The following few months passed as Sozin had expected them to, with him being constantly on edge around the Fire Lord, and his father's temper getting worse and worse with each passing day, the outbursts of fury costing them a few of their servants and causing his father to grow weak and ill. He didn't hit Sozin after that day, just an occasional threat here and there remaining just as threats, because Sozin now knew when to shut his mouth. It hurt his pride, it really did, to be afraid of his father and what he might do if he angered him again, which was so easy to do nowadays. Still, he didn't let it show, focusing on his studies and training to try and make him proud. As a response, he let Sozin be, taking his anger out on the poor guards and maids that were just at the wrong place at the wrong time, some getting away with small injuries, some getting banished, some, though very rare, meeting their untimely demise. It was incredible to realize how much a calming effect Sozin's mother used to have on his father. With her being gone, everything had spiralled into madness.

It was just a normal day at the Royal Palace, an old maid had just gotten banished because she had dropped the breakfast tray, on the Fire Lord's robes, hot tea spilling and burning him. He had risen up from his seat with such fury in his eyes that the Prince was almost certain it was the end of the poor maid. Luckily for her, she had gotten away with a few burns, and the order to never return to the Capital again. Maybe she was better off away from here anyway.

Sozin had gotten away from the scene of the incident as soon as he could, afraid that the Fire Lord would come up with a random reason to direct his anger towards his son. Now he was just strolling around the garden outside of the palace with Roku, fresh air clearing his mind. He didn't want to be in the palace at that moment. Coward. It didn't affect him as much as it had at the beginning, he was used to this new attidute of his father's now. He would just have to act accordingly. What a miserable way to live, walking on eggshells around your father, you coward.

The sun was bright in the sky, burning hotter with every passing moment, it was approaching noon. Summer was right around the corner, the heat was only going to increase from now on.

At least, chatting with Roku provided Sozin enough distraction from the heat, which was not a very pleasant thing, even for a firebender, while wearing heavy royal robes. It was also a welcome distraction from all the other things that had happened. They had been friends for such a long time that talking with Roku always made him feel at ease, even though Roku tended to do most of the talking in general.

"Do you remember how we met?" The Prince asked, looking at his friend, who was probably as bothered by the heat as he was. At least his clothes were more suitable for a heatwave.

"Of course." Roku replied with a small chuckle. "To be fair, it is not the easiest memory to forget."

…

The young Prince stood in front of the crowd, between his mother and the Fire Lord, whose hand was resting on his son's shoulder. The six year old boy looked at all those people who had gathered here to celebrate the birthday of the Fire Nation's Crown Prince, his birthday.

He loved his birthdays, and all the presents and celebration that came with it, loved the air of festivity around the palace. The only boring part was standing in front of the crowd for a long amount of time, as people, nobles to be exact, offered their congratulations to the Fire Lord, and the young Fire Prince. The attention was nice, of course, but generally it would be more directed at the Fire Lord, with people wanting to gain his favor, stealing the Prince's spotlight and his father's attention on his birthday. So when one of the noble families of the Fire Nation approached the stairs they were standing on, he braced himself for another boring conversation that he most likely wasn't going to be a part of.

He had seen the woman around before, her and his mother got along really well, sometimes spending time together for an afternoon tea or a stroll around the garden. What Sozin wasn't expecting to see though, was a young boy, seeming to be around his own age, hiding behing his mother's skirt. He didn't know the woman had a child.

"Come on, dear, don't hide." The woman spoke softly to her son, trying to pry off his hands from her dress. "Show the Royal Family respect, and wish the Prince happy birthday."

The small boy finally let go and bowed respectfully in front of the Royal Family, as did his parents. "H-Happy Birthday, Prince Sozin." He whispered in a shaky voice, it was clear that he was nervous.

"Thanks." He smiled genuinely at the boy, it was nice to see someone around his age. Many parents didn't bring their kids to any celebration, fearing that they might cause a scene. Of course the Fire Lord wouldn't like that. Everyone wanted to please his dad.

The boy just stood there, not knowing what to do as his parents were having a polite conversation with the Fire Lord and Lady. Sozin took this opportunity to try and cure his boredom a little. He turned towards the boy. "What's your name?" He asked.

"Roku, my Prince." He said quietly, clearly talking with the politeness his parents told him to do.

"Hi, Roku." He gave the boy a small smile. "And just call me Sozin." He was only six years old, he didn't understand why all these formalities were necessary.

