33. Meeting Something

Zuko tried his hardest not to show any kind of emotion, wiping his face blank and staring straight ahead.

"Well, well, well.....What brings a pretty little thing like you here....?"

Zuko's jaw wanted to tighten in fear, but he restrained himself.

"I'm here for your help."

Face Stealer Koh smiled.

How had this happened? Zuko was a perfectly normal human being, he had no place in the Spirit World, or even out of his own body. So how, in the name of Agni, had he ended up standing in the lair of Face Stealer Koh, praying to come out of this alive and in tact?

It had started with tea. Freaking TEA. Tea, being served to the EARTH KING and bloody hell Zuko was going to KILL that man if he ever saw him again... Kyoshi warriors in-fucking-deed. His personal fight with his sister had gone badly for sure, even if shock had been affecting his ability to bend properly, he was pretty sure he wouldn't have won anyway. Ending up in that cave of crystals hadn't exactly been the most wonderful thing to ever happen to him, but he was pretty sure getting stuck down there with Katara was.

It had been four long hours that the two benders sat together, actually talking quite civilly, learning about each other, when the Avatar and his uncle appeared. And by then, they had a plan. A tricky, ingenious, wonderful plan that no one else would see coming. As long as they acted their parts, it wouldn't be too hard. Besides, only they knew what had gone on between them, the bond of friendship now growing where distaste had been. No one would suspect.

And it went perfectly. Azula appeared, he "chose" his side, and he "fought" Katara. And just at the right moment, he ducked down and Katara blocked his sister's attack on the Avatar, whose armor of crystals had broken, before he spun around, kicking his leg to make an arc of fire, knocking his sister off her feet and into a wall. The disbelief on the faces of his uncle and the Avatar quickly morphed into huge smiles, and then the battle was back on, Avatar's side one to nothing. It had been going well too, the combination of fire and water attacks from himself and Katara making a hard match up for the earthbenders attacking them, his uncle earning his title of Dragon and the Avatar....Well, being the Avatar.

What Zuko hadn't expected was for his sister to summon her lightning. Reflective surfaces surrounded them, and human-made lightning reflected (according to his uncle), just like light did. To think she would take the risk of a dodge and a huge ricocheted wasn't something that had necessarily come to mind. And when it happened....When it happened, all they could do was watch, horrified, and try their hardest to keep the rest of their enemies at bay and not make the situation any worse.

In the end, he'd run to the Avatar, to Aang, with Katara, and she had lifted the three of them from the cave. It had hurt to leave his uncle behind, but Zuko was willing to bare that pain to make it out of there alive, and hopefully, with the world's last hope alive as well. The next hour had been a complete blur of colors and sound and somehow they ended up hijacking a Fire Nation Navy ship. This, he was almost sure, had been his idea, which Sokka approved and Toph carried out, but he wasn't entirely sure. All he knew was the one moment he was running and the next he was sitting at the bedside of the perhaps-dying Avatar.

He had offered to leave, been told to by Hakoda, Sokka's father, but Katara had told them to shut up. She didn't specifically tell him to stay, but she didn't make him leave either, so Zuko just sat there, watching the Avatar, praying to all the spirits he could name.

It was hours before Katara stopped working on healing the lightning induced wound, and when she did, she retreated, without a word, to her room. Zuko however, did not leave. Somehow, he was positive, this was entirely his fault. He didn't act fast enough, think quick enough....something. Somehow, if the Avatar (Aang, he mentally corrected, his name is Aang), died, it would be his fault. He didn't know how, it just would be.

Falling into a fitful sleep was the closest he could come to doing something productive with his time, and so he did, crossing his arms on the edge of the bed and falling asleep over the course of an hour, still praying. If he had been one to pay attention to small, unrelated details, he would have noticed the ship give a particularly hard jolt, which sent the Avatar's hand, otherwise immobile, splaying across his arm. He would have noticed, in the seconds before he fell asleep, the soft glow which lit the airbender arrows.

