Road to Redemption

An Avatar: The Last Airbender Fanfic by Quill N. Inque

I do not own Avatar.

Chapter 1: Arrival

"Forgiveness means letting go of the past." -Gerald Jampolsky

(A/N: Due to a dumbass technical error, this story got deleted. I have finally managed to get it back up, and I apologize to all my readers for the inconvenience)

Endless clouds of the darkest black obscured the sky, blocking out the sun and its reassuring warmth and radiance. Freezing raindrops as big as marbles fell in saturating sheets as thunder made the air shake with its deafening roar, as though the very heavens were being torn asunder. Mighty trees were snapped like toothpicks by the gale-force winds, which screamed like a thousand wounded men as Mother Nature vented her boundless fury upon the land.

If one looked closely, he could just make out the silhouette of a person, illuminated briefly by the flashes of lightning as he struggled up the near-nonexistent path up the mountain.

Shaking his head vigorously, Zuko, former Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, pulled his sodden clothes tighter against his body in a vain attempt to ward off the chills racking his body. He cursed as his foot slid off a smooth stone in the path, landing face down in the squelching mud.

Zuko wiped the grit and grime from his eyes, never once wavering from his determination to reach his goal ; he was many things, but never a quitter. Stepping carefully to avoid breaking his ankle, he pushed himself up a steep incline in the dilapidated road, heaving himself up and over the hump with a grunt of effort. As he struggled, slipped, and swore his way up the rocky crags and crevices to where the Western Air Temple lay, Zuko's mind flashed back, once again, to his fateful conversation with his tyrant of a father.

"…I'm going to find the Avatar. And I'm going to help him defeat you."

The first part was easy. Zuko had gained more than enough experience in his three years of exile to eventually track Aang to the Temple, where he and his allies had gone into hiding following the defeat of the invasion.

But, Zuko silently added, getting the Avatar and company to trust him would be another matter entirely.

The former heir scowled, as he had done so many times before. How in Agni's name was he going to get the "Gaang" to believe that he had good intentions? What possible reason could he give in order to persuade them that he had turned his back on his father, after he had betrayed Katara in Ba Sing Se? How was he going to prove himself, assuming they accepted him at all?

Zuko wrestled with this problem, searching in vain for an answer that he knew he couldn't find. To confront Aang and his friends after they had quite literally crossed swords so many times would be…uncomfortable, to say the least. They wouldn't be glad to see him, of that he was sure. To the "Gaang", Zuko was still the enemy, still the villain, still the depraved monster who had hunted Aang like an animal for the better part of a year.

Zuko sighed as the rain's tempo increased. He had a lot to atone for.

Looking upward, the teenager noticed the faint glow of a fire through the downpour in the cliffs above.

In the hallowed halls of the Western Air Temple, Aang and his friends took supper around a merrily blazing fire, protected from the storm by the roof above.

Sokka jumped as a particularly loud thunderclap split the sky above, spilling his noodles and rice onto the blue fabric of his tunic.

Aang laughed. "What's the matter, Sokka? Afraid of a little thunder?" he asked teasingly.

The older boy scowled. "No! Of course not!"

As Sokka continued to reassert his masculinity, Toph silently crept up behind him.

"BOO!"

"GAAA!" Sokka started and flinched again, to the great hilarity of all those present, before rounding on his friend.

"TOPH! Don't do that!"

The girl in question smirked. "Oh, please. You didn't honestly expect me to pass up an opportunity like that, did you? "

"I am not scared of thunderstorms," he said firmly.

Toph's eyes widened suddenly as she sensed the vibrations of someone approaching, and fast. The color drained from her face as she realized who it was.

"Maybe so, Sokka, but I think you should be scared of him."

"Who?"

She pointed out into the inky darkness. "See for yourself."

As all eyes turned to the Temple's massive entrance, a forked streak of lightning illuminated the hideously scarred visage of Prince Zuko.

The stunned silence was broken as Sokka's hand flashed toward the sword on his back. Aang brought his staff to bear while Katara and Toph lapsed into fighting stances, ready to attack on the spin of a dime.

As he stood dripping in the stone cavern, Zuko felt more than a little apprehensive. Be careful, he told himself. Don't do anything that might make them attack.

After a moment of tense silence, Zuko finally worked up the courage to speak.

