*Disclaimer- I own nothing. All credit goes to Mike and Brian.*

Zuko stepped out of his car and walked through the parking lot to the garbage littered side walk, his path barely lit by an old, rusty street light in the center of the small parking lot. He stopped once he reached the doors to his destination, a strip club, "Fantasize". For some odd reason, his four friends decided to meet up with him here for guy's night. Oh well, naked hot chicks involved. I don't mind it, thought Zuko.

The tall, muscular 22 year old opened the black metal door to the club and walked inside. There was a large stage in the center of the room with a woman, probably in her early 20s, climbing up the pole in the center of the stage. Her long, tan legs were wrapped around the pole, her crotch pressed against the hard metal, and her arms grabbing the pole above her to hoist herself up it. The only thing she was wearing was lacy red thongs.

"Damn, she's fine." Zuko whispered to himself, staring at her large breasts that were jiggling with her movement. Men seated at stools around the stage whistled and threw money onto the wood floor in front of the pole. Some even tried to reach out for her.

Zuko looked around the room for his buddies, his ears pounding with the beat of loud, vulgar rap music. He saw Aang and Sokka sitting at a booth at the edge of the average sized club, and walked over to them, glancing at all the barely clothed females in the process.

"Hey, we were waiting for you! Didn't think you were coming, you're an hour late." Sokka smacked Zuko on the back as soon as he sat down at the booth.

"Hey, Zuko! Glad you made it." Aang piped up from his spot at the booth next to Sokka. He was never much for this kind of scene, but he didn't seem to mind it too much at the moment. Probably because he just broke up with his girlfriend a day ago, and it didn't seem wrong to have chicks grinding on you when you were single.

"Where are Haru and Teo?" Zuko half yelled to Sokka, the music getting louder as a new song came on.

"Getting drinks." Sokka pointed over to the bar at the back of the large room.

"I think I'll go join them." Zuko added before getting up and walking to the bar.

He sat down next to Teo, who was talking to the woman sitting next to him.

"Sorry, sweetie, I don't work here. I came for the women." Zuko overheard the short, but still sexy blonde girl Teo was talking to say with a smile.

"Oh! Oh. Sorry, I didn't know." Teo blushed.

"No biggie, it happens a lot." The woman said, standing up from the bar stool, kissing Teo on the cheek, and then walking away with her martini.

"Too bad, right Teo?" Zuko said with a smirk after the brown haired guy sat there for a minute, in thought.

Teo whipped around and almost head butted Zuko until he realized who it was.

"Hey, hey buddy! Did you see Aang and Sokka? I think they're still at that table over there." Teo said. It was quieter over by the bar, so having a conversation was quite a bit easier.

"Yeah, I said hi, they said you and Haru were over here. The only one I don't see is Haru."

"Oh, he left. His girlfriend called him a few minutes ago." Teo told him after ordering the two some drinks.

Zuko hoped nothing unfortunate happened between Haru and his girlfriend, the girl was a sweetheart and Teo could be, well…an asshole a lot of times.

"Aang and Sokka give you your present?" Teo said, sipping from his scotch as soon as the bartender put it on the wooden counter in front of him.

"What present? Why would…Oh, my birthday. I nearly forgot." Zuko responded.

The waitress pushed a tall glass of tequila in his direction and Zuko did not hesitate to chug it down. Whenever Aang and Sokka plan a present, it usually ends in Zuko waking up naked on a hotel roof, with his head shaved and stacks of dollar bills lying around him or some crazy shit like that. No joke.

"Come on, it's not as bad as last years." Teo said, as if reading Zuko's mind. He laughed a bit and then stood up from his bar stool.

Zuko got up and followed Teo back to the table after ordering another drink. Once he sat down, the three other men looked at him.

"Should we sing to him?" Sokka said in a humorous tone.

"No, you shou-"

"Happy Birthday too you" Sokka, Aang, and Teo started singing loudly.

"NO, I SAID NO SI-"

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOO YOU"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP BEFORE I MAKE YOU CHOKE ON MY FOOT" Zuko yelled, annoyed. Surprisingly nobody was staring at them, yet.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR ZUKO, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!" Zuko sat in his seat and growled, glaring at the three.

Aang, Sokka, and Teo burst out laughing.

"Come on Zuko, we're just kidding with ya'. Nobody heard it, anyways." Teo laughed.

Zuko looked around and noticed not one person was staring.

"You're lucky." If looks could kill, the three guys would be on the floor, drowning in their own blood.

