Zuko - Tumblr Posts

i love this type of AU so much!! Like, Ursa running and taking little Zuko and Azula to the south pole is such a cool idea. I read an AU on ao3 recently where when Ursa realized she was going to have Azula she faked her death and took little 1 year old Zuko to the south pole. The AU also had Ursa running away when she was 7 or 8 from her parents and ending up on Kyoshi Island and meeting Kya and they dubbed each other sisters in that AU, but this post reminds me of that

au where ursa takes the kids and runs and goes to the south pole because idgaf and then she meets single mom kya whos husband tragically died in battle and they become fridged mom powercouple and also we have one set of siblings who have to go and save the avatar

My Avatar Yue AU

So, in this AU Yue is the Avatar, but I guess that was pretty obvious by the title. A few pockets of airbenders survived and one of them sought refuge in the Northern Water Tribe (the Northerners respect the air nomad culture and don't meddle with it. as for teaching women bending, female airbenders learn airbending, if only for the fact that they aren't considered learning combat because air nomads are pacifists)

Yue knows she can waterbend, but is only allowed to learn healing because the Northern Water Tribe is still sexist. Nobody knows Yue is the Avatar for a long time, Arnook figures it out when Yue is about 12-13 and keeps it from everyone because the north shouldn't get involved with the war. Aang is an Airbender only, and he is born in the North Pole. Aang and Yue are best friends.

Shortly before Yue's 16th birthday she overhears her dad and Pakku talking in another room: Arnook wants to tell Yue she's the Avatar, but Pakku is trying to convince him otherwise. Yue ends up saying something (i'm not sure if I should word it as a confrontation because Yue doesn't seem like the confrontational type [yet] but more just shock and 'you were keeping secrets about me, from me'). Yue tells Aang about a day later and he suggests going to the South Pole (they don't know all the waterbenders there are gone) we still have Appa, so they decide to run away (they each pack a bag first, and Yue leaves a letter for her dad). Yue's Avatar guide animal is gonna be some sort of rabbit hybrid, I just don't know what to cross it with.

Yue isn't going to learn the elements in order, mainly because she has a master airbender with her from the start.

Sokka is 17 in this AU, so in my mind he was just old enough to go with his dad and all the other men. At some point more recently he got separated from everyone else and ends up trying to find his way to the South Pole for some reason. Also, he has a scar, but I'm thinking he got it in a really stupid way, like he slipped down a hill with some sharp rocks or something.

Ty Lee is an airbender, too. Azula and Ty Lee find this out at the same time. Ursa tried to be a better mom for Azula, so Azula actually cares about at least one person in this (Ty Lee) and they run away from the Fire Nation and kind of just hide in the Earth Kingdom woods. Maybe Azula does some random vigilante shit. I don't know what I'm doing with Mai yet, though.

I'm debating if Katara left the South Pole at some point earlier. She might have because she wouldn't have a reason to leave like the same timeline, I just need to find a new motive for her to leave (probably going to find Sokka for some reason. Maybe Hakoda sent a message that Sokka got separated from everyone else?), and maybe she left when she was like, 13. I'm thinking that maybe she ends up stranded in the fire nation and gets taken in by none other than Hama. Katara hasn't had her emotional growth and is still Katara from the beginning of season 1 and she doesn't have Sokka or Aang for moral support and I think she would be a bit more impressional... aka, I'm gonna have Hama teach Katara waterbending and bloodbending.

So, back to plot. Yue and Aang start travelling to the south pole, of course they are stopping along the way and will meet some people. First, in the semi-north woods of the Earth Kingdom, Yue and Aang meet Azula and Ty Lee. Now, I don't think Yue trusts them... yet, and neither does Azula (as in she doesn't really trust Yue and Aang) Ty Lee is more trusting, and so is Aang, especially after he finds out Ty Lee is also an airbender. Azula and Ty Lee agree to join Aang and Yue. Yue and Azula agree to sort-of trust each other.

Soon enough, Aang agrees to start teaching Yue and Ty Lee airbending as they travel. Ty Lee has already airbended a bit and can pick up on the techniques to improve a bit easier. Yue on the other hand, has never airbended before and has to figure out how to do it. Maybe Yue is slightly jealous that Ty Lee is getting it quicker than her. After some help from both of them she'll get it.

