Scarred and Accepted

The moon shone down on the rippling waters and sandy beach of Ember Island, bathing everything in a bright, illuminating light. Inside the beach house belonging to a certain Fire Lord, and quite unbeknownst to him, the Avatar and his companions slept peacefully, the disturbing play they had seen earlier in the night shoved to the back of their minds.

All slept peacefully—except one.

Zuko was down on the beach, furiously practicing a kata, trying to tire out his body in hopes that he could sleep without dreams. He knew instinctively that any dreams he would have this night would not be good ones.

Your costume's pretty good…but your scar is on the wrong side!

Fire flew from Zuko's hand as the little boy's words came back to him. "It—is—not!" he yelled, releasing a burst of flame with each word. "Ugh!"

Suddenly his body betrayed him. Exhaustion crashed into him like the waves on the beach, and he flopped backwards on the sand.

"I'm so tired." he whispered. He was sick of his past, sick of the sob story that seemed to continually be his life. Why did he have to be dogged at every turn by things he would much rather forget?

These past few weeks, despite the danger, the hard work training Aang, and the dirty looks he'd received at first, had been some of the best in his life. For the first time in forever, he'd felt important, wanted, like he really belonged. Not just to one person, but to a group.

To a family.

Zuko smirked. The Gaang, as Sokka had dubbed them, were an odd bunch of turtleducks. Each member, including him, had their various quirks and hang-ups. But they stuck together and looked after each other. There was no pretending, no fake masks required (and Toph would probably call out anyone who was acting fake, anyway). Feelings and honesty were encouraged.

It was such a change from the environment he'd lived in most of his life. He thanked Agni every day that he'd finally been smart enough to get out of the palace, away from the constricting place he'd once called home.

The sound of footsteps crunching in the sand started him out of his thoughts. Turning around, he saw Sokka making his way down the beach.

The Water Tribe boy gave an awkward wave as he lowered himself beside Zuko. The sand made a hissing sound as he made himself comfortable.

There was a brief, uncomfortable silence. Sokka seemed to have something on his mind but didn't know how to begin. Finally, he asked:

"Hey, uh…shouldn't you be asleep?"

Zuko rolled his eyes. Even he, the king of awkward conversation starters, knew that was bad. "Shouldn't you?" he returned coolly.

Sokka shrugged, recovering his normal gift of gab. "I'm just sayin', you're the one who made a big deal to Aang about getting up early tomorrow for training, since today was pretty much a wash. It won't end well if you fall asleep in the middle of one of your training exercises."

"I'm not going to fall asleep." Zuko muttered sulkily. "I've trained way harder for way longer intervals than I train with Aang."

"Yeah…" Sokka shifted nervously. "Hey, Zuko…I was wondering something…"

Zuko had a feeling he wasn't going to like where this was going, but he had no concrete reason not to hear Sokka out. "What?"

"I was wondering…well, we had all guessed about this before but we never got an answer and the play tonight just brought it all back, at least for me, and, uh…I was wondering… how did you get your scar?"

Zuko froze. He felt as if a deep chasm had just opened up in the sand and sucked him down into darkness. Of all the things to be asked…and what made it ten times worse was, Sokka had no idea what he'd just asked!

Sokka was rambling, trying to fill the uncomfortable silence. "I mean, for a while I thought it might've been a training accident, but lately I've been wondering if your ax-crazy sister just up and burned you on purpose…"

In a split second, Zuko decided he was tired of running, tired of hiding from the past. "It wasn't Azula, but you're close."

Sokka immediately shut up and gaped at him. "I…I was kidding! You mean somebody really burned you on purpose?"

Zuko shut his eyes. The only way he could get through this was if he didn't look at Sokka's face. "I was thirteen. My father was having a war meeting with all the top generals, and I wanted to go. I wanted…"

"To prove yourself worthy of being your dad's heir." Zuko's eyes flew open. Sokka's smile was lopsided in the moonlight. "Look, my dad's a chief. Not exactly as prestigious a position as Fire Lord, but close enough. You wanted to be grown up, to prove yourself good enough. Trust me, I get it."

