A/N: All right, this is my first real attempt at an Avatar fanfic. Having seen the entire series play out and having read more about the characters, I'm far more knowledgeable about Avatar than I was back when I posted 'Love And Hate' which was more or less a test of my knowledge of the show. And going over it a few times this morning, I realized that it well it was nowhere near what I could do now. I'll probably delete it and remake it at a later date so this officially will be my first true Avatar fanfic. Enjoy! To start things off, for those who aren't totally informed with how the show got to where the fic presents it, a brief synopsis of what led to the events described in the fic will be given. I thank the creators and those involved with the Avatar Wikia for all their information, as I could have never have effectively written this without it! Forgive me if the synopsis is long, but it is vital to explain the story. And also, due to Zuko being Fire Lord and the war over, he is considerably more playful than his old self would be, but that's my own personal twist on his character so forgive me if he is OOC because of that. Because Kuzon was never actually described in the show, his appearance and history are completely fan-created by me.
Brief Summary: Set sometime after Zuko is crowned 'Fire Lord Zuko', the end of the war, and Azula going insane. While Aang is relaxing, Zuko approaches him for a friendly chat and the subject comes up about Aang's old friend, Kuzon… Zuko X Aang friendship only! Implied KataraXAang and ZukoXMai One-shot!
The formerly exiled Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, now Fire Lord, Zuko smiled. Zuko had once been the Crown Prince or next eligible person to ascend the throne of Fire Lord, but after speaking out of turn in a war meeting, angering his father, he refused to fight in an Agni Kai or 'Fire Duel' which Ozai saw as 'shameful weakness' and thus burned Zuko's right eye, permanently scarring him while stripping him of his birthright and banishing him, therefore making Azula the Crown Princess of the Fire Nation and the next eligible heir. The once vengeful teen had finally realized the error of his ways in trying to capture the Avatar, Aang who was also the last living Airbender in existence in order to attempt to gain the love of his cold, callous and unloving father, ex-Fire Lord Ozai, whom in Zuko's words 'didn't know how to show real love.'
It took the 16-year-old Lord 3 years to realize that fact, but he was happier than he had ever been in his life for realizing it. But even so his path on the road to stopping the century-old war had one major obstacle – his sadistic younger sister Azula.
The ruthless teen girl had been in line to become the new Fire Lord after her father, Ozai declared himself Phoenix King or in his words 'the supreme ruler of everything', in the hopes that the power of the arrived Sozin's Comet, the very comet used by Fire Lord Sozin to begin the war, would allow the Fire Nation to emerge triumphant as the very energy from the comet utilized by all Firebenders enhanced their Firebending to 100 times its normal strength aside from strength drawn via the Sun according to Ozai and thus would even overpower Aang who had already long since become a master Airbender and was well on his way to becoming a master Waterbender, but the power given by Sozin's Comet would be far more powerful than any energy of bending Aang could conjure because Ozai's power of fire at the comet's time of contact would match a fully realized Avatar.
However what the then-exiled Prince didn't know at first was that his younger sister was slipping into insanity due to a series of events that was slowly tearing away at her fragile psyche, the key of which was her only friends Mai and Ty Lee effectively betraying her, the former stating that she loved Zuko more than she feared Azula, something that brought Azula's mental instability to the surface, because she herself had never experienced love herself and thus the very thought of that plus the fact that their mother, the currently exiled and wandering Princess Ursa loved Zuko more, began to rip away at her very soul.
When the time came for Azula's coronation into Fire Lord, the first known woman to hold the position (1) of Fire Lord, her instability had only worsened. She had become increasingly paranoid that someone would either kill or betray her like Mai and Ty Lee had, leading her to banish nearly all her servants, and was also haunted by a hallucination of her mother, the aforementioned Ursa. But just as her coronation was being finished, Zuko and Katara, Aang's Waterbending master and secret crush arrive and Zuko challenges her to an Agni Kai for the throne.
The 2 siblings would fight to the death, Azula's increasing insanity weakening her skills but making her all the more dangerous with highly erratic blasts of fire.
In the end, Azula is defeated by the duo and seeing Zuko alive from what she thought to be fatal injuries she had dealt him, Katara having healed him causes Azula's mind to finally crack into total insanity as she proceeds to breathe fire in a fit of pure rage, struggling futilely to free herself from the water-bound chains Katara had chained her to, while screaming and crying uncontrollably, essentially reduced to a feral state, completely loss in her own madness, most likely now forever a shadow of her former self, something that Zuko despite the fact he harbors intense dislike for her, couldn't help but feel sad for his sister's tragic descent into insanity…
Zuko sighed happily, for the first time in years the once confused young man was genuinely happy.
Gazing around, he saw the Avatar, Aang the one responsible for truly saving the world, and for that he was forever thankful. He chuckled quietly as he approached the young blue arrow-tattooed child, smiling as he saw Aang lying in the sun near a small tree. "Hello Avatar." He spoke kindly.
Aang looked up at him and smiled. "Hey Zuko. You can just call me Aang, you know? You don't have to call me Avatar all the time." He replied, his customary shyness showing.
Zuko laughed a bit, smiling still. "Sorry. Force of habit." He replied sheepishly.
Aang laughed a little as well. "Yeah I guess so." He answered, grinning.
Zuko smirked playfully as he laid down beside Aang. "So…you and Katara…" He started; his smirk growing as he had an idea that Aang could get the hint the former Fire Nation declared traitor was giving in that Aang and Katara were just starting out as a couple.
