Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Note: So this is my first Avatar fic. It takes place two years after the events of the day of Sozen's (Ozai's) Comet and will circle around several characters in multiple plot-lines. The basis of this future is explained pretty quickly, so don't think a little summary is necessary. Hopefully you guys like it.

…

Oh, and although this is an Adventure fic, there will be something of a Toph x Zuko vibe, with subtler themes of Zhao x Azula, some hints at Aang x Katara as well as Zuko x Katara in later chapters. Other pairings may emerge in the future, too.

Besides the weird shipping, I hope you guys enjoy the plot, as well.

…

…

...

… … … … … …

Book One:

Air

Chapter One:

The New Fire Lord

… … … … … … … … … …

...

…

…

'There is probably little use for documenting this day in a journal, but I've never been a man to miss out on the details. But today could not go unnoticed by any soul in the now, once again honorable, Fire Nation. The day of my coronation will forever remain in the history of this great country as the day the masses were saved from the foolishness of my young predecessor, if that's what I could call him. He was little of a Fire Lord, preaching peace and docility. It sickened me for the few years he held the throne to see him turn my homeland into such a weak embarrassment. He was a boy who knew nothing of how to govern such a powerful land, he let our potential stagnate and wither as he recalled several of our military's most esteemed branches in hopes of spreading his delusions of harmony.

But being a boy of few years and less experience, he hadn't learned to keep an eye out for the details. He forgot that his forefathers' great reign over this nation would not allow us to roll over as feebly as he hoped. He overlooked the fact that his people were now angry and impatient. He failed to notice that half of his subjects were once proud members of the Fire Nation's Great Army and Navy, all of which suffered the same unrest and disgust I did. They lashed out with meager raids and pathetic assassination attempts, never seeing any success, what they needed was a leader. And I happily stepped forward.
I didn't spend two and a half years living among the peasantry, under a different name, only to forget my ambitions.

All that time ago, after only narrowing escaping my miscalculations at the Northern Raid I had stowed away on one of my own ships that managed to spare itself from the wrath of the Avatar. I had a chance to announce my survival, to step up and try again, but I wasn't a fool. With my defeat I knew I was destined to suffer the same fate as that fat oaf once known as the Dragon of the West. So I hid myself, waited for a chance, bided my time, and the rest is history. Or at least it will be.'

He set down the single, extravagant brush, careful not to spill the ink on the even more extravagant sleeves of his blood-red robes. He admired the carefully woven characters on the paper of the scroll in front of him as they dried. He hadn't planned on recounting the events of the past two years, but it seemed appropriate for the day. He leaned back in the crimson armchair, growing more comfortable in his new quarters with every minute that passed.
He belonged there.
He had spent too long in ugly little houses with disgusting little rooms. He was finally surrounded by the extravagance he deserved, the history he deserved to be a part of.

It was only a moment before his moment of quiet admiration was interrupted.

"Fire Lord Zhao, sir." A male servant opened the door ceremoniously, stepping to the side and bowing with a straight back.

The former Admiral didn't bother opening his eyes at the interruption, but his brow did furrow with annoyance despite the pride swelling in his chest at hearing those two coveted words before his name.

"What is it?" He asked deeply, letting his irritation be heard.

"Y-Your request has been fulfilled." The male servant stuttered with the fear Zhao took pride in inflicting in most of his subjects. Fear had the same effect as admiration when it came to loyalty, and betrayal is combated by love. Admiration was when they loved you too much to betray you, but fear was spurred by the love for themselves. In the end, people only really love themselves.

Fire Lord Zhao had to think for a moment to remember which 'request' this servant was talking about. He leaned his head against the back of the armchair, he almost smiled as he felt the golden Royal Ornament in his, now long, hair shift a little with the pressure.

"Your men have located the prisoner in question, they are now awaiting your orders in what to do with it." The servant elaborated after the silence was too unbearable for him.

