#jetokko

Iroh clutches him tighter. “I was never angry with you. I was sad because I was afraid you might lose your way with me gone.”

Zuko looks off to the side for a moment. “I didn’t lose my way but that’s only because I had friends.”

Iroh lets him go to look him in the eye. “Friends can only help, Zuko. You did it on your own. And you did it by yourself. And I am so happy you found your way here.

Zuko lets out a wet laugh. “It wasn't that hard, Uncle. You have a pretty strong scent.”

Iroh grins. “Like the scent those boys left on you, no?”

Zuko flushes. “Uncle, please no.”

Iroh laughs. “Just know if those boys ever hurt you, they will know why I am known as the Dragon of the West.”

Zuko smiles. “I would expect nothing less.”

***

A squirrel runs along a branch before cutting to an aerial view of the rock formation. 

Birds fly past as Momo and Aang sleep on the rock formation. 

Aang slowly wakes up and yawns. 

He drowsily sits up and notices something.

Aang squints at something in the distance. “Wait. Is it just me, or are those mountains getting bigger?”

Momo chitters, grabbing a berry to eat it. 

Aang bends down and uses airbending to launch himself up. 

A tall tree that Aang lands on is his support to gaze across the vast forest. 

As he looks forward, Momo flies around and lands on his shoulder. 

Aang turns around to show a wake behind the ‘island’.

Aang jumps off the tree, panicking on his face. “They're not getting larger, They're getting closer! The whole island is moving!”

Aang leaps out from the brush and jumps into the water. 

Aang dives down as Momo lands on a branch looking down at where Aang entered the water and chitters. 

Aang swims down to inspect the ‘island’. 

Suddenly, a giant paw moves past him. 

Aang hovers for a moment in shock before swimming up to the surface. 

Aang emerges, gasping for breath, and Momo lands nearby.

“It's amazing, Momo! The biggest animal in the world! I've gotta to swim around and find its face,” Aang gushes.

Momo flies above Aang, who is swimming in the water below. 

***

Zuko sighs. “I hate to say this but Uncle, you're the only person other than the Avatar who can possibly defeat the Father Lord.”

Toph frowns. “You mean the Fire Lord.”

Zuko huffs. “That's what I just said!”

Iroh gives him a look before thinking. “Hmmm….”

“We need you to come with us!” Zuko insists.

Iroh puts down his tea cup. “No, Zuko, it won't turn out well.”

Zuko continues to speak. “You can beat him! And we'll be there to help.”

Iroh sighs heavily. “Even if I did defeat Ozai, and I don't know that I could, it would be the wrong way to end the war. History would see it as just more senseless violence, a brother killing a brother to grab power. The only way for this war to end peacefully is for the Avatar to defeat the Fire Lord.”

Zuko thinks for a minute. “And then….then you would come and take your rightful place on the throne?”

Iroh smiles at him. “No. Someone new must take the throne. An idealist with a pure heart and unquestionable honor. It has to be you, Prince Zuko.”

Zuko briefly looks away. “Unquestionable honor? But I've made so many mistakes.”

Iroh nods. “Yes, you have. You've struggled; you've suffered, but you have always followed your own path. You restored your own honor, and only you can restore the honor of the Fire Nation.”

Zuko looks down. “I'll try, Uncle.’

“Well, what if Aang doesn't come back?” Toph inquires.

Iroh purses his lips. “Sozin's Comet is arriving, and our destinies are upon us. Aang will face the Fire Lord. When I was a boy, I had a vision that I would one day take Ba Sing Se. Only now do I see that my destiny is to take it back from the Fire Nation, so the Earth Kingdom can be free again.”

Realization dawns on Suki’s face. “That's why you gathered the members of the White Lotus.”

Iroh smiles. “Yes. Zuko, you must return to the Fire Nation, so that when the Fire Lord falls, you can assume the throne and restore peace and order. But Azula will be there, waiting for you.

Zuko huffs. “I can handle Azula.”

Iroh shakes his head. “Not alone. You'll need help.”

Zuko nods. “You're right. Katara, how would you like to help me put Azula in her place?”

Katara grins maliciously. “It would be my pleasure.”

Sokka interrupts them. “What about us? What is our destiny today?”

Iroh looks at him, knowing glint in his eyes. “What do you think it is?”

Sokka ponders it for a second. “I think that, even though we don't know where Aang is, we need to do everything we can to stop the airship fleet.”

Toph nods. “And that means when Aang does face the Fire Lord, we'll be right there if he needs us.”

Jet grins. “We’ll kick some Melon Lord butt.”

Toph and Jet fist bump and the heavy mood lessens slightly.

Toph and Suki board an eel hound, careful not to make it angry. 

Jet, Sokka and Piandao are on the ground beside it.

Piandao pats the Eel Hounds side before handing Jet a map. “Nothing runs faster over land or swims quicker than a giant eel hound. The air ship base is on a small island just off the Earth Kingdom shore. You should be able to intercept the fleet within a day's journey.”

