A/N: To get us on the same page, this is where instead of veering off where I started (the original canon and going my own way), I'm actually playing with timelines and events that would have already happened if we'd been following the GAang and Zuko hadn't been badly injured. (Also I haven't been able to watch the show in years so my memory is sketchy on when and where things happen, so I apologize if I get something wrong. Anyway, this is an AU after all right?, and I intend to play around in my playground as much as I can. ;) I've chosen a posting day; please see the author's note at the bottom for more info! :) Now, on with the story!

Disclaimer: Still don't own Airbender, anyone wanna fix that for me? ;)

Previously:

"We can't stay here." He said flatly, "we need to leave; as soon as we can." Zuko blinked. He knew the shelter was a complete loss but couldn't they simply rebuild? He said as much and Iroh shook his head sadly. "We must attempt to destroy whatever evidence there was that we were ever here and set out first thing in the morning." Tired of what his uncle wouldn't say, Zuko half-growled. "Uncle….WHY? Why do we have to leave?" The old general sighed and leaned against the trunk of the tree separating them, dreading the next words he would have to speak.

"Azula is coming."

Those three small words sent shivers of fear shooting down his spine and anger bursting in his heart as he stared in shock at his uncle. "Azula! No! Anyone! Please, anyone but her!" His mind screamed. If she found him, found out he was crippled and weak, she would torment him endlessly and he would be helpless against her. He shuddered inwardly at the dark thoughts his traitorous mind brought to the light. She was his sister, but she had always been cruel.

Umi watched as Zuko nearly trembled in what she could clearly feel was fear; even the old gentleman who always seemed so calm was in turmoil. Who was this Azula that she could make grown men quake? Frustrated with the charged silence she asked that very question. "Who is Azula?"

Both heads snapped to look at her and she almost shrank back at the fierce gazes she received. After another moment, Zuko answered her slowly. "She…Azula is my sister.

The gentle water spirit was confused; why would his sister warrant this much upset? Before she could even form the words Iroh was speaking. "Azula is a cruel and heartless firebender. Unlike most firebenders her fuel is not anger; it is cold, ruthless ambition and complete lack of care for anything or anyone but herself." He shook his head. "She is..very powerful."

Zuko didn't add anything but Umi could read him easily; the massive amount of negative emotions he was practically screaming had her wondering just what this Azula had done.

"Uncle…" Zuko practically growled it and the water spirit blinked in surprise.

Iroh shook his head; he knew the young banished prince had not seen the atrocities he himself had witnessed at the hands of the vicious princess Azula and his nephew still held some sense of familial bond with her, even though she treated him terribly in his childhood. The former general hoped Zuko would not make a mistake he would regret at a crucial moment because of that sentiment.

"We don't have time for this!" Iroh declared with finality. "We must recover what we can from the shelter and start moving as quickly as possible." Umi nodded and glanced at Zuko before moving over to attempt extracting anything that was salvageable; he still looked angry, she thought, and shook her head slightly. She definitely did not want to meet this Azula.

Moments later Zuko's voice cut through the sounds of Umi's searching "Why is she coming uncle? How could she know we're here?" There was silence. Iroh sighed and looked Zuko straight in the eye. "It is my fault. Until this time I have avoided the area where the..." he hesitated and glanced at his nephew "the incident occurred. I thought; it had been so long surely there could be no one around, and so, as I searched for food, I stumbled across a small fire nation military scouting party." He shook his head and lowered his eyes from the accusing ones of his nephew's. "They jumped me as I was hunting a fox antelope; I must be getting old, because I did not sense the attack. However; they were no match for the Dragon of the West" the old general took time to mention.

"I dispatched them quickly enough; however, one did get away. He will report it to the firelord and Azula will learn of it. She will come for you Zuko, you know this." He continued, meeting the young man's gaze once again. "Most likely by now she has been officially announced as heir to the throne of firelord. Your very existence is a threat to her now, more than ever." Zuko glared back at him. "She is my sister, uncle! Your niece!" he was nearly shouting. "She has some problems but she is still family!"

Before either of them could say another word, Umi stood up quickly, unable to stand the conflict any longer. "Enough!" Both stared at her in shock. "This is not the time for a family argument, if there is ever a time. You should be helping each other, not fighting!" She lowered her voice to speak softly as she knew she had their attention. "No matter who is right or wrong in this, does it really matter? Right here, right now?"

Silence reigned for so long she was beginning to worry that she had made them angry with her instead, but she needn't have. "I'm sorry Umi." Zuko was the first to apologize, earning a raised eyebrow from his uncle that he quickly hid, and a smile he kept inside. "My apologies my dear" Iroh inclined his head slightly "you are absolutely right, now is not the time to fight, now is the time to keep our heads and press on." He moved over to the remains of the ruined shelter, "let me help you search."

"Uncle…" Zuko hesitated, hating the next words he would have to admit. "I..my..my crutch, it…" Iroh straightened back up.

