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Chapter Text

"No! I hate you!"

The words echoed in Zuko's head and his gaze dropped from the horizon to the head of his (Song's) ostrich-horse.

He'd been riding for days, no other settlements in sight after leaving the small village. 

They had liked him, Sela and Lee, they let him stay with them and the look in Lee's eyes when Zuko told him about his swords,

The look in Lee's eyes after Zuko firebent to stop the Eart Kingdom soldiers...

'Why? Why do I bother? All I am is a disappointment and a useless "heir".

'…

…

… Maybe?'

Making up his mind, he turned off the road, and into the vast plains, riding until nothing is in sight.

Nothing in sight, the same as it had been for days, and the same as it would be when his eyes closed at last.

He slid off the animal and releases it, shooing it away, hoping it will find somewhere to stay.

And with that, he sits

And waits…

Chapter Text

Days pass, and all Zuko notices as things start to haze together is a small, numbed discomfort, and the changes of the heavens.

Day, and night.

Day and night.

Dayand night.

DayandNight.

Day,

Night,

Day,

Sunset,

And as he falls asleep once more, he opens his eyes to somewhere unfamiliar.

The strange flora and fauna surrounding the stone plate he's sitting on are like nothing he's seen or heard about outside of Uncle's stories.

But those are just stories.

And as he looked closer and brushed his fingers across the stone, he saw intricate carvings. Carvings of stories. Of sages and avatars, heroes and dragons. Important events from centuries past.

This places meant something.

A soft chuckle broke him out of his reverie.

His head shot up to the voice, and he recoiled.

In front of him was a spirit.

The spirit

Agni.

The sun spirit, the sun himself, was sitting in front of him.

His outfit was like that of a fire sage, and the ceremonial robes of the Fire Lord.

He didn't have a head, just a ball of light in its place, surrounded by small whirling halos.

Zuko hurriedly kneeled and began to press his forehead to the stone, but stopped upon seeing Agni raise his hand.

Agni pat the stone and Zuko adjusted his legs into seiza.

"My Lord Agni," He started, "may I ask why you have called me to the Spirit World?"

Agni put his hands together, and then shifted them, making shapes and symbols that floated off into glowing sigils that swirled around Zuko.

One hovered directly in front of him, the shape of an eye that felt like it was staring into his soul, just barely in front of his nose.

He reached out, what else was he supposed to do, and brushed his fingers against the sigil's glow.

Suddenly, all Zuko could see was a tornado of light, filling his vision and flooding his senses as a voice echoed in his head.

"My Chosen, this is not the path picked for you. It is not yet your time. Go, fulfill your purpose."

"My purpose? What does that mean?"

"It is one you will resist, so I will give you an incentive. I just hope it is enough."

"I'm confused. What are you telling me?"

"Find the avatar. He is your purpose, just not in the way you may have thought. Only then will my incentive turn to your will."

The Spirit World started to fade, darkness overtaking his vision, and Zuko's eyes widened.

"Wait! What do you mean? What incentive? Please!"

And it turned to black.

"When between a rock and a hard place, look for the cracks in the wall, for even the smallest may be your way out."

And in the black of night, in an empty field curtained by stars, Zuko woke.

He woke with eyes that were not his, a body that was certainly not proportioned correctly, and a roar that shook the earth.

Chapter Text

Appa flew through the sky, the atmosphere on his back so tense you could poke it with your finger, and it'd smack you back.

Sokka glanced at Aang, sitting on the Bison's head, nodding off before jerking awake again.

Katara and Toph were sitting on the far ends of the saddle, the former glaring at the passing scenery, the latter with crossed arms and a deep frown.

He sighed.

He knew they were tired, everyone was, what with the princess and her lackeys chasing them, but did they have to squabble so much? Was it that much to ask?

He wished he could just lay down in the saddle and take a nap, but he couldn't do that when he felt like he'd have to pry Katara and Toph off of each other if they started fighting again.

Tui and La he was tired.

He glanced at his friends again and went back to sharpening his boomerang.

At least he would have if his eye missed the shadow.

Something was streaking downwards from the sky, towards them 

Aang specifically.

"Hey! Aang, move!"

Katara and Toph looked his way as Aang turned towards him, a question on his lips.

His eyes widened.

And suddenly the, thing, was speeding away.

And Aang was gone from the saddle.

Zuko chortled as he raced away, disbelieving that he got away with it. The muscles on his back burned from disuse, pulling out of the dive putting more strain on them than they could comfortably handle. It had taken him what felt like ages to get a handle it.

The Avatar squirmed in his hands claws.

Agni, he didn't want to stay this way.

He glanced down as he adjusted a couple "fingers" to lock the Avatar's arms and legs together.

He wouldn't fail.

Not this time.

As the bison shrunk until it was gone from his vision, he slowed to a more leisurely speed to relax his strained muscles.

Getting into the air was difficult, let alone staying there. His body was wrong, his torso too long and his arms too far apart from his legs causing him to twist when he meant to walk. And that thing attached to his ass didn't make it any easier by whipping around and unbalancing him every time he felt a bolt of irritation run through him. His neck was the same length as his body, making him feel like a cobra-chicken with a weight on its head whenever he tried to look around. It took him days to even try to use the unnatural weights on his back to get into the air, it was almost worse than trying to walk. And he didn't even want to think about how he'd had to eat.

His body was utterly, viscerally wrong, and he was stuck in his own skin.

He'd take the Avatar to the fire nation, and then he'd be accepted, loved, and he wouldn't be stuck in this miserable form.

Maybe his father would-

Zuko squeezed his eyes shut as blinding pain raced through his left wing and back leg.

And he screamed as he fell to the earth.

"Yes! I got it!"

Sokka watched in glee as the animal flailed and shrieked, as it spun towards the dirt.

He grabbed the reigns and steered Appa down through the trees, before landing with a huff on the leafy ground.

