Forget Me Not by Emachinescat
An Avatar: The Last Airbender Fan-Fiction
Summary: When Aang throws Zuko out of the beach house during "Sozin's Comet, Part 1," Zuko hits his head much harder than Aang intended. Concussed and confused, memory fuzzy, Zuko forgets the past few months and thinks that he's still on his quest to hunt the Avatar. Surrounded by "enemies," on the run and desperate to escape, sure that he's being hunted down, Zuko doesn't make helping him easy - but his new family isn't about to give up on him without a fight.
A/N: I'm really excited about posting this one - it was a blast to write. I love everything about Zuko being a part of this team, and this got to explore so many feels and so much angst on Zuko's part. I hope you enjoy.
I've had a lot going on in real life recently (it's been rough), so I wasn't able to edit again before posting. I'll try to go through it again tomorrow, just in case, so if there are any mistakes, they will be fixed. I think I got it pretty well the first time 'round, though.
Enjoy!
Forget Me Not
"ENOUGH!"
It took a lot to frustrate Aang into attacking an opponent outright. As an Air Nomad and a pacifist, the Avatar always avoided confrontation and only retaliated in self-defense – and even when defending himself, he never sought to hurt his opponent. Especially when that opponent was his friend.
Zuko, though, had it coming. Out of nowhere, he'd burst out of the trees surrounding his family's beach house on Ember Island – the gang's latest hideout – and started flinging fireballs all over the place! A familiar but very unwelcome rush of panic had gripped Aang's gut as he saw his former enemy, now friend, descend on him as if nothing had changed, attacking the Avatar with all his ferocity.
Whatever had motivated Zuko's rampage, the firebender was not holding back, and Aang found himself falling almost too easily back into old patterns, dodging fireballs, misdirecting Zuko's attention, and refusing to engage in battle directly. The added complication, however, was that Zuko was now his friend and he had to be extra careful not to hurt him.
When Zuko turned the entire hallway into a tunnel of flames, Aang's tolerance hit its limit. As he'd done so many times when fighting Zuko in the past, Aang retaliated with a strong gust of wind, knocking the firebender back and – most importantly – snuffing out the wall of flames that had almost scorched him.
Zuko cried out in surprise as Aang's wild burst of wind slammed into him with more force than the airbender had intended, and to Aang's horror, the older teen didn't just smack into the wall of the beach house. He smacked through the wall of the beach house and disappeared, landing with a thump on the beach below.
Aang reassured himself as he leapt through the hole he had caused Zuko to make in the second story of the beach house, reminding himself that Zuko had taken much harder hits before and had been totally fine. Besides, if anyone should feel guilty in this situation, it should be Zuko! He was the one who had ruined a perfectly fun beach party! Aang figured he'd done it because he felt the others were wasting valuable training time and weren't taking their mission to defeat the Firelord seriously, but he couldn't rule out the possibility that Zuko just hated fun in general (something Aang was determined to fix once this war was over, Omashu mail cart style).
When Aang landed, feather-light, where he'd blown Zuko, any annoyance faded as he saw the damage: Zuko lay unconscious on the beach, a small smear of blood visible on the rock that his head had hit. "Oh no," Aang whispered eyes wide, guilt coursing through him in fresh waves. He'd only meant to put out the flaming hallway and get Zuko off his back. He'd never meant for this.
Aang leaned over the older boy, relieved to see that the blood wasn't pooling on the rock and that Zuko was still breathing evenly. His face was a bit pale, but that was to be expected after taking a hit like that. He'd have one heck of a headache when he woke up, but Aang didn't think there was anything major to worry about, especially with Katara and her healing abilities.
Speaking of which –
As one, the rest of the group surged up the embankment, using their hands to steady themselves as they climbed up shifting sand toward the foliage-studded treeline where the beach met the jungle. Everyone was slightly breathless as they gathered around Aang and the unconscious Zuko, varying levels of concern on their faces.
"What in the world happened?" Katara demanded, crouching at Zuko's side with Aang, her brows knit in concern.
