AN: Huge thanks to my beta SeraNeko-chan! Go check them out.

Chapter two

It was hot, as it usually was in the Fire Nation. The firebending didn't make it any better. Sweat rolled down his back, the fire licked at his fingertips and at the bottom of his feet. He could feel the sun cook his alabaster skin and he knew he would wake up tomorrow with sunburn. His muscles started screaming at him to stop but he didn't. Zuko ignored the pain and heat and sent fire blast after fire blast into the air.

Iroh noticed, that even though his nephew remained determined to get the basics down, he was beginning to become sluggish and lazy in his movements.

"Prince Zuko!" Uncle yelled, his voice now hoarse from yelling at him so much to fix his stances. "You're getting tired, its time you should take a break."

But the prince shook his head at his uncle's pleas, "No, uncle." He got back in his stance, crouching, low to the ground with his fists in front of him. With a grunt, he lunged forward, a small spray of fire erupted from his fists as he landed on the ground in a huff. In frustration he hit the hard cement with his fist. Panic and the feeling of failure prickled at the sides of his torso as he failed for probably the tenth time that day to get the simple moves down. Something held him back and he couldn't pinpoint what it was.

Iroh came running up to his side, grabbed his shoulders and threw him to the ground. The prince landed on his back. "Nephew!" he shouted at the prince. A searing pain ran up the teen's wrists, the familiar trickling of blood against his skin. He didn't react to the pain at first, but instead examined the wounds on his knuckles. "You could have broken your hand," Iroh mumbled upon seeing the damaged knuckles. With a sigh, the old man helped his nephew to his feet. "Go to the infirmary and get that taken care of. I'll see you at practice tomorrow."

His teacher walked off, hands clutched together in red sleeves. A game of Pai Sho laid out on a small rounded wooden table. Iroh sat down and watched one of the servants move the tiles across the board.

With an exasperated groan, the young man turned around and walked to the infirmary. One of the servants, a young girl, held out a towel for Zuko as he exited the training arena. He passed warrior garb and double Dao swords held up by shelves or nailed to the red walls. Zuko paused in front of the doors where two guards in red uniforms with steel masks had hid their features except for two holes on the eyes that showed the amber and hazel irises. They greeted him with a deep bow before swinging the heavy doors open to let him out. He muttered a thanks and wiped the sweat off his bare chest and neck. His injured hand laid stiffly at his side, blood dripping down from the torn flesh and landing down on to the black, glossy floors.

Zuko made his way down the wide halls of the palace, passing by the paintings of his ancestors, avoiding their absent gaze while he laid the white, fluffy towel around his neck. His gaze was plastered to the floor, watching the pointy shoes move along the floor before he stopped abruptly.

When he turned up to the infirmary, he knocked softly on to the wooden door and entered meekly. The nurse, his favourite nurse, watched as he opened the door and he revealed his injured hand to her. She chuckled, a sweet smile enveloping her angelic face. "Again, my prince?" she asked.

The boy walked in and sat on one of the beds that faced her workstation. "Yeah," he replied. The nurse, Jin, was his favourite person in the palace. Not just because she was beautiful, but also because she was the only one, beside his uncle, who was kind to him. She was his age, eighteen, but already mature beyond her years as far as skill. She was one of the best nurses in the palace. He watched the girl grabbing some disinfectant and tissues. She poured the clear liquid on to the thin white tissues over a shallow metal container.

"Alright," she said, turning back around to face him, "Let's see the damage." She held out her hand, dainty and feminine. He placed his in hers and a small blush crept on both of their cheeks. A groan escaped his lips as she began to lightly touch the skin surrounding the knuckles. She retreated her fingers and then started to move them down his hand, applying even pressure.

Jin wasn't native to the Fire Nation. Her lustrous pale green eyes were evidence to that. Even though her features were resembled most people living in the Fire Nation; slanted yet wide eyes, a somewhat pale skin with a yellow undertone, dark, almost black hair, and chubby cheeks. She had a thin figure, but she wasn't overly thin and there was a healthy golden glow to her skin. The prince towered over her, but then again he towered over a lot of people.

"You're from the Earth Kingdom?" he said, a nervous ball started to form in his stomach as Jin flicked her eyes up from his hand to his eyes.

A small smile spread across her face. "Yes, Ba Sing Se."

