I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender.
Prologue:
In this universe Zuko chose not to hunt the avatar and had to stay in a town that is in the middle of a huge desert. His Ghostly appearance is due to a combination of malnutrition and sitting very close to fires on cold desert nights (ashes). He is a self-taught fire-bending master with a unique style learned from Waterbenders, Earthbenders, and of course Firebenders.
In this universe Katara left Sokka and the village in the self imposed banishment that Aang talked her out of in the show.
Toph, pretty much the same as on the show, only there isn't any Sokka there.
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"The people call what they think my name is, and they coo out soft word to try and tempt me. They genuinely think that I am a stupid animal," Zuko thought to himself. There is a lot of loneliness in his heart, and there seems to be no cure for it. "Would life be better for me now if I decided to hunt the Avatar?" He wonders to himself.
"Ghost," a little girl calls out softly.
"My name is Zuko!" He screams in his head.
Then Zuko leaves his perch on the roof of the local saloon.
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Mean while Katara Toph and Aang were heading towards the exact town that Zuko now lived in. They needed to stop for supplies since they didn't want to starve.
When the town came in sight it was midday. It was in the early afternoon when they finally landed, bought food, and found an Inn to stay in.
The Innkeeper welcomed them as they entered.
"Hello, how are our Honored guest this evening?" He asked pleasantly.
"Tired," Toph said gruffly.
"Well catch up on your sleep now, so you can be awake to search for the Ghost," he said smiling widely.
"The Ghost?" asked Aang.
"Well it isn't really a ghost. More like a crazy person who looks like a ghost," the Innkeeper assured. "You see we try to feed it food so it wont starve. It's quite noble actually."
"Crazy person?" Katara wondered aloud.
"Crazy like the innocent clueless kind of crazy," the Innkeeper reassured the group.
"Treating someone like an animal is very noble," Toph said sarcastically.
"It is not polite for a young girl to comment in such a manner," The Innkeeper said coldly.
"Yeah right. Like you would ever get me to be nice to a scumbag like you," Toph said bluntly.
They went up to their rooms leaving The Innkeeper steaming.
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Zuko looked around the back of shops for food. There was none. He placed his hand on an audibly grumbling stomach.
This night the butcher put out his scraps out for the ally cats. Of course they didn't get any of them, but Zuko did.
The Butcher sets out his food hours later. Zuko moved in on it, but he got there to soon.
"The Ghost!" screamed the Butcher. "I saw him! I saw the Ghost!"
Zuko quickly moved away from the scene. The Butcher was dancing with glee, so it was easy to sneak away.
A crowd started to gather at the scene.
"You saw him? They say that seeing a glimpse of him will bring you luck," and old Lady chimed in. "It will be either good luck or bad. I think it is base of your karma."
"Nobody has seen him in over a year," Another man from the crowd said.
"I actually saw him. He had ashy white hair and skin. His body was very thin and he was very fast," The butcher described.
"Yes, yes, yes. Please stop bragging," The old lady said.
"He seemed desperate for food. The scraps I put out were taken by him," He said pointing to his empty hands. With that said everyone in the town had turned to each other and began to plat ways to draw him out of hiding.
"He is hungry, but he hates you," Toph said. "I can feel his vibrations."
"Why would he hate me?" asked the Butcher sounding hurt.
"You talk about him like he is an animal," Toph answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"But, but he is…..but," The Butcher stuttered.
"He thinks like one and he acts like one. The boy depends on us," the Innkeeper said confidently.
"I think he knows that we are smarter than him, and he knows he needs us," a little boy named Lee said.
"That's right son," a woman named Seela said.
Toph just shook her head in exasperation.
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later
When the crowd had parted everyone was trying to tempt him out with food. With the exception of Toph, Katara, and Aang. They believed Toph.
The townspeople kept on calling and cooing for him for hours. The food in their hands began to grow old.
Katara was going berserk. There was calling every second of the night, and it wasn't very easy to sleep with. When she finally got fed up with it she marched to the nearest ally with some food in her hands.
"Hey Ghost, or whatever your name is!" Katara yelled. "I have real food here and you have to the count of five to get it. One… Two…three…"
Swish, and there he was. His hair was the dull color of ash. His clothes looked worn, old, and to loose for his willowy body. The only thing about him that wasn't ashy or faded was his beautiful goldenrod eyes. He looked longingly at the food.
"Are you going to give that food or not?" he asked after Katara was quiet for a long time.
"I will if you tell me your name," She answered.
He looked at her suspiciously and analyzed her clothing. "Who do you work for?" he asked rudely.
"I don't work for anyone, and why do you even need to ask that question?" she said.
"Never mind," he grumbled. "
"What is your name?" Katara repeated. This time she sounded irritated.
"Zuko," he said softly.
She gave him the food and decided to ask him another question. "Why did you come down for me and not anyone else?"
"You called to me like a human and not a stupid animal," Zuko answered.
"That's all it really takes," Katara asked.
"You like questions don't you?" Zuko countered.
"Just answer my question," she said impatiently.
"Pretty much, unless you tick me off. Then I don't come and you get a surprise that you probably wont want," He said. "Just like my butcher friend will get."
Suddenly Katara noticed the skin around his left eye was swollen and distorted.
"What happened to your eye?" she asked. Then he turns tail and runs.
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That is the first chapter of my second fan fiction if you don't count my one shot. I hope you like it. Yes, Lee and Seela are the people from Zuko alone.