So this is what happens when you combine:

...the "Shrek the Musical" Soundtrack,

...very little sleep,

...a transcontinental flight,

...and Air Line food, you get Zhrek!

Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING! "Shrek" is property of Dreamworks and "Avatar: the Last Airbender" is property of Nickelodeon.

Chapter 1

-Ember Island-

"Long ago...there was a lovely princess. But she had an enchantment upon her of a fearful sort which could only be broken by love's first kiss. She was locked away in a castle guarded by a terrible fire-breathing dragon. Many brave knights had attempted to free her from this dreadful prison, but none prevailed. She waited in the dragon's keep in the highest room of the tallest tower for her true love and true love's first kiss...what a load of garbage."

The young man closed the book and tossed it into the fire place of his home. As the flames jump, the man's menacing features become highlighted. The long scraggly mop of ink black hair, the feral golden eyes, and horrible burn scar that covers his left eye up to his left ear. This is Zuko-The Exile.

Branded by his scar and disgraced by his people, Zuko was banished from home and exiled to the now deserted Ember Island at the tender age of thirteen. Now a young man of seventeen Zuko has adjusted to life on the island, living off the land, surviving the tropical storms, and being completely alone, as he prefers. Left only with his mark and his hate he cultivated a "lone wolf-bat" mentality.

Living on an island he was seldom bothered, there were the occasional ships looking for shelter from the tropical storms, but they were quickly turned away. Those ships never returned to their harbours and as Ember Island was their last known destination Zuko was condemned as a monster, a cold blooded killer.

Feeling stifled by the walls of his home, Zuko goes down to the shore, where the remains of yet another ship lay scattered across the sand. Though the event is indeed tragic, it has become so commonplace for Zuko his only thoughts were 'Great, now I've got to clean this crap off the beach.'

Starting towards the closest piece of wreckage, Zuko is hit in the face by a piece of paper. Peeling it from his face he is ready to torch it, but he becomes intrigued by what it says. It's a flyer of some kind-more of a mass wanted notice.

"Wanted: All misfits, outcasts, and "renegade" benders. Will exchange cash for said fugitives. Relocation to..."

'Who cares?' discarding the paper, Zuko goes back to clearing the beach.

Farther down the beach, out of sight of Zuko and his cleaning, two fire nation prison ships land on the beaches. The hull doors open and under the gaze of heavily armed guards the prisoners are unloaded. The leader of these forces-Admiral Zhao-watches as the people and other creatures are unloaded.

Zhao is both astounded and disgusted by the menagerie of freaks he sees paraded before him; earth benders, water benders, an odd man foaming at the mouth, and a woman dressed all in black with a strange eyeless beast she calls a Shirshu. And then of course there was the Troublemaker, the happy-go-lucky kid with the weird tattoos and the stick. They didn't know what reason he could have for being there, but the creepy chick who brought him pointed out that they were taking "foamy" so why not? They only paid her a single copper piece for the boy, and she didn't ask for more.

Looking back, Zhao thought, the girl should have paid them. As he was thinking the boy was once again raising a fuss...

"Please let me go! I'm just a kid!" Aang screamed as the two guards dragged him off the ship. Things were just not going well for him today, it was bad enough that Meng-his own "girlfriend"-had sold him to the Fire Nation, but now they were abandoning him and the others on some strange island. Well Aang wouldn't have it. "You can't do this to me, I've got rights!"

"You little monstrosity, you're a freak, you have no rights!" the angry man was Admiral Zhao, the thug's leader. As he shouted he came to stand before Aang. Ignoring him Zhao turned to one of the guards holding him. "What was he doing this time?"

"Admiral, we caught the boy trying to escape from the stern of the ship with this odd stick-like thing. We figure he was just trying to swim off." The soldier handed the Admiral Aang's staff. There seemed to be nothing special about it. It was just a simple square-cut wooden staff with a diamond shape carved into the wood at both ends, but seeing the look on the boy's face-the abject horror in his eyes-filled him with a sick, twisted, pleasure. Taking the staff in both hands Zhao starts to bend it, making like he wants to snap it, then he uses his fire bending to set the staff on fire. The look on the boys on that moment was priceless.

"Oh no don't look so upset," Zhao said to the boy in a deeply fake patronising tone, "Look around you, this island is full of trees. Surely you can find another stick."

Without warning the boy kicks out at nothing and Zhao is hit in the gut by a huge gust of wind. Shocked the guards loosen their grip ever so slightly and Aang takes that opportunity to jump a whopping ten feet in the air, stunning the men and everyone else. When Aang lands a mere three feet away he hits the ground running.

Zhao is still on the ground at this time. He could not believe what he just witnessed. The child was an air bender; most likely the last of his kind and worth far more in the fire nation than a mere copper piece. As visions of fire nation gold swim in his mind, Zhao rises,

"Get him, bring him back here, and bring him to me alive!" coming to the same realization as the admiral, every man in Zhao's small two ship fleet ran after the boy.

Aang was momentarily celebrating having escaped the admiral's goons, but hear a long rumbling behind him he looks back to see the whole of the landing force-including Zhao-running right at him. Panicking slightly Aang uses his air bending and dramatically picks up speed as he continues to flee. Aang runs helter-skelter along the beach trying to avoid the fire benders. Not looking where he's going Aang smashes into someone.

