Notes

avatar reverse au

notes: zuko doesn't do well with aimlessness. he needs to have a purpose
notes: i do think that zuko is a complicated enough character with a wobbly enough moral code that even after he realizes the fire nation must be stopped, it would take him two seasons to officially join the gaang. this is even more true because in this au the catalyst was zuko losing all hope of ever finding the avatar and falling into a deep depression. losing that kind of hope is scarring, so it took another catalystic event (losing his uncle to azula) for him to realize that he can't just live with his head down the way he wants.

BOOK ONE: AIR
after the agni kai, zuko is allowed to stay in the palace for a week, until his fever breaks and he wakes up. then, still basically an invalid, he's tossed onto a ship of inexperienced fire nation navymen with only his uncle for guidance. zuko searches for the avatar for about two years, much of which is spent healing, relearning to walk, see, hear, and firebend, before he gives up. he goes into a deep depression for a few months until iroh takes control and takes zuko around the world, showing him how awful the fire nation really is (though not in so many words). independently, zuko decides by himself that the fire nation is awful and must be stopped, but by now he's lost all hope of finding the avatar and is beginning to like his uncle's idea of settling down in obscurity somewhere.

they decide to finish their world tour of seeing just how bad the fire nation is. zuko feels he has a duty to bear the burden of the fire naiton's sins. they make it to the southern water tribe in time to see aang's light beacon go up. zuko is shocked and docks before he can realize what this must look like. the water tribe people obviously think he's attacking them, though aang is willing to talk. zuko asks if he's the avatar, aang says yes, though of course he can't bend anything but air, though that's proof enough. zuko says he's just a kid and no match for the fire nation, and, disappointed, leaves. aang asks where he's going, and zuko says he's going to live his life in peace and obscurity. as a parting shot, katara asks why he gets peace if the world doesn't.

katara and sokka are given permission to take aang to the northern water tribe, but he first stops at the air temple, then kyoshi island. meanwhile, zuko is hailed by zhao, who discovers that the avatar is alive and goes after him. zuko wins their agni kai, then feels he must at least warn the avatar. they meet up on kyoshi island, where zhao attacks and zuko works alongside aang. he disappears before they can thank him, leaving the gaang confused. This pattern continues.

at the northern water tribe zuko must sneak in in order to warn the avater (somehow iroh has infiltrated zhao's ship to keep him informed) and zuko is able to turn the tide and even help draw aang out of the avatar state. zhao dies.

BOOK TWO: EARTH
in the aftermath, zuko and iroh try to go underground again, but this becomes difficult when word of his activities gets back to the fire lord. azula is sent out to hunt zuko and iroh, and they are forced to go underground. the gaang heads to omashu looking for king bumi, while zuko and iroh become refugees. (coda: zuko attempts to learn to lightningbend, but iroh teaches him to redirect lightning instead, and zuko begins experimenting with other ways that the other elements can be used in his own bending). they decide it's better to split up after they are nearly identified, and they go their separate ways. they reuinite, and unite with the gaang against azula, when she corners aang (ep. the chase). the gaang, recognizing zuko as an official fire nation enemy and a potential ally, try to recruit him to join them, mentioning the opportunity of the solar eclipse. he remarks that aang should focus on earth bending at the momentt and uses the distraction to leave. he and iroh head to ba sing se, where they hope to make a new life. zuko befriends and falls in love with jet, who eventually turns on them when he discovers that zuko and iroh are firebenders (he never puts together just who, exactly, they are).

zuko, once more the blue spirit, finds and frees appa after he learns what's happened to him, while the gaang finally gets through to the king. azula and her posse infiltrate the city, disguised as kyoshi warriors. as she makes a deal with long feng, the general of the dai li, zuko becomes more and more paranoid, as he, worried about the gaang, follows them around the city, watching out for them when he can (when he's not busy being lee from the tea shop). eventually aang leaves to meet guru pathik, and in his absence zuko and katara are captured by the dai li and imprisoned. they talk and realize they have a lot in common. katara extends the olive branch again.

when aang, aided by iroh, attempts a rescue, he is almost killed while in the avatar state by azula's lightning. iroh urges zuko to consider the path that his actions will set him on, so he turns and helps the gaang against azula. with iroh providing a distraction, azula and katara escape with aang. katara heals aang as the gaang flees ba sing se, which has finally fallen to the fire nation.

