Izuku didn't let go of Katsuki's arm until his vision cleared and he felt the air around him change from cool to freezing within a second. "Oh my god, it's freezing…" he exclaimed a shiver wracking his body.
"It's not that cold." Katsuki said, his teeth chattering.
Izuku just rolled his eyes and sighed. "Where are we?"
"The opposite of Japan, that's for sure. We're probably in hell, to be honest."
"Hell is supposed to be hot and fiery. Not snowy and cold."
"I guess Satan figured it was cheaper to turn the heaters off."
"We're not in hell! But if that notebook really did take us to where Shouto is, then he's around here somewhere."
"You didn't tell me to write 'go where Shouto is' you told me to write 'where he went' he's probably already gone by now."
"Did you know that as you were writing it?"
Katsuki was silent for a minute, "Maybe." Izuku bit his tongue to keep from screaming in exasperation.
"It's fine, it's okay." Izuku took a deep breath. "It will be fine. All we have to do is find someone and ask them if they've seen a guy with half white and half red hair. Shouto-kun is pretty hard to miss, after all, so if he was here, people would see him."
"Uh, you seem to be forgetting we're in an icy tundra. Who's to say there's ANY people here at all!"
"The huge wall we're standing next to!" Izuku cried, knocking on the block of ice. Something like this wouldn't just be here, it has to be manmade."
"No it doesn't."
"But it probably is! So let's just look and see if we can find anybody that could tell us where Shouto-kun is."
"Fine…" Katsuki grumbled.
So, crossing their arms they both made their way along the wall to see if they could find an opening.
"HELLO!" Izuku shouted as loudly as he could rubbing his arms with his hands. He squinted through the wind to try and see something, but there was nothing but snow and ice everywhere, making it impossible. "HELLO!"
"Hey, genius, did you ever think that maybe the people here might not be friendly." Katsuki growled.
"I'm sure it's fine, how bad can they be?"
"Those are dying words."
"Kacchan, stop assuming the worst of everybody." Izuku growled, clenching his fists.
Katsuki flipped him the middle finger. As they walked, Izuku slipped and fell causing Katsuki to laugh and then fall too. "Kacchan, stop trying to make me feel better,"
"I didn't fall to make you feel better, nerd!"
Izuku ignored him and kept stumbling along "HELLO!"
"Stop shouting!"
"You're shouting!"
"Not as much as you are!"
"One of these days I'm going to clock you!"
"Oh I'd like to see you try, I'd like to see you try!" Katsuki screamed and raised his fists. Izuku dodged the punch and rammed into Katsuki's stomach with his head. Bakugou fell, the air completely knocked out of him.
"Mother of god! Holy hell!" he wheezed and coughed.
"Heh…" Izuku paused. "I mean, sorry."
"You little, wring neck, die, shit."
Izuku wasn't exactly sure what Katsuki was trying to say, but thankfully, they were interrupted before Bakugou could fully recover and turn their walk through the tundra into a murder investigation. "HELLO!"
Izuku jumped and whirled, someone had answered his call! In English, sure, but it was something. Izuku knew enough English to hold a bit of a conversation, but he still couldn't write it very well. "HELLO!" Izuku called back.
"This guy sounds like a dumbass, just like you." Katsuki muttered.
"Can you speak English, Kacchan?"
"I can speak enough!"
"Okay…" Izuku trailed off and turned toward the people who called them. They looked like kids their age but… they were really short. Izuku couldn't believe it, but he was taller than they were, and he usually wasn't much taller than a lot of people. But he was at least five inches taller than all of them. Well, except for the big, giant dog thing, towering above them both. "Hi." Izuku said, trying to convert into English, but he stumbled along a bit.
He just hoped what he said was comprehensible. It was only one word after all.
"Hi, who are you? What's your name." The kid who spoke was bald with an arrow on his head.
Izuku blinked, "Say again, I could not understand."
"Ugh, Deku, you suck." Katsuki said smacking Izuku's head. "Listen, I'm Bakugou, this is Deku. Who're you!"
