A/N:

Hello! This is my first work for this fandom. Though I grew up with Avatar, I was only introduced to the fanfics of this fandom a week ago. XD And then I made this over the last 24 hours or so. I've got several fics planned for this fandom (all of them Zuko-centric), but I thought a oneshot would be the best way to get a feel for the characters and their mindsets.

I hope you enjoy! And please forgive any inconsistencies with fannon (such as the anniversary date of when Zuko got his scar). I'm still getting used to everything.

It had started innocently enough. They were at the Ember Isles, staying in the Fire Lord's vacation home, enjoying the closest thing any of them had had to a vacation since the start of their journey. Even Zuko couldn't help but relax a bit despite the time-crunch they were on.

He'd handed Aang off to Toph after their daily meditation, as the earthbender had been complaining about the boy losing his touch. The airbender had begrudgingly trudged alongside his blind mentor as Katara followed along behind them, a wry smirk on her face. Sokka was out in town with Suki to restock their dwindling food supplies, leaving the firebender alone in the house.

He could feel the echoes of the past brushing against his mind, whispering of simpler times and warm memories tinted with the rose-colored lenses of childhood. Days spent at the beach with his parents, splashing carelessly in the water. Back when his father had been warm and loving (or, Zuko thought darkly, perhaps he'd only seen what he wished to see). Before the bending. Before the disappointed stares and a missing mother and a war room illuminated in too many shades of red—

Zuko shook his head violently, forcing his thoughts away from the familiar trail of thought. It was a road that led to nothing good, as he very well knew.

He eyed the sun. On the ship, Lieutenant Jee had taught him how to tell both direction and time with his inner flame. "I have some time before they get back." His words echoed around the empty room as his eyes darted towards the pantry. He was pretty sure nobody had checked the cabinets there yet. Though most of the food was probably rancid after so many years of neglect, there was still the possibility that something had survived. The quiet chattering of Momo by the window drew his gaze, and he sent the inquisitive animal a small smile.

As he suspected, most of what was in the pantry had gone bad. However, he'd found several containers of spices that seemed to be alright. He idly wondered if he should cook for a change. He wasn't exactly the best at cooking over a campfire, but in an actual kitchen he liked to think he was passable. At least, Uncle had always enjoyed his meals. Then again, Uncle Iroh had never exactly been conventional when it came to most things, nor was he straight forward about Zuko's shortcomings, temper aside.

Zuko was about to turn away and dispose of the food that hadn't survived when something caught his good eye—a shine of silver in the very back corner of the top shelf. He had to stand on his toes to reach it, batting it off the shelf with a wooden spoon like a crococat, but eventually he had the little silver canister in his hands. He studied it for a moment, looking for some kind of label or indicator of what was inside. Upon realizing it was unmarked, he popped open the seal. There was a hiss of air escaping as a potent and distinct smell filled the room, causing his lips to quirk into an excited grin.

