A/N: Written for Zukaang Week 2018, Day 2: "Disguises". Inspired by pet_foolery's Pixie and Brutus comic. Complete and utter crack; please do not expect logic, a plot, or any of the usual elements of a story besides tooth-rotting fluff =)
This isn't exactly what Zuko had imagined when they set out to learn the origins of firebending on the Sun Warriors' island. He and Aang had brought the Eternal Flame to the masters, and predictably, Aang had screwed things up, though he also came up with the idea of doing the Dragon Dance. The masters ended up not destroying them, but rather engulfing them in a stream of polychromatic fire the likes of which Zuko has never seen before.
Oh, and somehow, they also turned him and Aang into a dog and a cat respectively. No big deal, not something the Chief would have thought to mention before they presented their fire, right?
Beside him, Aang whines in fear as they stare down the steep steps leading from the bridge. The masters have gone back to their roosts, but if he and Aang don't get down from here, they'll be flying all night to get back to the Western Air Temple. They are very high up, but Zuko thinks he can get down the stairs on four legs with some maneuvering. Aang, on the other paw, is another story. The form bestowed on him by the dragons is no larger than that of an eight-week-old kitten, just starting to take independent steps away from its mother. He'll never be able to get down by himself.
They can't stay up here forever, Zuko grumbles internally. He stalks over to his feline companion and, like a mother cat reining an errant kitten back into the litter, snatches Aang up by the nape of his neck, starting determinedly down the steps.
Oh guru don't drop me don't drop me please don't drop me
He nearly does. Aang? Is that you? He says in his head—obviously, since 1) dogs can't talk, and 2) even if they could, his mouth is occupied.
Of course it's me! The voice in his head sounds just like Aang. Why are we animals? The chief didn't mention this part at all.
Well, he didn't mention that the masters were dragons, either, or that we would end up psychically linked, Zuko points out. But hopefully he'll at least tell us how to get out of these forms. The dragon masters are helpful at imparting lessons through transcendental flame, but not so great with any sort of verbal communication.
This is so weird. I don't want to be a cat forever! Aang frets even as they near the bottom of the stairs, still clutched tightly in Zuko's mouth. He hopes he's not hurting Aang.
I don't want to be stuck hearing your thoughts forever, Zuko snipes back. And I don't think my father has a soft spot for cats, so this doesn't even give us any strategic advantage.
That is so not the point.
Back on the ground, the Sun Warriors approach, none of them surprised at this transformation, so it must be a normal occurrence. The Sun Chief looks approving.
"The masters have judged you and found you worthy, giving you visions of the meaning of firebending, as well as the power to shift into an animal form. You must look within yourselves to decipher the way to return to your human bodies. Only then will you fully understand the lessons imparted to you today."
Well, that's just peachy. He and Aang share a look of concern—what if they're not able to resume their human forms?
Getting Appa to fly back to the temple is a bit finicky, but he seems to understand that the weird quadrupeds on his back are friends, and it looks like they're going the right direction, at least.
Bending is a no-go in this shape, Zuko quickly finds out. They don't have any chi pathways in their bodies, which is to be expected since dogs and cats are not among the animals that first taught humans bending.
I feel so defenseless without my airbending. Aang swats futilely at the air and chases his tail, trying to imitate the circular forms that are normally effortless for him.
His cat form is some kind of brown-gray tabby with dark stripes and golden eyes. His head and ears are still rounded, and the dark stripes at his forehead mold themselves into his signature arrow. He doesn't look that different from his human appearance after all, Zuko thinks with some amusement.
Hey, I heard that.
Of course you did. They're still getting used to not having any privacy with their thoughts.
You look… cool, Aang decides. Pointy ears and a big strong muzzle and you're so tall. That's not fair. How come you get to be a big, cool wolfdog, and I'm a tiny cat?
Zuko doesn't think it's all that cool. For one, his eyesight, already limited by his scar, is less sharp now, colors dimmer than in human vision, though his hearing and smell seem far more acute and broader in range. Plus there's the bending issue, and most importantly, how they're going to get back to normal.
Think. The Chief said we have to look within ourselves.
But Aang's mind is elsewhere. Hey! What if we prank everyone when we get back to camp? They won't know who we are since we don't look like ourselves!
