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Chapter Text

Ursa's son was born the night of the winter solstice without the inner flame that every fire bender carried within themselves, and for that, her husband was going to have him killed. There was nothing she could do to stop him as she clung to her child, and the man attempted to wrestle Zuko away from her. She was pleading with him to spare the child, but Ozai refused to budge.

Shyu had been filled with horror when Prince Ozai had suggested something so awful.

"My prince! I beg you to listen to me." He pleaded, as Ozai finally succeeded in pulling the crying infant from his mother. "I would not be so hasty to dispose of the child so soon. There may still be a way to give him fire bending. We can pray to Agni, and the spirits might hear us and grant our request."

Ozai glared at Fire Sage Shyu, his eyes blazing with cold fury, and then he declared with a voice like bitter honey, "Very well… Bless the child, but I warn you, if this fails, the child will not be the only one who dies. I will make you pay for wasting my time. Am I understood?"

Shyu swallowed and bowed. Insidious fear filling him like ice creeping through his veins.

"Yes, sir." And he was handed the sobbing infant.

Prince Zuko was small and empty of the fire that would save his life from the madman who called himself the child’s father. Shyu could only hope that this worked. If it didn’t, the child would die without ever living through a single night. His own death, a distant worry, tucked into the back of his mind.

Their party of Fire Sages and Fire Royals, one of which sat in a wheelchair due to having just given birth mere minutes ago, made the short journey to Agni’s altar, located within the palace. Once there, Shyu held the baby before the effigy of Agni and began to pray, the ruby eyes of the statue staring down at him.

If this didn’t work, Prince Ozai would kill the poor child.

"Agni, I pray before you for Prince Zuko, son of Prince Ozai, son of Fire Lord Azulon, son of Fire Lord Sozin. This child of fire has been born to Princess Ursa without a flame to call his own. We ask humbly that the spirits will grant him with that fire, as your loyal servants. We plead that you will hear our prayers."

For a moment nothing happened, and Shyu tried to think of something more to say, fearful that his failure would be the child’s death sentence, but then the ruby eyes began to glow, and the cries from Prince Zuko ceased, as though the child had fallen asleep with open eyes.

"What is happening?" Ozai demanded in awe.

Shyu said nothing as he glanced between Agni’s eyes and the child's own, terrified that if he spoke, then whatever this was would be severed, and Zuko’s father would slay the both of them. An eternity passed in those few minutes, but then Zuko's eyes lit up, glowing with that same red light, and then the room went dark.

The cries of an infant were the only sounds to be heard in the silence.

Shyu could feel a fire lit within the child, building rapidly from the tiny flames expected within a child into a raging inferno. The sage had never seen such raw and unrestrained power in his life. So it was with a reverence that he declared, "Agni has claimed this child as his own."

Relief flooded his veins at the feeling of the child’s unnaturally bright fire flickered against his touch, only for that otherworldly presence to reach out and burn at him. Angry and agitated.

Princess Ursa now spoke as the sages relit the fires in the room, "What do you mean?"

"He has been granted with flames stronger than that of any bender I have ever met." Shyu began, looking at the child held in his arms in awe. "His eyes glowed with the same light as Agni's statue. The spirit has placed a piece of himself within your son…"

It was the only thing that had made sense. Shyu’s prayer had worked, and he’d saved the child’s life.

And so it was that being raised as Agni incarnate, whenever the young prince wanted something he would have it. And the Fire Sages became his most devoted servants. Zuko received fire bending training from the moment that he could walk by a whole team of masters, and trained with dao swords by Master Piandao when Zuko had said he wanted to know a weapon aside from his fire. The people of the Fire Nation worshiped Zuko like he was a god.

Fire Sage Shyu couldn’t be more proud.

But then when Zuko was only five years old, something unbelievable happened.

Something that completely changed the way his people worshipped him. Something that made that worship explode into complete and utter devotion. And it was over something as simple as a meal around Ozai's dinner table that suddenly gave a five-year-old more authority and power than the Fire Lord himself.

Zuko had indicated to Fire Sage Shyu which foods to place on his plate when the child heard a voice more familiar to him than his mother’s. A voice which had spoken to him all his life.

"You need to eat your vegetables, young one. You need proper nutrition, Zuko."

Zuko frowned, annoyed at the prospect of being made to eat the steamed vegetables on the table, but he sighed in defeat, "Fine, but I won't be happy about it. Shyu put some of those tomato-carrots on my plate."

The spirit knew best, of course, and he cared deeply for Zuko.

Shyu froze for a moment, but he obeyed Agni's child.

"Good, my child. We will grow strong and powerful so that our enemies can not stand against us."

"Prince Zuko?" Ozai asked his son tense from uncertainty. "What is it that causes your displeasure?"

"I don't want to eat vegetables. They are gross and soggy, but he says I have to." The child said with a sad groan before he popped a piece of a tomato-carrot in his mouth and began to chew.

There was a strange look on his father's face as the man spoke, "And who is it that deems to order a member of the royal family?"

"The spirit that gave me my fire bending. He says that I have to eat my vegetables, so I can grow up to be strong enough to defeat our enemies."

Silence filled the room in response to what Zuko had just said.

So, looking at Ozai, the five-year-old pressed on with, "He told me that I was born without fire and that you were going to kill me for it because you didn't want a non-bending child, but Fire Sage Shyu convinced you to pray to Agni that the spirits would bless me with bending, and then the spirits did."

Ozai was silent and tense as a moment of fear flashed across his face.

The spirit within him shifted within him, pleased by Ozai’s reaction.

Ursa managed to find her voice, and she smiled at him, saying, "Well, if Agni is telling you to eat your vegetables, then you should. I'm glad to hear that he's looking out for your health. Aren’t you, Fire Sage Shyu?"

"Yes, Princess Ursa," Shyu said with a smile, and the table became calm once more.

"Yes, your mother is right, my child. Now eat your vegetables."

It wouldn't be until years later when Zuko's whole world fell apart.

It had all happened suddenly. And maybe in another world, there would have been a delay between some small portion of those events. But there wasn’t.

He had turned eleven mere weeks before it had all happened.

Lu Ten died in the 600-day siege of Ba Sing Se. Mother vanished, grandfather suddenly died, and father became Fire Lord. Then Uncle betrayed him, and all he had left when the dust settled was the spirit that shared his mind and body.

There had only been a month’s delay in his uncle returning to seal his doom.

Zuko didn't know why his father summoned him to Agni's altar, but he had been glad to see that his uncle was also there, with the Fire Sages.

However, he instantly noted the tense atmosphere in the room, not even needing the spirit’s aid to do so, and that joy vanished.

He was nervous as he asked, "You called for me, father?"

Ozai came to stand in front of the child, as he spoke. "Yes, I did, Prince Zuko. I have been told something extremely troubling by your uncle. After he abandoned the Siege of Ba Sing Se, he journeyed into the spirit world, only for Agni to seek him out. The Sun Spirit is angry with our people because you have been allowed to parade about as his mouthpiece when he was not the one to bless you. He did not give you your fire, and he is not the spirit that speaks through you and to you."

"Who blessed me then?" Zuko asked not just to his father, but the spirit which shifted restlessly within him. 

Nervousness transformed into anxiety because if the spirit wasn’t Agni, then he might be in trouble. He doubted that he was in any danger. But then again, his father had planned to kill him until Fire Sage Shyu had convinced the man to let him pray to the spirits.

The spirit, who was not Agni, remained silent and waiting, so Ozai answered his question. "We don't know, but if your uncle's newfound spirit vision is to be trusted, then the spirit is a dark one. We are here to banish it from you under the eyes of Agni. The Sages and your uncle wish to perform an exorcism, but I know better. The only way to truly be rid of this darkness which possesses you is by a baptism of fire." 

Zuko could see the sudden horror in the eyes of his uncle and the sages. Still, before he could react, Ozai brought a hand coated in flames to the child's face, and Zuko screamed as agonizing pain ripped through him, seared into him, and as that fire bled agony into the left side of his face, burning down his neck and his shoulder.

Just as Zuko felt his vision begin to fade, the spirit reared up in anger, and his eyes glowed with that horrible red light, and all of the lights went out in the room. The only light came from the child's form. He seemed to emit a dark and angry light, as he reared up and grabbed Ozai by the man's goat-like beard and bellowed in a two-toned voice. One of a child and the other dark and endless.

"HOW DARE YOU HARM THIS CHILD?! YOU ASKED THE SPIRITS TO GIVE HIM BENDING! AND WHEN AGNI REFUSED? I BLESSED HIM! AND THIS IS HOW YOU THANK ME?! THE CHILD BELONGS TO ME! HOW DARE YOU HARM HIM?! I SHALL TAKE HIM FAR FROM YOU WHERE YOU CAN NEVER HARM HIM AGAIN! OZAI THE PRETENDER! COUNT YOUR DAYS FOR THEY SHALL BE AS SANDS IN AN HOURGLASS! AND WHEN THAT SAND RUNS OUT, WE WILL RETURN, AND I WILL END YOU!"

Following that, the room exploded into flames, and when they could see again, Zuko had vanished.

Chapter Text

Once Vaatu had made it outside of the Palace City he bolted into the woods as the power of the Avatar State threatened to overwhelm Zuko's young and still growing body. He wanted to slip out from the sate and let his poor child rest and heal from the horrible ordeal that Zuko had just suffered, but Vaatu feared that the moment he did the guard from the palace would catch up to him and then they would take Zuko back to the Fire Lord. The Fire Lord who would only hurt Zuko further. Vaatu could not and would not allow that to happen.

He had never meant to become attached to his human, his vessel, as Raava had with her own, but now? Now Vaatu understood. He shared a mind and a body with this wonderful child and how could he not grow to love him, like Zuko was his own? Zuko and his endless hope and joy. Zuko and his dreams for a better future. No one could meet this child and not love him. No one but Ozai, of course, but that monster was an exception and not the rule.  How anyone would look at Zuko and feel anything but love, was beyond him, which meant that there was something deeply wrong with Ozai. Ozai who had only pretended to care for the child because of how much the nation adored Prince Zuko, and then stopped with his act of caring the moment that Zuko no longer served to make the fool more powerful.

Ozai the pretender indeed.

They were deep in the woods now, and any sign of human life was far behind them, so finally Vaatu allowed the power of the avatar state to fade away from them. And the moment he did darkness flooded into their shared vision and the ground raced up to meet them.

