Disclaimer: I don't own either show. *Pouts*
-Prologue-
Outside Titans Tower, pinpricks of starlight were just becoming visible across the murky stain of emerging darkness. Raven opened her eyes, hovering a few feet off the ground and the edge of her cloak barely brushing the bottom of the floor in her room.
Quiet footsteps approached and stopped in front of her door, but she didn't turn around, instead looking at the mirror above her vanity table. Her neutral, hooded expression stared back at her.
Robin spoke lightly through the steel door, "Hey, Raven. Dinner's ready, you coming?"
"...In a moment," she answered in a rasp, closing her eyes to try and pull the dream-like vision back from the wispy corners of her mind. It remained just out of reach, like wind through her hair and sand through her fingers.
She heard Robin slip away, respectful of her space, and her lips twisted into a small frown.
...
Robin stepped silently through the hallway, leaving Raven and Beast Boy's wing of the Tower.
He shook his head when he opened the door and stepped into the well-lit Ops Room, the ceiling-wide windows dark after sunset a couple hours ago. "She's not coming," he told his team, joining Starfire at the table and returning her greeting smile with one of his own.
"Again?" Cyborg asked, frowning as he peered over a salad bowl and plate of ribs, trying to catch their spiky-haired leader's eyes. "This is the third time this week, man."
"Yeah, I'm beginning to think we did something to piss her off or something," Beast Boy wondered, going over their most recent interactions in his head.
The last time he saw her, she was trying to meditate while he and Cyborg were playing video games — he was juuuuust two spots short of first place and Cyborg was cackling next to him on the couch, threatening to use a blue shell, while Starfire was in the kitchen making her horrible slime-green glorg dish and Robin was sharpening his birdarangs on the couch in the corner and listening to 80's music. She had left without saying anything, and that was three days ago.
"We must speak our apologies, then," Starfire said resolutely, rising. "Raven is our dear friend, and she should be here with us."
Robin shook his head, placing a gloved hand on her shoulder. "We should give her space, Star. She'll come to us when she's ready."
Starfire sat back down, looking hopefully to the steel door to the corridor that resolutely remained closed. Beast Boy watched the three of the them before turning his attention to the table, then a wide smile burst onto his face. "Tofu tacos! Wow, thanks, dude! Raven is missing out!"
Cyborg laughed, warning, "Slow down there, BB."
"I'll leave some for Raven," he promised through a mouthful of food. "It's my turn, anyway."
Even though there was no official "food drop off" schedule, the Titans had naturally taken to an alternating rotation, trying to coax Raven to join them or, unsuccessful at that, leaving food outside her room. The plates were always gone by the next time someone stopped by, so at least she was still eating.
As Cyborg put away the leftovers and Starfire cleaned the dishes, handing them to Robin to dry, Beast Boy slipped out to leave Raven her piece of dinner. He set it in front of her door, listening, but her room remained peacefully silent.
"Good night," he said, to no response. He turned to the hallway, looking over his shoulder worriedly before biting his lip and continuing back to the living room where the others were trying to find a movie to watch.
Inside, Raven heard a whisper across dimensions, rippling through her mind like waves across a still surface of water, and warmth pooled in her stomach near the third chakra.
Azarath.
Water... Earth... Fire... A—ir...
My old frie—nd...
Metrion.
...stealing the face of someone you lo—ve...
...Balance... Good and E—vil... Avatar...
Zinthos.
Hel—lo there, my sw—eet summer ch—ild
Raven slipped into a dream, surrounded by faceless dark spirits and the elements of old.
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In the cool summer air, he dreamed... —he was burning alive, so hot he felt cold, and it seeped into his bones, rattling his frame bloody and scraped and raw as he screamed to Agni—
You will learn respect and suffering will be your teacher.
Respect. Respect. Respect, the chorus chattered. Suffering, suffering. Suffering.
Fire. Fire. —FIRE!
Zuko exploded into action, fluidly rolling off his bed and into a battle-ready crouch. Warmth ghosted across his face, a phantom's touch from the past. A burning smell wafted through the small window in the room he was designated to at the Western Temple, and he wasted no time, racing across the rocky terrain to join the Avatar and his team. The assassin's attack from a week ago was still fresh in his mind, and he needed to be there with them.
His position as the Avatar's firebending teacher was tenuous at best, and he couldn't risk any more slip ups.
The moon was halved in shadow, waning, but it remained bright enough for Zuko to find his footing through the loose fog that had settled low over the darkening hours of night. "Avatar— I mean, Aang?" he yelled, flashing a look around before spotting a glint of flame-orange in the corner of his eye. He sped up, gaining momentum to leap from one ledge to another. "Aang? Are you okay?"
Avataaaaaar Aaaaannnngggg, his voice echoed back, whistling through the upside-down roofs, cutting in and out, ooookkaaaayyy?
He rolled into his landing, upright as soon as he found his footing. He wasn't anywhere near the fountain where the group had rolled out their sleeping bags earlier in the day, and with this momentary pause, he realized the smell of burning flames had disappeared entirely. Instead, there was only the bitter, earthy smell of oakmoss and wet clay.
In front of him was domed entrance, fully pitch-black on the inside. The fog seemed to glow grey-white against the fathomless blackness, following an unseen current, and as Zuko took a step forward, a centipede crawled over his shoe.
