A/N: Hi everyone! This is a new fanfiction called The Journey to Forgiveness. This takes place a short time after Aang is shot by Azula. I've changed almost everything from the showdown at Ba Sing Se onward, so this is a complete AU. I've tried to keep everyone somewhat in character, but I've noticed Zuko is a little stupid in this chapter. This will stop in the later chapters, but he needed to be a bit naïve in the beginning for this story to work. Thank you so much for reading and, if you want, reviewing!
Chapter 1: Failed Attempts
The graceful clouds covered the bright moon as a mysterious boy crept into the dense woods in the out skirts of a small earth kingdom village. Dressed in all black, he was on the hunt for something, or actually, someone. He was searching for a girl, like most teenage boys are, but not just any girl. This was a girl named Katara who he had continuously put in danger, almost killed her best friend, and tied her to a figgin' tree. Now, however, he wanted to apologize. You'd think he would have done this earlier, but this stubborn boy had to earn Katara's trust, shove it in the dirt, and stomp on it to finally feel the need to regret his actions. If you haven't already guessed it, this oh so brilliant boy is named Zuko, and tonight is the night when he will prove to Katara that he isn't the world's biggest ass.
You might ask how he was going to apologize to Katara. His plan was to impress her with flowers and jewelry and sweep her off her feet with his charm, but because Zuko knew he didn't have much charm, he bought some extra jewelry. Considering he only talked to Katara for a few hours (I mean, really talked to her. You know, when she wasn't tied to a tree.) He wasn't exactly sure what kind of gems to buy, so when he left the Fire Nation Palace he bought one of everything "for Mai". What else could he say to the shopkeeper? I doubt saying that he was going to apologize to the girl he betrayed and to the Avatar who he nearly killed was going to help him avoid suspicion.
Now, he planned this very carefully. He would wait until morning to make his appearance, so he didn't scare Katara, the Avatar, or that kid with the boomerang who's name escapes Zuko every time…Anyway, then he would walk slowly towards their camp grounds with the Jewelry in his hands and bow to them all. Admiring his humility and courage for approaching them with such respect, they would bow back and accept him into the group. It would be perfect.
The moon was still high in the sky and after traveling for hours, he finally found the camp ground. He saw a fire was lit in the center of the camp, so he hid behind the nearest tree. He saw the Avatar bend his element in different shapes and sizes to entertain boomerang kid… (Sakka? Sukka? Something like that) while Katara was setting up the tents and sleeping bags.
"Come on guys, it's time to get some sleep." Katara called gently to Aang and Sokka.
"Just a few more minutes Katara? Please…?" Aang gave his cutest puppy dog eyes "I am the one who got shot in the back just a few weeks ago."
"And I'm the one who healed you, so you have doctor's orders to get some rest." She smiled.
Zuko could clearly see how worn out she was just by how bloodshot her normally crystal clear eyes were. Everyone seemed clean, healthy, and just plain content but her. Her clothes were ripped and filthy, her hair fell out of its braid in large pieces, and her normally slim figure was just looking down right unhealthy by the lack of food she was receiving. How they couldn't see it, Zuko would never know, but she was even giving up her food for them and they didn't even appreciate it. If someone did that for him he would do his best to pay them back in any way he could. It really did amaze him how much she cared about them, even when he was trying to capture the Avatar, he noticed how she would do anything in her power to protect them.
"SOKKA YOU LITTLE SHIT!" Katara looked as if she was about to murder her brother and make it look like a accident. Huh, well, she isn't perfect. "You can't just take more food out of the basket whenever you feel like it! We need to make this last for as long as we can. I can't go to the market every time we stop like I used to." She packed up the little food that was left and hid it in her tent.
"Calm down, Katara!" Sokka said with a mouth full of bread that he was spewing all over the place. "We have plenty of food! We'll be fine!"
It looked as if Katara was about to cry from both starvation and pure rage. "Get. To. Bed." She growled at Sokka before she stormed off to her tent.
Well, maybe it was good that Zuko decided to wait until morning to apologize. He really didn't want anything to go wrong and if she was already angry when he attempted to make amends there would be a dead prince at the bottom of a nearby lake.
When the sun had finally risen, Zuko was practicing exactly what he would say to the gang. He decided on either "Everyone, I'm so sorry for betraying you in the horrible way I did, please accept this gift as a small way of me making it up to you." Or "Please forgive me for hurting you all, I want to present these gems to you as a way of me saying how sorry I am" Both sounded great to Zuko, so he figured he'd say which one popped into his head first when he approached them.
Slowly, Katara, Aang, and Sokka woke up to a beautiful blue sky and gathered around the middle of the grounds again to plan the day. Zuko watched Sokka pull out a map and point to a few locations, Zuko couldn't hear anything, but he had a feeling they were planning to leave today.
Zuko sighed and prepared himself to emerge from the oak tree he had slept behind. This was planned perfectly, and there was no way it could go wrong, or at least that's what Zuko was praying for. He (after staring at the group for a good fifteen minutes) stepped away from the tree and walked towards the camp.
"I can help you find a safe location for you to hide out." Zuko rubbed the back of his head while trying to sound approachable. What? It didn't come easily for the poor guy, so he had to concentrate.
Tension in the air was so thick, if someone tried to cut it with a knife, it would snap in two. They're reactions were to be expected, but it was still hard for Zuko to watch. Aang prepared his staff, Sokka pulled out his boomerang, and Katara nearly pulled out a large amount of water that could easily down Zuko if he couldn't fight it off.
"Please forgive me fo-"He was thrown off his feet and slammed into a tree which he was immediately frozen to. Well isn't this ironic.
"What are you doing here?" Hatred shone in Katara's eyes while speaking to Zuko
"I'm here to offer gifts," He nodded to the ground where the gems and exotic flowers lay "And to say I'm sorry."
"That's crap and you know it! Why did your father send you here? Who found out Aang was still alive?" If Katara started yelling any louder, Zuko's eardrums were going to explode.
"No one sent me; I really just want to redeem myself." Zuko hung his head. Wow, this really wasn't going how he planned.