When the sun rose in the morning with the first light of dawn, so did Zuko. Angry and hurting and disoriented from the pain of everything that had just happened to him, and when he sat up and opened his eyes he screamed out again in pain as a fresh wave of pain ripped through his face, and he knew that something was wrong. Something was very very wrong. And he couldn't see out of his damaged left eye at all, casting half of his world into a permanent veil of darkness. He could feel the insidious panic filling up inside of him.

"My child! Be calm."

"NO! You do not get to tell me anything!" Zuko snapped outraged. "You have lied to me my entire life about who you are! Who in Agni's name do you think you are even?!"

The spirit was silent for a moment that seemed to stretch into eternity, before it finally said, "My name is Vaatu, my child. I am the spirit of chaos and darkness. I had hoped to tell you the truth once you were older… Better prepared to protect yourself, when others would and did undoubtedly learn the truth. I knew that Ozai would use this as the excuse he had been looking for to harm you, without consequence, and he did… I never wished to be wrong so much in my existence… My child, Zuko, I am so sorry about all of this…"

Zuko was silent for a while as he processed what Vaatu had told him, and he compared it to the things that he already knew, before he asked, "Vaatu… If Agni didn't bless me, then how did you give me fire bending?"

"I gave you so much more than just fire bending, my child. I made you into my Avatar. A new Avatar, one to rival that of Raava's. I have blessed you with all four of the elements. You were brought to me by a spirit when Fire Sage Shyu sent your soul into the spirit world. A spirit that wanted me freed from the tree that I was sealed away in. I never meant to love you, but I do. You are my child, and if you will allow me to explain, then all will be made clear." 

And Zuko did. He allowed Vaatu to explain, as he followed alongside the river, and Vaatu explained Raava and Wan and his plan to murder Ozai because of what the man had done to Zuko, and he took in every single detail. Every last one.

Zuko didn't know what he thought about Vaatu vowing to end his father, but something told Zuko if he wasn't feeling the pain from the burns that Ozai had given him, he might feel less conflicted about it.

For the first time in his short life, Zuko realized that he was hungry. He had never missed a meal in his life, and now he hadn't had anything to eat since dinner the day before, and the sun was high in the sky declaring to the world that it was now noon. His stomach growled in response to that thought.

It was nearly dark by the time they stumbled upon the woman gathering berries by the river, and her blue eyes widened in horror at the state he was in. When he stumbled, she came rushing over to steady him.

"Child, come with me. I'll get you cleaned up and we can do something about these burns…" She sputtered. "Who- Who did this to you?"

"Tell her it was a bad man. She might hurt you if she learns the truth, my child." Vaatu warned, and Zuko listened.

"A bad man- He hurt me- Please! I-I can't see out of my left eye, and it hurts!" Zuko sobbed, tears rolling only from his good eye. "Please, I'm hungry and I haven't eaten all day… I've been following the river all day-"

“I'll do what I can, but I don't think that I can save the vision in your left eye. Once we get to my inn, I can get you something to eat."

It was dark by the time they made it to her inn, where Zuko was finally able to sit down, and it hurt when the old woman cleaned his wounds. But both the woman and Vaatu kept up a stream of comforting words, and soon the burns were clean and bandaged. It wasn't until he'd finished the soup that she made him, that she spoke again.

"My name is Hama, what is yours?"

Zuko answered before Vaatu could tell him better. "I'm Zuko. Thank you for your kindness Hama-" 

But her face contorted with rage and recognition, as she hissed, "PRINCE ZUKO!" He had never heard such hate before in his life, as she called water from the air, that turned into claws of ice on her hand, looking ready to kill him.

"NO!!!!" Vaatu howled, in the dual voice of a child and an endless thing, Zuko's eyes glowing with that eerie red light. "HARM A HAIR ON HIS HEAD AND I WILL END YOU! WATER WITCH!!" A pause. "You are a water bender… Do you want revenge on the Fire Lord for what he's done to you? I do as well… Who do you think burned my child? Ozai the Pretender harmed my vessel, MY AVATAR, and I will kill him for it. Heal him, and we will both stand a better chance of that happening. Hurt him, and I WILL END YOU!" 

Then the glow faded, and the lights that had vanished in the room flickered back into existence, and Zuko swayed where he sat, a wave of tiredness washing over him.

The ice fell from Hama's grasp like a spilled glass of water, and she dropped her attack stance. "I can heal him with water bending, but it won't save his vision, and he will still scar… But I will heal him." And as she did, she made her offer. "If you are the Avatar, then let me teach you water bending. I am a master and the last southern water bender. I would like to see my traditions not die out when I do."

After a quick talk with Vaatu, Zuko gave his answer. "I accept, Sifu Hama."

It was a few days of healing up and resting before Hama declared him fit enough to begin his training.

"Let's begin with a simple move. It was the first one that I was taught by my teacher." Hama began, as she dropped into the movement and began to sway her hands forward and back like the rolling of the waves, and the water answered her call, following her movements like a mirror. "Its pushing and pulling the water like the moon does the ocean." 

Zuko watched for a few moments before he turned to the water and tried the move himself, but nothing happened when he called his chi forward for the move.

"You're not feeling the flow of the water." Hama sighed, before she said, "Water is fluid. The chi we use to bend it comes from the water within ourselves. The water in our blood. We draw it upwards from within ourselves. Like this." And she drew her hands upwards along just beside her center and lifted them up, the water from the river following her movements. "Try again."

Vaatu traced a path across the chi paths, that the old woman had mentioned, and then Zuko tried again. Instead of just pushing his arms forwards and back, Zuko began by pulling the chi upwards with his movements first and rolling his arms forward and up, before back to him and down. He repeated the action until the water in the river began to sway with his movements. Then he punched his arms up, shouting, "I did it!" And the water sprung up and turned to ice, before falling back into its source.

"Good, my child." Vaatu praised. "Now try it again, and focus."

Training passed like this over the next couple of weeks, until Hama assured him that he had the basic idea down. Well, he was still a beginner, he could bend water. He could freeze it. And he could pull it from plants and the air around him. Then she leads him out into the woods during the full moon, telling him that she wanted to teach him the ultimate secret of water bending, something she had invented herself. Blood bending.

Zuko felt his own blood run cold, as she explained how she had happened upon the skill in that prison, and then how she had used it to escape. It sounded wrong and evil, and nothing like the kind old woman she had shown herself to be, save for when she had made to kill him that first night. But Vaatu, who shared his views on it, encouraged him to learn it, just in case one day that skill saved his life. After all, it had been a full moon the night that Ozai had burned him, and if they had known this technique back then Ozai would have been unable to make a move against them. So Zuko learned, and he hated every moment of it. She taught him for hours that night using woodland creatures, and the longer it went on the more Zuko felt sick with the absolute wrongness of it, but once Hama had decided that he had the basics down she sent him off to go to bed and rest.

The next morning he packed his bags, not wanting to learn any more from her. He was at one of the food vendor's stalls and buying a pack of fire flakes to snack on during his journey into the woods when Vaatu spotted something to his left, and Zuko turned to look at a face standing not too far in the crowd looking at him.

The bag of fire flakes slipped from his hands and spilled across the ground.

After the prince had vanished from the palace the task to locate and capture him had fallen to General Iroh and the Fire Sages. If they found him and could not exorcise the dark spirit from the boy, then they had been ordered to kill him. Both Iroh and Shyu didn't want it to come to that, but both held the fear that if they did manage to purge the darkness from Zuko then he would be left without his bending, and then Ozai would kill the child for that. However, despite this, they searched anyways, hopeful that everything would work out. Hopeful that they would rid the boy of the dark spirit, and he would keep his bending. But if he did lose his inner flame, Iroh hoped that instead of killing the child Ozai would simply disown Zuko, and then Iroh would adopt him.

Nearly a month to the day, they heard a rumor about the "Demon Prince" hiding out in a town by the name of Jinzu, and they made the trip out, and once there they split up, scouring the streets for the boy.

Iroh was the one to find Zuko.

He saw the boy standing at a food vender's stall laughing and smiling at something the man said as he was handed a pouch of fire flakes. Horrible sorrow filling Iroh at the sight of the boy's scarred face, the scar creeping down his neck and disappearing beneath his shirt. But he knew Zuko not by the scar, nor by the dark aura that surrounded him. It was by that laugh and that smile, and the heartbreak that followed, when those gold eyes met his own turning from joy to fear, was the same he had felt only months before when he'd held a dying Lu Ten in his arms. Promising to look out for his son's cousin that they both had loved completely.

Fire flakes covered the ground at Zuko's feet when he turned to look at the other side of the street, looking like a fox hare that had been spooked, and Fire Sage Shyu appeared where Zuko's eyes fell, the boy now caged between them. Those same golden eyes now flickered about looking for something, before falling on a large basin of washing water meant for the town to do their laundry in. Zuko fell into a fluid bending pose and, drawing his hands up either side of his center, suddenly whipped them out to the sides at Iroh and Shyu's feet.

The movement was followed by water which froze both men's legs where they stood, and Zuko scaled the nearest house, disappearing over the other side and vanishing into the forest as he had a month ago to the day, but this time without the aid of a dark spirit.

The street fell silent, and for a single moment, no one move a muscle, as though the child had encased the whole street in that ice which covered the two men's legs before Iroh and Shyu met each other's eyes in shock and shared horror, because, while it had not been Agni who had blessed the child, it was the Avatar Spirit turned dark from the horrors of what Fire Lord Sozin had done to the air nomads nearly a century before. The Avatar Spirit that had skipped water and earth to bless Zuko, when they had offered him up, pleading with the spirits for the boy to be blessed with bending. And it was the Avatar Spirit which Fire Lord Ozai had made an enemy of when he permanently scarred the child.

Prince Zuko, DEMON PRINCE ZUKO, was the Avatar… And no one had realized it until it was too late.

Later General Iroh and the Fire Sages would agree that no one else, especially the Fire Lord, should learn of this. It would only put the boy in even more danger. Iroh needed to track his nephew down and plead with him for forgiveness. Make him understand that he had only been trying to help. He had only been doing what he thought best for the boy. He had the best of intentions, and he would be forever sorry. Forever reminded of his guilt, every time he looked at his nephew's face.

But Iroh had gone and ruined everything, that day a month now past. He had handed Ozai the excuse he had been looking for to hurt the boy, and if he could ever regain Zuko's trust then he would spend the rest of his days trying to make up for how he had wronged his nephew, and he wouldn't throw it away ever again.

