Accidental Avatar 3.5: The Burn Book

What is happening to me?

"Do I have to?" Mangetsu whined as he followed Zuko towards a pair of metal doors.

"They're your friends," Zuko looked at him in confusion. "Why don't you want to rejoin them?"

"I'm not their friend; they keep me around because of her," he jabs a thumb at the floating ghost-girl.

"Betcha, you're wrong."

"Betcha, I'm not."

"I'm with Amaya on this one," Zuko said as he pushed open the doors. "Come on."

"You're always with Amaya," Mangetsu grumbled.

The door opened up, and they saw the whole Gaang hanging out on the other side; they looked conflicted until they saw Mangetsu. Relief and happiness rushed across all their faces.

"Mangetsu!" they all yelled out.

"I win!" Amaya said in a singsong voice.

"Shut up, or I will-"

"You can't do anything to me," Amaya pointed out. "I'm a ghost~."

He glared while the others awkwardly shuffled their feet and looked at Zuko.

"I can't believe I'm saying this," Aang said with his head hung down. "But thanks, Zuko."

"Hey, what about me?" Sokka jumped in. "I did the boomerang thing!"

He gestured with his boomerang.

"That thing was actually useful?" Mangetsu couldn't stop himself. "Miracles do happen."

"I've missed you, Mangetsu," Muteki laughed.

"Listen, I know I didn't explain myself very well yesterday-"

"It's true; I had him give me the play by play," Mangetsu chimed in.

"How long have you been with him?" Jin demanded.

"When was the invasion?"

"You ass," Muteki sighed.

Zuko sighed deeply.

"Right, sorry, you were saying," Mangetsu waved for him to continue.

"I've been through a lot these past few years, and it's been hard," Zuko prefaced. "But I'm realising that I had to go through all those things to learn the truth. I thought I had lost my honour and that somehow my father could return it to me. But like Amaya tried to tell me numerous times... no one can give you your honour. It's something you earn for yourself by choosing to do what's right. All I want now is to play my part in ending this war. And I know my destiny is to help you restore balance to the world."

Mangetsu coughed pointedly.

"I'm getting there; calm down," Zuko muttered before turning to Toph. "I'm sorry for what I did to you. It was an accident. Fire can be dangerous and wild. So as a firebender, I need to be more careful and control my bending, so I don't hurt people unintentionally."

"We didn't learn that lesson on the boat, did we?"

"What?" Mangetsu looked over at her.

"Back on the boat, I gave him a spook, and he almost set me on fire," Amaya explained.

Zuko sighed deeply again.