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secret-kkh-fics · 4 years

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Spark Before the Flame | Chapter 2

Due to this not being posted anywhere else yet, please like but DON’T REBLOG my fics.

Chapter Summary:

Old Zuko is sent back into his younger body, and Young Zuko is surprised not just by it happening, but by how much he seems to have changed in 70 years. He’s not the only one who notices the difference, and Old Zuko sits the Gaang down to explain.

Like Falling Dominoes

"So, what if they had a lot of accurate knowledge," Toph scoffed, rice flying from her mouth as she spoke. "Half of that play was bogus anyway, it was all word of mouth. And it's not like they can suddenly tell the future, so stop complaining. We're going to kick that asshole's butt."

Around the table, the gang looked a little more relieved at her words. The future was still uncertain, but Toph's brash attitude helped pick them all up a little after watching that stupid play. There were even a few small smiles as they returned to eating.

"Yeah, it was bogus," Katara agreed. "Like the part where we flew right over the Great Divide without stopping. We had a whole adventure helping two feuding tribes through there on foot!"

"And how I use sound and vibrations in the air to see. Do I look like an airbender to you?!"

Aang chuckled. "Y-yeah. And the scene with Katara and Zuko in the catacombs?! What was with that?"

"Oh yeah. That was totally fake," Toph scoffed sarcastically, earning some confused looks.

"Well, we were trapped in the catacombs, but that wasn't what we talked about."

"So, no talking at all. Gotcha!"

"Toph!" Katara exclaimed in annoyance.

"W-we actually talked about our mothers," Zuko said awkwardly.

Toph just huffed and muttered under her breath. "Damn. Just make out already, the tension is killing me!" Katara was the only one to hear her and she looked at the girl stunned, her mouth hanging open.

However, no one got the chance to ask her why she was looking at Toph like that, because the next moment, they noticed a bright light racing through the sky towards them. Right towards them. It was so fast that they didn't even have time to move out of the way or even attempt to defend themselves. The light crashed down, landing right on Zuko. As everyone other than Toph shied away, they panicked, worried for their friend, making Toph cock her head in confusion. But when the light cleared, he was sitting there exactly as he had been, unharmed.

They watched as he blinked and then looked around at them all in surprise. He looked down at himself, and then, oddly, at his hands, flexing them. Maybe something had happened to his vision? There didn't... seem to be anything wrong with him. Still, he began stretching, lifting his arms up over his head and groaning as the muscles stretched pleasantly. He had an oddly happy surprised expression on his face and let out a quiet chuckle. The entire group froze. They had never heard him laugh like that before.

Okay, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with him, but he was acting... strange.

"Okay, what the hell is going on?!" Toph finally asked.

"Ah, Zuko, are you okay?" Katara was the first to ask.

He looked up at her, as if he was surprised to hear her speak, then looked around at everyone else's concerned faces. As he did, a warm smile lit up his face and his eyes watered.

"Better than you could ever imagine," he told her breathlessly.

"What was that weird ball of light?" Sokka said, a hint of panic still in his voice. "Are you sure you're okay? It didn't hurt you? Did make you extra strong or give you super powers?!"

"Superpowers?" he questioned, raising an amused brow. "You mean firebending doesn't already count?"

"No, that's bending. Of course, it doesn't count."

"Wait, so some ball of light hit Sparky, here?" Toph questioned.

"Yeah, it was really weird," Katara said. "I don't think I've seen something like that since..." Her eyes widened.

"Since what?" Aang asked when she didn't continue.

She blinked, startled by the question, then narrowed her eyes at Zuko slightly before shaking her head. "No, never mind. That was something else."

"Then what was it?" Suki asked. Zuko just shrugged indifferently before seeing his food and happily digging in again.

"You know, palace food in amazing," he told them, "but nothing beats Katara's cooking." He was met by looks of surprise, and Katara's mouth fell open slightly and she blushed.

"Um, thank you. But it's just simple rice..."

