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

[beboots.livejournal.com]

Oh man... I'm going to have to post a few requests now and more later, when I think on it a bit more? It's getting late and my brain isn't working!

-Blind!Zuko AU - how much respect does Zuko get from the Gaang, initially, when they first meet/realize that he's blind? What does he do to earn that respect?

-Blind!Zuko AU (I just loved this universe) - Zuko and Toph bonding over shared experiences. Could be trading tips, or both not knowing how to dress so that colours match properly.

-Mai, AU of season 2, taking Azula's plan down from the inside (mostly because Zuko can't or won't). (I request this mostly because I know how much you enjoy Mai.)

-Zuko and Kuei, chillin' together as only rulers of the free world can. Any AU. I just love how you write Kuei. ;)

I'll post the rest of the requests at a later date once my brain begins to work again!

Bonus: Zuko Muses on his fellow ruler, his sister, and the big universal questions of morality

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

This isn’t an answer to the “chillin’ together” prompt. I have an answer for that coming. This is just something the request made me think of.





Zuko owed it to his people to fight for the most advantageous trade deal he could. It was a ruler’s duty. It wasn’t like he wasn’t over his head, anyway.

It was just, the other ruler was supposed to be pushing against him, trying to get the best deal for his people he could. It wasn’t supposed to be so easy to get whatever he wanted out of Kuei, no matter what it did to the Earth Kingdom. Kuei made it so easy. It was almost like he deserved what he got.

Which, Zuko realized with nauseating clarity was probably the way Azula had always seen him.

Which made Zuko feel worse.

At least he felt guilty about it. That was good, right?

Re: Bonus: Zuko Muses on his fellow ruler, his sister, and the big universal questions of morality

[beboots.livejournal.com]

Ooh... parallels! Very interesting! I can definitely see that happening, what with Kuei's naiveté. I had not thought of this before! Thanks for writing. :)

Re: Bonus: Zuko Muses on his fellow ruler, his sister, and the big universal questions of morality

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

*pets them both*

Zuko and Kuei, chillin’ together (Lightning Strike AU)

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

"Peng", by the way, means both "fluffy" and "clump" in Chinese. And “Leishang” means “lightning”, because I have a morbid sense of humor.






The Earth king hopped out of the saddle and slid down the bison’s leg, holding his glasses against the bridge of his nose, grinning wildly. “Did you have a nice flight in?” Zuko asked mildly.

Kuei nodded. “The city looks small from the air, different from Ba Sing Se.”

Next to him, Mai glanced up at the sky. Kuei probably had no idea how that sounded. Leishang tugged against her parents’ hands, trying to break free to pet the sky bison, but Zuko and Mai held tight.

Kuei’s guards followed him out of the saddle more sedately, and the Earth King gazed back at his bear and the bison’s driver. “Do you have somewhere Bosco can stay while I’m here?” he asked breathlessly.

“It’s alright, I’ll take care of Bosco,” Ty Lee called from the saddle. “Peng thinks he’s funny.”

Zuko remembered how little Peng and his siblings had been when Ty Lee had picked him. He wasn’t little anymore. Aang said Appa was on, um, her third litter, and Zuko wondered where she kept finding dads.

Leishang dragged harder on her arms, but her mom and dad still didn’t let go. Kuei smiled at her and crouched down. “What’s your name?”

She twisted from side to side the way children did when they were shy, and buried her face in her dad’s robe, grinning.

“Leishang,” Zuko answered for her, swinging her up into his arms. “Our oldest.”

“‘m not supposed to talk to strangers,” Leishang told Earth King repressively, shaking her finger at him.”

Mai glanced up at the sky again and pulled her daughter’s bangs out from behind her ears. “That’s only when we’re not right here with you.”

Leishang jutted out her jaw, and pushed her bangs back behind her ears.

Kuei stuck out his tongue and scrunched up his eyes, and Leishang grabbed his nose.

Kuei never seemed older than Zuko. He had to be by ten years, or more, but he just never seemed it.

