Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

            The first day traveling with the Avatar and his friends, Zuko was on high alert. He stayed curled in a tight ball at the back of the bison’s saddle and watched the group warily, tensing whenever one of them moved toward him or tried to speak to him.

            He did his best to ignore them. The Avatar (was he supposed to call the kid Aang now?) had told him to try, but he didn’t see any point. Trying had never made a difference before, why would it now?

            Growing up the only real friend he’d had was his sister. Since Azula was friends with Ty Lee and Mai that meant that by default Zuko was also friends with them (Azula would never have allowed them to pretend otherwise) but he’d never been very close with the girls. There was a time before he was banished, when he was eleven or twelve, that he’d had a crush on Mai, but he’d never been brave enough to ask if she liked him back. He hadn’t thought about it in years and the feelings he’d had for her had been crushed out of him by the need to survive, just like everything else had.

            He remembered tagging along after Lu Ten like a lost tiger-wolf cub when he was little, but his cousin had been over ten years older than him and had his own friends. He’d always been kind to Zuko and often indulged in games and adventures with him, but Zuko wasn’t sure they’d ever truly managed to be friends.

            And of course there was Toph… she probably didn’t even think about him anymore.

            All the other children he’d ever tried to be friends with had teased and made fun of him, or simply refused to play with him because he was the prince and therefore “thought he was better than them”. Except he didn’t. He just wanted to play games with them. But he could never make them understand that. The ones who did play with him for a while always ended up arguing with and making fun of him when he didn't understand their jokes or the (arbitrary, changing) rules of their games.

            (except when Azula was there, she always made the other kids be nice to him. And then whenever he showed up by himself they'd tease him for not having his sister around to protect him, and when he got angry and argued he didn't need Azula to protect him they'd gang up and attack him and he'd go home with bruises and little burns and if father saw he'd be disappointed and maybe even punish him and-)

            So he didn’t have a good record of making friends and he didn’t see any point in trying to start now, when all he wanted was the release of death.

            The second day he couldn’t keep himself alert any longer and accepted that his life was in these kids' hands. He fell asleep and slept into the next day.

            When he woke there were hands on him and he was shoving his attacker away before he was fully awake, just barely holding back a blast of fire.

            “Zuko! It’s okay, it’s just Aang!”

            Zuko kept one hand outstretched and rubbed his good eye with the other. When he could see the boy clearly his face settled into a glare. “What do you want?”

            The boy seemed unperturbed. “You should eat something. We’ve got lots of supplies from the Water Tribe, do you want some bread or dried fruit?”

            “Or meat!” Sokka called.

            Zuko saw that the kid was holding a piece of bread out to him. As much as he just wanted to refuse and curl back up in a ball, he knew that if he passed out from hunger then they’d try to help him again and he did not want that. He was done being in their debt.

            So he snatched the bread away from Aang and turned away to eat. After a moment he heard the kid walk back to his friends and start talking with them.

            It would be over soon, he reminded himself, he wouldn’t have to do this much longer.

            With that thought he finished the bread and allowed himself to relax back into sleep.

****

            “I’m worried about him.”

            Katara sighed. “I know, Aang, but there’s not much we can do right now.”
            “Can’t you check him over while he’s sleeping?”

            She looked up at Aang’s pleading face and her heart ached, but Sokka was quick to point out why that wouldn’t work.

            “Yeah and wake up to a face full of fireball. You saw how jumpy he is.”
            “I hate to say it, but Sokka’s right,” she agreed.

            Aang’s shoulders slumped and she did her best to reassure him. “Maybe Zuko will be more comfortable once we land. I’ll try and get him to show me his injuries then.”

            Aang sighed but nodded at her. “We should be over land by tomorrow morning. We can make camp for the day to let Appa rest and give you a chance to try and help Zuko. I’m sure Sokka and I can find something to do for a few hours.”

            “Yeah, I’ll just take a really long time to collect firewood,” said Sokka, leaning back. Katara rolled her eyes and smacked him. “Ow! What was that for?!”

****

            Zuko woke the next morning when the bison landed, and a profound sense of relief filled him when he saw grass and trees. He slid undignifiedly down the bison’s side and reveled in the feeling of life around him.

            The Avatar felt similarly if how he scrambled off the bison and started running around was any indication. Zuko sat down with his back to a boulder and watched as the group divided into tasks. Aang hurried off to look for nuts and berries and practice waterbending (Momo went with him, to Zuko's great disappointment). Sokka went to find firewood, and Katara bent some water from the nearby river into a pot and started stacking up sticks from around the clearing to make a fire.

            Zuko waited until her back was turned and shot a small flame out of his fingers onto the pile. It crackled and he smiled the tiniest bit, grateful to be able to have a flame burning near him again.

            If Katara was unnerved when she saw the fire already burning she didn’t comment on it. Zuko closed his eyes and listened to her walking around, breathing deeply in a kind of half-meditative state.

            “So how did your burns end up healing?”

            Zuko jumped, eyes flying open and focusing on the girl, who was adding sticks to the fire.

            “My burns?” he said, uncertainly, reaching his hand up to touch his face then catching himself and shoving it into his lap.
            “Yeah, the ones on your arms and chest,” she said. “I’m just curious, since I was the one who treated them at first.”

            He blinked. Right. Those burns. “They’re healing fine.”

            She looked up at him, frowning. “They’re still not healed?”
            “Not that it’s any of your business, but they got infected,” he snapped.

            “Oh, I didn’t think of that, I guess, I guess that makes sense,” she shifted so she was facing him. “Do you want me to take a look at them?”
            He wrapped his arms around his chest tightly. “I can take care of myself.”

            “I’m sure you can, I just meant that I’m, I can heal with waterbending,” she said. “I actually found out because of you. When you escaped Roku’s temple with us I was trying to treat your burns by holding water over them, but when I did that the burns started healing.”

            His eyes widened. “That’s why they healed so fast at first?”

            Her eyes brightened. “They did? Well, that’s good to hear. So, do you want me to look at them?”

            Zuko hated that he was considering her offer. But the burns had plagued him for months now, keeping him awake with itching and pain, giving him nightmares. He was pretty sure the feverish chills he felt were partially their doing, and partially the fault of his misadventures in the North Pole.

            And while he had no plans to keep living after the group got tired of him, it might be nice to die when he wasn’t in agonizing pain.

            He pulled off Kalmar’s coat and fought back a shiver as the wind hit him. They might not be surrounded by ice and snow anymore, but that didn’t mean it was warm.

            He started to roll up his sleeves, but jerked back when Katara lightly touched his arm.

            “Can you just take your whole shirt off? I think that’ll be easier.”

            No. No he did not want to take his shirt off, thank you very much. It was bad enough that she had to see him injured, seeing him without a shirt was a level of weakness that his whole body rebelled against. If he lost his clothes he couldn’t just run if something went wrong, and even though the threadbare shirt offered little protection taking it off made him feel unbearably vulnerable.

            “It’ll be easier to take the bandages off and put new ones on,” she said, seeing his hesitation. “I promise I’ll be careful.”

            He could feel fire building up in his hands, itching to come out. If he took his shirt off he felt weak, if he refused then she would think he was weak. He couldn’t win.

            He glowered at her, then practically tore his shirt off, throwing it on the ground. He forced himself not to curl inward and instead sat straight, trying not to shiver as the wind hit him.

            Instead of setting fire to something he started ripping the bandages off his arms. When one arm was uncovered, he thrust it out to her, pointedly not looking at the injury.

            “… Did you ever manage to get rid of the infection?”

            He glanced at her from the corner of his eye and saw that she looked… concerned?

            He turned away. “I haven’t bothered with the bandages for a few days. It probably set in again.”
            “You could have said something,” she said, voice slightly accusatory.

            He huffed and glared at the ground. As if it wasn’t bad enough having to make himself this vulnerable on land where he could run if he had to, she was suggesting that he should have done it up in the sky with only ocean beneath him.

            When he didn’t reply she sighed. “I’m going to work on getting the infection out. Try to hold still.”

            He felt cool water resting over his arm and clenched his jaw as he fought the shivering overtaking his body. It felt like the water was probing into his arm, which was an uncomfortable sensation, but much less painful than ordinary wound-cleaning methods.

            “You said you got these burns from Zhao, right?”

            Zuko tensed. “So?”

            She was quiet for a moment, then, “What was he trying to get you to tell him?”

            He started to shrug, then stopped himself. “He wanted to know about the Avatar.”
            “And you didn’t tell him.”
            “He was a rival in my quest,” said Zuko, plainly, emotionlessly. He didn’t care, he didn’t care, he didn’t- “I wasn’t going to tell him something that would help him capture the Avatar. He had more resources than me anyway, he just wanted an easy answer,” Zuko scoffed. “He was lazy.”

            “Why didn’t you have more resources?” she asked. "You said you were a prince, right? Wouldn't your father have given you what you needed?"

            Zuko’s throat tightened. It was a perfectly simple question, but…

            Screaming on his ship while he burned from fever…

            His utter despair when he saw his crew abandoned him and he realized he was alone…

            Fire scorching his face, the smell of burnt skin, screaming till his throat was raw-

            “Zuko?”

            He was breathing too fast, fingers digging into his scalp, pulling his hair, hot tears in his eye. His right eye, since the left one hadn’t worked in three years-

            His chest tightened and he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, make it stop, make it stop he shouldn’t have come here, shouldn’t have listened, he was shaking, freezing, burning, make it stop-

            A hand touched him and he flinched, whimpering. It pressed solidly down on his knee and didn’t move even when he tried to pull away.

            “Zuko, breathe, try and take a deep breath, you’re okay.”

            He tried, but his lungs wouldn’t work and the air came out too fast before he could get any relief. His hands felt numb, and he pulled harder at his hair.

****

            Katara wasn’t sure what to do.

            It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen panic attacks before. After their mother died, she and Sokka had both had them for months. She remembered her dad sitting with them, holding them and talking to them softly until they could breathe again.

            But she couldn’t very well do that with Zuko. She felt helpless and she hated it. She didn’t want to just sit here and watch him suffer.

            She searched through her memories, trying desperately to remember anything her dad had said to her that might help….

            … and then she remembered that her dad hadn’t always just talked to her.

            Many nights her dad had sung one of their mother's lullabies when she or Sokka (or both of them) woke up from nightmares screaming and crying. It had always calmed them down and even helped ease them back into sleep sometimes.

            She looked at the crying, hyperventilating firebender in front of her and decided it was worth a shot.

            She sang softly, fumbling through the first few lines as she remembered the words, then stronger as she recalled the tune and the rhythm. She had to sing through it three times before Zuko’s breathing started to even and his hands started to uncurl from his hair.

            She finally stopped when he slowly lifted his head and looked at her, tears still spilling out of his eyes.

            Or… eye. Could he- could he not cry out of his other eye? Because of the scar? Oh, Spirits, what had caused damage like that?

            They were quiet for a few minutes and now that the crisis was over, Katara felt guilt weigh on her chest. Zuko had only started panicking because she’d been prying. It was her fault he was a mess now.

            “I’m sorry,” she said, softly, swallowing back her own emotions.

            He blinked at her, frowning. “What?”

            “I shouldn’t have been snooping. Whatever happened to you is none of my business.”

            His frown deepened. As she watched him she saw a shiver wrack his whole body and she suddenly realized how cold he probably was.

            She grabbed his coat off the ground and draped it around his shoulders like a cloak. He looked surprised, but tugged it closer around him.

            “Here, why don’t- why don’t you warm up for a few minutes and I’ll get some clean bandages from our packs. Then, um, is it okay if I keep going and treat the rest of your burns?”

            He had other injuries too, but they were less dangerous and she was starting to worry that he might still have some cold sickness after tromping all over the North Pole, so warming him up had to be her top priority after she had the infection under control.

            “That’s… fine,” he murmured, huddling into the coat and closing his eyes.

            “Okay,” she nodded and stood.

            He caught her sleeve and she looked down to find him staring at her with wide, pleading eyes that would rival Aang’s. “Don’t tell them. Please.”

            She shrugged and tried to smile at him. “What is there to tell?”

            He looked relieved and slumped back, arm falling limply at his side as he closed his eyes again.

            Katara took a deep breath and went to get the medical kit. She wasn’t sure exactly what had just happened, but hopefully she’d just taken the first step towards Zuko seeing them as… well, maybe friends was too strong a word. Allies, maybe? Something more than just enemies.

            It was a start.

Chapter Text

            Zuko didn’t want to eat.

            This was a problem, Sokka knew, because even if Katara healed him and Aang somehow managed to make him friendly the guy was gonna starve if all he ate was some bread and dried fruit once a day.

            (Sokka had no idea how Zuko was managing to live off that. As a fellow teenage boy he was hungry most of the time and didn’t understand how Zuko wasn’t trying to devour everything in sight now that he had access to more food.)

            Well, Sokka was going to fix that. The idea had come to him while he was gnawing on some dried meat and wishing the flavor was stronger and he was certain his plan was foolproof.

            So, one afternoon while they were flying and Zuko had dozed off again Sokka roped Aang and Katara into his plan.

            “So you know how the fire jerk won’t eat?” he began.

            Aang sat up straighter. “Yes. I’m really getting worried about him. I figured out if I send Momo over with food he’s more likely to eat it, but I don’t know what else to do.”

            “That’s because you’re a vegetarian monk who hasn’t had a growth spurt yet,” said Sokka, waving his hand in a dismissive gesture. Katara rolled her eyes at him. “You have no idea of the power of a savory, slow cooked stew made with fresh meat,” Sokka pressed a hand to his heart in reverence.

            Understanding dawned in Katara’s eyes. “Wow, Sokka, that’s actually not a bad idea. I’m impressed.” He glared at her and she smirked.

            “The next time we land I’ll go catch something in the forest,” Sokka continued, deciding to ignore the jab for the moment. “Katara, if you’ve been hoarding any herbs this would be a good time to use them.”
            “I can find some herbs!” said Aang eagerly. “And vegetables too!”

            “Yeah, that’s fine, but just to be clear, this stew isn’t gonna be vegetarian, sorry Aang,” he felt a little bad about excluding the kid, but meat was essential to his plan.
            “That’s fine, if it gets Zuko to eat I’ll manage,” Aang grinned.
            “Why don’t you just make a smaller portion of the stew without meat?” Katara suggested.

            Sokka’s eyes lit up and he grinned. “Now that’s not a bad idea of your own, oh sister of mine!” he dodged a smack, grin widening.

            “I’ll need a few hours without interference while I’m cooking too,” he said. “Fire jerk seems to get nervous when we’re all around, so I figure the less people the better.”

            “We can practice waterbending,” said Katara.
            “I’ll try and leave Momo with him too,” Aang added. “Zuko likes being around Momo way more than any of us.”

            “Yeah, that’s still weird,” said Sokka. “Alright, we have a plan. If I can’t catch anything when we stop today we’ll have to wait until tomorrow, so wish me luck.”

            “Good luck,” said Katara. “Let me know if you need help with anything.”
            “I can’t in good conscience wish for you kill anything, but I hope your plan works,” said Aang.

            Sokka snorted and shook his head. “Good enough.”

****

            Sokka did not manage to catch anything after they landed that afternoon, but he set several traps in places he saw signs of animal activity. Katara and Aang agreed to stay put until he could put his plan into action.

            Zuko seemed none the wiser, just eating some fruit, letting Katara do some water healing on his wounds and falling asleep like normal. Sokka was pretty sure at this point that Momo ate more than the firebender did.

            He got lucky the next day when he found a couple of rabbit-pheasants in his traps. He skinned them in the woods and informed Aang and Katara that today was the day. Aang enthusiastically presented him with an entire bag of herbs and tubers he’d found, and after making sure none of them were poisonous (he trusted the kid, but some poisonous plants were easy to mistake for harmless ones) Sokka gladly accepted them. Then Aang and Katara went off for waterbending practice and Sokka was left with Momo, Appa, and Zuko.

            While Sokka started preparing the stew, Zuko seemed to be having a deep conversation with Momo, who was sitting on his lap and staring intently at him. Huh. Maybe that was something he could ask the guy about later.

            Sokka shook his head and turned his full attention to the task at hand. He wasn’t a great cook by any stretch, but he’d been out on plenty of hunting trips with his dad and Bato and other guys from the tribe and they’d taught him all their tricks. He knew how to turn something simple like rabbit-pheasant stew into a delicious meal.

            “The secret is how long you cook it and what herbs you mix in with it,” his dad had told him. “You need something that will enhance the flavor of the meat, and then you need to cook it long enough that the flavor seeps out. Something you cook as fast as you can is going to be tough and relatively tasteless, no matter how many herbs you add to it, but meat that’s been slowly simmered in a pot for hours? It’ll be delicious even if you have nothing else mixed in.”
            “How do you know when it’s ready?” he’d asked.
            “Smell. The stronger the smell is the better it’ll taste. That, and the meat itself. If it falls apart when you poke it with a fork or chew it, you know it’ll be good.”

            Sokka had taken these things to heart and they’d come in quite handy since he and Katara started traveling with Aang. He’d even learned that similar rules applied to cooking vegetables since he also had to make something Aang could eat. (though vegetables could be difficult, certain ones just got mushy and disgusting when they were cooked too long.)

            Now, he used all the skills he’d learned to make what he hoped would be the most savory stew he’d ever concocted.

            It was handy that Zuko didn’t have a habit of wandering off anymore, because in order for this to be the most effective Sokka needed him to smell the stew as the scent got stronger and more delectable. He was banking on the fact that even a grumpy firebender wouldn’t be able to resist that.

            So, for the next several hours Sokka stirred the stew and fed the fire so that it stayed at a steady simmer. At first, Zuko paid no attention to him, Sokka was pretty sure he dozed off at one point…

            … But after about three hours the firebender stirred and looked over at him. Sokka very pointedly ignored him and stirred the stew, watching Zuko out of the corner of his eye.

            Zuko tilted his head and sat up a little straighter, staring at the pot like he was trying to work out what he was seeing (or smelling). After a minute, he leaned back and closed his eyes again, but Sokka counted it a win that he’d piqued the guy’s interest.

            After that, Zuko would periodically look over at him like he wasn’t quite sure what was happening. Sokka pretended to be engrossed in studying and taking notes on a map he’d gotten from the Northern Tribe, only pausing to tend the stew or the fire.

            Finally, five hours in, Zuko moved. He stood slowly, moving Momo off his shoulders, and made his unsteady way over to the fire to sit down opposite Sokka.

            Sokka bit his tongue and waited, not looking up. This was progress, and he wasn’t going to mess it up by saying something stupid.

            Finally, Zuko spoke in a voice hoarse and rough from disuse. “What are you making?”

            Sokka forced himself not to beam at that question, and instead looked calmly up at the firebender. “Stew. Caught a couple rabbit-pheasants in the woods and thought they’d be good in one.”

            Zuko tilted his head. “What else is in it?”

            “Oh, you know, some potatoes, carrots I think? I dunno, Aang found them, but they’re safe to eat. Oh, and some fresh herbs,” he smiled, just a little. “Smells pretty good, huh?”

            Zuko stared at the pot and slowly nodded and Sokka practically started vibrating with excitement. His plan was working!

            “It should be done pretty soon,” he said casually. “I’ve been slow cooking it. Really draws out the flavors, y’know? Maybe give it another hour.”

            Zuko looked up at him, frowning. “An hour?” he said in the smallest, quietest voice Sokka had ever heard, he didn’t even know the angry firebender could be so quiet.
            “I mean, I told Katara and Aang that’s when it’d be done,” he lied. “But we can always test it to see if it’s done now.”

            Sokka got a nice scoop ladled into a bowl and handed it to the confused firebender. He was reaching for their spoons when he saw Zuko slowly, hesitantly raise the bowl to his lips and take a sip.

            Zuko’s eyes went wide and Sokka couldn’t stop himself from grinning. He handed the other boy a spoon and watched triumphantly as Zuko slowly, carefully took another bite with it.

****

            Zuko had lasted hours before he could no longer stand to just smell whatever Sokka was cooking. His stomach was growling, and the hunger pains and dizziness were becoming too hard to ignore.

            It had been years since he’d had a meal that smelled that good. Normally he got by with whatever he could hunt, steal or barter for and he’d long since forgotten that food was meant to taste good.

            And, with the exception of the time he’d stayed at Tulip and Madia’s village, it had been months since he’d had a real, good, filling meal.

            He hated how grateful he was when Sokka offered him some of the stew then instead of making him wait. He would have waited, but every moment would have felt like torture. He hadn’t even realized he was starving until he’d had to smell food cooking for hours.

            And the stew. It was delicious. It didn’t have the spices a Fire Nation stew would have, but it was savory and the herbs somehow complimented the flavor perfectly.

            He was so hungry but he forced himself to savor each bite. He had no idea how often the Avatar and his friends ate like this and he wasn’t going to waste the food by not enjoying it, even if he was maddeningly hungry.

            Sokka watched him for a minute, and some of his delight must have shown on his face, because the other boy had a stupid grin on his that made Zuko want to roll his eyes.

            Sokka ladled some stew out for himself and leaned back. “So, what do you think?”

            “It’s good.” He wasn’t going to lie. He might not like Sokka, but he could appreciate the food he cooked.

            Sokka beamed at him and Zuko did roll his eyes then. He looked down at his bowl and realized it was empty.

            His heart sank a little, and he resigned himself to either waiting until Aang and Katara returned to eat more, or to just… not getting anything else to eat tonight, because Spirits, he didn’t even know how much food they had or how much he was allowed to eat or-

            “You want some more?”

            He jumped and looked up to see Sokka holding another ladle of soup towards him.

            Zuko didn’t think, just held his bowl out hopefully. To his utter surprise, Sokka filled it this time, then sat back. Zuko cradled the soup against his chest almost reverently and started eating slowly again, profound relief filling him that at least for now food wasn’t being withheld from him.

****

            As incredibly pleased as he was that his plan had worked, Sokka was… a little concerned at the way Zuko had looked when he’d realized his bowl was empty. Like he assumed that small bit of stew was all he would get and Sokka would just… hoard the rest for himself???

            He looked so relieved and grateful when Sokka filled up his bowl and Sokka felt something stir in his chest for the guy. How rough had Zuko’s life been that a simple stew seemed almost life changing to him?

            And then it occurred to him that maybe the reason Zuko hadn’t been eating was because he didn’t think he was allowed, didn’t think he could ask for more food, that he just had to take what the others gave him, and if that wasn’t just the most messed up thing-

            Sokka forced himself to swallow his next bite of stew and watched Zuko eat slowly, savoring each bite while he tried to gather his thoughts.

            “Hey, uh, Zuko?”

            Zuko’s eyes flickered to him nervously and Spirits why had Sokka never realized he looked like a hunted, wounded animal before?

            “I know our food’s not this good every night, I mean, chef Sokka isn’t always on duty,” he puffed out his chest and forced himself to smile. “But you- you know you can eat with us right? You can ask for food- or, actually, you can just take some, like, whenever you want,” he shrugged, trying his best to seem nonchalant. “Aang and I snack on stuff all the time, so it’s fine if you want to. We’re pretty good about getting more food before we run out completely, so we should always have some around.”

            Zuko stared at him, frowning and Sokka found himself rambling. “So, uh, yeah, I just wanted to make sure you, uh, knew that since you’re, well, new so-”

            “Don’t you ration food?” Zuko blurted out.

            Sokka blinked. “Uh, no, not really. I mean, if money’s tight we might not have snacks and go down to two meals a day instead of three, but usually we’re fine, so…”

            “Three meals?” Zuko asked, looking profoundly confused and oh, that was just, how was this guy even still alive?!

            Sokka’s voice and expression softened. “Yeah, buddy, three meals. I guess, uh, you’ve been sleeping for most of the past few days so maybe you didn’t realize…”

            Zuko wrinkled his nose. “We’re not buddies.”

            “Right, right, of course, sorry, used to talking to Aang,” Sokka held up his hands placatingly. “Uh, but yeah, anyway, food is usually, almost always up for grabs. Eat anytime.”

            Zuko sat there, brow furrowed, like he was trying to solve a profoundly complicated problem, and Sokka fought very hard and valiantly against the voice in his head screaming ‘protect’ when he looked at the firebender.

            Finally, Sokka couldn’t take it anymore and took a deep breath. “So, you ever go on any hunting trips? I used to go on them all the time with my dad.”

            Zuko blinked rapidly for a minute, apparently thrown by the change in conversation. “I- I’ve been on a few, with my cousin.”
            “Cool, cool. Probably hunting in the Fire Nation’s a lot different than hunting in the South Pole. Usually when my dad and I went out a few of my dad’s friends would go with us and we’d hunt seals and sometimes even whales and-”

            As he rambled on about his hunting adventures, he was surprised to see Zuko slowly relax and go back to eating. Huh, interesting. Maybe Zuko preferred listening to other people talk to talking himself.

            After he’d gone on for a while, Aang and Katara arrived. He doled out their portions, making sure to only give Aang the vegetarian one, and snuck a little more into Zuko’s now-empty bowl.

            He was a little surprised that Zuko stayed and listened to Aang and Katara talk about waterbending and their day. The firebender didn’t say anything, but he was definitely listening.

            By the time Katara declared it was time for bed, Zuko looked exhausted, but… content? He even curled up closer to the fire to sleep instead of at the edge of camp like he normally did.

            All in all Sokka felt that his plan had worked out better than he ever could have hoped, and he went to bed with a deep feeling of satisfaction paired with a sense of irony that he felt that way because he’d helped Zuko, of all people.

Chapter Text

            Aang was excited. Things had been going much better with Zuko since Sokka’s stew idea. The firebender had started sitting with them at dinner and eating actual meals twice a day, which was a huge improvement. Katara said his wounds were healing well and he seemed more alert and focused than he had a few days ago.

            He still didn’t talk much. He spoke, sometimes, if someone asked him a direct question, but he wouldn’t involve himself in conversation without prompting. Aang wondered if it was because he’d been on his own so long.

            He wanted to help Zuko realize that he didn’t always have to be silent and solemn, to remind him he was still a kid- like he’d done for Katara and Sokka. But Zuko was so evasive that Aang had no idea what he enjoyed doing.

            So, he decided to just ask.

            “So, Zuko,” he said one night at dinner. “What do you like to do for fun?”

            Zuko froze, like he always did when someone spoke to him, and slowly looked up at Aang, frowning (which was better than the constant glaring he’d done at the beginning). “Fun?”

            “Yeah, you know, like hobbies, games,” Aang shrugged.

            Zuko stared at him for a long moment before his face did settle into a glare and Aang felt his heart sink a little. “I don’t have fun,” he snapped. “I stay alive. I don’t have time to play stupid games.”

            Sokka and Katara were trading looks. Sokka made a "cut it out" motion across his throat.

            Aang ignored them and pressed on. This was important, and he would never find out how to connect with Zuko if he didn’t try.

            “What about when you still lived in the Fire Nation?” he asked, hoping that maybe he could ease Zuko onto a calmer track with memories.

            Zuko’s face twisted into a grimace and Aang felt his heart sink further.

            “We didn’t play games. We practiced firebending and learned our lessons,” Zuko practically growled. “We weren’t- we-” he slammed his fists down on his knees and threw his bowl on the ground.

            Aang’s eyes widened. “Zuko, I’m-”

            “Just- stop, just stop!” there was a hint of desperation in Zuko’s voice as he stood, eyes darting back and forth between the others, before stumbling back into the dark.

            Aang stared after him. His chest felt heavy with sadness.

            It wasn’t meant to be this way.

****

            The next morning, Zuko didn’t come to breakfast and Aang felt guilt join the heaviness in his chest.

            Zuko wasn’t in camp, but Sokka said he had seen him heading into the woods at dawn. He’d tried to talk to Zuko, but the firebender had ignored him.

            “What if he wanders off again and gets lost and-” Aang’s voice faltered. ‘And dies.’ “And it’s my fault?”

            Katara sat next to him and took his hand. “You could go look for him.”
            “I’ll just make it worse,” said Aang, shoulders slumped. “I shouldn’t have pushed him last night. I just- I wanna help him! I just don’t know how.”
            “These things take time,” said Katara. “I think maybe we need to go at his pace instead of ours. I-” she looked down. “I pushed him one day and it didn’t go well either.”

            “He’s been through a lot,” said Sokka. “Have you seen all the scars the guy has?” he looked at Katara. “Even dad didn’t tell us what all his scars were from.”

            Aang took a deep breath. “You’re right. I’m gonna go find him,” he stood. “And this time I won’t push.”

****

            Zuko sat in the woods with his head in his hands. His sleep had been full of nightmares and he’d woken up with a desperate need to get away from the cozy little campsite.

            (maybe they’d leave him behind. He’d deserve it after his outburst last night.)

            He’d half expected the Avatar to chase him down last night and punish him somehow. After all, he was only here because the boy had given him a chance.

            (a chance he didn’t deserve)

            He’d lasted longer than a week, which was better than he’d expected. He might have even made it further if it hadn’t been for-

            His breath hitched and he drove his palms into his eyes until the left side throbbed.

            He hadn’t quite told the truth last night. He and Azula used to play games with Mai and Ty Lee and the other palace children. Hide and seek, hide and explode, tag, sometimes even games where he and Azula pretended to be generals waging war on the Earth Kingdom and Mai and Ty Lee would be the Earth Kingdom leaders who tried to stop them. If other kids were there he and Azula would divide them into teams and make them be the armies who fought each other.

            Then, one day when he was ten, not long after mother left and father became Firelord, he and Azula were playing in the corridors and father had seen them. Zuko hadn’t seen him coming, hadn’t known he’d be upset, and father had come up behind him and grabbed him by his hair.

            He’d cried out and even Azula had looked shocked. Father had berated him for keeping Azula from practicing her firebending and from her lessons, and…

            “You should be working twice as hard as her, you worthless brat! You’re so behind you’ll never catch up to a sister who’s two years your junior! I can’t believe I sired such a pathetic excuse for a son!”

            He’d started crying silently- a sign of weakness- and father had thrown him against the wall and he’d felt his ribs crack and his head strike marble.

            Azula, as usual, had saved him from a further beating. “We weren’t just playing, father, Zuko was showing me something he learned from Master Piandao! Do you want to see?”
            “You don’t need Zuko to teach you anything, Azula,” Ozai had spat, and Zuko did not cry when father said his name with contempt. “Learning from him is beneath you.” He had turned and glared at Zuko, curled up and shaking on the floor. “See that this never happens again, or your punishment will be worse than a few bruises.”

            Father had commanded them to be ready to have their firebending skills accessed in two days. Azula had helped him to the healers and told them to give him something that would dull the pain enough that he could practice firebending.

            Azula had always tried to help him with his firebending, but after their altercation with father she had worked doubly hard to help him get ahead.

            (it didn’t matter. Father was always disappointed, no matter what Zuko did)

            When father assessed them Azula had passed his judgement easily, like she always did. He said Zuko was weak, and that he would never be a true firebender, but father had not punished him further.

            He and Azula stopped playing after that. The only children allowed to associate with them from that point on were Mai and Ty Lee, because they were good sparring partners even though they weren’t benders.

            Azula had only been eight. Zuko hated that she always had to worry about him, and that she’d lost her childhood trying to keep him safe.

            (only for Zuko to get himself scarred and banished the second he was out of her sight)

            He was a problem, he caused trouble, he was unfixable-

            Zuko grabbed his hair and pulled, then dug his nails into his scalp, scratching until he felt blood well up under them.

            He deserved it, he deserved it, he deserved it-

            “ZUKO!”

            He jumped, his whole body jolting like he’d been struck by lightning. Scrambled to his feet and gripped a low tree branch for stability.

            His heart pounded too fast. That was the Avatar. Why was the Avatar in the woods calling for him? Had he decided he was going to retaliate at Zuko after all?

            His gut clenched and he squeezed his eyes shut. This is what he’d asked for at the North Pole, this is what he wanted.

            (was it?)

            His shoulders slumped and he bowed his head. Sank back to his knees in the dirt and leaned against the tree.

            If the Avatar was meant to find him he would, if not…

            Zuko closed his eyes.

            He was used to being alone.

****

            “Zuuukoooo!” Aang called into the trees. He sighed when, again, there was no response.

            It had been a longshot, but he’d hoped that maybe Zuko would reply, or find him if he called out. That maybe he’d be glad someone had gone looking for him.

            Of course it wouldn’t be that easy.

            Aang jumped up into the trees and started leaping from branch to branch, traversing the canopy as he looked for their missing firebender.

            He was starting to think he might need to get help from Katara and Sokka when he saw a tree with a weird shape at its base. As he got closer the shape formed into Zuko and he let out a sigh of relief.

            “Zuko!” he said, jumping down from the tree.

            Zuko jumped, and for a second Aang thought he was going to run. But then a defeated look came into Zuko’s eyes and he lowered his head, looking for all the world like the broken boy who’d found him in the North Pole and asked to die two weeks ago.

            Aang knelt down in front of him. “Are you okay?”

            Zuko clenched his fists and his breathing sputtered. Then he looked up at Aang through his hair with haunted eyes and spoke in a whisper.

            “Are you going to hurt me?”

            Aang gaped at him, words momentarily failing as he tried desperately to take that question in. “Wha- No! Why would I hurt you?”

            Zuko looked down. “I, got angry at you last night. I told you to stop. I shouldn’t have, I’m sorry-”

            “Bu- that- that wasn’t your fault!” Aang said, eyes wide. “Why would you-” he took a breath and tried to refocus. “I’m- I’m not mad at you, Zuko. Wh- did you leave because you thought we were mad at you?”

            Zuko curled into himself, like he was trying to be as small as possible. “It’s fine. I didn’t think it’d take this long. I wouldn’t- wouldn’t have been surprised if you threw me off the bison while we were over the ocean,” he gave a small, tense laugh.

            “Zuko, I- we’re not like that,” said Aang, fighting to make his voice steady. “And I- I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed you last night. I just- I hate what this war has done to everyone. I want to make things better, I want to help, but I don’t always know the best way to do that and I guess- I guess I really messed up last night. And I’m sorry,” he looked down. “I was actually asking about what you like to do because I wanted to, well, make you happy, I guess. I wanted you to have fun, but I don’t, I’m pretty sure that’s not what’s happening here,” he rubbed his watery eyes.

            “You… wanted to… make me… happy?”

            Aang looked up to see Zuko giving him such a profound look of confusion that he couldn’t stop himself from throwing his arms around the other boy and hugging him.

            Zuko froze, still as a statue and Aang hugged him tighter. “Yes. I want you to be happy. I want all my friends to be happy and safe and I want this war to be over!” he squeezed a little harder as tears dripped from his eyes. “I want us to be kids again.”

            They sat like that for a few minutes before Zuko abruptly pushed him away. Aang sat back and rubbed his eyes, sniffling.

****

            ‘I want us to be kids again.’

            Zuko didn’t know how to tell Aang that he couldn’t do that. That whatever happened to him, he would never be a kid again. He hadn’t been a kid since he was ten years old and his father threw him against a wall and told him to stop being childish.

            But Aang was a kid.

            He didn’t really know what to do, but it didn’t seem like a good idea to head back to camp with a crying Avatar, so he wracked his brain for something to say, do, anything to make this better.

            Then he thought of Tulip and the pieces came together in his mind.

            They wanted to burn bright. They wanted to make people happy. They wanted to have fun and be little kids in spite of their burdens.

            Aang was like Tulip.

            Zuko could work with that.

            “Do you know how to make flower crowns?” he blurted out.

            Aang blinked at him, frowning, and Zuko silently urged him to take the bait. “Flower crowns? I mean, yeah, I guess.”

****

            Flower crowns?

            “I-” Zuko looked at him with the most wide-eyed, earnest expression Aang had ever seen on anyone. “I like to- to make flower crowns.”

            As soon as he said it, Zuko’s face turned bright red with embarrassment, and if it had been anyone else, Aang might have laughed, but…

            Zuko had just said he liked something. And he liked making flower crowns, of all things.

            “My-my sister and her friends, we used to, we made them and tried to sneak them on each other’s heads,” he ducked his head, but Aang saw the barest hint of a smile on his face. “I-I got really good at, at sneaking but I couldn’t- couldn’t sneak up on my sister. She could always sense me coming.”

            Aang stared at him for a minute, then his face broke into a wide grin. “That’s great, Zuko.”

            Zuko hunched his shoulders, but when he glanced up that ghost of a smile was still there.

            “I’ve got an idea,” said Aang, suddenly. “Are you still good at sneaking?”

            Zuko huffed. “I broke- broke into Pohuai Fortress and the Northern Water Tribe, didn’t I?”

            Aang laughed. “You got me there. Okay, so here’s my idea…”

****

            “Sokka, what’s on your head?”

            It was late that evening and the group was huddled around the campfire talking. The shadows were long and only the faintest glow from the sun could still be seen through the trees.

            Sokka froze, mid-sentence and stared at his sister. “What’s on- nevermind what’s on my head, what’s on yours?!”

            Katara carefully reached up and felt her fingers brush flower petals.

            “Is this a flower crown?!” Sokka demanded. “Who put a flower crown on me?! Aang, was it you?”
            “He’s got one too,” said Katara, frowning.
            Aang grinned. “I do?” he ran his fingers carefully over the flowers. “Huh, I figured a branch just fell on my head or something.”

            Sokka whipped around to the shadowy figure at the edge of the fire’s light. “Zuko?!”

            The boy shrugged and pulled a flower crown off his own head. “I have one too.”

            Sokka spluttered. “So what, am I just supposed to believe the wind carried four perfect flower crowns over and dropped them on our heads?!”

            Zuko shrugged again. “It must have been the Blue Spirit.”

            Sokka paused. “The what?! You’re saying a spirit did this?!”
            “What’s the Blue Spirit?” Katara asked.
            “A Fire Nation legend,” said Zuko. “He comes out at night to help people- or cause trouble, depending on who you ask. He’s been known to play harmless tricks on people at times.”

            “Oh yeah, I remember that!” said Aang, grinning. “Kuzon and I used to play pranks on people and say the Blue Spirit did it.”

            “So you’re saying a spirit did this, what, just to mess with us?!” Sokka folded his arms. “Why didn’t Aang sense it?”

            “I did feel something a little while ago, but I thought it was just the wind,” said Aang.

            Sokka narrowed his eyes. “What does this Blue Spirit look like?”

            “It’s said he wears a blue mask- a grinning face with fangs,” said Zuko quietly. “That’s all anyone can ever make out, the rest of him just looks like darkness.”

            “Well, I think it was very nice of the Blue Spirit to give us flower crowns,” said Katara pointedly.
            Sokka huffed. “It’s not manly,” he grumbled.

            Aang grinned at Zuko from across the fire. Their plan had worked.

            And even in the darkness, Aang saw Zuko give a tiny smile back.

Chapter Text

            Zuko had a bad feeling about this.

            Yesterday, two days after he and Aang pranked the others with flower crowns, the group had apparently decided that he was trustworthy enough to let in on their plans.

            “We’re going to an Earth Kingdom military base to get an escort to Omashu,” Aang had told him. “My friend Bumi is the king of Omashu, and I’m going to ask him to be my earthbending teacher.”

            Zuko stared at him, uncomprehending. “You’re friends with the king of Omashu?”
            Aang grinned. “Yep! We were friends before the war.”

            Zuko pushed that aside to dwell on later because the idea that Aang was friends with someone he’d known a hundred years ago was too hard to grasp. Instead, he focused on the more immediate issue with what the Avatar had told him.

            “Earth Kingdom military base?” he said, clenching his fists and hoping he’d heard wrong.
            “Yeah, the Fire Nation’s gotten better at spotting us,” said Sokka. “We talked to the Northern Tribe about it and they suggested we try and get an escort.”

            Zuko tried to appear indifferent to that, but his heart sank and a familiar anxiety settled over him.

            He hadn’t had good experiences with the Earth Kingdom military. They were suspicious- and ruthless. There had been one time, not long after he left Toph’s estate, when he’d been caught in the hills outside a town by a group of soldiers. They claimed to have seen him start his fire with firebending and they had… acted decisively to snuff out the threat an underfed fourteen-year-old apparently posed.

            There had been other instances where he’d been harassed, or had to leave a situation before it got violent, but that one was the most… ingrained in his memory.

            He said nothing to the others. Hopefully the Avatar being there would distract any potential unwanted attention from him. As long as he didn’t firebend, and no one said anything stupid….

            … On second thought, he probably should tell them.

            “When we get to the military base, you know not to mention I’m Fire Nation, right?” he asked.

            Sokka and Katara frowned but Aang looked surprised. “Why not?” the kid asked and Zuko rolled his eyes because even Tulip and Madia knew better and they were half Aang’s age.

            “The Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom aren’t on very good terms right now,” he said. “If they find out I’m Fire Nation they’ll probably have me detained and questioned…”

            If he was lucky that’d be all they would do, but luck had never been on his side before.

            “Oh, uh, I guess you’re right,” said Aang. “We won’t say anything then.”
            “You shouldn’t say anything when we get to Omashu either,” Zuko warned.
            “Oh, don’t worry about Omashu, Bumi won’t care,” said Aang, grinning.

            Despite the Avatar’s reassurances, Zuko was more than a little worried when they came in sight of the base. His chest was tight, his fists were clenched and shoulders tensed as he watched the fortress grow closer.

            They landed outside the gate and were let in easily when Aang announced he was the Avatar. Zuko reluctantly dismounted Appa with the others and stayed close behind them, keeping his head down. His eyes darted around, taking in the guards and soldiers patrolling and drilling in the courtyard and on the walls.

            If this went badly there would be no way for him to easily escape. The walls were high and well guarded and it seemed like the base housed a veritable army.

            ‘We shouldn’t have come here.’

            Or… he shouldn’t have. The Avatar and his friends had a mission, Zuko was just along for the ride so to speak. He should never have been foolish enough to come here.

            He heard the earthen door thump close behind them and resignation filled his soul. He was trapped here. All he could hope now was that the Avatar finished his business here quickly and they would be on their way soon.

            He heard a chirp and Momo landed on his shoulders, tail curling almost protectively around his neck. Gratefully he reached up and scratched the lemur’s chin, earning a chirr of delight.

            They were led into the keep and climbed several levels up before entering the general’s reception hall. Zuko’s chest felt tighter with every step away from freedom that he took, until he had to dig his nails into his palms to keep himself focused. Every instinct was screaming at him to run, but he knew it was useless. The only way he could get discreetly in and out of this fortress was as the Blue Spirit, and unfortunately at the moment he was just Zuko.

            “Avatar Aang, welcome!” boomed the general. Zuko flinched and forced himself to breathe.

            “I am General Fong. It is an honor to have you here.”

            Zuko twitched just a little at the word ‘honor’. He kept his head down and hoped, desperately, to go unnoticed.

            “It’s a pleasure to be here,” said Aang. “These are my friends, Katara, Sokka and Zuko.”

            Zuko’s eyes darted up and he felt panic take hold of him. Oh, Spirits, he should have told the kid not to use his real name. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

            He saw a flicker of recognition across Fong’s face when Aang said his name and it was all he could do not to bolt. Running now would be suspicious. He needed to wait, to stay with the others and hope they would be getting out of here soon.

            Momo chattered something in his ear and brushed his tail over Zuko’s chest, and Zuko got the sense the lemur was trying to calm him down. He reached up and rubbed the lemur’s tail between his fingers and Momo patted him on the head.

            Zuko bit back a hysterical laugh. Even the lemur thought he was overreacting, he really needed to calm down, what were the general and Aang saying?

            As soon as he had the thought the general started walking out of the room, Aang and the others following. Zuko trailed after them, forcing himself to breathe and listen and try and catch up on what he’d missed.

            It didn’t take long to figure out. Fong apparently wanted to do more than just escort the Avatar to Omashu, he wanted to use the Avatar State to attack the Fire Nation and win the war. Which was… insane, but Zuko could see how he’d come to that conclusion.

            The one time he’d seen the Avatar state had been in Roku’s temple, when the former Avatar had destroyed his own temple by calling up magma from the earth. He remembered lava shooting up around him as the ground crumbled and the Avatar floated there, glowing like a spirit.

            He’d also been told by the others that the glowing blue hand he’d seen take Zhao had been a part of a giant koi monster caused by Aang going into the Avatar state and fusing with the Ocean spirit after Zhao killed the Moon. Apparently the monster had destroyed at least half the Fire Nation fleet, and killed all the soldiers who had been attacking the Northern Tribe.

            Despite all that, however, Zuko knew Fong’s plan could never work. The first flaw was that from what he’d seen the Avatar state was not sustainable for very long. Aang would be captured (or killed) long before he reached the Fire Nation capital, especially since an Earth Kingdom army following him wasn't going to be subtle.

            And even if Fong somehow got Aang to the palace unscathed… well, father was crafty, and not unprepared for an attack. He’d lay traps and likely try to catch the boy off guard so that he’d be an easy target, not for fire, but for lightning.

            And then, of course, there was Azula. Father would likely use her either as a distraction or a final attack. Which would end with either Aang dead or Azula dead and Zuko… didn’t want either of those outcomes.

            He rolled these things around in his head as Fong took them on a tour of his base and tried to convince Aang of his plan. Zuko didn’t want to betray his nation by telling Aang all their military secrets, but he also didn’t want his sister, or the 12-year-old Avatar to be in the kind of reckless danger Fong was suggesting.

            He needed to talk to Aang. To warn him about father and Azula and all the other dangers the Fire Nation would have in store if Fong launched such a direct attack. Then at least the kid would know and could make an informed decision.

            He’d started walking slower as he thought and had fallen behind the others a bit. They were still in sight, but much further ahead now. He started to increase his pace to catch up and suddenly felt Momo tug his hair and give a warning chirp.

            He spun around, fists raised, but before he could act his feet were clamped to the ground and rock closed around his jaw, muzzling him.

            His breathing grew quick and he reached up his hands to try and tear the muzzle off when he found them clamped together with stone.

            This was not good.

            He felt Momo launch off his shoulders and hoped the lemur would manage to get to Aang safely. And… maybe raise the alarm?

            Two figures emerged from the shadows and he fought to free his arms and legs, but to no avail. The soldiers grabbed him under the arms and he felt it as his feet were freed from the rock.

            He immediately started writhing and kicking and received a blow to the head for his trouble. He glowered at his captors, letting his panicked energy flow into anger instead of fear.

            “Fiesty, isn’t he?” said one of the soldiers as Zuko started trying to jerk away from them again.

            The second one hit him in the stomach and Zuko had a moment of panic where he couldn’t breathe because of the muzzle. He let out a low whine and fought spots dancing in his vision.

            “I’d expect nothing less from the Firelord’s brat,” snapped the second guard.

            Zuko jerked his head up, eyes wide and the men laughed.

            “What’s wrong, ashmaker? Thought we wouldn’t figure out who you were?” the first one taunted. “General Fong’s far too observant for that.”

            “Come on, we need to get him down,” said the second. They started walking away from the direction Aang and the others had been headed. “Don’t worry, the general promised us some fun with you.”

            Zuko fought back a shudder as he was dragged along. He just needed to wait for Momo to get back to the others and alert them that something was wrong, and then…

            He blinked. Then? Then what? Did he actually expect them to come rescue him? His heart sank. Yes, the Avatar and his friends had been willing to help him before, but that was when he fell down half dead in front of them after helping them. They might not be so keen on going against a general in the Earth Kingdom, especially since they needed his help.

            Why would they come looking for him, anyway? Zuko thought, slowly sinking deeper into hopelessness even as the guards pulled him deeper into the earth. Zuko had nothing to offer them now, and after they’d helped him get out of the Water Tribe, healed his wounds, let him eat with them… he was in their debt, not the other way around. Why would they risk anything to help him now?

            He had stopped resisting completely by the time they reached the bottom of the stairs. They were a long way underground, so deep that even at midday Zuko couldn’t feel the sun. The heaviness of the earth pressed down on him and he suddenly found himself struggling to breathe again.

            He was rock-shackled to a wall with his arms hanging above his head and his feet just barely able to touch the floor if he stood on his tiptoes.

            “Hope the accommodations are to your liking, princey,” sneered one of the guards.

            The one relief they gave him before raising a door of earth behind them was that one of them waved their hand and the muzzle fell off. Zuko gasped, taking in deep, desperate lungfuls of air. He closed his eyes and felt tears sting behind the right one.

            He should never have come.

Chapter Text

            It was hours before General Fong arrived and by then Zuko’s arms and shoulders had started to ache from hanging. Panic from being trapped and helpless underground came at him in waves, rushing over and engulfing him then receding and leaving him tearful and gasping in its wake. He had tried in vain to twist his wrists out of the cuffs, but had only succeeded in making them bleed.

            “Ah there he is,” said Fong as he entered the cell. “Our Fire Nation royalty. I hope my guards made you comfortable?”

            Zuko glared at him, too tired and angry to play games. “Not really.”

            “Let’s fix that then,” Fong waved his hand and the rock cuffs crumbled off Zuko’s wrists.

            Zuko bit back a yelp as he tilted forward, just barely managing to stop himself from falling flat on his face. He braced himself against the wall and narrowed his eyes at Fong. What was the man up to?

            “The Avatar state is proving more difficult to activate than I had expected,” said Fong. “But no matter, we will succeed. In the meantime, I was hoping you’d tell us what kind of defenses we’ll find in the Fire Nation when we invade.”

            Zuko raised his eyebrow. Ah, so that was it. Fong wanted information.

            “Your plan won’t work,” Zuko said, hoarsely. “Your army will be stopped long before you reach the palace, and you and the Avatar will be captured- or killed.”

            A rock shot past his head, crashing into the wall and Zuko flinched as pieces struck him. He turned back to Fong, fists clenched at his sides, eyes narrowed.

            “I did not ask for your arrogance,” Fong hissed. “I asked for the Fire Nation’s defenses.”

            “I’m not going to help you,” Zuko snapped. “You’re going to get everyone here killed! Your men, the Avatar-” his voice wavered. “I’m not going to have a hand in it.”

            Rock froze his feet in place and Fong lunged forward, deftly blocking the fire blast Zuko shot at him on instinct.

            Fong grabbed Zuko’s outstretched hand in his and squeezed. Zuko gave a cry of pain when he felt bones snap under the general’s grip.

            “Let me make myself clear,” the general growled. “I was not asking for your help. You will help me, or I will break each of your bones, one by one, until you do.”

            Half blinded as white-hot agony pulsed through his hand, Zuko brought up his other arm and shot a blast of flame at Fong’s head. The man was forced to duck out of the way and he released Zuko’s hand as he did so.

            Zuko jerked his hand back and held it close to his chest. When Fong lunged at him again Zuko breathed out fire and the man stumbled back.

            A rock struck his shoulder and he yelped, coughing as sparks and smoke clogged his throat. He threw out a sheet of flame with his uninjured hand as a pair of guards tried to rush him from the side.

            A rock struck him in the chest and he screamed when he felt his ribs snap. He breathed out another stream of fire, forcing the men away from him as he knelt on the floor, cradling his broken hand against his throbbing chest.

            But he couldn’t breathe fire forever. When he finally stopped, breathing hard, a rock slammed into his back. Another hit his head, his leg, his arms, shoulders, they were stoning him, they were going to kill him-

            He curled into a ball, arm over his head and waited for the onslaught to be over.

            When they finally stopped, Zuko didn’t even have a chance to breathe before a hand grabbed his hair and yanked up. He whimpered and found himself staring at Fong with blurry eyes.

            “So, fire brat,” the general snarled. “Still think I can’t break your precious defenses?”

            Zuko spat the blood welling up in his mouth at Fong’s eye, and felt a glimmer of satisfaction when the man dropped him and stumbled back- even if it did jar all his injuries.

            “Fine then,” growled Fong, towering over him. “Let’s pound the rest of that defiance out of you, shall we?”

****

            “Hey, has anybody seen Zuko?”

            Aang and Katara turned from their spot on the balcony as Sokka looked around, like Zuko would just pop out of a shadow in the corner.

            (which he might, the guy was quiet and mysterious enough that it was definitely a possibility)

            “Now that you mention it, I haven’t since we got here,” said Aang, frowning.
            “He was here when we went on the tour,” said Katara.
            “I think he disappeared sometime during it, because he wasn’t there when one of the soldiers took me and Aang to our room,” said Sokka.

            As if the conversation had summoned him, Momo flew down and landed on Sokka’s head, tugging at his wolftail. Sokka yelped and tried to pull the lemur off. “What is your problem?!” he yelled.

            Aang’s frown deepened. “Momo seemed upset earlier too now that I think about it, I was just distracted by trying to get into the Avatar state…” he walked over and plucked Momo off Sokka’s head. “Where’s Zuko, Momo?”

            The lemur chattered angrily and wiggled out of Aang’s grasp, darting towards the hallway. Aang looked at the others worriedly. He’d never seen Momo so agitated.

            The three of them hurried after the lemur and eventually found themselves on the ground level, in a shady spot next to a large pillar.

            Momo spun in a circle and curled up on the ground with a sad little chirp.

            “Okay, what does that mean?” Sokka asked.
            “I don’t know…” Aang looked around and spotting a soldier darted over to him. “Excuse me! Do you know where General Fong is?”

            The man shook his head. “He’s busy right now.”
            “We need to speak to him,” said Aang, firmly. “Our friend is missing.”

            Sokka and Katara slipped up behind him, silently offering support. The guard looked… uncomfortable.

            “Look, all I can tell you is that the general has gone down to the lower levels to interrogate a prisoner,” said the man.

            Aang’s eyes widened. “Where’s the door to the lower levels?!”

            The guard pointed. “Head back inside and turn left down the first hallway. There’s a door at the end of that hall that leads down.”

            “Thank you!” Aang cried, darting away. Sokka and Katara raced after him.

            “Interrogating?!” Sokka yelled.
            “He must have figured out Zuko was Fire Nation,” said Katara. “If he’s planning to invade the Fire Nation, then…”
            “He wants intel,” Sokka finished with a groan. “Great. Next time we go somewhere I’m tying us all together so we can’t lose him.”
            “It’s my fault,” said Aang, slowing just a bit. “I should never have said his name, I should have realized that Fong would be able to recognize it.”
            “It’s not your fault,” Katara said firmly. “We had no idea this would happen.”

            Aang stayed silent and soon they arrived at the door to the lower levels. Aang slammed it open with a gust of air and they darted down the tunnel.

            Aang practically flew down the stairs, leaving the other two behind. He did fly when he heard cries of pain from the end of the hall and barely managed to skid to a stop in the open door of a cell.

            Zuko was curled up at Fong’s feet, covered in blood and bruises. As he watched, the general stamped down on one of Zuko’s hands and Zuko screamed in pain.

            Aang saw red. Light distorted his vision and wind began to circle around him.

            “GENERAL FONG!” he roared, voice distorted and alien.

            The man spun around, eyes wide. The two guards in the cell stared at him in horror and cowered away as Aang rose off the ground.

****

            Zuko lifted his pounding head as he registered Aang’s voice. The boy was hovering off the ground, eyes and tattoos alight, wind spinning fast around him.

            Zuko’s eye widened and he winced. Was he dreaming? Was Aang actually…?

            “Avatar Aang!” Fong shouted. “Can you hear me? It’s working! The Avatar State, it’s working!”

            This was… was this actually happening? Had he passed out?

            “Zuko!”

            He saw a blur of blue and Sokka and Katara were suddenly there, kneeling next to him.

            “What?” he murmured.

            “What did you do to him?!” Katara screamed.
            “What was necessary!” said Fong, not bothering to turn around.

            Zuko heard a crack and looked up to see enormous tears in the ceiling. Dust and rocks tumbled out, and the guards bolted.

            The cracks burst through the surface far above them, and massive chunks of rock rose into the sky. With a wave of his arms, Aang sent the rock flying into structures above them.

            … Except for one chunk, that hovered over Fong for just a second before crashing down on top of him.

            ‘By Agni, that kid is savage.’

            “We need to get out of here!” shouted Sokka. “Zuko, can you stand?”
            “Wait, don’t move him!” Katara’s water covered hands hovered over his chest. “He’s bleeding, one of his lungs is-”

            CRRRRRRRAAAAAACK

            To Zuko’s great disappointment, Fong staggered out of the rubble, looking significantly less excited than he had a few moments ago.

            Then, as suddenly as it had started, the wind stopped. The rocks tumbled to the ground and Zuko heard crashing in the distance. Aang landed and stumbled a little before getting his footing and looking around with wide eyes.

            “It worked,” said Fong. “We just- we just need a way to control you when you’re like that and then-”

            Sokka slammed his club into the back of the man’s head and Fong crumpled.

            “Zuko!” Aang rushed over. “Are- are you…”

            Zuko blinked at him, frowning as he slowly pieced together what had just happened. “Did you… come to rescue me?”

            “Of course we did!” Aang cried, literally, as Zuko saw tears gathering in the boy’s wide eyes. Aang sank down in the rubble, cupping his head in his hands. “I am so sorry, Zuko, I should never have told him your name.”

            “Not- not your fault,” Zuko murmured. “But… thanks.”

            He was starting to feel lightheaded and closed his eyes. It was hard to breathe and sharp pains shot through his chest when he took a breath.

            He’d been hurt like this before, he’d be fine, he wasn’t even alone this time…

            They’d come to rescue him.

            The thought brought a little smile to his face.

****

            “Aang, I need your help.”

            Aang lifted his head and scrambled over to Katara’s side. “What is it? Is he- is he gonna be okay?”

            Katara’s brow was furrowed in concentration and she shook her head. “Most of his injuries are superficial, but one of his ribs punctured his lung. I’ve eased the bone back, but there’s air outside of his lungs and water inside them. I can get the liquid out of his lungs but I need you to slowly bend the air from around his lungs through the tear in them. That should reinflate his lung so I can seal the wound. But you have to go slowly or it’ll make the tear worse.”

            “Okay! Okay,” Aang’s hands shook as he knelt on the opposite side of Zuko’s still form. He held his hands over Zuko’s chest and felt for the air around his lungs.

            “Ready?” Katara asked. He nodded. “Wait for me to get the liquid out, then slowly pull air into his lung.”

            Aang watched pensively as Katara carefully bent the liquid out of Zuko’s lung and throat. As she finished, Zuko coughed and sputtered and Aang jerked out of the way as the other boy rolled onto his side, coughing up water and… blood. There was blood in the water Katara had brought out of his lungs too, and the sight of it made him feel sick.

            “Easy, Zuko,” said Katara. “Try not to move a lot. One of your ribs had punctured your lung, we have to fix it.”

            Zuko mumbled something Aang couldn’t make out. Katara carefully rolled him onto his back again and nodded to Aang.

            Aang took a shaky breath and closed his eyes, then slowly eased the air through the tear in Zuko’s lung.

            “That’s good,” said Katara. “Alright, I’m sealing the tear.”

            Aang leaned back and hugged his knees to his chest, looking Zuko over as Katara worked. The sight of his new friend covered in blood and bruises didn’t make him feel any better though. Zuko had a cut over his good eye and a rapidly forming bruise under his scar. And the scar itself… Aang looked away from the bruised skin and forced himself to breathe.

            “You- you okay?”

            Aang glanced up and saw Zuko squinting at him and frowning as Katara checked him over to assess the rest of his injuries.

            “Did Fong hurt you?” Zuko asked, and for just a second Aang saw a fire in his eyes.
            “N-no, he- I’m fine,” Aang rubbed his eyes. Why was Zuko asking him if he was okay when Zuko himself had been crushed to a bloody pulp?!

            “You have a concussion,” Katara muttered, slipping behind the firebender and putting her water-covered hands over his temples.

            Zuko shrugged and winced. “Not the firs’ time.”

            Aang’s eyes suddenly caught on Zuko’s right hand and he felt a jolt of horror go through him as he saw blood, and bone protruding from the skin. “Zuko, your hand, what-” his breath caught and he pressed a hand to his mouth.

            Zuko looked down at his mangled hand. “Oh. Fong broke it.”

            Aang stared at him, his horror mounting. “How are you so calm about it?!”

            Zuko blinked, frowning. “I’m… normally alone when this happens?”

            Before Aang could fully process the ramifications of that statement Katara intervened. “He’s in shock, I sent Sokka to get blankets, hopefully he’ll be back soon.”

            “Can- can I do anything to help?” Aang asked, throat tight.
            “You already did,” Zuko muttered, eyes now closed, a calmer expression on his face than Aang had ever seen. “You came.”

            You came.

            Aang reached out and took Zuko’s uninjured hand and squeezed. Zuko opened his eyes and looked down, then back up at Aang and gave him one of those tiny smiles that made Aang’s heart ache and lift all at once.

            Sokka returned with Appa, who landed on the rubble with surprising grace for how big he was. Aang smiled at the bison, then smiled wider when Momo flew off the saddle and chattered eagerly at him, then gave a squawk when he saw Zuko and perched on the firebender’s knee, purring loudly.

            “Hey, Katara, can we move Zuko yet?” Sokka called. “None of Fong’s men have come after us yet, but I’m worried they might.”

            “Just give me another minute,” Katara called back.

            “I can walk,” said Zuko, starting to sit up. Katara shoved him back down and he huffed.

            Sokka walked over and gently clapped Aang on the shoulder. “Go wait with Appa, I’ll help Katara with Zuko.”
            “I said I can walk,” Zuko snapped, glaring at them. “You think I’ve never broken bones or gotten some bruises before?”
            “I didn’t say that,” said Sokka, holding his hands up placatingly. “But you are pretty banged up right now, and we’ve never seen you hurt like this, so indulge us a little, okay?”

            Zuko grumbled, but he stopped glaring at them and didn’t protest further. Aang walked over to Appa and jumped up to his head, running his hands through the bison’s soft fur. He wished he could curl up and sleep right here and forget about all of this.

****

            Zuko was having a hard time processing, what with the severe pain he was in, but it seemed like everyone was… worried? About him?

            It was a strange and not entirely comfortable feeling. He hadn’t been conscious much when they helped him before so he had missed this part.

            Aang especially seemed to be distraught. He wasn’t sure how to fix that.

            “Alright, we can move him,” said Katara. “Zuko, can you-”

            He sat up awkwardly, careful not to use his right hand. Jolts of pain in his chest made it impossible to breathe for a moment and his vision swam. His head throbbed and sharp, needlelike pain traveled through his injured hand.

            He closed his eyes and tried to focus. He could do this. He’d done it before.

            “Zuko.”

            He opened his good eye and saw Katara watching him closely.

            “I know you’re used to doing things on your own,” she said quietly. “But you don’t have to right now, so can you please just let us help you?”

            He tried to glare at her, he really did, but it was hard to do with one eye and the effort made his head hurt, so he sighed resignedly.

            “Fine.”

            He closed his eye and felt Sokka and Katara come up under his arms and help him stand. He gave a hiss of pain and fought to catch his breath, and they waited.

            He took a tentative step and they started moving with him, easing him over to Appa.

            Things were going fine until he stumbled and his injured hand slipped down and hit Katara’s shoulder.

            Pain exploded in his mind and he screamed. Dropped to the ground and cradled his hand against his chest, unable to take a breath, tears flowing out of his eye…

****

            “What happened?!” Aang sprang off Appa and landed next to Sokka.

            Zuko was curled on the ground, gasping. Katara crouched in front of him, looking worried.

            “He stumbled and it must have jarred his hand,” she said.
            Aang tore his eyes from the shaking, crying firebender and tried to stay steady. “Can you fix it?”
            “I think so, but not all at once,” she said. “Zuko, can you hear me? Can you let me see, please?”

            Zuko shook his head no emphatically and curled tighter, hand cradled against his chest.

            “I can help,” said Katara. “I can make it hurt less, but you have to let me see.”

            Zuko took a shuddering gasp and gave a tiny shake of his head.

            “Can we get him on Appa?” Sokka asked.

            “I can,” said Aang, wrapping an arm around Zuko.

            “Aang, wait-”

            Aang shot them up and into Appa’s saddle. Zuko gave a cry and rolled away from him, pushing himself back to the edge of the saddle and looking more terrified than he had since they picked him up at the North Pole. Aang felt a twinge of regret and guilt bubble up in his heart.

            Sokka and Katara scrambled up after him. “Aang!” Katara yelled, glaring at him. “You can’t just pick people up who have internal injuries and throw them onto Appa! His ribs are broken, another piece could have snapped off and punctured his lung again!”

            Aang cringed back and looked away. “I’m sorry, I just, we need to get out of here.”

            He was messing up everything today. He hadn’t noticed Zuko was gone, hadn’t realized why Momo was upset, had been so worried about doing his duty as the Avatar that he had ignored his friends and their worries all day while he tried to get into the Avatar State. And now he’d scared Zuko and might have just hurt him more.

            Dejected, he climbed out of the saddle and sat on Appa’s head. “Yip yip,” he said quietly, and they rose into the sky.

Chapter Text

            Zuko huddled as far away from the others as possible, a haze of pain over his mind.

            ‘Stay back, stay away, other people cause pain, they hurt,’ his mind warned.

            There was something he was missing, but he couldn’t focus long enough to know what it was. His hand pulsed with pain and his head throbbed. His face felt swollen and his scar was especially tender and painful.

            Breathing sent sharp pain through his whole chest and brought tears to his eye. The rest of him ached unbearably.

            He didn’t want this, he didn’t want to be in pain again, he wanted it to stop, stop, stop, please, make it stop-

            He shivered and hunched his shoulders closer.

            “Zuko?”

            He forced his good eye open and saw blue and long black hair if he focused. Katara.

            “Can I see your hand?” she asked quietly.

            Panic made him twitch back, wide-eyed and he shook his head.

            “I’m not going to make it hurt,” Katara said softly. “I just want to help, I promise.”

            He tried to process and make sense of that but everything just hurt and he couldn’t focus-

            “Here, if you won’t let me look then this should help some,” Katara bent out a little water and solidified it into ice, then wrapped it in a cloth. She held it out to him. “Put this on your hand for a little while, it’ll numb the pain some and help with the swelling.”

            Numbing the pain sounded wonderful, so he hesitantly reached out his uninjured hand and took the ice. He rested the ice between his injured hand and his chest, in the hopes that maybe it’d help ease the pain from his ribs as well.