He had struck gold.

~~~

Toph knew something was up the moment they walked back into the house. The smell of something mouthwatering filled the air, and she could hear Sparky moving around the kitchen with a bounce in his step. There was something about the situation that struck her as odd, but Katara spoke up before she could pinpoint what it was.

"Uh... Zuko?" Her voice was hesitant as they rounded the corner into the room. The prince froze in the middle of adding something to the pot, and Toph abruptly realized what was off about the scene.

In the entire time she'd known Sparky, he'd been chronically anxious. The guy was easily startled, and she was starting to seriously worry about his heart with the way it was always racing. He'd never been relaxed before. But right now, even though he was obviously caught off-guard by their arrival, his heart was steady and calm. She'd never heard Sparky so relaxed before.

And he was humming. Like, actually humming a tune. Toph hadn't known he could hold a tune.

"A-ah. Sorry, I just thought that, uh... maybe you'd be tired after training all day, so I found some stuff and made a stew and..."

"Is that coffee?" Suki asked as she and Sokka joined them.

"Uh, yeah." Zuko rubbed the back of his neck. There was a calm aura about him that had Toph feeling a bit more relaxed herself. "I found it in the back of the cabinet. I haven't had any in a while. There's plenty left, if anyone wants some?"

"What's coffee?" Aang tilted his head, and Toph took a moment to imagine the absolute chaos that would be an airbender on caffeine. Her lips pulled into a face splitting grin drenched with mischief, but Sokka spoke up before anyone else could.

"Something you don't need." Sokka gave a full-bodied shudder.

"After Fong's attempt with the chi-enhancing tea..." Katara had a grimace to her voice. Toph felt her eyebrows go up.

"I didn't hear about this?"

"It was before you joined." Sokka explained. "He was trying to get Aang to access his Avatar State, but uh..."

"I'm not sure I've ever seen someone so hyper." Katara gave a rough sigh.

"I dunno." Aang hummed. "I didn't feel any different after that tea."

"Trust me. You were literally bouncing off the walls." Sokka valiantly held in a sob.

Toph made a mental note to figure out how to get this chi-enhancing tea and slip it to Aang sometime. If she'd missed the chaos the first time, then that just meant she needed to make it happen again.

"All right, Sparky. I can smell that dinner and I'm hungry." She grabbed a bowl from the cabinet, brushing her hand over the inside to make sure it wasn't filled with dust or dead bugs, and thrust it out towards the firebender. She heard his heart skip a beat or two in surprise before the sound of a ladle dipping into liquid reached her ears and the weight of something warm settled in her bowl.

The distinct burn of spices filled her nostrils as she swiped a spoon from the counter and took her seat at the table. It took a moment before the others followed suit, grabbing bowls of their own and settling down at the table with her.

She spooned some into her mouth, eyes widening as the flavors rolled across her tongue. There was an immediate burst of spices that came with the first bite before it faded into an oddly addictive lingering savoriness on the back of her tongue. The thick stew coated her throat in a pleasing way as warmth settled in her belly, leaving a satisfying feeling of contentment in its wake.

It was oddly spicy and subtly sweet—the natural sweetness that came from vegetables that were marinated carefully. It was hot—like many foods in the Fire Nation seemed to be—but not overwhelmingly so. Toph could still pick apart the flavors of carrots and potatoes and holy shit he even managed to put corn in there and make it taste good. Toph hated corn!

She took another bite. "Damn Sparky. I didn't know you could cook!" She grinned as she thumped the table.

"It's good..." Katara hesitated. "But it's a bit..."

"SPICY!!" Sokka all but ran for the water he'd left in the other room. Laughter filled the air as the group tried their own bowls.

"I figured it might be a bit much for you two." Sparky stood back up and retrieved two more bowls. "I made a second batch with less spices. I uh, noticed you use less spices whenever you cook, so I thought maybe you aren't used to them."

"Oh." Sokka carefully took the new bowl and handed the spicy one back to Zuko. "Thank you."

"Pretty observant." Suki, Toph noticed, was perfectly okay with her bowl.

"Not really, it's just that I like cooking. So I tried to make note of what everyone likes. It's uh, vegetarian by the way. So you don't have to worry about that, Aang."

Aang perked up at that. It seemed he hadn't touched his bowl because he was worried about it, but wasn't sure how to bring it up without hurting the prince's feelings. "Awesome!" The airbender dug into his bowl with gusto. "Wow, this is really good!! My friend Kuzon would invite me over to his house sometimes. He was from the Fire Nation. His mom cooked like this!"

Toph couldn't see it, but she was sure Zuko had given a small smile at the compliment. "Maybe we should let Sparky cook more often."

"Well... it would be nice to share the cooking duties." Sugar Queen hummed. "But only if you want. We're not going to force it on you."

Far from feeling pressured, Sparky seemed almost relieved when they brought up the topic of sharing cooking duties. "I'd like to, actually." His voice was colored with a gentle quality she hadn't really heard from him before. "I like cooking. I used to sneak down to the kitchens all the time as a kid and practice."

"Well all that practice seems to have paid off!" Sokka seemed to be digging into his bowl of not-spicy dinner gleefully.

"I can teach you some Kyoshi Island recipes if you'd like?" Suki offered suddenly.

"Really?" The prince seemed pleasantly taken aback.

"I know some Air Nomad recipes!" Aang was practically bouncing in his seat. "I'm not very good at cooking, but I memorized them when I was little! I'm not sure if we can find all the ingredients here, but I'll write them down for you anyways."

Zuko's heart stuttered at that. "I-is that... really okay? I mean..." He fiddled with his hands a bit. "I'm Fire Nation."

The words took a moment to register and Toph felt the atmosphere take a nosedive. Thankfully, it seemed Aang either didn't notice or chose not to care. "That's okay! They're pretty easy to learn. I taught a few to Kuzon, so I'm sure you'll pick it up in no time!"

Zuko was going to open his mouth again, Toph could feel it, so she kicked him under the table as casually as she could while scooping another bite of dinner into her mouth. He yelped quietly as someone else picked up the conversation, and that was that. Dinner conversation was light for the rest of the night.

