The Phoenix King (a new perspective on the last airbender)

Confusion

As soon as the beautiful fire dies down, the dragons quickly fly back into their caves. The wind whips my hair around as I stand in the middle of the platform, the setting sun glowing behind me. I feel.. refreshed. I haven't felt this way before. Except that one day, with her. No, I can't think of her right now.
I slowly walk down the steps, and I see Zuko. He's looking at me hopefully. He doesn't know if I've changed or not.
"Father?" he says in a small, cracking voice.
I stop in front of him, a few moments go by with us staring at each other, searching, and I finally pull him into me. I believe this is the first time I have ever hugged my only son.
Tears stream down my face, and I hug him tighter. I can tell by the way he is shaking that he is crying to.
"I love you, Zuko."
Though it only lasts moments, it feels like forever. I wish I could tell him that the only reason I was such a horrible father was that he was so much like his mother. He reminded me of the one I loved and lost. But I can't tell him that.
We finally break away and all eyes are on us. I'm still crying, but I don't care. I was a new man. But there was still the matter of the avatar unwittingly destroying the world.
Once I regain my composure for the second time, I turn towards Aang.
"You. You have doomed us. And I'm the only one that can save us."
The avatar looks at me wide-eyed, his raised eyebrows creasing the blue arrow on his forehead.
"Wh-what do you mean? You tried to take over the world!" He seems slightly angry, and I know that if I don't tread carefully I could trigger his avatar state.
"Yes, I know. But this whole experience has changed me. And I know what I must do now. I am not a human. I am a spirit."
Everyone except the oddly dressed Sun Warriors gape at me, mouths wide open. The blind girl, Toph, begins to laugh.
"This guy's gone crazy!" she manages to choke out between laughs.
The Sun Warrior Cheif suddenly interrupts. His voice is strong, deep, and loud.
"No. This man tells the truth."
The girl's laughing stops, and the tall boy, Sokka, looks confused.
"Wait, I don't understand. Ozai is a spirit?!"
"In a way, yes. My people have a legend of the great Iro. He is a human, but also a spirit. His soul was chosen by Twi and La to become part of the spirit world. He may not be a bender anymore, but he is still highly connected to the spirit world. Possibly more so than the young Avatar here, since he isn't fully realized yet."
I realized this when I was with the dragons, who shared some of their wisdom with me. I finally saw my true destiny, which was to work with the avatar, not against him.
Suddenly, Zuko speaks up.
"Iro?! As in my uncle?!"
I look at him a simply reply," Yes."
"Now I don't understand. How is my uncle a spirit?!"
"As you probably know, he has a very strong connection with the spirit world. He always has. My soul was chosen after I was born, quite recently in fact. But your uncle's soul was chosen while he was still in the womb. Secretly, our mother went to the Northern Water Tribe while she was pregnant with him. There she met with Twi and La, and begged them to give her son wisdom. She didn't know that they would choose to make him a spirit, but they did answer her plea. He became very wise."
"Why did she go to the Northern Water Tribe? To Twi and La? She was Fire Nation!"
"You see, my mother didn't like the war. She thought it was absurd and tried to get my father to stop it. He, however, felt the need to go on with the war. And he couldn't have his wife defying him in public, so he threatened her to make sure she never spoke out. One day, the day she found out she was pregnant with Iro, she had hope. The baby inside of her would be the new ruler, so if she could somehow make sure that it was wise and kind, she could stop the war. She knew Twi and La could do that, so she went to them."
"So Iro was chosen before he was born, and you were chosen after. How did you find out?
"Well, my realization wasn't completely..... correct until I met with the dragons. I was in prison when I fainted in my cell one night. I had a vision. I was in a strange place, lost and afraid,when a panda of all things showed up. I touched it and I somehow.. felt that its name was Haibi. It began to walk away, and I followed it to a cave. Once there, it disappeared into a ball of light. I was drawn to the cave, so I went in. It was dark an quiet, when suddenly a giant worm-like thing with a face came towards me. I gasped, and it laughed.
'Since you are a new spirit, I won't take your face.... this time. I am Kho.'
'What do you mean, I'm a spirit?!'
'Ahh,' he laughed,' I see Twi and La have not told you. You were chosen earlier. You are now part spirit. They want you to help save the world. The avatar has put the world in danger. He has taken away someone's bending in the name of keeping balance, but he doesn't realize that it threw EVERYTHING out of balance!' he explained rather angrily.
"How did it throw everything out of balance and what am I supposed to do about it?!"
'You are the key. A flame in your heart, you will find. 'Twas lost but once you find it, you will be able to set the light broken by ignorance.'
'What does that even mean?!' I yelled, but he disappeared deeper into the cave in the blink of an eye. I heard a deep but fading cackling before I left. Haibi was waiting for me and led me to a gate that put me back in this world."
A moment of silence follows my story until Sokka says,"Wow."
"Yes. And my interpretation of Kho's prophecy was all wrong until I met the dragons. I blamed the avatar for taking my bending away. I thought that the flame in my heart was my bending. But now I realize it is not. It is the energy and life within my soul. The flame in my heart is Ursa, Zuko's mother."