12/16/14
Cartoon Alternate Universe.
Honor
Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stand against them, but even he could not stop them when they used the power of the once every hundred years comet to strike devastating blows to the other three nations, forcing Avatar Roku to choose where to fight. He protected the Air Nomads, the nation where he would be reincarnated should he fall.
Though neither the Water Tribes nor the Earth Kingdom fell that day the Avatar spent decades trying to end the destruction and expansion the Fire Nation started with the comet, named Sozin's comet after the Fire Lord that started the war. And even with the power of the Avatar giving Roku an extended life he did not live to see the end of the war.
Twenty years has passed since anyone had seen the Avatar and Sozin's Comet shall arrive in the sky above their world again in the summer.
Three years has passed since Zuko had nearly been banished, still baring the scar his father gave him in their now infamous Agni Kai brought about by Zuko speaking out against a barbaric plan in a war meeting, which has not even been a remark against his father. His father, Fire Lord Ozai, said suffering would be Zuko's teacher to learn honor and proper respect. He would have banished Zuko to do this if not for Ozai deciding having to face the shame of being an improper prince in the court, without honor and wearing the mark of his ignorance, would serve as a better punishment.
At first Zuko had been grateful. He dreaded the thought of having to leave his home and his position in his family for he had very little else with them. Yet as time went by the staring and the whispering did not stop. The mocking as soon as his back was turned because they knew he had caused his own disfigurement and was only still there because his own father wanted him humiliated.
As little as Zuko wished he had been banished he often wished he could get away. To be among people, strangers, that, even though they could see the scar, they wouldn't know the story behind it. Perhaps if he had been banished he at least would have gotten some sort of goal to get his honor back instead of having to wallow here aimlessly.
The vigilant presence of his Uncle Iroh was the only thing keeping Zuko going at the time. He would get up, dress appropriately, act appropriately, behave and be silent through numerous meetings to show his uncle that he had not been mistaken to let him into the War Room that day. That he would become a proper prince as his father wanted.
A war meeting was where the idea was first presented:
What if instead of using the approaching comet to wipe out the Air Nomads and, hopefully, the Avatar, they created a peace treaty with them? A high ranking general or noble's child could even marry an Air Nomad to seal the deal. This would keep the Air Nomads, and possibly the Avatar by extension, from interfering when the comet came allowing the Fire Nation to concentrate on the vast and more hostile Earth Kingdom.
Even through the nearly hundred years of war the Air Nomads had stayed out of it, preferring the peace of hiding away in their temples than to make any attempt at stopping the war. The only reason to go after them was the Avatar, reborn in one of their temples, likely twenty years ago, and likely a young adult now.
"An interesting notion," Ozai mulled it over. "It would, at the very least, put them into a false sense of security." He frowned, "But a general or noble's child means nothing to these people. We would need someone the Air Nomad's believe is important to us." Slowly he smiled and turned to his right, "Zuko."
This was probably the first time his father acknowledged Zuko in the war room since he had spoken out. He hoped he sounded confident or not timid at best, when he spoke, "Yes Father?"
"You will marry one of the Air Nomads," Ozai announced.
"Yes Father," Zuko knew not to argue, though out of the corner of his good eye he could see his uncle frowning.
"Lucky you Zuzu," Azula opened mocked him as she sat beside him. "You'll have your choice of bride from a culture of push-overs. You'll have a lot to talk about."
Zuko thought this over a moment and what they hoped to accomplish with this. He hoped his idea was worth the risk of speaking when not spoken to.
"Then I have decided who I want."
"You can't be serious, choosing sight unseen?" Azula scoffed. "What if she's ugly?"
"It doesn't matter because that is not a factor of how or who I am choosing," Zuko wanted to look at his father but dared not when he spoke again, "I choose the Avatar."