As they head further south Azula reveals stuff about the comment (I have no idea how to get Roku to tell Yue about the comet and all that stuff, and Azula would know when the comet is coming, even if she's been gone for at least a year). Azula also currently refuses to teach Yue any firebending; half because she doesn't think Yue can handle another element yet, and half because she doesn't want to try to train someone (and probably doesn't yet trust herself to teach someone).

They end up a short while north of Kyoshi Island when a strange boy they don't know comes out of the trees. This boy is Sokka. They help Sokka get to the south pole to see his sister, but he also tells him that his sister, Katara, is the last waterbender in the south pole, severely deflating Yue. They still accompany him. They all find out Katara left about half-a-year earlier to find Sokka. Zuko has been tracking the person he's hearing about, the Avatar. Zuko however, still believes the Avatar is an airbender. So, hims and Iroh have been tracking the Avatar across the globe, to the south pole. Zuko still captures Aang under the impression that he is the Avatar, and Aang just goes along with it because he wants to protect his friends. Yue, Sokka, Azula, and Ty Lee go to rescue him. Azula is not in any way happy to see her brother, and still feels like she is better than him, I'm not sure if she'll get involved if not just so I can leave Zuko's reaction to her being there for later.

Soon enough, Azula agrees to teach Yue the basics of firebending. I think this might be the hardest element for Yue to master, Yue is the embodiment of water (specifically moon water) in my head, and fire is the opposite of water. if anyone has any other ideas for what the hardest element for Yue to get would be, please leave a comment.

Anyway, from there we are gonna briefly go to Kyoshi Island. They won't stay long enough for Zuko to follow them there, though. I just need them to meet Suki.

Now, when they get further into the Earth Kingdom they meet Toph. Yue and Azula know how to talk to upper-class people and are able to subtly lie to convince Toph's parents to let her come with them under the guise of Avatar political meeting things. Toph will be starting to train Yue earthbending after a little while.

I haven't figured out how Zuko's redemption would go in this yet, or how the battle of the north happens, if it even does.

They will be meeting Katara at some point, I haven't figured out if it will be when they go to the fire nation or before that. The whole Eclipse invasion will still happen. Katara will definitely be at least slightly more aggressive, essentially a bit of Dark!Katara. She would definitely be extremely aggressive towards Azula specifically. She also still hasn't had any sort of resolve of her mother's death, and it has fuelled her anger (through Hama's manipulation, I'm gonna call it that because she's using Kya's death as a point to make Katara angry at the fire nation) like, she's probably willing to kill someone in this AU, and more likely to actually do it than canon Katara.

Katara is gonna teach Yue combat waterbending, in exchange Yue could teach her healing and Katara can become a bit closer to canon Katara.

This post was originally gonna have multiple fic ideas I have for AtLA but this post got really long with this fic alone, so, I'll talk about other stuff later on.

Also, a bit of this was inspired by another tumblr post, but I never kept the link, so I can't link it, I'm sorry. I also don't remember who the post was by.

Avatar The Last Airbender fan art created by Rocket Axxonu 😍

This is a still from the first chapter of Baithin/Ogro's incredible ATLA fanfic - Distorted Reality. If you haven't read the entire story, I highly recommend you do: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3952155/1/Distorted-Reality

The fanfic was brought to life through Rocket Axxonu's beautiful fancomic. Here's the link to her DeviantArt: https://www.deviantart.com/axxonu

Check out the full fancomic and other fanfic comics on fanon.co

Wow everyone wants to kill Zuko huh?

[ID in alt text] 

but yeah anyway finished my rewatch and literally

Roku - wanted Aang to kill Zuko in the comics

Azulon - ordered Ozai to kill Zuko 

Ozai - initially planned on going through with Azulon’s order, later tried to kill Zuko on the Day Of Black Sun

Ursa - assassinated Azulon

Zuko - asked Aang to kill Ozai

Azula - “I’m about to become an only child >:3c” shot Zuko with lightning etc etc

Zuko has lightning scars

But not just on his chest. Everytime he redirects lightning the current going through his fingers, down his arms, across his body and out through his other hand is so great that it leaves nerve damage on the tips of his fingers, where the the lightning enters his body.

And with this nerve damage comes small thin and long scars that run down his fingers and along his forearms before they begin to fade. I just think it's a really cool character design, especially with the colour of his lightning scars ( the one on his chest would look like a starburst of white instead of the reddish hue after it heals properly) and that scar on his chest also spans out to a larger area.

