A/N Trigger Warning: Attempted Suicide/Self-Harm, and discussion of past suicide.

Finding Hope

Things had actually been going well for once.

He'd found his brother-turned-sister easily, between Ty Lee and Uncle's love of showmanship they earned enough money to keep themselves going, and so far rumors about the Avatar were giving them a clear path to follow for once. For once luck seemed to be on their side.

Which is why Zuko was completely unsurprised when the universe threw another disaster in their faces.

It started benign enough. With them spotting a couple traveling on the same road, and, being the friendly people that they are, Uncle and Ty Lee call out a greeting to them.

The married couple, Than and Ying, were expecting their first child, and soon given the size of Ying. The two were attempting to reach Ba Sing Se to raise their child in the safety of its walls. But the journey was rough on Ying, and they were in a spot of trouble, as they still needed to take a detour for Than to pick up his sister, who intended to join them.

Happy for an excuse to stop walking and make camp, Uncle offered for them to stay and protect Ying while he went ahead to fetch his sister, and then come back. Than was dubious to leave his wife with strangers, but under the combined might of Uncle and Ty Lee's charisma, eventually he agreed and hurried off.

The rest of them settled down in the couple's camp with Ty Lee chatting up a storm to keep Ying entertained as Uncle and Zuko began laying out their bedrolls.

It was all going well until Ying stumbled.

Zuko, who had hung back quietly throughout the previous conversations except to confirm to Than he could use his swords, reached out to steady her.

That was a mistake, as he immediately realized who she was, and knew some memories are better off forgotten.

Qin Su stared back at him, her eyes wide and horrified. "Sect Leader Jiang… why am I alive?" she asked in a tiny voice.

Before he could even respond, Zuko immediately had to stop her as she lunged for his swords to change that.

"Qin Su!" he said, holding both her wrists to keep her from harming herself. He ignored the shocked look from Uncle and vaguely registered Ty Lee rushing over to help. "Qin Su! Stop! He's gone! He can't hurt you again!"

Qin Su thrashed in his grip and clearly couldn't hear him. Her face, which had been shining with joy at her future was now twisted with agony at the past that made her take her own life before and made her now want to do so again.

Thankfully, Ty Lee reached them and jabbed at Ying's back, making her go limp in Zuko's arms, but her expression was still one of pure terror.

"You're Ying!" Ty Lee said gently. "You're not Qin Su, you're Ying now. That old life is just a nightmare. Nothing from it can hurt you anymore."

But Ying's distress was still evident, and to the rest's horror, a bloody patch began to bloom through her skirt.

"Did she injure herself?" asked Zuko in alarm and bewilderment. She hadn't managed to touch his swords, he'd made sure of that.

"No," Ty Lee said, her voice serious. "Her water just broke. She's going into labor." She whipped around and said, "Zuko, take Peacock the Second and get to the nearest village and find a midwife. Uncle, help me get her into the tent. I'll help how I can, but her baby is coming now."

That jolted Uncle into action, as he reached down to pick up Ying and carry her to her and Than's tent.

"Do you know what you're doing?" asked Zuko as Ty Lee ripped the bag with the medical supplies Song had given them off Peacock the Second's saddle.

"Not a lot, but I know I know more than you," she said. "In this life, I had to study everything about the human body to learn chi blocking, and in the last, well," she sent Zuko a rueful look. "Aside from getting dragged into helping Wen Qing with her medical runs in Yiling, I went down a bit of a rabbit hole reading medical texts when trying to fix your golden core."

Zuko didn't even want to know what she'd been researching if pregnancy was part of it. Instead, he jumped aboard Peacock the Second and took off down the road to what they hoped was the nearest town.

With their medicine kit in hand, Ty Lee raced into the tent to start helping Qin Su. "Get me some hot water and rags, please," she said as she brushed past Uncle (as he'd told her to call him as she was Zuko's sibling) into the tent.

Ying was in a sorry state on the sleeping mat. Her limbs were still limp at her sides and her face was contorted in pain along with fear.

"Who are you?" she gasped after feeling a contraction. "What is going on?"

Ty Lee took a deep breath. Ying's labor was likely to take hours before the baby came out, so right now her job was to make sure the soon-to-be mother stayed comfortable and calm.

