Chapter Text
The first time it happened, Zuko was annoyed.
The first time, he did everything he could to avoid looking at the Waterbender—not Katara, he couldn't call her by her name, because then he might stop seeing her as an enemy. The first time, Zuko let the Waterbender vent everything she thought about him—nothing pleasant, surprise, surprise—and then they managed to come to a sort of understanding. The first time, he quickly realized that just because they had something in common didn't mean they had to be allies. The first time, Azula reached out to him, and Zuko accepted her hand, proving to everyone around him that when it came down to it, he was loyal to his country.
That was the first time.
But now, as Zuko hears the same tirade again—word for word, he could probably repeat it in his sleep—he is just tired.
“Listen,” he says, interrupting Katara's angry rant. “I appreciate the fact that you don't like me, but are you aware that there are two of us here? And that my sister's people literally threw me here?”
“That doesn't matter!” Katara objects. Ugh, Zuko was supposed to call her Waterbender in his mind. Staying away from his enemies is really not going well for him. “Spreading war and violence and hatred is in your– What are you doing?”
“Trying to free us?” Zuko asks, sending flame after flame at the stone blocking the cave entrance.
Uncle Iroh and the Avatar always show up — that's something that never changes, regardless of the loop. The Avatar always runs towards Katara, always hugs her, Uncle always tries to talk to Zuko, and then Zuko sides with Azula — to be honest, it stopped being funny after the first five loops.
Zuko no longer knows how many times he has repeated these loops. But every time, certain things remain unchanged. And every time, shortly after the Avatar escapes with the Waterbender—because, except for the first time when Azula shot lightning at him, she never managed to do it again—time goes back and Zuko is here again, in this cursed cave, with Katara.
And Zuko played his part. He played it over and over, doing what he was supposed to do—because it's the only right thing to do, the only option available to him. There is no other choice—to side with the Avatar would be to die. Zuko hates the look Uncle gives him every time he chooses Azula, every time he chooses their country – but what else could he do? Choose his enemies?
But right now, Zuko has had enough.
If he and Katara escape early, he won't have to choose. He won't have to side with the Avatar — he'll just take Uncle, and then... Zuko doesn't know what yet, but he'll think about that later.
So. Right now, they should escape.
“It won't work,” Katara objects as Zuko summons flames to destroy the stone blocking their freedom. “Do you think I haven't tried... why did it work?”
“I don't know,” Zuko admits. “I didn't think it would really work. But I lost the desire to wait for someone to free us, so... Are you coming with me?”
The path to freedom lies open before him.
Katara stares at him for a long time.
“It's a trap,” she says.
“If you think so,” Zuko agrees. “Then stay here. I'm going to find Uncle.”
Katara blinks.
Then she follows him.
Just in time to encounter the Avatar.
Zuko stops. He looks at the Avatar. The Avatar looks back.
According to all the rules of time loops, the Avatar shouldn't be here yet. Zuko didn't wait that long for Katara to finish her tirade. He tried to get out of the cave as quickly as possible. He didn't wait to be rescued, he freed himself.
But the Avatar is here. Standing in front of him. Earlier than usual.
Zuko stares at the Avatar.
The Avatar stares back, with a face just as stupid as Zuko's.
Is it possible that the Avatar also repeats these time loops? That would explain why Azula never hit him with lightning again, why he never trusted Zuko—but okay, they're still enemies, they've always been enemies, the Avatar has no reason to trust him, just as Zuko has no reason to trust him.
But the Avatar has never arrived early before. Maybe Zuko was wrong about how much time had passed, and this is just the standard time for the Avatar to appear? Or maybe the Avatar heard them?
“Aang!” Katara rushes past him and throws herself into the Avatar's arms.
The Avatar continues to look at him suspiciously, as if Zuko were going to do something to her! Let's not exaggerate, Zuko is not a friend and he is definitely not a friend of the Waterbender, but that doesn't mean he wants to hurt her.
Uncle Iroh suddenly appears beside him, grabbing him in an embrace. In the first loop, Zuko was shocked to see him alongside the Avatar. He felt betrayed, knowing that his uncle had stood shoulder to shoulder with their country's greatest enemy.
