the avatar, and that one good firebender, lee

fire, part three

tentatively, zuko raises his hands as aang, in confusion, backs away. "aang, let me explain."

"lee, why did she--" aang pauses, letting go of appa's reins to cover his face. "i-i just kidnapped the prince." he looks back at zuko, eyes wide in fear. "i've been friends with prince zuko ."

"aang," zuko begs. "please, i--"

"you lied to me!" aang stands, timidly yelling down at the prince. "whoever you are, you lied to me, all this time. why? why would you--"

"please, aang--"

"explain!" the avatar screams, hands trembling. the bags under his eyes, the sweat on his temple, zuko notices it all, the stress aang holds. he looks just the same that day at ba sing se. "o-or else i'll drop you!"

zuko leans over appa's saddle, breath hitching at the sight of the ocean, from horizon to horizon, all a hundred feet beneath them. looking back up at the avatar and his pale face, he rushes to explain, "aang, i know i lied to you, and i'm sorry. but i'm prince zuko. a-and i was banished and told to capture you so i could go home." the avatar narrows his eyes. "and at first, i admit i wanted to, but when we first met, and i saw you, i just couldn't. i'm being honest. i couldn't even think about taking your happiness away like the fire nation did to me."

"but you tried to capture me. you chased me," aang counters.

"i-i know, i wasn't set on capturing and not capturing you at first," zuko continues, feeling his neck burn. his voice quiets, barely above the wind. "and there were many times i was tempted to and i actually tried to. but believe me, i chose good not long ago, and even if you can't trust me, i am good. i want to help you, i have always wanted to help you."

"then why would you lie?" aang asks, still unconvinced. appa slows down and aang's voice, tired and soft, comes clear cut. "you could've easily just pretended to be lee to get close to me."

"aang, there were so many times where i could've taken you, or do much worse," zuko says. "but i didn't. because i knew, like sokka said--"

"don't say his name."

"--well, he said that people need you to bring peace." zuko wipes the sweat on his neck. "and i learned to believe that. i know lying was wrong and i shouldn't have stretched it for so long, but please, trust me one more time, i don't want to hurt you. at all."

appa drifts in the air, too high in the clouds at midnight to be spotted, and, tired--just four days until the invasion--aang sits, back facing zuko. the prince, resting his case, stares at aang's lightning wound, the one he failed to prevent not too long ago.

"i want to believe you're good," aang begins, slow and thoughtful. "because i've seen you do good. deep down, i know you are. but, i think, like katara, i...made you the face of my enemy. i guess, you were the first firebender that had the greatest chance of...defeating me, when i was so naive, so that's why." and then, with a sigh, aang says, "back then, before i...i ran away, i had all these friends from the other nations. one of them was this boy, kuzon. we had so much fun together. and he was from the fire nation.

"i guess, after losing him, i wanted you to be him. but kuzon's not a liar. you're not him." looking over his shoulder, aang keeps the cautious glare. "i don't like lies. but i like lee." turning in his seat, aang meets zuko's eyes. "and if you are telling the truth, like i know lee would, then i'll believe you."

zuko barely registers the sentence, caught by surprise. "really?" he asks. "just like that? you believe me, even though i lied?"

aang shrugs. "i always knew you were a good firebender." yawning, he rubs his eyes. "also, i'm too tired to bother fighting you over it."