Avatar Zuko

Chapter 1

Prince Zuko’s ship sailed roughly in the waters in between the Earth Kingdom and Southern Water Tribe, there was a large storm in the air and yet the young firebender was above deck, determined to practice his firebending to distract himself from a sad fact: he had turned 16 today and he still didn’t have the avatar or his honour. And that fact made the prince seeth, Azula was only just 15 as of a few weeks ago and she had everything he could ever dream of; honour, respect, their father’s love and, if Zuko never reclaimed his honour, she’d predictably become the firelord when their father died. So Zuko was angry and stressed and he was beginning to feel hopeless no matter how much he tried to hide it. Part of him, the part he shunned, hoped he’d give up and just try to make a life for himself in the colonies, maybe meet someone and rest. He had the money to do it, but he was too determined, he’d never stop his search unless he was either successful or dead.

So that’s why he was practising firebending katas at night, in a storm, outside on a ship that was in much too rough water for anyone, especially Zuko, to be safe. Yet he stupidly persevered through his fear and struggled against the wind that threatened to toss him overboard.

Then, after his step was just slightly off due to the rain splattering distractingly in his eyes, his one good eye felt it more though, an especially strong gust threw of his balance and blasted him through the air and, in the midst of flailing limbs and screaming, Zuko felt an airy feeling flow through his core, a small tingle that stretched across his chi like a protective, but excited, blanket. And suddenly, another force pushed him back to the ship, carrying him a good 6m across and then up so he landed upon the deck surprisingly lightly, and then the feeling vanished completely, leaving him scared and confused.

He took his near death experience as a solid excuse to go back inside the ship, and beelined through his crew, most of whom were drinking copious amounts of alcohol but tried to hide it when Zuko passed them, and headed towards his Uncle’s chambers where the old man was predictably brewing tea.

“Prince Zuko! What brings you to my chambers?... And why are you soaking wet? Please don’t say you were out in that storm, nephew, it’s incredibly dangerous! A man who dies a reckless death holds no honour in life.” Said his Uncle, shaking his head in apparent disappointment that was actually thinly veiled concern.

“Sorry, Uncle. But I had to practice and it’s easier on the deck” Iroh’s nephew sat across from him and, not particularly weirdly, didn’t even sip the jasmine tea his kindly Uncle passed him. But the young man had seemingly only come to see him so he could sit and shake, perhaps he was ill? He was pale and shivering…

“Are you alright, you look a little shaken.” Ventured the older man, softly patting Zuko on the shoulder in comfort, knowing he wouldn’t react kindly to him checking his forehead for his temperature due to the scar the boy’s cruel father had left there.

“I’m… Something strange happened whilst I was on deck… No. It’s fine, it was nothing, just my mind playing tricks on me. Good night, Uncle.” Zuko got up abruptly and swept out the room, worrying his uncle even further, and he shut himself in his room without another word to anyone.

“What happened was just luck, I was scared and tired, it’s not like I… Did that.” He tried to convince himself, muttering quietly as to not arouse suspicion from the crew despite being in a pretty much soundproof room. And eventually his denial worked, though it took several hours and no sleep to calm down, he realised how preposterous it was. Him airbending? Impossible, he could already firebend and the only person who could bend more than one element was the avatar, the very person Zuko was chasing after.

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The next few days were inconsequential, no advancements in the prince’s search for the avatar and, after several rather annoying conversations, Zuko even managed to convince is uncle he was neither sick or insane, something he’d expected would take much longer. All in all, things on their little ship were as good as was possible for the Prince, until the incident of course. Zuko swore the universe was out to get him some days.

He’d been pacing about his bedroom, thoughts of capturing the ever elusive avatar on his mind as usual. The firebender had been doing his breathing practices, they helped keep him calm and his thoughts organised, but he noticed the Fire Nation Flag he’d placed upon the wall was rustling, almost as if it was moving with his breaths. Of course, that was ridiculous, it was probably just swaying from the movement of the ship against the waves. To settle his mind Zuko held his breath for a second, and the flag went slack and became completely still.

Almost as if a sabertooth moose-lion had been placed upon his shoulders, Zuko fell to his knees and struggled to grasp any sense of reality, breath escaping him and never coming back. He was tempted to scream, or sob, but his resolve, and useless denial were too strong and so he just laughed crazily, desperately, staring down at the metal floor beneath him and shaking uncontrollably.

“I’m… Not… Ha… Hahahaha!” He felt his sanity seeping out of his skull and realised he had to calm down, flames were already flickering at his fingertips and he definitely didn’t want anyone to walk in to check on him whilst the young Prince was in his current state.

“Everything is fine.” Zuko told himself, nodding as he spoke to try and make himself believe it more. “It was just a flag, swaying with the ship. I had nothing to do with it, not even slightly. And, even if I did which I don’t, I was probably just bending the heat in the air. Yeah, that can probably happen. Everything is totally fine”.

And with that Zuko picked himself up off the floor and splashed cold water on his scarred face, he definitely couldn’t airbend. That was ridiculous because that would make him the avatar, the person he’d been trying to capture for three years. If it was him then he’d be a traitor to his nation just by simply existing. But… His mind wasn’t eased, he was too het up about the entire thing to just let it go and keep searching. He had to be completely certain, if he could bend water, the opposite to fire, then he’d be, without a doubt, the avatar. And as much as it sickened him to try and bend such a lesser element he still had to be sure.

“Captain, set our course for the Southern Water Tribe.” Zuko ordered once he’d left his room, knowing it had much less defence than its sister tribe in the North and they were much closer. Of course, most if not all of the waterbenders there had been arrested for crimes against the Fire Nation, though what those crimes were Zuko had no clue, so he wouldn’t be able to see a true master and try copying them, but he assumed the tribe would at least have some waterbending scrolls he could look over.

Then he could put this entire ‘am I the avatar?’ situation to bed.

He hoped.