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Chapter Text

He pushed past the fighting and down to the brig. If there was anyone down here at all they could be added to his team's small force. Sokka turned sharply around a corner, grabbing onto the metal frame and swinging to redirect his momentum. Two soldiers guarded the next door, but he caught them by surprise and fluidly knocked one out with his club and the other with a heavy kick to the chest. The second man's skull cracked against the metal behind him and Sokka wasted no time shuffling through his armor and grabbing the keys off his belt.

The ship lurched violently to one side, slamming him into the wall and causing him to miss while trying to stick the key in the lock. He had no idea what danger the ship may be in while he was underneath and would have no way of knowing if he needed to evacuate. Hands shaking, he finally unlocked the door to enter a hall of prison cells- exactly where he expected them to be.

"Hey!" He shouted as he started to unlock cell by cell. "I'm getting you out of here! Be ready to fight- let's go!"

There were more than half a dozen men locked up, and he recognized a few from the scouting crew that never came back a few days ago. As soon as they realized it was a Water Tribe warrior shouting at them the men jumped to their feet, quick to realize their only chance to escape certain death was now.

The torches flickered as he raced through the hall, unlocking doors and shackles as he went. With all but one man freed, Sokka turned to the last cell as the heavy steps of the charging warriors rang throughout the metal cabin. When he looked into the final cage, he choked back a gasp.

The young man in the cell looked so small, huddled on the ground, facing the back wall. He had chains around his ankles and wrists, unlike the other men aboard. His shirt was in tatters from what could only have been a whip, his back covered in blood, broken skin, and dark bruises.

"Oh spirits, are you okay?" Sokka quickly opened the door and ran over to kneel at the boy's side.

Immediately he jerked up and away from Sokka, even though he appeared unresponsive moments ago.

"What are you doing here?" He curled into his body in the corner of the cell. "Please, just leave, don't hurt me," he begged, and only then did Sokka see a hint of the scar covering the left side of his face.

Sokka backed up in shock, "Zuko? What in La's name happened to you?"

Zuko gave a pathetic attempt of a glare, but his battered and bruised physique made it hard for Sokka to feel intimidated. He looked so young, probably barely older than Sokka if at all.

Maybe it was his fatherly protective instincts, maybe it was the fact that Zuko had never once actually caused his team any harm, maybe it was something else entirely- but Sokka approached Zuko once more, flipping through the key ring looking for whatever would unlock the cuffs.

"Come on, I'm getting you out of here." He fumbled with the lock as Zuko stared at him, barely moving.

"Why?" He uttered softly, seemingly unable to accept what was happening to him.

"I don't know what they did to you or why- but this is not okay. You look left for dead, and this became a rescue mission as soon as we realized Zhao wasn't on board." The ship jerked suddenly again, throwing Sokka into Zuko as he worked to remove the ankle shackles.

"The spirit oasis," Zuko exhaled.

"What?"

"We have to go to the spirit oasis. That's his plan, that's how he's going to take out the waterbenders." The sounds of the battle echoed around them.

"What are you talking about?"

"Zhao! Listen to me- he's going to kill the moon spirit! He's been taunting me with the fact for weeks, we have to stop him!

You've been locked here for weeks? "Okay, let's go!"

Sokka grabbed the wrist of his unlikely ally and pulled him to his feet and down the hall, back the direction he came. He stopped abruptly as they passed the guards he had knocked out earlier, quickly returning to one of the collapsed men. He forced the outer armor off of the firebender before stripping his thick long-sleeved undershirt over his head.

Zuko paused, confused. "What are y-"

Sokka threw the shirt into Zuko's hands, turning back to yank off the man's boots. "This is the North Pole, jerkbender. Your shirt is hanging on by a thread, and if you think you can run through the snow barefoot without losing some toes you are sorely mistaken."

The ship shuddered once more and Sokka looked back at Zuko, "we need to get off this ship. Let's go!"

Zuko scrambled to put on the soldier's oversized boots before taking off after Sokka. They approached a corner but before Sokka could lead them Zuko shouted, "wait! This way," and redirected him.

Sokka followed and immediately worried he was being misled, but something in his gut said that something in Zuko changed, that his eyes were honest.

The duo burst open onto a lower balcony ledge and was assaulted by the crashing waves, nearly taking out Zuko. Sokka held his arm tightly and grabbed onto the railing.

"Where now!?" He shouted over the rushing wind.

Zuko pointed down over the railing before them, revealing a small metal lifeboat. Sokka grinned.

"Okay, you're the best. Let's do this."

Both boys hoisted themselves up and over the railing, dropping down the short distance into the boat below. Zuko hurriedly untied almost everything holding the boat above water before shouting "hold on!"

Sokka gripped the edge of the vessel as it dropped about 6 feet into the rolling waves.

"Where is the oasis!?" Shouted Zuko.

Sokka stared up at the stars, in case he got turned around from all the running below deck. As soon as he found north he turned and pointed, and he heard Zuko start a motor behind him. The small boat took off, not incredibly fast, but absolutely fantastic for how wild the waves were at the moment.

"He's going to kill the moon spirit?"

"Yup."

"What the fuck is wrong with him?"

"So many things," Zuko growled with a little more life than he had previously shown.

As soon as they reached land the boys jumped out of the boat and booked it in the direction Sokka knew the spirit oasis lay. Aang was in there right now. So was his sister- so was Yue. He had to protect them.

Just then a dark red haze fell upon them and Sokka froze, looking around for the source. Zuko had stopped a few paces in front of him and pointed upwards while making eye contact with the other boy. Sokka turned his head up towards the almost full moon and let out an audible gasp.

"What-"

"We're too late." And Zuko fell to his knees.

"No no no, fuck this shit you're pulling right now- nope, we are still going, get the fuck up," Sokka yanked Zuko to his feet and started running again- still holding on to his arm.

Sokka wasn't really doing a lot of in-depth thinking at the moment, pretty much everything still working in his brain was fueled entirely on instinct- he could not be more grateful that his head was still on straight and unscathed. They approach the entrance to the oasis and can hear fighting inside. They could still fix this.

Then everything went dark.

***

The second Zuko stepped foot into the oasis Katara froze him to the wall, turning around without a second glance to attack Zhao.

"Why would you do that!?" Sokka shouted before running into the fray.

Zuko looked over the scene frantically, trying to calm his breathing so he could melt the ice encasing most of his body. He could have cried when he spotted his uncle throwing waves of flames at Zhao and his soldiers. His uncle, who he hadn't seen in weeks.

Zuko closed his eyes and took a deep breath before exhaling slowly. He could feel the steam rising from his body as the ice melted. Soon he fell a few feet down the wall and landed on his hands and knees. When he looked up, the Fire Nation soldiers were all down, and the Avatar was walking into the pool in the center of the spirit oasis.

He was not emotionally prepared for what happened next.

The Avatar sank into the water, and then the pool started glowing. In fact, all of the water in the spirit oasis was glowing and rushing out towards the battle.

Zuko found his uncle and jumped to his feet, racing over to where the old man knelt by the pool alongside Sokka and his sister, and some white-haired girl he had never seen before. Katara turned on the defensive, but Sokka grabbed her shoulders, pulling her eyes back to the group.

"Stop, he's not going to attack us-"

"-how do you know that!"

"Because I just rescued him, dumbass!"

Zuko hesitated before turning back to his uncle who was staring at him wide-eyed.

"Prince Zuko, but I thought- I thought you were dead," he choked out, before pulling him into an embrace.

Zuko held back the sob that was threatening to escape him, still holding tightly to his uncle. "He captured me- Zhao. He's been torturing me in that spirit forsaken ship of his for weeks."

He could see the blue glow of the water rising over Iroh's shoulder and looked up. "What in Agni's name is happening right now?"

The whole group watched as the Avatar, encased in the glowing water began to take the form of a massive spirit.

"Zhao killed the moon spirit," Iroh said under his breath, "And the Ocean wants revenge."

The giant spirit turned to face them, and they watched the white-haired girl, with tears glistening on her cheeks, throw herself into a deep bow on her knees. The others copied her lead, and the spirit turned away, making its way to the heart of the battle.

Just then the group heard the door to the oasis shut, and with the towering spirit gone, they jerked to attention looking for the source.

Zuko figured it out first, "It was Zhao! You idiots let him escape!"

He jumped to his feet, ready to pursue, but Katara stood to block him.

"Where do you think you're going? You are just as much an enemy as Zhao, I can't let you leave! What if you help him!"

Zuko glared at her but before he could say anything Sokka joined in, "Katara are you crazy? Zhao was holding him captive; he probably wants to go kill him, not join him!"

"I don't have time for this bullshit," growled Zuko, before pushing past the siblings and taking off in the direction of Zhao. He saw Sokka holding his sister back out of the corner of his eye. At least there was someone on team Avatar that was reasonable.

He exited the oasis alone and saw Zhao racing down the icy streets. He was clearly unsure of where to go, given the likelihood his entire invasion force was in the process of being destroyed by a vengeful spirit. In his hesitation, Zuko quickly caught up to him. Before he was even noticed, Zuko threw a wall of fire towards the man.

"Traitor!" Zhao growled, dodging the blast.

Zuko had no words for him. This man made his life hell for years, and intentionally sabotaged his attempts to capture the Avatar and regain his honor. He was held in his brig for weeks, burned and whipped and taunted, convinced he would die on that ship. His people watched Zhao torture him and did nothing. He owed his life to the Water Tribesman. Zuko didn't deserve that chance, and he sure as hell wasn't about to squander it. Fuck honor.

He threw volley after volley of fire at the admiral. Many were blocked but enough hits landed that it was starting to do some damage. Zhao stumbled backward as he fought off the relentless attack, shouting out taunts that Zuko couldn't hear through the rage consuming him.

Suddenly Zhao stopped, staring at the sky. "Impossible!" He shouted, the shock apparent in his eyes.

Zuko didn't bother to look. He refused to hesitate as he threw a final, killing blow. Zhao flew backward against a wall with a loud crunch, clothes smoldering as his body slumped to the floor.

Only then did Zuko look up into the sky to see the moon shining brightly.

He fell to his knees, exhausted by fighting so hard in such a weak state to begin with. When he saw the canals around them glowing blue, he bowed as he did before in the oasis, praying the ocean spirit wouldn't see him as just another Fire Nation soldier. He watched out of his peripherals as the ocean spirit collected Zhao's dead body, pulling him into the water, leaving the Avatar standing in his place.

The young boy blinked, and his glowing eyes slowly returned to normal before he collapsed. With the threat of the Ocean seemingly gone, Zuko stood and approached the Avatar. He knelt beside the boy, gently shaking him awake.

"Zuko? What happened?" The boy sounded so young, how had Zuko never noticed before?

"You ended the siege; you saved the Water Tribe. The moon returned."

"But, how?"

"I'm really not sure. Let's get you back to your group, maybe they can explain." He helped the Avatar to his feet.

They stumbled together down the walkway back in the direction of the oasis, but the Avatar's friends found them first.

"Let go of him!" Katara screamed, readying a water whip.

Zuko took a big step back, hands up, but she shot the water at him anyways, and everything went black.

***

"What the fuck is wrong with you- I told you he was helping us!" Sokka snapped.

"He was capturing Aang!"

"No he wasn't, he was helping me find you guys," Aang said weakly.

Iroh had left their side and was kneeling over his unconscious nephew. "I think it is best if we part ways now," he turned to the group.

"Good riddance," Katara growled.

"Literally what is your problem! He has done nothing but help us tonight!" Sokka said.

"Tonight does not guarantee tomorrow Sokka! Zuko has been relentless in his pursuit of us- why would that change now!?"

"I don't know for sure, but I have to imagine being tortured by your own people for weeks might impact a person's loyalties! He knew about Zhao's plan and helped me get to the oasis because we both wanted to stop him. And Aang just said he was helping him too!"

"I do not want our presence to cause any strife between your group. We will be on our way as soon as I can find a way to transport us out of here," interrupted Iroh.

"Well, we can at least help them get on their way," Sokka glared at his sister. "Come on, this way. Do you need help?"

Sokka left Aang and Katara behind as he carried Zuko in the direction of the Water Tribe's fishing boats. When they arrived at the dock Sokka set Zuko's body into one of the few remaining canoes before rummaging through the standard supplies packs that stayed on the boats.

"This one is basically empty, hold on," he jogged over to a neighboring boat and grabbed the whole pack.

"I don't know what happened to him, but he needs medical attention," Sokka pointed to the other boy.

"I stole that shirt, underneath it is a nightmare. There should be-" he dug through the new bag in his hands, "aha- first aid kit. Not the best, not the worst, but there are bandages and burn salve. There's also enough seal jerky to last a few weeks maybe, if you ration, but you will need to restock as soon as you reach the shore."

"You are acting incredibly generous young man. Reuniting me with my nephew, that is a debt I can never repay."

Sokka sighed. Everything about what transpired tonight felt wrong. Seeing Zuko abused by his own people, watching a possessed Aang kill, and Yue...

"Tonight was fucked up, but Zuko didn't deserve any of what happened to him. This is the only way I know how to help."

"I do not know how my nephew will choose to proceed from this night, but I guarantee he will continue to hold you in high regard. Not many people in his life have shown him such kindness, he will not forget what you did for him."

"Thank you, Iroh. I'm sure we will meet again," and he moved to untie the canoe from the dock.

"One more thing young warrior. This may have already crossed your mind, but I have a feeling the Avatar is not going to react well when he learns of the devastation that was caused by his melding with the ocean spirit. Keep an eye on him. There is no hope in ending this war if the Avatar's spirit is broken.

Sokka nodded in understanding and removed the last rope holding them ashore. He pushed them off and sat at the edge of the dock, looking up at the moon with tears in his eyes. Something had changed tonight, and he could only hope it would all be worth it in the end.

Chapter Text

They sat quietly in Appa's saddle as they flew over the northern sea. Katara and Aang talked softly behind him as Sokka brooded up by the reins.

They had spent two weeks helping the North recover. Two weeks of benders building ice walls and warriors respectfully burning waterlogged corpses that washed up from the sea.

He was irritated but he couldn't pinpoint the exact reason. Obviously, a lot had happened recently and there were plenty of things to be upset about generally, but he knew he needed to just get over it. He had no problem brushing things off his shoulder in the past, but this was different.

He didn't want to think about any of it, but if he didn't think about it then this vague lingering anger would never go away. So he decided to mentally walk through what his problem was.

One. He was mad at Katara.

Why?

Because she ruined their chance of an alliance with Zuko and his uncle.

Why did he care? They had chased them all over the world. They're probably terrible people!

Two. They're not terrible people.

Iroh was fighting to protect the moon spirit before he even got there. And at any point Zuko could've turned on him, but he didn't. Aang even said he was helping him when Katara went and knocked him out.

Three. This was really messing with his perception of the Fire Nation.

It was so easy before. They were evil. And they still were! Look at what Zhao did to his own prince!

But that was Zhao. Sure, the other soldiers did nothing to stop him, but he knew as well as any warrior that sometimes you just didn't have a choice. So Zhao was evil, but he was dead, and Zuko probably killed him.

Four. Zuko. Ugh.

Even throughout his travels with Aang, Sokka hadn't really been exposed to the realities of war until that night. He had never seen injuries like that boy was covered in. And he fought like that- his determination was insane. If he was actually going to change sides he would be a great ally. And Aang needed a firebending teacher anyway.

Five..... Aang.

He had looked so broken as they flew over the aftermath of the siege. Aang never wanted to hurt people, Sokka knew that. He had never met someone with stronger moral codes, every action Aang took was for peace.

And he had single-handedly wiped out every Fire Nation ship in the North.

It was very likely nearly all of them died, along with any teams of Water Tribe who were on the enemy ships. But they could only count the bodies that were recovered.

Iroh was right. Aang was taking it hard. And there was really no way to make it better other than just keep moving forward.

Six. Yue.

There was a deep pain in the center of his chest that just wouldn't go away. It made him feel sick and brought tears to his eyes if his thoughts lingered too long. Yue was gone and his heart was shattered and there was absolutely nothing he could do.

Ugh. He needed to talk to Katara.

***

When Zuko first woke up he almost toppled them overboard.

He hurt, and the night before was hazy, but there were two glaring events that stood out: Sokka of the Water Tribe had saved him, and Zuko killed Zhao.

Zuko had never taken a life before. He had never needed to, and to be honest he had never particularly wanted to. But his rage over his experience locked in Zhao's dungeon blinded him that night and the only thing he could do was kill him.

And Sokka. What happened there? Why did he save him? He certainly didn't deserve it. He had only ever brought that group harm- had never once shown them kindness. Even when he freed the Avatar from the Pohuai Stronghold it had been for selfish reasons. But Sokka did not act out of selfishness.

Sokka could've left him there, but he didn't. He could've let Zuko freeze to death crossing the tundra, but instead he got him clothes and boots. He could've left him in the snow when the moon first turned red, but he dragged him along. And he defended him to his sister a minimum of three times.

Katara clearly hated him, but Sokka clearly did not and it didn't make any fucking sense. Why would his enemy treat him better than his own people?

After only a few days at sea, Zuko took a knife and cut off his ponytail. The rest of his hair had started to grow out while he was in captivity, and he was sick of pretending his life meant anything to the Fire Nation. He was sick of being tied to them and he was sick of playing along with his father's twisted games.

His father knew. Zhao had made sure of it. His father told Zhao to teach him a lesson. Zuko knew because he made him read the correspondence aloud, a fucked-up form of mental torture.

Deep down he guessed his father never cared about him, would never take him back. But he always held on to that sliver of hope. Not anymore.

The Fire Nation would never take him back. They would continue with this war until they had destroyed everything, just how they tried to destroy the Water Tribe and the moon spirit. He couldn't continue to sit by and watch it happen. He couldn't keep lying to himself about what he actually thought of this war. It was evil.

Zuko fell ill by nightfall.

***

When they first arrived at General Fong's base, Sokka was impressed. They didn't hold back on the fanfare, and it felt good to finally be recognized for their accomplishments.

General Fong ruined that immediately when he started demanding Aang learn how to willingly go into the Avatar state.

The trio ended up gathered in the guest chambers, desperately trying to figure out what to do next.

"They're not going to take us to Omashu," Sokka said, pacing across the room.

"No, I don't think they will," Katara pondered from her seat on her bed.

"I'm sorry guys, I just- I don't think I can do this," Aang looked close to tears.

Katara rushed to his side, "it's okay Aang, you don't have to do anything you don't want to. The General is being ridiculous."

"He really is," Sokka agreed. "He has no idea what our experience in the North was really like. He is trying to manipulate you without fully understanding what he's asking you to do."

"You don't think maybe he's right? That by not acting now it's my fault every time the earth kingdom soldiers lose their lives?"

"Absolutely not Aang. These men have been fighting in this war since long before you came out of that iceberg. It wasn't your fault when they died in battle then, and it isn't your fault now," Sokka replied.

"He's right, Aang. I'm not saying you're never going to have to figure out how to control it, but the Avatar State is an incredible power. If you don't think you're ready to wield it yet, then don't. Let's focus on training you in all four elements first, and I guarantee you will feel much more prepared when you are ready to move on to that next step."

"You're right," Aang composed himself. "I can't do this now. It's a big risk and it's not worth it to take. We need to leave and get to Omashu."

"Do we want to just leave now or talk to him first? It's the middle of the night," asked Sokka.

"I'm not a coward. You guys pack our supplies and grab Appa, I will go explain myself to General Fong," sighed Aang. He stood up and walked to the door. "Meet me in the courtyard in a few minutes."

Sokka and Katara nodded and started assembling their supplies.

"If we're going to make it to Omashu we need more food," pointed out Sokka.

"You're right. Dammit, we're going to have to steal from them, aren't we?"

"Hey, they promised us an escort to Omashu, and instead they're just trying to manipulate the Avatar. They were supposed to be feeding us anyway, I don't feel bad taking our portion.

"Let's just go then," Katara said reluctantly before heading out of the room.

They snuck down the halls until they arrived at the kitchen that had been pointed out on their brief tour of the base. After filling the two bags they had with as many nonperishable food items as possible, they made their way towards the stables where Appa and Momo were being held.

Sokka wasn't lying, he didn't feel even slightly bad for stealing the food. Why was it that every single adult with political influence felt the need to manipulate Aang into using his powers for their agenda?

They already had a plan, a good plan, but council members and generals of the world continued to mess it up. Why couldn't they trust that Sokka and Katara knew what they were doing? They hadn't had a parent to boss them around in years, and now everyone was trying to parent them. They had to grow up, they had to make their own decisions. They practically became parents to the children of the tribe- but no one out here saw that.

They arrived at the courtyard and a few moments later Aang flew out of the building on his glider, landing on the saddle beside them.

"Let's go," he said. "General Fong is not happy, but there's nothing he can do about it."

***

Zuko woke up in an infirmary of some sort and he had a feeling he had been there for a while. He started to sit up and winced, suddenly aware of the tight bandages that wrapped around the majority of his torso and arms. But none of those injuries compared to the deep ache in the pit of his stomach, the physical manifestation of his emotional state as he struggled to accept that he would never be returning home.

What was he supposed to do now? Where was he supposed to go? He couldn't stand back and do nothing. He had always had a goal driving him- he needed that if he was going to move forward.

He jumped when the door to the small room opened, noting the few other beds lay empty. A girl, probably around his age, entered holding a bowl of steaming water, followed, to his relief, by his uncle.

"Oh well look at that, your nephew is awake," she said cheerily.

Iroh grinned as he approached Zuko's bedside. "Wonderful! Hopefully we will be out of your hair soon."

"Oh, it's no trouble, really. Lee, nice to finally meet you! Mushi has told me so much about you over the past few days. My name is Song," she put her hands together and gave him a short bow in greeting.

Zuko took a moment, looking between the girl and his uncle, trying to figure out what the hell she was talking about before it clicked. Oh! He was Lee. And his uncle was Mushi- smart on Iroh's part to come up with an alias.

"Nice to meet you," he hesitantly returned her bow. "I suppose I have you to thank for keeping me alive?"

"Oh, it really wasn't too bad," she said, stepping away to set the bowl on the table next to his bed.

"Really just a lot of small ailments hit you all at once I think, turned into a fever trying to fight off a few infections from the injuries on your back. Can't really eat when you're next to unconscious all the time so that probably didn't help- but look at you now!"

"Well still, thank you. Uncle, how long have we-?"

"Oh, we will catch up shortly. Let Song change your bandages and then we will discuss what's next."

Zuko nodded and sat up all the way. She gestured for him to remove his shirt, no longer the thick grey wool Sokka had stolen off of the Fire Nation soldier. She slowly removed his bandages as he watched and cleaned his skin with the warm water from the basin.

"Now I never demand answers when people come seeking help, but that leaves most of my methods up to speculation. I will tell you what I think happened and how I have been treating you, but if you think there is any crucial information I should know to improve your treatment please do tell."

"Your arms it is mostly just the burns, all of which look to have happened at very close range, here, here, and here as I am sure you are aware. Luckily your uncle had been treating you with some burn salve before your arrival so hopefully they won't scar. Keep applying this salve and covering until the skin looks more of a light pink. Then you can remove the bandages to let them breathe."

Zuko looked over his arms and was in fact surprised to see the burns were doing so well. One on each forearm nearing his wrists and his right bicep, all still very clearly faded handprints.

"You have two fractured ribs on your right side and some heavy bruising. Just be careful about overexerting yourself. It looks like they happened a while ago so they should be fully healed within a few weeks."

"The bruises around your throat are nearly gone, but there was a cut here that will likely leave a mark. Luckily that one did not get infected. So close to a major artery, that could've been dangerous."

Zuko closed his eyes, remembering the dagger held to his throat vividly. There was a moment when he thought that would be it, that he would bleed out on his knees, but no, for some sick reason Zhao had wanted him alive.

"Your back was definitely the worst of it. A few minor burns that wouldn't have been a big deal if it wasn't for the lashings. Luckily, we have dealt with the infections, so as long as you keep clean these should finish healing well. Most have closed up, but you still have three open wounds. I'm going to put some salve on those right now so you can feel where I'm talking about."

Zuko took a deep breath as the cold salve was applied to his skin. Two diagonally across his right shoulder blade. One a bit lower to the left.

"Alrighty, let's wrap these up again and we can get to your last few injuries. Again, as I am sure you were aware, you were stabbed in the left thigh. We stitched this up right away, but if you plan on leaving soon you will have to take the stitches out yourself or it will likely get infected. Probably about another nine days and they will be ready to be removed."

"And last was a twisted ankle. Not bad at all, just keep it wrapped as long as you think you need the extra support. Also, will probably help to get some boots that fit," she winked.

"I know that was probably a lot, but is there anything you think I am missing?" She asked.

Zuko thought and then shook his head, "No, that, um, seems pretty in line with what I was expecting."

She gave him a soft smile, "Good. Now I'm sure you two want some time to catch up, I will be back in a little while with some tea."

She took the small basin with her as she left the room and he looked over to where his uncle was seated.

"Zuko, my boy, I am so sorry for what you were put through," he said with tears glistening in his eyes.

"It's- it's fine. We already talked about this on the canoe. There's no reason to rehash what went down while we were separated."

"I know," Iroh moved to sit beside him in the bed. "I still can't help but worry every time she removes those bandages."

"How long have we been here?" Zuko asked.

"We arrived four nights ago after a week and a half at sea. I'm not sure what you remember of that, you were in and out of consciousness after about three days. I was so worried you weren't going to make it."

"Oh, come on Uncle, you know me. I never give up without a fight," he chuckled but it turned into a wince.

"I got you some new clothes and boots for our travels, I'm assuming you will want to be on our way as soon as you're able?" Iroh pulled a bag away from the wall, handing it to Zuko.

"Yes, I'm sure we can get going tonight," he said, looking through the bag. Everything was a shade of green, which was a smart decision but still didn't help with the sick feeling in his stomach.

"Tonight? Prince Zuko, you are still incredibly injured-"

"-don't call me that. I'm fine. We need to get moving before someone catches up to us."

As soon as he stood to change out of his infirmary garb the door opened. He turned, expecting Song, and nearly dropped the clothes he was holding.

"How did you- what are you doing here?" Zuko glared.

"Isn't it obvious brother? I've arrived to invite you home!"

Chapter Text

She watched the odd trio from the shadows of a neighboring rooftop. No one was allowed out past curfew- herself included, so it made sense to follow when she first noticed them. Who else was brave enough to break the rules in this nightmare of a city?

When the guards approached, she felt the slightest hint of worry, but apparently it was unnecessary. These kids were resourceful- and the Fire Nation soldiers? Well, considering they were stationed here and not on the front lines? Probably not very sharp.

It was the dead of night, and at her distance she could barely see them. However, she could tell they were wearing unusual clothing for Earth Kingdom. One of them was wearing a hat, but for a brief moment it was dislodged, and it looked like he might be bald. There was only one girl with them, and she wore her hair down. Again- very unusual.

Then they left through a sewer drain.

She made her way back to the heart of the city. The metal paneling that coated the majority of the walls was applied hastily upon arrival, so there were plenty of ridges and handholds for her to climb. She knew which panels to avoid; the ones that creaked, and the ones that were lit bright enough by the few scattered torches that someone could spot her.

When she neared the high point that was her bedroom window, she pulled out a knife and wedged back a panel, throwing her shoulder bag into the gap behind it. She hadn't pulled back enough panels to be sure if it was a missing stone or an architectural detail. Regardless, it was very unlikely someone else would find the things she hid there. In fact, her escape plan depended on it.

She pulled herself over the ledge into the darkness of her room.

Unfortunately, the second her feet hit the ground, the room was brought to light by the hands of two firebending guards, flanking her father.

"Where. Have. You. Been?" Ukano growled, stepping forward to corner her with each word.

She took a small breath, maintaining her vacant expression. "I wasn't far. Just taking in the view."

"Don't lie to me girl! This is the third time we have found you missing from your quarters after dark. The governor's daughter cannot be caught breaking his own damn laws!"

She narrowed her eyes a microscopic fraction. "I thought you and mother would be glad I've grown to appreciate the beauty of our new home," she replied dully.

"Insolent child!" He slapped her across the face, hard.

She blinked rapidly to prevent tears from forming but kept her face blank as she had practiced.

"You are no longer being watched by Ozai's guards," he spat. "You need to learn some respect and fast or you will lose your allotted freedoms very quickly."

He spun around on his heels and continued, "if I catch you sneaking out again you will sorely regret it."

The firebenders followed him out of the room, taking the light with them. She could hear the jangle of keys locking her in. Pointless really, since it had been rather clearly established she left through the window.

She listened to their footsteps echoing down the hall, and as soon as she was sure they were gone she slid down the wall onto the floor. Staring at the ceiling she felt the tears finally fall, but she refused to make a sound.

***

Azula always lies,  he heard in his mother's voice, a warning blaring in the back of his head.

Her arrival had been shocking, though her actions weren't. He hadn't seen her in years, but here she was- still trying to manipulate him.

"After Zhao's colossal failure with the northern Water Tribe, Father has changed his mind. Family is suddenly very important to him. He has heard rumors of plans to overthrow him, treacherous plots. Family are the only ones you can really trust," she inspected her nails as she recited the speech.

Zuko huffed. "Oh, that's real rich coming from you, Azula. As if I could trust a single word from your mouth."

Her eyebrow twitched. "Please brother, don't be ridiculous. I've missed you in your absence. You should be embracing this opportunity."

Opportunity for what? To be tortured back home instead of the belly of a Fire Nation ship?

"So now I'm worth something to you? To the Firelord? But not a month ago when I was being held captive by your own royal admiral?" He accused, throwing down the pile of clothes he was still holding onto the bed.

Her eyes flickered, almost as if she were surprised- but it was gone in an instant. Zuko knew how tightly she held her composure. Cool and calculating- she refused to be presented as anything less.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about, but whatever past conflict you are referring to is forgiven if you leave with me in the morning." She stood with perfect posture, a flawless caricature of the girl he used to know.

He couldn't stand the sight of her.

"Oh, I'm forgiven! That great, really great to hear Azula. I'm so glad I can be forgiven for being held and tortured by Zhao for three weeks. Hopefully my new injuries don't bring too much more shame to the family!"

"What are you talking about?" She snapped impatiently. But he saw it again- out of place in her eyes.

Azula always lies,  the voice whispered again. She knew- she had to know.

"You think this is some kind of joke, don't you? You really must take me as an idiot. As if I would ever walk back into the open arms of the man who has enabled my abuse my entire fucking life. No, Zhao killed any bit of hope I had of returning with honor. Fuck you." He turned, ready to storm out of the infirmary, before remembering his general lack of clothes and shoes.

"You should leave." He growled, still facing away.

"What's under those bandages Zuzu? What did you do to your hair?" She asked in a tone that didn't quite make sense. It was angry and demanding, but almost...

"This isn't funny anymore Azula. As if he didn't recount every detail from Zhao's letters. I know he was sent regular reports as Zhao followed his instructions, teaching me a lesson."

He turned towards her once more and she narrowed her eyes, staring him down. "I will not pretend to know any of what has happened to you over the past three years. But this will be your only chance to return home with honor- both of you. Meet me at my ship at sunrise. If you don't, well, that would be a mistake." She spun on her heels and exited the room.

As soon as she left, he turned to his uncle, surprised he had been silent through the whole exchange. Zuko was fuming. But also... fuck. How was he supposed to hate his baby sister?

"Well? What do you make of that show?" He asked, storming back over to the bed to put on his new sage green tunic.

"Hm. I don't believe she knew of your prior capture. I don't think she was expecting you to fight the idea of returning to the Fire Nation. All that aside, this is definitely a trap."

"Oh trust me, I know," Zuko replied, pulling on his new boots. "We need to leave immediately. I'm sure she has people watching us already."

"Certainly."

"I just wish..." He sighed, sitting back on the bed.

"Wish what, nephew?"

It hurt to admit it- that she was left with no one but Ozai. What else could she have possibly become if not the brainwashed soldier that she is? He wasn't there to protect her.

Azula always lies.  Yeah. Because she has to.

"I just wish there was something I could say to get through to her. I can't help but hope there is still some part of her that resembles the little girl I grew up with. I wish she realized how quickly Father may turn on her."

"You know, it might be risky, but if all you want is another chance to speak with her, I may have an idea."

***

Sokka was sick of things going wrong.

He felt like they had been cursed since the moment Zhao killed the moon spirit. He convinced the team to leave General Fong's base behind, only to get trapped in the depths of a cursed mountain by Fire Nation soldiers. To make matters even worse, he couldn't get that ridiculous folk song out of his head.

At least the hippies had been cheering up Aang. He was finally starting to get back to his usual upbeat self when they first saw the Fire Nation banners marking Omashu's walls. Sokka could've sworn he watched the poor kid's heart break in his eyes. He couldn't say no when Aang begged them to help him find Bumi. He was just trying to save his friend.

Seeing the great city of Omashu encased by metal sheets felt wrong. They needed to do something. And the pentapox scam had totally fooled the guards. Sokka was connecting the dots with the beginning of a plan in his head- but with Fire Nation soldiers patrolling the streets, how were they ever going to be able to organize something that big?

Now he was standing alone in the middle of what very well may be a black market, staring at the lemon-peppers trying to figure out what they were supposed to look like if they were ripe.

They were supposed to be gathering information. How strict was the Fire Nation's control? When did they take over? Where is King Bumi? Is anyone fighting back? They decided it would be best to split up and restock their supplies if they had the opportunity. Katara stuck him with the food budget because she knew it was the only way to keep him from buying every small thing that maybe could possibly be sort-of useful in the future.

With all of the hits they had been taking, Sokka was starting to get paranoid. The entire night before he had felt like someone was watching them, even after they escaped the soldiers with their ridiculous pentapox ruse. The feeling never really went away, and he found himself heavily analyzing everything about the small alleyway market he had stumbled upon.

He continued to stare at the lemon-peppers, eyes scanning the produce stand left to right, a perfect gradient from yellow to orange to red until he was startled to awareness by a soft voice behind him.

"You know they're all good to eat, right? The color just indicates spiciness."

His back was practically against the alley wall, so when he spun around he was surprised to see a girl around his age sitting in the shadows on top of it, feet dangling over the edge.

"I have a feeling that was rhetorical so I'm just going to admit it: I have never seen this fruit before in my life."

She chuckled and hopped down from the wall, "we don't see a lot of Water Tribe in these parts."

"How can you tell I'm Water Tribe?" He asked hesitantly watching her approach the seedy vendor.

She handed the man a few coins before picking up a red lemon pepper and taking a bite, considering his question. "I'm more observant than most- if that's what has you worried. Though, with the way you've been eyeing your surroundings this whole time I bet you can figure out just as much about me as I can you."

She stepped further into the streaks of light that peeked through the buildings on either side of the alley, so he was finally able to fully take in her appearance. She was shockingly pale, with long black hair half up in a pair of buns. Her gold eyes were guarded, and he noticed them flick downwards for the briefest moment, looking at his clothes.

His clothes .

He was an idiot. Here they are in a Fire Nation infested city and he didn't even think to change out of his typical blue. But if she used his clothes to identify him-

Red. Mostly black but also red, staring him right in the face. Gold eyes- spirits. He was oblivious and this was a trap. His mind was racing by the time he had half a thought put together.

The alleyway was crowded, but the girl had gotten onto the wall behind him so maybe if he took off fast enough he could jump the wall and find an alternate route. But wait- that's how she had gotten there so maybe she was more familiar with the side alleys of the city than the main streets, so losing her in the crowd would work better?

"Hey," she said, pulling him back to reality. "Don't run off on me, I'm not your enemy."

He narrowed his eyes, still with half a mind to bolt before she could turn him in. But maybe this was the stroke of luck that would break their curse. He had convinced himself rather recently that the Fire Nation wasn't explicitly evil, and here was the perfect chance to test his theory.

He held out his hand. "Sokka," he introduced himself.

She glanced to the side before tentatively shaking his hand with a feather-light touch. "Mai. Let's get out of here, I think I can help you."

***

"It was foolish of you to try to leave, brother." She instructed the two guards to push him to his knees. She paced the forest floor in front of him, with her hands clasped behind her back.

"And without Uncle to protect you, tsk tsk. Silly Zuzu." Not that the old fool could provide much protection anyway. Regardless, she was sure the rest of her team would have him shortly.

"Zula, you're making a mistake!" He spat as the guards continued to restrain him.

"So much fire in you still, I'm shocked considering the sad tale you've tried to spin of your recent endeavors."

"Sad tale? This is still just a fucking game to you! Do you think I burned these handprints into myself!? Do you think I just sat back and relaxed as Zhao whipped me at Father's request!? If you don't think for a second that Father won't do the same to you the moment you make the smallest mistake, then he has you just as fooled as he has the entire fucking nation."

She hesitated. He had removed the bandages from his arms. But what reason would he have to do that if not to fool her into sympathizing? Her gaze turned into a glare. How dare he continue to lie to her face. Father would've told her if Zuko had been captured previously. She would have laughed alongside him at the idea of Zhao putting him in his place.

"Father would never treat me that way, I am far too valuable," she smirked. "You are weak and a fool and it's not my fault that Father sees you as nothing more."

"Our father is evil to his core, and eventually you will become a threat to his power and he will take you out."

"You continue to lie!" She screamed. "There is no one more loyal to the Fire Nation than I am!"

"He doesn't care about the nation! He only cares about himself! I might not change your mind tonight, but spirits Azula watch yourself in his presence moving forward. Just because you couldn't care less about what hell he puts me through doesn't mean I feel the same way about you!"

"Enough!" She fumed. She had a perfect relationship with Father. He trusted her and respected her power and sent her on important missions just like this and she would never fail. Father would never have a reason to turn on her, and Zuko did not care about her. If he did, he never would have left.

"This was pointless."

"Your escape attempt? Definitely," she retorted.

"I thought maybe, just maybe there was part of you that still cared. I guess I was wrong."

"Of course I still care, Zuzu," she kicked him onto his side and crouched down inches from his face. "Why do you think I came all this way to get you? Father did already put out a bounty. Dead or alive."

He shuddered. "I'm sorry Azula."

"For what?" She demanded.

"For...everything."

Suddenly a wave of flames pushed back the two men guarding Zuko. He rolled and jumped to his feet, bringing his cuffed hands in front of his body. She sprang into action, knowing her treacherous Uncle must be nearby.

She wasn't expecting the dozen Earth Kingdom soldiers who appeared next.

She wasn't expecting Zuko and her uncle to escape as she single-handedly fought the earth scum either.

"Dammit Zuzu," she kicked the helmet off of a fallen soldier. Green eyes, just like that girl in the infirmary. "Now you've gone and made this personal."

Chapter Text

Things had been going well. She brought Sokka to a resistance hideout she had found her first week of exploring after curfew. Impossible to find if you weren't watching, considering it was underground.

With very few details he had made it clear he had a plan to evacuate the Earth Kingdom citizens. He needed numbers, and now he had them. She was foolish to hope that she could be a part of that escape.

She left Sokka to track down his friends while she returned to the palace to collect her stashed supplies. She didn't realize the guards would be looking for her.

Now ever silent tears ran down her cheeks as she watched the Earth Kingdom civilians walk right out the front gate. Her hands clutched the iron bars that had been installed during her brief absence.

She was stuck. She was stuck before, but she had a plan- she had hope. Then the perfect opportunity presented itself. But she waited too long and now she was stuck for real; to be tormented and abused the rest of her life. Everything she could be, that she wanted to be, locked inside a plastic shell of a person just trying to make it to tomorrow.

She used to wonder where it all went wrong. But now she knew unequivocally that this was not her fault. They might tell her it was, through whispers and harsh words. They might show her who they blamed with their fists or their flames.

She knew exactly what her family thought of her. She knew she was destined to this fate the minute she was born to such a greedy, power-hungry man.

She hadn't been worth anything to them since her betrothed was banished. No, now she was nothing more than a liability. They couldn't sell her off to the next richest suitor for fear of Ozai's wrath, but the likelihood she would ever ascend to Firelady like she was promised as a child? Very very slim.

She thought back to the days before. The hours she would spend in the garden with her best friend. The soft laughter and conversations about their future. She didn't know the Fire Nation was wrong back then, but she still knew Zuko was going to make it a better place. And she would be by his side.

Until she wasn't. Until he never would. Until she was alone and worthless and a burden. Until her brother was born, and her family had finally secured a true heir.

She needed to get out. She would have to get her shit together first.

She forced herself to stop crying and stood, looking around her room for inspiration. Most of her weapons were stashed outside- so she needed to escape before she should worry about gathering her belongings.

She stared at the metal door knowing there had to be a way out if she could be clever enough. There was noise coming from the hallway, so she pressed her ear against the cold metal to hear better.

Her mother was sobbing. She was a blubbering devastated mess- Mai had no idea she would react so poorly to the civilians leaving the city. Then came the growl of a voice that could only be her father. They got closer and she could hear the anger dripping from his tongue even if she couldn't understand his words.

She heard the jangle of keys as someone moved to unlock her door and she backed far away against the wall. She would not waste this opportunity.

The door was unlocked, and her father barged in.

"What did you do with him!?" he screamed, rushing her.