Sokka bows. “Thank you, Master.”

Jet salutes lazily before jumping on the eel hound.

Sokka hugs Piandao tightly. 

Zuko watches from on top of Appa, next to Katara.

He was terrified.

What is he never saw these people again?

“Wait!” Zuko yells.

He jumps off Appa and goes to the eel hound.

He goes to Toph first.

He holds the young girl tightly in his arms.

“Please don’t die,” Zuko whispers. “I’ve always wanted a good younger sister.”

Toph smiles, but there are tears in her eyes. “Thanks for being such a good big brother.”

Suki grabs Zuko tightly. “I’m gonna miss you, princess.”

Zuko laughs wetly into her neck. “I’m gonna miss you too, Suki.”

And finally came the hard part.

He goes up to Jet and Sokka. 

Sokka looks at him with one look and surges forward to kiss him. “We’re going to make it.”

“You better,” Zuko responds.

Jet hugs him and presses his lips to the top of his head. “We’re going to win, sweetheart. I know it.”

Zuko nods shakily, unable to say anything.

Piandao smiles at him gently as the rest get on the eel hound again.

Zuko walks over to Iroh after hugging Piandao.

Zuko clears his throat. “So if I'm going to be Fire Lord after the war is over, what are you going to do?”

Iroh looks wistfully into the sky. “After I re-conquer Ba Sing Se, I'm going to re-conquer my tea shop, and I'm going to play Pai Sho every day.”

He flips a pai sho piece into Zuko’s hand.

Zuko hugs Iroh close. “Good. You deserve it.”

Zuko gets back on Appa.

The two groups nod at each other, ready for what’s about to come.

Katara smiles gratefully down at Iroh. “Goodbye, General Iroh.”

Iroh smiles at all the children looking at him and feels his heart shatter.

Because they were all children in the end.

Orphaned, abused, neglected, and oppressed kids.

“Goodbye, everyone. Today, destiny is our friend. I know it,” Iroh whispers.

The eel hound sets off followed soon after by Appa. 

The White Lotus wave the kids goodbye.

“They’ll make it,” Piandao says to Iroh.

Iroh smiles.

“Uh, sure, I guess? I’m not really busy or anything, so it’s ok,” he replies, uncertain. Sokka keeps his stride. Day classes had just ended, so they were just walking back to their dorms. They lived on the same floor, right across from each other, so walking up wasn’t awkward. Soon, they reach their floor and come to their doors.

“Crap, I forgot my keys, and Jet’s not supposed to be back until later. Mind if I crash at yours for now?” Zuko shrugs; it was a common occurrence by now, so he turned to let Sokka in. Closing the door behind them, he drops his bag haphazardly on the floor and goes straight to the fridge. 

“Do you want something to drink or eat?” he asks, rummaging through it for something to eat. Sokka makes a noncommittal sound. 

“I mean, there’ll be tons to drink tonight, if you get what I mean,” he says from his newly acquired place on the couch, where he was scrolling through Netflix for something to watch. 

“But if you have any chips or something I could go for that.”  Zuko pulls out a Sprite and a bag of Doritos and goes to sit with Sokka. 

“Did you find anything good to watch?” he asks while opening the large bag and popping his drink open. 

“Mhm, yeah. This one’s pretty good,” he says, the screen showing a crime and action TV show. They watch maybe the first five minutes before Katara, Zuko’s roommate and Sokka’s younger sister, bursts into the apartment. She runs frantically towards her bedroom then comes back out towards the kitchenette. 

“Zuko, do you know where I put my lab report? I need it to pass my final, and my final’s in less than 10 minutes,” she asks, still panicked. He wracks his brain; didn’t he see that report on their shared desk earlier? 

“Uh, I think it’s on the desk-” he barely manages to say before she runs off again. 

“Thanks, see you later guys, bye!” Katara says as she practically sprints down the hall. He looks at Sokka who just shrugs and unpauses their show. 

They sat there like that for nearly an hour before the party was supposed to start, so Zuko left Sokka there to watch the show while he went and changed. They cross the hall together and knock on the door. Jet opens it, and gestures at them grandly; he’s already tipsy, because otherwise he wouldn’t have welcomed them as such. 

“Do you want to help us set up?” 

“Sure, why not?” 

The two of them (plus a useless Jet) get the drinks, food and audio system all set up to use. After setting up, people pour in quickly. Jet gets even more wasted, and by ten minutes, Zuko’s the only one who’s still sober. 

“Zuko, come dance with us!” Sokka says, sidling up to him, slightly drunk. 

“Uh. No thanks, I’ll pass,” he replies, inching away from the drinks so that Sokka doesn’t get completely inebriated. 

“Why not? You never drink with us,” Sokka says, practically throwing himself on top of his friend. 

“That’s okay. I’ll dance later, when Kat gets here.” Sokka frowns, despondent. 

