Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Zuko

Zuko woke up to the sound of explosions.
The earth shook as he looked up to see where they were coming from.
There were almost half a dozen fire nation airships flying down the eastern air temple launching bombs at their camp.
He quickly got up to assess the situation.
Aang raced toward the edge of the building, glider in hand and created a powerful airblast that sealed the metal gates built into the temple walls.
As the bombs kept coming, parts of the ceiling roof started to crumble.
Zuko saw the moment the ceiling caved in and the large rocks that would come falling down onto Katara.
He ran over and pushed them both away from the debris with a loud yelp from Katara.

It was at that moment that the ground beneath them disappeared.
For a second Zuko thought he’d pushed them both off the ledge as the sensation of falling reached him.
Only it faded as soon as it came and they hit the cold stone beneath them.

The explosions were gone but the sound of shouting remained.
Except these weren’t voices Zuko recognized.
He looked for Katara and saw her still lying under him, clearly annoyed.
Katara frowned at him.

“What are you doing?”

“Keeping rocks from crushing you.”

“Okay, I’m not crushed. You can get off me now!”

As she pushed him off her someone jumped past them and landed with a kick at their opponent.
Zuko didn’t recognize either of the people and when he looked around he realised that he had no idea where they were.
This was definitely not the eastern air temple.
He noticed Katara rush over, most likely to stop the fight, and use a water whip to catch the attention of the two strangers.
The man that had jumped over them turned to look with strange glowing red goggles that made Katara drop her water.
Using the momentary distraction the second person jumped through a black void and disappeared.

Zuko turned back to Katara and now heard her yelling at the stranger.
“Who are you and what did you do to my bending?”

Zuko frowned, if this man had truly done something to Katara they had to stop him from causing more damage.
In his decision Zuko threw a fireball catching the man off guard and started to prepare for another attack.
The man dodged, got back up from the ground and came running at him with his strange goggles red and ready to resume fighting.
As Zuko started to make a firewall he noticed all of a sudden his bending no longer worked either.
Then a stream of water wrapped around the man.

Katara was shouting at him.
“Watch out, I think he can somehow block our chi with his eyes. We only lose our bending when he looks directly at us.”

As if on cue the man turned his gaze to Katara making her lose control of her stream.
Zuko was quick to catch up and blast him with fire in the back, throwing the man to the ground.
When he tried to get up to glare at Zuko, Katara quickly bent water directly in his face and froze the water on his goggles, blinding him.
When he tried to keep fighting anyway, she threw another stream of water at him and froze him to the ground.

Katara immediately started to interrogate their assailant.
“Who are you and where have you taken us.”

“I don’t usually give villains my name and I didn’t bring you anywhere. Now let me go.”

“You’re lying, we were just being ambushed at our camp when some kind of portal brought us here and you attacked us.”

"I was just in the process of arresting a villain when you showed up and started attacking me.”

That was when Zuko remembered seeing the other stranger disappearing in a portal during their fight.

“Katara wait. I think he’s telling the truth. I saw the ‘Villain’ jumping through a portal before they vanished. They must have been the one to bring us here.”

“Oh” She responded and then turned to their hostage.
“Sorry about this, I guess we were all a bit confused about the situation.”

She melted the ice and he looked back at them as he got up.
“You’re kids. What are you doing here so late fighting a pro hero. You could’ve gotten seriously hurt.”

“We’re fine, you're the one who was on the ground just a second ago.” Zuko pointed out.
“Now answer our questions.”

He let out a deep sigh.
“I’m pro hero Erasurehead and you’re in Musutafu city.”

The man, Eraserhead, looked around again and continued.
“The villain you helped get away had some kind of portaling quirk. From their reaction I believe you were dropped here by accident.”
“In any case you assaulted a pro hero and unlawfully used your quirk so I think it would be in everyone's best interest if we went to the police station to sort this out there.”

Zuko turned to Katara.
“I guess it would be best to go with him so long as we don’t know what this place is.”

She nodded and they turned to follow Eraserhead.