Katara hopped off as he helped Toph down.

They all turned to gawk at the creature they struck down from the sky.

It was long, and mainly black. He could only see bits of white on the part of its face that wasn't turned away.

He took a step closer to the still beast, hoping to see Aang close by, or hear him above the giant's labored breathing.

"Aang!" He whisper-yelled. "Aang are you there?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm good" He saw the monk crawl from between the brute's claws.

"What happened?" Aang asked.

"You were steering Appa and-" Katara began.

"This giant lizard nabbed you! I knocked it down though."

"That's not a lizard! It's a dragon!" He paused. "Sokka! it could be hurt!"

Katara opened her mouth and paused for a moment, "I'll give it a look-over, and then we'll go, if it would make you feel better Aang." she offered.

"Yes please, thank you Katara."

"You do that Sugar Queen. Heads up though, something's wrong with its back left leg, might be broken, and its breathing and heartbeat are extremely erratic, I don't think it'll be out for much longer. Be careful."

Katara smiled. "Thanks Toph."

She stepped forward,

and the prince awoke.

Chapter Text

"Back up!" Sokka yelled as he pulled his boomerang out and held it threateningly.

Everyone shifted away and got into battle stances.

The overgrown salamander twisted its legs back underneath it and attempted to stand, only to crumple with a yelp as its left hind leg gave out.

Katara looked at it. It's body was black, with an off-white mane and translucent webbing on its wings. It had tufts of fur on its elbows and chin, with gold looking spikes on its neck.

Its face was what surprised her though.

It was mainly blue, but it had nearly white markings around its eyes and near it's lips.

She stepped forward.

"I can try to fix that, if you'd like." She spoke to it. It felt a little stupid to trying to talk to it, but Appa understood them well enough, so it was worth a try.

Its gaze snapped to them, and her eyes widened. The white was the same on the left side of its face as its right, but what surprised her was the blue. Nearly the entire left half of its face, where there should have been blue, was a sick, mottled pink.

It stared, as if trying to process why they were there, before pulling back its lips like a viper-wolf and hissing a long, threatening noise.

"Katara! Get back here! It obviously doesn't want to be bothered, so let's just get on the bison, and leave it in peace."

"No! We, or should I say, you, hurt it. we should try to do something."

"Azula and her friends are coming! We don't have the time!'

No one noticed its ears perk up slightly at the sentence.

"Exactly! We can't just leave it here injured! Just, make yourselves less threatening, and I'll try to get it to calmed down enough to heal. It hasn't attacked us yet, so it shouldn't take long."

She turned around and took another cautious step forward. It tensed, but slowly relaxed after a couple seconds. She took another and it snarled, then waited. On the third the hiss came back with a vengeance.

She glanced back and saw that, while Aang had gone back to watch from on Appa, and Toph was standing on the ground not far away from them, Sokka had taken a step forward each time she did.

"Sokka, go back."

"No. What if it tries to eat you? You won't be able to do anything."

She just glared at him until he muttered a 'fine' and shuffled over by Appa.

She returned her attention back to the dragon, which was staring at her as if to guess her next action.

"May I take a look at your leg please?"

It stared at her at her for what felt like hours, though it couldn't have been more than a couple seconds, as if weighing its odds. It seemed to make up its mind as it growled and shuffled onto its right side, before jerking its head towards its leg, rivaling Sokka's grumbling when she tries to look him over after a fight.

She cautiously took a couple steps forward, watching to make sure it didn't make any sudden movements, and it seemed it was doing the same for her.

She turned her attention to the leg, and saw that it was twisted at an awkward angle.

She grabbed her water skin and popped the top off, briefly noticing its small flinch, and drew some water out, lifting her hands to heal it.

"This may feel uncomfortable, but it will help fix your leg." She spoke to it in a calm voice.

The water spread and she heard a low grumble as it shifted slightly.

She focused on its leg. The structure was, fundamentally, the same as a human's, but she had to focus on working through all the differences to make sure she didn't make the injury worse.

Water healing was a delicate process, finding the chi paths and redirecting energies into their correct places, fixing the physical injuries by first realigning the metaphysical. A mistake could easily cause more damage than the original injury.

It took some time, the dragon's chi was much stronger and more erratic than a person's, less lenient to her guidance, but they didn't hear the machines coming, and Toph didn't give an alert, so she healed it as best she could.

As she finished, she eased her mind away from the strenuous task, the chi was flowing correctly by now, and looked at the dragon, trying to make it look like she wasn't inspecting it.

She hummed a noise as she saw that the scales weren't black, but a nearly ebony colored blue, with a deep maroon on its underbelly.

"I think that's it for your leg." Katara spoke as she stood and backed up slowly.

She watched in mild amusement as it cautiously stood and tested it's weight on its legs.

She smiled. "Are hurt anywhere else?"

It looked back towards her and shifted it's left wing out a bit, before wincing and retracting it.

"I'm sorry, I don't think I'll be able to fix that. I only have practice on humans, experience with wings isn't under my belt quite yet."

It continued staring at her as it flicked it's ears and huffed.

"That's so cool!" Aang yelled as he flew off Appa and next to Katara, smiling. "I'm Aang!"

It tilted its head and squinted, as if contemplating something, before taking a step towards them and leaning it's head closer.

It jerked back as Appa rushed forward to stand over Aang protectively, rumbling angrily at it.

Toph trailed behind Sokka as he jogged forward.

"You tell 'em Appa! Don't let it take Aang again!"

The dragon glared at Sokka and snarled.

If asked later, Sokka would deny "hiding" behind Katara.

"We should probably get going now. Sorry about your wing." Katara said.

"Well," Aang started, drawing out the word. "We could stay for the night, or at least until Azula gets here."

The dragon half laid down on its side, watching them. Katara would think it looked leisurely, almost tired, if it wasn't so tense.

