Something smelled really bad. Zuko's nostrils burned, and it wasn't a nice sensation. Weirdly enough, the smell was only prominent on the right, and not the left. In fact, the left side of his face felt...off. Numb, yet not.

Absentmindedly, Zuko reached to touch his face. His fingers trailed along the skin, which had an almost leathery feel to it. He knew he was touching his face, yet he couldn't feel anything. The left side of his face was numb, and ruined. He knew a burn when he felt one.

He had a burn on his face. He tried opening his left eye, but couldn't. It was like it was sealed shut by a strong adhesive.

A burn from his father. Father burned him, scarred him for life. His face bore a mark of shame, and disgrace. He didn't know why. Was it because he messed up his form in front of Grandfather? Did his father see the need to punish him, and this was his consequence?

His entire body ached, and he could tell he wasn't on his bed. The floorboards, made mostly of rotting wood (that must've been where the smell was coming from-) that squeaked when he moved, ever so slightly. The bed, or rather poorly stuck together mattress, was leaning against the side of the room, and the wall was dripping wet. The droplets fell slowly, giving the illusion of a crying ceiling, or maybe Zuko had finally lost his mind.

It wasn't that unlikely, really .

His Father would never, ever , hurt him, and Zuko's own mind tricked him. If you couldn't trust yourself, who could you trust?

No one.

He wasn't in the palace anymore. He didn't even know if he was in the Fire Nation. This room...it looked like a medicinal room, an infirmary of sorts, but Zuko couldn't be sure. He didn't know where he was, or why he was there. Maybe once the plain walls had white plaster on them. Years of poor maintenance and neglect had destroyed whatever aesthetic this room had going for itself.

His breathing sped up, and his heart beat faster with every short gasp. He must've sounded like a mewling animal, crying out in pain.

"Where am I?" Zuko thought aloud. At least, he thought he said it aloud. He couldn't hear anything over the sound of his pulse. His breaths were coming out ragged, and his right eye blurred. His bottom lip trembled. "Where am I?"

His tantrum had attracted the attention of a soldier passing by the medical room.

"Hey, the kid's awake." A voice rang throughout Zuko's head. He couldn't pinpoint it's exact location, but he could've sworn it came from his left. "Looks like I won the bet."

Zuko sat upright, and he scanned the room quickly, checking for the source of the voice. Near the doorway on the furthest wall, was a younger man, watching Zuko with raised eyebrows. His uniform placed him as a lower ranking soldier, probably a private.

His features were distinctly Fire Nation, not Earth Kingdom or Water Tribe. Zuko nearly cried from relief.

"Shut up, Kendri." A second man called, not far behind the first one—Kendri. "No one actually bet on anything."

"I smell big fat lies!" Kendri exclaimed, his hand thrown over his heart. "Everyone put money into the betting pool. Everybody."

The other soldier shrugged. "We're all optimists. We knew he would wake up."

"Optimists? You complained about enlistment for eighteen years! You're twenty!"

Zuko clutched his head, the bickering between the two soldiers inducing a headache. "Stop." He complained, his free hand rubbing his temple. "Just stop talking so loudly."

"You heard him, Kendri. No one cares about your money." The second one snorted, watching with idle amusement as Kendri went red in the face. "You're too greedy for your own good."

"Well...you shut up, too. Your voice alone probably caused the poor kid an aneurysm." Kendri whispered vehemently, but it was to no avail, as Zuko still heard every word.

"I'm surprised you haven't had your tongue cut out yet, Kendri. I can help you with that."

"I'm surprised that Captain Yera hasn't thrown you off the ship yet, Surin, as I certainly would've."

Zuko scrunched what was left of his face. "Where am I?"

"A ship. The real question is, kid, why are you here?"

"Leave him alone, Kendri."

"Hey! I was just asking."

He had no clue where he was, and he didn't know these soldiers. They looked the part of random Fire Nation soldiers, that much was true. Zuko had been taught what features marked a pure Fire Nation citizen. Dark hair, and bright brown eyes, sometimes gold. Then again, these two could be kidnappers, playing up the dumb act to confuse him into letting his guard down. He couldn't take any chances.

"Get away from me," Zuko hissed as the second soldier, Surin, came closer, a cloth in hand.

Surin raised his eyebrows, mimicking Kendri's expression from earlier. "He's really mouthy, isn't he?"