“Zuko!” Uncle Iroh says when Zuko doesn't say anything.
Zuko doesn't know what to say. He doesn't know what to think of him. He loves his uncle; Uncle Iroh has helped him for the last three years — but at the same time, Uncle Iroh has betrayed their country, Uncle Iroh is working against the Fire Nation. And that means Zuko can't stand by his side.
But at the same time, Zuko doesn't want to let Uncle be captured by Azula. Even if time will be turned back anyway, Zuko doesn't want to see the sadness on Uncle's face. He doesn't want to make that sadness appear on it again.
However, he cannot simply betray his country—for whom? For a Waterbender who hates him? For the Avatar, who is the greatest threat to the Fire Nation?
He cannot fight against Azula, he cannot refuse her request, his father's call—that would be tantamount to betraying the Fire Nation, and Zuko is trying incredibly hard not to betray his country—but he does not want to betray his Uncle. He does not care what the Avatar or the Waterbender will do – they were never allies, you can't betray someone if you were never on their side (why does Katara's gaze from the first loop still haunt him sometimes? It’s a if the Waterbender had the right to feel betrayed, even though Zuko never promised to help her, even though she knew his loyalty was to the Fire Nation).
So. For this reason, Zuko decided on the simplest solution – not to take anyone's side. Not to fight anyone.
And that would be a good plan, if it weren't for the fact that Uncle still has him in his embrace.
“Uncle,” Zuko says. “We have to get out of here. Azula is nearby.”
“No, Prince Zuko,” Iroh says, and Zuko feels like groaning. “It's time for you to choose. It's time for you to choose good.”
“Good?” Zuko can't believe he's hearing these words again.
The Avatar and the Waterbender are escaping, but Zuko doesn't care about them at all right now.
“Choosing the Fire Nation is good, Uncle,” he remarks. “Besides, don't you think I should choose my own path, my own destiny?”
...He probably shouldn't be angry with Uncle right now, considering that Azula is nearby and will find them soon, but Zuko has had enough.
How many times can he repeat the same day, hear the same words?
“Your destiny?” Uncle looks at him intently. “Or the destiny that someone else is trying to force upon you?”
“You mean my father,” Zuko realizes, extricating himself from his Uncle's embrace.
He feels bad as he steps back, seeing the growing sadness on Uncle's face—but then again, why can't Uncle understand that Zuko doesn't want the destiny Uncle is trying to force upon him?
They’ve spent long weeks, months in a prison called Ba Sing Se. Zuko is not safe here, he does not feel comfortable here, surrounded by his enemies. At first, he hated this place, but over time he got used to it, agreed not to think about the future, about his true destiny — all for his Uncle, who was finally happy.
But it is Uncle who is happy, having his own shop.
Zuko tried to be happy. And perhaps he even was, for a while.
But then Azula appeared, reminding him that the last few months of his life had been nothing but an illusion. And then Zuko realized that whatever happened now, he would not be able to return to his previous life. A chapter of his life was coming to an end, whether he liked it or not.
And that meant Zuko had to make a choice. And he had to choose well, choose correctly.
Which would be easier if it weren't for the fact that Uncle seemed to want to force him to choose the wrong side.
“Zuko...” Uncle begins, reaching out his hand toward him.
“Can we... can we just not talk about this?” Zuko asks. “Azula will be here soon, I know she'll be here soon, so can we just leave?”
“We can't just leave!” Uncle objects. “Zuko, this is the time. The day that had to come. You stand at the crossroads of your destiny, you must decide–”
“I don't have to decide, Uncle!” Zuko interrupts him. “I don't care about the Avatar, I don't care about the Waterbender! We should leave here– Never mind, let's go.”
He grabs Uncle's hand and pulls him along. Uncle follows him, but Zuko knows that he really wants to follow the Avatar, help him, betray the Fire Nation — and Zuko is a bad Prince because he knows that Uncle wants to betray them, and yet he doesn't want to lose him.
