#zuko didn’t owe him that apology

[did-we-imagine]

That's some very good meta, and I do agree with the majority of lt. However, I also think it was fucked up in that Iroh ended up a prisoner at Ozai's mercy (which in a show aimed at an older audience would probably have resulted in his execution) which is something that fans also fault Azula for in S2 when she comes to bring them home. (My personal 2 cts)

I 200% support what you said about Iroh being too passive and not direct enough with Zuko. I did wonder whether it was because Zuko idolized Ozai so much he would end up rejecting Iroh, but he didn't even quite take any chances if only to see where he stood and whether he could be reasoned with or not. Especially when Zuko ended up in such a situation because he questioned Ozai (through his rejecting the general's plan!), and also his talk with Zhao where he says that his father is a fool for thinking that the world would willingly follow him.

I also believe that them never addressing the Agni Kai's circumstances (because let's be real, while the majority of the fandom likes to consider Iroh a saint for dealing with S1 Zuko, i am pretty sure that the real reason he stands by him isn't so much saintly patience as much as it's guilt for not saving him from Ozai during the Agni Kai). I'm gonna get lots of hate (despite the fact that I really do love Iroh, and his relationship with Zuko), but Iroh has acted as an enabler* -no matter how unwitting- and also miscalculated when he allowed him to join the war room. This particular point reminds me of a person I know in real life. They're perfectly nice and all, but their passivity has made way for an abusive person to unleash their toxicity.

I'm not saying that it's Iroh's fault that Ozai is an unhinged child abuser, but that he could have taken a stand and done something in a diplomatic way or at least minimized the risks for Zuko. I also think that this is why Zuko doesn't seem to fully trust him in S1, because in Zuko's mind, the cryptic hedonistic old man was neither willing to save his ass when Ozai fried his face (or at least validate him for opposing such a plan...Because the fact that Zuko is willing to go back to the asshat who fried his face for not wanting to use soldiers as bait not only means that he doesn't see that what was done to him was wrong, but that he thinks he was wrong for wanting to save them and accessorily going against Ozai), nor is he helping him "own up" his fuck-up to go back home. I don't want to go into details, but it reminds me of my personal experience, it feels like he isn't helping at all because of these mixed messages, no matter how involuntary. And honestly, while I understand that Iroh was heartbroken from Lu Ten's death, if he and the white lotus were a little bit more proactive and he tried to get back his throne, if only for the world's sake -because innocents were being harmed and if Aang is gonna be faulted for running away at 12, then all the more the reason to judge Iroh for it!!!!-, then many bad things wouldn't have happened.

Of course, the reason why I don't like criticizing him too much is that because the plot needed all of these events to move forward (it's as if the writers had an idea, but the problem is that it was somewhat too contrived at times and ended up not making as much sense as they would have wished because they would make things up on the go at the same time), and that Iroh was not meant to be what he ended up as + even Zuko was only there because they figured out that Ozai couldn't chase Aang himself as thr king of an imperialistic super power. Iroh was supposed to be a mole working for Ozai and slowing back Zuko, rather than the dethroned crown prince uncle fuddy-duddy who genuinely cares.

I hope this shit makes sense because english is my 3rd language so I worry my grammar or the way I write doesn't do my ideas justice (not that they are particularly stellar).

PS: *= enablers in real life don't have to be monsters or to agree that the abuse is rightful, they just have to be passive enough, no matter how right or wrong their reasons are, for it to happen, while supposedly having the power to stop it (NB: to the folks who are blaming Azula for Ozai's abuse, well...I hate to break it to you, but Iroh holds more responsibility in stopping it than she, a child, no matter how mean-spirited or competitive she was, actually did and this is very very very important for those of you who like to think about how Azula should have killef Ozai/intervened in the Agni Kai blah blah blah). Talking from personal experience, not gonna go into details.

On Zuko apologizing to Iroh

So I'm probably in the extremely low majority here, but I honestly don't think that Zuko should of had to apologize to Iroh for the choice he made back in Ba Sing Se at all.

The two of them were at sea for three years. During those three years, Zuko only wanted one thing: to return home and restore his honor. To get Ozai's praise and love. Iroh knew this. However, Iroh also knew how much of a bad person Ozai was at this point. I mean, he literally watched him burn half of his son's face. And yet he never tried to persuade Zuko that Ozai wasn't worth it, and that going back to him would do more harm than good. Especially once the two of them were on the run? That would have been the perfect time to get it into Zuko's head. To try and convince him that there was a better path than the one they were currently on. But Iroh never does this. He just continues to feed into Zuko's desire to return home.

Iroh, how exactly was Zuko supposed to just know what the correct way was when you, the only adult with him, never tried to tell him what it was? At least not in a way that made any sense to Zuko? Living in the Earth Kingdom and serving tea wasn't what Zuko wanted at that point. That wasn't the path for him. And yet Iroh tried to force it on him. So I honestly can't even blame Zuko for choosing what he did in the end. Azula gave him a clear path to return home with her, which was the path that he wanted. The path that Iroh gave to Zuko was unclear. The last thing you want to do is walk on a path that you can't see.

[melzula]

Smoke and Shadow

part two

pairing: Zuko x Princess!reader

notes: final part is here! hope you guys enjoy and thank you for being patient as always

summary: the group is one step closer to finding the missing children and Azula, but that doesn’t mean all of their problems will be solved

~ part of the fire lilies series ~

“We decided to do some investigating after Zuko kicked Aang out of the throne room,” Suki explains to you as your trio runs after the Avatar and Fire Lord. “We wanted to see if there were any clues left behind from Kiyi’s kidnapping or Azula’s Kemurikage attack on the palace last night.”

“And even though we couldn’t find anything, I realized there was something fishy about the way she was able to escape so quickly!” Ty Lee adds with a keen smile. “When we used to play hide-and-seek as kids, she’d always manage to win by hiding in this secret passage way tucked into the palace walls. It must be how the Kemurikage were able to escape so quickly.”

“Good thinking, Ty Lee. Although, I still can’t believe she kidnapped her own sister,” you note with a disgruntled shake of your head. “That’s low even for her.”

“This is Azula we’re talking about,” Suki reminds you, and that in itself is enough of an explanation for her behavior.

You finally skid to a stop after reaching the palace rooftops where Aang and Zuko land. The Avatar carelessly drops your boyfriend on the tile, and you wince on his behalf before offering Zuko your hand to help him back up onto his feet.

“Did you have fun?” You ask with a teasing smile only for the Fire Lord to scowl.

“Don’t ever do that again!” He scolds Aang whilst dusting off his robes.

“Okay, okay, but look!” the boy insists before pressing down on a loose brick that opens up a hidden doorway.

“A secret passageway! So you think this is how Azula and the other Kemurikage escape? How did you figure this out?”

“They searched for clues after you kicked them out of the throne room,” you tell him with a pointed look that has him shrinking guiltily under your gaze. “I think you owe Aang an apology.”

“You’re right,” he murmurs sheepishly. “I’m sorry, I should have been more open to your ideas.”

“Apology accepted!” Aang chirps happily. “Now what’s our next move?”

“Well… Kiyi could be on the other side.”

“Tom-Tom, too. I’m coming along,” Mai interjects firmly, seemingly forgetting Kei Lo’s presence until he corrects her statement with a “We’re coming along.”

Zuko instructs Suki and Ty Lee to stay back and guard the palace, so you bid your friends goodbye before beginning your descent into the narrow passageway. The hallway is cold and claustrophobic, but Aang and Zuko lead the way with their fire bending, cautioning you to watch your step behind them.

You’re quiet for the most part, mulling over your thoughts and insecurities now that you’re given a moment’s silence to think. You’re still feeling a bit insecure about walking in on him with Mai and about his animosity towards Kei Lo, but you haven’t had the chance to talk to him yet. The long distance has been hard on your relationship, and sometimes it’s hard to keep consistent communication when both of you have duties to tend to and entire nations to run, but you never thought it would be a problem. Now, you’re not so sure.

You recall what Azula had told you during your time in the Forgetful Valley, how you and Zuko were an “unnatural” pair that would never work. You hate to admit it or even think it, but what if she’s right? What if you’re just kidding yourself? Maybe Mai really has been the right girl for him all along. After all, she is Fire Nation, and she certainly is more qualified to be dating the Fire Lord than you are. You wish Suki were here to talk to, surely she’d know just what to say and could stop you from spiraling like you are now, but without her it seems it’s just you and your thoughts for now.

“Hey, I didn’t get to introduce myself earlier,” a voice says, pulling you out of your thoughts. “I’m Kei Lo, Mai’s boyfriend.”

“Yes, I’m sorry, everything’s just been so chaotic. I’m y/n, Zuko’s girlfriend.”

“That’s right, Mai told me. Say, aren’t you a Chief? Should I be calling you Chief y/n instead?”

“Just y/n is perfectly fine,” you correct him with an awkward laugh. Unbeknownst to you, Zuko is listening in on every word. He doesn’t trust Kei Lo, not one bit, and he doesn’t want him roping you into any trouble. He doesn’t care if he really isn’t in cahoots with the Safe Nation Society, if Kei Lo so much as looks at you in a way Zuko doesn’t like he’ll be tossed into a cell immediately.

“So how’s a Chief of a water tribe end up dating the Fire Lord?” He asks with a laugh.

��It’s a very long story.”

“Please spare me the details,” Mai says with a roll of her eyes.

“Yeah, it may not be the best time for that story,” you note with an apprehensive smile.

“You’re probably right. Still, it’s a pretty awkward situation we’ve all found ourselves in.”

“You can say that again.”

After some time group is finally able to reach the end of the passageway, and the only thing standing in your way from the other side is a solid wooden door.

“This must be it,” Zuko announces hopefully. “Behind this door could be Kiyi and Tom-Tom.”

“And Azula,” Aang adds apprehensively before helping the Fire Lord push the heavy wood open. The creak of the old hinges is deafening, echoing in the silent hallway, and you watch with bated breath as the light from the other side slowly begins to seep in. Carefully, you follow the two out the door only to be met with a disappointing site.

There are no missing children and there is no Azula. Instead, you’re faced with a gloomy and desolate graveyard.

“What is this place?” You murmur in awe, your eyes scanning across the expanse of withered headstones. You’ve never seen anything like it.

“I’ve been here before,” Zuko notes thoughtfully, “this is the royal family graveyard.”

“I thought that’s what the Dragonstone catacombs were for,” Aang questions with furrowed brows.

“No, the catacombs are only for Fire Lords. This place is for everyone else. It’s called the Garden of Tranquil Souls.”

“Really? Well, I hate to break it to you, Zuko, but…” the Avatar begins uneasily, and you follow his shifting gaze towards the clouds of smoke that begin to surround the graveyard. Taking a step back, you reach to unclip your water pouch as the dark figures begin to close in on your group. “The souls here don’t seem all that tranquil!”

The group of Kemurikage don’t hesitate to attack, and immediately your group is split apart as you all begin to defend yourselves against their assault. Blasts of fire are shot your way left and right, but you’re able to deflect it every time with your water bending. You manage to take down two of the spirits by encasing them up to their necks in ice, but your progress only seems to make a dent in their ambush. Zuko and Aang are still corned back to back, and Azula has managed to single out Mai and Kei Lo. She holds the boy by the collar of his shirt, eyes full of malice and hand ready to strike him with her blue flames despite Mai’s pleas for her to leave her boyfriend alone.

Before she can harm him, you send a blast of water towards her with an effortful grunt that shoots her across the graveyard and into one of the pillars. The impact is forceful enough to put a crack in the tombstone and disorient Azula momentarily to allow Kei Lo and Mai the chance to escape.

“Are you alright?” You ask him after rushing towards the couple. Mai helps him to his feet before looking to you, her eyes full of gratitude and sincerity.

“Thank you,” she says earnestly, and you give her an appreciative nod in return.

Rising from the ground with a grunt of pain, Azula is filled with rage at your assault on her. How dare you think you can beat her at her own game?

“Helping out your competition? That’s pathetic even for you, dearest,” she insults, irises aflame with fury. “Perhaps you and Zuko are more compatible than I thought.”

“What’s pathetic is the fact that you’re still obsessed with becoming Fire Lord,” you spit back, water cloaking your arms to form tentacle-like limbs for attack.

“Oh, I’m much past that now. I have a new mission,” she notes airily with a passive wave of her hand. Her eyes harden suddenly then and electricity begins to spread across her fingertips. “One that simply won’t work with you in the picture.”

Before she can raise her hands to strike you with her lightening blast, Zuko is quick to send a hail of flames her way to distract her. “Leave her out of this! It’s me you want!”

“Oh, Zuzu, always so dramatic,” she mocks before creating a cloud of smoke to cover her as she runs away.

“You have to go after her!” You exclaim urgently. “I’ll stay back and help Aang handle the rest of the Kemurikage.”

After ensuring you’ll be fine without him, Zuko gives you one final nod before chasing after his sister. You, on the other hand, rush back towards Aang to see if he needs any help. However, it seems he’s been able to manage the assailants just fine on his own.

“Princess! Where’d everybody go?” He asks, perplexed at the sudden disappearance of your group.

“Zuko went after Azula. I’m not sure where Mai and Kei Lo are,” you note as you scan the garden for any sign of them. “What do we do now? We still haven’t found the missing children.”

As if on cue, a shrill voice coming from the passageway calls out for help. You exchange an alarmed glance with Aang before immediately sprinting back into the doorway. A breath of relief leaves you at the sight of Mai’s father with the children in tow, but your ease is short lived at the sight of the two Kemurikage that hold them captive.

“Look!” One of the kids exclaims. “It’s the Avatar and Chief y/n!”

“Hi kids, we’ve been looking all over for you!” Aang says with an overjoyed wave.

“Are you guys alright?!” You call out protectively. “Is anyone hurt?”

“We’re great!” Kiyi calls back prompting you to let out a relieved laugh. You’re so happy to see her and see that she’s okay, but your joyous reunion is quickly cut short by the two spirits who begin to approach the two of you with whips of fire.

“Hang on, kids!” You tell them before beginning to take on the Kemurikage. There’s two of them, so you and Aang each take on one. They’re powerful fighters, but the safety of the children is on the line, so you use all of your might to fight them off as best as you can.

You counter their whip with one of your own, slicing through their weapon each time before it can strike you. While one of your hands controls the water whip, the other sends constant shards of ice hurtling toward the cloaked woman. You can tell she’s beginning to tire, your attacks too much for her to keep up with, but you’re too focused to notice the second figure approaching closely behind you. The Kemurikage’s whip is raised to strike you in the back, but their attack is halted by the blade that slices through the air and pins their hand against the wall.

“What-!” You exhale in surprise, turning just in time to see Mai swoop in and finish the job. The last two spirits have been apprehended, and you’ve been spared a wound that surely could have been fatal.

“Someone had to watch your back,” Mai explains with a faint smile. “You had ours.”

“Thank you,” you utter with a breathless grin. It feels nice to not hate each other for once, and you actually seem to work quite well together.

“Y/n! Y/n!” A voice calls, stealing your attention away from the girl and back to the children. Kiyi sprints towards you with a gleeful smile, and you’re quick to scoop her up into your arms and give her the tightest hug. “You came back!”

“I promised, didn’t I?” You say with a playful smile, carefully pushing back the hair from her face. “I’m so relieved to see you’re okay, and I know Zuko will be too.”

“Guess what? I’m a fire bender now!” She boasts proudly. “I burned a hole through the door so we could escape!”

“That’s incredible!” You praise with a laugh. “Wait until your brother hears this.”

Across the way, Mai cradles her little brother in her arms and watches you speak animatedly with Zuko’s sister. Your interest in Kiyi’s story is completely genuine, and she can see just how much the girl values your opinion. It’s so different from the way Azula used to talk about you, speaking poorly of your character and diminishing you to nothing but a weak Princess. Maybe Mai had judged you too harshly. After all, she might not have been able to get her brother back without your help.

“Thank you again for your help,” she tells you after setting Tom-Tom down to allow him to bid his goodbyes to his new friends. “I was wrong about you, and I shouldn’t have let my resentment cloud my judgement the way I did. I guess I really don’t hate you as much as I thought I did.”

“I appreciate you saying that,” you express with a careful smile. Perhaps things will always be awkward between the two of you, but this is at least a good start.

After making sure all of the children are accounted for, your group exits the passageway just as Zuko emerges from one of the mausoleums. Kiyi is quick to sprint towards her brother, and you watch on with a smile at the way his eyes seem to light up while hugging her close.

“Kiyi! I can’t tell you how worried I was about you.”

“I wasn’t worried at all!” She notes with a grateful smile. “You should’ve seen it, Zuzu! Y/n helped the Avatar take those nasty ladies down!”

“She did, did she?” He asks playfully, glancing over to you with a grateful smile. You simply give him a sheepish shrug in return. “I’ll have to be sure to give her my thanks.”

“And Azula?” You ask him, but his solemn gaze is enough of an answer. “She said she had a new mission, did she tell you what it was?”

“She wasn’t interested in becoming Fire Lord, she was interested in turning me into the type of Fire Lord she would be. The type that rules with fear, ruthlessness. Just like my father. Azula says I can’t escape who I am, and it will only be a matter of time before I’m just like her.”

“You don’t believe that, do you? You’re nothing like Azula,” you say earnestly. “You never will be.”

“I know,” Zuko murmurs softly, but you can see the slightest bit of doubt in his eyes and it saddens to you to know he doesn’t fully believe it to be true. “But either way she escaped. I don’t know where she is or when she’ll return.”

“We’ll be there to help you if she does come back, buddy,” Aang consoles with a comforting hand on the Fire Lord’s shoulder. “For now, let’s just focus on returning these kids back to their families.”