When the spasm hit, Zuko shoved his daughter into Mai’s hands before he fell to his knees. Every time, he was afraid he was going to drop her.

Kuei leapt backwards. “Are you alright? Somebody do something!”

“I’m okay!” Zuko waved him away and scrambled to his feet. “That just happens sometimes.” He shook the dust off his robes and held his head up. “So you wanted to talk about the Pohuai Stronghold.”

Kuei couldn’t stop staring.

Re: Zuko and Kuei, chillin’ together (Lightning Strike AU)

[beboots.livejournal.com]

Lol lol lol Appa and litters of little Appas... XD

"Kuei never seemed older than Zuko. He had to be by ten years, or more, but he just never seemed it." Aww... Kuei is just adorkable. :3 Also, his genuine concern for Zuko's well-being is cute. :)

And hey, I'm glad that Zuko in this AU seems to be holding up! ;) At least he has kids of a certain age, now.

Thank you for writing this! :)

Re: Zuko and Kuei, chillin’ together (Lightning Strike AU)

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

And Clumps! They're clumps!

Zuko's like "you will ignore that fall, or I will make you."

You're welcome! They're so cute together.

Quiet Shadowed Places: Zuko and Toph Bonding, Crack, and absolutely not universe canon.

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

“Katara drivfes me nutsh,” Toph slurred. “She cleansh up and movfesh all my shtuff, and putsh it in drawersh and things, so I can’t f-find it.”

“Oh, that’s nothing.” Zuko held up his glass for the bartender. “Ty Lee has this thing for pink...”

Quiet Shadowed Places: Zuko Can’t Get Any Respect

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

The ship crunched through the ice. The ice wall around the pathetic little camp collapsed in on the ship and into the camp. The gangplank sank down onto the snow, and Zuko marched down, in front of his soldiers, swinging his cane. When he tapped it down against the ice, it sank into the snow.

As one of the villagers charged for him with a yell, Zuko’s guards punted him into the snow. Zuko listened to his grunts and squeals as he dug himself out of the snow.

The guard who had knocked the Water Tribe boy into the snow bent down to whisper into Zuko’s ear. “It doesn’t look like he’s here.”

Zuko’s eyelids narrowed over his glass eyes. “Where are you hiding him?” No one answered. Fury knotted itself in Zuko’s chest. He yelled, fist punching the air. Fire rolled out of it, but no one made a sound. “I know you're hiding the Avatar!”

The Water Tribe boy came for him again, and Zuko twisted out of the way as the wind whistled past his ears. He grabbed out, but the boy rolled out of his reach and jerked the cane out of his hands.

All of a sudden, Zuko was cut adrift. His hand closed on the empty air, and even though he didn’t know any less about where he was then he had a moment before, his head jerked from side to side, as if he was still trying to see.

“Not so tough without your weapon,” the boy twittered. Zuko could hear the cane hit his palm, and whip back up into the air and hit the boy’s palm again. “What is this thing anyway? What’re you supposed to do with it?”

“Give that back!” Zuko cried indignantly, grabbing for where he thought it was. But there was a snowdrift in the way. He fell hard against the ice on his hands and knees. The ice burned against his bare skin, and Zuko pushed himself up to breathe hot air onto them.

A crack and crunch sounded hollowly on the frozen air. Zuko’s face crumpled. “No...”

“What is this thing?” the Tribesman asked curiously.

Zuko turned towards his voice.

A moment later, the Water Tribe boy talked from off to the side of Zuko’s head. “Wait a second, are you blind?”

Zuko’s hands balled into fists. He waved his soldiers forward, grabbing onto the gangway. “I’m blind,” he growled, shaking with rage. “But my crew isn’t.”

Re: Quiet Shadowed Places: Zuko Can’t Get Any Respect

[beboots.livejournal.com]

Awesome! :3 That last line was just BADASS. Oh, Sokka, you are in for a world of hurt... ;)

Re: Quiet Shadowed Places: Zuko Can’t Get Any Respect

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

And then Aang is going to fly in to the rescue, and Zuko will plot all of their demises.

