I Do Not Own Miraculous or Avatar.

Chapter Seventy: The Western Air Temple.

"You are really bad at this, Zuko." Adrien deadpanned.

"Well what do you suggest we do?" Zuko asked, "I practically stabbed them all in the back. Something tells me simply saying, 'sorry' isn't going to cut it. The Avatar needs a firebending teacher and he isn't getting one if he decides I'm too dangerous to even consider learning from.

"Zuko, Zuko, Zuko." Adrien said in a scolding tone, "You are worrying yourself into a nerve. I've never seen you this nervous to do… well… anything. You should relax. Be yourself. Be sincere and honest. Toph will sense you are telling the truth. If you can make her see you just want to help, you can come a little closer to helping them all."

"Making the blind girl see?" Zuko laughed bitterly, "Do you even know how ridiculous that sounds?"

"She can sense when someone is lying." Adrien said with a shrug, "The others can't. She's the first one you'll likely get on your side. I can convince Milady. Then the others come next. They aren't going to let you on their team overnight. Just take… baby steps… be patient."

"We don't have time for patience!" Zuko roared, "Sozin's comet is coming, and Aang needs to learn how to firebend soon, or father will kill him."

"...fair point." Adrien admitted, rubbing his chin, "Maybe we need to rethink how we go about this. Do you have a squirrel?"

"What?" Zuko asked in surprise, "No, whatever you are thinking, we aren't doing that."

Adrien just laughed, patting the firebender on the back.

"Just relax. Be honest. That's all there is to it. I'll be right there to back you up."

"And why would they take your word over mine? You do realize that you come off as a bit naive whenever it comes to trusting people, right?" Zuko asked.

"Now, what on Earth is that supposed to mean?" Adrien asked in confusion.

"It means, you are a terrible judge of character." Zuko replied.

"What? No I'm not!" Adrien objected, "I figured out Long Feng was evil the moment I met him."

"Yeah, because he reminded you of your father, who, might I remind you was an evil puppet master who lived in your own house sending Akumatized monsters after you for two years without you noticing?" Zuko pointed out. Adrien went to object further. Zuko stopped the boy by continuing.

"And then lets talk about how you had an entire casual conversation with Azula about your missing friends before you realized she was evil and out to kill me and my uncle. And then you also trusted me before I stabbed everyone in the back. Oh, lets not forget you blindly trusted Ladybug for two years without ever actually knowing her name. Granted, the last one is impressive and turned out all right, but the point still remains. You have trust problems. Not that you don't trust people enough, but you trust people too much. Team Avatar knows that, and if you come back with me and tell them that I'm good now, they'll just think I'm tricking you and not believe you."

"...You make a valid point…" Adrien glumly admitted before sitting up, "But Marinette will believe me. She trusts me. She always trusts me. And so will Toph because she will know you're telling the truth, and that's a start, isn't it?"

"But Marinette and Toph aren't the Avatar." Zuko growled, "And they certainly aren't Katara. I know Katara will be the deciding vote. And she hates me. You told me yourself. I betrayed her more than I betrayed Aang. Because for a second, I trusted her. I thought she could help me and she thought I had changed. Then I ran off and helped my little sister try and kill her best friend." Adrien flinched.

"Wow…" He said in disbelief, "You are completely right. We are in so much trouble… are you sure we won't try my squirrel plan? Aang's a sucker for cute animals."

"We aren't going to bribe the Avatar with… whatever the heck a squirrel is." Zuko deadpanned.

"You are no fun. Look. We need to just try and give it a ago. Naming all the reasons why Team Avatar isn't going to let you train him is just going to scare us. Just remember, the Avatar needs a Firebending teacher. You are all he's got. He'll have to cave eventually." Adrien pointed out. Zuko scowled, looking down at the Avatar's camp fearfully.

"...I guess you're right." Zuko muttered.

"Was there ever any doubt?"

"With you?" Zuko asked, "Always."

"Meowch. That hurts." Adrien said, putting his hand over his heart. Zuko just rolled his eyes at the older teen's antics.

"Come on. Let's just get this over with." Zuko began to climb down to Team Avatar's camp. Adrien diligently followed. They went down to where Team Avatar and the kids who'd fled the invasion had set up camp, both careful not to be discovered before Zuko could get close enough. Adrien could hear the conversation going on from a distance with his cat-like ears.

"Gabriel said what?" Sokka asked Katara.

"That the man he chose would be Aang's teacher!" Katara yelled, loud enough for even Zuko to hear.

"But… but Hawkmoth chose-" Sokka stammered. Zuko began to approach the area, ready to face the Team.