She kept calm even though her heart was racing. She had learned long ago that her father must be treated just like Koh. "What are you talking about?"

"Where is Tom-Tom!? Why would you give him to the resistance!?"

"Tom-Tom? I would never give him away," she said expressionless, silently questioning her father's thought process.

"You snuck out again and now he is missing. You've had it out for him since he was born, and I'm supposed to believe this isn't your fault? Bullshit."

"I didn't sneak out. It was daytime, my door was unlocked. And I've never done anything to hurt my brother, what are you talking about?"

He reached for her, surely to pin her back and hit her again. Adrenaline was racing through her veins and in a split second she made a decision that she had never made before.

She ducked.

Her father made eye contact with her, and time stood still. Then she raced past him out the open door.

"Follow her!" She heard her father rage as she took off down the hall. She needed to get out, she couldn't get caught- it was not an option. She had to get her weapons, and scaling the walls was probably the best way to sneak away.

She turned a sharp corner and booked it into a gathering space, throwing open the balcony doors and stepping outside.

She froze as a massive flying beast landed directly in front of her.

"Mai?" She heard Sokka's voice from above her.

"What are you doing here?" She asked hurriedly.

He hopped down from the creature, and she let out a gasp. He was holding her brother.

"Some Fire Nation kid snuck out with us. I offered to return him here to be found by your leadership while Aang and Katara went searching for Bumi." He set the boy down on the balcony.

She turned her head back to where she came, listening for her pursuers. "Come here Tom-Tom."

She embraced him, ignoring Sokka's confusion. "Whatever they tell you- I love you, okay? Please don't forget me." She knew his toddler brain probably wouldn't understand, but she had to say something.

She looked up at Sokka- tears in her eyes. "Please. Please get me out of here," she begged.

He nodded, sensing her urgency. Suddenly footsteps echoed in the hallway, and she knew the guards were almost upon them. She kissed her brother's forehead and stood. Sokka gave her a boost into the giant flying beast and pulled himself up after her, clambering to its head to take the reins.

She hesitantly climbed up near him and pointed. "Can you swing by that window so I can get some things?"

"There are bars across it, I don't think you'll be getting in there."

"I don't have to, my stuff is on the outside. Please?"

He did as she asked and pulled close to her bedroom window. She leaped from the saddle, grabbing onto the window's edge and lowering herself. She pulled the one knife she kept on hand out of her sleeve and wedged back the panel, pulling two bags from the opening. Sokka dropped down below her, so she let go from the ledge and landed firmly in the saddle.

They flew away.

She stared out at the city below her, finally appreciating the view.

***

Zuko was miserable.

His entire body ached with every bounding step the ostrich-horse took. He could barely keep his eyes open and would have gladly rested his forehead against his uncle's back if he wasn't so worried about falling off the running animal.

They left Azula behind.

He knew they were going to. He knew nothing he said was going to work. That's why he let his uncle prepare an escape. That's why he got caught alone on purpose instead of waiting for her to strike. But he wasn't necessarily expecting a 'favor from some old friends' to be a dozen earthbenders.

He couldn't stop his brain from running haywire in the background of their escape. He couldn't stop the relentless assault of 'what-ifs' and 'whys'. He couldn't slow his heart rate and he couldn't calm his breathing so he held onto Iroh with everything he had and faced the onslaught.

How could he do that to his own sister? He hadn't seen her in years. Was she going to lose? Would the earthbenders hold her captive? Torture her for information? Hold her for ransom? Kill her on the spot?

Would she win? Would she just knock them out and escape? Would she kill them or capture them? Did Iroh sacrifice a dozen Earth Kingdom allies just so Zuko could have five minutes to try and convince his brainwashed sister that their father was evil?

There was a sudden flash of light through the trees that brought Zuko back to reality, followed by a deafening rumble.

"We need to find shelter soon, it’s going to rain."

"We are not quite far enough yet, nephew. Besides, this is a good thing- the rain will help cover our tracks."

Zuko supposed that was true. If anyone had noticed they had taken the bird they would be able to follow. It had rained not long ago, and the heavy bird left deep footprints on the muddy forest floor.

"Where did you get this ostrich-horse?" Zuko asked suddenly.

His uncle sighed sadly but didn't answer, which told Zuko exactly what he feared. Because he remembered seeing a stable alongside the infirmary. And he realized something that through all the chaos that he didn't have time to consider- after Azula showed up, Song never came back with tea.

The sky opened up above them and Zuko wished he were dead.

If he had died in the north maybe his uncle would still be safe with the Avatar. If he had died on Zhao's ship, then maybe no one from the Earth Kingdom would’ve been harmed today. If he had died in the Agni Kai maybe his sister would’ve realized his father was insane by now.

Either way, he wouldn't be here, running away from the only life he ever knew, on the back of a dead girl's ostrich-horse in the pouring rain.

Maybe he didn't wish he was dead. He just wanted out of the life he was currently living. If only things had gone differently in the North. If only he had been able to make an ally out of Sokka instead of running away like he always did.

But was he ready to go that far? Was he ready to fully commit treason against his nation? Was there any reason not to at this point? It had been pretty clearly established that he would never be allowed to return, not that he could fathom wanting to. What was holding him back?

The cold rain cut through his cheap clothes, and he longed for the artificial warmth of the Fire Navy's under armor. They traveled on for hours in the downpour, and Zuko had nothing but his life regrets screaming in his brain to keep himself occupied.

***

It was uncomfortably quiet as the group flew away from the walls of Omashu. Katara had been unsure of allowing Mai to tag along, but Sokka insisted she was on the right side of the war. She had led him to the resistance after all.

Of course, that was putting aside the fact that he didn't actually know anything about her. But the second she asked- no, begged- to go with them... Well, he couldn't refuse. Something in her eyes just looked so… broken. He would do anything to right whatever wrongs she had faced.

"You need to stop falling in love with every fucking girl we meet," Katara had said, shoving a finger into his chest.

"I'm not  in love with her Katara! I'm just trying to help her the way she helped us."

He could tell Aang was trying really hard to not fall back into the sadness that had consumed him after the North Pole. Bumi had stayed behind by choice, and Sokka knew how badly Aang had wanted to help Omashu. He had spent a while peppering the new face with questions, most of which she was willing to answer.

Sokka had listened to their conversation from the reins. He heard Mai describe the Fire Nation capitol in detail. She talked about the people's perspective on the war, the propaganda that was shoved down her throat as a child.

"I was lucky, in a sense. My father had authority, so I grew up seeing how the war really is. Greedy old men, willing to crush anyone in their way for more power. The change in how things were run after Ozai became Firelord. I think I knew for a while things were wrong. I just wish I had decided to do something about it sooner."

"Well, you're here now. Let's just be sure to make the most of it," Aang had smiled back.

Eventually though, the conversation had dwindled to their current uncomfortable silence. Katara was tense. Aang was sad. And Mai was a stranger.

After some time Aang approached to take the reins and Sokka sat back in the saddle next to Mai, across from his sister.

"So he really is the Avatar, huh?" She inquired. The wind had picked up enough that Sokka knew Katara couldn't hear her soft voice.

"Yup. We've been traveling with him for a few months now. He's already mastered waterbending, so now we are searching for someone to teach him earthbending. It was supposed to be Bumi, but you saw how that went."

"Do you have any specific destination in mind?"

"Not at the moment. But to be honest, Aang always seems to just go where the wind takes him. Must be the whole nomad thing."

She nodded.

Sokka found himself wondering how Mai was going to fit into their little group. Was she just going to follow them around because she had nowhere else to go? What was her plan?

"You know, you don't have to stay with us. Don't get me wrong- I want you to. But I don't want you to feel trapped."

She gave him a small smile, "I appreciate the sentiment, but no- I'm going to stay. It's like Aang said earlier; I'm here now. I should make the most of it."

"Good. It'll be nice to finally not be the only nonbender on the team. You are a nonbender, right?" He asked.

"Correct," she laughed. "I have a different weapon of choice. I guess now that we're gone I can finally gear up." She pulled one of her bags closer.

Sokka's eyes got wide as she began pulling what seemed to be an endless supply of small blades from the bag. She pulled up her baggy sleeves and strapped a holster of some type to each of her forearms, loading them up with the small knives. She rolled up her loose pants at the ankle and did the same.

"Holy shit how many of those do you have?"

"Not nearly enough," she sighed.

"Are you any good?"

She stared at him before rolling her eyes. "No, not at all. I just carry all this heavy metal around to look cool." Then she thumped his forehead with the palm of her hand.

"Yes I'm good dumbass. I was trained at the Royal Fire Academy for Girls."

"Sounds fancy." He said, rubbing his forehead and regretting his previous choice of words.

"It was aggressively boring, so I decided to specialize in the most unique weapon."

"You'll have to show me how it works sometime. I've got pretty good aim from practicing with Boomerang here," he patted the weapon on his back.

"I have to say, that's probably even more unique than my shuriken. Can I see it?"

"Sure," he passed it over. "Not all boomerangs are a weapon, but this one is. This whole side is as sharp as a sword, so you have to know exactly how to catch it when it comes back."

"Interesting," she said as she turned it over in her hands. "You'll definitely have to show me the ropes."

Sokka felt his stomach lurch as they started to descend and looked over the edge of the saddle.

"Hey Aang, why are we descending? There's nothing here," he called out.

He got no response, so he got up to get closer. "Aang? Aang!"

"Huh? What?"

"Why are we descending?"

"Oh, uhh. I didn't notice."

"Do you notice now?"

"Um. Yeah. I kind of think maybe we should land here. It feels like the swamp wants us to."

"The swamp wants us to," Sokka deadpanned. There was no way that was a good idea.

"Yeah. Bumi said to learn earthbending I had to wait and listen. Well, I'm listening now, and the earth wants us down there," he pointed.

"I don't know Aang, that place seems really ominous," Katara chimed in.

Grateful for his sister's response, he turned to look at Mai expecting her to agree. She looked deep in thought, but before she could say anything, Aang pulled the reins up.

"Okay okay, if you all feel so strongly about this then we won't stop."

"Thank you for being reasonable Aang," Sokka said, clapping him on the shoulder.

"Hey, um, guys?" He heard Mai call out from behind him. "What is that?"

He turned to face her and was suddenly very aware of a giant tornado rapidly approaching them.

"Fuck."

***

The young acrobat bounced restlessly beside her as she stared down the governor of New Ozai.

"What in Agni's name do you mean she's gone," Azula hissed.

Chapter Text

"Maybe we should be a bit nicer to the swamp," Aang said, for probably like the eighth time.

Sokka suppressed the urge to scream with frustration as he continued to hack at the vines. "They're just plants! We need to get out of here, why is no one even remotely appreciative of me clearing a path?!"

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to face Mai. "Thank you, Sokka."

"You're welcome," he said pointedly. "Now will you guys stop wandering off and follow me so we actually make some progress instead of going in circles?"

"Sokka, I'm starting to think that no matter what we are going to be stuck going in circles. The swamp doesn’t want us to leave yet," said Aang.

Sokka brought a hand to his forehead and groaned. "We're fucked! We're never going to get out of here."

"Well maybe if someone would stop attacking the vines the swamp wouldn't be so intent on turning us around."

"Katara I cannot deal with your sass right now. You know what? Fine! I will stop hacking at the vines. We need to make camp anyway."

"But what about Appa and Momo?" Asked Aang.

Mai spoke up, "the few rays of sunlight guiding us now will likely be gone within the hour. Sokka is right, we should make camp and continue on tomorrow."

He watched Aang reluctantly accept Mai's explanation and wander to a visible clearing a short way away. Katara eyed her suspiciously before turning to follow him.

"Did I do something to offend your sister?" Mai asked, falling into step beside him.

"Huh? No. She probably doesn't trust you a hundred percent yet, but that's not your fault, that's just how she is. Also probably doesn't like it when you take my side, but I would really prefer you keep doing that soo just ignore her."

He did appreciate that she had backed him up earlier. Katara had gotten better, but she had a habit of blindly following Aang and forgetting he was really just a kid. Feeling less like the third wheel in a spirit tale was a welcome change.

They passed a woodier branch vine thing and Sokka swung his machete to hack some off for firewood.

"I do think they're probably right, Sokka." Mai forced out.

"About what?" He swung again.

"I think you need to stop hacking up the vegetation. I know your intentions are good but I'm starting to agree with the Avatar here. This place feels alive."

Dammit. If they were all against him on this, then that meant he had to start taking them seriously. Fuck.

"Alright," he sighed and collected the firewood, leading her over to Katara and Aang.

As Mai predicted, the sunlight went fast, and the temperature dropped dramatically. Exhausted from hours of mucking through the swamp, the group huddled back-to-back and eventually dozed off to the hum of mosquito-moths.

 ***

Mai was torn from sleep within a split second, thrown immediately into action. She grasped at her largest knife in its sheath on her thigh instinctively and started slicing at the cold, wet ropes dragging her across the swamp floor. The vines fell from her limbs, and she scrambled to her feet in a panic.

"Sokka!" She called, frantically looking around for the group before her feet were jerked out from underneath her. She barely prevented herself from faceplanting as the vines continued to drag her through the swamp.

She could hear the others shouting in the distance as she continued to hack at the vines climbing up her legs. When she had freed herself a second time she jumped upright and took off running the opposite direction from which she was dragged.

She ran until her lungs were about to burst and she was almost certain the vines were no longer attacking her. She stopped, leaning back against the trunk of a tree to catch her breath.

Observing the scene before her she realized she had no idea how she was ever going to find the group again. The banyan trees stretched on in every direction, and if the group was all dragged off by the vines-

Well, she had been able to escape, so it was probable that the others did too. Though if they all ran off in separate directions...

She sighed and started walking again. Maybe now the swamp would show Aang whatever it was trying to show him and they would be able to find their way out.

Mai had never been a particularly spiritual person, but she felt like it was reasonable to assume spirity things would happen around the avatar. There was no denying something called them into this swamp, she just hoped it was trying to help them- not get them killed. But after the morning so far, who knew which way this was going.

She trekked onward through the muck of the swamp, grateful for the lack of self-aware vines. It probably didn't hurt that there was no longer a machete-wielding menace in her immediate vicinity.

That boy . He intrigued her. Before she could contemplate long, a rustling in the foliage brought her to attention.

She froze, holding tightly onto the 8-inch blade in her right hand as she flicked her wrist to drop a shuriken into her left.

She stepped forward slowly, being careful not to touch anything that would make noise under her weight. As she moved she could hear more noise coming from the other side of a dense pocket of trees. Soon she identified one sound, surprisingly, as crying.

As she rounded the banyan grove her eyes searched for the source of the crying. When she set her eyes on the lonely figure across the clearing she felt the air leave her lungs.

Her heart was pounding. It didn't make any sense, but that looked just like-

"Zuko?" She quavered.

The boy looked up from where he was seated, hugging his knees and his eyes got wide.

And it was him, she knew it was him- what was he doing here? She hurried to close the distance between them and he gasped- jumping to his feet. Then he started to run.

"Zuko!" She called as she chased after him, but he seemed to vanish into the vines. Then she heard the crying again to her left and quickly changed directions.

"Zuko, come back! It's me!" And she ran desperately. Why was Zuko crying? He looked so scared and small and- why was he so small?

She slowed down, confused. He still looked like a 13-year-old kid. Why would he look like that? His face was unscathed and now that she was thinking about it, she knew that couldn't have been him, because what about the Agni Kai?

She continued walking forward but stopped chasing him. If that wasn't Zuko, what was it? Was the swamp showing her this? Why?

She heard crying again and came upon another small clearing. She took a deep breath, expecting to see Zuko. But instead, it seemed she stumbled upon Katara.

"Katara?" She called gently, not wanting to startle her.

Katara gasped and hastily wiped the tears from her eyes. "Mai! Thank god, have you found any of the others?"

"No, just you, but..." She trailed off.

They made eye contact and Mai was suddenly certain that Katara wasn't crying about being separated from the group like she might have implied.

"I saw someone," she decided to admit. "Someone who used to be important to me."

Katara nodded. "Me too."

"Let's find the others." Mai offered her hand and Katara accepted, leading her in the opposite direction from which she came.

 ***

Sokka stared into the fire as he ate, still trying to convince himself that nothing magic had happened that day. No, the vines had been proven to just be Huu the waterbender, which meant everything else had a reasonable cause too, right?

"But what about the visions!" Katara protested.

"We were just hungry and hallucinating Katara- I am literally eating a giant bug right now."

"That doesn't make any sense-"

"Do we have to keep talking about this?" Sokka took a large bite and turned away, earning an annoyed huff in response.

It was a lot easier to just pretend he hadn't seen Yue, but his stupid sister would not stop bringing it up. Every time she demanded the visions were real, all he heard was Yue's voice.

You didn't protect me.

It was just a trick of the light. Obviously.

He looked around at the odd group assembled around the firepit. Although he was incredibly grateful for the food and the fire, he was mostly looking forward to leaving this spirit's forsaken place come morning. He continued to observe the group for a few moments before he realized he was looking for someone.

He had been looking for Mai, and she was not here. Maybe she was feeling just as overwhelmed as he was.

He stood and caught Katara's eye before walking away from the crowd, weaving through the trees towards the sound of rushing water.

When he finally found her, she was seated on a fallen tree a few feet from the edge of the river.

"Hey, are you okay?" He approached Mai slowly. She startled, looking over her shoulder before quickly looking away. He didn't miss the silent tears running down her cheeks. She didn't respond.

He debated leaving her alone but decided to move forward. He made the effort to find her anyways, might as well follow through. He closed the distance and sat on the ground to her left, back against the fallen tree, in silence.

"Are you?" She practically whispered.

"No," he admitted. "So, if your experience was anything like mine, I can only guess what you're feeling." She nodded.

They sat in a semi-awkward silence for a little while longer. Sokka wished he knew more about her; other than the vague connections he had made from their interactions the short time they've been traveling together. There was something that drew him to her, he couldn't forget the desperation in her eyes when she practically begged him to take her with them. But he still didn't know why she needed to leave.

He decided to break the tension. "Have I ever told you that my first girlfriend turned into the moon?"

She looked at him with her eyebrows creased in confusion. "That's... a joke, right?"

He shook his head sadly and looked away. "Could you see it from Omashu? The night the moon turned red, before everything went dark?"

Mai let out the smallest gasp, "Yes- I was out on the rooftops. The next morning was the first time I was caught sneaking out. The city was asleep, and no one believed me."

"It was Zhao. He was trying to conquer the northern Water Tribe. We were all there at the time- Aang needed a waterbending master. It was probably our fault. We brought him to their doorstep," he paused. "A lot of things changed that night."

"Your... girlfriend?"

He took a deep breath. "Yue. I guess she wasn't actually my girlfriend. Her father, the chief, had her engaged to this dipshit- doesn't matter anymore."

"Apparently, when she was born she was very weak. Her parents brought her to the moon spirit, praying for Tui to protect her. The moon marked Yue as their own." He looked into the sky as he rambled, seeking her out- but there were too many clouds. "She had the most inexplicably stunning white hair. It practically glowed in the dark."

"I wasn't there for most of what went down that night. I was with a team on the Fire Nation's ships looking for Zhao. Sometimes I think, maybe if I had been there, things would've turned out differently. But that's probably not the case..." he trailed off.

It felt unfair, being reminded of all of this now, weeks later. It was bringing up a lot of feelings he had tried to bury on their flight away from the north pole. But maybe that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Maybe he needed to feel those emotions to truly process everything that happened so it would stop weighing him down- so he would stop feeling so guilty.

"Zhao killed the moon spirit. That's why everything went dark. Aang bonded with the ocean and destroyed the Fire Nation's fleet- but he couldn't bring back the moon. Yue realized her connection with the spirit still lingered. She sacrificed herself for her people, for me." He blinked back tears that threatened to spill, angry with himself for being so overwhelmed by these emotions.

"Her body fell and I caught her but she was already gone. And then they took that too. She vanished into thin air and returned for half a second as this glowing ethereal form and then-"

He couldn't finish so he pulled his knees to his chest, resting his forehead against them as the tears fell. He never had the opportunity to cry over her before. Everything had been happening so fast since they left- and the weeks spent in the north were numbing. He realized he never had a chance to mourn.

After a moment he heard Mai shift, and suddenly she was sitting on the ground beside him with a hand perched tentatively on his forearm.

"You loved her."

He leaned his head back against the fallen tree, wiping tears from his eyes. "I don't know. I thought I did, at the time. And I still feel, I don't know. Devastated? Heartbroken? But maybe it's naive of me to think that was really love."

"That's who you saw in the swamp."

"Yeah."

He looked towards her, still with his head leaning back, and was surprised to see her staring forward furrowing her brow in thought.

"What are you thinking?"

"I’m trying to decide how much I can tell you about who I used to be before you decide to hate me."

He sat up and turned towards her. He realized her hand had fallen from his arm, so he took it in his own. "Mai, regardless of who you think you were before, you're here now. And that says enough about who you are as a person for me to guarantee; whatever you have to say is not going to make me hate you."

She smiled softly at his sincerity and took a shaky breath. "When I was about 8 years old it was decided that I would be betrothed to the current prince of the Fire Nation. Of course, back then he was never supposed to become the prince."

Sokka's eyes got wide as his grief clouded brain tried to process this new piece of information. Because if he was hearing her correctly- he was pretty sure there was only one prince of the Fire Nation.

"Ozai took power when I was 10. Things got a lot more serious then. The engagement to a member of the royal family had already guaranteed my parents power and certain riches. Now I was engaged to the heir of the nation. I was going to be the Firelady. I think it went to my father’s head."

"My life used to be perfect. My complaints sound so selfish knowing what you and your family have experienced in this war. I'm sorry, this is stupid, I should really shut the fuck up," she cut herself off abruptly and moved to stand, but Sokka held on to her hand and urged her to stay.

"Whatever it is you think I went through, regardless of how much 'worse' you think it may or may not have been- that doesn't mean you went through was nothing. Trauma isn't always comparable but that doesn't mean it didn't still hurt."

"He was banished, when I was 12. He was brutally injured and banished and I never saw him again," she choked out. "He was my best friend."

"For a while I was angry that he left me behind. I was no longer my parent's prize. I was a liability. They were stuck, unable to sell me off to the next highest bidder in fear of Ozai's wrath if Zuko were ever to be allowed to return."

That was it- the confirmation. She was talking about Zuko- the Zuko- that he had very recently saved from certain death and sent off into the Earth Kingdom.

"The worst part is that I will never know what became of him. They wouldn't even tell me if he survived his injuries- I had to figure that part out on my own. That’s who I saw. In the swamp."

"I saw him too!" Sokka blurted out. "Not in the swamp- before that. Constantly. He was chasing us and then he wasn't and then I rescued him from a ship and helped him escape with his uncle."

She stared at him as he babbled, realizing she was far closer to answers than she had ever been before. "Please- tell me everything."

 ***

"How bad is the-" she gestured to her face, not sure how to put her thoughts into words after listening to a fuller recount of Sokka's journeys.

"The scar? Pretty bad, I guess. I haven't seen many burns like that. What happened to him?"

"His father happened."

Sokka sucked in a breath, "every time I think I know how evil the Firelord is, someone comes along and points out he is so much worse. His own son? What the fuck?"

"It was controversial in the high court but, everyone knew Ozai had it out for him. No one was particularly surprised, and they certainly weren't going to verbalize any opposition."

He was still holding her hand. Their fingers were woven together and he rubbed soft circles absentmindedly with his thumb. She couldn't remember the last time she was touched so gently; she didn't really want it to stop.

"Things got pretty bad after that. It was probably good he left. He is too good of a person- Ozai would’ve destroyed him. Part of me worries he already did."

"You know, if someone tried to tell me Zuko was a good person like, even a month ago, I don't think I would have believed them. But after what happened in the north... Yeah. I think he's just a scared kid like the rest of us, just trying to survive."

"After what he's been through... I wonder if I will even recognize him. Would he even want to see me?"

"I think you will. He's been basically on his own this whole time, right? That has to be lonely. I'm sure he would be very happy to see you."

She sat and contemplated her new situation. When she agreed to go with the Avatar it had been for mostly selfish reasons. She needed an escape and her window of opportunity was closing. Now that she was really here- well, she couldn't see herself leaving. She knew the Fire Nation was on the wrong side of this war. She'd known since the Agni Kai that they were being led by a madman. And now she was in a position to do something about it- how could she not?

"Did you love him?"

"Romantically? No, we were kids. But he was my best friend. We protected each other, from our fathers, from his sister. I do love him, but not like that."

The light of the moon finally peeked out from behind the clouds, and she could see how quickly it stole Sokka's attention. His story was hard to believe, but his grief was so genuine, she knew it had to be true.

"Mai, when I helped Zuko and his uncle escape the north, it was my opinion that we should've used that as an opportunity to make him an ally. If we run into him again, with you here now, I don't see any reason we shouldn't be able to convince him to stay with us."

"You would do that for me?"

He smiled. "Not just for you, Aang needs to learn firebending still too. But with everything you've told me about him, and everything I've seen, I can’t help but think we would be saving him too."

She couldn't stop herself from pulling him into a tight hug and burrowing her face in his shoulder. She could finally make a difference, she could finally get answers, and maybe somewhere along the line she could be reunited with Zuko too. All because Sokka took a chance on her.

"Thank you."

Chapter Text

It had been a week since Mai first met Sokka, and she was finally starting to find her place in their little group. Acknowledging Katara's swamp experience had put her on the girl's good side, and though she had never had to survive in nature on her own before, it didn’t take her very long to figure out what skills she did have that could be put to use. For example, she was by far the best at setting up a campfire. She may not be a helpful cook, but after watching Sokka a few times she figured out how to set up an adequate snare. And, after they left the swamp, she got Aang to show her how to fly Appa so she could take her fair share of shifts in the air.

They were progressing slowly through the Earth Kingdom, stopping in nearly every town they passed in search of an earthbending teacher for Aang. It was not helpful that most of the country's benders had been drafted into the war or imprisoned by the Fire Nation as she learned when they told her the story of their friend Haru.

They persevered, however, and Aang never seemed to get discouraged. He insisted that he would find his teacher when the time was right and that they just needed to keep going. If anyone started to doubt him, he said he knew everything would be fine because of Avatar reasons and that usually shut them up, because how are you supposed to argue with that? Mai thought she was the only one who actually believed him, though.

Now the group paced the market stalls of Gaoling, watching Sokka run back and forth between wares with the same intensity she remembered her mother watching Tom-Tom in any public place.

"It’s pricey, but I really do like it," Sokka said, looking a bag up and down.

"Then you should get it, you deserve something nice," offered Katara.

"I do, don't I? But no- it's too expensive. I shouldn't."

"Alright. Then don’t," Katara rolled her eyes, looking to Mai who could only give her a shrug. As someone who supplied approximately no money to the group, she really didn’t feel like she should have a say in these sorts of interactions.

"You know what? I’m gonna get it." Katara rolled her eyes again with a small smile, probably just grateful her brother finally made a decision. She bumped shoulders with Aang and the two started to walk off as Sokka paid, looking to the much more reasonably priced food stalls. Mai stayed with Sokka, as had become usual.

"Well? What do you think?" He turned to her showing off his grand new purchase.

"I like it. The strap is nice, I've always preferred over-the-shoulder bags."

"Thanks," he smiled, eyes searching for their friends. "Who do you think that guy is?" His gaze turned suspicious as he pointed over to where Katara and Aang were talking to some man.

"No idea, let’s find out," she prompted, and they headed over.

"Who knows, this Master Yu could be the earthbending teacher you’ve been looking for," they overheard Katara saying enthusiastically.

"I guess it’s worth a shot."

"What’s worth a shot?" Sokka interjected.

"Some guy just gave us a coupon for Master Yu's earthbending academy. The first lesson is free," Katara pointed at the paper in Aang's hands.

"Well, that could certainly be a good lead," Mai added.

"Let’s go check it out!" Sokka urged, and they headed off hopeful that this new venture would finally work out.

***

Mai sat with the Water Tribe siblings outside the academy waiting as Aang began his first lesson. Sokka spent at least 10 minutes going over all the features of his new bag. "Look! There's a pocket inside another pocket!"

"Did you get everything you needed, Mai?" Asked Katara.

"Huh? Oh, I’m fine."

"What? You must need something," Sokka chimed in. "Or even just want something, while we're here at least."

"It's fine, really. I don’t have any money anyway so it really doesn’t matter-"

Sokka broke out into laughter and Katara chuckled as well, leaving a very confused and maybe slightly embarrassed Mai staring at them with a flush growing across her cheeks. "I don’t understand?"

"Oh princess, that’s so sweet. Thinking you need your own money," he teased, wiping fake tears from his eyes. "This is the Water Tribe baby, what’s mine is yours. So- what do you need?"

"I still don't think I’m fully following, but if you absolutely insist, I think it might be a good idea for me to get some different clothes. So I don't stand out so obviously as Fire Nation."

"Actually, that’s probably a really good idea. How about I give you a real explanation while we go take a look? Katara, you good waiting for Aang?" His sister nodded in response, so the duo headed back out towards the market.

"So," Sokka started. "How much do you know about the Southern Water Tribe?"

"The Southern Water Tribe? Other than what you’ve told me specifically I think it’s safe to say that everything I was taught is likely far from the truth."

"Ah yes, okay, very possible. Well, I’m sure in some capacity you’ve been told about the raids?" He paused with a bitter expression. "Something the northern stronghold never had to deal with."

She nodded, "I was left with the impression the South was nearly wiped out."

"Perfect! That’s a great start. This is where I think, based on our travels, the biggest cultural difference lies between the South and the rest of the world." They entered the town's main square and were pressed together by the growing afternoon crowd. Sokka linked his arm through hers and wove them through the mass of browsing shoppers while continuing to speak.

"So many people out here, it seems, only look out for themselves. They use their money to shield themselves, or maybe also their family, from the war, while their communities crumble down around them. This is all a vast generalization, but in this reality that’s all they need to do: protect themselves from direct danger. They can always grow their own food or get a job in the next town over."

"In the South it's very different. There really aren’t very many of us left. A few scattered villages, almost all the men off at war. You can’t grow food in the frozen earth. All we can do is hunt and forage. In the Earth Kingdom, if Shan's daughter down the street dies, that sucks. But the world as a whole moves on. In the south, if Chena's daughter dies, well, his family line is likely gone for good. Because Chena's off at war, and his wife is likely too old to have more children anyway. And when there are so few family lines left to maintain, you see, we have no choice but to look after each other. If not, our entire civilization could be dead in the matter of a generation."

Mai took in his words as they both scanned the merchant stalls, heart heavy as she was confronted for the first time with what it meant for a civilization to be raided to near extinction.

"So back in the tribe, nowadays anyways, all the able-bodied adults help with the hunt. And when they come back the caribou-yak are broken down in a way that ensures every part of them are used. The families of the village split food equitably, but if little Tomkin two igloos over just had a growth spurt and doesn’t fit in his winter furs anymore then the women will make sure a new coat is made for him after the hide is dried. If we don’t support each other, if we don’t ensure that we cater to whoever is in need at that moment, then there is no promising anyone will bother to look after you when you’re the one hurting. In the same sense, if someone a few villages over comes begging for medicine, you give them the medicine. Because next time that might be one of your children dying, knowing that there won’t be another trading vessel down until the end of the polar winter."

She was no longer looking at the contents of the merchant stalls they passed. Her mind was stuck inside itself and she stared at her feet, heart breaking over the idea of how painful it all must be. To be so underpopulated that the survival of the tribe as a whole was a weight on every individual’s shoulders? She had a sickening feeling Sokka was using real examples.

Mai had known the raids happened, regardless of the lies her country had spouted to justify them. But she had never known anyone who experienced them, had never even considered the hardships they endured. She had never needed to, it wasn’t relevant. Though, the more she saw traveling with the Avatar the more she was beginning to realize that maybe it had always been relevant, all of it. But she was too blinded by her privilege to care- the Fire Nation put a lot of effort into making sure its citizens didn’t think to recognize the enemy as human beings.

"Hey, Mai, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you." Sokka said softly and she realized he had pulled them to the side, likely due to the few tears she suddenly noticed running down her face.

She hurried to wipe her eyes, "no, don’t be sorry. Thank you, for sharing that with me. I’m the one that should be apologizing. We're the ones who did that to you."

"Mai," he tilted her face towards him with a finger on her chin. "You are not your country. None of that was your fault. None of it."

She took a shaky breath, her eyes locked on his bright blue ones, and she knew he was being genuine as he slid a thumb across her cheek to wipe away the final tear. "I just feel so guilty. For being so apathetic towards it all, before."

"Hey, you didn’t know. In fact, I have a feeling the Fire Nation tries very hard to make sure its people don’t really know. But now you do. This is the part where you can make your actions worthwhile. You've got a lifetime ahead of you, there’s no reason to stay sad about a past you can’t change."

"You're right, I’m sorry," she nodded and took another deeper breath. "Remind me what this had to do with me buying new clothes?"

Sokka laughed. "This is the Water Tribe! If I can buy a new bag, you can get some spare clothes. We look out for our own. You may not have provided money, but you’ve brought plenty to our team with just your presence alone. So, what’s your favorite shade of green?" He gestured widely to the clothing stand next to them, earning a smile from Mai.

"Agni I am going to look so weird."

***

The two of them got back to the academy just before Aang’s lesson ended. Katara stood to greet them as they approached.

"Wow that is quite a change for you," Katara exclaimed. "I like it though, really brings out your eyes."

She was now wearing long loose pants in a pale tan yellow color that bunched up at her ankles, and a short green tunic with billowing sleeves. It had been a struggle finding something that could conceal all of her knives, but it worked out in the end.

Just then Aang exited the academy looking dejected. Sokka was the first to catch his eye. "Well??"

"This isn’t it, sorry guys."

"That’s okay, you don’t know until you try. Let’s get going," suggested Katara.

A handful of rowdy boys exited the academy, their loud gossip catching the attention of the gang.

"I think the Boulder is going to win back the belt at Earth Rumble VI."

"Are you kidding? He’s going to have to get through some of the best earthbenders in the world to even get a shot at the champion. And on his first time in the ring? I doubt it." The boy snickered.

"Excuse me!" Aang ran up to the pair. "Where exactly is this earthbending tournament?"

"On the island of noneoya," the boy sneered. "None o' ya business!" And the pair cackled walking off.

Mai narrowed her eyes at the boys as Sokka nearly cried laughing at the awful joke. She turned towards Katara, having a feeling they would be on the same page without having to say it. Katara smirked back and put a hand on Aang’s shoulder.

"We’ve got this," she said. She gestured at Mai to follow, and the two girls laughed as chased down the bratty boys.

Moments later they returned triumphantly, Katara announcing that they would be attending the Earth Rumble VI. When Aang asked how they got the location Mai and Katara just grinned at each other.

"Oh, you know," Mai started, elbowing Katara for her to finish.

"A girl has her ways."

***

Up until recently, Zuko had figured the lowest point in his life was after the Agni Kai with his father. Then it transitioned to the moment he was on his knees with a knife held to his throat, reading aloud Ozai's response to Zhao's declaration of his capture. When he closed his eyes, he could still feel the knife dig deeper with every word and the hopeless dread that radiated through his entire being.

He now decided that this was his lowest point. Sitting against a wall in a Fire Nation occupied city, begging for money in front of his own damn people. It didn’t matter that they had no idea he was their disgraced prince, it was the principle of the matter.

Zuko had never begged for anything. He supposed that made him lucky, as he stared down the street and lazily counted the small groups of impoverished families that lined the corridor. He was furious and embarrassed and in far too much pain to do anything about it in broad daylight.

When the Fire Nation soldier made Iroh dance for a small handful of coins it took everything in him not to burn the man alive. But Iroh smiled gratefully, and after two days he eventually determined they had collected enough that they’d be able to buy some provisions and be on their way.

This town was a disgrace, though he knew it wasn’t the villagers' fault. Of the countless masses they passed huddled in alleyways, almost all of them had green eyes. Iroh took the lead haggling at the market stalls, which was absolutely necessary because Zuko probably would’ve set most of them on fire. Everywhere they went was Fire Nation ran and expensive. Most of the money they had was Earth Kingdom, and the conversion rate the Fire Nation merchants demanded was abhorrent.

What was the point of his nation taking over small villages like this one and reducing them to nothing? He remembered the propaganda from his youth, that they were bringing culture and guidance and civility to the helpless Earth Kingdom, left uneducated and in squalor by their sheltered King.

But that’s not what this was. This was homes being occupied by foreigners, shops being run out of business by high tax rates, children going hungry in the streets, kicked around by pompous soldiers who would fine or jail them for looking at them wrong.

"There have to be shops somewhere that are accepting Earth Kingdom money for what it’s actually worth," Zuko complained under his breath as they walked away from yet another food stall with jacked-up prices.

"I doubt anywhere that has the supplies we are looking for. We have enough food to last a few days, it may be time to cut our losses and move on from this town."

Zuko huffed in agreement, keeping his eyes on the ground to avoid glaring at any of the passing soldiers. They had infested the city, were around every corner. It was a miracle they hadn’t been recognized yet, though it was likely just because enough time hadn’t passed for Ozai's supposed bounty to make it this far inland.

As they neared the walls of the village, a janky-looking merchant’s cart caught Zuko's eye from a distance. It was old and unassuming, but the vendor himself stood out immediately. He was wearing green.

Maybe, just maybe, if Zuko was able to buy something from an actual resident of the town he would feel less like garbage over the Fire Nation merchants that all but robbed them earlier.

"Uncle, I think that merchant is actually Earth Kingdom. Do we have anything left?"

Iroh followed his eyes and nodded, tossing him the light bag of coins with a small smile.

He gestured to indicate he would continue walking along the main street out of the town, so Zuko half jogged, half limped alone off the path towards the cart.

When he saw the traditional theatre masks hung up on display, he couldn't hide his smile.

***

For the first time in weeks Zuko felt like he could breathe. He felt at home on the rooftops under darkness, felt confident in his actions as he navigated the town from above. He felt safe behind the mask. He had his alias back and it felt so much better being the Blue Spirit than it did to be Zuko.

Was that what he hated? Just existing as himself? Would he feel less oppressive guilt if he could just be someone, anyone else? Would he have fewer nightmares?

He jumped and caught the edge of the roof in both hands, swinging his uninjured leg over the eaves smoothly to pull himself up. He ignored the pull against the new skin on his back every time he extended his arms and focused solely on keeping as much weight as possible off his left leg while staying quiet. He had a mission and would not be caught.

He knew he could probably fight if he needed, but he was worried another serious injury would incapacitate him, ruining any progress he had made. Because of this, stealth was key, and he slowly made his way towards the heart of the village where the permanent shop buildings lay.

He probably would have stolen from just about anyone at this point, if he was being honest with himself, but he felt better about it knowing he'd be hurting one of the greedy colonists who were systematically destroying the native villagers' home.

When he reached his destination, he gently slid through one of the second-floor windows, bringing himself to a landing indoors that acted as storage and display. This was a general store where they had attempted to buy some soap and new bandages and were all but spat on and thrown out.

He lowered himself to the ground floor and grabbed a bag that had also been for sale. He started filling it up with as many useful items as possible. Soap, waterskins, a few dishes and some medical supplies, everything in twos. When the bag was full, he pulled himself back onto the roof and made his way next door. There was one more thing he needed.

When he returned to their makeshift camp, he was surprised to find his uncle awake, making tea in the one saucepan they had managed to obtain. He was glad he already stowed the mask away in his bag.

"Prince Zuko, I’m glad to see you’ve made it back safely," Iroh greeted him.

"Don’t call me that. I’m fine. Here," he sat and started taking supplies out of his bag until he found two cups which he passed to Iroh. Then he took off the sheath holding his two new Dao swords, setting it beside him.

"Seems like you did some pretty serious shopping. Where did you get the money?"

Zuko stared at him, "what's the point of asking questions you already know the answer to?"

His uncle sighed and removed the pan from the fire, pouring its contents into the two cups.

"I know we have faced hard times since we reunited nephew, but you don’t need to resort to making decisions like this. There is a simple honor in poverty."

Zuko groaned but still took the cup his uncle handed to him. "This wasn’t about that! Well, it was probably a little bit about that. But it was mostly something else entirely."

His Uncle was silent, willing him to continue.

"Just existing in that town was infuriating! How could we do that to those people? I’m so sick of pretending, for so long I pretended to believe in everything our nation was doing. It didn't matter how many times they hurt me- I was blinded by my loyalty. But now? What are we even doing!? Where are we going? What is our plan? Are we going to just keep ignoring the injustices around us? Because I just don't think I can do that anymore."

His uncle sipped his tea contemplatively before responding. "I’m sorry nephew, for I have been selfish. Ever since you were returned to me there was nothing I wanted more than to remove you from this war, from the pain and betrayal you have faced. I apologize for not being more transparent, but my plan has always been for our escape. I was hoping to lead us to Ba Sing Se, to start anew."

Zuko took in Iroh's words and put a lot of effort into forming a response that wasn’t brash. Because of course that’s what Iroh wanted. He couldn't blame him- he lost his son and then thought he lost his nephew. It was a natural reaction to want to pull him away from danger, but was that what Zuko wanted?

