LJ Name: chinae, aka Erika
Title of Fic: The Rising Sun
Beta: dossier (Part I to V), who gave the right advise and asked the best questions. And Tetzurou, who looked at the story while it was still in its infancy.
Estimated word length upon completion: 14,667
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action / Adventure, with bits of drama
Warnings and pairings: Please consider this to an AU. The story focuses on Zuko and Iroh.
Personal Note: Some of the dialogue was taking directly from the cartoon. In particular, The Siege of the North: Part II, Admiral Zhao and Zuko's battle, and the episode The Desert, Iroh playing Pai Sho. For source material, I've also used ATLA: Prequel – Zuko's Story.

Summary: The Avatar is the master of all four elements. What happens when Zuko, grandson to Avatar Roku, stumbles upon Roku's companion Fang and discovers he is more than just a Firebender?

~oo00oo~

Prologue

Zuko runs as fast as his small legs permit him. He runs past his room, past the children's quarter, out to the garden. He finally comes to a stop at the small pond adjacent the tree.

He kneels to the ground, shoulders shaking and tears running down his cheek. He's four. Zuko lets out a loud sniffle and runs the back of his hand over his nose.

He has tried desperately to make fire but nothing emerges from his hands. No flame or heat. It matters not how much he tries, or how desperately he wishes it, his body does not obey him.

No matter how many vegetables he eats, even the yucky green peas, he is still small for his age. Even with his mother at his side, as he offers sacrifice to the Ancestors, he still cannot bend fire. He studies, yet he cannot correctly recite the history of his family.

His mum tells him that he is still a little boy, that in time he will master these things. That one could not bend until the body was ready, but that was before he watched his two-year-old sister heat her glass of goat milk.

He leans and brushes his fingertips over the surface of the water. At his touch the water ripples.

"Zuko!"

The young Prince sits back and hugs his knees, ignoring his mother's call.

"There you are." She sits next to him. They are silent for a moment and as Ursa reaches to rub her son's shoulder, she notes the redness around his eyes. She moves and hugs him to her, rocking him back and forth, murmuring along his temple, how much she loves him.

In her embrace, he cries that it isn't fair. He's trying so hard. Why can't he produce just a bit of flame?

Neither notices how the water in the pool continues to ripple in motion with Ursa as she rocks her son to sleep.

~oo00oo~

Part One: The Little Prince

The character "eight" () does not consist of one stroke.

Chinese proverb

No child could resist the lure of a cave and it is not everyday his older cousin comes home and is able to take him on an expedition.

"Come on, lazy bones," Lu Ten calls out to Zuko.

"I'm coming," he runs and stumbles only to be caught in his cousin's strong grip.

"Careful there." Lu Ten teasingly pulls Zuko's topknot.

Zuko glares at his cousin, as he crosses his arms over his chest. "Stop it."

"Zuzu, wait up." Azula calls to them.

Zuko's eight and Azula six. Unfortunately, his mother had deemed her old enough to accompany them.

"My name is Zuko!" he yells, angry that even in this, Azula would not let him have time alone with his beloved cousin.

Azula's hands came to rest along her hips. There is a determined look on her face.

"If you both prefer to stay here and fight ..." Lu Ten threatens, recognizing that his cousins are getting ready to argue. At his glare, they quiet down. He sighs and rubs his temples. Kids. Knowing Azula will continue to pester Zuko, he decides it'll be best for now to separate them, so he offers Azula his hand, knowing that Zuko will follow.

Azula sends Zuko a triumphant grin.

As they near the mouth of the cave, Lu Ten fishes something out of his bag. He lights the two torches and tries to hand one to Zuko and the other to Azula.

"I don't need it, cousin." Azula informs him, conjuring a small flame and holding it in the palm of her hand. She sends a gleeful grin over to her older brother.

Zuko meanwhile looks dejectedly down to the ground.

Unlike his sister, he's no prodigy and while he could call forth fire, holding it, nurturing it, is something he still has difficulty doing.

"Take the torch, both of you."

"But –" Azula begins to say.

Lu Ten interrupts her. "It's a long walk inside these caves, and you will be easily tired."

Azula huffs, takes the torch and marches on ahead.

Lu Ten kneels down in front of Zuko who's still looking at the ground and holds the torch to him. "There is no shame in needing this, Zuko. In fact," he leans and whispers to his younger cousin as if sharing a secret, "when I first entered these caves with my father, I too needed a torch."

"You did?" Zuko asks, voice small, for one brief second glancing up at this cousin. Pale gold eyes, worried before they again become downcast.

With his other hand, Lu Ten tips Zuko's face up. "Yeah, I did." Smiling shyly now Zuko accepts the torch from him. There's a bounce to his step. They walk toward Azula who waits for them, and as Lu Ten continues on before them, she mouths the word, 'baby' to Zuko.