"You didn't notice?" The first soldier snorted. "He told you to shut up, like three times."

"No," The other one paused. "He told you to shut up three times."

"I think I would know whether or not he was speaking to me-"

"You wouldn't know it if he screamed into your ear."

"-and react accordingly. Hey!"

Zuko listened to the exchange as best he could, but all the sounds were muffled, like his head was under water.

"OW!" One of the two men dabbed something on his face, and it burned. It was cold and hot at the same time, painful and soothing. "Get that off my face."

"I'm pretty sure you don't actually want that. This is covered in an ointment," Surin said, continuing to press the wet cloth on Zuko's face. "If I were to stop, you'd die of an infection."

"What?" Zuko must've heard him wrong. There was no way he could die, was there? He was only eleven; he hadn't even experienced anything yet. He hadn't mastered his firebending, he didn't even finish training with his duo swords. He never even got to say goodbye to his mom. He wondered what his mom thought right now. Did she wonder where he was? Did she care? Would Father tell her not to worry, and aleve her well-placed fears?

Then, there was the issue of Father. Obviously, Father wasn't the one who scarred him. Zuko had been to enough plays to know that's not how life worked. Clearly, that was an assassin in disguise. He must've studied his Father from afar and learned the best way to trick Zuko. Clever, yet underhanded. Just like the villains in his favourite stories.

"If you don't mind me asking, Kid," Kendri started, pulling Zuko out of his thoughts. "How'd you get such a massive burn? You don't look sixteen, like at all, so it couldn't have been from a commanding officer."

"First off, my name isn't 'Kid,' it's Zuko," Zuko corrected.

"Like the Prince?" Surin applied another layer of the cream onto his face, and grabbed a patch of bandages from a nearby table. "Prince Zuko? Prince Ozai's eldest, right?"

"I am the Prince." Zuko replied curtly.

"Yeah," Kendri laughed. "And I'm Fire Lord Azulon. Bow down before me, peasant."

Even Surin let out a chuckle at that. Zuko didn't see what was so funny. Kendri was a soldier, undoubtedly a young one, and Fire Lord Azulon was nearing one hundred. Besides, he couldn't actually believe that Zuko wouldn't recognize his own grandfather.

Zuko hated it when people treated him as dumber than he was just because Azula was smarter. It didn't matter that she got a perfect in every subject they were tutored in. She didn't care about what they learned, but Zuko did.

He absorbed the information like a sponge; it's just that Azula was a better sponge. If that made any sense.

To be honest, he didn't understand the analogy, either. It sounded like something his Uncle Iroh would say. That man loved his nonsensical proverbs.

Zuko frowned despite the discomfort it caused him. "You're not Fire Lord Azulon."

"Well, duh. I was being sarcastic."

Surin held his hand up, silencing Kendri. "Uh, Zuko….how did you get this burn? It looks too big and angry to simply be an accident or a surface level mark."

"At first I wasn't sure." Zuko paused. "My father gave it to me. I think."

Surin gasped, and Kendri's jaw dropped. Both exchanged looks that Zuko couldn't decipher.

"Could you repeat that please?" Surin asked, voice wavering slightly.

"My father gave it to me." Zuko responded, his tone too cheery for anyone's liking.

"Your father burned you?" It was worded like a question, but Kendri practically screamed it. "Your father?"

"Yes," Zuko answered. He didn't understand why the soldier yelled. Yelling meant someone was angry, and Zuko hadn't insulted their honor or anything, so what did they have to be mad about? "It was a punishment."

Surin eyed Kendri from the side, his mouth open. He seemed to be mouthing words, but Zuko couldn't make any of them out.

"For what? What could you have possibly done that resulted in him burning half your face off?" Kendri asked, voice quiet, but not in a soft way. "What could a ten year old-"

"Eleven."

"-eleven year old kid have done to warrant that? That burn is worse than when Adima made out with her teapot, and Surin, that was bad."

"I know," Surin agreed, quietly. "I know."

Zuko thought for a second. He couldn't remember exactly what he did to get Father so mad; he was so, so sure Azula and him hadn't been caught when they hid behind the curtains. Maybe it was because he embarrassed him in front of the Fire Lord. That seemed more likely.

"I embarrassed him," Zuko settled on, pleased with his answer. "I messed up like I always do."

