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As he fled, Zuko ensured his steps were silent and quick. He did his best to keep his breathing light, even going as far as keeping his jaw clenched in an attempt to go unheard. To risk making any sounds, labored and pained breathing among them, wasn’t a gamble he’d be willing to take.
The scouts had already come too close to capturing him in the first place, and the burn on his arm would no doubt scar and serve as a reminder to that. He had to be quiet.
A quiet rustling came from his right, he drew his swords slowly, hiding within the underbrush. Muttered cursing came soon after, then, the sound of a dagger whipping through the air and cutting through the bushes. “Fucking, god damnit, Tui and La, help me.”
Zuko would know that annoying voice anywhere.
He looked around the forest, searching for the scouts that were surely on their way. Though he could not find any of them, he still prayed that they weren’t close enough to hear. Either way, with that loud boy cursing so violently, he was bound to be discovered soon. There were no benefits to Zhao’s men capturing Sokka, he had only just broke the Avatar out. If that stupid boy ruined his hard work and got him captured again, Zuko would throttle him.
After little to no debate in his mind–because really, it would be a disaster if he let him get caught–Zuko crept towards the source of the noise, sneaking in an attempt not to draw any more attention than they were probably already getting.
Peeking from behind a tree, he found him. The boy who traveled with the Avatar was swinging his dagger rapidly, cutting through the leaves blocking his path, and cursing every time a stray stalk smacked his face in return.
Acting quickly, Zuko came behind Sokka and used his uninjured arm to turn him around. He placed a palm over his mouth, just in time to muffle the (honestly, pretty girly) yelp of surprise. “Shhh.”
Zuko pointed at the small yellow light in the distance. Likely a torch, or a flame lit in the palm of someone’s hand. Sokka followed his finger, and finally saw it. “Scouts,” Zuko uttered in explanation.
He stared over his own shoulder, and listened for his hunter’s footsteps. They both watched as the light faded further into the distance, but did not break the silence until a couple minutes after it vanished within the trees.
Sokka took a quiet breath in, Zuko hadn’t even noticed he wasn’t breathing in the first place. Sokka made a face, and sniffed the air.
What the fuck was he doing?
“What’s that sm–” Sokka looked down, suddenly blanching. “Oh, your arm,” he said, having the nerve to look concerned. “Let me treat it.”
“I don’t need your pity,” Zuko hissed, and yanked his arms away from him. He’d almost forgotten about his injury, and this idiot just had to go and remind him that it existed.
“It’s not–” Sokka started, shaking his head in denial. “It’s not pity man, but that needs to be looked at, and who knows how long it’s going to take for you to get… to wherever you’re staying.”
Zuko didn’t say anything. If it wouldn’t be a danger to his identity, he’d almost wish that Sokka could see the glare he sent his way.
Apparently his glare didn’t need to be seen. With the way Sokka rolled his eyes at him, he’d probably felt the glare instead. “Seriously man, if you take too long to treat it, it could get infected. Which, it already has a higher chance of getting infected, considering we’re in the middle of a forest.”
Zuko stared for a moment. He blinked once, then twice. He hadn't been prepared for him to keep arguing, if he was being honest. Nor did he fully trust it. Nobody cared that much about a stranger, especially not him .
From what he had gathered on his hunt for the Avatar, Sokka wasn't big on helping randos. In fact, he was very loud about how unsafe he thought it was. So… this was unexpected, to say the very, very least. So Zuko could do little but blink at him some more.
Maybe if he stayed quiet long enough, he would get bored and give up.
Sokka waited him out. And like all interactions involving Zuko, it became awkward.
Finally, he nodded his head once, slowly, finding himself both confused and wary. If it would make him go away faster, he guessed that it wouldn’t be too awful to let him treat his burn. Just this once.
Zuko stood up from his crouched position, keeping his eyes on Sokka. He didn't trust him enough to be confident it wasn't a trick. But this was also a potential way of gaining intel, so he might as well give it a shot.
Zuko offered his hand to Sokka, who was still on the ground, now with a very stupidly wide-eyed look of surprise on his face. Even with his mask on, people still found it odd for him to accept and offer help. People needed to stop drawing attention to his reluctance, it only continued the god damn cycle.
Shaking his arm at him in impatience seemed to snap him out of his internal monologue. Considering how long Zuko had waited, it was probably more talkative than Sokka was normally. What a bother.
Once he’d been hefted up, Zuko tugged him once, and led them in… well. A direction. Somewhere. He saw the clearing earlier, it had less compacted shrubbery, but just enough around the borders to keep them hidden from sight. In no time at all, they had made it.
