AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER:
THE FIRST STEP
by Bluespiritgal
The First Step is an Alternate Universe (AU) fanfic version of how Zuko joins the Avatar's team. Told from Zuko's perspective, the story picks up following the failed invasion after "The Day of Black Sun" episodes. Canon character format. Friendship, Adventure. Rating K+ to Teen.
Author's note: The original version of this story was written in early 2008, during the hiatus between the original airing of Season 3: "The Day Black Sun" episodes, parts 1 & 2, (Nov 30, 2007), and the airing of the "Western Air Temple" (July 14, 2008). When I wrote my version, I had no idea what the Western Air Temple would look like, or how the original storyline would develop.
I love character studies and this is my AU version of how Zuko became part of the team, trying my best to keep the characters in canon to the animated TV series. I wanted to include a bit more interaction between Zuko and the main characters, Katara, Sokka, and Toph, but also with the sub characters Teo, Haru, and The Duke.
Since then I modified/updated the story a bit to relect some of the information learned after the rest of the series aired, but kept it as close to my original story written back in 2008.
Enjoy! Comments appreciated! Thx!
CHAPTER 1: ZUKO
Zuko followed the flying bison in the small war balloon using the cloud drifts and the glare of the sun at his back to conceal himself. He still wasn't sure they hadn't spotted him though. But since they hadn't attacked him yet, he viewed this as a positive sign. The thought of trying to explain himself to the Avatar a thousand feet up in the air in a defenseless red target with a Fire Nation insignia on it, was not an appealing prospect.
During the pursuit, Zuko had plenty of time to think. Most of his thoughts remained dark and brooding, and filled with shame and regret. All except one, standing up to his father, the Firelord. For the first time in his life, Zuko finally felt in control of his own destiny. Ironically, a destiny currently in the shape of a flying dot on the horizon, but for different reasons this time.
Turning inland, his quarry headed towards a series of towering spiked mountain peaks and started a slow steady ascent up the tallest one. By now Zuko knew where they were headed. Passing through the clouds, the ruins of The of the Western Air Temple came into view.
He landed the war balloon a few miles away and carefully concealed it in the woods. If he failed in his mission, the balloon would be his only means of escape.
Collecting his broadswords and the few meager supplies he'd brought, Zuko trekked up the steep terrain towards the temple. He still hadn't figured out exactly what he was going to say to convince the Avatar he'd changed. The first step, though, was getting close enough to talk to before they attacked. Not that he could blame them.
Reaching the base of the temple, Zuko climbed the rest of the way up a nearly vertical rock face wall. Once he reached the top and hauled himself up over the ledge, he found himself on the outer parimeter of series of overgrown gardens laid out in a sprial circular design leading up to the Air Temple.
As he followed stone pathway that led through the gardens, movement in the sky caught his attention. Above the bison appeared, flying over the tops of several trees. Zuko quickly doubled back and slipped out of sight beneath a stone archway. When he felt the beast was a safe distance away, he followed its general direction.
A short time later he spotted the Avatar and his friends. They were entering a smaller section of the gardens. The bison remained behind grazing in the tall grass of an empty field.
Stealthy he moved closer and crouched behind a pile of stones. The two Water Tribe siblings, Katara and Sokka, he recognized immediately. The others he did not know: a tall slender guy about his own age, a short boy wearing an oversized helmet, and a young teenager in some sort of wheelchair contraption.
From his hidden niche, Zuko waited patiently. After some time Sokka and the others started to leave, but his sister lingered behind. The Avatar seemed distracted, staring up at the vast stone facade of the long abandoned temple, half collapsed and in ruins. Katara walked over and placed her hand on his shoulder before leaving and joining the rest of the group. They soon disappeared out of sight.
The Avatar, now alone, walked over to a stone platform in the center of the garden. He took off his shirt and sat down cross-legged, placing his fists together in a meditative pose with the sun to his back. With no one else in sight, it appeared this would be Zuko's best opportunity to approach.
Making his way silently down the narrow path, he stopped at the edge of the clearing. Taking a deep breath, he hardened his resolve and took his first steps towards what he hoped would be a better chapter in his life.
He'd only taken a half dozen paces though, when the Avatar opened his eyes and airbended swiftly to his feet. As he recognized the intruder, his eyes widened comically and he took an instinctive step back. An instant later though, his face pinched up, his brows descended and he moved into a defensive position.
Making no attempt to either advance or retreat, Zuko stood, keeping his arms loosely at his side in what he hoped was the least threatening stance.
"I imagine you're surprised to see me," Zuko remarked.