“Good point, Aang. Now,” you say, looking to the children who stare up at you with tired eyes that immediately brighten when you ask, “who’s ready to go home?”

~~~

Peace has been restored in the Fire Nation; the children have been returned safely to their parents, and Zuko has earned the forgiveness of his people for his mishandling of the situation. Everything is almost perfect.

You lean against the balcony of your room for the night and stare up contemplatively at the moon. Yue shines beautifully as always, and you find comfort in her light as you battle against the darkness clouding your thoughts. Your doubts about your relationship still rage on, and you haven’t been able to fight them off no matter how hard you try. You haven’t mentioned anything to Zuko, not wanting to distract him from his duty to his people, but the suffering in silence act you’ve been pulling all day hasn’t been helping your state of mind. Suki had urged you to talk to him, stating you had nothing to worry about because she’s seen firsthand how much he misses you when you’re away, but you were too anxious to follow through. What if you won’t like what you hear when you finally speak to Zuko?

You’re too engrossed in your thoughts to hear your door open or the quiet footsteps that head towards you, and it isn’t until he’s right beside you that you finally feel the familiar warmth that constantly emanates from his body. You don’t have to look to know that it’s Zuko.

“Suki said I should come to talk to you,” he says softly, golden eyes looking to you inquisitively. “Is everything alright?”

“I… I’m not sure,” you admit quietly, nervously fidgeting with your fingers and refusing to meet his gaze.

“What is it?”

His hand sneaks its way in between your own to halt your fidgeting and reassure that he’s right there with you and ready to listen to whatever it is you have to say. Sighing, you finally look to him with uncertainty swimming in your eyes.

“Do you have feelings for Mai?”

He’s stunned to stay the least, eyes widening slightly in surprise at your question. It’s certainly the last thing he expected you to ask him.

“Is this what you were trying to talk to me about earlier?” He presses gently, frowning at the way you slowly nod your head. “I see…”

“Just be honest with me, Zuko,” you plead desperately. “We promised we’d never keep secret from each other anymore, so if there’s something to tell then tell me. I can handle it.”

“I can’t stand here and tell you that it didn’t look bad when you walked in on Mai and I,” Zuko admits with a sigh. “But I can tell you that nothing was going on.”

“I heard you say you care about her.”

“It was out of context. I was trying to make things right for the sake of finding the children- she was obviously still upset over what went down between us, and I was trying to keep the peace so that we could work together to find our siblings. I’ve known her since we were kids, and if it weren’t for her I never would have been able to escape Boiling Rock and come back to you. So in a way I guess I do care for her, but it’s nothing compared to how much I care for you.”

“What about your animosity towards Kei Lo? You seemed… jealous of him.”

“I wasn’t jealous, I just didn’t trust him. I still don’t,” Zuko says adamantly. “I wasn’t exactly thrilled about having to release him because I didn’t want him to try and pull anything. I didn’t want Mai getting hurt, and I especially didn’t want him putting you in any danger.”

“So… so you don’t have feelings for her?” You ask meekly, the slightest bit of doubt still present in your voice.

“I’ve never had feelings for her,” Zuko says earnestly before gently taking your hands in his own. “You���re the only girl for me, y/n. I was stupid enough to let you go once, but I’m never making that mistake again.”

You can’t help but smile at his admission, tears beginning to well in your eyes as you throw your arms around him in a tight embrace that he immediately returns. It feels like a weight has finally been lifted off your shoulders, and all the worry and self doubt you had is finally beginning to melt away.

“I never want you to feel doubtful or insecure about our relationship ever again. I’m going to do everything in my power to do better,” he professes earnestly. “I love you more than you know, and you don’t ever have to worry about someone coming between us again.”

“I love you, Zuko.”

He pulls you in for a kiss, and with the moonlight shining down upon you both, everything is almost perfect.

For neither of you notice the pair of golden eyes that stare down at you from the rooftops with disdain and disgust before disappearing into the shadows.

“Pathetic.”

| atla tags: @sirkekselord @niktwazny303

| zuko tags: @thebluelcdy @royahllty @the-firebender-girl @ilovespideyyy @yiyibetch @eridanuswave @lammello @a-monsters-love @knaite-solo @taeeemin

| fire lilies tags: @emberislandplayers @kikaninchen-2 @music-geek19 @thia-aep @thyunnamed @haylaansmi @nataliahaslosthershit @idkdude776 @aangsupremacy @thirstyforsometea @ihaveaproblem98 @brown-eyed-thang @xapham @misnmatchedsox @chewymoustachio @that-bucket-hat-gal @chilifrylizard2 @kyomihann @kaylove12 @kiwihoee @freggietale @moon-spirit-yue @bubblegum-bee-otch

[burntsecrets]

A Song for Her

Pairing: Zuko and Katara Word Count: 968 Prompt: For Zutara Week 2024 | Day 5: Melody @zutaraweek Author's Note: This is a modern AU where Katara and Zuko are in their mid-20s. Warnings: mentions of parental abandonment, grief, emotional vulnerability, mild angst, discussion of unresolved trauma, themes of healing, rain/weather imagery, light romantic tension, introspection, public performance anxiety

The coffee shop was tucked into the corner of a bustling city street, its warm light spilling onto the damp sidewalk. Raindrops traced lazy patterns down the windows, catching the glow of neon signs and traffic lights outside. Inside, the faint hum of conversation mingled with the clatter of cups and the rich aroma of freshly brewed coffee.

Katara leaned back in her chair, tapping her finger against the rim of her cup. She had chosen a table near the small stage in the corner, where an old upright piano stood waiting for the next performer. Her legs were crossed, one foot bouncing to the rhythm of her thoughts. The deep blue of her scarf matched her eyes, which flicked to the door every few moments.

Zuko arrived five minutes late, as usual, his dark hair dripping from the rain and plastered to his forehead. He scanned the room before spotting her, offering a lopsided smile that she pretended not to notice. His leather jacket was wet, and his hands were shoved deep into his pockets as he made his way to her.

"You’re late," she said, voice light but sharp enough to make him squirm.

"Blame the traffic," he muttered, shaking his jacket off and slinging it over the back of the chair. "Or the rain."

She arched a brow but didn’t press him further. Instead, she nudged a steaming cup toward him. “I ordered for you. Jasmine tea.”

He hesitated, then picked up the cup. The faintest smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he took a sip. "Thanks."

They sat in companionable silence for a few moments, the din of the café filling the spaces between them. Zuko’s fingers drummed against the table, restless as ever. Katara noticed how his eyes kept straying to the piano.

“You’re thinking about it again,” she said, not unkindly.

“What?”

“The piano.”

He glanced at her, startled, then down at his cup. “No, I’m not.”

“Zuko.” Her tone was soft, teasing. “I know you. You keep looking at it like it owes you an apology.”

He huffed a laugh, the sound low and unexpected. “Maybe it does.”

Katara’s lips curved into a small smile, her eyes tracing the curve of his jaw as he stared at the stage. He had always carried a quiet intensity, like a storm held just out of reach. She wondered if he knew how much it softened when he smiled.

A barista stepped onto the stage, announcing the next performer. Zuko stiffened as a young woman approached the piano, her fingers brushing the keys before she began to play. The first few notes spilled into the air, gentle and melancholic. Zuko’s jaw tightened, and his gaze dropped to the table.

Katara watched him carefully, the way his shoulders hunched ever so slightly, the way his hands clenched into fists on his lap. She reached across the table, her fingers brushing against his. “What’s wrong?”

He didn’t pull away, but he didn’t look at her either. “It’s nothing.”

“Zuko,” she pressed, her voice quieter now. “Talk to me.”

He exhaled slowly, his hand turning under hers to grip it tightly. “It reminds me of my mom. She used to play... before she left.”

The words were barely audible, but they hung in the air between them, fragile and heavy. Katara’s thumb moved in gentle circles against his knuckles, her touch grounding him.

“You never told me that,” she said softly.

He shrugged, his eyes fixed on the table. “It’s not something I talk about.”

The melody swelled, filling the room with bittersweet emotion. Katara’s heart ached for him, for the boy he had been and the man he was still becoming. She tightened her grip on his hand, offering silent support.

“I think you should play,” she said after a moment.

He blinked, finally meeting her gaze. “What?”

“The piano,” she said, nodding toward the stage. “You should play. For her. For yourself.”

He stared at her, his amber eyes searching hers for something—doubt, pity, or perhaps reassurance. Whatever he found, it made him stand, his chair scraping loudly against the floor.

“Zuko���” she started, but he was already walking toward the stage.

The barista gave him a curious look as he approached, but Zuko simply nodded toward the piano. “Mind if I...?”

“Go ahead,” the barista said, stepping aside.

Katara’s breath caught as he sat at the bench, his fingers hovering over the keys. For a moment, he just sat there, his shoulders tense, his head bowed. Then, slowly, he began to play.

The first notes were hesitant, like a whisper, but they grew stronger with each passing second. The melody was haunting and beautiful, a cascade of emotions that filled the room and silenced the chatter. It spoke of loss and longing, of love and resilience.

Katara’s chest tightened as she listened, her eyes never leaving him. She could see the memories in the way his hands moved, the pain and hope in every note. He played like he was telling a story, one he had carried for far too long.

When the final note faded, the room erupted into applause. Zuko let out a shaky breath, his hands falling to his lap. He turned back to Katara, his expression unreadable, but she saw the flicker of vulnerability in his eyes.

She stood, meeting him halfway as he stepped off the stage. Without a word, she wrapped her arms around him, holding him close. He buried his face in her hair, his breath warm against her skin.

“Thank you,” he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper.

“For what?” she asked, her cheek resting against his chest.

“For reminding me,” he said, his arms tightening around her. “That some things are worth remembering.”

Katara smiled against him, her heart full. “Always.”

[bard-llama]

WiP Wednesday: The Blue Spirit is a Bitch LMAO

This WiP Wednesday brought to you by “wouldn’t it be funny if only Zuko could see the Blue Spirit and they’re just damned annoying?”

So far, I’m working on Chapter 6 of this, so here’s some random scenes that make me laugh and/or cry.

From the very beginning, taking place during/before Zuko Alone.

In Zuko’s defense, if he’d known that the Blue Spirit was real, he never would’ve used their name! In point of fact, the correct name for his mask was the Dark Water Spirit, but that seemed like a technicality that wouldn’t matter to the spirit he’d apparently offended.

You steal my name, my face… the spirit rumbled, something about their voice sending chills down his spine, I will take you up on the offer.

Zuko gulped. He hadn’t meant to offer anything.

Somehow, he didn’t think they cared.

You want to be the Blue Spirit, they said, and the thing in front of Zuko grinned a wide, creepy grin. Wish granted.

Very abruptly, Zuko’s constant headache spiked enough to make his vision white out.

When he blinked back to awareness, he was lying on his back in the grass and the sun had begun to start peeking over the horizon. Perhaps that was what had woken him, because typically, Agni’s rays energized him.

He could use some energizing right now, because he felt like he’d been hit with a fucking airship traveling full speed.

“Ugh,” he groaned, rubbing his head. “What–?”

Oh come now, it’s not that bad, that chilling voice from earlier spoke and Zuko’s eyes snapped open to see that the bizarre creature in front of him – it almost looked human, except for the complete lack of features beyond the freaky smile – was still there, but had also become solid in a way they weren’t before. When he moved, they followed him. You’re stuck with me, they grinned.

Oh Agni, what had Zuko gotten himself into?

Given his complete lack of supplies, heading for the nearest town seemed sensible, but as soon as he grew close enough to hear the bustle of people, he knew it was a mistake. He could see something weird surrounding each person, a kind of colorful haze that – oh. Oh, dammit, had Ty Lee been right about auras this whole time!?

Ugh, if so, he owed her a massive apology, because he’d always dismissed the silly idea.

It was disorienting, but Zuko fixed his eyes on the ground, only glancing up briefly to ensure he was going in the right direction and not going to hit anyone. No one reacted to his new ‘friend’, despite the clearly inhuman appearance of them.

Yeah, no one else can see me, the Blue Spirit said casually, stretching strangely blob-like hands over their head. Ah, it feels good to move around. I’ve been cooped up in that stupid grove for way too long.

Zuko frowned, wondering if he should ask – but the last thing he needed was to draw attention by talking to himself.

Maybe the spirit would go away and it would become a moot point?

He snorted quietly. Yeah, his life was never that kind.

From Ch 2, where The Chase takes place

A few days later, he actually felt fairly stable with the whole seeing auras thing and the spirit that only he could perceive haunting him.

Actually, it was… weirdly kind of nice? To not be alone. Even though the Blue Spirit was creepy, it was nice to have someone during the long trek across the rocky plains.

A flutter of something beige caught his attention and his hand snapped out automatically to grab what turned out to be… hair?

Specifically, bison hair. The Avatar was nearby.

Heart suddenly pounding with hope, Zuko wondered if perhaps this was his chance to change everything. If he could just capture the Avatar, then – then – then what? He was considered a traitor to the Fire Nation with orders to be executed on sight. What could he actually do if he did manage to catch the Avatar?

Which was far from guaranteed. He’d never successfully held the Avatar for more than a few hours before, and even then, he’d had a blizzard to help him.

Huh, the Avatar really is back? The Blue Spirit asked. Where have they fucking been?

“Uh,” Zuko coughed. He wasn’t wholly sure, but… “I think they got frozen or something?”

…you’re kidding, right?

Zuko just shrugged, changing direction to follow the trail of bison fur. Maybe he didn’t know what to do if he caught the Avatar… but he had to try.

He literally had no other purpose in this world now.

Well, I wouldn’t quite say that, the Blue Spirit grinned. He was starting to get used to seeing that grin on a face with no other features, including no eyes, but it was still creepy. You are the Blue Spirit now.

Zuko frowned. “What does that mean?”

Their grin just widened and Zuko tried not to worry too much about it, but his hackles were definitely up when he spotted the abandoned village in the distance. The Avatar had probably gone there, which meant Zuko would be going there.

For three years, his entire purpose had been pursuing the Avatar. He didn’t know how to stop doing that, especially when he had nothing else. So maybe he didn’t have a great chance of capturing Aang (based on all of their past encounters and Zuko’s usual luck), but he had to at least try.

Never give up without a fight. Intriguing concept.

Zuko scowled at the Blue Spirit, stomping towards town.

Then he saw blue fire blossom above one of the buildings and suddenly, he had cause to run. If Azula was here, if Azula was after the Avatar – no. He had to stop her. Without the Avatar, he had no way of ever returning home. He couldn’t let her take that hope from him, even if it was a frail and fading hope.

When Zuko made his appearance on the scene, Azula and Aang were facing off down a street – so he threw a blast of fire between them and jumped down from the neighboring rooftop, landing lightly on his feet.

Concerned primarily with not breaking his legs, Zuko hadn’t really made notice of what his fire looked like. But Azula had.

“White fire? Really, Zuzu? Can you grow anymore freakish?”

He bared his teeth, snarling at her, but part of him was startled to note that she was right. Instead of the usual orange-red, his fire came out white when he struck.

He had no idea what was up with that, but he set it aside. Maybe it was a side effect of the whole spirit possession thing.

What was important was that the white fire was even hotter than Azula’s blue fire, and he could see on her face when she realized it, her calm veneer broken by a frown. Then she moved, darting between buildings, and the chase was on.

The Avatar followed her, too, and Zuko shot a few blasts at them just to keep them out of the way and on their toes. (If some of those blasts happened to cause them to jump out of the way of Azula’s shots, then that was pure coincidence.)

Zuko’s main focus was Azula. As much as he wanted to capture the Avatar, Azula was the more prominent threat.

She laughed. “So you really are a traitor. How delightful. Father will be pleased when I bring back your corpse.”

Zuko flinched.

“What–?” the Avatar started, brow furrowed in confusion, but Zuko couldn’t look at them. He had to stay focused on Azula, or she would take advantage of his distraction.

The fight continued and he wasn’t quite sure when the others showed up, but somehow, six of them ended up backing Azula up against a wall, bending (and boomerang) at the ready.

She held her hands up with calm deliberation. “Well, look at this,” she smirked. “Enemies and traitors, all working together.” She raised her hands in a peaceful gesture, but there was no way she was actually accepting defeat. “I know when I'm beaten. You got me. A princess surrenders with honor.”

“Like fuck,” Zuko couldn’t help but retort, and her eyes narrowed.

“You’ve never known anything about honor,” she responded and he couldn’t help his flinch.

“That is not true,” Uncle said firmly, somehow here beside him along with the Avatar’s group.

Azula smirked slightly. “Do you doubt my royal word?”

“Every word you say is a lie,” Zuko said automatically, because it was true. Azula always lied.

“Oh good,” Azula said casually, “then you know I’m lying when I say that I’ve missed you, dear Brother. The palace just hasn’t been the same without you. So quiet, so tranquil – so much better without you there.”

Again, Zuko couldn’t hide his flinch and Azula’s smirk sharpened.

It was only the Blue Spirit’s warning to block that let him raise a fire wall in front of all of them, unsure of who Azula was aiming for. Her blue fire combined with his white and exploded, sending them all flying back with a wave of heat.

Zuko managed to land on his feet. He was the only one.

A quick assessment of their surroundings showed that the Avatar’s group and Uncle had fallen to the ground, and Azula was nowhere to be seen.

“Fuck,” he swore quietly, moving to help his Uncle up.

“Thank you, Nephew,” Uncle smiled at him as though things were at all normal. “It is good to see you well.”

“...yeah.”

“Azula’s gone,” announced the Avatar’s strategist – the fucker with the damned boomerang. His name was… Suki? Socket? No, that didn’t seem right.

“That doesn’t mean we can let our guards down,” the waterbender said icily, glaring at Zuko.

Which… fair enough, but suddenly, his motivation to fight the Avatar and get blown through walls was waning. He already hurt enough. He really didn’t need to add additional injuries to his collection.

Aang looked at him with innocence and a slight smile, aura bright like sunshine. “Hi, Zuko,” he greeted, as though they weren’t enemies.

Zuko had no idea what to do with that. He pinched the bridge of his nose with a silent groan.

“Who the fuck are you?” the little Earth Kingdom girl that had apparently joined the Avatar’s group asked.

“Who are you?” he asked in return.

She grinned widely and honestly, it was almost on the same level of creepy as the Blue Spirit’s smiles. He swallowed back a shudder.

