#lbibliophile

[Podfic Link] | Length: 1 minute, 49 seconds

Original Work: Once More for Emphasis by @lbibliophile

Clone Wars: kbirb as Fox & Yuurei as Quinlan | Rating: G

Summary: 

“I didn’t say we should kill him.” “No, you really did. Now let’s go.”

Hi,

apart from the fact that it's #whumptober2022 :) tagging the @whumptober-archive would be better for reblogging purposes. For everything else @whumptober should be your choice :) but again: we're mostly relying on the tags.

You have ordered King Bumi adopts Zuko my lucky blogger!

Yung arrested a young boy stealing food in the commercial district of the city and brought him before King Bumi for the boy’s judgment.

As usual, and why was he still surprised why his king did something he didn’t understand, King Bumi had a punishment that made no sense to him or the other guards.

“I declare that this boy for his crime will be... Adopted!” Bumi declared with a big smile.

The boy seemed just as confused, before asking their king, “And just who will be adopting me, your Highness?”

“I will, now what is your name?”

Yung thought he had seen everything, but when the boy answered tone turning challenging and defiant, “I am Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation.”

“Well, you’re now Prince Zuko of Omashu.”

Zuko and Yung blanched at the king’s response, but a royal decree was a royal decree.

The first letter from the Fire Lord after the announcement wanted proof that the new prince of Omashu was actually Prince Zuko.

When Zuko answered with information about the plan involving the 41st Division, Fire Lord Ozai was furious.

King Bumi passed the intel onto the Earth Kingdom generals.

The second letter demanded the return of the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation.

King Bumi answered that there was no Fire Nation prince in his city. The only prince in the city was the prince of Omashu. Had the Fire Lord searched his own country and palace for the Fire Nation Prince? If Bumi found a lost Fire Nation prince he would contact the Fire Lord right away.

When Yung later asked his king why he had chosen to adopt Zuko, Bumi revealed, “He reminds me of an old friend. One from before the war. I met him while on a trip with a friend who I have not seen in many years. I doubt either of them are still around though.”

Yung did not ask again.

And years later when the Avatar arrived in their city, Prince Zuko was sent with that old friend of his king.

After all, the child would be in need of a fire bending teacher and Zuko had studied under Jeong-Jeong. Yung did not ask how his king knew of a fire bender that had defected from the Fire Nation.

All he knew was that he was sad to see his prince go.

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Iron Man (Movies) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Dummy (Iron Man movies) & Tony Stark Characters: Tony Stark Additional Tags: Inspired by Midas and the Golden Touch (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Curses, Magical Accidents, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, ... very carefully, Panic Attacks, no bots were (permanently) harmed in the making of this fic, Bingo Fill, Tony Stark Bingo Mark V, Whumptober 2021 Summary:

The media likes to say that everything Tony Stark touches turns to gold.

Tony knows the tale of King Midas, and he knows there are things far more important to him than mere metal. Magic decides to give him the lesson anyway.

because of the mutual consent/communication, I’ve actually been reading this as pretty much a poly relationship from the start: it was the au name that was the oddest part. But i’m enjoying your exploration of the dynamic

You have placed an order for adoption number 30. Ozai adopts Zuko. (Happy to inspire you! And I love angst! Tag me when you do this because I would love to see it!)

Lee found himself standing in a strange forest, as the Mother of Faces watched him curiously.

“Do you like your new face, your new life, child?”

Lee furrowed his brow and glanced down into the water in the pool seeing his face starring back at him. Dark brown eyes looked back at him. He didn’t know what she was talking about.

But he knew to respect the spirits, so he thanked her.

“I did this once before for a woman, I would advise you to return to the town and find her.”

Lee agreed that he would and then he left.

He had been searching the forest for wild game, and he wasn’t sure how he had come to stand in front of the spirit. But he supposed that he should do as the spirit had instructed.

He stayed the night at a kind couple’s home, and after they told him the story of Love Amongst the Dragons, he had gone to sleep. In the morning he started his search, but he couldn’t find the woman that the spirit had told him to find.

Lee wondered if he told someone what the spirit had told him then maybe he would have more success, but he thought better of it.

A month passed like this, and he decided the woman must have left the city.

So he went to the Caldera hoping the Fire Sages would have an answer for him.

Instead, they brought him to the Fire Lord and after a brief discussion, he was told that with Prince Zuko missing for a little more than a month now,  they needed someone to pose as the Prince, until the boy could be found.

It was wrong, but Lee was hungry and even though he should be searching for the woman that the Mother of Faces had told him about, he agreed. The Fire Sages assuring him that once the true prince was located, they would ask the spirits to guide him to the woman.

So Lee joined the Royal Family and became the Fire Lord’s son.

He quickly regretted it. If he had thought that Fire Lord Ozai would be a kind father, he had been wrong.

Ozai was cruel and while Lee was a better fire bender than the real Prince Zuko according to his teachers Lee was terrified and understood why Zuko had run away.

He tried to run away only once.

His adoptive father burned him for it, telling him the tale of what exactly made Zuko run away.

Lee hated Ozai.

He did make friends with Azula though. She liked how resourceful he was, and so she taught him some of the advanced fire bending she was learning. Azula was the one who explained that her uncle had been banished for helping her brother run away.

General Iroh had been caught during the escape, and no one knew where Zuko had gone. Though Iroh was out searching for the Avatar, Zhao being assigned to keep tabs on the man, so he could not betray them.

Lee wondered if maybe Ozai didn’t want the real Zuko to return.

He didn’t want to think about that.

Years passed like this. And Lee wanted whatever life he must have traded with the Mother of Faces back. It made sense when he thought about it. She had asked him at the time if he liked the new life and face she’d given him.

He and Azula talked at length about what it was that he may have been running away from. At one point she joked, almost hopeful sounding, that maybe he had been Zuko. Lee rolled his eyes and told her that he doubted that, but then he admitted that he did like the idea of Azula being his real sister, even if it would mean that he had run away only to find himself right back where he started.

“You know Father gave the real Zuko the same scar he gave you.”

“He told me.”

Lee had been pretending to be Zuko for three years now.

And Ozai summoned him and Azula to him.

Apparently, Iroh had betrayed them, and he wanted the two of them to go capture the man.

After they left the throne room, Azula turned to Lee and said, “This is your chance to getaway. If the Mother of Faces gives you back your old face, Father won’t be able to find you. You could be free.”

“But I would be leaving you alone here with Father, and I can’t do that.” Lee sighed. She and their friends had been his only allies for the past few years and he didn’t want to leave the girl he had come to think of as his sister behind in this hell.

“She gave you a new face, she can do the same for me, stupid.”

He felt like an idiot.

But they went to the Mother of Faces, and she told them she would only give one of them a different face. Azula told the spirit to give Lee back his old life and face. She would just have to come back next year.

Zuko stood in front of the Mother of Faces. It was a different lake, but he did so with the same face only three years older.

There would be no escape. Not unless they went to find Uncle.

Not to capture him, but to join him.

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark Characters: Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes, Steve Rogers Additional Tags: Workaholic Tony Stark, Bucky and Steve are Good Boyfriends, Care and Feeding of Your Tony Stark, Picnics, Bingo Fill, Tony Stark Flash Bingo Summary:

Tony gets caught up with work, so his boyfriends bring the party to him.