Chapter Text
The question, “You’re alive?” was not one Zuko particularly ever thought he’d have to answer in such a defensive way, yet at the moment, nothing felt more serious than answering that simple question.
It felt like the world had stilled. It was an odd feeling he realised, to stare his former enemies down and realise he needed to convince them he was a decent guy now.
He could feel the pulse of water in the kettle someone had brought out, the spark of fire on the stove, the beat of the sun boring down outside, the bitter cold way his fingers were freezing, the heat of everyone in the shop, the pulse of their breath. Steam curled up from cups, the clink of a spoon sounded too loud, and somewhere outside a cart rolled over cobbles.
Everything felt impossibly close.
A ringing in his ears, a snap and then Zuko was panicking, “I never really died—”
Jet, ever the helpful and wonderfully timed ‘friend’, decided to butt in, face pingponging between Zuko and the water tribe boy who had just spoken, “You guys…know each other?”
Know each other? I hunted them down for months. Thought Zuko grimly, finally blinking out of his shock, he cleared his throat, glancing at the water tribe boy, “We’ve… met.
That seemed to not be the right answer as the table dissolved into an explosion of accusations. The water tribe girl’s jaw clenched. He could almost hear the grind of her teeth. The boy had gone red, not from heat, but sheer disbelief. Even the Avatar—all wide eyes and open heart—looked like he wasn’t sure whether to smile or step back.
“Met?” The boy echoed, his voice cracking somewhere between outrage and hysteria. “You hunted us for months!”
As Zuko opened his mouth to attempt a smart defence of that argument, the young girl earthbended them all outside. Oh—he hadn’t known they’d picked up another one.
The first one to round up on him was, of course, the water tribe girl. He blinked, having completely ignored her question in his musings. “Sorry,” He finally caught her gaze, a bit sheepish, “could you repeat that?” he asked, brushing his nape with his hand.
That caught her off guard as she froze momentarily before her eyes fired back to life and she glared at him, “What is your game here, Zuko?”
He winced, having expected that, “There’s no easy way to say this,” he started, fiddling with the corner of his tunic, “I’ve stopped chasing the Avater,” He began, nodding toward the Avater—Aang, “And I’ve uh,” he paused, cringing, before continuing, “turned a new leaf.”
Immediately, this was shot down by a disbelieving laughter from everyone except the Avatar and the new girl.
The water tribe boy even teared up, “You expect us to believe that you, Mr-must-capture-the-Avatar-for-my-honour, really stopped?”
The water tribe girl snorted, “This has to be another trick to get Aang.”
And truly, when put like that, Zuko had no excuse, and his ears warmed at the feeling. Again, he shifted, feeling well out of place and frankly frustrated at his past actions, “Listen, I know what I’ve done before was outrageous, but—”
And that was all Zuko could get out before Jet visibly realised what had happened, “Wait, wait, wait. Hold it!” He said, holding his hands out between Zuko and the water tribe boy. Then he swivelled his head to an accusing glare at Zuko, “You’re Zuko? As in Fire Prince Zuko?”
Zuko blinked, “Er…yes?” He replied, unsure where this was headed before it struck him, and his eyes widened, “Wait, no, Jet—”
“No,” He stared in disbelief, “I was right. You are the filthy ashmaking scum that everyone has been talking about!” He snarled, eyes flaring in rage.
Zuko held his hands up, “There's another—No, well, yes, I am Zuko, I’m not exactly Lee, but—”
But Jet would hear none of it as the familiar hiss of metal greeted Zuko. Jet brandished his hook-swords, the metal glinting in the afternoon sun. Zuko blinked, finding himself in the same position he was a few weeks back, swords pointed at his neck. He was starting to think this was Jet’s response to just about anything.
The rest of the team Avatar seemed perturbed, and the Avatar stepped forward, placing a hand on Jet, “Hold on, Jet, isn’t that a little extreme?”
“Extreme?” Laughed Jet, pointing the swords at Zuko, his eyes trained on Zuko’s neck, “This ashmaker has been pretending to be a waterbender and trying to get on the inside–”
Zuko floundered, cheeks reddening, “I wasn’t pretending to bend water! I was bending water!” He yelled, frustrated with waterbending, the climate and stupid Jet.