With no small amount of embarrassment, Zuko processed the warmth in his hand, and realized belatedly that he hadn’t let go of Sokka after he’d pulled him up. He thanked Agni that his face was covered, nobody would be able to see how stupid he felt.
He quickly let go and wiped his hand off on his black clothes, giving Sokka a small glance over his shoulder, his nose scrunched.
As if sensing the disgust, or really just noticing that he’d wiped his hand off on his shirt, Sokka scoffed. He probably felt insulted.
Good.
“I have a salve for burns in my pack, wait here,” he said, and left without another word. Likely due to the fact that he’d rather not deal with any more of Zuko’s irritation.
The bushes rustled as he made his exit, leaving Zuko to stand in the middle of the clearing.
Annoyed, Zuko sat, and waited. And contemplated existence. And wondered why the fuck he had decided it was a good idea to stick around. He should probably leave before Sokka came back.
The rustling returned before he was able to act on his mini escape plan, this time from his left, only heard very faintly. Zuko turned to face it, hoping to hear the steps with his right ear instead–he raised his sword, prepared for combat.
Sokka emerged from the bushes, carrying a bag. Zuko watched him sift through its contents, keeping his sword at the ready, waiting for Sokka to pull out a weapon, waiting for this to be a trap.
Sokka pulled out a roll of bandages and a clear jar full of… something. “I’m out here traveling with my friends.”
Oh great, a conversation starter. He sincerely hoped that Sokka didn’t expect an answer, at least not a verbal one.
Zuko found himself blinking again, and stiffly nodded.
He sat next to him, near the arm that had been burned. Pulling out his water skin and some soap, Sokka washed his hands, and rinsed them. “I’m going to rip off this sleeve and see if there’s more damage,” he said, and promptly grabbed his dagger. Zuko flinched violently, and backed himself up against the tree.
“Sorry,” Sokka said, putting his hands up, brows furrowed. His expression was displaying too much concern for Zuko to be comfortable. “Would you rather do it? I guess pulling out a knife is pretty incriminating.”
He was giving him an option?
Zuko put his hand out hesitantly, letting Sokka slowly put the knife in his grasp, handle first. He quickly tore through the clean fabric on his shoulder, he’d very much rather get this over with.
He set the dagger down away from both of them.
Once the knife was safely away, Sokka ripped off a small piece of the bandage, and poured some water on it. He took the wet cloth, dabbing at the rest of the sleeve, trying to wet the fabric so it came off without taking more skin with it. It was a strangely experienced move, making Zuko briefly wonder why Sokka was so familiar with it.
He let that thought evaporate. Best not to think about it.
“My sister might’ve been able to help you more, but… I think she’s seen enough of the Fire Nations cruelty,” he said. Who knew why he was still trying to make conversation. “She’s still so young… so, y’know. But I’m sorry I can’t help you much beyond… this, I guess.”
Zuko watched as Sokka rinsed his hands once again, and then gently applied the salve to his burns. Instinctively, Zuko flinched once his hand reached his arm. “I know, I’m sorry.” He continued to treat the burn, efficiently and somehow still gently. Much more gently than Zuko would’ve done, at least.
Looking at the burn made his stomach roil. It brought up too many bad memories… He needed to distract himself.
He turned his gaze towards Sokka, watching his now impassive expression. Zuko didn’t want to think about what he might’ve seen for him to be able to keep such a blank expression at the sight of a gruesome burn. In the face of such a grotesque wound, he was impressively calm.
Annoyingly, Zuko thought that Sokka was kind of… pretty… when his face wasn’t twisted in anger or fear, or even annoyance.
He didn’t want to think about that either.
Once Zuko’s arm was sufficiently covered in the salve, Sokka nodded, and began pulling bandages from out of his pack. He started wrapping it loosely, his hands experienced and unwavering. Again, it made him wonder how many times he had faced fire like this himself, something pulling in his chest at the thought.
“If you have been on the other side of firebending, you deserve better than some shitty first aid. I just…” he trailed off.
He tied the bandages, interrupting his own sentence by asking, “Are these too tight?”
Zuko shook his head, looking up from his arm and searching Sokka’s expression. He hadn’t realized he had looked back down.
“I’ve had to patch up my injuries in secret, because… well, anyways. That’s why I’m helping you. I don’t want to have to let anybody treat their wounds alone. Not like I did. I know that my sister could’ve helped you more but… just like I want to save you from that experience, I want to save her from it too.”
What an odd way to look at things. No wonder he got along with the Avatar when he had a savior complex like that .
Blinking from behind his mask, Zuko tried to read in between the lines. Ultimately, he failed. But it was better to not know. The less empathy he had for the Avatar’s group, the easier it would be. If he showed any weakness, his father might want to do worse than…
“I’m going to grab you some food. Healing is really difficult on an empty stomach, y’know,” he said with a smile. He patted Zuko’s uninjured hand, and promptly stood up, stretching in place.
