Zutara Week 2012 day three: Transcend (To surpass a limit or achievement. To go beyond your limits)

Disclaimer: I don’t own Avatar: The Last Airbender  but I really wish I did.

Another AU piece – it stars Zuko more than it does Zutara as a whole, and it’s a bit on the angsty side.

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A ten-year-old Zuko came running into the garden. Tears were streaming down his face. Azula was always going to be better than him, and he knew it.

They were working on a new move, and while Zuko struggled to get it right, Azula got it right away. Ursa watched on as Zuko fell to the ground time and time again, but he was persistent and continued to do it. She admired this about her son. She wanted him to be better at something than Azula, but Azula always went above and beyond with firebending. So while Zuko ran out to the garden, Ursa talked with Sozin: Zuko would start lessons with Master Piandao for dual swords.

Zuko sat by the pond, but he didn’t notice he was not alone. The young girl from the Water Tribe, Katara, was here too. Zuko shouldn’t have been surprised. It was summer, and Chief Hakoda and his children came to the Fire Nation every year.

At eight years old, Katara could tell already that Zuko wasn’t as good as Azula, but she supported Zuko. He was older than her, but he was a lot nicer than Azula was. She walked over to him and sat down. “What’s wrong, Zu-Zu?” She asked, curious.

“Don’t call me that. And nothing’s wrong,” he said, though something seemed wrong.

“I know something’s wrong. Tell me…Please?” She batted her big blue eyes at Zuko, who wiped the tears from his eyes.

“Okay. Azula was being Azula. We learned a new move, and while I still tried to do it, she got it right away. And then she laughed at me when I still couldn’t do it. I hate her!” He shot a fire ball at the water. It was weak, but the anger behind it showed through.

Katara leaned on Zuko and rubbed his back. “It’s okay. You’ll be better than her someday. Someday very soon.”

Zuko looked at the young girl. “You really think that?”

“I do, Zuko.” She smiled and the two hugged.

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This is very short, but I started on this late. The idea of Katara and Hakoda visiting the Fire Nation every year is an idea I got from Like a Dove’s fanfiction, In The Same Candlelight. I suggest you check it out.  On the Avatar wikia, it says that when Zuko was a child, Piandao taught him in the ways of the dual sword, so I got that and incorporated it into the story. If you can’t tell, Azula always surpassing Zuko in firebending is kind of the ‘transcend’ in this – she goes above and beyond the limits given to her and Zuko, where Zuko can barely make the limit. It wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be, but whatever.