Chapter Text

Katara

As they walked towards the police station Katara looked around to the new unfamiliar environment. She noticed how different the buildings and streets actually were.
The street lights were brighter than any she’d ever seen before and there weren’t any visible flames in any of them. The shop lights similarly missed the warm glow of candle light.
The biggest difference though were the people.
Even at the late hour they were walking the streets although she wasn’t sure some weren’t spirits roaming freely.

Interacting with spirits was always a tricky thing. It was why they had the avatar as a bridge between worlds. Humans and spirits didn’t usually mix well but if they could just mingle in this world…

“Eraserhead, how are you living so peacefully with all these spirits?”

“What are you talking about? I don’t see any spirits.”

She frowned, there was no way she was imagining the half-human half-leopard walking passed them.
“The spirits are just walking around. Humans don’t generally have animal heads.”

He looked again and finally understood what she was saying. Even if he didn’t seem too happy about it.

“Those ‘spirits’ are people with heteromorphic-quirks. They might not look exactly like you and me but that doesn’t make them any less human.”

“You still haven’t told us what a quirk is exactly.”
Zuko joined the conversation.

“A quirk is just the name for the ability you’re born with.”
“You apparently have emitter quirks that allow you to manipulate fire and water respectively. These people you see walking the street have heteromorphic quirks that influence the way they look.”
When he finished explaining they arrived at the police station.
Eraserhead took them inside and talked to someone before leading them to a small room with nothing but a table and two chairs on either side.
When Eraserhead motioned for them to sit down the man he’d talked to came in and joined them at the table.

It felt an awful lot like they were about to be interrogated.
And judging by the looks Zuko gave the men opposite them he didn’t trust it at all. Of course Zuko’s wasn’t the best judge of character if one considered the way he had been helping the fire nation just a few weeks ago.
But Katara wouldn’t let her distrust of him stop her from figuring out what was going on.

“I am detective Tsukauchi, Eraserhead has filled me in a bit on what happened in the alley where you met but I’d still like to ask you a few questions myself.”
The man, Tsukauchi, began.

“Let’s start with something simple, what are your names?”

“I’m Lee.” Zuko immediately replied.

“His name’s Zuko and mine is Katara.” She cut him off.
“Now can you please tell us how we got here and more importantly how we can get home.”

“We’ll get to that in a second, first I would like to hear your version of the events that transpired tonight then if you tell us where you're from we might be able to find a way to send you back.”

She sighed and recounted their day from the moment they got ambushed at the air temple to their conversation with Eraserhead.

“And now we’re here.” She finished.

“Your description does sound like that of the Villain we’ve been pursuing although previously we assumed her quirk simply let her portal from one location to another. Traveling between worlds is something else entirely.”
“It’s not just that she dropped us here from some peaceful village. We are currently in a world war and need to get back to help the avatar defeat the firelord before Sozin's comet.”

“Who is this Avatar again?” Tsukauchi asked.

“The Avatar is the only person that has the power to bend all four elements. He is the physical embodiment of harmony and serves as a bridge between the spirit world and the physical world. The role of the Avatar is to maintain peace and balance in the world, ensuring that no one element or nation takes over or causes chaos.”

“And right now the monarch of the fire nation is planning to burn down the entire Earth Kingdom so you understand that we need to get back as soon as possible to help the avatar prevent that from happening.”
Zuko asserted irritably.

Tsukauchi turned to Eraserhead. “They’re telling the truth.”

“The good news is that I believe our villain can travel through time in her dimensional portals based on your description of events.
So your time limit is no longer an issue. All we have to do is arrest her and then we can send you home to the exact moment you left.”

“However, by the looks of it, this is going to turn into a child endangerment case for us.” Eraserhead reasoned.

“I’m not a child,” Katara argued, “In the Southern Watertribe the age of majority is 14.”

“Well here in Japan you reach maturity at 18 which means that as long as you're here you are children and we will need to get some kind of foster care sorted at least until we find a way to get you home.”
“In the meantime you both will be staying with me.”

“Aizawa, are you sure about this?” Tsukauchi asked.

