Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

It had been a couple of days since Zuko had gotten back into the good graces of his father. Azula had insisted that they walk around the palace, to get Zuko acquainted with his home. It had taken a couple of days: despite him only being gone for three years, the palace had changed a lot, and it was huge.

The war had done so much damage to his kingdom, Zuko thought bitterly.

“Alright, I think that's all the new kitchens.” Azula said, rolling her eyes, “Even though I still think this was a complete waste of time, Royals do not need to come here, we have servants for a reason. But, you’re the boss. What else do you want to see then, Zuzu?”

Zuko thought for a minute, thinking back to all of the places he loved going to as a kid; his favourite hideouts, the places where he would play with Lu Ten, and the places his mother would take him when they had some time together.

Zuko smiled.

“How about the turtleduck pond?” he asked, “Have any changes been made there?”

Azula wrinkled her nose in disgust.

“I mean… the royal gardens haven’t changed that much since you left, but… I guess we could go see them, if that's what you really want to do, Zuzu.”

She motioned for him to follow her, which he gladly did.

Thankfully, the royal gardens were not that far away from the kitchens, and, as usual, it was mostly deserted. Not many people appreciated the serenity. When Zuko had come here in the past, the only people with him were Azula and her friends, if they were there to play, Zuko’s mother, the gardeners, and Uncle Iroh.

Zuko felt a pang of guilt when he thought of him.

Why did Uncle have to betray the Fire nation like that? Why did he have to leave him?

“Here we are.” Azula said with a condescending monotone voice as they entered the outside, “The Gardens, and your stupid turtleduck’s live. Yay .”

Zuko chose to ignore his sisters remark, and smiled down at the pond. A couple of mother turtleduck’s were bobbing on the top of the pond, quacking in delight at seeing Zuko. They must have remembered me.

Zuko smiled and crouched down next to the old tree, letting them come to him.

The turtleduck’s ran over to him, honking and swimming their way over to Zuko.

“Hi Mamas.” Zuko said, a huge goofy grin plastered on his face. The turtleducks honked in delight and wagged their little tails.

Azula watched on in bored disgust.

“Honestly, Zuzu, you’d think that you would have gotten over this childish behaviour while being banished.” she scoffed.

Zuko glared at her.

“Mum used to take me here.” Zuko said quietly, “She tried to take you as well, but you were too scared of them. It became… it became our thing before…”

Azula's gaze softened minutely.

“Fine, I won’t make fun of your little… creatures.” she said, “But honestly Zuzu, we still have a lot of the palace to look at, so why don’t we wrap this up and-”

Azula reached out to touch Zuko's shoulder, intending to pull him up and drag him away.

The oldest mother turtleduck didn’t know this. But she had been at this pond ever since Zuko had started going with his mother. She knew him well, and she knew the kinds of tricks Azula would play on him.

Unkind tricks, tricks that she interpreted as her way of harming him, though they didn’t result in lasting damage. 

As soon as she registered the fact that Azula was about to touch him, she reacted, honking loudly and scrambling out of the pond, intent on attacking Zuko's younger sister.

And before Zuko even registered what was going on, Azula shrieked and backed away, sending a trail of fire in the turtleduck’s direction.

The little thing howled in pain, and Zuko immediately went to douse the fire with pond water. But it seemed all for nothing. Horrified, he watched as the mother fell to her side and stopped moving.

He turned to Azula angrily, while the other ducks in the pond honked at her.

“What did you do that for?!” Zuko yelled.

“It was attacking me!” Azula yelled back, “Its not my fault she doesn’t like me!”

“It is! You threw rocks at her when we were younger! How could she not, not like you?”

Azula said something else, but Zuko was already on the ground, trying to look at the damage. The lifeless duck didn’t move other than a harsh wheezing breath when Zuko gently prodded her uninjured side. While the shell on her back had saved her from most of the damage, she was still in pain, still withering in agony. A deep burn had scorched through her feathers, leaving an ungodly mark on her neck.

Zuko let out a shaky breath. She wouldn’t survive the rest of the day.

“Get out.” Zuko whispered, just enough for Azula to hear and stop her excuses.

“What?!”

“I said Get. Out.” Zuko growled, “You… you killed her.”

Azula, thankfully, didn’t press on. She just rolled her eyes, sighing.

“Fine. I’ll leave. Just… tell me when you’re ready to continue the tour… I guess.”

She turned around and left, leaving Zuko with the turtleduck.

He could feel his eyes brimming with tears as he picked up the limp body of the mother duck. She whimpered in pain at the movement, but did not protest.

“I-I’m sorry.” he whispered. He only hesitated for a second, watching his trembling hands while reminding himself that there was no way to save her, and this was a mercy.

With a swift snap of the turtleducks neck, she stopped moving entirely.

Zuko didn’t move much for a few seconds, only bringing her closer to his chest before rocking gently back and forth, tears falling down his cheeks.

He then proceeded to get up, walking over to the familiar place he knew her nest was. He found the small nest next to the pond reeds, half hidden by the foliage. He laid her aside and dug a hole with his hands, before placing her gently inside and covering the hole back up with dirt.

He patted the dirt down and stared at the little makeshift grave. He should probably have gone back to the kitchens to get her favourite bread to bury with her, but it was too late now.

Thats when Zuko noticed something in the corner of his eye. There, inside the turtle ducks nest, were four pristine white eggs. Zuko looked up and stared at them.

…They didn’t have a mother anymore.

Just like him.

Zuko stared at them for a long while. He contemplated just moving the eggs to another mothers nest, then quickly dismissed the thought the other mothers would immediately crush the eggs if they found them in their nests. They were highly territorial creatures, and could easily tell if an egg in their nest was not one of their own. But they would also die without their mother.

Zuko would have to figure out what to do with them later. Right now he had to keep them warm.

Practically without thinking, Zuko reached over and pocketed the turtleduck eggs. They would be safe and warm inside his robes, at least until he figured out what to do with them.

He turned to leave, heading towards where he knew the library would be. Maybe he could borrow some books or scrolls about Turtleducks: there had to be something in there about how to care for orphans, or at least, how to give them to a mother without her realizing they were not her own.

It was the least Zuko could do for them.

…………

Chirp! Chirp! 

Zuko had taken all the scrolls and books about Turtleducks he could find in the library and taken them back to his quarters, placing the eggs inside a makeshift nest of blankets he wasn’t using, and spent the rest of the day reading.

He must have fallen asleep.

Chirp! Chirp! 

He hadn't eaten in that long either. No one came to check on him, even though he was the prince. He’d have to get used to that again.

Chirp! Chirp!

What was that noise? Was someone trying to wake him up? Actually, now that he thought about it, he could feel something sharp prodding in his face. In his half asleep state he groaned and moved away the object with a sweep of his hand.

Immediately there was a small shriek.

Zuko's eyes widened and he got up quickly, looking down at his bed. A small newly hatched turtleduck was on his bed, turned on its shell and panicking, trying to get up. There were three more little turtleducks all panicking because the other one was panicking.

Zuko resisted the urge to follow suit - it was way too early in the morning for this, the sun wasn't even out yet - and quickly reached over to help the little turtleduck back onto its feet.

The little ducking immediately stopped panicking, and the others calmed down too, one of them even falling asleep where it was. The duckling instead looked at Zuko with a comically angry expression and tried to peck him on the arm.

“Hey,” he said, “That is not nice.” 

The little gremlin just glared at him and continued to try and peck him.

“I said stop it.” Zuko said, gently picking up the little creature by the shell and lifting it up into the air. The little duckling squeaked in outrage and tried to nip at Zuko's fingers.

Zuko glared at the little thing as it tried to wriggle out of his grip. He then felt something else ram softly into his leg. Zuko looked down to see one of the other ducklings fall over slightly and hit his head on Zuko. It looked slightly disoriented, and wobbled a little as it tried to walk. He gently stopped it from falling over and the little thing looked up at him lopsidedly. One of its eyes had not formed properly, leaving it looking half shut and glassy. It probably didn't help its balance. The other duckling rushed over to him and worriedly tried to nuzzle into him in comfort. The duckling with the bad eye leaned into its brother's touch so much that it almost fell over again. 

Zuko looked down at all of the ducklings, trying to work out where they came from before remembering the event that took place the day before.

These were the little orphans. The ones who had lost their mother. They had probably hatched at some point during the night. One look at the makeshift nest confirmed it. All that remained of the eggs were pieces of broken shell and goop.

Zuko then came to the sudden realization that they had probably all imprinted on him. Turtleducks always imprinted on the first living thing they saw. Which was him.

This was a bit of a problem. 

He couldn't have these ducklings with him all the time! He had things to do around the palace, which was dangerous for these ducklings, especially since most people saw them as pests if they were anywhere but the gardens. How was he supposed to look after them and do his duty as a prince at the same time?

Zuko was taken out of this train of thought by one of the ducklings chirping at him. It was still helping to hold up the duckling with the bad eye, and was looking at him with a curious expression.

They were probably hungry, Zuko realized: they hadn’t eaten yet. 

He gently placed down the angry duckling before getting up off his bed to find something for the ducklings to eat. He had some steamed vegetables from last night's dinner: one of the servants must have given it to him.

It was not much but it would be enough for the little ducklings, at least for now. 

He put the vegetables on a small separate plate and mushed them up as best as he could with the knife that he kept on his bedside table. He placed the food on his bed in front of the ducklings, who immediately went for the food. The little angry one pushed the one with the bad eye to get to the food first, gobbling it up quickly. The one who had defended the duckling with the bad eye chirped angrily at the angry one before pecking its back, leading to a heated argument of chirps. The one that had fallen asleep had perked awake at the smell of food, and used the confusion of the argument to quietly slip in and eat half the plate. 

Zuko had to help the one with the bad eye towards the food, and it immediately faceplanted into one of the steamed vegetables and just started munching without moving its head up. 

After a while the two arguing ducklings settled down to eat, though thanks to the sleepy duckling there was barely anything left. They ate and argued over the last piece of food before they finally finished eating.

Zuko quickly moved the plate away when they were done, having observed the whole ordeal from his seat on the bed. It was very early, and Zuko had things to do when he got up, so he lay down on the bed, leaving enough room for the ducklings who were looking very sleepy to sleep by him.

The little ducklings, who looked exhausted from their first meal, all waddled towards him. Zuko tensed up as they all snuggled into a sleep pile under his chin. They were warm and squirmy, and so very small, their bodies pulsing in breath as they quickly fell asleep, and thier shells still soft and not quite fully formed yet. 

Zuko didn't want to squish them by accident as he was sleeping, but he also didn't want to move them out of the way. He eventually relaxed at their rhythmic breathing beneath his chin, his body instinctively curling up and his hand coming to rest in front of them to keep them warm.

He couldn’t move that much during the night, right?

No, he probably couldn’t.

Soon enough, Zuko fell into a restful sleep, his mind for once, not plagued with nightmares of his thirteen year old self standing in that hall in front of his father.

Chapter Text

It had been three weeks since Zuko had become the ducklings single parent and he had settled into some kind of routine. He would wake up, give them any leftovers for breakfast, and get on with his day. He spent as much time as he could near the turtleduck pond to allow the ducklings to swim, so long, in fact, that Azula would tease him about it every time she saw him. If he had duties that were unavoidable, he would take the ducklings around in the pockets of his clothes, hidden from sight.

When he was in his rooms, they would waddle along after him, all in a neat little row. The duckling with the bad eye would always walk into furniture if it was on his right, but other than that his balance had improved and it could keep up with the other ducklings easily, though its head remained slightly lopsided. The bigger duckling spent most of his time sleeping and eating, though he was happy to snuggle with his siblings whenever they needed it. The two others were always arguing, the mean little duckling always picking fights, usually with the one starting them by pestering the other or trying to playfight too roughly with the other ducklings while the other one was always trying to stop them from hurting the other two.

After about three days, he decided that they needed names.

The lazier but caring duckling he dubbed Iroh, because he reminded him so much of his Uncle, in a fond kind of way. The angry one he called Azula, since it was spiteful and angry all the time, just like his sister. The more protective one he named Lu Ten, since it acted a lot like his cousin had before that battle in Ba Sing Se, always trying to mediate between the siblings bickering and spending time to play with him and Azula. The last one he dubbed Zuzu, because its bad eye kind of looked like Zukos scar.

He later found out that Iroh and Lu Ten were male ducklings, and Azula and Zuzu were females.

He had yet to tell anyone about the ducklings yet, not even his grilfriend Mai, but there was one person he wanted to show first, dispite everything.

Zuko walked up to the guards on duty around the prison, his hood up and the ducklings safely hidden in his various pockets. The guards pointed thier weapons at him as he approached from the shadows, but calmed down after they recognised him from his other visits. He slipped them both a couple of small coins to keep quiet, before they let him in.

Zuko walked down the familiar path in relative quiet, though a few of the prisoners reached through the bars towards him, begging for food. Zuko ignored them, though this area always made him extremely uncomfortable. The little ducklings squirmed around in his pockets, as though sensing his discomfort, so Zuko stroked them through the fabric to calm them down. 

There were no guards outside the familiar cell, and Zuko simply opened the door and stepped through, closing it behind him before stepping forwards and sitting cross legged in front of the cage.

His Uncle still wouldn’t look at him. 

It had almost become a routine at this point. Zuko would start off talking, trying to get some sort of acknowledgment from his wayward Uncle, trying to reason with him or say something else. Iroh would simply sit in his cell, staring at the opposite wall, his log, thin silver hair falling down in waves across his back. He wouldn’t turn around. He wouldn’t make a noise. 

And then Zuko would start pleading. He would start to cry and beg and shout and yell at him to say something, say anything. He would shout insults and threats sometimes, though that made him feel guilty and send a shiver up his spine for making him sound so much like his father. But mostly he just begged. 

Iroh was a traitor, but he was also Zukos Uncle, the man who became like a second father in the three years of his banishment. He had stuck with him through everything, and the silent treatment was excruciating.

after a while of silence, Zuko would leave, slamming the door behind him and storming off through the prison, at least until he got back to his rooms where he would leave the ducklings, and they would hound at him to try and comfort him, even Azula. 

Zuko wanted… well, he didn’t know exactly what he wanted but he wished Iroh would just say something to him.

Zuko often found himself wondering if those three years even meant something to his Uncle as the silence dragged on.

”Hi Uncle.” He said, his voice more subdued than usual.

He was met, unsurprisingly, with silence. 

“I… I have something to show you.” He said softly, “I… I won’t talk, I just wanted to introduce you. Th-that’s all.”

Zuko didn’t know what to expect. Iroh stayed still, though Zuko could have sworn he had tensed up at his words. 

He didn’t say anything though, and after a couple of seconds, Zuko looked behind him to make sure that the door was closed before taking out the ducklings one by one. 

They chirped when their feet hit the ground, ruffling thier feathers and looking curiously at thier surroundings.

Lu Ten waddled up to the cage door, and tilted his head curiously at the figure that was sitting there. The little duckling seemed intrigued at the form on the other side of the bars.

At the noise, Zukos uncle half turned towards them, his eyes watching from behind strands of hair. Lu Ten chirped and squeezed himself through the bars of the cage, his shell making the motion a little tricky, before approaching Iroh with more chirps, as if to greet him.

Iroh moved his hand carefully towards the little duckling who immediately hopped onto it, ruffling his feathers before settling down.

Iroh picked him up and moved him closer to his concealed face, and the little duckling watched him with curiosity.

”I-I-“ Zuko hesitated, not entirely sure what to say, “I named him Lu Ten.”

Iroh didn’t say anything, but he moved around to face Zuko, the most he had done in a while, still holding the duckling like it was the most precious thing in the world. 

“Really?” Zukos Uncle said, his voice slightly croaky and rough from misuse. Zuko couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

”I, yeah. He reminded me of him so much that, well…” Zuko trailed off, at a loss for words. 

Uncle Iroh was finally talking to him, but Zuko didn’t feel like he thought he would. Zuko imagined that he would get some kind of relief from it but… this was just sad. Sad and awkward.

”What did you name the others?” Iroh asked, nodding his head towards the three other ducklings that were waddling around the confined space, seemingly trying to explore thier new environment. 

And Zuko told him the names of the others, and why they reminded him of thier namesakes. He chuckled a little at the reasoning for Azula and Irohs names, but he didn’t speak much other than the occasional question about the ducklings. 

And for a while, things were good. 

Zuko purposely avoided the subject of the attack and the Avatar, fearing that it would break the fragile stalemate that he found himself in. Iroh may have betrayed the crown but, he was still Zuko’s Uncle, still someone he cared about, even under all the anger and confusion. 

And seeing his Uncle’s face, however briefly, was nice after the weeks of staring at his back.

”What happened to their mother?” Iroh asked, as he held duckling Iroh in his hands, the little thing having fallen asleep.

Zuko looked away. 

“She’s…” he hesitated for a second, “she died.”

Iroh’s face softened.

”Poor little things.” He said, tracing a finger along the ducklings shell, “To have their parents taken away before they could even meet.” He slowly placed the little duckling down next to his brother and sisters, “But at least they have you now, nephew, to look after them. You have done a good job. I’m… Do you know what happened to her?”

”Azula…” Zuko started, “She, she thought that she was going to hurt me. She rushed in to protect me and…”

Irohs expression grew more sad.

”There is nothing stronger than a mothers love, and will to protect her own.” Iroh said, “No matter the cost. Even at the expense of her life.”

Zuko nodded solemnly, averting his gaze. He gripped his cloak in his hands, his knuckles turning white.

”You should probably go.” Iroh said quietly, “I’m sure someone will notice your absence soon.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” Zuko said quietly, his voice barely reaching above a whisper. 

Iroh frowned. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he didn’t in the end. 

“Even so, I’m sure you have many other duties to attend to.” He said, “I do not wish to keep you from fulfilling them.”

Zuko frowned a little. 

Iroh was trying to abandon him again. Zuko wanted to be angry, and maybe sad at the revelation, but all he felt was a deep numbness.

He was right. Why would anyone want him to be around?

The ducklings, as if sensing the tension, quickly ran back to Zuko, and even Azula seemed worried at the change in demeanor.

Zuko just wordlessly picked each of the ducklings up, and placed them back into his pockets.

He stood wordlessly, then turned back to his uncle. 

“…Would you like to see them again, the next time I come around?” He asked, quietly.

”That would be nice, thank you, nephew.” Iroh answered.

Zuko nodded, before pulling his hood back up and stepped to the other side, making sure the door was closed when he left.

He made a mental note to take the ducklings back to see his Uncle the next time he came, even as he ventured through the halls whose halls seemed to be made of reaching hands and metal bars. 

…He never did. 

Because the next time Zuko came back with a new purpose… 

…as the moon covered the bright sun…

…darkening the sky as well as their powers…

His Uncle had disappeared.

Chapter Text

How could he be so stupid?

How could he not think things through?

Uncle was gone. Zuko had almost gotten himself and his ducklings killed trying to stand up to his father. 

If Uncle hadn’t taught him how to redirect lightning…

Zuko shivered at the thought. They would have been cooked alive.

And Zuko knew from experience that that wasn’t fun. His scar itched with the memory. 

Zuko shook his head, running as quickly and as silently as he could, trying to get away. He knew his father wouldn’t have been able to mark him a traitor yet, but he had a mission in mind, a new mission, one he had been able to see clearly.

He needed to train the Avatar firebending. The Avatar he could barely see through the smoke and fire of the battle his nation was currently winning. The Avatar he knew had been alive all this time. The Avatar that would get away if he didn’t hurry up and catch up to. And then it would be the last year all over again.

Zuko crept towards the airship yard just outside the castle. The ducklings squirmed around in his pockets, as if sensing the tension Zuko had. 

He touched the pockets in a comforting gesture, trying to convey to the little things that he was ok, that they were going to be ok.

They were leaving the palace. They would be safe outside the clutches of his father. They didn’t need to be afraid anymore.

The ducklings seemed to calm down a little at his touch. They did still squirm around, but it felt more like they were trying to be comfortable then actual panic.

As soon as the coast was clear, Zuko ran into the shipyard, taking one of the ships from the far corner where not many people would notice it missing.

He jumped inside, throwing his emergency bag into the ship before scrambling inside himself, careful to land in such a way that wouldn’t hurt the ducklings.

He started it up and quickly got into the air, pulling the anchor inside the gondola, and ducking inside to be hidden from whoever might be able to see him. Once he knew he was safe he looked over the horizon, spotting a small disappearing dot in the distance. Zuko let himself smile. He was finally going to help undo all the harm he had caused, and actually do something to help stop this stupid war for good.

The ducklings seemed to sense Zukos change in demeanour, and they started to chirp and try to wiggle out of Zukos pockets. Azula and Lu Ten came out first, squabbling as usual, and stared at the fluffy clouds in fascination. Zuzu was the third duckling to appear, her head tilted slightly as she watched them too. Iroh was probably sleeping. 

“You won’t have to hide anymore.” He assured them, allowing them to look while being careful not to let them fall, “Everything’s going to change soon.”

The ducklings just chirped in response.

They were still in the air a day later. 

Zuko had fallen asleep in the airship to the ducklings pestering him for a meal. Zuko had to scramble up as the fire had gone out during his time asleep and barely stopped them from crashing into a tree.

