• Zuko watched numbly as a slow and painful realisation began to sink in.

    A tall man with casually styled blonde hair that curled forward below his earlobes and flicked out at the bottom of his neck stood in the centre of Lily-Bree’s hotel room.

    His fists were clenched in frustration. Laugh lines lay clearly imprinted in his tanned, smooth skin – though his expression couldn’t be more opposing to these character building features.

    He had a large nose, though it suited his masculine features well. His full lips that would normally curl in to a playful grin, revealing perfectly white teeth today slanted downwards as he frowned, and his jaw clenched.

    His attire was formal; a white shirt with a light blue tie, dark blue trousers with his matching jacket clenched in his fist, appearing as a business man having just arrived home from work.

    Slowly Zuko raised his hand to his face and pressed his fingertips against his cheek, gently running them across each curve.

    The same nose, the same lips, the same chin. And those eyes…

    The angered man finally realised the presence of Zuko at the open door and turned his head to him, his hair slipping into his face. As the fading sun gleamed through the open blinds, his hazel eyes seemed to glitter and swim with lost emotion.

    His eyes scanned Zuko’s face and narrowed as they surveyed the rest of him. Zuko froze, feeling as though he were under medical examination.

    Silently the man turned away once more. Zuko felt his heart fall. That blank, empty stare… he didn’t even recognise me? He thought, his own hazel eyes searching the man’s face frantically for some sign of acknowledgement, but he saw nothing.

    Finally Zuko found his voice, and managed to stammer the word he never though he would use again.

    “D-Dad?”