Archive of Our Own ^beta

Seeing Zuko was always an experience.

Sometimes it was a terrifying, chilling, downright traumatic experience, but Aang could never complain that the boy didn’t have presence. Sometimes he was happier to see him than other times.

This was not one of those times.

“What are you doing here?” Aang pushed out through gritted teeth.

The boy in question stood awkwardly, hands extended out to stroke Appa’s muzzle in a bid to calm the animal’s excitement upon seeing him. Aang’s friends, who had all assumed fighting stances at Zuko’s appearance, hesitated the smallest bit when they saw the airbender charge forward, staff in hand, shoving it towards the exiled prince, only inches from the other’s face.

Zuko met Aang’s fury without an ounce of fear in his expression.

“Answer the question!” Aang shouted. Behind him Katara and Sokka quickly glanced at each other in confusion. It had been a long time since Aang had gotten this worked up over anything.

“I-” Zuko began but stopped suddenly. He stared intently at the young Avatar, before an uncertain smile pulled at his lips and he raised his hand in an attempt to cradle Aang’s face. When he spoke, it was with a quiet and sincere murmur as he admitted: “It’s good to see you again.”

For a frozen moment in time, Aang wanted nothing more than to let it happen. To indulge in what he knew would be the warm, gentle touch of calloused hands.

Instead he used his staff to stop Zuko’s hand in its tracks.

“I will blast you off this mountainside.”

The threat seemed to sober the other up some. He raised his hands in a show of cooperation and, seeing this, Aang took a single step backwards. He could feel Sokka and Katara’s stares burning into the back of his head, but he didn’t take his eyes off the banished prince.

“I came to apologize.” The older boy’s gaze flickered momentarily to Aang’s, before quickly moving away, down to stare at the cracked stones of the temple floor beneath his feet. “And to offer my help, as an ally… and as Aang’s firebending teacher.”

The words punched a breathless laugh out of Aang.

“I’ve done terrible things, I've hurt all of you." Zuko hurried to say as he caught sight of the incredulous expressions with which he was being met.

"But I've changed. I looked at the person I had become and I hated it. I worked so hard to regain my honor and in the end I accomplished nothing, I won nothing. I don't want the crown, I don't want the glory, I just want this war to be over; I want to play my part in doing that."

Aang didn't trust himself to speak. Luckily his friends did all the speaking for him, assuring Zuko that his little apology theatrics were not convincing anyone.

When Zuko could find no way to defend himself he took in a deep breath, before turning to Aang, his last hope.

He thought about everything he'd gone through with the boy and he forgot about his goal, about the other people staring at him, and he simply wished, above all else, that he could make things right with him.

He took a step towards him, watching as everybody’s hands tensed on their weapons, but he pushed it from his mind as he zeroed his focus in on the boy he kept hurting, despite it being the last thing he had ever wanted to do.

"You believed in me once. You saw the good in me, and I betrayed you. But you were never wrong, Aang. Everything about being back home, about turning my back on you, it felt so wrong and I can see it clearly now. I was confused and hurt and blind to reality, and I made the biggest mistake of my life."

He’s right in front of Aang now, he knows one wrong move and the other three will descend upon him with wrath unparalleled. He thinks they’re about to, but then Aang’s shoulders drop in defeat.

Zuko sees his chance and he doesn’t think about it, he doesn't hesitate. He’s holding Aang’s face now, tenderly, with his right hand. He can count the amount of times he’s done this on one hand but he doesn’t want to be able to. He wants to lose track of it, to never be able to tell again. He tries to convey as much of that through his expression as he possibly can.

"Please,” He says, voice raw with a tight knot in his throat. “I will never regret anything more than I regret hurting you like that, after everything we'd been through."

He kept Aang’s gaze even as it hardened and the other pulled back minutely.

“I’m so sorry I hurt you.”

Aang screwed his eyes shut tightly. He was not going to cry over this boy. Not again.

"No." He said fiercely. He couldn't even bear to look at the heartbreak on Zuko's face. Served him right. He could only imagine how similar it must be to the one he’d had on his own face, just a few months ago, when the Prince had joined his sister and turned his fire on Aang.

"You don't get to say sorry. Not now. Not after what you did." He took a deep shaky breath and turned away from Zuko. "Leave now, before you make me do something I'll regret."

Zuko bowed his head in defeat.

"I will." He finally said after a pause, but made no move to do so.

Aang could feel the firebender’s gaze still piercing his soul, even with his back turned to him, and had to wrestle back his urge to bend at him already.

"But, Aang,"

The airbender bit his tongue. He would not be swayed, he would not allow himself to be tricked again.

"I need you to know: I'm so, so sorry for everything." 

Those weren't tears Aang could hear in Zuko's voice. They simply were not.

"And I still love you. I never stopped. I don't think I ever will."

Aang's grip on his staff tightened in a white knuckled fury.

"I said leave!"

He blew a single gust of air behind him, and marched out of the courtyard without a glance backward.

“So… what the heck just happened?”

Aang knew he wasn’t going to get very far before his friends came hunting him down. He couldn’t really blame them. He’d also want to know what was going on if all of the sudden the enemy showed up declaring his eternal love for one of them.

He groaned before running his hands across his face roughly. It’s not like Sokka’s question had an easy answer.

“It’s nothing.” He said with as much conviction as he could muster. It was what he’d been telling himself since Ba Sing Se. What he’d had with Zuko was nothing, therefore it didn’t matter that the older boy had turned on him, betrayed him. In fact, could it even be called a betrayal when there was nothing between the two of them?

No, it couldn’t.

“Right, because ‘I still love you’ definitely falls under my definition of nothing.” Toph said before kicking the ground. It sent a shock wave that dislodged Aang from where he had been hanging (definitely not hiding) in one of the temple’s many alcoves.

He shifted mid air, sweeping the currents around him to cushion his fall and deposit him gently on his feet, right in the path of his friends questioning gazes. He groaned again. Zuko had made his life nothing but complicated from the moment he first came into it.

Aang has been on the fire nation ship for three days when he hears the grinding shriek of the metal door to his cell being unlocked.

He expects the guard that delivers his meals and he’s all set to begin his escape attempt when he freezes.

It’s not a guard.

It’s the boy, the one he fought on the outskirts of the water tribe village. By the time he’s gotten over his shock at seeing him again the door is sealed tightly shut behind him with a loud clang.

‘So much for that escape plan’ Aang thinks bitterly, but he doesn't linger too much on the thought. He turns to focus on his company.

It’s odd, seeing him now. Aang had pegged him as a teenager but, quite honestly, if it hadn’t been for the fact that he had knocked his helmet off he’s not sure he would’ve been able to tell.

Clad in metal and framed by the imposing figure of a warship blocking out the sun behind him, you would’ve been hard pressed to think of him as anything less than a soldier. Anything less than a man.

And yet, here he stood, the armor gone and in its place: a simple young man with a nasty scowl and a scar that dominated the left side of his face.

Under the flickering light of the lamp that burned high over their heads, casting shadows across this firebender’s face as he approached, Aang wondered why he did not feel unease in his presence.

“Three years.” The boy says plainly. “I’ve waited three years for this moment, to have the Avatar prisoner on my ship. Now that it’s here it’s almost…”

He’s right in front of Aang now, just a hair's breadth away. 

“Anticlimactic.”

There’s a certain gleam in his golden eyes that makes the airbender's breath get caught somewhere in his throat. Distantly, his brain registers how handsome this face before him is.

“Who are you?” The words come unbidden from Aang’s throat and he can’t even find it in him to regret them.

There’s a minute change in the other’s posture, in his expression, one Aang would not have been able to detect if he were not so very close. The boy tensed and for a brief second he looked almost… pained. It was gone before the airbender could be sure though.

“Who I am is of no concern to you.” There was no aggression in his tone, it was even and matter of fact, as the firebender reached forward to hold Aang’s chin between his fingers, turning the Avatar’s face slowly as he inspected him.

“A better question is: where have you been the past hundred years?”

Aang’s mind is suddenly reeling as he tries to think through many things very, very quickly. The revelation about his time in the iceberg wasn’t new, Katara had told him about it, but they had soon found themselves rather occupied trying to escape the ancient Fire Nation ship.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t believed her, but something about the way this boy said it set the wheels in Aang’s head turning. He needed to find out what happened and it seemed likely that this boy would know.

Now he just had to figure out how to get him to talk.

“Out and about.” Aang says cheerily, with a wide smile that he hopes gets on the firebender’s nerves. Evidently he is successful by the way the other’s eyes narrow. He drops his hand from Aang’s face and pulls back.

“Play all the games you want. Soon you’ll be locked away in a dungeon and it won’t matter.”

“That seems rather harsh. Don’t I get to know why I’m being locked away?”

The boy glares. “As if you don’t know.”

He really didn’t. There were rumors, back before he had been in the ice, about the Fire Nation, about attempts at expansion, but at that point he was no longer allowed to travel and his only news source were boys just as young and clueless as he was.