Azula of course did not appreciate the delay of food and angrily snapped at Zuko until he picked her up by the shell to look for food in peace. The ducklings quickly came to demolish the meal, and soon they were sleepy again. They sat down inside one of Zukos pockets

Zuko was happy with the arrangement. Occasionally he would send a jet of flame towards the furnace, or look towards the horizon to make sure they were still following the Avatar and his friends, and adjust their course accordingly. Most of the day was spent following this monotonous schedule, and after their nap the ducklings spent their time following Zuko around and exploring the space. 

Then, halfway though the afternoon, Zuko felt a pinch on his ankle. Zuko looked down, expecting to see Azula having one of her tantrums, when he saw Lu Ten sitting there and looking up at him with an expectant gaze.

”What?” Zuko asked. The duckling turned and waddled over to the backpack, shuffling inside. Zuko stared until he came back out with a bit of food, waddled over to Zuko and put it on his boot. He then looked up and chirped up at him.

Zuko looked between the piece of slightly stale bread no bigger than his thumb and Lu Ten.

”…You want me to… eat?” Zuko asked slowly. The duckling chirped again and ruffled his feathers. Zuko sighed.

”I’m not hungry.” He told the duckling, before walking back towards the furnace, the little piece of bread falling to the ground as he stepped away, careful where he walked not to hurt the other little ones. 

a few minutes later, Lu Ten came back with the little piece of bread, placed it back on Zuko’s boot and chirped at him. 

Zuko looked down at him with a slightly irritated expression, before sighing and picking it up between two fingers, knowing that the little duckling was just going to persist until he complied, and ate the piece. 

“Happy now?” He asked the duckling, who ruffled his feathers and chirped at him.

Zuko sighed again and went back to checking that they were still on track with chasing following the Avatar and his friends.

Two minutes later there was another peck on his boot. Zuko looked down to see that Lu Ten had picked up another small piece of bread, slightly bigger than the last, and placed it onto Zuko’s boot again.

Zuko gave him a look, but complied anyway, eating the small piece of food before continuing with what he was doing.

This happened five more times by Lu Ten, and soon all the little ducklings were trying to get him to eat, even Azula.

Zuko just stared at them, sighed and ate what was given to him, because honestly what else was he going to do?

By the time the evening came, the ducklings had coearsed him into eating half the loaf he had kept for them.

”Are you happy now?” Zuko asked, “You might not be able to eat later.”

The ducklings all looked up at him innocently with beady little black eyes. 

Zuko felt compelled to sigh again.

They had crash landed. 

It was of course Zukos fault: he did not see the tree line in the semi darkness, and after almost seventy-two hours of staying awake, he was positively exhausted. 

As luck would have it though, the Avatars Sky Bison had been heading towards where Zuko now remembered was the Western Air Temple. He had explored the area as he did with the rest of air temples in the early weeks of his banishment, trying to find any trace of where the Avatar could have been.

Needless to say, the endeavour had been fruitless.

still, that meant that Zuko knew which rocks he could climb down so that he would reach the temple area from where he was, which was luckily very close by to where he had crash landed. 

But first of course, he needed to set up camp. He’d go to see the Avatar in the morning he decided.

The ducklings trailed after him as he tugged the tarp of the airship and used it to have a makeshift tent. When they realized that he was trying to gather sticks to act as nails to keep them in place, as well as for an eventual fire, they all tried to pick up twigs to ‘help’ him. He wouldn’t say that the scrawny little pieces of wood were much help for anything, but even so he appreciated the effort.

by the end of the day, Zuko was trembling with exhaustion. He practically fell onto the uncomfortable makeshift bed, heaving a great sigh, before closing his eyes.

tomorrow was going to be a long and hard day.

Just before falling asleep, Zuko felt the ducklings scrambling up onto his chest, trying to nestle down to sleep. He absent mindedly reached out to stroke them gently, and soon a quiet sleep fell over him.

Chapter Text

Zuko had not really thought things through too much when he decided just to go over to the Avatar and his companions. He kind of just… appeared there. His plan did essentially boil down to ‘hope for the best’, though he had thought it was much more well thought out then that. 

Clearly he was wrong.

When the Avatars sky Bison moved away from him, the members of the Avatars group, specifically Katara, her brother, the Avatar himself, and the little girl had immediately gotten defensive.

”Hi. Zuko here.” He said awkwardly.

The ducklings had squirmed around inside his pockets, probably sensing his agitation, though thankfully the others didn’t seem to notice. 

It had all gone downhill after that. They had accused him of trying to trick them, especially Katara who seemed the most angered by his actions, which, honestly, was fair enough, after everything he did. 

The Avatar seemed rather conflicted however. Zuko kept on sparing him glances, especially after his sky bison licked Zuko and covered him in drool. He seemed to half want to believe him, but still be considering what his friends were saying. 

It made Zuko think about the time the Avatar had opened up to him, telling him that he wished they could be friends instead of enemies.

The ducklings seemed to be getting more and more stressed as time went on, and their squirming became more frantic. He tried to force himself to stay calm for their sake, but it all went overboard when Katara made another angry remark.

Before Zuko even knew what was going on, Azula poked her head out of Zuko pocket, chirped angrily, before leaping down, and waddling over to Katara, who was just as shellshocked as Zuko felt. 

“Azula!” Zuko cried weakly, but the duckling paid him no mind. She waddled over to her feet, chirped angrily again and bit her ankle. 

Everyone was now just staring at the little thing. At least, everyone that wasn’t the little Earthbending girl who was still staring at the ground. Katara’s brothers jaw was parted, the Avatar looked surprised, and Kataras eyes had widened so much that they were almost completely round.

Azula, apparently not getting the reaction she wanted, ruffled her little feathers and bit her again. This time Katara used her waterbending to pick up the little duckling and keep her in the air. The little duckling screeched in fear and confusion, and Zuko felt a rush of anger overtake him.

”Let her go!” He said, feeling his hands grow hot with fire. 

Katara immediately turned her attention to him, and poised herself for an attack.

”Everyone stop!” The Avatar said, stepping between them hands outstretched.

”He was about to attack us!” Katara yelled at him.

What followed after was utter chaos.

The remaining ducklings, who had heard their sisters cries, immediately jumped out after her, and ran towards Katara and all of them tried to bite her ankles. 

She yelped in surprise, dropping Azula, who fell to the ground on her back and squirmed around a little bit before she managed to get back onto her feet.

They all chirped angrily at Katara who was now looking at them all shocked.

”Are those… Turtleducks?” Her brother said sceptically.

The Avatar looked up at Zuko.

“…why do you have turtleducks in your pocket?” He asked.

Zuko felt his face flush.

”I… I don’t want to leave them alone.” He said quietly, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand, “A predator might get them, or they could get lost. I don’t want them to get lost.”

”Where did they come from?” Katara asked, her voice softening.

”And why did you call one of them Azula, isn’t that your phsyco sisters name?” Kataras brother asked.

”They- I…” Zuko looked down to see Zuzu walking lopsidedly towards him. He stepped forwards and put his hands in front of her, letting her jump on them before lifting her up, “I named her Azula because she reminded me of my sister.”

”You know what, I can see that.” Kataras brother said with a thoughtful nod.

”And as for where they come from… they come from the royal gardens in the Fire Lords palace.” Zuko said. He rubbed Zuzus head with two fingers, and the duckling settled down more and closed her eyes.

Zuko looked up to see the Avatar looking at him with an unreadable expression. His gaze had softened, and he looked almost unsure of himself.

the rest of the ducklings, apparently happy with thier work rescuing Azula, waddled back to Zukos feet and demanded to be picked up too.

”what happened to thier mother?” The Avatar asked.

Everyones gaze turned to Zuko, except for the Earthbending girl.

”I- she’s dead.” Zuko said softly, sadly.

”Yeah, and I suppose you were the one who killed her?” Katara said, scoffing when Zuko flinched at her words, “You fire nation people really are heartless. You do enjoy murdering other peoples mothers don’t you?”

Zuko looked down, where the ducklings were still pleading with him, except for Iroh who had fallen asleep on his shoe.

”She was in pain.” He said quietly, “She got burnt badly, and she… wasn’t going to make it anyway.”

Zuko bent down and let the ducklings clamber onto his hand, having to nudge Iroh for him to hop on. He let the ducklings clamber back into his Gi, and back into their respective pockets, as the Avatar and his friends all stared at him in disbelief.

”That-“ Katara paused, before her expression hardened, “That is no excuse. You are evil. It doesn’t matter that you saved those ducklings, right?”

She turned back to her brother and friends.

Her brother looked between his sister and Zuko, concern written on his face.

”I don’t-“

“Sokka! Don’t you remember what he did to us? What his people did to our mother? Our tribe!” Katara turned back to him, “He cannot be trusted. I made the mistake of trusting him once already. I will not make it again.”

Zuko winced. This was most definitely not going well.

”Alright, fine then.” He said, “If you won’t take me as your ally, at least… you can take me as your prisoner.”

He lowered himself down on one knee and raised his arms, fists together, head down. He would do anything to undo all the damage he had caused, even if that meant becoming the Avatars prisoner. Especially if that meant that he could make it up to them all, especially…

Especially his Uncle Iroh.

But of course, the universe has an evil sense of humour. Katara used her after ending to throw him down onto his back, telling him that they would never accept him, even as a prisoner. She told him to leave, and never come back, and a few other things Zuko didn’t want to think about.

And he did leave, defeated, because everything she said was true. Why did he deserve another chance, when he had so many chances in the past?

Why was he so bad at being good?

Chapter Text

”What the heck was that?!” Tops demanded after Zuko had disappeared back from where he came from. She felt everyone turn to stare at her, but she paid it no mind.

”What?” Katara said rather angrily.

”We were just talking about how we don’t have a firebending teacher for Aang!” Toph said, “And then he comes along and basically begs us to take him to be Aang’s firebending teacher, and you tell him to leave!”

”He can’t be trusted!” Katara says, and there’s a tremor in her voice that almost makes Toph pause. Almost. 

Toph may not have been good at knowing what other people were thinking, or understanding their emotions, but if Toph had to guess, there was something almost sad about how she said it. 

It felt like betrayal.

”Well, where else are we going to do?” Toph snapped back, “Who else can teach Aang firebending?”

“Why don’t you get that we can’t trust him!” Katara said.

”Hey, wait!” Sokka said, coming up behind his sister and placing a hand on her shoulder, “Look, Toph, I get that you haven’t been with us the entire time, and you don’t know Zuko as well as we do. He chased us through the entire world, from the South Pole to here. I highly doubt he’s going to have changed in that time. He really, really wanted to capture Aang.”

”So what? People can change!”

”Oh, he was given plenty of chances to change.” Katara snapped, crossing her arms.

”Did you think he would adopt some Turtleducks if he was still evil?” Toph asked.

Katara hesitated for a second, before she could form the words.

”Well, maybe he had nefarious purposes for doing that, or something! I don’t know! He’s evil. Evil people sometimes do good things for bad reasons, like good people have to do bad things for good reasons.

”Fine. I see there’s no reason in with you. What do you think Twinkle Toes? You’ve been awfully quiet.”

Aang hadn’t spoken a word since Zuko disappear. Toph could feel Momo perched on his shoulder, the little lemur cooing at his master to try and comfort him.

”I… I don’t know.” He said, “I once hoped that… hoped that he could be our friend… but after everything he’s done…I don’t think I can trust him.”

Toph wanted to scream. She wanted to pound her fists into the Earth and cause the entire temple to fall down into the gorge.

”None of you are listening to reason!” She yelled instead, before stomping off in the direction a certain Fire Nation Prince had gone, while her idiot friends yelled after her.

Zuko was pacing, drilling a hole into the earth below. 

His plan had failed, because of course it did, it was stupid to begin with, and now he didn’t have a plan. 

That was also stupid on his part, for not coming up with a plan, in case the other plan failed. Azula, his sister, would have done that. She would have had the foresight to do so.

So here Zuko was. Pacing. Back and forth, and the little ducklings scrambled to keep up, all following along in a neat single file line if that said line had been drawn by a three year old. Zuzu kept on getting hit by Zuko's foot and falling over, no matter how much he tried to avoid her. 

He paced back and forth and back and forth, until he stopped dead in his tracks, making the ducklings bump into the back of his boot, and he yelled into the empty air.

A few birds in the surrounding trees fled at the sound, but after a few seconds of eerie silence, the sound of the forest resumed, as if it hadn’t heard the accumilation of Zuko's frustration.

”Why am I so bad at being good?” He asked them after a while, flopping down on his makeshift bed, “I just… is it because I’m from the Fire Nation? Is it impossible for me to be good?”

He buried his head in his hands. The ducklings stared at him with their beady little eyes.

“After everything I did…” he said slowly, “I deserve it don’t I? Why should I be given a chance to change? I betrayed Uncle… and everyone else. Mum’s gone because of me, and I… why should I have thought anything else?”

Zuko could feel tears pricking at the edges of his vision. And then, he felt one of the ducklings trying to scramble up onto his leg. He looked down to see Lu Ten, trying to clamber into his lap. Zuko used a hand to help hoist him up, and then the rest of the ducklings wanted to sit with him. 

Iroh tried his hardest to scramble up, and, being the biggest, was just about able to get up onto him. Still, Zuko had to help Zuzu and Azula up, and soon he had a fluffy pile of ducklings on his lap. They were all giving him a look, that was almost a way of saying that he shouldn’t be so hard on himself and also it was time for a nap. 

Zuko almost chuckled at them, and reciprocated by stroking their shells for a bit. All the small knobs and bumps and ridges on their shells seemed to calm Zuko down a lot, and after a while he didn’t feel like crying anymore.

There was something about their presence, their unyielding gaze that seemed to easily calm him down. 

He didn’t know how long he had been before he finally got up, but the sun was already setting and he realized that he hadn’t eaten all day, and had forgotten to give the ducklings their dinner. He gave them what was left of the bread, though at Lu Ten's insistence he did eat some of the crusts. 

Zuko's next task was to start the fire, and though it was simple he did take his time to start the fire to make sure there wasn’t much smoke.

He sat down in front of it, slowly turning a stick around as he watched the flames rise. The ducklings, having finished their meal, decided that they were going to once again pile onto Zuko's lap, and fall asleep.

At this point the moon was shining brightly overhead, and the few clouds that lazily reached over in front of it couldn’t stop its pale glow. The sounds of the forest had transitioned from the songs of birds and squirrels, to the low hum of bugs and crickets. A few fireflies were dotted around the almost barren forest, but Zuko only had eyes for the fire. 

It cackled and popped as it chewed at the wood that was slowly turning into embers below. 

Ever since Zuko got his scar, he had been a little more uneasy around fire. He wouldn’t say he was scared of it exactly, but he was now more cautious with his flames, more careful with how he used it, and who he used it on.

He still remembered the smell of burning flesh, the heat, the pain. 

The smell tended to make him nauseous now. He didn’t want anyone to feel the same pain he did. 

but also, he couldn’t just have fire forsaken entirely. He was, and always would be a firebender. It was his to control. He could twist it, bend it to his will. 

It was a part of him, as much as he was a part of it.

From this distance, however, the fire was pleasantly warm. It chased away the chill that had begun to seep into his skin.

It moved with each breath, growing bigger as he breathed out and smaller when he breathed in.

It was alright. He was in control. The Fire wasn’t going to hurt him.

In and out. In and out. In and-

A branch snapped in the dark pool in front of him. The fire flared, and the ducklings woke up with a start. They chirped in fear and concern, and Zuko quickly moved his hand over their backs to try to calm them down, as he scanned the dark forest.

He couldn’t see anyone, or anything, in front of him.

The branches of trees reached across the clearing, dancing in the breeze.

”H-hello?” Zuko asked the dark forest.

No one answered. The fire continued to blaze brightly.

The ducklings, now slightly more calmed down, were also staring into the abyss in the trees. 

“Is someone there?” He asked again, but all that came in reply was the breeze.

Then, another snap.

Zuko's head turned in the direction of the noise, as fast as lightning, but still he couldn’t see anything.

“I-I’m warning you,” Zuko said, feeling the heat rising in his hand as he prepared himself for an attack.

Another snap. This time closer, much, much closer. 

Zukos hand flared up in fire.

”Who’s there!?” He demanded, readying himself.

But before he could do anything, Azula jumped out from Zukos lap and rushed forwards, passed the fire and into the forest before Zuko knew what she was doing.

”Azula!” He yelled after her, but she payed him no mind. 

He had to go after her. She could get hurt. Some creature could-

”Ow!” Came a yell from the darkness, “Hey! What’s your problem?”

there was some indignant squawking and some rustling, and then, quiet.

Zuko blinked. The voice was vaguely familiar, but Zuko couldn’t for the life of him remember who’s it belonged to.

That was until the owner came out of the darkness into the light of the fire, a little Turtleducks in her hands.

Zuko found himself face to face with the little Earthbending girl.

Chapter Text

Zuko stared at her, not knowing what else to do. 

“You’re duckling attacked me.” She said after a heartbeat.

”…Sorry?” Zuko tried, “She um, she doesn’t like strangers.”

the girl regarded the duckling in her hand.

”Something we have in common then.” She said, sidestepping the fire and handing Azula back to Zuko. 

And that’s when he realized that she was blind. A thin grey film covered her eyes, turning them glassy and unseeing.

Zuko reached out to take Azula off her, and she quickly joined the other ducklings that were still sitting on his lap.

The Earthbending girl then sat down next to Zuko, crosslegged. She wasn’t wearing shoes, Zuko noticed, but he figured that was more of an Earthbending thing.

”So, you’re the guy who chased my friends all over the world, and tried to capture Twinkletoes.”

”T-twinkletoes?”

”Its my nickname for Aang.”

It took Zuko longer than he would like to admit to realize that she was talking about the Avatar.

”O-Oh. Right. That- yeah that was me. I’m not going to do that again, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

”Good, because if you were, I think Katara would destroy you. And if she didn’t, I definitely would.”

It sounded like she was threatening him, but somehow Zuko wasn’t that concerned. Though, then again, he didn’t know how strong she was. She could probably snap him in half without blinking, if she was friends with the Avatar.

”But, why did you do it?” She asked him, cocking her head to one side, “I mean, other than the fact that you are from the fire nation.”

Zuko let out a shaky breath. He hated admitting these things.

”I… it was the only way to get my Honor back.” He said.

”Your Honor?” The girl prompted.

”Yeah. I disrespected my father. I needed to get my honor back to go back home.”

”Ok… so how exactly did you lose your honor?” 

Zuko mumbled the answer under his breath.

”What was that?” The girl asked, “I didn’t hear you.”

”I refused to fight my father in an Agni Kai.”

There was a beat of silence, filled with the sounds of the forest.

“What!?” The girl yelled, startling the ducklings who tried to hide under the folds of Zukos Gi, “You lost your honor because you- you didn’t fight your own father? Dude, that is so messed up!”

”I disrespected him.” Zuko argued, “I spoke out against him in a war meeting, in front of all the Generals.”

The girl looked like she wanted to say something, but she snapped her mouth shut and turned her head so her unseeing eyes were staring directly at him. That unsettled him more than her threat from earlier.

”You… who is your father, exactly?”

”…Firelord Ozai.”

”…They didn’t tell me that.” She said quietly.

Zuko blinked at her.

”Tell you what?”

”That Ozai was your…” she trails off, looking like she’s listening out for something.

”Oh, right. Yeah, I didn’t… I didn’t really tell anyone. I think fa… Ozai told the world that I was dead or something.”

Even Azula hadn't called him Prince Zuko in those three years of banishment.

”So, let me get this straight,” the girl started, “You said something you weren’t supposed to say, your Dad challenged you to a fight - Agni Kai? - and then you refused to fight him, so he told you to go find the Avatar to regain your honor?”

”Y-yeah, that’s… that’s what happened.” Zuko said, hating how pathetic he felt admitting it.

The girl frowned.

”There’s something else, isn’t there?”

Zuko sighed.

”He banished me. I couldn’t go back home for three years.”

”Wait, three years?” Her eyes widened, “How old are you?”

”Sixteen? Why?”

”Thats… he tried fighting a thirteen year old?!”

Zuko flinched at her angry tone. He made her angry. Way to go Zuko.

”He’s a complete a-hole!” The girl continued, her tone getting stronger, as the earth rumbled around them, “When I get my hands on him!”

Zuko shrunk into himself, gently petting the ducklings to calm them down, though it was more for his own benefit. 

After going on a bit of a rampage with some very… colourful language, the Earthbending girl finally calmed down. She turned to Zuko and winced.

”I’m sorry. I just… got really angry there. I didn’t mean to scare you.” She said, “I mean, I have my own problems with my parents, and hearing what happened to you… I guess my parents aren’t so bad then huh?”

She pulled her legs to her chest and rested her head on her knees.

”Your dad really sucks.” She said.

”I…” Zuko tried to say otherwise, but he had no argument against it. He looked down, feeling defeated, and continued to pet the ducklings.

The fire cackled. In the distance, an owl hooted.

”So, was that why you tried to kidnap Aang then.” She said after a while, “So you could go home. You didn’t really have a choice.”