Zuko’s face began to heat up at the sight of a tan, muscled hip poking out from the bottom of Sokka’s undershirt. He wished it was an unpleasant thought, and berated himself for admitting that it really, really wasn’t.
“I’ll be right back, stay here,” Sokka said, giving him a pointed look.
At that, he scoffed. “Where would I even go?” Zuko grumbled, too low for Sokka to hear. Hopefully.
Apparently not, because the corner of Sokka’s mouth twitched in good humor. “Fair point,” he acquiesced, then turned around and walked off. As he took his leave, Sokka tugged his hair tie out, and his ponytail fell. The ends of his hair brushed his face, and his side profile seemed to almost sharpen.
Zuko watched him disappear into the bushes again, his mouth dry and his cheeks warm.
Not long passed before Sokka returned with a steaming bowl in his right hand, and something round in the left. Thankfully, he had redone his hair sometime during his trip for food. “Here,” he said, handing him the bowl and giving him a spoon he’d taken out of his pocket.
Zuko tilted his mask just enough to be able to eat without showcasing his scar, while still allowing himself to see. He took his first bite, and had to suppress a very obvious gag. Shuddering as he swallowed, he grunted out a small, “Eugh.”
Chuckling, Sokka said, “Yeah, it’s… not the best, but don’t tell my sister I said that. 12 year old fury is a nightmare, and I don’t want to deal with it any more than necessary.”
He choked on his next bite, but this time it wasn't because of the taste. “She’s… 12?” he accidentally asked, cringing once the words left his mouth. Zuko was not supposed to speak, did he want to get recognized? Agni, he was so stupid sometimes.
Sokka smiled ruefully, thankfully clueless. “Yeah… she’s pretty young. I hope that means you have an easier time understanding why I don’t want to get her to help you,” he said.
Only 12 years old. Only…
The Avatar had been gone for a hundred years, surely…
“How old is th–” he cleared his throat to interrupt his near slip up, “–your other friend?” he corrected softly, fearing what would happen if he spoke in his normal tone.
“Also 12. So… yeah. You can probably imagine. As the oldest of our group, I have to wrangle two dramatic 12 year olds. They’re benders, too,” Sokka said, this time Zuko could read in between the lines. Shit, that sounded horrifying.
He suddenly found himself feeling incredibly grateful that he hadn't seen Azula in so long. Dealing with her at 12 years old… Yes, she was about 12 by now…
Zuko shuddered again, the corners of his lips pulling back in a grimace. “I’m… sorry,” he said, not even surprised that he meant it, even for the Avatar’s annoying boomerang friend.
- Fucking 12. What was he like when he was 12? Actually, he didn’t want to pull those memories up in the slightest. Nope.
Deciding it would be much better to shovel the disgusting goop in his mouth, Zuko let the horrible flavor drown out any thoughts of also horrible 12 year olds. Maybe it was supposed to be… he looked down at his bowl again, sifting the watery contents around with his spoon… soup?
He cleared his throat again. Best not make his disgust too noticeable, Zuko had better manners than that. Quickly, he forced a couple more bites down his throat.
Yeah, no. Screw manners.
“I’m full,” Zuko very obviously lied after coughing down the food in his mouth. He set the bowl on the ground, sliding it away to minimize the smell.
It made Sokka laugh, and… he didn’t hate it. Even if he was currently suffering. What even was this stuff, anyway?
“Yeah, that’s completely fair. Here, you can have some of my water to wash the taste out,” he offered, holding the waterskin in front of Zuko, who was still trying not to gag. Either way, it didn’t matter. The gig was up.
Zuko reached for it, raising the mouth of it away from his lips, once again concerned with manners. This guy wasn’t even worth being polite to, being friends with the Avatar. But something about sharing water like that just… no. Waterfall it is.
“And, for dessert, you get a delectable moon-peach. Totally for reasons that aren’t to get rid of the aftertaste.” Sokka handed the moon-peach to him once he had stopped chugging.
So that’s what the round thing was…
Giving the waterskin back, Zuko reached to take a large bite of the fruit. He let the juice sit on his tongue. It was much better than that… mystery… stuff.
He sighed in appreciation, glad to taste something familiar. He missed moon-peach muffins… it was the best, back at the palace. The servants got it wrong almost every time, his mother’s recipe had always been superior. He had it lying around in his room somewhere, he’d have to make some again. He didn’t trust the cook on the ship, so Zuko would have to do it himself. Mother had shown him how anyway.
Actually, better not think about his mother, either.