The firebender notices Aang’s prolonged silence, and he must realize this because a twisted sort of smile forms on his face. When he speaks there’s a particular quality to his voice, like he’s rehashing a well worn speech.

“A hundred years ago when the Fire Nation began the March for Civilization, its great quest to expand and share its prosperity with the rest of the world, there was only one thing that could stop it. The advance was held back for years, until Fire Lord Sozin finally accomplished his goal and eliminated the only thing that stood in the way of eternal glory."

The way the older boy’s stare bore into Aang made it very clear what, exactly, had stood in the way.

"But you escaped. For generations people have searched, but it has always been my destiny to find you, and put an end to you.”

The more he spoke, the less Aang was convinced he believed his own spiel and the less he wanted to have to fight him. There was something about the way he was looking at Aang as he said all of this that left the airbender aching for him.

Aang had been listening very closely to him. When the older boy notices, he falls silent, staring back at the airbender with something close to apprehension on his face, as if he can feel the pity, even before the other has said anything.

"But why you?" Aang makes his tone as soft as he possibly can. There's more to this, he can feel it.

It was unmistakable this time, a whirlwind of emotions crossed the scarred face, grief and shame and pain. In his shock, he seems to answer honestly despite himself.

“You’re my only ticket back home.”

The way he says home… Aang feels it in his heart and he remembers how he longed for the freedom of the air temples, to be able to fly over towers chased by the chastisings of monks who could never quite catch up to him, to bake and deliver pies with Gyatso, to spend time with his friends coming up with games and mischievous little tricks to play on people.

He’d spent only a few months traveling to the South Pole before the storm that triggered the Avatar State and put him under the ice for a century, but they had been long and they weighed heavy on his soul, filled with the miserable certainty of knowing he would not be able to return for a very long time.

"Oh," though the firebender isn't looking at him anymore, Aang continues anyway. "Have you been away for long?"

With his back still turned to him the boy answers: “Too long.”

A small part of Aang wants to reach out and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Instead, he says, “Me too.”

The boy doesn't say anything. Aang doesn't expect him to.

"Is going home this important to you?" It's a genuine question. He'd do a lot of things to be back in the air temple right now, but he wouldn't hurt anyone.

Something tells him this boy wouldn't either.

After a moment's hesitation, the boy starts in the direction of the door. He reaches for it with his hand before stopping. He throws one last look at Aang, one the airbender can't interpret for the life of him, and then he closes the door behind him.

But he doesn't lock it.

There's a short second where all of Aang's being is shouting at him to move, to leave, to escape. But as he hears the footsteps retreating, echoes bouncing around in the metal hallways, he has to take a moment to smile.

He thinks he's just made a friend.

Zuko wanted to level the forest. He stopped himself from doing so, barely, but it was a genuine struggle. Instead he shouted himself hoarse and made a further wreck out of the war balloon.

Would he ever manage to not completely ruin an interaction with the boy? It’s really no wonder Aang didn’t believe him or want him around.

When he finally tired himself out he collapsed onto what was left of the balloon’s canvas. He closed his eyes against the brilliantly blue, cloudless sky and another scream threatened to rip out of his throat before he managed to swallow down the urge.

He thought of what his uncle would say. He had never confided in him the true nature of his conflict over hurting Aang but Zuko would not have been surprised if Iroh knew anyway. He can practically hear his voice:

“You’re being an idiot, Zuzu.”

Okay, so maybe that was more like Azula’s voice.

“You cannot seek forgiveness as a selfish goal. True repentance requires you to distance yourself from your own desires. Only then will you understand the meaning of your actions and what it would take to forgive them.”

That was more like it.

Zuko took a deep breath and then another one.

He would be a liar if he said there wasn’t anything he was hoping to gain from Aang’s forgiveness. But deep within him Zuko knew that it didn’t matter if he never got what he wanted, because above all else he wanted to set things right. Even if Aang would never look at him as he once had.

A gentle breeze swept through the trees above him and rustled the branches. Zuko sighed and allowed himself the indulgence of recalling that day.

Zuko had been coming in and out of consciousness for a little while, that he could tell. His shoulder throbbed and his head ached and he was never awake for more than a few seconds before drifting back into oblivion.

He was getting better though. He could feel it.

Perhaps it had been hours or perhaps it had been days. All he knew was that when he opened his eyes and he could register his surroundings the first thing he saw was a boy’s upside down face staring into his.

One particular face that he knew very well.

His body spasmed as it attempted to react, to summon fire and fury in a bid to capture his prey, however, the very instant that he tried, his shoulder erupted in shrieking agony and his vision went white.

He felt a hand pushing gently down on the center of his chest to still him and it was slightly pathetic to think he probably didn’t have the strength to throw it off even if he wanted to after that.

The Avatar was quietly shushing him like one might do to an unruly child.

“Stop. You’ll hurt yourself.”

Zuko almost snorted. That was rich, coming from the very person whose fault it was he was injured in the first place.

Accepting that, at least momentarily, there was nothing he could do, Zuko opened his eyes once more, to glare at the boy if nothing else. Aang seemed unconcerned by this though, as he turned to a small bag by his side and began to root around it.

“What are you doing?” Zuko breathed out under his breath. It was bad enough that he was incapacitated, but having Aang just sitting around, within arm’s reach, was torture.

“What was that?” Aang hummed in question. He was doing something to Zuko’s right but the firebender was not about to move his neck and risk another burst of pain like the last one.

“What the hell are you doing?” Zuko could feel his anger rising to a boil, brought on by the shame and humiliation of being downed, but also the still raging turmoil over his decision to rescue Aang in the first place. 

He wanted to scream at him. He was wounded, badly; if Aang wanted, he could grab his friends and be halfway across the world by the time anyone even found Zuko, so: 

“Why are you still here?”

Spirits, what had he been thinking, dressing up in that stupid costume, infiltrating a Fire Nation base, rescuing an enemy of the state. It might very well be the most idiotic thing he's ever done and he could do without the lifesized reminder in the shape of an airbender.

However, Aang looked at him like he was stupid. “You’re hurt.” He said plainly.

“And?” Zuko demanded.

“And I’m going to help you.” Aang said it like it was the most natural thing in the world, like it didn’t cause him even the slightest bit of conflict within his soul to help the banished prince. He finally lifted up what he had been working on, a dark green paste in a shallow bowl.

“Stay still.” He commanded, and Zuko was about to tell him… well he wasn’t sure what, exactly, but then Aang was carefully tugging the neckline of his shirt over his shoulder and Zuko’s voice died in his throat.

Despite the boy’s care, Zuko still flinches at the movement of his shoulder. Aang’s hand stuttered to a halt.

“Sorry.” 

Zuko’s not sure what that emotion was in Aang’s voice and he’s almost scared to know. There’s a moment that feels like forever before Zuko finally mumbles out: “It’s fine.” Not like it’s the worst pain he’s ever suffered.

It almost seems like Aang can read his mind because his brow furrows and his eyes flash momentarily to where Zuko knows his scar to be. It’s over quickly though, and Aang begins to administer the paste.

Zuko expects it to hurt again, has his teeth gritted in preparation for it but… it doesn’t. It’s actually rather pleasant and cool and it takes the edge off the worst of the pain. Aang’s fingers are featherlight over his skin and Zuko involuntarily relaxes under his ministrations, tension seeping out of his muscles.

“Thank you.”

Zuko’s gaze snaps to Aang, but the boy’s eyes are purposefully averted as he starts wrapping his shoulder in bandages.

“For saving me.” The airbender adds, as if it needed clarifying.

Zuko’s fingers tighten into a fist on his uninjured arm. “I didn’t do it for you.” He interjected. He couldn’t have Aang thinking otherwise. That would be very dangerous indeed.

The boy shrugged. “I know, but still. I’m not sure I would’ve been able to get out if it hadn’t been for you.” He’s done with the bandages, Zuko can tell, but his touch lingers anyway.

Suddenly his gaze seemed to be focused on a point far away.

“It’s hard to think of you as my enemy.” Zuko’s on the verge of pointing out what a stupid statement that is, but Aang continues on, either not noticing or not caring about Zuko’s incredulity.

“It feels like only a month ago, I was on my way to visit my friend Kuzon and go cause trouble at the fire festival. And now an entire country is out to get me.”

A soft breeze rustles through the leaves and the branches overhead and Aang simply closes his eyes and breathes in deeply, feeling it gently brush past his face.

“You almost look like him.” Aang admits softly. “If we knew each other back then, do you think we could’ve been?"

Zuko realizes with a start that Aang does not intend to follow that up with any specification, and his entire body burns with the understanding of what that means.

Those gray eyes are wide and his expression unguarded as he waits for his response.

There’s a brief pause.

And then with a tremendous amount of effort Zuko throws his uninjured arm forward and releases a torrent of fire only half as violent and tumultuous as he currently feels.

But Aang has already leaped away, gracefully moving from branch to branch as he fades out from view.