"Okay, Sozin." Roku smiled as well, seeming like his nervousness had disappeared a little, though still reluctant about how he should act around a member of the Royal Family.

"I haven't seen you before." Sozin remarked.

"It's my first time joining your birthday party." Roku said quietly. "My parents decided that I was old enough." Something in his tone saying that he felt like he wasn't old enough himself.

"How old are you?" Sozin asked curiously. Roku was just a little taller than him.

"Six."

"Oh, we are the same age!" Sozin exclaimed joyfully, he had finally someone his age to hang out with. As a little child, the palace tended to get a tiny bit lonely. Even with all the people around. Especially with all the people around.

"Actually, today is my birthday as well." Roku said timidly, unsure about how the Prince would react.

"Really?" Sozin was actually surprised by this coincidence. "Maybe we should celebrate together, then!" It could be fun to have someone to celebrate his birthday with, besides, waiting while his mother and father had their boring conversations would get more fun.

"I'd love that." Roku's eyes lit up, he hadn't expected to get along so well with the Fire Prince, but he seemed genuinely nice. Then his eyes faced the ground, looking a bit unsure. "But what would your family say?"

"Don't worry about them." Sozin waved his hand. "It's my birthday, I can convince them to do whatever I want. Besides, our families already seem to really like each other."

…

"You were just too nervous." Sozin snorted, elbowing him in the arm. "If I remember correctly, you were actually shaking."

"Well, in my defence, I was a six year old kid, meeting royalty for the first time."

"Was I as scary as you had thought?" Sozin grinned, continuing to tease his friend.

"Not at all. You are way scarier now." Roku responded with a laugh.

The Fire Prince laughed as well, followed by a few moments of silence. "I can't believe it's been almost ten years." He finally spoke again.

"And there will be many more ten years. Don't think you can get rid of me that easily."

"Please, like I ever could. Honestly, it is probably a matter of time you get rid of me, marrying Ta Min and forgetting all about me." Sozin taunted, even though he was joking, the idea of losing his best friend was worrying to him, so he just hid it behind humor.

"You know that's not going to happen." Roku rolled his eyes.

"Which one?" Sozin probed.

"Both."

"Oh, come on, she likes you, you like her. It's pretty much inevitable." Sozin watched as his friend's face turn bright red.

"How can you be so certain that she likes me?" He asked, avoiding eye contact.

"Have you ever looked at her?" Sozin rolled his eyes. "Of course you didn't. You were too busy hiding behind my back." He laughed, messing with his friend.

"I wasn't hiding!" Roku protested, getting defensive.

"If you say so…" Sozin replied sarcastically, deciding to prove his point with a small prank. He looked behind Roku's shoulder, pretending like he spotted someone and then turned to Roku, speaking in a rushed voice. "Roku, don't give it away, but Ta Min is walking towards here!" He bit the inside of his cheek to not burst into laughter.

"Oh, no!" Roku's face became even brighter, as he hid himself behind Sozin as he grabbed his arm, burying his face away.

"See my point?" The Prince asked with a laugh. Wondering how Roku could possibly fall for that? Love was really blind, as people said.

"Okay okay, you might be right." Roku admitted grumpily, giving up and letting go of Sozin's arm.

"Honestly, Roku. Go talk to her. What's the worst that can happen?"

"Oh, I don't know. Rejection and mortification?" Roku suggested.

"And you say I am dramatic." Sozin rolled his eyes, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Whatever." Roku wanted to change the subject as fast as he could, his cheeks were still hot from all this embarassment. So he suggested the first thing he came up with that could possibly distract Sozin. "Let's get some fire bending practice."

"Fine." Sozin chuckled at his friend's desparate attempt to divert his attention, but letting him have this one. "But I won't let you get away. We will return to this conversation later."

He took off his heavy robes and took his fighting stance, as did Roku. Soon enough, both friends were sending waves, balls and blasts of fire at each other. Roku seemed to have improved quite a bit during the last few months. But when he backed away slowly, he failed to notice the tree root behind him, this not being their usual training place, he was unfamiliar with the area. So when he stumbled backwards, tripping onto the tree root, he was sure he was going to fall.

Sozin caught his friend by the collar of his top, preventing him from falling down. He held his fist to Roku's face, acting like he was going to shoot fire out of it. But instead, he lowered it down with a chuckle and as he let his friend go, Roku falling straight onto the ground with Sozin's grip being gone.

"Looks like I win again Roku." He said jokingly.

"Are you kidding? The tree root did all the work." Roku protested from where he was laying on the ground. "I would have won if I hadn't fallen down."

