Birthday AU Commentfic Meme!

[attackfish]

It’s my birth month, and to celebrate, I’m hosting a commentfic meme!  I’m in the mood to write some AU fics, so that’s the theme of the meme.  I’m open to both Avatar: the Last Airbender and Harry Potter requests, and I’m also taking requests in any of my existing AUs (Except Children of Mars), including the ones I established im my last commentfic meme, as well as new ones.  Comment with up to five requests, and I’ll guarantee you at least one commentfic.  I’ll probably answer with more, knowing me.  weirdlet , beboots , and floranna  get seven requests and a guarantee of two fics, because beboots  and floranna  are the best betas ever, and weirdlet  has a truly bizarre AU I inflicted on her rattling around in her head.  Also, anyone who wants me to write anything from my AU of Sun Child needs to ask weirdlet  and floranna , because it’s theirs.

*Closed and Finished*

Given that this meme has spawned a fair few universes, sorting the fics by requester would be clunky, so instead, I'm sorting them by universe this time.

One Shot Universes:

Another Wacky Day: Sokka3PO and KataraD2 (Star Wars/A:tLA fusion)  requested by avocado_love 
Oh Come On, Of Course Zuko’s a HufflePuff (Harry Potter/A:tLA crossover) requested by avocado_love 
Zuko muses on his fellow ruler, his sister, and the big universal questions of morality NOTE-not actually AU, requested by beboots
Dwarf!Toph (D&D fusion, sort of) requested by weirdlet 
Don’t even ask- I don’t even- What is wrong with you, woman? (Kyoshi Warrior Ozai) NOTE- Not AU, just crack, requested by weirdlet 
Suki's a Firebender requested by clockwerkchaos 
Toph is the one who finds Aang requested by panaili 
Ozai doesn’t allow the Dragon of the West to join Zuko in exile: Parts One, Two, and Three requested by lavanyasix 

Mirrorverse (The Avatar is an evil spirit):

Meetings requested by clockwerkchaos 
Aang's Little Crush requested by gamiel 
In This Verse, Azula Totes Rescues Puppies requested by avocado_love 

Lightning Strike (from this commentfic on a previous meme):

Sneaking out of Bed requested by lavanyasix 
Zuko and Kuei, chillin’ together requested by beboots 

AU of Ice Flows Through:

Mai, taking Azula's plan down from the inside: Parts One, Two, Three, and Four requested by beboots 

Quiet Shadowed Places verse (from this shortfic):

Zuko Finds Out He’s Blind requested by floranna 
Zuko Can’t Get Any Respect requested by beboots 
Fire Bending Masters requested by Hillary (anonymous user)
Agni Kai During Sozin’s Comet requested by Hillary
Toph and Zuko bonding NOTE- crack, and absolutely not universe canon, requested by beboots 

Iroh Dies in S2 (from these three commentfics in a previous meme):

Crossroads of Destiny Parts One, Two Three, Four, and Five requested by beboots 
The Throne Room requested by beboots 
Royalty Lessons requested by beboots 

Fail!Incubus Zuko:

Attempted Seduction *warning for sexual coercion and slavery* requested by weirdlet 
Courting Mai requested by gamiel 

Life Spirit:

Toph Bei Fong requested by clockwerkchaos 
Winter When He Goes requested by weirdlet 
Zuko and Iroh requested by clockwerkchaos 
Sokka and Katara requested by clockwerkchaos 

Koizilla Destroys the Fire Nation (from this commentfic from a previous meme):

Song requested by clockwerkchaos 

Modern Day:

Toph and Aang Meet requested by panaili 
Sleepover requested by panaili 

AU of Sun Child:

NOTE- Sun Child belongs to weirdlet and an index of fics in that verse can be found here.  This AU of the Sun Child AU began in these two commentfics from a previous meme *Warning for heavily implied Rape by Coercion and Sexually Abusive Dialogue*

Zhao and Zura's Child is Born requested by floranna 

Zuko Hurt His Leg on the Run and it Won’t Heal (from this commentfic on a previous meme):

Teo and Zuko Bonding Parts One and Two requested by Hillary
Assistive Technology is a Beautiful Thing requested by Hillary

Comments

[lavanyasix.livejournal.com]

1. A follow-up to that fill where Azula's lightning strike on Zuko has serious consequences (http://attackfish.livejournal.com/53604.html?thread=250212#t250212). That line in the original fill about them needing to have a kid as quickly as possibly was disturbing and really stuck with me.