"Uh, guys." Toph said, suddenly sitting up as she sensed Zuko and Adrien's footsteps, "Look." Zuko stood there, obviously terrified. Toph, Sokka, Aang, Katara, and Marinette stared at the duo incredulously. Zuko cleared his throat, knowing that now he had all of their attention, he should probably say something.

"Um. Hello! Zuko here." He said, awkwardly raising his hand in greeting. Adrien face palmed, "Hey, I heard you guys flying around, so I just thought I'd wait for you here. I know you must be surprised to see me here." Sokka scoffed.

"Not really, since you followed us all over the world."

"Right… uh… well… Anyways, what I wanted to tell you about is that I've changed and I, uh, am good now. And, um, I think I should join your group. Oh, and I can teach firebending to you." Zuko nodded towards Aang.

Adrien dragged his hand his face.

"Man, why is everyone so much more confident when my dad Akumatizes… er… transforms them? You are really bad at this, Zuko." Adrien noted.

"Well, it's not my fault I can't remember what we might have discussed while I was his Champion!" Zuko growled, "I'm making an effort!"

"And it sucks." Adrien replied, leaning on Zuko's shoulder, "Excuse the awkward prince I brought home. Zuko's a good guy now and he wants to teach Aang. He's super duper sorry for trying to kill us all, but, eh. I think we can all move past that. After all, what's forgiveness for?" Zuko scowled at Adrien, obviously not happy with his version of Zuko's apology. Katara was the first to recover from her shock.

"He wants to do what?!" She growled, "Adrien Agreste, where the heck have you been and why in the Avatar's name did you bring Zuko right to our camp!? You know he's dangerous! Are you really that stupid? He's just using you like he did in Ba Sing Se."

"I'm not stupid." Adrien grumbled, pulling away from Zuko and crossing his arms angrily, "And I'm being serious. We both are. Zuko just lost his way, but he found it now. All he wants to do is help. I promise. I did tell you he has potential to do good. So did my father and Iroh!"

"All he's ever done is try and hunt us down and capture Aang!" Sokka objected. Zuko shrank at that.

"But I've done some good things. I mean, I could've stolen your bison in Ba Sing Se, but I set him free. And I've rescued Adrien what… twice now? Granted, I have no memories of the second time, but I saved him in Ba Sing Se and helped him find you, Marinette. And I never told Azula about the Miraculouses. I lied to her about all of it, I swear! And I got myself captured by my sister in Ba Sing Se so that Uncle Iroh and Adrien could escape and warn you that Azula caught Katara and was planning a coup!" Zuko argued. As if on cue, Appa began to lumber happily over to Zuko and began to lick the poor boy.

"Appa does seem to like him, and Adrien did somehow find us after all that time of us searching Ba Sing Se." Toph pointed out.

"He did save me though! And Toph, can't you sense everything he's telling you right now is the truth?" Adrien asked. The blind girl turned to Team Avatar.

"They are telling the truth." Toph said, "Both of them, not just Adrien. Zuko is being sincere. Plus, don't you remember what happened on the eclipse?"

"That doesn't count." Katara snapped, "He was under Hawkmoth's control. He had to do what Hawkmoth told him to do."

"Wait." Zuko asked in a worried tone, "What did I do on the day of the eclipse? Did I hurt someone? If I did, I'm sorry, I don't remember anything after I confronted my father." Marinette, who's been silent up to that point, spoke up.

"You confronted Ozai alone?" She questioned. Zuko heistated.

"I didn't mean to say that." He said, "It wasn't any of your business." Marinette's expression shifted.

"I say we trust him." Katara spun around to face the red clad teen in anger.

"What!?"

"You say the only reason he saved Aang and the rest of us on the day of the eclipse is because Hawkmoth made him, but that isn't true. Hawkmoth can't make his Champions do anything. What he does is make a contract with them. In the past, he would enhance their negative emotions further to make the Akuma do things they wouldn't normally do, but they still had their free will. They just had to do what he said or risk losing their new powers. However, in Zuko's case, Gabriel didn't give Zuko any new powers. He just enhanced the powers Zuko had been naturally born with. That means, if Zuko wanted to hurt Aang, he could have if he had wanted to. He would have lost his powers, but he would have finally gotten the Avatar. Alos, Gabriel can't use negative emotions anymore. It hurts him when he does. He can only transform people with good intentions now. That means, Zuko was likely sincere in everything he said that day." Marinette explained, "And it means Zuko has really switched sides." Katara seemed dumbfounded by Marinette's explanation.

"Look, I know I've made some mistakes in the past…" Zuko tried to insert.

"Like when you attacked our village?" Sokka asked.

"Or when you stole my mother's necklace and used it to track us down and capture us?" Katara roared. Zuko instantly hung his head at the accusations.