"I know... Hey, we should go to the market place tomorrow. We can get some more food, some spices. I could show you some tradition Fire Nation dishes. You'll love the komodo-chiken."

"That... sounds nice, actually," she said. "But, um, won't... we be too noticeable."

The way she hesitated and tried to nicely phrase what she meant made him snort in amusement. "Don't worry, Katara. I've had this scar since I was thirteen. I know how to hide it."

"Th-that's not what I-"

"Yes, it was. But it's fine. I understand. I'm the Fire Prince and we're in the fire Nation. If it makes you feel better, not everyone knows what we look like... Wanted posters and play aside. The other month I came to Ember Island with Azula, Mai and Ty Lee. There were some boys who had no idea who we were and invited us all to a party. It was interesting seeing how they treated us not knowing who we were. Of course, I was in a really bad place at the time and they didn't really like me much. We wrecked their house."

"Because you got angry?" Aang asked, somewhat shocked.

"No, because they were jerks and it was fun," he chuckled, earning more surprised looks. "I got angry and left the party. Broke in here and burnt some of our stuff in a bonfire. Then we all yelled at each other and got some issues off our chests. Then we got bored and went back and wrecked their stuff. Probably not the best move, but very therapeutic at the time."

Toph chucked. "Don't piss off the Fire Nation royals."

"Always a good decision. Get on my father's bad side and he's likely to burn half your face off!" He said it jokingly, but at his words, the entire group fell silent and looked at him in shock. "What? You can't really be shocked he'd do something like that."

"No, I'm not," Katara said darkly. "But did he... Did he..." Her eyes glanced to his scar before settling uncomfortably on the table. He seemed surprised by her unspoken question and a look of resignation came over his face.

"I'm suddenly not feeling so well," he told them, not looking at anyone. "I think I'm going to go lie down for a while." He quickly stood and left the room, his head down.

"Wait, Zuko! I'm sorry, I didn't mean..." Katara faded out behind him.

The last thing he heard was Toph's blunt but sad, "I guess that means yes."

And Sokka's, "...His dad is a dick."

It wasn't until Zuko was in the room he'd used as a child and closed the door that he let out a deep breath and spoke again.

"Alright, alright! Would you stop yelling?" He said aloud.

'No!' said the voice in his head. 'Who are you? What the hell is going on? What have you done to my body? And how do you know about my life?!'

"I will answer all your questions, Zuko," he told the voice. "But please take it down a notch, you're giving me a headache. I forgot how short-tempered and petulant you were." The last part was muttered, but the voice reacted none the less.

'Excuse me?!' he cried.

Zuko chucked and sat on the bed. "Let's sit down, shall we? It's a long story..."

Zuko rose with the sun, as he always did. He stretched and groaned, for a moment surprised about how good he felt. Then he remembered why. He was in the body of his younger self. It seemed that his younger self had forgotten too, because he sensed alarm from the boy.

'What the...? Oh, right...'

Zuko chuckled. "Good morning, young Zuko," he said.

The younger man sighed mentally. 'Yeah, you too, old man.'

The talk the night before had been interesting. He had originally planned to just tell everyone who he was that night, but the boy had been shouting in his head so much it was making it hard to concentrate. When he had hinted to the others about the origin of his scar, the boy went into hysterics. He had come to terms with what had happened long ago, and it was no longer a struggle for him to speak freely of it. The young Zuko, however, had not. And he had desperately begged and threatened him not to tell the others. Instead, he had excused himself, deciding it was wiser to let him know first, since apparently, they couldn't actually hear each other's thoughts.

He had told the boy everything, or at least... all the important bits. It had taken recalling not only certain events in his life, but also his thoughts and feelings at the time to convince him that he really was an older version of himself. And the boy had grudgingly resigned himself to his situation, allowing him to fulfil his task. Older Zuko had expected nothing less. Most of his life he had been nothing if not dutiful.