”I always had a choice.” Zuko said quietly, “I could have taken my Uncle's advice and gone off with him to have a peaceful life. I could have left all of this behind. We did that once, in Ba Sing Se. I didn’t realize how happy I was when I was there. And then I had to go ruin it, like I always do. And now Uncle probably hates me.”

He let out a sound that was almost like a broken whine and a sob. Zuko then felt some small arms wrap around his shoulders.

”I don’t think your Uncle hates you.” She said quietly, “I met him once, you know. He gave me tea. All he could talk about was you, and how wonderful you were. It was kind of tiring really. He does love you. Just because you made a couple of mistakes doesn’t mean that he suddenly hates you, Sparky.”

”S-sparky?”

”It's my nickname for you. Don't question it.”

Zuko hums and wipes the tears from his eyes and cheek. The ducklings had calmed down a little bit and were now curious of the newcomer who wasn't attacking him. Zuzu scrambled over to her and looked up lopsidedly at the Earthbending girl.

Somehow, despite not being able to see, she noticed the notion and sat down properly to allow for Zuzu to clamber onto her lap.

”Who’s this?” She asked.

”Her name is Zuzu.” Zuko said.

”Zuzu…” she tasted the word, “Interesting. Is she named after someone you know, like Azula is?”

”Thats what my sister calls me.” He said, “Zuzu. It’s because of the, er, the eye thing.”

”Eye thing?” The girl echoed, “What eye thing?”

Zuko realized his mistake a second later.

Damn it. She hadn’t known about his scar. How could she, she couldn’t see it!

She reacted so badly when she heard that his father had challenged him to an Agni Kai, how was she going to react if she found out that his father had hurt him.

”I, er n-no, nothing. I-its nothing.” Zuko said quickly, cringing inwardly.

”You are really bad at lying, you know.” She said with a raised brow.

“I-I’m not lying.”

”Zuko.” 

“Honestly there’s nothing-“

”Zuko.”

Zuko shut his mouth with an audible snap.

The girl sighed. “Look, I promise I won't get mad. But, could you please tell me what you mean by that?”

Zuko sighed.

”When my dad challenged me to the Agni Kai,” Zuko said, each word forced and feeling like sandpaper on his tongue, “He, he burnt me.”

”Burnt you?” Her voice was tittering on the edge of barely surprised anger.

”Yeah. He burnt me.” Zuko said, the words making him feel nautious, “Over my eye. Zuzu was born with a defect on her eye, like mine. So I named her Zuzu.”

”So let me get this straight.” She said with a dangerously calm tone, “Your father challenged a thirteen year old to an Agni Kai, and when you refused to fight, he burnt you?”

”Y-yeah.” Zuko said quietly, “That’s what happened.”

There was silence between the two. Zuzu had settled herself down on the Earthbending girl's lap and had tucked her legs into her shell and was already half asleep. Lu Ten scrambled onto the girl's lap next to his sister and settled down to sleep as well. Only Iroh and Azula remained on Zukos lap, with Iroh being asleep and Azula still not trusting the new person. The girl in question was stroking Lu Tens shell as she thought.

”Can I touch your scar?” She asked after a few minutes, “I know its probably rude of me to ask but I want to get an idea of how it looks, if, if thats ok with you.”

Her voice was calm, but without that dangerous undertone anymore.

”Ok.” He said, “It’s ok, you can touch it.”

”R-really?” She asked, seeming surprised, “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

”It doesn’t hurt anymore.” He said, “I don’t mind.”

”Alright.”

Carefully the pair maneuvered themselves around to make the task easier. Then Zuko helped to guide her hands towards the scar. He couldn’t feel anything from that side of his face: the nerves had fried off when the fire scorched it. But he could still feel the pressure under his skin, on his facial muscles that could still feel.

it was an odd sensation to say the least.

”This is really big.” The girl commented after a few seconds, “It looks like a handprint.”

She then took her hands away slowly and continued to pet the ducklings.

”I’m sorry that happened to you.” She said after a few seconds of silence, “Do… do the others know what happened?”

She wasn’t asking. She already knew the answer.

”No.” he said, “I never told the Av- Aang or the others. Didn’t really come up while I was, well you know, trying to capture him.”

The girl hummed and nodded her head.

They sat in silence for a bit.

“What are you going to do now?” Zuko asked.

”Now?” She said, “Now I’m going to make sure you get some sleep.”

”What? Why?”

”Because you need it Sparky. And don’t give me that look, I can feel you trembling and drooping and generally being tired next to me. It’s exhausting. And thats not up for debate.”

Zuko sighed.

”And tomorrow?”

”Tomorrow, we are going to figure out a way to make the others trust you enough to let you into the Gaang. Aang needs to have a firebending teacher, and I think it has to be you. If you want to be redeemed from what you did to my friends in the past, I think you need to earn it and this is the only way I see it.”

She gently placed the now sleeping ducklings back onto Zuko's lap before getting up, and in one move creating a small tent out of the rocks they were sitting on. Zuko looked around in wonder. He could have never guessed how useful Earthbending could be. It was much warmer and stronger against the elements than the tarp that Zuko had been using.

“Get some rest Sparky.” She said to him, as she plopped herself back down, “We have a big day tomorrow. I’ll keep watch.”

”Are you sure you don’t need rest too?” He asked.

”I’ll live.” She said dismissively, “Besides, I don’t think I’ll be able to fall asleep, I have too many things to think about.”

”Ok, if you’re sure.”

”I’ll be fine Sparky. Just go to sleep.”

”ok.” He said again, maneuvering himself onto his side, and placing the ducklings on his arm next to his neck.

It wasn't long before he managed to fall asleep.

Chapter Text

To say that Toph was angry would be an understatement.

She was absolutely livid. Earth-shatteringly furious, in the most literal sense.

She wasn’t angry at Zuko, she didn’t think she could ever be angry at him, after learning everything he went though.

No. She was furious at the Firelord. And her friends, though she could justify their reaction a little more, as they were just being idiots. Good natured idiots with a slight grudge, sure, but still idiots. 

Now Ozai on the other hand…

Well, she thought her parents were bad, but Ozai really took the flaming cake didn’t he?

She remembered feeling the scar on Zuko's face. A scar that her friends forgot to even mention, except for that one hands off comment calling Zuko ‘Scarface’. Which was a gross underexaggeration, in Toph's opinion, that definitely should have been at lest expanded upon. The amount of times that her friends forgot she was blind was unbeliveable…

It was huge! It covered half his face for crying out loud. Could he even see out of that eye? Or hear out of that ear? How long was he in pain for? How could he even continue to bend fire, if it hurt him so much?

And why did he still want to go back so badly, to the point where he had gone off trying to kidnap her friends? If that were Toph she would have laughed in the face of her banishment, and never looked back.

…Could Zuko not tell that his father hated him? Or at the very least, didn’t love him? How could someone still think they were loved when they were treated like dirt? How messed up was all of this?

Toph sighed to herself as the last of the embers of the fire died out. The breeze flew gracefully through the bushes and blades of grass around her, and her mind wandered back to the sleeping prince beside her. She could feel his heartbeat as he slept, as well as the soft heartbeats of the little ducklings settled at the crook of his neck. They thumped in unison.

Toph had decided ages ago that she wasn’t going to be able to sleep that night. And it wasn’t just that she needed to keep them safe from whatever creatures might be out there, but honestly, it was more because she wanted to let Zuko have some peace of mind and sleep. Even earlier that day, when he had approached them, she could feel him trembling. It was subtle, if you had working eyes of course, but she could still feel it from all the way over there. His heart palpitated, which, in her experience, was a clear sign that someone was beyond exhausted, and so much so that she didn’t realize that he was hiding the ducklings until that one duckling - Azula, Toph thought, though wasn’t that the name of Zuko's sister as well? - ran out and bit Katara in the heel.

And Toph would have laughed her head off at the expense of her friend, if not for the fact that she was wondering why Zuko didn’t seem to have slept in days.

And when she told them off for not even giving him a chance, she was also yelling at them because she was worried that something bad was going to happen to Zuko if they didn’t let him stay for at least the night. 

Could they not see how much Zuko had to lose by coming there? It may have been pure desperation, but why else would he go out of his way just to meet them, defenseless, without any backup, just to try and capture Aang again, or attack them? They had beaten him before, it wouldn’t be too hard.

And besides, he was being genuine. Toph could tell that, even under the tired tremblings of the prince. 

Could her friends not see that? Could Aang, sweet, innocent Aang, who wanted to be friends with everyone, not see he was being genuine?

She wasn’t saying that she agreed with Zuko's methods to get his honor back. She wasn’t saying that she didn’t see the effect it had on her friends, and everything they did. There was a toll there, a huge, ugly toll that brought her friends down because of the Firenations Prince.

But could she really blame Zuko for it, after everything she had just found out?

She knew what it was like. She knew how wanting a parents approval could feel, could break down your soul piece by piece, the longer you took to try. 

That’s why she had gone to the underground fighting rings. To prove that she could be a good Earthbender, to be the best Earthbender around, despite her being blind.

She had trained until her knuckles bled, trained until she could feel ants scuttling across the ground. She had learned to see with her hands and feet, and learned to fight in complete darkness. 

And in the end she was the best. 

But her parents never noticed.

And she gave up trying to win their approval.

She didn’t know when it had changed. When she realized that she should just be doing this training for herself, instead of for her parents.

She still loved them, but they were the blind ones. Even more so than her.

Toph sighed again and adjusted herself so that she could wrap her arms around her legs that were pushed into her chest.

After hearing Zuko's story, she realised how much she missed her parents. They weren’t perfect by any means, but they were much better than that jerkbending Firelord. A Firelord who permanently scarred his son, and banished him for speaking out. A Firelord who was willing to fight a thirteen year old boy.

Toph felt the earth around her rumble angrily. She needed to calm down. She remembered when she lost control, how scared Zuko had been. And now she knows why.

She forced herself to take some breaths and close her eyes. It didn’t make any difference to her of course, but the feeling of something over her eyes still helped. 

The rumbling stopped, but not before she heard a small squeak coming from where Zuko was sleeping. 

Toph sat up and turned, where she felt a small figure lopsidedly walking over towards her.

Zuzu, her mind supplied as she held out a hand to let the duckling clamber on. She tired to move her pupils so that it gave the illusion that she was looking at her face, to maybe calm the little thing down.

”Sorry if I woke you.” She said softly, running her fingers along the ducklings plated shell. The duckling leaned into her touch so much that she almost fell over, earning a surprised laugh from the Earthbender, “Careful. You might fall off.”

The duckling just tilted her head up to look at her.

Toph sighed.

”I’m glad Zuko decided to adopt you.” She told the duckling, “I think he needs someone to look after. Maybe it would help him look after himself.”

She had learned that from Katara. Her being an almost mother to the group required her to try and keep herself healthy to be able to look after them. Sokka had explained to her, at length, of how Katara was when their mother died. She had collapsed several times trying to take care of everything, before their Gran Gran and father held an intervention. From then on, she helped people more because she could, and had enough energy to do so.

She explained this to the duckling, who just continued to stare at her, before ruffling her feathers and settling down more on Toph's hand.

”Yeah, I suppose I could use the company.” She told her, even though it was a little bit silly.

Though, in Toph's opinion, animals could understand a lot more than most people gave them credit for, like the badgermoles in the tunnels, and Appa and Momo.

So she then asked the duckling:

”How long was Zuko awake for?”

The duckling tilted her head to one side again, looked down at Zuko, looked back up and chirped.

Toph took this as a ‘very, very long time’.

”Yeah I figured.” She sighed, “He really needs to learn how to look after himself, huh?”

The duckling didn't reply this time, only giving Toph a look. Judging from what movements Toph could feel, the duckling seemed to be telling her that she needed some sleep.

Toph giggled despite herself, and allowed the duckling to settle down on her lap, as she leaned against the stone wall she had erected. 

And for the first time in a while, Toph thought about how nice it would be to be able to see the stars.

Zuko woke up past his usual time at dawn. 

His first thought was that he should have probably asked the Earthbending girl to wake him up earlier. 

His second thought was that the ducklings were gone. Don't worry, he told himself, the Earthbending girl could look after them for him.

And then his brain finally caught up with himself, and it finally clicked. 

He got up rather groggily, and looked around him. 

The Earthbending girl was sitting there, rummaging through his stuff, while the ducklings watched with their beady little eyes. Zuko didn't mind it too much, he didn't have anything incriminating in there, just the last crumbs of his stale loaf of bread and a few pieces of clothing he had hurriedly packed.

“Morning.” he told the girl who turned to face him.

“Afternoon actually.”

“Wh-what?” Zuko said, suddenly very, very awake, “Y-you should have woken me up! The ducklings-”

“You needed to sleep, Sparky.” the girl said calmly, “And don't worry about the ducklings, I already fed them… on that note, Zuko, when was the last time you ate?”

Zuko blinked. 

“Two days ago. Why?”

The girls slightly raised arms dropped to the ground. 

“Two days ago?” she said, angrily, “You haven't eaten anything in two days?”

She sounded furious. At him. Oh dear. 

“I… I’m sorry.” he said, “P-please forgive me.”

It was the girls turn to blink at him. She sighed.

“I should be the one apologizing.” she said, in a more gentle tone, “I’m sorry I yelled, I just… you know that that's unhealthy right?”

Past Zuko would have pointed out that his father sometimes took food away as punishment, so Zuko was used to it, so it couldn't be so bad right? But Current Zuko remembered how the girl got angry at hearing what his father did, and she probably wouldn't be too happy to know what else his father had done. 

“I- the ducklings needed food.” he said instead, “I didn't bring anything else, and I don't know what food around here is safe to eat.”

The girl hesitated for a second.

“I guess that makes sense.” she said, “It probably wouldn't have been good if you ate something unknowingly poisonous… but we still do need to get you something to eat. We should go back to the camp.”

“The camp?” Zuko echoed, “Wait, you mean, go back to your friends?”

“Yeah.” she said.

“I-I can’t.” Zuko said, “They told me to leave and never come back. I- they- I don’t want to make them think I’m still evil…”

“You were never evil, Zuko.” the girl said firmly, like it was a fact, “You were just… misunderstood. And besides, I’m the one bringing you into the camp, if they want to throw you out, they are going to have to answer to me… if they catch us that is. And I may be blind, but I can sense where people are. I’ll make sure they don't see you. I promise.”

“I… ok.” Zuko said, “As long as they don’t see me.”

”They won't even know you were there.” The girl reassured, before proceeding to help Zuko pick up all the ducklings and put them in the pockets of his Gi.

The girl grabbed his hand, and before he could protest she was dragging him back towards her friend's camp.

Zuko couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen as it settled in his chest.

Chapter Text

The blind Earthbender lead Zuko through a tunnel she had created minutes before. It had become completely dark for a while, the light at the end of the tunnel having been snuffed out by the length. 

She had insisted on creating a tunnel for them to go through, instead of abseiling down like Zuko had before on account that it was more dangerous for her, and this way was much easier. 

After hearing this logic, Zuko agreed that this was probably the best option, though he really didn't like walking around in the dark. The girl had a firm hand on him as they walked through the tunnel, so he wouldn’t hit something or fall over, but the dark was still extremely suffocating nothingness.

He could have easily summoned a light source in his hand, but he really didn't want to. It could be taken as a sign of aggression against the girl and her friends, and after the trust she had put in him after everything he had done to her friends, he didn't want to do anything that could be seen as aggressive.

So, fire was an absolute no.

That lead to him concentrating on the ducklings in his pockets, their little squirming bodies giving him some semblance of comfort in the darkness.

Zuko didn't know how long he had been walking for before the girl suddenly stopped. Zuko barely managed to stop himself from crashing into her from behind. 

“We’re here.” She told him, and that was all the warning Zuko got before the girl used her bending to create another opening. 

Zuko's eyes screwed themselves shut at the sudden light, and he stumbled back a little.

”You ok Sparky?” The girl asked.

”I-I’m fine.” Zuko said. 

“Come on then, we need to go.” She said, grabbing his wrist and dragging him along before he could do anything. They walked through the deserted temples that hung upside down over the ravine. Despite being blind, the girl leading Zuko around seemed to be able to navigate her way through them with ease. For a while they didn’t come across anyone. They were probably still sleeping or were hidden away or something. 

Zuko tensed up a little at the thought. What if this was all a trap? What if the girl was leading him into an ambush? 

Maybe her friends had changed their minds about taking him in as a prisoner. Maybe they needed him, but didn't trust him. Not that Zuko was complaining, or could even complain. Their mistrust in him after all, was his own fault. He had chased them down all over the world trying to capture them.

Zuko knew that he wouldn’t fight them if they were going to capture him. He deserved it. He hadn’t done anything to help his Uncle when they captured him in Ba Sing Se. It would be the least he deserved, captured without any hope of escape. 

The only thing that Zuko would lose at this point was his honor, and that ship had sailed more than three years ago.

The girl lead him to a smaller building overlooking a big courtyard. In the centre of the courtyard was a ring of stones where a fire would normally be. Around it were some blankets: places to sit, Zuko thought. There was also a huge pot in the middle, still smoking with whatever was inside. It looked almost… homey. 

“You stay here.” The girl said, pushing him into a room, somehow not pushing against the ducklings, “And I will get us some food.”

”I…” Zuko wanted to argue, but he couldn’t find anything to say, “alright.”

The girl smiled at him, and sauntered over to the fireplace, grabbing two bowls from beside it, and pouring something that looked like soup inside. 

And then she froze, the second bowl up in the air with the spoon she was using halfway out the pot.

Zuko played with the straps of his bag nervously. What was happening? What could she sense?

the answer came seconds later, and made Zuko's blood freeze like when he was in the North Pole.

”Hey Toph,” the Avatar said, appearing from a corner by the building where Zuko was hiding, his flying lemur on his shoulder, “Where were you last night? Katara was worried.”

The girl, Toph apparently (Zuko felt guilty for not knowing her name earlier), turned to face him.

“I needed some time to cool off.” She lied, “I spent the night practicing my Earth bending.”

”…Is that why you look like you haven’t slept all night?”

Zuko winced. It was his own fault that Toph hadn’t been able to sleep last night. She was up making sure that he was safe. 

It should have been his job.

Toph shrugged.

”I suppose.” She said, pouring the soup into the other bowl and picking both of them up, “Welp, I’m starving. I think I’m going to avoid Katara for a bit longer, I’m still annoyed at her. You can tell her I’m fine if you want.”

She turned to leave.

“Wait Toph, why do you have two bowls?”

Toph froze in place.

”I… I told you I was starving, didn’t I?” She said, before stomping off towards Zuko.

The Avatar watched Toph leave, looked at his Lemur, shrugged, and walked off into another direction. 

Zuko let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, and sank down to the ground. He felt the ducklings shifting around in his pockets

Toph then walked into the room Zuko was hiding in, plopped herself down next to him, and all but shoved a bowl into his hands.

”Eat up.” She said, “All of it. You need it, Prince Sparky.” 

Zuko was just about to ask how he was supposed to eat without a spoon, when he saw Toph bring the bowl to her mouth and tipped the contents inside. He frowned, but followed suit, letting the spiced soup run down his throat. He let out a moan. He didn’t know if it was the fact that he was starving, or the fact that he had only ever eaten Fire Nation food, but this was delicious. Probably the best thing he had eaten in years. 

He forced himself to try and consume it slowly, but he was too pent up, too starving to do anything about it. He finished the bowl in less than five minutes. 

“Hungry are you?” Toph said with a stupid grin on her face.

Zuko just nodded, hoping that she could sense it, because he didn't think that any noise could come out of his mouth.

”Are you still hungry?” Toph asked.

Zuko shook his head, but his stomach rumbled again. Toph, slightly amused, smirked at him knowingly. She thrust her own bowl into Zuko's hands. It was still mostly full.

”I- I can’t-“ he said, “This is your food. I’ll be ok…”

”Don’t worry about it Sparky,” Toph said, patting him on the leg, “I can just go get some more. Wait here.”

She got up, taking Zuko's empty bowl and walking back over to the fireplace. Zuko drank the soup and peered past his hiding place. Toph was already pouring the soup into the bowl, but another voice suddenly called out for her.

”Toph!”

Both Toph and Zuko froze in place. The owner of the voice stormed over to the Earthbender, and Zuko felt himself shrink some more. The ducklings squirmed at his discomfort.

”Hey, Sugar Queen.” Toph said.

”Don’t hey me Toph. I was worried sick!” Katara clamped her hands onto Tophs shoulders, “Where have you been!”

”Minding my own buisness!” Toph said, slapping Kataras hand away, “Leave me alone! I’m fine.”

”Where did you go?” Katara demanded.

”Just went for a walk.” 

“For the entire night?”

”It was a long walk. I camped out.”

”Doesn’t look like you slept.”

”Camping does not always mean I slept. I needed to think.”

”Well, you should have come back! Or at least told someone where you were going! With that, that terrorist hanging around here, its too dangerous Toph!”

Zuko turned around, curling into himself more, and leaning against the wall he hid behind. Is that what Katara saw him as? A terrorist? 

