#little eleven year old me loved katara

[imagines--galore]

||The Thread of Fate|| Part Thirty

Summary: Soulmate AU. They say the Thread of Fate connects you to your one true love. It may tangle. It may stretch. But it will never break. Wrapped around your little finger it tightens when it feels your soulmate is close and loosens when they are far. And becomes visible with the colors of your soulmate’s Nation when you finally fall in love with them.

Pairing: Zuko x OroraOC (ATLA)

Rating || Genres || Warnings: T+ Romance. Adventure.

Previous Chapters - Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, Part Seven, Part Eight, Part Nine, Part Ten, Part Eleven, Part Twelve, Part Thirteen, Part Fourteen, Part Fifteen, Part Sixteen, Part Seventeen, Part Eighteen, Part Nineteen, Part Twenty, Part Twenty-One, Part Twenty-Two, Twenty-Three, Twenty Four, Twenty-Five, Twenty-Six, Twenty-Seven, Twenty-Eight, Twenty-Nine,

A/N: A filler chapter, but I guess we all deserve one after all the emotions and turmoil and heavy stuff. And the next couple of chapters are also gonna be filler so.....yup! Hope you enjoy!

Zuko stared in amazement.

"So, you're telling me that you made your sword from a rock that came from space." The surprise and awe was evident in his voice as he lifted Sokka's sword at eye-level and inspected the blade. Sokka, who was sitting beside the Prince gave a proud grin.

"Yup! Toph even made an arm-band out of the leftover piece." The girl in question pulled off the only piece of jewelry she would probably ever wear and held it up, only to change it shape as she bended it to show her control over the space rock. "That's pretty amazing." Zuko commented, to which Toph gave a small shrug of nonchalance, a slightly smug grin on her lips.

There was no denying the pride in her voice as she added. "That's nothing compared to my invented metalbending." How exactly a thirteen year old had been able to do that, was still a mystery to him, but Zuko wasn't about to question Toph's age. None of them were of age to become Masters and yet everyone fighting beside Aang seemed to be powerful in their own right.

Aang was a Master Airbender and Waterbender. Not to mention his Earthbending skills weren't as abysmal as she had thought, according to Toph, and he was shaping up to be a pretty good Firebender too.

Katara was a Master Waterbender, and she was accomplished when it came to Healing Abilities. Not to mention Toph had told him how she had made her own water while in jail.

Toph was a Master Earthbender, while also having created Metalbending and mastering that as well. Zuko suspected it was a good thing he never had to face off against her in a battle.

Sokka was a good strategist and given that he had helped invent the War Balloon and other War Machines they'd used during the Invasion, Zuko had made the assumption that despite his rather clumsy nature, he was a formidable warrior.

Orora was a Master when it came to Healing Abilities, and, according to Aang, she was nearing the Master level as a Waterbender. She had really come a long way since he had met her.

And then there was him. A Master Firebender, with an expertise in sword-dueling from Piandao himself.

Guess it wasn't a surprise that he actually felt as if he were equal to all of them on every level. Something he had never felt before. With his peers or really anyone his own age, he had always been Advanced, so he hadn't been able to find a connection with them. With people older then him, other then his Uncle, they'd thought him to be too immature to give him the time of day. Plus most of them were just old gasbags who were more concerned about keeping their positions rather then let someone younger take their place.

For once, Zuko felt like he belonged with these people. Kids his own age.

And it felt nice.

Suddenly Toph sat up straight from where she had been sitting in a slouch and grinned. "Well look who's finally up!"

Though before the Earthbender had even begun to talk, Zuko knew who it was.

Since he had felt his string tug.

Sure enough, Orora was walking towards them, stretching her arms over her head as she did. "Morning." She managed to speak, despite the yawn that accompanied it. "You do realize that its nearly afternoon right?" Sokka asked the older girl who made her way towards the water pots they kept for washing up. "I mean I love to sleep in as much as the next guy, but this is a bit excessive for you isn't it?"

Glancing up from where she had been splashing some of the water on her face, Orora gave him a deadpanned look. "That's because no one else has a room mate who snores like a platypus bear." She shot back, glaring at Toph as she did. The younger girl grinned. "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

Orora simply rolled her eyes as she sat down between Sokka and Toph, which put Zuko sitting across from her, completing the little circle.

Glancing at the sky, the Waterbender sighed. "Guess I'll just have to wait till lunch to get something to eat." She muttered under her breath, reaching up to run a hand through her hair, which she had left unbound for the time being. Or rather because she'd left the strips she tied her hair with in the fountain room and hadn't been back to retrieve them.

She barely had any time to pout when a bowl of rice appeared in her line of vision. Orora blinked, staring at the hand holding it out for her.

"I saved some for you." Zuko stated, clearing his throat as he did. "Aang and Katara went off to practice Waterbending and Sokka and I were in charge of cleaning up so I figured I'd save the leftover for you." Why he felt the need to explain himself further was beyond him.

The gesture was enough for old memories to reawaken. All those times she had been the one to save food for him, and cover it so it would stay warm for him.

Reaching out, she took the bowl, cradling it between her palms as she looked up at him and gave a small smile. "Thanks." Sokka, who had pretended to go back to polishing his sword, glanced between the both of them out of the corner of his eyes. Meanwhile, Toph picked up on something that she had held back for so long, but wasn't about to because she knew it would cause chaos and embarrassment for both Orora and Zuko.

And she lived for it.

"Woah!" She exclaimed softly, grinning from ear to ear.

Zuko glanced at her, frowning slightly. "What?"

"Relax guys! It was just a bowl of rice, not a proposal. Your heartbeats are going crazy."

The result was instantaneous. Zuko went red in the face, his mouth opening and closing as if he wanted to say something but couldn't find the words for it. Sokka choked on his own laughter, fell backwards, regained his breath, before resuming laughing. Orora pursed her lips, her cheeks pink, as she glared at her friend.

"I can feel you glaring at me right now Ice Princess." Toph commented, not at all bothered by the heat she could feel behind the look Orora was giving her despite being unable to see. Smiling smugly, the blind girl raised her cup of water to her lips to take a drink.

Only to find it frozen solid.

"Hey!" She protested, glaring in Orora's direction who simply smirked before taking a bite of her rice. Having regained a little bit of his composure, Sokka managed to sit up straight once more, though he put his space sword back in it's sheath. "So............, did the two of you manage to talk things out?" He asked, glancing between the still red-faced and slightly annoying looking Fire Nation Prince and a Waterbender who was calmly eating her breakfast.

Obviously neither of them knew the two of them, along with Aang and Katara had been spying on them last night. Before the either of the concerned person could make a comment, Toph spoke up. "Course they did. Firebug's been chirpy all morning hasn't he? Must mean something good came out of yesterday."

All three of them paused.

"Firebug?" Zuko echoed, to which Toph nodded, looking way too proud of herself. "Don't worry. That won't be your only nickname. I also have Angry Guy and Prince Pouty." The last nickname had Orora clapping a hand over her mouth to muffle the snort of laughter that escaped her. Zuko threw an annoyed glare in her direction to which she shrugged. "Well not like you haven't been called that before."

Her words only prompted him to pout, which resulted in Orora and Sokka bursting out into loud laughter.

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When she had woken up earlier that morning, Orora had expected things to still be tense between her and Zuko. Not wanting to deal with what was to come, and simply bask in the knowledge that she and Zuko were, for once, in agreement when it came to what they were for one another, she'd closed her eyes, and went back to sleep.

The next time she woke, the girl had forced herself to get out of bed. And yes, when she had stepped out of her room she had been nervous, unable to determine how things would be between her and Zuko.

Would they still be at odds and be awkward around one another, or would things be just as they had been in Ba Sing Se?

She found herself praying to the Spirits it was the latter.

And Zuko's simple act of saving her some breakfast and giving it to her, was enough to shatter a few of the residual reservations she had about her decision, while also making her see that perhaps, sometimes, prayers were duly answered.

Once she'd finished her breakfast, she dragged Sokka off to retrieve whatever she had left in the fountain room yesterday.

In reality, she had needed some advice.

Just one last bit of doubt before she could truly move on.

Sokka, sensing her hesitation, saved her by being the first one to speak. "So, are things alright between you two now?" He asked, peering at her face to make sure he saw any emotion that passed over her features.

Though he shouldn't have worried about her hiding anything from him, because quite honestly, Orora was sick and tired of hiding her true feelings. She had been forced to do it her entire life, and the past few months, the two times she had tried to keep her emotions in, she had, for lack of a better word, exploded.

And she was done.

"We talked." She revealed. "And he was ready to leave if his being here was too much for me." As they stepped into the fountain room, she spied her bag and walked over to retrieve it. "Sokka?" She called, clutching the pieces of blue she used to tie her hair back. "When did you decided that it was time for you to move on and put aside your grief for Yue?"

Turning, the girl watched as his expression grew somber and he pursed his lips, thinking over his answer. "I didn't." He finally revealed. "When we ran into Suki outside of Ba Sing Se, there was a point where she revealed she was my soulmate, but I didn't."

He sighed. "I thought I would be dishonoring Yue's memory by getting together with Suki." Sokka paused, allowing his memory of the girl to wash over him, before he smiled softly, Suki's face coming to his mind. "But then I realized that its not what she would've wanted. She would've wanted me to be happy." His smile widened. "So I told Suki she was my soulmate too."

Having walked over to stand in front of him, Orora gripped the strap of her bag. "But, didn't you feel any guilt or anything when you finally let go of your feelings for Yue?" She asked, wanting nothing more then to understand what he had gone through to move forward and carry on with his life.

The Warrior nodded. "I did, but Yue's sacrifice also made me realize that life is too short, and we shouldn't let things out of our control stop us from living our lives."

She blinked, his words settling within her and resonating more then anything. Sokka's advice were the very basis of her reasoning to let go of all that had happened between her and Zuko and move forward. And it did surprise her that Sokka had chosen to do the same because, she didn't think it would be easy to let go of all those feelings.

As he watched her expression change from uncertainty to realization, Sokka smiled, crossing his arms over his chest. "Seems for once I said something that didn't result in an ice mask." He joked, to which Orora smiled at him. "Don't get too confident about that. We still have the rest of the day." At his expression, she laughed.

"Thanks Sokka." He grinned, reaching out to wrap an arm around her shoulders as they began to walk back to where their friends were. "No problem. All I ask is that I don't have to walk in on you making goo-goo eyes at each other, or smooching. No smooching in front of me either, gives me the Ick."

He would've continued, if Orora hadn't allowed her wrist to snap and an ice mask to slap over his mouth, effectively shutting him up.

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"Are you sure you should be doing this here?" Teo asked in a slightly nervous tone as he watched Toph crack her knuckles. The Earthbender scoffed. "Please this place has been standing a hundred years. A little bending match isn't gonna cause any harm."

Since Toph felt she hadn't appropriately kicked anyone's butt in the last few days she had offered a friendly bending match. And Sokka, being an ultimate Earth Rumble fan, his words, had volunteered Haru to face off against Toph.

And since the voices of reason, Katara and Aang, weren't around to stop them, and Orora had agreed because she had wanted a break from Toph's teasing, no one else had been opposed to the idea of a little entertainment.

Haru had quickly bended a large circular shape in the floor. The one to even step on the line would loose. It was a fairly large circle so enough for the two Earth benders to fight it out.

"And the person who uses any material from outside the circle looses." Orora called out from where she sat next to an excited Sokka. He looked almost as if he would vibrate out of his seat. She really didn't understand what was so exciting about two people fighting. Once both Earthbenders were within the ring, Sokka stood up.

"And begin!"

The best was two out of three.

As soon as Toph landed the first win, Sokka leapt to his feet, waving his arms in the air as he screamed and hollered. "Woohoo! Go Toph!" His sudden jump in the air included a knee in the face for Zuko who sat beside him, and a smack in the face to Orora as he waved his arms. She'd been sitting beside him, though on top of a rock giving her some elevation, and grumbled as she rubbed her aching nose.

"Calm down Sokka." She said, as Haru stepped into the ring once more. "Its just a bending battle."

The words seemed to act as a catalyst of some sort, since Sokka, The Duke and Teo, who were now just as immersed as Sokka was, turned to her with a look of utter aghast and shock. "Just a battle?!" Sokka shrieked as The Duke added. "This is the coolest thing I've ever seen. And I've seen a lot of things." He stated his eyes never wavering from Toph's strong figure.

Alright so she couldn't fault The Duke for being fascinating. It did involve his soulmate after all. But Teo as well? He looked ready to jump out of his wheelchair as he waved his arms in the air.

As the second round of Earth Rumble began, Orora dropped her chin in the palm of her hand as she rested the elbow atop her thigh. "Its just two people throwing around rocks for the fun of it." Glancing at Zuko where he sat in front of her, she nudged him gently with her knee. "I don't see you going ga-ga like these three. Not to your liking then?" She asked, as Zuko glanced briefly at the three shouting spectators.

He shrugged. "I mean its interesting, but I kinda agree. Its just two people throwing rocks at one another." At that moment Haru delivered a particularly brutal attack that even Toph had a little difficulty in maneuvering. But she was able to at the last moment.

Though to save herself, she had to send a rather sizable boulder in the direction of the spectators.

"Look out!"

It was only their instincts that saved Orora, Sokka and Zuko from getting crushed.

The three of them jumped out of the way, leaving the boulder to smash into the place where, mere moments ago, they had been sitting. Orora, a little winded from throwing herself to the floor, raised her head to shout at Toph. "Watch where you aim those things!"

And by 'Watch' she of course meant watch with her feet.

Having landed on his feet instead of his face, Zuko stood, holding a hand out to help her up. Grumbling under her breath, Orora stood, brushing the dust from the front of her shirt as she did. "You okay?" He asked, the concern evident in his tone, even as she glared darkly at Toph. "I'm fine." She growled, blowing a strand of hair from her face.

Sokka wasn't even deterred, already on his feet and shouting at Toph to end the match amid Teo and The Duke's words of encouragement.

It would seem Toph had no desire to prolong the match any longer. A few minute later, Haru was over the line and on the ground. "Yeah! Go Blind Bandit!" At Zuko's look of confusion Orora quickly explained. "That was her name when she competed in actual Earth Rumbles."

"Anyone else up for a challenge." Toph called out, basking in the afterglow of her victories. She raised an arm, pointing to where Orora and Zuko were standing. "Since you both are the only other Benders around, I think it should be one of you."

Zuko shook his head. "Its not safe to use firebending in a tight space. I might accidentally burn someone." Orora looked at Zuko in surprise. "Wait....did you just...." She trailed off as Zuko turned his head to glance back at her.

Orora remembered a Zuko who would never have backed down from a challenge. Who would never have given up the chance to fight against someone.

A tender smile pulled at her lips as she reached up to playfully ruffle his hair. "You really have changed haven't you?" She laughed at his attempt to push her hand away, but he was smiling as well, because yes, he had changed. And he liked himself this way. Not because Orora liked him, but because for once he wasn't at war with himself about anything.

"Well since Firebug is out. Orora! Get your butt in here!" Toph called, sounding more then a little impatient. The Waterbender shook her head. "I'm not about to fight just for the sake of entertainment Toph." She said, to which Sokka made a strange sound of horror, as if he were unable to comprehend someone wouldn't want to fight for the fun of it.

But Toph, not wanting to stop just yet grinned. "I'll make you a bet. You fight against me, and if you win I don't tease you and Zuko for three days."

Zuko blinked, frowning as he glanced at Orora who looked as if she were actually considering the deal. Which she wouldn't take, he figured, she would rather-

"Deal!"

He stared at her, a little surprised. And he wasn't the only one. Though judging by the smile that pulled at her lips, she had something up her sleeve.

"But if I win, you will do what I've been asking you since we came to the Temple." Zuko smiled, shaking his head. He should've known his Soulmate would have an ulterior motive.

Toph scowled at Orora, and for a moment the Waterbender thought she wouldn't accept the deal. But then the blind girl nodded.

Orora smirked.

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While Sokka and Haru quickly moved the two pots of water on either side of the circle so that Orora could draw from them anytime during the battle, the Waterbender quickly readied herself.

Which included quickly picking up sections of her hair from either side of her temples and pulling out the hair comb Zuko had returned to her. A little too busy gathering any spare piece of hair behind her head so it wouldn't get in her face, she missed the way Zuko's expression softened at the sight of the comb as it nestled in her dark brown hair once more.

Exactly where it belonged.

A stray piece of hair did land just above her right eye, but she wasn't bothered by it. The rest of her hair she allowed to hang free, thick dark brown locks settling in unruly waves just behind her shoulders. From her bag she pulled out her gloves, pulling them on as she stepped into the circle. If she was going to use all of her body to dodge Toph's attacks, she had no desire to cut her skin and get hurt necessarily.

For a moment everything and everyone stood still, watching with bated breath.

Toph made the first move, creating a row of sharp rocks protruding from the floor and towards Orora.

Inhaling deeply, Orora dropped into a stance, her arms creating twin elegant circles, pulling the water from both the pots and allowing it to create a whirlpool around her, elevating her into the air.

"Showing your hand early in the battle. A little over-confident there Ice Princess?" Toph called as soon as she sensed what had happened. Orora grinned. "Just want to end this quickly so I can get what I want." She called back.

Throwing her arm out, the girl shot a tendril of water towards the blind girl. Sensing the attack as it flew through the air, Toph quickly brought up a shield of earth. The water dissipated, dropping to the ground where the earth sucked it in.

Knowing she would tire herself out if she continued the whirlpool, Orora quickly dropped the intensity. And not a minute later several sharp rock projectiles flew through the air, right where her head had been a moment ago. Getting into her battle mindset was easy as she created a short yet wide circular pillar of ice and stood atop it.

The leftover water from the whirlpool was sent in a small yet strong tidal wave towards her opponent. Who avoided it by creating a ball of earth around her. "You're holding back Princess." Toph called once she had dropped her earth shield. "That's because I don't want any stray attack to hurt anyone else." Orora called back, gesturing to their spectators who had only escaped Toph's previous attack of sharp earth projectile because Haru had been there to deflect it.

Toph waved her hand. "They can take care of themselves." So saying, she attacked Orora head-on with a large boulder aimed straight towards her. Without even flinching the girl shot a bubble of water towards it, big enough to encompass and freeze it in midair. Throwing her leg out, Orora pushed a disc of pure thin ice to fly through the air, slicing the boulder in half before it had even dropped to the floor. But the disc didn't stop there. It flew through the air, landing just beside Toph who barely flinched.

Instead she created several steps, one higher then the next, as she climbed up in the air. Orora knew the next attack would be from the air, and the instant she skated away from her perch, Toph's earth clad figure came crashing down, sending her trunk of ice showering in each and every direction.

Orora pivoted on her feet, her arms thrown out as she caught each and every last fragment of the ice and instead directed it towards Toph. Though it did little damage as Toph simply created a pyramid of earth around her to defend herself from being pierced. One face of the pyramid flew through the air, sliding across the earthy terrain and would've nearly slammed into Orora if she hadn't somersaulted out of the way. She'd barely landed on her feet when her arms were coated with water. Hardly standing up from the crouch she had landed in, the Waterbender threw her arms out to try and catch Toph by the arms.

Of course that plan worked out as well as could be expected given that Toph felt the water coming halfway and counteracted it by kicking her foot out and sending Orora to the ground where the earth lurched under her feet. Getting the wind knocked out of her wasn't exactly a new thing, but then the idea that formed in her head next was certainly she'd never thought of before.

"Alright Toph." She grumbled, barely standing up from where she lay. "You wanna be like that then." Her hand shot out, sending a wave of water towards the Earthbender.

Freezing her feet in place.

"What the?!! Orora!" Toph called, not having expected her friend to play dirty like that. Rising to her feet, Orora grinned. "What're you gonna do now that you can't see?" She goaded, her blue eyes landed on the half broken boulder that was still laying there, each half covered in ice.

"Lets see you dodge this!" So saying she sent both boulders flying, the ice allowing her to control them both. What she hadn't calculated was the fact that Toph could sense the earthen halves of the rocks and while one was knocked out of the way with a swipe of her arm, landing harmlessly on the ground, the other wasn't as lucky.

The force behind Toph's bending was enough to send the ice covered boulder flying through the air, and landing with a resounding crash..............right where the rooms they had all been sleeping in were located.

Every eye turned towards the location in horror, minus Toph.