He doesn't want to choose between his country and his Uncle.
“Shall we go?” asks Iroh. “But where?”
“I don't know!” replies Zuko. “Anywhere but here! Just as far away from Azula as possible!”
Yes, that's a good plan—just walk away, don't let Azula find them, don't let her force him to make the same decision again, because Zuko chooses her every time, but time is running out anyway.
“Nephew!” Iroh objects.
“We don't have time, Uncle! Azula will be here any minute– Really?”
Zuko stops when his sister appears in front of them.
Azula smiles at him.
“Hey, Zuzu.”
The first time this happened, Aang was full of hope. And nervous.
He believed he had been given the opportunity to fix everything. To stop Azula from taking Ba Sing Se. To save Katara and General Iroh, who had sided with them.
But now?
Now Aang is starting to get tired of it all.
Everything is becoming incredibly predictable. He goes to save Katara—unfortunately, Aang always wakes up with General Iroh by his side, which makes it a little difficult to take other allies with him. Besides, Aang is afraid of what might happen to Katara if he is late.
So, Aang goes to save Katara. General Iroh talks to Zuko. Aang and Katara run away. Azula finds them. Azula and Zuko attack them. Aang and Katara run away. Sometimes General Iroh joins them, sometimes he doesn't.
They never manage to defeat Azula—isn't that incredibly unfair? Aang really tries! But at least this time Azula doesn't hit him with her lightning, so Aang is able to do his thing.
And everything would be fine, except that no matter if Aang escapes with Katara and Iroh, or escapes only with Katara, or fights to the last breath in the underground, time repeats itself. Every. Single. Time. Over and over again.
And it's not funny anymore.
This time, there was a new twist in the form of Zuko, who escaped from the cave where he was being held with Katara.
But that didn't change much, because Zuko and Iroh were left behind anyway, and Aang and Katara are escaping. They take a different route than before, but the Dai Li trap them anyway, putting Aang and Katara in real trouble.
“Okay,” Aang says. “We'll do this first.”
“What?” Katara looks at him blankly.
“Avatar State,” Aang explains. “I'll end all this before Azula shows up.”
“You know, I was thinking, maybe we could end all this without labeling Uncle as a traitor?” Zuko asks Azula before she can reach the chamber where the Avatar is fighting the Dai Li.
It might work, right? The Avatar will defeat the Dai Li, Zuko will side with Azula, but Uncle won't fight against Azula, so maybe they can ally together and won't have to be declared traitors.
Azula blinks.
“In case you haven't noticed, our beloved Uncle sided with the Avatar and tried to fight against me, brother,” Azula points out. “In my opinion, that's a perfect sign of treason.”
Zuko glances at Uncle, imprisoned a short distance away—far enough that he can't hear them, but close enough that he can see them perfectly. Zuko feels his gaze on him. He knows what Uncle expects of him.
What Zuko cannot do, because Zuko is loyal to his country. In a way. But he tries hard to do what he should.
“Maybe he's just... lost?” Zuko suggests.
“Lost,” Azula repeats. “Our Uncle. A man older than our father.”
“Um. You know. Maybe being in Ba Sing Se has... warped his sense of reality?”
Azula stares at Zuko.
Zuko stares back.
“You know, we didn't have anything to eat for a long time, and then we had money problems, so maybe Uncle is just desperate,” Zuko tries to explain his reasoning. “He's not a bad person.”
“No, he's just a traitor. But you're not a traitor, are you?”
“You know very well that I'm not,” Zuko says immediately. “I'm here, on your side, aren't I? Even after you betrayed me once.”
Azula blinks.
“Well...” she says slowly. “Those were my orders. From Father. But this time, the orders are different. And I want you to come home. Really.”
“Okay.”
Zuko glances at Azula.
His sister glances at him.
“So, about Uncle–” Zuko begins.
A loud bang interrupts their conversation.
Azula and Zuko glance in that direction.
“Zuzu,” Azula says. “The Avatar is destroying my city.”
“Yeah,” Zuko admits. “I guess so.”
Azula sighs heavily.
“Good job, Zuzu.”