#Bonus points for Zuko knowing he's going to switch back with other Zuko imminently

[muffinlance]

@captainkirkk

It takes days of wondering, is it him, is he the thing that's different, did he really screw up as an infant and that's why Ozai--

His mother is still here. His sister and he are in the same firebending classes, and she's better, of course she's better, but he doesn't have any of the little spackled scars from his teacher--their teacher--getting frustrated with his slowness, with being stuck training the lesser sibling, with--

And after the lesson, when he's still wobbly in this too-young body he woke up in, she grabs his sleeve and hauls him off

"You can't still be worried about dad," she says, like either of them have ever called Ozai anything but Father. "What's wrong with you?"

Oh, Zuko realizes; this Zuko is better. And this Azula noticed when he wasn't, and cares, and is crossing her arms and glaring at him while she demands answers, and

"You know I love you, right?" he says

"...You were running around in that mask again, weren't you. Zuzu, how much head damage did you get this time?" She knows about his Blue Spiriting--this Zuko still has reasons to Blue Spirit--and before he can even begin to process that she says, "This is why we need to go together."

So they do. Blue Spirit and Gold break into the nobleman's house, they find the evidence of the embezzlements, and they leave it, gigging and breathless, on the desk of the Fire Lord without his guards ever noticing.

On the desk of Fire Lord Iroh

Fire Lord Iroh ascended the dragon throne nearly fifty years ago, after the late Azulon's untimely heart attack

Fire Lord Iroh, then barely the age of majority, raised his younger brother Ozai like a son, just as he raised his nation to new heights

Ozai, second in line after Crown Prince Lu Ten, returns to the palace and hugs his brother (his father). Hugs his wife and his daughter and his son.

"Victory, I assume?" Azula asks, and she and her father have the same sharp smile as they all go down the hall after Uncle, who is eager to make the new tea blend his baby brother has brought back from Ba Sing Se.

Grand Secretariat Long Feng sends his most respectful regards. He and Ozai have finalized their arrangements, no unsightly sieges required. It's too bad, really, about his own young monarch's failing health--fortunately, wiser minds will soon prevail upon the throne.

Zuko sits. Zuko has tea. He can't tell if it's good or bad because

Because Ozai touches him on the shoulder, a casual gesture, just reaching past him for the soy sauce Lu Ten is teasingly keeping from his "big brother's" grip, and

And everyone is alive and everyone is here and the last time his own Ozai touched him was--

And he can't remember the time before that. He honestly can't.

The hand on his shoulder is light, is warm, is the casual touch of a love that never needed to be earned.

This family loves each other. Loves him.

They do not love the world.

"Oh," says Ozai, nearly off-handedly, "I heard the most interesting rumors on the way home. Apparently grandfather missed at least one of the air nomads. And an entire sky bison."

"An old man?" Iroh asks.

"A twelve-year-old," Ozai replies. "Traveling with--"

That part hasn't changed. Just... Everything else.

Just Zuko.

Iroh sits back from his tea, stroking his beard. "It would be a shame to allow the knowledge of such bending to be lost again. Perhaps we should send someone to retrieve them, before any of our troops get... over zealous."

Azula is suddenly catching Zuko's eye, is kicking him under the table, and--

And the Blue and Gold Spirits make such an excellent team around the capital, but neither of them have ever been allowed to leave home.

Have never been forced to leave.

Azula speaks up, when Zuko doesn't. "Uncle," she says, like that's how to address her Fire Lord, "Retrieving one pacifist and a barely-trained waterbender" --she does not bother mentioning Sokka, not that anyone at this table has earned the right to know his name-- "is hardly a mission worthy for our troops. But perhaps it would prove a useful introduction to command, for your two youngest officers?"

She smiles sharply, winningly.

And. And Zuko is off to hunt the Avatar.

I was thinking about universe swap AUs where characters from very dark (and often abusive) universes get brought into a much kinder universe. Those AUs are my favourite but consider:

Canon Zuko is temporarily brought into a universe where his father never hurt him, his mother never left, Azula adores her big brother- and he has no idea why this universe is so much kinder to him than his own

[i-would-like-some-tea]

#Bonus points for Zuko knowing he's going to switch back with other Zuko imminently #Or better yet: having the choice of staying or going in his hands #Zuko: do I trust myself not to fuck this up #Zuko: #Sometimes self love is leaving your alternate universe self to go on his own journey of moral and ethical discovery #And your little sister too #After leaving him some Very Pointed and entirely inexplicable reading recommendations #Loving Family Zuko: wakes up to a stack of grim military reports and illegally imported decolonization texts #From One Spirit to Another #Reads the note on top #In his own handwriting #A white lotus doodled casually underneath #Loving Family Zuko:??? #avatar the last airbender #atla #Zuko

Okay, but also, did they swap places? Does Loving Family Zuko wake up in canon Zuko’s universe (and at which point in the time line)?

I love this, there are so many possibilities how this could go *rubs hands gleefully at fictional characters‘ trauma*

I was thinking about universe swap AUs where characters from very dark (and often abusive) universes get brought into a much kinder universe. Those AUs are my favourite but consider:

Canon Zuko is temporarily brought into a universe where his father never hurt him, his mother never left, Azula adores her big brother- and he has no idea why this universe is so much kinder to him than his own

[esmeralda-anistasia]

#Bonus points for Zuko knowing he's going to switch back with other Zuko imminently#Or better yet: having the choice of staying or going in his hands#Zuko: do I trust myself not to fuck this up#Zuko:#Sometimes self love is leaving your alternate universe self to go on his own journey of moral and ethical discovery#And your little sister too#After leaving him some Very Pointed and entirely inexplicable reading recommendations#Loving Family Zuko: wakes up to a stack of grim military reports and illegally imported decolonization texts#From One Spirit to Another#Reads the note on top#In his own handwriting#A white lotus doodled casually underneath#Loving Family Zuko: ???

I was thinking about universe swap AUs where characters from very dark (and often abusive) universes get brought into a much kinder universe. Those AUs are my favourite but consider:

Canon Zuko is temporarily brought into a universe where his father never hurt him, his mother never left, Azula adores her big brother- and he has no idea why this universe is so much kinder to him than his own

[bayofalgecirascranes]

prev tags: #Bonus points for Zuko knowing he's going to switch back with other Zuko imminently#Or better yet: having the choice of staying or going in his hands#Zuko: do I trust myself not to fuck this up#Zuko:#Sometimes self love is leaving your alternate universe self to go on his own journey of moral and ethical discovery#And your little sister too#After leaving him some Very Pointed and entirely inexplicable reading recommendations#Loving Family Zuko: wakes up to a stack of grim military reports and illegally imported decolonization texts#From One Spirit to Another#Reads the note on top#In his own handwriting#A white lotus doodled casually underneath#Loving Family Zuko: ???#avatar the last airbender#atla#Zuko

I was thinking about universe swap AUs where characters from very dark (and often abusive) universes get brought into a much kinder universe. Those AUs are my favourite but consider:

Canon Zuko is temporarily brought into a universe where his father never hurt him, his mother never left, Azula adores her big brother- and he has no idea why this universe is so much kinder to him than his own