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Chapter Text

It had been a couple of days since Zuko had gotten back into the good graces of his father. Azula had insisted that they walk around the palace, to get Zuko acquainted with his home. It had taken a couple of days: despite him only being gone for three years, the palace had changed a lot, and it was huge.

The war had done so much damage to his kingdom, Zuko thought bitterly.

“Alright, I think that's all the new kitchens.” Azula said, rolling her eyes, “Even though I still think this was a complete waste of time, Royals do not need to come here, we have servants for a reason. But, you’re the boss. What else do you want to see then, Zuzu?”

Zuko thought for a minute, thinking back to all of the places he loved going to as a kid; his favourite hideouts, the places where he would play with Lu Ten, and the places his mother would take him when they had some time together.

Zuko smiled.

“How about the turtleduck pond?” he asked, “Have any changes been made there?”

Azula wrinkled her nose in disgust.

“I mean… the royal gardens haven’t changed that much since you left, but… I guess we could go see them, if that's what you really want to do, Zuzu.”

She motioned for him to follow her, which he gladly did.

Thankfully, the royal gardens were not that far away from the kitchens, and, as usual, it was mostly deserted. Not many people appreciated the serenity. When Zuko had come here in the past, the only people with him were Azula and her friends, if they were there to play, Zuko’s mother, the gardeners, and Uncle Iroh.

Zuko felt a pang of guilt when he thought of him.

Why did Uncle have to betray the Fire nation like that? Why did he have to leave him?

“Here we are.” Azula said with a condescending monotone voice as they entered the outside, “The Gardens, and your stupid turtleduck’s live. Yay .”

Zuko chose to ignore his sisters remark, and smiled down at the pond. A couple of mother turtleduck’s were bobbing on the top of the pond, quacking in delight at seeing Zuko. They must have remembered me.

Zuko smiled and crouched down next to the old tree, letting them come to him.

The turtleduck’s ran over to him, honking and swimming their way over to Zuko.

“Hi Mamas.” Zuko said, a huge goofy grin plastered on his face. The turtleducks honked in delight and wagged their little tails.

Azula watched on in bored disgust.

“Honestly, Zuzu, you’d think that you would have gotten over this childish behaviour while being banished.” she scoffed.

Zuko glared at her.

“Mum used to take me here.” Zuko said quietly, “She tried to take you as well, but you were too scared of them. It became… it became our thing before…”

Azula's gaze softened minutely.

“Fine, I won’t make fun of your little… creatures.” she said, “But honestly Zuzu, we still have a lot of the palace to look at, so why don’t we wrap this up and-”

Azula reached out to touch Zuko's shoulder, intending to pull him up and drag him away.

The oldest mother turtleduck didn’t know this. But she had been at this pond ever since Zuko had started going with his mother. She knew him well, and she knew the kinds of tricks Azula would play on him.

Unkind tricks, tricks that she interpreted as her way of harming him, though they didn’t result in lasting damage. 

As soon as she registered the fact that Azula was about to touch him, she reacted, honking loudly and scrambling out of the pond, intent on attacking Zuko's younger sister.

And before Zuko even registered what was going on, Azula shrieked and backed away, sending a trail of fire in the turtleduck’s direction.

The little thing howled in pain, and Zuko immediately went to douse the fire with pond water. But it seemed all for nothing. Horrified, he watched as the mother fell to her side and stopped moving.

He turned to Azula angrily, while the other ducks in the pond honked at her.

“What did you do that for?!” Zuko yelled.

“It was attacking me!” Azula yelled back, “Its not my fault she doesn’t like me!”

“It is! You threw rocks at her when we were younger! How could she not, not like you?”

Azula said something else, but Zuko was already on the ground, trying to look at the damage. The lifeless duck didn’t move other than a harsh wheezing breath when Zuko gently prodded her uninjured side. While the shell on her back had saved her from most of the damage, she was still in pain, still withering in agony. A deep burn had scorched through her feathers, leaving an ungodly mark on her neck.

Zuko let out a shaky breath. She wouldn’t survive the rest of the day.

“Get out.” Zuko whispered, just enough for Azula to hear and stop her excuses.

“What?!”

“I said Get. Out.” Zuko growled, “You… you killed her.”

Azula, thankfully, didn’t press on. She just rolled her eyes, sighing.

“Fine. I’ll leave. Just… tell me when you’re ready to continue the tour… I guess.”

She turned around and left, leaving Zuko with the turtleduck.

He could feel his eyes brimming with tears as he picked up the limp body of the mother duck. She whimpered in pain at the movement, but did not protest.

“I-I’m sorry.” he whispered. He only hesitated for a second, watching his trembling hands while reminding himself that there was no way to save her, and this was a mercy.

With a swift snap of the turtleducks neck, she stopped moving entirely.

Zuko didn’t move much for a few seconds, only bringing her closer to his chest before rocking gently back and forth, tears falling down his cheeks.

He then proceeded to get up, walking over to the familiar place he knew her nest was. He found the small nest next to the pond reeds, half hidden by the foliage. He laid her aside and dug a hole with his hands, before placing her gently inside and covering the hole back up with dirt.

He patted the dirt down and stared at the little makeshift grave. He should probably have gone back to the kitchens to get her favourite bread to bury with her, but it was too late now.

Thats when Zuko noticed something in the corner of his eye. There, inside the turtle ducks nest, were four pristine white eggs. Zuko looked up and stared at them.

…They didn’t have a mother anymore.

Just like him.

Zuko stared at them for a long while. He contemplated just moving the eggs to another mothers nest, then quickly dismissed the thought the other mothers would immediately crush the eggs if they found them in their nests. They were highly territorial creatures, and could easily tell if an egg in their nest was not one of their own. But they would also die without their mother.

Zuko would have to figure out what to do with them later. Right now he had to keep them warm.

Practically without thinking, Zuko reached over and pocketed the turtleduck eggs. They would be safe and warm inside his robes, at least until he figured out what to do with them.

He turned to leave, heading towards where he knew the library would be. Maybe he could borrow some books or scrolls about Turtleducks: there had to be something in there about how to care for orphans, or at least, how to give them to a mother without her realizing they were not her own.

It was the least Zuko could do for them.

…………

Chirp! Chirp! 

Zuko had taken all the scrolls and books about Turtleducks he could find in the library and taken them back to his quarters, placing the eggs inside a makeshift nest of blankets he wasn’t using, and spent the rest of the day reading.

He must have fallen asleep.

Chirp! Chirp! 

He hadn't eaten in that long either. No one came to check on him, even though he was the prince. He’d have to get used to that again.

Chirp! Chirp!

What was that noise? Was someone trying to wake him up? Actually, now that he thought about it, he could feel something sharp prodding in his face. In his half asleep state he groaned and moved away the object with a sweep of his hand.

Immediately there was a small shriek.

Zuko's eyes widened and he got up quickly, looking down at his bed. A small newly hatched turtleduck was on his bed, turned on its shell and panicking, trying to get up. There were three more little turtleducks all panicking because the other one was panicking.

Zuko resisted the urge to follow suit - it was way too early in the morning for this, the sun wasn't even out yet - and quickly reached over to help the little turtleduck back onto its feet.

The little ducking immediately stopped panicking, and the others calmed down too, one of them even falling asleep where it was. The duckling instead looked at Zuko with a comically angry expression and tried to peck him on the arm.

“Hey,” he said, “That is not nice.” 

The little gremlin just glared at him and continued to try and peck him.

“I said stop it.” Zuko said, gently picking up the little creature by the shell and lifting it up into the air. The little duckling squeaked in outrage and tried to nip at Zuko's fingers.

Zuko glared at the little thing as it tried to wriggle out of his grip. He then felt something else ram softly into his leg. Zuko looked down to see one of the other ducklings fall over slightly and hit his head on Zuko. It looked slightly disoriented, and wobbled a little as it tried to walk. He gently stopped it from falling over and the little thing looked up at him lopsidedly. One of its eyes had not formed properly, leaving it looking half shut and glassy. It probably didn't help its balance. The other duckling rushed over to him and worriedly tried to nuzzle into him in comfort. The duckling with the bad eye leaned into its brother's touch so much that it almost fell over again. 

Zuko looked down at all of the ducklings, trying to work out where they came from before remembering the event that took place the day before.

These were the little orphans. The ones who had lost their mother. They had probably hatched at some point during the night. One look at the makeshift nest confirmed it. All that remained of the eggs were pieces of broken shell and goop.

Zuko then came to the sudden realization that they had probably all imprinted on him. Turtleducks always imprinted on the first living thing they saw. Which was him.

This was a bit of a problem. 

He couldn't have these ducklings with him all the time! He had things to do around the palace, which was dangerous for these ducklings, especially since most people saw them as pests if they were anywhere but the gardens. How was he supposed to look after them and do his duty as a prince at the same time?

Zuko was taken out of this train of thought by one of the ducklings chirping at him. It was still helping to hold up the duckling with the bad eye, and was looking at him with a curious expression.

They were probably hungry, Zuko realized: they hadn’t eaten yet. 

He gently placed down the angry duckling before getting up off his bed to find something for the ducklings to eat. He had some steamed vegetables from last night's dinner: one of the servants must have given it to him.

It was not much but it would be enough for the little ducklings, at least for now. 

He put the vegetables on a small separate plate and mushed them up as best as he could with the knife that he kept on his bedside table. He placed the food on his bed in front of the ducklings, who immediately went for the food. The little angry one pushed the one with the bad eye to get to the food first, gobbling it up quickly. The one who had defended the duckling with the bad eye chirped angrily at the angry one before pecking its back, leading to a heated argument of chirps. The one that had fallen asleep had perked awake at the smell of food, and used the confusion of the argument to quietly slip in and eat half the plate. 

Zuko had to help the one with the bad eye towards the food, and it immediately faceplanted into one of the steamed vegetables and just started munching without moving its head up. 

After a while the two arguing ducklings settled down to eat, though thanks to the sleepy duckling there was barely anything left. They ate and argued over the last piece of food before they finally finished eating.

Zuko quickly moved the plate away when they were done, having observed the whole ordeal from his seat on the bed. It was very early, and Zuko had things to do when he got up, so he lay down on the bed, leaving enough room for the ducklings who were looking very sleepy to sleep by him.