He would join this dark avatar spirit in its quest to protect Zuko.

He just had to find his nephew again, before he could do any of that…

It was time to write some old friends.

Chapter Text

He didn't want to be taken back to the capital where Ozai would be free to hurt him again.

He was scarred and scared.

"To your left my child. There is a river we can use to getaway. If you swim with the current, we should-"

"I KNOW!" Zuko snapped as he angled left, tree branches whipping past as he ran.

His heart was thundering in rapid presto as he fled. He was literally running for his life. The river fast approaching, and once his feet hit its banks, Zuko dove in. Coldwater was a shock to his system, and he suddenly realized this was the same river that had led him to the town of Jinzu just a month prior. Better yet, the current was rushing away from the palace city. Once his head broke the water, he was swimming as fast and as hard as his short arms and legs would allow.

What if Uncle and the sages caught up? What would happen to him then? Would they actually manage to take Vaatu away from him? How could he live life without the spirit? After all that Vaatu had done for him. Vaatu had saved him when Agni had refused. Given him bending when he was going to be killed for not having a flame! What if by doing so they stole his bending from him? How could Zuko live, when his flame had gone out? He didn't think he would survive that. He would die long before Ozai came to kill him if that happened.

"Calm yourself, my child. Swim. Let me take the burden of these worries for now. You need to focus on your escape."

Vaatu was right. Zuko couldn't afford to think. He could not allow himself to be distracted from putting as much distance as he could between himself and the threat at hand. So he swam harder. He swam for hours, until the sun signaled that evening was fast approaching, then, and only then, did he make for shore. Limbs heavy and body shivering from both the water and the strain. He lay there for a few minutes before he called forth his inner flame and used it to warm himself and dry his sopping wet clothes. Then Zuko got up and went to rest against a tree.

"You did wonderfully my child!" Vaatu praised the young boy, and Zuko beamed saying, "Thanks, dad."

And they fell silent. Only the sounds of the forest around them could be heard for several heartbeats.

"What did you call me, my child?"

"I didn't call you anything. I said thank you."

"No, Zuko, you said thanks, dad. I heard you say it."

"You heard wrong."

"I am a primordial spirit. Do not lie to me, Zuko."

Zuko groans and covered his face with his hands, failing to hide his embarrassment from the spirit that shared his mind and body. Then he grumbled, "Fine, okay! I did! I'm sorry…" 

Vaatu was silent for another three heartbeats, before he replied, "You can call me dad… If you want to, my child. I am not upset or angry. Surprised, but never angry with you."

Zuko sat upright at those words and tentatively asked, "Really? You don’t mind? But… Wouldn't it be weird?"

Vaatu honest to Agni laughed. "My child, I claimed you as my own, when I made you into my avatar, and I am not a human. Whatever your kind declares to be strange and unusual is of little concern to me. In my heart, you are already my son." 

Zuko felt warmth radiated through him, and he smiled at the thought. Then he laughed and then he cried because someone cared about him. They wanted him to be happy. A few minutes later tiny fists rubbed away his tears, and Zuko was able to compose himself.

Vaatu had been there for him his whole life. He even rescued Zuko from Ozai more than once now. The first time when Zuko was born and Agni had refused to bless him with a flame. Vaatu had saved him then, and again last month… When Ozai had decided to burn the boy. The Fire Lord had never loved Zuko. He had only seen what it was that Zuko's continued existence could do for him. How Zuko could be of use. Like a tool or a prize-winning poodle monkey. If the man had loved him, truly loved him, then Zuko would not be fleeing for his life. A real father didn't do that to their kid. A real father helped to give that child life. Not take that away. A real father protects their child. Not become what the child needs protection from.

And Ozai, while his father by birth, was not his real father. He was not Zuko's dad.

"Really? You’d want to be my dad?"

" Of course, my child. I love you. "

"Okay, Vaa- I mean Dad. I love you too."

Right now Zuko was tired and hungry, so he set up camp for the night, wanting to stay with the river until Vaatu told him otherwise. He found some soft ground and unrolled his sleeping bag, and then set about building a small fire to cook his rice in. Thankfully he had packed his things in a waterproof bag, so none of it was ruined by his aquatic absconding stunt with the river. Then he set about cooking the rice and cutting one of his mangos into chunks to mix in. He was grateful that Hama had thought to teach him the basics of cooking in addition to water bending basics. He wasn't good at it yet, but the simple meal was edible and served to fill his stomach.

Following that, Zuko curled up in his sleeping bag and went to bed, or at least he tried to. Instead, he felt his mind thinking about everything that had happened, and an hour later he was still awake, staring at the root of a nearby tree. The ground was uncomfortable and he had never purposely tried to sleep on the ground before. Any of the times he had ended up asleep on the ground was an accident. He never meant to do it, and it rarely happened.

"Vaa-Dad?"

" Yes, my child? "

"Can you sing the lullaby?"

Vaatu obliged the child and began to sing within Zuko's mind the lullaby that the spirit had come up with to soothe his child when he was still a baby. He sang the lullaby for Zuko anytime that the child asked him, and oftentimes when Zuko hadn't. He'd sung it often while they were in Jinzu.

"Dream well my sweet child

Tomorrow's troubles can wait

Tonight is for sleeping

Tonight is for dreaming

In the morning you'll play

Dream sweetly Prince Zuko

Sleep soundly my child

All of your troubles are far away

And I guard you as you sleep

Keeping the pretenders at bay

Rest now my sweet child

In the morning you will play

So rest now my sweet son

Sleep soundly my dear prince

Dream sweetly my Zuko

For tomorrow is a new day."

When Vaatu had finished reciting the lullaby, his child was fast asleep dreaming of koala sheep, and Vaatu took his watch. Protecting the boy all night, as he had done so every night these past thirteen years of Zuko's short life. And he would continue to do so every night that followed, for all of Zuko's lives. He hadn't known what home was when the baboon spirit had brought Zuko to him in the Spirit World…

But he did now.

Zuko was his home.

Chapter Text

Zuko rose with the sun, feeling better rested than he had last month when he had woken up on the ground.

“Good morning, my child.”

“Morning Va-Dad.”

“You should eat.”

“I will.”

After a quick breakfast of fruit and rice, Zuko packed up camp and began walking alongside the river once more. When it was noon, he stopped for a quick lunch and then continued walking. A few hours later, once the sun began to sneak towards the horizon, Zuko finally stopped for the night and set up camp before practicing his bending. He didn’t want to lose the little water bending he could do, and he would rather not begin to forget any of the fire bending he knew.

When he began to grow hungry Zuko stopped and ate dinner before curling up in his sleeping bag and going to bed as Vaatu sang to him once more.

A little more than a week passed in this manner, until around noon on the ninth day. Vaatu told him to begin heading away from the river and into the forest. As he walked Zuko began to realize where they were heading.

“Dad?”

“Yes, my child?”

“Why are we going to the ruins of the Sun Warrior’s civilization?”

Vaatu was quiet for a moment before he finally said, “I’m not sure… I feel a pull of destiny and I believe that we should follow that pull.”

Zuko frowned at that. That had sounded cryptic in the same way his uncle’s proverbs had. He trusted the spirit to know what they should do, so he kept walking. And a few hours later they reached the ruins.

The ancient city was astonishing. The history books hadn’t mentioned just how massive the city had been. The young avatar was sure that without Vaatu guiding him, they would have gotten hopelessly lost.

“We are being watched.”

Zuko froze, as he thought through all of the horrible ways that this could go down.

“Where are they?”

He hadn’t expected the empty void that had become the left side of his vision to suddenly light up with eerie red shapes, but he was able to spot what looked like a group of three people watching him. They were standing in the window of a nearby building on the second floor.

Zuko looked directly at them now, Vaatu letting the strange vision fade from his left eye.

“Hello?” He called out nervously. “We-I mean you no harm! I’m lost!”

The man, who Zuko assumed to be their leader and chief due to his headdress, turned and said something to one of the people with him, and then disappeared into the building. A few moments later the man was rounding the corner flanked by the two warriors.

They stopped a few arm lengths away.

“Who are you, and what is your business being here?” One of the warriors hissed at him, as they pointed a spear at him.

Zuko thought to Vaatu, “What should I say?”

“These people are hiding from the Fire Nation. Do not tell them your name, but it would be safe to mention that you are the Avatar. Just don’t go into the details of whose Avatar.”

So now knowing what to say, he answered, “I am the Avatar. A spirit leads me here. I’m not sure why though.”

This seemed to work as, after a nod from the chief, the warrior lowered his spear.

The chief now spoke, “Prove that what you’re saying is true.”

Zuko gave a singular nod, before he twisted his arm fluidly in the air, to draw the water from it, before opening his other hand and summoned a single flame. He let the ribbon of fire and the stream of water dance about for a few moments, trying to keep his concentration, but it was hard trying to bend the two opposing elements at once, and a few moments in he lost his command of the water, as it dropped to the ground. He let the flame die off after that.

The chief seemed to regard him quietly for a few moments before he gave a smile and bowed.

“It is our honor to welcome you into our tribe, Avatar. The old masters may be able to tell you why you were brought here.”

Zuko began to follow the man and wondered within his mind, “I wonder who these masters are.”

“I believe that they are the two dragons I sense the presence of.”

“I thought that all of the dragons were dead?” Zuko blurted out in surprise.

The chief looked startled, by the outburst, but answered, “There are only two left. The dragons Ran and Shaw. Prince Iroh passed through here many years back, and in exchange for being taught the secrets of fire bending, agreed to claim he had slain them. That way no one would come looking for them.”

“Uncle lied about killing the last dragons?” The words were out of his mouth before Vaatu could warn him to think about what he was saying.

The chief now halted his walking and turned to study Zuko more closely before exclaiming, “You are Prince Zuko! Iroh’s nephew! He spoke highly of you during his last visit nearly two months ago. You are Agni’s child!”

Not-Agni’s child shifted awkwardly where he stood. “Angi wasn’t the one to bless me… The Sages were mistaken. It was Va- the Avatar Spirit who did.”

Then the man’s eyes glanced at the scar that covered the left side of Zuko’s face and neck, before disappearing into his shirt.

“Your scar? How did that-”

“The Fire Lord.” Zuko spat.

Not my father, but the Fire Lord. Something that the young avatar was still trying to come to terms with over a month later. He had Vaatu. Vaatu was his dad now. Not Ozai. Vaatu was his only family. Uncle had allowed Ozai to harm him. Uncle had betrayed him.