Unfortunately that someone isn't much bigger than Aang so it's more collide-with-them-and-roll-around-dramatically-on- the-ground instead of a "smashing into someone." When the two stop moving Aang is sitting on top of the other person, another guy, and said guy is none too pleased.

"Get off of me you idiot!" he shouts pushing Aang off of him and standing. Now that he's upright Aang can see his menacing visage and flinches ever so slightly. The hate in this man is coming off of him in waves; angry, angry waves.

Feeling he's gone out of the frying pan and into the fire, Aang gets up to start running but the fire nation soldiers have caught up to him, and now he's stuck between Angry Jerk and an army. Bracing himself for a fight, Aang is surprised when Angry Jerk steps between him and the soldiers.

The admiral steps forward, and upon seeing the young man recognises him immediately by his scar.

"You there, Exile!" the admiral shouts pointing directly at the young man.

"I have a name," the young man says, not moving an inch.

"I don't care. By order of Prince Ozai, son of the late Fire lord Azulon, you are hereby ordered to cease and desist your actions this instant!"

"What actions? I'm standing, would you prefer I sit?"

"You will hand over that boy now or we will be to take him from you." The young man narrows his eyes and slowly, confidently, walks over forward until he's standing only about an inch from the admiral's face. He quickly looks over Zhao's shoulder and then back to his face. The Exile smirks at the ridiculous man and asks him sardonically, "You and what army?"

Surprised by the Exile's strange confidence Zhao looks behind him to see his forces retreating, just from looking at this man-this child! Though later he would never admit it, turning back to face the Exile, he felt the slightest twinge of fear.

And then he was staring into those golden eyes.

The anger...the hatred...the frustration...the pain...all of which were focused directly on Zhao. In that one instant, he knew the true meaning of the word fear. Nearly petrified Zhao take a few jerky steps backward, and then turns and flees, safe in the knowledge that he can send word to his prince that he's found the perfect place to house society's rejects.

'That's right, run,' Zuko thinks to himself, keeping his glare trained on the retreating figure of the man who dared to think he could tell him-Zuko the Exile-what to he could and couldn't do on his own island. 'Everybody runs from the monster.'

"Wow...that was incredible. Did you see how fast they were going?"

'Well, not everybody.' There was still this kid he'd stuck his neck out for, who he'd now have to get rid of.

"Yeah, I was standing right here kid." Zuko said walking away, hoping that this odd boy would take a hint and get lost. He doesn't, of course.

"I mean all you did was look at them and they were gone, like that!" he says, snapping his fingers. He's keeping pace with Zuko, constantly a few steps behind him as he tries to get the kid to leave him alone. "How did you do that?"

'Why don't you find out for yourself,' stopping and turning to face the boy he then attempts to stare him down. But the boy just looks up at him with his strange grey eyes. He's completely unfazed by Zuko's killer stare.

Frustrated, Zuko turns and starts walking once more, with the boy following behind. "Wow, that was pretty scary, can you see out of that one eye or are you blind?"

"Listen Kid-"

"Aang."

"What?"

"Aang, my name's Aang. What's yours?"

"That's not important, just get out of here. Didn't you hear what that guy called me?"

"What you mean Exile? Why should I care, according to the Admiral that Prince Ozai guy banished me, so I'm an exile too right?"

"Doesn't that bother you?" The boy shakes his head, "Really?"

"Really, really. You stood up for me, you probably saved my life."

"Oh,"

"What's your name?"

"...It's Zuko." He admits finally, thinking maybe he wasn't stupid for saving this kid.

"Hey Zuko, do you mind if I stay with you?"

"What?" Yep. He was stupid.

"Please? When I was with the Admiral, I heard some of the other men talking about a storm coming. I really don't want to be out here when it's storming." Zuko looks up at the sky, at the moment full of wispy white clouds, and then back to Aang's pleading eyes,

"I've lived here for almost five years, and I can tell you that it's not going to rain-I promise."

"Come on, please?"

"I said no already, go bug your friends."

"What friends? I'm stranded here with you on this stupid island!"

"Then figure out a way to get back to the main land, you're..." he trailed off, struggling to find a word that wouldn't be insulting, "...inventive?"

He could tell by the look on Aang's face that he wasn't buying it. At the end of his patience, Zuko turns and leaves.

Panicked, Aang calls out to him "Wait, Zuko, please! The truth is I don't have any friends. Everyone I knew or cared about died a long time ago. Please, I need your help."

Hearing Aang's plea Zuko was reminded of himself when he was younger, before his banishment, and he couldn't help but feel sorry for him. So he stops, and walks back to the boy.

"Alright you can stay with me, but only for one night."

Aang's spirits instantly lift, and feeling the joy welling up inside him he jumps a whopping ten feet in the air shouting "YAHOO!" Zuko is stunned. He had admittedly been curious as to why this seemingly simple-minded boy would be banished, but now it was blatantly obvious.

"You're an air bender?" asks Aang once he touches down again.

"Yeah, I thought it was obvious."