“You only ever hang out with her! She’s not even cool, like me! Am I not good enough?” He pouts, like a child. Zuko laughs mirthfully. He reaches over to ruffle at his hair. 

“Of course not! Kat’s just the only one who doesn’t get completely wasted like you guys,” he explains. Sokka still pouts. 

“Hmph. Suit yourself,” Sokka says, turning away from him. Zuko rolls his eyes.

“Fine. I’ll dance.” 

Five songs and three drinks later, Zuko is incredibly tipsy and high-strung. Katara made it to the party during his third song, and she had watched him from the food and drinks table amusedly as he danced. She laughs as he makes his way down to her, attempting to weave through the throngs of people. 

“Damn. Pretty boy went off,” she teases good-naturedly. 

“Shut up, stupid,” he mumbles drunkenly as he pours himself another glass of the probably-most-likely-poisoned punch. She glances at his face and laughs again.

“Stupid? That’s the best you can do?” 

He screws his face up at her like a child. “Shut up.” 

“Whatever you say, stupid,” she shrugs, turning back to her drink.  He scowls at her. Then he proceeds to drunkenly sway over to the speaker. He picks up the phone that was playing the music and switches it to a much better song- Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley, the king of the century. Immediately, the room is filled with drunken singing and the dance floor is completely clogged. 

Katara sighs but watches them all amusedly. These were honors and AP students in one of the best universities of the world, and yet they all acted like children. 

Slowly, people start pouring out, leaving an amused Katara, wasted Sokka, dizzy Jet, drunk Zuko, emotional Aang, and slightly high Toph. 

“Let’s play spin the bottle,” Sokka says, slurring his words.Quiet murmurs of agreement fill the room.

Aang ends up kissing Toph, with many noises of disgust. He pecks her lips as quickly as humanly possible and they both wipe their lips aggressively afterward. 

Sokka goes next, and lands on his boyfriend. He crosses over to Jet and their kiss goes on… for a bit too long, until Katara clears her throat. 

“Uh! That’s enough of that, thank you. We don’t need to see your exhibitionism.” Toph looks in Aang’s direction, and both of them make retching noises. Zuko looks oddly flushed and hurries to spin on his turn. 

He lands on Katara. They share a quick kiss and pull away as soon as possible.

“It’s like I just kissed Sokka but I actually care about the person this time,” Katara said, gagging.

“Preach,” Zuko mumbles, wiping his mouth. Toph spins again, landing on Sokka. They barely brush lips. 

“This is gross! Why are we even doing this?” Toph complains. Zuko shrugs. 

“It was Sokka’s idea, not mine,” Aang says when everyone turns to look at him. 

“Sure,” Katara said. She spun and landed on Jet. 

Both make a face but kiss very quick and pull away.

Aang laughs and Sokka grins. Zuko spins. He gulps when he sees where it lands. The tip of the bottle points at Sokka. Zuko looks up- Sokka grins at him.Zuko leans in, and Sokka meets him in the middle. 

His breath tastes like the beer they’d been drinking earlier, and he nips at Zuko’s lips, biting lightly. Zuko opens his mouth slightly, allowing Sokka in. Sokka slides his tongue into his mouth, and Zuko practically moans, until Katara clears her throat. 

“If y’all want to make out there’s a bedroom literally right behind us,” she informs them, deadpan. Sokka smirks, wolf-like, and pulls Zuko and a thoroughly inebriated Jet into the aforementioned room. 

Zuko's blush lights aflame- was this really happening? 

The door clicks shut. Sokka pushes them onto the bed, kissing him soundly. 

“You know,” he says between kisses, “I’ve had a crush on you since we met that day at the library.” 

“R-really?” he gasps as Sokka kisses his neck. 

“Yeah.” 

Jet sits next to them, slightly more sober after drinking a glass of water. 

“Me too. Even though we were dating at the time, we decided that if we ever wanted a… plus one, so to speak, we would have you.”

 Jet kisses his cheek softly. 

“You two really-” he starts, cut off with a gasp as Sokka presses a kiss to his navel. 

“Really liked me?”  Jet smirks, kissing and biting where Sokka had just moments earlier. 

“Yeah.” 

“Mm- me too,” Zuko says between moans. 

“Say it louder, sweetheart.” 

Zuko pouts but tries to reach up and grab it. He goes on his tippy toes but even the top of his head only reaches Jet’s nose. Sokka was about half an inch shorter than Jet but both of them had him feeling tiny. He reached only their shoulders and it was a horrifying prospect that Jet and Sokka had yet to grow taller.

“Give it back,” he whines.

“I don’t remember you being this short, sweetheart,” Jet coos.

Zuko glares for a half a second before purring, “Oh really?”

Before Jet could ask what inspired this sudden change in mood, he’s yanked down by his robe and pulled into a kiss by his usually shy omega.

Subconsciously, his arm lowers, and Zuko pulls away to try and grab it. Jet instinctively moved his arm away, causing them to have a slight miscalculation in the distance between them and the bed.