He ignores her and instead rushes to walk beside his older cousin. If Lu Ten said that he too had needed help; it must be true. His cousin has never lied to him.

Inside the cavern, they walk through miles of passageways with Lu Ten as their guide.

"Now, it has been said that the first Firebenders who entered these caves did so in the form of a test, a rite of passage. That only those who could nurture their fire will find the secret hidden in this cavern."

"A secret?" Azula looks at Lu Ten incredulously. Zuko steps closer eager to hear more.

"Yes, little sister, a secret." Lu Ten grins at them, for one brief moment no longer resembling the young heir to the throne, but their mischievous cousin whom they both adore. Quickly he performs a series of Firebending moves that end with him sending a small fireball ahead of them to illuminate their path.

"There are many passageways in these caverns, some lead to rooms that contain pools of groundwater, others resemble lava tubes that must have been formed during volcanic activity and some even speculate could lead all the way to the ancient city that once held the first Fire Sage Temples."

"Is that where we are going, Lu Ten?" Zuko asks.

"No, little brother. Not today." The flame in Lu Ten's hand blazes. "But one day, we'll explore this hidden world."

"And find the secret together?"

"Yes, Zuko. Find it together."

"I bet, that if I wanted to, I could find the secret."

Lu Ten flicks the tip of Azula's nose. "This isn't a contest Azula."

"Is that all?" Azula face took on a bored expression.

Lu Ten sighs. "For now. Come on, enough adventure for today."

Zuko takes one last look at where Lu Ten's fireball has gone to, and promises himself that one day he'd be back.

~oo00oo~

On the day of Zuko's ninth birthday a dragon hawk arrives carrying a scabbard. Sheathed within it are two broadswords, a scroll and a message from his uncle, General Iroh, Dragon of the West, Crowned Prince to the Fire Nation Kingdom.

Nephew,

In one of your mother's letters, she wrote of your interest in swords and to be known for more than just your Firebending skill.

As our nation continues the siege at Ba Sing Se, and as we battle both Earthbenders and non-benders, I too have realized that we need to learn more than just our own element.

On a recent raid, our troops came upon a chest full of scrolls that spoke of an Earth Kingdom maiden renowned for her sword-fighting skills. The Lady of Yue, was a tactical genius, a non-bender, who invented many of the fighting systems used by benders and non-benders to handle multiple attackers.

I thought you'd be interested in an old scroll of hers called, The Swordfighter's Saga. I have also included two of her broadswords. May Agni protect you.

Your Uncle,

Iroh

Zuko takes out both single-blade swords. They're short dao. Excited he thrusts one dao and then the other. Feeling all important he lowers his voice and make-believes that he is facing an Earthbender solider, "Bow to me you –"

"Zuzu, have you finally giving up bending?" Azula smirks.

Zuko ignores her. She's jealous, that's all. Uncle Iroh, only ever sends her dolls, while aside from this gift, Zuko has already received a pearl knife from his Uncle that once belonged to a Earthbender General who surrender when General Iroh broke through Ba Sing Se outer wall.

"Uncle agrees with me, one must learn more than just their element." He sheaths the swords.

"Father wouldn't agree." Azula argues back.

"Uncle is Dragon of the West," Zuko informs her.

"And Ba Sing Se still has not fallen." Azula's tone rose. "And it will never fall as long as tea-loving kookiness is in charge!"

Zuko fist clenches the sword and he storms away from Azula.

~oo00oo~

When one's world comes to an end, all one wants to do is run. Run to the farthest corner, away from the background noise and false looks that threaten to swallow you alive.

Grandfather is dead.

And his mother has disappeared.

"Azula always lies," he murmurs, repeating the phrase like a mantra, as if by doing so, it will make it true.

He once thought the worst day of his life was when the messenger bird brought the news that Lu Ten was dead, but this is worse. His mother is gone. Who will be his buffer from Azula's cruelty? Who will be there to support him when he fails? Who will be there to pick him up?

Who will love him, for neither his father nor sister cares for him.

He's ten and his world has ended.

Still wearing the white robes from the funeral pyre, Zuko goes to his room. He walks over to the wardrobe and opens one of the drawers. He looks for a scroll that Lu Ten had given him on his last visit to the palace. Finding it, he packs it and a few other things into a small bag. Nothing heavy, mostly personal things he doesn't want to leave behind, like a locket with a lock of his mother's hair in it, uncle's knife, the broadswords and Lu Ten's map. He then goes over to the table and grabs enough of the fruit from the fruit dish to last him a day or two. He places the fruit and other provisions into the bag and quickly leaves the room.

He's going to prove to everyone that he is worth something. Anything.

If there is no one here to defend him, he will have to defend himself.