But he didn't, so what happened next was completely and totally unexpected.

***

When Zuko awoke, per say, he found himself standing on monochrome clouds in the middle of a sepia colored sky, with no recollection of how the hell he had gotten there. He assumed straight off it was a dream, until he remembered that he DIDN'T dream. Only had nightmares, of his father, sister, losing his mother.... Nightmares. But never dreams. And when the Avatar was dying didn't exactly seem the time for them to come back, logically speaking.

He looked around cautiously, turning slowly to just find more clouds and more sky.

"Zuko."

Zuko jumped and spun back the way he had been facing originally. His eyes widened to the point they might have popped out of his sockets.

"Avatar...ROKU?"

The Fire Nation Avatar smiled at him. Zuko wasn't sure if he should be doing something like dropping to his knee and claiming the meeting to be an honor or something equally respectful. In the end, he did drop to one knee, bowing his head and wondering what the hell was going on here.

"Come now, Prince Zuko." Roku's voice sounded amused. "No need to bow to your own great grandfather."

Zuko swallowed nervously and looked up before rising to his feet again. How Roku had come so close to him without making a sound he had no idea, but he was there now. The older man's eyes trailed over him in a scrutinizing fashion, and Zuko felt a bit like a bug under a microscope. A very big, very intimidating microscope.

"Well, I can't say I'm disappointed." was Roku's final admission once he was done looking the prince over. "A little worn around the edges, but, well, aren't all firebenders?"

He smiled and Zuko quirked a small one in return.

"I, truly, would love to sit here and just talk with you Zuko, believe me I would, but I'm afraid that there isn't time for that now." Roku said gravely. "There are matters at hand that will not wait for an old man like me to get to know his great grandson. Another time, we will have a chat, there are many things I wish to tell you. But for now, come."

He allowed himself to be led away across the clouds towards wherever Roku had in mind, the old Avatar's arm slipping around his shoulders. They walked for a time, mostly in silence, two men from the same family line just generations apart, crossing plain after plain of colorless clouds. To say it was awkward for the younger of the two would have been putting it mildly. He had just changed sides of a war he didn't want to be fighting, helped save someone he had once called an enemy's life, and was, as far as he knew, currently asleep on a stolen Fire Navy ship. And now, suddenly, he was side by side with his ancestor. It was a little bit nerve wracking.

"I would love to explain to you in more depth what is now going on my dear prince, but I'm afraid our time here is short. I shall make this simple, my newest incarnation, Avatar Aang, harbors feelings for you."

Zuko just about had a heart attack, head swinging around so fast one could be sure he strained his neck at least a little.

"The same feelings you yourself harbor for him."

If Roku's arm hadn't still been around his shoulders, Zuko was pretty sure he would have fallen over.

"I don't have-!"

Roku gave him a look which reminded him a lot of the look his uncle gave him when he was little trying to lie that NO he hadn't snuck fire flakes into his room. ...Maybe.

"Well, uhm, maybe I do....sort of....kinda..." the look intensified and Zuko sighed. "Okay so I'm in love with him."

Seemingly pacified the  elder Avatar continued.

"These feelings, while unknowing reciprocated, were strong enough to bring you here, to the in between place between the Spirit and Human worlds. Why and how, that is a long explanation for another time, but it matters not. What does matter is that we, that is to say myself and all the other souls of the past Avatars, are in dire need of your help."

Zuko looked up at his ancestor in confusion, brow knitting.

"How could I possibly help you? I'm just a firebender."

"A firebender whom the Avatar is deeply in love with, this changes things quite a bit I assure you." Roku said with a chuckle. "In fact, that is exactly what changes everything. Zuko, I will make this as clear as it can be made; Aang is trapped in the Spirit World. His spirit has left his body in the event of his near death and while his body may live on...perhaps forever, but he will never awaken. Not unless you go and wake his spirit from its slumber in the Spirit World."

