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a place where the bridge hasn't burned by justanothermess
Fandoms: Avatar: The Last Airbender (Cartoon 2005)
18 Dec 2024
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Fire Prince Zuko is meditating with his eyes closed on the floor of the Western Air Temple, and no one is attacking him, or even trying to, and it’s weird. Sokka will admit that even if no one else will.
Or,
Sokka makes some discoveries after Zuko joins the Gaang. Perhaps the Fire Prince has more honor than anyone had realized.
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old habits die screaming by justanothermess
Fandoms: Avatar: The Last Airbender (Cartoon 2005)
29 Nov 2024
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“But you just said honor is about doing what’s right. You must have known that wasn’t right,” Sokka presses.
There’s a long moment of silence. Then, “I knew it didn’t feel right. But I always told myself that if I knew the first thing about honor, I would still be home.”
“I don’t understand."
“I didn’t, either,” Zuko sighs.
~
Of course Sokka has seen the scar. It’s kind of hard to miss.
…It just hadn’t occurred to him that it meant anything.
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the art of redirecting lightning by TheRainbowElectric
Fandoms: Avatar: The Last Airbender (Cartoon 2005)
28 Sep 2024
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A realization that’s been lapping at the edges of Sokka’s mind all night finally crashes over him in a wave. “You really hate yourself,” he says slowly, as the cold understanding sinks in.
Zuko’s glare could melt glaciers. “You wouldn’t, if you’d done all the things I’ve done?” he says, which would be fair, except — it’s not just about the things Zuko’s done, is it? It’s also about the things he hasn’t. Zuko hates himself for things that are his fault, and things that aren’t. For who he is, and who he hasn’t managed to be.
And Sokka can see, with sudden, sharp clarity, that if he were to plot the strength of Zuko’s self-hatred alongside the strength of his bending over time, the two lines would hug in almost perfect sync. Which leaves Sokka with only one question: whether someone’s self-loathing could run so deep and unrelenting that it sustains their bending for the better part of a decade.
The night before going in search of Sun Warrior ruins, Zuko starts to doubt that hatred is the source of his bending after all. Sokka helps him figure out what it really is.
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Aang knew those swords. He’d seen them every day, felt the warm, if rough, presence of their owner in all his hardest moments and coldest flights. He was a strong figure, gentle in his own way. A Firebender who still used swords.
***
There needs to be more platonic soulmate AUs, you guys. Come on. Who wants to see Zuko get dragged into his redemption arc by his soulmates?
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When Azula is nine, she becomes an only child. She hears the Fire Lord call for Zuko's life, and in the morning, her mother and brother are gone. Azula may be young, but she isn't naive. She knows what happened to them.
Which makes it all the more surprising when Azula tracks the Avatar down and fights his group of peasant friends, only to find herself staring into an eerily familiar face.
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“I see you got out just fine, though,” Suki said, crossing her arms and watching the Fire Nation prince carefully.
Zuko shrugged. “Fire benders have a natural tolerance to heat. Our skin doesn’t really burn.” He opened a drawer and found a small, dusty container of ointment and pulled it out. “It comes in handy when you’re always surrounded by fire.” When he turned around, he found the rest of the group watching him with expressions Zuko couldn’t quite place. He held out the balm to Katara, but she hesitated before taking it. “What’s wrong?” Zuko asked.
Aang looked at him uncomfortably. “I don’t want to accuse you of being a liar, but…”
“But what?”
“Your face, man,” Sokka supplied with his usual grace.
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“You don’t need to see it.” Zuko snapped. “I’m sorry anyone has to see it at all. It’s big and it’s ugly and it’s shameful.”
“Zuko,” Suki said, “it’s not—”
“Yes, it is,” he interrupted, looking at her square on, silently challenging her to look at him and think otherwise. “It is, because that’s what it was supposed to be.” He huffed, allowing himself to step out of the corner. He crossed his arms. “I wasn’t lying. Fire benders don’t burn on accident. It takes effort.”
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The Gaang is not so quick to trust Zuko.
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In a modern AU, Zuko has to deal with settling in a new school after expulsion, dealing with an angry ex and an abusive father. Maybe his new found friendships and growing closeness with Sokka will help him make it through.
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I really, really liked it when Zuko offered himself as a prisoner to the Aang Gang and I was offended they didn't take him up on it.
The Gaang are still good guys, so this doesn't get too dark, but Zuko is good at bringing the hurt on himself all by himself. Zuko/Honor is the most abusive relationship in this fandom.
Mostly canon-compliant. Relationships that aren't cannon are ... merely flirtation. Sorry.
My earlier post "Laundry Day" is actually a part of this. You'll see when it comes in. :D
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Zuko actually looked bereft. “Well, what if the fire lord was someone else? What if it was your uncle Iroh? He could become the fire lord, right?”
Zuko turned to look down at the portrait. He was still, and Aang feared that he’d gone too far again and would be told to leave.
Zuko’s spine stiffened. He executed a deep bow, then folded to his knees and bowed again, until his forehead pressed the floor, his hands on the ground in front of it. After a moment, he sat up again. He looked sad. “That’s how you bow when you must beg forgiveness, and know you don’t deserve it.” He rose to his feet. “You don’t have to learn that one.”
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At Sokka’s behest, the Gaang skips rescuing Zuko during the Siege at the North Pole. Instead they leave him, unconscious, buried in the snow.
