The Avatar Abandoned
Summary: Aang wasn't frozen for 100 years, he wasn't even born in the Eastern Air Temple. He was born into a family of travelling Air Nomads who were living in the Earth Kingdom of Ba Sing Se. However, when he was five, his parents discovered him playing with little figures made of fire; even though he was an Air Bender. Knowing their son could only be the Avatar - the first in over 100 years, they panicked and abandoned him in the Fire Nation, hoping they would never have to see him again.
Chapter Summary: In which Aang discovers he is not a fan of green, visits the circus and steals animals.
Warnings: AU/AR, slash, Zukaang. Possible rating increase again.
A/N: Bonjour, c'est moi! J'adore le ZukAang, et ... eh ... I dunno, I'm going to fail my French. -.- Anyways, WHOO, CHAPTER 9, eh? :)
Thanks to the following people for reviewing!
PonyboySlashLover - I know, I'm evil, right? But Azula being evil is a good point in the story (for now, anyways ... ) It's a fun thing! Hahaha!
I LUV SETH - I know, I'm so awful, making her evil! But evil Azula is a fun character to write, haha.
xx-just a reader-xx - I'm going to stop counting your reviews unless you review properly. So it'll be even longer until I update.
takara94 - Yep, that's exactly what I thought of when I made a squidfish XD And the animals are adorable in Avatar.
Aang was looking in distaste at the green clothes he had on. Well, it wasn't all green, just mostly. A long green tunic with a yellow trim and beige slacks. No, not an outfit of choice.
Aang and Zuko were wandering through the city of Ba Sing Se, looking for a teapot that Iroh had 'requested', and then claimed he was too tired to come with them.
Of course, Zuko knew that his Uncle just wanted to leave him and Aang alone so they could 'bond' more, but Aang had been thrilled at the chance of spending some time alone with Zuko (even if it was shopping), so the ex-Prince hadn't put his accusations across to Iroh. Besides, he really couldn't find anything to complain about - Aang had wound their hands together and was leaning gently into Zukos side. The small weight and warmth of the body beside him was ... comfortable.
They had looked around the stalls for a teapot meeting Irohs specifications, but hadn't found anything.
'How many more teapots do we have to look at?' Aang groaned. He was going to be having nightmares about teapots if he saw too many more.
'Just until we find one that Uncle will like,' Zuko replied, thoroughly bored.
A man jumped in front of them, brandishing a bunch of leaflets. 'Hello there, Sir! May I interest you and your little brother in a coupon for the circus? Bring your mum or dad and the little one can go for free!' the man said, winking and ruffling Aangs hair.
Aang blushed bright red in embrasment, while Zuko flushed red with anger. He grabbed the unfortunate man by the collar and shoved him against a wall.
'For one, he is not my younger brother, second, my mum and dad aren't worth mentioing,' snarled Zuko and dropped the flustered man in a heap on the floor before storming off.
'Sorry about him, he gets moody sometimes,' Aang appologised before grabbing a leaflet. 'We'll be there later though, thank you, bye!' he called as he ran after the angry teen, the leaflet clutched in his fist.
He caught up with the furious teen, looping his arms around his waist, looking up at him, grinning slightly. 'What's up?'
'It's that stupid man,' Zuko grouched. 'It's just ... I don't know, Aang, I love you, but should I wait until you're older before we try and have any kind of relationship?'
Aang glared at the sullen teen, before swinging him round and knocking into the wall. 'Zuko. You said that you wouldn't leave me. You promised me that you wouldn't leave me. If you even think about breaking that promise, even if it's only temporary, I swear to the Spirits, I will personally Air- or Water- or Earth- bend you to the edge of the world and back,' Aang growled, staring at Zuko, the Fire-benders face filled with shock at the sudden agression from the younger boy.
Cautiously, Zuko nodded and Aang let a smile light up his face, kissing him softly on the lips. 'Good. Now lets go find a good teapot for Uncle Iroh,' he said, laughing at Zuko as he pulled him along.
----
'No. We are not going to the circus,' Zuko scowled, crossing his arms over his chest.
'Please, Zuko?' Aang begged, holding the leaflet out.
'No. I absolutely refuse. The circus is a ridiculous waste of time.'
'Come on, Zuko! I've never been to a circus before, and I'd love to go to one!' Aang pulled out the infamous 'puppy-kitten eyes', begging with his big grey eyes. 'Please?' His bottom lip started to quiver as he stuck it out in a pout.
Zukos eye twitched. In the corner, Iroh had to stifle his laughter in case he ruined Aangs chance at persuading Zuko to go to the circus. Zukos eye twitched again.
'Fine, we'll go. But only ONCE, okay?' the Prince relented.
'Really? Yay!' Aang cried, hugging the disgruntled Fire-bender, beaming. Iroh had to leave the room so he wouldn't get yelled at by his nephew for laughing.
----
Later, after the sun had set, Iroh, Zuko and Aang were walking around the circus that was just outside the Wall of Ba Sing Se. Aang couldn't keep his eyes still. He looked around at the stalls and the people practicing their bending for the crowd.
They walked past a tent with the flaps open - the wind must have blown it open. Aang glanced inside and stopped, looking again. There was a large Wind Bison in a cage. He was groaning and reaching for a bale of hay with his tongue, but it was just out of reach. Aang gasped and ran in, pushing the hay over to the Bison.
'Aang, what are you doing?' Zuko hissed, following the young Air-bender, glaring at him, leaving his Uncle to examine some of the novelty teapots alone.
