AN: These are ficlets based off a Hama kidnaps Zuko AU by Muffinlance. The gist of it is that Zuko, while blue spiriting one night after his mother disappears, gets lured by Hama and used for her own nasty, nasty ways. He gets his scar from one of her experiments with veins and shit, so now all the muscle around his eye and ear is dead. So yeah his smiles will forever be lopsided but everyone still thinks its cute. Fast forward eight years the Gaang save him and he joins the group. Several other authors on tumblr and ao3 written some epic stuff which you should go check out. On ao3 its under the tag 'Hama mother AU' and for tumblr just go check out Muffinlances profile, should be buried somewhere there.

He doesn't know why he does it. His legs carry him far away, running to a place he is yet to know of. They have been running for years now. Or maybe they are running away from something, the lies, the sugar-coated grins, the feeling of being stringed up like a helpless puppet. On days like this, on the many hours he spends, curled up with glassy-eyed bodies who wheeze at the sight of water, he thinks of home. Mother (his hands clenched). His father. His sister. The palace servant who snuck him warm smiles at contact. His uncle. Then him. He wonders if he would live to tell the tale, hope long seeped out of him after Her merciless cackles always seemed to string him back before he reached the village. For the first time, sat still, watching the open door.