Re: Quiet Shadowed Places: Zuko Can’t Get Any Respect

[nekkedking.livejournal.com]

DUDE! He broke a blind guys blind-cane! That's just not cool Sokka. :P
I love this verse~

Re: Quiet Shadowed Places: Zuko Can’t Get Any Respect

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

I love how Sokka's all "What kind of weapon is this? Oh wait..."

It's one of my favorite verses.

Mai, taking Azula’s plan down from the inside (AU of Ice Flows Through)

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Okay, I said I wasn’t going to have anything from Ice Flows Through, but this is AU for that AU. If Azula had called Zuko’s bluff while he was bloodbending, and captured him, his uncle, Lu Ten, Rinzee, and Ruili... Well. Mai would have a decision to make, wouldn’t she.

I’m actually kind of surprised that you didn’t ask me anything from this verse (http://attackfish.livejournal.com/53604.html?thread=295012#t295012). Oh, and you have three requests left. But no more promises of fics. Oh my God, I’ve written one for every single request so far, damn you.







His chest heaving with strain and cornered fear, Zuko could see in her face what she eagerly awaited for him back home, himself locked up, chained up, disfigured and blinded, unable to move against his bonds, trapped alone with his scornful fellow prisoners, shut away for all time. One of his hands sprang up between them, tensed, ready to throw her back away from him, to bend the blood inside her, ready to fail. He knew he would fail.

There was fear in the back of Azula’s eyes, cold and astonished fear. She started to run. The fire around her fists blazed higher as she ran for him. He shoved his arm forward, fingers tense, to grab her blood and bend it away, sick with his own fear, and closed his eyes.

Azula jerked back under her hands for just a second. She roared out her fury, and Zuko opened his eyes, so hopeful, so thankful that it was working, that he really could get them all out of it, for just a second before Azula wrenched her arms down. The blood spilled through his grasp.

Azula still had fire around her hands when she grabbed him. He screamed and screamed, and his fingers twitched and shook beneath the burn. She yanked him to his feet, but he stumbled, and her soldiers caught him. Her soldiers who he had only just bent to the ground. All around him, the soldiers were rounding up the rest of them, pinning them down. Ruili wailed, red faced, in the arms of a soldier, and her parents didn’t fight as the soldiers grabbed them too, leaving only Uncle free. He stood in the middle of the circle of soldiers, hands full of fire, eyes darting between the the soldiers and his family.

Azula bared her teeth. She grabbed her brother’s strange, white hair and held up two fingers. Blue fire swept over them as she held them in front of the unburned side of Zuko’s face. He shivered and shook as mucus and tears ran down his face, and he didn’t even seem to notice the flames. “Do you want me to blind him right now?” she asked. “Or maybe burn his head off?”

Iroh dropped his arms. Azula sneered.

~*~

Shadows writhed across the cell walls. Zuko’s eyes couldn’t pin them down and she couldn’t stop shivering. Azula pushed her foot under her brother’s chin and lifted it up. “Where did you dig him up?” she asked calmly.

“Nnnnggh,” Zuko groaned. His head lolled on her foot. She had him chained down to his knees. He couldn’t move, but it felt like he was turning over and over and over.

“Where has Uncle been hiding him for the last six years?”

Zuko shook his head convulsively. The words didn’t make sense. It was as if they weren’t connected to each other. They fell on his ears and rattled around his head, and he couldn’t sort them out again.

Face twisting in disgust, his sister lifted her foot up higher, until his back stretched taut against the chains. When she pulled it back, his head snapped down, back to his chest, and he curled up as much as he could.

“He’s going to lose that hand,” Mai remarked from the doorway.

Azula glanced back at her brother’s wrist, burned black, all the way around. “Doesn’t matter.”