"I told you!" Sokka hollered from over her right shoulder. "Zuko went nuts and destroyed my perfect Sand Suki!" He jabbed his thumb behind him in Suki's direction. The Kyoshi Warrior stood back with Toph, a slight grin tugging at the corner of her mouth. For the first time, it seemed to register for Sokka that Zuko was knocked out cold. "Oh, geez, Aang. You didn't kill him, did you? As perfect as my sculpture was, I can always rebuild!"
"Yeah," Toph piped up. "And maybe you can make it even better this time."
"You can't improve on perfection," Sokka snapped back, "but I appreciate the sentiment."
Aang barely caught on to the teasing lilt to Sokka's voice. Had he not been swimming in guilt, he might have realized that Sokka would never have joked about Zuko being dead if actually thought their friend was dead. He was trying to lighten the mood, in his totally inappropriate, Sokka-ish way. But the problem was that Aang had thought for the briefest of moments that he'd killed his firebending teacher. He thought he'd broken his sacred oath of non-violence, not on his worst enemy, but one of his closest friends, and the concept had very nearly crushed him.
"I didn't kill anyone! " Aang nearly wailed. "And I'm not going to kill anyone!" Not Zuko. Not Zuko's father.
From across Zuko's still form, Katara laid her hand on Aang's shoulder. He allowed her touch to relax him somewhat, and he took a deep breath. He felt the sting of tears pressing against the backs of his eyes, but he reigned in his emotions. "No one is accusing you of that," Katara reminded him. She drew the water from her flask and coated her hands; the water glowed as she carefully placed her hands on either side of Zuko's head. Aang had watched her heal enough to recognize that right now, she was just assessing the damage. Aang's heart hammered as he waited for her prognosis, and he wilted with relief when she announced, "He'll be fine. He's concussed, but after a few healing sessions, he'll be good as new." She sat back, the water around her hands staying in place but losing its glow as she locked serious blue eyes with Aang's. "Besides, he's the one that attacked you first. You did what you had to do to protect yourself, Aang. I don't know what in the world he was thinking !"
Aang had a pretty good idea – Zuko had made it no secret that he disapproved of beach parties, fruity drinks, fun excursions, or anything that could distract them from their training, and the whole "Teaching you a lesson!" made a lot of sense in light of this. Zuko had been doing exactly what Master Piandao had done after Sokka had admitted he was from the Water Tribe – attacked outright, given real stakes to test how much he'd learned. And in this case, to force Aang to keep training, because fun was evil and work was everything, apparently.
Before Aang could put this explanation into words, though, Zuko's eyes snapped open and his hands shot up to cradle his head. A weak groan escaped his mouth, and Aang glimpsed two very uneven pupils in pools of gold before Zuko lunged sideways and vomited on Aang's bare feet.
"Ewwww!" Sokka shrieked, a bit too gleefully for Aang's taste. Aang doubted he'd be so amused if his feet had been in the line of fire.
Aang, for his part, didn't recoil and in fact only leaned in closer as Zuko woozily flopped back onto his back, breath coming in hitched bursts and eyes clenched tight in pain. "Katara?" he asked, worry building in his chest and escaping in his voice.
Katara, too, looked concerned. "His concussion might be more severe than I thought at first," she admitted, "but he'll still be okay as long as I start his first healing session as soon as poss–"
She broke off as Zuko's upper body sprang to a sitting position like a doll in one of those music-playing wind-up toys that some Earth Kingdom children played with. Fiery golden eyes with mismatched pupils darted blearily between Aang and Katara, then skirted clumsily to rest first on Sokka, whose own expression had turned to one of worry, then on Suki and Toph. Finally, they darted back to Aang, and what Aang saw there sent shivers down his spine.
Or rather, what he didn't see there.