"Uh…Hi," he said lamely.

Katara was the first to speak, and her voice was dripping with loathing. "What do you want, Zuko?" she spat venomously.

He sighed inwardly. Well, here goes everything… "Relax. I'm not here to hurt you."

Sokka never lowered his blade. "Prove it."

Zuko nodded seriously. "Fine," he said as he unshouldered the twin dao swords he always carried, meaning to disarm himself as a show of goodwill.

Katara reacted instantly. A thick pillar of ice slammed Zuko against a nearby column. Something cracked ominously as the former prince roared in pain.

Zuko fought to clear his vision as he gasped painfully. "What was that for?" he demanded, unable to keep the outrage from his voice.

"You were about to attack us!" Katara exclaimed, as though it were obvious. "But I'm not giving you the pleasure of deceiving me again!"

"Wrong on both counts," growled the young Firebender, though the expression on Katara's face clearly let him know she didn't believe him. The pressure on his ribs began to increase viciously until Aang spoke with warning in his voice.

"Let him go, Katara."

"Are you nuts?" his friend demanded. "Zuko would kill you as soon as look at you! He's dangerous!"

Aang glared at her, and Katara conceded defeat; the icy battering ram melted into sheets of water. Her voice, when she spoke, was harsh and demanding.

"What do you want?"

Zuko massaged his aching ribs, saying a quick prayer of thanks to any deities who might be listening. When he spoke, he tried to sound as sincere as possible. "I want to help end the war my family started, to restore balance to the world."

"Lies," she hissed back.

Zuko ignored her, though Katara's words stung. "Aang needs a firebending teacher, right? I can help with that."

The Waterbender's voice rose. "What on Earth makes you think we'd trust you, of all people, with Aang's safety? Did you really believe you could just waltz in here and expect us to forget all the times you've tried to hurt us?"

Haru agreed. "You need to leave. Now."

"Zuko has a point," Toph murmured to Aang.

"It doesn't matter! We can't take any chances with him!" Katara whispered back.

The blind Earthbender turned towards the other girl. "Face it, Katara: Aang needs to learn Firebending, and fast. This Temple is in the middle of nowhere; there's not a Firebender within a hundred miles. I'm not condoning what he's done; I'm not as well acquainted with him as you guys are, and I still don't like him. But I do know we can't be too choosy if we want to stand a chance when the Comet comes."

Aang disagreed. "We don't know anything about Zuko! Why should we trust him?"

Sokka got in on the conversation too. "How do we know he's not working for the Fire Lord? He could be a spy!"

Toph grinned. "Human lie detector, remember? If he was fibbing, I'd know."

Katara gritted her teeth but said nothing. As his friend fumed, Aang turned toward Zuko.

"Fine. If you're serious, if you're telling the truth, then we will allow you to become my teacher. But-"

Katara pointed accusingly as she interrupted. "-You will never be one of us."

Zuko's heart clenched, but his face didn't show the hurt he felt.

"Agreed."

Minutes later, Sokka led Zuko to his room. They were both uncomfortable around each other: Sokka was nervous about living side-by-side with someone who had once been Aang's sworn enemy, and Zuko felt awkward around a guy he had tried to kill on more than one occasion.

The Water Tribe boy pointed to an open door down the hall. "That's your room," he said flatly as he walked away.

Zuko entered the small living space with a caution borne of months on the run. After reassuring himself that the room wasn't booby-trapped, he sat down on the bed and began to unpack his meager belongings. The former prince paused as he unloaded a miniature portrait of him and Uncle.

Zuko's stomach wrenched. Uncle had always been there for him, always supported him and loved him the way his father never did, and he had repaid that love with a knife in the back. It was because of Zuko's selfishness and pride that Uncle had languished for months in a Fire Nation prison, before he escaped during the invasion and vanished completely.

A rebellious tear rolled down his unscarred cheek as Zuko remembered the countless misdeeds he had committed in his unrelenting search for the Avatar, all the villages he'd burned, the lives he'd ruined. The teenager felt worse still when he remembered the scorn, suspicion and hate on the faces of his tenuous allies, the way they'd looked at him like he was a savage, dangerous animal.

The memories of Zuko's arrogant, sinful past rushed through his mind in a stream of guilt and misery.

And he didn't sleep that night.