“What an unusual family you have-”

“THEY ARE NOT MY FAMILY!” Zuko snapped as the wind picked up into an angry gale. “Va-The Avatar Spirit is my family. Not those pretenders!”

“How can the Avatar Spirit be-”

“HE JUST IS! WE DON’T HAVE TO JUSTIFY OURSELVES TO YOU!”

The chief waited for the wind to die back down, as Zuko took a handful of calming breaths, before saying gently, “I only meant to ask how that would work.”

“Oh…” Zuko flushed in embarrassment. “We talked about it and the Avatar Spirit adopted me. So he’s my dad now. He already thought of me as his son, and he was more a father to me than Ozai ever was.”

“You can speak with the Avatar Spirit? I didn’t know that was possible.”

“Well I can and I do,” Zuko answered, as they began walking once more. Soon they reached a large set of stairs that lead up one of the pyramids and Zuko climbed them. Once at the top, he spotted the large fire being tended to by a team of several fire benders.

The chief spoke, “You will present a piece of the eternal flame to the old masters when you meet them. But first, you need to learn the first fire bending form ever invented. Taught to-”

“Avatar Wan, the first Avatar, by the dragons. It is called the Dancing Dragon. Dad already taught it to me, when I was first learning fire bending.”

“I- What?” The chief looked both surprised and confused by Zuko’s words. “I never knew the Avatar was the first one to learn from the dragons?”

“Dad told me about him. He was born as a fire bender before becoming the Avatar.” Zuko replied as the chief scooped a handful of flames out of the fire and handed it to Zuko. He looked equal parts annoyed and awed. The man probably had some sort of speech about the whole process, but Zuko had ruined it by knowing more about the origins of fire bending then the man did.

Following that, the man had sent Zuko up the mountain to meet with the dragons. And while it had been both incredible and amazing, the event had not revealed why destiny had brought him there. So the chief offered to let Zuko stay while he figured it out.

In the months he spent with the tribe, Zuko was taught how to hunt and track wild game, as well as how to process said game. They taught him how to tell what plants were safe to eat, and which ones could be used for medicine. He was even taught how to dance and play the drums along with a few of their other instruments. He soaked it up like a hot stone under the midday summer sun.

Finally the day of the summer solstice came, and the celebrations started out as soon as the sun rose. The day was meant to be filled with singing and dancing and feasting. It was nothing like how he had celebrated the event before. In the capital, it was marked by displays of fire bending from Zuko in Agni’s honor, alongside a feast in the evening sun. It was a serious occasion spent in the sun. A way to remind their people of the power held by the royal family.

With the Sun Warriors it was an all-day feast, filled with dancing and music. There were stories about the sun, and Zuko lost himself in it. While he did perform his bending prowess, it was done as a dance with his fire. He wasn’t the center of the celebration however. He liked that. He didn’t feel exhausted by the time the chief brought out the sunstone from the vault room.

Usually by this point he was tired, despite the rays of the sun beating down on him and fueling his bending even further. Right now? Right now he could feel the energy of the sun thrumming through his veins and his chi paths. The drums beating in tune with waves of power from the sun. He had never felt so carefree in his life.

But then he saw the sunstone, which to him looked like a giant golden egg, and he knew in that instant why he was there. He had been brought to this place, not for the dragons or to join the Sun Warriors. He was here for the egg.

He watched as the chief allowed the egg to be passed around, and knew they would not willingly allow him to take the egg. They would lock it back in its shrine until next year, and then again and again until the last of their people had faded away from the earth.

So when it was his turn to hold the egg? What else could Zuko do other than take it and run?

At first, the tribe had stood there frozen in shock, as Zuko scampered off and over the nearest building, but then once it sank in that Zuko was STEALING the egg they gave chase. They no longer cared that he was the Avatar. Only that he was stealing their sacred sunstone. At a few points they nearly caught him, but he was too small and too fast and too energized by the sun.

He got away when he’d made it into the woods.

That night sitting by a fire with no food and no supplies, due to having left them behind when he ran, Zuko held the egg in his hands. He could feel the dormant fire resting within. He didn’t know how to go about hatching a dragon egg, and he was sure that was what the egg was.

“Try reaching out with your fire and feeding the flame inside the egg.”

Zuko did because he trusted Vaatu to know what to do.

After feeding the fire with his own flames, the egg began to shake and crack, until a section broke open and a small red dragon hatchling crawled out and looked up at him with reptilian eyes of gold.

Zuko’s heart melted at the sight, and it chirped happily at him before curling up in his lap and going to sleep.

He named the small perfect creature Druk.

Iroh hadn’t ever thought he would ever meet a member of the Sun Warriors outside of their ruins, but Ham Ghao was currently standing before him dressed as though he was any random citizen of the Fire Nation, and he was claiming to have a message from his chief for Iroh.

“Your nephew, Avatar Zuko, has stolen our sacred sunstone, after living among us for the past few months. The chief has sent me to let you know that if we find him first, the Fire Nation will lose their Avatar because we will kill him for the insult. So you should pray to the spirits that you find him first.”

Iroh had a lead.

He did not particularly enjoy the threat that it had come with, but it was a lead. He was determined to find Zuko, and former friends would not get in his way.

And when Iroh did find Zuko? He was going to beg the boy’s forgiveness. If Zuko refused to forgive him? Well, then he would take to protecting the boy from the shadows because the child didn’t seem to be able to go more than a few months without finding new groups of people to make enemies out of.

He could only hope, going forward, that Zuko wouldn’t make his job of keeping him safe even harder by finding even more dangerous enemies than he already had. Iroh could feel the stress of his mission take away the few remainders of youthful color from his already mostly silver hair.

This was going to be harder than he thought.

His nephew had become chaos incarnate.

Chapter Text

Druk was proving to be a handful.

Sure the baby dragon was cute and utterly devoted to Zuko, but Zuko had no idea how to care for the creature. Let alone a pet. Still, Druk seemed to know how to hunt instinctually and he didn’t like to go too far from Zuko.

Zuko could not go into a nearby town to look for supplies with Druk following behind him. So they stuck to the river, Zuko having to improvise supplies with what he could find in the forest. He was grateful that he had spent so much time learning from the Sun Warriors how to live off the land. He was sure that without that he would have starved.

Still, a bedroll would be nice and a water skin would be even better.

Zuko made do and followed the river.

The plan was to find their way to the shore of the Fire Nation and hitch a ride on a boat going to one of the colonies, and from there they could flee into the Earth Kingdom. Once there Zuko could learn how to earth bend.

It hadn’t taken long for Zuko to lose track of the passing days as he walked along the river. He hadn’t thought to track them until he had realized he no longer knew what day it was, let alone what month. When he had been in Jinzu and living with the Sun Warriors that had been a simple task of checking a calendar.

So he settled on the idea of simply just finding out once he had found a town and a place to hide Druk and his things.

He just had to keep following the river.

Eventually, the river joined with a much larger one, and Zuko began to follow this one. They continued to travel southward along its banks. Every few days he took a break to hunt and forage for food.

Hunting without any equipment had been tricky to figure out. All he had was the knife Uncle had sent him while the man had been in Ba Sing Se, but when Vaatu had suggested using water bending to hunt and fish Zuko had quickly adapted to it.

Fishing was simple with water bending. Just pull the water the fish was in out from the river. Hunting was harder but equally doable. Send an ice dagger at the creature and then he had food.

His first attempts at hunting with water bending hadn’t gone great and he had to practice his aim for a while before he felt confident enough with it to try again.

The knife was used to skin the animals and process the meat.

He had been able to fashion a bag to carry the meat from his hunts with a deer dog pelt. It wasn’t pretty looking, but it was functional.

A little more than one full lunar cycle later, Zuko found himself having to leave the river. If he had continued to follow it, then he would have found himself at the bottom of a deep gorge and away from the wildlife of the forest.

He stayed with the river, but it was from the forest on the cliff sides above the raging water. Maybe a week later, he found himself looking across the gorge at the Western Air Temple.

Maybe it had been fate or the pull of destiny that had brought him here. Maybe it had been an odd stroke of luck. But seeing as there were no living air benders, an air temple was likely the only place he could go to learn air bending.

He climbed down the cliff, and froze a path across the river, and then climbed up the other cliff to the temple.

This place, just like the ruins of the Sun Warrior civilization, was breathtaking in its ancient beauty. He spent those first few days walking those empty halls, filled with the quiet of death. Echoes of the past and the people who once called this temple home.

He found none of the proof that these people had been warriors that he had been taught. Instead, he found that he had been lied to by his teachers. These people had been peaceful. The Fire Nation’s attack had been unprovoked. It had been an act of complete dishonor by Fire Lord Sozin.

Zuko felt his blood boil.

He may have not been decided back in Jinzu, but now he was.

Vaatu was right. Fire Lord Ozai needed to meet with his demise and it was their place to bring his end.

Once he had settled into the temple, Zuko set about the task of studying the air bending scrolls he had found in this place. He perfected the movements inked into the ancient scrolls before he would dare to try and bend the air.

He spent close to a full lunar cycle working on his forms before he felt ready to give it a shot.

The move reminded him of a fire bending form he had been taught, so he reasoned that he should be able to do it with relative ease.

Zuko had spun on his feet as he whirled his arms and pushed out with his chi.

The blast of air was stronger than he had expected, and he’d thrown himself to the ground. He threw an arm out to try and catch himself, but he landed wrong and he heard a loud crack followed by a flood of pain.

But then he heard a thunk and Druk crying out came from his left.

His pain-filled arm was forgotten as he looked over and saw blood.

Cradling his broken arm, Zuko leaped up and rushed over to Druk’s side. Panic and horror flooded him as Vaatu tried and failed to calm him. But despite everything that Hama had taught him, she hadn’t shown him how to use healing water.

Druk must have been caught in the gale Zuko had made and sliced himself on a jagged rock because blood was oozing out of a long and deep cut in his side.

“You need to stop the bleeding, my child. Try cauterizing the wound.”

Zuko wanted to vomit at the idea he would have to hurt Druk even worse than he had already done, but he couldn’t see a way around it. Vaatu was right. Vaatu was always right.

He didn’t have a choice.

He summoned a flame, as he sobbed, “Druk, I am so sorry- I didn’t mean to- I have to- Please don’t hate me for this-”

Druk’s screaming as he burned the wound shut would haunt him until his dying day.

It took time for both of them to fully heal from the injuries, and Vaatu had found himself having to tell his child over and over that he was nothing like Ozai.