2. Gyatso convinces his fellow elders not to reveal the truth to Aang until he turns sixteen. When Sozin's Comet arrives, the Fire Nation attacks. Aang blacks out only to wake up totally alone, surrounded by shattered mountains and the ruins of the temple. And he has no effing clue what the hell happened.

3. A hundred years ago, when Sozin orchestrates the Air Nomad genocide, he orders their sky-bison calves be spared and collected. Not out of mercy, but so they can serve the Fire Nation as ariel calvary once the dragons are extinct. Over the decades, some are captured by the other nations and bred for similar purposes. When Aang awakens, he finds a world bursting with sky-bison and their riders.

4. Ozai, wanting to keep a short leash on the Dragon of the West, doesn't allow Iroh to join Zuko on his exile. What becomes of scarboy over the next three years?

5. During the Siege of the North, Sokka isn't taken off Hahn's suicide mission to assassinate Admiral Zhao.

[clockwerkchaos.livejournal.com]

4. Ozai, wanting to keep a short leash on the Dragon of the West, doesn't allow Iroh to join Zuko on his exile. What becomes of scarboy over the next three years?

He dies to the Air Nomad Zombies Iroh secretly fought off in the western temple.

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

And then Zuko becomes the flesh-eating undead and tries to eat Sokka's braaaaaains.

[lavanyasix.livejournal.com]

I can see it now:

zombie!Zuko: "Braaaains."

zombie!Sokka: "Braaaains."

zombie!Katara: "Hoooope."

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

*dies and is resurrected as a zombie*

[clockwerkchaos.livejournal.com]

Only if she hasn't learned plant-bending. Trust me, nothing take out zombies like plants.

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Or bloodbending. She can bend the zombie hordes!

[clockwerkchaos.livejournal.com]

But the brain is an organ, not flesh. Zuko is clearly a very confused Zombie. (Ozai: Even as a zombie he's a screw up.)


Also, relevant pic is relevant.

http://acaciathorn.deviantart.com/art/Avatar-Monsters-Zombie-Aang-127866400

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

He's merely one who interprets the word "flesh" somewhat loosely. Zuko: Daddy has Braaaains...

I keep giving people pictures from that series in their DA favorites meme.

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

There was a dull impact in the center of his back. Zuko looked down to see the tip of an arrow protruding from his chest. He spun -- his claw fingers at the ready -- to see figures emerging from the snow, charging toward him. One of them was notching another arrow in his compound bow. They’d buried themselves and waited for him.
There were five of them in total, one had the bow and arrow, the others all had swords. Fire and explosions had failed Ozai, it looked as though he was now going to try dismemberment.
Another arrow caught him in the throat, lodging itself halfway in his neck.
It was a good day to be undead.



This is not mine, it is from the 'Enter the Zombie' rpg book, I have just changed the names and some of the words

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

*snerk*

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

"*snerk*"? Help me, I don't know what that means.

Continuation: Azula’s lightning strike on Zuko has something far more serious consequences

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Zuko’s eyes opened every morning with the rising sun, and when the feel of Mai’s hand around his wrist sank through to his sleep clouded mind, he closed his eyes again. Face twisted, gut twisting, with furious resignation, Zuko squinted at her sleeping face, and at her fingers. She had been sleeping deeper since her belly had begun to swell. Maybe...

The doctors had been talking to her less about making him rest since her belly had begun to swell too. He’d done his job. The succession was safe.

