Enemies and Traitors

by Kajesera

disclaimer: Avatar: The Last Airbender and its characters do not belong to me. This is a work of fan-fiction only.

SUMMARY: "Well. Look at this. Enemies and traitors, all working together."

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CHAPTER ONE: Decisions, Decisions.

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"You are free to choose." By the smug quirk of her mouth Zuko immediately assumed that his sister had already predicted his next move: join her, defeat the Avatar and his waterbender, and return home with honor and glory and Father's love restored. But had he really had Ozai's love to begin with?

Zuko considered option two: rescue Iroh and escape with their lives. Find a small, isolated Earth Kingdom village and live out the rest of their lives as refugees.

Then there was option three, which was to free Iroh, join the Avatar, teach him firebending, and aid him in the defeat of his homeland. Return with Iroh, as the formerly-banished, still-shamed, possibly-hated, prince. Rule someday, maybe. Try to restore balance into the world. Hope his people didn't kill him within the year.

"You are stronger, and wiser, and freer than you have ever been," Iroh had said. And now he was at a crossroads. Choose what Azula had expected and return to the path he had gone down before. Choose a coward's path and live out life unremembered, unacknowledged. Zuko could only imagine what people would say, fifty years from this day. "Remember Prince What's-his-face, of the Fire Nation? Scarred, banished, and never seen again after he fled from Ba Sing Se? The coward."

Zuko chose.