Zuko had quickly convinced himself he was though, and every time his child looked at the thick and mangled scar that stretched alongside Druk’s side those thoughts and the guilt and shame would return in full force.

Druk worried over Zuko just as much as Vaatu.

It had been an accident and he had burned Druk to stop the bleeding. He had not burned Druk with the intention of causing the dragon pain. Not like Ozai had when he had burned Zuko.

Zuko had not tried air bending since.

During the nearly two moon cycles, it took for Zuko’s arm to heal the boy had to rely on Druk to bring home meat from the forest, while Zuko couldn’t climb up the cliff to go hunting.

In the evenings, Druk would lounge in Zuko’s lap and together they would watch the birds that swooped in and out of the gorge.

Neither Zuko nor Vaatu knew how to teach a dragon to fly, but Druk must have learned something by watching those birds because one evening he had raced to the edge of the platform they were on and leaped from it.

Zuko had shot up in a panic, but when a moment later Druk came soaring back up and was flying for the first time, that had melted away into relief and pride.

As the months passed and Druk grew steadily larger, Zuko began making preparations to leave his homeland. He began making trips into a town that was a three-day hike away from the temple to sell furs from his hunts and purchase supplies.

Soon Druk would be big enough that they could fly away from this place.

After his nephew had fled the Sun Warriors, he had seemingly vanished.

Iroh might still see his nephew’s face everywhere he went, but that was due to the sheer number of wanted posters that had begun circulating. Posters that spoke of the Demon Prince who had tricked the Fire Nation into worshiping a dark spirit in Agni’s sted.

No one but the Fire Sages, the Sun Warriors, and himself, along with the White Lotus, knew the truth.

Zuko was the Avatar.

The Avatar Spirit had been wise to allow the idea that he was actually Agni be believed. If Ozai had known the truth, if anyone had known the truth, then Zuko would have been locked away and kept just barely alive. That way the child would be too weak to fight them but not simply die and be reincarnated into the next stage of the cycle.

What would Zuko have been reborn as?

He had skipped both water and earth. Would he have been reborn into air? It was the next element in the cycle, but the balance had been thrown off. Maybe he would have been reborn as water and then earth only to skip fire this time.

There was no way of knowing and Iroh didn’t plan to find out. He had to keep Zuko alive and well, but he first had to find his nephew.

So he continued to search.

Months passed like this. Summer had given way to fall and fall to winter, but as they were still in the Fire Nation the weather had stayed warm.

The Winter Solstice was soon coming, and with that would be his nephew’s birthday. Iroh had made sure to get his nephew a present even if he was sure that Zuko wouldn’t accept it. He had commissioned Piandao to make a new pair of dao swords for Zuko.

He had just picked them up from the sword’s master when he overheard a woman talking to a shopkeeper about the wanted poster for the Demon Prince.

“A boy who looks just like the Demon Prince was buying supplies from my brother’s shop a month ago.”

Iroh made his approach.

“Where is your brother’s shop?”

As it turned out the woman had been traveling, but the shop was in a town that was only a few days out from the Western Air Temple. Iroh should have known. Of course, the Avatar would have gone to the Air Temple.

He had to learn air as it was the element that followed fire in the cycle.

Iroh had been a fool not to see this.

He set a course for the Western Air Temple.

Chapter Text

Now that Druk was big enough for Zuko to ride, they had begun training Druk’s flight endurance. If they hoped to cross the water that separated the Fire Nation from the rest of the world, then it would be their only hope.

So far Druk could make short flights, but not nearly long enough to get them away from the Fire Nation.

The dragon could fly for a few hours at most, but that had proven useful in shortening the journey to town. Plus with Druk, Zuko was able to buy larger amounts of supplies.

He finally had enough supplies for their journey, but Druk was still too small to make the flight across the sea. That hadn’t stopped him from packing those things into bags that would go on the saddle he had made for Druk. The saddle had adjustable straps for while Druk was still growing.

Once Druk had finally stopped growing or outgrew this saddle, Zuko would make a new one.

The winter solstice was coming up, so right now he was packing that saddle with some of his supplies, so he could take a trip with Druk and Vaatu for his birthday. He wanted to visit Ember Island one last time before he left his homeland behind for what was likely to be a very long time.

He didn’t want to leave without a picture of his mother.

He didn’t want to forget her face more than he already had.

A few weeks on Ember Island would be good for him, and by the time they got back to the Air Temple, Druk would be nearly big enough to make the journey to the Earth Kingdom at the rate he was growing.

It had been months since Druk had been hurt, and the scar was still horrible.

A long knotted line of scarring that stretched from one leg to the other.

It had been nothing short of a miracle that the rock had missed his wing.

“I have no idea how I am going to hide you on the island.” Zuko sighed as he tightened the final strap, and began to tie bags and pouches onto the saddle.

He had made sure to pack his spare bedroll and a few water skins, along with the food and supplies.

Sure he could pull water from the air to drink, but there was no way he was sleeping on the hard ground again without a bedroll. He may have come a long way in moving past the comforts of his previous life, but he still didn’t enjoy sleeping on the ground.

It took a few hours to get Druk ready to leave, but he chatted with Vaatu and the dragon about how much he was looking forward to the short vacation they were taking for his birthday.

“Agni’s ball sack! I left my water skin of mango juice in my room!” Zuko groaned once he had finished getting the last pack tied to Druk’s saddle.

But then Vaatu went still within him, and Zuko went rigid.

Druk woke up abruptly from his dozing and went alert as well.

“There is a group of people climbing down the cliff to our location.”

Zuko spun around and pulled a ball of water from the air, as Druk growled. A moment later several Sun Warriors dropped from the sky and onto the platform he stood on with Druk.

They froze at the sight before them, and Zuko struck at that moment.

He shot out a whip of water that turned to deadly ice a moment before it sliced through the middle of one of his attackers. He was already sending an arc of flames at another, in the dying light of the evening.

The Sun Warriors jumped into action, shooting fireballs in return, but Zuko dodged and rushed them shooting ice daggers at the nearest two. They dropped dead moments later.

That was three out of seven down. Four left to go.

Druk roared and rushed into the battle now himself, bathing the nearest warrior to Zuko in a torrent of deadly dragon’s fire.

More warriors reached their ledge now, and the number of foes rose dramatically.

Zuko took his knife from his belt and lunged at the new nearest warrior and plunged it into the man’s chest, before backing away and kicking the hard with fire in the gut and sending them over the edge.

There were too many, and Zuko knew he couldn’t take them all on his own.

Even Druk was struggling with their numbers.

But then right as he was deciding to retreat back to Druk and flee the temple, fire shot out at the Sun Warriors, and his Uncle was there with the Fire Sages.

Zuko couldn’t afford to question why they were there, as he fought.

Uncle shouted at him and tossed something towards him.

Zuko caught it, and knew them in an instant, making quick work to strap the sheath of the swords to his side and draw the dao swords.

He swung at the head of the nearest enemy and moved onto the next before the warrior’s head hit the ground.

He felt the last rays of the sun fade from the sky being replaced by the light of the full moon.

In an instant, he remembered Hama.

He sheathed his swords, and lifted a hand towards the nearest man and reached out into his body and took control of the man’s blood.

The man twitched and dropped from his attack stance.

He was crying out as he lifted from the ground, limbs bending at unnatural angles.

Everyone froze and watched on in horror.

Zuko closed his hand into a fist and yanked.

Blood sprayed out of the man like a crushed watermelon and Zuko raised his other hand and began moving his arms like two streams in a river and bent the blood into a sphere.

He swung his arms out to the side and beheaded another warrior with it.

A moment later he leaped from the ledge and Druk soared down to catch him in his saddle.

When Druk raced back up, Zuko caught one glimpse of his Uncle’s horrified face, and he was gone.

Ember Island was a forgotten memory, as Druk raced further south and towards the nearest port town.

Iroh had seen the group of Sun Warriors descending the cliff into the Air Temple, and he had knocked as many of them off it with fire bending and the Fire Sages, but there were too many that made it into the temple where the sounds of a battle raged.

There was the roar of a dragon, and Iroh was descending the cliff with the sages.

Once in the temple, they were greeted with the sight of Zuko being overwhelmed by the Sun Warrior’s who had found him.

He shot fire at the nearest one to Zuko, and his nephew had looked over.

Iroh shouted to his nephew and threw the dao swords to him.

Zuko caught it and was instantly beheading someone with it and swinging it at another Sun Warrior.

Then he backed up and sheathed the swords before lifting a hand and did an odd moment with his fingers.

At first, Iroh wasn’t sure what Zuko was doing, but then came the screams.

Everyone froze and stared in horror at the Sun Warrior who lifted from the ground.

The man twitched and convulsed, and then there was blood.

Zuko was bending the blood from the warrior.

Iroh had never seen anything so horrible.

The blood collected into a sphere and Zuko lashed out at another warrior and killed him with it.

Then he turned and leaped from the edge of the platform and the dragon followed a moment later.

When the great beast came soaring upwards, Zuko sitting on it’s back, his eyes locked with Zuko’s own for a moment, and the boy was gone.

Iroh stood there in shock and horror.

He had been hardened by the battlefields of war. He had journeyed into the Spirit World looking for answers to why the spirits would allow his son to be killed in battle. He had seen his brother scar his nephew.

None of that had even remotely prepared him for this.

This singular moment of complete and utter horror.

His nephew had bent a man’s blood and killed that man.

His nephew had then used that blood to kill yet another person.

And looking at the number of the dead, his nephew had now been forced to acquaint himself with being a hand by which many could and likely would die.

Zuko might not need his protection after all…

But Iroh would still give it freely.

But first, the dead needed their funeral rights, and Iroh would leave that to their people.

He didn’t know what to think.

He and the Fire Sages had known that the Avatar Spirit had turned dark, but they had never thought that something this horrible could happen. But the Zuko of now had been forged in those flames nine months ago.

He had been transformed from a happy child and into a haunted warrior.

Zuko had been darkened by that fire.

Zuko had been taught to do whatever it took to stay alive.

Iroh was more than a little worried, but he would not make the mistake of betraying his nephew again.

He didn’t want to find out how much darkness a sword could be forged with...

Chapter Text

They flew for hours that night.

It wasn’t until well after the deepest part of the night that Druk finally landed and Zuko slipped from the saddle to stumble away and empty his stomach of it’s dinner.

The memory of blood permanently etched into his vision when he closed his eyes. 

