AN: Hi! I have a few things to preface this fic with that couldn't fit in the summary. Firstly, it's inspired wholly by a scene in Uncharted 2. I wanted to rewrite that scene with Zuko and Azula and Iroh and a story was born. This uses a lot of treasure-hunting-thieving genre tropes but I tried to give them a twist. It's major Toko and Tyzula, but there is some Maiko at the beginning. This chapter isn't beta'd, but the forthcoming ones will be by DearLemonLima, an amazing Tyzula/Toko author.

No Honor Among Thieves

"Fame is a strange thing. Some men gain glory after they die, while others fade. What is admired in one generation is abhorred in another." — The Song of Achilles

Chapter One
Savior

Zuko

I stared at the bars in front of me.

It was not the first time I had gotten locked up, but the authorities always released me thanks to my family name. This time, however, I had been in an inhumane foreign prison for three weeks, and it was all thanks to my little sister's betrayal.

So, imagine my confused rage when I saw her walk up to my cell with my uncle at her side. She covered her nose like she expected to be walking into a ritzy hotel.

"Dear Agni," she said, aghast.

I glared. "Oh, no, this prison you left me in isn't that bad. Look; I have my own bucket and everything. Just like the summer manor."

Wordlessly, Iroh opened the door for me with the keys from the guards and I grabbed it as Azula moved to step inside.

"Shut the door, Uncle! We're safer in here!" I exclaimed, and he overpowered me, pushing the cell door open.

Azula made a tsk tsk sound that picked at my wound.

"I have come to bust you out, brother. No one else would. My kindness and generosity knows no ends," she purred with a hand over her heart. I wanted to rip off her fake nails one by one, but I contained myself.

"Yeah, I am not going with the girl who got me locked in here in the first place!" I roared. Uncle frowned, as if he didn't understand where I was coming from.

Azula shrugged. "Feel free to remain in this nightmarish prison. Father has paid for your freedom and your safe passage to wherever it is you want to go. I think you might not be rushing back to Caldera. I think you might be on your way to a certain desert…"

I grunted and left the cell.

"If you're asking to get in on this, my answer is no," I said. "That double crossing was impressively soulless, even for you."

"Good luck finding another best thief in the business. She certainly won't be as pretty as me, but I wish her luck tolerating your mood swings and hero complex." Azula smirked. "Oh, and good luck finding another one of those maps like the pretty one I have in my purse, because I think I recall thatthere is only one, and if I have it, then you don't."

I couldn't believe her. No, I could believe her. This was completely typical behavior, and I didn't know why Uncle wasn't standing up for me.

"What's your interest in the… the… you know who?" I hissed. She looked as if I just made a funny joke.

"Doesn't everyone have something they would like to do with him or her? Or evidence he or she even existed? You may want your honor, but I think you might have realized that there is no honor among thieves, ZuZu." Azula looked me up and down with her glistening gold eyes. "I have my motives, you have yours." She watched my gaze move to her purse. Azula held it tighter to her body. She then shot me that look she gave when she didn't get a toy she wanted. "I have changed my mind since I arrived, since you have been so very rude to your savior. You take me with you, or I leave you in here to rot."

"I'll take the second one," I said without a moment of hesitation.

"Alright." Azula spun around on her heel and started to walk away.

"Wait!" Iroh interjected, grabbing her arm. She batted him away but stopped leaving. "Do not abandon this opportunity. Your brother isn't thinking straight. You could be very helpful to us, and we deeply appreciate your visit to bail us out."

"I know you're faking the niceties, but I appreciate the effort. I do hope we all remember that Uncle did about as much to rescue you as I did. I just have father saved as daddy in my cellphone and I don't think dear Uncle Iroh even knows his number." Azula sighed and picked at her nails. She then, as melodramatically as possible, said, "I will accompany you; the map will remain in my possession."

"How overconfident," I grunted.

"I was right, wasn't I? I also have brought two additions to our team. You two are a little slow for my liking," Azula said and I didn't know how to react.

She couldn't commandeer my mission to find the Avatar. It didn't belong to her. The mission was mine and mine alone, and I knew what I was doing. My sole mistake was letting Azula help me get the map. We broke into a museum and she took it before letting me take the fall.

That was Uncle's idea, mind you. And she brought a very distracting female, which was unfair.

A very distracting female who just walked into the room.

"Oh, great; I forgot that I was throwing a party for backstabbing bitches!" I shouted exasperatedly.

Mai ignored me and turned to Azula. "I am so bored waiting outside, and I'm not staying for another second. We take him or leave him before I gouge my own eyes out."

"Take me," I agreed, rubbing my neck. Mai was looking at me, and I didn't know how a man was supposed to react to a girl who tricked him with sex. Tricked him into being shut in this spiritsdamned prison.

Maybe that could go both ways, I noticed as I saw Mai's eyes linger on me for too long.

I glanced at Uncle; we could lose the girls and take the map. Azula's ego would be her downfall.

My sister would not expect me to be capable of betraying her.

Of that I was certain.