Insert: zuko's apology ficlet.

BOOK THREE: FIRE

it's almost a week before aang wakes up. in the meantime they rediscover zuko's old ship when they stop at a port city for supplies. they gladly accept zuko again, since they've been mostly disgraced since zuko left months ago. they decide to lie low until aang wakes up and they can find a place for aang to learn firebending. the world thinks aang is dead. EVEN MORE BAFFLING, AZULA HAS TOLD HER FATHER THAT ZUKO KILLED AANG AND IS NOW HUNTING THE REST OF THE GAANG DOWN, AND HE IS OFFICIALLY REINSTATED AS THE CROWN PRINCE OF THE FIRENATION. they're not sure what her plan is, but they decide not to trust her. aang gets stronger and eventually they end up in a small fire nation town. zuko becomes more and more anxious about his uncle, and eventually tells sokka that he's going to skean intot he palace to free iroh. sokka is reluctant but zuko purchases a messenger hawk and tells sokka that they can keep in touch, and he's not planning on being gone long. sokka says that if he dies aang will be without a teacher, so zuko promises to do whatever it takes to make it back to the gaang.

as aang goofs off in school and katara does her lil painted lady gig and sokka seeks out piando, zuko travels back to the capital. he is, shockingly, welcomed back and greeted by his father and azula. he goes along with azula's lies, claiming that he went along with the gaang to make sure the avatar really is dead. he runs into mai and ty lee. mai tries to rekindle their romance, but zuko says that he can't, because he's not the same person anymore, and that he's fallen out of love with her. azula plays her little mind games, hinting that she knows zuko is lying and has defected, but ultimately claims that lies are delicious and her reasons are her own. while there zuko is invited to a war council meeting, and realizes he can use this to his advantage. he tells sokka he's planning on staying for a bit, telling his father that he's taking a break from hunting the gaang. azula uses the opportunity to tell them that she's hired an assassin, combustion man, to take care of the gaang. zuko tells sokka.

zuko finally makes it to the prison to visit his uncle. he cries and apologises, and they both know zuko can't speak plainly. but he tells zuko that his other great grandfather was roku, and that as the culmination of both their bloodlines it's his destiny to put to rest their conflict. zuko is shocked and searches through the archives until he finds his uncle was correct. he decides not to tell sokka that.

it's less than a week to the invasion by now. sokka has reported his adventures with piando, toph and katara's adventures as bandits, their run ins with combustion man, and more recently, aang's lack of sleep. zuko sends well-wishes and tells sokka that he's going to stay until the invasion, that the fire nation is usually prepared for the day of the black sun, and to be careful. sokka promises to be and tells him the same.

during the actual invasion, zuko dresses in fighting leathers and goes to confront his father at the first sign that something is wrong. ozai is shocked at the betrayal, and azula admits she lied because she wanted to spy on zuko. by intercepting his letters, she knows what the invasion force knows, and how to stop it. ozai stalls zuko by telling him what happened to their mother, and when the eclipse passes, zuko challenges ozai to an agni kai, and azula runs to confront the gaang. zuko is outmatched by his father but has the advantage of surprise because he's been training in the ways of air, earth, and waterbending with the gaang, and because he's more centered and can now redirect lightning. the agni kai is a mess and in the aftermath zuko barely escapes, but he feels personally elated.