            Katara didn’t leave immediately. Instead she held up a blanket. “I’m going to put this around your shoulders, okay? That’s all I’m going to do, it won’t hurt. Is that okay?”

            Slowly, he nodded. He was cold, and between being trapped underground for hours and his myriad of injures his inner flame felt weak and unsteady.

            Katara slowly stood and draped the blanket around his shoulders, then stepped back. “I’ll come check on you in a little while, okay? Try to rest.”

            He waited till she was gone, then shut his eye again, shoulders drooping with exhaustion. Rest. Rest sounded nice right now.

****

            “How is he?” Sokka asked when Katara returned.
            “He still won’t let me look at his hand,” said Katara. “But I gave him some ice for it and a blanket and he took both. He’s sort of… like he was before when we’d bring him along; really out of it, not himself, not talking…”

            “He had a rough time,” said Sokka quietly. “Man, I can’t believe Fong would do that. Like, I get he wanted information, but who in their right mind decides to just beat up one of the Avatar’s companions?!”
            “I didn’t like him from the beginning,” said Katara. “I didn’t like that he wanted to force Aang into the Avatar State.”
            “Yeah, that’s kinda messed up too,” Sokka glanced over at Zuko’s huddled form. “Why didn’t Fong just ask Zuko what he wanted to know? Y’know, like when we were talking about invading the Fire Nation?”
            “I don’t know,” said Katara, wearily. “But it’s been a long day and we should try to rest. We can talk more about everything in the morning.”

            “Fine by me,” said Sokka, lying back. “Night, Katara, night, Aang,” he leaned up on his elbow. “Goodnight, Zuko!”

            Zuko jumped and looked around. Katara rolled her eyes and smacked her brother.

            “It’s fine, Zuko, Sokka’s just being an idiot, as usual,” she said.
            “Hey!”

            Zuko blinked at her, then slowly leaned back and relaxed again.

            Katara glanced at Aang, who was strangely silent sitting on Appa’s head. She shouldn’t have yelled at him earlier, it’d been a rough day and he had been trying to help.

            She sighed, stood, and walked over to sit beside him.

            Aang glanced up at her. “How’s Zuko?”
            “He’s alright. He’s acting a lot like he used to before the North Pole,” she said.

            Aang sighed and nodded. She waited a moment, then continued.

            “Hey, I’m sorry about earlier, I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I know you were just trying to help.”

            He shook his head. “It was my fault, none of this even should have happened in the first place. I should never have let Fong get to me, I should have noticed that Zuko was gone, or paid attention to Momo or-”

            “Woah, slow down, Aang,” she held up her hands. “We had no idea this would happen. We-”

            “Zuko did. He tried to warn us, I should have realized introducing him was a bad idea-”
            “So, what, you think just introducing me and Sokka would have been less suspicious?”
            “I shouldn’t have introduced anyone, I should have just said I was the Avatar and-”
            “And how do we know Fong wouldn’t have figured out who Zuko was even if you hadn’t said anything? Maybe he would have recognized him from some intel on the Fire Nation or something. We don’t know what would have happened.”

            Aang hunched his shoulders and she gently laid a hand on his back. “Nobody’s asking you to be perfect, Aang, we know you’re just a kid. We’re all just kids,” she said quietly. “And I’m pretty sure Zuko’s not mad at you.”

            “That’s the other thing!” Aang sat up and looked at her. “He wasn’t upset at all that any of this happened! He was just- he was just glad we came to rescue him. Like he didn’t expect us to come at all. What, how do I-” he covered his face with his hands. “I want him to know we aren’t going to leave him, how- how can he not know that-”

            “Well we haven’t exactly had him with us very long,” said Katara, wrapping an arm around Aang. To her relief he snuggled against her instead of pulling away. “But I think after today he probably knows we will.”
            “Does he?” Aang tilted his head up at her. “He was so surprised, Katara, he was just…” his voice grew quiet. “I want him to know we aren’t gonna abandon him.”

            “Then tell him that,” said Katara. “Then he’ll know for sure.”

            Aang sighed. “You’re right. You’re right,” he laughed. “It’s a good thing you’re so wise, Katara.”

            She rolled her eyes. “Well I have had a few pointers from a certain monk.”

            He giggled and she smiled. They were gonna figure this out, even if it took time.

****

            It was growing late when one of the soldiers rushed below deck and alerted Azula that something strange had been sighted on the mainland. She hurried up to the deck and snatched the spyglass from the captain, scanning the shore until-

            There! A swirling vortex of earth and air spun high into the sky over what appeared to be a hilltop fortress.

            “It must be the Avatar,” she said. “Captain, take us ashore.”

            It was night by the time they made it to shore but Azula had no intention of waiting until morning. The sooner she learned what had happened and where the Avatar had gone, the sooner she could pursue him.

            (and hopefully that meant pursuing Zuko as well)

            It was nearly dawn by the time she and her soldiers arrived at the fortress. She was… reluctantly impressed at the damage done to it.

            The outer wall of the fortress was intact, but large stones had been embedded in its walls. The keep had mostly collapsed, due to the fact that a massive hole appeared to have been opened underneath it. What remained of the upper portions had been stabilized by stone braces jutting out of the earth at an angle.

            No enemy soldiers attempted to stop her, and the door of the fortress was open. She thought at first it was abandoned, until a rock flew straight at her head.

            Casually, she stepped to the side and the rock crashed into the ground a short distance away. Her soldiers murmured and she rolled her eyes.

            “I am Princess Azula of the Fire Nation,” she called into the ruins. “I command you to come out and face me,” she smirked. “Unless you’re a coward, of course.”

            The ground lifted under them and she heard her soldiers stumble, but not fall. Azula used the movement to launch herself forward.

            She landed lightly and, after a quick inspection of the ruined keep, shot five fireballs into locations where their attacker might be hiding. She was rewarded by a muffled curse and she darted towards the sound.

            She slammed into a large man in Earth Kingdom armor and summoned a dagger of flame to hold at his throat, forcing him against the wall.

            “Who are you, and what happened here?” she demanded.
            “I am General Fong,” the man snarled. “Commander of this base.”
            “Well you’re doing a pretty terrible job of it then,” she said. “I’m afraid there isn’t much left,” she held the flame under his beard, causing it to singe and sizzle. “What happened here?”

            The man smiled arrogantly at her. “You know, you’re the second Fire Nation royal I’ve had the pleasure of hosting at my base today. What an honor it is.”

            Azula found the ground under her suddenly moving backwards and she jumped up, hanging from a broken support beam, eyebrow raised, heart pounding in excitement. She dropped to the ground and inspected her nails. “Oh am I? Who was the first?” she smirked. “Don’t tell me my father stopped by.”

            ‘Don’t show emotion don’t show emotion please let it be Zuko please-”

            Azula found her feet suddenly fused to the ground and tilted her head at the man.

            “He was quite young,” said the general. “What was his name? Oh yes, Prince Zuko.”

            Her heart fluttered. “When was he here?” she snapped.

            ‘Stay calm, stay calm…’

            “A few hours ago at most,” said the general moving into a patch of light. She could now see that the man was covered in dirt and bruises and her curiosity grew. “He was quite entertaining for a while, until the Avatar intervened,” Fong spat.

            Azula’s heart pounded and she clenched her fists. “What did you do to him?” she asked, voice low and dangerous.

            A gleeful look came into Fong’s eyes and she felt her loathing for the man increase exponentially. “He was quite compliant, after we broke a few bones. Wept and screamed for mercy like a child,” Fong smiled darkly and leaned forward. “I can see why he was banished. Such a pitiful excuse for a prince, it took almost no time to break him. I wonder how long it will take to break-”

            Azula moved. She lunged forward, pressing her hands to either side of Fong’s face and channeled all her rage and hatred for the man into them, until blue flames spouted and the man screamed in agony.

            Finally, she removed her hands and Fong dropped to the ground. She broke the cases of stone around her feet easily and stepped forward, hauling the man up by his amor.

            “You know nothing of my brother,” she snarled. “But now I hope you feel at least a fraction of his pain. Now, where is the Avatar going? And is my brother with him?”

            “I- y-yes. The Avatar, escort to Omashu…”

            Omashu. Mai’s family was there, weren’t they? That gave her an idea…

            But first she had to deal with this filth.

            “I would kill you here and now,” she hissed. “But a quick death is too good for scum like you. So I’ll simply leave you with some pain to remember me by as infection comes for you and slowly tears your life away, piece by agonizing piece.”

            She drew power to her fingers until lightning sparked along the tips. Fong’s eyes widened in horror and she smiled.

            “Have a nice death. General Fong.”

            She shot just enough lightning into him to make him scream and writhe, but not enough to kill him instantly. She left him there, smoking and groaning, and stepped back outside to her soldiers, waiting patiently for her at the gate.

            “We’re going to Omashu,” she announced.

Chapter Text

            “-ko? hear… Zuko?”

            Zuko groaned and tried to roll away from the voice. “Five min’ts ‘Zula,” he murmured.

            He felt a hand on his shoulder and the voice grew more insistent. With a sigh, he forced his eyes open. Well, the right one he forced open, the whole left side of his face felt worse than normal, but there was less of a burning sensation and more of a swollen pressure making his whole head ache.

            “Hey Zuko,” he could recognize Katara’s voice now. “How are you feeling?”

            He turned his head and sat up a little so he could see her better. Daggers of pain shot through his ribs in protest and he hissed, closing his eye for a second to breathe. “I’ve been worse.”

            “Is it alright if I look at your hand now?”

            His hand… oh, right. He looked down at the swollen, bloody mess that was his right hand and winced.

            “Yeah that, that’s fine,” he said. He tried to hold his hand out, but a sharp ache went through his whole arm and he jerked it back on instinct, though the quick motion just sent more pain traveling through his arm.

            “Here, just hold still,” said Katara. Her hands came into his field of vision and he flinched, but allowed her to wrap his injured hand in cool water. It… it helped a little.

            “You have a lot of fractures,” Katara muttered. “What did- I mean, can you tell me how it got broken?”

            “Fong grabbed it when I tried to shoot fire at him,” he said. “He crushed it and snapped some bones. Later he… stamped down on it with his foot,” he swallowed hard and hunched his shoulders, looking away. “I’m sorry I didn’t let you look at it before, I just-”

            “It’s fine, Zuko,” she said quietly. “You were overwhelmed last night- we all were. I can still start healing it today.”

            He glanced at her and she gave him a little smile. He gave her a tiny nod in return and did his best to hold still while she worked on trying to fix his mangled hand.

            “We stopped by a river and we’re gonna spend a couple days here to give you a chance to heal,” Katara said. “Then we’re gonna keep going to Omashu.”

            He looked up quickly and winced as his head throbbed. “You don’t have to wait for me.”

            “I know, but we want to.”

            He blinked. “What? Why?”

            “This may surprise you, Zuko, but we don’t actually enjoy seeing you get hurt,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “And it’ll only be for a couple days. Omashu has healers, and Aang’s good friends with King Bumi, so we should be able to get some help for you there too.”

            “You could just leave me somewhere,” he said. “Then you don’t have to worry about me at all-”
            “Actually, Aang was going to talk to you about that,” she said.

            His eyes widened slightly. Oh, so they were really… they were finally coming to their senses then. That, that made sense after yesterday, but…

            Why did it make him feel so upset?

            “Okay,” said Katara when a few more minutes had passed. “I’ve got the bones back where they should be and the cuts in your skin closed, so we won’t have to worry about infection. I’m going to make a brace for your hand and put it in a sling so the bones won’t come out of place, okay?”

            He nodded, numbly. At least they weren’t just going to leave him broken and bruised on the side of the road. They could have, and he wouldn’t have held it against them. This was… this was more than he deserved.

            When Katara had his hand properly bandaged she leaned back a little and nodded. “Is it alright if I check the rest of you over? I didn’t have a chance to do it thoroughly yesterday and I want to make sure I didn’t miss anything.”

            He nodded and let her work. She did some more healing on his ribs and his head (the cold water against the bruises on his face felt so nice) and healed a few more minor injuries he’d sustained. Then she got him some water and made him eat some fruit and finally left him to rest. He fell asleep almost immediately, too exhausted to consider his fate further.

****

            They stayed more than two days.

            The first two were primarily the same, with the exception of the others helping him off Appa the second day so he was with them in the campsite proper. Katara would work on healing his injuries, they’d make sure he ate something, and he’d sleep.

            He was starting to feel better the third day and woke filled with trepidation that he’d be on his own again. They were going to leave him.

            Except… they didn’t. Katara came over for a healing session like normal and said his injuries were healing nicely. Sokka made another delicious stew. Aang was… he wasn’t sure what Aang was doing. Aang seemed to be avoiding him. Zuko wondered if the kid was uncomfortable asking him to leave.

            (it was fine, he would be fine, he needed to stop feeling so upset about it, he’d known this would happen)

            He could breathe easier now, and he was waking up less with headaches that felt like knives stabbing his skull that made spots dance in front of his eyes and his vision blur. When Katara worked on healing his hand she had him move it inside the pocket of water she created so she could assess it better, and so his fingers didn’t get stiff and hard to move. That was getting less painful (it still brought tears to his eyes, but thankfully Katara didn’t mention that).

            Finally, on the evening of the third day he sensed someone watching him and he looked up to see Aang standing a few paces away, looking worried.

            His shoulders slumped and he sighed, but adjusted himself so he could sit up and stared back at the little airbender.

            Aang apparently took that as a cue to approach. He sat down in front of Zuko, back ramrod straight, eyes focused on the ground. Aang was silent for a several long moments and Zuko started to wonder if he should start the conversation.

            Finally, the boy spoke. “Katara says you’re doing better.”
            Zuko nodded. “She’s a good healer.”
            “Yeah,” Aang rolled his hands together and Zuko saw a tiny ball of air twirling between them. That was fascinating.

            He wasn’t sure how long it was until Aang spoke again, as he was too busy watching the ball of air grow and shrink like a candle flame when he meditated. It was calming, and considering the circumstances he was going to enjoy any moment of calm he could.

            Finally, Aang spoke. “Zuko… I’m sorry.”

            Zuko clenched his uninjured hand and shrugged. “It’s okay.”

            “No, no it’s not,” said Aang. “I shouldn’t- why aren’t you, why aren’t you upset at me? You used to glare when someone got near you and now, when you have an actual reason to be mad at me you’re not.”

            Zuko flinched at his tone and shook his head. What was he supposed to say to that? He didn’t deserve to be angry, not after everything he’d done. He deserved this. He deserved to be alone.

            “I knew this would happen,” he said. “It’s fine. You don’t have to feel guilty about it. I’m used to it.”

            “That doesn’t make it okay!” Aang threw his arms out. “I mean, you were almost killed and you’re just treating it like it’s nothing! And it’s my fault!”

            Oh, so there was more here than Aang telling him he had to leave. Did the kid want to part ways with a clear conscience?

            “I should have told you not to use my real name,” said Zuko. “And I shouldn’t have fallen behind. You were busy, I don’t blame you for not coming sooner. I wouldn’t have blamed you if you didn’t come at all.”

            “That’s what I mean!” Aang all but shouted. “You think we’d just leave you behind! And we- I’m, we’re not going to! We want- I want you to stay with us and I don’t want to leave you behind! I don’t want you to think that if something happens to you that no one will come to rescue you! We’re not like that!”

            That… that didn’t make sense? Wasn’t Aang here to tell him to leave? Why was the kid yelling about not leaving him behind?

            “You…” Zuko frowned, brow furrowed. “You’re not asking me to leave?”

            Aang looked like he’d been slapped and Zuko realized he had gravely misunderstood what was happening.

            “Zuko…” tears welled up in Aang’s eyes.

            Oh. Oh the kid was crying, kid, crying, Avatar crying, what was he, what was he supposed to do?

            When Azula was little and would cry he’d always just hold her until she stopped, and Aang had hugged him- twice- so, maybe?

            Hesitantly, slowly, in case this wasn’t the right thing to do and Aang wanted to get away, he reached out and wrapped his arounds around the boy, hugging him lightly.

            Aang didn’t pull away, and after a moment he wrapped his arms carefully around Zuko, sniffling.

            Alright, good that was, this was right, good, okay.

            “Zuko,” Aang said in a watery little voice. “I don’t want you to leave. I’ve wanted you to stay with us since you helped us get out of Roku’s temple. I just…” his hug tightened and Zuko’s ribs protested, but he didn’t dare interrupt. “I don’t know how to make you realize we want you around.”

            Zuko suddenly felt tears gathering in his eye. “You’d be the first people in a long time then,” he said shakily. “I don’t… I’m not used to people being… nice. Or wanting me around.”

            Aang pulled back and Zuko was surprised at the fire in the boy’s eyes. “Well we want you around,” he said, fiercely. “And I’m not going to ask you to leave, ever, and we’re not going to leave you behind. Okay?”

            Zuko wasn’t sure how long that promise would hold and he had no idea why Aang was even bothering to make it when they barely knew each other and most of the time they had Zuko had been his enemy.

            But Aang looked like he meant it. And maybe it was foolish and hopeful of him, but Zuko wanted to believe him.

            “Okay,” he said, softly.

            Aang beamed and threw his arms around him.

            “Ow!” Zuko yelped.
            “Oh, sorry! Sorry!”

            Zuko snorted and shook his head.

            And slowly, he reached up and hugged Aang back.

Chapter Text

            It was the next day and the group was relaxing at the river. They were planning to leave soon, but Aang and Katara had decided to get in some last minute “waterbending practice”.

            Zuko was pretty sure they just wanted to play in the water now that Aang wasn’t upset anymore. And he didn’t begrudge them that. He was the reason Aang had been upset, after all, and… it was kind of nice to relax a little.

            He had been worried at first that the others would try to drag him into playing in the river with them. He’d felt the water and it was freezing, and after almost drowning and his misadventures in the North Pole the last thing he wanted was to jump into cold water again.

            But beyond the initial invite to come in the water, they hadn’t bothered him. He was sitting on a rock close to shore, enjoying the sun’s warmth and occasionally heating the rock to keep it comfortable. At first he’d tensed whenever the others got into a splash fight, afraid that they’d start throwing water in his direction. That was the sort of thing most of the kids he’d encountered in his childhood would have done.

            But they never did. In fact, he was pretty sure they were actively trying not to get him wet, since he’d seen them stop and move back when they got too close to him. Which was… weirdly considerate of them.

            Zuko had his eyes shut and his face turned towards the sun when the first strands of music reached him. He tilted his head, listening for a moment, then looked in the direction it was coming from.

            The others had noticed as well and they all stopped and watched as a group of musicians and dancers appeared on the road. Zuko tensed a little. He’d learned the hard way that bandits often disguised themselves as traveling entertainers to trick people.

            The group stopped at the riverbank and greeted them cheerfully, introducing themselves as nomads. After listening to them for a minute, Zuko relaxed, assured they were harmless.

            As it turned out, they were harmless and very friendly. While their leader, Chong, told stories, his wife and the other girl with them started braiding flowers into Appa and Katara's hair.

            Zuko wasn’t that ambitious, but he did slip away and collect some more blossoms for them… after he used a few to make a flower crown that he snuck onto Aang’s head, earning a smile from the kid when he realized what had happened.

            After that, he sat listening to their stories and feeling more content than he had in a long time, until Sokka appeared and plopped down beside him, frustration practically simmering in the air around him.

            “Okay I know you can’t actually be enjoying this, right?” Sokka asked. “I mean, you don’t like anything.”

            Zuko tilted his head. “It’s kind of nice, actually.”
            “Seriously?!” Sokka huffed. “I thought for sure you’d be on my side.”

            Zuko shrugged. “When I… first started off on my own I met a group like this. I didn’t know how to survive on my own and they taught me how to make camp and find water, how to stack wood to make different kinds of fires, which plants were poisonous and which were good to eat…” he smiled a little. “They told good stories too.”

            Sokka raised an eyebrow. “You trusted them to show you which plants weren’t poisonous?”
            “They’re more knowledgeable than you think,” said Zuko.
            “I thought you said you’d been on hunting trips, didn’t you learn how to make camp and stuff from that?”

            Zuko’s smile vanished and he looked down. “That was a long time ago. I was little, my cousin and his friends did most of the work.”
            “I guess that makes sense,” said Sokka, leaning back. “How long have you been on your own, anyway?”

            Zuko closed his eyes and hunched his shoulders, but was thankfully saved from having to answer by Aang.

            “Hey, Sokka, you should hear some of these stories! These guys have been everywhere!”
            “Not everywhere, little arrowhead,” Chong corrected. “But where we haven’t been we’ve heard about through stories and songs.”

            “The only place I’m interested in hearing about is Omashu,” said Sokka.
            “But-”
            “We need to get going, Aang,” said Sokka, standing. “No getting sidetracked.”

            Aang sighed and leaned back against Appa.

            “You know, there’s an old story about a secret pass. Right through the mountains,” said Chong.

            Zuko looked up. “I think I’ve heard about that.”
            “So it’s real then?” said Katara. “Not just a legend?”
            “Oh it’s a real legend,” said Chong. “And it’s as old as earthbending itself.”

            Zuko grinned as the musician started playing. When he was a kid he’d found stuff like this fascinating and it was… fun, to listen to old songs and stories again.

            That, and it was kind of entertaining watching them drive Sokka crazy.

            As the last notes of “Secret Tunnel” faded into the hills, Zuko clapped along with the others. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Aang grinning at him and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. No doubt he’d be getting a slew of questions about whether he enjoyed singing and history and instruments soon.

            (he did, and he didn’t really have a problem with Aang asking him about it.)

            “I think we’ll just stick with flying,” said Sokka. “We’ve dealt with the Fire Nation before, we’ll be fine.”

            ‘Famous last words.’ Zuko thought.

            “Yeah, thanks for the help, but Appa hates going underground, and we need to do whatever makes Appa most comfortable,” Aang added.

            Whatever his reservations about having an altercation with his own soldiers, Zuko agreed with the bison. He’d much rather fly than travel through a tunnel. He’d had enough of being underground lately.

            So, they said farewell to the nomads and headed towards Omashu.

****

            Of course the Fire Nation troops had to have catapults.

            Even with Zuko deflecting the worst of the flames, there was still a lot of screaming and dodging involved before they made it back to the forest.

            “Secret love cave, let’s go,” said Sokka as they walked past the nomads in the woods. Zuko was pleased the group was still there. They’d make having to be underground less suffocating and overwhelming.

            “How far are we from the tunnel?” Sokka asked as they started passing massive stone ruins.
            “Actually, it’s not just one tunnel,” said Chong. “The lovers didn’t want anyone to find out about their love, so they built a whole labyrinth.”
            Sokka spun around. “Labyrinth?!”

            Alright, he was with Sokka this time. A labyrinth didn’t sound great.

            “All you need to do to find your way through is trust in love,” said Chong’s wife. “At least, according to the curse.”
            “Curse?!” Sokka yelped.

            Zuko sighed. Of course there was a curse. Because being trapped underground in a labyrinth wasn’t exciting enough.

            He glanced around and his eyes landed on a sturdy stick. He tested it by knocking it against a rock and nodded when it held. If they were going to be walking for a while he was going to need something to support himself. He could ride on Appa of course, but he wanted to be as capable as he could be in case something went wrong. Which, from the sound of things, seemed pretty likely.

            He took quick stock of himself. His hand still hurt when he moved it, so he tried to keep it still inside its brace. His ribs ached, but they weren’t impeding his breathing anymore. He had a headache building in his temples, but that was likely from stress. Beyond that he had normal aches and pains, but nothing worse. Waterbender healing was truly a near-miraculous thing.

            The cave mouth yawned before them and Zuko squeezed the stick tight in his left hand. He could smell smoke behind him, and a minute later the others pointed it out. They couldn’t go back.

            “So all you need is to trust in love to get through these caves?” Aang asked.
            “That is correct, master arrowhead,” Chong confirmed.
            “…We can make it,” said Aang.

            “I wish I had your confidence,” Zuko muttered.

            Even if the legend was real, love hadn’t been a big part of his life. He wasn’t… he wasn’t even sure if there was anyone left who actually loved him. Maybe Azula, but she was a lifetime away from him now. There’d be no trusting in love to get him through this.

            They hurried into the cave. Just as they cleared the entrance, Zuko heard the rumble of tanks approaching. He spun around and his eyes widened as he watched them take aim at the cave mouth.

            With a rumble and a cacophony of crashing rocks they were plunged into darkness. Zuko felt his heart drop, and his breathing sputtered, his mind suddenly flashing back to an incident he did not want to remember-

            ‘Lock him up in that cave, we’ll pick him up on our way back from patrol.’

            The rumble of the ground as rocks crashed into the entrance of the tiny cave, barely talk enough for him to stand in.

            Screaming and scrabbling at the rocks until his fingers bled and his throat was raw from begging for someone, anyone, to help him, get him out before his air was gone and he-

            “Zuko! Hey, Zuko, are you okay?”

            He was on the ground, curled up with his knees to his chest and his good hand curled tight in his hair. He was breathing too fast, eyes wide and blurry.

            A flame appeared next to his face and he screamed, scrambling back.

            “Zuko, it’s okay, breathe,” a hand touched his shoulder and he flinched, turning to see Katara sitting next to him. “We’re gonna be okay, just breathe.”

            He tried, gasping, eyes drifting to focus on the torch flame, further away from him now.

            When the flame was growing and shrinking with his breath and he could focus again he glanced at Katara and nodded. She nodded back at him and stood. Her hand left a warm imprint on his shoulder.

            Aang was standing a few paces away, holding the torch and looking distressed. Sokka was a little ways off holding a piece of parchment and arguing with the nomads. Momo was sitting next to him and gave a soft chirp when Zuko noticed him. Appa had flopped on the ground, looking as miserable as Zuko felt.

            “Are you okay?” Aang asked, his voice small.

            Zuko nodded, not quite trusting himself to talk yet.

            “Do you- do you want to hold the torch? I saw you meditating with it. I tried to bring it over but you jerked back-”

            “I’m fine,” said Zuko, as evenly as he could. He pushed himself up and clenched his right hand so that sharp pain jolted through it and cleared his mind a little. “I just dislike being underground as much as Appa does.”

            Aang nodded, still a little uncertain, but less concerned than before.

            Zuko picked up his walking stick as Aang walked over to Sokka and the nomads. He jumped when Katara came up beside him and touched his arm again.

            “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked.

            He shrugged. “The sooner we get out of here the sooner I’ll be okay.”
            “That’s fair,” she said. “Come on, let’s see what Sokka’s working on.”

****

            Mapping the tunnels was not going well.

            They were going in circles, which meant that either Sokka’s mapmaking skills were terrible, or…

            “The tunnels are changing,” he said quietly as they tried to figure out the source of another dead end.

            As if on cue, there was a distant rumble and a much closer growl.

            Zuko tensed as a black shape flew into the torchlight, snarling.

            “Wolfbat!” Sokka yelled, swinging his torch at the creature.

            Momo gave a panicked chirp and landed on his shoulders. Zuko shot a fireball at the creature, pushing it towards Sokka, who brandished his torch at it. The wolfbat flew towards an already-agitated Appa, elicting a roar from the bison.

            And then an errant spark from Sokka’s torch caught on the bison’s fur and chaos descended.

            Appa ran, slamming into walls and knocking massive rocks from the ceiling. Zuko jerked away as a rock crashed down beside him and ran, panicked.

            His foot caught on a stone-

            The earth ROARED-

            Rocks crashed down around him and he cowered, hands on his head, screaming as blackness fell upon them for the second time that day.

            Finally, the earth stopped shaking. Dust settled and the stones fell silent.

            Was he alone? Were the others trapped somewhere?

            Were they…

            “Aang! Katara! Zuko!”

            Zuko uncurled slightly as Sokka’s voice registered along with the crumbling sound of small stones.  He swallowed hard and lifted his head. “Sokka?”

            The sound stopped, then was rapidly replaced by running footsteps. “Zuko! Are you okay?!”

            Zuko blinked, surprised at the other boy’s concern. “I…”

            “You’re bleeding!”

            Zuko vaguely registered the blood dripping down his forehead. “Oh.” He wiped it away absently and heard Sokka mumble something about not having bandages.

            He suddenly realized there was light coming from somewhere and saw the nomads standing off to the side with a torch, looking around at the damage the cave in had done.

            He heard a familiar chatter and Momo appeared, climbing onto his lap and clinging to his shirt. Zuko slowly reached up and pet the lemur, and his shoulders sagged. Sokka was saying something, but it wasn’t really registering.

            They were trapped in the tunnels, separated from half their group, with wolfbats and worse in the caves with them.

            He started shaking and closed his eyes, trying to breathe.

****

            Sokka realized that Zuko hadn’t been hearing him for the past five minutes, but it didn’t really matter. Talking calmed him down and right now he needed to calm down and think.

            Before he found Zuko he was pretty sure he had heard something on the other side of the cave in. Hopefully it was Aang, Katara and Appa and they were fine, because Spirits, if anything happened to his little sister and Aang…

            But they weren’t here and as much as he hated it he couldn’t do anything to get to them right now. The best thing he could do at the moment was get Zuko calmed down and get them all moving again.

            Right, Zuko…

            Besides the small cut on his head, Zuko miraculously seemed to have avoided being injured. Miraculously, because the guy was a magnet for pain and suffering. Sokka had no idea how he’d survived before meeting them.

            At the moment, Zuko’s problems seemed to be mostly mental. He’d panicked after the Fire Nation sealed them in the tunnels and he was panicking again now and Sokka did not possess Katara’s calming nature so he needed to think of something fast before Zuko started having a full-blown panic attack.

            Hesitantly, he reached out and set a hand firmly on Zuko’s shoulder. Zuko flinched and opened his eyes and gave Sokka a look that was just so lost that Sokka suddenly understood why Aang wanted to hug the guy all the time.

            “Hey, Zuko, it’s gonna be okay,” he said, trying to make his voice sound reassuring. “We’ll get out of here, I promise. And I’m sure Aang and Katara are fine too.” He added the last bit to reassure himself more than Zuko. He just needed to hear it.

            “Can you stand up?” Sokka asked.

            Zuko looked around at the rocks and dust. “Staff,” he muttered.

            Oh, right, Zuko had picked up a walking stick outside. Sokka scanned the ground until his eyes caught on a different shade of gray. Triumphantly, he unearthed the walking stick and presented it to the firebender.

            “Your staff, my lord,” he said with a mock bow, trying desperately to drag Zuko’s mind off whatever it was stuck on, even if it was just to roll his eyes at Sokka’s jokes.

            To his surprise, Zuko actually snorted and his mouth turned up in a rare, tiny smile as he took the staff and stood carefully. Alright then, maybe that rock had hit him hard enough to jog some humor.

            They walked back over to the nomads, Zuko limping just a little. Sokka tried not to worry about that.

            “Alright, looks like Aang and Katara and Appa are stuck on the other side of that cave in,” said Sokka.
            “I’m sure they’ll be fine,” said Chong, infuriatingly calm. “At least you’ve still got us.”

            Sokka groaned and smacked himself in the forehead. As he did he heard a tiny… chuckle?! And turned to see Zuko smiling just a little wider.

            Okay, alright, he could work with this. Zuko laughing at him being exasperated was better than Zuko curled up shaking in a corner. He just couldn’t let the guy catch on that his annoyance was (at least partially) feigned.

            “What, is my pain funny to you?” he demanded, folding his arms.

            Zuko tried very hard to hide his grin and shook his head. “Not at all.”

            Sokka huffed and rolled his eyes. “Alright, let’s get going, the sooner we’re out of this stupid love cave the better.”

            They started walking and the nomads began playing a cheerful song that made Sokka groan and tug at his hair, no dramatics intended.

            And from behind him, he heard Zuko chuckle a little again.

            … Yeah, that was worth a little exasperation.

****

            If he stopped to think about what was happening, Zuko knew he would fall apart again, so instead he did his best to listen to the nomads’ songs and pay attention to Sokka’s increasingly miffed reaction to them.

            He was… grateful to have them here. All of them. It would be better if Aang and Katara were there as well, but at least he wasn’t alone.

            Momo primarily stayed perched on his shoulders, purring, ears twitching wildly. Zuko had a feeling the purring was to calm both of them. Occasionally he reached up and carefully used his right hand to pet the lemur to let Momo know he was appreciated.

            Time passed and exhaustion started to get the better of him. His ribs throbbed and breathing became harder. His head was pounding in a full-blown headache now, and shooting pains traveled through his hand. His vision was starting to get blurry and he leaned heavily on his walking stick.

            He didn’t realize how unsteady he was getting until he woke up on the ground, Sokka shaking him and calling his name as the nomads gathered around them in concern.

            Sokka let out a sigh of relief as he came to. “Jeeze, buddy, don’t do that! Are you okay? Do you need food or something?”

            Wordlessly, one of the nomads handed Sokka a waterskin. Zuko tried to push himself up, but the world spun around him again and he fell back, face screwed up in frustration.

            “Here,” Sokka put a hand behind his back and helped him sit up, pushing the water at him.

            Zuko tried desperately to ignore the indignity of his position and drank. The water helped a little, and after a moment he gave Sokka a small push and sat up on his own.

            The nomads pulled back, and he heard them playing something lively in the background. He looked at Sokka, who was staring at him worriedly.

            “Are you okay?” he asked. “And don’t just say you’re fine, you just collapsed, I’m pretty sure you’re not fine.”

            “I’m just tired,” said Zuko. “And I have a headache. I’ll be okay.”

            Momo chattered, and Zuko turned to see him holding out a piece of fruit. He laughed, just a little, and took it. “Thanks Momo.”

            “Okay, I gotta ask,” said Sokka. “Why are you such good friends with Momo? Like, the only person he might like more than you at this point is Aang.”

            Zuko blinked and shrugged, taking a thoughtful bite of the fruit. “I met him before Zhao captured me, back on that island with the giant koi fish. He brought me some food, and he hasn’t stopped being friendly since,” he ruffled the lemur’s fur fondly. “I don’t know why he likes me so much.”

            “Wait, you met Momo on Kyoshi Island?!” Sokka gaped at him. “You were following us then?!”
            “I followed you from the South Pole to the North Pole,” said Zuko simply. “I went to a lot of the same places you did.”
            “You’re dedicated, I’ll give you that,” Sokka sighed. “And… really good at tracking us. I’m really glad you never told Zhao anything about us.”

            “Yeah,” Zuko tilted his head. Zhao would have killed them, he realized, frowning. Maybe not Aang, but he wouldn’t have seen the point in keeping Katara and Sokka alive. Or Momo and Appa for that matter…

            “You ready to keep going?” Sokka asked.

            Zuko nodded. He let Sokka help him to his feet and hand him back his walking stick and they headed back over to the others.

            A sound reached his ears and he paused. His eyes widened and he grabbed Sokka, pulling him down on instinct. “Look out!”

            A whole flock of wolf bats poured through the tunnel, screaming and snarling.

            But not one of them stopped to attack. A cold hand of fear clamped around Zuko’s heart and he shared a glance with Sokka.

            “What were they running from?” Sokka asked, echoing Zuko’s thoughts.

            The ground started to shake and Zuko’s breath hitched. He grabbed Sokka, not willing to risk losing anyone else (to risk being alone) if there was another cave in.

            The tunnel wall in front of them opened and a massive creature crawled through, closing the tunnel behind it. On the opposite side, another beast appeared and did the same.

            They were trapped.

            In spite of their imminent doom, Zuko couldn’t help but be a little in awe of the creatures. He’d never seen a badgermole, but Toph had told him about them, about how they’d taught her to earthbend when she was little. They were intelligent, then, but he was pretty sure these ones just wanted a snack and he had no idea how to get the creatures to see them as something else.

            The closer of the badgermoles approached them and both boys scrambled back as the massive snout loomed above them, ready to-

            Brrrrriiiiiingggg

            The badgermoles froze. Zuko looked over to see that Sokka had brushed against one of the nomad’s instruments. The enormous creatures tilted their heads and sniffed curiously.

            “Hey, those things are music lovers!” Chong called, sounding delighted. Zuko rolled his eyes.

            Sokka stood, lute clutched tightly in his hands and, to Zuko’s surprise, started to sing and attempt to play it. “Badgermoles, coming towards me, come on guys, help me out!”

            Zuko snorted, covering his mouth to keep from laughing. The nomads joined in the improvised song.

            “The big bad badgermoles, who earthbend the tunnels, hate the wolfbats, but love the sound…”

            Zuko stood next to Sokka. He hadn’t sang in a long, long time, but if there was ever a time to try… “Big old badgermoles, blind as can be, who taught my friend Toph to bend the earth…”

            Sokka gave him a manic grin and Zuko rolled his eyes.

            The badgermoles seemed quite friendly now that they realized the intruders in their tunnels were musical. One of them stomped the ground, tilting its paw back and forth, and a… set of stairs?! appeared next to it.

            Well that was an invitation if he’d ever seen one. Momo landed on his shoulder and chattered anxiously as he moved forward.

            “It’s okay, Momo, I don’t think they’re going to eat us now,” he said. But just to be safe, he kept humming as he approached the beast.

            Sokka followed him, still strumming badly on the lute. Zuko climbed up the stairs and perched on the badgermole’s back, clinging to its coarse fur. Sokka sat behind him, and thankfully stopped trying to play the instrument.

            The other badgermole had made a similar set of steps for the nomads and they clambered on board, singing and playing cheerfully. Zuko smiled, just a little. He wished he could tell Toph about this, she’d love it.

****

            Zuko had never been so grateful to feel the sun when they finally burst out of the tunnels.

            To his great relief, Aang, Katara and Appa were already outside. Sokka called out to them and- jumped straight off the badgermole’s back.

            He did not break his leg, thank the Spirits, and, as if sensing Zuko would need a little more help, the badgermole bent a… slide. An earth slide.

            Alright then.

            “Thank you,” he whispered to it before he climbed off. He slid down the surprisingly smooth slide and joined the others.

            He gave nods to Aang and Katara, and smiled a little as the nomads set Sokka off again, but he didn’t stop until he had scrambled into Appa’s saddle. He curled up there, relieved to once again be warmed by the sun’s light and hoping that was the last time he had to go underground for a very, very long time.

Chapter Text

            Zuko woke to arguing.

            Groggily, he sat up, rubbing his temples and blinking. He didn’t remember dozing off.

            The sun was still up, and not much lower in the sky than it had been when they left the tunnels, so he couldn’t have been asleep more than an hour. At least he hadn’t missed much then.

            “What’s going on?” he asked, peering over the saddle at the others.

            They looked up at him, surprised, and he raised his eyebrow.

            “Omashu’s been captured by the Fire Nation,” said Sokka after a moment. “Aang thinks we should still go in and try to find Bumi.”
            “He’s my friend!” said Aang. “I’m not leaving until I know he’s okay.”

            Zuko dug his nails into the rim of saddle. ‘We’re not going to leave you behind.’ Aang had told him. And if he had said that to Zuko, someone who he barely knew and who had been actively hostile to him in the past… Zuko was pretty sure there was no talking the kid out of going to find someone who was actually his friend. Arguing about it was pointless.

            “Okay,” he said, climbing out of the saddle and sliding down one of Appa’s legs.

            “Okay?” Aang tilted his head.
            Zuko shrugged. “Let’s go find your friend.”

            Aang looked surprised, but smiled at him a little. Sokka huffed and folded his arms.

            “Well if Zuko’s all for it then there’s not really anything I can say that would matter,” he grumbled.

            Katara set a hand on Aang’s shoulder and the kid smiled at her.

            “Okay.” Aang nodded. “Let’s go find Bumi.”

****

            “A secret passage?! Why didn’t we just come this way last time?”

            The grate at the base of the city wall that Aang had been banging at opened and sewage spilled out, along with the smell of rot. “Does that answer your question?”

            Sokka gagged and Katara covered her nose. Aang hopped right in, and before he could get overwhelmed by the feeling of being confined underground again, Zuko followed him, Momo perched comfortingly on his shoulder. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d crawled through a sewer, but usually it was so he could escape a city, not get into one.

            Katara and Sokka sloshed in behind him. In front of him, Aang started airbending the sludge out of his way. Zuko had no desire to get in the face hit with the… liquid in the tunnel, so he concentrated, pushed his hands out in front of him, and created a small, controlled wall of fire to evaporate anything before it touched him. It was an adapted earthbending move he’d only used once before and proved to be quite useful now.

            It was also energy-consuming though, and with his energy already severely depleted after their tunnel adventure he was only too grateful when they reached the pipe cover and Aang scrambled out ahead of him.

            Aang helped him out, then Katara, then started looking around like his friend was just going to pop out of the ground somewhere.

            (and maybe he would, the king of Omashu was a weird guy. Zuko had only met him once, in the library when he’d been doing research on the Avatar. The king had scared him half to death by appearing behind him and asking what he was doing. Alarmed, and unaware he was talking to the king of the city, Zuko had stammered that he was just doing some research. The king had inspected the scrolls and books Zuko had collected, given a maniacal laugh that Zuko thought for sure meant he was found out, then suggested Zuko try reading an old scroll tucked in the restricted section of the library, and had the librarian fetch it for him. Then the king had sauntered back outside, cackling. It had been the strangest interaction of Zuko’s life.)

            A groan sounded behind him, and Zuko spun around to see what was either a sewage monster, or Sokka covered in sludge. Katara quickly solved the mystery by dousing the figure in water, revealing it to be her brother.

            Aang dried Sokka off with a distressingly obvious display of airbending (still no self-preservation in any of them) and then Sokka made it worse by screaming when he realized there were a few small creatures stuck to him.

            “Stop making so much noise!” Aang said, shoving Sokka back. “It’s just a purple pentapus.”

            Aang rubbed the little creature’s head and it detached. Sokka hurried to remove the other two and-

            “Hey! What are you kids doing out past curfew?”

            Zuko froze, heart pounding, and hurriedly slipped behind the others and watched as Aang quickly fashioned a… hat? To hide his arrow tattoo. He wished he could hide his scar that way.

            He was realizing that he hadn’t really thought this through; coming into a Fire Nation controlled city as a banished prince who- if captured- could be sent back to the Fire Nation... or executed.

            Momo chirped at him and he swallowed, forcing himself to focus. As long as he could think, he could get out of this.

            “Sorry, we were just on our way home,” Katara told the soldiers, and Zuko hoped, prayed to any spirit who would listen that that would be the end of it.

            They turned to go, but one of the soldiers stopped them. “Wait, what’s wrong with him?”

            Zuko turned, head down and saw the man pointing at the marks on Sokka from the pentapus. He clenched his hands and let the pain shooting through his right one ground him. Momo chittered at him in a way that sounded disapproving.

            “He has pentapox, sir. It’s highly contagious!” said Katara, and Zuko blessed her for her quick thinking.

            The soldiers stumbled back as Sokka began groaning and coughing, and Zuko breathed a sigh of relief when they ran off, muttering about plague.

            “Thank you, sewer friend,” Aang told the little pentapus he… apparently still had? Still, Zuko agreed, and silently added his thanks to whatever spirit had sent them the little creatures.

            What followed was a great deal of running, jumping and hiding from soldiers that left Zuko breathless and aching. Sharp pain traveled through his ribs when he moved or tried to breathe deeply, and this hand and head throbbed.

            But he had said he was willing to do this and he was not going to slow the others down. Aang had told them to look for a place made of metal, where the king wouldn’t be able to earthbend, so Zuko focused on scanning their surroundings for metal containers or doors.

            They had made their way onto a ledge with construction equipment piled around when Zuko heard an ominous rumble. He looked up and saw a boulder rolling down a rail towards a group of Fire Nation soldiers escorting someone.

            He felt a jolt of panic in his heart and started to step forward, not exactly sure what he was going to do, when Aang knocked the boulder away in a gust of wind.

            Relieved Zuko looked down at the group below-

            -and realized with horror that they thought Aang was the source of the attack.

            “The resistance!” a woman shouted.

            “Run!” Sokka grabbed his arm and gave him a tug and Zuko shot after the others as they dashed along the walkway.

            A pair of soldiers pursued them and Katara easily knocked them back, but someone else scrambled after them. Zuko didn’t give their attacker much heed until he heard a familiar whiz of a knife flying through the air.

            He spun around and saw Aang staring at the knife embedded in his staff. A knife that Zuko recognized.

            He looked up at the person- the girl- chasing them and gaped, eyes wide.

            “Mai?” he whispered.

            Of course, she didn’t hear him, and threw a handful of darts at them. Zuko lunged forward to yank Aang out of the way when the ground literally dropped out from under him.

            He gave an undignified shriek and threw his arms out, certain he was about to fall to his death. A moment later, however, they landed inside...

            A tunnel. Because of course it was a tunnel.

            And they were surrounded by Earth Kingdom soldiers.

            Zuko hunched his shoulders and fought the urge to curl up in a ball and sob. This was not fair.

            ‘When has anything in your life ever been fair?’

            He had just wanted to help Aang. Why couldn’t anything ever be simple?

            Aang and the others stood and Zuko forced himself to followed suit, keeping his head down and trying to quell his shaking.

            “Avatar Aang, it’s good to see you again,” said one of the men, probably their leader.
            “I wish it was under better circumstances,” said Aang. “Is Bumi here? Is he with you?”

            “… No. Come with me, and we’ll explain,” said the man.

            The others started walking and Zuko followed, tensed and waiting for someone to reach out and grab him and demand to know who he was, or to scream, “Fire Nation!” and haul him off to some dark hole where he’d be-

            He felt a touch on his arm and he jerked back, crashing into- Sokka? Who gently nudged him into walking again. Katara, on his other side, moved her hand down from his shoulder to take his hand in hers and squeeze it gently.

            Zuko felt tears prick at his eye and forced himself to breath. He squeezed Katara’s hand back and didn’t shake off Sokka, who had a hand on his back now. He took their presence for what he hoped it was, a silent promise that what had happened with Fong would not happen again.

            They reached a massive cavern, full of people and makeshift houses. The air was only a little stuffy, so they must have had vents somewhere leading to the surface. They stopped in front of three men in Earth Kingdom armor and Zuko ducked his head down, staring at the floor as they explained to Aang how Omashu had been taken.

            Katara and Sokka stayed on either side of him and he felt Momo land on his shoulders and settle there. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting out a small hiss of pain when his ribs protested. Katara’s grip on his hand tightened.

            Sokka did move when he was proposing his plan to get the Earth Kingdom citizens out of the city, but Katara stayed put. The soldiers agreed to try Sokka’s plan in the morning and Zuko found himself led along to a room with the others.

            “It’s not much, but you should try and get some sleep,” said the man who seemed to be in charge. Aang thanked him and they filed inside.

            Zuko was starting to think maybe he’d make it through this without an altercation when a hand landed heavily on his shoulder and the man started to speak, “I don’t remember you from last time. What’s-”

            Zuko jerked away, scrambling into the room and slamming his back against the wall. “Stay away from me!” he shouted. He was shaking, and he could feel the fire responding to his panic, threatening to explode out of him and ruin everything-

            And then, suddenly Aang was standing in front of him, tense, but definitely not afraid. “He’s just a friend. He’s had some bad experiences with Earth Kingdom soldiers, so…”

            Zuko thought for sure the man would put the pieces together then, but some silent understanding seemed to pass between him and Aang and the man nodded. “I see, my apologies then. I hope you can all get some rest.”

            And then he was gone, leaving the door open just enough that Zuko could see the light from the torches in the hall and know he wasn’t locked in.

            Zuko’s breath sputtered and he sank to the ground, head in his hands, quivering like a leaf. He felt the others gather around him, and while part of him wanted to scream at them to leave him alone, he also desperately wanted them to stay.

            “Are you okay, Zuko?”

            He looked up at Aang’s worried gray eyes. Tried to smile. Failed miserably. Shrugged, and closed his eyes.

            “Do you want us to leave you alone?” Katara asked.

            He shook his head violently and curled tighter into himself.

            There was a pause, then he heard Sokka say, “Welp, you know what that means, blanket fort time.”

            Aang and Katara giggled. Zuko frowned, and looked up as the other boy started tossing pillows and blankets off the two beds, then ambitiously tried to drag the mattress onto the floor. Aang hopped up to help him and together they dragged both over.

            “This is better than drawing lots for who gets a bed anyway,” said Sokka. “Especially because no matter what I’d lose.”

            “I don’t-” Zuko winced as his voice came out as a hoarse whisper and cleared his throat. “I don’t mind sleeping on the floor.”

            “Uh, uh, we’re all sleeping in the blanket fort together,” Sokka insisted. “Aang, gimme your staff.”

            With Aang’s staff wedged between the mattresses and a few blankets tossed over them Zuko could at least admit that it was a blanket tent. Fort was a word he would reserve for something grander, he decided.

            Still, it looked cozy, and it would help him pretend he wasn’t once again trapped underground, so it served its purpose.

            Once Katara got Sokka and Aang to stop throwing pillows at each other they climbed inside. Katara gave a gentle tug on his arm and gestured for him to get in.

            Hesitantly, he crept forward and huddled in the smallest space he could possibly occupy. Momo chirped and flew out of Aang’s lap to his own and Zuko stroked the lemur’s fur gratefully.

            The others started talking about their day and their plans for tomorrow and he slowly began to relax. When his heart was calmer and his eyes were so heavy he could hardly see straight, he finally laid down, curled up on his bad side so he could keep listening to the others. Momo purred and snuggled against his chest.

            He closed his eyes with a sigh and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Text

            The next morning (or what he assumed was morning, since they were underground and he couldn’t actually see the sun) Zuko was the first to wake. Momo, curled up against his chest, stretched and yawned when he moved, then started to clean himself. Zuko sat up slowly and was surprised to see the other three asleep together, arms and legs entangled, practically on top of each other. He felt an ache in his chest, remembering when he and Azula used to sleep like that.

            He didn’t dare take a candle out of his pack to meditate with, lest a soldier come in and see him, but he went through the breathing exercises until his heart and mind felt still and level.

            It wasn’t long before the others woke up. They headed out to find the leader of the resistance and were treated to a small breakfast that Zuko couldn’t stomach more than a few bites of.

            After that, they finally, finally headed back to the surface to enact their plan. Zuko fought the urge to stop and simply bask in the sun when they emerged, but he did close his eyes and felt some of the tension that had been building in his body ease.

            Their plan was equal parts ridiculous and clever; use the pentapi to leave marks on their skin and create the illusion of a plague and hope the Fire Nation soldiers panicked at the sight of them like they had last night. If they followed procedure, the soldiers would likely try and drive them out of the city, thus freeing the citizens. Zuko was just glad he wasn’t going to have to fight his own soldiers.

            He sat on a barrel, watching the preparations, until Sokka approached him, pentapus in hand.

            “You ready to get suckered?” Sokka asked, grinning.
            Zuko raised his eyebrow. “No.”
            “Aw, c’mon, we all gotta do our part here,” said Sokka. “It’ll only take a minute.”
            “I’m planning to keep my head down,” said Zuko, as levelly as he could. If his scar gave him away and he was recognized the consequences could be dire. He’d thought about asking for a cloak to wear, but had quickly decided that a hooded figure among a bunch of civilians would be much more suspicious than a kid with his head down in a crowd.

            “Yeah, but if they see you, and you don’t have any marks-”
            “They won’t see me,” said Zuko, firmly. “I’ll be careful.”
            “You just don’t want to have a pentapus stuck to your face,” Sokka held the creature out. “It’s not like it hurts or anything. C’mon, even Katara’s doing it.”

            Zuko stood, glaring at him. “I said I’ll be fine.”

            He started to move away, when out of the corner of his good eye he saw Sokka move forward, hand coming towards his face-

            His hand came up before he knew what he was doing and slammed into Sokka’s arm.

            Sokka yelped-

            Zuko jumped back, hands up protectively in front of his face. “STAY AWAY FROM ME!”

            His chest was tight and his breathing quick, and after a moment he felt his back press up against something solid and panic gave his mind a jolt. He was trapped.

            “Zuko what the-”

            “I’m sorry!” he shouted, be quiet, be quiet, don’t make a scene-

            “Okay, look, Zuko, it’s fine, I’m, I’ll just, just, don’t worry about it, okay? I’m- I’m gonna see how everyone else is doing, just, uh, stay here and… yeah, just stay here.”

            Zuko took a deep, shaking breath when he heard Sokka’s footsteps walk away. Slowly he sank to the ground and curled against the wall behind him, head in his hands.

****

            The plan went smoothly and the Earth Kingdom citizens headed into the hills outside the city to regroup.

            Zuko watched them leave from the safety of some scaffolding around a statue being built in the middle of the city. He’d snuck away while the others were busy and wandered through the empty city for a while, head down, shaking, willing himself not to cry.

            It had been so long since the day he was branded and banished. Three years.  And yet he could still feel his father’s flames burning him in nightmares. He still flinched and screamed when a hand got close to his face.

            He wasn’t sure at this point if his honor was something that could be restored. Even if he captured Aang and went home he’d still be broken, still be a disappointment. He didn’t even remember how to be a prince after three years alone.

            (would father accept him back even if he did capture the Avatar? would he let Zuko return even though his son was unrecognizable now?)

            Zuko climbed the statue’s scaffolding feeling numb. It was a statue of his father, or it would be, when it was finished. That felt fitting, somehow, to be sitting in his father’s shadow again.

            Evening came and the shadows lengthened. Zuko stood at the edge of the scaffold, staring down at the ground far below. One step. Just one step was all it would take and all this would be over. All the uncertainty, the pain, the fear, it would all vanish as soon as he hit the ground.

            He had one foot hovering over the edge when the image of Aang, smiling and laughing with a flower crown on his head, appeared in his mind.

            Zuko swallowed hard. They’d be better off without him.

            But other memories followed. Cool water healing his injuries. An extra bowl of stew. Aang's hugs. Katara’s hand on his shoulder in the tunnels, leaving a warm spot as she tried to calm him down. Sokka’s worried face after the cave in. The way the siblings had stood protectively on either side of him when they faced the Earth Kingdom soldiers. The blanket fort.

            ‘We want you around. And I’m not going to ask you to leave, ever, and we’re not going to leave you behind.’

            Zuko looked down at the ground and took a shaky breath.

            ‘Please don’t be so sad you die!’

            Tulip’s little voice in his head was the final straw. Zuko stumbled back from the ledge and sat with his back to the statue, tears streaming down his face.

            “Okay, Aang,” he whispered. “If-if you’re not gonna leave me behind then prove it. Come- come find me. I’m right here.”

            ‘Please come.’

****

            Zuko woke up to warm sunshine streaming down on him and a familiar voice. He groaned, blinking, and uncurled from where he’d been asleep on the scaffold, trying to place the voice. Had the others actually come? Were they looking for him?

            And then he realized it wasn’t one of the Gaang’s voices he heard.

            His head snapped up and he peered through the scaffold, eyes wide.

            There, standing only a few feet from him, was Azula.

            His heart thundered in his chest. He couldn’t hear, he couldn’t breathe, all he could do was stare at his little sister standing almost close enough for him to touch her.

            Movement caught his eye, and he realized that… Mai and Ty Lee were with Azula?! And there was a metal box behind them moving up now-

            “Bumi!”

            Aang’s voice jolted him out of his thoughts. The kid rushed forward, dodging Azula’s flames, running up the scaffold and opening his glider, his hat coming off in the process.

            Azula gasped. “The Avatar!”

            And suddenly his sister was running towards him and what was he supposed to-

            Azula shot a blast of fire at a lever he hadn’t even noticed and caught hold of a cable that pulled her up fast after Aang. Zuko tried, desperately, to think of something to yell, to do anything-

            But he just stood there, frozen in shock as his sister vanished into the scaffolding.

            Yelling drew his attention again and he turned to see Mai and Ty Lee charging at Katara and Sokka. Ty Lee vanished into a hole in the boards and Mai threw a handful of knives at Katara.

            Ty Lee’s fist shot out of another hole in the boards and slammed into Sokka’s foot, sending him careening towards the edge of the platform. Ty Lee popped out to chase him and Katara was busy with Mai-

            Zuko huffed and scrambled out of his hiding spot.

            A second before Ty Lee reached Sokka Zuko shot a fireball between them. Ty Lee pulled up short and spun around, eyes wide.

            “Hey, friendly fire isn’t very, well, friendly!” she glared at him.

            He glared back. “Well then maybe you shouldn’t go around assaulting people’s traveling companions, Ty Lee,” he snapped back.

            She froze. “How do you know my name?”

            Ah. Right. Scar. She wouldn’t recognize him. “We kind of grew up together, but I guess that was before,” he gestured to his face.

            Realization dawned on her face. “Zuko?!”

            He grinned a little. “What’s left of me.”

            “Why are you- are you helping them?!” she waved her hands vaguely at Katara and the space where Sokka had been.

            He shrugged. “Guess I am.”

            He heard the familiar sound of a knife whizzing through the air and dodged, turning to glare at Mai, who was still fighting Katara. “Would you be careful with those, Mai?!”

            That caught her attention, and while she was distracted, Katara managed to freeze her arm.

            Unfortunately, Ty Lee seemed to have recovered from her shock and darted forward, jabbing Katara in a pattern he wished he didn’t recognize.

            The water dropped from Katara’s hands and stayed uselessly on the platform when she tried to bend it. Zuko’s heart sank. Ty Lee had still been learning chi-blocking the last time he had seen her, apparently now she’d perfected it.

            He darted forward and skidded between Katara, Mai and Ty Lee even as Mai raised a wicked looking dagger.

            “Mai, stop!” he shouted, hands up.

            She frowned and squinted at him. “Zuko?!”

            He heard a whoosh, and Sokka’s boomerang knocked the dagger out of Mai’s hand. Appa landed beside them, making the scaffold quiver. With a thump of his tail, Appa sent Mai and Ty Lee flying across the platform.

            He paused, staring after them for a moment as a familiar sadness settled in his heart. Things had changed. His friends (had they ever really been his friends?) were enemies now. He’d surprised them this time, but if he went with Aang and the others he’d stay their enemy and next time…

            “Zuko, come on!”

            He jumped and saw Katara and Sokka waving from Appa’s saddle. He stared at them uncertainly for a moment, then took a breath and jumped up, hand outstretched.

            They caught him and pulled him into the saddle and Appa took off.

            “We need to find Aang!” Sokka shouted. “Who were those girls?!”
            Katara looked at him. “You knew them.”

            Zuko swallowed hard and nodded. “They were kind of my friends when we were little.”

            “What about her? Who’s the crazy girl with the blue fire?!”

            Zuko sat up straighter and looked where Sokka was pointing, heart suddenly pounding.

            And there she was again, his little sister, this time riding on a box in the Omashu transport system, chasing after Aang.

            He clenched his right hand and felt spikes of pain shoot through it, but even that wasn’t quite enough to convince himself he wasn’t dreaming. “That’s Azula,” he whispered. “My little sister.”

            “THAT’S your sister?!” Sokka yelped.

            “Your- wait, you have a sister?!” Katara stared at him. “That’s who- that’s who you’re always calling for in your sleep?!”

            Zuko felt his face heat up a little and he shrugged. “She’s really nice once you get to know her.”

            She had been, at least, three years ago. He still remembered her hugging him before he left the palace for the last time. He’d been in his room, feverish, hardly able to see straight, and she’d climbed in bed with him and buried her face in his shirt, holding him and crying silently like she’d done when they were kids. It didn't feel like she'd ever let him go.

            But three years was a long time. And three years alone with father…

            Zuko’s eyes stayed fixed on her, up until Aang tried to launch himself and a metal coffin?? Was that were his friend was?? Onto Appa. But the timing was off and they landed a level down on the transport slides. Azula followed them easily, and he felt a little proud at how confident she looked.

            Then a boulder suddenly jutted out in front of her and he almost screamed.

            Thankfully, she jumped out of her box in time and skidded to a stop on the slide, then leapt on top of the boulder, staring after Aang. They flew close enough for him to see the frustration on her face and his heart ached.

            Before he’d thought it through, he stood up, fists clenched at his sides. “AZULA!”

            She turned and stared at him, frowning, and his heart sank down to his feet. There was no recognition in her gaze.

            Appa flew down and away from her, but he stayed standing, his eyes fixed on her face, willing her to see him.

            When she was too far away to be more than a red dot, he felt Katara pull him down and he let himself sink into the saddle. He closed his eyes, feeling numb and exhausted and defeated.

****

            Azula perched on top of the boulder that had forced her to stop chasing the Avatar and watched as the boy slipped away. No matter, she’d catch him soon enough. She could be patient.

            “AZULA!”

            She frowned and turned, finding herself staring at a figure standing on the back of the Avatar’s bison, watching her intently.

            She stood, squinting in concentration as the figure grew smaller-

            Her eyes caught on a large red mark on the side of his face and her whole body stiffened, eyes widening.

            “Zuko,” she whispered.

****

            Azula was halfway back to the palace when she ran into Mai and Ty Lee. She’d tried to follow the Avatar’s bison for a bit, but lost it in the exasperatingly laid out city. So, she’d started back, thinking things over.

            There were many reasons Zuko could be with the Avatar that did not involve her brother being a traitor. Maybe they had coerced him into going with them, or maybe they had captured him and he was their prisoner.

            Of course, Mai and Ty Lee had to go and complicate things.

            “Azula!” her acrobatic friend waved as she ran over. “You’ll never guess who we just saw!”

            “My brother?” Azula said drily, eyebrow raised.

            Ty Lee paused. “Yeah! Did you run into him too?”
            “I saw him,” said Azula, as calmly as she could. As if she didn’t have any feelings about seeing her brother again for the first time in three years.
            “He attacked us,” said Mai. “He was helping the Avatar’s friends.”

            Azula’s heart skipped, and she folded her arms to keep herself steady. “He was?”

            “Yeah!” said Ty Lee. “He called them traveling companions.”

            Traveling companions. That was better than ‘friends’ or ‘allies’ at least.

            ‘What have you gotten yourself into, Zuzu?’

            “Looks like his banishment’s turned him into a traitor,” said Mai.

            Azula’s head came up quickly, and for just a moment she lost control. She lunged forward, arm against Mai’s throat, and pinned her to a wall. Mai stared at her, eyes wide and uncharacteristically expressive.

            “If either of you ever even implies that my brother might be a traitor again I will have you imprisoned and sent back to the Fire Nation for treason,” she snarled. “Do I make myself clear?”

            Mai swallowed and nodded. “Yes, princess Azula.”

            She glanced at Ty Lee, who nodded quickly. With a final glare at Mai, Azula released her and stepped back, brushing herself off as if she could so easily rid herself of the emotions she felt spiraling in her chest.

            “I suppose I ought to have informed you both of my full mission earlier,” Azula said, after a moment, the picture of control once more. “I have brought us together to capture the Avatar and to ensure my brother is brought home to the Fire Nation in honor, fully restored as crown prince,” she lifted her head and fixed them with a piercing gaze. “With that knowledge I hope there will be no more misspoken words amongst us.”

            “It won’t happen again, princess,” said Mai, quietly.
            “Yeah, of course we want to see Zuko come home!” Ty Lee smiled at her.

            Azula allowed herself a smile back. “Good. Now, let’s see what kind of supplies and aid for our quest we can get from this miserable city.”

Chapter Text

             It took a while to find Aang in the twisting streets of Omashu, but eventually they spotted their airbender in another construction area and flew down to get him. Zuko had mixed feelings about Azula apparently deciding not to pursue them. Either she was being strategic, or, if she had recognized him... He simply wasn't worth her time.

            As soon as Zuko climbed down from Appa’s saddle, Aang’s face lit up and the boy rushed over and hugged him.

            “Zuko! You’re okay! We were worried about you!”

            Zuko tried to swallow past the lump in his throat and looked away, willing back tears. It had been a long, overwhelming few days, and to have Aang suddenly hugging him after he ran away again was almost too much.

            “Yeah, uh, sorry about yesterday,” said Sokka. “I don’t really know what happened, but I’m sorry I freaked you out.”

            “It’s fine,” he said, voice hoarse and quiet. He shoved Aang away quickly, before he broke down sobbing in front of them, and shifted himself away, wrapping his arms around himself to make up for the loss of contact.

            “We should get going,” said Katara, breaking the silence that followed. “Those girls might come after us again.”
            “Yeah, who were they, what was their deal?!” Aang asked.

            Zuko took a deep breath. “The girl with the knives is Mai, the girl in pink who’s a chi-blocker is Ty Lee. And,” he squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his right hand until the spikes of pain let him focus. “The other girl was my sister, Azula.”

            There was a pause, then, “That girl was your sister?!”

            Zuko shrugged. “She’s nicer than she seems. Or she was, the last time I saw her.” He rubbed his hands up and down his arms and stared at the ground. “I don’t know if she knew who I was.”

            A long silence followed, during which Zuko wanted nothing more than to curl up in a ball and forget all this. Finally, Aang spoke again.

            “Katara’s right, we should get going.”

            So they all clambered back onto Appa and left Omashu behind. Zuko took up his place sitting at the back of the saddle, away from the others, eyes shut, trying to breathe.

            He wanted to believe that Azula would be happy to see him. That she hadn’t become cruel and twisted while she was alone. That she hadn’t changed so much that his little sister was unrecognizable now.

            But she hadn’t even recognized him-

            Did she even want him to come back now? If she was here then she was most likely hunting the Avatar, since Zuko had, by all accounts, failed miserably at that. Did she see him as a disgrace now, like father did? Did she believe that he deserved to be alone, honorless, a broken prince?

            Did she hate him?

            He started to shake and pulled his knees to his chest, pressing his face into them until pain shot through his left eye and his breath caught.

            “Zuko?” he heard Katara say, closer to him than she should be.

            “Go away,” he said, but his voice was weak and watery and there was no bite in it.

            “Do you want to talk?”
            “No,” he tried to snap, but he just sounded breathless and pathetic.
            “Are you hurt? It looked like you were having trouble breathing back there.”
            “I’m fine,” he muttered, ignoring the way pain lanced through his chest when he took another unsteady breath.
            “… Do you need anything?”

            Tears finally dripped out of his eye and he was glad she couldn’t see them. He shook his head, refusing to look up and see her sympathetic gaze.

            “Okay. Here, at least take Momo, alright?”