“Yes, it’s the most logical solution. This way we can keep an eye on them until we can arrange something better.”

“We don’t need anyone to watch over us, we’ll be fine on our own.”
Katara protested.

Eraserhead looked at her unimpressed. “You are currently stuck in a place you know little to nothing of, with no way to get back to your own world. You can’t make any type of money, at least not in any legal way.
So until we can place you with someone more suitable I am, at the moment, the best person to act as a temporary guardian since I am already aware of your situation.”

“Fine, we’ll come with you.” Zuko agreed much to Katara’s annoyance.

“Good, then I will give my husband a call so we can get a ride home.”
Eraserhead finished.

And with that said they all got up to leave.

Chapter Text

Zuko

The ride to Eraserhead’s house was interesting.
His husband, who loudly introduced himself as Yamada, was very enthusiastic about everything.
It reminded him a little of how Ty Lee got once you started talking about acrobatics.
But it wasn’t Yamada that was the interesting part of their trip, that honour went to the monstrosity that they drove in.
It seemed to be some kind of combination between a Fire Nation tank and a horseless carriage and it went faster than anything Zuko had ever felt in his life.

When he looked to his right he saw that Katara had the same thoughts, judging by the way she held on to the handlebar above her door.

When they finally arrived at their destination Zuko got out of the carriage (car?) as fast as he could, gasping for fresh air.

Eraserhead and Yamada simply looked at them with vaguely amused smiles.
If Zuko wasn’t already wary of these men, the trip wouldn’t have helped his opinion on them.
He knew that whatever went down at the police station these ‘heroes’ had their best interests at heart. He didn’t need Toph’s earthbending skills to figure out that they were telling the truth.

But any unfamiliar situation was a situation Zuko didn’t want to be in. Especially not with strangers. Experience had taught him that never ended well.

The apartment that Eraserhead and Yamada lived in was a reasonable size.
It didn’t surprise him that they could afford it with a double income.

“You can put your shoes on the rack, we have some guest slippers in the closet next to you”. Eraserhead started
He then led them into what appeared to be the living room.

There was an open kitchen on the left with a kitchen island that divided the room.
The lounge along with a nice chair surrounded a small table that looked at a big black device on the wall.
Next to the lounge were large windows that opened onto a small balcony.

Zuko turned to Eraserhead when he continued speaking.

“As you can see this is the living room. The door on our right leads to a hallway which connects the other rooms.”
“Aside from our bedroom we also have a small guest room and an office that you two will be staying in. At the end of that hall is the bathroom, we only have one so I hope you don’t mind sharing.”

“We will put a bed in the guestroom as soon as we can, in the meantime one of you will have to sleep on a blow-up mattress.
Hizashi can take you both shopping to get some new clothes and cell phones tomorrow.”

“What are cell phones?” Zuko asked.

It was Yamada who answered this time.
“We figured by your reaction to our car that there must not be much technology in your world. Our society relies for a large part on modern technology such as computers, motor vehicles and electrical engineering.”

“Like the lights that burn without candles.” Katara said thoughtfully.

“Exactly, little listener!” Yamada continued. “Cell phones are wireless communication devices that allow you to immediately reach each other from long distances. These days they are also tiny computers so you can use them to web search things, watch videos or play mobile games.”

“You will get your own phones tomorrow so that we can reach you if an emergency ever occurred.”

All the differences in technology that were being explained made Zuko’s head hurt but he would be lying if he said that he wasn’t interested in learning more about them.
Contrary to what most people believed he was very invested in new inventions. Growing up as the crown prince of a rapidly developing nation in a time of war made him understand the importance of technological progress.
Any device that could make two people communicate without any delay would have been immeasurably helpful during the war effort.