I'm pretty sure they'll make the connection if we arrive on Appa with no one else on board.
What if we don't, though? We can land away from camp and just show up unannounced. All woes forgotten, Aang sounds elated with glee. Let's try it! They'll be sooo confused.
…fine.
With some strategic tugging on Appa's reins, they manage to alight on the cliff high above the air temple, coming in from the opposite direction so no one in camp will notice their arrival. Aang's excitement is hard to ignore as it radiates across their bond.
Calm down, Zuko scolds. You're making me jittery.
They approach the camp, and the first person to take notice of them is of course, Toph.
"We've got some visitors," she announces.
It's weird being on the receiving end of so many puzzled gazes staring down at him. Zuko feels an uncomfortable prickle run down his spine as he realizes that even the Duke is taller than him like this (not by much, though). It doesn't bear mentioning that they all tower over Aang in turn. He shrinks back against Zuko's side instinctively before remembering that they're friends, bounding forward in his normal good cheer.
"What… are they?" Haru asks, genuinely confused.
Haven't you ever seen a cat before? Aang replies in his head. Katara and Sokka at least have—the herbalist had a cat named Miyuki.
Miyuki… The name sounds familiar to Zuko, and he realizes he's seen that same cat before as well, when June's shirshu had taken them through the abandoned city of Taku in search of the Avatar.
Oh wait, Katara and Sokka didn't get to meet the herbalist because they were sick, Aang backtracks in his mind. Zuko doesn't bother asking what that's all about. Never mind, none of them can hear or understand us anyways…
"I think the small one is a cat," Teo says with an intellectual interest, wheeling himself up to Aang and peering closely at him. "It's similar to a cat-owl, or a cat-deer, if you've ever seen one. I don't know about the big one."
"Looks like… a wolf of sorts." Sokka squints at Zuko. "A wolfdog? But what would a wolfdog be doing around here? Are they native to the area? Aang would probably know."
Toph sighs loudly. "They're obviously Aang and Zuko; I don't know how you all can't tell."
"What?!" everyone naturally exclaims.
"The cat walks just like Twinkletoes, bouncing through the air, ground be damned," Toph explains. "And the dog's pace is just like Zuko's except more legs."
"Well, come to think of it, that dog does have its left eye scarred like Zuko's…" Katara observes. "And! Aang's arrow, look!"
"But how did they get to be like this?" Haru wonders, asking the important questions. "And can they get back to normal? Can they even understand us?"
"Aang, meow once if you understand me," Sokka commands.
All eyes turn to Aang, who looks supremely embarrassed at the indignity of having to meow on command. He's the Avatar, for crying out loud.
Just hurry up and meow! This is not something Zuko had ever foreseen having to tell Aang to do. Otherwise they'll think we're dumb animals.
Ugh, fine. He summons up the most discontented meow ever uttered by a cat. "Mrowr."
"Oh gods, he's sooo cute!" Katara all but flings herself at the kitten to snatch him up in a cute-induced cuddling fit. Aang flails and squirms to no avail, and Zuko is very grateful that his canine shape is not remotely cuddly.
Life as a dog comes with more problems than Zuko had anticipated. Not that Zuko had ever, you know, anticipated becoming a dog.
Aang seems insistent on getting into as much trouble in a cat's body as he did in his human body, with the added bonus that it's much easier to wreak havoc as a cat. For example, Zuko has to rescue him from the fountain in the front hall when Aang decides to go for a swim in the pool and finds it much deeper than normal.
What were you thinking? Cats don't even like baths.
This one does, Aang thinks, drenched and shivering as he is.
Oh for god's sake… The cat cheerfully shakes itself off, spraying him with water droplets, and waddles off to where everyone is enjoying breakfast. They'd flown through the night to get back here, and Aang is hungry.
Slight problem—they don't have a whole lot of fresh food left. Most of them weren't expecting the day of the eclipse to go so spectacularly sideways and thus hadn't prepared to go on the run directly after the invasion. Sokka supplies them with plenty of dried seal jerky since that's apparently what Southern Water Tribe warriors subsist on, but…
Cats eat meat. This dawns upon Aang as he's sniffing curiously at the piece Katara offers to him, an unpleasant epiphany. Cats eat meat.