            Before he could agree or protest, he heard a chirp and felt something warm and heavy draped over his shoulders. He almost gave a hysterical little laugh as Momo tugged gently at his hair and chittered noisily at him.

            He allowed the lemur to wiggle his way onto his lap and buried his face in Momo’s soft fur. The lemur started to purr, and after a while Zuko started to relax and eventually, he dozed off.

****

            Three days passed. Katara did eventually succeed in inspecting and treating his agitated injuries and she seemed… especially concerned about his hand.

            “The fractures are worse than the last time I treated them,” she said. “Did you hurt it while we were fighting in Omashu?”
            “I must have,” he said, looking away.

            "Do you remember how it happened?"

            "No," he said quickly, too quickly. She had to know he was lying, he'd always been terrible at it. But she didn't press him.

            Besides that though he did his best to seem normal. He sat at the campfires, ate and listened. He even told the others a little about the skills and abilities Azula and her friends had. He didn’t want to worry them. He was fine.

            (his nightmares were worse. He woke up the second night after leaving Omashu to find the whole group gathered around him, eyes wide and worried. Apparently he had been screaming. He’d shoved off their attempts to help and climbed up into Appa's saddle, as far away as he could run without concerning them. He’d cried silently until he fell asleep and woken up to find Momo and a blanket on top of him. No one mentioned it the next day and neither did he.)

            The fourth day out from Omashu they started traveling over a massive wetland. He’d crossed the edges of it before, but he’d always avoided it as much as he could. The place felt alive- like it was watching him (judging him). He didn’t like it.

            And then, Aang had to go and make that feeling so much worse.

            “This is gonna sound crazy, but I think the swamp is… calling to me,” said Aang.
            “Is it telling you where we can get something to eat?” Sokka asked. Zuko rolled his eyes.
            “No. I think it wants us to land.”
            “No offense to the swamp, but I don’t see any land for us to land on,” said Sokka.
            “I don’t know… Bumi said to learn earthbending I had to wait and listen. And now I’m literally hearing the earth. Do you want me to ignore it?”

            Sokka and Katara peeked over the edge of the saddle and Zuko joined them.

            “Yes,” said Sokka, after a moment.
            “I don't know, Aang, there’s something ominous about that place,” Katara agreed.
            “I’ve heard stories about it,” Zuko said, quietly.
            “What kind of stories?” Aang asked hopefully.
            He shrugged. “The kind where people go in and don’t ever come back out.”

            “…Yeah, let’s just skip the swamp,” said Sokka. Momo chattered and Appa rumbled in agreement. “See? Even Appa and Momo don’t like it here.”

            Aang sighed. “Alright, since everyone feels so strongly about it. Bye swamp. Yip yip.”

            The hairs on the back of Zuko’s neck stood up and he turned as a wind picked up behind them.

            His eyes widened and his breath caught. There was a tornado swirling through the swamp behind them.

            “Aang-” he started, just as Sokka turned and saw it too.

            “You better throw in an extra yip, we gotta move!” the other boy yelped.

            Aang and Katara turned and Zuko’s heart skipped when he saw fear on their faces.

            The tornado caught up with them faster than he could have imagined. He felt the air swirling loosely around them as it approached and his heart thundered in his chest.

            It was almost around them when it grabbed Sokka and started to suck him into the air. The boy screamed and Zuko jerked up and grabbed him at the same time as Katara and they yanked him back down.

            And then Aang was there in the middle of them, making a bubble of air around Appa to protect them. For a moment the wailing wind stopped and he could breathe, but Aang couldn’t hold the storm at bay forever.

            There was some sort of irony, he thought as the wind bubble started to shrink, about an airbender being thwarted by a tornado.

            Then the bubble burst and a scream tore from his lungs as he was picked up and spun through the air-

            Shot out, careening towards the trees-

            He crashed hard into the branches, the wind knocked out of him-

            His head smacked against something and the world went black.

****

            Zuko woke up to a throbbing headache and pain in his chest. He must have re-broken some ribs.

            He tried to sit up, but pain shot through his temple like a knife and he groaned, falling back against the wet, spongy ground.

            At least it wasn’t very bright wherever he was. Bright light made his headaches worse. He’d always hated that, growing up. The sun was supposed to give him life and strength, not send pain shooting through his skull.

            He took a deep breath and winced as sharp pain traveled through his chest. It didn’t feel like any pieces of his ribs had broken off again though, so it was probably fine if he moved.

            Slowly, cautiously, he sat up-

            A wave of agony washed over him. Dizziness and nausea followed, he couldn’t breathe-

            He threw up. Pressed a hand to his sweating, clammy forehead and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to will the nausea away. At least there had been something in his stomach this time.

            When he could finally focus and take in his surroundings his heart sank. He was surrounded by huge, vine covered trees, their roots making bridges over murky water of uncertain depth. The air was rich with the smell of earth but still and stifling. The water stank of rotting leaves, and creatures chattered and sang in the branches of the trees, their noise making his head pound.

            And, worst of all, he was alone.

            Unsteadily, he rose to his feet, gripping the vines and roots around him for support and fighting off another wave of nausea as he did. “Aang? Katara? Sokka?” he called. “Momo? Appa?”

            Nothing.

            Defeat crashed down on him, and he sank back to the ground, head in his hands. There was no way he’d ever find them in this place. He’d be lucky if he even managed to find his own way out alive. And once he did…

            ‘Maybe they’ll find you.’
            ‘Don’t be stupid. Omashu was one thing, but here they’ll be trying to get themselves out, not worrying about you. You’re a burden. They’ll be glad to finally have a chance to get rid of you.’

            His shoulders shook with silent sobs and tears rolled down his cheek. He deserved this. He always deserved this. This was the universe’s way of telling him that he was meant to be alone, that he didn’t deserve to have help, that he wasn’t worthy of-

            “Zuko?”

            He froze and his heart skipped. Slowly, he turned around, eyes wide.

            There, standing in the light of a sunbeam, was a tiny girl with silver-white hair and bright eyes. Her face split into a huge grin when he looked at her, and she ran forward, arms wide as she threw herself at him. "Zuko!"

            “Tulip?” he whispered incredulously.
            “Zuko! You’re okay!” said the little girl, giving him a squeeze. She pulled back, beaming. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again!”

            “I- you- what are you doing here? In a swamp?” he asked.
            “Oh, is that where we are?” she looked around. “I’ve never been in a swamp before.”

            A horrible thought occurred to him. “You, are- are you,” he swallowed hard. “Is- is your flame still burning?”

            She looked back at him and blinked frowning. “Is my- oh! Yeah, I’m still alive,” she grinned.
            Relief made him weak and he slumped back against a tree root. “Then what- how did you get here?” he asked.

            “I can get into people’s dreams sometimes,” Tulip said, sitting down in front of him. “Usually just Madia and uncle Kal’s, but sometimes I think I might be in my mama’s dreams, and maybe someone else, I wonder if he’s my father, he always seems sad,” her little face fell for a moment, then brightened again. “And now I got into one of yours and I get to see you again!”

            “You… can get into dreams,” said Zuko, slowly.
            “Yeah! And sometimes the Spirit World. I think it’s the Spirit World, anyway,” Tulip shrugged. “I met a girl there who said she was the moon and said a boy asked her to watch over me and Madia and I knew it had to be you, but that was weeks ago! Did you make it up North? Did you find what you were looking for?”

            He had forgotten how much Tulip talked. It was a little less overwhelming now though, after traveling with other people for a while. “I did make it up North. I met some people there who… helped me. I’ve been traveling with them ever since.”

            Tulip clapped her hands and bounced. “That’s amazing! Are they your friends now?”

            He looked away, suddenly unable to meet her eager gaze. “I… I don’t know. I’m not- I haven’t had a lot of friends, I’m not sure…”

            “Are they nice to you?”
            “Nice?”
            Tulip nodded. “Do they say nice things to you and make sure you eat and try and cheer you up when you’re sad? Do they listen to you and try and help you when you’re hurt or scared?”

            Zuko felt his chest tighten as he realized he could answer yes to every one of those questions. “Yeah. They- they do.”

            “Do you like them?” Tulip asked. “Do they make you smile and laugh? Do they let you play with them and include you in their games? Do you like listening to them?”

            A tear rolled down his cheek. “Yes.”

            Tulip’s tiny hand squeezed his gently. “I think they’re probably your friends then.”

            “But how do I know they think of me as a friend?” Zuko asked.

            “Do they smile at you lots and laugh at your jokes and seem sad when you’re sad?”
            “I don’t- I don’t tell jokes, but… yeah.”

            Tulip stood and leaned in close to his ear whispering. “Do they give you hugs?”

            Zuko thought of Aang and nodded. “Yes.”

            Tulip bounced and grinned at him. “Then you’re their friend!”

            He tilted his head and raised his eyebrow. “How can you be sure?”

            She threw her little arms around him and hugged him again. “Because you’re my friend and those are things I do with you!”

            Oh.

            He hugged her back, burying his face in her soft hair. “Should I try to stay with them?” he asked softly.

            She pulled back and raised a little eyebrow at him. He burst out laughing.

            “What kind of a question is that?” she demanded in a mock-serious voice, folding her arms. “Why wouldn’t you want to stay with your friends? Are they secretly mean to you?”

            She said the last question fiercely, as if she would personally descend upon the Gaang in fire and fury if they were mean to him. And considering she could get into dreams, she might really be able to. “No… they’re not mean to me. They- they’re, they’re kinder to me than I deserve.”

            She gave him the tiniest, gentlest slap on the arm and glared at him. “You deserve to have people be kind to you.” She it so firmly and matter-of-factly that for a moment, he believed it.

            “I saw my sister,” he said.
            Tulip blinked. “Your sister?”
            He nodded. “I don’t- I don’t know if I should try and go with her or stay with- with my… friends.”

            Tulip sat down again. “Make her friends with your friends. Then you can all be friends together!”

            He winced. “I don’t think that’ll work. My sister is… she’s on a different side than my friends. She disagrees with them and what they're doing. I don’t think she’ll accept them.”

            Tulip tilted her head. “Okay. So what do you want to do?”
            “I should go with my sister, she’s my sister, I owe her more than I do the others and-”

            “No.”

            He frowned and saw Tulip wearing a very serious expression. “Not what should you do. What do you want to do?”

            He blinked. “What?”

            Tulip sighed. “I want to live.”
            “O-okay? I’m glad?”

            She tried to roll her eyes and he tried not to laugh at her attempt. “I want to live, and I want to be happy. I could stay inside all the time and rest my heart and maybe live a little longer, but that makes me sad. I want to be outside in the sun, picking flowers and playing games with Madia. I want to make fire-pictures on the walls and practice meditating like you showed us. That’s what I want and that’s why I don’t ask uncle Kal to take me to another big village and try to get more doctors to help me. Maybe people would say that's mean to Madia and uncle Kal because I won’t last as long, but it’s my life,” she put her hand over her heart and gazed at him solemnly. “And because uncle Kal and Madia love me they understand. So,” she gave him a solemn look. “What do you want to do, Zuko?”

            He stared at her for a minute, then looked away, fists clenched. Pain shot up through his right hand and he squeezed his eyes shut. When was the last time anyone told him he had a choice? When was the last time anyone asked what he wanted? When was the last time anyone cared?

            He thought about it. About the uncertainty of if he’d find the others, about whether Azula still cared about him. And… he couldn’t change what Azula felt, if she still loved him or not.

            But he knew what Aang, Katara and Sokka thought of him. He wasn’t quite sure they considered him a friend, even with Tulip’s reassurances, but…

            They were kind. And after so long being deprived of kindness he wanted it, even if he could barely recognize it anymore.

            And finding the Avatar? He’d done that a dozen times over already. What was once more, in a swamp?

            “I want to find my friends,” he whispered.

            Little arms wrapped around him and Tulip pressed her head under his chin. He held her back, and wondered how a dream-hug could feel so real.

            “Then go find them,” said Tulip, quietly. She leaned back and smiled at him. “I bet they miss you. I miss you.”

            His throat tightened and he nodded, running a hand over her hair. She grinned, then looked behind her.

            “I have to go, my nap must be over, I can hear Madia calling me. She gets worried if I take too long to wake up,” she said. “But maybe I can come visit you in your dreams again!”

            He tried to smile at her. “I don’t always have very good dreams. Some of them are… awful.”

            “I’m not afraid of bad dreams,” she said, grinning defiantly. “I’ll come hold your hand if you have a bad dream, okay?”

            He didn’t try to stop the tears that dripped down his face, just nodded. “Okay.”

            She patted him on the head and he snorted. “Okay, bye, Zuko! Good luck with your friends!”

            He squeezed her hand as she pulled away. “Bye, Tulip. Make some good flower crowns with your sister, for me, okay?”

            Tulip beamed at him as her hand slipped from his and she walked backwards away. “I will! Be careful, I love you, bye!”

            And with that, she vanished into the mist, and he was alone again.

           He took a deep breath and stood carefully, gazing into the depths of the swamp. ‘Not for long.’

Chapter Text

            It wasn’t as hard to find the others as he thought it would be.

            He spent a night in the swamp, doing his best to ignore the noises and the eyes glowing just outside of his small ring of firelight. Between those and the jabbing pains in his head and ribs, he didn’t sleep much.

            And then the next morning Zuko was climbing the roots of a truly enormous tree when he heard screaming.

            He felt a jolt in his chest that was equal parts panic and relief and charged forward.

            Zuko skidded to a halt as he reached a clearing. In the middle of the murky water rose a massive- monster? spirit? the size of a house, apparently made up entirely of vines as thick as his arms, weaving around each other, twisting and writhing.

            And fighting it were his… companions? Friends?

            Whatever they were, they needed his help, he realized as the creature threw Aang through the air into the forest. It snatched Sokka out of the water and Katara attacked it, trying to destabilize it with her waterbending.

            Zuko took a deep breath and breathed out a small flame, then called fire to his hands and rushed forward behind the monster. “HEY!”       

            Before it could turn, he was pelting it with fireballs, running, ducking and weaving.

            Vines shot out after him, trying to snake around his ankles. He sprang away from them and deftly reached inside his pack, whipping out his swords. He slashed the vines away and sprang onto the thing’s head, trying to cut it open.

            It didn’t like that. Before he could get very far an arm of vines as thick as a tree trunk slammed into him and knocked him into the water, hard.

            Zuko felt water sucking him under and sat up quickly, coughing and spluttering as his head pounded and he fought to breathe and not be sick again. His vision was blurred, and he struggled to make sense of what the others were doing.

            Aang seemed to have returned and teamed up with Katara to try and free Sokka who was… Zuko squinted. Were the vines trying to absorb him?! Spirits what was this thing’s problem-

            Aang and Katara managed to free Sokka- by Katara freezing her brother in a ball of ice and knocking it through the monster. And surely, surely that would kill it-

            That hope shattered as, horrified, Zuko watched the creature move its arms in front of the hole and fill it with fresh vines.

            He looked over and saw Katara and Sokka looking afraid. He heard a yelp and looked up in time to see the monster throw Aang away for the second time-

            Anger rose up inside him and steam started to roll off him in waves. Spirit or not, monster or not, he was not going to let something take these kids away from him just when he’d started thinking of them as friends.

            A wild idea came to him then, and before he could overthink it, he rushed forward, spinning his dao swords wildly, slicing vines left and right and shooting fire from their ends.

            Out of the corner of his eye he saw a viney arm sweep down at him and heard one of the others yell, “Look out!”

            He ignored the warning and allowed himself to be snatched up by the monster. He cut into it with his swords, but the vine arm was too thick to be sliced through. That was fine. He just needed to make the thing angry enough to-

            It pressed him against its body and Zuko felt vines snaking around him. Zuko took a breath and dropped his swords. Hopefully he’d be able to find them later.

            He heard more yelling as the creature’s vines covered him, engulfing him into itself. Zuko forced himself to breathe deeply and evenly and not panic, even as they tightened painfully around his chest, arms, legs-

            When he could no longer see anything but darkness around him, Zuko took a steadying breath and let heat flow off him in waves. He started to breathe out flame with each breath.

            When the air around him was burning and the water in the vines felt like it was boiling Zuko took one final breath and closed his eyes.

            Then he breathed out a blast of fire and the vines exploded.

            Fire burst around him, from his hands, breath and feet, popping vines and sending them shooting through the air. Unfortunately, it also sent Zuko shooting through the air and he crashed into the ground hard enough to knock himself out for the second time in as many days.

            Before his vision flickered out though, he saw with satisfaction that the vines lay in lifeless heaps around… a man? That couldn’t be right, he was seeing things again.

            The world went black, but not for as long as last time. He woke up what must have been only a few minutes later to voices talking.

            He groaned and tried to sit up but hands pushed him back down.

            “Stay still, Zuko, trust me, you’ve helped plenty,” said Katara’s voice in a tone that managed to be both admonishing and worried at the same time.

            “What happened?” he murmured.
            “Well I’m pretty sure you just saved our lives again, for one thing.”

            Zuko huffed. “What was the monster?”
            “It… it was a man, bending the vines to create that thing,” said Katara, tensely. “He wants Aang to go somewhere with him.”

            Zuko felt another burst of worry for these kids and sat up quickly, pressing a hand to his head to steady himself as the world spun. “We should go too.”
            “Zuko, I don’t think you can walk-”
            “I got here, didn’t I?” Zuko fought through the vertigo and used the roots around them to pull himself up. “Just point me in the right direction.”

            Katara glanced behind her, then back at him. “At least let me-” she reached up and put her hands on either side of his head.

            Zuko stood very still and waited until enough of his headache, blurred vision and dizziness faded and he could focus again. “That’s enough… thank you.”

            She still looked concerned, but she lowered her hands and nodded. “This way.”

            She led him up the root of the largest tree he’d ever seen. They caught up just as Sokka and Aang reached the top with the vine-bender, who was saying something about the swamp being mystical.

            Zuko decided to pay more attention to his potential friends than the things the swamp man was saying. He noticed quickly that Sokka was favoring his right side and had a number of cuts from the vines. Aang’s movements were uncharacteristically jerky, and when he sat down it was gingerly. He glanced at Katara and saw that blood was dripping down from a cut on her forehead.

            He huffed and fumbled in his bag, realizing as he did so that he needed to retrieve his swords. Then when he looked at the others again he realized his swords were sitting on the tree root next to Sokka. He blinked, surprised, then shook his head and pulled out his ragged (but clean, he was diligent about keeping them clean, since he never knew when he’d need them) bandages.

            He leaned over and started wrapping one around Katara’s head, half listening as swamp guy explained that everything in the world was connected, just like things in the swamp. He thought of Tulip and his throat tightened.

            “What- what are you doing?” Katara whispered, jolting him out of his thoughts. He glanced down at her face and saw her staring at him in profound confusion.

            “You’re bleeding,” he said.
            “I am?” she blinked.
            “You’ll feel it soon, when the excitement wears off,” he said, tying off the bandage. “It’s not deep, but you’ll need to disinfect it later. Head wounds bleed a lot, so it’s better to stop the bleeding before it gets annoying.”

            “I guess you would know, huh?” she said wryly.

            He sat back and shrugged, even as Aang suddenly sprang up and shouted that they needed to hurry.

            Zuko sighed. He grabbed his swords from where they sat next to Sokka and sheathed them as he stood with the others. He noticed as they hurried into the forest that he wasn’t the only one struggling to run. Aang was using his glider and Katara kept up decently, but Sokka was lagging behind almost as much as he was. He was going to have to check on that later.

            They caught up with the others as Aang was freeing Appa from a huge net (who had a net big enough to capture a flying bison just sitting around?!) while Katara awkwardly confronted a… swamp waterbender?

            He supposed that made sense, the better question was why none of these people had pants. Hadn’t the one said something about them being an illusion?

            Luckily the swampbenders were friendly after discovering Katara was a waterbender and Aang was the Avatar, and they were all invited to stay the night. Zuko was nervous that the vine-bending one would mention he was a firebender, but either he didn’t think to or the swampbenders were so far removed from the war that they just didn’t care. Either way, no one said anything to him, or tried to tie him up or throw him in a hole or something. That was refreshing.

            While they sat around the campfire eating (fish, and fried giant bugs, which weren’t the worst things he’d eaten, but definitely one of the weirdest) Zuko watched the others curiously. They talked and joked like normal, but they were much worse at hiding pain than he was. He saw Sokka and Aang wince and pause what they were saying multiple times when they were gesturing or moving. Katara seemed alright besides the cut on her head, but she looked exhausted and he couldn’t blame her. She’d done an insane amount of bending today and he doubted the others had gotten any more rest than he had last night.

            What he was most interested to see though was that neither Aang nor Sokka asked Katara to heal them. Either they also saw she was exhausted, or they just didn’t think their injuries warranted waterbending treatment. Which was stupid, because waterbending healing was amazing, and unlike him they were already close with Katara and could ask her anything at any time, so the fact that they didn’t even ask was… kind of baffling.

            Zuko decided not to bother her because, well, he’d had worse. His headache wasn’t as bad as it had been and while it hurt to breathe he could breathe, so he was fine. He could wait until tomorrow to have the rest of his injuries seen to.

            But the others… he shifted, frowning. Friends took care of each other, right? Azula used to take care of him, Tulip and Madia had taken care of him, even Toph had done her best.

            And from how quickly she retired, Katara hadn’t noticed that the other two boys were hurt, and none of the swampbenders offered any assistance, so…

            Zuko went and retrieved one of the medical bags from Appa (he had a pretty good idea of what kind of supplies they had at this point) and returned to the campfire. Aang was engaged in a conversation with one of the swampbenders, so he sat down next to Sokka first.

            “Alright, what’s wrong with you?” he asked.

            Sokka spluttered. “Excuse me?!”
            “What are your injuries?” Zuko clarified.

            Sokka blinked. “Sometimes I forget you have no idea how to talk to people. Anyway, I’m fine.”

            “No, you’re not,” said Zuko. “You were limping earlier. Are your ribs or your leg hurt?”
            “I don’t- look, Zuko, I appreciate you trying to help, but I’m okay, I just got bruised when that thing was throwing me around, alright?”

            “There’s a gash on your arm,” said Zuko, squinting, then reaching into the med bag and pulling out a waterskin and a cloth. “At least let me bandage it.”’

            Sokka stared at him, frowning, but finally nodded. “Okay, jeeze, if it’ll make you feel better.”

            Sokka squeaked and hissed when Zuko started cleaning out the wound and he almost laughed. He did let a grin appear on his face and when Sokka saw it he was indignant.

            “You know, Katara is a lot gentler than you. What are you doing, cleaning my wound or digging a badgermole hole?”

            Zuko raised his eyebrow. “Why didn’t you ask Katara for help then?”
            “I-she- I told you I’m fine!” Sokka stammered. “But if I was going to ask for help I’d have rather had hers.”
            “Maybe next time you’ll tell her you’re hurt instead of making me do something about it then,” Zuko shot back.
            “Man, I like you better when you’re unconscious.”

            Zuko shrugged. “The feeling's mutual, but we don’t always get what we want.”

            Sokka made a choked noise. “Are you just, making jokes now?! What?!”

            Zuko tied off the bandage on his arm and sat back. “What did you do to your leg?” he asked again, ignoring Sokka’s question.

            Sokka huffed and looked away, but reluctantly rolled up his pant leg, which Zuko now saw was badly torn. “There’s nothing you can really do about it, I told you it’s pretty much just bruising.”

            Zuko’s eyes widened as he took in the rope-burn like tears on Sokka’s leg that were overlaid with a dark purple bruise. “The vines did that?”

            “Yeah. There’s some on my side too, but it’s not as bad.” Sokka shrugged and winced.

            “There’s still cuts in your skin, we should clean it so it doesn’t get infected,” said Zuko. He rummaged through the bag for a moment, then pulled out a container. “This is for burns, but it should still help with the pain some.”

            Sokka watched him as he worked. “So is this what you used to do when you were on your own?”

            Zuko gave a dry chuckle and winced. “I wasn’t this well supplied. If I was lucky I could barter with a healer, give them a few days of labor in exchange for something I needed, but I never got much. Usually I just had to lay low for a while until I healed enough to keep going and hope none of my wounds got infected.”

            There was a pause, during which Zuko realized he’d actually rendered Sokka speechless and what did that say about the state of his life-

            “Your backstory is like, the worst, you know that?” Sokka groaned. “Stop making me like you.”
            Zuko snorted. “Sounds like a personal problem.” He finished his work and sat back. “Do you have any other injuries?”

            “Just some cuts and bruises,” said Sokka. “But seriously, I can take care of those myself. Jeeze, how bad did I have to look for you to come over and check on me, anyway?”

            Zuko glanced across the fire at Aang, who was no longer talking to anyone and was now slumped forward, head in his hands. “I’m checking on everyone, you’re not special.”

            Sokka blinked, then laughed. “Man, I am not used to you making jokes.”

            Zuko stood and slung the bag over his shoulder, eyebrow raised. “It wasn’t a joke.”

            He turned and walked away before Sokka could reply, but the spluttered phrases he heard the other boy mutter as he left made him smirk.

            Zuko sat down next to Aang and the boy looked up at him blearily. “Hey Zuko, you okay after earlier?”

            “I was gonna ask you that,” he said. “You got thrown pretty hard by that thing.”

            Aang blinked. “I… I guess I did, yeah,” he shook his head and winced. “I’m okay, I’ll have Katara look at me tomorrow.”

            Well, at least he had more sense than Sokka. “Well, I’m not Katara, but I’ll do my best,” Zuko said. “Where are you hurt?”

            Aang frowned, confused. “What?”

            Zuko sighed. “Where are you hurt?”

            “Uhh, I mean, I think I hit my head, it hurts pretty bad. And, um…” he shifted uncomfortably. “I can’t-I can’t breathe right. I-I mean, I’m not, whenever I breathe my chest hurts and when I try to take a deep breath I get like this flashing pain and my vision kind of goes -” he covered his eyes with his hand. “And it’s really freaky, because I’m an airbender and I’m supposed to be able to, well, control air and now I can’t even breathe right and-”

            The kid was starting to panic, his breath turning to gasps and his eyes wide. Zuko’s mind scrambled for a response and he set a hand on Aang’s shoulder. The boy paused and looked at him, eyes glistening with tears.

            Spirits, he really was just a little kid.

            “You broke some ribs,” said Zuko. “You’ll be fine. Happens to me all the time. Katara’ll be able to fix you up tomorrow, but you won’t want to do any crazy airbending stunts until you’re fully healed.”

            Aang blinked and rubbed his eyes. “Okay. Th-thanks, Zuko.”

            Zuko glanced away and took back his hand to rummage through the medical bag. “I’ll wrap your ribs until Katara can take a look at them, then they won’t get worse in the meantime. There’s some salve in here that numbs pain too, so that should help. Your head isn’t bleeding, so it should be fine till Katara can heal it tomorrow.”

            “Okay,” Aang nodded, looking a little calmer.

            Zuko faced him and took a careful breath of his own. “You’re probably gonna want to take your shirt off, it’ll make this easier. But do it slowly and carefully so you don’t jar anything.”

            Aang complied without a fuss and Zuko found himself looking at a mass of bruises on the kid’s chest. It felt wrong to see them there, when Aang didn’t have any other scars or marks on him that Zuko could see, except for the tattoos. By his age, Zuko had had a myriad of scars from training and encounters with his father, but Aang was a clean slate.

            He took a measured breath and pulled out the salve to start rubbing it on. As soon as he did though, Aang started giggling.

            He rolled his eyes and saw the kid biting his lip trying not to laugh. “That’s gonna hurt if you keep doing it.”
            “It does, but that tickles! I can’t help it!”

            Zuko shook his head and handed the container to Aang. “I’ll get your back, do the rest yourself.”

            Aang’s back was… worse, and there was a sizeable lump on his head. Zuko felt a stab of anger at the swampbenders for attacking a group of kids so aggressively. It wasn’t as if they’d done anything, just crash landed and tried to figure out their way out.

            When they were done with the salve he started wrapping Aang’s chest with a practiced precision. It was a lot easier to do on someone else than it was on himself.

            “You know, I was kind of confused when I found out you’re an older brother, but I think it makes sense now.”

            Zuko glanced up at Aang, who had a thoughtful look on his face. “What do you mean?”

            “I… I guess this is just the kind of thing I’ve seen Sokka and Katara do for each other. I never really… knew you cared, I guess. I mean, I wanted you to, and I hoped you did, but I never knew if you actually did…”

            Zuko wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Not when even he hadn’t been able to begin to accept he cared about these kids until yesterday.

            “Did you… did you see someone? In the swamp?”

            Zuko jolted, dropping the wrap and scrambling to pick it up and keep going. “Why?”

            “I just wondered. Me and Katara and Sokka all saw someone when we were on our own. I wondered if you did too.”

            Zuko took a deep breath and closed his eyes against the spikes of pain in his chest. “I did.”

            “Really?” Aang’s voice brightened. “Who did you see? I mean, if you don’t mind me asking. The girl I saw I’d never met before, but Katara and Sokka both saw people they’d lost.”

            “It wasn’t someone I’d lost,” Zuko fought not to snap. Tulip was alive, she had said she was.
            “Did you know who it was?”
            “Yes,” he said, closing his eyes. “She was- she is my friend.”

            “Is she from your home?”
            Zuko huffed and paused, glaring at the kid. “No. She’s just someone I met on my travels. That’s it.”

            “Okay, sorry,” Aang frowned and Zuko hated that he felt bad for snapping at him.

            “Her family helped me,” he said, after a moment. “She helped me. If it weren’t for her I never would have made it to the North Pole.”

            “Oh,” Aang was quiet for a moment. “Do you mean you would have done… what you wanted to do when we talked there? After the invasion?”

            He sighed. “Yeah.”

            “… I’m glad you met her.”

            Zuko looked up and saw Aang’s earnest eyes watching him. He sighed again and finished the wrap.

            “I am too,” he said softly.

Chapter Text

            After leaving the swamp the group laid low for about a week to let everyone heal. At the end of that time Katara decided (and Zuko agreed) that they were well and able enough to continue. (His ribs were still sore and his hand hadn't healed all the way, and he was keeping an eye on Aang to make sure the kid didn't overexert himself, but besides that they were fine.)

         After a week of resting, their food stores were getting low, so Zuko expected it when they stopped at a town to get more. The town was bigger than normal, and it felt familiar for some reason. But he’d been to dozens of Earth Kingdom towns over the years, so he dismissed the feeling.

            What he didn’t expect, was for Sokka to make an executive decision that they needed more than just food.

            “So Zuko,” he said as the group headed towards town. “I was thinking-”

            “A dangerous pastime,” Zuko muttered. Katara and Aang giggled.

            Sokka ignored them. “You’re traveling with the Avatar now and we have an image to maintain as a group.”

            “We do?” Aang asked, incredulously.

            Sokka continued as if he hadn’t heard. Zuko was starting to dread whatever the other boy was building towards. “So it really doesn’t look good when one of our members is dressed in rags like a homeless vagabond. Like, really man, I know you were on your own for a while, but how long have you had those clothes?”

            Zuko looked down at his patched brown-grey-black shirt and torn, ragged pants. Then he noticed the blue sleeves on his shirt and held them up, eyebrow raised. “What, you don’t think Katara did a good job fixing them?”

            “Ooooh,” Aang grinned.

            “Yeah, Sokka,” Katara jumped in as her brother spluttered. “Are all the clothes I’ve fixed for you over the years just rags too? I thought you said I was good at sewing.”

            “Okay, okay, sheesh, Katara’s patchwork notwithstanding, you gotta admit that Zuko’s clothes look pretty terrible. No offense!” he held up his hands placatingly. “I’m just saying maybe it’s time for him to get some new threads, that’s all.”

            “You just want to go shopping,” Katara smirked.
            “That is an added bonus I will not deny,” said Sokka, folding his arms.

            Zuko rubbed his hands up and down his arms and tried not to feel horribly uncomfortable at the whole situation. They were talking about spending money on him now. Even when he tried so hard not to be a burden he still managed it somehow.

            He closed his eyes and took a breath. No. No, friends… friends wanted to help each other, to… take care of each other. If Kal had been willing to give up his coat and boots because Tulip and Madia befriended him then it made sense that the Gaang would want him to have better clothes if they wanted him to be their friend.

            But still, this wasn’t like when he was going to the North Pole, he wasn’t going to die if he didn’t have new clothes, so he could still stop them from doing this if, say, it was a choice between clothes and food. “Do we have enough money for clothes?”

            “I mean, not anything super expensive, but yeah, we can afford it,” Sokka shrugged.

            Zuko hesitated. “We should buy food first. After we’ve resupplied we can worry about… clothes.”

            Maybe he could at least get a new shirt. That would be nice. The burns on his arms and chest had healed, but the skin there was hyper-sensitive to textures and temperature, and he knew from dealing with the scar on his face that that wasn’t something that would go away with time. If he could get a shirt with a softer fabric that would help a little.

            “Great, it’s settled then!” Sokka clapped his hands. “We’ll replenish our stores and then- we’re going shopping!”

****

            Zuko wasn’t sure if he was pleased or upset that there was still a decent amount of money left after they restocked. Definitely plenty for him to get at least a shirt. Sokka, on the other hand, was extremely pleased with his bartering skills and eagerly led Zuko over to a stall selling clothes. Aang and Katara followed, grinning.

            “Alright, we won’t be able to afford any royal robes, but we should be able to get something decent,” said Sokka. “Look around and see what you can find and try not to get dist- what is that?”

            Sokka darted away after something and Zuko found himself standing in the middle of racks of shirts and tunics, feeling lost. He’d never really bought clothes before. When he was a prince they’d been ordered for and fitted to him specifically, so he’d never needed to be a part of the process (except for a few times visiting a fabric shop with his mother when he was little). The clothes he had now he’d stolen off a clothesline. Well, except for Kal’s boots, of course. (the coat was stashed in his bag, rolled up and buried at the bottom in case he should need it again.)

            He took a breath and tried to think. He wanted soft fabric, but also something sturdy enough to endure.

            He started running his fingers over the fabrics, cringing when he ran across unpleasant ones and dismissing others for various reasons. Too thick, too thin, too rough, not sturdy enough, the ugliest thing he’d ever seen in his life…

            He was about to give up when his eye caught on a tunic hanging on one of the furthest racks. It was dark reddish-brown with simple gold embroidery on the cuffs of the long sleeves and around the bottom. It looked like it would reach to just above his knees, and it had a dark brown belt with it. He rubbed a sleeve between his fingers and found that the inside was soft, but the outer layer felt as though it has been reinforced with something.

            He plucked it off the rack and held onto it, glancing nervously at the shopkeeper as he did so.
            ‘You don’t have to run this time, stop looking suspicious,’ he told himself, but his heart stayed hammering in his chest until he located Sokka, who was kneeling in a pile of bags and muttering to himself.

            “Um, Sokka?”

            The other boy jumped and spun around. “You are so quiet! What is it?”

            Zuko hesitantly held out the shirt. “Is this something we can afford?”

            Sokka checked the price and snorted. “Dude, how did you find the cheapest thing here? Yeah, we can afford it.”
            “It’s the nicest thing here,” Zuko muttered.

            Sokka made a face and shrugged. “Debatable, but hey if you like it that’s what’s important. Now go find some pants to go with it.”

            Zuko nodded, sparing a curious glance back at Sokka as he walked away. The other boy had gone back to digging through the bags immediately.

            He shrugged. Sokka was weird.

            Finding pants was much easier than finding a shirt had been. He found a nice brown pair that looked like they would fit, then wandered around looking for the others. Katara had found some bracelets to try on (she seemed very attached to the necklace she wore, he’d have to ask about that sometime) and Aang was trying on every hat he could get his hands on and showing them off to her.

            A smile crept onto his face as he sat down to watch them and wait for Sokka (who had all their money). It was nice to see them enjoying themselves. They were just kids, after all.

            Finally, Sokka returned. He was carrying something wrapped in brown paper, but he quickly hid it behind his back and shoved the money bag at Zuko as he scurried over to Aang and Katara. Okay then.

            Zuko paid for his things (a novel experience, he thought with a smirk) and walked over to the others.

            They passed a pair of boys as they were headed out of the market and Zuko caught their conversation as they walked by.

            “I think the Boulder is gonna win the belt at Earth Rumble Six.”

            He froze, heart suddenly beating too fast as he turned to listen.

            “He’s gonna have to fight his way though the best earthbenders in the world to even get the chance!”

            Oh. Oh, so that was why the town looked familiar, why it felt like he’d been here before. Because this was the town where…

            “Excuse me!”

            He jumped and saw Aang running over to the boys. “Where is this earthbending tournament exactly?” he asked.
            “It’s on the island of Nunya. Nunya business!” the boys, laughed as they walked off. Aang looked ready to chase after them, but Zuko set a hand on his shoulder.

            “I know where it is,” he said quietly.
            “You do?” Aang looked up at him with wide, hopeful eyes.

            Zuko nodded, feeling numbness settling into him. “I’ve been there before. I can take you.”

            “That’s great, Zuko!” Aang grinned at him, and for a second Zuko saw Toph instead, unseeing eyes filled with excitement as he promised to take her on an adventure.

            He let his hand slip off Aang’s shoulder and lowered his head. Hopefully taking Aang to the Earth Rumble wouldn’t end as badly as taking Toph had.

****

            That night, they headed to the arena. Sokka mentioned it was a good thing they’d gotten Zuko new clothes, so no one would kick him out because they thought he snuck in. The comment hit a little too close to home, and mixed badly with the memories resurfacing in his mind, so Zuko stayed silent, head down for the rest of the way there.

            The clothes were nice. The tunic fit him loosely and comfortably, and the pants were long, but perfectly usable after he tucked them into his boots. The boots were plenty roomy after all.

            While he was enjoying how much softer and more comfortable the clothes were they were also unfamiliar, and not helping at all with grounding him. He felt sort of… unreal, like he could see everything happening to him, but felt nothing. His mind was distant and fuzzy, like when he couldn’t focus his good eye, except he could see perfectly clearly. Like a spirit had taken over his body and he could see what was happening but felt nothing. Even the spikes of pain when he clenched his injured hand did little to dispell the fog.

           He heard a chirp and felt Momo settle on his shoulders and took comfort in the lemur's familiar weight. It helped, but he still felt as though he wasn't quite all there. At least he wasn't alone.

            The Earth Rumble was just as loud and overwhelming as he remembered. Instinctively, he grabbed on to Aang’s shirt when they walked inside, a habit he’d picked up while taking Toph in case she ever got excited and bolted again. Aang looked at him a little strangely, but said nothing.

            They took the eerily familiar seats right at the front, almost exactly where he and Toph used to sit. If he closed his eyes he could imagine that she was next to him, practically vibrating with excitement while she waited for the matches to start.

            He heard the others talking, but didn’t register their words. He just sat, trying to breathe and not break down.

            A hand on his arm made him jump and he turned to see Aang watching him with concern.

            “You okay?” the boy asked.

            He nodded, then ducked his head and closed his eyes again.

            “Is it- is there too much noise or something?”

            Zuko shook his head, not looking up. There was too much noise, but he’d gotten skilled at ignoring it and saving his reaction to it for when he got back to the tunnel and Toph was gone. He hadn’t wanted her to see how much going to the Earth Rumble bothered him because she loved it so much.

            (and it was worth it, to see how happy it made her.)

            The matches started and Zuko looked up as the earth shook. He’d never been able to follow things as well as Toph, but he knew plenty about earthbending from listening to her. He watched the matches with mild curiosity, still feeling numb and disconnected from what was happening. Occasionally Momo chattered a comment in his ear, bringing him back to reality for a moment, but the feeling always faded quickly.

            The earthbender called the Boulder was doing well. He didn’t have a great form, or effortless control like Toph did, but he was good enough at fighting. Zuko almost smiled thinking of how Toph would have picked his matches apart, lamenting all the things he’d done wrong and how she could have done better.

            He had stopped watching and started focusing on just breathing and surviving this, when the final match was announced.

            “And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for, the Boulder versus your champion- the Blind Bandit!”

            Zuko’s head jerked up, eyes wide as he suddenly found himself fully, overwhelmingly present in the moment.

            ‘If you’re gonna compete you’ll need a fighter name.’
            ‘Yes! Got any ideas?’
            ‘… Not really.’
            ‘Oh fine, make me do everything. Okay, how ‘bout…’

            They had spent hours trying to come up with a name. Zuko had suggested the “blind” part, since it would make them underestimate her, but it had taken a while to decide the full name.

            ‘I got it!’ Toph had exclaimed one night.  ‘The Blind Bandit! Because I’m blind and I found out about the Earth Rumble because of a bandit!’
            He had laughed. ‘I wasn’t a very good bandit.’
            ‘That’s okay, I just needed the inspiration.’
            ‘The Blind Bandit. It has a nice ring to it.”
            ‘Just you wait, one day everyone in those stands’ll be chanting it, because I’ll be the champion!’
            ‘I can’t wait to hear it.’

            He had been forced to leave before Toph became one of the fighters. He had always thought her father would have found out and forced her to give up fighting but now…

            Now they were chanting her name in the stands, and his heart beat with the rhythm.

            “Blind Bandit, Blind Bandit, Blind Bandit!”

            And there she was, standing in the arena, looking so small. Zuko stood and took half a step forward, then froze as the match started.

            “The Boulder feels conflicted, about fighting a young, blind girl.”
            “Sounds to me like you’re scared, Boulder!”

            If he had had any doubts left that it was Toph, they shattered the moment he heard her voice. His heart leapt into his throat and he quickly rubbed away the tears forming in his eye. He was not going to miss seeing Toph fight just because he was happy to see her again, he was not.

            Her laugh as she taunted the Boulder made his heart soar, and he grinned, furiously blinking away tears.

            The Boulder took one step, one, and Toph had him flying out of the ring two seconds later.

            “Your winner, and still the champion, the Blind Bandit!”

            Zuko jumped in the air, screaming with the crowd and pumping his fists as Toph was declared the winner.

            “How did she do that?” Katara asked.
            “She waited, and listened,” said Aang, wonderingly.

            ‘Actually, it’s called seismic sense,’ he thought, but he was still too elated to speak.

            “To make things a little more interesting, I’m offering up this sack of gold pieces to anyone who can defeat the Blind Bandit!” called the announcer.

            Zuko snorted. ‘Good luck with that.’

            As expected, there was silence. The announcer pretended to be surprised and offered again. “What? No one dares to face her?”

            Zuko laughed and sat back in his seat, folding his arms and grinning.

            And then the grin fell off his face and was replaced with horror when he heard a familiar voice respond.

            “I will!”

            Zuko sat up ramrod straight, eyes wide as he watched Aang walk up to the ring and no, no, no, Toph could actually hurt him, didn’t he realize that-

            He was moving before he had finished the thought, scrambling down the stands towards the ring in a half-blind panic-

            ‘You know, I’m actually half blind.’
            ‘Wait, really?’
            ‘Yeah, I can’t see out of my left eye.’
            ‘Cool! I’ve never met anyone else who’s even kind of blind before.’

            He reached the edge of the ring just as the fight started. Toph jerked a line of rocks up under Aang and he-

            He just sort of… sprang off them and floated back down. Well then.

            “Someone’s light on their feet, what’s your fighting name, the Fancy Dancer?” Toph called. Unlike her taunts from earlier though, she sounded annoyed. She was taking Aang seriously and that was not a good thing-

            Then again, if he interfered now he wasn’t sure what would happen. Toph might bury him in rocks, or the announcer could have him arrested…

            He shook his head. That didn’t matter. He just needed to make sure Toph didn’t hurt Aang.

            So, he hovered anxiously at the edge of the ring, ready to rush out and divert Toph’s attention if need be.

            And then-

            Toph shot a rock at Aang-

            And Aang sent it, and her, flying back with airbending.

            Zuko gaped as he watched Toph fly out of the ring, and oh she would be seething about that-

            He ran to the other side of the ring as fast as he could. Aang was saying something to Toph, but by the time he got there-

            She was gone.

            He stood frozen next to Aang, heart pounding painfully in his chest.

            Then he rounded on the boy, glaring furiously. “Why would you do that?! She could have hurt you!”

            Aang’s eyes widened. “I- she was the girl I saw in the swamp. I think she’s supposed to be my earthbending teacher.”

            Zuko stared at him, uncomprehending. “Toph is supposed to be your earthbending teacher?!”

            Before they could say more, they found themselves swept onto the stage by Sokka and Katara to accept the prize money. Zuko processed none of it.

            Toph, his first friend, the little girl he’d helped to become an Earth Rumble fighter, whose parents wouldn’t even let her leave their house-

            Toph was meant to be Aang’s earthbending teacher.

Chapter Text

            “Wait, you know the Blind Bandit?”

            They had regrouped outside the Earth Rumble. Sokka, who had spoken, was staring at him incredulously. Katara looked surprised, and Aang looked… he couldn’t figure out what emotion the airbender had on his face, something between excited and worried.

            “Her name is Toph,” said Zuko, quietly. “She lives not far from here, in an estate her parents own. I… I can’t imagine they know she does this, when her father found out I was hiding out on their property he almost had me imprisoned outright-”

            “You were hiding out on her estate?!” Sokka gaped at him.

            Zuko sighed. “It was two years ago. I stole some bread and got chased out of town by the shopkeeper and his friends. I climbed a wall and ended up hiding from them on the grounds. Toph found me the next morning and offered to hide me, since I was the most interesting person she’d ever met. When I met her she couldn’t remember ever being outside of the estate, so I offered to take her to the Earth Rumble in return for her letting me stay.”

            He took a breath and closed his eyes. “I ended up staying in a tunnel next to her house for two weeks, helping her prepare to enter it as a fighter. But then her father found out, kicked me out and had the tunnel filled in. He was gonna have a guard with Toph at all times so she couldn’t sneak out again, and he threatened to imprison me if he ever saw me again.” Zuko stared at the ground and wrapped his arms around himself. “She was the closest thing I ever had to a friend and all I did was make life harder for her.”

            Silence followed his story. He heard someone move closer to him and felt a hand on his shoulder and when he glanced over he saw Aang standing there, watching him.

            “Do you think she’ll listen to me if I try to talk to her?” the boy finally asked.

            Zuko shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know. She’s stubborn.”

            “As stubborn as you?” Sokka asked.
            Zuko snorted. “At least as stubborn as me.”

            “Do… do you think she’d listen to you if you tried to talk to her?” Aang asked hesitantly.

            Zuko closed his eyes. He wasn’t sure if Toph hated him for what happened, but he wouldn’t blame her if she did. If he went and talked to her he might just make things worse.

            “I don’t know,” he said. He squeezed his still-healing hand and let the pain ground him. He should try to help. They helped him, he needed to at least try. “I can try.”

            If Toph hated him he would leave. He wasn’t going to mess up Aang’s training. He wasn’t selfish. He’d slip away and leave the group in peace.

            (and maybe follow them from a distance to make sure they stayed safe)

            Aang squeezed his arm gently and when he looked down the boy was smiling at him. “Thanks, Zuko.”

            He shook his head. “Don’t thank me yet.”

            There was a pause, then, “We should head back to camp,” said Katara. “It’s been a long day. You can talk to Toph tomorrow.”

            Zuko wasn’t going to argue. He was exhausted and his senses felt flooded. Sleep sounded wonderful.

****

            They decided to wait until evening the next day for Zuko to try and sneak into the Beifong estate. From what he remembered of the schedule the guards stopped patrolling shortly before sunset and took up stations on the walls. Toph would also be easier to track down, since she was likely to be in her room.

            It felt like the longest day of his life. He paced the length of the campsite, back and forth, over and over again until Sokka joked that he was wearing a track in the dirt that would make an earthbender proud.

            The comment made him want to scream, so he walked into the forest until he was a decent ways from camp and went through every training stance he knew, blasting fire at the nearby trees until their bark was charred and blackened. Then he sat, pulled out his little candle and Tulip’s flower and meditated until he felt the sun going down. When he let out his last breath and opened his eyes he nearly threw out a sheet of flame at Aang who was sitting calmly next to him in a meditative stance of his own.

            Aang sensed him staring and opened his eyes. “Oh, uh, sorry, I was just- I was just making sure you were okay out here, and when I saw you meditating, I, um…”

            Zuko sighed and got to his feet. “It’s time to get going anyway.”

            Aang sprang up with a little whoosh of air. “Right. I, um, I really appreciate you doing this Zuko. I mean, it’s really important that I learn earthbending and-”

            “You don’t have to justify yourself,” said Zuko, quietly. “I don’t even know if this will work anyway. Toph might not listen to me.”
            “I bet she will. It seems like you made a big impression on her.”
            “Doesn’t mean she’ll want to see me again,” muttered Zuko.

            They returned to the campsite to get Sokka and Katara, then Zuko led the way to Toph’s home. Momo crawled into his shirt and peeked out with a chirp. Zuko smiled in spite of himself and scratched the lemur’s head, earning a chirr of approval.

            Breaking into Toph’s estate was easier when he wasn’t in a panic and being pursued by angry men who’d kill him if they caught him. He scaled the wall easily and climbed down with even less effort.

            Once inside, he checked for guards, but as expected there were none nearby. He had climbed in at the back of the estate and ended up in the little grove of fruit trees his tunnel used to be in. He thought about checking for it, but dismissed the idea. Toph likely had a different way in and out of her home these days, and her father had said the tunnel was to be filled in. Looking for it was pointless.

            (but he still snuck a few fruits from the trees into his pockets out of habit)

            Toph’s room did not have a candle lit, which on account of her being blind was a good thing; it meant if she was there no one else was in the room. He had only been in her room once before, but he’d memorized the location of it just in case. It was on the second storey, facing the front lawn, a beautiful view- not that Toph could see it.

            And her window was open. Almost as if she was inviting him in.

            ‘Don’t be stupid, she doesn’t even know you’re here.’

            Carefully, expertly, he scaled the side of the house. Maybe he should have used his Blue Spirit mask for this venture, it wasn’t as if Toph wouldn’t know who he was with it on.

            Zuko shook his head. It was too late now. He didn’t really want to be wearing a mask when he saw Toph again anyway, regardless of if she could see it or not.

            ‘I had no idea how to tell you I know when people are lying.’

            He paused on Toph’s windowsill and took a deep breath, then slipped inside.

            Rock encased his feet and ankles immediately and he fought off a small wave of panic. It was just Toph-

            “Who are you, and what are you doing in my room?!” snapped a familiar voice.

            Zuko clenched his hands into fists and felt oddly comforted by the familiar pains traveling through the right one. “I’m just… just an old friend. I hope we’re still friends, anyway.”

            There was a pause, then, “Zuko?!”

            A shadow in the corner of the room moved and Toph appeared, illuminated in the light from the window. She was dressed in her white nightclothes (the ones that didn’t suit her at all) and she looked surprised.

            “Hi, Toph, I-I know you might not be happy to see me, but I-”

            He didn’t get further before Toph crashed into him with such force that he nearly toppled out the window.

            “Zuko!” she hugged him so tight he thought his ribs were going to break again. “I thought I’d never see you again!”

            Relief flooded through him and he hugged her back. “I never thought I’d see you again, either.”

            “Why did you come back? My dad’ll kill you if he finds you here.”

            Zuko swallowed hard. “I saw you fight last night.”

            “You saw me fight?!” Toph lifted her head, grinning at him.
            “You were amazing,” said Zuko, grinning back even though she couldn’t see.

            “Yeah, until that stupid kid knocked me out of the ring,” Toph huffed and stepped back, folding her arms. “That wasn’t even an earthbending move! It was totally unfair!”

            Zuko took a deep breath. “You’re right, it wasn’t earthbending. It was airbending.”

            Toph tilted her head at him and frowned. “Airbending? I thought there were no airbenders.”

            “There’s one,” said Zuko, quietly. “The Avatar.”
            “You’re telling me that kid was the Avatar? How would you know, anyway?”

            “Because I’ve been traveling with him and his friends,” Zuko looked down and rubbed the fabric of his shirt between his fingers. “They- they’re good people, Toph, they’ve helped me a lot when I didn’t deserve it at all. And Aang- the Avatar- he needs an earthbending teacher. And if I learned anything after watching all those fights yesterday it’s that you’re the best at earthbending.”

            Toph stood a little straighter. “I am the best,” she agreed, but she was frowning. “So, what, you want me to teach the Avatar earthbending?”

            “You could come with me,” said Zuko, trying not to let himself sound too hopeful. “I’m not on my own this time, we have food and a flying bison-”

            “A flying what?”

            “Bison,” he repeated. “He’s Aang’s… companion? Huge, fluffy flying creature, really soft, it's how we travel around. I know you have a life here Toph, so if you don’t wanna come that’s fine, but I-”

            “Are you kidding me?!”

            He looked at her, surprised, and saw Toph grinning like a mischievous spirit. “Zuko, all I’ve wanted to do since I met you was run away with you. Heck, I almost did the night my dad kicked you out.”

            He blinked. “It’s good you didn’t. I was homeless and starving-”

            “You were free,” said Toph. “All I’ve ever wanted was freedom. You gave me a taste of it when I met you and ever since then I’ve wanted more. I want to go with you on adventures, even if it does mean that I have to ride a flying bison and teach some kid earthbending.”

            Zuko suddenly found himself blinking moisture out of his eye. “You’re sure? It’s kind of dangerous, and there’s three other people in our group.”

            “I love danger,” Toph smirked. “And don’t worry, I’ll whip everyone else into shape soon enough, just you wait.”

            Zuko laughed and, with only a little hesitation, punched her in the arm. She froze for a second, them beamed and punched him back.

            “I’ll get my stuff!” she said, scrambling around her room.

            A few minutes later they were walking across the lawn towards the wall. Toph had asked him to write a short letter to her parents about where she’d gone and he’d left it on her bed. Zuko felt almost giddy with excitement. She had listened to him, she still wanted to be around him, to go with him.

            (she was still his friend even after everything)

            They were close to the wall when Zuko heard a familiar chatter. He lifted his arm and Momo landed on it.

            Toph paused and tilted her head. “What is that?”
            “Oh, this is Momo,” said Zuko, scratching behind the lemur’s ears. “He’s a flying lemur. I think technically he’s Aang’s, but he likes me a lot.”

            Momo continued to chatter and tugged at his hair. Zuko frowned, feeling a jolt of worry. Momo only acted like this when there was danger-

            “We’re being ambushed!” said Toph, grabbing his hand and running towards the wall.

            They skidded to a stop in front of it, but before he could climb over or Toph could burrow under the ground erupted next to them and a man sprang out. Zuko had just enough time to realize it was one of the Earth Rumble fighters before there was an ominous clang and a metal box dropped on top of him.

            He yelped, and he heard Toph’s outraged yell from beside him.

            “I believe you kids owe me some money,” Zuko swallowed hard, recognizing the voice of the Earth Rumble… announcer? Owner? Either way, the man was bad news.

            He heard an angry chattering and cries of surprise and shoved his face against the bars. Momo was dive-bombing the men outside (there were a lot of them, had the entire Earth Rumble showed up?).

            “Momo, find Aang!” he shouted. The lemur looked at him, chirped, and to his great relief, flew away.

            “Your little friends won’t be able to get you out of this,” the leader snapped. “Nobody cheats Shin Fu.”
            “We didn’t cheat you, dummy!” Toph snapped, banging on the bars of her cage. “Let us go!”

            “Not going to happen,” said Shin Fu. “Load them up.”

            They were roughly loaded into a wagon. Zuko heard the earthbenders banging the cages and flinched whenever his vibrated from their hits. From the angry yells he heard, Toph was giving as good as she got, which was something. He sank to the floor and wrapped his arms around his knees, fighting to breathe.

            How did he keep getting captured by earthbenders? He was so careful, he never did any firebending in Earth Kingdom towns or around other people, except for the Gaang.

            And yet it kept happening. It didn’t matter how careful he was, he was unlucky, and the universe couldn’t seem to stop reminding him of that.

            He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t get enough air into his lungs fast enough. His chest ached and he clawed at his hair, fighting back sobs. Desperate, he slammed his injured hand against the metal wall.

            Pain flared through his hand and wrist and he gasped. Tears sprang into his eye and his breathing deepened. He cradled his hand against his chest and forced himself to focus, to think.

            The men from the Earth Rumble weren’t likely to kill them. They wanted money and they had taken hostages to get it. If they killed him and Toph there’d be no hostages and therefore no money.

            If they knew Toph was a Beifong they wouldn’t hurt her (unless she really, really goaded them, anyway) she was too valuable. But Zuko…

            They hadn’t said that they knew who he was, so he might be able to escape this as just an accomplice to whatever plot they thought he and the others had made up. But if they did figure out who he was…

            He took a deep breath and shut his eyes. Hopefully Aang and the others would come to rescue them soon. He might be able to heat up the lock on his cage, but he’d never get out without being noticed, especially with having to break Toph out too. He was just going to have to wait and see if an opportunity arose for him to do something.

            (and try not to have a panic attack in the meantime)

****

            When they got to the Earth Rumble stadium their boxes were suspended from the ceiling. Which Zuko thought seemed like a weird feature for a building made for earthbending fights to have, but who was he to judge.

            Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait long for the Gaang to arrive. They had Toph’s father and another man with them, so they must have told the Beifongs something about what was going on.

            Toph had not stopped yelling insults at Shin Fu and the others the whole time they’d been captured, but when her father arrived she fell oddly silent. They were willing to pay the money, so at least Toph would be freed.

            Zuko was surprised when both of their cages were lowered. He clung to the bars and closed his eyes, forcing himself to take deep breaths and focus on the pain radiating through his injured hand and arm.

            The boxes clanked to a stop and Toph was freed. Zuko saw her father run over to her to check that she was alright (and he also saw how she pushed him away and glared before turning towards his cage).

            “What about my friend?” she demanded. “Let him go too.”
            “Toph, forget about him-” her father tried.

            “No!” Toph stepped away from him and turned her glare on Shin Fu. “Let him go!”

            “Actually, I think the Fire Nation will pay handsomely to get their traitor prince back,” said Shin Fu, flicking open a piece of parchment that turned out to be a wanted poster for Zuko.

            Zuko’s breath hitched and he pressed against the back of the cage. He’d never told Toph he was Fire Nation, he had no idea how she’d react to it.

            “The prince of the Fire Nation?!” gasped Toph’s father. He must have caught sight of Zuko through the bars and realized who he was. “All this time I thought he was just a troublesome urchin. Come, Toph, we’re leaving.”

            “NO!”

            The force of Toph’s refusal rumbled through the whole building, and, hesitantly, Zuko peeked back through the bars.

            “I don’t care where he’s from, he’s my friend, the only one I’ve ever had!” Toph shouted. She rounded on Shin Fu and the Earth Rumble fighters. “Now give him back! I beat you all before and I’ll do it again!”

            Her father and the man with him rushed forward to try and grab her, but Aang, Katara and Sokka quickly blocked their way.

            Zuko turned his attention back to Toph, who was facing down the whole group of fighters. He squeezed the bars of the cage so hard his knuckles turned white.

            The fighters charged.

            Zuko felt the earth start to shake and watched in awe as Toph rattled the entire ring’s foundation, throwing the earthbenders into the air and creating a huge cloud of dust to hide and disorient them. She walked into the cloud, arms out and Zuko found himself grinning.

            Footsteps caught his attention and he turned to see the others running over. “Zuko!” Aang called, skidding to a halt in front of the cage. “We’re gonna get you out of there! Um, somehow.”

            “I can heat the lock up from in here,” said Zuko. “Or you could use these if one of you knows how to pick a lock.” He pulled two pins out of his pocket and held them out.
            Sokka took them, frowning. “You just carry lockpicks on you?”

            “No,” said Zuko, fighting to keep a straight face. “They’re hairpins. I stole them off Zhao’s desk so I could escape from his ship.”

            They stared at him for a moment, blinking, then Sokka burst out laughing. Katara and Aang just looked surprised.

            “Now hurry up!” Zuko snapped. “I want to see Toph fight!”

            “Alright, alright, give me a minute,” said Sokka, still shaking his head. “Hairpins. Wait, is this what you used in Roku’s temple?”
            Zuko snorted. “Yes.”
            “Why did Zhao even have that many hairpins?” Sokka muttered as he worked.
            “Right?! That’s what I wanted to know!”

            Sokka finally got him out right as Toph and two of the other fighters emerged from the dust. Zuko scrambled out, eager to watch. One of the fighters was the Boulder, and the other was the big one they called the Hippo. They dwarfed Toph, but judging by the pile of earthbenders at the base of the stands she was holding her own just fine. Size wasn’t everything, after all.

            Toph stood still and listened, ignoring the angry yells of her opponents. And because she was listening she heard the third attacker swinging down at her from above.

            Instead of attacking any of them, she simply shifted the ground beneath them.

            The third earthbender crashed into them, and Toph punted them out of the ring with the others. Zuko grinned, and forced himself not to cheer in excitement.

            When Toph cleared the dust in the air the only opponent left was Shin Fu. She faced him with the same steady confidence she had all the others and Zuko leaned in to watch.

            They circled each other for a moment, then Shin Fu fired a volley of rocks at Toph. She blocked them by raising a triangle of rock in front of her, then sent one half of the triangle firing at Shin Fu.

            Zuko saw her focus as Shin Fu leapt into the air to dodge, saw the man’s hand enter the earth and knew she felt it. She turned and the rocks the man launched flew harmlessly past her.

            Then she slammed a rock into Shin Fu and sent him flying into the stands.

            Zuko did cheer then, and she spun around, grinning at him. He ran over and punched her arm. “That was amazing, Toph!”

            She punched him back. “Thanks. You okay?”

            He nodded. “I’m fine,” he looked up at where her father was sitting in the stands, watching with wide eyes. “We should probably go though, I mean, as long as you still want to come.”

            “Of course I do!” she punched him again, harder, and he laughed and rubbed his arm. “Now where’s that airbender kid and his flying bison so we can get outta here?”

            They hurried outside and met up with the others. Zuko felt he should probably get introductions out of the way, even if they were in a hurry. “Toph, this is Aang, Katara, and Sokka,” he set a hand on each of their heads as he said their names. “And, um, everyone else, this is Toph.”

            “Hey,” she waved. She turned to Aang. “So you’re the Avatar, huh?”
            “Yep! That’s me,” Aang smiled.
            “Zuko said you need an earthbending teacher.”
            “Yeah, and, um, I think it’s meant to be you, so-”
            “Well don’t expect me to go easy on you,” she said, lifting her head. “And don’t ever do any stupid moves like you did in the ring yesterday to me again, got it?”

            “Understoooo-ahh!” Toph launched Aang into the air and he landed in the branches of a nearby tree. Zuko covered his mouth to keep from laughing.

            “Now we’re even,” said Toph, smiling.

Chapter Text

            The next day, Zuko was so excited to have Toph around that he almost missed the tension that started building.

            While they were flying on Appa, Toph stayed curled up next to him, hanging onto his arm, and the two of them caught up a little. Zuko didn’t tell her everything, partially because he knew the rest of the group was listening, and partially because… he didn’t want her to worry or get upset over him.

            Mostly, he talked about his adventures with the Gaang, how he’d started off trying to capture Aang and how he eventually ended up traveling with the group.

            (he didn’t call them his friends yet. He wasn’t sure if he should now that Toph was here and he was closer to her than any of the others.)

            When they landed in the evening and started to make camp he felt the air turn sour, and his heart beat faster as his anxiety built, even though it had no clear reason to.

            He scanned the group. Sokka and Aang were setting up their tent and sleeping bags. Zuko had silently taken over dealing with the campfire, though the others sometimes gathered firewood for it. And Katara was talking to Toph about something.

            He frowned and edged closer to them, trying to hear what they were saying. He caught the tail end of their conversation. Something about Toph carrying her own weight and Katara being frustrated at her.

            He waited until Katara stomped away, then walked over to the little earth-tent Toph had made herself on the edge of camp and sat down outside it. “Hey, Toph.”

            “’Sup?” she turned towards him and tilted her head.
            “What happened with you and Katara? You both sounded… frustrated.”

            Toph shrugged. “She came over to tell me about how you guys make camp. I told her I was fine and didn’t need anything. I don’t know what she was trying to do.”

            Zuko considered this. “Maybe she was just trying to include you?” he suggested. “They try and do that with me sometimes, they did it more when I first joined.”
            “Maybe. But she got all huffy at the end,” said Toph. “It was weird.”

            He frowned. He knew he wasn’t good at understanding people, but the Gaang had been nothing but kind and open with him since he joined. He couldn’t imagine a problem Katara or the boys would have with Toph. They put up with him after all.

            “She probably just doesn’t know how to interact with you yet,” said Zuko. “It… it’s taken a while for them to figure out how to deal with me. Their way of doing things is… different. Just try and keep an open mind, okay? I’m sure Katara didn’t mean anything.”

            “Alright, I’ll do my best,” Toph dragged her bag over. “You wanna try some of the berries I found earlier?”

            “Sure,” he grinned. She dumped the food out of her pack and he inspected it, a small frown growing on his face as he did so.

            Some of the food she had obviously brought from home (which meant she had been hoarding it in her room, probably to eat after her Earth Rumble matches) but there was a fair amount of fruit she’d obviously collected from the forest.

            “Uh, Toph,” he said. “Half of these are poisonous.”

            She blinked. “They are?”

            He winced. “Yeah. These ones,” he picked up several and set them in her hand. “Will make you really sick if you eat them. And these,” he picked up a few others. “Could actually kill you.”

            “But I heard birds in the bush eating them, how could they be poison?!”
            He shrugged. “Birds can eat certain things humans can’t. I mean, they also eat carrion.”
            She wrinkled her nose and tossed the berries. “I guess you have a point. Maybe next time I should take you with me when I go foraging.”

            “That’s not a bad idea,” said Zuko. “I can teach you how to identify the plants by feel, then you’ll know if you ever need to find them on your own.”

            She perked up, grinning. “Great!”

            He grinned back. Hopefully, the tension he felt earlier had been nothing more than the group adjusting to having another member. With any luck things would settle down in a few days.

