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xkaidaxxxx · 30 days

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Azula x Female Reader

Mentions: little angst, fluff, Lesbians

Sorry for any errors

Azula x Female Reader

“ No one has ever had to hide the way that we do Azula. I’m afraid they won’t accept us.” You said with tears slipping down your cheeks. “ Just because this stupid and horrible world judges us and says that we can be nothing that won’t stop us. I love you baby girl more than anything. I want you to be happy and enjoy every moment we have together.” Azula said. She wiped your tears. You girls loved each other but loving the same sex was seen as disgusting and almost like it’s forbidden. You and Azula met about 4 years after Zuko became the next Fire Lord. You lived in the palace due to being Mai’s long distant friend.

How you two met was a bit wild. You were out and about outside the Fire Nation. You decided to travel to Kyoshi Island and visit Ty Lee. Mai said she’d greet you with open arms. Along the way you needed to stop at a Hotel and eventually found one. It was large,beautiful and expensive, it almost looked like a section of the palace.. Perfect for Azula. She knew how to survive. She’s strong, smart, beautiful and wild. On the way inside you bumped into a group of men. They looked very important. “Watch where you are going, you insolent girl.” one of the men said, shoving you away. You landed on your side. You had a bit of a spicy side of yourself. Standing up you turned your water into ice cutting cheek.“ You’re not a gentleman at all you asshole.” Azula walked over. “You’re making a scene outside my Hotel. You stupid guys run along before I kill you myself.” Her face confirmed her words. As she turned to look at you her heart skipped a beat. You were wearing some short tights with a short blue and white skirt over it. Your shirt was white with blue snowflake prints. Your shoes were cute as well. The way you wore your hair showed your wonderful facial features. Azula was checking you out. You cleared your throat. “I’d like a room please.” you also checked her out as you walked behind her into the Hotel. Azula was highly aware of it. She saw the mirror. “ What are you doing traveling alone?” Azula asked, grabbing a key and showing you to your room. “I’m on my way to visit a friend.” you replied feeling a bit lonely. “You sound lonely. I’ll keep you company since midday. I’ll show you around. Come on, pretty lady.” Azula said grabbing you and all day you went around town having fun. You thought you’d stay longer. Longer meaning about 6 months and along the way you fell in love. One day you were at a temple confessing what you were feeling. An old lady overheard you. “You shouldn’t be ashamed of loving someone so dearly and passionately. Don’t ignore your feelings otherwise you’ll regret it later on.” you smiled and ran back to Azula. The sun went down by then. As Azula was about to get ready you walked into her room. “Oh hey y/n. Is everything alright? Do you need something?”She asked and stepped forward as you started crying. You didn’t even know it was happening. This was your chance and you took it. You went up to her tipped toed and gave her a loving kiss. She was shocked at first but relaxed and kissed back. It got heated to the point where she hovered over you on the bed. You blushed. “I love you.” you spoke playing with the necklace you had on. “ I love you too.” Azula replied.

After that it was history.

“ If Mai and Zuko reject us..it’s fine but are you sure?” Azula asked. “Yes Azula..I want to live a normal life here without being attacked.” You replied. Azula waited at the balcony as you went to see Zuko and Mai. “ FireLord Zuko. Thank you for making time to see me..I have a request.” You said formally. Zuko stood up and walked over. He smiled and smacked your arm. “y/n. Don’t treat me like we don’t know each other idiot.” He replied. You smiled and giggled with Mai. “Now what’s your request?” he asked. “I would like to live here in the Fire Nation permanently..I swear I won’t cause any trouble and I will use my Water bending only for good like I always have.” you replied playing with your necklace. “Yeah you’re my friend and Mai’s basically sister.” He replied, rubbing your arm. “I want to live with my other half.” you said and Mai squealed. Odd of her to do. “You never told me you had a boyfriend!!” you looked away. “I love that person more than anything..outside..I would like you to meet.” you walked over to the balcony. Azula turned around. She went and kneeled down. “Its an honor to see you FireLord Zuko.” She said, looking at him. It wasn’t Mai she was worried about but her brother. The one she has hurt her entire life. The person she tried to kill. “Get up.” Zuko ordered. She obeyed. “ This is my girlfriend Azula.” You said. You were confused on why Zuko and Mai were upset. “What’s going on?” you asked. “ She’s Zuko’s little sister. Azula. She is a monster. How the hell did you fall in love with someone who has killed people and tried killing her own brother?” Mai said she was upset for sure but she also felt betrayed. “I’ve changed. I love y/n. I am happy with her. After the war it took some time for me to open my eyes and heart but I did. I met y/n only 6 months ago. We want to start a new life here. Please..if you wont accept me..at least allow her to live here peacefully.” Azula said. Her heart was aching on how they reacted but she expected that. How could she not. “ Zuko..Mai, I’m in love with Azula. I want to grow old with her. She’s my life and world. Please consider it.” You cried. They just stood there without saying a word. Azula held you close. She did that because she felt like it would be the last time she’d ever see you before they’d take and lock her up, for all the pain, suffering she committed and war crimes. Zuko saw how much they truly love each other. How you were certain she was the one for you. “Look you know what..We don’t care if you don’t accept our relationship but I love her and we think we start-” You were cut off by Zuko. “You can live here..only in the palace. That way I can keep a close eye on Azula. The world doesn’t need to suffer again. Azula..you are my little sister…so I’m giving you a chance..I don’t trust you yet..You better love Y/n to death. Do not hurt her in any way. If you do, you'll regret it.” He replied walking away getting your room ready. Azula carried you and spun you around. You giggled then kissed her as she set you down. Mai coughed. You two stopped. “Right s-sorry.” Azula said. “You girls will have a room to have fun.” Mai said. You blushed and your cheeks felt hot. “Mai!!” you yelled. Azula looked at her and smirked. You girls couldn’t help but laugh loudly. Zuko heard you all laughing and he smiled. "I'm glad she found someone. Azula you got blessed." He spoke.

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crowentity233 · 1 year

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The Dragon's Keep (part 1)

*Finished*

Fire Lord Zuko x (Fem!) Reader

Part 2

Summary: You are a firebender named Ayushi, who has been accepted to guard over the royal family as a kyoshi warrior. You end up guarding Zuko through his travels to visit the sun warriors. The mission, protecting the newest dragons, begins.

You stood in the hallway of the palace. Your armor clung to your body. The moon took over the night sky. The windows were open, letting in the cool breeze from the summer night. Pitter patters of feet down the hall jerked your attention back to reality.

"Princess kiyi." You called out running after the footsteps. You caught up to the girl. "Princess, you should be asleep. What's wrong?" You kneeled down next to her.

"I'm scared. I can't sleep." She mumbles, then hugs into your body, pulling you in to comfort her. You immediately wrap your arms around her and hold her.

"What are you scared of?" You asked gently to the girl. You picked her up and walked back to her room.

"I had a bad dream about a dark spirit." She whines into your shoulder. Her tears were starting to roll.

"It was just a dream, Princess Kiyi. You don't have to be scared. How about I sit with you and tell you a story?" You smiled brightly as the girl wiped away her tears nodding her head.

You laid her down on her bed and tucked her back in. You sat and told the story of the little dragon named Kioko. He was a very adventurous little dragon who learned he had to rely on others for aid. He couldn't do everything by himself. It was a firenation tale you heard many times from your parents.

She had fallen asleep, and you pet her hair before slipping back out into the hallway.

The next morning, Ursa was tending to the very energetic girl. She had retold the dragon story to her mother. "Where did you hear this story from?" Her mother giggled at the girl as she continued to almost the end, but kiyi didn't know how it ended because she had fallen asleep.

"Ayushi told me! I was going to get ZuZu up to scare away the spirits, but Ayushi told me a good story, and the spirits went away." The girl smiled proudly.

Zuko ate the breakfast in front of him, not paying too much attention until his nickname was said. "You were scared last night?"

"Yes, but Ayushi made it better. Mommy, I want Ayushi to tell me the rest of the story tonight. Can she please?" She spoke up to her mother.

"You can ask her before dinner tonight." Her mother smiled pleased that one of the kyoshi warriors was being so kind to her daughter and not just being a fire nation guard that was heartless like the old days.

You woke up getting ready for the night shift. You had been guarding at night. It was a long shift, but it was important to look after the royal family. You had stopped your fair share of criminals from getting to them.

Your job was about to become more interesting. "Ayushi, dear, will you come here, please? Kiyi has a question to ask you." Ursa's voice sounded through the hall out from the throne room.

You entered the room and bowed to the firelord and to the royal family.

Kiyi ran up to you. You kneeled down, sitting on your knees to face her. Your face brightened as she laughed energetically.

"Can you tell me another bedtime story tonight?" She said as she got to you.

You nodded. "Of course, Princess Kiyi. I would love to."

The girl jumped in glee. She wrapped her arms around you with a smile. You hugged her back, and then she ran back to her mother happily.

"Ayushi, I asked Suki if it was okay for you to take a daytime shift so you could tell Kiyi a bedtime story every night before your shift ends so you could sleep during the night." Ursa politely spoke.

"Yes, of course. What times work for you, work for me." Your voice is calm and respectful.

"You can have the next two nights off to readjust to daytime." She offered happily.

"Yes, Lady Ursa, thank you." You bowed, and you were dismissed.

The bedtime came quickly. You changed out of your uniform into a casual yet presentable outfit for the royal palace. You walked to Princess Kiyi's room, but it was empty. You looked around the nearby halls. The young girl poked her head out of the fire lords chambers. "Ayushi, come in here. I want Zuzu to have a bedtime story, too." You hesitantly followed her into the room. It was fit for a ruler. The room was huge. The walls were a darker color, very comforting and cozy. The fire lit torches flickered, a fireplace warming the room to a comfortable temperature to your skin. Fire Lord Zuko laid in the bed he was in silk sleep wear. His hair was down and messy. It was a stark difference from the times you've seen him. He seemed to be much more relaxed.

"Zuzu, she is here. Are you excited about the story?" Lord Zuko chuckled. Yes, much more relaxed than you've ever seen him.

"Yes, I'm excited." He said as kiyi got into the bed and tossed the covers over herself.

You bowed when your eyes met Zuko's. "Lord Zuko, I'm happy to tell you a bedtime story with Princess Kiyi." You giggled softly at the situation at hand. You leveled your body back up. His lips were turned into a grin. "Thank you, Ayushi." His eyes were a gorgeous golden brown. Your cheeks brighten ever so slightly seeing the Fire Lord in such a casual place. You were one of the new kyoshi warriors. You had never been in contact with Zuko before he became the Fire Lord.

"You can come in and sit. What story are you telling us tonight?" He seemed so welcoming.

"I was going to tell the story of the princess and dragon beast." You sat at the edge of the bed.

"Is it about a princess like me?" Kiyi gasped.

"Yes, it is her name is Bealin. She falls in love with a prince."

She laid down and held onto a stuffed flying bison Avatar Aang had given her from the air temple that was being rebuilt.

You started telling the story to the young girl. You were at the part where the princess was having fun with the dragon beast playing in the snow when Zuko leaned over, checking his sister. She was fast asleep. "She's out." He said quietly.

"I can take her to her room." You started to get up. Zuko shook his head, "That's alright. I can take her." He paused. "This reminds me of when I was little. My mom told that story a lot to us when we were little."

"My mother told me it a lot too, but my favorite was sleeping beauty. I always thought I would be rescued by a prince with a dragon from the dark spirit." You giggled at your own naivete.

"I've seen dragons they are as incredible in person as they sounded in the story." He trailed remembering the time with the sun warriors.

"But they went extinct..." Your face fell into shock.

"No, I am bound in a secret of their location, but I assure you they are very much alive." He stood up, and you stood as he walked past you.

"That stays between us." He trails quietly.

"Yes, Lord Zuko. Can you tell me more about the dragons?" You ask softly, making sure no walls could hear your conversation. You felt such a connection to dragons since you were a child. You just brushed it off to just being a firebender, but your connection seemed higher than the rest of your classmates.

"Wait here." He spoke softly, picking up his sister and then disappearing out into the hall.

You sat back down on his bed. Your hand ran across the silk. It was so luxurious and soft against your skin. His bed was so comfortable. It was better than yours back in the kyoshi housing.

Zuko returned to his room, and he pulled off the top robe. His silk bottoms were loose fitting. Your eyes stole glances at his fit figure. He didn't seem to notice. He slipped back into the bed and sat down across from you.

"The dragons are huge. They towered over me. It was so humbling facing them. There is a sacred firebending form. That started from the first firebenders that learned from the dragons. The ones I saw were red and blue. They breathed the most amazing flames that were every color you could think of." He explained the dragons to you, cautious of the secrets he had to keep specifically the where.

"I am so jealous. My dream is to see dragons. That is all I could think about as a child." You sat comfortably talking with the Fire Lord. It was the first real casual conversation.

"Maybe one day I can take you to see them. You've been very kind to my sister, and you've dedicated your life to serving the kingdom. You've put your life on the line. I will need a personal body guard when I return to them. Consider it a gift." Zuko leaned back against the headboard. His body is on even more display. Your mind didn't notice as your dreams were coming to life. His body had no place in your mind at the moment. Your eyes widened at the thought of meeting real dragons.

"Lord Zuko, you would do that for me?" You leaned forward in complete awe that he would take you to see them. He nodded, chuckling at your reaction.

"Can you teach me the form? I would be honored to learn it." Your eyes were still full of wonder.

"Yes, I can show you tomorrow. Kiyi is going to want to hear the rest of the story. I can teach you tomorrow after she falls asleep." Zuko offered to you.

"Thank you so much, Lord Zuko." You bowed respectfully. "I don't think I could ever repay you..." You trailed.

"You don't have to. It's a gift, and showing you the form is a right to all traditional fire benders." He stretched and wrapped his hands behind his head.

Your eyes then took in the scenery. The pillows, the bed frame, Zuko in less than appropriate attire for a woman to be in his bed even if you were just sitting on top of the sheets a distance away from him.

"Thank you, Lord Zuko." You bow respectfully. You stood up and made your way to the door.

"Good night, Ayushi." Zuko called out to you as you opened the door.

"Good night, Lord Zuko." You exited into the hall to go back to your housing unit with the other warriors joining the others that completed their day guarding.

Let me know if you would like to be tagged. 🥰

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thatgenderfluidmonstrosity · 1 month

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Firelord Zuko Angst, set after ATLA, and before LoK I think?

It was storming, rain pelting at the windows harshly, as if threatening to break them. The thunderous roars kept the Firelord awake. He was aggravated, tired and on edge. Every time lightning struck, he felt himself flinch or shiver. He supposed it was something he might never quite get over.

It was that very same night that a servant had burst into his room. He wasn’t sure if he was glad to have been awake.

“Firelord Zuko! You’re Uncle Iroh, he-”

Those were the only words that Zuko could register before he was out of his bed, asking the servant to take him to his uncle.

He didn’t think he had made it across the palace so fast in his entire life.

As he entered the room, pushing past the healers and servants, he felt like a child again, as if he were the only one able to help his uncle.