~~~

Aang wasn't oblivious. Sure he was young, and arguably still naive about things, but he was neither stupid nor unobservant. He was, however, very very bad at confrontation. He liked to think it was an Air Nomad trait, to avoid confrontation and mediate whenever possible. To take care of conflicts in a quiet and controlled manner whenever possible.

Bending with the wind and going with the flow was an ingrained part of every airbender, and it was one of the main reasons why earthbending had been so difficult for him to learn. Toph had taught him how to stop his feet and stand his ground, but this was a whole different type of conflict that he wasn't sure how to handle.

He'd never had to handle someone who was at war with themselves like this before.

Zuko was more than his firebending teacher. Aang considered him a good friend, which was why it hurt so much to watch him doubt himself all the time. To try to take the sins of his nation and history onto his own shoulders as if he was personally to blame for the attack on Aang's people. He wanted to help the prince, but Aang just didn't know how.

So, in true Aang fashion, he ended up letting the problem sit, hoping that eventually time and patience would do the work and show Zuko that he didn't have to blame himself. It... wasn't working as well as the nomad had hoped it would. In times like this, he dearly missed Monk Gyatso and his advice.

"That's a pretty heavy sigh for someone so light on his feet." Toph's voice startled him out of his thoughts. "C'mon Twinkletoes, what's eatin' ya?"

"It's nothi— ow!" He rubbed his arm where Toph had punched him and leveled him with a flat look, milky eyes boring into his own with such intensity that he nearly forgot she couldn't see through them.

"Wanna try that again?" A pebble floated into the air threateningly and Aang held up his hands in surrender.

"I'm worried about Zuko." He admitted softy. "I think he still... blames himself."

"He does." Toph's blunt response had him wincing. "Every time you guys bring up the way he chased you or fought you, his heart rate spikes."

Not quite what Aang was talking about, but he supposed it was an issue that could be addressed as well. Perhaps the guilt Zuko felt over chasing them could be addressed easier than the whole... airbender situation. "I don't know what to do. I thought we were being clear about accepting him into the group, but... But I think he still doubts it."

"Look." Toph flopped down on the porch beside him. "I don't know anything about Sparky or his past, but people who doubt themselves this much learned it at an early age. It's not something that's gonna go away with a few laughs and some traveling. It might never go away. We just have to do what we can and hope he'll open up to us at some point."

Aang went to open his mouth again to tell her that they were already doing that, but she silenced him with a glare.

"Sparky seems like the kind of guy that'll read way too far into whatever we say or do. If you want to tell him something, say it plainly. Don't just hint at it and assume he'll eventually get the message because some people aren't like that." She sighed and stood back up, dusting herself off despite Aang knowing she could care less if she was actually dirty or not. "And maybe make him some coffee first. It calms him way the fuck down, so try that before you do any kind of heart-to-heart."

Aang watched as she went back inside, leaving him alone with the moon again. He let his gaze trace the stars. Old Air Nomad stories said that airbenders who kept their spirits light throughout life would rise to become the clouds when they left this world behind, and Airbending Masters would become the stars. His eyes caught a particularly bright one and he sighed.

"Monk Gyatso... please give me wisdom."