            (he should have known better)

****

            It was that night. Zuko wasn’t fully asleep yet, just dozing, curled up on one of Appa’s massive paws since he didn’t have a sleeping bag. It was funny, now, that he’d once been terrified to wake up on the bison, and now his biggest fear was Appa’s shedding fur getting inside his shirt and poking him.

            He was just drifting off when a shout from Toph jerked him awake.

            “There’s something coming toward us!”

            Zuko and the others scrambled up and hovered around the little earthbender.

            “What is it?” Aang asked.
            “It feels like an avalanche. But also not an avalanche.”
            “Your powers of perception are frightening,” said Sokka drily.

            “Should we leave?” Katara asked.
            “Better safe than sorry,” said Aang.

            The others hurried to pack up camp. Zuko glanced at Toph. “How fast is it moving?”
            “Fast.”
            “Does it feel like a machine?”
            “I’m not sure. Maybe?”
            “Hm.” He slung his pack over his shoulders and helped the others get things on Appa.

            As they flew away, Zuko turned to stare at the cloud of dust billowing up in the distance, frowning. It could be some sort of Fire Nation machine. It was frustrating how innovative his people could be at times, and hard to predict what things the military had seen fit to work on in the past three years. He’d need to see the thing closer to know what it might be and if there was any way to stop it.

            But at the moment they were headed fast in the opposite direction, so he could only speculate.

            By the time they landed again, the others looked worn and tired. Toph was curled against him, half asleep, her arms wrapped loosely around one of his. She jolted awake when Appa landed though and quickly scrambled out of the saddle to the ground.

            “Ah, land sweet land!” she said, pressing her face into it. Zuko bit back a laugh and climbed down after her. He was a little surprised to see the others getting things out to set up camp again, it seemed silly when they didn’t know what was after them or when it would catch up.

            “See you guys in the morning!” Toph called.
            “Wait, actually, could you help us unload?” Katara asked.

            And immediately, that tension was back.

            “You need me to help unload Sokka’s funky smelling sleeping bag?” Toph asked incredulously.
            “Well, yeah, that and everything else,” said Katara, folding her arms.

            “Maybe we shouldn’t set up camp right now,” Zuko interrupted, trying to nip whatever was going on before it grew. “We don’t know if that thing’ll catch up to us again, and it’s better if we can get loaded up as fast as possible if we need to.”

            Katara rounded on him with a poisonous glare, but something on his face must have placated her, because she just stomped away, grumbling.

            Okay then.

            The others unrolled sleeping bags and curled up on the ground. Toph made another earth tent. Zuko leaned back against Appa and scratched Momo’s ears when the lemur climbed into his lap, chirping.

            “I’m going to keep watch,” he told Momo, quietly. “I’m used to not sleeping. Toph can sense that thing, but if whoever’s driving it decides to stop a ways off and try to catch us off guard… I want to be prepared.”

            Momo grumbled, seeming disgruntled by his decision. Zuko chuckled. “Don’t worry, I once stayed awake for four days on the way to the North Pole, and I had a ship to sail then. This is a lot less work than that. I’ll be fine.”

            And sure enough, it wasn’t long before Toph popped out of her tent again. “That thing is back!”

            Zuko sprang to his feet. “Where’s it coming from?” Toph pointed, and he jumped up on Appa, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever it was. But all he could see was smoke rising over the treetops.

            “How far away is it?” he heard Sokka ask. “Maybe we can just close our eyes for a few minutes…”

            “It’s too close,” Zuko called, jumping back down. “We need to go. Now.”

            The others grumbled, but loaded up again and off they flew once more.

            Zuko watched the others closely. They all looked exhausted, and he could feel that even Appa was flying slower. They weren’t used to not sleeping, not to mention the stress they were all under.

            He took a deep breath and breathed out slowly. It struck him that he was, at the moment, the most functional member of the group and he almost laughed.

            He had a uneasy feeling that he knew who was chasing them. If Azula was after the Avatar then it was likely this was one of her plans. Running the kids till they collapsed of exhaustion was a good strategy, and he needed to be prepared in case she attacked while the others were incapacitated, or at least less than functional.

            He could hold Mai and Ty Lee off or hold Azula off, but he couldn’t do both. Hopefully, the others could rally enough to help. Maybe if they stopped by a river Katara could freeze Mai and Ty Lee in ice or something.

            Azula would be relentless. He could give her a target at least, and hold her off for a while. She’d break his defenses, eventually, but maybe while he was distracting her the others could take out whatever she was chasing them with. Then all they’d need to do would be fly a little ways to somewhere they could recover.

            (what happened to him wasn’t important)

            He nodded, feeling more prepared even with a basic plan in place. He leaned back against the saddle and took deep breaths to center himself.

            When they landed again, this time on a rocky plateau, Appa simply flopped on his side and dumped them out of the saddle.

            “Okay, forget about setting up camp, I’m finding the softest pile of dirt and falling asleep,” said Sokka. Zuko chuckled.

            “That’s good, because Toph wasn’t gonna help anyway,” snipped Katara. Zuko sat up and frowned, but Toph beat him to a response.
            “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize baby still needed someone to tuck her into bed.”

            Normally he would have laughed, but there was something going on between the two girls that made his whole body tense and the air thick. He took several deep breaths to keep himself from getting agitated. His anger was not going to help diffuse a situation.

            “C’mon guys, there’s something after us and we don’t even know what or who it is,” said Aang. At least he was keeping an level head for now.

            “Well whoever’s chasing us they couldn’t have followed us here, so can everyone just shush?” said Sokka. As if on cue Momo started chattering and bouncing on his chest. “No, Momo, shush.”

            Zuko frowned and his heart sank as Momo sprang off Sokka and continued to chatter, ears twitching furiously.

            “Oh no, don’t tell me,” Sokka groaned.
            “That’s impossible! There’s no way they could have tracked us!” Aang gasped.
            Toph shook her head. “I can feel it with my own two feet!”

            Zuko stood and looked out at the rocky path leading to the plateau. Sure enough, a plume of smoke rose up not far from them.

            It had to be Azula. There was no one else he knew (except himself) with such fierce, single-minded determination. Unfortunately that did not bode well for his exhausted group.

            “Maybe we should face them, find out who they are,” said Aang. “Who knows, maybe they’re friendly.”
            Zuko shook his head. “Yeah, actually I’m pretty sure it’s my sister, so probably not.”

            Aang looked surprised. “Your sister?”
            “How would she have tracked us all the way from Omashu?” Katara asked.
            Zuko shrugged. “You guys aren’t exactly subtle. If I’d had whatever machine she's using when I was tracking you I probably could have caught you easily. As it was I was usually only a day or two behind you.”

            They all looked surprised then, and Zuko felt his face grow hot. He ducked his head. “We should see for sure if it’s her though.”

            The machine rumbled to a stop and Zuko could finally see it clearly. It was armored like a tank, but looked more like the earth-train transports he’d seen in Earth Kingdom cities.

            And sure enough, a compartment opened and Azula, Mai and Ty Lee appeared, riding mongoose lizards.

            “It is your sister,” said Aang, eyes wide.
            “Yeah, you two are definitely the same kind of stubborn determined,” said Sokka.

            “We can take ‘em,” said Toph, confidently. Zuko had to admit that if any of them were a match for his sister it would likely be Toph. “It’s three on four anyway.”

            “Actually, Toph, there’s five of us,” Sokka corrected.
            “Oh, sorry, I didn’t count you. No bending and all.”
            “I can still fight!”
            “Okay, three on four plus Sokka.”

            Sokka looked ready to bonk Toph over the head with his club and Zuko winced. He… might have to have a talk with her later. If that was how she’d talked to Katara earlier he could understand why the other girl might have been upset.

            Azula led the charge against them and Zuko saw when her face honed in on him. He was a little relieved when he saw recognition there this time, instead of a blank stare. At least this time she knew it was him.

            Toph made outcrops of rock pop out in front of the girls, but their lizards just dodged or scrambled over them without stopping. Zuko shot out a ball of fire just to see how they’d react. The lizards dodged it, but it definitely startled them more than the rocks. Good to know.

            “Okay, we wanted to find out who they were, now we know. Let’s get out of here!” said Sokka, hurrying back towards Appa. The others followed, except Toph, who raised up a huge wall of rock between the two groups. Zuko hung back, ready to run and grab her if need be.

            Azula didn't even hesitate when she saw the rock wall. Her hands sparked and Zuko realized with sudden horror that it was not fire she was calling to her.

            Lightning shot from his little sister’s fingers and exploded through the wall. Zuko’s heart thundered in his chest. He grabbed Toph, despite her yelp of protest, and dragged her back to Appa, dodging Mai’s darts as he did. Toph launched them onto Appa and held onto him tightly as they took off.

            Zuko dug his nails into the edge of the saddle and stared down at his sister as they flew away. Azula could bend lightning now.

            He knew father could lightningbend, and uncle Iroh had been able to, but he had never thought, never expected, he always thought it was too advanced…

            ‘For you maybe, but not for Zula. Nothing was ever too advanced for her.’

            “What’s your sister’s problem?” Toph asked.

            He blinked. “She’s here to capture Aang. Father probably sent her to fix my mistake,” he sighed.

            “I mean, if not capturing me was a mistake, I’m glad you made it,” Aang called.

            Zuko squeezed his eyes shut. “Thanks.”

            They flew in silence for a while, until Zuko felt a comforting warmth on his skin. He looked up and saw the sunrise and something in his heart settled. Often the sun’s fire helped him to refocus and feel refreshed, and he was glad to see it.

            Unfortunately, the others were less than enthusiastic.

            “The sun is rising! We’ve been up all night with no sleep!” Sokka lamented.
            “Sokka, we’ll be okay,” said Aang.
            “Are you sure? I’ve never not slept before!”

            Zuko tilted his head. “Really?”

            “Yes! Really! Why do you sound so surprised about that?!”

            Zuko shrugged. “I dunno. I just figured with all the traveling you guys have done that you must have missed sleep before.”
            “Not like this! Not a whole night!” Sokka flopped dramatically down in the saddle. “What if I fall asleep now and something happens?! And something always happens!”

            “I’ll wake you up,” said Zuko, calmly. Toph snorted and he grinned a little.

            “Every time we land Zuko’s sister and her friends are there, so we’ll just have to keep flying,” said Katara.
            “We can’t keep flying forever,” said Aang, ominously.

            And, unfortunately, he was right.

Chapter Text

            “So what’s our plan?” Aang asked as they flew, much more slowly than normal, through the brightening sky.
            “Don’t know, too tired to think,” Toph muttered.

            Zuko tilted his head. “If we land I think I can hold off Azula for a while, but someone else needs to incapacitate Mai and Ty Lee. Either Katara could freeze them or Toph could encase their arms and legs in rock. Appa can’t fly much longer, so we should probably land soon and split up, like I said I can hold Azula off, but-”

            “Great plan,” said Sokka. “Now that we’ve got that figured out, how about we just take… a short… nap.”

            Zuko looked at the others. They were falling asleep where they sat. It was strange. Even before he’d been banished he’d had plenty of sleepless nights due to nightmares or injuries from his father. He had to remind himself that the others hadn’t had that, that they were still just kids-

            Air. Flying past his face. They were floating, no, falling?!

            Zuko yelped and grabbed hold of the saddle, clinging tightly to Toph, who woke as the air and sky rushed past them. “What’s going on?!” she shouted.

            “Appa fell asleep!” Aang shouted. “Appa, Appa wake up buddy!”

            Sokka was also hanging on tightly and had hold of Katara, so no one had flown off, but Zuko still felt panic well up in him. If Appa crashed from this height…

            He was just about to singe the bison’s fur a little to try and rouse him when he felt Appa finally respond. The bison groaned and turned the fall into a crash landing, careening through trees before finally slamming a furrow into the dirt and coming to a stop.

            Zuko took a deep breath and released his white-knuckle grip on the saddle and his death hold on Toph, who immediately jumped to the ground. His hand throbbed, and he could feel a headache starting to build behind his temples.

            They had almost died. They had- all of them, had nearly- and there was nothing he could do-

            He forced himself to breathe. They were fine. Everyone was okay. They were fine, they were safe and now they could-

            “WHAT?!”

            Toph’s shrill, outraged shriek sent a stab of pain through his head, and he turned to find the girls squaring up again-

            He jumped off Appa as Aang was trying to diffuse the situation. “Alright, alright, we’re all exhausted. Let’s just get some rest.”

            “No, I wanna hear what Katara has to say. You think I have issues?!” Toph demanded.

            Zuko groaned. Agni, why did they have to do this now? What was the problem?!

            “I’m just saying that maybe if you had helped out earlier we could have set up our camp faster and gotten some sleep and then maybe we wouldn’t be in this mess!” Katara snapped.
            “You’re blaming ME for this?!”

            Aang again tried to intervene, stepping between them as the girls glared daggers at each other. “No, no, she’s not blaming you!”
            “No, I’m blaming her,” Katara asserted, unhelpfully. By all the Spirits these stupid kids-

            Toph tossed Aang out of the way and faced Katara. “Hey! I never asked you for anything! I carry my own weight! Besides, if there’s anyone to blame it’s sheddy over here!” she pointed to Appa.
            “What?! You’re blaming Appa?!” Oh Spirits, now Aang was involved.

            “Yeah! You wanna know how they keep finding us?! He’s leaving a trail everywhere we go!”

            Zuko closed his eyes. He was not going to explode. He was not going to explode. He was not going to-

            “How dare you blame Appa! He saved your life three times today! If there’s anyone to blame it’s you! You’re always talking about how you carry your own weight but you’re not! He is! Appa never had a problem flying when it was just the four of us-”

            “ENOUGH!”

            Everyone froze. Zuko stood, heat billowing off him in waves, sparks nipping at his fingertips, and inserted himself between the kids. “Opposite ends of camp, NOW!”

            Eyes wide, Aang and Katara complied. He turned and saw Toph looking shocked. He grabbed her arm and dragged her over to the other side of Appa. Made himself breathe deeply before he spoke again.

            “Alright, what is the issue here? Because we’re not doing anything else until this is resolved,” he said firmly, forcing his voice to stay level. Vaguely he remembered his mother and uncle mediating arguments between him and Azula and other children. They had always been calm and levelheaded and he forced himself to channel that now. He needed to stay calm, he needed to keep them together, to keep them safe, and he couldn’t do that if they were yelling and arguing and fighting amongst themselves.

            Toph stamped her foot, but most of her aggression seemed to have fizzled out. “Ever since I got here Katara’s been bothering me to help out more! I keep telling her that I don’t need help, I don’t want it, I can take care of myself, but she won’t leave me alone! I’m not helpless, I don’t need anybody’s help! Why can’t she understand that?!”

            Zuko ran a hand through his hair. “You think Katara is treating you like, what, a baby?”
            “Yes! People look at me and think I’m helpless because I’m blind! They want to take care of me, but I don’t need anyone’s help!”

            Zuko slowly put the pieces together in his mind. He sighed and pulled Toph down to sit next to him. “Do you remember the first time you punched me in the arm?”

            She blinked. “What? I don’t know, why?”

            “I was surprised and upset, because you hit me,” Zuko continued. “But then you told me that’s how you show affection, and I realized that just because it was different from what I was used to didn’t mean it was bad. Katara isn’t asking you to help out around camp because she thinks you need our help. Trust me, I know how they treat people who need help and this isn’t it,” he chuckled. “Katara wants you to help because she wasn’t raised like you or me. She was raised in a place where everyone helped each other, not because they thought the other person was helpless, but because they were just trying to be nice. It’s not bad, or wrong, it’s just different. So she sees you not helping and thinks you don’t care about the rest of us, and that you’re just being mean. Like me the first time you punched my arm.”

            Toph stared at the ground silently for a few moments, then shook her head. “When did you get all wise and introspective?”

            He shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably in a little village in the northern mountains.”

            Toph sighed. “I guess I should apologize to Sugar Queen, shouldn’t I?”
            Zuko snorted. “I mean, it’d be nice. Maybe don’t call her that though. And let me talk to her first, so that we don’t have anymore misunderstandings, alright?”

            “Okay.” Toph nodded. Then she punched him in the arm.

            Zuko grinned and punched her back. Then he stood and made his way over to Aang and Katara on the other side of camp.

            Katara looked ready to say something when he approached, but he held up his hand. “Alright, look, I talked with Toph. She thought you kept bothering her about setting up camp because you wanted to help her because you thought since she was blind she must be helpless. I talked to her and she’s fine now, she said she’ll apologize.” He turned to Aang. “And she’s right about Appa’s shedding. I was so busy thinking about how to stop Azula when she caught us I wasn’t thinking about how she kept finding us.”

            “I- I know,” said Aang, quietly. “I didn’t really mean to yell at her.”

            “So it was just a misunderstanding?” said Katara.
            “Yeah. You have to understand that Toph and I weren’t raised like you guys were,” said Zuko. “We didn’t have the luxury of normal childhoods. Toph was smothered by her parents, that’s why she wanted to get away from them.”
            “And then I start trying to tell her what to do and she blows up,” Katara groaned. “Stupid.”

            Zuko shrugged. “We’re all tired. I’ll go get Toph and bring her over to apologize. Then we should probably do something about Appa.”

            “I’ll start working on it,” said Aang, hopping up. “Sokka! Hey, Sokka, we need to give Appa a bath, get up!”

            Zuko got Toph and the girls faced each other again, calmer this time.

            “I’m sorry I yelled at you,” said Katara.
            “I’m sorry I didn’t try to listen,” said Toph. “So are we good?”

            Katara nodded. “Yeah, we’re good.”
            “Great. Let’s go give fuzzball a bath then and get this over with.”

            They stood, and before they walked off, Toph punched Katara in the arm. The girl looked surprised, but before she could get upset, Toph explained. “That’s how I show affection.”
            “Oh,” Katara blinked. “Okay then.”

            She glanced back at him and he nodded encouragingly. Hesitantly, she hit Toph back, and Toph laughed.

            Zuko grinned as the tension from the day finally melted away.

            Now they just had to deal with Azula.

Chapter Text

            Once they got Appa cleaned up they worked out a simple, but hopefully effective plan. Aang would take a bag of Appa’s fur and lead a false trail while the others flew to a safe spot across the river. After he laid the trail, Aang would meet back up with them. Zuko only had one amendment to it.

            “I’m coming with you.”

            Aang paused, hands full of Appa’s fur and stared at him in confusion. “What?”
            “I’m coming with you,” Zuko repeated. “If they fall for this and chase after you, they might catch you before you can get away. You wouldn’t be a match for all three of them even at your best, and you’re not at your best.”

            It was, as far as he was concerned, a statement of fact. Aang might be an airbending master and proficient in waterbending, but he had no idea what Azula was truly capable of- not to mention Ty Lee and Mai- and he was exhausted. Zuko was not going to let the kid get captured, or killed because of an oversight.

            “I can’t bring you with me on my glider,” said Aang. “I can fly faster than you can run.
            Zuko shrugged. “I’ll just chase after you. It’ll be like old times.”
            Aang laughed, just a little. “Okay, if you’re sure.”

            Before the others left with Appa, Toph ran over and hugged him. “Be careful, Sparky.”

            He snorted. “So I’ve earned a nickname now?”
            “You would’ve had one sooner if you’d told me you were Fire Nation,” she said.
            “I’ll remember that next time I accidentally break into someone’s estate in the Earth Kingdom. ‘Hey, just wanted you to know I’m Fire Nation so you could come up with a nickname for me, thanks.’”

            She laughed and pushed him. “You know what I mean.”
            He ruffled her bangs. “Take care of the others.”
            “I will. Take care of Twinkletoes.”

            He laughed. “Will do.”

            He watched Appa clumsily take off, knocking the tops off several trees as he left the clearing. Zuko winced. That was not a sign his sister was going to miss.

            Aang nodded at him and took off. Zuko hesitated. Maybe he should run after Appa and the others. They couldn’t have made it more obvious they were laying a false trail if they’d tried, after all.

            ‘No… Toph and Katara can handle themselves. And Sokka’s good at improvising. They’ll manage.’

            He started following Aang’s false trail at a jog. ‘Besides, Azula’s smart enough to realize that the only one of us who can fly is the Avatar. She’ll chase Aang, not the others.’

            He nodded, and ran a little faster, purposefully moving away from the path so he could keep an eye on it for any sign of his sister, but hopefully not be spotted by her.

            It wasn’t long before he heard footsteps, and, sure enough, Azula’s mongoose lizard skittered along the path. In the glimpse he got of his sister before she sped past him he saw her focused, intent expression and his heart beat faster. He pushed himself, chasing after her.

            At least Mai and Ty Lee weren’t with her. He was reasonably confident that Aang could hold off just Azula until he got there.

            (he hoped so, anyway)

****

            Azula was close, and she knew it. It had been clever of the Avatar to try and lead them away with a false trail. Unfortunately the bison’s clumsy exit from the clearing had made it clear which way his friends had actually gone. No matter, Mai and Ty Lee could keep them busy. The Avatar was the real prize.

            (well, the Avatar and Zuko, but she was fairly certain that once she had the Avatar getting Zuko to come with her would be easy. The Avatar was his way home, after all.)

            The trail ended in a ghost town, and a small boy sitting on the ground in the center of it.

            “Well, Avatar. We meet face to face at last,” she said, her mouth curling up in a smile.

            The boy watched her closely. “Yeah. You caught me, now what do you want?”

            She raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t it obvious? I’m here to capture you.”
            “And deliver me to the Firelord,” said the boy. “Zuko said he must have sent you because he failed to capture me.”

            Azula felt a jolt in her heart at her brother’s name, but she had years of experience at staying composed when she felt anything but. “He hasn’t failed,” she said, voice deceptively calm. “Not yet. After I capture you I’ll find my brother and he will finally be able to come home.” She smiled. “All I need to do is tell our father that Zuko was the one to capture you, and he’ll accept Zuko back with open arms.”

            The boy tilted his head. “Why does Zuko need to capture me to go home?”

            Azula clenched one hand into a fist and dug her nails into her palm. “What? You mean none of your tricks and lies have wheedled out what happened to him yet?” she smiled darkly.

            “I haven’t lied to him,” said the boy, frowning.
            Azula laughed. “As if he would ever help you without trickery being involved. My brother is loyal to the Fire Nation. Now, enough talk. Give yourself up and I won’t have to hurt you. Unless, of course, you plan on running away again.”

            The Avatar stood and faced her. “I’m not running.”

            He squared up to her with his staff in hand and it was all she could do to not start laughing again. “Are you sure you really want to fight me?”

            “No. I really don’t.”

            Azula froze and slowly turned towards the voice. The voice she hadn’t heard in three years.

            And there, stepping out of the shadows, was her brother. He faced her with a determined expression, fists clenched tightly.

            “Zuko,” she said, softly, taking half a step forward before she knew what she was doing. Then she caught herself. She glanced back at the Avatar and saw the boy watching them uncertainly. A smirk crept onto her face.

            “Perfect timing, Zuzu,” she said, turning back to him.
            Zuko tilted his head. “And why’s that?”

            “Well now that you’re here you can help me capture the Avatar. I won’t even have to lie to father. You can finally come home with your honor restored.” She held a hand out to him. “Together we can’t fail.”

****

            Zuko stood, facing his sister for the first time in three years, mind racing as he tried to process exactly what she was offering.

            Up until this moment he hadn’t even known Azula still cared about him. And now she was telling him that she wanted to help him capture the Avatar. To help him go home.

            Home. To the palace. To father. He fought back a shudder, and with sudden, stunning clarity he realized he didn’t want to go home. He had only ever wanted to go home because Azula was there. But she wasn’t there now. Now she was standing right in front of him, hand outstretched.

            But if he didn’t want to go home then… what was he supposed to do?

            He turned and looked at Aang. The boy stood there, watching them, staff clutched tightly in his hands, eyes wide…

            He was scared, Zuko realized. Scared of what Zuko was considering doing. Scared that Zuko was going to betray him.

            He turned back to his sister, her eager smile and outstretched hand.

            Tulip’s voice echoed in his head. ‘Not what should you do. What do you want to do?’

            He took a breath. Stepped out so that he was between Aang and Azula. “No, Azula.”

            Shock rippled across his sister’s face and something in his heart snapped. His hands started to shake, but he forced his voice to stay level.

            “Azula, I can’t- I can’t go home,” he said. “It’s not… it’s not my home anymore. The only thing that made it home for me was you and you’re here now. I don’t need to go home to find you.”

            He held his hand out. “Come with us. I promise it’s worth it, I-”

            “You’re choosing him?” Azula’s voice was venomous and Zuko flinched. “You’re choosing a boy you barely know, your enemy, the enemy of your whole nation! The only thing that’s stood between you and your home, your title, that’s kept you alone and on the run for three years! You’re choosing that over me? Your own sister? Who came all the way here to find you- to help you! What has that brat ever done for you?!”

            Zuko straightened and lifted his head, meeting her eyes. “He’s my friend.”

            Rage flashed over his sister’s face, and Zuko sensed the attack coming. He threw up a wall of flame just as Azula shot a blast of blue fire.

            But he realized too late that the attack wasn’t aimed at him. Even furious Azula was still calculating.

            It was aimed at Aang.

            But the boy was paying attention and Zuko turned just in time to see him block the flames with his staff. He gave Zuko a wide-eyed look, then turned back to Azula.

            She launched herself at Aang, fury radiating from every ounce of her being. Zuko charged to intercept her, throwing a wall of fire between them.

            Aang was already moving, darting away towards an alley. Zuko caught up to his sister and grabbed her, yanking her back.

            She slammed her hands into his chest, shoving him, but he held on and dragged her down with him.

            “Azula, stop!”

            “I’ll kill him!” she growled. “And then nothing will stand between us. I won’t let it, Zuko! He’s done something to you, I’ll stop it, I’ll fix it-”

            “He hasn’t done anything to me!” Zuko shouted. “The only thing Aang and his friends have done is save my life over and over again even when I didn’t deserve it! They’ve helped me, Azula! They’re my friends!”

            “I’m your SISTER!” Azula screamed back. “Don’t I mean more to you than them?!”
            “Azula, I love you, but I’m not going to turn on them! Come with us! If they accepted me they’ll accept you and-”
            “I don’t want their acceptance! I want you home, with me and father, where you belong! I want you to be a prince again, I want you to have your honor back! I want father to finally accept you back and for things to go back to the way they were!”

            “Things CAN’T go back to the way they were!” Zuko shouted. “I don’t want them to, I don’t want to deal with father, I don’t want to be scared to walk around the palace, or of speaking out because of what he might do! I want things to change, Azula!” He looked desperately into her eyes. “Help me change them.”

            Azula wrenched away from him and he scrambled to his feet, facing her. “What have they done to you?” she whispered, fists clenched. “What have they turned you into?”

            “The only thing they’ve done is help me,” he said, quietly. “Azula-”

            “I can fix this.”

            Zuko’s heart sank. He heard the fierce, unyielding determination in her voice, and the look on her face said there was no changing her mind. “Azula-”

            “I will fix this, Zuko,” she insisted, her voice growing manic. “I will defeat the Avatar and his friends,” she spat the word as if it was venom. “I’ll save you.”

            She started to back away. He lunged for her, but she was too quick, turning on her heel and darting away. He let his hands fall to his sides and watched as she ran to the edge of town and leapt onto her mongoose lizard, urging it away.

            As Azula faded from view a hollow feeling settled in his chest, and he fought the urge to collapse to the ground and give up. Nothing was ever easy. Not for him. Nothing was ever going to go the way he hoped, he would always mess things up somehow-

            “Zuko?”

            He jumped and spun around to see Aang standing there, looking unsure.

            “Are you okay?” Aang asked, quietly.

            He swallowed hard and shook his head. “I’ll be fine. Are you okay? It didn’t look like any of her hits landed on you, but…”

            “Yeah, I’m, I’m not hurt,” said Aang.
            “We should get back to the others then,” said Zuko.

            Aang walked beside him as they headed away from the ghost town. Zuko wondered how much he’d heard of his and Azula’s conversation, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to ask.

            But, maybe there was a little luck on his side for once, because Aang had other things on his mind. “So… did you mean what you said to your sister? About us being friends?”

            Zuko blinked. In the moment he hadn’t really thought about it, he had just known that it was right. Slowly, he nodded. “Yeah. I did.”

            “So we’re friends now?” Aang asked hopefully.
            “I mean, as long as you want to be,” he said.

            “Of course I do!” Aang grinned up at him. “I’ve wanted to be friends with you for ages!”

            “Okay. Great.” Zuko nodded. “I’m, um, glad.”

            Aang laughed and bounced a little. “Are you friends with all of us now? I mean, I kind of knew you were with Toph, but I mean with me, Katara and Sokka.”

            Zuko sighed. “Yes, I’m friends with all of you.”

            “That’s great, Zuko!”

            And, before he could respond, Aang threw his arms around him and hugged him.

            Zuko shook his head and hugged him back.

            And for once, he didn’t try to push Aang away.

Chapter Text

            The others slept for a full night and the better part of the next day. Zuko slept less. He couldn’t fall asleep at first, too busy replaying his conversation with Azula in his head, wondering what he could have done differently (what he could have said to change her mind). When he finally did fall asleep, curled up next to the others, his dreams were filled with nightmares where he was trapped, engulfed by flames while he called out helplessly to Azula, who was burning in the same fire, just far enough away she couldn’t hear him.

            After the third time he jerked awake panting, his arms and face throbbing from the phantom flames, it was almost sunrise, so he saw no reason to try and keep sleeping.

            He climbed off Appa and lit his little candle to meditate, watching the flame flicker and reminding himself that it couldn’t hurt him, that he could control it. Almost unconsciously, he took Tulip’s flower out of his pocket and breathed in its faint scent to ground himself.

            When his heart and mind were relatively calm again and his body no longer felt tensed for a fight, he went out to gather wood for a fire. Once he had that started, he realized that the others were not likely to be up for cooking today, so if he didn’t make something to eat they’d be living off dried rations.

            He was confident he could cook something better than that, so he went out foraging. He thought about hunting, but he didn’t really have the energy to cook two meals to make sure Aang could eat something, so he stuck to gathering vegetables.

            He struck gold when he came across a long abandoned farmhouse with a garden growing wild behind it. He found potatoes, carrots, squash, and some beans and herbs that he filled his bag and returned to camp with. He hummed quietly to himself while he prepared them, letting his mind drift.

            Before he was banished he hadn’t known how to cook. His stint with the innkeepers had helped with that quite a bit, and after he met the nomads and they taught him how to forage he’d gotten decent at mixing ingredients together to make something edible. He wasn’t sure he was good at it, but he’d never given himself food poisoning, and whatever he made usually tasted pretty good. Hopefully his friends liked it.

            His friends…

            ‘What has he ever done for you?!’

            Zuko sighed and dumped the vegetables into his pot of boiling water, then coaxed the flames down lower so that the stew would simmer and cook slowly.

            He wished he could have told Azula everything the Gaang had done for him. She probably would have been on their side then. But she hadn’t stopped to listen and he had never been good with words, so he probably would have said it wrong anyway.

            ‘How do you mess up so badly that you make your sister an enemy?’ he wondered.

            He was so lost in thought that he didn’t notice Sokka until a shadow landed beside him. He looked up and blinked at the other boy in surprise.

            “Hey,” said Sokka, sitting down next to him. He grabbed a stick and poked the fire. “Have you been up for a while?”
           “Since sunrise.”

            Sokka stared at him. “Really? How were you not as exhausted as the rest of us after all that?”
            Zuko turned away and watched the flames flicker in the fire. “I’m used to it.”
            “I guess I keep forgetting that. How long were you on your own before you met us, anyway?”

            Zuko took a deep breath. “Almost three years,” he said quietly.

            “Three?! Years?!” Sokka gaped at him.
            “Yeah.”

            Sokka squinted at him. “How old are you?”
            Zuko frowned and looked at him. “What?”

            “How old are you? Fourteen? Fifteen?”
            “I’m sixteen,” said Zuko, a little offended.

            “You- you’re sixteen?! I- jeeze, I thought you were a little older than Katara, but you’re sixteen?! What?!”

            “What, you think just because I get beat up a lot I’m a kid who can’t handle myself?” Zuko asked, half annoyed, half confused.
            “What- no, I mean, kind of, I just, you, you’re really,” Sokka looked uncomfortable. “You’re just, uh, you’re really small. Er, short. I just didn’t, I figured you were younger, you seem capable and all that, I just…”

            Zuko glared at him. “I’m not short.”
            “I mean, you kind of are, you’re as tall as Katara.”
            “I’m taller than her. I’m almost the same height as you.”
            “Okay, okay, sure man, I just, um…” Sokka rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

            “How old are you?” Zuko demanded.
            “I just turned sixteen like, a month ago.”

            Zuko scowled and stared at the ground. “Some people grow faster than others,” he grumbled.
            “Yeah, yeah man, totally, I’m sure you, you’ll grow, um, so hey, what are you cooking? Got any meat in it?”

            Zuko rolled his eyes. “No. I wanted to make something Aang could eat.”

            “That’s fair, I guess. Um, so, listen, I actually, before everything got weird, I just came over to say thanks for keeping us together yesterday. I know we were all really a mess and you were the only one who kept his head, so, um, thanks. Also I wanted to give you this and now seems like a good time, so here.”

            Zuko hadn’t even begun to process even a third of what he’d said when Sokka plopped a brown paper bundle on his lap. “…What?”

            “Open it,” said Sokka, who was now trying not to start grinning.

            Zuko raised his eyebrow and frowned down at the paper parcel. He remembered Sokka having it in the marketplace of Toph’s town, but he’d never seen what was inside.

            Carefully, he unwrapped the paper and pulled out the contents, his expression shifting to one of confusion, then shock. “Is- is this a backpack?”

            “Yeah. I saw that yours is falling apart, and there were tons of bags at that market where we bought you clothes, but you seemed overwhelmed enough then so I figured I’d save it and give it to you sometime. Do you like it?”

            Zuko ran his hands over the fabric. It was dark brown and sturdy and felt like it had been treated to be waterproof. There were several pockets in the front with straps on them so they could be tied down. The main flap opened and closed with a buckle, and when he looked inside he saw more pockets. It was bigger than his old one, and he saw that it could be worn as a backpack or altered so that one strap would go across his chest. It must have been expensive and why had Sokka gotten this for him, he wasn’t, he didn’t deserve…

            Question, focus, answer the question.

            He forced himself to look up at Sokka, who was leaning forward, biting his lip and bouncing one leg. “It’s great,” he said, softly. “Thank you.”

            Sokka’s face transformed into a grin. “Perfect, just like I planned.”

            Zuko tried to come up with anything else to say, but he’d never been good at talking to people, especially when receiving gifts from them.

            The only words he could think of that sounded right didn’t feel like enough, but he said them anyway. “You’re a good friend, Sokka.”

            Sokka froze. “Wait, did you just call me a friend?”

            Zuko stiffened. Maybe he shouldn’t have said anything, he didn’t really know what the others thought about him, if they-

            Sokka sprang forward and tackled him in a hug. Zuko gave a muffled yelp but was too shocked to try and pull away.

            (did he even want to pull away?)

            “I knew you cared! You really are just a big softie, aren’t you?”

            Zuko huffed and shoved Sokka off of him. “You’re lucky I didn’t change my mind after you called me a little kid.”

            “Oh, that’s harsh! One misunderstanding and I get bumped down to, what? Acquaintance?”

            “It’ll keep you on your toes,” said Zuko, with a little smile. He did, usually, like Sokka’s sense of humor. It was easier to react to than some of the things Aang and Katara said, and it put him at ease.

            Sokka laughed and shook his head. “I gotta admit, I never thought I’d be friends with a firebender.”
            “I never thought I’d travel with the Avatar,” said Zuko.
            “Okay, but same! Man, you should have seen me at the South Pole when we started out, I was only a little more resistant to it than you were.”

            Zuko snorted. “Really?”

            “Yeah, really. Hey, you’ve never actually heard the story of how Katara and I found Aang, have you?”
            “No.”

            “Well then, time to remedy that! So one day, Katara and I are out ice fishing- or I am, she’s just over there using her waterbending to get me wet- and we…”

****

            ‘No, Azula. I can’t go home.”

            Azula sat in the woods, knees against her chest, head down, pulling her hair just hard enough that it hurt, but not hard enough to pull it out. She’d learned the importance of that restraint a long time ago.

            ‘Azula, what have you done to your hair?’
            ‘Oh, I didn’t think you’d notice, father-’
            ‘Parts of it have been ripped out, of course I noticed.’ Father said with mock concern.
            ‘It got caught when I was playing-’
            ‘You’ve never been so careless.’ He said, voice turning dangerous.
            ‘I-’
            ‘I did it!’

            She spun around and saw Zuko standing there, face red. ‘I was mad because she got a firebending move faster than me, so I grabbed her hair. I didn’t mean to pull it out.’

            Father’s face grew dark. He grabbed Zuko’s arm, tightly. ‘You will be punished for treating your sister so harshly.’

            There had been fear in Zuko’s face when father hauled him away. Fear, but not regret. She had been five and he had been seven She’d gotten angry and in her frustration pulled out handfuls of her own hair.

            Zuko had come back with bruises on his face and burns on his back and she had sworn that she would learn to lie so well that he never had to get hurt for her again.

            (it hadn’t been the last time he’d taken a hit for her, despite her best efforts)

            And now, somehow, the Avatar had turned her loyal brother who had been willing to take a beating for her, into a mindless follower. Zuko said the Avatar had helped him. Oh yes, she could imagine that; the Avatar had made up situations for Zuko to get trapped in, only for him to swoop in at the last moment and rescue her brother. Or perhaps the Avatar had tricked Zuko into some sort of contract.

            (or maybe her brother really had been brainwashed)

            Azula squeezed her eyes shut against the moisture welling there. She was not crying, this wasn’t over. She would break whatever hold the Avatar had over her brother and she would take Zuko home.

            ‘I want things to change, Azula! Help me change them.’

            Azula took a deep breath and lifted her head. She wiped the treacherous tears from her cheeks and stood. She needed to regroup with Mai and Ty Lee and come up with a new plan to free Zuko and capture the Avatar.

            ‘I will help you, Zuko. I'll fix everything. I promise.’

Chapter Text

            “Um, hey, Zuko?”

            Zuko tilted his head and glanced up from where he was working on transferring his things from his old backpack to his new one. It was the next day; Toph and Aang were working on earthbending, Sokka was out hunting and, well, he hadn’t really been paying attention to what Katara was doing, just that she was the only other person in camp with him at the moment. Except for Momo and Appa, who were lounging in the sunshine nearby.

            “Yes?” he asked, a little hesitantly. Katara was biting her lip and had her hands clenched tightly together like she was just barely restraining herself from something, and he wasn’t sure if it was good or not.

            “Okay, this is, this is gonna sound really stupid, I mean really really stupid, but, I just,” she took a deep breath. “Can I try to braid your hair please?”

            Zuko blinked rapidly. “What?”

            “I know, I know, it’s stupid of me to even care but it just, it’s just there and there’s knots and mats in it and I know you wash it but they don’t come out and also I haven’t braided anyone’s hair for a while and I think I could fix it and-” she paused, and must have taken in his shocked expression, because she quickly started backtracking. “Oh my gosh what am I even doing, I’m so sorry, I’ll just, pretend I never asked I don’t know what I was thinking-”

            “You can braid my hair if you want.”

            Katara froze. “Really?”
            “I mean, if you can get it to do anything. I haven’t… I haven’t owned a hairbrush in almost three years, so,” he ran a hand through his hair self-consciously and winced when his fingers snagged on a knot. “It is really a mess, but you can try, if you want, I don’t mind.”

            An eager, determined expression appeared on Katara’s face. “Okay- okay, great, I’ll get my stuff!”

            He quickly realized that what she’d been doing earlier was assembling every possible hair care item she owned. And she didn’t have a lot, but she did have more than he’d seen in years. She had a hairbrush and a comb, both of which looked like they were made out of bone, along with a few clips and ribbon for ties.

            And she had oil, and when she opened it it smelled like his mother and he had to fight back a wave of emotions.

            “Are you okay?” she asked, frowning already.
            “I- yeah, I just, I haven’t,” he shook his head. “I’m fine.”

            “Okay…” she sat down behind him. Hesitated. “Um, so this might hurt while I’m working at it-”
            “It’s fine, I’ve had my hair pulled before,” his mouth quirked up in a small smile.

            He felt her start to work the oil into his hair. “You know, you took this a lot better than I thought you would. I figured you’d be mad I even suggested it.”

            He shrugged slightly. “I’m surprised Sokka didn’t suggest it, since he cares so much about appearances.”
            Katara chuckled. “He didn’t suggest it because he doesn’t know the first thing about taking care of his hair. I mean, why do you think he wears it in that silly short ponytail?”
            “Really? He seems like he’d care about that sort of thing.”
            “Well, he might now since we’re out in the world, I have noticed him doing more since we left the North Pole, but he never did at home,” she started to tug lightly at one of the mats. “He’d definitely never let me do this, no matter how bad his hair got.”

            “That’s stupid,” Zuko muttered. “I bet you could put his hair into nice little braids too.”

            Katara laughed. “Now that would be funny.”

            He smiled a little and they sat in companionable silence for a bit. He could feel the first mat starting to come undone when she spoke again.

            “So, did your sister ever do your hair when you were younger?”

            Zuko resisted the urge to shake his head. “No, ‘Zula didn’t usually have the patience. When she did she usually needed something to do with her hands while she talked. She wasn’t very good at it though, she always pulled too hard and she could never get the braids tight enough to stay.” He smiled fondly. “My hair wasn’t long then anyway, the only one who could really do anything with it was Ty Lee. She could braid anything. Mai didn’t really mind it, but she’d get bored and start weaving random patterns in whoever’s hair she was working on. Sometimes it turned out okay, sometimes… not.”

            “That sounds nice,” said Katara, quietly. “I used to braid my Gran-Gran’s hair sometimes, and once and a while one of the village women or girls would ask me to, but there weren’t really any girls my age for me to do that with.”

            Zuko hesitated- but Katara was his friend, right? Friends… did things like this.

            (… she wasn’t going to make fun of him.

            … was she?)

            “I could braid your hair sometime if you want,” he finally said, trying not to cringe at how stupid it sounded when he said it out loud.

            (Father had worked very hard to beat into him that hair braiding was a woman’s skill and improper for a boy, let alone a prince to learn. And then the children in the noble families had somehow found out and they’d mocked him for it and called him-)

            “Really?” Katara sounded surprised, but not mocking. “So you… know how to braid hair too?”
            “Ty Lee taught me,” he said, ignoring how his voice cracked as he scrambled to get the words out. “When we were little, me and Azula and Ty Lee and Mai would sit in the gardens and braid each other’s hair, un-until father found out. Azula still let me braid hers, in her room, before balls and feasts and events, she would only let me and mother do it, she said we were the only ones who did it right.”

            “… That’s really sweet actually,” Katara said, softly. “I’m sorry your dad made you stop. What did your mom think about it? Was she mad too?”

            “No, she, she thought it was good. She let me braid her hair sometimes too,” he stared down at his hands. “She said I was good at it.”

            “I never really got a chance to braid my mom’s hair,” said Katara, pulling the comb through an untangled section. “Sometimes my dad let me braid his though.”

            Zuko blinked. That was… an unfathomable thought to him. “Your dad was okay with it?”
            “Yeah. In the Water Tribe a lot of the men wear braids.”

            Something in his chest cracked and for a moment he couldn’t breathe. His mind fought to focus on something, anything besides spiraling- “What happened to your mom?”

            He felt Katara stiffen and he tensed in response.

            “I’m sorry, you don’t have to tell me, I just-”
            “She died when I was little,” said Katara, quietly. “There was a Fire Nation raid on my village and one of the soldiers killed her.”

            He felt a jolt through his heart and clenched his fists, finding grounding in the comforting pain radiating through the right one. “I’m sorry,” he said, hoarsely.

            They were quiet again then, but he couldn’t just leave that there, he had to, he needed to…

            “I lost my mom when I was young too.”

            Katara froze. “Really?”

            He nodded on instinct. “She just… disappeared one night. I don’t- I don’t know what happened to her.”

            Something in the air around them lifted and he felt Katara relax. “I had no idea. I guess I never really thought about it, we talk about the Firelord, but never a Fire Lady. Is- is that why you and your sister are so close?”

            “Yeah,” he rubbed his hands up and down his arms. “We really only had each other when we were kids, especially after our mom was gone.”

            “I get that. Sokka and I were always closer after our mom died. And then our dad left two years ago to fight in the war, so we were on our own.”

            Zuko blinked. “Your dad is gone too?”

            “Well, I mean, he’s alive- last we knew- but we haven’t seen him in… a long time,” she sighed. “It’s been hard.”

            “Yeah,” Zuko traced the threads on his shirt. “I guess… I guess you didn’t really have a normal childhood, then.”

            “What do you mean?”
            “What I said the other day, when I got you and Toph to stop fighting, I said we hadn’t had a normal childhood like the rest of you. I… I shouldn’t have assumed, I’m sorry.”

            “Oh, I, no, Zuko, it’s fine, really,” he felt Katara’s hands start moving as she talked. “I knew what you were trying to say. I’m not mad about it. And you were right, I wasn’t raised like you or Toph. I didn’t have controlling parents who tried to smother me or anything like that. I know my parents have always loved me.”

            He felt a pang in his heart. He… he didn’t actually know what it was like to have two loving parents. He knew his mother had loved him, but father…

            He wasn’t sure father had ever loved him.

            Katara broke the silence that followed with a huff. “Some of these mats just do not want to come out. How do you feel about me trying to cut some of them?”

            The word “cut” made his heart skip a beat. He hadn’t cut his hair in three years, not since he sheared off his phoenix tail because it made him too noticeable. Cutting his hair meant he’d done something dishonorable and traitorous and…

            …And he had, hadn’t he? He was traveling with enemies of his nation- helping them- he had refused to help Azula capture the Avatar… he was, as far as his nation was concerned, a fugitive.

            The thought filled him with a wild, nervous energy. He dug his nails into his palms and took a breath. “You can cut it off.”

            “The mats?”
            “My hair.”
            “… Like, all of it?”

            He tilted his head. He didn’t really want all of it gone, that would probably be too jarring of a change. He reached back and tugged on his hair. It went halfway down his back.

            “Cut it off to just below my shoulders- that’s still long enough to braid, right?”
            “Yeah, I should be able to do that, but… are you sure? I don’t usually cut hair, and I can’t put it back if it goes badly…”

            He laughed. “It’s not like you can make it worse.”

            Katara snorted. “I mean, I guess you’re right. Okay, I’ll give it a shot. Can… can I cut your bangs a little too?”

            Zuko focused on the hair hanging down in front of his face. There were a few strands that were getting in the way of his vision these days. “I guess you can cut the parts that hang down over my eyes a little.”

            Katara sighed. “I guess cutting them short was too much to hope for.”
            Zuko gave a nervous little laugh. “I need something to keep my identity consistent. I can’t…” he reached up and stopped his hand just short of touching his scar. “I want to know who I am when I see my reflection.”

            “That’s fair,” said Katara. “I guess I’d feel weird too if I changed my hairstyle all of a sudden one day.”

            He nodded. “You’d look weird if you got rid of your hair loops.”

            Katara snorted and he frowned. He hadn’t meant to be funny, was that funny?

            “Yeah, I guess I would,” said Katara. “Okay, I’d better get started, tell me if it starts getting uncomfortable and I’ll stop.”

            “Okay,” he said, not mentioning that every part of this was going to be uncomfortable no matter what she did.

            When the scissors started snipping his whole body tensed and his hands clenched painfully tight. He forced himself to breathe evenly and closed his eyes, trying to find something positive to focus on.

            An old, old memory surfaced in his mind, and the bittersweet feeling it brought distracted him nicely.

            He was sitting in a chair, fists clenched, eyes shut tight. One of the other children in the palace had shoved something sticky into his hair, and mother said they had to cut it out.

            He hated the scissors, the sound they made, the feeling of the hair falling off his head, the blades so close that he flinched every time he heard them-

            ‘Zuzu! Zuzu look at me!’

            He opened his eyes and saw his baby sister, only three at the time, making silly faces at him. He smiled, just a little, then muffled a laugh when she tried a cartwheel, lost her balance and landed dramatically on the ground. Azula let out a little puff of fire and jumped up, crossing her arms and glaring at him, but that only made him laugh harder. The barber had to stop and wait for him to collect himself.

            ‘Don’t distract your brother too much, Azula,’ mama warned, but she was smiling at their antics.
            ‘But he likes it!’  said Azula, spinning around to look at mama.
            ‘But he doesn’t like haircuts,’ mama countered. ‘And the more you make him laugh the longer this will take.’

            ‘I don’t mind, mama,’ he said quietly. ‘I like it when Zula’s silly.’

            ‘See?!’ Azula bounced and waved her hand. ‘It’s okay, mama.’

            Zuko started giggling again and mother shook her head with a sigh. ‘If you say so, my loves.’

            When his haircut was finished, Azula ran up and hugged him. ‘You did it, Zuzu!’

            He laughed, and hugged her back. ‘I couldn’t have done it without you, Zula.’

           
            His heart ached. He missed those days. When the two of them were too little and innocent to understand their world, when they could laugh and play together freely.

            (as long as father wasn’t around.)

            He had still been afraid, but the fear wasn’t all encompassing then. There were still moments of freedom and happiness to be had. As he’d grown older he’d learned that indulging in those moments was foolish and dangerous, that if he let his guard down even for a moment it could lead to punishment and pain and father’s angry yells of ‘Why were you born, why can’t you be like your sister, why are you so weak, why was I cursed with a son like you?’

            Zuko took a deep breath. He felt Katara pause and readjust, then the snip snip snip resumed.

            “Okay,” Katara said after a while. “I think I’m finished.”

            Zuko opened his eyes and forced his mind back to the present. He looked up at the sky and tried to focus on the warmth from the slowly setting sun on his skin, and the fresh cool breeze bringing the smell of earth and trees and flowers with it.

            When he could feel again, he noticed how much lighter he felt. He reached back and was surprised that his hair felt soft, and that Katara had, somehow, already braided it without him noticing. He brushed his hand along his bangs and was pleased that she had left them mostly intact, just trimming the tips off.

            “Thank you,” he said quietly, his voice hoarse.

            “You should probably look at it before you thank me,” said Katara. She stood and stretched with a groan, then held a hand out to him. “Come on, there’s a stream over here you can look in.”

            He let her guide him over and froze when he caught sight of his reflection in the water.

            Cautiously, like his reflection would shatter if he moved too quickly, he knelt down. Tilted his head from side to side and assessed it. The braid wasn’t perfect, he had plenty of unruly hairs hanging down on the sides of his face still, but that was somewhat of a relief. He looked similar, but… new. Different.

            “Still like it?” Katara asked.
            “Yes. I- thank you, Katara.”
            “Sure thing. Now, don’t forget, you said you’d braid my hair sometime.”

            He smiled, just a little, and his reflection smiled back. The look suited him. “Anytime.”

Chapter Text

            It was a little while later that Toph stomped back into camp and started digging through their packs. Well, the other’s packs, Zuko still had his separate, and at the moment he was glad of it, because Toph was flinging bags around with no regard for any of their contents.

            So, he stopped fiddling with his newly-shortened hair and went over to her. “Did you lose something?”

            “No,” Toph snapped. “Which one of these is Aang’s?”

            Zuko held up the small pack and handed it to her. She yanked it out of his hand and sat down, digging through it.

            Zuko sat down next to her, frowning. He’d only ever seen Toph like this when she was frustrated about something her parents had done, or made her do, but he wasn’t sure what would have caused it now. He knew she’d been working on teaching Aang earthbending and that Katara had gone to check on them after finishing his hair. Had she gotten into a fight with one of them over something?

            “So, how did training Aang go?” he asked finally, unable to think of a better place to start.

            Toph huffed. “He’s hopeless! He knows the moves and stances, but he doesn’t have the guts to actually make a rock move, or to stand against one coming at him! He just dodges out of the way and lets it fly by, he doesn’t even try to stop it!”

            Zuko frowned. “He is an airbender, Toph, that’s what airbenders do.”
            “But he needs to be an earthbender, right? He’s the Avatar, he should get it! He sure doesn’t seem to have a problem with waterbending, he ran right off with Katara when she found us, like a coward.”

            Zuko flinched and something inside him cracked. “You’ve been training him for a day, Toph, you can’t expect him to be perfect at it right away. You’re holding him to way too high a standard.”

            “I should hold him to a high standard! He’s the Avatar! Everyone’s been saying we don’t have a lot of time for him to learn the elements and now he’s-”

            “Not everyone is a prodigy!” Zuko snapped. “Some people don’t get things the first time, or the second time you show them! Maybe it’s not Aang that’s the problem, but you and the way you’re teaching him, did you ever think about that?! That maybe you’re too stubborn and unyielding for your own good?!”

            Toph looked surprised, and Zuko forced himself to breathe, forced his fists to unclench, forced the anger and the fire inside him down.

            (it’s not fair it’s not fair everything was always easy for her-)

            “I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have- I’m sorry. I just… I’m not, firebending never came naturally to me and it’s my element, I’m a firebender, it should and it doesn’t, but it always did for my sister. She’s two years younger than me and learned twice as fast as I did. No matter how hard I worked it was never good enough, I could never catch up, I didn’t understand-” his voice broke and he closed his eyes. “Father used to get so angry about it.”

            After a moment where he tried valiantly not to start crying, Toph set a hand on his arm and squeezed gently. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I was being too hard on Twinkletoes. I guess… I’ve never taught anybody before. Katara said I should be more encouraging.”

            Zuko nodded, rubbing the tears out of his eye. “It’s not that you can’t still be firm,” he said quietly. “I learned best from my uncle and he was like that. But he didn’t make me feel bad when I messed up either, he just explained it again differently and told me to try again. When… when he and my cousin left for the war Azula tried to teach me what she learned. She yelled and got angry sometimes when I didn’t get it, but I knew she cared and was just trying to help so it didn’t upset me the way it did when father got angry.”

            “Well, that’s good, I guess, because I don’t think I could stop yelling if I tried,” Toph grinned.

            Zuko gave her a watery laugh and shook his head. “Why did you want Aang’s pack anyway?”

            She hesitated, then, “I was gonna steal his food out of it and eat it in front of him to try and goad him into standing up to me. I was gonna steal his staff too and use it as a nutcracker.”

            He stared at her and raised his eyebrow. “That’s mean.”
            “Yeah, yeah, I can see that now,” she waved her hand. “I guess I should probably go find him so we can try again. I’ll try and remember what you said.” She stood, and started to walk away, then paused. “And… maybe you should come practice with us sometime, Sparky. Then you can remind me  to be nice and get better at firebending at the same time.”

            Zuko swallowed hard and nodded. “I’ll take it under consideration.”

            Toph grinned, gave him a punch to the arm, and headed off.

****

            It was the next day, late in the afternoon, when Aang came and found him.

            “Hey Zuko,” he said, flopping down on the ground next to him.

            Zuko grinned a little as the boy sprawled flat out on his back and sighed. “Toph working you hard?”
            “Yeah, she is, but we have an understanding now. I think we both had our expectations too high yesterday.”

            Zuko nodded. They'd had an eventful evening, what with Sokka going missing and Aang having to fight off a saber-toothed moose lion to rescue his friend. Apparently Toph had been there the whole time, watching, and Zuko was glad he’d been searching elsewhere, or he might have… gotten in the way, he supposed, considering that things turned out okay.

            (he would never have let a moose lion even get near his friends if he’d known what was going on, but apparently Aang had needed the push to start earthbending, so…)

            “Actually, I wanted to ask you something,” Aang sat up and fixed him with a serious expression that rarely led to anything good.

            “Oh?” Zuko said, eyes darting away. He clenched his hands and forced himself to breathe.

            “So, I’m learning earthbending now.”
            Zuko frowned and tilted his head. “Yes?”
            “And, well, I was just wondering if maybe you could teach me a little about firebending?”

            Zuko felt a jolt go all the way through him and shook his head quickly. “I’m not good at firebending. I barely- I’m not even good at the basics, let alone more advanced forms, and it’s been three years since I had any training, I-”

            “I just want to learn the basics!” Aang broke in. “I just, I want to learn control. I-I tried, once, but the master who tried to teach me said I needed to master the other elements first because fire was so dangerous and unpredictable, but I don’t have time, and I…”

            Zuko wasn’t sure when he’d started staring at Aang, but as he watched the boy ducked his head and hugged his knees to his chest. “The first time I tried firebending, I burned Katara. I don’t- I don’t want that to happen again. You don’t need to teach me anything advanced, but you seem like you have good control over your firebending, so I just thought that, maybe…” he looked up hopefully.

            Zuko frowned, processing that. “You think I have good control?”
            “Well, I mean, yeah. I wasn’t really thinking about it until I watched your sister, but I mean, you’ve never hurt any of us with your firebending. Even when you were trying to capture me you were careful. And you’re super creative with it. Like when you blew that vine monster up in the swamp, I never would have thought of that!”

            Zuko turned Aang’s request over in his mind. He was definitely not qualified to teach the Avatar firebending.

            But, then again, Aang didn’t have many options. He’d apparently tried to learn before, and failed. And what were the odds that he’d meet another friendly firebender willing to travel with him?

            If he could just get Azula on their side, he was sure that she could teach Aang everything he needed to know, but that was not a guarantee.

            He had practiced over the years. He’d even adapted earthbending moves to use for firebending. He wasn’t good at the basics, but he knew them.

            And as for control… he hadn’t cared much about it until he met Tulip and Madia. But now…

            He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Exhaled and opened them again. Looked at Aang’s hopeful face. “I can try,” he said softly.

            Aang’s face lit up. “Really?”

            In response, Zuko reached into his pocket and pulled out two candles (he’d managed to get a few more in a market they stopped at). He set them both on a flat rock and lit them with a wave of his hand, then beckoned Aang over. The boy sat next to him, looking between Zuko and the candles curiously.

            “The best way to learn how to control your firebending is through meditation,” he said. “Focus on the candle flame and start breathing slowly. Eventually the flame will start to grow when you inhale and shrink when you exhale. Sometimes it helps to close your eyes and imagine it happening first, but really it’s just important to focus on the flame and how it feels. Fire is almost alive, and you have to treat it that way, you have to respect it and be in tune with it to tame it.”

            Aang nodded, then smiled up at him. “For what it’s worth, I think you’re already doing a better job at explaining things than the last person I tried to learn from.”

            Zuko blinked. Shook his head. Focus. “Don’t change the subject.”

            “Right, right, sorry.”

            Zuko took a deep breath and unconsciously pulled out Tulip’s flower and set it beside the candles, like always. He closed his eyes and breathed in-

            “What does the flower do?”

            Zuko let out his breath in a huff and glared at the little airbender. Aang had the decency to look chagrined.

            “It doesn’t do anything,” Zuko said, keeping himself from snapping at the boy with sheer force of will. “It just… helps me focus.”

            “Oh, okay. Um, sorry.”

            Zuko nodded, then closed his eyes again. “Good. Now be quiet and focus on the candle.”

            Aang listened this time and fell silent. Now that he was quiet, Zuko reflected that it was… kind of nice, to be meditating with someone again, to hear someone breathing in tune with him. He hadn’t really had that since he was with Tulip and Madia.

            (that had also been the last time he’d given guidance on firebending to anyone)

            After a while, Zuko opened his eyes and looked at Aang. The boy’s eyes were shut and he had a peaceful expression on his face.

            And the candle was rising and falling in rhythm with his breath.

            … Maybe he could teach the Avatar something after all.

Chapter Text

            “So, Zuko, I hear you’re teaching Aang firebending now.”

            Zuko turned and looked up at Sokka, raising his eyebrow. “Just the basics. If you think it’s a bad idea, go talk to Aang. I already tried.”

            “Nah, I don’t have a problem with that,” Sokka sat down next to him. “But I was thinking, since you… seem to be on our side now, do you have any information about the Fire Nation you can give us? Because we know, like, next to nothing about it. We don’t even have a map of it!”

            Zuko closed his eyes and took a long, slow breath. He was already a traitor, helping the Avatar, and he’d already decided that he couldn’t go home as long as his father was in power. The next logical step- if he was planning to continue along this path- was giving the group intel.

            ‘They’re not your enemies. They’re your friends. You chose this path, it’s time to commit to it.’

            Zuko exhaled and opened his eyes. He glanced at Sokka, who was watching him hopefully, and reached for his backpack.

            Tucked safely in the folds of Kalmar’s coat were three maps he’d kept from his ship after he left it in the North Pole. They were the maps that he’d marked in his and Azula’s secret code and he’d kept them in hopes of showing them to her one day and telling her about all the places he’d visited. They were water damaged, but not wholly unreadable. Two of them were maps Azula had stolen for him when he was banished and hidden in his Blue Spirit mask so he would be the only one to find them. The third was an Earth Kingdom map he’d taken from Omashu.

            He laid out his map of the Fire Nation and Sokka’s whole face lit up. “What do you want to know?” Zuko asked.

            “Uh, well, first of all, where is the Fire Nation capital?”
            “Here,” he pointed. “It’s called Caldera because it sits in the middle of a massive, ancient volcano. That also makes it highly defensible because there’s huge stone cliffs surrounding it and no easy path in.”

            “Bet it’d be easier with some earthbenders.”

            Zuko shook his head. “You’d need a lot of earthbenders, a whole army of them, to break through the cliffs. Even Toph couldn’t do it alone. It’d be easier to just tunnel inside, anyway, especially since there are already tunnels underneath the palace.”

            “Well you’re just a wealth of information, aren’t you? I don’t think I’ve ever heard you talk this much.”
            Zuko shrugged. “You never asked about something I knew this well before.”

            “Fair enough. What’s this?”

            Zuko tilted his head. “The Gates of Azulon. My grandfather made them. It’s a huge metal barrier coated in oil so it can be set on fire when unfriendly ships approach it. The bars are too small for a full-sized ship to fit through, and there’s watchtowers on either side. It’s the only way into the capital and it’s heavily defended.”

            “Hmm,” Sokka stroked an imaginary beard. “All of this seems to be implying we need an army. But we don’t have one, so how…” Sokka jerked upright and a grin covered his face. “We can convince the Earth King! He has an army!”

            “How? The Earth Kingdom’s never made a full assault on the Fire Nation before. Not a successful one, anyway, they have a hard enough time pushing invading troops back out of their own lands,” Zuko folded his arms. “You’d have to have a pretty good plan to convince the Earth King to help you.”

            “Or the right information,” said Sokka. “Are there any weak points of the Fire Nation? Any other ways into the capital that we can exploit?”

            “None you could take an army through,” said Zuko. He gestured at the map. “The Fire Nation is primarily made up of volcanic islands, which means there’s lots of mountains and rough terrain. And any invading force would need a lot of ships to carry it, so even if there was an easy place to get into the capital you’d be spotted and attacked long before you got there.”

            “Well that’s slightly demoralizing,” said Sokka. “But I haven’t given up yet! At least now we have a map and some intel, I can work with that,” he grinned. “Thanks, buddy.”

            Zuko rolled his eyes. “We’re still not buddies.”
            “But you said we were friends!”
            “Friends, yes, buddies, no.”
            “Fiiiine. Oh, hey, do you mind if I hold onto this map for a while? I’d like to look it over and commit it to memory and make sure I don’t miss anything.”

            Zuko tensed a little. “I guess… but you’d better not do something stupid like drop it in the river or spill tea on it-”
            “That was one time!”
            “-and you’d better not do anything to the stuff written on it. No crossing it out or trying to add to it or decipher it, understand?”
            “Okay, okay, fine, chill. What language is it anyway?”

            “A secret one,” Zuko said, lifting his chin. “You’d never figure it out anyway.”
            “I’ll have you know I take that as a challenge!”

            Zuko smirked. “You’d have more luck invading the Fire Nation.”
            “Uggghhh, fine, I’ll leave your stupid notes alone,” Sokka grumbled. “But after the war’s over and I’m not so busy I am totally figuring it out.”

            Zuko shook his head and stood. “Don’t count on it.”

****

            The Misty Palms Oasis was underwhelming, to say the least. Zuko recognized the place from his travels, which explained why the name was vaguely familiar, but unfortunately he hadn’t remembered in time to warn the others.

            He wasn’t sure how he felt about the “mini vacation” idea anyway. He wasn’t as opposed to it as Sokka, but it just felt strange to be taking a break. Thankfully he was not the first, or second person asked to pick a location, and he was secretly hoping that the others would, somehow, forget to ask him (it was unlikely, but he could hope).

            Trying to make the best of an underwhelming situation, they headed into the local tourist bar. Standing outside were a group of sandbenders, who Zuko nodded politely to before following the others inside.

            The only other person inside besides the bartender was a man dressed head to toe in desert tan. Probably an explorer of some kind. They watched as the man behind the bar made a fancy, fruit ice drink that Zuko had seen but never had enough money to try before, and Sokka predictably decided that anything involving food was worthy of taking a break for.

            And then the explorer turned and immediately collided with Aang, spilling his drink all over the kid.

            “No worries, I clean up easy,” said Aang, drying himself off with a gust of air that ruffled Zuko’s hair. He shook his head. At least he didn’t have to worry about the kid getting into a bar fight.

            But he did apparently have to worry about “Professor Zei, head of anthropology at Ba Sing Se University” being weird about meeting an airbender for the first time. They guy was making Zuko uncomfortable and he wasn’t even the one under scrutiny.

            He was trying to figure out how to say, “Get away from my friend, you creep!” but in a way that wouldn’t start a fight, when Toph nudged him. He jumped and she wordlessly held out one of the fruit ices to him.

            “Cool down, Sparky,” she said, quietly.
            He huffed and took the drink. “I just don’t like how that guy’s talking about Aang.”
            “Yeah, it’s not doing anything for me either, but I think he’s harmless. Maybe a little off in the head.”
            “Yeah…” Zuko sipped his drink contemplatively, and was relieved when Sokka started talking to the strange man.

            “So, professor, you seem like a well traveled guy, have you ever heard of any secret ways into the Fire Nation?”