There was silence until Azula laughed, "You must be joking. Avatar Roku disappeared twenty years ago, which means this new Avatar should be about the same age which would make them older than you by about three years. Plus the Avatar could be a man. And, most importantly, why would the Air Nomads surrender the Avatar to you; their biggest piece of leverage any of the nations can have?"
"That's exactly why they would agree if they agree to this at all," Zuko turned to his sister. "Just any Air Nomad wouldn't due for this peace treaty to work just as it wouldn't for it to be just anyone on our side. The Avatar is the symbol of peace and balance to this world and the Air Nomads uphold peace and their own spiritual balance so highly that if they thought the Avatar being married to me could end the war they would take that chance."
Azula seemed to think this over and, finding no argument, asked, "So it doesn't bother you that the Avatar could be a much older man?"
"The possible age difference is not that much and it doesn't matter if it's a man," Zuko stated. "This is a marriage in name only, not any sort of love or attraction for either party."
For a moment, Azula tapped her nails on the table, thinking it over, "You know it isn't a horrible idea. The Air Nomads may be willing to sacrifice the Avatar to us in order to protect their people; the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the one so to speak. Besides with the Avatar part of the royal family the Air Nomads wouldn't be able to make a move against us either, not even to protect the other nations."
Silence returned to the room outside the crackling of the flames around Ozai's thrown. When Zuko saw Azula had turned to their father, he dared to do the same.
Ozai was smiling.
Messenger hawks were sent to all the Air Nomad temples, with details of their offered peace treaty. The Avatar would marry the Crown Prince in return for the Air Temples getting immunity in the war.
The first few hawks returned with disappointing news, saying the Avatar had not been reborn there. Finally the one from the Southern Air Temple arrived saying that the Avatar had been reborn there but they needed time to consult with the other temples on whether or not to accept the Fire Nation's deal.
They sent back the hawk saying the Fire Nation would give them a month to make their decision. The waiting made Zuko anxious, especially when the deadline was approaching and Ozai had begun to make back up plans to attack the Southern Air Temple to get the Avatar that way. It wasn't until the last day that the hawk returned, the Air Nomads accepting the terms of the peace treaty.
More hawks were exchanged, planning the details. Some diplomats from the Fire Nation would go to the Southern Air Temple to retrieve the Avatar and have the treaty signed by the elder monks there. Zuko's Uncle Iroh even offered to accompany them, confiding in Zuko that he had always wanted to see an Air Nomad temple and meet the monks there for they were known to be very wise. Zuko had requested to go as well, to meet the Avatar at his home before he came to the Fire Nation but Ozai refused, saying Zuko was to stay put.
Soon enough Iroh left with the diplomats and Zuko was left to wait. Wait and listen to Azula go on about all things that could go wrong as he did his best to ignore her.
When news finally came that Iroh had returned with the Avatar, Zuko nearly ran to the courtyard where the servants would be unpacking the carriage that brought them back the last leg of the journey to the palace. Still he was surprised to see Iroh not looking happy, frowning to himself, not even seeing Zuko approach.
Then Zuko noticed a young boy near the carriage, no more than twelve, wearing Air Nomad clothing and already bearing the Airbending master arrow tattoos. He stood with his back to Zuko, petting over one of the ostrich-horse's neck. Could the Avatar have had a child already from some sort of previous marriage? If that was the case the Avatar was much older than he thought even though he was nowhere to be seen.
"Uncle," Zuko approached Iroh, further surprised when his uncle still did not smile when he saw his nephew as he normally did. "Where is the Avatar?"
With a sigh, Iroh suggested toward the child as the child turned to look at Zuko at the mention of the Avatar.
Immediately Zuko felt a knot in his stomach. He had been prepared for someone older. Man or woman but definitely older. Why would the Air Nomads agree to this if the Avatar was truly this young?
"But you're just a child," Zuko protested, realizing how stupid it was once he said it. It wasn't as though the boy could magically change his age.