Aang carefully airbent himself to his feet and followed Toph's lead back inside.

~~~

Zuko awoke with the sun, as he did every morning. Last night he'd been wracked with horrible nightmares, and he felt worse than when he'd gone to sleep the night before. Today also held an air of something intangible and unpleasant. His scar throbbed and itched in a way that it usually only did in cold weather. His head throbbed in a gentle pain as he tried to place the date. He was just tossing on his shirt when it hit him like a komodo rhino. Today was the anniversary of the day he'd gotten his scar.

For a moment, he wondered how he could've forgotten. He'd like to chalk it up to not having any calendars around, but even when he was out at sea he'd always been able to tell when the anniversary was nearing. Perhaps, he reasoned, he'd been stressing too much about getting Aang's firebending up to par enough to take on his father. Whatever the case, it explained why he felt like shit.

He grimaced, left eye burning with an imaginary heat four years past but no less real. A silent groan escaped his lips as he dragged himself fully out of bed for his morning meditation. He hesitated before Aang's door. Exhaustion pulled at him as old memories accosted his mind. There wasn't much point in holding any training today if he couldn't focus. He was liable to get hurt if he couldn't stay in the present, and the last thing Aang needed was a setback caused by injuring Zuko accidentally. With an almost inaudible sigh, he turned and went outside without waking his student.

He was in the middle of meditating, trying to ignore the way the sunlight felt too hot against his scar, when Aang took a seat beside him. Zuko cracked open an eye to glance at the Avatar, who meditated quietly in the first rays of Agni's light. The firebender went back to his own meditation, trying his best to keep his thoughts away from the dark paths that unveiled themselves in his mind.

"You didn't wake me up." Aang's voice was so soft he almost missed it. There was a mixture of concern and affrontement to his tone, as if he was somewhat miffed that Zuko had let him sleep in for a change.

"I figured you could take a break today." He kept his own voice low, as if speaking too loudly would disturb the veil of silence that hung around the world like peaceful morning fog.

"Are you okay?" The question was somewhat hesitant, as if Aang was unsure if such a question was acceptable to ask.

"I'm fine." It came out a bit sharper than he meant for it to, and he quickly apologized. "Sorry. I'm just... a little off my game today." Aang, as usual, waved his apology off.

"You know you can come to me if something's bothering you, right?" Aang's full attention was on Zuko now. It seemed neither of them would get a full meditation today.

"Yeah." He lied. He knew he couldn't go to Aang. Not when the kid already had so much to deal with. Not when he was already warring with himself over how to handle Zuko's father. The world was already asking far too much of one twelve-year-old boy. Zuko didn't want to burden him further.

Aang leveled him with an oddly aged look, like he could see through all of Zuko's insecurities. It made him feel exposed and vulnerable. The firebender's temper flared, just like it always did when he found himself in a situation he didn't like, and he climbed to his feet before his tongue could lash out against the young airbender.

"I'm gonna go grab something to eat." The words tumbled out—a hastily made excuse so he wouldn't feel bad about just leaving him sitting there. He saw Aang airbend himself to his feet, mouth open to offer to join him, no doubt. "Alone." He bit out as he spun on his heel.

Guilt gnawed at him as he re-entered the house. He knew he was being a bit short, but Zuko didn't deal well with vulnerability on a good day, and the phantom pains in his scar reminded him that today was most definitely not a good day.

His scar felt tight and hot and it prickled. There was a phantom palm hovering over his left eye, and he took a shuddering breath to remind himself that he wasn't there. A new warmth prickled against his hand and a familiar soothing scent wafted around him. He wasn't sure when he'd made himself coffee, but it was surprisingly grounding against the pull of his past.

He sipped at it slowly. Ignoring the others as they trickled into the kitchen and spoke around him. If there was one good thing about being a firebender, it was that he never had to worry about food or drink getting cold. He could ignore people for as long as he needed without sipping on cold coffee as an excuse.

"Thought you were training Twinkletoes today?" Toph plopped herself in the chair to his left. Normally he didn't mind it when people he knew sat on his blind side, but today it made his skin crawl with the distant whisper of danger, someone's there, they might hurt you.

"I'm giving him a day off." His voice was still a bit more of a growl than he'd like, but Toph didn't seem to mind. She gave him a light frown before dishing herself some food.

"Are you drinking coffee again?" Katara leveled him with an unimpressed look. "You really should eat actual food. And don't think I didn't notice you having a cup last night before bed."

"Relax Sugar Queen. Sparky's a big boy. He can handle himself." Toph patted his arm, ignoring his light flinch at the contact. "Besides, isn't he an adult or something?"

"Uh... no." Zuko blinked when he realized that the others—Aang included, as the airbender had wandered back inside for breakfast at some point—seemed confused.

"But... you had a ship. And a crew." Sokka pointed out. "I thought you had to be an adult to enlist in the army or something?"

"Technically you do. Fire Lord Ozai changed the enlistment age to seventeen—it was twenty-three before." Zuko glanced at the surface of his coffee, drinking in the rich scent of roasted beans.

"So... you're like eighteen now?" Sokka tapped his chin. "You chased us for nearly a year."

"Sixteen." Zuko corrected. "I'm sixteen now."

"Wait, hold up." Katara gave a sharp frown. "I thought you just said you had to be seventeen to enlist?"

"I wasn't enlisted. I was banished." He hated the way his voice cracked over the word. "That ship and crew was all I got when I was kicked out."

"Banished?" Toph echoed. "What the hell did you do?"

"I don't wanna talk about it." He tightened his grip on his cup, the liquid inside bubbling slightly.

"It can't have been that bad." Sokka shrugged. "I mean, this is the Fire Lord we're talking about! He'd probably banish someone for having a conscience!"

Zuko gave a derisive snort. "You're technically not wrong." His quiet mutter was caught by the room.

"Wait, seriously?!" Sokka's jaw dropped. "I was kidding."

"I'm not." Zuko took a deep steadying breath. The cup was nearly too hot for him to hold at this point, which meant he was probably close to the cup's melting point. He set it down and pushed his chair back. "I'm going for a walk."

"Wait—"

"Let him go, Sugar Queen." Toph's voice reached his good ear as he exited the room. He made sure to utter a soft thanks to the earthbender under his breath, knowing she'd hear it.

