#found sibling

You can find the church of an angel

One we call Gabriel

Saint of hard work and cunning

Of friendliness and quiet kindness

He's rather unassuming of how happy he makes people

Fairly unaware of his impact on them

Still, every night

I pray to him

No, for him

For the smiling, chatty angel

WEEEEEEEEEEEEE! A request (happy TDS-noises) Dear Anon! Thank you for this ask and your praise!!! And yes, I'll gladly oblige. I hope the setting I came up with is to your liking - I tried something I haven't seen much of in the Hero-Villain-Trope-Collection. Let me know if you liked it :D

The Blood of the Covenant...

CW: cursing (is all, really...), mention of death?

Villain slammed the door shut behind himself as soon as he had thrown his bagpack on his bed. He kicked his shoes into the corner and headed back out towards the kitchen. Imma feed them to the cops next thing in the morning!, he thought, griting his teeth at the thought of his subordinates. These good-for-nothing fucked up yet again and made his whole plan go down the drain. He just couldn‘t rely on them when push came to shove or things got even the tiniest bit dangerous.

He had bruises everywhere. He was dirty and hadn‘t had a decent meal in days. Why is this damned fridge always empty?!, he thought upon cheking it‘s innards. Well, not empty per se. Just nothing he could consume without having to cook it. He grabbed a can of beer instead and gulped down half of it in one go. This was easily the worst day he‘d had in two months! And that meant something, since everyday was a bad day if you‘re a villain and the whole damn city is on your heels.

"Hey, you‘re back."

Villain clicked his tongue at the sound of Hero‘s voice alone. "Excellent observation, genius."

"Oh, wow - that bad?", Hero tried to ease the tension with a joke.

But Villain wasn‘t in the mood to let himself be cheered up. Especially not by Hero. Hero, the only one who he could truly trust with his life, unlike his henchmen. Hero, who understood him better than anyone and to whom he didn‘t have to explain every measly detail of his plans. Hero, who should have been helping him, but instead ran around downtown chasing petty thieves for fun.

"Wanna tell me what happened?"

"It‘s nothing", Villain growled, barely containing his anger. This was a bad moment to try and test him. He was so furious that not even the obvious concern in Hero‘s voice was able to soothe it. He felt like a volcano about to explode.

"Doesn‘t look like nothing", Hero murmured with a tilt of his head and eyed his swollen face with a troubled expression. "Are you su-"

"I‘M FUCKING FINE!", Villain yelled. "But definitely not thanks to you! Where were you? I could have used your help. You promised you‘d always be there for me. What a load of shit!"

Hero‘s eyes glistened treacherously, as he blinked rapidly. "But I...I meant what I said when the three of us made that promise!", he tried to assure him. "Neither Supervillain nor I would ever-"

"Supervillain isn‘t here anymore!", Villain interrupted him yet again. "You of all people should know that!" He knew he was taking this way too far, but for some reason he wasn‘t able to stop.

Hero flinched violently and the pain Villain‘s words caused was evident on his face. His hand fisted with the fabric of his sweater in front of his chest, as if he was hurting there. "I know you want me by your side when...when you‘re robbing a bank, when you‘re raiding another villain‘s lair or when you‘re...you‘re fighting the law", Hero whispered. "But you know that‘s not what I meant when I said that back then. You know I can‘t do that anymore..." He interrupted himself, when Villain all but silently glared daggers at him. "I‘m...I‘m sorry."

Villain watched him hurry out of the kitchen towards his room with hunched shoulders and clenched fists. The quick padding of Hero‘s bare feet grew distant as Villain regained control of his breathing. His tantrum seemingly made his wrath disspense into thin air. He felt like a popped balloon - empty and tired.

What was he even angry about again? The fact his subordinates had messed up again? Why was that Hero‘s fault? He had turned his back on villany years ago, when Supervillain was still alive.

They both had known the day they took Hero in, that he wouldn‘t be part of their evil schemes forever. Back when Villain was still a teenager and Supervillain used to mentor him.

Hero underwent the same training as him and they often went on missions together. The boy was just way too kindhearted to even hurt a fly. Too sensitive for the lion‘s den the underground of City had evolved into, swarming with more hideous criminals each year. He always had been.

Supervillain was well aware of that fact when he took Hero in. Supervillain would also have given Villain a nice strong beating if he could see him right now. Redirecting his anger about his own mistakes and bad personnel management towards Hero. Blaming him for Supervillain‘s death although he knew better. Yelling at him although he knew he‘d turn into a little puddle of misery right after.