It reminded him of when Azula had struck Iroh down in the desert all those years ago.

His uncle, lying on a bed, his eyes barely open. He had been sick for a while, but even with the best Water-bending healers, there wasn’t much they could do.

“It's close to my time.” Iroh had told him.

Zuko didn’t believe it- he didn’t want to. He’s as terrified now as he was in the desert. Yet now he knew there was little he could do.

“Iroh-” He choked out.

He didn't realize he had already started crying.

“Ah, Zuko…” Iroh gave him a weary smile.

Lighting struck outside as Zuko grasped for Iroh's hand.

“Uncle I-” Zuko tried to think of something to say to him- anything to his dying Uncle.

“Shh, Zuko. It will be alright…” Iroh looked into his eyes.

“How? How Iroh? I- I need you around- I still need your guidance…” Zuko stuttered.

“You’ve grown into such a fine lord. That's all I ever wanted for you, Zuko-” He took a moment to cough.

Both of them tried to ignore the blood that shot into his handkerchief.

“But I don’t know what I’ll do without you- I’m not ready for you to leave-” His voice breaks as thunder booms.

“I’ll always be with you, nephew. No matter what, my words will live in your brain, and my soul in your heart. You are no longer the young and solitary boy that I watched over. You have grown so much, and I am so proud of you.” Iroh finally let the tears stream down his face.

Zuko felt Iroh’s grip get weaker.

“I- I love you, Iroh. You are amazing- You’ll always be amazing.” Zuko says as quickly as he can get the words out.

He watches as Iroh smiles once more, closing his eyes for good.

Lightning strikes again, yet this time, Zuko has no other warm hand to hold.

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

This has also been posted on Ao3 and I would appreciate it if you could give it some love there!

#avatar the last airbender #atla #avatar the last airbender fanfic #atla fanfic #zuko #fire lord zuko #atla zuko #zuko angst #zuko and iroh #uncle iroh #iroh #atla iroh #character death

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gladerwolfstarkimagines · 2 years

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Azula x Kai: Part One

Part Two, Part There, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six and Part Seven

"As much as I'm glad to see our new city's population drop by half in our first week I don't think it was a good idea" Mai commented watching the torch lights spring up in the forest surroundign Omashu, the city that her father had just been gifted by the Firelord.

Kai, Mai's younger brother by one year chuckled "but you were against the idea of coming here from day one. If the city had burned down I'd suspect you'd started it" he replied with a smile but Mai didn't return it. "So you think being moved away from all the power and opportunity of the capital is a good thing for us? And father letting almost everyone leave immediately is also going to bode well for us?" Mai asked with the typical sharp tone of an eldest born. "Well first of all this is an opportunity Mai" Kai said ever the optimistic younger child "as mother said it shows the Firelord trusts us and we can really start things from the ground up here. Father will be trusting us with a lot of important tasks I'm sure". Mai nodded "as soon as he's wiped out what remains of our workforce". Kai had to give her that one and he nodded "I'll admit he might've dropped the ball on that one but that's why it will be good for us. Father has never been the best at thinking things through, he'll need our input and soon we'll be advisors...no counsellors!" Kai said getting more excited and there was a whisper of a smile on Mai's face at her brother's enthusiasm. The two siblings couldn't be more different but they got along. Mai was quiet, anti-social and cold whereas Kai was social, smooth and warm. Kai seemed to be able to charm anyone and had even made impressive progress with the princess of the Fire Nation herself which nobody had ever thought possible. Growing up Mai often led in situations but Kai would quickly come into his own and flourished in his own right. Despite not having any firebending like Mai he quickly became a talented archer, even training with the Yuyan archers for several years. Aim was clearly something that ran in the family and they'd spend hours competing at target practice, Mai with her knives and Kai with his arrows. He was the only one who could even hold a flame to her and that made Mai both proud and infuriated. Things got even more competitive as they both got older and became entangled with the Royal siblings but in a city far from the capital that was easily forgotten.

"You can be a counsellor all you want, I just want to be left alone" Mai said dryly. A scream went up from back in the palace and Kai laughed "come on Mai! You know better than to jinx us like that" and they both ran back inside to find their little brother was gone, kidnapped by the rebels. Things were pretty chaotic after that. Their mother was understandably distraught and their father was ready to charge blindly into battle when a note arrived from the rebels. A trade was agreed but on the morning of the deal a more important development occurred. Kai had been up most of the night listening to his father's plan for the trade and so he missed the events going on outside until Mai burst into his room. "Get up you idiot! They'll be here any moment!". "The trade isn't for hours" he said squinting at her from under his blanket. Mai smirked "you haven't heard...a royal procession is on its way here. Zuko and Iroh are gone and the Firelord pay visit to no one. I wonder who it could be..." and with one of her rare sharp smirks, she left. Kai jumped out of bed and immediately began preparing his nicest set of armour. He had a quick bath ensuring he looked pristine and was out the door as quickly as he possibly could. He ran outside and saw Mai waiting on the steps alone. He heard bells ringing in the distance telling him he was just in time. He skipped down the stairs two at a time and joined Mai. "You always were lucky" Mai commented as the procession appeared and Kai smiled "I have no idea what you're talking about" and she shot him a side-eye before the carriage itself came into view. They both stood formally watching it approach and then averted their eyes as Azula climbed down gracefully. They bowed as she stood infront of them and Mai spoke first which would be unheard of when greeting royalty. "Please tell me you're here to kill me?". Luckily knowing the princess since you were 7 has its perks. Azula shot Mai a look as if she was mulling it over and then a smile overtook her perfect face. She laughed, a sound that always stuck with Kai and put her hands on either side of Mai's torso "it's great to see you Mai". Then before Kai had even properly straightened Ty lee swooped in and hugged Mai. Kai smiled slightly to see his sister awkwardly hug her best friend back. "I thought you ran off to join the circus. I thought it was your calling?" Mai asked patting her gingerly. Ty lee shrugged "well Azula called a little louder". "I bet she did" Kai replied thinking that was a good point to introduce himself and all three of the girls paused. Azula's eyes flicked to him and did a quick sweep over him once. Ty lee laughed and hugged him "it's nice to see you too Kai". "You as well, you're even pinker than I remembered". Ty lee laughed pleased and Azula raised her chin and nodded " Kai ". "Your highness" he replied smiling slightly and Azula looked away. "I have a mission for you" she said directing it to Mai who immediately agreed.

Azula explained how she was interested in the Avatar and thought this could help her. "Your father has proved himself most incapable so the two of you will be taking over from him, do you have any objections?" she asked. Mai immediately shook her head and Kai hesitated, if only out of loyalty to his father, but the second Azula laid her amber eyes on him he knew his answer. "Not at all, let me escort you inside" he said offering Azula his arm. She made a noise but needed him to show her the way. "Very well" she nodded and fell into step with him but didn't take his arm. "You look well princess...it's been several months since we last saw one another" Kai said. "Has it?" Azula asked "I hardly noticed". "You? The girl who notices every single thing that happens in that palace? I think not". "Maybe you're just not that noticeable or important" Azula shrugged and Kai laughed "who am I to disagree with my princess?". "funny, It never stopped you before" Azula replied and seeing the clear entrance she walked in front of him and began giving out orders like the royalty she was. Kai watched a smile on his face and was glad she was back. It'd been boring without her. Azula decided the trade would go ahead but she would be accompanying them. The siblings led and Azula actually walked behind them which was odd and Kai felt like he was breaking a thousand rules by turning his back on the princess. The group came into view and Kai was immediately shocked by how young they were. "This is them? They're just children" he whispered to Mai who shrugged and stepped forwards. Mai was ready to close the deal when Azula stepped forwards. "We're trading a two-year-old for a king...it just doesn't seem like a fair trade. Does it?" she asked Mai. Kai hesitated, his eyes going to Tomtom just meters away from him but he could tell what Mai's response was going to be. You didn't ignore prodding from royalty. "The deal's off" Mai announced and King Bumi was taken back up but the boy in front didn't like that.

He ran at Azula but before he could reach her Kai sent an arrow right at his chest. He watched to make sure the arrow met its mark when the boy contorted himself around it and somehow knocked it off course. It wasn't possible to move that quickly and Kai was wondering what on earth had happened when the boy’s head covering fell off. Azula smiled "the Avatar...my lucky day". That explained why they were so young and Kai got excited. If they captured the Avatar this would be huge for Azula and his family. The Avatar glided away using his airbending but Azula was letting that stop her. She cut a metal rope and sped after him. Kai saw Mai and Ty lee had the other two so he followed Azula. He used the sword he always kept on him to do the same thing as Azula and shot upwards. Kai saw a blast take out the rope holding up King Bumi's cell on his way up and reached Azula seconds later. She was crouching quietly as if assessing her prey. "Are we going after them?" Kai asked watching them disappear through the delivery shoots. Azula shot him a look "try and keep up" and leapt down. Kai grinned and followed her. Kai's parents and Mai always told him off for being so reckless but he never got what they meant...this was a prime example of that. He took a tunnel right next to Azula’s and shot down the path close behind her. Azula began firing at the Avatar and Kai shot a few arrows at him while he was distracted. The Avatar managed to intercept both attacks and Kai realised he'd have to come at him from a different angle. "I'll be right back" he called to Azula and then jolted his cart onto another path going in the seemingly opposite direction. Azula shook her head clearly thinking he was an idiot. However Kai had been studying these shoots since he got here and he knew all the carts converged at the bottom. So he took the quickest path there and got ahead of the Avatar. His shoot emerged just above the Avatar’s and luckily he was facing the opposite way too busy fending off Azula. So the Avatar hadn't spotted him and Kai raised an arrow and aimed at the edge of the box. The Avatar's box went tumbling and spilled both him and the old man onto the path. Azula quickly stopped her own and Kai did the same, hopping down so he was on the other side of the Avatar. "You have nowhere to go, surrender" Azula called and Kai pointing an arrow directly at the Avatar. The boy seemed panicked but the old man was muttering slightly. "Stop talking!" Kai cried but the old man just laughed "you're all terrible house guests" and suddenly the earth under Kai 's feet propelled him upwards and over the edge of the shoot. He fell a few feet down but managed to slow himself down and reduce the fall. He got up and saw Azula had managed to stop herself halfway and was climbing back up. He did the same but by the time he got there they were gone. "His bison appeared" Azula said "but no matter...I have a plan". Once they'd found Mai and Ty lee Azula explained she wanted them to accompany her on a mission to find her brother. "All of you" she said briefly looking at Kai and he smiled widely. "You know I will go wherever you send me princess" he said and Azula rolled her eyes but wouldn't look at him. "It'll be fun to see Zuko again, won’t it Mai?" Ty lee asked. "Eww gross" Kai cried dramatically making Mai blush and Azula smirk. "I agree" she said and Kai knocked her lightly with his shoulder "was that a hint of a smile there or was I imagining it?". "Clearly you're seeing what you want to see, as usual" Azula said and quickened her walking pace. Kai smiled but let her go. Sure the chance to prove himself was part of the reason he'd agreed to accompany Azula but by no means the only one. He'd missed that smile.

_________

Woo!!! So new Azula x male reader series!! I love the idea for this request and will be making multiple parts for it exploring Kai and Azula’s relationship through Book 3.

Requested by @darkprince1110

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moneneki · 1 year

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An unlikely ally

Pairing: Azula/Jet Rating: T Summary: After a betrayal that scattered everything Azula had built inside Ba Sing Se, she starts to make a new plan.

A short fic for Week 1: Forced to work together/Sickfic/There was only one bed of @atlararepairmonth!

Also, it looked like a particularly good day for some antimonarchist sentiment lol

Scrunching her nose, she didn’t contain the disdain with which she looked around the rickety room. It smelled like dust and misery, like most of the Lower Ring, and it looked much the same way. There was barely any furniture, save from a low table and a couple of small squared tatamis. The window was covered with a crude wooden blind, and she could smell mould on the walls underneath.

She wanted to complain; the petty corner of her mind, the one that was used to get the finest silk gold could buy for draperies that wouldn't even touch her skin, itched at the sharp words gathering in her throat. But she also knew that she had a mission, and that her personal comfort was not paramount to achieve it; therefore, it needed to be discarded.

The silhouette of the one remaining Dai Li guarding outside their lousy hideout provided less relief than she would have liked. He was moving. She observed, tense and ready. At least half of the Dai Li were now back on Long Feng's side…

“Princess, we got some food,” he whispered from the other side of the paper-thin wall.

She exhaled a silent sigh.

“You may bring it in,” she commanded, taking a brief look at the immobile, unconscious runaway next to her. He'd probably need to eat something as soon as he woke up. The problem was, she didn’t know if he’d be able to stomach any kind of solid food.

It had been a rushed decision, taken in a split second, to bring him along while fleeing the Earth Palace. She’d recognized him from the Dai Li reports, back when all of them responded to her. Before the incident in the catacombs; her authority had been undermined one inch too far and so many things had collapsed around her…

Her unexpected companion shifted, bringing her attention back to him. The boy with the hook swords was a trouble-maker, an agitator the Dai Li had finally caught after he’d made a too-bold confrontation with some ‘firebenders’ in the Lower Ring. He hadn’t been wrong; maybe he'd be glad to know that.

His movement prompted her back to action, and she reached for the bag the agent had just left in front of her. One look was enough; the food was somehow worse than the house. The round shape of the bread (she assumed it was supposed to be a steamed bun) made it hard to bite, and its hardness made it impossible. Nevertheless, she persevered and managed to take a chunk off, chewing methodically on the resulting sawdust.

There was a crude ceramic pot inside, and one cup. She decided she'd use it before he needed it, and served herself some of the content. A preliminary sniffing made her suspect it was supposed to be tea.

Rearranging herself on the tatami next to him, she cradled the cup of tea in her hands. She could feel her fingertips warming up, a sign of the chi-blocking wearing off. Those two traitors! It was Zuko's fault, not to align with the right side! Mai and Ty Lee should have let destiny run its course! No wonder she had lost the Dai Li's respect; who would be loyal to a princess whose two closer collaborators betrayed her?

As quickly as she could, she shot down the shock and indignation, the boundless anger, the…

The hurt.

She buried that word. Hurt meant weakness, and she was not weak. She couldn't afford to; weakness meant dishonor, and dishonor meant disapproval in a world where being in the Firelord's good graces was everything.

Damn them! Mai and Ty Lee turning against her inside Lake Laogai, out of some misplaced sense of 'love', had thrown all of Azula's plans out of their course. It made the Dai Li doubt her, gave Long Feng enough footing to reclaim part of his forces and had left Azula in a more compromised position than she had ever wanted to be, without her bending and relying only on half of a force that ought to remain united.

As her cup let out the first thread of steam, he groaned and blinked, finally waking up.

Predictably spooked, but also bound by the severity of his injuries (some of the younger Dai Li agents could be too harsh), he made an unsuccessful attempt to get away from her.

“Who are you? What is this place? Last thing I saw was the Avatar and that firebender…”

Oh, so he already knew.