“I’m Toph Beifong,” she introduced, “I’m the Greatest Earthbender in the World!”

Zuko blinked, staring at her. “Aren’t you like… ten?”

“Twelve,” she corrected. “And if you don’t believe me, I’d be delighted to demonstrate.”

Something told Zuko that this demonstration would be very painful.

“...I’ll take your word for it,” he decided. Mostly, he was too tired to deal with getting beat up, but he could admit – bright blue streaks of confidence dominated in her aura and he figured that probably meant she could back up her claims.

“So… are we fighting?”

Zuko sighed, really wishing he had a better answer than, ‘do I have to?’

Of course he had to. His Father had assigned him the task of capturing the Avatar. He could not fail. Again. He had too many failures on his record as it was.

But also… his ribs were still healing and frankly, getting blown through a building did not sound appealing.

“Was I imagining things or was your fire white?” Aang asked.

Zuko just shrugged, but yeah, it had been, and he had no idea what that was about.

White fire is not achievable by humans, the Blue Spirit said casually, walking around Aang and examining the Avatar. But you are no longer human.

Zuko’s eye widened and he almost choked at the words. What the fuck did that mean?

You’re me now, remember? The Blue Spirit’s grin was feral and Zuko gulped.

“Right,” he muttered.

And a little later:

“I have a proposal,” Uncle began. “We are all tired and worn. Perhaps we can make camp, get some rest, and deal with things later?”

Zuko sent his Uncle a disbelieving glance. No way would they consent to sleeping with him around. Why the fuck would they!? He was their enemy!

“Okay!” Aang agreed instantly.

“Not okay!” exclaimed the strategist – seriously, what was his name? Zuko really should know it. Soup? Socks? No, that was stupid.

…maybe Suki? His mind kept coming back to that, so that had to be it, right?

“Maybe two separate camps?” Toph suggested. “We can take over some of these abandoned buildings. Or I can just make us an earthen camp.”

“Do you think any of these buildings have real beds?” the waterbender asked with something longing and utterly exhausted in her voice.

When was the last time these idiots slept?

“I don’t care,” he decided, choosing a building at random and stomping into it.

As if to specifically spite him, the Blue Spirit lounged on the bed that was in fact there.

He sighed heavily, but called out, “yes on the beds.”

“Dibs on the next house!” Aang cried out immediately, and from the woosh of air Zuko could hear, he’d probably barged right in.

Zuko shook his head. Was this for real? Was he really about to make camp next to the Avatar? Why!?

Oh, I’d say it’s pretty obvious why, the Blue Spirit smirked.

Zuko frowned, confused. “What?”

What’s the Avatar’s name? They asked out of nowhere.

“Uh…” Zuko glanced around, trying to figure out the relevance. “...Aang?”

Mmhm. And what are the others’ names?

“Um,” Zuko flushed. “I mean, there’s Toph. And… Suki?”

“Are you talking to me?” Uncle called, making his way into the house.

Zuko shook his head, flushing.

The Blue Spirit smirked and suddenly he knew he was going to hate whatever was said next.

You have a crush, the Blue Spirit announced.

“What!?” Zuko flushed bright red, sputtering in disbelief. “Do not!”

The Blue Spirit just cackled, that same ghostly laughter that sent shivers down his spine.

“Nephew?” Uncle approached, a look of concern across his face.

Zuko covered his blushing face. “Nevermind,” he muttered.

Uncle’s eyebrow arched, but he let it go. “Are you tired?”

“Uh. Kinda?” He was… but he’d also noticed that he needed a lot less sleep now than he had before.

“Then let us rest,” Uncle smiled. “A man needs his rest. We can speak in the morning.”

After Zuko has a nightmare:

Fortunately, Zuko awoke with the scream trapped in his chest, the memory of his Father’s fist of fire making him shake.

He needed air, so he launched himself out of the chair and stumbled out onto the streets, where the sun was about two hours away from peeking over the horizon. Fortunately, Uncle had taught him to meditate on where the sun wasn’t as much as where it was, so Zuko chose a nice spot and settled down.

Naturally, that was when the Blue Spirit plopped themselves in front of them with – actually, with a strangely serious expression. As much of an expression as one could make with only a mouth.

That’s fucked up, the Blue Spirit opened with.

Zuko blinked. “...what is?”

Your memory.

Zuko’s eye widened. “You can see my memories!?”

Only when you dream. For now.

Well. That wasn’t ominous.

“How long am I stuck with you exactly?”

Oh, you’re never getting rid of me, the Blue Spirit laughed.

Swallowing hard, Zuko decided he couldn’t think too hard about that.

He was wrong, the Blue Spirit said, mouth flattening into a serious line again. You know that, right? Like, I don’t even have human morals and holy fuck, he was super wrong to do that to you.

Zuko frowned. “He was punishing me for disrespect,” he whispered.

Yeah, I’m a spirit of justice, the Blue Spirit said bluntly. There was nothing just about that.

“Yes there was,” Zuko objected. There had to be. Otherwise, how could everyone else have acted like it was okay?

He was always forcing his Father to punish him. It wasn’t that Father wanted to – but Father wanted him to be stronger, to stop being a disappointment.

He deserved everything Father had ever done to him.

That’s bullshit, the Blue Spirit said.

“Well, what do you know of it?” Zuko snapped. “It’s none of your fucking business.”

On the contrary, the Blue Spirit grinned. I am the spirit of vengeful justice. It is entirely my business how my host has been mistreated.

“I haven’t been,” Zuko said, but somehow it felt like a lie.

Yes, the Blue Spirit said simply, you have. But not to worry – you can now take just revenge for each slight!

“There aren’t any slights!”

Really? Not even against the Blue Fire Girl?

Zuko hesitated.

That’s what I thought.

“Ugh,” Zuko groaned. “Just… shut up.” He’d come out here to meditate, not to question everything he’d ever known.

But the thoughts wouldn’t stop circulating around his head when he tried to meditate, so he changed his plans, instead pulling out his swords.

In the prior village, he’d combined his swords and his fire together. And he hadn’t noticed if his fire was white there – more concerned with the whole stone mallet to the chest thing – but it certainly was now.

It was kind of unnerving, so Zuko stuck to playing with his swords only, doing his best to mitigate how much he pulled on his ribs. But he couldn’t afford to be idle while they healed, so he needed to learn how to fight with them.

It wasn’t the first time he’d learned to compensate for an injury limiting his mobility. (In the most memorable previous time, he’d had to figure out how to practice dual dao with one arm in a cast after Father had broken it as punishment for playing with swords when his firebending was a disappointment.)

Again, the Blue Spirit said, that’s fucked up. Like, seriously. No wonder the world has gotten so out of balance if that’s what’s leading the Fire Nation.

Zuko felt like he needed to defend his Father, but he really didn’t know what to say. It was Father. Everything he did was right by definition.

But the Blue Spirit said nothing else and Zuko let it go, shedding his shirt when sweat started to make his skin itch. Then he focused only on moving his swords the way they were supposed to move, filtering out all other input from his senses.

Which is why he jumped about three feet into the air when Aang’s voice asked out of nowhere, “what happened to you!?”

“Fuck!” Zuko swore, pressing a hand to his pounding heart. “Fucking Agni, don’t do that.”

The Avatar just frowned at him, face pinched with what almost looked like concern. “What happened?”

“None of your business,” Zuko snapped, reaching for his shirt and quickly covering his torso – and the very obvious bruises and scars scattered across it.

“Katara’s a healer,” Aang offered.

Katara. Was that the waterbender? He had read that waterbending could sometimes heal. But even if she could do it… “yeah, I don’t think that’s on offer for your enemy,” he said bluntly.

“Everyone deserves healing,” Aang disagreed. “And we won’t know until we ask.”

“Well, I’m not asking,” Zuko snapped.

“But–”

“Fuck off,” Zuko said, turning away from the Avatar. This… was actually the perfect opportunity to attack, with no one else around but them. But right now, Zuko was angry and confused and in pain and he did not have the mental capacity to deal with the Avatar trying to help his enemy. Again.

He spun his swords, moving through the katas Master Piandao had once taught him and paying the Avatar no mind. He kind of figured Aang would go back to his friends – but instead, when he finished the kata, Aang clapped.

Zuko whirled around to stare at him.

“That was really cool!” Aang enthused. “I mean, I knew from before that you were good with swords, but like – wow! You’re really good!”

“...thanks?” Zuko hazarded, uncertain of what to do with the Avatar’s praise.

Cruuuuuuuush, the Blue Spirit’s singsong voice said from way too close, and Zuko jumped again, earning him a surprised look from Aang.

Ugh. He did not have a crush.

You so do, the Blue Spirit responded, clearly amused.

“What do you want?” Zuko demanded, and he honestly didn’t know if he was asking the damned spirit or the Avatar.

Aang shrugged. “We haven’t seen you in a while.”

“...shouldn’t you consider that a good thing?”

“Hmm,” Aang paused to actually think about it. “There are positives to it,” he said eventually, “but there’s something reassuringly familiar about you chasing me.”

“...are you fucking kidding me?”

“Well, I mean, since I woke up from the ice, you and Katara and Sokka have been the most consistent things in my life,” he said, smiling brightly at Zuko.

Zuko… did not know what to do with that.

“Hey, can I ask?” Aang began, “why do you chase me anyway?”

Because the Fire Lord is a sadistic asshole, the Blue Spirit said.

Zuko froze, which apparently worried Aang, because he held his hands out, quick to assure, “you don’t have to tell me! I’m just curious.”

You know, the Blue Spirit observed, if you won’t believe me, maybe you should tell him. I guarantee he will tell you that your Father is seriously fucked up beyond belief.

That made Zuko scowl and Aang winced, leaning back and murmuring an apology.

It was ridiculous that Zuko felt guilty for making him think it was his fault that Zuko was pissed.

He wanted so badly to respond to the Blue Spirit, but there was only so much responding to things no one else could hear that could be excused. So he grit his teeth and bit out, “go away.”

Aang pouted. There was really no other word for the expression. “Aw, c’mon,” he whined. “We can talk about something else!”

“I don’t want to talk to you at all,” Zuko said without thinking and the hurt that crossed Aang’s face made something uncomfortable twist in his chest. He huffed, annoyed with everything about this situation.

“Okay,” Aang said quietly, voice small. Zuko did not feel guilty about that. “But can you at least come see Katara and get healed? It can’t be easy to fight with… all of that.”

It wasn’t, but like hell was Zuko admitting that. “I’m fine.”

“Those bruises looked really deep,” Aang pointed out.

Zuko shrugged. “Nothing broke. Probably.”

“‘Probably’!?”

He sighed, “what do you care?”

Frowning, Aang looked up at him with earnest eyes and said, “no one should be in pain.”

That actually made Zuko laugh, which was horrible for his ribs, but… “I don’t remember what it’s like not to be in pain,” he admitted. “You get used to it.”

Aang’s look of horror just reminded Zuko of how different their lives were. This was an airbender who had grown up in a world without war, in a temple where fun and serenity were considered to be the most important things.

It was such a foreign upbringing that Zuko couldn’t really understand it. His entire life had always been a struggle. He’d never been given anything for free – but the Avatar? They probably got offered free shit all the time.

Shaking his head, Zuko turned away. “Go away, Aang.”

Aang did not go away. In fact, when Zuko headed towards the house Uncle was sleeping in, the Avatar followed him.

“You know my name,” Aang said, surprise in his voice.

Zuko’s face scrunched in confusion, unsure why that mattered. Then he spotted the Blue Spirit’s wide grin parting to say something and he snapped out, “shut up.”

Aang ignored that. “Do you know the others’ names?” he asked curiously, skipping up next to Zuko.

Zuko’s fists clenched and the Blue Spirit laughed.

No, the Blue Spirit said, smugness in their voice. You just know his because you’ve got a crush.

He did not! Desperate to defend himself, he blurted out, “I know Appa and Momo!”

“You… do?” Aang blinked at him in surprise.

Zuko flushed. “Um. Admittedly, not sure which is which.”

That made Aang burst out into giggles. “Appa is my bison,” he said with a grin. “Momo is our lemur.”

And a little later:

“The world has changed so much,” Aang said, voice quiet. “It scares me.”

“I mean,” Zuko heard himself say before he knew he was going to, “even a hundred years ago, your perception of the world was probably pretty different from most people in the other nations.”

“Why?”

“Well, you’re an Air Nomad.”

“...yeah?”

Zuko flushed. “The other nations don’t really have so much emphasis on ‘fun’. Even historically. And I mean, not saying that you were ignorant of the other nations – I’m sure you visited them plenty – but Air Nomads… the other nations aren’t like that.”

“What do you mean?” Aang frowned.

Zuko sucked on his bottom lip, trying to find the right words. “Probably the closest to the Air Nomad lifestyle would be the Water Tribes. They’re communal too – or at least, the South is. I dunno much about the North that’s not eighty years out of date, and as of then, they’d moved away from that a couple thousand years ago. But that makes a pretty significant difference. When you know your needs are provided for… it’s different. But the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom… they’ve never been like that. I mean, I’m sure some places have done it on a local level before, but like, nationally, there’s no guarantee for Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom citizens that they will always have food or shelter or water or–” he spotted the look on Aang’s face and broke off. “Um. Yeah.”

“Really?” Aang whispered. “I mean, I guess I knew that a little bit? Bumi lived on the streets in Omashu a hundred years ago.”

Zuko blinked. “Bumi? As in King Bumi!?”

“Yeah, he became king at some point?” Aang shrugged. “He – he was always good at taking care of himself that I guess I never really realized… how can the Earth King and the Fire Lord not feed all their people?”

“Well, scale is definitely a factor,” Zuko said. “Like, there is a point where a society gets too big to effectively manage. I mean, there were around twenty-nine thousand Air Nomads. The Southern Water Tribes, too, were around twenty thousand at their peak. But the Fire Nation has a hundred-seventy-nine thousand people, and the Earth Kingdom has at least three-point-five million.”

Aang’s eyes were wide. “Whoa.”

“Yeah. So size is a factor. But probably also culture? Like… before the Fire Nation unified into one country, we were a little more like the Southern Water Tribes. Each island had their own clans and good rulers took care of their people. But then we came together as one nation and…” he frowned, horrified by the thought that it all went downhill from there.

“But…” Aang’s face scrunched up in confusion, “I mean, I don’t really get how having a single ruler works, but like… how can they not take care of all their people? Isn’t that the purpose of having a ruler?”

Zuko had no response to that.

He’s got a point, the Blue Spirit pointed out, watching Zuko and Aang like they were the best entertainment they’d seen in years.

…which might actually be the case, but Zuko determinedly did not care.

He scowled at the Blue Spirit, just on principle.

“What are you looking at?” Aang asked curiously, following his gaze – and probably seeing nothing more interesting than the dust-swept ground.

“Nothing,” Zuko muttered, realizing that at some point, he’d stopped walking just to talk to Aang. Frown deepening, he resumed his journey to Uncle.

Aang continued to skip alongside him until they heard Katara’s voice snarling, “where is he!?”

They shared a concerned look and ran.

Katara stood over Uncle, icicles hovering threateningly around him. The only thing that stopped Zuko from attacking was the fact that Uncle appeared entirely calm, sipping a cup of tea.

Where had he even found tea?

“Katara?” Aang called, and she whirled around.

“Aang! Are you okay?” she asked, running up to him and glaring fiercely at Zuko.

“I’m fine,” Aang said easily. “What’s wrong?”

“We woke up and you were gone and then it turned out Zuko was also gone, so…” the Water Tribe boy – Aang had said his name, hadn’t he? What was it? – shrugged, looking bored. There was clear relief on his face, though, and his boomerang was in hand.

Agni, Zuko hated that thing.

Then the boy’s words penetrated his head and he realized that he hadn’t even tried to capture the Avatar. Like, at all.

Was he really so scared of getting his ass kicked that he didn’t even bother to try!?

Yeah, I don’t think that’s the problem, the Blue Spirit said, a smirk on their face. Zuko’s brow knit in confusion and they clarified, do you really want to bring that innocent and gullible Avatar to the man who burned your face off?

Zuko couldn’t help his flinch and it garnered him strange looks, but he tried to ignore it.

What do you think your Father would do to him? the Blue Spirit asked curiously. Which body part do you think he would burn first.

Zuko’s inhale made sharp pain spread through his chest and he winced, pressing a hand to his ribs absently, more focused on the Blue Spirit than the way the Avatar looked at him with obvious concern.

He wanted to tell the Blue Spirit that they were wrong, that Father wouldn’t – wouldn’t–

Would your Father keep him alive, you think? Or let him reincarnate eventually?

“Stop,” Zuko whispered, eye wide as he processed the Blue Spirit’s words.

“Stop what?” Aang asked, standing too close to him and looking curiously between him and the presumably empty patch of street where the Blue Spirit stood. “Are you okay?”

Suddenly unspeakably angry, Zuko grit out, “I’m fine.” Then he turned on his heel and marched away – away from the Avatar, but more importantly, away from the Blue Spirit and the horrible things they said.

They were wrong. They had to be. Father wouldn’t–

But. But he’d never thought Father would burn him so badly either, and what if the Blue Spirit was right!? If – if Father could punish his son so severely… what would he do to the boy who happened to be the Fire Nation’s most wanted enemy?

Zuko had deserved his punishment, but Aang…

No, not Aang. The Avatar. The one being powerful enough to challenge the Fire Lord.

Father would have no mercy. He certainly hadn’t had any for Zuko.

And that was right. That was just.

The problem was, Zuko wasn’t sure he could sentence anyone to worse than what he got. The burn on his face had been deep enough to steal not just his sight on that side, but his hearing, too. It hurt constantly and made his whole head throb.

But he’d deserved it. Right? He’d – he’d spoken out of turn in the Fire Lord’s war room. He’d shown unforgiveable disrespect. That – that was an offense serious enough to warrant such a punishment… wasn’t it?

An hour ago, he wouldn’t have questioned it. But now? Now the Blue Spirit’s complete disapproval of his Father had instilled doubts in him.

Father wouldn’t be happy.

It was fine, though. Zuko wouldn’t succumb. He would always be loyal to his Father, as a good son should be. He wasn’t a good son, Father had made that clear, but he had to try.

So why couldn’t he dismiss the Blue Spirit’s words?

Trying to stop thinking, Zuko dove into a kata that he knew well enough to be comfortable with, but not so well that he didn’t have to pay attention to what he was doing. His fire came out bright white, but he refused to let his mind contemplate that. It didn’t matter what his fire looked like. All that mattered was that he execute the kata correctly.

Next Chapter:

Iroh was used to worrying about Zuko. In general, his nephew excelled in reckless behavior – but now especially, with everything in their life so shaken up, he felt that worry more keenly than ever.

He shouldn’t have let Zuko go alone.

“Uh…” the Earth Kingdom girl coughed, “what the fuck just happened?”

“Got me,” the Water Tribe boy said. “Zuko just started staring into space and freaking out.”

“I don’t think he was staring into space,” the Avatar said, frowning. “It seemed more like he was looking at something.”