He supposed that he shouldn’t be surprised. After everything that happened.

”You mean Zuko?” Toph said, her voice sharp and dangerously low.

”Yeah, I mean Zuko.” Katara said, “The Fire Nation Prince. The Traitor. The Monster.”

Every word cut deep. Zuko grabbed the straps of his bag and fiddled, slowly rocking back and forth like he did when he was stressed out.

”He’s not a monster!” Toph yelled at Katara. Zuko froze in place, his heart pounding.

”…What did you just say?” Katara said.

”Y-you don’t- he’s not a monster! Or a terrorist, or a traitor! He’s just… he’s just confused. You would be too if you had a f-father l-like the… the Firelord.”

Zuko had never heard Toph sound so unsure of herself. He hated it. He hated that she sounded like that. She was the toughest person Zuko had ever met, she shouldn’t sound like that.

”You went after him.” Katara said, and it wasn’t a question.

”So what if I did!” Toph yelled, “I wanted to see for myself who he is! And trust me, he’s just confused!”

”Aang said that you took two bowls of food…” Katara said slowly.

Zukos heart pounded so loud he was terrified that Katara could hear him.

”Toph, where is he?”

Chapter Text

Toph raised a brow.

”I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She said her voice steady.

Katara didn't feel convinced. There was an air of suspicion around her, not that Toph could see it, but she was pretty sure her face was twisted into something annoyed and angry. 

The bottom line was: Toph had messed up.

Big time.

All because of her big mouth.

Toph's focus went back to the hiding prince. His heart was beating quickly and strongly. He was scared. Terrified even. And Toph had a pretty good idea as to why. 

She didn't know much about what happened in the catacombs of Ba Sing Se, but she knew that Zuko had hurt Katara deeply with a betrayal. And if Toph knew Katara as well as she did, she knew that Katara was one to hold a grudge. And she could be scary sometimes, at least, to Sokka, and the people who hurt her, like Zuko. 

This was not good. She should have made sure that not even Aang saw her.

And she would have done too, if she hadn’t been so tired, but of course, there had been nothing she could have done about that. 

“Toph,” Katara said, in her ‘I’m your mother, so listen to me’ voice that Toph hated so much, “I know he’s here. You brought him here didn't you? He probably tricked you, which is exactly why I told you not to go after him!”

“He didn't trick me!” Toph snapped, “He only told me-”

“A sob story about his mother being dead? Yeah I know about that.” Interrupted Katara, venom dripping from her voice like water.

The statement gave Toph pause. Not because that's what Zuko had told her, but the opposite in fact. Zuko hadn't mentioned his mother. He’d only mentioned his father when Toph pried it out of him. 

Which begged the question, what happened to her?

“I knew it.” Katara said, clearly taking Tophs silence the wrong way, “He did the same with me Toph, but he’s-”

“He didn't tell me about his mother.” Toph said, anger raising her voice, “He told me that his father was the one who gave him his scar, after he refused to fight him! And what makes you so sure that he’s lying?” You didn’t even tell me he had a scar!”

”It wasn’t important.” Katara said.

”It covers half his face, and, also,” Toph waved a hand in front of her unseeing eyes. 

Katara made a noise of frustration.

”Fine then,” she said, after she seemed to have been glaring at Toph, before walking…

directly in the direction Zuko was hiding. Toph tensed up.

”H-hey, where are you going! We’re not done talking yet!” She tried, sending a wall of rock to block Katara's path in a panic. Katara stopped walking and turned back towards Toph.

“What’s wrong Toph?” Katara said slyly, “I thought you said he wasn’t here?”

”He isn’t.” Toph lied through gritted teeth, but you don't just get to walk away when we’re still talking.”

”We’re clearly not getting anywhere Toph.” Katara said, “You’re being too stubborn for your own good.”

”And you’re not?” Toph challenged.

Katara bristled, “That’s because I know I’m right.”

Toph narrowed her eyes at Katara, and then she paused. She could feel movement around her, five heartbeats all in sync. 

She forced herself to remain scowling, though all she wanted to do was to smirk.

She pushed down the wall of stone.

”Thank you Toph, for being so reasonable.” Katara said in a tone of voice that made Toph want to attack. It wasn’t exactly condescending, but it was demeaning all the same.

Toph walked away slowly taking the soup, and hid behind a nearby pillar as she felt Katara's movements. The girl in question walked towards the Prince's hiding place, moving to hold her waterskin, ready for an attack. She snuck towards the room, and jumped out, presumably taking the water out to use in the process. 

Toph felt the exact moment that she found he room completely empty, not even a bowl in sight. 

Toph allowed herself to smirk, before walking off to find the wayward Prince.

Zuko ran through the temple blind.

He didn't like the infrastructure at all. There were too many walls, everything was enclosed, and Zuko couldn’t see more than ten feet in front of him. He didn't know if any of the Avatars friends would be strolling in front of him after he turned a corner. He supposed that it would be wiser to simply stop and wait for Toph to find him, but he was too stressed out to even think. 

All he knew was that he needed to get away. 

And that this had been a terrible idea to begin with.

He stopped to lean against a pillar, trying to control his breathing so he could at least listen for anyone coming, but his ragged breaths refused to calm down. He could feel Lu Ten squirming around in his pocket, before emerging from Zukos Gi and chirping at him.

Zuko felt a little better.

”I’m ok.” He assured the duckling, who gave him a look that somehow managed to convey the little creature's skepticism on his claim.

”I’m fine.” Zuko reiterated, and then almost jumped five feet in the air when Toph appeared right beside him from under the Earth.

”Shhhh!” She scolded him, slapping a hand onto Zuko's mouth. To do this, she created a small stool of rock to stand on and reach, do you want everyone to know here we are?”

Zuko shook his head.

”Thought so.” Toph removed her hand and jumped back down to ground level, “Come on.” She grabbed his hand, and dragged him along. They walked for a while before Toph took him into a small room a little closer to where the stew had been. Once inside, Toph sealed the door and closed off a large portion of the windows, so that they were standing in semi-darkness.

Toph turned to Zuko.

”Well?” She said, expectantly.

”Well what?” Zuko asked, a little lost.

”Don’t you need light?” She said.

It took Zuko a second to realize what she was asking him to do.

”I… are you sure?”

”Yeah, you can firebend.” Toph said, “You need more food, and its probably a good idea for you to see anyway.”

Zuko hesitated. He didn’t want to appear threatening because of his bending, but… if he wanted to gain their trust, shouldn’t he comply with Toph’s request to firebend?

besides, it was just for light, it didn’t have to be very big.

Zuko concentrated on making a small flame. It appeared over a small stone desk and flickered slightly, illuminating the room in a pulsating glow.

Toph handed him the bowl of soup, which Zuko took after a pause, and drank about half of it before his stomach protested to being too full. When he was done, he set the bowl aside and let the turtleducks stretch their legs inside the room. They waddled around, chirping and ruffling their feathers, while Iroh went straight for the bowl of soup and face planted inside. Soon the bowls' contents started to disappear.

”You feeling better Sparky?” Toph asked. 

Zuko sighed, and looked down at his hands that were laid flat on his lap.

”I guess.” He said, “But it was too close.”

”I’m sorry.” Zukos head snapped up in surprise.

”F-for what?”

”I basically told Katara that you were there.” Toph said, “If I had just been more careful, and kept my mouth shut, she wouldn’t have almost found you out.”

Zuko blinked. What a preposterous thought.

”It wasn’t your fault.” He said quietly.

The room settled into silence, other than the squeaks and chirps of Azula and Lu Ten in their usual argument. 

“Katara mentioned your mother.” Toph said quietly.

Zuko tensed up.

”You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but… what happened to her?”

”I… she- I don’t actually know.” He said, staring at the flames that illuminated the room, “She came to me in the night, and told me that she loved me, and everything she did was to protect me, and I… I never saw her again. She disappeared completely. I just wish… I wish I knew what happened to her.”

”She sounds great.” Toph said, “And she sounds like she really did care about you. But… you don’t know what actually happened to her?”

”I… no. The day after she was gone, and Dad was the Firelord. I never heard from her again.”

Toph looked as though she wanted to say something, but she was quickly interrupted by a thunderous boom from outside.

Chapter Text

Zuko and Toph both tensed up at the sound of a distant explosion. Zuko turned to stare towards where the noise was coming from. The ducklings, who had been startled, chirped and ran towards Zuko.

”What was that?” Zuko asked hesitantly.

”It… it sounded like Combustion Man.” Toph replied, standing up.

”Who?” Zuko asked.

”You need to get the ducklings and get as far away from here as possible.” Toph said instead of answering. 

“Wha-“

”You don't want them to get hurt do you?” Toph said. She knew it was probably a low blow, but she knew if she used the real reason he would probably argue. 

She wanted to get Zuko out of there, because if this really was the person who she thought it was, she didn't want Zuko anywhere near him.

“Wait,” Zuko said, “If this is the, well… assassin I sent after you guys, maybe I can… I don't know, talk him down?”

Toph was about to think about this point, when there was another explosion.

“Sparky, I honestly don't think that's such a good idea.”

There was another explosion.
“But, this is my fault.” Zuko said, “I need to stop them.”

“Zuko I-”

“Please.”

Toph froze. He sounded so… so desperate.

”I need to prove myself to them.” He said, reiterating his point.

There was another explosion, and Toph groaned internally.

”Fine, but you need to stay with me at all times.” She said sternly, already wincing at the prospect of the lecture she was going to get from Katara later, “And don’t do anything stupid, got it?”

”I won’t.” Zuko said, and Toph found it hard to believe. She Earthbended the door back, and grabbed Zuko's arm before heading towards the sounds of explosions that were getting closer and closer.

Soon, Toph felt her friend's footsteps rushing towards them. Katara was trying to waterbend something, when Sokka grabbed her arm and tried to drag her away. She couldn’t feel Aang so he was probably flying somewhere (or she was too tired to sense him), but Appa was cowering nearby, so she made a beeline towards him, knowing her friends wouldn’t be far behind. 

She could sense the sky bison's rapidly beating heart, as she got close to him, but, surprisingly, as they turned a corner to where the huge gentle giant was cowering, the beating heart calmed down. Appa moaned as the pair came closer. Toph reached out to stroke the sky beast in an attempt to calm him down.

”It’s ok Sheddy. You’re going to be alright.” She told him.

Toph felt Zuko right beside her, reaching out to also pet Appa. The bison groaned again and licked Zuko's face like he had done before.

”He really does like you.” Toph said,as another explosion quaked the ground beneath their feet. Because of this explosion, Toph didn’t sense her other friends until they were right there with them. She heard Katara’s shock and anger first, and the telltale sounds of her preparing a waterbending attack.

”I knew you were hiding him!” She said, hatred dripping from her voice. Beside her, Zuko walked backwards, hands up in a surrendering gesture. Toph stepped between the two.

”Don’t touch him!” She yelled, “He’s here to help!”

”Help?” Katara said incredulously, "Don't make me laugh. You’re the one who sent him after us!”

”And that’s exactly why he can help!”

”Guys!” Sokka said, “Now is not the time! I don’t know if you noticed, but we are being attacked!”

As if to emphasise the point, there was another explosion, this one much too close.

”Sokkas right.” Aang said, suddenly materialising nearby, “Now is not the time! And, as much as I hate to say it, we’re going to need all the help we can get.”

“Fine.” Katara said, turning to Zuko, “But if you do anything-“

”Yeah, he knows Sugar Queen.” Toph snapped angrily, “But now we’ve got to think!”

The group pressed themselves against the wall, Katara moving to the end, in an attempt to find their aggressor. However, she came back just in time for another explosion to rock the ground again, sending rocks tumbling down that Toph barely managed to shift away from the group.

”I can’t get a good angle on him to attack.” Katara said, “And if I go out-”

”You could get hit.” Sokka said, his voice grave. 

The rumbling stopped. Toph tensed up.

Something was wrong.

Wait… no. Someone was gone.

”Zukos disappeared.” Toph told the group.

”What?” Sokka asked, and at the same time Aang said “What do you mean, he’s gone?”

”I knew it.” Katara said in such a way that made Toph want to Earth bend at her.

”He’s just gone, ok! He must have left when the explosion hit!”

”Do you know where he is?” Aang asked, his voice sounding more concerned.

”chirp!”

Everyone collectively turned to stare (or in Tophs case, feel) where the noise came from.

The ducklings were sitting on Appa's giant paw. The huge beast didn’t seem to mind at all, and Toph could imagine that the others would find the sight ‘super cute’. They were all nestled in his shaggy fur.

”Zuko wouldn’t leave his turtleducks behind, right?” Sokka said.

”He’s not left us.” Toph said, eyes widening in realisation, “He’s going to do something stupid!”

Zuko was, indeed, doing something stupid. 

Frighteningly stupid. 

He’d waited until there was another explosion before he made his move; Toph had proved that she would be able to feel him going with her Earthbending, and he could only hope that the shaking of the explosion was enough to give him a little bit of time to escape.

And so far, it seemed to have worked. He had left the ducklings with the Avatars sky bison, somehow knowing that the huge creature would be able to keep the ducklings safe. 

And then he ran. 

He ran across the temple grounds, trying not to get spotted by the assassin the Avatar and his friends had apparently dubbed ‘Combustion Man’ for whatever reason (he knew the reason, and deep down he knew it was funny, but he couldn’t think about that right now, he needed to stop him). This proved to be easy as the man was only there for the Avatar.

He needed to get to him before he brought the whole place down.

Zuko finally managed to get to the cliff edge and started to climb up its sheer side as quickly as he dared.

The world shook around him. He continued to climb unsteadily up the cliff. When he finally reached the top he rushed over to the assassin. 

“Stop!” He yelled at him. The man heed him no mind and prepared another explosion.

”I Said STOP!” Zuko yelled getting in the mans line of sight and spreading his arms out, “The mission is off! I order you to stop!”

The man pushed him out of the way, and caused another explosion. Zuko fell to the ground on his back, making his head spin, but he forced himself to stand back up.

”I won’t pay you if you don’t stop!” He yelled at him. The man, again ignored him in favor of another explosion, “Ok, fine, I’ll pay you double if you stop!”

The man payed him no mind, which really confused Zuko.

He was the best in the business, which was why he had found him in the first place. So why was he going against orders, unless…

Zukos eyes widened. Did someone else hire him to kill the Avatar? Someone powerful enough to offer more money than him? But he was the prince though, who would have more money than…

Azula. 

Zuko stepped back.

She knew that the Avatar wasn’t dead. That’s why she pinned him as the one who had ‘killed’ him. She must have somehow found out about his dealings with the assassin, but then payed him more. 

She was the Crown Princess for Agnis sake, and he was just the Prince.

No wonder he wasn’t listening to him anymore. Zuko may have gone back to the Fire Nation after being banished for three years, but that didn’t mean that his father had given him back his title. Azula was now the second most powerful person in the Fire Nation, meaning her word would always trump his.

Zuko paled in realization. He was so startled by this revelation that he almost missed the object hitting ‘Combustion Man’ in the centre of his forehead. 

The Assassin fell down, flat on his back a meter or so away from Zuko. Zuko just stared at him, puzzled. 

Was he… was he dead?

The man rose seconds later. Zuko didn’t think, he launched himself at the man, grabbing him from behind in an attempt to pull him back down to the ground, or at least, to make him miss. 

But the man was built like a Fire Nation tank. He didn’t fall over. He didn’t even stumble.

All he did was grunt.

This startled Zuko. He had never heard the man make any sound before, other than the scraping of his metal limbs and his explosions.

This single moment of surprise was enough for the Assassin to be able to grab the scruff of Zukos Gi and slam him down onto the ground with a sickening crack. Zuko felt his lungs becoming breathless. He wheezed.

The Assassin loomed over him, shadows dancing across his face as he stared down at him. Zuko tensed up, knowing what was going to happen, despite him not being able to see. All thoughts of not being able to get a breath in were quickly dispersed in his mind, and all Zuko could think of was how he was going to die.

He was at peace with it. Maybe this was his purpose. Maybe this was what he needed to do, to redeem himself. To save the Avatar and his friends from certain doom. They had probably figured out a way to stop him by now.

Zukos only regret was that… that he never got to see Iroh again.

He could only hope he would learn of his redemption.

he relaxed himself, and closed his eyes.

But the explosion never came. 

He opened his eyes again after a couple of seconds, and saw that something strange was happening. 

The Assassin stumbled back clutching his head in his hands. 

Zuko realised what was happening, and his eyes widened. He was suddenly overcome with the primal instinct to get away, and he scrambled up, despite his lungs screaming at him, and ran towards the edge of the cliff in a desperate attempt to survive.

The explosion happened seconds later. It’s force hit Zuko in the back just as he leaped from the cliff edge.

the last thing he remembered before blacking out completely was the fact that he was falling.

Chapter Text

”What do you mean he’s going to do something stupid?” Sokka asked, slightly panicked, “What do you think he’s going to do?”

”I don't know!” Toph yelled at him, “But he’s… Spirits, I have no idea! But its going to be stupid… I told him not to do anything stupid…”

She said the last part so quietly that Sokka barely heard it.

”He’s probably going to join forces with him.” Katara snapped, “Figures…”

”He’s not going to do that!” Toph yelled back at her.

”And why wouldn't he?” Katara asked, spitefully, “he’s the one who hired the Assassin. They’re probably in cahoots! And because you led him here, he led him straight to us!”

Sokka winced. He loved his sister, he really did, but honestly sometimes she could be a little too hard headed, and not in the good way. Honestly though, Sokka didn't know what to think of Zuko. He trusted Toph; she had been right so many times before, but that didn't take away everything that Zuko had done to them, and she hadn’t been there. She hadn’t seen what they had seen.

Sokka may not show it much, but he was just as confused as Aang on that front. Maybe they needed a new perspective on Zuko, from someone who hadn’t been there to see everything he’d done, but at the same time, could everything he had done to them ever be redeemed?

Sokka fazed out the arguing for a minute, and quickly realized that the explosions had stopped. He blinked and turned the corner to see what was going on.

Combustion man was still very far away, but he could just about make out another figure running up to him. Sokka was confused, before his brain caught up with what his eyes were seeing, and he realized that it was Zuko. 

For a gut wrenching moment, he thought that his sister might have been right. But then, Zuko stood in front of the man, arms spread out wide, blocking his view of the Gaang hiding in the ruins of the temple.

And then Combustion Man grabbed Zuko by his shoulder and pushed him away, making Zuko stumble and fall onto his back.

Sokka's jaw dropped. What the heck? Didn’t Zuko hire that guy? And wasn’t he the Fire Nation Prince?

He didn't have much time to think about it, because Combustion Man shot another explosion close by and Sokka was forced to hide away again.

”Guys! Zukos trying to help us!” Sokka yelled at the two arguing girls.

”What?” They both said at the same time, whilst Aang turned to stare at him with a wide eyed look.

”He’s helping us!” Sokka yelled again, “He’s trying to stop Combustion Man, but the guys not listening!”

”How do you know he’s trying to help?!” Katara yelled back at him, “He could easily be trying to-“

”CAN YOU JUST LISTEN FOR ONCE!” Sokka yelled at her, finally snapping, “Yes, I know he betrayed you, but can you give the guy the benefit of the doubt just this one time!?”

This at least managed to make his sister snap her mouth shut. She turned away and sulked, which Sokka took as a reluctant ‘Ok, fine’.

Sokka turned the corner to see what was going on, but he had to quickly hide away again because another explosion hit too close to home.

”I don't think we can get a good enough hit.” He said, feeling his boomerang. His eyes widened, “Unless…”

Sokka took out his trusty Boomerang, and hoped to the spirits that he had good aim. He chucked the Boomerang as quickly as he could again, before hiding away.

There was one final explosion, and then…

nothing.

Sokka grinned, and then had to launch himself at the ground just as his boomerang embedded itself into the rock where his head had been before.

”Yes!” Sokka said, leaping up and grabbing his boomerang, “You did it!” 

He stepped out of his hiding place to survey the damage. Combustion man was on the floor, next to what appeared to be a very startled Zuko.

Sokka's grin widened. 

And then Combustion Man stood up.

And Sokka's face fell.

”Aw, Boomerang.” Sokka said, lifting his weapon up with a look of disappointment and pity.

”What’s going on?” Aang asked, stepping out, his eyes widened at the sight of Combustion man standing up. The girls came over too.

”WHats happening?” Toph asked. 

“Combustion man’s still alive.” Aang said, “We need to take cover again before he tries to shoot us!”

”We can’t just go back here!” Toph yelled back, “We’ll be sitting ducks! We need to do something else!”

Sokka's eyes were fixated on the man standing up, but quickly turned over to Zuko, who, in that moment, launched himself at Combustion Man, wrapping his arms around the man's neck and shoulders, in a failed attempt to throw him to the ground. 

But, he was trying to help them. Zuko, after everything that he had done to them, all the threats that Katara, and Aang and even him had made to him, he was still trying to help them. Even though he could have left them to thier fates, or, worse, joined Combustion man on his crusade to try and destroy them.

Toph was right. Zuko was trying to change. He was helping them.