No. It wasn't. Zuko knew that immediately. He had floundered his chance with Sokka in the North. He probably lost any chance of joining the fight from that side, of redeeming himself to them. But he was here now, and he couldn’t stand and watch the Fire Nation walk all over the people of the Earth Kingdom like this. Maybe he couldn’t save this village. Maybe he couldn’t do anything, but he could at least try!

He could take a step in the right direction. He could make an effort to help people. He couldn’t end the war, but he couldn’t run away from it.

"I understand why you feel the way you do, but I can’t run away to Ba Sing Se. I was given a second chance for spirits know why, and I can’t just throw that away."

"Prince Zuko, please consider-"

"Why won’t you stop calling me that!? How much clearer do I have to be? That part of me may as well be dead now, don’t you get it? I feel like you couldn’t care less about me without that spirit-forsaken title. Do you? In fact, do you care about anyone at all- other than Fire Nation royal family?"

"Why have you never done anything!? All the time spent wasting away on that boat. You were so quick to agree after the North- that none of it was ever worth it. Why didn’t you do something earlier? You could’ve been the Firelord! You could’ve put an end to all of this!" Zuko knew that maybe he was being unfair, but all of his pent-up anger and uncertainty had reached its boiling point.

"Did it hurt you, the way it hurt me, to watch our soldiers kick around green-eyed children in rags? I used to think you saw the Earth Kingdom as real people too. But now, after you sacrificed those men to Azula- why did you agree to that? I didn’t know what I was agreeing to, but I didn’t think it would be that."

Zuko sat, out of breath, heart racing, just daring his uncle to reply. Even though at this point he had a feeling he knew how this would end.

"I’ve made many mistakes in my life nephew, I have many regrets. Losing Lu Ten brought me to my lowest, and I cannot lie to you, after that moment my only priority has been my family. I may have acted selfishly, but I don’t regret any of it."

Zuko sighed defeated, because what else did he think his uncle would say. They sat in silence until he figured out how to put his thoughts into words.

"I know you just got me back, but I think it would be best if we parted ways. I want to see you out of the crossfire too, I support the idea of you going to Ba Sing Se. I like to think I will be able to meet you there, but I just need to figure some things out on my own first."

His uncle looked at him sadly as he sipped his tea before nodding.

"Well at least try to get a good night’s rest before heading out in the morning."

Chapter Text

His uncle watched him leave. He stood there looking sad and sipping his stupid fucking tea and didn’t say a single word as Zuko divided up the goods he had stolen the night prior. He silently offered the reins to their ostrich-horse, but Zuko turned them down. Every time he looked at it all he could see was Song. A girl he had only known for a few hours but owed his life to.

They made eye contact and he turned to walk away, hesitating, waiting for his uncle to say something, anything. But words never came so he left, tears stinging at the corner of his eyes knowing that this was his choice- but Agni wouldn’t it be nice if he had fought for him to stay?

With no map and only one road, he headed east, alone with his thoughts for the first time since Zhao’s ship. Naturally that was the first thing his mind drifted to, not that that was unusual. Every night on that canoe before he lost consciousness and every night since the infirmary, he woke at some point in a panic with flames itching to jump from his skin. Even when he was awake, he couldn’t ward off the intrusive thoughts; the feeling of hands around his throat, the memory of watching his blood pool on the floor of that cell.

He had to manually reset his brain, intentionally change topics, to get any relief. Turns out it's kind of hard to shake the feeling that you would die any day now after wholeheartedly believing it for weeks.

So. He was on his own now. Again. And his uncle didn’t care. Or maybe he did, but not enough to try and convince him to stay. And here he was, walking to nowhere, with no real goals, with a plethora of slow healing injuries to deal with. He couldn’t do anything about the path he was on, or the injuries, so maybe it was time to come up with some goals?

It was difficult to find a goal more reasonable than 'dismantle the entire power structure that created this war-torn world they live in' because that just broke down and spiraled into things like 'destroy his nation's military-industrial complex' and 'kill his own fucking father' which he knew was incredibly unrealistic to achieve on his own. Plus, wasn’t the Avatar supposed to be working on that?

The Avatar . How fucked would it be if he made that his goal? To join the Avatar? He would have to find him again first, with significantly fewer resources than he had before. No- that would be ridiculous. He could do so much more ‘good’ in the time it would take for him to find Aang and the Water Tribe siblings.

So was that his goal? Just a blanket 'to do good'? That seemed way too vague, and the world wasn’t black and white. Innocent people were hurting on every side of the war, and there were assholes abusing power on both sides too. Where was that pathetic Earth King while his citizens were being trampled by Fire Nation soldiers?

The earth king wasn’t the problem though. He wasn't Zuko’s enemy. He didn’t start this mess and he certainly wasn’t the reason it continued. It was the Fire Nations fault- his home, his people. Their government with their lust for power.

Maybe he didn’t need to narrow it down. Maybe that was enough- the Fire Nation needed to be stopped. And until he had a better plan, he would simply thwart them at every given opportunity.

He did want to help people too though, in some capacity. He wanted to make up for Song, for those earthbenders they left for Azula to do spirits know what to. For children in alleys they left behind. Maybe broad goals were the way to go here. Stop the Fire Nation and help the people of the Earth Kingdom.

It still felt wrong, switching sides.

He made camp for the night off the side of the path. He still had food and water, so he just started a fire and stayed there. The fire felt wrong too. A reminder that he was one of them, that nothing he did could really erase his past. All the destruction he caused on that worthless fucking mission. Convinced that his father wanted him to succeed, wanted him home.

It was cold now that the sun had gone down, but he put out the flames anyways. It made him feel sick, staring at the fire he only ever used to hurt others. What a cursed power to have, destruction running through your lungs and out your fingertips. He didn’t want to be that anymore.

He fell asleep cold and alone, curled up by a tree in the dark.

***

He awoke this second day alone with visions of the north. He could still feel the adrenaline rushing through his veins as he stole Zhao's last breath. Everything tinged an electric blue, his people dying at the hand of the spirits themselves. For not the first time he considered the fact that his old crew was probably there that night. Sometimes he wondered if they knew he was too. Would they have done anything? Or would they have walked past his cell avoiding eye contact like the others?

He wasted no time getting back to the only path he had seen so far, cutting through the trees. He ignored the ache in his feet as he started walking again for what he knew would be hours. He couldn’t accomplish anything, no matter how vague his goals were, alone in a forest.

He was starting to decide he didn’t like being alone, even if it was just exclusively because there was no one to distract him from the phantom feeling of a leather whip on his back, or fire being held to his arms until he blistered. The events of that ship were on loop in his brain and it was near fucking impossible to just turn them off.

He tried to fill his mind with images of the maps he used to scour over. He knew the Earth Kingdom well; the problem was that he didn’t know where he was when he started this journey. He had no reference point. And this was clearly a path less traveled, considering he had come across absolutely no one and realistically he wasn’t even that far away from that stupid town.

He needed a better way to distract himself. A new train of thought to obsess over. His only positive experience in recent memory was robbing that Fire Nation-infested town as the blue spirit. What was it about that event that made him feel less miserable? Was it the act of revenge? Or just the disguise?

The first time he donned the Blue Spirit mask he had been desperate and terrified. If the Avatar had stayed in Zhao's clutches, then that would’ve been the end for him. Zuko would never be redeemed, never be allowed home, never had his honor restored. He could do nothing as himself in that situation. His name, his title, they meant absolutely nothing. So he had to become someone else for a night.

He wanted to do that again. Wanted to erase everything he had become in his banishment, everything he was raised to be as a child in the palace. His entire persona was poisoned by lies and threats and a feeling of just absolute worthlessness. What he wouldn’t do to never feel any of that ever again.

So who was he now? Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation was effectively dead. What did that leave, if not just the Blue Spirit? A vigilante whose only legacy was rescuing the Avatar from the Fire Nation's clutches. Oh how he wished that were the truth. He wished he could go back to Aang's offer of friendship that night and accept it. Just as much as he wished Katara hadn’t knocked him out in the North- maybe he could’ve pled his case with Sokka.

He knew it was unrealistic to ever be forgiven by that group. He hadn’t done anything to deserve it- yet. He had been put in a deadly situation, left alone with nothing but pain, his own thoughts, and enough time to reevaluate everything he had ever been taught. Maybe he had changed fundamentally, but hardly anything he had done since had been worthy of forgiveness. Maybe that could be another goal: become a person worthy of forgiveness.

His second night camped out alone he decided to deal with his injuries. Put salve where salve needed to go, wrapped himself up with fresh bandages. It felt like he was more wound than human at this point, but oh well. He probably deserved it.

He didn’t bother to start a fire that night. He knew he wouldn’t be able to stand the sight of it. He had nothing to cook anyways and elected to keep himself warm through his breathing. He fell asleep in a half meditative state leaning up against a tree with one thought looping through his mind.

Prince Zuko is dead.

He was nothing. He was no one until he became someone new.

When he began walking the next morning, he started to regret not accepting the ostrich-horse.

***

Sokka was having such an incredibly outrageously good time that he didn’t even blink when it became obvious why no one else was sitting in the front row. The Earth Rumble IV was the competition of his dreams and he had absolutely no shame for screaming along with the rest of the crowd, regardless of the fact that his companions were significantly less enthused.

The two girls mumbled to each other the whole time looking relatively bored. At least Aang paid close attention with eager eyes as each new competitor took on the Boulder, which still made no sense to Sokka because clearly the Boulder was the best earthbender of all time and would be the perfect master to train Aang.

"He’s just saying that because in the past fifteen minutes he managed to develop an obsessive fanboy crush on the man, Aang," consoled Katara.

Sokka interjected, "I’ll have you know that in the past fifteen minutes I have actually developed a very legitimate, one hundred percent real crush on the very strong earthbending man and when this whole thing is over and he wins the belt I will be proposing to him."

The group laughed at that and Sokka was distracted for the briefest moment by the way Mai's eyes lit up when she smiled, before returning to his fervent and mildly obsessive cheering. He was so entranced by the action that he didn’t even notice Aang’s abrupt change in demeanor when the current champion took the stage.

Sokka was devastated, to say the least, when the small blind child pushed the love of his life off the platform.

"To make things a little more interesting, I’m offering this sack of gold pieces to anyone who can defeat the Blind Bandit," announced the host.

Aang went to move beside him, but Mai was quick to grab his arm. "What are you doing?" She hissed.

"I just want to talk to them!" He replied defensively.

"Then wait until it’s over! Obviously this kid takes this competition very seriously. You can’t earthbend! If you enter that ring they will kick your ass. The only way to win would be cheating and that is not going to gain you any favors."

"What? No one dares to face them?" The announcer's voice rang out again.

"Fine," Aang huffed, and the crowd went wild once more, cheering on their repeat champion.

It wasn’t until the rest of the crowd started to rush the platform that Mai let go of his arm and the group approached the champion together. Aang practically flew up the ramp, weaving through the crowd to land directly beside the Blind Bandit, who was holding the championship belt up high and proud. Sokka and the others raced to catch up.

They turned towards him immediately, "Wow, someone’s a little light on their feet. Who are you?"

"My name is Aang! I'm looking for an earthbending teacher and I think it’s supposed to be you."

"What do you mean it's supposed to be me, Twinkletoes? I’m no teacher." They narrowed their eyes.

"Well it’s kind of a long story but basically I saw you in a swamp hallucination with a big flying boar and a crazy king told me I needed to listen to the earth-"

"-Okay, okay, long story. I get it. You said you saw a flying boar?" Aang nodded eagerly. "How about this, if this was really meant to be, as you so believe, then you'll be able to find me again. In the meantime, I will consider the offer."

In an instant the child stomped their foot and sank into the earth, the crowd going wild around them as their mysterious champion disappeared once again. Sokka took the opportunity to grab Aang by the arm and lead the group out of the fight venue.

As soon as they were away from prying ears Mai spoke up, "Aang, did you say there was a flying boar in your vision?"

"Yeah! Sorry, did I not mention that before?"

"I certainly don’t remember that detail," said Sokka.

"Doesn’t matter," said Mai. "If the flying boar is the key, then I know exactly where we need to go."

"You do?" Asked Aang excitedly.

"The flying boar is the symbol of the Beifong family. Sounds like your earthbending teacher belongs to the richest family in the country."

***

Locating the Beifong estate was surprisingly easy, even though everyone they spoke to insisted the Beifong’s didn't have any kids. When they finally arrived the group spent a decent amount of time lurking outside the walls discussing the merit of sneaking onto the grounds versus formally announcing their arrival.

Mai had obviously been in favor of the latter of the two options but was heavily outvoted by those who had repeatedly experienced being not-taken-seriously by authority figures. Before they had actually come to an agreement, however, all four of them were launched into the air over the wall by the famed earthbender themselves.

"You could not possibly be any less subtle- spirits! Jabbering away like a pack of coyote-wolves where literally anyone could hear you," the Blind Bandit scolded.

Mai looked up from her position lying flat on her back to see, well, not who she was expecting to see. It was clearly the same person, but the powerful bender they had met had been pampered and dressed up like a pretty little doll that was meant to be kept on a shelf, not played with. She felt an achingly familiar pain in her chest.

"You're the Blind Bandit?" Sokka asked obliviously.

"Of course I am! What, not what you expected?" They glared.

"You’re exactly what I expected!" Aang jumped in. "This is how they were dressed in my vision guys! I knew we found the right person."

The Blind Bandit looked at him suspiciously, "yes, okay, so tell me about this vision again? You seem very insistent on me teaching you earthbending, but I have to say that would be pretty unrealistic."

Aang pondered their question for a moment before answering, "well I guess maybe it’s important to mention that I’m the Avatar."

The Blind Bandit stared back skeptically as he continued. "I need to defeat the Firelord by the end of the summer or he is going to wipe out the Earth Kingdom just like he wiped out my people one hundred years ago. I can’t do that if I don’t learn earth bending."

"King Bumi of Omashu told me I needed to find someone who listened to the earth, and then a spirit tornado made us crash in the Foggy Swamp where I had a vision of you! Everything is telling me that you have to be my teacher. And your performance at the Earth Rumble only solidified it."

"The Avatar, huh? And you’re an airbender?" They asked skeptically.

"Yup! But you can just call me Aang. This is Katara and Sokka, they freed me from an iceberg in the south pole a few months ago. And this is Mai! We recently picked her up in Omashu. We’ve been traveling throughout the Earth Kingdom looking for an earthbending master and helping out towns in need along the way."

"Well that’s all fine and dandy but I don’t think any of it is going to change my situation. I’m sorry but I don’t think I can help you."

Mai watched them turn away and couldn't stop herself from blurting out, "it’s your parents, isn’t it?"

They slowly turned back around to face the group, looking unsure of how to respond to Mai's outburst, so she continued, "they don’t know about the earth rumbles, do they? They have all these rules and traditions that you’re not allowed to break even though everything inside you is screaming to break them?"

The Blind Bandit took a few steps towards her, thinking before they spoke. "Mai, right? You’re high-society, aren’t you?"

"Aang said they picked me up in Omashu but really they rescued me- from my family," she replied.

They sighed, a look of understanding passing over their face, "they treat me like a helpless little blind girl. Always have, always will. As much as I appreciate the invitation, there’s nothing I can do."

"Why do you insist on staying here if you’re so unhappy?" Asked Sokka.

"They’re my parents. I can’t just up and leave, they’ll lose their minds."

"I get it," added Mai. "It had to get really bad before I ever considered leaving."

"It might be pointless, but we could always try talking to them. Go in there all formal like Mai suggested earlier," chimed in Katara. "You would have to be willing to expose your secret life though."

"It could be worth a shot, but again, the likelihood they would let me travel with you is practically nonexistent. I’m not even allowed to leave the estate."

Mai thought through everything she had learned about the lifestyles and way of living as a noble. "It could be possible if we play it right. My parents would do anything to uphold their image. If we play up Aang as the Avatar and act properly, maybe we could convince them this is the best way to support the cause?"

"Might as well try," said Sokka.

The Blind Bandit nodded at them, "okay, okay, let try this. And if it doesn’t work, well, we will deal with that when we get there." The group looked at each other grinning, ecstatic to finally make some progress.

"Come to the front gates tomorrow afternoon, I'll make sure they’re ready for you." The group turned to depart. "Oh! And by the way, you can call me Toph."

Chapter Text

Mai asked permission to lead the group through their meeting with the Beifong’s and everyone was perfectly happy to step out of her way. She knew this type of situation was where her skills would be most beneficial, and she appreciated that the others saw it too.

The first thing she insisted on was paying for a real bath. "Trust me guys, they’ll notice."

The second thing she made them do was to dig through their collection of clothing and find whatever they had that was the cleanest and least ragged. She elected to change into the newly cleaned Fire Nation clothes she had just abandoned due to the fact that they were quite obviously the clothes of a noblewoman. The success of this meeting hinged on impressions. Even though it was warm, she had the Water Tribe siblings put on some more decorative furs they obtained in the north. Anything to enforce the idea that they were the chief's children.

Before they arrived, Mai clarified the plan. "The only situation I can see them allowing toph to leave with us is if we earn their respect- which will not be easy from the richest family in the country. Our appearances are just a start, every action we make will be heavily scrutinized. Don’t speak unless you’re spoken to. Let me initiate all conversation topics. If I have to lie, I need you all to go along with it. If there was ever a time to trust me, I need you to trust me now."

And they did, which was baffling to her because it was mostly baseless, but she appreciated the vote of confidence and took a deep breath as they approached the main gates. It was flanked by guards, but a servant woman came out to greet them. Mai stepped forward with Aang by her side, the siblings flanking them.

"Avatar Aang, what an honor to meet you," she said giving a short bow. "And you must be Lady Mai."

Mai offered a curtsy, "thank you for accepting our request for an audience. We are honored to be given the opportunity to discuss the war efforts with a family as esteemed as the Beifong’s."

The servant seemed happy with that response and turned to lead them inside. Mai put a lot of effort into not appearing disgusted by the lavishness of the estate. It reminded her of the Palace gardens in the Caldera- a type of excess that just screamed  as long as we can still live like this we couldn’t care less what happens outside our walls.

They were brought inside to a formal dining area for afternoon tea service and told the family would be arriving shortly. Mai braced herself, knowing she really only had one shot at this.

She stood when they entered the room, the others following her lead. The head of house introduced himself as Lao, his wife as Poppy, and Toph as his blind daughter. Mai led their introductions, emphasizing Sokka as the South's future chief, and Katara as their last waterbender- a master. When asked of her own lineage, Mai described herself as a defected noblewoman, recruited by the Avatar for her extensive knowledge of the royal family.

They started slow, sipping their tea and making small talk, an attempt to make the family feel more comfortable with their presence. Mai noted that Toph wasn't able to contribute even a word.

Eventually, Lao was the one to bring the topic change they had all been waiting for. "So, Avatar Aang, in your opinion how much longer do you think the war will last?"

Aang cleared his throat, directing the conversation just as they had practiced, "I'm glad you asked. I hope to defeat the Firelord by the end of the summer. But I can’t do that until we find an earthbending master to teach me. That’s actually why we came to speak with you."

"Well, Master Yu is the finest earthbending teacher in the land. He’s been teaching Toph since she was little. Have you had a chance to pursue classes with him yet?"

Mai decided to chime in. "Yes actually. You see, that’s part of our problem. With such a limited amount of time until summer, the Avatar needs to be trained by prodigies. Take Master Katara, for example. It took her no more than a month to master waterbending once finding an instructor. Now she is able to take from that experience to fast-track Aang’s mastery as well. Master Yu may be skilled, yes, but he has the type of skill that took years to develop. We don’t have that kind of time."

"As Aang was saying, this is the real reason we came to speak with you. We have been approaching some of the most powerful families in the Earth Kingdom, those with strong earthbending bloodlines, in hope of finding a bending master worthy of teaching the Avatar himself. We were hoping your family would be willing to participate in an exhibition we are holding."

Lao chuckled at this, "well, it has been a long time since I have participated in any sort of bending presentation, and unfortunately I wouldn’t have ever considered myself a prodigy either. I’m not sure my family is what your team is looking for, young lady."

"What about Toph?" Mai glared at Aang as he spoke out of turn. Lao seemed surprised by the question nonetheless.

"Toph? She is only learning the basics. Unfortunately, due to her blindness, she will never be able to become a true master."

Mai could see the amount of effort Toph was putting into not letting their face fall. She continued, "we have seen some of the most ingenuity come from where we least expected it. Surely you would be willing to at least let Toph participate in the exhibition? It isn’t fighting, there is absolutely no danger. Just an opportunity to let her show what she knows. If their skills are as lackluster as you claim, then afterward our team will have no qualms about moving on."

Lao and Poppy looked more confused than anything at this proposal, unable to understand why anyone would care to see their blind child bend. Thankfully Toph decided it was finally their chance to speak.

"Father, I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to participate in their exhibition. Even if I am not what they are looking for, what an honor it would be to bend in front of the Avatar."

Lao looked incredibly uncertain at the prospect, but also wasn’t being given an easy way to refuse. Just like Mai planned, they had presented him with a low-risk opportunity that would reflect honorably on their family if they chose to participate. Keeping everything focalized on their image was key.

Then Poppy decided to join in. "Oh Lao, darling. Certainly, it couldn’t hurt. And what a lovely way to see how far our little Toph has come."

"Very well," Lao grimaced. "I would like to request Master Yu to be present as well, to guide Toph through her exercises."

"Absolutely," Mai confirmed. "We look forward to seeing you there." And she slid a paper across the table, an invitation she had written out ahead of time in her best calligraphy.

"Well, we really must get going. We have a few others to speak to before the event tomorrow," she lied. "It was truly an honor to meet you."

"And you as well," said Poppy, gesturing to the Avatar.

The group stood and was led away by the same servant woman that greeted them at the gate. Before they were out of earshot, however, Mai heard Toph approach Lao.

"Father, if the Avatar chooses me, you will let me go with them, right?"

"What? Oh, sure Toph. If he chooses you."

 ***

When Zuko first stumbled across the group of Fire Nation soldiers he nearly panicked, throwing himself into the brush and holding his breath. He berated himself for not noticing them sooner- he wasn’t even wearing his mask. He needed to be on guard at all times, he couldn’t risk getting caught for something as stupid as walking blindly through a forest.

He listened as they passed, trying to guess how many there were by their voices and footsteps. When he heard the heavy stomps of the komodo-rhinos though, that’s when he knew this would be a group worth following.

As soon as he was sure they were far enough ahead, he reoriented himself, donned the Blue Spirit mask, and began his pursuit.

He followed them from a distance throughout the day, creeping closer whenever they took breaks to try and figure out who they were. Groups this size didn’t typically have the luxury of komodo-rhinos, there were only 8 of them.

He learned that three did not belong with these men, overheard discussion of their pending drop off at the nearest base. From the sounds of it, they were all that remained of a different squadron, and their companions were there exclusively because they were going the same direction.

As soon as he thought to do the math, he realized that this was originally a group of five. A group of five, with komodo-rhinos. Which left only one explanation: these were the Rough Rhinos.

Zuko had only heard of them through stories, but he knew the stories weren’t exaggerated. They had been around for about a decade, a group of five lethal combatants, all masters of a different weapon. The group only had one firebender, coincidentally the only one Zuko knew by name- Colonel Mongke.

They were freelance, would do damage for anyone in the military that asked, and Zuko knew they had taken a fair share of their missions directly from the Firelord himself. They were deadly and brutal and wreaked havoc everywhere they went. If they crossed through a village on their path, they conquered that village. If they found traveling civilians, they robbed or killed them.

If they found Zuko, well, it would be good to avoid that.

But they didn't find Zuko- he found them, which meant he had the upper hand. So he followed them until they made camp, and he watched them from the trees until they went to bed. They had eight tents set up in a circle, with a fire going in the center. They left two men on watch, a couple of the soldiers tagging along.

Zuko knew how to do this first part, he'd done it a million times. Knock out the guards, sneak through the camp, find the target, and then... Then came the second part. And the second part he had a bad habit of making up on the spot. He kept telling himself he would just figure it out when he got to that point, but he was lying. There was only one way to make an actual impact on this group if he was alone.

He was right. Knocking out the first guard was easy. But now he had to kill him- right?

He heard footsteps coming from the other side of camp and froze. He decided it was less likely he would be found if he was not by an unconscious guard, so he quietly moved two tents over while looking for the source of the sound.

Then he saw them. Two more tents over, two figures were lurking just outside the flickering light of the campfire. Exactly like he was. And right next to them was the other guard- also unconscious.

He made eye contact with the shorter of the two from across the clearing and their eyes got wide. They went to tug on the other's sleeve to get his attention, but he was already creeping between the tents, firelight flickering off of the armor on his shoulder. The short one looked at Zuko again and gestured panickily as if they wanted him to leave before taking off behind the tents, but he couldn’t do that now, he was in too deep.

The Fire Nation was the enemy. And the Rough Rhinos were much worse than the typical Fire Nation infantry.

Unfortunately, through all of his internal debate on who he wanted to become, he never bothered to figure out how he wanted to go about it. And now he was stuck hidden in the middle of their camp with two other saboteurs and no plan.

Zuko watched the taller boy slink his way into a tent and didn’t hear a sound from within. When the boy came out, he looked around until he found his acquaintance, giving them a big thumbs down. Then he slowly made his way to the next tent over and snuck inside.

So they were looking for something specific. If they were just stealing, then he definitely didn’t want to get them involved. He couldn’t just rob the Rough Rhinos and move on, that didn’t actually accomplish anything. He needed to cripple them in some way, and currently the only way he could think to do that is to kill them.

He turned around and almost jumped out of his skin when he faced the shorter of the two thieves.

"What are you doing here?" They hissed under their breath.

Up close he could take in more of their appearance. Shaggy brown hair, face paint, and mismatched armor- they couldn’t have been much older than the Avatar. He was shocked with the familiarity they spoke with, as if they knew him. Then again, he was dressed as the Blue Spirit. Maybe they did.

"What am I doing here? What are you doing here?" He growled back.

The stranger glared at him. "We are stealing passports. You need to get out of here or you’re going to blow our cover."

"I can’t do that; these are the Rough Rhinos. I can’t just let them keep pillaging freely knowing I could’ve stopped them."

The kid smacked themselves in the face and groaned, "dammit, we're supposed to be going straight! Fine, what’s the plan? I’ll tell Jet."

"You don’t need to be part of any plan, you need to get out of here," he whispered aggressively.

"Oma, I can’t believe it. The Blue Spirit is here and he doesn’t even have a plan," they concluded. "Stay here, I’ll get Jet. I’m sure he’s come up with at least fourteen different ways to destroy these fuckers," and they snuck away before he had the chance to say another word.

Zuko didn't want them to get Jet! He wanted them to leave so he could process that he needed to slit all their throats alone as they slept, so no one else would have blood on their hands. Besides, he didn’t like the sound of this Jet guy.

Frustrated, he stayed in place and watched the boy he could only assume was Jet sneak out of his third tent, looking triumphant. He looked around for his partner and took off out of view when he must’ve found them.

Moments later they both appeared by his side again and he groaned. "You two need to leave."

"And miss an opportunity like this?" Jet said with a glint in his eye.

"I don’t want to be the reason you two take lives tonight," he glared back.

"Listen Blue- I promised Bee here that we were going straight, but from the sound of it you don’t have a plan, which means you need our help. How does this sound? I burn their supplies, Bee releases their komodo rhinos, and you go kill their leader. That will cripple them enough don’t you think? And you won’t have to worry about either of us getting any 'blood on our hands'."

Zuko was angry because yes that did sound like a decent enough plan, one that he wouldn't have come up with on his own. One that didn’t result in a single-handed massacre. And one that would be far better executed as a trio.

"Fine," he growled. "But hurry up and then get the fuck out of here."

He stomped off in the direction of the largest tent, Colonel Mongke's. He took a deep breath and slid into the dark interior, his heart pounding in his ears.

He had to do this; he knew he had to do this- that was the whole point of this stupid endeavor anyways. The Fire Nation was the enemy and he had to destroy them at every opportunity. So why were his hands shaking?

He should be fine, it’s not like he hasn’t done this before. Although maybe that situation was a little bit different, possibly a bit more personal. And maybe it was easier in active combat, as opposed to sneaking into a sleeping man’s tent.

He pulled out his dagger and crept towards the cot on the far end. He just needed to remind himself why he was doing this, work himself into a rage like the one he felt when he killed Zhao.

The Rough Rhinos were bad guys. They burned villages, raped women, killed children, all in the name of the Fire Nation. These men were who civilians thought of when they thought of the Fire Nation. These men represented his home, and he didn’t want them to for another second.

He approached the cot and looked at the face of the man he was about to kill. In it he saw Ozai, the general from the war meeting, Zhao, and every soldier who passed by his cell uncaring. This is who the Fire Nation was, and he could not let them remain that way.

He pressed his dagger to the man’s throat, and with the sudden rush of blood came a scream from outside of the tent, followed by an explosion.

"Blue!"

The man in front of him jerked awake, but it was too late. His eyes widened and he gasped, a gurgly awful sound, bringing his hands to his throat. He shot a weak ball of fire from his bloody palm, but it was easily deflected. He had already lost too much blood.

Zuko stumbled backward, heart racing. This was his first kill as the Blue Spirit and it felt so much more real than when he killed Zhao. He watched the life leave the Colonel's eyes and remembered the shout and the explosion. Whatever was happening out there, he knew he couldn’t firebend. He ran out of the tent anyways.

He had no idea what to expect but the scene was still shocking. Nearly the entire camp was in flames, and he could hear the clash of swords in the distance. He ran to the center of camp, where the bonfire was roaring furiously, fueled with the supplies Jet had promised to sabotage.

The clash of metal and yelling continued on the other side of the circle of tents, and he continued towards it as soon as he had his Dao in hand. He briefly noticed that the two tents closest to where the komodo-rhinos had been tied up were trampled and on fire.

He rounded the last tent and paused for half a second taking in the action. Jet held dual hooked swords and was simultaneously fighting three armed men with a fury he had never seen the likes of. His companion (Bee?) was holding their own with two small daggers against two weaponless men.

Before he could jump into the fray, a soldier broke off from Jet and ran up behind Bee holding a guandao.

"Bee!" He screamed as he charged forward, hoping they noticed and turned around because he was too far away.

But seconds later the soldier was inexplicably in the dirt, with an arrow that came from spirits know where sticking out of his eye socket.

It was enough of a distraction though, and while Bee faltered one of their opponents took the opportunity to hurl a wave of fire down their side. Bee fell with a scream and the bender raced forward to finish the job. Before the man could reach them, Zuko watched an arrow burst through his throat, having entered just below the back of his helmet.

Zuko continued to rush towards Bee and wasted no time overpowering the remaining soldier as they shakily got up off the ground. As soon as the man was down, Bee hesitantly turned to run in the direction of Jet, but he grabbed their shoulder.

"What the fuck happened while I was gone?" He snapped.

"I fucked up! I fucked up, I told Jet their name because I forgot- please, I’m sorry Blue, we have to help him!" And they turned with solidified intentions, running towards the fight that was still going strong.

He stood still and watched for the briefest moment. Jet was clearly powerful, he was talented with those weird swords, but something was off. He was letting rage consume him past the point of it helping, he was making too many careless little mistakes. The two men still standing had nothing but a sword each, and Zuko knew those weren’t their typical weapons.

He watched Bee tackle one of the men from behind, plunging both daggers into his chest. They fell with a shout onto their injured arm, rolling over to pull the daggers from the soldier’s chest and then slamming them down again. With only one soldier left, Jet was able to focus and started directing his blows for the kill. Something inside of him said that he needed to let Jet have this one, and it seemed like Bee agreed as they both hesitantly backed away.

Soon enough the last of the Rough Rhinos was knocked to the ground, and Jet sat on his chest pinning him. He had dropped his swords and pulled out a dagger. Holding both the man’s wrists in one hand, they watched him whisper something in the man’s ear. The soldier frantically shook his head, but that didn’t stop Jet from carving a deep line in the man’s forearm, earning an anguished scream.

Jet said something again, louder this time, but he was still too far away to hear it. He watched Jet carve a matching line in the man’s other arm, but this time Bee was the one who screamed out desperately, "Jet! Stop it!"

Bee's voice seemed to break the trance Jet was in, and he looked up at them. He made eye contact with Bee before turning back to the man. He said one final thing under his breath and slashed his throat.

Bee ran over and pulled Jet off of the dead soldier's body. As soon as they were away from the growing pool of blood, they threw him to the ground.

"What the fuck Jet! You promised!"

Jet pulled himself into a seated position and put his head between his knees as Bee continued to scream at him.

"Will you ever start thinking things through!? Will you ever start thinking about the rest of us!? I could’ve been dead if Blue wasn’t here. Would this have all been worth it then!?" They took a shaky breath, and he could tell Bee was close to tears.

Zuko watched as the boy who must’ve been the mystery archer jogged into the clearing, approaching his friends and catching Bee's eyes. When he got close, he knelt down beside Jet and pulled his shoulder back, forcing Jet to look him in the eyes.

Zuko was shocked to see Jet's face red with tears. He stayed a few paces away from the rest of them. He felt like he was watching something personal, something he wasn’t supposed to see.

The boy didn’t say a word before Jet started talking.

"I’m sorry, I’m sorry. No that wasn’t the plan. I wasn’t going to kill anyone until I found out- I swear," he choked out.

He looked to Bee next and they clarified, gesturing with every word. "It was the Rough Rhinos, Longshot. Everything was fine until I let it slip that it was the Rough Rhinos."

Longshot let out a sigh and turned back to Jet, pulling him into a hug. Bee scoffed and turned around, marching back towards the camp. Zuko started to back away from the scene.

"You’re not going anywhere, Blue. Help me salvage whatever supplies this idiot didn’t already set on fire."

Not knowing what else to do and knowing Bee would need help dealing with the burn on their side, Zuko followed. This was not how tonight was supposed to go.

"So am I going to get any sort of explanation or-" he trailed off.

"I don’t know, what will I get in return?" Bee still sounded pissed.

He wasn’t sure what to make of that. "What would you even want in return?"

"Do you ever take off that mask?" They were quick to retort.

He hesitated as they approached the bonfire, choosing his words carefully. "I would consider it, but only around people I knew I could trust."

What was he doing? Trying to make friends with these people? Wasn’t the whole point of abandoning Iroh that he was going to figure his shit out on his own?

Most of the external fires had gone out on their own, so he followed Bee around the perimeter, looking into the few tents that weren’t ashes and mentally taking inventory. He avoided the Colonel's, though. They would have to get out of here soon- before a hostile party noticed the rising smoke.

"That prick is nothing if not thorough," Bee determined before giving up and sitting in front of the bonfire.

They turned towards him and studied his mask under the flickering light. "Are you really the Blue Spirit?"

"Yes."

They sighed. "Nice to officially meet you. My name is Smellerbee, and we," they gestured behind them, "are what remain of Jet and his Freedom Fighters."

Chapter Text

Zuko sat with Smellerbee in silence for a while before he decided to bring up their injury. They were hesitant about letting him leave, so he let them follow him to the edge of the clearing where his supplies were stashed in a tree.

"Wow, you would’ve fit in real well back in Jet's forest," Smellerbee remarked.

"What made it Jet's forest?" Zuko asked. The limited interactions he had had with the guy were starting to paint a very bizarre picture.

"Huh? Oh um, I’ve never really thought about it. I guess because he was the leader and none of us knew what the fuck the forest was actually called. Or maybe because he was the first one there," they shrugged.

"So a bunch of you guys just lived camped out in the middle of a forest? For how long?"

"Spirits, I don’t know. Almost a decade? And we didn’t camp. We lived in the trees." Bee looked up into the branches fondly, reminiscing.

He listened to them describe their treehouse fortress in great detail as they made their way back to the fire.

"So why did you leave?" Zuko asked, regretting it immediately as Smellerbee's expression darkened.

"Bad things happened there. We needed to get away from it," they eventually forced out.

Zuko nodded in understanding as they sat in front of the fire, angling Bee's right shoulder so that it was in the light. He helped them remove their shoulder plate so he could cut the ragged burnt fabric away, but he couldn’t stop himself from inspecting the piece of armor.

"This is really good quality, where did you get it?"

"I don’t know, it’s just what I ended up with. And of course it's good quality- we wouldn’t waste our time on anything that didn’t actually protect us."

"Makes sense," Zuko agreed as he pulled out his meager medical supplies.

Smellerbee was lucky they were hit on their side with armor. It had protected their shoulder completely, limiting the burn to the lower outside portion of their bicep. It was still a second-degree burn though. The handprints on his arms were nothing compared to this anymore, so he wasn’t worried about sharing his remaining burn salve.

Jet and Longshot finally made their way over after he had cleaned and dressed the wound.

"Thank you, Blue," Bee sighed before the others were close enough to hear. "Sorry about, well, all of this."

Zuko didn’t have a chance to ask what they meant before Jet started.

"Bee, look, I-"

"I don’t want to talk to you right now Jet," they glared up from their seat by the fire.

"Please, can’t we just talk about this?"

"Talk about what, Jet? About how you broke another promise? About how you acted senselessly violent, again? About how you almost got us killed again?!" They stood up, staring Jet down. Zuko could feel the anger radiating off of them.

"Bee please, you know this was different!" Jet begged.

"Different how Jet!? Stop acting like I don’t feel the same things you feel every time something like this happens. My parents are dead too! But which one of us spiraled into a murderous rampage? We have the same fucking issues, but only one of us ever bothered to learn how to deal with them!" They turned to storm away but Jet caught their shoulder.

"Please don’t go," and Zuko could hear the loss lingering in every word.

"I’m not fucking leaving," Smellerbee growled without turning around. "I just- I just need a second," and they marched off.

Jet made eye contact with Longshot, and he nodded and followed. Then Jet turned and sat down in Bee's place, rubbing his face with his hands before looking towards Zuko quizzically.

"Hi. I’m, uh, Jet." He pulled a piece of wheat out of a bloodstained pocket and stuck it in his mouth.

"Blue Spirit," Zuko gave an awkward wave. "You know I should really just be going."

"Did you help Bee? With that burn on her arm?"

"Um, yeah, but I gave her the rest of the stuff for it so she should be fine now," he rushed, suddenly nervous under the direct attention of the other teenager.

"Thank you, for that. I mean it. We're used to having to look out for our own. I wasn’t expecting you to stick around after the shit I pulled back there. So, thank you."

Zuko was thrown by his gratitude, but it seemed genuine enough. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to think of him yet. So far most of their interactions had been mid violent-emotional breakdown.

"You know, our group could use someone like you. A great fighter, resourceful. Would you consider sticking around?"

"I thought Bee said you were going straight?" Zuko questioned, mildly surprised Jet still wanted anything to do with him.

"We are. This was...a fluke. Were on our way to Ba Sing Se, to start fresh. Doesn’t hurt to extend the offer though."

"I don’t think I would be a good fit with you guys. I’m basically doing the opposite of going straight."

"That’s fair," Jet nodded. "Well, where are you headed next?"

Zuko hesitated, realizing he wasn't actually working towards any specific location. He had kind of just been... following the forest path. Something in him was saying to just tell the truth, so he did. "I don’t exactly have a destination in sight, currently."

"I see," Jet grinned. "Well, you’re welcome to accompany us for however long you decide to travel in the same direction. Up to you of course."

"You don't want me in your gang, Jet. I just bring problems. Besides, it would be too much of a pain to keep up this whole 'secret identity' thing. I really should be going."

"Why are you still wearing that mask? It’s not like we would go report you or anything."

"No one knows who the blue spirit is. Why do you think you should get to?" Zuko retorted.

"I guess I didn’t think about it that way. My point was going to be more in the lines of the fact that we don’t know your name and even if you're some big resistance member, we've been living in a forest for the past decade with minimal outside contact. We're not going to recognize you."

"You recognized me as the Blue Spirit," he pointed out.

"Yeah, because it’s a character. We heard the rumors, but we never saw any pictures."

"How can I be sure?"

"You can’t. But I bet it would be nice to take that mask off."

Zuko considered his words and acknowledged that they weren’t that farfetched. If what Jet was saying was true, which was very likely given Bee's description of their home, then there was close to a zero percent chance they had ever seen a picture of him or would have any reason to recognize him.

He sighed, already worried about how comfortable he was getting with the renegade group. Though, he reminded himself how miserable he had been traveling alone with just his thoughts. And if they were going in the same direction anyways... "Fine, okay. But a word of warning- the last man who saw the Blue Spirit without a mask is dead."

He pulled off the mask and ran his hands through his hair, catching Jet's eyes. He couldn't read his expression as he analyzed Zuko's face, barely lingering on his scar as most would. "Disappointed?"

"Oh, quite the opposite," Jet smirked, "can I ask, Blue, how old are you?"

"Sixteen. Why? How old are you?"

"Not quite sure. Probably 17." He paused, "And it’s just something to consider."

Jet stood and faced the sun that was just barely peeking over the horizon. "We should get going," he continued.

As he spoke Zuko heard footsteps approaching and turned to see Smellerbee and Longshot returning. Hopefully they had worked out whatever they needed for this journey he somehow committed himself to be tolerable.