“But there’s nothing there.”

Iroh stroked his beard, intrigued. “Nothing we could see. Which does not necessarily mean nothing at all.”

“...are you saying that Zuko’s seeing things?”

“Actually, I was thinking more about the white fire. The spirit fire.”

The Avatar gasped. “You think Zuko saw a spirit? But why couldn’t we?”

“Very few beings can see a spirit’s form without the spirit intending it.” Iroh was actually one of those beings, but he’d seen nothing either. The question was, did that mean there was nothing to see? “Some of it comes down to power – not many spirits are powerful enough to manifest physically unless something serious happens to set them off.”

“Like the fucking Hei Bai spirit,” the Water Tribe boy muttered.

“What,” the Avatar asked hesitantly, “what would it mean, if Zuko sees a spirit?”

“I’m not sure,” Iroh admitted, but now that the thought had occurred, he worried about it. What could the spirits want with his boy?

“He’s injured,” the Avatar’s quiet voice said.

“What? Who?” the waterbender blinked.

“Zuko. He looked pretty badly injured, but he wouldn’t come back to ask you to heal him, so…”

She sniffed, sticking her nose in the air. “I wouldn’t anyway.”

The Avatar frowned sadly. “He guessed that. But – but he could have broken bones, Katara!”

“...he did touch his ribs like he was in pain,” the boomerang kid said reluctantly.

Iroh fretted, but he knew nothing he could say would help this girl decide to heal her enemy, so he stayed quiet.

“So what? He chased us across the world!”

The Avatar chewed on his lip and then admitted, “he also saved me from Zhao once.”

“...what?” Iroh wasn’t the only one to look at him in surprise.

“I – I got captured by Zhao,” the Avatar explained hesitantly. “After that big storm, you remember? Where you guys got super sick? Well, I went looking for medicine and these freaky archers came after me and… Zhao strung me up in this stronghold. And he – I was so scared,” he admitted. “I could barely move. I didn’t know what to do. But then the door opened and–”

The waterbender scoffed. “And Zuko appeared? Yeah right!”

“He did!” the Avatar insisted. “But I didn’t know it was him at first. He wore a mask and used swords instead of fire.”

“...Zuko can use swords?” the Water Tribe boy asked, looking mildly disturbed.

“Yeah! He was practicing with them earlier and wow! He’s really good! I mean, I kinda knew that, because we had to fight a lot of firebenders to escape, but like…” he shrugged.

The waterbender crossed her arms. “Well if he’s so injured, what is he doing practicing?”

The Avatar frowned. “I mentioned that. He just said that nothing was broken. Probably.”

“‘Probably’!?” Iroh couldn’t help but burst out.

“That’s what I said!” The Avatar looked distressed. “He – he said he doesn’t remember what it’s like not to be in pain.”

Iroh winced. It wasn’t that that came as a surprise, exactly, but it was difficult for him to acknowledge the reality that his boy experienced constant pain and there was nothing he could do about it.

He did not like feeling powerless.

“What does that mean?” the Water Tribe boy demanded. His sister’s face was a strange mix of horrified, disbelieving, and sad.

Iroh sighed. “Such deep burns are not without consequence,” he murmured.

“Who–?” the Avatar dared to ask.

Part of Iroh wanted so badly to tell them. Their goal was to face the Fire Lord and stop this war. They should know just how terrible Ozai was.

But… Zuko wouldn’t want his enemies to know. Zuko hadn’t yet come to realize just how unforgivable it was for his Father to do such a horrible thing. It broke Iroh’s heart, but he hoped that one day, Zuko would be ready to acknowledge that his Father was wrong.

Iroh sighed, shaking his head in response to the Avatar’s question.

The Water Tribe boy coughed. “Um. Who are you, anyway? I mean, obviously you’re always following Zuko around, but…”

That made Iroh’s lips twitch. “I am Zuko’s Uncle,” he introduced. “My name is Iroh.”

“His… Uncle?” the boy said with a strange expression on his face. “As in… his Father’s brother?”

“Indeed,” Iroh agreed.

“...younger brother, though, right?”

“Ah,” Iroh clicked his tongue. “No. Ozai is almost twenty years my junior.”

Not me just sharing practically the whole next chapter oops

“Nephew!” Uncle beamed at him, looking up from the Pai Sho board he’d found somewhere. “Would you like some tea?”

Zuko sighed, taking a seat across from Uncle (carefully holding his torso still, because fuck, his ribs hurt). He would not be playing Pai Sho, but he did want to talk to his Uncle.

“What’s on your mind, Nephew?” Uncle asked, inviting him to share.

Zuko wanted to ask. But it was also really hard to get the words to cooperate. In the end, his question was blurted out with a complete lack of tact.

“What do you think Father would do to the Avatar?”

Uncle blinked in surprise, then took a moment to think, looking contemplatively down at the board. “I am not sure I can theorize,” he said.

“He’ll,” Zuko stuttered, “he’ll do worse than he did to me, won’t he?”

“It is highly likely,” Uncle said carefully. Too carefully.

The Blue Spirit’s words ran through his mind again and he had to whisper out the question that scared him more than anything. “Was Father wrong?”

“What?”

“When – when he – I – I deserved it, right?”

“No!” Uncle said with such emphasis that it made Zuko tense. He clearly noticed and calmed himself. “No, Zuko. There is nothing you could do that would deserve such treatment.”

Zuko frowned. How could that be? “But…”

Told you, the Blue Spirit chimed in, and Zuko suddenly noticed them lounging across the moth-eaten couch.

But that didn’t make sense. How could he not deserve it? Why would Father do that if he hadn’t deserved it?

Because he is cruel, the Blue Spirit said simply. But don’t take my word for it. Ask him.

Zuko chewed on his lip, not quite able to look at Uncle. “Why?” he asked quietly. “If – if I didn’t – then why?”

“Zuko,” Uncle began, but Zuko had to finish.

“If – if what he did was wrong, then why didn’t anybody stop him!?”

Uncle set his teacup aside, and when Zuko glanced up, he was looking at Zuko with a serious expression. It made him look sad.

“There is no excuse for cowardice,” Uncle said, and his voice shook in a way it never had before. “But sometimes fear is easier to succumb to than courage.”

Zuko frowned. “What does that mean?”

“It means,” Uncle said, “that not only did Ozai wrong you, but you were failed by all of us who should’ve done something and never did. It is unforgivable, Zuko.” Uncle met his gaze with shiny eyes. “Of everyone there that day, Zuko, you are the only one who did not do something wrong.”

“But–”

“You were right, Zuko,” Uncle said clearly, stopping for a moment to clear his throat, voice thick with emotion. “You were right to speak up for the 41st. You absolutely did not deserve what happened – no one ever could.”

“But how can that be!?” Zuko burst out. “If – if it was so wrong, then how come no one has ever said that before? How come you’ve never said that before!?”

Uncle flinched. “You love your Father,” he said after a moment. “When you love someone, it is difficult to see the ways they are wrong. When others criticize those we love, we rarely believe them. But that does not mean it is not true.” He sniffled and cleared his throat. “I never wanted you to push me away.”

Zuko’s face was scrunched in distress. “But – but even the Earth Kingdom merchants and the gossips in every port and the soldiers everywhere – everyone acted like Father was right. How can that not be the case?”

“Your Father has a great deal of power over the world,” Uncle said slowly. “Not because of his crown, but because of his cruelty. People the world over fear him. Fear makes us cowards, and sometimes it is easier to pretend it’s not there than to admit that we failed. Because if we acknowledge that Ozai is wrong and we do nothing… we are not less guilty than he is.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense!”

“No,” Uncle agreed, voice so very sad. “It doesn’t. The world has become terribly broken, Zuko, and too few remember what it is to act with compassion and love. Our family has brought a century of war on this world and people have become twisted with malice and desperation. That does not make it right. What Ozai did was wrong. And there is no possible way anyone could deserve that.”

Zuko shook his head, not able to accept that. It was ridiculous. If Uncle was right, then the whole world was wrong. That couldn’t be possible.

It made much more sense to think that the problem was Zuko. Maybe… maybe other people wouldn’t deserve it. But Zuko did. Zuko had to have, because otherwise, every single person he’d ever met had been wrong. All those people who sneered at him and laughed at him and made jokes about it and–

It was too many people. Surely they couldn’t all be in the wrong.

No, it had to be that Zuko was the one wrong. It had to be.

Uncle reached out slowly to touch his arm and Zuko couldn’t help his flinch, head spinning with confusion.

It couldn’t be. Uncle had to be incorrect, that was the only thing that made sense.

But… but Uncle looked at him with such guilt and pain and heartbreak and Zuko didn’t know what to do with that and–

“I need air,” he grunted out, scrambling to his feet and bolting.

Unfortunately, while Uncle could be outrun, the Blue Spirit could not be.

He’s right, they said, strolling alongside Zuko.

“Fuck off,” Zuko grit out. “Just – just go away!”

Fine, the Blue Spirit agreed. But he’s still right.

A moment later, they popped out of existence, and Zuko let out a shaky breath, suddenly feeling a hot burning behind his right eye.

They were wrong. They had to be.

Right?

Now Aang’s POV

Aang was floating on cloud nine. He could earthbend! After a horribly long day of failure after failure after failure, he could do it! He could move rock!

Katara left to start dinner and Sokka and Toph had eagerly followed her, but Aang had too much energy to stay in place, so he wandered through the streets, bending pebbles around just because he could.

So when he spotted Zuko stomping down an intersecting street, he raced after the Prince excitedly.

“Hey Zuko, guess what?” He used his airbending to speed ahead and come around to face Zuko, a bright grin on his face. Then he spotted Zuko’s expression and his smile fell. “Are you okay?”

Zuko turned away instantly, sniffling and wiping his right eye. Aang… was pretty sure he’d seen tears on Zuko’s cheek and he didn’t know what to do with that. It had… never really occurred to him that Zuko could cry.

“What happened?” he asked softly.

“Nothing. Go away.” Zuko’s voice lacked any force and he wouldn’t look at Aang, even when Aang circled around him again.

“Is there anything I can do?” Aang asked quietly.

“Yeah, fuck off,” Zuko grunted, twisting on his heel to stomp away from Aang.

Aang chewed on his lip. He – he didn’t want to not respect Zuko’s wishes, but something was very clearly wrong and he couldn’t just leave Zuko to be upset alone.

“I can distract you, if you want?” he offered. If Zuko wouldn’t talk to him, then he could at least help Zuko take his mind off whatever had happened… right?

“Why!?” Zuko demanded, rounding on him. “What do you care!?”

Aang frowned. “Why… wouldn’t I care?”

Zuko sputtered. “Because we’re enemies, maybe!?”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I want you to be unhappy,” Aang pointed out. “I don’t want anyone to be unhappy. So if I can do something about it when someone is…” he shrugged.

Zuko stared in disbelief. The eyelashes of his right eye – the only eye that had eyelashes – were clumped with tears and it was pretty obvious that Zuko had definitely been crying.

Aang hated when people cried. He wanted to give Zuko a hug, but that might be pushing things a little too far. Still, he could at least do something to offer comfort.

“If you don’t wanna talk about it, that’s okay,” he said, voice as gentle as he could make it. “You don’t have to tell me. But that doesn’t mean I can’t take your mind off it.”

“...how?”

“Um,” Aang considered his options. “Oh! Would you like to fly on Appa?”

Zuko’s face made it clear he thought Aang was crazy.

“Flight is amazing!” Aang insisted. “C’mon, I’ve taken a lot of first-time flyers out. It’ll be fun!”

“Fun,” Zuko repeated blankly. “You… I don’t know why I’m surprised,” he huffed.

Aang attempted a smile. “As you know, Air Nomads are big on fun,” he said easily. “Do you wanna go flying?”

There was definite temptation on Zuko’s face, but the frown stayed dominant. “You realize I could just knock you out and fly to the Fire Nation, right?”

“Well, I guess it’s possible,” Aang acknowledged. “But I think Appa would have something to say about that. He can be positively unmoveable when he’s feeling stubborn, you know?”

Zuko blinked slowly, processing that. Then he actually snorted.

“Sky bison were considered to be one of the most willful pack animals in the world,” Zuko muttered.

“Yeah!” Aang nodded, though he was definitely surprised Zuko knew that. But it didn’t really matter. “So… wanna go flying?”

“...fuck it, why not?” Zuko said after a moment.

“Great! C’mon!” Aang positively beamed, grabbing Zuko’s hand and dragging him towards Appa.

Zuko asks the burning question

When Zuko’s eyes opened again, there was a considering look on his face. “Can I ask you something?”

Surprised, Aang nodded. “Sure!”

“In – in the Air Temples,” he began, voice hoarse, “how were you punished if you disrespected the elders?”

Aang tilted his head. “Disrespect how?”

“What do you mean ‘how’?” Zuko frowned. “Disrespect is disrespect.”

“Well, I guess, but like… it kinda depends on how much of a sense of humor you have, you know? Like – like Master Gyatso and I would prank the other elders all the time, and Monk Tashi would get super mad, but Monk Pasang usually found it funny. He’d even give us feedback on how the pies tasted!”

“...pies?”

“Oh yeah, see, Master Gyatso is a great baker. And pies are perfect for throwing at people’s heads.”

Zuko stared at him. “You… threw pies at your elders?” There was clear horror in Zuko’s voice. “What did they do to you? How were you punished?”

“Oh, usually it was just more chores and stuff,” Aang shrugged. “I’m very good at cleaning bison stables.”

Zuko’s stare almost turned gaping.

“What?”

“You,” Zuko’s voice was strangled, “you attacked and humiliated your elders and all you got was more chores!?”

“Uh… yeah?” Aang frowned. “Why? What do you think should’ve happened?”

Zuko clutched at his hair, face distraught. “It’s – that can’t – it’s not – what!?”

Aang wasn’t sure what was troubling Zuko so much, but he reached out with clearly telegraphed movements to touch Zuko’s arm. “What happened?” he asked quietly.

Zuko’s muscles flinched under his fingers, but Zuko didn’t actually pull away. Instead, he sat hunched over, tugging at his own hair.

“Zuko?” Aang shifted closer, hoping to offer what comfort he could. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Zuko shook his head, very obviously focusing on keeping his breathing steady. Even so, each exhale shuddered, and Aang was pretty sure that wasn’t just because of the bruising he’d seen earlier.

“Can I hug you?”

That made Zuko jerk back, gaping at him. “What!?”

“I won’t if you don’t want me to,” Aang said very seriously, “but you seem like you could use a hug. So… can I?”

For some reason, his question seemed to cause Zuko great consternation, but after a long moment, Zuko said, “I… guess?”

“Okay,” Aang smiled. “Just tell me when you want me to let go.” With that said, he shifted so that he could hug Zuko properly, pulling Zuko into him and pressing their chests together.

Zuko was tense in his arms and he kept his touch gentle, not wanting to aggravate the unknown injuries Zuko definitely had.

It was kind of awkward, just sitting in silence, hugging someone who was stiff as a board, but Aang ignored that, focusing on offering whatever comfort he could.

He didn’t know what was wrong or why Zuko was upset, but he did know that he liked Zuko and he didn’t like Zuko being unhappy.

So he held Zuko close and gradually, Zuko’s muscles unwound. At some point, Zuko even tilted his face into Aang’s shoulder, hands coming up to clutch at the back of Aang’s shirt. Aang smiled slightly, leaning his weight into Zuko and slowly rubbing Zuko’s back.

They stayed like that for a long time, just circling in the air above the village their families were in and hugging tightly.

And finally, a fun little distraction

Aside from Uncle, it had been a very long time since anyone had hugged Zuko. And even Uncle didn’t do it often.

It was… kind of nice?

Embarrassing beyond belief that he needed it, but he could admit that after waaaaaaay too long spent hugging Aang, he… did actually feel a little bit better. It hadn’t fixed anything, but he felt sort of like it had grounded him. There was still a typhoon of thought and emotion in his head, but he’d managed to push it down enough that he felt like he could actually breathe.

Unfortunately, that meant that he then had to acknowledge the part where he’d basically just broken down in his enemy’s arms.

He flushed, swallowing uncomfortably and drawing away with a mumbled apology.

“You don’t have to apologize,” Aang said softly. “Are you okay?”

Zuko opened his mouth to respond and then realized that he didn’t have an answer. He… wasn’t entirely sure he knew what it meant to be okay.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Aang’s smile was compassionate in a way that made Zuko feel exposed like a raw wound.

“No!” he lashed out with a scowl.

“Okay,” Aang said easily. “If you decide you do wanna talk about it, you’re welcome to come to me any time. In the meantime, do you wanna do a barrel roll?”

Zuko’s face was probably a fascinating thing to study as different emotions flashed through his mind.

But honestly, that did sound pretty cool.

“Yeah,” he decided, setting aside all the things he didn’t know how to feel about.

“Great!” Aang grinned. “Hang on to my arm, just in case. Appa knows what he’s doing, but it’s still best to be careful with people who can’t fly.”

The barrel roll was actually completely amazing and Zuko actually felt a smile pulling at his lips. It was an unfamiliar feeling.

[prying-pandora666]

No, actually, he did owe her.

He owed her. Ursa owed her.

Because she was a child in their care and they watched Ozai abuse and groom her and didn’t step in. Because CHILDREN are not responsible for fostering a healthy relationship with ADULTS.

What is this nonsense? It’s not worth it to help someone who doesn’t respect you?

Oh yeah, because ZUKO was so respectful, right?

Zuko who lashed out, threatened Iroh, said Iroh’s life didn’t matter, lied to Iroh, ditched him, betrayed him, yelled at him even in prison, and had to be dragged kicking and screaming to redemption at times.

And Iroh STILL never gave up on him. Because he understood Zuko is a child who needs help. A child who has been failed. A child who needs unconditional love and support to find his way.

But somehow extending the same to Azula is too far? And why? Because she’s more enmeshed with the abuser? That’s all the MORE reason she needs help!

Being the “golden child” is not the position of prestige and validation that Zuko thinks it is from his position as the scapegoat/blacksheep child. It’s just a different type of abuse.

Zuko didn’t realize he “needed help” for THREE YEARS after he had distance from his abuser and unlimited support and love from Iroh. So why is it that Azula, two years younger and even more brainwashed with even less outside influence to help her, has to somehow pick herself up by her bootstraps and figure it all out?

Just to be WORTHY of help?

Look at how terrified she is of displeasing Ozai and being the new rejected child, of being burned, of being discarded and having nothing. Do you seriously think she doesn’t know she needs help? The point is that no one has ever OFFERED it to her.

But sure, the terrified child who thinks fear is the only way to keep people close because it’s precisely what her father uses to manipulate HER is the one who has to approach the adult and beg him for help. Even though she has no reason to trust him. Even though he has shown her no indication that he can be trusted.

No thank you. I prefer consistency in helping abused kids rather than replicating Ozai’s favoritism in reverse.

I mean really!

How much more blatant do the writers need to get?

I hope Azula gets help from someone else than Iroh, there we agree. But not because Iroh “doesn’t owe her” or she “doesn’t respect him enough”.

But because Iroh owes her an apology and Azula deserves help from someone she can actually TRUST.

