I think my favorite thing is when in fics where zuko gets held prisoner by someone other than the Fire Nation he does not really get Stockholm syndrome I mean maybe a bit after receiving literally any kindness but still not a ton but no matter what the people keeping him imprisoned or as a hostage always end up with some affection for him. THEY get Stockholm syndrome NOT Zuko. And zuko could literally be any way, he could be pathetic and sad, angry, or straight feral it does not matter he will garner affection
Ozai Put his Kid in Prison (ATLA Prompt Request)(Add Ursa)
So Ozai is a huge jerk and decides that burning Zuko's face off wasn't enough when Zuko does something stupid post Agni Kai. In his fever induced state Zuko decides to go back to Ozai and tell him what a cruel person he is and how this war is unjust. Ozai is fed up with Zuko and decides to wipe his hands of him by throwing him in prison.
There are a few different ways this could go. With Zuko being in either an Earth Kingdom prison, a Fire Nation prison within the Earth kingdom(like the one Haru went to) or the Boiling Rock.
Earth Kingdom Prison:
- They hate Zuko for being the fire nation prince and they make sure to show it(they disregard the fact that he is a thirteen year old kid with a giant scar). they make his life hell in the prison because they cant take it out on Ozai.
Haru's Prison:
-Its a lot like the Earth Kingdom prison but the guards try to help him out. While Ozai has condemned Zuko he is still their prince that spoke out for them and they respect him for that. They try to help him out by giving him extra food, medicine, and stuff like that when they can, but they are limited to the kinds of things that the can do. Because even though they want to help Zuko he is still a prisoner. Which just makes the Earth kingdom prisoners mad at him for getting special treatment.(they are already mad at him for being Ozai's son). The other prisoners pick on and hurt Zuko all the time (our poor turtleduck has no prisoner friends even though he tries so hard) and while the guards try to make sure none of this happens that cant always be there to stop it.
Boiling Rock:
-Since almost everyone at the rock is fire nation Zuko ends up having an okay life( he is still in prison, but its okay). They all know how much of a bastard Ozai is and they all greatly respect their little prince for speaking up for them. So they all pitch him to help raise and protect him from the world while he is there (everyone pitches in: the guards and the prisoners). Even prisoners from other nations that find out that Zuko is the prince gradually join the Zuko protection squad. they also make sure that he still get lessons because he is a kid and he needs to learn stuff so that he can be the fire lord when they are finally able to get him out.
zuko probable becomes friends with Suki and Hakoda later and leaves with them during the prison break. (and if all the guards and prisoners are involved in orchestrating a plan to get our turtleduck out of there then who are we to judge)
And in all of them there would be a prison break and somehow or someway Zuko would end up joining the gaang.
ADD URSA
-It would be really cool if in the story Ozai had actually sent Ursa to this prison before Zuko later shows up and joins her. there they can have mother-son time and at least the prison life wont be so bad. Plus it would be kind of funny and cute. just picture putting momma Ursa into one of the story ideas I have above. It sounds like it would be fun and a catastrophe to all involved. then when the gaang break them out of prison they all would finally have adult supervision. and Sokka and Katara can finally fell a mother's love again. It would be even better if Ursa and Hakoda fall in love, get married, and brings the two families together. (zuko would finally have a happy parental couple in his life). (maybe even have Zuko fall in love with Sokka so there is a double wedding LOL)
Let me know your thoughts on my ideas and if anyone of you are interested in adopting any of them.
If you haven’t read Leaving it All Behind by @ssreeder you gottaaaaaaa! It is by far one of the best zuko centric/zukka fics ive read! Actually i love all of Sreedy’s fics so pls go read all of them!
It’s got everything okay, and i love me some prisoner zuko haha
This is how i imagine zuko in this fic!
I tried a bit of a different style than i normally do so... but im pretty happy with how it turned out!
Here’s a close up
Sreedy, as if i haven;t already lost my mind in the comments enough, tytytyty for all your amazing fic! I can’t believe nobody has drawn fanart for you yet. I had to rectify that!
i have a few atla fics in my drafts and, well, seeing as it’s a special occasion, i thought i might as well give y’all one of them before i head to sleep so here’s a lil bit of zuko and sokka bonding as bros B)
this is sort of a chapter 2 to acceptance which is honestly shocking bc i usually cant write chaptered fics for the life of me but turns out if you think of each chapter as a one shot in the same storyline, you can do anything
“Uncle?”
Zuko stared across the pathway over the fiery red abyss, where his uncle had his back turned to him.
“Uncle,” he repeated, louder this time, though he still received no response. He took a step forward onto the pathway but the ground shook, almost knocking him off-balance and into the abyss.