            Zuko snorted and covered his mouth with his hand. ‘Yeah, Sokka, like some random professor is going to know a secret way in the prince of the Fire Nation doesn’t.’         

            He couldn’t fault Sokka for being thorough though. Stopping the Fire Nation was a near impossible task, it would be foolish to ignore a potential lead just because it was unlikely.

            “No, I don’t believe so,” said the professor, thoughtfully. “Most of my adventures in recent years have been into the desert, I’m afraid.”
            “Why the desert?” Katara asked.
            “I have been searching for the crown jewel of anthropology, Wan Shi Tong’s library.”
            “You’ve spent years looking for some guy’s library?” Toph asked incredulously.
            “This library is more valuable than gold, little lady, it is said to contain a vast collection of knowledge. And knowledge is priceless.”

            Toph looked skeptical, and Zuko couldn’t really blame her. After all, it wasn’t like she could read, so a library filled with books and scrolls would be underwhelming.

            “According to legend, the library was built by the great knowledge spirit, Wan Shi Tong himself, with the help of his foxy knowledge seekers.”
            “Oooh, so this spirit has attractive assistants?” Sokka piped up, because of course that was his first thought. Zuko bit back a chuckle.
            Katara gave her brother a shove. “I think he means they look like actual foxes.”
            “You’re both right,” the professor broke in. “Handsome little creatures. Wan Shi Tong and his knowledge seekers collected books from all over the world and put them on display for mankind to read so we might better ourselves.”

            ‘Yeah, that’s worked out, hasn’t it?’ Zuko shook his head. ‘And why would he build it in the desert? Is this one of those ‘only the worthy may enter’ deals? Because if so that’s not really helping to better humanity, is it?’

            The professor unrolled a picture of a truly impressive building, filled with windows and spires. If it was real it would certainly be magnificent.

            ‘And hard to miss. How has he never found this place?’

            “If this place has information from all over the world, do you think they have information about the Fire Nation?” Sokka asked hopefully.

            “I don’t know,” said the professor. “But if such a thing exists, it’s in Wan Shi Tong’s library.”

            “Then it’s settled,” said Sokka. “Aang, I do believe it’s my turn, and I would like to spend my mini vacation- AT THE LIBRARY!”

            Zuko laughed and shook his head. Sokka turned and looked like he was about to respond with some stupid and/or witty comeback but Toph interrupted.

            “What about me and Zuko? When do we get our vacations?”

            “You haven’t been here long enough,” Sokka said dismissively. “Zuko can go after my turn.”

            Zuko breathed a sigh of relief that at least he wasn’t going to have to make a decision right away.

            “Of course, there’s the problem of finding the library,” said the professor, bringing them back to the matter at hand. “I’ve made several trips into the desert and almost died each time. I’m afraid it's impossible to cross.”

            “… Professor, would you like to see our sky bison?” Sokka grinned.

            “A sky bison?! You actually have one?!”

            Zuko groaned. Great. Now he was going to have to listen to the guy making weird comments again.

            Outside, he was a little surprised to see a group of sandbenders standing suspiciously close to Appa while the bison growled threateningly at them. He supposed that Appa was a pretty unique and unusual creature, but they way the sandbenders were looking at him made Zuko a little more nervous than he’d like to admit.

            But, the professor chased them off quickly (and rudely, like they were hog-monkeys instead of people) and they hopped onto their sand schooners and sailed into the desert.

            “That was weird,” said Aang. “Should we be worried about them?”

            “Sandbenders don’t usually bother groups,” said the professor. “They’re thieves, but they tend to only steal from easy or profitable targets. I doubt they’ll give us any trouble.”

            Zuko frowned. “They’re not all bad. Some of them saved my life, once.”
            “Really?” Aang turned to him curiously. “What happened?”

            Zuko gave his (still new and a little strange) braid a tug and shrugged. “We should get going first. I can tell you on the way.”

            “Okay, fair enough. C’mon, everybody!”

****

            “So, Azula, what’s the plan?”

            Azula leaned back in her chair and glanced at Ty Lee, who was currently watching her upside down from a handstand. It was two days after their failed attempt to capture the Avatar and recruit Zuko and they were back inside the fast-moving vehicle returning to the facility it had been made in.

            “We are going to do something the Avatar can’t possibly ignore,” said Azula, steepling her fingers together. “We’ll lure him right into a trap.”

            “How?” Mai asked, idly twirling one of her knives.

            Azula smiled slightly. “By attacking Ba Sing Se and breaching its mighty wall.”

            Ty Lee flipped right side up. “But even your uncle couldn’t do that.”
            “Not quite. Uncle regrettably lacked the necessary equipment to shorten the siege, and his forces were too weakened to manage a proper invasion by the time the wall was finally torn down,” said Azula. “But we’ve learned from that, and we now have a tool that will make entering Ba Sing Se much easier.”

            She opened a compartment in the wall where important documents were stored to keep them from flying out in the event of a quick change of direction and pulled out a set of blueprints, laying them out on the desk in front of her. Mai and Ty Lee looked at them curiously.

            “A drill?” Mai cocked her head.
            “That would make things go faster,” Ty Lee nodded.

            “It is heavily fortified and has multiple failsafes. I’ve been told it will be nearly impossible to stop,” she waved her hand dismissively. “But even if it fails it doesn’t really matter. The capture of the Avatar, along with the safe return of my brother, are our true objectives, attacking Ba Sing Se is just a ploy to draw them out of whatever hole the Avatar’s hiding in this time.”

            “That’s really clever, Azula!” Ty Lee grinned. “I can’t wait!”
            “So long as I get to throw knives at someone, I don’t care what our plan is,” Mai leaned her chair back against the wall.

            Azula smirked. “We’ll be at the weapons facility by this evening. I’ve been told the drill is almost ready for deployment. We’ll see if we can speed things up a bit, shall we?”

            ‘I’m on my way, Zuko.’

****

            They, unfortunately, hadn’t been flying for long when Aang asked again.

            “So how did the sandbenders save your life, Zuko?”

            Zuko shrugged and folded his arms over his chest. Momo landed on his head then climbed down to sit on his lap. Zuko scratched the lemur’s ears absently. “It’s not that interesting of a story. I though I could save time traveling through the Earth Kingdom by going through the desert. I got three days in and passed out from heat sickness and dehydration. The sandbenders found me and took care of me until I was better, then dropped me off at the edge of the desert.”

            It was one of his least favorite misadventures to recall. He had been young, not even fourteen at the time, and he had been certain that even in the desert the sun would not harm him. The sun gave him power, and life after all, why would it be any different here?

            He realized his foolishness when the sun rose on the second day and sapped him of all his energy and strength, leaving him weak and shaking as if from fever. But by then it was too late and he was hopelessly lost. If the sandbenders hadn’t found him baking in the sun on the third day he would have died, alone and helpless, a victim of his own hubris.

            “You are one of a lucky few to have been helped by them, then,” said the professor. “They rarely deal with outsiders, unless they have something to trade. I’m surprised they didn’t try to sell you as a slave.”

            Zuko felt a shiver go down his back in spite of the heat. He didn’t remember many details from that encounter, but he did vaguely remember an argument between the group of sandbenders who’d rescued him and another group they met while traveling. An argument that had involved a lot of pointing and yelling in his direction.

            “Well, hopefully we don’t meet any of the bad ones then,” said Katara. She gave him a concerned look and he shook his head slightly. What had happened to him was long past and it had turned out fine. They had more important things to worry about.

            Like, for instance, finding a library that may or may not actually exist.

            “There it is!”

            Zuko jolted and jerked his head up, looking around for a second before he realized it was Toph’s voice he’d heard.
            “That’s what it’ll sound like when one of you spots it,” said Toph, waving her hand dramatically in front of her blind eyes.

            The others glared at her, but he burst out laughing. Toph grinned and the rest of them gave him quizzical looks.

            He ducked his head, biting his lip. “What? It was funny.”

            The search resumed. The sun beat down on them and Zuko found himself wishing he had a hat of some kind. Even a silly looking one like the professor wore.

            He checked his bag. He had a full canteen of water, all the fruit Momo had given him over the past few days and some jerky, along with his medical kit.

            He pulled out the container of burn ointment and assessed it. He’d been extremely frugal with it over the years, and it was still half full. There was plenty to use if he or anyone else needed it on this adventure.

            He glanced at Toph and scooted over to her, grinning a little. “Hey. Do you remember giving me this?”

            He handed her the container and she ran her hands over it. “Is it a box? A round box? When did I give this to you?”
            “I was hurt when we met, remember? You went and raided your house’s infirmary and this was one of the things you brought back.”
            “Ohh, right,” she grinned. “That was when you tried to lie to me.”

            He rolled his eyes. Of course she’d remember that. “It’s burn ointment. It’ll be helpful if any of us get sunburnt out here.”

            “I can’t believe you still have it,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s not even that big.”
            “I know how to make things last,” he said with a shrug.
            “Well, I’m glad it was useful.”

            She handed the container back to him and he stowed it in his bag, then went back to scanning the sea of sand for a massive, possibly not real, library.

            “It shouldn’t be this hard to spot a giant, ornate building from the air,” Katara said after a while.

            “Unless it isn’t real,” Zuko breathed.
            Toph grinned. “That’s the spirit, Sparky.”

            He chuckled, and was about to reply when a shout from Sokka interrupted him.

            “What’s that down there?!”

            Appa swooped down and landed them next to a spire poking out of the sand. Zuko stared at it in surprise. It certainly looked like one of the towers from the drawing- maybe the library was real after all.

            “What is it?” Toph asked while the others consulted the picture.

            “A big, stone tower, sticking out of the sand,” he replied. “It’s ornate like the drawing, but that’s all there is, no building or anything.”

            “Forget it, this is obviously not what we’re looking for,” said Katara. “The building in this drawing is enormous.”

            “Maybe it’s buried,” said Zuko. “The sand could have-”

            The others suddenly turned their attention to the left and Zuko quietly cursed his blind side and turned to see what they were looking at. And then he realized Toph couldn’t see whatever it was either and gave a small huff.

            “There’s something moving out in the sand, headed towards the tower,” he told her. “It’s carrying something.”

            As it got closer, Zuko could make out a small brown creature running down one of the sand dunes with a scroll in its mouth to the tower-

            -And then it ran straight up the side and into a window.

            “What kind of animal was that?” Sokka asked.
            “I think that was one of the knowledge seekers!” said the professor. “We must be close!”

            “No, I think Zuko’s right,” said Sokka, looking from the picture to the spire. “I think this is the library. It’s completely buried.”

            “The library is buried?!” the professor ran forward and collapsed in front of the tower. “My life’s ambition is now full of sand!”

            Zuko just barely restrained himself from laughing again. ‘Should have been an actor instead of an archeologist, professor.’

            “Ah well, time to start excavating!” the man pulled out a comically small shovel and started to dig in the sand and Zuko couldn’t stop himself from quietly laughing at that.

            “Actually, that won’t be necessary,” said Toph, pressing her hand up against the tower. “The inside is completely intact. And it’s huge.”

            “That fox thing got in through a window, I say we climb up there and give it a look,” said Sokka.

            “I say you guys go ahead without me,” said Toph.
            Katara folded her arms like she was preparing for a lecture. “You’ve got something against libraries?”

            Zuko groaned and rolled his eyes. ‘She’s literally blind, Katara.’

            “I’ve held books before, and I gotta say they don’t exactly do it for me,” said Toph.
            Katara looked chagrined. “Oh, right. Sorry.”

            Zuko chuckled and Sokka turned to him with a raised eyebrow. “We’re just hilarious to you today, aren’t we?”

            Zuko ducked his head. “You put on a pretty good show.”

            “Let me know if they have something you can listen to,” said Toph. “And Sparky, keep laughing at them, they deserve it.”

            “I’ll do my best,” he said, grinning and giving her a punch as he walked by.

Chapter Text

            Sokka used his boomerang as a grappling hook and they rappelled up the side of the tower, leaving Toph and Appa behind on the ground.

            The inside of the library was massive and so ornate it would put the Fire Nation palace to shame, with a domed golden ceiling and ornate carvings etched along the tops of the pillars supporting it. As he climbed down the rope, marveling at it, he saw Aang and Momo flying beside them, completely dwarfed by the world they'd entered and he suddenly felt very small and insignificant.

            They landed on a stone walkway stretching over a vast chasm, lined on either side with books and scrolls. It was, surprisingly, perfectly light enough to see (or read) inside, though Zuko didn’t see any other windows or torches. And it was much cooler, which was a relief. Momo landed on his shoulders, chattering, and Zuko smiled, imaging the comments Momo would make if he could talk.

            The professor immediately started exclaiming over the architecture, but for once Zuko couldn’t fault him. The library was beautiful...

            … And inhabited by a spirit with unknown motives, he thought as a noise caught their attention. Soundlessly, he and the others darted to the end of the hallway and ducked behind a pair of massive pillars. He heard a strange whooshing noise, along with the clack of claws, and clenched his fists, silently readying himself for a fight.

            Next to him, Aang peered around the back side of the pillar and Zuko resisted the urge to yank him back. Sudden movement was more likely to catch someone’s attention.

            But he needn’t have worried, because they had, apparently, already given themselves away.

            “I know you’re back there,” came a deep, thoughtful voice. A voice that had a hint of menace to it, even now when they had done nothing but enter the library-

            Movement beside him, and before he could grab him the professor was walking out from behind the pillars and introducing himself. Zuko groaned inwardly.

            “You should leave the way you came,” the voice told the professor. “Unless you want to become a stuffed head of anthropology.”

            Alright, that was both menacing and amusing, he’d give the spirit that.

            Well, it appeared that while they weren’t welcome, they also weren’t going to be killed on sight, so when the others filed out, Zuko followed.

            The spirit in question was a giant black owl, with white around his eyes. Zuko supposed that made sense, owls did typically represent wisdom, so a spirit of knowledge appearing as an owl was logical.

            “Are you the spirit who brought this library to the physical world?” Sokka asked.

            “Indeed. I am Wan Shi Tong, he who knows ten thousand things. And you are obviously humans, which by the way are no longer permitted in my study.”

            ‘Then why is your library still in the physical world?’ Zuko thought at the same time Aang asked. “What do you have against humans?”

            “Humans only bother learning things to get the edge on other humans. Like that firebender who came to this place a few years ago, looking to destroy his enemy.”

            “So,” the owl lurched forward at Sokka and Zuko tensed, every muscle poised to attack if the owl decided to strike. “Who are you trying to destroy?” Wan Shi Tong demanded.

            ‘For someone who knows ten thousand things, you’re pretty ignorant of what's happening in the world.’ Zuko thought, just barely restraining himself from saying the words out loud. He didn’t think that would help their case.

            “What? No- No destroying, we’re not into that,” Sokka stammered. Zuko winced. What he wouldn’t give to have Azula here right now. She could probably have tricked the owl into giving them exactly what they needed with a few carefully crafted lies.

            “Then why are you here?” Wan Shi Tong asked, obviously not buying Sokka’s act.
            “Knowledge for knowledge’s sake?” Sokka tried.

            Zuko wished harder for Azula to suddenly appear and let power flow towards his fingertips, ready to attack when this went south.

            “If you’re going to lie to an all-knowing spirit being, you should at least put some effort into it,” said the owl, distinctly unamused.

            “I’m not lying!” said Sokka, who had the audacity to sound indignant. “I’m here with the Avatar! He’s the bridge between our worlds, he’ll vouch for me!” he dragged Aang forward.

            “Um, yeah, I’ll vouch,” said Aang. “We will not abuse the knowledge in your library, good spirit, you have my word.”

            ‘He’s not wrong, ending the war hardly counts as abusing knowledge,’ Zuko mused appreciatively.

            “Hmm, very well, I’ll let you peruse my vast collection. On one condition. To prove your worth as scholars, you have to contribute some worthwhile knowledge.”

            ‘Worthwhile knowledge?! What does that mean?!’ Zuko fought to keep himself from panicking. What "worthwhile knowledge" could he possibly give to a spirit prejudiced against humans? Would the owl even listen or accept anything he said?

            Thankfully, the professor went first. He presented the owl with a first edition tome he had presumably written himself. Which gave Zuko an idea. It wasn’t an idea he liked, but if it was the only way for him to stay…

            (the others were going to need him, if the owl turned on them. He couldn’t just leave them.)

            He took a deep breath and swung his pack off his shoulders, pulling out his least valued map, the one of the Earth Kingdom he’d stolen. He unfurled it briefly, and looked sadly at the notes he’d left on it, then rolled it back up and stepped forward after Aang.

            “I have a map with notes from my travels written on it in a secret language,” he said quietly, holding it out and silently pleading for that to be enough.

            Thankfully, the owl seemed pleased. “I will enjoy deciphering it.” He swept a wing over the map and it vanished and Zuko stepped back, feeling hollow and unsteady, like he’d just given up a piece of himself.

            ‘It had better be worth it.’

            The owl was not amused with Sokka’s last-minute contribution of a “special knot”, but Zuko thought it was clever. If he’d realized he could have gotten away with it, he might have tried that with Kal’s rope. Then he could have kept his map…

            He shook his head. If he and Azula ever saw eye-to-eye again he remembered plenty of stories and places that he could tell her about. And he still had the other two maps, the ones that she had sent with him (well, Sokka had one, but Zuko was fairly confident that the other boy would keep it safe).

            Having accepted their offerings, the owl flew off and they were left to their own devices.

            “So… where do we start?” Aang asked, looking to Sokka.
            “Just start looking,” said the other boy with a shrug. “If you find something yell, “Hey look at this!” or something inconspicuous, just in case the owl comes back.”

            As they headed into the shelves, Zuko glanced down from the walkway and saw countless other bridges between rows upon rows of bookshelves. He hoped there was some kind of order to this place, because if there wasn’t they could spend a lifetime here looking and not finding what they needed.

            Despite several attempts by Sokka to get them to spread out, they all stayed fairly close together. There was something about the vastness of the place that made one not want to wander. Even the professor stayed only a shelf or two away.

            Zuko idly perused the titles until a particularly ornate spine caught his eye. He pulled it out and gasped, eyes widening.

            The cover was decorated along the edges by ornate flames of all colors twisting in and out of each other. And breathing them, as they swooped around on the bound leather, were dragons.

            Zuko sat down and opened the book, running his hands reverently over the pages. The cover had proclaimed that it was “The Comprehensive History and Guide to Dragons of the World”, and Zuko believed it. Inside were numerous sketches and finished drawings of dragons, along with detailed explanations of their habitats, nests, eating habits, firebending abilities, migration patterns…

            He had always hated that the Fire Nation killed all the dragons. Even as a little boy with no understanding of the scope of the war he’d cried when mother told him there were no more dragons left, because uncle Iroh killed the last one. He hadn’t spoken to uncle for a month after that.

            (Azula had always thought it would be glorious to battle a dragon and have the honor of killing it. It was one of the few things they’d never been able to compromise on.)

            “What’d you find, Zuko?”

            He jumped and looked up at Aang, feeling slightly guilty. Aang didn't seem to notice though and plopped down next to him, peeking over at the book.

            “Those are some great illustrations,” Aang said. “They capture how the dragons move and fly really well, they look like they’re gonna swoop right off the page at us!” he swept his hand up in an arc and Zuko smiled, just a little.

            “Have you ever seen a dragon?” Zuko asked quietly. Aang had been born over a hundred years ago, long before the dragons went extinct, so it was possible…

            “Yeah! I’ve seen a few, back when I used to visit my friend Kuzon in the Fire Nation,” Aang grinned. “They were pretty secretive, but we always thought it would be fun to train one and be able to fly around on it.”

            “Yeah,” said Zuko, sadly. “That would have been cool.”
            Aang frowned. “I mean, you still could, you just have to-”
            “No, I can’t. The Fire Nation killed all the dragons. My uncle killed the last one.”

            “Oh. Oh,” Aang deflated.

            Zuko took a deep breath and closed the book, running his hands longingly over the cover. “I wish I could take this with me. The dragons deserved better than to die with no one remembering them.”

            Aang glanced around, then leaned in close and whispered to him. “You probably could, I saw Sokka sticking some stuff in his bag.”

            Zuko shook his head. “It’s too big and heavy. Besides, I think the owl would notice.”
            Aang sighed. “You’re probably right. It is really cool though,” he looked up at the shelf and his face suddenly brightened. “Hey, look at this!”

            He pulled out a smaller book titled, “The Somewhat Less Comprehensive History and Guide to the Dragons of the World: Pocket Edition”. When he flipped it open there were many of the same drawings and much of the same information, just smaller and shortened.

            Zuko put the larger book back and took the little one that was less than half the size of the original. A sly smile stole onto his lips. “Now this is small enough I don’t think it’ll be missed. And it’ll be easier to carry.”

            “That’s the spirit!” Aang grinned. “Now c’mon, we better keep looking before Sokka gets cranky again.”

            Zuko nodded. He stowed the book safely in his backpack, nestling it in Kal’s coat with his last map, then followed Aang to another shelf.

****

            They had been searching for hours to no avail, when Sokka suddenly darted around a corner and nearly crashed into him.

            “Zuko, perfect! Do you know what the darkest day in Fire Nation history was?”

            Zuko blinked, mind scrambling. “What?”
            “I found this scroll that mentions the darkest day in Fire Nation history. Do you know what happened?”

            “I…” he tried desperately to drag his history lessons up from the depths of his mind, but the memories were foggy at best. “I don’t know, Sokka, I can’t remember.”

            Sokka shook his head. “It’s fine, they should have a section on the Fire Nation not far from here. Hey, guys!”

            When the group was gathered again, Sokka led them to where the books about the Fire Nation should have been-

            -But when they entered the room all they found was a pile of ashes and his heart sank.

            ‘No wonder Wan Shi Tong doesn’t like humans. You’d think he’d be okay with stopping the Fire Nation though.’

            “It isn’t fair!” Sokka lamented. “Just when I think I’m one step ahead of the Fire Nation it turns out they beat us here a long time ago! I need to know what happened on the darkest day.”

            A small whimper drew their attention and they turned around to see the little fox creature from earlier (or a different one, maybe? Were there more than one?) standing in the doorway looking at them thoughtfully.

            “Hello, weird little fox guy,” said Sokka, hesitantly.

            The fox dropped down onto all fours and pointed with its nose like a well trained hunter.

            “It appears it’s trying to assist you,” said the professor.
            “Sure, I’ll follow you, I guess,” said Sokka.

            The fox led them to an enormous circular door, then darted through a hole the perfect size for it. A moment later, the door rolled open and revealed the fox sitting proudly inside. Zuko smiled a little and scratched its head as they walked in. At least one spirit in this place seemed to want to help them.

            The fox pattered over to a lever and pressed it-

            -and the ceiling moved.

            Zuko flinched, then stared up in wonder as stars covered the dome above them, shifting like a moving painting of the night sky.

            “This room is a technological marvel!” The professor exclaimed. “A planetarium that shows the heavens actually moving!”

            The stars vanished and were replaced with a blue sky and sun. And Zuko felt his mind turning once again. The fox had brought them here, to a planetarium, with a sun and moon when they asked about the darkest day…

            “This is beautiful, but how is it helpful?” Sokka asked.
            “Maybe these dials represent dates and times,” said Katara. “Sokka, try entering that date on the parchment you took.”
            “Katara, shhh, not in front of the fox, he’s with the owl!”

            The fox whimpered and Zuko rolled his eyes. He came up beside Sokka and glanced at the dials.

            “I think I figured it out,” said Zuko, quietly. “The darkest day, I think… I think I know what it was.”
            “What?” Sokka turned to him, looking hopeful.
            “You should put the date in to make sure, but…” Zuko tugged on his braid and winced. He was about to give away one of the biggest secrets the Fire Nation had, to people who would use it against his nation.

            But the war needed to end. And these were his friends, not his enemies.

            “I think it’s a solar eclipse,” said Zuko, quietly. “Firebenders lose their bending during an eclipse.”

            Sokka’s eyes widened. “Wait, really?!”
            “That makes sense,” Katara chimed in. “Remember what the lunar eclipse at the North Pole did to the waterbenders?”

            “Check the date,” said Zuko.

            Sokka wordlessly slid the dials into place and they all stood still as the room shifted again.

            And when it stopped the moon was squarely in front of the sun.

            “It is a solar eclipse!” Sokka whooped. “We’ve gotta get this information to the Earth King at Ba Sing Se. We’ll wait till the next eclipse, then we’ll invade the Fire Nation when they’re totally defenseless. The Fire Lord is going down!”

            A shadow fell over them and Zuko hissed, letting sparks jump to his fingers as Wan Shi Tong appeared, looming over them.

            “Mortals are so predictable,” he said darkly. “And such terrible liars. You betrayed my trust! From the beginning you intended to misuse this knowledge for evil purposes!”

            “You don’t understand!” said Sokka. “If anyone’s evil it’s the Fire Nation! You saw what they did to your library. They’re destructive and dangerous, we need this information!”

            Zuko flinched. He knew, in his mind, what Sokka was trying to say, but hearing it hurt. Not everyone in the Fire Nation was evil and destructive. Most people weren’t, in fact. Was he just the exception to the rule in the group’s eyes?

            (was he even an exception?)

            ‘They haven’t exactly had many other positive encounters with firebenders.'

            This wasn’t the time to argue. He needed to-

            The ground started to shake, and wind gusted around him, bringing him back to the moment. The owl was flapping his mighty wings and sand was pouring in through the walls-

            “He’s sinking the building! We’ve gotta get out of here!” Katara shouted.

            “I’m afraid I can’t allow that,” Wan Shi Tong’s voice sent a shiver down his spine. “You already know too much.”

            The owl reared up and an unholy shriek burst from his beak, before he slammed it down at them. They yelped and scrambled out of the way, and as one the group tore back through the corridors they way they’d come.

            Wan Shi Tong sped after them, wings slamming into the shelves and tearing books off them as he came. The professor tried (stupidly) to reason with the spirit, and Aang yanked him back with airbending right before Wan Shi Tong crushed him.

            The owl flew at them again, and this time Aang knocked him over the side of the walkway with a mighty gust of wind.

            Zuko took a breath, hands shaking slightly. Hopefully that would buy them enough time to get out of this place.

            “We have to get back to the surface!” Aang shouted.

            They started to run, but Sokka hung back, even when Katara called for him to hurry up.

            “We still don’t know when the next eclipse is!” Sokka protested.
            “Don’t be stupid, we’ll find out later-”
            “No, we won’t! If we leave now we’ll never get the information. Aang, come with me back to the planetarium, I need cover. Katara, take Momo and get outta here! Zuko-”

            Zuko took a deep breath. “I’ll keep the owl busy," he heard the whoosh of wings and gave Katara a nudge. "Go!”

            “But-”

            “GO!” Zuko and Sokka shouted together as Wan Shi Tong burst through the shelves after them once more.

            The owl chased after him and Katara. The professor darted off into the shelves somewhere and Zuko decided that the man could look after himself.

            He needed to get the owl to focus on him instead of Katara, then at least one of his friends would be safe.

            Luckily, firebending was great at attracting attention.

            He spun around, mid-stride, the heels of his hands pressed together, and released a massive fireball right at Wan Shi Tong’s face.

            The owl shrieked in fury and shook the fire out of his face before lunging down at Zuko. Zuko dodged and shot another fireball at the owl’s long neck. He was rewarded by the smell of singed feathers as he turned and ran for his life down a row of shelves.

            The owl tore after him, wrecking shelves and sending books flying. It was ironic, Zuko thought, that while trying to protect his knowledge the spirit was, in his rage, destroying it.

            Zuko slid to a stop as a wall reared up in front of him, and he realized with horror that he had come down a dead end. His expression hardened, and he sprang onto the shelves, making it to the top in two leaps. Behind him, the owl shrieked, and Zuko jumped for the next row of shelves.

            He heard the air move, saw a black blur in the corner of his eye-

            The owl’s wing slammed into him and sent him flying through the air-

            He couldn’t change direction, he had too much momentum-

            With a sickening crack he crashed into a pillar and slumped to the ground, wind completely knocked out of him.

            Zuko gasped, panic flooding his mind when he couldn’t take a breath, couldn’t pull the air into his lungs-

            Air clawed down his throat and he wheezed, a sharp cry leaving him as pain tore through his chest. Weakly, he scrabbled at the stone, trying to move, trying to do anything but just lay there, helpless-

            A dark shadow loomed over him and pressure on his chest made him scream as his already broken ribs buckled.

            “Humans are truly pathetic,” Wan Shi Tong sneered. “And unworthy of my knowledge. But you, firebender, your kind has wronged me more than any other, so I will give you the privilege of dying directly by my claws as I tear you apart, piece by piece.”

            The pressure turned to stabbing agony as one of the owl’s talons pierced his chest and Zuko screamed again as blood welled up from the wound and the owl pressed deeper-

            In desperation, Zuko pressed his hands against the owl’s foot and channeled every ounce of chi and power into them-

            The spirit roared and wrenched back, shrieking in fury and pain as his foot smoked.

            Zuko jerked himself up as he’d done dozens of times when he was injured and ran, adrenaline masking the pain enough for him to get away and collapse in a dark row of shelves.

            His chest heaved and his vision swam as agony pulsated through him, but he was already moving, already taking off his backpack and pulling out bandages to quell the blood flowing from his chest. His hands shook as he pressed the bandages against the wound and wrapped them around his chest, under his tunic.

            ‘It’s fine, you’re going to be fine, you’ve had worse, and Katara can heal you with waterbending. Just hang in there until you get out of this and you’ll be fine.’

            Telling himself that was one thing, but getting his broken body to move again was another matter.

            He couldn’t quite convince himself it was worth it until he heard Katara scream.

            He was on his feet and running in an instant, making towards the sound, ignoring the jarring pain that accompanied every step. He found that the owl had cornered her in the shelves and fury filled his mind.

            He shot an arc of fire at the owl’s ruffled tail feathers and the spirit shrieked and spun around.

            “You again,” Wan Shi Tong growled. “Your persistence is futile.”

            Zuko laughed and pain spiked in his chest. “Like I haven’t heard that before!”

            He threw a bolt of fire at the owl’s eyes, forcing it to jerk out of the way and sending it crashing clumsily into a row of shelves. Katara ran to him and grabbed his arm, dragging him away.

            “The rope’s over here!” she yelled.

            He chased after her and they stopped beside the rope. Momo landed on his head and clung there.

            “Start climbing,” he said. “I’ll-”

            A gust of air knocked him back, and the owl was up again, charging down the walkway and rising over them.

            “You cannot escape,” snarled Wan Shi Tong. “Your bending means nothing to me.”

            Zuko glanced down at the owl’s burned foot, which was held slightly off the ground. “Yeah, right, keep telling yourself that.”

            “I have studied every style of water and firebending, you two are no match for-”

            There was a wild yell, and Sokka dropped out of the sky, slamming a book down on top of the owl’s head and knocking it unconscious.

            “That’s called Sokka style! Learn it!”

            Zuko almost laughed, and if they’d had time he would have hugged the other boy. Which likely meant he was in too much pain and not thinking clearly, so maybe it was just as well that they had to scramble up the rope.

            He was doubly glad he hadn't when Sokka halted their procession, shouting at the professor- who Zuko could just see between the shelves, surrounded by books- to come with them. The man declined, giving a speech about how he’d spent too long searching for the library to leave it now. Zuko just wished they would start moving again before he lost consciousness.

            “I could spend an eternity here,” the professor concluded.

            “Just go!” yelled Katara, spurring Sokka on.

            But it was too late. Wan Shi Tong screeched and snapped at their rope, shaking it and sending them tumbling to their doom.

            And then Aang was there, swooping under them on his glider. Zuko grabbed onto the others and caught a glimpse of Wan Shi Tong flying after them and Aang wasn’t moving fast enough-

            Zuko shot a stream of fire from his hand straight at the owl’s face and felt them rise a little faster. Vaguely, he remembered that powerful firebenders could fly-

            And then they shot out the tower window and crashed onto the desert sand and he found himself frantically gasping for air for the second time that day.

            There was a mighty rumble, and he heard Toph cry out and realized that she must have been holding the library up for them. That gave him the energy to push himself into a sitting position and look around.

            There was a huge crater in the sand where the library had vanished. Toph sat on the edge of it, breathing hard and shaking slightly but otherwise alright.

            But something was wrong, he could feel it, and it made all his aching muscles tense as he tried to figure out what it was.

            And then-

            “Where’s Appa?” Aang asked.

            Toph just shook her head.

            And Zuko’s heart dropped.

Chapter Text

            Appa was gone.

            The sandbenders had shown up while they were inside the library, while Toph was holding up the library, and they’d stolen Appa.

            In an instant, everything had shifted. They had no flying behemoth to turn to for safety and a way out of difficult situations. They had no way to quickly get to Ba Sing Se and get the information about the eclipse to the Earth King.

            They had no way out of the desert.

            Zuko got to his feet and swallowed back the pain. Because he had to. He could not afford to be injured right now. The others needed him to be stable, and by Agni he was going to be, even if it killed him in the end.

            The others were spreading out, trying to see through the sand whipping up around them to try and catch any glimpse of the sandbenders. Zuko knew they wouldn’t, the sandbenders would be long gone by now, but he used it as an excuse to get a short distance away from them. Once he was, he pulled out his small supply of medicinal herbs and creams. He broke off a small piece of willow bark and started chewing it and started rubbing his one pain-numbing cream on his chest. He didn’t dare lift up the bandage over his wound, lest it start bleeding more, but he did tighten it a bit.

            He could breathe a bit better then and nodded resolutely, stowing his gear back in his pack. His fingers tingled from the cream, and he absently rubbed the excess on his scar.

            There was a little chatter behind him and he turned to see Momo looking at him accusingly. He huffed, tried to bend over to pet the lemur and nearly toppled face-first into the sand. Momo chirped and scrambled up his arm, rubbing against  his face.

            “I’m fine, Momo, really,” he said, unconvincingly as he straightened up and blinked tears out of his eye. He took a shallow breath, trying to avoid putting pressure on his ribs. “I’m fine.”

            He headed back towards the others just in time to hear Aang start yelling at Toph.

            “How could you let them take Appa?! Why didn’t you stop them?!” the airbender demanded.
            “I couldn’t! The library was sinking, you guys were still inside, and-”
            “You could have come to get us! I could have saved him!”
            “I can hardly feel any vibrations out here! The sandbenders snuck up on me and there wasn’t time for-”
            “You just didn’t care! You never liked Appa and you wanted him gone!”

            “That’s enough, Aang!” Zuko pushed himself between the two kids, glaring down at the little airbender. “I know you’re upset, but you have no right to talk to Toph like that when she just saved our lives! If you want to be angry at someone, be angry with me, I should have stayed out here with her as a guard, I just didn’t think the sand people would-”

            “You’re right, maybe it is your fault!” Aang snapped. “You and your friends the sandbenders! Maybe you planned this with them! Maybe you’ve been working against us all along and you wanted us to fail, so you told the sandbenders to come steal Appa while we were all distracted!”

            Zuko winced and pulled back a little. ‘He’s not thinking clearly. He doesn’t actually mean it, he’s just angry. Let him be angry at you instead of the others.’

            Thankfully, Katara intervened before Aang could continue his tirade. “Aang, stop it! You know Zuko didn’t do anything wrong and you know Toph did everything she could- she saved our lives!”

            “Who’s gonna save our lives now? We’ll never make it out of here.” Sokka asked as the wind picked up again, throwing sand into their eyes, making it as hard to see as that blizzard at the North Pole…

            “That’s all any of you guys care about- yourselves! You don’t care if Appa is okay or not!”

            Zuko closed his eyes and tugged a stray stand of his hair. He hated this. Hated that he had to watch Aang go through this and he could do nothing to fix it.

            “We’re all concerned,” said Katara. “But we can’t be fighting right now!”

            “I’m going after Appa!” Aang snapped. He opened his glider and jumped into the air too fast for anyone to stop him. And Zuko’s heart ached for him.

            “Aang, wait!” Katara chased after him. Zuko followed and set a hand on her shoulder.
            “Let him go. He needs time for this to settle in,” he said quietly.

            Katara looked just as frustrated and distraught as he felt, but she nodded.

            “We’d better start walking,” she said. “We’re the only people who know about the eclipse; we have to get that information to Ba Sing Se.”

            “You think if we dig out the giant owl he’ll give us a ride?” Sokka asked as they started walking.

            Zuko laughed, just a little, and paid for it with a sharp pain in his chest. “I highly doubt that, Sokka.”

****

            They had been walking for a while when Zuko noticed Toph lagging behind, so he walked back to check on her.

            “Hey, you okay?” he asked, looking her over again for any obvious sign of injury. He knew from experience that just because you could do something insane (like holding up a massive library) didn’t mean you could do it without damaging yourself.

            “Just tired,” she said.
            “Makes sense. Thanks for saving our lives, by the way, we’d have been dead without you.”
            “Yeah, what was that Sokka was saying about a giant owl?”
            “That was the spirit who guarded the library,” Zuko said. “He wanted to kill us because we found information that might help us stop the Fire Nation.”
            “Oh well that’s nice,” Toph shook her head. “Stupid owl.”

            Zuko smiled, then hesitated a little. Toph was fiercely independent and self reliant, but she was also a little kid who had just held up a gigantic stone library with her bare hands. So…

            “I could give you a ride for a while, if you want,” he said finally, deciding it was worth the risk.”
            “A ride?”
            “Yeah, I could carry you on my back for a bit.”

            Toph considered it and that alone made him glad he’d decided to ask, because if she was considering it then it meant she really was dead tired. “Okay,” she said, finally.

            His eyebrow shot up in surprise, but he nodded. “Okay, let me just take my backpack off so I can readjust it once you’re on-”

            “Wait, you wanna carry me and a backpack? Oh heck no, I’m not treating you like a pack ostrich horse. Hey, Katara, Sokka! One of you get over here and carry Sparky’s bag for a while!”

            Katara and Sokka walked back to them and Momo helpfully hopped off his shoulders. “Wait, you still have your backpack?” Sokka asked.
            “I always have my backpack,” said Zuko, solemnly. “You think this is the first time I’ve had people steal from me?”

            “What do you have in it, provisions wise?” Katara asked.

            “A mostly-full canteen of water, some fruit and jerky and a few medical supplies,” he shrugged. “Also a coat, a map, my swords, some rope and a book I stole from the library.”

            Katara looked surprised, but Sokka laughed. “Hey, good call! Glad I wasn’t the only one pocketing things.”

            “So we have your water and my bending water, but that’s it,” Katara mused. “How far is that going to get all of us?”

            “Hey, maybe we can get some water out of that!”

            Zuko craned his neck around to see what Sokka had discovered and his eyes widened. “Sokka, wait-”

            But Sokka either didn’t hear or didn’t listen, because he sliced open the plant and took a gulp of the liquid inside. Momo darted over and started lapping it up as well. Zuko groaned.

            “There’s water trapped inside these!” Sokka called eagerly.

            “Sokka, you shouldn’t be eating strange plants!” said Katara, running over to him.

            “Especially not that one!” Zuko added. “Cactus juice causes-”

            Sokka’s pupils suddenly dilated and a crazed look overtook his face. “Drink cactus juice! It’ll quench ya! Nothin’s quenchier!”

            “Hallucinations,” Zuko sighed.

            Sokka walked back over to them. “Zuko did you light Toph on fire?”

            Above them, Momo spun around wildly in a circle, before crashing face-first into the sand.

            ‘Oh, not you too, Momo.’

            “Can I get some of that cactus?” Toph asked.
            “No!” Zuko said, quickly. He huffed. “Come on, I said I’d carry you for a while, and now Sokka won’t even remember it.”

            Toph smiled a little. “Perfect timing then. Get over here, Sparky.”

            He knelt down with Toph behind him and set her hands on his shoulders. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he lifted her up. His ribs protested with jabs of fire shooting through his chest, but he just closed his eyes and grit his teeth, forcing himself to breathe as normally as possible while the pain passed.

            “You okay, Sparky?”

            He let out a breath and made his voice sound light. “Just a little lightheaded with this heat.”
            She laid her head on his shoulder. “What, you mean a firebender can’t take the heat?”
            “Considering my first experience in the desert I can confidently say that no, I can’t.”

            Katara shouldered his bag. “Alright, come on, we need to keep moving and find Aang.”

            She picked up Momo in one arm and pulled Sokka along with her free hand as they started walking. Zuko fell in behind them (not because he was exhausted and struggling to breathe, it was definitely in case Sokka stopped moving and Zuko had to run into him to get him walking again). Toph slowly relaxed, and in spite of the throbbing pain in his chest, Zuko was glad he’d offered her a ride, because she never would have accepted unless she was desperate.

            “How did we get out here in the middle of the ocean?” Sokka asked as they headed further into the vast sea of sand.

            Zuko chuckled.

****

            It was some time later that a gust of wind swept over them, and when they turned to look there was a great cloud of sand in the distance.

            Zuko’s heart sputtered. If that was a sandstorm they were doomed.

            “What is that?” Katara asked.
            Toph lifted her head off his shoulder and looked around. “What? What is what?”

            “It’s a giant, mushroom!” Sokka gasped.

            Zuko tilted his head. The cloud was kind of mushroom shaped, which didn’t seem important at first, but sandstorms weren’t usually shaped like mushrooms, so he relaxed a little.

            “Maybe it’s friendly!” Sokka shouted, throwing his arms in the air. Zuko endured another stab of pain laughing at the sight.

            “Let’s just keep moving,” said Katara. “I hope Aang’s okay.”

            “Friendly mushroom! Mushy giant friend!” Sokka wove back and forth waving his arms and Zuko doubled over laughing.

            The laugh turned into a coughing fit and he found himself spitting blood onto the sand and swaying slightly.

            “You sure you’re okay, Sparky?” Toph asked worriedly.
            “Yeah, I’m fine,” he swallowed down the blood and took a deep breath. “Sokka got me laughing so hard I must have sucked some sand into my lungs.”

            “I can get down and walk if you want.”
            “No, it’s okay. You’re not much heavier than my backpack anyway,” he grabbed Sokka’s wrist and started towing him along.

            Katara had stopped a little ways ahead of them and he saw now that she was holding his canteen. “I heard you coughing. We should probably drink a little.”

            He nodded. At least she hadn’t noticed any of his other symptoms.

            Katara bent out a little mouthful of water for each of them (which was a handy feature of waterbending he had never considered before). He held his in his mouth and swished it around to wash out the taste of blood, then slowly swallowed it, savoring it as much as he could.

            They kept walking.

****

            The sun was going down when he heard a familiar whoosh of air. A sense of relief engulfed him when Aang landed in a puff of sand.

            He bent down and Toph wordlessly slid off his back. He stretched a little, and hissed as the motion pulled on his injuries.

            Aang knelt despondently in the sand, with his back to them and Zuko felt that familiar ache in his heart again.

            (he’d searched the city and the hills and the forests for months looking for his mother, every spare moment, until even Azula called him crazy for trying.)

            (until he finally gave up hope.)

            “I’m sorry, Aang,” said Katara, quietly. “I know it’s hard for you, but we need to focus on getting out of here.”
            “What’s the difference?” Aang said, voice flat and broken. “We’ll never survive without Appa, we all know it.”

            Zuko felt a familiar defiance stir in his heart at that. It was one thing for him to give up, it was another to watch Aang’s bright spark be snuffed out.

            He walked around to kneel in the sand, facing Aang. He put his hands on the boy’s shoulders and Aang glared up at him, but his eyes were hollow.

            “Aang, listen to me,” he said. “We can get out of here and we can find Appa, but we can’t give up. You can’t give up. And it’s hard when you lose people, I get that. It’s hard when you fail. I chased you all around the world on a hopeless quest after losing almost everyone in my life who ever cared about me,” his voice shook. “You don’t think I tried giving up?”

            Aang’s brow furrowed, and he saw the unspoken question enter the boy’s eyes.

            Zuko reached into his pocket. “I didn’t give up because I met people who wanted me to live, who gave me hope when I had nothing,” he held up the dried little tulip flower and pressed it into Aang’s hand. “You told me at the North Pole that the only reason this life was worth living when you’d lost so much was because of your friends. Well, you haven’t lost us. And we still need you.”

            He leaned back and Aang huffed. “Why? Because I’m the Avatar and the whole world’s counting on me?”

            “No,” said Zuko, quietly. “Because you’re our friend. And I am not leaving you here, even if I have to pick you up and carry you out of this desert myself.” He stood, and held out his hand. “Now get up, because when we find Appa I’m not gonna be the one to tell him we left you to rot in the desert.”

            Aang stayed still for a moment, then stood, ignoring Zuko’s outstretched hand. But he did tuck the flower into a pocket in his shirt and Zuko felt something in his heart settle.

            ‘The flowers that burned will bloom again.’

            Aang wasn’t a lost cause.

            (and neither was he)

****

            It was fully night when they found the boat.

            Toph had gone back to walking on her own (though Katara seemed content to carry his pack, which was fine since he was feeling weaker and less steady the longer they walked and pain shot from his chest down his legs and feet with every step) and Zuko was stumbling along a few paces behind her, head down, when she suddenly yelped.

            His head jerked up and he had to close his eyes for a moment against a wave of dizziness. When he opened them again, Toph was on the ground rubbing her foot.

            “Crud! I am so tired of not feeling where I’m going! And what idiot buried a boat in the middle of the desert?!”

            He relaxed slightly, then realized what she said. “What?”

            “A boat?” Katara asked, sounding as surprised as he felt.

            “Trust me, I kicked it hard enough to feel plenty of vibrations,” Toph assured them.

            Katara knelt down next to the tip of the boat(?) that was sticking out of the sand, running her hands over it.

            Aang walked up to her and, without a word, whipped the sand up around them, unearthing the “boat”.

            He recognized it immediately as one of the sandbender’s skiffs and watched as Katara as investigated it.

            “Look, there’s even some sort of compass! I bet it can point us out of here!” she said eagerly.

            Zuko frowned. He had a feeling that that was wrong for some reason, but his mind was too foggy and tired to figure out what it was, so he just nodded.

            “Aang! You can bend a breeze so we can sail it, we’re gonna make it!” Katara grinned.

            Zuko closed his eyes and leaned against the platform. ‘We’re gonna make it…’

            ‘Not with your luck,’ that bothersome voice in his head replied. He sighed and shook his head. At least he could rest for a little while.        

            It took too much effort to climb onto the skiff. His arms and legs burned like they were on fire, and pain shot through his chest every time he took a breath. He leaned against the navigation platform and closed his eyes. He should probably get his bag back from Katara now and use some more of his numbing cream, but first he was just going to close his eyes for a minute…

            He woke up as the skiff slid to a stop in front of a massive rock rising up out of the sand. His mind felt hazy, and he was too hot, he could feel flames creeping up his arms, searing through his flesh-

            “Sparky, c’mon, there’s a rock out here!”

            He tried to smile and felt his lips crack and start bleeding. Carefully, he eased himself down from the skiff and bit back a cry when he stood and pain lanced through him. Gritting his teeth, he shuffled forward, letting his arms wrap about his chest for support. Did Katara still have his bag? He needed it, needed to do something about the pain…

            The others were ahead of him, climbing up a steep path to the top of the flat rock. He made it about halfway up before his knees buckled and he collapsed, biting down on his knuckles to keep from crying out. Tears slipped out of his eye and he leaned his head back against the stone, silently pleading for this to end. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t think, and all he could feel was pain and fire burning his arms, face, chest…

            And then he heard the screaming.

            His head jerked up and his body was already moving, nearly sending him lurching off a cliff as he fought to orient himself. Top of the rock. Up. Move.

            He ran faster as a buzzing sound filled the air and came to the top just in time to see Aang take off after a buzzard wasp while dozens more swarmed the others. He sent out an arc of fire that slammed into the creatures, knocking them away.         

            “Everybody move, we’re going down!” Katara called. The others headed towards him and he shot several fireballs at the pursuing wasps.

            Katara directed Toph to shoot rocks at the wasps in front of them and Zuko kept the swarm behind them at bay. Sokka wasn’t particularly helpful in any way, but he did seem to finally be more coherent.

            Unfortunately, the wasps could fly and they could not. The swarm cornered them at the foot of the rock. Zuko shot another sweeping fire arc at them and half a dozen fell down dead, but a dozen more took their place. Zuko sagged. They were fighting a losing battle.          

            Well, he wasn’t going down without a fight. He lifted his hands and sent out a long blast of fire at the wasps-

            -and staggered back as walls of sand erupted in front of them.

            The wasps fled and Zuko took a shaky breath. Sandbenders. But which ones? The kind who had rescued him or the kind who had stolen Appa?

            As if he’d sensed the brewing confrontation, Aang dropped down between them and the sandbenders. He heard a chirp and Momo landed on his back, clinging to his shirt and peeking over his shoulder at Aang like he was worried.

            “What are you doing in our land with a sandbender sailer? From the looks of it, you stole it from Mohammi Tribe,” the apparent leader of the sandbenders asked.

            “We found the sailer abandoned in the desert,” Katara explained. “We’re traveling with the Avatar. Our bison was stolen and we need to get to Ba Sing Se.”

            “You dare accuse our people of theft while you ride in on a stolen sand sailer?!” one of the other sandbenders- a younger one- demanded. Zuko focused on him. If there was going to be trouble, it’d likely come from him.

            “Quiet Gashwin! No one accused our people of anything! If what they say is true, we must give them hospitality,” the leader said. At least he seemed reasonable.
            “Sorry father,” said the younger sandbender.

            “I recognize the son’s voice,” said Toph suddenly. “He’s the one who stole Appa.”

            In spite of the heat burning him up, Zuko felt a shiver go down his spine. He took a breath and readied himself for another fight.

            “Are you sure?” Katara asked.
            “I never forget a voice,” Toph asserted.

            Aang moved, brandishing his staff at the sandbenders and Zuko couldn’t bring himself to do a thing. All he could think of was a little boy, crying in the corner of a dark courtyard, because his mother was never coming home.

            (and there was nothing he could do to fix it)

            “You stole Appa! Where is he, what did you do to him?!” Aang shouted.
            “He’s lying! They’re the thieves!” the young sandbender protested.

            Aang lunged forward and air sliced through one of the sand skiffs, tearing it to pieces. Zuko’s heart beat faster.

            ‘Do something do something do something-’
            ‘Do what? He’s the Avatar. And he’s right to be angry.’

            He clenched his fists as a feeling of helplessness overwhelmed him. He couldn’t fix this. Everything he’d tried to do to keep them safe and it all meant nothing in the end.

            “Where is my bison?! Tell me where he is NOW!” Aang sliced apart another sailer and Zuko’s breath caught. None of them would be able to get out of here if Aang kept destroying those.

            But he stayed frozen in place, eyes wide as the scene played out in front of him.

            “What did you do?!” the leader demanded of his son.
            “It- it wasn’t me-” the son tried.

            “You said to put a muzzle on him!” Toph broke in.

            Zuko felt the air change, electrify, and his heart thundered in his chest.

            “You muzzled Appa?!” Aang shouted, enraged.

            And then the little airbender’s eyes started glowing.

            Sand spun as air whipped up around them and a sandstorm rapidly formed around Aang as his tattoos glowed and fury radiated from his whole being.

            Zuko stumbled back and landed in the sand, wide-eyed. He’d only ever seen the Avatar state twice, and only once when Aang was in control of it, what felt like a lifetime ago at Fong’s base.

            But this felt different, more chaotic, like Aang had even less control than before, like he didn’t care if he hurt friend or foe, he just-

            -he just wanted someone to hurt like he did.

            A choked sob rose up in his chest and Zuko curled into himself, pulling at his hair. Vaguely, he heard Sokka yelling for them to run, but he couldn’t move, couldn’t make himself stop shaking-

            Something shifted in the air and he forced himself to look up. Aang was still there, hovering, air spinning around him, but now-

            -now Katara was there, holding onto him, grounding him, and Zuko could see the tears on the boy’s face as she pulled him down into her arms and held him until the wind stopped and the sand pattered to the ground and Aang’s glow faded.

            He took a breath and pushed himself to his feet, shaking slightly.

            “We will give you safe passage out of the desert,” said the leader of the sandbenders nearby, probably talking to Sokka and Toph. “We’ll provide you with food and water and shelter so you can rest. If the Avatar is willing.”

            “Thank you,” said Katara, her voice soft and watery.

            Zuko tried to swallow, but there was no moisture in his throat. His whole body felt dry and hot, and as he stood, pain stabbed through his chest. He wrapped an arm around his chest and closed his eyes. He couldn’t even cry.

            His hand was wet, but that didn’t make sense. Why would there be water-

            He lifted his hand and saw red. He blinked, swaying.

            “Hey, Sparky, are you-”

            The world tipped and Zuko crashed onto his side in the sand, finally crying out as fresh pain exploded through his chest.

            “Zuko!”

            His head throbbed and his vision flickered. Vaguely, he registered hands touching him, and caught a glimpse of his blood staining the sand.

            His blood….

            ‘It’s okay, they’re safe, they’re safe. You can rest now, my love.’ Said a voice in his head that sounded like his mother’s.

            So he closed his eyes and did.

Chapter Text

            “What happened?!”
            “I don’t know, he just collapsed!”
            “Is that- Katara that’s blood!”
            “I can see that Sokka!”

            Aang knelt in the sand with the others next to Zuko’s unconscious (please just be unconscious-) body. Blood covered his friend’s chest, seeping out from a soaked bandage and staining the sand red.

            What had happened? When had it- when they were fighting the hornets? He’d flown off to save Momo- but no, Zuko wouldn’t have had time to bandage the wound, so…

            Aang felt his throat closing up and tears burning behind his eyes as Katara peeled the bandage off to reveal a bloodied, gaping hole in Zuko’s chest.

            “When did that happen?!” Sokka asked, echoing his thoughts.
            “It-it must have been in the library,” Katara said, bending out her last bit of water to hover over Zuko’s chest. Her hands were shaking. “We got separated, Wan Shi Tong chased after him, but I thought he got away, I didn’t, I should have…”

            He should have noticed. If he hadn’t been so angry about Appa-

            “If anyone should have noticed, Sweetness, it should have been me,” said Toph, her voice, wavering? Toph’s voice could waver?

            Aang looked over to her and saw tears in Toph’s eyes, which was… wrong. It was so, so wrong and terrible and what was going on, how could this day have gotten worse, how was this worse-

            “How were you supposed to notice?” Sokka asked. “You said you can’t even see out here.”
            “He carried me for a while,” Toph sniffed and rubbed her eyes. “I should have- I could tell he was in pain, but I didn’t know why-”

            (if he didn’t know her better he would have said that Toph sobbed, but he couldn’t accept that was possible, not right now, when everything was collapsing around him)

            “Sokka, go see if the sandbenders have any medical supplies and water,” Katara ordered. “His ribs are broken too, and there are fractures in his spine, we shouldn’t move him until I can treat those. Aang, see if he has any bandages in his bag and if he does use one to put pressure on his wound and keep it from bleeding.”

            Aang dragged himself over to Zuko’s backpack and dug through the (surprisingly neat) contents until he found bandages along with some pain cream and a crushed up powder he was pretty sure was made to stop bleeding. He brought them over and presented them to Katara, who thanked him and tried to smile.

            He tried not to look at Zuko’s wound. Tried not to think about how much pain his friend had been in, and how he hadn’t complained, hadn’t said a word, not even when Aang was yelling at him and calling him a traitor.

            Aang took a small shuddering breath and glanced up at Toph. She was sitting facing Zuko, holding his hand in one of hers, and using her other hand to stroke Momo’s drooping ears. The lemur sat on her lap, looking more dejected than Aang had ever seen him and something in his heart broke.

            “This is my fault,” he said, quietly.

            Katara looked up at him. “Aang-”

            “I should have realized he wasn’t okay. I should have been paying attention, he never tells us anything when he’s hurt, I should have been watching, but I was so upset about Appa I didn’t even notice and now he’s-” his voice broke and tears slid down his cheeks. “I don’t, I can’t, I can’t lose anyone else-”

            Toph sat up straighter. “Is he gonna die?”

            “No, no, Aang, stop it, Toph, no he’s not going to die, he’s just, he’ll be fine, I just have to-”

            “Look if he can survive three years on his own he’ll be okay now too,” Aang had never been so glad to hear Sokka’s voice interrupt. The older boy plopped down next to him. “It’s not like this is the first time he’s almost died, even since we’ve known him. Dude’s more stubbornly determined to live than anyone I’ve ever met.”

            “Right,” said Katara, latching on to her brother’s optimism. “I just need to- Sokka, did you talk to the sandbenders?”

            “What? Oh, right, yeah, here,” he handed her a small, sloshing jug. “They’re gonna take the sand sailer we used to get here back to their camp to get us supplies.”

            “How do we know they’ll come back?” Aang asked.
            “Most of them are staying here. They can only fit like eight guys max on one of those things. The rest of them are gonna make us a tent-shelter thing since the sun’s getting hotter. They’re trying to dig out their medical supplies from the ruins of their other sailers.”

            Aang winced. Yet another problem he’d caused in his anger.

            “Shelter is good,” said Katara. “We all need to get out of the heat, Zuko especially. I’m not exactly sure what heat-sickness is, but if it’s the reverse of cold-sickness then I think that’s why he’s so hot-”

            “Oh, so you think he’s hot now, huh?”
            A handful of sand flew at Sokka’s face.
            “Ow!”

            “It’s like he’s feverish, but he’s not sweating, does anyone remember if he was awake when I passed out water last?”

            “He wasn’t,” said Toph. “I decided not to wake him up because he looked exhausted. I should have.”
            “It might not have made a difference,” said Katara. “I don’t know why the heat is affecting him so badly, he’s a firebender, I kind of just assumed he’d do better in heat like Sokka and I do better in the cold.”

            “It’s those burns he has.”

            The raspy voice made them all jump and stare up at the scruffy, gray-haired sandbender it belonged to. “Burns like that’ll make you more susceptible to heat,” the sandbender continued. He tilted his head. “I remember that one. We pulled him out of the desert once before. Can’t believe you got him to come back after that.”

            “Could you please just go away now?!” Aang snapped.

            The man shrugged. “Strangers have strange ways,” he said as he walked away.

            The sandbenders used the wreckage from the sailers to make a tent around them, blocking out the burning sun. Aang hugged his knees to his chest and stared at Zuko’s face. Even unconscious he didn’t look peaceful; his mouth was turned down in a frown, and his face was drawn like he was angry or afraid.

            He remembered suddenly that Zuko had given him something in the desert, the little flower he’d been carrying around since before the North Pole. Carefully, he pulled it out of his pocket and turned it gently in his hands, lifted it to his nose and breathed in its faint scent.

            ‘You’re our friend. And I am not leaving you here, even if I have to pick you up and carry you out of this desert myself.’

            Aang closed his eyes and lifted his head to the sunlight blanketing the tent. ‘Spirits, please help him. Let him be okay. He’s my friend. Please. I can’t lose anyone else.’

            As if in answer to his prayer, Aang felt a breeze brush past him, and on the wind he could have sworn he heard a faint giggle, and the scent of the flower he held suddenly seemed stronger.

            Hopefully that was a good thing.

            'Hang on, Zuko. Please.'

****

            Zuko was burning. Heat flared up from his skin like it was on fire and his scars throbbed like fresh wounds. Flames rose up all around him, casting flickering shadows in the darkness as he ran, feet pounding the ground, terror pumping through his body.

            Behind him he heard a screech and he pushed himself to go faster, to run, run, run it’s gaining on you-

            He heard the beating of wings and a gust of air knocked him off his feet. The flames rose higher, he could smell the smoke, the burning flesh, feel the fire biting into his skin-

            He scrambled up and faced the shadow towering above him, swaying, fists clenched. Spirit or not, he was not going to be beaten by the likes of Wan Shi Tong.

            But as the shadow solidified it was not the owl he faced, but his father, looming over him, hands aflame, a wicked smile on his face.

            Zuko’s heart leapt into his throat and he scrambled back, suddenly unable to breathe as smoke and terror filled his lungs.

            “Zuko,” Ozai snarled. “You still have not learned.”

            His father stepped forward and Zuko fell back, landing on the ground, eyes wide. “Father, I-”

            “Your disrespect was not enough. Now I see all along you wished to betray me, to usurp me, and your defiance was just the beginning!”

            “No, father, I didn’t mean-”

            Ozai leered down at him. “It was a mistake, letting you live, I see that now. I will not be so merciful again.”

            Ozai lifted his hands and fire flowed down from them, leaping out and striking at him like whips. Zuko yelped and tried to move, tried to defend himself, run, anything, but his body refused to do anything but sit and cower in terror-

            “Now, DIE!”

            Ozai released a torrent of fire and Zuko screamed, closing his eyes and waiting to feel the flames consuming him, burning him alive-

            But he never did.

            Instead, a defiant little voice broke through the darkness and the flames.

            “No! Go away and leave Zuko alone, you big meanie!”

            Zuko opened his eyes and saw, somehow, impossibly, Tulip, her silver hair shining in the firelight, arm outstretched, blocking his father’s fire with her own.

            “Insolent child!” Ozai roared. “I shall destroy you!”

            “No!” Zuko screamed, panic jolting through him.

            But Tulip didn’t flinch. She just lifted her chin and clenched one tiny fist.

            “Go away!” she commanded, her voice fierce. “I’m not afraid of you! You can’t hurt us! You’re just a big, ugly meanieface! Now get out of here!”

            And to Zuko’s utter shock and amazement, his father vanished into thin air.

            Tulip spun around, and for a moment her little face was so fearsome that he almost pulled back-

            But then a smile transformed her expression and she launched herself at him with open arms. “Zuko! I missed you!”

            Zuko blinked and slowly hugged her back. “How did you do that?”

            She pulled back, still smiling. “Do what?”

            “Make- make my father go away?”

            “Oh, this is a dream, or, I guess it’s a nightmare, isn’t it? I’m not scared of nightmares, they’re not real and they can’t hurt me, so I can tell them to go away and they do.”

            He stared. “What?”

            She giggled and leaned back. “Dreams aren’t real, so I can control them, because I know they’re dreams. I know the difference, I always do. I tried to teach Madia and uncle Kal how do to it, but it’s really hard for other people to learn. So I help chase away their nightmares whenever I can.”

            “Oh.”

            “You were having a really bad nightmare,” Tulip said, sobering. “That was your father? He was so mean! Why was he trying to hurt you?”

            Zuko swallowed hard. “I, he, he just-” his eyes flickered to the still-shifting shadows and flames around them and he shuddered.

            Tulip followed his gaze and, for the first time seemed to realize what kind of place they were in. “Oh, this is awful! Hold on, I’ll fix it!”

            She took a deep breath and closed her eyes-

            And suddenly they were in a mountain valley, covered in green grass and wildflowers, with a gentle sun and fluffy clouds above them in a gray-blue sky.

            Tulip opened her eyes and clapped her hands. “That’s better!”

            “Wh- how did you?”
            “I can make dreams change to nice things,” she said with a sly smile. “You can do anything in a dream and I know it.”

            Zuko ran his hand over the grass and flowers and felt the gentle breeze ruffle his hair. “I like your dreams a lot better than mine.”

            Tulip giggled and settled in his lap. “Thanks!”

            “How did you know I was having a nightmare?”

            “Well, I told you I’d try and pay attention and come help you if you had nightmares, but I think you’re really far away from me now because it’s hard, but I think someone helped and called to me because it was like I knew exactly how to find you today!” she snuggled in the crook of his arm and looked up at him thoughtfully. “I think it’ll be easier to find you now, so maybe I can help you again if you have more bad dreams.”

            “I- I’d like that. Thanks, Tulip.”

            “Yep! So have you been on adventures? Are your friends still nice?”
            “Yes, they’re… still nice. We’ve been having a rough time though.”

            Her eyes widened. “What happened? Did you get hurt? Did your friends get hurt?”
            “I got hurt, but I’m okay, I-I think, anyway,” he frowned. “My friends… we get around on my friend Aang’s flying bison, Appa, but Appa was stolen while we were inside a spirit library and we got trapped in the desert. But we met some sandbenders and they said they’d help us.”

            “That is an adventure!” Tulip agreed. “And really sad! Poor Appa, I hope you get him back. How did you get hurt?”
            “The spirit didn’t want us in his library and he attacked us after we found out some important information that might help us stop the war. I got hurt while I was fighting him.”

            Tulip’s brow furrowed. “Who was he?”
            “What?”
            “The spirit, who was he? Do you know his name?”
            “Wan Shi Tong. He’s a big black owl. Why?”

            “Oh it’s him!” Tulip clapped her hands together and he jumped. “That big mean owl! He chased me away from some books I found in the probably-Spirit World one time. I’ll yell at him for you the next time I see him.”

            “Wait, no, don’t, don’t try and make him angry,” Zuko said, alarmed. “It’s fine, we got out with the information we needed. I didn’t die, I’ll be okay.”
            “He hurt you and that wasn’t nice!” Tulip said, shaking a finger at him. “I’m going to tell him so.”
            “Please don’t put yourself in danger because of me, Tulip,” he pleaded. “It’s bad enough I have to worry about my friends now, I don’t want to worry about you too.”

            Tulip huffed and folded her arms. “He can’t kill me in the Spirit World. And I’m not scared of him. He’s not even one of the spirits Mister Roku told me to be careful about.”

            Zuko blinked rapidly, processing that. “Mister Roku?! You- you’ve met Avatar Roku in the Spirit World?!”

            “He’s an Avatar?” Tulip tilted her head. “Oh. He met me the first time I went to that place and told me to be careful because there are bad spirits there and he told me places to stay away from. I see him sometimes.”

            “I-I’m pretty certain that’s the Spirit World, Tulip, what- how did you, you just met Avatar Roku there?!”

            “I guess. He’s really old looking, but he was nice,” she squinted, leaning up closer to Zuko’s face. “He kind of looks like you but really, really old.”

            Zuko snorted and gave her a tiny push. “Thanks.”
            “You’re welcome! That must mean you look wise and powerful, since he’s an Avatar!”

            Zuko ducked his head. “I’m not wise. And I’m definitely not powerful.”
            “You fought a spirit and lived! You must be pretty powerful.”

