Archive of Our Own ^beta

This wouldn’t have happened Sokka would have just gotten the supplies like he was supposed to, but no, he sent Aang, a twelve year old with the attention span on a toddler, and if the wrong bottle, one that happened to be filled with Fire-Grass, just happened to be grabbed instead of the bottle of chili powder, who would know?

Not Aang that’s for sure.

He was too busy trying to speed through the shopping to notice his hand grabbing the wrong item.

The small bottle filled with inconspicuous red flakes that looked almost exactly like chili powder, the shade of red coloring them just a few tones darker. The spice that had been added to the shopping list at the last minute curtesy of Zuko was left forgotten on the shelf while its imposter laid innocently in the basket bouncing in Aang’s arms.

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Sitting in the courtyard, Katara stirred the stew with a wave of her hand. Looking down at the bubbling pot she declared it done and proceeding to fill the bowls with a flick of her wrist. Sighing she grabbed the bottles filled with different spices that she each member of the team preferred in their food.

She, and her brother liked to add dried kelp flakes to their meals.

Toph liked a mixture of cumin, and ground herbs that could be bought in town.

Suki mostly enjoyed just pepper added to her food, as it was native and cultivated on Kyoshi Island.

Aang preferred his food either bland or sweet, not really caring for to much flavor, but enjoying sweet things immensely.

...and Zuko liked chili.

The first time Sokka had tried a bite of Zuko’s food, it had ended with him guzzling down water with tears streaming down his face as Toph cackled in the background.

Katara carefully added the seasonings to their respective bowls, never noticing the difference in labeling on the bottle of would be chili powder intended for Zuko’s bowl, and dropping a generous amount into the bowl and mixing it Thoroughly.

Now you see Fire-Grass contains most of the same quality’s as chili powder. Both red, both spicy, but only on of them had hallucinogenic properties.

Fire-Grass causes hazy thoughts, euphoria in sporadic bursts, occasionally seizures, and most importantly vivid and most of the time violent hallucinations.

Now is Sokka had just done his job, none of this would have happened.

“Dinners ready” Katara called out towards the open area in the middle of the courtyard where everyone was hanging out.

“Yeah! Food time!” Toph yelled before she formed a small pile of loose rocks to glide over on with Aang bouncing along behind her with Sokka trailing after them while Zuko and Suki brought up the rear, walking at a more sedate pace.

“There’s enough for everyone to have seconds tonight” Katara added as she handed each of them their respective bowls, before grabbing her own and beginning to eat.

“Thank you’s” were chorused from around the circle they had settled into to eat. Zuko’s thanks was quieter then the rest, but Katara has noticed that, that he was just normal for him. When not being loud, he fell back onto being  extremely quiet.

Zuko spooned his food into his mouth, not noticing anything different except a slight change in flavor (Katara must have been trying something different), he decided.

When his bowl was empty he spooned in another portion before reaching for the bottle that contained his chili flakes. As he went to pour it into his bowl his eyes caught a difference in the label from the usual bottle.

Turning the bottle to face upwards so he could read the carefully printed script. As his eyes scanned the label his thoughts screeched to a halt.

It wasn’t chili flakes sitting innocently in the bottle.

“Shit” Zuko breathed out the curse, before biting out a much more empathetic swear “fucking shit”.

Katara have him an odd look before turning back to her meal. Nobody else seemed to have noticed his panic, too absorbed in a conversation with each other.

“Who went shopping today?” Zuko demanded, to panicked to watch his tone. The question was pointed at the group who were still in the midst of their meal. They looked towards him at his pointed question, looking slightly bewildered at his tone.

“Um, why?” Aang asked, grey eyes slightly widened and fidgeting in place slightly.

“Because whoever went got the wrong bottle” Zuko replied, holding out the bottle for them to see.

Sokka snorted “Awww, is princey mad because he didn’t get his spices?” He said, mocking the older teen playfully.