In that moment, Zuko realized that Sokka did get it. In fact, they had a lot in common, much more than he had realized at first.

"Yeah…I guess you do. Anyway, the guards wouldn't let me in. I technically wasn't even supposed to be there, but then Uncle came and I begged him to let me come into the meeting with him. I promised to be quiet and not say anything."

"Let me guess, that didn't go over so well."

"Not really." Zuko said bitterly. "Uncle caved. I went in, sat with him, everything was going fine. And then…this high-ranking general stood up and proposed a plan to use a batch of new recruits as a diversion in an upcoming battle. I don't know why I didn't just keep my mouth shut, but I didn't. I spoke up. I said that it was wrong to put untried soldiers in a position to be slaughtered. My father told me that I dishonored the war council, and that I would have to fight an Agni Kai."

Here, Sokka really couldn't be faulted for interrupting to ask, "What's an Agni Kai?"

"It's a fire duel, a duel to the death. I agreed."

"What! Oh come on! You agreed to a death duel?"

"Well what else was I supposed to do? Refuse? That would've made everything a hundred times worse! Besides, the general was old. I thought I could take him. But when the time came for the duel, it wasn't the general I was fighting…it was my father. Apparently, because I had dishonored the war council that he was in charge of, I had dishonored him, so it was him I would have to fight. "

Sokka started to get a nasty, queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. "What did you do?"

"I couldn't kill my father. And Agni knows I didn't stand a chance of winning against him. I didn't want to fight him, so…I got down on my knees and begged for forgiveness, for mercy. I said I was sorry, that I hadn't meant to dishonor him." Zuko's voice cracked, remembering the trauma of that moment.

"I was so scared." he whispered, complete honesty permeating his words. "Do you have any idea what it's like to be at the complete mercy of somebody else?"

Sokka swallowed hard, remembering his brief duel with Master Piandao. That had been pretty scary, being disarmed, lying on the ground, knowing he was defeated fair and square and might possibly die. But this…

"A little." he whispered. "But not like that."

"My father…got angry. He said I was weak, pathetic. He struck me down and…"

"And burned the left side of your face." finished Sokka. Zuko nodded.

"It was so much pain…I felt like I was drowning in fire. And then…the next thing I remember is waking up in the infirmary, with Uncle. I was banished, sent to find the Avatar in order to restore my honor. I guess you know the rest."

There was a long silence. Sokka was reeling with the new revelation of exactly how bad the Fire Lord was.

What kind of father…no, he doesn't even deserve that title! It ought to be revoked! Legally! I'm sure Iroh would love to take over the job. Spirits, even my own dad would! Either of them would be better dads for Zuko than him!

Very few people had seen Sokka truly angry, and most of them were either dead, his family, or part of the Gaang. Most saw only the sarcastic, mocking side of his personality, without noticing the hidden streak of protectiveness that ran deep.

Katara was scary when you messed with her friends or family, but Sokka could be exactly the same way under the right circumstances. Knowing that someone he considered a friend had been hurt, betrayed really, in such an awful way was one of said circumstances.

The anger was too much to contain. In a voice like steel, Sokka whispered, "I really hate the Fire Lord."

Zuko smirked. "Tell me something I don't know." Sokka shook his head.

"No, you don't get it. I've hated him since I was old enough to know what he's done, but this…this is beyond ridiculous. Who in all the Four Nations or even the Spirit World thinks it's a good idea to burn off half a kid's face for speaking out of turn! Speaking out of turn! And against somebody who had proposed something obviously cruel and wrong! That's just…I don't even have the words! And for me, that's saying something!"

Zuko just sighed; he clearly had given up trying to understand the mysteries of his father's psychopathic behavior. "So now you know. That's how I got my scar."