Of course, that didn't stop the young Zuko from sarcastically commenting on everything. It wasn't until he gave him a very brief and understated view of what the world was like in his time, and some of the sad things that were yet to come that he had sobered up and stayed quiet.

Sighing, he pulled on some clothing, only bothering to properly tie up the pants, since he planned to discard his shirts the moment he reached the courtyard anyway. He grabbed a towel on the way and headed out to the courtyard where there was a perfect view of the sun starting to rise over the sea towards the east. He sat down, crossed his legs, and began to meditate. As he cleared his mind, relaxed and focused on his breathing, he could feel Young Zuko doing the same thing, bringing a small smile to his lips.

It wasn't until the sun had risen over the horizon and into the sky that he stood once more. Going by the silence in the house, he knew that the others weren't up yet, but for a moment he was sure he saw a flash of blue at one of the widows. Remembering Katara's confession from long ago that she had secretly watched him train early in the morning, he grinned, shucking off his shirts and folding them off to the side before beginning on some basic forms. Slowly, he added more and more complicated moves to his routine. He didn't stop until Young Zuko's voice practically shouted in his head.

'Holy crap, how did you do that?!'

Old Zuko smirked. "Years of study and practice. I suppose if you want to start learning early you should pay attention." His smirk turned into a full-on grin. "I haven't had this much energy or ease of movement in years. This is going to be fun!”

And with that, he continued, showing his younger self just how powerful he had become over the span of 70 years, leaving the boy speechless. It made him both proud to realise just how far he had come, but sad to remember that back then, he never thought that such a thing was possible. Growing up with a physically and emotionally abusive father as well as having an inferiority complex because of his little sister had rather fucked him over. It was only his friends and his uncle who had allowed him to realise just how wronged he had been, and just how much better he could be. For too long, he had blamed himself for everything. But he guessed that perspective came with age, as well as wisdom.

He didn't know how long he trained for, but when he finally stopped, pushing his hands downward to release the energy and calm himself he was met by the sounds of whooping and cheering. He looked over in shock to see the entire gang sitting on the steps watching him in awe.

"Damn, Zuko!" Sokka said with a grin. "You've been holding out on us."

"That was incredible!" Aang cried. "Can you teach me those moves?!"

"Some of those were waterbending moves," Katara said in wonder, sounding a little confused by this. "And were there some earthbeding moves in there?"

"Oh yeah, looked real impressive to me," Toph said casually. When he looked at her with a flat expression, she chuckled. "Okay, okay. So, I can't see the fire. But it felt hot, and your forms have improved so much it's insane."

It was Katara that he chose to answer as he grabbed the towel and wiped sweat from his face and neck. "Yeah. Uncle taught me that the divide between elements and nations were just an illusion, and he was right. He created a way to direct lighting by studying waterbending, and since then I wondered how else other bending styles can influence each other. I watched what you lot were doing and tried to see what would happen if I do those moves while channelling my fire. I can't believe you didn't notice before. I was using waterbending moves back in Ba Sing Se. You should try it; multiple style bending has yielded some pretty amazing results."

"I'll say!" Katara said. "Now I want to try some firebending moves."

"Damn, Sparky, that's pretty cool."

"Very resourceful," Sokka agreed. "It's like having a boomerang as well as a sword and a club." He grinned as he compared his own weapons to Zuko's bending styles.

"Zuko can use swords too," Aang piped up. “He’s crazy talented with the dao swords.”

“Yeah, I know. He even studied with Master Piendao!" He looked a little disheartened at this, but it quickly fell away to be replaced by one of excitement and determination. "Hey, Zuko. How about a little swordbending rematch?!"

The made-up word brought a huge smile to Zuko's face as he remembered back to the time Sokka had made it while challenging him to a 'swordbending kai'. It was so stupid, and so silly, and it brought tears to his eyes. He knew he missed Sokka. It had broken his heart when news came that his best friend had died. He and Katara had been devastated, and they did not hear from Toph again after that until they received news of her own death. He had missed him so much... but he didn't realise just how much until now.

