Burn My Dread in Part

by Miles Edgeworth

Whatever happened before, he had to make them realize that he's on their side now. But life in the new dorm won't be that easy until he releases his old fears. AU High School/Supernatural

Burn My Dread Part One

by Iain R. Lewis

Disclaimer: Avatar and Persona do not belong to me, and this document is a non-profit for-fun story.

AU: Zuko isn't exactly sure how he's going to fit in with his new dorm, especially when none of them trust him. Especially as the Spirit World moves further and further out of balance.

"I once ran away from from a god of fear and he chained me to despair."

Day two was good. Day two meant he'd survived the night, and even breathing as heavily as he was, he was sure he'd wake up tomorrow and be able to go to school like nothing had happened. The others, they didn't seem so tired.

Still, that was to be expected. Until now, he'd only turned his flames against them, not to fight by their side. Which was why it was so awkward to walk up the stairs to his dorm, and pass a pissed off Water Tribe boy.

"Just because you helped us tonight doesn't mean we trust you," his eyes seemed to say. Zuko didn't argue that. Not when he didn't even trust himself anymore. His judgment, his sister's judgment more likely, was off.

The only one who offered a hand of forgiveness was the leader, and even he did it begrudgingly. After all, hadn't it been the Phoenix Group who started this? Why should they accept the grandson of the man who'd caused all this into their home, into their secret club, and into their battle. No, this wouldn't do at all, Zuko, and he walked into his room without a second thought.

It was barren, a small television already set up, since it was helpful to calm his nerves. It was only now getting on midnight, but he felt like he'd been up til mornings -- he reminded himself that time didn't pass the same in that world -- and he stared directly into the turned off television, his reflection giving himself a wry smile. "Yeah," he said, "Thought not."

The boxes of his things would probably never be opened. He didn't want to feel like he was home. He was far from it. The only memento from home he brought was a simple photo of his uncle in a five hundred-en frame from Shu Mart. Ba Sing Se, the city extending out for miles around him, never felt so empty.

Sleep didn't come easily to him. It came, but it was short, brief, and startled by a scream from outside his window. He leapt to action and was down the stairs and out onto the street within minutes, still wearing his pajamas. Something about the night seemed far too still. The shadow spirits of the Spirit World didn't usually wander out of their realm, but on nights like these, with the moon almost full, the connection to the Spirit World was stronger, and sometimes, the fiercer creatures broke free.

He didn't have his swords, and he cursed. He'd have to rely on his gifts, and hope they weren't fueled by fire. He looked up, and then down the street, and seeing nothing, he cautiously stepped towards the direction he thought he'd heard the scream.

"Zuko?"

He turned around, and a groggy, but worried Aang waved at him. "It's just you. Did you hear it too?" The bald monk nodded, "Then what was it?"

"I don't know. I don't really get the feeling that anything got loose," he said,

"But you brought your staff with you."

Aang looked at the staff, then back at Zuko and gave him his brightest smile, "Better safe than sorry, right?"

"Right," Zuko answered. "Did you check if anyone else heard it?"

"Sokka said I was just imagining things, you weren't in your room. Toph didn't sense anything unusual, so she told me to go back to sleep and stop bugging her."

"And Katara?"

"I thought she was out here with you." The two of them locked eyes, and nodded. They moved further down the street. It was like a fog falling over the city, a heavy atmosphere and the sounds of creatures moving in the night like scurrying rats.

Zuko grimaced, Aang smiled.

"We'll be okay. I mean, you were amazing tonight. I don't think I've ever seen anyone take on that many rogue spirits at once," Aang said.

"I couldn't think," Zuko said, "You were being overwhelmed and I just acted." He frowned, "I know you don't want me here. Just say it right out and don't try and pretend like it doesn't bother you. After what I did."

"Okay," Aang said, rubbing his head, "We don't really know what to think about all this. You did help me before." Zuko grew quiet. "And, well, you know, I think you're right. You do deserve a second chance. I mean, it's not like we knew what we were getting in to at the start, either."

"I betrayed you once before because my father lied to us all."

"That defeating the great spirits would fix everything?" Aang smiled, "We'll make it right. So, yeah! We're a team now, for real."

Zuko brought up his hand, to silence Aang. "There it is again."

The scream was much louder. Zuko pointed to the alley, and they both rounded the corner slowly. Katara, sure enough, stood at the back of the alley, and a creature stood between her and them. It stood like a woman, projecting mist from her feet, and its face looked as though painted make-up had long since melted.