uncle iroh is treated very much like a paragon of virtue in the series. yes we know he has had a violent past, that he has done terrible things, committed atrocities in the service of the fire nation— but we don’t really feel it because all of that had happened off screen and prior to the series. instead, he comes to us as a more perfect being and one deified with secret good deeds revealed throughout the story: uncle iroh is the keeper of the dragons and an important member of the white lotus, he is just that awesome.

uncle iroh is so divorced from his immediate past that we don’t see him haunted by any of it unless it’s by lu ten— which begs the question: did he really turn his back on the fire nation due to a moral awakening or was it only/mostly for his own good? he certainly doesn’t behave in a manner you’d expect from a repentant ex-imperialist: he’s not too worried about walking the streets of ba singe se, let alone actually staying there after the war ended. (the same war he participated in on the side of the aggressors, mind you.) he is shameless enough to be living there while hiding away and was unscrupulous in accepting hospitality from earth kingdom folks who were made refugees by the fire nation, i.e., song’s family. does he not feel guilty or at least uncomfortable with his circumstances, especially since it has only been 5 or so years since the siege at ba sing se and thus still very fresh in the grand scheme of things? is iroh just that Enlightened and At Peace with his past that it doesn’t color his every movement? or is his lack of a moral hangover just a writing oversight? were they scared to make their most lovable character in a rated TV-Y7 cartoon a tad more polarizing?

while uncle iroh does his job well for the story— that is, to act as zuko’s guiding light— i do wish he were knocked off his pedestal a bit more. uncle iroh is, after all, the proto-zuko to ozai’s proto-azula. i wish to see him at least slightly paranoid about people recognizing him from his military days and vice versa. i wish to see him uneasy about being in the earth kingdom (out of guilt? as opposed to zuko’s superiority complex and anger). i wish to see him meet another person who also has visible burn scars, one that has nothing to do with zuko/his family, and still look away in shame or disgust by the implications. et cetera et cetera. anything to indicate he feels something more about himself and other people that isn’t just Wise Old Man.

[ellakomskaikru]

What I don’t get is that Zutara shippers constantly complain about Aang kissing Katara in Ember Island even though it was clearly portrayed as wrong but then turn around and think Zutara is perfectly okay even though Zuko hurt Katara too. Zuko literally chased Katara.

Hello anon.

Aang calling himself an idiot after kissing Katara without her consent is not enough. The writers clearly wanted us to feel more sorry for Aang than Katara, who was kissed without her consent for the second time by a guy who is supposed to be her best friend. The vibe that I and many others got from that scene was that we were supposed to feel more sorry for Aang because Katara wouldn’t return his feelings, instead of feeling sorry for Katara who had her boundaries crossed.

The way that this line: “I’m such an idiot!” came off to me, was the Aang felt like an idiot because him kissing Katara when she didn’t want to be kissed caused her to become angry and therefore pull away even more in the romantic sense, therefore making it even more unlikely that she will reciprocate his feelings in the future. I did not get the sense that Aang truly understood why not just the kiss, but the way he acted before that, was wrong. I instead felt like he was really just upset because he felt like he for sure ruined his chances with Katara.

After Katara was shown to be angry with Aang for kissing her, Aang had a few seconds to say sorry quickly, but instead he just stared at her. There should have been a scene that showed Aang apologizing to Katara for kissing her and also understanding why he is not entitled to her affection. A lot of Aang’s behavior during that episode was alarming. His reaction to the play and then how pushy he was with Katara was not good. Katara even seemed uncomfortable as she was playing with her hair and sometimes had her arms crossed.

And before you pull out the “He is 12,” card, think of what that means if you ship Kat.aang. If Aang is too young to know that boundaries must be respected and that he is not owed a romantic relationship and that the feelings of the other person also matter, then he is too young to be in a romantic relationship at all. You can’t have it both ways.

And as to Zutara. Yes, Zuko hurt Katara when he was her enemy. And Katara was rightfully angry at him for it and held him accountable and only forgave him when she was ready. He earned her forgiveness. There was an actual scene of Katara forgiving Zuko. And I can’t speak for anyone else, but to me, Aang kissing Katara without her consent twice as her friend is worse than what Zuko did to her as her enemy. That is because a friend is supposed to respect your feelings. An enemy is not supposed to be nice.

As to Kat.aang, there was no scene of Katara forgiving Aang for kissing her without her consent. It was just brushed aside and never talked about again, until the finale, where Katara suddenly knew she wanted to be with Aang after he saved the world. Kat.aang was clearly written with the nice guy and the hero gets the girl trope. Katara’s feelings for Aang were made ambiguous until the last minute on purpose so it could be part of the nice guy trope. Katara was portrayed as “shallow” for not noticing Aang romantically at first, and then made to “come around” in the end because he is the hero.

And Zuko was not chasing Katara, he was chasing Aang. Katara just happened to be with Aang. As I have said before, Zuko’s goal was not to hurt Katara. His goal was to capture Aang, and in trying to do that, he did end up hurting her, to which he made up for. If Katara had still been angry at him for that, she would not have forgiven him at all. She clearly saw that Zuko had changed and therefore decided to forgive him.

So yes, my feelings on Kat.aang and Zutara are perfectly valid. Kat.aang makes me very uncomfortable due to nice guy trope as I have explained before, and I do understand how Zutara might not be to everyone’s taste, but liking Zutara doesn’t make someone’s negative perception of Kat.aang invalid. Even if I despised Zutara, I promise you that I would still not like Kat.aang. I disliked Kat.aang way before I ever even thought of shipping Zutara. I hope this gives you a better understanding for why many people like Zutara and dislike Kat.aang.

Thanks for the ask.

[dekusleftsock]

Recently I had someone piss me off about this very topic, so to get it out of my head it’s going here. Hi, welcome to the not well put together metas. Use this evidence how you please, but don’t harass anyone. Arguments are not owed to anyone. You can simply walk away if you don’t want to have it. And put your time into better things! Like this! A creative output! Go on, do ittt!!!! Make the negatives into something positive.

Tw for mentions of suicide.

In one of the very first scenes of this show, we see our wonderful, amazing, insecure, and downright unbearable to some degree, Bakugou Katsuki. He’s arrogant and most people think that this first action he ever does is irredeemable. Because telling someone to take a swan dive off of a roof so that he doesn’t try to get into UA (bc Katsuki knows that Izuku would find a way) is a really fucking shitty action and irredeemable.

This belief is true to a degree. But let’s establish a few points that are given to us. 1, this is out of character for Katsuki. The bullying no, but the extent of his bullying, yes. As pointed out here.

(Sorry for bad quality I wanted to get the official translation so I used my irl copy)

“You went too far today” aka “you went too far compared to what is the norm”. It’s not what he would usually do.

2, lip service. As stated on the can when he says this, it’s a tongue and cheek to Katsuki’s true beliefs. He doesn’t actually want Izuku to kill himself, nor does he believe it is Izuku’s fault. He is well aware of the severity of his actions the moment he makes them. The point of this scene is not to excuse his actions but to explain why he did them.

3, insecurity. The why of this scene. It’s a facade. Not what he truly believes.

But that’s the great part about his development; there is no justification. He just did it and it was bad. That’s honestly why I hate a lot of bullies in media. It’s always that they had a bad family life, or they were forced to, or they were protecting the mc. It’s never that they were a shitty fucking kid who was insecure. Now THATS the most realistic explanation. Part of the reason for why this is so common in media is because of how hard it is to do correctly. Mha does it in a phenomenal way. Katsuki never changes his personality, even when he gets his character development. He’s mellowed out a bit sure, but he’s still him. Katsuki. Bakugou Katsuki. The kid who yells at people when they tease him, the kid that still says “DIE” in every situation in heroics. He even made sure he kept most of his hero name. He didn’t just make it “dynamite”, he made it “lord explosion murder god dynamite”. He’s still himself.

The excuse will never appear. This is actually what a lot of bakugou/bkdk stans get wrong: there will never be an explanation passed what was given. Because it’s not needed to tell the narrative. No matter how many fanfics you write about it, or how many hc’s you add to it. In canon it will always remain this. Bakugou Katsuki did a shitty act, understood what he did was wrong, got passed their mis communications, did everything in his power to make up for it, and apologized for his actions. Standing side by side with Izuku. Your most important actions will always be what you do in the present over what you did in the past.

And my last point, which is just me putting this into perspective, but… you think that toga is more redeemable than him? What? Or Zuko? Hell, even fucking uncle Iroh. Name me a character that YOU think deserved their redemption arc. Was killing people or attempting to kill people better morally than telling someone to kill themself? You seriously BELIEVE THAT???

Face it. The reason why he is so hated for this scene is because of projection. Projecting him as a villain in dekus story. Someone for him to surpass and leave in the dirt. I fully understand WHY it’s so common, but if you’re gonna pick a fight, at least fucking get past the projection bit. He’s relatable, I get that. Fully understand that. Doesn’t make picking fights with people who disagree with you out of nowhere and unprompted any less bad.

(Also sorry for not posting for days, I’m back and there’s more stuff coming soon but for now, this is what you get lol. It’s my page and I can do what I want sibdodnd)

[zoethespiritwolf]

I love her, damn it!

______________________________________

Part 2 (Part 1 here)

Ship: Sokka x f!firebender!reader

Warnings: swearing, injuries, captive abuse, a bit of angst, but it ends well

Genre: angst-to-comfort

Fic type: Scenario

A/n: This is part 2 of the "I love her, damn it!" miniseries. Sorry that it took so long and I apologize to those who have sent in their requests. I've seen them and am already working on them. You can expect them to be completed in about a week.

Other than that, I hope you enjoy and have a nice day!

______________________________

(Y/n) was sure she had lost the perception of time at this point. All the blood loss, torture, and generally not being able to see the sun in the freezing metal cell had made her head fuzzy and not being able to recall what day or time it was.

She didn't know if it was hours, days, maybe weeks, or even months since she had been captured, but it didn't really matter at this point. (Y/n)'s main goal was to survive and possibly get out of the base to safety.

Just then, (Y/n) heard footsteps outside of her cell. Rhythmic, meaning it was probably another Fire Nation soldier that had come to either 'beat the traitor' or deliver scraps of food. The firebender heard the footsteps stop near the door and the rhythmic tapping of the keypad of the side of the cell door.

When the captive heard the high-pitched beep of the keyboard, signaling that the correct combination had been entered, (Y/n) threw her head back and groaned, her bound hand tugging at the metal chains around her wrists immobilizing her.

The metal doors to her cell slid open and a cloud of mist rose from the doorway. The girl sighed and through her nose released a mist cloud similar to the doorway and swung her head back in front of her to see who had decided to come to visit her. (Y/n)'s eyes widened when she had set her gaze on the visitor, before quickly relaxing and raising her brows.

"Princess Azula," (Y/n) addressed her, "To what do I owe the pleasure that you personally come to visit a poor firebender like myself in these circumstances?"

"You and I know very well that you aren't just another poor firebender," the princess smirked in reply, crossing her arms behind her back, "You are far more important than those disposable soldiers in this base."

"I suppose so, your Highness," the captive sighed and furrowed her eyebrows when she felt her energy depleting, "However, I would be far too hopeful to think that you've just come here to talk to your old friend. What do you want?"

"Always to the point, as usual," Azula replied as her smirk widened and she turned to slowly walk around the cold cell, "But you are right. You would be far too hopeful to think I've just come to see you."

"And as to what I want," the princess continued "I want to give you a choice."

(Y/n) raised a brow in question as the corners of her mouth started to tug downwards into a grimace at Azula's speech.

"Swear absolute loyalty to me and join the Fire Nation again as a general," she proposed, "And you will walk out of this cell a free woman. I'll arrange it so that no trace of this incident ever exists, and everyone will forget that you were a traitor to your kind."

"And if I refuse?" (Y/n) asked, her eyes locking onto her former friend's own amber ones.

"You'll stay here before you will be brought out by the firing squad to your execution," Azula replied.

"So you're making me choose between two evils. Execution or you." the captive smirked tiredly as her head swayed from side to side, barely managing to keep it up.

"Precisely," the princess turned on her heel to face the captive.

(Y/n) bowed her head, making some of her stray hairs falling in front of her face as she slowly started to laugh. The girl's laughter became louder with each second and she once again tossed her head back before breathing in deeply to calm herself, a huge grin settling on her face.

"Do you really have to ask for my decision? You already know what it will be, Azula," (Y/n) leaned forward as much as her chain bound hands would let her so that she was face to face with the Fire Nation princess before whispering, "My death will at least be without much suffering."

"So execution it is," Azula growled as her grin disappeared from her face and a frown came instead. The princess looked at the triumphant grin on the captive's face before turning away and swiftly walking to the doors of the cell and walking past the guards at the entrance.

"Have the firing squad ready for her execution," Azula commanded one of the guards.

"Yes, your Highness!" the guard replied and closed the cell doors.

(Y/n) sighed as her grin started to fade away. She knew that she couldn't escape this, but in no way did the girl regret her decision. The former general was aware that Azula would exploit her and break her if she had agreed.

And then her thoughts shifted to her friends. Aang, Katara, Toph, Zuko and...Sokka.....

The memory of the water tribe boy's brilliantly blue eyes flashed in her mind, the hand he had reached out to try to help her into the escaping jeep despite their disdain for one another.

"I'll never see him again," (Y/n) sighed out as her hopes shattered, "they won't be able to come for me."

Just as her thoughts started to become deeper into the pit of memories, the firebender's ears picked up the faint sound of footsteps running and shouting outside of her cell.

"Have I really become insane now?" (Y/n) pondered as she felt faint and black spots started to appear in her vision from how tired she felt, "Am I hearing things now?"

The girl's consciousness started to flicker as she supposedly heard footsteps coming closer down the corridor. And for a brief second, (Y/n) thought she could hear Sokka shouting her name and the sliding metal door being busted open with force.

And there they were. Those same sea blue eyes she had gazed into before she had been shot at. And now those blue eyes were the last thing the firebender saw before she had blacked out.

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

Sokka felt his heart stop the moment he saw (Y/n) passing out just as they had made it inside her cell. His widened eyes then zeroed on the countless bruises on the girl's body, all of them varying in different sizes, and Sokka felt his blood starting to boil.

"Toph, release her from the chains!" Zuko commanded the blind girl, making the water tribe boy snap out of his thoughts.

"On it!" the girl replied and used her metal bending to crumple the chains around the captive's wrists.

Just as (Y/n) started to fall to the floor, Sokka leaped forward and caught the passed out girl in his arms. Immediately the fingers of his right hand flew up to the left side of the girl's neck, right above an artery, and upon finding the steady beating of her heart sighed in relief.

"Sokka!" Zuko called out to his friend, "We have to go! Now!"

The Fire Nation prince had come closer to the pair and was about to grab (Y/n) out of Sokka's arms to carry, but the younger boy clutched her body closer to his.

"We don't have time for this!" the firebender insisted and reached out for the girl, "Give her to me so that we can get out!"

"No!" Sokka replied stubbornly, "I can handle this myself."

"For fuck's sake, why are you being stubborn about this!" Zuko questioned angrily, "If you give her to me, I can carry her out faster-"

"Because I love her, damn it!" Sokka yelled back at the firebender and hoisted (Y/n)'s limp body up in his arms.

Zuko's eyes widened at his friend's outburst before his brows furrowed in concentration and after a pause spoke.

"Alright," Zuko said calmly, "Get her to the Rendez-vous point. I'll cover for you. Toph, go in front of them and scour out any enemies in front of us!"

"I can feel none so far," the blind girl replied as she started running in front of the group, Sokka following shortly behind with (Y/n) in his arms.

"Hold on, (Y/n)," Sokka thought to himself as the group made it out of the building.

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

A soft surface under her. That's the first thing (Y/n) noticed when she started to regain consciousness. The second thing the girl felt was a calloused hand clutching her own. A finger slowly and gently ghosted over the hand and she felt the hand tighten.

(Y/n) turned her head to the side where the hand was coming from and started to slowly blink her eyes open, squinting a bit when the hospital room's bright light burned her eyes. But nonetheless, the firebender noticed the dark skin of the hand holding her's and looked up.

The girl felt warmth spread through her chest when she realized that Sokka had come to visit her and fell asleep. (Y/n) slowly wiggled her hand out of his grasp and gently traced his face with the back of her hand, making the boy groan in his sleep and the hand clutching her's previously grabbing her wrist.

"Mmmm, what?" the water tribe boy blinked as he took in his surroundings and with sleep clouded eyes looked at (Y/n), still clutching her wrist gently.

After a brief pause, his eyes widened and a large grin appeared on his face when he had regained enough consciousness.

"You're awake!" Sokka exclaimed happily and dived in the bed to hug the girl, "Holy shit, you're awake!"

"Slow down, water boy!" (Y/n) wheezed out as she slightly pushed at Sokka's chest, "You're suffocating me!"

"Sorry!" the boy quickly apologized before looking the firebender over to see if he had hurt her accidentally.

"It's fine, I'm fine," the girl laughed and Sokka's cheeks gained a reddish tint to them.

After a brief pause, the boy shook his head, the warmth from his face disappearing before his brows furrowed and he stared angrily at the girl in front of him.

"Why the hell would you think it was a good idea to try to stop the Fire Nation soldiers on your own!" Sokka scolded the firebender, "It was absolutely reckless and stupid, and-"

"Well, what else was I supposed to do?" (Y/n) angrily replied, "Allow them to capture us all? "

"You were supposed to stay safe!" the water tribe boy pressed.

"Since when was saving the world from the Fire Nation ever safe?" the firebender questioned.