"Aang?" he tried again, kicking the bug off of his shoe and into the darkness of the Temple.
Aaaang, the walls echoed. Avaaaatar, a voice added.
Zuko's eyes widened and he stepped backwards quickly, reaching for the dual blades he was too rushed to remember to grab.
"Zuko?" a familiar voice shouted behind him, and the ex-prince turned to see a sleepy-eyed Avatar land a few feet from him, the wings of the glider retracting as he spun it closed. "I heard you call me," he said, approaching him with a yawn and smile. "Are you okay? Why are you..." he yawned again and looked around at the empty platform, "...here?"
"Do you..." Zuko hesitated, before shaking his head and pushing forward, heading his Uncle's teachings of dark spirits and very aware of the bloody history of Air Temples, "...hear anything weird?"
Aang raised his eyebrows in confusion, chancing a more cautious look around. He saw nothing but dark green flora and broken tiles through the light fog, but he still dutifully cocked an ear out for any unusual sound that could spook their resident firebender.
He shook his head. "Mh-mh," he answered, only hearing the faint sound of water running through fountain pools and over mountain ledges. He looked up at Zuko, observing the wild hair and dark bags under his amber eyes. "But, I think you should come back and sleep with us. Sokka should have an extra sleeping bag. Or, Appa could use a sleeping buddy. He gets cold at night and his fur is super soft."
Zuko was already shaking his head. "I have a room," he excused, walking back the way he came. Aang frowned, joining him to walk side-by-side.
"What did you hear?"
He didn't stop look over his shoulder. "I'm not... I think it was just the wind."
Aang looked back for him. The wind ruffled through his airbender robes, singing.
When the two returned to the Avatar team's campsite, the Water Tribe siblings and Earth Kingdom girl were wide-awake, sitting around a fire. "Aang," Katara exclaimed, rushing over to him. "Where were you? Why'd you disappear like that?"
Sokka frowned suspiciously at Zuko, and the Fire Nation teenager averted his gaze to the floor. Toph rubbed her eyes, rising to stand next to Aang. She punched the kid's arm, scoffing. "It's the middle of the night Twinkle Toes. What the hell?"
"I heard Zuko call my name," he answered matter-of-factly.
"Zuko," Katara hissed, turning attention from the monk to Zuko, who stepped back a couple spaces and hunched down, trying to seem smaller. "Trying to get you alone, no doubt, while we're all asleep and defenseless."
Toph rolled her eyes. "If Zuko wanted to grab Aang, why are the two of them standing here in front of us right now, Sweetness?"
"I don't know," Katara bit back, obviously not willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. "Maybe he's planning something for later. I'm not evil, I don't know how evil plans work."
Aang sighed, sending a pathetic look at her as he yawned again. Sokka noticed, and clapped his hands together, dusting them off. "Well, now that we're all back, safe and sound, we should get back to sleep."
"Finally," they heard someone grumble from far away. Toph smirked, and then Haru went flying in the air, landing in a tangle of limbs and dust.
"Toph!"
Zuko deftly stepped around the sleeping pet lemur. Aang turned his blue-grey eyes on him, big and hopeful and inviting, but Zuko guiltily stepped further away. Sokka and Katara had their sleeping bags next to the Avatar, and Toph, her feet just recently healed and the skin still peeling and flaky, was closest to him.
He wasn't their friend. He was the Avatar's firebending teacher. That was it. This was for the good of the world, and his feelings didn't matter in the grand scheme of things.
"You can stay, you know?" Aang tried again, and this time it caught Katara and Sokka's attention.
"Aang," Katara said, outraged.
"Aang," Sokka said, warily.
"I'm going back to sleep," Toph threw her hands up, exasperated.
"Thank you," Zuko answered, trying to sound formal and making a quick bow to pull it all together, "but I think I'll rest in my own bed. We'll begin training at sunrise."
Aang nodded, not even complaining about having to wake up early like he had done for the first couple of days. As Zuko walked back to his room, his footsteps silent on the rough terrain like a spirit in his own right, Aang looked back the way they had come. Thicker fog had rolled through the Temple and even the half-moon's light was unable to illuminate much beyond their current space on the Temple floor.
...
...Aza—trion—intho—... the wind carried, dancing through the roof tiles and sweeping over the group of war-torn teenagers. A colder burst from the south followed, whispering, —Ava... mi—ne, and the children huddled closer to the fire, shivering under worn blankets, lost to their dreams, dominated by wisps of copper masks and glass towers looming high above the clouds.
.
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Author's Note: Hi! I am happy today. I don't know why. I just am. :) But anyways... I love Avatar, so I've read a lot of ATLA fanfics, but I haven't really read much of Teen Titans, though I do like the show, obviously. So, if my characters are a bit off, just tell me!
This takes place when Zuko has recently joined the group (just after the Firebending Masters); for the Teen Titans timeline, it's more nebulous, but definitely after season 4 timeline continuity-wise.
I hope you have a good day... or night.
UPDATE: this was edited January 1st, 2023. I've been on a TT rewatch binge, so.. here I am. Looking back at the cringy fics from when I was 14 years old. Oof.