So? Zuko asks, growling at Sokka, who's trying to get him to eat out of his hand. Not gonna happen. Sokka finally gives up and drops the piece on the ground for Zuko to eat.
I'm a vegetarian, Aang mopes, turning his back on the seal jerky. I don't eat meat! But cats have to eat meat.
…ah. That is a problem. Cats are not vegetarians by nature, but Zuko thinks they can probably eat some plant material? Not a whole lot. But if Aang won't eat meat, then he's got to eat something to keep up his strength, at least until they figure out how to turn back.
Here. Zuko remembers he did have the foresight to pack some apples. Sokka ate one yesterday (the day before? The past few days have been too eventful to keep track of), but Aang can have another. Uh… maybe Sokka can cut this into pieces for you.
He struggles to keep from laughing as he deposits the apple in front of Aang. It is as large as his head.
Ha. Ha. Aang is unamused.
They spend most of the day scouring the area for fruits that Aang can eat.
"If I recall correctly, there are some fruits that humans can eat but are poisonous to cats," Teo says. "But I don't remember which fruits those are."
"Real helpful." Toph stomps on the ground, and the tree she's standing under rains down a bounty of lovely, ripe fruits whose poison status is yet unknown.
Teo shrugs. "Gotta keep my brain uncluttered, save space for facts that are actually useful."
Zuko growls with some degree of ire. This could mean life or death for Aang if he eats something poisonous. The fruits look like a cross between mangos and apricots, their skin fuzzy and golden. Aang hesitantly approaches one, as if it will sprout stings and stab him with venom.
Wait. Let me.
Aang meows at him, impatient. What now?
Let me eat first. Cats and dogs are probably more similar to each other than to humans, so I can test it to see if it's okay to eat. He sniffs at the fruit. It doesn't smell bad, but then again, most fruits don't broadcast their ill intentions by foul odors before being consumed. The whole point of them is to trick animals into eating them.
But then you might be poisoned!
It's okay, Zuko reassures him. I'm much bigger than you, so it's less likely to kill me even if I do get poisoned.
Aang does not look at all comforted and watches, tail swishing side to side in worry as Zuko gnaws awkwardly at the fruit, lapping up its juice.
It doesn't seem to be poisonous, he declares presently, noting that he's not dead a few minutes after consumption. Yet, anyways.
Hooray! Aang digs in.
It's going to be a long day, Zuko foresees. But if he has to spend it babysitting a cat that's actually the Avatar and the only one who can defeat the Fire Lord, then so be it.
He's only partly right about the babysitting. At one point, a seagull tries to capture Aang for its dinner, but Zuko scares it off. Other than that, they pass the rest of the day in relative peace, trying to solve their dilemma. But night falls, and they've made no progress on how to get back to their normal forms.
They settle down under an overgrown tree on the ledge of one of the upside-down turrets, a few dozen yards above the ground floor of the temple. Aang peeks over the edge at their friends down below: Sokka moodily buffing the shine of his boomerang; Katara laying out her bedroll; Toph already halfway to sleep, sprawled on the stone, as close to the earth as she can be; Haru and Teo playing a makeshift game of chess drawn on the floor as the Duke watches. They don't have to worry about being stuck forever as a helpless cat. Aang sighs, feeling so far away from them, not just physically.
A guru once told me that the greatest illusion is the illusion of separation. Everyone in the world is connected to each other and to all the elements, even if we don't feel it.
A low rumbling growl is all the acknowledgment Zuko verbalizes, but he feels a quiet curiosity seep across.
I accepted what he said, but I never thought it could hold true for us. I accepted that I had to learn firebending, but I wasn't ready to think of the Fire Nation as anything other than an enemy, and that included you.
But now we're connected, just about as much as anyone can be, Zuko thinks. Probably even more than any guru would have thought possible.
I don't know; he might have seen something like this before. He was pretty old—even older than me, now that I think about it. He sounds a little wistful, like he's remembering those even older, now passed.
Hm. Zuko paces along the edge in thought. An illusion, you said, of separation. The idea that we're not all that different. That each person has fundamentally similar motivations, hopes, desires, fears, and choices. That we don't so much empathize with each other, but rather resonate with sameness.