"What I meant was that you were supposed to not get hurt," Sokka explained himself, "You placed yourself in unnecessary danger and you got hurt because of it."

"Since when do you care that I get hurt?" (Y/n) tsked.

"Since I found out that I love you," the words slipped out of Sokka's mouth and the girl's eyes widened in shock.

"You.. love me?" She cautiously questioned.

"Yeah, I do," he sighed, bowing his head and waiting for rejection, "Look I know you don't feel the same way, but I wanted you to know so th-"

Sokka never managed to complete his sentence as (Y/n)'s lips locked on to her former rival's. The boy tensed before slowly relaxing and leaning into the kiss. The girl's lips started to pull back, but the water tribe boy dived back in for another kiss.

No way was he gonna let her go now.

[bluewithpurplepolkadots]

People tend to be….very selective with who they get mad at when it comes to ‘owed apologies’. Like Zuko didn’t ever fully apologise to Aang for being deeply racist in Southern Raiders either. In fact he never does in the show. But you don’t see a tenth of the out rage for that compared to what Katara gets in the fandom for what she says to Sokka in the same episode. A part it is maybe because Aang lets it roll off him and doesn’t draw attention to it. It’s possible: but it’s also probably because of the characters involved themselves and who is in the wrong.

Basically it’s a simple fact that in the fandom Zuko and Sokka get a pass on almost everything possible. Characters like Aang, Katara and heck even Mai… very often do not get an inch or get blown out of all proportion.

Apologies every single time, like at the end of a stilted and badly acted live action comedy Disney show of the same era when Atla came out, would have probably felt weird in a lot of cases in this show though. Some apologies are certainly fine and should happen on occasion. But it would get a bit much if it happened all the time in every single instance of wrong doing. It’s just not necessary sometimes.

There are other ways of showing when someone is wrong. Katara was wrong to say that and the camera pans to showing Sokka’s hurt face and voice. Aang immediate realised and voiced he was an idiot when he kissed a confused Katara in EIP and shows what he did was in fact wrong. Ozai basically mocks Aang’s people and their destruction, showing where Zuko got that attitude from and Aang took his ass out directly afterwards. Sokka was wrong about Katara and the sexism he pushed because Katara clearly shows how amazing she is in the entirety of the show itself. She fights against Pakku for what she wants. Heck Pakku technically doesn’t apologise either! He just admits she’s an excellent bender and eventually he does agree to teach her, even if that conversation was probably off screen.

Katara getting angry and Sokka’s bigotry is what kick starts the show itself. It shows his thinking is NOT acceptable.

A kids show being what it is, it does has a responsibility to show when some types of thinking are wrong. But it usually does it! Just because there isn’t a direct apology or a ‘today I learned’ segment while facing the audience doesn’t mean that it’s endorsing something. That’s more for show of a far far younger subset than even Atla

Sokka and Zuko fans are just ultimately kind of the worst sadly. It’s when this type of thing gets more annoying. Because of the hypocrisy they have.

Does it bother you? In the episode "Southern Raiders"

Before Katara and Zuko leave to hunt the man, who murdered Katara and Sokka's mother Kya. Sokka and Aang, attempt to talk out Katara, of hunting the man down, Sokka reminds her that Kya was his mother too. Only for Katara to angrily tell him "Then you didn't love her the way I did!"

It bothers me that in the aftermath, Katara never apologized or talk about it with Sokka😔

I’m not saying that it was right of katara to say that to sokka - because it wasn’t. but you have to understand that katara was under an insurmountable amount of grief and pain during the southern raiders. the trauma of reliving her mother’s death, the pain that comes with survivor’s guilt, the obsession of finding the man who took everything away from her and inflicting harm in exchange for catharsism - all of those are valid feelings that katara had been experiencing in those moments, that resulted in her responding the way that she did.

I do think we should’ve gotten the aftermath between katara and sokka - if anyone should’ve been present in those moments, it should’ve been sokka instead of aang or zuko. i think what happens in the southern raiders is self-explanatory; i don’t think katara needs to provide an apology over words said at one of her lowest points, but i do think they should’ve had a heart-to-heart conversation.

[innocentimouto]

Liking Misunderstood Characters

It’s weird liking misunderstood characters. On one hand, we’re so excited to find people that also like this character, but then we have to deal with people liking characters for the wrong reasons.

No, I don’t want Gray with Juvia, not because I dislike her alone, but because it’s toxic. I don’t want people hating him for choosing to not be with her if he doesn’t want to. I want to hear about how great of a friend he is, how willing he is to sacrifice everything for the people he loves, how he has relationships with so many different characters.

No, I'm not happy with people reducing Dick to only his body and being overly emotional. He is a seasoned, intelligent hero with very clear goals and a leader in his own right. I want his talents and accomplishments to be recognized as his own instead of constantly taking things away from him and giving it to others to raise them up in status.

No, I don’t want Loki to have redemption. I want his family to apologize and own up to how they neglected and emotionally abused him for centuries. I want it to be established as fact that Loki was in no way a villain in the first movie because he did what they were taught to believe growing up and what Thor just tried doing which was why he was banished in the first place. That his mother isn’t blameless at all and that Thor’s treatment to him in the first movie was messed up. And also that Ragnarok was horrible and shouldn’t be used as a baseline for any character

I want Loki to be seen as intelligent and powerful as he’s meant to be. I want him to stand on his own and be able to exist without Thor there. I want him to get stuff done and find it in himself to believe he isn’t a monster and I want him to not be guilty over things that weren’t all his fault.

No, I don’t want Jet to be demonized for trying to expose Zuko and Iroh. I don’t want him to be written as emotionally abusive when he used Katara for a reason. He didn’t do it to hurt her. He did it to save his own people. And I want people to see that he does morally gray things and knows it but accepts it because no one else will protect the ones he cares about. I want him to be seen as an incredibly talented fighter and someone who cares too much about others.

No, I don’t want fics where Sasuke learns why Itachi killed the clan and then immediately sides with him. He wouldn’t. There were other options. It doesn’t excuse the many other ways Itachi harmed him. It doesn’t excuse that Itachi didn’t try another way. It doesn’t erase that Itachi hated his own clan and loved the village and the village hailed him a hero, not for killing the clan, but for obeying the village. Sasuke should not forgive Konoha. Sasuke doesn’t owe them anything. 

Also Team 7 isn’t healthy. Team 7 is toxic in every way, so please stop comparing Yuuji, Nobora, and Megumi to them. One actually cares about each other, and the other only cares about their selfish needs to be fullfilled. Sakura was willing to turn her back on the whole village to be with Sasuke, including Naruto by the way, so I don’t know where people get the idea that Sasuke was the bad friend. And Naruto never tried helping Sasuke, never tried understanding him. He just wanted him back at all costs, even when Sasuke cut them off. Sasuke didn’t owe them anything after that.

[ap-kinda-lit]

Okay so I was kinda vague about some aspects of my rewrite for the ATLA finale and epilogue bc I was thinking of doing a fic and didn’t wanna give too much away. But I’m impatient and have no self control so here's this. - Zuko and Mai do talk before the coronation, but Mai tells Zuko she doesn’t want to get back together. She realized in her time in prison that she does care for Zuko, but not as a girlfriend would. They’ve changed a lot and they’re not the same people and neither are their feelings. Zuko isn’t upset by this, in fact he’s kind of relieved. They do agree that even though they don’t feel that way anymore they still want to be friends, which they’re happy about. - Zuko and Katara talk after the coronation as Katara checks up on Zuko’s chest scar. He tells her about his talk with Mai. Inspired by his Katara confides in him that she knows Aang has feelings for her but she doesn’t like him in that way and she feels torn because she doesn’t want to force herself into a relationship with him that could go terribly but she doesn’t want to break his heart either. Zuko tells Katara she’s doing nothing wrong for not loving Aang romantically and she doesn’t owe anyone anything because of that. He just wants her to be happy and if Aang did truly love her he would want that for her too. - Katara listens to Zuko’s advice but can’t bring herself to flat out tell Aang she doesn’t love him. She sends hints but has a hard time saying it. But Aang’s persistence begins to irk her until at one point she thinks he’s going to kiss her without consent again and she goes off on him. This strains things between them of course. Aang starts to think the problem is with him and Katara feels bad but she also feels relieved and stands by what she said. - Zuko knows Katara will be leaving soon and dreads it but doesn’t want to stop her from going home if that’s what she wants. Katara feels on the fence about returning home. She misses it, but she doesn’t want to leave the Fire Nation (Zuko, actually) either. Zuko finds out there’s no Southern Water Tribe ambassador thanks to Ozai cancelling that job in his reign. So he offers her the job. It’s perfect since it means she can come and go between the Fire Nation and Water Tribe whenever she wants for however long she wants. Katara of course takes it. - Right off the bat, from his coronation, people are not happy about Zuko being Fire Lord. The first assassination attempt happens a week after he’s crowned. - Despite the assassination attempts, Zuko wants to take care of something: find his mom. When he learns where she is, he asks Katara to join him. She goes with him of course. - Five months into his reign and after finding his mom, there’s another attempt on Zuko’s life. This time, there’s a bomb planted on the palace grounds. Zuko notices it though and shields Katara from it as it goes off. He’s only minority wounded but it shakes Katara up. When she finishes healing him (and giving him a scolding), she kisses him. She stops but Zuko kisses her. They admit they can’t imagine losing each other because they love each other. With that, their relationship begins. - They keep it secret for a while because of the assassination attempts and still precarious political atmosphere. When several of major conspirators against Zuko are captured and charged, then they go public. - Aang is broken up by this. The training session, the outburst, and the epiphany and pilgrimage happen. He writes to everyone during his travels, but keeps his distance. He wants to become a better friend before he can interact with them. - Zuko proposes to Katara after her 16th birthday. He takes her to the Crystal Catacombs as a ‘gift’ for her birthday. There, he proposes. Katara’s response: “Of course I will, you idiot.” - Aang returns for that birthday. He’s improved and again apologizes for how he left things with Zuko and Katara. He slowly but surely makes up for everything and starts over with his friends. He even helps Zuko with proposing to Katara. Both Zuko and Katara are glad to have Aang back and are

proud of how much he’s grown, but are also happy that despite how much he’s changed he’s still the goofy kid they met and befriended at heart. - Zuko and Katara wait until she’s 18 to finally marry, as it��s law in the Fire Nation. They marry in the Fire Nation and have their honeymoon in the South Pole. - When Katara finds out she's pregnant with their first child, Zuko comes up with the perfect gift for them. He knows Katara wants their child to grow up in touch with both their heritages and she misses home sometimes, so Zuko commissions for a vacation home to be built on the outskirts of the Southern Water Tribe for them. It's regal but pays homage to the traditional Water Tribe architecture and family homes. Katara is given free reign in decorating it. - Sokka and Suki marry and stay in the South Pole when Sokka becomes chief. They have a big bunch of kids, most of which are girls. Sokka is a proud Girl Dad from day one. - Toph and Aang get together and have a shotgun wedding. She's not pregnant, they're just young and in love and don't feel the need for a big wedding. They elope in the newly founded Republic City with the Gaang present as witnesses.

[headaching]

more titanic au?? 👀

Azula scrutinized Sokka with squinted eyes causing uneasiness flashed across his face. “For the record,” she jeered, “next time you want to stage an accidental falling, maybe keep your boots and jacket on.”

Sokka shot a panicked look at Zuko, who only shook his head. Sokka sputtered, “We…We were…”

“You don’t have to answer to her,” Zuko told Sokka apologetically.

“I don’t really care,” Azula snapped. “In fact, I think it’s sweet you made a friend.” Zuko crossed his arms over his chest. He didn’t dare look at Sokka. “I’m just saying, you might want to get your story straight.” She winked at Zuko before turning on her heel. Zuko’s blush was furious and so quick it sickened him. For that, he was thankful Sokka stood behind him. “Are you coming?”

“Leave without me,” Zuko growled, and she cocked her head in his direction.

“What if you get lost on the way there, and there isn’t a third-class passenger to guide you back?” Azula’s voice was both sharp and cold, cutting and dull.

Zuko conjured his most menacing tone and said, “Azula, stop talking. Leave. Now.” Slowly, Azula’s head straightened, and she walked away without a word. Zuko watched her go, slightly impressed with himself.

When Zuko turned back to face Sokka, he was lacing up his boots. “I’m sorry about her,” Zuko apologized, and Sokka looked up from his shoes to grin at him.

“Don’t worry about it,” Sokka said as he finished tying his laces. On went his jacket, and he turned toward the water while he adjusted it. His gaze remained on the ocean as he leaned his elbows against the railing. “I’d like to see you tomorrow,” Sokka announced, not a demand, but a wish. Zuko approached Sokka, though he maintained a good distance from the ledge.

“You will, at dinner,” Zuko replied, and noticed his own rapid blinking. Sokka shot him a playful look over his shoulder, then turned around and occupied the remaining space between them.

He stood an inch or two taller than Zuko, and his head bowed forward. Though Zuko’s head tilted upward, he was only brave enough to stare at Sokka’s lips, which were full and soft-looking and slightly parted.

“I meant besides dinner.” This was the closest they’d been face to face without the impending threat of treacherous death, and the air seemed harder to take in because of it. “It’s okay if you don’t want to,” Sokka added, and Zuko noted a hint of nervousness in his voice.

“No,” Zuko croaked, “I do.”

Sokka smiled. “Okay. Meet me here tomorrow, say, two o’clock?”

“Sure.”

“It’s a date.” Sokka’s voice was quiet, but it rang through Zuko’s ears and spiked his blood, churning it hot through his veins.

As Sokka turned to leave, Zuko found himself saying, “Sokka, wait,” with an outstretched hand. It suspended in the air with his index finger pointed at Sokka’s chest. Sokka’s eyes darted from Zuko’s hand to his eyes inquisitively. Zuko straightened his fingers to offer Sokka a handshake.

“Thank you for saving my life,” Zuko said formally with a stiff nod. Sokka laughed, and a few strands of hair fell around his temples. For an isolating moment, Zuko felt like an idiot, until Sokka’s hand closed around his. They shook hands with a firm grip, and it seemed to last longer than a usual handshake.

“Thank you for not jumping,” Sokka murmured, and stilled their hands, but didn’t pull away. The fingers on Sokka’s opposite hand caressed Zuko’s wrist, and Zuko tried to remember if he’d ever been touched so gently.

Eventually, Sokka stepped back, and their hold was broken. He slipped his hands into his pockets and eyed Zuko, then exhaled through his nose in a quick laugh.

“Is something funny?” Zuko asked reflexively, then cleared his throat at the sound of his raspy voice.

“Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“Do you always have to know all the answers?” Sokka teased, and Zuko crossed his arms. Sokka had no idea how few answers Zuko actually received, or how long ago he gave up the pursuit of seeking them.

Zuko couldn’t manage a response. He realized he was shivering; he must have left his coat on his chair at dinner. Sokka noticed, too, and questioned, “Are you cold?” He didn’t wait for Zuko to answer before taking his jacket off.

“No, I don’t need—” Zuko began to protest through chattering teeth, but was interrupted by Sokka draping his jacket across his trembling shoulders.

“You’re shaking,” Sokka dismissed quietly, practically affectionate. He pulled the opening of the jacket closer together in an attempt to insulate Zuko, then placed both hands over his crossed arms when they were exposed to the cold air despite the effort.

As Zuko watched carefully, Sokka unfolded his arms and brought Zuko’s clenched fists to his mouth. Sokka exhaled a heated breath onto Zuko’s hands, while his own drifted down to cup Zuko’s elbows. Their eyes met, honey and pale blue, and neither averted their gaze.

Zuko imagined breaking one hand free to caress Sokka’s cheek, and when Sokka’s lower lip just barely brushed against his finger, the fantasy morphed into one where they were kissing.

Zuko’s heart raced at the possibility of gliding his fingers along Sokka’s toned bare arms, the nape of his neck, the sharp angle of his jaw. Maybe Sokka’s hands would hold Zuko’s waist, draw him in, entice him to step closer. Sokka’s jacket might plummet to the deck floor if their hands were frantic, or stay perfectly in place if the embrace was slow and peaceful.

Though Zuko had little romantic experience, the image of kissing Sokka was easy, dangerously so, and the possibilities were endless.

“Zuko?” brought him back to reality, where Sokka’s hands had shifted. Sokka seemed to be holding him in place with a firm grip and one foot braced forward. Zuko blinked and noticed his fingers had fallen from their clenched position to grip Sokka’s forearms. He considered pulling away, but stayed still.

“I’m sorry. W-What happened?” Zuko’s face was smoldering, and he desperately wished to conceal it.

“You checked out for a second, then seemed like you were gonna fall,” Sokka explained, and though he sounded concerned, Zuko detected a smirk on his face.

“Oh,” Zuko mumbled, and looked away pointedly.

“Seriously, are you okay?” Sokka asked, the happy traces in his face replaced with worry. Zuko sighed, inwardly cursing his inability to play anything cool. “I mean, you just had a near death experience. Of course you’re not okay.”

“That wasn't my first near death experience,” Zuko replied before thinking better of it. His throat constricted when Sokka’s eyes flickered to his scar, but he found solace in the gentle squeeze Sokka gave his arms. Sokka looked down and nodded slowly. “I’m just clumsy, like Azula said,” Zuko added, gratefully getting him to crack a smile.

“I’d hesitate to take anything she says to heart,” Sokka laughed, and Zuko breathed a silent sigh of relief. Sokka stared at him for a moment with a twinkle of amusement still in his eyes, then said, “Maybe I should walk you back, though. You seem out of it.”

“You have no frame of reference,” Zuko retorted, and though his voice was agitated, Sokka took a small step forward, somehow still possible with their close proximity.

“Not yet.” His reply was an easy, clear indication that he intended to find out. Zuko focused on the dreaded task of evening his breath, but his mind inevitably wandered to their hold on one another and how it still had not ended.

“Not yet, but not tonight,” Zuko said eventually, as gently as he could. “My father will be expecting me soon.” Sokka nodded, and glanced at their arms pointedly, then back into Zuko’s eyes with raised eyebrows. “I can walk myself,” Zuko scoffed with an eye roll. He took the opportunity to remove Sokka’s jacket, but a firm hand halted his own.