"But... But why ME? Katara, her brother, that earthbending girl, they all know him much better than I do!"

"But they do not share any kind of emotional connection to him. Not like you do. You two love one another, you both harbor very intense feelings for each other."

"So?!"

"So you will reach him. The person he loves, the person he loves so much, YOU, will reach him. I know you will."

Zuko opened his mouth to argue, when he felt something, as if he were being sucked into a tunnel of wind.

"Oh dear, already? Very well, Zuko, this will take you to a spirit named Koh, show him no emotion, or he will steal your face."

"He'll WHAT?!"

But Zuko was already being dragged backwards into what he later would assume to be the gateway between limbo and the Spirit World, blacking out, just as Roku faded into the wind.

***

He was in fact dropped before Koh's den, and he now stood inside, face expressionless, heart beating a mile a minute, praying to any of the more merciful spirits that he could get himself and Aang out of this okay.

"My help?" Koh asked. "With what, pray tell?"

Zuko's eyes stared ahead instead of following Koh, whom was coiling around him and into the shadows again. If the spirit's goal was to freak him out, he was succeeding quite well. He had never been so scared in his life.

"The Avatar. His spirit, it's trapped here. I...need your help, to find him."

Koh paused, body twisting so he could turn back around and come face to face with Zuko, expression oddly serious.

"Avatar Aang is here? Trapped in the spirit world? WHY?"

"My sister shot him with lightning and he died. Katara, she's a waterbender, saved him from the brink of death, but his spirit left his body. It's sleeping here, apparently."

"Apparently?"

"So Roku says, anyway."

Koh's eyes narrowed and his face neared Zuko's. The prince didn't even flinch.

"Who are you?"

"Zuko. Prince, or, well, ex-Prince, I'm pretty sure, of the Fire Nation. I'm the person who Aang is...uh....in love with. Apparently, er, so Roku says."

"And?" the Spirit asked. "Are you in love with him?"

"Uhm, yes. Yes I am." Zuko answered, voice still emotionless.

Koh hummed. Once more, he twisted off into the darkness, only to reappear behind Zuko, looking off into the distance in a thoughtful manner.

"I once stole away the one whom the Avatar loved. For that, he tried to kill me. I do, I suppose, owe him a great debt for what I did. And for that matter, I rather liked Aang. The boy was very good at avoiding showing me emotions." Koh turned to look at him. "I will help you Prince Zuko. But first, put this on."

A talisman dropped at his feet and the ex-prince leaned down and picked it up, turning it in his palm.

"It will prevent me from stealing your face, or any of the other spirits from doing something equally as nasty."

Zuko pulled it over his head until the necklace rested about his neck and turned to Koh. The face-stealer nodded.

"Yes, it still works. Very well, we should be going. Time is of the essence."

Koh slithered down so he was flat on the ground and looked over at Zuko. Hesitantly, the firebender walked forward and put a hand on the spirit's back, asking permission. When he wasn't attacked, he swung himself up onto the centipede-like back and made sure he wouldn't fall before patting Koh's side and feeling himself rise into the air.

They left the cave at a speed Zuko wasn't aware the spirit could move; far faster than he had slithered around his cave at the very least. They traveled across the world of the spirits avoiding some places, and sometimes having to take the long way around. Once, they were attacked, then defended by the spirit of a large bear the Koh seemed to know, and claimed Aang knew as well. It felt like minutes, but had most likely been hours as they traveled over what Zuko could only assume was a marsh.

The Spirit World was just as treacherous as the Human World, and one as just as liable to get their head bitten off. The only difference was that in the Spirit World, everything was topsy-turvy and upside down in the strangest of ways, as if purposely trying to mess with your mind. Sometimes up was down and right was left, and sometimes one had to turn around and go backwards to go forwards. He had no idea how to navigate the place, and thanked whatever entity was controlling the current situation for Koh.