He finally swallowed, the back of his throat no longer feeling gross with whatever that stuff was. “Thank you,” he murmured, “for the help, and the…” He didn’t want to lie, but he also didn’t want to be ungrateful. “... the moon-peach.”
Snickering, Sokka replied, “You’re welcome. It’s not a problem.”
Sokka suddenly gripped at his hand, still smiling in humor. He looked into his eyes, even though he couldn’t see them from behind the mask. “I told you these things because some part of me thinks that you might understand. And I’m sorry that you probably do in the first place. Forgive me for not doing more, even though I have the choice to. I hope I see you around?”
Zuko nodded hesitantly. “...Sure.”
With a couple good-natured pats to his knee, and an even brighter smile, Sokka shoved everything into his bag, stood up and began to walk away. “Take care of yourself, random mask dude,” he called over his shoulder, giving a small wave before he disappeared into the bushes. This time, for good.
He sat there dazed for a good few seconds. He could capture the Avatar. He should capture the Avatar. This could possibly be the only time he had a chance of successfully capturing the Avatar.
But the Avatar was a 12 year old boy… And even so, Sokka was so trusting in that moment. Zuko, despite how much he wished to regain his honor, did not want to betray that. Not like he had with Aang a few days earlier. Besides, this time he owed a favor. He and Aang had been even after they had both saved each other. But he hadn’t given Sokka anything back yet.
He’d pay him back soon. Nothing was going to jeopardize Zuko catching the Avatar honorably.
—
Sokka cut down vines left and right, consciously only choosing the ones blocking his path. If he wanted to survive, he wouldn’t have time to think about ‘hurting the swamps feelings’. But a small part of him chose not to push the limits by cutting down more than he needed to. Just in case. However unlikely that case may be.
“Stupid swamp. Stupid fucking vines!” he cursed while continuing to swing. “Ugh, this is so stupid! Aang! Katara!” He tried to push through the path, but instead, he got caught. Sokka wriggled around, trying to free himself, and with more twisting, just barely managing to cut the vine.
Of course, because this was just his luck, Sokka fell right into the muddy water once his weight was not supported by the cursed vines. “Ugh!” He smashed his hand into the swampy ground. It splashed him profusely.
Sokka grumbled as he lifted himself to his feet, when he regained his footing, he let himself look up.
For a second, there was nothing but blinding light, he ended up blinking to adjust his eyes to its brightness. A figure hovered beneath the rays of a patch of sunlight. “Hello?” Walking closer, Sokka tried to get a better view.
“Yue?” he murmured. His eyes blew wide, tearing up as he breathed in awe. But then, Sokka remembered where he was. It didn’t matter how beautiful she was, or how much he missed her, or how much he wanted to talk to her. It was all the work of this horrible swamp.
He knew this for a fact, because she was the moon spirit now. There was no way she would appear in the sunlight . How stupid did the swamp make him out to be? Sokka was plenty smart, okay?
Squeezing his eyes shut, Sokka put his head into his hands and tried to rationalize. Because he did have a brain, thanks. Maybe if he stopped thinking about how beautiful her spirit was, it would start to make sense.
“This is just a trick of the light… uh, swamp gas. I…” he searched for more possibilities, “hit my head running away last night. I’m going crazy!”
“You didn’t protect me,” her spirit cried, as though multiple voices said it with her.
Sokka jerked his head back up. But in a flash, Yue was gone again.
He clenched his jaw in an attempt to stop his eyes from watering. She was busy being the moon spirit, there was no way she had the time to tell him something he already knew. It was just the swamp. It was just the swamp.
With a stomp of his foot he turned around, and suddenly, there she was again. Sokka gasped, tripping over his own feet and falling backwards into the swamp. He stared for just a moment, but when Sokka blinked, she was gone. He sat there, stupidly wishing he had tried to memorize her face.
He picked up his machete again, and stood back up. So maybe the swamp gas was a hallucinogen, big deal. If it was fatal he’d hopefully die quickly. At least then he wouldn’t have to worry about Yue anymore. She’d still be the moon spirit, and he’d… probably be in the ground.
Sokka picked a direction and walked towards it. He should probably keep calling for Katara and Aang, but he didn’t have it in him to yell anymore. As he walked, the mud stuck to his boots, his hands, his hair–everything was itchy with mud. “Ugh.”
He wacked at a vine blocking his way, and there stood the boy with the blue spirit mask. “Not again!” he exclaimed, waving his sword at the fake blue spirit guy. Although it passed right through him, the image did not disappear. Instead, the boy laughed, light and warm–annoyingly, because Sokka had never heard him speak more than one word. He had no reason to trust that his laugh was that… that.
