This is a Supernatural AU Fiction. In this 'verse, there is no 100 year war, nor is there an Avatar. The Fire Nation is merely a nuisance to the rest of the world with its near constant raids and small invasions, but its navy is too strong for it to be crushed completely, and the ground troops are too few to be a serious threat. The Air Nomads in the Southern Air Temple are all dead, but Aang is in the Western Air Temple (if he becomes relevant). I'll be keeping quite a bit canon for ease of reference (Zuko's scar, Katara's mother dying, etc...), but other things will be changed (for example, the Fire Nation has little in the ways of a formal ground force, so Iroh's now an retired admiral). Now, on with the story...

DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything to do with Avatar: the Last Airbender save my OCs and my plot. It belongs to Bryke and Michael, and I make no profit from these writings... however much I want to. This disclaimer applies to all chapters of this fanfiction, regardless of if I actually bother (AKA actually remember) to write it again.

Chapter I: Over a Full Moon Rising, Part One

Fire Nation Royal Palace, 5 years ago

"Uncle Iroh! Uncle Iroh!"

The Dragon of the West, retired admiral Iroh of the Fire Nation, looked up from his morning cup of ginseng tea as the doors to his personal study flew open and admitted little Prince Zuko, running at top speed.

"Today's my birthday. I'm 13 summers old now! Do you know what that means?" Zuko asked excitedly.

"Yes, Prince Zuko, I do know. I myself was thirteen once; many, many years ago, you know." Iroh chuckled, remembering the ceremony all those years ago.

"Let me see it, just once more before the ceremony, Uncle?" Zuko begged, tugging on Iroh's sleeve.

"Patience is a virtue, young Prince, but I will let you see it... if you sit down with your uncle for a nice cup of tea first!" Iroh smiled as he pulled out another teacup and pour the young Prince a cup of ginseng tea as his nephew seated himself. Iroh had barely set the teacup down when Zuko grabbed it and took a huge mouthful.

"Hot-hot-hot-hot-hot!" he cried, running in circles trying to fan his burnt mouth. Iroh had himself a hearty laugh as Zuko ran around him.

After his tongue no longer pained him, Zuko returned to his seat and slowly finished off his tea. Getting off his chair, he bowed to the retired admiral, and thanked him for the tea in a solemn tone of voice. Cracking a smile, he demanded to see his uncle's mark.

With a sigh, Iroh gestured for Zuko to come closer and rolled up his left sleeve. There, imprinted onto his left bicep, was a black mark of a dragon chasing its own tail above a roiling sea. It didn't seem like a burn or a tattoo, and as Zuko ran his fingers along the delicate tracings of black lines, he couldn't help but wonder how it had been formed. He wondered if it hurt – for today, at sunset of his thirteenth summer, he would be receiving his own mark from the Fire Sages.

"Now, young Prince, you should be returning to your quarters. We wouldn't want for your Father to see you wandering the halls on your Day of Marking, now would we? You're supposed to be meditating and fasting until the Fire Sages come to collect you at sundown." With a brief look of fear in his eyes at the mention of his ruthless father, Zuko nodded and hurried off to his quarters just down the hall from Iroh's own rooms.

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Arriving in at his quarters, Zuko changed into a pair of light black training pants and immediately headed off to his mediation room. It was a simple space right off from his main chamber, and it was sparsely decorated at best. There was a low table covered in a ruby red cover with 7 white candles standing on it, and a Fire Nation tapestry hanging from the wall behind it. Settling down in front of the table, he swept his hand in front of the candles, releasing a short wave of flame that lit all the candles simultaneously. Clearing his mind of all distractions, he closed his eyes and contemplated the flame, and its essential nature as a guide to spiritual calm.

He was roused from his mediations several hours later by a young Fire Sage, who, with a sombre look in his eyes, merely nodded to him and left the room, expecting Zuko to follow.