Frowning, the Avatar replied. "Not really." He scanned his surroundings warily.
"I'm alone if that's what you're worried about." Zuko assured.
"How did you find us?" The boy demanded.
"It's not important. But why I'm here is. We need to talk."
The ground beneath Zuko's feet thrusted upwards. With a startled cry he was propelled backwards into the air and landed with a grunt on his left shoulder. He rolled quickly over and back into a standing position, instinctively withdrawing the broadswords and splitting them in half. A boulder hurled towards him and Zuko swung the swords to deflect the blow with a sharp clang of metal.
"We know why you're here!" His attacker announced.
Zuko spotted the girl off to the side. It was the blind Earthbender named Toph. He hadn't seen her with the group earlier. It had been stupid of him to forget about her. But before he could get another word out, a second rock shot towards him, forcing Zuko to deflect the attack once again. The Avatar moved swiftly to his right and sent an air blast that flung him into a low lying stone wall. One of the broadswords was knocked from his hand.
As he rose slowly to his feet, another blast was sent his way and Zuko produced a fire shield to block it.
"Enough!" Zuko shouted. "I didn't come here to fight you!"
From a nearby fountain, the boy withdrew a stream of water, freezing it into a sharp ice wheel. "I don't believe you! This is just another trick to trap me and hurt my friends!"
"I'm telling you the truth!" To prove his intent, he released the remaining broadsword from his grip. It clanked to the ground at his feet. He then kicked it away out of reach. Lowering his arms back down to his sides, he waited.
The Avatar stood perplexed. The Earthbender remained next him, her head cocked slightly to the side, listening intensely, but making no further advance.
In a softer voice, Zuko spoke. "You asked me once that if we had known each other a hundred years ago could we have been friends."
The Avatar's mouth turned downward into a deep frown. Zuko could see the mistrust and couldn't blame him. The last time the question had been posed, he'd been blasted with a jet of fire for an answer.
Not quite able to meet his scrutiny, Zuko looked slightly off to the side and sighed. "In truth, I don't know if that's a possibility after everything I've done," he confessed. He faced the Avatar again, but this time with determination in his voice. "But I think it's time we put our differences aside and find a way to end this war."
Tense seconds passed. Slowly, the ice wheel melted and dropped into a puddle of water next to the Avatar's feet.
Zuko gave a sigh of relief. But his victory was short-lived as two figures re-entered the garden. Even from a distance he could see the water tribe idiot's mouth dropping wide open. But it was the girl's reaction that put Zuko on the defense once again, preparing for yet another battle.
And it came fast! A set of ice daggers hurled towards him. He spun and ducked to avoid them, but not before one grazed his bicep. Zuko clenched his teeth.
The brother advanced, a black sword in his hands.
"What's he doing here?" Sokka demanded, thrusting the weapon into Zuko's face.
"He wants to talk." The Avatar replied.
"Talk!" Sokka shouted unbelievably.
Next to him a pair of intense blue eyes bore into Zuko with hatred as sharp as the ice dagger that just cut him. "How can you possibly think we want to listen to anything you have to say, Zuko!" Katara spat. "After all you've done!"
"I'm sorry. For everything. I don't expect you to forgive me."
"Darn right!" Sokka voiced angrily.
"Leave, now!" Katara ordered.
"No. I intend to stay until I've said my peace." Zuko redirected his attention back to the Avatar and bowed in respect. "Please. It's important."
The Avatar scratched his head, not quite sure what to do next.
"Maybe we should just hear him out?" Toph suggested.
"Are you crazy?!" Sokka snapped. "We can't trust him any further than we can spit!"
"Actually Sokka, an Airbender can spit pretty far. And I didn't say I trusted him. But maybe Toph is right. Maybe I should hear what he has to say."
"No, Aang. Absolutely not!" Katara replied.
"Yeah! Go back to the hole you crawled out of, Zuko!" Sokka interjected. "Or better yet, we'll let Toph make you a nice deep hole here so you can rot away in it, just like my dad is doing right now!"
"I had nothing to do with that."
"Liar! You and the rest of your scum family had it all planned. It was a trap from the start!"
Zuko clenched his fists in frustration. "Look, I can see there is no way I'm going to convince your friends of anything at the moment. Perhaps Avatar, it would be best if we have this conversation alone first."
"No way!" Katara sliced her arm through the air in objection. "There is no way we are leaving you alone with him!"
"You got that right!" Sokka added. "If you have anything to say to Aang, scumbag, you can say it in front of us!"