"Aang, we gotta go-"

"But it's getting late! And we're all so tired."

"You just want to stay by the dragon, don't you?"

Aang fiddled with his hand while giving his best polarbear-puppy eyes.

"Well I think that's a great idea." Toph said as she strutted forward, before sitting down and leaning against the dragon's stomach with her hands behind her head.

It made a surprised noise and Katara saw it was staring at Toph with wide eyes, clearly not expecting her.

She chuckled and went to Appa's pack.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt too much."

"You too? I thought you were the sensible one!" Sokka exclaimed as Aang fist pumped and mouthed 'yes!'.

"A small break won't hurt. And Toph will wake up if Azula gets too close."

And the dragon watched them as they made camp.

•Dragon Zukos with Spirit World-ish backgrounds•

Chapter Text

Zuko laid on his side and watched in amusement as the boy peasant yelled at his sister and the Avatar, trying to get them to repack and fly away, even though they already had a fire going and food being cooked. The girl peasant ignored the other's complaints as the Avatar tried to hide his laughter.

Peasants were such little people, petty and unimportant.

He looked down at his side and saw that the dirt child hadn't moved from her spot leaning on his stomach. He typically disliked physical contact, his experiences with it few and far between. His mother, gone dead. Uncle, a weak and sentimental old man though he doesn't really think that, does he? Azula's touch only ever brought pain it didn't used to. And his father,

His father...

But this... wasn't the worst thing ever.

Besides, if he acts nice he can get the Avatar's little group to let down their guard and trust him, then he'll make his move.

But for now, he'd tag along, simply acting like a curious animal that found a particular interest in them.

He didn't want to be stuck like this, he was a prince, not some stupid creature. Agni he'd rather be anywhere else.

But it was Agni who put him here.

He huffed, smoke streaming from his nostrils, and shook himself from that train of thought, it wouldn't get him anywhere.

The Avatar's bison moved quickly, how he'd keep up while they flew, he didn't have a clue, that'd be a little harder to figure out than pretending to be an animal.

Some time past, his train of thought slowing, though never stopping, and the sun moved through the sky before sinking beneath the horizon. The fire went out, and the group went to sleep.

Zuko looked at the stars, and made a prayer to Agni.

...

"You're pretty warm, y'know that?" a voice said near him.

He jolted and turned to see that the child leaning against his stomach had her eyes open and was staring in the vague direction of his head.

Unsure of how to respond, he remained silent.

"You can understand me right? I'm pretty sure you can. Tap the ground or make a noise or something if you can." A pause before there was a whispered, "Well if you can't understand me I guess you probably wouldn't do anything at all would you?"

Zuko considered himself, he didn't know the potential consequences of letting them know he was intelligent, but he didnt think he could take being treated like he was stupid, even to get close to the Avatar.

He paused, heating his still present inner fire and warming his lungs, before leaning in and blowing a hot puff into her face and ruffling her hair, trying not to wake the other children.

"So you can understand us. Cool." He heard a sigh and felt the girl shift, leaning more into his side. "Anyway, you're really warm, and comfortable to sleep on, might I add. Talk to ya in the morning Radiator."

It was silent the rest of the night.

And the prince joined the others in sleep.

Chapter Text

Zuko woke to a jab in the gut.

He lifted his head and glanced around, taking note that the sun was just starting to rise, and stopping when he saw the dirt girl kneeling with her hands on the ground, seemingly focusing on something. He leaned closer, but froze when he noticed something. His ears swiveled up and he heard faint noise in the distance

He lifted his head in the noise's direction, trying to hear it better when the child called out.

"Azula! Up! Everyone up now! Azula's coming!"

The three sleepers jumped up quickly, shaking off their drowsiness as they packed.

Zuko stood and stretched, wincing when he accidentally moved his left wing, before meandering towards the frantic children, trying to appear nonchalant to hide his inner panic.

He watched them shove things onto the bison's saddle with the practiced speed of having done this many times, surprised at the layer of fur on the ground around the animal.

He stood on one side of the creature and, looking over it, saw the waterbender trying to shove an overstuffed bag onto the saddle.

'If I act nice they'll trust me faster' He thought as he twisted his neck over the bison, grabbed the pack with his teeth, and pulled it onto the saddle.

He meandered around the bison, as if nothing happened, ignoring but still noticing the girl stare at him for a couple seconds, before she ran away to grab something else. 

Once all their things were on the saddle the avatar walked over to him.

"Alright, a bad lady's coming this way. You have to get out of here, okay? She might hurt you."

'I know for a fact she would' Zuko thought. He responded with a vague nod.

"Ok, we gotta go."

They all climbed onto the bison and flew away after a quick "yip-yip" from the avatar.

As Zuko watched them, he saw clumps of pale fur fluttering down behind the animal… A route to follow.

He bounded into the trees.

"It's all Appa's fault! His shedding is leaving a clear trail for them to follow!"

"Appa's? If anything it's your fault! You don't help us, you only look after yourself, you don't do anything!"

Toph glared in the direction she felt the group near. This was infuriating, she was here to teach the Avatar earthbending! It wasn't her  fault some maniacal princess decided to chase them! She was the one waking them up when she came! They'd be stuck without her!

She opened her mouth to retort when she stopped.

Something was coming.

It was large and fast and she could tell that it was moving through the trees due to the vibrations coming directly from the wood and roots, and from how muffled they seemed to be in the earth.

She twisted around into a bending stance and jutted out a hand just as it burst through the leaves.

Zuko leapt off the last branch and into the clearing the fur led him to.

He had gotten about halfway through the tree line when a ring of stone shot up from the ground and pinned his neck to one of the thick trunks.

He barked out a quick noise of surprise and started grabbing at it.

"Wha-"

"It followed us?"

"It came back! Toph let it go it's the dragon!"

The girl (Toph, apparently? A blind earthbender?) yanked her hand away from the tree, making the ring come out with it.

