Blueeyeddeil06, thank you for being my beta!
Note: Just a reminder, Iroh and Akal are the same person. Zuko recommends his son change his name for the mission to the past not to give his identity away.
"Dad! Look what I found!" Iroh stood near the shoreline on the beach, proudly holding up a sea creature for his father to see.
Zuko looked down at it and smiled at him, "That's a perfect Star-crab fish." He rustled Iroh's hair.
"I'm going to give it to mom!"
"She'll love it."
Iroh knew, looking back, that his mother didn't like him plucking animals from the sea and giving them to her. She always pretended she was thrilled, though. His dad never stopped him either. He figured they had an agreement between them to just go with it. His mother always put his feelings above hers. She did that constantly for people.
For a long time, he believed that her jumping in front of Zuko to save his life was the first time he ever saw his mother be selfish. He didn't blame her. He knew she couldn't live without him. His father had to go on living his life, missing her.
Then one day, it dawned on him. If his father died, he would have become Fire Lord at eight years old. She jumped in front of Zuko for Iroh and herself. She saved him too. He was fifteen when he realized that, and he wasn't ashamed to admit he wept.
Suddenly, he felt someone clap him on the back. He turned and saw his uncle Sokka.
"Ready for the play tonight? This should be awesome!" Sokka looked at him expectantly.
"The Ember Island Players are terrible!" He shook his head at Sokka and laughed.
"You've seen them before?"
Yes, with his parents. Oops. He said, "I've heard rumors." He was frustrated how many times he slipped already and knew things he shouldn't have.
"Naw, this should be fun."
Katara ran up to Zuko; she asked, "So, any luck getting Akal to tell you anything about his past?"
Zuko smiled at her broadly. He was happy to be able to have information for her. Then he thought about what he had to say, and he instantly frowned. "Yeah, it was sad, though."
"What happened?" She looked at him with concern.
"His mother died saving his father's life when he was eight years old. I don't get the impression he's come to terms with it still." Zuko shrugged. "He said she was killed saving his father and that he has a sister."
Katara sighed, "It's hard to lose your mother when you're young. Well, you know that too."
Zuko huffed out with dark humor, "Yeah, except he said his father is a great man. I certainly didn't have that."
Katara shook her head, "Hey, mine didn't even stick around."
"Sounds like he has it better than we did."
He looked around and noticed he and Katara were alone. Akal was with Aang, and they were joking around. He was watching them, and it drew Katara's attention too.
"They seem to get along well," Katara commented.
The sound of laughter made its way over to them. "Akal started telling him all the animals he's ridden, and Aang was more than happy to try and outdo him on the weirdest animal to ride. Akal actually has a pretty impressive list. He must have someone like Aang in his life that took him. He was riding penguin seals when he was two. Akal seemed to want to have a private conversation with Aang. Maybe Aang will have more information for you about him."
Katara shook her head, "No, so far, he's only opened up to you."
"I'll keep asking him then."
"You will?"
"It matters to you. Of course, I will."
Katara blushed and smiled at him. "So, excited to see the play tonight?" She stood there fidgeting. What Zuko had said gave her warm flutters in her stomach. She wanted to discover if it would happen again. It felt… nice.
Zuko shook his head adamantly, "No, not really. I can only imagine what they'll have to say about me, the banished prince." He shuddered.
Her heart lurched. She hadn't thought about that. She knew they wouldn't have great things to say about her, a Waterbender, but they were supposed to be Zuko's people. It could get very hard on him. She tried to have a light tone when she said, "We'll be with you. Plus, we know the truth. They'll figure it out eventually."
"Yeah, that's what I'm worried about."
"What does that mean?"
He raised his eyes and gave her an appraising look, "Do you have nice things to say about me?"
"Hey! We had that trip where you would have let me murder my mother's killer. We bonded," she teased.
"So, I went from enemy to potential murder-buddy?"
She laughed at that. "No, we're… friends."
He took a step towards her, raking his eyes over her body and whispered, "'Friends works for now."
She swallowed hard and her eyes shot open. "Wha...?"
"Katara, I can see how this is going. Date Aang. When that doesn't work, just remember I'm here too."
"You don't think we'd work?" She looked at him in shock.
"You're a mother figure to him, I can't imagine you wanting to raise your husband."
She looked at him with wide eyes and shook her head gently, "I'm not interested in dating Aang. He's sweet, and I love him like a brother."
