First attempt at Avatar fanfiction, and thus my first attempt at Zuko. I hope it's decent...

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Wake Up

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"What? Why is everyone looking at me like I'm crazy?"

Zuko didn't like the way everyone was staring at him. He knew that look – it was one of remorse, of pity. It was the look one gave a hurt animal before turning away, the look a child got after unwittingly displaying his ignorance with pride. He had gotten it a lot in the past from generals, teachers, family members. He hadn't expected it from them.

He didn't want to care anymore about what they said (even though he cared more than he could ever express) - he knew what they had done the instant they paused. They had left him out, marked him yet again as the outsider, one trusted enough to stand watch but not enough to be told important things like changes in battle plans. He wasn't entirely sure why they did it – maybe it was the fact that he had his father's eyes, the Fire Lord's perpetual scowl – but that didn't matter, because it hurt, hurt more than their threats when he had first arrived. That at least had been expected - this wasn't. They weren't supposed to be as petty and guarded as Azula (though admittedly they had every right to be); they were trusting, forgiving. He had thought they had gotten over the old prejudice.

For the briefest of moments, as he felt his face fall, Zuko could feel the old hatred scorching his lungs, the old furnace burn in his chest. He was sure that if he wanted, he could have summoned up his old method of firebending, an angry demon that would have lashed out at being cast out yet again even after its willing submission. He had put aside his old fears, his old habit of blaming everything on the Avatar, and had put it behind him. He had swallowed his pride and summoned up his courage before committing treason against his homeland, throwing away everything he had to come here and help bring down his family's power-hungry dynasty. And yet, he thought grimly, he could tell that some things hadn't changed.

It stung to know that despite everything, after teaching Aang the secrets of his people's bending, helping rescue Sokka's father and girlfriend, and had scoured the world looking for the murderer of Katara's mother, even now he was still not trusted. And in an odd moment of clarity, it occurred to him: this wasn't a playground; there was no time for childish mind games while training for war. They were supposed to be better than that. All of them.

And so he would show them. Fire Lord Ozai was not a man to be taken lightly, and neither was his son. The Fire Nation held more power than they could ever imagine, and with it more cruelty than they had ever seen. Zuko knew his worth in the group, knew his knowledge of the Fire Nation's artillery and his father's war plans was priceless if they intended to win, and did not intend to allow them to slight his value in the group any longer.

They had seen Zuko as a firebending teacher and no more. It was time for them to wake up.