"Oh! Blue, you have a face. That’s new." Bee pointed out.

"I mean, I’ve always had a face."

"You know what I meant," she brushed him off as she passed him, Jet turning to face her. "Strike two," she jabbed her index finger into his chest.

"Understood," he replied in earnest. Then Smellerbee pulled him into a hug and Zuko could practically feel the tension leave Jet's body as he buried his face in her shoulder.

"I’m sorry Bee," he said, muffled.

"I know," and she pulled away. "Let’s get out of here."

***

The group made quick work raiding the camp of any supplies that survived their original plan. Realistically any supplies foraged was better than nothing, so they came out of it fairly well off. Steel doesn’t melt in a campfire, so quite a few weapons were spared. Smellerbee claimed two twelve-inch kris blades, while Longshot picked arrowheads out of the ashes.

Exactly two sacks of rice survived, and Zuko cut two reasonably transportable tarps from the few tents that still stood. All of this was done before the sun had fully risen, and they were on their way. Jet confidently led them east down the same path Zuko started on. He tried not to be bitter knowing his uncle had intentionally sent him off in the direction of Ba Sing Se without ever letting him on. Then again it was mostly his fault for never paying attention to where they were going.

They walked in silence for some time, exhausted by the events of the night before. Zuko realized quickly that they were going to end up pausing to rest in the middle of the day. Everyone seemed dead set on getting as much space between them and the camp as they could before they collapsed, but they would need food and sleep eventually.

Three hours into their trek the pouring rain made the decision for them.

They tried to keep going for a little while. Jet directed them off the dirt path to avoid leaving an obvious trail of footprints in the mud. Soon though, the chill of the downpour combined with their existing exhaustion forced them to a stop.

Zuko was about ready to collapse on the muddy forest floor if he was being honest with himself. He knew he was malnourished, and acutely aware of his persisting injuries. Combined with the lack of sleep, he was surprised he even made it as far as he did. He attempted to stifle his groan when he realized the freedom fighters had no intention of camping out on the wet ground.

He reluctantly followed as the others scaled a massive oak, alluded by their ability to move so confidently even as the rain beat down on them. They stopped about twenty feet in the air at a cluster of branches that offered two reasonable sitting places. Jet asked Zuko for the tarps he had been carrying and then passed one to Bee who split off with Longshot. They were only a few branches away, but he once again felt a sudden nervousness about being left alone with their leader.

Jet and Bee both climbed up a little way more to hang their respective tarps, finally granting the team some relief from the rain. Zuko started digging through his pack for some food to distract himself as Jet climbed back down to sit a foot or so away from him, back pressed to the truck of the tree. Jet followed his lead and soon they were both snacking on an assortment of random travel foods.

Jet was the one to eventually break the silence. "Well you sure seem uncomfortable."

Zuko almost choked on the jerky he was chewing, "what makes you say that."

"Just your entire vibe. You know, I don’t bite. Unless you’re into that."

"What?"

"-nothing. But you’re never going to be able to sleep like that," he pointed.

"Like what?"

"Just, all the way over there. You’re going to fall."

"Honestly Jet I don’t think I will be able to fall asleep in a tree regardless of where I’m sitting. What would you suggest?" He asked, annoyed at the smug teenager.

Jet smirked and pointed across the way at Smellerbee and Longshot. Longshot was straddling the branch with his back to the trunk, much like Jet. His arms were wrapped tightly around Bee who was sitting directly in front of him. They were both already passed out.

Zuko’s eyes got wide, "yeah I am not doing that."

"Don’t be unreasonable, Blue. Why don’t you just take the advice of some kids who spent most of their lives living in trees and get some rest before we have to leave again."

Zuko was starting to regret his decision to go with them. He was also starting to regret only cutting two tarps. Because the reality was that he was exhausted to his core- had been for days. The only way to stay out of the rain was to stay under the tarp, and the only way to sleep without risk of falling was, apparently, getting way too comfortable with his new companion.

He glared at the older boy, "I want to clarify that I hate everything about this. And that I don’t trust you or even particularly like you yet so you better tread lightly."

"My pride is wounded, truly," Jet put a hand to his chest dramatically. Then he packed up his bag and tied it to a smaller branch next to them, gesturing for Zuko to make his way over.

He reluctantly complied, cursing out this awkward situation in his head. In all fairness Jet was acting pretty reasonable about the whole thing, wasn’t teasing him like he had a feeling he wanted to. He turned to face away from the other boy and was struck with anxiety over the idea of a stranger at his back but carried on anyway. He ignored how the rough branch below them pressed into the stitches on his thigh, just as much as he was ignoring the fact that his clothes were still soaked and there was nothing he could do about it without firebending. Yet another con to traveling with a group.

He leaned back against Jet and tried to get comfortable before jerking upward with a pained gasp.

"What’s wrong?" Jet asked, genuine concern apparent in his voice.

"It’s nothing," he lied through clenched teeth. It was unfortunate because while he had been very consciously trying to ignore the knife wound to his leg, he had genuinely done a very good job at forgetting the lashing wounds across his shoulder blade. The wounds that somehow aligned perfectly with the ridges in Jet's shoulder armor.

"No seriously, tell me what's wrong, let me help." He said earnestly.

"It’s just, ugh, can you remove your armor?"

"Remove my armor?"

"Yeah, on your right side? I have an... injury. On my shoulder," he grunted

"Ohh, yeah okay," and Jet took off his shoulder plate, putting it in the bag hanging beside them. "Is that better?"

Zuko leaned back again, and it was better. Alarmingly better, because now he could see himself actually getting comfortable pressed up against the other boy. "Yeah, uh, thanks."

"Of course," was all Jet said before leaning his head back against the tree trunk and closing his eyes.

Zuko tried to follow his lead, with no choice but to lean back further, resting his head on the boy's shoulder. He closed his eyes, heart racing as he tried to relax in someone’s embrace for what felt like the first time in years. Luckily for him, it didn’t take long for the exhaustion to take over, and soon he fell asleep.

***

Sokka knew he should be happy. Things were going uncharacteristically well, and he had a feeling it was all thanks to a certain someone they had picked up in Omashu.

Mai was quite the enigma. She could be ruthless; he had watched her practice throwing knives plenty to know she would hold her own in combat. She was also smart- smart enough to manipulate the richest family in the country into participating in a fake bending exhibition. She seemed to care so much about a cause that she had barely been allowed to acknowledge up until a few weeks ago. She cried over the southern raids as if she had lived them.

He could see her dedication to their mission through the actions she made, even in moments where she seemed shy, or uncertain- or out of her element like the governor's daughter they knew she really was. The moment he met her he had bet that she would put an end to their bad luck, and she had. So why was he feeling so... guilty?

He sat hugging his knees as the echoes of his friends' chatter drifted towards him from the campfire uphill. Some nights he swore he could see Yue's smile through the clouds, but not tonight. Tonight the moon felt like a glowing void, and it was just the worst feeling. He settled for staring at its reflection in the lake instead.

It just felt so stupid- to still be so torn up over someone he had known for what? Not even a month? But when he had wiped away Mai's tears in that marketplace the day before, for a split second he was staring into the glowing blue eyes of someone else. Why did that have to hurt so bad? Why couldn’t he just move on?

He thought after talking about it in the swamp he would feel better. He did, for a while, but it was a sadness he couldn’t seem to outrun for long regardless of how hard he tried. Every night she stared down at their camp and every night it all came back to him. He would forever be surrounded by reminders of what he had lost. His weapons, passed down from his father. Katara, who looked more like their mother every year.

He was typically good at ignoring those types of things. He was left alone to be the man of the tribe, so he had to put on a brave face- push the sad memories away. But now Mai was here and every time he gave her all his attention there was this gut-wrenching guilt that coursed through his veins and he couldn’t figure out why!

Why did Mai's presence make him so sad about Yue? They had nothing to do with each other! They may as well have lived in different universes! They didn’t act anything alike, they looked completely different- there was no reason for his feelings towards Mai to elicit any sort of feeling he had towards Yue. Not that he even had any feelings towards Mai because they hadn’t even been traveling together for two weeks yet and he barely knew her and being impressed by her weaponry wasn’t the same thing as finding her attractive and he only stared into her eyes so much because he had never really seen gold eyes before and-

And every time she smiled he could feel his connection with Yue fading and he didn’t want that because it was all he had left of her and Mai was here and wasn’t going anywhere and he did not want to be using her to replace someone who was gone.

Sokka wasn’t surprised when he heard the soft crunch of gravel underneath Katara’s boots as she approached him. He didn’t even need to look up. She always was good at being able to tell when he needed someone to drag his brain out of a downward spiral.

She sat down beside him wordlessly and he immediately caved, leaning his head on her shoulder. "What's going on, Sokka?" She asked softly.

"It’s not a big deal, I just need to... get over it," he mumbled. She saw straight through him as always.

She looked up in thought for a moment before inquiring, "do you remember when we were little, and Karima got remarried?"

He scrunched up his face, unsure of where she was going to take this. "Yes?"

"I remember being so confused at the time. 'But what about Inuk? Did she just forget about him?' I know it had been a few years, but it had felt as though he had just died."

Sokka nodded. The raids had been going on his whole life, but with Inuk he was finally old enough to understand what it meant that he was gone. Katara hadn't been quite there yet.

"I ended up asking her about it a few years ago. Before dad had left, when he was still a mess. It just had never settled with me quite right, and I was so young when it happened. There was a lot I just didn’t understand."

"What did you ask?"

"I said 'Kirima, my daddy says he will never love anyone as much as he loved mom. How could you betray Inuk like that?'" Sokka chuckled. "In retrospect, it was probably a little insensitive. I could barely even remember Inuk, but I was devastated by the idea of dad ever just completely moving on like that."

"She took it with grace though, and actually put effort into forming an adequate response for an eleven-year-old. I remember it clear as day. She said, 'Katara. There is no man or woman in the world that could possibly replace Inuk in my heart. I think about him every single day, and my world shattered when he was taken from me.'"

"At that point in the conversation I was still confused. Did that mean she didn’t love Toklo? Why did she marry him then? So I asked her that. Do you know what she said?"

"What?"

"She said 'Sweetheart, does your dad not love you too? Does he love Sokka? Or your gran-gran? We were put on this planet to love each other, and we were gifted with an unlimited supply of love to give. Of course, I love Toklo, as deeply as your father loves Kya. But that doesn’t mean Inuk ever left me. I simply had to learn to make room in my heart for them both. My world had shattered, yes, but Toklo helped me rebuild it."

"Oh," said Sokka.

"Do you get what I’m trying to tell you?"

"Maybe?"

She laughed gently. "You don't have to get over her, Sokka. You don’t have to move on. She will always be with you. You just need to get to the point where you can let someone in alongside her. And that doesn’t have to be today- it could be years from now, after the war. It’ll probably feel different, and maybe you won’t recognize it at first, but you’ll get there nevertheless."

They sat there in silence for a few moments, Sokka thinking over his sister's words. It was a perspective that would take some getting used to, but maybe it wasn’t impossible.

"Thanks Katara." He sighed before joking, "you have the best anecdotes for someone so young."

She scoffed and knocked his head off her shoulder, "Sokka you are barely two years older than me!"

"I know! And I don’t have like, any anecdotes!" he grinned.

Katara laughed at that and stood, offering a hand to help him up. "Come on, we still have a lot to plan before tomorrow."

He let her pull him to his feet, "I’m following, just give me one more minute." She nodded and left him alone to turn back towards the water, take a deep breath, and look up.

And there she was. Bright and beautiful as ever. Not going anywhere.

He could hear Aang calling something out to Katara as she returned, followed by the sound of Mai's laughter. He started in their direction, smiling to himself. Maybe Katara was right. Maybe he would be okay.

Chapter Text

Katara was... nervous. It was after 2 pm and Toph still hadn’t arrived. She and Aang had been distracting Master Yu in an attempt to delay the event for at least twenty minutes, Momo chittering away on Aang’s shoulders. They exchanged anxious glances repeatedly with their friends who were left to deal with everyone else.

Their plan had been going flawlessly. They had approached Master Yu's facilities early in the morning, praying to La they could use the Avatar's status as a bargaining chip. And for some impossible reason, it worked.

They had given him the same spiel as they had the Beifongs. They asked him for his best students, the ones that progressed the fastest, ones that understood earthbending to a point it would be reasonable for them to teach it. Ideally nobles, to play up the show. They showered him with compliments and praise. It was implied that they would’ve asked him to train Aang, but they couldn’t stay in Gaoling and couldn’t bear to take him away from his students.

Yu basked in the honor of helping the Avatar- just what they were banking on. He sent a courier to deliver invitations to his six most promising students. He invited them to use his larger training courtyard behind the main buildings that was typically reserved for adults before the war took the majority of them away into the army.

But now it was after 2. And Toph wasn’t here.

Everyone else was. Katara could hear the aggressive whispers flying between Mai and Sokka, finally done directing traffic.

"Yes, I put this place on the invitation! That was the whole point, we only would need to notify them of a venue change if this place hadn’t worked out!"

Yu derailed their conversation into an obvious out and then Katara and Aang were standing alone, helpless in watching Master Yu greet the families that had gathered. Sokka and Mai quickly made their way over.

"We're fucked," and "I don’t understand what went wrong," were said in the same breath.

"We just need to start the exhibition and hope Toph shows up," Katara groaned.

"What if something happened to them? We need to make sure they’re okay!" Jumped in Aang.

"And we know the invite said 2, not 3?"

"For the love of Angi- Sokka, I didn’t mess up the invitation! Just because you can’t read formal Earth Kingdom script doesn’t mean I can’t write it," Mai glared.

Katara intervened, "something must’ve happened that we couldn’t have anticipated. It’s not our fault, but we need to get started. The sooner this event ends the sooner we can leave and figure out what’s going on."

Sokka nodded reluctantly and put a hand on Aang’s shoulder, "let’s go help Yu kick this off."

Katara watched the boys reenter the small crowd before turning to Mai who, well, who looked exactly how Katara felt.

"Mai are you okay?"

"I just don’t understand!" She blurted out. "Yesterday everything seemed to go perfectly! I can’t figure out where I went wrong."

Katara grimaced, "I’m sure that whatever happened wasn’t your fault. But my concerns are growing as more time passes without them showing. I hope we didn’t draw the bad kind of attention to the Beifongs by singling them out."

A commotion drew their attention over to where Yu was introducing Aang to his students. They heard a supportive mom yell, "you’ve got this baby!" while a kid stepped down to the training ground.

Without Toph here the whole thing was undeniably a waste of time. The likelihood any of the students would be a decent replacement was incredibly low. They were forced to play it out for show, and Katara honestly felt bad for the kids presenting. Yu went and got their hopes up for nothing.

The girls sat on the stone steps leading down to the training ground and watched as the students performed one by one. The team had come up with an outline for how the benders would display their strength. A collection of standard katas escalating in difficulty, ending with a unique display of the bender's choice. While they may have been impressive for their age, Katara knew none of them even came close to Toph's abilities.

***

The exhibition only lasted a little over an hour, but Mai felt as though she was trapped watching it for days. The entire time her mind raced through every step of her meticulously thought-out plan, desperately searching for the flaw, the mistake. By the time everyone had left she was sitting with her head in her hands, staring at her feet, still unsure of how she could’ve possibly fucked up her first real contribution to the group's efforts.

She heard Aang and Katara thanking Yu for his time, saying they needed to discuss and get back to him. Mai was certain that was a lie. She felt footsteps approaching and braced herself for the disappointment and criticism she had been dreading. She continued to stare at her feet but saw a flash of blue as Sokka sat beside her. He cleared his throat and she felt herself tense, just waiting for the hateful accusations she was sure would come. What was going to happen now that they realized she would just ruin everything they tried to accomplish? Would they leave her here, alone in Gaoling? Would they decide that wasn’t enough and send her back to Omashu, to be subject to the wrath of the Fire Nation?

"Hey, I’m sorry about earlier. I was stressed and being unreasonable. I know you put everything you could into this plan, and I know it’s not your fault it didn't work out."

Mai froze, eyes wide because that was not what she was expecting to hear. She sat up slowly and turned to him, half-convinced he was lying just to bring her hopes up, to crush her even more. But when she finally made eye contact he looked nothing but remorseful, and she didn’t understand how she could fuck up so badly yet he was the one apologizing.

He kept talking, "we need to get going. I know Aang is worried something bad happened to the family, but I have a feeling it’s a lot less serious than that. I want to go back to the estate and see what the Beifongs have to say. If that doesn’t do anything for us, then we can pursue Aang's theory. What do you think?"

He was asking for her opinion? "Um, yeah, that sounds like a good idea."

"Great," he stood and smiled, offering his hand to help her up. She took it skeptically and followed as they approached the others where he tried to convince them of their next steps. It wasn’t difficult though, and they soon left the studio together, headed out to the Beifong estate. They walked mostly in silence, determined to get some answers. This left Mai to repeat Sokka's words in her head, trying to convince herself they were real. She realized that she wasn’t really sure how to cope with being forgiven.

***

Aang paced angrily as the rest of them sat disappointed around the campfire. Mai contemplated Lao's words, which they all knew were a lie.

"Unfortunately, Toph woke up feeling a little under the weather and was not up for a bending exhibition today. Hopefully one of your other participants impressed you, for it is incredibly unrealistic to consider having her join your team, as I’m sure you would’ve concluded after watching her demonstration regardless."

They had failed to convince Lao and Poppy that this mission was worthwhile, or that their child was the one for the job. Maybe that was fair, Toph was only twelve after all. Most loving parents were probably unwilling to send their child off to war at that age. Especially a family as sheltered as the Beifongs. It was just... disappointing.

"I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do!" Aang called out to no one in particular. "Toph was supposed to be my teacher, everything is telling me that that’s the case. Bumi, the swamp. How am I supposed to just give up!?"

Katara stood up and approached him during his rant, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. He stopped his pacing allowing her to pull him into a hug as she mumbled words of encouragement.

"What now?" Mai asked Sokka.

He sighed, "we move on I guess, keep searching. We’ve really done all that we can here. It’s not safe for us to stay in one place so long anyways, we should probably head out tonight."

Mai nodded and moved to start packing up, Sokka stood to help. Before long the others joined them and soon almost everything had been loaded into Appa's saddle. They were about to head out when they heard a set of racing footsteps approaching.

"Hurry- be ready to leave. That could be anyone," urged Sokka.

The group quickly loaded themselves and their last few belongings into Appa's saddle but stayed put, all silently hoping to see a certain earthbender's face come up over the hill. They let out a collective sigh of relief when they realized that they were right.

There Toph was, barefoot and in their earth rumble costume, championship belt around their waist, with a single bag slung over their shoulder. "Wait for me!"

Aang jumped down from the bison and approached them, "Toph? What happened? What are you doing here?"

"My dad was lying, when you spoke to him earlier. I’ll explain more later. For now, let’s just say I convinced him to change his mind. I am free to travel the world."

Sokka chuckled at that. "Well let’s get going before he changes his mind again."

"Good idea. Quick question though, what in Oma's name is that," they pointed at Appa.

"This is Appa!" Aang exclaimed. "He is my flying bison; he is our main mode of transportation."

"Flying bison? Fuck, okay. I guess this is what I signed up for, traveling with an airbender and all." Toph launched themself up to the saddle landing beside Sokka.

With everything else loaded up and ready to go they took off. As soon as Appa's feet left the ground Toph reached out to grab the nearest arm, which happened to be Sokka’s.

"Toph, I have to ask," Mai started after a moment, "what happened? Everything seemed like it was going perfectly when we left your parent's estate last night."

"We were so worried something had happened when you didn’t show up at Yu's studio," added Katara.

Toph sighed, "it was my fault your plan got messed up. I had asked my father if I won if I would be allowed to travel with you. He said yes, but I could tell he was lying. I confronted him about it in the morning, because what was the point of some dumb show if it wasn’t going to convince him to let me go anyway? I told him all about the life I had been hiding. I told him how I felt as though I had lived my entire life in a prison, and how this was my chance to prove my worth as an earthbender and make a real difference. I told him about the earth rumbles."

"I thought he would care. I know I’ve disagreed with how they’ve treated me in the past, but I always knew it was out of love. I never doubted that they loved me, just wanted to protect me. But their lifestyle has blinded them to reality. I will never be more than a helpless blind girl to them. It doesn’t matter how many different ways I try to prove myself. It doesn’t matter how many times I say that I’m not any of those things."

"They locked me in my room. Said they would be increasing my private guard, that they’ve been giving me too much freedom. Said that I wouldn’t be going to any foolish exhibition, and I certainly wouldn’t be traveling with the Avatar. At that point I had kind of given up."

"But then you guys came back for me. I wasn’t expecting that. Turns out it’s not very difficult to break out of a stone estate when you’re the greatest earthbender in the world. Sorry I didn’t think to do it earlier."

Aang flew across Appa’s saddle and pulled Toph into a hug. "Thanks for finding us. You’re going to be the best teacher."

***

Zuko awoke with a crackle of static, itching across his clothes and skin. It was still raining, hard. He couldn’t have been out for more than a few hours. Something was wrong, he knew that, but he wasn’t sure what.

Then he felt it again, but not on the surface. A small shock, zipping along his chi paths. It gave him goosebumps and he panicked because that meant what he was feeling was real.

He sat up and turned to the boy behind him, gently shaking him awake. "Jet. Jet wake up. We need to go something is wrong."

Jet opened his eyes groggily and looked to Zuko questioningly, "it’s still pouring rain," he pointed out, still half asleep.

But he could still feel it, little sparks in the air, and suddenly he knew and his heart started racing because they were running out of time. "Jet, we need to go now!"

He rushed to action, reaching for their bags and shouting, "Smellerbee! Longshot! Get up we need to go!"

Smellerbee jerked awake and instinctively jumped into the action without question, shaking Longshot awake and climbing up to retrieve her tarp. Jet started to do the same but Zuko grabbed his sleeve, "no time! If you trust me, go down now."

Jet looked at him wide-eyed and nodded as the rain pounded down around them. The energy was building, and Zuko practically threw himself to the next lowest branch, no longer hesitating on the wet branches. The others followed. He jumped to the ground a bit too soon and landed upright but hard, a new pain shooting up his previously injured ankle. He didn’t waste time thinking about it, however, and immediately took off, hopefully back towards the trail.

They were only a dozen yards away when a blinding light and deafening crash hit the tree they were resting in. Everyone threw themselves to the ground in the wake of the explosion, but Zuko and Jet were the first to turn around and take in the damage. The trunk of the tree was split, with a fire raging inside where the rain couldn’t hit. Multiple branches we cracked or charred, and the leaves had already wilted.

Jet looked over to Zuko, eyes wide with shock, and out of breath from their sprint. "How did you know?" He panted.

Zuko shook his head, heart still racing, and spoke with complete honesty, "I have no idea."

Chapter Text

They trudged on through the rain for hours and Zuko found himself once again reevaluating his lowest moments. At some point the wind picked up and it bit at his soaked clothes with an icy chill he could only compare to his experience in the Northern Water Tribe. Smellerbee, the smallest of the group, wrapped herself in their remaining tarp to ward off the wind chill, and Zuko was painfully jealous.

He wanted so desperately to use his breath of fire to warm himself up, but after the whole ordeal with the lightning he really couldn’t take any chances. He didn’t miss how the rest of the group periodically stole suspicious glances at him as they walked in silence. So he resigned himself to soaked clothes and goosebumps, grimacing every time he took a step with his right foot.

When the rain finally stopped the whole group could’ve cried with joy. It was nearing dark already, the entire day being a blur of miserable walking. But no more rain meant they could make a real camp and start a fire and maybe change into spare clothes that were packed away. Jet grinned when they stumbled upon a small clearing a ways off the trail, equally ready to get off his feet.

Zuko fell back as the others started setting up camp without a word, an organized system they clearly had practice with. Smellerbee climbed up a nearby tree to salvage some dry wood from places shielded by the heavy foliage. Then she accompanied Longshot in the direction of running water they assumed generally followed the trail they were on, even though the sound of it had been drowned out during the storm.

Jet started the fire and hung a line across the clearing. Unsure of how to help, Zuko just lied out the tarp to sit in front of the fire, desperate to feel its warmth. He took off his waterlogged boots and was inspecting his ankle when he heard Jet clear his throat.

"You should really hang up your clothes to dry or you’re never going to get warm," Jet said, taking off his armor.

Zuko nodded in agreement and tried not to stare as Jet continued to peel off his soaked outer tunic and the long sleeve undershirt that clung to his skin, wringing them both out and hanging them up on the line. There was absolutely no reason to be staring, but he couldn’t pinpoint the disconnect between his eyes and his brain as he watched a shirtless Jet remove the Faulds armor that hung from either side of his waist.

Eventually he shook his head and stood, wincing at the weight on his ankle, pulling the cheap Earth Kingdom tunic over his head in one motion. He wrung it out but hesitated to step away from the fire, its warm glow so tempting against his bare skin. His inner fire was practically begging to be put to use, yelling at him that he could be warm and dry in the matter of an instant. Zuko fought to ignore it and tore off the sopping wet bandages barely hanging onto his torso. He stomped over to where Jet was hanging his clothes, throwing his own over the line before turning away.

"Oh," he heard softly behind him.

"What?" Zuko turned and glared. He was surprised to see such a gentle look of concern on Jet's face.

"Nothing, just, um. Your shoulder injury, I get it now." He said.

Zuko let his defensiveness fall and sat back down on the tarp, shoulders hunched as he unwrapped the remaining wet bandages wrapped around his forearms, revealing the faded handprint scars. Thankfully, Smellerbee and Longshot stumbled back to camp before he could comment on those too.

"Jet!" Bee said accusatorily when she took in both of their half-dressed appearances.

"What? I’m drying off!" He said defensively, gesturing to the line of dripping clothes.

She glanced back and forth between the two of them suspiciously before deciding whatever she was concerned about wasn’t relevant and followed their lead, dropping her armor into a pile.

Zuko looked to Longshot and suddenly noticed, with great delight, that the boy was carrying two arrows in hand, each speared through a fish. Jet noticed at the same time, walking over to give him a congratulatory slap on the back, and gesturing something else wordlessly with a big grin.

Bee plopped down next to him on the tarp, having changed into some spare clothes out of view. Zuko continued to watch Jet and Longshot's silent gestures with confusion until Bee interrupted his thoughts.

"He's deaf."

"What?" Zuko asked, not understanding.

"Longshot. He's deaf, can’t hear. That’s why they’re waving their hands around. They’re talking."

"You can do that?" He asked, surprised.

"Sure can. Just need some friends willing to help you make it up."

"Wait you guys made up a whole language?"

"I mean, it’s the same language. Just using your hands instead of your mouth. We’ve been together a long time; it took a couple of years, but we figured it out."

"Could you teach me?"

"You’d want to learn?"

"Well yeah I mean if I’m going to be staying with-" he caught himself, realizing he might be about to commit himself to something he wasn’t ready for.

Bee grinned back anyways, "of course we'll teach you, Blue. Now for the real reason I came over here. Hand me whatever ointment you’re supposed to be putting on your back."

"Oh, uh, you don’t have to do that," Zuko stammered.

"Shut up yes I do, hand it over," she demanded and Zuko reluctantly dug through his pack until he found the small jar Song had prescribed for his open wounds and passed it to Bee, along with some fresh bandages.

She moved behind him and started applying it before continuing quietly, "have you always been able to detect lightning?"

Zuko stiffened at the question, terrified of where it might lead. "No, I’ve never done that before. I don’t understand it any more than you do."

He heard a soft sigh as she closed the jar. "Good," she said, and they sat in silence as she wrapped the white linen around his body in a way that showed experience. When she finished, he turned to face her, and she stared into his eyes with concern for what felt like ages before speaking. "I like you, Blue. Just... be careful."

She returned the jar to his hand and stood, walking over to where the others were cleaning the fish. He stayed seated where he was, directly in front of the fire, absorbing its warmth and thinking over the events of the past two days. He wrapped his ankle in a makeshift brace and eventually the others made their way over to cook their catch. He ate in silence, observing the freedom fighters in what might as well be their natural habitat. Bee leaning into Longshot's side, her and Jet joking across the fire. Almost every word accompanied by a hand sign, or said slowly, facing Longshot.

He found himself smiling, appreciating the open camaraderie between the friends. He thought back to what he almost said to Bee without thinking. About how he was maybe considering staying. He had told himself he needed to figure things out on his own, but now he wasn’t quite sure if that was actually what he needed.

Eventually the fire died down, everyone now dry, fed, and fully clothed. Bee and Longshot fell asleep tangled together on a mostly dry section of dirt, using a bag as a pillow. Jet ended up leaning against a tree, and Zuko lied on his stomach on the tarp, watching the flickering embers of the fire until sleep inevitably took hold.

***

The next morning started slow, not that Zuko was complaining. He slept in far past his typical sunrise debut, making up for the night prior. Longshot was stirring something in a pot over the low burning fire, and Jet was still leaning against his tree, sharpening his hooked swords. Zuko grabbed his Dao and wandered over to where Jet was seated.

"Those are interesting swords, where did you get them?" Asked Zuko as he took out his blades to clean and sharpen as well.

"Fire Nation soldier, where else? One of the first things I claimed for myself in a raid. Had never even held a sword before," he divulged.

"Claimed in a raid?" Zuko inquired, earning a laugh.

"I know we mentioned we were going straight. Didn’t you consider what we must’ve been up to before now?"

Zuko pondered that as Jet continued, "usually anything we recovered in a fight just went to the group. That’s why so much of our armor is mismatched. You took what you could get, what fit you, split evenly across the board. Keep everyone equally protected. But sometimes we would allow people to lay claim to niche things. Like these swords," he gestured. "Or Longshot's arrows."

Longshot approached them holding two bowls of something steaming. "Thanks, Longshot," Jet took the bowl appreciatively, tapping his chin and gesturing with his index finger near his ear.

Zuko took the other bowl graciously, thanking him out loud as well. The other boy nodded, returning to the fire to gently shake Smellerbee awake.

"What did you say to him?" Zuko asked Jet.

"Huh? Oh, exactly what I said out loud. This is thank you," he tapped his chin again. "This is Longshot," he pointed his index finger with his thumb out, palm towards his face, pushing his hand out horizontally from his cheekbone. "He can read lips too, though."

"Oh. Good to know," he replied, practicing the gestures anyways so he could remember them in the future. He could tell Jet was watching him go through the motions but tried to ignore it, eventually turning to his food before it got cold.

It was just plain congee made from the Rough Rhino's salvaged rice, but it was without a doubt a million times better than anything he could’ve made on his own. He looked around at their camp, at the fire they had started without firebending. At the clothesline Jet had suspended that was made out of woven grass. Even the stone Jet was using to sharpen his weapons seemed like it was created exactly for that purpose. Maybe he could get used to this whole 'surviving in the wild' thing if he was with people who actually knew what the fuck they were doing.

Not long after they finished their food, Longshot approached them again.

"What’s up?" Jet asked.

Longshot had only made a few motions when Jet spoke again. "The passports? Of course I got them! There are like six," he reached into the bag next to him, pulling out a small stack of green papers held together by a ribbon.

"Yeah, you were right, they’re still blank. I don’t know why those people didn’t fill them out when they had the chance. I guess maybe we should do that now, huh?"

"What are you talking about?" Zuko interjected.

"The whole reason we were following the Rough Rhinos to begin with. We saw them rob a family of refugees. Claimed some bullshit about how if they were blank, they were stolen, so they took the passports along with all of their supplies, even though they were probably just blank because no one in the group could write."

"So... You stole stolen passports?"

"You need a passport to get into Ba Sing Se. It’s not like we could’ve stopped them from being robbed, it was broad daylight, and we were severely outnumbered. That’s why the original plan was to sneak in and sneak out. You can’t blame me for taking advantage of the opportunity. If we hadn’t found these, we would’ve had to find work in a town until we could afford our own. Costs one thing just to get the papers, costs another for someone to fill them out for you."

"Bee! Do you have any ink?" Jet shouted across the way.

Smellerbee begrudgingly got up from where she was lounging and walked over.

"Where in the Fog of Lost Souls do you think I would’ve gotten ink, Jet?"

"Shit, um..."

"I have some ink Bee," Zuko replied, pulling his bag closer.

Bee raised an eyebrow. "Lucky us," she said, before turning away to take down the bare clothesline.

"I picked some up recently out of habit, from back when I actually had people to write to," he explained himself to Jet, handing it over. It was a dumb habit to have gotten into, considering Azula had never bothered to write him back.

"Oh, that does me no good, give it to him," Jet pointed to Longshot.

Zuko quizzically handed the ink and a brush to Longshot who sat down beside them. "You can’t write?" Zuko asked.

"I was left to survive alone in a forest when I was like eight, Blue. Who in Oma's name could've taught me how to write," Jet replied defensively.

"Okay fair," Zuko raised his hands in acknowledgment. "But Longshot can write?" He asked, gesturing to the boy who was now carefully spelling out his name on the green parchment.

"Yeah. Luckily for us, that was the only way his parents ever bothered to communicate with him."

Longshot looked up at them with a question on his fingertips.

"Just say we're from Gaipan. They won’t be surprised to see refugees from there. No, I don’t know how to spell fucking Gaipan, just guess or pick something else then."

"I can spell it, let me see," Zuko interrupted.

Longshot passed over the materials and the three passports he had their names on and Zuko finished filling them out with the familiar name of a town he had only ever seen on a map. Longshot looked pleased and nodded at them, leaving to help Smellerbee finish breaking down their camp.

"Just another casual reminder that I don’t know anything about you," Jet huffed.

"Yup. Not to break your heart or anything but I hope you realize I plan on keeping it that way," Zuko said, questioning his choice of words as soon as they left his mouth.

Jet smirked back anyways, "yeah but now I know you’re educated."

"That could mean a lot of things."

"Still useful to know."

Zuko sighed, "you really should stop trying to figure out who I am Jet. It will end badly for everyone involved.

"There's a difference between trying to figure out who you are and trying to get to know you. Not everyone is out to get you, Blue."

They had been calling him that for nearly two days now, but it still felt wrong. It was a constant reminder of his lack of an identity. He sure as hell wasn't Zuko anymore, but 'Blue' wasn't, like, a real person.

"Not sure if I fully believe that yet but I'll try to keep your words in mind," he said, standing. "I've never fought someone with your kind of weapon, interested in sparring?"

Jet's eyes lit up as he jumped to his feet, "I thought you'd never ask."

Chapter Text

Jet had never really bothered keeping track of time long term before. In the beginning, when he was on his own, he was just vaguely aware of the seasons passing. He liked to think only two winters passed before he met Smellerbee, but it might've been three. Bee said she escaped near her birthday, so every year they celebrated come spring for the both of them.

Jet was now painfully aware that they had left his forest exactly forty-six days ago.

Forty-six days away from the only home he'd ever known, the one he made for himself by hand. Longer than that since his kids had started leaving. In pairs or trios until Smellerbee and Longshot were the only ones who remained. It was Bee who convinced him in the end that they needed to leave too.

It had been exactly nine days since they decided they should go to Ba Sing Se, but only two since they encountered Blue.

He probably set some sort of record for 'world’s worst first impression' that night. It started out fine, their mission was poised for success- until Bee said those stupid words and he reacted... well, poorly.

"Did he say why he was after these guys?"

"Something about he couldn't let the rough rhinos keep pillaging?"

To be fair he had kind of been going through a lot lately.

Mistakes aside, they were now being accompanied by Blue, and Jet wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about the situation. Yes, he had been the one to invite him along, but that was just... habit? That’s how he ended up adopting most of his kids, post raid or ambush. The only small talk he knew how to have. But then he took off his mask and it took all of ten seconds for Jet to recognize that the boy was absolutely gorgeous, scars and all, and suddenly that was the most important thing about him.

He kept having to remind himself that this was the Blue spirit: a wanted vigilante that Smellerbee had just happened to latch on to when they heard about him during their brief stint in that port town. He was dangerous and experienced and Jet knew nothing about him. Though, he knew nothing about Jet either, at least not too many of the bad parts, his biggest mistakes. Maybe it was a good thing, going in blind. The ultimate fresh start.

Then he saved them from a fucking lightning strike and what the fuck was a guy supposed to do with that kind of information? He had never heard or seen that being a bending thing, maybe it was a spiritual thing? Maybe it was luck? Jet had nothing to draw on, no background information whatsoever, no idea if his ability to save their lives should make him an enemy or not. But it sure didn’t feel like something an enemy would do.

He let Smellerbee ask about it when they made camp. When Blue wasn’t paying attention, he signed to her about his shredded back because he knew Blue would be way more comfortable with her helping him the way he helped with her burn the day prior. If he had learned anything in the forest it was that the youngest kids would always flock to him as the leader, the protector- but the most damaged ones always second-guessed him in the beginning. Besides, Blue told him to his face that he didn’t trust him. Yet.

He knew Bee would bring up the lightning because they’d been together so long they practically shared a brain, and he could tell that for some unknown reason Blue seemed to trust her more than any of them. She tended to have that effect on people. And Jet trusted her when she said it was a freak thing that none of them needed to worry about.

He let Blue watch them for the rest of the night, another tried and true tactic. No pressure, let the kids realize on their own that the freedom fighters are safe. That where they are now is nothing like where they came from. Jet knew an outcast when he saw one- and when Blue approached him in the morning, eventually asking him to spar, he thought it had worked.

"If I had known your ankle was fucked up I wouldn’t have agreed to practice with you, Blue," he stood over the other boy who had just refused his hand to help him up.

"It’s literally nothing I’m completely fine," he glared back through gritted teeth.

"And that’s why you’re still on the ground?"

"Fuck off," he growled, pushing himself off of the dirt and turning to limp back to camp.

Jet fell in step alongside him. "You must not have been alone for very long if that’s your attitude towards injuries, anyone here will tell you that if you don’t take that shit seriously it will only get worse."

"I don’t remember asking you for health advice," he snapped. "I’ve been through a lot worse than a twisted ankle if you didn’t notice, I think I know what my limits are."

"Damn Blue, you’re feisty when you’re in pain, I’ll keep that in mind." He teased.

"Ugh!" Jet let him stomp away to the tarp that was still lying out in the dirt before throwing himself down and unwrapping his ankle.

He made eye contact with Bee who was sitting with Longshot close by. "Injury inventory?" he signed. She widened her eyes knowingly at the term they coined a few years back for whenever they thought one of the kids was hiding something bad.

She casually stood and wandered over to Blue while Jet backed off.

"You really limping like that just from a twisted ankle?" She asked.

He rolled his eyes so hard Jet could see from across the clearing, but he answered her anyway, "it’s a combination of things but I’ve got it all completely under control."

"You know I can’t help you if you keep lying to me," and that seemed to strike a chord because Blue suddenly looked a lot more guilty than angry. "How did you hurt your ankle?"

He hesitated, "I hurt it a while ago but it got better. I hurt it again when I jumped out of that stupid tree."

"Okay, but you were walking funny before that. You have been since I met you- what’s that about?"

He sighed annoyed but answered her again, and Jet tried to ignore how bitter he was that Blue still didn’t trust him. "I was stabbed in the leg but she stitched it up so it’s fine-"

"-you have stitches?" Bee interrupted. Jet appreciated how she knew to gloss over the stabbed in the leg part.

"...yes."

"For the love of spirit’s, Blue, tell me please, how old are these stitches."

He glared again, "I don’t know, I was unconscious when I got them. She said to take them out after nine days and it’s been..." He trailed off obviously counting and Jet smirked.

"It’s been eleven days," he announced dejectedly, not making eye contact with Bee.

"Oma and Shu, fuck Blue, really? Ugh, I was not expecting to have to say this to you but take off your fucking pants."

Blue blushed a bright red at that but complied as Bee got up and dug through a bag for her smallest dagger.

"Jet, give me your fire whiskey." She called out.

"Whattt, I have no idea what you’re talking about," Jet replied, feigning ignorance.

"Shut the fuck up and just give it to me, I need to sterilize this blade," she demanded.

He sighed as he walked over to his pack, shuffling things aside to grab the emptier of the two bottles buried at the bottom. He brought it over to the duo on the tarp and ignored Bee's judgmental glance between him and the nearly empty bottle. He fought the instinct to stare up and down Blue's half-dressed appearance just as he fought it the day before and backed away to give Bee room. He still elected to observe from a distance, however. As the leader, he needed to know what was going on at all times.

"Alright Blue, do you want the good news or the bad news first?" She said, turning away from the wound and pouring whiskey over her knife.

"Spirit’s, just say whatever you’re going to say," he groaned.

"Okay, well, good news is that this seemed to heal pretty well, and there is no sign of infection."

"And the bad news?"

"As I initially suspected, your beautifully healed skin grew over the stitches, so they will have to be dug out to prevent the possibility of future infection. I bet nine days still would’ve been too long. Are you a big drinker?"

"What? No."

"Well there’s no better day to start than today," she replied, handing him the bottle. He stared back at her confused.

"This is going to hurt," she clarified. "And this is the closest we have to painkillers."

Blue looked between her and the bottle and hesitated before taking a decent gulp and grimacing. "Just finish it off, there’s barely any left," Bee instructed.