Aang blushed furiously at this, unable to physically say anything in response but rather only nod; meaning Zuko's statement was probably true.
Zuko grinned, giving the young Avatar a playful pat on the back. "I thought so." He teased.
Aang turned away, trying to suppress his blush, when a slightly naughty grin crossed the boy's face. "What about that Fire Nation girl? The one that's real quiet and doesn't express herself much?" He asked, his grin keeping strong as he was indirectly referring to Zuko's childhood crush, Mai.
Zuko's eyes widened. "I-I-I don't k-k-know what you're t-t-talking about, Aang!" He said, uncharacteristically stammering, simply because he was growing nervous and that the young last remaining Air Nomad had touched his one romantic weakness.
The boy grinned wickedly. "You like her, don't you?" He teased.
Zuko stayed quiet, the faintest of blushes gracing his features. "I don't know what you mean." The once-banished Prince lied.
Aang's grin widened even more at this reaction. "Tell me…Zu-Zu." Aang teased, calling Zuko by a hated nickname his sister had once called him in Aang's presence, which was how Aang knew of the nickname, but the young man wasn't aware that Zuko hated the name.
Normally, if it had been Azula or anyone else to use the nickname, Zuko would've lashed out at them, but since it was Aang who didn't know any better, he simply took a deep breath before he spoke up. "I would appreciate if you didn't call me that name, Aang. Azula teased me all the time with it." Zuko answered bitterly.
Aang rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I'm sorry Zuko, I didn't know."
Zuko chuckled. "It's all right. I couldn't have expected you to know." He replied.
Aang nodded, but clearly he still wanted to force the truth out of Zuko. "So…you and that girl…" He coaxed.
Zuko sighed, mildly exasperated. "All right, all right I'll tell you. Her name is Mai, and yeah we like each other… quite a lot actually." Zuko relented, blushing faintly at the mention of Mai.
Aang grinned. "I knew it!" He chirped.
Both boys laughed for a bit before calming down, Aang once again breaking the silence that had formed between them. "So what did you come see me for? Did you need something from me?" The innocent grey-eyed child asked.
Zuko smiled, now lying on his back. "I just wanna talk." He answered casually.
"What about exactly?" Aang asked, his curiosity now piqued.
Zuko turned on his side so that his once-intimidating but now far kinder gold eyes gave a soft but piercing gaze into Aang's own soft grey ones. "Do you remember when Zhao had the Yu Yan Archers capture you and drag you back to the Pohuai Stronghold?" (2) Zuko questioned him calmly.
Aang nodded, shuddering at the memory of the expert Fire Nation archery group. "Yeah…I do. But someone rescued me from there." He answered.
Zuko nodded. "Do you know who it was?" He asked in response.
"Yeah…I think it was somebody in a blue mask but I can't remember…" Aang retorted, trying to draw on his memory of the incident.
"It was me, Aang. I rescued you." Zuko answered quietly, though Aang heard him.
"Oh yeah…then I brought you to that forest." Aang murmured, remembering.
Zuko nodded. "Yeah. You said you knew someone from the Fire Nation from back before the war started 100 years ago. I think you said his name started with a 'K'." Zuko replied, remembering their brief chat.
Aang smiled. "Oh you mean Kuzon?" He asked cheerfully.
Zuko nodded, smiling. "Yeah, him. Tell me about Kuzon, Aang."
Aang thought for a moment. "I remember he had the most cheerful blue eyes, and he was pretty skilled at Firebending and swordsmanship, like you are Zuko." He replied, smiling at his former greatest adversary.
"I see, go on." Zuko encouraged, growing interested.
Aang grinned ruefully as he remembered his old friend. "Kuzon and I would always be pulling some kind of prank on someone and get in trouble because of it, but somehow Kuzon had a way to always get us out of it without us getting punished."
Zuko chuckled. "Kind of like a special charm huh?" He asked, albeit jokingly as he brushed part of his messy black hair back out of his eyes.
Aang laughed softly. "Yeah I guess so, Zuko." He replied before speaking up again. "When you were little, did you have friends like that?" He asked.
Zuko looked down, somewhat in sorrow. "Except for Mai, no I don't think I did. I remember you asking me something after you told me about Kuzon. What was it you asked me that morning?" He asked, his memory failing him about that event.
Aang smiled in remembrance. "I asked you that if we knew each other back then, even though it was 100 years ago, do you think we could have also been friends." He reminded the scarred child.
Zuko grinned ruefully. "But I never gave you an answer."
"Well how about you tell me now?" The young Airbender posed.
"What do you mean?" The 16-year-old inquired.
"I mean answer my question. Do you think if we knew each other back then, we could've been friends like me and Kuzon?"
Zuko looked deep in thought for a moment, before grinning. "Yeah I think we could've. But I'm glad we're friends in this time or in any time at all for that matter." He answered happily.
Aang grinned happily. "Me too, Zuko. Me too." He answered.
Zuko smiled, embracing his former enemy in a warm, friendly hug to which Aang returned.
The 2 then spent the remainder of the day relaxing together, happy that despite all their differences and struggles, they were now friends…
The End!!
1 – The way the show it is set up, to the fan's knowledge, there has never been a female Fire Lord.
2 – Zuko is indirectly referring to the events of Episode 13, entitled 'The Blue Spirit'.