~*~

The door opened. Zuko didn’t look up. Mai couldn’t tell if he didn’t notice, or if he was ignoring her. He didn’t move except to shiver. He was sobbing, but there weren’t any tears left inside him to spill. The bowl was cold in her hands, and when she set it down next to him, he still didn’t move. “I heard some waterbenders can heal,” she said without inflection.

He didn’t react. She pulled out the key and unlocked the restraints holding his arms to the wall, but he just fell over, onto his side, moaning softly.

Re: Mai, taking Azula’s plan down from the inside (AU of Ice Flows Through)

[beboots.livejournal.com]

Thank you for writing this! :D

"leaving only Uncle free. He stood in the middle of the circle of soldiers, hands full of fire, eyes darting between the the soldiers and his family." Nice image. Of course Iroh is the last one standing! And daaamn... Azula knows just where to hammer hard...

Ooh... she thinks that Iroh has been conspiring with the Avatar for six years? Interesting! Also, yes, Azula, show utter unconcern for your brother's well-being, that will get Mai's ire up... ;)

Yay! Rescue! :D Thanks so much!

Also, Holy crap I totally forgot about that 'verse! D: I shall have to rectify things... Two more prompts!

-Confrontation with Azula; the princess goes too far. (We all know what SHE thought of His Tea Loving Kookiness, and Zuko isn't going to have any of that. Possibly with Toph backing him up.)

-Royalty lessons, featuring Teacher!Zuko and Oblivious-but-Earnest!Kuei. ;)

Re: Mai, taking Azula’s plan down from the inside (AU of Ice Flows Through)

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

And because she's Azula, and it don't mean a thing if it doesn't involve torturing Zuko, she at least threatens Zuko, instead of say... Ruili. Or Lu Ten.

No, she thinks he's been hiding Lu Ten somewhere for six years. She's not entirely sure why, but all of a sudden, Lu Ten's alive and all...

There's more to come. I have a couple of more parts left.

Daaaaamn, Azula, not bright. I'll get right on it.

Mai, taking Azula’s plan down from the inside (AU of Ice Flows Through) Pt. 2/?

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Mai took a steady breath and picked up his arm. His eyelids fluttered. “Wha...”

Setting his wrist down into the water, she caught sight of blackened bone through the blackened flesh. His hand looked dead and buried. Azula should have let them cut it off already.

The water glowed blue. Lines, like waves under the ocean, glittered on the walls, chasing away the shadows hanging low around the cell. Zuko shuddered, and a faint gasp emerged from his throat.

When the light died away, Mai looked into the water. His hand bobbed to the surface, pink and puffy, dying instead of dead. She could see new, whole flesh over the bone of his wrist, but the charred black burn was still there, like a dark, crispy smudge.

Zuko didn’t stopped shivering. “M-mai?”

“It’s good to see you again,” she said neutrally.

The air caught on Zuko’s teeth and in his throat, echoing noisily. “What are you doing here?”

Mai rolled her eyes. “Drink the water. You’re going to need it.”

Zuko lifted the bowl and held it to his lips. “I could-” He gulped down a mouthful of the water and let it run down his throat. “I could take this and use it...”

Mai snorted and took the bowl out his hands when it was empty. “Give me your arms like a good boy.” Zuko nodded. For a moment, Mai was terrified he was going to cry. Her hands were numb around the shackles as she locked them around his arms again, above his elbows, far away from the burn. “Don’t tell your sister.”

~*~

Zuko heard the sound of a key sliding into the lock, and his head shot up. But it wasn’t Mai. Azula strolled across the cell floor. “You look better.”

“What do you want, Azula?” Without the fever, he hurt even worse.

Azula crouched down and lifted up her brother’s chained arm. “Where did you get the water, Zuko?”

Zuko held himself stiff. “We’re in the middle of the ocean, Azula.”

“Yes, I know that, Zuzu.” Azula glanced up at the ceiling and shook her head. “Do you expect me to believe you bent the water all the way up to here without your arms? You aren’t even facing the window.”