Without even thinking, he strode up to the boy and threw his arms around him, pulling him in tight.

"Aah!" Sokka cried, his arms splaying out at odd angles. "He's attacking me! He's attacking me!"

"He's hugging you, Sokka," Katara deadpanned.

"Ughhh! Dude, get off me! You're all sweaty!" He protested instead.

"I missed you, buddy," was all Zuko said, his voice rough.

"Ahh... Yeah. I missed you too?" Sokka gave him an awkward pat on the back, but drew back with an 'ugh!' and wiped the sweat onto his tunic with a disgusted look, then pushed him off.

He noticed that the others were looking at him oddly, and he remembered how back at this point, he hardly ever initiated contact, and the only one he ever willingly hugged without hesitation was Katara. Instead of making him feel awkward, it just made him realise how much he had missed them all, and before he knew it, he was drawing each of them into a hug and telling them so. Suki seemed perplexed, and Aang excided, Toph, of course, protested very loudly, and ended the hug by punching him hard on the arm... He'd forgotten how much that hurt. Of course, Young Zuko was protesting the entire time. Asking what he was doing, utterly baffled.

"Don't I get a hug?" Katara teased when he didn't immediately scoop her up in a hug like he had the others.

With a gentle smile, he pulled her into him, holding her tightly. "I always miss you when you're not around," he whispered in her ear.

Pressed this close to her, he could feel her breath get caught in her throat, and she squeezed him tighter. He couldn't help a wide grin when he felt her fingers spread out, feeling the muscles on his bare back. Katara drew back quickly when she realised what she was doing, a blush on her face. Her eyes flicked to the ground, then back at him, widening as they roved over his torso. Then her cheeks flamed brighter and she looked firmly at the ground again. He glanced down and remembered that he wasn't wearing a shirt.

'Agni, is she blushing?!' Young Zuko exclaimed in his head. 'You made her blush! Why is she blushing?!'

The young man was far from clueless, but he was rather oblivious to his own charm and how he affected women. This came double when it came to Katara, and he seemed baffled that he could make Katara blush. But to Old Zuko, who had become comfortable in his own skin knew exactly why. He had bulked up as he got older, gaining more muscle and broadening out. But even now, as a seventeen-year-old, he was still decently muscled, despite his leanness.

Trying to hide a grin, he picked up his robe and wrapped it around himself, tying the sash. When he looked back up, everyone was looking at him a little oddly.

"What?" he asked, confused about their expressions.

"Um... are you okay?" Sokka asked him.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"Because you're acting really weird!"

'No shit!' Young Zuko grumbled.

"What he means," Suki interjected, "is that we haven't really seen you act like this before. We were wondering what was with the change in attitude..."

"Ah." He sighed. It was probably time he told them. "Why don't we all sit down?"

He took the lead and sat down where he was. Cautiously, the others joined him, sitting down in a circle. Katara sat to his right and Sokka to his left, with Suki beside him, and Aang sitting opposite him. Toph was sitting between Katara and Aang, her hands resting on the ground and supporting her weight. It made her look like she was lazing back and didn't overly care about what was going on, but he knew that it was so she could secretly listen to everyone's heartbeats easier.

"Well, this is looking to be a light-hearted conversation," Sokka said, his tone light, but clearly sarcastic.

Zuko just sighed. "Far from, Sokka. I was thinking best how to tell you all, but I suppose this is as good as any... I'm not Zuko." He was met by wide eyes, full of shock and confusion. He felt them all tense and saw Aang start to rise, so he held his hand up to still them all. "Sorry, that's probably a bad way to put it. I am Zuko. Just... not your Zuko. I am him from seventy-five years in the future."

"Riiiight... Looking pretty good for a 90-year-old there, Buddy," Sokka laughed nervously.

'Great. Now they think I'm crazy.'

He just rolled his eyes. "No, I'm not going crazy. And yes, I am 90, well, 91. I don't look it because the spirits only sent my soul back into my past body."