"The wind?" Zuko nodded silently. "I will make you two more, we will need to move more quickly than normal. They won't be very finished, but they will be functional." Zuko nodded, trying to squelch his shame at needing such things. "Thank you, uncle." The older man raised his hand in response, already moving off to find the right tree branches for the job.

It wasn't long before Umi had finished gathering what she could from the shattered shelter. It wasn't much; five pieces of jerky, a wooden cup and one animal skin blanket were all that was left of the place they had called home for nearly a year. She wrapped the items in the blanket and placed them on the ground next to Zuko before silently shifting and flowing over the massive tree trunk to assist Iroh with the crutches if she could.

It was well into night when a very tired Iroh finally finished both crutches. They mutually agreed to rest that night and leave first thing in the morning.

There were no cheery 'good morning!'s or smiling faces as they prepared to leave. Zuko and Iroh both seemed to hesitate a moment, as if loathe to leave the place they'd called home for so long, a place where they'd gone through some of the worst things in their lives, but at the same time had such wonderful experiences. It was Zuko who turned around first, showing their old campsite his back for the last time. Iroh nodded to himself rather emphatically and mimicked his nephew; with that, they were off; Umi trailing behind feeling as if she were intruding on a family moment.

Since Iroh had been spotted near where the explosion happened they mutually decided to head the opposite direction, away from the river and up into the mountains. Iroh knew that while the weather would be harsher in the mountains, they stood a better chance there, and might possibly even find a small village where people were at least partially cut off from the majority of what had been happening and might not know them. Although they had no money, perhaps they could work for food. He was getting very tired of living off the forest, a way too old for it too!

Not long after they started Iroh stopped walking and turned around with a "hmm…". "What is it uncle?" Zuko asked questioningly from ahead where they were waiting for him. "We have spent so much time just surviving alone we were about to make a very big mistake" he explained. The two younger people simply stared at him silently until he continued. The old general looked down and pointed to the ground behind them.

"Footprints. We are leaving a trail, a very good trail for Azula's trackers to follow. It will not be difficult for them to find us if we do not figure out a way to hide our tracks." Zuko and Umi nodded in agreement. "I can use water to wash away our tracks" the water spirit offered. "Perfect!" Iroh smiled at her happily "try to make it look as natural as possible" he requested. "Allow the ground to get soggy enough to remove the prints and make it natural."

Umi nodded briskly and set to work clearing their tracks. She used barely enough water to erase their tracks, but little enough that it would not stay wet for very long.

They spent the rest of the day in relative silence, only speaking to each other when absolutely necessary. Zuko was lost in his own thoughts, as was Iroh, the older man also feeling his age just a bit as they had set a relatively fast pace to put as much distance as they could between them and the soldiers they knew would soon be hot on their trail.

Iroh apologized to the busy water spirit more than once for how much she had to work to cover their tracks. Umi didn't mind, and told him as much as many times as he apologized. Zuko said nothing. He also was unused to the amount of walking they were doing and it was putting a strain on him.

Even though the crutches his uncle had hurriedly carved were good, they were not as comfortable as his previous one, and his arms and shoulders ached with every movement; every bit of weight he was forced to put on them. Even with the short breaks they'd taken, when they finally decided to make camp that evening he felt like he was in agony. Everything hurt, even his stump, and he had no idea why that would hurt. His phantom pains had lessoned considerably in the last few months until he hardly even felt them anymore.

Zuko winced as he reached out to take the bowl of water Umi handed him once they had settled in around a small, smokeless fire. He tried not to let it show but couldn't control it. She was very observant however, and noticed anyway and standing up she moved next to him. "Zuko…" she said hesitantly "you are…sore? Your shoulders, I can tell they pain you. I am a waterbender, I can ease your discomfort." Zuko felt his pride rising up to the surface and his face reddened in the flickering firelight. His eyes hardened and he cast a fiery glare at the poor water spirit. "I don't need your help, I'm fine! Now just leave me alone!" he snapped at the surprised woman who now stood frozen in shock at his glare and angry response. He barely registered the hurt in her eyes as she quickly backed away from him and looked at the old gentleman sitting opposite him. "I..I'm sorry" she stuttered "I will…be back later!" With that she dispersed into thousands of water particles and disappeared.

"Zuko!" The young man in question hunched his aching back and shoulders at the harsh way his uncle spat out his name. He deserved what was coming, every word, he knew that already. His regret for the way he had just treated the lovely water spirit he had begun to care for was only matched by his self-loathing. "OK! Uncle I know…Ok I know!" Zuko shot back before his uncle could even say another word, hoping to dissuade the old general from the lecture that was surely brewing in the old man. Just because he deserved it didn't mean he wanted to hear it; especially not right now when he was already beating himself up about it.

"Do you Zuko? Are you so sure? Because it seems to me like you have a lot to learn." His uncle was just getting started. Zuko suddenly felt like sulking as he would have done when he was a child, before his father burned his childhood right out of his head. He grimaced and looked away, down to the fire in the small fire pit they'd made. The flames were already much higher than they had been moments before and he did his best to calm himself with the breathing techniques the man who was currently upset with him had taught him. Uncle seemed to wait until the fire had died back down to normal before continuing.