"Not my problem." Sozin shrugged with a smile on the corners of his lips. "You should be more aware of your environment. That's one of the first things that they teach us."

He helped his friend to get up and they walked towards the gates of the garden together.

Roku froze in his place as he saw Ta Min walking past them, returning to the reality only when Sozin elbowed him in the stomach.

"Say something to her." The Prince urged with a quiet voice, his friend's cheeks red from blushing.

In a moment of courage, Roku walked forward, raising on arm as he was about to greet her, but she didn't see him, continuing to walk away.

Roku let himself fall to the ground on his back, closing his eyes. "I am hopeless." He muttered.

Sozin sat down, cross-legged, next to Roku, ripping up pieces of grass and sprinkling them down on his face as he laughed. "Yes, unfortunately you are."

"What am I going to do?" Roku lamented, still not getting up from the ground.

The Prince didn't reply. He thought that love was stupid, it caused people to make a fool of themselves. Look what it does to Roku. Even though he was a little bitter about the fact that he was not going to be able to choose a wife for himself, he was also glad that he wasn't going to marry for love. He didn't need a weakness that people could target once he would become the Fire Lord.

Still, when he looked at Roku and saw him both happy and sad at the same time, he couldn't help but wonder if love was really a bad thing.

...

A few weeks later, it was their birthday. Sozin woke up in the morning, a few servants soon coming to get him ready for the celebration, styling his hair in a neatly tied bun and helping him into his ceremonial robes. He had to look pristine when he was standing in front of the public.

Roku arrived shortly after as well, looking less decorated than Sozin, but still fancier than usual.

Sozin felt a small pang in his chest when he realized that this was the first birthday he was going to spend without his mother. And as if that wasn't enough, his father wasn't there either. The Fire Lord rarely left his room or the throne room nowadays, that included not being there on his only son's birthday. He was growing weaker everyday, and Sozin couldn't help but think if he was approaching his end. Losing his mother and father in the same year would be too much, despite his father's recent behavior. He was still his father.

The young Prince and Roku walked out towards the crowd that was waiting them, slowly going down the steps. The stage felt empty and alone to Sozin, at least his friend was there.

Just as he was thinking that, Roku spotted Ta Min in the middle of the crowd, blushing intensely as he lost his balance and stumbled forwards on the steps. Sozin caught him by the arm just as he was about to fall face down on the ground. Roku chuckled nervously at his own clumsiness, as Sozin laughed.

Suddenly, the Fire Sages entered the garden through the gates, approaching the stairs Roku and Sozin were standing on.

A worried expression settled on to the Fire Prince's face as a single thought crossed his mind. "Did something happen to my father?" He asked as he took a few quick steps towards the Sages. Surely, it couldn't have been, right? He was fine just yesterday.

"No, Prince Sozin." The one in the front spoke. "We are not here for you." Then why were they here? On his birthday?

"We are here to reveal the identity of the next Avatar."

Sozin and Roku's jaws dropped in suprise, along with everyone else in the crowd. The Avatar?This meant that somewhere in the Fire Nation, wherever that place might be, was the the Avatar's 16th birthday as well. Strange coincidence indeed.

He looked at the Fire Sages with expectancy, wondering who could it be. Was it a noble? Child of a maid or a worker? Or someone from the streets? Could it be someone he knew even?

"It is our honor to serve you," The Fire Sage spoke again, him and all the other sages bowing, foreheads touching the ground in front of the Prince and his friend.

"Avatar Roku."

...

End Notes: I don't really know why it took me this long to post this chapter since it was already written. I keep writing new chapters, and I am putting off editing the older ones. But it is finally done now, and I hope you like it! I was kind of on the fence about how to write the already existing scenes that were also in the show. I knew I wanted to keep them as is, but didn't want to copy them directly either. So I just decided to add more dialogues of my own in between, without really changing the original ones a lot. I think it works quite fine, and that's probably how I'll end up writing the pre-existing scenes in the next chapters, which are actually not a lot. I hope that's fine,you can let me know what you think.

Also, writing about how Roku and Sozin met, wasn't something I planned, but it just sort of happened and I kind of like it, since I don't think it was explicitly stated in the show and it is fun to imagine. Writing children is super tricky though, I can't help but feel they sound too grown up. Obviously, the parts other than the dialogues were written from the same third person perspective that I write all my chapters in, but even only the dialogues proved to be hard. I need to practice more about writing children, I guess.

This was a really long note, thanks to everyone who read it!