#zuko's crew

[demaparbat-hp]

*pats Zuko's head* This bad boy can fit so many near-death experiences.

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Read For the Spirits Chapter VIII here!

[stygiovictoria]

Sketch of Prince Zuko and Iroh hosting “Music Night” on their ship; ~98 A.G.

[this-acuteneurosis]

Third Time's the Charm

Chapter 33

Toph is trying to figure out why everyone being so nice is so...weird.

(Why isn't the usual link function working Tumblr, why????)

[pyromaniac4198]

cryptid!zuko

Modern au where the Avatar universe has Geneva conventions, which zuko never breaks

As a result, instead of being know around the world for hunting the avatar, he is known for popping up on a college campus, getting into postdoctoral-level discussions about the history of the avatar, and then appearing in a different college campus in a seemingly random place on the map

Social media immediately gives him cryptic status, assuming that he is either a spirit or the avatar himself (sightings of the avatar normally occur nearby, and at roughly the same time)

Zuko finds out that people do actually think he has worth and that his father is terrible earlieron, and joins the gaang fairly soon as a result

The internet sure is shocked when they ind out that not only is zuko human, he's actually the firelords son, who nobody knew existed because people were too focused on azula.

Zuko becomes fire lord, all is well, conspiracy theories abound

[cienie-isengardu]

Avatar: The Last Airbender S01E18 - "The Waterbending Master"

[five-flavor-soup]

suffering will be your teacher is now complete!

Chapters: 4/4

Words: 33k

Relevant tags: Zuko-centric, dual POV, Time Travel, Lieutenant Jee being a reluctant father figure, many mentions of the Air Nomad genocide.

Summary:

The bath takes care of the sweat. Takes care of the burnt bits of skin and fat that still cling to his palm. Zuko scrubs his body until it’s raw, blushing red; he dunks his head under the hot water and stays there, staring up at the dark, vaulted ceiling of the washroom until his lungs run out of breath to use. The oil of honeysuckle and opium and cinnamon, sweet and sharp and earthy, does not wash the stench of scorched flesh out of his nose.

Zuko falls asleep on the evening of his official coronation, when he’s twenty-one-years old and has finally reached his majority. Zuko wakes on the morning of the Agni Kai with his father, eight years earlier. This is annoying for several reasons, like the fact that the War is still ongoing, that he has zero friends, and that Ozai is not in jail. It’s time to scheme.

Snippet from Ch 4:

If the rest of the crew is to be believed, nothing in the atmosphere has changed—except that, perhaps, it is lighter, easier to breathe through. None cut corners, but none are scared to cut corners either. The sheer empathy the Prince is capable of fosters a comfort that Jee has never once experienced on a warship.

But then, this isn’t a warship, is it? The Wanyi is a floating bucket of rust sailing with the sole purpose of finding the Avatar, of teaching their Crown Prince worldly things. There is no true pressure. Prince Zuko will not find the Avatar, and everybody knows it, and nobody cares about it either. 

Jee knows, however, and can read that there is a line of tension strung in the air. Where the others are ignorant of it, Jee’s job is positioned too close to the royals for him not to notice the glances, the nods, the looks between the Prince and his uncle. 

“Would you say all crewmembers are trustworthy, Lieutenant?” 

Jee pauses in his stretch. Prince Zuko, who had been mirroring him, does not; goes further until his upper thigh is mere inches from the deck. 

“In what way, my Prince?” he asks. 

“That they are under my command only,” the Prince clarifies. “Not also my father’s.” 

Jee does not speak immediately, does not say ‘yes, of course’ as is his knee-jerk response. Because, are they? They likely are, but Ensign Asami’s mother works in the palace; but Seaman Keiji’s little brother is part of the royal guard; but Recruits Kazumi and Ohta are still, as of now, entranced by Fire Nation imperialism rather than disillusioned with all the death and rot. 

“I’d say yes,” he says slowly, thoughtfully, “but I cannot be sure they won’t… talk, Your Highness. Things that can filter down—or up, if you will.”

Prince Zuko’s little face furrows in thought and consideration. He nods. 

“Thank you for your honesty, Lieutenant,” he says, and then he adds, “it’s always been my favourite thing about you.” 

That says so much and so little. Jee is nevertheless flattered, and bows. 