Unfortunately, calm was going to be hard to achieve.

Time to attempt the impossible once again.

"We've reincarnated, but somehow we've started to remember," she said as gently as possible. "It's strange, we thought it was interaction with anyone else from that past life was what that triggered the memories, but you and I were talking for a while without you remembering, however, when Zuko did it you remembered immediately. I suppose that means you would actually have to know a person's past self for the memories to resurface. I knew of you and I saw you from a distance in that life, but we never really had a chance to talk. Not like you and Jiang Cheng would have over the care of A-Ling."

Ty Lee was rambling on purpose. It was in one part in hope that Ying would forget her first question and another part of her hoping the chatter would help ground the distressed woman and keep her calm.

Unfortunately, Ying would not be dissuaded. "Who were you, then?" she asked again. "To speak of Sect Leader Jiang and A-Ling so intimately but never share a conversation with me?"

Ty Lee cut off her rambles and bit her lip. The truth of her former name might only distress Ying further, but she also needed the woman to trust her and lying wouldn't accomplish that. Then again, knowing who she was wasn't likely to accomplish it either.

"Tell me," Ying insisted, struggling to get feeling back into her limbs in an attempt to sit up.

Ty Lee sighed and hoped this wasn't a mistake. She gave Ying as best a bow as she could within the tent and said, "Greetings, Madam Ying," she said formally like she would have to a sect leader's wife in her last life. "This one is Ty Lee, but in my last life I was Wei Ying, courtesy Wuxian."

Ying's eyes widened. "The Yiling Patriarch?" she gasped.

Ty Lee gave her the friendliest grin she could muster but knew it wasn't much of one given the tense situation. "Yes, though I promise I'm not as bad as they made me out to be. And you're more than familiar with the Jin Clan's… brand of honesty," she said as delicately as she could.

Ying's face pinched in disgust as she realized what that meant. "Then you know?" she asked. "About me?"

"I was there when it was revealed," Ty Lee confirmed. "Mo Xuanyu gave up his body to me in return for vengeance. I was the one who led the cultivators into the Treasure Room when you-" she broke off with a grimace. "I'm sorry. I brought them there as fast as I could to save you and catch Jin Guangyao in the act, but I failed. I'm sorry you felt there wasn't any other escape but the one you took."

"Don't be," Qin Su said, resigned. "There was no saving me. Not then. Not when I knew… When everyone else would soon know A-Yao was…" She looked sick at the very thought of her former husband. "And the worst part is," she said in a voice barely above a whisper. "I still believed him when he said he loved me regardless, even if it wasn't in the way I thought it was."

"It's unfortunate, but sometimes love isn't enough," Ty Lee said, knowing that better than most.

Ying's face fell to despair. "How do I know it won't happen again?" she asked desperately. "How do I know my husband is who he says he is? How do I know he's not- That our child is not-"

"I don't know Than's history," Ty Lee said. "You would know it more than me. What I do know is that Than isn't anyone's reincarnation. Both Zuko and I talked to him. If he was anyone other than Than, that would have been enough for him to remember and for us to know right away. He's still the husband you married, your honor is intact and strong as ever. No one else knows about who you were that last life, and no one else needs to."

"You'll know it," Ying pointed out.

Ty Lee scoffed and waved a hand dismissively. "Nah, I have a memory like a sieve. I'll totally forget this whole thing in, like, a week. Zuko doesn't like talking to people now any more than he did as Jiang Cheng, so who's he even going to tell? And Uncle? He has no clue what's going on, and I'm sure he's happier that way."

Ying huffed a sound that might have been a laugh.

Ty Lee took that as permission to move closer, and begin using her knowledge to help Ying, as well as give her use of her limbs back and sit her up in a better birthing position. She could tell Ying wasn't totally convinced of this second chance, but at the very least she didn't seem to be a danger to herself at the moment. Ty Lee could only hope she could convince her to keep it that way.

Thankfully, a couple of hours into contractions, Zuko managed to return with a woman named Sela to act as a midwife, with her husband and son not far behind, and then several hours after that a healthy baby girl was born.

The second the baby was placed in her arms, Ty Lee could tell Ying recognized her.