Zuko’s breath is heaving from the exertion and from his fury.

He’s not sure if he’s angrier that Aang got away… or that he wanted him to.

“Let me get this straight, over the past year you’ve been courting the guy who wants to kill us all and hang our hides on the Fire Nation palace walls?”

“I’m not courting him!” Aang yelled, face bright red.

“I don’t know, Twinkle Toes,” Toph said, a sly, crooked grin on her face. “Sounds like a courtship to me. I mean he saved you, you saved him, you compared him to your dead boyfriend-” 

“Kuzon was not my boyfriend!” 

“The point is you’re not strangers. You’re not even exclusively tied by the bonds of attempted murder. You, my friend,” And now her smile was truly evil. “Have a love interest.”

The biggest problem, of course, was that she was right.

But that could wait.

“Katara?” Aang asked tentatively. She had been very quiet this entire time, standing behind Sokka and Toph as they both grilled Aang for ‘the juicy details’, arms crossed with an expression carved from stone. She looked away, out towards the cliff.

Aang has already convinced himself she wouldn’t answer by the time she says:

“The North Pole. It was you, wasn’t it? The one who let him in?”

Aang flinches.

Sokka’s joking facade drops immediately and Toph seems to catch on as well.

“Wait, I thought you had all gotten ambushed at the North Pole.” She asks, her sightless eyes moving unsettlingly accurately in the direction of Aang.

Katara’s voice is pure ice as she says: “I thought so too.”

Aang smiled at the elderly couple walking along the path in the opposite direction and nimbly dodged their attempts at starting up a conversation with him. He ducked past a group of fishermen, dragging in their latest haul, and silently prayed they didn’t notice the sleight of hand with which he swiped two of their fish.

Down the frozen street, past the floating pavilion and crossing not one but two bridges arching over the canals, Aang made his way through the city as discreetly as possible. He kept glancing nervously over his shoulder, making sure no one was following him or paying close attention to where he was going as the small crowds thinned out around him and eventually disappeared. 

He slipped into the narrow space between two buildings.

There weren’t many abandoned places in Agna Qel’a so he was very glad to have found this one: an old temple that had been replaced, moved closer to the palace. Checking one last time that there would be no witnesses, he assumed the last bending stance Pakku had taught him and, with a deep breath, made a rising and falling motion that caused a portion of the wall to recede, just wide enough for him to pass, before quickly putting it back up behind him.

Inside he found exactly what he had been expecting: a battered looking Zuko, grumpily bundled up in as many blankets as Aang had been able to bring him. In front of him, the banished prince had a small fire he was clearly maintaining with his breath, as it rose and fell steadily alongside his chest.

Despite himself, Aang smiled at the sight of him.

“I brought you dinner.” He says cheerily, presenting the two fish he had… borrowed from those men.

The firebender didn’t say anything, just gave a quiet grunt, which Aang took as his thank you. He placed Zuko’s soon to be meal over the fire, to be cooked for his consumption.

The older boy hadn’t spoken much since yesterday when Aang had found him lying, half frozen, beside a tiger seal diving hole, but that was alright, because he hadn’t tried to set Aang on fire either. Come to think of it, he hadn’t done that in a long while, despite still chasing him, as indicated by his presence in the North Pole.

“Are you feeling better?” Aang’s referring to the multiple burns and bruises that he had found littered over Zuko’s face and chest. He had helped patch him up last night but had refrained from asking Zuko about where he had gotten the injuries, for fear it might break whatever spell lay between them now, preserving this tentative peace.

Aang waits patiently for the other boy to answer. He is in no hurry and, to be quite honest, it’s nice, the both of them sitting there, besides each other in the barren room, watching the fish slowly but surely roast over the flames. Aang’s hand itches to reach out and hold Zuko’s but he stops himself.

“Yeah,” Zuko finally says, voice somewhat hoarse. Then, unprompted, “You’re good at that, you know?”

Aang’s stomach is swarmed with butterflies at the memory, the reminder that this was not their first time alone together, and not his first time helping Zuko heal.

“Yeah?” He asks, and he can hear the excited, almost giddy tone in his own voice. Zuko finally turns to look at him then, still pale and shivering just the slightest bit, as he lets the covers drop a fraction, enough for Aang to see his face clearly in the golden light of the flames. He’s smiling too, the tiniest tug at the corners of his lips, eyes soft as he meets the Avatar’s gaze easily.

“Yeah.”

The airbender ducks his head, feeling heat rise to his cheeks.

They don’t say anything else but they stay there together a long time; long enough for Zuko to take the fish down and to offer some to Aang, who refuses as politely as he possibly can, before eating them himself.

Long enough for the sun to set, though it’s harder to tell from inside the building.

Long enough that neither boy is sure who moves first but then Aang’s head is resting on Zuko’s shoulder and Zuko’s arm is wrapped protectively around the boy’s waist, hand settled at his hip, where he toys with the loose fabric bunched under his sash. Aang has his knees tucked up and they’re resting sideways over Zuko’s thighs.

It’s Zuko who breaks the comfortable peace they’ve settled into.

“The Fire Navy is on its way.”

Aang sighs and wonders, briefly, why he doesn’t live in a world where he gets to have this. He knows every moment he’s had with Zuko is stolen, snatched from the cruel hands of fate, and no matter how hard he tries, he can’t help but think it’s unfair.

“I know.” He says, because why else would Zuko be here, hurt and by himself. “How long do we have?”

Zuko’s grip tightens at Aang’s side upon hearing the hollow tone in his voice.

“A day. Maybe two.”

“Stay.”

Zuko hadn’t even said he was leaving yet. He says as much to Aang.

Aang pulls away from him, feeling Zuko try to pull him back but he breaks away from his grip, only to turn so he’s facing the boy. When he gets the impulse he doesn’t question it, he reaches his hand up and cradles the right side of the other’s face. 

There’s a burn there now, under his thumb, smaller and less severe; it won’t scar the same way his eye has.

“For me. Please.” Then, soft and quiet as a breeze. “I feel safe when you’re around.”

How could Zuko say no to that?

At the ever worsening look on Katara’s face, Aang hurries to explain.

“Yes, I hid Zuko in the city, and I know how that looks, but he had nothing to do with the invasion. Zhao tried to have him assassinated, he didn’t even know he was alive.”

“And how do you know all of this?” Katara demanded, arms flying the way they always did when she was agitated. Aang was very grateful that the fountain just a few feet behind her had dried up years ago.

“He told me.” He admits, knowing full well what her reaction is going to be.

“Right.” Katara scoffs. “Because Zuko has always been a trustworthy source of information.” She bites out between gritted teeth.

“What would Zuko have to gain from having Zhao and half the Fire Navy there?” He forgets, momentarily, that Katara doesn’t know about Zuko’s relation to the rest of the Fire Nation, and the wild look in her eyes as she begins advancing on him has him reeling to explain in time.

“Uhh, guys?”

They both turn to Sokka exceptionally fast, Aang’s relief palpable as Katara’s murderous look changes targets.

“I hate to interrupt but… where’s Toph?”

Zuko is certain the flames are mocking him somehow as they jump and dance merrily. He doesn’t want to think about what the plan is now, he doesn’t want to think of any trajectory that doesn’t include Aang in it, but he knows he’s going to have to eventually. 

Not tonight though.

Tonight he focuses on the fire, on breathing, on getting the flames to keep unnaturally still, and he pretends there is still hope, just as he pretends he is successful at controlling the campfire.

He hears a rustling. It almost could've been mistaken for an innocent critter scurrying around, if Zuko hadn’t spent his fair share of nights sleeping out in the open.

“Who’s there?” He asks, keeping the alarm out of his voice with some effort. There’s no response for a few seconds; enough to make him antsy, enough to have his fingers itching to summon two fire daggers into his hands.

When he hears another crack of twigs and leaves he loses it, blasting fire in a circle around him. The light as the flames catch on the ground allow him to see who’s coming and instantly panic seizes him.

It’s not easy to reign in fire once you’ve given it direction; like all the elements, it has a will of its own. There comes a point when a firebender loses their connection with the flames after which regaining it is close to impossible.

But Zuko doesn’t have another choice.

He reaches for them with all his might, with all his willpower, with all the arduous years of training, and he yanks them back towards him. 

The flames are not happy to be called back. They resist and only recede a few inches. But it’s enough; when Toph’s foot falls it’s on a singed patch of grass, not an inferno.

“Woah,” He distantly hears her voice as the flames finally die down. “Did you just try to burn me?” It’s not an accusation though, she seems genuinely intrigued.

“Sorry!” He blurts out, hurrying over. “I couldn’t tell it was you, are you okay?”

She holds up her hand to stop him in his tracks. “I’m fine, Princess, don’t get your robes in a twist.”

He feels relief flood his system. He doesn’t want to imagine what could’ve happened if he managed to hurt the one person on the team who could still claim he had not directly harmed them.