“We are back in Ba Sing Se,” was all she said. The rest of the information needed to be dosed carefully. “The Avatar flew away with his friends and his bison.”

The spark of hurt betrayal in his eyes was deeply satisfactory to notice.

“You were wounded, and I thought you were worth helping,” she looked at him.

Indeed, this particular peasant had also managed to become an important figure within the Lower Ring underbelly. A coup orchestrated at the top hadn't worked; one coming from the bottom, from the very foundations…

“Who are you?”

“My name is not important,” she put down the cup of cold tea. ��I just share your interests.”

“What do you know about me and my interests?” he bit back, like a cornered animal.

It worked for Azula.

“Oh, some things,” she smiled. “I know you want this city to be free of tyranny…” she shrugged in apparent indifference, and observed with satisfaction the darkening of his frown. “I know you, like many, are tired of monarchs and kings telling you what to do.”

She picked up the teacup again, satisfied at the now uniform heat on her fingertips.

“You're one of them,” he growled, pointing at her now steaming cup of tea. She didn't try to deny it. “Why do you care to help us?”

“You are right,” she answered, sipping from her cup. “I am a firebender. But bending is not always a show of allegiance, as you might have come to suspect from some of your Lower Ring acquaintances.”

Azula knew for sure that some of the former sympathizers of Jeong Jeong –the old fool– had taken refuge in Ba Sing Se, and frequented the same circles as this self-appointed freedom fighter.

He still didn't seem convinced.

“Suffice to say, I am very invested in seeing the people at the top of this city falling down,” she sipped the mediocre, diluted tea in her cup with complete calmness.

And only after that I may claim this city for my father.

However, he didn't need to know that.

“Do we have a deal?” she extended one hand.

He didn't take it.

“I don't trust you.” The obvious suspicion on his glare revealed the rush going on inside his mind. “But you could have killed me while I was out. I will cooperate with you this once. Then we’ll see.”

She smirked; despite his youth, Jet was a better player than Long Feng, she could already sense it in his words.

“Suit yourself,” she shrugged. “You will see that you can really use my help.”

He snorted.

“It seems to me that you need mine too.”

His words made her smirk widen. She liked this guy… and maybe her respect for him rose an inch.

It would be interesting working with him to make Ba Sing Se fall.

#atla mayday rarepair month2023 #moneneki #jetzula #Azula/Jet #jet #azula

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eastofthemoon · 2 years

Text

A Paladin in the Fire Nation

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8

Rating: PG

Series: Voltron Legendary Defender/Avatar the Last Airbender

Summary: After the fight with Zarkon, Shiro accidentally gets tossed into another reality where humans have the ability to bend the elements. His best shot at returning home is with someone called the Avatar, while he waits he might as well take on the job of being the Firelord’s bodyguard.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Toph was a tough fighter. From what little Shiro had seen of her before, she seemed constantly aware of her enemies' position despite her blindness. He did have to wonder how she managed to avoid breaking bones when smashing solid rocks into people.

He probably should have turned down Toph's request for a sparring match, but unfortunately Shiro was never one to refuse a challenge.

So here he was, running around the Fire Palace gardens, trying to keep ahead of Toph's swift barrage of flying rocks. Even staying on the move, he had to smash occasional rocks with his cybernetic arm, all to the backdrop of Toph's cackles.

“You know, I've never met a non-bender who could literally punch rocks to pieces,” she said.

Shiro smirked in response. He ducked under the next flying boulder and ran in close to attack Toph directly. A mound of earth rose to block him, but he rolled out of the way. A quick tackle from behind – but Toph effortlessly stepped out of the way.

Shiro tried again and again. During the Angi Kai, his strategy against Buijing had been to charge fast, get into his blindspot and take him down from there. However, the same plan wasn't working against Toph. Each time he attempted to surprise her, Toph was ready for the attack. Ironically, she didn’t seem to have a blind spot.

Toph grinned as she blocked another charge with a wall of rock, throwing it straight into Shiro's path. “Ready to concede that I'm the greatest fighter in this garden?”

“No,” Shiro said as he punched the rock in two and took a breath.

Think it through. Everything Toph had said about her bending.

Shiro smashed aside two rocks, trying to recall. Toph...always went barefoot, because she needed to feel vibrations from the ground through her feet. Then, what if...

Darting around a brace of rocks, Shiro went for another direct charge. Toph laughed, bringing up another rock wall – and then with a smirk, Shiro leapt for a hanging branch to swing off of it into the air. Toph's confident smirk shifted to alarm as she started to turn back and forth, swinging rocks around her cautiously.

But with another swing of a metal arm, those defending rocks were dust, and Shiro pinned Toph's arms to the ground as he landed. “Got ya.”

“Nope,” Toph snapped back, slamming the back of her head against the dirt. Shiro released her arms on instinct, rolling out of the way of the earth pillar that erupted from behind him. Flipping onto his feet, he smirked.

“Now I know your weakness,” he said. “You know everything that touches the ground, but you can’t sense me in the air.”

Toph rolled her eyes. “Unless you can fly, that's not going to do you much good.”

“Fly, no,” Shiro said as he held out a hand, glancing at the assorted trees and ornaments that surrounded their battleground. “But I can certainly jump over a few rocks. With everything here, there's more than enough ways to stay out of your sight.”

Toph cackled, drumming her toes against the dirt and making the branches tremble. “Oh, we’ll see about-”

“Okay, time for you two to take a break,” Zuko said as he stood in front of Shiro while Katara crossed her arms next to him. “I can see where this fight is going and I would rather keep my garden in something like one piece, instead of what you two will leave it in.”

Shiro frowned, but then noticed the current state of the garden from their fight so far. The pond was leaking after its retaining wall had been torn up for ammunition, several flower beds were in shambles, and the decorative fencing seemed a lot more hole-y than he remembered.

“That’s fair,” Shiro sighed. “We did make a mess of things.”

“I don't know, it looks the same to me.”

“Toph,” Katara warned.

“Alright, fine,” she said and pointed a finger at Shiro. “We might be done for today, but as soon as we can find somewhere Sparky won't whine about as much, we're finishing this fight.”

“Looking forward to it,” Shiro said as he looked around and frowned. “Is Sokka still going through the list?”

He had said he would join for sparring practice. Shiro had thought he would be here by now.

“He seemed to be,” Katara replied as she crossed her arm. “Although he should take a break soon anyway.”

Shiro had to agree. When they informed Iroh of what he and Zuko had learned, he had managed to gather up a list of Earth Kingdom soldiers who had the name ‘Valrom’, both current and former. Problem was it was a very long list. Toph was right when she said it was been a common name.

They had spent the last few days going through it, with Sokka taking the main lead on it. Shiro wished they had more details to go on.

“We’ll drag him over later,” Zuko said as he got into a stance. “Want to go, Katara?”

“If I were you I would hold off right now,” Iroh announced as he approached with a smile on his face. “I have some very happy news.”

The group exchanged puzzled looks as Zuko frowned. “What is it, Uncle?”

Iroh grinned as he tucked his sleeves into his shirt. “I have just been informed by the guards that a sky bison is heading towards us.”

Shiro Katara’s face instantly brightened as both Zuko and Toph smiled.

“It’s got to be Appa,” Katara exclaimed.

“Who?” Shiro asked.

Toph lightly punched Shiro’s arm. “Aang’s sky bison, it’s how he gets around.”

Shiro’s eyes widened. “So, if he’s been spotted that means-”

“Aang is finally here,” Zuko confirmed. “So, we can finally look into getting you a way home.”

Shiro smiled, but then dropped. He wanted to get home, back to the paladins, but he also couldn’t just leave Zuko while his life was still in danger.

Zuko raised an eyebrow and sighed. “If you’re worrying about me don’t, I can handle myself.”

“To be fair, evidence suggests otherwise,” Katara said before reaching out to touch Shiro’s shoulder. “But don’t worry about that yet. We still don’t know how hard it’s going to be to get you back home anyway.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Shiro replied.

“In either case, it would likely be prudent to get yourselves cleaned up before you greet, Aang,” Iroh said.

Toph shrugged as she sniffed her armpit. “Naw, I smell fine. Twinkletoes won’t care.”

Katara rolled her eyes as she seized her arm. “Come on.”

Toph pouted, but didn’t resist Katara dragging her away.

Iroh chuckled and looked at Shiro. “I shall stay with Zuko while you go and change.”

“I don’t need a babysitter, Uncle,” Zuko said with a sigh as he shook his head. “Anyway, I’ll meet you in the council room once you’re ready.”

Shiro gave a nod as he walked and headed back to his room. He tried to keep his anxious thoughts at bay as he washed and changed into clean clothes.

Would Aang be able to send him home? Or was he going to discover he was truly stuck here? If that was the case, would Keith and the others be okay? Were they still alive right now?

He ran a hand through his hair as he inspected his face into the mirror.

“Katara’s right,” he muttered. “No point worrying until I talk-”

Something moved behind him.

Shiro whirled around with his arms raised to attack, but spotted no one.

He frowned as he lowered it.

Did I just imagine it?

He then heard a purr like noise. Cautiously, Shiro followed and traced the source under his bed.

He kneeled and looked beneath it. He wasn’t certain what he had expected to find and upon seeing it he still didn’t.

A small animal stared back at him with wide blinking eyes. Shiro was positive he had never seen this creature in the palace before. It was small and whilte, with big ears and a long tail. Shiro would have called the animal cute if it wasn’t currently hugging his paladin helmet like a new favourite toy.

“Uh, hey, little guy,” Shiro said gently, holding out his hands under the bed. “You got my helmet there. It’s not food, so how about handing it back?”

The creature titled its head, looked at the helmet and back at Shiro like it was calculating its best options.

Then, much to Shiro’s frustration, it chose to run in the opposite direction out from under the bed while still carrying his helmet.

“Hey,” Shiro shouted as he scrambled to his feet and got up in time to see the creature sitting at his open window holding his helmet between its lower paws.

Shiro took a deep breath as he approached. “Alright, we’re a bit off the ground here and I know the door is locked so you might as well-”

The creature raised its arms and revealed bat-like wings.

Shiro blinked. “What?”

The creature glanced out the window.

Shiro clued in on what it planned to do.

“Okay, joke’s over, let’s-NO! GET BACK HERE!”

Shiro jumped, but it was too late as the creature jumped out the window and took to the air with his helmet held in its paws.

Shiro cursed as he poked his head out. Thankfully, he could still see the animal and it looked like it was heading towards the garden. Shiro didn’t waste a second to race out of his room and make it back down to the garden.

He glanced around frantically, but Shiro didn’t see any sign of the critter.

“It better not have left the area,” Shrio grumbled.

The helmet was one of the few things he had left of home. He could not lose that. His heart calmed down slightly when he spotted Sokka sitting under a tree with a bunch of scrolls in hand.

Hopefully Sokka knows what that creature was, Shiro thought as he approached. I need to find it before-

Shiro lost his train of thought as he spotted a girl. She was dressed in armour, but it was different from what the palace guards wore. It didn’t seem to match the style of what he had seen of the Fire Nation either.

It was green, and brown. The girl also had covered her face in white makeup, and she was grinning evilly as she silently approached Sokka.

Instincts took over as Shiro ran.

“SOKKA! LOOK OUT!”

Sokka and the girl barely had time to look up. Shiro sprang, tackled the girl and pinned her to the ground. She grunted, clearly trying to kick him off, but Shiro held her.

Although, he was struggling to keep her there. Whoever this girl was, she was strong.

“GET OFF!” the girl cried.

Shiro kept her pinned. “Sokka, get the others while I hold her.”

He had expected Sokka to look a bit shocked, but to his confusion Sokka stayed rooted to where he was.

“Suki?” he said as he pointed.

Shiro paused as the girl sighed.

“Who else do you think it is?” she snarked.

Shiro glanced between the two of them.

“You know each other?” he asked.

“She’s my girlfriend,” Sokka exclaimed as he waved his hands around. “I told you about her before.”

Shiro frowned, but then his memory clicked. Right, he did recall hearing that name before. She was the girl that was acting as a bodyguard for Aang.

“If we’ve got that cleared up,” Suki replied as she looked up at him, “mind getting off of me?”

Shiro shook his head.

“Right, sorry,” he said quickly and released her.

Suki gave a slight pout, but then smiled as she lightly punched his arm. “Don’t worry about it. it’s nice to know someone is aware of their surroundings.”

Sokka gave a pout, but then smiled as Suki pulled him into a hug. After a moment, they let go and Suko pointed at Shiro.

“So, who are you exactly?” she asked.

“His name is Shiro,” Sokka explained. “Currently Zuko’s bodyguard.”

Suki frowned. “Bodyguard? Does this have to do with the ‘problem’ Zuko mentioned in his letter?”

“Yeah,” Sokka said as he rubbed his neck, “but I would rather wait until we can explain it to you and Aang at the same time.”

Suki raised an eyebrow, but nodded. “Okay, fair enough.”

“In anycase, I have another problem,” Shiro said as he looked at Sokka. “My helmet got stolen.”

Sokka’s eyes widened. “What? Are you sure you didn’t just misplace it?”

“Yes,” Shiro sighed. “This is going to sound crazy, but some kind white animal was in my room and took my helmet. It then stood at the window and flew off with it.”

Sokka blinked and then suddenly his eyes narrowed in annoyance as Suki giggled.

“Am I missing something?” Shiro asked.

Sokka sighed as he patted his large friend’s shoulder. “Sorry, Shiro, but it sounds like you got ‘Momoed’.”

“Momoed?” Shiro asked.

“He means Momo, Aang’s pet flying lemur,” Suki replied with a laugh. “He has a bad habit of taking things that aren’t his.”

“And putting things in your mouth when you’re sleeping,” Sokka grumbled.

Shiro blinked, and pinched the bridge of his nose. Flying lemur. Of course it was a flying lemur.

“What are my chances of getting my helmet back?” he asked.

“Very high,” Suki said as she pointed. “He probably brought it to Appa who is likely napping at the turtle duck pond.”

Shiro sighed, but nodded. “Alright, pond got it. I’ll look for him there.”

“Word of advice,” Sokka said as he raised a hand. “If it looks like Appa is going to sneeze, get away fast. Trust me on this.”

Shiro raised an eyebrow, but nodded as he headed straight to the pond and scanned the area once he got there.

“Alright, Momo,” Shiro called out as he glanced around. “Where are you? I’m not mad, but I need my helmet back-”

A low grunt came from behind as Shiro felt a gust of warm breath behind him. Shiro slowly turned around and was greeted by a giant head of a bison. Startled, Shiro jumped back, but the creature stayed where it was.

It was massive, almost as big as one of the Voltron lions and he spotted it also had multiple legs. The creature tilted his head at him and Shiro suddenly understood Sokka’s warning.

“Um, Appa, right?” Shiro said as he held up his hands. “Don’t need to disturb you big fella, I’m just looking for your little friend.”

“Are you looking for Momo?

Shiro blinked. Where did that voice come from? Appa’s mouth hadn’t moved so it didn’t talk..right?

There was a laugh. “Up here!”

