#local firebender becomes an earthbender and gets even MORE stubborn as a consequence

[discordiansamba]

he can't get out of the swamp fast enough.

he takes druk and flies straight to his next destination without hesitation. they're both exhausted when they arrive, so he hastily sets up camp and promptly collapses. thankfully, his sleep is free of strange dreams.

the next morning, he climbs down to the western air temple.

he's been here before, and he doesn't just mean that in the 'came here once in his past life' sense. he'd come here before with aang and master toph. it had taken a lot of damage during the hundred year war, and they were trying to rebuild it together. master toph thought helping with the effort would help with his training.

(he suddenly understood a little better why they'd spent the whole time watching him out of the corner of their eyes.)

shun wanders idly through the halls. this is where prince zuko finally joined the avatar's group. he wonders where it actually happened. he hadn't even known that it had gotten so damaged because azula had launched an assault on it, following after her brother and sokka after they'd broken sokka's father and suki out of the boiling rock.

(no wonder it hadn't been hard to find.)

he lingers in the western air temple for a few days, before he decides to move on. he's planning to go to ember island next.

emphasis on planning.

he's waylaid by a storm instead. it comes out of nowhere- the sky is blue one minute, and the next, he and druk are being thrown around by powerful winds. he clings, white-knuckled to druk's horns, burying his face to keep it out of the ferocious rain as much as he's trying to avoid seeing the lightning that flashes through the sky.

(at least he knows why he's so afraid of it now.)

ironically, maybe if he'd been watching where they were going, they wouldn't have wound up plummeting into the sea. he remembers keeping a firm grip on druk's horns, and then...

...then he wakes up back in the swamp.

he wakes up back in the swamp, and his hands are pale again. he reaches a shaky hand up, brushing it over the left half of his face. the skin there feels raised and rubbery. like there's a scar. he's not wearing his favorite reddish-brown tunic, or the cloth bandages he can't get out of the habit of wrapping around his arms. the royal armor of the fire nation weighs heavily on his body.

he's wearing prince zuko's face.

"do you get it now?"

he looks up, into his own eyes. prince zuko stares out of his face. he feels a surge of anger bubble in his chest. he's on his feet.

"that's not yours," he hisses. his voice sounds strange to him. too hoarse. all wrong.

(it's zuko's voice.)

the prince just shrugs. "sure it is."

"no, it's not," he takes a step forward, grabbing his collar, "-give it back."

"i can't," he says, "-you're the one who gave me this face."

"why would I do that?" he asks.

"because you wanted mine," he replies.

he lets go of his collar. that's not right. "I don't want to be you."

the prince just arches a brow. his left, like he's trying to mock him. the one on prince zuko's face was burned away. the skin around his eye feels impossibly tight. he wants to say something back, but he knows if he opens his mouth, it still won't be his own voice.

(he wakes up in a tatami room. his face is his own again.)