But as soon as he was done feeling relief he was suspicious once more. “What are you doing here by yourself?”

He sees her tense up, mouth twisting into an almost snarl. “What, you think I need a babysitter?” She snaps.

“That’s not what I meant.” Zuko says immediately, because it wasn’t. She was the Avatar’s earthbending teacher after all. He had no doubts in her capabilities. “I was just wondering why you bothered to come out here.”

She shrugs.

“Aang and Katara are busy whining about whether what happened at the North Pole was your fault or not. I wasn’t there and no one seems particularly interested in catching me up on the saga, so I figured I’d get the story from a primary source.”

She thrusts her hand out towards the ground and then pulls it back to her. It causes a slab of rock to rise behind her at an angle, and with two swift stomps, two different slabs come up on either side of it.

Without further ado she tosses herself back on the makeshift reclining chair she has just formed for herself, one leg crossed over the other and arms thrown over the sides.

Zuko stares.

“Well? Start talking, Princess.” 

The city was empty. 

The civilians had all been evacuated, gathered as far from the gates as possible, and so, there was no one around to witness the figure slowly making its way through the abandoned streets of ice.

Zuko had stayed in the old temple as long as he could physically stand, forced to listen to the initial commotion of people being herded away, then the screams and distant rumbles as fire rained down from the heavens and finally the dead silence that had settled over the whole of the North Pole as night fell and the fighting, at least temporarily, ceased. It was that maddening silence that had finally driven him from the temple, in search of Aang.

He approached the Northern Water Tribe palace under the light of the full moon, for which he couldn't decide whether to be thankful for or apprehensive of, as it cast plenty of light to guide his way but would mean trouble if he were to run into a waterbending soldier.

Aang, during one of his visits to Zuko at the temple, had told him of the palace where they had held the feast in honor of his arrival. As the city’s biggest and most well guarded stronghold, it was a good candidate for a military base of operations.

And a military base of operations was a good candidate for Aang’s location.

There were only two guards standing by the main entrance but after observing them for just a few moments he sees a third one approaching, seemingly in a hurry.

He moves closer, sticking to the little shadows as best he can, as he strains his ears to hear the conversation.

"Have you seen Prince Yue? His father has called for him."

One of the guards shakes their head, but the other responds. "The Prince told me he was taking the Avatar and his friend to the Spirit Oasis and that he was not to be disturbed." The new guard curses under his breath before asking the other to accompany him back to deliver this news to the Chief.

From his hiding place, a smirk plays at Zuko’s lips as they leave just the one guard standing by the gate.

Perfect.

Within just a few minutes the firebender has acquired the location of this Spirit Oasis from a rather cooperative, and now rather unconscious, guard.

The persistent sound of water cascading into the lake was enough to mask the sound of his footsteps as he carefully made his way over one of the wooden bridges connecting the outer ring of ice to the tiny islet in the middle.

There was a small bamboo grove which he approached slowly before maneuvering his way inside. It would provide him with at least a modicum of cover, which was good because as he moved he could hear voices.

“I really hope this proves useful, I don’t know how much longer we could hold out as we are.”

Zuko doesn’t recognize the voice of the young man speaking; he peeks, as carefully as he can, through the stalks and scarce leaves to glean what lay beyond the grove. There was a wooden archway built in the dead center of the islet, in front of a brilliantly blue pond.

There were two figures standing uncomfortably close, just a few feet from him, at the edge of the bamboo. They were facing the other direction but he shrinks away from view as much as possible anyway.

“It will. It has too.”

He does recognize that voice and he winces at the thought of it. It spells trouble for him. Risking just the slightest bit, he leans far enough to get a good look at the two conversing. The boy, whose long white hair fell straight over his shoulders, and the easily recognizable figure of Katara.

If he couldn’t see Aang, sitting cross legged on the grass, eyes and tattoos glowing with ethereal light, he might’ve bailed. It dawns on him quite suddenly that he is alone, deep within enemy territory, on the wrong side of a siege, and that perhaps it might not be the best place for him to be. That guard is going to wake up eventually after all.

But seeing the airbender like this he cannot bring himself to leave, to hide, to be concerned for his own well being. For whatever reason, the Avatar had said he felt safer with Zuko around, an admission that had made something constrict unbearably tight around the banished prince’s heart, in that darkened temple room where they had shared in each other’s company.

If Aang felt that way Zuko was determined to prove him right.

Focused as he was on guarding Aang in his own strange manner, he heard the footsteps far too late. He scrambled to move, to hide, but there was nowhere to go and he knew it the second he heard the gasp.

“Yue, get help!”

He lifts his hand, and not a moment too soon, a wall of fire springing forth to block the jet of water she had sent straight at him. He sends two quick shots of fire behind him to give him time to put his feet under him and face her head on.

He’s barely done so when she sends a wave at him, larger and faster than he’d ever seen her conjure and he’d make a comment about where she picked up the new technique if he wasn’t so busy trying to fend off the assault. Despite his best efforts to stand his ground he is forced back a couple of paces. She’s fighting aggressively, offensively, throwing everything she has behind her attack, and he would respond in kind if Aang was not sitting helplessly mere feet away from them.

Zuko can’t afford to lose control.

So she backs him up, step by step, until he’s stumbling into the lake and there’s a surge of water roaring all around him, throwing him up and against the wall. He’s a dozen feet off the ground when it begins to freeze. 

It hurt, the ice burning his skin where it made direct contact.

He growled and when he opened his eyes he caught a glimpse of Katara’s smug look as she turned around and walked back to Aang. He wants to shout at her but the moment he opens his mouth…

Zuko feels the sun before he sees it. There’s warmth spreading through his body; his limbs start to lose their numbness from the cold of being locked in the ice, and when he breathes the steam permeates through the entire block he’s encased in, making it go soft against his quickly heating body.

He realizes two things at that moment: the armada will soon be invading, and Katara will be powerless to stop them from taking Aang.

He makes a split second decision.

When the ice fully gives way, he uses the momentum of his fall to send a tidal wave of hellfire at the waterbender. She moves, in the last instant, to shield herself but, fueled by dawn’s ever nearing approach, he’s already sent another, and another, each larger and hotter than the last, until she’s knocked to the ground.

Even still he knows he doesn’t have long before she gets back up.

He rushes forward, wraps one arm securely around Aang’s shoulders, the other, under his knees; he hauls the boy up and, without so much as an ounce of forethought, he strikes off in the opposite direction of the approaching army, entirely unconcerned that the path would take him through the middle of a raging blizzard.

He doesn’t stop to think until he’s dragged his body and that of the Avatar’s into the nearest cave, seeking refuge from the shrieking winds and biting cold. Hands trembling, he sets Aang down as gently as he can in the farthest corner from the entrance. It takes him two attempts to get the fire going, cold as he is, but eventually he has it set up and warming the airbender.

He himself though? He can’t stop himself from pacing back and forth across the cave entrance, glaring out at the snow whirling past and trying to convince himself he isn’t watching for the approach of metal clad soldiers.

If he wasn't in the middle of signing his own death warrant, the situation might've been funny. The banished prince, tasked with capturing the Avatar, hiding the defenseless boy from the Fire Navy. Ironic or something, but it was just his rotten luck, as it always had been.

Tentatively, he allows himself to look back at Aang.

He had never actually seen him like this. He’d heard the tales of course, the scarce handful of times people had sighted him in the Avatar state, of glowing eyes and a bending prowess that made him more akin to a force of nature than a boy.

But right now the young airbender was lying peacefully on his side, and if Zuko didn't know any better he might've been fooled into thinking he was fast asleep, curled up like a polar bear dog cub. The firebender is powerless to stop the stupid stuttering of his heart at the thought.

He feels himself get carried away thinking of him, of this strange phenomenon between the two of them that had brought Zuko all the way to the end of the world following him, knowing damn well it had nothing to do with capturing the boy.

Those intentions had evaporated that night on the ship, what seemed like years and years ago, when Aang had asked him if going home was really that important.

No, Zuko had thought to himself, as he gazed upon the younger boy’s face. No, it really isn’t.

"Zuko?"

The firebender whirls around at the sound of his name. Aang is waking, pushing himself up into a sitting position with slight difficulty. He blinks gaze unfocused and distant at first before it centers on Zuko, who had crossed the length of the cave in about two strides and was now kneeling before him.

There's a moment's hesitation where he's not quite sure what to do with himself, but he had abandoned his reasoning at the mouth of the cave and had yet to get it back. Before he knows it, he's cradling Aang's face in both his hands.

“Right here. I’m right here.”

He’s not sure why that’s what comes out of his mouth, but Aang smiles at him, his eyes gaining that particular light in them that makes Zuko forget himself. Neither of them say or do anything and for a few precious seconds, Zuko just holds Aang, and that’s all it is, that’s all they are.

It can’t last. It can never last.

“What happened?” Aang’s looking around as he says this, finally taking stock of where he is and suddenly Zuko can’t fathom why he brought them out here. Spying the look on the firebender’s face, Aang changes tactics. “Where are we?”