The boulder had taken out two pillars as it went, before crashing through, first Katara's room, going through Sokka and Aang's room, before landing halfway between Toph and Orora's and Teo and The Duke's.

"Katara is gonna kill us."

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Suffice to say, it wasn't a pleasant conversation explaining to Aang and Katara what had happened. Toph and Haru had tried to clean things up a bit, but obviously they couldn't recreate the architecture the way it had been before.

With the rooms destroyed, and the remaining one's on the verge of collapse, it was decided that all of them would sleep in the courtyard outside instead.

Which meant cleaning up the debris from their impromptu battles, against each other as well as Combustion Man.

"Why did I agree to this?" Orora grumbled as she allowed a small stream of water to sweep away most of the dust and grime that had accumulated on the floor over the years. Toph, Haru and Aang were busy clearing away the bigger rocks and boulders. Katara was supervising Sokka, The Duke and Teo as the moved everything from the rooms to the courtyard. Zuko was stuck with preparing the everything for their lunch, which Orora would be cooking later. Of course this meant cutting a lot of vegetables.

A task he still hated.

Glancing up from where he had chopped the last of the carrots, Zuko shrugged. "You tell me. Normally you don't get goaded into taking bets." Orora huffed, as she sent another small wave of water to collect the dirt. "Yeah well this was one chance I could get Toph to do something shes been putting off for days. She may be a sneak, but she will always honor her bets." Washing away the last of the dirt, she smirked. "Kind of reminds me of you."

He rolled his eyes at her, trying not to show just how happy he was that she spoke to him so.........normally.

"You've gotten really good." He complimented. "And you managed to bend with your feet too, so I guess you figured that out." Trying hard not to sound too proud, Orora grinned. "It took me awhile to perfect, but I finally got the hang of it." She said, making a small circle on the floor with the tip of her shoe. The both of them watch as a small stream of water snaked across the floor and in a circle of ice, following the movement of her foot.

Though she wasn't able to keep her balance on one foot for long. She tilted to the side with a gasp, and would've fallen if Zuko hadn't reached out to grasp her arm and caught her. "Though maybe you should take some balancing lessons from Aang." The Prince suggested with a teasing glint in his warm golden eyes. Orora playfully smacked his chest.

He didn't let go of her arm, while her hand didn't lift from his chest where she had hit him moments ago. Everything around her seemed to fade away as she met his gaze, unburdened. Then again, the moment wasn't so dissimilar from what Zuko was feeling at the moment. Though while Orora felt a rush of contentment in the comfort of the moment, Zuko felt relief.

Relief that now when she looked at him, it wasn't with rage, sadness and uncertainty. But with silent surety.

"Thank you." He said, his fingers gently gripping her forearm. The girl frowned lightly. "What for?" She asked, her head tilting to the side.

He smiled.

"For giving me another chance." He revealed, his hand sliding down to where her hand was, only to link their fingers together.

The fingers that had the string tied to it.

The string that glowed with the respective colors of the other's Nation since last night.

Seeing the blush rise to her cheeks never ceased to make him smile, and that moment was no exception.

Was it strange that only yesterday it hadn't seemed like there was any hope for them, and yet now, standing there, looking at her, Zuko couldn't help but thank every Spirit, known and unknown, that he had his Soulmate back.

They still had a long way to go, still had to work out on some things.

But being civil to one another and actually speaking, being friends again, was one step closer to what they both wanted in the end.

"Why is the floor not clean yet?!"

The sudden exclamation broke the moment, and caused Orora to let out a gasp of surprise. She pivoted on her feet, smacking Zuko in the face as her hair flew behind her as she turned to smile sheepishly at a glowering Katara.

"Sorry. Sorry. I'm on it!"

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"So who exactly won?"

Sokka asked once Katara had stopped chewing them all out and had assigned chores to everyone. Which included Orora and Toph making lunch. They'd only just sat down to eat, with Katara glaring at her brother over her bowl of food. Everyone glanced at the two girls who sat next to one another. Orora glanced at Toph who just shrugged. "We'll just call it even." She stated. "For now."

"But what about the bet?" Haru asked, leaning forward, eager to know the results. Aang, who had been more then a little miffed about being unable to watch the matches, intervened. "Well since no one won, I guess it means you'll both have to uphold your end of the bargain."

Orora grinned, while Toph let out a sigh. Turning her sightless gaze towards the older girl, Toph nearly shuddered at the way Orora's heart was beating with excitement.

"There's no getting out of it, is there?"

"Nope."

"Oh boy."

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[atla-confessions]

More a/b/o ATLA stuff because that ramble I made like a few days ago or something wasn’t enough to stop me from thinking about this stupid thing 😭 Sorry if this makes no sense I’m incredibly tired

Firstly, in that ramble I said healthy pups in ATLA present after their twelfth birthday. HOWEVER, I didn’t mention that in some cases, a pup can present earlier than their twelfth birthday due to harsh stress which causes a hormonal imbalance; the spirits assign your second gender earlier than expected so that it can balance your system out again. The earliest a pup can present is ten and a half.

With this said, I believe that Sokka and Katara all presented earlier than expected. In my AU, Hakoda left when Katara was ten and a half and Sokka was eleven years old and. A few months later (around 2 or 3 months) Sokka presented early due to having the weight of his entire tribe on his shoulders. Katara also presented early from a similar reason at eleven years and seven months old.

I know that with this logic, Toph and Aang probably would have presented earlier as well, but Toph was already twelve when they first met her and I don’t know much about her home life, other than the fact it was restrictive. Aang encased himself in ice when he was twelve and from the flashbacks we see about his past, he wasn’t very stressed (not to say he wasn’t stressed at all, of course).

I’m not sure about Azula or Zuko. Azula prides herself on being perfect and honestly? I think she would present the day she turned twelve, right on the perfect dot. Zuko had to deal with the trouble of his father’s… everything, and his mother’s disappearance. I don’t know for certain whether I believe he presented early or not but if he did present early, it was most likely when he was eleven and a half. Again, not sure.

Unfortunately there’s little to no information about Suki’s past (that I know of) so I can’t be for sure about anything nor can I truly talk about her without doubting myself 🙁.

OOH another thing. (If it’s not obvious I just type what comes to my head.) There was definitely a lot of conflict between Sokka and Katara when she presented as an Alpha; it wasn’t easy for either of them and they got into a lot of fights the first few months of her presentation, as newly-presented Alphas are a lot more emotional and angrier until they mellow out. Add a moody, angry Katara with a moody, sensitive Sokka (who is still somewhat new to being an Omega and is also stewing in self-hatred 24/7) and you get Chaos. And angst, lots of angst.

Right. In this AU, Sokka struggles with embracing his Omega side, hating himself for being a ‘weak babymaker’ or something else horribly rude. Because he hates himself for being an Omega, he lashes out at others and exclaims his dislike towards Omegas publicly (much to Katara’s and everyone else’s nerves). He’s not the only one who struggles with his second gender, however. Katara has problems with her own Alpha-like tendencies, much like Zuko.

(I don’t know if it’s obvious but I mostly think about Sokka and Katara with this AU; Sokka’s my favorite character and I love sibling bonding and angst!! *pats Katara and Sokka* these bad boys can fit so much pain in them!)

Anyways. Yeah, I mostly feel like there would be a lot of fights between the water siblings. These fights would be where most of Katara’s issues with being an Alpha and some of Sokka’s issues with being an Omega would come from; they’d both do things they regret. Katara would probably be aggressive without thinking and Sokka would not be able to argue back due to his mind going into ‘Panic! Stay safe from angry and scary ass Alpha!’ mode.

Anyways more than JUST Katara and Sokka. The GAANG!!

The Gaang are all definitely Pack. Like absolutely family-core (save for Kataang and Sukka, or Zukka if that tickles your pickle or whatever the phrase is).

I feel like Katara was very protective over everyone, especially in the first season when it was just her, Sokka, and Aang. She doesn’t see Sokka as weaker or anything, but her mind just can’t calm down unless she knows her brother is safe. Sokka is just as protective though, but shows it in a different way. The only other time Katara was protective to the point it was downright crazy was when Zuko joined. Another Alpha around, a potential threat? Katara would go crazy, scenting everyone to make sure Zuko understood that if he hurt any of them, she’d kill him.

I think Zuko would make sure not to upset Katara in any way, staying away from the others and making himself appear smaller and kinder so that she wouldn’t get the wrong idea.

I think Sokka would be especially protective over Toph and Aang, since they’re both pups (well, until months after the end of the war).

Ok that’s all I’m about to fall asleep. I’ll probs write more lol 😭 Still obsessed with this stupid a/b/o au thing UGH!

X

[ravenbrenna09]

brenna’s 1k celebration:

@avapereira asked Katara or Korra?

+ bonus: Korra being comforted by her waterbending master

[melzula]

I loved your kya’s daughter hcs! Could you maybe elaborate more on her relationship with iroh 2?

a/n: this is more of like, background hc’s about how they meet and end up together but if you guys want me to actually write a piece about them let me know!

*based off of these hc’s

Kya first sent you to start training with Lord Zuko when you were five. Being a water bender, she could only keep up with your bending for so long before she had to get you a proper instructor

Training you was quite a challenge for Zuko due to the fact that already your bending had begun to take on a unique form. There were no fire bending techniques at all in your bending, but rather water and air, so it would take some time for him to get your bending on track and in control

Because of this, he offered to have you and your mother stay at the palace while you completed your training

And that’s how you soon became introduced to his grandson Iroh

There wasn’t any attraction when you first met, what with you being five and Iroh already being eleven and a half at that point. But he was always so kind to you and took you to the best parts of the palace to play

He also helped with your training, practicing with you and showing you all that he knew. If a session was particularly rougher than usual he would always make sure to patch you up and reward your efforts with a treat that he may or may not have swiped from the kitchen

He became a friend and somewhat of a protector to you, and you’d be lying if you said you hadn’t developed a silly little childhood crush on him. He was very handsome after all and strong, but it was purely innocent and part of your adolescence

You spend five years training with Zuko and alongside Iroh. By the end of it you’re one of the strongest benders he’s ever encountered. The different bending forms paired with your strength and agility make you a worthy opponent, and there were a handful of times where you even bested his grandson during your sparring sessions

However, now that you’ve completed your bending it’s time to return home before continuing your travels around the world with your mother

You make sure to give Zuko a big hug, thanking him for all that he’s done for you and expressing your gratitude for training you

Saying goodbye to Iroh is a little harder. You’ve gotten so used to being around him that it’s going to be difficult adjusting to his absence, but he assures you he will always be there if you need him and that you’re always welcome to come back and visit him. You depart with a hug and a promise to see each other again soon

Traveling the world makes it easier to forget how much you miss the Prince, and you actually date a few other men (and women if you’re interested) while you’re abroad.

You stay out a bit longer than Kya does, but at the age of twenty five you decide it’s time to return home and join your mother and your Gran Gran in the south

It’s nice to see your family again and have the support you’ve been missing while away, though you feel somewhat out of sorts being a fire bender living in the southern water tribe. It takes some adjusting

Eventually Uncle Bumi comes by for a quick visit which you are absolutely thrilled about because you love your Uncle Bumi! He’s making a stop during his journey to the Fire Nation to meet up with Iroh to discuss some important General stuff

He invites you to come along with him for a fun trip and after making sure your mother and Gran Gran will be okay you accept the offer

You have to admit you’re a bit nervous about seeing him again, you were both kids still the last time you’d been together and you’re not sure what to expect now

The long awaited reunion is very exciting though very emotional after being away from your childhood friend for so long. Spirits, he’s even more handsome now, and that little childhood crush easily manages to sneak back in now that you’re together again

“Y/n! I almost didn’t recognize you,” Iroh smiles, pulling you in for a very tight hug. You’ve blossomed into a very beautiful woman, now all grown up and living your own life of adventure, and he couldn’t ignore the fact that your beauty nearly made him breathless

You both find yourselves spending much of your time together, walking through the palace gardens or out in the market place. You make a handsome pair, something Bumi, Zuko, and Izumi all notice right away

It’s under the moonlight by the fountain that you share your first kiss. You can’t deny the attraction any longer, you’ve fallen in love with your childhood playmate

You spend a year together before Iroh decides he’s ready to propose. He does make sure to get the blessings of Kya, Katara, Bumi, and Tenzin before proceeding because he knows how important they are to you

Though you’re a fire bender you grew up with water tribe culture, so Kya and Katara do help him craft the perfect betrothal necklace for you

The wedding is intimate and simple, held at the palace and officiated by Fire Lord Izumi where all your friends and family come to watch

Zuko and Katara are thrilled at the fact that their grandchildren are married, and Katara can’t help but wish Aang were there to see

By the time of Book 1 Iroh is 36 and you’re 29. You’ve been married for about three years and have a beautiful one year old daughter named Tara, a reference to your grandmother’s own name

By the end of Book 3 I imagine you’d be expecting again, and though your Uncle is desperately hoping for a Bumi the third, you end up giving birth to another beautiful girl whom you name Azula, in honor of the great aunt Iroh never really got to know. Perhaps having a daughter named after Zuko’s estranged sister will bring a new hope and light to the name

It took you both a while to find each other and for the time to be right for you to actually end up together, but Iroh knows he would have waited a whole lifetime if it meant you’d be his wife by the end of it. Neither of you ever expected to fall for your childhood companion, but you wouldn’t have it any other way

[not-all-dead]

angstpril day twenty: the silent treatment

CW: mentions of a breakup but that’s pretty much the worst of it

fic under the cut

November 3rd, 142

Lin,

Mom made me promise I’d write to you, so here’s me doing that. Grandma and Grandpa say hi, and they want you to visit soon. School’s boring as ever and I have no friends here which is just great. Thanks for that. At least they have good food here, the chef is pretty amazing. Still, I think I’m going to run away soon, just for the sake of it. Maybe I’ll find a family actually worth keeping. Anyway, I don’t miss you or mom, have fun arresting people or whatever.

Su

February 7th, 143

Lin,

Heard you’re chief now. Congrats I guess. Does mom finally pay attention to you? Who am I kidding, of course she doesn’t. Anyway, I left Grandma and Grandpa’s. I’m part of this cool travelling circus right now, but I think I’m going to try something new soon. It’s been fun though, lots of flying through the air above lava pits and other super dangerous things. I bet I’m having a better time than you are, stuck in the stupid city.

I call Grandma every week or two to keep her updated on what I’m doing, otherwise she’ll freak out and think I’m dead or something. She told me today that mom called her yesterday. Mom said she was going to Gaoling to drop off her things before travelling wherever just like I’m doing. Guess I have more in common with her than I thought. I also guess that means you’ve got the apartment to yourself now, must be nice.

How’s Tenzin? You two still madly in love? Actually, don’t tell me, I don’t really care. Not that you’re going to respond to this at all. Whatever. I’ve got a performance to get to, so bye.

Su

December 19th, 145

Lin,

I wish you’d write back. I’m much older now, and I’d be happy to talk things out with you if you’d respond. But I guess that’s something you have to want too, and clearly you still hate me, so I won’t count on it.

I know I haven’t written in a while. I was on a pirate ship for a while, learning to sail and such, and we didn’t dock often. Any paper we had on board was constantly damp, too, so I didn’t see the point. After that I live in a sandbender commune. It was really interesting to see how different people lived, especially different earthbenders. I tried learning to sandbend but it didn’t go so well.

But that’s all past now. I’m building a city now, a city entirely of metal. I’ve got this wonderful architect named Baatar helping me with it, and thank goodness I do. I honestly don’t know how I’d execute my plans without him. I think I might ask him to marry me. I mean, I really do like him, and the idea of a family sounds so nice. If I did I’d really like for you to be there.

I hope everything in the city is alright. Last time I spoke to mom, a couple years ago now, she said you were still going steady with Tenzin. I don’t know how you two have stayed together this long already, you always seemed so different from one another to me. I guess opposites really do attract, as they always say. I’ll write again soon.

Su

April 2nd, 146

Lin,

It would mean the world to me if you could make it. Please come if you can, I’d really like to see you again.

Su

March 27th, 147

Lin,

You have a nephew! I was bummed that you didn’t come to the wedding, but it’s alright. Maybe you’d like to come and meet Baatar Jr. sometime this year… we’d welcome you here in Zaofu if you did. We’re still working on building up the outer cities, but the central hub where our house is is fully operational. I’d love to show you how it all works, we have metalbender staff in training to operate practically every part of the city. It’s a busy time, with the new baby and all the construction.

Please tell me you and your airhead of a boyfriend are getting married soon. I mean, come on! It’s been ten years already, I don’t see how you can possibly still be “taking it slow”. You make no sense to me sometimes, Lin. But then again, I’m sure you feel the same about me.

Mom’s been visiting Zaofu pretty regularly. She’s coming in next week to meet Baatar Jr. for the first time. She still seems to be holding a grudge against me. You two really are cut from the same cloth, you know. I might try to talk things out with her when she comes this time, or at least set a time sometime soon for us to flush things over. It would be great if you’d come too so we could put all this family drama nonsense behind us.

Su

May 30th, 150

Lin,

I’m disappointed that you still refuse to answer. Honestly, mom and I have spent two years talking and figuring things out. We’re good now, and there were plenty of opportunities we gave you to join us. I’m sorry you’re still so bitter.

Baatar Jr. is three now, you’d know if you ever cared to visit. He hasn’t shown any signs of bending yet, but Baatar is a non-bender and I started bending late so that’s not too surprising. We’ve got another one on the way, due in a couple weeks actually. I think if it’s a boy we’ll name him Huan, and if it’s a girl probably Hei-Ran. Again, I wish you’d come and actually be a part of my kids’ lives, but you seem dead set against it.

Kya actually dropped by not too long ago. I hadn’t seen her in ages, so it was a nice surprise. She says her travels have been going well, and she’d visited practically every place on the planet! I loved my time travelling, but ultimately family life is what suited me best. She said she was heading back to Republic City soon, so maybe she’ll drop in on you, too. Anyway, hope the triads aren’t causing too too much havoc for you, Chief.

Su

January 16th, 151

Lin,

Look, I don’t know what your problem is, but I’ve given up. If you’re really that set on giving me the cold shoulder, so be it. I’ll stop writing at all.

Sorry you’re not mature enough to handle this like an adult.

If you were wondering, Huan is very healthy and strong. Baatar Jr. too. Baatar Sr. took ill a while back, but he’s alright now.

I don’t know why I’m telling you any of this when I know you don’t care. Well. Sorry I’m such a bother to you.

Su

August 4th, 156

Lin,

Mom told me what happened with you and Tenzin. He’s an asshole, good on you for wrecking the island. You were always too good for him anyway. I know I haven’t written in a long time, I just didn’t see the point if you kept ignoring me. Maybe now you’ll come and see your family, it might be nice after losing Tenzin.

You’ve got a niece, now, too. And four nephews, the youngest being the twins. They’re only just over a year old now, and Opal recently turned three. I tell them stories about their Aunt Lin, you know. The older boys would really like to meet you, and I’m sure Opal and the twins will too when they’re a little bit more grown up. I want to see you again too, Lin, and I wish you’d at least try to let go of the past. Even just a letter back would make my day.

Hope you’re holding up as Chief there, not too much trouble with the triads or whomever else is committing crime these days.

Su

November 7th, 158

Lin,

Baatar Jr. is now eleven, and seems to be quite the budding architect just like his father. Huan has taken up metalbending little sculptures, so for his eighth birthday he got a little studio just for his art. Opal is five now, and growing up fast. I’ve never seen a five year old read as well as she does. Wing and Wei are still just three, but they seem to enjoy throwing pebbles at one another. I think they’ll be strong benders when they're older.

Mom and I finally made up properly. It’s nice to see her with the kids. She said she wrote to you asking you to come and chat too, but you ignored her. No surprises there. I might stop writing again if you keep this up, so don’t act shocked.

Su

October 21st, 160

Lin,

Mom’s here for a few weeks. Opal turned seven this year, Baatar Jr. thirteen, Huan ten, and the twins five. Wing and Wei invented a game for themselves to help with their metalbending training, they call it “power disk”.

I’m not sure what else to say to you anymore. I’m not sure why I’m even writing this now, after eighteen years. Eighteen years, Lin, and you haven’t even bothered to write back. At least I’ve tried to reach out. But now, I’m done. For real this time. Write if you want, I don’t care. I’m not going to keep sending these anymore.

Su

December 6th, 170

Lin,

Are you alright?! Mom had to tell me about you losing your bending, and she only found out through Katara! I can’t imagine what that must’ve been like. All I can say is that it would undoubtedly be awful.

