Update: 6/13/17 I have updated this chapter and fixed a few errors I have noticed. Other chapter require similar reworks as some parts are written poorly, mostly Chapters 3-8 which I'm going to rework as I release new chapters, so 3 and 4 will be reworked when chapter 12 comes out and so on. However, this chapter has been fixed for the most part. Certain plot points will not match, as you go later into the story! I wrote this a long time ago and my own way of wanting to tell this story has changed.

Refer to the update at the end of Chapter 2.

Update: 6/21/17 While everyone waits for the next chapter (11) I have fixed a good portion of chapter two, if they want to re-read it I guess (I'm considering combing 1 and 2 into a big chapter since they've been reworked together). I hope everyone is ready for the next chapter, the action is just starting!

Everyone in the catacombs watched in fear as the avatar rose into the air. Slowly, the avatar ascended, lighting the cave's green crystals with an eerie glow, becoming the most feared person in the four nations at that moment. His blue arrows lit with a powerful, cosmic glow that Zuko associated with a lost fight. Even the Dai Lee agents paused in their duel with the waterbender to watch the spectacle. Unfortunately, his descent began as quickly as his ascent.

A crackling sound rippled through the air as a lightning bolt traveled towards the boy, who even in his ultimate state did not seem to notice the impending doom. Recognizing the terrifying crackling, Zuko understood what was about to happen. The hair on his neck stood up from either anxiety, the electricity, or some strange mixture of both. Zuko barely had time to process his thoughts in a heartbeat as the bolt struck the Avatar.

Electricity passed through his heart, then spread to his limbs and ignited a fire in every chi pathway in his body, causing him to jolt in the air, stiffening, and shuddering at once. The thunder crackled with finality as the boy's body went limp, and he crumpled to the floor in a heap. Shock rushed through Zuko as he dumbly realized his sister killed the Avatar. His empty gaze shifted as the water-bending girl swept aside the distracted Dai Lee agents with a wave to run to Avatar's aid. The water around her feet swirled to the Avatars wound, just a small red spot on his back, glowing briefly before sloshing away into a puddle around them. The Dai Lee, Azula, and Zuko watched as the girl realized the futility of her actions which only lead to more desperation.

Finally, she uncapped a familiar flask - the water from the north pole! - and emptied the contents into his back, using all the spiritual water on the Avatar. Unconsciously, his hand traitorously reached for his scar. The liquid glowed briefly, igniting a small, strange spark in Zuko's heart, but it did not enter the wound, intermingling instead with the waterbender's tears that slid down his body. Numbly, he wondered if this was what he wanted, and shook his head vehemently.

On one hand he recalled the north pole, when the avatar had annihilated Zhao's entire fleet, killing every single soldier on board those ships - Azula prevented a repeat. However a softer thought wormed it's way into his head, thinking about just how young the boy looked in the waterbender' arms. He spared the dying child another glance and felt his chest tighten. The feeling twisted like a knife in his chest as the waterbender cried out against the Dai Lee, who circled in closer after her torrent of water left them scattered.

Then the world around him simply ceased to be. All the noise flooding his ears came to a roaring halt, the Dai Lee's assault stopped, leaving them stuck in Earthbending stances, rocks and crystal scattered around them in a immovable cloud of dust.

Zuko blinked several times, rubbing his eyes. Then, he shook his head in disbelief, wondering if he was hallucinating. He gazed around to his sister, as if she was the source of the problem, however she too remained frozen. Her cruel, satisfied smirk still plastered across her face, as she surveyed the damage she caused.

No, he realized how irrational the thought that Azula somehow caused something so powerful. He looked toward the only true spiritual entity in the room. The dead child in the waterbender's arms. He took a step toward the boy, immediately noticing the feeling of weightlessness as he moved.

The closer Zuko approached the more apparent the suffering the Avatar endured, showing in the muscles tightened from the rush of energy that racked his body. The sharp pang of regret stabbed him again.

"I'm sorry. This wasn't how this was supposed to end." He shook his head in a fit of confusion, knowing his silent apology fell on deaf ears in this strange moment. He wasn't sure what to do in this moment, and that uncertainity frightened him the most. Then, a faint glow grabbed his attention, and he shifted his gaze below, inhaling sharply. The avatar's arrows were lit again, but dimmer this time - like a dying candle.

"You're alive? How..." His horrified whisper trailed off as the boy rose out of the waterbender's still arms, and Zuko stumbled backward in a rush of fear. This had to be his mind playing tricks on him, a concoction of guilt and stress. Another strange hallucination, just like when he freed the Avatar's bison. He mumbled these things to himself as he tripped backwards on a large rock.

"This is not a dream Prince, Zuko, and by ordinary terms I am not alive." The Avatar's voice had changed, no longer the prepubescent voice of a child, but a strange older rumble. Zuko observed a distinct lack of anger in the avatar's voice, instead a despondent and disappointing tone that weighed on him more, and that frustrated him. The Avatar should be furious with him for helping his sister. He would rather face the wrath of the Avatar spirit, than deal with more disappointment and pity.