The little ducklings, who looked exhausted from their first meal, all waddled towards him. Zuko tensed up as they all snuggled into a sleep pile under his chin. They were warm and squirmy, and so very small, their bodies pulsing in breath as they quickly fell asleep, and thier shells still soft and not quite fully formed yet. 

Zuko didn't want to squish them by accident as he was sleeping, but he also didn't want to move them out of the way. He eventually relaxed at their rhythmic breathing beneath his chin, his body instinctively curling up and his hand coming to rest in front of them to keep them warm.

He couldn’t move that much during the night, right?

No, he probably couldn’t.

Soon enough, Zuko fell into a restful sleep, his mind for once, not plagued with nightmares of his thirteen year old self standing in that hall in front of his father.

Chapter Text

It had been three weeks since Zuko had become the ducklings single parent and he had settled into some kind of routine. He would wake up, give them any leftovers for breakfast, and get on with his day. He spent as much time as he could near the turtleduck pond to allow the ducklings to swim, so long, in fact, that Azula would tease him about it every time she saw him. If he had duties that were unavoidable, he would take the ducklings around in the pockets of his clothes, hidden from sight.

When he was in his rooms, they would waddle along after him, all in a neat little row. The duckling with the bad eye would always walk into furniture if it was on his right, but other than that his balance had improved and it could keep up with the other ducklings easily, though its head remained slightly lopsided. The bigger duckling spent most of his time sleeping and eating, though he was happy to snuggle with his siblings whenever they needed it. The two others were always arguing, the mean little duckling always picking fights, usually with the one starting them by pestering the other or trying to playfight too roughly with the other ducklings while the other one was always trying to stop them from hurting the other two.

After about three days, he decided that they needed names.

The lazier but caring duckling he dubbed Iroh, because he reminded him so much of his Uncle, in a fond kind of way. The angry one he called Azula, since it was spiteful and angry all the time, just like his sister. The more protective one he named Lu Ten, since it acted a lot like his cousin had before that battle in Ba Sing Se, always trying to mediate between the siblings bickering and spending time to play with him and Azula. The last one he dubbed Zuzu, because its bad eye kind of looked like Zukos scar.

He later found out that Iroh and Lu Ten were male ducklings, and Azula and Zuzu were females.

He had yet to tell anyone about the ducklings yet, not even his grilfriend Mai, but there was one person he wanted to show first, dispite everything.

Zuko walked up to the guards on duty around the prison, his hood up and the ducklings safely hidden in his various pockets. The guards pointed thier weapons at him as he approached from the shadows, but calmed down after they recognised him from his other visits. He slipped them both a couple of small coins to keep quiet, before they let him in.

Zuko walked down the familiar path in relative quiet, though a few of the prisoners reached through the bars towards him, begging for food. Zuko ignored them, though this area always made him extremely uncomfortable. The little ducklings squirmed around in his pockets, as though sensing his discomfort, so Zuko stroked them through the fabric to calm them down. 

There were no guards outside the familiar cell, and Zuko simply opened the door and stepped through, closing it behind him before stepping forwards and sitting cross legged in front of the cage.

His Uncle still wouldn’t look at him. 

It had almost become a routine at this point. Zuko would start off talking, trying to get some sort of acknowledgment from his wayward Uncle, trying to reason with him or say something else. Iroh would simply sit in his cell, staring at the opposite wall, his log, thin silver hair falling down in waves across his back. He wouldn’t turn around. He wouldn’t make a noise. 

And then Zuko would start pleading. He would start to cry and beg and shout and yell at him to say something, say anything. He would shout insults and threats sometimes, though that made him feel guilty and send a shiver up his spine for making him sound so much like his father. But mostly he just begged. 

Iroh was a traitor, but he was also Zukos Uncle, the man who became like a second father in the three years of his banishment. He had stuck with him through everything, and the silent treatment was excruciating.

after a while of silence, Zuko would leave, slamming the door behind him and storming off through the prison, at least until he got back to his rooms where he would leave the ducklings, and they would hound at him to try and comfort him, even Azula. 

Zuko wanted… well, he didn’t know exactly what he wanted but he wished Iroh would just say something to him.

Zuko often found himself wondering if those three years even meant something to his Uncle as the silence dragged on.

”Hi Uncle.” He said, his voice more subdued than usual.

He was met, unsurprisingly, with silence. 

“I… I have something to show you.” He said softly, “I… I won’t talk, I just wanted to introduce you. Th-that’s all.”

Zuko didn’t know what to expect. Iroh stayed still, though Zuko could have sworn he had tensed up at his words. 

He didn’t say anything though, and after a couple of seconds, Zuko looked behind him to make sure that the door was closed before taking out the ducklings one by one. 

They chirped when their feet hit the ground, ruffling thier feathers and looking curiously at thier surroundings.

Lu Ten waddled up to the cage door, and tilted his head curiously at the figure that was sitting there. The little duckling seemed intrigued at the form on the other side of the bars.

At the noise, Zukos uncle half turned towards them, his eyes watching from behind strands of hair. Lu Ten chirped and squeezed himself through the bars of the cage, his shell making the motion a little tricky, before approaching Iroh with more chirps, as if to greet him.

Iroh moved his hand carefully towards the little duckling who immediately hopped onto it, ruffling his feathers before settling down.

Iroh picked him up and moved him closer to his concealed face, and the little duckling watched him with curiosity.

”I-I-“ Zuko hesitated, not entirely sure what to say, “I named him Lu Ten.”

Iroh didn’t say anything, but he moved around to face Zuko, the most he had done in a while, still holding the duckling like it was the most precious thing in the world. 

“Really?” Zukos Uncle said, his voice slightly croaky and rough from misuse. Zuko couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

”I, yeah. He reminded me of him so much that, well…” Zuko trailed off, at a loss for words. 

Uncle Iroh was finally talking to him, but Zuko didn’t feel like he thought he would. Zuko imagined that he would get some kind of relief from it but… this was just sad. Sad and awkward.

”What did you name the others?” Iroh asked, nodding his head towards the three other ducklings that were waddling around the confined space, seemingly trying to explore thier new environment. 

And Zuko told him the names of the others, and why they reminded him of thier namesakes. He chuckled a little at the reasoning for Azula and Irohs names, but he didn’t speak much other than the occasional question about the ducklings. 

And for a while, things were good. 

Zuko purposely avoided the subject of the attack and the Avatar, fearing that it would break the fragile stalemate that he found himself in. Iroh may have betrayed the crown but, he was still Zuko’s Uncle, still someone he cared about, even under all the anger and confusion. 

And seeing his Uncle’s face, however briefly, was nice after the weeks of staring at his back.

”What happened to their mother?” Iroh asked, as he held duckling Iroh in his hands, the little thing having fallen asleep.

Zuko looked away. 

“She’s…” he hesitated for a second, “she died.”

Iroh’s face softened.

”Poor little things.” He said, tracing a finger along the ducklings shell, “To have their parents taken away before they could even meet.” He slowly placed the little duckling down next to his brother and sisters, “But at least they have you now, nephew, to look after them. You have done a good job. I’m… Do you know what happened to her?”

”Azula…” Zuko started, “She, she thought that she was going to hurt me. She rushed in to protect me and…”

Irohs expression grew more sad.

”There is nothing stronger than a mothers love, and will to protect her own.” Iroh said, “No matter the cost. Even at the expense of her life.”

Zuko nodded solemnly, averting his gaze. He gripped his cloak in his hands, his knuckles turning white.

”You should probably go.” Iroh said quietly, “I’m sure someone will notice your absence soon.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” Zuko said quietly, his voice barely reaching above a whisper. 

Iroh frowned. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he didn’t in the end. 

“Even so, I’m sure you have many other duties to attend to.” He said, “I do not wish to keep you from fulfilling them.”

Zuko frowned a little. 

Iroh was trying to abandon him again. Zuko wanted to be angry, and maybe sad at the revelation, but all he felt was a deep numbness.

He was right. Why would anyone want him to be around?

The ducklings, as if sensing the tension, quickly ran back to Zuko, and even Azula seemed worried at the change in demeanor.

Zuko just wordlessly picked each of the ducklings up, and placed them back into his pockets.

He stood wordlessly, then turned back to his uncle. 

“…Would you like to see them again, the next time I come around?” He asked, quietly.

”That would be nice, thank you, nephew.” Iroh answered.

Zuko nodded, before pulling his hood back up and stepped to the other side, making sure the door was closed when he left.

He made a mental note to take the ducklings back to see his Uncle the next time he came, even as he ventured through the halls whose halls seemed to be made of reaching hands and metal bars. 

…He never did. 

Because the next time Zuko came back with a new purpose… 

…as the moon covered the bright sun…

…darkening the sky as well as their powers…

His Uncle had disappeared.

Chapter Text

How could he be so stupid?

How could he not think things through?

Uncle was gone. Zuko had almost gotten himself and his ducklings killed trying to stand up to his father. 

If Uncle hadn’t taught him how to redirect lightning…

Zuko shivered at the thought. They would have been cooked alive.

And Zuko knew from experience that that wasn’t fun. His scar itched with the memory. 

Zuko shook his head, running as quickly and as silently as he could, trying to get away. He knew his father wouldn’t have been able to mark him a traitor yet, but he had a mission in mind, a new mission, one he had been able to see clearly.

He needed to train the Avatar firebending. The Avatar he could barely see through the smoke and fire of the battle his nation was currently winning. The Avatar he knew had been alive all this time. The Avatar that would get away if he didn’t hurry up and catch up to. And then it would be the last year all over again.

Zuko crept towards the airship yard just outside the castle. The ducklings squirmed around in his pockets, as if sensing the tension Zuko had. 

He touched the pockets in a comforting gesture, trying to convey to the little things that he was ok, that they were going to be ok.

They were leaving the palace. They would be safe outside the clutches of his father. They didn’t need to be afraid anymore.

The ducklings seemed to calm down a little at his touch. They did still squirm around, but it felt more like they were trying to be comfortable then actual panic.