Shiro looked up and saw a person wave at him from the top. Within seconds, the person slid off Appa like a slide.

It was a teen boy. He wore red and yellow robes with no shoes, and he also had blue arrow tattoos on his arms, legs and even on his bald head. He also had the small furry thief resting on his shoulder while he held Shiro’s helmet in his own hands.

The boy smiled at Shiro and held it out.

“Is this yours? I figured someone must be looking for it when Momo brought it here.”

Shiro relaxed slightly as he took the helmet. “Yes, thank you.”

The boy smiled as he rubbed his neck. “Sorry about that.” He narrowed his eyes at the lemur. “I’m been trying to get Momo to stop stealing, but it seems to be a hard habit for him to break.”

Momo chittered and tilted his head in confusion.

Shiro paused slightly as he looked at the boy. “The lemur is yours?”

The boy laughed as he patted Momo’s head. “Momo isn’t ‘mine’, but he is my friend just like Appa.”

The giant bison gave a snort in agreement.

Shiro’s brain quickly put the pieces together.

“So then, you’re Aang?” Shiro asked. “The Avatar?”

The boy gave a shy smile as he nodded. “Yes, that’s me.”

Shiro blinked. He knew the other told him that Aang wasn’t much older than them so he wasn’t expecting a teen, but it still felt a bit jarring. From how Iroh explained it, Aang was supposed to be the world’s most powerful bender, but he looked like any other kid his age.

Aang then became quiet as he studied Shiro’s face. “Who are you exactly? I’ve never seen you here before.”

“I’m Shiro, I’m currently acting as Zuko’s bodyguard.”

Aang’s eyes widened slightly, and then frowned as if he just spotted something odd. “Where are you from exactly?”

Shiro rubbed the back of his neck. “That is a long and complicated question.”

Aang looked like he wanted to question further, but another voice beat him to it.

“Aang, you’re here!”

Both turned and saw Katara waving at the both of them with Zuko and Toph not far behind. Aang grinned and didn’t hold back as she came over to hug him.

“Are you okay?” she asked as she looked him over. “Suki mentioned you had a tough time in the Earth Kingdom village.”

“I’m fine,” Aang said with a laugh. “And Suki’s exaggerating. It wasn’t that bad.”

“She said you had to put out a fire while trying to stop a group of Earth benders from destroying a bunch of houses,” Zuko remarked.

Aang gave a nervous laugh. “Okay, maybe it got a little tricky.”

Toph grinned. “Sounds like a fun time.”

Zuko then spotted Shiro. “You told him?”

“Just my name, but the exact details, no,” Shiro replied.

Aang’s smile dropped as he raised an eyebrow. “What details?”

Toph pointed her thumb at him. “That he’s from space.”

Aang blinked. “What?”

Shiro placed a hand on Toph’s shoulder. “I think it might be better to explain it in private.”

“Agreed,” Zuko said. “Suki and Sokka are waiting for us in the dining room. We can explain it there.”

Aang looked baffled as he tossed one more glance at Shiro before following Zuko, and Shiro did the same as he tightly held onto his helmet.

#atla #vld #takashi shirogane #a paladin in the fire nation #writing

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sebsketchs · 3 years

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trying to get more practice drawing this lil hot potato

#zuko #atla #avatar the last airbender #my art #from top to bottom #southern water tribe #customer service #firelord getting ready for bed #and smitten kitten laughing too hard at sokka's jokes

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zuko-always-lies · 2 years

Text

There are a lot of Azula redemption arcs, but not a lot arcs about Mai and Ty Lee actually learning to reject imperialism or becoming better people. With that in mind, I would like to propose a Mai-centered “role-reversal” of this idea.

Essentially, Azula gets sent on a mission, like canon, and like canon recruits her friends for it in a not very nice fashion. Yet soon something Big comes out(essentially Azula did something which wasn’t treasonous in intent but which the Firelord interpreted as treasonous) which leads the Firelord to, while Azula is out of the Fire Nation, officially banish Azula and strip her of her titles. More comes out soon and Azula is officially declared a traitor and a fugitive. Azula expects her friends to abandon her but they do not, and they are branded traitors and fugitives as well for it.

The big thing is that Azula is a banished and hunted fugitive with no possible way back home, not even what Zuko had when he was banished, who has had her entire world collapse around her in the space of a few days, and she essentially gives up. She has all of her canon abilities but none of her drive; she’s very deeply depressed and struggles to get out of bed each morning. One of the very few things which can motivate her is keeping her friends safe, but she’s in no condition to lead 90% of the time. Eventually she gets in a better place but it takes a long time.

With Azula out of commission, responsibility for leading the Dangerous Ladies, negotiating the difficult human terrain caused by being wanted as fugitives by both sides, keeping the group safe, and finding some sort of long-term solution to the problems they face falls most heavily on Mai. She’s not ready for this sort of responsibility, but she has to take it, and of the three Dangerous Ladies, she’s the one who ends up most regularly and heavily facing the consequences of imperialism. Essentially, she ends up strongly ideologically rejecting imperialism, and to a degree she drags Azula and Ty Lee with her(although they get their own moral developments).

#Mai #Azula #Ty Lee #dangerous ladies #AU idea #ATLA AU #one of the original ideas I had for the cause of Azula's exile was super not Zuko friendly #But I don't think this AU needs to go there

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raewritez · 3 years

Text

take care of you

summary: Your worry about the future and are used to taking care of your friends. Luckily, Zuko is there to take care of you.

a/n: i don’t realllyyy ship Zutara but one of the aspects i love about their relationship is that Zuko is virtually the only person that Katara doesn’t have to act as a mother to, so I was largely inspired by that dynamic.

requested?: nope!

—————

Your fingers ran shakily through your hair, air escaping your lips in uneven breaths. You shut the heavy door behind you, coming to sit upon the air temple’s sturdy bed that rested in the center of your given bedroom. You had been fine until a few minutes ago, you had been enjoying the crispness of the air and warmth of the sun until the words of quiet voices had floated to your ears. Whispers of Aang and his destiny, of death and murder and war. The other people, they expected Aang to be able to kill the Firelord just like that, to abandon his childhood and sense of self in a split moment of violence. You knew he couldn’t do that, you loved him like a brother and if there was one thing you knew for sure it was that Aang’s heart of gold was impenetrable. You had glanced down to wear he stood with Zuko, arms raised in an aggressive stance, the fire that spouted from his palms betraying his lighthearted nature. The image had left you breathless, your protective side alighted against the cruel expectations of this twelve-year-old boy, of your dear friend.

You were upset, and you knew there was nothing you could do about it. Killing the Firelord was Aang’s destiny, and it couldn’t be altered by simple adoration or protectiveness. It shouldn’t be Aang, the weight of the world shouldn’t fall on the back of this war-born child, but it was. Your head rested in your hands, mind swimming with attempts to ward off images of death and fire and the ideas of fate and destiny. You felt silly being so affected by the muttered words of children while your friends were out there training and fighting their own battles. You were disrupted from your emotional state by the creaking of a door and the appearance of a shaggy head of black hair.

You lifted your head, plastering on a smile. “Hey, Zuko. What’s up?”

He stepped in quietly, closing the door behind him. “Hey, Y/n, I just...” his eyes darted between the walls, his hand raising to rake through his hair. “Well, I saw you leaving, and you seemed upset. So I thought I would just...come check on you.”

A genuine grin made its way to your face, worries muted and heart softened at the boy’s thoughtfulness. “Thanks, Zuko. That’s nice of you. You don’t need to worry about me, though, I just...got a little upset is all.”

His amber eyes flashed with concern, and you questioned why he cared so much for how you were feeling. You certainly cared about him, caring about people was basically your job after all, acting as the protector of the group and the only one that Katara would allow to take care of her. You cared for him, truthfully maybe more than you should, but you weren’t aware of the extent of his care for you.

His feet brought him closer, seating himself before you at the edge of the bed. “Why are you upset?” he questioned, sincerity pouring from his voice. “Did someone do something? Or did something happen? If it did, I can-”

“Nothing happened, Zuko,” you cut him off, lifting your fingers to shyly play with the strands of your hair. “Nothing happened, really, it’s just...” he gazed at you with imploring eyes. You sighed. “It’s just that I’m upset about everything going on, all the stuff with Aang and what he has to do, and it’s stupid. I shouldn’t be upset, I mean, I’m obviously used to everything by now, but...I’m just worried about him.”

He searched his mind, he was never good at comforting people. You were always good at that, always listening to him and reassuring him in ways no-one had ever managed to. He wanted to repay the favor, to make you happy like you made him, but he didn’t possess the talent of assurance and comfort. Instead, with a certain boldness to his movement, he grasped your hand from its place in your hair with his own.

“He’ll be okay, Y/n. He's a talented kid,” his thumb stoked your knuckles. “The comet is weeks away and he’ll be ready. He’ll be ready.”

Your eyes were glued to the spot his hand met yours, unable to focus on anything but the heat emanating from his palm. You nodded softly with appreciation, lifting your fingers to reciprocate his caring touch. Your lips parted and you found it difficult to breathe, your stomach and lungs occupied by swarms of butterflies. Your eyes met his, and you found yourself captivated by the intensity in his stare.

You stayed locked in that position, his eyes glued to yours and your hands interlocked. He lifted your arm, playing with your fingers and pressing a kiss to the inside of your wrist. “You worry too much.”

You ignored the blush rising to your cheeks. “I think I worry just the right amount. Someone has to.”

He shook his head. “You shouldn’t have to. Someone needs to take care of you every once in a while.”

“Oh yeah?” you questioned breathlessly. “Like who?”

His eyes met yours and you could’ve sworn you saw him lean forward before the silence was broken by knocking against your door.

“Y/n! Sokka screwed up dinner and we need your help before Katara kills us.”

You recognized Toph’s voice and pulled out of Zuko’s grasp.

“Sounds serious,” you chuckled. “I’ll be right there.”

“Mkay!”

You sighed softly, averting your gaze from Zuko’s as awkward silence filled the atmosphere. “I should probably go help them.”

He nodded, masking his slight disappointment as he rose to allow you an exit. Your shoulder brushed his as you passed, and the two of you ignored the electricity as you emerged from the confines of the small room.

///

“Appa, yip yip!”

The smell of charred wood filled the air, fire flinging past your face as the soldiers advanced. Aang was lifting off, fleeing the onslaught of flames as you crumbled the earth surrounding the men to allow them an escape.

He glanced back, alarm filling his face at the sight of you. “Y/n, come on!” he yelled, looking at you with worry.

You grunted as you threw rock after rock at your persecutors. “It’s ok, Aang, just go! I’ll be fine!”

“What?! No! Y/n, just-” he cut himself off as a figure dressed in red jumped from Appa, landing on the edge of the cliffside.

“Get out of here, Aang,” Zuko spoke. “I’ll take care of her.”

Aang glanced back in worry before yanking Appa’s reigns and flying off the other way.

Zuko turned, running towards you as you fended off the soldiers with concaving ground and heavy boulders. He intercepted the fire of the remaining men, channeling it and striking towards them. As they stumbled back from the impact Zuko grabbed your arm and sped into the refuge of the forest, shielding your body from possible incoming attacks.

He pulled you along through the winding trees, twigs snapping under your feet as you did your best to catch your breath. When he slowed down you lifted your eyes to find the entrance of a small cave nestled between the rocks.

“Guess this is home for the night.” Zuko tilted his head to glance at you, taking note of your furrowed brows and flushed face. “You ok?”

You quickly nodded your head. “Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks for coming back.”

“I wouldn’t leave you behind,” he smiled.

You looked at him gratefully before raising your arms to maneuver the stone around the entrance of the cave. Once the hole was deemed large enough the two of you crawled inside, Zuko’s hands protectively supporting your waist as go ensure you wouldn’t fall.

The inside was dreary, uneven walls forming to shelter the small patch of ground while the light of the sun was blocked out as you ventured further. Your feet ached, legs bruised and hair messed from the abrupt attacks. Zuko kept sneaking glances, worried by the tiredness of your movement and the absence of your usual optimism and cheerfulness. You made your way over to the edge of the cave, sitting down and resting your back against the sturdy wall. Zuko crept over beside you, lowering himself close to your body and staring warily at the cave’s entrance.

You picked at your nails. “Do you think they’ll be ok?”

He snapped towards you in disbelief. You were seriously worried about that right now? “They’ll be fine, Y/n. They’re long gone by now and Aang will be back for us in the morning.”

You agreed hesitantly before leaning your head against the wall. You peered through the hole of the cave, catching sight of the sky beginning to fade to reds and purples. “Maybe we should get some sleep. If the soldiers come back we’ll need our energy.”

Zuko nodded, moving to lie down while putting a respectable amount of space between the two of you. You drifted off to the sound of Zuko’s even breathing and the warmth that was carried from his body to yours.

///

You jolted awake to wind swirling inside the cave, the coldness piercing your skin like a knife. Your lips were tinted blue, the tips of your fingers aching and nose freezing to the touch. You pushed yourself off the hard ground, lifting your knees to your chest and curling in on yourself. Zuko was beside you, sleeping peacefully, seemingly unbothered by the chilliness of the night.

You stood up, walking around in attempt to warm yourself up and find a more sheltered part of the tiny cave. Zuko woke up to your shuffling, bleary eyes latching onto your shivering figure.

“Y/n?” he questioned in a raspy voice. “What's going on?”

“Oh, sorry Zuko,” you said sheepishly. “It’s just a little chilly.”

He assumed a pensive demeanor, eyes shifting mindfully before speaking.

“Come here.”

“What?”

“You’re cold and I can warm you up. Come here.”

You made your way awkwardly over to him, trying to ignore the blush that rose to your face at his implication.

You sat down next to him, sitting in silence before his arm hesitantly wrapped around your shoulders, bringing you closer. You sighed, he did feel warm. You subconsciously nuzzled closer to the sanctuary of your friend’s embrace until minutes later you were practically on top of him. You rested comfortably against his torso, his lean arms cradling you to his chest.

He breathed into your hair, careful not to accidentally light it on fire with his nervousness. He closed his eyes, relishing in your presence.

“Thanks, Zuko,” you whispered.

He smiled. “No problem.”

You raised your head to look at him, unsaid words lingering on your tongue. He stared at you questioningly as you searched for your voice, becoming distracted by the way your eyelashes danced across your cheeks and your lip was pulled between your teeth.

“What is it?”

You swallowed. “It’s nothing...never mind.”

He raised an eyebrow, slowly linking his fingers with yours. “You can tell me, if you want to.”

“I know I can, but it’s silly. I’m just thinking too much.”

He lifted your hand, fingers tracing over the scars and lines, thumb stroking fondly against your skin. “If it’s about the group, they’re fine. They know what they're doing, and they can take care of themselves.”

You chuckled. “Most of them. I don’t know about Sokka though. He needed help rolling up his sleeping bag this morning.”

Zuko laughed lightly, reaching to brush away the hair that had fallen into your face. “Yeah, maybe not Sokka. But Katara’ll keep him in line. You can take a break from taking care of them...” he trailed off, amber eyes moving to yours. “Just let me take care of you for now.”