"Kacchan, you're scaring them." Izuku said, but in Japanese. Foreign language class was failing him right now. He could barely remember any English.
"I'm Aang. These are my friends, Katara, Sokka. That's Momo, and that's Appa."
Izuku translated alright and said, "Name's actually Izuku." He said and frowned. "Not Deku."
"Practically the same thing. Also, your English sucks."
"I am…" Izuku frowned but couldn't remember a word for what he was trying to say, so he just said it in Japanese, "I'm trying, Kacchan, okay! It's not easy to remember, It's hard trying to remember all the words!"
"That's not my problem."
"Um, excuse me, what are you saying?" Aang asked.
"Shut up!" Katsuki growled. "It doesn't matter what we're saying, you nosy brat!"
"Excuse me," Izuku interrupted. "But do you know where Shouto is?"
"Shouto?" Aang frowned, "Hey guys, where have we heard that name before."
"It was that guy from earlier! The super tall one." Katara said. "Why would you want to know where he is though, he's Fire Nation."
"I guess we're Fire Nation too then." Katsuki said.
They immediately took a step back and looked wary. Katsuki frowned and thought back over what he had just said but didn't think he had said something that would cause them to attack. He clearly remembered the phrase 'I'm gonna murder you' and that wasn't the phrase he had used. So he didn't know what he had said.
"Fire Nation?" He said again which had been the only thing he hadn't recognized. He remembered the word 'fire' but the other word he had not remembered. He believed it translated to something like 'place'. Fire Place? Maybe they though he said they were from hell or something.
"Your English clearly isn't superb either." Izuku said.
"Hey, I know what I said, and there's no reason for them to be acting like that!"
"Are you sure, because it looks like they might attack."
"I might've told them we were from hell." Katsuki said.
"YOU WHAT!"
"Hey, it was their words so I thought they were okay to use!"
"That's like if someone came to Japan not knowing how to speak Japanese and started repeating half of what you say!"
"The difference between that stupid idiot and me is that I DO know English! Maybe I'm just a little rusty but I thought I was doing pretty good, better than you, in any case!"
"Clear this up!"
"Okay!" Katsuki turned back and started speaking English. "We're not Fire Nation." He said. "That's just a joke I say sometimes, I didn't mean it."
"Well, it's not a joke around here. And if you're not from the Fire Nation, then where are you from?" Katara asked.
"Uh… Japan." Katsuki said. They looked confused, clueless Americans.
"Someplace far away." He said and crossed his arms. "I'm sure you've never heard of it. Now, if you've seen Shouto could you kindly point us in the direction he went."
The group of looked at each other, "We don't know, exactly." Aang said. "We think he went off with Zuko though."
"Who?"
"Prince of the Fire Nation." Katara elaborated but looked confused because she thought everyone knew who Zuko was.
"What are they saying?" Izuku whispered.
"They're saying they think Shouto went off with the Prince of Hell." Katsuki whispered back, translating.
"What!" Izuku cried.
"I know, crazy."
"Not only that, but he was the guy in the notebook! He was the guy Shouto was talking with, he's the crazy psychopath!"
"Oh yeah…" Katsuki paused. "OH YEAH! SHIT!"
"You guys wanna come with us to search for him?" Aang asked.
"I don't think that's a good idea." Katara said. "They seem strange and suspicious."
"Come on, Katara. They're obviously lost." Aang said.
"We're not lost!" Katsuki shouted.
"The other guy can hardly understand us. We should help them out, it's the right thing to do."
"Yeah, what's the worst that can happen." Sokka shrugged.
"Dying words." Katsuki muttered under his breath.
"What are they talking about? Are they saying they want us to…" Izuku tried to remember the words he'd been taught. "Go with them?"
"Yep."
"Say we'll go, say we'll go." Izuku cried.
"Fine!" Katsuki turned and switched to English. "Take us with you, now." He said. They just stared at him wide-eyed. Maybe he'd gotten some words mixed up again. "Let us go with you." He tried again with a bit of different phrasing and his words were met with a much more positive response.