One of the reasons Aang had been able to allow Zuko into the group as quickly as he had was the fire prince's eyes. Before his change of heart, any time that Aang had locked eyes with Zuko, those eyes were sharp and angry and guarded, locked down tighter than the Boiling Rock. There'd been fury and determination and not much else allowed past the defenses the firebender had constructed. But after the change, some – though certainly not all – of those barriers had started to crack. That insatiable fury had given way to a sincerity that Aang hadn't even thought possible. Although the former prince was by no means at peace, his eyes had a purpose. He wanted to change. He had hope not clouded in the lies he'd been told by his father. In his eyes, Aang saw a hint of freedom amongst the remnants of pain and the smattering of secrets.
That was all gone now. The eyes that looked at Aang now looked like they had been plucked from back in time, months ago, when Zuko was hunting Aang like an animal. That freedom, that hope, that sincerity, they'd all been wiped clean and the eyes that glared at him now looked out of place fringed by a head full of shaggy black hair instead of a lone, regal ponytail.
"The Avatar," Zuko hissed, eyes narrowing, and though he swayed where he sat, the concussion obviously affecting his balance, fear stabbed through Aang's heart. When Zuko had attacked earlier, he'd been the same Zuko the gang had grown to trust and care for. That was one reason why Aang hadn't truly been afraid when he'd attacked. But that version of Zuko was gone. It suddenly hit Aang what had happened; he'd heard of this kind of thing with bad head injuries.
Memory loss. Zuko had reverted back into his old, cruel, desperate, Avatar-hunting self because the hit to the head had muddled his brain and stolen his most recent – and arguably most important – memories. Horror and guilt warred for dominance as Aang locked eyes with Katara. This was much worse than she'd thought.
Still, the real Zuko had to be in there somewhere. Aang refused to believe that the past few weeks of building trust and friendship, of creating a true bond with his former enemy, of learning firebending and going on cool, one-on-one, life-changing field trips, was over with one hit to the head. "Zuko," Aang said, ignoring the puddle of sick on and around his feet and falling lightly back onto his heels so that his hovering wouldn't be seen as a threat. "It's me, Aang."
"I know who you are," Zuko growled, struggling to rise to his feet but faltering with a grunt of pain as a wave of dizziness enveloped him.
"Yeah, but what you might not remember," Aang supplied helpfully, "is that we're friends now. You left your home and joined our group!"
Aang could feel everyone else's eyes on him as he tried to get through to Zuko, but he didn't look away from the confused firebender. Zuko glowered and shot back, "And why would I do that?" He winced, the sound of his own raised voice spiking his headache, and he instinctively reached up and touched the back of his head, where the pain must have been the worst. Aang swallowed heavily when Zuko's fingertips came back smudged with red. "And what … what did you do to me?" Zuko demanded weakly, once again trying to stand and failing. "And where's my uncle?"
Katara tried this time, her voice calm and quiet and so soothing it almost eased Aang's anxiety. "You had an accident," she said. "You have a concussion, and you're confused. I think you've lost your memory." She sounded like she was talking to a skittish ostrich horse or a terrified toddler. She raised her water-coated hands slightly, non-threateningly. "But I have healing abilities. If you'll let me, I can start the healing process, and we can get your memories back really soon." Aang couldn't help but wonder if this was within Katara's healing abilities – the mind was such a complex thing, after all, that she hadn't even been able to fully see the extent of the damage with her waterbending – but she sounded thoroughly confident in her ability. When Zuko didn't move or speak, just peered at her with suspicious, glazed eyes, she added, "At the very least, I can help with the pain right away. You just have to trust me."
At this, Zuko laughed, a harsh, desperate noise that bothered Aang all the more because he could hear the fear in it. His heart went out to his friend, realizing for the first time that this had to be terrifying for him. He'd woken up disoriented and in pain, surrounded by people he thought were his enemies. Aang had no doubt that if the firebender were in better health and not so outnumbered, he'd be attacking Aang for real this time, trying to capture him or worse. As it was, though, he was injured and scared – but too prideful to show it – and cornered by people that he had to think had attacked and captured him in retaliation for all he'd done to them. Aang knew all too well what it was like to be scared and surrounded.