"I've never been there. Is it nice?" he said in an awkward manner.

"Somewhat." She started wrapping gauze over the knuckles. "I take it you haven't been much out of the Fire Nation, have you prince?" The way she said prince, it was laced with a seductive yet innocent tone.

Her olive eyes gazed at him as she gently placed a hand on her slender hip, waiting for his answer. "No, not much. Just Ember Island." Jin nodded, removing her hand from her figure and again reaching for his own. She wrapped the gauze firmly and then sealed it around the injured mess firmly, a small stain of blood poking through the gauze.

"Since I got here I haven't been outside the palace, except to go home of course."

"You don't live here?" he said, his back straightening.

"No," she said, putting another piece of binding around the knuckles to hide the crimson. "I made it clear to Ozai that I was not going to live here."

A note of shock dressed his face. "No one stands up to the Fire Lord like that."

A small laugh escaped her thin lips as she said, "Yeah, well. He is not as scary to me as he is to everyone else." Eyes flicked up to his scar and she lost her smile.

An insecure feeling overtook him as he realized she was referencing him. His shoulders slumped and the air in the room grew tense. Jin's movements were shaky and quick as she realized he caught what she was subtly referencing. But it wasn't like he hid it very well either.

He didn't try and hide the scar that wrapped around his left eye. His raven hair was pulled away from his face in a ponytail when training, and in a topknot during special events. When he was dressed casually, usually an inch of his hair in the front was pulled back in to a small half updo with thick shorter strands of hair outlined his slender, pale face.

"Yeah," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. An awkwardness settled in the room. Jin had turned around and stood on her toes trying to reach a jar of some sort of herbs. She was still too short to reach it, Zuko jumped up from the bed and walked over. He stretched his arm, suddenly very aware of how bad he probably smelled, and grabbed the jar of herbs. He handed them to Jin. "What is that?" he asked, pointing a thin finger to the jar.

She sauntered away, almost in a skip. "It's a special tea Iroh gave me, it's used for pain relief. I figured we could sit and drink it, alleviate the pain in your hand and, I guess, talk for a while."

But before he could answer, someone entered the room. The familiar girl with same golden eyes as the young prince leaning against the wall while holding the door she came through with the top of her foot. "Zuzu," Azula said. "Father needs to see you." She gave the nurse a glare, squinting her eyes in threatening way she did, as Jin placed the jar on the metal table beside the bed was sitting on, a soft clatter sound through the room. She ducked behind Zuko where a small stack of paperwork lay and began to flip through, acting like she was busy.

"Do you know why?" His fists began to clench at his sides and he straightened his back at the mention of his father.

"If I did, I would have said so," she hissed. She kicked the door out further, turning around holding the door with her back, she looked back at her older brother. "Are you coming, Zuzu?"

With slight annoyance at his childhood nickname, Zuko looked back at Jin, wanting to catch her olive eyes one last time, but she was shuffling papers and writing something down. "Yes," he said, closing the door behind them.

As he followed a step behind her, his eyes rested on the back of her head. Azula was shorter than most of the people they knew, but she carried herself with confidence. Azula never tried to make conversation on the way to their father's bedchambers and neither did he. There was underlying tension between the siblings. Whether he liked it or not, it was mostly caused by their parents. Ozai constantly praised Azula as a master of their element and always made his son out to be inferior to her. Ursa, Agni be with her, always made the prince feel secure and loved. Something Azula never got from either of their parents.

Once they got to their father's chamber, Azula reached out for the door handle, swung it open and held it for Zuko. She glared him down causing the confidence he worked up on the way to his father's chambers to falter.

Ozai's chamber was more than extravagant. A bed bigger than he had ever seen stood in the middle of the room. A desk with quill and ink and some light-yellow parchment was positioned in a disorganized mess on the wooden surface next to the window his father was now staring out of. The carpet that lined his room was red and black, the Fire Nation emblem in the middle of it. The Fire Lord headpiece sat on his bed and a crimson robe lay next to it.

Ozai turned to his son when he heard the door open. Zuko had never actually been in his father's chambers. He usually tried to stay away from his father's things as much as he could.

"Son," he said, a suspicious cheery smile spread across his face. He gestured toward a bottle of whiskey. "Would you like some?" Zuko nodded and watched his father pour the liquid into two glasses. He didn't understand why he agreed to have a drink with his father. The prince never liked the taste of alcohol.