He had blood bent and he had killed.

He had slaughtered those warriors.

People he had lived among for months.

He hadn’t meant to, but they had ambushed him and he had been trained to kill.

Zuko hadn’t known he was crying until Druk had coiled himself around him, and hummed soothingly to him.

His long reptilian tongue kissing away his tears.

“You did what you had to, my child,” Vaatu whispered to the sobbing boy who had lost what remained of his childhood in one blood-filled evening. “It was you or them. You had no choice.”

“I didn’t mean- I didn’t want to-” Zuko sobbed into the warm scales of Druk, as he collapsed to the ground. Broken and empty. “I didn’t have to do that! Not like that!”

“You fought people who would have killed you. Whatever you did to protect yourself does not take away from who you are. Zuko. You are still a good person!”

“I killed that man with blood bending!” Zuko shouted, and he curled in on himself, trying to banish the memory from his mind.

But he couldn’t.

Something like that doesn’t just leave you because you wish it.

You can’t cross a line like that and have it not stay with you.

“You fought and you did what it took to survive. My child, there was no wrong in what you did. Only regret. Let this be a moment to learn from, not the moment by which you define yourself.”

Zuko didn’t know how he couldn’t be defined by what he had done back at the Air Temple, but he was determined to never lose himself in a battle like that ever again. He would be more careful from here on out.

If he had to kill his enemies, then he wouldn’t let himself do it with blood bending ever again.

He was lulled to sleep by the lullaby again that night.

It was sure to be the first of many once more.

He dreamt of blood and of fire. Of burning flesh and burning scale. Blood in the air and upon the ground. Blood on his hands that he could never wash clean.

The next morning he rose with the sun and climbed into Druk’s saddle.

He couldn’t bring himself to eat after last night.

He wanted as far away from the temple as he could be.

It was time to go to the Earth Kingdom.

Druk however, while nearly large enough, was still too young to make the long flight across the sea, so they would have to hitch a ride on a boat.

Zuko waited until nightfall before he snuck aboard several different ships until he finally found one he could sneak Druk onto and plausibly hide the dragon during the voyage. And then he did just that. It was a decent-sized ship called The Carrion Snake and while Zuko got an odd vibe off of it, he didn’t have the luxury of going with another option.

If the ship’s log was to be trusted, then this ship was the one he needed.

Plus this ship would be leaving in the morning.

Zuko and Druk hid in the dusty and unused dusty storeroom that he had found and waited.

It didn’t take long after sunrise for the ship to leave the port.

Zuko wished that he had packed more supplies, but he had thought he was going to be traveling over land to Ember Island and would have been able to hunt for food. He hadn’t known his plans would have been changed so drastically.

A few days in, he snuck out from their storeroom and found his way to the main food storage room, where he had seen food and stole some to feed to Druk.

About a week into the voyage Zuko got caught.

He had been rooting through a box when the door had opened.

“Halt!”

Zuko froze. And glanced to his right.

A thin lanky man in a green tunic stood in the doorway holding up a weapon.

“I don’t recognize you. You aren't one of our passengers.”

Zuko stepped away from the box and raised his hands in surrender.

“I’m sorry… I stowed away.”

The man lowered his weapon when he realized Zuko was just a kid.

“Well it is too late to turn the ship around, and we can’t just drop you off the side of the ship.” The man sighed with his nasally voice. “Okay follow me. You should talk to the captain.”

Zuko nodded once and obeyed.

Once in the captain’s office, Zuko was sitting in a chair, and left there, while the odd man went to wake the captain.

The captain didn’t seem pleased to have been woken up in the middle of the night, but he walked with purpose and an iguana parrot sitting on his shoulder and sat down across the desk from Zuko.

“So Oh tells me that you stowed away on this fine vessel without paying for your passage… Is this true, boy?” His voice was deep and spoke of former nobility long since cast away.

“Yes, sir,” Zuko answered. “I am sorry, sir.”

The man narrowed his dark eyes at Zuko, and growled, “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t throw you overboard?”

Zuko felt panic bubbling up in his chest, but Vaatu soothed him saying, “Tell him you are willing to work for your stay. That you learn quickly and can work hard.”

“I can work for my keep. I learn quickly and work hard.” Zuko answered.

“And what are your skills?” The man said with a smile, as he leaned back looking like an owl cat that had caught a meadow vole in its mouth.

“I can read and write and cook and clean as well as mend things. I am also good at hunting and foraging for food. I also know how to clean and dress wounds. And I can fight.” He finished gesturing to his swords, which were still sheathed.

The captain seemed to regard him for a few moments, as though he was appraising the boy like he was goods to be sold off to the highest bidder. Zuko wasn’t sure what it was that the captain was looking for, but he had only glanced at the scar that stretched from his left eye and disappeared into his shirt for a moment, so it wasn’t that.

Finally the man seemed to have decided.

“Okay, but we don’t have any spare beds, so either find someone to bunk up with or keep sleeping wherever you have been so far. I expect you on the deck and ready to work first thing in the morning. Am I understood?”

“Yes, sir”, Zuko answered, as he was finally dismissed.

Zuko made sure to make a detour back to the storeroom with the food before he returned to the dusty one he had been sleeping in with Druk.

There was something strange going on this ship, and he was going to find out what.

He didn’t know how long it was going to take for Oh and the captain to leave the man’s office, so Zuko decided that he was going to check it out tomorrow night after everyone had gone to bed.

Once again, despite Vaatu’s best efforts, Zuko’s dreams had been nightmares. They had been that way since he had first been scared, and while at times they had lessened, with each new trauma that unfolded, the dreams came back full force and with new horrors.

The ancient spirit didn’t know how to put a stop to those dreams. He didn’t know how to protect his child from the new traumas that were lying in wait and ready to pounce around each new turn.

He didn’t know how to protect Zuko.

And to top it all off, there was something very strange going on here. This ship wasn’t as safe as they had first thought, and he hadn’t liked the way those men had sized his son up. Like he was a piece of meat. Like he had a value they were trying to assess.

They looked at Zuko in the same manner Ozai always had.

Like he was a product to be sold and a goat dog raised for the slaughter.

When morning finally came, Zuko had woken up and ate a light breakfast of fruit. Then the child had made his way to the topside of the deck where the captain and his crew were waiting like Carrion Snakes.

And the name of the ship seemed to be all too fitting of its crew.

This clearly was not a normal vessel for the Fire Nation and while the ship’s manifest had stated this trip was to charter a group of Fire Nation citizen’s to the colonies, neither Zuko nor himself believed that after last night.

“You said you know how to mend things, and I have something that needs mending.” The captain stated as the man known as Oh handed Zuko a bag and a sewing kit. “Once you are done with that, come find a member of the crew and they will find something new for you to do.”

The tattered flag was made of black cloth and when Zuko had unfurled it he saw the skull and bone swords…

These men were not couriers for the Fire Nation…

They were pirates...

Chapter Text

The horror that had shot through Zuko at that sight was horrible.

He had gravely miscalculated which ship he should stow away on. But what was done was done and it was too late to turn back now. So he hid that fear and set himself to his task, suddenly very glad that he hadn’t said anything more than he already had. He didn’t want to know what would have happened if these men, these pirates, had discovered who he was.

If he had slipped up and told them he was a bender or the Avatar then he was sure something very different would have happened.

The Avatar and he would have been put in chains and sold off to Fire Lord Ozai. A bender and he would have risked raising suspicion if he accidentally bent the wrong element and then outed himself as the Avatar and well he already knew how that would have gone.

He could keep his head low and he would get off at the first port.

As he worked to mend the damning flag, a horrible question entered his mind via his dad, Vaatu, asking, “My child if these men are meant to be delivering Fire Nation citizens to Yu Dao, then where are their passengers? We have only seen the pirates since arriving on the ship.”

Zuko’s hands froze for a moment and he realized that Vaatu was right.

So he thought back to the spirit, “After the day crew goes to sleep tonight, we will have to search the rest of the storerooms I didn’t get a chance to look at.”

Mending the flag, of course, didn’t take him too long, as he had been mending his clothes ever since Hama had taught him how to. And once he had completed his task, he folded the flag back up and put it back into the bag it had come to him in and stood up from where he had been sitting on the deck.

A quick glance and he spotted Oh and made his way over, taking in every detail of the Carrion Snake that he could.

Oh spotted him once he was within a few arm lengths of the man and looked down at the bag in his hands.

“Oh? You’re done already?,” The man asked as he took the bag and sewing kit from Zuko. “The cook should be getting ready to make lunch. Follow me to the kitchen.”

Zuko gave a nod and followed three steps behind the man, observing everything he could and devising a plan.

If his people were on this boat somewhere, then they would need to be fed and if he could convince the cook to let him deliver them their food… Well then he would know where they were and he might be able to find out why they weren’t free to roam the ship.

He was uneasy about that fact.

Something was deeply wrong on this ship and he needed to find out what that was.

Oh led him into a kitchen and introduced him to the cook, “Mau this is the stowaway… Hey boy? What is your name?”

“Lie.”

“Lee, sir.”

Oh looked at him for a moment before continuing, “This is the stowaway, Lee. He can cook. He will help you today.”

The cook, Mau, studied Zuko for a few moments before giving a nod and pointing at a basket of tomato carrots and growled, “Cut up six of those, boy.”

There was a knife next to the basket and once Oh had left, Zuko walked over and picked it up. A brief thought about how he could easily use it to kill Mau passed through his mind much to his disturbance.

He had no idea how many of his former friends he had murdered on his birthday.

His stomach churned at the thought and he felt acid burning in the back of his throat.

Mau looked at him funny, before glancing at the closed door and signed, “Put the knife down and sit down.”

Zuko dropped the knife back down on the counter, but he didn’t sit.

Not when all he could see was blood staining his shaking hands.

He felt cold.

But then there was a hand trying to guide him away and a muffled voice saying something in his head.

Zuko wasn’t responding to Vaatu’s frantic attempts to calm him down and his mind was swimming with images of blood on swords and a bloody red mist in the air.

Then Mau put a hand on the boy’s shoulder and Zuko reached for the knife.

Vaatu seized control of his child’s body, stopping the hand halfway to the knife.

“Lee? Sit down- You’re having a panic attack!” The human shouted as Vaatu shrugged the man’s hand off from Zuko’s shoulder.

“Do not touch my child, human,” Vaatu said as calm as he could.

