Chapter Text
Twang!
Something that Zuko should have seen coming, but was both literally and figuratively blindsided by. His only saving grace was his mask being hard enough to protect his head from the arrow. He's out cold before his body even hits the ground.
When he comes to, his head is throbbing and his surroundings are unfamiliar. His mask and swords are beside him, and he's lying on a bed of leaves. Better than waking up in Zhao's custody, but-
His eyes flicker over to a familiar orange shape sitting on a tree branch. The Avatar! Of course... But, why? The Avatar speaks to him, grey eyes looking distantly in the horizon. He talks about how the world was a hundred years ago, and how things have changed so much. Zuko is briefly confused, until he remembers the rumors that the Avatar had been frozen the whole time. Well, it would certainly explain him somehow being a child, despite literally being over a hundred years old. The Avatar mentions a boy named Kuzon. He speaks of the boy in a way that makes Zuko think of his uncle reminiscing about his old war buddies. Getting in and out of trouble, having a deep and true friendship. It takes Zuko a moment, but the name Kuzon rings a bell. Kuzon the mad. They said that the spirits had corrupted his mind. He lashed out violently at his countrymen, denounced the Fire Lord, claimed that Agni himself had cursed the Fire Nation. He had to be put down like a rabid dog. Had the Avatar done that to the poor man? No, Kuzon the mad was an adult, the Kuzon the Avatar is talking about was clearly a child.
(Or perhaps they were the same, just driven to madness by grief of losing a close friend.)
"Do you think that if we knew each other back then, we could have been friends?" The Avatar is looking at him. His eyes are soft and hopeful.
Zuko's initial reaction is anger. He wants to lash out at the stupid creature that parades itself as a twelve year old child. But instead he decides to think. Is the question really so dumb? Zuko props himself up against a tree. Without the barrier of the war between them, could Zuko and the Avatar have been friends? The Avatar and the Fire Prince would be in the same circles, so it's not unlikely that they would know each other, at least. But would they become friends? Zuko wants to say no, he so desperately wants to think that he and the Avatar wouldn't have any points of agreement. But his mind keeps flashing back to when he put the safety of his crew above his mission to capture the Avatar. As the Avatar flew over, he and Zuko had met eyes. That's probably the reason why the Avatar is asking him this. He knew that Zuko had spared him that day.
He wants to know why.
Honestly? Zuko also wants to know why.
Zuko looked deep into the Avatar's soft grey eyes, his mind flashed back to the too many, too small skeletons in the charred remains of the Air Temples. He and the Avatar could never be friends. The Avatar is a coward, and weakling. He hid while his people burned and payed for his cowardice. Only, the Avatar is not a coward, he surrendered to Zuko willingly to protect those water savages. People who he probably barely knew. Had he been around while his people were being attacked, he would have surrendered himself to protect them. But he wasn't around, he was frozen. The Avatar is very brave, perhaps even foolishly so if he wishes to go against the Fire Nation.
But the Avatar is still weak, he refuses to fight or kill his enemies. Zuko's mind flashed back once again to all the tiny charred skeletons littering the temples, huddled together, frightened as the end consumed them like a fire eats kindling. Zuko's tutors always told him that the Air Nation armies had lost fair and square against the Fire Nation's might. But the only soldier remains were Fire Nation. Huddled together like dying flames as the cold closes in. The Air Nomads, the Avatar's people, had all been pacifists. Their remaining scrolls and records all showed that they were a purely peaceful people who had no army. The scorch marks, the placement of the remains, it made it so obvious that the attack had been an ambush. But they deserved it for being weak, they were wiped out because they were weak!
But is it really weakness to be attacked from behind? Is it truly weak to be struck down at your most vulnerable? The Fire Nation is the strongest nation in the world-!
But the strong do not pick weak opponents.
The strong do not burn the faces of their-
Zuko takes a breath. At least the Avatar isn't chattering at him or demanding some kind of answer to his inane question. In fact, is he even still there? He probably ran off like a-
The Avatar is seated near Zuko, his eyes are closed and his face is peaceful, he's meditating. If Zuko could tell up from down, he'd pick up the Avatar and make a run for it. But he just doesn't feel up to it at the moment, his inner flame is pitching some kind of fit and it's making his headache worse. So he lays back at stares at the canopy, Agni peaks at him through the breaks in the tree's leaves.
Why in the world did the Avatar save him anyway? Aren't Zuko and the Avatar enemies? Why in the world would you save your enemy? Is it because he thinks they can be friends?
They can't.
(They can.)
Zuko ran a hand over his face. The audacity of the Avatar to just sit there and quietly meditate like Zuko wouldn't attack him while he's vulnerable.
(He wouldn't.)
(But Azula would.)
(Ozai would-)
Zuko pressed his fingers into his sinuses. His head felt like his brain had a heartbeat. He can feel his inner fire invading his chi lines. He's vaguely aware that isn't good, but his head hurts too much to care.
He starts thinking again about the Avatar's question again. Was he really foolish enough to think they could ever be friends?
(No. He's wise enough to realize that Zuko isn't inherently bad.)
He's from a time before the war. Before the world rejected the Fire Nation.
(Or perhaps the Fire Nation rejected the world?)
The Avatar is wrong for rejecting the Fire Nation, working against their greater vision. They'll make the world a better place.
(By burning and maiming the innocent, small children.)
The Air Nomads were weak-
(Too small skeletons. All black as charcoal.)
The Fire Nation is the greatest nation-
(The soldiers all bundled together, abandoned and left to die.)
The Fire Nation are not savages like-
(A whole division of new recruits sacrificed like lambs to slaughter.)
The Fire Lord is always right.
(Even when he burns the faces of-)
The Avatar is a coward and a fool.
(He boldly surrendered for the sake of people he didn't know. He didn't whine or cry when he was taken by force.)
The Avatar hid like a coward for a hundred years!
(He was frozen, he wasn't even aware of the war-)
The Nation defeated the Air Nation armies.
(The Air Nomads had no army, they had been slaughtered wholesale-)
Inner fire surged through the prince's chi lines, like torrential rain filling a river.
(It wasn't a battle, it was MURDER-)
Fire fills the banks, and licks at the edges.
(The Fire Lord sent away his gravely injured son on a fools errand-)
The river of inner flame bursts through, flowing over into the veins.
(Had the Air Nomads deserved it?)
The flames lick the muscles.
(Had the dragons deserved it?)
Fire seeps into the bones.
(Had Zuko deserved it?)
It's in fire's nature to shine bright, and give hope and light.
It's in fire's nature to burn what's in it's way.
It's in fire's nature to consume and destroy.
"Hey, you alright there, Zuko?"
A fire left unattended will consume everything.
"Oh no. You're burning up."
Without air, the fire will be snuffed.
"Just try and hang in there, Zuko."
In the end, fire consumes all.
In the end, darkness consumes all.
In the end, the void consumes all.
In the end,
Zuko
is
f
a
l
l
i
n
g
.