As soon as the coast was clear, Zuko ran into the shipyard, taking one of the ships from the far corner where not many people would notice it missing.

He jumped inside, throwing his emergency bag into the ship before scrambling inside himself, careful to land in such a way that wouldn’t hurt the ducklings.

He started it up and quickly got into the air, pulling the anchor inside the gondola, and ducking inside to be hidden from whoever might be able to see him. Once he knew he was safe he looked over the horizon, spotting a small disappearing dot in the distance. Zuko let himself smile. He was finally going to help undo all the harm he had caused, and actually do something to help stop this stupid war for good.

The ducklings seemed to sense Zukos change in demeanour, and they started to chirp and try to wiggle out of Zukos pockets. Azula and Lu Ten came out first, squabbling as usual, and stared at the fluffy clouds in fascination. Zuzu was the third duckling to appear, her head tilted slightly as she watched them too. Iroh was probably sleeping. 

“You won’t have to hide anymore.” He assured them, allowing them to look while being careful not to let them fall, “Everything’s going to change soon.”

The ducklings just chirped in response.

They were still in the air a day later. 

Zuko had fallen asleep in the airship to the ducklings pestering him for a meal. Zuko had to scramble up as the fire had gone out during his time asleep and barely stopped them from crashing into a tree.

Azula of course did not appreciate the delay of food and angrily snapped at Zuko until he picked her up by the shell to look for food in peace. The ducklings quickly came to demolish the meal, and soon they were sleepy again. They sat down inside one of Zukos pockets

Zuko was happy with the arrangement. Occasionally he would send a jet of flame towards the furnace, or look towards the horizon to make sure they were still following the Avatar and his friends, and adjust their course accordingly. Most of the day was spent following this monotonous schedule, and after their nap the ducklings spent their time following Zuko around and exploring the space. 

Then, halfway though the afternoon, Zuko felt a pinch on his ankle. Zuko looked down, expecting to see Azula having one of her tantrums, when he saw Lu Ten sitting there and looking up at him with an expectant gaze.

”What?” Zuko asked. The duckling turned and waddled over to the backpack, shuffling inside. Zuko stared until he came back out with a bit of food, waddled over to Zuko and put it on his boot. He then looked up and chirped up at him.

Zuko looked between the piece of slightly stale bread no bigger than his thumb and Lu Ten.

”…You want me to… eat?” Zuko asked slowly. The duckling chirped again and ruffled his feathers. Zuko sighed.

”I’m not hungry.” He told the duckling, before walking back towards the furnace, the little piece of bread falling to the ground as he stepped away, careful where he walked not to hurt the other little ones. 

a few minutes later, Lu Ten came back with the little piece of bread, placed it back on Zuko’s boot and chirped at him. 

Zuko looked down at him with a slightly irritated expression, before sighing and picking it up between two fingers, knowing that the little duckling was just going to persist until he complied, and ate the piece. 

“Happy now?” He asked the duckling, who ruffled his feathers and chirped at him.

Zuko sighed again and went back to checking that they were still on track with chasing following the Avatar and his friends.

Two minutes later there was another peck on his boot. Zuko looked down to see that Lu Ten had picked up another small piece of bread, slightly bigger than the last, and placed it onto Zuko’s boot again.

Zuko gave him a look, but complied anyway, eating the small piece of food before continuing with what he was doing.

This happened five more times by Lu Ten, and soon all the little ducklings were trying to get him to eat, even Azula.

Zuko just stared at them, sighed and ate what was given to him, because honestly what else was he going to do?

By the time the evening came, the ducklings had coearsed him into eating half the loaf he had kept for them.

”Are you happy now?” Zuko asked, “You might not be able to eat later.”

The ducklings all looked up at him innocently with beady little black eyes. 

Zuko felt compelled to sigh again.

They had crash landed. 

It was of course Zukos fault: he did not see the tree line in the semi darkness, and after almost seventy-two hours of staying awake, he was positively exhausted. 

As luck would have it though, the Avatars Sky Bison had been heading towards where Zuko now remembered was the Western Air Temple. He had explored the area as he did with the rest of air temples in the early weeks of his banishment, trying to find any trace of where the Avatar could have been.

Needless to say, the endeavour had been fruitless.

still, that meant that Zuko knew which rocks he could climb down so that he would reach the temple area from where he was, which was luckily very close by to where he had crash landed. 

But first of course, he needed to set up camp. He’d go to see the Avatar in the morning he decided.

The ducklings trailed after him as he tugged the tarp of the airship and used it to have a makeshift tent. When they realized that he was trying to gather sticks to act as nails to keep them in place, as well as for an eventual fire, they all tried to pick up twigs to ‘help’ him. He wouldn’t say that the scrawny little pieces of wood were much help for anything, but even so he appreciated the effort.

by the end of the day, Zuko was trembling with exhaustion. He practically fell onto the uncomfortable makeshift bed, heaving a great sigh, before closing his eyes.

tomorrow was going to be a long and hard day.

Just before falling asleep, Zuko felt the ducklings scrambling up onto his chest, trying to nestle down to sleep. He absent mindedly reached out to stroke them gently, and soon a quiet sleep fell over him.

Chapter Text

Zuko had not really thought things through too much when he decided just to go over to the Avatar and his companions. He kind of just… appeared there. His plan did essentially boil down to ‘hope for the best’, though he had thought it was much more well thought out then that. 

Clearly he was wrong.

When the Avatars sky Bison moved away from him, the members of the Avatars group, specifically Katara, her brother, the Avatar himself, and the little girl had immediately gotten defensive.

”Hi. Zuko here.” He said awkwardly.

The ducklings had squirmed around inside his pockets, probably sensing his agitation, though thankfully the others didn’t seem to notice. 

It had all gone downhill after that. They had accused him of trying to trick them, especially Katara who seemed the most angered by his actions, which, honestly, was fair enough, after everything he did. 

The Avatar seemed rather conflicted however. Zuko kept on sparing him glances, especially after his sky bison licked Zuko and covered him in drool. He seemed to half want to believe him, but still be considering what his friends were saying. 

It made Zuko think about the time the Avatar had opened up to him, telling him that he wished they could be friends instead of enemies.

The ducklings seemed to be getting more and more stressed as time went on, and their squirming became more frantic. He tried to force himself to stay calm for their sake, but it all went overboard when Katara made another angry remark.

Before Zuko even knew what was going on, Azula poked her head out of Zuko pocket, chirped angrily, before leaping down, and waddling over to Katara, who was just as shellshocked as Zuko felt. 

“Azula!” Zuko cried weakly, but the duckling paid him no mind. She waddled over to her feet, chirped angrily again and bit her ankle. 

Everyone was now just staring at the little thing. At least, everyone that wasn’t the little Earthbending girl who was still staring at the ground. Katara’s brothers jaw was parted, the Avatar looked surprised, and Kataras eyes had widened so much that they were almost completely round.

Azula, apparently not getting the reaction she wanted, ruffled her little feathers and bit her again. This time Katara used her waterbending to pick up the little duckling and keep her in the air. The little duckling screeched in fear and confusion, and Zuko felt a rush of anger overtake him.

”Let her go!” He said, feeling his hands grow hot with fire. 

Katara immediately turned her attention to him, and poised herself for an attack.

”Everyone stop!” The Avatar said, stepping between them hands outstretched.

”He was about to attack us!” Katara yelled at him.

What followed after was utter chaos.

The remaining ducklings, who had heard their sisters cries, immediately jumped out after her, and ran towards Katara and all of them tried to bite her ankles. 

She yelped in surprise, dropping Azula, who fell to the ground on her back and squirmed around a little bit before she managed to get back onto her feet.

They all chirped angrily at Katara who was now looking at them all shocked.

”Are those… Turtleducks?” Her brother said sceptically.

The Avatar looked up at Zuko.

“…why do you have turtleducks in your pocket?” He asked.

Zuko felt his face flush.

”I… I don’t want to leave them alone.” He said quietly, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand, “A predator might get them, or they could get lost. I don’t want them to get lost.”

”Where did they come from?” Katara asked, her voice softening.

”And why did you call one of them Azula, isn’t that your phsyco sisters name?” Kataras brother asked.

”They- I…” Zuko looked down to see Zuzu walking lopsidedly towards him. He stepped forwards and put his hands in front of her, letting her jump on them before lifting her up, “I named her Azula because she reminded me of my sister.”

”You know what, I can see that.” Kataras brother said with a thoughtful nod.

”And as for where they come from… they come from the royal gardens in the Fire Lords palace.” Zuko said. He rubbed Zuzus head with two fingers, and the duckling settled down more and closed her eyes.

Zuko looked up to see the Avatar looking at him with an unreadable expression. His gaze had softened, and he looked almost unsure of himself.

the rest of the ducklings, apparently happy with thier work rescuing Azula, waddled back to Zukos feet and demanded to be picked up too.

”what happened to thier mother?” The Avatar asked.

Everyones gaze turned to Zuko, except for the Earthbending girl.

”I- she’s dead.” Zuko said softly, sadly.

”Yeah, and I suppose you were the one who killed her?” Katara said, scoffing when Zuko flinched at her words, “You fire nation people really are heartless. You do enjoy murdering other peoples mothers don’t you?”

Zuko looked down, where the ducklings were still pleading with him, except for Iroh who had fallen asleep on his shoe.

”She was in pain.” He said quietly, “She got burnt badly, and she… wasn’t going to make it anyway.”

Zuko bent down and let the ducklings clamber onto his hand, having to nudge Iroh for him to hop on. He let the ducklings clamber back into his Gi, and back into their respective pockets, as the Avatar and his friends all stared at him in disbelief.

”That-“ Katara paused, before her expression hardened, “That is no excuse. You are evil. It doesn’t matter that you saved those ducklings, right?”

She turned back to her brother and friends.

Her brother looked between his sister and Zuko, concern written on his face.

”I don’t-“

“Sokka! Don’t you remember what he did to us? What his people did to our mother? Our tribe!” Katara turned back to him, “He cannot be trusted. I made the mistake of trusting him once already. I will not make it again.”

Zuko winced. This was most definitely not going well.

”Alright, fine then.” He said, “If you won’t take me as your ally, at least… you can take me as your prisoner.”

