A/N: I've decided I'm going to keep working on this, but it won't be a story like Foxfire or Druid in Blue. It's going to be a selection of pieces form throughout Book 1 in chronological order but won't be covering every instant of every day. The sections from Book 2 and Book 3 will be their own stories which I'll connect in a series starting with this fic.

Sound good?

Chapter summary: In which Zuko battles it out in more ways than one and ultimately wins.

Chapter 3

He was going to regret this. He just knew it. He really should have thought this through before shouting that challenge. He lost the last Agni Kai he fought. …the only Agni Kai… He couldn't afford to lose this one. Especially if he still wanted to get off this Agni-foresaken rock. The Avatar and his gang were Zuko's only ticket out of here and there was no way he was going to let this opportunity slip through his fingers.

Now if only Zhao would stop laughing at him. At least none of the other firebenders, soldiers and Sages alike, were moving.

"You?" Zhao shouted in amused disbelief. "You challenge me? Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Zuko," he replied, keeping a firm hold on his breathing, "son of Ursa. Why? Forgot who you were talking to already?" Zuko allowed himself a small smirk. "Your memory must be going in your old age."

He heard Katara snort from her place next to him and his smirk widened slightly. Zhao, however, was fuming.

"How dare you," the commander hissed.

"You said yourself you have nothing better to do than wait," Zuko pressed. He was really going to regret this. "So why not spend that time trying to burn me to death?"

"Wait, what?" Sokka muttered in confusion.

Zuko continued, hoping neither Water Tribe sibling interrupted him. "It would give you something to do and, if you win," Agni forbid, "you'll be rid of a bastard and the Avatar will have to come out eventually. Nothing to lose, everything to win."

"Wait a second," Sokka said louder. Damn, Zuko could hear Katara's breath catch as she began to understand too. He had to hurry.

"But if I win, you have to leave and never come back," he said. Then he snickered. "Or you could surrender now and look like a coward and fool in front of all your men and these venerable Fire Sages." Zhao was practically smoking with fury. "After all, I believe Fire Lord Ozai made it very clear what he thinks of surrender. I'm sure he would be thrilled to find out one of his naval commanders chose to surrender before an Agni Kai even began rather than see it through to the end. And to lose to a bastard of all thi-"

Shit!

Zuko ducked and rolled away from the fire blast, barely avoiding the flames. Again and again, he was forced to dodge while Katara and Sokka blessedly scattered. Hopefully the Sages and soldiers would keep them back. No true Fire Nation citizen would knowingly let an outsider insert themselves into an honorable Agni Kai.

Not that this was like any Agni Kai Zuko had ever fought before. Not that he had much experience with Agni Kais but -damn!- he couldn't think of any that were like this. There was no planning, no threats, no words. Just attack, attack, attack. Zuko could barely keep up.

Well, if he couldn't win -which he knew he couldn't, he just wasn't that good of a firebender- then he'd do the next best thing. Stall. If he could buy enough time for Aang to finish with Avatar Roku, then maybe he would have the chance to escape.

It would destroy what little was left of his reputation, but maybe that was for the best. He already had his honor stripped from him after his Agni Kai against the Fire Lord. He didn't have much else to lose. If he couldn't find a way off this island, then he would have to resort to swimming. Although, if that worked out as badly as it had last time, then he might have to resort to letting the volcano kill him.

He wasn't about to let that happen. Not when his goal was practically within his grasp. So his mother slept with someone else. She didn't even know her future husband yet. It wasn't as if she had much of a chance to get to know him. Fire Lord Azulon had introduced his son to her, then told her she was going to marry him, then actually married them all in a matter of a week. Lady Ursa never had the chance to explain.

Zuko didn't hate her. How could he? He had read the love letter she'd written to his birth father, Ikem. 'Their child.' His mother loved him just as much as she loved Ikem. How could Zuko be ashamed of that? It wasn't like he had basically kidnapped, forcefully married, and tormented a potential spouse. You know, like what Ozai did.

Besides, he knew how to kill someone without his blades or his bending. His mother gave him more than just her love. She taught Zuko skills that his Fiery Assholeness deemed beneath him, unless they proved useful. Yet another reason why Zuko had been banished to this remote island. Alive and useless, until he was suddenly useful.

Pity Commander Zhao didn't know that little tidbit. Hopefully, Zuko would never have to use those skills for anything other than healing. But on the off chance he did, he could think of a few ways to take care of a problem quickly and quietly. However much he wouldn't enjoy the act of killing itself, he had learned through necessity that sometimes suffering wasn't a price he was willing to let those he cared for pay.

