Forged In Fire || ATLA

Heretic

The Avatar and The Fire Lord/The Runaway

"Mad men define what mad is." - Avenged Sevenfold

🌊⛰️🔥🌪

Zuko emptied the meager contents of his stomach along the edge of his Great-Grandfather's tomb.

Akira Shukaku should have been Aelita.

Akira Shukaku was Aelita, and Fire Lord Sozin had killed him.

Zuko bent over and wretched again, clutching onto the scales of the carved dragons to keep himself from completely keeling over. There had been a time when he was thoroughly convinced he hated Aelita, but Zuko never wanted her to die. Even on his worst days, he didn't want anyone to die. He had tried to save Zhao, hadn't he? He had put a blade in Aelita's hand when Zetzu refused to and he had told her to defend herself.

He wasn't a monster. He wasn't destined to turn into one.

Zuko wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. He wasn't sure what game his Uncle had been playing at in having him come down here but he didn't want to be a part of it anymore.

Still, the Prince had gotten this far. Zuko begrudgingly walked back to the table that held the tossed-about tomes and picked up the fourth of the five scrolls he had been reading. Only one scroll left to atone for Sozin's sins. There had to be more. There had to be redemption.

There wasn't.

"I watched as the cycle of the Akira ended with Shukaku," his Great-Grandfather wrote. Zuko snorted at the falsehood but continued. At least Sozin had gotten one thing right, he knew the Avatar had somehow eluded him.

"I wasted the remainder of my life searching in vain. I know he's hiding out there somewhere. The Fire Nation's greatest threat, the last airbender."

If only that had been true. Sozin's descendants had made the Akira a far larger threat than the Avatar. Zuko didn't care what his brother or Father wanted to believe.

That was a jarring thought too. He didn't trust this new Aelita who had given up and given in. Maybe it was because he didn't want to admit his part in beating her down so much she could have broken. Maybe not. Either way, it bothered him less than it should.

Zuko reached for the final scroll. He only found half. The parchment had been crudely torn, the edges rough and uneven and slightly singed. His eyes began to scan the little bit of text it contained and the Prince soon found himself staring at the beast that was his family's lineage. It wasn't quite complete, but Zuko knew enough of Sozin to know that the man had tried to paint the history of the Fire Nation as having begun with his regime. It listed only those the most important to him.

Fire Lord Yoriko, daughter of Fire Lord Zoryu. Married to Kauro of the Tanaka clan, descendant of Avatar Szeto.

That was a jolt. Slim and diluted or not, Zuko thought he would've been told he had some distant connection to the most revered Fire Nation Avatar in history. Szeto was practically a deity to this day. The crimes of Aang and Roku didn't matter amongst the outer Islands, they still celebrated the festival throne in honor of the former Grand Advisor to Fire Lord Yosor.

Capital Island certainly didn't.

Agni Kai's weren't permitted during the Festival of Szeto. It was considered a spiritual offense to burn others during the celebrations. Zuko's Father had maimed him on the first day of the festivities. His banishment had officially begun before the last.

He shook off his immediate disdain and continued to read about Fire Lord Yoriko, hoping somewhere on the scroll he'd learn whatever it was his Uncle deemed to be so important.