Everytime he redirects lightning bc azula is cray cray the tips of his fingers become a harsh red temporarily and steam rolls off of his body as he cools down. His hair becomes frazzled from the amount of electricity he's holding.

There's so much more character design potential with zuko. I love it when I see artists draw zuko with more scars other than the ones his face and chest.

Does anyone want to try my fic?

👉👈

Is it perfect? No.

Is it finished? Also, no.

Do you go back from time to time and cringe at your own writing? Absolutely!

…

Anyway, here it is.

👇👇👇

👆👆👆

* little witty comment that hopefully gets you to click the link*

Is over the top Zutara nonsense with almost no self-awareness your thing? Look no further than Chapter 17 of The Canon of Kinder Spirits👆👆

(They kiss in this chapter, you guys!)

Rewrites this summer 😊

Me: I don't have a type!

My favorite characters in books/tv series:

Me: ... Okay, I'm starting to see a pattern.

What if (ATLAB)

I love Zuko (who doesn't really ?) and I find him hilarious, even at the beginning.

He's such a dumbass.

So much that it would have been funny to see s1 Zuko being a reluctant and unplanned firebender teacher to Aang.

Aang would try to firebend during one fight against him and Zuko would be like 'what ? What's that? You call that firebending ? With that form ? What a weak punch, I will show you firebending !' and proceed to make a perfect demonstration of the move, with easy to understand explanations, while beating the shit out of Aang for his sloppy punch.

Aang would be so confused (but happy too) to have free lessons from his ennemy.

Katara would be murderous and ready to fight but she would keep her mouth shut because at least Aang was learning.

Sooka would be chill about it, especially with the old man tea. He's good company while Aang gets his ass handed to him by an angry and shouty teen. Iroh cryptic comments were sometimes useful too.

Iroh would be on his 'let's socialise my feral nephew' plan. To his surprise, it was kind of working.

And Zuko would end up too invested in the Avatar progress without realising it. He would have mock fights, lessons plans and progression notes ready for the next time he found the Avatar. He would shout about his abysmal form during fights without thinking and not make the combat too difficult from the start to see the progress.

He would be a perfect teacher if he wasn't trying to catch the Avatar.

And then his sister would appear and everything would go to shit.

I drew this instead of doing homework

Ya’ll think the Gaang/ Iroh would be disappointed if Zuko ended up marrying for political reasons rather than love?

Definitely not angry, but disappointed?

Appa hated it, at first. Fire was the element of the enemy, and Appa’s time away from his family only solidified that notion. Fire destroys, fire is an agent of chaos. Fire has no master. Fire burns.

Appa had thought it was over, that his weeks of flying the Earth Kingdom alone trying to find Aang would be cut short when he didn’t have the strength to fight his way out the his chains underneath Lake Laogi. He was smarter than most other animals, and knew his death was approaching much quicker than he ever thought.

He thought he would die by fire, not by earth.

Even with the Blue Spirit mask on, Appa still knew who had come to see him in chains. He reared up an anger and fear, but the metal links clanked taut, and he could not even get close to the figure.

Then, Prince Zuko has let him go.

It would sometimes get cold being so high in the mountains, the wind whistling through the odd structure of the Western Air Temple. Sometimes, Aang and his friends would curl around the Fire Prince, Aang’s claimed space always with his head pillowed against his firebending teacher’s belly, his cheek turned into the fabric of Zuko’s shirt. Sometimes the Avatar would drool a little, but Zuko would just give a gentle smile, and not bother to wake him.

When is was raining and the temperature dropped even farther, Zuko would sometimes breathe a small breath of fire above them, warming the air around them.

Aang’s arms would unconsciously wrap tighter around Zuko’s waist, humming in approval at the additional warmth.

Appa wasn’t afraid of Zuko’s fire.

Not when he was teaching Aang how to do the same thing, not when he was the one who freed him, not when it was his breathing that kept them warm on chilly nights.

Sometimes, when they were all asleep, including Zuko, Appa would snuggle against the Fire Prince’s head, (as well as he could, anyway) and did his best to keep him warm, too.

Fire was no longer an enemy, fire was his family.

Honestly what I would not have given for Season 3, redeemed Zuko to have been ridiculously passive to everything Katara said to him before they had their field trip.

Katara: “You won’t have to worry about your destiny anymore. Because I’ll make sure it ends right there. Permanently.”

Zuko: “That’s fair.”