Zuko knew they were just waiting for him to die, eager for the day his child would take the throne in his place. They didn’t want him to live any longer. He was the traitor, the conqueror, the usurper. He swallowed. Never had he ever thought his own people would see him that way. And if it had been the Earth Kingdom seeing their new Fire Nation rulers that way, it wouldn’t have mattered.

Though what would happen if she miscarried, or the baby died- Those things happened all the time. Zuko resisted the urge to touch Mai’s belly, to reassure himself that their child was still safe. Her hand felt so warm around his wrist. He rubbed her knuckles, and she mumbled in her sleep. Softly, slowly, he pressed down on her knuckles, and her fingers opened just slightly, enough for him to slip his hand out. Tiptoeing, he made his way around the bed to the window and glanced back Mai. Her knives and shuriken darts lay in their sheathes, next to the bed, and Zuko felt the welling up of the familiar sense of shame that Mai couldn’t wear them to bed anymore the way she always had. He spasmed in his sleep sometimes.

She was going to give him all kinds of grief when she woke up and he was already out of bed. The doctors never talked to him about resting, only Mai. They only... Mai didn’t stop trying to keep him alive just because his doctors had stopped caring. Mai still cared.

He grabbed the windowsill hard when he reached it and let out a quiet sigh. He was safe. Sometimes, he wondered if it would be better just to crawl, so he had less far to fall.

Zuko leaned against the wall in a patch of pinkish-orange sunrise light. Blinking the last of the sleep out of his eyes, he stretched his arms and grabbed his toes. The sunlight sank into his skin, muscles, and bones. Fire burst out of his fingers with the first punch, dying in the air. When the spasm hit, he shoved his elbow hard into the windowsill and held himself up on his feet until it passed. Legs trembling, he brought his hand up in front of himself, sparks cracking behind it. The kata came so easily, so smoothly, born of reflex instead of thought, the first one he had ever learned. It felt so good just to bend, to do something more than hold a fire in his hand to read with. It was like-

It was like nothing else. It didn’t matter that what he was fighting was part of him. He was used to that. It didn’t matter that he couldn’t fight the people he really wanted to burn. He was used to that too.

He watched the last of the flames shrivel up and disappear over the empty floor. His heart hammered in his chest, and he didn’t know if it was the longing or the lightning his sister had used. With one last look at where the fires had been, he grimaced and and swung a dressing gown around his shoulders before padding out the door and down the hall to his office.

There was an education reform law he was in the middle of drafting. If the doctors were right, he didn’t have much time. He had better make the most of it.

Re: Continuation: Azula’s lightning strike on Zuko has something far more serious consequences

[lavanyasix.livejournal.com]

Gah! Poor Zuko. None of his advisers want to keep the packet after they've gotten the seeds.

I imagine Mai's going to have to spend quite a few years watching out for assassins. If she's out of the way then the Court would have a free hand to mold Junior into a Kuei.

Re: Continuation: Azula’s lightning strike on Zuko has something far more serious consequences

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

And they all talk to Mai too. Not only do they make Zuko's actions Mai's responsibility, when she has no power to control him, but they act like Zuko can't decide how he's going to act themselves.

Hah, Zuko's going to prove all his docs wrong and live to like, eighty. THe Fire Nation court would eagerly try such a thing. Zuko may have many of the commoners, but the military leadership and the rich nobles hate him. But if they tried, Aang would have something to say about it. *snickers...*

Re: Continuation: Azula’s lightning strike on Zuko has something far more serious consequences

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

Totally. This is one of those 'verses that just calls for perversely outliving the bastards. Even if it's hard, even if you constantly have to have contingency plans in place for the worst, because everyone knows the worst is inevitably coming soon.

*mental image of tasty 40y.old!Zuko at court, still occasionally dealing with spasms but stomping around being all 'I am stronger than the old regime's lightning, so there'*

Re: Continuation: Azula’s lightning strike on Zuko has something far more serious consequences

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

And the doctors are old, man. They go before Zuko. Way before Zuko.