I miss you, you know. It’s been almost thirty years since we last spoke. I know mom misses you too, and my kids would really like to meet their Aunt. It makes me sad that you’re still so sour about what happened, even after so much time has passed. We’ve both grown and changed as people, and I don’t understand why you can’t see that. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe it’s only me who’s changed at all. Even so, I do miss you, and I wish you’d write. Or visit.

I hope you’re alright, Lin, I really do.

Su

[themoonandhersun]

thinking about

a no hundred year old war au where zuko goes the southern water tribe with his family, and he’s grumpy about the cold.

but he’s not grumpy about spending time with katara again. (he’s ten, she’s eight and they met two years ago.)

when they see each other, they get excited and bow traditionally, then give each other a big hug.

and of course, sokka and azula tease them about it.

they tell their siblings to shut up and walk off together.

zuko tells katara about the plays he sees on ember island. “i can take you to go see a play sometime, princess katara—but only if you want to, of course,” he looks at her, cheeks pink, fiddling with his fingers. “you don’t have to go if you don’t want to.”

“i would love to go see a play with you, prince zuko,” katara tells him, her cheeks pink too.

they make eye contact, and look away from each other quickly, their pink cheeks turning a bright red.

zuko and his family spend a few days at the southern water tribe, and zuko spends a lot of time with katara there, of course. he loves penguin sledding and watching katara waterbend.

(spoiler: he thinks she’s so cool.)

when zuko has to leave, she quickly kisses his cheek and tells him she can’t wait to see a play with him. zuko blushes hard and says he’ll take her soon.

he leaves.

they write letters to each other for months (and they send each other gifts on their birthdays like they always do), then zuko comes with his family again to take katara to see a play. kya and gran gran go along with katara, and they talk with ursa on the ship (hakoda is on a hunting trip with sokka during this time, but he knows it was gonna happen and is okay with it). zuko and katara spend time together on the ship, and he tells her he can’t wait to see the play with her.

a few days later, they’re on ember island.

zuko tells her that he should hold hands with her so he can show her around better (yes, uncle iroh gave him this tip) and katara agrees (she wanted to hold hands with him anyways). he takes her to their house on ember island and shows her around. he shows her where she’ll be staying, and she tells him how excited she is to be spending time with him on ember island.

(she’s only been to the palace before, not ember island.)

she asks about azula, and zuko says that azula is spending time with her friends and doesn’t really like watching plays anyways. but he assures her the play is really good and that if she doesn’t like it, that’s okay. (she jokes that it would be a bummer if she came all this way just to not like the play, and zuko laughs and agrees with her.)

they play together and talk together until they have to go to the theater. they don’t hold hands this time, but katara loops her arm with his. ursa, kya and gran gran sit by them, but not too close—they don’t want to disturb katara and zuko’s little date (even though they both insist it’s not a date).

zuko glances at katara throughout the play just to make sure she likes it, and he thinks she does. he asks at the end of the play (just to make sure) how she felt about it and katara beams. “i loved it! thank you for taking me, prince zuko,” she hugs him.

he pulls away and slowly shows her a bracelet he had in his pocket. “this is for you, princess katara,” zuko smiles timidly. “i thought of you, and i got it...um, for you. well, actually, uh—i made it. i know, i could have done better, but i just really wanted to make you something—“

“thank you, prince zuko. i love it, it’s so pretty,” katara giggles and nudges him gently. she points to her wrist, “so, can i—“

“um—here, let me,” zuko ties it around her wrist securely, cheeks red. it’s a black, cotton string with a charm on it: a silver crescent moon connected to a gold sun.

“do you really love it, princess katara?” he asks quietly, fidgeting in his seat.

“i do,” she nods and kisses his cheek. zuko smiles at her. “and...i may have made you something as well.”

his jaw drops. “wait, what? really?”

“yeah,” katara grins and hands him a bone dagger with blue handle and a fire carved into its side. she looks at him nervously as he holds the dagger.

she rambles: “you mentioned in your letters that your cousin got a really cool earth kingdom dagger and that you wanted one, so i—i made one for you. well, my dad helped me, but—“

zuko hugs her. “this is so cool, princess katara! thank you so much!” she hugs him back, both of them feeling butterflies in their stomachs.

they get up and join their family members, and they all go back to the ember island house. then zuko admits that he has another gift for katara. “wait here,” he tells her when they’re in the living room. he runs up to his room and runs back downstairs.

“here,” zuko whispers as he blushes and holds out a fire lily, “for you, princess katara.”

“oh—thank you, prince zuko,” katara whispers, grabbing the flower as her cheeks get hot.

(yes, she knows what a fire lily means.)

they hug again.

when zuko travels with her and her family on their journey back to the south (with ursa, of course), they bicker about cloud shapes (katara swears it’s a flower and zuko swears it’s a baby turtle duck) and when it gets to be night time, they argue about what a constellation is named.

“it’s the little penguin named tuka,” katara insists.

“no, it’s a baby dragon named eyala,” zuko shakes his head.

“no, it’s not!”

“yes, it is!”

“last person to the other side of the ship has to admit that they’re wrong!” katara calls out and they race to the other end of the ship, laughing as they do so.

they tied, then played a game of elements (the atla version of rock, paper, scissors. idk if that’s the name of it though?) to break the tie.

katara won. (and zuko didn’t mind saying he was wrong all that much.)

when they make it the south pole, and they hug, it’s zuko who kisses her cheek this time. “i’ll write to you soon, princess katara,” he whispers and pulls away.

“you better,” she whispers back, and watches as zuko gets on the ship. she waves goodbye until she can’t see him anymore.

they keep writing to each other.

but then, gradually over the course of a few years (she is eleven now and zuko is almost thirteen), zuko’s letters get shorter and more vague, and they don’t come in as often as they used to.

then he completely stops sending letters by the end of the year, and she remembers how, the last time they talked in person, he admitted to her: “listen, so—um, i don’t know what’s going on with my dad—but if i ever stop sending you letters, katara, please know i had nothing to do with it. you’re my best friend—and i’ll always want to talk to you.”

(then he placed his hand over hers, his thumb stroking her skin. “you’re my best friend, and...i love you, katara,” he whispered it like it was a secret. she whispered it back, and they hugged.)

(and they had a joke only written in their letters to each other—that she was his, and he was hers. she’s gonna be honest: she doesn’t remember how the joke started, but she knows she keeps it going even when he’s not around. mostly because she thinks about it all the time. he’s her zuko, her zuko, her zuko. she’s his katara, his katara, his katara.)

she’s very worried, angry and sad all at the same time. and she never liked ozai in the first place if she was gonna be honest with herself.

as three years pass, she doesn’t hear from zuko. once, she wrote to azula asking about zuko, and azula wrote back with a vague letter that gave no information on zuko. she tried two more times and got vague responses each time. (she gave up writing to azula after the third try.)

all she found out was that ursa left, and she had to find out through her dad.

but why doesn’t anyone know what happened to zuko?

she doesn’t want to think negatively, but she’s fourteen now, and if her dad knew anything about zuko, he would’ve told her by now. she often stares at the bracelet zuko gave her when she was nine. she was six when they met and they wrote to each other until she was eleven.

she misses him.

(a messager arrives and gives a letter to hakoda. he reads it in his office. he doesn’t know how to tell katara, but he knows he has to.)

hakoda goes to katara, and tells her gently that zuko was burned and banished by ozai three years ago, and she feels sick to her stomach.

her zuko?—burned by his own father?

and he could be anywhere in the world right now?

and he could be—

no.

she can’t think like that.

she tells hakoda that she needs some alone time. he hugs her and walks out the room.

she starts writing to her friend, aang—who has an air bison—and hopes that he’ll agree to help her find zuko. and aang is also friends with zuko.

(they can find zuko, can’t they?)

unfortunately, though, hakoda intercepts the letter (the messager dropped it, and it popped open, and he recognized katara’s handwriting.)

he tells her that she can’t just leave and they argue. kya was trying to be the mediator. it did not help.

katara attempts to leave at night on a boat, and sokka catches her. he tells her, “katara, you can’t leave—“

“—oh, not you too—“

“—without me,” sokka finishes.

katara looks at him, confused. “what? you wanna come along?” she notices he has a bag slung over his shoulder.

sokka nods. “yeah, why not?”

“okay, then, come on, sokka,” katara motions for him to hurry up and get on the boat. sokka gets on the boat and informs her that he left a note for hakoda and kya.

she grumbles something like, “whatever,” in response. (she’s still grumpy about the argument with hakoda.)

she uses her waterbending to make their trip to aang’s temple faster. sokka sleeps while she waterbends, and sokka rows the boat while she sleeps. and the cycle repeats until they’re at the air temple.

aang agrees to help them (he’s also very concerned about zuko after katara tells him what happened) and they all get on appa. aang says that zuko once told him that if he ever ran away, he would go to the earth kingdom. so they head to the earth kingdom.

“i think he mentioned gaoling,” aang tells them. “so let’s head there.”

they search for a few days.

and...

they don’t find zuko.

instead, they find toph, an amazing earthebender who didn’t want to be miserable with her parents anymore.

(basically, they went to an earth rumble, and watched toph fight, and aang was like, “she’s so cool, can she be part of our group?” and sokka was like, “if you can convince her to join us, sure, why not?”)

(by the way, sokka didn’t mean it.)

(he also didn’t think aang would do it—or that toph would agree.)

either way, they ended up with a confident, blind earthbender who ‘carries her own weight’ in their group. (at least she brought a bag full of money with her. they were already running low on funds.)

(sokka has a bad spending habit.)

(plus, him, aang and toph have big appetites for their sizes.)

(seriously.)

“i heard there was a good fighter in ba sing se with a big scar on his face,” toph tells them as she picks at her feet. “they say he’s a firebender. it could be this zuko guy you guys are looking for.”

“we can try ba sing se,” sokka nods. “especially since we don’t have any other leads.”

“i hope we find him,” katara mumbles, staring at her bracelet. she’s scared—because he can’t be dead, he can’t be dead, he can’t be dead. she can’t accept that possibility. “i mean, he’s been by himself for three years, and we just found out about him. he—i hope he’s okay.”

“well, you know how zuko never gives up without a fight, katara,” aang says to assure her and to lighten the mood, “after all, you knew him best out of all of us.”

“yeah,” katara smiles a bit. “he’s so stubborn—in fact, he’s more stubborn than me.”

“okay, let’s not go that far, katara,” sokka snorts. “because you are—nothing,” sokka whistles when katara raises a small water whip and raises an eyebrow at her brother. “i mean, i wasn’t—i was just—i think you’re great, katara,” he says quickly.

“i know i am. thank you, sokka,” katara laughs.

they travel for about two months (appa needs rest, he’s not used to traveling for so long.) they make a stop to omashu mostly because aang insisted it would be a good idea (and appa needed a break too), and aang’s friend, bumi, joins them in appa. (toph is more than delighted to meet another earthbender on her level.)

all of five of them head to ba sing se, bumi talking excitedly about ba sing se and the great deserts they have. and this, of course, leads to a discussion about food, and then—of course—everyone gets hungry.

so they have to stop and make camp, and katara goes to get some water for the rice, when she sees someone sleeping on the other side of the river next to a small fire, wearing a—a blue spirit mask.

her heart races.

a blue spirit mask.

it’s—that’s—that’s zuko’s favorite ‘love amongst the dragons’ character.

it couldn’t be.

could it?

katara puts the pot down. she doesn’t hesitate to swim over, with a water whip in case she’s wrong, and quietly gets out fo the river. katara gently shakes the guy awake, cautiously trashing her water whip in case she’s wrong.

the guy sits up immediately and draws his swords at katara. “what are you doing?” he demands. (her heart beats faster—that’s his voice. it’s his voice.) “do you—wait...katara?” he sheathes his swords slowly. “is—is that really you?”

“zuko?” katara whispers, tearing up. “it’s you. oh, spirits, it’s you.”

she bends the water out of her clothes, and moves to hug him, but zuko scoots away before she can touch him.

she frowns, hurt. “zuko, why did you—“

“i don’t want you to see—it.” zuko awkwardly adjusts his mask. “i don’t—you—i want—just...katara. trust me—you’re not gonna like...it. you’re not gonna like me.” his voice breaks with vulnerability, with sadness, and katara does her best not to cry.

how could he think that?

because—

she loves him.

“are you kidding, zuko? i’m your best friend. i’m always gonna love you,” she sniffles, and zuko doesn’t hesitate to hug her tightly. she hugs back, her head in the crook of his neck.

“i love you, too,” zuko tells her softly, holding her. “i missed you.”

“i missed you, too.”

a beat.

“katara, i’ll show you...my scar,” zuko swallows.

“are you sure?”

“yes, but—but i’m just scared. i don’t want you to think i—that i’m...ugly,” zuko confesses, “i’ll show you, and then i’m, um, gonna put the mask back on.”

“okay, zuko,” katara nods and gently pulls away from his arms. she misses his warmth already. it’s been too long.

she sits across from him, watching him patiently.

zuko’s hands shake as he takes off his mask, and puts it beside him. his eyes are closed tightly.

katara gasps softly as she looks at it. her zuko—he—it must have hurt so much.

she leans forward, and carefully cups his cheek. zuko tenses up, then relaxes. he leans into her hand.

“my zuko,” she whispers, fingers brushing against his scar.

“my katara,” zuko whispers back, opening his eyes, and placing his hands over hers.

“it’s not ugly,” katara informs him as his fingers curl around hers. “and you’re definitely not ugly. my zuko—how could you ever be ugly?”

zuko stares at her, almost as if trying to see if she’s lying, almost like he doesn’t...believe her. “katara, you can’t be serious,” he gently pulls her hand away, but keeps holding it as he grabs his mask with his free hand.

“i am,” katara says, eyes soft. “i’ve never lied to you before. can...can i heal it?”

zuko frowns. “it’s a scar. you can’t heal it, katara.” a beat. “but it itches, sometimes.”

“can i...?”

“you can.”

katara summons water around her right hand like a glove. she cups his cheek with her left hand, tilting his head to the side. zuko closes his eyes and katara presses her water gloved hand on his scar. she watches as the water glows, and feels the scar change, somehow. (yes, she wishes she paid more attention to her healing classes. she knew enough, but she didn’t know everything.)

when she’s done, she puts the water back in the river. “it feels...better,” zuko admits. “thank you, katara.”

“of course,” katara grabs his hands and squeezes. “anything for you, zuko.”

they smile at each other.

then katara remembers—“i still have to get the water for the rice!” she gets up and zuko looks at her, confused.

“i’ll tell you everything later, just—please,” katara reaches a hand out to him. “come with me, zuko.”

zuko nods slowly, and grabs her hand. he gets up, and puts his mask on. “okay, katara, i’ll come with you. after all, we still have a lot to catch up on, don’t we?”

“we do,” katara smiles brightly, holding his hand, and intertwining their fingers. they go into the river, and katara puts water into the pot.

then they head to camp, both of them smiling like idiots.

_____

this......got way longer than i originally thought it would. (it was supposed to be short and cute)

i promise i can do better than this though. i promise!!!!!

(i might write a fic about this now....but it would be different from this obviously)

also, you can thank @ pokidokies for making me think about baby zutara.

like, i was already thinking about them, and then i saw this on instagram—and oh my god,,,,!!!

i had to! express! my thoughts! i just had to!

baby zutara is just...something that can be so personal, you know?

follow her on tumblr and on insta! :D (her blog name on here is the same as her insta name!)

[leossmoonn]

chemistry part tweleve

part eleven | part thirteen | masterlist

zuko x fem!reader

avatar: the last airbender

includes - you, zuko, suki, katara, toph, sokka, and aang

special appearences by - iron, azula, and appa (mini sky bison,,, he’s like the size of a shihi tzu)

warnings - language, little suggestive lol

you poured the chips onto the plate, putting all of the dips in the middle. you set it on the island table with the rest of snacks you and the girls had picked up for the christmas party. you were excited, but nervous for this year’s party. ever since you girls went to college, which was three years ago - well, toph just started this year - , you had made it a friend tradition to have holiday parties. you had friend-giving, friend-mas, friend year’s and galentine’s day. 

you and the girls always had aang and sokka there. you usually were the one with no date. toph had a few guys come over sometime, but they never really stuck. since this was your first time having a boy over, one that was really hot, really smart, and seemed really into you, you were beyond nervous. you were terrified. sure, you had hung out with him before, but not when you were gonna drink a few glasses of champagne. so, you decided to just be light on the drinks tonight. otherwise, you would probably end up laying on zuko’s lap, either making out with him or telling embarrassing childhood stories. 

“this looks great, guys! ooh, salsa,” sokka said, his mouth watering.

“yeah, i can’t wait to eat the nachos,” toph said.

both of their hands went to pick up a chip, but you slapped their hands away. 

“no one eats until zuko, katara, and aang are here,” you said. 

sokka frowned, “you suck. suki, tell y/n i can have one chip.”

suki chuckled, “no, y/n’s right.”

“can you let me have a chip? i’m your best friend! and i’m blind,” toph begged with a sweet smile.

suki rolled her eyes, “nice try.”

“i haven’t eaten since this morning!” toph exclaimed.

“get another snack then. these are for our guests,” you said.

toph scoffed, “yeah you mean for your boyfriend zuko.”

sokka smirked, “yeah, you wanna make sure everything is perfect for him.”

“no, i don’t! it’s just polite to wait,” you glared at them. 

sokka smirked, “suuuuure, y/n. keep telling yourself that.”

you frowned, “i literally hate you.”

“love you, too! where are katara and aang, anyways?” sokka asked. 

“they’re picking up some gingerbread house kits for us to make,” toph said.

“yeah, and that takes 45 minutes? i’m sure that’s what they’re doing,” sokka rolled his eyes. 

“i’ll text katara and see if they’re coming back soon,” you said. 

“good. text zuko and ask when he’s coming. make sure to tell him if he doesn't come in the next 15 minutes, i will start eating the counter,” sokka said. 

you rolled your eyes. “what a baby.”

you went into the living room, pulling out your phone. you texted katara, hoping for a quick response. you then texted zuko, suddenly getting anxious again. 

you set your phone down next to you. suki, toph, and sokka came over to sit down.  

“so, when are they coming?” sokka asked. 

“uh, zuko said 10 minutes and katara hasn’t responded yet,” you answered. 

“ugh! next time, one of you go with katara for shopping,” sokka said.

“yeah, cause we are faster than them,” suki chuckled. 

the front door opened and there revealed katara and aang. they had grocery bags in each hands. 

“hey, guys!” katara smiled. 

“god, finally! what took you guys so long?” sokka asked.

“we couldn’t find the special sprinkles you like, sokka,” aang said. 

“oh,” sokka said. 

“and we had to get appa,” aang said. appa flew out from behind aang, landing on your lap. 

you squealed, “hi, appa!” you ruffled his hair softly, earning a lick on the nose from him.

“appa, come here boy!” sokka smiled at him. appa just looked at sokka, turning back to you. 

“appa, come here!” toph said, patting her lap. appa walked across your lap to toph, licking her cheek.

“haha! that sucks,” you laughed at sokka’s frown.  

“sokka, you can redeem yourself by helping me with these groceries,” katara said. 

sokka sighed and got up from the couch, taking a few bags out of their hands and going over to the kitchen. as they set up the treats, you looked at the door, your leg bouncing up and down as you waited for a knock from zuko. 

“you okay, y/n? i can feel your leg bouncing,” toph said.

“yeah, what’s wrong?” suki asked. 

you kept your eyes on the door. “i’m fine,” you shrugged.

suki put her hand on your knee, stopping it. “take a deep breath, okay? zuko was so happy to receive an invitation. and isn’t he gonna wear a matching ugly sweater with you for the ugly sweater contest? it’ll be perfect.”

you sighed. “yeah, but what if i spill guac on him. or worse, i trip and fall over on him.” you shivered as you thought of the cringe that would come from those moments. 

“if you fall, i will make sure to take a picture,” katara said as she walked into the living room. 

you rolled your eyes. “really supportive, kat.”

katara smiled and sat down next to you. “you’ll be fine. like suki said, zuko wants to be here and plus, he really likes you. go and drink some water, take a deep breath, and go be the badass, hot girl i know.”

“yeah, and if he hurts you tonight, i’ll make sure to crush his bones,” toph smiled maliciously, cracking her knuckles.

you smiled at your best friends. “thanks guys, you guys are the best.”