"I demand to know what is going on!" Zuko raged, trying to provoke something from the Avatar. The animated body said nothing and seemed to grow in size with each passing second, and Zuko suddenly found himself shorter than the avatar boy. Upon a glance at himself, he noticed his stature wasn't shrinking but the Avatar was growing slightly. What in Agni's name?! A bright, ethreal flash overtook the room, enough to blind Zuko for a moment.

"Do not be afraid. Come walk with me." When he opened his eyes, the young boy's face changed as well to a much older man's face. Zuko's jaw opened in disbelief as he took in a face he had only seen in history scrolls and paintings. The beard, the crown, and the robes were all too familiar. He knew very well he this man was.

"Avatar Roku." Zuko whispered in a hushed voice. His hands trembled at his sides. What was going on?

The avatar spirit chuckled as if nothing was amiss, "Ah, so you recognize me? Good that should help move our little talk forward a bit."

The scene before him changed and warped, causing a wave of nausea to crash into Zuko. The walls of crystal and rock crumbled and the frozen people around him were pushed far back into space. He closed his eyes, while everything spun, and willed himself not not be sick. A sudden sensation, feeling like a tear in his body, gave way to a pained gasp, and his eyes opened at last.

A cosmic path lay before him, made of stars and energy. A bewildered Zuko observed the entirety of his surroundings - or lack thereof. The void around them seemed to take up all the space in the world, and yet it felt so small. A large spiritual body, much resembling himself floated at the very end, holding a fire in his hands, it looked so far away from where he stood.

"Where are we? What have you done?" Zuko cried out, craning his neck to glimpse off the edge. His firebending training allowed him to control his breath enough to calm himself.

"This is the cosmic road of destiny - yours specifically. All of your choices, and events that you have let shape you, led you to this point, which is quite a shame," Roku's chastising embittered Zuko, stoking the inner turmoil that lurked beneath his skin. That still didn't tell him where he was, or why he was here. However that was forgotten as the insult to his character registered.

"What do you know? I did what I had to for the firenation! I restored my honor!" Zuko snapped anxiously. Roku clicked his tongue, as though correcting a small child, and continued to stare down at Zuko with those white piercing eyes, picking apart his lies.

The Avatar carried on speaking, "With the Avatar cycle cut, the world will lose balance and everything will be offset by the fire nation, permanently. You have helped kill off the worlds bridge and mediator to the spirit world, and the spirit of balance for this world. That is what I know. Would you like me to congratulate you on a job well done?" His biting tone softened, "However, to fix this we need to move past your shortcomings. I can offer you redemption."

Redemption? Zuko wondered exactly why he was here again. How could he redeem himself? He chose his destiny, and while he wasn't sure if it was the finest choice, perhaps if there was a better alternative... He banished those traitorous thoughts and shook his head.

"I already redeemed myself! I can return home with honor, and be the ruler my country needs! Father will finally..." Zuko trailed off as doubt trickled into his thoughts running wild like a river after combining with the dissatisfaction of his recent actions. The Avatar spirit of Roku watched on as Zuko slowly formed conclusions about what he had done.

"You feel conflicted. What your father and the firenation want will ultimately not line up with your goals, because you cannot ignore the suffering of others. Sozin's comet is coming, and without the Avatar the firenation will wipe out the remaining rebels in Earth Kingdom." A cold shudder washed through, Zuko, as he wanted to be in disbelief, "Yet you want something great for yourself and the world. You are as much Sozin's great-grandson as you are mine." Roku observed his decedent carefully, watching as his face morphed into confusion.

"Your... great grandson." Zuko sat on that for a moment, wanting to not believe. However something about this place, perhaps the connection to the spiritual side of himself, made him reconsider where exactly he stood within the world. He looked up at the version of him that floated at the edge of the bridge, taking in the same scar that marred his face.

A random thought worked it's way through his mouth, as his eyes narrowed on the scar, "Is that why I couldn't keep my mouth shut in the war room?" Bitterness seeped into his tone, but it felt misplaced, knowing he had done the right thing by speaking out. The Avatar spirit hummed softly next to him.

"This is much more than that. Despite Zhao attempting to kill you numerous times, and impeding your misguided search, you still tried to save him from his fate. It was compassionate. Prince Zuko, you have the capacity to do great things for your nation," Roku's words rang true, and the latter continued on speaking, "You also feel the need to seek approval from your Father, and that toxic feeling has guided your life to this point, and will stand opposite to your dreams for the world and the firenation. You cannot let Ozai shape your destiny more than yourself. Don't you want to choose?"

Zuko weighed his words again and this time came up with no retort. He thought his inner conflict over the past several months resolved once the Avatar died, but it seemed that only served to make things worse. Not for the first time Zuko found himself lost in the universe.