He lowered himself down on one knee and raised his arms, fists together, head down. He would do anything to undo all the damage he had caused, even if that meant becoming the Avatars prisoner. Especially if that meant that he could make it up to them all, especially…

Especially his Uncle Iroh.

But of course, the universe has an evil sense of humour. Katara used her after ending to throw him down onto his back, telling him that they would never accept him, even as a prisoner. She told him to leave, and never come back, and a few other things Zuko didn’t want to think about.

And he did leave, defeated, because everything she said was true. Why did he deserve another chance, when he had so many chances in the past?

Why was he so bad at being good?

Chapter Text

”What the heck was that?!” Tops demanded after Zuko had disappeared back from where he came from. She felt everyone turn to stare at her, but she paid it no mind.

”What?” Katara said rather angrily.

”We were just talking about how we don’t have a firebending teacher for Aang!” Toph said, “And then he comes along and basically begs us to take him to be Aang’s firebending teacher, and you tell him to leave!”

”He can’t be trusted!” Katara says, and there’s a tremor in her voice that almost makes Toph pause. Almost. 

Toph may not have been good at knowing what other people were thinking, or understanding their emotions, but if Toph had to guess, there was something almost sad about how she said it. 

It felt like betrayal.

”Well, where else are we going to do?” Toph snapped back, “Who else can teach Aang firebending?”

“Why don’t you get that we can’t trust him!” Katara said.

”Hey, wait!” Sokka said, coming up behind his sister and placing a hand on her shoulder, “Look, Toph, I get that you haven’t been with us the entire time, and you don’t know Zuko as well as we do. He chased us through the entire world, from the South Pole to here. I highly doubt he’s going to have changed in that time. He really, really wanted to capture Aang.”

”So what? People can change!”

”Oh, he was given plenty of chances to change.” Katara snapped, crossing her arms.

”Did you think he would adopt some Turtleducks if he was still evil?” Toph asked.

Katara hesitated for a second, before she could form the words.

”Well, maybe he had nefarious purposes for doing that, or something! I don’t know! He’s evil. Evil people sometimes do good things for bad reasons, like good people have to do bad things for good reasons.

”Fine. I see there’s no reason in with you. What do you think Twinkle Toes? You’ve been awfully quiet.”

Aang hadn’t spoken a word since Zuko disappear. Toph could feel Momo perched on his shoulder, the little lemur cooing at his master to try and comfort him.

”I… I don’t know.” He said, “I once hoped that… hoped that he could be our friend… but after everything he’s done…I don’t think I can trust him.”

Toph wanted to scream. She wanted to pound her fists into the Earth and cause the entire temple to fall down into the gorge.

”None of you are listening to reason!” She yelled instead, before stomping off in the direction a certain Fire Nation Prince had gone, while her idiot friends yelled after her.

Zuko was pacing, drilling a hole into the earth below. 

His plan had failed, because of course it did, it was stupid to begin with, and now he didn’t have a plan. 

That was also stupid on his part, for not coming up with a plan, in case the other plan failed. Azula, his sister, would have done that. She would have had the foresight to do so.

So here Zuko was. Pacing. Back and forth, and the little ducklings scrambled to keep up, all following along in a neat single file line if that said line had been drawn by a three year old. Zuzu kept on getting hit by Zuko's foot and falling over, no matter how much he tried to avoid her. 

He paced back and forth and back and forth, until he stopped dead in his tracks, making the ducklings bump into the back of his boot, and he yelled into the empty air.

A few birds in the surrounding trees fled at the sound, but after a few seconds of eerie silence, the sound of the forest resumed, as if it hadn’t heard the accumilation of Zuko's frustration.

”Why am I so bad at being good?” He asked them after a while, flopping down on his makeshift bed, “I just… is it because I’m from the Fire Nation? Is it impossible for me to be good?”

He buried his head in his hands. The ducklings stared at him with their beady little eyes.

“After everything I did…” he said slowly, “I deserve it don’t I? Why should I be given a chance to change? I betrayed Uncle… and everyone else. Mum’s gone because of me, and I… why should I have thought anything else?”

Zuko could feel tears pricking at the edges of his vision. And then, he felt one of the ducklings trying to scramble up onto his leg. He looked down to see Lu Ten, trying to clamber into his lap. Zuko used a hand to help hoist him up, and then the rest of the ducklings wanted to sit with him. 

Iroh tried his hardest to scramble up, and, being the biggest, was just about able to get up onto him. Still, Zuko had to help Zuzu and Azula up, and soon he had a fluffy pile of ducklings on his lap. They were all giving him a look, that was almost a way of saying that he shouldn’t be so hard on himself and also it was time for a nap. 

Zuko almost chuckled at them, and reciprocated by stroking their shells for a bit. All the small knobs and bumps and ridges on their shells seemed to calm Zuko down a lot, and after a while he didn’t feel like crying anymore.

There was something about their presence, their unyielding gaze that seemed to easily calm him down. 

He didn’t know how long he had been before he finally got up, but the sun was already setting and he realized that he hadn’t eaten all day, and had forgotten to give the ducklings their dinner. He gave them what was left of the bread, though at Lu Ten's insistence he did eat some of the crusts. 

Zuko's next task was to start the fire, and though it was simple he did take his time to start the fire to make sure there wasn’t much smoke.

He sat down in front of it, slowly turning a stick around as he watched the flames rise. The ducklings, having finished their meal, decided that they were going to once again pile onto Zuko's lap, and fall asleep.

At this point the moon was shining brightly overhead, and the few clouds that lazily reached over in front of it couldn’t stop its pale glow. The sounds of the forest had transitioned from the songs of birds and squirrels, to the low hum of bugs and crickets. A few fireflies were dotted around the almost barren forest, but Zuko only had eyes for the fire. 

It cackled and popped as it chewed at the wood that was slowly turning into embers below. 

Ever since Zuko got his scar, he had been a little more uneasy around fire. He wouldn’t say he was scared of it exactly, but he was now more cautious with his flames, more careful with how he used it, and who he used it on.

He still remembered the smell of burning flesh, the heat, the pain. 

The smell tended to make him nauseous now. He didn’t want anyone to feel the same pain he did. 

but also, he couldn’t just have fire forsaken entirely. He was, and always would be a firebender. It was his to control. He could twist it, bend it to his will. 

It was a part of him, as much as he was a part of it.

From this distance, however, the fire was pleasantly warm. It chased away the chill that had begun to seep into his skin.

It moved with each breath, growing bigger as he breathed out and smaller when he breathed in.

It was alright. He was in control. The Fire wasn’t going to hurt him.

In and out. In and out. In and-

A branch snapped in the dark pool in front of him. The fire flared, and the ducklings woke up with a start. They chirped in fear and concern, and Zuko quickly moved his hand over their backs to try to calm them down, as he scanned the dark forest.

He couldn’t see anyone, or anything, in front of him.

The branches of trees reached across the clearing, dancing in the breeze.

”H-hello?” Zuko asked the dark forest.

No one answered. The fire continued to blaze brightly.

The ducklings, now slightly more calmed down, were also staring into the abyss in the trees. 

“Is someone there?” He asked again, but all that came in reply was the breeze.

Then, another snap.

Zuko's head turned in the direction of the noise, as fast as lightning, but still he couldn’t see anything.

“I-I’m warning you,” Zuko said, feeling the heat rising in his hand as he prepared himself for an attack.

Another snap. This time closer, much, much closer. 

Zukos hand flared up in fire.

”Who’s there!?” He demanded, readying himself.

But before he could do anything, Azula jumped out from Zukos lap and rushed forwards, passed the fire and into the forest before Zuko knew what she was doing.

”Azula!” He yelled after her, but she payed him no mind. 

He had to go after her. She could get hurt. Some creature could-

”Ow!” Came a yell from the darkness, “Hey! What’s your problem?”

there was some indignant squawking and some rustling, and then, quiet.

Zuko blinked. The voice was vaguely familiar, but Zuko couldn’t for the life of him remember who’s it belonged to.

That was until the owner came out of the darkness into the light of the fire, a little Turtleducks in her hands.

Zuko found himself face to face with the little Earthbending girl.

Chapter Text

Zuko stared at her, not knowing what else to do. 

“You’re duckling attacked me.” She said after a heartbeat.

”…Sorry?” Zuko tried, “She um, she doesn’t like strangers.”

the girl regarded the duckling in her hand.

”Something we have in common then.” She said, sidestepping the fire and handing Azula back to Zuko. 

And that’s when he realized that she was blind. A thin grey film covered her eyes, turning them glassy and unseeing.

Zuko reached out to take Azula off her, and she quickly joined the other ducklings that were still sitting on his lap.

The Earthbending girl then sat down next to Zuko, crosslegged. She wasn’t wearing shoes, Zuko noticed, but he figured that was more of an Earthbending thing.

”So, you’re the guy who chased my friends all over the world, and tried to capture Twinkletoes.”

”T-twinkletoes?”

”Its my nickname for Aang.”

It took Zuko longer than he would like to admit to realize that she was talking about the Avatar.

”O-Oh. Right. That- yeah that was me. I’m not going to do that again, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

”Good, because if you were, I think Katara would destroy you. And if she didn’t, I definitely would.”

It sounded like she was threatening him, but somehow Zuko wasn’t that concerned. Though, then again, he didn’t know how strong she was. She could probably snap him in half without blinking, if she was friends with the Avatar.

”But, why did you do it?” She asked him, cocking her head to one side, “I mean, other than the fact that you are from the fire nation.”

Zuko let out a shaky breath. He hated admitting these things.

”I… it was the only way to get my Honor back.” He said.

”Your Honor?” The girl prompted.

”Yeah. I disrespected my father. I needed to get my honor back to go back home.”

”Ok… so how exactly did you lose your honor?” 

Zuko mumbled the answer under his breath.

”What was that?” The girl asked, “I didn’t hear you.”

”I refused to fight my father in an Agni Kai.”

There was a beat of silence, filled with the sounds of the forest.

“What!?” The girl yelled, startling the ducklings who tried to hide under the folds of Zukos Gi, “You lost your honor because you- you didn’t fight your own father? Dude, that is so messed up!”

