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guest-1-2-3 · 6 months

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Some Zukka Canon Divergence Fic Recs !

I'm a little bit insane about zukka canon divergence so here are some that I really enjoyed! All of these are on ao3 :)

Boomerangs and Rainbows by Mindbending, Rated T, 67,555 words, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death: One of my favorite Zukka canon divergence fics ever! Zuko dies at the North Pole and ends up haunting Sokka as a ghost. I am in love with how this author showed their developing relationship and trust in each other and it's just !! such a great plot, writing style, execution, and character writing.

Blue by bealeciphers, Rated T, 192,682 words, Graphic Depictions of Violence: Ba Sing Se + Blue Spirit zukka canon divergence 👀 A lot of crazy identity shenanigans with this one. This is Zuko pov so it has a lot of focus on Zuko's inner struggle, character arc, identity, and emotions and I think the author did really well! I really enjoyed reading this and seeing the,,,complicated identity concealment zukka going on here that led to some excellent conflict and complicated falling in love!

Operation Leverage by snowandfire, Rated T, 50,723 words, No Archive Warnings Apply: From Ba Sing Se onwards! Zukka fake dating au as Sokka forces Zuko to tell him stuff about fire nation culture :D I liked seeing them get closer! Enemies to friends to lovers my beloved

Leaving it All Behind by Sreeder, Rated M, 259,815 words, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-Con, Past Child Abuse, Torture, Nudity, Panic Attacks, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault: This one is for those of you who like reading the dark stuff. I am someone who mostly likes to read more lighthearted things but I read this fic on recommendation and wow is it well-written! Sokka is captured during the siege on the Northern Water Tribe and sent to Zhao's prison camp. He runs into Zuko, and they eventually start working to escape together and get closer in the process. Very slowburn, very intense and dark, graphic depictions of torture and death. This has a completed sequel that continues their journey as well as a third book currently in the works!

I'm Not Angry Anymore by team_avatars_eyebags, Rated T, 69,430 words, No Archive Warnings Apply: Alternate universe where Zuko and Iroh have been peacefully living on Kyoshi Island with secret identities for a good chunk of Zuko's banishment and then the gaang shows up and throw Zuko's entire semblance of peace and contentment out the window! This whole fic is technically pre-slash but I liked the concept and story too much to not include it here lol

boys are more trouble than they're worth by lesbianspikespiegel, Rated T, 11,128 words, No Archive Warnings Apply: Some nice pretty fluffy and humorous Ba Sing Se Zukka! Getting to know each other, getting together, and the struggle of scrambling to hide your secret relationship from your friend group. Overall a very light-hearted and funny fic :D

#let it be known i also have a fuckton of recs for soulmate aus and modern aus of zukka #so if anyones interested in that! i might post some recs for those as well #zukka #zuko #sokka #fic rec #fic recs #zukka fic rec #zukka fic recs #atla #did i mention im in love with boomerangs and rainbows? cause im in love with that fic #i think one of the first zukka fics i read and one of the best still #just casually enjoying some zukka. then boomerangs and rainbows shows up and now im insane about zukka

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zipzin · 1 year

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Boomerang | Chapter 33 - Act Two: Summer 2017, Part I

Since I'll be locking my stories down for only registered users on Ao3 after about a day, I'm going to start posting the whole chapter on tumblr for those who don't have an account (tho you should get one it's very easy).

You can also read it on Ao3

Sara sighed as the portal shimmered closed behind her. So that was it. Rip unceremoniously having them get their stuff from the Waverider and then portalling them to a new home. He barely gave them enough time to get all of their things.

So much for being legends.

She clutched her duffel bag as she walked up the stairs and let out a deep breath before she knocked on the door. She stood there, suddenly realizing that she hadn’t asked Gideon if he still lived here and if he wasn’t home-

The door swung open and Sara smiled at her dad, blinking at her like she might disappear.

“Hey Dad,” She smiles, feeling like a kid again, “Can I stay here for a bit?”

“Sara!” He hobbled over the door frame and held her, “You’re safe!”

Sara relaxed in his arms, “Uh, yeah?” She does her best to sound like she hadn’t stared down a T-Rex a couple hours ago.

He released her and stared at her, “We worry when we haven’t heard from you and I know you’re traveling through time and can’t get messages to us easily, but we still worry.”

“We?” Sara peered behind him.