“I’ll set up the blow-up mattress so that we can all get some rest and continue this conversation in the morning. It has been a long day for everyone.”
Eraserhead cut him out of his thoughts.

~~~

In the end Zuko had volunteered to take the small office.
He didn’t mind its size, during his time in the lower ring of Ba Sing Se his bedroom hadn’t been much bigger.
He got up reasonably early. He hadn’t needed much sleep after their previous day was cut short. Even though a lot had happened, the time travel messed up their rhythm.

Zuko had always been a morning person, rising with the sun, and when he opened the door to the living room he was glad to see he wasn’t the only one.
Yamada was in the kitchen making breakfast when he walked in.

The man turned to greet him. “Good morning sleepyhead! Breakfast is not ready yet but I've got tea and coffee here if you want some?”

“I could go for some tea.” Zuko replied. “Do you have Jasmin?”

“Of course, it’s a classic.”

When Yamanda gave Zuko his tea they heard the door opening behind them.
Eraserhead walked in with a terrible bedhead and the biggest eyebags Zuko had ever seen.
He grumbled good morning and gave his husband a kiss when he went to grab the coffee.

Eraserhead then turned to Zuko. “It’s good to see you up, we’ve got a busy day today.”

"What are you planning, Eraserhead?" Zuko asked.

The man frowned before he answered.
“You know you can call me Aizawa right? Eraserhead is just my hero name.”

“Oh, sorry, I assumed Eraserhead was your name after you introduced yourself as such.”

“Right, I suppose that would be logical. Eraserhead is the name I go by when I’m working. That’s why I told you to call me that when we first met.
When I’m off the job you can just call me Aizawa.”

“That makes sense, thanks for clearing it up.” Zuko replied.

That was when Katara walked in, she didn’t seem as happy to be up at the early hour as he was. From their time camping together at the Eastern Air Temple he gathered that she was more of a night owl.
It only made sense for a waterbender to stay up with the moon as that was when they felt most powerful.

"Good morning Katara, you're just in time for breakfast, we were about to start eating.” Yamada greet her.

She mumbled a good morning and they went to sit at the table.

“The mall we're going to today is only a half an hour drive from here and there will be plenty of shops there to get you anything you need. Aizawa won’t come because he has some work to take care of but we can make it a fun day with the three of us regardless.” Yamada told them.

“What kind of work do you do?” Zuko asked him.

“We both work as teachers at UA high school on top of our jobs as pro-heroes. Yamada also has a radio station on the side so we keep ourselves busy.”
“I hope we aren’t taking up too much of your time if that’s the case.”
Katara responded attentively.

“Not at all." There had actually been a villain attack on the school two days ago. The building got put on lockdown temporarily while everything got sorted out so we have had some time off.
However, school will start again tomorrow which is why we would like to get you all your necessities today.”

Zuko thought about how busy the lives of these men must be. They certainly wouldn’t have enough time left to look after them after tomorrow.
Not that they needed anyone looking after them. Zuko had learned how to take care of himself during his time as a refugee in the Earth Kingdom and even though at fifteen he was one year shy of being considered a legal adult in the Fire Nation he definitely didn’t need a babysitter.

Yamada was explaining the special curriculum of UA high school and what it meant to become a hero when Aizawa answered a phone call.

After he'd hung up he turned to them.
“Good news, Zuko and Katara, you will both be joining my homeroom class in UA. This way we can keep a better eye on you in case anything happens and you will have something to do during your day.”

“I don’t need to go back to school. I’ve already finished my education at the 'Royal Fire Nation Academy' and have had private tutors for my future profession since.”
Zuko conveniently left out that the private tutor was his uncle during his years of banishment.

“It’s not about your education, it's about keeping you safe and this is the best way to do that.”

Katara had stayed quiet during the conversation until this point.
“Maybe we should go Zuko. It wouldn’t hurt to learn more about this world while we're stuck here anyway and I don’t feel like staying in this apartment either.”

She made good arguments and he couldn’t help but agree with them.
“Alright, we‘ll go to the high school. Is there anything we need to know beforehand?’

Aizawa then frowned. “Principal Nezu does want to have one on one conversations to formally meet you. Don’t tell him too much about where you came from, I gave him a short rundown of the situation but that rat doesn’t need to know anything more."

Zuko didn’t like the sounds of that. They would have to be careful around this principal.

The conversation ended when Aizawa got another phone call and Yamada grabbed their plates to clean up.

“Alright, both of you get ready, we’re going shopping.” Yamada loudly concluded.

Chapter Text

Katara

Katara woke up at the unholy hour of 5 am. She had gone to bed earlier than usual the night before but 6 hours still wasn’t a lot of sleep.
Logically she knew it was important to get to this school on time but she couldn’t help feeling a little grumpy about it. It felt like another one of Sokka’s insane schedules.

At least the moon was still up and she tried to draw some power from that to get out of bed.
In the living room Zuko seemed to be doing a bit better than she was.
He and Yamada were having a lively conversation over breakfast.

“Good morning”, she greeted them.

They turned around and emulated in response.
She sat down for some breakfast herself as Yamada went over their day one last time.

After they were done eating, Aizawa (Eraserhead's real name she’d learned) came in already dressed in what was apparently his hero costume.
“Good morning everyone, are you ready for school?” he mumbled.

“We were about to get dressed but are you sure you’re ready? You haven’t had any breakfast and it doesn’t look like you even brushed your hair.” Katara replied.

“My hair is fine and I will have some breakfast while you focus on your own appearance.”

“I guess that’s fair.” She frowned when she saw him wearing the bandage on his face from the previous day. “Do you need another healing session before we leave? I saw you were a little stiff walking in.”

“You already helped me plenty when you healed most of my bruises and the wound on my face. A scar and some stiffness aren’t the end of the world.”

“If you say so.” She responded when she noticed Zuko walking to the hallway.
She followed him to get dressed in her new clothes. Hopefully they wouldn’t be too late for this school.