Sokka continued to stare, transfixed, as Combustion Man threw Zuko onto the ground, making him wince. And then the man loomed over the Firenation Prince. And Zuko just… lay there. Sokka's eyes widened even more, and he willed him to move, willed him to do anything else before-

But nothing like that happened. 

Instead, Combustion Man stepped backwards, hands clutching his head. Something was happening, and Zuko seemed to realise this too. He turned away and scrambled for the ledge over the canyon, fumbling, trying anything to escape before-

The explosion was a massive one. It shook the ground beneath the Gaangs feet, and caused a huge chunk of the ancient architecture around the site to fall, fall down, down and down into the canyon in a cloud of dust.

From next to him, Sokka was vaguely aware of Aang cry of horror, Kataras surprised gasp, and Tophs demands to know what was going on, what was happening, and where Zuko was.

Sokkas heart stopped. He couldn't see Zuko anymore. He was lost in the cascade of rubble, dust and smoke that was all descending into the crevice. 

The world seemed to silence completely, except for the distant rumbling that felt suddenly so very far away, and Sokka's heart beating fast in his chest.

And then there was a great below from where the Gaang had been hiding, and Sokka turned just in time to see Appa launching himself at the sky, and rushing towards the disaster. 

“Appa!” Aang yelled, immediately pulling out his glider, jumping off the cliff face and flying after his bison.

”What’s going on?!” Toph demanded again to the remaining pair, sounding more terrified than Sokka had ever heard, “Where’s Zuko?”

”I-I…” Sokka said, trying to form words, say something, anything to Toph.

”He fell.” Katara said quietly, “The explosion… he’s falling.”

”Falling into the chasm?” Toph said in a horrified tone, “is…?”

”Appa and Aang went down after him.” Sokka heard himself say, “They… they’re going to catch him…”

The ‘hopefully’ went unsaid, but the word still persisted, echoing through the quiet between the three of them. 

Momo came and sat down on Sokka's shoulder, making chittering noises and wondering where his master went. And then the Ducklings ran in between Sokka's legs, and came to the edge, chirping and calling for Zuko, somehow knowing that something terrible had happened. They sounded scared, in that sort of way that all animals could sound scared. 

Toph walked up to them and sat down next to the ducklings, picking each one of them up quietly to sit on her lap, so they wouldn’t fall down into the chasm as well. Sokka looked as she gently stroked the ducklings feathers, and ran her fingers over their shells, probably as both a means of trying to comfort them as much as herself. 

Sokka turned to look at his sister, who was stuck in some kind of trance, staring into the void that was trying to swallow up the Fire Nation Prince. 

Both Appa and Aang were so far down that Sokka couldn't make them out anymore, so he turned to try and comfort Katara.

”It’s going to be ok.” He reassured her, pulling her into a hug, “He’s going to be alright. Aang’s the Avatar, remember? Hes going to rescue him.”

”I- but what if…” Katara started, and Sokka squeezed her harder.

”Don’t… think about that.” Sokka said, “Hes going to be alright. Whatever happened to him, you can heal him can’t you?”

”I dont-“ Katara said with a flush of anger that disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, “I don't know if I…”

She trailed off, but Sokka knew what she was trying to say.

”Just, think of him as someone you don’t know.” Sokka said, “Hes not Zuko he’s, um… he’s Lee. Just some injured fire nation citizen that we don't know who was being helpful and got hurt. Lee didnt chase us all the way around the world trying to kidnap our friend, alright? That was Zuko. You’re trying to help Lee. And you can do that, can’t you?”

”Lee?” Katara asked, her voice hoarse, “I can help Lee.”

”See? It’s going to be alright.” Sokka said, hoping against hope that that was true. 

After what felt like forever, they heard something.

They turned to look down at where the noise was coming from, inside the chasm, to find that Appa was climbing back up to the surface.

”Is that…?” Toph asked.

”It’s Appa.” Katara said, leaning over the edge, “Aangs coming back!”

Toph immediately gathered up the ducklings into her arms, making some of them squawk indignantly, and stepped back, just in time for Appa to fly upwards and land where they had been with a huge bellow. Aang was in the saddle basket (A.N I have no idea what this is called, please bear with) with a glum expression on his face. As soon as Appa's feet were on the ground, he stood up, an unconscious Zuko lying limp in his arms. At least… Sokka hoped he was only unconscious. 

Aang leaped down from Appa's back, landing in a pillow of air that quickly dispersed. Katara was at his side in an instant.

”Is he-?” She asked nervously.

”He’s alive.” Aang said quietly, “But… barely. I- he stopped breathing a couple of times and I had to- to use my air bending to…”

Aang trailed off. 

The ducklings in Toph's arms were squirming around and chirping, trying to get over to the Prince. One of them bit Toph's finger but she refused to relent her grip.

”Let’s get him into a room.” Katara said, “I’ll get my supplies. I think… I think this is going to require a lot more than just my waterbending.”

She rushed off towards her room, and Toph, Sokka , Appa and Momo rushed after Aang who was still carrying Zuko.

Aang took him to a disused room and placed him down gently on the bed, and Sokka got his first look at the damage. 

Zukos Gi was torn in many places, and one of the sleeves were completely ripped off and burnt along the flayed edges exposing a huge wound that snaked up his arm, not quite a burn, but not quite a gash either, something that looked a lot worse. He had a gash across his neck, thankfully not too deep, and several abrasions across his chest and side. 

Sokka wanted nothing more than to look away from the damage, but he also didn't want to look away, so he was stuck just staring at the wounds.

Katara came back, starting the next two excruciating hours of hard work, trying to treat all of Zuko's wounds. The others refused to leave the room, and they had to work to try and make Appa leave them alone, and stop sticking his head into the room every so often.

Katara worked as thoroughly as she possibly could, though it was a little bit more difficult than she had probably anticipated. Zuko stopped breathing twice more in that time, and Aang had to come to use his air bending to try and resuscitate him. He also half woke up at some point, and tried to get up, only being stopped when the ducklings managed to wriggle out of Tophs arms in the chaos and jump into Zuko's lap, calming him down enough to let him sleep.

After the two hours, Zuko had been bandaged up, his ribs, that had been broken and fractured in multiple places, were pressed together and healing, while his more external wounds were hidden by the off white fabrics. And the ducklings, the ducklings were sleeping in the crook of Zukos neck.

Katara looked exhausted.

Sokka couldn't blame her. He was exhausted, and he hadn’t done much. He helped her out of the room and back into her bed, where she fell asleep almost instantly. He walked out, ready to call it a night - morning, afternoon whatever - when Aang approached him, cautiously.

”Hey Sokka, can I talk to you for a second?” Aang asked hesitantly.

”Y-yeah, sure, what's up?”

Aang looked away.

”Do you think he’s going to be ok?” He asked.

Sokka frowned.

”Yeah, he’s going to be fine.” Sokka said, “Remember when he captured you at the North Pole? He looked pretty rough up there, and he probably contracted hypothermia, I honestly think Zuko might be immortal at this point…”

”Yeah, immortal…” Aang tasted the word, still seemingly unsure, “Do you think… do you think Toph is right about Zuko? That he’s changed?”

Sokka's frown deepened. That was the big question wasn’t it?

He sighed.

Sokka had never been a very optimistic person. He’d always been rather cynical in fact, always seeing the world for its worst. 

It was something he wasn’t very proud of in reality. But, after everything that had happened to him, with his mother, the past few days… It was rather difficult to be anything but cynical. 

But now, just this once, he allowed himself to be a little more optimistic. 

“Yeah…” Sokka said with a tired smile.

“I think that Toph for once, might be right.”

Chapter Text

To say that Katara was not happy with this development would be a complete understatement.

She was angry in fact, very, very angry. 

But also somehow confused.

She sat down next to an unconscious Zuko, the guy who had tricked her, the guy who had tried to kidnap Aang, had chased them down all over the globe, and tricked Katara.

She hadn’t forgotten that last part, and probably never would. 

But now here she was, from the kindness of her heart, treating the Fire Nations Princes wounds after he had allegedly ‘saved them’. 

This was the part that had confused her the most. After everything he’d done to them, it was difficult to trust that his actions were genuine, and not some new ploy to hurt them, like he had done before. 

Katara had fallen into that trap, she was not going to be fooled twice, and she wouldn't let the others be fooled either. 

But, he’d almost died. 

This was the part that had confused Katara the most.

Zuko had risked his life to save them, and he had almost died in the process. She would have thought that there would be easier ways to trick people without putting yourself in that much danger. And the Assassin…

He tried to kill him.

This could either mean two things,and honestly Katara didn’t know which one was worse.

Either Combustion Man and Zuko had made this elaborate ploy to trick them, but it went horribly wrong, or the man betrayed Zuko.

If it was the first one, it at least validated Katara's suspicions, but that meant that she was treating a traitor who wanted to hurt them. If it was the other…

She was being paranoid and Zuko really was on their side now, and he had almost died. 

Katara sighed and dipped the damp and slightly warm cloth back into a bucket of cold water, wrung it out, and plastered it over Zuko's forehead again. 

He had gotten a nasty fever since having fallen down the chasm, which was to be expected because of all the injuries he had sustained. This meant that they’d had to take the ducklings away from Zuko's neck so that he could cool down a little bit better. They had not been happy about it to say the least, and her hand was still stinging from where one of them - Azula apparently - had bitten her in the hand. 

They did settle down a little, being with Appa, but Sokka had to be standing guard to make sure they couldn't try coming back inside. 

The Gaang had been taking it in turns to look after the unconscious Prince, as none of them wanted to leave him alone, just in case. Aang would come in and meditate next to him, Sokka would try telling jokes ‘just in case he could hear them’ and Toph just sat next to him quietly when she was inside, occasionally reaching out and taking his hand in hers. And even then, the others hung around outside, just out of earshot, just in case. 

Katara couldn't blame them. She didn't want to stray too far away either. Even if the Prince deserved it, though… 

She was becoming more doubtful about that with every passing second.

Suddenly she heard a whimper. Katara paused what she was doing and looked at the Prince with wide eyes. He hadn’t so much as twitched since he’d had his wounds cleaned. 

Katara continued to stare, and felt the side of his neck, checking his temperature.

He was still too warm, even for a firebender.

And then his head lolled towards her hand. Katara froze.

Zuko's eyes opened up and gazed at her with a glassy, unfocused stare.

”…Mama?” He said, his voice raspy and weak, but filled with so much hope.

Katara swallowed. She could let him have this. She could tell him that she was his mother, just for these few fleeting moments. He probably wouldn't remember much.

But that would be a lie. And Katara knew that if she did lie to him, she would just be a hypocrite.

”No.” she said softly, “I’m sorry, I’m not her…”

Zuko blinked slowly at her.

”…who?” He asked, sounding small.

”Katara.” She said.

Zuko stared at her more intently, as if he was trying to figure out who that was.

”…Katara…” he said faintly, tasting her name.

And then:

”’m sorry.”

Katara blinked at him.

”Excuse me?” She said, thinking she had heard him wrong.

“‘M sorry…” Zuko said again, “‘fur takin’ ur necklace.”

Katara blinked again, subconsciously reaching for the choker.

”’M sorry fur tryn’a kidnap… Aang.” He said, his voice barely coming out a bit stronger with each word, “‘M sorry for… tricking’ you… in th’ catacombs…”

”It’s… ok.” Katara said softly, not quite believing her ears. It wasn’t, not really, but at this point Katara didn't know what else to say.

”…Is Uncle here?” Zuko asked.

Katara stared at him quizzically for a second, before realising who he meant. 

General Iroh.

Honestly, Katara didn't know what to think of the Firenation General. He had always been with Zuko every time she had seen him, supporting him through thick and thin, she suspected. But he had helped them. Quite a lot, Katara would say. 

He had stood up to General Zhao in the North Pole, and, while Katara hadn’t been there herself, she had heard from Aang how helpful he had been in finding the catacombs they had been trapped in by the Dai Li in Ba Sing Se. To the point where Aang had halfheartedly suggested that maybe they could look for him to be his firebending teacher, something that hadn’t worked out mostly because they didn't know where to find them after he had saved them from the rest of his family. 

But through it all, Katara knew one thing:

General Iroh was extremely close to Zuko. 

Katara sighed sadly.

”I’m sorry, he’s not here.”

Zuko stared at her for a couple of seconds, as if processing the words, before, to Katara's horror, his eyes started watering. 

“I-I d-d-.” Zuko stuttered, “I- he- I’m so- It’s my f-fault…”

”Hey,” Katara said, genuinely concerned now, “It’s alright.” 

She threaded her fingers through his thick, hot and wet hair before she could stop herself or realise what she was doing.

”I d-didnt w-want t-t-to.” Zuko said, trying to curl into himself but being too weak to do so, “He w-was right, I n-needed t-to… I hated it. I h-hated g-going ba-back, I th-thought that m-m…maybe th-things w-would be… better.”

Katara paused.

”Go back?” She echoed, “What do you mean?”

”I- I… d-d-didnt f-ffff-fight.” Zuko managed to say, “I… he h-hurt… b-banished… h-had t-to reg-regain… honor… b-bring b-b-back… Avatar…”

Katara stared at him like he had just revealed himself to be Momo in disguise. 

She didn't understand much of what he said, but…

Tui and La, this was…

”Who hurt you?”

”…Ozai…”

Katara stared at him in shock.

That was… that was the name of the Firelord, wasn’t it? Zuko's father? Did he…?

Katara suddenly remembered what Toph said, about his father giving him his scar.

Her eyes widened in terror as she looked at the scar on Zuko's face. The scar that had been the face of the enemy for so very long. And Toph had said…

That the scar had come from none other than Zuko's own father, Firelord Ozai.

Katara suddenly felt sick. How could… how could someone’s father do that to their own child?

She let out a shaky breath. It wouldn’t help Zuko if she had an angry breakdown now.

”D-do you think…” Zuko asked quietly, “Uncle c-could ever… forgive me?”

”I know he will.” She told Zuko, “He loves you Zuko…”

Zuko fell asleep a little while after that. He was muttering how sorry he was under his breath while Katara tried to reassure him that it wasn’t his fault. 

After he finally succumbed to sleep Katara watched him for a few seconds, thinking.

To say that Katara was angry would be… right. She was angry. At herself, but most of all at Zuko's father. But she was also still confused. 

She was going to have to ask Toph for her side of the story again when she saw her next.

”No!” Sokka yelled at one of the ducklings as it tried to move out of formation. The duckling in particular - Lu Ten, as Toph helpfully said - gave him a look, “I am teaching you how to survive in the wild! This is very important training for life! Especially if you’re going to be with us for a while.”

Sokka tried to gently push the duckling back into the line he had put them in, only to be nipped by one of the other ducklings. He yelped and quickly snatched his hand back.

”Oh for goodness sake!” Sokka said, glaring at the offending duckling, “Momo was much easier to train than you.”

”You didn’t train Momo though.” Aang said thoughtfully from his seat next to Toph on a large piece of rock left over from the attack.

Sokka turned around and gave him an offended look.

”Of course I did!” He exclaimed, “I taught him how to bring me food!”

“That’s because it was a peace offering.” Aang pointed out, “And thats how you met him. You didnt train him to do that! He just did it himself!”

“That’s not true!” Sokka insisted, then paused and thought about it, “Is it?”

“It is.” Toph confirmed. Her feet were dangling in the air, occasionally touching the side, before she forced herself to take her feet away. Aang could tell that she was trying not to think about Zuko, but failing miserably. Mostly because she had been frowning a whole lot more than usual, and partly because he was trying and failing to do the same thing.

It brought his mood down a lot, because he was extremely worried about the Prince. But also because this entire scene would have been a lot more amusing if he hadn’t been worrying about Zuko.

One of the ducklings - Iroh presumably - had fallen asleep, next to the duckling named Zuzu, who was tilting her head strangely to try and get a better look at Sokka, confusion written over her tiny face. Azula the duckling looked annoyed and so did Lu Ten, if Aang was being honest. 

Sokka continued to frown. Momo, who had been perching on Aang's shoulder for a better part of the day, chittered. Aang looked at him to see the little lemur staring at the house Zuko was lying in with a sad looking expression on his face.

Appa was lying a little off to the side, the bison apparently not wanting to leave Zuko alone, even if he couldn't fit in the small room.

Aang's best friend really seemed to like Zuko. It had been clear for a while, even before he had flown into the chasm to try and save the Prince.

Aang shivered at the memory. Those had to have been the most terrifying moments of his entire life, even more than the storm had been. 

At first, it had been because Aang couldn't see Zuko amongst the falling rubble. And then when he did see Zuko, Aang couldn’t see him moving.

For one terrifying moment, he thought that maybe Zuko hadn’t…

Aang didn't want to think about it.

But Appa had spotted him at that moment, and made a beeline towards him, and Aang turned to beeline towards Appa, landing on the bison's back just on time to catch Zuko as he landed into the saddle basket. 

The next few moments were Aang trying to move away the falling rocks to make sure they weren’t hit as they flew out of the way. 

And then, when they were a safeish distance away from the debris, Aang had realised that Zuko wasn’t breathing.

In the Southern Air Temple, where Aang grew up, they had been taught first aid from a very young age. Aang new how to resuscitate people using his air bending, and, after a panicked second where Aang yelled at Zuko, he remembered his training and started compressions. After a minute or so, blew air into his chest until Zuko sputtered and looked around beadily, before passing out, and Aang almost felt like crying in relief. 

He stopped breathing once more while Appa was trying to bring them back up, and Aang had to make his bison slow down so the pressure wouldn't stop Zukos breathing again.

Aang felt guilty. Maybe if he had spoken his mind when Zuko had come to them in the first place, all of this wouldn't have happened. Even then he had wanted to trust Zuko, he’d wanted him to change for the good side so badly. He was a lot like Kuzon, Aang had found, extremely passionate but, at the same time, this would lead to anger. He got angry a lot at the people around him who went against his opinions, and usually this would lead Kuzon to attack people with his fire bending when they angered him. 

Aang was usually the only one who could calm him down, usually by taking him away from the situation, or taking him on a flight with Appa. 

Appa had really liked Kuzon. Maybe that's why he liked Zuko so much.

“Aang,” Toph said beside him, “You trained Appa didn’t you?”

”Yeah.” Aang said, a wan smile at the memory, “Those days were really fun.”

”I think Sokka might need a bit of help.” Toph said, pointing towards their friend and the ducklings.

Sokka seemed to be having an existential crisis, and the ducklings had taken the opportunity to run towards the room where Zuko was.

Aang leaped up from his seat, and a second later he landed softly in front of the ducklings who all crashed into each other, except for Zuzu, who continued running slightly lopsidedly, until Aang used his staff to block her path.

”You can’t go in there.” Aang told them, “Mamas recovering.”

”Mama?!” Sokka said with a laugh.

”What?” Aang asked, tilting his head a little, “Zuko adopted them, he’s basically their mum.”

”Its just funny thinking of Zuko being a ‘Mama’.” Sokka chuckled, “I mean, mr brody jerkbender is now suddenly a mother to a bunch of turtleducks?”

”I think its sweet.” Toph said.

Aang sighed, and gently pushed the ducklings back towards where Sokka was.

”We’re going to need treats to train them.” He told Sokka, “It’s good for positive reinforcement, and the best way to try and train them. Do we have anything we can give them?”

”I have some bread.” Toph said, “Would that be good?”

”Yeah, it should be.”

”I’ll be back in a sec.” 

Toph got up and quickly disappeared towards her room, while Sokka and Aang kept the ducklings occupied. When she returned, Aang began to teach them the basics of animal training. He taught them how to train the animal to understand when they were being good with a click of his tongue, and presenting them with food. This, he explained, was a kind of conditioning. He went on with explaining how to start with some more complex training methods using a stick with a rubber ball at the end, and giving the ducklings treats when they touched it, marking every good behaviour with a tongue click.

They spent an enjoyable amount of time trying to train the ducklings to follow the leader, and the three of them had almost completely forgotten about the Firenation Prince. 

That was until Katara stepped out of the room.

The three of them looked at her, and immediately gathered the ducklings in their arms and rushed towards her, bombarding her with questions about Zukos condition.

She explained to them that he was… recovering. 

“Are you ok Katara?” Aang asked, taking in her ashen complexion.

”I-…I’ll be alight.” She said, then turned to Toph. 

“Toph, could I, maybe talk to you for a minute?”

Chapter Text

”So, what did you want to talk about, Sugar Queen?” Toph asked, leaning against a pillar in the area Katara had taken them, a while away from Zukos room. Sokka and Aang had taken Kataras place as vigils to the sleeping Prince while Toph and Katara went off to talk.

”I want to know exactly what Zuko told you when you met up with him.” Katara said. 

Toph blinked, then narrowed her eyes.

”Is this just to tell me how wrong I am for trusting him again?” Toph asked accusitorily, “Because between you and me Sugar Queen, it gets old pretty quickly.”

”It’s not that…” Katara said, “Please, just, I need to know.”

Toph sighed. and then she told her everything she was comfortable with saying. How Zuko had been banished from his home. How he was on the run for three years, and how the only way he could come back home was if he captured Aang, and thereby getting his honor back.

What she didnt say was what happened right before then, with the Agni Kai and Zukos father burning his face, mostly because she didnt want to invade Zukos privacy like that, and partly because she didnt want to think about it.