"Are your friends always this stubborn?" Zuko addressed the Avatar.
"Stubborn?" Katara grunted. "You wrote the book on that! As well as being the most arrogant, self-centered, untrustworthy, lying creep around!"
Zuko felt the heat rising in his clenched fist. "I didn't come here to fight you, but don't push your luck either."
"Luck? You really think you can take all of us on and actually win here?" Katara countered.
The Avatar held up his hands. "Guys, please, this isn't getting us anywhere."
"I agree! Enough talk!" Sokka lunged towards Zuko.
Zuko sidestepped easily out of the way but made no attempt to strike back. Sokka spun around to attack again, but the Avatar stepped between them.
"Sokka, stop!" The Water Tribe sibling halted his advance. He was livid but held his ground.
The Avatar remained between Zuko and his friends. There was something in his posture and the way the gray eyes assessed Zuko as if he were trying to figure something out.
After several long seconds, he said. "All right, Zuko. I'll talk to you….alone."
"Aang you can't be serious!" Katara exclaimed. "He's just trying to lure you away from us into another trap again! For all you know there are probably a hundred Fire Nation soldiers just over the rise waiting for you."
"I don't think so."
"You can't possibly know that, Aang!"
"You're right, I can't know for sure. But as the Avatar, I have to take the chance."
Katara put her hands on his shoulders. "Don't, Aang. It's too dangerous."
He gently removed her arms. "I'll be fine, Katara."
The Avatar picked up his staff and popped it open into a glider. "I'll talk to you, Zuko. But on my terms."
Zuko's eyes narrowed. "What do you have in mind?"
"Let's just say you're going to have to trust me as equally as I'm going to have to trust you, agreed?"
Zuko nodded. "All right."
Katara and Sokka tensed up as Zuko retrieved his broadswords, but to everyone's surprise, he calmly walked over and handed them to Sokka. "I'll be back for these when I return with the Avatar safe and sound. Try not to lose them."
Sokka stared back dumbfounded.
Returning to the Avatar's side, the boy nodded. "Hop on and hang on tight!"
Moments later Zuko was in for the most terrifying ride of his life. Holding onto the frame of the glider, the Avatar airbended them straight up in the air and along the side of the temple. Once they cleared the temple, he arched the glider and then plummeted down into the deep valley below. Sure they were going to crash into the raging canyon river, Zuko closed his eyes, but at the last second, the Avatar pulled up even to the rapids. Followed the snaking canyon, he banked sharply to the left and the right, as he negotiated the narrow passage. Eventually, the glider soared straight up again, this time along a sheer-faced mountainside before spiraling into an arc, and then landing effortlessly on a small flat pinnacle at the top.
Zuko tumbled to the ground in a heap. The Avatar stood before him grinning. With a flick of his wrist, the glider retracted back into the staff.
Zuko rose shakily to his feet, trying to find his stomach he left on the last three-hundred-and-sixty-degree-turn they'd made. With unsteady legs, he walked over to the edge and looked down to the thousand foot plunge below and gulped.
"Nice view." He remarked dryly.
The Avatar turned away from him and gazed across the valley at the ruins of the Western Air Temple. On his bare back Zuko saw the huge scar, what remained of Azula's attack. The mark was now his legacy, like his own.
When he spoke again, the Avatar's voice was solemn. "A hundred years ago, the Western Air Temple, like the others, was alive with my people. Now this is all that remains of the Air Nomads."
Zuko bowed his head. "I'm sorry. I wish I could change the past, but I can't."
The boy sighed deeply. "Neither can I." He then turned away and sat cross-legged, resting the staff loosely across his lap. "You wanted to talk to me. So talk." There was a hard edge in his voice now.
Zuko sat down in a similar position facing the Avatar. Now that he had his full attention though, it became difficult to know just where to start.
The Avatar waited patiently.
"For so long, I've done nothing but hate you…" Zuko began slowly. "But I was wrong. I know now my destiny was never about capturing you, but in helping you defeat my father."
The surprised expression on the Avatar's face clearly held disbelief and mistrust.
"I don't blame you for not believing me. All I can say is I was messed up for a pretty long time."
"All my life I was taught the Fire Nation was the supreme of all the nations and it was our duty to share our prosperity with the rest of the world to make it a better place. The truth was the exact opposite though."
"The legacy my Great-grandfather Sozin started a hundred years ago just left the world scarred and more divided than ever. The world hates the Fire Nation and we deserve it. I fear my father's legacy will be far worse, though."