~~~~~~~

When they arrived at the building Katara marveled at its size. No school deserved to have this much ground. The entire place was as big as the Northern Watertribe palace.

When they entered the school Aizawa turned to them once more with a serious expression on his face. “Remember, don’t tell anyone specifically where you're from. As far as the people here know, you’re just some transfer students from a small hero school in the country. We told Nezu about the dimensional travel but he doesn’t know much about what your world is like. We want to keep it that way, the less people know the better.”

This time Zuko answered. “Don’t worry, we know how to fly under the radar.”

Katara couldn’t help but smile at the inside joke, Appa had definitely flown them over a lot of border control.
Aizawa’s concerns worried her though. They both had experience lying about their identity and if the truth had to be kept a secret that was fine. They might not be in enemy territory right now but it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

With that out of the way, they went to the principal's office.
Nezu was apparently waiting for them inside and Katara got to go in first.

Whatever she expected the man to look like it was not this.
At the desk in front of her sat what looked like a rat-bear. She had seen people with animal features in this world before but none of them looked quite so inhuman as this one.

She bowed without her hands, the way she had seen people do here.
“Hello Principal Nezu.”

He immediately responded with a smile so big it seemed almost unnatural. “Welkom dear, please take a seat! There is really no need to be so formal, you must be Katara.”
He clapped his paws.

When she sat down he started the conversation.
“Eraserhead has informed me of your situation and I must say it is very interesting indeed. I hope you haven’t had too much trouble adapting to our world?”

“There are a lot of differences that we’ve had to get used to but overall it hasn’t been too bad.” She answerd. “Aizawa and Yamada have been a great help.”

“I’m glad to hear it. Perhaps you could tell me about some of these differences?”

She frowned and remembered what Aizawa had said earlier. Perhaps it was a good idea to be careful around this man.

The principal must have seen her hesitation as he moved on.
“It was only for my own curiosity, you don’t have to answer if you're not comfortable of course.”

“Thank you for your understanding sir.”She responded with a polite smile.

“Certainly!” He continued. “As you know UA is a very high profile school that produces a lot of big name heroes. We are invested in helping our students reach their fullest potential in any way we can.
I have heard that you and your friend both have elemental powers but due to their nature they do not quite work the same as our quirks.”

It was a statement but she responded anyway. “Yes, even though bending the elements is a genetic trait we need to perform moves to access these abilities,”

“Truly fascinating! And I understand that you also have healing abilities as a subset. Our nurse Recovery Girl has a similar quirk, perhaps you might be interested in private lessons with her?”

