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hella1975 · 1 year

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taob chapter-by-chapter summary except it's brief and mildly insensitive (obviously spoilers ahead)

chapter 1: hakoda and the water tribe crew are on a boat. zuko is on a boat. it's just after the blue spirit episode. two world's collide and they fight each other. zuko loses. zuko gets injured. it's not funny. during the fighting however a young crewman from zuko's ship - a teenage boy called lee - is killed. the swt take zuko prisoner and so ensues a very chaotic series of events

chapter 2: zuko is placed in the infirmary where we meet the fan favourite healer, kanut. hakoda decides to enter correspondence with general fong bc he doesnt want the hassle of dealing with the fire prince (fair) and zuko throws soup at him. he escapes but it lasts like 5 minutes LMAO. it's not funny. hakoda threatens to hurt zuko if he firebends again and zuko reacts v normally

chapter 3: zuko is, fundamentally, a dumb cunt and he escapes again, this time bumping into the Biggest Warrior Who Is The Entire Reason He's In The Infirmary To Begin With; chena. kanut intervenes before a fight breaks out but zuko is still taken to hakoda for his first proper interrogation. they go back and forth before zuko reveals he went to the south pole. not believing zuko's avatar shenanigans in favour of assuming there was a raid, hakoda decides to go home to check

chapter 4: OUR VERY FIRST TOMKIN FRATERNISES WITH THE ENEMY. we officially meet the youngest crewmen; tomkin and nanook. cultural misunderstandings see the rocky beginning of their friendship with zuko. it's also decided to put zuko to work bc no one really knows what the fuck to do with him and he's just moping about the boat atm. another crewman, aput, is put in charge of zuko's chore duty, but is joined by tulok, the man who killed lee, which makes zuko uneasy. he's brainstorming another escape attempt when hakoda asks to speak with him

chapter 5: a letter arrived from general fuckfeatures saying he was happy to take zuko off hakoda's hands (bruv 😐) in three weeks time. hakoda finds himself reassuring zuko but, in a panic, zuko lashes out and flees, cornering himself on the bowsprit of all things. hakoda tries a different approach and talks zuko down. they talk for a long time before zuko feels comfortable enough to come back to the deck, but when he does, he slips and hakoda instinctively saves him, which causes a moral panic for both of them. the bar is truly on the floor

chapter 6: we arrive at the south pole! the crew find out zuko was telling the truth and never led a raid. hakoda is v perplexed by zuko and in a bid to try and find out why he doesn't commit gratuitous violence he winds up admitting that he wasn't actually going to attack zuko's ship that very first day. we also get a kanut backstory! this is his chapter fr

chapter 7: hakoda's revelation leads zuko into a crisis thinking it was his fault lee died. lots of lee turmoil in this one. you are not immune to explorations into the moral greyness of war. tomkin backstory! zuko gets his stitches out as well as a lecture from kanut on the importance of community/family. zuko is very quickly realising these people are not at all what he was told, and they're realising the same of him

chapter 8: sleepy zuko is not rocking with arctic winters. where the fuck is agni. this is very funny to everyone else involved. he soon wakes up tho bc we get THE AURORA SCENE

chapter 9: THE GANG GO HUNTING! zuko cant kill though and hakoda is being so brave about it. more lee turmoil as zuko starts interviewing everyone like 'Yes or No: No Violence Is Ethical Under Wartime?' and receiving different responses, none of which feel right. regardless, he goes back to the village and actually has a moment where he's laughing with tomkin and nanook and doesnt feel like they all hate him, so naturally it all goes to shit bc tom nook - misreading the situation so badly they should get an award for it - start asking about zuko's scar, and they go too far and he lashes out and boom! one burnt tomkin coming right up. JUST as they were starting to trust him too. life's a bitch

chapter 10: scar reveal chapter!!!!! there's tears and hugs and it's all generally v cathartic <3

