Branches

Prompt: #21 Zuko In Chains by jin_fenghuang 
Title: The Chains of Honor, Chapter 1
Rating: PG
Word Count: 4795
Beta-reader: bluealoe 
Warnings/Pairings: Some disturbing imagery. No pairings.
Summary: If the Yu Yan had not stopped firing, if Aang had been a little slower in deciding to take Zuko with him, and if Zhao's garrison had been a little quicker on their feet, then Zuko's rescue of Aang in "The Blue Spirit" might not have gone quite as well.

Notes: This was also written for the avatarbigbang mini-bang challenge! Check out the other stories over there--they are all brilliant!
            Also, this was not supposed to be a long story. It was supposed to be short. And then, after the first section was done, I realized that it had grown into a monster that could not be contained within 5000 words. So this is the first chapter of a much larger work. Also, this is missing scenes that I really would have liked to put in but didn't have the room for, so it's plot-holey at the moment. I will be rewriting this with those extra scenes put in, and that will be the full version of chapter 1 of what is bound to be a ridiculously long epic.

( The Chains of Honor: Chapter 1 (minibang version) )

I have been reading too much Avatar: the Last Airbender fanfic. No, wait, scratch that; there is no such thing as reading too much AtLA fanfic. But it still hasn't been good for my productivity. Well. Not Jeture productivity.

So it occurred to me that Dilandau could totally be a Firebender. I mean, come on. And without a teacher or anyone who even knows what he is, his lack of control is totally explainable. I could say that the Sorcerers' Fate Alterations had something to do with making him a Firebender. Somehow. It's possible! I AM A TERRIBLE PERSON DON'T JUDGE ME.

This little AU has consumed my mind over the past two weeks, whispering you want to write me you know you do. Just a drabble or two! C'mon! It's perfect! This NEEDS TO BE DONE!

So I caved. I wrote a little something last night. Of course that wasn't enough, but I don't have time to write a full-blown epic for this (and I'm already working on Jeture and that avatarbigbang mini-bang fic that became a monster) so I'm turning this into a request meme. Meme is probably not the right word for this, but oh well. I can get away with this with my current schedule because I know there aren't many people watching this journal, and the active Escaflowne fandom is kind of small. Poor fandom :(

( The Rules )

( Timeline )

And here is the (first) thing I have written for this AU. I might put this in a more convenient location later, when I think of a more convenient location.

( Dilandau discovers fire... )