Zuko- Banished Prince

Jarael Moonsilver

It all started at the invasion. Well, technically, on The Day of Black Sun. But this story starts at a different invasion.

Three weeks before Sozin's Comet would arrive, we, "Team Avatar", decided to try one last time at stopping my father before it came. I know, it was a stupid idea. But it was definitely not expected. Fire Lord Ozai thought no one would be dumb enough to try while the firebending was up and running.

But, of course, we had to prove him wrong. This is that untold story.

The day of the invasion, everything went smoothly. We got in almost undetected, and managed to hold off most of the Fire Nation's army. But, like I said, we were almost undetected. We all split up. Sokka and Katara went to keep the army at bay with their reinforcements. Toph caught any stray snitches that might give us away. Aang and I went to find Azula and my father.

We made it; to my dad, anyways. Azula was nowhere to be found. Aang started to fight, but my dad had seen us coming for miles away. He had saved the best firebenders for me to deal with.

The fight started out pretty well. I could handle those chumps easily as long as I wasn't distracted. And believe me, it's hard to concentrate on what you're doing when the Avatar is fighting nearby. I kept hearing blasts and could feel vibrations I wasn't making, but I tried not to think about doing anything else except fight. And I did. I had killed or knocked out all of them when I turned around to see how Aang was doing.

Apparently, not very well. As I turned around, my father sent a huge fireball towards Aang, who jumped backwards out of the way. But he had too much momentum and crashed into a rock wall. He fell to the ground, unconscious.

I rushed over, and stood between Aang and my father. He took a breath, then slowly started to move forward.

"Ah, Zuko. Long time. I haven't seen you since the eclipse. When you betrayed you father and the Fire Nation."

"Stay back!"

Ozai stopped, "Come now, Zuko. You don't have to do this. Leave the Avatar and I will except you back. I will even tell everyone that you killed the Avatar. You will be a hero."

I took a step back. That was my weakness. Acceptance. The promise of being restored to who I used to be. Before I knew better, I thought, Before I joined the Avatar and became accepted by him and his friends. "No," I said, standing straighter with resolve, "I won't let you tempt me again. I will never join you. And if you want the Avatar, then you'll have to go through me."

He glared at me with hatred. "Then so be it." A huge stream of fire came hurtling towards me. I had to use my own fire to stop it from frying Aang and me. He kept his fire going, so I had no choice but to do the same. I don't know how long we kept a continuous fire going, but it seemed like forever. In a few weeks, I would be able to keep it up for ten minutes, easily. But the comet wasn't helping then, so it didn't take long to tire us both.

I was about to give out when Aang stirred. I glanced back, "Aang, uh, little help?"

He looked up at me in a daze, "I-" His eyes widened with terror, "I c- can't move!"

"What do you mean you can't move?!" I yelled, trying to keep it going just little longer, "You're the all-powerful Avatar! Master of all four elements! I'm about to get burnt to a crisp and you're telling me you can't move?!"

"I'm sorry! I don't know what happened! I can't move at all!"

"Well, except for talking, apparently," I said sarcastically, "Aang, I'm sorry. It's not your fault."

He looked up with his face full of worry, "What are we gonna do?"

My father collapsed from exhaustion, and I stopped bending, "I'll tell you what we're going to do." I leaned down, keeping a wary eye on my father. I searched Aang's clothes until I found what I was looking for; a small white whistle in the shape of a bison, "We're gonna get you out of here!" I took a beep breath and blew the silent whistle as hard as I could.

Appa swooped down from the sky just as the Fire Lord began to stir. I picked up Aang and carried him onto Appa's back. "Appa, Aang's hurt. I need you to get him back to camp."

Aang protested as I set him down, "But Zuko, what about you?" Cute kid, but totally cliché line.

"I'll hold my father off so you can get away. I'll follow when I get the chance." If I get the chance, I thought. Not out loud; there was no use scaring the kid.

"But-"

"Go! Appa, yip yip!" I jumped to the ground just as the flying bison took off... and my dad woke up completely.