“I’m not sure that lessons would work with the different natures of our powers but it would be nice to have a conversation with a fellow healer."

“Great, I will let her know! Finally, the facilities that we have at UA are all made to cater to the quirks of our students. If there are any accommodations you might need however UA would be more than happy to provide them.”

“Thank you, I believe we will be able to fit in fine the way things are.”

"Well, then I’m happy to formally welcome you to UA’s hero course!”
Nezu finished still smiling. “Don’t hesitate to come by if you have any more questions. My office is always open to you.”

Katara politely thanked him one more time and left the room.

Outside Aizawa and Zuko appeared to be having an intense conversation about the best uses of swords in bending combat. It was Yamada who first noticed her come out the door and he coughed to get the others attention.

“Zuko, it’s your turn to go in.” She reminded him.
He thanked her and went inside the office.

When he was gone the remaining men bombarded her with questions
“How did it go?”
“What did he say?”
“Did you tell him anything about your home world?”
“Did he ask you about your bending?”
“Has he asked you to join his plans and trigger the apocalypse?"

“Calm down.” She cut them off. “You’re being ridiculous, it went fine, all we talked about was how I was adjusting to this world and if the school could accommodate us for the differences with how our ‘quirks’ worked.
He did ask about our world but when I didn’t answer he simply moved on.”

“And you’re sure you're alright?” Yamada asked, still frowning.

“I told you, I’m fine.” She replied smiling. “You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“That’s a relief. We should still wait to hear how Zuko’s conversation went.” Aizawa said a lot calmer.

Zuko’s conversation turned out to be very similar to her own even if he seemed a little more closed off about it.
They then went for a short tour of the building after which Yamada had to leave. Aizawa took them to get some spare uniforms they could wear for class until they got their own.

When they were dressed they followed him to what would be their new homeroom class. Despite the complicated situation they were in, Katara was excited to meet the students she would spend her time with. She had always loved socializing and meeting new people and growing up she really hadn’t had anyone her age to talk to. Hopefully everything would go well.

Chapter Text

Katara

Outside the classroom they could hear the kids talking excitedly.
Aizawa opened the door and when he did he was greeted with loud exclamations asking if he was feeling good enough to teach.
When Katara and Zuko followed him in, the attention immediately shifted onto them.

Aizawa got the class to quiet down as he answered the students.
“My wellbeing doesn’t matter. We have two new people who are going to join our class so be welcoming to them.”

He then gestured for Katara and Zuko to introduce themselves.

“Hi, Zuko here,” He began the same awkward speech he had given their group at the Eastern air temple. She decided to save him from embarrassing himself further.

“...excited to join the class, but I guess you probably already expected that-”

“And I’m Katara! It’s great to be here, I’m also looking forward to get to know you all better!”
She kept it short and walked to an empty table in the third row to sit down at.
Zuko looked at her with an expression she couldn’t read before walking to his table on the other side of the room.

Around her people kindly started introducing themselves until Aizawa spoke again.

“I’m sure you’re all still shaken up by the events of the USJ incident but the fight is not yet over. The UA sports festival is about to start.”

The class loudly expressed that their teacher shouldn’t scare them and immediately followed up by asking if it was truly a good idea to hold such an event in the circumstances.
Katara only vaguely knew of the USJ incident from what Yamada had told them but she could understand their concern.

“Apparently, the school board thinks of it as UA showing that our crisis management system is solid as a rock by holding the event.” Aizawa explained. “Security will also be strengthened to five times that of previous years. Above all, our sports festival is a huge chance. It's not an event to be cancelled because of a few villains.”

He continued on about the importance of the sports festival and what it entailed as students commented on the new information.
Personally Katara wasn’t too worried about the whole thing. She wasn’t there to become a hero after all and she had plenty of fighting experience to help people if a villain would decide to attack them.
Although the idea to test her bending in a friendly competition did sound fun.

Apparently she wasn’t the only person to think so.