He fell to the ground, catching himself and standing.

"Sorry, you overgrown iguana-bat." She said to him, not unkindly, before walking to the tree line and calling out behind her as she left. "Bye Avaturd & Co!"

Zuko looked back at the rest of the Avatar's group, confused at the sudden hostility, and saw that they all had disgruntled looks on their faces.

He approached slowly, vaguely hearing a quiet "good for nothing-" from the waterbender.

"Guys," the avatar started, looking at the others in the group, "I have an idea."

Aang helped Katara weave the river's water through Appa's fur, pulling out all of the loose pieces, as Sokka and Momo scrubbed him with brushes.

The dragon was laying, not unlike a toad-cat, upstream in the river, watching them work.

Aang giggled quietly and motioned to Katara to watch. He subtly altered the way his hands were moving and made a wave start building behind the dragon, before releasing his hold and allowing the water to fall down, soaking the unsuspecting lizard.

It made a surprised noise and glared at Aang, before standing up and stalking in his direction.

It stopped right in front of him, turned slightly, and smacked Aang with the wet fur of its tail, drenching him.

It gave him a smug look before shaking off, making Katara and Sokka call out in protest as they got soaked, and smirking as it walked back and laid down where it was previously.

Aang smiled at it and started laughing as Sokka sputtered and complained to his exasperated sister.

When the trio split, Zuko followed the avatar.

He kept the child in his line of sight as he raced through the trees.

Soon the woods lessened and disappeared and they reached a ghost town. The buildings were rundown and destroyed, with no sign of life anywhere.

The avatar landed at a dead end in the center of the town as Zuko approached.

"Thanks for coming with me." The avatar said. "It's nice to not be alone."

Zuko moved to stand behind the avatar, so that he was facing the exit, intent on grabbing the boy and bolting.

He was about to make his move when a voice called out.

"No where to run, Avatar."

Aang's expression remained neutral as Zuko lowered himself to the ground, baring his teeth as he hissed.

"Oh, and you have a new pet. A dragon, as it happens to be. Don't you know those are supposed to be extinct? Here, let me fix it for you!" 

She quickly let out a jet of flame in their direction.

Zuko jumped and twisted in front of the avatar, swinging his tail through the fire and dispersing it all in one move. He landed in front of the boy and faced his sister, roaring as a burst of fire found its way from between his jaws, the lips of his muzzle peeling back to bare his teeth.

She blocked it and smirked.

"Well, I guess the beast's protective of you."

To Azula, the message his actions sent was one of affection.

To Zuko, they were closer to 'my catch, my reward.'

Not that she'd care.

Azula moved.

And the chase began.

"Sokka! We have to get to Aang! We cant leave him with Azula!" Katara yelled, pulling at the knife keeping her arm stuck to the tree.

"You think I don't know that Katara? It's not like I can do anything about that right now!" comes her brother's reply, weakly dodging another one of Ty Lee jabs at him, his arms limp at his sides.

A loud bellow caught their attention, causing their assailantsto pause their attacks.

They saw the underside of Appa's tail for a second and Sokka threw himself to the ground as it swung down, the massive gust blowing the two girls into the river.

Katara smiled, finally working the knife out of the wood, "Now let's go."

Zuko's teeth snapped together with a loud click, just barely missing Azula's leg as she propelled herself into the air with a blast of fire.

He lowered his head, unable to reach her, and felt the Avatar lightly land on his head, before he threw it as high as he could, sending the Avatar into the air.

He watched them trade blows mid-fall, hoping that by some miracle they knock each other out.

Of course, the spirits don't care for him that much Agni went out of his way to talk to him.

Azula landed deftly, fire leaving her fist before both of her feet were on the ground.

The Avatar split the blast in half with his staff, but as the second one came Zuko leapt the short distance into the air and pulled him away by the collar of his shirt. His good wing opened reflexively and he half-flew further into the town, the end of his tail dragging in the dust.

He dropped the Avatar and landed behind him, meeting Azula's blue blast with his yellow, the bright lights shooting out in rays, neither one giving in.

His fire was stronger, he had more chi.

In his right eye he saw the Avatar airbend up the side of a dilapidated building, sending gusts of wind at his sister.

The resistance to his fire dissipated suddenly as he saw his sister rolled to the side to avoid both of their attacks, quickly sending alternate bolts at each of them. He twisted his head at her, sending his fire arcing from his lips to her form.

He knew Azula, she could fight for days without stopping, she had gone days without stopping just to test, their father said. He had more chi than before, but that didn't mean it was infinite, and this body wasn't his, he didn't have his katas to rely on, and he knew the Avatar was exhausted.

He had to stop this as quickly as he could.

Barely sparing a thought, he lunged forward snapping his teeth closed an inch away from the princess' face, causing her to jerk back, leaping into one of the rundown building. He  bounded after her, the Avatar above, and a small shadow in the distance barely taking his notice.

"I've been tracking my nephew, but his trail disappeared a couple days ago. I will continue on in the hopes that I will find him."

"Good luck Sir, I hope you're able to find your nephew, and thanks for the tea and pep-talk."

"It was my pleasure young lady."

Azula was stuck. Pressed into a corner against four others and a dragon. She might be able to win, but that wasn't a chance worth taking.

She slowly lifted her hands in surrender.

"Five against one. I know when I'm outmatched."

She waited until she saw them relax, just the slightest bit, before she struck.

And made her escape.

"Aaahh!!"

"Sokka!"

"No!"

Zuko was laying on his side, watching the fire he lit with the wood the others gathered from the rundown buildings.

The waterbender had barely taken a break until the water peasant's shoulder was as healed as possible, and was now finally resting.

The Avatar was sitting on the bison's head, petting his fur.

The peasant boy kept trying to lighten the mood. He had succeeded a while ago, but no one told him to stop, so he continued.

