A/N: After what we've seen of Book 3, I noticed that nearly everyone has become more powerful in some way. Toph can metalbend, Katara with bloodbending, Sokka getting all crazy with that sword of his, and Aang being, well, the avatar. But Zuko's been left out of the power-up loop, and so, my creative mind (however small it may be) kicked in to produce this. A story that takes place where the leaked episodes of the Day of Black Sun end.
Oh, btw, don't let the strange beginning deter you. It will all make sense by the end of chapter two, which I've already started.
"Brother, someone is coming."
The being registered the remark and shook itself out of its dormant state. Its brother looked at him anxiously.
"Surya…do you think this one will listen?"
"It is hard to tell, brother." Surya replied. "It has been two hundred years since we fled the mortal realm. Humans are hard to understand, and they would say the same for us. They have stopped believing in the Old Gods, after all."
"But Surya! If he does not listen, the human world-"
"It is too quick to judge whether hope is lost or not, Savitr." Surya addressed his brother. "Let us first deem if this one is worthy. Now be silent; he approaches."
Two days earlier:
The balloon landed gently onto the solid ground with a soft thud, and its lone passenger turned off the burners. All around him were off-white buildings, all abandoned and ruined, and, combined with the gray sky, made a rather somber and depressing scene.
Zuko climbed out of the aircraft. He was sure he had seen the bison head this way, and followed the wake the giant creature made in the clouds. With any luck, the avatar would take refuge here with his group, which seemed the most logical choice seeing as this was the closest safe haven to the Fire Nation than anyplace else.
He couldn't help but notice the irony behind his situation. Not a few years before he had been doing just this, tracking the avatar, in order to please his father. Now he found himself tracking the avatar in order to defeat him.
He heard footfalls coming from a ledge above him. Even though he couldn't place why, his instincts bade him to head for cover, so he dove behind a pillar, listening intently.
"Okay, there's a barn over there we can stay in. There should be enough room for everybody."
Aang lead the weary group down a staircase and further into the desolate ruins of the old air temple. He remembered this place fondly. The Western Air Temple was exclusively for housing female airbenders, and he remembered how many of them had treated him so well. But now all that resided here were the echoes of a time forgotten and cast aside by war.
He was so lost in his memories that he almost missed the corner he was meant to turn into. He rounded it and arrived at the barn that used to house the flying bisons.
"Here it is. It certainly looks roomy enough." Aang tried to sound cheerful, but the sadness in his voice was obvious. His friends shuffled past him wordlessly. Sokka finally approached Aang.
"Hey, Aang…we left all of our supplies with the submarines that got destroyed. Do you think there'd be anyplace we can salvage some things?"
"Sure!" Aang tried to uphold his smile despite the troubling news. "There's a mess hall down this corridor, and the cellars should still have a lot of spare equipment. Maybe we'll even find another lemur to keep Momo company. Heh, heheh…"
"Aang, you don't have to try so hard." Katara moved up behind him, Haru beside her. "We suffered a loss at the Fire Nation, and it's important that we keep our hopes up, but…" She placed her hands on Aang's shoulder. "For now, we should rest. We can make good beds out of the old piles of hay and Appa's fur. We'll be fine."
"Alright, Katara. We can search in the mor-"
"Everyone, don't move!"
Toph had suddenly yelled for all of them to stand still, and kneeled down to place her hand on the paved ground. After a moment, she cried out again.
"You there! Come out!"
Zuko, still crouched behind his column, cringed, but didn't move.
"I said come out or should I drag you out?"
The prince realized that he had no choice, even though he had no idea how she discovered him in the first place. He found himself somewhat nervous, but stood tall all the same as he revealed himself to the troupe.
"Zuko?"
It took them a moment to register who exactly was standing among the ruined pillars and statues, but once they did, reaction was swift.
In an instant, Aang stomped the ground hard, summoning a small boulder, and, pushing with all his might, sent it hurtling at Zuko. Zuko saw it coming and braced himself, but made no move to block the projectile. It struck him squarely in the chest, but wasn't enough to break his stance.
Yelling, Aang attacked once more, this time lifting a fallen statue of an old monk and twirled it in mid-air before pointing the bald, stone head at Zuko and letting fly. The fire prince was prepared for some small boulders, but an entire statue was too much, and so he widened his stance and dropped his head as the statue passed over him harmlessly.
But as the stone monk sailed over him, Katara had frozen some nearby water into four thick ice shards, which hurled themselves at Zuko and embedded themselves in his clothes, and then into the pillar he had previously used as cover, pinning him there.
"What are you doing here?!"
Aang's voice filled mountain air, ringing with pain and hatred. "Why did you follow us?"
At first, Zuko did not reply. Katara spoke up instead.
"If you don't answer in the next two seconds, I swear I'll make you regret coming here."
Zuko sighed before replying: "I've come to…to help you."
"Hah!" Sokka stepped forward. "As if we would believe anything you said, you dirty firebender. You've already proved yourself to be a liar and a traitor in Ba Sing Se."
"And that is why I've also come to ask for forgiveness."
The group was shocked, but not for long.
