No One's POV
The group was walking through a hot terrain with a large rock path with grass on the sides as Appa walked with them. As they walked Katara was walking with her head down, "This is humiliating." Sokka looked at her, "Do you mean getting thoroughly spanked by the Fire Nation or having to walk all the way to the Western Air Temple?" "Both." Aang was walking next to Appa, "Sorry guys, but Appa gets tired carrying all these people." (Y/N) was walking with Rody, "I wonder how the others are doing." One of the others answered his question, "They're probably on their way to a prison right now. Seems like my dad just got out, now he's going back in." Toph suddenly stopped, "Hey we're here! I can feel it!" Ty Lee looked around to see nothing but a giant gap between them and another piece of land in front of them, "Do your feet need their eyes checked?" Aang looked around, "No she's right. We are here."
The group got on Appa's back for the flying bison to fly them down into the cavern showing the upside down Western Air Temple. The group looked in amazement for them to land and get off of Appa. (Y/N) let go of Rody's harness to see if he would find something, as he walked towards Sokka and Toph. They were sitting on rocks making a circle formation, so he set all of his weapons down and sat on a rock on his own. Ty Lee had taken her bow off of her back to join (Y/N), for Katara and Aang to take a seat on their own rocks. The other three children ran off to explore.
Sokka pointed at Ty Lee, "Before we start, should she be apart of this?" (Y/N) went to say something but Sokka interrupted him, "You don't get a say in this." Katara looked at the acrobat to look back at Sokka, "She was right about the tunnels." "They were a trap." Ty Lee put her hands up to shoulder length as she shook her head, "I didn't know about that." Toph looked at Sokka, "She's telling the truth." Katara spoke up again, "She stayed with father and I during the assault." Sokka looked at Aang, "What do you think?" Aang looked at Ty Lee to nod, "She can stay." The brunette let out a sigh of relief for Katara to smile, "With that done, we need to decide on what we're gonna do now."
Aang crossed his arms, "So what's the new plan?" Sokka put his fore finger and thumb on his chin, "Well, if you ask me, the new plan is the old plan. You just need to master all four elements and confront the Fire Lord before the comet comes." "Oh yeah, that's great, no problem, I'll do just that." Katara looked at Aang, "No one said that it was going to be easy." "Well, it's not even gonna be possible. Where am I supposed to get a fire bending teacher." "We could look for Jeong Jeong." "Yeah right. Like we'll ever run into Jeong Jeong again." Ty Lee pointed at (Y/N), "What about him?" The young boy created a baseball sized flame in his hand, "With this being the best I can do, I wouldn't be a great teacher." Aang threw his hands into the air, "Oh, well. Guess we can't come up with anybody. Why don't we just take a nice tour around the temple?" The young boy then jumped off of the closest ledge with his glider to fly around. Toph looked confused, "What's wrong with him?" Sokka sighed, "There's gotta be somebody to teach him fire bending."
After a while Aang was still flying around, so the group got on Appa to try and get him to come down. Katara was the one who shouted at him, "Aang, can we talk about you learning fire bending now?!" Aang responded with, "What?! The wind is too loud in my ears?! Check out this loop!" The boy then showed off by doing a loop in the air for Sokka to get frustrated, "Aang, I think we should be making some plans about our future!" "Ok, we can do that while I how you the giant pai sho table!" Aang then landed for Appa to follow letting everyone off. Aang smiled, "Oh, and you're going to love the giant echo chamber."
Before any of them could say anything else Toph spoke up, "That is going to have to wait." She pointed behind them as Appa moved showing Zuko standing a good space away from them, "Hello, Zuko here." Katara got her water out of her canteen, Toph was ready to earth bend, Sokka grabbed his boomerang, Aang his staff, (Y/N) his knives, and Ty Lee looked at the others to realize that a fight was going to happen, so she got in a fighting stance. Zuko however just stood there with a smile, "Hey, I heard you guys flying around down there, so I just thought I'd wait for you here." Appa then walked up to lick Zuko making the young man wipe off the drool, "I know you must be surprised to see me here."