Zuko trips and falls onto Jet. They both land on the bed, with Zuko sprawled across Jet’s chest. Jet laughs and hugs his omega closer.

“Why have you been acting so skittish lately?” Jet asks after his laughter died down, absentmindedly playing with Zuko’s hair.

“Hama. Her body temperature is lower than Katara. She can do something Katara can’t. I don’t know what, but something is telling me it’s bad. Also, Sokka and his stupid schedule means he’s so busy, he won’t spend time with me,” Zuko replies, half whining.

“Hmm,” Jet says, a small smile on his face. It was a good sign for a relationship if an omega is actively craving their alpha’s attention if it starts to lack. Sokka bursts into the room and whisper-yells, “Tonight’s the full moon and people keep disappearing. Toph keeps hearing voices under the mountain so we’re gonna go there tonight, ok? Also, were you spoiling our omega without me? Jet, we talked about this! Share the pretty omega.” 

Zuko flushes and Jet chuckles while saying, “Fine, give us a second to prepare to go.”

That night, Zuko lit a small flame in his hand to guide the way. They stop at a cave at the base of the mountain.

“We should probably lower the flame. If anyone’s there, they might notice us and attack,” Aang says to Zuko. 

The firebender nods and extinguishes the flame.“Man! I can’t see a thing,” Sokka says.

“Oh no, how horrid,” Toph replies dryly. Sokka winces apologetically and Aang tries not to laugh. They go further into a cave and come across people, chained and tied to the walls. Zuko gasps and immediately moves to try and help the woman closest to him.

“What are you guys doing here? Are you not being controlled?” the woman asks.

“Controlled?” Jet asks as Toph metal bends the woman out.

“An old lady does some freaky bending. You can see where you’re going and what you’re doing but you can’t control your body,” the woman says, rubbing her wrist where the chains had cut into. Zuko presses fiery hands to the metal band of another and carefully melts it enough to let the man escape but not burn him.

“Hama!” Aang yells, realization hitting hard.

“We need to help Katara!” Jet says, alarm clear on his face.

“Go! I’ll stay here with Toph to help these people.” Zuko says.

“But..” Sokka starts.

“No. My dad hurt Hama as a little girl. Clearly she’s taking it out on these people. I need to help them. Go, before it’s too late!” Zuko yells.

Jet looked like he was about to argue but decided against it. The 3 run out and leave Toph and Zuko.

The two of them work in quick succession, burning and bending the chains to help the people.

But the time they’re done, the Moon is at its peak.

“Go. Run. I’ll find you guys with the villagers,” Toph urges the omega.

“Are you sure?” Zuko asks.

“Positive. Go save your alpha’s lives, Sparky,” Toph says with a grin.

Zuko tore through the forest. When he came to the clearing, his blood froze in his veins at what he saw.

Katara held a different bending pose than before while Aang, Sokka, and Jet were in various positions of collapse. Hama’s body contorted and fell in sync with Katara’s movements.

Realisation hit Zuko. He had read a scroll about this before. He had thought it to be a myth but seeing it…. Blood bending. An art only capable of being done on the full moon by a truly capable water bender.The villagers came from behind him and grabbed the old bat. They tied her up and locked her in the chains she had captured them in.

“It doesn’t matter. I already did what I set out to. Congratulations Katara. You’re a blood bender!” Hama shrieks, eyes containing a madness that made Zuko’s whole body shiver. 

Katara collapsed on her knees, tears leaving her eyes at what she had just done.Sokka and Aang stood next to her as comfort.That night on Appa’s back, Katara asks all of a sudden; “Am I a monster for blood bending?”Jet shook his head. 

“No, but you shouldn’t ever do it.”

“Why not?” Zuko immediately asks. Everyone looked at him in surprise but Zuko’s eyes were lit with fiery determination.

“I’ve read scrolls of the most powerful bender having unimaginable powers to hurt and heal. Blood bending is one of them. Fire benders and water benders can raise and drop the temperatures respectively of a person. If they are frozen, they can thaw. If they have a fever they can cool down. But you can also use it to slowly burn or freeze a person. For air bending, oxygen. If a person can’t breathe, an air bender can direct air into their lungs. But they can also rip it out, leaving the person to suffocate. Katara can and will blood bend. It’s a part of her and she could cure wounds with the ability to control someone’s blood. She’ll use it when she is ready,” Zuko said, finality in his voice.

“Preach, Sparky,” Toph said, blowing the hair out of her face. Katara smiles and pulls the omega close and curls around him. “Thank you,” she whispers. 

“We should get up,” Zuko said, stretching on the bed.

“I agre- watch it!” Toph exclaims when Zuko hits her face.

Zuko immediately grabs her chin and analyzes her face to check whether she was going to bruise or not.

“I’m fine, really,” Toph grumbles.

Suki and Katara get up first, Zuko and Toph quickly follow.

By the time they made it to the kitchen, there was breakfast in the kitchen but no boys in sight.