That one’s easier. That one Zuko can handle.

“Outside the city, not more than a mile away.”

Aang’s brow furrowed. Zuko tried to drop his hands from where they were still resting against the boy’s cheeks but before he could, the airbender had taken hold of his right with both of his, keeping it exactly where it was. Gray eyes are staring imploringly into his, and Zuko realizes with a start that this is the first time they’ve held hands.

“I was watching over you.” He’s not fully aware of the words tumbling from his mouth, he couldn’t stop them if he wanted to. “At the oasis. Like you asked me to.”

Aang hadn’t asked, not directly, but the corners of his mouth turn up at the older boy’s words and the smile he gifts Zuko warms him to his bones in a way that no amount of fire would ever be able to compare to.

“Your friend was there but the sun came up.” He hadn’t intended to have his sentence end there. The plan was to explain the logic behind why the sun coming up meant Zuko had panicked, panicked and gotten tunnel vision and lost the ability to do anything except respond to the desperate screaming in his head that said he had to keep Aang safe, he had to keep Aang safe, hehadtokeepAangsafe!

He doesn’t say any of this but Aang doesn’t need him to. Zuko closes his eyes and leans forward to rest his forehead against the other’s.

“I’m sorry.” It’s a breathless whisper. He doesn’t want to think about what’s waiting for him when he opens his eyes. The last thing he expects is to feel a pair of arms wrap themselves tightly around him. His eyes snap open just in time to see Aang turn his face into his chest.

“You did what you had to do to protect me.”

Wordlessly he puts his own arms around Aang’s middle. His heart is racing, he’s sure Aang can hear it thudding violently against his ribcage. He tightens his arms and when Aang does the same Zuko thinks he might die. He never wants to have to let go of him again.

“Thank you.”

"You're not lying."

The firebender had been so thoroughly entranced in recalling one of his happiest moments in recent memory, that the sound of Toph’s voice, who he’d nearly forgotten was there, startled him. He snaps his head around to look in the girl’s direction.

"What?" He demands.

Toph isn't looking at him, of course, but the way she sits up straighter on her makeshift throne, planting her feet firmly on the ground, clearly shows that she’s searching for something. 

“It's just…" there's a moment's hesitation, something very out of character for the usually brash girl. "When you say you care about him. You're not lying. I can tell."

Zuko huffs loudly. "Of course I'm not." Then, softer, as he draws his knees up into his chest. "He means everything to me."

Out of the corner of his eye he can see the frown forming on the earthbender’s face, lips pursed ever so slightly. When she speaks again, although not hostile, her voice has clearly lost the somewhat friendly and comfortable tone they’d been sharing up to that moment.

"Then... what happened in Ba Sing Se?"

"Even if-" Katara finally spoke, voice darkened. 

For the past hour she and Aang had set about the task of combing through every inch of the west side of the temple in search of Toph, hoping against hope that they wouldn’t need to venture out into the surrounding forest looking for the girl. Sokka had suggested they all split up to cover more ground but Aang had been weary of leaving Katara alone for any length of time after his latest reveal and that is how he found himself suffering the tense silence between the two of them.

The disappearance of the earthbender was enough to halt the Water Tribe girl’s explosive anger in its tracks, her focus now having to be redirected towards the search for her girlfriend, but it had been replaced with a cold and detached demeanor which almost made Aang miss the shouting. At least then he could feel defensive; as it was, he could no longer escape the fact that Katara’s fury was not only warranted, but probably correct.

"Even if what you're saying is true, which I'm not saying it is, even then, it means nothing."

Katara stopped and turned back to glare at Aang. The airbender knew that he could suggest they go meet back up with Sokka, like they had agreed to, and give himself at least a few more hours before he had to address this particular minefield. But he also knew, deep within him, that it would likely do more harm than good.

So instead he sighed deeply and spoke with as much sincerity as his tired voice could muster. "Katara, I'm not saying he's innocent. I'm not saying we should let him join,”

Because spirits knew, he could barely handle seeing Zuko’s face again today. He doesn’t know what he’d do with himself if he had to go through that every day for the foreseeable future.

“But I need you to understand everything that happened. You deserve at least that much."

The waterbender lets out a huff of humorless laughter, already striding away from him. "I think you're the one who needs to understand.” And then, just to twist the knife. “Or have you already forgotten Ba Sing Se?"

“ How could I forget Ba Sing Se!? ”

Katara almost jumps out of her skin. She hadn’t heard Aang shout like that since… well since the desert.

She turns, slowly, expecting to come face to face with the full fury of the Avatar, but it’s not there. Instead she’s met with the most anguished expression she has ever seen on Aang’s face. His hand is shaking where it held his staff, he looks to be on the verge of collapse, it suddenly hits her like a ton of bricks.

Aang cared about Zuko.

The whole day she had been so fixated on the idea that Aang had been helping the enemy, sabotaging their efforts, putting them all in danger, that she had failed to see the blindingly obvious fact that Zuko had never been Aang’s enemy.

He had been a friend. He had been more.

And then he had turned around and stabbed Aang in the back.

“Don’t think,” Aang’s voice is raw and low as he forces the words out, eyes squeezed tightly shut against the tears threatening to well up in them. “For even a second that I could ever forget.”

“Aang,” Katara whispers, barely hearing her own voice. She takes a deep breath and, for just a moment, pushes aside all of her anger, all of her pain. She comes down from the high horse she had been riding all day and she reaches out to help her closest friend.

“What happened in that cave?”

Hands bound by metal chains, Aang was tossed unceremoniously onto the cave floor and by the time he has managed to find which way is up again, the Dai Lee agents have already bended the walls shut. Head still spinning from the rough treatment, the airbender tried his best to gather his bearings as quickly as possible. He was less worried about the world going round and more worried about-

“Aang!”

With some difficulty he manages to turn and find the direction Zuko is calling from. He sees the boy scrambling up and rushing over, after having received much the same treatment as the Avatar. He slides the last few feet, Aang wincing for the state of his knees, but the firebender seems entirely unbothered, stopping himself just before he crashes into Aang.

Zuko's hands hover uncertainly in the space between them, trembling, and when Aang looks up into his face he can see just how shaken up Zuko is. 

"Are- are you alright? Can you- are you…” Aang’s never heard him so unsure, so lost, his voice nearly breaking with the effort to speak, and he wants, more than anything, to find a way to make it stop.

“Hey, hey, I’m okay.” He leans forward as best as he can without the aid of his arms to help balance and closes the distance between them.

Upon first touch Zuko recoils as if burned. He stares down at his hands like they aren’t his own, but Aang is determined to get through to him.

“I’m here, Zuko, I’m right here.”

The words seem to break something in the firebender, the lost, broken look in his eyes replaced with something desperate as he suddenly seizes Aang around the middle, burying his nose into the crook of his neck and holding on for dear life. As the airbender leans all of his weight onto the older boy’s chest in his best attempt at returning the embrace, he feels Zuko’s chest rise and fall underneath him in shuddering breaths.

When Zuko can finally tear himself away, it’s only far enough to be able to look over the airbender thoroughly, his hands wandering from the boy’s shoulders, to his waist, to his arms, and back again, turning him this way and that in search of damage before settling on the sides of his face, bringing them close together so they can rest their foreheads against each other.

When Zuko can finally find his voice again he asks: “Are you sure you’re okay? You’re not hurt?” Aang shakes his head and he feels Zuko’s deep sigh of relief in his own lungs. 

“I don’t know what I would do with myself,” the older boy admits quietly, hanging his head. “If you got hurt because of me. I don't think I could ever forgive myself.”

Aang knows, immediately, where this is headed and he tries to find a way to stop it in its tracks before Zuko can start descending into a spiral of shame and guilt that should not belong to him.

“Zuko, please, this isn’t your fault-”

“Like hell it isn’t!” He shouts, standing up with a start as he begins pacing around in front of Aang, seemingly on the verge of pulling his own hair out, his voice rising with every step. “I should’ve been more careful! I should’ve known they were tailing me! After what happened at Lake Laogai, I should’ve-”

He stutters to a halt, seemingly struck by a realization. When he speaks again his voice is little more than a defeated whisper.

“I shouldn’t have gone to see you. I should’ve stayed away, from the moment Azula got involved, now you’re in danger and I…” He throws himself upon the ground, hiding his face in his hands for a short moment before he resurfaces, turning to face Aang for the first time since the start of his tirade. 

“I can’t do anything. I can’t save you this time.”

He means it, Aang realizes. He can only see himself as a risk, a liability, and one that the Avatar can’t afford.

He doesn’t see how much Aang needs him.

“I don't want you to stay away.”

There’s a shard of ice cold fear stabbing through his heart as he thinks that maybe they’re not ready for this yet, but Aang’s not sure he’s ever gonna get another chance to say what he needs to.