“Onto the katas then?” 

“Yes.” The Prince smiles at him, cheeks squishing into mochi. Jee kind of wants to ruffle the kid’s neat hair and then kind of wants to slap himself for being so sappy. “Let’s do it.”

[sooperlative]

suffering will be your teacher

I don't think it's too late to share this one :)

Rating: E, for violence

Tags: Time Travel; Scarless Zuko; Zuko & Zuko's Crew; Jee has only had Zuko for a day and a half but if anything happened to him he would kill everyone on this ship and then himself

Summary: Zuko falls asleep on the evening of his official coronation, when he’s twenty-one-years old and has finally reached his majority. Zuko wakes on the morning of the Agni Kai with his father, eight years earlier. This is annoying for several reasons, like the fact that the War is still ongoing, that he has zero friends, and that Ozai is not in jail. It’s time to scheme.

Also, here are some ficnotes under the cut, if you're interested in some of my reasoning in regards to how the Agni Kai went in this universe. It's a bit spoilery but not if you've read chapter 1:

I’ve received a small handful of comments being shocked and/or delighted by Zuko deciding to burn Ozai the way Ozai burnt him: hand over the face like wiping away a tear, and then just going to town with their natural flamethrower ability. Whether this would be seen as in character or not, I wrote it in because I think it’d be in character, and I suppose that’s a rather important bit of writing lol. 

You can probably interpret it as Zuko perpetuating his family’s violence, or suddenly being okay with being goaded into a fight. But here’s the thing: he’s not okay with it. I’ve tried to hint at Zuko being disgusted with himself post-burning, yet simultaneously satisfied—because, hey, he’s back to fight-or-flight mode. He’s gone from the relative comfort of a palace filled with people he’d show his soft underbelly to, to the metaphorical viper’s den that was the palace when Ozai still ruled. Despite it having been a few years for him, Zuko still knows that it’s dangerous to be there, and that he cannot, under any circumstance, show aspects of his natural personality that may be deemed as weak. He’s the Prince and kindness, or mercy, will be punished. And he also doesn’t want to be burnt again—he’s not going to take that challenge lying down. 

So Zuko takes a risk. He fights back and uses his own experience to get his father to his knees. He burns Ozai before Ozai can burn him, despite the detail that harming the Fire Lord is probably illegal. And yes, like Azula told him, a simple burn on the shoulder would’ve been enough… but with someone as dangerous as Ozai, it’s better to incapacitate him. Ozai clearly doesn’t care about fighting fair and nobody would’ve stopped him either: in the show, Zuko went on his knees, refused to fight, and begged for mercy, but Ozai burnt him anyway without any sort of protest from anyone there. Zuko was in an inescapable and incredibly violent situation where the only way out was violence from his side. It’s an easy choice at that point, I think. 

Additionally, it’s also a revenge fantasy come true. I do believe that during the confrontation between Zuko and Ozai in Day Of The Black Sun, Zuko would’ve considered killing his father for a moment—or at least harming him. He doesn’t because it’s Aang’s responsibility to do so, and because killing your dad at age 16 after a lifetime of loyalty is kind of…. hard, but I’m certain there was a brief moment he thought about it. And burning your father instead, in the exact way he burnt you in another life, with him on his knees instead of you? Possibly a little bit satisfying. Zuko was granted a chance and took it. 

So, he’s scarless (if you have trouble imagining it: think of his face in the flashback of The Storm, plus his Fire Lordly face in his fever dream in The Earth King). I can hear people go like, “But Soopsie, that’s not our Zuko! The scar is a very important part of his character!”, and that is very fair. But keep in mind that he’s a 21 year old man who only occupies the body of his thirteen year old self, and he’s actually older than the Zuko of the show. I also think it’s not the scar which makes Zuko Zuko, but rather the mental/emotional scarring that lies underneath. Ozai still very much burnt him. There’s just not any physical proof right now. 