”I disrespected him.” Zuko argued, “I spoke out against him in a war meeting, in front of all the Generals.”

The girl looked like she wanted to say something, but she snapped her mouth shut and turned her head so her unseeing eyes were staring directly at him. That unsettled him more than her threat from earlier.

”You… who is your father, exactly?”

”…Firelord Ozai.”

”…They didn’t tell me that.” She said quietly.

Zuko blinked at her.

”Tell you what?”

”That Ozai was your…” she trails off, looking like she’s listening out for something.

”Oh, right. Yeah, I didn’t… I didn’t really tell anyone. I think fa… Ozai told the world that I was dead or something.”

Even Azula hadn't called him Prince Zuko in those three years of banishment.

”So, let me get this straight,” the girl started, “You said something you weren’t supposed to say, your Dad challenged you to a fight - Agni Kai? - and then you refused to fight him, so he told you to go find the Avatar to regain your honor?”

”Y-yeah, that’s… that’s what happened.” Zuko said, hating how pathetic he felt admitting it.

The girl frowned.

”There’s something else, isn’t there?”

Zuko sighed.

”He banished me. I couldn’t go back home for three years.”

”Wait, three years?” Her eyes widened, “How old are you?”

”Sixteen? Why?”

”Thats… he tried fighting a thirteen year old?!”

Zuko flinched at her angry tone. He made her angry. Way to go Zuko.

”He’s a complete a-hole!” The girl continued, her tone getting stronger, as the earth rumbled around them, “When I get my hands on him!”

Zuko shrunk into himself, gently petting the ducklings to calm them down, though it was more for his own benefit. 

After going on a bit of a rampage with some very… colourful language, the Earthbending girl finally calmed down. She turned to Zuko and winced.

”I’m sorry. I just… got really angry there. I didn’t mean to scare you.” She said, “I mean, I have my own problems with my parents, and hearing what happened to you… I guess my parents aren’t so bad then huh?”

She pulled her legs to her chest and rested her head on her knees.

”Your dad really sucks.” She said.

”I…” Zuko tried to say otherwise, but he had no argument against it. He looked down, feeling defeated, and continued to pet the ducklings.

The fire cackled. In the distance, an owl hooted.

”So, was that why you tried to kidnap Aang then.” She said after a while, “So you could go home. You didn’t really have a choice.”

”I always had a choice.” Zuko said quietly, “I could have taken my Uncle's advice and gone off with him to have a peaceful life. I could have left all of this behind. We did that once, in Ba Sing Se. I didn’t realize how happy I was when I was there. And then I had to go ruin it, like I always do. And now Uncle probably hates me.”

He let out a sound that was almost like a broken whine and a sob. Zuko then felt some small arms wrap around his shoulders.

”I don’t think your Uncle hates you.” She said quietly, “I met him once, you know. He gave me tea. All he could talk about was you, and how wonderful you were. It was kind of tiring really. He does love you. Just because you made a couple of mistakes doesn’t mean that he suddenly hates you, Sparky.”

”S-sparky?”

”It's my nickname for you. Don't question it.”

Zuko hums and wipes the tears from his eyes and cheek. The ducklings had calmed down a little bit and were now curious of the newcomer who wasn't attacking him. Zuzu scrambled over to her and looked up lopsidedly at the Earthbending girl.

Somehow, despite not being able to see, she noticed the notion and sat down properly to allow for Zuzu to clamber onto her lap.

”Who’s this?” She asked.

”Her name is Zuzu.” Zuko said.

”Zuzu…” she tasted the word, “Interesting. Is she named after someone you know, like Azula is?”

”Thats what my sister calls me.” He said, “Zuzu. It’s because of the, er, the eye thing.”

”Eye thing?” The girl echoed, “What eye thing?”

Zuko realized his mistake a second later.

Damn it. She hadn’t known about his scar. How could she, she couldn’t see it!

She reacted so badly when she heard that his father had challenged him to an Agni Kai, how was she going to react if she found out that his father had hurt him.

”I, er n-no, nothing. I-its nothing.” Zuko said quickly, cringing inwardly.

”You are really bad at lying, you know.” She said with a raised brow.

“I-I’m not lying.”

”Zuko.” 

“Honestly there’s nothing-“

”Zuko.”

Zuko shut his mouth with an audible snap.

The girl sighed. “Look, I promise I won't get mad. But, could you please tell me what you mean by that?”

Zuko sighed.

”When my dad challenged me to the Agni Kai,” Zuko said, each word forced and feeling like sandpaper on his tongue, “He, he burnt me.”

”Burnt you?” Her voice was tittering on the edge of barely surprised anger.

”Yeah. He burnt me.” Zuko said, the words making him feel nautious, “Over my eye. Zuzu was born with a defect on her eye, like mine. So I named her Zuzu.”

”So let me get this straight.” She said with a dangerously calm tone, “Your father challenged a thirteen year old to an Agni Kai, and when you refused to fight, he burnt you?”

”Y-yeah.” Zuko said quietly, “That’s what happened.”

There was silence between the two. Zuzu had settled herself down on the Earthbending girl's lap and had tucked her legs into her shell and was already half asleep. Lu Ten scrambled onto the girl's lap next to his sister and settled down to sleep as well. Only Iroh and Azula remained on Zukos lap, with Iroh being asleep and Azula still not trusting the new person. The girl in question was stroking Lu Tens shell as she thought.

”Can I touch your scar?” She asked after a few minutes, “I know its probably rude of me to ask but I want to get an idea of how it looks, if, if thats ok with you.”

Her voice was calm, but without that dangerous undertone anymore.

”Ok.” He said, “It’s ok, you can touch it.”

”R-really?” She asked, seeming surprised, “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

”It doesn’t hurt anymore.” He said, “I don’t mind.”

”Alright.”

Carefully the pair maneuvered themselves around to make the task easier. Then Zuko helped to guide her hands towards the scar. He couldn’t feel anything from that side of his face: the nerves had fried off when the fire scorched it. But he could still feel the pressure under his skin, on his facial muscles that could still feel.

it was an odd sensation to say the least.

”This is really big.” The girl commented after a few seconds, “It looks like a handprint.”

She then took her hands away slowly and continued to pet the ducklings.

”I’m sorry that happened to you.” She said after a few seconds of silence, “Do… do the others know what happened?”

She wasn’t asking. She already knew the answer.

”No.” he said, “I never told the Av- Aang or the others. Didn’t really come up while I was, well you know, trying to capture him.”

The girl hummed and nodded her head.

They sat in silence for a bit.

“What are you going to do now?” Zuko asked.

”Now?” She said, “Now I’m going to make sure you get some sleep.”

”What? Why?”

”Because you need it Sparky. And don’t give me that look, I can feel you trembling and drooping and generally being tired next to me. It’s exhausting. And thats not up for debate.”

Zuko sighed.

”And tomorrow?”

”Tomorrow, we are going to figure out a way to make the others trust you enough to let you into the Gaang. Aang needs to have a firebending teacher, and I think it has to be you. If you want to be redeemed from what you did to my friends in the past, I think you need to earn it and this is the only way I see it.”

She gently placed the now sleeping ducklings back onto Zuko's lap before getting up, and in one move creating a small tent out of the rocks they were sitting on. Zuko looked around in wonder. He could have never guessed how useful Earthbending could be. It was much warmer and stronger against the elements than the tarp that Zuko had been using.

“Get some rest Sparky.” She said to him, as she plopped herself back down, “We have a big day tomorrow. I’ll keep watch.”

”Are you sure you don’t need rest too?” He asked.

”I’ll live.” She said dismissively, “Besides, I don’t think I’ll be able to fall asleep, I have too many things to think about.”

”Ok, if you’re sure.”

”I’ll be fine Sparky. Just go to sleep.”

”ok.” He said again, maneuvering himself onto his side, and placing the ducklings on his arm next to his neck.

It wasn't long before he managed to fall asleep.

Chapter Text

To say that Toph was angry would be an understatement.

She was absolutely livid. Earth-shatteringly furious, in the most literal sense.

She wasn’t angry at Zuko, she didn’t think she could ever be angry at him, after learning everything he went though.

No. She was furious at the Firelord. And her friends, though she could justify their reaction a little more, as they were just being idiots. Good natured idiots with a slight grudge, sure, but still idiots. 

Now Ozai on the other hand…

Well, she thought her parents were bad, but Ozai really took the flaming cake didn’t he?

She remembered feeling the scar on Zuko's face. A scar that her friends forgot to even mention, except for that one hands off comment calling Zuko ‘Scarface’. Which was a gross underexaggeration, in Toph's opinion, that definitely should have been at lest expanded upon. The amount of times that her friends forgot she was blind was unbeliveable…

It was huge! It covered half his face for crying out loud. Could he even see out of that eye? Or hear out of that ear? How long was he in pain for? How could he even continue to bend fire, if it hurt him so much?

And why did he still want to go back so badly, to the point where he had gone off trying to kidnap her friends? If that were Toph she would have laughed in the face of her banishment, and never looked back.

…Could Zuko not tell that his father hated him? Or at the very least, didn’t love him? How could someone still think they were loved when they were treated like dirt? How messed up was all of this?

Toph sighed to herself as the last of the embers of the fire died out. The breeze flew gracefully through the bushes and blades of grass around her, and her mind wandered back to the sleeping prince beside her. She could feel his heartbeat as he slept, as well as the soft heartbeats of the little ducklings settled at the crook of his neck. They thumped in unison.

Toph had decided ages ago that she wasn’t going to be able to sleep that night. And it wasn’t just that she needed to keep them safe from whatever creatures might be out there, but honestly, it was more because she wanted to let Zuko have some peace of mind and sleep. Even earlier that day, when he had approached them, she could feel him trembling. It was subtle, if you had working eyes of course, but she could still feel it from all the way over there. His heart palpitated, which, in her experience, was a clear sign that someone was beyond exhausted, and so much so that she didn’t realize that he was hiding the ducklings until that one duckling - Azula, Toph thought, though wasn’t that the name of Zuko's sister as well? - ran out and bit Katara in the heel.