“No” Zuko deadpanned back, not looking amused in the least “I’m mad because the one we have causes hallucinations” he said flatly “and I just happened to eat quite a bit”.

That shut Sokka up.

They gaped at him, not quite believing his words. Katara was the first to move. Moving towards him, she uncapped her water skin and begun to run water up and down his stomach, and chest.

Zuko couldn’t help the small flinch at her first contact, by it went unnoticed by the waterbender in her concentration.

“Wait, hallucinations?” Sokka was the first to speak “does it cause anything else?” He asked, his analytical mind racing.

“Yea” Zuko replied, looking up from Katara’s hands on his chest, glowing with blue, to look at Sokka while answering his question.

“What are they?” Katara asked, moving her hands to his arms, most likely to check his bloodstream “and why are you taking this so calmly!” She continued, her voice taking on a frantic edge. Zuko looked away from Sokka, blinking gold eyes slowly, the left one barely moving. The gnarled and leathery chunk of scar tissue preventing movement. Looking down, hands clasped tightly into fists at his sides, he answered.

“Delirium, out of character rambling, probably a drastic increase in my emotions, but it won’t have any affect on me physically I think, most likely exhaustion, maybe a fever. I don’t know Fire-Grass is unpredictable” he huffed “and I am freaking out, the screaming is just on the inside” Zuko finished, trying to lighten the mood. It succeeded a little, drawing chuckles from them.

Katara let out a frustrated noise as she threw her hands up in annoyance and exasperation “I can’t do anything! Water healing is useless for this!” She growled out.

The group edged slightly away from her, careful of her ire.

Aang was looking guiltily at Zuko, grey eyes wide, and lips trembling “I’m sorry Zuko! I swear I didn’t mean to grab the wrong bottle! I swear! If I’d known I would have been extra careful!” The small monk was wringing his hands, looking guilty.

Zuko sighed “it wasn’t your fault Aang, you didn’t know, got it?”

Aang looked unsure, but still nodded after a moment of hesitation.

Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing again. Soft black hair falling in to his eyes, before being blown to the side with a quick breath. “When the Fire-Grass kicks in, one of you should stay with me at all times” he said after a moment of silence “i dont know how I’ll react to any of this, so one of you should be around incase i go batshit, got it?”  They all nodded, looking weirdly worried for him (why would they be worried about him? He didn’t deserve it, so why?)

“It’ll probably be about an hour or so before it kicks in, depending on how much was in my bowl” he continued, shrugging of Katara’s worried hand as he stood up “ now, I’m going to go burn something” he said before turning and walking to the other side of the courtyard before yelling loudly, letting out a jet of hot flame from his mouth.

He continued letting out massive amounts of fire while the gaang watched apprehensively.

“Well” Suki began “at least he’s not burning down the house”.

“...yeah”

“Hey, he’s stressed, I mean who wouldn’t be in his situation?” Katara said “just let him work it out and then when that grass stuff kicks in we’ll watch him” turning to Toph, she continued “Toph, do you think you can try to stay nearby most of the time, because you’ll be able to restrain him the easiest if we have too?”

“Sure thing SugarQueen, it shouldn’t be hard anyways, Sparky’s a softy under all that angsty emo-ness anyway” Toph answered, staring blankly towards where she could feel The vibrations Zuko was creating and the warmth from his flames softly emanating off of him towards the group and washing over them like a warm breeze.

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It started slowly.

Once Zuko had calmed down and stopped spewing flames, Katara herded him off to where they were camping out. None of them had felt like staying inside of the house, especially not Zuko, so they had set up camp in the courtyard on a patch of softened stone curtesy of Toph, because none of them wanted to sleep on the hard stone floor without some sort of cushion.

The house had been raided by them for a huge supply of blankets, and pillows, that they had taken and layered on the ground to create one large patch of soft bedding. None of them minded sharing as the physically affectionate people, especially Aang, with the exemption of Zuko, who could  barely tolerate the hugs Aang was known to give, or an arm slung casually over his shoulder by Sokka.