(I also don’t need to do any physical character design for this, which is a plus. He’s a lot less recognisable rn)

[lizardlicks]

Chapters: 4/? Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Avatar: Legend of Korra Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Katara & Sokka (Avatar), Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), Zuko & Zuko's Crew (Avatar) Characters: Sokka (Avatar), Katara (Avatar), Ikki (Avatar), Juniper Spiceberry, Foo Foo Cuddlypoops, Zuko (Avatar), Iroh (Avatar), Zuko's Crew (Avatar), Jee (Avatar) Additional Tags: Waterbender Sokka (Avatar), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canonically Sexist Sokka, Don't worry Suki will beat it out of him, Stubborn Katara (Avatar), Bratty Little Sister Katara, AS IS HER RIGHT, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Big Brother Sokka (Avatar), Protective Sokka (Avatar), Dead Aang (Avatar), Canon Rewrite, POV Alternating, Not Beta Read Summary:

When the world needed the Avatar the most, he vanished. One hundred years passed. The fires of war raged. Lives were torn apart and reshaped in its heat, leaving the world forever changed. The waterbenders of the Southern Watertribe were hunted to near extinction, until only Sokka and Katara were left. For this, their mother was killed trying to protect them. Their father and the men of their village left to fight.

The Avatar? Please. That's the stuff of children's dreams and spirits tales. There isn't anyone coming to save them. So why did this airbender suddenly turn up now, in the South Pole of all places, looking for them?

I would say I don’t have an excuse for this update taking a year and some change but I guess going back to school kind of is??? Wild. Anyway, I hope my silly little AU continues to delight.

[waterfire1848]

Zuko in the middle of the night banging on Aya’s door:

Aya: hey Zuko what’s wrong?? You okay??

Zuko (hiding a pillow behind his back): your hair is messy >:( what’s wrong with YOU >:(

Aya: *internal sigh* nightmare? You wanna come in?

(Spends the next half hour petting baby Zuko’s hair until he goes back to sleep. Neither of them acknowledge this the next day, or ever, although it happens again many times. One day baby Zuko finds a stuffed animal tucked under the covers in his bed. The next night Aya finds a very expensive bottle of bourbon in her quarters. Baby Zuko thought “what do adults like? This gross liquid I’ll get the most expensive one <3”. Aya never drinks it but maybe once Zuko’s crowned fire lord and she manages to find him again she brings him back the bottle unopened for him to share with his friends <3333)

!!!!!!!

Aya would be a great source of comfort for Zuko when it comes to nightmares. They would also spend their time gossiping both about their own lives, what's going on on the ship and live in the Fire Nation.

Aya: My son is working under a man now. He said his name is captain Zhao, I think?

Zuko: Zhao!?! Aya: Not good? Zuko: Very not good.

She'd also be downright appalled by the ponytail he has in season one, but not say anything about it. You can't convince me that both the royal siblings didn't have stuffed animals at some point in their lives. Ozai just made the siblings get rid of them after Ursa died because they're childish. Zuko still being underage when Aya gives him the bottle back makes this even more hilarious.

Zuko: Aya! How are you?

Aya: I'm good. You seem to be doing a lot better.

Zuko: Yup. Still working on it but I'm trying.

Aya: That's all I can expect. I actually brought back the bottle of bourbon you got me. Figured it would be a nice way for you and your friends to celebrate the end of the war.

Zuko: Oh! Umm...

Aya: It was a lovely gift, Zuko! I'm just not a fan of bourbon.

Zuko: It's not that, it's just...none of my friends can legally drink this. We're all underage.

Aya: Wait. How old is...?

Zuko: Mai and I are the oldest at 16 and Aang and Toph are the youngest at 12.

Aya: WHERE IS EVERYONE'S PARENTS!!!

[unnamedartists]

Prince Zuko, who has been chasing a legend for 3 long years whilst honing his skills, finally finds him. In finding the Avatar, Zuko will learn more about himself and the lost art of Firebending he had discovered in his attempt to obtain an advantage over his foes both among Fire Nation enemies and allies.

I usually am the more visual type of artist, but I wanted to try my hand at writing after like 5-6 years of not writing a single thing. More or less I’ve always been very interested in fics where Zuko is able to sense/see a person’s inner flame or been able to heal using chi like waterbenders, and since I am a little pedantic, I wanted to explore Zuko learning and growing with that ability in a lot more detail!

Like I said in the notes of the fic itself, updates will probably be a little sporadic, since I’m writing when I’m able, but I do have a bit written already, so hopefully it won’t be a glacial pace for updates. I’ll do my best at the very least. I hope you all enjoy reading it as I did thinking and writing about it!