"Let me get this straight," Kendri said. "Your father burned and mutilated you because you embarrassed him? I swear to Agni some nobles are so pretentious. Who burns their own kid?"

"That's so messed up," Surin agreed, eyes resting on the left side of Zuko's face. "No one deserves that. Not even you, Kendri."

"I deserved it. I won't have you disrespecting Father." Zuko spat, frustrated on his father's behalf. These peasants knew nothing of his family, of his father. Not really. All they knew were the basics that the general public knew. "He's an honorable man."

"No."

"What?" Zuko asked.

"No, he's not. He sounds like the kind of scum that makes me ashamed to be Fire Nation."

"That's treasonous." Zuko whispered, eyes wide. "You can't say those kinds of things."

"I'll say whatever I want to. It's not like we're going to survive this deployment anyway." Kendri snorted. "I understand what it means when a group of mostly non-benders is sent to deal with rogue Earthbenders."

"Earthbenders?" Zuko echoed. Why are there Earthbenders on the mainland? How is this possible?

"Kendri," Surin hissed. "Stop. Don't burden him with your troubles."

"Don't burden him?" Kendri snarled. "What do you think will happen to him once we reach the Earth Kingdom?"

"Earth Kingdom?" Zuko echoed again. "We're going to the Earth Kingdom?"

"Yes." Both men responded.

Zuko sucked in a breath, the pounding in his head returning. He couldn't go to the Earth Kingdom, he needed to be in the Fire Nation. He was wrong to trust these traitors, they were leading him away so they could kill him. He was going to die. If only he was like Azula, he would've seen this coming a mile away. He would've manipulated them before they had the chance to manipulate him.

But he wasn't like Azula. He was stupid, and dumb, and weak. That's why Father burned him. To teach him a lesson; how to be strong. His father was right, Princes do not beg. He got on his knees and begged, like a fool. He brought shame to his family.

And...he was going to die.

"We can't...we can't go to the Earth Kingdom! I can't...I can't go there...No!"

"Woah," Surin raised his hands up in front of Zuko's face. "I told you not to say anything, Kendri."

Kendri shrugged. "It's not my fault he can't handle the truth-"

"Kendri. "

"Fine! I'm sorry, alright? Maybe you should focus on the kid instead of me? I'm not the one having a mini heart attack here."

Tears streamed down the right side of Zuko's face, the faint taste of salt in his mouth. The room swayed underneath his gaze. Was Kendri right? Was he having a heart attack? It didn't feel like that; he thought heart attacks were supposed to make your face droop or something. No, he felt like the room was closing in, and getting ready to swallow him up. His breathing became painful, each breath he drew in more painful than the last.

Sweat rolled down his forehead. He bit his lip until he tasted the familiar metallic flavour of blood.

"Hey," Surin poked Zuko's shoulder blade. "Take deep breaths. You're going to try and match my breathing, okay?"

Zuko nodded along to what the soldier said. It made sense. Zuko steadied himself by grabbing onto the nearest object—a rickety table. He took in a shaky breath, and tried to match Surin's steady breathing. It was hard, and he couldn't focus. Slowly, he calmed himself. It's like firebending, he reasoned, which comes from the breath. Have to keep the breaths steady.

He managed to achieve a slower pace, close to Surin's breathing pattern.

"Good job." Surin amended, patting Zuko on the back. "Why don't we bandage you up? You're going to feel the full brunt of that burn soon enough. I'm assuming it's some kind of shock that's stopping it now."

"O-okay." Zuko agreed.

"Good." Surin smiled. He reached to his side, and grabbed a roll of gauze. "Go tell Captain Yera the good news, Kendri."

"Sure," Kendri looked back at Zuko before he exited the room. "Take care, your Highness. "

Kendri left Surin to attend to Zuko's face. Zuko sat as still as he could when Surin wrapped the bandages around his head.

"Okay," Surin paused. "You should take a nap. I'll be here when you wake up, and you can't meet the Captain if you can't stay awake."

"I'm not tired." Zuko protested, albeit very weakly.

Surin raised his eyebrows. "Sure."

Zuko yawned, and reluctantly, agreed to have a nap. "You'll be here when I wake up?"

Surin grabbed Zuko's pinky with his own. "Promise."

Surin lied.