Vaatu would have tried to pretend that they were Zuko to keep their child’s secrets, but he knew that the moment he would speak, there would be that inhuman dual layer of their voices. There was no way for him to hide that. And the moment he spoke it would be obvious that he wasn’t Zuko.

Mau’s hand made no attempt to repeat the action, as he stepped back and the room darkened despite the light pouring in from the window.

“What in Agni’s name are you?!” The human accused. “ Who are you to possess this child!”

Vaatu stepped back from the counter and sat his child down onto the counter, before picking up the knife to play with for a moment. Then he looked up at where the man stood, with glowing red eyes.

“I am this child’s father. I save him from those who would try and bring harm to him.”

Mau looked terrified but stayed silent from terror.

Vaatu frowned and looked down at the knife in Zuko’s hands before he spoke again, “Do not sneak up on my son. He nearly killed you for the act. Do not harm him or else I will sink this ship and leave you and all of the humans on board to drown in La’s endless depths.”

“Am I understood, human ?” Vaatu asked with finality.

Mau looked at him and gave a shaky nod.

Vaatu smiled with an unnatural and chilling smile before finishing, “Tell anyone about this and I will decide that you pose a threat to my son.”

Mau swallowed before glancing down at the knife with clear terror shining on his face and answered, “Yes, sir… I-I won’t say anything, but you need to get him off this ship before we pull into the harbor in Ba Sing Se.”

Vaatu frowned.

“This ship is meant to be going to Yu Dao.”

The cook was shaking as he answered, “That’s what the manifest says. It isn’t where we are actually going. The Captain targets people who won’t be missed and convinces them that they will have a better life in the colonies. But he takes them to Ba Sing Se to sell to the Dai Li. It makes us more money than couriering for the Fire Nation.”

Vaatu gave a nod, before sighing, “My child isn’t going to like this. He will want to save these people. My son is a good human. I will have to convince him to leave them behind and to save them at a later date… You will have to tell us everything that you know about these operations…”

“I can’t have him wandering this ship. You will tell the captain of this ship that you will be needing my child’s aid in the kitchen for the remainder of the journey. His safety is more important than your own, human.”

Mau gave a shaky nod, and let out a squeak of fear when Vaatu threw the knife at the wall, where it embedded itself with a low thwing sound.

Vaatu could feel Zuko’s body beginning to grow tired, but he wasn’t in danger of overwhelming the child with the Avatar state yet. So he didn’t release his hold yet. Not until he knew Zuko would fall asleep the moment that Vaatu let go.

Zuko needed to eat something, so he leaped down from the counter and spotted a strip of ruby red meat and snatched it from the counter and popped it into Zuko’s mouth. Mau seemed disturbed by the action, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, the human grabbed a piece of jerky from a jar and held it out to Zuko.

Vaatu swallowed the bloody strip and growled, “If you are trying to poison-”

Mau interrupted him answering, “Humans don’t eat raw meat, sir. It can make them sick.”

Vaatu dropped the raw meat that was still held in his son’s hand and felt the vile claws of guilt rack at him before he accepted the offered food with a nod.

“How long have you been the boy’s father, sir?” The human asked, seeming to calm a touch at Vaatu’s concern for Zuko.

“I came to him the night of his birth. The coward who sired him would have killed him if I hadn’t,” Vaatu answered, voices tinged with sorrow. “I claimed him as my own within the month. I protected him from that human . I will be with this human, my child, for eternity.”

A swell of fierce protectiveness fueled by Vaatu’s love for his child filled his being. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for Zuko.

A brief thought that while trapped on the Carrion Snake he might be able to build up Zuko’s endurance for the Avatar State that occurred to him. However, he filed that thought away for later once Zuko had emerged from the cloudy depths of his panic and memories.

Vaatu would need to get Zuko’s permission to do that, even if he could go through with it, without consulting his son.

“Lee’s father- sire sounds like a vile man. If you are protecting him, then I am glad he has you… What is your name, sir?”

Vaatu knew that his name had faded from human history long ago, but he didn’t risk telling the human, just in case the other spirits were to learn he had escaped from the tree and then contact the humans and warn them about him.

So Vaatu sneered, “That isn’t of any concern to you, human.”

Mau’s look of fear reappeared, as he turned back to look at the knife in the wall. A moment later he strode over and plucked the utensil from where it had made its home, before placing it down onto the counter. Then he resumed cooking lunch for the humans, while Vaatu finished eating Zuko’s fill of whatever food he pleased, making sure to check about whether or not certain foods might make his child sick.

Once he was done with that, Vaatu glanced around and spotted a cot in the corner that must be the human’s bed. He sat Zuko down onto it and reached inside their fused spirits and searched out the child.

Zuko had begun to calm already and finally became responsive again.

“ Dad? What happened?”

“You had a panic attack. You are safe now. The human Mau is going to help protect you and give us information to help the humans you want to save. For now, you need to rest.” Vaatu answered, soothing Zuko’s soul.

Zuko was silent for a moment before he sagged within Vaatu and gave in to the tired feeling that filled him.

“My child is going to rest now, human. I do not rest, so do not get any ideas about harming him while he sleeps.” Vaatu threatened one last time, before laying Zuko down onto the cot and closing the child’s eyes and beginning to sing his lullaby within his son’s mind.

Zuko needed his rest and not even Raava would get in the way of his child’s sleep.

Speaking of Raava, Vaatu wasn’t sure where she and her Avatar had gone off to. Her presence could still be felt, but it was faint and distant. Almost as though there was some form of interference that removed her from this world.

Vaatu had wondered about that ever since returning to the material world.

The humans thought her gone from the world, with the sole exception of those that had mistaken Zuko for her Avatar. Humans who had completely forgotten about the origins of their Avatar.

It was certainly convenient for both Zuko and himself.

Vaatu wasn’t sure what to think about that and had wondered about that at great length since he had joined themself with Zuko.

Something was wrong with this world and the air benders were gone, and no one was left to teach Vaatu’s son that lost art.

Vaatu couldn’t bend an element that Zuko hadn’t managed to learn.

But air bending wouldn’t be needed to kill Ozai the Pretender.

And Vaatu was determined to burn the man alive.

Chapter Text

When Zuko woke up and found that he was laying on a cot in a kitchen, the scent of stew permeated the air.

His body felt sluggish as he sat up, finally taking in the room.

The cook was stirring the pot that he was sure the wonderful smell of food was coming from. And there wasn’t any light coming in from the window. He’d slept through the entire day, but at least he had gotten up in time for a hot meal.

Maybe he should have been angry with his dad for having locked him away in his own mind earlier, but he wasn’t. Not when it would have meant he would have killed Mau totally by accident.

Zuko was only twelve and he already had blood on his hands.

He wasn’t ready to add even more.

Vaatu stirred soothingly within him and Zuko slowed his breathing. Breathing that he hadn’t noticed until that moment had sped up.

“Calm yourself, my child. There is no danger before us.”

Zuko steadied himself in acknowledgment at the comfort his dad offered him before he rose to his feet from the cot he had been laying on. The thought of what Vaatu had told him before he had fallen asleep like a flickering flame within his mind.

He strode over to the cook, an aura of command steady like mountain stone radiating from him.

“My father says that you have information that I need,” The young avatar said coldly. “You will tell me now.”

Mau seemed to shrink before him, as he answered voice quivering in fear, “Yes, sir, it’s about our destination.”

And with each word that followed, Zuko’s anger grew like a wild-fire and his blood boiled. And for a single moment, he reconsidered adding the blood of The Carrion Snake to his hands. But he needed this ship and its crew for the time being.

He needed earth bending to put a stop to the Dai Li. He couldn’t do it with the bending he already knew. And he would need an earth bending master who would be more than happy to aid him in his goals.

The Dai Li would fall for their crimes against his people.

Zuko growled, impatience to save his people building within him.

Of all the ships to have chosen, this had been the right one.

He left to feed Druk, as the thoughts of how while he might not be able to save those who had already been stolen. All he could do was make sure that this would never happen again.

Slaves are easier to train when they didn’t have thoughts to call their own.

The lanterns that lined the halls roared as he passed them. It had been years since he had let his control of fire slip from him like this. But he didn’t think that he had ever felt this outraged in his entire life.

He paused and took a few slow meditative breaths before the flames shrank back down to normal. Then he continued to where he had left Druk.

He had to be ready to leave tomorrow morning when they would be passing by Kyoshi Island. From there he would find a way to the mainland that didn’t risk harming the people on this ship. After that, he could find his teacher.

Druk wiggled happily when he slipped into the room. But the dragon didn’t call out to him, sensing Zuko’s serious mood.

They were on a timeline.

Zuko packed his things quickly and quietly before he retrieved his journal from one of the satchels and recorded the information that he had been given, so he wouldn’t forget anything.

Then he met the vile creatures that called themselves men for supper.

He wouldn’t waste his own supplies when he could get a free meal out of these hawk vultures. It was in no way repayment for what they had done to his people, but they would be made to pay when he had the power to make them.

Until then he had to let their operation continue, as to not raise suspicion and cause them to alter their plans. He had six months to master earth bending before they returned to the Fire Nation and collected more unsuspecting souls to sell into a brainwashed slavery.

He was quiet as he ate, or at least on the outside.

In reality, he was talking over his travel plans and the best place for him to find an earth bending teacher. Vaatu had hoped that they would have been given enough time to build up his endurance for the Avatar State before fleeing the ship, but both of them knew that it would be best if they waited until they had reached somewhere safe.

Or at least safer than a pirate ship, with how Zuko seemed to always find himself stumbling into increasingly dangerous situations.

That night, when Zuko retreated to the storeroom he had been sleeping in, he finally secured his bags to Druk’s saddle, hoping for a quick escape the following morning, as soon as Kyoshi Island came into sight. The dragon’s inner flame soothed the tension that was building inside of the young avatar.

He had felt that flame’s presence from the moment he’d first held Druk’s egg six months ago.

Zuko had never been alone. Not with Vaatu sharing his mind. And now he was even further from that foreign feeling of loneliness, with the constant heat of the dragon’s flame flicking in time with his own.

He had learned he could use that flame to call on Druk at a moment’s notice, and he would need to call on Druk in the morning. There would be no way to sneak the dragon onto the deck without being noticed.

And a look at how Druk had grown in the past week, showed that he wouldn’t be able to stay too much longer. Not with how he was nearly big enough that soon he wouldn’t be able to fit through the door.

The door would likely still be destroyed the following morning.