chapter 11: zuko continues interviewing people. tomkin sets all of nanook's shirts on fire for shits and giggles. kanut starts pushing the zukka agenda on complete accident. hakoda carefully pulls out the adoption papers. kanna is horrified. more news at 10

chapter 12: tulok and zuko! they talk! they come to a conclusion on their wartime morality dissertation! they give lee a proper burial! zuko decides he wants the war to end! zuko ends the chapter with thee most obvious line of foreshadowing known to man no seriously what was that

chapter 13: the great rum heist of 99AG. zuko also gets fried by lightning but this isnt about him bc we officially get OUR FIRST TOVAH POV

chapter 14: we stop in wei hai where hakoda makes zuko promise to be less reckless. chena joins the Adopting Zuko bandwagon except he's caught on a stirup and is being dragged unwillingly along through the mud. meanwhile, tovah isnt what she seems and reveals a very malicious side to herself that is very focused on zuko

chapter 15: gaoling! the kids dick about on the beach and generally get to act their age before convincing hakoda to let them go into the town together. while in gaoling, tomkin reveals he's a HUGE blue spirit fan. zuko has a meltdown about it. tomkin then tries to get the attention of a girl he likes, but she waves at zuko instead (HELP) and tomkin takes that personally. like yes king that's zuko's fault he's just too much of a pussy magnet guilty as charged. zuko is just very confused bc he's fully gay but he's fully not okay about it so instead of clarifying him and tomkin just fall out. pray for nanook. chapter ends with two footsoldiers, oro and renmin, being told to send word to tovah that zuko is in gaoling and to keep an eye on him

chapter 16: nanook knows what zuko is. hakoda doesn't. tries to talk to zuko about embracing queerness anyway. it goes HORRIBLY bc zuko's just like 'i dont think my great-grandfather - inventor of homophobia - would like this' and storms off all angsty like. he goes to gaoling WHERE TOPH IS!!! she bumps into zuko on her way to earth rumble and they decide to beat each other up at a secondary location as like. a bonding activity. kids being kids. meanwhile oro and renmin are all about profit maximisation these boys want a PROMOTION baby, so they decide to ignore tovah's orders and eavesdrop on the water tribe camp, overhearing that the boy they're watching over is PRINCE ZUKO. they decide to kidnap him and take him to general fong, and if the water tribe put up a fight, they'll kill them. zuko overhears this

chapter 17: zuko decides - instead of running to save his own skin - to go back to the water tribe, but remembering the injuries and potential fatalities of their fight in ch1, he decides to do this alone. he's so clever. he sneaks into camp to get his swords and just before he leaves to intercept oro and renmin, he remembers his promise to hakoda about being more careful. wanting to leave something to show the water tribe he left willingly and to make it look 'less reckless', zuko leaves ONE of his dao swords behind. i love metaphors. cue a fight scene with oro and renmin god i fucking hate writing action scenes this one still elicits a trauma response out of me. zuko surrenders when they threaten to kill the swt and goes willingly. his firebending stops. he gets blood on his hands. shadowing the fore if you will

chapter 18: toph goes to meet zuko and he doesnt arrive so she immediately snitches on him to his adoptive family. the water tribe find evidence of his fight with oro and renmin and combined with hakoda's knowledge that he wouldn't just leave one sword behind for no reason, they know he's been kidnapped again lol. BATO ARRIVES! tovah goes to fong saying she lost the prince and fong is like 'oh ffs :('

chapter 19: bro i swear i almost got death threats for this chapter 😭 zuko arrives at fong's base and it's immediately clear he's not there to have a funky good time. fong kills oro and renmin because he doesnt want anyone knowing he has the fire prince and he cuts zuko's hair to send to ozai and enter negotiations. meanwhile bato has to be the voice of reason and, because they're outnumbered due to most of their men waiting for them at chameleon bay AND this is clearly fong's doing so they have to be politically careful AND they cant be seen being actively fond of the fire prince, it's decided they cant go look for zuko (at least not yet). chena is the most vocally against this. im so normal about them. zuko gets taken to a prison beneath fong's base by the prison warden - who he nicknames spider bc of his apperance - where zuko meets two young boys. zi se (5y/o) and lanse (10y/o) - war minnister qin's sons. both boys are shouted at/threatened when news of the northern air temple arrives and zuko defends them. lanse is killed, and days became weeks became months (🤭🤭🤭)

