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Zuko is overeager to find the avatar after he's first banished and ends up getting injured and having to have his arm removed. Now he's half blind, half deaf, half armed and 300% more full of Spite. The world can beat him down but he's GOING to capture the Avatar and go home!

Has to master Firebending one armed, results in him relying more on kicks (and break dancing) and fire breath. Taking inspiration from water bending scrolls, Zuko could also use fire as makeshift arms for battle like when Katara covers her arms in water whips. Can't use his dual dao because he's only got the one arm, so he has to learn a new weapon for the Blue Spirit.

Zuko is a new night guard and discovers that the displays come to life at night. One such display, a life size figure of the ancient avatar Aang who ended the 100 year war has taken a liking to him and keeps calling him Sifu Hotman and acting like they KNOW each other!?

Zuko unknowingly greatly resembles Aang's Zuko, and the reanimated version of Aang refuses to believe this Zuko isn't the reincarnation of his. Aang takes advantage of this new situation to romance Zuko like he was never able to in his original life.

Zuko has a massive crush on Sokka, but he isn't the best at making his intentions known. Any time he tries to use words he messes it up and just ends with both of them confused.

Since his words aren't working, he tries to express himself through other means. And what does Sokka like most? Food!

Zuko learns to cook from Uncle who (not knowing Sokka is the recipient) insists that the spice of a meal is an expression of the spice of your love! (Being metaphorical about putting your heart in a meal to make it taste better) Zuko takes it literally and every time he makes food for Sokka he adds more spice because Sokka just doesn't seem to be getting the point.

Aang, Katara and Toph all figured out what was going on before Zuko started cooking for Sokka, but have a bet going for how long it'll take Sokka to figure it out.

Sokka also has a crush on Zuko, but thinks the other is too cool and important to bother with it. He was super excited Zuko started cooking for him but with each progressive meal it's harder to eat without combusting.

Sokka tries to fake eat the food but Zuko insists on WATCHING HIM EAT IT and he looks so cute and hopeful Sokka cant just say no! So he forces the food down and as soon as Zuko looks away he tries to drown the spices with water, his eyes and nose running like hay fever.

Then one day, Zuko brings a meal so spicy even HE can't eat it. Surly THIS will get the point across right!?

Sokka's mouth literally catches fire and he explodes, thinking Zuko must hate him because he keeps trying to kill him with spices. Zuko gets upset and shouts back that he was trying to show Sokka his feelings!

"What, that you want me dead!?"

"No, that I like you!"

Sokka gobsmacked "How the hell does spicy death food show THAT!?"

"Well… Uncle said spicy food meant love or… something? I don't know proverbs, but I made it spicy!"

"And you couldn't just TELL me?"

"I TRIED! You never listened!"

Sokka thinks back to the weird interactions Zuko had done before trying to spice him to death. Oh his beautiful stupid loving idiotic awkward stupid Fire Lord…

Katara wins the bet.

Sokka is an inventor! It's well known and he's quite skilled at it. So what if around mid 30s early 40s, he's working to tap into Spirit energy to use as a viable power source (there's gotta be a scientific explanation for it after all, right? He just has to find it and then he'd have a new breakthrough!) And then he manages to make a connection, but it doesn't work as planned and Sokka gets sucked into the Spirit World body and all.

Meanwhile the machine he'd built to do this explodes from the rush of energy and decimates his lab, nothing is left behind. The explosion is big enough it draws his friends attention and Team Avatar arrive to find Sokka gone (assumed dead) and everything decimated.

They hold his funeral. Zuko, who'd been his casual partner for years and had hoped to make it more permanent now that his daughter was old enough to be Fire Lord, is heartbroken and retreats from his friends for a while.

Eventually they grow to endure the pain of their loss and the LOK events happen, yadda yadda.

But with the Spirit World now permanently connected as it is, Sokka manages to find his way back to the real world. Only to find he'd lost so much time with his friends and family and hasn't aged a day.

Soulmates are teleported to each other during times of great danger in order to save each others lives.

Kid Zuko gets zapped to Jet during training with Piandao and manages to take out one of the rough rhinos and help Jet escape into the woods. It's too late to save his family or village but Zuko saves him.

After returning, Piandao has a long talk with Zuko and pre inducts him into the white lotus because the event has thrown all he knows into chaos.

Time skip to Zuko in the Agni Kai. Jet gets teleported in while Zuko is being burned and not even taking in the surroundings he uses his Shang gou to slit Ozai's throat and jerk him away from Zuko before Zuko can be burned to death. He's still not well off and Jet doesn't know how to help further. Iroh steps in before Jet can be killed for the assassination of the fire lord and he and Jet have a long talk while Zuko is tended to. Jet gets sent back with mixed feelings after Zuko stabilizes.

The few freedom fighters with Jet are astounded to hear he literally killed the fire lord!

Zuko wakes to find his father was slain during the Agni Kai and since the actions of a soulmate count as the actions of the person, Jet killing ozai in an Agni Kai is the same as Zuko killing him by fire nation law. Which means legally Zuko has seized power of the fire nation and is to be the new fire lord.

Zuko is stunned and in shock and Iroh is concerned. He doesn't know Zuko was already indoctrinated into the white lotus views and he's missed much of Zuko's life, only knowing he craved his fathers love and attention.

Instead Zuko sets forth to try ending the war so he can keep his soulmate and everyone else safe.

Au where chase kills Jack and Bean brings him back as a ghost just so he can haunt Chase for eternity 'cause its funny.

Jack completely blows off the being killed thing and instantly invents the idea in his head that Chase must really want him around to do this so they can be together forever and brushes off Chases denials claiming he's just trying to protect his evil image.

Bean thinks this is an absolute riot and no one will attempt to harm or seal ghost Jack 'cause YOU BROUGHT THIS ON YOURSELF FOR MURDERING HIM!

Wuya even stirs him up with clever things he can do to Chase and actually starts enjoying hanging with Jack now that she's solid and he's the ghost. Chase can no longer sneak up on the monks since Jack follows him everywhere and gives him away by calling greetings at the monks.

After Pouhai, Aang lingers watching from tree cover after Zuko throws a fireball at him, only to see Zuko have a little meltdown and succumb to unconsciousness again.

Aang feels like he understands Zuko's attack as a means to scare him away, and not hurt him and he fears leaving Zuko alone. So he takes Zuko further from the stronghold, but not to the same camp as his friends.

Aang bouncing between his friends and Zuko as all three heal, all the while staying under the radar of Zhao and the Yuyan archers. Bonding occurs.

Sokka is the Blue Spirit. He takes great offense to discovering that Zuko of all people was the person impersonating him and giving him a good name all these years. Like, yeah thanks for the support and shit but come ON why HIM!?

While chasing the Avatar in book 1, Zuko stumbles into the Spirit world and has his entire book 2-3 character arc while navigating the bizarre bending-less world where half of everything wants to end him, and the other half just doesn't care.

All this time Jack had been playing. Showdowns were epic! After all. When he'd released Wuya, he'd been working on making a movie from the point of view of a villain, and she thought it was all legitimate.

Curious by her claims about the wu (he IS an inventor after all) and terrified about what she might do to him if he refused (didn't know then she couldn't do squat) he tagged along on the wu hunts. All the while all his Jack bots were filming everything.

He made his first friends in the monks, and the lesser villains he teamed up with. He was quite capable of killing off all the monks without detection if he wanted, but despite his location in the conflict, he was just selfish, not a murderer.