"What is my destiny?" Zuko asked quietly. Roku watched his great-grandson with pity.

"Again, that is for you to choose." Roku spoke, shifting his gaze outward along the starlit path. Choice. Iroh told him that so many times. The memory of Iroh shouting at him telling him to choose echoed in his thought space. Iroh made him feel ill. He'd let him down by siding with Azula - Iroh, the one person who had stuck by his side through his life.

"You sound like my uncle." Zuko muttered, turning his back to the spirit.

"Iroh? Yes, we've spoken before. I passed on some of my knowledge to him after the death of his nephew when he came to the spirit world." Roku admitted casually, "He changed after, and realized that perhaps he could change the fire nation from within. You could change as well." Zuko mulled his words over. Uncle was always perceptive, and had a certain wisdom of the world about him, but Zuko never absorbed his Uncle's knowledge fully.

Choosing not to acknowledge Roku's vague suggestion, Zuko offered, "Uncle mentioned the spirit world a few times. I always brushed it off as nonsense." The spirits had done nothing for him. Half his life left like the butt end of some poor joke. Only through perseverance, tenacity, and determination had he overcome all the world threw his way.

"Not even the Avatar knows what the plan of the spirit's are, only that we can trust that in the end we will be where we need to be." Roku's cryptic response was the tipping point for Zuko. He'd sat down and listened, yet he felt no closer to understanding why he was here than when he'd arrived at this strange place. Familiar frustration boiled to the surface.

"Enough of this!" he roared, rearing around, "I let down the one person who stuck by me for the worst parts of my life! What makes you think I can change anything that happened for the spirits!"

"I do not expect you to do anything for the spirits. I would expect you to do this for yourself, and perhaps for your ideal vision of yourself. To have the option to change your past ever so slightly to align with your true potential in life." Roku's calm response left him silent once more. He didn't believe he was anywhere close to his true potential now. He didn't even know what that would look like.

"Explain." Zuko ground out, massaging his temples.

"We are standing on a bridge of your life. All of your time in the physical world is here. I can send your spirit back far enough to make a difference." Roku gestured behind them at the expanse of the bridge, which never seemed to end. This was all too much for Zuko. His head pounded at the mere thought of going back in time.

"What? How do you know I won't mess things up even further?" Zuko wrapped himself up in the familiar emotions of self-pity, loathing and inferiority to disguise his ignorance.

"Because there are some things that are not in your hands. They are elsewhere, and influenced by your mother, your father, your sister, and the spirits. You will ultimately be guided where you need to be by these forces, but you can change the outcomes impact on yourself and others. Take your sister for example. She was a monster in this time? Think about why that came to be. Perhaps your influence could change that with your new perspective. She is of my blood as well, do not forget that." Roku reasoned. Then, he pivoted on his heel and walked into the past.

"It would help if you chose soon, I am only dying after all." Zuko hesitated, then the thought of his sister - changed - awoke something within him and he jumped to his feet, running to the spirit's side. A ghost of a smile crept onto the old Avatar's face.

"What happens when I go back? What would change?" Zuko's head spun with more questions, but he controlled himself, knowing Roku would explain what he could.

"Bending time is the last reserved defense mechanism of the Avatar state. Those whose destinies are entwined with the Avatar's may be sent back, but the spirit of the Avatar can't go back, as I'm dying. Once you are back, you won't retain all of your memories." Zuko's head snapped up at that.

"Isn't that the whole point of this? I'm supposed to use my past experience to alter the future. How am I supposed to do that if can't I remember anything?" The whole ordeal seemed contradictory.

"The timeline must remain relatively close to set your journey in motion. It is your soul that is sent back, memories of the physical world will not but feeling about people and perceptions about the world will." He stroked his beard, thinking about his own words, "This has only happened a handful of times throughout history, and in those times they had changed feelings that guided them on a different path, but were not sure of the future in store for them. Some retained memories, others did not. The spirits work differently each time this has happened, as this is also a journey for the person sent back. There were also instances of connections to spirits related to them to guide them, perhaps Agni himself may guide you." Roku said nothing after that and Zuko mulled over his words, walking in silence. He tried not to think about just his future for a moment.

The future of the world without the Avatar was a bleak one. Here he was being offered a second chance to right his wrongs. A chance to change his own destiny, which felt all to surreal. If he screwed up this time, going back was not an option.. It could have been seconds, but it felt like days. Zuko wasn't sure how time flowed here.

Finally, Zuko felt ready.

"I'll do it. Send me back." He steeled his resolve after speaking, and looked to Roku, who stared impassively at the bridge in front of them.

"Very well. This point should do." Roku moved his arms in a strange bending motion that seemed to defy the way a body should move naturally, and struck the cosmic path. The light they had just walked on dissolved, and Zuko felt himself falling.

"We will see each other again, great grandson." Roku's voice echoed, muffling Zuko's shouts.