Katara: “Maybe you’re just not as good as you think you are.”

Zuko: “No you right.”

Zuko: “I don’t deserve this.”

Katara: “Yeah, you don’t.”

Zuko: "So we are in agreement."

Katara is just absolutely baffled because he literally just won't let her insult him because he insults himself.

No one insults Zuko but Zuko.

The amount of sheer joy Iroh must have felt when Izumi was born

Let’s be real.

The day Ozai banished Zuko was also the day he lost the war.

“Uncle?”

The light knock came at the door to the Jasmine Dragon’s office,set back away from the dining room. The teashop had been closed for about an hour now, and Iroh had been working on paperwork in the back room. The setting sun streams through his window, and his seat was comfortable and his tea was hot.

He hadn’t expected anyone to still be in the restaurant- so he startled a little at the voice, until not only the voice but the word registered.

His heart fluttered a little, a smile pulling at the corners of his lips. He was happy in Ba Sing Se, he was, but every day his heart ached a little for his nephew, wanting to be with him.

The door cracked open, and Iroh stood up to greet his nephew. The young man sensed permission to come in, and the smile in his eyes nearly brought tears to Iroh’s.

Before Iroh was able to get out of his seat, Zuko had already crossed the room, placing a brightly colored package on the desk. “It’s good to see you, Uncle. I know you weren’t expecting me, I hope I’m not interrupting anything?”

Just the thought of Zuko interrupting anything seemed outlandish to Iroh, as Zuko was more important than anything in his life. “No, no, of course not, nephew. But what brings you here? Surely the throne is keeping you busy.” Iroh hoped there was no bad news.

In response, Zuko gestured to the package he had brought in, smiling, “I brought you something.”

Iroh looked down. The package was long and rectangular, like a book. It was wrapped neatly in thick red paper, a simple golden bow was elegantly wrapped around it.

He picked up the package, looking up at Zuko, who gestured for him to open it. Iroh slowly pulled at the ribbon, undoing the bow. The red paper was easily unwrapped, and Iroh was truly shocked at what laid in his hands.

Mounted in wood and glass, was a painting. In a delicate hand, black ink stretched across parchment, both smooth and jagged lines curving into the roots and branches of a tree.

It was beautiful, and must have cost a fortune, as he surveyed the details in the background behind the tree, the small and low buildings making a bustling market. Intricate blades of grass dotted the landscape, the sky and clouds painted so lightly they almost weren’t there. The skyline met a wall, that stretched across the back of the city…

Iroh stared. The details slowly began to click into place, and before he could even attempt to stop them, tears sprang to Iroh’s eyes.

“Zuko, this…this is…”

“I thought that, since he’s there, the tree should be immortalized in someway. To preserve the memory.”

Iroh was staring at a painting of the tree in Ba Sing Se, the tree his son was buried under.

His smile wobbled, and he looked up at his nephew, who had a light smile on his face— Zuko seemed hesitant to say more, as if he wasn’t sure if his uncle’s tears were of joy or not.

But his uncle immediately moved around the desk towards his nephew. Zuko was a fair bit taller than him now, at least a good 6 inches, so Iroh’s hug ran around Zuko’s waist, putting his head on his nephew’s chest. He squeezed tight, tears slipping from his eyes.

“Thank you. Thank you, Zuko. I love it. I love it.”

“I’m glad you do— I was a little worried it would be…too painful.”

Iroh shook his head against his nephew. “No, no. I miss Lu Ten, every day, but… I also have you.”

Iroh could just make out the faint beat of Zuko’s heart against his cheek, his second son, wonderfully alive.

“Whenever it becomes too much, I think of you. You are what gets me through the bad days. I love you.”

“I love you too, Uncle,” there was a smile in Zuko’s voice, “Happy Father’s Day.”