“Would you fuck off swamp?!” He threw his hands into the air, looked left, “So I talked to him a couple times–” looked right, “but what does he have to do with anything?! Just let me find my friends in peace!” he screamed and stomped his foot again.
The muddy water splashed hard enough to hit him in the face. “Ugh!!!” he exclaimed, wiping the mud off his cheek.
The boy in the blue mask pointed off into the distance, “Over there.” And then he disappeared, just like Yue had.
Sokka knew he shouldn’t take directions from a hallucination, but… it wouldn’t hurt to take a peek. If he found something dangerous he could always blame it on toxic swamp gas.
Out of nowhere, something blue and something yellow crashed into him, screaming like little girls.
They tumbled for a while, and eventually, they all landed on a particularly thick root. “Oof!” And of course, because this was just his luck, Aang and Katara didn’t land on the root, they landed on Sokka.
Because the world hated him, they both took their sweet time getting their insanely heavy 12 year old bodies off him. After about a minute of his lungs being crushed, Sokka could finally breathe.
Sokka scrambled to stand up, putting his hands on his hips. “What do you guys think you’re doing? I've been looking all over for you!” he yelled in his best stern voice.
Katara brought out her own stern voice in retaliation, screaming, “Well I’ve been wandering around looking for you!”
“I was chasing some girl.”
He looked at Aang, feeling very confused. This guy needed to learn to read the room.
“What girl?” Katara asked. Sokka was miffed that she allowed the subject to change.
“I dunno, I heard laughing and I saw a girl in a fancy dress,” Aang said, completely unaware of how ridiculous he sounded.
“Well–” Sokka clasped his hands together. “There must be a tea party, and we just didn’t get our invitations. I hear jasmine tea is excellent with swamp water! The mud really adds to the flavor.”
Katara glared at him. “I thought I saw mom.” Her glare started losing effect when her eyes started watering, and Sokka realized that sarcasm was not a good idea anymore.
Jealousy began to coil in his stomach, even though he knew that it was stupid to be jealous of somebody’s literal hallucination. He’d give anything to remember what mom looked like.
Scrambling for a moment, Sokka tried to mentally wave those stupid feelings away. In the end, he decided to try to be the voice of reason, placing his hand on Katara’s shoulder as he spoke. “Look we were all just scared, and hungry, and our minds were playing tricks on us. I’m like 70 percent certain that the swamp gas is a hallucinogen. That’s why we all saw things out here.”
“You saw something too?” Katara asked.
Sokka turned around, “I thought I saw Yue, and…”
And they didn’t know about the boy with the mask, so Sokka should keep it that way. It’d be better if they didn’t know he was giving information to some random guy, one whose face he’d never even seen. Even if the information was just small bits of his childhood. They’d feel safer. And there was nothing Sokka wanted more than for his baby sister and his best friend to feel safe.
“But that doesn’t prove anything,” he finally finished. “Look, I think about her all the time. And you saw mom, someone you miss a lot.” By that line of thinking, apparently the swamp must think he missed that boy too. But why would he…
“What about me? I didn’t know the girl I saw,” Aang piped up. It immediately made Sokka feel better. “And all our visions led us right here.”
“Okay…” Katara paused. “So where’s here? The middle of the swamp?” she asked, taking a look around.
Sokka finally noticed that the giant root they’d crashed on belonged to a gigantic tree. What the fuck. Why was that tree so big?
Aang pulled him out of his stupor. “Yeah…” He also turned to the big ass tree. “The center… It’s the heart of the swamp, it’s been calling us here. I knew it!”
As Aang did a victory jig, Sokka had to be the voice of reason, once again. “It’s just a tree! It can’t call anyone. For the last time! There’s nothing after us, and there’s nothing magical happening here.”
The world must have hated him more than he’d originally thought, because at that moment, a monster made entirely of swamp vines emerged from the trees. Everyone screamed, and they each ran off into separate directions. The severity of the world’s hatred for Sokka must’ve increased within the last five seconds of running he did, because the monster ended up choosing to grab him instead of the other two.
Vines wrapped around his torso, and dragged him through the muddy swamp water. Sokka hit his head on a stray rock, and for a moment he became too dizzy to do much more than scream. In the back of his mind, he hoped that it wouldn’t be visible. He didn’t want Katara to freak out.
The adrenaline began kicking into overdrive just as Aang attacked the monster with his airbending. The monster obviously didn’t take kindly to that, because it wacked Aang so hard he flew into the air.
With all the energy he and his woozy brain had been able to muster, Sokka started hacking at the monster’s vines, grunting as each blow made his head pound. Eventually, he was able to escape, and made a break for it.
Of course, the monster got him again. Sokka lost track of how the fight had been going, too busy struggling and trying not to pass out.
He most definitely had a concussion.