As soon as the bell rang for their lunchbreak her new classmates excitedly started talking about it. All the worries of before were forgotten when they started talking about heroics. The chance to truly show off your abilities and stand out was an opportunity that could not be missed.
Two students beside started departing the importance of it all when a brown haired girl with a furious face came up to them.
Katara was about to step in when the girl started talking.

“Deku, Iida… Let’s do our best in the sports festival!” She turned around to face the rest of their class. “Let’s do our best in the sports festival!”
Everyone called out a fearful “Yeah!” and Katara decided to say something.

“Hey, I see that you're excited about this but are you sure intimidating people is the best way to go about it.”

“What do you mean? I’m not intimidating anyone, I’m just incredibly excited!”

That was when Deku and Iida joined them.
“Uraraka, wait up, I had a question I wanted to ask you.” Deku began.
Iida cut in. “Let’s walk to the cafeteria as we talk.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Uraraka.” Deku returned to his question. “Why did you decide to come to UA and become a pro hero?”

“Oh, uhm… for the money. ”

“You want to become a hero for money?”

“To boil it down simply, yes… Sorry it's such an unwholesome reason. You two have such admirable motivations, it's embarrassing…”

“Not at all.” Iida joined the conversation. “You have a goal to support your livelihood, how is that not admirable?”

“See, my family owns a construction company but we haven’t gotten a lot of work so we’re broke. Ever since I was a little girl I had this idea that if I got a license I could use my quirk to help out at the company.”

“It would bring the cost of equipment way down right?” Deku noted.

“They told me that they wanted me to achieve my own dreams. Then we would have plenty of money to go on a big trip together.
So I’ll become a hero to make enough money for my parents to live an easy life!”

“Uraraka, that sounds like an incredible motivation.” Katara said smiling.

Uraraka turned to her and asked.
“Well what about you. Why do you want to become a hero?”

Katara had to think about that. It was a difficult question to answer given her situation. She never planned to become a hero even in her own world, it just happened. She supposed her motivation would be the same wherever she went though which is why she decided to answer honestly.

“Actually I didn’t always want to be a hero. I just wanted to learn how to control my quirk and get stronger. But as I met more people I realised that there was a reason I wanted to learn how to fight. To help my friends save people who couldn’t save themselves and spread hope for a better world.
I saw the terrible situations people lived in and I knew that I would never turn my back to people who need me.”

“Wauw, Katara, that’s a beautiful reason, so noble!” Deku answered. “You really are a hero at heart.”

“HAHA, YOUNG MIDORIYA! It's lunch, come eat with me!” All Might yelled from in a classroom.

“Sure thing.” Deku, Midoriya, said as he jogged over.

Once he was gone Katara turned to the others. “Is it normal for a teacher to have lunch with a student like that?”

They were walking into the cafeteria now. Iida guided them to a huge line up that headed to the food. When they came to a halt Uraraka answered her.

"Not really but AllMight is an amazing hero and I’m sure there’s a reason he wanted to speak with Midoriya in private. I wonder what about though.”

"I heard that when All Might was attacked by villains during the USJ incident, he rushed out alone to help. Perhaps it's about that?" Iida suggested.

“Oh yeah! I heard his quirk is similar to AllMights as well, maybe he’s interested in taking him on as a pupil. That would make sense” Uraraka concluded.

“If he’s getting help in his training then I’m happy for him.” Katara said, because she was. When she first arrived at the North Pole she was denied lessons for being a woman. After her fight with master Paku had set the record straight she proved that her talent as a waterbender was worth the effort. Still, it felt sour when she thought back at the way people would forbid training like that.

Helping each other grow and learn is more important than most people realize and if Midoriya could get help from a hero like AllMight then Katara was glad to see these people understood that too.

Chapter Text

Zuko

Zuko was sitting at the cafeteria table in between two students who introduced themselves as Kaminari and Tokoyami. They were talking audibly about the sports festival. It had been the main conversation topic since they got the announcement about it, after Zuko himself of course.