Master Shyu had lectured him on that thoroughly. Although he didn't outright say that killing was wrong, the Fire Sage had heavily implied it. That was something Zuko had struggled with. He agreed with Master Shyu that taking a life was never a good thing, but he could think of several situations in which leaving your opponent alive would inevitably cause problems that could prove fatal later on.

So he taught himself to fight to maim. It wasn't easy and it meant carefully calculating the force needed for each and every blow he received and delivered. He still wasn't anywhere near the lever of a Master Firebender, but he could hold his own for a while.

He had learned from sparring matches with Master Shyu that what he lacked in skill and sheer fire power, he made up for in speed, agility, and endurance. As long as he could breathe and channel his chi, he could and would fight. He didn't have to defeat Commander Zhao. He just had to outlast him.

Grinning to himself, Zuko dodged to the side, sweeping his hand in a burning arc that send flames jetting towards Zhao's midsection in a wave of heat and light. Unable to fully dodge the wide attack, the commander deflected the flames that would have struck him directly. The moment he could, the commander punched fireballs at Zuko. A few got close, but Zuko dodged and deflected while kicking his own fireballs blazing back at the commander.

Outlasting an opponent was more than just a matter of draining their chi. It was driving them to the point that they handicap themselves. In this situation, Zuko was lighter and quicker than his opponent, but his skill wasn't up to par. Zhao knew that and thus kept up a steady stream of attacks designed to keep Zuko on the defensive with few chances of retaliating.

So get him mad.

"Is that all you've got, Commander?" Zuko jeered, deflecting a fireball. Breathe. In. "Pathetic. You should be demoted."

Hold.

"Bastard," Zhao roared, rooting his stance and blasting a stream of fire straight at Zuko.

Out.

Zuko crouched low, ducked his head so it was aligned with his arms, and clapped his hands together, breaking Zhao's fiery attack and streaming flames on either side of him. It was close. Judging by the smell of charred cloth and singed hair, perhaps too close.

But this was what he had been waiting for. Zhao's grander attacks such as these drained the chi more quickly and were harder to direct with pinpoint accuracy. But they were well suited to channeling the darker emotions like anger and hate which tended to lash out at anyone in the vicinity. Fire was life. Fire was emotion. It burned like the bender felt. The more emotionally unstable the bender, the more wild and uncontrollable the fire.

Another deep breath in through his nose. The hot air burned as it went down his throat. Hold. His fire shield swirled, attempting to utilize some of Zhao's flames that were no longer directly controlled by the commander's chi into their defense. Out. The fire stream ebbed and Zuko struck.

Kicking fireballs in rapid succession followed by flaming punches. Landing on his hands, Zuko rode out his momentum, allowing his body to twirl, kicking out a ring of flames aimed at Zhao's stomach. Bending his elbows, Zuko braced one foot and spun in a low twirl that sent a ring of fire sweeping across the floor from his foot towards Zhao's unprotected ankles.

Zhao screamed, caught by the low blow which had been hidden by the wave of flames higher up, just like Zuko planned. Focusing his mind and chi, Zuko didn't pause to gloat. He pressed his advantage. Attack. Attack. Attack. Don't stop. Push. Do to Zhao what Zhao did to him. Don't give the commander the chance to recover. Don't give him the chance to breathe.

Just attack. Punch. Kick. Fire bloom followed by another low, sweeping spin and another. Then a fire bomb followed by a fire bloom that was as powerful as his current chi levels could manage.

Riding the force of his chi-fueled fire, Zuko launched himself into the air. He kicked twice sending two fireballs racing towards Zhao's face. While the commander was forced to deflect the flames, Zuko spiraled his arms together, gathering all the fires around him, bending them to his will, augmenting them with his determination and chi, then thrust his palm through the spiral. The blazing inferno roared in his ears like what he imagined a dragon's roar must have sounded like. The golden glow filled the hall with heat and flickering shadows and a pained scream that was more than satisfying to hear.

Without waiting for the light and heat and smoke to dissipate, Zuko breathed and lashed out with twin fire whips which latched onto the commander's armored wrists and smashed an already injured Zhao to the damaged stone floor. Finally dissipating his flames, Zuko raced forward and punched a ball of flame a mere inch from the commander's face.

"Yield," he hissed fiercely.