"My nephew" he sighed "you truly do have a lot to learn, about many things. One of those things is compassion, another one of those things, a very important one, is humbleness." A 'humph' came from the direction of a still-very-off balance Zuko. "Whether you believe it or not, pride is not your friend; in fact it will keep you from having any for very long."

"I don't need 'friends' uncle" he spat the word as if it had a bad taste as he spoke it, conveniently forgetting what he had promised himself right after the giant tree nearly crushed Umi and himself. "I need…" his voice trailed off and became much quieter. "I need…I need my leg back!" he hissed in anguish. "My body whole; my…my honor!" The agonized young man nearly choked on the word. "What could that possibly mean now? I'm a crippled firebender who can hardly bend, at all, I'm banished, I failed to catch the avatar, and now, I can no longer even hope of doing that!"

His voice had been rising steadily until he was nearly screaming the words that had been bottled up inside of him for months. "What I need, I can never have; my life is over before it hardly even started! Even if we somehow escape Azula, what is even the point? My life has no purpose, no meaning at all!" Zuko made a sound of pure suffering and dropped his face into his hands.

The old general sat in almost shocked silence. He knew his nephew must still have some lingering discontent from everything he'd been through, but Iroh had been so sure the banished prince had come to terms with his disabilities in the almost year they'd spent in the forest. He had no idea the boy was still in so much agony in his mind. If he had, he would have tried to help him talk though it, if he'd been allowed to. As a father figure he felt as if he'd failed, and he knew he had to make it up to his nephew, even if he had to ignore the rudeness that had been shown to poor Umi. This was a far larger problem, the root of nearly every issue Zuko now had, and the ones he was sure to have in the future.

This had to be dealt with, and now was as good a time as any to start. Iroh took a deep breath and let it out, using his own breathing techniques to calm himself as his nephew had just done.

"My nephew, I consider you to be a son to me; I have for a long time now. I love you as if you were my own. I want only what is best for you, I always have. I am so proud of how far you have come; you have overcome so many things, so many hardships that would have broken a lesser man, yet you have been strong, and you have fought past them. You have endured more pain, emotional and physical, than most people ever know in their lifetime, and yet you are here, and you are still fighting.

You have a purpose, whether you realize it or not, for if you did not, you most certainly would not be here. The universe does not make mistakes Zuko. You are more than just your physical body, embrace it, rise above it, and move forward. You must, once and for all, accept your circumstances, and move on if you are ever to truly live."

Iroh paused a few moments to allow his words to sink in before he continued.

"Umi is the perfect example of moving forward. The two of you have a connection, she saved my life, you saved hers and in turn she saved yours. She does not have to stay with us, she could go and do absolutely anything, however, she chooses to remain here, with us, in the middle of nowhere, and now on the run from the most powerful people in the entire world. If that doesn't make it obvious that she cares for you, I don't think anything will!" He ended emphatically, hoping his words had somehow reached the young man he sometimes wished was his own son, and not his monstrous brothers'.

There was silence for several minutes, which turned into nearly an hour as Iroh patiently waited for his nephew to process everything he'd said.

"Uncle…" Zuko looked up at the man who'd been so much more of a father to him than his own ever had and small stinging tears were making their salty way down his cheeks. "I'm sorry…" he rasped, his voice cracking with emotion. "You're right, you're always right, and I've been too wrapped up in myself to see it. I lost myself, and I'm having a hard time figure out who I am now."

He hastily rubbed the tears from his burning eyes, feeling his hand rub over the marbled and bumpy skin of his scar and nearly grimaced. No, he wouldn't let it get him down, not this time. He finally spoke the words he never thought he would say, to anyone. "Will you help me uncle?" he pleaded, squashing any pride that tried to rear its ugly head "I can't keep living like this, it's tearing me up inside!"

Iroh felt his heart swell within his chest at his beloved nephew's words. He had always known the boy was strong, and this was the proof. He smiled gently. "Zuko, you have already done more for yourself than I could do in a year of talking. You are so strong, and I am truly proud of you. I will help you any way I can to become the man I know you can be." The young man before him nodded and thanked him then fell silent for a moment.

"I hope Umi comes back soon, I want to apologize to her; I hope she'll even hear what I have to say. She'd be well within her rights to simply ignore me. " His uncle shook his head, "no, she is a bigger person than that, I'm sure, she will forgive you; in fact, she may have done so already. I am sure she will be back soon." The old gentleman was indeed a prophet it seemed, because the waterbender in question did in fact appear less than an hour after their conversation. They were preparing to bed down for the night when she walked back into camp, her well formed curves appearing from the shadows in what Zuko felt was a very alluring way. He brushed aside the sudden jolt in his stomach and slight fear that she might be furious with him and somehow managed to greet her calmly.

A/N: With this chapter I've reached the milestone of 50k words! I can't believe it! This is the longest story I've ever written, and it just keeps on getting longer..haha!

I'm currently trying for a posting day of either Fri. or Sat.; you will be seeing more next week, so stay tuned! (Oh, and reviews are like a buffet to a starving writer!;)