“Do not take another step, Zuko,” Uncle warned, though he couldn’t possibly have seen Zuko move. Why was he rejecting him? What did he do?
No, that was a stupid question. He knew what he’d done.
“Uncle, please!” he called across to him, growing more and more desperate as the distance between them seemed to grow yet remain stagnant at the same time. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to betray you, I didn’t want to, I was stupid and believed Azula could help me and I let my own stupid pride get in the way—“
“You should have listened to me,” he sighed, disappointed, but there was a trace of anger in his voice that sent shivers down his spine.
“Please, Uncle, I know and I’m so sorry, I’ll make it up to you, I swear!” He dropped to his knees, feeling the tears well up in his eyes. “Just give me another chance! I won’t mess up again, I’ll listen, I promise I will—“
“Goodbye, Zuko.”
The middle of the pathway crumbled and fell into eternity, dropping at the same time his heart did, and he jumped to his feet to the edge of what was left, but it was too late. There was no way to get to him.
“I told you not to take another step.” He sighed. “You never listen.”
The edges of his island began chipping themselves away, pebbles falling and cracks forming in the rock.
“No, wait!” He stumbled back to the center of his platform as it grew smaller and smaller. “Wait, Uncle, please— Uncle, I’m sorry! Please! Come back!”
But he no longer dignified Zuko with a response. Little by little, the last few bits of ground disappeared into the darkness beneath and soon, he was dropped into it too.
He jolted awake the moment Uncle disappeared from view and a new panic rushed through him when he realized he still couldn’t see before remembering why. Blindfold. Right. It’s just a blindfold.
He’d gotten used to the cold by now, but he’d never get used to the blindfold. He’d sworn over and over that he wouldn’t try anything without the blindfold on, but Katara was absolutely adamant that it stayed on for at least a week, just to be safe. He understood why, but that didn’t make the panic go away every time he opened his eyes.
This was the sixth night he had to keep it on. He hated waiting for the seventh, but he found a little comfort in knowing the next time he had to be blindfolded would be the last.
“Hey, uh— you okay?”
He flinched and sat up at the sound of Sokka’s voice, especially surprised at how close he sounded. He must’ve been right outside his cell. Fearing the worst, he backed away a little just to be safe, guessing how far away he was.
“You’re jumpy tonight,” Sokka pointed out, probably trying to joke, but Zuko just turned away. He didn’t have time to be mocked. Sokka paused, then sighed. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you, I just… I came to check on you and you were shaking and talking in your sleep.”
Oh, no.
“Who were you asking to come back?”
He considered lying and saying nobody— after all, Sokka couldn’t tell if he lied— but he decided against it. “My uncle.” He had to remind himself: no lying.
“Oh.” Zuko heard him take a step, though he wasn’t sure in which direction. “Iroh?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
He scoffed. “You know why. You were there when I betrayed him.”
“No, I meant why were you asking him to come back if you betrayed him?”
The answer was simple— because Uncle had been the only person who was there for him for years and he was the only one Zuko was proud to call family— but it caught itself in his throat at hearing Sokka call it a betrayal. He knew that that was exactly what it was, he’d said it himself, but it only affirmed the fact that he betrayed the only person who’d shown him unconditional kindness after his mother disappeared.
“Sorry, personal question,” Sokka said when Zuko didn’t respond. “I guess I’ll go back to sleep then.”
Zuko wanted to tell him to stay, wanted to ask him not to leave him alone with his thoughts, but that was far too straightforward so he did the next best thing. “My uncle was the only person who was there for me when I was banished.”
Sokka stopped before he even took two steps. “What about your crew? You didn’t have any, like, evil friends or whatnot on your ship?”
“No,” he sighed, though he almost wanted to chuckle at that. “I didn’t have anyone but him. I lost everything when I was banished.” He swallowed. “He kept me going. Even when I wasn’t sure I could anymore.”
“Oh.” He hesitantly walked back to his original spot in front of Zuko’s cell. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s not your fault, it’s mine,” he said. “I just wish I could tell him I’m sorry and prove to him that I’m better now.”
“I’m sure he’d be proud of you.”
He let a small smile show on his face. “You think so?”
“Yeah. I mean, you’re not trying to capture or kill anyone anymore and you’re even with us now. I think that proves you’ve gotten better and realized you were wrong.” He could almost hear a smile in Sokka’s voice. “He’d be pretty proud of you for that.”
“I hope so.”
“I hope you get a chance to fix things with him.”
He gave a small nod of appreciation. “Thank you.”
“Anytime.” It was at that point that the brief closeness of the moment fell away and Sokka awkwardly cleared his throat. “Well— uh, I guess I’d better go back to bed.”
“Oh. Yeah. You should probably get some sleep.”
“You too.” He took a step away. “See you in the morning?”