The fight continued, the struggling increased, and Sokka’s vision started to go dark.
He felt something cold, and when next he opened his eyes, he found himself encased in ice. Sokka saw Katara rip the ice block, and with it, him, out of the monster and set him aside. The ice turned back into water all in one go, and Sokka remained on the ground.
Katara began throwing water blades at the monster, chopping away its limbs, and revealed a man hidden beneath the vines.
“There’s someone in there! He’s bending the vines!”
Katara peered closer. Even from behind her Sokka could see the look of disbelief on her face.
With a loud cry, Katara used the water to slice off the head of the vine monster puppet thing. As the vines fell to the ground, the man stood there sheepishly, until Aang swooped in and knocked him back with a blast of airbending. The man hit the tree.
“Why did you call me here if you just wanted to kill us?!” Aang yelled.
Ah, so he had noticed Sokka’s head wound. Better him than Katara.
While they were both facing their attacker, Sokka reached up to get a feel for where he hit his head, trying to discern if Katara would be able to see it. When he found a small gash on the side, he yanked his wolf tail out and covered the injury with his hair. Thankfully, it had grown out just long enough to hide his newly acquired head wound. Small mercies.
The guy waved his hands in denial. “Wait! I didn’t call you here,” he said, shaking his head for emphasis.
Aang leaned away from the man, an obvious expression of doubt on his face. “We were flying over and I heard something calling me, telling me to land.”
Sokka rolled his eyes, though it hurt his head. “He's the Avatar, stuff like this happens a lot,” he said in way of explanation.
The guy went on a very long spiel after that. Sokka was barely paying attention, only giving a snarky comment every now and again. But something the man said stuck out to him more than the rest, and he found himself beginning to pay more attention.
“In the swamp, we see visions of people we’ve lost, people we love, folks we think are gone. But the swamp tells us they’re not. We’re still connected to them. Time is an illusion, and so is death.”
What… the fuck did that mean?
Aang piped up again. “But what about my vision? It was someone I had never met!” he pointed out, a confused pout on his face.
The man shrugged, even though, just by the look on his face, Sokka could tell that he knew the answer. “You’re the Avatar, you tell me.”
Muttering, Aang tried to put the pieces together. “Time is an illusion… so it’s someone I will meet!”
Oh, Tui and La, help him.
The first person he’d seen in the swamp was Yue, her death had destroyed him. Did that mean that the Random Mask Dude was going to die, too? Or… an even scarier thought… Sokka had loved Yue, and then he saw…
Nope. Nope. Nope.
“Sorry to interrupt the lesson,” he said in a daze, desperately wanting to change the subject. He stretched his arms above his head, twisting to crack his back. Hopefully the sensation would wipe any other horrible thoughts out of his mind. “But we still need to find Appa and Momo.”
Aang did his Avatar thing, and thankfully, any thoughts he’d previously been burdened with were all behind him.
—
Giving up on hunting sounded like a great idea. He was tired, and sore, and the day had been long. There was nothing he wanted more than to sleep the day’s horrible-ness away. He’d had to give up the belt to Toph, who didn’t even have a matching bag to go with it, mind you!
Sokka had nothing going for him today, especially not after The Boulder lost. But no, it didn’t matter how bummed he was. He had to find water, he had to find food, and then he had to skin the food, and then he had to cut the food, and–
“Ugh!” somebody grunted. Somebody who got to express their frustration even though Sokka totally needed to do it more.
Why couldn’t Sokka just catch a break? Of course the rabbit-frog had to hop away on its stupidly delicious legs. Of course there had to be someone out here who would do that to him. Of course they had to scare away his game. Because that was just his luck.
Sokka huffed out a grumbling breath, “This is so stupid.” He kicked a pebble, which bounced off of a tree and hit his funny bone, hard. Because of course the universe had to have a perfect aim to mock him, too. “Ow!” he hissed.
Following the sound of the rustling and cursing that had so rudely scared away his dinner, Sokka found himself face to face with a disgruntled Random Mask Dude.
“Oh,” Sokka breathed in relief, “it’s just you.”
The boy looked up from where he’d been tugging at his bag–which had gotten stuck in some thorny bushes–to Sokka. He also sighed once he’d finally recognized him.
“Wait a minute!” Sokka exclaimed, having re-angered himself again. “You asshole! You just scared away my game! And now I have to track it even further from the camp. Ugh!”
At least he finally got to express his own frustration.
The Blue Spirit’s shoulders hunched inward, displaying his sheepishness. “Sorry,” the boy said.
Sokka’s frown began to lessen, his eyebrows no longer as pinched as they were before. He felt himself visibly soften in the face of the dude’s embarrassment. He huffed, “It’s fine.”