Zuko made sure that Druk got some sleep, as he passed the room worries and anxieties building within him like a poison. He knew he should sleep as well, but he couldn’t manage it. Not when there was so much that could go wrong.

Finally, he sat down, and for the first time in months, he let himself think back to the before.

Growing up in the palace and sneaking about with Azula in one of the rare moments that he had gotten away from his tutors and the sages.

They had played hide and explode all afternoon.

She’s been five at the time. He’d been seven.

They had found themselves out in the hedge maze. And Vaatu always gave him hints as to where his sister had hidden, when Zuko couldn’t seem to find her. Hints that Zuko had used to prolong the game for as long as possible, knowing that it was only a matter of time before they were both dragged off to their respective lessons.

They had laughed and played for hours.

And he would never forget laying in the center of the maze looking up at the clouds passing by with her.

Azula had been oddly quiet as they laid there until she finally said sadly, “I don’t think father likes me very much. He says I’m not spirit blessed like you are… Does Agni not love me like he does you and father?”

“Tell your sister that I hold no love for her father,” Vaatu had ordered, before adding. “But also tell her that I do care for her. That her bending is still a blessing to her from Agni. That Agni does love her. Her bending is greater than that of her father.”

And Zuko did.

He would never forget the grin that had split across her face.

He had gotten her to promise not to say anything to anyone about what she had been told. At least for the time being. It would have only enraged Ozai if she had.

It had been the last time that they had been allowed to play together. After that day the guards had made sure to keep a closer eye on both of them, having deemed Azula to be a bad influence on him that would hinder his studies.

He missed her and wondered what could have been if the Fire Sages hadn’t kept them apart. Zuko wondered if he could have grown to call her a friend.

He had never had a friend until he had gone to the Sun Warriors…

Zuko fell asleep with tears staining his face, as Vaatu sang to him once more.

The next morning he rose with the sun, just as he had every day of his life.

A quick check of his bags revealed that none of them had come loose during the night and then he was out the door and heading up and onto the deck.

The captain’s iguana parrot was swooping past different windows and screeching loudly to wake up those who hadn’t been a part of the night crew for sailing. He wouldn’t have long before he was expected to go to the kitchen to help Mau begin breakfast for the crew.

Zuko could only hope that Kyoshi Island would come into sight before then.

He stood rooted firmly to the deck as he stared out at the ocean, scanning the horizon for the island. Vaatu assured him that he would sense the island far before Zuko, but Zuko didn’t want to risk missing it somehow.

“How are you so sure that you will see it?” He asked, anxiety filling him again because they could not afford to screw this up.

Vaatu signed and answered, “The same way I know when someone is sneaking up on you, my child. And the same way I am able to show you where there are life forms nearby. I can see their souls. And I can sense them long before they come into view.”

“Like Uncle’s spirit vision?”

“Yes, but more powerful. Spirits can see the souls of humans in addition to other spirits. Humans with spirit vision can only see the spirits. So humans are still able to sneak up on them.”

Zuko mulled that over, but he didn’t move yet. Not until either he had to or he saw the island.

It hadn’t taken long for someone to notice and run off to inform the captain of the ship, who upon hearing about their stow away staring out at the sea quietly had gone to talk to Zuko. Of course, his dad let him know that the man was approaching him.

“The ocean sure is beautiful,” The captain sighed, as he came to stand next to Zuko. “I’ve been sailing La’s waters for the past thirty-something years now and this sight never gets old.”

Zuko could see what the man meant. The way the light of the rising sun bathed the cold waters with warm colors was beautiful, in the same way, that he would bend fire and water together in a dance.

Opposing forces in perfect harmony.

He however did not elect to respond to the captain’s word, choosing to let out a hum of agreeance because after all, this man was profiting off of human trafficking. It didn’t matter that he had found beauty in some portion of his life.

Not when he was stealing beauty away from the lives of every single person who was erased and sold off to the highest bidder.

Zuko refused to stand next to this vile vulture snake any longer than he had to. So he stepped away from the rising sun and retreated back into the bowls of the ship to read over the bending scroll that Hama had given him nearly a year ago.

It had been nothing short of a miracle that he had it on him when he had stolen Druk’s egg. Otherwise, he would have lost it, as he had the rest of his things he’d left behind during the summer solstice.

He had mastered the four moves on the scroll after months of practice, along with the bending forms that Hama had taught him during the month he’d stayed with her in Jinzu. But studying the scroll gave him something to do, while he waited for Vaatu to alert him that it was finally time to leave this ship and head for land while they still had the chance.

He could almost pretend that he was sitting in the attic of the inn and that he hadn’t yet learned about blood bending. Before he had learned what it meant to kill…

The sun had only moved a few degrees higher in the sky, by the time his dad let him know that Kyoshi was now close enough that he could feel the life force of the island’s inhabitants.

But the moment Zuko rose from where he had been sitting, Vaatu warned him, “Someone is in the hall outside the door.”

Zuko froze.

For a moment there was silence, but then the door opened and Zuko was greeted by the sight of Oh.

Zuko dropped the scroll and rushed him, while the man was still started by the sight of Druk.

The man sidestepped him and rushed down the hall screaming, “DRAGON! THE BOY HAS A DRAGON!”

Oh was fleeing topside so Zuko had no choice but to chase after him.

Druk following a moment behind roaring, but wisely not breathing fire seeing how the ship was made almost entirely out of wood.

If his swords were not currently strapped to Druk’s saddle, Zuko would have used them to fight his way off the ship. Instead, all he had was his bending and just like Druk, Zuko was not about to use his fire bending on a wooden ship.

Instead, Zuko used the ocean that the captain loved so much.

The moment his feet hit the deck, and he was face to face with the startled crew, he was already drawing water up from the ocean and sending it out in a whip at the nearest pirate.

Thankfully the fight was over the moment Druk burst out from behind him and grabbed Zuko by the back of his shirt, as he leaped into the sky.

The look of shocked horror on the crew’s faces was something that Zuko was becoming familiar with already by this point. He had seen the same look on his uncle’s face every single time he’d seen the man during the past year. Which hadn’t been many times, but it had been enough that he was no longer surprised by it.

It was a look he was sure to see plenty more in the coming future as well.

But soon the Carrion Snake became a speck on the ocean below them, and he was able to spot another speck on the horizon that was growing closer.

It could only be one thing.

Kyoshi Island.

Suki had been on her morning job around the island’s perimeter when she spotted an Agni damned dragon flying towards the island.

She came to a halt on the beach and stared.

The warrior was about to turn and run to warn the village when she spotted a child dangling from the creature’s claws. And then once the dragon had gotten a bit closer, she spotted a saddle on the beast.

You could tame a dragon?!?!

For a brief moment, Suki’s thoughts turned to the Unagi and the merits of finding a way to tame the sea serpent, but she shook that thought off and instead rushed back to town to warn them not to try and shoot the dragon down.

She couldn’t risk the child drowning.

Fifteen minutes later, she and the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors were waiting on the beach, when the dragon landed.

The creature wasn’t as large as she had been expecting. Tales of dragons had always described them to be massive, and while this dragon was certainly large enough for two or three people to ride on, it was far smaller than the Unagi.

The beast was careful of the child as it landed.

A boy who looked to be around her own age, but it was the massive scar that covered the left half of his face that she zeroed in on. And that was when she realized his eyes were bright shining gold.

Pure breed Fire Nation

Suki had seen eyes that spoke of a Fire Nation origin growing up on Kyoshi because during the early years of the war there were plenty of refugees who’d come to the island. Some of which had been Fire Nation, but most of which were from the  Water Tribe and the Earth Kingdom. However, it had been decades since the last time a refugee had come to live on the island, as most tended to try and land their boats on the beach.

The Unagi did not know friend nor foe when the serpent protected the cove it called home. And after one too many had failed to make the voyage, the others stopped coming.

Kyoshi’s docks were well hidden on the other side of the island.

The leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, Senchi approached the boy and demanded, “Why have you come to our island?”

The boy answered almost immediately, “We were running away from pirates and this was the closest place we could land.”

The warriors went stiff.

Last time pirates had come to their island, the majority of the adult warriors had been killed, including Suki’s mother, who at the time hadn’t been a warrior for close to eight years.

Suki had been only seven at the time, but Senchi had taken her in and raised her as her own.

Normally when a Kyoshi Warrior became a mother, they had to step down as a warrior, as was customary. But Senchi had declared that she would be training Suki to one day lead the Kyoshi Warriors, so they had made an exception because while Suki may not have been old enough at the time to begin her leadership training, it was also part of their traditions for the leader in training to live with the current leader.

Senchi’s first lesson had that there was always a way to achieve one’s goals. Or more commonly known as finding a loophole.

The woman now looked out at the horizon, asking, “Were you followed?”

“Druk was too fast for them. That and I’m sure they think that I’m more trouble than it's worth,” The boy answered.

And well he had a point. The kid had a dragon for Koh’s sake!

Senchi relaxed and ceased scanning the horizon, though she was sure to order patrols for the next month to make sure things stayed that way, and said, “My name is Senchi and I am the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors.”

The boy gave a deep bow and formed the symbol for fire with his hands, before he answered, “I am Avatar Zuko. It is an honor to meet you, Warrior Senchi.”

Suki’s eyes went wide in surprise.

This kid was the spirits damned Avatar?

Zuko had completely vanished from the Fire Nation following the winter solstice and Iroh was growing worried that somehow the Sun Warriors had found and killed his nephew. He had been searching everywhere for the boy and yet after close to a month, nothing new had turned up.

Finally, he had to conclude that either Zuko had died or managed to flee the Fire Nation.

He had returned to the Caldara to pack his things before heading east in search of the child.

But it was while he was there that he overheard his brother speaking with Captain Zhao.

“I have received word that the Avatar has been spotted on Kyoshi. You are to capture him and you will have whatever resources you need to accomplish your mission, Admiral Zhao.”

“Yes, my lord. I am honored you would entrust this task-” The newly promoted admiral began, but was cut off when Ozai interrupted him.

“Save your words. We both know that you care more for glory. Which is why I am entrusting you with this task. You are the kind of man willing to do anything to achieve the glory you so desperately desire. Also, I have another task I need done. My brother believes that the Demon Prince has fled to the Earth Kingdom. If you come across the boy, kill him.”

Rage flooded General Iroh’s chi paths and the candles nearest him flickered brighter for a moment before he’d calmed his fire back under his full control.

He had to get to Kyoshi first or else.

To be continued in Hello Chaos...