"My father..." Zuko paused. "For as long as I can remember, I just wanted his love and respect, and to feel worthy enough in his eyes to be his heir. But nothing I did seemed to matter. Azula was always the prodigy. I was always the problem."
"The one time I spoke up against one of my father's plans, he gave me this." Zuko indicated his scar. "And banished me from my home. And the only way I could return was to capture you." There was bitterness in his voice. "The worst part was, I actually thought I deserved it,… a thirteen year old kid, to be brutally scarred in a public arena, and then banished, just for speaking out of turn!"
"I should have hated my father then. But I didn't. I couldn't admit the man I looked up to, and wanted to be just like, was a monster. Driven by ambition and power, my father was willing to sacrifice his own son, his own brother, and my own mother, if it meant achieving his goals." He laughed without humor. "A family tradition, you could say."
"So instead, I took my hate and funneled it into my one sole purpose, finding you. And every time you slipped through my fingers, it was just a reminder of my failures."
The Avatar said nothing, but continued to listen intently.
"My uncle tried to show me that my honor, my destiny, wasn't tied into winning my father's approval. I didn't have to go down the path my father, my grandfather and my great-grandfather Sozin chose. That I could choose a different way for myself and my nation."
"In Ba Sing Se my uncle begged me not to listen to Azula, to choose a path of good. But I betrayed him instead."
Zuko paused, remembering the look on his uncle's face, the hurt and disappointment.
"It was the worst thing I've ever done." Zuko admitted with deep sadness.
"When I returned to the Fire Nation, though, I was a hero. I finally got everything I wanted. My father respected me and I had my honor and title back. I should have been happy, but I wasn't. I was just as confused and as angry as ever, and I didn't know why, until my uncle gave me this."
From a fold in his belt, Zuko removed a small object. It was a relic from long ago. "This once belonged to my great-grandfather, on my mother's side."
The Avatar looked down at the object resting in Zuko's palm, recognizing it immediately.
"Avatar Roku's headpiece."
"This is a royal headpiece meant to be worn by the Crown Prince. It was given to Roku by Sozin when they were still friends and the Fire Nation lived in peace and harmony with the rest of the world. That was before my great-grandfather decided to betray Roku and my nation with a hundred year war of annihilation and destruction. My uncle gave me this to show me I had not one legacy, but two. I still had a choice, for myself, and my people."
"The day of the eclipse I finally made my decision. I confronted my father, and for once, he was forced to listen."
"I told him that it wasn't his redeemed son that struck you down, but Azula, and there was a real possibility you were still alive and I'd been lying to him ever since I got back."
"He was furious and called me a traitor. But I didn't care anymore. I was done! Done lying to myself and refusing to see who my father really was. But more importantly… I told him my decision. That I was going to find you, and help you defeat him."
The Avatar looked surprised. "And how'd that go?"
"As expected. He tried to kill me. But this time I wasn't some scared little kid anymore begging for forgiveness. I was ready for the attack and managed to escape."
"When I left the palace, I went to the prison to free my uncle, but he was already gone. Not that I can blame him. After everything I've done, I'm sure he'll never want to see me again, either."
Zuko bowed his head low.
"Out of everyone, my uncle was the only one who truly believed in me, saw the good in me, and believed I could make a difference."
He looked back up at the Avatar with determination in his eyes.
"I can't defeat my father alone. He's too powerful, and has too much influence over the Fire Nation."
"So that's why your really here? So I can help you defeat Ozai and then you can become Firelord?"
"Would you prefer Azula?" Zuko asked.
"Good point."
"That's not the reason. Even if I could defeat my father alone, it would only be viewed as a royal family traitor backstabbing the Firelord for power. It would lead to civil war in my nation. My uncle would be a better choice. As first born, it's his right anyway."
"No. The only way to bring true balance back to the world is for the Avator to defeat the Firelord. And I know now it's my destiny to help you, any way I can."
The Avatar sat for some time before rising and walking over to the edge of the cliff to gaze out at the Western Air Temple again. He held his staff loosely as Zuko waited.
He turned back around. "I think you were meant to be here, Zuko. In the vision I had with Avatar Roku, he said I needed to understand the past in order to know what to do about the future. As Avatar, it's my duty to restore the balance, so I'm willing to take a risk on you."
"Thank you." Zuko replied humbly.
The Avatar shook his head. "It's not going to be that easy." He told him. "I can't guarantee my friends are going to agree with this. You're going to have to earn their trust and mine. Time will tell if you're speaking the truth."
Zuko nodded. "Fair enough, Avatar."
"And it's Aang."
"What?"
"My name. It's Aang."