You felt your heartbeat quicken at his gaze, skin set alight by the way his fingers traced over it. He held nothing but sincerity and tenderness in his voice, and his eyes conveyed a deep fondness. You couldn’t help it when your eyes trailed to the curve of his nose, the splashes of freckles, and down to his lips. He raised your hand, pressing a kiss to the inside of your wrist. In a burst of courage you moved your palm to cup his cheek, fingertips ghosting against the rugged edge of his scar.

His own eyes felt heavy, pulled down by some magnetic force that drew him closer to you. At your caring touch, he moved his hand to the back of your neck and tilted your chin towards his. His lips met yours, eyelids slipping closed as you moved your own against his. He pulled you impossibly closer, handling you with such gentleness and affection that you wondered if you would implode. You ran your fingers through his hair, the soft stands filtering through them like water. He grasped your hips, lifting his mouth to meet yours in a seemingly never-ending heavenly embrace. You broke apart with a smile, the long-overdue kiss lightening your heart and sending butterflies through your stomach.

He grinned against you, stroking his thumb against your cheek before pulling your head to nestle in the crook of his neck. He breathed into your hair, pressing his lips against the crown of your head. He nuzzled into you, his hair tickling your face as you felt yourself surrounded by him. You felt reassured, your friends would be fine and you felt relieved by the fact that you didn’t really need to worry about Zuko. He would take care of you, after all.

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witchywrter · 3 years

Text

Fire and Ice Ch.2

Firelord Zuko x Reader

Part 1

Summary: Y/N, Yue’s cousin and current princess of the Northern Water Tribe, has her whole life turned upside down when a letter from the Fire Nation arrives.

Warning:mentions of death, sexism, forced marriage

Requested:absolutely not lmao

A/N: enjoy!

_______________________________________________

My eyes opened slowly. Looking around, it seemed that only a few hours had passed. The moon, now back to normal, was clear across the sky, but the sun hadn’t yet risen. I felt so confused. What had happened? Was it a dream? It felt so real and I thought I saw…no it had to of been a dream.

As confusing as my dream had been, it seemed easier to think about than my present circumstances. At dawn I’d be leaving my life behind to be married. When I imagined as a kid how my wedding would be, I thought it’d be with a man I loved beyond reason. I thought my brother and I would be closer, my mother would help me get ready, my father would walk me down the isle, and I thought that Yue would be my maid of honor. A lot has changed since then I guess.

I used to fantasize about what my betrothal necklace would look like, what my fiancé would look like. Seeing as my fiancé, whom I’ve never met, was Fire Nation, I wouldn’t count on the whole necklace thing either.

A single tear rolled down my face. I quickly wiped it away, taking a deep breathe and rising from the ground. I guess I should probably go pack now, seeing as its almost dawn. I walked across the bridge and opened the circular door, taking a glance at the pond before closing the door and heading to the palace.

I took the long way to get there, taking in everything for the last time. I’ll probably never come back here again. I passed by the icy cold canals and remembered how angry my mom got with me when I tipped the gondola over by accident. We were freezing when we got out, but I felt as if I could still hear our laughter as we sat in front of the fire place, wrapped in blankets with pink noses. I smiled at the memory.

My mom died when I was twelve. Five years ago she fell ill and no matter how many times the healers tried, they couldn’t save her. I thought about her often. What would she think now that fathers chief, about the changes he’s forced upon our people. I was sure she’d have done something to stop it.

I eventually reached the front doors and made my way to my room as quickly as possible. I quietly shut the door and turned around to see Koa, my lady in waiting, sitting at my table waiting for me with a skeptical look on her face.

“Where have you been?’ She asked in a stern tone.

“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna run away, mom” I said, rolling my eyes.

I gave her attitude, but I was gonna really miss her. She was Yue’s maid most of her life and I could remember the three of us getting into trouble as kids. When Yue died, she became my maid. She helped me get through the hard times. She didn’t talk about it much, but I knew she missed Yue too.

“You have to be ready in an hour and we haven’t even begun packing your things. You’re so lucky I went and packed my stuff first”

“You’re coming with me?” I asked, eyes wide.

“Oh please, you wouldn’t survive a day without me.” She said, a small smile playing on her lips.

I ran forward embracing her tightly, a few tears leaking out. I guess I wouldn’t be losing everything now.

“I really wouldn’t”

As we started packing I discovered that there wasn’t much to bring other than a few things. The Fire Nations weather was much different from the North Pole so most of my clothing would be obsolete. Instead, I packed my hair beads, a box that held my mother’s betrothal necklace, a few summer time outfits that would work for the first week or two, and any nicknacks I had around my room.

Surprisingly enough, it only took the one hour to get it all situated into the boxes. There was still a lot of things in my room, but it was mostly just things I didn’t care to bring with me. Besides, it wasn’t like I was gonna be able to decorate my new room at the Fire nation. I’d be sharing it with someone.

That thought hadn’t really occurred to me. I’d never be alone anymore. I’d always have to be on. I couldn’t escape to my room when things were too much. I’d be expected to be the silent and present wife at all times. My thoughts and feelings wouldn’t mean anything. Not like they did now anyway, but at least here I was able to lock my troubles outside and hang out with Koa in my room. That’d be gone as soon as I’m married.

I took a sip of my water to swallow the lump in my throat.

Then there’s the whole wedding night part…

I tried my best to keep my mind clear of that particular issue because honestly what could I do? He’s the Firelord and he’ll be my husband and there are certain things expected of a wife on the wedding night. I knew I wasn’t ready for that and I didn’t even know the man. He’s probably heartless and cruel, just like his father. I mean who would agree to an arranged marriage? He did apparently. It just got me so angry and I knew my anger was more at my father but quite honestly I didn’t care at the moment.

I went to take another drink out of my glass to find it completely frozen over. I furrowed my brows in confusion and opened my mouth to say something about it to Koa before I was interrupted by a knock at my door.

Koa looked over at me.

“You ready for this?” she asked gently.

I looked away from Koa’s gaze and swallowed thickly.

Never in a thousand years would i be ready for this, would I ever be okay with this. I was being used as a pawn in some political game that I had no say in. I felt like a failure to my mother and a failure to my people.

“Who is it?” I asked rather than answer Koa’s question.

“The Fire nation ships have arrived your majesty” came a maids voice, muffled by the door separating us.

“Very well,” I said quietly, “I’ll be right out”

I grabbed the small bag I packed with Pai Sho tiles and a coin purse from my bed, took and deep breathe, and began walking towards my inescapable future.

_______________________________________________

A/N: hey guys! sorry i haven’t updated in a while, school i super hectic and so is life but this is something that i wanted to continue and i’m excited to see grow. wish you guys love, mental stability and happiness always❤️

#avatar: the last airbender #avatar: tla #firelord zuko x reader #firelord zuko #avatar #prince zuko #zuko x reader #zuko x y/n #prince zuko x reader #why am i simping over an anime character #i have problems #i will not be fixing any of them #we shall all suffer together

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unfriedough · 3 years

Text

‘Delusional’- Zuko x fem!reader (waterbender reader)

Part 1 II Masterlist <3

An: GOOD DAY FRIENDS. Today I present to you: Lightning part 2! This one ends in fluff so be excited yall. Oof this one's a long one-. Anyways, if you want to read this, I recommend reading the first part beforehand. Love you all so much, enjoy!

(p.s: a part of part 1 was edited bc it made no sense, so maybe go check that out lol)

Summary:

It’s been 2 months since they ended the war, and since Yn passed, yet Zuko still hasn’t been able to move on.

Warnings: Crying, nightmares, passing out.

“Yn?” Zuko called out.

He was in a void, nothingness. Nothingness, except for Yn, who stood before him. She clutched her stomach as she shivered.

“You did this to me.” she cried.

“Yn.”

“YOU'RE THE REASON I’M DEAD, IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU!” she yelled as she stumbled towards Zuko.

He was paralysed in fear, unable to do anything as she came right up to him.

“It should have been you,” she whispered, tears streaming down her face, before pushing him into the void.

He screamed as he fell, a black spike cutting through his body. Blood dripped from his stomach and when he looked forward, he saw Azula, and Yn - both eyeing him manically. Azula laughed before shooting lightning at Zuko.

“AHHHHH-”

“AHHH-” He screamed, frantically looking around.

He was in his room, not in the void, not being murdered. He was safe. He sighed before rubbing his head, attempting to calm himself.

“Just another nightmare, Just another nightmare. It’s not real. It's not real.” Zuko mumbled slowly.

That was the third time he had that nightmare, and that’s just that week. In fact, Zuko estimates he experienced it more than 20 times so far - and it’s only been 2 months.

2 months. 2 months since he lost her.

Sighing, he pulled himself out of bed, and onto his desk. He pulled out a sheet of paper and began writing.

“Dear Yn,

I had another nightmare. My days are becoming more unbearable by the second, I can’t hang on for much longer. I miss you. So, so much. I miss your laughter, and your face, and your kisses, your hugs, even your witty comments. I miss the feeling of you holding my arm, and sometimes catch myself doing it, to fill the void. I have never felt more empty. I can only hope that somehow, I’ll be able to see you again. I hope the spirit world finds you well.

Lots of love,

Your loyal boyfriend,

Zuko”

He carefully set the pen down, and placed the paper in his drawer, a pile of letters for Yn sitting inside. It was how he coped, but lately the amount of letters has been growing quite rapidly. He tucked the papers into the drawer, before getting ready for the day.

That day was supposed to be fun, his friends were visiting! But Zuko felt really out of it, especially because of the troubles he endured that morning.

After spending a whole day with the gAang, he retired to his room, where he stood on the balcony. Zuko chose not to sleep, in fear of his dreams, and so here he was. All alone.

The firelord flinched as he heard ruffling from inside his room. He quickly turned around and ran into the room, only to be met with his letters all over the ground. He almost sprinted out of the room to catch the intruder, but something caught his eye. A letter. But not in his handwriting, and not directed at Yn - but at him. He furrowed his brows and walked over to the letter, gently moving the pen off of the paper.

“Dear Zuko,

I miss you more than you could ever imagine. Life in the spirit world has been great, and I managed to speak with some knowledgeable spirits. Somehow, my body isn’t fully transferred in, and so, we found a way for me to be brought back. Y-”

“NO THAT CAN’T BE IT! NO NO NO!” It appears Zuko walked into the room before the writer could finish their message.

But the young firelord knew one thing, that handwriting was Yn’s - somehow.

The next night, Zuko stood out on the balcony again, this time full of excitement. He had set up a pen and a paper for Yn to write on, and now had to wait patiently. After two hours, he heard soft humming and rustling, she finally came! He bounced back and forth on the balls of his feet, and listened to the melody that was her voice.

He felt a tap on his shoulder, and he whipped his head around. Only to see his door open, and the letter complete. He ran over to it, sliding onto his knees and picked it up, continuing where he left off.

“You need to be in a place which holds the wonders of spirits, dangerous yet tranquil, sweet yet poisonous. And to a sky lit pond where the animals drink for prosperity, only then will you be given further instructions.

Lots of love,

Your faithful spirit-girlfriend,

Yn”

Zuko gasped, he needed to tell his friends!

The next morning came relatively slowly, because Zuko couldn’t sleep. They were all seated at the dining table, and the gAang had surely noticed a change in his attitude. He carefully slid the letter on the table, Katara raising a brow as she pulled it closer.

“Zuko what?” She read, “Wait this is Yn’s handwriting.”

Sokka snatched the paper from Katara, and examined it himself.

“Where did you get this?”

“Actually I think her spirit wrote it, in my room.”

Everyone stared at Zuko, wide eyed.

“I’m sorry, WHAT?”

“Surprisingly, he isn’t lying.” Toph assured.

“Well, give us a few more details,”

“Um, well, basically. I was on my balcony and I heard someone in my room. When I went to look, there was an incomplete letter with her handwriting addressed to me. The next night I did the same, and I heard her humming a tune as she finished the letter, then she tapped me on my shoulder to signal she was done, and now we’re here.”

“I don’t know Zuko, this all seems very weird, maybe someone broke into your room?” Aang said.

“I’m not crazy! I know what I heard!” the firelord snapped.

The gAang all looked at him worried, and he realised what he looked like - an insane widower clinging onto any hope of his girlfriend. He sighed.

“Well, we don’t even know what this means, ‘a place which holds the wonders of spirits, dangerous yet tranquil, sweet yet poisonous’?”

Zuko stormed out of the room, angry at his friends' behaviour. DIdn’t they miss her? Or care for her? Or even like her? He heard Aang calling to him, but all Zuko could see was red. He would have to do this on his own, somehow.

Nightfall came, and the young firebender couldn’t decode the riddle.

“C’mon Yn, couldn’t you have made this a little easier!” He huffed as he threw his head back and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Knock knock!

Zuko stood up and slowly walked towards the door, to find Katara on the other side.

He raised a brow as Katara slid into his room, closing the door behind her.

“I solved it.”

It took a second for Zuko to understand but when he did, his jaw fell slightly. She sat on his desk, pulling out multiple papers.

“Look,” she said, signaling for the firelord to come near.

Once he was at his desk he scanned the sheets and sure enough, she came to a conclusion.

“Wisteria Valley, at the fluorescent pond,” Zuko muttered.

The waterbender smiled.

“Get ready and meet me on Appa, in 10.”

He nodded, and she slipped out of the room. He frantically ran to his closet, pulling out a fully black outfit, and packing a simple bag.

He sprinted out of his room as quietly as he could and made his way to the Bison - quickly climbing up with the subtle assistance of the disguised water bender.

“Yip Yip, Appa!” Katara whispered as she took the reins.

“There, let’s land here.”

Zuko nodded as they landed. Once they grabbed all their stuff, they opted to leave Appa outside. Katara had a few connections and was able to safely keep Appa with a friend of a friend.

“Ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

The duo walked through the valley, admiring the surrounding nature. Friendly chatter filled the air every once in a while.

“So, Katara, why exactly did you choose to help,”

She forced a light smile before replying:

“Well, I can’t help but feel partially involved in her death. Maybe if I was a little stronger.” She bit down hard on her lip.

“I’m sure she doesn’t blame you Katara,” he smiled at her.

She offered a smile back before looking ahead.

Rustling could be heard near them, both of the young adults on high alert. A small fairy like being emerged from the trees. It neared them slowly, the two of them suddenly mesmerized by the creature.

“What do you think it is,”

“I-I’m not sure.”

As it played on Katara’s shoulder for a bit, Zuko looked around.

“Illusionist wasps,” he muttered, after seeing the hive, “WATCH OUT!”

He pushed Katara away, and the wasp began to chase them, however now it was in a pack, and in its natural form.

“Of course!” Katara face palmed.

They continued to escape it, but not too long after, they got cornered. They both instinctively tried to bend, but it wouldn’t work - this was really the end. They held onto the tree behind them, and braced for impact.

Zuko kept his eyes shut tightly, and little by little, he heard the wasps evade. When he opened his eyes, he was met with a confused Katara.

