Avatar: the Last Airbender:
Yin and Yang
There were two rumors running rampant in the Fire Nation Capitol building in the world of the Avatar of War. The first being, how Prince Zuko acquired that horrid scar on his face; the popular explanation was he faced off against both the troublemaker Fe and his troubled uncle Iroh. The second rumor was about why the prince, normally a polite but withdrawn lad had been grinning ear to ear since he arrived. Most of the popular explanations for that involved either love or a breakthrough discovery of some sort.
- - - - - - - - -
Aang wasn't looking where he was going very well, he ran into an old acquaintance. Pretty hard too, knocking both himself and the strong man down.
"Admiral Zhao?" Aang asked, putting aside his feelings to see if he could get any information out of a man he believed to be an enemy.
"Admiral? No, I'm just Zhao," Zhao said as he picked himself up and smiled at the boy. It never hurt to smile.
"What's going on?" Aang asked. He didn't really have anyone else he could ask, no one else wanted to talk to him. "I'm all confused-- Sokka and Katara were holding me prisoner. They're supposed to be my friends, they're supposed to save me, not tie me up."
Zhao raised an eyebrow. "You never know what you'll get from those two."
"But, they're like family to me," Aang said, feeling lost and confused. "I don't understand why they'd do this to me..."
"They're like that," Zhao said, genuinely sighing. "I can't blame them too much, loosing their parents at such a young age, it's no wonder they're always so desperate for attention."
"What are you talking about?" Aang said shaking his head. "Katara and Sokka aren't like that."
"You're just trying to mess with my head aren't you kid?" the man chided smiling. Normally the Avatar, the Avatar of war he knew, wasn't this nice or patient. Not that he had talked to the Avatar much. "I'm not going to let you get to me."
"Katara and Sokka are my friends," Aang said almost pleading. "They were the ones who found me in that ice berg and rescued me."
"Don't you mean they were the ones who had been handed down the task of watching over you until you awoke from your mysterious sleep?" Zhao said, trying to be helpful. That was what he had heard the story was, he'd never heard anything about an iceberg.
"Handed down the task?" Aang asked. He quietly explained, "They just happened to find me while fishing. That's what they told me anyway."
That wasn't right. He had never been told that Aang didn't know anything, he had been briefed that Aang was informed and kept up to date by those two.
"Who are you?" Zhao asked Aang, the Avatar of Peace.
- - - - - - - - -
"Who are you!" Aang the Avatar of peace asked the middle aged man who approached him. Aang had been brought to the Fire Nation Capitol by Zhao, who was not the Admiral Zhao he knew, this Zhao was kinder, but Aang thought he was weird.
"I'm the Ruler of the Fire Nation," the man, who was just a little plump, said with a warm smile. Aang wasn't quiet sure what to make of all this, he had heard that the Lord of the Fire Nation was a ruthless dictator- that the warrior nation was lead by a Lord who looked like a warrior himself. This man standing before him didn't look like he could even put on armor properly without hurting himself.
"You aren't that scary... " Aang said frowning as thought he were confronting the Fire Nation Lord of his world. The Ruler laughed loudly at how serious and stubborn Aang's face was.
"I-I don't want you to be scared of me child," Ozai said smiling, caught off guard by the avatar's accusation. "Zhao just asked me to ask you some questions."
"Speaking of Zhao," Ozai began, after coming to the realization that the child sitting in front of him seemed hell-bent not talking, just looking at him oddly. "Zhao told me you came from a different world, that you're quite different than the Avatar we knew. Please tell me of the world you come from."
- - - - - - - - - -
The next morning...
"Excuse me," Zuko said to a servant he didn't recognize. It was morning, he had patiently waited until now to seek out his father. He had butterflies in his stomach, he couldn't believe this was finally it. He was finally going to meet with his father with restored honor.
"Oh, you're finally up," the man said. He was tall, but out of shape, Zuko thought he looked familiar, but couldn't quite decide why. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you this last night when you arrived but. Welcome home son."
Zuko just stared in disbelief at Ozai. He hadn't been casted out that long ago. His father shouldn't have changed this much. It was like Ozai was completely different than the father he knew. This man was almost warm, he seemed to be a caring.
"Hey son," Ozai asked, ignoring the odd expression on the adolescent's face. "How'd you get that horrible scar on your face?"
- - - - - - - - - - -
Zuko, the one without the scar, looked around. His ship he left without him, normally that'd upset him, but he didn't want to deal with the crewmen right now anyway. The young prince decided to go back to Iroh's camp and check to see how the old man was doing. He wished he had rescued the old guy, but he knew he was no match for either his uncle or so many guards.
When he arrived his Uncle Iroh, who was also known by the name Fe, was not around. The old man he had seen his uncle fighting; however, was. With several fire nation guards too.
"You let Prince Zuko be kidnapped!" one of the guards said loudly. Zuko, who was not the Zuko they were referring to, listened carefully.
"Look," Iroh said, rubbing his forehead. "I was tired, I was worn out, I couldn't do anything about it. Don't worry, he'll come back, he always does."
"Uh, excuse me," Prince Zuko of the world of the Avatar of War said softly approaching the men hesitantly. "I'm Prince Zuko. Have we met before?"
"Oh, where-" Iroh began, until he realized that while this boy did look and sound like the Zuko he knew, he lacked the scar. Despite the powerful bending magic in the world, there was nothing that would've restored Zuko face.
The guardsmen did a double take, unsure what to make of the situation. Iroh petted his beard absentmindedly while the gears in his head spun trying to determine what had happened or who the adolescent was.
"I was just over there by the trees," Zuko explained, gesturing to his hiding place. "I'm sorry for eavesdropping and for my uncle's actions earlier, he doesn't represent my people."
"Uh," Iroh said thoughtlessly as his mind realized that if Zuko was a parallel Zuko or something, his uncle was Fe. "What the heck!"
"I don't know either sir," Zuko said solemnly.
- - - - - - - - - - -
"The other you disappeared," Katara said flatly. She wasn't going to sugar coat it. "Sokka and I looked everywhere- he's left the area, maybe found a ship, maybe returned home, maybe he's a human Popsicle. I don't know"
"You lost the other me?" Aang, the Avatar of war, asked rhetorically frowning. "Come on shouldn't he be a goodie goodie two-shoes?"
"I think he had help," Sokka said. "There were two sets of foot prints leaving the shack."
"Anyway," Aang the Avatar of war started, bored with talking about something besides himself, smiling, leaning over towards Katara. "How am I doing?"
"Well," Katara smirked back. "You've definitely brought confusion to the two worlds, I'll definitely give you that much."
"Now we just need to exploit it," Sokka added. He kind of felt like Aang always ignored him.
"Well," Aang said. "I'm off to the other world. You two should stay here and fine the other me."