He looked disgusted but did as she said, earning a laugh from Jet. "Well?" Blue glared.

"Give it a few minutes to kick in and I’ll get to work."

Jet turned to Longshot,  “I don’t think we are going to be making much progress today."

"That’s fine. It’s better that this is dealt with now anyway. I'll stock up,"  he replied, grabbing his bow and gesturing in the direction of the river.

Jet nodded and turned back to the others, pulling up some grass to chew on as he stole glances at Blue's flushed face while Bee explained the process of removing stitches to him.

***

Zuko had gotten very good at dealing with physical pain. He often faced it with a grimace and nothing more, as any other reaction brought Zhao too much pleasure. For that reason, he knew he didn’t need fire whiskey to save face. But just because he was good at dealing with pain didn’t mean it didn’t still hurt. And for whatever reason Bee seemed to really know what she was doing so he decided fuck it and took the alcohol.

He had drank before, but only ever wine, and he was only ever buzzed. That, he was learning, was a vastly different experience from chugging at least three shots of fire whiskey in the middle of the day before a teenage girl dug stitches out of your leg with a knife.

Well, she was right. It did help numb the pain.

He just watched her at first. Something about seeing it happening and knowing he wasn’t in danger made the whole situation feel better. He didn’t even flinch at the blood. There were only seven stitches, so it didn’t take long for Bee to get them all out, but he could feel Jet watching him the entire time. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

Bee asked him for the salve he had her put on his back the night prior, so he clumsily dug it out of his bag and handed it over. He watched her wipe away the blood and cover it in salve before wrapping it up tightly in new bandages. His eyes kept drifting over to where Jet had been sitting since Longshot got back but he kept forcing them back to Bee as soon as he noticed which was annoying because his eyes had no reason to drift over there in the first place.

"Where else are you injured Blue?" Smellerbee asked quietly but he knew it was loud enough for Jet to hear because Zuko was staring at him again and saw his expression change.

He thought back to Song's detailed list and tried his best to not leave anything out because Bee was already mad at him for lying and he didn’t want her to hate him too. "Um, twisted ankle, stab wound, handprints, lashings, broken ribs, bruised throat and... I think that’s it? Probably? Who knows."

She turned back to the other boys for a moment probably signing something but he didn't notice because now all he knew was that Jet was not looking at him and he didn’t really like that either.

"Alright well we dealt with the lashings last night, your throat looks fine and there’s nothing I can do about broken ribs. We aren’t walking anymore today so that should give your ankle the rest it needs. What I haven’t seen yet are handprints, what does that mean?"

He was fully dressed now, and he groaned at the idea of having to rewrap another stupid bandage, but it was his own fault for traveling with people who for some insane reason kept trying to take care of him. He reached for the edge of the bandages on both arms before realizing it wouldn’t work well trying to unwrap them at the same time so he started with the left and moved on to the right shortly after. He heard footsteps approaching and knew it was Jet because he was hyper-aware of his stupid presence.

"Well, that explains why you had the burn salve. It looks like it’s mostly healed but you should put more on so it doesn’t scar," said Bee.

Zuko snorted at that, "oh no, another scar, whatever will I do?" He was laughing now which was maybe not the right reaction but it was the best one his brain could come up with. "You need it more than me, there’s not much left, it’s fine," and he fumbled with the wraps attempting to cover his arms again.

Bee looked to Jet who now sat beside them and he was sure it was because she knew he was right but didn’t want to be the one to make that call. Jet didn’t say anything, or maybe he did but Zuko didn’t speak that language which was getting increasingly more annoying but it’s not like his eyes could focus enough on their hands right now anyways so he turned back to his unreasonably pathetic attempt at bandaging his stupid arms.

"Here, let me do it," said Jet because Bee was now gone.

"Ugh," but he stuck his arms out towards the boy anyway because he decided he was just drunk enough that his hands weren’t working properly.

"You really are a lightweight, huh?" Jet chuckled.

"Hey! It’s not my fault- she made me finish the bottle I didn’t even want to," and he pulled his arm out of Jet's hands to gesture widely over where he found Bee talking to Longshot.

Jet was grinning as he pulled his arm back to finish wrapping it, "but it worked right? Didn’t hurt too bad? We’ve seen some real overgrown stitches before so I know how it can get."

"Yup, worked great, wouldn’t even need you to take off your armor if I wanted to sleep in a tree," he replied, not entirely sure why that was the direction his head went so he changed the subject. "Why is Bee so good at this stuff anyway?"

"Just the niche she was most suited to fill. We think her mom was an herbalist, but she doesn’t remember that for sure. Either way, it’s just how it worked out. We all had a purpose in the forest."

"You miss it, don’t you?" And Jets face fell. He finished with the bandages and just sat there looking sad which made Zuko feel bad for even asking. Eventually he just nodded softly before redirecting the conversation again.

"What happened to you, Blue?"

"Oh, nothing happened to Blue, he's fine, just wandering around on his own until he ran into you guys."

Jet looked confused so he decided to elaborate, "but before I was Blue it got a bit messy. Not a big deal though since he's dead now so it’s whatever."

"Who's dead?"

"Me."

He couldn’t read Jet's face, so he decided to change the subject again. "Why do you keep staring at me?"

That shook him out of his thoughts enough for him to smile again and Zuko was glad because he really didn’t mind Jet's smile. "You’re one to talk, why do you keep staring at me?"

"I asked first."

"Fine- because you’re nice to look at."

Zuko could feel his face twist in confusion because that certainly didn’t make any sense and he changed the subject again so he didn’t have to answer Jet. "How long will this last?"

"Will what last?"

"The alcohol."

"Oh, a couple of hours."

"Hmph," and he fell backward onto the tarp to look up at the sky. "We're not traveling today, are we?"

"Nope."

"Sorry for holding you up. You can just leave me here if you want."

"Don’t be ridiculous, Blue. The Freedom Fighters don’t leave anyone behind."

Chapter Text

Mai didn’t think she had smiled so much in years. She was tired, sunburnt, and probably a bit underfed, but she had never felt better. For years she had felt weighed down by the eyes of her family, but as she flew over the earth kingdom, with no one threatening her into silence and obedience, she felt like she could finally breathe.

Mai was well aware that she was probably the only one feeling so great at the moment.

Toph had been an interesting addition to the group. Realistically, she didn’t feel impacted by their presence at all. Katara on the other hand... Well, Mai could tell that the past few days had been putting a strain on her. Maybe not the first night, when they slept atop Appa in shifts in order to most effectively kidnap their resident earthbender. But setting up camp the next day was... tense, to say the least. She wasn’t particularly looking forward to landing tonight.

"Appa's pretty tired guys, I think we should call it for the day," Aang announced from the reins.

"Yes! I’ve been dying to get back to solid ground," said Toph.

Mai sighed from her position draped over the back end of the saddle, smiling lazily into the sunset. She would probably never get sick of the way the breeze felt at this elevation. She heard Sokka discussing with Aang where would be best for them to land, and soon she felt that slight drop in her stomach that correlated with their descent.

As expected, the tension between Toph and Katara only escalated when they landed. She mostly tried to ignore it, helping the boys unpack before going off on her own to collect wood. When she came back to start the fire, however, she could hear Katara ranting to Aang.

"Toph is acting like I’m being ridiculous! I am not the one being ridiculous here! Am I?"

"Of course you’re not being ridiculous, I completely understand where you’re coming from."

"And they’re just sitting in that stupid rock tent watching the rest of us-"

Mai supposed she could see it both ways. On one hand, she found her niche in the group right away and always made sure to do her fair share of the work. On the other hand, she did beg them to take her with, so she kind of owed them- Toph was invited along. And other than being added weight for Appa, their presence wasn’t technically causing any more work for the rest of the group.

Then again, she thought back to her conversation with Sokka in the Gaoling marketplace; community was incredibly important to the Water Tribe. So, even if she wasn’t burdened by their existence, Katara was probably reading Toph as being incredibly disrespectful.

The situation was complicated, but Mai really had no interest in letting the discourse ruin her night. She would be riding the high of their continued successes until it crashed and burned around her. Forget petty arguments, they weren’t worth her time. The whole group was tired and after a quick meal, they finished putting together the two tents they had purchased in the city. As soon as Mai laid down, she fell asleep.

She could’ve sworn not even ten minutes had passed before she opened her eyes to yelling. She groggily pushed back the flap of the tent she was supposed to be sharing with Toph to see the others gathered around the glowing embers that remained of her campfire.

"It feels like an avalanche but also not an avalanche," Mai heard Toph describe as she approached the group.

"Your powers of perception are frightening," quipped a half-asleep Sokka.

"What’s going on?"

"Something is coming towards us- we don’t know what it is," explained Katara. She turned to Aang looking unsure. "Should we leave?"

He nodded. "Better safe than sorry."

In a half-asleep daze, the group attempted to pack everything up as quickly as they could, minus Toph. Luckily Sokka was able to help Mai disassemble the tent for which she was now solely responsible. It wasn’t until they were airborne that they could fully understand what they were running from.

In the distance, but not nearly as distant as they would like for it to be, was what Mai could only assume to be a giant metal tank hurtling towards them, faster than any military vehicle she had ever seen.

"What is that thing?" Katara asked nobody in particular, everyone murmuring back equally baffled responses.

"No but really, what is it?" Toph spoke up. "Can someone please explain what I was feeling?"

Mai backed away from the edge and plopped down beside Toph. The adrenaline was wearing off and she was reminded that had definitely only slept for less than an hour.

"It’s a giant metal vehicle, running off of some motor or engine. A machine like that can only be from the Fire Nation."

But who?  Mai knew that only high-level military officials would have access to that kind of technology. But those types basically never went on solo missions. Oh well, they would be fine either way. Appa could outrun any machine. She closed her eyes and leaned back against the saddle, running through the names of all the commanders and admirals she had ever met in the Caldera. She had barely started to doze off by the time they began their descent. She kept her eyes closed, holding on to that last bit of rest she could get before getting back to work. As soon as they landed Toph threw themself off the bison.

"Land, sweet land! Well, see you guys in the morning."

And it begins.  Mai turned to see Katara force a glare off her face and approach Toph, still lying face down in the dirt. "Actually, can you help us unload?"

"Really? You need me to help you unload Sokka's funky-smelling sleeping bag?"

Mai did not have the mental capacity to deal with their stupid little feud right now. Arguing with Toph wasn’t going to change anything about their situation, it would just continue to lower the group's morale, so just went to help Sokka and Aang. She barely even bothered to listen to the squabble behind her.

"...I’m carrying my own weight."

"...you’ve been nothing but selfish and unhelpful!"

"...look here, Sugar Queen. I gave up everything I had..."

"...Sugar Queen!?"

She rolled her eyes as she began to lay out her sleeping bag. Sokka agreed it would be easier to just forgo the tents at this point. He crashed down on top of his sleeping bag next to her.

"I swear to La if their bickering keeps me awake, I’m going to lose it."

"I’m right there with you," Mai groaned. She closed her eyes and tried to let everyone’s voices fade to background noise. She was seconds from falling asleep when she was startled awake by an urgent yell.

"That thing is back!"

Before Mai knew it, they were flying again.

This sucked. It was after midnight at this point and there were visible bags under everyone's eyes. She was seated beside Sokka, but that was no position to get any rest. She debated internally for a moment before deciding she was too tired to care about boundaries and collapsed with her head in his lap. Thankfully Sokka didn’t even question it and chose to gently run his fingers through her hair as he stared with the rest of the group at the machine following them. She sighed, reminding herself that the stress of their haste getaway was temporary, and things were still good.

"Seriously what is that thing?" Asked Katara.

"And how does it keep finding us?" Added Toph.

Aang looked nervous. "I don’t know, but this time I’m going to make sure we lose them."

They flew for over an hour, weaving through the terrain so dramatically it started to make Mai nauseous. Momo was the only one actually able to fall asleep, curled up in Katara’s lap. When they landed Appa immediately fell onto his side, letting everyone tumble to the ground. Mai didn’t have the energy to care.

"Okay, forget about setting up camp. I’m finding the softest pile of dirt and going to sleep," announced Sokka. Mai decided she would be okay sleeping exactly where she and her sleeping bag landed when they rolled out of the saddle.

"That’s good because Toph wasn’t going to help anyway."

"Katara for the love of Agni," Mai growled under her breath, too quiet for anyone but Aang to hear.

"Oh, I didn’t realize baby still needed someone to tuck her in bed."

"Come on guys," Aang interjected. "There’s something after us, and we don’t even know who or what it is."

"It could be Zuko," Katara suggested, and Mai felt her heart skip a beat. "We haven’t seen him since the North Pole."

"I already told you Zuko isn’t after us anymore," Sokka groaned.

"Who is Zuko?" Asked Toph.

"Crazy firebender who chased us for three months straight all over the earth kingdom."

"Who I later rescued because he was being tortured by his own people,” Sokka retorted.

"My last real interaction with him before the North was when he rescued me from Zhao so like I think he’s probably not after us anymore."

"Thank you, Aang, for joining Team Zuko-is-not-trying-to-kill-us-and-would-actually-make-a-pretty-good-ally," Mai drawled, face down into her sleeping bag. "I would like to introduce myself as club president: his legal fiancé."

"Wait, what?" Katara jerked upright.

Mai immediately regretted spilling that bag of rice and groaned, putting her arms over her head. She was desperately trying to cling to her positive outlook, but at the rate this night was going she wasn’t sure how much longer it would last. Sokka spoke up in her place, "now is probably not the time for that story, we really need to get some sleep."

"Wait you knew!?"

Mai pushed herself up to glare at the other girl. "Katara it’s honestly not a big deal can we please talk about this later."

Thankfully Katara was too tired to be actively fighting with two members of their group, so she backed off and Mai collapsed onto her sleeping bag.

"The point is, Zuko isn’t chasing us. And whoever is couldn’t have followed us here. So, for now, would everyone just shush?"

There were some murmured responses by everyone, but they followed suit. At this point they were all desperate for some sleep. But of course, as soon as the humans shut up, Momo decided to take keeping them awake into his own hands. When he started shrieking Mai actually thought she might cry from frustration at being so exhausted. She heard Sokka attempting to placate the lemur and covered her ears with her hands like a child. That didn’t stop his yell from catching her attention.

"Are you fucking kidding me!"

She could hear Aang walk over to join him. "That’s impossible! There’s no way they could’ve tracked us."

"I can feel it with my own two feet!"

"We should just go," sighed Katara.

Mai rolled over onto her back, "Agni, this is never going to end if we don’t just face them and find out who they are."

"Ugh fine," groaned Sokka. "Let’s throw our shit back in the saddle so we can make a quick getaway if we have to."

Mai got up slowly and chucked her loosely rolled sleeping bag atop Appa before approaching Sokka and Aang at the cliff edge. She could see the smoke following the vehicle as it charged closer. This was getting ridiculous, what could this random general possibly hope to achieve by hunting down the avatar?

***

Sokka watched the color drain from Mai's face when the two girls exited the machine on those lizards. He barely had time to register it before Mai was screaming at him that they needed to get the fuck out of here. They turned and ran as Toph threw up a massive wall of stone to block their pursuers, but moments later it exploded electric blue. They barely made it to Appa before the strangers crossed the ridge.

They only got away because Mai had told them to run.

He turned to the Fire Nation girl sitting beside him, wide-eyed and cursing a colorful slew of words under her breath. She looked scared, and pissed, but he couldn’t understand her murmuring enough to get any answers.

"Mai-" he put a hand on her shoulder and she jumped, knocking his arm against the saddle and pinning his sleeve back with a knife she pulled out of nowhere. As soon as she registered what she did, Mai gasped and yanked the embedded knife out of the saddle.

"Shit," she let it clatter to the ground. "Fuck, I’m sorry Sokka."

"You’re fine, you’re fine," Sokka gaped at his miraculously unpunctured arm before collecting his thoughts. "Mai- who were those girls?"

"I don’t know how you managed to go this long without running into her," her tone made it sound like they had already lost. "That was Azula. Zuko’s little sister. Princess of the Fire Nation."

Apparently everyone else had decided to listen in, as there was a collective gasp from the other side of Appa. Even Momo seemed to be staring at her with shock.

"What about the other one?" He asked.

She slumped, "That's... my friend. Ty Lee."

Sokka could tell there was more to that story than Mai was trying to let on. At the same time, there was not a single part of him that doubted her allegiance to their group. His sister on the other hand...

"What do you mean friend?" She demanded.

"Agni, Katara I mean friend. We grew up together! Fuck I just didn’t think I would ever have to face them like this," she buried her face in her hands.

"'Grew up together' feels like a bit of a scapegoat there," mumbled Toph.

With their words, Mai jerked upright, eyes wide facing Katara. "I need you to cut my hair."

Sokka was lost.

"Cut your hair?" Katara faltered. "Why? What does that have to do with Azula?"

"I need you to cut it before she finds us again," she rushed. "They’re going to recognize me, and I’m terrified of what they will do when they realize I’m a traitor."

Katara nodded, wide-eyed and earnest. Apparently she no longer suspected Mai was going to betray them. "Okay, okay, how short does it need to be? Untie it so I can get it evenly."

Katara shuffled over as Sokka watched Mai let her hair tumble out of the buns she had worn since they met. "Long hair is a status symbol in the Fire Nation. Do it at my jawline."

Katara gathered up Mai’s hair, and in one clean motion sliced through it with a blade of ice. Sokka stared as the loose strands fell forward. He was so delusionally tired at this point he could’ve sworn it happened in slow motion. Her decision was rushed but... he could tell that this was a change that meant something.

"They’re going to catch on eventually. This will only delay the inevitable. I’ve never met anyone else who throws knives like I do, neither have they," she paused in thought. "At least they’ll know immediately that I’m not coming back. It’s an obvious sign of defection."

"Why don’t you wear a mask too?"

"Sokka you’re a genius."

Over the next few hours Sokka watched Mai and his sister, half asleep, cut up the Fire Nation dress she escaped in to repurpose the lightweight fabric as a mask/veil sort of thing to cover the lower half of her face. Eventually the sun came up, and noticing that made him want to die. He had never gone so long without sleep, never needed to, and it was a terribly unpleasant feeling. But every time he closed his eyes someone started talking about their plan, or lack thereof, or Appa took a steep dive that made his stomach jump. He knew that at some point he started complaining, loudly, but it was the type of unfiltered word vomit the brain only conjures when it has nothing left to give. It took him way too long to notice when Appa actually started falling out of the sky.

Then there was screaming and scrambling and grabbing onto body parts and bags in a desperate attempt to stay together. Sokka could vaguely hear Aang begging Appa to wake up, but at this point his body had lost the ability to have any sort of adrenaline rush, so ninety-nine percent of his working brain was just focused on the one hand he had wrapped around the edge of the saddle.

It was over as fast as it had begun; Appa gracelessly saving them from certain death, taking out a dozen trees as they skidded to a stop near the edge of a river.

"Appa is exhausted."

No shit, Sokka thought. "Okay, well, we’ve put a lot of distance between us and them. The plan now is to follow Appa’s lead and get some sleep."

He absentmindedly grabbed Mai’s hand and they slid down Appa’s side together. "This isn’t going to work," she murmured into his ear. He shook his head because he knew that, but at this point what choice did they have?

"Of course, we could have gotten some sleep earlier if Toph didn’t have such issues."

"What!?" Toph squeaked.

Sokka groaned at his sister's words. Really? This again? Mai glared at her from beside him and wow the new haircut really brought out the absolute fury in her eyes. Sokka collapsed onto the ground with his sleeping bag in place as a pillow and Mai followed suit. Aang was making some half-assed attempt at calming down the other two, but Sokka knew that nothing would deter his sister at this point.

"I’m just saying that maybe if you had helped out earlier, we could’ve set up our camp faster and gotten some sleep. And then maybe we wouldn’t be in this situation!" She accused.

"You’re blaming me for this!?"

Aang jumped in again. "No, no! She’s not blaming you!" Sokka wondered what it would take for him to give up.

"No, I’m definitely blaming them."

Even from his place on the ground, Sokka could tell Toph was furious. "Hey! I never asked you for shit- I carry my own weight. Besides, if there’s anyone to blame it's Sheddy over here!"

"What? You’re blaming Appa!?" Sokka saw something in Aang’s composure crack and decided to sit up.

"Yeah! You want to know how they keep finding us? He’s leaving a trail everywhere we go!" Toph ran their hand down Appa's side, pulling up a thick wad of loose fur.

"How dare you blame Appa- he saved your life three times today! If there’s anyone to blame, it’s you! You’re always talking about how you carry your own weight but you’re not! He is! Appa’s carrying your weight. He never had a problem flying when it was just the four of us!"

For a second Sokka thought Toph was going to give in. All the rage left their face and they just stood there in thought for what felt like years but was probably about three seconds.

"Screw this, I’m out of here."

He scrambled to his feet and tried to cut them off as they stomped away, but a quick swipe of Toph’s hand had him face down in the dirt. Fuck it, if that’s what he got for trying to help then he would just go to sleep right fucking here. He could hear Aang lamenting in the distance.

"What have I done?"

Chapter Text

Mai and Sokka strategized the entire time Aang worked with Katara to bathe Appa. Reluctantly they had all agreed that Toph had been right. His shedding was leaving a trail everywhere they went. So the waterbenders took initiative solving that problem, while Mai told Sokka everything she could about Azula and Ty Lee.

"Her flames turned blue shortly after their mom disappeared. She’s always been more powerful than Zuko, but that instance definitely widened the gap in their relationship."

"Azula is her father's daughter. Every plan is foolproof, every detail thought through relentlessly. Cunning, manipulative, confident."

"Azula is Ozai’s favorite because she never fails. That means that Azula can never fail."

Sokka nodded thoughtfully mid-yawn, "that wasn’t fire we saw back there. What caused that explosion? And what were they riding?"

"Eel hounds. Fastest most versatile riding animals you can find on the islands. And no, you’re right. That wasn’t fire- it was lightning. From my understanding, it is an exceedingly rare firebending form. The only other person I know can do it is the Firelord."

"Spirits, that. is. terrifying. We have to remember to warn Katara."

"Why Katara in particular?"

"Water conducts electricity. If she was covered in water being pulled from a river that gets electrocuted, it would get her too."

"Agni, I didn’t know that."

"Let’s hope Azula doesn’t either. You can learn a lot stuck in a storm on a fishing boat. Anyways. Ty Lee- tell me about her."

Mai sighed. "The last I heard from Ty Lee she had run away to join the circus. The fact that she’s back with Azula... it scares me."

"I’m sorry- I know I’m borderline delusional right now, but did you say she joined the circus?"

Mai smiled. "Ty Lee has six identical sisters. All she’s ever wanted is to stand out. She’s as much of an acrobat as a martial artist, and you should be more scared of her than you are."

"Why do you think I need to be more scared?"

"Because you’ve never met a chi blocker before."

"What the fuck is a chi blocker?"

"Ty Lee has memorized every pressure point in the human body. She can paralyze any and all of your limbs or knock you out with a well-aimed jab. And she has perfect aim."

"What the fuck?"

"We both met Azula at the Royal Fire Academy for Girls."

"Spirits, Mai. Is every teenage girl in the Fire Nation some insane fighter? Are all of you built to be weapons?"

"I wouldn’t say all of us. But the Academy does have some pretty specific goals. I only went there for my father to gain political leverage, but some of our most powerful military leaders come from within those four walls."

"Fuck. Well, you’re really making it sound like we don’t have a lot of choices here. Aang can’t take Azula, he’s not ready for that. We need to escape- it’s the only option right now. I can barely put two thoughts together right now; fighting is going to be hard."

"I agree, but they’re not stupid. Even without Appa leaving a trail I’m sure she will be able to find us again."

"Then we need a diversion. We probably should split up, come up with a rendezvous a way out."

"Split up? We can’t split up," Katara interjected as Aang used his airbending to dry Appa. "We already lost Toph, if we separate more there's no way we can take out those girls- we're exhausted!"

"I don’t know Katara, it might be our best bet," said Aang. "Think about it, if you guys can get away on Appa, I can definitely fake out Azula flying by myself. I’ll use all this fur to leave a fake trail. Sokka, can I see your map?"

Mai leaned back against a small boulder and shut her eyes while Sokka and Aang scoured the map for a decent rendezvous point. She was so tired it was remarkable she had been able to hold a coherent conversation as long as she had. Agni, she never thought she would end up in this position. To be completely honest, she hadn’t thought about Azula at all when she made her decision to defect. She didn’t even fully realize she would be defecting when she escaped New Ozai on Appa’s back but, well, it was inevitable wasn’t it?

And now she would have to fight her friends- not that she had the right to call them that anymore. And did she even want to? Ty Lee, yes, but Azula? Had she ever even actually liked Azula? Maybe... When they first met. Bright-eyed five-year-olds with a limited understanding of their place in the world. But even at that point, Azula was a prodigy- and with power comes abusive tendencies, as Mai had unfortunately learned.

She must have dozed off for a moment because she opened her eyes to Sokka’s hand gently shaking her shoulder. "We're going to head out, you ready?" She nodded and groggily got to her feet.

Everything hurt, like her body was screaming at her to lie the fuck down and go to sleep. But still, she managed to climb up onto Appa, holding tightly onto his clean fur as they decided to leave the saddle and some heavier belongings behind. Her only actual concern at this point was whether she would be able to fight if they found them again.

"I’ll see you all tonight," Aang called up from the ground with a nervous smile before taking to the sky.

"Be careful," Katara responded, and with Sokka and Momo at the reins, they took off. Though, Appa made it very clear he was not happy to be in the air again.

"I think this might be what dying feels like," Sokka lamented.

Mai was looking at him, but it felt like everything was out of focus. "We'll be fine after we get some rest. We just need to get to that point."

"I don’t know if I’ll make it that long, I can barely even process the words coming out of my own mouth."

"Keep a look out for Toph, guys," Katara interjected. "I don’t like the idea of leaving them behind like this."

"You do realize it’s your fault they ran off, right?" Sokka said, turning back to face them. Momo chirped in agreement.

A wide range of emotions passed over Katara’s face, but Mai could tell she felt remorse. "I know, I’m sorry! I was just so tired, but that’s no excuse..."

She continued to ramble apologies to them both as Mai stared into the distance, keeping an eye out for the young earthbender. Only a short amount of time passed before she noticed they were gradually dropping in elevation- Appa wasn’t going to last much longer. Unfortunately, they hadn’t made nearly as much progress as she had hoped. Then something in the distance caught her eye.

"Hey, guys?" Mai had tuned out their conversation but apparently Katara was still going.

"-I just feel like my whole life I’ve been forced to take care of other people-"

"Sokka, Katara!" Mai called out with more urgency.

"-and fine, okay, Toph claims they can take care of themselves but by not contributing to the team effort-"

"GUYS! Eel-hound inbound!"

"Shit!" Katara spun around. "We will talk about this later! How did they find us?"

"Not 'they', just one. They must’ve split up." She squinted into the distance, "We got lucky though. That is definitely Ty Lee."

"Didn’t you say she could paralyze us?" Sokka blanched.

"Yes. Katara- I’m not sure what you heard from us earlier. Ty Lee is a chi blocker. She can paralyze you and take away your bending. Don’t let her land a hit."

"Tui and La. I don’t even know if I can fight right now. You really don’t think we can outrun her? What about- look! What about the river!"

Mai felt a sudden drop and knew with complete certainty that there was no way they were going to get out of this without facing Ty Lee.

"A river! Come on Appa! We just have to get across the river!" Katara shouted as Appa’s trajectory took a sharp angle down, picking up speed. Momo scrambled to grab onto Sokka.

"The river? For the love of Agni- how is the river going to help!?" Mai yelled, fists grasping firmly in Appa’s fur to stop herself from sliding off while he snapped off the tops of several trees.

She faltered, "because she can’t cross it?"

"Eel hounds are amphibious Katara!"

"What!?"  she screamed as they crash-landed on the other side of the bank.

"Get up! Go! Be ready!" Mai was the first to her feet after rolling down Appa’s back. Mask secured over her face, she dropped multiple shuriken into her hands, running the thirty or so feet away from the water to the edge of the forest. She was a liability here, she was terrified of being recognized, so she would lay low as backup until they needed her. It had nothing to do with the dread she felt pooling in her stomach at the thought of fighting Ty Lee. Nothing at all.

The second the eel-hound touched the water Katara pulled a massive wave out from under its feet, clearly attempting to pull it under. But while the animal fell, Ty Lee leaped into the air, performing a triple front flip to propel herself across the river. She landed right in front of Sokka- and just as Mai feared, he lacked his usual sharp reflexes and agility. He swung his club but it was too close range, Ty Lee easily dodged and countered, catching him with a quick series of jabs that put his left arm out of commission.

Mai’s head was pounding and she was starting to panic. She had fought Ty Lee before. She had fought Ty Lee and won before- but she had never fought Ty Lee and meant it. For the past day she had been mentally distancing herself from the situation, but her two worlds were colliding right in front of her and she couldn’t just keep standing on the sidelines. Now Sokka’s right arm was paralyzed too, and he was stumbling backward towards Katara who was armed with a water whip and if Mai didn’t step in now then it would be her fault if her friends got hurt.

Sokka was down and Katara was being cornered and Mai swallowed her nerves and charged. She threw one blade as a warning, barely nicking Ty Lee's ear, causing the other girl to whip her head around.

Dressed in green and yellow, with short hair and a burgundy veil, Mai convinced herself she couldn’t possibly be recognized, which would leave her with the advantage. Eyes on her new target, Ty Lee leaped into action, jumping and flipping midair to aim a kick at Mai’s side. But she recognized that move, and even in her sleep-deprived haze she managed to dodge.

Mai had no intention of killing her, which meant she needed to pin her down. Ty Lee came in close again, punching with lightning speed but in a pattern that Mai knew so she was able to block every hit. It almost felt like they were just training together again. But this time, Mai pulled out her dagger, using the threat of the weapon to push Ty Lee closer to the trees. She tried to jump over her head, but Mai grabbed her sleeve and used the momentum against her, swinging her to the ground, likely knocking the air from her lungs.

Ty Lee hardly ever lost and the shock of being evenly matched showed clear as day on her face. She scrambled backward and tried to put distance between them, but that’s what Mai wanted- she was considered a long-range fighter, after all. She threw a shuriken and it caught the fabric by the back of Ty Lee's knee, tripping her and pinning her leg to the ground. She ripped it out and got back up aiming to book it to the side, but Mai continued throwing blades to corral the girl.

Katara stepped back in the game and slashed out with her water whip. She dodged but stumbled- and here was Mai’s chance. She threw a volley of darts forcing her back against a tree, one of them embedding in her forearm as she tried to block. Mai gasped reflexively, she wasn’t actually trying to hit her, and that was the moment something clicked for her old friend. Ty Lee pulled the dart out with a cry and stared at it wide-eyed before turning to stare back at Mai- but that was all the reaction time Mai gave her.

A dozen well-aimed shuriken later and Ty Lee was pinned to the tree, blades outlining her body. Ty Lee's expression was heartbreaking. She had never seen her look so scared and confused all at once. Mai could feel Katara’s eyes on her as she ripped a strip of fabric from the bottom of her tunic, but no one stopped her when she moved forward.

She paused, not even two feet away, and took off her mask. At this point there was no longer any mystery. A single tear rolled down Ty Lee's cheek and all she could choke out was, "Mai?"

"I’m so sorry," she replied, sliding the makeshift bandage between her arm and the tree to tie off so she could slow the bleeding. She couldn’t hold off the guilt washing over her- she’s known Ty Lee since childhood, she didn’t want to hurt her. But she was with the Avatar now, and Ty Lee was with Azula, who was definitely against the Avatar so what was she supposed to do?

The adrenaline of the fight was wearing off and Mai felt nauseous from overexertion and exhaustion and dehydration and probably a dozen other 'tions' that were equally contributing to the pounding in her head. She looked Ty Lee in the eyes, which she had avoided until now, and it made her heart ache. Ty Lee wasn’t evil. She shouldn’t be the enemy. The war wasn’t Ty Lee's fault, she was just a product of it. Just like her, like Zuko, like every other Fire Nation citizen. And for the first time since she left New Ozai, Mai felt guilty for abandoning her people.

"But why?" She spoke again, and Mai froze. That was such a... complicated question, and she didn’t really have an answer. If she boiled it down, the origin of this renegade lifestyle was that she was selfish and wanted away from her father. She didn’t have some big philosophical change in her outlook on life until later. But even then...

The last few weeks had been the first time in years that Mai actually felt happy. She was miserable in the Fire Nation. Every memory of the islands was coated in a deep disdain for everyone and everything around her. She was just so sick of being miserable. Maybe she deserved it, this time. But it’s not like she wanted to undo what she had done. This was the right thing, she was doing the right thing, but how could hurting Ty Lee be the right thing?

The blood started to soak through the light green fabric and she heard the unsteady hitch in Ty Lee's breath and she was so tired and just couldn’t deal with it all anymore, but she still hadn’t answered Ty Lee's question. So she gave up and let her brain fall back onto autopilot, turning off the sadness and guilt to replace it with familiar cold indifference.

"You left first." Then she stepped back, gesturing at Katara to freeze her in place.

Mai marched over to where Sokka was now sitting up, slowly clenching and unclenching his fists as feeling gradually returned. "I told you to be careful," she hissed, helping him to his feet and shouldering some of his weight as he hopped over to where Appa was still snoring, his left leg still numb. Katara followed.

"What now?" Asked Sokka. "Appa is out cold, I can’t feel my fingers- but Azula is going to catch up with Aang soon if she hasn’t already."

"We need to help him," demanded Katara. "We could barely take down Ty Lee with the three of us. If we don’t catch up he’s fucked."

"She’s not wrong," mumbled Mai.

"Fuck," Sokka groaned and rubbed his face with his hands. "Okay. What do we do about her though?" He gestured clumsily over his shoulder.

"I mean, the ice will melt eventually," supplied Katara. "Will Azula come back for her?"

"Agni, I don’t know," she sighed. "I think so?"

"Ty Lee! Will Azula come back for you?"

"Sokka!" Glared Katara.

"Of course she will come back for me! Just like we came back for you, Mai! But you left without us!"

What the fuck.  Mai froze again, heart racing as both the Water Tribe siblings turned to stare at her.

Katara narrowed her eyes. "What’s that supposed to mean, Mai?"

"How am I supposed to know?" She snapped. "I haven’t seen them in over a year. Clearly I didn’t know they were coming for me. I’m here, aren’t I?"

"So if you had known then you wouldn’t have come with us? You would have waited around for the Fire Nation?"

"What the fuck Katara- I don’t know! Maybe? Probably? I- how can you attack me for a decision I never actually had to make?"

"We didn’t realize you were friends with the princess of the spirit damned Fire Nation when we accepted your charity case! Do you even care about this mission at all!? Or did you just come with us as some backward way to get to your  fiancé -"

"Katara!" Sokka interjected. "What are you talking about? Why do you try to ruin every relationship we have- Mai is on our side! And she is an asset, just like Toph was! And Zuko could’ve been! Stop being so fucking paranoid!"

Katara bit her tongue and took a step towards Appa, glaring. "I’ll let this go for now- but when we get out of this, I have a few questions that need answers."

"Fine! I’m not fucking hiding anything anyways!" She stormed off to collect any loose thrown blades she could find.

***

Sokka was trying to sleep. Really, he was. The problem was that his hands were still half numb, and Appa didn’t have his saddle. So every time he started to doze off he would slide just enough for his sleep-deprived brain to panic thinking he was going to fall out of the sky because he literally couldn’t feel Appa’s fur wrapped around his hands.

The fifth time he was jerked awake by his own stupid body, he rolled onto his back and groaned loudly, earning a smack from Katara and an eye roll from Mai at the reins. Giving up entirely, he pushed himself up and crawled over to Appa’s head to sit beside the Fire Nation girl.

"What do you want?"

"Uhh, nothing. Sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you I’ll just go back-"

"No- um, I’m sorry. You can stay."

He chuckled halfheartedly and sat beside her, before attempting to massage the feeling back into his hands.

She glanced over at him, "Is that still bothering you?"

"Not my whole arms or leg anymore, but my hands are still pretty numb."

"Here, let me see," she hooked the reins around her ankle and reached out, taking his left hand in hers. He watched as she pinched the muscle between his thumb and forefinger, massaging the inside of his wrist at the same time. There was instant relief, a wave of tingling running through his fingers that caused him to shiver.

"Where did you learn that trick?" He asked, wide-eyed as she switched to his other hand. "And why were you holding out on me?"

She smiled, "I wasn’t intentionally holding out on you, I forgot it could last that long. I’ve known this trick since Ty Lee learned to chi block."

He looked up at her, and for a moment he felt completely starstruck. The sun was low in the sky behind her, outlining her body in a soft gold halo. Instead of blowing around chaotically like his, her hair seemed to flutter gently in the breeze, dark strands in high contrast to the flushed pale skin of her face. He was suddenly hyper-aware of the calluses on her hands where she was touching him, from years of throwing knives.

"What?"

"Huh?"

"What are you looking at me like that for?"

"Oh, uh, sorry. Just zoned out, yeah."

She looked at him suspiciously before pulling her hands away from his, Sokka was reluctant to let her. "You good now?"

"Yes actually," he shook himself out of his stupor. "That was awesome, I really appreciate it."

"Of course, now you know for next time."

He turned away from her to stare at the route ahead of them. They couldn’t possibly have much further to go, but a fog in the distance was making it hard to see their destination.

"You know, I think that was the first time I actually got to see you fight. It was pretty impressive."

She scoffed, "that was nothing. Watch me with a good night’s rest when I’m not trying to avoid hurting the person. Then I might actually be impressive."

"Noted."

"How much longer do you think it will take us to reach the rendezvous?"

He squinted, trying to make out any sort of landmark ahead of them. "Honestly, I’m not convinced time is real anymore. I have absolutely no gauge on how long we’ve been flying already, and I can’t see anything that would indicate our location through all that fog."

She nodded tiredly before abruptly leaning forward, wide-eyed with a panicked energy. "Sokka, that’s not fog! That is our rendezvous, the whole town is on fire!"

"Shit shit shit, we're too late- Katara! Get up here, we need to game plan!"

"Wha?" She sat up groggily, slowly processing what he said as she crawled up to the front of Appa. "Shit."

Sokka grabbed the reins from Mai to get Appa to fly lower to the ground. "We need to split up, find Aang, corner Azula. Katara, try to put out fires if you can. Who wants to be dropped off first?"

"I do," said Katara, with a fierce look in her eyes. "Time to make that bitch pay."

***

Mai had about a million and one thoughts running through her head as she raced between burning buildings. She couldn’t focus on any one of them, an endless cycle of have to find Azula, are we ever going to see toph again, fuck I have to fight Azula, why was Sokka looking at me like that, I can’t let Azula hurt my friends, when will Katara stop being a bitch, spirits shit there is Azula.

And there she was, going head-to-head with Katara inside a burning building that would likely collapse on them any minute now if Katara didn’t put it out. Katara clearly knew this, Mai could see the panic in her eyes as they darted to the rafters. Sokka knew it too, she watched him race into the mix with his club and boomerang in hand.

With Sokka distracting Azula now, Katara was able to pull Aang out of a pile of rubble what the fuck and they both darted back into the street, Azula following. Once again Mai was hanging back like a scared little bitch, Azula’s presence felt like pure terror running through her veins.

Katara was putting out the fire now and Mai could feel static crawling across her skin. She looked back and her heart jumped to her throat. Azula was going to throw lightning at Sokka and for some Agni forsaken reason he wasn’t looking. Mai acted on gut instinct, dropping blades into her hands and aiming to maim.

One blade caught the fabric of her shoulder, jerking her off balance. The other sliced open her left hand, cutting off the build-up to her lightning strike. Mai ducked behind a wall before Azula could see her. She knew the only reason she hit her target is because Azula didn’t know she was there, but now she would be expecting it.

She came out from behind another building and saw that Azula was now being tag teamed by Sokka and Aang. Aang was close range, wind whipping between them as he tried to push her back. Sokka was throwing his boomerang, giving Azula one more thing to dodge. Her back was to Mai so she used that to her advantage, throwing a shuriken to catch her in the right calf. She could hear Azula shout in pain and she whipped her head around, seeing Mai for the first time. Thank Agni she didn’t seem to recognize her yet.

Abruptly a wall of rock shoved Aang and Azula apart- the only logical explanation being that Toph must’ve shown up. Unfortunately, this left Mai as the only one on the side of the wall with Azula, so Azula changed targets. She yanked the shuriken out of her leg and raced towards Mai, blasting fire from her feet to propel herself.

"I wasn’t expecting to see a second nonbender on this team when I set out to catch the Avatar," she taunted before throwing a wave of fire for Mai to dodge. "You know, at first I thought you must be the earthbender, but no, that would be the small child, wouldn’t it?"

Mai smirked beneath her mask. "You’ll wish I was an earthbender, after I’m done with you."

"Oh really?" Azula taunted, but before she finished speaking Mai was already on the move, three shuriken flying straight towards the girl. If she was going to do this, she was going to give it everything she had.