            He shook his head. “I’m not even good at firebending. I never really even mastered the basics.”

            Tulip tilted her head at him. “Uncle Kal never mastered the basics either, but he’s a really powerful firebender. He learned by working in his forge and making things for people. He learned how hot and powerful to make fire so that he could do his work really really well. You,” she poked him in the chest. “Used firebending to survive, right? When you were by yourself? You made it work for you how you needed it to. You told us you practiced sometimes when you traveled and you taught us how to meditate. Maybe you’re not a master, but you don’t need to be. Your firebending works how you need it to, and you understand how to use it practically and that is powerful.”

            Zuko hunched his shoulders, tears stinging his eye. “Tulip, my sister was better at firebending at eleven years old than I am now. You- you haven’t seen real firebending, you don’t-”

            Tulip put her little hands on his shoulders and stared into his eyes. “You don’t need to be the best to be good at something.”

            A choked sob escaped him and Tulip wrapped her arms around him. And he cried, half ashamed he was doing it and half relieved he was able to.

            “You don’t need to be the best to be important, either,” Tulip whispered. “You’re important to me and Madia. And to your friends.”

            Lost for words, he hugged her back, gently squeezing her frail little body against his chest.

            “You’re a good friend, Tulip,” he said finally, when his tears were spent.

            “Thanks! I’m trying really hard!”

            He laughed and she pulled back and smiled at him.

            “So what have you and Madia been up to?” he asked, hoping that if she started talking she would stay and he could rest in this peaceful place she’d created for a little longer.

            “All sorts of things! There’s lots more berries and flowers now that it’s warmer, and uncle Kal is teaching us how to cook more things! And he’s started to let us come in the forge and help him firebend more while he makes things, which is why I know he’s really good at it, and it’s perfect because we’re in a forge and of course there’s fire, so nobody thinks we’re firebending at all, so…”

            He smiled, and laid back on the grass, listening to Tulip’s cheerful chatter and feeling the warm sun on his face. She laid down next to him, snuggled against to his chest, staring up at the clouds.

            He wished it could always be like this.

Chapter Text

            Zuko wasn’t sure how long he was unconscious, but it was at least two- maybe three- days. He knew that much because Tulip visited him each night… but she also visited him during the day when she was napping, so he wasn’t exactly sure how long had passed.

            Whenever Tulip was gone he had nightmares of fire and his father, and whenever she was there she transformed them into the mountain valley covered in flowers and told him about her day, or the Spirit World and her adventures there.

            Waking up took a monumental effort, and whenever he briefly slipped into consciousness it felt like rocks were pressing down on his chest, making it impossible to take a breath. Pain flowed through him like a current, jabbing him whenever he managed to breathe, and the feeling of fire and burning followed him from his nightmares.

            He was all too happy after that to sink back into unconsciousness and let darkness take him until Tulip reappeared.

            And then one day, after a night of sitting in the peaceful valley, he suddenly and jarringly found himself awake.

            There was light behind his eyes and his chest hurt, but it was easier to breathe now. His head and back ached and his scars felt itchy and hot.

            He groaned and started trying to find his way back into Tulip’s dream, when a voice interrupted.

            “Zuko?”

            His focused sharpened and with an effort, he forced his eyes open. Everything was blurry and bright and made him wince-

            “Zuko- hey, Sparky, are you awake?”

            He blinked and tried harder to focus. “Toph?”

            His voice was rough and raspy, but apparently it was good enough, because Zuko was suddenly stifling a yelp as Toph threw herself over him and hugged him.

            “You’re okay! You’re not dying!” he heard her exclaim as he squeezed his eyes shut against the sudden onslaught of jabbing pains through his chest.

            “Ow, yeah, I’m- ow- Toph-”

            “Oh, right, you’re still broken. Sorry,” she sheepishly clambered off him. Then she gently punched him in the shoulder. “Don’t do that again, Sparky.”
            “Do what?” he mumbled

            “Almost die! I was, we were-” Toph huffed. “We were worried about you!”

            Zuko tilted his head and focused on her as much as possible. She looked genuinely upset and a little worm of guilt crawled into his heart.

            “’M sorry,” he said quietly. “I’ll try not to.”

            “Good.” Toph stood, and Zuko could have sworn he heard her sniffle. “I’m gonna go get the others. Don’t fall asleep again yet, okay?”

            “I’ll try,” he said, closing his eyes.

            Toph left, and Zuko heard voices nearby, then quick footsteps. With an effort, he opened his eyes again and turned his head toward them.

            His one working eye was still hazy, but he could tell the others by their colors. Katara’s blue appeared first, followed quickly by Aang’s bright yellow and Sokka (who he could hear better than he could see) and last of all Toph. A flash of white swooped off Aang’s shoulders and landed gently on top of him, and he heard Momo’s familiar chatter.

            “Hey, look who’s finally awake!” said Sokka. It sounded like he was grinning, how did he do that?

            Katara knelt down beside him and he could see her more clearly. She looked kind of worried but also maybe hopeful? “How are you feeling?” she asked.

            “Like I got run over by a herd of komodo rhinos,” he muttered.
            “Yeah, that’s kind of how you look too,” Sokka agreed. Toph shoved him and he yelped.

            “Did we make it out of the desert?” he asked.
            “Yes,” Katara had her hands over his chest and he felt cool water numbing the shooting pains. “The sandbenders brought us out and gave us supplies. We’re in a little glade by a waterfall.”

            Oh, Tulip would like that, he’d have to tell her next time he saw her. Zuko craned his neck and saw Aang standing back a bit, looking uncertain. “Are you okay?” he managed.

            Aang blinked at him. “Zuko, I- you almost died, I should be asking you that.”
            Zuko shook his head and endured the dizziness that followed. “You can tell by looking at me I’m not alright. You’re… harder to tell.”

            He felt the others focus in, like they were watching Aang without even looking.

            The little airbender shuffled and shrugged. “I’m fine. I- we got out of the desert. We can head to Ba Sing Se once you’re better. That’s all that matters.”

            ‘What kind of an answer is that?’ he wanted to say, but Katara interrupted his thoughts.

            “You should be able to walk by tomorrow, and if you’re up to it we can leave the next day.”
            “We can leave tomorrow, I’ll be fi-”

            “No!”

            The resounding chorus made him jump as the entire Gaang unanimously turned down his idea. Even Momo chirped disapprovingly at him.

            He sighed and closed his eyes. “Okay then.”

****

            Two days later Zuko sat beside the river, eyes closed, head tilted towards the sunlight, listening to the others splash around in the water. Apparently “leaving in two days” didn’t mean they were leaving at first light- it was nearly noon and they were still in the same little glade.

            He was feeling better, mostly. The sharp pains had turned to aches and little twinges, nothing worse. Katara said he still wasn’t fully healed and that he needed to be careful not to overexert himself, but he could now walk and move without worrying about his bones cracking to pieces again.

            Yesterday, he’d made it out of the little tent he’d been in and managed to sit for a while by the fire and have a meal with the others. They’d watched him worriedly, and refused to let him do anything to help clean up, like they were afraid he’d break again.

            (He hadn’t realized he’d worried them so much. It wasn’t the first time he’d been hurt like this, even with them.)

            This morning, when he’d learned they weren’t setting off right away, he’d slipped away to take a bath and wash his clothes. He’d gotten skilled at heating the water around him and then drying his clothes quickly after. It had felt lovely to finally wash off all the sand, dust and dried blood. His tunic was torn after their adventures, he’d have to ask Katara if he could borrow some thread to fix it.

            He’d been a little scandalized to find Toph sitting on the riverbank when he came out, but she’d just laughed and said, “It’s not like I can peek, Sparky. I wanted to make sure you didn’t wander off and get yourself hurt again.”

            Since he'd woken up Toph had been kind of… clingy? She stayed close to him most of the time, even snuggling up against him around the campfire and sneaking over to curl up next to him at night. He felt bad for having scared her, but it was sweet that she was worried, and it reminded him of how Azula acted when they were little.

            (he never drew attention to anything she did, he knew if he did that she’d stop and he didn’t really want that. It was comforting to have someone near, especially at night.)

            Katara seemed to be torn between worrying about him and worrying about Aang. She was constantly hovering near one of them and asking how they were doing, or just trying to assess them silently. He wasn’t sure how Aang felt about it, but it made him a little uncomfortable.

            He wasn’t sure how Aang felt about anything right now. The little airbender was usually so open and honest, but at the moment he was quiet and evasive. He seemed to be especially avoiding Zuko which was… odd. He tried not to take it personally. The kid was mourning and worrying about getting Appa back and trying to get to Ba Sing Se in time to raise an army. That would make anyone a little on edge.

            Sokka seemed to be trying to make up for the others acting weird by treating Zuko… pretty much the same? Which was fine, he didn’t need Sokka mother-henning him too. He caught Sokka watching him too though, just… less than the others.

            And Momo rarely left his perch on Zuko’s shoulders. When he did, he was with Aang. But that was close enough to normal that he didn’t mind.

            In light of all that Zuko was glad they were going to be moving on soon. It was strange and uncomfortable having everyone worry about him (for no reason, now, he was fine) and treating him like he was made of glass.

            “Water bomb!”

            Zuko jumped, started from his thoughts, and opened his eyes just in time to see a wall of water crash over him. He spluttered, shaking his head. Sokka yelled something about the maps he was looking at and the others laughed, though Katara did apologize for getting them wet.

            With a small huff, Zuko stood and started steaming off his clothes as he gathered around Sokka’s maps with the others. At least the water and air weren’t freezing cold anymore.

            “It looks like the quickest way to Ba Sing Se is through the Serpent’s Pass,” said Sokka.

            “No,” said Zuko, quickly. “There’s a ferry.”
            “Wait, really?” Sokka looked up at him. “Were you going to share that tidbit with us at some point?”

            Zuko rolled his eyes. “Maybe if you had asked I would have sooner.”

            “Have you been to Ba Sing Se?” Katara asked.

            “Once,” he said, ducking his head. “I stowed away on the ferry to get there. The Serpent’s Pass isn’t used much because it’s pretty dangerous.”

            “Why’s it called that?” Toph asked.
            “There’s rumors that a sea serpent lives in the lake,” Zuko shrugged. “I never checked to find out though.”

            “I can’t believe you, of all people, took the easy way for once,” said Sokka. “I’m so proud.”

            Zuko shoved him into the water. Sokka yelped, and scrambled out, soaking wet. “Hey!”

            Before Sokka could retaliate a voice called out to them.

            “Hello, fellow refuges!”

            Zuko jumped, startled again, this time by the sudden appearance of a small group of people walking down the path by the river; a man and two women, one of whom was pregnant.

            And, of course, the group had to greet them and soon enough they were all traveling to the ferry together. Zuko sighed. At least they mostly met friendly travelers, not like the thieves and highwaymen he’d become accustomed to dodging while on his own.

            The trek to the ferry was uneventful but the ferry itself was as bustling as he remembered. Whole families had set up camp in tents, waiting for approval to get into the city and start new lives. Many of them were ragged and gaunt, their eyes shadowed by whatever had driven them here. Zuko shivered and wrapped his arms around himself, suddenly self-conscious with his nice clothes and clean appearance. The last time he’d been here he’d looked much like the other refugees and he’d been able to easily blend in, but now…

            Aang was talking to the woman at the ticket booth, trying to get them onto the ferry. Zuko was aware he should have been paying attention, but he was busy watching a group of small children chase each other around, laughing. Two of them were little girls about the same age as Madia and Tulip…

            His mind jumped back to the present when the woman at the book shouted, “No passports, no tickets!” at Aang. He was about to try and drag the group aside and tell them that he was fairly certain he could sneak them on board, when Toph brushed confidently past him.

            “I’ll handle this,” she said, walking up to the booth. Zuko raised his eyebrow and turned to watch the fun.

            “My name is Toph Beifong and I’ll need five tickets,” she said, plopping what looked to be a fancy seal onto the booth.

            The ticket woman’s entire demeanor changed in a second. “The golden seal of the flying boar!” she gasped. “It is my pleasure to help anyone of the Beifong family.”
            “It is your pleasure,” Toph agreed.

            Zuko bit his lip to keep from grinning or laughing.

            “As you can see, I am blind, and these four are my valets,” Toph continued. Zuko let a little of his grin show through.

            “But, the animal…” the woman protested weakly.

            “Is my seeing-eye lemur,” Toph said smoothly, and as if on cue Momo hopped onto her shoulder.

            “Well, normally it’s only one ticket per-passport, but this document is so official… I suppose it’s worth five tickets.”

            “Thank you very much,” said Toph, sliding the tickets off the counter.

            As soon as they were away, Zuko grinned and punched Toph in the shoulder. “That was great.”
            She grinned back. “All in a day’s work.”

            “Yeah, we scammed that lady good!” Sokka agreed, far too loudly. Zuko rolled his eyes. These kids. Still no sense of self-preservation.

            He thought, perhaps, that he had been proven right when a guard suddenly grabbed Sokka and started questioning him. Zuko was trying to figure out the best way to intervene without causing more damage when it quickly became clear he didn’t need to because the guard… kissed Sokka? Okay, sure, he’d take that over having to fight their way out of this place.

            It turned out that Sokka, Katara and Aang had met this girl a while ago on their travels  (which was good, because if random girls started kissing Sokka there was probably something wrong with them). She greeted the others cheerfully and then turned to him and Toph.

            “And I see you’ve kept making friends,” said the girl- Suki. He could remember that, it sounded a lot like Sokka.

            “Yeah,” said Aang, who seemed more like himself than he had since the desert. “This is Toph, my earthbending teacher, and Zuko.”

            “Nice to meet you,” Suki nodded. He nodded back. At least she wasn’t trying to press and find out who he was and why he was traveling with the Avatar.

            The group chatted with her for a bit, asking questions about how she’d been. Apparently she was a warrior from Kyoshi Island. The mention of the place made him take a sharp breath, but he relaxed again when Momo settled on his shoulders with a chirp.

            ‘At least I made friends with you there,’ he thought, scratching under the lemur’s chin. Momo purred.

            “So why are you guys taking the ferry instead of flying across the lake on Appa?” Suki asked.

            Zuko tensed as the whole tone of the conversation shifted with that question.

            “Appa is missing,” said Katara. “We hope to find him in Ba Sing Se.”

            “I’m so sorry to hear that,” said Suki. She turned to Aang. “Are you doing okay?”

            Zuko kept his head down, but glanced at Aang, and he saw the others do the same. At least he wasn’t the only one they were worried about.

            “I’m doing fine,” Aang snapped. “Would everybody stop worrying about me?”

            Well, they had that in common, at least. But from the crestfallen expressions the others had Zuko was glad he hadn’t said anything out loud about how frustrated he was getting.

            “Avatar Aang!”

            He jumped and cursed quietly. Why did it seem like everyone was intent on startling him today?

            He looked down and saw the refugees from earlier. The soon-to-be mother said that someone had stolen their belongings, including their passports. Zuko winced, remembering all the times he’d stolen from people while on his own.

            Aang tried to reason with the ticket lady again on behalf of the refugees, but the stubborn woman wouldn’t listen. Zuko glanced at the little group. If the one woman hadn’t been pregnant he might have been able to smuggle them on, but he didn’t think she’d be able to swim to the boat and scale up the side of it and any bending would be too obvious.

            He hated this. Hated that people who needed help were being denied it. Hated that his country was causing this, that they were destroying homes and tearing apart families and…

            “I’ll guide you through the Serpent’s Pass.”

            Zuko’s head came up and he stared wide-eyed at Aang’s determined expression. Alright, maybe smuggling them onto the ferry would be easier…

            He shook his head. No. If they got caught they’d all be imprisoned. Unfortunately, the Serpent’s Pass was the only option left open to the family.

            … And now to the rest of them too, since Aang had volunteered them all. That was fine though. Maybe helping this family, and his friends, get safely to Ba Sing Se could be the start of some sort of atonement from the Fire Nation for causing such pain and suffering to the world.

            So, taking a deep breath, he followed the others as Aang led them out of the ferry and towards the treacherous Serpent’s Pass.

Chapter Text

            The Serpent’s Pass was a steep, winding pathway cut over a narrow cliff with sheer drops into the water on either side. It rose into the sky like the spines of some great beast. The waters of the lake lapped against it, making distant crashing sounds that mingled with the cries of seabirds.

            It was a foreboding place, made more so by a weathered gateway marking the start of the pass. Zuko shivered. He’d been here before, once, when he was barely fourteen. The sight of the ominous pass had sent him sneaking back to the ferry in search of an easier way to Ba Sing Se. And now, here he was, three years later, facing that same path again.

            But he wasn’t alone this time. He had his friends, and the three refugees. And Suki had also decided to come along to help them.

            “Look at this writing- how awful,” said the future mother- Ying. He was trying to remember their names now that they were traveling together.

            “What does it say?” Toph asked.

            “Abandon hope,” he said quietly, but in the oppressive silence hanging over the place his words felt loud.

            “How can we abandon hope?” said Ying. “It’s all we have.”

            He was trying to think of what Tulip would say about this to try and make it seem lighter and less awful, when Aang spoke up.   

            “I don’t know. The monks used to say that hope is just a distraction. Maybe we do need to abandon it.”

            Zuko stared at him, mouth slightly agape. Aang was saying this?! Aang, the kid who had told him that life was worth living because of friendship and who had convinced him to stay alive long enough to find that out?

            “What are you talking about?!” Katara demanded, sounding just as confused as he felt.

            “Hope isn’t going to get us into Ba Sing Se, and it’s not going to find Appa,” Aang stated. “We need to focus on what we’re doing right now, which is getting across this pass.”

            “… okay, if you say so,” Katara said uncertainly.

            Oh, he was not letting this slide, no, not a chance. He walked forward and brushed past Aang, purposefully bumping the other boy’s shoulder as he did. He turned and saw Aang looking up at him, frowning.

            “Hope is the only thing that’s going to get us across this pass,” Zuko said, just barely holding his frustration in check. “And I for one am not going to abandon the only thing that’s kept me alive all these years.”

            He spun around without waiting to see Aang’s response, and started up the path. After a moment, he heard the crunch of stones as the others followed.

****

            He didn’t stay at the front of the group long. He couldn’t keep up the pace. So he let himself fall behind to the back of the line.

            As they climbed, his chest started to ache and it grew harder to take deep breaths. He focused on putting one tired foot in front of the other as fatigue dragged him back to his traveling days on his own, plodding across the Earth Kingdom in search of any information about the Avatar.

            Whenever he looked up one of the group was looking his way, a concerned expression on their face that they quickly hid. Even Aang gave him worried looks from time to time. Zuko ignored them.

            Momo hopped around from person to person for a bit before settling on his shoulders, giving him little nudges and licks on the cheek once and a while. He smiled tiredly, figuring that the lemur was trying to encourage him.

            The only good(?) thing was that Ying was struggling more than he was so they stopped often for her and when they did he could rest for a few minutes, leaning against the cool rock and trying to breathe deeply.

            During one such stop, Katara came over to check on him. “How are you holding up?”

            “I’m fine,” he said, shrugging. “Just tired.”

            She didn’t look like she believed him, and he sighed slightly when she pulled some water out of her pouch and held it over his chest. “You’re straining everything,” she muttered. “You’re going to reinjure yourself if you’re not careful.”

            “I’m being careful,” he said. “It’s not like we can go another way.”

            She bit her lip. “We’re not that far along yet. You said you could sneak onto the ferry. You could meet us in Ba Sing Se after we get there…”

            Zuko sat up a little straighter, frowning, something painful growing in his chest that had nothing to do with old injuries. “You want me to leave?”

            “No, I mean, I just,” she threw her hands in the air and huffed. “Between you and Aang I don’t even know what to do, and now we’re escorting this family and, I just…”

            “I can leave if you want,” he said quietly, though even the thought left a taste like ash in his mouth and made his stomach twist. If he was slowing them down, if they were better off without him-

            “I don’t want you to leave,” said Katara, firmly. “I’m just, I don’t know what to do.”

            “Then save yourself some trouble and stop worrying about me,” said Zuko. “I can take care of myself.”

            Katara… didn’t look like she believed him.

            “Look, I’m sorry I scared you all in the desert, but I’m fine,” he said. “Worry about Aang if you need to worry about someone. Has he ever acted like this before?”

            Her frown deepened. “No. I don’t… I don’t know what to do with him. He was so emotional and now he’s… not. But he’s not better.”

            “He’s pretending he’s okay,” said Zuko.

            “Like you?”

            He raised his eyebrow. “I am okay. Look, I’m not even bleeding,” he rolled up his sleeves.

            She rolled her eyes. “Fine. We need to get moving again anyway.”

****

            The path was running beside the cliff face now and they had a clear view of the lake.

            Unfortunately, this also meant that ships on the lake had a clear view of them as well, should they happen to glance over at the cliffside.

            “The Fire Nation controls the western side of the lake,” said Suki. “Rumor has it they’re working on something big they don’t want anyone to know about.”

            Zuko sighed. Great. More trouble his nation was causing.

            Craaaaaaaaack

            Zuko jumped as a small section of the cliff gave way under Ying’s husband. Luckily Toph made a ledge shoot out from the cliff to catch him and toss him back up.

            “I’m okay!” he called, and Zuko forced himself not to laugh.

            Unfortunately, the falling rock had alerted a Fire Navy ship patrolling nearby.

            “They’ve spotted us!” Sokka yelled, at the same moment Zuko saw the crew light a catapult on fire. “Let’s move!”

            The catapult launched, but instead of running, Aang flew straight at it and knocked it right back into the ship. Zuko winced.

            He didn’t have time to think about his divided loyalties though, because more fireballs were flying at them.

            He ran along the edge of the path, tracking one as it came, and caught up to it right as it was about to crash into the refugee family. He kicked out, shooting a blast of fire that knocked the fireball off course to crash harmlessly into the cliff face below them.

            And then he realized what he’d done.

            The refuges and Suki were all Earth Kingdom citizens. Who didn’t know he was a firebender. They could have him arrested as soon as they got to Ba Sing Se and he would very likely be imprisoned, tortured and killed.

            He looked around quickly. To his relief the refugees were huddled against the side of the cliff, faces hidden. He looked down a little farther-

            -And saw Suki staring straight at him with wide eyes.

            His shoulders slumped.

            (he was never going to be that lucky)

****

            Suki didn’t say anything to him at first, which was more unnerving than if she’d just started yelling at him. Anxiety churned in his gut and he clenched his hands into painfully tight fists.

            Should he say something to the others? If they knew they’d convince her that he was alright, wouldn’t they? If they didn’t know and he was taken away and they came after him it could put their entire mission in jeopardy…

            (would they come after him? Sokka’s words in the library and Aang’s in the desert echoed through his head like a warning bell, ‘If anyone’s evil it’s the Fire Nation!’ ‘Maybe you planned this with them! Maybe you’ve been working against us all along and you wanted us to fail!’)

            His breath hitched and he shook his head. No. No, they were his friends. They weren’t, they wouldn’t leave him and that would put the mission in danger-

            ‘You’re not as important as Appa, or telling the Earth King about the eclipse.’

            He closed his eyes and grabbed a handful of his hair, tugging hard, trying to make himself focus-

            “Um, hey.”

            Zuko jumped and scrambled backward, his eyes flying open. While he’d been distracted, Suki had fallen back beside him.

            He stared at her for a moment, blinking, then blurted out, “If you’re going to have me arrested please wait until after we find Appa and tell the Earth King about the eclipse, I don’t want them getting distracted by trying to find me.”

            Suki blinked at him. “What?”

            “You saw me firebending.”

            “I- yeah, I did, and I was gonna ask about that, but how did you get from there to me having you arrested?”

            Zuko’s brow furrowed. “That’s, that’s what happens in the Earth Kingdom to rogue firebenders. If they’re found out they’re imprisoned and-” he glanced down and shuddered.

            “… You’ve been imprisoned before.”

            He nodded.

            “… Well, you’ll be glad to know then that I’m not planning to do that.”

            He tilted his head, frowning.  “Why?”

            “Well, I figured since you’re traveling with the Avatar you must be okay. I think that between the three of them Aang, Sokka and Katara have decent judgement and you seem pretty… integrated? at this point. So I wasn’t really worried about it. I was going to ask how you ended up traveling with them though.”

            Zuko’s frown deepened as he tried to process that. She wasn’t going to turn him in, or, at least, that’s what she said. He wondered if he could get her to repeat that when Toph was around to see if she was lying or not.

            (he’d always been terrible at lying, and knowing if other people were)

            “So how did you end up traveling with the Avatar?” Suki asked after a few minutes of his silent contemplation.

            “I was… hunting him. I’d been sent to capture him,” said Zuko, trying not to let nervousness creep into his voice. “But it didn’t really work. We ended up helping each other a lot? And I just sort of…” he rubbed his hand up and down his arm. “Gave up after a while. I’ve been traveling with them since they left the North Pole.”

            “Huh, interesting. Why did they send you to find the Avatar, I mean, you’re just a kid, right?”

            Zuko huffed. “Just because I’m short doesn’t mean I’m a kid. I’m the same age as Sokka.”

            “Okay, sorry, that wasn’t what I meant, I didn’t realize that was a sore subject,” Suki held up her hands in surrender. “I just meant that you’re young to be the person the most ambitious nation in the world sent to capture the biggest threat to their power.”

            He sighed. “They sent me out three years ago, when finding the Avatar was a fool’s errand. They didn’t think I’d succeed.”

            “Oh, I’m sorry, that’s terrible.”

            He glanced at her and saw her frowning, staring down at the ground.

            “I was on your island once,” he said when he couldn’t stand the silence and the thought of her pitying him anymore.

            “What? When?”

            “The same time the others were. I’d tracked them there and was going to try to capture Aang, but,” he glared at the ground. “Zhao captured me instead.”

            “Oh, right, he was the one who tried to burn down our village,” said Suki, a hint of malice in her voice. “I think I would rather have dealt with you.”

            He laughed. “Thanks, I think.”

            They walked in silence for a few minutes before she spoke again. “So why are the others worried about you?”

            He sighed. “I got hurt in the desert and I didn’t tell them because, well-” he waved his hands. “We’d just lost Appa and we were stranded and there was nothing they really could have done to help at that point. I passed out after we got rescued by the sandbenders and ever since I woke up they’ve been worried and afraid to let me out of their sight,” he shook his head. “It’s kind of driving me crazy.”

            “I understand that. Sokka has been ridiculously overprotective of me ever since we started out and I have no idea why. He knows I’m a warrior and I can handle myself,” she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “But I think I can see why the others are worried about you.”

            “They think I can’t take care of myself,” said Zuko, bitterly. “And I know I get hurt a lot, but I survived on my own for three years, and most of the time now I get hurt because I’m trying to keep them safe!”

            “I don’t think that’s the reason,” said Suki. “They’re used to looking after each other, taking care of each other when they get hurt, working as a team so that nobody gets critically injured. You’re used to doing things by yourself. And you haven’t quite figured out how to work together yet.”

            “But I do work with them,” Zuko said, frowning.

            “I’m sure you do, but, hmm, think of it this way,” she said. “I’m the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors. It’s my job to keep the others safe and coordinate them when we’re fighting and put each person where they can best use their strengths. But if I get hurt I also trust my warriors to keep me safe and to handle things when I can’t. That’s what makes us such an effective team, because we trust and rely on each other. The others understand that, but you’re still learning, so it's harder for you.”

            Zuko considered that as they walked along. “What if your warriors were in danger and you were hurt but there was nothing they could do to help you then? Would you still tell them?”

            “Yes, because they need to have all the variables. If they don’t know I’m injured and they think I’m still at full fighting strength but I collapse in the middle of the battle I leave them vulnerable because they’re shocked and have to compensate quickly. Then they’re more likely to make mistakes and get hurt.”

            “That… makes sense,” he muttered. “Would you… would you put yourself in danger if it would protect them?”

            “I would trust them to fight with me and handle themselves. You’re not traveling with incapable people, Zuko, Aang is the Avatar, Katara and Toph are masters in their elements and Sokka’s a competent fighter and tactician in his own right.”

            “They’re kids,” he said, quietly. “They’re- Aang is younger than my little sister, and so is Toph. They’re kids.”

            “They’re very powerful and competent kids,” Suki insisted. “But I understand what you mean. It’s sweet that you want to look after them.”

            He felt his face heat up and ducked his head quickly. “They’re my friends.”

            “Yes they are. And they want to look after you too. Try to let them, try to work together as a team and trust them, okay? I promise it’ll turn out better in the long run if you do.”

            “… I’ll try.”

            She smiled at him and the right side of his face turned as bright red as the left. “You should go back up with Sokka or he might start to get jealous.”

            She laughed. “You’re probably right. Thanks for talking.”

            He nodded, and with a final small smile at him, Suki trotted up the path towards Sokka.

Chapter Text

            The second day of their hike across the Serpent’s Pass was more perilous and nerve-wracking than the first, not just because of the day’s events, but because of the tension that had been slowly building since the night before.

            They had made camp on a rare flat space on top of the cliffs, which had him on edge from the start. Logically, Zuko knew that there was no easy way for them to be seen; there were rocks jutting up around the edges of the cliff to hide the firelight, and they were so high up it was unlikely anyone would even see them. But the feeling of being exposed remained.

            But worse than that were the moods of his friends. Before they all went to sleep Sokka and Suki, and Katara and Aang wandered off out of sight- presumably to talk to each other. He had hoped that maybe they’d figure themselves out, but when they came back they seemed more wound up than before. Aang was just as closed off and now Katara seemed especially anxious, and he had no idea what was going on with Sokka and Suki, but both of them seemed despondent when they came back.

            He wondered if he should at least try to talk to Aang, but if Katara had already tried and failed then it probably wouldn’t make much difference. He might even make it worse.

            (and it could be worse, he knew it could, even if he wasn’t sure what that looked like. He’d done enough damage to everyone in the desert, he needed to let things settle again.)

            (unfortunately, things were not settling)

            He slept poorly, tossing and turning all night, alternating between being awake and worrying about his friends, and being asleep and having dark, twisted dreams of them being in danger. He wondered where Tulip was.

            ‘Maybe someone else is having nightmares tonight. It’s not like you’re the only one she visits, you’re not special.’

            Eventually, like he always did when he couldn’t sleep, he got up and started working on breakfast. They’d hauled some wood up with them into the pass for their campfire and found a few other neatly stacked logs nearby- proof that others had used this path too. He worked the fire up from its embers, coaxing it to feed off less wood than usual, and made a meager breakfast of porridge. He cut up some of his fruits from Momo and mixed them in just to make it more appetizing.

            The morning meal had been tense… at least amongst his friends. The refugees seemed blissfully unaware of the problems the rest of the group was having. Or maybe they were just caught up in their own worries.

            He ached all over, and his stomach was twisted into a knot of anxiety. He ate just enough to keep Katara from nagging him, then sat quietly sipping a cup of tea, watching the flames flicker in the fire and trying to keep himself calm.

            It was a relief when they started walking again. He could fall to the back of the line and just focus on his breathing and putting one foot in front of the other. He half wished that he’d gotten his tulip flower back from Aang, but quickly disregarded the idea. Aang still needed the hope more than he did.

            Things were going fine, they were even going downhill for a while, which was a relief after so many steep hikes, when they came around a curve and-

            The path just. Ended. Disappeared into the waters of the lake.

            Zuko’s heart dropped.

            From the silence of the others, they all felt the same hopelessness he did. What were they supposed to do now? Grow wings?

            “Everyone single file.”

            Katara’s voice startled him, but he obediently lined up with the others.

            And then Katara just, parted the water.

            To be more accurate, she parted a small section of the water, that she bent into a bubble over their heads as they walked into it. She called for Aang to help her and he handed his staff to Toph and started bending the water with her.

            As soon as the water closed over his head his breathing sputtered a little and he clenched his fists hard at his sides, digging his nails into his palms and trying to focus on the pressure instead of the fact that they were underwater, and if Aang and Katara’s bending failed they’d be dead-

            ‘No, no, trust them, it’ll be okay, they’ve got it under control. Just breathe, it’ll be over soon.’

            Ahead of him, Momo hopped off Toph’s shoulders and into the water beside them. Zuko just barely stopped himself from lunging after the lemur and dragging him back into their tenuous bubble of safety.

            ‘It’s fine, it’s fine, he’s just chasing fi- AGNI WHAT IS THAT?!’

            A massive, sinewy body swam alongside them and it was all he could do to not launch himself away, it wouldn’t help, then he’d just be drowning, oh spirits, what were they supposed to-

            The serpent- for that was all it could be- launched itself through their bubble and Zuko heard the others screaming. This was just like his dreams, they were going to die and he was helpless, there was nothing he could do to stop this, they-

            The ground jerked under him and he stumbled as they crashed abruptly through the surface. Cold water smacked him in the face, breaking through the panic that had been building in his chest. They were alive, they were okay. Toph had kept her head and gotten them out of the water, at least.

            Unfortunately, the serpent was still there, circling them, and they were still in the middle of the water, with the other side of the pass seeming impossibly far away once more.

            The serpent circled them for a moment, then shot out of the water and shrieked, looming above them.

            “I think I just figured out why they call it the Serpent’s Pass!” Sokka yelled.

            ‘I told you so,’ thought Zuko, wishing once again that he wasn’t right.

            “Suki you know about giant sea monsters, make it go away!” shouted Sokka

            ‘She what?’

            “Just because I live near the Unagi doesn’t mean I’m an expert!”

            He vaguely recalled the giant sea monster he’d seen out the window of his cell on Zhao’s ship before they left her island. He still wasn’t quite sure what was happening.

            Sokka, never without a plan, then tried to sacrifice Momo.

            “Sokka!” he and Katara yelled in unison. Zuko was going to set his ponytail on fire for that later.

            Aang’s plan was more practical. He slapped the serpent with a sheet of air when it lunged at them and opened his glider. “I’ll distract it, Katara, get everyone across!”

            Aang flew off, and Zuko pushed down his anxiety about the kid fighting a giant sea serpent alone and turned to see Katara making an ice bridge.

            Wait, had that been an option all along? They could have just skipped almost drowning and-

            ‘Focus.’

            Right, getting across. Katara had already started herding the others along, and even as he watched she turned towards Aang and the serpent and went skating over the water toward them. Well. Alright then. At least he didn’t have to worry about Aang fighting that thing alone.

            He had just stepped down onto the ice bridge when a hand grabbed his sleeve. He turned back to see Toph standing behind him looking… scared.

            “I can’t- I can’t see on the ice,” she said. “I don’t-”

            “Hold onto me,” he said, opening his arm and nudging her down onto the ice against his side. She clung to his shirt and he wrapped his arm around her.

            The others were across, so he didn’t have to worry about them. He walked as quick as he dared on ice. They were almost there-

            The serpent’s tail crashed down onto the ice, shattering it, and he heard Toph scream as they were suddenly plunged into the water.

            Toph flailed wildly and he fought to keep hold of her. “Hold still! I’m not gonna let you drown! Just hold onto me.”

            She did, clinging onto his side, and he started swimming.

            Under normal circumstances, Zuko considered himself a decent swimmer. However, Toph hanging off him like a deadweight while he tried to navigate choppy, sea-serpent filled waters was not what he’d consider a normal circumstance and he was struggling. Sokka was yelling something at him from the shore, but he couldn’t make out what it was-

            The serpent’s tail whipped through the water again, slamming into them and knocking them underwater. Zuko tried to right himself and see which way was up, but he was disoriented, he couldn’t tell, and they were sinking-

            Something grabbed him and pulled, and suddenly he was in the air again, gasping and coughing.

            “Are you okay?!”

            He tried to blink the water out of his eyes. “Suki?”

            “Yep. Toph are you okay?”

            “Just get me out of here.” Toph sounded miserable, but was still clinging to him.

            Suki had one arm wrapped under his, keeping them afloat. “Toph, come here and hold onto my back. Zuko, can you make it to shore?”

            “I’ll be fine,” he said. He helped transfer Toph, then took a deep breath and swam after Suki.

            When they got to the shore, Sokka and Than, the refugee father, helped them out of the water.

            “You good, buddy?” Sokka asked.

            Zuko coughed and glared at him as he started shivering. “S-stop calling me th-that.”

            “Yeah, you’re fine. Toph?”

            “I am never going in the water again.”

            “Good to hear. Suki?”

            “I’m fine, Sokka, now come on, we need to get away from the water.”

            Zuko made it to his feet and followed the others further up the path, to where they could see Aang and Katara creating a whirlpool to drag the serpent down. Discreetly, he started channeling heat through his body to steam off his clothes and he stood behind Toph to start drying her off too.

            He cheered with the others when Aang and Katara defeated the serpent and landed back on the pass with them. Katara then proceeded to make his drying efforts pointless when she bent the water out of his, Toph’s and Suki’s clothes. Fine, he wasn’t going to say no to an easier way, not now when he felt weak and shaky from loss of adrenaline.

            “Are you okay?” Katara asked, looking worried.

            “I’m just tired,” he said with a shrug. “Don’t worry, Suki made sure I didn’t drown.”

            She hesitated and he sighed. “I’m not hurt, Katara. Honestly.”

            “He’s telling the truth,” said Toph, helpfully. So, with a final concerned look at him, Katara relented and went to check on Ying.

            “Thanks for not letting me drown, Sparky,” said Toph, giving him a little punch.

            “You should thank Suki, if she hadn’t shown up we might have both drowned.”
            “Yeah, but you kept me from freaking out too much. And you tried to help me across the bridge.”
            “Glad I was helpful, somehow.”

            She huffed and punched him again and he chuckled.

            They started off again. As they plodded along, Zuko found himself reflecting on the incident. From start to finish there was truly nothing he could have done to help his friends: he couldn’t waterbend, or make an ice bridge to get them across; he couldn’t raise up the earth to save them when they got trapped underwater; he couldn’t fly to distract the serpent; he couldn’t even swim Toph to safety on his own.

            And yet, somehow, he wasn’t dead. His friends had stepped up to help him and protect him even when he was completely useless and helpless, and they hadn’t accused him of being useless and helpless. They hadn’t even seemed to notice. They had simply used their abilities to help each other, playing to each others strengths and compensating for their weaknesses.

            Suki had told him that a team relied on and trusted each other, and kept each other safe, and that was exactly what the others had done. They’d worked as a team and everyone had gotten through safely and uninjured.

            He still didn’t think there was anything he could have done differently in the desert, but maybe going forward… maybe he could work on letting the others help him, and not forcing himself to do everything for everyone all the time. He could rely on them.

            (maybe he didn’t need to fight every battle on his own anymore.)

            Finally, they reached the end of the pass and Zuko breathed a sigh of relief to be on mostly-even ground again.

            “There’s the wall!” Sokka shouted. Zuko jumped, glaring at him. He was definitely setting Sokka’s ponytail on fire later.

            “Now it’s nothing but smooth sailing to Ba Sing Se,” Sokka continued…

            … and was immediately proven wrong when Ying let out a cry of pain.

            What followed was a normal conversation of Sokka freaking out while Katara acted as the voice of reason. Zuko was not surprised in the least that she knew how to deliver a baby, but he was amused at Sokka’s theatrics. They were a welcome diversion from the once-again-tense atmosphere.

            “Aang, get some rags, Sokka, Zuko, water, heated- if you can,” Katara gave out her orders, and the boys hurried to comply.

            Zuko handed his bag to Aang. “Use the bandages in here if you need to,” he said, untying their one and only cooking pot and heading after Sokka.

            Sokka didn’t wait long enough at the water’s edge for Zuko to try and heat up the water in his waterskin. He chuckled a little and filled the pot with water, heating it evenly as he walked back to the massive earth tent Toph had created-

            -where he arrived just in time to see Sokka faint at the entrance of the tent. Zuko snickered, but walked in cautiously anyway, handing the pot of warm water over to Katara and heating up Sokka’s waterskin before helping Toph drag the other boy out of the tent’s entrance.

            He, Sokka and Aang made several trips down to get more water as the hours dragged on. After a while exhaustion caught up with him and he stopped and just let the other two bring him water to heat up. He dozed a little in between the screaming. Once he woke to find Momo sitting next to him with a small pile of fruit and nuts divided between them and he smiled and tucked them into his bag.

            Finally, a different type of cry roused him and he sat up, looking at the entrance of the tent anxiously. Toph and Sokka walked in without invitation, but he hovered outside until Katara peeked out and called him and Aang inside.

            He stayed to the side, creeping around until he was at an angle where he could see without being obtrusive.

            The baby was tiny. He didn’t really remember Azula being born and he’d never had an opportunity to see another newborn. The little girl already had a mop of dark hair, some of which was still damp and sticking to her forehead. But she seemed content in Ying’s arms.

            The parents were talking about what to name her. He wasn’t sure how he’d gotten his name. He knew Azula was named after their grandfather…

            He turned when Aang started talking and was surprised at the emotion on the other boy’s face.

            “I’ve been going through a really hard time lately,” Aang said. “But you’ve made me- hopeful again.”

            Zuko blinked back the sudden moisture in his eye and a weight lifted off his heart. The kid was gonna be okay.

            The baby’s name was Hope.

****

            A short while later they stood outside the tent. Zuko watched Aang and Katara make up and a little more weight lifted off him. Hopefully things would finally start turning around now.

            He walked over with the others and Aang turned to them. “I promise, I’ll find Appa as fast as I can, I just really need to do this.”

            Oh, so the kid was leaving to find Appa by himself. Zuko pushed down his niggling anxiety. Aang was in a better headspace now, and he was capable and competent. He’d be okay.

            As he watched Aang get ready to take off a million things flew through his head that he wanted to say. Warnings about pickpockets and kidnappers and gangs, places in the city to avoid and what inns were safe to stay the night in-

            But all that came out when he opened his mouth was, “Be careful, Aang.”

            Aang looked at him and something flashed across his face, guilt, maybe? But then it vanished and he nodded. “I will. Thanks.”

            Momo spread his wings alongside Aang and he smiled at the lemur. At least Momo could go along to take care of the kid.

            With a whoosh of air, Aang took off, and Zuko felt a twinge in his heart. But he took a breath and shook his head. They would be okay and so would Aang, and with any luck they’d be reuniting with him and Appa soon.

            (he’d never been lucky)

Chapter Text

            They hadn’t even had time to break camp the next morning when Aang returned, without Appa.

            That couldn’t be good.

            “Aang!” Katara called as they slowly gathered around the boy. “What are you doing back so soon? I thought you were going to look for Appa.”

            “I was,” said Aang. “But something stopped me. Something big.”

            Well that was both cryptic and concerning. Great. Zuko sighed and resigned himself to another long day of doing something insane.

            (at least he wasn’t alone)

            “What’s so big that Appa has to wait?” Sokka asked.

            “It’ll be easier if I just show you,” said Aang. “I… I don’t think I can explain it.”

            So they quickly packed up their little camp and headed off.

            It had been a refreshingly calm night, even in spite of there being a newborn baby in the camp. Not long after Aang had left Suki had also bid them farewell and assumedly gone to the ferry on this side of the lake to continue helping people. He was a little sad to see her go, she seemed nice and he could have gotten used to teasing Sokka about having a girlfriend, but he understood. Not everyone was a wandering, exiled vagabond with no home to go back to like he was.

            To try and distract himself from the anxiety building in his chest as they walked to the wall, Zuko let his mind drift back to the last time he’d been in Ba Sing Se. He’d gone to the city looking for the Avatar, of course, but he had also hoped to find out something- anything- about the fate of his uncle and cousin. Even a grave where they were buried would have given him some closure.

            But he’d found nothing. It had been surprisingly hard to find anyone even willing to talk about the final battle after The Dragon of the West had breached the wall during the siege of the city, and what little he found was the same tale the soldiers had brought home to the Fire Nation; Iroh had been defeated and killed after his son was captured. Everyone, in both the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom, assumed that Lu Ten had been killed as well, since he’d been captured- probably by the strange, shady police force called the Dai Li. Zuko’s gut twisted every time he thought of his cousin held captive by enemy earthbenders, probably tortured for information before he was killed in some brutal way.

            … maybe thinking about his last visit to Ba Sing Se wasn’t the best distraction after all.

            He took a breath and looked up at the towering city walls. He’d always felt a begrudging admiration for whoever had managed to make such a formidable fortification. From the ground the walls looked like they rose all the way up to the clouds, and they were wide and thick enough to build houses on and still have plenty of room to walk. He’d often wondered how exactly uncle Iroh managed to break through them.

            When they finally reached the base of the wall Aang and Toph earthbended them up it on a platform of rock, which was a little nerve-wracking, but it did give them a great view of what Aang had seen.

            “That’s what stopped me,” said the little airbender, nodding toward a massive machine moving steadily towards Ba Sing Se’s wall.

            Zuko’s heart sank. He may have only ever been in one war meeting in his life, but Azula had snuck into many and listened to the generals talk while she hid in secret passageways in the palace walls. Not long before he’d been banished she’d come back one day and told him about a drill being designed that could break through anything, even the walls of Ba Sing Se. It was one of the reasons he’d been so eager to get into the war meeting, to get more information about a machine that could end the war (and that might lead to them finally finding out what had happened to uncle and Lu Ten). And now, years later, here he was, seeing it at last.

            Except now he was on the wrong side.

            “We’ve finally made it to Ba Sing Se but we’re still not safe,” said Ying as they reached the top of the wall. “No one is!”

            Zuko felt a pang in his heart and started to say something, but was cut off by a guard.

            “What are you people doing here?” the man demanded. “Civilians aren’t allowed on the wall.”

            ‘Uh, didn’t you see us just get here?’ Zuko thought, tilting his head. He supposed it made sense that the guards on the biggest, most impressive defensive wall ever build would be a little complacent though.

            “I’m the Avatar,” said Aang. “Take me to whoever’s in charge.”

            Before they walked away, Zuko hurried over to Ying and her family and hesitantly set a hand on her arm. “We’ll do everything we can to keep the city safe,” he promised. “I know they all just seem like kids, but the Avatar has a pretty capable group with him.”

            Ying brushed a tear out of her eye and smiled at him, just a little. “You are kids, but you do seem very capable. Thank you for helping our family.”

            He swallowed hard and nodded at her, then looked at the guards. “Make sure they get into the city safely,” he said, in his most commanding prince voice- which wasn’t very good, seeing as he hadn’t used it in three years, but it did what he needed it to, and as he jogged away to catch up with the others he saw the guards escorting the family somewhere.

            Toph had waited for him. “You good, Sparky?”

            “I wanted to make sure they got help,” he said. “We brought them all this way, we ought to make sure they actually get safely to the city.”

            “Yeah, I just didn’t expect that from you. Usually it’s Twinkletoes or Katara worrying about that stuff.”

            Zuko felt a blush creep onto his face. “They’re busy. I’m just helping out.”

            Toph shrugged. “Whatever you say, Sparky.”

            Zuko’s eyes darted around, taking in the guards. “Don’t call me that while we’re up here. It might draw attention.”
            “I think the giant drill about to break into their city has them kinda occupied at the moment, but if they come at you for your nickname I’ll throw ‘em off the wall, okay?”

            Zuko snorted and quickly covered his mouth to hide his laughter. “Sounds good.”

            They caught up with the others just as the man in charge of the wall’s defenses, General Sung, was introducing himself.

            “It is an honor to welcome you to the outer wall, young Avatar,” said the general. “But your services are not needed.”

            ‘Oh so he’s an idiot. Great. Whole giant city full of people in the hands of a moron. Fantastic.’

            “The Fire Nation cannot penetrate this wall,” Sung continued. “Many have tried, but none have succeeded.”

            Zuko spluttered and only just stopped himself from blurting out something about Uncle. But if the General kept on he was going to throw the man off the wall.

            Luckily, Toph came to his rescue. “What about the Dragon of the West? He got in.”

            Zuko grinned and ducked his head, giving her a little punch in the arm. She tilted her head up at him, smiling but looking slightly confused.

            (wait, had he ever told her who he was?)

            The general reluctantly acknowledged that Iroh had breached the wall, but asserted that his force had been driven out quickly, and Zuko once again had to bite his tongue.

            ‘Only because you captured his son and killed him when he came after him. You cowards.’

            Zuko ignored the rest of the General’s stupid justification for not needing Aang’s help until the man announced that he had sent a group called “The Terra Team” to stop the drill.

            “That’s a good group name,” said Sokka. “Very catchy.”
            “It does have nice alliteration,” Zuko reluctantly agreed.
            “What’s alliteration?” Toph asked.
            “It’s where words have the same first sound, like in that case, “T”-” Zuko started to explain.
            “And as much as I love wordplay, it’s not important right now, c’mon, let’s see what the Terra Team can do,” said Sokka, hurrying to the edge of the wall where Sung was looking out a telescope. Zuko rolled his eyes.

            He stood by the others and peeked through the crenellations, squinting at the ground below. It was so far that he could hardly see a thing- even the tanks around the drill looked like hardly more than ants from this high. With an effort, he made out a formation of specks in front of the wall that must have been the team Sung had sent.

            “What’s going on?” Toph asked.
            “I can’t really tell,” he said. “If anything big happens I’ll let you know.”
            “Fair enough.”

            A tank went flying, and the group did some earthbending to the drill, but beyond that it was hard to tell what had happened.

            But it definitely wasn’t good, because Sung suddenly jerked away from the telescope shouting, “We’re doomed!”

            Sokka slapped the general, yelling, “Get ahold of yourself, man!” and Zuko wanted to clap for him. He settled for quietly snickering.

            “Maybe you’d like the Avatar’s help now?” Toph prompted.

            Sung contritely turned to Aang, head bowed. “Yes please.”

            Zuko laughed, quickly slapping his hand over his mouth and hiding it as a cough. Toph snorted and shook her head, whispering, “Keep it together, Sparky.”
            “Trying,” he muttered, grinning.

            They were taken to a healing tent where the defeated Terra Team had been taken. As soon as he learned that they entire team had been defeated, Zuko sobered.

            The conquest of Ba Sing Se was not something that would be entrusted to a random general, no matter how high rank they were. No, especially after Iroh had failed, it would have to be a member of the royal family who had been sent to try again.

            ‘To regain the honor the Fire Nation lost,’ he thought bitterly.

            And there was Azula, already in the Earth Kingdom, strategically placed for just such a conquest. And if his sister was in charge of this attack, then that meant…

            “His chi is completely blocked,” said Katara, examining one of the men.

            Zuko’s shoulders sagged and he closed his eyes. “Ty Lee,” he said, quietly.
            “She attacked us, along with another girl,” said the man.
            Zuko nodded. “Mai.”

            “Ty Lee doesn’t look dangerous, but she knows the human body and its weakpoints,” Katara explained to the man and a nearby healer. “She takes you down from the inside.”

            “Oh! Oh!” Sokka started jumping up and down. Zuko tried not to burst out laughing for the second time that day.

            “I know how we’re gonna take down the drill- the same way Ty Lee took down all these big earthbenders!” Sokka continued. “From the inside!”

****

            A short while later they found themselves on the outside of the wall after going through a small tunnel under it. They hunkered in a trench while Toph gave them instructions.

            “Once I whip up some cover, you aren’t going to be able to see, so stay close to me,” she said.

            Zuko nodded along with the others and watched as Toph hopped out of the trench and shook the ground in front of it, stamping her foot to create a massive dust cloud.

            He grinned, always pleased to see more of Toph’s earthbending skills, but there wasn’t time to admire her handiwork. He rushed into the cloud with the others, trying to focus on the sound of their footsteps around him. Which was harder than it should have been because the drill was loud. The constant whirring, cranking and thrumming of the enormous machine filled his mind and made it hard to focus on anything else.

            The closer they got to the drill the louder the noise grew and the more the ground shook, until his whole body was vibrating in time with the motion of the drill. He couldn’t see or hear and the vibrations made it hard to even breathe-

            A hand grabbed his wrist and before he could jerk back he heard Toph shout, “Everyone into the hole!” and he jumped just in time to avoid being dragged down by her.

            For once it was actually a relief to be underground. The noise and vibration were muffled down here, and at least there was no dirt clogging his nose and throat and making it harder to breathe.

            He was about to light a little flame on his hand when he heard Sokka beside him say, “It’s so dark down here, I can’t see a thing!”

            “Oh no, what a nightmare,” said Toph, in the most sarcastic voice he’d ever heard.

            His laughter drowned out Sokka’s apology. He decided then that it was funnier if they didn’t have light. They wouldn’t be in the dark for long anyway.

            Toph’s tunnel opened up underneath the drill and he once again found himself assaulted by a teeth-rattling rumble and the grinding of gears as the drill inched along. Someone nudged him and he shook his head and looked up to see Aang helping the others into the drill. He took a breath and a running start and jumped, grabbing Aang’s hands and letting the kid swing him inside with Sokka and Katara.

            The inside of the drill was slightly less loud, but he could still feel it shaking under his feet, which was unnerving. The interior was dim, but consistently lit, and the smell of fumes and oil permeated the air, making it hard to breathe.

            “Toph come on!” Sokka called, interrupting his musing. He peered down and saw Toph still standing below.

            “No way am I going in that metal monster! I can’t bend in there,” said Toph. “I’ll try and slow it down from out here.”

            Ah, right, that made sense.

            “Okay, good luck,” said Sokka.
            “And be careful!” Zuko added. “I don’t know where Mai and Ty Lee are hiding, but they might come back, and if they’re here then so is Azula.”

            “Don’t worry about me, Sparky, I’ll be fine. Have fun sabotaging that thing!”
            Zuko snickered. “You too!”

            He hurried away with the others. The further into the drill they went the less noise there was, but the thrumming hum of machinery under and around them remained.

            “I need a plan of this machine, some schematics that show what it looks like on the inside. Then we can find its weak points.” said Sokka.
            “Where are we gonna get something like that?” Aang asked.

            In answer, Sokka used his machete to shear off a pipe valve, sending steam shooting into the air. Zuko raised his eyebrow, but he was pretty sure he understood what Sokka was doing.

            Aang definitely didn’t. “What are you doing?! Someone’s gonna hear us!”

            “That’s the point!” said Sokka. “I figure a machine this big has engineers to keep it running. So when something breaks-”
            “- they come to fix it!” Katara finished.

            ‘Hopefully they don’t figure out that it’s sabotage too quick and send Mai and Ty Lee after us,’ he thought.

            Their plan worked and soon an engineer arrived. Katara froze him in the steam, Sokka stole the plans and they were underway again. Once they were a safe distance away, they examined the plans.

            “It looks like the drill has two main parts,” said Sokka. “The inner mechanism where we are now, and the outer shell. They’re connected with these braces, if we cut through them the entire thing will collapse!”

            Zuko tilted his head. “That’s ambitious.”

            Sokka shrugged. “Hey, we’ve done crazier things. Now c’mon, let’s get going!”

            “How are you gonna cut through the braces?” Zuko asked as they hurried along. “I don’t think your machete’s gonna do the trick for that.”

            “Aang and I should be able to cut through the metal with waterbending,” said Katara.

            ‘That is gonna take forever,’ Zuko thought. ‘Ba Sing Se will be overrun before you cut through half the braces on a machine this big.’

            He didn’t say it out loud though. If he was right they’d realize it fairly quickly, and if he was wrong, great.

            Then they reached the outer shell.

            It was a massive space, vast and echoing with rumbles and groans as the machine crawled along outside. The air was still and hot, almost suffocating.

            And the metal beams were thick as a ship’s watchtower, made of solid, sturdy metal.

            “They look a lot bigger in person,” said Sokka. “We’re gonna have to work pretty hard to cut through these.”

            “What’s this “we” stuff? Aang and I are the ones who’ll be doing all the work,” said Katara, folding her arms.

            “Look, I’m the idea guy and you two are the cut stuff up with waterbending guys,” said Sokka. “Together we’re Team Avatar!”

            Zuko burst out laughing. Sokka glared at him.

            Aang and Katara got to work. Their method was… surprisingly effective, and he was impressed by how quickly they were able to cut into the metal.

            But it was still only one small slice in one beam. After a few minutes he turned his attention to the gap between the walkways, an idea forming in his mind.

            He backed up to the far edge of their walkway and calculated silently. He was pretty sure he could jump that distance. He started to run-

            “Zuko!”

            He skidded to a stop just before plunging over the edge of the walkway, arms spinning as he tried to regain his balance. A hand grabbed him and yanked him back and he found Sokka holding onto him as Aang ran over.

            “What are you doing?!” Aang demanded, eyes wide.

            Zuko tilted his head. “I was going to jump across and see if I could weaken one of the other braces by heating it. Is that,” he frowned, searching for the right word. “Wrong?”

            “Yes! I mean, well, no, it’s actually a good idea, but you were going to try and jump across?!” Aang gestured wildly.

            “Yes?” his frown deepened.
            “You- I don’t- can you jump that far?”

            He glanced back at the gap. “It’s a little far, but yeah, I think so. I was going to…” he hesitated, not quite willing to tell them he’d wanted to try blasting himself across with fire. He’d been wondering if he could do it intentionally since the library. He didn’t want them to hear that and think it was stupid and laugh at him though.

            “You think,” Aang took a breath. “Zuko…”

            He was suddenly acutely aware that this was probably a situation where he could have asked for help and it would have reassured them that he really, honestly was trying to stay alive now. But he hadn’t been thinking of that and now they were going to worry again and they were wasting time on him-

            “Look, I just, I thought it might help, and you were busy,” he said. Aang’s face got more worried and he quickly backtracked. “It’s fine, I’ll just stay over here. I’ll- guard in case Azula shows up or something.”

            He looked down. He hated feeling useless, but he hated everyone worrying about him even more. Maybe he could find another way to sabotage the drill while they worked or-

            “I’ll just help you across.”

            He looked up at Aang, surprised. “How?”

            “I can, uhh, kind of toss you across with airbending, like, after you jump it’ll push you the rest of the way,” said Aang.

            Well that sounded terrible. But if it kept them from worrying, then fine. “Okay.”

            It was as bad as he’d thought it would be. He still took a running start from the end of the platform and jumped, but as he flew through the air a gust of wind hit him and pushed him along-

            -and made him hard crash into the other walkway, knocking the wind out of him.

            “Zuko! Are you okay?”

            He coughed and sat up carefully, breathing deeply. He didn’t seem to have rebroken anything, at least. When he looked up he could see the others worried faces. “I’m fine. But next time I’m finding an easier way across.”

            “I’ll look for one!” Sokka called. “There’s gotta be an easier way than doing… that every time.”

            Zuko grunted and shook his head, slowly getting to his feet. When it became clear that he was uninjured, the others went back to their work.

            He turned to the beam. He didn’t know a lot about how heating metal to weaken it worked- he knew it had to do with the type of metal and how it cooled, but he’d never had the chance to learn about the details before he was banished.

            Ironically, the little he did know was from Tulip. She’d been very excited that Kal was letting her and Madia work in the forge with him sometimes, and she’d described Kal’s process of metalworking in detail.

            Now he just needed to translate the ramblings of a six-year-old into a practical application for a giant piece of metal. Easy enough, right?

            He chuckled and channeled heat into his hands as he pressed them to the metal. Maybe he could melt a hole through the beam? Or…

            He glanced over at Katara and Aang, slicing through the metal with waterbending…

            Pulling back one of his hands, he lit a flame in it and molded it until it was almost a solid object, a fire dagger. He raised it to the metal and held it there.

            And slowly the fire started to bite through it.

            Zuko grinned.

Chapter Text

            He was not grinning almost an hour later, when he’d only made it about halfway through the beam.

            Zuko stepped back, catching his breath. He was covered in sweat and his hands were starting to shake. His muscles ached from having to stay in one position for so long and there was a headache pounding away at his skull. His scars itched and stung from the heat like they had in the desert.

            He decided to take a break and see how Aang and Katara were coming along. He made his way off the walkway and through the hall Sokka had found after Zuko’s harrowing jump across the beams. Presently, he slipped up behind Sokka and watched the waterbending duo.

            Even as he watched, the two sliced through the last of the metal beam. The beam gave a groan and shifted down, then stopped, caught on itself. Zuko frowned.

            Katara huffed, looking as tired as he was. “At this rate we won’t do enough damage before the drill reaches the wall.”
            “I don’t know how many more of those I have in me,” said Aang from the other side of the beam.
            “Same,” Zuko sighed. “And I’ve only managed to get halfway through mine.”

            Sokka jumped and spun around. “Would it kill you to say something when you enter a room?!”
            “No, but it’s more fun to sneak up on you,” quipped Zuko.

            At that moment the drill gave an ominous rumble, and the entire structure shook. Zuko braced himself as tremors traveled through the metal, all the way through him.

            “You hear that?” said Sokka, excitedly. “We took it down! C’mon, we better get outta here fast!”

            Zuko blinked. Yeah, no, cutting through one and a half braces definitely had not taken this thing down. He was about to say as much when a voice came over the ship’s intercom and he tensed.

            “Congratulations, crew, the drill has made contact with the wall of Ba Sing Se. Start the countdown to victory!”

            Zuko groaned. Great. They were out of time. They needed a new plan, and fast.

            He looked up at the braces, wracking his brain for an idea. The vibrations under his feet were more consistent now and that combined with the constant noise made him grind his teeth. He couldn’t think in this thing, it was too… everything.

            Sokka suddenly ran past him and slammed into the brace. Zuko blinked, and watched as the other boy shoved and smacked uselessly at it. Great. Now, on top of everything else, Sokka had lost it.

            “Come on, brace, budge!” Sokka yelled as he pushed against it.

            “Sokka, the desert wind will uncover the Library faster than you’ll move that brace,” Zuko said. Sokka groaned and shot him a glare.

            “This is bad, really bad,” said Katara.
            “We’re putting everything we’ve got into busting these braces, but it’s taking too long!” Sokka lamented.
            Zuko snorted. “We. Funny.” Sokka glared harder at him and he grinned.

            “Maybe we don’t have to cut all the way through,” said Aang suddenly. He sprang to his feet. “Toph has been teaching me that you shouldn’t give a hundred percent of your energy into any one strike. Sokka, take a fighting stance.”

            Zuko’s attention sharpened. Sokka squared up to Aang, who, with a series of quick strikes, unbalanced Sokka.

            “You’ve gotta be quick and accurate,” said Aang. “Hit a series of points and break your opponent’s stance. And then, when he’s reeling back you deliver the final blow. His own weight becomes his downfall.” Aang bonked Sokka on the head and sent the other boy crashing to the ground. Zuko burst out laughing.

            “So glad my pain is amusing to you,” grumbled Sokka. Zuko bit his lip but kept grinning.

            “So, we just need to weaken the braces, instead of cutting all the way through,” said Katara, bringing them back on topic.

            “Then I’ll go to the top of this thing and deliver the final blow!” grinned Aang.
            “And boom, it all comes crashing down!” Sokka said, springing up.

            “Everyone inside that wall, the whole world, is counting on us,” said Aang solemnly.
            “The whole world minus the Fire Nation,” Sokka corrected.

            Zuko rolled his eyes. “I mean, I’m pretty sure at least some of my people would not say no to not being ruled by a tyrant anymore.”

            Sokka looked slightly sheepish, but shrugged. “Yeah, but, like, the army and all that-”
            Zuko squinted at him. “Do you think the entire Fire Nation is just one big army?”
            “I mean, they sent you out when you were thirteen, so I don’t know, maybe!”

            “Most of the world is counting on us,” Katara interjected. “So we should probably get to work.”

            Zuko felt heat sting his face and looked away. He was just tired of everyone lumping his whole nation into one big terrible group. Not all of them were like that.

            (his mother, Tulip, Madia and Kal flashed through his mind)

            But Katara was right, they needed to get to work, so he took a deep breath and nodded. “I’ll go one direction, Aang and Katara you go in the opposite, we can meet in the middle.”

            “Sounds good,” said Aang.
            “Sokka can go with you,” said Katara.

            Zuko groaned. “Please no.”

            “Hey!”

            “We shouldn’t be by ourselves here,” said Katara. “If someone finds us…”

            Zuko was about to protest when he heard a chirr and Momo landed on his shoulder. “Momo can come with me,” he said. “If anything happens he’ll come and get you to help.”

            Katara hesitated, but after a moment she nodded, accepting the compromise, so Zuko turned and headed for another brace.

            “I don’t know why you guys seem so annoyed by my company,” Sokka said as he walked away. “I’m very encouraging.”

            “You talk too much,” said Katara.

            “Maybe you guys just don’t talk enough!”

            Zuko chuckled.

****

            Things went faster after that. As he worked, Zuko refined his process of letting his fire eat through the metal and made it as efficient as possible. He was a little delighted when he saw the hot flame he was holding starting to turn blue.

            ‘Wait till I tell Azula. She’ll be proud.’

            And then he remembered that his sister was probably here right now, using the drill to break into Ba Sing Se and his heart sank again. He sighed and let the fire in his hand go out, leaning tiredly against the brace and uncapping his waterskin to take a drink.

            Momo chattered at him and scrambled up onto his shoulder, nudging affectionately against his face. Zuko smiled a little and scratched the lemur’s head.

            “Not many more now, Momo,” he said, forcing his mind back to the present. He’d deal with Azula when and if he saw her here.

****

            Azula tapped her fingers impatiently on the armrest of her chair. Things were going well with the drill. Too well.

            Where was the Avatar? Surely he must have taken notice of the drill by now, so why hadn’t he attacked? Why wasn’t he trying to stop it?

            There were hints, of course, that things were happening. The dust cloud Ty Lee had seen earlier was promising, but nothing had come of it yet. Azula sighed. Her trap was set and she wanted to spring it, but until the Avatar stopped hiding like a coward she had to languish in this control room with an overly-confident commander who thought his plan was foolproof.

            (Nothing was foolproof. That wasn’t the point. The point was to draw the Avatar out. The point was to kill the boy and rescue Zuko. That was what she cared about, not conquering Ba Sing Se.)

            (But if she could manage to do both then all the better.)

            ‘Patience. You’ve waited this long, you can wait a little longer,’ she told herself. She just wanted to see her brother again, to make sure he was alright, to save him from whatever trap the Avatar had him in. Every moment she wasted waiting was a moment Zuko was suffering and she couldn’t bear the thought of that. He had suffered for three years, it was time to bring an end to it.