Modern!A:TLA AU Headcanons regarding transportation:

Aang:

-rides a bicycle

-saving up for a Nissan Leaf (refuses to get anything else)

-calls Katara if he needs to go anywhere long distance (he has a seatbelt for his Old English Sheepdog, Appa)

-has AUX cord privileges: plays pop and classic 80s rock (ex. Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” or anything by Shawn Mendes)

-rolls down all of Katara’s windows on the highway

Katara:

-Toyota RAV 4

-has 7 first aid kits in her trunk

-always goes 5 MPH below the speed limit

-is denied AUX cord privileges (too much Taylor Swift, Sokka complained)

-Bath and Body Works air freshener

-has never been pulled over

-DDS (Designated Driver Supreme)

Sokka:

-Ford F-150 (he bought it from Suki)

-award for most parking tickets

-5 months behind on his oil change

-SOMETIMES get the AUX cord: plays electronic music from YouTube channels or popular rap (ex. Eminem’s “Lose Yourself”)

Toph:

-the Queen of Uber

-the most fun on road trips

-had AUX cord privileges, but they were revoked when she made a playlist that was just 72 minutes of Toto’s “Africa”

Zuko:

-either an Audi or a Lexus

-inside and outside of car is immaculate

-regrets having leather seats in the summer

-Little Tree Black Ice air freshener

-gets pulled over the most

-occasionally gets the AUX cord: plays Panic! At the Disco, Fall Out Boy, and select Avril Lavigne songs (think “Complicated” era)

-Iroh cannot drive therefore Zuko has to drive him everywhere: he insists on paying for gas but Zuko never lets him

-maybe has a motorcycle??? IDK I feel like he and Sokka could be Motorbike Buddies

Bones

Skeletons of war aren’t in the closet, they hide in plain sight. 

The first sign of war is on display in each one of the air temples: actual skeletons of a people who were killed amidst kindness, left hollow by the passing of a century.

The Fire Lord who helped end the war will return to one of these temples, years after the war has been won. He will go alone, and he will scour the Southern Air Temple for weeks. 

When he returns, he will gift the Avatar with the record of his birth, found in a library turned to dust, dirt, unburnt. 

The Avatar will cry, and feel more connected to his new family and his old than he ever has before, but the Fire Lord knows the Air Nomads will never come back. 

The second sign of war is the soldiers through the Earth Kingdom, disciplined and barbaric alike. 

The same Fire Lord will remember a young boy with his brother stolen for the front lines, who turned on him when he knew who he (his family, his legacy) really was. He will remember a girl’s kindness, repaid in rapacity. He will remember all the the charred earth he had seen, and a boy who died beneath a lake. 

The villages will be rebuilt, the soldiers brought home, and a baby ostrich horse will find a new home. A Fire Nation village, nestled in an Earth Kingdom forest, will be instructed to leave the intricate hideouts in the trees where they are. 

The Fire Lord won’t stay in these towns long enough to hear them say thank you, feeling he would break if he ever heard such a lie as gratefulness to him.  

Third, the destruction of the Southern water benders, an entire bending discipline now resting on the shoulders of a single water bender, made terrified by the prospect of unyielding control under the light of a full moon. 

He will release the prisoner who had taught her to blood bend into the water bender’s custody, and lets her decide what she sees fit (she looks into her eyes, blue bearing into gray, and demand imprisonment for eternity, both in body and in spirit).The young Fire Lord will see the relief and gratitude in her eyes, and ignore the loud protests of his advisors, who wanted the woman executed. But looking at Katara, he feels as though the Fire Nation should get no say in the matter. 

And the fourth is the Fire Lord himself, broken by a lineage of war and deceit, and even though he tries, even though he is reassured he has done more than what anyone expected of him, gone above and beyond, he will never be able to shake the feeling of guilt for a heritage he did not choose. 

He hides this skeleton in the closet, and smiles for the other nations, for his friends, but he feels it in his bones and in his soul. Every night he takes out the skeleton he made of these bones and dances with it, in the form of pacing, shaking, the thought of rest ever so a foreign concept. The night he arrives at the Southern Water Tribe (for the second time) greeted by Sokka with an embrace (he remembers tossing him to the side before), he will lay awake and clench his jaw, trying so hard not to think about Katara, the last water bender in the south pole. He will help rebuild the villages and towns and pay reparations to the Earth Kingdom, doubting his choice only in the case of Yu Dao, and even years later, is scared to think he actually made the wrong choice. He will help the Avatar rebuild the ties to the spirit world, replanting trees into a lush forest, a statue watching them gratefully in the distance. He will grip his hands, plaster a smile on his face, when Aang’s voice hitches when he talks about the air benders, and waits until he is alone at night to sob. 

The Fire Lord is haunted by ghosts and bones alike, the balance within him forever off kilter. So the Fire Lord carves every lost water bender, every Earth Kingdom family ripped apart, and every air nomad corpse into his own bones, a promise to always be redeeming, a darkness he takes with him to the grave.