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Toph noticed something was wrong first. Of course she did. She always noticed first.
It was a slow build up over the course of months, but almost six months on the dot after the defeat of Loser Lord Ozai—six months after Zuko battled his sister in an Agni Kai (and arguably lost, and sustained what was pretty much agreed upon to be the worst of the war induced injuries between the group), Toph noticed something strange—downright alarming, actually—going on inside Zuko’s body. His heart rate was never quite right anymore, his breathing was never quite steady.
She’d heard from the Kyoshi Warriors that he’d complain about random headaches and being dizzy enough times to warrant concern—but there never seemed to be a direct cause.
Instead of confronting him like she so very badly wanted to do, because she knew the moment she started expressing concern, Zuko would shut down and avoid her. She waited and she listened and she observed over the next few days. She could tell that he was getting progressively worse over the week, in a very sudden, very steep decline.
He was tired all the time, he’d randomly take in several deep breaths as if he couldn’t breathe properly.
At one point, Toph did tell him to maybe take a rest. But he didn’t. Of course he didn’t. He was more stubborn than she was at times. He was like a feral cat hiding its injuries.
Zuko was going to push through it. He was always tired, he said. Nowadays, anyway. But Toph knew this kind of tiredness, the sudden fatigue, was different. She knew Zuko knew that too.
Zuko realized how very wrong he’d been about this all in a sudden, very terrible moment. He had been so determined to ride it out, to prove Toph wrong. Not because he didn’t value her input, but because he could not show any kind of weakness this early into his tenure as Firelord.
But that sudden terrible moment took place on a very nice day, out in the palace gardens with his friends. They were hanging out in one of the gazebos to escape the hot sun. Sokka was telling a frankly ridiculous story—one that Zuko was trying to pay attention to, but it was hot. And he normally wasn’t bothered by that, but this time it just seemed to be getting to him. His head was swimming a bit, but he took a breath and tried to push through it. He could see Toph’s eyes narrow. Her ear was turned to him and her foot was digging into the stone floor of the gazebo.
Keeping an eye on me, he thought, trying not to be annoyed.
But then it hit him. Sudden and terrible and for just a second, he thought he was dying.
His limbs felt heavy, his heart was racing for no reason. The corners of his vision started going black and fuzzy. He sucked in another quick breath, eyelids drooping as he started tipping forward.
Toph jumped when she felt Zuko’s heart rate jump and his blood pressure drop.
“Zuko—” she started, alarmed. But she didn’t get the chance to say more, because he just dropped like a sack of rocks.
Aang, who was standing next to him, leapt forward and barely caught him. But Aang was thirteen and lanky, and Zuko was sixteen and just a bit too tall and heavy for Aang to reasonably compensate for.
So all he could do was lower Zuko to the ground awkwardly while trying not to fall over himself.
“Woah!” Sokka interrupted himself, eyes wide. “Woah, woah! What happened!”
“I don’t know!” Aang said. His hands were on Zuko’s shoulders and he looked downright terrified.
“He’s been like this all week,” Toph said, crouching next to Aang. “I told him something was wrong, but—”
“You didn’t say anything?!” Katara demanded, water already around her hand, glowing a soft blue.
Toph frowned. “I was hoping Sparky would actually take care of himself for once, and what I was supposed to say? Hey, Zuko’s heart has been acting weird ever since Azula shot him full of lightning!”
“Something like that might have been nice,” Sokka muttered.
“Toph, this has been happening that long?” Katara asked, her brows furrowed as she hovered her hands over Zuko’s chest.
“Yeah,” Toph said with a sigh. “But I think this is the worst it’s been so far.”
“That doesn’t exactly make me feel better,” Katara stated. Her brows furrowed as she waved her hands back and forth across Zuko’s chest. “I see what you mean though.” Her lips pursed. “He should see a professional about this.”
Toph spread her hands out. “That’s what I said!”
Zuko tensed under Katara’s hands suddenly. His eyes opened, slowly, and he groaned. “What the fuck happened?”
“Zuko,” Aang sounded relieved. “Hey, are you okay?”
“No,” Zuko muttered, startling them with the blunt honesty.
“Do you want to sit up?” Sokka asked.
“That’s not a good idea,” Katara said firmly. She looked at Zuko, her blue eyes narrowing at his gold ones. “Zuko, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your heart is extremely fucked up.”