"I know you're scared," he said softly.
"I'm not scared," Zuko spat. "You're the one who should be scared, Avatar."
Aang took his eyes briefly off of Zuko, glancing first at Katara and then exchanging helpless looks with Sokka and Suki.
Toph, for her part, crossed her arms over her chest and piped up, "He's lying. His heart is going nuts right now. He's terrified!"
"I am not! " Zuko shouted.
In one fluid motion, faster and more nimbly than any of them could have expected in his state, Zuko had lunged to his feet, fire spewing from his hands and feet, and Katara and Aang had to shield themselves with water and air to avoid being toasted. By the time they'd recovered from the surprise attack, Zuko had bolted, swaying dangerously but moving with the swiftness of someone hunted (something else Aang understood all too well, courtesy of Zuko himself), and before anyone could stop him, he'd staggered into the trees and disappeared.
Everything hurt and the world blurred and spun around him as he ran. He stumbled over protruding roots and stones, catching himself with his hands – his filthy, scratched, bloody hands – when he fell, but even when he pushed himself upright he was falling, still falling.
The world was a kaleidoscope of green and brown and the birdsong screeched in his ears like a trumpeter's horn. He clawed weakly at his ears, trying to block out the onslaught of sounds. Every time he stepped on a twig, the resulting crack resounded through his skull like a breaking bone; badger frogs croaked so loudly that his head might split, and those birds…
Nausea roiled in his gut and bile inched up his throat, but he forced it back, knowing he couldn't waste time being sick. He had to run, to escape. He didn't know what the Avatar and his friends – some whom he recognized, like the Water Tribe siblings and others he didn't like the little blind girl and her short-haired friend – had planned for him, but even in his muddled state, Zuko knew he couldn't stick around to find out. And as much as he wanted to take them all on now, subdue the Avatar, and drag him back to his father in chains, a few of the lessons Uncle had tried to teach him had managed to set in.
In this case, he was vastly outnumbered, he was in enemy territory, and he was injured. He needed to get away, to hide, to heal. Then he could figure out how to either nab his prize or find uncle and escape. Either way, he couldn't let them catch up with him. If they did, everything would be ruined. If they captured him, he might never get the Avatar to his father. He might never go home. He might never get his honor back.
At this thought, something nagged at the back of Zuko's mind, something terribly confusing and very off , but it quickly became overshadowed by the waves of pain radiating from the back of his head.
He couldn't be sure, but he thought he could hear leaves crunching and twigs cracking behind him, maybe even voices calling his name. But the birds and the frogs screamed and his own footsteps crashed as he staggered through the foliage, and the light filtering through the canopy sent matching bolts of pain and nausea through his body and against his will, he felt the prick of tears at the corner of his right eye. His heart thudded madly against his ribs as if trying to escape and for a moment he considered stopping. He could barely remember what he was running from.
His foot hooked on a lifted root and this time, his senses were so overwhelmed by the onslaught of stimuli – the crescendo of noise and light and motion becoming too much. He fell, face-first, onto the forest floor, and didn't have time to catch himself. Though the ground was soft with scrubby grass and moss, the motion jarred his head, and he threw up at the onslaught of agony. This time, he definitely heard voices behind him, both familiar and entirely foreign, and he managed to get his hands and knees under him before the dizziness swept over him once more and he collapsed, conscious but only just, onto the ground.
They surrounded him then, the people with strange but familiar voices who spoke too loud and said his name with worry when they should have been angry, and he felt hands on his face and his head, and someone lifted his right eyelid but he couldn't make out faces or features, just a blur of green and brown. He drifted in and out of consciousness, tried to summon his inner flame to his defense, but it flickered then faltered. From a great distance, he felt hands grip him under the armpits and another set of hands grasp his legs, and then he was being pulled up and he was floating and the vertigo, even with his eyes shut, consumed him.
He finally, thankfully, slipped into full and total darkness.
Thankfully, Zuko hadn't gotten far before they'd caught up with him.