At 40, Mai's reaction to a spasm becomes *eye roll* Nothing to see here. Familiarity leaches out the anxiety.

Re: Continuation: Azula’s lightning strike on Zuko has something far more serious consequences

[water-soter.livejournal.com]

I don't get it, why doesn't Katara or the Gaang help him? *pouts* loved it so much it hurts.

Re: Continuation: Azula’s lightning strike on Zuko has something far more serious consequences

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Because A) he's a prickly prideful bastard who won't admit he needs help, and B) they're busy dealing with the catastrophic effects of a 100 year long world war too? And medically, Katara has done all she could. One of these days I'm going to write her trying with more spirit water, and having it fail.

Re: Continuation: Azula’s lightning strike on Zuko has something far more serious consequences

[water-soter.livejournal.com]

O.O Sad, sad AU, I like it! :-P

Ozai doesn’t allow the Dragon of the West to join Zuko in exile Pt. 1/3

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Man, this prompt just gave me the best excuse to go back and read suzukiblu’s “Without a Fight” (http://community.livejournal.com/white_knuckle/42561.html) and “Never Give Up" (http://community.livejournal.com/white_knuckle/58972.html).






“The Fire Lord’s son is a welcome guest any time,” Zhao drawled, eyes half closed and smug. “What brings you to my harbor?”

Zuko tried to bully his face out of its scowl. In the quiet, Zhao drummed his fingers against his arm, smirking as he watched his prince squirm. “My ship’s being repaired.”

Zhao’s smirk widened as he looked. “That’s quite a bit of damage.”

“Yes.” Zuko’s eyes darted around anxiously. “You wouldn’t believe what happened.”

Zhao pressed his face close to Zuko’s, mouth still smiling. “Really? You must regale me with all the thrilling details.” His mouth was still smiling, but his eyes were narrowed.

Shooting Zhao another glare, he ducked around the commander. “Sorry, but I have to go see about the repairs.”

“Don’t be silly, Prince Zuko. My soldiers will take care of it.” Zhao put his arm up to block Zuko’s path. “We wouldn’t want you to have to delay your important mission.” Clicking his tongue, he circle Zuko. He put his hand on the prince’s shoulder and clamped his fingers down, pushing away from the docks and his ship and towards Zhao’s tent. Zuko clenched his teeth and snarled through them under his breath, but there was nothing he could really do. It was Zhao’s port.

Zuko hunched his shoulders and his feet crunched on the snow. Zhao’s hand squashed his armor down into his skin. “And by year’s end, the Earth Kingdom capital will be under our rule.”

“What?” Zuko lifted his head up. “Sorry, lost track of what you were saying,” he muttered resentfully.

Zhao snorted. “The Fire Lord will finally claim victory in this war.”

Zuko pushed Zhao’s hand off his shoulder. “If my father thinks the rest of the world will follow him willingly, then he is a fool.”

“Two years at sea have done little to temper your tongue.” Zhao’s lip curled. “So, how is your search for the Avatar going?”

A cold sweat broke out over Zuko’s skin, under his armor. “We haven’t found him yet.”

The commander shoved Zuko through the tent flaps. They swung around him as he stumbled. He shoved his arms out to block his fall, but he caught himself and let them fall to his sides as he gazed around the room. There was a massive map on one wall with pins for each platoon of Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom soldiers. Zuko didn’t get much information about the war anymore.

Zhao’s boots hissed against the rugs. He brought his hands down onto Zuko’s shoulders and shoved him down into a metal ship’s chair. “Did you really expect to? The Avatar died a hundred years ago, along with the rest of the airbenders. Unless you found some evidence that the Avatar is alive.”

Zuko swallowed and stared straight at the commander. “No. Nothing.”