An equal amount of the brown liquid, poured a quarter of the way, filled the glasses. He handed his son one of the glasses, clinked them and took a sip of the whiskey. Zuko reluctantly took a sip, a smooth taste of the alcohol flowed down his throat. He tried to mask his disgust as best he could.

"Why am I here?" Zuko asked. He didn't mean to so abrupt with his question, but it slipped out of his mouth.

His father rested the glass on the desk beside him, and slapped a hand on Zuko's shoulder. He jumped, his father wasn't the touchy type. "I have a proposition for you." Ozai sounded happy which was strange, he was never happy. "A flagship of Fire Nation soldiers was on United Tribe waters in the South Pole last night. They reported to have seen a blue light that shot through the sky."

Zuko didn't understand. Who cares?, he thought."The avatar has returned." Ozai picked up the glass again and downed it one gulp before slamming it back on the table.

"Why are you telling me? I'm no soldier."

Ozai laughed, a sinister, out of ordinary laugh. "My son, this is a time for you to prove yourself." He said it bluntly, the words cut through the air like a knife. Since the Agni Kai between them, Zuko knew he wasn't a candidate for the throne anymore. His birthright was stripped from him and was replaced with an ugly scar. "If you want to be Fire Lord, now is the time for you to take this opportunity and prove to me you can be strong, like your sister." He walked back over to his desk, and took the crystal bottle that held the whiskey and poured himself another glass. This time, he filled the glass nearly to the top.

How many has he said?, Zuko thought with the furrow of his brow. The young fire bender has never seen his father drink alcohol like water, it frightened him. Zuko chocked the rest of the whiskey down his throat, barely even tasting the repulsive flavor. His father gave him a nod, as if to say that's my boy!

"What is your proposition then?"

A smile cut through his father's face. He walked over to his son, his face was inches away in a threatening glare. "I want you to retrieve him."

Zuko gently placed his glass down on the table, trying to keep his composure but the fear of his father was apparent in his golden eyes. "There is no avatar, father. Whatever your fleet saw, they were yanking your chain."

"Even if they were, I want you to make sure they were telling the truth." Ozai wasn't a merciful man, Zuko shuddered at the thought of what the Fire Lord would do to those soldiers if he found out they were lying.

"It's not possible father, in this life he would have been a nomad." The prince settled his eyes on anything but the amber, menacing eyes of his father. His eyes flicked to the middle of his father's brow as he spoke. "Last time I checked, the nomads are all dead."

The smile was now slid away from Ozai's face, and his expression returned to his usual hard and angry look. "I have no use for your sarcasm, son," Ozai hissed. Suddenly, Zuko was back at the arena, he was thirteen with tears streaming down his face as he begged his father to spare his life. Cold sweat formed on his back, his hands were tingling and clammy. He could feel the concrete rubble underneath his bare feet. He was on the verge of bending, scarring his father's face like he had done to him, but he didn't.

He didn't hear exactly what his father said to him that snapped him back to reality, in truth, it was all muffled. Zuko hadn't realized he had dug his nails into his hand until he felt the trickle of blood against the sensitive skin. He met his father's gaze.

"You will do as I say, take leave as soon as possible and capture the avatar." With that, his son was dismissed.

Zuko typically didn't express his emotions in front of people, preferring to hide them until he reached a private spot. Usually that meant retreating to his room and having his usual fits of panic. Lying a fetal position on his bed as he hyperventilated locked into memory of his father roasting him alive.

The day after Ozai had given him his command, Zuko was once again sparring with his uncle, hoping to get at least once practice in for the long journey into the freezing south.

The spar had started like any other. The prince had most of the basic forms down and his fire was strong and consistent. Iroh was using techniques that Zuko had never been taught before so the prince tried mimicking. He had nearly mastered the physical movement, but failed at breathing fire. He didn't have proper breath control when it came to that and the smoke usually put him into a coughing fit.