            ‘Patience,’ she thought, clacking her nails against the metal armrest. ‘Soon it will be over. Soon you’ll have him back. And then you can make sure nothing bad ever happens to him again. Just a little longer…’

            Her attention sharpened as a voice came through the intercom. “War minister, an engineer was ambushed, his schematics were stolen!”
            “War minister, a brace on the starboard side has been cut clean through, it’s sabotage, sir!” came a second.

            Azula rose to her feet, taut and eager as a bowstring. She turned to Mai and Ty Lee. “Let’s go, ladies.”

            ‘Finally.’

****

            They were down to the final two braces. Zuko’s was right next to the other’s, and he could hear Sokka’s annoying encouragement as he finished his work.

            “Good work Team Avatar, now Aang just needs to- DUCK!”

            Zuko spun around just in time to see a blast of blue fire fly through the air towards his friends. His eyes narrowed and he quickly caught sight of Azula, Mai and Ty Lee on one of the higher braces.

            “You’re right, Azula, it is the Avatar!” Ty Lee called. “And friends.”

            “Yes,” said Azula, looking straight at him. “And friends.”

            Zuko darted down the walkway and into the hall, parallel to the others. He skidded out a doorway a few feet away from them.

            “Guys, get outta here, I know what I need to do!” shouted Aang.

            “Wait!” Katara called. “You need this water more than I do,” she tossed him her water pouch. Aang caught it deftly and turned, running towards him.

            Aang ran past him and Zuko started following him. Aang stopped and turned around. “Zuko, go with them you-”

            “Azula will come after you,” said Zuko. “I’m coming with you. Now stop wasting time and run!”

            Aang hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded and resumed running. Zuko followed in his wake.

            He had forgotten how fast Aang was. He was pretty sure the kid was even going slow to let him keep up and Zuko still found himself lagging behind. Momo flew alongside his head, chirping encouragement.

            It turned out to be a good thing though when they came into more populated areas of the drill. Aang cleared a path for them, knocking workers off walkways and staircases as he went. Zuko wasn’t sure if he should laugh or apologize as they tumbled to the floor, but he was too winded to do either so he tried not to worry about it.

            When they finally reached the top of the drill, Aang opened a hatch and popped out. Zuko scrambled out after him and pushed it closed behind him, then doubled over panting, trying desperately to catch his breath. Momo stood on his hind legs and sniffed his face, then, apparently deciding he wasn’t hurt, fluttered over to Aang, who looked like he was about to start cutting into the metal-

            CLUNK

            Zuko yelped as a boulder landed far too close to him and sprang away, eyes wide as more boulders started crashing down around them. He looked up and saw Aang dodging them as well.

            “General Sung!” the boy shouted. “Tell your men to stop throwing rocks down here!”

            Evidently Sung couldn’t hear him though, because a moment later more boulders pelted the drill. Zuko groaned. Of all the ineffective strategies…

            He hurried carefully over to Aang, who was starting to use water to cut into the metal in spite of the danger of falling rocks. At least Sung knew they were down here and would try not to hit them (probably).

            “I’m going to keep watch!” he shouted over the roaring of the drill as it cut into the wall. Aang nodded to him, and Zuko headed a short distance away, eyes scanning as he waited for his sister to appear.

            He didn’t have to wait long.

            Movement caught his eye and he turned to see Azula climbing out of another hatch. She took in the scene and her eyes locked on him. She hurried closer. Zuko felt his stomach clench as he dug his nails into his palms and dropped into a fighting stance.

            Azula stopped a short distance from him. “Zuko. You don’t look very happy to see me.”

            He didn’t reply. Just watched for any small change that might indicate she was about to attack.

            “I’m happy to see you though,” she continued after a moment. “Have you reconsidered my offer to join me in capturing the Avatar- and now Ba Sing Se itself- and returning home in glory?”

            He heard Aang’s cutting falter for a moment, then quickly resume. He didn’t dare glance at the boy though. The second he dropped his guard, Azula would attack. She’d done it a hundred times during their training.

            “I told you,” said Zuko. “They’re my friends, Azula. I won’t betray them.”

            “And what about me?” she snapped back. “Your sister who always believed in you? Where is your loyalty to me, brother?”

            Zuko didn’t waver. He wasn’t going to, not this time. “I told you, I can’t go home, Azula.”

            “LIES!”

            The scream was punctuated by a blast of fire that he easily blocked. His head spun from side to side. Watch, Azula loves to distract, then-

            She ran at him from the side, kicking out flames when she drew closer. He knocked them aside and shot a blast of his own that she dodged effortlessly.

            “Father will welcome you home if you return in victory, Zuko,” she said, swinging a scythe of fire at his head.

            Zuko brushed it aside with his newly perfected fire dagger. “Oh, I’m sure he would. And then he’ll burn the other side of my face the next time I do something he doesn’t agree with.”

            “He always meant for you to return!” Azula insisted, summoning flame daggers of her own to duel him with. “Why else would he have given you a quest?”

            Zuko scoffed. “Don’t play stupid, Azula, we both know it was a hopeless quest. He never expected me to have a chance. It was a good way to get rid of me.”

            Whenever he thought about it a knife sank deeper into his heart; father didn’t love him, he might never have loved him, and he thought Zuko was such a disappointment that he’d banished him the first chance he got.

            “Isn’t it enough that you’ll have me?” Azula asked, changing tactics. She brought her flame dagger up at his face and he knocked it away quickly, vaguely aware of her fire burning against the skin of his arm as he did so.

            “I don’t want to always be afraid, Azula!” he growled, forming the fire in his hands into a ball and shooting it out at her, making space between them. “It’s not like that when I’m here, with my friends! We look out for each other, we watch each other’s backs!”

            Azula gave him a wounded look. “So it wasn’t enough to have me watching your back?” Her expression hardened. “What have they done to you, Zuko?”

            Zuko huffed. Not this again.

            In an attempt to get his sister thinking about anything else, he spun a disk of flame at her. She cut through it easily and glared at him.

            “Whatever they’ve told you isn’t true! Whatever lies they’ve whispered, whatever traps they’ve ensnared you in, I can help you break free!” Azula said pleadingly. “Let me help you, Zuko, please! Let me set you free!”

            Zuko drew himself up. “I am free, Azula. And I don’t want things to go back to the way that they were. Things can’t go back to the way that they were.”

            “LIAR!”

            Azula’s eyes turned wild, and before he could react, a ball of blue flame was headed towards him. He tried to dodge, but he was too slow, and it crashed into his chest, sending him flying backwards.

            He tried to stop himself, but his feet slipped in the sludge coming from the drill and with a yelp he was falling, careening back through nothing but air.

****

            Azula realized her mistake a second too late and watched in horror as Zuko tumbled over the side of the drill.

            “ZUKO!” she screamed, her feet already running, oh Agni what had she done-

            There was a whoosh of air and the little Avatar shot past her. She snarled, ready to blast him into ash against the wall, but he sped down the side of the drill and when she fell to her knees at the edge she saw him fly under Zuko and catch him, pushing them both up with a ball of air. Her breath caught in her chest and she dug her nails into her palms until blood welled over them.

            Then the Avatar and her brother shot over the side of the drill and slipped to a stop in the sludge. And for just a second, they were disoriented, off guard-

            Azula didn’t think twice. She shot a blast of fire at the Avatar that send him ramming into the wall.

            Zuko spun around, but before he could attack she swept a fire arc at him, pushing him back and out of the way. He tumbled into the sludge and she stalked forward unhindered.

            She grabbed the unconscious Avatar by the front of his shirt and lifted him up, calling a ball of fire into her other hand.

            “Thank you for saving my brother, but one good deed does not erase whatever else you’ve done to him,” she smirked. “Farewell, Avatar.”

****

            One second he was falling to his death, the next Aang was there, pushing him up. He even felt Momo trying to help by tugging his collar.

            “Run up the wall!” Aang shouted.

            Zuko tried, but it was easier said than done to keep his feet under him while he was basically flying. Aang ran beside him, and suddenly they were over the wall and sliding to a stop through the sludge. Aang slid away from him and Zuko fought to catch his breath.

            Fire shot past his face and he jerked back, panic flaring in his mind as he turned and saw Azula standing there, looking furious. Before he could move, her fire caught him in the chest and send him careening back for the second time that day.

            He tumbled to the ground, gasping. Had Azula gone insane?! Was she trying to kill him now that she knew he wasn’t going to help her?!

            He looked up, half expecting to see his sister stalking towards him, ready to finish him off.

            What he saw was far worse.

            Azula held up an unconscious Aang, fire hovering in her hand, raising it towards his face-

            Rage and horror engulfed him and with a scream of fury he shot forward and tackled Azula to the ground.

            Azula yelped, eyes wide and shocked as he pinned her down.

            “You will not touch him again!” Zuko snarled, digging his fingers into her arms. “I’m not gonna let you hurt him, Azula!”

            She kicked him in the stomach and he gasped, his grip loosening. Azula wiggled free and scrambled back on her hands and knees. Zuko sprang to his feet and eyed her warily.

            “What happened to you, Zuko?” she asked, voice shaking slightly. “What- what has he done to you, to make you like this? I had him, I could have killed him, you could be free, you could come home-”

            “I DON’T WANT TO GO HOME!” Zuko screamed. Fire erupted around him, but didn’t touch Azula. She flinched back anyway.

            Zuko’s chest heaved and tears sprang into his eye as his shoulders slumped and the fire extinguished. “I can’t go home, Azula,” he said, suddenly exhausted. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”

            CLANG

            His head jerked towards the noise just as Aang shot away toward the wall, running up it. He’d sheered one of the boulders into a wedge and shoved it into the hole he’d made, and now…

            Zuko’s hands shook and he looked back to Azula, who was on her feet now, watching Aang, calculating-

            She raised one hand-

            “NO!” Zuko launched a fireball at her and sent her sliding through the sludge, tumbling to the ground-

            “Zuko!”

            He heard Aang’s shout just as a shockwave ripped through the air, sending him flying, rolling along the drill’s rough metal. His hands caught on a bar and he clung to it as the drill shuddered and jerked, steam and sludge exploding out of it as the entire machine collapsed.

            Silence. No grating, rumbling, groaning, no shuddering or shaking under him, just silence and stillness.

            Zuko sagged and pressed his head against the cold metal, chest heaving. They’d done it. The drill had been stopped. Ba Sing Se was safe. The Fire Nation would not take over the world today.

            Footsteps. “Zuko! Zuko are you okay?!”

            He looked up and saw Aang, covered in sludge except for his face, and let out a hysterical laugh, shaking his head. Carefully, he got to his feet and blinked, swaying. He looked around for Azula, but she was nowhere to be seen. Hopefully that blast hadn’t knocked her off the drill…

            “Are you okay?” Aang asked, again, moving closer. Momo was sitting on the kid’s shoulder, trying to lick the sludge off.

            “Yeah, I’m okay,” he said tiredly.

            “Really?” Aang shook his arms to dislodge some of the sludge and grabbed Zuko’s arm. “It looks like you got burned…”

            Zuko looked down at the injury and shook his head. It stung, but nothing worse. “Just a little. What about you?” he started wiping sludge off Aang’s head. “Azula knocked you into the wall, do you- ah, yep, you’ve got a bump on your head, and it’s bleeding a little.”

            “I’ll be okay,” said Aang. “But you-”

            “I’ve got some bruises and cuts, nothing worse,” said Zuko, raising his eyebrow. “If you want I’ll say it again after we find Toph so you know I’m telling the truth. Now c’mon, we should find the others and we should both have Katara look at us, deal?”

            Aang relaxed. “Deal.”

            Zuko smiled.

****

            Later, when they had been cleaned and examined and they’d given their report to General Sung, the five of them stood on the wall as the sun set and Zuko tried to convince himself he’d done the right thing.

            There was no convincing Azula that his friends were actually good and kind and that they’d saved his life in more ways than one. She was determined to believe that they were manipulating him, that they had twisted his mind somehow.

            But had fighting and yelling at her really been the right course of action? His shoulders slumped and he sighed. Probably not, but…

            He looked up at the others, talking and arguing with Sokka about something. He wasn’t going to betray them. And he wasn’t going to let Azula hurt them. And until he could figure out a way to convince Azula that he wasn’t crazy he had to be damage control and make sure she didn’t hurt his friends… or get hurt herself.

            He’d figure it out. He just had to keep them safe and deflect Azula for now and-

            “What do you think, Zuko?”

            He jumped and looked up at the others in surprise. “What?”

            “About a group name!” Sokka said cheerfully. “Yea or nay, you get to be our tiebreaker!”

            “Please say nay,” Toph said.
            “Don’t listen to her! Don’t be swayed!” Sokka protested.

            Zuko said the first thing that popped into his mind. “I mean, I’ve been calling you guys the Gaang in my head for a while now. I guess since I’m here to stay that means I’m part of it too.”

            “The Gaang?” Katara asked, tilting her head.

            He felt his face start to heat. “I- yeah, Gaang, like G-Aang, because we have, you know,” he waved a hand at Aang.

            There was a pause, then Sokka gave a whoop and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, grinning. “I knew I could count on you, buddy!”

            Zuko rolled his eyes. “Still not buddies.”

            Sokka ignored him. “Come on, Gaang, let’s get going!”

            “Uggh, I can’t believe you’re on his side, Sparky,” Toph groaned.

            “I’m- I’m not? I just, that’s what I’ve been using in my head?” Zuko stammered.

            “Don’t let ‘em get you down, Zuko, you’re in the right and they know it!” Sokka said, bouncing alongside him.

            “I think it’s fun,” said Aang, grinning.

            “Of course you do, Twinkletoes, it’s your name.”

            “I’ll concede that it’s better than Team Avatar, but that’s it.”

            “Aw, c’mon, Katara, aren’t you proud of Zuko? Look how far he’s come, you could even say he’s…”

            “Sokka, I swear-”

            “One of the Gaang! Ahaha!”

            “Uggh, how did I end up with the most annoying brother ever?”

            “Just lucky, I guess!”

            Zuko found himself chuckling at their antics, his awkwardness fading away as they bantered, and his heart settled.

            He had done the right thing.

Chapter Text

            Zuko woke slowly to the feeling of warmth and pressure around him. He allowed himself to enjoy the strange, comforting feeling for a few minutes before his anxiety asserted itself and he reluctantly opened his eyes to see what was happening.

            The sun was just cresting the horizon. They had spent the night in a tram station after being sent off the wall only to discover that the trams to the city stopped running after sunset. Rather than sleeping in the crowded waiting area with hundreds of refugees, they had climbed up to the station to wait. Zuko remembered sitting down on the bench and dozing off while the others talked.

            What he did not remember was the rest of the Gaang snuggling up around him.

            Toph was curled up on his lap, her head resting on his chest. Beside him, on one side, Sokka was leaning on his shoulder, and on the other side Aang was cuddled up against him with Katara half curled around the little airbender. Momo was asleep on Aang’s lap, one paw resting on Zuko’s leg.

            Zuko stayed perfectly still, unwilling to disrupt the scene. It reminded him of mornings in his childhood when he’d wake up snuggled next to his mother, or Azula (sometimes both) and they’d lay there in cozy silence until hunger or the threat of father’s anger finally forced them up.

            (and it reminded him of mornings with Tulip and Madia, who had loved to cuddle up next to him at night and on the days he was still stuck in bed)

            As the sun rose higher, people started wandering into the station, most of them paying no heed to the group of kids asleep on a bench. Zuko leaned back with a sigh, letting himself relax and bask in the comforting warmth of his friends and the sun.

            Eventually the noise roused the others and they started to stir. Sokka yawned and stretched beside him; Toph grumbled and buried her face in his shirt; Aang started fidgeting and finally blinked his eyes open; and Katara slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes and looking around.

            Slowly, they uncurled themselves and stood, stretching, except for Toph, who remained stubbornly snuggled on his lap. Zuko didn’t mind.

            “They should start running trams again soon,” said Katara, looking over a schedule on the wall.

            “Is there enough time for us to find somewhere to eat?” Sokka asked. “I’m starving.”

            “I didn’t see anyplace selling food last night,” said Katara. “And I don’t think we should wander off. We need to get into the city. Once we’re there we can get something to eat.”

            Sokka groaned. Zuko chuckled and carefully eased off his bag and dug through it with one hand until he found an apple. “Sokka, catch!”

            Sokka caught it and gave him a grateful grin. The others wordlessly gathered around as he dug through his bag and handed out the fruit and nuts he had. Even Toph sat up and accepted an apple. Momo clambered up and chattered on Zuko’s shoulders until Zuko gave him a slice of the orange he was peeling for himself.

            They had just finished eating when the first tram arrived. Toph reluctantly climbed off his lap and they boarded.

            The trip into the city was uneventful, except for the weird guy with a corn cob in his mouth who squished himself between Sokka and Toph, much to their consternation.

            The kids marveled at the scope of the city when they finally entered the inner wall. Zuko stayed in his seat next to Toph, not looking out the windows. The sheer size of Ba Sing Se gave him anxiety and he hated having to see it all at once. When they were down on the streets he’d be fine, maybe even helpful in their quest to find Appa. He did know the locations of several shady areas where they could probably get information- if there was any information to get.

            He also knew areas and types of people to avoid at all costs and he was once again grateful that Aang hadn’t made it here by himself. It was so much better and safer that they were all here together.

            They got off at the first station in the city. Zuko did make himself look out at the mass of houses, factories and shops and their maze of streets now. They’d need a place to stay before they could start looking for Appa. He had a pretty good idea where they could start-

            Footsteps. He looked up and saw that they were not alone on the tram platform. A woman was walking towards them with a wide- almost sinister, somehow- grin plastered on her face.

            “Hello,” she said as she approached. “I’m Joo Dee. Welcome to Ba Sing Se.”

            Oh he didn’t like this. He didn’t like this one bit. He’d seen women like this when he snuck into the middle and upper rings last time he was here. Dead eyes, creepy smile, they looked like something out of a nightmare. They were solidly at the top of his list of people to avoid interaction with at any cost.

            “I have been given the great honor of showing the Avatar around Ba Sing Se,” said Joo Dee. “And you must be Sokka, Katara, Toph and Lee. Welcome to our wonderful city.”

            Zuko had never been more grateful to have an alias in his entire life. Logically, he knew that the general from the outer wall had probably sent word that the Avatar and his friends had arrived in the city, but it was still creepy that this stranger already knew them. At least they didn’t have his real name as well.

            (there was also a concern niggling away at the back of his mind that General Sung and his soldiers might have recognized him while he was fighting Azula on the drill and realized he was a firebender. But since no one was here to arrest him they must not have put things together…

            … yet.)

            “We have information about the Fire Nation that we need to deliver to the Earth King immediately,” Sokka was saying.

            “Great. Let’s begin our tour and then I’ll show you to your new home here,” said Joo Dee, ignoring Sokka completely.

            “Maybe you missed what I said,” Sokka tried again. “We need to talk to the king about the war. It’s important.”

            “You’re in Ba Sing Se now. Everyone is safe here,” said Joo Dee.

            Zuko sighed. It would have been easier if they’d just been left to their own devices, but now they had to deal with a handler. Great.

            They reluctantly followed Joo Dee to a carriage that was waiting for him. Zuko considered telling the others to make a break for it, but quickly discounted the idea. If someone had been sent to get them then it was likely they were being watched. Better to wait until later when there was less scrutiny.

            He half listened during their “tour”. He agreed with the others that the segregation was especially bad in the city (and he hated that there were similar problems in the Fire Nation, just not all contained in one place) and found himself sighing at Sokka’s attempts to get Joo Dee to listen about the war.

            “What’s with that woman? It seems like she only hears every other word I say!” Sokka vented when Joo Dee stepped out of the carriage at a stop.

            “It’s called being handled. Get used to it,” said Toph.

            He was a little amused she’d used the same word he thought of earlier. “People in Ba Sing Se don’t like to talk about the war,” he added. “When I was here before it was almost impossible to get information. It’s a little easier in the lower districts if you know who to talk to.”

            “Is there anyone in the lower districts who can smuggle us in to see the king?” Sokka asked.

            Zuko tilted his head. “Maybe. I might be able to get into the palace. I didn’t try last time, and it’s heavily guarded, but,” he shrugged and glanced at Aang. “It’s not like I haven’t broken into heavily guarded places before.”

            “Hopefully it doesn’t come to that,” said Aang. “But it’s good to know it’s a potential option.”

            The tour continued. He zoned out again until he caught sight of the palace walls. Instinctively, he pulled away from the window as the Dai Li guards looked over at the carriage with contempt.

            “What’s inside that wall?” Katara asked.
            “And who are the mean looking guys in robes?” Sokka added.

            Zuko bit his lip to keep from answering. There was a lot he was going to have to fill the others in on when they were safely behind closed doors.

            “Inside is the royal palace and those men are agents of the Dai Li, they are the guardians of all our traditions,” said Joo Dee.

            ‘And your secret law enforcement if anyone gets out of line,’ Zuko added silently.

            “Can we see the king now?” Aang asked.
            “Oh no, one does not simply pop in on the Earth King!” Joo Dee informed him cheerfully. Zuko rolled his eyes.

            Finally they arrived at the place they’d be staying at. It was a relatively simple, but spacious house. As they were surveying it, a messenger arrived and Joo Dee informed them that their request to see the Earth King would be processed in about a month. Or two.

            Zuko groaned. As hard as it had been to survive the last time he was here he decided it was better than…. Whatever this was. At least he’d been free to move about and talk to whoever he pleased, so long as he stayed out of the Dai Li’s way.

            This was further reinforced in his mind when Joo Dee refused to leave them alone to look for Appa. She insisted on escorting them even when Toph told her, point blank that they “didn’t need a babysitter”.

            So off they went, checking pet stores and the university that weird professor had been from for any information about Appa… or the war. But at every turn they were thwarted by Joo Dee, who Zuko caught giving pointed looks to everyone they talked to when they were questioned about something they weren’t supposed to talk about.

            It was stressful and stifling and he just wanted the woman to get out and leave them alone so that he could fill the others in and they could make a plan.

            By the time they finally returned to their guest house he was struggling to keep his temper under control, he even caught smoke wafting off his fingertips at one point, which was incredibly unnerving because he knew if he was caught he’d be imprisoned and killed and he hadn’t had a problem controlling himself in an Earth Kingdom city for years, what was wrong with him…

            Finally, finally they were safely behind the doors of their guest house with Joo Dee out of the way. Toph immediately flopped flat out on the floor and he almost followed suit, but instead just sat down and pressed his head into his hands.

            “Alright, so what’s going on in this city?” Sokka asked.

            Zuko sighed and glanced up to see that the others had sat down nearby. “No one talks about the war, and it’s because the Dai Lee aren’t just protectors of tradition,” he rolled his eyes. “They’re law enforcement, and if they catch you, they drag you off to who knows where and do who knows what to you.”

            His chest suddenly felt tight and he closed his eyes. “I saw it happen, last time I was here. Some old man was raving about the war raging on outside the wall. The Dai Li showed up and took him away.”

            “Why don’t the Dai Li want people to talk about the war?” Aang asked.

            “I don’t know,” Zuko reached up and tugged on his hair, eyes still shut tight. “But they’re gonna be keeping an eye on us, so we need to be careful or else…”

            “You think they’re gonna drag off the Avatar?” Sokka asked. “There’s no way they’d get away with that!”

            “And even if they tried we’d have a pretty good chance of stopping them,” said Katara. “I mean, except for Sokka, we’re all pretty good benders.”

            Zuko shook his head. They didn’t understand. Uncle and Lu Ten had been good fighters too and they…

            “I’m pretty sure you just insulted me.”

            They don’t understand, don’t understand, they’re kids-

            “It’s just a statement of fact, Sokka.”

            “Yeah well I-”

            “You don’t understand!” Zuko slammed his fists down on the tile, eyes flying open as he glared at their startled expressions. “These aren’t some third rate guards you can just sneak past, they’re not idiots, they’re powerful and experienced and they will kill you!”

            He took a shuddering breath and shut his eyes again. He was shaking, spirits, what was wrong with him today? Why was he falling apart?

            “Zuko…” he heard Aang say quietly. “The Dai Li didn’t… they didn’t capture you, did they?”

            Zuko let out a harsh, hysterical laugh. “If they had I’d be dead like uncle and-” he froze.

            There was a long, dreadful pause.

            “Your uncle?” Katara finally said softly.

            Zuko stared at the floor, arms wrapped tight around his chest. He heard Toph shift beside him and set a hand on his knee and after a moment Momo appeared on the floor beside him and with a soft chirr climbed onto Zuko’s lap.

            Zuko settled one hand in Momo’s fur and stared down, refusing to look at any of them. “My uncle was the Dragon of the West,” he said quietly. “I-I came to Ba Sing Se looking for information about the Avatar but also… I wanted to know what happened to him. And… and my cousin,” he swallowed the lump in his throat. “In the final days of the siege my cousin was captured and uncle tried to rescue him. But it- it was a trap and uncle was ambushed. He held off dozens of earthbenders by himself to let his men escape-” his voice wavered. “They said he fought like Agni himself, like a dragon come to life. But he-” he closed his eyes as he felt tears welling up and his voice shook so hard he almost couldn’t continue. “He was surrounded by e-elite soldiers and bad-badly wounded. The last soldier he’d saved watched him fall.”

            He felt a hand on his shoulder and jumped. When he turned to look he found Aang’s sorrowful face staring back at him. He looked down again and tried to gather himself.

            “When I came here before I was trying to find anything about what had happened to uncle and my cousin, even just a grave where the Fire Nation soldiers had been buried. But there was nothing. All I heard was the same story over and over again, just from the Earth Kingdom’s perspective. But I,” he took a deep, shuddering breath. “They told me that the men who killed uncle were Dai Li. If they could do that,” he looked back at Aang. “They could kill the Avatar too.”

            Silence followed his story. He didn’t look up, but he sensed that the others had moved closer to him as he talked and he tried to take comfort in knowing that at least they cared.

            “I’m sorry, Zuko,” said Aang, finally. “I know that when we talk about all the terrible things the Fire Nation has done it’s easy to forget that they’re just people like us but they are and I can tell… you really loved your uncle, and your cousin, and that makes me think they were good people, even if what they were doing was wrong.”

            Oh.

            Zuko roughly brushed the tears off his face and nodded. “They were good. They thought- everyone in the Fire Nation thinks this war is right, they don’t, they can’t see what it’s actually doing to the world, they think they’re doing the right thing…”

            His voice was shaking and watery. He felt Aang wrap an arm around his shoulders and squeeze, and on his other side Toph leaned up against him and he fought to not let that unravel him completely and turn him into a sobbing mess.

            There was another long silence before he heard a small rustle and looked up to see Katara standing and brushing off her dress. “We should make something to eat. And maybe… make some tea?” she looked at him, half uncertain, half hopeful.

            Zuko gave a watery little laugh. “Uncle loved tea. We couldn’t get him to stop talking about it sometimes, me and ‘Zula. We’d sneak away while his back was turned and run off and hide in the gardens.”

            Toph snorted and Katara smiled at him a little. “Okay. Tea it is then. Aang, do you wanna come help me?”

            “Okay,” Aang gave him a final pat on the back and stood with a little whoosh of air.  Zuko listened to them head into the kitchen and start digging around for food and presumably a teapot.

            Sokka cleared his throat and Zuko’s attention spun back to him.

            “Um, hey, Toph,” Sokka said awkwardly. “Could you maybe go-”
            “No.”
            “But-”
            “Only if Sparky says it’s okay.”

            Zuko blinked, not entirely sure what was happening. “If I say what’s okay?”
            “Ugh, just tell Toph to stop being obstinate and leave for two minutes so I can talk to you, okay?”
            “Don’t let him bully you, Sparky, I’ll stay if you want.”
            “I’m not bullying! I just want to have a private conversation!”

            “I- it’s okay Toph, I’m sure it’s fine,” said Zuko, still confused.

            “Okay, but if he starts getting too annoying just give me a shout,” said Toph, standing and walking away.

            “Will do?” Zuko said, perplexed.

            When Toph was gone, he turned his attention back to Sokka, who looked uncharacteristically awkward.

            “Um, so,” Sokka rubbed the back of his neck. “I know I talk a lot about how the Fire Nation is evil and needs to be stopped and uhhh I’m realizing now that maybe I should have been a little more careful with my words…”

            “The Fire Nation does need to be stopped,” said Zuko. “But I would… they’re not evil, not everyone in the Fire Nation is evil, there’s lots of people who have no idea what’s really going on and everything is twisted, all the reports, even when Sozin destroyed the airbenders they don’t say what really happened and-”

            “Whoa, I, yeah, I-I’m realizing that now,” said Sokka, holding up his hands. “I guess I should have realized sooner that being a prince you’d, um, have opinions on how people talked about your people. I mean, I get pretty annoyed whenever someone calls me and Katara “Water Tribe savages”, so.” He shrugged. “I’m sorry. I’ll try and be more…” he waved his hands up and down like he was juggling. “Nuanced, in the future, okay?”

            Zuko nodded. “Thank you.”

            “Sure thing, buddy.”
            “While you’re at it, stop calling me buddy.”
            “Aww, c’mon, you like it!”
            “Toph!”
            “WAIT, I TAKE IT BACK-”

Chapter Text

            Everyone seemed a little discouraged the next day, until Katara ran in with the mail.

            “I know how we’re gonna see the Earth King!” she said, waving a letter.

            “How are we gonna do that? One doesn’t simply pop in on the Earth King,” said Toph, mimicking Joo Dee’s annoying cheerfulness. Zuko chuckled.

            “The Earth King is having a party at the palace tonight for his pet bear,” Katara continued, undeterred.

            “You mean his platypus bear?” Aang asked.
            “No, it just says bear,” Katara shrugged.
            “Certainly you mean his pet skunk bear?”
            “Or his armadillo bear.”
            “Gopher bear?”
            “Just… bear.”
            “I think I heard about that,” said Zuko. “Uncle sent us all sorts of weird information about Ba Sing Se during the siege.”

            “This place is weird.” Toph concluded.

            “The palace will be packed, we can sneak in with the crowd,” said Katara, pulling them back on topic as usual.

            “Won’t work,” said Toph. “Zuko and I could get in, but you three would have no chance. A real society crowd would spot you a mile away, you’ve got no manners.”

            Zuko bit his lip. He knew what Toph meant but as usual she was saying it in the most blunt way possible.

            “Excuse me? We have no manners? You’re not exactly lady fancyfingers,” Katara retorted as Toph started picking her nose.

            “I learned high society life and chose to leave it. You guys never learned anything,” Toph argued. “And frankly, it’s a little too late.”

            Zuko opened his mouth to interject, but Sokka beat him to it. “Aha, but you did learn it! You can teach us!”
            “Yeah, I’m mastering every element, how hard can manners be?” Aang agreed.

            And then immediately invalidated his point by grabbing a curtain and wrapping it around his shoulders like a cape. Zuko groaned.

            “Good evening Mr. Sokka Water Tribe, Miss Katara Water Tribe, Lord Momo of the Momo Dynasty, your Momoness,” said Aang, bowing to each person in turn. Zuko very valiantly held back his laughter.

            Sokka grabbed another curtain and wrapped it around himself like Aang had. “Avatar Aang, how you do go on.” He intoned in a goofy old man voice.

            The boys then proceeded to bow to each other repeatedly until they bonked heads, at which point Zuko burst out laughing.

            “Katara might be able to pull it off, but you two would be lucky to pass as busboys,” said Toph, much less amused than he was. “But Zuko and I are still the best bet for getting in.”

            Zuko sobered and shook his head. “I won’t be able to get in.”

            Toph frowned. “Why not? You’re a prince aren’t you?”

            He winced slightly. “That’s not the problem. The problem is I have a huge, very noticeable and identifiable scar on my face. That’s not the kind of thing that passes in high society.”

            “Oh,” Toph’s expression fell and she sighed. “Okay, fine, c’mon Katara, we’d better get to work.”

            Zuko glanced over at the boys, who had apparently given up trying to impress Toph and were smacking each other with the curtains. He rolled his eyes.

            “Hey, Sparky, hurry up!”

            He looked up, surprised. “Toph, I told you, I can’t-”

            “Yeah but you’ve still done stuff like this and I can’t see. You can help Katara with clothes and stuff.”

            “Aww, they want you to play dress up with them!” Sokka said teasingly.

            Zuko felt his face heat and stomped after the girls without a word. As a small act of revenge, he shot a spark at Sokka’s curtain and smirked when it caught fire and Sokka started to yell in panicked surprise as he tried to put it out. He didn’t stick around to see how it ended, but he felt confident that, between the two of them, Aang and Sokka could deal with a very tiny fire.

            He followed the girls into their room, which was the smaller of the two bedrooms- he and the other boys shared the bigger one. There were two futons inside, along with a small dresser, a vanity and a closet inset on one wall.

            “Okay, Zuko, find some fancy looking clothes in there, I’ll start educating Katara,” said Toph.

            Zuko nodded and walked over to the closet, making a mental note to half listen to their conversation in case either of them started sounding frustrated.

            There were some truly beautiful dresses inside, some practical, some elegant, in various sizes and shades of green. There were also tunics, blouses and pants, but he ignored those. Azula was the only girl he’d ever known to get away with wearing pants to a fancy event, and that was because she was the princess and father’s favorite.

            He inspected several gowns and picked out the ones that looked most like those he’d seen women wearing at fancy events (them being green instead of red made it a little harder to compare, but he managed) in sizes he hoped would fit Toph and Katara. The dress he picked for Toph was a little long, but he wasn’t entirely sure if she planned to wear shoes so if she didn’t the hem would hide her feet.

            The girls seemed to be doing fine. Katara gave Toph plenty of sass back, but she also listened and didn’t seem to be taking anything too personally. Toph, for her part, seemed to be taking her job very seriously, which was adorable (not that he’d ever tell her that- she’d crush him with a boulder).

            After a bit, he walked over with the dresses and Katara looked them over.

            “These are beautiful,” she said. “Are we- we are allowed to use these, right?”
            “Of course we are,” said Toph. “C’mon, Katara, you gotta pretend you’re a filthy rich person; they’re in our house, so we’re entitled to them.”

            Katara nodded, looking more confident. “Okay. Should we get dressed first and then, I assume we need to do something with our hair…”

            “And makeup,” Zuko added. “All the women and girls at fancy events wear makeup. And you should get dressed first because trying to put the dresses on afterward will mess up your hair and makeup and then you’ll have to do it again.”

            “You… sound like you speak from experience,” said Katara.

            He shrugged. “Azula always insisted I help her with her hair before events, which meant I usually spent hours helping her get ready and then rushed to get myself ready.”

            “That’s kind of selfish,” said Toph. “But very high society.”

            Zuko shook his head. “She just wanted my company. Stuff like this always stressed both of us out because father was watching us extra closely and he always wanted to show Azula off. His firebending prodigy,” Zuko wrinkled his nose.

            “Yeah, my parents always wanted to show me off too, but it was more so they could get pity,” Toph shook her head.

            “Um, okay, so we need to get dressed then,” said Katara.

            “I’ll wait outside and only fry Sokka a little if he makes any more snarky comments,” said Zuko.

            “You could just stay in here,” said Katara. “I mean, I trust you not to peek.”

            He blinked. “Oh. Uh.”

            “If you wanna get back at me for hanging out while you took a bath that one time you can peek, it’s not like I’m gonna know,” said Toph. Katara snorted.

            His face reddened. “Toph, you can feel my heartbeat and I’m pretty sure you can tell when I turn my head. I’m not, I’m not going to peek.”

            “Suit yourself, Sparky.”

            He ended up over at the vanity while the girls changed, very pointedly ignoring the mirror and instead looking at the variety of makeup available to them. It was pretty standard stuff, similar to what Azula usually wore. He picked out a few that he thought would look good and fiddled with the caps.

            “Okay, how do we look?”

            He turned and smiled a little. “Great. But Toph’s dress is on backwards.”

            “I knew it felt wrong!”

            After that was fixed the girls came over to the vanity. Katara gave him a shy little smile.

            “So, you know how you said you’d braid my hair sometime?” she asked.

            He nodded. “I can do that. But you’ll need more than braids. Here, I found these while I was digging in the makeup drawers,” he pulled out two hairpieces. “I’ll work them into your hair. Toph, can I-”

            “Yes, Sparky, I already trust you with my hair more than every servant I’ve ever known.”

            He blushed again and grabbed the makeup containers to cover it. “I think these ones will look good with your complexion, Katara, and these two are for Toph,” he handed them the containers.

            “Do you know how to do makeup too?” Toph asked. “Sparky, is there anything you can’t do?”

            Zuko ducked his head with a nervous chuckle. “I’ve never been good at firebending.”

            “I don’t think that’s true, but why are you good with,” Katara gestured to the vanity and everything it entailed. “All of this? Did you just learn from helping your sister?”

            Zuko shrugged and grabbed a stool. “Sit down I’ll talk while I work on your hair, it helps.”

            She did and he just brushed her hair silently for a minute, gathering his thoughts. Toph sat on the floor, running her fingers over her hairpiece.

            “I learned some stuff from helping Azula,” he said quietly. “But there were also a few times I got dragged along by her to sleepovers at Ty Lee’s house and Ty Lee’s sisters ambushed us and gave us makeovers.”

            “Pfft, wait, really?” Katara reached up and pressed a hand to her mouth. “And you went along with it?”

            “I didn’t have much of a choice, Ty Lee had a lot of sisters.”

            “Sokka would have rather dove into icy seawater than let me put makeup on him,” Katara giggled. “He did let Suki do it once though.”

            Zuko blinked and Toph sat up straighter. “Wait, really?” he asked.

            “Yep. The first time we met her, on Kyoshi Island. She put that Kyoshi warrior makeup she wears on him.”

            Zuko laughed. “Now why couldn’t I have seen that through my spyglass when I was looking for you guys?”

            Toph snorted. “Stalker much, Sparky?”

            “I was trying to capture Aang,” Zuko muttered. “I had to spy.”

            “Fair enough.”

            “And that wasn’t all Suki did,” he could hear Katara grinning. “She got Sokka to wear a dress.”

            There was a pause, then Toph started laughing uproariously. “A dress?! Sokka in a dress?! Oh man, I wish I could have seen that!”

            Zuko found himself laughing along with her. “And with the makeup. Can you imagine?”

            “I wish I could. I bet he looked ridiculous!”

            “Did he complain a lot?” Zuko asked, peering around so he could see Katara’s face.

            “Oh he absolutely did. And he completely deserved what he got,” Katara smirked.

            “I can imagine him running around saying ‘Oh no how am I supposed to throw my boomerang and be manly like this!’” Toph giggled, using a high pitched voice to imitate Sokka.

            “That’s exactly what he sounded like!” Katara laughed.

            They all dissolved into fits of laughter and giggles and Zuko found himself laying on the floor, grinning as he tried to catch his breath, happy to simply be there, laughing with his friends.

****

            Finally, the girls were ready. Zuko actually felt proud of how nice they looked, and he wished he really could go with them to see the looks they’d get at the party.

            (Or, maybe lack of looks, because they’d blend in so well. Either way, he wished he could see it.)

            Unfortunately, after Katara and Toph left there was nothing to do but wait. And think. And worry.

            He sat outside the palace in the shadow of a statue with Sokka and Aang, waiting for the girls to let them in as every possible thing that could go wrong with this plan suddenly slammed into him all at once. What if the girls couldn’t get in? What if someone suspected them? What if the Dai Li really were watching their house at all times and had seen the girls leave, followed them, and arrested them once they figured out what they were planning? What if Katara and Toph were captured and dragged away in one of those awful black carriages and they never saw them again and it was all his fault for not realizing all the things that could go wrong sooner and-

            “Zuko are you okay?”

            Aang’s voice sent a jolt through him and he slowly came out of his head. He was curled with his back to the statue and his knees pressed to his chest, pulling his hair hard. He forced himself to take a shaking breath, then another and another, until he could lower his hands and nod.

            “Look, I know you don’t like Earth Kingdom places, you can wait here if you wa-”

            “No!” he grabbed Aang’s arm and held on tight. Aang’s eyes widened slightly. “I can’t lose any of you. I need to make sure you’re all okay.”

            “Okay, I- I understand,” Aang patted the hand on his arm and Zuko quickly released his death grip on the kid. “So, um, Sokka, you said you had a plan to get in?”

            “Yes! Okay, so we dress Momo up like a ghost, and…”

            Sokka’s plan was absurd, but it did give him a chance to calm down. Momo came over and licked Zuko’s nose and he smiled a little, stroking the lemur’s ears and trying to breathe deeply.

            Aang’s idea to sneak in with the busboys was a better, less complicated idea. It was a fairly simple affair to steal some extra robes and hats, snatch a serving tray and slip inside.

            As they headed into the crowd he leaned down between the other two and whispered, “I’m going to scout the perimeter, I’ll keep an eye out for the girls,” and before Aang could protest or Sokka could make a witty comment he was already moving.

            He carried his tray high and close to the left side of his face. He had combed his hair over his scar as much as he could, and he hoped those two things along with the silly hat he was wearing would keep him nondescript.

            He wove through the crowd, keeping to the edges of it. He had marked the place in the room where he left Sokka and Aang and thus spotted them easily enough once he’d moved to a good vantage point. He was relieved to see that Toph managed to find the boys and Katara was not far away. He also saw a man slipping discreetly away from the area the girls had been in and, despite looking just as ordinary as the other partygoers, the way the man moved set alarm bells ringing in Zuko’s mind.

            He was distracted from his scrutiny of the strange man when he saw Joo Dee approach his friends. He stiffened. She appeared to be trying to shoo the others out, but failed miserably when she accidentally pushed Aang into a woman and his drinks spilled all over her.

            And then the jig was up because Aang had no subtlety whatsoever and airbended the woman dry, drawing the gaze of literally everyone.

            Zuko kept his one eye on them as he started moving slowly and deliberately again. Aang appeared to be distracting the guests (and the king’s bear?) with airbending and waterbending tricks, while the others had gone back into the crowd, presumably to keep watching for the king. Zuko was pleased to see that Katara and Toph were much harder to keep track of then Sokka and Aang had been.

            Zuko wished he could get close enough to tell his friends that the king definitely wasn’t here yet. There weren’t enough guards, there had been no trumpets or announcements made, and no one was sitting at the dais at the head of the grandest table. But, like Toph had pointed out earlier they weren’t trained to notice these things.

            “Quite a wild night it’s turning out to be, isn’t it?”

            Zuko jumped and silently cursed himself for being so focused on the others that he’d stopped paying attention to his immediate surroundings. Out of the corner of his eye he glanced up and immediately tensed as he saw the man from earlier.

            The man reached out and Zuko forced himself not to flinch as a hand came at his face and plucked a drink off his tray.

            “Even royal parties aren’t usually this exciting,” the man continued, apparently not expecting a reply from a servant. “I mean, it isn’t every day the Avatar shows up.”

            Zuko nodded slightly, but stayed silent.

            “Unfortunately I’m going to have to put an end to his fun. Too much chaos. But what a story to have to tell, hmm?”

            Zuko felt a cold shiver run down his back and looked up as the man set his glass on his tray. He wasn’t sure if he’d given himself away somehow, or if the man had just decided to talk to a random servant on a whim, but it was safer to assume he’d been caught.

            As soon as the man had disappeared into the crowd again, Zuko scanned the sea of people for his friends. He was startled by the sound of a gong and looked up to see a palanquin enter. Now the Earth King was here.

            He saw Sokka in the crowd of people watching the king’s arrival and his heart jumped in his throat when he saw his friend grabbed by two Dai Li agents. He saw movement at the corner of his eye, and turned his gaze just in time to see Katara and Toph dragged away.

            He pressed himself between a pillar and a wall, hovering in the shadows, heart thundering in his chest. All his worst fears were coming true and now his friends were in danger.

            He saw another Dai Li agent moving along the wall in his direction, but not particularly purposefully. He bent over and grabbed something off the floor and after a moment Zuko realized it was Momo.

            His mouth curled into a snarl and he dumped the cups and pitcher off his tray, then threw it with deadly precision at the agent’s chest. The man gave a satisfying oof and tumbled to the ground, dropping Momo.

            Zuko darted forward, grabbed the lemur and stuffed him safely into the borrowed busboy robe, then grabbed the Dai Li agent off the floor and pressed him against the wall, one hand slipping a dagger out from his sleeve. “Where are my friends?!” he demanded, voice low and fierce.

            The man looked surprised. “Friends?”

            “Don’t play games,” Zuko pushed the dagger against the man’s throat. “The Avatar and the other kids your friends out there just snatched, where are they being taken?”

            “We had orders to apprehend them and take them to the library,” the man said, still surprised.

            Of course it’s a library, like I haven’t had enough bad experiences in those lately.’ “Where’s the library?”

            “Down the left corridor, third door on the right,” said the man. “But how did you-”

            Zuko spun the dagger in his hand and slammed the hilt into the man’s temple. The agent crumpled and Zuko slipped the dagger back into his sleeve. Momo chattered at him and Zuko patted the lemur through his robe. He hurried along the wall, following the agent’s directions.

            “Don’t worry, Momo, we’re going to find the others,” he said softly. “We are not losing anyone else.”

            He paused at each door in the corridor, listening for voices. Surprisingly, the agent hadn’t lied, and he heard Sokka’s indignant voice from behind the third one. Slowly, carefully, he eased the door open and slipped inside, silently melting in with the room’s shadows.

            He was relieved to see all of his friends, unharmed standing in front of a fireplace. He felt another chill travel down his back when he recognized the man speaking to them, the same one that had gotten a drink from him earlier.

            Unsure of what the state of things were, Zuko stayed back, not willing to reveal himself yet. He didn’t see any Dai Li agents in the room, but that didn’t mean they weren’t nearby, listening in.

            The man (who, until further notice, Zuko was calling “Dangerous” in his head) was explaining to the others that the Earth King… didn’t really have any control over the city. But apparently Dangerous was in charge of everything, including coordinating the war effort.

            And yet he wasn’t interested in hearing about the eclipse. Or, apparently, stopping the war. All he seemed to care about was-

            “In silencing talk of conflict Ba Sing Se remains a peaceful, orderly utopia, the last one on earth.”

            Zuko clenched his fists. Great, the Earth Kingdom, the only place left that could possibly defeat the Fire Nation, was ruled by a power-hungry fool. Fantastic.

            “You can’t keep the truth from all these people!” said Katara.

            “I’ll tell them! I’ll make sure everyone knows!” Aang threatened.

            “Until now you’ve been treated as our honored guest, but from now on you will be watched every moment by Dai Li agents,” said Dangerous. “If you mention the war to anyone, you will be expelled from the city.”

            Zuko’s heart skipped and his breath sputtered. This had been a mistake, this had all been a mistake, oh Spirits, what had they stumbled into?

            “I understand you’ve been looking for your bison. It would be quite a shame if you were not able to complete your quest.”

            Zuko glowered at the man and with sudden certainty he knew that Dangerous knew where Appa was.

            ‘So if he wants us to leave so bad why doesn’t he just give us Appa? Why play games with us at all? Just give us Appa and say you’ll tell the Earth King our plan. What kind of idiot-’

            “Now Joo Dee will show you home.”

            A woman walked in and Zuko could sense something was off about her but he couldn’t place what.

            “Come with me please,” she said. And his stomach dropped when he realized it was not Joo Dee’s voice.

            “What happened to Joo Dee?” Katara asked.

            “I’m Joo Dee. I’ll be your host as long as you’re in our wonderful city,” the fake Joo Dee assured them.

            The Gaang’s questions were cut off as Joo Dee turned and headed towards the door. Dangerous gave them a fake smile. “Have a pleasant evening.”

            Zuko was proud to see the others give him a few parting glares. He hesitated, not sure if he should follow the others out immediately or…

            Or what? Confront Dangerous? Set the room on fire and hope the man perished before it could be put out? Try and steal something?

            His decision was made for him when the door thudded shut and he was left alone with the ominous ruler of Ba Sing Se.

            There was a long silence where he hardly dared to breathe, before Dangerous spoke. “I know you’re there. You must be quite skilled to have evaded my agents.”

            There wasn’t any point in hiding now, so he stepped out of the shadows. He was pleased to see the man’s eyebrows raise slightly when he saw Zuko.   

            “So you are part of the Avatar’s group,” the man mused. “I wasn’t sure when I saw you out there. You’re much less conspicuous than the others.”

            “I’ve learned to be,” he said. “And I’ll tell you right now that whatever you have planned better not involve hurting any of those kids. Because if it does…”

            He moved closer, until he was only a short step away from Dangerous. “I’ll burn this place to the ground and show you how real the war truly is,” he growled.

            Zuko turned and spun on his heel, heart beating much too fast in his chest. He was almost to the door when Dangerous spoke again.

            “I see you’re a different breed from the others. You understand the stakes.”

            Zuko half turned his direction. “What I said goes for if you hurt Appa too. You’d better hope you aren’t around when Aang finds out you’ve had him here this whole time.”

            He pushed the door open and ran down the corridor as soon as it shut. He didn’t stop running until he was outside of the palace, chest heaving, lungs burning. He crumpled into the shadows and put his head in his hands.

            Momo chirped and nuzzled him and Zuko wrapped his arms around the lemur, pressing his face into the soft fur and crying silently until he could breathe again.

****

            It was late when he finally made it back to the guest house. He was just starting up the steps when a shout nearly made him topple backwards.

            "ZUKO!"

           He had just enough time to brace for impact before the door flew open and Toph cannoned into him, followed quickly by Aang, then Katara and Sokka.

           "We were about to go storm the palace looking for you!" said Toph, squeezing him tightly. Mom gave an indignant squeak and scrambled out of his shirt, launching himself onto Aang's shoulders. Aang was latched onto his side, clinging as tightly as Toph was.

         "Actually we were going to do some strategic reconnaissance first," said Sokka. "But yeah, storming the palace was on the list."

         "What happened to you?" Aang asked. "Did Long Feng catch you and interrogate you?"

          Zuko blinked and slowly put the pieces together. "Is Long Feng the guy who captured you all and is in charge of the Dai Li and Ba Sing Se?"

           "Yep, that's him," said Sokka.

            "I saw you guys get taken away and followed you," he said. "I was in the room while he talked to you and slipped out after you left. It just... took me a while to get back."

            It wasn't quite a lie but he felt Toph's hold tighten anyway. It was fine, they didn't need to know what he'd told Long Feng, they'd only worry.

            "They didn't hurt you, did they?" Katara asked quietly, and he was surprised at how dangerous she sounded. It also told him that they didn't believe him. Great.

             "No, I'm fine. I might have... knocked out one of the Dai Li agents though."

             "Wait, really? How'd you manage that?!" Sokka demanded.

             Zuko shrugged. "Momo distracted him."

             "But you're okay?" Aang asked, looking up at him with those big grey eyes of his.

             "I'm just tired," he said, honestly. "And we should get inside since we're being watched now."

             They headed in, Toph holding onto one of his arms like she was afraid he'd disappear if she let go. He didn't protest when she pulled him over to a pile of futons pushed together in the middle of the room and dragged him down onto them with her. When he laid down she snuggled up beside him. Wordlessly, Aang curled around him on his other side, and Katara snuggled next to Aang. Sokka tried to avoid being pulled into their cuddle pile but Toph grabbed him and dragged him down beside her. And Momo landed on Zuko's chest, munching on an apricot before curling up in a ball.

             As the others settled in, Zuko closed his eyes and breathed deeply. He was going to protect them. He'd burn down the city to keep them safe if he had to.

            (Even if he burned himself down with it)

Chapter Text

            It was about three weeks later when the Gaang set off to put up posters for Appa, despite protests from Joo Dee (the original had finally returned) and therefore presumably the Dai Li themselves. Zuko was both pleased and terrified that they were finally taking action (though he wasn’t as excited as Toph, who blasted a hole in the wall yelling “YEAH, LET’S BREAK SOME RULES!” when Aang announced that he didn’t care about the rules and they’d be putting up posters anyway. He hoped the Dai Li agents watching them had enjoyed that show).

            For the past three weeks he had rarely left the guest house during the day, unless one of the others dragged him along on an errand. At night, he had dedicated himself to finding out how closely they were watched after dark and then used the information he gathered to go on “errands” of his own.

            As it turned out, Long Feng had been lying and the house was not constantly watched. It was usually watched, but there were (lazy) predictable gaps in their observation. In the late hours of the night, after moonrise, there was almost always a gap in surveillance that lasted till dawn. Zuko exploited this pattern and used it to sneak off to the lower ring to try and find any information about Appa.

            But, despite his best efforts, he’d found nothing. He wasn’t sure if the Dai Li had their own informants bribing people in the black market, or if truly no one had seen Appa, but either way no amount of threats and sword tricks had gotten him information. It was maddening.

            He’d kept his nighttime adventures secret from the Gaang at first, but gradually they all found him out; Toph was first, which was predictable; Sokka caught him climbing back through the window one night; Katara called him out when he fell asleep at breakfast one day; and Aang…

            He told Aang. On the third night he snuck out he heard Aang crying when he came back and when he’d asked why the kid said he'd been dreaming about Appa. So he told Aang what he was doing and had received a hug and a plethora of “thank-yous” and “be carefuls” for his trouble. It was sweet.

            But he was getting discouraged as his excursions continued to provide no answers. Ba Sing Se was big, but in three weeks he should have been able to find out something if Appa was actually in the city. A rumor about a big animal being moved around, at least.

            So he was glad they had another avenue to try now.

            “We should split up to cover more ground,” said Sokka after plastering the first poster on a wall. “Toph, I guess you should just come with me.”

            “Why?! You think I can’t put up posters on my own?!” Toph snatched a poster and slammed it against the wall. It was backwards.

            “It’s upside down, isn’t it?” Toph said after a pause. “I’ll just go with Sokka.”

            Zuko bit back a chuckle and tucked his stack of posters securely under one arm, a bucket of glue and a brush in his other hand.

            He decided that he’d seen enough of the lower ring for now and planned to work his way from the upper ring down to the middle ring. He hummed as he went along and tried to think of anything he might have missed, any clue that might lead them to Appa-

            Footsteps. He lifted his head, but before he could react a small figure shot around a corner and crashed into him.

            He yelped, posters flying everywhere as he sacrificed them to grab the bucket and avoid getting covered in glue, and ended up on the ground, facing a young girl.

            “Whoops! I’m so sorry! Here, lemme help you get your papers!” said the girl, quickly starting to gather the scattered posters.

            Zuko blinked, still clutching the glue bucket and trying to get his bearings. The girl had short, black hair and looked a little smaller than Toph. Her clothes were worn, but neat and clean; she wore a vest that was half brown and half green over a pale green shirt and brown pants.

            He set the bucket aside and helped her gather the posters. She held one up and inspected it. “A flying bison, what’s that?”

            “He’s a big fluffy creature, as tall as a house,” said Zuko. “With six legs and horns and a big arrow on his head. He can fly and he belongs to my friend Aang. He’s lost and we’re trying to find him.”

            “Cool!” she grinned at him and he saw that she had one front tooth missing. “Well, I mean, it’s not cool that he’s lost, but it’s cool that your friend has a big fluffy cloud for a pet! Hey, I know!” she bounced to her feet, about half the posters clutched to her chest. “You can put some posters up in my grandpa’s shop! I mean, since we’re not supposed to put them on public property, but my grandpa owns his tea shop, so as long as he says it’s okay you can put them up there! And I’m sure he’ll say yes he’s really nice.”

            Zuko slowly got to his feet with the rest of the posters and picked up the bucket of glue. He always met the chattiest children on his adventures.

            Still, at least they were helpful chatty children. A shop would have lots of visitors and if the owner gave him permission to put up posters they wouldn’t even be violating any rules.

            And… something about going to a tea shop tugged at his heart. He remembered uncle talking about his dreams of owning a tea shop, they’d seemed silly at the time, since uncle was the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation then, with a whole army at his command, but now… Zuko understood. Sometimes a simple life was better.

            The small girl was looking at him expectantly, so he nodded. “I’d like that.”

            Her grin widened. “Great! C’mon it’s this way!”

            She waved him on and skipped ahead, and he was amused and secretly delighted when she started to sing cheerfully.

            Presently they came to the tea shop. As Zuko followed the girl up the steps toward the building he decided it was the perfect blend of decorative and functional; it had a simple design with just enough ornamentation to make it look nice, but not extravagant. The sign above the door proclaimed it “The Jasmine Dragon”. He liked it immediately.

            The interior was similar, with simple tables accented by green dragon rugs and carvings. There was also a small white lotus tapestry on one wall.

            “Ellllieeeeeee!”

            The little girl he was following bounced up to another girl a few years older than her who was cleaning a table. The girl had fluffy black hair hanging around her face to her shoulders and raised an eyebrow at the sound of her name.

            “Roxie,” said the older girl. “You’re late again. You know mama won’t let you keep working here unless you actually show up to work.”

            “But I have a good reason!” Roxie protested. “Look! I found a boy putting up posters for a lost flying bison! I want to ask grandpa to let him put them up in here.”

            Ellie inspected him. “A flying bison? Really?”

            Wordlessly, Zuko handed her a poster, which she looked over curiously. “Huh. I thought they were extinct.” She handed the poster back. “Well, I’m sure grandpa will tell you it’s fine, he loves that kind of thing.”

            “Is he in the back?” Roxie asked eagerly.

            Ellie rolled her eyes. “No, Roxie, he’s on the roof- yes of course he’s in the back. Just like he always is.”

            “Great!” Roxie bounced and took a step toward the back of the shop.
            “Here, take this tray with you if you’re going back,” said Ellie.
            “Sorry, I have to carry these very important posters!” Roxie called as she hurried away.

            Ellie huffed and shook her head, then looked at Zuko. “Do you have younger siblings?”

            He blinked. “Uh, yeah. I have a younger sister.”

            “Ah. You understand then,” Ellie nodded. “Well good luck with grandpa.”

            “Thanks. Um, do you want me to take the tray back for you?”

            “No, it’s fine, Roxie can get it when she comes back. She needs to learn responsibility,” Ellie gave a longsuffering sigh, but smiled at him. “You’d better catch up with her.”

            Zuko nodded and hurried in the direction Roxie had gone. He found his way by listening to the girl's loud, excited voice grow closer and clearer.

            “And I crashed into him and knocked all his papers on the ground so I helped him pick them up and saw what they were and-”

            He entered a small kitchen and found Roxie in an animated one-sided discussion with an old man standing at a stove. The man had his back to Zuko and was nodding along making little “Mhmm” noises as he listened to Roxie’s story. It sounded like he was smiling.

            Zuko waited silently in the doorway, not sure if he should say something to announce himself or wait until Roxie introduced him. He had just decided he probably ought to say something so that he didn’t scare the old man by simply having appeared, when the man spoke.

            “Sounds like you had quite an interesting encounter. So, do I get to meet this young man, or just hear about him?”

            Zuko’s heart stopped. Time stood still and all sight, sound and thought vanished from his mind as the old man spoke. He knew that voice. He’d heard it a thousand times as a child, teaching, advising, comforting, and laughing with him.

            The posters and the bucket of glue dropped from his hands and the old man and Roxie turned around and oh Spirits-

            There was his uncle; face wrinkled, hair gray, sharp golden eyes and the hint of a kind smile. His uncle. Standing there.

            Alive.

            “Uncle?” he whispered before he could think, before he could stop himself or decide that this was all a dream he was going to wake up from-

            Uncle looked surprised, then sympathetic. “I’m sorry, young man, I think you may have me confused with someone else-”

            Panic flooded through his whole body and pushed him forward. “U-uncle, I, it- it’s me, Zuko, I know, I know it’s been years I-I, but it’s me, please-”

            His hand was half raised to cover up the (horrible, awful, cursed) scar on his face when recognition dawned in Iroh’s eyes and Zuko sobbed with relief.

            “Zuko?” uncle whispered, as quietly and reverently as Zuko had a moment ago.

            Zuko nodded, words gone as tears streamed down one side of his face.

            Iroh jerked forward and threw his arms around him, squeezing him tight in a hug and Zuko broke. Every defense he’d ever made crumbled down as sobs shook his body and he sank into his uncle’s embrace, clinging to him like a little boy.

            He didn’t know how long they stayed like that, or when they ended up sitting on the floor, but eventually Zuko pulled back, eyes wide as he studied his uncle’s tearstained face.

            Iroh smiled at him. “It is good to see you again, nephew. I had nearly given up hope of it.”

            Zuko blinked. “You- you died. They- the soldiers came home and said you died.”

            “Yes, I’m sure they did,” said Iroh, looking around suddenly. Zuko rubbed his eye and looked around as well. Roxie had left at some point, but his papers and glue were still strewn across the floor.

            “Why- why didn’t you come home?” Zuko asked as thoughts started to creep back into his mind.

            Iroh sighed. “It’s complicated. Come, if we’re going to talk we need to do it more privately.”

            Uncle stood and Zuko followed suit. “Wait here,” said Iroh. “I’ll be right back.”

            Zuko found himself standing in the middle of the empty kitchen. He braced himself against the counter and forced himself to breathe.

            Uncle was alive. He was living in Ba Sing Se. He owned a tea shop, just like he’d always wanted to.

            ‘He abandoned you.’

            The thought sprang unbidden into his mind and his breath sputtered.

            ‘No, he, there must be a reason-’

            ‘He never even sent word home. He could have come home. He could have saved you.’

            The thought hit like a punch to the gut and Zuko dug his fingers into his scalp, pulling hard at his hair and trying to breathe-

            Footsteps. He looked up, pain building in his chest, unable to take a full breath as uncle returned with a young woman no taller than Katara behind him, with short black hair that didn’t even cover her ears.

            “That’s him?” said the woman, looking straight at Zuko with piercing gray eyes.
            Iroh nodded. “My nephew,” he said softly.

            The woman fixed Zuko with an unreadable expression then nodded and moved over to the stove.

            “This way,” said Iroh, leading Zuko through a door at the back of the room. Numbly, Zuko followed.

            The door led to a small room with a trapdoor in the floor that opened on a staircase down to the cellar. Zuko silently followed his uncle down into the dark.

            Iroh lit a pair of small lanterns with his finger and hung them from the ceiling, then made sure the trapdoor was closed behind them. Then he turned to Zuko and clasped his hands. “I imagine you have questions-”

            “You didn’t come home,” said Zuko. It had been a question before, but now it was an accusation. “Why? Why did you-” his voice wavered. “Why did you abandon us?”

            Iroh’s face fell and he sat down on a crate with a heavy sigh. “It wasn’t what I wanted.”

            “You could have come home,” said Zuko, voice shaking. “You- you could have stopped father from becoming Firelord, you could have stopped me from being banished!”

            His voice rose louder and louder and he couldn’t stop, couldn’t stop the words- “I have been alone for three years- three years uncle! I’ve almost died more times than I can count, I almost gave up-!” he grabbed at his hair as his voice rose to a scream. “YOU COULD HAVE STOPPED IT! WHY DIDN’T YOU?! WHY- why!?”

            His cry ended on a sob and he dropped to his knees, curling down on the floor with his hands over his eyes. Everything he’d been through, all the pain and suffering didn’t have to be. It could have been stopped if uncle had just-

            “Lu Ten is alive.”

            Zuko jerked upright, eyes wide. “What?”

            Uncle didn’t look at him, but he nodded. “He is a prisoner of the Dai Li, and has been for the past six years. I have been trying to find a way to free him.”

            Zuko blinked. His hands were shaking. “Lu Ten- wh- but, but why didn’t you come home, bring the army back, you could have rescued him-”

            “Returning to the Earth Kingdom with an army would only have resulted in more bloodshed, more death, more fathers with lost sons,” Iroh sighed. “It was not an easy decision. After my failed rescue attempt I was gravely injured, and the enemy was closing in on me. I’d killed countless Earth Kingdom soldiers, and come no closer to saving my son,” uncle’s voice wavered. “I was rescued by a secret society known as the White Lotus. They cared for me until I had recovered and from then on I vowed to promote peace instead of war. They helped me find a place to live and a job here in Ba Sing Se while I tried to find a way to free Lu Ten, but…” he shook his head and his voice grew heavy. “My son is unreachable.”

            Zuko sat silently on the floor of the cellar, struggling to process that revelation. “If-if Lu Ten, if you can’t rescue him, why, why didn’t you come home anyway?”

            “Because to leave this place would be to give up hope, and that is something I cannot do,” said Iroh quietly. “But I am so sorry, nephew. When I learned of your banishment, I-”

            “You knew I was banished?” Zuko gasped. “And you- you still stayed here, with your impossible quest and just,” angry tears gathered in his eye. “Forgot about me?!”

            Iroh’s face was pained, but Zuko didn’t care. He stood, quivering with rage and pain and betrayal, and turned away.

            He stormed up the steps and back into the tea shop, walking blindly through the dining area and out the front doors. He walked around the side of the building-

            Stopped.

            Sank to the ground against the wall.

            And wept.

****

            “Hey!”

            Zuko jumped and quickly rubbed his sleeve across his face as he looked up to see a woman standing before him, hands on her hips.

            “You Iroh’s nephew?”

            Confused, he nodded.

            “Mhm, thought so. I didn’t figure anyone else would be hiding in the bushes out here crying.”

            “I w-wasn’t hiding,” he snapped.

            “Okay, sure,” the woman plopped down beside him. She was small, with dark, fluffy hair. “Name’s Maraly. I’m Roxie and Ellie’s mom.”

            Zuko just blinked at her. “What- what do you want?” he asked finally.

            She raised an eyebrow. “I want to tell you the rest of the story, the one Iroh couldn’t finish.”

            He stiffened. “I don’t- don’t want excuses-”

            “It’s not an excuse, it’s a story,” said Maraly. “Now hush and listen to me. Iroh said you have a right to be angry and you do, but you have a right to know the truth too, so seeing as how Iroh’s too heartbroken to manage it right now I’m going to tell it.”

            Zuko opened his mouth to protest again, but the words died on his tongue. It didn’t really matter anyway, did it?

            So, resigned, he leaned back to listen.