“You can’t keep the water away from me, Azula,” he told her. “Not here.”

~*~

Lu Ten turned to the wall when the door opened. “I’m not going to tell you anything.”

“I didn’t ask.” Mai stood in the doorway.

“But you’re going to, and I’m not going to tell you anything.”

Mai huffed. “Your cousin’s doing better.”

“Hey,” Lu Ten turned to her. “I know where I saw you before. You went to school with Azula. You were at the palace all the time.”

Mai nodded.

Lu Ten swallowed. “Tell me how my daughter’s doing.”

She shook her head. “I haven’t seen her yet.”

“Did-” Lu Ten looked down. “You’re at least keeping her with my wife, right?”

An expression flitted across Mai’s face and disappeared to fast for him to see what it was. “No.”

“She’s not...” Lu Ten tried to reach for her, but with his hands chained behind his back, he almost overbalanced himself instead. “Alone?”

Mai closed her eyes.

“Oh spirits,” he whispered. “You can’t leave her like that, please, please get her out of there!”

“Princess Azula wants to know where you’ve been hiding for the last six years.”

Lu Ten clenched his teeth. “I can’t tell you that.”

“You’re all probably going to be executed,” she said, folding her arms and leaning against the doorway. “Unless you give Azula some reason you shouldn’t be.”

“I didn’t do anything!” Lu Ten tried to push himself on the wall without his arms, but his legs slipped out from under him on the dew-dampened iron floor.

Mai waved one of her hands carelessly. “Look, she just wants the throne. She thinks you’ll get in the way. You give her a reason you won’t, and she’ll let you live.”

“And Zuko?” he challenged. “He can’t get in her way anymore.”

And Azula wanted him dead anyway.

Mai turned away.

~*~

Concentrating on working his arms around from behind his back, Iroh didn’t hear the door open until Azula nudged him with her foot. “Hello, Uncle.”

Re: Mai, taking Azula’s plan down from the inside (AU of Ice Flows Through) Pt. 2/?

[beboots.livejournal.com]

Ooh... there's more? Huzzah! :D

Aww... Mai helping Zuko use his barbaric waterbending to heal himself. ;) I really, really like that Zuko didn't reveal where he got the water from, and is lying by overstating his abilities. I loved this line: “We’re in the middle of the ocean, Azula.” XD

And also, concerned!Lu Ten is concerned! And hopefully that concern is contagious!

I look forward to more! :)

P.S.: You are and will always remain awesome.

Mai, taking Azula’s plan down from the inside (AU of Ice Flows Through) Pt. 3/4

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

“Azula,” be breathed.

“Why did you hide your son six years ago?” She stood back. “What did he do?”

Iroh turned his head to the wall.

“See, I’ve been trying to figure out since we found you why you would hide him away. You lost the throne, you lost your command, It just doesn’t make sense. Uncle...” She let her expression soften, and she knelt down to touch his face. “Did he fake his own death? And let you suffer all these years.”

“Azula.” He pulled away from her. “You do not know what you are talking about.”

She stood back up and looked down on him. “Waterbending healers can be useful,” she said coldly. “If we can be sure of their loyalty...”

Iroh’s eyes grew wide. “What do you want?”

“Zuzu doesn’t have to spend the rest of his life in a cage.” She said softly.

“That’s Ozai’s discission,” he reminded her. “You have no power.”

Azula’s face twisted hideously before she left. “I hope you enjoy watching them die before they execute you.”

~*~

“Rinzee.”

The woman in the corner of the cell scrambled to her feet and hobbled into the light. Her braid lashed around her head as she clung to the wall.

Mai closed the cell door. “I came to talk to you about your daughter.”

“Is she okay?” Rinzee stumbled forward, straining against the shackles on her ankles. “They won’t let me see her, is she with Ao-” She closed her eyes and opened them again. “Lu Ten?”

Mai shook her head. “She’s fine. Azula thinks that if you’re kept apart, if all of you are in separate cells, you won’t try to escape.”