I‘m such an idiot!, he thought. He was the older one. He should have more self-control. At least towards his family. He took a few deep breaths and went after Hero. The door to his room was closed, but he knew Hero didn‘t lock it. He knocked carefully and entered shortly after, when he didn‘t get a response. The blinds were closed, leaving the room immersed in twilight. Villain could hear muffled sniffling from where the bed was and strained his eyes, to make out Hero‘s hunched form, sitting with his back to the wall and hugging one of the pillows. He inched closer, sitting down on the edge of the mattres. The foam dipped under his weight, informing Hero about his presence.

"Hey, um, listen", Villain stammered. He‘d never been good at apologizing.

"I am...I...I miss him too y‘know...", Hero sniffled, followed by a choked sob. "But he‘s...he‘s not coming b-back...".

Villain blinked. Once. Twice. Until he could follow Hero‘s train of thought. "Oh, Hero!", Villain sighed, scooching over to his friend until he sat next to him. "I know you do and it wasn‘t your fault! I‘m...I‘m sorry I said such horrible things! I just...", Villain‘s mind reeled for an explanation. It hadn‘t been Hero‘s fault. He had always known that.

It‘s just so hard not to look for a scapegoat when someone you love is taken from you. The agency had used Hero for their own wicked plans. To get to Supervillain.

Hero‘s continuous silent quakes went on and interrupted Villain‘s thoughts.

"It wasn‘t your fault!", the criminal repeated, this time with more emphasis, wrapping his arm around Hero‘s shoulders. "I had a really messed up day because...I just can‘t trust my men like I trusted you and that‘s...it‘s kinda stressful and...it just really sucks! But that‘s not your responsibility. I used you as my personal lightling rod back there. I‘m sorry I was such an asshole."

Hero still sobbed into the pillow silently, but soon shifted his weight to slouch against Villain‘s side. "...‘m sorry!"

Villain sighed, wrapping his arms around the younger one to rock them both back and forth. "Stop apologizing. It‘s not like you miss him any less than I do. He raised both of us after all."

Hero nodded shakily, letting Villain calm him down bit by bit, until his sniffling died down eventually. "I want to be there when you need me", Hero whispered after some time. "I really do. I just can‘t...the way you‘d like me to...and..."

"Hey, I know! I know", Villain assured him, squeezing a little tighter. "You‘re already doing plenty. You take care of everything here at home so I always have a place to return to, even though that hero business of yours is quite taxing too. You worry on my behalf, patch me up after fights and watch my back at the agency as good as you can, even though it gets you in trouble all of the time. That‘s really more than enough, buddy! Are you done with crying? Please be done! I‘m starving by now."

Hero couldn‘t help but chuckle at that. "Wow! So you just came to console me so I would make you dinner?"

Villain could hear the grin in his voice even though the pillow muffled Hero‘s protest. "You‘d never abandon a person in need of help, would you?"

Hero ellbowed him with renewed vigor. "Get your ass off my bed!"

so i kind of alluded to it on my previous post but if zuko sees his relationship with any of the gaang as a foil to his sibling relationship with azula, it’s aang. 

in the season 1 finale, zuko compares the two directly:

zuko:  I finally have you, but I can't get you home because of this blizzard. There's always something. Not that you would understand. You're like my sister. Everything always came easy to her. She's a Firebending prodigy, and everyone adores her. My father says she was born lucky. He says I was lucky to be born. I don't need luck, though. I don't want it. I've always had to struggle and fight and that's made me strong. It's made me who I am.

here zuko makes a lot of assumptions. he is implying that because aang is a prodigy like azula, everything must come easy for him. we as the audience know this isn’t true (he doesn’t know aang’s background at this point), but it does speak to his insecurities in terms of his sister (foreshadowing to his season 2 interactions with azula.) 

contrast that quote with what zuko says to katara in the season 1 finale:

zuko: you rise with the moon, i rise with the sun.

he sees katara as evenly skilled as himself. a match, but with opposite bending elements. and that’s even reflected in the way that katara wins their match at night, but zuko wins their fight when it’s day time.

zuko (especially in season 1) sees azula as superior to him, someone who he’ll never catch up to in skill because she’s a prodigy. in contrast, he’s seen katara when she first started to bend and made mistakes (barely able to form a water whip, and the time she accidentally froze sokka). zuko has seen and acknowledged her growth throughout the show and he sees her as someone who has also had to struggle and work hard to get to her current bending capacity.

and like @sokkastyles​ already said: 

Aang is the younger prodigy who he resents for being better than him in the beginning, the one who is imbued with power and authority by birth that he lacks, the “lucky” one.

