ErsatzErmine
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He opened his mouth to reassure his uncle, to tell him that he’d be able to start running in just as second, just as soon as the world stopped spinning, but instead all he muttered was, “I’m tired.”
When Iroh brushed against the back of Zuko’s head the pain there abruptly muscled to the front of Zuko’s list of issues, and he gave a loud groan. Iroh pulled back quickly, but Zuko could see that his hand was now dripping with blood.
“Then you should rest, Prince Zuko,” Iroh said, his voice calm and controlled, which would’ve been very nice if the lines of concern on his face hadn’t been so obvious. Zuko watched blearily as Iroh began to look sharply around them, apparently assessing something. “A man needs his rest.”
The world started getting hazy again, but the lack of attempted movement was a slight improvement. A series of shouts pulled him back from the creeping numbness, and Zuko forced his eyelids open.
Iroh was waving his arms, signaling to someone. “We surrender!” Iroh bellowed. “I am with the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, and he needs a doctor!”
***
OR:
Zuko and Iroh are taken prisoner by the Northern Water Tribe following the battle in Agna Qel’a.
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“Just run, Katara! We’ll meet you in Ba Sing Se!”
Katara had never left Sokka before, had never imagined having to separate herself from Aang or Toph — but, on the other hand, she had also never planned to get eaten by a sea serpent at the ripe old age of nineteen, so she ignored the agony in her leg, turned her back on the others, and ran as fast as she could.
It was just temporary, she reminded herself. She would get to the city just a few days after them, tops.
***
OR: Katara is separated from the group at the Serpent’s Pass, and runs into unexpected frenemies on the road to Ba Sing Se.
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When the next letter arrived, Zuko let it sit on his desk for a whole day before opening it, as if somehow Sokka would sense, a continent away, that he was still pretty pissed about Sokka trying to rope Iroh into this whole festival visit insanity. Finally, his point proven to literally no one except himself, Zuko waited until after a long bending practice, then a full bath, before he casually picked up the letter and broke the seal.
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OR:
Zuko has been Fire Lord for six years when Sokka starts trying to convince him to attend the Spring Gift festival at Wolf Cove, and Sokka isn’t taking no for an answer.
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The Phoenix King Rises by ErsatzErmine
Fandoms: Avatar: The Last Airbender (Cartoon 2005)
06 Jul 2025
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His father traces his scar one last time, then leans back, his long silk sleeves brushing against the filthy straw. “Would you like to come out of this cell, Zuko? Your room at the palace is waiting for you. You can take a bath. Have a fine dinner. Put on clean clothes. There is a meeting of the ministers tomorrow afternoon, and I would be so glad if my heir would attend.”
Maybe the executioner really is waiting, and this is all a trap.
But, maybe not.
Zuko has always been a survivor.
And he has been in this cell long enough to know that no one is coming for him.
OR:
The reign of Fire Lord Zuko lasted for three years before his father’s coup.
That was two years ago, and now Ozai is ready to let Zuko out of prison. After all, a Fire Lord needs his heir – assuming that heir has learned his lesson.
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For a second, Katara is helpless. No bending, no running, not when she’s trying to pull air into her lungs, feeling the world spin nauseatingly around her.
That’s all Zuko needs.
He pins her with a truly insulting ease, grabbing her wrists to hold both down, and she is well and truly caught. She glares up at him – he is soaked from the water she has been throwing at him, but his golden eyes are glaring right back at her, and there’s that sneering curl to his lip that makes her want to dump half the ocean on his head.
He leans down and she can feel the heat of his breath in her ear.
“Leaving so soon?” he hisses.
***
OR: Zuko captures Katara, and imprisons her on his ship to use as bait to try to capture Aang.
No plan truly survives contact with the enemy. And this plan… goes absolutely sideways.
Recent bookmarks
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true colors shine in darkness and in secrecy by perspicaciouspen
Fandoms: Avatar: The Last Airbender
05 Mar 2024
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There’s no conversation about it—there never is with the Blue Spirit—yet they still manage to seamlessly fall into their new routine.
Fight. Fuck. Repeat.
And, once the sun returns to the sky, pretend like none of it is happening.
Bookmarked by ErsatzErmine
22 Aug 2025
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Years. Broken into months into weeks into days—into hours, minutes, seconds—into moments. Simple at one end, complex at the other. In Draco’s experience, moments, even when simple, had a habit of becoming irretrievable. Moments grew, stretched, multiplied into ages and eras that defined whole stretches of measurable time. Draco regretted several moments in his life, some within his control, some without: all of them irretrievable in nature. At a certain point, wedged between ‘what-ifs’ of his own devising, he’d stopped trying to keep track of those regrettable moments: now and then, pushing and pulling, coming and going, beginning and end. Moments were only moments for just as long. After that, he had no control.
[In which Draco is forced to work with Hermione, falls in love, makes many mistakes, and eventually becomes his own man. A Draco POV prequel to Wait and Hope.]
Series
- Part 2 of The World of Wait and Hope
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- English
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- 241,977
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- 48/48
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- 74
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- 4,718
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Bookmarked by ErsatzErmine
18 Aug 2025
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A Season For Setting Fires by mightbewriting for Amurray
Fandoms: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
04 Mar 2022
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Torture smells like spring.
Like daffodils and tulips and snowdrops. Like the bouquets brought inside from the manor gardens to lend their life to cold stone walls that house criminals. Easter mixed with madness makes sense in this twisted landscape; Draco’s only chance at survival is to endure it. He knows this. But that doesn’t quell the twitching in his calves, the flexing in his fingers.
Granger lifts her hand off the floor and Draco nearly loses his lunch, stomach churning as he watches her extend her arm, reaching through the translucent cord, reaching towards him. He tries to blink it away, blink blink blink, but both she and the cord are stubborn, persistent things.
[In which a soulmate bond appears while Hermione is tortured at Malfoy Manor. Canon divergent from that moment onward.]
- Language:
- English
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- 95,639
- Chapters:
- 31/31
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- 78
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- 3,673
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- 14,990
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Bookmarked by ErsatzErmine
16 Aug 2025
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“I… Neville, I need flowers.”
He frowned and dropped his hands. “Well, I can certainly help you with that. But your letter made it seem like you had a much more dire issue.”
There was no point in keeping anything from Neville.
“Something is wrong with me,” she whispered. “Neville. I wake up hungry and I want to eat flowers. I keep dreaming of being a tree, a flower— vines.”
“...What?”
or, Hermione's concept of love has always been twisted due to her experiences. When she confesses her love to Draco Malfoy, something inside her snaps and she develops an appetite for all the flowers.
- Language:
- English
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- 23,868
- Chapters:
- 6/6
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- 4
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- 115
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Bookmarked by ErsatzErmine
11 Aug 2025
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After breaking it off with her husband of 13 years, Katara goes to the Fire Nation with her kids. She just wants a change of pace, a chance to catch up with her old friend and move forward but ends up getting much more than she'd bargained for.
- Language:
- English
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- 157,541
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- 28/28
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- 1,162
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Bookmarked by ErsatzErmine
24 Apr 2025