“we know,” toph smiled.

you laughed at her comment, but fell silent once you heard a knock on the door.

oh, god. that’s him. that’s him that’s him

“are you gonna get that, or do i have to?” sokka asked, walking towards the door.

you jumped up off the couch, pushing sokka away. “i got it.”

“alright,” sokka said.

you took a deep breath, combing your fingers through your hair, and pulled your sweater down. you put your hand on the door, slowly opening it.

zuko appeared in front of you, a big grin appearing on your face.

“hey, zuko!” you said excitedly.

“hi, y/n,” he smiled at you.

“come in,” you said, stepping out of his way.

“thanks,” zuko said and stepped in. he took his shoes off and coat, revealing his matching christmas sweater.

you gasped, your eyes lighting up. “you actually wore it!”

“well yeah, it’d be lame not to,” zuko chuckled.

“true. we so have the best sweaters on,” you smiled. 

appa flew over to zuko, licking zuko’s cheek while still in the air. 

“hey, buddy,” zuko smiled. “i would pet you, but i have my hands full,” he said, gesturing to the gift bags he had.

“oh, let me take those for you,” you said. zuko handed the presents to you, you walking over to the christmas tree.

“thank you,” zuko said, walking over with appa cuddling in his arms. 

“no problem,” you smiled. 

“hey, man!” sokka exclaimed as he walked into the room. 

“hey, sokka!” zuko smiled, giving sokka a hug. 

“hey, zuko. long time, no see,” aang smiled. 

“yeah, sorry, holiday times at the JD get busy,” zuko chuckled. “we can hang over break.”

“awesome! gram-gram bought katara and i a vr headset, we can all play on it when you come over!” sokka said. 

“oh, cool! azula’s friend, ty lee, has one, too. i played on it a little,” zuko said. 

“is it fun?” you asked.

“very. maybe you can come over to my place sometime and i’ll have ty lee bring it over,” zuko smiled. 

“yeah, i’d like that,” you grinned. 

you and zuko smiled at each other for what seemed like forever before toph coughed. 

“i can feel the sexual tension between you two, please stop. can we eat now?” she asked. 

you and zuko looked away from each other, pink tainted both of your cheeks. 

“yeah, we can eat now,” you said. 

“alright! let’s get this party on!” sokka exclaimed, running to the kitchen. 

you chuckled, walking over to the kitchen. 

“zuko, you want champagne or beer?” you asked. 

“beer is fine, thank you,” zuko smiled. 

you got out a bottle from the cooler, handing it to him. “you’re welcome. so, what’d you get everyone?”

“well, i got sokka a new wallet. i bought aang a new messenger bag, he mentioned he needed one since his old one is practically falling apart.” “yeah, he's had that thing since high school,” you chuckled. 

“exactly. anyways, so i got suki a $50 gift card to sephora, katara a hoodie that says ‘riding the waves’. i got appa a little ball you can put hay in so he can exercise and eat. i got toph some airpods, and your present is a surprise,” zuko smiled.

“wow, you are an awesome gift giver. and i am very excited about my gift. i can’t wait to open the ones every gave me, not to be greedy or anything. i heard sokka got me my own personal smoothie maker,” you smiled. 

“don’t you already have a nutri bullet?” zuko asked, pointing to the machine that was on the counter.

“yes, but apparently this one can make milkshakes, too. definitely gonna sell the nutri bullet on craigslist,” you smiled. 

“wow, sounds cool. i wish i had one of those,” zuko said. 

you scoffed, “you literally live above a tea shop, you don’t need a blender.”

“hm, true. it’s great being me,” zuko joked. “i bet it is,” you giggled. 

“guys! wanna do the ginger bread house making contest now?” katara asked. 

“yeah!” you nodded, going over to the kitchen table. you and zuko sat down across from each other, grabbing one of the kits.

“alright, we have an hour do to this. the judges are toph and appa. toph will judge taste, appa will judge construction and decor,” suki smiled. 

“what? you trust a sky bison?” sokka asked. 

appa grunted, slapping sokka with his tail. you laughed, “you deserved that.”

sokka rolled his eyes. “yeah, whatever.”

suki sat down next to sokka, pecking his cheek. you looked at zuko, wishing you could do that to him. zuko gave you a small smile, wishing the same thing. 

toph held up the timer. “alright, ready… set.. go!”

you tore the box open, setting out the walls, roof, and decorations. you worked quickly, opening all your materials. you started to glue the walls to the bottom with icing. you looked up for a second to see zuko doing the same thing. 

“ready to go down?” he asked, noticing your stare. 

“nah, i’m ready to win,” you smiled. 

zuko mirrored your grin, going back to focusing on his house. 

you quickly built the rest of the walls, everything surprisingly staying up.

“aw, damn it!” katara exclaimed. you looked over to see two of her walls falling down. 

“it’s okay, baby, you can do it,” aang said. 

katara groaned in frustration, “i held them together for 5 minutes! how are you and y/n’s walls staying on?”

“it’s called having ‘the magic touch’,” you snickered. 

katara frowned, “shut up.”

“hey, mine is falling, too,” zuko said. you looked over to his, seeing one of the walls tipping over.

“well, not mine! i’m awesome!” sokka exclaimed. “and suki is, too!” 

you looked over to suki, who already had her roof on. 

“up top, babe!” sokka said, holding his hand up. suki high-fived him, “yep. we are legendary.” “nope,” you said, glueing on your roof. 

“face it, y/n, you’re gonna lose. suki and i are gonna win,” sokka said.

“hey! no teaming!” katara exclaimed. 

“oh, you’re teaming with aang. you can’t talk,” you remarked. 

“you can team with zuko,” aang suggested. 

you looked at zuko, seeing him already looking at you. he shrugged at you, “you want to?”

“yes,” you smiled. 

“how do you all team if you all have your own houses?” toph asked. 

“well, we can add our points up,” suki said. 

“ah, okay. well, grading will be extra hard, then,” toph smiled. 

“fair,” aang said. 

“no, not fair!” sokka exclaimed.  “yes, fair,” you said. “therefore, you will lose, and zuko and i will win.”

“nope, aang and i will win,” katara stated matter-of-factly. 

“you sure, kat?” sokka smirked, looking at her gumdrops who were falling off of the front of the house. 

katra glared, “you don’t even have any decorations on yet!”

sokka scowled, “yeah, well, suki does! and she’ll help us win all the points.”

“sokka! get to work,” suki ordered. 

“yes, ma’am,” sokka said and started decorating his roof. 

you turned to your own house again, resuming decorating the front of the house. 

“yours looks really good,” zuko said. 

you looked up and smiled. “thank you. yours do, too. i like the flowers on the side.”

“thanks. garden are very important for a nice house,” he said. 

you chuckled, “i agree.”

“15 more minutes left!” toph exclaimed. 

“what? how do you know that?” sokka asked. 

“i set a 45 minute timer so i would know, genius,” toph rolled her eyes. 

“right, right,” sokka said, turning to back to his house. 

“ten more!” toph said. 

“damn,” you muttered. 

“what?” zuko asked. 

“i haven’t finished my snowman,” you frowned and turned your house over so he could see the snow man you made out of marshmallows. 

“i think he looks perfect,” zuko smiled. 

you giggled, “thank you. i think we’re gonna win this.”

“me, too,” zuko smiled. 

“3…2…1, stop!” toph shouted. you put your hands in your lap, waiting for the judging to begin. 

“alright, first up is aang and katara. aka kataang. aang, give me a piece of your room, a wall, and a piece with candy. katara, do the same. appa, go ahead and judge,” toph instructed. 

appa flew around the houses, looking at every inch, nook, and cranny.

“he can’t even talk! this isn’t fair!” sokka exclaimed. 

“do not disrespect the sky bison,” you glared at him. 

sokka scoffed, “he knows it’s true.”

appa grunted at sokka before going back to look at katara’s house. 

“hm, a good amount of sweetness. nice use of the gummy worms. very good, aang,” toph said. 

“thank you,” aang smiled widely. 

toph then judged katara, going to appa to talk over the points. 

“alright. we give you guys a 8.5 out of 10,” toph said. 

“alright, that’s good!” katara high-fived aang. 

“good job, babe,” aang smiled and leaned over to kiss her cheek. 

“next up are suki and sokka,” toph said. 

suki and sokka gave toph pieces of their houses, appa flying around to observe. after 10 minutes after judging, toph gave them the score. 

“8 out of 10,” toph said. 

“what! that’s like a low b!” sokka eclaimed. 

“hey, it's higher than a c,” suki said, putting a hand over his. 

sokka pouted, “fine. let’s see how team (you and zuko’s ship name) did.”

you cut pieces of your gingerbread and handed it to toph. zuko did the same. you bit your lip in anticipation. you knew it was a silly game, but the winner - or winners in this case - got a free dinner to the middle ring or a 2 free drinks at the JD. you wanted the JD coupon so bad. you loved the tea, but also, it gave you an excuse to see zuko randomly. 

“hm, alright. i give you two 9 out of 10. you guys are the winners!” toph smiled. 

you jumped up in excitement, going over to zuko and pulling him in a tight hug. zuko wrapped his arms around you, giving you the feeling of warmth and safety. 

you pulled away, a bright smile on your face. 

“which do you choose. free dinner at the middle ring, or two free drinks at the JD. one of you can get each since there’s enough for both of you,” toph said, holding out the coupons. 

“i want the coupon to JD!” you said, but looked to zuko quickly. “unless you do.”

“you can take it,” zuko smiled. 

“yay!” you squealed and plucked the ticket out of toph’s hand. 

“alright, ugly sweater contest! the prize is money,” sokka grinned. 

“alright, appa will be the judge again!” suki exclaimed, walking over and putting a $20 bill in appa’s mouth. 

“okay, since zuko and y/n are wearing the same sweater, they can each have $10,” katara said. 

“alright, fair,” you nodded. 

“stand in a line,” aang instructed. you went in-between zuko and toph. you all watched in excitement, waiting for appa to hand one of you the bill. 

after five minutes, appa went to toph. 

“alright! you all suck!” toph pumped her fist up in the air. 

“you have to be kidding me,” sokka said, face palming. 

you chuckled, turning to zuko. “maybe next year.”

“yep. i don’t know why we didn’t win. all these sparkles and diamonds give me a headache,” zuko said, looking at his sweatshirt. 

“same. you can change if you want,” you said. 

“nah, i’m good. i wanna be matching,” zuko smiled. 

you chuckled, “yay! i was hoping you said that.”

zuko’s smile widened at your excitement. you felt giddy inside and found yourself staring at his lips. you felt a sudden urge to lean up and kiss him, and go back into your room and make out. zuko must’ve noticed your stare, cause he licked his lips seductively. your face warmed up and you looked away quickly, coughing awkwardly and going to pour yourself another glass of champagne. 

zuko smiled at your retreating figure, looking to your other friends. 

“so, what's next on the agenda?” he asked. 

“present opening!” aang exclaimed, running over to the tree.

you walked over to the living room, sitting down on the bean bag. zuko sat across from you. 

“alright, i wanna go first!” aang exclaimed. 

“alright. here’s mine,” katara said, picking up a big present and handing it to him. 

aang opened it and pulled out new sneakers. “oh, this is awesome! thank you, babe. i love you.”

katara smiled. “you’re welcome. i got them custom-made so they’re your favourite colors and on the logo, it has appa and my name on it.”

“my two favourite things in the world. i love it,” aang smiled, leaning over to give katara a kiss. 

suki then handed her his gift. he then opened one from sokka, toph, and zuko, then you. you ended up getting him a new gaming  headset that has boosted sound system.

“thanks, guys. you are all awesome!” aang grinned. 

“you're welcome, buddy,” sokka smiled. “my turn!”

“alright, here’s mine,” suki said, handing him a banana-shaped present. 

sokka ripped it open, holding it up in all its glory, it was a dark blue boomerang that had a small heart on one end with suki’s name in it. 

“this. is. AMAZING! oh, i love you! we are so doing it tonight!” sokka exclaimed, kissing suki. 

you all groaned, telling sokka to shut up.

sokka opened everyone else’s present. you had got him a skateboard.

“thank you, guys. especially suki,” sokka smiled at his girlfriend.  “you’re welcome, baby,” suki smiled, planting a kiss on his cheek. 

“my turn!” katara exclaimed. 

she opened her present from aang first, which was new makeup brushes, which  apparently katara need a lot. suki got katara a humidifier, toph got her a new smoothie/coffee cup, sokka got her a $50 gift card to jc penny, zuko gave katara the sweatshirt, and you got her a polaroid camera. 

“i love all these! thank you,” katara smiled at each of you.

“you're welcome,” you all spoke. 

suki went next. sokka had gifted her a 365 day jar, katara gave her a new makeup pallet, toph gifted suki a new curling iron, aang gave her a new fluffy pillow, zuko gave her the gift card, and you had bought suki a new silk robe.

“oh, these are sick! definitely gonna have fun with these,” suki held up the jar and the robe. 

“you’re welcome,” katara smiled. “alright, toph, it’s your turn.”

“alright, tell me what is it after i open it,” toph said. katara handed her a gift from her. 

katara had given toph a new pair of hiking shoes, suki had given her new guitar picks and a new guitar strap, sokka had given her a new gaming chair, which obviously wasn't there, but he said he it would be delivered to the apartment tomorrow. aang gave her a 5 candle set, zuko had given her airpods, and you had given her a turtle duck stuffed animal where she could warm up in case of cramps or stress. 

“these are awesome. thanks guys,” toph smiled. 

“you’re welcome! alright, zuko’s turn!” suki exclaimed, handing him a gift.

“thanks,” zuko smiled. 

suki had gifted him a sweatshirt with his favorite basketball team, katara had bought him a new phone case, aang gave him a new gaming headset, sokka had given him a new watch, and toph gave him new sneakers.

you nervously gave him your gift, which was pretty huge. zuko smiled while opening it, his eyes lighting up once he saw it. 

“woah, this is awesome!” he exclaimed. 

you had gotten him a new skateboard that had his name written on flames. 

“i know you mentioned you hadn’t had a skateboard since you were in high school and you wanted to get back into it,” you said bashfully. 

“thank you, i love it,” zuko smiled. 

“you’re welcome,” you smiled. “alright, well, my turn!”

“open mine first!” katara exclaimed, handing you her gift. 

you took it from her, opening it gently. she had gotten you a google home. 

“oh, katara, do you know how much i adore you?” you said.

“i know, don’t worry,” katara giggled. 

you had opened the next gift, which as from suki. she had gifted you crocs that said ‘super swag’ on each one. 

“oh, you are feeding my narcism,” you chuckled. 

“you deserve it,” suki smiled. 

you then opened aang’s gift. he had gotten you a new hoodie from your favorite show. “this is like $70! thank you!”

“you’re welcome,” aang smiled. 

you opened your gift from toph, which was a poster with all of the girls and you. 

“how did you get this one made?” you asked, staring at it in astonishment. 

“i know people,” toph grinned. 

you chuckled, “thank you.”

“you’re welcome,” toph said. 

sokka handed you his gift, which was the blender 

“yes!” you squealed.

“i knew you would like it. no need to tell me, i already know i’m the best gift giver,” sokka smirked. 

“hm, i can’t say that until i open zuko’s gift,” you said. 

zuko had handed you his gift. “thank you,” you said. 

“you’re welcome,” zuko said. 

“i’m goanna go and order pizza,” katara said. 

“yeah, me too!” sokka exclaimed, getting up. 

you furrowed your brows. “what?”

“yeah, i need to make sure katara orders the right pizza,” toph said. 

“i need to pee,” aang said. “i have to take appa out,” suki said.

they all got up and left the room, leaving you speechless. 

“what just happened?” you asked, turning to zuko. 

zuko was blushing hard, which made you even more confused. 

“i don’t know. go ahead and open your gift,” he said. 

“alright,” you said. you opened the gift, which was a small, black box. you took the top off, your eyes widening and your mouth agape. zuko had gotten you a silver charm bracelet. the charms were an otter-penguin, the first initial of your name, your zodiac sign with your zodiac gemstone, and a small circle.

“this is so beautiful, thank you,” you smiled. 

“you're welcome. read the text on the small circle,” he said. 

you looked at it, reading the words out loud. “will you… go on… a date… with me?”

you paused for a moment, lowering the bracelet and looking at zuko. 

“so, what’s your answer?” zuko asked, nervously playing with his fingers. 

“yes,” you nodded and smiled. 

zuko’s worried expression went away immediately, and was replaced with glowing, big grin. “really?”

“yes!” laughed, leaning over and giving him a hug.

“YES!” you heard everyone shout from kitchen. they all came back into the room. 

“you guys are gonna make an awesome couple!” sokka exclaimed. 

you pulled away, blushing. “shut up.”

“alright, wanna watch ‘home alone’, now?” suki asked. 

“yeah,” you nodded.

“zuko and y/n, you can sit on the love seat,” sokka smiled, wiggling his eye brows. 

you rolled your eyes, “so immature.”

“i don’t mind,” zuko smiled and shrugged. 

you smiled up at him, walking over to the couch with him. you sat down right next to him, putting your head on his shoulder with no hesitation. zuko wrapped his arm around you and rested his hand on your thigh. your heart pounded against your chest, and warmth shot down from your stomach to between your thighs. 

“do you mind my hand being here?” zuko asked. 

you took a deep, shaky breath. “nope.”

zuko moved his hand, “you sure?”

you grabbed his hand and shook your head. “i’m sure.”

zuko smirked a little, putting his hand back. you sighed contently and leaned into him more, enjoying the warmth he provided.

aang turned on the movie and you all watched it in silence. during the movie, you had moved over to zuko’s lap. you were stretching and ended up on him. you were going to move, but zuko grabbed your waist gently, setting you back down. the gesture had you grinning from ear-to-ear, snuggling into him. 

the movie ended, which signalled the end of the party. everyone but zuko was staying, which made you sad, but you knew you weren’t ready for him to stay the night with you in your room. not just yet. 

so, you just walked him up to the front door.

“thank you for the skateboard,” zuko smiled. 

“you’re welcome. thank you for the charm bracelet. when is the date, again?” you asked. 

“ah, right, sorry,” zuko chuckled. “are you free tomorrow?” 

“i am,” you smiled, clasping your hands in excitement.

“great! i’ll take you out then. make sure to dress warmly,” he said. 

“will do. see you tomorrow, zu,” you smiled.

“see you,” he smiled and went on his way. 

you closed the door, looking down at your charm bracelet dreamily. you were falling hard for this boy. 

note - hope you guys read and enjoy this as new parts are added! if you wanna be on the taglist, message me and/or reply to this post :))

taglist - @sorrythatspussynal @theblueslytherin @charlenasaxen@akiris @the-paintedlady @thatarthistorynerd @freckled-and-daydreaming @fi-chanwrites​

[tiredcath]

Zukka Fic Recs

after atla came back into pop culture i found myself falling back in love with zukka which resulted in me reading (almost) every zukka fic on ao3 and here are my favorites

Transference by The_Quatermasters (146k)

In a modern AU, Zuko has to deal with settling in a new school after expulsion, dealing with an angry ex and an abusive father. Maybe his new found friendships and growing closeness with Sokka will help him make it through. 

Borderlines by The_Quatermasters (73k)

Three years after the war, the work still isn't quite done and the Gaang is scattered across the continents in their efforts to help the world recover. When Aang and Katara pay visit to the Fire Nation where Zuko is Fire Lord and Sokka acts as Ambassador for the Water Tribe, sparks fly between the siblings over Sokka's life choices.

Ashes Inside When You Finish Your Song by Muncaster (47k)

Sokka writes lyrics for his sister’s band. Zuko plays piano and is unnecessarily nice. Fellas, is it gay to write love songs about your friend and his golden eyes?

(AKA, a modern band AU featuring The Gaang, crappy software equipment, homoerotic lyrics, and the realization that maybe, if you think about a guy every night before you sleep, you just might be in love with him.)

sirens & sleepless nights by Satirrian (54k)

Life can be pretty hard living in a city under a totalitarian regime. Between adhering to the ridiculous curfew, keeping himself from being gunned down by a passing patrolman, and paying his unnecessary tolls to the state for, say, breathing, Sokka has his hands full just getting to work. Add aiding a resistance group on top of that, and Sokka should really be getting paid for this.

Then, one night, Sokka finds an injured patrolman collapsed in the street, who tells him with blood on his lips, “If the patrol finds me, I’m dead.”

