Zukaang Week 2013: Day 1 - Foe
Zukaang Week Day 1: Foe
Title: Avatars of the Elements - New Foe in Town
Type: AU Fanfic
Characters: Zuko, Aang (main)
Rating: T
Warnings: Aang Aangsting, dwelling on minor character death
Summary: Aang, Katara and Toph are Magical Girls. Basically.
If Aang was completely honest, he did regret it when the time finally came to finish their foe off once and for all. Aang valued life; that was the main reason he hadn’t hesitated when the weird talking otter named Sokka had told him he was destined to become the Avatar of Air and protect Republic City from the invading dark forces that sought to drain the life force of its inhabitants.
Aang’s first enemies had been either dark spirits or people corrupted by those spirits to become what Sokka referred to as ‘Phoenix Kin’. They could always be restored to their mundane human forms after the dark energy they were channelling was exhausted and the spirits could be sent back to their home dimension with an easy spell. As such Aang had never taken a life in those battles, he hadn’t needed to.
But then ‘the Man with the Phoenix Tattoo on His Hand’ had appeared. By all accounts he seemed fully human, only he was as dark as the spirits had been and couldn’t simply be banished back into the abyss. He’d been as unbeatable as he was unknown to Aang and it was only after the boy managed to find the other two destined heroes that they could face down the Man on equal footing.
For the longest time their enemy had been nameless to them, Katara sometimes referring to him as ‘Phoenix’ after his prominent marking while Toph came up with more creative forms of address. However, when they had finally tracked the Man down to where he held his base, where all the dark spirits he controlled came from, they had finally learned his real name. He called himself ’Zhao, the Third Generenal of the Phoenix King’.
Aang often joked about how his friends’ adventures as the Avatars of the Elements were like something out of a comic book, and as such he should have known the story would take a large shift once the identity of the villain was revealed. He simply hadn’t expected that the change would be death. Sure, Zhao was unrepentantly evil and vile and only cared about draining the people of their spiritual energy, but a life was a life and Aang was having difficulties adapting to the sudden serious tone of the ‘adventure’.
“It wasn’t like we killed him with our own hands,” Katara had told him, probably trying to convince herself of the fact as well. “The battle drained him so much he lost control of his magic. And Sokka always tells us Fire Magic is unstable by nature.”
Aang, Toph and Katara stood for Air, Earth and Water Magic respectively while Zhao had used Fire Magic, so it did seem like Fire was something evil instead of a part of the set. It would be so much easier to deal with all of this if Aang could let himself think about the matter in black and white tones like that. Then he wouldn’t be filled with so much regret over seeing a human life end like that.
“At least it’s all over now,” Toph had finally mumbled when Aang had pressed her on her feelings on the matter. Toph didn’t like discussing her feelings; she had always been the most duty-oriented of them all. Either that or she genuinely enjoyed bashing in spirit heads, as much as the beastly abominations had heads anyway.
A shadow of a smile made its way to Aang’s face. Thinking about the friends he’d made during his battles certainly revealed at least one good thing in his life currently. The other good thing was, as Toph had said, that it was now over. The citizens of Republic City were completely safe, even if Aang, Katara, Toph and Sokka had never found out what Zhao had been planning to use the spirit energy he stole for.
Just as Aang was ready to stop with his think-while-walking routine and go on a head-clearing run in the park instead, he caught sight of a young man clearly struggling under the weight of the oversized pile of books in his arms he was unloading from the back of a minivan. Aang was instantly beside the youth, bringing up an additional hand to keep the pile from tipping over.
“Hi there”, he spoke cheerfully through the book pile. “Shouldn’t you rather have these in a box? Or at least carry a smaller bunch at a time or something?”
Unintelligible grumbling came from the other side of the barrier of paper, but Aang could recognize a stubborn “I’m fine,” well enough.
Aang grinned widely, even though the other couldn’t possibly see it over the mountain of books. “If you want I could carry some of these for you.”
“You really don’t have to.” The voice was more forceful now, but not completely standoffish. “I can handle it.”
“You’re the one who doesn’t have to,” Aang insisted. “Here I am, willing to assist and offering an easier way to do this. You shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss help.”
The other didn’t immediately rebuff Aang again; that was a good sign. Then, finally, the man replied: “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.” Aang picked up the topmost hardbacks and supported them against his own chest, finally seeing the other person’s face.
