Archive of Our Own ^beta

“…and you're gonna love the all-day echo chamber!”

That's the Avatar. The next voice belongs to the earthbending girl.

“I think that'll have to wait.”

The huge bison moves out of the way, and there they are. Surprised. Shocked. Angry. Expecting an attack. Sword, staff, and murderous glares are levelled at him.

Zuko takes a deep breath.

Now or never.

“Hold your fire!”

It's a good opening. He's here to do one thing and one thing only, and he can't do that if he's busy repelling their attacks.

“Hear me out”, he pleads. “I'm not here to hurt you.”

The bison chooses that moment to roar and… lick his face? It's gross. Wet and sticky. Zuko lets it happen anyway. The thing could probably bite his head clean off. Through the eye that isn't covered in bison saliva (eww), he can see the Avatar look surprised.

“I'm here to apologise”, he continues once he's wiped the mess off his face. “I know I've wronged you, and I'm here to make it right.”

They don't believe him, he can see that. But so far, nobody's tried to kill him, which is probably a good sign.

“Three years ago, my father banished me”, he begins his story. “In order to regain my honour, I was told to find and deliver the Avatar. You.” He makes eye contact. “I was raised to believe that I would one day rule my people. That it was my destiny to continue the work of my father and his forefathers. At the time, you were all that was standing between me and the future I was promised.”

“What's the point?”, the guy with the hair – Sokka – interrupts Zuko. “Who cares why you're hunting us?”

The others seem inclined to agree. Zuko holds up a hand.

“Please. Hear me out. I promise it will make sense.”

“Or maybe you're just trying to stall for time! What are you up to this time?”

“Let him speak, Sokka.”

The Avatar seems to be the most inclined to hear Zuko out. Perhaps not so surprising after all. The last time Zuko talked to him, he'd offered his friendship. Hopefully, he will again.

“Thank you.

“I know that you have no reason to trust me. I've attacked your homes. I've hurt a lot of people trying to capture you. I've helped my sister take Ba Sing Se, and”, he swallows hard, “I helped her nearly kill you.” He looks to Katara, and she looks back with a glare that could kill. “I've captured you, I've stolen from you, and I've betrayed your trust.”

Listing all the things he's done makes it sound so much worse.

“I am ashamed to say that it's taken me all these years to realise what I should have known from the start: nobody can take your honour from you. Only you can, and only you can give it back to yourself.”

When he wrote this speech, it sounded much better. But hearing it out loud, seeing their reactions, the more he talks, the more terrible Zuko feels. On a whim, he kneels down.

“I've dishonoured myself with what I've done to you. I have no excuse to offer, even if you wanted to hear one. I have brought nothing but hurt and pain to you.”

He seeks out the Avatar's eyes, and finds something he can't decipher in them. Surprise? Compassion?

“Today, I've come to beg your forgiveness.

“I've followed you since the eclipse in hopes that you will let me make right what I can. I see it now, clearer than ever, that my destiny is to help you take down my father.”

They still don't believe him, Zuko realises in horror. Katara looks ready to murder him herself, Sokka is scrutinising him, trying to figure out his ‘real’, hidden motive. The earthbender is the only one who looks somewhat bored.

Last chance.

“You still need to learn firebending. If you will accept me as your teacher, I offer myself up. Please, give me a chance to make up for everything I've done and to regain my honour.”

He lowers his head and closes his eyes. Any second now, they're gonna reject him, or worse, attack. Any second now. At least he tried. He can hear them whisper, a little farther away than before. Once or twice, he thinks he can make out the earthbending girl say ‘he's not lying’, though how she knows this, he has no idea.

“Zuko?”

His eyes snap open. The Avatar is standing in front of him.

“I believe you.”

A lightning strike wakes Zuko, and he bolts upright in his bed. The capital city has been buried in rain and storms for a week now. Winter is coming.

The details of his dream pass before his eyes, and with a groan, he falls back into the pillows and pulls the covers over his head.

Stupid dreams. Stupid snappy comebacks that he doesn't think of until ages later.

Hello. Zuko here.

If he could slap his younger self, he would. It's not something the others will ever let him live down. Toph still makes fun of him for that at every opportunity. Oh well. At least he's thought of a half-decent speech at last.

It's only taken five years.