“Zuko… I’m happy you came back for me. I’m happy you’ve always come back for me. I don’t care if we’re on a ship, or in a blizzard or in this stupid cave…” He tries to gesture with his hands but the chain stops him short and he hurries to continue at the sight of the flash of pain in Zuko’s eyes, softening his voice. “I don’t care. I never care as long as you’re here with me."

The airbender moves tentatively closer, so that they’re sitting side by side, their bodies pressed together from their shoulders to their hips. He tries to maneuver so he can reach for Zuko’s hands with his own and something impossibly warm blossoms in his chest when the firebender meets him half way, hesitantly but deliberately threading their fingers together.

"I was so worried," Aang admits, saying out loud for the first time the thoughts that have been tormenting him for weeks, the ones he can’t share with any other. "When I lost track of you, after the North Pole. Everyone kept asking about our next steps and I just couldn’t-” 

He swallows thickly, and feels as Zuko squeezes his hand reassuringly.

Aang’s not sure he has the words for it. For the nights that he stayed up wondering how he was supposed to move forward, to make war plans and battle strategies beyond just learning the four elements without knowing where Zuko was, if he was safe.

Aang takes a deep breath and twists around so he can make sure Zuko is meeting his gaze when he says:

“We’re here. We’re together. That matters more to me than any danger.”

For a second, there’s a look of genuine confusion on Zuko’s face, as if the idea that Aang could be just as concerned for his well being had momentarily escaped him, before a thoroughly fond and endeared smile begins to bloom across it. He looks like he might be trying to come up with a response to that when his eyes catch on the airbender’s still shackled arms. When he speaks his voice is sweet, with just a hint of teasing, and, not for the first time, Aang wants to know what Zuko’s smile tastes like. 

“Come on. Let’s get you out of those cuffs.”

It was a while before Zuko managed to work out how to melt through the metal without also burning Aang. The silence was comfortable but still charged. It was no surprise to either of them that they cared about each other but it was still a far cry from what they had both just confessed. Aang was just shy of telling Zuko he loved him and he thinks, he hopes, the feeling was mutual.

When the chains finally fall away Aang is almost scared to turn and face the firebender once more. But still, he knows exactly what to say. It’s what he’s wanted to say since the beginning.

“Come with me.”

Zuko hadn’t even said he would be staying.

“It’s not that easy.” He turns away, knowing he’d be incapable of resisting if he had to face those bright gray irises.

“Isn’t it? I meant what I said Zuko, I want-” Aang flounders as he tries to find words meaningful enough to encompass what he feels. He gives up and instead threads his fingers through with Zuko’s once more, but this time he places both their hands together over the firebender’s heart.

“I want you. I want us.” Then, quieter. “Don’t you?”

Zuko tightens his grip on the airbender’s hand and presses it closer to his chest. His eyes are squeezed tightly shut as he admits: “You mean everything to me. Everything I thought I knew, everything I thought I wanted… it went out the window when I met you.”

Aang can feel the older boy’s heartbeat pitter pattering under his knuckles at a speed that is frankly concerning.

“There was a time I would’ve given anything to regain my honor,” There’s a short breath of something almost like laughter before he continues. “Now my whole country declared me a traitor; I was disgraced, alone and hungry and the only thing I could think was: ‘God, I hope Aang’s okay.’”

There’s barely a pause before Zuko rushes to say:

“I’m scared and confused, I think I love you, and I don’t know what to do.”

Aang’s heart is thundering in his chest. He’s almost trembling with the effort of staying still when all he wants is to throw himself at Zuko, everything else be damned. He needs Zuko to say yes, he needs it desperately, he won’t know what to do with himself if he doesn’t. But he knows, in the end, Zuko needs to be able to choose this for himself, otherwise it’ll do no good.

Aang’s not oblivious as to the magnitude of what he’s asking of him and it’s almost unbearable, sitting there as the banished prince’s gaze drifts off. Distantly he’s starting to wonder if, somehow, this is how it all ends for them.

When Zuko lowers their hands, when he lets go, Aang feels something shatter in him, but he’s barely had the time to notice before Zuko’s lips are pressing insistently to his own.

Time itself seems to melt around Aang, his entire world shifts on its axis, and quite suddenly, he’s twelve again, hiding under a street vendor’s cart, his hand over Kuzon’s mouth to keep that silly boy from giggling and giving them away as a trio of guards rush past, in a hurry to find the two hooligans that had hijacked the night’s fireworks display.

When Zuko’s lips begin to move against his, he hears the faint whistle of the rocket going off, just as Kuzon had promised.

Behind his closed eyes he sees the sky explode into a shower of rubies and gold, over and over again with deafening bangs, and as he wraps his arms around Zuko’s neck they continue sparking and falling into intricate shapes,

the fire nation emblem blazing beside the moon, like the line of Zuko’s body heat against him,

a dragon snaking its way along the stars, like Zuko’s arm as it wraps around his waist, palm pressed to the small of his back,

a pair of lovers, embracing, immortalized for a single second, as their tongues meet and Aang’s world explodes and is remade out of glittering gold bursts and dazziling red sparks.

When Zuko can finally bring himself to pull away, their breaths mingling between them, he lets out a short laugh.

“I… yeah. Okay,” he caresses Aang’s cheekbone with his thumb, resting his forehead to the boy’s. “You lead. I’ll follow.” He promises.

Aang's eyes are so bright, so unapologetically joyful, that Zuko can’t help but kiss him again, and once more after that, marveling at the fact that it took him this long to start doing that, until at last he’s had his fill of Aang’s lips and of the breathless little laughter bubbling up from them.

Aang raises his hand and holds the left side of Zuko’s face. It’s been so long since the thought of that scar didn’t fill a pool of dread in the firebender’s stomach but looking into Aang’s expression, Zuko knows that the airbender has always been able to see through it, to see him, and it solidifies in his mind that he’s making the right decision.

That is of course, until he sees a flash of gold and green at the edge of his vision.

He goes tense immediately, something that does not go unnoticed by Aang who turns to look behind him. Zuko reaches out and stops him, turning the airbender’s face back to him and forcing himself to seem relaxed.

“You should try to tunnel out of here. Go find your friends, tell them about the change in plans.”

The flash of color is closer this time. 

Aang frowns. “What about you?” 

He knows something’s up but Zuko is running out of time. He bends down and presses a chaste kiss to the boy’s forehead.

“I’ll catch up. Go.”

Aang doesn’t seem happy about it, but Zuko must look pretty insistent because the airbender turns to the nearest cave wall, presses his hand up to it, as though searching for something, and splits it open with a single sturdy strike.

He throws one last look over his shoulder before he closes the earth behind him.

And Zuko fully intended to keep his promise. Just as soon as he’s done tying up loose ends.

The sun was nearly rising by the time Aang had finished telling Katara everything. The waterbender had watched as the weight that seemed to have settled over Aang’s shoulders since his brush with death slowly vanished, until at last it looked like he was taking his first real breath in several months.

“You could’ve told me,” She whispers softly. “I would’ve only tried to help.” And she means it. Even now, even with her heart still bruised from the perceived betrayal, knowing that he’s suffering only makes her want to be there for her best friend.

“I know.” Aang’s voice rings hollow. He has his knees drawn up to his chest and his arms wrapped tightly around them.

Katara doesn’t hesitate to open her arms wide and in between heart beats she already has an armful of Avatar, clinging to her for all he's worth. She squeezes him tight and rubs comforting circles onto his back.

"You must think I'm so stupid."

Katara is already shaking her head before Aang is even done muttering the words into her shoulder. "I don't think you're stupid. You’ve always seen the best in people, Aang; that's not a bad thing."

The boy sighed, trying to pull back, but Katara just raised her hands to hold his face with a gentle, motherly touch. She makes sure he’s looking her in the eyes when she says: "Zuko took advantage of you and your feelings for him. That's his fault, not yours."

Aang wanted to disagree with her, he wanted to defend Zuko and their relationship, as complicated and short as it was in hindsight. However at this point, he found that he really couldn't, that he'd exhausted the limits of his understanding nature.

Katara seemed to sense this because she pulled him closer still, as if her arms alone could shroud him from the world.

"I just…" Aang starts quietly. He'd barely been able to admit this to himself, let alone outloud, but Katara’s embrace is warm and comforting and when she hums quietly to indicate that he should go on, there’s not even a hint of judgement in her tone.

“I just wish I knew what Azula said to him."

Zuko was alone again, not that that was a surprise.

After he was done recounting the events of that day, which he had done methodically, wasting no time or breath trying to sugarcoat his words or justify his actions, Toph had said nothing. She had simply sat in silence, for several long moments, before unceremoniously getting up and turning back the way she came.

Zuko deserved that. To be honest, he felt he deserved far worse.

His own words rattle around uselessly inside his head.

That morning, he’d found the posters proclaiming the Avatar’s bison to be missing and, written neatly underneath the call for help, Aang’s current address. He’d been on the train to the upper ring before he’d even read it twice.