Eh… something like that. Aang thinks Zuko's handled the gist of the guru's spiel much faster than he originally did, but he doesn't want to seem too impressed. He flops down where he stands, a despondent, exhausted bundle of feline discontent collapsed next to the bare roots of the tree. Still doesn't solve anything.
Zuko stalks back to him, a canine grin drawing his lips up over his teeth, tongue lolling. Where's that upbeat attitude?
Pfft. He tries to blow a petulant raspberry over at his obnoxious friend, but cat facial expressions are limited.
Carefully, Zuko circles around his curled-up form, settling just behind him so that Aang's nestled tightly in between his shoulder and his long, brush-like tail. This way, he's lying between Aang and the ledge, beyond which is a fifty-foot drop that a kitten with no bending definitely wouldn't survive.
Aang wriggles over to rest his head on Zuko's foreleg, a perfectly comfortable pillow. It's all right, he reassures the kitten. You're tired, and we won't be able to get anything done without both of us awake, anyways.
I can't keep staying as a cat, Aang thinks, unable to express anything more sophisticated in his sleepy state. Can't defeat the Fire Lord as a cat. You said he doesn't like cats.
I think we could come up with a way, Zuko says lightly. If anyone could do it, it would be you.
He hopes Zuko is also too tired to parse the discombobulation of emotions tumbling through his head: frustration, anxiety, and worry at their situation, but also indescribable fondness for this dog who's also his new firebending teacher and friend. He tries to convey something very important, imperative, in fact, just before he succumbs to sleep.
Thank you, Zuko.
Hm?
For… for looking out for me. As a dog. And firebending. Wait, no that's not right. Not a firebending dog. I mean… a firebending human. And a dog. I mean—
He can't explain how, but he hears Zuko's smile through their bond.Sleep now. We'll think about it more tomorrow.
So Aang sleeps.
Zuko wakes slowly in the dark, brushing one hand across his eyes in an attempt to rub the sleep from them.
…wait. He has hands again. They both have hands, in fact, and one of Zuko's hands is trapped under Aang as the other continues to sleep, totally unaware of the transformation that just took place.
It makes sense, he muses. Sleep is when your mental defenses are at their lowest, when nightmares and daydreams become reality for a few hours, and the illusion of separation is shattered. Their subconscious minds rising to the surface must have allowed them to bridge the gap between human and animal and return to their natural form, thank goodness.
Aang looks so peaceful, though; he hates to wake him up. He wonders if their mental bond persists in human form.
Aang, he thinks. Aang, wake up. You're not a cat anymore.
Aang doesn't stir, though Zuko can't tell if that's because they can no longer hear each other's thoughts, or he's just too deep in sleep.
Quietly, he regards the erstwhile kitten, unable to suppress a smile as he reacquaints himself with those rounded features, his eyelashes long and delicate in sweet repose, his lips slightly parted even in sleep.
"Aang," he says aloud, surprising himself a little at the sound of his voice. "Aang, wake up."
"Mmmmrurpf." A combination of a purr-like sleepy murmur and a soft exhalation, and he knows he's destined to fail in waking Aang. Time for other measures, then. Slowly, he raises himself to sitting, then gathers that slight form in his arms, one arm slung under his knees and the other supporting his back, lifting him with ease.
He keeps his footsteps quiet as he carries Aang down the stairs to the inside of the temple, the steps spiraling down and down until they reach the bottom, where the rest of their party slumbers. Out in the open now, and no one is awake to witness their return. Well, they'll be treated to a nice surprise tomorrow morning.
He gently lays Aang to rest on the broad base of Appa's tail. The bison lows long and soft in greeting, pleased to see his master back to normal.
Sweet dreams, Zuko thinks, turning away to seek his own bedroll and try to catch the rest of the night in slumber. He doesn't see how Aang smiles in his sleep, Zuko's blessing landing soft in his subconscious, their separation only nominal.
A/N: In terms of actual breeds, I'm thinking for Zuko, the Kunming wolfdog, which was bred from German shepherd and random mixed dogs. It's a special breed that was developed for search and rescue / police work in China. For Aang, the Li Hua cat (fox-flower cat), a breed descended from Chinese mountain cats. ahhhh they're just so cute 3
Also don't feed your cats a ton of fruit or most hooman food...they're not made to digest it, and cat food is really the best for them =P
Thank you for reading! It was nice to write something completely fun and not angsty for once =)