#I can just picture an old Zuko with barely any black cradling a sleeping Aang's head as he waits in the iceberg

[redrobin-detective]

I have the absolute angiest idea for a fic that I will not write because I’m already half in tears just thinking about it. Only click the readmore if you want to see me dribbling into an emotional puddle.

Zuko’s lightning injury from Azula during Sozin’s Comet was just a bit worse. Katara finishes the Agni Kai with furious tears in her eyes because she knows that the blow was lethal. There is nothing mortal hands can do to save him. But Agni is at his highest power in a hundred years and he knows Zuko’s destiny is to lead the Fire Nation out of war. He cannot die here. A sunbeam concentrates on him while the women fight and suddenly Zuko sits up, perfectly healed with a streak of gold in his hair, bright as a sunbeam. Distracted by her brother’s miraculous recovery, Katara subdues the Fire Princess.

The war is over, everyone lived and there is much celebration.

Until Zuko is hurt during an attempted assassination just a few months after his coronation, not enough to be fatal but enough to add more gold to his hair. That’s when the others realize that the spirits gifts to do not come without cost. Zuko lived to be crowned and as the literal embodiment of Agni’s will on Earth, it is his duty to help pull the Fire Nation back from the brink. But age and injury will slowly sap away his humanity until he will return the life he was given to the sun.

Everyone is devastated. Sokka especially does not take this well. He was just starting to move past Yue, starting to imagine a life in the Fire Nation alongside Zuko. And now he’s going to lose a second love to the spirits. Zuko is hurt but understanding of the distance his friends, his love, give him. He is well used to losing the things he loves. Ever since he died and was reborn, he’s felt different. The gold streaked hair is the most obvious but his eyes take on an extra golden hue. His firebending is now effortlessly powerful and suddenly he has to work on tamping down the raw power he feels under his skin.

Every day that passes, every new golden hair that appears, he feels a little less human, a little more ethereal and he tries to be strong and grateful for the time he has. Mostly, though, he’s scared. Every evening at sunset, he prays to Agni for one more day, just one. He has to settle this trade agreement, he has to help celebrate Toph’s birthday, he needs to hear the swipe of his swords cutting through the air just one more time. Zuko is living on borrowed time and is determined to make the most of it.

One day, Sokka returns, storms into the Fire Palace with steady, tear-filled eyes. He didn’t get time with Yue, he had no warning when she was suddenly taken from him leaving with regrets of what could have been. But Zuko is still here and Sokka will not waste any more of those precious, dwindling days. He pulls his love close, tucking golden fringe out of his eyes. Sokka cannot promise or expect forever, all he wants is here and now.

Assassinations and injuries still happen, sometimes severe enough that Zuko is unconscious. He wakes up during those times in the Spirit World, more gold appearing in his hair as he waits and wonders if this is the last time. Sometimes he sees his familly in the Spirit World. Sometimes he meets them in the wrong order. I want a scared, suspicious Sokka trapped by Hai Bai in the Spirit World eyeing the Fire Prince who’s older, calmer, has streaks of gold in his hair and looking at Sokka with such soft, loving eyes. A younger, grieving Iroh meets a burned, golden haired spirit on his spiritual journey who offers tea and advice. He feels a new wave of grief for this nameless man he will not place for many years. I want Aang to yell after Azula’s lightning, to rage at an older Zuko for letting it happen, for letting Ba Sing Se fall. All Zuko can do is apologize and hold his friend close and pray they both wake up. While Aang sleeps in the iceberg, sometimes he hears whispers of a friend, warm as a candlelight. If he were able to open his eyes, he’d see love and attentiveness and hair so gold he barely looks human. Zuko, at the end of his life, tells Aang just at the beginning of his that they’ll see each other soon.

Years, decades pass and Zuko’s black hair is almost entirely replaced by gold. He’s having a hard time staying aware and present in the physical world. He’s done so much good, helped save the soul of his people, raised a fine, generous Fire Lord to carry on his legacy. The work Agni saved his life for is done. His last day on Earth is a joyful filled with love, friends, family and contentment. He does not pray for one more day because he knows he will not get it. The sun sets that day and so too does Zuko, disappearing into the fading sunbeams.

There is grief butt also gratefulness that they had so long, time they did not expect to have. The sun gleams in the sky, lighting the way for future generations. He laughs with Yue over silly things, mostly Sokka and welcomes each of his friends to the Spirit World. And when a new, bright eyed Avatar enters the Spirit World and finds an old man with kind eyes, an old burn scar and long flowing golden hair, they know that they are in the company of a friend.