 Real Slow by surveycorpsjean (21k)

“I see.” Zuko closes the scroll. “Is the Water Tribe sending a replacement?”

“Uh yeah,” Sokka gestures to himself dramatically. “You’re looking at him.”

 First by HoneyBadgerMole (20k)

Zuko has been nurturing a crush on the jock in his AP Psych class but he has been too scared to talk to him until they get paired up for a project.

the benefits of getting a flat tire by LesbeanLatte (64k)

Zuko makes an impromptu decision to run away from home after a disturbing conversation with Azula. Unfortunately, some plans are better when they're actually, well, planned. Zuko isn't counting on getting a flat tire almost as soon as he's far enough away from the city to really be in the middle of nowhere.

Sokka is immediately taken with the stranger he and his friends find stranded on the side of the road during an afternoon joy ride. However, he has no idea what he's getting involved with and a kind attempt to help a fellow teen in need turns into a massive coverup for a missing person who just so happens to be the son of the mayor of Ba Sing Se.

Azula was just trying to help her big brother - in her own way - by telling him things she thought he deserved to know. Now the situation has gotten wildly out of control. Did she enjoy seeing Zuko upset and afraid? Of course. Had she intended to endanger his life? Not necessarily, but of course, her idiot brother overreacted to everything and that's what happened and now she doesn't know how to stop the chain of events she's indirectly put in place like dominoes.

Operation Leverage by snowandfire (50k)

Sokka's instincts are onto something great. Zuko just wants to serve tea and brood in peace. Ironically, Toph is the only one who can see what's really going on.

 The Stingray by Smediterranea (24k)

“You’re not carrying me.”

“I don’t mind,” the lifeguard says easily.

“I can just hop over.”

“On sand?”

Zuko will never admit it, but being carried feels pretty nice. The lifeguard sets him down and eyes him warily.

“Are you really all by yourself?” he asks in a worried tone. “No friends in town you can call to check on you?”

“No,” Zuko confirms. Tears are forming again with alarming speed; his foot throbs painfully with every passing second.

“What kind of burrito do you want?”

“You don’t have to —“ Zuko repeats.

“I’m getting al pastor. You like al pastor?”

 AU: Zuko falls for Sokka, the super hot lifeguard who helps him after an unfortunate encounter with a stingray.

 it's the illusion of separation by argentoswan (110k)

Sokka takes a job washing dishes at the new tea shop in town. It's a great gig, until he finds out his only coworker is his old high school bully. Sokka really should quit, but he also really needs to afford rent.

Also, Zuko is kind of hot now.

 People like to think war means something by trying_to_spell_both_our_names_at_once (21k)

Sokka was the first to leave.

Somehow that hurt the most. . . . Not long after Zuko becomes Firelord, forces gather in the South and next thing he knows he's thrown into a civil war with almost no one by his side. Maybe healing is longer and more complicated than it needs to be, but with the right people by your side it is always possible.

 a way that will destroy you by anothermistakemade (14k)

In the wake of Ozai's death, Zuko begins to fall apart. Sokka will do everything in his power to make sure that doesn't happen.

-

or, zuko might be losing his mind, but he also might just be really sad & traumatized

 Those Who Favor Fire by CSHfic, VSfic (30k)

After a failed attempt on his life, Sokka fakes his death, dons a disguise, and infiltrates the would-be assassin's ranks in an attempt to bring them down from the inside.

Zuko learns of his husband's tragic death, mourns, and vows revenge.

 Words Mean More at Night by DaisytheDoodleDog (28k)

Even ten years after the end of the war, rebellions rise and risk the balance of the nations. Sokka was willing to do anything to protect his people, which is perhaps why he's leading an army against the rebellion, attacking only as a last result. But Sokka's unwinding, it's taking a toll on him, and the only thing keeping him grounded are the letter Zuko and him exchange late in the night when no one can see the messenger hawks. But as they say, nothing's fair in love and war.

another word for wanting by eurydicees (23k)

Sokka begins to dream of his soulmate when he's eleven years old, and it just gets harder from there. Or, 125 moments soulmates share, and none of them come easy.

(In which your dreams are your soulmate's memories, and Sokka dreams of an all-consuming fire, growing and eating at his soulmate until it burns up the connection between their souls. In which they find love anyways.)

 It Has Only Just Begun by Kirazalea (39k)

There is a bitter triumph in crashing when you should be soaring

Zuko had now chosen the path his uncle had been trying so hard to show him; he had someone who believed in him, who maybe loved him; he was travelling with the Avatar and they apparently had a plan to end the war. By all accounts, Zuko should be smiling.

But Uncle was gone (captured by Azula, and Zuko didn't think she would kill him, but he didn’t, couldn’t, know for sure). The Avatar was barely breathing (he could still die at any second and there was nothing any of them could do about it). Azula had conquered the last Earth Kingdom stronghold (all those innocent people who were now at her mercy). It seemed like, for every step Zuko took forward, the world sent him back three more.

But he was determined to push forward anyways. He needed to make his uncle proud, even if it was the last thing he ever did.

aka: zuko joins the gaang at the end of season 2

 Nightmares and Reveries by HisMomoness (20k)

Zuko doesn't sleep because when he does, he's haunted by nightmares. Sokka worms his way into a job and makes it his mission to get Zuko to relax. Lots of head pets and one vacation to the South Pole later, Zuko might just be getting the hang of it.

Cue pining, some fluff, and eventual romance.

 The One Who Stopped Time by ohhihoney (66k)

All hope was lost to Zuko until one day, his uncle asked a random person at the Jasmine Dragon to tutor his nephew. Gritting his teeth and embarrassed beyond the point of no return, Zuko gave the blue eyed boy his number.

Little did Zuko know how much Sokka would change his world.

 Rubbed Off Stars by ohhihoney (2k)

Sokka wasn't going to just sit and watch the boy at the back of the bus cry while trying to rub off pride flags off his cheeks.

--------------

WIP

Ozymandias, King of Kings by Think_of_a_Wonderful_Thought (168k)

After that fateful Agni Kai, Ozai makes a different call. Branded as a traitor and banished to a prison camp, Zuko learns how cruel the Fire Nation can be to its citizens. Three years, a water tribe raid, and an unexpected meeting with a gang of over-enthusiastic idealistic children puts Zuko back in the spotlight. The revolution is coming and it wants another poster boy, but Zuko is not willing to lend his face to the cause.

 Another Brother by AvocadoLove (312k)

It was a mission of revenge. There weren't supposed to be any survivors, but Chief Hakoda couldn't bring himself to kill the Fire Nation boy. Against his better judgment, he brought him home. A Zuko joins the Water Tribe story.

--------------

BONUS : zuko x jet

Something to Hold Onto by Wildgoosery (122k)

Since the day the walls of Ba Sing Se fell, the Freedom Fighters have struggled to protect what remains of the city and its people. Jet and his second command, a mysterious boy named Li, have spent the summer piecing together an army, hoping for a chance to take the city back for good. But Li is also Zuko, and the time for that secret is quickly running out. Soon, he'll have to decide exactly who he is, what cause he's going to fight for, and where his heart lies.

[lightdancer1]

Small excerpt from the upcoming Part II of the AU version of The Search:

Ikem was surprised to see Kiyi in that in between state between walking and running as she moved over to him. She hadn't taken his own face change any easier than she had Ursa (though only he had sought to apologize to....Katara, he thought the name was, for what she had seen from both of them). For all he knew she did go to Ursa now when she wanted her mom but he was not Ursa and he in truth was not entirely sure how to address a great many things on his mind.

When his five year old daughter put her arms around him and cried that strand of thought vanished like smoke into the aether.

"I w--wanna go home!"

Their daughter's voice was broken, as if Ursa had not casually set fire to the house they'd had in Hira'a. In truth even if they could by some miracle go back Ikem would not have objected to another house. Even absent the face-change and the horrors it left in their memories, that place was ill-starred with bad memories from long before Azulon showed up and brought his evils into their lives.

"I know, Firebug, I know." His arms were around her and he rocked her.

When she looked at him, her eyes red, and tears quieted for a time, she reached for his face and he let her hand feel it.

"I'm still me, Firebug."

Her eyes were wide, uncomprehending.

"Do I sound the same?"

She nodded.

"You sound like Papa and Ursa sounds like mama."

He took a deep breath, eyes closed.

"I don't know everything of what happened when we changed faces. I know our voices were the same, that I have the memories of everything of Noren's." His words were musing and not all of them were fully heard or understood.

"But I am still your Papa, and Ursa is still your Mama."

He did not say that behind his eyes danced memories, of nine days where Ursa had bewailed the fate of her son, a boy of eleven, and the little girl of nine that she'd also had had only been mentioned when he alluded to her directly and indirectly. There was a pall of fear around Fire Lord Zuko and a strange kind of quiet protectiveness of Kiyi that didn't match the old stories of the Palace Ursa told and left much more disquieting elements.

Ursa basked in the idea that her second daughter was loved where the first was feared (and missed that her stating this outright next to one of Azula's old maidens saw the older woman give her a baleful stare that Ikem registered full well and only his shame softened it). Ikem had questions that wanted for answers, a lurking fear that crept at the edges like fog.

The Palace broke its women, and its girls. Naru, Hino, Ursa herself, and Azula was nowhere to be found even if her memory seemed to linger like a ghost with golden eyes and blue flames. And now it was their daughter, Kiyi, the next to face the great millstone that crushed all before it with impartial fury.

If he held Kiyi a little tighter she didn't complain and he did not seek to burden a child with something she could neither control nor face. That was what parents faced. It had been a formidable enough task at Hira'a where there was the fog-haunted Valley. Here the monsters were not towering giants that walked through fog with a bow-shock. They were all too human and he knew that it had broken his wife once.

He kissed Kiyi's forehead and vowed that whatever else happened his little girl would always have him at her side, and that the millstone would not crush her as it had so many others.

[forever--rain]

What up, Covered in You fam? Who wants a couple lil previews for the update I'm editing right now?

“You changed your hair,” Zuko says stupidly.

Katara flushes and clutches a little harder at the scrolls in her arms. “I woke up late,” she mumbles.

“It looks nice.” He swallows hard. “Not that you don’t always look nice. Because you do, but… This also is...great.”

“Thank you.”

Redder than the dragon motif on the wall, Zuko clears his throat, wanting nothing more than to fade into the shadows and let her continue on her way as if this encounter hasn’t happened. Twenty-seven years old and he’s reduced to a puddle of teenage nerves and hormones around a pretty woman like a Grade A Idiot.

----

“Sounds like an excuse to me.”

Katara’s eyes spit fury and frustration. For a split second, Zuko thinks that she might leap from the moving palanquin without regard to her own safety and take off running. Her entire body is taut with tension. Her lovely face is contorted with a sneer. But Katara has never been one to run away or back down.

She leans forward, the pendant on her necklace swinging in time with the movement of the palanquin. “You’ve known me eleven years now, Zuko. Do I strike you as the kind of person to make excuses?” she asks.

[randomly-random-jen]

Avatar the Last Airbender fic - Avatar Katara AU

To go along with this post: South Pole AU...

On the same night, using my phone, I also wrote over 8,000 words to this Avatar Katar AU. I had a lot of fun worldbuilding the Southern Water Tribe and what life would have been like for Katara had her mother not been murdered, along with coming up with friends for her and Sokka. And, yes, this means Aang was found and died 11 years before the story starts, but he makes appearances in Katara's dreams a lot.

Just thought I'd share what I have written and maybe motivate myself to finish more of it.

South Pole

The Southern Water Tribe lived in a constant state of fear. Her parents tried to act like nothing was wrong, but Katara heard their worried, hushed conversations with Gran-Gran all the same. How could she not worry when words like war and raids and Fire Nation peppered their midnight talks?

Katara, like the few other children of the tribe, knew the stories of the raids. The Fire Nation had routinely come looking for waterbenders, but then suddenly eleven years ago, the raids stopped. That was the night the beams of bright, white light lit the sky in all four nations. A bad omen the elders called it.

That was the night Katara was born, and being born under a bad omen was about as dreadful as you could imagine.

"Katara, dear," her mother called, "you'll be late for school."

Katara quickly dropped the tendril of water extending from her fingers back into the basin just as her mother poked her head into the room she shared with her brother.

"What are you doing?"

"Just washing my hands," she said innocently, holding up her wet hand as evidence.

Her mom shook her head. "Well, hurry up."

Katara let out a sigh of relief, heart pounding in her chest, as she ran to the front door and wiggled into her coat and squeezed her feet into her too-small boots. "Bye, I love you, Mom," she called over her shoulder then hurried out the door.

It was early winter at the South Pole which meant despite the hour, the sun was still low on the horizon, giving the sky a hazy, dusk feeling. It would be like this for the next six months before the sun would rise again fiving way to six months of day.

The schoolhouse was a large, squat building made of ice in the center of the village. The boys attended classes in the morning so they would be free to help with the fishing later in the day while Katara and the other girls had a scant two hours of classes during the afternoon—squeezed in between morning and evening chores.

Katara never minded helping her mother and Gran-Gran with the chores, but she cherished the couple of hours she got to read and learn new things, especially about the outside world. A world she would never get to see. But that was okay, she thought, as long as she had her family and her imagination.

The boys were already tumbling out of the door, yelling and shoving each other in their excitement to be free. Katara quickly gathered a handful of snow, looking for her brother, but before she could pick him out in the crowd, a mass of slush landed mostly in her right ear. She squawked in surprise, tripping over her own feet and landing in the snow.

Sokka and his friends laughed at her humiliation. You'd think she'd be used to it by now. One of these days she would get him first.

Sokka extended a hand down to help her up. "Nice try, kid," he said as she dug snow out of her ear. "It's cute how hard you try."

"You're only a year older than me!"

"That's not why I'm better than you. It's because I'm a boy and you're a girl and that's just how things are."

A growl of frustration built in the back of her throat. She hated when Sokka acted like he was so much smarter than her just because he was a boy. Like that made a difference. "Ugh," she shouted as they walked away still laughing. "Why do you have to be so… so condescending?"

Sokka glanced over his shoulder. "That's not even a word."

"It is, too," she yelled. She had learned it in school last week and was pretty sure she used it correctly—she'd check the dictionary scrolls to be sure, though. Wiping more snow from her hair, she headed inside.

Three older girls were huddled together poring over a well-worn scroll in the corner where the large dictionary scrolls were kept on special rolls. Curious, Katara peeked over the arm of one of them. The scroll was old and weathered so not from the school. She only had time to read a few words of the title—something about love and dragons. Gross—before she was shoved away.

"You're too little for this," Seena said. "You wouldn't understand." The other girls laughed.

Katara stomped over to the dictionary and spun the wheels, winding the scroll from one giant roll to the other, until she got to the correct word. Ha! She did use it correctly. She stuck her tongue out at the equally condescending older girls since Sokka wasn't there. They didn't notice, but her friend Kita gave her a weird look.

Kita was six months older than Katara and had a huge crush on Sokka. At least that's what Kita always told her. Katara wasn't exactly sure what a crush was, but it entailed a lot of blushing and giggling on Kita's part. Sokka didn't seem to notice.

She joined Kita on the fur-covered floor just as the teacher arrived with her new son, Haran, in a wrap across her chest. The infant mewed softly, getting the attention of the youngest kids who just adored babies. The older girls fought over who would get to hold him first if he got fussy during class. Katara groaned knowing they wouldn't learn anything today with the baby there.

"I'm going to have four kids," Kita said, playing with her hair. "Two boys and two girls."

Katara frowned, thinking about having a sister and extra brother squeezed into their tiny room. It sounded awful. She was about to say so but Kita continued.

"It'll be perfect. We'll get married at sixteen and have our first at seventeen. A boy, of course."

"I don't think you get to choose," Katara muttered, but her friend still wasn't listening. Katara likewise tuned her out until she heard her brother's name. "Huh?"

Kita rolled her eyes then leaned close. "I said don't you think we'll make cute babies together?" She signed dramatically at Katara's continued confusion. "Me and Sokka."

Katara blinked at her as the reality of her words set in. "You wanna have babies with my brother?" she practically shouted. All she could think was "why?" and "gross."

The room went quiet, all eyes on them. The color drained from Katara's face as Kita's went scarlet. "I swear, you're such a child, Katara," her friend yelled, hopping to her feet. "You don't understand anything."

Katara wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Instead, she ran from the school. Nobody followed her.

I'll probably add more to this later. I have 8k words started, but it takes a while to edit when a lot of my keys don't work on my keyboard (editing on my phone is just as frustrating and slow). Stay tuned.

[hardcore-evil-regal]

Home

Summary:

For the prompt: Spirit world

Three times the spirit world impacts the lives of Toph and Aang.

You can keep reading this here, on AO3 or FF.net

One

It’s been three days.

Three days since Aang went into a deep meditation into the spirit world.

Three days since he said it would just be a quick trip to commune with the spirits.

Toph doesn’t usually worry about Aang, he is the Avatar for spirits sake! But a small seed of doubt has settled in her mind after he hadn’t returned on the second day, and now that seed has grown into a churning pit of worry in her stomach. Without her sight, she has learned to rely on her instincts and she’s proud to say that they have rarely let her down. Which is why she worries something is wrong, that something has happened to Aang despite Katara’s words that Aang will be fine and he can handle himself.

Toph knows Aang can handle himself. She should know almost better than anyone considering she was his Sifu for a time. That doesn’t mean she can stop herself from worrying about one of the most important people in her life. For three days now she has watched over his body, so still, so quiet. So entirely not like the ever active and excited young man she loves.

“Come home to me Aang,” she whispers in the quiet room as she wraps her fingers around his still hands. “I miss you.”

She sits with him, her hands still wrapped around his as she listens to the rustling of the leaves outside and feels the steady pulsing of Aang’s heartbeat. Breathing in, breathing out; she matches her breaths with the slow almost imperceptible breaths he takes in his meditative state. Directing her senses to focus on him and him alone, she feels the exact moment when he returns to his body.

Grey eyes slowly flutter open as Aang returns to his body and his senses with him. The first thing he sees is Toph sitting in front of him in a lotus position, knees practically brushing his as her strong fingers are wrapped around his own. Her misty green eyes are closed, but he can see the way her lips begin to lift in a smile and he can’t stop himself from leaning forward the short distance and placing a sweet kiss on her lips.

“I missed you too,” he tells her as he pulls back.

Her jade eyes blink open in surprise at his words, her fingers squeezing his for a moment.

“You heard me?” she asks with a confused frown wrinkling her brow.

He nods, knowing she can sense the movement.

“I heard you,” he says softly, rubbing a thumb over the back of her hand. “I’ll always come home to you Toph.”

Two

She senses it almost before he does. So in tune with his body she can feel the exact moment something changes. They all knew staying in the iceberg for a hundred years took a heavy toll on his body, but no one really knew what that would mean. It’s not like anyone had done it before so there weren’t a great deal of other examples for comparison. It’s still so unfair though sometimes; the way life works out. Eventually even the mighty Avatar must fall at some point.

When Aang passes, she is there by his side like she has been for the last fifty or so years. Their fingers are intertwined and she can feel how his heartbeat grows weaker with each pulse of his heart. He lifts her fingers to his lips, pressing one last kiss as he smiles faintly at his wife.

“I love you Toph,” he whispers weakly, fingers barely squeezing her own as she squeezes his in acknowledgement. “I’ll wait for you.”

His heart finally stops as his body gives out and she thinks a little piece of her heart dies along with him.

Their friends and family gather for his funeral but it is all an incoherent buzz that she can’t bring herself to really focus on. All she knows is that he’s gone. Left her behind in a world without him and she loves him, but she also hates him for making her feel so lost without him.

When she sleeps that night, he visits her. She thinks this must be some spirit world journey he has taken her on, because he is a young man in his prime again and she is able to ‘see’ him in a way that she has never been able to do so before. Not only that, but she realises the ache in her lower back is gone and her knee doesn’t trouble her. It does feel nice to be a young woman again. He reminisces with her about all their old adventures together, reminds her of all the good memories they made with one another. He almost makes her forget that when she wakes up he will be gone again. With a tenderness that makes her heart ache, he wipes away a tear that spills down her cheek.

“Don’t cry my love,” he whispers, lips brushing against her damp cheek. “I will alway be with you, and I’ll be waiting for you right here. When you’re ready to come home.”

