's eyes. "Uncle said that destiny is a funny thing, that the paths we take, no matter how treacherous, no matter how dark and winding, will lead us to the right destination. And all we can do is trust and follow through with an open mind and an open heart."
Ursa wrapped her arms around her son for the first time in years. "You have grown so much... I regret that I wasn't there to see it, but I am so proud of you, Zuko."
He smiled, content to be in his mother's embrace once again. "Still, I have one more question."
"What is it?"
Zuko pulled away and reached into his robes for the letter that Azula had misplaced upon her escape. He handed the letter to Ursa and asked. "Is Ikem really my father?"
She took the letter and read its contents; painful memories refreshed as she remembered the circumstances surrounding these letters. "What I wrote here... isn't true."
He sighed deeply and looked away, part of him wanted to believe that Ikem really was his father, and that he had nothing to do with Ozai. Yet another part of him knew otherwise.
"There's so much I want to tell you, Zuko. About your father, about Ikem, about my life here in Hira'a..."
"Then tell me..." He held his mother's hands, like she used to before when he was scared. "We have all the time in the world. Tell me everything, from the beginning."
Finally, she smiled. And it was just as Zuko had remembered. Warm and bright. "Thank you, Zuko. Despite everything that has happened... thank you..."
"Things turned out for the better, mother. I've met great friends that I'll keep for a lifetime, and... and even possibly, a future wife..."
"Oh?" She grinned, watching as her son, her little boy who had grown up to be a man, blush still as he looked far away. "Who?"
He nodded in the direction where Chiyo sat with Kiyi, watching as they played around with the flour while shaping the rice cakes into hearts and flowers.
"Is it... Chiyo?"
He expected her excitement, her gushing thoughts, or endless questions about her.
He wasn't prepared for the grave tone she had used, her silence, nor her next sentence. "You can't marry her, Zuko."
"W-what?! Why?! W-why not?! But regardless of your answer, I-I can, and I will—"
"A Fire Lord cannot marry an entertainer, nor could an entertainer hold position in royalty."
I apologize for this half-baked chapter... I promise future-me will edit this (Thank you, future-me.) and hopefully be able to convey the words and feelings more. Let me know your thoughts!
-TheGreatestConWoman-
Also, I wanna say "Hi!" to King_Mochi and Warr10r0f7h3L16h7 ! If you'll allow me, I wanna take note of the points you both discussed, and maybe (and hopefully) use them as guidelines in writing a redemption arc for Azula later on *fingers crossed*. You both rock! *bows deeply*