And Toph would have laughed her head off at the expense of her friend, if not for the fact that she was wondering why Zuko didn’t seem to have slept in days.

And when she told them off for not even giving him a chance, she was also yelling at them because she was worried that something bad was going to happen to Zuko if they didn’t let him stay for at least the night. 

Could they not see how much Zuko had to lose by coming there? It may have been pure desperation, but why else would he go out of his way just to meet them, defenseless, without any backup, just to try and capture Aang again, or attack them? They had beaten him before, it wouldn’t be too hard.

And besides, he was being genuine. Toph could tell that, even under the tired tremblings of the prince. 

Could her friends not see that? Could Aang, sweet, innocent Aang, who wanted to be friends with everyone, not see he was being genuine?

She wasn’t saying that she agreed with Zuko's methods to get his honor back. She wasn’t saying that she didn’t see the effect it had on her friends, and everything they did. There was a toll there, a huge, ugly toll that brought her friends down because of the Firenations Prince.

But could she really blame Zuko for it, after everything she had just found out?

She knew what it was like. She knew how wanting a parents approval could feel, could break down your soul piece by piece, the longer you took to try. 

That’s why she had gone to the underground fighting rings. To prove that she could be a good Earthbender, to be the best Earthbender around, despite her being blind.

She had trained until her knuckles bled, trained until she could feel ants scuttling across the ground. She had learned to see with her hands and feet, and learned to fight in complete darkness. 

And in the end she was the best. 

But her parents never noticed.

And she gave up trying to win their approval.

She didn’t know when it had changed. When she realized that she should just be doing this training for herself, instead of for her parents.

She still loved them, but they were the blind ones. Even more so than her.

Toph sighed again and adjusted herself so that she could wrap her arms around her legs that were pushed into her chest.

After hearing Zuko's story, she realised how much she missed her parents. They weren’t perfect by any means, but they were much better than that jerkbending Firelord. A Firelord who permanently scarred his son, and banished him for speaking out. A Firelord who was willing to fight a thirteen year old boy.

Toph felt the earth around her rumble angrily. She needed to calm down. She remembered when she lost control, how scared Zuko had been. And now she knows why.

She forced herself to take some breaths and close her eyes. It didn’t make any difference to her of course, but the feeling of something over her eyes still helped. 

The rumbling stopped, but not before she heard a small squeak coming from where Zuko was sleeping. 

Toph sat up and turned, where she felt a small figure lopsidedly walking over towards her.

Zuzu, her mind supplied as she held out a hand to let the duckling clamber on. She tired to move her pupils so that it gave the illusion that she was looking at her face, to maybe calm the little thing down.

”Sorry if I woke you.” She said softly, running her fingers along the ducklings plated shell. The duckling leaned into her touch so much that she almost fell over, earning a surprised laugh from the Earthbender, “Careful. You might fall off.”

The duckling just tilted her head up to look at her.

Toph sighed.

”I’m glad Zuko decided to adopt you.” She told the duckling, “I think he needs someone to look after. Maybe it would help him look after himself.”

She had learned that from Katara. Her being an almost mother to the group required her to try and keep herself healthy to be able to look after them. Sokka had explained to her, at length, of how Katara was when their mother died. She had collapsed several times trying to take care of everything, before their Gran Gran and father held an intervention. From then on, she helped people more because she could, and had enough energy to do so.

She explained this to the duckling, who just continued to stare at her, before ruffling her feathers and settling down more on Toph's hand.

”Yeah, I suppose I could use the company.” She told her, even though it was a little bit silly.

Though, in Toph's opinion, animals could understand a lot more than most people gave them credit for, like the badgermoles in the tunnels, and Appa and Momo.

So she then asked the duckling:

”How long was Zuko awake for?”

The duckling tilted her head to one side again, looked down at Zuko, looked back up and chirped.

Toph took this as a ‘very, very long time’.

”Yeah I figured.” She sighed, “He really needs to learn how to look after himself, huh?”

The duckling didn't reply this time, only giving Toph a look. Judging from what movements Toph could feel, the duckling seemed to be telling her that she needed some sleep.

Toph giggled despite herself, and allowed the duckling to settle down on her lap, as she leaned against the stone wall she had erected. 

And for the first time in a while, Toph thought about how nice it would be to be able to see the stars.

Zuko woke up past his usual time at dawn. 

His first thought was that he should have probably asked the Earthbending girl to wake him up earlier. 

His second thought was that the ducklings were gone. Don't worry, he told himself, the Earthbending girl could look after them for him.

And then his brain finally caught up with himself, and it finally clicked. 

He got up rather groggily, and looked around him. 

The Earthbending girl was sitting there, rummaging through his stuff, while the ducklings watched with their beady little eyes. Zuko didn't mind it too much, he didn't have anything incriminating in there, just the last crumbs of his stale loaf of bread and a few pieces of clothing he had hurriedly packed.

“Morning.” he told the girl who turned to face him.

“Afternoon actually.”

“Wh-what?” Zuko said, suddenly very, very awake, “Y-you should have woken me up! The ducklings-”

“You needed to sleep, Sparky.” the girl said calmly, “And don't worry about the ducklings, I already fed them… on that note, Zuko, when was the last time you ate?”

Zuko blinked. 

“Two days ago. Why?”

The girls slightly raised arms dropped to the ground. 

“Two days ago?” she said, angrily, “You haven't eaten anything in two days?”

She sounded furious. At him. Oh dear. 

“I… I’m sorry.” he said, “P-please forgive me.”

It was the girls turn to blink at him. She sighed.

“I should be the one apologizing.” she said, in a more gentle tone, “I’m sorry I yelled, I just… you know that that's unhealthy right?”

Past Zuko would have pointed out that his father sometimes took food away as punishment, so Zuko was used to it, so it couldn't be so bad right? But Current Zuko remembered how the girl got angry at hearing what his father did, and she probably wouldn't be too happy to know what else his father had done. 

“I- the ducklings needed food.” he said instead, “I didn't bring anything else, and I don't know what food around here is safe to eat.”

The girl hesitated for a second.

“I guess that makes sense.” she said, “It probably wouldn't have been good if you ate something unknowingly poisonous… but we still do need to get you something to eat. We should go back to the camp.”

“The camp?” Zuko echoed, “Wait, you mean, go back to your friends?”

“Yeah.” she said.

“I-I can’t.” Zuko said, “They told me to leave and never come back. I- they- I don’t want to make them think I’m still evil…”

“You were never evil, Zuko.” the girl said firmly, like it was a fact, “You were just… misunderstood. And besides, I’m the one bringing you into the camp, if they want to throw you out, they are going to have to answer to me… if they catch us that is. And I may be blind, but I can sense where people are. I’ll make sure they don't see you. I promise.”

“I… ok.” Zuko said, “As long as they don’t see me.”

”They won't even know you were there.” The girl reassured, before proceeding to help Zuko pick up all the ducklings and put them in the pockets of his Gi.

The girl grabbed his hand, and before he could protest she was dragging him back towards her friend's camp.

Zuko couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen as it settled in his chest.

Chapter Text

The blind Earthbender lead Zuko through a tunnel she had created minutes before. It had become completely dark for a while, the light at the end of the tunnel having been snuffed out by the length. 

She had insisted on creating a tunnel for them to go through, instead of abseiling down like Zuko had before on account that it was more dangerous for her, and this way was much easier. 

After hearing this logic, Zuko agreed that this was probably the best option, though he really didn't like walking around in the dark. The girl had a firm hand on him as they walked through the tunnel, so he wouldn’t hit something or fall over, but the dark was still extremely suffocating nothingness.

He could have easily summoned a light source in his hand, but he really didn't want to. It could be taken as a sign of aggression against the girl and her friends, and after the trust she had put in him after everything he had done to her friends, he didn't want to do anything that could be seen as aggressive.

So, fire was an absolute no.

That lead to him concentrating on the ducklings in his pockets, their little squirming bodies giving him some semblance of comfort in the darkness.

Zuko didn't know how long he had been walking for before the girl suddenly stopped. Zuko barely managed to stop himself from crashing into her from behind. 

“We’re here.” She told him, and that was all the warning Zuko got before the girl used her bending to create another opening. 

Zuko's eyes screwed themselves shut at the sudden light, and he stumbled back a little.

”You ok Sparky?” The girl asked.

”I-I’m fine.” Zuko said. 

“Come on then, we need to go.” She said, grabbing his wrist and dragging him along before he could do anything. They walked through the deserted temples that hung upside down over the ravine. Despite being blind, the girl leading Zuko around seemed to be able to navigate her way through them with ease. For a while they didn’t come across anyone. They were probably still sleeping or were hidden away or something. 

Zuko tensed up a little at the thought. What if this was all a trap? What if the girl was leading him into an ambush? 

Maybe her friends had changed their minds about taking him in as a prisoner. Maybe they needed him, but didn't trust him. Not that Zuko was complaining, or could even complain. Their mistrust in him after all, was his own fault. He had chased them down all over the world trying to capture them.

Zuko knew that he wouldn’t fight them if they were going to capture him. He deserved it. He hadn’t done anything to help his Uncle when they captured him in Ba Sing Se. It would be the least he deserved, captured without any hope of escape. 

The only thing that Zuko would lose at this point was his honor, and that ship had sailed more than three years ago.

The girl lead him to a smaller building overlooking a big courtyard. In the centre of the courtyard was a ring of stones where a fire would normally be. Around it were some blankets: places to sit, Zuko thought. There was also a huge pot in the middle, still smoking with whatever was inside. It looked almost… homey. 

“You stay here.” The girl said, pushing him into a room, somehow not pushing against the ducklings, “And I will get us some food.”

”I…” Zuko wanted to argue, but he couldn’t find anything to say, “alright.”

The girl smiled at him, and sauntered over to the fireplace, grabbing two bowls from beside it, and pouring something that looked like soup inside. 

And then she froze, the second bowl up in the air with the spoon she was using halfway out the pot.

Zuko played with the straps of his bag nervously. What was happening? What could she sense?

the answer came seconds later, and made Zuko's blood freeze like when he was in the North Pole.

”Hey Toph,” the Avatar said, appearing from a corner by the building where Zuko was hiding, his flying lemur on his shoulder, “Where were you last night? Katara was worried.”