“I’ll check the beach,” Zuko says.

“Me and Suki will go into town. We need groceries. I’ll grab Aang and Toph to go,” Katara said.

Suki’s eyebrows furrowed. “I thought you and Aang…”

Katara shook her head. “That can’t get between our friendship.”

Toph slaps the counter. “Let’s go, people, don’t got all day. I want to go sightseeing.”

Zuko rolls his eyes. “Hilarious, Toph. Real classy.”

Zuko leaves and walks around the beach for a while.

He finds Jet and Sokka on a rock by the shore, their faces unreadable.

Zuko climbs up and sits next to them.

They don’t react.

Zuko bites his lip unsure of what to say.

“Look, I wanted to-” all three say at the same time.

Zuko shakes his head. “No. Me first. I wanted to apologize. I reacted badly. You guys were just trying to make me feel good and I fucked up. I’m sorry and I realized I have to spend as much time with you as possible in case….”

Jet quickly grabs him and pulls him into his lap. “Sweetheart, no, we’re sorry. We messed up badly too. We should have taken you because we love you not for some stupid memory.”

Sokka presses a kiss to Zuko’s temple. “And nothing’s gonna happen. We’ll all make it and celebrate when Fire Lord Jerkbender goes down.”

That pulls a laugh from Zuko.

The three sit like that for a while, basking in the sun.

That is until Aang came barreling into them, shrieking about a snake Toph threw at him.

“Sokka-”

“Just tell me. I won’t do anything stupid.”

“If I had to guess, probably the Boiling Rock.”

“What the fuck is the Boiling Rock?”

“An inescapable island prison inside a volcano surrounded by boiling water.”

“Wow.”

Zuko snorts. “Yeah, wow.” 

Sokka pouts but hugs his omega closer. Suko turns and presses his face into Sokka’s collar.

“Get up!” Toph yelled, throwing mud at them.

Zuko’s nose wrinkles distastefully. Haru laughs from where he’s helping Katara cook rice.

Jet was speaking intently with Teo about something. Jet blows an over-exaggerated kiss to Zuko when he notices him staring.

Zuko rolls his eyes but gets up. Sokka whines at the loss but allows him to leave.

“Zuko, Zuko, Zuko! Duke stole my beads!” Aang cried.

“No, I didn’t! I just borrowed without asking. And my name isn’t Duke, it's The Duke!” The Duke cried.

Zuko was completely lost (when did we get beads), and Katara was wheezing she was laughing so hard.

Zuko eventually calmed the two down and they managed to compromise. 

“Hi, Katara,” Zuko said, hugging the taller bender from behind. He buried his face in the back of Katara’s neck and his hands were held loosely around her abdomen.

“Nice to see you haven’t forgotten me,” Katara teased.

“How could he forget about the person who’s breathing down his back 24/7 to make sure he doesn’t do something stupid?” Jet said from the side.

“Haru, could you make the rice? I’d like to spend some time with Zuko,” Katara asked the Earth bender.

Haru nods and waves them off.

Katara turns and hugs the omega back.

“Wanna go on a walk?” Katara asks.

“Let’s,” Zuko said with a smile.

“Don’t die,” Teo calls from the back.

“Yeah, yeah,” Katara said, waving them off.

“So…” Katara says, looking at Zuko as they walk through the southern side of the forest.

“So what?”

“Have my dad’s gifts had to be used yet?”

“Dear Agni, Katara, no!”

“That’s disappointing.”

“If this is our conversation then I’m turning back,” Zuko threatens, turning around slightly.

Zuko turns but is stopped by a giggling Katara.

“I’m joking, let’s go,” She said, her eyes crinkling with a smile.

They lay on a stream, Katara bending a nice fluffy snow bed to lay on. She made sure it wasn’t cold. Zuko laid his head in Katara’s lap. 

“I missed you,” Katara murmured, carding her fingers through his hair.

“I’ve been by your side this whole time.”

“Not like this.”

Zuko hums in acknowledgment.

They lay like that for a while, Katara half asleep and Zuko already passed out. They are rudely awoken by a crashing noise from their right.

Katara immediately raises a wall of water and Zuko takes a bending stance.

They slowly creep towards the noise to see a couple of monkey-squirrels jumping around on an airship.

“Is that a-” Zuko starts.

“Yeah. And by the looks of it, it’s been here a while.” Katata said with worry etched on her face.

Zuko pokes her cheek. “Don’t do that. It’ll give you worry lines.”

Katara snorts. “Like you don’t already give me worry lines.”

Zuko huffs in irritation.

“Should we tell everyone else?” Zuko asks.

“No,” Katars said, shaking her head. “They’ll only worry. It’s fine. If needed, we’ll tell them.”

Zuko nods. “Can we go and eat now?”

Katara looks shocked. “Oh my god, I didn’t give you breakfast.”

Zuko suddenly sees a turtle duck in the pond. 

Katara was pacing trying to remember the way back when she’s bombarded with the smell of happy omega.