“Your mother and I,” He said, “She’s in Central City. We’ve become friends over the past year.”

“Oh?” Sara blinked. This seemed like more of a shock than when she’d come back and found out that they were divorced. Laurel had told her they had only talked when it was about her and after that disastrous dinner, she assumed they hadn’t ever tried to talk again.

“So, do you have a vacation?” He asked once they’d moved inside.

“No,” Sara sighed, loud and weary and only in the deepest depths of her head would she admit, overly dramatic, “I’m retired.”

“Retired? I’m not even retired!”

“Retired from time travel.”

“Really? I thought you loved it.”

“I do, did,” The past tense tasted like ash in her mouth, “But I don’t have the option now.”

“Option?”

“Long story, but Rip took our time ship for his fancy new Bureau.” She scoffed, “So we aren’t needed.”

“Oh.” Her father said as he led them into his apartment.

“So we broke time and then he went back in time and made a new organization to fix us breaking time and so we are done.”

Her father just blinked at her.

“And he was there! But he blamed it all on us.” She threw up her hands and sat on the couch.

“I’m sorry,” Her dad finally said, “Can I get you anything?”

“Just a pillow?” Sara asked, “It’s been a long day.”

“I have a guest bedroom, remember? You can stay there as long as you like.”

Sara hugged him again, “Thanks, Dad.”

Somehow, her father’s two bedroom apartment had more bathrooms than the Waverider. After a night of staring up at the ceiling and being annoyed at the shine of the streetlights through the blinds it was a welcome surprise.

“Gideon,” She called out as she stepped out of the shower.

“What?!” Her dad yelled back and Sara cursed under her breath.

“Nothing!” She yelled back and grabbed the nearest towel.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” Sara sighed, “Thought I didn’t have a towel, but it’s good.” No need to explain that she’s used to an all knowing AI to answer questions like what her team was up to, who was in the galley, were there any alerts she needed to know about. She had that discussion before with both of her parents and they had nodded like she was trying to explain quantum mechanics.

Like that was more ridiculous than time travel.

“Okay,” He sounded dubious, “I left some cash for you on the counter, I’m off to work. There’s food in the fridge.”

“Thanks.”

“Love you.”

“Love you too.”

She could hear him shuffle out the door and Sara leaned over the sink. Here she is, almost thirty, living with her dad and bumming money off of him. “I need a job,” Sara sighed, “And a phone.”

Because she was still going to tell everyone that she had her own bathroom now.

“Gideon, what’s the weather?” She asked in the bedroom and then sighed when there was no answer. She looked out the window instead. At least it was sunny.

She probably needed a laptop too.

And a way to remember to not ask Gideon for things.

Her mom bustled around the kitchen and handed Sara a cup of iced tea. It was hot in Central City, and the whining AC in her mom’s home seemed to barely lower the temperature. After a couple days at her dad’s he’d encouraged her to visit her mom to “enjoy the change in scenery.” She hadn’t had the heart to tell him that Central City was hardly a change in scenery compared to the trenches in WWI.

“So?” Her mom asked, “Tell me all about it.”

Sara took a long sip of her tea. Where would she even begin?

“I guess it started when we got scattered through time.”

Her mom makes her feel like a good storyteller, oohing at all the parts she wants her to and, during the scary parts, gripping her hand as if Sara might disappear in front of her. Even if she doesn’t tell her the full truth of incidents like Rip shooting her.

“And I had the Spear of Destiny and,” Sara’s voice faded, as she tried to not cry.

“It’s alright, darling.” Her mom said and rubbed her back.

“I saw Laurel.”

The breath escaped her mom’s lungs and Sara continues, studying a whirling pattern in the kitchen table.

“We talked.” Sara grit her eyes together as a tear escaped. “I could change anything,” Her voice sounds foreign to her own ears, “Everything.” She breathed out. She could stop Laurel dying. Make the Gambit never go down, stop herself from getting onto it.

All the stupid decisions she made, and her heart pounds as she wills herself to not ignore it, after Ava left, she could just stop. Reverse it like they never existed.

She could’ve made it so Ava’s dad never got that job.

“I wanted to.” Sara said. “I really wanted to.”

Her mother leans into her and pulls her into her chest, enveloping her like she hadn’t since Sara joined the League of Assassins.

“I didn’t,” The tears start coming and Sara knows they won’t stop. “Because if I learned anything it’s that if you change one thing you have no idea what else might change.”