With stealth, long practiced from his many attempts at trying to avoid Azula, Zuko makes it out of the palace and the protected Imperial city. He takes the route once shown to him by Lu Ten, avoiding most of the roads used by travellers.

Finally, when he arrives, he leans against the mouth of the cavern, exhausted not just due to the long hike, but the grief and uncertainty of the past two days.

He didn't know his grandfather that well and on the few occasions he'd been brought out and presented to him had not been ideal. Too often in those meetings, it was Azula who had shone while Zuko was pushed to the background.

The Firelord had not been the grandfatherly type but that did not mean his passing meant anything less to Zuko. In fact anything associated with his grandfather brought up a great deal of mixed emotions in Zuko. Emotions that had intensified once Lu Ten had died.

Lu Ten's death meant that Zuko was no longer considered a spare, but instead an heir.

Zuko carefully unwraps the small torch, breathing deeply, as his mother had taught him; he concentrates on his inner fire. In and out, he breaths, until he feels the build up of warmth along his body, that travels throughout his torso until eventually a bit of flame lights up in the middle of his palm. He lights the torch from the flame within his hand, then enters the cavern.

This is either the bravest or most stupid thing ten-year-old Zuko has ever done. He marches onward, trusting that his cousin had been right, that Zuko would find the secret hidden in these caverns. A secret only true heirs, true Firebenders, could discover.

He stops occasionally to rest and mark the wall with red chalk. He continues even though he's tired and scared. He walks on, ignoring the sounds from above, like that of dripping water or the flapping of bat wings.

Eventually he comes upon a pool of water.

Zuko places the torch in-between a few rocks, securing it, then grabbing an apple from his bag he sits down to eat.

Now that he's here, it doesn't seem that scary.

It seems kind of peaceful.

He continues taking bites out of his apple. Once done, Zuko bends down at the edge of the pool, cleaning his hands and face, sighing deeply as if he carries all the weight of the world.

He takes the torch and continues walking. He walks for what seems like hours, with each step, he's no longer confident of his quest, hands trailing along the rock, feet dragging. He stumbles but there's no one there to help him, or soothe his hurt.

With eyes moist, lips quivering, he keeps on walking.

It seems important somehow to find this secret, and unlike Azula, Lu Ten had never lied to him.

Zuko almost gives up as the passageway becomes harder to navigate and the rocks harder to mark. He probably would have turned back but he comes upon a large chamber, where limestone hangs like columns from the ceiling.

At the end of the chamber there are four small openings. Zuko bites his lip; indecisive of which opening he ought to take. Last time he'd been here, they hadn't come this far.

For the longest time, Zuko stands there. He seems frozen in place until he asks himself, 'If Lu Ten was here, which path would he have taken?'

Now more confident he strides forward, not taking the right or the middle openings, but instead the one at the far left. The smallest and probably less travelled.

Taking a deep breath he ventures in, noting how small his torch has become but still moving forward. He has come this far; he needs to continue.

The path twists and turns, it probably had been an old lava canal. Upon reaching the end he enters another chamber. He raises the torchlight above him. There are drawings on the cave wall!

Excitedly he runs inside.

He lifts his torch above his head as he walks along the chamber wall. It looks like the drawings encompass the whole of the chamber. It shows stick figures in different Firebending positions all facing the sun. Some of the figures are also drawn dancing with dragons or riding their back.

Zuko glances around; trying to find somewhere he could place his torch. Locating a good holding spot, he places his torch in-between the rocks, fishes into his bag and unrolls a scroll Lu Ten had given him.

The scroll was old, Lu Ten had said, passed from the Firebending Lord to his first heir and he'd given it to Zuko for safekeeping.

In the scroll there are drawings similar to the ones on the cave wall, except the figures in the chamber are more elaborate and it seems as though new drawings had been added through time, as new Firebending techniques were discovered and mastered.

For a brief moment, his heart feels light again. He rolls the scroll and places it back in his bag that he carries over his shoulder.

He continues walking, as far as the light from the torch allows him. Zuko reaches to touch the wall, to rest a bit but it isn't rock that he touches. His hand feels cold and sticky, as if he is touching something with scales. Zuko jumps back, scared.

"What?"

Warm air breezes by him and extinguishes his torch.

He gulps as he's swallowed in darkness.

Scared, Zuko extends his arms, making sure there is nothing in front of him. His jaw quivers as he mouths silently for his ancestors to protect him.

"Lu Ten." He whispers, voice that of a small, frightened boy. "Mum."

He swallows hard, feeling queasy, unable to find any kind of light in this dark cavern.

He wants to be home, to the safety of his room, even if it was partially an illusion. He's probably safer here than at the palace but it feels different now, more menacing. He tries to calm his rapid pulse. If he could only make a bit of fire, just enough to be able to see what was in front of him.

He breathes deep. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. A flicker of flame appears along the tip of his fingertips, lighting the room and illuminating the creature before him.

