Chapter Text
Zuko’s eyes blink open but all around him is darkness. His head is pounding and his body feels sore. He's tried and he can't remember much of anything that's happened in the past day but the last thing that he can remember is that he was trying to rescue the Avatar and get him away from Zhao's clutches. He can also remember that they were quickly becoming surrounded on their way out of the Pohuai gates before he was hit with something sharp and hard, an arrow probably, given that the Yuyan Archers occupy the Pohuai Stronghold where Zhao was keeping the Avatar for the time being.
But despite the massive headache, Zuko's mind and body decide on waking up, so either the rescue he remembers had all been a really strange dream (a dream that Uncle would try to decipher and tell him was his subconscious showing him his true nature or something) or he'd gotten hurt and has been unconscious since he was hit. The latter causes him to bolt up because now he's worried that he's been captured by Zhao too. And if he was currently injured and partially unconscious on Zhao's ship, he would be half-way back to the Fire Nation by now. But that's not the worst-case scenario that comes to Zuko's mind right now; because if his mission has in fact failed and if he and the Avatar are in Zhao’s custody, then Zuko won’t be able to regain his honor and his father will be extremely furious with him for screwing up and disappointing him yet again. But what else is new?
Zuko wonders what his punishment will be this time. Will the rest of his face get burned too? Will he face imprisonment? Or will he face death?
It occurs to Zuko that his father is not merciful enough to sentence him to death.
Once the panic subsides, Zuko feels his hand clenching around something cool and soft and he quickly realizes that he’s not sitting on the cold floor of a metal cell of a naval ship rolling over the violent currents of the vast ocean on route to the Fire Nation. No that's not the case because he's fine?
He's safe?
He's somewhere else then?
He's outside?
Zuko then figures it out that he's sitting on the ground, it's lumpy, hard, and cool like he's sitting on a mound of dirt. So then he's currently sitting outside somewhere while Zhao's shitting himself for losing the Avatar and the masked being responsible for infiltrating one of the most secure Fire Nation military bases to rescue him.
The thought of that brings Zuko a slight moment of joy.
But then he realizes that someone is shifting beside him and Zuko withholds the groan he wants to let out as he turns his aching head to see who's sitting next to him.
All he sees through blurry eyes is a shadowy bundle of branches covered in moss with a pair of legs sitting criss-cross on top of them, but then he looks up and is met with a pair of concerned yet cautious eyes.
It’s the Avatar.
Zuko then realizes that if he's with the Avatar then they’d both managed to get away from Zhao, his forces, and the Yuyan Archers at the Pohuai Stronghold. But what he doesn’t know is if he got away with his identity intact.
However, it seems that after Zuko got hit, the Avatar took it upon himself to 1) not leave him behind and 2) find them shelter to rest for a bit after the long night they've had. Zuko hates that he's now somehow in the Avatar's debt for saving his life.
“I didn’t know you knew how to use swords.” The Avatar says quietly once he realizes Zuko is awake, but despite the softness of his voice the sound rings in his ears and sends painful waves throughout Zuko's skull.
Zuko doesn't speak but instead finds himself laying back down. It appears he's most likely fallen over instead of voluntarily laying down because the Avatar gasps and he inches closer towards him with a growing look of concern written all over his face.
"Are you okay?" The Avatar asks him.
Zuko only shrugs, but he's unsure why he gives the Avatar a response in the first place, so he blames it on his head injury.
The Avatar chuckles a bit as relief erases the concern from his expression, “That's good..." He mutters, voice trailing off as if he's lost in thought on what to say next.
It seems he manages to find the words once more because he speaks again.
"Thank you, for uh, saving me?" The gratitude is framed more like a question rather than a statement, "um...ah...your sword fighting was pretty cool by the way..."
The Avatar rubs the back of his head as he speaks and his voice continues trailing on and off, and Zuko doesn't know if that's because he's losing consciousness again or not. But his eyes are heavy and the headache he's got is persisting, so he figures that that's the case then.
"I might not know what sword fighting is supposed to look like these days..." the Avatar says with a more serious and confident tone than before, "but your form is very beautiful.”
Zuko, however, doesn’t respond to the compliment because the drilling pain against his skull begins to worsen and all he wants is to go to bed.
But he wants his bed. He wants his bedroom in the palace back. He doesn't want to put up with the sorry excuse for a bedroom he has on his ship. He misses home and he's reminded that he still has the opportunity to go home now that he knows that both he and the Avatar aren’t in Zhao’s custody like he feared earlier.
Zuko can still hear the Avatar speaking but finds himself closing his eyes again as merciful sleep washes over him.
When Zuko wakes up again, it's because of the sun rising in the distance. As he comes to, he finds that he's still laying on the dirt, but now he’s got a thin, scratchy, and raggedy blanket gently placed over his lap. To his right, the Avatar is still talking to him like he’s been conscious and listening to him this whole time. But he hasn't, so he doesn't understand why or for how long the Avatar has been talking to him like he was a silent therapist.
“You know what the worst part of being born over a hundred years ago is?” The Avatar asks but doesn't give Zuko any indication to actually respond to his question, so he doesn't, “I miss all the friends I used to hang out with.” He says quietly, sadly. “Before the war started, I used to always visit my friend Kuzon. The two of us, we'd get in and out of so much trouble together. He was one of the best friends I ever had, and he was from the Fire Nation just like you.”
Zuko doesn't speak but stays still, now listening to the Avatar talking to him. But he feels a weird sensation in his gut as he speaks about the past. Zuko is aware, that before the war, there’d been a time of peace amongst all four nations, that the Southern Water Tribe was just as populated as the North, that the Air Nation was still around and thriving, and that people from all over the world traveled to various other nations and made friends with people of different ethnicities with little or no fear or hesitation.
But things are different now and Zuko doesn’t know if it’s a bad thing or not. But he won't dare admit that aloud.
“If we knew each other back then, do you think we could have been friends too?” The Avatar asks him.
Frustration finally catches up and erases Zuko’s longing to succumb to unconsciousness once more. So instead of answering the Avatar's question, he firebends at him which causes the kid to yell and leap high into the air to avoid the flames. He attacks the Avatar, not with the intention of capturing him, at least not right now, but with the intention to scare him enough to make him go away so that he could leave Zuko alone to wallow in his pain and bitterness for a while.