Ozai doesn’t allow the Dragon of the West to join Zuko in exile Pt. 2/3

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Zhao leaned over the table in front of Zuko, face low and close to Zuko’s. His teeth were bared, but he was so calm, so self satisfied. Zuko fought down a desperate need to run. “Prince Zuko, the Avatar is the only one who can stop the Fire Nation from winning this war.” Zhao’s voice grew louder on every word. Something in Zuko’s gut eased. It was good if Zhao was angry. “If you have an ounce of loyalty left, you’ll tell me what you’ve found!”

“I haven’t found anything.” Zuko hung his head. He had a chance to go home, a real chance. “It’s like you said. The Avatar probably died a long time ago.” He pushed himself back from the table and up onto his feet. He had to force himself to walk, to keep his back straight, and not to run out like he had something to hide.

Zhao’s soldiers, who had ignored him as he stumbled, and as Zhao shoved him down crossed their spears in front of him. Another soldier pushed open the tent flaps and bowed to the commander. “Commander Zhao, we interrogated the crew as you instructed. They confirmed Prince Zuko had the Avatar in custody, but let him escape.”

There hadn’t been enough time for Zhao’s soldiers to capture his crew and torture them, which meant all they had to do was ask, and they just told...

Of course they weren’t loyal to him. Of course. It wasn’t like they hadn’t been Zhao’s men just a month ago.

“Now, remind me.” Zhao put his hand on Zuko’s shoulder again, and rumbled into his ear, “How exactly was your ship damaged?”


Zuko looked down at the floor. His jaw jumped. “I found him. I’m not going to let you sweep in and take all the glor-”

Zhao’s hand closed around Zuko’s armored shoulder and yanked him back. “Sit down.”

Dragging his arm out of Zhao’s grip, Zuko scrambled backwards. His knuckles turned white around the arm of the chair. He pulled himself up into it shaking with rage. “I don’t have to tell you anything. Capturing the Avatar is my job.”

“You failed, Prince Zuko,” Zhao reminded him mockingly. “You found him, and you let him slip through your fingers.

Zuko glowered at the table. “I underestimated him once, but it will not happen again.”

“No, it will not.” Zhao snapped. “Because you won’t have a second chance.”

“Commander Zhao,” Zuko’s fingernails dug into the padding on the chair’s arms. “I’ve been hunting the Avatar for two years and I-”

“And you failed! Capturing the Avatar is too important to leave in a teenager’s hands. He’s mine now,” Zhao told him scornfully. As the guards parted to let him leave, he faced the soldiers gathered just outside the tent. “Keep him here.”

Zuko could hear Zhao’s boots clicking on the stone outside the tent. He stared past the feet of the soldiers as the moved in on him at the place where the tent’s cloth walls met the ground. It would be so easy to push his way under the cloth, if the soldiers weren’t all around him.

~*~

“My search party is ready.” Zhao stood in the middle of his circle of soldiers, smiling coldly at the prince. “Once I’m out to sea, my guards will escort you back to your ship and you’ll be free to go.”

Zuko’s eyes narrowed. “Why? Are you worried I’m going to try and stop you?”

“You?” Zhao laughed. “Stop me? Impossible.”

He turned to leave again, but Zuko shot to his feet, hands balled into fists. “Don’t underestimate me, Zhao. I will capture the Avatar before you.”

Zhao glanced back at Zuko, amused. “You can’t compete with me. I have hundreds of warships under my command, and you... you’re just a banished prince. No home. No allies. Your own father doesn’t even want you.”

“You’re wrong.” Zuko held his head up. “Once I deliver the Avatar to my father he will welcome me home with honor and restore my rightful place on the throne.”

“If your father really wanted you home, he’d have let you return by now, Avatar or no Avatar, but in his eyes you are a failure and a disgrace to the Fire Nation.”

“That’s not true,” Zuko shouted.

Ozai doesn’t allow the Dragon of the West to join Zuko in exile Pt. 3/3

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Zhao leveled Zuko with a glance to the left side of his face. “You have the scar to prove it.”