Sokka nodded, his rampage of rage slowly wearing off. "Yeah. That's some story."

"You have no idea how lucky you are." Zuko whispered, almost like the thought had quietly escaped out his mouth.

Sokka looked confused. Zuko was furious with himself. I cannot believe I just let that slip out! Well, I started the thought; I might as well finish it.

"I watched you guys at the Western Air Temple. Your dad, you, Katara; the way you all interacted was so…normal. He was so obviously proud of both of you, and he told you so. A lot. My dad…he never did that. Even before my mom left and everything went crazy, he was just never…there. He never saw me; unless it was to criticize something I did wrong or compare me to Azula."

Frowning, Sokka asked, "What about Iroh? He seems like a pretty cool guy, from what little I've seen of him."

Zuko smiled, and this time it was a real smile, not a smirk. "Yeah…Uncle is amazing. I would probably be as screwed up as Azula if it wasn't for him." His smile dropped. "And how did I repay him for never giving up on me? With a knife in the back at Ba Sing Se."

Sokka shifted. "Hey, if he's half as amazing as you say, I bet he's already forgiven you."

"Toph said the same thing. I hope you guys are right, though I don't really deserve it."

"Forgiveness rarely goes to people who deserve it. I think that's kinda the point."

"Yeah…maybe. Anyway, so that's what I meant. You're lucky to have a dad who actually cares about you."

Sokka couldn't quite identify the tone in the firebender's voice or the look on his face. Finally, he hit on it. It was longing; pure, unadulterated longing, the kind that people had when seeing something that they could never possess.

If someone had told him a year ago that he would feel compassion the Fire Nation Prince, he would have laughed right in their faces. It would have been so utterly ludicrous then. But now, sitting on a sandy beach, bathed in the moonlight of Ember Island, it wasn't ludicrous at all. In fact, it seemed to only appropriate thing to feel.

Zuko had literally bared his soul tonight, and Sokka felt compelled to give him some kind of hope in return.

An idea started to form in his mind. He hesitated. It was crazy, it was genius, it was stupid; it had never been done before. But if they won this war like they were hoping to, a lot of things were going to have to change.

"You know," he said slowly. "There's a Water Tribe ritual for if people want to, you know, adopt someone into their family..."

Zuko's jaw dropped; his expression one of utter shock. "Are…are you offering what I think you are?"

"Look, when we say this team is a family, we're not kidding! And, well, it looks like Aang's gonna enter my family by another way sooner or later, and Suki's another story, so… it's between you and Toph. And frankly, you need it more."

"Don't…don't you have to ask your dad?" asked Zuko faintly.

"Well yeah, obviously, but somehow, I think he just might agree to it. Once he got over the initial shock of seeing you with our group and gave you a chance, you pretty much proved yourself, all on your own, at the Air Temple. He watched you train with Aang, interact with the rest of us, and handle Katara giving you a hard time. You took everything we threw at you. Not to mention you kinda helped break him out of prison. From what he told me…I'd say you brought yourself up pretty high in his eyes."

Zuko shook his head. "I…I don't know what to say."

"Then don't say anything. Think about it. And don't worry about Katara; I think she's let everything go after that little trip you two took."

"Katara…yeah, we're on good terms now." Zuko was still feeling faint. He could barely believe what he was hearing.

Why in the world would anyone want to adopt me?

"Good." said Sokka. "Just mull it over. If it's something you might want, well…I'll hunt my dad up once we win."

"Yeah, once we win." Zuko muttered, the slightest tinge of doubt on his words.

Sokka put a hand on Zuko's shoulder. "We're gonna win. If for no other reason but that I can maybe, possibly, be able to call you brother and take you ice dodging."

Now, Zuko was really lost. "What's that?"

Sokka smiled mysteriously. "That's what you'll have to join the family to find out."

Join the family… Zuko smiled. The words were strange, unfamiliar to his mind, but…

…quite possibly the three most beautiful words he'd ever heard.