Her mom held her against her chest, and let Sara cry in her arms. “It’s alright darling.”

Even if Ava never left, she might have still gotten on the Gambit. If Oliver didn’t become the Arrow would the Glades be completely flattened? Would Laurel have died then? If Laurel wasn’t killed by Darhk, would Sara have stayed with the Legends? Would Doomworld be their new, permanent reality?

She had no idea.

“It feels like the wrong choice,” Sara choked out.

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned,” Her mom said, “Is that playing god usually ends badly for everyone.”

“This isn’t a story.”

“No, it’s not. But I’m not just talking about literature, Sara. History is littered with terrible choices by people deciding that their vision of reality is the right one. You’ve met some of them,” She gives a weak laugh, “I don’t understand the rules of time travel or the breaking time or any of that. But you did the right thing.”

“Did I?” Sara sputtered out, “I just decided to destroy the spear. I could have seen what happened if I used it?

Her mom smooths the hair out on her head, “I have a feeling you’d find yourself in a paradox. And all those things, even the terrible ones, they brought you here as my wonderful, courageous daughter.”

“Who doesn’t even get to time travel.” Sara said bitterly.

“So, I don’t understand that.” Her mom said.

Sara sighed, “After we broke time, Rip went back in time and made some fancy government agency to deal with it, so we were retired.”

“Was that the skinny brit with the trenchcoat?”

“Yeah.”

“Never liked him,” She answered.

“Mom!” Sara laughed, “You never met him.”

“You’ve told me enough.”

The tears have stopped, “He never even paid us.”

“Even though protecting the timeline was his idea?”

“Yeah.” Sara said. It was bad enough her father had slipped her a credit card with his name on it before she’d boarded the train to Central City. “So now I have to find a job.” Sara sighed.

“You’re just proving my point that Rip is terrible. And Sara, I’m happy to help with money or help you find a job.”

“I’ve been sending out applications.” It was pretty much the only thing she could do at her dad’s.

“I know that your background isn’t exactly conducive to most jobs, so if there’s anything I can do.”

Sara snorted, that was one way to put it. It wasn’t like she could tell anyone that she had been time traveling. She’d written that she’d volunteered as the leader of a historical reconstruction team and hoped that no one asked too many questions about it. She should get some notes from Nate when she sees him later.

Her mom got up to refill their tea and then paused at the counter, “So you held the Spear of Destiny and saw it rewrite reality, does that mean we should be Christian now?”

Sara laughed, “Mom, I have no idea. We were banned from going to when Jesus is alive because apparently it’s a fixed point.”

Her mom’s confused face said everything Sara was thinking.

Sara sipped her coffee as she stared at the two across from her. Nate and Amaya stared at each other with so much love in their eyes that Sara wondered if it would be immature if she mimed being sick.

It was cute.

She was happy for them, happy that Amaya had stared down Rip when he opened the portal to 1942 and said, “No, I’m staying here.”

Rip had tried to argue, but with one look at the rest of them, he’d just rolled his eyes and muttered, “You’ll need to return at some point. You’ve already broken time, you can’t put the entire timeline at risk too.”

Sara had to physically hold Mick back after that.

“So, how’s living together?”

“We already lived together on the Waverider,” Amaya said.

Sara rolled her eyes, “You had separate rooms and a bunch of roommates.”

“It’s great not sharing a bathroom with seven others.” Nate said and smiled at Amaya. “But it’s been good.”

“Great,” Amaya corrected with a grin.

“Great.” Nate agreed with hearts in his eyes.

“So, what are you guys doing?” Sara asked.

“I’m working with Team Flash,” Nate said and then leaned forward and added in a loud whisper, “And they even pay me.”

“They pay you?!” Sara scoffed.

“Not a lot,” Nate grinned, “And I’m doing some work at the University too. Which, I met your mom!” Nate exclaimed. “I was going to text you, but.” Sara waggled her new phone where only today they’d had the chance to exchange numbers. “I played it cool.”

“You did? She didn’t mention you.”

“Like I said, cool. And, I wasn’t like hey, Dr. Lance, I time travel with your daughter. Since we can’t talk about it with like, civilians.”

“Yeah, about that,” Sara looked down at her drink, “My parents know.”

“What?!” Nate said.

“Look,” Sara said, “I joined the Legends when Rip recruited us to defeat Vandal Savage. My sister is the one that convinced me to go to find purpose after I’d been resurrected. They all knew about it.”