"Ouch, even I feel bad for him on that one." He chuckled and took a step closer to her. "Not too bad though."
Akal was laughing with Aang and had his parents in view out of the corner of his eye. He held back a smirk when his plan worked. He had seen Katara off on her own, so he engaged Aang in conversation. He wanted to give his father a chance to tell Katara what he'd said about his mother. That and spend some time talking together. He watched his mother blush at something his father said, and his heart sang. It appeared to be working.
He loved stories about his parents falling in love when he was younger, and he knew that Zuko started flirting with his mother when he noticed she was smiling at him when his back was turned. He had caught her a few times. He had hoped that jump-starting that revelation would give him the courage to start flirting sooner.
He watched his father step into Katara's personal space and say something. Hell, yes! It worked. Akal wanted to start jumping for joy.
Katara was reeling after her conversation with Zuko. He flirted with her. She smirked to herself. It felt… good.
Zuko sat trying to meditate. He was going to train with Aang, and he couldn't focus. He couldn't get his discussion with Katara out of his head. She looked beautiful when she blushed. He knew he was falling in love with her.
"So, mystery-boy, what's your deal?" Toph crossed her arms. "You're a little too weird."
He rolled his eyes and laughed at Toph. She couldn't fluster him. She was his partner in crime for years growing up. She loved the idea of "corrupting" the next Fire Lord. She had him pulling so many pranks.
"Lucky for me, you like weird people."
"Yeah, but you get way too excited when Katara and Zuko are together. You might be a little too weird for me." She countered.
He shrugged, "It would be good for world peace if he mixed a bit of Waterbender in with the Firebender bloodline." After all, he knew for a fact that was true. People loved the fact that the Fire Lord's daughter was an incredibly powerful Waterbender.
The Fire Nation had quickly come to not mind that the line wasn't "pure" anymore. They had adopted the general attitude that power is power. His sister had taken after Katara and was a Bloodbender too. They were dominating the world with Bending in a different way.
Toph shook her head at him. "Aang is in love with her. She's too… She'll marry him."
"No!" He would not have that. "No! She would be terrible with Aang."
It was so weird hearing her try and set Katara up with her husband.
She pretended to think about what he was saying. "So are you going to tell me the truth, or are we going to keep playing this game? I hate games."
He knew how good Toph was at spotting lies and that it would be dumb to try to keep a secret around her once she spotted a mystery. "I can't tell you. I just promise that -"
"-You love Katara. I'm sure of that." She cut him off.
"Not romantically. I promise."
She shook her head. "I won't let you sabotage us. Katara is beginning to feel sorry for you and relaxing her guard. I won't make that mistake."
"Dammit, would you believe that I'm from the future and I'm trying to fix things?" He looked at her desperately. He knew that Toph never let anything go. After all, she was head of the police force in the future. She was legendary.
"Where do we fail? Does Ozai win?" She wasn't buying it, yet. She was just playing along to see what he'd reveal. He was incredibly nervous. She knew he was telling the truth, she could tell, but the truth could be subjective.
"Shit!" He cursed out loud, grabbed her arm lightly, and pulled her away. "Can anyone hear us? Please check."
She checked then nodded, "We're far enough away. No one can hear us."
"I'm trusting you. And, I know I can Toph. I know you, in the future. My name isn't really Akal, it's Iroh. I'm named after my great uncle General Iroh. I'm Zuko's son. I came back in time to save my mother."
"Katara," Toph whispered, looking shocked. "She dies saving Zuko?"
"Yes. I've come back to stop the person who will kill her."
"How? That's way in the past for you." She could read his heartbeat and his body language. She believed him. After all, it made sense with all the odd things she noticed about him. He knew things that surprised her. That and he seemed to understand them all pretty well from the beginning.
"I'm going to stop certain events from happening that lead to the future where she's killed." He didn't want to tell her about Azula. He wanted to not change events too much. That and he felt it was his job to stop her, and everything he knew about Aunt Toph told him she'd try to protect him by taking it on herself. Changing her future. Aang would never reconcile with her murdering someone in cold blood, and they were supposed to marry.
She sighed, "You're not going to tell me anymore are you?"
"No, but I'm protecting the future. Just please believe that I'm on your side."
"I do." She shook her head. "I hate that my best friend could be killed so young. I want her to live too. Let me know what I can do to help. I'll do whatever I need to." She trusted him solely based on her instincts. She had relied on them for a long time, and he was telling the truth. She was sure of it.