At first Aang’s instincts were on fire with a fight or flight response that the teen couldn’t entirely understand until he really looked at the other male and noticed the almost otherworldly golden eyes. Phoenix Kin had eyes like that, lit golden by the power of the spirits controlling them. But there was nothing spirit-like about this young man who was doing something as mundane as carrying too many books to handle instead of trying to eat the souls of passer-bys.
The golden eyes were currently glaring at Aang rather suspiciously as the young man’s brows lowered in a frown. “What?”
“Oh, ah.” Aang released a startled laugh. “Just, uhm, wondering if I should be introducing myself now or something.”
The man kept his glare going for a moment longer before the intense gaze, harsher due to the cold color of the eyes, shifted away and he said dismissively: “If you want to.” With that he turned around and headed through the propped open door into a dimly lit shop.
Aang quickly followed after the other male and noted that the shop was filled row after row with empty shelves. A soon-opening bookstore most likely. Aang watched the other male place his pile of books on top of the desk at the front of the store. The teen hurried to follow the other’s lead and glanced sideways at the look of intense focus on the man’s face. Or then, every expression the other wore just seemed intense because of the way the lightly-colored eyes seemed to shine in the dim lighting.
“I’m Aang,” Aang finally managed the force out. The man finally met his eyes again.
“Zuko.”
“Nice to meet you, Zuko.” Aang offered a hand to Zuko, unsure if the other would take it, and was pleasantly surprised when he did. Aang smiled widely at this and was saw that Zuko’s face also softened somewhat. Aang couldn’t help but notice the armband adorning Zuko’s wrist. It seemed like such an unnecessarily colourful addition to the otherwise dark-colored ensemble he was adorned in, with its bright blue gemstone that gleamed in the rays of sunlight that streamed through the store windows.
“That’s a nice wristband,” Aang commented as he released the other’s hand, just in case Zuko was wondering why he’d frozen again. “Blue suits you.”
“I wouldn’t know,” Zuko spoke briskly. “It was a gift.”
Something in the other’s tone indicated that the topic was closed and Aang decided that Zuko possibly just didn’t enjoy small talk. So he just turned towards the door and shot at the older male: “Well, those books aren’t just going to magically float themselves in place so let’s get on that.”
It was hard to tell with the combination of the dim lighting and Zuko’s apparent emotional range of gruff to less gruff, but Aang was almost certain that there had been a twitch of a smile to Zuko’s lips before the older male nodded and followed him out.
---
It took the better part of an hour of unloading books before Aang felt he’d been helpful enough that Zuko could chase him off. Although the fact that there was perhaps a single lapful of books left in the van might have had something to do with it as well.
Zuko hadn’t expected such a warm welcome when he’d arrived in the city. He certainly hadn’t expected a complete stranger to stop and offer, no, insist on helping him. The human world was much different from the mess of depravity Zhao had described it as. Then again, Zhao had never tolerated Other Kin, always preaching the superiority of their kind over all others.
Taking the last of the books inside the store, Zuko closed the door after himself carefully. Then the man waved a hand in a slow arch, prompting the books to begin shelving themselves with the guidance of his magic.
The presence of the mortal had hindered Zuko from using his magic to take care of unpacking, forcing him to do menial labour. Boxes Aang had said; Zuko would need to rely on such assistance if he intended to pass as a regular human being.
That was when Zuko noticed the blue gem on his wrist pulsing with warmth and the youth shot a hurried glance through the window, to the direction Aang had run off to. The idea that formed was instantly rejected. Aang had a powerful spiritual core and as such would make for a fine Phoenix Kin, but he had been sent here on a different mission entirely and should not be wasting resources on getting sidetracked.
His task was rather different from that of General Zhao, entrusted to him personally by their leader. His task would be to find the true identity of this Avatar of the Air that kept foiling Zhao’s plans and had finally destroyed the general. There was potent magic shielding the would-be hero from all locator and foretelling magic, so it fell on Zuko to find the boy and his friends the old fashioned way.
By creating havoc and seeing who stepped in to stop him.
---
Author’s Notes: This feels like a pattern for my AtLA AUs: Aang meets Zuko who needs help, Aang helps a grudging Zuko and then it turns out Zuko can pretty much take care of himself anyway.
Edit: I forgot to mention: all of my Zukaang Week entries will be set in this universe. So prepare for more plot/world building.