That got a pause, as everyone stared at him.
Zuko took this brief moment of peace to pull a globule of water from a nearby teacup that a customer had left behind and brought it up for them to see. He then twisted the water into a few shapes, a calming method he liked (things you pick up from a certain grandfather) and had been trying to recreate with fire as well.
Silence.
Pure blissful silence.
And then an explosion as everyone turned to stare at the water tribe girl, and she glared them all down, “Why would I do that?” She seemed to ask her brother, annoyed.
The Avatar, on the other hand, perked up, “You can waterbend?” He asked, eyes shining like the stars.
Zuko blinked, “Uh.”
Finally, the water tribe girl came up, pushing Jet aside, ignoring his “Hey!” and the water tribe boy’s “Katara, careful!” She levelled an accusatory glare at Zuko, “If you can actually waterbend, then you should be able to redirect what I send you, right?”
Zuko nodded, hands up in clear view of them all as he waited.
The water tribe girl stepped back before launching one of the relatively simpler moves he’d seen from her at him. Taking in a breath, Zuko shifted on the heels of his feet, throwing his arms in a neat arc, swivelling the water into his grasp and channelling it into the ground.
The water tribe boy’s mouth remained open before he turned around, muttering something about “Tui and La forsaken shenanigans.” The rest of the group delved into an argument that he only got bits off.
“Now way!”
“I felt his heart, Sokka, trust me.”
“Well…he did bend the water…”
“That has to be a trick!”
Every word of mockery carried the weight of a hundred bad choices. Zuko wanted to argue, to shout that he wasn’t that person anymore, but the words felt like ash in his mouth. He had chased them through storms, through fire. He’d earned their hatred. And now, somehow, he had to earn their trust.
Eventually, the Avatar—Aang broke off and wandered by Zuko. He frowned, glancing at Zuko thoughtfully, like a cat ready to pounce on milk.
Zuko blistered at the look, “What?” He asked, sharper than he’d meant.
The Avatar didn’t look concerned as he nudged Zuko’s side with his shoulder, “What happened to your firebending?”
Zuko tilted his head, “I still have it?” He replied, though it sounded more like a question, as he twisted his fingers into a spiral, and a single white flame danced in his palm, illuminating the darkening evening.
Apparently, the rest of the group had been watching this interaction because just as Zuko summoned the flame, there was another explosion of words.
“Spirit helper.”
“You have coloured flames!?”
“Wan Shi Tong said—”
“No.”
“Tui and La, I will kill Wan Shi Tong myself,” Was the only warning Zuko got before the water tribe boy—Sokka—he belatedly remembered, stormed up to him. “You’re the supposed spirit helper we have?”
Zuko blinked once. Twice. The world seemed to tilt slightly, as though the floor had decided to play a joke. Somewhere behind him, Uncle was still pouring tea—which, huh, he hadn’t known Uncle was with them.
“I’m a what?!”
It was much later in the evening that Team Avatar got their explanation from Zuko. They would have had it sooner, but the commotion from Zuko’s dual-bending (and wasn’t that something?) had called Iroh outside, which prompted a tearful reunion so sweet that none had felt the need to bring up any disagreements.
Zuko and Iroh could not be separated even if one asked. The way Iroh’s eyes had welled up and the hug that followed made you feel this was more than a simple reunion to them, so they were allowed some leeway.
Now sitting in their stay in the Inner Ring, Team Avatar (Plus one very put out Team Jet), huddled to one side, steaming tea cups in their hands as they listened to Zuko weave his tales of challenge with most keeping quiet—except Iroh.
Sokka had the most outraged remarks as he heard the Crown Prince regale how he wasn’t really Crown Prince anymore and more…a traitor.
“What.” He had stated more than asked, his face blank when Zuko mentioned the bounties on himself. “All because you did a little treason?” He asked, voice pitching toward the end.
Zuko shrugged, "He did not like that I was tarnishing the 'Royal name'" He replied, bunny-earing on 'Royal name'.
Then came the explanation of his dual-bending as well as his state of well, aliveness.
That one shook everyone the most as they all stared at him with Iroh pretty much forgoing any sense of self-control and wrenching his nephew into his arms. They had some sort of murmured chat with another, and Katara swore she saw a shimmer of a tear in Zuko's eyes as he pulled away from his Uncle.
