He wasn't born on an auspicious day, the sun wasn't shining brightly, he didn't cry for a heartbeat too long, and the chill in the air meant that his parents would have to worry about sicknesses. Still the people cheered for the birth of a Prince. Still his mother held him close, kissed his head, and praised Agni that she felt a fire in his heart and the heat in his cries.
No one but his mom would know how Firelord Azulon and Ozai strode into the room to chase the servants and nurses out. Only she would know that they took one look at Zuko in his blanket, felt the tiny heat of his cries, saw the small flame inside of him, and held a handful of fire to his body. She would not know that in 13 years Ozai would hold that same hand full of flames to that same boy's face. She spends too long convincing them of the merits of keeping a child, too long. She tells no one.
A year later and a little girl is born on the most auspicious day of the year, the sun shines bright enough to burn, when she cries for her mother while being washed of blood the servants down the hall can hear her and smile. The people cheer for a Princess, She is held close by her mother who keeps one eye on the door and one eye on the crib that holds her brother she is yet to meet. Her mother has learned her lesson about praising Agni too early.
Everyone hears about Firelord Azulon and Ozai striding into the room, taking one look at the little baby girl with the burning fire, the heated cries so loud they had chased it from across the hall with no direction needed, and smiled. No one notices the Prince quietly sleeping in his crib under a blanket in the corner but his mother. Everyone notices the Firelord and Ozai's approval as they walk out.
Zuko spends too long chasing after his inner fire, then too long chasing after Azula, after his fathers acceptance, his mom, his pride, the Avatar, his uncle, his his his spent too long chasing everything that wasn't his that was never supposed to become his.
"She was born lucky," a sneer, "You were lucky to be born."
A swish of robes. Red silk.
Red. Red.
Red .
Azula spends a long time chasing after her talent, talent that everyone thinks comes naturally. She chases sunlight in the deep crevices on the palaces doing kata after kata, chases obedience from her own teachers in ordering them to teach her more, chases fear from everyone after learning the fastest way to get what she needs, to get no questions. Azula chases the love her mother doesn't give her and the approval of the Firelord and her father gives so that she never becomes Zuko. She can never be like Zuko.
"You can't do this to me! You can't treat me like this! Like Zuko!" Her eyes are frantic as she screams at her mom. No one knows that in almost 7 years time she will say something similar to her father, the Firelord. For now though, her mother tells her off while denying her what should be hers.
Zuko finds the Avatar, again and again and again. Zuko watches the Avatar fall in the cave in a flash of Azula's lightning and feels his stomach fall with the hope of the world. Hears his Uncle's voice in the back of his head asking what he has done and his fire stutters inside of him. Zuko goes home and he leaves because the bed is too soft, robes too restricting, guards too reminiscent of the soldiers he and his uncle avoided in every town, and helpers too invasive. He packs his things and tells himself this is all a lie as he looks at the prison his Uncle is in and admits to himself, finally, that he is leaving because he has nothing to stay for and everything to leave for.
His fire is small again and he spends too long meditating before walking into the war meeting to build it up. Spends too long meditating to grow it before every meeting with his father. He tries lighting a candle one day and has to sit for too long, too long too long. So he meditates. Like he did with Uncle after the scar, he drinks tea like Uncle taught him to brew, and just one he cries in the privacy of his room like Uncle taught him it was okay to do.
Azula finds the Avatar, again and again and again, She finds zuko again and again and again. She flashes her lighting and she blasts her fire and vows to bring his body back to the Firelord. Her father makes her stay in the city and she understands, eventually. She has to guard the city, she has to be Firelord now, Firelord Azula. Like it was meant to be, always, but who can she trust. Mai and Ty Lee left left left her for Zuko. For love. She summons everyone. She banishes everyone.
The watertribe girl. Watertribe. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. The crown was hers. Father trusted her. She can't let father down. She can't. Not to Zuko. Not to a waterbender. Not to Zuko. Please. Please. Please. Don't let father come back.
Zuko finds the group, the Gaang as they are apparently called, and trains the Avatar. He finds the dragons and trains the Avatar and makes friends with the Gaang. He sees how a real dad should treat his kids and mourns a childhood lost. He finds his Uncle and fights his sister and saves Katara and watches blue fire all but consume her. He comes home and has everything he needs to be able to call it home. This time, he stays.
They are older and wiser and still far too childish with the excuse of having spent their childhood fighting a war no adult wanted to end. No one faults them for their quirks and oddities. Zuko is on the edge of his bed, the edge of the pile of human mass, when Sokka speaks from somewhere in the middle of the pile.
"Hey Zuko? Remember when you told us your dad said something about your sister being born lucky and you being lucky to be born?"
Conversation stills like usual when it comes to Ozai to see if it is okay, they will always see if it is okay, and that is why he finds that most times than not it will always be okay.
"Yeah Sokka what about it?"
"He got it wrong. It's the other way around."
Zuko thinks about his sister, stuck in the cells underground with her hands and feet encased in metal. Thinks about the way she always breathes blue fire while sobbing for days at a time and then goes catatonic before screaming again, loud enough to hear down the hall. He thinks of a father who he realizes now would never have been satisfied and imagines his sister always trying. He sees himself in this pile of friends, his Uncle making tea in Ba Sing Se, his people learning what peace is like.
"Maybe you're right." Zuko says because he can't deny it but he can't imagine a world without his sister and maybe his friends know this because they roll over onto him and suddenly he is too busy trying to get them off of him to breathe and everything is okay again.
Everything is red and blue and green and orange. And he stays.