The girl, Toph apparently (Zuko felt guilty for not knowing her name earlier), turned to face him.

“I needed some time to cool off.” She lied, “I spent the night practicing my Earth bending.”

”…Is that why you look like you haven’t slept all night?”

Zuko winced. It was his own fault that Toph hadn’t been able to sleep last night. She was up making sure that he was safe. 

It should have been his job.

Toph shrugged.

”I suppose.” She said, pouring the soup into the other bowl and picking both of them up, “Welp, I’m starving. I think I’m going to avoid Katara for a bit longer, I’m still annoyed at her. You can tell her I’m fine if you want.”

She turned to leave.

“Wait Toph, why do you have two bowls?”

Toph froze in place.

”I… I told you I was starving, didn’t I?” She said, before stomping off towards Zuko.

The Avatar watched Toph leave, looked at his Lemur, shrugged, and walked off into another direction. 

Zuko let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, and sank down to the ground. He felt the ducklings shifting around in his pockets

Toph then walked into the room Zuko was hiding in, plopped herself down next to him, and all but shoved a bowl into his hands.

”Eat up.” She said, “All of it. You need it, Prince Sparky.” 

Zuko was just about to ask how he was supposed to eat without a spoon, when he saw Toph bring the bowl to her mouth and tipped the contents inside. He frowned, but followed suit, letting the spiced soup run down his throat. He let out a moan. He didn’t know if it was the fact that he was starving, or the fact that he had only ever eaten Fire Nation food, but this was delicious. Probably the best thing he had eaten in years. 

He forced himself to try and consume it slowly, but he was too pent up, too starving to do anything about it. He finished the bowl in less than five minutes. 

“Hungry are you?” Toph said with a stupid grin on her face.

Zuko just nodded, hoping that she could sense it, because he didn't think that any noise could come out of his mouth.

”Are you still hungry?” Toph asked.

Zuko shook his head, but his stomach rumbled again. Toph, slightly amused, smirked at him knowingly. She thrust her own bowl into Zuko's hands. It was still mostly full.

”I- I can’t-“ he said, “This is your food. I’ll be ok…”

”Don’t worry about it Sparky,” Toph said, patting him on the leg, “I can just go get some more. Wait here.”

She got up, taking Zuko's empty bowl and walking back over to the fireplace. Zuko drank the soup and peered past his hiding place. Toph was already pouring the soup into the bowl, but another voice suddenly called out for her.

”Toph!”

Both Toph and Zuko froze in place. The owner of the voice stormed over to the Earthbender, and Zuko felt himself shrink some more. The ducklings squirmed at his discomfort.

”Hey, Sugar Queen.” Toph said.

”Don’t hey me Toph. I was worried sick!” Katara clamped her hands onto Tophs shoulders, “Where have you been!”

”Minding my own buisness!” Toph said, slapping Kataras hand away, “Leave me alone! I’m fine.”

”Where did you go?” Katara demanded.

”Just went for a walk.” 

“For the entire night?”

”It was a long walk. I camped out.”

”Doesn’t look like you slept.”

”Camping does not always mean I slept. I needed to think.”

”Well, you should have come back! Or at least told someone where you were going! With that, that terrorist hanging around here, its too dangerous Toph!”

Zuko turned around, curling into himself more, and leaning against the wall he hid behind. Is that what Katara saw him as? A terrorist? 

He supposed that he shouldn’t be surprised. After everything that happened.

”You mean Zuko?” Toph said, her voice sharp and dangerously low.

”Yeah, I mean Zuko.” Katara said, “The Fire Nation Prince. The Traitor. The Monster.”

Every word cut deep. Zuko grabbed the straps of his bag and fiddled, slowly rocking back and forth like he did when he was stressed out.

”He’s not a monster!” Toph yelled at Katara. Zuko froze in place, his heart pounding.

”…What did you just say?” Katara said.

”Y-you don’t- he’s not a monster! Or a terrorist, or a traitor! He’s just… he’s just confused. You would be too if you had a f-father l-like the… the Firelord.”

Zuko had never heard Toph sound so unsure of herself. He hated it. He hated that she sounded like that. She was the toughest person Zuko had ever met, she shouldn’t sound like that.

”You went after him.” Katara said, and it wasn’t a question.

”So what if I did!” Toph yelled, “I wanted to see for myself who he is! And trust me, he’s just confused!”

”Aang said that you took two bowls of food…” Katara said slowly.

Zukos heart pounded so loud he was terrified that Katara could hear him.

”Toph, where is he?”

Chapter Text

Toph raised a brow.

”I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She said her voice steady.

Katara didn't feel convinced. There was an air of suspicion around her, not that Toph could see it, but she was pretty sure her face was twisted into something annoyed and angry. 

The bottom line was: Toph had messed up.

Big time.

All because of her big mouth.

Toph's focus went back to the hiding prince. His heart was beating quickly and strongly. He was scared. Terrified even. And Toph had a pretty good idea as to why. 

She didn't know much about what happened in the catacombs of Ba Sing Se, but she knew that Zuko had hurt Katara deeply with a betrayal. And if Toph knew Katara as well as she did, she knew that Katara was one to hold a grudge. And she could be scary sometimes, at least, to Sokka, and the people who hurt her, like Zuko. 

This was not good. She should have made sure that not even Aang saw her.

And she would have done too, if she hadn’t been so tired, but of course, there had been nothing she could have done about that. 

“Toph,” Katara said, in her ‘I’m your mother, so listen to me’ voice that Toph hated so much, “I know he’s here. You brought him here didn't you? He probably tricked you, which is exactly why I told you not to go after him!”

“He didn't trick me!” Toph snapped, “He only told me-”

“A sob story about his mother being dead? Yeah I know about that.” Interrupted Katara, venom dripping from her voice like water.

The statement gave Toph pause. Not because that's what Zuko had told her, but the opposite in fact. Zuko hadn't mentioned his mother. He’d only mentioned his father when Toph pried it out of him. 

Which begged the question, what happened to her?

“I knew it.” Katara said, clearly taking Tophs silence the wrong way, “He did the same with me Toph, but he’s-”

“He didn't tell me about his mother.” Toph said, anger raising her voice, “He told me that his father was the one who gave him his scar, after he refused to fight him! And what makes you so sure that he’s lying?” You didn’t even tell me he had a scar!”

”It wasn’t important.” Katara said.

”It covers half his face, and, also,” Toph waved a hand in front of her unseeing eyes. 

Katara made a noise of frustration.

”Fine then,” she said, after she seemed to have been glaring at Toph, before walking…

directly in the direction Zuko was hiding. Toph tensed up.

”H-hey, where are you going! We’re not done talking yet!” She tried, sending a wall of rock to block Katara's path in a panic. Katara stopped walking and turned back towards Toph.

“What’s wrong Toph?” Katara said slyly, “I thought you said he wasn’t here?”

”He isn’t.” Toph lied through gritted teeth, but you don't just get to walk away when we’re still talking.”

”We’re clearly not getting anywhere Toph.” Katara said, “You’re being too stubborn for your own good.”

”And you’re not?” Toph challenged.

Katara bristled, “That’s because I know I’m right.”

Toph narrowed her eyes at Katara, and then she paused. She could feel movement around her, five heartbeats all in sync. 

She forced herself to remain scowling, though all she wanted to do was to smirk.

She pushed down the wall of stone.

”Thank you Toph, for being so reasonable.” Katara said in a tone of voice that made Toph want to attack. It wasn’t exactly condescending, but it was demeaning all the same.

Toph walked away slowly taking the soup, and hid behind a nearby pillar as she felt Katara's movements. The girl in question walked towards the Prince's hiding place, moving to hold her waterskin, ready for an attack. She snuck towards the room, and jumped out, presumably taking the water out to use in the process. 

Toph felt the exact moment that she found he room completely empty, not even a bowl in sight. 

Toph allowed herself to smirk, before walking off to find the wayward Prince.

Zuko ran through the temple blind.

He didn't like the infrastructure at all. There were too many walls, everything was enclosed, and Zuko couldn’t see more than ten feet in front of him. He didn't know if any of the Avatars friends would be strolling in front of him after he turned a corner. He supposed that it would be wiser to simply stop and wait for Toph to find him, but he was too stressed out to even think. 

All he knew was that he needed to get away. 

And that this had been a terrible idea to begin with.

He stopped to lean against a pillar, trying to control his breathing so he could at least listen for anyone coming, but his ragged breaths refused to calm down. He could feel Lu Ten squirming around in his pocket, before emerging from Zukos Gi and chirping at him.

Zuko felt a little better.

”I’m ok.” He assured the duckling, who gave him a look that somehow managed to convey the little creature's skepticism on his claim.

”I’m fine.” Zuko reiterated, and then almost jumped five feet in the air when Toph appeared right beside him from under the Earth.

”Shhhh!” She scolded him, slapping a hand onto Zuko's mouth. To do this, she created a small stool of rock to stand on and reach, do you want everyone to know here we are?”

Zuko shook his head.

”Thought so.” Toph removed her hand and jumped back down to ground level, “Come on.” She grabbed his hand, and dragged him along. They walked for a while before Toph took him into a small room a little closer to where the stew had been. Once inside, Toph sealed the door and closed off a large portion of the windows, so that they were standing in semi-darkness.

Toph turned to Zuko.

”Well?” She said, expectantly.

”Well what?” Zuko asked, a little lost.

”Don’t you need light?” She said.

It took Zuko a second to realize what she was asking him to do.

”I… are you sure?”

”Yeah, you can firebend.” Toph said, “You need more food, and its probably a good idea for you to see anyway.”

Zuko hesitated. He didn’t want to appear threatening because of his bending, but… if he wanted to gain their trust, shouldn’t he comply with Toph’s request to firebend?

besides, it was just for light, it didn’t have to be very big.

Zuko concentrated on making a small flame. It appeared over a small stone desk and flickered slightly, illuminating the room in a pulsating glow.

Toph handed him the bowl of soup, which Zuko took after a pause, and drank about half of it before his stomach protested to being too full. When he was done, he set the bowl aside and let the turtleducks stretch their legs inside the room. They waddled around, chirping and ruffling their feathers, while Iroh went straight for the bowl of soup and face planted inside. Soon the bowls' contents started to disappear.