“They just left? H-how is that possible?”

“Maybe because,” he racked his brain for a possible reason.

“Maybe because a spirit invited us!” Katara yelled.

Zuko hummed in agreement.

“Is that the pond?”

The waterbender’s face lit up as she grabbed his arm and pulled him to the small body of water. They both stared at it in awe as it began to light up.

A spirit emerged. Just as it opened it’s mouth to speak, a catdeer disturbed the waters. And just as fast as it came, it disappeared.

“NO NO NO,” Zuko yelled in frustration.

Katara simply fell to her knees, staring at her reflection.

“We failed,” she said slowly.

Zuko began to sob, his knees gave up, sinking him to the grass below. He was shaking and crying, unable to fathom the fact that they were so close.

“Uhh Zuko, what’s happening?”

The firebender’s eyes shot up as he looked around. All sorts of spirit animals gathered around. A young saber tooth moose lion spirit carefully went into the water, splashing around. Just then, it was picked up by the water. Zuko looked at Katara, but she shrugged.

“That wasn’t me,”

Their attention was brought back to the pond, as a figure began to form. Figure made purely from water. The being picked up the small moose lion and set it on the land, before walking up to the pair. It moved from between them and signaled for them to follow. They exchanged looks but ultimately followed. She led them to a more secluded part of the forest.

She looked at Zuko and motioned lighting with her hand.

“I think she wants you to shoot lightning at her.”

“But why though.”

“Is that really the only question you have. If I were you, I would just do whatever walking water here wants.”

The spirit seemed to find that nickname funny, as bubbles emerged from her laughing mouth. Of course they couldn't hear her, but it was quite obvious.

“Uh okay.”

She signaled for Zuko to wait as she sat down on the ground. She motioned an ‘action’ slice with her hand, and Zuko shot. He didn’t expect for lightning to emerge (his bending hadn’t worked earlier) but it did, and the lightning was purple. The spirit began to glow, and glow, and glow, until she was so bright that the duo couldn’t see. They passed out.

They awoke hours later, the sun directly above. Zuko looked around, locating Katara and Yn.

Wait, Yn? Wait Yn! He nudged Katara, effectively waking her up, before running over to Yn.

“Zuko?” She whispered.

He nodded and pulled her into a tight hug. She pulled away slightly, and wiped a tear that fell from his eyes, before moving to Katara.

“Yn...”

Yn ran into Katara, holding her tight.

“It’s not your fault,” she said.

Katara smiled and nodded.

“And it isn’t yours either,” she turned to Zuko again, giving him a bright smile. Somehow, she knew they both blamed themselves for her demise.

“Okay let’s go home, this forest is creepy,” Yn said, finally breaking that ethereal spirit voice.

Katara and Zuko burst out laughing. She was finally back.

“Ya know, Zuko,” Yn started.

“Mhm,” He smiled.

“The letter you wrote was so cute, I didn’t know you were so poetic.” She teased.

Zuko immediately blushed and she pulled him in for a short and sweet kiss.

“I love you,” He said.

“I love you too,”

Katara smiled after hearing this conversation, the guilt she felt could finally be released.

An: I FINALLY FINISHED IT. Sorry this took forever, I have a short attention span ig. This story is all over the place LMAO. Anyways, AS ALWAYS, hope you enjoyed this story, SEE YA!

Taglist: <3

@shadyruinskryptonite

127 notes · View notes

today-only-happens-once · 3 years

Text

out of focus

title: out of focus

word count: 3955

summary:

The actions of a Fire Nation admiral during a meeting causes some problems for Sokka. The words of that admiral causes some problems for Zuko. They try to take care of each other.

“What did the admiral mean,” Sokka blurts out without really thinking about it, “when he talked about insubordination?”

Zuko freezes, the rag half-out of the bowl and his other hand still bracing Sokka’s (not quite holding it… far too gentle to be holding it). “What—uh. I, uh.” Zuko stops. Takes a breath. Tries again. He still doesn’t look up at Sokka. “When I was younger, I spoke out at a meeting.”

Warnings: burns (description of), violence, threats of violence, discussion of canonical child abuse, characters curse but no curse words are written, character is non-permanently injured, yelling/arguing, trauma

A/N: me? writing a zukka AtLA fic and posting it an hour short of midnight? Apparently, it’s more likely that you’d think.

Read on AO3

Zuko has the patience of a saint, Sokka thinks to himself.

It’s an unusual thought, he realizes. A year ago, if you’d told Sokka that he’d come to think of the Banished Prince as ‘patient’, he’d probably have thrown his boomerang at you. A year ago, Zuko was one of the most short-tempered people he knew. A year ago, Zuko was the face of the enemy.

A lot changes in a year.

Sokka barely stifles a frustrated sigh. The attempt does not seem to go unnoticed by Zuko, who glances at him quickly before the corner of his mouth twitches with something like amusement. The meeting had been going on for hours, and Sokka can’t help but feel that very little progress on the treaty had been made. It wasn’t for lack of trying, Sokka knows, but war leaves messy problems in its wake. He knows that both the literal and metaphorical shrapnel left behind by a century of conflict can’t be swept away in a night or a week or a month.

It doesn’t make these meetings any easier to sit through.

“I want immediate release of all prisoners of war,” an Earth Kingdom ambassador demands.

“I second that,” Sokka hears his father--sitting across the table from him--add, a bit more calmly but no less firm. “I have men in those prisons that haven’t seen their family in a decade.”

“Of course,” Zuko replies at the same time a Fire Nation soldier snaps, “absolutely not.”

Zuko levels a hard look at him. “Admiral, people who were arrested as prisoners of war have no need to remain so after the war has ended.” He looks to Hakoda, then to the Earth Kingdom ambassador. “I’ll draft that mandate tonight and will ensure it’s circulation as soon as possible.”

“This is an outrage!” The slam of a fist against the table makes Sokka’s hand fly to the boomerang strapped to his hip instinctively. The admiral is on his feet.

“Admiral,” Zuko says, his voice steely as he rises from his own chair. The Fire Nation soldier cuts him off.

“Where is the justice for the Fire Nation families whose sons and daughters were slaughtered by those criminals?”

“Admiral--”

“I remember a time when you cared about Fire Nation soldiers! And it’s hard to believe you’ve forgotten, seeing as you ought to be reminded every time you look in the mirror--”

“Enough!” Zuko snaps. “You will watch your tongue or you will be escorted out. You approach insubordination.”

“You are a child,” the admiral sneers. “Though one that ought to know a thing or two about insubordination, given your father’s attempts to brand you with a permanent reminder of its consequences--”

“Warriors!”

“Then again, he always was twice the leader you will never be. Long live the Phoenix King!”

Sokka sees the warning signs—the slight shift of weight, the clench of the man’s fists—and leaps to his feet. “Zuko--!”

“Sokka!”

There’s a blinding light and scorching heat. Sokka feels something slam onto his shoulder and he dives instinctively for cover as the familiar roar of a fireball explodes in front of him. The flames are bright and lick around him, and Sokka throws a hand up to protect his face. He blinks the spots from his vision as he yanks his boomerang out of his belt.

Zuko is standing beside him, his stance ready and his hand outstretched, having evidently dispelled the fireball that had been launched at him. Sokka leaps back up to his feet and hurls the boomerang in his hands towards the Admiral, hitting his hand right as he moves to launch another attack and forcing it to go wide. A burst of flames slam against the wall to the left.

The room is in chaos.

Sokka barely hears the shouts of alarm and curses over the roar of dying flames. He sees his father, already on his feet, diving underneath a bolt of red fire. Across the room, the Earth Kingdom ambassador jerks their hand. There’s a rumble in the ground before it rises and anchors around the Admiral’s feet, holding him in place.

Sokka sees the admiral’s gaze meet his own and narrow. The Fire Nation soldier bares his teeth in a snarl, his fist shooting out. Before Sokka can blink, Zuko steps in front of him, dispelling the flames just as the door ricochets open. Two Kyoshi Warriors flood in and in a series of quick strikes, the admiral drops. Awake, but limp.

Sokka thinks idly that he’s grateful that Ty Lee taught them how to block chi.

“Your father should have killed you that day!” the admiral shouts as he’s dragged through the doors. “He showed mercy on your pathetic, worthless—” the door slamming shut cuts him off.

The silence that follows makes Sokka’s ears ring. He can still feel stale adrenaline coursing through him, his heartbeat pounding in his chest. For a moment, nobody moves. Zuko awkwardly clears his throat.

“Apologies for the, uh, disruption. It shouldn’t happen again.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Firelord Zuko,” Hakoda assures him, but there’s something odd in his father’s expression when he looks at Zuko that Sokka doesn’t understand.

Zuko says something in response, but Sokka doesn’t catch it. As the adrenaline bleeds out of him, his muscles relaxing, Sokka realizes that his fists are still clenched. Sokka forces them to relax, and hisses as it sends a jolt of hot pain through his left hand. When he looks down, he realizes that the skin on the top of part of his hand near his knuckles is a blistering, angry red.

Sokka’s hiss doesn’t go unnoticed. Zuko looks at him over his shoulder, his brows drawn together in confusion before his eyes fall to Sokka’s hand. Then, they go wide.

Zuko turns back around suddenly to address the room, his back straighter. “We will adjourn the meeting for the afternoon. We will reconvene tomorrow.”

“Firelord Zuko—” an ambassador from the Northern Water Tribe protests, but Hakoda interrupts him.

“I think we could all use a breather, Kovrik. Coming back tomorrow with a clear head is a good decision.”

“Yes… yes, I suppose that’s fair.”

Sokka is finding it increasingly difficult to follow the conversation. His hand hurts, and it’s taking every last drop of his willpower and pride to grit his teeth and swallow back the whimper that wants to push up his throat. It’s not until Zuko’s face is taking up his entire field of vision that Sokka realizes everyone but the two of them and his father have left the room.

“Let me see,” Zuko says quietly, then curses under his breath when he looks at Sokka’s hand. “Where’s Katara when you need her.”

“Do you have anything that can help?” Hakoda asks from behind Zuko.

“Yes, sir,” Zuko replies, his brows still furrowed in concentration. “Though it’s not quite as immediate as waterbending healers. But it should help with the pain, and prevent infection. Follow me.”

Sokka feels Zuko take his elbow and guide him out the door of the meeting room and down the hall. He’s distantly aware that Zuko is moving quickly—not quite a jog, but only barely shy of it—through a network of corridors. His hand feels like it might still be on fire, and Sokka looks down at it again just to be sure that’s not actually the case. He tells himself that he’s endured injuries more painful than this. The broken leg was worse, he thinks, though it does little to actually help with the burning sensation in his hand.

He’s vaguely aware that Zuko says something quickly to two guards that are flanking a set of doors before he rushes in. Sokka looks up and realizes it’s Zuko’s chambers. He’d only been in here a couple of times before, largely while Zuko was still recovering from Azula’s lightning strike in the weeks following the end of the war.

“Wait here,” Zuko tells him before disappearing through another door on the far side of the room.

“You had good reflexes in there,” Sokka hears his father’s low, soothing voice speak up. He’d had almost forgotten he was there. Hakoda moves the chair that had been beside the bed closer to Sokka in a clear direction to sit down.

“Lots of practice,” Sokka replies as he sits. He hisses a little again as his hand flares and grits out a swear behind clenched teeth.

“Easy,” Hakoda says softly. He places a bracing, comforting hand between Sokka’s shoulder blades. It’s grounding, and he’s grateful.

“Wish Katara was here,” Sokka tells him, echoing Zuko’s comment from earlier.

“I know. Unfortunately, I don’t think she’s coming to Caldera for a while. She’s still in Ba Sing Se with Aang.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Her magic water comes in handy though.” Sokka gives his father a tight smile. “Get it? Hand-y?”

Hakoda snorts just as the door opens again. Zuko has his arms full of a large bowl, his hands fisting a few vials and some bandages. There’s something pinched about Zuko’s expression, and the way he doesn’t meet Sokka’s eyes as he kneels in front of him feels odd. The bowl is full of water, Sokka realizes, as he sets it on the ground and begins to empty the vials into it.

“Can I see your hand?” Zuko asks, and the question—for some reason—catches him off guard.

Sokka blinks. “Yeah. Sure.” He grimaces as he places his hand in Zuko’s, but the excessive gentleness surprises him so much that Sokka almost forgets that his hand hurts.

Zuko was many things, but Sokka can’t remember a time—even after he started to get along with the Fire Prince—that he would have described Zuko as gentle. But his grip on Sokka’s hand is careful. Almost excessively so.

Zuko hums in the back of his throat as he inspects the burns. “I don’t think it’ll have permanent damage,” he says quietly. “But I still need to treat it so it doesn’t get infected. It… might hurt, a little. But then it should feel better.”

“No permanent damage. That’s good,” Sokka says. He swallows, and nods. “Okay.”

For a long moment, the only sounds that fills the room is the quiet splash of water in the bowl as Zuko submerges the cloth rag again and wrings it out. Sokka lets his gaze float around the room.

Zuko has left it mostly bare. There’s a portrait of Iroh and a woman that Sokka remembers being the Fire Lady—Zuko’s mother—hanging on the wall near the headboard of the bed. On the dresser beside it is a drawing that Sokka did of the group of them months ago. He sees a pile of papers on the desk across the room. He thinks one of them has Aang’s signature at the bottom, but it’s too far away for him to know for sure.

Bright, painful heat searing his hand slams his attention back to Zuko in front of him and Sokka yelps, yanking his hand away. Zuko grimaces, retracing his own hand.

“I’m sorry,” he says, sounding more earnest than Sokka expects. “This part is painful, but it’ll stop hurting in a minute.”

Sokka fights to pull his breathing back under his control. In through his nose, out through his mouth. “Right,” he manages, his voice tight. “Right, sorry.”

“Don’t be. I know it hurts.”

Something about that line—and about the fact that Zuko still hasn’t met his eyes since returning from the other room—drags Sokka’s thoughts back to the conversation in the treaty meeting. There were several things that the admiral had said to Zuko that Sokka didn’t quite understand. He could only remember pieces of things said, but they repeat in Sokka’s head like disjointed pieces of a puzzle that he can’t quite make fit together.

seeing as you ought to be reminded every time you look in the mirror… insubordination… your father’s attempts to brand you… consequences…

Sokka’s gaze falls back to Zuko, dutifully bowed in front of him. There had long been pieces about Zuko that Sokka had found puzzling. Things about him that didn’t quite fit together. Sokka considers himself a person pretty good at figuring out how things worked together, and that extended (with less success) to figuring out how parts of people make up the sum of their whole.

Zuko, though… Zuko had always been something of a mystery. But as the words of the admiral ricochet in his mind, there’s a picture beginning to come together that is still just a little too hazy, a little too out of focus, to fill in the spaces that Sokka felt were missing.

“What did the admiral mean,” Sokka blurts out without really thinking about it, “when he talked about insubordination?”

Sokka’s brow furrows as Zuko presses the rag to the back of his hand again. Sokka realizes that his hand has stopped hurting, but he’s too preoccupied with what Zuko said to pay it much mind. “After the stuff at Ba Sing Se? When you went home?”

