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Recent events had been confusing, to say the least.
The last thing he remembered was not taking that traitor’s hand at his crowing achievement.
He was Zhao the Moonslayer!!
But the memories immediately after his siege was seeing the old avatar drag him back to whever he was. There were tall buildings, boxes which moved and he was currently sitting a room made out metal. It wasn’t a prison cell, as it had a few chairs and a table with few refreshments. When he got out of there, he would probably have a few words with the old avatar and the scarred woman who threw him in here.
Where was he? By the way they talked, it seemed like he was in future. He knew that his glorious nation had won, but if that was the case, then why was the avatar alive?
The door creaked open and a man entered the room. He was wearing red, a good sign then. Finally somebody Fire Nation to clear up his questions! He even had the royal family’s golden eyes!
His voice was light and gravelly, but most importantly, it was extremely familiar, “Whatever I’m going to do right now, isn’t legal. But nobody is going to care about it because you’ve been dead for 70 years.”
With that, he punched him in the nose.
“Don’t you know who I am! Firelord Azula will have your head for it! I am Zhao the-"
The man had the audacity to chuckle and was about to say something when that hairy water tribe savage accompanying the avatar rushed into the room. “Woah, Iroh don’t punch him! We don’t even know whether he’s the correct person or not!”
So that was his name. Iroh. Named after a disgraceful traitor. But surely nobody in their right minds would name their son that. Unless-
“Dad, you and uncle Tenzin heard him yourself. He called himself Zhao the Moonslayer! He was the one who tried to have grandad assassinated by pirates!”, he turned back at him, his gaze making his spine shiver, “He thinks that absolute motherfucker Ozai is on the throne. Besides, he’s been dead for years and Aunt Lin told me that as long as he’s alive, I can do whatever I want with him.”
His blood ran cold. That man was Zuko’s grandson and by the way he talked, he seemed to have a deep admiration for the honorless traitor. The savage didn’t resemble Zuko in the slightest, so by his estimates, he was locked into a room with the very angry grandson of a person who he had tormented for 3 years and his son-in-law.
“Fire Ferret. Listen, he’s been in custody for the weekend. Uncle Zuko and Mizuki just landed a few minutes and Druk is resting right now. They’re coming in a few minutes, wait till then. In case you forgot, he did taunt your other grandpa about a genocide.”
Iroh’s eyes grew wide with a barely restrained fury before he lunged towards him once again, but thankfully, the savage caught hold of him.
“Zhao.”
He turned towards the direction of the voice, only to see an old man and a woman holding his hand.
The man’s face was marred by an ugly scar which covered his left eye, but other than the scar, he looked just like Avatar Roku. The same facical structure and headpiece.
This was Prince Zuko.
“What happened to you Prince?” He asked even if he was afraid of the answer. He tried to put as much contempt as he could into his royal title.
Zuko’s face smoothed into what could only be called smugness before it turned into that which would make even Agni himself afraid.
He leisurely sat down on the chair, nodding towards his grandson and son-in-law and looked straight at him.
“I disowned my father and defeated Azula in an Agni Kai. That was, after joining the Avatar and teaching him firebending. I am regarded as the most dangerous firebender one could ever face, did you know that?”
While earlier he wouldn’t have regarded Zuko as a threat, something inside him told him to be very very afraid of him.
“Who’s the oaf?”
Iroh glared at him, before holding the oaf’s hand.
“Ah, yes. You haven’t meet my family. Unfortunately, my wife is at home right now, so you can’t meet her. I presume that you would know of her, seeing that you and her father were fast friends. I married Mai and had a daughter, Izumi. I also bonded with a dragon shortly after becoming a father. The oaf is my son-in-law, Commander Bumi II of the United Forces and firstborn of Avatar Aang. You’ve already met my grandson General Iroh II of United Forces and heir to the throne. This little hogmonkey over here is my granddaughter, Mizuki.”
That’s it. It was too much. He refused to be disgraced by that traitor any longer.
“You’ve always been an honorless coward, haven’t you? I bet that you drugged your own sister to defeat her! I knew that your father should have killed you when he got the chance. I SHOULD HAVE KILLED YOU! You’re a traitor to your entire family and your nation. Did you hear that- TRAITOR!!!”
To his anger, while everyone else’s faces turned stormy, Zuko’s face showed an expression which one would make after a compliment. He smiled at him, and got up.
“I pity you Zhao. How low you have felt, if your meaning of honor was to taunt a half blind 13 year old child. Your words may have haunted me when I was a child, but ultimately, I’m glad that I was a traitor to whatever you were doing to the world. Farewell.”
He walked out of the room without any care, leaving him chained to the table.
The scarred woman walked into the room and looked sharply at him, “While Uncle Zuko didn’t do anything, that doesn’t mean that we won’t. Don’t worry, we won’t torture you or anything, just scare you. Apart from the punch that this kid gave you, you won’t have a single scratch.”
Did- did she just bend his metal cuffs??!!
The door closed with a click and he gulped.