chapter 20 - appendix between book 1 and book 2. not important. go girl give us nothing

chapter 21: zuko in the cell with the five year old he's totally not developed a codependent self-sacrificial bond with. we see life in the prison aka chan - the biggest prisoner - fighting zuko for food and zuko just being BRUTAL like these two are just tearing into each other rn. zuko's firebending is gone and he's scared of fire now from being tortured. meanwhile our above-ground gang reveal it's been four months and they're going into the day of black sun arc and bc of war politics the water tribe have had to ALLY WITH GENERAL FONG NOOOO. very tense convo between him and them BUT he does reveal that zuko is alive which is more than what they knew 5 mins ago

chapter 22: TOVAH BACKSTORY! fong asks her to keep an eye on the prisoners while he's gone bc she's his most trusted soldier and she's like huh. what an odd request. i think he's hiding something. im so hot and clever. so she goes to the prison cells and what do u know there's a boy matching prince zuko's description right there. she breaks him and zi se out and throws spider to chan and the other prisoners where he literally gets torn to shreds. hot girl summer. the day of black sun happens and the adults are taken prisoner while the kids (including tomkin and nanook) escape on appa. kanut punches fong tho and gets taken seperately for bad behaviour. i giggled

chapter 23: zuko above ground finally! it's all rlly overwhelming but tovah gets them out of fong's base and all the way to the woods before zuko starts threatening her. she reveals that she's part of the white lotus and has been working for iroh this whole time. we get more of her backstory r.e her vendetta against long feng and the dai li. we catch up with kanut and he's put in prison WITH iroh. when unclehoods collide. the gaang arrive at the western air temple

chapter 24: zuko and zi se arrive at the white lotus camp and a healer - akinari - sees to zi se but when he tries to check zuko, zuko lashes out and breaks his arm. it's all just a lot for him and zi se is struggling too. after a bad nightmare, zi se asks zuko to promise him that they're safe now and zuko - with a very healthy relationship with promises after hakoda let him down - realises the only way he can promise that is if he kills fong. he comes to the decision and when does, his fire comes back blue. meanwhile, sokka starts brainstorming about which prison his dad was taken to, figures it out bc he's the most character of all time, and sneaks off to break hakoda out of the boiling rock. the same prison tovah told zuko fong was in....

chapter 25: zi se reveals to zuko that he's got a rotten tooth (months in unsanitary conditions with poor if nonexistant hygeine measures are a BITCH! hate it when that happens) and zuko has like? a whole downwards spiral about it? he takes it as confirmation that - at least as he is now - he cant take care of zi se and he's 'failed' him after sacrificing everything trying to do the opposite. it's basically confirmation for him that he needs to leave not just to kill fong but also just to be alone. i gotta put me first! tovah gives him his blue spirit mask LMAO and those two leave the camp on akinari's war balloon. tovah is going to break iroh out. zuko is going to kill fong. high treason besties that slay together. meanwhile iroh and kanut are bonding over the trauma that is dealing with zuko, and they decide their own escape plan. sokka gets to the boiling rock and, not long after, so does zuko. they bump into each other and have a !!!! moment before deciding to work together (sokka doesnt know about the Kill A Man plan zuko's got going...). tovah gets to iroh and kanut easily enough and tells them about zuko. they both decide they need to go to the boiling rock as well

