#and since she's bonded with kid!Zuko by the time that she finds teen!Zuko and Iroh

[soopersara]

For reasons that have everything and nothing to do with the most recent chapters of I&S, I've been thinking a lot about a time travel AU that I will absolutely never write.

Specifically, I want a time travel AU where little-kid!Zuko (age 9-10) travels forward in time and meets angry-teen!Zuko (we're talking like... the Book 1 egghead version of angry-teen!Zuko here). I know that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen, but the way I envision this playing out is:

Teen!Zuko and kid!Zuko meet, and after a healthy amount of confusion, figure out that they're two different versions of the same person. Kid!Zuko is... not thrilled to be stuck on a rickety old ship with a much grumpier version of himself, but hey! Uncle Iroh is here, and he's got lots of board games and even more free time, so it could be worse. Teen!Zuko, meanwhile, is having a bit of a crisis as he gets slapped in the face with several realizations all at once.

Realization #1: A warship is not a good place for a 9-10 year old boy to live, but there's literally nowhere else in the world where kid!Zuko will be safe. For as long as kid!Zuko is stuck in this timeline, teen!Zuko has to look after him.

Realization #2: Oh, shit. No one has seriously fucked up kid!Zuko yet. His life obviously hasn't been perfect, but this is pretty much the peak of kid!Zuko's sweet-and-innocent phase.

Realization #3: ... as fucked up as teen!Zuko's life has been, he desperately doesn't want to be the person who fucks up kid!Zuko's life.

Cue teen!Zuko scrambling to get his shit together so that he can be a reasonably healthy and stable guardian/big brother figure for his younger self. He starts working on his temper and trying to take Iroh's advice more seriously, and while things don't always go smoothly (kid!Zuko definitely picks up some vigilante tendencies from teen!Zuko. There may or may not be sightings of a tiny Blue Spirit causing trouble up and down the Earth Kingdom coast), teen!Zuko eventually figures out what he's doing. He puts in the work to become a decent role model, he deals with some of his own shit (and his outlook on life improves), he grows to see kid!Zuko as the little brother he never had, and he generally doesn't fuck anything up too badly.

Basically, looking after kid!Zuko teaches teen!Zuko self love (but with extra steps! I don't think grumpy-teen!Zuko could ever learn anything the simple way 😂)

All of that growth makes it harder and harder for teen!Zuko to ever envision himself returning to the Fire Nation. After all, if he wouldn't put his younger self through the pain of going back there and dealing with Ozai, why should he put his present self through that? And on a related note, kid!Zuko definitely has questions about teen!Zuko's scar and banishment. When teen!Zuko reaches a point where he's able to think about the Agni Kai, he can't imagine anything that kid!Zuko could ever do to deserve that kind of treatment, which leads teen!Zuko to question whether he deserved it. And as teen!Zuko starts to come to grips with the fact that he's probably never going back home - certainly not if it would mean putting kid!Zuko through the same pain that teen!Zuko experienced there - he has to start considering what other options he has for the future.

Kid!Zuko may or may not accelerate teen!Zuko's redemption arc even more by befriending various members of the Gaang and dragging his 'big brother' along to meet his new friends/disappearing for a few hours with his new friends only to be 'rescued' by teen!Zuko who is... very surprised and very awkward about it when he realizes who kid!Zuko is hanging out with.

There are obviously lots of time travel AUs out there already, but apparently this one is just going to live in my brain for the forseeable future 😂 As much as I love the standard "post-redemption!Zuko meets Book 1 Zuko and mentors his younger self to accelerate his own redemption/drags himself kicking and screaming toward redemption" time travel AUs that I see around the fandom, I think I'm just hungry for a time travel AU where pre-redemption!Zuko doesn't know what his future could look like. To me, there's just something really appealing about the idea of a time travel AU where his redemption gets accelerated not because he knows his life will get better if he becomes a better person, but because he wants to be someone who his younger self can be proud of.

#atla headcanons #zuko #zuko headcanons #time travel au #now it's time for me to go back to daydreaming #about the Zutara variant of this AU #where either Katara finds kid!Zuko first and has to find him a permanent guardian #which can only be teen!Zuko or Iroh #and since she's bonded with kid!Zuko by the time that she finds teen!Zuko and Iroh #she can't get herself to just drop off kid!Zuko and run #so they all strike an uneasy alliance #OR the other version #where kid!Zuko and teen!Zuko are traveling together from the beginning #and when Katara comes into the Ba Sing Se teashop #kid!Zuko starts playing with Momo #then teen!Zuko tries to get his 'little brother' to stop bothering the customers #Katara sees teen!Zuko #and Zutara-flavored teashop shenanigans ensue #zutara

[grumpyzutara]

A Burning Touch

No bending and altered timeline. The setup to the real plot is a meh, but you can't just jump into relationships with soulmate AUs, you know? Part 2 of 4 for the Soulmate Series.

(1) (2) (3) (4)

It would be startling for a baby to be born with a tattoo of a name on their soft, newborn skin, potentially even a name of someone not born yet. So it was something that slowly revealed itself, like a tan line after wearing the same shirt style through the sunny months. You hardly notice the color difference until suddenly - it's there.