She wakes in the morning with tear tracks on her face, and though she knows her heart and her life will be just a little emptier without him, she knows that she will see him again. And that makes her heart feel just a little less broken.

Three

It was inevitable.

As the years went on, they all grew older, but slowly one by one their group grew fewer. First it was Aang, too young to go, then Sokka, Zuko, Suki and finally Katara. She stood there at each funeral as their group slowly dwindled down until it was just her left standing by the water as Katara’s body slowly drifted out further and further into the ocean. A fitting funeral for the waterbender; surrounded by her element.

Life goes on after but it isn’t the same. A small ridiculous part of her feels betrayed by her friends for leaving her behind. Of course she knows it’s not their fault and she’s probably just grieving, but still.

Why did she have to be the last one?

It almost reminds her of how her life was back when she was a child and didn’t have any friends. Except maybe it’s worse this time because she knows exactly what she is missing now, not just some eleven year old’s imagination of what it would be like to have friends. The heavy loss aches deep inside her, the old earthbender weighed down by the permanent absence of her friends; her family.

Just like how she senses someone approaching with her seismic abilities, she feels the way her time draws nearer. At times she feels herself drifting, her mind lost in flashbacks of times so long ago. The light and barely there footsteps of her youngest grandchild she more frequently mistakes for the boy she met at twelve.

"Twinkle toes?" She whispers as the footsteps approach.

Only for her granddaughter to take her hand as she gently reminds her that her grandpa Aang passed many years ago. Toph nods her head along, but it feels like he is near. Almost as if she can sense his presence.

When she drifts to sleep that night, she almost thinks she can hear him faintly calling her name. At the sound of his voice her eyes snap open and she cannot help the small sigh that escapes her at the sight of him, twinkling grey eyes urging her to come closer.

“It’s time to come home my love,” he smiles, arm outstretched and hand ready to take hers into his own.

She smiles, green eyes bright with unshed tears from finally seeing him again after so many years.

“I missed you,” she whispers, placing her hand in his, “take me home Aang.”

x

x

Notes:

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think. I apologise for this lil angst nugget or as I like to call it, Aangst. Also sorry not sorry. But honestly, please leave me a comment - it fuels my writing juices :)

[failedfirebender]

Sad Prince - ZUTARA AU

Genre: Drama, Romance.

Words: 4809 

Timeline: The Hundred Year War never happened, Zuko and Katara are eight and eleven years old.

Place: Fire Nation

_______________________________________________________

I looked up at Dad and frowned, wanting him to take us back. I hated these visits to the Fire Nation. They took forever and when we arrived, it was always too hot and too red.  

Everything was red. From the outside of the Fire Lord’s castle to the inside of every room, every piece of furniture, every robe and every pair of shoes. It was too much red, almost an aggressive amount. I didn’t like it. In fact, I hated it, and it was because it reminded me of a particular person.  

The same age as Sokka, the young Prince and him just loved to pair up and prank me. They’d take my books, pull from my hair loopsies and call me names. Zuko was a bad influence on Sokka, and I’d made it clear to mom and dad. Of course, none of them really took me seriously. I was just eight-year-old Katara and I had no idea about grown-up matters.  

I’d like it if they heard me every once in a while. If Sokka had, he’d probably be by my side now, and not back at home with a broken arm. I told him he was going to get hurt chasing the penguins between the slippery iceberg peeks, and guess what? I was right. I laughed when he fell, but the moment he started crying, I run to him, with the same recklessness he’d shown chasing the penguins through the ice, falling to my knees to check on the wound. We walked the long way home with his complains and my scowling.  

Now, he hadn’t been able to come, and I was supposed to entertain Prince Zuko. I was Glad that at least his little sister wouldn’t be here. Azula had been studying in the Earth Kingdom for the last three years and I didn’t remember her much. Only that she wasn’t mischievous, like her brother, she was just mean. She didn't want to  laugh , she wanted to make  me  cry, and when she achieved it, she’d go on and on until she got bored and passed on to another victim. Sokka and Zuko rarely made me cry, and they always apologized immediately and made up for it, even when they did it with frowns on their faces and calling me a crying baby.  

...

Rest of the story in AO3!

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24690823/chapters/59704765#workskin

[the-badger-mole]

Matchmaker

I’m not going to be able to post this tomorrow, but I wanted to get in my  sole contribution to Zutara Month 2017 before the new year. Enjoy! @zutaramonth

             When Zuko walked into his office and saw Katara seated at his desk scribbling in a notepad, his immediate instinct was to turn around and leave. She had a look on her face that never boded well for the Fire Lord. Unfortunately for him, she saw him before he could make his retreat.

               “Zuko!” she greeted him happily. “Where’ve you been? I’ve been waiting for you for over an hour.”

               “I had to sit in on a meeting,” he explained. At Katara’s questioning look, he further clarified. “Agriculture.” Katara made a face. Of all the minutiae of Fire Nation, agriculture was her least favorite. She was grateful that Zuko largely left her out of it.  It wasn’t as difficult as foreign affairs or public policy, but it was unspeakably boring.

               “How is the llama sheep wool harvest this year?” she asked. Her smile was overly bright. Zuko smirked at her and dug around the hidden pockets of his robes.

               “If you really want to know, I have a copy of the meeting minutes on me somewhere,” he told her. Katara hurried to his side and grabbed his hands.

               “I was just asking to be polite, honey,” she said. “No need to be nasty.”  Zuko laughed outright.

               “Where’s Lu Ten?” he asked.

               “In the nursery. It’s naptime, thank the spirits,” Katara sighed.

               “Long morning?” Zuko asked. Katara nodded and went back to the desk.

               “Lu Ten’s governess is out sick,” she told him. “It turns out, our son is a handful, and we need to give her a raise.” Zuko nodded.

               “Duly noted.” He took a seat in the guest chair and folded his hands. “So, what brings you by? Not that I’m complaining, but you don’t usually wait around this long for me.”  The corner of Katara’s mouth quirked up slightly.

               “You always get straight to the point,” she observed.

               “Yeah, well, dealing with nobles who like to talk around the issues for hours has given me an appreciation of our straightforward relationship. So, talk to me. Is this really about giving Min Ju a raise?”

               “Let’s put a pin in that for now,” Katara said. She walked around to the front of the desk and perched on top of it. “No, dear, I want to throw a ball.” Zuko blinked once. Then again. Then one more time.

               “What?”

               “A ball!” she repeated. Zuko stared at her in confusion.

                 “You hate balls,” he said. “The last one we had, you tried to get out of it by saying you were going into labor.”

               “Okay,” Katara held her hands up. “That was one time. You can’t bring that up any time you want.” An incredulous laugh bubbled out of Zuko.

               “It four months ago,” he reminded her. “You weren’t even pregnant! There are still rumors going around about that.”  Katara sniffed haughtily.

               “That’s the kindest rumor going around about me,” she said. “And this is going to be different. I’m not inviting anyone who irritates me. This is going to be a proper party. Just people we actually like.” Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose. He was certain that after nearly eight years of being the Fire Lady, Katara knew exactly why that was a bad idea, but he felt he should tell her anyway.

               “Love, if we throw a ball, we have to invite at least some of the nobles, or they’ll feel snubbed.”  

               “Like I care,” Katara muttered. “Let them stay mad. This isn’t about them.”  Zuko chuckled at his wife, despite himself.

               “What is this about then?”

               “Toph.” Zuko leaned forward and squinted at Katara.

               “Excuse me?”

               “Well, really about Toph and Xei,” Katara explained. That just confused Zuko further.

               “Xei?” he repeated. “The captain of the palace guard? What’s he got to do with anything?” Katara clapped her hands excitedly.

               “They’ve been flirting!” she whispered, for reasons Zuko couldn’t begin to fathom.  

               “…So?” Zuko asked. “Toph flirts a lot. Usually with guys who don’t realize she’s flirting.” Katara let out a frustrated huff and threw her arms up.

               “This time the guy does realize she’s flirting and he’s flirting back!” Zuko still felt lost. Nothing Katara was saying seemed to be connected to each other.

               “And you want to throw a ball because…”

               ‘For such a smart man, you sure can be so slow!” Katara leaned forward on the edge of the desk. “The ball is to get them together. A little music, a little dancing. And of course Toph will be in something stunning! Before you know it, Xei and Toph are joining the rest of us for date night!”

               Zuko’s jaw hung open. Katara had lost her mind. There was no other explanation for it. Perhaps the heat of the Fire Nation had finally gotten to her. Or maybe she had gotten too familiar with the wine cellar.

               “Are you on cactus juice?” he asked her. To his surprise, Katara threw her head back and laughed.

               “Don’t be silly,” she said. “I’m not drunk. I just want to see Toph happy.”              

               “What do you mean?” Zuko almost shouted. “When has she ever needed any of us to see to her happiness?”  Katara hopped off the desk and paced around the desk.

“Toph is … well, she’s…” Katara tried to explain. “Toph’s a strong woman. She’s got so much going for her with her metal bending school and everything she’s done for the Earth Kingdom’s army. And she’s a phenomenal mom…” Zuko motioned for her to continue.

“But…?” Katara leaned against the desk.

“She’s kind of crap at relationships,” she admitted. “Look at her last two serious relationships. They both left as soon as she told them she was pregnant! What kind of creep does that?” Zuko shrugged, but that was all. The Gaang had all discussed ad nauseam how they’d dispose of Toph’s ex-boyfriends if they had a chance. Katara refused to even speak their names.

“Toph is fine, though,” Zuko said instead. “She was really young and rebelling. She’s more mature now.”

“And I think that it’s the perfect time to help her see how good Xei would be for her,” Katara  held firm.  

“Isn’t Xei a bit old for her?” Zuko sighed and sank into his chair.

“What do you mean?” Katara asked. “He’s 33.”

“Toph’s only 24.” Katara shrugged.

“My mom was eleven years younger than my dad,” she told Zuko. “Besides, I think an older man would be great for Toph.”

“I don’t understand why we have to get involved,” Zuko grumbled. He crossed his arms and hunched his shoulders irritably, but Katara was unmoved.

               “They have been dancing around each other for almost three months now,” she said with exaggerated patience. “Yet for some reason neither of them will make a move. I’m shocked at Toph, to be honest, but maybe Xei is just shy.”

               “Or maybe they’re just not as into each other as you think,” Zuko suggested. “This could all be in your head.”  Katara waved him off.

               “They’re perfect for each other,” she insisted. “He’s funny, patient, he’s not afraid of her-“

               “Toph hates that in a man,” Zuko pointed out.

               “-he’s terrific with the girls,” Katara continued as if Zuko hadn’t spoken. “Don’t you want Lin and Suyin to have a father?” Zuko arched his brow at her.

               “What do you mean?” he asked. “They have three fathers.” Katara crossed her arms and huffed.

               “That was incredibly sweet,” she admitted, grumpily. “And I’d kiss you for it, but you are being so very unhelpful right now.” Zuko let his head roll back and rolled his eyes.

               “You’ve got to be joking!’ he groaned. He stood up and wrapped his arms around Katara’s waist and nuzzled her hair. She sucked her teeth and pushed him off of her.

               ‘Are you really mad at me?” Zuko asked with something like a pout. Katara turned slightly, so she wasn’t looking him in the eye.

               “Very,” she replied shortly. Zuko moved around her desk slightly, trying to establish eye contact.

               “But you still think I’m cute, though, right?” he pressed. Katara bit the inside of her cheek, trying, and failing to keep a severe look on her face.

               “Very,” she said grudgingly. Zuko pulled her into his arms again. This time Katara didn’t fight it.

               “So, about that kiss,” Zuko said. Katara’s mouth slid into a slow smile and she wrapped her arms around Zuko’s neck.

               “Will you let me throw my party?” she asked.

               “Do we have to?” Zuko sighed and rested his forehead against hers. Katara held up a hand and brought her pointer and thumb together.

               “Just a small, teeny-tiny party,” she offered. “Too small for even our members of court to possibly care about.  I’ll throw a little dinner party so I can make Toph and Xei sit together and they can talk and he’ll make her laugh, and then, once they realize how perfect they are for each other, I can start planning their wedding.”  Zuko rolled his eyes again and rested his forehead against his wife’s.

               “Do I actually have a choice in this?” Katara chuckled and gave Zuko a quick kiss.

               “Sure you do,” she told him. “Red wine or white?”

“Cactus juice,” Zuko said drily. He kissed Katara again, and relented. “Fine. Have your party. I’m telling you, it’s not going to work. And when Toph finds out what you’re up to, I will absolutely leave you out to dry.” Now Katara rolled her eyes.

               “How did I wind up married to the world’s biggest pessimist?” she huffed. Zuko grinned as he watched her leave his office.

               “You keep telling me it’s because of my hair!” he called after her. Katara glanced back over her shoulder and winked at him.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

               True to her word, Katara downgraded the ball she was planning to a dinner party.  It was a fairly simple affair, too. If Zuko hadn’t been there when Katara first had the idea, he would have thought she was just gathering their friends together for a nice dinner before they were scattered across the world again.

               “I’m really going to need you to give me a crate of these fruit tarts before we leave,” Aang said. He took another large bite out of his tart. Meng, his very pregnant wife narrowed her eyes at him.

               “How do you manage to eat so much and stay so slim?” she demanded. Aang grinned at her.

               “Don’th wurree, swees’ie,” he said around a mouth full of tart, “you’re naw fa’; you’re pre’nant!” Katara and Suki spun round on Aang before Meng could reply.

“Did you really just say that?” Katara asked, incredulously. Zuko snickered and moved over towards Sokka on the other side of the room.

“Honestly, Aang,” Suki chided. “The things you let come out of your mouth!” Aang turned to Meng both in apology and in supplication. She folded her arms mercilessly.

“You’re going to pay for that later,” she promised him. Aang swallowed the mouthful of tart in his mouth.

               “What?” He looked from his wife to his friends. “What did I say? Guys! Back me up!” He turned to Sokka and Zuko, who suddenly found the view from the window incredibly interesting.

               “I wasn’t saying that I’m fat,” Meng told him, jabbing a well-manicured nail into his chest. “I was wondering how you stay so slim. They are not the same thing.” Aang’s shoulders slumped forward in dismay.

               “How does your foot taste?” Suki teased him.  Katara and Meng laughed, not unkindly. Meng shook her head and kissed her husband’s cheek.

               “You’re excited about the baby, so I’ll let this slide,” she said, magnanimously. “But don’t let it happen again.”

               “Deal!” Aang agreed eagerly. He swept Meng into a hug, being gentle with her midsection.  At the window, Zuko and Sokka shook their heads.

               “How’s it so easy for him?” Sokka wondered out loud.

               “It’s those big ewe-doe eyes,” Zuko told him. “It’s impossible to be mad at a kewpie doll.”  A kiwi slice hit the side of his face and he spun round to see Aang smirking at him triumphantly with his arm around Meng, who was licking kiwi juice from her fingers. Katara and Suki nearly doubled over laughing.

               “Mature, Meng,” Zuko sneered. “Real mature.”  He pulled his sleeve down and wiped at the wet spot on his face.

               “Stop picking on my husband,” Meng retorted. She made a face at the Fire Lord.

               “What’s Sparky and/or Snoozles doing now?” Toph entered the dining room with Suyin strapped to her chest.

               “Oh! You brought the baby!” Katara said, surprised, but not unhappy, to see her youngest niece. She helped Toph undo the carrier and took Suyin in her arms, cooing at her.

               “Remember when Lu Ten was that small?” Zuko asked, waving at Suyin over Katara’s shoulder.

               “Hmm,” Katara nodded. She inhaled Suyin’s baby smell with a contented smile. “We should have another.”

               “What?” Katara ignored her sputtering husband and turned to Toph.

               “Why didn’t you leave her in the nursery?” Katara asked. Toph shrugged.

               “She was being fussy,” she explained. “Her teeth are coming in and she’s being a real moose-lion about it. I didn’t want to leave her behind, because Lin would feel obligated to take care of her. She does too much for an eight year old. I’d rather she play with Lu Ten and Yue.” Toph sat down at the table and propped her foot up on a chair. It’s okay she’s here, right?”

               “It’s fine,” Katara assured her. “We’re just waiting on one more person and then we can have dinner.”

               “Who are we waiting on?” Toph asked.

               “Xei.”    

               “The captain of the guard?” Toph’s brow wrinkled in confusion. “Why’d you invite him to a family dinner?” Sokka snorted.

               “Katara’s got it in her head-oof!” his sister cut him off with an elbow in his side.

               “I invited him because I like him,” Katara said. She passed Suyin to Suki’s waiting arms. “There are so few people who I click with here at the palace that I like to befriend anyone who I do click with.” Toph raised an eyebrow at that and turned to Zuko.

               “You hear that, Sparky?” she said. “I’d keep an eye on that situation if I were you.” Zuko rolled his eyes.

               “Believe me,” he told her. “If I could put a stop to this, I would.” Toph frowned. There was a knock at the door before she could ask any more questions, and a couple of servants pushing food laden carts entered. Once they set the table, Katara thanked them and dismissed them. Xei arrived not long after that.

               “I’m sorry I’m late, Your Majesty,” he said. He bowed to Zuko, then to Katara, then to Zuko once more. He stood up and looked around the room nervously. Suddenly he found himself in the presence of some of the most powerful people in the world, as situation that left him feeling out of his depth, despite working at the palace. He hadn’t been in the Fire Lord’s presence outside of an official meeting since he began working at the head of the palace guard nearly two years earlier. The Fire Lady had only recently begun a cordial acquaintance with him a few months ago. Xei had been surprised at first, but he realized that it was most likely because of his friendship with General Toph.

               Xei’s eyes darted over towards the young woman seated at the table and flushed lightly. He missed the smug look Katara shot at Zuko.

               “Well,” Sokka said, clasping his hands, “looks like everyone’s here. Can we eat now?”

               “I agree!” Meng exclaimed. She moved forward as fast as her heavy belly would allow. “I am eating for two, after all.” Aang followed his wife close behind.

               “Can you try to eat vegetarian food tonight?” he pleaded. Meng pinched her husband’s cheek.

               “Sorry, babe,” she said. “The baby wants steak.” Aang sighed unhappily.

               “She’s not wrong,” Katara said. “Pregnant women tend to crave what they need. Don’t bother Meng about what she eats unless a physician says otherwise.”

               “Yes, Master Katara,” Aang grumbled unhappily. Toph and Sokka turned to him in surprise.

               “Was that sass, Twinkletoes?” Toph gasped. Sokka shook his head.

               “Wow! You think you know a guy.” The rest of Aang’s friends laughed as he settled into the chair next to Meng’s and tried to ignore the decidedly omnivorous plate she was preparing for herself.

               “Xei,” Katara turned to her guest of honor and pointed out an empty chair. “You can sit right there next to General Toph.” Xei flushed again and took the seat, carefully avoiding Toph’s gaze.

               “Good evening, General,” he greeted her quietly.

               “It’s nice to see you again, Captain Xei.” Toph was polite, but indifferent to his presence. Zuko watched the exchange, carefully avoiding Katara’s eyes. He knew he wouldn’t be able to muster up enough encouragement to appease her. He turned and started a conversation with Suki, who still had Suyin in her lap.

               “Will General Iroh be joining us this visit?” Suki asked. Suyin babbled happily, reaching for a piece of fruit on the table.

               “Not this trip,” Zuko answered Suki. He reached over and pinched off a bit of kiwi for the baby girl. She took it and squished it between the small white teeth beginning to push their way through her gums. Zuko smiled at her and wiped a bit of dribble off her chin. “He’s been really busy with the Jasmine Dragon. He just won an award for his tea, and the shop has been really popular lately. He wants to train someone to manage for him so he can get away, but he hasn’t had the time yet.”

               “That’s a shame.” Suki shook her head. “I wanted to get his advice on a training program Toph and I are trying to put together. Plus, we’ve all been missing him.”

               “I know,” Zuko agreed. “It feels weird all of us here without him.” Suki nodded.

               “Besides, I know Katara would love to have a co-conspirator in this,” she whispered with a pointed look at Toph and Xei. Zuko followed her gaze to the couple. They weren’t really talking. Occasionally one would say something to the other, but it seemed to be out of a compulsion to be civil. Otherwise Toph was engrossed in conversation with Aang and Meng, and Xei was chatting with Sokka.  Zuko turned to Katara, who met his gaze with excited eyes and leaned towards him.