Katara was surprisingly quiet for the entire speech, and for once in a long while, Toph found herself wishing she could see Kataras facial expressions to get a better sense of what the older girl was thinking. 

All she had to go off of was her heartbeat, that had spiked for a second when Toph said ‘banishment’, but that hardly helped.

When Toph was finished, Katara was quiet for a very long while. And then,

”Did the Firelord hurt him?” She asked quietly, her voice barely above a whisper.

Toph was taken aback by the question. She struggled to find the right words.

”You dont have to tell me exactly what happened.” Katara said after a second or so of silence from Toph, “Just, nod if its true, or… you know. Shake if not.”

Toph frowned in concern, and nodded, slowly. Just a small nod, barely there. She half hoped Katara wouldnt catch on.

Katara made a noise, something between a cry and a huff of frustration. Her hands went up to her face, and she sat down heavily on a loose piece of rubble.

Toph sighed, and walked over to her, sitting down next to her on the rock. Katara stayed in that position for a while, the only noise being an occasional low groan. Toph could practically hear the ticking of her working brain, though she couldnt decipher what the girl was thinking about.

”Why can’t all of this be simple?” Katara asked through her hands.

”Huh?” Toph said quizzically.

”I mean, it used to always be so simple. Zuko was evil. He was the one trying to capture Aang and the one face of the enemy. Why…”

Toph winced. 

“Am I supposed to just… forget everything that happened? Move on, and forgive him? Just because he… he might have just been bad because…” Katara groaned again, “What should I do Toph? Should I forgive and forget, or carry this resentment forever?”

Toph thought about this. She wasn’t very good at these sorts of things, and she would say that it was probably best to forgive and forget, but… Toph could see how much this had affected her friends, the toll Zukos campaign against them had. It was easy for Toph to forgive Zuko, but, could she really ask the same for her friends?

”I dont know.” Toph said honestly, “But… maybe give him a chance? Maybe he has changed. But if he hasn’t… do you really think the Fire Nation Prince could defeat the Blind Bandit and Sugar Queen, and the Avatar, and the Meat and Sarcasm Guy?”

Katara laughed.

”No I guess not.” She said, her voice sounding a bit happier.

”Hey, I can’t force you to forgive Zuko, but maybe you will one day, who knows?”

”Maybe…” Katara said, sounding unsure of it herself, “But my question is, when did you get so wise?”

Toph snorted.

“Me? Wise? Please.” Toph said, poking Katara in the shoulder, “That’s your shtick Sugar Queen. I’d rather bludgeon people. That’s way more fun.”

Toph hopped off of the rock.

”How about we check to see if the boys haven’t already burnt the entire place down without us there? And maybe cuddle the Turtleducks? That always makes me feel better.”

”I don’t think they like me very much.”

”I dont think Azula likes anyone.”

”The Duckling or the Phsyco?” Katara asked, standing up.

”Both.” Toph laughed.

they were just about to go and check on the boys when Toph felt the ground shake beneath her feet a little. Seconds later, Sokka rushed into the room, almost crashing into his sister at the ludicrous speed he was running at.

”Whoa, what happened?” Katara asked, concerned.

”It’s.. Zuko he…”

”Is he ok?” Toph asked.

”Did he hurt anyone?” Katara said, and Toph gave her a look.

”Well, I think he’s ok?” Sokka said quickly, “He’s waking up.”

Zuko slowly but surely became aware of the world around him. First it was a light penetrating his eye, then the other eye through the slightly damaged retina. Then it was the feeling of something soft under him. It wasn’t the softest bed he had ever been on, but it was something.

And thats when the pain came. And boy did it hurt.

The dull throb around his chest palpitated in time to the beating of his heart, and his arm was in agony - a pain both familiar and unfamiliar - sending shockwaves all over his body. 

He was sure that there were more cuts and bruises marking his skin, but he couldnt feel them above the screaming of his arm and the thumping of his chest. He distantly felt his throat vibrate as he tried to move around a little bit, only to be stopped by someone grabbing his arms. 

Scenes of familiar places and sensations started to flash in his mind. Someone was screaming it had been him, people were grabbing his arms and chest, pinning him in place, thier mouths opening to sounds Zuko couldnt hear, instructions he couldn’t interprete. He had been in pain then too, but it felt a lot more numb, like the pain was dull instead of sharp. 

Zuko struggled weakly against the hold, hearing himself whining, and then the rest of the world was suddenly in focus, including a very familiar voice.

”-ey, c-calm down, please Zuko! I’m not trying to hurt you!” 

Zuko stopped struggling and opened his eyes, to see the Avatars huge concerned eyes hovering inches above his face. It took everything in Zuko just to flinch back, but he barely got further than a centimetre more into his pillow.

The avatar, thankfully, seemed to realize that he was too close, and quickly jumped back. That’s when Zuko noticed that his lemur was on his shoulders, blinking at Zuko with a slight tilt of his head.

”Whoa, s-sorry Zuko… I was just making sure you were ok.” The Avatar apologised.

Zuko stared at him.

The Avatar blinked back.

”…You are ok, right?”

Zuko continued to stare, then his eyes shifted around the room.

”Wh-where…” he started, then paused. His voice sounded raspy and weak, like he hadn’t drunk anything in a while. He hated the sound with a burning passion (pun intended), “D-ducklings?”

”Oh,” the Avatar said, his eyes widening, “Right, well, they’re outside. Y-you had a fever, and they wanted to snuggle on your neck, and that wouldn't have helped… with the fever I mean, but I can bring them back inside if you want?”

Zuko stared at him.

”Um… maybe you can… blink once if yes, twice if no. That might make things… easier?”

Zuko blinked once.

The Avatar nodded, and he quickly disappeared from Zuko's line of vision. He came back seconds later with the ducklings in his arms. 

They were chirping and squealing and trying to wriggle out of the way of the Avatars grasp, which he let them achieve when they were close enough to the bed Zuko was lying in. They leaped up onto Zuko's neck and head, trying to make their way to their usual positions for a snuggle, chirping loudly the entire time as if they were complaining about having to be away from Zuko for so long. This excitement resulted in Zuko getting a mouthful of fluff as Lu Ten tried to crawl over Zuko's chin.

As soon as they had snuggled into their positions, they sat there, with their feet hidden in their shells, and sent murderous glares at the Avatar, probably for separating them in the first place. Zuko tried to lift his arm up to stroke their shells, like he usually did, but found his arm was too painful and weak to lift off the bed.

The Avatar however, noticed the movement.

”I- I wouldn't try moving just yet.” He told Zuko, “You… you were really hurt. Sokka just left to get Katara, and she’ll probably be able to come and heal you. I don't want you to make it worse.”

Zuko blinked up at him slowly. 

Katara. 

Oh boy. 

She was the one that was the angriest about Zuko, and for good reason. She probably hated him, and Zuko couldn't blame her for it.

Why would she try to heal him? Wouldn’t she rather he suffer? He deserved it anyway

Though… he was still in so much pain. It would be nice to have some kind of relief.

”Are you in any pain?” The Avatar asked. 

Zuko raised an eyebrow and blinked once, very deliberately.

”Oh, yeah, right stupid question.” The Avatar said, “Um, I don't know if we have any painkiller herbs or anything… we’re going to have to wait for Katara for that… as well…”

Zuko continued to stare. He could feel his eyes drooping slightly, but he refused to go back to sleep. 

“Um, but if you were wondering, you’ve, well, been asleep for about… two days?” The Avatar said, “After that fall, I guess that was… a given, huh?”

Two days. Zuko had been asleep for two days.

Had his injuries really been that bad?

he didn’t have much time to think about it anymore however, because seconds later Toph appeared at the door. 

“You’re awake!” She all but yelled, stomping into the room with a kind of anger etched into her face there was another emotion there too

“Are you alright?” She asked. Zuko managed to nod fearfully. He wished he could move, but he was just so tired. 

“You idiot!” Toph then yelled, “You- you could have died! I told you not to do anything stupid, and not even five minutes later, you- you could have died! No, you did die! You died twice, and if it was- you could’ve- if it wasn’t for Aang, you wouldn't be here!”

And with that, she launched herself at Zuko, wrapping his arms carefully around his middle. 

Zuko stared and blinked. It was all he could do, but he was a little bit tired of doing it.

despite this, he did it again, when he realised that his torso was starting to feel a little wet.

Was Toph… crying?

She couldn't be though. She was angry. Angry at him, which was honestly fair. He’d disobeyed her orders ‘stand and fight’ and almost gotten himself killed by his stupidity.

So why was she crying then?

He probably wouldn't be able to get an answer, at least, not now. He was feeling slightly more awake now, if not still a little tired. It still took all his strength just to be able to move his good arm over Tophs back in a gesture he hoped was comforting, while his body screamed at him in pain.

It was in this position that Sokka and Katara found him when they burst into the room seconds later.

Chapter Text

“That feel better?” Katara asked.

”Huh? Um, y-yeah, a little.” Zuko said, his voice raspy and painful.

Zuko watched in a mix of curiosity and wariness as the glowing water floated above his wounds. The sensation was both refreshing and healing, and he felt better already. He was sitting with his back propped up against the wall, thankful to be able to move around some more. Katara had allowed it, and had even helped him up after ushering the others out of the room to give them space, but the rest of her interaction with him had been cold, distant, and very clinical, which, even to Zuko and his inability to properly understand others, guessed that it wasn’t entirely due to professionalism. 

He could see her hands tremble slightly, her eyes being slightly distant, and her jaw working hard though there was nothing in her mouth to chew. 

Other than a couple of remarks asking him where it hurt the most, the entire interaction had been completely silence. Zuko, because he didnt know how to break it properly - he was terrible at small talk - and because with the wound on his neck it hurt to speak, and Katara, most likely, because of her stubbornness, and unwillingness to talk. Not that Zuko could blame her.

The ducklings were sitting in Zukos lap, watching the two humans interact curiously. All of them that is, except for Iroh, who, after having finally been reunited with his mother after so long, had finally been able to catch up with his napping. Zuko was running his fingers over Lu Tens shell, over all of the rough edges and bumps, trying to calm his jittering nerves.

Still, the silence persisted. 

Katara finished up with the healing session on Zukos arm, and expertly and methodically began wrapping some bandages and dressings over his now slightly better wounds. 

“I need to check on your ribs.” Katara said when she had finished, her voice devoid of any emotion, monotoned.

Zuko nodded, and shuffled forwards slightly, wincing as it jostled back all his aching body parts. Katara stood from her chair to help him, while the ducklings squawked and scrambled around to make sure that they didn’t fall off as he moved. 

Now in a position better suited for Katara to reach, with his legs dangling off the side of the bed. Katara stayed standing, and gently began to unwrap his torso and chest, leaving the marred and bare skin beneath. Zuko looked down at the damage for the first time and blinked owlishly at it.

It… wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be, if he was being honest. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Katara had been trying to heal the wounds for the better part of the last couple of days, but it still hurt more than it looked to. 

Zuko noticed that Katara was surveying the damage as well, her eyes glancing down at the wounds with silent contempt. She grabbed her waterskin and allowed the cool water to flow out, and around Zukos exposed wounds. It began to glow again, as her hands moved methodically in strange patterns and he found himself staring at them in a trance like state. 

Seconds passed, and the silence became unbareable.

”I’m sorry.” Zuko blurted out before he could stop himself. Kataras working hands stopped moving. She didnt look up from her work.

”You shouldn’t speak.” She told him firmly, a hint of something malicious in her tone of voice, “You’l just hurt your throat more.”

She continued on with the task at hand. 

Zuko tried again.

”Please Katara.” He said, gently taking one of her hands in his. They stopped moving again, and she stared at his hand, as of it were something startling.

she didn’t try to pull her hand out of his grasp.

“I need you to hear this.” He told her, firmly, though his throat threatened to close up as he tried to speak, “I hurt you. I hurt you really bad, and I am sorry. I… it wasn’t my intention to- to betray you. I know its not an excuse, but I really did mean what I said, in th… the catacombs.”

Katara finally turned her head up to stare at him. Zuko found himself unable to meet her eyes back, and he released her hand. 

Seconds later, she continued on with her work, and Zuko gave up trying. What was the point? Why would she believe his intentions? Besides, he thought that if he spoke much more, his throat would go out.

This train of thought made it much more surprising when Katara said something back.

”Do you remember anything from being unconscious?” She asked.

Zuko turned to look at her again. This time, he met her gaze. 

He thought back to what he could remember. He vaguely thought he heard someone talking to him, maybe reading him something (or was it jokes?). He remembered thinking his mother was there, caring for him, like she used to when he was sick, but he didnt remember much else.

He made a so-so motion with his hand.

Katara hummed.

”I thought you might not.” She said, “I just… you said some things to me, when you were delirious with fever.”

Zuko tensed. He didn’t like where this was going.

”And I want to know if its true.” 

Katara paused.

”Did your father…” she tried to speak, say something, but no words came out. After a couple of seconds, she decided on just point at her eye. 

Zuko paled and looked away. He didn't want to tell her, but…

What choice did he have?

He nodded.

He heard Katara let out a shaky breath, but she didn't say anything. She continued to tend to his wounds for a few seconds. And then:

“I’m sorry.”

Those two words made Zuko tense up. He turned to look at her.

”That was not… he shouldn’t have done that. It was unfair.”

Zuko stared at her.

She looked up at him.

”It wasn’t your fault.” She whispered.

Zuko didn't know what it was exactly. Toph had said the same. That how he was treated was unfair.

He still didn't fully believe it. He didn't want to. But hearing Katara say it, someone who he knew had a vendetta against him, whom he had wronged so badly, it broke something in him.

He started to cry. His body was suddenly raked with choking sobs that jostled his injuries and made them hurt, even if his mind didn't register the pain.

He was too busy feeling embarrassed about the fact that he was breaking down in front of someone else. Dear Agni, this was embarrassing. His deep rooted fear that he would be perceived as weak in front of others reared its ugly head, and it only made him break down harder. 

What would Azula think? That you are weak, like you really are.

What would his Father think? That you are a waste of space and potential, and you were lucky to be born

What would Uncle think? He would be ashamed and-

Arms were suddenly wrapping around him. They came as a shock to Zuko, not only because of how unexpected this was, but also because of how cold Katara was instead of him. He was running high with fever, after all.

However, despite this, Zuko practically melted into her touch. He started to sob on her shoulder, gripping onto her like his life depended on it.

Katara sat there for a while afterwards, trying to calm the Firenation Prince down. Zuko. 

She wasn’t going to forgive him so easily but…

Maybe this was a good start.

Chapter Text

The next few days were quiet. At least, quiet for the group of misfits that called themselves a family. 

As Zuko began to recover from his injuries, the other members of the group started to interact with him and the ducklings more often. 

Toph was of course his most frequent visitor, telling him some stupid stories about the others that made Zuko laugh until his chest inevitably started to hurt a lot. Sokka and Aang were less frequent visitors, but still came around fairly often to talk. 

Aang came with questions about firebending, and when Zuko would maybe feel better enough to start to teach him, which became a little reparative after a while, but Zuko found himself not hating it as much as it would have before this of course came with a lot of guilt for what he did to Uncle, and Zuko found himself replaying every single time in those three years that Zuko had shut his Uncle down for only trying to help, for yelling at him and for taking him for granted.

When Sokka came in, it was more to try and ‘train’ the ducklings, who had refused to leave Zukos side for the rest of his recovery. It was honestly amusing, since it was perfectly clear to Zuko that Sokka had no idea what he was doing. When Sokka wasn’t trying to make the ducklings line up neatly, he was trying to ‘figure out’ if Zuko was actually going to be good, or if he was just pretending. 

Zuko could understand being suspicious, but he didnt understand Sokka's so-called methods for ‘finding the truth’. He would give Zuko ‘the look’ and start asking questions about what made him leave the Fire Nation. It got old pretty quick, but Zuko still humoured him because he was right to be suspicious

Katara came in a couple of times, but she seemed to want to avoid talking to him, and for good reason. 

Other than the comfort she had given him when she told him that it wasn't his fault, she hadn’t tried to talk to him much other than questioning the level of his pain, or what he could do now that he was recovering more. Zuko couldn't blame her. 

A week went by, and, while Zuko was still recovering from his injuries, he was getting ansty. He started to walk around the ruins with Toph, who made sure he wouldn't do anything too strenuous. The walks didn’t last very long, five minutes tops, but slowly he started to be able to walk for longer. 

A week later, he was ready to start training Aang in Firebending.

Toph was ‘watching’ from the sidelines, her feet firmly planted on the ground to make sure that Zuko didnt do too much, and to take care of the ducklings, who also wanted to come and watch.

”I know you’re nervous, but remember, Firebending is nothing to fear.” Zuko explained to Aang.

Aang sighed, clearly not convinced.

”Ok, not something to fear.” He said regardless.

”But if you don't respect it…” Zuko said, pausing for dramatic effect, “It’ll chew you up and spit you out like an angry Komodo rhino!”

Aang yelped at the sudden increase in volume. 

Zuko turned to him.

”Now show me what you’ve got, any amount of fire you can make.”

Aang looked down at his palm and concentrated. After a couple of seconds, a small puff of smoke came out.

He looked back up towards Zuko.

“Maybe I need a little more instruction. Perhaps a demonstration?” He asked.

”Good idea. You might wanna take a couple steps back.” Zuko said.

Aang obediently stepped backwards. 

Zuko took a deep breath in, trying to feel the fire bubbling in his chest.

He got into a position and tried to shoot some fire.

keyword being tried, because all that came out was a pathetic little puff of fire.

Zuko blinked at it. Aang clapped from the sidelines.

”What was that? That was the worst firebending I've ever seen!” Zuko yelled at himself. He was finally able to prove himself to the Avatar, and now this?

The universe had a sick sense of humour, and Zukos as beginning to realize how much.

“I thought it was… nice.” Aang pipped up.

”You’ve got this Zuko!” Toph cheered from the sidelines.

Zuko grunted and tried again. 

Only a small lick of flame emerged. He tried again and again, but every attempt yielded the same results. What was wrong with him? He stared pointedly at his hand, as if that could give him the answers.

”Why is this happening?” He asked.

”Maybe its the altitude?” Aang tried.

”Yeah, it could be…” Zuko wondered thoughtfully.

”Or maybe its your injuries?” Toph said, “Doesn’t that affect bending sometimes?”

Zuko shook his head, then, realizing she couldn't see him, said, “No it shouldn’t. It didn't when…”

Zuko trailed off. 

“Right.” Toph said.

”Well, if you continue to try, maybe you’ll get it… eventually?” Aang suggested, shrugging with his arms.

the ducklings on Toph's lap chirped, as if to say that they agreed.

The rest of the afternoon was spent with Zuko trying and failing to produce anything more than the small flames he seemed to be stuck on. Toph left at some point to get food for herself and the ducklings taking them with her, while Aang slowly fell asleep watching Zuko the Firebending Prince try to firebend. 

It was very embarrassing.

After a long while, and Aang patronising him by calling Zuko ‘Sifu Hotman’ and telling him that his fire was getting a bit better, Sokka came over. 

“Hey Jerks.” He said grinning like a maniac, and sitting down a little ways away with an apple, “Mind if I watch you two jerk bend?”

Normally Zuko wouldn't mind having Sokka around. Despite him not minding having Sokka around for company, Zuko was up to here with everything.

”Get out of here!” He yelled at Sokka.

Sokka grinned condescendingly. Was everyone just trying to infuriate him this morning?

”Ok take it easy.” Sokka said, standing up and putting his hands in front of him in a ‘calm down’ sort of gesture, “I was just kiddin’ around.” He slowly backed away, muttering, “Jerkbending, still got it.” Under his breath.

Zuko groaned and put his head in his hands. 

Later that night, Katara was making dinner, stirring the pot of soup absentmindedly, as she thought about other things. Things like, what had happened these past few days.

Zuko was recovering nicely. His wounds were not as severe as they had been before, thanks to her bending, though there was still some pain while moving. He should be healed in only a couple days more, in her opinion, not completely, but enough to function properly again.

Then she wouldn't have to go anywhere near him. 

It wasn't that she hated him per say - its rather difficult to hate someone after they’ve sobbed into your shoulder and you know was a victim of abuse. However, the same can be said the other way - it’s difficult to like someone who stalked you around the globe, tried to kidnap your friend, and betrayed you.

Being around Zuko felt strange. It felt like she was being pulled in two different directions, making her feel very uncomfortable in his presence. She would clean his wounds, ask him where it hurt, heal him, redress them, and leave as quickly as she could. 

She didn't want to be around him any more than usual.

It was all too much.

”Hey sis, can I have a bowl of that?” 

Katara was taken out from her deep well of thought by her brother, who put a bowl up to her face expectantly. 

“Oh, yeah, sure.” She said, grabbing the large wooden spoon and pouring some of the steaming liquid inside. 

“Thanks Katara!” Sokka said cheerfully, before bounding over to sit down next to Mateo and the Duke. 

Katara shook her head and sighed. She was no stranger to being stuck in her own head so to speak, but she had noticed that she had been doing it more and more recently ever since the Day of Black sun. 