"It's Rusong, isn't it?" she asked as Sela left the tent to deliver the good news. Only half remembering the name of Qin Su's son she'd never met, but heard from Lan Zhan had died tragically young.

Ying nodded, a look of adoration and wonder on her face. Ty Lee knew it well. It was the same feeling of 'My child is alive!' Wei Wuxian felt when he learned his sweet A-Yuan hadn't died in the Burial Mounds after his first death, and instead had thrived to grow up into the bright young Lan Sizhui. It was a level of joy beyond compare and a beautiful sight to behold.

Than must have passed through Sela's village on the way back with his sister, because he arrived soon after looking harried and desperate to see his wife.

The second he entered the tent, he froze under the look Ying leveled at him.

Thinking she was mad he hadn't been there, he sputtered out, "I-I'm sorry, Honey. I never should have left. I'll never leave your side again! What's wrong? Are you hurt? Is the baby alright?"

Ying gave him a long hard stare, as if reexamining every little thing she'd ever known about him.

Finally, she beckoned him to her side.

Sensing something still amiss, Than moved cautiously over to her.

And once he was in range, Ying reached out, took his hand, and waited.

A minute passed, then another, and no flash of recognition and memories occurred. Than was just Than.

Satisfied with this, Ying reached up, grabbed Than's collar, and yanked him down so she could kiss him like her life depended on it.

Immediately, the tension in the tent dissipated, and Than relaxed into kissing her back just as fiercely.

Ty Lee smiled and politely looked away.

Still, while Than was distracted by holding his daughter for the first time, she had to lean in and whisper, "Do you still wish to die?"

Ying's eyes were still shadowed, but her smile was radiant as she shook her head. "How could I? When I have so much to live for," she said, looking at her husband and daughter with what could only be described as love.

"And Qin Su?" asked Ty Lee.

"Just a nightmare," Ying said, no doubt resolving to let the past go. "A cautionary tale I'll share one day when I'm ready, but one I don't think I need warning from. Not as long as I have my Than and my Hope."

"Hope? What a beautiful name," said Ty Lee as she stood to leave the tent and let the family bask in their happiness.

They were going to be alright.

Once outside she saw Sela's scruffy young son looking up at Zuko like he was the coolest thing he'd ever seen.

"You really know how to use those swords?" he asked, pointing at Zuko's dual dao.

"Yes," Zuko said shortly, looking out of his depth at the child's admiration.

"Prove it!" the kid challenged boldly. "Give Gow a good beating so he'll stop bullying the rest of us."

"LEE!" Sela's husband admonished sharply.

Lee pouted but looked unrepentant.

"Is someone giving you trouble?" asked Iroh, looking over at Sela and her husband in concern.

The couple traded a glance, before Sela admitted, "Just some soldiers stationed nearby. They're supposed to be our protectors, but, well…"

Zuko and Ty Lee traded a glance and grinned. After the day they'd had, giving some bullies a good beating sounded absolutely cathartic.

"We're in," Zuko said as he reached for his swords and Ty Lee cracked her knuckles.

This was going to be fun.

A/N I don't remember what made me make Ying be Qin Su. Maybe I wanted her to have a happy life this time around. We see so little of her in the book, but she deserved better. Of course, here I just re-traumatize her, but going forward she'll be fine. Neither Zuko nor Ty Lee ever breathes a word of who she is to anyone, and Uncle is happy to remain ignorant and says nothing of it beyond commenting on how cute a baby Hope is.

Now we have the explanation as to why Toph didn't remember last chapter. Some people on AO3 caught on that it was because her past life wasn't someone Lan Wangji, Jin Zixuan, or Jiang Yanli knew personally. But once she meets someone she did, things will change. To clarify, the rules for remembering are this. 1) It is triggered by talking to or touching someone you knew in the last life. 2) Only the person triggered and the one who triggered them are aware of who is a reincarnation unless they tell others. 3) They have to actually know the person to trigger them. Just knowing of them isn't enough. The one slight exception of that is Wei Wuxian triggering Mo Xuanyu since they never actually spoke, but I would argue that both occupying the same body at one point and reading each other's diaries counted as close enough even if they never had a conversation.