[stardust948]

So is Zuko's ship officially called The Wangi is that what the fandom decided?

[demaparbat-hp]

The Crew is boisterous and loud, full of traitors, inside jokes, and secrets. The scum of the Fire Nation. The forgotten tiles on the Empire's Pai Sho board. The ones who change the game.

But most importantly—they're a family. And no matter how much they complain about their boss (teenage menace that he is), they'll do anything for their Prince.

Anything.

.

The Crew is the heart and soul of my fic For the Spirits. No one really knows just how important they will be to the story...how important they already are.

[muffinlance]

Consider: Post-canon Zuko wakes up in the body of his childhood self, the morning of That War Meeting. Would he still speak against the plans, knowing his fate? What do you think he would do differently the second time around?

"Turned away at the doors, Zuzu?"

"Shut up, Azula," her brother sulked. But sulked weirdly, after staring at her too long and too wide-eyed, not like she'd surprised him but--

But like he hadn't expected her to be there. At all.

He turned away. ...He turned back. "Hey, Lala? Do you think you could help me practice that one set?"

He didn't meet her eyes.

She narrowed hers. "Which set?"

"The one I'm bad at."

She scoffed. Pushed away from the wall she'd been leaning against. "That's all of them, Dum-Dum."

He didn't shout or stomp or yell about the nickname. His lips twitched.

"It's okay," he said. "If you're afraid you won't be a better teacher that my instructor..."

It was the most obvious manipulation ever.

Perhaps if he proved an adequate firebending student, she'd work on his courtly survival skills next. Honestly, it was good that not even Uncle Gets-Cousins-Killed had been fool enough to take Zuko into that war meeting. She could only imagine how terribly that could have gone.

"Keep up," she said, and turned her steps towards the training grounds.

He did. There, and during the katas she ran him through.

Azula kept her eyes narrowed.

"Hey," he asked, "do you know how to bend lightning yet?"

As if he could have missed it, if she'd been able to get more than sparks. "I will soon," she said.

"You will," he agreed, and flowed through his next set. The one she'd only just mastered.

Father didn't notice how weird Zuzu was being. Uncle never noticed anything. Zuko ate dinner and asked a servant for seconds and didn't stutter or flinch or lose his appetite when father asked, coolly, what he'd done with his day. Azula's shoulders tensed, because one mention of how she'd squandered her own training time teaching him--

"Azula hogged the training grounds. For hours," Zuzu scowled, exactly like a petulant thirteen year old.

Exactly like he hadn't been acting all day.

By the time Father was looking her way, Azula had her usual smirk in place. "I'm sure there would be room for both of us," she said, "you're not afraid of a little friendly fire, are you, brother?"

Zuko sulked. And ate his seconds, like he was enjoying each bite. There was something in his eyes, like a joke no one else was getting.

---

Father died that night. A heart attack. There were the faintest of burns to either side of the treacherous organ; the royal physician hypothesized that he'd grabbed at his chest, fingers burning hot in his final moments; so hot they'd only exacerbated the problem.

The royal physician would never have been brought any victims of lighting strikes. Those that occurred in the capital did not generally require a doctor in the aftermath.

Zuzu ate a hearty breakfast.

He didn't order seconds. Azula gave him points, at least, for not being tacky.

---

The sages named Iroh as regent.

They named Zuko as Fire Lord.

"No," the tiny Fire Lord in his perfectly miniaturized Fire Lord robes said, sitting at the head of his war council. "We're not doing that. And I'll be reviewing all recent battle plans, as well. What's this I hear about a division of new recruits being deployed to the front?"

He did not mention how he'd heard of the 41st Division. No one asked.

"Prince Iroh, surely--" one of the generals tried to appeal.

The young Fire Lord's regent was looking as startled as the rest of them, for a moment. Then he sipped his tea, and smiled.

"Your Fire Lord is correct, of course. A change in our leadership--a change the other nations may mistakenly view as weakness--will necessitate a change in our strategy."

"Now," said their lord, "what, exactly, is our overall objective in this war?"

War, the new Fire Lord decreed, was not an end unto itself.

---

The new Fire Lord continued to have time, to pretend to be trained by her. Azula watched him. Adjusted her footwork. Did not tolerate, and was not offered, any commentary on who was teaching who.

