AtLA: Zukaang Week: The Past

"I'm terribly sorry about this," Zuko murmured apologetically even as the tone was hard to accomplish with his arms pulled behind him and chained at an awkward angle. Neither of his two cellmates looked terribly angry, though, just generally disgruntled with their situation.

"You don't have to apologise for who you are, Zuko," Sokka said with a grin. "I mean, the power to summon powerful otherworldly beings? You might as well add 'bound to get kidnapped' into your resume."

"Yeah, no worries, Summoner Worrywart." Toph wriggled her wrists in her own shackles. "It's not your fault this creep decided to come after you. Besides." There was a deep crumbling sound when Toph yanked her bindings off the wall. "It's not like these flimsy shackles can hold me."

"But it's not just about that," Zuko protested while Toph busied herself with freeing her teammates as well. "I...haven't been completely open about who I am."

"You can tell us all about it while we ditch this place." Sokka was out and glancing up and down the corridor the moment Toph had the cell door open. "Where do you think that Zhao guy stashed our gear."

"There's a storage room one floor above this one," a female voice piped in from the cell opposite from their own. "If you let me out, I can take you there, and even get you inside."

"Wait." Sokka glared into the cell. "I know that voice."

"Heh, yeah, fancy running into you guys here." The female face that appeared behind the bars was familiar, and it didn't take Zuko long to place it.

"You're that thief from Damon Ria Docks," Sokka was already voicing the person's identity. "How did you end up here?"

"Soon after you guys turned me in, I was handed over to General Zhao," the thief explained. "This keep serves as the primary prison for the Berem Inland, since the whole area is under Fition rule."

"But how can we trust a thief?" Sokka glared at the criminal, but his expression was contemplative. He was considering it.

"She's not lying at least, since I sense no deception," Toph offered her own piece.

Zuko looked the girl over, she was smiling widely, but there was a scared edge to it. She didn't want to stay here and seemed to know fully what kind of a warden General Zhao was.

"I say we take her with us," Zuko spoke out, earning startled looks from his companions. Flushing a bit in embarrassment over the keen attention, he grumbled: "Toph confirmed she's sincere about wanting to help us. And I'm comfortable with leaving a mere pickpocket to Zhao's sadistic clutches." Zuko had heard much about General Zhao and his prison from his uncle. The General wouldn't differentiate between a murderer and a petty thief, treating both with inhuman cruelty.

"Actually, I can do much more than just pick pockets," the thief said after Toph had already opened her jail cell. "I'm sure I'll be of use to you guys." She flashed the party a genuinely happy smile. "The name's Ty Lee. Nice to meetcha."

"Sokka. And this is Toph." Sokka waved his hand at Toph. "That over there is Zuko." A thumb jabbed in Zuko's direction and Zuko glared at the other for treating him like a footnote.

"Oh, Zuko? Like the prince?" Ty Lee's eyes blinked at him innocently, curiously, and Zuko realized that there was no need to grow suspicious or get worked up. Only, he had already flinched at the words, and his friends must have noticed and there was no way they wouldn't now know.

"Talk while we move," Sokka ordered again and turned to Ty Lee. "Which way?"

Ty Lee immediately sprung into action, running at the head of the group, showing which way to go. Meanwhile Sokka shot Zuko a look.

"So, is this that thing you wanted to tell us about before we left the cell?"

"More or less." Zuko sighed and then started to focus his breathing. "The Phoenix King is my father."

"Wow, no mincing meat there, Summoner Blunt," Toph laughed, albeit a bit awkwardly. "So what happened between you two?"

"Other than my father being an insane megalomaniac?" Zuko didn't want to think too deeply into the falling out between his father and himself, but he would need to give his friends answers. "Do you know what secret my father found at the Suor ruins?" It was a rhetorical question, so Zuko immediately carried on: "The key to immortality."

"Wait," Sokka cut in. "If he's immortal, how are we going to beat him?" At that the group made it out of the prison floor and into a dimply lit staircase.