Grabbing a rich god-trimmed black over-robe, he quickly tied it off as he hurried out to follow the Fire Sage. As he walked down the halls, he couldn't help but notice the narrow crescent moon rising in the east, just barely peeking out over the horizon. The Fire Sage led him deeper and deeper into the palace, eventually coming to a set of huge, 10 foot tall redwood doors with strange tubes all over them. The doors were flanked by 6 of the Imperial Guard, and suddenly Zuko recognised them – the Gateway to Agni, the entrance into the holiest shrine in the Fire Nation. This was where his Marking ceremony would take place. As the Fire Sage nodded to the guards, they left their stations and took up position facing the door. As the Fire Sage gave the order, they each fired a plume of flame into the 6 locks, and, after a moment's concentrated fire, the locks disengaged and the doors slowly creaked open. This door was only opened on the thirteen birthdays of all male royal family members and on their subsequent deaths.

As the Imperial Guards marched back into position, Fire Sages emerged from previously unseen cubbyholes in the walls and flowed into the shrine. When the last of them had entered, Zuko proudly walked into the chamber as the doors slowly creeped shut behind him. With a deafening slam, they closed, and Zuko could hear the distinctive clicks as the locks all re-engaged. Turning back to the chamber, Zuko caught his first and last look at the interior of the Gates.

The chamber was shaped from black obsidian (not that unusual, considering that it was near the heart of a volcano) and carved with tales of Agni and the history of the royal family of the Fire Nation. The Fire Sages had arranged themselves into a circle of 15 with a single Sage, the oldest and wisest, in the middle next to a small table. Set into small depressions in the ground were small canisters – on each was a name, and Zuko tried to read some of them as he slowly walked to the centre of the chamber. Yuzon. Kuzai. Azulon... Zuko tried to contain his shock: he recognised that last name! "Grandfather... This must be where all the Fire Lords' ashes are buried... in the place where Agni first manifested and imbued the royal family with his blood..." As he reached the centre, the chief Fire Sage took his over robe from his shoulders and indicated that he kneel on the ground, facing away from him. As Zuko swallowed nervously, he heard the chief Sage begin the ceremony as the other Fire Sages began to chant to a haunting, yet strangely familiar, beat.

"Agni, hear our words as we say them. This boy, Zuko, is of your blood. Today, the life of Zuko the boy ends as you take your evening rest. But, as the surely as your glory rises again in the morn, the one known as Zuko shall too be reborn, but as Zuko, Crown Prince of the Fire Nation." With these words, hundreds of tiny flames seemed to ignite in the chamber. Not even pretending to notice these, the head Sage continued as he grabbed something from the small table and smeared it over Zuko's right shoulder blade. "Using the blood of a freshly killed komodo rhino stallion, signifying strength, mixed with red sandstone, for unyielding will, and your own blood, for loyalty, we ask that you acknowledge him as your son" All of a sudden, the hundreds of small fires, exploded into thousands of smaller flames, mere pinpricks of life, and shot down to Zuko's shoulder, forcing him onto the ground as he screamed out in agony. As he lay there writhing in pain, the Fire Sages slowly filed out of the antechamber, leaving Zuko alone with the spirits of former Fire Lords and Agni. Zuko could feel the fire in his shoulder, slowly burning his skin, and, it seemed, his very blood. The last thing he saw before he blacked out was the doors of the Gateway closing as the last sage left.

--- --- --- oOo --- --- ---

When the fire Sages came to collect him in the morning, the elder Sage came up to him, and, reverently, helped him to his feet. He deposited the Crown Prince into the arm of the less senior Sages as he removed his ceremonial sash, stained rusty with the blood of previous Fire Lords. As he wiped Zuko's shoulder clear of blood, both ceremonial and Zuko's own, the mark that Agni had gifted him with appeared.

A wolf howling over a backdrop of the full moon.

TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 2

So, what did you think? Hate it? Love it? Tell me all about it. Thanks in advance.