Somehow, the boy's shoulders curled in even more, and he gave up on tugging the bag. Even though Sokka had just said it was fine. “What’s got your panties in a twist?” he mocked, intending to sound playful.
The boy very obviously did not take it that way, and his head hung low. “I don’t wanna talk about it,” he said.
Which was okay, Sokka could respect that. He was mature.
“Well, whether you want to talk about that or not, you owe me dinner now. Which means we have to talk about something . So stop being depressing, we’re going to get berries and have conversations that are totally unrelated to whatever you’re sad about.” He snorted out a wry laugh. “Hmph. At the very least, Aang will be pleased with this development.”
“Which uh… development are you talking about?” he asked Sokka. When they had first met, he didn’t think this guy could ever be so fucking clueless.
“The berries, dude. The berries. He’s vegetarian,” he said in a deadpan voice.
“Oh.”
With a laugh that was mostly just an amused exhale, Sokka walked over and began to slowly pull the thorns away from the threads of the bag. Once it had finally uncaught, he gave the bag back to the boy, and put his hands on his hips in triumph. “Bang bada boom. Good as new,” he said, and then loudly: “Welp, onwards to berries, fellow warrior.”
He turned right and marched towards the nearest bush with berries. Sokka checked the leaves, the color of the stems, and the berries themselves, trying to determine if they were poisonous or not. “Hmmm,” he hummed. “We should be good… But if not, I can always grab multiple kinds of berries and just ask Aang which ones aren’t potentially deadly.”
Rustling through his own bag, Sokka pulled out a medium sized pouch. Some time at the beginning of their adventure he had dubbed it The Berry Collecting Bag.
Just as he started gently picking the berries from their bush, Sokka heard the boy’s footsteps finally follow in his direction. He stood at his side, radiating warmth. Scarred hands joined his at the bush, and started collecting berries there as well. The burn Sokka had treated when they first met poked out from the hem of his black sleeve. The scarring was shiny and new, just recently healed.
Sokka jerked his eyes back to the bushes, and continued collecting the berries.
It was silent for a moment.
Then two moments.
It was starting to get awkward.
“So… how’s the burn?” Sokka asked, trying to make conversation.
“Good,” the boy said stiffly.
“Oh, cool. Did you uh…” Sokka cleared his throat. “Did you take care of it when you got back?”
“Yeah,” he replied, coughing a little.
Why was it so hard to talk to people his age? Why was it so hard to talk to dudes his age?
Sokka was saved from his thoughts when the boy began to speak up. “Why–” he cleared his throat, shoulders tensing. “Why do you have to take care of your wounds alone?”
Ahhh, he had mentioned that during their last meeting. Yep, Sokka definitely remembered now. Had this guy seriously just been wondering the whole time?
“Do you want the long version or the short version? The long version is full of sparkly and delightful trauma, and the short version will spare you the details but leave you with many, many, many–” He kept going for a little while. “-many, many, many questions.”
“The long version, I guess,” he answered. Sokka suspected he would rather hear a traumatic backstory than awkward, teenage silence.
“You sure?” Sokka asked, looking up from the bush and trying to find anything that might tell him if the dude could handle it or not. He saw no such sign, but waited for confirmation anyway.
“I’m sure, continue on with your depressing childhood trauma,” the boy said seriously.
A little delayed, Sokka snickered. “Okay, maybe I will,” he relented, looking at the bush again. His smile didn’t fall, but he breathed a sigh.
“I don’t remember what my mom looked like…” he started with, “but according to my sister, I’m her spitting image. My dad said so too, before he… just up and left.” Sokka had to stop there for a moment. There was finality in his mom’s death, she couldn’t come back, she was gone. But his dad… he didn’t know when he was going to see him again. If he… ever… got to see him again.
Some time during his pause, Sokka had stopped picking berries. Instead, he tapped his finger to the one in his palm. He forced himself to grab some more, it’d be easier to talk if he did something with his hands.
“She died.” He shrugged, like it was no big deal to give that statement. “The south pole was raided by a fire nation ship, searching for the last water bender in our tribe. The only way they could’ve known is if someone had tipped them off… and, I mean, who would even do that? Who would do that to my 8 year old sister? If I ever find out who did it, I’ll–”
Sokka was starting to get actually angry. But it was better than being visibly sad. He had an image to maintain.
A gloved hand gently fell onto his shoulder before he could continue, squeezing. He was still very much livid, until Sokka looked up at the boy’s mask, and suddenly found himself wishing, for a moment, that he could see the eyes behind it. But that was a very stupid and random thing to wish for. Better to move on from that thought.
