In the year Ninety-Six AG, everything seemed peaceful and everyone lived normal lives within the Fire Nation.
Except for a few people.
At the age of thirteen, Prince Zuko was branded, scarred and banished by his own father. The Fire Lord, Ozai. He had brought shame, humiliation, disappointment and dishonor upon the royal family and was immediately casted out from his homeland. Days later, word of the prince's banishment had quickly spread throughout many nations, like a wildfire.
Zuko was granted a single fire sloop with a crew, such as a captain, engineers, training instructors and soldiers to help him capture the Avatar. They weren't elites, but they Iroh, the Dragon of the West had volunteered to assist Zuko to go on his quest, out of care and fearing that he would not make it long in the world. A few days and they were out at sea, looking for the Avatar.
A few days passed since Zuko was banished. It was now night time, around Eleven O' Clock. The night sky was young, the moon was crescent white and stars were shining.
Zuko murmured in his sleep and his body had tossed and turned in his bed while experiencing another bad dream. Within his dream, Zuko had a scar less face. His appearance looked normal, moments before his father, Ozia had scarred him. He found himself inside the Fire Nation palace, surrounded by random Fire Nation veterans and civilians big and small. They were all looking down at him in disgust and resentment. Each and every one of their faces were silhouetted. Zuko could still tell some of them off by appearance, such as Azula, Mai and Zhao.
"Why are you all looking at me... like that?" Zuko asked the crowd, but had gotten no response. He could tell that they were looking with resentment, hate and discrimination on all their faces. He glanced over at a girl, whom he could easily recognize Mai, thank to her hair buns. "Mai, I-"
"You're a monster." Mai said.
Zuko flinched. "No, I'm..."
"You hurt my friend. I don't want to see you ever again." Mai said, before disappearing into thin air.
"Mai, wait!" Zuko attempted to step forward and reach a hand towards Mai, before she vanished.
"You're a disgrace to the Fire Nation." Zhao said.
Zuko turned to the then Captain Zhao and lashed at him. "No, I'm not, Zhao!" Zuko replied.
"That's captain Zhao, to you, boy." Zhao corrected Zuko.
"Who cares what you're called, Zhao. I'm the prince."
"Wrong. You were the prince. Now you're just a banished prince. That title doesn't mean anything to anyone, anymore."
"So? What does that have to do with anything?"
"You were out casted from our great nation by your own father, the Fire Lord, Ozai. That scar right there on your face is enough proof."
"What scar?" At first, Zuko didn't know what he was talking about. He touched his left face, then realized something about his face was off. The skin around his left eye had narrowed and was burned and so was his left ear. He gasped, as he then realized what Zhao was talking about.
"Just exactly like I said. That scar on you face is enough proof." Zhao grinned at him, revealing his sharp teeth.
"Stop it!" Zuko yelled and began to run elsewhere away from Zhao.
Zhao chuckled at the running boy, before disappearing.
Zuko ran and ran on an endless trail and continued to see dozens people who are glaring at him, left and right. He could hear their negatives thoughts in his mind as he ran.
"You know, this is all your fault." Azula smirked as Zuko passed her.
Zuko stopped running for a moment and heard that voice. "That voice," He turned around to see Azula all alone, looking at him with a silhouette on her face. The people that were around Azula had disappeared. He quickly got irritated and thought this was another one of her pranks. "Azula! I know what you're up to."
"What are you talking about?"
"All of this. You have everyone hating me for no real reason. Now stop all this!" Zuko demanded.
"You're the one who started all this. I had nothing to do with these people." Azula replied as she shrugged.
Zuko looked a little confused. "What are you talking about?"
"Remember that day when you, "burned" Ty Lee?" Azula quoted as she tried to help refresh Zuko's memory.
"Yeah? What about it?"
"Ever since that day, Ty Lee's parents made sure to spread the word of what you did to one of their daughters." Azula confessed.
"W... what?" Zuko eyes looked stunned and confused.
Azula started to tell Zuko what has gone on outside of the palace. Shortly after the incident, word had quickly spread out throughout the Fire Nation of what Zuko did. There were citizens and veterans who held resentment towards the Royal Family for being too powerful and too careless. Azula would sometimes hang out at Mai's house and hear the nasty talk about her brother. Ursa, on the hand would sometimes travel into town and hear people talk badly about her son and not like it at all. She did the best she could to hide the truth from Zuko, until she was banished.
"I had no idea..." Zuko didn't want to believe what he heard.