Zhao's eyes opened quickly as he stood up from his seat. His day just got more interesting. He hadn't expected them to find her so quickly.

"Tell them that it is the Fire Lord's wish to bring the prisoner to the palace." Zhao voiced with cold humor as he removed the long wooden weight straightening out the side of the scroll which was now dry.

"Yes, Fire Lord Zhao." The man bowed lowly before quickly backing out of the room and closing the door quietly.

Zhao was left in the silent room again, he wound the scroll. It was only a moment before his eyes found the large portrait in the elaborate room. A family portrait.
He only wondered why the previous Fire Lord would've kept the portrait in his quarters for a moment until he moved onto who he should punish for not taking it down. But, despite that, his eyes scanned the four painted faces with slight interest. A face that struck fear in thousands despite his current weakness, an incredibly beautiful one that hadn't been seen for half a decade, a young one that had yet to be grotesquely marred by the owner of the first face, and, lastly, an even younger face of immature beauty parallel to her mothers, but with the same dangerous look in her eye as her father's.

Memories of the past came flooding back with these nostalgic faces as plans for the future stewed in his thoughts. Thoughts of the prisoner now being granted invitation to the Fire Nation Palace was added to the mix of schemes and plans.

A smirk pulled at the corner of his lips.

"This is going to be interesting." The Fire Lord joked quietly as he decided to retire for the evening.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ...

How long have I been in this room?
The young man stirred awake, the same question he asked himself as he fell asleep haunted him again the moment he regained consciousness. His jaw ached as he lifted it from the stone floor.

The former Prince, and once Fire Lord, had spent his share of time in prison cells, but never any this cruel.

No windows, no lights, only an equally window-less metal door that was impervious to any degree of firebending capable of even a master and locked out even the smallest sliver of light from getting into the dark cell. He shuffled in the darkness as he balanced himself from lying on his chest to kneeling on his sore knees. He grunted hoarsely with the pain of his muscles when he tried to move his shoulders. His arms had been restrained behind his back for as long as he had been in this room.

How long has that been?

He asked himself again.
He knew he lost his voice two sleeps ago. His pointless yelling, shouts, and screams hadn't been heard by anyone who made their existence known to him. And he only received dry meals, stale and spiky bread with slightly rotten meat, for no reason he could think of other than to purposefully traumatize his throat from making another sound for a while longer.
If only he had a window… something that could let him see the passing of time… that would at least give him some sort of illusion of control over this situation. But instead his eyes hadn't seen light since the last time a guard opened that door to scrape an almost barren plate across the floor towards him, and even then the weak fire-light seemed blinding. His eyes were too used to the dark.
How the hell did I let myself get here?
The scarred boy clenched his already weak and achy jaw with frustration. He wanted to scream again, to yell at the top of his lungs out of pure anger, but he had already done too much of that. Instead the prisoner turned over onto his back, stretching his apathy-ridden muscles the best he could, wincing at the pain, baring his teeth slightly.

I have to get out of here.

I have to get control of my kingdom again.

I have to see Uncle again.

I have to see everyone again.

Even Mai…
Even if she's tried to 'kill' me countless times since I had to leave her again, to see her face again right now... Any face…
Any except one….
He thought of the man who was probably enjoying his stay in his palace right now, the devious smile he thought had died over two years ago.
The scarred boy wanted to scream and yell and kick and turn this whole place into ash again. But he couldn't do any of those things.

I'm going to kill him.
Zuko promised himself as he flexed his shoulders again, letting out another muted grunt of pain.

I need to find a way out of here first!

… … … … … …. …. … … … … … … … … … … …

You know, when they said this place was unreachable, they really meant it didn't they?
The fourteen-year-old thought to herself as she wiped the sweat from her brow.
It's a good thing that that fire nation ship came by, though.
She thought happily to herself as she dipped the scraggily metal oar back into the water to propel her little improvised boat another few feet through the water. The ship had probably noticed a few minutes after she already set sail that there was a hefty patch of metal missing from the underside of their hull… but now that the Fire Nation was back on the evil side, it didn't matter right?