And Zuko was not helping in the slightest with it.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear, Zuko chose that exact moment to make his appearance. He walked in with Aang looking rather dejected, while the ducklings all followed along behind him.

It was actually kind of cute to see them all running after their pretend mother, not that Katara would admit that out loud. Endearing, almost. 

Katara caught herself. She wasn't going to try and see the good in him anymore, after he had betrayed her she already had again.

“Two bowls please.” Aang said cheerful as ever, though Katara could tell that he was rather jittery. She wondered how Long exactly Aang had stayed awake watching Zuko's attempts to firebend. Attempts, because from what Katara could see, he wasn't doing too well in the firebending department, and Aang wasn't learning much.

It was rather ironic, to say the least. Why couldn't that have happened before when Zuko was chasing them.

A few minutes later, when everyone had settled down for food, Zuko spoke up:

”I’ve lost my stuff.”

”I didn't take your stuff.” Toph said.

”No, I mean… my firebending…”

The others in the Gaang made some comments about that, and Katara even quipped in herself, saying what had been on her mind minutes earlier. Zuko got frustrated with them, until Toph suggested that he go to the original masters of firebending to relearn it. She explained how she herself had done that when she was young, and had run off into a badgermole cave. She had learned Earthbending from them, and, if she had done that, Zuko could too.

Aang at least seemed to think that this was a good idea. He said that the original Airbenders had been the Sky Bisons, making Appa grunt, knowing he was being talked about. 

Zuko however, was already shaking his head.

”Well, that doesn’t help me. The original firebenders were dragons, and they aren’t around anymore.”

From the way that Zuko talked about it, he seemed almost remorseful.

this had surprised Katara, but, at least, not that much. The Southern Watertribe had been, in effect, cut off from the rest of the world thanks to the war, and so she hadn’t heard of the dragons going extinct. She knew they had existed, many of Grangran and her mothers stories had revolved around dragons, including the one with the Painted Lady which had been a favourite of hers growing up.

Did the Fire Nation have something to do with their sudden disappearance? She wouldn’t be too surprised. 

Katara was so caught up in her own thoughts again that she completely missed the part where Zuko suggested they go to the ruins of the Sunwarriors, the first Firebenders, to get some ideas. Aang was, concerningly, on board with this, and it was decided that they would go tomorrow at dawn to the ruins on Appa.

Katara almost spat out her drink at this. Were they not going to consult her? Were they not going to ask if she was ok with this?! Because she sure as heck was not ok with this! Aang, going alone on a mission with Zuko? Zuko, of all people! 

She got that it was important for Aang to learn Firebending to defeat the firelord or whatever, but wasn't there another way? One that didn't involve Aang going off with someone who had, just two months earlier, been chasing him around the globe in an attempt to capture him? 

This was not ok! 

Katara looked around at her friends, the other people she was supposed to protect. Did they not see that this was a terrible plan?

She wouldn't allow it. She just couldn’t!

Soon after, the others wandered off towards their beds, and Katara took this opportunity to corner Aang.

”Aang, I need to speak with you.” She said, her fingers reaching for his arm.

Aang gave her a friendly smile as Momo chittered from his shoulder. 

“Yeah, what's up?” He asked, cheerful as ever.

”You can’t go tomorrow.” She said in the firmest voice she could possibly muster up. 

Aang blinked at her.

”Why? Is there something I’m forgetting?” Aang said thoughtfully, his hand coming up to his chin along with his expression, “Is it supply run day tomorrow? But… Smellerbee and the others just got back.”

”No, I mean, you can’t go with Zuko tomorrow.”

Aang gave her a slightly pained expression.

”Katara…” he whined.

”No, I’m serious!” Katara said, “How do you know you can trust him? Two months ago he was trying to kidnap you, and now? I know you’re acting like you’ve been friends this entire time?! Aang, Zuko is dangerous-“

”He saved our lives though.” Aang said, “You remember that don't you? You’ve spent the last week trying to heal him up from that. He risked his life to save ours.”

Katara flinched at the comment. She steeled herself quickly and shook her head.

”Aang-“

”I need to learn firebending!” He said, “And Zuko's my only shot. Do you really think I can just rock up to the Firenation and say ‘hey, I’m the Avatar, anyone up for teaching me firebending?’ They'll probably end up like Zhao and try to kidnap me again. And even if I do that, it might take a while to find someone willing.”

Aang took a deep breath in through his nose.

”I know you dont like it.” He said, looking her dead in the eye, “But you don't know what it's like to have the entire world on your shoulders like I do. This is something I need to do. Please Katara.”

Katara sighed. 

“Alright.” She said, “But at least take me with you.”

Aang gave her a look.

”Katara…” he said, “This is something me and Zuko need to do. We have to go by ourselves. Please, trust me on this one.”

Katara opened her mouth to speak, and closed it again. She nodded numbly. Aang smiled reassuringly at her, having the opposite effect.

”Thank you.” He said, then hugged her. Katara blinked at the sudden contact, before wrapping her arms around him too. Momo, who was still sitting on Aang's shoulder, buried his face in her hair as his own way of giving her a hug. The motion caused her to laugh.

When Aang finally let her go, he had a huge smile on his face.

”Dont worry, its all going to turn out alright. I promise.” Aang said.

Katara nodded, and tried giving him a smile back, but, as soon as he left, it dropped back into a frown, and she was left staring at an empty hallway, feeling scared.

Chapter Text

“We’ve been riding for hours. I don't know why, but I thought this thing would be quicker.” Zuko said grumpily from his seat on Appas saddle as they rode through the air towards the home of the Sun warriors.

Appa growled from below. The ducklings, who were snuggled in their usual pockets, chirped.

“Appas right Zuko.” Aang said with a slightly strained grin, “In our group, typically we start our missions with a more upbeat attitude.”

Zuko huffed.

”I can’t believe this.” 

“Dont worry, you’ll get the hang of it.” Aang said, then, after a pause, “Why did you bring the ducklings? You know this mission might be a bit dangerous for them right?”

”What, a couple of ruins, dangerous for some turtleducks?” Zuko asked, raising a brow, “Besides, they’re too young to be without me, at least for now. They leave their mothers at around four months of age, and they start to become more independent.”

”Oh… I didnt know that.” Aang said.

They fell into an uncomfortable silence.

Aang desperately wanted to say something, but, every time he opened his mouth, he couldn't find the words. What could he say to Zuko? What could you say to the boy who wanted to capture you, and then had a change of heart and saved him instead?

Aang didn't know. He knew he had to be kind, had to give Zuko another chance, but it was still so awkward.

“Um, so… how did you get the ducklings?” Aang asked tentatively, already feeling bored.

Zuko didnt answer, at least not right away. There was a big pause that made Aang think that the Prince wasnt going to answer him.

But then he did speak.

”Thier mother died.” He said, “They were just eggs then.”

”Oh.” Aang said, “So, you took them in? When they hatched.”

Zuko sighed.

”Not exactly.” He said, “It was more… I was planning on giving them to another mother turtleduck, but they hatched before I could figure out how to.”

”Oh,” Aang said, “Right. I remember the monks in the temple telling me about that when I found a nest of flying lemurs. I wanted to give them to another one, but they said it’s not that simple because the mother might reject the babies if they aren’t hers. You need to make her think that they are her own so she would look after them.”

”Y-yeah thats right. It’s not that simple.” Zuko said, then paused.

”So, you still remember the Monks then?”

”Well, yeah, it feels like only months ago I was with them, even when its been a hundred years.”

”…”

”…”

”Wait what?”

Aang turned to look at Zuko who had a puzzled expression on his face. And thats when Aang realised.

Zuko didn't know he’d been trapped in the ice. 

At least they had something else to talk about.

They landed in the old ruins of the Sunwarrior temple at around midday, if the sun gave any indication. Zuko jumped off of Appa and landed hard against some ruins. The ducklings poked their heads out from Zukos pockets and jumped as well, wanting to explore the place themselves. Azula immediately ran off with Lu Ten to go exploring, while Iroh found a nice sun baked rock to sleep on, and was out. In seconds. Zuzu just blinked and stared at the ruins, before looking back and Zuko and chirping. 

Zuko smiled back at her before staring off into the distance. At this point, Aang had already jumped off of Appa and was stroking the bisons leg.

”Even though these buildings are ancient,” Zuko said, catching the younger boys attention, “There’s something eerily familiar about them.”

Zuko stepped forwards and stroked the broken remains of what probably used to be a city wall. He turned back to Aang, who had picked up Lu Ten and Iroh, who was still sleeping.

”I can tell that the Fire Sages temples are somehow descended from these.” Zuko said, as he picked up the rest of the ducklings and put them back in their pockets.

”Okay. We’ve learned something about Architecture.” Aang said as the pair of them started to make their way through the ruins, “Hopefully we’ll learn something about bending too! The past can be a great teacher.”

As they continued to walk through the ruins, Zuko took in the architecture. Despite the place being ancient, most of the buildings were intact.

It was incredible. 

Suddenly, Aang yelped, and fell forwards, just as the ground fell away beneath him, revealing rows of spikes jutting out of the floor. Zuko looked on in horror as Aang fell forwards, before the Airbender caught himself and blew a puff of air down, sending him flying to the other side of the spikes. Aang looked back with a shocked expression on his face, before looking up at Zuko.

”Zuko,” Aang said, “I think the past is trying to kill me.”

Zuko huffed, before crouching down to look at the trap.

”I can’t believe it.” He said, “This trap must be centuries old and it still works.”

”There’s probably more.” Aang said, sounding anxious, “Maybe this means we shouldn’t be here.”

Zuko frowned, and then, after making sure that the ducklings were secure, stepped back for a running jump, and ran. He leaped up at the last second, using his momentum to run across the wall before landing next to the airbender with a flourish. He checked that the ducklings in his pockets, before turning back to the boy.

”Where’s that upbeat attitude you were talking about?” Zuko teased, looking back towards the rest of the ruins, “Besides, people don't make traps unless they have something worth protecting.”

Aang hummed, and the pair continued on, this time far more cautious as to not set off any more traps. 

They continued walking until they reached a huge staircase, leading up to a building that seemed to be some kind of centerpiece to the entire ruins. They walked up through the huge doorway and started to look around.

“This looks promising.” Aang said. Zuko turned around to see a weird looking cave painting. It gave him pause. A man was standing at the centre of two huge dragons, who were breathing fire on him. Zuko stared at it, trying to figure out what it could mean. Aang also seemed at a loss. “But I’m not sure what this tells us about the original source of Firebending.”

Zuko hummed next to him. He let the ducklings loose from his pockets, figuring they needed to stretch their legs for a bit. He looked back at the dragons in the painting.

”They look pretty angry to me.” He said, keeping an eye on the ducklings.

Aang frowned.

”I thought the dragons were friends with the Sun Warriors.” The Avatar said. Zuko huffed.

”They have a funny way of showing it.” He said dryly. He turned his attention back to the ducklings, who were wandering around, seemingly admiring the architecture as well. At least, most of them were. Iroh had, of course, fallen asleep again. Zuko sighed and walked over to him to pick him up. The little duckling snored peacefully as Zuko stroked his shell, looking around the place.

”Zuko.” Aang said in all seriousness. Zuko paused, not liking the sound of the Avatars tone, “Something happened to the dragons in the past hundred years. Something you’re not telling me.”

Zuko sighed, and half turned back to Aang.

”My great grandfather, Sozin, happened.” He said bitterly. He began walking again, the ducklings following after Zuko in a neat little line and soon they reached a bridge. 

And Zuko explained to Aang how all of the dragons died. How they were killed for glory, and how the last one was killed by Zukos own Uncle before he was born.

”Wait,” Aang said, “I thought your Uncle was well… good.”

Zuko sighed.

”He had a… complicated past. Family tradition I think. Let’s just move on.” He said, walking off before Aang could say anything else. The air bender ran to walk beside him.

”I’m sorry that happened.” Aang said. Zuko gave him a look.

”What do you mean? It’s not your fault.”

”I know, but you’re clearly upset about it.”

Zuko looked away, his eyes landing on the ducklings following him.

”I just…” Zuko sighed, “I hate hearing about animals being hurt. They don't deserve to suffer.” 

Zuko thought back to his mother, as painful as it was. She had taught him to respect all creatures, big and small. It started with the turtleducks in the pond they used to visit together, where they would take one look at his mother and come paddling over to her. She would get on her knees and allow them to come to her, and they would sometimes even scramble onto her lap, closing their eyes, perfectly content in her presence. They would sometimes show her their little ones, as proud as can be, like his mother, in a way, showed them her son. 

It took a while before the mother Turtleducks showed him the same level of trust. Zuko had a vivid memory of trying so hard to pet the Turtleducks, only for them to scramble away or hiss at him. One of them bit him, and Zuko had gotten mad that they weren’t treating him like they did his mother. He lashed out at them, but his mother had shot that down quickly. 

“They don't know you Zuko.” She had said, “They don't know you well enough to trust you yet.”

”How do I get them to trust me?” Zuko had asked eagerly.

His mother had smiled.

”Time and patience.” She had said, before breaking off a piece of bread and giving it to him, “Throw some into the pond. You can throw some close to you, if you like. Soon, they will see you as a food giver, and not a threat. They may even be willing to take some out of your hands, if you are patient with them.”

Zuko had obeyed. He threw some food for them, and they had gobbled it up greedily. He had tried to hand feed some, with the help of his mother, but none of them had gotten too close. It took around a week for one of them to finally snatch a couple of crumbs from his outstretched hand, scampering away from him to enjoy the meal elsewhere. Zukos mother had been thrilled, and had picked him up in her arms, and smiled, telling him that she was proud of him.

A couple of days later, the Turtleducks let Zuko pet their heads. Not long after that, the turtleducks were happy to be around him, and one of them settled down onto his lap.

This love for the turtleducks soon manifested into a love for many different animals. Zuko would often take some seeds from the kitchens to on the window of his room, in an attempt to befriend the birds that settled there. 

When Zuko had found Appa in Ba Sing Se, he was furious at whoever had hurt him. 

It was the same as the dragons. How could anyone just hunt them down like that? And not even for meat. He could understand hunting, sure, but killing animals simply for the glory?

He didn't get it. He didn't know how Uncle could have stomached it. Uncle had killed the last dragon, and Zuko didnt know what to think about that.

”I agree.” Aang said. Zuko gave him a look, “Animals should be protected. They don't deserve to suffer. That’s why I’m a vegetarian. All the monks were.”

”Really?” Zuko asked.

Aang nodded.

”There are a surprising amount of edible plants that grow up in the mountains near the Temple where I grew up.” Aang said with a grin, “Enough to sustain all the monks, so we had no need for meat.”

”I… didn't know that.” Zuko said, and paused, “It’s a bit harder to go full vegetarian in the Fire Nation. Fried meats are a staple there.”

”I remember that.” Aang said, “It was really difficult to find any food for myself when I visited Kuzon. He was my best friend in the Fire Nation.”

”You mentioned that.” 

“I did?”

”When you saved my life for the first time.”

Aang stopped walking. Zuko turned to look at him. The younger boy looked to be at a loss.

”What?” He asked, “When did I save your life? Who from?”

”Zhou.” Zuko said, “You saved me from Zhao.”

Aang still looked confused.

”…When I had disguised myself as the Blue Spirit?”

The boys eyes suddenly widened in recognition.

”Oh, you mean then.” He paused, his eyebrows furrowing together, “But you saved my life then.”

Zuko blinked.

”No I didn't. You did. If you hadn’t stepped up like you did, Zhou would have killed me.”

Zuko gave him a look.

”I wasn't saving you.” He said, “I was trying to capture you so I could take you to my father and reclaim my honor. It was selfish.”

Aang frowned at him.

”You still saved my life.” He said, “And you saved Sokka and Katara too. If I hadn’t gotten the cure to them in time… they might not have made it.”

Aang started to walk off again.

”What cure?”

Aang turned and smiled at Zuko.

”When I was captured by Zhao, I was in the middle of trying to get a cure for Sokka and Katara, because they were sick. If you hadn’t come see that time, they might have…”

Aang's face turned melancholy for a second before smiling again.

”You saved them, Zuko. Even if you didn't mean to.” 

He walked off, leaving Zuko staring at the last place he saw him.

Had he really done something good?

Chapter Text

It wasn't long before Zuko and Aang reached the centre of the small town they found themselves in. It had the appearance of a temple almost. The doors at the buildings entrance were huge, and Aang immediately ran towards them, and tried to pry them open. He was unsuccessful, and looked back at Zuko with wide eyes.

”They’re locked.” He said, like it wasn’t already obvious. 

Zuko frowned and walked over to the doors, running his hand along it, trying to figure out what kind of mechanism could possibly open it, before looking around a little more. And that's when he saw it. The sunstone in the courtyard right behind them. They had only recently passed it, but Zuko had paid it no mind, or the surrounding circular courtyard. Now though…

”Wait,” he told Aang, making the boy turn to look at him, “its a celestial calendar. Just like the Fire Sages temples.” He pointed at the Sunstone, “I bet thats what opens the gate, but only when the Sun hits it just right… probably on the Solstice.”

Aang groaned.

”Monkeyfeathers!” He said, his arms dramatically falling to his sides, “We can’t wait that long!”

”No, we can’t.” Zuko said, raising his hand and summoning what little flame he could, “But maybe we don't have to. We can make our own sun.” 

Aang's eyes widened, and he grinned at the realization of what Zuko was suggesting. Together, they somehow managed to light the flame at the exact right place, and somehow it was strong enough for the door to register its brightness. They quickly heard the sounds of the ancient gears grinding, whining, but still working. They hurried over to the doors, just as it opened wide enough for them to look partly inside. Surprisingly, it was still somewhat light inside, and, on closer inspection, the pair realised that there was a skylight on the ceiling of the tower, barred off, but allowing for some light to still penetrate the temple. 

They slipped inside as soon as they were able to safely, while the doors were still slowly opening, and took in the ancient architecture. The inside of the temple was wide, round, and had statues lining its sides. Aang was the first to realise that they were in fact two firebenders doing a series of moves, symmetrically, until they reached the back of the temple, their fists rising to meet each other, as the two men in the statues bended their bodies sideways, almost in a half moon shape. Zuko was the first to notice that these forms matched the paintings they had seen earlier on the sides of the crumbling buildings. 

The pair split up, with Zuko allowing the ducklings to explore around properly once the door was fully open, and checked for clues on… well, anything really. So far, the expedition had not been very rewarding, and they had yet to decipher how to use the information, with how little they had gathered, to figure out how to get Zukos bending back. 

As they moved around, the ducklings, though previously sticking close to Zuko's sides, started to stray and wonder off a little. This turned out to be a good thing, because one of them managed to find something very interesting.

Zuzu had always had a bit of trouble finding her way around because of her bad eye, and though she had gotten used to exploring even with the disability, she was still a little bit clumsy. She staggered around, half wondering after her siblings, half trying to make her way around the place, when she suddenly tripped over a rock that was slightly out of place, right under the first statue of the Firebending form. She cried out, and Lu Ten, who was the closest to her at the time, came rushing over, standing on the crooked rock.

Turtleducks, especially those that are only a few weeks old, are not very heavy, or strong. Their shells are the heaviest part of their body, and, even in an adult they would only weigh around 200 grams when fully grown.

That being said, the weight of both the small ducklings was somehow enough to push the rock they were standing on down, with a grinding click, scaring both the ducklings into another frenzy.

Zuko, who had rushed over to see what the fuss was all about, had seen the slight movement of the plate as it shifted back into place as the ducklings rushed off of it. He picked the two trembling ducklings up. He waited for a trap to have been sprung, but after a few moments nothing seemed to happen, and Zuko relaxed. 

”What the…” he said, “Aang, I think I found something.”

”What?” Aang said, rushing over to look.

”It’s a pressure plate, I think.” Zuko said, “The ducklings went onto it, and it seemed to have been pushed down.”

Aangs eyes widened.

”Do you think there’s a secret passage around here?” Aang asked, looking for doorways that may have appeared.

”I dont think it did anything.” Zuko said, “Maybe there’s some others? Maybe we need to press them in a sequence.”

Aang frowned in thought and looked up at the statue above the pressure plate. He looked back down at it, and his gaze quickly found rock slightly out of place. His eyes followed the ring of movement from the statues, and noted similar pressure plates on the floor. 

He suddenly got an idea.

”Zuko, I need you to dance with me.” He said, grabbing the older boy by the arm.

”What?” Zuko asked.

”Just trust me,” Aang said, “I think I know how to figure this out. If we do the same moves as the statues forms, we could press the pressure plates in order and they would be able to open something. And maybe that something could help you get your stuff back.”

Zuko frowned. He looked around the place, and spotted what Aang had seen.

That could work, although…

There had never been anything like this anywhere in the Fire Nation. At least, none he could recall, which added to his skepticism that this would actually work.

But they had nothing better to do, so…

”Alright, fine.” Zuko said, “Let’s try it.”

Zuko picked up the rest of the ducklings from the floor and put them back in his pockets, then the pair got into position. They started slowly, copying the statues one by one, in sync, pausing each one to study the statues next to them. Beneath their feet, stone shifted. Something was happening. They didn't know what it was yet but they figured they would soon find out. 