Toph, Suki, and Katara, seemed to have noticed this and kept their hands to themselves, aside from the occasional punch to the arm from Toph.

This time Though, Katara grabbed his wrist, and tugged him towards the pile of blankets, but not before giving him a warning about touching him.

She pushed him down onto his bedroll at the outskirts of the pile.

“Stay here” Katara ordered.

Zuko just nodded, his mind already beginning to go loopy.

It had only been around thirty minutes, but Katara had added at least two tablespoons of the Fire-Grass into his bowl, when she would have usually added that same amount of chili flakes to it.

Even in smaller amounts Fire-Grass was known to be exceptionally Potent.

Now, Zuko didn’t think that Momo could talk, so he was pretty sure the drug had kicked in by now, because Momo seemed to be doing just that.

The lemur had come to stand in front os Zuko, Staring up at him unblinkingly, with wide green eyes, not breaking eye contact.

Zuko stared back, gold eyes wide.

“Pick me up, pick me up, pick me up” the mammal chittered noisily.

From an outside perspective it just looked like a small lemur and a teenager were having a stare down.

Zuko moved first. He slowly lifted his arms forwards, still not breaking eye contact, and moved his hands under the lemurs front legs, and slowly lifting him up. His body dangled freely from Zuko’s outstretched arms as he stared back at the firebender, green eyes wide, not a thought behind them.

“I didn’t know you could talk!” Zuko said, awed. There was a stifled giggle in the background that went ignored.

Drawing his hands to his body, Zuko tucked the mammal to his chest and settled his chin on the lemurs head in between his fluffy ears.

“You are very soft mister Momo” he murmured against the soft white fur on the top of the lemurs head.

Momo for his part, seemed content to just let the teen hold him close.

Zuko’s eyes had gone hazy, and mind fuzzy. He pet the small creature for awhile, just enjoying the feeling of soft fur beneath his hands. He stared humming shakily, trying to copy the tune his mother had used to sing softly as they had been sitting quietly by the pond feeding the turtle ducks.

“Who’s your friend there Zuko?” A soft voice questioned.

Turning, Zuko was met with the figure of his mother. She looked exactly like she had the last time he saw her, her soft flowing robes that she had always preferred were a soft fed color, her hair done up in an elaborate top knot with the rest hanging freely down her back.

“This is mister Momo. He’s a lemur” he answered, turning slightly to give his mother a better view “he’s very soft, do you want to pet him?” He asked softly, holding Momo out slightly. The lemur looked confused, but was still content to stay in his warm humans hold.

“I would love too honey” Ursa answered before holding out a hand, and running it softly through the soft fur.

There was no movement in Momo’s fur Zuko noticed, the hair laying still in the wake of his mother’s hand.

It didn’t matter he decided before turning back to his mother (his mother? Mother was gone. Father banished her. Why was she here? How was she here? She can’t be here, she left me)

Garbled speech brought his attention away from the thoughts of mother. Turning towards the sounds he saw a small girl in green (strong, she was strong. Her name was Toph) and a darker, taller girl in blue (water, cold and clean. Katara, that’s Katara)

The girl in blue, Katara seemed to be talking to him, her mouth moving to form words that made no sense to him, the syllables sounding as if they were coming from underwater.

He stared at her uncomprehendingly, usually luminous eyes hazy, and mouth slack, lips barely parted.

Katara must have noticed this because she huffed, clearly frustrated, but gave him a soft smile before turning away. Zuko blinked, before turning back too his mother.

She wasn’t there.

“Mother?” Zuko called out, swiveling his head back and forth “mother?, mother where are you?”

He stumbled to his feet, lemur still clutched to his chest. He surveyed the yard, eyes darting back and forth. His head was spinning. A hand grabbed his arm steadying him.