“She’s going to kill us,” Rinzee whispered.

“She’s not like that,” Mai snapped, and jerked back with surprise. “She just needs to know that you’re not going to try to put Ruili on the throne instead of her or the Firelord.”

Rinzee blinked the tears out of her eyes. “She can’t know that unless we’re dead. And Lu Ten told me-”

“Told you what?”

“Nothing.” She braced herself against the wall like she couldn’t stand up without it.

Mai felt her expression harden. “Tell me.”

“I’m not going to give the Firelord one more reason to kill us,” she hissed. “Leave.”

“I’ll see what I can do about your daughter.”

~*~

“What were you doing?”

Mai turned around, the key still in the lock. “Interrogating the prisoner.”

Azula smiled. “Get anything?”

“She wants to see her daughter.” She pulled the key out of the lock.

“Stay away from them, Mai,” Azula rolled her eyes. “The longer we leave them alone, the more they’re going to talk.”

~*~

Mai unlocked the chains around Zuko’s arms. “Why are you doing this?” he asked hoarsely.

She pulled his arm away from his body and put it in the water bowl. “Just shut up.”

The water turned blue and started to glow around his wrist again. The angry yellow and red skin on his hand calmed. The blackened burn flaked away into the water. Where the burn had been, when the water stopped glowing, Zuko had a thick, dark red, wrinkled scar on his wrist. He wiggled his fingers. “Thanks.”

“Your hand looked better than it did when I left last time,” she observed. “I mean, before you put it in the water.”

“Yeah, well there’s sea spray,” Zuko tried to smile.

Mai grabbed his arms and wrapped the chain back around them again and hooked the lock back through the links. But she didn’t lock it. Before she left, she put her key in the lock of the shackles holding his legs to the wall, and it clicked open.

~*~

“It’s good to see your wrist’s healing so nicely.” Azula gazed out the window in his cell for a minute, then looked back to her brother.

“Nice to see you too,” he shot back, sullenly.

She smirked. “My soldiers are tracking the Avatar.”

“What do you want?” He hung his head and tried to keep his arms still, almost crying. “You keep coming here, and- What do you want with me?”

Azula didn’t have an answer.

~*~

Ty Lee stood in front of the cell. “You know Azula doesn’t want us to talk to them.”

“She’s a kid, Ty Lee.” Mai shoved the key into the lock and spun it around. “She’s not going to tell us anything."

Iroh dies in s2: Royalty lessons

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

“But why would they live like that if it’s so awful?”

Zuko put his head in his free hand. “They don’t have any money. It’s not like they have any choice.”

The Earth King looked at him with the same, blank, confused look he had been wearing all along. Looking back up, Zuko was terrified Kuei was about to ask him what money was. “And none of these people get to go to my parties?”

Zuko groaned. “No!”

“Then did Long Feng talk to all these people?” Kuei blinked and furrowed his brow.

“What are you talking about?” Zuko tugged half-heartedly against the stone cuff pinning his wrist to the Earth King’s.

Kuei sat down, dragging Zuko down with him. “Long Feng always told me I had to listen to all the important people in the Earth Kingdom when they told me how I should rule, which is why I was supposed to have the parties, but...”

“Long Feng probably didn’t see poor people as important.” Really, Zuko would give anything to get out of there. He glared down at Toph.

She laced her fingers behind her head and lay back against the ground, grinning. “Having fun?”

“Let me go!”

Kuei sank back. “I’m sorry about all the trouble.”

Zuko lay back against the ground. “It’s okay, just... It’s okay.”

Re: Iroh dies in s2: Royalty lessons

[beboots.livejournal.com]

AWESOME! <3 I really like that Kuei just, uh, doesn't GET the idea of poverty. This line also cracked me up: "Zuko was terrified Kuei was about to ask him what money was." XD Thanks so much for writing!

Iroh dies in s2: Crossroads of Destiny, Pt 1/? (Damn it!)