Zhao's gaze burned with humiliation and fury. He twitched and Zuko punched another ball of flame an inch from Zhao's other cheek.

"Yield!" he shouted.

The commanded shook with barely contained rage, then sighed. "I yield," he said.

He won. He won. Stepped back and scanned the faces of the soldiers and Fire Sages stepping out of their hiding spots between the columns in the hall. They were all various stages of shock and awe and anger. No loyal soldier enjoyed watching their commanding officer brought down a notch.

The Fire Sages stared at Zuko as if they had never known him before. Zuko felt wry amusement and a small blossom of pride in his chest. They didn't know he could do that. Why would they? He was just the bastard, the Fire Lord's castoff. Only Master Shyu had ever cared to teach him. And Zuko remembered every lesson and taught himself when Master Shyu had been betrayed and shipped away.

Now all the training had paid off. He did it. He won.

He could breathe easy now and take stock of his body. He ached and was undoubtedly bruised from the battle. He'd probably need to apply some witch hazel to them later to keep the discoloration down. His chi wasn't at the level he preferred, but it wasn't as low as Zhao's probably was which was good enough for Zuko. More importantly, nothing was broken and, although his clothes were somewhat singed, nothing really important was burned.

"Woah."

Huh? Startled by the unexpected voice, Zuko looked around to the two Water Tribesmen. He'd completely forgotten they were there. He hoped they had done the smart thing and hid like the others. He didn't want them to accidentally get burned by a stray fire blast during an Agni K-WHAT THE-?!

He barely managed to raise his arms to protect his face when the flames vanished as abruptly as they appeared. Warily, he peaked over his hands and was stunned by what he saw. His Sagginess was standing between Zuko and Zhao, his hand gripping the commander's foot which was upraised in a high kick. Zhao had… And the High Sage had…

"You shame yourself, commander," the old Fire Sage said, glaring angrily at the wobbling soldier. "You lost an Agni Kai honorably. How dare you disgrace Agni's name by attacking the victor after yielding. And after his back was turned. Zuko won the duel in front of witnesses. Acknowledge your defeat and keep to the terms of your loss."

Terms? Oh, right. If Zhao lost, he had to leave and never come back. Zuko allowed himself a small grin. He was the victor. He had laid the terms before the Agni Kai. By fighting him, Zhao had accepted the terms. Now, as the loser, Zhao was bound by those terms. No true Fire Nation citizen would debate the results or terms of an Agni Kai after it had already been completed fairly and with witnesses to corroborate the outcome.

Zhao could do nothing. Zuko had won.

Staggering away from the Head Fire Sage, Commander Zhao glared daggers at Zuko. With witnesses, there was nothing Zhao could do.

"Very well," the commander said. "I will leave Crescent Island and never come back, as we agreed."

Zuko nodded.

"But I will not leave until I have the Avatar in my grasp," Zhao added, a vicious grin stretching across his face.

"That wasn't part of the terms!" Zuko shouted.

"No, it wasn't," the commander said, rubbing the scorched armor that had protected his wrists and hands from the brunt of the Agni Kai's flames. "But you never did specify when I should leave or who or what I could take with me."

Damn it. He hadn't.

"I was under the impression I was dealing with an honorable Fire Nation officer," Zuko said. "I won't make that mistake again."

The commander just gave Zuko a contemptuous smile that raised every hackle on the back of Zuko's neck. Footsteps heralded the approach of people from behind him. They weren't armored so they didn't belong to the soldiers and there wasn't an accompanying swish of fabric so they didn't belong to the Fire Sages. The Water Tribesmen then. Good. He could use the support if this turned into another all-out fight.

"Allying with enemies of the Fire Nation?" Zhao asked, finding the energy to fake an expression of innocent curiosity despite how hard he was still breathing. "Only traitors cavort with the Avatar or the Water Tribes. Are you a traitor Zuko?"

"No," he said, fighting to keep his heart rate down with little success. "I'm not a traitor."

"Because if you are," Zhao continued as if Zuko hadn't spoken at all, "then you should know the Fire Lord's edict for the punishment of any and all traitors."

No.

"That's not fair!" Katara shouted, drawing a stream of water from her canteen. "He's not a traitor. You're just a coward and a sore loser."

"Yeah," Sokka added from Zuko's other side. "What? You lose to a guy my age and you attack his honor instead?"

Zuko winced. He was pretty sure he was older than Sokka by a year or so at least. But that wasn't the, ah, main problem.

