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“our father was right to scar you!” the words twist nastily from her mouth, just as her flames snake toward her brother. her brother. that’s her brother. that’s her brother who is far too skinny, too jumpy, and vastly too scarred. he’s sixteen and every visible inch of skin has faded pink lines. that’s her brother who is also royalty.
zuko’s foot splits the flames thrown at him. “no, no he wasn’t!” his voice roared through the air. orange and red flames exploded from his fists. the hot air knocked his sister to her back, but she was quick to jump up and let blue fire attack the scarred prince.
scarred prince. aang had always wondered how the scar came to be. i guess he knew now.
he really wish he didn’t.
it hurt.
“oh? you’ve convinced yourself it wasn’t your fault?” azula watched as zuko fell back. he didn’t recover as fast as she had. “zuzu..” her voice was condescending. she walked forward to stand over her elder brother. “you spoke out of turn. father had every right to leave your face in ruins.” she ended with a smile on her face, and a foot on his chest.
zuko’s eyes closed. as he spoke, it sounded more like he was reassuring himself than making a point to azula. that hurt even worse. he still believed he- he deserved that scar. didn’t he. “you’re wrong. i-i-i-“
“prince’s don’t stutter.”
“i was a kid!” he snapped, rushing through his stutter. “i was a kid and he burned my face!” his right hand, azula stood over his right side, blocking his only good vision, hit the back of her knee, giving him an opportunity to grab her foot and push her away.
she stumbled into sokka, who ( much like everyone else. sokka, katara, toph, and even iroh had backed away from the fight in shock. iroh just looked… looked sad.) had not been ready to defend. he recovered quickly and dodged her reign of half-assed attacks. he pinned her to the ground and allowed zuko to come and take his place.
zuko gave a small nod to sokka in thanks. sokka just looked sick.
“azula, i was a child. i was thirteen years old!” aang felt his stomach drop, and a hand be placed on his shoulder. when he looked up, he found general iroh’s kind eyes staring down at him. before he could question, the old man whispered;
“it is a very troubling story to hear, avatar aang.”
and settled for merely nodding, allowing the hand to rest on his shoulder. it was a grounding pressure, one that, if removed, might send him straight into the avatar state.
“i was thirteen and he- he- he-“
“prince’s-“
“ shut up !” zuko moved his hand to grab her throat, effectively silencing her. “i know princess don’t stutter! i’m not a prince!” steam curled from his nose. azula’s eyebrows pinched. “i was thirteen and he challenged me to a battle that is fought in the name of angi, with Her fire as a weapon!”
the hand on his shoulder tightened. aang looked up to see iroh’s face solemn.
“you smiled as i begged for mercy in front of my father! the man who was supposed to protect me from men exactly like him!” zuko’s hands shook now. they were still wrapped around his baby sister’s throat. aang would have never thought he’d see siblings act like that. sokka would sooner die than treat katara that way.
he couldn’t blame zuko, though.
the longer aang looked, the more fear, pure and unfiltered fear he saw in zuko’s face. his good eye was blown wide and it seemed to be taking him so much effort to keep them trained on azula’s matching amber ones.
“general iroh… why does he look so scared?” his own voice was nothing but a whisper, nothing compared to zuko’s shaky roar.
the old uncle took a deep breath. “my nephew is a… troubled young man. and when i say this i mean; he has had trouble accepting what happened to him. this is the first time i’ve heard him talk about it since it happened.” another sigh. “i do believe that he still thinks the agni kai was his fault. and if he doesn’t, that it made him stronger.”
“that.. that it was necessary so he could become what he is today.”
he felt the slightest nod.
aang’s eyes grew wet. he looked to see katara already sobbing quietly into sokka’s shoulder, the non-bender hugging her tightly. his eyes were also wet. toph was glaringly angrily at the sun, as if agni herself had caused this.
zuko closed his eyes, breathing in. his hands loosened from around azula’s neck. he stood up, breathed out, and flapped his hands.
azula spluttered, regained her breath (it was shakier than both zuko’s and iroh’s. no breath control.) , and hissed; “father would burn your wrists for flapping them like that. it’s-“
“ ‘un-prince like. that’s the stuff that peasants do.’ yeah i know.” zuko put his full weight onto her chest. “how many times to have to say, i’m not a prince.”
aang knew that the story wasn’t over. there was more to it, more details. though it seemed as if zuko was done talking about it.
“azula. you can go tell that sad excuse for a father that i don’t care about finding the avatar. i’m done trying to capture him.” the banished prince’s eye’s narrowed. his left looked closed from the distance aang was stood at.
everyone else had the damn-near same reaction.
they all turned to look at zuko. azula started blabbering.