Typically the tattoos showed up after puberty hit. There was no given time in your life that they had to show up by, but more often it would be within a year or two. It was also not a guarantee that a name would show up.

When Katara first started to see the faint lines on her thigh darken, the first signs that a name would appear, she decided now was not the time to know. The Fire Nation had started a war with the world and she didn't have time to think about her soulmate. The soldiers had come and terrorized their small village, killing those who stood in their way. Kya, Katara's mother, never backed away and stood her ground. In the end though, she was struck down. The next day she died.

With a tattoo on her outer thigh though, she could easily ignore it. She could push the thought away and was successful at it. Even after finding the long-lost peace-bringer from the Air Nomads, the Avatar, and searching for others to join their cause, she wouldn't look down at her dark skin.

It was obvious to the group that Aang had a crush on Katara, but thankfully for her, everyone also saw that her name wasn't written anywhere on his body.  

Sokka was always flirting with Earth Kingdom girls. He couldn't read the name on his forearm because it was in a language he knew nothing of, so he would just take a gamble on every girl he'd meet. Thankfully, everyone in the world spoke the common trade language.

Aang and Sokka were curious to know anything about who's name she had on her skin, but she kept her under wrappings long enough to hide any part of the script.

Along the way, they discovered their group was being tracked by outcasts of the Fire Nation Royalty. An uncle and nephew pair that needed to snuff out any hints of uprisings in the colonies and other countries. The group of kids traveled by boat and animal when they could, but it was often expensive and so they would walk between towns as well, allowing the royals to catch up. The run-in with the pirates didn't help either. Now they were separated and outmatched on an island.

"Finally, a face to the name," a young man said behind her, causing Katara to spin around.

"Who are you?" She asked, even though she had a guess.

"Fire Nation Prince Zuko. Where is your friend, the Avatar?" He was an angry young man. A frown on his lips and a scar from a knife wound on his face. The white line crossed over his nose, under his left eye and along his cheek bone. As far as scars go, it was flattering to his image as a harsh leader.

"I'm not giving him away. So you can forget it!"

"As lovely as this introduction is, the girl has something of my possession." The ringleader of the pirates growled at the teens before shoving another pirate in their direction. The gangly man pulled out a bolas and started twirling it.

Katara wasn't ready to be taken out by a bunch of thugs. Thinking quickly, she ran to take cover behind the prince, hoping if the man threw the bolas it would wrap around his legs. She didn't plan for the prince to also react. He shoved her away, pushing at her thigh and causing her to fall down behind him.

"She's my bounty. Whatever she took I'll repay," Zuko said with authority, didn't matter to him that he wasn't going to pay the pirates a penny.

"Like hell am I anyone's bounty!" Katara popped into a crouch before spinning a leg around, hitting the prince at his calves and knocking him on his back. She sprinted away, losing the pirates and the prince in the trees. She took a long route but was able to find her friends within the day.

Zuko on the other hand had to deal with 5 angry pirates. He pulled out his dao swords to disarm the first two, but if his uncle hadn't shown up he would have been captured. Later that evening, he was resting in his barrack in the ship. It was only when he had slid the lock in place did he let his guard down. He removed his boots before laying back on the cot. Without think about it, he started to massage his right calf, where the name of his soulmate was tattooed.

Living under public scrutiny, the moment the lines started to appear, it was analyzed by Royal Staff. It was a shock when it wasn't a Fire Nation name. It was a disgrace when they learned that it was written in Water Tribe. It didn't help that the Royal Staff even found a person to pronounce the name. He knew his soulmate's name was Katara. He took to wearing boots that came up his leg to cover the name. Hardly anyone outside the Capital knew. Uncle mentioned the coincidence of the Avatar's friend's name being the same as his soulmate's, but dropped the topic after Zuko threw a dagger at the wall next to Iroh.

Zuko had refused to believe in the stupid tattoos that happened to appear on each other's body. But when she swept his legs out from under him, hitting at the same spot as her name, maybe it wasn't so random after all.

He'd have to get along with her for a minute to see if he could handle being around her. She was strong willed to say the least. And he'd be lying if he said he didn't want that quality in a soulmate. He knew Uncle was growing tired of Zuko's antics. But could he actually change every part of him, of his mission, and change sides? He couldn't. That didn't mean he had to stay on the path he was, he could choose to be neutral. Not capturing or helping the Avatar.

Months passed with battles fought and won. Zuko joined the peace bringing mission in the end, but it was just the beginning for his future. The team had formed a strong bond through their shared experiences and were celebrating by having a bonfire on the beach, just their small group. Some fruity drink spiked with alcohol was being passed around. As teenagers who just saved the world – they deserved it.

"Katara, come on, take the wrap off!" yelled Suki, giggling afterward. Sokka had finally found the woman who matched the name on his wrist. Theirs was a love at second glance kind of relationship.