               “It’s going so well,” she whispered to him. Zuko looked over at Toph and Xei again. Toph had just asked Xei to pass her the fire flakes, and Xei obliged silently. Zuko wasn’t sure what Katara was seeing. It didn’t seem to be going well at all. Still, he found a smile and patted Katara’s hand. It wasn’t for him to dash her hopes, Zuko figured. Katara winked at Zuko, then turned her attention back to Toph and Xei. Zuko sighed and said to Suki,

               “I think it’s best that we keep Uncle and Katara separated for now.” Suki snickered. Suyin reached up for Zuko, and he took her from Suki so she could eat.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

               Suyin made the rounds between her aunts and uncles for the rest of dinner. By the time the meal was over three hours later, she had ended up back in Zuko’s arms, and fast asleep. Toph offered to take her up to the nursery, but Katara quickly declined the offer on his behalf. Zuko arched his eyebrow at her.

               “Don’t worry about it,” Zuko said. “I want to check on Lu Ten anyway.”  Toph smiled at him gratefully. It must be difficult, Zuko reflected, raising the two girls on her own, even with the nannies she sporadically employed. He was glad to help give her a small break, even if it meant subjecting her to his wife’s matchmaking efforts. As he left the informal dining room, Zuko saw Katara was working on slowly isolating Xei and Toph. He chuckled to himself and shook his head.  Suyin stirred in his arms, reminding Zuko of what he was supposed to be doing.

               The children were already in bed when Zuko got to the nursery. Min Ju was quietly tucking some stray toys back into their place. She bowed quickly and offered to take the baby from his arms.

               “Don’t worry about it,” Zuko whispered. He crossed the room and set Suyin in the crib. She fussed a little, but fell back into her deep sleep. Zuko checked on the rest of the children. Lin and Yue, the oldest of the bunch, had fallen asleep on the same bed, with a scroll opened across their laps.

               “They were taking turns reading to Lu Ten,” Min Ju explained. Zuko smirked and looked at his four year old son, asleep in his own bed.

               “Did he listen?” he asked. Min Ju covered her mouth with her hand to hide a smile.

               “For a few minutes, but he was more interested in playing soldier.” Zuko took the scroll from the girls’ hands and rolled it up. Then he went to Lu Ten and pulled the covers up around him.

               “Thank you for taking care of all the kids tonight,” Zuko said to Min Ju. “I hope they weren’t too much.”                

               “Not at all, Your Majesty.” Min Ju bowed her head again. “They were very well behaved.”

               “Good.” Zuko was genuinely relieved. Lu Ten on his own was a lot, but Lu Ten with his cousin Yue could be difficult for the most seasoned caregiver. Lin, Zuko supposed, was a balance to the rambunctiousness of the other two.

“Well, they’re asleep now,” Zuko said. “And we’re all done with dinner. You’re free to go. I can finish up in here.”

“Thank you, Lord Zuko.” Min Ju bowed once more and left the room. Zuko stayed behind and put the last few toys away. He lingered for a while longer, watching the children sleep, and his thoughts turned back to what Katara had said earlier. It would be nice, he told himself, to have the nursery this full all the time.  Katara had suggested having another baby, but Zuko wondered if she’d be willing to discuss a few more than that.

Zuko walked slowly down the hall away from the nursery towards where he had left his friends.  The dining room was empty, so he figured that they had all gone to bed.  Zuko wasn’t feeling tired just yet, though. He continued his aimless wandering through the royal family’s wing. He and Katara had had it renovated the year before to accommodate their close friends and family when they visit. Zuko couldn’t help but imagine the halls being filled with the sounds of small feet running through the halls.

               He paused at that thought and took a good look around the marble hall. He’d have to remember to speak to the palace designers about carpeting the floors. Zuko continued his walk. He passed the balcony overlooking the gardens and then froze.

               “No!” he gasped. He spun back around and poked his head around the side of the glass doors leading outside. On the balcony, Toph sat with Xei locked in a passionate embrace. Zuko’s jaw dropped in shock. Toph pulled away from Xei and sighed.

               “I know you’re there, Zuko,” she said. Xei gasped and leapt to his feet. He began bowing several times in succession in Zuko’s general direction. Toph reached up and shook his arm impatiently.

               “Stop that!” she ordered. The captain of the guard obeyed with a deep flush on his face. Zuko stepped out of the shadows and stood awkwardly in the doorway.

               “I didn’t mean to interrupt…” he assured the pair.

               “I’m sorry, my Lord,” Xei apologized. “I meant no disrespect.” Zuko wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Fortunately, Toph had plenty to say for all of them.

               “Have a little dignity, Xei. For spirits sake, man. Do you know how many times I’ve stumbled on him and Sugar Queen making out?” Xei looked away from Zuko uncomfortably. Zuko felt he should say something to make him more comfortable.

               “So…” he said. “I guess Katara’s plan worked.” That was not the right thing to say. If possible, Xei’s face got even redder. Toph groaned. Her head rolled backwards.            

               “You have got to do something about your wife’s meddling,” she told Zuko. The Fire Lord snorted and folded his arms.

               “Yeah, sure,” he scoffed. “What do you suggest?”

               “Wimp,’ Toph said. Xei shot her a quick, horrified glance. Toph couldn’t see it, but it wouldn’t have mattered if she could. She stood up and stretched her spine. “I figured this whole dinner was one of her schemes. No offense, Xei, but there’s no real reason for her to have invited you to dinner tonight unless she had something in the works.”  Xei held his hands up and shook his head.

               “No offense taken,” he said. “I was wondering why I was invited myself.” He turned to Zuko with wide eyes. “Not that I wasn’t honored to receive an invitation. You and the Fire Lady were gracious hosts…”

               “Xei if you don’t stop kissing Zuko’s behind, this’ll be the last time I kiss you.” Toph prodded Xei  in the side. “You’re a grown man! Show a little backbone, why don’t ya.” Zuko reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose.

               “What’s going on, Toph?” he asked. Toph linked her arm through Xei’s and grinned at Zuko.

               “Xei and I got together a few weeks ago,” she told him. “It’s still pretty new and we didn’t want to go public just yet. I’ve got the girls to think about and, well…Xei’s got these crazy notions in his head about me being above his station and it being improper for us to date and blah, blah, blah.”            

               “It’s nice to know that’s how you feel about my opinions,” Xei grumbled. He had the beginnings of a scowl on his brow. Zuko fought down a snicker. He knew that look too well.

               “If it makes you feel any better,” he told Xei, “the Fire Lady thought that you two would be good together.” That did seem to make the guard feel better. Toph gave Zuko and arch look.

               “And what about you?” she asked. “Do you approve?” Zuko shrugged.

               “It’s not my business,” he said. Toph nodded her head in agreement.  Zuko fixed Xei with a warning look. “Besides, I know that what Toph and my wife can and will do to you if you mess up is way worse than anything I could come up with.” Xei gulped and tuned to Toph for assurance.

               “Got that right,” she muttered.  She straightened up and raised a finger in Zuko’s face. “Do not tell Katara about us. She’ll think this was all her doing.” Zuko threw his arms out helplessly.              

               “I’ll keep my mouth shut,” he promised. “But she’s bound to figure it out eventually.”

               “Ugh!” Toph groaned. “I know! She’s been trying to get us together for weeks. But Xei and I were already on our way before she stuck her nose in.”

               “Well, almost,” Xei admitted. “I mean, I wouldn’t have been confident enough to make my move if she hadn’t hinted that you might not turn me down.”

               “Hint! Right,” Toph replied sarcastically. “What did she do, give you a list of places to take me on our first date?” Xei’s face flushed again, and he shifted uncomfortably on his feet. Both Zuko and Toph gaped at him.

               “Did she really do that?” Zuko’s laughter echoed through the gardens.

               “I mean it, Zuko,” Toph demanded. “Control your wife!” Zuko laughed harder.

               “Get real,” he retorted. “Who could control the ocean? You’re just upset because Katara’s got you pegged.”  Toph crossed her arms and grumbled to herself.

               “You’d think Sugar Queen would find enough between running a country and having a family to keep her too busy to mind my business.”

               “You shouldn’t be so disrespectful of the Fire Lady,” Xei said mildly. Toph shrugged carelessly.

               “Well, she’s not my queen.”  Xei’s horrified expression almost made Zuko laugh again. He shook his head at Xei.

               “Don’t bother,” he said. “Those two are going to bump heads until the day they die.”

               “Only because she won’t keep her nose out of my affairs,” Toph insisted. Zuko shrugged.

               “Consider it payback for telling everyone that she was pregnant before she got a chance.”

               “I thought she had already told you at least!” Toph insisted. “It was one time, almost five years ago! Katara’s been meddling in my life since I met her! She’s worse than my mother!”

               “She cares about you,” Zuko said. “She just wants you to be happy.”  Toph let out a disgusted sigh.

               “Ugh! That’s the worst thing about her.”

               “That and the fact that she’s right all the time,” Zuko retorted. Toph scowled at him.

               “She’s not right all the time.” Zuko shrugged again.

               “Seems like she’s right all the time.” He sighed and turned to go back inside. When he glanced back, Xei had taken Toph’s hand in his and he was whispering something that made Toph grin. Zuko smiled to himself and headed back to his room, thinking that if Katara ever decided to retire from being a head of state, she would make an amazing matchmaker.

[raisindeatre]

drench yourself in words unspoken (Zutara Soulmate AU)

I don’t need luck, Zuko says to Aang as the blizzard howls around them, as they take shelter from the ice and the wind. I don’t want it. I’ve always had to struggle and fight and that’s made me strong. That’s made me who I am.

He turns and, like, he knows the kid is in some Avatar Spirit-World trance or whatever, but he can’t quite quash the spark of irritation he feels at the sight of Aang’s sleeping face. He wouldn’t be the first person to doze off during one of Zuko’s monologues (that honour goes to Uncle Iroh, and then… to basically every sailor on the boat Zuko has called home for the past three years) but it’s still affronting. Honestly.

Zuko crouches down to study the pale blue arrows on Aang’s skin, and wonders if there are other tattoos that mark him. If it’s even possible for the Avatar, the great bridge between the human and the Spirit World, to have a soulmate.

Not that Zuko really believes in soulmates anymore. That kind of comes with the territory. Once you believe you make your own path, once you decide you don’t need luck or fate, soulmates - which are a bit of both - are pretty much rendered pointless as well. And, well. Just look at what happened with Mai.

So. What happened with Mai was bad.

They meet for the first time in the palace gardens when Zuko is only eleven years old. Zuko is bent over, throwing bread crumbs at a turtle duck swimming in the pond when a voice from behind him says, slow and clear, “Leave him alone.”

Zuko bolts upright, every muscle in his body held to attention. The words on his skin - the words this girl has just said, which can mean, which can only mean - seem to burn where they curve along his hipbone. When he turns to look at her, he sees a girl just a little shorter than him, all porcelain skin and dark hair and slanted cat eyes.

It doesn’t feel like a missing puzzle piece has fallen into place. It doesn’t feel like she’s singing a song only the two of them can hear. It doesn’t feel like anything those stupid romance scrolls (which, alright, Zuko reads sometimes when he’s bored) talk about. It feels strange and uncertain and heavy. It feels like one giant question mark. It feels like already? and you?

He opens his mouth, doesn’t say anything for a long time. It’s happened. She’s happened. He still can’t quite believe it.

Then, like an idiot, the first words out of his mouth are: “But this turtleduck is mine.” He hastens to add, “I mean, everything here is mine,” which doesn’t really sound better. He winces, rubs the back of his neck. “I mean, because I’m the prince.”

“I know who you are,” the girl says, and smiles at him, just a little. “I’m Mai.”

But this turtleduck is mine are not the words tattooed on Mai’s skin.    

Later, she will never really know why she did it. Even at nine years old, she knew as well as anyone what a soul mark was. She must have recognized the words running along Zuko’s hipbone for what they were, must have understood what saying them to him - the first words she would ever say to him - would mean.

But all she knows at the time is that Azula’s big brother is good-looking in a way that makes her heart skip in her chest. All she knows is that the boy in front of her in the garden, chin lifted and eyes bright, will be the Fire Lord someday. All she knows is that even at nine years old, her parents have begun to dream of their daughter becoming queen, the way they try to manouever her into Zuko’s way with the kind of subtlety any child could see through. I hear Princess Azula’s in your class, Mai. I think she would be a good friend for you to have, she and her brother. Perhaps you should spend more time up at the palace. Who knows what could happen, hmm?

So when she sees him bent over, his shirt rising up to reveal the words on his pale skin, Mai treats it as she would any other script, and reads them aloud. Mai will not learn to throw a knife for another four years. She will not yet know how it feels to send a blade singing through the air, but even at nine years old, she will know how to skewer the things she wants.

“So, do I like, have to marry her now?” Zuko asks at the table, and Ursa has to bite her lip to keep from laughing at the sight of her son’s face screwed up solemnly. Ozai arches a black brow from behind the official correspondence he’s reading, but says nothing.

“Gross,” nine-year-old Azula declares, throwing a handful of fire flakes across the table into her brother’s hair. “Can we not talk about things like that? I still can’t believe Mai’s your soulmate. She has the worst taste.”

“Obviously she does,” Zuko retorts. “She’s friends with you, after all.”

“Enough,” Ursa chides gently, as flames spark to life in Azula’s hands. “Nobody’s marrying anybody. Just take your time, Zuko. Nothing has to happen yet.”

Zuko nods, and wonders why the shivering feeling inside him feels like relief.

The only thing that puts a wrench in Zuko’s theory that his sister Azula - Azula, who kicks him under the table, who tells Ozai in dangerously sweet tones that Father, did you know that Zuko still can’t hold a flame for longer than a minute? - is actually a demon from the Spirit World is the soul mark she bears. (Well, that and the fact that Zuko has tried to exorcise Azula once. It didn’t work.) By definition, it must mean that Azula has a soul, difficult as that fact is to believe. 

Zuko’s soul mark curves around his hipbone, but Azula’s wraps around her wrist, like a bracelet, or like a manacle. Over the years, he’s seen his sister study the words with suspicion and disdain and - once, only once - with something like longing on her face.

I’m not afraid of you, her soul mark reads, and Azula tells him once, “That doesn’t make any sense.”

Years later, when Zuko is old enough to understand what she means, he will feel nothing but sadness. Perhaps Ozai’s worst crime wasn’t the scar he left on his son’s face, but the ones on his daughter’s soul, the ones that taught her to understand that fear is the heart of love.

(Years later, Azula will tell Mai, You should have feared me more, and she will not even know that what she really means is You should have loved me more. She will not even know that it isn’t Mai she is really addressing.)

When Zuko is thirteen years old, the Agni Kai happens, and his father’s punishment splits his world into before and after.

When Mai comes to visit him afterwards, his face fresh out of bandages, she makes the mistake of trying to touch his scar. He flinches backwards, his hands rising up in the air, and the flames that leap out from his palms scorch the sleeves of her tunic.

I’m sorry, he gasps, ashamed and angry and afraid, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, and reaches out to touch her arm only to see -

Mai has always worn her sleeves long. He’s never really paid it much attention, and he guesses that if he ever had thought about it, he would probably have attributed it to modesty, maybe, or the fashion of the Fire Nation. But he sees now that it was just to cover up her lie.

Mai’s soul mark creeps down the creamy skin of her arm. Zuko will not even remember, later, what it says, but what is unmistakable - terribly so - is that they aren’t what he said to her, that day in the garden. They aren’t his.

What is this? he says, demands, and Mai just stares at him, speechless.

The next day he gets on a boat with his uncle, and leaves the Fire Nation behind.

So when Zuko says he’s not interested in meeting anybody else who claims to be his soul mate, it’s not like he feels that way for no reason. He doesn’t have time to dwell on thoughts like these, anyway. The Avatar has not been seen for a century. If he exists - and Zuko’s mind skitters away from the possibility that he might not like the thought burns - he will not be easy to find. He lets the hunt consume him. He doesn’t believe in soulmates anymore, and even if he did, he certainly doesn’t expect to find her a thousand miles away from where his home lies.

But he does.

On a shelf of snow and ice, as the sea crashes against the shores around them, he bears down on the Avatar - who is really nothing more than a kid, all wide gray eyes - and is ready, finally, to take him prisoner, to go home -

- when he hears it.

“Leave him alone!” a voice cries, and the world around Zuko shudders. His vision fractures for a second, everything a thousand shades of blue and white and gray. Even against the bitter cold, his hipbone burns.

It feels right. When he sees the girl across the snow, it feels like finally and you.

But it also feels wrong, because this is not how it should be - this stranger facing off across him with fury written all over her face, as the Avatar hesitates between them. He should not be meeting his soulmate for the first time with an army at his back, with the frightened gazes of villagers all around them.

A reply springs to Zuko’s lips, but the reality crashes down on him. He was really about to do it. He was really about to say the words that would bind him to a stranger forever, and for a moment he isn’t sure which impulse fighting within him is stronger, the desire or the disgust.

No no no. Had he learned nothing from Mai?

So he swallows hard, presses his lips together. Turns his back on the girl like it isn’t the hardest thing he’s done in his sixteen years of life, and commands, “Fall back! Fall back now!”

Confusion flickers across the faces of his soldiers, but whatever else he is, he is still their prince, the Fire Lord’s son. They obey, pulling back in what they believe to be a tactical retreat.

Only Zuko knows the truth: that he is fleeing.

And Katara stares after him, feeling oddly dissatisfied.

They meet again and again after that, coming together and drawing apart as they clash in a thousand different ways. They dance back and forth amidst the steam as the thundering crash of waves and fire fill the air.

He never says anything to her.

“Cat got your tongue?” she asks him once, as she hurls a cloud of ice knives at him, as he whirls behind a tree and hears the thuds of the blades embedding themselves into the bark echoing throughout the clearing.

“Still giving me the silent treatment?” she says, as she dodges the fireballs he hurls at her, dancing backwards. He moves to push past her, to get to the Avatar, but finds himself rooted to the spot by the ice tendrils that have wrapped themselves around his boots, creeping up his calves. “Is this for when I wet your pants that one time?”

And once, when her arms are trembling under the weight of the wave she summons to hover above his head, as he turns his head desperately for a way out: “Why won’t you say anything?” she demands, and he thinks he can hear hurt in her voice, hurt and confusion, but then she releases the water, an icy cascade that leaves him drenched and gasping as she vaults onto the sky bison’s back and disappears into the clouds.

“Do you believe in soulmates?” Zuko asks his uncle once, as they stand on the deck. Iroh is leaning against the railing, eyes closed and expression inexplicably peaceful as he tilts his head up to the sun, as the sea spray soaks into their skin.

“I do not understand your question, nephew,” his uncle hums. “That would be like asking if I believed in the sun, or the moon. They exist. What’s not to believe?”

“I mean,” Zuko says, shoving a hand through his hair. “How can you believe in them, uncle? You don’t seriously think that just because someone says a random assortment of words, it means they’re the one. That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”

“The Spirit World works in mysterious ways,” Iroh says, and Zuko shakes his head in disgust. The old man smiles at him benevolently, reaching out to pat his hand. “So what do you believe in, nephew?”

“I don’t,” Zuko says shortly. “Believe in things, I mean.”

“Too young to be so cynical,” Iroh reflects sadly. And then: “You know, my wife was not my soulmate.”

Zuko didn’t know that, actually. He’d never asked about Iroh’s soul mark, just because it’s kind of weird to think about your uncle’s love life. He doesn’t say anything, and Iroh looks up at the sky for a while before continuing.

“But she will always be the great love of my life,” Iroh says. “The mother of my child, my best friend. I miss her every day.” The old man blinks, long and slow. “You asked me if I believe in soulmates, nephew. I do. But I do not believe that they are, as you put it, the one. I know that’s how the great romance scrolls tell it. But I believe in soulmates, and I believe in romantic love, and nephew, I do not believe they are necessarily one and the same. I think your soulmate can be your best friend. Or your family. Not just your lover.”

“What does your mark say?” Zuko asks, and Iroh turns his palm over so Zuko can read the words curling across the skin: Nice to meet you.

“Nice to meet you?” Zuko echoes incredulously. “Uncle, that is the most generic mark I’ve ever seen. Your soulmate could be anyone!”

“I certainly hope so,” his uncle says happily. “Isn’t that the point? That they could be anyone, anybody out there. I do not pretend to know what role they might play: lover, friend, family. I only believe this: that they are someone who is meant to be in your life.”