“No, I, uh.” Zuko clears his throat. “Before that. Before… yeah. Earlier.”

Your father’s attempts to brand you…

“What happened?” Sokka asks. The way Zuko’s shoulders seem to tense doesn’t escape his attention, and there’s a part of him that wonders if perhaps he shouldn’t have asked. But it also feels like a question that once asked, is too late to take back.

Zuko pats Sokka’s hand dry with another towel and begins to gingerly wrap a bandage around it. He keeps his gold gaze steady on the work. Sokka keeps his gaze steady on Zuko.

“My uncle allowed me to attend a war meeting where they were talking about some battle strategies to use against an Earth Kingdom battalion. There was a general that wanted our newest fleet to serve as a distraction while we mounted an attack from the rear,” Zuko begins. There’s something off about his voice, though. Something detached and careful. He keeps wrapping the bandage. Around and around and around.

Sokka frowns. “That’s not fair,” he says. “Your newest recruits? They’d be slaughtered by an experienced battalion like that.”

Zuko sighs, his lips pressing into a thin line. “Exactly,” he says in a low voice. “And that’s what I told them. I wasn’t thinking. I just… yelled at him.” Sokka opens his mouth to disagree—it sounds like Zuko was thinking, unlike anybody else at that meeting—but Zuko cuts him off as he secures the end of the bandage to Sokka’s palm. “My father didn’t… take it well. I was challenged to an Agni Kai, and I thought I would be facing the general in it, so I accepted.”

Zuko gathers the bowl and empty vials as he stands, crossing the room to set them on the edge of his desk. Sokka stands up slowly as Zuko does so. The pieces that had been out of focus for so long are starting to come together, and Sokka feels his stomach rolling with a leaden weight against what he can sense is coming.

“No…”

“It wasn’t the general,” Zuko continues, his voice so quiet that Sokka is sure he would have missed it if it hadn’t been dead silence around them. “It was my father.”

“You faced your father in an Agni Kai?”

“Not exactly. I…” Zuko stares down into the bowl of water beside him, his gaze distant. “I couldn’t fight my own father. Instead, I begged him for forgiveness. I was met with a fistful of flames.”

Zuko gestures vaguely at his face, and Sokka’s blood turns to ice.

“He…” Sokka’s throat closes, cutting off the rest of that sentence. All this time being chased by Zuko—all this time being friends with him—and he’d always assumed that the scar was the result of a training accident, or a fight with a firebender he lost. Sokka thinks bitterly and viciously that the second assumption wasn’t far off but his own father—

“I was banished after that,” Zuko says, and his voice is hollow and empty and wrong. And he finally, finally, meets Sokka’s gaze. “I was told to bring the Avatar back and all would be forgiven, or to not come back at all. That was before you and your sister woke Aang up from the iceberg.”

Sokka stands very, very still. He glances down and realizes his hands are trembling. He curls the non-bandaged one into a fist to get the shaking to stop. “How old were you?” he asks, and he doesn’t know why—of everything he could say—that’s the question that tumbles past his lips, but he feels like it matters.

“Thirteen.”

“Thir—” Sokka cuts himself off, scrubbing a hand across his mouth and swallowing hard. “Thirteen. Tui and La, when I was thirteen—”

Sokka breaks off again, his throat closing, his gaze falling to his father. When Sokka was thirteen, his father had left to go fight in the war and told Sokka he couldn’t come along. He’d protected Sokka, and though Sokka had found his way into fighting in the war regardless a few years later, he knows his father had only been trying to keep him safe. The idea of his own father striking him—let alone with a fist full of flames to his face—was incomprehensible.

Hakoda doesn’t look back at Sokka. His gaze is trained on Zuko, and there’s something in his eyes that Sokka doesn’t quite understand. But he’s seen it before. It was the same look Hakoda wears when he hears other water tribe soldiers recount war stories. The late-night ones. The ones where their voices betray the weight on their shoulders and tremble with the generations of nightmares on their backs.

Sokka takes a sudden, faltering step forward, and Zuko instinctively tenses. Sokka freezes. “Zuko…”

Zuko shakes his head. He coughs a little, as if trying to clear his throat. “Anyway. That’s—that’s what the admiral was talking about.”

“You…” Sokka tries again, his voice carrying just the barest hints of hysteria. “You were his kid.”

“Yeah, well.” Zuko’s gaze meets Sokka’s again. “He spent most of my life wishing I wasn’t.”

“Zuko,” Hakoda speaks up, his voice a low, soothing rumble to Sokka’s trembling nerves. “I… hope you understand that you didn’t deserve that.”

“I know, sir,” he replies, sounding steadier than Sokka feels. Sokka feels a little like the ground has shifted beneath his feet as he stares at his friend across the room. Zuko continues, frustratingly calm. “It… I didn’t at first. It took me a long time to understand that it was wrong of my father to do that. But I know now.”

“Where is he?” Sokka demands, flushing with a sudden and intense fury.

Zuko blinks, looking taken aback by the vehemence charged through Sokka’s voice like a steel rod. “Where’s who?”

“Ozai.”

“Sokka, what are you gonna do? Fight him? He already lost.”

“Against Aang, not against—did Aang even know?”

Zuko’s brow furrows and he rubs the back of his neck. “Um. I guess I don’t know. I never told him. I… never told any of you.”

“Yeah—and what’s that about, huh?” Sokka demands. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Sokka,” Hakoda warns, but Sokka’s words are already bubbling up throat and spilling past his lips, hot and bitter and angry.

“What, did you think we wouldn’t care? That it wouldn’t matter?”

“It doesn’t matter!” Zuko waves a hand towards the window that overlooks the courtyard. “My father already lost to the Avatar, Sokka. The war is over. The fighting is over. Aang took his bending. And that—I don’t know about you, but that’s the best, most justified end to his legacy I can think of.”

Sokka is still shaking. He can’t explain why. He knows, logically, that Zuko is right. He’s right. But Sokka can still feel his hands shaking, can still feel his heart hammering in his ribs with the urge to run something through with sword, can still feel the way his eyes sting with tears he won’t let fall. Sokka clenches his jaw and rips his gaze away from Zuko out towards the window, where he can see the sun setting on the horizon and painting the palace courtyard in an orange light.

“Wherever he is, I hope he rots,” Sokka says finally, and yet it still doesn’t feel like enough. “He deserves worse.”

Sokka looks back at Zuko, whose gaze is a little wide. He looks… taken aback. Sokka cocks an eyebrow.

“Don’t tell me you disagree—"

“No,” Zuko replies, shaking his head. “I just… Nothing.” The corner of his mouth tugs upwards in the barest hint of a smile. Sokka doesn’t understand why, just like he doesn’t understand why it uncoils the tight knot of burning anger in his chest.

Sokka takes a deep breath. Wills himself to relax. It helps… a little. There’s a beat, and then Sokka hears his father take a step forward. “Thank you for helping Sokka’s hand, Firelord Zuko.”

Zuko blinks, and Sokka swears his cheeks take a faint pink tint as he rubs the back of his neck. “Oh. Uh, of course, sir. And… just Zuko is fine.”

Sokka glances over and sees Hakoda smile, inclining his head. “Understood.” He looks to Sokka. “I should draft a letter to Bato tonight to update him on the treaty. Will you be okay without me?”

Sokka rolls his eyes teasingly. “Yeah, dad. I think I can manage.”

Hakoda squeezes his shoulder, nods to Zuko again, and quietly slips out of the room. The silence afterward seems to stretch, and Sokka feels the lingering tension bleeding out of him as he looks at Zuko, who quietly shuffles through the papers on his desk. Sokka watches him for a beat, his gaze lingering a little on the scarred tissue across his face. Sokka swallows.

There are other questions Sokka thinks he could ask. Like why—after doing that—Zuko was still so bent on returning home to his father. But there’s a part of Sokka that thinks he maybe understands.

Spirits know that he understood what it was like to crave the approval of your father.

“Hey,” he says, and Zuko’s gaze snaps over to him. “I… thank you for telling me. I… know that wasn’t easy, and… it means a lot that you trust me with that.”

“It… it wasn’t a question of trust, you know,” Zuko replies quietly, averting his gaze. “Not telling you, I mean. It was just—”

“I know,” Sokka says, and means it. “But I also know what it’s like to have things you don’t necessarily… want to relive. So it means a lot that you told me.”

The corner of Zuko’s mouth twitches again. He takes a deep, slow breath. “Thank you for listening,” he says.

“I like to think I’m a pretty good listener,” Sokka teases, shrugging.

“You are,” Zuko says, with far more sincerity than Sokka felt was warranted for what he’d meant to be a joke. Sokka blinks at him, and Zuko clears his throat, ducking his head a little. “I was thinking of getting some tea. There’s a place just outside the palace. It’s not as good as Uncle’s, but um. Did you want to come?”

“Yeah,” Sokka replies with a small smile. “I could use a cup of tea.”

#avatar the last airbender #zukka #zukka fanfiction #zuko fanfiction #zuko #sokka #not ts #we interrupt your regularly scheduled broadcast to give you this fic for an unrelated fandom woops

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gladerwolfstarkimagines · 3 years

Text

Unlikely friends: Part 3

You and Azula arrive at the fire nation and soon both her parents have something to say about your relationship

Part one here

Part two here

Your POV

The fire nation was certainly more fast-paced and complicated than your small earth kingdom town. The minute you arrived you were whisked away to the throne room to see the Firelord. Apparently any royalty arriving at the palace had to immediately pay their respects to the Firelord and so you and Azula bowed to Zuko who was obviously a little uncomfortable with the whole process As soon as the formalities were over Zuko rushed forwards “Azula I’m glad you’re back, our argument...”. “It’s fine Zuzu, I am no longer angry and I am sorry for my actions”. Zuko paused “you are?”. Azula nodded looking at you before fixing her eyes back on him “yes and I promise I will try controlling my temper so it doesn’t happen again”. Zuko paused “well i...thank you, i’m sorry for my part in it as well”. Azula nodded her head and Zuko just stared “erm...you are both free to go if you wish”. Azula nodded her head “thank you brother” and turned to you eagerly.

You were proud of Azula’s handling of the situation and could tell by Zuko’s reaction he too was shocked. As Azula led you to your room you smiled at her and she caught you “what’s that look for?”. “Nothing...just I like seeing you be functional and having healthy relationships”. Azula raised an eyebrow and you sighed “I like seeing you happy in other words”. “Ow...” Azula blushed and you laughed. “Well you make me happy” she offered awkwardly and you just laughed at how cute your girlfriend was. Azula blushed and pushed some large doors open. Your jaw dropped as you looked around the room, it was beautiful, extravagant and very clearly made for royalty. “Azula...is this your room? It can’t possibly be mine!”. Azula smiled “why do you like it?”. “It’s beautiful....but too beautiful for just a few nights”. “I disagree, you are my guest here and my girlfriend will only have the best” Azula said taking your hand and pressing a kiss to it. “Plus it’s close to my room which will come in handy”. You blushed and Azula smiled dropping your hands. This was one of the things you loved about your relationship, one second Azula was the blushing mess and the next it was you...the power balance was so even it created a constant playful tension between the two of you.

You were thinking of this as you admired everything in the room from the view out the window to the bedding (of course the fire nation had red silk sheets and you were in love) when Azula spoke. “I want to tell everyone” Azula said and you paused confused before you realised what she meant “about us?”. Azula nodded her head and you stood up straight, you knew the fire nation wasn’t too bad with this stuff but for a royal to publically go against a norm? “Are you sure?” you asked “you know I won’t be upset if you chose not to, don’t you?”. Azula nodded her head “I know but I want to, I want my mom and Zuko to know about us, I want everyone to and not just because I want to show off how lucky I am” she smirked “but because i’m ready. I meant what I said about making up for lost time y/n, I won’t spend a minute pretending not to be your girlfriend”. You blushed vividly and nodded “if it’s what you want them of course I love the idea, I want to show off too” you smiled taking Azula’s hand and she held her other to your cheek tenderly “then tonight, we walk into the party together and tell everyone publically”. You nodded your head “sounds like a plan”.

6 hours later

"Nervous?" you asked catching Azula peaking into the room and she jolted "no!". "Azula i won't be offended if you are" you smiled "i know coming out can be scary...trust me". Azula tensed but then took a deep breath "no it doesn't matter what they say, i’m happy with you and i don’t want to hide it especially after you agreed to come here with me". "You don’t owe me for that" you started but Azula cut you off "i know but i am proud you came with me...i’m proud you're dating me and i want to show it, to show how happy you make me....plus Ty lee and Mai already suspect it" Azula frowned "so i guess it’s just Zuko and mother who don’t know". "Well they say no time like the present?" you asked offering Azula your hand. Azula took it immediately "okay let's go"

The fire nation was still a bit iffy with same-sex couples but they were way better than the earth and water nations. You and Azula walked into the room and only received a handful of glances. You knew if you did this at home you'd have received a much worse reaction even with the princess beside you. Most nobels didn’t notice, the ones that did, double glanced and then looked away. You suspected Azula didn’t even notice, she was fixed on Zuko and Ursa who stood across the room. They hadn't noticed and you could tell Azula was contemplating marching up to them. Not wanting such a confrontational approach you looked around "let's go get a drink". Azula let you lead her away and you poured her a glass of a drink you knew she liked. Azula sipped it nervously and you smiled "nobodies set us on fire, that’s good?". Azula chuckled "they wouldn't dare, i have quite a reputation around here". You smiled "really i didn’t notice". Azula smiled at you adoringly when suddenly two people appeared. Ty lee’s expression told you she wanted to say a thousand things and also launch herself at you both but she was managing to restrain herself. "Hey so what’s new?" she asked in a very high pitched tone and Mai frowned. "What Ty lee means is we’re very happy for the two of you". "So happy!" Ty lee cried "Azula i know you always wrestled with this part of yourself and i’m so proud to see you confidently expressing it! You should be so proud and i’m so happy i could cry!". You looked at Azula who was watching Ty lee awkwardly. "Thanks" Azula said smiling slightly "i..really like y/n so it wasn’t that hard". "Okay now i am going to cry, excuse me” Ty lee announced and dashed for an exit while tears leaked down her face. "Ty lee" Mai called before she sighed shaking her head "i’ll go calm her down so she doesn’t make a scene but we are really really happy you're happy Azula, I mean it". You could tell Azula was both touched and shocked that the usually sarcastic stoic girl was being intimate and affectionate with her and you wondered if Mai and Azula ever had a moment like this in their years of friendship. Based on the tears in Azula’s eye and the look on Mai’s face they hadn’t. "Thank you Mai" Azula smiled and Mai returned the smile "no problem...now i should go find the drama queen, excuse me" and she followed Ty lee.