Unfortunately Azula had the reflexes of a god and easily dropped below the blades, spinning and kicking out a leg to throw fire in every direction. Mai was struck so suddenly with that feeling again, that this was just like when they used to train together. She thought back to all the times in her childhood she wanted to really fight back, but couldn’t, so she let all of her fear melt into the background and focused on that.

"What are you hiding?" Azula cackled, electricity popping between her fingers. "If you’re wearing a mask there must be a reason."

She turned around and blew up the rock wall, sending debris flying. Katara charged in, surrounded by water tendrils shaped like an octopus, putting out fires and lashing out with attacks whenever she could. Sokka appeared out of nowhere, dodging and landing more hits than Mai expected. Aang looked terrible, who knows how long he had been fending off Azula alone. He had switched over to waterbending to avoid blowing the flames into more structures, which was ideal because there seemed to be another firebender? He was too far away to identify, staying close to Toph and defending them?

The orange and blue flames clashed and twisted high into the air creating their own air current and knocking Sokka’s boomerang off course. Without thinking, Mai reached out and grabbed it, immediately catching his eye and successfully throwing it back to his side of the fight. Another wave of flames shot over to her and she leaped to the side, fire singeing her sleeve. She threw back a volley of darts in return. One caught Azula’s arm, and she turned to glare, but for a split second there was more shock than anger on her face.

At that moment Mai realized that, amidst all of the chaos, her mask had vanished.

Well shit.

"You. What are you doing with them? Stop being foolish and join me- you have no place next to Water Tribe scum."

"Agni, Azula, stop pretending like you’re winning here." She barely recognized her own voice, the only way she knew how to talk to Azula was with a shield up. The others were hanging back, waiting to see what would happen now that her identity was revealed. "The sound of you spouting your delusions is causing me permanent hearing damage."

"You’re lighting your own funeral pyre, talking to me like that," Azula growled. "I’ll give you one more chance- one you don’t deserve, at that. Give up this pathetic rebellion of yours. Help me capture the Avatar now and I will forgive your treason."

"I genuinely cannot fathom a single fucking thing I could possibly want to do less."

"How about dying!" and she lunged, but Aang was ready and blew her backward.

The entire group circled up and continued forcing her back against a wall. Azula looked furious, but she would be an idiot if she didn’t realize she was incredibly outmatched at this point. Mai looked around at the five other members of her team and Agni was that General Iroh? What the fuck? Was she hallucinating?

"Well, look at this. Enemies and traitors all working together. Unfortunate really, Mai, seeing you alongside the likes of him," she spat, glaring at Iroh because Agni’s shit that was definitely General Iroh.

"Please, a speech?" She drawled. "I didn’t think when I finally ran into you again it would be so boring."

Azula narrowed her eyes. "You've made a bad decision, Mai. You really didn’t think this through. It would have been much smarter, returning to your rightful place beside the throne when I offered it to you."

She sighed loudly and rolled her eyes. "I cannot comprehend a more miserable time than going back to being your little minion. Besides, I’ve committed way too many crimes at this point to ever be accepted back in the royal court."

Aang piped up, concerned. "Hey, we don’t commit crimes, do we?"

"Uh, yeah," mumbled Sokka. "We commit crimes, like, all the time. Especially crimes against the Fire Nation."

Azula was seething but raised her hands into the air. "I’m done. I know when I’m beaten. A princess surrenders with honor."

Mai knew that wasn’t true though, Azula would rather die than surrender. Everyone was frozen, waiting to see if they should attack, watching Azula’s eyes. They flickered back and forth between Mai and the others. Mai could see the second Azula decided to make her move and threw a blade in retaliation, the others following her lead. What she hadn’t been expecting was that Azula was going to be aiming for her.

An explosion of bending went off in front of her as she fell backward, hitting her head roughly on the ground, an excruciating burning overtaking her right side. She heard Sokka yell out her name and felt a rush of water extinguish the flames, but her vision was already going blurry. The last thing she saw before losing consciousness was a pair of concerned blue eyes.

***

It was hours later, after reconvening with her crew, that Azula screamed and threw the bloody shuriken into the mirror, shattering it from a focal point, but still holding together.

How dare she? How dare she? The moment Azula realized who she was she gave her an out. The same chance she would’ve had in New Ozai if she hadn’t already been gone.

How dare she leave and not regret it? How dare she turn her down?

Azula gave her everything! If it weren’t for her, her family never would’ve risen to such prominence. If she hadn’t befriended her, she never would’ve been next in line for Firelady, her father never would’ve been made governor. That ungrateful bitch.

Maybe that wasn’t the life Mai wanted.

This was treason- she should be put to death. And if she was still on the run, she would just have to work with what Mai left behind. Her father. Her mother. Her brother. Her disgusting warden uncle. Fuck all of them, treasonous bastards.

You would harm a child for the sins of another?

She could do whatever she wanted! She was the second most powerful bender in the world- was next in line for the throne! She was fearless and loyal and-

-still losing the favor of the people she cares about most .

Her anger came to a point and she screamed again, carelessly blasting the wall opposite of her with blue fire.

Fuck Mai. She never meant anything to Azula. She was just another pawn in her game of tormenting Zuko and it had all been going so well before she decided to-

-think for herself .

She shot another armful of flames at the wall.

Azula was seething, she was livid, she could burn down the Earth Kingdom all alone powered by the hatred she held in her body for one stupid, insignificant teenage traitor bitch.

She threw volley after volley of flames at the walls of the room until the curtains were smoking and the stone was charred, and she would’ve burnt the whole building down if it weren’t for one small distraction.

A knock on the door, followed by a hesitant, "Azula? Can I come in?"

So she stopped, she put out the flames. She took a deep breath and opened the door. She couldn’t be seen letting rage consume her. Not by anyone, but especially not Ty Lee.

She appreciated how Ty Lee never commented on the tears.

Ty Lee entered and sat on the edge of the unmade bed, also visibly shaken from the encounter.

"Well, that sure was weird." And she left it open-ended, like she always did. Left room for Azula to lead the conversation whichever way she wanted.

"It was weird, wasn’t it?"

"Seeing her in green felt wrong in a way I can’t put into words."

"And the hair?"

"-and the hair! What was that about?"

"A disguise, I presume," Azula huffed.

"Her aura was all different too, all colorful and bright in ways it’s never been before."

Azula narrowed her eyes, "what are you trying to say? That she’s better off out there committing treason?"

"-no! No, not at all. Just that she’s so... different now."

"I hope she suffers for it."

"Azula!"

"What?" She barked. "She betrayed us for the Avatar!"

"She was still-"

"Don’t say it."

"She was still our friend Azula-"

"Well if that’s what friends do then I don’t want any!" She yelled.

She was breathing heavy and her palms just itched, desperate to burn away the feelings that attempted to bring tears to her eyes.

"I’m sure it was a lot more complicated than that, Azula."

"And what do you know," she spat.

Ty Lee narrowed her eyes, "I think I know a thing or two about running away from home, if you don’t recall."

"You also made the right choice when I offered you a place by my side."

Ty Lee sighed, her feet swinging gently, with a contemplative look on her face.

"What are you thinking so hard about?" Azula demanded, catching her eyes.

Ty Lee looked back with some combination of admiration and sadness. "I think this world is a lot more complicated, now that we're older. I think the only way to push through it all is knowing you have people in your corner. It’s been a while, since the last time we were all together. I just don’t think Mai has had anyone in her corner for some time."

"I’m not saying you wouldn’t have been. It's none of our fault that we went our separate ways. But I think there was a fundamental difference between me and Mai. With Mai... I think we were just too late. With me- Azula with me, I was waiting. I wouldn’t have gone anywhere without you."

"It hurts to see Mai with them. She was my friend too. It probably hurt her too, seeing what she could’ve had. I think for me, that’s enough. Yes, okay, it might’ve been treason. But at least you know, right? It still felt like a betrayal, but wouldn’t it have been so much worse if she had chosen us and then changed her mind?"

"Azula I- I choose you. I will always choose you. Wherever you go, whatever you do, I will follow you. I promise."

Chapter Text

The four of them crept around the edges of the Fire Nation camp, keeping their eye out for any weak points in their security. The scale of this operation was drastically different than their skirmish with the rough rhinos- they absolutely could not afford to get caught. After taking in the soldiers' setup, they backed far away into the woods to reevaluate under cover of darkness.

"This is a bad idea, Blue," Smellerbee grumbled.

"The time to turn this mission down was hours ago Bee," said Jet.

"You say that like I didn't protest this then too!" She exclaimed, which was completely true. Bee had been adamantly against this pursuit from the start, but she eventually talked herself into joining the boys lest leaving them to fend for themselves.

"I never said you all had to join me, I just said that  I will be following those soldiers to free their prisoners," Zuko argued.

"You can’t just say shit like that out loud and not expect Jet to jump on board immediately," she replied exasperated, Longshot nodding in agreement.

"Listen. This will be easy. In and out, undetected. I’ve rescued more important prisoners from facilities under significantly heavier guard."

Longshot signed something earning a chuckle from Jet.

"Exactly!" Bee glared. "Didn’t the Blue Spirit barely make it out of the Pohuai Stronghold alive?"

"Well it’s a good thing I have backup this time then isn’t it," Zuko glared back through his mask.

"Calm down guys. We're already here, it’s happening. Let’s just get on with it," interjected Jet.

Bee huffed in acceptance and they all looked into the dirt as Longshot began to trace out the camp with a stick, barely visible in the clouded moonlight. Zuko had to stop himself from instinctively calling fire to his hand for light.

This was a full-sized squadron, somewhere between fifty to one hundred soldiers. They had dozens of tents set up to be shared between the sparse trees. Zuko had been the one to notice their presence that morning. He was the only one awake to hear them marching at dawn, on the trail roughly a quarter of a mile away. Something in his gut had told him to investigate, and he was glad he decided to trust it when he saw the half dozen prisoners being prodded along in the middle of them all. Shackled wrists, burlap over their heads. Some walked proudly, some stumbling as they were led down the trail in the direction Zuko and the Freedom Fighters had come.

They backtracked for this, added a day’s travel back towards Ba Sing Se, and Zuko wasn’t quite sure why the others had been willing to do that. He had a growing feeling that Jet wasn’t as excited about reaching the walled city as Bee and Longshot. And whatever history they had was keeping Bee latched to Jet's side. Though he didn’t miss when she casually pulled him to the side earlier.

"You remember what I said last time, right? Don't let this be strike three."

They marked their positions on Longshot's makeshift map after debating the merit of splitting up or sticking together. The prisoners were crowded in a small tent far from the heart of the camp, with only one guard stationed outside. As far as they saw, no one bothered to feed them. And while they were tracking them throughout the day they were never once given water.

The soldiers were counting on the prisoners being too exhausted to put up a fight and threw them in a tent just to get them out of the way. Zuko couldn’t describe himself as anything less than furious. He had memorized the codes of war, and honorable men did not starve their prisoners.

They filled up both of their waterskins and tied them to Jet, along with a bag filled with fish jerky Longshot had made a few days before. The plan was simple. Wait until almost everyone was asleep, Bee standing guard near the edge of the camp where she could still see Longshot, who was perched as their eyes above ground. Zuko would take out the guard and keep lookout while Jet went inside to get the prisoners ready to book it. Then they’d lead them away without being detected.

Unfortunately, as was tradition, it didn’t take long for Zuko's plan to fall apart. Bee and Longshot were in position, Jet was hanging back until Zuko gave him the signal. But as he snuck closer to the prison tent, weaving through the limited foliage in the dark, he had a dawning realization. The guard was... small. Like, smaller than him. In fact, he was almost certainly younger than him- he couldn’t have been more than fourteen years old. A sharp reminder that as much as his nation hurt the earth kingdom, his own people were hardly better off. Fourteen-year-olds did not belong on the front lines.

He didn’t want to knock the kid unconscious. If this squadron was run like others he had encountered on his travels, if the kid got knocked out he would be blamed. He would be blamed and become a target for being weak and sooner or later would be sent home in a body bag- if he was lucky. Zuko wanted to get this kid out.

He stayed in place too close for too long- the kid saw him. First his eyes got real wide, then he stood in a panic, stumbling back towards the tent, raising his hands in defense but not calling alarm. Zuko had him in a hold pining his arms back and covering his mouth in the blink of an eye.

"I’m not here to hurt you," he whispered directly into his ear. "I’m going to move my hand and you’ll tell me your name, okay?"

The poor kid was shaking as he nodded his head. Zuko moved his hand and surprisingly he complied, whispering back, "Rin."

With one word Zuko was thrown back in time. It was outrageous for his heart to stop beating over a name, but why did he have to say that name? He needed to get back on task.

"How old are you Rin?"

"Thirteen and a half- are you the Blue Spirit?" He rushed.

"Yes. Did you want to be a soldier Rin?" He asked, desperately attempting to sound calm, ignoring all the memories flooding his head

"What? Uh- of course. I proudly serve my nation," he said in an almost scripted tone.

Zuko sighed, "I’m sorry they sent you here. They shouldn't have."

"P-please don’t kill me."

He loosened his hold on the boy’s arms out of shock, "what? I’m not gonna- Rin I’m genuinely sorry. I’m not your enemy. It’s fucked that you’re here, and I just wish I had the power to send you home."

"Oh."

"Oh?"

"You’re here for the prisoners, aren’t you?" Zuko nodded.

"Fuck," he cursed under his breath.

"I already said I won’t hurt you," Zuko emphasized, noticing the tears beginning to form in the other boy’s eyes. Eyes that looked so much like- no.

"You might not. But they will."

Zuko swallowed down the fire rising in his throat, "I’m going to do my absolute best to make sure that doesn’t happen. But I need you to be quiet okay." He slowly lowered them both to a seated position outside the tent and let out a short two-note whistle.

Jet appeared out of nowhere. "I thought for sure he had you for a second there, Blue," he said, taking in the scene. "Wait- is he still conscious?" He asked in a panicked whisper.

"I have this under control, get the prisoners."

Jets demeanor changed and he growled out his next few words, "Blue, he is Fire Nation".

"And this was my part of the plan so get inside that fucking tent and do your part before someone notices us." Jet glared at him and stomped past.

"That guy wants to kill me."

"Probably, but we aren’t here to kill people tonight. Rin, are you a firebender?" He asked, a plan forming.

"Yes. Are you a waterbender?" Zuko laughed under his breath. "What? You are the Blue Spirit!"

"I’m not a waterbender. Rin, do you want to go home?"

He felt the boy tense before speaking quieter than all his previous whispers, "yes."

"Where are you all headed?"

"The port. We're being called back for something big, but they won’t tell us what."

Zuko hesitated, feeling sick over what he was about to suggest. "I can get you sent home Rin. They’ll send you back on a trading vessel when you get to port- but you’re not going to like it."

He took a shaky breath. "I know what you’re going to offer. There’s only one reason a firebender gets sent home."

"I can make sure it's fixable. Fixable, but bad enough to be sent home. Or I can leave you for them to deal with after we free these people. And I think we both know how that will end."

Rin shuddered and nodded. "I didn’t volunteer for the army. The Firelord lowered the drafting age to thirteen a few years ago. My mom said he did it to justify sending the prince away."

Zuko felt all of his anger from before boiling back to the surface. He growled, "Firelord Ozai is an evil man, Rin."

The boy let out a small gasp, shocked at the forbidden words actually being spoken aloud. He nodded, "I know."

Jet chose that moment to stick his head out of the tent, "we're ready to go. One of the guys is unconscious, we will need to help carry him away."

"He probably has a severe concussion," Rin squeaked out. "They kept knocking him out because he kept earthbending." Jet glared daggers at the kid for daring to speak.

"Change of plans Jet. You guys are going to need to get out of here with the prisoners without me. I have unfinished business and it might draw some attention."

"We're not leaving you here to get killed Blue," some of the anger leaving his face to make room for concern.

"I’ll catch up with you. We’re heading back where we came right?"

"Don’t be an idiot Blue."

"I’m not, trust me. This is important."

Jet narrowed his eyes but nodded before turning back into the tent. When he came out again he was helping a taller woman carry the man he mentioned was out cold. Slowly and quietly the group of seven trailed away until the only ones who remained were Zuko and the boy.

Zuko pulled back his mask and Rin gasped again. "Prince Z-"

"Rin. This war is fucked up. It’s wrong. Our nation is wrong. And I’m going to do everything in my power to turn it around. I don’t know what that means yet, but I guarantee you will live to see a world that we are not taking over by force."

"They keep saying you’re dead."

"They say a lot of things about me. Can you take a deep breath?" The kid nodded and Zuko took hold of both his hands.

"I’m sorry. I just can’t think of a better way."

"I don’t think there is one."

***

Jet almost tripped when he heard the sound of the boy's scream in the distance. Panic struck him at the thought of Blue being caught, but then again this might’ve been part of his plan. Either way, Jet had his group pick up their speed.

They had led the prisoners off of the trail, following the sound of running water to get them heading back towards Ba Sing Se. He and Longshot both had an arm of the unconscious man slung over their shoulders, dragging him along.

"Mara," he called behind him. The woman he spoke to in the tent hastily caught up to the front of the group.

"Yes?"

"Are any of you important?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" She demanded.

"Sorry- just, why were you being held prisoner? I’m trying to gauge how much effort they’re going to put into getting you back."

"Oh," she relaxed. "In that case, no. None of us are important. We were refugees in the wrong place at the wrong time that decided to put up a fight when we should’ve run. Nothing more."

"Good. If we’re lucky they’ll only send a handful of soldiers after us. We should be able to evade them."

Jet continued to lead the group through the trees for the rest of the night on an intentionally disorganized route. They could only run for short stints. Other than what Jet had given them, they hadn’t eaten in three days. And during that time frame the earthbender he was carrying had been knocked out six times.

Every now and then Jet would swear he heard rustling in the branches behind them and make the group freeze so he could hear better. Around the fourth time he made them stop Bee spoke up.

"Jet. He said he would catch up. Give him some time. We need to cover as much ground as possible."

So they kept going, as fast as they could but somehow not fast enough or slow enough for Jet to be comfortable. He should be worried about escaping the Fire Nation- and he was. But unfortunately his thoughts seemed to be fixated on a certain mysterious boy that they left behind surrounded by Fire Nation troops. A certain boy that insisted on staying behind to help(?) a teary-eyed firebender. Help that resulted in his screams.

Blue didn’t make any spiritdamned sense to Jet and it was borderline driving him insane. A highly wanted criminal in the eyes of the Fire Nation, seemingly tortured within an inch of his life. His words from two days prior had been haunting him.

"Who's dead?" "Me."

What the fuck did that mean? How was he supposed to deal with him? Jet's past was screaming recruit him. His instincts were screaming interrogate. And his hormones were screaming push him up against a wall and-.

Jet shook that thought out of his mind. Right now he needed to focus on the rescue mission. He just needed to trust that Blue would be able to follow their trail. He would deal with the rest of his messy thoughts when he saw him again. Until then he just had to keep moving forward.

***

Zuko caught up to them around midday. He had extensive practice tracking people, made easier due to the fact that he knew where they were going, and knew they wouldn’t stray far from the river. He actually found them camped out along the riverbed. The refugees were all passed out near the tree line, except for the man who had previously been unconscious, now sitting with Smellerbee in the tall grasses closer to the water, talking with a pained expression. Longshot was asleep leaning on a tree near Bee, and Jet was on his feet approaching him as soon as he entered the clearing.

"You made it," he said with a mixture of suspicion and relief on his face.

"Told you I would," he replied smugly.

"Were you followed?"

"Briefly, only by a handful of men. Though I don’t know if I just lost them or if they gave up."

"I was talking to Mara about that earlier. They’re just refugees, nothing special. We were hoping the soldiers would decide they weren’t worth chasing."

"That would make sense. Rin led me to believe they were in a hurry, some higher-up called them to the port."

Jet narrowed his eyes, "that reminds me, I have some questions for you, about that kid."

Zuko’s heart sank into his stomach. "Can we talk about it later? I’ve been awake for like thirty-two hours. I’m not sure I’ll be able to coherently explain anything."

Jet nodded, clearly irritated by his deflection but let it go anyways. "Get some rest. We're due to celebrate tonight."

"Celebrate?"

"The mission was successful, these people just escaped certain death. What’s the point of winning if you can’t celebrate?" Jet grinned mischievously.

Exhausted to the bone, Zuko couldn't help himself from returning the smile.

 ***

When Zuko woke it was to a roaring fire and joyful chatter. He sat up and Jet caught his eye, waving him over. Longshot was turning a makeshift spit over the open flame, cooking what looked to be a mid-sized raccoon-deer. Smellerbee was hanging off of his shoulders until she noticed Zuko approaching, which is when she let go and ran to meet him, shouting his name with a big smile.

"Hey Bee, what’s going on?"

"We're celebrating!" She declared with a grin, thrusting a very familiar shaped bottle into his hands. "And you need to catch up."

Zuko chuckled, "catch up?"

Jet walked up behind Bee and put his arm over her shoulders. Closer now, Zuko could see a soft rosy glow across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose. "Bee is just excited because we haven’t been in a position to celebrate anything for some time." He snagged the firewhiskey from Zuko's hand and took a big swig before handing it back. "You do need to catch up though."

"Please," Zuko scoffed, "like I didn’t make enough of a fool of myself three days ago."

"I would argue that you definitely did not. Besides, drinking is so much more fun when you’re not the only one doing it."

Zuko decided that was a pretty convincing argument and took a drink, unable to hold back the repulsed face he made at the taste. Maybe he would partake in the celebrating, if anything just so he could avoid thinking about what happened earlier. Jet and Bee cheered and laughed when he swallowed, a couple of the refugees near them joining in.

"Oh my Shu! Blue, I need to introduce you to everyone!" Bee exclaimed. He let her drag him by the hand weaving through the circle of people gathered around the fire. He took another drink and tried to listen as Bee rattled off a bunch of names he knew he had no hope of remembering.

"That’s Mara, and Shaolin, and Lin- oh! And that’s Hao-Yu! he's an earthbender..."

Jet caught his eye again from the other side of the fire, laughing at the sight of Bee dragging him along for introductions as he spoke with someone Zuko had yet to meet. They ended up back by Longshot where Bee once again draped her arms over his shoulders, embracing him from behind. Zuko stepped closer to the flame, inhaling the salty aroma of the roasting animal. He was so looking forward to eating actual meat. He took another swig of liquor and turned to Longshot remembering the signs Jet had shown him a few days ago.

"Thank you, Longshot."

Longshot ginned, clapping him on the shoulder and signing something back. Bee didn't waste a second to translate, immediately blurting out, "that means you're welcome!"

Zuko chuckled to himself, copying the gesture a few times to commit it to memory. There was something very freeing about everyone's upbeat attitudes and cheerful conversation. Looking back, he realized that he hadn’t really had the opportunity to celebrate anything in, well, a while. And after the day he had, he really didn’t mind. He wandered back over to where Jet was seated and plopped himself down next to him.

"I was hoping you’d make your way back over here," Jet grinned snatching the bottle from Zuko's grasp. "Exclusively for the whiskey though, no other reason," he joked.

Zuko rolled his eyes and snatched the bottle back, following Jet's lead. He was starting to notice that familiar numbness ghosting his skin. He decided he didn’t hate the feeling. And just like before, he caught his eyes drifting over to the boy next to him.

"We do still need to talk, about that Fire Nation boy. I feel like I deserve some answers," Jet spoke quietly, staring absently at the fire, none of the excitement from before lingering in his tone.

Zuko sighed, he knew this was coming. He had a whole mess of emotions running through his mind, why would he be allowed to avoid them like he wanted to?

"Yeah, I guess you do. Let’s walk." He stood and gestured at Jet to follow, not wanting to sour the others' celebration. The two of them left the bonfire and wandered over through the tall grass to the edge of the river, glowing in the light of the moon.

"Well? What do you want to know?"

Jet glanced at him, confusion dominating his expression as he paced along the water's edge. "I thought I understood what was going on. He was young, fine, whatever. You thought he deserved help or something. I swallowed down every part of me that was saying not to leave you there alone- because fuck, okay, I do trust you, even if I disagree with you. Even if the kid was Fire Nation. But then we were running away and I heard him scream- Blue, what the fuck did you do to him?"

Zuko sat on a large rock and put his head in his hands. Thinking about it hurt differently with the alcohol making him feel fuzzy. Not that it hurt any less.

"I broke his hands."

"You... broke his hands?" Jet looked lost.

"Tried to shatter them, more like. Snapped every finger in at least two places. He didn’t make a sound until I brought the hilt of my sword down on the back of his left hand though. That’s when I got out of there."

"Wait so, you’re telling me that this kid voluntarily allowed you to shatter his hands?"

"What else was I supposed to do!?" Zuko stood. "He was thirteen, drafted. Did you know the Fire Nation lowered its drafting age to thirteen? It used to be sixteen. He was a fucking child." He couldn’t help but feel like that was his fault. If he had never spoken out at that stupid meeting, never been banished, maybe his father would’ve never touched that law.

"Blue that’s great and all but I am still missing a critical piece of information to help me understand why you shattered a thirteen-year-old’s hands."

Zuko sighed, piecing together the most efficient way to get his point across to Jet. "The Fire Nation doesn’t teach its benders how to use any weapons, they are the weapon. When earthbenders capture firebenders, that’s what they do. Crush their hands with rocks so they can’t bend anymore. It’s one of the only ways to be honorably discharged from the army. It takes weeks to heal if you're lucky, and usually you need medical attention, the kind you can only get on the islands. I tried to make all the breaks as clean as possible so he doesn’t suffer any permanent damage. Earthbenders usually aren’t so kind. Most soldiers are never able to bend the same."

"You know an awful lot about how the Fire Nations military functions," Jet accused.

"I’m surprised you don’t know more, having been their enemy for so long," he retorted.

"Fair. So you shattered his hands to get him sent home."

Zuko sat back down. "He shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Their military practices are cruel. If we had left him there untouched he would’ve been punished. I couldn’t do that, he’s just a kid."

Jet nudged his shoulder and sat down beside him. He looked deep in thought but took another swig from the whiskey bottle that he somehow regained possession of. Zuko took it back and did the same.

"When I left the forest, well, it wasn’t much of a choice. I fucked up really bad. I almost hurt a lot of people who didn’t deserve it. I was called out by... these travelers. They said a lot of things that I didn’t want to believe. Two things stood out the most. First, that not every person in the Fire Nation was to blame for their crimes. Two, that doing what I did made me just as bad. I refused to listen to them. I guess that was my biggest mistake."

The weight of their conversation had been sobering for a while but it was starting to wear off. Jet pulled out a piece of wheat to chew on, which Zuko's eyes traced back to his lips while he adamantly ignored how warm the boy was against his side.

"I’ve been trying to come to terms with the idea that not everyone in the Fire Nation is a war criminal. It’s not... an easy thing for me to wrap my head around."

Zuko thought Jet's struggle was kind of funny, considering how recently he had to convince himself that a lot of the Fire Nation actually were war criminals. He also thought Jet was kind of cute when he was trying to be serious, which was a thought that he definitely shouldn’t be having but alas, there it was.

"He was thirteen Jet. He didn't want to be a soldier."

Jet scoffed. "Yeah. Neither did we."

***

Jet was having a bit of a crisis- and it had nothing to do with the child soldier. Though that whole ordeal was something in itself that he definitely had mixed feelings on. No, Jet's problem had much more to do with the boy sitting at his side by the fire and the fact that he didn’t notice he was drunk until it was too late and they were surrounded by people again.

Bee was telling a story and Blue was laughing and spirits if that wasn’t the most magical sound he had ever heard. And he kept touching him too- not on purpose, but Oma and Shu if he wasn’t forcing Jet to pretend his entire body didn’t light up with sparks every time he put his hand on Jet’s shoulder or leaned into his side. He was talking and Jet was staring at his lips and then tracing his jawline with his eyes and down his neck imagining what sounds Blue would make if he kissed him there- and he needed to stop.

Jet sat up straight with a bit too much urgency to remain unnoticed and Longshot raised an eyebrow at him from across the circle.

"You good?"

"I’m fine," he signed back but also apparently spoke out loud because Blue turned to him with a confused expression.

And wow Jet was just captivated by that boy's eyes. He was saying something and Jet didn’t hear a word of it, instead choosing to focus on his eyelashes and the flush on his cheekbones and fuck he needed to get out of here before he did something he would regret.

Blue stopped talking and Jet used that to his advantage, spitting out, "I’m gonna go over there for a bit," clumsily pointing back towards the river with his thumbs and standing before he could reply.

He heard Bee giggling at him as he stumbled away, and Blue asking her what he was doing, her reply being something about maintaining boundaries. That didn’t stop Blue from following him, however, and he cursed under his breath while his heart skipped a beat at the idea of them being alone.

He needed to sober up. Blue was only just starting to trust him, and he couldn’t go and ruin that now. Not if he wanted any chance of convincing Blue to join them in the walled city- which he knew was a ridiculous proposition but that didn’t stop him from wanting it. Even if he still didn’t know who Blue was. Even though he had only known him for what? Six days?

Jet made a beeline for the river. He heard Blue calling his name but ignored it in favor of removing his armor and dropping it in a trail as the tall grasses transitioned to sand and then silt. He stopped at the edge, removing his shoes and the wraps from his calves.

"What are you doing?" Blue finally caught up to him.

"Going for a swim," he said, walking up to his knees in the water.

"You’re still fully clothed," he said as if it wasn’t the most obvious thing in the world.

Jet sighed; Blue wasn’t going to make this easy for him. Fine, he could play that game. He turned around and made eye contact with the other boy. "You’re right, my bad."

He returned to the edge of the water where Blue was standing, slowly pulling off his tunic and undershirt, refusing to break eye contact. He threw them onto the shore and grinned when Blue gave in, his eyes flicking down just once.

"Yeah that’s probably good enough," he stammered as Jet reached for the tie on his pants. He laughed, walking backward into the water before crashing back and submerging himself.

When he came back up for air he saw Blue climbing up a small ledge of rocks that abruptly dropped into the river, unlike the grassy shoreline Jet had walked in from. He sat down and removed his boots, rolling up his pant legs to put his feet in the water.

It was unfair, really. The way the moonlight sparkled in his hair. Jet had been doing such a good job at ignoring that feeling in his chest, the one that showed up out of nowhere the first time he took off the Blue Spirit mask. But the bitch kept impressing him, which honestly wasn’t easy- and his stupid fucking smile was radiant and Jet felt ridiculous because he couldn’t even remember the last time someone had been so distracting to him- even Katara, and he had genuinely been into her. Stupid alcohol- he was starting to think everything about this celebration had been a mistake.

Jet wound up in shallower water, still a good distance from Blue, and sat up with the water nearly at his chest. "Can I ask you a question?"

Blue looked up and cocked his head suspiciously. "Sure, but I can’t promise I will answer it."

Jet nodded in acknowledgment and tried to form a coherent sentence that could gain him a better understanding of the mysterious boy in front of him, "why did you want to rescue these guys so bad?"

"What does that even mean? You wanted to rescue them too. I’m sure it’s basically the same."

"I don’t think it is though. I mean obviously rescuing prisoners is the 'right' thing to do. But... I dunno. My motivation has never really been about doing the 'right' thing. I have a feeling yours is deeper than that too."

Zuko thought about it for a moment. "Have you ever been captured Jet? Held prisoner by the Fire Nation?"

"No," he answered quickly. "They’ve never been able to catch me."

"Consider yourself lucky."

"Why?"

"Why do you think?" He glared.

"Is that what happened to you?"

Blue didn’t answer, just kept staring with a vaguely pissed off look in his eyes. Maybe he crossed a line there. Maybe he should shut the fuck up. "How'd you get away?" Or not.

"I was... rescued. By a former enemy," he scoffed. "It really put some things into perspective."

By a former enemy? There is definitely more to unpack there. "How so?"

"He didn’t have to help me. Not in the same way that we didn’t have to help these refugees. They were strangers, you know? Sok- we weren’t strangers. We were literally enemies. When he opened my cell door it didn’t even cross my mind that he would help me get out. I certainly didn’t deserve it, after what I put him through."

"Which was...?"

Blue sighed and rubbed his face, "sorry Jet, can’t answer that one."

"There’s a big part of you that I will never get to meet, isn’t there?"

Blue avoided looking him in the eyes. "Yeah, sorry."

***

Once, not too long before he had been banished, Zuko met a servant boy his age in the kitchens. He wasn’t supposed to talk to the staff unless it was to give orders, and he definitely wasn’t supposed to befriend them- but as soon as he met that boy he started seeing him everywhere. He couldn’t stop himself from giving him tasks whenever he spotted him in the halls, in lieu of a real conversation. Nothing outrageous, just dumb little things like 'make sure there’s mochi after dinner tonight' and 'fix the chair in the dining hall that creaks'. Or, at least it started that way. Then he began to run out of things to instruct him to do that were related to where in the palace he worked, and he didn’t know what else to say so he had to stop. Until one day he had the genius idea of telling the boy to bring tea to his room.

It turns out that the boy, Rin was his name, had been very aware of the game Zuko was playing. And as soon as he realized he could get away with it, Zuko started requesting tea brought to his room nearly every day. He could never stay for long, but if they even got to talk for fifteen minutes it was worth it.

They got to know each other for real over the course of a few months. And it got harder and harder for Zuko to hide his smile whenever Rin passed in the halls, or joined the serving staff for dinner. But it was fine, Zuko had never been able to get away with anything, but he told himself he could get away with this. He deserved to have at least this.

Until one night when they decided to push their luck, because Rin's shift was over and he had no one else to report to. And no one ever bothered Zuko in his room, not since his mother left. So he stayed, and while most of that night was a blur, a distant memory, he would never ever forget how it felt when Rin first kissed him. All the feelings he had been ignoring up to that point, feelings he had barely even been aware of, came leaping to the surface. His perspective on himself did a backflip and he finally understood why he had never felt this way with Mai. He let himself get completely lost in the taste of jasmine tea lingering on the other boy’s lips. The next day his only regret was that it hadn’t lasted longer. Because Zuko never saw Rin again.

The first day wasn’t a big deal, but two, three, four? He started to panic. He never fully processed what happened next. After a week, Azula showed up outside his door. He let her in, and her words shook him to his core.

"Father would kill you if he ever caught you with that boy."

He had forgotten about the secret passages running through the palace walls that he and Azula used to explore. He had mostly stopped, but she never did, she was always spying, plotting. She had seen him that night by accident and did the only thing she could think of, one of the few times Zuko genuinely believed she was trying to help, as painful as it was in the end. Azula had Rin transferred and wouldn’t tell Zuko where. Somewhere outside the Caldera. And in the midst of his first heartbreak, he thanked his sister and promised it would never happen again. He rather liked being alive and if liking boys was punishable by death then he would simply not do that.

All of these buried memories sped through Zuko’s brain as he sat in awkward silence, trying not to stare as Jet lay drunk and shirtless floating in the shallow water below him.

He was worried this would happen. He had scared himself straight, literally, sailing with his uncle and Fire Nation crew. In three years he had done everything he could to erase that part of him, because eventually he would return home and marry Mai and none of it would even matter. But here he was, drunkenly lusting after a boy he barely knew. A very chaotic and dangerous boy who was older than him and taller than him and really good with those swords who also desperately wants to take down the Fire Nation aaand this had started as a list of complaints but why was it making him want him more?

This arrangement was temporary. They were going to part ways when they got to Ba Sing Se. There was no point in pursuing this silly little crush. There was no point in any of this, his tipsy brain reminded him. His whole identity was a secret- a secret Jet could never uncover. So he needed to ignore all of this, just as he always had. He couldn’t have the servant boy as a Prince. He couldn’t have the earth kingdom boy as a firebender in hiding. As it was, he felt as if his soul was aching not having used his bending for nearly a week. He couldn’t keep it up forever.

Zuko decided he had to break the silence. "What caused the explosion? When we met?"

"Huh?" Jet startled. "Oh. Blasting jelly."

"Fuck Jet- blasting jelly?"

"Yeah, I’ve kind of got a thing for it. Don’t worry, Bee cut me off," he laughed and sat up in the water, his typically unruly hair slicked back with water.

"And what exactly was your plan? After blowing the whole place up?"

"I thought it was pretty obvious that by that point I had thrown anything even resembling a plan out of the window."

Zuko had nothing to counter that. "Why’d you help me?"

"At first?" He nodded. "It takes very little to convince me to risk it all against the Fire Nation. But as 'm sure you pieced together; I have a lil bit of a personal vendetta against those rhinos. Took it a bit far, sorry ‘bout that by the way."

Zuko chuckled," you’re good. It felt like it was inevitable, watching you fight them. Whatever happened, I hope it brought you closure."

"Thanks, I think it did."

***

The current was slow so he let it push him over to where it was deeper over by Blue before standing up, water at his chest.

"What are you thinking so hard about tonight? Every time I look over you seem so caught up in your thoughts, it’s a miracle we’ve been able to hold a conversation."

Blue gave him a crooked smile, "I’ve been a little preoccupied with the events of yesterday, my sincerest apologies."

"Hmmm okay, I guess I will forgive you, under one condition."

"Oh yeah? What’s that?"

"You have to forgive me."

"Forgive you for wh-!" He didn’t have a chance to finish his thought as Jet yanked him off of his rock ledge into the water by his ankles. Of course, Jet being directly below him was a bit of an oversight, resulting in an unintentional tackle and some flailing from both of them, attempting to get back above water.

The river was cold but Blue’s skin was warm to the touch and maybe Jet made things more difficult for them by repeatedly grabbing onto him as a way to push himself above the water and to keep Blue trapped beside him, but he was going to ignore that. It was easy too, with the sound of Blue’s laughter ringing in his ears.

He could only play off the desperate need to feel Blue’s skin on his for so long, however, and soon they found themselves stumbling over to a shallower area to stand. Grinning, Blue pulled up his tunic to wring it out and again Jet was struck with the insistent desire to kiss him in places far too inappropriate for a first kiss. The only way he could ever get that to happen for real is if he got Blue to stay with them. He took a step forward so they were standing face to face. Blue was still breathing heavy from laughter, but when they locked eyes something in his expression hesitated.

"So have you thought about it anymore?" Jet murmured, watching a drop of water trail down the side of his face, over his jaw, down his throat, and along his collarbone before disappearing beneath his tunic, soaked and gaping open from their tussle underwater.

"Thought about what?"

Jet jerked his eyes back up to Blue's. "Joining the Freedom Fighters."

"Jet I..." He looked away, taking a small step back. "You don’t want me to stay with you guys, okay? You'll never escape the war with me around- for more reasons than one."

He couldn't stop himself from stepping forward, pushing his body against the gentle current of the water to crowd him again. He was drawn to Blue, just being in his space made him feel warm all over. "I dunno if you're being very honest with yourself."

"...about what?" He asked cautiously, and oh did Jet love how he froze up like that. Because that meant that Blue knew exactly what he meant, and maybe Jet was getting carried away but he just couldn’t stop himself.

"About me not wanting you to stay."

His face twisted into a scowl but he didn’t move. "That doesn’t negate the rest of it."

And here is where Jets brain started yelling shut up you idiot you’re going to scare him away, but he was just drunk enough to tune it out as background noise. He cocked his head to the side, leaning forward until they were nearly pressed against each other.

"Can you pretend for a minute though? Escaping the war, you supposedly being a big deal vigilante-" He lifted his hand to Blue's face, running his thumb over his unscarred cheekbone. The scowl melted away but his body stayed frozen. "If you pretended that none of that mattered, would you stay?"

"Jet I-"

It was dark but he could see the instant Blue's face flushed. Maybe he was being paranoid before. Maybe this wasn’t a terrible idea. His heart was pounding but he leaned closer still, down so he could whisper in his ear. "What do I have to say to convince you?"

Blue's eyes fluttered shut for the briefest moment, and when they opened he just looked so sad. "Jet- I can’t. I’m sorry, I just can’t." He turned away.

And that was that.

The tension evaporated. Jet took a step back and instinctively threw on his typical crooked smile, "eh. Worth a shot. Offer still stands though, if you find yourself changing your mind." And he said it so casually, running on drunk autopilot. So casually that even he, for a second, believed that that was all this was about. That he wasn’t just rejected.

"Thanks," he said dejectedly. "We should probably get headed back."

Jet snorted and started walking towards the shore. "Yeah, gotta round up the kids before they make any bad decisions."

"Kids? They’re not that much younger than us." Blue said, loudly splashing his way through the water.

Jet chuckled, "it’s just an expression."

Maybe if this had all gone differently, he would’ve told him the truth. Opened up or some shit about the forest and the people he thought were his family. But it didn’t. He picked up his dry clothes abandoned on the shore and shook off the dirt, balling everything up to carry back, before deciding to pause to pull on his undershirt. They both trudged up the slope where silt turned into rocky ledges and grass in silence, over to the dying bonfire.

Most of the refugees were asleep, with only Mara and Hao-Yu still up and mumbling to each other. Bee was passed out too, leaning against Longshot's side where he sat to tend to the fire. He caught Jet's eyes and repeated the last words they spoke to each other.

"You good? "

"I’m fine."

That’s all he ever was these days. Fine.