A wounded cry bubbled its way out of Zuko’s throat as he launched himself forward. “Maybe you’d like one to match!”

Zhao blinked, but then his smile widened. “Is that a challenge?”

“An Agni Kai.” Zuko confirmed with a low growl. “At sunset.”

“Very well. It’s a shame your father won’t be here to watch me humiliate you. I guess your crew will have to do.” Zhao’s lip curled. “Not that any of them will care. They know what you are. Your ship wouldn’t be a punishment detail if anyone wanted to sail under you.”

Seething, Zuko watched him leave and closed his eyes, keeping his breath even and readying himself for the fight.

~*~

Zuko watched the sky darken through the cloth walls. The soldiers led him out of the tent and into the center of camp, his mind showing over and over again what had happened last time-

Zhao smirked at him across the empty ground. “This will be over quickly.”

A gong sounded over the center of camp. Zuko stepped forward to face Zhao and struck out, the fire sizzling in the cold air. There was somewhere his mind went during a fight, and afterwards, he knew he would never be able to say what had happened, what sequence of strikes and counter strikes had burned through the air around them, only that he saw and opening, and took it, and Zhao ended up on the ground, his feet swept out from under him. It wasn’t important how he got there anyway. All that mattered was that Zuko stood above him.

“Do it!” Zhao’s eyes gleamed with fear. They grew huge as Zuko lifted his hand, until the fire flew and died in the dust beside him, and Zuko closed his eyes and turned away. “That’s it?” Zhao chuckled breathlessly. “Your father raised a coward.”

Zuko glanced back at him coldly. “Next time you get in my way, I promise I won’t hold back.”

Leaping to his feet, Fire gathered in Zhao’s hand, and stretched into a thick cord. He snarled in fury as he brought it down onto Zuko’s unprotected back. Zuko’s screams rang hollowly on the icy air. A frightening, horrible smell filled his nose. He knew that smell. It was the smell of his own skin bubbling in the fire. He couldn’t even hear himself screaming any more. He couldn’t see, couldn’t think, all he could do was smell that smell and feel the burn sink deep into his flesh.

~*~

The physician propped Zuko’s useless, numb arm up on a side table. The bandages stuck to his skin as the physician pulled the bandage away. Zuko hissed as it pealed off and fluid oozed down his back. The physician wrapped new, clean gauze over the burn as Zuko held himself still and gritted his teeth.

The tent flaps swung inwards. Zhao stalked across the carpet and stopped to loom over the bed. “Feeling better, Prince Zuko?”

“Go away.”

“I’d suggest you start playing nice, Prince Zuko. By the time you’re recovered, your father will have the Avatar. I don’t think you’ll get to keep your crew and your cozy,” Zhao sneered. “Little ship after your exile becomes permanent, do you?”

“You’re not going to get away with this, Zhao!” Zuko snarled, throwing the blanket off from around his waist and trying to leap to his feet.

The physician pushed him back down. “Lie down, Prince Zuko.”

Zuko closed his eyes and grimaced as he lay down on his stomach, even the small movements needing to do that sending waves of pain crashing down over him.

“Who are you going to tell, Prince Zuko?” Zhao asked, pityingly. “Who do you think is going to care?”

Zuko turned his head away and didn’t answer.

Re: Ozai doesn’t allow the Dragon of the West to join Zuko in exile Pt. 3/3

[(Anonymous)]

Interesting, and as may things on this memo I want to read more (cures you).

I wonder what Zhao's people are thinking about him striking a opponent in the back after that Zuko had spared him

Re: Ozai doesn’t allow the Dragon of the West to join Zuko in exile Pt. 3/3

[lavanyasix.livejournal.com]

Poor Zuko. Playing by the rules when there's no one in the game who still cares about them.

At least he still has a half-decent chance of eventually getting/meeting Aang again, considering how incompetent Zhao was before he hired some Yu Yan muscle.