"Honor?" Zhao said, eyeing Sokka with open disdain. He sniffed. "He has no honor. He's a bastard. He lost his honor the moment he was born. The whore who birthed him-"

"Don't call her that!" Zuko roared. Only Sokka quick grip on his wrist kept him from launching himself at the commander. "My mother was a noble, honorable woman. She was engaged to her lover before the Fire Lord forced her to marry his son."

The grip of his wrist weakened suddenly but he had regained enough control to not charge blindly at the commander.

"The Fire Lord didn't ask if she was pregnant before he all but kidnapped her," Zuko hissed. "That's on his head." He grinned. "And he paid for it."

"You- You're the Fire Lord's-"

"I'm not related to him," Zuko said, glancing briefly at Katara. The horrified anger in her expression wasn't something he felt like facing just yet. Stall. Just a bit longer.

Boom!

Or not. Everyone turned to see the great doors to Avatar Roku's chamber swing open slowly revealing a thick blackness within. Zuko couldn't see anything in there. It shouldn't be that dark. It wasn't night yet. Where was…

Blue eyes that glowed with power no Human could ever safely wield appeared from the blackness. But… Aang wasn't that tall. Zuko was taller than the airbender. Only a full grown man could be that tall.

"Attack!"

"Get down!" Zuko cried, grabbing a handful of both Water Tribesmen's clothes and yanking to the floor with him.

An instant later, heat and light filled the space where they had once stood. If they hadn't face planted, they would have been burned alive. He could hear Katara screaming and feeling Sokka slapping his hands over his half-shaved head. When the blazing attack ceased, Zuko, Katara, and Sokka lifted their heads and stared into the darkness.

Only it wasn't just darkness anymore. It wasn't possible. Zuko was seeing it with his own two eyes and he still could barely believe it.

"Avatar Roku," he whispered in awe.

For a moment that felt like an eternity but couldn't have been longer than a split second, it felt like Avatar Roku's inhuman blue gaze settled on Zuko. There was no hate there. Then the moment passed and the long-gone Avatar who shouldn't be here swirled the fire that had been blasted at him right back at his attackers. The screams of Zhao and the soldiers were a welcome sound to Zuko's ears.

He had to learn that move.

Then the ground started shaking and a roar that never boded well echoed from outside and up. The volcano. No. It wasn't supposed to be particularly explosive. Why would it- Holy shit!

The floor near them crumbled away and lava roared up through the opening, searing Zuko's face from the intense heat. They had to get out of here. They were too close to the lava. It would kill them, burning them alive in a spectacularly explosive fashion.

He'd seen what happened to someone who decided to play chicken-pig with fast moving lava. He had absolutely no desire to suffer the same fate.

"We have to get out of here," he said, scrambling to his feet and dragging the Water Tribe siblings with him.

"We can't leave Aang," Katara shouted.

"Aang's not here!" Sokka said. "Avatar Roku is. But he's dead!"

Zuko's thoughts exactly.

Or… not?

The form of Avatar Roku faded away leaving an exhausted Aang in his place. The airbender slumped limply to the ground and Katara ripped free from Zuko's grasp. She gathered Aang up in her arms and looked around frantically.

"We can't leave him behind," she shouted over the roar of the lava and the crumbling and crashing of the temple collapsing in around them.

"Well I am not going to die here," Zuko snapped, looking around frantically for some kind of escape route. They were on the top floor of the temple and… Oh, the far wall just fell off. That's nice. Now they had a clear ledge to jump to their deaths from. How thoughtful.

A low bellow Zuko had never heard before echoed through the dusky sky. What by Agni's holy fire was that?!

"Appa!" Sokka shouted. "Katara, come on."

"I can't carry Aang," the girl cried, struggling to hold the airbender in her arms and run across the unstable ground towards the ledge where a giant furry monster was flying and moaning at them.

Zuko hesitated only a moment before darting over to Katara, snatching Aang from her arms, and nudging her in front of him. "Go!" he shouted.

Together, they ran to the beast and -ah whatever, he was going to die if he stayed here anyway- they jumped. For several terrible seconds, Zuko hung in the air a hundred feet above the lava covered ground. Then he smashed onto a hard surface that moved!

Sitting up, he looked around and sighed. His heart was still pounding in his chest, they were still flying through the air, but they were alive. They were all alive and safe.

And he never had to see that Agni-foresaken island ever again.

Mother, Master Shyu, he was coming for them.