She turns to see a baby turtle-duck sitting in Zuko’s lap.

Zuko, though he would deny it, squealed with joy when more joined the first in his lap.

Katara felt her heart both explode with joy and convulse with pain at the sight. She knew how much Zuko’s mom liked turtle-ducks. She sits next to him and smiles as the mother waddles up to her. She climbs onto Katara’s lap but still watches her kids from her comfort zone.

“We need to go,” Katara said quietly, hating the looks of sadness on Zuko's face.

Katara picks up the babies and puts them into the pond one by one. The mother lets out a sound of thanks and follows her children.

“But I want to pet them more,” Zuko whines.

Katara rolls her eyes. Then a smirk forms on her face.

Zuko looks up too late as Katara throws him over her shoulder, a shriek leaving the surprised omega.

“Put me down!” Zuko demands.

“No,” Katara said as they walked into the temple.

Everyone laughs as Katar puts a blushing Zuko down.

They all laugh, eat and enjoy the rest of the day.

That night, Sokka slipped away from the nest and went climbing on Appa.

He gets to the top only to fall back with a silent yell as he sees his omega with Jet sitting on top of Appa.

Zuko looked over the edge of the saddle with an accusing glare. “You said you wouldn’t do anything stupid!”

“I’m not! I’m saving my dad!” Sokka snapped back.

“Not without us!” Jet hisses.

“What?” Both Zuko and Sokka whisper yell.

“Thanks, man,” Sokka said, grinning as Jet pulled him up on Appa.

“What a great idea. When we get there we can go to the flying bison daycare, have some tea with Avatar Roku, get pedicures with Sozin, and then ask to get your dad back. Clearly they’ll give him to us with no fight at all,” Zuko said, sarcasm dripping with every word.

Sokka looked like he was about to argue but Zuko gave him a look, making him shut up.

“We can take a war balloon. I saw one crashed here on the southside with Katara,” Zuko said.

Sokka huffs but jumps off Appa to walk towards the forest.

“He does know that’s north, right?” Jet asks.

Zuko just sighs.

Eventually, they make it on the balloon with Zuko regulating the flight with his fire.

Jet’s as relaxed and Sokka was anything but.

“What’s wrong?” Jet asks the other alpha.

“We’re very close to the moon. My first girlfriend turned into the moon,” Sokka said.

Zuko turns away from his bending of the firepit. He questions his wording. “That’s rough, buddy,” Zuko says finally.

“That was so condescending, it’s not even funny,” Sokka deadpans.

Zuko smiles but kisses Sokka’s cheek. The water tribesman visibly relaxes after the show of affection.

“I made these balloons with a friend of mine,” Sokka recalled.

“Oh?” Jet says, mildly interested.

“Yeah. Balloons but for war. Then the Fire Nation started to use them for war,” Sokka said.

“If there’s one thing my father knows it’s war,” Zuko mutters.

“Runs in the family, I guess,” Jet said.

Everyone freezes. Zuko suddenly looks beyond pissed.

“How could you say that?” Zuko snapped harshly at the alpha.

“I didn't mean it that way, you’re a good person and-” Jet placates but tears are already burning Zuko’s eyes.

“My uncle was such a great person! He would never fight unless made too. He was like a father to me. He stood by me and showed me love when one else would. And I hurt him. I left him to Azula, no less,” Zuko said, sobs wracking his frail body.

Jet shushes the omega and wraps his arms around him, gesturing Sokka to join.

“Oh, honey, you didn’t leave him. You're going to save him, ok? We’ll bring him back,” Jet coos to the omega.

“I’m sure he still loves you, darling,” Sokka said, the pet names making the firebenders’ sobs lessen.

“I’m sorry,” Zuko says after a minute.

“No, I am. I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry,” Jet said firmly.

“It’s fine. I think we’re here,” Zuko informs the two looking over Jet’s shoulder.

“Holy shit,” Sokka whispers, and , yeah, that pretty much covers it.

