A. N. : I had to consolidate my notebook with sticking paper because it was falling apart. Just like my college papers. And Zuko's life. Sadly, no sticking paper will help here. Maybe some glue would do ?

Zuko is home.

And while it may not be in the glorious way he used to imagine, at least this time there is no erupting volcano to chase his off – the irony of having set foot on Crescent Island while he was chasing the Avatar again doesn't escape him, and thanks to Sokka it doesn't escape anyone anymore.

Let's just hope that Roku won't try to kill him this time.

He let the Avatar have his touching reunion with his friends earlier, instead of hitting him because of how much of an idiot he is. He'll do that later, on another island, as his first lesson.

It still hasn't really dawned on Zuko that he's going to teach the Avatar. Sure, he knows it but – the idea of teaching anything is so foreign to him that it still doesn't make that much sense.

He did teach Li how to use twin daos, but he also tries very hard to forget about that, so it doesn't count.

Well, at least that way he'll be ready for when Lin makes her first flame. Actually maybe teaching her how to breathe while it's still only sparks might be good too – there's no knowing when that first flame will come after all.

Anyway, she is still too young for any sort of training, so there's still time to think about that.

When the Avatar was reuniting with the others, Jet was also standing aside, next to Zuko. For some reason, he seemed really focused on the lava still flowing. Now that he thinks about it, Zuko hasn't seen that many volcanoes in the Earth Kingdom. Maybe Jet was just surprised –

Is what Zuko would like to think, but Jet's expression was everything but surprised – fearful, angry, determined. Even before that, Zuko was worried about Jet being here. Now ? Let's just say he isn't about to leave Jet on his own a single second.

Usually he would more or less trust Jet to do his own thing, but Jet and anything Fire are never a good mix. Expecting him to behave in the Fire Nation is about as good an idea as asking Zuko to trust his sister with Lin.

Though hearing him agree with Sokka that crab-eating birds are dangerous and enemy birds is admittedly both surreal and hilarious. In a very worrying way, because if he reacts that way to birds, what's going to happen when they meet people –

Zuko hopes Sokka's paranoia is only temporary, because he will not be able to keep an eye on everyone.

Thankfully, the others make fun of them both, so at least he's not alone in this.

He agrees with the idea of hiding in plain sight – spending weeks in caves away from the sun doesn't sound good at all, and he really wants to see how the country is doing, but –

His face is probably as recognizable as the Avatar's arrows, and he can't exactly grow hair on it to mask it.

So when comes the time to steal some clothes – and spirits, he hates that, and it makes him feel the same as he did in Earth Kingdom, except worse because then he thinks of Song and her ostrich-horse and how the fuck did he ever think that was a good idea –

He picks a cape with a large hood. The rest doesn't really matter that much, as long as it has short sleeves and isn't made of silk – he doesn't want to catch fire accidentally, thank you very much. Not that there is a big risk of finding silk, given how expensive it is to fire-proof it.

Jet has never looked more disgusted than while putting on Fire Nation clothes, and that's counting the moment he learned Zuko was the Fire Prince.

Seriously, why did he come – no actually never mind, Zuko really doesn't want to find out.

There's a town nearby – Sazakura, Zuko thinks, given what he knows of their location – and they decide to take a look around.

Should he tell the Avatar that he is wearing a school uniform ? Oh well, it's probably not that important. And he is of school age after all.

The Avatar starts speaking in archaic Fire Nation slang that his friend apparently taught him – except these words were already outdated a hundred years ago.

Sokka says to leave it alone while Toph snorts. It reminds Zuko of Ba Sing Se and Longshot and Smellerbee, and he expects Jet to join in with some snarky comment –

Except nothing comes.

Zuko turns around.

Jet isn't there anymore. He is – gone. Jet is gone.

Fuck.