Then, they reached the last statues, and their fists connected. They stayed in that position for a couple of seconds.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, nothing continued to happen.

The pair slowly lifted themselves up, their feet firmly planted on the ground, and looked at each other quizzically. Were they supposed to do some actual Firebending for whatever this was to work? Were they stuck in another dead end?

Suddenly, there was a shifting of stone, and both boys jolted, and turned to stare in the direction of the noise. 

The very centre of the circle, which had been before cleverly hidden by a huge pattern on the floor, suddenly shifted away, and an object emerged from a previously hidden compartment below. The grinding of stone was almost deafening, and, when the object and its pedestal had fully emerged, a loud thump was heard.

The object in question was a shining, smooth golden egg.

The boys blinked at it, at each other and back at the egg.

”What is that?” Aang asked, whispering as if something was around that could hear him.

Zuko, not getting the hint, spoke at normal volume and slowly edged towards it.

”It must be some kind of relic.” He said, a hand slowly reaching out to touch it, “Its ancient, but its still intact.”

”Wait! Dont touch it!” Aang said right before Zukos fingers brushed against its surface. 

The urgency in Aangs voice made Zuko pause and turn around.

”Why not?” He asked.

”Dont you remember the spikes?” Aang said, “It could be another booby trap!”

”Or it could be the next thing we need to do to proceed.” Zuko said, “The pressure plates weren’t traps, so why would this be one?” 

Aang opened his mouth, but quickly snapped it shut with an audible clack. He didn't know what to say to that, but even so, something didn’t quite sit right with him. He didnt trust this place, but he kept his mouth shut as he watched Zuko slowly reach out and gently lift the egg off its pedestal.

“It feels…” Zuko started, to himself, “Almost alive.” 

In a panic Zuko tried to put the egg back in its place, but it was too late. A visceral black liquid hit Zuko full force in the chest, sending him up to the barred skylight on the ceiling. 

“Zuko!” Aang yelled out in horror and surprise, just as the pedestal started to spew out more black liquid. he looked towards the door, but, to Aangs horror, it had already closed. 

“I- I’m stuck!” Zuko said, struggling to get out with the rising panic. He could feel the ducklings squirming around in his Gi, clearly sharing the panic he felt. He could only hope the force of the liquid hadn’t hurt them.

Aang looked up, and quickly glanced over to a statue. Without much thought, but knowing he needed to do something before it was too late, he leaped up onto a statue, and sent a gush of wind towards the struggling body of his friend, turning him so that he could face outside the hole. Zuko yelped, and the ducklings squawked out in surprise, but thankfully had the sense to scramble out from their pockets and run to solid ground through the holes of the bars. Aang appeared next to Zuko seconds later, and tried to pull at the bars to escape.

”It isn’t budging!” He yelled out in a panic, as the black goo slowly rose behind them, “Zuko do something!”

”Do what? I can’t move either!” Zuko yelled out to him. Both boys started to panic, trying to break free from the slime before it reached them, terrified that it would cover their mouths and stop them from breathing. The ducklings were panicking with the rising goop and Zuzus leg being stuck inside the bars. 

And then, all of a sudden, when the goo had completely covered their backs, it stopped. Distantly, the pair could feel it sapping away beneath them, leaving them trapped on the ceiling of the temple.

”It stopped.” Aang said when he was certain.

”At least we have air… Zuko said dryly. Iroh waddled over to Zuko's face, plopped down in the crook of his neck, and promptly fell asleep.

”Help!” Aang yelled out after a couple of minutes of silence, making Zuko flinch. 

“What are you doing?” Zuko asked. 

“Trying to get help.” the younger boy said. If Zuko could move, he would have turned to look at him with an expression that said ‘are you serious?’

”Theres no one here Aang, its a ghost town.” Zuko said.

”Well then, what do you suggest we do?” Aang snapped.

”Think of our place in the universe?”

The silence that followed was deafening. Aang sighed.

and then they heard footsteps.

Chapter Text

Katara had been watching the sky for a while now. 

Not too obviously - at least, she hoped it wasn’t too obvious - glancing towards the spot where she had last seen a certain Avatar and his sky Bison in between doing her tasks. 

They weren’t back yet. Aang and Zuko hadn’t arrived back. 

To say that she was worried would be an understatement.

in the time they had been away, Tao, Smellerbe and the Duke had come back from thier long supply run. When Katara prodded them for answers, they said that they had to go the long way around because there had been a few fire nation soldiers around the area, and definately not because the Author completely forgot about them for the last eighteen chapters.

After a good scolding from Katara, Sokka and Toph had spent thier time trying to explain everything that had hapened while they were away. They were shocked at Zukos actions, and started off angry that he was there, but, after the rest of the story was told, they softened themselves.

Katara left when they started to pity him.

She didnt want to be a part of that.

She still didnt know what to think

Instead, she busied herself with doing the laundry, and tried to think about anything but their resident Firenation prince. 

She was unsuccessful. 

She didnt know how long she had been half heartedly trying to do the laundry before Sokka found her.

”Hey Katara.” He said casually, sauntering over to her in his usual relaxed demeanor Katara had learned meant that he was worried about something and was trying to hide it.

”Whats up?” She asked, playing along for now. She knew that whatever was bothering Sokka would come out quicker if she didnt ask him what was wrong.

At least it was a good distraction from a certain prince and their friend who was currently who knows where, and she didnt know if-

”Not much.” Sokka said smoothly, coming over to lean against a stone pillar, “I was just wondering, well, are you ok?”

Katara blinked.

She was not expecting that.

”I’m fine Sokka.” She said, trying to put on a convincing smile, “I’m just a little.. tired. That’s all.”

Somehow, Sokka didn't look convinced.

”Right…” he said slowly, “And you haven’t been cleaning the same item of clothing for the past half an hour.”

Katara blinked and stared at her hands, which were half submerged in now cold soapy water with a soaked, and very much clean shirt (when did the water get cold?)

Katara sighed and put the shirt in the pile of soaking wet clothes that was disturbingly smaller than the pile of dirty clothes she had on the other side. 

She grabbed a stray sock and started to clean it while she continued to talk to Sokka.

”Katara I’m worried about you.” He said, “I mean, its obvious that there’s something on your mind. You can talk to me about it you know.”

”It’s nothing.” She said, “Honestly, you don't have to be worried about me. I’m ok.”

Sokka gave her a look that was part ‘you really think I can’t tell?’ part pity, and part understanding.

Katara hadn’t seen that look for a while.

She hated it.

”Is it about Aang and Zuko?’ He asked her gently, like she might break if he didnt.

She hated that even more.

Because he was probably right.

”I…” she said, then, realised she didn't know what to say.

”Aangs gonna be fine.” Sokka said, “Hes the Avatar, and Zuko is just… well Zuko. Also, I don't know if you noticed this but he’s currently not very good at Firebending. Do you really think he’s any match for Aang?”

Katara bit her lip. 

“What if Zuko leads them to the Firenation?” Katara asked, though she found her resolve slipping - she didn't fully believe her own words anymore, “Do you think he can fight off an entire platoon of soldiers by himself? Especially without the Avatar state?”

Sokka sighed. 

“If he was going to plan something like that,” Sokka said, “he would have had to know that he couldn't firebend. Do you really think that would be the case?”

”H-he could be faking it!” Katara said, “He could just be pretending.”

”…Katara…”

”We can’t trust him Sokka, I know it! I don't care if he saved our lives back then, he- he…”

The wet sock that Katara was washing fell out of her now trembling hands. Images were flashing in her mind; a body falling into an abyss, the wounds of burns and scapes around a chest that wasn't rising often enough, and when it did, it was too shallow too-

She leaned against the washing basin, head hung low, tears prickling along the edges of her vision.

What was wrong with her? Why couldn't she get her thoughts straight? Why couldn't she figure out what she felt?

She felt Sokka's arms wrapping around her. She turned and faceplanted into his chest. She could feel tears staining his shirt but she didn't care.

She just… couldn't care.

Sokka didn't seem to mind. He was too busy petting her hair and back in a comforting manner. 

“H-he almost died.” She managed, her voice muffled, but surprisingly quick, “He almost died, and I wasn’t going to- to help him. But I can’t trust him Sokka, he betrayed me, he h-hunted us down for weeks, and I can’t forgive him for that, but I just think about how he was after Aang rescued him and… Spirits, I just don't know what to think…”

”Hey, its ok Katara, its ok.” Sokka said quietly, rocking the both of them back and forth, “You’re just exhausted. A lot has happened these last few days… its time for a break.”

Katara only whimpered, grabbing her older brothers shirt in a fist to try and comfort herself, something she hadn’t done in years.

”I can finish the laundry if you want.” He suggested.

Katara couldn't help it. She snorted. Hard.

“You, do the laundry?” She whispered, her voice hoarse but still amused.

”Yeah, why not. If a girl can do it, it can’t be that hard right?”

And oh, isn’t this an argument as old as time. She knew he was just teasing her to try and make her feel better. 

“You said that about cooking.” She said.

”And?” Sokka asked.

“You melted half our home with the fire it caused.”

”Hey, that was only one time.”

”Only?” Katara laughed, pulling away from her brothers embrace. He let her go.

She stared at him and grinned, wiping the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand.

”That’s because me and Gran Gran never let you cook again.” She said with a smile.

Sokka put on a dramatic upset face and clutched a hand to his chest.

Katara laughed some more.

”Feeling better?” Sokka asked.

”Y-yeah.” She said, “Thanks.”

”No problemo.” He pointed at her with finger guns, “But in all seriousness, I can do the rest of the laundry. You should probably go have a nap.”

”Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” 

“Yeah, don't worry about it. I’ll be fine.”

”Ok.” Katara said, “Thank you.”

Sokka grinned and gave her a thumbs up as she walked away. 

She found that she felt a little better.

Aang was feeling a bit nervous. 

Actually that was an understatement.

He stood stock still as the aardvark sloths continued to lick the goop off of the boys, under the scrutiny of the people they had come to learn from. 

The people they thought were dead.

The Chief of the Sun Warriors stood tall and proud, staring at them like he was a predator, and they were easy prey.

Aang glanced down to see the ducklings huddled on Zuko's feet. The image made him feel a little better. 

“For trying to steal the Sunstone,” the Chief said, “You must be punished.”

“We didn't come to steal the sunstone!” Zuko yelled, “We came to learn from you! To learn from the original firebenders.”

One of the tribe members sneered.

”Yeah right,” he said, then, turning to the chief, “They are obviously thieves, trying to take our treasure.”

the other members of the tribe were murmuring in agreement.

Aang b it his lip. He needed to do something. Something to make them believe him.

He didn't like doing this, but he didn't have much choice.

he sighed.

”Look, I didn't want to pull this card, but I’m the Avatar.” He said, stepping in front of Zuko, “The world is in grave danger, and I have to learn Firebending so that I can save it. You’ve got to believe me.”

The Chiefs eyes hardened in thought.

Beside him, Zuko spoke up.

”I am Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation.” He said, “At least, I used to be. My people have distorted the ways of Firebending, being fueled by rage and anger. But I want to learn the true way.” Zuko paused and looked at Aang, before taking a deep breath and continuing, “I have seen the pain and suffering me and my people have caused, and I want to change my ways. This war has been going on for years and I want to put an end to it by stopping my father. Please, let me help to right this wrong.”

Aang stared at Zuko in shock. He had seemed a quiet, awkward kid without the bravado of the Firenation behind him these past couple of days. Is that how he really felt?

the Chief narrowed his eyes, but said nothing. The other member of the tribe scoffed again, “Do you really think we would believe such blatant lies?”

”Wait, Ham,” The Chief said, “This is not for you to decide. It is the will of the Masters.” - He stared at the two prisoners in front of him and stood up a little straighter, if that was at all possible - “You will be Judged by the Masters, Ran and Shaw. If they deem you worthy, you will be spared and be taught the ways of the Sun. But if they don’t, you will meet your end by thier fire.”

Aang gulped. He didnt quite like the sound of that.

”There are two masters?” Zuko asked.

The Chief walked towards them.

”When they present yourselves to them, they will examine you.” He said, his eyes glazing over the both of them, “They will examine your hearts, your souls and” - he turned to look pointedly at Zuko - “Your ancestry. Only if you are deemed worthy, will you be spared.”

With the final words, the Chief raised his hands to the air. The rest of the tribe cheered and cried out. Aang turned to look worriedly at Zuko.

His ansestry… would they judge him so unfairly for the actions of his family? All the pain and destruction? They couldn't judge him for those things! Sure, he did try to capture the Avatar but that was for a reason, wasn't it?

Zuko must have sensed him staring, because he turned to stare at him. His face was apathetic, but his gaze was worried. 

Aang gulped. 

Chapter Text

Zuko felt like he had been walking for hours. 

Probably because he had been. He held the small flame close to his chest, praying that he could keep it alive long enough to get to the masters of Firebending. 

What’s more, he was being watched. Had been being watched for as long as they had been walking, with the entire tribe following along behind. He felt exposed, being surrounded at all sides - he was following the Chief and his right hand man - especially since he didn’t have the ducklings pressed against his pockets. 

They had tried to leave the ducklings behind, having been told that it was too dangerous for them - but they were stubborn, and had insisted on coming along.

The problem being that they got tired too easily, and after a while, they were begging to be picked up. Zuko, who was too preoccupied with holding the flame in his hand and not letting it disappear, didn’t have the hands or the concentration to pick them up.

Luckily, there had been a girl, maybe around twelve years old, who seemed to really like the ducklings. She had offered to hold the ducklings, and in a surprising twist of fate, the ducklings had allowed for her to take them without protest, including Azula.

She had struck up a conversation then with Aang as they continued walking, and had not stopped blubbering right next to Zuko, who was having a lot of trouble trying to concentrate as it was. He found it very annoying.

“So, you said you had a friend in the fire nation before?” 

“Yeah, his name was Kuzon, and he was one of my best friends. I miss him a lot.”

”Do you think he could still be alive?”

”I dont know, maybe? Another one of my friends is still alive. And he’s even the King of Omashu now!”

”Woah. You said you were stuck in an iceberg for a hundred years, right? How does that work?”

”I’m actually not entirely sure about that. I think it might have been-“

”Aang, concentrate.” Zuko hissed as the younger boy's flame was tittering at the edge of going out entirely. 

“Oh, oops!” Aang said and went back to staring intently at the flame in his hand.

”Sorry! I shouldn’t have distracted you.”

”Its ok, its fine.” 

Zuko breathed out a sigh of relief and continued to walk in relative silence.

Soon, they had reached the top of the mountain, and the tribespeople got into place. Zuko looked up at the two huge peaks jutting into the sky, a bridge between them. 

Was this where the masters lived?

He didn’t know what to expect. Maybe they were recluses who didn’t like to be in the main village? Or they just didn't want to be disturbed? 

He imagined older men, much like Uncle, who were patient if not a bit strict. He only hoped that they wouldn’t judge him for who he was. The great grandson of the man who started this war. 

With every step towards the mountain, Zuko felt himself become heavier and heavier, like he was being weighed down by something. A sense of dread overtook him, as more and more scenarios played out in his mind, each one worse than the last. 

He stared up at the twin peaks up above, wondering what fate awaited him up there. 

He didn't have to wait very long. They soon got to the base of the two peaks, in a rounded arena with no walls, overlooking one final staircase up to the two holes in the mountains. The tribespeople marched along the edge of the stone paved ring and took a stance. They moved like dancers perfectly choreographed as they started to firebend perfect rings. Zuko heard Aang gulp beside him, shuffling on his feet nervously. Zuko spared the boy a glance, watching as his eyes glanced nervously at the firebenders. 

For a moment, Zuko played with the thought that he probably wasn’t the best person to teach the Avatar Firebending. These people… they were experts at the craft, while Zuko was struggling to even make a single candle sized flame. Maybe they should be the ones teaching the Avatar, and not him, the screw up who’s family was the entire reason this twelve year old boy had to become a master, a responsibility that should never have been on the shoulders of someone so young. 

He was about to voice this, ask the Avatar if he would rather these people teach him, when the Chief spoke again.

”Facing the Masters will be very dangerous for you.” He said, his voice echoing through the mountain. He turned to look at Zuko, making him flinch. The flame in his hand flickered nervously, “Especially for you. Your ancestors hunted down the dragons. The Masters may not be happy to see you.”

”I know I wouldn’t.” The Chiefs right hand man said, just loud enough for Zuko to hear. 

“But, if they find out I’m the Avatar,” Aang started, “Surely-“

”Did you forget that you disappeared for a hundred years, allowing this war to go on for as long as it did?”

Aang flinched as if he had been struck.

The two boys glanced at each other, before tentatively walking up the stairs. Behind them, the Sun Warriors started to bang on drums rhythmically, as if preparing for their doom. It took all of Zuko's thoughts to calm himself down enough not to turn tail and run in the other direction. He forced himself forwards, step by step, little by little, trying to focus on the flame in his hands.

this was not helped by Aang.

”We could turn back now.” He whispered, “We’ve already learned more about Firebending than we could have hoped.”

Had they really?

”No.” Zuko said, “We have to see this through to the end.”

”But what if they judge us?” Aang whispered, his tone becoming increasingly panicked after every word, “They could attack us, and you, because well…”

The thought trailed off, but Zuko already knew what the boy was thinking. 

“But they might not.” Zuko said, “and even if they did, you can find another Firebending Master to teach you. There are probably plenty of others that are better suited for the task.”

”Wha- Zuko?!” Aang said, sounding horrified. 

Zuko pushed on, walking a bit faster as his heart pounded. Aang struggled to catch up. If he said anything else, Zuko couldn't hear him over the drums below.

when they eventually reached the top, Zuko glanced at the holes in both of the mountains. Is this where the masters lived? Inside caves? Zuko didn't know what to think about that, but he had been envisioning something akin to a house inside the mountain, something small maybe, not literal caves.

Aang and Zuko took positions back to back and presented their flames to each of the holes, their heads bowed and hands outstretched. The drumming below continued on, and Zuko closed his eyes, hoping against hope that he was going to be ok. 

“Umm, Zuko?” Aang said tentatively after a couple of seconds of relative silence.

”What?” Zuko asked.

”I er, I might have… accidentally… um…”

Zuko turned around slightly to be able to see what Aang was trying to say. It took longer than Zuko would like to admit to realise what had happened.

Aang had lost his fire. 

“Well, what do you want me to do about it?” He asked. 

“Gimmie some of yours.” Aang said quickly.

”What? No!”

”Why not?” 

“I- just make some.”

”I can’t!”

”Well then get some from the warriors.”

”Stop being so stingy, I just need a little.”

At that Aang reached over to try and take some of the fire. Zuko moved his hands out of reach from the younger boy.

”What are you doing?”

”I just need a little bit, please Zuko!”

”Stop it you’re going to-“

”Chirp.”

Aang and Zuko froze in place, before both of them looked down. 

It was Lu Ten, and he looked very grumpy. He had somehow managed to get up the stairs.

Zuko glanced down further to see the girl from the tribe that had previously been holding the ducklings being held back from the stairs, her eyes wide. The three other ducklings were close behind him, almost making it up to the top to join their brother. 

Zuko dropped his arms in shock. The fire went out. Aang and Zuko both stared at each other in fear, eyes widening as they realised that the drums had stopped.

A horn suddenly blew from below, and Zuko tensed up, before quickly shrugging Aang off his back and gathering the ducklings in his arms, anything to keep them safe from-

The horn stopped blaring. There was a moment of silence before the ground started to rumble, and the mountain shook. Zuko looked around desperately, trying to figure out what was going on. Earthbenders? Were they being attacked?

And then, amongst the noise, Zuko heard it. A growl, like some beast, was being woken up after years of sleep.

Zuko kept his eyes fixed on the hole of the mountain in front of him. He caught a glimpse of what looked like an eye, before the dragon came out.

It was huge. Zuko felt a rush of air go by, almost knocking him off his feet from the sheer force. The dragon was huge, it was blue and powerful and alive.

The dragon was alive.

Zuko felt his mouth drop open in shock. This was, how was this possible? Didn’t all the dragons disappear?

”Zuko!” Aang shouted, his voice somehow cutting through the noise. He turned and just about managed to catch a second dragon, this time deep red, coming out from the other hole. It joined the blue one in its circling of the pair, making Zuko's longer hair tussle in the wind and the panicked ducklings squeak by his chest, trying to bury themselves in Zukos Gi. He held them tighter, trying to prevent them from being spirited away by the two huge beasts and the wind they created. 

Zuko took a step back, and then it clicked.

Ran and Shaw. The Masters.

They were dragons. 

Of course. Why didn't Zuko think about it before? They were the original firebenders, the Sun Warriors must have kept them safe all these years from the rest of the Fire Nation. 

The Fire Nation… 

The Chief's words echoed in his head, and this time they made more sense. 

The Masters may not be happy to see you.

They would know, wouldn't they? They would know that Zuko was from the same family that almost wiped out their species. 

They will Judge you.

Zuko stared at the two dragons circling him, and the realization hit.

He was in the midst of dragons, the animals that his family had hunted for years.

And they were going to kill him.