"Well, now you know, Zuzu." Azula chuckled.
"Wait, how do I know you're not lying?" Zuko asked.
"Uh, hello! You, "burned" Ty Lee, remember? What other proof do you need?" Azula quoted.
Zuko took a breather. "Where's Ty Lee?" He suddenly heard a girl crying. He recognized that cry, as he once made her cry. He turned his head around to see the girl he has wanted to see. Ty Lee appeared to be eight years old again and she was bent on her knees, wailing. "Ty Lee?" After seeing his full appearance, Zuko gasped.
Azula smiled as Zuko's attention was on Ty Lee, instead of her. "Good luck, Zuzu." She waved before disappearing.
"Huh?" Zuko heard his sister speak, then turned to see Azula speak.
"Wai! Come back!" Zuko tried call Azula, but she was already gone. After losing Azula, Zuko was left alone with his mother, Ursa. She had a sad look on her face, when she laid her lifeless eyes towards Zuko.
"Mom!" Zuko cried.
"I'm so... disappointed in you..." Ursa said within an edgy voice.
Seconds later, the floor below Zuko fell had broken apart like a shattered thin glass. "Ah!" Zuko screamed as he fell hundreds of feet downward in the dark pit and landed on his side. Luckily, he didn't die from the height. He groaned a bit, then looked up, dozens of feet. There was a light shining on him. He could see the silhouettes Ursa, Zhao, a kid Mai and a kid Azula staring down him from above.
Zuko looked back at them in shock and sadness. Then, his eyes noticed that the broken floor had started to fix itself, sealing himself inside of the dark pit.
"No! Don't leave me, please!" Zuko begged, as he stared upwards and tried to jump as high as he could. But, it was futile.
"This is where you belong. The depths of..." Ursa, Mai, Zhao and Azula had chanted at once, as the broken floor had patched itself, completely.
"Wait!" Zuko begged, until the light had disappeared, and leaving him inside of a dark pit. Everything was dark, and Zuko couldn't see anything. Ten seconds later, he heard the sound of a girl crying. "Hello?" He followed the sobs inside the dark pit, which led through a dark tunnel. As he got closer towards the sound of sobs, a light suddenly appeared from above, shining on a girl who was crying. Her back was turned from Zuko.
Zuko stared at the girl's backside for a moment, or two. He realized who the girl was, as he stared at her ponytail and dress. "Ty Lee?"
Ty Lee kept crying, ignoring Zuko's call.
Zuko felt a bit nervous as he was left alone with her. He tried to think of a proper apology, as he slowly walked towards Ty Lee and reached his hand to her. "Ty Lee, I'm..."
Flames suddenly burst from the ground, creating a gap and stopping Zuko from ever touching Ty Lee. Zuko lightly screamed as he jumped back and ended up falling on his butt, creating distance between Zuko and Ty Lee. The flames that separated Zuko and Ty Lee had had suddenly changed form into a flaming-like cage and trapped Zuko inside of it. Zuko gasped as he noticed that he was trapped inside the fiery cage. His burned left eye suddenly saw Ty Lee stop crying, stand and began to slowly walk elsewhere without looking back.
"Ty Lee!" Zuko cried, as he stretched his hand out towards her, but Ty Lee ignores him and continues to walk further in the darkness. "I'm sorry, Ty Lee! Please, come back!"
"Zuko." said a familiar voice.
Zuko gasped as he knew that something was different. Suddenly the atmosphere had changed and Zuko had found himself within the Fire Lord's throne room. Where Fire Nation military leaders would make plans. Zuko looked around and saw his father, Ozai sitting on a stage, while flames burned behind him. Zuko could only make out a silhouette of him.
"Father?"
"You have brought shame upon us all, Zuko. Shame upon this nation. And you have also brought shame upon me." Ozai said.
"Father, please..."
"I told you that you were not allowed to return, unless you have found and captured the Avatar! And yet, you stand before me with no Avatar!" Ozai said with rage in his face.
"Please, father! I haven't found him, yet. I just need a little more time! Please, father. I beg for mercy." Zuko tried to reason, as he too a knee.
"Mercy is for the weak. And you my son, are weak. Your penalty shall be even far steeper this time..." Without warning, the flames around Ozai had suddenly wrapped itself around Ozai, covering up his entire body. Five seconds later, Ozai had transformed into a long blue western dragon in front of Zuko's own eyes. Ozai as a dragon had glared at his son, Zuko.