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Katara was in the house, no one else. When they were all there, it was different. When they were all there, Zuko didn’t have to talk to anyone. No one prodded at him, or tried to get him to talk. They could talk to each other and leave him alone. Only Toph wouldn’t let him hide, and he couldn’t do anything about that. But he couldn’t be alone in that house with Katara.

His feet wound their way through the garden lined pathways without his direction. It was easier just to wander aimlessly than to find somewhere to go, or to go back to the guest house, or to face anyone.

The red palace wall rose beside him, and he looked at it, startled. At least he knew where he was now. He might as well go in. It wasn’t like he had anything better to do.

It was... easier talking to Kuei. Kuei never looked at him with that horrible look the Avatar and his friends had every time they looked at him, the look that said they kept seeing him chasing them. Kuei had a hard time remembering he was supposed to be an enemy at all.

The guards didn’t even look at him as he slipped through a side door. Deep inside, he wondered if they were laughing at him. It didn’t matter. The hallways were empty, except for a handful of servants. The servants in the Earth King’s palace were bizarre, inhuman, like the Joo Dees, or the clockwork soldier he had seen in a play with his mother, and Zuko tried not to look at them as he shuffled past them.

His fingers slid on the door handle. He gripped it tighter and pulled it down, and it opened out to him. The Earth King wasn’t even there. Figured. There were just three Kyoshi Warriors kneeling on the ground. They weren’t like Kuei. They would have that look in their eyes when they looked up.

He moved back across the threshold and started to close the door, but one of the girls got to her feet and looked straight at him. “Oh no, Zuzu. Stay.”

Zuko’s hands fell off the door handle, and he fled down the hall. He heard his sister’s voice behind him, and Ty Lee’s high trill following just behind him, but he didn’t turn around to look. He couldn’t slow down. If he could just get outside, he’d be safe; whatever Azula was doing, she wouldn’t risk getting caught before she had to be, and...

And that was the wrong way. Azula rounded the corner behind him and backed him against the dead end. Zuko spun around, away from the wall. “Okay Azula,” he shouted, hands filling with fire. “Fight me.”

Zuko blocked the fire that sped for his face. It filled his eyes until he couldn’t see anything else, not even the knives that caught his clothes and dragged him into the wall behind him. The fire died. Azula stepped forward through where it had been. “No thanks.” She folded her arms and glanced back at her companions. “Ty Lee.”

Zuko snarled, snorting fire out of his nostrils. Ty Lee leapt forward, hands behind her back until she balanced on her toes in front of him. Her fingers jabbed hard into his arms, legs, and stomach and he slumped against the knives, breathing hard against the numbing stillness sunk deep into his body. As Mai came to pull her knives out of the wall, Zuko closed his eyes.

~*~

“You’ve got company.”

Zuko looked up as the rock wall opened, and Katara rolled down. He unfolded himself as she yelped, bouncing off the stones. “Katara!”

Katara put her hand to her head, over a large, purpling bruise. “What happened?”

“I walked right in on them,” he told her dully. “They were right there, in the throne room.”

“I was in the apartment...” She squinted her eyes and grimaced. “I need water.”

When he tried to give her his hand, she swatted it away, stumbling to a slimy puddle in the middle of the cave. “Great,” Zuko mumbled, sliding back to the floor and knocking his elbow into the cave wall. “How are we going to get out of here?”

“We?” she shot back. The water in her hand blazed blue as the bruise faded away. “Why did they even put you down here anyway? Why aren’t you upstairs getting cozy with your sister and her friends?”

Re: Iroh dies in s2: Crossroads of Destiny, Pt 1/? (Damn it!)

[beboots.livejournal.com]

Ooh... MOAR fic? :D Glee! Thank you so much!

"Kuei had a hard time remembering he was supposed to be an enemy at all." Love love love. :)

Zuko never really had a chance against Azula and her posse, did he? ._. He never really does. ;)

Also, I think it's quite in-character for Katara to be suspicious. I look forward to having those suspicions dashed. :3

Iroh dies in s2: Crossroads of Destiny, Pt 2/?