'Zuko, he's a Wind Bison! They belong in the wild, or at least more free than this!' Aang hissed back, petting the Bisons head. 'I'm gonna call you Appa,' he said, grinning at the animal, who growled back in aproval. Frowning, Aang stepped away from the newly christened Appa and examined the lock. He examined it for a few seconds, before smirking, and covering the keyhole with his mouth, blowing into it in a seemingly random pattern.
'What are you doing?' Zuko asked in an exasperated voice.
Aang rolled his eyes, otherwise ignoring the other boy. The lock snapped open and Aang swung the cage open, a grin of triumph plastered over his face. 'Air-bending trick. Use blasts of air to open the lock,' he said, his cheeks slightly pink from blowing.
'That's all very well and good, but what are we going to do now? The Bison is free, but we can't get it out of here without someone seeing,' Zuko replied, trying to be annoyed at Aang, but failing.
Aang peeked out of the flaps of the tent. 'Yeah, we can! Everyone's gone to watch the circus now! We can fly out of here on Appa!' Appa had climbed out of his cage and gave Aang a big, wet lick, causing the boy to laugh and hug him, jumping onto the Bisons head. 'Come on, Zuko!'
The Prince grumbled and glared at Aang and Appa, but climbed on anyway, clutching the white fur on Appas back. 'Right then,' Aang muttered as Appa shuffled out of the tent. 'If I'm right, it should be something like ... erm ... Yip yip!'
Aang and Zuko barely had time to muffle their yells as Appa jumped into the air and flew across the tents set out. They rocketed into the air, the boys' eyes streaming, their hair flying about wildly.
'OH MY GOD!' Zuko shouted as he clung to the fur on Appas back tightly. This was not a fun time for him. Aang was laughing his head off, thrilled to be in the air for the first time in over seven years. They flew over the wall, and landed in the backgarden of the small apartment they had rented. Zuko slid off, landing in a heap on the floor. Aang jumped off and landed gracefully on his feet, helping the Prince back on to his.
'We're getting a saddle for that thing.'
Aang just laughed and patted Appa on the head before the boys headed inside to wait for Iroh to return from the circus. The two curled up on a large seat that came with the apartment, Aang snuggling into Zukos side, Zuko wrapping his arms around the younger boy.
'Zuko?' Aang mumbled, his grey eyes flicking up to meet the amber ones that were already looking down at him.
'Mmm?'
'You know you said that I should only stop the War if I want to, not be pushed into it?' Zuko nodded slowly. 'Well, I think I should stop it. Without the War, I'll have nothing to be worried about - the Fire Nation won't be terrorising the world and they won't be hunting us and we can go back home,' Aang said, looking up at Zuko, almost searching for his approval.
Zuko smiled. 'I'm not going to lie, Aang, I did want you to say you'd stop the war, but I'm glad you chose to do so without me asking. Facing my father will be dangerous, and you'll need as much bending practice as you can, not to mention you'll need to master all four elements.'
Aang bit his lip, looking slightly nervous. Seeing this, Zuko pressed a kiss to his forhead. 'Don't worry. I'll stay with you no matter what. I promised, didn't I? And I wouldn't want you bending me to the end of the world and back, either,' the sixteen-year-old reassured, hugging him tightly. Aang sniggered slightly.
'So, are we going to the South Pole then?'
'What?' asked the Prince, confused with the sudden change in topic.
'There are Water-benders in the South Pole, aren't there? Plus, they have penguin-seals,' Aang grinned.
'Why not the North Pole? It's at least a days travel closer, even using Appa,' Zuko replied, raising an eyebrow at the boy stuck to his side.
'Yeah, but the North Pole only has Polar-Grizzlys, and the South Pole has penguin-seals!' Aang stated, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Zuko rolled his eyes, but nodded. 'Fine. South Pole it is. But we'll have to wait until Uncle gets back, and check it with him.'
'Check what with me?' Iroh said as he walked through the door, placing his newly purchased teapot down on the table, sitting in another chair.
'We're going to the South Pole so I can learn Water-bending and see the penguin-seals,' Aang said, smiling widely.
Iroh raised an eyebrow. 'I was under the impression that you were a Fire-bender, Aang.'
Aang and Zuko glanced at each other. They had forgotten to tell Iroh that Aang was the Avatar. Okay, so now they felt stupid.
'I'm the Avatar ... ' Aang muttered, grinning embarassedly. 'Sorry, forgot to mention.'
Iroh laughed loudly. 'Excellent. I take it that we leave for the South Pole in the morning, then?'
'We might need to leave a bit sooner, actually ... ' Aang mumbled, blushing slightly. 'I stole a Flying Bison from the circus, and he's in the back garden, eating the grass.'
Iroh laughed again, standing. 'Then we must get packing at once. I must say, Zuko, you are a bad influence on Aang.' Irohs laughs followed him into the hall and then his room. Zuko glared after the man, practically burning holes through the stone.
A/N: OH MY WORDLYNESS, I WROTE OVER 2000 WORDS! I am so proud of myself, ha. It's the longest chapter since my authors note. :') Awesome times. Woah, I'm nearly to 50 reviews already, and I haven't even thought about starting the lemon. Haha, I'll get started now!
Just thought I'd mention, in case you weren't sure about the creatures I'm making up, a Polar-Grizzly is a Grizzy bear and a Polar bear, a penguin-seal is the penguin things Aang goes 'sledding' on in the series (1st, 2nd episode?). I just thought Aang seemed like the type to travel for an extra day or so, just so he could go penguin-sledding, ha.
Quick note, leave a review, the more reviews I get the faster I update, 4 reviews min before I post again and I accept anonymous reviews! So push the button!