Title: Avatars of the Elements - New Foe in Town
Type: AU Fanfic
Characters: Zuko, Aang (main)
Rating: T
Warnings: Aang Aangsting, dwelling on minor character death
Summary: Aang, Katara and Toph are Magical Girls. Basically.
If Aang was completely honest, he did regret it when the time finally came to finish their foe off once and for all. Aang valued life; that was the main reason he hadn’t hesitated when the weird talking otter named Sokka had told him he was destined to become the Avatar of Air and protect Republic City from the invading dark forces that sought to drain the life force of its inhabitants.
Aang’s first enemies had been either dark spirits or people corrupted by those spirits to become what Sokka referred to as ‘Phoenix Kin’. They could always be restored to their mundane human forms after the dark energy they were channelling was exhausted and the spirits could be sent back to their home dimension with an easy spell. As such Aang had never taken a life in those battles, he hadn’t needed to.
But then ‘the Man with the Phoenix Tattoo on His Hand’ had appeared. By all accounts he seemed fully human, only he was as dark as the spirits had been and couldn’t simply be banished back into the abyss. He’d been as unbeatable as he was unknown to Aang and it was only after the boy managed to find the other two destined heroes that they could face down the Man on equal footing.
For the longest time their enemy had been nameless to them, Katara sometimes referring to him as ‘Phoenix’ after his prominent marking while Toph came up with more creative forms of address. However, when they had finally tracked the Man down to where he held his base, where all the dark spirits he controlled came from, they had finally learned his real name. He called himself ’Zhao, the Third Generenal of the Phoenix King’.
Aang often joked about how his friends’ adventures as the Avatars of the Elements were like something out of a comic book, and as such he should have known the story would take a large shift once the identity of the villain was revealed. He simply hadn’t expected that the change would be death. Sure, Zhao was unrepentantly evil and vile and only cared about draining the people of their spiritual energy, but a life was a life and Aang was having difficulties adapting to the sudden serious tone of the ‘adventure’.
“It wasn’t like we killed him with our own hands,” Katara had told him, probably trying to convince herself of the fact as well. “The battle drained him so much he lost control of his magic. And Sokka always tells us Fire Magic is unstable by nature.”
Aang, Toph and Katara stood for Air, Earth and Water Magic respectively while Zhao had used Fire Magic, so it did seem like Fire was something evil instead of a part of the set. It would be so much easier to deal with all of this if Aang could let himself think about the matter in black and white tones like that. Then he wouldn’t be filled with so much regret over seeing a human life end like that.
“At least it’s all over now,” Toph had finally mumbled when Aang had pressed her on her feelings on the matter. Toph didn’t like discussing her feelings; she had always been the most duty-oriented of them all. Either that or she genuinely enjoyed bashing in spirit heads, as much as the beastly abominations had heads anyway.
A shadow of a smile made its way to Aang’s face. Thinking about the friends he’d made during his battles certainly revealed at least one good thing in his life currently. The other good thing was, as Toph had said, that it was now over. The citizens of Republic City were completely safe, even if Aang, Katara, Toph and Sokka had never found out what Zhao had been planning to use the spirit energy he stole for.
Just as Aang was ready to stop with his think-while-walking routine and go on a head-clearing run in the park instead, he caught sight of a young man clearly struggling under the weight of the oversized pile of books in his arms he was unloading from the back of a minivan. Aang was instantly beside the youth, bringing up an additional hand to keep the pile from tipping over.
“Hi there”, he spoke cheerfully through the book pile. “Shouldn’t you rather have these in a box? Or at least carry a smaller bunch at a time or something?”
Unintelligible grumbling came from the other side of the barrier of paper, but Aang could recognize a stubborn “I’m fine,” well enough.
Aang grinned widely, even though the other couldn’t possibly see it over the mountain of books. “If you want I could carry some of these for you.”
“You really don’t have to.” The voice was more forceful now, but not completely standoffish. “I can handle it.”
“You’re the one who doesn’t have to,” Aang insisted. “Here I am, willing to assist and offering an easier way to do this. You shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss help.”
The other didn’t immediately rebuff Aang again; that was a good sign. Then, finally, the man replied: “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.” Aang picked up the topmost hardbacks and supported them against his own chest, finally seeing the other person’s face.