Zuko wished he'd been given a time limit however, a matter of hours he had to do this task in. Without one, he had no idea whether it would even be worth it to reach Aang. Would it matter if he got there when he did or would he be too late? If Roku had said you have X amount of hours to save Aang, then he might feel a little less anxious and a little more solid and determined about what he was doing. But he didn't, so he was sort of clueless as to what would happen.

Though, he thought, perhaps time didn't matter in the Spirit World, or works differently or something. He, after all, felt as though he'd only been here a matter of minutes, but he knew it had to have been hours. Maybe. Who really knew?

At long last Koh paused, outside a huge forest (or that's what Zuko assumed it was, all the trees were upside down so their roots were growing in the air, it was rather strange).

"In the center of this place..." he began. "There is a large lake of fire. In the middle of that lake is a mound of earth, with a moat of water, and on it, a shrine of air. There, you will find the Avatar's spirit. It is up to you to awaken him."

"You're not coming with me?" Zuko asked, a bit fearfully.

"I'm afraid a spirit such as myself cannot trespass within the Avatar's sacred forest."

"And I can?"

"You are his lover. It's different."

"I'm not his-! Oh never mind." perhaps spirits weren't the best at hearing no, or maybe they just didn't care. "How do I reach the center for sure then? Don't humans usually get lost in the Spirit World for all eternity or...something along those lines?"

"HE will show you the way."

Turning his head in the direction Koh was indicating, Zuko caught sight of the bear spirit (which didn't look much like a bear anymore to be honest, more a huge black and white...something with four arms and a lot of teeth), which was apparently waiting for him.

Slipping from Koh's back, Zuko stepped back onto the ground of the Spirit World, a bit shocked to find it actually rather solid. He had been expecting marsh like earth or something completely insubstantial, but he was proven wrong. He turned back to Koh and looked up at the large spirit.

"Thank you, Face-Stealer Koh, for your help." he bowed low to the spirit in respect.

Koh chuckled.

"It has been many centuries since I have been bowed to. You, young prince, will make a fine Fire Lord one day. Keep the talisman about your neck, it will protect you and your family for generations to come."

Zuko nodded and watched as the spirit faded back into the fog, out of his line of sight. He half expected him to come out of nowhere and steal his face out of the blue, but shook his head at the thought. Why would Koh bring him this far just to steal his face? Ridiculous.

The bear spirit was waiting for him on the edge of the forest, and only began walking once he was beside it. He stayed respectfully on the spirit beast's heels, watching where he stepped for fear of falling through some hole to nowhere. But the bear seemed to know where it was going, leading him through the forest without much hesitation on its part. It would stop every now and again to look over its shoulder and be sure Zuko was there, but otherwise looked continually forward and made its way through the trees.

Zuko followed to the best of his abilities, stumbling every now and again of a branch or something he could either not see or not identify. Other than that they made good time (in his opinion) and managed not to get themselves into any trouble. The trip, overall, was easy enough, though a heavy sense of...not dread, and no anxiety, but something along those lines settled over Zuko the closer he came to what had to be the forest's center. The spirit of the bear seemed unaffected by this and so he persevered, even as something was screaming for him to turn back.

It dawned on the young prince that he was most likely the first person in, well, perhaps ever, to come to the Avatar's personal sanctum within the Spirit World. It was sort of a big deal for lack of a better term on the matter.

After what felt like an hour, the spirit turned and looked at him. It didn't need to be able to speak to convey what it was thinking to Zuko. They had reached the center, and it was time for Zuko to face his task; On his own.

Zuko stared at the opening in the trees for a long moment, and, swallowing dryly, he nodded once and walked forward into he clearing.

The first thing he noticed was that there was virtually no land between himself and the lake of fire. Which was, quite literally, a lake of liquid fire. Not lava, or magma, but fire itself, swirling and flowing, as if it were water. Zuko could do naught more than stare for a good few minutes, before looking for a way across. There appeared to be no bridge, or boat for that matter, so Zuko only assumed one was meant to get across by other means.