His eyes narrowed right back at her. “What?”
“I think what she means,” Aang said cautiously. “Is that getting struck in the heart by lightning during an Agni Kai carries a lot more damage than you might’ve thought.”
“Sure,” Katara nodded. She looked at Zuko, her expression turning more grave. “Please see an actual doctor?”
Zuko shut his eyes and sighed, swallowing hard. “Fine.” He laid there for a moment or two, not complaining at all when Aang gently rubbed his shoulder or when Sokka moved his hair off his face. “I think I can try sitting up now.”
“Are you sure?” Katara asked.
He nodded, letting Sokka help him into a sitting position. His expression scrunched slightly, and they could almost see the dizziness in his eyes as it him hard.
“Stay sitting,” Sokka said, hands still on his shoulders. “Just for a few minutes.”
“This is stupid,” Zuko complained, but didn’t fight him.
“No, what’s stupid is you ignoring a post-injury symptom that could be fatal,” Toph jabbed. Then got quiet and said, “You really scared me.”
Zuko pursed his lips. “I’m sorry.”
“Please don’t go dying on us now,” Aang pleaded. “It wouldn’t be cool of you at all.”
Zuko almost smiled. “I’ll try not to.”
Anxiously awaiting the verdict of the physician Zuko saw was, to put it bluntly, probably the worst thing Toph had ever experienced. Sure, the war and the fighting was terrible and she pretty much didn’t want to go through it again. But at least during all of it, she could fight back. This wasn't something she could throw a rock at. She couldn’t do anything to make the waiting bearable. And she hated it.
A week went by, and the doctor announced his verdict.
“A not entirely uncommon heart disorder,” he explained, in the privacy of a room with just the Firelord and his friends present. Zuko didn’t want anyone but them to hear about this. Something about being seen as weak by the people of the Fire Nation. “Especially not in your case, where lightning was involved.”
Zuko’s brows furrowed. Toph could tell because of the way his whole body tensed. “And I haven’t heard of this before why?”
The doctor shrugged, something in his tone indicating this wasn’t entirely life threatening—so Toph felt comfortable relaxing. “Its commonality doesn’t negate people’s inexperience with it. My own medical experience with this has been derived from piecing together a wider puzzle. Symptoms and causes all lining up.” He gestured aimlessly as he continued, “I’ve mostly seen it in young firebenders, ones who got too zealous and had… incidents with their bending. Electrocution causes the heart to have an irregular rhythm. Most of the time, this can be corrected by the body. But sometimes, in cases like yours, the entire autonomic function is thrown off—resulting in tachycardia.”
“I understood like, half of those words,” Sokka said, blunt and sarcastic. “So what does that mean?”
He sighed. “It means, unfortunately, that the Firelord’s heart is never going to be quite right again. Too much strain, moving too fast, standing too long, will cause the dizziness and heaviness you’ve been describing. The fainting spells will never go away, however, there are ways to minimize the symptoms.” He paused, then said very meaningfully, “I can promise you will be fine. It’ll just take some time and a bit of work.”
Zuko thought on that for a long, quiet moment. Toph could feel the slight shake in his body. He was trying not to be upset, but she felt he had the right to be at least a little upset. After all, while not fatal, this was going to change his life.
She pursed her lips and leaned forward, squeezing his shoulder. Zuko gave it an acknowledging, grateful tap, then looked back at the doctor.
“Thank you.”
The doctor nodded, and took his leave, maybe getting the idea Zuko needed a moment with his friends to process this.
As soon as he was gone and the door shut, Sokka was hugging Zuko. Tight.
“Geez man, I’m so sorry.”
Zuko laughed, soft and slightly strained. “Hey, it’s alright Sokka.”
“You’re right,” Toph said. “It will be alright. Because you’ve got us, and we’re gonna make sure you’re alright.”
Zuko was smiling. Toph couldn’t see it, but she knew he was. “Thank you.”
“Absolutely!” Aang chimed in. “Oh, hey! Maybe we can train Momo to be a medical alert lemur! You know, just to warn us in case you almost faint again.”
At that, Zuko actually did laugh. He laughed and his friends came to surround him in a hug—because he wasn’t alone and they were going to help get through this.