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Zuko glowered at her over his folded arms. He was a traitor now. It wasn’t just what was on the wanted posters; he was a real traitor. He had been following around the avatar for months, and he hadn’t even tried-

They were going to tie him up in front of everybody and set him on fire, and his father was going to watch.

Zuko remembered the way she had yelled at Jet when he had found out Zuko was a firebender. “Let’s just figure a way out of here.”

“I just don’t get it!” Katara groaned. “She’s your sister, why does she want to... You don’t even like us.”

“No, I don’t, shut up.”

“I just don’t get what she has against you.” Katara turned her back to him, examining the cave walls for cracks. “You’re supposed to be family.”

“Why does it bother you?” he snapped back sulkily, touching the pouch with his uncle’s ashes, resting against his hip. “She’s my sister, not yours.”

The wall rumbled and exploded in at them, scattering crystals over the floor. Zuko coughed on the dust. The Avatar stepped out of the cloud of debris with Toph, and it was all Zuko could do not to duck past them and run back up the tunnel, and get as far away from his sister as he could.

“Aang!” Katara cried, rushing forward to wrap her arms around him and pull him into a tight hug. “Aang, I knew you would come!”

“What, no hug for me?” Toph grumbled loudly. Reluctantly, Zuko opened his arms, and she rushed into them with a smirk. Holding Toph like that was nice. Having someone want to hug him shouldn’t feel as good as it did.

“Come on,” he said at last, patting Toph’s head awkwardly. “Let’s get out of here before Azula shows up.”

Katara nodded and let go of Aang, threading her way through the piles of rock shards into the tunnel, Aang close behind her. The ground bucked beneath their feet. Toph broke away from Zuko and dove down the tunnel after her friends, but before Zuko could follow, a column of the eerie glowing green crystals launched themselves out of the cave floor and swept forward to capture Zuko and slam him into the wall. He blinked furiously against the pain was he heard the tunnel mouth slam closed. Azula slid down the sloping cave wall with two of the Dai Li. Of course. Of course she would have the Dai Li working for her as soon as she came into the city. Of course she managed to show up right before they were about to leave, and never look back.

But of course he was with the Avatar, and the world, Ba Sing Se, was his responsibility, and he never would have let them leave.

Except the Avatar had already left, along with Katara and Toph, and they had closed the wall behind them. Zuko stared open-mouthed against the faceless rock wall that had just been a tunnel, sick with fury and a strange sense fo betrayal. He hadn’t liked them. He knew they didn’t like him, but he thought... He twisted against the crystals, grinding his teeth together.

“They left you behind, Zuko.” Azula strode across the cave floor and stopped just out of her brother’s reach. “You betrayed our family for them, and they left you behind.”

“What do you want, Azula?” he demanded, voice garbled with emotion.

She laid her hand on his cheek, not even bothering to swat away the sparks gathering around his fingers. “It’s not too late for you Zuko. You can still redeem yourself.”

“You’re-” Zuko choked. “You’re lying.”

“The last couple of months don’t matter,” she wheedled. “We can tell Father you were spying on them, gathering information vital to the war effort.” Her lips curved. “And we wouldn’t be lying.”

“What?” Zuko stared, transfixed. “I was-”

She cut him off with a sharp look before he could say anything else. “I need you Zuko. You know how they think, how they work together, if I want to bring the Avatar back to Father alive, I can’t do it alone. At the end of this day, you will have your honor back. You will have your father’s love. You will have everything you want.”

Bonus: Iroh Dies in S2- The Throne Room (don't worry, the universe still ships Toko)

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Mai looked up when the little girl started talking and glanced at the rocks around her friend’s wrist. Only Ty Lee. She waved boredly. “Just take the...” She met Zuko’s eyes, and couldn’t say anything. “Bear.”

She swallowed, and watched him (them) go. Zuko turned to her before they left and opened his mouth, but he couldn’t say anything either.