Zuko yelps, the flame extinguishes, and he stumbles back from the creature menacing jaw, falls and hits his head. Hard.

His last conscious thought is that he hears the scrape of stone against stone. It's later that he would realize it wasn't stone that had made that noise.

~oo00oo~

"Hush, little Prince."

Something warm settles around Zuko. Even asleep, he whimpers.

"You're safe now," the voice tells him.

Zuko slowly blinks and rubs his pale gold eyes. He yawns, eyes still sleepy, he moves as if to sit up. He leans against something soft that breathes in tune with him.

The chamber is lit and when he looks completely up, he sees the small opening above. He wonders why he hadn't noticed it before –

"Are you feeling better, child?"

"What?"

Zuko scrambles away, trying to get up, and then down. His muscles are sore. On the ground, he raises his hand, as he seen other Firebender do, as if to threaten the large red dragon that seems amused at finding such a small boy in his cavern.

"A Firebender? Long since I've seen one," It informs Zuko.

"You talk!" Zuko exclaims.

In a rumbling deep voice it answers, "Well, I am educated."

"You are?" Fear now forgotten, Zuko lowers his hand.

The dragon laughs, its gold cat-like eyes light up in amusement as puffs of smoke come out of its snout. "Oh, to be young and foolish."

Zuko shakes his head, then gasps and doubles over. His head hurts and his vision is blurred.

The dragon moves to lean over him. Zuko rubs the back of his head. He feels a bump already forming.

"Now, now," it says, "I have forgotten how breakable you are at this age."

Zuko just continues to lie there. Is this the secret? A dragon, here?

"Long have I waited for your return," the dragon informs him in a strong majestic voice.

Glancing up, Zuko asks. "Who are you?"

"In time," says the dragon, ignoring his question and instead its snout brushes against the top of Zuko's head. Its beard tickles the side of Zuko's face. The dragon then picks Zuko up from the back of his clothes, and carries him as a bearded cat would its kitten as it flies up, its long wings flapping in the breeze.

~oo00oo~

It feels as if he's been gone longer than a day.

The sun has settled over the horizon and one can clearly see the stars. They have flown out from what had once been a volcanic pit and are now resting on the edge of its crater.

He hugs his knees. If it weren't for the bruises and scrapes, all of this would seem like a dream.

"Are you ever lonely?" If Azula were here, she'd probably demand that it take her back home or such stuff. But home is where he was running away from, not trying to go to.

"I have been lonely for close to a hundred years," confides the dragon.

"That long?" asks Zuko. He's ten, and to him a hundred years seems like forever.

"Yes, child, that long."

"Are there others like you?" It's easier to talk to the dragon and ignore the events of the past two days. Here he could make-believe, this is just a dream and soon, he'd wake up, run to his mother's arms, have a picnic in the garden, and have her comb his hair with his hands, teasing him that she was raising an urchin. A little bor-q-pine.

"It has been a long time since I've seen another of my kind," confessed the dragon.

"Oh." Zuko taps the heel of his boot along the rock.

Zuko yawns and the dragon moves to encircle him.

"Rest now, everything will be better come morning," It assures him.

Zuko places his small bag next to him, carrying his own treasures and lays his head on top of it as the dragon moves to cover him with one of its wings.

"Do you have a name?" he asks as his hand goes to cover his mouth. "What should I call you?" he asks again for if this was a dream, he wishes he could dream it again.

"My name is Fang."

And Zuko slept.

~oo00oo~

Come morning Zuko finds himself not at the top of the crater, but near the entrance of the cave. His bag containing his few belongings is nowhere to be seen. He searches around him but finds nothing. He touched his left side, sighing in relief that he still had the pearl knife with him, safely sheathed in the double wrap belt. The swords though are gone. Finally after a second search, Zuko emerges from the cave, and raises his hand to cover his eyes. He squints at the sun powerful rays.

The sun blazes, heating the stone and ground, it's as though the earth steams. He buries his hand in the soil, seeking the warmth. He lets it steady him as he fights the panic that arises at the thought that he's alone.

Is he so lonely and desperate that he's made up an imaginary friend? He looks down at his clothes, no longer white.

Tentatively he feels the back of his head. "Ow." A bruise had formed.

Perhaps it wasn't all a dream.

More calmly, he walks back to the palace, ignoring the curious look of the townspeople, and later, the guards.

Once inside the Royal family residence, Azula accosts him.

Like an annoying flying insect, Azula pesters him. "Hiding again, Zuzu?" she teases. Her noise wrinkles up and she mouths the word smelly peasant as he passes her.

He ignores her and continues walking to his room.

"Zuzu?" she calls after him, but he just enters his room and closes the door behind him. For now at least, he's no longer concerned about Azula.

~oo00oo~

END of PART I

~oo00oo~