The earth girl was laying against Zuko's stomach, curled up slightly.

It was nice.

"Hey guys, do you think Smokey is going to be staying with us?" The water boy asked.

"It's a possibility."

"Maybe. I hope so."

"Why don't we ask just it?" the earth girl said.

The others all gave her questioning looks.

"Judging by your silence, none of you thought about it. Last night, after you guys had fallen asleep I asked if Sparky understood us, and to give me some sign I wasn't just talking to myself," she turned to look in the vague direction of Zuko's head. "Yo! You coming with us?"

Zuko stoked his fire to heat his breath and blew a plune of smoke from his nostrils.

"Then it's settled, the big lizard's coming with."

"Well," the waterbender started, "if this is going to be long term, we should pick an actual name, instead of a bunch of random nicknames.'

"Oh!" the Avatar jumped up. "I'll go first! How about-"

"Aang!" The peasant boy interrupted. "Before start throwing random names out we have to know something first."

He looked at Zuko. "Are you a guy?"

Zuko rolled his eyes and snorted fire.

"Right, everyone, pick guy names." He turned to the airbender, ignoring the waterbender's 'does it really matter that much?', gave him a mock bow, and spoke in an exaggeratedly aristocratic voice. "Avatar Aang, I do believe you had desired to go first?"

The Avatar giggled before making his suggestion. "Okay, how about Neela?"

Zuko shook his head no.

"Ukwu?" The waterbender added.

Another no.

"Oku?" The peasant boy asked.

"Xīyí?"

"Dhuaan?"

"Ima?"

"Yújìn?"

Amidst the names being thrown left and right there was one that caught Zuko's attention.

"Zantetsu?"

He looked at the Avatar and breathed out smoke.

"Do you like that one?" He asked "Zantetsu?"

Zuko nodded. It would be acceptable, for now.

"Pleased to meet you Zantetsu, I'm Aang."

"I'm Katara."

"Sokka."

"Toph."

Zuko looked at each as they said their respective names.

When they finished he let out a deep rumble from the back of his throat.

It was quiet for a couple of seconds before Sokka grabbed his bedroll and started laying it out.

"Now if you'll all excuse me, I'm going to go pass out for a week."

•Zuko - Dragon Form + Appa Size Comparison•

Chapter Text

“-Come on Twinkletoes!-”

Zuko laid on a low cliff overlooking Aang’s earthbending “training grounds.”

“-You gotta stand firm! -”

Katara sat to his side, watching Toph’s teaching methods with scrutiny.

“-Widen your stance!-”

She huffed at the earthbender and stood up, before walking closer and standing in front of him, too small to block his view, but enough to grab his attention.

He puffed out a stream of smoke and leaned closer.

“-It has to be solid!-”

“Zantetsu…” She  began, almost hesitantly. “Would you mind if I took a look at your good wing? To see if I can figure out the bone and muscle structure? That way I could try to heal the damages in your other one?”

Zuko cocked his head to the side, before stretching and laying his wing out for Katara to look at, his tail curling underneath the outstretched limb.

A soft smile worked its way onto her face as she drifted towards the appendage.

Zuko looked up and watched a flock of goose-wolves pass through the sky, before turning to watch Katara.

A couple minutes into her examination, she posed a question.

“Hey, may I ask… um,” She turns to look him in the eyes. “Why did you try to take Aang? Were you taking him somewhere, to someone, or... or were you going to…? ”

Katara chuckled cheerlessly, and turned her attention back to Zuko’s wing.

“I guess you can’t really answer that. Just, you’re not going to try and take him again, right?”

‘Not until I have a sure chance of escape’

Zuko rumbled deeply in the back of his throat, shaking his head lightly.

“Well, I guess I’d better get back to this then.” She nearly whispered, before turning her head farther away. Zuko could have sworn her eyes were glossy.

He chirruped softly, leaning closer, before crossing his forelegs and curling his neck to lay his head on his elbow.

And to the sounds of earthbending and Katara’s gentle prodding of his wing, the prince dozed off.

When Zuko woke, the sun was past its peak.

The sounds of earthbending were gone and he no longer felt Katara poking at his wing.

He could feel the occasional nudge near the end of his tail, and opened his left eye a little bit (as far as it’ll go).

Katara had the end of his tail draped across her lap, and was shifting her fingers through the fur, and prodding at the vertebrae.

He flicked the tip up, swatting her face with pale hair.

She sputtered for a second before mustering up a glare to turn on him as he pulled his tail out of her grip.

“Rude.” she muttered as she stood up and brushed dirt from her skirt.

“I think I figured out how your wings work, or at least have a vague idea.” Zuko leaned forward. “If you’d let me, I could try to mend your broken wing a bit, then I could ask Toph to make a splint to allow the bone to finish healing?”

Zuko stared at her before realizing she was asking permission, and inclined his head slightly in a nod.

Katara offered a small smile. “Right, I'll go get her.”

Not five minutes later she came back with the tiny earthbender.

“Alright, I'll mend some of the damage, then Toph will make a splint to fit, okay? Now I just need you to stretch out your wing.”

Zuko nodded and slowly, ever so gently, stretched his broken wing, wincing all the while, before laying it on the ground.

“Good, good, now just keep it here while I work.”

Zuko laid his head down as Katara touches the swollen limb with cold water and fights to suppress a flinch. Eventually, the pain subsided and cool relief took its place.

"Did you have trouble flying? Before your wing got broke, that is."

The 'before we broke it' went unsaid.

He nodded slightly, yeah it was hard but wasn't it supposed to be?

"Hmm, it's strange," she said half to herself, "the bones in the first two parts are like a human's, one large bone and then two thin bones, but the last part isn't. In a human's hand, our fingers spread out, but in your wing there are bones on top of each other, and the skin lays weird. I think they're supposed to be separated. It's the same on your other wing too. They're too small. I can try to fix it, if you'd like?"