Unfortunately, they'd caught him because he'd tripped, lost what little was left of his breakfast, and then passed out yet again. At this point, even Sokka and Toph showed visible signs of concern, and Aang could tell that Katara was dealing with just as much guilt as he was. He'd reassure her later that this wasn't her fault. She hadn't been wrong; Zuko had been concussed. The severity had just been worse than she'd thought.
They carried him back to the beach, Sokka holding his upper body and Aang carting his feet. Getting back down the sandy slope would have been a hassle, but Toph sandbended a solid ramp for them to ease him down. Once they had him inside, they didn't try taking him upstairs to one of the bedrooms. Sokka grabbed his sleeping bag and they settled Zuko onto it in the sitting room so that Katara could get to work.
Suki, however, was concerned that Zuko might wake up in another panic and attack them again, maybe escape and hurt himself even more. Reluctantly, Aang agreed that they couldn't risk a repeat of the disaster from earlier, so Sokka, always prepared for pretty much any situation, dug some rope out of his bag. Aang himself tied Zuko's wrists together in front of him, and bound his ankles together, anxiety and guilt nearly consuming him.
"Okay," Katara said when Aang finished and handed the remaining rope back to Sokka. "I'm going to need a bowl of water, and I'm going to need space. Aang, you can stay, but everyone else needs to go."
Toph put her hands on her hips. "What if he wakes up and goes nuts? I think we need to be here to protect you."
"He's tied up," Katara argued. "And so many people in here while I'm trying to heal his brain is distracting." Her voice trembled the slightest bit, and Aang saw for the first time that she wasn't sure that she could fix him. She didn't know if her healing could bring his memories back. Trying to heal something this delicate and feeling so vulnerable while doing so had to be hard.
"We'll be fine," Aang said firmly. "Even if he managed to get free, we're ready for him this time. We're more than enough to handle him. And you guys can guard the front door in case he does escape."
Katara shot Aang a grateful look as Toph nodded curtly and led Sokka and Suki out of the beach house and closed the door behind them.
When they were gone, Aang couldn't help but ask, "Do you think it will work?"
Katara offered a sad smile. "The brain is incredibly complex, Aang. I didn't have a clue that he'd be this bad off when I checked him over earlier. I'll do my best to heal the physical damage, but I can't guarantee that it will bring his memories back."
Aang felt his lower lip tremble despite himself. "And what if he still doesn't remember?" he asked in a hoarse whisper. "Do we keep him a prisoner here until he does – if he does? Do we chain him up and lock him in a room while we go fight the Firelord?" Aang took a shaky breath. "He was so scared before, Katara."
"I know." They both looked down at Zuko, his too-pale face, the mysterious scar that he refused to talk about. "He's changed so much," Katara sighed, and Aang felt the tiniest surge of jealousy as Katara reached out and swept a strand of black hair off of Zuko's sweaty forehead. Ever since The Play, he'd been watching the two of them extra closely. But his jealousy quickly abated; Katara's gesture had been tender, but not romantic. Besides, Zuko had an awful concussion and had lost his memory. Aang really shouldn't be jealous of him right now.
"I know you can do it, Katara," Aang said simply. "Zuko's our friend, and I refuse to believe that's going to change now."
Katara smiled grimly once more, and then by some unspoken agreement, they both fell silent as she went to work.
While Katara concentrated her healing on the wound on Zuko's head, Aang worked on the firebender's hands. Zuko had obviously fallen and caught himself multiple times on the forest floor, and his hands were scraped, filthy, and studded with small rocks and splinters. Aang dipped a cloth into Katara's bowl of water and cleaned Zuko's hands the best that he could with them bound together. He picked out as much of the debris as he could and washed off the blood and grime. Katara could heal them easily, but Aang needed to be doing something to help.
Zuko didn't wake while Katara worked, thankfully. Part of Aang worried that he slept so deeply for so long, but Katara was monitoring him and reassured Aang that Zuko was just exhausted.
