Chapter Text
180 AG Republic City
Zuko landed Druk within the confines of the park that had been built around the third portal to the spirit world. From what he had been told over the phone something strange had happened near the portal, and since Avatar Korra was busy dealing with a case of humans encroaching on a spirit's territory, she wasn't around to look into it. So, the police had done the next best thing and called in the experts that they knew would be available.
This meant calling upon the white lotus and requesting them to send in their elders. Which at this point was just him and Toph. Katara's passing a few years ago, shortly after Ursa had given birth to Lu Ten, a nice compliment to her twin girls Mai and Ty Lee, had forced Zuko to think about all the friends he had lost over the years. Suki had been the first, losing her life to pirates that had decided attacking Kiyoshi Island was their best option in the wake of peace finally having been achieved and ports becoming far more fortified. Mai had followed her a few years later, and Ty Lee sacrificed herself to protect one of her friends not long afterward. Sokka managed to make it past Suki's death, putting all of his energy into helping lead the four nations into a greater future before eventually dying in a plague. Aang had just burned himself out as trying to be everywhere at once took its toll on him, and eventually he pushed himself too far.
Zuko had thought that that would be how he would die, back when he was driving himself into the ground trying to make amends with the other nations and keeping the fire nation safe both from internal conflicts as well as any retaliatory movements from the other nations. The closest he had come had to be after Mai's death, as taking care of the fire nation and making sure that Izumi got all the love and affection, she could ever need had spread him far too thin. If it wasn't for the palace staff who adored him, he probably wouldn't have made it to thirty much less ninety-six. Firebenders didn't tend to live that long, which had led to someone starting a rumor that Agni had made it so Zuko wouldn't die until the fire nation was no more. Zuko personally wanted to know who started the rumor, mainly so he could question their sanity in public rather than in private.
The police had also called in Jinora, her experience with the spirit world and the phenomenon's proximity to the third spirit portal making her insight incredibly valuable. Although Zuko had heard that Tenzin had opted to tag along despite the fact that his daughter was an adult, more spiritually aware, and engaged to be married. Although that last bit might have made him more insistent on coming along. Tenzin and Kai had never really seen eye to eye. Zuko had been protective of Izumi as well, but she had been the target of many of his political rivals, hoping to remove his influence from the country by ending his bloodline. Then there were all the families in the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes that had never forgiven his family for the war anyway. Putting up with all that shit had made him very protective, especially since Izumi was his only child.
Zuko shook his head, trying to dislodge the thoughts that clung to his brain like cobwebs. The feature that had the Republic City police concerned was more pressing than his memories, and he focused his attention on it. "It appeared yesterday," the young policeman told the group as they approached it, "We noticed one about two months ago that was twice the size, but it had only lasted for about five minutes. We suspect that they have been appearing for the last seven years and we just haven't noticed because they are either gone too quickly or potentially were too small to be seen without looking for them."
The group approached the strange phenomena cautiously. It looked like a flame had been suspended and stretched in place, the feature glowing a soft white, shifting slightly, like it was caught in a gentle breeze, but no such breeze was blowing. Zuko glanced at other members of the group, with Jinora looking interestedly at the phenomena, although Tenzin was holding her back from touching it. Toph on the other hand looked slightly frustrated, probably unable to sense the phenomena as it was off the ground, or unable to recognize what it was even if she could. She never did like not knowing things.
Zuko walked around the phenomena, making sure to keep some distance from it as there was no telling what it would do if one touched it. He wanted to see if looking at it from a different angle might give them some clue about what it was. Unfortunately, there wasn't any real change in it that Zuko could see. It looked so much like a flame that Zuko decided to try connecting to it with his bending.
As soon as Zuko's bending touched the strange phenomena, it changed. It had gone from a beam of moonlight to a bright red flame, the center growing brighter as Zuko felt himself being drawn in. Zuko attempted to dig in his heels, to keep from being pulled in, but he was still being pulled toward it. "Druk! Toph!" he called hoping one of them might be able to help him fight against whatever force was attempting to pull him into whatever this was.
An earthen wall rose from the ground, stopping Zuko from sliding any further forward while Druk came to settle behind him, his whiskers wrapping around Zuko's torso, attempting to pull him back away from whatever the phenomena was. Zuko had to keep from yelling as he felt like he was being ripped in half, the pull of whatever it was growing stronger by the second. The earthen wall gave away, Zuko being dragged forward, any more attempts to keep him from moving being thwarted by the force dragging him into the depths of whatever this thing was.
As Zuko entered the strange phenomena, he heard Toph scream his name and he turned to glance back, seeing Toph reaching for him while Druk, who hadn't loosened his grip on him at all was pulled in with him. Republic City fell away as Zuko was fully engulfed by whatever it was that had pulled him in.
He fell backward, the sensation more akin to sinking in the ocean than falling through the air, both feelings he was intimately familiar with. The sensation of Druk's whiskers around his torso loosened, and Zuko reached out into the dark void he was surrounded by, in the hopes to reach for Druk to reassure him that he was still there, still alive.
He wrapped his arm around Druk's head, which was smaller than it had been in years. Zuko frowned as he pulled the dragon he had raised in close when he felt like he had been grabbed around his chest. Pain suddenly erupted in his chest and the almost floating sensation changed, suddenly feeling like he was being thrown, his hair, suddenly black flying around the edges of his vision when the sensation of something hitting the back of his head caused him to lose consciousness.