I'll Be Your Family

Similar People pt. 2

To say Toph was surprised by his answer was an understatement. The fact that he answered the question at all was surprising. She honestly thought he would die before agreeing to talk freely with her. His answer itself was a surprise for an entirely different reason.

I remind him of his sister. Wasn't he scared of me though? Does that mean he's scared of his sister? Are siblings supposed to be scared of each other, is that a normal sibling thing I just don't know about?

She looked at him and voiced what was on her mind, "I remind you of your sister? Why'd you freak out when you saw me then, it was like you were afraid of me. I don't have any siblings but aren't they supposed to like, you know, get along?" She placed her hands together to show that she was genuinely curious.

Zuko grimaced as he thought about how to explain that his family wasn't like other families.

How do I explain to her that she reminds me of my little sister who burned turtle ducks and made a sport out of making my life miserable? How do I do this without getting buried under a pile of dirt?

He decided to just be honest since she seemed to be able to tell when he was lying anyway, "Um. It's kind of complicated. You see, my sister is a prodigy, she mastered bending when she was around 13. Your confidence reminds me of her, it's the same confidence she has. Like she trusts herself and her bending to get her out of any trouble." He took a second to compose himself before diving into the more sensitive part of the conversation.

"I'm scared of my sister because she likes to use her bending to torment me. I'm weak, and growing up she made a game of it. Tormenting me with her bending and calling it a 'demonstration of skill'. I've gotten used to being on guard whenever I'm around her, you reminded me of her so I did the same." He stopped talking and waited for her to respond, expecting to be mocked at his inability to surpass his little sister.

Toph looked at him in confusion, waiting to put together her thoughts properly before responding.

"That doesn't make any sense though. It's not like your weak. Even if you were that's no reason for her to bully you just because of it. Hell, your the first person to injure me in an earth rumble match and I've fought the best earth benders in Gaoling. That means you're at least the second-best fighter in Gaoling. If your sister can't see that then she's blinder than I am!" She said with a huff as she blew a strand of hair out of her face.

Seriously, his sister thought he was weak. What kind of 'prodigy' sister does he have? No, even if she was she should still be able to see how strong he is. Did she lie to him? More than that though, why does he think he's weak? It's not like he isn't strong just because he can't beat his sister. That's stupid.

Zuko stared at her in what she could only assume was a shock. He was gaping at her like she just told him the most surprising thing he's ever heard in his life.

"But I am weak, I haven't beaten Azula in anything since she started bending. Hell, she started bending before me and I'm two years older than her. How can you say that I'm strong, just because I can beat some brain-dead Earthbenders? That doesn't mean I'm strong, I'm not strong unless I can beat her! Don't patronize me just because you beat me in a match!" He was panting after yelling so much, getting riled up at the thought of this earth-bending prodigy looking down on him.

He gritted his teeth as he looked at her face, watching it change from surprise to something akin to angry determination.

She's just like Azula.

He got up and started to walk to the entrance, forgetting that he couldn't leave even if he wanted to. He had only take a step when he suddenly found his legs and arms stuck in rock cuffs.

"Hey, let me go you brat!" He growled as she stomped over towards him.

"Hell no! You don't get to just walk away after yelling at me. I don't care what lies your demon sister told you growing up! I don't care that you're stupid enough to believe her! I wasn't lying to you! I wasn't looking down on you either! I've been looked down on my entire life, I would never do that to someone else!" She stopped a foot away from him, glaring at him furiously.

She's serious. He thought to himself, trying to get over his shock at her being dumb enough to think he was strong.

"Okay, so what. Just because you're dumb enough to believe I'm strong doesn't mean I'll do the same. I know I'm a failure, I know I can't be considered strong or useful until I surpass Azula or at least get to her level. Until I master Firebending as she has I'm never going to be anything but weak. I'm not gonna sit here and pretend otherwise when I know the truth." He looked at her with a mixture of anger and resignation, wondering why she would think something that isn't true.

It can't be true, father told me so.

Toph took a moment to replay his words back in her mind. It was shocking that he thought this way, especially since he truly believed it. She looked at him and thought about how she could undo all the damage this 'Azula' did to his self-esteem.

He believes he's weak, just because he can't beat his sister. Does he think he'll be weak unless he can master firebending? Why, did someone tell him that? Had to be someone important if he believes it enough to lie to himself. He said he was a bender, but I can't imagine him being a bad one if he's that good with swords.

"You said you're a bender right?" She asked after he settled down in his new rock cuffs, realizing that they were not coming off any time soon.

Zuko flinched as he realized his mistake during his earlier rant. Looking away from her he muttered a "Yes." under his breath. He figured that the only way he was getting out of this mountain was if she let him go, trying to hide his bending from her would only delay the inevitable.

"I'm assuming you and your sister trained together, right? Since both of you grew up together and she was always a 'better' bender than you." She asked him, scratching her chin as she tried to figure out how to beat self-worth into the person in front of her.

"Yes, we received the same training. She finished the basics years before I did and moved up to the advanced stuff before she was ten. What's it matter?" He growled at her, not enjoying this trip down memory lane.

Toph looked at him as an idea of what might have happened popped into her head.

He and his 'prodigy' sister trained the same way since they were little. Since he's a noble of some kind I can guess he was like me and didn't have the option to change trainers. He might have been stuck with his own 'Master' Yu, while his sister was able to progress to better teachers because of her talent.

She grinned as she realized what she needed to do to get this idiot to admit how strong he was.

There's no way in hell I'm gonna let you call yourself weak after injuring the best Earthbender in the world.