            “Now the first thing you need to know is that my sister, Leeli, and I, were slaves.”

            Zuko blinked, half turning to look at her. Maraly raised an eyebrow at him. “Yes, we were slaves. Your cousin liberated us at the start of the siege. And then he fell in love with my sister and she with him. And they were married.”

            Zuko’s full attention was on her now. “Lu- Lu Ten is married?!”

            Maraly smiled. “Yep. After the siege went wrong my sister and I ran off to safety, but somehow your uncle tracked us down. He sent a message to Leeli when he found where your cousin was being kept, telling her that he planned to try and rescue him,” she sighed. “It didn’t work. But we were in the city then, so we stayed. Your uncle gave us jobs and me a way to provide for my little girls. He took care of us like we really were his daughters.”

            “So… he stayed because of you?” Zuko said uncertainly.

            “No,” Maraly shook her head. “But he did leave because of you.”

            Zuko frowned. “But he didn’t-”

            “Ah! Story, listen,” Maraly held up a finger to her lips. “All will be revealed. It wasn’t long after he failed to rescue your cousin that word came from his, well, he tells me not to call them a spy network, but that’s really what they are,” she shrugged. “The White L-o-t-u-s.” she whispered, leaning close to his ear. “Anyway, word came from them that you’d been banished. He was devastated. Here he’d failed to rescue his son, and there he’d failed to keep you safe too. So, he decided the only thing to do was go look for you.”

            Zuko sat up straighter. “He- what?”

            Maraly nodded. “He searched for you for months, almost a whole year. That man scoured the Earth Kingdom for his lost nephew, but he couldn’t find you anywhere. When he finally came back to the shop he was a mess. I- I’d never known him to get depressed, even after he couldn’t save Lu, but this,” she shook her head. “He was despondent. Barely talked to us and when he did all he could say was how you were out there alone somewhere and he’d failed you. Or that you were dead and nobody would ever even know.”

            Zuko felt a pang in his chest and he looked down, ashamed of himself. Uncle had tried to find him, and Zuko hadn’t even waited to hear it, he’d just stormed out and-

            “Hey.”

            He jumped as Maraly set an arm on his shoulder. “It’s alright. You didn’t know. That’s why I’m here, telling you. And anyway, he hasn’t been like that for a long time now,” she smiled a bit. “My clever daughters brought him out of it.”

            Zuko tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but his voice still shook when he asked, “H-how did they d-do th-that?”

            Maraly’s smile widened. “That was when they started calling him grandpa. Roxie did it first, she was just a wee little thing then, bounced right up to him and said, “Grandpa!” loud and clear as day and all of him just lit up like a firework. And now he’s back to himself, mostly.”

            Zuko stared down at his hands and fought the feeling of dread crashing over him. “I should apologize.”

            Maraly set two fingers under his chin and he flinched, but all she did was gently tilt his head up to look her in the eye. “No. You should tell him you understand. Now,” she reached down and took his hand. “Come on, no time like the present.”

            She helped him to his feet and he silently followed her back into the shop. All the patrons were gone and Ellie was sweeping the floor as they entered. She looked up as they passed and smiled at him a little.

            Maraly took him to a small, private dining area, where he could clearly hear Roxie’s voice even before he entered. Inside, the little girl stood in front of Iroh, talking to him animatedly, while the woman from earlier (Leeli, he assumed) sat in a chair next to uncle with a hand on his shoulder. She looked up as he entered, and fixed him with an intense stare that made him shiver.

             Uncle looked up and saw him and Zuko felt another jolt of pain in his chest when Iroh’s face twisted in grief. Maraly, however, was undeterred and strode right up to him.

            “I talked to him,” she announced. “Now c’mon, Roxie, go help your sister with the cleaning.”

            “But-!”

            “No but’s, come on you little rascal,” Maraly steered her daughter out of the room. Leeli gave him one last unnerving stare, then followed them, and he was alone with uncle once again.

            Slowly, uncle looked up at him and the pain in Zuko’s chest grew unbearable. “Zuko-”

            Zuko dropped down to his knees. Bowed his head. “I’m sorry!” he curled inward and felt his head press the ground as his tears started to flow once more. “I’m so sorry, uncle, I-I never should have, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m-”

            He felt uncle lift him up and wrap his arms around him once more and he found himself clinging to the front of uncle’s robe, sobbing.

            “I’m sorry too, Zuko,” said uncle in a heavy, shaky voice. “I should have searched longer for you, I shouldn’t have given up so soon-”

            “You cared enough to look,” said Zuko, gazing up at him. “That’s all I care about.”

            Uncle hugged him tighter, eyes closed as tears flowed freely down both of their faces.

            “I love you, Zuko,” uncle whispered. “And I’m so glad that if I couldn’t find you, you found your way to me.”

            Uncle was alive. Uncle had looked for him.

            And uncle loved him.

            And that was all that mattered.

            “I love you too, uncle,” Zuko whispered.

Chapter Text

            The sun’s fading rays glowed through the windows as Zuko sat at a table, with his uncle, a cup of tea nestled in his hands. He couldn’t stop staring and marveling that uncle was alive and here, in front of him, in a tea shop in Ba Sing Se, of all places.

            “So what was it you came here for originally?” Iroh asked. “Roxie said something about a flying bison.”

            Zuko nodded slowly. “He belongs to my friend Aang, he’s-” Zuko felt a jolt go through him. His gaze jerked to the window and he stood. “Ohh, Spirits, it’s late, they’re going to come looking for me…”

            “Who is?” Iroh asked curiously.

            “My friends,” Zuko glanced down at his tea. “I- they- I don’t know why they worry, I can take care of myself, but they do and I don’t want them to think I got captured or something-”

            He paused, worried that uncle would be upset that he had to leave, but Iroh just sat there smiling at him, looking… pleased?

            “I’m glad you haven’t been alone the entire time you were banished,” said uncle. “It sounds like you’ve found some friends who truly care about you.”

            “Th-they do,” he looked down and tugged at the sleeve of his tunic. “Um, I could, can I come back? Tomorrow? I could bring them…”

            He heard Iroh’s chair scrape back and felt a hand rest on his arm. “I would be delighted to meet your friends, Zuko. And I certainly hope you’ll come back,” Zuko glanced up and saw uncle smiling warmly at him and he hesitantly smiled back.

            “Okay,” he said. “Uh, one more thing, Aang is kind of… Aang is the Avatar.”

            He wasn’t exactly sure how uncle would take that news. The Fire Nation was pretty hostile towards the Avatar, after all, and even though uncle seemed to be staying out of the war now Zuko wasn’t sure if…

            Uncle laughed and Zuko looked up in surprise. “That’s wonderful, Zuko. Ah, the prince of the Fire Nation befriending the Avatar,” he laughed again. “You’ve chosen good friends, nephew.”

            Zuko felt a smile creep onto his face and a warm feeling grow in his chest. He couldn’t be certain, but it felt like he was glowing.

            “I look forward to meeting your friends tomorrow,” said uncle, patting him on the shoulder. “Now, you’d best get back to them before they come here and knock the door of my tea shop down!”

            He laughed again and Zuko’s smile widened. “Okay, uncle, I will. I-I’ll see you tomorrow.”

            Before he could turn away, Iroh wrapped him in another hug, which Zuko happily returned. He felt like he was floating as he walked out of the shop, and it took all his hardened instincts to bring himself back down and focus on getting safely home.

            It was dark by the time he made it back to the guest house and he made it up the steps this time before Toph ran out and grabbed him.

            “Sparky! You have to stop disappearing!” she chided, dragging him back inside. “From now on I’m not letting you out of my sight!”

            “Toph. You’re blind.”

            “My feet can see just fine! And they’ll be watching you.”

            He grinned. The others were hovering near the doorway when they came in and they looked surprised when they saw him. Momo chirped and landed on his head, chattering and scolding him and Zuko laughed and scooped him up in one arm, scratching the lemur’s ears.

            “Hey, why do you look so happy?” Sokka demanded. “We thought something terrible happened to you again!”

            Katara rolled her eyes. “What Sokka means is that we’re glad you’re alright, but where have you been? We were worried the Dai Li snatched you.”

            He shook his head. “Actually, something… good happened.”

            There was a pause. “Something good?” Aang asked.

            Zuko nodded. Took a breath and gathered himself. “Do you remember how I told you about my uncle?”

            He saw conflicting emotions roll over their faces. Aang was the only one brave enough to say anything. “Did you find a grave or… something?”

            “No,” Zuko found himself fidgeting and trying hard not to grin. “My uncle’s alive.”

            Shock rippled over them, but he was too excited to let the silence linger. “He owns a tea shop. Apparently he was rescued before the Dai Li found him and the people who rescued him helped him get a shop and stuff. And- and he said my cousin’s alive too and my cousin’s married and his wife is here and his wife’s sister who has two daughters who work at the tea shop too and I think one’s about your age Aang and the other one’s a little younger and I want to take you all to the shop tomorrow to meet them,” he paused to take a breath. “I, um, I hope that’s okay.”

            There was a pause, and then the Gaang exploded with questions and exclamations.

            “That’s amazing, Zuko!”
            “Whose sister’s kids??”
            “Is your uncle okay?”
            “Was he happy to see you?”  

            He looked down at Toph, who had asked the last question, and nodded, that warm feeling filling his chest again. “Yeah, he was. And he was… really glad I have friends. He didn’t- doesn’t want me to be alone.”

            “So, wait, does this mean we’re going to get to meet one of your relatives who isn’t crazy and wants to kill us?” Sokka asked.

            “Yeah. He was actually… really happy to hear that I made friends with the Avatar,” Zuko glanced at Aang, who smiled at him.

            “I’m glad you finally had something good happen, Zuko,” said the little airbender. “We… didn’t have any luck getting information about Appa, but hopefully someone’ll see the posters and be able to tell us something.”

            Zuko nodded quickly. “I left mine at my uncle’s shop, but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t mind if we put them up there,” he smiled.

            “Dude, I have never seen you smile this much, it’s kind of weird,” said Sokka. Katara smacked him and he yelped. “What?!”

            “We’re really happy for you, Zuko,” said Katara, firmly. “Now we should all go get some sleep so we’re ready for tomorrow.”

****

            The next day Zuko rose eagerly with the sun and practically bounced into the kitchen to make breakfast, so they’d be ready to leave as soon as the others were up. He hadn’t slept much but instead of anxiety and nightmares keeping him awake, this time it had been excitement.

            He flitted anxiously around the house as the others started to get up and head into the kitchen for breakfast. He hadn’t eaten much either, but he’d packed plenty of snacks into his bag for the day, and he had a feeling uncle would give them food if they needed it. He checked his bag and repacked it three times before the rest of the Gaang was finally assembled and ready and as soon as they were he sprang up, shouldered his pack and headed out the door.

            “So where’s your uncle’s shop?” Aang asked as they walked along.

            “Here in the upper ring,” said Zuko. “It’s not far. It’s really nice, and uncle’s always made amazing tea. I can’t believe he’s been here this whole time and I had no idea.”

            “Has he lived here the whole time you’ve been on your own?” Toph asked.

            “Yeah. I wish I’d have known the last time I was here,” Zuko felt a twinge of regret, but shook his head. “But it’s okay. He came looking for me when he found out I was on my own trying to capture the Avatar, he just… never found me.”

            “That seems to be a problem in this city,” said Sokka. “Seeing as we can’t find our giant flying bison either.”

            “Well if Zuko could find his uncle when he wasn’t even looking for him I’m sure we can find Appa,” said Katara quickly.

            “We will find Appa,” said Aang determinedly. “They can’t hide him forever.”

            They arrived at the shop and Zuko bounded up the steps but paused before going in as a feeling of doubt suddenly slipped into his mind. What if this had all just been a dream and he walked inside to find strangers and his uncle still dead?

            He glanced back and saw the others waiting patiently. Aang even smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

            If it was a dream at least he would still have his friends. He wouldn't be alone.

           So he took a deep breath and stepped pushed the door open. There were no patrons inside and no sign of uncle or anyone else, but they’d hardly made it past the first set of tables when Zuko heard the patter of small feet and Roxie tore around a corner, beaming.

            “They’re heeeeeeeeereeeeeee!” she shouted eagerly.

            There were more footsteps and uncle appeared, along with Ellie, Maraly and Leeli.

            Zuko felt his heart soar. It was real, it hadn’t been a dream, uncle was really here.

            “Ah, there he is!” uncle grinned. “Welcome back, nephew.”

            Uncle hugged him again and Zuko beamed as that warm feeling filled up his chest again.

            “And these must be your friends,” said uncle, stepping back to survey the Gaang.

            Zuko nodded quickly. “This is Toph, Katara, Sokka, Aang-” Momo popped up from Aang’s shoulder and chirped. Zuko grinned. “And Momo.”

            “A pleasure to meet you all,” said Iroh, smiling. He turned and gestured to the girls. “This is my daughter in law Leeli, her sister Maraly and Maraly’s two daughters-”

            “Roxie and Ellie!” Roxie shouted eagerly. She bounced up to them and stared pointedly at Aang. “Are you really the Avatar?”

            Aang smiled back at her. “Yep.”

            “And you’re an airbender?”

            “Yep.”

            Roxie glanced at Ellie, a mischievous light in her eyes, then turned back to Aang. “Can you make my hair go whoosh?”

            “Roxie, don’t be rude,” Maraly said, rolling her eyes.

            “It’s okay! I don’t mind,” Aang grinned, and a gust of air shot from his hand, blowing back Roxie’s fluffy hair.

            Roxie blinked, then beamed at him and rounded on Ellie. “Ha! I told you he’d do it!”

            “He’s humoring you because you’re a little kid,” Ellie said, folding her arms.

            “I’m not a little kid! I’m ten!”

            “You’re a baby.”

            “You’re only two years older than me!”

            “Alright, enough you two,” said Maraly. “Come on, I told you you could come see the Avatar and the rest of your cousin’s friends before you started cleaning, now you have and it’s time to get to work.”

            “But there’s no customers today, why do we have to work?!” Roxie protested.

            “Because it builds character and I haven’t seen the back of the cupboards in at least six months, now come along.”

            Roxie huffed and looked pleadingly at Iroh, who chuckled. “There may be some candy in it for you if you don’t complain too much.”

            Roxie brightened. “Thanks, grandpa, you’re the best!” she shot after Maraly.

            Ellie stared at them for a moment before following her sister. She looked disconcerted and reluctant and Zuko had a feeling it didn’t have anything to do with not wanting to clean.

            Finally though, Ellie gave a sigh and followed her mother and sister out and they were left alone with Leeli and Iroh.

            Iroh smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “Come, we have much to discuss.”

            Uncle led them down to the cellar where they’d talked yesterday, but they took a route that avoided the kitchen this time. Now that he was less distracted, Zuko realized there was also a door set into one of the cellar walls and he wondered if there was a secret tunnel on the other side.

            “So, uh, what are we doing in the basement?” Sokka asked.

            “If we wish to talk freely, this is the safest place,” said Iroh, sitting down at a small table that had about a dozen crates set around it. “There are things that need to be said that outside ears should not hear.”

            Zuko sat down next to his uncle and the others took seats as well, including Leeli, who sat on Iroh’s other side.

            “Is this about Lu?” Zuko asked quietly.

            Iroh nodded. “Yes, but what I have to say concerns you and your friends as well.” He sighed and lifted a teapot from the center of the table, pouring himself a cup then passing it to Zuko. Wordlessly, Zuko filled his own cup and passed it on.

            “Do you know anything about the Dai Li?” Sokka asked. “Or a secret way to sneak in and see the Earth King?”

            Iroh chuckled. “I know a great deal about the Dai Li, but no, I don’t believe I can help you with sneaking in to see the Earth King. However, after Zuko left last night I had some time to think and speak with Leeli here and we believe that our attempts to rescue my son may help you find your bison.”

            Aang sat up straighter, eyes hopeful. “You know where they might be keeping Appa?”

            “Possibly,” said Iroh. “It bears investigating, if nothing else,” he glanced at Leeli.

            “The Dai Li have a secret base under Lake Laogai,” said Leeli. “We’ve been there many times trying to rescue Lu. It has huge tunnels and plenty of rooms big enough to hold an animal the size of your bison.”

            “It is heavily guarded,” Iroh warned. “It’s been hard enough to sneak in one or two people at a time, the Dai Li would definitely notice a group. But I understand that you miss your friend,” he said, looking at Aang as he spoke. “And if the Dai Li have him that is likely where he is.”

            Zuko frowned, staring down at the table and rubbing his sleeve between his fingers. “Uncle… if you know where Lu Ten is and you’ve been able to break into this place before… why haven’t you rescued him?”

            Iroh sighed. “Lu Ten is held prisoner not just physically, but mentally as well. I learned from the White Lotus that the Dai Li have methods of erasing a person’s memory and sense of self, but I didn’t truly understand until…” he took a breath and covered his eyes with his hand. Hesitantly, Zuko set a hand on his shoulder, and after a moment uncle reached up and took it. There were tears in his eyes.

            “My son does not know who I am,” said Iroh, softly. “He doesn’t remember, so we have been unable to free him, though we have tried…”

            “We have tried everything to make him remember,” said Leeli, sounding frustrated. “We’ve even managed to bring him here, to the shop, but by morning he’s always gone. Once we even got him out of the city, but he still ran off when we weren’t looking.”

            “If he doesn’t remember anything, why are they keeping him prisoner?” Toph asked.

            “We think they use him for things,” said Leeli, her voice turning bitter. “Things they can’t be implicated in. Political murders and things like that.”

            Zuko saw Aang’s eyes widen and Katara and Sokka shared a look of horror. Toph looked like she wished she hadn’t asked.

            “Maybe, maybe I can help you get him back?” said Zuko. “Maybe he just needs to be out of the city for a while.”

            Leeli shook her head. “He’ll go back. He always does. But we wouldn’t mind the help.”

            “There is still hope for him,” said Iroh, lifting his head. “He’s never betrayed us to the Dai Li. He may not remember us, but a part of him still knows we’re important to him.”

            Zuko saw Aang give a decisive nod and the little Avatar stood. “If you can take us to Lake Laogai and help us find Appa, we’ll do our best to help you free your son.”

            Zuko felt relief wash through him and gave Aang a tiny smile, Aang nodded back.

            “We’ll help you in any way we can,” said Iroh. “And any help you can give us in return is greatly appreciated.”

            “So how far is Lake Laogai, and how do we get there?” Aang asked.

            Zuko felt the warm feeling in his chest spread as both sides of his little family united, and a sense of determination filled him.

            They were finally going to rescue Appa.

            And Lu Ten.

Chapter Text

            “Okay, so I have to ask.”

            Zuko glanced over at Sokka and raised his eyebrow. Sokka hesitated a moment, then forged on, “So that one time you almost died from cold sickness you woke up and called me ‘Lu’, that means you thought I was your cousin?”

            Zuko blinked. “I did what?”

            “You know, after the pirates? You- well, I guess you might not remember since you were half dead at the time, but yeah, we had a whole conversation like that.”

            “I…” he frowned. Tulip had said he talked in his sleep, and the Gaang had mentioned him calling out for Azula before, so he supposed it could have happened. “I guess?”

            “I was just curious, you know, if you could provide context for that, but if you don’t remember that’s fine,” Sokka shrugged.

            “Well we were in the woods, right?” Zuko narrowed his eyes. “I went on a few hunting trips with Lu when I was little. That was probably what I thought was happening.”

            “Oh yeah, you did mention that once, that makes sense,” Sokka nodded.

            “Why are you… bringing it up?” Zuko asked.

            Sokka paused. They were walking a little behind the others, on their way to the secret passage into the Dai Li’s base. Sokka lowered his voice a little. “I don’t know, I guess I’m just trying to figure out why you were so trusting then. Because you weren’t like that before you joined us.”

            Zuko considered that and let a few old, precious memories creep back into his mind before he responded. “I always trusted Lu. He used to watch me and Azula when we were little, sometimes, and he was… he was fun and he made us laugh and, I don’t know, feel… safe? Him and uncle, I think maybe it was because father couldn’t threaten them, so they were never scared like…” ‘Like me.’

            “… Just when I think your family might be a little bit normal you hit me with ‘it was because my father couldn’t threaten them’, like that is so messed up, your dad should be the one making you feel safe not… threatened,” Sokka shook his head.

            Zuko filed that away for future reflection. “That was part of the reason I liked going out with Lu and why I’d sneak along with him and his friends sometimes, it got me away from father and the palace,” he smiled a little. “Lu’s friends were nice, most of the time. And if they weren’t he just… stopped being friends with them.”

            “Define ‘nice’ and ‘not nice’ because I think we have very different ideas on what those things entail.”

            Zuko tilted his head thoughtfully. “I don’t know, they didn’t tease me like the kids in the palace did. They let me talk about stupid stuff and didn’t yell or hit me or anything.”

            “Okay, that’s, that’s not terrible,” said Sokka. “And ‘not nice’?”

            Zuko looked down. “There was one time… they were right, and I deserved it, but it made Lu angry. A couple of his friends saw me firebending and started making fun of me, how I didn’t do the forms right and how far I was behind my sister…” he rubbed his sleeve between his fingers. “Lu yelled at them and told them they should be ashamed of themselves for saying that stuff to a kid and I never saw them again after that.”

            There was a pause where Zuko started to wonder if he’d said something wrong (or, Agni forbid, Sokka agreed with Lu’s friends about him) but after a moment, Sokka nodded.

            “Alright, yeah, my respect for your cousin I’ve never met has now gone up exponentially after that story. He sounds like he would have made a good big brother. Or a good dad.”

            “He would have been,” Zuko glanced at Leeli. “And maybe he still can be.”

            They reached a dead-end alley and Leeli, who had been leading the way, turned to look at them as they gathered around. “The secret way in is down here. The Dai Li don’t know we use it, but we still need to be careful.”

            “It’s rarely used,” uncle added. “Sometimes they transport supplies outside the inner wall with it, but not often.”

            “Or some poor soul they plan to brainwash,” Leeli said darkly.

            “You’re just a ray of sunshine, aren’t you?” Sokka piped up. Zuko rolled his eyes.

            “I was a slave for eight years and lost my husband after one, did you expect me to be cheerful?” Leeli snapped. “Now come on, we’re wasting time.”

            She opened a metal door in the ground, revealing a ladder into a tunnel. Without a word, she started climbing down.

            “Leeli has had a difficult life,” said Iroh, glancing at each of them before settling on Sokka. “She wants peace, like we all do. Try not to antagonize her.”

            “I wasn’t-!” Sokka protested.

            “To be fair to Sokka, he antagonizes everyone,” said Katara.

            Iroh chuckled as Sokka spluttered in outrage. “Just be kind, and mindful of your words,” he said before climbing down after Leeli.

            They filed down into the tunnel. Iroh pulled a torch off the wall and lit it, then handed one to Leeli who did the same. Zuko’s eyes widened in surprise.

            “You’re a firebender?” Aang asked Leeli, echoing his thoughts.

            “Of course I am,” she said, glaring a little. “Where do you think Maraly and I were kidnapped from?”

            She turned and started down the tunnel, leaving them with that revelation.

            “I must have forgotten to mention that, my apologies,” said Iroh. “It has been a busy two days.”

            “Is Maraly a firebender too?” Zuko asked.

            “Mhm, as is Roxie,” said Iroh. “But Ellie is not a bender.”

            “Finally someone I can relate to,” muttered Sokka.

            “And you’ve all been hiding it this whole time?” asked Katara. “And no one suspects you?”

            “No,” said Iroh. “When I moved permanently to the city, the White Lotus provided me with a new identity, and it was easy enough when Leeli and Maraly joined me, to explain to anyone curious that Leeli was my widowed daughter in law. There are so many refugees in Ba Sing Se, and so many broken families, that one more was not noteworthy. We only firebend in secret, like here, in these tunnels.”

            “Is that what the secret door in the shop’s cellar leads to?” Zuko asked. “A secret chamber for firebending?”

            Iroh smiled at him. “You remain very observant, nephew. Yes, that is what it is for. Though originally we believe it was a smuggler’s cave.”

            Zuko beamed with the praise. Then the others started asking questions about being a firebender in the city and since he didn’t need those answers, he turned his attention to Leeli, who was striding purposefully ahead of them.

            He made his way up to her and walked beside her for a moment before he spoke, just a little nervously. “Hi.”

            She glanced at him. “Can I help you?”

            “I was just… curious,” he hesitated. “You married Lu Ten before the siege ended.”

            “Yes,” said Leeli, pointedly looking away. “And?”

            “He never sent word back about it, I just wondered why.”

            Leeli’s steps slowed, just a little, and when she spoke her voice was softer. “He was worried that your grandfather wouldn’t approve of him marrying a commoner, one who had been a slave, no less. So he decided to wait until we returned home in victory to announce our marriage, because then how could the Firelord dare refuse?” she sighed. “But of course that never happened.”

            “I’m sorry,” he said, quietly. “If… if it’s okay, if you- want to tell me, how did you meet him? I mean, if you were a slave and he was a…” he frowned, not quite sure what rank Lu had received before he left home.

            “A prince?” Leeli guessed, sounding a little amused. She sighed and her shoulders sagged. “I was a slave in the house of a wealthy official. One day one of his personal guards ran into my master’s office while I was cleaning. He told my master that the Fire Nation army was traveling down the road nearby and that they had been attacking Earth Kingdom cities as they got closer to Ba Sing Se. They were less than a day away from us,” she looked into the tunnel, eyes distant. “I ran to tell Maraly. She worked in the fields. We couldn’t both escape, Ellie and Roxie were too little, and I wouldn’t leave my family. But Maraly convinced me to try and escape to tell the Fire Nation army that their people were being held as slaves.”

            She was quiet for a few moments and when she spoke again her voice was soft. “I escaped that night and ran all the way to where the army was encamped. The guards tried to turn me away but then…” she smiled sadly. “Lu came over and told them to listen to me. I told him that my family were Fire Nation citizens who had been sold as slaves to a cruel Earth Kingdom master and begged him to help us. He promised he would and tried to get me to stay and rest and eat something, but I wouldn’t until I knew my family was safe. So he made his troops get up and march straightaway to the manor. I ran ahead to tell Maraly and we hid till the fighting was over. Lu came and found us and personally saw to it that we were given food and clothes and rest.”

            “That sounds like Lu,” Zuko said quietly.

            She nodded. “He was so kind. I was in love with him from the first week I met him, as soon as I realized I was finally safe and that he wasn’t going to take advantage of me like other men had,” she looked down. “He kept us with him, introduced us to Iroh, played with Ellie and Roxie like they were his own children. He finally confessed one day that he was madly in love with me- and that he was certain I was too beautiful and fair to care about him at all,” she rolled her eyes. “I assured him that wasn’t the case, we started courting, and we were married less than a year after he rescued me. And then a year later I lost him.”

            “I’m sorry,” he said. Should he try to comfort her? Change the subject?

            “He did mention you,” said Leeli after a moment. “His little cousin. He said you were very smart and would be a great strategist one day. And that you had a good heart.”

            Zuko felt an ache in his heart and ran his hands up and down his sleeves. He really didn’t know what to say to that.

            He jumped when Leeli set a hand on his arm. “I haven’t given up on him, you know. I might be frustrated, but I’m not hopeless. I’m angry.”

            He nodded. “That’s better than being hopeless.”

            “It is. Iroh says it’s not healthy to stay that way though,” she smiled bitterly. “I told him I’d stop as soon as we had Lu back and the Dai Li were ash in the wind.”

            He was still trying to figure out how to reply to that when they came to the abrupt end of the tunnel. A rusted metal door stood before them, unlatched but not quite ajar. Leeli turned to face the others as they caught up and he followed suit.

            “Beyond this door is the Dai Li’s base,” said Iroh. “We must be silent and on guard from now on and try to remain undetected for as long as possible.”

            “Because as soon as they know we’re there, they’ll attack,” said Leeli.

            “I’ll feel them coming before they get anywhere near us,” said Toph.

            “Don’t be so sure,” said Leeli. “They open walls seemingly at random, I’ve even seen them pop out of the floor before.”

            “If they earthbend, I’ll feel it,” Toph assured her. “I fought all kinds of crazies at Earth Rumble Six, I know what to look for.”

            Zuko half expected Leeli to argue with her, but instead she smiled. “You have the confidence of Roxie. I hope you’re right.”

            Toph blinked, and before she could reply, Leeli started to pull the door open. Zuko and the others hurried to help her.

            Despite their best efforts, the door opened with a loud creeeeaaaaak. They waited for a few tense minutes to see if their entry had been noticed, but when Toph gave no warnings and they were not attacked it seemed safe enough to move forward.

            Zuko remained on high alert. He didn’t doubt Toph’s earthbending abilities, but he wasn’t about to underestimate the sneakiness of the Dai Li either.

            The tunnels were vast, with arched ceilings rising high above them. They passed dozens of doors, but none were big enough for Appa. One door was open just enough to see inside, and as they passed they heard the monotone phrases Joo Dee had used on them when they first arrived in the city. When he glanced inside he saw a group of women repeating them after a Dai Li agent and he shuddered.

            Had they done that to Lu? Trapped him in a dark room and said the same things over and over until he no longer remembered who he was? Had he gone mad from it?

            (maybe that was why they made him forget)

            He was jolted from his thoughts when Toph froze midstep in front of him. His heart skipped and he was immediately listening-

            “Someone’s coming,” Toph whispered. “From both sides. A lot of someones.”

            Something whizzed past his head and he jerked back as a rock glove crashed into the wall beside him. Before he could draw his swords more flew out of the darkness. One grabbed hold of his collar and jerked him towards the shadows and he yelped.

            Toph raised up an earth wall and he smacked into it. He shook his head, and saw Katara and Sokka picking themselves up off the floor too.

            “Thanks,” he said, drawing his swords.

            “Don’t mention it,” said Toph, launching the earth walls at their invisible attackers.

            More rocks flew out at them and he deftly cut through them with his swords.

            “Iroh-” he heard Leeli call.

            “Not yet!” his uncle shouted back.

            Zuko didn’t have time to wonder what they were talking about before the Dai Li finally emerged from the shadows to face them. He bared his teeth and swung at them but his swords clattered uselessly against the rocks they blocked him with.

            He kicked the rocks aside and lunged at the agent behind them, but the man slid away. Zuko huffed.

            “Come out and fight you cowards,” he muttered.

            His eye caught movement and he saw another agent trying to circle around beside him. They were staying carefully out of range of his swords he noticed.

            He felt frustration building up in him as he dodged and cut more of their stone gloves. They didn’t have time for this. They needed to keep moving if they had any hope of finding Appa, or Lu Ten.

            Maybe it was time to put all their cards on the table then.

            Heat flowed to his hands and giddy excitement laced with fear flowed through him. He took a deep breath-

            -exhaled –

            Fire exploded from his hands, knocking the agents to the ground. He rushed forward, slamming the hilts of his swords into the men’s heads and knocking them out.

            Rocks flew at him from all sides. He spun, creating a tornado of swords and flame to intercept them. Blood roared in his ears as he stepped forward, launching fireblasts and sheets of flame at his attackers.

            For a few glorious moments it seemed like it had worked. The Dai Li retreated from him and when he looked back at the others he saw them pushing the other line back as well. Maybe they could get out of here after all, maybe-

            Fire flew at his face and he screamed, raising his arms to protect himself. Something slammed into him and knocked him to the ground.

             He looked up just in time to see another fireball fly at him and rolled away quickly. The only other firebenders with them were uncle and Leeli and they wouldn’t be attacking him, which meant…

            “Lu,” he whispered as the dust settled and the flames faded and he saw his cousin for the first time in eight long years.

            Lu Ten looked much the same as he had then, but he seemed thinner and more wiry than Zuko remembered, and his hair was longer and braided down his back.

            And his eyes…

            They were blank eyes, empty of all recognition, and Zuko’s heart dropped.

            Lu advanced on him and he lay there, frozen, heart pounding. His cousin raised his hand, fire sparking along the edges-

            “Lu, don’t!”

            Zuko jolted at the sound of Leeli’s voice and his eyes darted to her as she stood behind Lu, grief and anger warring on her face. Behind her, the Dai Li had closed in on the others from both sides and his breath sputtered.

            “Lu, please, don’t hurt him just listen-”

            A stone smacked into Leeli’s head and she crumpled. Zuko’s eyes widened in horror.

            Before he could move or shout or do anything, rocks clamped around his mouth, wrists and ankles. He jerked, trying to pull his hands apart, but a hand grabbed his collar and lifted him up.

            For just a second, Zuko met his cousin’s eyes and silently pleaded with him to remember. But Lu Ten only stared at him expressionlessly for a moment before slinging Zuko over his shoulder.

            As they followed the Dai Li back into the darkness of the tunnel, Zuko caught one last glimpse of his friends fighting and prayed they’d be alright.

****

            The Dai Li melted back into the shadows as quickly as they’d appeared, leaving the Gaang tense and breathless. Aang surveyed his friends. They seemed to all be alright, except-

            “Leeli!”

            His gaze snapped over to Iroh, who was kneeling next to Leeli’s still body. His heart stopped, and for a moment he couldn’t breathe.

            Katara rushed over and put her water-covered hands over Leeli’s chest, then head. “She’ll be okay, she’s just knocked out.”

            Aang let out a shaky breath as Katara started healing Leeli. They were okay, no one was dead, no one was dying-

            “Where’s Zuko?”

            The question sent a jolt through his heart and he spun back and forth, hoping Zuko was just being stealthy and standing in the shadows-

            “He’s gone,” said Toph quietly. She was kneeling on the floor, her hand pressed against it. “There’s a group headed that way, he might be with him,” she said, pointing.

            “How did we lose him again?!” Sokka shouted. “How does this keep happening??”

            Aang took a deep breath. He was not losing anyone else. “He’s not going to be lost for long. Katara, will Leeli be able to walk?”

            “Yes I can walk,” Aang jumped at Leeli’s voice. He looked over and saw her roll her eyes.

            “That is not the first time I’ve had a blow to the head,” said Leeli, brushing Katara and Iroh off her as she stood. “I’ll be fine,” she turned to Iroh. “It was Lu. He appeared out of nowhere and attacked us and the Dai Li knocked me out before I could help Zuko.”

            Iroh bowed his head, and for a moment he looked so old and tired that Aang just wanted to give him a hug. But when he looked up a moment later his eyes were filled with determination.

            “We need to hurry and find Zuko before they do the same thing to him that they did to Lu Ten.”

            Aang nodded. “Then let’s go.”

****

            Zuko struggled as best he could while bound and slung over his cousin’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes. They hadn’t gone far before the Dai Li opened up a wall and they walked into a much smaller tunnel.

            The tunnel opened into a dimly lit room with a single chair sitting in front of a circular track with a lantern on it. The sight filled him with inexplicable dread and he redoubled his struggling.

            Lu Ten set him down on his feet he felt the rocks binding them fall. As soon as he was freed, he bolted ran towards the doorway, but his feet were quickly encased in rock and he was dragged back.

            “It is pointless to resist,” said one of the Dai Li. “Soon you will not wish to resist.”

            Zuko squeezed his eyes shut and fought to breathe. If they would just take this stupid muzzle off him-

            He was guided over and pushed into the chair and blessedly the gag crumbled off his face. He coughed and gasped, sucking in great lungfuls of air and glaring at his captors.

            Stones wrapped around his chest and forehead and pulled him back, forcing him to sit straight. His hands were dragged apart to rest on the armrests and his ankles were tethered to the chair legs.

            His heart beat a panicked rhythm in his chest. This was his worst nightmare; captured underground and held captive by earthbenders-

            (-while his family watched emotionlessly, blind to his fear and suffering)

            He fought against the shackles, calling fire to his hands and feet and willing it to break him free. Smoke poured off him, but he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t make his chi move the way it should-

            The lantern began to move, slowly traveling around on its circular track. A Dai Li agent stood calmly in the center of it, eyes dark.

            “The Avatar is your enemy,” said the man in a measured voice. “Not the Dai Li. The Avatar is your enemy, not the Dai Li…”

            He felt his mind starting to drift, fogginess start to cover his thoughts. He closed his eyes, but the light spun on and the chant continued.

            “The Avatar is your enemy, not the Dai Li. The Avatar is your enemy, not…”

            “Lu,” he whispered, clenching his hands into fists. “Lu, please, you have to make them stop. I know you don’t remember me but I’m your cousin, please-”

            He tried to turn his head and look, but the rocks around his head held him fast. He squeezed his eyes shut again and fought against the blackness engulfing his mind. “We used to firebend together! I was- you were always looking after me, please, Lu, it’s me-”

            It was getting harder to talk and almost impossible to think. If he didn’t get out of here now-

            “Lu, please,” he sobbed. “It’s Zuko! Your cousin! Please-!”

            He was sinking, falling, drowning in the shadows, gasping for air-

            CRASH

            Zuko felt his body jolt and the light outside his closed eyes went out.

            Immediately the fog over his mind started to lift and his eyes flew open just in time to see fire flash and the second and third Dai Li agents in the room go down in rapid succession. The first was lying in a heap inside the circle.

            Lu’s fire stopped and Zuko struggled to see through the darkness. He sensed someone beside him and felt hands grab him and he yelped, trying to jerk himself away.

            “Be still.”

            Zuko froze. It was Lu’s voice, a voice he never thought he’d hear again, and his heart leapt and ached at the same time.

            With a few quick hits to the stone shackles, Lu freed him and helped him up. Zuko grasped his cousin’s arm, unwilling to let go.

            “Lu,” his voice shook. “Wh- do, do you remember me?”

            “No.”

            The simple word cut into him like a knife and Zuko shook. “Then why- why did you free me?”

            Lu was silent for a long moment, then, “I promised that if I ever met Zuko, I would look after him and keep him safe.”

            That, that didn’t make any sense, but now was not the time to question it. “C-come with me, Lu, please.”

            “I belong here,” said Lu. “I must stay and serve my masters.”

            Zuko felt an icy chill slide down his back. “But you don’t, you- you’re my cousin, my family, and your family is looking for you, you belong with us.”

            Even in the dark he saw Lu shake his head. “I must stay. Go, quickly, before more of my masters come.”

            Another idea popped into his head and Zuko grabbed it like a lifeline. “You said you promised to keep me safe,” he squeezed Lu’s arm. “As- as long as I’m here I’m not safe. If you want to keep your promise you have to help me escape.”

            There was a pause, then Lu sighed. “Very well. Follow me.”

            He turned and started to walk away and Zuko hurried to follow him, still clinging to his arm. He’d found Lu and Lu had saved him.

            And he wasn’t letting his cousin go until they were free.

Chapter Text

Sixteen years ago

            Twelve-year-old Lu Ten peered around the doorway of his aunt and uncle’s private sitting room, listening. He heard muffled voices, but no screams. Quietly, he pushed the door open and stepped in.

            “Ah, Lu Ten, there you are,” his father smiled when he saw him. He was holding a blanket-wrapped bundle in his arms. “Come meet your new little cousin.”

            Lu tiptoed over and looked down at the bundle his father held. Nestled snuggly in the blankets was a tiny baby, with black, still-damp hair stuck to his head. His tiny eyes were shut and his little face looked peaceful.

            “What’s his name?” Lu asked.

            “Zuko,” father smiled again.

            Lu nodded. “That’s a good name. He-”

            A shout cut him off and he jumped, turning towards the door to his aunt and uncle’s bedroom. He could hear aunt Ursa and uncle Ozai arguing inside, their voices getting louder. Zuko’s face scrunched up and he started to whimper.

            Lu looked up and saw his father looking grave. He glanced back to the half-closed doorway and caught the words, “no spark” and “not worthy” and “should be removed”.

            He shuddered. “What are they talking about, dad?”

            His father sighed and shook his head, then a look of determination came over his face. “Here, Lu, take your cousin and go find a quiet spot to sit in. I need to speak to my brother.”

            Lu Ten hesitated. “But he’s so tiny, I don’t want to hurt him.”

            Father chuckled. “You won’t hurt him, Lu. In fact, I can’t think of anyone in the whole kingdom I’d trust more to keep him safe right now, except his own mother, of course.”

            The praised warmed him from head to toe and he stood a little taller.

            “Here, hold your arms like this and keep a hand under his head. There,” father passed him the baby and Lu stood there, frozen for a moment before a feeling of protectiveness filled him.

            The shouting was growing louder and Zuko was squirming and starting to cry, so with a final nod to his father, Lu hurried out of the room. He walked down the hall until he came to a padded bench in the shadow of a pillar where he could no longer hear angry voices. He took a deep breath and sighed.

            A little whimper made him look down and he found himself looking into Zuko’s wide, worried eyes. Lu smiled at him.

            “Hi, my name’s Lu Ten. I’m your big cousin. Father told me to look after you.”

            Zuko blinked at him and gave a little cry. Lu carefully patted his head.

            “It’s okay, don’t be scared! I’m going to take good care of you. I’m not a big brother, but being a big cousin’s pretty much the same thing, I think,” he slowly leaned down and pressed a kiss to Zuko’s forehead. “I’m going to keep you safe.”

            Zuko’s cries turned into little coos, and Lu felt a tiny hand grasp a lock of his hair. He laughed.

            “Do you like my hair? Yours will be long like mine someday, maybe even soon, you’ve already got so much of it!” He gently detached Zuko’s hand and gave the baby his finger to hold instead.

            Zuko yawned and closed his bright, golden eyes, still holding tightly to Lu’s finger. Lu smiled at him as that feeling of protectiveness flowed through him again.

            “I’ll look after you,” he whispered. “As long as you’re with me you’ll be safe.”

            “I promise.”

****

            It was strange to walk beside Lu Ten in silence. His cousin had always been talkative and good at pulling Zuko (and Azula) into conversations without making things feel forced. Even on days where Zuko didn’t want to talk, Lu had filled the silence with stories and adventures. He’d never been quiet for long.

            ‘Like Tulip,’ he thought. He wished he could talk about anything like she did, if he could it might wake something up in his cousin.

            (or maybe Lu was too far gone for something so superficial to have an effect)

            Zuko shook his head. His cousin was not too far gone. They’d bring his memory back somehow.

            He did have one thing he could talk about to break the silence though.

            “So, Lu,” he asked once they were a ways down the tunnel with no Dai Li in sight. “Do you know if the Dai Li are keeping any kind of… big animal down here?”

            Lu glanced at him, then faced forward again. “Why?”

            Zuko took a breath and pressed on. “That’s why my friends and I came here, to find our flying bison- Aang’s flying bison- and if we don’t find him we’ll still be in danger from the Dai Li and if you promised you’d keep me safe…”

            Lu Ten gave a longsuffering sigh and Zuko felt his mouth turn up in a grin. That was a sound he was used to hearing from his cousin whenever he’d pestered Lu into doing something with him.

            (It always meant his cousin was about to give in)

            “I know where the bison is,” he said. “There’s a large cell not far from here where it’s being kept. I’ve had to help care for it.”

            Zuko blinked. “Really? They had you taking care of Appa?”

            “The creature is very aggressive towards my masters,” said Lu. “It does not seem to hold the same hostility towards me.”

            Zuko’s grin widened. “Appa likes you.”

            Lu looked at him strangely. “That is too strong a word. The beast tolerates me because I respect it.”

            “Appa likes you,” Zuko repeated, still grinning.

            Lu sighed again and shook his head. “The cell is this way.”

****

            “Quick, in here!”

            Aang spun from where he’d just knocked three Dai Li agents into the wall and saw Sokka ushering the others through a doorway. He darted in after them and they closed the door behind them with a muffled clang, panting.

            It hadn’t been long before the Dai Li caught up with them again and Aang was getting frustrated. While they were being attacked they weren’t able to continue their search and in the meantime anything could be happening to Appa and Zuko.

            The room they were in was big, even big enough to hold a flying bison, but there was no sign of Appa. He was about to start looking for another way out when Leeli spoke.

            “We shouldn’t have come in here.” She whispered, staring up at the ceiling.

            Aang followed her gaze and his heart skipped. There, hanging from the ceiling like wolfbats, were dozens of Dai Li agents.

            “Now that’s something different,” said Sokka.

            The shadows shifted and Long Feng stepped out of them. “Congratulations, Avatar, you and your friends have made yourselves enemies of the state.”

            Aang brandished his staff at the man. “Give us Appa and Zuko back!”

            Long Feng ignored him. “Take them into custody.”

            As one, the Dai Li dropped from the ceiling and surrounded the group.

            “At least they’re finally fighting out in the open and not cowering like sheep-rabbits,” Leeli growled.

            The battle went much the same as the ones in the halls had, except that now there was more room to maneuver. Rock gloves flew and shattered in the air, mixed with various elements- all except fire.

            The entire time they’d been under Lake Laogai, Aang hadn’t seen Iroh or Leeli firebend, just Zuko. Which was a little strange, but he hadn’t had a chance to ask about it.

            So when he saw a blast of fire appear in the corner of his eye his heart jumped and he spun towards it, hoping to see Zuko standing there (he’d even take injured Zuko as long as he was alive and with them).

            But it wasn’t Zuko who was firebending now.

            As he watched, Iroh shot another fire blast at Long Feng, who was making a beeline for the door. Before he could get there a sheet of fire intercepted him, and Leeli stepped out of it, her expression fierce.

            A circle of flame sprang up around Long Feng, and Aang heard the sounds of battle die down behind him as the agents either fled or were defeated.

            Leeli stepped up to the flames. “Where is my husband you snake?”

            “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” said Long Feng, eyeing the walls of fire warily.

            “You know exactly what I’m talking about,” Leeli snapped. “Or do you think that it’s random chance that there are two firebenders leading the Avatar into your precious secret base?”

            Understanding dawned in Long Feng’s eyes. “You’re the ones who have been infiltrating this place.”

            “Yes, we have, for years,” Leeli grinned. “And hasn’t it just driven you mad, not being able to stop us?”

            Long Feng glowered at her. “But you have revealed yourselves now, in the service of a pointless mission,” he sneered. “What a waste.”

            “You son of a-!” Leeli lunged at him, but Iroh pulled her back.

            “Enough, Leeli. We gain nothing by killing him before we’ve found what we came here for,” said Iroh. He turned to Long Feng. “Now, tell us where the Avatar’s bison is, and where you are keeping my nephew and son.”

            Long Feng frowned. “Your son? Who-” his eyes widened. “You are the Dragon of the West.”

            “I am,” Iroh nodded. “Now, return what you have stolen from us and we may yet let you escape with your life.”

            Long Feng laughed. “Your son is long gone, old man, his mind has been ours for years, and by now your nephew belongs to us too,” he stepped close to the flames. “And doesn’t it just drive you mad not to be able to stop me?”

            The flames sprang out at him and Long Feng yelped, jerking back as his robes caught fire.

            “TELL US WHERE THEY ARE!” Leeli roared, the flames leaping high. Aang took half a step back, heart pounding in his chest.

            “There’s more Dai Li coming,” said Toph suddenly. Inside the flames, Long Feng smirked.

            Leeli lunged into the circle, too quick for Iroh to stop her this time, and grabbed Long Feng’s forearms. “I’ll ask you one last time before I burn you to ash and charcoal. Where. Is. My. Husband?”

            Smoke started to rise up from where her hands were clamped around his arms and with sudden, dawning horror Aang realized she was doing what Zhao must have done to Zuko when he tortured him.

            “Leeli, stop!” he called, panic making his voice shake. “This isn’t the way to-”

            CRRRRRAAAAAAAAACCCCKKKK

            Rocks and chains tumbled down from the ceiling, crashing down around them. Aang yelped as he narrowly dodged a boulder as big as he was.

            He heard a shout and looked up just in time to see Long Feng dart out the door. Stalactites slammed into the earth around him and he saw his friends scrambling away from them as the ceiling caved in.

            “This way!” Toph shouted, opening a hole in the wall. Aang and the others ran towards it and he hovered beside it, waiting for everyone else to get through.

            Last of all came Iroh dragging a shouting Leeli. Once they were through Aang darted after them and sealed the makeshift doorway.

            “The tunnel’s gonna start collapsing, we need to move!” Toph said, already hurrying down the hall. “Come on!”

            “We need to go after Long Feng!” Leeli snapped, still struggling to break free of Iroh’s grip on her.

            “Let’s just hope he gets buried in his own rockslide and get out of here!” Sokka shouted.

            Reluctantly, Leeli allowed herself to be dragged along. Aang steered clear of her, the image of her holding onto Long Feng burned into his mind.

            They were a ways away from the collapsing room when they stopped to catch their breath and Leeli finally jerked free of Iroh.

            “You should have let me finish him!” she growled. “Now we may never rescue Lu Ten, or Zuko!”

            “If you hadn’t been so aggressive, the Dai Li might not have decided to bring the roof down on us,” Iroh countered, and though his voice was calmer it was still sharp with disappointment.

            Leeli turned and locked eyes with him, and Aang resisted the urge to back away. “What about you, Avatar? Wouldn’t you have done the same thing to get information?”

            He thought of the sandbenders and his chest tightened. “I-I don’t want to be like that,” he whispered. “I want Appa back, and Zuko, but I don’t, I don’t want to hurt anyone like that again. I don’t want to lose control.”

            Leeli frowned and started to step towards him. He nervously skipped backwards. She paused and something in her seemed to shift.

            “They’re coming again!” Toph called. “We need to keep moving!”

            Aang turned and hurried away with the others. He glanced back once and saw Leeli looking down, her face twisted. He wished he had time to ask what she was thinking.

            Hopefully there would be time to later.

****

            “This is the place.”

            Zuko stared at the door Lu had led them to. It didn’t look different from the other doors they’d passed along the way, and it certainly wasn’t big enough to bring a flying bison through.

            He took a breath. It was likely the Dai Li had more than one way of accessing their cells, they were earthbenders after all.

            He glanced at Lu Ten, nodded, and pushed the door open.

            It was darker inside, and it took a moment for his eye to adjust. “Appa?”

            He felt a thrill go through him when a low moan answered him and he focused on a darker shadow in the middle of the room.

            Light suddenly illuminated the space as torches lit along the walls and Appa growled, chains clanking.

            Chains. They had chained Appa, how dare they, Aang would be furious. He was furious, but he buried the feeling under the excitement of finally, finally finding their lost companion.

            He walked forward, hands up. “It’s okay, Appa, it’s Zuko and,” he glanced over at Lu, standing at attention near the door. “My cousin, Lu Ten. But I think you know him already.

            He reached up and pushed his hand into Appa’s soft fur. The bison rumbled at him, and before Zuko could pull away, Appa opened his massive mouth and licked him.

            Zuko yelped. “Aah, okay, thanks, um,” he laughed, shaking saliva off him. “Thanks, Appa. Alright, let’s get you out of here and back to Aang.” He stepped back and drew his swords, holding one out to Lu. “Here, help me get these chains off.”

            Lu Ten hesitated. “Is that wise? What if it becomes violent?”

            Zuko shook his head. “He won’t. Appa’s a gentle giant- as long as he likes you,” Zuko smiled. “And I’m pretty sure he likes you.”

            Lu scoffed, but walked forward and took the proffered sword. Zuko turned back to Appa. “Okay, Appa, we’re going to cut the chains off you now. Try to stay still.”

            Appa grumbled and shied away at first, but after his front legs were freed he seemed to understand and stayed quiet and still. In no time at all the bison was free. He gave Zuko another appreciative lick and then, to Zuko’s utter delight, he turned and did the same thing to Lu Ten.

            “Gah!” Lu pulled back. “Slobbery beast!”

            “I told you he likes you,” Zuko grinned. “Now come on, we need to find my friends.”

            Lu Ten hesitated, glancing back at the door and Zuko felt a thrill of fear travel through him.

            “I’m still not safe, Lu,” he reminded his cousin. “You have to help me escape and find my friends, remember?”

            Lu looked conflicted for a moment, then sighed and nodded. “Very well. But my masters will see us coming with him along.” He waved a hand at Appa.

            Zuko looked around at the cell, but didn’t see any bigger doors. The Dai Li must have used earthbending to get Appa inside. Then he looked up.

            His eyes widened and he grinned as he made out the small square of light far above them. “Lu, come on, we need to get on Appa!”

            “Why?” Lu asked, coming up beside him as Zuko tried to scramble up Appa’s fur. The second time he slipped down Lu caught hold of him. “Stop. I’ll boost you up.”

            Zuko grinned, practically giddy with excitement as he stepped a foot into the handhold Lu made for him and his cousin launched him up Appa’s side. He vividly remembered Lu doing the same thing for him when he was little so that he could ride a komodo rhino.

            Once he was up on Appa’s back, he reached a hand down for his cousin, but Lu just backed up and charged forward, leaping up. Zuko caught hold of him and pulled him onto Appa, laughing.

            “I don’t see how that’s funny,” said Lu, frowning at him.

            “It just, it just reminds me of when we were younger,” said Zuko, moving down to sit on Appa’s head. “Come sit by me.”

            Lu did and Zuko beamed. “Okay, Appa, you thinking what I’m thinking?”

            Appa moaned and Zuko nodded. “Okay. Yip yip!”

            Appa surged upward and Zuko was rewarded with a yelp from his cousin. He laughed and his heart warmed when Lu grabbed hold of his arm and held on, tightly.

            “What are you doing?” Lu Ten demanded.

            “Just hold on,” said Zuko, looking up towards the light in the ceiling. “Hopefully I’m right about this…”

            “Right about wh-” Lu’s eyes widened. “No, you can’t be serious-”

            Zuko wrapped one arm through his cousin’s and grabbed a handful of Appa’s fur, ducking his head as the bison ascended up to the roof and slammed against it, shattering through the skylight and soaring into the blinding blue sky beyond. Zuko let out a whoop of triumph.

            He’d done it. He’d rescued Appa and Lu Ten.

            Now he just needed to find the others.

Chapter Text

            They flew out over the lake, Zuko scanning the shore for any sign of his friends. It wasn’t long before Lu tapped him on the shoulder and Zuko saw him point to what looked like two walls of earth trapping a small group.

            “Are those your friends?” Lu asked.

            Zuko swallowed hard and nodded.

            “They seem to have angered my masters,” said Lu. “That’s a dangerous thing to do.”

            “Well they’re not gonna be in danger for long,” said Zuko. “Come on Appa!”

            Appa growled in agreement and Zuko felt the bison speed up. He glanced at Lu. “You’ll help us, right?”

            “I promised I would keep you safe.” Lu said simply. “That promise supersedes my loyalty to my masters.”

            Zuko blinked, not sure how to respond to that.

            They neared the shore and Appa let out a roar. Zuko grinned when the Gaang turned towards them, and he shot a fireball at the Dai Li agents surrounding them.

            Appa angled himself towards the wall of earth and Zuko’s eyes widened. “Lu, duck!”

            He grabbed his cousin’s arm and covered his head. Lu cursed and curled protectively over him as there was an almighty CRACK and Appa smashed through the walls of rock.

            The Gaang cheered and Lu straightened up. Zuko lifted his head and brushed rubble out of his hair.

            Bolstered by the return of Appa, the Gaang was making short work of the Dai Li. Well, he wasn’t going to let them have all the fun. He’d had enough of these stupid earthbenders.

            He detached himself from Lu and leapt off Appa into the fray. He was already moving when he heard a crunch and Lu appeared beside him.

            Zuko beamed at him. Lu grabbed him and yanked him out of the way of a stone glove.

            “Pay attention!” Lu snapped. He shot a fireball at the agent who’d launched the glove and the man was thrown back into the lake.

            “Sorry!” Zuko threw a fireball of his own at an agent trying to sneak up on Katara and the man toppled to the ground. “I’m just glad you’re here.”

            He’d never fought alongside Lu Ten before, he’d been too young when his cousin left to join the siege. Fighting side by side with him now gave Zuko a rush of energy and excitement like he hadn’t felt since he was a child.

            A pair of agents closed in on them and almost in unison they threw sheets of flame at their attackers. With a swift kick, Lu knocked the agent attacking him unconscious. Zuko tried to copy the move, but the man facing him caught his foot and yanked him off balance. He yelped and brought up his fist, slamming fire against the man’s chest and slamming him back.

            Something crashed into the side of his head and he tumbled to the ground, reeling.

            “Lieutenant.”

            The voice sent a cold shiver down Zuko’s spine and he blinked spots out of his vision to see Long Feng approaching them, staring straight at Lu Ten.

            Lu lifted his head and Zuko saw a spark of defiance in his eyes. “Master.”

            “Lieutenant, the Earth King has-”

            “NO!”

            Leeli appeared out of nowhere, her fire slamming into Long Feng. Before Zuko could process that he heard a growl and Appa landed beside her.

            Long Feng scrambled to his feet. “You again! Fine, I’ll deal with you myself!”

            He started into an earthbending kick, but before Long Feng could throw a single stone, Appa caught the man’s leg in his mouth, swung him off the ground, and tossed him into the lake where he skipped like a stone before sinking down.

            Zuko stood just a little shakily, an uncertain grin on his face.

            “Appa!”

            He turned just in time to see Aang launch himself onto the bison’s head, hugging him. His smile softened and a warm spark settled in his heart.

            “We should get out of here before the Dai Li come back,” said Sokka. “Come on, everybody on Appa- man it’s nice to be able to say that again!”

            They all jumped and scrambled onto the bison’s back. Zuko kept a close eye on Lu Ten to make sure he got on board, but he needn’t have worried- Leeli was dragging him along.

            “Sparky! You’re okay!”

            He turned just as Toph latched onto him and he grinned. “Yeah, I am. Are you okay?”

            “Yeah. Those idiots were no match for us.”

            His grin widened. “Good to hear.”

            He felt a hand on his shoulder and a moment later found himself engulfed in a hug from uncle. “I’m glad you’re safe, nephew.”

            “Thanks uncle. I- I found Lu too,” he pulled back and pointed to where Lu was stiffly sitting next to Leeli.

            “So you have,” said uncle. “And while I’m delighted you did, I want you to know that I’d be happy you were safe even if you hadn’t returned with Lu Ten.”

            Zuko ducked his head. “Thanks.”

            They landed on a small, wooded island on the lake. The Gaang excitedly hugged and chattered at Appa, who nuzzled and licked them in return.

            Lu Ten, however, walked to the edge of the island and stared out over the water. Leeli hovered a few paces behind him and uncle went to stand beside her. Zuko slipped up beside his cousin and watched him.

            “I have fulfilled my promise,” Lu Ten informed him. “You are safe and reunited with your friends. It is time I return to my masters.”

            Zuko felt a jolt go through his chest and for a moment he couldn’t breathe. He grabbed Lu’s arm in a death grip and shook his head.

            Lu tilted his head and looked almost… sad. Which was progress, he’d take sad over a blank stare. But his next words dashed what little hope that gave him. “I do not belong here, with you. I am a servant of my masters and I must return to them.”

            “You can’t, they- they’ll be angry with you and you don’t, you don’t belong to them,” Zuko’s voice shook. “You belong with us. We’re- we’re your family,” he gestured to Leeli and Iroh.

            “I don’t have a family,” said Lu Ten. “I have my masters and my orders and missions. That is my life and that is all I need.”

            “Lu, please,” Leeli walked up to them. “Please try to remember,” she glanced at Zuko. “Why would you bother to protect Zuko if you didn’t care about him? Why have you never told the Dai Li about me and Iroh taking you away if you don’t remember something about us?”

            Lu Ten shook his head. “You are no threat to my masters and you are no threat to me. There is no reason to tell them about you.”

            “But we’ve told them now,” said Leeli, taking Lu’s other arm. “We won’t be safe. Isn’t that why you stayed with Zuko? To keep him safe? The Dai Li will come after us, we won’t be safe now.”

            “You have a flying beast,” Lu Ten reasoned. “You can escape.”

            “Damn it, Lu!” Leeli shook his arm. “Try to remember! Please!”

            “The Dai Li brainwashed you,” said Zuko. “Like they tried to do to me. You know that’s wrong, you stopped them-”

            “I would not let them hurt you,” said Lu Ten. “I promised I would not. If they hurt me for my betrayal it will be deserved.”

            “No it won’t!” Leeli cried in frustration. She turned and looked pleadingly at Iroh.

            Iroh shook his head. “His mind is lost, Leeli. We knew that.”

            “But there has to be a way to get it back!” said Leeli. “There has to be!”

            Out of the corner of his eye, Zuko saw that the Gaang was watching now and that they’d moved closer to listen.

            “His memories are buried under years of torture and brainwashing, hidden behind a locked door,” said Iroh, sadly. “And we lack the key.”

            Zuko saw Katara take a step forward and pause, watching them uncertainly as Leeli spoke again. “I’m not losing him again, Iroh, if he leaves again I’m going with him. I can’t bear this anymore.”

            “All you would be doing is giving yourself over to the Dai Li,” said Iroh. “That would accomplish nothing.”

            Leeli stamped her foot and Zuko saw tears running down her cheeks. His heart ached. He looked up at Lu and saw him staring resolutely across the lake, as if they didn’t even exist, as if Leeli’s tears and pleas meant nothing to him.

            “Would it be okay if I… if I tried something?”

            Zuko looked over and saw Katara standing just a few feet from them, clutching her water pouch.

            “I might… I don’t know if it’ll work, but I might be able to do something that will clear his mind a little,” she said. “I’ve never done anything like it before, but…”

            “Do it,” rasped Leeli. “Try it. Try anything. Please.”

            Katara glanced at Iroh, who nodded, then, to Zuko’s surprise, she looked to him. He blinked and nodded at her and moved aside as she approached Lu.

            “Um, hi there, Lu Ten?” she asked.

            He looked down at her. “Yes?”

            “Is it alright if I… try something to jog your memories? I don’t think it’ll hurt, but I’ve never done it before…”

            Lu sighed. “Yes. It will make it clear that I must return to my masters and that what everyone hopes for is impossible.”

            Katara bit her lip but she nodded. “I need you to kneel down, I-”

            Lu dropped to his knees immediately and Zuko did not want to think about the implications of that at all.

            Katara slipped behind him and bent water out over her hands, then placed them on either side of his head over his ears. Zuko knelt down beside his cousin and watched as Lu closed his eyes and a calm expression came over his face.

            Leeli knelt in front of Lu and took his hands in hers, staring at his face intently, and after a moment, uncle joined them, kneeling on Lu’s other side.

            “Your name is Lu Ten,” said Leeli, quietly. “You are the love of my life, a prince who cared enough about a lowly slave to not just free her, but love her,” she reached up a hand and cupped Lu’s cheek. “You taught me so much, and you loved so fiercely that not having you with me has left me hollowed out. Even the flame inside of me is weaker since you’ve been gone,” she laid her head against Lu’s chest and closed her eyes. “Come back to me.”

            There was silence for a few moments, then uncle took a breath. “My son. My brave, loyal, kind son,” he took Lu’s hand and held it between his. “You always brought out the best in me, and in most people. Your kindness and joy brought light into the lives of all you met, if they had the eyes to see it and the openness to receive it,” he laughed, though Zuko could see tears in his eyes. “When you were a little boy, you gave flowers to anyone who dared to be sad in your presence, whether they be family, friend, servant, or a child on the streets of the city. You cared for everyone, great or small, and you always wished for the happiness of those you loved.”

            Zuko rubbed his damp eyes and tried to swallow past the lump in his throat. Both Katara and Lu Ten’s faces were drawn in concentration, but there was no recognition on his cousin’s face yet, no sign that he remembered.

            He saw movement out of the corner of his eye and turned to see Aang, holding something in his hand. Wordlessly, the little Avatar held it out to him.

            Zuko took it and found himself holding Tulip’s little dried flower. His breath caught, and with shaking hands he pressed it into Lu’s palm and lifted the flower up to his nose. Lu twitched, but said nothing, but his hand stayed hovering there when Zuko pulled his back.

            Zuko dug his nails into his palms and took a deep breath, willing his voice not to shake. “Lu. You,” he ducked his head as his voice broke. “You made me feel safe. When mother and father used to fight I’d sneak into your room sometimes and curl up in bed next to you, and you’d tell me stories, and I- I always felt like nothing bad could happen to me then,” tears dripped down from his eye- and he let them fall. “I wanted to be like you, when I grew up. I still do. Please- please remember, Lu.”

            He wrapped his arms around his cousin, hugging him tight. He felt Leeli brush against him as she did the same, then uncle’s arms wrapping around all of them, holding them together.

            Silence. He sensed, rather than saw when Katara stepped back, and prayed to any spirit who would listen that once, just this once, he could have a little bit of luck, just enough to bring Lu back-

            “What’s going on?”

            Zuko jumped and his head jerked up. The voice was Lu’s, but it sounded different than it had a few minutes ago…

            “Lu?” Leeli pulled back and looked him in the eyes.

            And Lu’s whole face lit up.

            “Leeli!” his cousin shouted, breaking their hug as he grabbed Leeli, picked her up and spun her around, then flopped back to the ground. Zuko gaped at him in wide-eyed wonder.

            “My dearest wife, where have you been?” Lu asked.

            “You remember me?” Leeli whispered, tears in her eyes.

            “Of course I remember you!” Lu grinned. “But it feels like it’s been far too long since I’ve seen your beautiful face.”

            Leeli laughed and sobbed, pressing her head against his chest again. Lu wrapped one arm around her and looked around. His gaze landed on Iroh, who was watching the exchange through tears.

            “Dad!” Lu grinned. “Are you-”

            Iroh launched himself at Lu and cut him off with a hug. “My son.”

            Lu laughed and hugged him back. “I feel like I’ve missed something,” he turned and his gaze finally landed on Zuko.

            Zuko held his breath as his cousin looked him over, head tilted. “Zuko?”

            Something in his heart snapped and a sob escaped him as he nodded. “You recognize me?”

            “I guess I do,” said Lu. “Which is quite a feat considering you’re twice as big as you were the last time I saw you, and your hair! It looks nice in a braid,” he grinned.

            Zuko wrapped his arms around his cousin and clung to him, unable to see through the tears clouding his eyes. It worked, it had worked, Lu was back.

            He turned his head and glanced up at Katara, who was teary eyed and smiling at them, and mouthed ‘Thank you’. She nodded.

            And for the first time in a very, very long time, everything in the world felt right.