chapter 26: zukka sleep in a cupboard overnight and NO ONE is gay about it at all ever. sokka sees zuko's scars and knows Something Bad Happened since he saw zuko last but zuko is deflecting at the speed of Repress Everything so not much comes of it. still, they bond and sokka actually really clicks with zuko and wants to help/befriend him and he's generally pretty chuffed with their alliance. meanwhile, hakoda and fong are being transported to TBR together bc they're the respective leader of their groups. hakoda clobbers fong. it's v fun. the guards take their weapons including zuko's dao that hakoda has kept with him this whole time. sokka sees suki and zukka decide to split up; sokka going after hakoda and zuko going after suki. they agree to all meet again in TBR's old library. zuko and suki get their old weapons back from where they're all stashed before being caught by chit sang, who wants in on the escape. suki asks after her warriors but chit sang says the only earth kingdomers to come in recently are a general that morning. zuko knows it's fong and goes a bit crazy like 👹 bring him 👹. meanwhile, sokka has already got hakoda to the library bc he's the compotent half of zukka and they're there when kanut and iroh come bickering in

chapter 27: bonus chapter! all the shuhon prison shenanigans with chena, aput, tulok and bato. they start a food fight and meet suki's kyoshi warriors. this fic is so fun and angstless

chapter 28: SIKE! everyone is in the library; sokka, hakoda, iroh, kanut, suki, zuko, chit sang, fong etc. there's reunions and dramatic dialogue and sokka feels very betrayed by EVERYONE and iroh is not communicating with his tormented nephew AT ALL and hakoda is so worried about what will come of this that he also isn't communicating that well either. it's a SHITSHOW. kanut is chill about it tho. so anyway zuko kills fong and is all like 'im evil :) i need to go to the land of evil people where i dont feel guilty about being evil :)' so he returns to the fire nation with azula and no one can rlly do anything about it lol. there is a frankly silly amount of comments on this chapter i literally barricaded my house to escape the screaming and bitching of my comment section

chapter 29: ZUKO ALONE CHAPTER! he's en route to the fire nation. this is almost entirely just him and azula having very tense conversations trying to figure each other out bc their relationship is VERY warped from canon. zuko is summoned by ozai and ozai says he's welcome home and he's proud of him for doing something that is literally HAUNTING zuko and zuko's like 'hmm. should probably unpack the implications of that at some point'. they all go ember island like in canon and mai is like my arranged-husband-since-childhood in CHRIST you have septicemia' and he's like 'nah'. him and azula talk on the beach and zuko finds out she has blue fire as well and it's a nice 'we're terrible but we're terrible together' moment. she reveals that ozai is planning to destroy the earth kingdom and it jolts zuko into realising he cant just step out of the war; he needs to act like he swore he would when he resolved lee's death. he knows he needs to leave the fire nation to warn the others of ozai's plans

chapter 30: ANOTHER ZUKO ALONE CHAPTER! zuko packs a bag and decides to just like. TRASH his room lmao take that fire nation! azula catches him and those two have another moment. they're very angry and hurt by each other but she also doesn't snitch on him to ozai when she realises what he's doing so it's just very complicated. zuko goes to yell at ozai anyway and gets a lot off his chest in that conversation. he escapes with help from mai and flees the fire nation as a traitor

chapter 31: we check back in at the western air temple! everyone is v concerned about sokka and tom nook are struggling being the only real 'adult' presence. the other water tribe men are en route to the western air temple and are all reeling from the news of zuko. sokka particularly is Not Okay about it all and him and suki basically break up. he talks to hakoda but he's not ready to hear the full story yet, so they agree to discuss it another time. meanwhile, zuko goes to the white lotus camp to get zi se so those two reunite! yay! hope this doesnt further their co-dependency! they journey to the air temple and zuko's injury gets progressively worse. the rest of the tribe reunite at the temple