At first Aang’s instincts were on fire with a fight or flight response that the teen couldn’t entirely understand until he really looked at the other male and noticed the almost otherworldly golden eyes. Phoenix Kin had eyes like that, lit golden by the power of the spirits controlling them. But there was nothing spirit-like about this young man who was doing something as mundane as carrying too many books to handle instead of trying to eat the souls of passer-bys.
The golden eyes were currently glaring at Aang rather suspiciously as the young man’s brows lowered in a frown. “What?”
“Oh, ah.” Aang released a startled laugh. “Just, uhm, wondering if I should be introducing myself now or something.”
The man kept his glare going for a moment longer before the intense gaze, harsher due to the cold color of the eyes, shifted away and he said dismissively: “If you want to.” With that he turned around and headed through the propped open door into a dimly lit shop.
Aang quickly followed after the other male and noted that the shop was filled row after row with empty shelves. A soon-opening bookstore most likely. Aang watched the other male place his pile of books on top of the desk at the front of the store. The teen hurried to follow the other’s lead and glanced sideways at the look of intense focus on the man’s face. Or then, every expression the other wore just seemed intense because of the way the lightly-colored eyes seemed to shine in the dim lighting.
“I’m Aang,” Aang finally managed the force out. The man finally met his eyes again.
“Zuko.”
“Nice to meet you, Zuko.” Aang offered a hand to Zuko, unsure if the other would take it, and was pleasantly surprised when he did. Aang smiled widely at this and was saw that Zuko’s face also softened somewhat. Aang couldn’t help but notice the armband adorning Zuko’s wrist. It seemed like such an unnecessarily colourful addition to the otherwise dark-colored ensemble he was adorned in, with its bright blue gemstone that gleamed in the rays of sunlight that streamed through the store windows.
“That’s a nice wristband,” Aang commented as he released the other’s hand, just in case Zuko was wondering why he’d frozen again. “Blue suits you.”
“I wouldn’t know,” Zuko spoke briskly. “It was a gift.”
Something in the other’s tone indicated that the topic was closed and Aang decided that Zuko possibly just didn’t enjoy small talk. So he just turned towards the door and shot at the older male: “Well, those books aren’t just going to magically float themselves in place so let’s get on that.”
It was hard to tell with the combination of the dim lighting and Zuko’s apparent emotional range of gruff to less gruff, but Aang was almost certain that there had been a twitch of a smile to Zuko’s lips before the older male nodded and followed him out.
---
It took the better part of an hour of unloading books before Aang felt he’d been helpful enough that Zuko could chase him off. Although the fact that there was perhaps a single lapful of books left in the van might have had something to do with it as well.
Zuko hadn’t expected such a warm welcome when he’d arrived in the city. He certainly hadn’t expected a complete stranger to stop and offer, no, insist on helping him. The human world was much different from the mess of depravity Zhao had described it as. Then again, Zhao had never tolerated Other Kin, always preaching the superiority of their kind over all others.
Taking the last of the books inside the store, Zuko closed the door after himself carefully. Then the man waved a hand in a slow arch, prompting the books to begin shelving themselves with the guidance of his magic.
The presence of the mortal had hindered Zuko from using his magic to take care of unpacking, forcing him to do menial labour. Boxes Aang had said; Zuko would need to rely on such assistance if he intended to pass as a regular human being.
That was when Zuko noticed the blue gem on his wrist pulsing with warmth and the youth shot a hurried glance through the window, to the direction Aang had run off to. The idea that formed was instantly rejected. Aang had a powerful spiritual core and as such would make for a fine Phoenix Kin, but he had been sent here on a different mission entirely and should not be wasting resources on getting sidetracked.
His task was rather different from that of General Zhao, entrusted to him personally by their leader. His task would be to find the true identity of this Avatar of the Air that kept foiling Zhao’s plans and had finally destroyed the general. There was potent magic shielding the would-be hero from all locator and foretelling magic, so it fell on Zuko to find the boy and his friends the old fashioned way.
By creating havoc and seeing who stepped in to stop him.
---
Author’s Notes: This feels like a pattern for my AtLA AUs: Aang meets Zuko who needs help, Aang helps a grudging Zuko and then it turns out Zuko can pretty much take care of himself anyway.
Edit: I forgot to mention: all of my Zukaang Week entries will be set in this universe. So prepare for more plot/world building.