Zuko hesitated. The spirits of the Spirit World that ran wild as the world grew more and more out of balance had no real form, instead taking their guise from the world around them. This, however, was one that knew what it once was, and clung to that form fiercely.

He'd seen it before. This was why he was here.

"Katara!" Aang yelled, "We're here!" He brought his staff out, and spread his feet out, ready to fight. "Hey, you! Pick on someone else!" He swung the staff, and it went through her as if she was just a vision on the fog.

Zuko didn't move, watching Aang and thinking, carefully, about why he left the Phoenix Group to join the Bending Club and their special dorm. The fight went nowhere, Aang's moves didn't strike it, and Katara refused to move, staring right at it, and when it moved, she cried out. "Zuko!"

Zuko moved his head, slightly, to look at him. "Do something!"

"All right," Zuko said. "Katara! Listen to me. You can't run away from this forever. You need to face it, look it straight in the eye, and defeat it." The girl shook her head, her eyes racked with fear. "I don't know what it's shown you, or what you're seeing, but it's all a lie."

Aang hesitated, "What kind of spirit is this, Zuko?"

"I don't know," he answered. "Do you understand, Katara? Face it!"

Katara yelled, "I can't! If I do, I'll --"

"You'll nothing," Zuko yelled, "If you don't, it won't ever leave you. Aang, say something to her, she obviously doesn't trust me enough."

"Zuko's right, Katara. This is your fight!" He looked at Zuko, and the older boy knew that Aang didn't believe him either. But Katara didn't see the exchange, and looked at Aang, and then at the spirit. She shook, but stared at it right in the eye.

"You don't know me."

Yes it does, Zuko said to himself, like two sides of a five-en coin.

"I won't, it won't be like that." The spirit turned. "Don't you run away. I'm not through with you." The mist in the air drew itself to her hand, and like a great wave, the waters washed down upon the strange painted spirit.

When the water washed away, the spirit was gone, and the mist vanished from around them. Katara looked even more exhausted than Zuko felt. "Aang, thanks."

"Zuko was the one who knew what to do," Aang said, blushing, "But it was no problem, right, Zuko?"

There it was, her attention on him with all the anger and resentment that she could muster. He couldn't blame her. After what happened to her mother, he couldn't blame her in the slightest. "Thanks, Zuko." She said it in such a way that he knew no thanks was intended.

"You're welcome," he said, in his most humble voice. "Aang, you should help Katara inside. I'll make sure there's no more of those things around here."

"Sure, Zuko."

"Good night," he said. He wasn't sure that was possible. But the echoes of that spirit still reverberated. And he saw, faintly in the moonlight reflecting off the small puddles Katara left behind, that shadow of a spirit that once bound him.

-------------------------------------

The next morning, in comparison, was much lighter. Zuko was last to the table, and Katara already left for school that morning. Sokka was wolfing down some care-package food from the Southern Pole, and Aang was barely managing to digest it.

Toph, for her part, was doing her best to humiliate Aang to the fullest of her abilities. "Eat! Eat! Eat! Eat!"

"What's the matter, Aang?" Sokka asked, confused, "You look sick."

"Long night," he lied. "Morning, Zuko. Anything else come around last night?"

Zuko shook his head, and prompted Sokka to look over at Zuko with a suspicious glint to his eye. "So, Zuko was doing a little patrolling last night? You know spirits can't get out until the full moon. That's just common sense. So what were you really up to?"

"We had an incident," Zuko said, "But I don't expect you to believe me."

"Good, 'cause I don't. Aang, did we have an incident?"

Aang nodded.

"Why wasn't I told? This totally goes against my theories about the Spirit World! If they can get out before the full moon, then who knows how long your bending will hold up in there."

"It wasn't really a normal spirit, Sokka," Aang said. "It was more like, like..."

"A shadow of something or someone," Zuko finished.

Sokka went from his usual suspicious demeanor to a strange one that Zuko had never witnessed before, but the others leaned in closer, as if this was a familiar state for Sokka to assume. He made some loud "Hmm," sounds, and Toph finally smashed his head into the table, playfully.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"To get your brain kick-started, genius. So, what are you thinking?"

"Well, Aang, as you know, normally when someone enters the Spirit World, they're unable to bend because they leave the physical world and assume a spirit form."

"Right, right. So, you think you've figured out why we're able to now?"

"Well," Sokka said, "Not really. But I'm wondering if this spirit incident would explain it. Whatever it is, it couldn't have been an ordinary spirit to get into the real world without a full moon."

