#so yeah zuko doesnt do much firebending these days so the necklace has just been sitting there

[hella1975]

hey you guys seem to like my atla wips and im currently ignoring my lecture notes on exponential and logarithmic functions so here's another one for you:

i have an au that surrounds an Object - currently it's a necklace bc i think the 'overpowered magical necklace' trope fucks astronomically - that has the power to enhance any bending by tenfold. it's the equivalent of comet-powered bending except you can have it All The Time bc it's a necklace. traditionally, it was handed down through the avatars just bc it's so powerful that in the wrong hands it could become very dangerous (👀) so obvs it goes to the peaceful symbol of balance. it's very draining and most benders can only use it once IN THEIR ENTIRE LIFE because that's how fucking overpowered this necklace is, so it's more of a keepsake that the avatars have. THIS IS WHY AZULON GETS OZAI TO MARRY URSA. her grandfather is roku and since aang wasn't on the scene, the necklace stayed in ursa's family and they were charged with protecting it. azulon then took the necklace for his own gain. he didn't actually use it for years bc it's one of those 'knowing you can only use it once actually just makes you hoard it and never use it at all' things but he became OBSESSED with it and ozai was nervous of confronting him for a very long time but he wants that necklace. eventually, when zuko is 11 (aka the canon timeline for this), ozai makes a deal with ursa. now when i say her family were charged with protecting the necklace, i mean it becomes their whole thing. ursa was raised to believe this necklace came before her own life and it's one of the reasons she stays with ozai, bc she refuses to stray from it. ozai says to her that if she kills azulon and takes the necklace, then ozai will let her hold onto it as long as she remembers that it's HIS. she agrees bc at that point she's just desperate to get it back and she's very worn down by ozai at this point also, so she does as she's told, but instead of going straight to ozai, she hesitates, and goes to zuko instead. she gives HIM the necklace, tells him she's sorry, tells him to run. he doesnt understand what's going on but ursa is a mess (she's pretty hysterical and not making sound decisions hence her going 'hey im gonna give the most powerful object in the world to my eleven-year-old child who very easily could have stayed out of this') and eventually zuko runs with the necklace. to buy him some time, ursa confronts ozai and says that she's destroyed the necklace and thrown the remains in the fire. ozai is enraged and kills ursa. zuko sees this all happen and realise just how much danger he's in, and leaves.

he's 11 with absolutely nothing to keep him alive aside a hastily packed dagger and some money that he immediately has to spend on buying clothes that aren't immediately recognisable as imperial fire nation clothing. he goes to the earth kingdom, hungry and desperate and scared, and notices a stall selling food. he goes to steal, but he meets another boy trying to steal at the same time and they almost get caught. the other boy is very much 'fuck you i was here first this is MY town i know all the hot digs when it comes to stealing' and zuko's like 'my brother in christ NO ONE ASKED'. they're the same age and they're both angry, and they HATE each other at first. the other boy can tell zuko is fire nation and tries to kill him, but zuko already has quite a bit of training under his belt so it's not a fair fight. they both leave bruised and with their tail between their legs, but it starts a rivalry because they both keep coming to the same food stall. in the end, an unlikely friendship starts when zuko extends an olive branch by stealing from the stall and giving half of what he stole to the boy. they're both way too hungry to refuse. there's a comradery to it. it's a VERY slow-to-build friendship bc the other boy is soooo against being friends with a fire nationer, but zuko is still just so scared and alone and he just lost EVERYTHING and watched his mother die at his father's hands, so he's stubborn with it and keeps persisting in his growly, abrasive way. in the end, the other boy caves, and they start to talk. zuko finds out his name is jet, and that he very recently just lost his family to firebenders (it's very brutal bc while i dont think jet NEEDS a tragic backstory to hate firebenders so much i also think he must have seen something really awful to make him as extreme as he is). zuko is honest with jet and tells him he got kicked out of the fire nation, that his dad was a dick and killed his mum, and jet is like 'oh you're a victim of the fire nation too'. it takes a little longer for zuko to reveal exactly who he is, and jet is naturally furious and betrayed. they fight (like PROPERLY) and dont speak for a long time bc jet actually kicks zuko out of town and zuko's like 'fair enough' and goes, but at that point they're already kinda reliant on each other bc they're literally CHILDREN who witnessed horrific trauma and have no one else in the entire world, so jet comes after zuko. in this au, jet isn't as much of a jerk and he would never hurt normal civilians, and that's zuko's influence on him and what he learnt from this firebender who's actually good, but on the other end of that, jet's influence on zuko in this au is that zuko is a lot more brutal and sarky. he's kind of a bitch actually <3. jet teaches him how to steal. zuko teaches him how to fight. they become SUPER fucking close and start the freedom fighters together. it's very much steddie parenting the kids in stranger things like they're literally like an old married couple together (bc jet and zuko's friendship is based around just pure insulting each other) and act very much as the Adults despite only being teenagers at this point.

by the time canon catches up with us and the gaang arrive, jet knows all about zuko, from his royalty to his bending to the necklace. he's sworn to protect him. now, in this au the gaang actually catch wind of this necklace, and monk gyatsu spent a lot of time teaching aang about it bc he was meant to be the next inheritor of it. aang is VERY aware of how powerful it is and almost everyone knows the story now of how the lost fire nation prince stole it from his grandfather in the night, killing his mother when she caught him, powerhungry and cruel. sokka and katara are both very much WE CANT LET THIS NECKLACE STAY IN THE HANDS OF SOME CRAZY FIRE NATION PRINCE WTF WE HAVE TO FIND HIM so that's actually part of their whole mission. cut to them meeting the freedom fighters. sokka and zuko IMMEDIATELY hit it off bc what is an atla wip without zukka, and sokka's actually having a whale of a time bc he's finally with guys his age and zuko teaches him swordfighting and jet isn't murderous in this so things are actually Good, but then one day when zukka are sparring, zuko's living it up in some slutty low cut top and sokka SEES THE NECKLACE (bc zuko never takes it off, this is relevant). now normally it wouldnt be a big deal but sokka's a genius AND very cynical AND already hunting this necklace down, so he starts questioning when zuko left home - bc he's clearly fire nation - and all that and realises the timeline is exactly right. there's a whole betrayal there and zukka argue AND THEN THE GAANG TAKE ZUKO PRISONER EXCEPT IT'S A REALLY ODD SITUATION BC THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS ARE READY TO GO TO WAR FOR HIM RN AND THE GAANG ARE READY FOR A FIGHT BUT ZUKO KNOWS THAT THE AVATAR IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE THE NECKLACE ANYWAY AND HE'S ALSO KNOWN FOR A LONG TIME THAT HE CANT RUN FROM THIS FOREVER, SO HE JUST STOPS EVERYONE FROM SCRAPPING LIKE 'IT'S OKAY I'LL GO'. so he's a prisoner but he's also?? willing?? basically everyone thinks he's a prisoner except zuko who knows he could leave at any time if he put his mind to it. jet is reluctant bc those two have the STRANGEST relationship like they are more than besties it's not romantic but it's very much 'we have silent conversations based purely on the twitch of your eye or a nod of your head we are telepathic at this point' and they've not been separated since they were kids and had that fight, but it's for the good of the world so it happens.

so there we go! we get zuko travelling with the gaang from jet's episode onwards! except he's a 'prisoner' and zukka already have a pre-existing relationship before zuko became their prisoner so it's SUPER awkward for them and also because zuko has worn this necklace non-stop for five years his bending is now FUCKED (rainbow fire but also zuko is insanely powerful with very poor control) and it's just a whole canon rewrite on all that basis /\/\ it's so fun <3