“So could I tell mine?” Nate asked, “It would be better than telling my mom I was on a year-long research trip and I still don’t have a paper written.”

“Um, no?” Sara hedged. “Look, we aren’t time traveling anymore, it’s not like you could show it, so you’d just sound crazy. And my parents knew about me being in the League, working with the Arrow, coming back to life. They have a little more tolerance for the insane. And even they smile and nod with their eyes glazed over.”

“Whatever,” Nate said, “It’s not like my dad would care.”

“Nathaniel,” Amaya said softly.

“It’s fine.” Nate said. “It’s fine. But wouldn’t it really piss off Rip?”

“Nate!” Sara laughed, “We can’t just do things to spite Rip.” Though she was tempted to let him.

Amaya looked like she was about to protest, but let Nate continue on. “So I can talk to your Mom?”

“Sure,” Sara said, “I’ll let her know you’re one of the good ones.”

“One of the good ones?” Amaya asked.

“I’ve complained to her about Rip obviously, and Mick. Sometimes Stein.” All of them really.

“Wait, has she met Stein? Since he’s at the University too?” Nate asked.

“I don’t think so, English and Physics or whatever he does don’t really overlap.” Sara said. Her mother certainly knew of Stein and had shared some of the gossip about him around campus, but never indicated that she’d actually interacted with him. She wasn’t even sure that Stein would put together that it was her mother.

“So, Sara, what’s next for you?” Amaya asked.

“Who knows?” Sara sighed. “My skills might make me an excellent vigilante or time traveler, but they don’t really work here.” She gestured around at Jitters. “My bartending experience is from too long ago and I probably shouldn’t use Ollie as a reference, he’ll probably think they’re asking about being the Canary.” She rolled her eyes. She loved him, but he seemed to attract more trouble than the Legends. He did have a very punchable face.

“You could work with them!” Nate said. “I’m sure they’d enjoy the help.”

“Sure,” Sara said, “But Ollie doesn’t pay people like STAR freaking Labs. Even when he was a billionaire.” She rolled her eyes. “Right now I’m just bumming off my parents.” She had been meaning to connect with Ollie and the crew though, and she bet there’d soon be some days where all she wanted was to beat up creeps.

“But surely there’s something?” Amaya asked.

“What I’d like is to be able to fix the timeline,” Sara sighed. “It’s our mess, and we should be allowed to clean it up.”

Nate raised his glass in agreement and Amaya smiled at them.

“Besides,” Sara said, “I’ve been declared dead twice, and when I wasn’t dead I was an assassin, vigilante, and a time traveler. None of those are things I can talk about or put on a resume.”

“Oh come on,” Nate said, “Everyone lies on their resume.”

Sara rolled her eyes. “And the inevitable background check? It’s not like they’re going to gloss over the death certificates.”

“Why would they do a background check?” Amaya asked. “It seems like a lot of trouble to hire a private investigator for a job.”

“Oh Amaya,” Nate grinned at her, “The 21st century still has plenty of wonders for you to discover.”

Amaya blinked at him and Sara swooped in, “It costs them like twenty bucks to pay a company to do it. With computers, not as powerful as Gideon, but it’s pretty simple today.”

Amaya frowned, “Seems like a terrible invasion of privacy.”

Sara shrugged, “It is. But Nate, if you’re really at the University I might say I was doing some historical thing with you. I doubt it will help, but it’ll at least not look like I disappeared from the timeline.”

“I will lie through my teeth for you.” Nate gave a dramatic head bow.

“Nathaniel.”

“I will tell all the truth that I’m allowed to.”

Sara laughed, she really missed these idiots.

Her mom’s ancient computer whirled as Sara checked her formerly, never used email account. She sighed at the newest messages, besides a dozen spam that she’d never clean out, were all titled with some variation of Thanks for applying! We don’t have any positions for you right now.

She scanned the different companies and realized that this was less than a third of the places she’d applied for. And the others were probably never going to get back to her.

“Guess I have to aim lower,” Sara sighed, and opened up the search bar to type, jobs in Star City. It returned a thousand results and she clicked the filters to select part-time and no experience.

It was populated with a bunch of service jobs at the various big box stores, and gritting her teeth, Sara opened the first link.

#avalance #legends of tomorrow #sara lance #my writing: avalance #my writing: lot #my writing #boomerang au #mine

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