Sokka took his hand off of his boomerang, "Not really, since you've followed us all over the world." Zuko rubbed the back of his neck, "Right... Well, uh... Anyway, what I wanted to tell you about is that I've changed. And I, uh, I'm good now. And, well, I think I should join your group." He then looked at Aang, "Oh, and I can teach fire ending. To you. You see I, uh-" Toph raised an eyebrow, "You wanna what now?" (Y/N) crossed his arms, "You can't possibly think that any of us would trust you, can you? How stupid do you think we are?" Sokka nodded, "Yeah, all you've ever done is try to hunt us down and capture Aang." Appa laid down next to Zuko as he tried to defend himself, "I mean, I've done some good things. I mean, I could've stolen your bison in Ba Sing Se, but I set him free. That's something."
Toph eased up to where she was not ready to attack, "Appa does seem to like him." Sokka narrowed his eyes at Zuko, "He probably just covered himself in honey or something so that Appa would lick him. I'm not buying it." Zuko hung his head, "I can understand why any of you wouldn't trust me. And I know I've made some mistakes in the past." Sokka took a step forward, "Like when you attacked our village." (Y/N) still had his arms crossed, "Or when you captured uncle in Ba Sing Se." Katara had her hands on her hips, "Or when you stole my mother's necklace and used it to track us down and capture us?" Zuko looked at the ground, "I was wrong to try to capture you, I'm sorry for what I did in Ba Sing Se, and I'm sorry that I attacked the water tribe. And I never should've sent that fire nation assassin after you. I'm gonna try and stop him." Everyone's eyes widened for Sokka to take out his boomerang, "Wait, you sent combustion man after us?!" "Well that's not his name, but..." "Oh sorry, I didn't mean to insult your friend." "He's not my friend!" Toph pointed at Zuko, "That guy locked me and Katara in jail and tried to blow us all up!"
Zuko looked over at Aang, "Why aren't you saying anything? You once said you thought we could be friends. You know I have good in me." Aang looked at his friends to face Zuko, "There's no way we can trust you after everything you've done. We'll never let you join us." Katara took a step forward, "You need to get out of here, now." Zuko started to become frustrated, "I'm trying to explain that I'm not that person anymore." He took a few steps forward for (Y/N) to point one of his kunais at him, "Either you leave, or we attack." Zuko looked at his brother to sigh and get on his knees with his hands forward and wrists up, "If you won't accept me as a friend, then maybe you'll take me as your prisoner." Katara quickly sent a small wave of water at him, "No, we won't!" The water hit him sending him a few feet backwards for Katara to look down at him, "Get out of here and don't come back. And if we ever see you again... Well, we'd better not see you again." Zuko hung his head as he simply got up and waylk away without saying a word.
After he left their sight Katara walked towards their bags, "Why would he try to fool us like that?" Sokka followed her, "Obviously he wants to lead us into some kind of trap." Katara grabbed her sleeping bag, "This is just like when we were in prison together in Ba Sing Se. He starts talking about his mother and making it seem like he's an actual human being with feelings." "He wants you to trust him and feel sorry for him so you let your guard down, then he strikes." "The thing is, it worked. I did feel sorry for him. I felt like he was really confused and hurt." (Y/N) laid his sleeping bag out, "I felt the same way. When he lived with uncle and me, I thought he had changed. I thought that we could of had a nice life in our tea shop. But when the time came he made his choice. And we all paid the price." Katara looked at him, "We can't trust him." The fire bender nodded.
Aang soon spoke up, "I have a confession to make." He looked at Sokka and Katara, "Remember when you two were sick and I got captured by Zhao?" Sokka raised an eyebrow, "And you made us suck on frozen frogs? How could I forget. I had a wart on the flap that hangs down from the back of my throat for a month." Ty Lee held in a laugh as Katara looked at her brother, "Sokka, I looked at it and told you there was nothing there." "I could feel it! It's my throatal flap!"
Aang continued what he was saying, "Anyway, when Zhao had me chained up, it was Zuko who came in and got me out. He risked his life to save me." Katara shook her head, "No way, I'm sure he only did it so he could capture you himself." Sokka nodded, "Yeah, face it Aang, you're nothing but a big prize to him." Aang sighed, "You're probably right." Katara looked at her brother, "And what was all that crazy stuff about setting Appa free? What a liar." Toph quickly spoke up, "Actually he wasn't lying." Sokka threw his hands up to sarcastically say, "Oh hooray! In a lifetime of evil, at least he didn't add animal cruelty to the list." "I'm just saying that considering his messed-up family-" She looked at (Y/N), "No offense." (Y/N) nodded, "None taken. Carry on." "-and how he was raised he could of turned out a lot worse." Ty Lee nodded, "She's right. There is Azula after all." Katara matched her brother's sarcastic tone, "You're right Toph, let's go find him and give him a medal. The "Not as much of a jerk you could've been" award." "All I know is that while he was talking to us, he was sincere. Maybe you're all just letting your hurt feelings keep you from thinking clearly." "Easy for you to say. You weren't there when he had us attacked by pirates." Sokka chimed in, "Or burned down Kyoshi Village." Aang chipped in as well, "Or when he tried to capture me at the fire temple."