He turned towards whoever was holding him, distantly noticing it was Toph.

“Have you seen mother? I can’t find mother”

“Sorry Sparky, but I definitely haven’t “seen” your mom” There was a hint of humor in her voice when she answered, but he couldn’t grasp why (why is it funny? Was it funny? Did I say something? Where’s mother?)

“I don’t think I can help either though”

(Why? Why can’t she help? I have to find mother. Did she leave me again?)

“Why?” He asked, his voice wobbling dangerously. (Why can’t she help me?)

“Cause I don’t know where she is Sparky, or even her name”

“oh...”

(That makes sense, she can’t help cause she doesn’t know mother)

“I can help you?” A bright voice chimes in, sounding young and feminine, a happy lily to it. Zuko turned away from Toph to see who it was.

“Lala?”

(No, it’s not Lala, it can’t be. Lala doesn’t sound Happy like that. She’s cruel, Lala’s cruel.)

But there she was, looking eleven years old again. Her eyes bright and cheerful in a way that was never present when she was around him. Her eyes were always cold, piercing through his body like a Falcon-Eagle does its prey. She looked happy, a beaming smile on her face, hands clasped behind her back, and bouncing on the balls of her feet.

She looked exactly like she did back then, hair tied up in a top knot, bangs hanging loose, her clothes black and red, made for fighting, and sharp around the edges.

“I can help you find her Zuzu”

“Don’t call me that!” He snapped back at her “and how can you help me?”

“You have to follow me Dum-Dum”

Before he could refuse, she skipped away. The floor shifted, changing into cold black tile before extending in to a long, dark hallway illuminated only with scarcely placed metal torches.

(The palace? Why am I in the palace? He don’t want to be here. Can I leave please?)

“no, I don’t wanna be here, let me out, I don’t like it here” Zuko’s voice was hushed as if not to be heard, but it was filled with quiet panic. His eyes were blown wide, darting back and forth.

Momo screeched, making him jump. Looking down, Zuko saw the lemur looking back up at him Inquiringly.

“shhh, you have to be quiet, he doesn’t like it when mm’ loud!” Zuko said hurriedly, holding Momo tighter to his chest, tucking the lemurs head under his chin as if to shield him from an unknown threat.

The hall was dark, the drapes covering the windows pulled tightly shut.

A laugh rang out.

It was a cruel sound. It held no joy, no happiness to be found, just a ringing of Calculative mockery.

A shiver ran up Zuko’s spine, Morphing into a full body shudder halfway through.

(No no no nononono, not father, please not him)

“...father...?” Zuko’s voice wavered, echoing slightly through the corridor. The torches flickered harshly, before going out entirely, plunging Zuko into darkness.

A yelp burst from his throat, a keening, high pitched noise that echoed in the dark.

“Z~uko”

“...y-yes?”

“Z~uko”

“Hello?”

“RUN”

Zuko stumbled back violently, tripping over himself, and landing harshly on his ass. The voice was screeching garbled words, the pitch making his ears and head ring sharply. He let out a whimper, covering his ears with his hands as he tried to stand up.

(honorprincepleasefathergreenpleasechangeuseingmeazulaavatarsonfightpleasestandpleasefightpleaseprincezuko)

The screeching just kept getting higher in pitch, the frequency piercing through his scull. Momo was gone, having jumped away at some point. (Where’s he go? Where’s the soft one? Please come back. I’m sorry. I’ll do better. I promise please)

He finally succeeded in stumbling upright. The floor was heaving underneath his feet as bright flashes lit up the dark in sudden bursts, sending pricks of pinpoint pain against his eyes.

There was a hand against his arm. He flinched badly, ducking his head, trying to shrink in on himself. The hand seemed to hesitate for a moment, before retreating.

A second, or days could have passed, before Zuko lifted his head.