When they first got introduced to the class Zuko had gotten intimate flashbacks of both his time at the Royal Firenation Academy and when he tried to introduce himself to the Avatar’s group which combined in an awkward introduction speech.
Then Katara had cut him off. This was the second time she had done that since they got here and he started to wonder if it was just a general habit of hers. He wasn’t sure if he should feel annoyed at it or be grateful that she saved him from further embarrassment.

The explanation of the sports festival didn’t interest him too much. He just had one goal while they were in this world and it was to get back to their own.

When the lunchbreak finally came Katara had immediately left him to the wolves.
So Zuko got pulled along by a group of over excited teens that integrated him like he was their war prisoner.
Luckily most of their questions surrounded his ‘quirk’ and they weren’t too interested in where he came from.

His classmates had given him a rundown of every quirk of the students and teachers of his class.
Apparently his was very similar to that of a famous hero and there were a lot of questions if he could pull off the same moves.
When he explained that his fire, like al bending, could only be properly used when making specific motions to control his chi, that sparked an entire new conversation. Evidently no one in this school had thought to focus on their chi and now everyone wanted to try it in order to get stronger for the sports festival.

Which is how they ended up talking about the festival’s previous years and what they thought might be organised for this year's students.

That was when a boy with two toned hair and an eerily familiar scar walked by their table and Kaminary called out to him.

“Hey Todoroki, come sit with us! We were just talking about Zuko and how similar his quirk is to your dad's. Maybe you can give him some pointers!”

The boy, Todoroki, was now looking at Zuko with a calculative gaze.

“I guess I will join you then.” He moved to sit down. “Nice to formally meet you Zuko, what would you like to know?”

“Oh, I didn’t really have any specific questions.” He explained. “We were just talking about the probability of me copying Endeavor’s moves. I assume that’s your father?”

“He is." Todoroki confirmed with a grimace, he didn’t seem too happy about it and boy could Zuko relate.
“But I don’t think you will be able to copy his moves by looking at them. They are more difficult than they seem and it takes a lot of training before you will be able to do any finishing move.” Todoroki continued. “I used to practice those techniques myself but even I needed time to get it right.”

“You also have a fire quirk.” It wasn’t a question, Zuko wasn’t surprised about it. If his father was a firebender chances were high he’d be one too. “We should train together sometime, I would love to see how our different techniques match up.”

“No. I have taken a vow to never use my left side in battle. I’m sorry but I won’t train my fire with you.”

“That’s alright, I didn’t mean to offend you. We could always have a spar with you using your ice. Although you would probably be better off talking to Katara if you want to train that aspect of your quirk.”

“Talk to me about what?” As though he had summoned her, Katara stood behind him with two other students who introduced themselves as Uraraka and Iida.

“Zuko suggested you and Todoroki could train with your similar quirks.” Tokoyami answered beside him.

“I would love to see how we match up as waterben- uh quirk users.” She smiled just catching her mistake.

“My quirk actually doesn’t involve water that much, I simply emit ice.” Todoroki answered her.

“Only ice? But doesn’t that mean you’re just freezing the water around you?”

“Even if I am, I can't control the water in any way other than turning it to ice.”

“That is interesting. I would love to train with you some time and see how it works.”

“Right, I suppose we could do that after the sports festival.” Todoroki concluded.

That reminded the other students of the sports festival and they continued the conversation to the end of their lunch break, occasionally asking Zuko or Katara their thoughts on stuff.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The bell rang signalling the end of their first school day.
So far his teachers had been less strict than what he was used to from the academy. He liked the differences he noticed with his old school and realised he actually didn’t mind spending his time at this place.

As Zuko packed his stuff he noticed a commotion at the classroom door.
There was a mob of students standing in the hallway arguing with his classmates. Something about the villain attack Katara and Zuko had missed had left a mark on the school and now they were facing the consequences.

The consequences being overcompetitive students declaring war on each other.
Like they knew what war meant, the weight that word carried for Zuko and Katara. He wasn’t interested in petty rivalries and quickly followed Bakugo and Kirishima out of the classroom pushing through the mob.