”You feeling better Sparky?” Toph asked. 

Zuko sighed, and looked down at his hands that were laid flat on his lap.

”I guess.” He said, “But it was too close.”

”I’m sorry.” Zukos head snapped up in surprise.

”F-for what?”

”I basically told Katara that you were there.” Toph said, “If I had just been more careful, and kept my mouth shut, she wouldn’t have almost found you out.”

Zuko blinked. What a preposterous thought.

”It wasn’t your fault.” He said quietly.

The room settled into silence, other than the squeaks and chirps of Azula and Lu Ten in their usual argument. 

“Katara mentioned your mother.” Toph said quietly.

Zuko tensed up.

”You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but… what happened to her?”

”I… she- I don’t actually know.” He said, staring at the flames that illuminated the room, “She came to me in the night, and told me that she loved me, and everything she did was to protect me, and I… I never saw her again. She disappeared completely. I just wish… I wish I knew what happened to her.”

”She sounds great.” Toph said, “And she sounds like she really did care about you. But… you don’t know what actually happened to her?”

”I… no. The day after she was gone, and Dad was the Firelord. I never heard from her again.”

Toph looked as though she wanted to say something, but she was quickly interrupted by a thunderous boom from outside.

Chapter Text

Zuko and Toph both tensed up at the sound of a distant explosion. Zuko turned to stare towards where the noise was coming from. The ducklings, who had been startled, chirped and ran towards Zuko.

”What was that?” Zuko asked hesitantly.

”It… it sounded like Combustion Man.” Toph replied, standing up.

”Who?” Zuko asked.

”You need to get the ducklings and get as far away from here as possible.” Toph said instead of answering. 

“Wha-“

”You don't want them to get hurt do you?” Toph said. She knew it was probably a low blow, but she knew if she used the real reason he would probably argue. 

She wanted to get Zuko out of there, because if this really was the person who she thought it was, she didn't want Zuko anywhere near him.

“Wait,” Zuko said, “If this is the, well… assassin I sent after you guys, maybe I can… I don't know, talk him down?”

Toph was about to think about this point, when there was another explosion.

“Sparky, I honestly don't think that's such a good idea.”

There was another explosion.
“But, this is my fault.” Zuko said, “I need to stop them.”

“Zuko I-”

“Please.”

Toph froze. He sounded so… so desperate.

”I need to prove myself to them.” He said, reiterating his point.

There was another explosion, and Toph groaned internally.

”Fine, but you need to stay with me at all times.” She said sternly, already wincing at the prospect of the lecture she was going to get from Katara later, “And don’t do anything stupid, got it?”

”I won’t.” Zuko said, and Toph found it hard to believe. She Earthbended the door back, and grabbed Zuko's arm before heading towards the sounds of explosions that were getting closer and closer.

Soon, Toph felt her friend's footsteps rushing towards them. Katara was trying to waterbend something, when Sokka grabbed her arm and tried to drag her away. She couldn’t feel Aang so he was probably flying somewhere (or she was too tired to sense him), but Appa was cowering nearby, so she made a beeline towards him, knowing her friends wouldn’t be far behind. 

She could sense the sky bison's rapidly beating heart, as she got close to him, but, surprisingly, as they turned a corner to where the huge gentle giant was cowering, the beating heart calmed down. Appa moaned as the pair came closer. Toph reached out to stroke the sky beast in an attempt to calm him down.

”It’s ok Sheddy. You’re going to be alright.” She told him.

Toph felt Zuko right beside her, reaching out to also pet Appa. The bison groaned again and licked Zuko's face like he had done before.

”He really does like you.” Toph said,as another explosion quaked the ground beneath their feet. Because of this explosion, Toph didn’t sense her other friends until they were right there with them. She heard Katara’s shock and anger first, and the telltale sounds of her preparing a waterbending attack.

”I knew you were hiding him!” She said, hatred dripping from her voice. Beside her, Zuko walked backwards, hands up in a surrendering gesture. Toph stepped between the two.

”Don’t touch him!” She yelled, “He’s here to help!”

”Help?” Katara said incredulously, "Don't make me laugh. You’re the one who sent him after us!”

”And that’s exactly why he can help!”

”Guys!” Sokka said, “Now is not the time! I don’t know if you noticed, but we are being attacked!”

As if to emphasise the point, there was another explosion, this one much too close.

”Sokkas right.” Aang said, suddenly materialising nearby, “Now is not the time! And, as much as I hate to say it, we’re going to need all the help we can get.”

“Fine.” Katara said, turning to Zuko, “But if you do anything-“

”Yeah, he knows Sugar Queen.” Toph snapped angrily, “But now we’ve got to think!”

The group pressed themselves against the wall, Katara moving to the end, in an attempt to find their aggressor. However, she came back just in time for another explosion to rock the ground again, sending rocks tumbling down that Toph barely managed to shift away from the group.

”I can’t get a good angle on him to attack.” Katara said, “And if I go out-”

”You could get hit.” Sokka said, his voice grave. 

The rumbling stopped. Toph tensed up.

Something was wrong.

Wait… no. Someone was gone.

”Zukos disappeared.” Toph told the group.

”What?” Sokka asked, and at the same time Aang said “What do you mean, he’s gone?”

”I knew it.” Katara said in such a way that made Toph want to Earth bend at her.

”He’s just gone, ok! He must have left when the explosion hit!”

”Do you know where he is?” Aang asked, his voice sounding more concerned.

”chirp!”

Everyone collectively turned to stare (or in Tophs case, feel) where the noise came from.

The ducklings were sitting on Appa's giant paw. The huge beast didn’t seem to mind at all, and Toph could imagine that the others would find the sight ‘super cute’. They were all nestled in his shaggy fur.

”Zuko wouldn’t leave his turtleducks behind, right?” Sokka said.

”He’s not left us.” Toph said, eyes widening in realisation, “He’s going to do something stupid!”

Zuko was, indeed, doing something stupid. 

Frighteningly stupid. 

He’d waited until there was another explosion before he made his move; Toph had proved that she would be able to feel him going with her Earthbending, and he could only hope that the shaking of the explosion was enough to give him a little bit of time to escape.

And so far, it seemed to have worked. He had left the ducklings with the Avatars sky bison, somehow knowing that the huge creature would be able to keep the ducklings safe. 

And then he ran. 

He ran across the temple grounds, trying not to get spotted by the assassin the Avatar and his friends had apparently dubbed ‘Combustion Man’ for whatever reason (he knew the reason, and deep down he knew it was funny, but he couldn’t think about that right now, he needed to stop him). This proved to be easy as the man was only there for the Avatar.

He needed to get to him before he brought the whole place down.

Zuko finally managed to get to the cliff edge and started to climb up its sheer side as quickly as he dared.

The world shook around him. He continued to climb unsteadily up the cliff. When he finally reached the top he rushed over to the assassin. 

“Stop!” He yelled at him. The man heed him no mind and prepared another explosion.

”I Said STOP!” Zuko yelled getting in the mans line of sight and spreading his arms out, “The mission is off! I order you to stop!”

The man pushed him out of the way, and caused another explosion. Zuko fell to the ground on his back, making his head spin, but he forced himself to stand back up.

”I won’t pay you if you don’t stop!” He yelled at him. The man, again ignored him in favor of another explosion, “Ok, fine, I’ll pay you double if you stop!”

The man payed him no mind, which really confused Zuko.

He was the best in the business, which was why he had found him in the first place. So why was he going against orders, unless…

Zukos eyes widened. Did someone else hire him to kill the Avatar? Someone powerful enough to offer more money than him? But he was the prince though, who would have more money than…

Azula. 

Zuko stepped back.

She knew that the Avatar wasn’t dead. That’s why she pinned him as the one who had ‘killed’ him. She must have somehow found out about his dealings with the assassin, but then payed him more. 

She was the Crown Princess for Agnis sake, and he was just the Prince.

No wonder he wasn’t listening to him anymore. Zuko may have gone back to the Fire Nation after being banished for three years, but that didn’t mean that his father had given him back his title. Azula was now the second most powerful person in the Fire Nation, meaning her word would always trump his.

Zuko paled in realization. He was so startled by this revelation that he almost missed the object hitting ‘Combustion Man’ in the centre of his forehead. 

The Assassin fell down, flat on his back a meter or so away from Zuko. Zuko just stared at him, puzzled. 

Was he… was he dead?

The man rose seconds later. Zuko didn’t think, he launched himself at the man, grabbing him from behind in an attempt to pull him back down to the ground, or at least, to make him miss. 

But the man was built like a Fire Nation tank. He didn’t fall over. He didn’t even stumble.

All he did was grunt.

This startled Zuko. He had never heard the man make any sound before, other than the scraping of his metal limbs and his explosions.

This single moment of surprise was enough for the Assassin to be able to grab the scruff of Zukos Gi and slam him down onto the ground with a sickening crack. Zuko felt his lungs becoming breathless. He wheezed.

The Assassin loomed over him, shadows dancing across his face as he stared down at him. Zuko tensed up, knowing what was going to happen, despite him not being able to see. All thoughts of not being able to get a breath in were quickly dispersed in his mind, and all Zuko could think of was how he was going to die.

He was at peace with it. Maybe this was his purpose. Maybe this was what he needed to do, to redeem himself. To save the Avatar and his friends from certain doom. They had probably figured out a way to stop him by now.

Zukos only regret was that… that he never got to see Iroh again.

He could only hope he would learn of his redemption.

he relaxed himself, and closed his eyes.

But the explosion never came. 

He opened his eyes again after a couple of seconds, and saw that something strange was happening. 

The Assassin stumbled back clutching his head in his hands. 

Zuko realised what was happening, and his eyes widened. He was suddenly overcome with the primal instinct to get away, and he scrambled up, despite his lungs screaming at him, and ran towards the edge of the cliff in a desperate attempt to survive.

The explosion happened seconds later. It’s force hit Zuko in the back just as he leaped from the cliff edge.

the last thing he remembered before blacking out completely was the fact that he was falling.