"Alright, we've decided we'll let you go with us!" Aang said.
"But you better not turn on us." Katara said, glaring at them skeptically.
Katsuki growled but Izuku held him back. "Thank you." He said. "We happy you say yes."
"You still suck."
"I'm trying!"
Katsuki just rolled his eyes "So, where's the ride?"
"You're lookin' at him." Aang said patting Appa's leg. Izuku and Katsuki were both silent for a long time, Izuku, because he was trying to decipher the words and Katsuki because he hoped he heard wrong or a word got mixed up, SOME kind of communication error.
"Uh, I think I misunderstood. Did you just say we're riding on that thing?" Katsuki pointed to the huge flying bison.
"Riding on Appa, yes." Aang elaborated.
"You've gotta be kidding me!"
"We be happy to ride on Appa." Izuku said slowly as the words he was trying to say came to mind.
"What are you saying." Katsuki hissed in Japanese. For a second Izuku panicked, thinking he'd said something terrible but then Bakugou added, "We are NOT riding on that monster of a something!"
"I think he's cute."
"You think EVERYTHING'S cute, Deku!"
"I do not! Besides, this is our best shot at finding Shouto-kun! Where are we going to find another opportunity! Especially since Shouto is obviously here, and he's probably in trouble. He's probably been kidnapped by that prince he was talking to, you know I'm right."
"I don't know for sure. You're usually wrong!"
"But am I usually wrong about things like this." Izuku asked.
Katsuki glared intensely at him and that was all the answer Izuku needed. "Look, we have to at least try this. And maybe that includes riding on a dog."
"Bison."
"What?"
"It's a bison." Katsuki said and Izuku didn't even want to know why or how he knew that so he ignored it and continued on.
"Fine, it means we have to ride a bison but it'll be worth it to find Shouto."
Katsuki looked doubtful.
"Come on, he's your friend too, we have to try!"
"Fine, I guess you're right. I'll ride the bison, but I won't like it!
"You don't have to like it, now tell them we're going with them."
Katsuki hesitated for a moment before sighing and turning to the group of teenagers, "We're going with you, how do we get on the bison."
"You just hop up." Aang said as Appa lied down and Aang hopped on top of him. He was a very high jumper. The other two and the lemur just climbed on top of the saddle so Izuku and Katsuki followed suit.
"You might wanna hold on." Sokka said, "He flies fast."
It took a full minute for Katsuki to realize something very wrong with that sentence, "Wait, flies?"
"Yep, did we not mention that before." Sokka asked.
"No, you definitely didn't. But it's okay, it's just a tiny detail."
"Oh, okay, good. I thought it was pretty major, but oh well."
"What are you guys talking about?" Izuku whispered.
"Oh, it just a tiny detail. Apparently Appa FLIES! Just a little thing they forgot to mention."
"Wait, he what?"
"Yip, yip!"
Izuku's eyes widened as they lifted off the ground and he nearly went sailing off the saddle but saved himself by grabbing Katsuki's arm and digging his nails in.
"Gah! The hell's your problem, you want to fucking die, cus I'll kill you!"
"I'm sorry, but I nearly fell! You were the closest thing to grab onto!"
"To hell with that shit you little—"
"Kacchan, stop cussing!"
"They don't know they can't speak Japanese!"
"Still, I don't think you should cuss so much!"
"Do I look like I give a damn?"
They stared each other down for the next couple hours they were flying.
"Are the two of you DONE 'relaxing' yet!" Zuko shouted.
"But Iroh-san is teaching me Pai Sho…" Shouto said disappointedly.
"Be patient, Zuko. You've been so on edge lately. Just try and have fun on this vacation."
"We shouldn't be taking a vacation! We should be out there, searching for the avatar and planning our next attack not sitting here, doing nothing!"
"You're like a toddler." Shouto said dryly. "You blow up over the tiniest of things, and you have the attention span of one too."