~~~

When Zuko came back from his walk, it was nearing sunset. He stopped and stared at the sleeping bags strewn all over the floor of the living room. Furniture was pushed up against the walls as a portable fire pit sat in the middle of the room, crackling merrily. Some kind of device was funneling the smoke out the window—Sokka's doing, no doubt—and a pot of stew was already bubbling away above the flames.

"What... is this?" He blinked at the strange scene even as the others shot him pleased grins.

"You've been having a bad day." Sokka pointed out. "So we decided we're gonna have story night! And since it looks like it might rain tonight, we're doing it inside."

"And you can't have story night without a firepit!" Toph cackled.

"Come on and take a seat!" Aang patted the pillow between him and Toph.

Zuko was utterly bewildered. "I... don't understand."

"We realized that we still don't know you that well. Or Toph, for that matter." Katara explained. "And you don't know us." She stirred the pot, and Zuko was pleasantly surprised to find the scent of spices filling the air. "In the Water Tribe, we swap and share stories often to help cultivate a sense of unity and family. Sokka and I have been traveling with Aang for so long that we've done this many times. But everything in the Earth Kingdom was so... Well, we didn't really have a lot of free time to swap tales, so we fell out of the practice."

Zuko tilted his head in thought, carefully keeping his left side away from the flames. "What kind of stories do we tell?" His question had Aang perking up eagerly.

"Whatever we want! Someone usually starts us off on a topic and then we go around and share something that's related to the topic. It's okay if you change the topic, though. You can talk about happy things, hard times, funny stories or whatever!" The airbender was grinning ear-to-ear. "I'll start!! So even though every Air Nomad is an airbender, we usually don't airbend for the first time until we're about four or five." Zuko leaned forward in interest. Many of the traditions and ways of the Air Nomad life had been lost over the last century, and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't itching to know about the lost culture. "But the first time I airbended was when I was three. I was trying to get this tart that was sitting on the table, but I was too short to reach it." He laughed. "I don't remember the event—I was really little—but Monk Gyatso told me that I'd imitated the airbending motions I'd seen the older kids do, and ended up flinging myself onto the table and face first into the tart I was trying to get to."

Laughter flowed around them at that.

"The first time I waterbended was a complete accident." Katara laughed as her brother pouted. "I was mad at Sokka for something... I think I was about five."

"Four and a half." Sokka corrected her. "And you were mad because I took away the dessert that mom told me you couldn't have."

"Hey! My story!" Katara playfully shoved him. "So I was mad at him and I ended up accidentally bringing half the igloo down on him."

"Well, I'm not a bender, but the first time I tried to use my fans I ended up tripping headfirst into a tree." Suki shook her head. "I'm just glad nobody was there to see it."

"I think the first time I went ice fishing with dad, I nearly fell in the hole. He said I tried to grab the fish while it was still in the water." Sokka shook his head.

"Sounds about right." Katara smirked.

"I learned earthbending from some badgermoles underground. I ran away from home and fell into one of their tunnels by accident. They taught me earthbending and how to see with my feet." Toph grinned.

"Wait, you ran away from home?" Suki blinked, and Zuko was glad he wasn't the only one concerned about that statement.

Toph irritatedly blew her hair out of her face. "I'm blind." She said simply, but there was a bit of bitterness to her tone that the firebender didn't like. "My parents think I'm helpless. They treat me like I'll break if I set foot outside. They won't listen to me about being an earthbender... none of it. So technically that was the first time I ran away. The most recent time I ran away was when I had Aang kidnap me."

Zuko snorted. "So you kidnapped your earthbending teacher."