"Wow that was....really sweet" you commented and Azula nodded "it was wasn’t it?". You nodded "it took a lot for Mai to say that". "I never...i figured we'd never be friends again". "Well i guess Mai and Ty lee don’t feel that way" you smiled and Azula nodded "yeah....they're pretty great". You laughed when you caught sight of someone behind Azula. "Azula?" Ursa called and you saw Azula tense. You almost laughed as Azula grabbed your hand and spun to face her family all in one motion. "Yes" she asked defiantly and you looked to Zuko and Ursa. Zuko was staring at your hands bewildered but Ursa was only looking at her daughter's face. "I just wanted to say hello, you look beautiful tonight....you both do, y/n isn’t it?" she asked and you nodded smiling "yes, it’s nice to meet you". "You too" Ursa smiled warmly at you "Zuko’s told me about how much you've been there for each other and i want to thank you, i’m glad Azula has a...." Ursa hesitated "a person like you in her life". "You can call her my girlfriend" Azula said bravely and you smiled. "A girlfriend like you" Ursa corrected herself and you saw Azula smile. Ursa noticed Zuko still staring and nudged him. Zuko coughed looking up at you both "i had no idea you were....either of you!" he cried spinning to you "but i...of course i’m happy for you both and you look happy" he said to Azula "happier than i’ve ever seen you....at least i think it’s happiness, are you happy?". You saw awkwardness ran in the family. "I’m very happy" Azula said glancing at you and you blushed. "Well that’s all that matters" Zuko said and you smiled. Azula seemed lost for words so just nodded. "Anyway we will leave you to your evening but please join if you feel like it" Ursa smiled laying her hand on Azula’s arm "i’m really proud of the woman you’ve become Azula". "Thank you mother" Azula said shocked and Ursa smiled before walking away. Azula turned to you and you laughed "you okay?". Azula laughed in shock "i have no idea what just happened?". “I think we had a pretty good interaction with your family but how did you view it?”. Azula chuckled awkwardly “I.....It went so well! I didn’t think they’d be so accepting, for Zuko to say....and my mother’s never told me she’s proud of me” Azula’s voice broke and she looked down “it’s just a lot”. You smiled and took her hand “want to step outside and take a breather?”. Azula shook her head immediately “and hide you away? No way! This is already the best night I’ve ever had in the fire nation! We are not ending it early”. You grinned at Azula’s happiness and nodded “well if you’d like Ty lee and Mai are over there, we could go mingle?”. Azula nodded, she stood up straighter, set her shoulders back and grabbed your hand “let's go”. As you made your way over you saw Azula was still slightly nervous but that fell away the minute her friends saw her. “Azula!” Ty lee called “join us we were just talking about that teacher we had in 10th grade”. Azula laughed and slipped right into the conversation. You smiled watching her, happy to take a back seat, when Mai appeared by your side “so how are you finding the fire nation?”. You smiled at her clear attempt to make an effort with you and started chatting with the knife expert. A while later you locked eyes with Azula and both smiled seeing how comfortable the other was. Ursa and Zuko had come over and Azula was talking with her brother about a play while Ursa and Mai talked with you about your earth bending school. You were both comfortable and happy, the trip to the fire nation had been a resounding success.

7 months later

You and Azula both travelled to each other's nation often, pretty much weekly, and equally split the trips between the fire and earth nation. Your relationship continued to grow from strength to strength and all of Azula’s relationships improved. She was the closest she’d ever been to Mai and Ty lee, she and Zuko were getting on well and her mother....it was baby steps but Azula and Ursa were working out their issues constructively and becoming a proper mother and daughter. The only person Azula hadn’t made peace with was the person who’d had the greatest influence on her life, her father. But Ozai had decided it was time to see his daughter...

You arrived in the fire nation early and now used to the routine made your way to Azula’s room. You caught Azula on her way to you and jumped as you almost crashed into her. “Azula” you grinned and she smiled “y/n” and hugged you tightly. “I was just coming to greet you! I’m sorry i’m late” Azula cried and you smiled “no problem”. Azula nodded but you could see something was bothering her. “Azula are you okay?” you asked and she sighed “I have something to tell you” she sighed “it’s not good but please just let me explain”. You nodded “okay, i’m listening”. “Not here” Azula replied and led you to her room before firmly shutting the door. You watched her growing more anxious by the second until Azula eventually turned to face you. "My father, he's been asking to see me" Azula told you and you paused overcome with so many questions and feelings. You hated the man for everything he’d done and were sure nothing good could come from this."Why is he asking for you?" you asked and Azula shrugged. "Zuko’s not sure, my father just keeps saying he wants to speak with me and won’t tell Zuko what about". Ever since you’d been together Azula had lost all contact with her father and you weren’t sure if to take her clear interest as a cause for concern or not. "I want to see him" Azula told you and your stomach sank but you’d under-estimated your girlfriend. "i want to see him one last time and i want you to come with me". So much about that made you confused "last time?". Azula nodded "i have no more need of his approval so i do not wish to see him anymore but i do think i should tell him that so i can have closure". "And you want me to come with you?". Azula nodded her head "my father has a way of twisting my mind....if you're there i only have to look at you and i’ll remember why he’s incorrect, so will you come with me?". You threw your arms around Azula hugging her tightly "of course i’ll come with you! I’ll help in any way I can". Azula blushed but smiled and leant into your embrace “thanks y/n, you’re....i....”. You smiled and stroked Azula’s cheek “no words or thanks needed” and kissed her cheek softly “so when’s the meeting?”. “In 4 hours”.

Later

You and Azula followed Zuko through the endless corridors past dozens of guards until finally, Zuko stopped. "His cell is the one at the very end" Zuko said gesturing to a set of doors and Azula nodded "thank you brother we'll manage from here". Zuko nodded at Azula’s dismissal "i’ll wait outside for you" and he left the corridor. You watched him go confused before you realised why Azula wanted him to leave. She slumped against the wall and breathed heavily "y/n i’m not sure if i can face him". You took her hands "Azula you are the strongest bravest smartest person i know, you can do this. We don’t have to stay long or even let him reply, we can go inside say what we rehearsed and then leave, in and out, then it will all be over". Azula nodded "okay" and squeezed your hand tightly before looking at you "let's go". Azula led the way. She pushed the door open entering first and held it open for you. You blinked eyes adjusting to the darkness and spotted Ozai on the floor in chains. "Ah so it's true, my daughter has a female play-thing". You glanced at Azula but she didn't even blink "i’m here because Zuko asked me to come but this is the last time i’ll ever be here" Azula started, directly quoting the speech she'd rehearsed with you hours before. "Ahh running errands for your brother now? She's changed you". "I don’t owe you anything, you mistreated me for years and enough is enough" Azula continued reciting the script. "I suppose at least she is rich and beautiful but really earth scum? You could've at least picked a woman of the fire nation to disgrace yourself with, is she worth it? Now you really won’t be on the throne, they'd never take a lesbian". Azula paused in her speech and you squeezed her hand. "Is she worth it?" Ozai repeated and Azula glared. Azula crumpled her script in her hand and her eyes glowed darkly. "Yes she is! I love y/n more than i’ve ever loved anyone! She is the best thing that ever happened to me, she saved my life and i don’t care if that gets me kicked out of the 4 nations i will always choose her over you, over the crown, over the firenation and don’t you forget it!" Azula cried "you have no power over me any more father and i came here to tell you face to face that you can’t control or hurt me anyone. You are finished" Azula said sharply. With a smile she strode from the room taking you with her. As soon as the door closed Azula fell against you "y/n was that....i’m so sorry what he said about you...". "Azula don't be silly that was amazing!" you cried and Azula blinked. "It was?". "Well i’m sorry, it must’ve been horrible having your father say all those homophobic things but the way you shot him down! You were intelligent, clear not to mention hot! You were confident and just so...you" you grinned and Azula blushed. Her heart was still hammering but she was growing calmer and the things she had said were dawning on her. "Did you...i suppose you heard everything i said?". You smiled knowing what part she meant, the confession Azula made about loving you, it was the first time you’d heard Azula say that and it had struck a chord with you too. "i did...did you mean it?" you asked timidly. Azula nodded "every word, you are the best thing that ever happened to me, you did save me". "I didn’t..." you said cutting her off but Azula shook her head "you saved me" she repeated "i would choose you before anything else because i do love you, i love you more than i’ve ever loved anything my whole life, you mean everything to me y/n". Azula stared at you anxiously as she told you that and you smiled. "You mean everything to me as well but i didn’t save you, you saved yourself and i love you so much for that, i love you too". Azula blushed and kissed you. The tense event and the revelation were too much and so she just kissed you to vent some of it. The kiss lasted a while and when it was over you panted as Azula stared at you. "You have no idea how hearing you say that makes me feel". "I’d say after that kiss i have a pretty good idea" you replied and Azula smirked. "Azula?" A voice called and you jumped to see Zuko had appeared from around the corner with lots of guards. Zuko jumped just as much to see you and Azula pressed up against the wall together and he frowned diverting his eyes. Azula stepped away from you and smirked "you can look up again zu zu". Zuko looked up hesitantly before he saw it was safe and met your eyes again. "What’s going on did you....". "I spoke to father he was hateful but i told him never to ask for me again and that i was done with him. He won’t bother either of us any more". Zuko nodded "i’m pleased to hear that". Silence settled and Azula shivered “let's get out of here, this place is depressing” and Zuko led the way outside.

You smiled as the bright sunlight engulfed you and made Ozai and his words seem further away. You felt Azula take your hand and smiled glancing at her. “Thank you for coming with me” she smiled “I....you gave me the strength to face him, you make me stronger I’ve come to realise”. “Love will do that to you” you grinned in reply and Azula blushed looking down “apparently so”. “You’re adorable when you blush” you commented and Azula bumped against you with her shoulder “stop it” she whined embarrassed and you laughed loudly. Azula smiled at the sound of your laugh and you admired her smile and how genuine it was. How softly and full of love she looked at you and how happy you were together. Azula looked away first blushing but pulled you closer to her and you came willingly. Azula placed her arm around you and you smiled leaning into her. Something told you that your happiness with Azula was just the beginning of your very long lives together.

____

Ngl so kind of didn’t know how to finish it but we’ll end on a sunny walk through the fire nation! Writing about happy Azula makes me so happy, my girl just needs love and happiness 🥰

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comradekatara · 4 years

Text

people keep saying they want this AU so okay here you go here’s the AU

I call it: grandpa aang

imagine that dumbass roku actually did his job and convinced sozin not to commit genocide against the air nomads and colonize the world

sozin’s still a terrible person, but maintains that shittiness to within the borders of the fire nation, wherein he bleeds the lower classes dry, defunds the arts, kills dragons for sport, privatizes healthcare and education, etc. his notions of imperialist conquest remain a long-forgotten pipe dream by the time he dies

azulon carries on his father’s legacy of being a power-obsessed dickhead, but he doesn’t wage war

his second son, ozai, wants the throne, clear as day. he thinks the world deserves to know their nation’s glory

crown prince iroh’s son, lu ten, dies. ozai uses this opportunity to put promote himself in front of his father. it does not go well. then it does. he is crowned firelord shortly after

his son speaks out against the war his father has begun waging on the world. he is challenged to an agni kai and banished.

the avatar is a jolly old airbender named aang. ozai tells zuko “bring him to me in chains, and only then can you come home.” zuko, being the traumatized 13 year old that he is, believes him.

iroh advises him against this plan. he tells zuko he does not have the proper training to go up against the avatar. he tells him that even if he did, what would it accomplish? zuko yells at him for being a fat, lazy old man who doesn’t understand honor. iroh sighs.

zuko shows up at the southern air temple barely a week after he can get out of bed again after the injury. there’s a huge bandage covering his eye and ear, and he’s embarassed about the fact that he stumbles when he walks. he can’t even firebend properly anymore because he finds the slightest provocation of a flame terrifying.

no matter. he needs to capture the avatar. that is what his father said would redeem him, so that is what must be done.

he demands to see the avatar, so that he may fight him. iroh ...questions this tactic, but zuko insists that this is how one should capture the avatar—with honor. the air nomads are just like “who is this strange lost child and how did he break into the southern air temple which was heretofore inaccessible to non-airbenders?”

they take him to see aang, 109 and fit as a fiddle. aang’s like “oh have you come here because you want me to heal whatever happened to your head, considering the size of that bandage?”

and zuko’s like “what???? no???? I’m absolutely FINE. GREAT, EVEN. I’ve come to FIGHT YOU.”

aang’s like “oh no I don’t do that. I’m a pacifist. also you’re like..... a baby?”

meanwhile, iroh is totally geeking out because he’s never actually been to an air temple before and it’s so beautiful and lively and full of joy and spiritualism, so unlike the culture of the fire nation.

zuko is very mad that aang won’t fight him. if aang doesn’t accept his challenge then it’s not a fair match. and he’s like “no you don’t UNDERSTAND I have to kidnap you FAIR AND SQUARE.”

he says fuck it, azula would probably just shoot a fireball at the old man anyway, so he does. it’s a pretty big fireball, all things considered (he is very angry). nonetheless, aang blocks it easily. zuko keeps attacking him, but aang just walks over to him and is like “okay that’s enough of that.”

zuko is distraught because without aang he can’t go home and he’ll be banished forever. aang’s like “wait what?” and gets zuko to explain to him what happened. so aang’s like “okay then, change of plan: you’ve captured me. let’s go to the fire nation.”

zuko is so relieved that he actually gets to go home, he doesn’t understand why aang just surrendered to him, but he doesn’t really care. the fire nation is pretty heavy on the anti-avatar propaganda so zuko gives him the smallest room on his ship and makes half his crew guard him so that he doesn’t escape. aang doesn’t mind. he’s ready to have some Words with the firelord.

on the journey home, he tries to talk some sense into a very angry and traumatized zuko. zuko’s laments that he’s even worse than uncle

zuko shows up with the avatar in chains (aang could break free at literally any moment but none of them need to know that). ozai’s like “what the fuck.” aang’s like “WHAT THE FUCK IS RIGHT.”

“this boy is twelve—“ “thirteen, actually, and practically an adult??” “okay, fine, this LEETLE TEENY BABY BOY is THIRTEEN, and you BURNED HIS FACE OFF???????”

“there is a perfectly logical explanation for that,” says ozai, “and that is because. I hate him.”

aang asks if there were any witnesses to the affair. he soon learns that “of course there were, the entire court was there to spectate the event!” he knew that agni kais were a thing, but only as a vague idea. he didn’t realize people actually maintained the practice, to this day, frequently. he likes to think of himself as a pretty open-minded guy who understands and values cultural differences, but that’s totally barbaric and definitely crosses the line.

he declares that as the avatar, as it is his job to maintain balance, he cannot allow for ozai to keep the throne, as his quest for power would clearly harm the whole world. his new best friend/adopted son iroh takes the throne instead. he doesn’t particularly want it, a changed man ever since his son died, but if it is what must be done.

aang stays in the fire nation for a while, helping to oversee a peaceful transition between firelords. he becomes zuko’s (and azula’s) honorary grandpa, and they feed turtleducks in the garden every day.

#AUs #aang #zuko #iroh #ozai #HE GOT NO DEPTH PERCEPTION AND HES READY 2 FITE GOD!!!!!

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