"Where is she? I told her to come out after we sang happy birthday.." Sokka started, talking to Aang in a quiet but still audible voice.

"What? Who? What are you guys talking about?" Oh boy. Time to get nervous, Zuko thought. Great. Good thing I brought my phone in case I end up on another fucking roof and can't get down.

"Zuko, stay here! We'll be back in a bit." Sokka, Aang, and Teo stood up, Aang, Sokka and Teo smirking. The three walked off into a darkly lit hallway in the back of the club by the bar.

"I'll go get her, you two go out to the car and start it." Aang told Teo and Sokka.

The two gave him a questionable look but didn't argue. Aang walked up to a black, rusty door at the end of the hallway with the words 'Employees Only' in large, yellow letters across it. He didn't hear any noise coming from inside, so he opened it and walked in. The woman Sokka and Teo paid to dance for Zuko was supposed to be waiting for him in here. He looked around and saw some undergarments and clothing strewn about on the floor and hanging from locker doors. He shook his head. These girls should find some other way to pay for college or whatever the hell they needed money for.

Sitting on the floor, leaning against the cinderblock wall, he spotted who he was looking for. The girl had headphones on, her eyes closed and arms above her head. Aang walked up to her and touched her shoulder. One of the girl's eyes cracked open, a bright, shimmering blue. Her tight navy blue crop top accentuated them, and so did the bright blue glitter sprinkled on her chest, stomach, and thighs. Now he could tell why her stage name was Sapphire.

"You guys ready? Where's he sittin'?" She asked in a soft voice, pulling her headphones off and her iPod out of god knows where in her tight black mini skirt.

Uhm, yeah…he's alone in one of the booths..drinking...you'll know him when you see him..." Aang gulped, staring at her ass while she was shoving stuff into a locker and then locking it. Damn, she was hot.

Sapphire turned around and noticed where he was staring. He quickly adverted his eyes and looked directly into hers.

"What's his name?" the dark skinned, medium height brunette asked.

"Zuko." Aang said before walking out and joining Sokka and Teo in the car outside.

…..

Zuko sat alone at the table, taking occasional sips of his drink, watching everyone. He saw Sokka and Teo walk back out from the dark hallway and leave the strip club.

"That's odd…" Zuko mumbled under his breath.

A few minutes later, Aang walked out as well and left.

"What the hell..?" Zuko was getting curious now. You can't really have a birthday party alone, so why'd they leave? He was staring down at his drink when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked up and saw a woman, most likely younger than him, wearing a dark blue crop top and a black mini skirt with stiletto heels covered in blue sparkles that matched her eyes, looking intently at him.

She smirked. "Are you Zuko?" She asked, unbuttoning the top button of her top. He could see a decent amount of cleavage, even in the dim lighting.

"Yeah, who's asking?" He responded in a rough voice.

"The names Sapphire and you look like you could use some company." Sapphire winked at him and hopped up onto the table. He stared at her blankly as she smiled a seductive grin at him. The next song started and she began slowly moving to the rhythm, dancing around the metal pole extending from the center of the table. As soon as the lyrics started for the song, she slid down against the pole, her legs wide open, her crotch not too far from Zuko's face.

Sapphire started moving faster around the pole. She hooked one leg around the pole and fell backwards, then spun back up and grabbed the pole. She jumped up, tangled her legs around the pole, and slid down it, the cold, shiny metal pressed against her crotch. She laid on the table, rubbing her legs, and then pulling off the mini skirt to reveal red boy shorts. She threw the mini skirt across the table so that it was right in front of Zuko and then moved so she was kneeling, her ass in front of Zuko and started moving her ass up and down.

Zuko was already sweating. His pants got tighter as she continued dancing. Through the song, her crop top came off to reveal a red bra that was slightly see through. You could see the outline of perky, dark nipples on her average sized breasts. Her breasts bounced as she moved quickly around the pole.

Damn.

Then off came her bra, thrown in Zuko's direction. And the shorts, too. The only thing she was wearing now was a black thong. Near the end of the song, the girl got off the table and knelt down on Zuko, her breasts pressing against Zuko's chest. Zuko could feel the outline of her hard nipples through his long sleeve black shirt. He had a full blown boner now, and this girl wasn't helping. She moved her hips against him then got up and pressed her ass against his crotch and moved her ass on top of him.

Zuko sighed. It felt so good, but his pants were so tight it hurt.

The song ended, and Sapphire sat down next to him.