"Is it kidnapping if she volunteered?" Aang questioned.

"Your turn, Sparky."

He thought for a moment. "The first time I produced a flame was when I was about eight years old. Most firebenders have a spark in their eye when they're born. And nearly all of them show some kind of flame by the age of five. They nearly labeled me as a non-bender by the time I finally produced a flame." He thought back for a moment. It'd been a weak timid little candle flame, but it'd been warm and safe and he'd been so damn happy. "My mother was happy too, but my father was quick to remind me that Azula had produced her first flame at four."

"You? A non-bender?" Toph wasn't the only one staring in disbelief. "You're joking, right? Sparky, you're powerful."

Zuko snorted. "No I'm not. I'm passable."

"Dude, I fought you. Multiple times." Sokka stressed. "You're one scary dude to face down on the battlefield, and it's not just your fire. Though admittedly that makes it way more terrifying."

"Azula's always been the Fire Lord's favorite." He let his gaze land on the flames. "He always said she was born lucky, and I was lucky to be born."

"Yikes." Sokka winced. "No offense but your dad sounds like one piece of work."

Zuko gave a hollow laugh. "You don't know the half of it." He gestured for Aang to continue on with the stories, listening with half an ear as he launched into a tale of adventure with his old firebending friend Kuzon. They'd apparently rescued a dragon egg, much to Zuko's surprise. It reminded him of the golden egg-shaped treasure that the Sun Worshippers had gifted to him after he and Aang had earned the dragon's teachings.

Katara and Sokka did a joint story about exploring some polar caps, while Suki had an utterly riveting tale about sneaking aboard a pirate ship that'd had the misfortune of docking on Kyoshi Island. Toph talked about victories in her illegal underground earthbending fighting rings, and Zuko... Well, he nearly came up blank again.

What kinds of adventures could he share? His tales weren't full of lighthearted fun and exploration. His 'adventures' were dangerous. Filled with nightmares or riddled with shame. Even as a child, he didn't have many adventures due to the palace life he'd been forced into.

"What, you don't have anything?" Toph leaned back in her chair, forcing Zuko to turn slightly to keep her out of his blind spot.

"Not really, no. Until I started chasing you guys around the world, my life was pretty boring." They all shared a chuckle at his words.

"I thought I heard that the Earth Rumbles were based off some kind of firebender duel. Uh... Angi Kay or something?"

"Agni Kai." Zuko corrected automatically. "And those aren't for fun. They're firebending Honor Duels and they go to either first burn, surrender, or death."

"You... sound like you've encountered those before." Katara's voice was hesitant. The atmosphere of the room dipped drastically and Zuko averted his gaze.

"I don't want to bring the mood down." He muttered. "I'll uh... skip this one."

"If you're worried about the mood, we can all share something personal." Aang offered. "Well, I can't speak for everyone."

"No." Zuko shook his head. "No, you don't need to go that far."

"When I was a child, my mother was killed by the fire nation." Katara spoke with steel in her voice. Zuko shot her a somewhat worried look because she'd already told him this. He went with her to get her revenge. "What I didn't tell anyone was that I saw it happen."

Sokka whipped around at that. "What!?"

"I was faster than Dad." Katara took a shaky breath. "I got back before anyone else, and..." There was a horrible shadow in her eyes and Zuko suddenly understood why she'd been unable to let go of her hatred for so long. "I couldn't do anything." Her brother looked utterly crushed as he took his sister into his arms.

"I ran away." Aang's voice was laden with guilt and regret. "When I found out I was the Avatar, everything changed. People didn't play with me anymore, and the monks didn't want to let me be a kid. Monk Gyatso was my mentor and Guardian. When an airbender is born, we're taken from our birth mother and raised with all the other kids born around the same time. We're raised in the Temple opposite of where we were born. So I was born in the Northern Air Temple, but raised in the Southern one. Our Guardian is both our mentor and parental figure. Monk Gyatso raised me from diapers." There was a heaviness to his voice that sounded wrong. Aang shouldn't have to carry something so heavy. He was the wind, he should be light and airy and free.

"Aang... You don't have to..." Katara trailed off when he sent her a soft glare.

"So when the other monks talked about sending me to another Air Temple to finish my training because I was too close to Monk Gyatso, I panicked. I packed my bags and took Appa and... I ran away. We got caught in a terrible storm and nearly drowned. My Avatar State activated and froze both me and Appa in ice. I woke up a hundred years later when Katara and Sokka broke my iceberg." He rested his chin on his knee for a moment, listless eyes staring into flames with a thousand-yard stare Zuko had seen on military veterans missing home. A moment passed and the boy shook himself out of it, his lips pulling gently into a smile. "That's one of the reasons why I have to end this war."