he runs to free his uncle, but finds iroh in the process of escaping. iroh gives him a pai sho tile and tells him that the white lotus is amassing. zuko, confused, goes to find the gaang and help aang defeat his father. the invasion fails and the force is captured, but the gaang escapes on appa to the western air temple. zuko apologizes to the gaang for leaving, admits that azula had set a trap for him, and realizes that he must be completely dedicated to teaching aang. combustion man shows up, the gaang teams up to fight him off (maybe it's their first kill and they get all shook, until zuko is like do you have any idea how many soldiers you've killed?? yall?? the drill?? the factory in the painted lady episode??)

zuko begins to teach aang firebending until he realizes that he can barely bend. he gets angry and when the others confront him, he explains that unlike the other bending types, firebending mostly comes from within. aang is too scared to seriously firebend, while zuko is too emotionally disconnected. he storms off, and when sokka finds him he explains about his mother, and how his father and sister still have the power to hurt him, and that their betrayal stung. sokka comforts him. that night, toph suggests they go learn from the dragons. zuko says iroh killed the last dragon long ago, they can go to the sun warrior ruins. they do, they find dragons, they learn bending. one day sokka finds zuko absentmindedly playing with the pai sho tile and accuses zuko of theft. they wrestly until zuko says his uncle gave it to him, and katara finds sokka's in his bag. zuko tells them what his uncle said and they realize this white lotus thing is bigger than they anticipated. sokka's worried, but zuko says that if his uncle is part of it then it's not a force for anyone but the firenation to be afraid of. he also admits that he is the great grandson of avatar roku, and claims that it is destiny that he should teach aang, and that they won't fail. it's a cute moment meant to show zuko's growth from the hopelssly depressed person he started off as.

the boiling rock episode happens. honestly everything is the same just go to the wiki page for details.

seeing her father again triggers katara and she asks zuko for help finding the soldiers responsible for her mother's death. aang warns against violence and revenge. when katara yells at sokka and aang, claiming that they couldn't understand, zuko calls out her bullshit, reminding her that sokka lost his mother too, and aang lost his whole people. he tells her that she's not the only one the fire nation has hurt, but he will help her if that's what she wants. they go, they see, katara bloodbends, it's horrible, zuko realizes how powerful she is, and he eventually helps her realize that revenge is not the answer. she says that if he, with everything the fire nation has done to him, can learn to let go and move on, then she can too.

as a break from training, they go to see the ember island players, despite zuko (theater nerd, sokka coughs) protesting heavily. he was right. in the aftermath, aang decides to confront ozai after the comet, but zuko, surprised, reveals, which he thought he did already, that ozai is planning on razing the entirety of the earth kingdom continent on the comet day. it has to be before. their training kicks up until aang, having a breakdown, flies off in his sleep. the gaang finds june, a famous bounty hunter, but she cannot locate aang. they ask her to find iroh instead, and she leads them to the outer walls of ba sing se, where the white lotus has gathered. zuko and iroh reunite, and then they create a plan of attack.

zuko and katara are to go after azula; suki, sokka, and toph are going to stop the fleet; and the white lotus will liberate ba sing se. they have hope that aang will show up to fight ozai. the comet arrives, and the attack commences. zuko has his agni kai with azula, and he is severely wounded. when he wakes up, katara has defeated azula and healed him, though he'll always have the scar. they go to find the others.

i mean. i don't know what to put here. ba sing se is liberated, the fleet is defeated, and aang takes ozai's bending away, defeating him. zuko has a few days of recuperation before he takes the throne officially. in the meantime, zuko officially thanks but breaks up with mai, has poly negotiations with sokka and suki (they bring it up first because zuko is an awkward turtleduck, but he takes to it fast. he and suki both love and fuck sokka, but with each other they're just really good friends). aang and katara kiss and start going out. they're at iroh's tea shop in ba sing se, having a grand old time.

then it's time for zuko's coronation. he's very sad, because his whole family is either insane or missing or dead (except iroh obviously), but he's got his new family around him, and he's got his whole life ahead of him. the kyoshi warriors are his new guards; sokka and toph are the ambassadors of their respective nations to the fire nation, while mai and tai lee are zuko's ambassadors to the other nations.