… Whatever.

Despite her slightly happy mood there for a moment caused by the thrill of metalbending, she could barely see where she was going. If this had been two years before she'd be completely blind right now.

… Well, blind-er.
But after spending most of her time travelling from village to village, town to town, city to city, seeking out any other earthbenders who might have tips on metalbending she'd picked up a few things over the last year and a half. Even if she was really starting to suspect, with a rather large pinch of pride, that she really might be the only metalbender in the world, she didn't need to learn from a master. She could learn from herself. If there was anything she did learn it was that you were your own greatest master. You just had to listen.
Metal worked a little different than earth… well, a lot different, actually. It was thinner, so the vibrations always seemed a little weak at first since it was rarely as thick or as plentiful as earth, but that was only because she hadn't learned one of the most crucial things about seeing through metal.

Metal wasn't something to use as her eyes, metal was almost like a hand. Metal grabbed vibrations differently than earth, it was sharper and colder, but it could pick up a lot more when you used it right, and especially if you knew what to look for.

Right now as she dipped the oar back into the water, she tapped it strongly with a flick of her finger, she could blurrily see the movement of the water, the fins of the fish underneath her little boat, and even the little hermit crabs scuttling along the bottom of the ocean floor.

She never really saw underwater like this a lot, especially not before the past few years. It was so… nauseating.

Feeling every wave and ever fish may sound like a pretty and cute ability, but all the motion and movement of the bouncing waves and flittering fish was really starting to make her feel like up-chucking.
She was immediately reminded of the Black Sun Invasion. The submarines that that dork, Sokka, had dreamed up. Jeez, that was worse than this. She complained inwardly.

But she didn't dwell on the sea-sickness of the past when her mind suddenly landed back to that name:

Sokka.

…

Katara, Aang, Suki.

Where are you guys?

She pulled her little boat through the water again.

I know you guys all had stuff to do. And even though I was the only one that didn't have a city to rebuild, a palace to guard, new airbenders to look for, or a nation to run, you guys really can't be too busy to make a little time for one of your friends, right?

…

I mean I know he was all evil and a jerk and stuff when you first met… and bald… -she remembered the taunting Sokka gave Zuko when he started to grow his hair out long so that he could fit the Fire Lord image- … but he was one of us, too, right?
He fought with us when that loser Ozai was gonna use Sozen's Comet to sizzle us all…

He was trying to make everything right…

Why aren't any of you here with me right now!
In reality, she had wanted to wait a little while longer before doing something as stupid as paddling in a little boat to The Boiling Rock. But that damn old man Iroh. She paid the Jasmine Dragon one visit (it took her a while to find it, too…) and he had managed to convince her on going on this one-girl journey after one cup of tea.

Well… he didn't really say 'Go risk your life for my nephew', but the way he kept talking about it, the way she could just hear the worry and sadness in his voice… it was just too much to hear from a guy that had always been so happy and nice to her. So if this could shut him up, then whatever… she would do it.

Her thoughts circled around the conversation that sparked this stupid plan:

It was just a quiet afternoon in Ba Sing Se. Even if the footsteps of the people did seem a little hushed and hurried, as if they were all nervous now that the Fire Nation was back to being… well, the Fire Nation… it was really just a peaceful day at a tea shop. It was actually a little crowded, but no one was talking… she guessed everyone was just trying to relax and not think about where they would go once the Fire nation came back to reclaim Ba Sing Se.
'Admiral Zhao is a ruthless man. But despite his inability to control his ambitions, he is still a very skilled strategist.' The old man said quietly as she had tried to drink the tea she couldn't really enjoy with this atmosphere. She'd known about what happened to Zuko for only a day. That's why she came back to Ba Sing Se, to look for the gang and try to get a rescue mission on board.
But only old man Iroh was there.
He said he hadn't heard anything from Twinkle-Toes-Avatar or the others.