In completely unrelated news, Sokka’s haunted by a ghost now.
(If you'd like more details before deciding to read this story, look here for spoilers.)
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- 67,555
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(Never) Forget Who You Are by mindbending for MuffinLance
Fandoms: Avatar: The Last Airbender
04 Jan 2021
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“Hello, my name is Joo Lee,” says a young man in cheery spring green, his smile stretched to the point of pain. “I have been given the great honor of showing the Avatar around Ba Sing Se.”
“Zuko?!”
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“What Aang means,” says Katara, “is we looked up things besides firebending exercises. And you seemed- not better, but happy, so we thought maybe you didn’t need to hear this.”
Joo Lee’s curled up at some point without meaning to, one knee tucked under his chin. “Hear what?”
They pause again, with pity written all over their faces.
“Don’t treat me like I’m fragile,” he snaps. “Nobody’s ever bothered with that.”
“We know,” Toph says, without any of her usual, enviable self-assurance.
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Toph knew the story. Every Earth Kingdom child did. About how the prince of the Fire Nation had been burned in front of an audience of hundreds, and then sent away to sail Earth Kingdom waters on a pointless search.
The Earth Kingdom knew the kind of man the Fire Lord was.
And Toph knew the kind of boy the Fire Prince had been.
Series
- Part 2 of Witness
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“I don’t... I don’t know how it is in the Water Tribes, but in the Fire Nation it’s... it’s one of the worst things you can do. Hurt a child.”
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The wanted poster had the scar on the wrong side.
Maybe he didn’t care enough to look at the poster before it got sent out. Or maybe, Ozai didn’t actually remember which side of his son’s face he had burned off all those years ago. Zuko wasn’t sure what was worse. Ozai had know which side the scar was on. He had to remember. Right?
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In which Zuko isn't sure Ozai knows which side of his face he burnt off and it sends him spiraling.- Language:
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"HE DOESN'T CARE!" Zuko shouted, his voice echoing around the temple. "He doesn't care that you're the Avatar, and he doesn't care that I'm his son!" His outburst seemed to stun both him and everyone listening.
Katara suddenly realized that this conversation wasn't just about war.
---
Or: The Gaang finds out just how cruel Ozai was to Zuko, and they're thoroughly disturbed.
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[Set after the Boiling Rock]
The Gaang had noticed Zuko was distant and avoided them. He was scared of them.
(little snippit cause I'm quirky)
Zuko hesitated. He wasn’t sure how comfortable he felt talking about something this...traumatic? Zuko had nightmares about this; he couldn’t just blatantly throw it out there. He could have given them anything they wanted except this. They wanted to know about his mother? Fine! They wanted to know about the first time he was nearly assassinated? Fine! His father trying to shoot lightning at him when he knew Zuko wasn’t able to redirect it? Perfectly fine. His banishment was different.
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“So...you spoke out against it?” Haru asked, quirking an eyebrow.
“Yep,” Zuko popped his ‘p’ “Long story short; I got banished. No more stories.”
And then he abruptly sat up, bowl in hand, and headed out to rinse his bowl and clean up.
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“It’s healing really well.” Katara tells him with a smile, before her lips quirk down into a frown. “Though it’ll still scar pretty bad.”
Zuko shrugs. “It’s ok. I doubt people will really focus on it anyway… the one on my face is a bit more prominent.”
Katara makes a face, like she’s not quite sure if she should laugh or frown, when Toph speaks up.
“You have a scar on your face?” Toph asks, sitting up so she’s sitting by his legs rather than lying on them.
Zuko blinks. He never quite forgets that Toph is blind, but the fact that she can’t see his scar never really occurred to him.
“Oh, yeah.” Zuko looks down at his lap. “My father burned like, half my face off before I was banished.” He says it a little too casually, probably not bitterly enough.
A crash next to him makes him look up, to see Katara's horrified expression, and a shattered bowl of water at her feet.
No one says anything for a long moment.
“Zuko… it- your dad?” Katara finally manages to gasp out. Zuko blinks at her, his brain moving slowly.
“You didn’t know?” He asks in genuine surprise.
“No.” Sokka wheezes.
Zuko blinks at him. “Oh.” Is all he can manage to say.
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- 3,591
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“So, did your dad ever love you or has he always just been an asshole?” Sokka chokes on the rice he’d just started to chew. Toph is picking delicately through the grains in her bowl, an innocent look adorning her face. No one needs to ask who she’s talking to.
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Mid-Season-One Zuko is held for ransom by Chief Hakoda. Ozai's replies to the Water Tribe's demands are A+ Parenting. Hakoda is… deeply concerned, for this son that isn't his, and who might be safer among enemies than with his own father.
Podfic and translations in Dutch, German, Hungarian, Russian, Spanish, and Ukrainian now available! See chapter one author notes for links.
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Fluency (learning friendship like a foreign language) by Clare_Hope
Fandom Avatar: The Last Airbender
02 Sep 2023
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- 33,507
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- 2
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- 487
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Katara raised an eyebrow as she too stood up, brushing sand off her tunic.
“Zuko? Voluntarily feeding Appa? This I gotta see.”
Or,
how the Gaang accidentally eavesdrops on Zuko’s therapy session with Appa (this goes about as well as expected)- Language:
- English
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- 249
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