Chapter Text
Gender wasn’t something Zuko really thought twice about before the Agni Kai.
She was born female and grew up as such, though she never understood why her mother would dress her in masculine clothes.
Zuko understood now, she wasn’t Azula, she would’ve been eaten alive as the weak princess of the palace. She had been Ozai’s shame so he never announced her as his daughter, just as his child, leaving her gender to the people to determine.
She’d never been more grateful for anything.
After she was banished she traveled the word in distress, the Avatar wasn’t anywhere she wasn’t going home and she was always going to be the dishonorable child of Ozai.
The first time she truly shielded behind being presented as male was the first time she met Zhao, a year into her banishment.
“Aren’t you a pretty thing?” He had asked her.
Horror had run through her, he could know could he?
There’s was nothing about Zuko that would suggest anything but male, her hair was cut into a Phoenix Tail and her armor left everything to the imagination. Her eyes had widened and she felt the urge to throw up but instead shot back, “Can’t say the same about you!”
Zhao’s face had tightened in anger and he’d boldly requested to speak with her Uncle instead, Zuko was just happy to get him out of her face.
When she and her crew were sailing in the South Pole and spotted the beacon Zuko’s life was filled with something anew, hope. She’d stepped off her ship and had demanded that the tribe handed the Avatar over to her. Zuko watched as the women and children cowered away, not a single man in sight.
That is until a battle cry turned her attention towards a man charging towards her, not man, boy. She flipped him over her shoulder and out of the way with no trouble and demanded the Avatar show themselves.
Then out of nowhere a bald boy in orange and yellow dropped from the sky in front of Zuko and agreed to come with her if she left the tribe alone. Zuko agreed and escorted the Avatar onto her ship, locked him in the brig, and when to her room to write the letter to her father.
He escaped despite the fight she put up and Zuko found herself in a cycle of chase, catch, and loose.
The next time her gender came up was when Zhao boarded her ship after a report of her finding the Avatar escaped.
“I heard you’ve had contact with the Avatar.” Zhao had said to her, Uncle’s presence warm at her side.
Zuko needed to shut this conversation down before it got out of hand, “Well apparently you’ve been listening to gossip, get better sources.”
Zhao’s brow had furrowed and he’d snapped, “I don’t think anyone of your standing should be talking back to me.”
He probably meant her standing as a banished royal but the malicious look in Zhao’s eyes made Zuko worry that maybe he was questioning her from a different standing. Zhao couldn’t know could he? The only people who knew were Mother, the Firelord, Uncle, and Azula.Not the most secure list with Azula on there.
Uncle butted in and filled Zuko’s startled silence, “You’ve been working under us for many years Zhao, I’m surprised you haven’t received a promotion yet.” Zuko stuck close to Uncle’s side and tried to ignore the piercing looks Zhao gave her as Uncle assured Zhao of their failure.
When she heard news of Zhao capturing the Avatar she simply had to know whether or not they were true.
So in a true Zuko manner she donned her Blue Spirit mask and her blades and broke into the high security prison, it was humorously easy.
Once inside she learned that the rumors were true and the Avatar was captured there, Zuko decided she would go through with her plan in freeing him for her own capture. After wandering the halls she eventually located the cell of the Avatar, and got in without a problem. Zuko drew her blades to cut him free, wincing at the sound of his panic as she did so.
Then she turned to leave, she did her part, the Avatar was free and would escape from Zhao so she could capture him instead.
But he yelled after her, “Who are you? What’s going on? Are you here to rescue me?”
She sighed but gestured for him to follow her.
“I guess you are.” Zuko heard him say.
She silently led the Avatar out of the prison, they managed to avoid detection until they reached the main wall of the prison.Zuko was considering how to get both of them to the top undetected when the Avatar shot a gust of wind under her feet and she was blown on top of the wall with a very undignified and womanly scream. A scream that not only made her nervous of the Avatar questioning her gender but also gave their position away.
She and the Avatar burst into battle, they actually made a pretty good team if Zuko ignored the fact that they were enemies. By some miracle they reached the ground and were only 50 meters from the forest when the arrows were aimed at them.
“Hand over the Avatar!” Zhao demanded from on top of the tower.
Zuko was filled with adrenaline from the anger his voice filled her with, she fluidly pressed both of her swords against the neck of the Avatar. She almost felt bad when the boy gasped in fear.
“Let them go.” Zhao finally ordered frustratedly.
Zuko backed them up slowly until they were practically into the woods and then she made a break for it, dragging the Avatar by his wrist as fast as she could.
But just Zuko’s luck the single arrow that made it through the woods was the one that struck her in the head, knocking her unconscious and halting her rescue/capture of the Avatar.
When she opened her eyes Zuko was more than surprised when she found the Avatar sitting patiently next to her, her mask was gone.
“Hi Zuko,” He said as he turned to her, “Thanks for saving me.”
Zuko stayed silent, her head throbbed with what was definitely a concussion and she couldn’t think of anything to say regardless.
“I used to have a friend from the Fire Nation, his name was Kuzon and he and I were inseparable, except for when I was trapped in ice I guess. Not the point anyways, I know that people from the Fire Nation aren’t bad people, I was good friends with one, do you think that we could’ve been friends, maybe if the world was a little different right now?” He asked softly.
Zuko took a moment to genuinely consider what he had said, “Sorry Avatar, a friendship between us is unlikely, I have to capture you and you want to be free.”
“Why do you have to capture me?” The Avatar questioned, “I haven’t committed any treason against the Fire Nation or done anything to wrong it.”
She didn’t know what to say, “Those were my orders, if I brought the Avatar to the Firelord then my banishment would be uplifted.”
“You’re banished?” The Avatar gasped.
Zuko just nodded, she knew that this conversation had to come to an end.
“What did you do?” He asked.
“Something to dishonor the Firelord and myself, I protested the words of a superior and was dishonorable during the Agni Kai to settle it.” Zuko answered.
Aang could faintly remember Kuzon talking about Agni Kai’s, the only way to be dishonorable during one was to cheat. Zuko must’ve done something pretty bad at the Agni Kai to be banished.
“Did you cheat? Or attack before or after the match?” Aang pressed, nervous to find out what kind of person he was sitting next to.
“No, I refused to fight, stupid. I dishonored the Fire Nation by begging for mercy.” Zuko responded
Aang was frozen, that was awful, this wasn’t a monster sitting next to him but a victim, a young one, how old was Zuko anyway? He caught a glimpse of the scar on Zuko’s face, it looked old. Zuko couldn’t be any older than 17.
Aang thought of the cruelty it would take to set someone’s face on fire, how much it had to have hurt, as Kuzon once said when he was training his own firebending, ‘Firebenders don’t burn easy.’
“How old were you?” Aang asked.
“13.” She curtly responded.
Aang felt like he was punched in the gut just then, Zuko had been 13. Meaning that Zuko had been looking for the Avatar for years before Aang even showed up. Zuko had been one year older than Aang was right now.
“I don’t have the energy to capture you right now, could you please go? They can’t know that I’m the Blue Spirit.” Zuko murmured as she stiffly got to her feet.
Aang nodded but then he remembered, “My frogs!”
Zuko watched the boy scurry off questioningly but didn’t have the energy to think of what the Avatar could need with frogs.