Zuko gave an approximation of a shrug and looked at the slowly receding light of the sun. He was given a new horrible bad wrong body and it was damaged before he even used it.

Agni had crippled him from the start.

He huffed out smoke in irritation, trying to ignore the pang in his chest,  and laid his head back down, focusing on the water relaxing his muscles.

He started to drift off when he felt a small form lean against his neck.

“You doing okay Longwei?”

Zuko opened his eye and stared at Toph with a raised eyebrow.

“What?” she scoffed. “Bold of you to assume I’d use your actual name. Go to sleep, I’ll make sure Sugar Queen doesn’t get carried away.”

Zuko closed his eye again, and fell asleep to the pain-relieving chill massaging his wing.

Chapter Text

“Aang, what are we even doing out here?”

“Shh!”

Aang closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before blowing a quick note into a flute.

In response, a prairie hog popped out of a hole in the ground and repeated it back at him before disappearing into the ground.

Zuko resisted the urge to roll his eyes and shuffled his position on the ground as Katara worked on his wing, muttering something about splitting chi paths, the stone “casts” laying off to the side.

“Aang, we don’t have time for vacation! We’re supposed to be finding ways to defeat the Fire Nation!”

Zuko closed his eyes and tuned out the conversation just as he heard Aang's quiet giggle of “heh, rhyme”

“You tired of their bickering too?” Katara said by his ear.

Zuko cracked his eye open and gave her a look that he hoped conveyd annoyance at the boys and not her, before closing it again.

“Well, we should be picking up again soon.” Toph chimed in.

Zuko puffed out a stream of smoke, trying to rid his body of extra heat without making the near vicinity noticeably raise in temperature (man, the desert sucks ).

Katara watched Zantetsu jog beneath Appa as they headed to the Misty Palms Oasis, an apparently amazing vacation spot according to Aang. They were flying slower than normal, but it saved Appa’s energy and let Zantetsu keep pace with them without burning himself out.

She spotted Toph sitting at the nape of his neck, holding his horns and overall looking like she thought she was the queen of the world.

Katara was disappointed as soon as they land.

Misty Palms Oasis turned out to be a run-down little town with a small chunk of ice at its center.

Zantetsu caught up to them at the edge of the town and tilted his head forward to carefully dump Toph into the sand.

He stalked away and sprawled out in the sand; Katara could see the sand and sky behind him distort as he expelled the built up heat from his body. When he was at what he deemed to be an adequate temperature, he stood up and walked closer to them. Toph drifted in his direction, struggling with the sand, and practically latched onto him when she was close enough.

“Come on, let’s go find somebody for directions.” Sokka called out.

They ended up at a bar-like establishment, one that looked run-down and smelled even worse.

Zuko laid in the sand near Appa, listening in to the business deals going on around him between various oasis occupants and the sandbenders that were passing through.

The weather was strange here, he didn’t know if there was a storm coming or if the sun was setting but the sky was growing darker when the group exited the bar, an extra man trailing behind them.

His ear twitched as he heard the word “bison” a few too many times in the sandbenders' conversation.

He turned to see the sandbender group start jabbing at Appa with their staffs and a few waving ropes or nets.

He opened his mouth and roared at them, snarling once he had their attention and shifting his position as if to go after them.

They stopped their attempts and stared at him as if contemplating whether or not to try and steal him too when the man that walked out of the bar with the avatar started to shoo them away.

They left, but something wasn't right. It tells Zuko that that wasn’t done.

He relaxed his position and closed his eyes, halfway listening to the others talk about trying to find an Earth Kingdom knowledge spirit.

“Hey, Zantetsu! We’re about to get going, you have to get up.”

The clouds in the distance cleared, revealing the sun on the horizon, and he opened one eye the barest amount and stared into the distance, feeling as though Agni was watching, before refocusing on Aang and standing up from the pseudo-nest he made in the sand.

He lowered his head and scooped Toph off the gritty ground once he was close enough to do so and stretched his legs for the undoubtedly long run ahead of them.

His limbs ached faintly as he slid to a stop through the sand, turning at the same time to face Appa as he landed.

He walked to the others and, letting Toph down, watched the desert around them as the others talked about the “spirit library.”

Somehow he missed the fox run past his legs until it started to climb the spire before jumping through the window at the top.

“That’s how we’ll get in there!” Sokka exclaimed.

“Count me out.” Toph said. 

“But Toph, there’s so much knowledge in there!” Aang sounds aghast that she wouldn’t want to join them but his expression changes to sheepish when she waves her hand in front of her eyes and says,

“I’ve never much cared for books, Twinkletoes.”

She climbed onto Zuko’s back and he walked  near Appa and sprawled out in the sand, not knowing how long it would take for the others to find what they needed.

He was woken up by a deafening crumbling noise and jumped to his feet, Toph slipping from his back as he stared in disbelief as the tall spirestarted  a steady descent towards the dune it’s buried in.

“The tower!” Toph yells, and slammed  her hands onto the sinking sides while digging her fingers in for a grip.

Zuko started pacing, he can’t go back without the avatar. He can’t just die.

Appa’s sudden roaring caught his attention, and he saw the sandbenders had come back and were  throwing ropes around the bison.

He darted through the sand and hit a sandbender away with his massive paw and grabbed one of the ropes around Appa in his mouth, tugging it away.

He went for another when he felt a rope wrap around his ankle. Panic swelled in his chest next to an involuntary spark that caused  him to open his jaws and release a jet of flame in the sandbenders’ direction.

He only stopped when a wave of sand was bent around his fire and flung into his eyes. He recoiled backwards and pawed at them, unable to see briefly as the grit dug into his scales and scratched at his eyes. Appa’s panicked wails only increased in volume and he felt another rope get thrown across his back.

He built warmth in his chest again, letting it simmer, before expelling the excess heat all at once, causing the air temperature around him to rise suddenly.