"We will never forgive you. Not after all you've done to us." Katara looked at the prince in a way that tore into his heart. A look of utmost hatred, reminiscent of the looks he received from the villagers he had exposed himself to months before in the Earth Kingdom. "You betrayed us in the catacombs. You made me believe that you had actually changed. That you were actually human! But then you smother that false sense of hope when you help Azula nearly kill Aang! How can we forgive you for any of that? You lying Fire Nation-"
"Katara, stop it! He's telling the truth."
All eyes turned to Toph, still with her Earth Kingdom helmet on, whose eyes stared at nothing in particular. "He's not like his sister. He wears his heart on his sleeve. He hasn't lied once."
No one moved. It seemed altogether impossible that their old enemy had told them the entire truth. Finally, Sokka spoke.
"Katara, let him down."
Still wary, she melted the icicle shards, letting the water fall into puddles at Zuko's feet. Sokka then approached him, alone, before stopping within ten yards, his face cautious yet stern.
"Why? Why would you leave your cushy Fire Nation palace to travel with us, the people who plan to defeat your own father? There can't possibly be a good reason for it." He stopped before adding, "And no funny stuff, either. Toph over there can tell if you're lying, so don't even try."
"I don't plan to." Zuko replied in a husky voice. He closed his eyes for a moment, preparing to launch into a lengthy tale of how he came to be there.
"After Ba Sing Se, all of the Fire Nation believed the avatar to be dead, and not only that, but they believed I killed him."
"What? Azula was the one who attacked me, not you."
"I know, and I hesitated to say so. If it was discovered, then my father would never accept me. But he did, and I had everything I had ever dreamed of having. My nation, my honor, my rightful place as heir to the throne. I even found myself a girlfriend. I was happy."
"Or I thought I was, but over the next weeks I became even angrier than usual, and I couldn't tell who I was angry with, until it hit me. I was angry at myself. And a few nights later, a note arrived in my bedroom, telling me it was time I learned of my past and the reasons behind my turmoil. I had to learn about how the war began, about Fire Lord Sozin."
The entire group was immersed into Zuko's story, but Sokka revealed no emotion. Zuko pressed on.
"I snuck into the Dragonbone Catacombs, where the most sacred Fire Nation documents are held, and read the final testament of my great-grandfather. But I learned nothing. That same night I barged into the room where they were keeping my uncle, and demanded to know what the meaning behind the note was since he was obviously the one who sent it. He told me that Sozin was my great-grandfather on my father's side, but my great-grandfather on my mother's side…was Avatar Roku."
"What?!"
"And he also gave me this."
Zuko took a pouch hanging from his belt and emptied the contents into his hand, holding the old crown up for everyone to see.
"That's Roku's!" Aang cried disbelievingly. "How did you…"
"My Uncle Iroh gave it to me, proving my connection to the last avatar." Zuko waited before continuing. "This was only a few days before the day of black sun, and during the rest of the time I had before the invasion, I reached an important decision. I decided to forsake everything I had lived for, had fought for, and had finally regained, so I could join you."
No-one said a word. Dead silence filled the air.
"At the moment of the eclipse, I confronted my father with swords drawn, and declared that I was deserting him. I said I would join the avatar and help end this war. Help end him, my own father."
"So why didn't you?" Sokka asked. "You had him under your thumb. You had your swords and he couldn't firebend. Why did you let him live?"
"As I told him, I know my destiny." Zuko locked eyes with Aang. "Defeating the fire lord is the avatar's destiny. After I had said this, the eclipse had ended, and I would have been killed if it hadn't been for my uncle's training. I managed to escape."
"After I left my father, I searched for my uncle to escape with him, but he was already gone. And so I pursued you on my own, and here I am, at your mercy."
All eyes turned to Toph, but she addressed the newcomer.
"I've heard a lot about you, firebender. I've been told you're a cruel, angry, heartless pain in the neck." She paused. "But you certainly aren't a liar. He's been telling the complete truth."
All of them, Aang, Katara, Sokka, and even the newcomers, who had no clue as to who this latecomer was, stared at him with wide eyes.
"It's all true? All of it?" Aang asked incredulously.
"Yep." Toph replied. "As true as can possibly be. The entire story."
Sokka's expression finally slipped into shock. "You gave up all you had ever wanted…to join us? Did I hear you correctly?"
"Yes. You did."
"Excuse us for a moment."
Sokka hurried back to his group, and they huddled close together, muttering between themselves. Zuko strained his ears to listen in, but they were too careful.
Then the waterbender, Katara, yelled out.
"What?! No! Absolutely not, out of the question!"
Her brother dragged her back into the huddle, shushing her loudly, and they continued their debate.
Finally, they broke and Sokka and Aang approached Zuko, while Katara huffed and stood behind, immediately being questioned by Teo and the others. Sokka spoke first.
"We have no choice but to trust you, but we still don't like you." Zuko's expression fell.
"But we decided that we'd give you a chance anyway. Don't screw it up."
Zuko looked at them straight in the eyes and very nearly smiled.
A/N: Did you enjoy it? I think it may have been a little rushed, but tell me your thoughts in a review if you feel inclined to do so.
Scratch that. Please leave a review. I'm desperate to know if this turned out all right.