Katara became angrier, "Why are you even trying to defend him?" Toph became angry as she stomped towards Katara, "Because, Katara, you're all ignoring one crucial fact. Aang needs a fire bending teacher. We can't think of a single person in the world to do the job. Now one shows up on a silver platter and you won't even think about it?" Aang stood next to Katara, "I'm not having Zuko as my fire bending teacher." Sokka joined him, "Darn right your not buddy." (Y/N) stood next to Sokka, "He's to dangerous to have around." Ty Lee stood next to him, "I agree." Katara crossed her arms, "Well, I guess that's settled." Toph groaned as she turned around, "I'm starting to wonder as to who is the blind one around here." She walked away for the remaining group to get ready for bed.
The Next Morning
Everyone got their bowl of rice for breakfast for Katara to be hanging (Y/N) the last one, "Has anyone seen Toph?" Sokka yawned, "I haven't seen her since she stormed off yesterday." One of the other kids thought of something, "Maybe she's just exploring the temple. There are some pretty fun spots to practice earth bending." Ty Lee took a bite of her food, "Should we go look for her?" Sokka sat next to her, "Let her have fun with her rocks. I'm in no rush to have her yelling at us again." The Duke had finished his food to be next to the other two kids not in the gaang, "We can go look for her." The three ran off for the gaang to hear a lot of rumbling not soon after.
They ran towards the noise to see Toph crawling on the ground. Katara reached her first, "Toph, what happened?" Toph stayed on the ground, "My feet got burned." Katara saw the young girl's feet red to get on one knee to look at them better, "Oh no, what happened?" "I just told you, my feet got burned." "I meant how." "Well I kind of went to see Zuko last night." "Zuko?!" Katara started healing Toph's feet as the injured girl explained, "I just thought he could be helpful to us and if I talked to him, maybe we could work something out." Sokka had a look of confusion, "So he attacked you?!" "Well he did and he didn't. It was sort of an accident." (Y/N) spoke up, "But he did fire bend at you?" Toph sighed,"Yes."
Sokka put his hands on his hips, "See, you trusted Zuko and you got burned... Literally." Katara did what she could for Toph's feet, "It's gonna take a while for your feet to get better. I wish I could've worked on them sooner." Toph felt some relief from the pain, "Yeah, me too." Sokka thought for a second, "Zuko's clearly to dangerous to be left alone. We're gonna have to go after him." Aang looked saddened by the idea, "I hate to go looking for a fight, but you're right. After what he did to Toph, I don't think we have a choice." "He's crafty, but we'll find a way to capture him." Ty Lee came up with an idea, "Why not just invite him back here? He's already offered himself up as a prisoner once." Sokka and (Y/N) picked Toph up for (Y/N) to call Rody as Sokka liked the idea, "Yeah... Get him to come back and say he'll be our prisoner, then we'll jump him and really make him our prisoner. He'll never suspect it." (Y/N) looked at him with tired eyes, "You are a master of surprise Sokka."
The boys set Toph on Rody, who led her to the side of a running well. He laid down letting her put herself on the side of the well and letting her feet in the cold water, "Aw, that's the stuff. Now I know how the rest of you guys feel. Not being able to see with your feet stinks." The six stayed there to let Toph rest until they heard and felt an explosion go off above them. They got Toph out of the well to look up and see combustion man. Ty Lee's eyes widened, "Who is that?!" Sokka helped with Toph, "It's combustion man. Avoid the explosives coming out of his head!" The six then saw Zuko try to stop the assassin, but he was pushed to the side as the man fired another shot at them. The six hid behind the well, as Rosy ran to hide behind a wall, to feel another explosion hit the other side of the well. They heard another explosion to look up and see Zuko now hanging from a vine that was sticking under a ledge.