"Well, it is getting closer, and since what happened to Hei Bai," Toph said, "Maybe we just weakened the barrier?"

"Interesting hypothesis, my dear Toph, but if that were the case, we'd be seeing more attacks from spirits and right now, things are even more quiet than before." He scratched his chin, "I think I need my detective gear."

"Well, good luck, Sokka," Zuko said. "I'm going to school. You two coming?"

"See you, Snoozles."

"Bye, Sokka."

"Hey! Wait up for me! I can't be late again or I'm going to be suspended!"

---------------

Lunch in Phoenix Center High School, run by one of the many divisions of the Phoenix Group, felt very empty to Zuko. Most of the teachers gave him dirty looks, since he walked around looking as if he was some kind of gang leader. His uniform unbuttoned, a dark shirt underneath, and a fiery phoenix sewed to the back, to represent his ties to the Phoenix Group.

He received fleeting glances from Ty Lee and Mai, but Azula's ever-watching eye prevented them from saying anything to the traitor. Things were getting increasingly uncomfortable, day one was bad enough. Day two was going to be hell.

He sat on the roof, looking over the front gate, and frowned. The walled city of Ba Sing Se may as well have been empty, since he didn't want to be around anyone. Not his sister's friends, not his new dormmates, and least of all, himself.

Which is why he took such a bitter face when his revelry was disturbed. "Zuko." The person disturbing it, she wasn't much happier. Katara, the good girl, wore a Water tribe coat around her waist, as the warm spring weather made it far too hot to wear it over her uniform.

"Katara."

"I wanted to thank you again," she said, "For last night." Her expression seemed to soften, "I haven't been very fair to you. Aang's right, you do deserve a second chance, but." She hardened her face again, "I expect answers from you if you expect me to trust you."

Zuko grunted, looking back out at the front gate.

"What does that mean?"

"It means, 'ask.' What did you think it meant?"

"Fine. How did you know about that spirit?" she said, "I thought about it all last night. You were the one who told me that it wasn't showing me reality. How did you know what it was doing?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Yes, but I want to hear it." She crossed her arms, "I want to hear about the one you faced."

"It was a month ago, the last full moon." He frowned, "The Spirit World's bonds weakened and the Forest Spirit began destroying the residential areas south of here."

"I know. I was there, remember?"

Zuko coughed. He hadn't, actually, but he continued regardless. "Well, after my sister and I retreated, I turned in for the night but was woken by something, I couldn't tell you what. It felt like I was being shoved awake by some sort of earthquake."

"Yeah, I remember that, too. It was like when you woke up in the middle of the night and remembered something you'd forgotten to do, but physically." Zuko nodded. "So, you faced one that night?"

"No." Zuko frowned. "I ran away. I couldn't face what it showed me, and I couldn't look it in the eye and refuse to become what it said I was. I ran as far and as fast as I could, but I couldn't shake it, I just closed my eyes, and tried to sleep."

"And? Did it work?"

"No," he said, "I felt like it followed me wherever I went. I'd turn, I'd see nothing, but I knew it was there, waiting for me to let down my guard and I slept poorly, one eye open, expecting it to attack with one of those swords."

He walked to the door. "Lunch is almost over. You should get back to class."

"You should, too."

"No," Zuko said, "Not today."

"You'll get suspended if you don't."

"My Dad pays their checks every month, they're not going to throw me out even if my Dad wouldn't care if they did or didn't." The way he said it, it just made his scar seem uglier than it was.

"Zuko, one more thing."

"What?" he snapped.

"Sokka said he wanted to talk to us after school, so come right back afterwards, okay? He said he had a revelation."

"I'll believe it when I see it." He waved, "See you after school."

-------

Zuko had no words when he entered the dorm. Sokka, dressed for all the world like some kind of idiot, pacing around. "Ah, Zuko, excellent. Please, have a seat." Zuko sat down and leaned forward. "We were just talking about you."

"Good for me," Zuko said.

"Well," Aang said, "We were wondering if the Phoenix Group had anything to do with those spirits. They were trying to artificially make benders, weren't they?"

Zuko grimaced, "Yes, but these spirits are the real deal. That's my opinion anyway."

"Well, that goes with my theory perfectly." Sokka smiled, proudly, "So, Katara and Zuko both have dealt with these spirits, and I wouldn't be surprised if Toph and Aang are next. They seem to be targetting benders who have entered the Spirit World and maintained their bending. This is my theory right now."

"That sounds reasonable," Zuko said. "But I don't think Aang will be targetted."