"You know it wasn't your fault, right?" Zuko was just as surprised as anyone else to hear himself speak up.

"It wasn't your fault either." He had that look again. That aged look that made Zuko feel like he was being lectured by a grandfather.

There was silence for a long moment before Toph spoke up. Her voice was strangely soft, hesitant in a way that was so un-Toph that it took Zuko a moment to understand who was speaking. "I almost killed a man once." She closed her eyes. "I was still new to earthbending. I'd been heading back from another fight when some guys recognized me as a Beifong. They thought it'd be easy to kidnap and ransom a blind girl. I wasn't paying attention at the time, and they got the jump on me. I reacted without thinking, bending in self-defense. I remember hearing a crack as one of them went down and then... he went very quiet. I could barely hear his heart beating. I was scared, so I ran. To this day I don't know if I killed him or not."

Nobody quite knew what to say to that. Aang looked quite bothered by the information—Air Nomads were usually pacifists, if he remembered correctly, a fact he only learned on his travels. He wondered if he was bothered by the fact that Toph might've killed someone, or if was bothered by the pain that the young earthbender had in her voice. Knowing Aang, he was probably more worried about Toph. The others were equally grim, but nobody seemed to be judging her. Zuko quite awkwardly patted her shoulder.

The atmosphere was thick with tension and guilt. It pressed down upon them like a wave from the sea. Nobody quite knew what to say or how to break it, until Sokka softly spoke up.

"You... don't need to tell us if you don't want to. But uh..." Zuko saw Sokka eying his face. His scar felt uncomfortably tight and suddenly the fire they were gathered around was just a tad too warm. A tad too close.

But at the same time, he was sick of them dancing around the topic. It'd been long enough, and despite Zuko's initial assumption that they, like everyone else in the Fire Nation, had already known, it only took a week for it to become blatantly obvious that none of them had any inkling of how he got his scar. Hell, they didn't even seem to know he'd been banished.

He took as deep of a breath as he could, held it, and let it out just as slowly. Of all days to ask... perhaps it was better this way. Just rip the bandage off the wound nice and quick instead of leaving it to fester. Better they found out from him rather than some stupid third party. His sister would probably blab about if she knew they were unaware.

"Go ahead." His voice was hoarse. "Ask."

A jolt went through the group, eyes widening as Zuko fought to keep his breathing under control. He'd been so concerned about the coming question that he hadn't even noticed Aang leaving the table until he set a cup down in front of him.

It was coffee.

"You seem calmer when you drink it." Aang smiled softly, and Zuko took a moment to puzzle over exactly when the airbender had become so observant.

"Thanks..." He took a tentative sip, shoulders relaxing somewhat as it became easier to breathe. The pull of the memories loosened their grip just slightly so as he waited for someone to voice the question that'd been hovering over the group for weeks.

"How did you get your scar?" Sokka was the first one brave enough to give it a voice.

In his travels, Zuko had come across the curious practice in the Earth Kingdom of invoking Avatar Yangchen for protection, wisdom, or mental fortitude. At the time he'd thought it ridiculous—why invoke an Avatar long dead? Now, however, he found himself mentally invoking her in the hopes that he could make it through this explanation without some kind of catastrophic failure.

"When I was thirteen, I begged my uncle to let me sit in on a war council." He watched as the room stiffened. Several people mouthed the word 'thirteen' to themselves with dawning horror. "I wanted to sit in on one to gain experience. I was the crown prince, expected to one day lead the Fire Nation. I felt... unprepared. I thought that seeing how it worked would help me gain experience. My Uncle allowed me to join him on the condition that I didn't speak. I was to observe only."

He could see the silent questions, wondering what this had to do with his scar. But nobody seemed to have the will to break the brittle silence that he spoke in. Like they were afraid if they moved wrong, he'd shut his mouth and escape back into the night.

"They wanted to send the 41st unit in as canon fodder. An entire unit of brand new recruits who hadn't even seen their first battle was to be sacrificed so the more experienced soldiers could sneak around and..." He clenched the fist that wasn't holding his cup tightly enough that he wouldn't be surprised to find blood. "I couldn't just sit there. These were my people that were being spoken about like chickenpigs. They were loyal to the Fire Nation, they trusted us. I couldn't just sit there, no matter what I was told."

