Perhaps Zuko had been pulled from his world, but it started to feel like he had been trapped in the Spirit World. It was a punishment; the sin of a son overthrowing his father. Now he was forced into this alternate world that had him miserably living the same day over and over, with minor enough changes to make him think he could change something to make it better.
He rolled over in his bed and stared at the sheet metal covering the walls. Another airship. Another confined space where he was mistrusted. Another trip that saw him trapped and vulnerable, with the added risk of his friends' safety.
It was getting very, very tiresome.
Closing his eyes, Zuko tried to fall asleep. The nights had been difficult since his exile. If not constantly ruminating over his hunt for the Avatar, it turned into a constant cycle of escape and guilt.
Why he had ever thought he'd sleep better after becoming Fire Lord, Zuko would never know.
The only plus side to the constant repetition was that he was getting used to some things. The loud whir of the engines was easily ignored and the sounds of the air outside was actually comforting. Focusing on that, Zuko went through the relaxation techniques his uncle had tried to teach him years ago.
Relaxing slowly, Zuko let himself dissolve into the loud whirring and far away rush of sky. He could feel himself drifting, the odd gravity of sleep pulling on his eyes, and his body felt both heavy yet afloat.
Still not finding sleep, Zuko sat up and rubbed his eyes.
And screamed.
The fog was thin and wispy, but hovered just above the rough ground. Odd animals, of nothing he had ever seen before, darted here and there. Lumbering beasts were further off, and Zuko jumped to his feet.
He had no idea where he was.
"Zuko!" A familiar voice called. Zuko froze and turned about, trying to find the person the voice belonged to.
"Aang?" He yelled back.
"Zuuuuuko!" Aang continued calling and Zuko now started jogging in the direction he thought the voice was coming from.
"Aang, I'm over here!" He yelled.
"ZUKO!" Aang bellowed and Zuko started to run.
"I'm here! I'm here!" He shouted, his voice catching on something in his throat.
"Zuko, where are you?"
"I'm right here! Aang, please! I'm here!"
The fog got thicker and rose up around him, slowing his pace. Looking around, Zuko could still hear the echoes of Aang's calling. But as he turned around in circles, he could see nothing.
Gripping his hands into fists, Zuko braced himself. With a shout, he tried to blast through the fog with his fire. And nothing happened.
Looking down, he saw the ghostly blue his hands had become. What all of him had become.
He had gotten pulled into the Spirit World, again, and Zuko prayed that his thought wouldn't come true. Being trapped here, so close to his friends but unable to reach him, was sheer horror.
Zuko sank to his knees, wrapping his arms around himself and digging his fingers into arms he couldn't feel.
"Help me! Please!" A more familiar voice rang out and terror dipped down his spine.
"Zuko, please!" Azula called to him, sounding frightened.
"Please Zuko, I'm scared!" She yelled. She was close.
Staggering to his feet, Zuko turned around and stumbled through the fog. It parted as he walked, once again becoming wisps hovering above the dark ground. On a hillock, covered in lavender grass, he saw a young woman crying.
"Azula?" He asked, cautiously. Azula would never let herself be seen so pitifully.
The young woman lifted her head and turned. She was, without a doubt, his sister.
"Zuko!" She said, the relief and joy in her voice breaking his heart. Leaping up, Azula ran to him and embraced him, pressing her face into his chest.
"I knew you'd help me. I heard you and I knew you would find me." She was crying. Slowly, Zuko put his arms around her, not knowing what else to do.
"It'll be okay." He said softly and Azula laughed.
"First it was that horrible voice in my head and then the nightmares. When I ended up here, I thought I had been kidnapped by a spirit!" She said.
"A voice?" Zuko asked, frowning.
"Yeah. And it sounded like," Azula lifted her head and stopped. "Me."
Zuko looked down and Azula screamed, suddenly pushing him away.
"What happened to you?" She shrieked.
Confused, Zuko held out his arms.
"What-" He started but Azula interrupted him, pointing up at him.
"Your face!" She said.
Zuko lifted his hand and touched his unfeeling flesh on his face.
"Ah." He said and then lowered his hand.
"I was burned." He replied.
"By whom?" Azula demanded.
Zuko didn't answer but looked at the other version of his sister. Her face wasn't as thin. Not through any deviance of genetics, but only that this Azula probably indulged more than his sister. Her eyes were not as cruel and her body was held in a softer way.
"It doesn't matter. You won't see it when we meet in the physical world." He said. Azula looked horrified.
"What does that mean? Did a spirit burn you? Can that happen?" She asked, turning this way and that, looking frightened again.
"Azula, it will be okay. But we need to get back to our bodies." Zuko said. Azula trembled and bit her lip, but nodded.
"Alright." She said and then stuck out her hand. Surprised, it took Zuko a moment to understand. He held her hand and she stepped in next to him.
"Don't let go." She murmured.
"I won't." Zuko replied softly.
Picking a way that seemed to have less fog, they started to walk. Azula yelped like a small animal when a spirit came too close and eventually clung onto Zuko's arm. Seeing her this way, he wondered what Lu Ten had meant about Azula being destructive in the South Pole.
"I tried to use my bending, but it doesn't work here." She said suddenly, taking his pensiveness as judgement. "Otherwise you know I'd protect myself!"
She was trying to sound brave and this is what finally broke his heart. Lu Ten was mocking her weakness while he had been imagining her cruelty.
"Azula, are you safe in Omashu?" Zuko asked. Azula looked up at him and nodded.