"Well, you're just a teenager," the child retorted, but without any anger or energy of any kind, before turning away from him, going back to petting the ostrich-horse.
All Zuko could do was mentally kick himself. He never considered the possibility that the Avatar could be younger than him, a child. Avatar Roku had been gone for twenty years so everyone thought he had died but he must have had been sick or too old to fight and died at least eight years later then they thought.
"Uncle," Zuko spoke softly to his uncle, "Why did you bring him? He's too young; someone else should have been chosen."
"I agree with you nephew but the treaty was for the Avatar, the Air Nomads agreed to it and the diplomats would not budge no matter what I said," Iroh lamented. "You two will be engaged for now, the wedding will have to wait until he's older."
"But," Zuko wanted to protest but he knew that if the diplomats had no problem with the Avatar's age than likely his father would not care either. There was no one to blame but him. He had been the one to choose the Avatar without regarding any of the possibilities and now he had caused a child to be torn away from his home with the knowledge he had to marry the person responsible for it, an older boy.
With very little other options, Zuko approached the Avatar and bowed his head to him, "I am sorry Avatar."
Really Zuko could not blame him when the Avatar ignored him, stepping closer to the ostrich-horse to get further away from the Fire Nation prince. He noted that the Avatar seemed to have a way with animals, the ostrich-horse nuzzling the Avatar in a way Zuko had never seen any of the species do to a person before.
Looking around, Zuko noticed that the luggage being removed from the carriage was mostly his uncle's. Still he didn't see any luggage that wasn't in Fire Nation colors.
"Where are the Avatar's things?" Zuko asked his uncle.
Iroh stayed silent a moment, looking to the Avatar to see if he would answer, but when the Avatar did not, Iroh turned to his nephew, "The Air Nomads don't typically have a lot of possessions but what he did have the diplomats did not want him to bring. They think that the Avatar should wear Fire Nation clothing to show his betrothal to you and did not want him to bring his glider in case-"
"In case I wanted to use it to run away," the Avatar finished for him, but did not look at them. "The same reason they would not allow me to bring Appa."
"Appa," Zuko questioned.
"Aang's flying sky bison," Iroh explained.
Zuko barley registered that the Avatar's name was Aang before Aang spoke again.
"A sky bison is suppose to be a companion for life," Aang's voice was shaking. "We've been together since he was a baby and now I'll never see him again!"
"Avatar," Zuko wasn't sure what he would say but stopped when Aand turned to him, looking close to tears.
"Don't call me that," Aang yelled at him, "I'm Aang. My name is Aang. Not Avatar! I never wanted to be the Avatar, I'm just a kid, I just," he could no longer speak for a moment, tears falling down his face. "I want to go home."
His body frozen Zuko could only watch as his uncle rushed past him and tried to comfort the boy, wrapping his arms around him in a hug. Aang did not return the hug, but leaned against Iroh as he cried, Zuko unsure if he should stay or give them space. In the end he chose the cowards way and left.
The next time Zuko saw Aang it was at a ceremony making their engagement official. Aang had been forced to wear Fire Nation colors though the design of his clothing had stayed near the Air Nomad robes Aang had arrived in, no doubt due to Iroh's influence.
Throughout the ceremony Aang did not look at Zuko, looking somewhere beyond the official instead, ignoring how the official went on, on how much of an honor it was to unite the Royal Family with the Avatar. Only at the end did Zuko realize that the official never once called Aang by name.
Once the ceremony was over it was a celebration of the engagement with diplomats, nobles along with a few generals and admirals. The only ones even close to Aang in age were Zuko and Azula but as soon as Aang didn't have to stand by Zuko anymore he went to Iroh, preferring the older man's company than to the older boy who was now his betrothed.
Zuko didn't even notice that Azula had come to stand behind him until she began to make clicking noises by pulling back her tongue from the back of her front teeth, also shaking her head in bemusement.
"Having problems with your child bride already Zuzu?"