chapter 32: HUGE FUCK OFF REUNION CHAPTER JESUS CHRIST THIS HAS SO MANY SPIDERMAN POINTING MEMES. so sokka finds zuko in the woods trying to figure out what the FUCK he's gonna say bc he's not seen everyone since literally chapter 16. zukka are zukka. zi se is their divorce lawyer. sokka eventually takes zuko to the temple and everyone chokes up and hugs and it's so cool. zuko explains about the comet and ozai's plans and then immediately passes the fuck out bc that's what happens when you don't treat an infected wound! kanut is fuming

chapter 33: fever dream chapter!!! all those fucked up fever dreams god i loved writing those i should give zuko septicemia again just so i can write more fever dreams. the gaang come to terms with zuko being in the camp; suki is chill with it, aang and toph are ecstatic, and katara is reluctant but has too much of a bleeding heart to overlook the Tortured Teenager and Literal Five Year Old. sokka is the only one actively against zuko rn. everyone else sneaks in to see zuko and we get our first bit of comfort in ages <333

chapter 34: zuko getting Rest and Recuperation and biting it and biting it and biting it. he talks with hakoda who confirms he's actually wanted at camp and zuko - who thought they'd all hate him - is like what the fuck, so they get a lot of clarification there. katara comes in and offers to use her water healing on zuko, but she comes in with food and we see the beginnings of zuko's inch resting relationship with food now after starving/fighting for food in prison. he has to chuck the food away to stop himself from seeing katara as a threat and that combined with what she's seen of zi se's behaviour is enough for katara to be like 'ah. this is an Issue'. the whole thing is just a lot for zuko and he has a panic attack when katara leaves, seeking comfort from zi se like they always did in prison except zi se doesnt need zuko as much as he did, and it's just a very stark reminder that ZI SE is getting over things but zuko just cant seem to. he lashes out and shouts at zi se, who cries and is found later by sokka. sokka comforts him and zuko sees and is SO normal about it

chapter 35: zuko gets discharged from the infirmary and is immediately faced with kanut and bato's 'we've been friends since childhood and ARE going to be annoying about it' shenanigans. meanwhile sokka is figuring his shit out and decides he's comfortable enough in himself to finally start over with zuko. those two have a talk and decide to have a clean slate and zuko takes it... weirdly seriously. like bro is DETERMINED to get his redemption by sokka. cool the jets freak that's how homosexuality happens!! oh also aang tries his first real attempt to get zuko to be his firebending teacher and zuko is effectively just like 'omg thanks for asking! fuck no 🙏🔥'

chapter 36: sike!! aang no.1 bully manages to bug zuko into going to the firebending masters with him and zuko saw an opportunity for a day out with free childcare and didn't look back. they do the whole firebending masters episode as normal just with some taobification (aka zuko is a massive baby about it) and then they come home with a healthier relationship and hearts open to the element of fire <3 beautiful showstopping never gets old

chapter 37: SOKKA AND HAKODA FINALLY TALK AND FIGURE THEIR SHIT OUT JESUS CHRIST YOU'VE NEVER SEEN TWO MEN MISCOMMUNICATE SO BADLY SINCE HAIKYUU. zuko however cant get out of eating with everyone today and it really triggers his food trauma. he spirals and lashes out at tulok when he goes to reach for him, pointing a knife at him and nearly wounding him. obviously this makes zuko freak out and he runs outside. tom nook comfort him and then so do the others. still it's a huge step back for zuko and he's really beating himself up over it. also zi se says 'good soup'. taob is increasingly becoming me seeing how much shit i can get away with

chapter 38: just a hakoda, zuko and zi se chapter that at the time i thought read as a shitty bonus chapter but has lowkey become one of my favourite, most integral chapters of book 2. zuko is having a nightmare and goes for a walk around the temple to calm down, which then sets zi se off crying when he wakes up and zuko's not there, and they proceed to just make each other worse from that point on. like that is the plot of the chapter. zuko starts shutting zi se out when he cant stop him crying which is when HAKODA FATHER FIGURE NO.1 finally steps in <3 he comforts zi se and puts him to bed and then comforts zuko, who has a really cathartic scene of just shouting and saying shit he's been needing off his chest for a WHILE. he falls asleep with hakoda watching over him