The rope combusted and he heard the sandbenders yell in pain and the others called out something to them that Zuko couldn’t discern from where he was.

Appa’s calls started to fade farther away and Zuko stayed where he was, eyes squeezed closed, head covered by his paws.

Eventually he registered the sound of the others coming out of the library, heard Aang ask what’s wrong with him, where Appa is.

And Zuko wonders why he tried to help, if all it did just got him hurt.

Chapter Text

"They took him? And you just, let it happen?!"

Aang was pissed. Toph thought it would be some good entertainment to see him finally let off some steam, instead of being serene and peaceful all the time.

It wasn't.

Without Appa, they were stuck in this crummy desert where she couldn't see and they were tired and hot and Aang was yelling at her like she up and told the sandbenders to take Appa herself!

“Why didn’t you stop them? You could have done something!”

Toph gripped the fur at the back of Zantetsu’s leg, the only solid thing in the desert.

“The library was sinking with you all in it! If I let it go You would all be gone, and with the sand I couldn’t have stopped them if I tried.”

“You just didn’t care enough to! You never liked Appa! You wanted him gone!”

“Aang stop, you know she did her best. We’d be dead without her.” She heard Katara trying to console.

“And what about you? You could’ve done something! You’re as big as Appa is!” He must have been yelling at Zantetsu, “Did you want him gone too?”

“Aang!” Katara chided as she heard Zantetsu hiss and felt his fur stiffen, her grip on it tightening, “I’m sure he tried to stop them from taking Appa, and Toph saved our lives.”

“Well who’s going to save our lives now?” Sokka asked, “We’re stuck in the desert. We can’t exactly live here.”

Aang scoffed.

“You guys only ever care about yourselves. Like it doesn’t even matter whether Appa’s okay or where they took him.”

“Aang,” Katara’s voice was soft, “We’re all worried about Appa right now, but we can’t be fighting with each other, not right now. We have to work together to get out of here.”

A moment of silence passed, guilt gnawing at Toph. Could she have done more?

“I’m going to look for him”

She felt a slight tremor in the sand and a gust of wind, sand stinging her face as Katara called out for Aang to wait.

Katara sighed, “I guess we should get walking. We have to get the information about the solar eclipse to Ba Sing Se”

She felt Zantetsu start to pull her forward.

“Hey! You’re big! Can you carry us?” Sokka called and Zantetsu hissed loudly, “Okay, okay, you don’t have to be so mean about it.”

Zuko was stuck.

They were walking in the desert with no directions, no supplies, and no Avatar. As much as he wanted to run after him, the tiny earthbender still had his fur in the death grip from before, when she was pressing into his leg like she was trying to hide behind it as Aang continued blaming her. He couldn’t just shake her off and chase him without being suspicious, and he didn’t want to. Besides, from his past experiences Aang would come back, he cared too much about this group of people to just abandon them.

He was pulled from his thoughts by Toph stumbling and pulling on his fur to stabilize herself. This sand was hot, absorbing the sun’s heat all day, and she wasn’t wearing shoes. Her feet must have been burning.

Despite the small voice in the back of his head telling him he was being weak, he leaned down and grabbed the back of her collar, lifting her up and setting her in the middle of his back, her hands immediately twisting themselves into his mane. He saw the skin on the bottom of her feet was red and irritated.

“Oh how come she gets a ride and we don’t? This is favoritism!” Sokka yelled.

He peeled back his lips to give the water peasant a full view of his teeth.

“Fine, fine, be that way. I can see how it is”

Zuko couldn’t roll his eyes far enough.

Toph was riding on Zantetsu’s back, grateful for the break though she’d never admit it, when her foot briefly kicked something.

“Hey!” She heard Sokka yell as Zantetsu pauses, “ Can’t you watch where you’re- ah, right.”

“Come on guys, we have to stick together and keep moving. We want to get as far as we can.”

“Katara, can I have some water?” she asked, she had waited so she didn’t stall them, but the sun was so hot.

“Alright, but we have to try to conserve it, this is all we have.”

She opened her mouth as Katara waterbended it to her. It tasted like swamp.

“No it isn’t, look!” Sokka yelled.

She turned her head to where his voice was, even though she wouldn’t know what he wanted them to see.

“There’s water in these cactuses!” ah, that’s what they were supposed to look at, “There’s enough for all of us.”

“Sokka, you shouldn’t be eating random plants you find, what if it’s poisonous?”

“Suit yourself. It’s very good though.”

The words were barely out of his mouth before he started deliriously babbling about how “thirst quenching” it was.

“Alright that’s enough for you” Katara said and she heard liquid hitting the sand.

“Why is Toph melting?” He said, prodding at her foot, and she heard something thump into the sand.

“Can I have some of that cactus?” She asked, fluid is fluid and they were in the desert, besides, whatever was in that juice sounded fun.

“I don’t think so,” Katara said, “Come on Zantetsu.”

They started walking again, occasionally interrupted by Sokka's ramblings about them being in the ocean, when she felt a gust of wind and sand hit the side of her face.

“What was that?”

“There’s a giant mushroom! Maybe it’s friendly” Sokka said with awe in his voice.

“Let’s keep going. I just hope that Aang’s doing okay.”

The sun was nearing the horizon when Zuko saw the Avatar’s shadow in the sky.

He landed a ways away, the wind from his touchdown sweeping sand into a cloud.

“Aang!” Katara said, going to him. She knelt down to try and console him, speaking quiet enough that he didn't care to strain his ears to listen.

“Come on, we can’t give up.” She said louder, “We can get out of here together, right Toph?”

The earthbender on his back gave a shrug, “I can’t see anything in this, we might as well be standing in pudding. I got nothin’ right now”

Katara turned to her brother, “Do you have any ideas on how to get to Ba Sing Se Sokka?”