"He's not anyone's bride Azula," Zuko frowned at her.
"Oh excuse me, I hadn't realized that you wanted to wear the dress," Azula smirked.
"No one is the bride," Zuko seethed.
"Not with the way this is going," Azula suggested to the physical distance between Zuko and Aang. "It's too bad too; he has potential to grow up to be quite handsome. Maybe you should have him grow out his hair?"
"I'm not making him do anything," said Zuko.
"Oh you mean besides leave his home, friends, giant flying pet, give up his culture, what little earthly possessions he had, keep him here and marry you once he's old enough so you're not a complete pedophile," Azula smirked. "Yes, I can see that going well."
Zuko felt his face go hot and he could only grumble for he had no argument since what Azula said was true. Besides him being any sort of pedophile that is; he had no interest in marrying this child, even after he was older, or doing anything he had ended up doing to Aang. He thought he would be dealing with an adult that would have been traveling the world any way to learn the other elements.
Something in Zuko's brain sparked and it took all of his will power not to run to his uncle to try to get his help in figuring out how to get it to work. He needed to give Aang some space and hope he'd be willing to listen once the time came.
After the party Zuko discovered everything in his room had been moved to a new room. The room was still in the Royal Family hall but now he had a room with a door that connected his room to another's, specifically Aang's room. It was some sort of betrothal suite so he and Aang could get to know each other during their engagement.
Azula immediately told Zuko to keep his hands to himself, delighting in making him blush again. It only could have been better if she had elicited a reaction from the Avatar as well but she supposed it was only a manner of time before the Avatar came out of his sad stupor and she got under his skin.
Once Aang was in his room, Zuko lamented the fact that the door between their rooms did not lock from either side. He had hoped that would have given Aang some peace of mind but he also hoped Aang didn't think so lowly of Zuko to think the prince would try to do anything to him.
Instead of going to bed Zuko went to his uncle to suggest his idea. Since Aang and Zuko were engaged, Zuko technically had guardianship over Aang now. Zuko would be able to have more say in Aang's life than anyone else, short of Ozai. He would be able to give Aang back his Air Nomad clothing and take him outside of the palace and even out of the Nation.
The hard part would be convincing Ozai. Iroh suggested that since Aang only knew airbending that there was no way of knowing he was really the Avatar which means the Air Nomads could have tricked them to protect the real Avatar. They needed a way to test Aang as the Avatar and since the next element in the cycle was water, they had to go to one of the Water Tribes to see if he was capable of learning another element. To keep Zuko out of trouble if Ozai didn't like their plan, Iroh would be the one to bring it up.
In the morning Zuko found out that Aang had not accepted the food brought to him for breakfast, even though the cooks were already ordered to prepare vegetarian meals for him. Though the servant that told him thought Aang could be sick, Zuko was sure Aang was just too depressed to be hungry or was rejecting food in hopes of starving himself to death. Zuko had gone through something similar after his near banishment.
Hoping to get their plan approved quickly, Zuko asked Iroh to bring it up at the meeting that day rather than giving some time for dust to settle from the engagement first. Iroh hesitated to rush things until he heard that Aang was not eating, his concern allowing him to be swayed into action.
As to be expected, Ozai was not pleased by the idea that the Air Nomads could have cheated their side of the treaty and that the Avatar could still be out there. Still it took some convincing for him to allow the Avatar they had to leave the palace, let alone the Fire Nation to be tested. He finally agreed on the condition that both Iroh and Zuko go with Aang to have him tested and to not return until they were certain.
Zuko almost regretted his idea when his father said that if Aang proved not to be the Avatar then he would be the first Air Nomad to die for their deceit.
The meeting had lasted most of the day, the council breaking for lunch and dinner before anything had been decided. It would take a couple days to get a ship and crew ready but that didn't mean Zuko couldn't try to start mending bridges now.