"What did you do with my brother?" she asked, as they flowed from one set to the next. As her hands, poised to throw fire, just so happened to be pointed his way.

He missed a step. It didn't look like an act.

"I'm, uh. Right here?"

She didn't bother to dignify that.

He didn't bother to look worried about her hands, one movement off from a true attack.

He looked around, then grabbed her sleeve, and tugged her further from any walls that may hide ears. The royal family's private training grounds were wonderfully large, and wonderfully open.

"It's me," he said. "It's still me. Just. More of me? Longer of me?"

She narrowed her eyes. A familiar expression, by this point. "Explain."

"...I found the Avatar," he said. "And this is definitely his fault, but--but I guess it started at a war meeting, when I was thirteen."

Azula listened. It was a very Dum-Dum story.

[zuko-always-lies]

They might be Fire Nation Navy sailors officially assigned to Zuko's ship? Deserting would be a criminal offense then, but also at least theoretically they might hope to be rotated off and reassigned elsewhere at some point.

Where did the money for Zuko's quest for the Avatar come from?

So Zuko got burned and banished and told that he had to find the Avatar to return home.

But the thing is that Zuko got a ship. Sure, it was an smaller, probably older ship, but it still represents a lot of value. And it has all sorts of running costs associated with it: coal, ammo for the trebuchets, feed for the war rhinos, spare parts, major repairs for whenever Avatar crashes it into an iceberg, etc. And then there's the crew. They need to be recruited or assigned somehow, replaced if there are deaths or desertions, fed, and paid. All of this costs a lot of money.

And then there's the fact that even beyond that, Book 1 Zuko and Iroh never seem to be short on money. They have plenty of fine food, Iroh can buy whatever he wants at the market, and Zuko even promises June "Iroh's weight in gold" if she helps capture Aang. All of this suggests that there's some substantial financial power behind Zuko.

Where is this money coming from? I see four main possibilities:

Zuko is being funded by the Fire Nation government, as part of the Fire Nation Navy. If this is true, this probably means that Ozai OK'd this government money going to his banished son. Note that the very much non-canon "Zuko's Story" comic (it was made in association with the much hated movie) has Azula be the one who interceded with Ozai and convinced him to give Zuko a ship.

As a prince, even a banished one, Zuko has access to some money, property, or income in his own name as part of his birthright, and this money is going to fund Zuko's expedition even with Zuko in exile. Note that this would mean that Ozai didn't bother to or perhaps want to strip Zuko of all his royal privileges.

Iroh has access to wealth, property, and income in his own name as a royal prince and as the former crown prince, and he's using to it fund the expedition.

Azula has access to some money or income in her own name due to being royalty, and she's using it to fund Zuko's quest. I think this is by far the least likely possibility, but it would also be objectively the funniest one if it were true.

[dapperapple]

parts of live action ATLA that I can think of right now and thought were particularly well done include:

- opening scene with the earthbender (he fought hard and died brutally, it sets the tone well for this world at war)

- the air nomad genocide (it feels so different when we have to see it for ourselves, jeez louise)

- Kyoshi fighting through Aang (metal as hell)

- the cave of two lovers (gay Oma and Shu!! red and blue Oma and Shu!! hell yeah!! I also just like how they had Sokka and Katara in there instead, and their familial love got them out)

- that earth kingdom soldier talking to Iroh (more nuanced than just "corrupt soldier punch old man", also "he was only 19" got to me, great acting bro)

- Zuko talking to Iroh at Lu Ten's funeral (Zuko saying what he's supposed to but then instead of leaving he shares a memory of his cousin and just sits with his devastated, unresponsive uncle so he isn't alone, oh my god I cried)

- Seeing Zuko's father tell him he's banished (he looks so young and scared and he echos what his mother must've taught him about the weak being capable of growing stronger)

- Zuko's crew being the 41st division (I love that it ties the crew directly to the action that upset Ozai and led to Zuko's banishment, plus it gives the crew a pretty damn good reason to respect him despite him being a bratty asshole sometimes)

[aether-link]

Zuko accidentally calling Iroh dad in a tantrum only for Iroh to be moved by it.

Then later eventually, Iroh telling the ship crew about it and tearing up over it while one pats his back in support.