Chapter Text

Mai heard the crackling of a fire and the murmur of distant conversation. Something about tracking, and losing, and traitors, but the voices all blended together in an echoing congealed mess. She felt a light breeze on her side and probably would’ve shivered if it wouldn't have been so much effort. She had been wearing long sleeves, why was her skin exposed?

She considered trying to open her eyes, but then she noticed the hand softly running through her hair. A few weeks ago she would’ve jerked away from the touch, but now she fought the urge to lean into it. She tried to replay whatever happened that brought her to this position, but she was definitely missing some pieces. Something must’ve happened to her when they were fighting Azula.

She laid motionless for some time, relaxing under what she assumed must have been Sokka's touch until his voice finally spoke up. "Are you sure you completely healed her? I just feel like she should have woken up by now."

A huff was followed by footsteps and a cold feeling on her forehead. "She’s fine, Sokka. Healing like that takes a lot out of a person, and she was just as tired as the rest of us. The more she rests before we have to leave in the morning the better." He sighed as Katara walked away.

"Yeah Sokka, stop being such a worrywart, I’m fine," she mumbled, still half asleep, leaning into his hand where it paused by the side of her face.

"Mai! You’re awake!"

"Shh shh shh, you’re ruining it," she stretched, eyes still closed. She seemed to be lying atop one of their bedrolls. That’s odd, hadn’t those all been left behind?

"Ruining what?"

"The peace and quiet," she joked, rolling onto her side to face him and opening her eyes. He was sitting cross-legged beside her and honestly looked like a mess. He had changed into new clothes, so they must've gone back for their supplies while she was out, but he looked like he hadn't slept in a week. His left arm was wrapped all the way up to his bicep as opposed to just his typical forearm wrappings, and there was a dark red scratch clipping his right eyebrow. And his hair was down. That was new.

She glanced up and realized they were camped out in a dilapidated building, likely still in the ghost town where they had been fighting. Half the roof was missing, with a few stray wooden slats crossing the gaps, smoke from their fire escaping up into the stars between them. The wall, or lack thereof, behind Sokka faced the main street, crumbling bricks framing the night sky. She noticed her torso was wrapped in a sarashi, her right sleeve missing and the fabric of the tunic only holding together at her neckline and waist.

"Okay, give me the run down. What happened? Are you okay?"

He laughed grimly and rubbed his face with both hands. "I'm actually doing much, much better now. What do you remember?"

She thought back, digging for buried memories. She had no questions about their clash with Ty Lee, about Katara's accusations and the guilt she still felt over hurting her old friend. After that though...

"We were fighting Azula. She figured out who I was. She... wasn’t happy about that. We cornered her at some point- wait, shit, is Iroh here?" She turned around to face the rest of the group circled around the fire and- yup. There he was, drinking tea with Aang. He caught eyes with her and waved. What the fuck?

Sokka smiled, almost genuinely this time. "Yeah, he was looking forward to talking to you once you woke up. So, after we cornered Azula she surrendered-"

"Please, Azula doesn’t surrender."

"Yeah," he scoffed. "That's been made very clear. She attacked you and escaped in the chaos. Your entire right side was on fire. It was..." he sucked in a breath. "It was really fucking bad Mai. You hit your head too, when you fell. Aang put out the fire and thank La for the time Katara spent in Yagoda's hut up north. She was able to heal basically all of the damage. If Katara wasn't a healer... things would've gone very differently."

That was... tough to wrap her head around. Other than a slight headache she felt pretty much fine. But if what Sokka was saying was true... It was highly doubtful that Azula knew Katara was a healer. Regardless of whether she attacked in a blind rage or had been thinking it through- "Azula tried to kill me."

"Some friend," Katara grumbled, walking back towards them holding three bowls of some sort of stew before sitting down beside them.

"I never referred to her as my friend, just Ty Lee," she retorted and sat up, taking a bowl from Katara.

"I know," she sighed, looking deep in thought. "Listen, I wanted to... apologize. For, well, a lot of things that I said over the past few days. I was scared, and I took it out on you because of your connection to the Fire Nation and that wasn't fair of me."

Mai hadn't been expecting that. Katara certainly seemed like the type to hold a grudge, she had been mentally preparing to defend her case. "Thanks Katara, I appreciate it," she responded, considering her next words carefully. "And thank you for saving my life. This team wouldn't be able to function without you."

She smiled, clearly relieved at Mai’s willingness to drop any tension there had been before. "Of course, it's a healer's responsibility to help whenever possible. Besides... you're important to us. Water Tribe looks out for their own."

Katara probably had no idea how reassuring it was to hear that. As the events of the past few days came back to her, she felt more and more nervous about her standing with the rest of them. She remembered what Sokka said in the Gaoling marketplace, that she is not her nation. But it felt hard to even justify that to herself when faced with the blunt reality that her friendship with Fire Nation royalty and her involvement in the royal court's politics, even at a young age, made her complicit in their crimes. Even if she didn't understand it at the time, she couldn't help the guilt that had been slowly growing over the course of weeks spiking to an all-time high. Not when she was so vehemently aware that had things timed out just a little differently, she may have never ended up here in the first place.

"Now that that's out of the way," Katara started, "I do still have some questions, if you're willing to answer them? This isn't an interrogation; I just feel like it would be worthwhile to know more about your background. Especially if Azula comes after us again."

"Of course. Do you mind filling in a few more gaps from when I was out first?"

"Absolutely-"

***

Sokka could not put into words how he felt when he watched Mai go up in flames. If he had to try, he would've gone with something close to 'completely and utterly terrified'. There is nothing quite like seeing someone's skin crack and melt off in real-time, and the visible growing pool of blood under her head where she had fallen made it that much worse. Later, Katara had told him that if the fire hadn't been put out by Aang so quickly, it would've been impossible to heal her without leaving behind horrific scarring.

It had felt unreal to watch Katara undo the damage of Azula’s blue flames, seeing blackened and blistered skin stitch itself back together, fading back to the pale ivory he had grown so familiar with. The fire had missed her face, but Katara's thorough effort got rid of the light sunburn across the bridge of her nose, the few scrapes and scratches she had obtained fighting her way through the swamp and just roughing it up in nature like the rest of them. He had been petrified, watching her body return to how she looked when they first met but not waking up. It reminded him far too much of the last time he saw Yue: perfect, ethereal, gorgeous but gone.

He couldn't look away for hours, as Katara worked. He couldn't convince himself that she would still be there if he went to sleep. The few times he did start to doze off from the exhaustion of their fight he was startled awake by vivid images of Mai burning.

Eventually, the next day, Katara had sent him away with Aang to retrieve their belongings. He had tried to put up a fight, being unable to bear the idea of her waking up and him not being there, but the others wouldn't let up. Katara was dead on her feet from putting so much energy into healing, energy she didn't have to start with. And Toph couldn't ride on Appa without a saddle. His sister insisted Mai would be asleep for hours anyways, and she ended up being right, but that didn't stop his stomach from tying itself in knots the entire trip.

By the time they got back he was trapped in a daze, like he was watching his life play out in front of him from the audience. But he still. Couldn't. Sleep. He knew it was hopeless, that the only thing that could make it better was hearing her voice.

He just couldn't bear to lose anyone else.

He sat with her for hours, it felt like an out-of-body experience. While the others slept, he soaked in every detail of her face, smooth of any emotion while she rested. She looked like Fire Nation royalty, all high cheekbones and delicate features, the soft pink of her no-longer chapped lips. He laughed bitterly to himself, she almost looked peaceful like this. None of the anger or frustration that had been marring her expression over the past few days.

At some point he caught himself running his fingers through her hair. Maybe he was crossing a line, but he couldn't be bothered to stop. The bangs she had when they met had grown out, almost matching the length of the blunt haircut she had received when they were running from Azula. The pitch-black color contrasted so starkly against her pale skin; he knew that was just how she looked but he was still so struck with the fear that she was fading away. So he kept brushing her hair away from her face, just so he could feel the warmth of her skin, proof that she was still there.

When she finally woke up he nearly cried from relief. He had never experienced such a heavy weight lifting from his chest. Something in the back of his mind was telling him that maybe this meant something, that maybe there was a deeper reason he was so distraught. But between his anxiety over their location, exhaustion, and physical pain from his own injuries obtained in the fighting, he simply didn't have the mental capacity to deal with it yet.

Katara explained the rest of what happened after Azula escaped and Sokka sat quietly, watching Mai's expressions and committing them to memory. He couldn't be bothered to think through why he couldn't keep his eyes off of her, why seeing her awake and alive and real felt so significant, but he had no interest in stopping himself.

Eventually they made their way over to the rest of the group, Aang, Toph, and Iroh equally thrilled to see that Mai was perfectly fine. Sokka tried to play along, like everything was okay now, like the two-day chase and battle and Mai's almost-death happened years ago and didn't matter anymore. Mai started in on the story of her betrothal and Zuko's subsequent banishment, with Iroh chipping in to add a few minor details that maybe would have felt more noteworthy under different circumstances.

Having already heard the story, Sokka didn't feel bad lying down and closing his eyes. His head was closest to where Mai was sitting and he honed in on her voice, not necessarily paying attention to the words she was saying, but more to the fact that she was speaking at all.

It was almost enough; he almost fell asleep. But just like before, as soon as his consciousness started slipping he saw a burst of blue flames and a pool of blood and he jerked awake.

"You good, Sokka?" Katara eyed him knowingly, interrupting their conversation. It was very likely she knew exactly what his issue was, but he hadn't had the guts to bring it up yet.

"'m fine," he slurred, sitting up. "I think I need to go get some fresh air." And he stood, wandering out to what remained of the front steps of their hideout. Katara looked suspicious but let him leave; fresh air was probably a bad excuse considering the building they were in was quite exposed to the elements already, but she didn't say anything else.

He collapsed at the base of the stairs, leaning back with his arms resting on the step behind him. The moon was nearly full and that brought him some semblance of comfort, but not enough to convince him he would be able to successfully fall asleep. This could end up being a big problem if he didn't get his shit together soon, but he had no idea what he could do to rectify it.

It wasn't long before he heard footsteps approaching, and as much as he appreciated his sister, he really didn't have the energy to work through the chaos in his brain at the moment. He pulled his knees to his chest to rest his forehead on them and closed his eyes. "I said I'm fine, Katara."

"You know you really shouldn't lie to your sister," responded Mai, and he looked up as she plopped down beside him.

"Oh. Um, hi."

"Are you going to lie to me too?"

He groaned and put his head back against his knees. "I don't know what you want me to say."

"What's wrong, Sokka? You've looked dead on your feet since I woke up."

"I feel dead on my feet," he scoffed. "Actually, no. Scratch that. I feel drunk. Like my consciousness lives in a tiny box inside my head and is watching everything going on through my eyes like a spectator in a theatre."

"That's... oddly specific. What's going on? Have you slept at all since we got here?"

He laughed at that, probably a bit longer than a sane person would, but oh well. "I can't," he finally mumbled in response.

"You can't what?" She asked and he looked up at her.

It was heart-wrenching, the concern so vibrant in her tawny eyes. As much as he wanted to, he found himself physically incapable of lying to her. "I can't sleep. I've tried. It's not working."

She furrowed her brows in thought and he caught himself comparing how the shadows fell across her face in the moonlight as opposed to the flickering light of the fire. "Are you willing to tell me why?"

He spoke before his brain fully registered what he was about to say. "I think I care too much."

"You... care too much? And it's keeping you up?"

"Yes. Well, no. I just..." He sighed, trying to form a coherent sentence. "I keep caring too much about people. And then things happen to them, and I can't deal."

"I have to say, I really don't think caring about people is a bad trait, Sokka."

"No, but like, the problem is that I can't deal. Things happen, and I collapse in on myself."

"Is this... Is this about what happened to me?" She asked hesitantly, and he instantly felt bad about saying anything at all.

He looked away again. "It was really, really bad, Mai."

"But- I'm fine. I'm right here, alive and breathing, just like any other day," she insisted.

"I know that. You have no idea how relieved I am that you're okay. It's just, I'm just struggling on how to get my subconscious to get the memo."

"Oh," she bit her bottom lip, thinking, and he couldn't stop himself from staring. He had the thought, immediately attempting to shove it out of his mind, of all the ways he could convince his body that Mai was still here. Her lips were heavily featured in more than one scenario, but he chalked up that train of thought to his exhaustion.

"I think I have an idea. Give me a few minutes." He nodded as she got up and went back inside.

He had no idea how long it took for her to come back, time stopped having any real meaning days ago, but when she returned it was with two steaming cups of tea. "Trust the old man to always have something in his back pocket."

"He keeps tea in his pockets?"

"What? No, that's an expression." He laughed at the disgust on her face. "Ha. Ha. Very funny," she rolled her eyes, passing him a cup. "This will help knock us both out- I really should go back to sleep if we are leaving at first light. And with the state you're in, I doubt it will take much for it to kick in."

She hesitated before sitting down. She seemed to decide at the last second to eliminate any space between them, pressing right up against his side and nonchalantly sipping her tea. Maybe on a different day he would've been tense and hyper-aware of her touch, but right now he just relaxed into it, breathing in the steam of the warm beverage.

"Thanks, Mai."

"Of course."

They sat in silence for a while, sipping on their tea until the cups were empty and Sokka felt his eyelids grow unreasonably heavy.

"I think I misspoke earlier," he mumbled, slumping against her side. "I don't think I care too much about other people."

"Oh?" He reached out blindly and grabbed her hand, running his fingers over her knuckles and the calluses on the pads of her fingers.

"Mhm. I think I just care too much about you."

"Oh." He barely registered her sinking into his side as well, as she started to doze off. In fact, he passed out completely only seconds later. But if he had been more awake, maybe he would have remembered the rest of her response in the morning.

"I care about you too much too, Sokka."

***

Zuko woke up at dawn with a pounding headache and the feeling that he lost something he never had to begin with.

He looked around the camp, at the refugees huddled together, at Bee draped across Longshot, while he tried to put the pieces together of everything that happened the night before. His eyes found Jet asleep propped up against a tree.

Oh.  Right.

He ought to just leave now, when no one would notice. That was the only thing he could think of that would save him from the inevitable awkwardness from... from what exactly? What if he was imagining things? Maybe Jet wasn’t actually trying to come on to him, maybe he just drunkenly saw it that way because he wanted it to be the case. But he didn’t want it to be the case, not really, because there was absolutely no world in which them having any sort of thing wouldn’t end badly. Nope, Zuko was fairly confident that if Jet ever found out the truth about his identity he would quite literally try to kill him. So there goes that.

That being said, Jet had just brushed off their last interaction. So maybe it wasn’t a big deal? Maybe he was just using it as a tactic to get Zuko to stay with them. But why would he even want that? Clearly Zuko brought them nothing but trouble, and he had already adamantly opposed following them into Ba Sing Se.

He needed to come up with a plan. A real plan, so that he didn’t have to make up an excuse to dip out when the time came. He could just go back to Blue Spirit-ing all alone. Fuck up some military bases, free some high-status prisoners. But Agni, traveling alone had been miserable. Nothing but his thoughts to keep him company, and his thoughts were typically disastrous.

He wished he had a map of some sort. Ideally it would be a map showing all the Fire Navy's movements, but that would be a whole ordeal to try and obtain. Then again, if he had valuable information like that, maybe it would be easier to find allies. The Earth Kingdom armies still terrified him, but the water tribe had a fleet somewhere, right?

Light flickered through the trees onto his skin as the sun rose, reminding him of another one of his never-ending problems. Zuko had been hiding his bending for nearly a week and avoiding using it for even longer. If he didn’t find an outlet soon, he worried he would risk losing control at some point. And if that happened, Agni knows how the others would react. Even without knowing his true identity, there was still that very realistic fear that Jet would, quite literally, try to kill him.

He got up quietly and passed the smoldering remains of their bonfire. Oh how he wanted nothing more than to breathe life back into it. It would be so easy, and would maybe even offer some relief to this aching he was becoming more and more aware of. But instead he kept going, wandering a short distance from their camp until he found a completely sunlit space where he could sit and meditate, hoping he would be able to rein in all these turbulent feelings.

So he sat, alone, relishing in the warmth of the early morning sunlight, the comfort of Agni's rays on his bare skin. He reached out for the embers at their campsite, exercising a painful amount of control to link them with his breathing but not allowing them to truly reignite. He attempted to clear his mind completely- no war, no avatar, no prison torture. No Fire Nation servants or cute Earth Kingdom boys. Just Zuko and the sun.

***

Smellerbee wasn’t stupid. She had known Jet long enough to know that he only ever saw what he wanted to see in a person. She had been their stand-in healer long enough to know what wounds were accidents, torture, or self-inflicted. And she had been fighting this war long enough to know that no one, and she means no one, outside of the Fire Nation had eyes even close to that shade of gold. But that was her business.

She liked Blue, really, she did. She had respected the Blue Spirit already, by rumors alone, knowing that he did more to help the Avatar than her sorry group ever had. And in their time together he had not only helped them utterly destroy one of the most disgustingly violent mercenary groups plaguing Earth Kingdom soil, but also had proven he was willing to sacrifice himself to save people he owed absolutely nothing to. So why would she ever want to ruin what they had going? Jet needed something new to distract him if he was ever going to get over the Freedom Fighters disbanding, and Blue fit the bill perfectly.

That was the thing about Jet, he trusted his instincts far too much for how frequently they were just plain wrong. But that sort of confidence is what you need in a leader when the followers were hopeless, abandoned children. So she sat back to be his right-hand woman, gently guiding his course of actions best she could so that he never made a complete fool of himself. But then against her better judgement she let him trick the Avatar into blowing up a dam and every part of their life quite literally fell apart.

She was curious how long this would last. Blue had clearly been through some shit, and she hoped their group would help him piece himself back together both mentally and physically. She wasn’t necessarily expecting Blue to start falling for Jet so obviously, but she couldn’t say she was surprised. Jet tended to have that effect on people. It was probably the overconfidence thing.

But again, she liked Blue, and based on what she had seen he would probably be really good for Jet. He had vigilante tendencies and was a little impulsive but had yet to do anything blatantly stupid. But if she was going to help Jet get him to stay, she needed just a few more pieces of the puzzle to be comfortable. So, when she woke up to him sneaking off the morning after the bonfire, she decided to snag their bag of medical supplies and follow.

She found him sitting cross-legged on a rock, shirtless sunbathing like a gila-gecko. If that wasn’t on-brand for a firebender she didn’t know what was, but she would much rather stay out of the loop on that.

"Thought I’d find you here," she announced her presence, surprised that instead of startling he just opened one eye and glared.

"What do you want?"

"Ah, don’t be so grumpy," she waved the bag in the air, "it’s been like three days."

"Ugh," but he still waved her over.

"What happened to your bandages?" She asked, sitting behind him as she pulled out the salve that wasn’t for burns.

He had to think about it. "Took them off last night, they were soaked from Jet pulling me into the river." She snorted at that.

"That sounds like something Jet would do. It’s nice to see you two getting along."

"Right," he sighed. "Getting along."

He shivered at the cold salve being applied to his skin. "Don’t tell me you’re thinking of running off already."

"What? I..." He trailed off. "...it would be better for you if I left, trust me."

She put the cap back on the jar and pulled out the last of the clean bandages. "You know, your secret isn’t going to be as hard to keep as you think it will be."

Blue seemed to choke on nothing. "I don’t know what you’re talking about," he sputtered.

"That being said, you’re not a very good liar. I would stick to just avoiding the truth like you have been, if I were you." She finished wrapping his wounds and stepped around him to look him in the face.

"Jet only sees what he wants to see. And he never looks a man in the eyes when he kills them. I don’t know who you are or what you did, but I’m not scared of you, and I don’t think I have to be. But I’ve met plenty of lost kids in my day. In my opinion, it’s a much better idea for you to stay with us than run off on your own."

***

Zuko felt like his heart was about to beat out of his chest. If Bee was saying what he thought she was saying... This was even more of a reason for him to leave.

"Listen Blue- Jet is the closest thing I have to family. He might not look it but, well, you saw what happened the night we met. He’s going through a lot right now, but you being here seems to have cheered him up. So how about we make a deal. You help me keep him out of trouble, at least until we get to Ba Sing Se, and I’ll keep your little secret to myself."

He swallowed nervously. This was a bad idea. Even if she knew he was Fire Nation, even if she knew he was a bender, she had no idea how much danger they were in keeping him by their side. "We need to lose the refugees. You don’t understand how bad it will be if you’re caught with me."

"Easy. I don’t even think they were going to Ba Sing Se to begin with. We need to go into town soon to stock up, we will split with them there."

"We're close to a town?"

"Well yeah if the map we have is anything close to accurate-"

"-you have a map?"

"Obviously we have a map. What, did you think we were just winging it?"

Of course Zuko thought they were just winging it. He really wasn't much of a 'plan' guy, he just assumed that these three vagabond kids were also just wandering around the Earth Kingdom with a vague idea of the direction of Ba Sing Se.

"Were you just winging it? Oma, Blue you are the worst planner ever- and you were about to run off alone again?"

Now she was just being rude. "I feel like you’re really underestimating the severity of the situation here Bee."

"That’s okay. The less I know the better. Now, one more thing before I go."

"What?"

"I promised I'd teach you some more signs, didn’t I?"

***

By the time Zuko and Smellerbee returned to camp everyone else was awake. Longshot was attaching some of his previously stolen arrowheads to new sticks, and one of the refugee women (Mara?) was stirring something in a pot over the newly revived fire. With a quick scan of the crowd he noticed Jet was nowhere to be found, but he could hear the sound of metal clanking in the distance. He was probably off training alone, and Zuko had half a mind to join him but decided against it. Probably not a good situation to put himself in if he was trying to avoid making things awkward.

It wasn’t long before the refugee woman called everyone over and started portioning out breakfast. It was mostly rice, with shredded raccoon-deer leftover from the night before. He thanked her and pulled away from the crowd, sitting in an unshaded area of the clearing with a small boulder to his back. Smellerbee followed.

"You’re going to get sunburnt if you keep avoiding the shade."

He snorted, "Please, I don’t get- oh. Yeah, um, I’ll move when I’m done eating."

Was it really this obvious or was Smellerbee that much more observant than everyone else? Should he be panicking more? Without bending the sun was kind of all he had. If he couldn’t even have that without giving himself away, he was never going to last with this group.

Jet suddenly stormed into the clearing, throwing his hooked swords on the ground near the fire before snatching his own portion of breakfast. He was flushed and dripping with sweat and collapsed on the ground next to Longshot, yanking his shirt over his head before laying down in the grass, ignoring his food entirely to sign something furiously to his friend.

This was going to end badly. He knew it was going to end badly. So why couldn't he convince himself to leave?

***

Jet was in a bad mood. Unfortunate, really. He had been doing so well recently. But he woke up with a headache, feeling uncomfortable in his own skin, and probably pulled something practicing with his swords alone a little bit too aggressively that morning and if he wanted to take it out on everyone else it was his damn right.

It had nothing to do with the night before. Nothing at all.

Smellerbee told him they had to lose the refugees, which he agreed with, but he didn’t like that Blue thought he could just call the shots now after one successful mission. They ended up electing to stay behind while the Freedom Fighters and Blue left shortly after breakfast. Then he had the audacity to spend the rest of the morning avoiding him, up until he realized that going into town for supplies meant going into town and working to get money for supplies. He kept asking questions as if he had never worked for wages a day in his life, and it was seriously pissing Jet off.

For the most part, he had been gruffly redirecting Blue's questions to Smellerbee. But when he started asking how they even found these supposed physical labor jobs in the first place, Jet snapped.

"For the love of Oma, Blue, I know you’re new to this going straight thing but what the fuck have you been doing up to this point? Exclusively stealing? Or did you have some fucking resistance stipend padding your pockets until now?"

"What? No! Well, not exclusively stealing-" Jet saw him jog to catch up out of the corner of his eye and maybe he picked up his pace a bit to make it more difficult. "Listen, I’ve spent a lot of time in very occupied port towns okay- you can’t just waltz up to Fire Nation soldiers and ask for work!"

"Clearly you just didn’t know where to look," he rolled his eyes.

"Why are you taking this personally? When the majority of the native population can't even keep a job, there is nowhere to look! I’ve never been this far inland before- just tell me where we're going!"

"Town bulletin, dipshit. You know, with the news and bounties and shit like that?" They’d been walking for a few hours now and he could finally see the edge of civilization through the trees. He picked up his pace again, this time Blue fell back.

"What is his problem?" He heard Blue mumble to Smellerbee. If he had to guess, based on her silence, she just shrugged in response.

He led the group through the weaving outer streets of the small town, following the natural progression until they ended up in a bustling town square. It was still relatively early in the day, somewhere around noon, hopefully early enough that they’d be able to find something to get them enough money to restock the basics. Part of his going straight deal with Bee and Longshot involved no stealing (from Earth Kingdom people) unless absolutely necessary, so in the fifty days they’ve been out of the forest he had gotten very used to this type of work. Fuck, had it really been fifty days?

He had been enjoying getting to know the weird little details of Blue's life he had let slip to this point, but there was something outrageously off-putting realizing the boy had likely never had to work for meals the same way they had had to. Even before leaving the forest, it wasn’t uncommon for the older kids to wander into the neighboring towns to make some real money for supplies they couldn't make themselves or steal in raids. It was another piece of the puzzle that just made no fucking sense. He was so sick of Blue not making any fucking sense- every time he thought he was making progress he was thrown two steps back.

Soon enough Jet spotted a wall covered with flyers and advertisements and posters and gestured for Longshot to give it a look while he paused to take in the vibe of the people surrounding them. Surprisingly Blue took off after him, leaving Jet alone with Bee near the beginnings of the town marketplace. He didn’t stay by Longshot's side though, wandering to the side of the wall with wanted posters before roughly ripping one down. Ha. He couldn’t tell from the distance, but it must’ve been for the Blue Spirit. So paranoid, like anyone would know it was him without the mask.

"This place isn’t bad," Smellerbee interrupted his thoughts. "Full market, plenty of supplies. No soldiers."

"That’s ideal," he mumbled a response. Longshot caught their eyes and started signing the listings as they made their way over, Blue joining them as well.

"Farm work, paid by product. Stables paid hourly."

"What's the farm work?"

"Sweet potato harvest."

"Yeah okay, I'll do that. Did it have directions?"

Longshot started explaining how to get to the farm while Bee explained to Blue what it is they would be doing. "I personally would much rather clean up dirty stables than pull potatoes out of the ground, but that's just me."

"Oh. Yeah, okay. I'll go to the stables with Smellerbee," he addressed the group, looking mildly uncomfortable.

Now why did those words make Jet's heart drop into his stomach? "Sure, Longshot?"

"I'll stick with you,"  he eyed him curiously.

"Sounds good. We'll meet up here later. Bee, you know what supplies we need. I'll cover the food." After exchanging a few more words with Longshot, her and Blue took off in the opposite direction.

Jet started heading back to the edge of town towards the farmland, Longshot on his heels, trying desperately to ignore the voice in the back of his head whispering you finally did it asshole, you scared him away. It didn't matter that he went with Smellerbee, Jet was sick of dealing with him today anyway.

Longshot kept looking over at him suspiciously as they walked, and with his earlier anger fading into a deep-seated dread he decided to break the metaphorical silence. "So why's he all buddy-buddy with Bee now anyways?"

Longshot raised an eyebrow. "You're the one that wanted to recruit him. She’s probably just trying to make sure he knows we don’t want him around just so you can get in his pants."

"I’m not just trying to get in his pants!" He exclaimed out loud. The chatter of the surrounding townsfolk died down for a moment and he felt his face heat up before picking up his pace. "I swear I did actually think he would be a good addition to the group."

"And we aren’t arguing with that. Wait, what do you mean 'did'?"

"Ugh," he groaned. "Do. I still do."

"What is going on with you today? What happened last night?"

"Nothing happened.  That's the problem," he mumbled under his breath, looking away.

"Don't do that shit, what did you just say?"

"Ugh! I said that's the problem! It's like he won't even consider sticking around after we get to Ba Sing Se. Which, fine, but I don't understand why that's impacting what he does before we even get there."

"Well you're certainly not going to get anywhere being an asshole to him."

"-I'm not being that much of an asshole."

He looked at him with disbelief. "This morning you yelled at him for not knowing how to find work."

"Yeah, because that's ridiculous!"  He exclaimed.

"Jet, he's sixteen. You can't be mad at him for only just now being thrown out to survive on his own. You do realize that  we are the anomaly, right?"

Maybe that was a fair point. "Still, what am I supposed to do? I'm not good at dealing with shit like this."

"Maybe start by not aggressively ignoring him? Go back to focusing on gaining his trust, and leave the falling in love for further down the road."

"Okay, hey, I don't 'fall in love', alright? That's not what this is."

"Brother, you are a zero or one-hundred percent kind of guy. Stop acting like I don't know you like the back of my hand."

"I don’t!"

"Right, because you weren't head over heels for that waterbender within, like, a day"

"That is a  severe over-exaggeration of what went down with Katara," he glared.

"Okay, sure Jet. Whatever you say,"  he rolled his eyes.

"I’m not falling for anyone," he grumbled, trying desperately not to think about all the things Blue had done the night before that made his heart skip a beat. No, this was a purely physical thing. That was for certain.

They traveled the rest of the way in silence, Jet trying but failing to not think about how close he had gotten to getting Blue to break the night prior. How sure he had been that Blue wanted him just as bad as he did, and how since they got into town he wouldn't even look him in the eye. But Jet was a master of ruining things for himself... with his luck, Blue was already done with him.

***

Zuko regretted choosing the stables as soon as he arrived. As if the smell of ostrich-horse shit wasn't bad enough, the stablemaster's first words to him felt like lead in his stomach.

"You look familiar, have I seen you around town before?"

He considered burning the wanted poster in his pocket right then and there. His haircut was terribly outdated, but the scar was on the correct side and the reward was enough that anyone passing by would probably make an effort to memorize his face. Bee played it off perfectly while he was completely frozen, making up some elaborate tale about how they had family a village over and regularly passed through here when they were younger. The man didn't seem phased though, and quickly got to explaining the task at hand.

He could not wrap his mind around what it was she gained by covering for him. She knew, and still wanted him with them. He could barely stand the sight of himself, but she wanted him to stick around. He didn't deserve that kindness, and was wracked with guilt over the idea of how betrayed she would feel if she ever found out the truth.

He wished he could erase his entire past and start new for real. He wished he could openly fight on the right side of the war instead of trying to figure out how to make a difference from the shadows. He wished he wasn't so damn recognizable, that he hadn't been fucking branded as a child- his scar would always draw the eyes of strangers. He would never be able to completely escape his history and it was infuriating.

Zuko and Bee spent the next several hours shoveling shit and scrubbing barn doors with a handful of locals, while he tried to convince himself that no one here would catch on, that he wouldn't be spontaneously arrested any minute. He knew it could be worse- he could still be begging, broken in the street with his uncle. But he couldn't shake the feeling that the other workers were watching him. That their whispers were proof they were plotting to turn him in. He could see in Bee's eyes every time they crossed paths that she knew something was wrong, that he was paranoid and on edge and just itching to escape this town. Unfortunately, their employer was very much under the impression that if you were talking you weren't working, so all of these things were left unsaid.

He had not necessarily been expecting to see his face staring back at him from the wall of wanted posters and bounties, but thank Agni he had the foresight to look before it caught the eye of Jet. Or even worse, Longshot, who could have actually read the words 'Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation'. No point in adding the words banished or traitor out here- whoever made that poster ensured none of these Earth Kingdom commoners would feel any sympathy towards him. No, he was just another Fire Nation elite, set on burning them to the ground.

He was never going to escape this. If there were bounties out for him this far inland, then they were in every town in the country at this point. Anywhere he goes with the Freedom Fighters risks them finally catching on. Anywhere he goes alone risks not having any backup. Not that they would take his side if they knew the truth anyway.

Time passed slowly as he scrubbed the stable walls with an old rag and water, lukewarm from the muggy heat of the Earth Kingdom air. When the time finally came for them to leave he all but ran from the building, dragging Bee behind him, until he realized he didn't know where they were going. She slapped his hand away and took the lead, leaving him to anxiously look over his shoulder every few minutes to ensure no one was following them.

They found their way to the central marketplace, thick with foot traffic from people getting off work. Jet had mentioned he would be dealing with the food, and Zuko hadn't exactly been digging through the others' bags, so he didn't really know what other supplies they were looking for, but Bee seemed to know exactly where she was going as she weaved through the crowd. This place was far too busy; if the stable master almost recognized him, who’s to say none of the dozens of people swarming the market stalls wouldn't be able to recognize him and remember why?

He followed close behind Bee with his head down and guard up, trying desperately to not be noticed as they made their rounds. Their first real stop was for medical supplies. He attempted to hide behind his much shorter companion as she haggled for bandages and topical pain reliever and burn salve, but he could've sworn the merchant was purposely trying to catch his eye.

They moved on quickly, squeezing through the crowd to make their way toward their next purchase. Bee said something to him, but he didn't catch it over all the noise, far too distracted by the feeling of the commoner's hands and shoulders and elbows shoving him aside to make their way to their destination. Merchants were reaching out, calling out, trying to get him to buy their goods- too many people were looking at him, trying to interact with him, touching him, yelling at him-

His clothes were sticking to his skin from his sweat, the heat was nearly suffocating. It felt like the knit shade coverings over the pedestrian pathways were sinking lower and lower to the ground, closing in on him. He could feel the breath of the strangers surrounding him and the eyes following him through the crowd and he suddenly noticed how fast his heart was beating and wait, where was Smellerbee?

A hand grabbed his wrist and he whipped his body around, every muscle in his body tensed and ready to fight his way out of the marketplace. He swung his right arm, almost forgetting to throw a punch instead of flames, but a familiar hand blocked. He felt like he had tunnel vision, and if it was anyone else he might have completely lost it. Instead, he found himself caught in Jet's concerned, brown eyes.

His mouth was moving but Zuko couldn't hear a word over the blood pounding in his ears; he seemed to notice and tried his best to pull him out of the heaviest traffic, but they were still trapped between vendors in the heart of the marketplace. The people still bustled around them but there was noticeably less physical contact, yet he still felt himself frantically looking over his shoulders at every passerby- until he felt a calloused hand gently turn his face, pulling his attention back to the boy in front of him. He was still speaking but Zuko's brain was failing to translate, until within the chaos he noticed Jet's other hand gesturing, pointing with two fingers between both of their eyes, and then to himself, on repeat.

He recognized it from that morning, when Bee was showing him basic signs that would be useful code if they were sneaking around. "Look." He was saying "look at me". So he did.

Relief crossed Jet’s face when he realized he finally had Zuko's full attention, reaching back for his wrist and pulling his hand to be placed flat on his chest. He could feel Jet’s heartbeat and the way he took slow, deep breaths, in and out. His other hand repeated a new pattern, pushing away and pulling back towards himself in time with his breaths. Zuko realized he was hyperventilating, and Jet was trying to help him stop.

He found himself following along, eyes locked on Jet's face, focusing on the feeling of his heartbeat under his palm until his lungs no longer felt like they were about to burst. The crowd suddenly felt much less overbearing as his heart stopped racing and his ears stopped ringing. He closed his eyes and let his head fall against Jet's chest, ignoring the intrusive thoughts yelling at him for being too close, that he wasn't allowed to feel comfort in the physical contact.

He could finally hear Jet’s voice, "You with me now, Blue?"

He pulled away and nodded, Jet let his hand fall from his chest, but still held on to his wrist. "Perfect. Let's get out of here."

Zuko let Jet lead him, weaving through the mob of shoppers back the way he had originally come. "Wait, where is Bee?"

"She knows I have you," Jet reassured. "Come on."

His hand slid down to grasp Zuko's hand instead of his wrist, guiding him instead of just handling him. Zuko started to recognize the stalls they were passing, relieved that they were almost at the edge of the market. He made an effort to focus on the feeling of Jet's hand in his, rough and warm and a little sweaty, keeping him tethered to reality. It almost worked, too.

Two seedy figures, swords strapped to their waists, knives in their boots. The latter weapons gave them away, actually, considering Zuko was basically staring at his own feet as Jet led him out. He looked up- they were talking to the apothecary from earlier, and the man was pointing in his direction.

Thank Agni he wasn't frozen anymore, "Jet, we need to get out of here now-"

"Yeah, I know Blue, we're almost there."

He turned around- the men had their eyes on him and had started to make their way through the crowd. "Now, Jet, fuck-" and suddenly Zuko was the one dragging his companion through the crowd, elbowing the townsfolk aside, a second but less crippling adrenaline rush pushing him forward as fast as possible.

"What is going on?" He felt Jet pause to look behind him, but he kept pulling him forward. "Shit."

Zuko could see the edge of the crowd, but the two men were gaining on them. All at once he thought of all the different ways these men could blow his cover if they caught up to him and Jet. And if they tried to fight? He would have to firebend, he would have to- he couldn’t be captured again, he refused to let that happen.

"Immediate right when we get out of the crowd, it will take us to some denser buildings on the edge of the forest where we can book it-"

Zuko shoved his way past the last merchant stall and ran, Jet right on his heels, racing between shop buildings until they found themselves surrounded by a hodgepodge of deteriorating residences. He didn't slow down as they twisted and turned down narrow roads, not pausing to look behind him until he felt a hand on his wrist right before Jet pulled them through an open doorway.

It was dark, the setting sun not offering much light between the slats of wood boarding up the windows in the vacant shack of a building. Jet pulled them into a far corner, ducking down behind some rotting furniture.

"Who the fuck were those guys? What just happened?" Jet whispered harshly, slightly out of breath, dark eyes cutting into Zuko's soul as he stumbled to find words that wouldn't incriminate himself.

"Well, I think I had a panic attack-"

"Obviously," he glowered.

"-because I was paranoid someone would recognize me, which they did so clearly the panic attack was well warranted."

"How the fuck would anyone recognize you without the stupid mask?"

"I fucking told you sticking with me was dangerous! I should've never gone into town; I should've known word would've gotten here by now. I should've left this morning when I still had the chance-"

Jet suddenly slammed his hand across Zuko's mouth, probably with more force than necessary, but just in time as he could hear the crunch of heavy boots on the crumbling path outside their hideaway.

"They're probably deep in the forest at this point, just admit we lost them. Probably not even the right kid anyway."

"Are you kidding me? Did you see that scar? I've never seen someone with such a fucked-up face, no way was that not him."

"Well it doesn't fucking matter now, does it-" his voice faded away as they moved on.

They sat perfectly silent until they were certain the men were gone for good. Zuko was frozen in place and Jet's hand was still covering his mouth, but he didn't have the willpower to do anything about it. Eventually he seemed to notice though, and yanked his hand away, before breaking the silence.

"Were you actually thinking about leaving this morning?"

Zuko's eyes had finally adjusted to the shadows, and he was shocked by the look of dejection on his face. It reminded him of the hurt in his eyes when Bee was avoiding him after they blew up the Rhino's camp. "Was that seriously your biggest takeaway from everything I just said?"

"No," he scoffed. "Well, yes, but- okay, why did they recognize you? Blue, who the fuck are you? What did you do?"

"The Blue Spirit is my alias because it's safer than being me," he confessed, subconsciously rubbing his scar. "I told you I was held captive by the Fire Nation, I told you I had to be rescued. Obviously they tortured me for a reason, I don't see why the details matter."

"I just-"

"You're never going to be safe with me around. That's why I almost left this morning. But I had the same fucking conversation with Smellerbee and somehow she convinced me to stay. Clearly that was the wrong choice."

"In what world do you think any of us would let you go off on your own knowing that the Fire Nation is specifically after you? That's fucking suicide, Blue, stop trying to be a martyr."

"It doesn't matter. Let's just go." He stood. "How are we going to find the others without going back into town?"

"It does matter." Jet insisted, getting to his feet sharply. "I don't care if you leave when we get to fucking Ba Sing Se, you're a part of this group whether you like it or not. So no self-sacrifice, okay? We're not going to need anything else before we get to the ferry, so you don't need to worry about this happening again. But you better be coming up with a damn good plan for whatever you're going to do after we separate because if you think for a second we will let you wander off alone with this kind of bounty on your head I swear to Oma-"

"Okay! Okay, I get it. Now how do we find Bee and Longshot?"

He sighed. "We have a system in place. Just gotta get back out into the forest, I'll make sure they can find us."

The sun barely showed above the horizon as they exited the dissolving house, Zuko followed Jet's lead as they walked slowly and confidently through the neighborhood, avoiding the eyes of the few people they passed in the streets. As soon as they hit the tree line Jet whistled out a bird call and paused, listening. When he didn't hear anything back, they kept moving.

"I don't understand why you're so scared of having people on your side."

"I'm not scared for me, asshole. I'm scared for you. And I don't deserve it either way."

"I'm insulted, it's been pretty well established that we can hold our own. And enough with this martyr bullshit, you don't deserve to be alone either." He glared, pulling a stalk of wheat out of nowhere and shoving it in his mouth.

"I'm going to be running for the rest of my fucking life and it's not your responsibility to save me from that, Jet."