As soon as he was free to go Zuko returned to the rooms; the same servant from that morning informing him that Aang had refused lunch and dinner as well. She looked curious as to the clothes Zuko was carrying but dared not to ask him about them and soon she was on her way.
When both his first and second tries at knocking at Aang's door had gone unanswered Zuko went into Aang's room anyway, curious when he wasn't immediately blown back out by some airbending. He moved further into the room to find it dark, the curtains drawn, not evening letting in the moonlight, and no candles had been lit.
Rather than create a light with his firebending, Zuko allowed his eyes to adjust and looked around. As he had expected the room was pretty bare, Aang having no personal effects to even try to give his room any sort of personal touch. The only room decoration was a Fire Nation banner hanging on the far wall, something Aang would have been forced to see each morning he woke up in this room.
Finally Zuko spotted Aang in the bed, apparently asleep. He wasn't sure if Aang had retired early or if he had spent the day in bed, remembering his own days were all he wanted to do was sleep because nothing he did mattered.
Deciding not to wake Aang, Zuko went over to the boy's bedside to return the Avatar's Air Nomad clothing to him, leaving it on his night stand. He had no doubt Aang would be at least a little happy to have them back and perhaps more willing to talk to Zuko and hear about what he and his uncle has convinced his father of.
"What are you doing here?" Aang's voice took Zuko by surprise.
As Zuko turned to face him, Aang sat up in the bed to look at him in return. The Avatar was still wearing the robes from the engagement ceremony, having not bothered to change since he crawled into the bed and stayed there since, not caring if the robes got wrinkled or ruined by his treatment of them.
"Ah, clothes," Zuko tried to pick back up the Air Nomad robes but dropped them in his haste. He quickly picked them back up, continuing as he awkwardly tried to refold them. "You clothes, these are yours; I'm giving them back to you, I'm sorry they were taken away to begin with."
Aang remained silent, watching him passively. At least Zuko could be grateful that Aang didn't seem worried about him in Aang's room, alone, in the dark.
Quickly putting down the clothes Zuko created a small light with his firebending and continued, "I wanted to tell you that uncle and I talked to my father. We," he hesitated to say that they didn't even attempt to convince Ozai to put an end to the engagement, it feeling like yet another failure on his part, "We managed to persuade him that you could be an Avatar imposter-"
Immediately Zuko regretted his wording, watching as anger stormed within Aang's eyes.
"Why would I lie about that," Aang practically seethed and suggested around them. "You think I want any of this? That I want to be away from my home, trapped here with you?"
Zuko winced but tried to clarify, "Not you, the elders could have lied to protect the real Avatar, not that I doubt you are the Avatar, but it was the only way to get my father to agree to let you leave the palace."
Surprise took away the anger, Aang daring to appear hopeful, "He canceled the engagement?"
"No," Zuko sighed. "But he agreed to let me and Uncle take you to the South Pole to see if you can learn to bend another element from a teacher there."
"But the monks said that the Fire Nation has been abducting waterbenders from the South Pole for years, it's very unlikely we'd find anyone to teach me there," Aang sounded hesitant but with a honesty, even when it could end up being to his disadvantage, that Zuko wasn't used to hearing.
"That's true but it is close to the Southern Air Temple," said Zuko. "I thought, after we were done at the South Pole, we could go there. I figured the least I can do is help you get your glider and bison back."
Zuko didn't even see Aang move but suddenly the boy had sprung out of the bed and grabbed him. It took a moment for him to realize that Aang was hugging him.
"Thank you," Aang's voice was soft and sounded like he might be crying, "And his name is Appa."
Unsure what else to do, Zuko slowly and very lightly returned Aang's embrace, unable to remember the last time he shared such a simple gesture with anyone, even his uncle.
"We'll get Appa back soon then," Zuko said, just to show that he had been listening, surprised when the younger boy's arms around him tightened around him, making him unable to pull away.
Now Zuko was the one trapped by the Avatar and it was actually sort of nice.