“but- but- i- wait-“
“ah,” zuko bent to hold a finger to her lips. “princesses don’t stutter.” a smug smile fell on his face, as he walked away from her.
azula got up and dusted her robes. “i’ll tell father the wonderful news.” she seethed, turning on her heel and walking away.
they all waited till she was long out of sight to move.
“nephew-“
fire flew from zuko’s fists as he screamed. he cursed at agni and all the spirits above and punched the brick wall he stood next to repeatedly. katara and sokka stumbled back in shock.
not in fear, aang realized.
“prince zuko, please, you’re hurting yourself.” uncle- and wow, aang realized suddenly how much that role meant- iroh’s voice was calm and steady as he approached his raging nephew. he held a small smile on his lips as he gently pulled zuko’s bloody fists from the wall.
zuko shook.
he turned around and threw himself at his uncle, ugly sobs ripping from his throat. his red stained hands gripped onto the old man’s robes as if he ever let go, he’d be taken back to his father.
father. right.
iroh seemed to be shocked at the sudden physical affection, but recovered quickly and embraced his son. zuko was His son, not ozai’s.
aang smiled. it was bitter sweet.
the gaang slowly migrated back towards eachother, wiping their tears and silently conversing on whether they should leave or not.
before they could come to their conclusion, they heard zuko speak again.
“i-i’m sorry. you guys shouldn’t have had to witness, well, any of that. really.”
they turned to look back at the fire bender. his right eye was still wet with tears, though he seemed to be calming himself. his left was dry. ozai had burnt his tear ducts. his uncle was to his side with a hand on his back.
“zuko, don’t apologize. not for that.” toph’s voice was laced with anger not directed at anyone but azula and the firelord.
zuko huffed a small laugh. “right. uhm-“ he paused, wiping at his eye. “i- uhm- listen.” he took another deep breath, casting his eyes downwards. “i’m also sorry for all the trouble i’ve caused you all. you don’t- you don’t have to worry about me chasing you anymore. i’m done with that.” iroh’s eyes widened behind him, almost comically so.
katara wiped her eyes and cleared her throat. “i- i don’t think you’ve ever really been our enemy. have you?”
“well- i mean- he did chase us across the world-“
“sokka!”
“what? katara, he did cause us a lot of trouble!” sokka poised his head up high and crossed his arms.
“not the time-“
“no, katara,” zuko shrugged, a sheepish smile playing his lips. “he’s right. i did chase you across the world.”
“oh.”
“yeah.”
the silence that followed was nothing short of awkward.
aang didn’t even look at his teammates before throwing the question in the air; “do you want to come with us, zuko?”
“what?!” the ex-royal frazzled at the question, eye blowing wide. “you- you didn’t even- what ?!”
toph jumped at the opportunity. “hell yeah! join us, sparky! we can take down your sad excuse of a father together!” she had that smile on her face that only appeared when she was excited for a fight. she pushed her way to stand in front of zuko.
“sparky?!”
she thumped her finger onto his chest and her smile fell. “listen. i know your whole story, about the scar. words gets ‘round, and i’m sorry.” zuko grimaced. “but, if you’re not gonna try and turn the avatar in to the fire nation, that mean you’re homeless. and less than liked by most cities.
“i’ll personally be damned by agni herself before i let you, or your uncle, just wander around aimlessly living like street rats.” she smiled again. “so, join us!” she placed her hands on her hips, eyes closed and head tilted to the sky. she looked very proud of herself for her speech.
katara and sokka barely thought about it before nodding, aang smiled brightly.
zuko seemed to be at a lost for words. so he immediately turned to his uncle. “i-“
“oh, my nephew.” uncle iroh placed both of his hands on the sides of zuko’s cheeks, cupping them. “My Son .” zuko’s eye shined with new tears. sokka smiled. “this is your chance. this is your chance to defeat my brother, get revenge for what he did to you.” his thumb ghosted over the red, gnarled flesh of the teenager’s scar.
“i know you don’t believe a word you said to azula.” zuko’s head dipped down. “and that is okay. but, with these people? i truly believe that you can finally accept that it was not your fault. ”
“so?” zuko’s breath was shaky. he looked up again to meet his Father’s eyes.
“so, you should go. go with them and defeat the firelord . you can find me in ba sing se should you need me.” iroh smiled, gently cupping the back of zuko’s head to bring their foreheads together. “go.”
zuko breathed.
“okay.” he pulled away from his uncle, turning to look at the gaang. “if- if you truly want me, i’ll go.”
zuko smiled.