"Why not?"

"He's the Avatar, right?" Zuko said, "That's why he can bend all four elements where we can only bend one. So, I think he's the exception."

"Hey, not bad." He wrote that on a white board that was littered with words upon words, each circled and kept aside in some bizarre flow-chart of ideas. Zuko couldn't understand it, in the slightest, but had the creeping sensation that he was being given a glance at the workings of Sokka's brain. "You know, for a creep, you're pretty smart."

"Thanks." He hesitated, and added, "I guess."

"So, Toph, you'd better be ready."

"I'll beat that stupid spirit senseless," she said, eagerly.

"Zuko, Katara said your experience with yours matched pretty closely, right?" He nodded. "Interesting, and you hadn't even entered the Spirit World back then, had you?" He shook his head. "Very interesting."

"Mine showed me some," Katara hesitated, "Strange things. And, actually, Zuko, I wanted to apologize to you."

Zuko lifted his head and looked at her. "For what?"

"You weren't responsible for what happened ten years ago, and I can't keep using you as the face of the company that is. What they did to mom wasn't your fault." Sokka's cool glance over at Zuko told him that he didn't agree.

"Come on, Snoozles, relax."

"I still don't trust him," Sokka said.

"Why are you apologizing," Zuko asked, again, surprised.

"Because that's what the spirit showed me, that I was just blaming other people for things that are out of my control. Didn't yours show you something like that?"

Zuko closed his eyes. "When it first appeared, it seemed to tell me that what happened, everything that happened to my uncle and my mother." He hesitated, "I don't know. It told me that I was to blame. And not because I did something, but because I didn't do anything. I thought I'd be able to go home if I just followed my dad's orders."

"And all those things I did," he sighed, "I thought, if I asked you, you'd be able to get rid of it for me. Instead of trying to do something, every day that month I tried to talk to you, but you brushed me off."

They were quiet, looking at him. Day two, and he already let them hear this much. He didn't think he could stop anymore. "But then two days ago, I faced it. I couldn't run anymore. If that blue spirit was going to run me through, then fine, I said. But I wasn't going to go without my honor."

"I tried to apologize yesterday, but, I'll try it again. For all my actions against you, and inactions to help you, I'm sorry. I was wrong, but now, I see what my uncle wanted me to see before things went this far."

Sokka grumbled, "Fine, we're all buddy now? Good."

"Sorry, Sokka. You were saying?"

"Well, this certainly goes with my other theory about it. That you two made them," he said. "Yeah, sure, that sounds good. Your own repressed feelings made them. I mean, a lot of these old spirits used to need prayer and offerings, maybe they just started leeching off of your bad emotions and mutated. Yeah, okay, I'm going with that. So Toph, keep a positive attitude and you should be fine."

"Can do, Snoozles!"

"Ow! What did you throw at me?"

"Snackoo."

"Chocolate Snackoo?" he asked, hopefully.

"Maybe, maybe not."

Zuko stood up. "If that's all, I'm going to get to bed early."

Sokka looked over, ceasing to wrest the snackoos from Toph's iron grip. "Huh? Oh, right. Yeah, meeting dismissed, we'll test our findings in the Spirit World tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah, early night for me, too," Katara said.

Zuko climbed the stairs to the boy's floor, and put the key into his door. "Hey!" someone yelled, and turning, he saw Aang, who looked like he'd been relieved of a great burden. "Zuko, I hope you're starting to feel more at home."

"Yeah," Zuko said, "For the first time in a long while." He smiled, "I think even Sokka's letting up on me."

"He's just being protective. He can't bend, so he makes up for it by being our moral support."

"Yeah. I can see how." Zuko grimaced, once more. "I guess I've apologized a lot recently, but I guess I should thank you, too. You're the only reason they're letting me redeem myself."

"The only one who can give you a second chance is yourself, so don't thank me."

"Some of that Avatar wisdom I heard so much about?"

"Something like that. Good night, Zuko. You made it through Day two, so I think you'll be okay."

"Yeah," Zuko said, softly, "I think things are finally looking okay."

end

Author's Note: This story is an in media res of an AU inspired partially by Persona 3. Zuko joins the group after a personal revelation, and now fights against his father and his sister who have designs on the Spirit World.

Bending in the Spirit World, the idea of rogue spirits, and the secret club were only brushed up against. If the response is positive enough, I may write a follow-up that describes Aang's first day at the dorm, and further explain the idea of the club and the rogue spirits. And a few ideas dealing with Azula and Ozai. So review and let me know what you think.