"All life comes to an end, even eternal life," Zuko insisted, quoting the words his uncle had given him in response to the same question. "It's more like a secret of longevity, only we're talking about centuries instead of the decades brought by magic potions. But a sword through the heart should kill him too."

"If he has a heart to stab," Sokka growled bitterly, no doubt remembering what had been done to his resistance allies, and Zuko couldn't help but agree with the sentiment as they slipped through the door Ty Lee opened for them.

"My father wanted to decrease the chances of that happening, so he ordered his heirs murdered before they could try to take his empire from him." Zuko was rushing the final part of the story, skipping over points and details that were just too painful to be pondered on here, in an enemy fortress, of all places. "My uncle saved me, and so I wowed to help him bring my father down."

"That's so messed up." Sokka cinched the point of the story quite eloquently, in Zuko's opinion. His father's madness and paranoia weren't easy to put into words.

"Well, perhaps he was right to fear my sister," Zuko commented, actually not minding the memory of her. "She was always more keep to inherit the throne than I ever was."

They were finally had the storeroom. Ty Lee had the door open in no time at all, using a nail she had apparently yanked off one of the many lanterns they had passed while Zuko had been telling his story. Soon enough they were all equipped and ready to storm the castle, only, they would be headed out instead of further inside.

"We need to get to someplace where I can summon my dragon," Zuko spoke to his companions. "Then we can just fly out of here." After they were free they would have to worry about finding the rest of their entourage, but they would need to proceed one objective at a time in order to get anywhere.

"The main floor might be the best place space-wise," Sokka said. "But we'll also be definitely spotted."

"That won't be a problem once Summoner Flame On gets his dragon out," Toph insisted. "Let's move out, I'm finding out I really don't like prisons."

They were already heading for the main floor when they started to hear a ruckus coming from above.

"Think our disappearance was noticed?" Zuko queried and Ty Lee shook her head.

"They'd be storming the storming the staircases then, and I don't feel trampling down the steps." Ty Lee probably knew all about such things, so Zuko didn't question it. "My guess is there's something besides us causing Zhao trouble."

"I'm up for causing him some more." Toph smirked darkly and leaped at the last door between them and their objective, solidly kicking it down.

"Oh, cool!" Ty Lee squealed as the party made it through the opening, only for all of them to freeze in place at the sight that waited them in the entrance hall.

There was a large hole in the main wall, where the heavy wooden doors used to be. And further in the room was a dragon, very similar to the one Zuko could call. Long, elegant and powerful, it had to be a spirit dragon. But this dragon's scales were a deep blue, very different from the dark red of Zuko's own summon creature. But other than the difference in coloring, the dragons could have been identical. It was enough to make Zuko wonder...

"Ah, Zuzu! There you are!" An eerily familiar voice called, followed by a cackle Zuko could never forget. He looked over to the dragon's head, and saw that they didn't have to worry about finding Aang and the others; they were right there, along with another familiar face Zuko hadn't expected to see that day.

"Well, speak of the devil and she shall appear..." Zuko murmured as he met his sister's one-eyed gaze, noticing that his sister hadn't worn an eye patch last time they'd met, briefly feeling exasperated at his little sister getting herself into trouble again.

"This is a nice change, isn't it?" Azula cackled with almost manic glee. "Me saving you, I mean? Let's get going, Zuzu!"

"I think I like that one," Toph commented. "Summoner Zuzu."

"Who is this whacko?" Sokka asked at the same time.

Zuko sighed. "Guys, meet Princess Azula."

There was a soft sympathetic curse from Sokka and Zuko focused on calling his dragon forth.

It was about time they ditches this place.

---

Author's Notes: I was having a lot of fun with Toph using a different handle for Zuko every time she referred to him, how many could tell? Yeah, I actually didn't do it just for the 'flame-on' reference.

Also, new continent = new naming pattern. Aww yiss. Well, except for the Inland, since it's actually a part of Fition.