Here, he did the only logical thing any firebender would do. He tried to bend the lake. This, however, turned out to be a great failure and upon another attempt, he found that he could not firebend at all. Now unnerved greatly, Zuko did the only other logical thing a firebender would do in such a situation. He stepped into the lake and began to wade across.

The fire-water was warm to the touch and came up to his knees, but if felt thick as molasses. It was taking him quite a while to reach the wall of shimmering mist that was most likely the moat of water. He waded his way through though, gritting his teeth and glaring at the mist determinedly, intent on reaching the border. He did, as a matter of fact, reach it, though it took far too long for his liking.

The mist was ice cold as he stepped through it, and the water, which came up to his ankles, just as much so. Zuko shivered at the cold feeling on his otherwise heated skin and made his way, quickly as he could, across. On the other side of the moat, which was only about three yards long, he was met by another circle of mist and, pursing his lips, he plunged into it. He was met by the iciest feeling in the world for a second time, and he visibly shook himself off of what moisture was clinging to him.

Looking up, Zuko's breath caught.

There, in the middle of a mound of land, circular, but no bigger than perhaps six feet, sat a glowing white-blue figure. Aang. For a moment, Zuko couldn't breathe, could only stare at the Avatar. It was suddenly comprehendible just how spiritual, how ethereal the Avatar was, young man or not. It was astonishing, and rather humbling.

Tentatively, Zuko stepped onto the earth, waiting for some kind of movement from Aang, before stepping fully onto the small island. He walked the small space to Aang and dropped to his knees before the Avatar, trying to gauge if he was getting a reaction.

"Aang?" he asked quietly. "Aang can you hear me?"

He received no response for his trouble.

"Can you show me some sign if you CAN hear me? Just...twitch, or something. Please?"

Once more there was no response and Zuko grit his teeth, trying to decide what to do. He didn't have many options, and in the end, he chose the option most... Aang-like, per say.

"Look, maybe you can hear me, maybe you can't." he began. "But I need you to listen, if you can. Aang, you're in the Spirit World right now, and I'm here, Zuko, you know? Prince of the Fire Nation? Aang we're all waiting for you to wake up, the world still needs an Avatar, needs you. Katara's worried sick, and so are Sokka and Toph. Even their father is worried. You need to wake up Aang, we need you to wake up..."

Zuko was running off of instinct here, and so, doing as instinct told him, he leaned forward, placing a hand on the Avatar's cheek.

"I need you to wake up. I need you to be here Aang." he was whispering for no real reason. "Please wake up Aang, for me, please, wake up..."

And, closing the distance between them, Zuko pressed his lips to those of the Avatar.

***

The first thing Zuko registered when he awoke was that the weight of the talisman had not left his neck, and therefore, he had no been dreaming. The second thing, was the feeling of the bed shifting.

Raising his head from his crossed arms, Zuko turned, slowly, not daring to believe it, to look at the Avatar. What had once been a sleeping boy, was now an awake, alert young Avatar, silver eyes sparkling, and trained on Zuko. For a minute, they just stared at one another, not sure what to really say. Zuko opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Aang.

"You woke me up."

Zuko hesitated, then nodded his head.

"You....you came to the Spirit World.....to save me?"

This time he nodded without hesitation.

"You could have been killed!"

To this, Zuko offered only a shrug of indifference.

"Zuko, you....in the Spirit World.....to wake me up...."

Zuko flushed and this time, opened his mouth to try to explain why he had done that and what Roku had said, when he was cut off again. This time, it was because the Avatar had gripped his face and pulled him into a mind blowing kiss, smothering his words entirely. His cheeks, he was sure, were at least six shades of red as he gripped the sheets beneath his hands and allowed Aang to kiss him senseless to his hearts content.

He was sure that he heard the door open, a gasp, then a giggle that sounded suspiciously like Katara, then a catcall from the earthbender girl, and he was sure that that thunk was Sokka falling over in a dead faint. But, really, Zuko couldn't bring himself to care.