Zuko was petrified of seeing what his father had become. He wanted to take a step back, but there was no use of running away from a dragon. Ozai was too swift, too powerful.
"Your penalty shall be... death!" Ozai than shot fire from his dragon mouth towards his son, Zuko.
"NOOOOOO!" Zuko screamed as his body was engulfed in blue deadly flames.
"AAAAAAHH!" Zuko screamed as his upper body jumped up. He had finally woke up from his nightmare and looked around in his room. Orbs of sweat had dripped over his face. He panted and looked at his hands to see they were normal. He looked around the area to see that he was lying in his chamber within his sloop.
Suddenly, General Iroh had opened the metal door and burst within the room. "Zuko! Are you alright?" Iroh asked in a worried tone, as he rushed to Zuko's side.
"I had a nightmare, uncle." Zuko panted. "Sorry for bothering you." Zuko clasped his face after apologizing.
"No worries. That's what uncles are for." Iroh rung out the rag a second time. "Place this on your forehead and lie back down." Iroh gave Zuko a rung out rag.
"Thanks," Zuko did what he was instructed, which was put the rag on his head and lied back down.
Iroh had stood up and looked at Zuko. Iroh, the people person he is, is able to see and tell that Zuko had a sad expression his face. He knew what was going on in Zuko's mind. "What is on your mind?"
Zuko sighed. "Ever since I was eleven, I couldn't stop thinking about what happened..." Zuko thought back the times he was eleven years old. "First my mother left without explaining why she was leaving. I hope it wasn't because of me And second, I can't stop thinking about what I did." Zuko stared down at his open hands.
"You mean with the girl?" Iroh referred to Ty Lee.
"Yeah." Zuko glanced at Iroh. "Whenever I tried to sleep, I just kept seeing her in my dreams. And then those dreams I have of her would later turn into nightmares. It would always with me ending up dead. What does that even mean? Am I going to die before I see her again?" Zuko asked.
"Listen, Zuko." Iroh sat down close to Zuko and lied a hand on his shoulder. "First, you are not going to die. And second, accidents happen a lot. The best thing that we could do is learn from our mistakes, and make sure that they don't happen again." Iroh protested.
Zuko grunted. "I know. It's just that I can't stop thinking about her, lately. I know it's been two years since I last saw her, but I just can't stop! Like, something about her is driving me nuts! I know what I did was wrong, and I wish I could stop myself from doing it, then. But I can't."
"You shouldn't let this eat you up inside." Iroh said.
"I know. And I don't get enough sleep because of it. A few years ago, I tried to get information out of Azula about Ty Lee's condition and how she's doing, because I know they both go to an all girl's school, together. But she would always say, "Why don't you go ask her, yourself?" I want to find her, but I don't know where she lives. And if I did, I'm sure her parents wouldn't let me near her after what I've done."
"Zuko..."
Zuko walked to one of the metal walls and lied his fist on it. "I really want to make things right with her, uncle. But now, it's gotten a lot harder. In order for me to make things right with Ty Lee, the first thing I have to do before going back home is to-"
"Capture the Avatar." Iroh said.
"Yeah..."
"Listen, Zuko. Your time will come where you will be welcomed home as a hero and then you get your chance to make up with her. Sometimes, it might take patience. And all you can do now is move forward and to capture the Avatar."
"You really think so?"
"I know so." Iroh smiled. "First thing's first. You need to get a ton rest. Starting tomorrow, we'll begin your training." Iroh said before leaving Zuko's room.
"Alright," Zuko smiled back, than walked back to his bed. He got back into his covers and tried to get some sleep.
"And so from then on that, Zuko had begun his journey of redemption. For the next three years, Iroh would teach and train Zuko under the true way of Firebending, so that he could prepare for anything, including the Avatar. He also taught Zuko ways about the world and that balance is important. During their travels, the first place they had searched was the Temples that the Air Nomads once lived on. Then they searched elsewhere around the world. Until one day..." Narrator said.
During the winter of Ninety-Nine AG, Zuko's sloop sailed through the cold waters of the Southern Water Tribe. The weather was a little chilly for normal people, but Zuko and his men had worn armor. Zuko was wondering about his day, until he saw a blue beam that shined within the sky, miles away from his sloop. He gazed at it, assuming that it came from the one and only Avatar.
"It's the Avatar..." Zuko muttered as he stared at the sky.
In this story, Zuko suffers from Insomnia, meaning he has trouble sleeping.