"Oma, you're insufferable. We're on the same side here, don't we all have a responsibility to protect each other? Isn't that like, the essence of humanity or some shit? What did you do that has you so fucked up you think you don't deserve to have anybody?" He paused and whistled again, cocking his head to the side before turning and leading them in another direction.

"I already said I'm not going to tell you-"

"-Did you kill innocent people?" He demanded.

"What? No."

"Did you hurt innocent people?"

He had to think about that. "Technically, like by extension."

"Dammit Blue, whatever you did I've done fucking worse okay?" He snapped. "Fine, don't tell me what it is, and I'll stop fucking asking. But you need to get it through that thick skull of yours that we aren't fucking perfect either, and we're allowed to make our own damned choices."

"I'm allowed to make my own choices too, Jet," he retorted. "I don't know what the point of this argument even is. You know I'm not staying with you forever, stop pretending you actually give a shit about me and accept that after a few more days you're probably never going to see me again."

Jet paused and took the wheat stalk out of his mouth before turning to step directly in front of him, scowling. "How about you stop pretending you actually know me. I'm allowed to give a shit about people, Blue. I'm a real fucking person too, okay, I'm allowed to care. And on another note- Ba Sing Se is super fucking isolated behind those walls. From what I've heard, if you were looking for a chance to escape whatever nightmare it is you're living right now, that's where you could do it. Don't get mad at me for trying to help you."

He stepped back and whistled again. Before Zuko had a chance to respond, two familiar figures dropped out of a tree a few feet away, nearly scaring the life out of him. Jet signed something aggressively to the duo before continuing forward, Longshot on his heels. Smellerbee looked at him, raising an eyebrow. He just shook his head and turned to follow Jet.

He couldn't escape this. He was stuck with it, regardless of where he ended up. Besides, he didn't know how to deal with anyone actually caring about what happens to him. He didn't recognize the feeling in his chest that Jet's words left him with. He didn't deserve their friendship, and they didn't deserve what would come to them if he stuck around. Nothing had changed, he would still be leaving. Zuko didn't get to have friends, he was destined to be alone. Always had been and always will.

Chapter Text

Zuko was suspended by his wrists, deep bruises forming beneath his shackles, his weight pulling painfully at his joints. He would've stood if he could, but his legs gave out hours ago. Now his knees barely brushed the cold metal floor, slick with blood still dripping from the open wounds on his back. He hadn't been given food or water in days, and at this point he didn't want any. It would only prolong the inevitable.

He could hear laughter echoing down the metal hallway, but he wasn't sure if it was real until he felt the hand close around his throat. He struggled at this point, some instinctual part of him desperate to stay alive. This only made Zhao laugh harder.

Something was burning, he could smell it. It was probably him, but he couldn't feel it past the rest of his injuries. He could barely think straight, was delusional from blood loss, couldn't keep his eyes open until the hand left his throat and gripped his face tightly, heat radiating from his skin.

Venomous amber eyes stared into his soul; he knew why Zhao thought this was funny. He vividly remembered the last time he was on his knees, face on fire. Something inside of him raged at the parallel, and he poured every last ounce of energy into pushing himself to his feet and kneeing Zhao in the stomach.

Hands gripped his shoulders and he tried to shake them off. Zhao was yelling but his words didn't make any sense. Zuko was losing consciousness again, blinking slowly as Zhao's face warped and melted into his father's, flames surrounding him, smoke filling the room so he couldn’t breathe. There were hands burning his wrists, he could hear the skin sizzling, flames melting away the skin on his face until he was unrecognizable. Someone was shaking his shoulders, pleading, begging him to wake up-

His eyes snapped open to near silence and he pounced- flipping and pinning his assailant to the ground by his wrists. He felt the fire growing in his chest, ready to burn Zhao to a crisp, but the man below him didn't struggle. There was no malice in his expression, and his eyes were the wrong color.

"Blue! Hey! Come back to me, Blue. It's okay, you're okay, it's just me-"

He blinked back the visions of amber eyes and flames, throwing himself backward as soon as he realized that was Jet pinned below him. Jet, who he was about to set on fire-

"I'm sorry, fuck, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean-"

"Hey, you're okay. It's fine. Just breath, everything is fine." And he said it with such genuine concern in his voice- just like earlier, trying to pull him out of his panic attack. Like he didn't notice how hot every inch of Zuko's skin was, seconds away from being ready to ignite. Like he didn't remember the hours they had spent before bed avidly ignoring each other, other than the occasional irritated glance from across their camp.

 He yanked his tunic over his head, in a frantic attempt to lower his body temperature before he set the fucking grass on fire. This was exactly what he was worried about: having so much pent-up energy that he would lose control from something as asinine as a nightmare. Jet stayed mostly in place, moving slowly to prop himself up on his elbows to watch him, which for some unidentifiable reason was not helping Zuko with his erratic heartbeat. He could hear the crackling of the campfire -that should’ve been dead by now but wasn't- and closed his eyes, trying to calm down. But harsh red flames danced behind his eyelids and his hands felt slick with blood, so he quickly remedied that decision- staring down at the very much not-blood-soaked grass to pull him back to reality.

"Who is Zhao?" Jet asked after a few minutes, having clearly waited until he thought Zuko had his shit together. But the question still pierced the silence, the shock of hearing that name on Jet's tongue had Zuko choking on his breath, triggering a coughing fit. Jet continued to watch him from a short distance, waiting until he had his breathing under control to continue.

"You don't have to tell me. I just want to make sure you're okay. You kinda felt like you were burning up-"

"-I'm fine, I'm fine," he finally spoke out, leaning back on his hands and glancing at Jet before letting his head fall back onto his shoulders. "It was just the nightmare, it's fine. Um, you asked about Zhao?"

"You were saying his name in your sleep," Jet spoke slowly.

"Yeah, um, that makes sense. Zhao is, was, a Fire Nation admiral."

"Was?"

"I killed him. A little over a month ago."

"Damn Blue, an admiral? I'm impressed," Jet grinned, but it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"It’s really not a big deal. It wasn’t particularly, um, rewarding?" That entire night in the North felt like a fever dream at this point. He couldn't remember feeling any sense of pride or accomplishment seeing Zhao finally fall.

Jet sighed and his smile fell. "Yeah, I get that." He sat up and picked at the grass until he found a piece worth chewing on. "Sorry about waking you up like that. I shouldn't have touched you; I'll figure out something better next time."

"Not your fault. I kinda thought that I was past it, to be honest. The nightmares. I haven't had any since I joined... well, I should've warned you."

He laughed grimly and glanced over to where the others slept, Longshot's arm wrapped protectively around Bee's smaller frame. "Not a big deal. Trust me, we're used to it. If you ever need to talk about it-"

"-I don't."

He sighed again. "Yeah, I figured. I guess I can leave you alone now." He went to move away, back to his spot closer to the fire. But before he got up -Agni knows why- Zuko stopped him.

"You don't have to, um... leave me alone. If you don't want."

Jet looked at him curiously, just as surprised by Zuko's words as he was himself. His heart was still racing, and he could still feel the phantom pain of Zhao's hand around his throat. But he was exhausted, and suddenly, more than anything, he wanted to feel the way he felt in the marketplace; Jets hand holding his palm to his heartbeat, eyes closed leaning into his chest. Safe. For the first time in months, maybe even years.

"Okay," he said hesitantly, relaxing back into place.

Zuko knew he wasn't being fair. He knew he would be mad at himself in the morning, for caving, for leading him on, but he just couldn’t talk himself into caring as he made his way over to sit beside the other boy. He pulled his clothes back on and brought his legs up to his chest, resting his forehead on his knees, trying to escape the mental picture of his arms burning, of the pool of his own blood on the floor.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Jet asked softly, his hand tentatively reaching around to rest comfortingly on his shoulder. If it had been anyone else he would've flinched, tensed up, pulled away. Why didn't he feel that way when it was Jet?

Zuko was scared to answer him. The reality was that he was not okay. This entire day had proven that. He was paranoid, he was traumatized, he was alone and he just couldn't see a way out. His throat felt tight and he knew he couldn't put his thoughts into words, so he raised a hand to sign out another word Bee had taught him early that morning.

"No."

Jets grip tightened around him and he felt himself melt into the embrace. He could fall back asleep like this. He shouldn't, but he probably would. He turned and pressed his face into Jet's shoulder. He smelled like the forest in the best way; elm trees and moss and grass after it rained. He shouldn't be doing this, he wasn't being fair, it didn't change anything. So why did it feel so right?

"Why aren't you sick of me yet?" Zuko mumbled into the fabric of his clothes, loose without his armor holding everything in place.

"You're far too interesting to give up on that quickly," he joked, rubbing gentle circles on his back, somehow avoiding every scar, every injury that might've thrown him back into a panic.

"You should hate me by now. Anyone else would." They all did, too. Everyone in his life probably hated him for one reason or another- even his uncle was fed up with him enough to let him leave.

"I could say the same thing about myself."

Zuko wondered if Jet meant that the same way he did. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

Just like before, he could feel his panic subsiding as he focused on Jet's breathing. It didn't make any sense; one person shouldn't have this much power over him. His eyes were closed but he wasn't plagued with flashbacks from his nightmare- he was too engrossed by the feeling of Jet's hands on him, on the other boy's heartbeat that was maybe a little faster than normal. He felt Jet start to lean back to lie down. His brain was telling him to pull away, but he didn't. Instead, he stayed, curled into Jet's side, way closer than he had the right to be.

"You shouldn't be letting me do this."

"What if I said I wanted you to?"

"Then I'd say you're an idiot."

He laughed, "not the first time I've heard that. Just go to sleep, Blue. It doesn't matter. I know nothing has changed. Just let yourself have this, I don't care."

His voice started to fade away as he drifted off. Zuko didn't know if it made it better or worse that he knew Jet was lying.

***

Jet missed his kids. He missed the hugs and play fights and piggie back rides. Comforting the youngest ones during a thunderstorm; everyone huddled together sleeping in the same room on the coldest night of the year. He missed feeling like he was needed, like his life had a purpose. Like he was protecting something sacred in that forest. All the kids that looked up to him, that trusted him with their lives, who knew he would do anything, and did, in effort to keep them safe.

He was furious with Blue. For not valuing his own life, for not trusting him enough to tell him why. For pushing him away when he was clearly just afraid of experiencing any sort of happiness, like he didn't deserve it. Like he didn't deserve anything. He couldn't stand watching him break down like this, it reminded him too much of his fucking kids. Traumatized, paranoid, anxious, depressed. Alone, until they weren't. Until he and the other Freedom Fighters had proven they had a place with them. That they were a family.

Jet had no other motives, holding Blue tightly to his side until he fell asleep. He did want him there for more than one reason, but that's not why he did it. He did it because the whole scene had been heartbreakingly familiar, and it was the only way he knew how to help. It didn't matter if you were a traumatized teenager or a traumatized child. Sometimes you just needed to feel safe. And Jet knew how to do that.

He woke up alone, but that didn't surprise him. Blue had proven to be a consistent early riser, regardless of how many hours he actually slept. He looked around the shaded clearing they claimed as their camp the night before to see that Smellerbee was also missing. He should probably be grateful for that, it meant Blue hadn't run away. He considered waking Longshot up before wandering off to find the others but settled for just setting his swords at the younger boy's feet, so he knew they hadn't gone far.

It didn't take long to find them, a short jog away, sitting crisscross, facing each other in the sunlight. He could see Smellerbee’s hands moving with every word she spoke, so he was able to understand what she was saying before he could hear her.

"A lot of actions are just mimed out, so it's often safe to assume that if you think a sign should mean something, it probably does. The trickiest part is tone and tense. That mostly comes from your facial expressions and body language- oh, hi Jet." She waved him over.

He plopped down beside them with a smirk, "Teaching him our secrets, huh?"

"Why do I feel like I should be offended by whatever he just said?" Asked Blue, throwing in the signs for why, I, he, and said.

"It's all about the body language!" Laughed Bee. "Come on, Jet. You knew I promised to teach him. Besides, it makes Longshot happy. I'm going to stick to signing everything I say around him so that he can try to pick up the obvious ones on his own. You should too."

"Yeah, yeah. I guess I can comply with that," he smiled, taking in Blue's appearance. He appeared to be much more at ease than the day prior, even though he still seemed to be avoiding looking at him. Oh well, he would take what he could get. "We should probably talk about next steps once Longshot gets up. If we get an early enough start we might make it to the ferry by the end of tomorrow."

Blue’s expression fell, and Jet had to hide how glad he was to see him upset at the notion of splitting up. He ignored the way his own heart sank with the prospect of finally making it to the famed walled city.

"Yeah, can I check out that map that you mentioned, Bee? I need to... consider my options, I guess."

"Sure thing, let's head back and start breakfast, I'll snag it from Longshot's bag for ya," she replied.

The three of them stood, but Jet caught Bee's eye and let Blue take the lead.

"Why are you teaching him how to sign if he will be gone in a matter of days?"

"He's the one who asked, dumbass. Besides, you know just as well as I do that he has no idea where he's going after this. Have you considered that I'm giving him another reason to stay?"

He hadn't really thought about that, that maybe his friends wanted Blue to stick around too. That they saw the same things he did in their new acquaintance and didn't want to see him go off alone without a plan either.

***

Zuko felt like he was losing his mind. He knew he had a habit of making bad decisions, but he was certain nothing could top whatever half-asleep idiotic train of thought it was that led to him waking up tangled up with Jet. The worst part was that as he woke up, realizing the position he had put himself in, he didn't want to move.

He had no excuse, he hadn't even been drunk, just sad. It was unfair of him to want this so bad, to feel such comfort in the warmth of Jet's arms. He woke with his face buried in the crook of Jet's neck and had to fight the urge to run his hands over his exposed skin, through his hair. He laid there for far too long with his eyes closed, unwilling to admit he was awake. He didn't know how much longer he would be able to brush off how badly he wanted to kiss him.

Smellerbee caught him meditating again, probably just trying to prevent him from running off. But she walked him through another signing lesson, and the whole time all he could think about was how useful it could be, but only if he stayed. Then Jet stumbled upon them and he was reminded of all the reasons he had to leave. Because if he stayed much longer, he was going to break. All the guilt in the world wouldn't keep him in line forever, and he was already pushing it as is.

So he scoured the old map Bee gave him, trying to remember what he could of the Fire Nation's movements, knowing full well that any information he ever had was horrifically outdated. Part of him regretted leaving his uncle the way he had, maybe he would've been willing to give him direction if he had just asked. But he had been too upset and acted entirely on his emotions like he always did, fucking himself over in the process.

"You look like that map personally offended you," Jet approached him, signing every word just like he had promised.

He groaned, running his hands through his hair. He was still getting used to it being this length and not being able to tie it back, poking just above his eyebrows. "I lost everything I had on the Fire Nations movements when I was fucking locked away and now I have no resources and no idea where to start." Why did he just admit that?

Jet looked as surprised by his words as he felt and sat down beside him. He stared at the map for a second, eyebrows furrowed in thought, before pointing roughly to a patch of forest between two rivers.

"This is where I'm from. Closest town is Gaipan," he slid his finger across the page. "Completely occupied by the time we left. It's along a significant trade route, very valuable to control even if it's not that big."

He traced westward along the river. "Since they have Gaipan, they haven't really bothered with the smaller villages leading towards the coast, not to say they never pass through. We went this way first, but everyone's scared. They're not very welcoming to strangers with little to offer, and they don't have the means to support refugees. That's how we ended up here-" he paused, jabbing at a coastal town.

"There's some big Earth Kingdom base nearby, so the Fire Nation's presence in town is minimal. That being said, we saw their ships constantly. They were blocking most trading vessels, trying to hurt the Earth Kingdom army, I guess. We tried to last there, but more and more refugees were showing up and the town just didn't have the resources to handle it. We were hungrier there than we had ever been on our own, and it wasn't because we couldn't find work, it was because there just wasn't enough food."

"We met quite a few people there. From what I remember them saying..." He ran his finger north along the coast. "This whole area is fucked. Infested with ashmakers, not a good time. Pretty sure that's where the colonies are too. So we went south, which was kind of twofold. You have the richer towns, which completely reject refugees. Less soldiers but they're usually still there to some degree. I'm pretty sure the difference is that the aristocrats have all sold out to the Fire Nation anyways, for financial gain. Then you get closer to the desert and things start falling apart. Very few soldiers, because it's next to impossible to survive there. That's around when they decided we should turn back and go to Ba Sing Se."

That sentence caught Zuko off guard. He had been able to tell Jet wasn't thrilled about their end destination but had still been under the impression it was his call at the end of the day.

"That was a very roundabout way for me to say, go here if you're looking to help out some occupied towns," he gestured widely along the northern coastline. "Go here if you're looking to join up with the Earth Kingdom military." Well, he sure as shit wouldn't be doing that. "And if you're looking for the ashmakers' bases or exceptionally large groups of soldiers, follow the rivers. Not the small ones like we’ve been seeing. You know just as well as I do that their strength is their Navy- they need to be able to get from place to place."

He sighed and hesitated before standing back up, like he wanted to say something else. "Not sure how much of that you already knew but, well, do with that information as you will."

Everything Jet had said fit very much in line with what he knew from his travels and the assumptions he may have made. That being said, it was impressive that Jet had paid so much attention while they were town hopping, just trying to survive. He could tell he grew up a soldier, whether he meant to or not, bringing valuable insight as to why things happened as opposed to just factual observation.

"How long do we have before we need to get going?" He heard himself ask, not quite sure where he was planning on taking this conversation. Just that he didn't feel like watching Jet walk away yet.

"All depends on when we want to reach our destination," he grimaced. There was definitely something he wasn't saying here. Multiple something's that he probably didn't have a right to know, what with the number of secrets he was keeping himself.

His eyes caught a glint of Jets swords secured to his waist, and he had the thought that he really should be taking advantage of the time they had left together instead of wallowing in self-pity.

"My ankles doing a lot better. Interested in a rematch?"

The question was worth asking for nothing other than the smile it brought to Jet's face.

***

 Sokka and Mai sat on a ledge about thirty feet above the others, watching Toph's first attempt at teaching Aang earthbending from a distance. They hadn’t been here very long, but they had left the abandoned town rather early, so it wasn't quite yet afternoon.

They sat in a comfortable silence, the same one they had been sharing since Mai first woke up tangled up in Sokka's arms, sprawled awkwardly over the crumbling steps of their temporary shelter. Someone had given them a blanket. She knew that they had crossed some sort of imaginary line the night before, but she refused to let it make things weird. So did Sokka, it seemed. Whatever was going on between them, it made her happy. She couldn't even remember the last time she felt truly happy. So she was perfectly willing to just sit back and let whatever happens happen.

"So," Sokka took a breath. "What did he have to say to you then? Must've been important if he didn't feel like sharing with the rest of us."

Mai sighed and braced herself. She knew he was going to ask eventually, given that he was present when General Iroh pulled her away for a private chat. At least he waited until the others were occupied. Not that she was keeping secrets, it was just... a lot. Emotionally speaking. She had been too overwhelmed to fully process everything that morning and wasn't looking forward to digging back into the mess.

"Not important as much as just stuff he figured you all wouldn't be interested in. We mostly talked about Zuko, to be honest."

"Mostly?"

"We also talked about me. He didn't have a good grasp on how I ended up with you guys. I told him the story, about how it was really almost an accident. Then he started to get all interrogate-y."

"What, like he didn't believe you?" Sokka looked outright offended. Even through all the chaos with Azula and Ty Lee, he never doubted her- she appreciated that.

"No, like... I don't think he meant it the way he came off. He was trying to decide what he could tell me. Trying to figure out if I was still loyal to the Fire Nation and just biding my time or whatever. Although I don't know who in their right mind would be undercover for Azula after she openly tried to kill them."

Sokka snorted, "no kidding. What then? I'm assuming you convinced him?"

"Yeah," she hesitated. "I think I've come to the conclusion that I was never really loyal to the Fire Nation. I just... did what I was told. I wasn't loyal to anyone; I was just trying to survive and didn't have an alternative. But since I broke free, since I've experienced so much more of what this world has to offer in the few weeks we've been together- I know that we can't keep living like this. And I'm confident that Aang is our only chance. Iroh seemed to like that answer."

He nodded contemplatively. "So that convinced him to spill his secrets?"

"They weren't really secrets," she laughed grimly, watching Toph tackle a boulder below their swinging feet. Katara was standing close by- not exactly participating, but unwilling to completely let go of the reigns as Aang’s teacher.

"I asked him about what happened after the Agni Kai. I told him how I had to beg Azula to tell me whether or not her brother was killed."

Sokka sucked in a sharp breath, but she kept speaking. If she didn't get the words out now, she never would. "He told me how he almost died, from infection. How he practically had to relearn how to bend. But you know the worst part?"

"Do I want to?"

And Agni, when did she turn into such an emotional bitch? She let herself cry in front of Sokka once and it ruined her- she could already feel the tears prickling at the corners of her eyes. "He told me that Zuko never stopped writing. Far past the point when he should've accepted that his correspondence was being blocked. He wouldn't hear it, wrote anyway. Sokka-" she looked up and nearly drowned in blue eyes, filled to the brim with concern.

"I never got a single letter," she finally choked out. "Agni knows how many he wrote- for me, for his sister- and I never received a single. letter."

A sudden shout from below pulled them abruptly out of their conversation. There was a giant path carved down the side of the opposing mountain from a boulder that must've crashed into the base of their ledge, where Toph was yelling something indecipherable at a wary Aang. Katara looked like she was about to turn the fight physical.

"Katara really should be staying out of this." She pointed out, grateful for the distraction so she could get her emotions in check.

"I know," he groaned. "You'd think by now she would realize she and Toph have... ideological differences." He paused, staring down at the arguing below him before turning back to face her. "How do you feel about preemptively escaping whatever the outfall of that little situation is going to be? We can like, forage, hunt, something?"

"I think that is a fantastic idea." She leaned into his side and swung her feet back into solid ground, moving to stand. Sokka followed and started leading her down a natural path between the trees.

"Wait, so why would he have written to his sister? Don't they hate each other?"

"No, that's part of the problem." She kicked a stray rock and watched it roll off the edge of the cliff side. "Azula... Agni knows how she truly feels about anyone. But Zuko, that boy was desperate to see good in everyone. He loved his sister, just like he loved his father. Until, it seems, when you met him in the North."

"Yes, okay, please tell me he told you what happened after that. It’s been eating me alive since I realized he wasn't with Iroh."

"Well, he definitely skipped over some of the details," she pondered their conversation. "He was so guarded, but... in a weird way. Not how I remember him. Before Firelord Azulon died, Iroh carried himself with such pride. You could tell he was a royal just by the way he spoke- not like Ozai, with threats. Just... with authority, confidence. After Ozai took power though... He was so drawn away. I heard his son died in Ba Sing Se. That must've been part of it. Either way, nothing like how he was today."

"Nothing like what I've seen in my interactions with him either."

It had been odd, trying to reconcile the man she knew from her childhood with the man that she spoke with earlier. Talking to him... it felt like he knew something he wasn't saying. About Zuko, about Aang, who knows.

"He said Zuko was severely injured, but you knew that. They ended up at an infirmary of sorts where they were ambushed by Azula. He didn't give me details, but apparently Zuko was unhappy with how he had dealt with that situation. They split up intentionally, Zuko wasn't willing to go on the defense, which doesn't surprise me."

"It's so crazy to me that the guy who tracked us for months trying to capture Aang has done a complete one-eighty. He didn't want to prioritize safety, so instead, he what? Is out there doing vigilante shit La knows where? Like with Aang at Pohuai?"

"Sure sounds like it. Iroh was tracking him; I think he already told the group that. What he likely didn't mention was that after he lost him, he stumbled upon an absolutely decimated Fire Nation mercenary camp. Whatever Zuko is doing, he isn't holding back."

"Fuck. Well, what was the point of all that then? Did he just want to catch up? Or something more?"

Mai had to think about that. What was the point of him pulling her aside? She could admit that there was some semblance of comfort in seeing a familiar face, an adult that never tried to hurt her or force her to be something she wasn't. And she was grateful for the opportunity to hear about her friend, happy to know that there was still a chance they would be reunited, able to work together to defeat Ozai. But the whole time she had felt uneasy, trying to read between the lines of what he was and wasn't willing to say.

"I think... I think he just wants me to try and rein him in, if we run into him again. He seems worried, he doesn't agree with chaotic violence like that. Which is nuts because honestly I completely support Zuko losing his shit. His nation scarred and disowned him. He deserves revenge, why would I stop him if it helps in the long run."

"What is Iroh's motive here? The ex-prince, what is his end goal? To take back the crown?"

"I doubt it. He seemed very content with the idea of just stepping back and letting things play out. I mean, he's supportive of Aang’s goals. But I don't see him contributing much. Obviously. Or he would've stayed, right?"

"Is he focused on running away or on finding his nephew?"

"This sounds so stupid but like, neither? He's doing some go with the flow bullshit that I guarantee drove Zuko off the wall. I wish you had been with me, you actually know what questions to ask. I was just overwhelmed, I'm sorry." Mai sighed, thinking of all the things she should've said to Iroh, but hadn't been composed enough to come up with at the time.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and stopped walking, turning to face Sokka. "Don't beat yourself up over this, okay? Need I remind you that you were almost killed, like, two days ago? You don't have to apologize for not being one hundred percent, physically or emotionally."

It was borderline ridiculous how easy it was for her to believe him. Everything he said went against what she was taught growing up, she had to be perfect. But the way Sokka said it didn't make her feel inadequate, it made her feel... seen. Like she was a real person. A real, imperfect person.

"You still with me?" He smirked, and she realized she had been staring. Who could blame her, his eyes were like the ocean- so easy to get lost in. She smiled and turned away, letting his hand fall off of her shoulder. She could feel where his fingers had lingered, trailing down her arm, even as they started walking again. The whole thing was ridiculous, but really she didn't mind.

"I think while the others train, you and I should start coming up with an actual plan. Like, a war plan." Sokka continued. "Aang mastering the elements is great and all, but what good is it if we can't even infiltrate the palace-"

"-I completely agree. I can help you draft schematics of the palace based on what I remember, if that helps. I know about a lot of secret passages from playing with the royal siblings."

"Perfect, that sounds like a great start."

***

Zuko could feel the walls he had tried so desperately to maintain around him crumbling with every second he spent in Jet's presence. And it was all his own fault, constantly torn between pushing Jet away and pulling him closer. He hadn't thought through what it would be like to spar, didn't realize how much effort he would need to put into keeping his mind on track with Jet so close.

"You seem distracted," he smirked, pinning Zuko to the ground, much as he had done himself half asleep the night before.

"So what? I have a lot on my mind," he growled in response, as if he was capable of thinking about anything other than the way Jet's hands felt, fingers splayed over his chest, or how he was currently straddling Zuko to hold him down.

"Oh yeah, like what?" He pushed off of the ground and offered Zuko a hand, before grabbing his swords that had been thrown to the side in his mad dash to knock him over.

He snatched his fallen swords before standing across from Jet, posed for another round. "I don't see why that matters." As if Jet didn't know exactly what his problem was. As if he hadn't been doing this on purpose with every opportunity he had since the bonfire. He glared over at his sparring partner, increasingly irritated that some nobody from a forest was able to take him down. Him. He was trained by Piandao for Agni’s sake. He lunged.

"Aren't you sick of being alone yet?" Jet asked between clashes of their swords, an echo of something that was said the night prior.

"What on earth are you talking about? I’m still here, aren't I?" He said, swinging his dual weapons with every word.

"Physically, sure. But mentally?" He sidestepped and tapped the side of his head with his knuckles. "I'm not sure you've ever been here completely."

Zuko lunged again. "Why are you always hyper analyzing everything I do, huh? Maybe I'm just like this." He tried to twist Jet's sword out of his right hand, but his grip stayed true, spinning to dislodge Zuko's weapon.

"The point is that you don't have to be." He emphasized with a quick jab before taking a step back to regain his footing.

"I swear, if you're just trying to convince me to stay again-"

"I'm not!" They ended up back-to-back, Zuko trying to face him again, while Jet was intentionally staying out of his field of vision. "I'm just trying to convince you to allow yourself to actually exist in the present."

"You said we're arriving at the ferry tomorrow, Jet. There isn't enough time in the world for me to unpack every fucked-up thing going on in my head right now." He kicked in the back of Jet's knee causing him to stumble, giving Zuko time to put some distance between them to catch his breath.

"Anything is possible, Blue. Who knows, if we keep fighting long enough, we might not get an early enough start," he said with a wink before swinging both of his weapons to one side, causing Zuko to jump sharply to his right.

"Why are you so insistent on going to Ba Sing Se when you clearly don't want to?" He could hear Smellerbee laughing a distance away from where she sat with Longshot cleaning some rabbit-roos they had caught in a trap set up the night before. Jet dropped down to kick Zuko's feet out from under him, but he jumped before his foot connected.

"Now that's not fair. I'm trying to get you to open up here, not the other way around."

"Don't be such a hypocrite, Jet."

"Fine. You want the truth?" he panted, jumping back to his feet and blocking Zuko's blow. "I don't want to go to Ba Sing Se. Seems like nothing more than a bunch of walls and rules. But it wasn't my decision to make, so here I am. Now my turn. Why are you so insistent on leaving when you clearly don't want to?"

There it was again. It wasn't his decision? Is he the leader of the group or not? "What gives you that impression?" He snapped.

Jet raised an eyebrow and Zuko could feel the fire burning alongside rage inside his chest.

"Fine! Because the whole reason I'm fucking out here alone in the first place is because I refused to stop fighting and go hide away in Ba Sing Se! I could not be more of a hypocrite if I showed up there. I refuse."

"Finally! A detail- at least that makes a little bit of sense. So if we were going anywhere else, would you stay?" He hooked one of his weapons around the hilt of Zuko's.

Zuko spun backward, releasing the blade from Jet's hold as he contemplated his words. "That's not the point. You're going straight, I can't be tied down. I need to do something-"

"What makes you think you can't do anything in the city?" They continued to parry back and forth.

"It's just what you said, a bunch of walls and rules."

"But don't you think you'd have better luck with a team instead of running off on your own with a bounty on your head? Don't think I've forgotten about that."

Zuko thrust a sword forward, knocking Jet's left hook from his grip. "Dammit Jet, I told you I'd come up with a plan. We can't keep having the same fucking argument. You can't keep holding that over my head."

"I'm not holding it over your head," Jet stumbled backward, dodging before he had a chance to make an attempt of disarming Zuko. "The Fire Nation is."

"Jet, I swear to-!" But Jet caught him off guard, knocking his right hand's sword to the ground.

Both reduced to one weapon, they circled each other swiping and dodging each other’s blades. "Listen. I get it. Everything is temporary, don't you think I know that? It's hard to accept positive situations when it's so easy to believe they just won't last. So yeah, you could say I don't know you very well, but that's only because you've been fighting tooth and nail to keep it that way. There's nothing wrong with having people in your corner, Oma knows I'd be dead without Bee in mine."

"Why do you keep getting all philosophical with me?" Zuko kept telling himself he didn’t know what Jet was talking about, he had to. That the night before hadn’t changed anything. That he wanted to be alone. That he didn't need help. That he had absolutely no desire to do physical labor, hide his firebending- fuck, learn another language- just so that he could spend every night in the arms of the first person in Agni knows how long he actually felt safe with.

Unfortunately, this train of thought was not one that lent itself to focusing on sword fighting.

Jet successfully took advantage of his distracted opponent, knocking his second sword to the side before plowing into him shoulder first, using his full body weight to knock him down. So Zuko found himself pinned to the dirt, again, Jet directly on top of him, a wrist held down by each hand. As if his heart wasn’t racing enough already.

"I'm just speaking my truth, Blue. I wish I’d had someone to talk me through it back when I was on my own. This war isn't on your shoulders. You deserve to be happy. No one is making you leave."

Zuko heard the words that came out of Jet's mouth, but they were absolutely secondary to the feeling of Jet's body against his, pressed far too close, his calloused grip holding back his hands. He felt his face flush and the only thing he could think was why was he reacting like this it’s so stupid and he absolutely needs to stop.

"You're wrong," he spat, in a desperate attempt to address what Jet was saying and not what he was doing. "And no- I can't explain why, so don't ask."

"Bummer," Jet sighed with a sad smile on his face, letting go of his wrists to sit up but making no move to get off of him. "I just really get the impression that you're lying to yourself just as much as you're lying to me."

"You have no idea what you're talking about. You have no idea what you're asking for," he sputtered, desperate for Jet to just back off because he needed to lie to himself, it was the only thing keeping him sane-

"I think I know exactly what I'm asking for," Jet looked down at him with a half-lidded expression that rushed through him like an inferno. Zuko froze under his gaze, letting his eyes trace over every exposed part of him. The same way he looked at him that night in the middle of the river when Zuko almost-

In a brief moment of clarity, he grabbed Jet's wrists and flipped him over, reversing their positions before he stood abruptly. "We need to leave. So you can catch your stupid ferry."

***

"Hey! You're finally back! How'd it go?" Sokka called cheerily as Aang stomped past them, collapsing in front of the low burning fire. The day had all but passed, with only faint traces of sunlight still visible above the horizon.

"I don't want to talk about it," he grumbled, crossing his legs and closing his eyes in some abrupt form of meditation.

"Ookay, well, Mai and I have been making some good progress mapping out the Fire Nation palace-"

"Can we please talk about literally anything else," Katara interjected, also huffing in irritation as she plopped down next to Mai, immediately joining her in the task of skewering meat from their brief but successful hunt earlier that day.

"Okayyy, um, Mai and I caught... well I'm not quite sure what exactly it is but it's edible-"

"Actually, you know what? How about no talking at all?" Toph glared at no one in particular, stomping to form a small chair opposite the fire of Aang.

Sokka gave Mai a look, reading somewhere along the lines of really, this again? She rolled her eyes before a sudden crack tore their attention back to the young earthbender.

"Um... Toph?"

"Yes, Sokka?" They smiled innocently, raising the staff Mai only just now noticed in their hand before slamming it down on top of a nut to crack it open.

"...Is that really the best way to do that?"

"Oh don't worry! Aang doesn't mind. Right Aang?"

"No, not at all," he grumbled, giving Mai the very obvious impression that yes, he did mind, so why on earth did Toph have his staff in the first place?

They sat in an awkward silence after that, every few minutes another crack causing the entire group to flinch. Mai had really hoped Toph had learned something from all the strife between them while under attack, but this seemed like they were intentionally antagonizing Aang- and by extension, Katara- which just felt... counterproductive.

Around the sixth or seventh crack Katara spoke up with a strained smile. "You know what, I think after the stress of the past week we could all really use a break. How about we take a look at the map and come up with some mini vacations to get our minds off of things so we can refocus?"

Aang’s eyes popped open with a bright smile at the same time Sokka turned, absolutely baffled, to his sister.

"I think that's a great idea-"

 "-mini vacations, are you fucking serious?"

"Ugh! You're all hopeless," declared Toph before stomping away from the group and dramatically enclosing themself in their rock tent.

"What in Agni’s name is going on right now?" Demanded Mai, eyes glancing between Aang and Katara, though neither of them seemed willing to look at her.

"Why don't you ask Toph, they started it." Accused Katara, aggressively stabbing chunks of meat with the skewer in her hand.

"You know what? Fine! I will," and Mai suddenly found herself marching away from the group as Sokka and Katara bickered in harsh whispers behind her.

"I thought you were going to try to get along-"

"I am trying, it's not my fault they're going out of their way to be an asshole-"

"Sometimes you just have to be the bigger person, Katara. Fuck- Mai! Wait up!" She heard the clatter of Sokka dumping his carving tools off of his lap as he got up to follow her.

She raised her hand to knock, but Toph beat her to it, slamming the side of the rock tent back into the earth.

"What do you want?" They glared.

Agni, what did she want? A good night's rest, an actual roof over her head, a meal she didn't help catch. A single day without infighting?

"I just want to understand what's going on with you guys."

"Yeah, what she said," added Sokka, now beside her.

Toph rolled their eyes. "Fine." And with a twist of their foot and a wave of their hand, Mai and Sokka found themselves enveloped in a slightly larger version of Toph's signature rock tent.

"Uhh, any chance you'd be willing to let some light into this lovely creation of yours," prompted Sokka.

"Ugh, you're all such babies," Toph complained but complied, opening a gap in the ceiling. "It's too dark, I can't see. It's too hard, I can't feel the earth," they whined. "You know what I did when I faced those same problems? I figured shit out! And I did it on my own. At this rate, Aang is never going to be able to earthbend! You all have raised him to be a little bitch!"

Sokka gaped as Mai tried to take a mental step back to consider Toph's words. "Okay, obviously we're missing something as we spent most of the day away from you guys so I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt here, but you’ve got to give me something more to work with than just 'Aang is a little bitch.'"

"You have to understand that from our perspective, you three just came back to camp all pissed off- and were you using Aang’s staff as a nutcracker? What in the spirits was that about?"

"It really seems like you're intentionally trying to piss him off-"

"Yes!" Toph cut her off. "You get it! That's exactly what I'm trying to do!"

"You... are?" Replied Sokka, his face all twisted up in confusion.

"Yes! Like I said, y'all raised a little bitch! Aang refuses to stand up for himself! He doesn't hold his ground. He just adapts and evades and makes no effort to face things head-on! And Katara, Oma, Katara is the worst part! She wants to hold his hand through everything. He's so damn dependent on her for emotional support- he will never be able to do anything on his own! And that's the problem he's facing. That's why he can't earthbend. Because he is incapable of being independent!"

"Oh."

"Well that... that actually makes a lot of sense," Mai nodded in hesitant agreement.

"Of course it makes sense. I'm the greatest earthbender I've ever met, I know what I'm doing. Aang looks at everything like an airbender and he needs to not. I'm trying to break him. And I need you guys to let me, or this is all fucking hopeless. Earth is stubborn. It doesn't want to be moved. Aang has to make it. And how is he supposed to do that if he can't even make me stop using his precious air nomad relic as a fucking nutcracker."

Toph was right. Even if Aang was visibly upset, he was still letting Toph walk all over him. And with Katara interjecting like she always did- "Sokka, you need to talk to your sister."

"Why does it have to be me," he whined.

She gave him an incredulous look.

"Okay! Fine. I'll talk to her. But I need your help with this mini vacation bullshit. We don't have time to wander around doing random shit anymore. Who knows when Azula will find us again? We need to be planning for an actual invasion. As much as I hate to admit it- even with the Avatar, five kids can't take down the Fire Nation alone. We need information and backup."

Mai looked over at Toph who seemed to have stepped back from the conversation. "What do you think, Toph?"

"Huh?"

"You're a part of this team too, do you have any opinion on where we head next?"

Toph looked surprised to be asked for input on this particular matter. "Oh. Um. Well. As much as I would like to stay on the ground, I agree we need to keep moving. Probably a good idea to stay away from major cities though, earthbending practice can draw a lot of attention- especially in places where they're conscripting benders into the army. I don't really know where we are though, relative to the rest of the world."

"Sokka, you have that map on you?"

"Yeah, here," he pulled the rolled-up parchment out of his bag and flattened it out on the ground.

"Well further south is no good, that's all forest and port towns."

"How about somewhere in here?" Sokka gestured. "Seems pretty unpopulated."

"Yeah, for miles. Think there might be a reason?"

"Is there any chance you two are referring to the massive desert that takes up nearly a quarter of the Earth Kingdom? Because I'll have to hard pass on that."

"That's a desert? Agni, okay, well maybe if we stay on the outskirts-"

"Hold on, Sokka, did you just say Agni?" Mai caught herself giggling.

"Huh?" He looked confused for a minute until he registered his own words and blushed dark red. "Listen, you say Agni all the time, I was bound to absorb that into my vocabulary eventually-"

"I'm not making fun of you!" She laughed. "It's quite endearing."

"Aw, you two are so sweet it makes me sick," drawled Toph. "Back to the topic. Outskirts of the desert, yeah? What do we have there?"

Mai reigned in her smile and brought her attention back to the map. Tracing up the western edge of the desert (that she now could see was labeled Si Wong), she brushed past a few unnamed villages until something caught her eye. "Hey Sokka, what are these?"

He leaned into her side as he looked closer. "Huh, where do I feel like I've seen that before... Aha! Look- over by that La forsaken swamp. I thought they were just doodles; this is a secondhand map after all. But you know what? I think those symbols are supposed to represent spirits!"

"Spirits?" Toph sounded unimpressed.

"The swamp where Aang had visions of you- that place was full of spiritual energy. So if whoever made this map knew that, then there must be something spiritually significant about this place as well."

"Mai, you know how I felt about that swamp, are you really suggesting what I think you're suggesting?"

"Hey, if this place sucks, nothing is stopping us from just leaving- it's way smaller than the swamp, and we will be prepared this time! I'm just really starting to feel like the Avatar and the spirits go hand in hand; we're looking for a destination with no real driving force, how about this? At least it's a starting point, maybe Aang’s heard of it?"

"I guess it's worth bringing up to the group. Maybe we can do some reconnaissance once we're back among civilization." He squinted at the small font labeling the town. "Misty Palms Oasis. I guess that does sound promising."