Tsune's Revenge: A Christmas Story

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar or A Christmas Carol.

Disclaimer II: The Sequel: I apologize to Charles Dickens with all my heart, and assure him that turning in your grave is an excellent form of exercise. And I would like to remind my readers that flames are for roasting chestnuts, not for mauling authors.

Author's Note: This is a Christmas Present to Neko-AkA-Sparky and the rest ofTEAF on Gaia. Blame her, not me. It's something I came up with when I was at work (which is why teenagers should not be paid minimum wage for the good jobs that we do. It does things to us.) Also, I know it's weird, but this is actually a spinoff/sequel to another story I'm working on right now, which is where Tsune comes from. She's the shapeshiftingSpirit of Chaos, and followed Zuko around for a while... You don't need to read the other story to understand this one, but it came first, and I will be posting it soon. So be on the lookout for Shades of Chaos.

Prologue

"Hm..." Tsune said. "Well...this is certainly interesting."

"What is?" Ko asked, some demon's face raising it's eye at his sister.

"Exactly," she huffed. "Do you have any idea how boring it is to be out of work? Where's the fun? Where's the excitement? I mean, I used to be Chaos! I used to be-"

"Don't complain to me about it, Tsune," he said wearily. His face was now that of an old man to suit his mood. "You are the one who chose to die."

"Well, I assumed that Spirits actually could die. I didn't think-"

"You never do think, sister."

She grimaced at him.

"But I'm bored!"

"Not for long," Ko assured her. "You've been reassigned." The Ex-Spirit of Chaos raised an eyebrow, her form shifting to that of a child.

"They can do that?" Her brother nodded. "To what?"

"You're to be the Spirit of something called 'Christmas'."

"'Christmas?' What the blaze is that supposed to be?" Ko grimaced, the expression made comical as he assumed a rabbit's face.

"It's a holiday."

"You must be kidding me," Tsune said, now taking the appearance of a warrior. "Do they honestly think that I'm going to sit here and let myself get-"

"Quit complaining. At least you're employed." Tsune huffed again, becoming a toddler as she sat stubbornly on a stalagmite. Her brother continued, ignoring her behavior. "You are to start next week. Your first assignment is a mister E. Scrooge." His face changed to that of an old man, most likely like her intended victim. A demon's grin spread across Tsune's face.

"Scrooge, hm? This should be interesting..."

Chapter 1

"So this man Marley is dead, right?" Tsune asked. She was in the form of a rather well off young gentleman, new to the area. The face she wore was handsome and endearing, and nobody had any problem answering such innocent questions.

"As a doornail, sir," the man said. "At least, according to Mr. Scrooge. And Scrooge is good for his word."

"Good to know," Tsune said politely, turning away from the man. The street around them was crowded and busy, leaving barely enough room between the hurried shoppers for her to walk. Tsune paid sparse attention, but only to their clothes. This was the accepted style. So this is what she must not look like when she met up with this Scrooge fellow. Simple enough. Her last life had been nothing like this place, and coming up with something different would be no difficulty. In the crowd she caught a glance of a cruelly fat man with a face that would have made Ko cringe stop in the middle of the walkway, causing a few of the shoppers to bump into him.

"Ah, Mister Scrooge-" he called. Another man turned absently.

"Your servant, sir," he said, his voice gruff.

"No way..." Tsune breathed. "Him? He's E. Scrooge?" And it was. Ebenezer Scrooge. Just as he had been described, in his awkward, drab little clothes that made him look at once wealthy and imposing. But his face was what caught her off guard. Because this wasn't just some rich jerk.

This was the Fire Lord Ozai. Dressed as a miser. In the middle of London.

Gonna have to ask Ko about this one... she grumbled mentally as she listened in on their conversation.

"Are you off home to keep Christmas?" the fat man asked.

"I am not in the habit of keeping Christmas, sir," Ozai-Scrooge snapped.

Tsune's eyes narrowed. Hey. It may be a dumb holiday, but it's officially my holiday, your charbroiled Highness...

"Then why are you leaving so early?" another man jumped into conversation. Ozai-Scrooge scowled.

"Christmas has a habit of keeping men from doing business..." he growled.

I'm liking you less and less with every word that comes out of your ugly little mouth, you know that?

"Come," argued the newcomer. "It's in the nature of things that ants toil and grasshoppers sing and play, Mister Scrooge."

"An ant is what it is and a grasshopper is what it is and Christmas, sir, is a humbug." Ozai-Scrooge snapped, his already disagreeable face turning deeper into a scowl. "Good day."

With all the venom in his voice, he may as well have said "Rot in hell."

Tsune leaned back, crossing her arms in contempt as the men dispersed. "That does it, cretin," she muttered. "You're going to regret this day."

She trailed after 'Scrooge' for the rest of the day, following him into something called The London Exchange, which had some unknown purpose that she could only guess at. As a spider she watched him mouth off to some neglected soul who asked for an extension on money...

Try piracy. It pays off far better than this stupid Wage work you keep griping about.

Once more she was the handsome gentleman, stalking after him with feline grace as he entered what she took to be his shop- the sign was written in outlandish characters, not at all like the symbols she was used to, but that meant little to her. In a back alley, she shed the human disguise, choosing instead the tiny form of a mouse, and entered the shop through a crack in the wall.

A pleasant man, tall and smiling cheerfully (though to Tsune's minscule form, anything could be judged as tall, and compared to Ozai...or rather, Scrooge's petulant face, a gravestone would have looked cheerful) stepped in through the door in a flurry of snowflakes. The man shivered, glancing through a massive scarf at a tiny fire in the corner of the room. The pathetic flame could barely have warmed a breadcrumb.

Zuko would have thrown a fit to see such a disgrace, she thought smugly. Sitting over the pitiful excuse for fire, another man sat, his entire body shaking with cold, writing in unusual letters, not unlike the ones on the sign. The little man jumped to see the newcomer, but he pointed a shivering hand at the door behind him. The newcomer nodded in appreciation and followed his hand, walking gaily to a door at the back of the shop. Tsune scurried behind him.

"Merry Christmas, uncle!" the young man cried jovially. Tsune's nose quivered. That voice was familiar...but where did she know it...? She had seen millions of humans in her past lifetime- surely one of them must have been similar- "God save you!"

The young man threw off his scarf, and Tsune's miniscule heart nearly stopped. Standing above her, clad in the red and white of a soldier, as he would be, missing nothing but his scowl and his scar, was Prince Zuko.