"You spoke out against it." Sokka's voice was scarcely a whisper.

"I did. And because I'd disrespected the general, I was challenged to an Agni Kai." He took a shuddering breath. "I thought I would fight the general. But it was the Fire Lord's war room I had spoken in, so it was him that I had disrespected. I didn't realize my mistake until my father stood across the ring from me."

The room paled as they started to see where this was going, but it was like a volcanic eruption—nobody could tear their gaze away.

"I refused to fight. I'm not proud of it, but I got on my knees and begged for mercy. But because I refused to fight, because I tried to back down, the Fire Lord took it as a grave dishonor." He knew he was shaking now, but he could feel the too-hot hand in his hair, holding him in place as another calloused too-hot hand cupped his left cheek and— "He held me down and burned me until I passed out. Next thing I know I'm waking up on my ship with Uncle by my side telling me I've been banished. That I could only return home if I brought the Avatar with me."

"Your father did that?" Sokka breathed, aghast.

"That's so fucked up." Toph had a strange heat to her voice. An anger that was quiet and sharp and something like the prelude to an earthquake.

"I... don't understand." Aang looked so very young in that moment. His eyes were wide with confusion and fear. "How could anyone hurt... you were a child." His voice cracked with a suppressed sob, and Zuko barely had a moment to open his arm before the boy collided with his side. "You were a kid! He was your dad! He was supposed to protect you!"

Zuko had never heard Aang get angry before, but feeling the boy trembling with rage beneath his embrace, tattoos flickering eerie white in his rage. Was... was Aang actually angry enough to almost activate his Avatar State?!

"It already happened. You don't need to be angry. It's... well, maybe not okay, but I'm fine now." He tried soothing the distraught boy, only to realize that the others were getting more upset by his words.

"Liar." Toph was trembling too. He felt his eyes widen when he saw tears running down her face. "You aren't fine." He didn't know what to say to that. "You said he... held a flame to your face. Can you even see out of that eye?"

The others traded looks of surprise, like they'd never thought about the question before. Perhaps they hadn't. "Not really. I can see shadows and color when it's bright enough. I'm completely deaf in that ear from the infection too. My right side's fine though." He added the last bit for Toph's benefit. For all she knew, his scar could've stretched across his entire face instead of just half of it.

"I'm gonna kill that Fire Lord." Suki snarled.

"Not if I get to him first." Toph growled.

Zuko half expected Aang to speak up about not killing, but to his surprise the boy just borrowed himself deeper into Zuko's shirt.

The prince sighed, exhaustion suddenly pulling on every edge of his being. "It's not something I really like thinking about. It's over. It may be the worst burn he's given me, but I survived and now I'm here to help take him down."

"He's done it before the Agni Kai." It was Katara who had spoken this time. Her voice held a note of steel that reminded Zuko of when she'd spoken about her mother's killer. "You said it was the worst. Not the only."

His silence was damning. "Look. What matters isn't what he's already done, but what he's planning to do." He winced when he saw several mouths open to protest. "If you really want to sit down and have a heart-to-heart about it, then we can do it after we've taken care of saving the world."

Aang finally pulled away, and for once Zuko couldn't find it in himself to complain about the snot on his shirt. For a moment, Zuko stopped to wonder what it would be like to have a younger brother like Aang. He gently patted the boy on the head, earning a bewildered look from the airbender. He supposed even a failure like himself still had big brother instincts. With the way Aang melted into his touch, he thought that perhaps he wasn't the only one that needed some kind of gentle physical contact.

"All right." Toph suddenly clapped her hands, eyes dry as bone as if she'd never cried. "I think we've had enough storytime tonight. Twinkletoes, Sparky, if one of you can put out the fire so we can get some shut eye without worrying about the place burning down?"

Zuko gave a wet chuckle. "On it." With an easy motion, the fire spluttered and died, leaving the glowing embers to light the room as everyone crawled over to their sleeping bags. He didn't say anything when Aang dragged his bag towards Zuko's, practically laying the bottom half of his bag on the firebender's legs.

The prince also didn't say anything when Toph pulled hers over towards him, splaying an arm over his chest like she was trying to keep tabs of his heart rate in her sleep. Slowly, the others also started to migrate towards him. By the time Agni rose to greet them, the entire gaggle of children had piled up on top of him.

Zuko found he really didn't mind.