The prince was sitting on all fours of the concrete arena, caught in a coughing fit when his father approached him. And he froze, panic slowly building into his chest. The prince's heart was beating rapidly, something he experienced often. He tried to force the panic down but he couldn't and his instincts took over his body. Fire burst out of his feet as he rolled forward, shooting his fist straight out so another stream of fire burst into the air, this one was sparser than his usual blasts of fire but enough energy to elongate out. He was breathing heavily, sitting on the hard floor, the dark red light of the arena illuminating his skin. Fire licked his skin, he could almost feel his epidermis beginning to peel off. The urge to swat at his skin and scream was stuck inside his mind. Instead, he was frozen to the ground, staring at the menacing amber eyes glaring down at his burning body.

Except, he wasn't burning alive. There were no dark red lights, it was sunny, warm and inviting. There were no menacing amber eyes that glared down at him. There was Iroh, the shock and concern that dressed his face.

His uncle had his hands placed over his head with his eyes closed. He opened them slowly to look at his nephew, usually a tall and proud man, now with fear in his eyes and the same look Iroh hasn't seen on his face since he was fifteen. They both stayed in their same positions, Iroh standing straight and expressionless and Zuko sitting down, breathing heavily with his fist still out. And they just stared at each other.

It felt like forever until Iroh reached his hand out for his nephew. He waited patiently for his nephew's shoulders to relax and the fear in his eyes to be lost.

The prince had his shoulders slumped in shame when he stood up. His uncle would have kept fighting if Zuko's golden eyes didn't shine with fright.

"Nephew," the old man said. Iroh was shorter than the young man, but somehow, it felt like Iroh towered over him. Zuko searched his familiar amber eyes for something, anything that would give away the teacher's emotions. But it seemed to be filled with nothing Zuko could interpret. "Go pack."

Iroh turned around after a quick pat on the man's shoulders and walked over to the two female servants who held out a maroon robe for the old man, he slipped it over his shoulders and he walked out but not before looking back. Zuko caught his uncle's eyes, they held the gaze for a moment before Iroh broke it and departed from the arena. The prince did the same and was escorted back to his chambers with his own team of servants busying themselves with packing a suitcase for the royal.

Zuko never got used to this and sometimes he hated it. They showed him shirts, pants and shoes and waited for his approval before putting them into the bag. The women grabbed his arms and brought him to his feet and quickly began to undress him.

He tried keeping his head high and eyes averted from theirs as he stood naked in his chambers with the servants buzzing around him trying to dress him in a casual red tunic, a black and gold robe that was cinched at the waist by a black belt with a holster for a dagger. Loose fitting pants that were cinched by black leather boots that outlined his calves. His hair was kept in the casual style he always had.

On the way to the boat he ran into Iroh and they walked together in silence. The servants behind each of them walked up to the ramp of the metal ship and disappeared below deck, most likely taking each of the bags to their chambers. Iroh led Zuko to where five soldiers stood in front of the flagship by the ramp at attention, each with their helmets on their heads except for one.

Five soldiers. The first was named Tado, a middle-aged man with dark skin. Wide hazel eyes and had the faint appearance of crow's feet. He seemed to be the quiet type as he didn't say much but a greeting to the two men, even his voice was quiet but it was deep. The second was a woman, older than the most of the soldiers there. Her name was Mea and she had thick gray hair that flowed down from the hard, red and black helmet on her head. She stood tall, was more responsive than Tado was but still didn't say much. Even though she was older, the muscles on her body were visible to everyone there. The next soldier seemed to be around the prince's age, her name was Zai, clearly the most inexperienced one there. Even with that, she was almost as muscular as Mea, though her helmet rested underneath her arm. She still stood tall and proud despite everyone glaring at her bare head. Her eyes were a light yet still a warm yellow, burn marks covered her arms. With a little curiosity, Zuko eyed the burns, some looked recent, others were leftover scars.

He might have eyed them too much because she cleared her throat and caught his eyes. A blush crept over his good cheek as his uncle gripped the sleeve of his shoulder and pulled him over to the other two guards.

Another female soldier, looked about same age at Tado but seemed to have similar features as the soldier next to her. Both with the same colored eyes, but the woman, Chee, had a bonier face compared to her baby-faced brother. Aden, the brother, was only a couple years older than Zuko, although Zuko still towered over the man. There was a mix of confidence and a bit of fear as the Dragon of the West and the shamed crown prince eyed him down.

With the formal greetings out of the way, the two fire benders and the soldiers boarded the ship and looked back at the patrons waving and cheering the men and women on. Zuko searched the audience for the familiar olive eyes. When he found them, a face of concern accompanied them but it was laced with a small smile. The prince waved at Jin and she waved back. He never taken her up on the offer of tea and something told him he never would.