(In reality, close to forty-five minutes had passed with Zuko sitting stock still, head ducked, and hands covering his ears)

((Concern was practically radiating from the rest of the group, but there was nothing they could do. They just had to wait it out, and just let the drug run its course))

The scene had changed, it was no pitch black anymore, just merely dim.

He was back in his private room aboard The Wani. Dark metal walls, and floor gleaming dully in the lowlight, and Fire-Nation flags hung on the walls.

The smell of burnt flesh and rot permeated the air, filling the small room with its cloying scent.

He gagged. Acrid bile flew up his throat and splattered wetly onto the floor leaving a sour taste in his mouth. There were voices around him, yelling things he couldn’t make out.

There were hands on him again, but this time they didn’t leave. He tried to push them off and push himself away, but they held fast.

(leave leave leave please, just leave)

“g-go away” his words were slurred, and gravely, throat burning from the bile “le-leave. go a-away!”

He was shaking badly, trembling against the hands holding him, still trying to dislodge them. He flung his elbows out suddenly, hoping to get himself away. They hit something solid, and warm.

((“Fucking hell! Tui and La, that hurt!” Exclaimed Sokka, holding his bleeding nose with both hands.))

His arm ached harshly now from the impact with the unknown surface.

Fire ignited suddenly on his hands, spreading quickly up his arms towards his face and down the rest of his body.

He screamed.

“Hu-hurts! Make i-it stop! It h-hurts!” He was sobbing now, a full body sensation. Hiccuping wails bursting from his throat.

The courtyard was back now with its stone floors and open sky. Tears were blurring his good eye and rendering his bad one useless. He could barely make out the figures of people around him and had no chance of seeing any distinct features, only getting masses of color.

“What hurts?” The blue mass asked. Their voice sounded distorted and mangled but still like words.

“B-burns, it burns!” He choked out, a whimper joining seconds later “”K’-tara m-make it stop! make h-him stop b-burning me!”

Katara(that was Katara. Ice and water, a necklace, the full moon, twin koi fish swirling around and around, black and white providing a sharp contrast with each other. Blood, jerking around like a puppet on a string, Spears of ice creating a dome of death over a cowering man)

((“ I don’t know how!” Katara exclaimed, kneeling in front of the hysterical firebender. The group hated seeing the normally strong, and stoic teen sobbing, kneeling on the ground, begging for help.

“do you need Toph to restrain him?” Sokka questioned quietly, standing slightly away, still holding his bleeding nose.

“Not yet” Katara sighed, holding Zuko’s wrists gently, one in each hand “only if he try’s hurting himself or someone else on accident”

Aang, Toph, and Suki were standing next to Sokka anxiously, not knowing how to help.))

“I wa- uncle- pleas-, I-I wan- uncle” Zuko could barely breath. The sobs wracking his body not allowing any air into his lungs.

“Breath, Prince Zuko”

(Uncle, that’s uncle)

Iroh’s smooth voice was coming from besides him.

He fell forwards into someone while looking to the right where he had heard uncle from. Arms wrapped around him from whoever he had fallen into. Still sobbing, his head was leant against someone’s chest.

He was looking but he couldn’t find uncle anywhere.(where’s uncle? I need uncle, please, where is he?)

Tilting his head up, Zuko could make out the features of the person holding him, suddenly everything just stoped. The fear, the hysteria, the pain, everything.

(what happened? Why am I hear? Is he blue? His hair is blue. It’s not supposed to be blue is it?)

“Your hair is blue” he said bluntly, tears still wet on his face, but no longer did new ones appear. Still panting, trying to catch his breath, Zuko lifted one hand to touch Sokka’s hair (Sokka, this is Sokka. He likes meat I think? And weapons, boomer-boomerangs! he has a boomerang) Zuko nodded resolutely to himself, hand trying to get a hold on Sokka’s Wolf-Tail.