Two more bombs make contact- everyone’s awake now, no doubt. Aang takes his glider and jumps off of the building to scope out their attacker; upon seeing the Fire Nation airships, he retreats and turns back to inform the others of it. He airbends the doors shut, but the bombs keep hitting, the noise echoing through the chamber. Soon the top of the temple crumbles, and an enormous chunk of debris nearly hits Katara before Zuko tackles her out of the way. “What are you doing?” “Saving you from being crushed by rocks?!” Zuko calls over the sound of stone hitting the ground. “Okay, I’m not crushed. Get off, you’ll get hurt!” “I’ll take that as a thank you,” Zuko grumbles under his breath as he obliges, moving away from Katara. Toph and Haru bend a tunnel for them to leave through. “Come on! The faster you get over here, the faster we can get the fuck out of here!” Aang tries to get Appa through the tunnel, but the bison refuses to move after what happened in Omashu. He looks to Zuko, who stands facing the airship. “What are you doing?” he calls anxiously. “You guys go! I think this is a… family visit,” Zuko responds, voice laced with venom. Katara looks at him. “Don’t do that! She’ll kill you!” “Zuko, no!” Aang calls at the same time. Sokka sprints up to Zuko. He kisses Zuko soundly before whispering, “I know this is important, but be careful. Meet us when you’re done?” Zuko nods, and Sokka pulls Aang and Katara away from him, leaving to huddle in the tunnel. Zuko winces when a bomb comes close, detonating a few feet in front of him. He firebends a plume of fire at the airship closest to him. Azula rises from a podium-looking device. “What are you doing here?” he hisses at her. “You mean it’s not obvious yet? I’m about to celebrate becoming an only child!” she says, smile unwavering as she kicks two blasts of fire from her feet in quick succession. Zuko aims for her, but it’s difficult to see through the smoke that their blasts have created. He shoots haphazardly, missing her every time. Instead of wasting his time trying to hit her from afar, he jumps onto the airship. Aang and the others still can’t get Appa in the tunnel. “I can’t get him to go in there! Appa hates tunnels!” Aang says frantically. “Aang, there’s no way we can fly out of here!” Jet says with mounting irritation. “We have to find a way!” Sokka intervenes. “We need to split up,” he says, then turning to face the others: “Jet, you lead the others, take the tunnel to the airship. Me and the others’ll take Appa.” Katara whips around to face him. “No! The Fire Nation can’t separate our family again.” Hakoda turns to face his daughter, putting his hands on her shoulders. “It’s okay, Katara. It’s not forever.” Katara pauses before hugging him tightly and running back to Aang and Appa. Sokka hugs him too before running over, too. “Hey, I can see a way through here! If I clear this away, we can fly out through there,” she says, unnaturally optimistic. Suki looks over where she’s pointing. “Uh, there’s a lot of fire in that general direction…” she says, trailing off as she sees Zuko take a hit from Azula, getting knocked down. Aang dismisses her. “We’ll get through, let’s go.” Sokka yanks Toph, Suki and Jet with them. The four of them fly on Appa, Toph raising a wall of rock in front of them as a shield. Azula aims a blast at Appa, and Zuko takes the moment to strike at her. Azula pushes Zuko off the airship, and Katara gasps in shock. The rock wall in front of Appa absorbs most of the blast but disintegrates soon after. Toph curses loudly- they’re too high up for her to get more. Zuko rises on a second airship, and Katara breathes again. Azula and Zuko face off again, exchanging quick blows and blasts, evenly matched. Meanwhile, the other Fire Nation soldiers have caught on that they should be attacking them, so Katara and Aang are occupied, warding the fire off. Aang switches between airbending and waterbending, transferring some of the water to Katara when she needs it. 

Azula and Zuko hit each other with fire-packed pouches, the force enough to knock them both off of the airship. Appa swooshes down in time to catch Zuko, Katara reaching down and pulling him up. 

“She’s not gonna make it…” Zuko says, watching Azula fall. Azula propels herself up, using her firebending like propellers. 

“Of course she made it,” he says, sounding slightly resigned. Katara pats him on the back awkwardly. 

“Huh, camping. Just like old times,” Aang says later, laying on The Duke obnoxiously. 

“Yeah, if you want it to be like old times, I should run around trying to capture you,” Zuko responds jokingly as he passes tea around to everyone. Everyone laughs except Katara, who frowns. 

“Don’t say that sort of thing about yourself, Zuko. We all know that you’ve changed,” she says, and they all grow quiet. The silence is awkward and uncomfortable. 

“Ok, that’s it. Katara, what the hell is wrong with you?” Suki says, exasperated.

Katara recoils. “Nothing.” 

“I’m going for a walk, ok,” Katara said, standing and turning crisply to walk out.

“I’m gonna go follow her,” Zuko said softly, standing to leave.

Sokka and Jet tried to join him but it was Toph of all people who stopped them.

“Look, I know you care. But he needs to do this alone. So sit your sorry ass down before you fuck things up,” Toph deadpans.

“So she can swear but I can’t,” Aang whines.

Over on the other side of the temple, Katara was sitting on the edge of the cliff.

“Katara. Please can you tell me what’s wrong?” Zuko questions.

“Nothing,” Katara said through gritted teeth.

“Katara-”

“STOP TALKING! Spirits, don’t you get it? You aren’t a good person! You chased us around the fucking world and then we forgive you because what? You decided to help Aang once, he forgave you. Sokka and Jet should have left you with Azula- she could have dealt with you just fine. And that's just the beginning! You betrayed your uncle too! You left him when he was nothing but kind to you. My mom was killed because of the stupid Fire Nation. So you wanna know what you can do to make up for your mistakes? Die!” Katara snarled, tears flowing down her face.

Then suddenly, a clear snapping noise echoes in Katara and Zuko’s head.

The Guardian Bond had broken.

Katara recoils.

Zuko looked appalled but his eyes were brimmed with tears, spilling freely.