“Keep it,” he insisted, and Zuko shook his head.

“I don’t need your jacket,” Zuko responded stubbornly, but drew the garment closer together in an attempt to disguise his shivering.

Sokka’s eyes glanced down, and somehow, the grin that spread across his face left Zuko wishing he could disappear and never leave Sokka’s sight all at once. “You contradict yourself a lot,” Sokka noted. Zuko decided disappearing would be better.

“And you’re infuriating,” Zuko muttered, his eyes on the deck.

“Is that any way to thank a kind stranger for his hospitality?” Sokka teased, and Zuko brushed past him with a hard jab of his elbow.

“Thanks,” Zuko said sarcastically.

He grinned to himself when Sokka yelped, “Ow!” followed by an airy laugh. When Zuko reached the gate, he glanced over his shoulder past the fabric of Sokka’s jacket to give him a smug smile. Sokka’s laugh faded into a closed-mouth dreamy grin complete with squinted, glistening eyes, and for that Zuko’s nerve was almost wasted.

“You’re not a stranger anymore,” Zuko said quietly, unfamiliar with the flirtatiousness of his voice. Sokka’s face fell, but with a focus that made Zuko wish he could read his mind. “Goodnight, Sokka,” he mumbled and turned away before Sokka could notice any further blushing.

“Goodnight, Zuko,” Sokka called after him. “See you tomorrow.” It was much quieter, and so light Zuko wondered if the wind had tricked him. Before leaving the gate, Zuko stole one more look to find Sokka splayed across a bench with his hands padding the back of his head. He looked up at the stars with a peaceful grin.

After watching Sokka longer than Zuko would have cared to admit, he finally left the deck. As he entered the interior of the ship, the warmth of whirlwind excitement began to fade. The farther he got from Sokka, the more he wanted to turn around, occupy the space next to him on the bench, and outstretch luxuriously with his palms resting under his head. How simple it would have been, to watch the stars.

To be free.

send me the title of a wip for an excerpt!

[hella1975]

This is probably incoherent so feel free to ignore but I can’t stop thinking about the running taob theme of forgiveness and apologizing. Like Zuko internalizes so much. Even in canon he has difficulty accepting forgiveness for his actions. He spends so much of his time apologizing and trying so hard. Apologizing for existing is kind of a baseline for taob Zuko but I love how the people around him are apologizing to him. Like Tomkin and Nan and Chena and Tulok and everyone else who has said “not everything is your fault. We’re all human. I’m sorry too.” So now u have Zi Se. A child who Zuko has protected within an inch of his life who Zuko feels so much responsibility for and worries every day that he didn’t do enough that he couldn’t keep him safe that there’s something wrong with him bc he didn’t do everything all the time. And hakoda asks Zi Se to apologize to Zuko?? idk I have a very difficult time accepting apologies so I’m probably projecting at this point. But accepting an apology is hard. Feeling deserving of forgiveness and feeling deserving of an apology are different beasts but both are difficult to overcome.

i absolutely love love love this ask okay *cracks knuckles* (help im putting it under the cut bc this inevitably got longer than it needed to)

So one of the big themes in taob is that of unconditionality. We see it in how the people who were supposed to love Zuko unconditionally - Ozai, Azula, even Ursa and Iroh to an extent - warped his perception of unconditional love because of their shortcomings in it, and we see it in how the people who owe Zuko nothing, who more accurately owe him hatred, provide this love that Zuko didn't get from his real family. And that's obviously an oversimplification of that theme because it's one that has been threaded through taob since the start, but it manifests itself in a lot of different narrative motifs. The repetition of Zuko's relationship with promises, for example, and even Zi Se's character as a whole was created with this theme as a big motivator for his place in the story, and then we have Zuko's relationship with apologies/forgiveness.

The main focus of these in taob is forgiveness. How does the Water Tribe forgive Zuko for who he is? And then how does Zuko forgive himself for what he has done? You can practically sum up book 1 and 2 that way. Apologies come hand in hand with that journey of forgiveness, and their relevance to unconditionality is that the swt crew give them over so easily. In chapter 4, completely unprompted, Tomkin apologises to Zuko for stealing his swords, and Zuko is rendered speechless by it because an apology insinuates that someone cares what you think of them, enough that a deviation from how they want you to view them makes them sorry, and Tomkin shouldn't have felt that for Zuko. 'What did a tribesman care if Zuko was mad at him?' It's his first indication that these people do things very, very differently. They're human. They make mistakes. They do not vilify each other for them. Zuko has been raised to believe that the Fire Prince - the identity he spends book 1 growing from - has to be this perfect, indomitable being, and that means he can't care what others think of him, but with that, he is also undeserving of their care to begin with. He's unlovable before he's even started, irredeemable before he even gets the chance to misstep, simply for who he is. 'Apologies were for servants and honourless princes' and he has never thought to even consider anything else; it's a fact of life. A fact of life that these people are disproving.

And they continue to disprove it. For chapters and chapters, weeks and weeks, apologies are given freely. Tomkin apologises all the time because he is constantly blundering through sensitive ground, and Hakoda apologises despite being the chief. Even Chena apologises to Zuko, because no matter how justified his anger, it also wasn't okay for him to blindly lash out at a scared teenage boy when Hakoda had decided Zuko was no longer to be treated as harshly. Chena, the picture of toughness, who is to Zuko everything the enemy has been made out to be, apologises. And it does not make him weaker. A little awkward maybe, just because of the principle of the thing, but he continues being the tough one of the group, goes on to be the first up the mainmast, doesn't start being honourless for it.

This is so important to Zuko, because while knowing exactly how he views apologies, we also see him simultaneously being someone who apologises a lot. It's like he's saying 'look, i am honourless, i am shameful' because he has explicitly told the reader that he thinks apologies are a sign of weakness, and then goes on to say sorry whenever he's scared or cornered or unsure. It's a direct indicator of how much he hates himself. He is sorry for the things he does as soon as he does them, he is sorry for the things he says as soon as he says them, he is sorry for the space he takes up. So to be told that this isn't something that makes him weak is one of the few ways the crew are just so unconditionally there for Zuko, even when they don't realise it. They help him heal in even the smallest things.

So by the time he leaves them, apologies are no longer a sign of weakness. They are a sign of love, of dedication, and when Zuko stands on the hills of Gaoling, the last thing he says is sorry.

And then Fong happens, and Zuko stops being sorry. He is a monster and a broken thing and he is not sorry, he just is. At least, that's what he convinces himself of, what he tries to convince the reader of, but he apologises to Zi Se, and he feels no shame around it, and then he apologises to Azula. Azula, who thinks exactly as he did that apologies are honourless, weak things. He apologises for not being the big brother she needed, an apology he was never in a position to give before. It's proof that the water tribe's unconditionality is still with him, despite everything. It's proof that he will heal, that he will get better and that he is still capable of caring, of loving.

And when he returns to the water tribe, this continues. Zuko apologises to Katara, to Aang, and more than anyone, to Zi Se. He knows what apologies mean, and having rescinded his earlier apathy, he has chosen to be the person that apologises, not the person who thinks they are weak. 'He wouldn’t let apologies become rare. He would do things differently. He was going to be better than what he knew.' It's this whole thing showing where Zuko is at with his self-hatred/healing and it's something that has changed so drastically with him since chapter 1, and it also seems quite conclusive. Zuko has learnt that apologies mean you care. Zuko has learnt how to say sorry. Zuko has learnt that that isn't a bad thing. The end.

But then people start saying sorry to Zuko again, and this is why i love your ask so much, because you mentioned Zi Se apologising to Zuko. It's a complete flip of their dynamic, and it's a reminder that unconditionality, by definition, must go both ways. Zuko gets so caught up in his own head and his own demons, so overwhelmed by how much he is willing to sacrifice for Zi Se and the tribesmen because he cares about them so much, that he has completely forgotten that they care about him just as much. Zi Se thinks the world of him, and the crew will protect him with all they have, and with that, Zuko is forgivable, is honourable, is lovable. Hakoda asking Zi Se to apologise is like him going 'you are worthy of the space you take up, and you do not deserve the mistreatment you have suffered.'

It's no coincidence that the chapter ends with Zuko finally acknowledging that yes he loves these people,

but they love him back.

[thinkingisadangerouspastime]

Love of My Life

It was then Katara’s turn to stare up at the fiery sky, the multitude of clouds glowing in red and orange glory. “Aang,” she murmured, his name falling from her lips like a prayer. “Please.”

After the final battle, Katara and Aang reunite.

(Written for Day 3 of Kataang Week 2021: Missing Scenes/Post-Canon, hosted by @kataang-week. Read here on AO3, or continue reading below.)

Azula was taken away at some point, maybe by the Fire Sages, but her bloodcurdling screams and broken sobs were hardly a pinprick at the back of Katara’s mind as she kept her attention trained to the lightning wound blasted across Zuko’s solar plexus. Her hands glowed with the water she was continuously pulling from the now-burst piping system in the courtyard around them. She had no enhanced spirit water as with Aang, but fortunately Zuko’s injury was less severe and—thanks to her quick defeat of Azula—no longer life-threatening.

Zuko winced, and guilt flashed through Katara’s stomach for silently dismissing his pain. “Sorry.” She moved the water further upward on his chest, over a spot where the skin was more blistered. “Better?”

A low hiss escaped Zuko’s lips as the cool liquid skimmed the wound, and he managed a weak nod. “Thanks.” His voice was raspier than usual. To be expected. “For this, and for… and for stopping Azula.”

The urge to laugh rose in Katara’s throat, which she immediately suppressed because Tui and La, what was wrong with her? How was now an appropriate time for laughter? “Well, you’re welcome,” she said instead, giving him a weary smile, “but next time, how about you don’t taunt her about the lack of lightning, hmm?”

Zuko grimaced, and Katara knew that particular reaction had nothing to do with the wound across his chest. “Let’s just hope there will never be a next time.”

Katara couldn’t argue with that.

The following minutes were quiet as Katara slowly moved the water up, down, and around Zuko’s injury, her hands themselves hovering less than an inch above his chest. While she knew it was only a figment of her imagination, Katara could’ve sworn there was still blue lightning—Azula’s lightning—flickering across the wound, sparking at her fingertips and prickling across her skin.

Maybe, then, it was this lingering remnant of the Avatar’s slayer that had Katara so on edge. Maybe that was the reason why tension still thrummed through her body despite that she and Zuko were safe now, despite that they’d won.

“He’s going to come back.”

Zuko’s words broke the heavy silence, startling Katara so badly her concentration flew out the figurative window. The water around her hands lost its glow and splattered across Zuko’s chest like she’d emptied a full bucket on top of him. Frantic apologies spilled from her lips as she bent the water off his upper body with similar haste, but Zuko—wincing—pushed himself into a sitting position before she could begin the healing process again.

“Zuko, what are you—”

“Aang is going to come back,” he repeated, staring at Katara with an intensity that probably shouldn’t have been possible for someone in his grievously injured state. A testament to her healing skills, truly, and also to Zuko’s general stubbornness.

“I know he will,” Katara said after a pause, bending the water she’d again collected around her hands into the leather waterskin that hung at her hip. “If memory serves, I was the one telling you that on our way here.”

Zuko chuckled. “I know. Sorry. You just seemed like…” His eyes flickered across her face, searching for vulnerability Katara refused to bare. “Like you needed the reminder.”

Katara sighed, not meeting his gaze. “Look. I know Aang will come back. I know he’ll win.” Spirits, maybe he had won already. “I mean, he’s the only one who can. But I guess I’m still—” Katara cut herself off with another sigh, blinking back exhausted tears. “Fine, you’re right. I guess I’m still worried.”

Aang would return victorious, yes, there was no doubt in her mind. But at what cost? What price would he have been forced to pay? Sacrificing his body through the loss of a limb? Sacrificing his soul through the loss of that which his people valued above all else? Katara knew, she knew that if anyone could stop Ozai without killing him, it was Aang. But what she didn’t know was—was how.

Spirits, Katara wouldn’t be able to handle it if Aang returned to her broken in a way she couldn’t heal. She’d already witnessed him die once, watched his body go limp as life left it. She wasn’t ready to watch his spirit disappear, wasn’t ready to watch hope leave his heart, too.

Zuko opened his mouth, presumably to offer more words of comfort to her, but he was interrupted by Appa’s body stiffening—the sky bison was so large it was impossible not to notice the reaction. He’d originally been standing guard, for all intents and purposes, while Katara healed Zuko, but now his eyes were glued to the sky as he released a bellow that shook the stone of the courtyard beneath them.

Katara grabbed Zuko’s arm to keep him from toppling over, but instead of resettling himself, Zuko tried to stand up, as if the giant wound on his chest was nothing more than a mere papercut.

“It’s Aang!” was the only explanation he gave as Katara relented with a huff and helped him to his feet. “It has to be. What else would get Appa acting like this?”

Privately, Katara agreed with him. Hope beat in her heart so rapidly it ached. But since Zuko had wildly, unexpectedly, completely out of the blue transformed into an optimist—seriously, had the lightning gone through his brain?—well, that meant she had to be the one to temper his optimism with a little realism.

“It could be a threat,” she responded honestly, not releasing Zuko’s arm until she was certain he’d gathered his balance.

Zuko shot her a doubtful look. “You sure?” He pointed at Appa, whose tail had started shaking—okay, yes, probably with excitement, Katara would admit that much.

It was then her turn to stare up at the fiery sky, the multitude of clouds glowing in red and orange glory. “Aang,” she murmured, his name falling from her lips like a prayer. “Please.”

Seconds later, those otherworldly clouds split open to reveal a Fire Nation airship, and on the exterior Katara could see flashes of blue and green fabric—Sokka and Toph, it had to be. Spirits knew she probably should have been concerned about who was steering the balloon, but once it was clear the ship was heading steadily towards the ground and wouldn’t face a disastrous crash, Katara’s mind returned to its previous mantra.

Aang. Aang. Aang.

“Remember to breathe, Katara.”

Katara shot Zuko a mild glare at his wry tone, but exhaled, because he was right—she’d been holding her breath. In fact, she was still holding far more tension in her body than could be considered healthy, but Katara knew that overwhelming stiffness wasn’t going to ease until she saw her friends alive and well, until she felt Aang’s heartbeat in sync against her own.

Katara’s breath hitched as the airship came to a stop far from herself and Zuko, hovering above the stone ground of the courtyard. It was much larger up close—no wonder it couldn’t land properly. There was a deep rattle as a metal plank, of sorts, some kind of steel pathway lowered from the ship and scraped across the ground with an earsplitting screech. Onto it stepped—

“They’re alive!” Katara gasped, blinking back elated tears as Sokka, Aang, Toph, and Suki—and Momo atop Suki’s left shoulder—stepped out onto the platform. One of Sokka’s legs was in a splint and he had to lean onto Suki’s side for support as he hobbled along, but— “They’re all alive!”

Aang was alive.

They’d done it. A little bruised, a little broken, maybe all around worse for wear, but—

They’d done it.

“Come on,” Zuko urged, taking an unsteady step forward and immediately wincing. He didn’t let the pain stop him, though, powering another foot ahead. “Let’s meet them halfway.”

Katara rolled her eyes, ducking under Zuko’s arm to brace him against her side, careful to avoid his injury. “Idiot.” Standing on his own was one thing, but walking by himself was an entirely different matter. She could already tell Zuko was the kind of person who made a terrible patient.

But Katara walked with him all the same, slow and steady. As they got closer, she could better see the physical state her friends were in. Toph had only a few scrapes across her arms and face. Same for Suki. Sokka had clearly done a number on his leg, as he was hardly putting any weight on it despite the well-made split, and not to mention that Suki continued to brace him while he walked. Aang was—

“Appa!”

Well, Aang was getting smothered by Appa, Katara noted with silent amusement as the sky bison practically tackled Aang to the ground, nuzzling and licking him with unabashed eagerness.

“Buddy, I’m okay!” Aang managed to wheeze out amidst his laughter, giving Appa a tight hug. “I’m okay, I promise.”

He seemed to be telling the truth, at least based on what Katara could discern from afar. His orange robes were torn to oblivion, with only his Fire Nation pants remaining. She could see minor burns across his chest and one area on the left side of his ribs that looked to her like it would become a painful bruise, but overall—

“If you guys are here with no Azula,” Sokka joked as they all came to a stop, snapping Katara’s attention away from Aang, “does that mean Zuko finally gets to rule the Fire Nation?”

Katara allowed Zuko to keep some of his weight on her even as they stood still. He laughed at her brother’s comment. “Katara’s the one who technically defeated her in the Agni Kai. Maybe that makes her the Fire Lord.”

Katara groaned and rolled her eyes, ignoring the amused snickers of her friends. “Tui and La, no. I refuse. I resign. I—I abdicate. The throne is all yours, Zuko.”

She turned her attention to her brother’s injured leg as Suki began recounting the details of their battle in the air, including how they’d managed to pilfer an airship of their own. Up close, Katara was relieved to see that no bone had broken through the skin in Sokka’s shin or thigh—that would have made it much harder for her to heal. She made sure Zuko was stable on his feet before stepping away to study the injury further. But as she crouched at Sokka’s side and went to bend water out her flask for the preliminary healing process—

“Hey. That can wait.”

Katara blinked, staring up at Sokka in utter confusion. “Excuse me?” His leg was broken, she couldn’t just—

Sokka jerked his head towards Aang, who was busy freeing himself from beneath Appa’s weight. “Go greet the hero of the hour. My leg will still be here when you get back.”

Toph snorted. “Of the hour?” She shook her head. “Give him credit, Sokka—Twinkle Toes is the hero of the century.” Momo chirped before jumping from Suki’s shoulder onto Toph’s, as if agreeing with her.

Katara turned to look at Aang, her mind tuning out the rest of her friend’s teasing banter that followed. He was—Aang was more than the hero of the century, at least to her. More than the Avatar, more than an airbender, more than—