(Wolf-Tail?) “why d-do you c-call it a Wolf-Tail? there’s no w-wolfs i-in your hair” His eyes blew wide “is there wolfs i-in your hair?!”

Zuko looked like a child in that moment. Golden eyes wide, and glazed, fluffy hair sticking up in all directions. His head was resting against Sokka’s chest. At some point he had moved his legs to the side and slung them over Sokka’s so he was laying on his lap.

Darting both of his hands up to grab Sokka’s Wolf-Tail with the speed of a Wolf-Bat, Zuko leaned upwards peering intently at Sakka’s hair, sifting his thin fingers through it, searching for something.

“Hey-ow, hey stop that!” Sokka yelped, tilting his head downwards to Alleviate the tugging “what are you doing!? Stop pulling-“

Zuko looked at Sokka for a moment before going back to his task “I’m l-looking for the w-wolfs. Are they blue?”

There were colors swirling around in the air. Zuko abandoned his task of looking for wolves in Sokka’s hair in favor of trying to touch the wisps of color wavering around in the air. Sokka was saying something. Probably.

((“I-what, did you hear that?! He thinks I have a Tui dammed wolf in my hair!” Sokka exclaimed, sounding outraged. Everyone else was letting out small laughs, heavily relieved that Zuko seemed to have calmed down from his panic.

“You’re a bed now Snoozles!” Toph added in, face alight with glee, but she still had worry set in the edges of her face))

Zuko froze, eyes blowing wave wider then before “oh...um s-something’s wr-wrong. I-I dun- like it”

With that brief warning, his eyes rolled up into his head. His muscles tensed and strained as they tightened.

((They watched in shock as Zuko begun to seize, petrified for a few heart beats, before moving.

Suki rushed over, dropping to her knees before pulling Zuko out of Sokka’s lap. Zuko’s teeth were clenched, his lips pulled tightly over them. His throat was swallowing spastically, violent shudders wracking his entire frame. Saliva began frothing out of his mouth, bubbling up from the corners of his lips.

“Help me get him on his side” Suki said, while maneuvering him into position “now!”

Katara rushed to help. She helped heft Zuko onto his side and hold him there. Toph, and Aang has moved to sit on the ground above Zuko’s head, Aang worrying his hands together and sniffing, while Toph sat rock still, listening to the vibrations, trying to find anything in them that could make Zuko’s condition worse.

It was as they could all hear zuko’s bones creaking under the strain, but it was only in their minds.

Bile worked it way up his throat once again, working it’s way out through his clenched teeth, and landing on the ground with a wet splatter. Chest heaving, and hands clawed, Zuko continued to shake for a few more minutes, before the seizing petered out.))

(hurts, it hurts. Please I’m sorry. I’m your loyal son. Please it burns. I don’t like it. Please. Make it stop)

Zuko could feel his body twitching erratically every few seconds, and the taste of bile sitting heavily in his mouth. He was laying on the ground now, he noticed. No longer laying in the blue ones lap. The stone was cold beneath him.

He swallowed heavily, cringing at the taste in his mouth. There were people around, he could tell.

“C-cold, it’s-s c-cold”

There were heavy sighs of relief from above him, followed by movement. A small hand grabbed his own, squeezing tightly. He squeezed back weakly, hands still weak and twitching occasionally. Craning his head back, he could see the small green one.

(Toph, he liked Toph. He knew that. Toph was good)

“Hey Spark Breath, how you doing?” Toph’s voice was uncharacteristically soft.

“I’m- um im cold a-and I do-don’t know what-t happed, b-but I didn’t li-like it”

“You had a seizure Zuko” it was Suki who answered his question.

(A seizure? He had heard of those before, but he didn’t think he would ever have one, and he never wanted to have another one)

A blanket was draped over his body, the heavy weight grounding him somewhat. He saw a floating blob of water move on the ground in front of his face, cleaning his vomit off the stone floor.

Zuko cringed “ew, why, why is there f-fish in it?”