The ship grumbled underneath their feet as it took off from the port and sailed to the horizon. Within moments all the patrons on the port were ants to the crew.

The day was filled with soldiers and the two firebenders trying come up with a sound plan on how they would deal with their mission but no one could agree on anything. They had argued over the faults in their plans until Iroh adjourned the meeting.

But at night, the deck turned into one giant party. Everyone dancing drunkenly and singing off-key to the music being played by the servants on board. Ale was handed out all around the ship and supposedly Aden had snuck it underneath the Fire Lord's nose and hid it in his bunker. Iroh and Tado had broken into a song and Mea, the complete opposite of her earlier self, was the center of laughter, cracking jokes left and right with the servants, crew and soldiers.

Zuko had sat alone, a mug of ale rested on the wooden table in front of him forming a wet ring. He was smiling at the laughter and tension-free environment around him. He wasn't used to this.

A bump shifted the old wooden table, Zuko looked over to see Zai, dressed in only a skin tight red tank top and brown trousers held up by the black belt that held a solid black dagger. She took a swig ale and stared at the prince.

She wasn't drunk yet but had a calm vibe around her. She was tough and prideful, at least he believed her to be. Her body language and eyes gave herself away like that. Zuko turned his full attention to the soldier.

"So," she said, a slight slur to her words, taking another swig of ale. "I saw you staring at the marks on my arms."

The prince shrugged his soldiers. "So?"

Zai sat the mug down away from them and moved his as well. She laid her arms down on the table, with the hands facing toward the floor. She pointed toward a large scar on her shoulder. Pink and wrinkled. "I got this during training, hurt like hell but it was one of my first."

Zuko raised his only eyebrow up at her. "You're a firebender?"

Zai nodded. "The only one besides you and your uncle on the ship. This one," she said, turning her attention back to her arms. This time with her palms facing up to the sky, she pointed to her wrist. The mark, that started at the base of her wrist and lapped to the middle digits of her index and middle finger, was an old one. Dark pink like the one on his face. "was from when I was working for the police force in the Capital. Right before I was promoted to a soldier in the navy. I got it from a man named Jire, he was the head of a dangerous gang, which I forgot the name of it. Anyway, he shot a fire blast and me being an idiot I held up a hand to protect myself."

Zuko nodded back in response and took a swig of his own ale. The bitter liquid made his face turn into a brief scowl. He held up his shirt to reveal his toned stomach. A scar wrapped from his belly button to the middle of his spine. "Training, my uncle got me by accident." She clapped in admiration.

"Go Iroh," she said with a smile, revealing pearly teeth. She pointed at his face, "What about that one?"

She reached her hand out and was heading right for his cheek but he swatted it away. It was a defense mechanism from when the burn was fresh and bloody. Now, he didn't let anyone touch it. "Sorry," he whispered, as she retracted her hand into her lap. She reached out for her mug and shrugged.

"It's fine." She finished the ale and got up from the table. "We all got things we don't talk about."

AN: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. You will find out what happens to Katara and Aang next chapter but for right now I thought I would introduce adult Zuko. Our beloved prince clearly has PTSD and I want to show that as raw as I can in later chapters, since the original show didn't show that as much as they could have. I don't want to make the same mistake as Thirteen Reasons Why did and romanticize the seriousness of this disorder, so if you have any suggestions as to how I can avoid that, or if I already have done, tell me how to fix that, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. Next chapter coming soon and I promise, the story will kick off soon. I just want to introduce the characters and get our story set up first.

AN: Thank you a million times to the reviewer who left the best review ever! To address your confusion:

1. Ursa's fate will be reviewed in later chapters.

2. Zuko's crew is majority female because I'm getting tired of seeing a group of soldiers in stories having only one female soldier in there. Times are a-changing and I want more strong female characters, especially with a show that has beautifully written women.

3. The reason the description of the soldiers is long is because I want to incorporate as much of my original characters in to the story as much as possible, and not a single character in ATLA was useless, but I do see your point about the paragraph being too long so I will break it up into smaller bits.

4. The Earth Kingdom and stage of it will be revealed very shortly. Since this is the beginning, I didn't want to rush anything. I want it to resemble the pace of the beloved show, a slow build that is worth every moment.