continuing on, i wanna talk about crossroads of destiny. the zk scene again emphasizes how similar zuko sees katara to himself (not azula.)

he is calm, open, and vulnerable throughout these scene with katara. he almost allows himself to forget they’re on opposite sides because of how much they have in common. but once aang comes in:

there’s that same anger and resentment he has towards azula. 

i’ve seen some people refer to the crossroads of destiny as zuko some hidden meaning of choosing between “sisters,” but i disagree. it’s framed as a decision between azula and aang, and for zuko, it’s supposed to be an impossible choice. 

so we see him go after aang with an uncontrolled intensity that is so different from the brief peace he was able to achieve with iroh in ba sing se. and it’s easy to imagine that this is because he’s taking his frustration that he can’t express towards azula, out on aang, as a substitute. 

we see lingering bits of zuko’s resentment towards aang, even after he joins the gaang. it’s unintentional, but from the firebending masters, we can see how he initially still holds onto that insecurity a bit.

when he initially realizes he lost his firebending he tries the forms over and over, while aang is just chilling:

aang: that one felt kinda hot

zuko: don’t patronize me!

aang: sorry sifu hotman

zuko: and stop calling me that!

even though aang was being genuine, it’s easy to imagine that zuko is connecting this moment back to times with azula growing up. especially because we know how much his ability to fire bend is tied up into his self worth. 

he’s given the chance to “prove” himself by teaching someone who he considers superior in skill to himself (aang, just off virtue of being the avatar), and when he fails, that rears up the resentment again. 

but then, their dynamic shifts after zuko admits he doesn’t want to rely on hate and anger anymore. zuko has several moments where he encourages aang (who he was previously resentful towards) because he sees that aang needs it. he’s able to realize that aang isn’t a prodigy in the sense that he thinks he’s superior to anyone else. and he’s also able to see that aang has his own insecurities as well, as they get to know each other more on their trip. he has phrases like: 

zuko: you can do it. i know you can. you’re a strong kid.

aang: [Turning to Zuko.] We could turn back now. We've already learned more about fire than we'd hoped. [Aang shows Zuko his flame and gives a weak smile.]

zuko: No, we're seeing this through to the end.

and aang’s face as a result: 

so in a sense, zuko is able to be needed as a big brother. and to offer support because aang is unsure about himself. 

also this scene reeks of sibling energy:

but anyways, i think aang/zuko’s found-sibling relationship foils azula/zuko’s sibling relationship because even though they start off with resentment for similar reasons, his dynamic with aang changes.

i see people say that the reason they think katara is zuko’s “surrogate sibling” is because she provides him with care and kindness, unlike azula. the same could be said about aang.

whereas azula has made it clear that she doesn’t respect zuko’s bending, aang values and respects zuko for his skills (even when he was struggling at the beginning of the firebending masters.) aang is able to reciprocally affirm zuko as well:

aang: i don’t care what everyone else says about you. you’re pretty smart!

i also find the last few lines after they meet with the dragons to be significant:

zuko: That's why my firebending was so weak before. Because for so many years, hunting you [Turns toward Aang as screen zooms out to show Aang.] was my drive ... it was my purpose. [Aang turns toward Zuko as well.] So when I joined you, I lost sight of my inner fire. But now, I have a new drive. [Cut to Zuko's face as screen zooms in.] I have to help you defeat my father and restore balance to the world.

i’d like to think that part of losing/letting go of his anger/resentment in part was because of the new relationship he was able to build with aang. in a sense, he’s able to repair a “pseudo-sibling” relationship with a found-sibling who willingly accepts him. 

i love that they’re address their confidence issues regarding firebending together. 

and how, when they rushed to show the rest of the gaang after they returned:

aang: [Cut to Aang and Zuko demonstrating the Dancing Dragon to the rest of Team Avatar and friends.] With this technique the dragons showed us, Zuko and I will be unstoppable.

zuko has gained a found-sibling relationship that isn’t about comparing their firebending to each other, but working as a team. it’s so so meaningful that aang says “zuko and i.” the idea of zuko having a sibling relationship where he’s able to share his love of firebending and not feel insecure about it ...🥺. him having a “sibling” who wants to hang out with him and do things together and gushes about it with the confidence that aang had when he said they would be unstoppable. 

oh! not to mention that i’ve seen people say that zuko/katara have a sibling relationship because she teases him in EIP. but like .. that’s such flimsy logic. and also? aang and zuko have their mutual teasing moments especially in the firebending masters, and it’s just adorable.