“In what Zuko?”

“T-the, the th-thing, the b-blue thing”

“You mean Katara’s water?”

“Yes! i-it’s called water!” Zuko exclaimed “but w-why are th-there fish in it? fi-fish have to stay i-i-in the ocean!” He sounded so confused, eyes not coherent at all. He was still cold, the blanket still not warm enough.

((“Sokka, can you pick him up and bring him to the bed rolls please?” Katara asked, half listening to Zuko mumble something about fish (why fish?). Her brother nodded, before moving closer to the delirious firebender))

“Hey buddy, I’m going to pick you up alright” Zuko looked up blearily before nodding after a moment. He could feel arms reach under him, picking him up from underneath his back, and legs.

“Whooo, em flying!” Zuko slurred as Sokka lifted him up. His head lulled against the blue clad chest.

“You sure are buddy” Sokka replied sarcastically, before grunting “spirits what do you eat! Rocks?”

Zuko grinned, eyes crossing “nope, I-I eat stew, and fruit, and meat, an- Jook! u-uncle ma-makes the best Jook! So-Sokka, y-you hav-ta try it, okay?”

“Mmmm, sure Zuko, I’ll try it”

He was settled into something soft by Sokka (that was Sokka, right?)

A white bundle of fur latched onto Zuko, curling up in his side.

“Mister Momo! Th-there you a-are, I-I was lookin for yo-you!” He shakily reached down to pet the lemur before looking up to Sokka.

“do y-you know Mister Momo?”

“Yup, I’ve known him for awhile”

“he’s ver-very s-soft. Do you wanna p-pet hi-him?”

“Sure Zuko”

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The rest of the night passed in much the same way.

((“No, no Zuko! Spit the rock out, you cannot eat that!” Suki demanded, trying to pry the firebenders mouth open. Toph was cackling in the background, openly amused at the happenings.))

((“oh my god! He had a seizure! He didnt say that could happen!”

“He did say that he didn’t know what all that it could do, only what some of the affects were”

“...I guess, but still!”))

((“It h-hurts, bu-burns, m-mak- it stop!”

“Shhhhhhh, I’m sorry Zuko. I don’t know how, I’m so sorry” Katara tried to soothe the delusional teen, running a hand through his hair softly. He had been thrashing, and crying out on his bedroll for twenty minutes now with no signs of stoping.

Sokka has herded the younger kids inside to eat something, and take a break so only Suki remained outside with her, and Zuko.

“Please I-I’m so-sorry Sir, I’ll b-be good, p-promise” tears were streaming down Zuko’s face, pooling at his. His eyes were distant and it was clear that his mind wasn’t present, but Katara still had to try.

“You’re already good Zuko, you’re doing great, I promise”))

((“Can I have a-a s-snack?” Zuko asked, moving his eyes from the empty patch of air he had been watching studiously.

“Sure thing Zuko! What do you want?” Aang was bouncing at the opportunity to finally do something helpful.

“Umm, I want the s-spiky ones” Zuko replied.

“What spiky ones?”

“You k-know the sw-sweet ones that h-have the little s-spiky spikes!”

“Spiky sweet ones?” Aang thought for a moment, before realization struck “Lychees! You want Lychees?”

“Mhmm, I wan- those”

“Okay!”))

((“Guys! It’s happening again!” Toph yelled towards the house where the rest of the group had went for a quick snack. Toph has decided to stay outside and make sure Zuko was okay.

He had been staring blankly at nothing again, so they had thought it would be fine to leave him for a minute. About halfway through their break, Zuko started seizing again.

“Shit! Hold him down” everyone rushed out of the house, back to the courtyard where they proceeded to move Zuko on to his side and wait it out.

It stopped, this time without any bodily fluids being spilled, just drool. Zuko was crying again.

“Shhh, your okay buddy, it’s over, your fine” Sokka reaches down to wipe the drool off of Zuko’s chin, shushing him gently.