He’d barely had the time to feel relief at the sight of the younger boy’s face as he opened the door for him, before the Dai Lee agents had them trussed up like hog monkeys and thrown into the cave.

With the two of them alone, miles underground, he had promised Aang everything.

Then Azula showed up and Zuko sent the boy away, hoping to deal with the problem on his own, to return to him as soon as possible. The next time he saw Aang though, he tried burning him to a crisp.

That’s what he told Toph.

What he failed to tell her was everything else.

“And to think,” Azula calls out as she leisurely picks her way through the rocks, looking for all the world like she was taking an afternoon stroll through the Fire Nation palace gardens, “Father could’ve had a much easier time stomaching each and every one of your colossal failures if only he knew why you were always bound to be such a massive disappointment.”

Her demeanor is as inviting as a white jade flower and just as deadly. Her eyes flash unmistakably to Zuko’s clenched jaw, his drawn shoulders and the fists tightened at his side, before her smirk curls just that little bit crueler. Then, as suddenly as it formed, it is all too easily replaced with an air of good natured curiosity that she sells uncomfortably well.

“It’s rather funny, don't you think?” She asks as she begins to pace around him. The next time she speaks her voice is ever so slightly raised. “I wonder if you’ll become the punchline to a joke back home: Why did the Fire Lord banish his only son?”

She comes to a stop directly in front of him, the poor lighting from the cave’s crystals casting shadows across her already sinister smile as she leans in to whisper in his ear: “Perhaps the Avatar’s was the only skirt he could get him to chase.”

Zuko involuntarily flinches away from her, cursing himself for giving her the satisfaction. “What do you want from me?” He grits out between clenched teeth.

Azula rolls her eyes. “That’s cute. You think you could have something I want.” She actually giggles when Zuko starts moving into the starting stance for an Agni Kai, making the banished prince freeze in his tracks.

“You’re ridiculous, do you know that? Come on.” She extends her hand out to him and he glares at it warily.

"What are you here for?" He tries again, and this time Azula sighs, as if deeply put out by his attitude, taking her hand back and resting it on her hip. However when she aims her glare at Zuko, although he finds the expected levels of disdain and annoyance, he is utterly blindsided by the presence of what almost looks like concern gracing Azula’s features.

He never thought he’d see the day.

“I’m here to help my wayward brother find his way home. You’ve been gone too long, Zuzu. You’re forgetting yourself.”

“I know my way.” Zuko snaps. He pulls himself up taller and meets his sister’s gaze evenly, thinking of Aang’s twinkling eyes, of his radiant smile, his melodic laughter. He thinks of having him, every day, as certain as the sunrise, and he’s never felt more sure of himself as he proclaims. “I don’t need yours.”

Azula raises a single eyebrow. “No? Don’t tell me you genuinely believe there’s an outcome where you get to skip off into the sunset with the Avatar and crew and live happily ever after? Please,” the breath of laughter in her voice grates at Zuko’s ears, “even you aren’t that delusional.”

Zuko feels his heart pounding in his throat as he breaks out into a cold sweat.

Azula always lies. Azula always lies. Azula always-

“What do you mean?” He can’t help himself.

The condescension on Azula’s face makes him want to be sick, but he holds still as she shakes her head, tutting in faux disappointment.

“You really don’t see it, do you? This path you’ve chosen for yourself, it doesn’t end well for you.”

She drops the facade and stares at him flatly. “You’re the disgraced prince of an enemy nation. Where do you think you fit into the Avatar’s narrative?” Zuko doesn’t say anything to which Azula spreads her hands and looks at him pointedly, calling attention to his silence. “There’s no place for you in his life, there never was. There’ll never be.”

Zuko wants to argue but everytime he opens his mouth the words die in his throat. He feels his stomach sinking to his feet as he realizes he doesn’t have a single response to give.

Azula continues, even as Zuko gets the wild urge to press his hands to his ears and block out her words. 

“When that becomes apparent, what then? Where are you going to go? Back to the Fire Nation? You know as well as I at that point you’d be better off dead.”

“That’s not- he wouldn’t… He cares about me!” Zuko can barely keep himself from shouting, an inkling of hysteria creeping into his voice. He tries to ignore the fact that her doubts are not entirely misplaced… and that they were eerily similar to his own. The ones he had been trying to ignore when he pledged his loyalty to Aang.

Azula just hums, entirely unfazed. “He might. It doesn’t change anything. Are you really willing to gamble your life on the chance that the Avatar will choose you ,” She makes a face, like the word tastes unpleasant in her mouth, “over his destiny?” She shrugs nonchalantly. “I mean you’re welcome to take that bet but, personally, I wouldn’t trust those odds.”

“Why are you acting like you care anyways?! You called me a disgrace!” Worse than that. There’s more than one reason why loving Aang is a crime, and the glint in Azula’s eyes tells Zuko they both know exactly why she mentioned not being able to return to the Fire Nation.

Azula raises her hands placatingly. “A disgrace is not necessarily a hopeless case. You’d make a fine asset, and at the moment, I could do with some more of those."

Zuko snorts, but the sound is hollow. Azula smirks as she takes a step towards him, laying her hand on his shoulder. He shrugs it off, but not immediately.

"I'm giving you a choice here.” The sickly sweet tone of her voice is cloying and it makes Zuko almost as nauseous as her words. 

“You can keep going as you are, still a fugitive, on the run, risking everything for a boy you barely know until you end up dead or worse…”

He's pinned under her gaze. Try as he might, he can’t look away.

“Or you could come back home. Prove your loyalty. Retake your rightful place beside the throne.”

When Zuko doesn’t react in the slightest, Azula deflates, turning on her heel to march away. But just as she’s about to take the first step she hears her brother’s voice call out for her.

“We’ll bring him in alive, right?” It’s halfway short of a desperate plea. His mind’s already been made up, she can tell.

He can’t see Azula’s razor sharp smirk as she says “Of course. I wouldn’t dream of hurting your flame.”

His eyes track the brilliant arc of blue light as it makes its way across the cavern, and a guttural scream is being ripped from his throat before he can even think to stop it.

Every thought flees from his mind except that Aang-

Aang is…

He rounds on Azula, and when he sees her there, smug and satisfied, her fingertips still smoking, when he meets her eyes and they sparkle with an expression that says: “Oops”...

He sees red.

He’s already lunged for her throat with nothing short of deadly intent, and the only reason why she isn’t lying mangled before him in the next second is because half a dozen Dai Lee agents have materialized to restrain him, pinning him to the ground.

Every breath that he huffs out sparks with flames, and he almost can’t hear Azula’s next words over the sound of his heart pounding and his thoughts screaming.

“You are all to forget this incident in its entirety. Send word to my father, tell him Ba Sing Se has fallen,”

She kneels down to where Zuko’s face is still pressed into the dirt, smirking like a cat who caught the canary, and suddenly everything makes horrific sense.

“And that his son has returned.”

Toph’s return sometime during the early hours of dawn is met by an onslaught of scolding from Katara, who had been steadily creeping towards hysterics the longer the morning went on without any sign of her. It had been everything Aang and Sokka could do to keep her from storming out and tearing down the whole cliffside in her search for the younger girl.

“There you are! Where have you been?!” The waterbender’s voice is shrill and high pitched as she practically launches herself at Toph, looking her over quickly before smothering her in a bone crushing hug.

The younger girl stiffened but she knew better than to try to object to the affection so instead she awkwardly patted her love’s back, even as they stood in the middle of the court yard, the sun only just beginning to shine down on the temple.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m okay, you can let me go now.” Toph tried to say but Katara clearly disagreed because it was at least another minute before she could bring herself to detach from her girlfriend, and even then, she would not go farther than arm’s length as she ushered her towards the fountain, sitting her down at the edge and continuing to fret over her as the boys trailed after the pair.

“I was worried sick, what happened?” Katara asked imploringly as she ran her fingers through Toph’s hair. The young noble had the decency to appear a little sheepish as she tried for a smile that looked more like a grimace. Katara’s eyes narrow accusingly, pulling her hand back to rest it on her hip, as the boys glance at each other quickly, silently determining who has to stop who if this escalates into another brawl.

“I went to go see Zuko?” The earthbender voices it as a question.

Before Katara can get halfway through her indignant shriek, Toph has already put up her hand to stop her. “You just saw me didn’t you?” She gestures at herself as she says, “Nothing’s broken and/or missing, is it? So relax.”

The waterbender grumbles and is clearly about to start the argument anyway when she spots Aang out of the corner of her eyes, trying far too hard to look uninterested. Her heart softens at the sight.

She takes a deep, calming breath which helps her control her tone before she asks: “What happened then?”

Toph shrugged as she began to kick her feet in the water, seemingly just to give herself something to do. As she begins to speak she holds her hand out, trying for inconspicuous, but clearly failing as Katara notices immediately and meets her in the middle, gently intertwining their fingers together and comforting the girl even as the young noble’s face heats up.