Finally, after what seemed like hours but was probably only thirty minutes, Katara sat back and bent her healing water into the bowl. She looked drained. Her skin had a sickly pallor, and her hands trembled. Her bright blue eyes seemed duller than usual, and dark circles looped under them. She'd put her everything into healing Zuko, and Aang could see from her pensive expression that she still didn't know if it had been enough.
"I took care of his hands the best that I could," Aang said softly, gently lifting Zuko's bound hands to show her his work. Katara smiled wearily and took Zuko's hands in her own, inspecting the damage.
"You did great, Aang! I can heal them the rest of the way once he wakes up. I think, though, I probably need to rest first."
Aang left Zuko alone long enough to help Katara up the stairs and to one of the bedrooms. She curled up on top of the blankets and fell asleep immediately, so Aang let her rest. After poking his head out the front door to let the rest of his friends know that Katara was done and that both she and Zuko were resting, Aang returned to his firebending teacher's side, crossed his legs in a meditative position, and waited for his friend to wake up.
When Zuko awoke, he found himself surprised that he didn't feel any pain. He couldn't recall why he expected to wake up hurting, exactly, but it was a nice surprise nonetheless.
He also couldn't move.
Zuko's eyes snapped open and he struggled to sit up, heart thudding madly in his chest as he realized that he lay on the floor of his family's beach house, Aang meditating – or maybe sleeping? – beside him, and that he was bound hand and foot.
What the–?
"Aang!" Zuko growled, tugging his wrists, trying to find any give in the knots. There was none.
Aang darted to awareness, a tiny bit of drool at the corner of his mouth (so sleeping it was, then). His posture was tense until he met Zuko's gaze. For a couple of seconds, his eyes held such an intensity as he studied Zuko that the former prince nearly squirmed in discomfort. Then something clicked for the airbender – what, Zuko had no idea – and suddenly Aang launched himself at Zuko, enveloping him in a one-way hug that Zuko absolutely would not have allowed had he the mobility to escape.
Aang squeezed him for a long, almost desperate moment, and it was almost sweet, but Zuko was still tied up and though his memory of the past day or so was blurry, he knew something significant had happened, and he was starting to freak out.
"Aang," Zuko said as calmly as he could muster.
Aang leaned back, still grasping Zuko's shoulders, and looked at him like he was the best thing he'd seen since discovering Fire Flakes. "Yes?"
"Why am I tied up?"
Aang blushed deeply, then sat back and bent a concentrated slice of air to sever the ropes around Zuko's wrists and ankles. Zuko couldn't help it; he flinched as he felt the blade-sharp burst of air skirt between his wrists and ankles with incredible precision. Sometimes, with all the mushy love and peace talk, Zuko forgot just what a powerful – and dangerous – bender this kid could be.
And with that thought came a memory, one of a flaming hallway and a great burst of wind, the splintering of wood as he was thrown through a wall, and then a burst of white-hot pain on the back of his head. Then… nothing.
Zuko reached up tentatively and felt the back of his head where he remembered the pain. It didn't hurt at all now, just felt a little tender, maybe. What bothered him more was that he couldn't remember what had happened after Aang had blasted him through the wall of the beach house.
As if reading the unspoken question on Zuko's face, Aang blurted, "I'm so sorry, Zuko! I was just trying to put out the fire and keep you from cooking me! I never meant to give you a concussion and make you lose your memory!"
Zuko's pulse stuttered. "You mean… that's why I can't remember what happened after you knocked me out?"
Aang's brows furrowed over concerned gray eyes. "No, I mean… well, probably. But you only remember as much as you do because of Katara! She's resting now, but she's the only reason you don't still think you're back to where you were a few months ago, hunting us and trying to capture the Avatar."
Zuko almost lay back down again at this revelation. He closed his eyes briefly, and when he concentrated really hard, scattered images and emotions skittered across his mind's eye, only to disappear a second later. A blurry world of brown and green. Sickness, pain, and fear. So much fear. And anger.