“Wait, Zuko, I didn’t mean to-” Katara starts.

“No, Katara. You were right. I’m not a good person, but that doesn’t mean you can talk shit about me. I’m done talking. Good night, Katara,” Zuko said, his firm voice betrayed by his tears.

Katara felt her heart shatter. 

Suki laughs. “If Jet and Sokka hadn’t gotten to you first, I would have courted you.”

Zuko lets out a small smile and gets up.

He stretches and sees Suki stand to do the same. He grimaces. This was going to be a long day.

The second they stepped out the door, Zuko was grabbed by two alpha guards.

He yelps in surprise and Suki snarls and tries to keep Zuko close. It takes 4 guards to hold the enraged alpha back and another 3 to pull Zuko away.

Zuko is dragged to a small cot. He’s unceremoniously tossed inside.

Zuko hisses in pain when he hits a wall rather roughly, but he brightens significantly when he sees Sokka and Jet come in.

He refrains from hugging them when The Warden walks in.

“You’re being claimed by these alphas,” The Warden said plainly.

Zuko blinked in surprise. He looks questioningly at Sokka and Jet.

They look at him through their helmets in reassurance.

The Warden grabs a hot iron from the fireplace from the side; Zuko immediately tries to move but is held down by two guards. He squirms uncomfortably.

The hot poker comes close to his ribs where his shirt has risen upward.

Sokka and Jet looked like they were about to protest but a look from Zuko shut them up.

Zuko closes his eyes and bites the inside of his cheek as the hot poker engraves a marking into his skin.

The smell of burning flesh sends everyone in the room into a nauseated state.

Zuko blinks back tears as the burn cools down and The Warden gives Sokka and Jet keycards with a symbol matching the burnt skin on Zuko’s side.

The Warden looks sympathetically towards Zuko.

Zuko makes a face.

Sokka and Jet immediately rush to Zuko’s side.

“What the fuck?” Jet hisses.

“I didn’t know they did that,” Sokka snaps, gently caressing the skin next to the brand.

Zuko flinches from the caress of the sensitive skin. Another burn wouldn’t mean too much, would it? The skin was sensitive from the brand, red and starting to inflame.

“It’s fine. We should go,” Zuko assures his alphas.

When he enters the courtyard, he’s immediately assaulted by the scent of concerned alpha.

Suki looked him over before lifting up his shirt to glare at the brand on his side.

“Bastards,” Suki snarls under her breath.

“It’s fine,” Zuko murmurs, pushing Suki away as people start to stare.

Suki gives him one worried glance before judo flipping Sokka who snuck up behind her.

“Fucking hell, Sokka! You don’t sneak up on a Kyoshi Warrior with years of training and PTSD!” Suki snaps.

Sokka groans. “Ow. But I have a plan to escape.”

“I want in,” a voice says from behind them.

Chit Sang jumped the railing to join them.

“No,” Jet scoffs.

“Then I’ll tell the Warden,” Chit Sang counters.

The three alphas by Zuko seemed to be about to argue but Zuko cut them off with a short and cropped, “Fine. Just shut up about it.”

Sokka sighed but proceeded to tell everyone about the plan.

Everyone nodded and split up to follow the plan.

They put on a show. Chit Sang slams into Zuko on ‘accident’.

“Watch it, bitch,” Chit Sang snaps.

“Who are you callin a bitch, fatass?” Zuko snarls.

Chit Sang swings a fist at Zuko who dodges and retaliates with a whip of fire.

“No firebending!” Sokka dramatically yells.

“Cooler,” Jet said cooly, grinning under his helmet.

The two alphas put Zuko inside the escape cooler.

The Warden approaches. “After your little stunt, I decided to tell Princess Azula to come faster. Watch yourself, omega.”

Jet silently fumas and Sokka tries not to shove The Warden into the cooler.

A few hours later, Jet goes to the cooler.

“Learned your lesson, sweetheart?” Jet cooes, leaning on the doorway.

“Completely, alpha,” Zuko purrs, showing all the nuts and bolts that he unscrewed.

Jet smirks and presses a kiss to his omega’s lips.

They all met up at Suki and Zuko’s cell.

Sokka came running with Chit Sang.

“War prisoners are coming tomorrow. That might be my dad!” Sokka said excitedly.

Chit Sang frowns. “We’re leaving tonight.”

Sokka frowns. “But-” he starts.

Suki interrupted him. “We’re staying. It’s worth the risk.”

Jet shook his head. “Azula will take Zuko if we wait too long.”

Sokka decided.

“I’m staying with Suki and Jet. Chit Sang, take Zuko and go,” Sokka declared.

Zuko immediately scowls. “Why?”

“What do you mean why?” Jet asks.

“Just because I’m an omega, I can’t help? I’m staying,” Zuko said, arms folded across his chest.

Suki lets out a chuckle at the omega’s spite.

“Let’s hope your dad is in that batch,” Jet warns. “For all our sake.”