All in all she was pleasantly surprised to find that she no longer minded the idea of having him help them on their team. Having a novice waterbender would give her just the right time to try out teaching again as Aang had picked it up rather quickly, she wondered how a firebender, someone so opposite to her element, would do learning it, and she could finally judge his shoddy work.
Toph and Aang had never, per say had a problem with Zuko, with Toph even proclaiming "how nice it was that there was another decent fighter on the team" How she figured that out by just watching his feet Sokka did not want to know, but most importantly, Sokka would not be fooled.
“No, shut up, firejerk. There is no way on La’s Lovely Tail that you can waterbend because a freaky waterspirit gave it to you.” Was the general response from Sokka as he watched Zuko shakily pull a globule of water from the cup. This accusation was generally pretty unconvinced on Sokka’s part as he himself knew that the Spirit world rarely, if ever, made sense.
Zuko grimaced, “I don’t particularly enjoy it either, but it seems to be a gift from the Blue Spirit.” He stared at the faint drops of water sticking to his palm. How right and balanced he felt with them in his heart.
Iroh stroked his beard thoughtfully as he gazed at his nephew. His very justice-driven nephew— a few things clicked into place, and he chuckled. “Oh, dear boy. That’s it!”
Zuko tilted his head, not unlike a cat as Iroh explained, “You have been chosen to bring forth justice. You are in a way similar to the Avatar, but unlike the Avatar, you are not a spirit-bridge. No, you are a champion of justice. The Blue Spirit can not inhibit you or persuade you. He may just be able to lend you his power when you see unjust atrocities in the world.”
“Oh.” Replied Zuko as bits of the puzzle started piecing together. He wished there were some way he could communicate with the Blue Spirit directly to ask his questions, but for now, he would have to suffice on Uncle's knowledge of the Spirits.
“So another freaky Spirit human on our team.” Said Sokka to the ever-patient and understanding plants next to him, as once again the rest of Team Avatar crowded Zuko to ask more details, "Greaaaat. Just what we need."
Zuko ducked away from the attention, “I—” He sighed, blowing out a puff of air, “It makes sense why I feel certain inclinations to—” He gestured with his palm, causing a small crackling boiling-water jet to erupt on his upturned hand.
Interesting, Iroh mused, watching the neat display of joint bending where Zuko had learnt to combine both elements. It almost looked like the physical embodiment of lightning in a bottle.
“Wait, wait, hold on—” Said Jet, who had been mostly quiet, stewing on his thoughts. Unfortunately, Katara cut him to the chase and interrupted his no doubt extremely valid tirade.
“So where did you learn to bend?” She asked, eyes sharp on his technique.
Zuko flushed, briefly glancing at Aang before resolutely looking at a wall. “I uh I checked some scrolls in Wan Shi Tong’s library.”
Toph snickered and elbowed Aang, “For reference, this is how convincing you are when you lie.”
Aang pouted, turning his attention to Zuko, who seemed to be trying to resemble a wilting plant in the gaze of Katara’s curiosity and non-tolerance for crap.
“Those scrolls were barely easy for me to Master. How would you, a Firebender, be able to even decipher them?” She asked, not unkindly, but hunting for the truth. And Katara always got what she wanted. She reminded Iroh a lot of his nephew, though she would probably despise that comparison.
Zuko looked as if he were imitating a fish now as he opened and closed his mouth before dropping back on the floor, hands covering his face as he let out a loud, muffled, “Agni’s beard and all the dragon’s.”
Katara blinked, sharing a look with Sokka, who just shrugged.
Zuko finally sat up and grimaced. “I learnt it from Avatar Roku.”
A minute of silence.
“WHAT!?” came the chorused reply in different degrees of incredulity. The only one unsurprised was Iroh, who seemed to have already guessed it by the style of Zuko’s bending.
“Why?” Came next, from Sokka ofcourse, as he gaped at Zuko.
Zuko sighed as if it physically hurt him to continue. “Roku… is my grandfather.” He finished, eyes closed in pain, almost as if he could feel the other man laughing at his situation.
There was a thud that disrupted everyone from asking any questions (and there were many) as they all turned around to see Jet passed out on the floor.