They all looked at Toph for confirmation of his story and she gave them a slight nod with wide, shocked eyes.

"Then where's our Zuko?!" Katara demanded. She looked angry and afraid, so he smiled reassuringly at her.

"He's still up here," he told her, tapping his head. "For a lack of better explanation, I am the one in control of the body, and he is stuck in his own mind making sarcastic comments. Not the most ideal situation, and I can't imagine it would be very pleasant.-"

'It's not.'

"-But he has accepted it, so I am able to do what I came back to do."

"And what's that?" Aang asked warily.

"Change the future," he said simply, earning many raised eyebrows. He chuckled. "I'm afraid it's a little more complicated than such an easy answer, but that's the gist of it. I come from a future that is... well, falling apart. Many things have gone wrong and it has led to the worlds almost destroying themselves. And it is all a cause and effect from this time. Like falling dominoes."

"Dominoes?" Katara questioned.

"I love dominoes!" Aang exclaimed. "It's this game with these tiles and you have to match up the symbols on them, but it's more fun to stack them on their ends side by side, then knock them over! You tip over the first one and it hits the next and the next and the entire line falls over! It's really fun, but you have to be careful not to knock any down when you're setting it up or you have to start again. Some of the monks used to make art with it!"

"Exactly," Zuko said. "It was just like that. One thing in this time went wrong, and because of it something else went wrong, and another, and another... Things are not good. The devastation from the war never healed. And even worse, it's impacting the spirit world. The spirit world is dying, so the spirits came to me, asking for my help. And, here I am."

"What makes you so special?" Toph asked him. "Is it something to do with your family? With us? Why couldn't one of us do it? Not that I'm complaining, but this sounds nuts!"

"In a way it's about both. I suppose others in Team Avatar could have done it..."

"Ha! Told you Team Avatar works!" Sokka crowed.

"But I was the only one left."

"Hang on, what?!" Everyone's expressions had turned to looks of horror.

"You forget that I am an old man. Almost everyone had died years before. The only one other than me was Katara, and she died when I accepted the task." Katara grew pale. "So, I suppose we died at the same time."

"Wait, died... you died too?" Katara was clearly confused and a little upset.

"To send me back, they had to send back my soul. The only way to do that was to rip my soul from my body, which is not something you survive. I was aware of this from the start. The spirits made sure I was fully aware of the repercussions for me, but it was a sacrifice I was willing to make."

“But why?!” Aang asked. “What is so bad that you got sent back?!”

Zuko huffed. “Didn’t you hear me? The Spirit World is dying. Our world is dying. Everything is dying. Things were supposed to get better after the war, but instead the world fell into chaos. The nations still stood divided, reconstruction programmes fell through, the wealthy fell into poverty while the already impoverished died. What was happening in our world was so bad, it started to affect the Spirit World. And as the spirits died, so did the nature and forces that they protect. The dragons are gone, almost all the spirits are gone from our world, there are fewer benders born every year, … Everything is gone or dying. There is no way to bring it back. The only solution was to go back to a time there was still a way to fix it all.”

“And… and only one thing happened, that caused all of that?” Katara said aghast.

“It’s more complicated than that, but in a sense, yes.”

“What was it?” Suki asked quietly.

“Katara, the Spirits and I discussed everything over many times, trying to pin point the exact moment that things started going wrong. We tried to figure out what was the original domino that toppled the rest, so to speak. It took us months of thinking back through everything that had happened in the last 70 years, but finally we figured out the one single mistake. Everything bad started happening when Aang killed the Fire Lord.”

Author Note:

The idea for this was ‘what if Old Zuko was from the darkest timeline?’ Basically, everyone in the Gaang and the world in general had some of the worst luck. This is, of course, purely for plot. I don’t think any of these things would have happened for sure because of certain decisions, but Aang killing Ozai seemed like a decent catalyst.

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#avatar #spark before the flame

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