I've been writing my own "what if Aang woke up a few years earlier than canon and met Zuko before the rest of the Gaang" AU, and I'm currently at the part where Aang and Zuko are in disguise (look up images of Japanese peasants). And its a ZukAang fic, of course.
Here's an excerpt under the cut:
Water. Earth. Fire. Air.
In my history books, it was stated the four elements used to exist in separation. Then, everything changed when my great-grandfather, Fire Lord Sozin, began his campaign to share our nation’s wealth and prosperity with the rest of the world. The Fire Nation’s generosity was met with bad faith. The other nations resisted, hoarding their resources and viciously attacking whoever dared step on their lands. But the real obstacle to the Fire Nation was the Avatar, master of all four elements; though, when the world expected him to strike down my nation, he vanished.
Nearly a hundred years later, a new Avatar was discovered – by Commander Zhao. A ship in his fleet crashed into an iceberg, and from it emerged an airbender. For an entire year, at the orders of my father, the current reigning Fire Lord Ozai, I had been scouring land and sea in search of the Avatar, lest I never call the Fire Nation home again. And Zhao was taking the Avatar to my father in chains, and with him, my destiny and honour as crown prince.
I decided to take control of my own destiny. Without telling anyone on my crew, not even Uncle, I took a boat to Zhao’s fleet and snuck aboard his flagship in the dead of the night, and in the deepest level where the prison hold was, I found the Avatar. He was just a kid. His name was Aang, he said after thanking me for slicing him out of his cell and chains. I didn’t give him my name when he asked. I wanted us to be quiet; I told him with a gesture—one finger to the sharp-tusked mouth of my Dark Water Spirit mask. He nodded, and we moved along, passing the guards that I had bound and gagged.
We made it up to one of the middle levels before someone sounded the alarm. Very quickly, it became impossible to stay unseen. Soldiers were surrounding us. We had to fight.
I had never moved so in-sync with another person so quickly. We barely had to exchange words (not that I could, if I didn’t want to be recognised by my countrymen). When one of us moved, the other knew just how to follow up, and we trusted each other it would work. Zhao’s men, and the commander himself, couldn’t touch us.
But Azula could. My sister had been sent by my father to receive the Avatar at dawn. I had been distracted, holding my twin Dao to Aang’s neck to threaten Zhao and his men into allowing the two of us off his ship safely. By the time I noticed the fireball coming up our side, I knew Aang would not be able to disperse it in time. I pushed him out of the way and tried to dodge as well, but the fire caught on my mask. It burned through the strap before I could put out the fire, and my mask fell.
It was like time had stopped moving. I was frozen, my only thought being I had lost all chance of ever restoring my honour, and there was no one to blame but myself. Time seemed to have frozen for everyone else as well—Azula, Zhao, the soldiers…
Except for Aang. He bent powerful gusts at our pursuers, throwing them far and spinning them dizzy. I came to my senses then and led Aang into the port.
It was there, behind a warehouse somewhere in the middle of the port, when I decided to part ways. I would distract Azula and the others while Aang got away. He didn’t like the plan – didn’t want to abandon me – until I told him I was the Crown Prince Zuko and I had wanted to be the one who captured him, and since it’s all gone sideways, I might as well kill him right then and there. He finally left, gliding away on that curious fan-staff of his, after I shot a blast of fire at him. It wasn’t even that strong of a blast, fuelled more by impatience than rage.
I directed my rage at my pursuers instead. My anger towards Azula, my hatred for Zhao, for both their parts in derailing my destiny, and my frustration at my own self for failing so spectacularly—I unleashed it all through the slashes of my Dao, sweeping kicks, and my breath. If I can’t have the Avatar, no one can.
In the end, I was defeated by Azula, because no matter how hot my rage burned, her fire would still be a hundredfold in intensity, and Zhao, from the ground where I had knocked him flat on his back, barked at his men to restrain me. Strangely, I didn’t feel that upset at my loss. I must’ve burned every shred of emotion out of me. My head hung low and tired as I was frogmarched out of a wide radius of melted steel and burned bricks.
They stuck me in the cage that was meant to hold the Avatar, his manacles repurposed to be mine, and I was carted off to the side while Azula had the soldiers arrange a trap for Aang, whose precious sky bison was still in chains on one of Zhao’s ships.
As my sister commandeered his men, Zhao had the free time to mock me. He said he had taken the initiative to alert my father there would be a delay in transporting the Avatar to him, and why. The messenger hawk returned in the next hour, carrying a message stamped with the Fire Lord’s seal. It was not a letter, but a decree: I was to be executed without trial for the crime of high treason. Azula read it aloud, and I realised I hadn’t burned away my ability to feel despair.
Some part of me had hoped my father would want to know why I freed the Avatar, to let me beg for forgiveness, but I knew I didn’t deserve it, not even a year ago. Father had given me this mission to prove myself worthy, and not only did I fail, I also jeopardised our side of the war with my selfish actions. I deserved no less than a painful, fiery death.
My execution took second priority to recapturing the Avatar. Azula ordered two soldiers to move me somewhere far from the trap and keep watch, as though I had anymore will to disrupt things. I doubt Aang would even want anything to do with me. He already knew the truth.
I was wrong. He came to me in the middle of the day, after knocking out the guards outside my temporary prison hold, an unused warehouse. The sunlight from the doorway shone far enough to bathe Aang aglow as he reached into the shadows to unlock each of my shackles. I was so shocked, I could only ask, ‘Why?’ He told me he would never abandon someone so kind. I didn’t understand until he said I could’ve killed him if I truly wanted to, yet I gave him the chance to escape alive. What my nation would perceive as weakness, he took for kindness, just as he had witnessed me attacking my people, including my own family, and praised my courage. And for that, he wanted my help so we can free his sky bison and fly somewhere far away and safe – together.
I thought he was crazy, but Aang believed we can escape the Fire Nation.