Zuko clenched his fists, digging his nails into his palms. "What do you know, you uncivilized, stupid, recluse! You wouldn't know anything about it, your parents just wanted to protect you from everything!"
"Just because I was always protected from the outside doesn't mean my home life was peachy. "
"That's just an excuse everyone uses." Zuko scoffed. "They try to normalize everything by telling me it wasn't that bad and that things could've been worse. Hell, I do that to myself!"
"My mom gave me this scar." Shouto said, reaching up to touch his left eye. "She poured boiling water over my entire left side because it reminded her of my father, who was the cause of her mental health decline. So, all I'm saying is that I know what you're talking about, and I understand wanting to make your parents proud. But in no way should pain be a competition. No sort of abuse is lesser than another, all are equal and those people who tell you that you should be grateful things weren't worse are stupid and they don't matter."
"It… it's not… I, it's… it's not abuse." Zuko said. "It's just… just…" Zuko frowned as he tried to think of the word, "bad parenting." Was what he eventually settled on.
"No, it's abuse." Shouto said.
"No it isn't!"
"It is."
"Isn't!
"Are you sure? Because from the way you talk about it, you're not trying to convince me it's not abuse, you're trying to convince yourself. For so long I blamed myself for everything he put me through. I thought it was my fault, because I wasn't good enough, wasn't strong enough. I even blamed myself for what he did to my mom and my siblings. It wasn't until recently that I started seeing everything he did, was his fault, not mine. The fault never had been mine, and it never would be."
"You don't understand. My family's not like yours!"
"How so?"
"My father DOES love me I just have to be better so he can show it! And unlike you, everything IS my fault! It's my fault for being stupid, for speaking out, for being so weak!"
Shouto didn't know how to better try and get his point across that Zuko's father had abused him and that everything his father did wasn't Zuko's fault, but he honestly didn't think he could.
He just had to hope Zuko would come to the correct conclusion someday on his own. Just like Shouto had, but that might not be for a little while still.
Iroh was silent through their entire exchange but no doubt he saw what Shouto did. It was easier for people on the outside to understand and identify.
Although, unfortunately, Shouto didn't think the Firelord would be overthrown for child abuse because something told him they didn't have those same sort of laws here, in this world, even though they should.
After their exchange everything was silent with Shouto silently losing to Pai Sho and Zuko glaring at everything in the room except for Shouto and Iroh. Then, after a few minutes of awkward silence, Zuko stormed off and a bit of tension was lifted off the room's atmosphere.
"It's hard to get through to him. My nephew doesn't like listening to anyone so it's impressive you managed to get through to him, even if it was only slightly." Iroh said. "I'll admit, I don't know who you are, but you'll be good for him. He's never had someone his own age like this."
"I hope I can help him." Shouto said and smiled slightly. "Even if it takes a while."
Later, after Iroh destroyed Shouto in their Pai Sho game they went off together in search of Zuko back at their room. When they walked in, Shouto didn't see anything really out of the ordinary, but Iroh stepped in front of him, which was odd and stared down a spot in the corner.
Shouto shifted his gaze to a girl in the back who was young and was fairly short. Shouto would've completely written her off if it wasn't for the look in her eye that sent shivers down his spine.
He didn't know how to explain it but she felt like one of the villains he'd meet back home, like one of the villains who'd attacked him multiple times, like one of the villains who hurt and kidnapped his friend and his classmate. Completely wrong and off in a way he couldn't describe, but in a way that utterly terrified him.
"Why hello, uncle, brother, and stranger I don't know." She smirked in what Shouto could only think was a deranged, evil way. "How have you been lately?"
A/N Here's the next chapter, I hoped you liked it, here's the timeline for now, because I'm trying to cut out as much as possible. I'm gonna do the cave and the Omashu reveal and then pretty much skip everything till Toph reveal and do those few episodes and the Library and stuff. Basically I'm trying to skip everything that's not necessary because this project is already much bigger than I thought it was going to be. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, See you next week!