"Satisfied?" She said in his ear, voice thick with lust.

Zuko nodded and smirked.

The hot, dark skinned, blue eyed girl sat on Zuko's lap and grabbed the clothes she'd taken off. Then she positioned herself so she was kneeling over Zuko's legs and pulled her crop top on and buttoned it up, giving him a good view of her breasts. Then she stood up, pulled her shorts on, and told Zuko to come back again if he wanted more.

Zuko stood up awkwardly. Damn. His boner was obvious. Very obvious. He couldn't go out and look for the guys like this. Zuko walked into the bathroom and washed his hands then splashed his face with cold water. He sidetracked his mind and started thinking about what the guys were planning on doing next. His boner went away after a few minutes, so he walked out of the club and into the parking lot and saw the guys in Teo's car, passing around a bottle of something. He walked over to his car, made sure it was locked, and then went over to Teo's car and opened the back seat door and sat down.

"How was the dance?" Teo looked back from the front seat with a smirk.

"Satisfying." Zuko responded, looking out the window at the passing cars. It was pretty busy tonight.

The other guys laughed.

"So, where to, birthday boy?" Aang asked from the passenger seat.

"Let's go to the liquor store. And the gas station. Then we can go back to my place."

Two hours later, after buying $60 in alcohol at the local liquor store, a shitload of food at Walmart, and returning to Zuko's house, the four guys were in Zuko's back yard, launching fireworks at each other and drinking beer.

"I'M HIT! I'M HIT! IM DYYINGGG!" Aang screamed, running through Zuko's large back yard, scorch marks on his back. Sokka fell off his lawn chair laughing, and Teo grabbed more roman candles off the patio.

"Zuko, get your ass over here! Sokka's too drunk, and Aang lost last round!" Teo grabbed his lighter from his pocket and prepared himself.

Zuko got up from his seat on the patio and walked to the yard about 30 feet in front of Teo after grabbing a few Roman candle wands.

"GO!" Teo yelled. Zuko quickly lit his projectiles with his lighter and waited a few seconds for some to shoot out. Teo's started first, and he aimed them at Zuko. Zuko jumped out of the way to avoid getting hit and launched his at Teo. One nearly hit him but was aimed too high. Teo lit his second wand after missing Zuko with all of the shots in the first one. Zuko did the same. This went on for about half an hour, Zuko getting hit three times and Teo getting hit none. Once the two were out, they both fell on the ground and started laughing.

"I'm gonna….go….get more whiskers.." Sokka slurred from his drunken stupor. Aang, who was now sitting on a chair in the patio, having recovered from being burnt, laughed. So did Teo and Zuko, knowing Sokka meant whiskey and not whiskers.

…..

Sokka walked into the kitchen and looked at the two bottles of whiskey lying sideways on the marble counter. Both of which were empty.

"What? No…" Sokka looked at them. Then he looked around the room for more. Leaning against the wall, next to the sliding glass door leading out to the patio, was an extremely large, thick, tube, with a dragon's head on the top of it.

"What's this?" Sokka walked over to it and kicked it over. On the side, it had a large warning label.

Sokka laughed and carried it upstairs to Zuko's bedroom window, nearly falling down the stairs a few times.

"Aang, is there any more vodka left?" Teo asked. Teo didn't drink very much so far that night, which is probably why he won the Roman candle war.

"Uhm…I think so, Zuko is the only other one who drinks it…" Aang responded.

Just before Teo got up to go check the kitchen for remaining bottles of vodka, they heard the sliding sound of a window coming from upstairs in Zuko's bedroom.

"Guys, watch the pretty colors!" Sokka giggled. The moon was illuminating the sky, which is the only way Zuko could see the outline of the dragon head of the firework he'd illegally bought off his cousin a week ago. He was waiting until New Years to use it, at his cousin's party.

"Ohhhhh shit." Zuko said.

"Sokka, that's not a good idea!" Zuko yelled, standing up to walk inside and pull the firework away from Sokka.

"Here it comes!" Sokka yelled. He disappeared from the window for a minute and then they could see him sprint down the stairs.

"Fuck. Damn it!" Zuko knew there was nothing he could do.

"What is that..?" Teo asked. He could almost swear it was a firework, but wasn't sure.

Just before Zuko could answer, a streak of orange and red shot out from the canister and headed for the sky. It traveled for a few seconds, and then disappeared.

BOOM.