"Everybody knows their tattooed names. Yours is the only one left," Toph agreed. The girl might have been blind, but she could tell a lie in a voice from the next room over. She was a surprisingly good diplomat as well, helping their peaceful cause.

"Only because Aang told you," muttered Zuko, trying to make a joke but missing the mark and sounding a little harsh.

Sokka elbowed Zuko, "We can't all have mysterious names like your Jin. There's a thousand Jins."

They didn't know, none of them knew. He hired a tattoo artist to fake a soulmate mark. It was just easier that way, without them knowing that Katara was his soulmate. It was harder on him though. Getting to know her better each day. Feeling closer to her. Wanting to be her soulmate – in every way.

"No, and that's final!" Katara stormed away from the fire. Maybe it was the drink, or the fact that she still refused to look at the mark on her thigh, but she couldn't handle the pestering any longer.

The group was stunned silent. Sokka got up to follow but Suki held him back.

"I'll go make sure she's fine," Zuko offered before following her footprints in the sand. He found her at the side of a creek, soaking her toes in the cool fresh water. He sat beside her, removing his boots to join. "You ok?"

Katara sighed before answering, "You know, I don't even know the name of my soulmate to tell everyone." She saw Zuko's questioning look in the corner of her eye. "It's in a different language. Plus, I try not to look at it."

Now would be a perfect time to tell her, but he couldn't form the words. Since he wore long pants, even though his boots were off, her name was still hidden. "You know...Jin isn't the name of my soulmate." Zuko was shocked to see how startled Katara was at his revelation.

"What? But we've all see her name on your arm."

"I lied. I had a tattoo artist forge it. I wanted you all to stop asking. It seemed like the right idea at the time. Now, less so." He was ashamed at getting a fake soulmate mark. It was also a little overdramatic of him to go that far in avoidance.

"So who is it really? Why would you feel so embarrassed about it?" Katara had turned her body to give him her full attention. She had to know.

His hand brushed through his hair, he hadn't thought this through. "It's not that I'm embarrassed. It'll just change things, everything. I'm nervous I guess."

Katara moved, resting her head on his shoulder. Feeling brave and thinking how her words wouldn't matter because there was no way they had each other's name on their body, she spoke up. "Sometimes I wish your name was written on my skin. I think things would be ok if we were soulmates."

Zuko was stunned silent. Was this a dream? Because he never thought it would work out. He always assumed she'd find her name and get angry at him. For hiding it or for falling in love with her, he couldn't decide. But what if his name wasn't on her skin. He didn't want to think about her being his soulmate, but not him being hers. It would be painful. Waiting, keeping this secret was hard enough.

"Let's...let's look at each other's real tattoos at the same time. Get it over with quickly. Then we can go from there," he said.

"Sure. That's fine." But Katara didn't think it was fine. She was afraid to see someone else's name. Zuko's hand rested at the bottom of his pant leg, waiting to pull up the fabric so she started unraveling the wrap around her thigh. She stopped when the last piece still covered the mark, just barely. "Ready?"

Zuko nodded. In a second both marks were visible. In another second, both teens were gasping, even though Zuko knew more it was still a shock.

"But, how? When?" Katara stuttered.

Zuko laid back on the floor completely, stretching his arms out before covering his face. A moment of being so happy ruined by two words and a memory. "Not sure if you'll remember this, truthfully, I don't want you to remember, but the first time we met. The pirates? I said you were my bounty? I pushed you away and you kicked out my legs from under me. That's the when and how."

"Huh, I remember that moment. It never occurred to me that you pushed me away at the same spot as my mark. But that's not what I'm asking. When did you think, that if there weren't these tattoos, that if you weren't predestined to be with someone, that you liked me?" It was confusing to think about. Were they destined to be together because they hid their names from the world, or were they always meant to be together?

Zuko's laugh slipped through the fingers still covering his face. "As much as I don't like how we first met, the way you handled yourself in that tense moment though, I was taken aback. Here was this scrawny girl, younger than me, and yet you escaped better than me. I would have been taken hostage or worse if Uncle hadn't shown up. But it was really after I joined the group. You're-" he cut himself off, afraid of getting too deep.

Sure they were soulmates and she already admitted to liking him, but that's the thing. Zuko was in love with Katara. He didn't want to scare her away.

"I'm what? Go on."

"You're this crazy mix of strength and kindness. You care too much sometimes, but that's a good quality, not bad. And I don't want to put you on a pedestal, but, I can't think of you in any other way." He opened a few fingers to peak through, watching what she would do. She had been watching him too, waiting for him to look at her so she could look into his eyes.

"And you're honest. Selfless when it matters. Hotheaded to be sure, but I could also say passionate." One of her hands lifted to grasp his wrist, tugging it away from his face. "Let's take this slow. See how it goes."

"What about our marks?" Zuko was already thinking of ways to get the fake Jin tattoo covered up.

Katara gave him a small smile, but it meant everything to him to see her happy. "I don't plan on covering up your name any time soon."

"Good," Zuko said with a smile that warmed Katara's heart until it felt like bursting.

#soulmate series #zutara #my writing #zutara week 2017