It wasn't a pleasant task, bringing his sister's dead body home to a father who hated him. If it were up to Zuko, he would have left it up to one of Azula's remaining Dai Li agents.

Why do I even care? he thought as he shifted her weight against him. She still wore her Earth Kingdom disguise, now tattered and soaked with her blood and the elements. He could still smell her blood, feel it leaking from her chest where the knife had struck.

She tormented me practically my whole life, tried to have Uncle and I killed, nearly tricked me into making the biggest mistake of my life.

But as he approached his father's chambers, he found himself having to blink back tears of sorrow and regret. She'd hurt him, lied to him, made him feel like nothing. But she had still been his sister. His only sister.

"Father."

"Well, well." Ozai fixed him with his most intimidating leer. "To what do I owe the displeasure...of...this..." His voice trailed off as Zuko approached his throne, in his arms the unmistakable and unmoving form of Azula. "...is this your idea of a joke?"

"Azula's dead, father. The Avatar and the Earth Kingdom soldiers ended her life in the Crystal Catacombs."

"Give me my daughter," Ozai snapped, Zuko deposited her into the man's trembling arms.

"I know you're going to blame me for this, and you know what? I don't care," Zuko said. "I'm through caring what you think of me, father. You hate me and think me a disgrace, but I'm fine with that now. Today, I chose my own destiny, and I'd rather be a banished prince than a slave to your whims for the rest of my life."

But as he turned to walk away, Ozai shouted his name. Not harsh and controlling as he usually did, however, in this shout there was a strange desparation. Something Zuko had never associated with his father before.

"Wait," Ozai pleaded. "Son...my son, you can't just leave me now! Not like this..."

"I'm sorry, what?" Zuko turned around, recoiling at the horrifyingly pitiful sight before him. Fearsome Firelord Ozai, kneeling before the son he'd banished, tears streaming down his face as he clutched Azula's broken body against his own.

"Please, Zuko...can't we talk?"

"You wanna talk now?! After you burned my face, banished me and refused to even let me write home until I'd found the Avatar just to make you happy?!" Zuko yelled. "No, father, you had your chance and you blew it! All I ever wanted was your love and respect, but if this," he pointed to Azula's body, "is what it'll eventually lead to, then forget it!"

"Zuko!" Ozai wept. "I was wrong to banish you, I was foolish...my son, my only son..."

For a moment, Zuko felt the tiniest sting of compassion for his father, so vulnerable before him. His face softening, he stepped forward just slightly.

"You're all I have left," Ozai said softly.

But as he looked into his father's eyes, Zuko remembered the cruelty, the indifference, the jeers and the anger.

He touched his scar and remembered that fateful Agni Kai.

You will learn respect, and suffering will be your teacher!

No, Zuko thought, this doesn't change anything. He turned around, closing his eyes.

"But you're not all I have left," he said coldly. "Goodbye, father."

He rejoined his uncle and the Avatar outside the palace, boarded Appa, and didn't look back.

I'm sorry, Azula.

-x-

In his throne room, Ozai continued to sob as he cradled his only daughter's corpse.