An extremely loud noise rang through the air, as multiple explosions took place in the dark night sky. Brilliant explosions of yellow took over the sky, and then bright orange, and a fiery red. Altogether, it looked as if a flame had taken over the sky. Finally, it stopped for a second. And then another giant explosion took place, and blew vibrant flames of purple through the air that rained down and changed into a bright blue shade that eventually disappeared.

That blue….

Zuko's mind wandered to that girl from earlier in the night. Sapphire. That was her name. At least, her stage name. I wonder, what's her real name?

"WHOOOO HOOO HOOO!" Yelled Aang, getting up from the ground and dancing.

"Now that is a firework!" Teo got up and danced with Aang.

Hopefully no neighbors called the cops, but Zuko didn't live very close to anyone, anyways.

"That. Was awesome!" Sokka slurred, walking up to the three from his spot on the patio where he stood and watched the firework after coming downstairs. He tripped on his way to them, though, and fell on the ground. He then puked on Zuko's shoes.

"Sorry, Zuko…didn't mean for that to happen..." Sokka got up and walked a distance away to the hammock in Zuko's yard, laid down in it, and didn't get back up. Zuko assumed he'd fallen asleep.

Zuko sighed and kicked his shoes off, then threw them onto the patio. Aang and Teo were both lying down in patio loungers, talking about something. Zuko walked away from the puke to the outdoor couch on the patio, laid down, and drifted off to a world of black.

…..

Zuko opened his eyes and sat up. He looked around and was in an unfamiliar place. It was warm, and humid, with lush green grass and the air smelled of cherry blossoms and heat. There was a pond with rocks-stepping stones, maybe- near where he was sitting. There was a cherry blossom tree, pink flowers falling from it with the wind, near the pond. A few of the petals were on the calm water of the pond. Flowers were growing around the pond and the white walls with ornate roofs that held the garden. A small bridge went over a thinner section of the pond. A porch was in front of part of the pond, with rich red columns and a stone floor. The place was unfamiliar; Zuko had never seen anything like it. But he wasn't worried; he felt calm here.

On the edge of the porch, feet barely touching the calm water of the pond, sat a woman with snow white hair and dark skin. She looked up at Zuko and smiled. Her eyes were large, and ocean blue. Her lips were pinkish tinted, and so were her cheeks. Her skin was a milk chocolate color. She had feminine features, and was beautiful. An exotic, new, different kind of beautiful. She was mesmerizing.

"You've come to see me. I knew you we're different." She spoke softly.

"Where am I? Who are you?" Zuko asked her, his voice a bit rough. He cleared his throat.

"Somewhere you'll see again, if you are what I believe you to be. And, I'm a friend." The woman spoke.

"Uhm..Okay. Why am I here?" Zuko couldn't help but stare at her.

"Walk with me." The woman stood up, adjusting her white robes, which had silver streaks in the fabric so small you couldn't see them but the robe shimmered. It reminded him of the moon.

"Would you consider yourself different?" The woman asked, walking along a stone path outside of the garden. You could see down into a large valley from outside the garden walls, and a bay. A large town, with architecture similar to that inside the garden, covered most of the valley. Exotic trees and flowers littered the hills around the town and some of the spots near the town. The sun was large and bright, bigger than normal.

"Not..not especially. I'm a typical 24 year old. Going to college, drinking, partying, clubbing. Nothing out of the ordinary."

"Do you wish to be different? Do you ever feel…caged? As if you have a potential you cannot understand or grasp?"

Zuko could relate. He always felt like there was something more that he could never get his hands on.

The stone path went on, leading around a very ornate building.

"Yeah. I do. What's that have to do with anything?" Zuko stopped walking and stared at the woman.

"You wouldn't understand if I told you."

They walked on in silence for a few minutes before finally reaching a large golden door. There was a small fountain in front of the doors, a pale white colored statue on top of it, of a man with his palm outstretched. However, the fountain had fire moving through it; not water.

How..?

"Tell me, Zuko, do you feel…"

"The fire?"

He looked into the eyes of the woman, wondering what in the hell she was talking about.

But before he could ask, everything flashed red and orange, and burnt like Zuko had never felt before.

Then it all went black.

Buh-buh-buh-duhhhh! XD So, did you guys enjoy it? Cliffhanger! This was originally intended to be a one-shot, but then I had an awesome idea for a story. If you were wondering, the one part of the story about Zuko's previous birthday was sort of inspired by the hangover. Some of the characters might be a bit off character, but that's just how the beginning of the story is. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you think! :D

Peace out, homies!