Aang must have felt her eyes on him, because he paused in petting Appa to turn around and give her a shy grin. “Hi, Katara.”

With those two words, the dam burst, and Katara sprinted over to Aang with all the speed of a roaring wave. Her arms crashed around his bare shoulders like water beating against the shore, and Aang wrapped his arms around her waist in return. Katara could only squeeze him tighter, his face pressing into her shoulder.

“You stopped him,” Katara whispered. Her words were shaky, or—spirits, maybe it was her entire body that was quivering. “Ozai. You stopped him.”

Aang nodded into her shoulder, and Katara slackened her grip just enough so he could lean back and reply. “Yep.”

Katara’s right hand instinctively rose to cup his face. She could see it in his eyes—tired, yes, but still so full of hope, the warm gray as rich as the shimmering moon. “You found another way, didn’t you?”

Aang smiled at her, laugh lines crinkling at the corners of his eyes, and spirits if that wasn’t an image Katara wanted traced into her memory for the rest of time. “Ozai is alive. But he can’t hurt anyone ever again.”

Katara had a million questions, the first being the obvious How? How did you do it? But no query fell from her lips despite her overwhelming curiosity. Instead, all she could do was stare at Aang, tears of relief sliding down her cheeks as she smiled and smiled and smiled and—

“I am so proud of you,” Katara said, the words halfway to a sob as she pulled Aang into another crushing hug, marvelling at how perfectly his body fit against hers. “I knew you would do it, Aang, I knew it. Only you could.”

Aang laughed. “Must’ve been your belief that got me through it.” His arms tightened around her, as if he, too, needed the unspoken reassurance that Katara was there, that she was real, that they had won, the same way she needed such comfort from him. “At one point, I’m not even sure I believed I’d succeed.”

“It’s a good thing I never doubted you, then,” Katara whispered, and Aang laughed again.

“Yes. Thank you.”

Katara wasn’t quite sure what Aang was thanking her for—her faith then, her presence now?—and in truth, she had a feeling Aang didn’t precisely know, either. But what did precision matter? They were here, together, alive. Beaten and bruised but not broken beyond all repair. Neither of them had lost what they couldn’t live without.

For Aang, the vestiges of his peaceful people. And for her…

Aang.

Katara hadn’t lost Aang. Not like she had before, not like she couldn’t bear to ever lose him again.

“Alright, lovebirds! That’s enough time spent hugging the life out of each other. Come tend to the wounded, please.”

Katara rolled her eyes at her brother’s obnoxious interruption, but she released Aang after a final tight squeeze. She really did want to take a look at Sokka’s leg. Besides—she and Aang now had all the time in the world. All the time in a peaceful world, at that.

Aang followed her back to the rest of their friends, and Katara had just knelt down to examine Sokka’s injury when Aang burst out into loud, unprovoked laughter. The sudden sound made her jump, and it was only thanks to some quick thinking—and inelegant bending—that she avoided spilling the water from her waterskin all over the stone courtyard for the second time in the past ten minutes.

“What’s so funny?” Zuko asked, the apparent reason for Aang’s laughter. “What did I do?”

“No—you didn’t—” Aang cut himself off with a wheeze, and Katara couldn’t stop herself from glancing behind her to see what on Earth had him in stitches.

Aang pointed at Zuko’s chest, biting down hard on his bottom lip in a clear attempt to withhold further laughter. “That. Azula shot you with lightning, right?” When Zuko nodded, he said, “And Katara healed you?”

“I did,” Katara confirmed. Sokka gave her a disapproving look, probably because she was yet to begin healing his leg, but—well, this time Katara had no real excuse beyond her own intrigue. Whoops. But it wasn’t as if his splint wasn’t holding up perfectly. The expertise with which it was secured suggested Suki had been the one to fashion it, and that meant Sokka would be fine for a quick moment longer.

Aang’s laughter returned in full force, one arm wrapped around his stomach while his free hand gestured wildly behind him. “We—We match!” He turned around, and—

“Oh, for Agni’s sake,” Zuko groaned, and Katara found herself unable to contain her laughter. In a matter of seconds, they were all laughing at Aang’s revelation. Even Zuko, once he’d gotten over himself.

Tui and La. Katara loved her friends, she loved her life, she loved being alive with her friends by her side and—

Aang.

She loved Aang.

Oh, spirits.

[backhurtyy]

9, 16, or 51, whichever you want to do/haven’t done yet 🥰!

9. “You really thought I was dead?”

16. “I want you to be happy…even if its not with me.”

i guess warning for jealousy?? not possessive or anything, more nervous i-really-love-you-and-this-person-unexpectedly-came-back-into-our-life-please-don’t-leave-me jealousy

Returning to Ba Sing Se after the war always felt distinctly like coming home to Zuko. He loved the Fire Nation, he really did, but there were so many bad memories locked away inside empty rooms and shadows decorating blank walls to ever allow it to feel like home. But in Ba Sing Se, strolling into his uncle’s teashop with Sokka’s hand clasped in his and his crown tossed into the bottom of the bag on his shoulder, those memories and shadows slipped away. Instead, there were warm memories of lazy afternoons serving tea to his uncle and friends and the sounds of bright laughter filling the shop, and he felt like he was home.

“You’re awfully smiley,” Sokka laughed as they approached the Jasmine Dragon. “What’re you thinking about?”

“Just that it feels like I’m home, is all. We haven’t been here in a long time, and it’s... It’s really nice. I don’t know if that sounds crazy, but-“

“No, it doesn’t. I feel it too,” he said warmly. “It’s easier here, somehow.”

Zuko nodded, pressing a kiss to Sokka’s forehead as they crossed the threshold of the shop. His uncle was standing behind the counter, and when he saw them come in his face split into a wide grin.

“Zuko! Sokka!” he exclaimed, rushing towards them. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

He dropped Sokka’s hand to meet his uncle’s embrace, sighing at the familiar smell of jasmine tea that hung around him. “Hi Uncle. I’ve missed you.”

“Me too. It’s been too long.”

“I know, I’m sorry. I just got so busy with work and it was hard to find the time to come visit.”

“It’s okay to take breaks, Zuko. You don’t have to be Fire Lord all the time.”

Zuko wanted to say that wasn’t true- that the Fire Nation still had so far to go and that work couldn’t always wait, and also point out that he was the one to insist Zuko take this job- but before he could Sokka was hugging his uncle and proclaiming, “Yeah, that’s why he has me. To make sure he’s talking a whole bunch of breaks.”

His uncle laughed. “I knew he’d be in good hands.”

“Yeah yeah,” he muttered, though he smiled at Sokka fondly and began walking toward the kitchen, where the stairs leading to his uncle’s apartment were. “Can we just drop our bags off, the come back down?”

“Of course. Although this reminds me I have a new employee, and I think it’s someone you’ll be relieved to see! He’s in the back.”

Zuko furrowed his brow, wondering who he could possibly be talking about considering all the people he would want to see were very much not in Ba Sing Se. Well, except Sokka, but it wasn’t like he was his new employe. Still, he just shrugged and pushed aside the curtain to go into the kitchen- only to stop when he saw a tall figure with shaggy black hair, a persistent stalk of wheat sticking out of his mouth. Suddenly, he felt like he was on the ferry to Ba Sing Se all over again.

Sokka, not noticing that Zuko had stopped, crashed into him. “Zuko, wha-“ He stopped too, staring at Jet with his jaw hanging open. “Jet?”

He looked up them, one eyebrow raised and smirking. “Hey Sokka,” he greeted coolly. “And if it isn’t Lee... Or I guess Fire Lord Zuko, I should say.”

“I- What?” he stuttered, not entirely understanding how, much less why, Jet was in his uncle’s tea shop. The first because last he’d heard Jet was dead, and the second because last he’d checked Jet hated him and his uncle. “What are you doing here?”

“Uh, I work here? I’m the new hire,” he said, crossing his arms and cocking his hip out.

“You- How?” Sokka asked, his face wrinkled in confusion. “At Lake Laogai you died. I mean, you got crushed under the rock and you-“

“Wait,” Jet laughed. “You really thought I was dead?”

Sokka and Zuko shared a confused glance, then looked back to him. “Yes?” Zuko asked. “I mean, we’ve seen Smellerbee and Longshot since then and they never said anything so...”

“Yeah, I told them not too. I needed time after I recovered to figure myself out, and wasn’t sure I could handle seeing any old flames- no pun intended- or enemies,” he said, pointedly sliding his eyes from Zuko to Sokka. “But I didn’t think you’d actually think I was dead… I told Katara I’d be fine. That wasn’t a lie.”

Zuko... Zuko didn’t know what to do. He had spent the past five years feeling so guilty for being the reason Jet ended up in Lake Laogai and blaming himself for his death, that seeing him in front of him brought on an overwhelming onslaught of memories and emotions and confusion. But with it was also a huge sense of relief, and he smiled at him softly.

“I’m really happy to see you, Jet,” he said honestly. “I’m glad you’re alright.”

“Don’t think I’m not still pissed at the fact that you lied to me, or for the pain the Fire Nation has caused me and my friends,” he said evenly, though his mouth ticked up in a smile, the wheat jumping as it did. “But I’m glad to see you too. You look good.”

Zuko rolled his eyes but smiled and leaned into Sokka, who had shifted to stand at his side rather than behind him. Sokka grabbed his hand immediately. “Thanks. There’s a lot that’s happened, recently, and if you were willing to, I’d like to catch up and... Well, I know there’s a lot of history, but maybe we could try to be friends?”

There was a slight twinkle in Jet’s eye as he watched Zuko and Sokka, one that reminded him of sneaking around the ferry and running down the streets of Ba Sing Se, and Zuko knew he’d realized they were together. He didn’t say anything though, just smiled. “Yeah. I’d like that. And you too, Sokka. I think I owe you a few apologies.”

Sokka snorted, though Zuko recognized it as one of begrudging amusement rather than actual anger. “Yeah, whatever man.”

Jet nodded and turned away, apparently satisfied with that, and Zuko tugged on Sokka’s hand to lead him up the stairs.

“So…” Sokka said nonchalantly when they had shut the door to the apartment. “Jet. Your ex. He’s downstairs.”

“Yeah…” he hummed, setting down his bag and turning to grab Sokka’s. “That was not at all what I was expecting, gotta be honest.”

“How do you feel about it?” There was something odd to his tone, something curious but also apprehensive, as if he didn’t really want to know.

He shrugged, stepping into Sokka’s space to pull him into a hug- although Sokka would never say it, he knew his boyfriend. After what happened with the village during the war and then later seeing him die- so they thought- that Jet’s presence had to have shaken him. He wondered if that was why his tone of voice was so odd.

“I don’t know yet. But he seems… He seems alright. Happier than he ever was when we had our thing, at least. And I think maybe… Maybe I’d like to try to be friends with him.”

Sokka hugged him back tightly, nodding thoughtfully. When he spoke, it was careful and deliberate. “If you ever decide you want to date him again, I need you to just tell me, okay?”

He pulled back, staring at him in confusion. “Sokka, what?”

“I mean it! I want you to be happy, even if it’s not with me. So… If you ever decide you’re into him-“

“For spirits sake,” he rolled his eyes lightly, realizing what was up with his tone of voice- he was nervous that now Jet was back, Zuko wouldn’t want to be with him anymore. “Sokka, that’s not going to happen. I love you, and I’m going to keep loving you for the rest of time. I already know that you’re it for me, love. Plus,” he dropped his voice into a conspiratorial whisper, “when I kiss you it doesn’t taste like wheat.”

Sokka laughed, shoulders relaxing. “I love you. And you’re it me, too. I’m sorry for being weird about him, it’s just… I don’t know how to explain it. Seeing him and remembering you had a thing and just... I got jealous, I guess.”

“It’s okay, love, I understand,” he said as he smoothed his palm over Sokka’s cheek, before kissing him softly. “Now, come on. I’m sure Uncle is dying to make us some tea.”

[feedingthewrongwolf]

Hear Me Out

A:TLA POST-CANON / SOKKLA / 1.4K

Snippet from a snowballing fic: About a decade after the war ends, Hakoda dies (RIP) and Sokka takes his place as Chief. Visiting the Fire Nation Palace is now official business, but it’s nice to be around old friends - until Sokka and Azula run into one another.

Obligatory Song Rec: UpStairs by Vimes

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Sokka had to admit - he’d felt bad for pestering the kid with an arm full of kitchen trays for directions back to his rooms…But Azula, of all people, had to be the one to find him here? Offering to help?!  

He clenched his jaw, staring Azula down, who seemed to be entirely unaffected.

“Chief Sokka,” she said calmly, giving him a cursory glance. “If you would please follow me.”

Before he could even respond, she’d started walking, hands clasped behind her back. Sokka felt exposed, now keenly aware that he’d left his boomerang in his rooms, and he couldn’t help it - he opened his mouth.

“Seriously, Azula?” He said, throwing his hands up. “What’s your game here? Trying to get me alone to kill me, or what?”

She stopped walking, her back still to him, and Sokka thought he could hear her sigh.

“We haven’t met for some time. I can imagine how you must feel,” she began, turning around and putting her arms at her sides, palms up.

That made Sokka laugh, a bark that echoed through the hall. “Can you now? I’ll find my own way back, thanks.”

“Suit yourself,” she said flatly, looking to the rug on the floor.

Sokka made to pass her and took the left hallway. He was about to start muttering under his breath when he heard her calling after him.

“That’s not…” she began, followed by another sigh, then the sound of her footsteps padding away.

He made it a few more paces before he stopped, grinding his teeth. He had no clue where he was going, and now his thoughts had returned to dinner earlier that night with Mai and Zuko - the way they'd stood up for Azula, of all things.

More importantly, Sokka was Chief, now…Whether he liked her or not, he knew that he owed a member of the Fire Lord’s cabinet a bit more courtesy.

Dad wouldn’t have acted like that, he thought, working up the nerve to head back.

“Hey, wait,” he called out, hoping she could still hear him. He jogged back around the corner to find her turning to search for him. She met him halfway, walking with guarded eyes.

“Look, I’m sorry about all that,” he said with a small laugh and wave of the hand, not sure if he really meant it. “It was…very rude of me to speak to you that way.”

He wasn’t sure he meant that, either, but Azula simply raised an eyebrow, taking a slow breath to respond.

“Apology accepted, thank you. Would you like me to escort you back?”

“…Yes, please,” Sokka said sheepishly, forced to look away.

Azula still had one eyebrow up, though her gaze had softened by the time Sokka looked at her again. “This way, then.”

She shook some hair out of her face before heading in the opposite direction that Sokka had gone. He couldn’t believe this. Putting his faith in the crazy lightning-fiend was the last thing he’d ever expected to do, yet here he was, following Azula through all the twists and turns of dimly lit passages. As if the palace wasn’t creepy enough before…Has she always been this short? he wondered, eyes narrowing at the back of her head. I could handle her in a brawl, but she’s got the home advantage…Aang never took away her firebending, did he? Is she still any good…?

Azula did nothing else but lead him where he needed to go, looking back every now and then to check that he was, in fact, following her. Sokka shook his head, beginning to feel a bit ridiculous. He sighed quietly, keeping his eyes on the staircase as they ascended. Azula had shown no ill-intent toward him or anyone else since he’d arrived. As far as he knew, Azula hadn’t done much of anything in about ten years. He was being paranoid, and he knew it. Zuko trusted her now, so by extension, Sokka could, too…But he didn’t have to like it.

Acutely aware of the awkward silence as they marched on, Sokka shook out his arms, looking at anything but the woman just ahead of him. He couldn’t say for sure whether or not the tapestries or windows or doors looked any more familiar to him than the rest had, and he hated himself for being so foolish. If he had just asked somebody to take him to the kitchens instead of asking for directions, he wouldn’t have been stranded alone in the middle of the night without anyone else to help him back.

The larger door with two guards to wave at was a bit familiar, at least. Even if the guards hardly acknowledged their presence, Sokka was relieved to see another human being. However, after another right and another left, Sokka couldn’t take it anymore. The silence was too palpable, making him cringe harder with every passing second.

“So when do-” he started, his words crashing headfirst into Azula’s own new sentence. They both stopped moving and talking to look at each other, each of them looking away just as rapidly.

“No, please, you go,” Sokka offered, looking up to the ceiling. The halls in this area were considerably more narrow, and standing closer together didn’t make him feel better at all.

“We aren’t far, now,” Azula restated, being the first to regain composure and make eye contact, however brief.

“Oh, great!” Sokka laughed, wishing he could disappear.

He vowed not to open his mouth again until they made it to his rooms, which thankfully wasn’t long at all, as promised, though to Sokka it felt like hours had passed.

“Here you are,” Azula said as they turned a corner, eventually stopping just outside of his door, or what must have been his door. Sokka, for all he’d tried to focus, still couldn’t decipher much of a difference.

“Well, uh…” he began, breathing in deeply and clapping his hands together. “Thanks.”

“Rest well, Chief,” she said with a shallow bow.

He looked at her quickly before grabbing the handle, flashing her a forced, crooked grin. He was halfway through the door to safety when she spoke up again.

“I’m terribly sorry for your loss.”

That successfully stopped Sokka in his tracks, and he spun around to face her.

“It will never get any better,” she went on, solemnly, “but time will make it easier to bear.”

Sokka was dumbfounded, staring at her like she’d grown another head. He’d wanted to hurl an expletive or two her way, but now he could only feel his heart drop into his stomach. If he didn’t know her any better, he’d think she was trying to be nice.

“I, uh…” Sokka stammered quietly, really looking at her. “Thank you.”

With furrowed brows, Azula looked at the floor, loose pieces of hair dusting her eyelashes. “I hope you and your family are staying well. Good night,” she said quietly, looking up at him one last time before heading on her way.

He supposed he really didn’t know her any better.

Sokka had no choice but to shut the door, finding the nearest chair to sink into, downright exhausted after today. He put his head in his hands, wishing he could call what she’d just done some weird kind of power-play, or manipulation, or something, but he just couldn’t. That look on her face was too familiar.

Sokka remembered how conflicted Zuko felt when Ozai died. He remembered how he couldn’t understand why he would cry for his father, mourn him…It had only been four years, give or take, but Sokka had made it a point to write, and to visit as often as possible, since. He’d never really thought of Azula, that she’d lost her father too - whatever kind of father that man was to them - and in a strange way it made him feel guilty.

At this point, Sokka wanted to kick himself for assuming she hadn’t earned a sliver of the faith that Zuko had put in her. After a moment he stood, yanking his hairband out with frustration while he extinguished the torches. As he got into bed he turned onto his side, thinking of Katara and Aang and little Bumi, thinking of his mother and father, and of all the things that would never help him get to sleep.

The look in Azula’s eyes was the last thing he wanted to add to that list, yet it ran through his mind all the same.