"Look, I admit I've done some awful things. I was wrong. I'm sorry I attacked the Water Tribe and I'm sorry about the necklace. I'm sorry I sent a Fire Nation assassin after Aang and tried to have him steal Adrien's ring, which, looking back, was a really poor choice. I'm gonna stop him though. I promise."

"Oh, yeah, how could we forget about combustion man?" Sokka asked, waving his hands to prove his point, "That was a whole other mess you got us into. Thank you so much for the assassin chasing us everywhere. I feel really loved!"

"I'm sorry." Zuko grunted, "I really am." Zuko looked over at Aang, who'd said nothing the entire conversation.

"Why aren't you saying anything?" He asked, "You once said you thought we could be friends. You know I have good in me." Aang looked over at Marinette.

"Katara and Sokka are right." Aang said, "We can't trust you. You've done so many terrible things and it's made it impossible. There was a time where I thought we could be friends, but you were too full of hate and greed to see what was in front of you the whole time." Zuko's shoulders sank.

"I know. I was selfish. I cared more about my honor and homeland than the state of the world. I was wrong." He said, "I'm sorry for everything I've ever done to you and anyone else I might have hurt." He closed his eyes, shaking his head.

"I know you are Zuko." Aang said carefully.

"I've been through a lot the past few years, and it's been hard." Zuko explained softly, "But I'm realizing, I had to go through all of those things to learn the truth. I thought I had lost my honor, and somehow, my father could return it to me… but now I know no one can give or take your honor. It's something you earn for yourself by choosing to do what is right. That's what I'm trying to do now. I'm not going to make excuses for everything I did. I know I made bad choices and I'll take the blame, but someone needs to restore the honor of the Fire Nation. Uncle Iroh thought that was my destiny. So, now all I want to do is play my part in ending this war, and I know my destiny is to help you restore balance to the world… I know I was a reckless person. I scorned and I burned everyone who got close to me, but I understand now, that as a Firebender, I need to learn be more careful. I need to have more control, or I might hurt people. Whether on purpose, or unintentionally." Aang's expression softened.

"Gabriel was right." Aang said, "Once again, Gabriel was right." Katara looked over to Aang.

"Aang, are you sure about this?" She asked, "You know all of the terrible things he's done."

"Trust has to start somewhere, Katara." Aang replied, "And he's all we've got. Of course, that's only if the rest of you guys agree."

"What do you mean?" Zuko asked. Aang motioned towards Katara.

"I think you are supposed to be my firebending teacher." Aang explained, "When I first tried to learn firebending, I burned Katara. After that, I never wanted to firebend again. But now I know you understand how easy it is to hurt the people you love. If you want to teach me… I will let you." Zuko's expression brightened completely.

"Really?"

"I'm cool with it." Adrien volunteered, "Obviously."

"I am too." Marinette agreed. Aang looked over at Sokka, who scowled.

"I still think this is a terrible idea, but if it ends the war and if this really is our only option, I guess we have no choice." Sokka decided, "I'll stand by your choice, Aang."

"I'm okay with him joining." Toph agreed, leaning back into the fountain, "He's completely honest. Besides, I can keep my eye on him better if he's close by." They all looked over at Katara, who looked pretty upset by how the conversation was going. She huffed, turning on her heels to walk away before pausing.

"Looks like I'm out voted. I don't trust him as far as I can throw him. You know that Aang. He's bad news. But…" She glanced back towards then, "I trust you Aang. I'll go with what you think is right." She walked off with that statement. Zuko's entire face lit up.

"I won't let you down! I promise!" Zuko said, more happy than Adrien had ever seen him before.

"Woah, chill out buddy. Save the celebrating for after we win the war." Adrien suggested.

"Oh, uh, right." Zuko said sheepishly, causing Adrien to laugh, shaking his head. Adrien was glad for his friend though. He'd been so nervous, but Adrien knew that part of the reason Team Avatar was already willing to trust Zuko was because Adrien had told them that he was a good person a long time ago. Also, apparently the Akuma thing helped his case a lot. That and the fact that Zuko apparently understood what Aang needed to learn about firebending. Whatever the case, Adrien was glad the accepted Zuko. He could sleep well knowing Zuko was safe and Aang would soon know all of the elements.

Little did Adrien know the danger that would await them the very next day.

Sorry about the recent lack of updates on all of my stories. My internet on my computer being a pain and my updates might not be as frequent as normal until I can fix it. Also, I know I had them accept Zuko a bit earlier than the show shows, but with all that's been going on with Adrien, Zuko, and Gabriel, I felt that would be fine for now. Anyways, thanks for understanding.