Even as the vague memories fled, Zuko shuddered. He wrapped one arm around his torso and lifted the other one to his head, relief bubbling to the surface when he felt a full head of hair and no phoenix tail. The thought of reverting back to that time, of forgetting everything that he'd learned… of losing the truths he'd said to his father, and reclaiming so much of his self-worth, of forgetting his new friends and new family… it terrified him more than perhaps anything.
"Are… are you okay?" Aang asked, the words hanging tentatively in the air for a long moment while Zuko considered.
Dropping both hands into his lap, Zuko stared down at them and nodded. He could see that his palms were studded with scrapes and splinters, but he figured that Katara just hadn't had time to heal them from whatever he'd done during his horrific trip down memory lane. He had a feeling that he might never remember the last few hours clearly, and that did bother him. But as long as he remembered who he was – in the back of his mind, his mother's voice echoed, warning him to never forget who you are – he could live with losing that time.
Taking a deep breath, Zuko glanced back up at his younger friend. "So, uh… why did you throw me through a wall, anyway?"
Aang sprang to his feet. "You went crazy!" the airbender shouted, waving his hands in the air for emphasis. A soft chattering noise, and out of nowhere, Momo descended upon Aang's wagging hands, like a crococat pouncing on a toy. Zuko almost grinned at the cuteness of it all, but he resisted. He had an image to maintain, after all. Zuko's eyes snapped away from the lemur and back to Aang as he continued, "You started attacking me, throwing fireballs everywhere!"
Zuko frowned. "Were we training?"
"No!"
"Then why–?"
"You said you were going to teach me a lesson," Aang answered, crossing his arms. Game over, Momo settled on Aang's shoulder and watched Zuko with round green eyes. "I think it had something to do with the fact that we decided to have a beach party for a while. We wanted a break from all the training–"
Zuko cut in, his hands clenching. "Well that explains it," he said sullenly. "I guarantee you that I was trying to remind you of how serious this is! I can't believe you all decided to have a party when Sozin's Comet is almost here!"
Aang's next words were a dagger to the chest, and Zuko realized that there had been a grave misunderstanding: "Uh, about that. We decided to wait until after the comet to defeat the Firelord. We were only trying to do it before to stop him from winning the war, but he pretty much did that when he took Ba Sing Se. Besides, I'm not ready yet. I need more time to train."
At the horrified expression on Zuko's face, Aang faltered. "W-what's wrong, Zuko?"
"You need to call everyone in here," Zuko said, rising to his feet and feeling only slightly relieved that he didn't stumble. He felt a bit weaker than usual, but other than that, he didn't feel concussed anymore. But none of that mattered anyway in light of what he'd just learned. In light of what he knew that the others didn't. In light of what was about to change everything .
Real fear crept into Aang's expression. "Why?"
"Because there's something you all need to know. We can't wait until after the comet, Aang."
Aang stood up and stared up fearfully into Zuko's eyes. "Why not?"
Zuko closed his eyes, then opened them with new resolve. "Because," he said grimly, "my father is a monster." When Aang only stared at him, Zuko repeated, "Go find the others. You all need to hear this."
A/N: As you can see, the episode pretty much gets back on track after this, but I saw the added opportunity for angst and whump and pounced on it. :)
Btw, I have this headcanon that Zuko thinks Momo is adorable and wants to pet him and cuddle him but has an "image" to maintain. And I absolutely have a fic planned where the Gaang is gonna find out and it's going to be adorable and glorious. It'll be after Whumptober before I can write it, but it's coming! :) I also have another fluff/humor fic planned where Aang indeed does take Firelord Zuko around the world and teach him how to have fun. Zuko won't be amused, of course. ;)
Anyway, tomorrow, we've got some Zuko/Katara bonding, a ton of angst, nightmares, scar reveal, the whole nine yards. It's going to be a doozy, and I'm so excited to post it, so stick around if you're interested!
I'd love to know your thoughts about this one! :) Thanks for reading!
~Emachinescat ^..^