'Yeah, but didn't anyone catch him?' She asked up a little gruffly. 'I know Zuko had a lot of uprisings and stuff to deal with but why was this Zhao guy so special? Why didn't Zuko try to get our help? I mean he should've at least told the Avatar that the 'balance' or whatever was in danger or something.' She could hear the disappointment hidden in the rudeness of her voice, but hoped the old man wouldn't.
He sighed.

'He knew the layout of the palace too well, and he knew Zuko is a very single-minded boy who is prone to falling for distractions. It is most likely that Zuko himself had no idea such a wide-scale rebellion was brewing in his own country.' Iroh sighed again, 'I can only imagine where Zuko is now.'

Toph set down her tea cup with more force than necessary, feeling reckless.

'Well, what's your imagination telling you, old man?'

The next day she was travelling again. On her way back to the Fire Nation… to hunt down this 'Boiling Rock' place. It didn't take her long; everyone was talking about it anyways.
That Uncle probably knew what she was going to try and do, he kept warning her to wait till they heard word from the Avatar.

But she couldn't just wait for twinkle-toes to get off his bum and do something about this.

With the way old man Iroh talked about this place, it sounded like that once-evil-and-bald guy didn't have a whole lot of waiting time before he…
Before he…
She blinked unnecessarily as she pushed the oar into the now warmer water with a little too much force, she winced when the water sprayed on her skin.
She was definitely getting closer.

But…

But she didn't have really much of a plan on how to get inside, let alone find the cell she was looking for. Key word being: looking. She hated to admit it but they probably wouldn't exactly have blind-friendly nametags or something.

This was why she wanted to wait!
She felt that, just like the old days, they were all just gonna jump on Appa, fly into this place, bust through the defenses, whack around the guards a little, grab Grumpy Lord and just waltz out of there… but here she was, her face green with motion-sickness, shoveling the oar back into the water, tapping it to make sure she was still going straight, looking like an idiot in her makeshift row boat.

… She didn't focus on how stupid she looked when she felt the vibrations from the oar.
She noticed something. No little fishes, no scuttling crabs….

She dipped her hand into the water before quickly pulling it out.

It was definitely too hot to support any life.

She decided to wade the oar through the water a while longer before torturing herself with the even more nauseating feeling of how hot water moved. It was faster, churned in circles in on itself.

After going at least a half hour without looking, she dipped the oar back into the water, pausing a moment.

She tapped it and was immediately shaken to feel the hard vibrations of the earth in front of her, the hot water hurting her head a little. Land was only a few feet away.

So this must be the outer ring the old man talked about. At last I get to see again!
She hurried with the last few paddles before the bottom of her metal boat scraped the edge of rock. She jumped out with anticipation; her bottomless shoes letting her feet hit the ground first.
She immediately regretted it.
There was nothing worse that this feeling.
Volcano.
The churning, the grinding, the noise.

She wanted to punch something. This was definitely one of the worst places she's ever been and she couldn't even turn back. If she did then she'd just be letting that scar-face in there down, letting that old tea-obsessed guy down, and would be branded a complete wuss.

She took another step onto land, her foot landing on a sharp rock that was hateful enough to poke her painfully through the callous texture of her foot.

Again she wished twinkle-toes was here so she could punch him in the face for not being here. But she just took another step, a little blinded by the tectonic movement but still sure of her footing as she had to start going uphill.

She quickly climbed to the top of the natural rock-wall, still feeling really queasy, only to get a face-full of steam and an ear-full of the deafening chorus of bubbling from the boiling lake down there she that had no idea how to cross without being seen, or even cross at all.

Okay… this is gonna be… interesting. She said mentally with a cross of frustration and challenge.
… …. … …. … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

Well, now that the preliminaries out of the way, onward!

:)