Aang ran out from behind cover to create a tornado and send it towards their enemy. The man jumped over the tornado to grab onto the ledge of a closer building. When he got up Katara was now sending a wave of ice shards at him. The man blocked them with his metal arm and leg, avoiding any painful cuts. Everyone ran for cover for Ty Lee to quickly grab her bow and an arrow. They all hid behind a wall, so the man started blowing random structures that they could be hiding behind. Toph felt the temple shake, "He's going to blow this whole temple off of the cliff side!" Katara tried to look over the corner for an explosion to hit near by, "I can't step out to water bend at him without getting blown up. And I can't get a good enough angle from down here." Sokka thought of something, "I know how to get an angle on him. But he could just hit my boomerang as it's in the air." Ty Lee quickly handed (Y/N) her bow, "This isn't the best time but here's your old bow." She gave him the bow and arrow to push him towards the corner, "Now use it." Sokka looked at (Y/N), who nodded. The warrior waited for another explosion to see where it was coming from. He followed the line made of steam to bring his boomerang back, "Alright buddy don't fail me now." He threw it to swap places with (Y/N), who pulled his arrow back on the bow string. He followed the boomerang to hear a shot heading towards the weapon. He let the arrow go while aiming in front of the boomerang, to have it hit an explosion making smoke. The boomerang went through the smoke surprising combustion man as the boomerang hit him in his third eye knocking him down.
The boys saw this for Sokka to jump out and catch his weapon, "Alright boomerang!" Everyone stepped out to see their enemy stand back up. Sokka looked at his weapon, "Aww, boomerang." Combustion man went to fire again, but something went wrong with his third eye and he exploded.
A large smoke cloud appeared for everyone to wait and see if the fight was over. There was no more combustion man, but they saw Zuko climb back up onto solid ground. They let out a breathe of relief knowing that the enemy was neutralized. (Y/N) looked at Ty Lee to hold up his bow, "Thanks for giving this to me. I had thought that I lost it a long time ago." Ty Lee smiled,"Oh no problem, I tried to give it to you before, but I had forgotten." "Well better late than never."
Some Time Later
Everyone was at the somewhat broken well waiting for Zuko to walk up to them. Aang was the first to say something, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but thanks, Zuko." Sokka looked at Aang to but his arm around (Y/N), "Hey, what about us? We did the boomerang and arrow thing." Zuko stopped walking when he was a few feet away from everyone, "Listen, I know I didn't explain myself very well yesterday. I've been through a lot in the past few years, and it's been hard. But I'm realizing that I had to go through all those things to learn the truth. I thought I had lost my honor and that somehow my father could return it to me. But I know now that no one can give you your honor. 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."
Zuko looked at Toph to bow, "I'm sorry for what I did to you yesterday. It was an accident." He stood up, "Fire can be dangerous and wild. So as a fire bender I need to be more careful and control my bending, so I don't hurt people unintentionally." Aang had taken everything that Zuko said to heart, "I think you are suppose to be my fire bending teacher. When I first tried fire bending, I burned Katara. And after that, I never wanted to fire bend again. But now I know you understand how easy it is to hurt the people you love." Aang bowed at Zuko, "I'd like you to teach me." Zuko bowed back, "Thank you. I'm so happy you accepted me into your group." "Not so fast. I still have to ask my friends if it's okay with them."
Aang turned to Toph, "Toph, you're the one Zuko burned. What do you think?" Toph shrugged, "Let him join. It'll give me plenty of time to get back at him for burning my feet." "Ty Lee?" The acrobat was sitting on the well criss crossed, "I've been in a group with him before and he's pretty fun sometimes." "Sokka?" Sokka put his hands shoulder length to shrug, "Hey, all I want is to defeat the Fire Lord. If you think this is the way to do it, then I'm all for it." "Katara?" Katara looked at Aang, "I'll go along with whatever you think is right?" "(Y/N)?" (Y/N) had his arms crossed as he looked at Zuko. He soon looked at Aang, "You need a fire bending teacher, he's all we got." Zuko smiled, "I won't let you down, I promise." The gaang all walked away from him to continue with their day.
(Y/N) went to his designated room to set his bow down and lay down on his bed. After a while he went to go help Ty Lee with lunch. On his way he heard Zuko behind him, "Hey (Y/N)." The boy kept walking, "What do you want?" Zuko caught up to follow him, "Well, I thought maybe we could catch up a bit." "Why would we do that?" "Well I just thought... Since we're broth-" (Y/N) quickly turned around to look at Zuko with a killing glare and venom in his voice, "Don't call me your brother. You lost that right in Ba Sing Se." He turned back around to continue walking as Zuko stood where he was with his head hung.