He giggled elatedly and pointed at the sky, “Well why don’t we just ask the circle birds?”

Looking up, Zuko could see buzzard-wasps circling above them.

It was completely involuntary, he had no idea what came over him, be it the heat or the dryness or the stupid body he was in, but as the others continued talking he found himself unable to pry his eyes from the scavengers. He settled back on his haunches, sitting halfway up, and felt Toph tighten her grip on his fur.

Katara was grabbing the others.

He didn’t even think about it.

One of the birds swooped lower in its circulation.

He jumped.

He bit.

And only when he landed back on the sand, his teeth piercing its carapace and the others yelling in alarm, did he realize what he’d just done.

He didn’t have to eat often in this form, thankfully. It kept him from much discomfort in the desert. But it had been some time since he’d last eaten.

The carcass in his mouth couldn't decide if it was hard or soft.

He wanted to throw up.

He was so hungry.

He pressed it to his chest with the claws on his good wing and ate it as he walked. He didn’t think he could fully drop it if he tried, his body's instincts locking his muscles.

He wanted to peel off his skin.

He wanted out.

When Katara woke them all up to start moving again, Toph declined to sit on Zantetsu’s back, opting to hold onto the fur on his leg for stability again. She didn’t know how long they’d been walking when she kicked something hard full force.

“Ow!” she tripped, losing her grip on the fur and got a faceful of sand, “Who buried a boat in the middle of the desert?”

“A boat?”

“Yeah, definitely a boat. I kicked it hard enough to see it three times over.”

She heard Aang airbend and felt the sand on her face as Zantetsu picked her up again and set her on her feet.

“It’s a glider like those sandbenders use! And it has a compass! Aang, you can use your airbending to blow a breeze into it so we can sail it.”

There was one thing Toph felt she had to point out.

“Zantetsu won’t fit on it”

“Oh, yeah, that’s right.” Katara started, “I guess he’ll have to run alongside it as we move.”

“Sorry Sparky” She consoled, patting the side of his leg before climbing onto the glider.

Zuko was infinitely happy to be out of the sand and on the solid ground of the huge rock, maybe not as happy as Toph, but no one was as happy about rocks and dirt as she was.

He peered into one of the tunnels in the rock, he could fit in it, albeit a little tightly, but he didn’t particularly want to. He sat on the cliff edge while the others explored and basked in Agni’s light, the sunrise fully visible.

He heard a growing buzzing noise coming from the tunnel the group went into and looked over just in time to see them run out, being chased by a horde of buzzard-wasps. He jumped up, ready to get rid of them. One swooped down and grabbed the lemur from midair, the Avatar quickly flaring his glider and giving chase.

He could see Toph, the two water tribe huddled behind her, trying to shoot rocks at the birds, but missing repeatedly. One dove from the air where they couldn’t see it, beak open to bite and tear, and Zuko leapt. His good wing opened and flapped involuntarily and he slammed into the bird before it could reach them. He ignored Sokka’s jab of ‘don’t eat that’ as they hurried to the slope leading down and he followed, grabbing the birds where he could.

They headed down the edge, Toph shooting rocks where Katara directed and Zuko swiping down or lighting on fire any that got too close. They were almost to the bottom when massive plumes of wind and sand shot up, driving the birds back to the top of their nest and into their tunnels. Once it finally cleared, he could see groups of sandbenders and gliders in an arc around them.

The Avatar landed harshly in front of them, hands on his staff defensively.

“Why are you in our territory, and with a stolen sandbender sailer too?” One of the sandbenders yelled.

“We found it abandoned in the desert, buried in sand. We’re traveling with the avatar to Ba Sing Se and our bison was stolen.”

Zuko noticed the leader’s facial expression change at the mention of Appa and wrinkled his nose, not quite snarling. Something about them didn’t sit right with him.

“You dare accuse us of theft in our own lands, while you ride on a stolen sand sailer?” A younger man called out angrily, though he was quickly reprimanded by the leader.

His voice…

“Nobody was accused of anything,” He eased, “If they are telling the truth then we must bid them welcome.”

“I apologize, father.” The son responded, sounding in no way remorseful.

“The son, his voice, I recognize it.” Toph said, “He stole Appa.”

That’s what it was.

“Are you sure?” Katara asked.

“Positive. I have never forgotten a voice.”

Aang stalked forward, his staff in his hands.

“You stole Appa. Where is he? What did you do with him?”

“They’re lying!” The son stammered, trying to deflect, “They’re the thieves here!”

Zuko bared his teeth and snarled, a growl in his throat and fire in his chest. Liar.

Aang twisted, bringing his staff down and sending a gust of wind at a glider, splitting it in half and breaking it to pieces.

“Where’s my bison? Tell me where he is right now”

Another glider.

“Ghashiun what did you do?” The leader demanded.

“It wasn’t me, I swear!”

“You said to put a muzzle on him!” Toph said.

“You muzzled Appa?” Aang yelled, his eyes and arrows began to glow and-

A third glider.

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t know! I didn’t know it was the avatar’s!”

“Tell me where Appa is!”

“I traded him to some merchants. They probably have him in Ba Sing Se by now. They were going to sell him there.” He looked around nervously, “Please, we’ll give you supplies, guide you out of the desert, help you however we can, just don’t hurt us.”

His words were unheard as the wind began to pick up, gathering sand and turning into a storm. Aang dropped his staff and hunched forward, his feet beginning to lift off of the ground.

“We have to get out of here, now!” Sokka yelled, grabbing Toph and the lemur.

Zuko leaned down and grabbed the back of his collar, picking up the three of them, and jumped away from the growing storm, only stopping to turn around once he was a ways away.

The wind and sand were so thick, he couldn’t see inside the whirlwind.

After what felt like ages, but was truly only minutes, the wind dissipated, and the sand cleared.

And all that was left in the center of it all was Katara, arms wrapped around the crying avatar,