I have an idea for an ATLA fanfic, and I think it's pretty cool, but that could just be me. I guess this is an interest check to see if anyone would read it if I wrote it.
Ok so basically, in the crystal catacombs, Zuko is SUPPOSED to side with Azula. Thats the only thing he CAN do. Except he doesn't and he sides with Iroh and that's WRONG he shouldn't be able to decide that he's ruining EVERYTHING and-
And he doesn't exist. Prince Zuko NEVER existed. Prince Zuko made the wrong choice and Fate intervened, hastily, sloppily. Azula never had a brother, there's only one heir to the throne, the wrong choice wasn't made because there was never anyone to decide. Problem solved.
Aang was in the Avatar State when the world stuttered, when a boy was ripped from existence, and Aang was too far into the cosmos for the convincing hand of fate to reach. The hesitation of the universe was just enough to throw Azula off center, even she isn't able immune to reality rewriting itself. Her lightning misses Aang by less than a hair, and it's just enough to turn the tide of the battle. Iroh still gets captured, but the Gaang make it back to Appa alive.
Once they all confirm that all their limbs are attached, Aang asks where Zuko went. He's met with confused stares. You know... Zuko- banished prince of the Fire Nation, hellbent on chasing them across the world, may or may not be turning to their side? Sokka asks if he hit his head when he nearly got fried by lightning. Katara not to subtly inspects him for injuries. Toph reassures him in her usual manner that he looked AWESOME out there!
Aang is confused and growing increasingly scared, as it becomes more and more obvious that his friends don't remember Zuko. He pleads with them to trust him on this. Maybe he only remembers because he's the Avatar, bridge between humans and spirits and stuff, and he swears that Zuko is real and something terrible must have happened and he can't do it without them. They don't need Toph to tell he's being painfully genuine, and albeit hesitantly, they believe their friend.
So from there, the plan is to figure out how to defeat the Fire Lord, and figure out what happened to Zuko and how to fix it. In their time investigating, they learn that despite that everyone believes, Zuko DID exist at some point. He was removed from family portraits in the Fire Palace, his wanted posters were nowhere in sight, the scrolls declaring him born and then banished had never been written.
But. They overheard crew members of the Wani gossiping about a room a lived in room on the ship that didn't belong to any of them. It had unmade sheets on a bed, theatre scrolls buried under maps and plans and strategies and unsent letters to the Fire Lord. Dual dao swords on the wall (for decoration, one of chuckled, but didn't know why it was funny), clothes in the sea chest, everything to suggest an extra person onbaord. Except there wasn't, and a stowaway wouldn't last even a day without getting thrown overboard.
Wanted posters for the Blue Spirit still hung in villages, but no one had ever seen him, some even doubt he exists. No one encountered him and lived to tell the tale, so they say. Kyoshi Island was just finishing repairing burnt houses, from a Fire Nation attack. Or... was it just a wildfire? No, somebody did this, but no one could agree on the details of who.
All the while, far away in a prison cell on Fire Nation soil, Iroh struggles against his own mind. He misses someone, dearly. Everyday he wakes up, expecting to say good morning to... Someone. Only to remember he's in a prison cell and he can't picture the face, just feel the hole in his heart. He wonders briefly if it's Lu Ten, but no, that's a different kind of pain. An ache dulled by time, no less deep, but not so raw. He recalls rumors of there being an underground brainwashing operation in Ba Sing Se, perhaps that could explain the gaping chasms in his memory. A darkly amusing thought crosses his mind, maybe the fire nation has finally begun learning from the cultures they seek to destroy. He prepares to escape, like in canon, driven by this longing for a person who he doesn't know. He doesn't remember their face, and he doesn't remember their name, but he remembers that he loved them, one time, and he will find them and love them again.
Eventually, Iroh escapes, and meets with with the Gaang to aid the Avatar in his destiny. Aang asks him, sith equal parts excitement and apprehension, if he remembers Zuko. Upon hearing that name, everything falls into place. The memories don't come rushing back, they never left, but suddenly they have a person in them again. The grief in his heart has a nephew to settle on, and all at once, there are two people in the entire world who remember Prince Zuko.
Some stuff happens, they research what the fuck happened and how to bring Zuko back (IF they can bring him back, though no one says that part) and all their searching leads to a possible solution. They discover a ritual that brings you into the spirit realm, to the domain of Fate and Time (if anyone has spirit names for them I would much appreciate it) where you can plead your case, like a court hearing. They will either rule in your favor, cast you back into the living world, or decide the previous sentence was too light and do something worse. Not great odds, but the only choice they have.
Aang and Iroh do the ritual, and must defend Zuko's right to exist to the two imposing obelisks of destiny. While destiny is decided by the powers that be, it can be rewritten by anyone brave enough. They can write Zuko out of his own story if they'd like, but as long as someone love him, he will never disappear completely. They can take his name, his life, every memory anyone's never had with him, but that love can never be taken away. There isn't a single thing that any spirit or force of nature can do that will ever scrub away the mark Zuko leaves on the world.
Fate and Time are moved by their testimony, and promptly expell Iroh and Aang out of the spirit realm. Oh yeah and Zuko too, I forgot about him. Can't imagine why. It's a happy ending where love prevails, Zuko is alive and breathing and irrefutable HERE, and destiny isn't as set in stone as it seems. There's a Toph joke in there somewhere about how of COURSE her destiny isn't set in stone because she can just bend it. Will anyone read this? Also feel free to take this idea, I want to read it just as much as I want to write it (though please send me the link if you do!!)
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