“Not much. I asked to hear his side of things, about what happened at the North Pole and Ba Sing Se or whatever.”

Sokka immediately perks up at the mention of the Earth Kingdom capital, stepping forward at the same time as Aang shrinks back. “Really? Ba Sing Se? Did he say anything useful?”

Toph frowns. “Not really. He wasn’t involved in anything till the last minute. He said Azula spun him some tale about returning home in a blaze of glory or something and he bought it wholesale.”

A pained noise that seemed not entirely voluntary forced its way out of Aang’s mouth before he could get a handle on it. Katara holds out her free hand to him but he ignores it, and she can already see him shuttering himself away behind walls.

The silence seemed to stretch on forever before Sokka spoke up again. “So that’s it then? The last skeleton in your closet? Nothing else you’d like to admit before it comes charging out of the woodwork?” His tone is light and joking, but it carries with it an undercurrent of severity that’s impossible to miss as he gives Aang an expectant look.

Aang hangs his head in shame. “I really am sorry I didn’t tell you guys sooner, I know I should've, it's just…” At this he trails off, swallowing harshly before he steels himself and pushes through, his voice threatening to catch in his throat, “half the time I thought I was dreaming whenever we were together.” Then, quietly, he adds, “Maybe I was.”

“Well, whatever the case may be,” Katara says, standing up from the fountain with an air of finality, “There’s nothing to be done about it now. What’s important is that we move forward and put this whole debacle behind us.”

“We should probably be leaving the temple then,” Sokka says, glancing quickly out at the opposing cliff face. “Not sure how comfortable any of us are with having Zuko know our position.”

Naturally, that’s when all hell broke loose.

No sooner had everyone chorused their agreement and began moving to vacate the area than an explosion lit up the side of the temple, the whole stone structure shuddering under the impact as dust and small pieces of the ceiling began to rain down on them.

As Aang scrambles to locate the source of the new danger, a second explosion, much closer this time, threatens to take down one of the pillars. Squinting through the smoke and the dust he manages to make out two figures up on one of the temple's higher structures.

The shock of dread that washes over him as he recognizes them both is such that it takes Sokka tackling him out of the way to realize he’d been about to be crushed to death.

“Go, go, go!” He’s not sure who’s yelling but regardless he grabs Sokka and they make a break for cover behind the fountain, where they find Toph shielding Katara behind a stone structure she had erected and they huddle in beside the two girls.

The earthbender grimaces as a set of back to back explosions cause ever larger pieces of stone to smash into their attempt at shelter, but she holds strong.

There’s a short lull in the chaos and Aang knows he shouldn’t but he lifts his head up to try and find Combustion Man and Zuko. He’s barely managed to get a glimpse at them before the hulking assassin aims an explosion directly at the firebender that sends him tumbling off the side of the cliff, just barely managing to use the momentum to land in a sprawl on the courtyard.

The airbender feels like he’s choking on his own heart as he watches Zuko roll to a stop, but as he goes to throw himself out from behind cover Katara yanks him back by his collar.

“Are you crazy?!” She shrieks, and, evidently, he is, because he breaks out of her hold just a second later at the sound of yet another explosion.

“Aang!”

Even after everything, he’s still incapable of leaving him.

With Katara’s screams ringing in his ears, the airbender runs back out into the open, having just enough time to bend a gust of wind that redirects one of the falling pieces of the ceiling before it pinned the firebender to the ground.

“Aang, no!” Zuko shouted, reaching out, his eyes desperate.

For a brief moment, Aang doesn’t understand what makes Zuko panic like that. And then he feels the explosion rock his entire body as it throws him off his feet and sends him flying across the courtyard, his body limp as a ragdoll.

It takes him a moment to realize over the ringing in his ears that Zuko is bellowing like an animal. Through blurred vision he sees as the courtyard is bathed in the warm yellow light emanating from the absolute inferno that was now surrounding Zuko, his figure nothing more than a splotch of dark shadow amongst the roiling flames.

He must’ve hit his head, he thinks, as the pain starts registering distantly. He hadn’t felt it on impact but he was definitely feeling it now. Without meaning to, his eyes slip closed and try as he might he can’t pry them open.

The last thing he hears before his consciousness fades completely is Zuko calling his name.

He likes the sound of it.

He always has.

When Aang comes to, he's surprised to see how much later in the day it is. He’s been moved into his room and, judging by the shadows, it must be nearing sunset.

“Twinkle Toes is up,” Toph proclaims from her spot on the floor by the foot of his bed and immediately Katara is at his side, holding his chin in her fingers and looking carefully into his eyes, observing the dilation of his pupils.

“The next time you wanna try giving yourself a concussion,” She snaps at him tersely, scowling something fierce, “how about you let me have a go first?”

Despite the outward air of hostility, Aang can see the relief dancing just behind her eyes and he knows, in the end, she’s just happy to have him awake again.

“Sure thing.” He says, his voice still rough from having just woken up. The water tribe girl rolls her eyes, but doesn’t hesitate to help him up into a sitting position when he motions for it. He glances to the side and finds Sokka leaning against the wall, flashing him a thumbs up, which accounts for everyone except…

“Where’s-” Aang starts but cuts himself off as he finds who he’s looking for.

Zuko is sitting by the doorway, his head laid on his arms which he had crossed over his knees. He’s speaking before Aang can even begin to think of what to say.

“I’m sorry.” The firebender whispers. “I know I promised to leave, I’m sorry I came back. I saw the assassin on his way to the temple and I-” He stops, swallowing heavily as he looks away from all of them.

Sokka and Toph both look relatively unbothered by his presence. Aang suspects they’re the reason the firebender is in the room to begin with, considering the death glare Katara is aiming at him.

Zuko moves to stand up, still speaking quietly as he does so. “I just needed to know you were okay. I’ll be on my way now.” He’s facing away, heading towards the door, already stepping through the threshold.

Aang could’ve watched him go. He really could’ve.

But he didn’t want to.

“Zuko, wait,”

The firebender freezes in place, his hand holding the door frame in a white knuckled grip but otherwise giving no outward reaction to the call.

“You came back for me.”

The older boy blinks before turning halfway around to face the airbender, the barest quirk to the edges of his lips. “Thought you’d have figured that part out by now.” And then, seemingly gathering his courage, he adds: “I’ll always come back for you, Aang.”

He’d be the end of him, Aang was sure of it.

“I trust you.” He forces himself to say the truth, trying not to focus on the way Zuko’s eyes grow wide, practically sparkling with tentative hope. “It might be stupid and I might get burned for it, but,”

He sighs. 

“At the end of the day… you’ve thrown yourself on the blade for me more times than not.”

He tries to hide the way his fists tighten involuntarily at the memory of the one time Zuko didn’t. It wasn’t the time. He needs to make one thing clear.

“That doesn’t mean anything for us personally. It doesn’t even mean anything at all if my friends don’t agree but, for what it’s worth… I trust you to teach me firebending.”

Zuko’s gaze shoots desperately to each of the other people in the room, silently pleading with them.

Toph is the first to break, standing up and offering her hand. Zuko takes it tentatively, and he’s not really surprised when the girl nearly crushes his fingers in her grip.

“I trust him about as far as I can throw him and,” She cocked her head to the side and Zuko got the uncanny sensation that somehow, the blind girl was scrutinizing every inch of him. A massive grin breaks out over her face as she proclaims: “I think I can throw him pretty far.”

Sokka is next. He pushes himself off the wall and stares at Zuko for a beat before shrugging. “I’m all for more firepower and anything likely to give us an edge. If you’re committed to the cause, welcome aboard.”

Zuko hardly dares to hope. He can barely breathe as he turns to face Katara, who still looks like she’s only a few seconds away from impaling him on an icicle. She’s silent for so long that Zuko is convinced she’s about to send him packing before:

“I trust Aang’s judgement.” She finally says, though she manages to sound tremendously unhappy about it. She turns to look at the airbender and there’s something in her gaze that Zuko can’t quite identify. Aang clearly does though, because he gives a minute nod back at her and she sighs but concedes.

With one last frigid look over her shoulder at the firebender, she takes her leave, her brother and her girlfriend following soon after her.

Zuko stands there, struck completely dumb, for entirely too long.

He did it. He actually did it.

He only snaps out of it when Aang moves to get up from the bed. He hesitates, not exactly sure what to do. He opens his mouth a couple of times but closes it just as quickly.

When he looks at Aang, the boy has a small amused smile tugging the edges of his lips upwards and he rolls his eyes. 

"Come on, I’ll show you around," He offers. As he passes by Zuko in the doorway, he angles his smaller body so not a single point of them touches, but when he throws a look over his shoulder at Zuko, there doesn't seem to be any of the earlier hostility left.

There's a bit of exhaustion.

A bit of pain.

But also, definitely, hidden under all the rest of it, a bit of love. Just a bit.

It lets Zuko dare to allow hope into his heart for the first time in several months as he sets off to follow Aang, like he’s wanted to since the beginning.