"Oh yes. Mai's family is treating me very well. And Tom-Tom is just the sweetest little boy." She answered.
"So you're not frightened?"
"I am, from time to time. But I just remember what you told me, how we're all going to be a family again when you're the Fire Lord." Azula said happily. "And we'll even have father back!"
Zuko's left eye twitched but he ignored it.
"You don't think he'll be too angry?" He asked. Azula gave a real laugh and relaxed her grip on his arm.
"I think he'll be plenty angry. But we can take care of that together." She said.
They kept walking hand in hand, and Azula relaxed a little more. She looked around their environment, commenting on the life that passed in a wide berth around them. As she talked, however, Zuko realized he had no idea how he was going to find their bodies. Or if that was even the right way to go about this.
"Zuko?" Azula sounded frightened again and Zuko looked over at her.
"Hmm?"
"That spirit is getting awfully close." She said with sharp anxiety. Looking up, Zuko saw a large shape barreling toward them.
Swinging Azula behind him, Zuko once again tried to call up his fire, but nothing happened. Repeating the forms a few times, trying to pinpoint his focus, he still produced nothing.
"Zuko!" Azula screamed.
He looked up and saw a dragon flying toward them.
"Run!" He yelled and turned, taking her hand again as he started running. As fast as he was going, he knew it was no match for the spirit. And sure enough, a shadow passed over them as the spirit reached them.
It twisted in the air, turning to face them as it lowered. Zuko stopped and kept Azula behind him, still holding her hand firmly in his.
"Stay back!" He yelled and the dragon regarded him. Then, without a sound, a long whisker darted forward and touched his forehead.
The image blinded him and Zuko staggered backward into Azula.
He saw this dragon being ridden by Avatar Roku. His great-grandfather's dragon.
"Azula, I think he's here to help us." Zuko croaked. He stood up and Azula stood next to him, hiding a bit behind his shoulder.
"How?" She asked just as the dragon lowered himself.
"Maybe he'll take us to our bodies." He said.
"Okay." Azula's voice was small and scared, but she trusted him. So Zuko led her to the dragon and helped her up onto the spirit's back. When they were both seated, the dragon pushed himself directly upward, launching into the sky. Azula started to scream, but Zuko held onto her and shushed her.
"It'll be fine!" He said and Azula nodded, still whimpering.
The dragon flew quickly over the landscape and Zuko watched it all pass. They flew in the direction of the thickening fog and errant gusts occasionally parted the carpet. It was one such gust that split open the floor of fog to reveal a vast gorge where people could be seen walking aimlessly. Their faces were wide and unseeing; gaunt and frozen in fear.
It made Zuko shudder.
Then, when the fog was at its thickest, the dragon picked up speed. He broke through and Zuko recognized their surroundings. They were back in the physical world; specifically in Omashu.
The dragon wove his way over streets and toward the massive palace. Zuko braced himself and Azula squealed as the dragon rammed the stone wall. They popped out on the other side and the dragon went snaking through the hallways, his wings dipping in and out of the surrounding walls like they were made out of smoke.
Finally, the dragon stopped and slid his upper body into a room.
Where Azula stood, looking at herself in a mirror.
"What?" The Azula on the dragon said. The other Azula touched the glass and then snarled, pounding her fist on the top of the vanity.
"This is completely unacceptable!" The mirror Azula said.
"You need to get back in there." Zuko urged and dragon Azula shook her head.
"I am so tired of fighting with her. She's awful." She replied.
"Then you won't have a body." Zuko said. Looking concerned, dragon Azula huffed and hopped down.
"Just take what's rightfully yours Azula. Don't let her push you around!" Zuko called after her. She said nothing, but he could see how she set her shoulders that she had heard him. Dragon Azula paused as she stood next to mirror Azula, but then leaped into her body.
There was a struggle, and it looked like the convulsions of an epileptic. Azula screamed and people rushed through the door, walking through Zuko and the dragon.
"Princess?" A servant asked in alarm as Azula sank to the floor.
"I'm sorry." Azula said weakly.
"Another nightmare, princess?" The servant questioned.
"Yes. Please," Azula went on. "Have we heard from my mother? Or my uncle?"
"Not yet, princess."
"Please, send another letter. They must know of my worsening condition. I must be allowed to return home to convalesce." Azula said, sounding both plaintive and regal. This was certainly not his sister, and he applauded this Azula's ability to overwhelm her.
"My turn?" Zuko asked, looking down at the dragon. Without warning, the dragon pushed forward, moving through the layers of stone to once again fly in the open air.
"Any chance of going back to my own body?" He asked. The dragon, of course, did not reply.
The flew on and very quickly the airship came into view. Once again pushing itself through walls, the dragon put just enough of itself into Zuko's room to let him off. Before he got into his sleeping body, however, Zuko put a hand on the dragon's massive head.
"Thank you." He said. The dragon raised a whisker and it hit Zuko again, knocking him backward and into his body.
A comet. And enough sunrises over a field of wheat to put him at the end of summer.
He knew what it was of course, and didn't even need the passage of time to tell him anything more.
Sozin's Comet was coming. And it was quite possibly the celestial event needed to push Zuko back into his world.
As long as he could find the Avatar.
Gasping, Zuko sat straight up in his bed. His skin was clammy and his hair was damp.
"Good morning prince Zuko."
Zuko turned and saw Iroh sitting next to his bed, smiling.
"Or should I say," Iroh continued, his smile fading and his eyes narrowing. "Welcome back?"