chapter 39: sokka drops his food plan to the delight of zukka readers everywhere. seriously i took the piss with the slowburn tag. zuko agrees to start having his meals with sokka and it goes better than expected and is also a weird take on the forced proximity trope, bc apparently shoving them in a cupboard in TBR wasn't enough. bato is On To Them. meanwhile tulok found a waterfall and tomkin bullies nanook, zuko and toph into going with him which causes our latest zuko freak out: Coming To Terms With Your Damaged Body Post-Torture. still they have fun and zuko takes a little healing step in the right direction which becomes a LEAP when it starts absolutely pissing it down. the Rain Scene u will always be famous

chapter 40: GAY CHAPTER! canon aroace kanut PLUS bato-hakoda-kanut flashback PLUS queer adults being comfortable and idiotic PLUS lesbian chena mention PLUS zuko starting to tackle his own internalised homophobia PLUS our roots of kanut and zuko bullying each other into life-changing revelations. i fed you so well with this update

chapter 41: it's decided that they're gonna leave the air temple soon but azula goes 'we leave when I SAY WE LEAVE' and ruins everything. before that though zukka go hunting and zuko gets a Very Normal Amount Of Protective over sokka when he cuts his knee. those two are making PROGRESS. tom nook have a gay sparring scene... i know the rituals are intricate... AZULA ATTACKS! tense sibling moment! mailee slaying (literally)! the gang deciding to flee! everyone splits up! zuko & tomnook go with the gaang and the swt crew go with the others! tragic. i am booed off stage

chapter 42: ZUKO AND KATARA BESTIEISMS ERA. starts off with zuko generally shutting down, being really overwhelmed to be back out in the world and retreating to his tent as a result, missing the simplicity of being back in the cell. insane thought process from your local trauma victim. tom nook try and help him but are almost TOO accomodating, and in the end it's sokka who helps most because he's able to kind of shake zuko out of it without babying him. still, zuko goes on to lash out at AANG OF ALL PEOPLE and it causes a fight between him and sokka. katara speaks to zuko alone and those two just Get Each Other i mean it we need more zuko-katara friendship in fics NOW. they relate over being angry at the things that have harmed them and being unable to forgive and move on quite as well as their peers, and the chapter ends on a really sweet note of the two of them sitting with that admission and finding solidarity in each other

chapter 43: a taob take on the southern raiders ep. katara's leftover anger bubbles over and she starts snapping at everyone. tom nook have a very fruity scene where nanook longs harder than a wife waiting for her husband to return from war. what's all that about buddy. finally, katara's bad mood comes to a head and she upsets zi se, which makes zuko feel like he needs to acknowledge her temper, but first he needs to deal w the other water tribe sib. zukka talk! zuko apologises for their spat last chapter and they have a weird 'let's promise to be vulnerable with each other in a bro way forevermore' moment. guys being dudes. sokka tells zuko about kya and why he thinks that's what has katara in such a bad mood. zuko then talks to katara and says that he can help her find the people who killed her mother if that's what she really wants. zuko and katara bestieisms will always be in any atla fic i write. katara very firmly decides she is in fact going to commit premeditated murder which sokka and aang are NOT chuffed about in fact sokka is pissed OFF with zuko and those two fight AGAIN however in the exact same pov sokka realises that he fancies zuko. lord grant me patience. katara and sokka talk it out and eventually katara decides not to commit murder. epic loss for murder everyone boo for the left-wing agenda.

#FINALLY DID THIS #im not gonna be too thorough with these bc it's just supposed to rejog your memory not like. actually explain everything lmao #like if u want more detail ur gonna have to read/reread otherwise this would have been an UNGODLY length lol sorry <3 #i'll reblog this with each update and add to it as i go #it'll also be linked in the next chapter's summary #im so fucking organised god im hot #taob updates

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