“Ah- i-mmm I-I don’t w-wan-wanna -mmm” Zuko’s voice was muddled, and all he could force out were stuttered mumbles. “uhhh- i-i don’t li- tha- kay-, don’t, I d-dont w-wanna, Kay?” Sweat was beading on his hair line, slicking his hair down, and plastering it to his forehead.

“That’s okay bud, it’s passed, that ones over” Sokka said “ I’m going to pick you up again, and put you next to Appa on a pile of blankets okay?”

“Amppa-?”

“Yup he’s very soft”

“Okay”

“Okay” Sokka confirmed before turning “hey can you guys set up next to Appa?” Sokka yelled out.

“Yeah” was the reply before they started moving blankets towards the bison.))

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It was around three in the morning before Zuko finally fell asleep, nestled into Appa’s thick fur and swaddled in blankets.

The group collectively held their breath for a few minutes until he had been asleep for a few minutes before heaving a heavy sigh of relief.

“oh god, I’m so tired” Katara said, slumping her shoulders forward. Bags had developed under hers, and everyone else’s eyes, exhaustion from the hours of watching Zuko taking their toll.

“go to sleep, I’ll wake one of you in a few hours for the next watch” Suki piped in. She was used to pulling all nighters, so she could do it again even if watching Zuko had taken extra out of her.

“You don’t have to tell me twice” Sokka said before rolling into his sleeping bag.

“ yeah goodnight” Katara added “ if Zuko wakes up or you need help, wake me up”

Katara was out as soon as she finished her sentence. Aang, and Toph joining them, moving into their own sleeping bags. Suki sighed, resigning herself for a few more hours without sleep.

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Zuko woke up slowly.

It wasn’t a dramatic wake up. There was no leaping, no shouting, no heart hammering in his chest just one moment he was asleep and the next he was not.

He didn’t feel well rested, on the contrary he felt exhausted. His head hurt and his whole body ached.

He pushed the blankets down off his chest and into his lap before weakly sitting up. It took him a minute and he was panting slightly before he had heaved himself into a sitting position against the flying bison.

Swallowing thickly around his dry tongue, he looked around finding the various members of the group splayed out around him in their own sleeping bags.

He could remember parts of the night before, remember Sokka comforting him after a seizure (A fucking seizure!!!) Toph holding his hand, holding Momo close to his chest, Aang nervously fluttering around trying to help, Suki taking rocks out of his mouth (why were there rocks in my mouth? Did I eat rocks?!) Katara soothing him gently like a mother would do a child with a skinned knee. (Why would they do that? Why would they help me?) He remembered burning. He remembered blue, and mother, and The Palace, and darkness. He remembered spasming uncontrollably, and sobbing hysterically afterwards. He remembered soft hands and soothing voices trying to comfort him, trying to help. He remembered fish, and water. He remembered crying, the tears leaving his face wet.

“Hey, are you back with us buddy?” A voice broke Zuko from his thoughts. Snapping his head up he could see that at some point during his thoughts, that the rest of them had awoken. It was Sokka who spoke, his voice underlaid with worry.

“Yes I think so” Zuko rasped, his throat slightly sore.

“Great!” Sokka replied, voice filled with relief “we were really worried about you, ya know”

An orange blur tackled Zuko into a hug, clinging onto him tightly. It took a second for him to process the fact that he now had a small monk latched onto his front.

“I was so worried! Don’t ever do that again okay! And I’ll always do the shopping better! I’ll be extra careful okay!” Aang ended his babble with a small sniff, clinging wave harder to the firebender.

Zuko awkwardly patted his back with one hand, looking confused “okay...?, I guess”

“Whooo okay, now that, that’s settled, Zuko, my buddy, my pal, my firefriend, my one and only prison break buddy, was I really blue? Did I look good?”

Zuko’s red face and spluttering denials were a welcome sight.