Zuko isn’t sure how he feels about that theory, but there certainly does seem to be some credibility to the idea that Katara is meant to be in his life. What else would account for the fact that even after he has given up hunting the Avatar, she keeps turning up? Even here, the last place he would expect to see her: the crystal catacombs beneath Ba Sing Se, where Azula has thrown both of them.

The feeling seems to be mutual.

“Oh, great!” she says, her voice thick with disgust. “It’s you! I was just wondering if my day could get any worse, but I should’ve known you’d turn up sometime -”

Zuko is just about to snap back at her when he sees that somewhere in the fight with Azula, the necklace around her slender throat - and he’s held that necklace before, hasn’t he, he knows the weight and feel of it in his fingers - has shifted to the side. Against the warm brown of her skin, her soul mark is stark black, but what really makes him want to flinch is what it says: Sorry it took me so long. Exactly the sarcastic retort that is hovering on his lips, just waiting to spill out into the air between them.

The sight makes him close his eyes, turn away abruptly. He’d been so close. So close.

“You have no idea,” Katara is saying, unaware that he’s seen the words curving across her skin, “what this war has put me through personally.” Her voice breaks on the next sentence. “The Fire Nation took my mother away from me.”

And Zuko is so, so tired suddenly of everything. I believe in soulmates, and I believe in romantic love. I do not believe they are necessarily one and the same. And here is the proof, isn’t it, this ferocious girl in front of him who he has met time and time again, shaking as she turns away from him.

Katara does not love him, and Zuko - Zuko has no idea if he loves her, or if he can even begin to, if he can even begin to love anyone - but he feels her words echo in his bones like a hum. He feels the recognition shiver in the space below his ribs. Someone who is meant to be in your life. I do not pretend to know what roles they might play. Maybe in the end, this is all they can be to each other. Not a lover. Not a friend. Not even an enemy.

But instead a mirror. A reflection.

So when he forces the words out between his teeth, the first words he will ever say to her, they are wrong, but they are also strangely right.

“I’m sorry,” he says. “That’s something we have in common.”

It feels like such a heavy loss when he says that, something scraped out and hollow in his chest. He can never take those words back. He can never say them again for the first time. Katara’s hand rises to her throat, almost unconsciously, as if she isn’t even aware of the way her fingers brush against her soul mark.

But Zuko also feels strangely free.

He will not feel that way for a long time afterwards.

He returns to the Fire Nation in glory, his crown and his honour restored to him, Azula by his side smiling sharp and bright as a knife. Ozai looks at him and says the two words he’s been starving for the past three years: Welcome home. And then he says the two words Zuko’s been starving for his whole life: My son. 

It should feel like freedom. It should feel like a benediction.

But whenever Zuko closes his eyes all he can see is the Avatar falling as Azula strikes him with lightning. All he can see is the look of disappointment on his uncle’s face. Katara’s slender fingers brushing the soul mark on her throat.

He starts things up with Mai again. Why not? His soul mate is long gone, and in any case, he knows that after what he’s done Katara’s hatred for him must run fast and deep. Maybe this is the safest thing all around: somebody who never makes your heart jump in your chest, someone who will never make you feel uncertain and weightless.

The weeks slip by though, and eventually Zuko realizes that this isn’t enough. He’d thought the opposite of being weightless would be to feel centred, rooted. But all he feels is burdened. Some days he cannot even sit up in bed without feeling his bones groaning under the weight of the life he has surrendered.

But surrender is not a word that exists in Zuko’s vocabulary. I’ve always had to struggle and fight and that’s made me strong. One day he wakes up and decides that if he has given up a better life - he can damn well go and take it back. 

Someone who is meant to be in your life.

It should come as no surprise to either of them when after the Day of the Black Sun, after Zuko’s confrontation with his father, after the failed invasion - 

- he turns up again in Katara’s. 

Of course it’s not easy. When has anything in Zuko’s life ever been easy? (When he thinks that, he can hear his uncle’s voice chide him, Do not indulge in self-pity. Are you a woodstove, nephew? Do you think you can just sit in the corner and stew? and oh, he misses the old man then more than he has in weeks.) 

Every day he has to fight against the distrust he sees in their eyes. The wariness in the set of their shoulders. The way Katara makes sure to always stay near a body of water when he is around.

But it is worth it. When he sees them laughing around the campfire, the flames throwing cheerful orange light across their faces; when Sokka hands him a bowl of rice without saying anything; when Toph finally elbows him in the ribs the way she would any of them - it makes Zuko happier than he can remember.

 Katara proves harder to win over. 

No, that’s not true. He’s won her over once, hasn’t he? There in the crystal catacombs, the green light shivering over their features. I trusted you, and then you turned around and betrayed us. He studies the way she looks at him, eyes narrowed in suspicion, and is sad and guilty and remorseful, but not surprised. There are days when he thinks he should just give up, surrender to the fact that Katara will most probably hate him for the rest of her life.

But surrender has never been a word in Zuko’s vocabulary.

I do not pretend to be know what role they might play: lover, friend, family. Zuko knows he and Katara will never be any of those things. In the crystal catacombs, he’d thought all he could ever be to her was a mirror. But one night Sokka tells him about Yon Rha, and the next morning Zuko goes to Katara and tells her, I know who killed your mother, and I’m going to help you find him.

Perhaps this is the role he was meant to play. If nothing else, this is what he can be to her: a weapon in her hand.

He watches as she makes a soldier bend under her fingers, his muscles and bones jerking out of his control, and thinks in awe and fear: bloodbender. He watches as she bears down on the cowering Yon Rha, and feels the urge to do the same. 

Zuko is a prince. He has never in his life knelt to anyone. He has always been the one genuflected to.

But when Katara freezes the rain around them, a million crystal droplets hanging in icy suspension, he has to actively fight the impulse to drop to one knee. The sight of her fierce blue eyes and face drawn in anger sends something bright and electric crackling through his body like lightning. The adrenaline of terror, but also a feeling almost reverential.

Perhaps he is his father’s son, after all. Perhaps fear really is the heart of love.

But no. 

Because he feels that same electricity sparking through him even in scenes as far removed from battle as you can get: when she is kicking Sokka’s sleeping roll going, “Wake up, you big lump!” When he is helping her stir food into the cooking pot and their fingers brush for just a heartbeat. When she places a hand lightly on his shoulder as she relieves him for the next night watch shift. 

A hundred interactions, a thousand glances, a million ways the words on her throat never fail to catch his eye. The rhythm they fall into is so hard-won, but so unbearably sweet when they do.They become used to getting each other’s backs, exchanging eye-rolls over the heads of the others, the two exasperated caretakers in a horde of children. Get out of the bison’s mouth, Sokka, he says, before she can, and the way she looks at him when he does: appreciative, amused, affectionate -  Zuko lies awake the whole night thinking about it.

In battle Katara is electric. She is a whirlwind. She is a tsunami. She is the only thing in the world he can look at.

But he also feels the same way when she is combing her hair by the fire; when she is stroking Appa’s furry nose; when she laughs at one of Sokka’s jokes.

Fear is not the heart of love. Love is the heart of love.

I do not pretend to know what role they play: lover, friend, family. Maybe two of those three things isn’t so bad.

Zuko is honest enough with himself to know that he wants more. To recognize the longing in his throat for what it is. But they are almost at the end of the war, and every day could be his last, and if he dies tomorrow - he is also honest enough with himself to know that two of those three things isn’t so bad.

The night before the comet, Zuko goes to relieve Katara’s shift for the night watch, and pulls up short when he sees her shoulders shaking. She sees him and turns away abruptly, brushing her hand over her eyes, but it is very clear that she has been crying. 

“Katara?” he says hesitantly, and she says, “I’m fine.”

Zuko looks helplessly at Appa, but the sky bison just blinks slowly at him, flicking his ears. You’re on your own here, kid.

“No, you’re not,” Zuko says cautiously. “What’s wrong? You can tell me.” 

“It’s going to sound stupid.”

“I am never, ever going to think you’re stupid, Katara. Except for if you try to wake Toph up when she’s had less than eight hours of sleep. That’s not just stupid, that’s practically death-defying.”

She laughs at that, and he steps closer. For a moment, neither of them say anything, and then Katara tips her head up to the sky and admits, “It’s just… if we die tomorrow, I am never going to meet my soul mate.”

Zuko’s entire body jolts, and he’s glad for the darkness of the night around them, the way he knows it must obscure the guilt and shock on his features. “W- what?”

“My soul mate,” she repeats. “I know it’s stupid, but also… I’ve been thinking about meeting them since I was a little girl, you know? Doesn’t everyone?”

Zuko doesn’t trust himself to speak, not with the way his heart is jackrabbiting in his chest, so he just nods.

“I thought…” Katara laughs a little, self-conscious. “I thought for a while that it might be Aang.”

Zuko isn’t surprised - he’s seen the way the Avatar looks at Katara, seen the easy affection they slip into - but it still hurts, a knife twisting in his gut.

“I mean,” Katara continues, and she’s turning now, pulling her necklace aside so that he can see the words on her skin, the words he’s known for months now. The words he’d almost, almost spoken into existence. “My soul mark reads Sorry it took me so long. Wouldn’t that be just perfect if those were the first words Aang said to me? A hundred years missing, and he says sorry it took me so long.” She shakes her head. “But it’s not him.”

The wind rustles through the branches, shaking the leaves all around them, and into its whisper Katara says quietly, “And you know what? I’m glad it’s not him.”   

Zuko’s heart is jumping for a completely different reason now; caught up in the way Katara’s eyes are glittering in the starlight. They are very close now. He can see the pulse beating under her jaw.

“What does your mark say?” Katara says, her voice so soft. 

“It doesn’t matter,” Zuko says hoarsely, and she is tilting her head up to him and - 

Sokka comes into the clearing, arms wrapped around himself. “Hey, so I figured if this is the last night before we go out in a blaze of glory against Ozai, we should at least be together. I don’t want to be alone tonight. Hey, Toph, wake up! Somebody get Momo!”

Zuko turns back to look at Katara, but the moment is gone.

What does your mark say? 

Katara finds out eventually. 

The way she finds out leaves something to be desired though, and by that Zuko means: he would’ve preferred it if it hadn’t entailed excruciating pain. 

There isn’t much he remembers about taking Azuka’s lightning bolt. All he remembers is the blue light around them and the look in Katara’s eyes. The choice was death or watching Katara fall, and that wasn’t a choice at all.

When he wakes up - dragged from the dark into the light by the urgent thrum of Katara’s voice, the soothing coolness of the healing water on his skin - all he can do for a moment is blink, breathe, feel the just-awakened beat of his heart in his chest. Every bone in his body hurts, and he has never felt so drained, but the feel of Katara’s hands on his abdomen sends a different kind of lightning jolting through him.

She is gasping, breathless, her eyes glittering with tears as she presses her palms into his skin. “Zuko, you’re okay - you’re okay -”

“I’m okay,” he rasps, his throat sore and lightning-scorched, and she laughs, shakily. 

“You’re okay,” she agrees, running her hands over his skin, his abdomen, his stomach, his hips - 

His hip, where his soul mark is standing out in stark relief against his pale skin. He sees the way she studies the words, her hands freezing in place, her mouth moving silently. Leave him alone.

“I said this to you,” she says, and she sounds so young, suddenly. Behind them Azula writhes and sobs, the blasts of fire she’s exhaling lighting up their features in bursts of blue-white light, but Zuko can only look at Katara’s face. “These were the first words I ever said to you.” 

“Katara,” Zuko says, but doesn’t say anything more.

“These are the first words I ever said to you,” Katara repeats. “I - I don’t even know why I remember that. I don’t think I even chose to remember them - they’re just - I just know. I just know.” And Zuko flashes back to when she first said those words, back at the South Pole - the way the world had shuddered around them, his vision fracturing, the look of confusion on her face.

Her hand rises up to touch her neck. Sorry it took me so long, curling across her throat. “But this - this isn’t the first thing you ever said to me.”

“Katara,” he says again, softer. 

“How can that be?”

“I didn’t want them to be,” Zuko says. “I couldn’t let them be.” 

Confusion creases her brow, and later Zuko will tell her why: he will detail a million reasons for that decision back in Ba Sing Se. I didn’t want a soulmate. I didn’t need a soulmate. I didn’t want either of us to be chained to each other. Love must always be free. 

But for now all she says is, “It doesn’t matter,” an echo of the words he’d said to her the night before. And like an echo, like a dream, she is tilting her face towards him again, only this time it happens. 

Zuko kisses her.

Her lips are chapped, and the air is full of the smell of smoke and soot and ozone, and the pain in Zuko’s chest flares to life as he half-sits up, as he slides a hand into Katara’s hair, but he doesn’t care, he doesn’t care, he has been waiting a lifetime for this. 

As if she’s reading his mind - because it seems Katara is always reading his mind, she is always reading him, his echo, his mirror - she laughs against his mouth softly. The war is over, and they are alive, and his soul mate is smiling against his lips, and Zuko, oh, Zuko has never felt this content. “I was wondering if you were ever going to get around to doing that.”

Zuko pulls back, just a little. Smiles. Knows she will laugh even before she does, clear and joyful. And he says to her, “Sorry it took me so long.”

[qveensbury]

rumor has it - Hometown Glory: chapter 1

prologue {also on AO3}

“I didn’t know you sat next to Izumi Sozin.” Katara scrubbed the dishes in the sink glancing at her daughter sitting at the kitchen table.

“The new girl?” Kya shrugged. “Yea, we sit next to each other for homeroom.”

“Her dad and I used to be best friends.”

Kya looked up from her bowl of cereal. There was something in her mom’s tone. “When?” She squinted.

“We went to high school together. He and your uncle are like brothers now. But when Zuk— Mr. Sozin was a sophomore and Sokka was a freshmen they argued all the time. If it wasn’t this, it was that. Something happened the year before I came to high school that smoothed all the tension. Of , I didn’t believe it was that easy for two people to reconcile.” She chuckled, “So, I held my doubts and made them pretty obvious.

“But, Mr. Sozin acted like he had something to prove and he did so with all the sincerity he could. But things didn’t turn around until he had to shake me out of a low self-esteem rut. He reminded me why I wanted to go to medical school. Not a lot of people were cheering me on to chase my own dreams.”

“What about Mrs. Sozin? Did you know her in high school?” Hello Mom? He’s married. Kya rolled her eyes.

“No, I didn’t know Mrs. Sozin in high school. I met her when Zuko brought her home for the holidays one year.”

“Maybe Izumi and her mom would like to do a Mommy/Daughter double date.”

Katara almost dropped the cup in her hand. “Kya, Mrs. Sozin passed away two years ago.”

Kya felt her breath catch. She made eye contact with her mom.

Katara continued quieter, slower, “They moved back to Republic City because Zuko wanted to be closer to his family. Family was always important to him.”

“What made you two stop being best friends?”

Her mother shrugged. “Who knows. Us just being kids. Getting busy, growing apart.”

Kya gritted her teeth and looked back into her cereal bowl. That phrase was Katara Kuruk for “your dad happened”. 

+

Zuko plopped down next to Izumi.

“Did you know you’re sitting next to my best friend’s daughter?”

Izumi looked at him over the rim of her glasses. “Kya?”

“Yea, her mom and her uncle were my best friends in high school.”

Izumi raised an eyebrow. That was a tone he would use when he talked about Mom.

“Who’s her uncle?”

“Sokka, you remember Sokka. He visited once and brought some robotics kits for you?”

“The loud one,” she noted, nodding her head.

Zuko laughed. “Yes.”

“What happened?”

“What do you mean?”

“You sound happy when you talk about Kya’s mom but I’ve never heard about her before or met her.”

“Well,” Zuko scratched the top of his head. “Her boyfriend was a little jealous of our relationship.”

“You guys dated?” Zuko adamantly shook his head and she frowned. “Then why was he so irritated?”

Zuko paused. “I’m not sure. Maybe he thought I was a threat. I’m not sure.”

Aunt Azula said her father always did this, pretended he didn’t know instead of just saying.

“I think that’s stupid. If I had a friend and his girlfriend told me we couldn’t hang out, I wouldn’t want him to be her boyfriend.”

“It’s not always that easy Izumi,” he commented softly.

That was the other tone he used when he talked about Mom.

“Well is he gonna make a big fuss about you two reconnecting?”

This pause lasted longer than the ones before. Aunt Azula often told Izumi she asked very adult questions for an eleven year old but this pause felt different. Izumi looked at her dad and saw he had the “difficult answer” face.

“He and Katara aren’t together.” He leaned back to look at the ceiling.

Izumi wasn’t sure if she should be pleased or terrified.

+

Izumi was in her seat already when Kya came in at homeroom Monday morning. When she came in on a warpath. Izumi only looked up when Kya laid her hands on her desk.

“Kya,” she greeted her.

“My mom is doing perfectly fine on her own. She doesn’t need your dad swooping in for a couple months and then moving on. We don’t need a dad,” Kya spat.

Izumi squinted. "And my dad hasn't been on a date since he married my mom. I don't need a mom."

"Good." Kya sat in her seat

"Good." Izumi opened her planner.

+

"Since when did I have so many classes with the new girl."

Bumi looked up from his lunch. "Maybe you're taking this too seriously, Kya."

Kya pouted crossing her arms. "C'mon we've seen this dance: enter some guy, Mom is super happy, guy makes promises he can't or won't keep, they argue, they break-up, he leaves, Mom closes up and embarrasses us at the grocery store."

"True,” Bumi drew out his answer.

"So, we should stop it before it starts.”

"I don't know. Mom knows what she's doing."

Kya rolled her eyes. "She thinks she knows more than she does."

Bumi shrugged. "I guess it couldn't hurt to help.”

"Exactly Bumi."

+

Izumi didn't understand how Kya's eyes hadn't froze in that glare. Apparently, being a single dad was a crime now and she would bear the sins of her father.

This was the chattiness that she hoped to escape at a co-ed school.

As far as she was concerned, the last thing in her dad's mind was dating, let alone interfering with his best friend's life. Maybe Kya didn't get the message.

Either way Izumi didn't need the headache. If Kya wanted to have nothing to do with her, she'd survive. As long as her dad was happy. He deserved some rest.

The final bell rang. Izumi ignored Kya and kept her face as blank as she could manage. She felt the heat as she left her locker and walked towards the parent pick-up exit.

She could hear Kya complaining to her twin and snorted at how much power the other girl was giving her.

Izumi scanned the line of cars waiting for her transition glasses to adjust to the sunlight. She spotted her dad but paused when she saw him talking to a darker skinned woman.

Her father was relaxed. His arms were crossed in front of him as he said something. The woman turned her head to the side and responded prompting her father to start laughing.

Izumi's eyes widened. 

The woman started laughing and grabbed his arm to try and hold herself up. She felt someone come stand beside her and turned to find Kya staring at her father and the woman. Izumi started to see the similarities between the twins and the woman with her father.

"I've never seen my dad laugh like that. Even when my mom was alive."

"That's the happiest I've seen my mom in months."

"They were best friends in high school," Izumi added after a beat.

"I guess it isn’t up to us."

Izumi gave her a puzzled look.

"I mean they're adults, Kya. Did you think we could have kept them apart?" Bumi interjected. "If Mom likes him, she can talk to him."

"I would do anything to get my dad to laugh like that every now and again."

"I guess we don't have a choice. The way my mom talked about your dad sounded like she loved him."

"My Dad, too. It was how he talks about Mom." Izumi started to realize what Kya was getting at.

"So we have to let it happen and do everything to keep them together. I can't watch my mom get over another breakup."

"That's a pretty big plan," Izumi raised her eyebrow at her classmate.

"You've never met my uncle. He always plans big."

The loud one. "Oh I have and I'm starting to see more of the family resemblance."

"Whatever Izumi. We're doing this for them."

"Izumi!"

"Kids!"

Katara and Zuko waved at their kids and the children walked over to meet them.

"Guys this is Zuk--Mr. Sozin."

"Izumi, this is Ms. Katara Kuruk."

"Nice to meet you." Izumi greeted, examining the older woman.

"Tui and La, Zuko. She's the spitting image of Azula."

He chuckled, "That's a new one. Kya looks just like you and Bumi looks like you and Aang."

"Really? I think he's a mix of Sokka and Aang." Katara ruffled his hair, smiling down at him. Bumi beamed back at his mother.

Izumi made eye contact with  Kya and raised her eyebrows. "We didn't stand a chance of stopping this," she mouthed.

It would be like standing in the way of a rolling boulder.

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