capthlock_rage

But? Is that how a prince of the Fire Nation acts?

I'll give you a hint. It's somewhere within you...and it's not a 'but'...

. . . Is this -- my heart?

If you don't know then you'll never find a way out.

[blue dragon curls around for a second before winding away] And it's so dark...

How can I know where I am when I can't even see?

Start a fire and find out.

[opens his palm! ker-tiny flame~]

[and it is still dark all around you, but you can at least see the mocking smile of that dragon now]

Really, is that the best you can do?

[looks surprised, before flames flare up around his fists]

Of course not!

[the dragon smiles wider and twists back to give you some room]

See? Was that so hard...

...

But it didn't accomplish anything.

Maybe you're not trying hard enough.

When was the last time you really had to work for it? The last time you struggled for anything? You always pride yourself on never giving up, but I guess it's different when there isn't someone pushing you or something to beat.

I'm always working! I'm always struggling! It's just the goal that's changed...

[and suddenly even with your fire the place seems to get a little colder and darker]

And what goal is that...Prince Zuko?

... To help the Avatar defeat my father, and restore balance to the world.

But you already faced your father. You redirected his own lightning back at him...

Did that change anything?

It changed how he saw me.

[there is a sudden warm and uncomfortable presence near your left side and the voice that sounds like Azula's whisper]

That's not the answer. We're in your darkness...

So how do you see yourself now?

[and suddenly there is a mirror standing in front of you that you can faintly make out in the darkness but not a reflection yet]

[raises his head, and shifts his shoulders back, deliberately not shrinking away from the presence]

I'm stronger and wiser than before. I know right from wrong.

[but then he hesitates, and looks away from the mirror]

... and I'm not like him.

Do you really?

Remember when you were so desperate to make Katara trust you. Desperate enough to agree to take her to the man that killed her mother and seek revenge on him?

[the mirror grows a little longer in response to his not shrinking away]

...or is it only right because it's not something your father would do?

... She needed closure. No one else could have given her that.

Did she need it, or did you?

I only wanted to help.

And if that closure involved his death...

It was her choice to make.

And not your responsibility. Just like if it's the Avatar's destiny to stop the Fire Lord and he destroys him...

Well, that was his choice to make.

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