His lips pulled down in anger, and he jerked his gaze back to the bush, picking the small fruit violently. He only stopped his rough grabbing when the berries squished and the juice got all over his hands. It was going to stain him purple. “Ugh,” he grunted. “Stupid.”
“We were raided by a fire nation ship, which had been looking for the last water bender–my sister. Mom had been at home when it started, but me and my sister had… I think we were having a snowball fight… Anyways, my sister ran home. I wasn’t there for what happened to mom, so I don’t know much. All I know is that when she went home, and found my mom, she saw this man standing in front of her. My mom told my sister to go find our dad.”
Sokka huffed, his tone now clipped as he spoke, “She ran as fast as she could, which wasn’t fast enough with her tiny, tiny, tiny 8 year old legs. Once she’d found my dad and gotten back to the hut, it was way too late.”
He kind of wanted to cry, bringing this up. He’d never talked about it with anyone who wasn’t there. He didn’t though, his eyes didn’t even water. It was only their second meeting and this kind of emotional vulnerability was weird around acquaintances. This guy was already getting his traumatic backstory, he didn’t need a sob fest on top of it.
“My sister saw her corpse. She even pulled off my mother’s necklace… from… her body,” Sokka finished. Wow, what a thing to say.
“Oh, god…” the boy breathed, hand reaching up to–presumably–cover his mouth.
“Yes, indeed, ‘oh god’. Anyways! Which brings me back to my first point. I am the spitting image of my mother. So when I get all… bloody… My sister only sees Kya. That’s her name–that’s my mom’s name. Kya.” He’d given up trying to sound cheerful after saying her name, instead, he faintly registered how numb his words came out. It made everything so real, recalling her name.
“Sokka…” he heard. His shoulder was given another squeeze, and he was suddenly reminded that the boy hadn’t let go yet.
Clearing his throat, he continued, trying to make it at least a little bit humorous. “The only reason I know how scared she gets is because there was this one time, where I had gotten a fish hook stuck in my thumb. Well, I tried to fish it out with another fish hook, and I got that one stuck in my thumb too. Which… really hurt. If my eyes hadn’t been blurry from crying, it totally would’ve worked. Anyway, I had the downright genius idea to wipe my tears with my very bloody hand, and ended up getting it all over my face. Lemme tell you, tears and flesh wounds sting like a bitch.”
The boy gave a wry chuckle. “Tell me about it.”
At least he was laughing, even if it was only because he related to it. Which was very concerning, but Sokka wasn’t going to put any thought into that. Either way, Sokka would take it.
“When I got home, still very much covered in blood, asking for help, my sister… she just started screaming. Grangran spent so long trying to calm her down that I had already given up and gone next door to ask the neighbors instead. My dad had already left by that time.
“I told the neighbors why my sister was scared, and she said that I could always go to her if I needed my wounds treated. I asked her to teach me how to take care of different injuries, just in case she wasn’t there to help. I’m glad that I did, because the amount of times I’ve had to patch myself up on this trip alone is just… it’s kind of sad.” Ironically, he was smiling when he made that comment. “My sister hasn’t seen me hurt since.”
It was quiet, that is, until Sokka cleared his throat very loudly to get rid of the tension. “So… there’s your reason why!” he exclaimed cheerfully, pulling out the jazz hands with his uncomfortably sticky fingers.
The silence that followed was deafening. And very awkward.
“That’s… rough, buddy,” was all the boy had to say, apparently.
“Wh–” Sokka started. He couldn’t even think of where to go with that sentence, so he paused, trying to process what he’d just heard.
It ended with Sokka bursting into laughter. He clutched at his stomach and wheezed for a solid minute, before falling on his ass and spilling his berry haul everywhere. “Tui and La, you cannot just–” he kept snickering, failing to breathe all the while. “You cannot just say stuff like that!”
“What did I even say?” he asked, throwing his hands up.
He just laughed harder. “Your–” Sokka coughed a little, trying to catch his breath. “Oh, man. Your obliviousness is amusing. You just said the most awkward thing ever, that’s what you just said. I give you my tragic backstory, and you just–” Okay, he did not giggle. He did not giggle. It wasn’t a giggle. He chuckled in a very manly way. Sokka was manly! “You just… that !”
“What?! I was trying to be… sympathetic! Or something!” the boy tried to explain.
Sokka continued to cackle. “You failed miserably!” he howled. He pounded his fist onto the forest ground, repressing every urge to clap his hands like a tiger-seal. “Ohhh, but it did cheer me up,” he said, hoping it would comfort the boy. “So, I guess there’s that. Good job!”
A scoff sounded behind the mask, obviously dissatisfied with Sokka’s piss poor effort. “Sure, man,” he drawled.
—
The fight had been so stupid. There was practically no reason for it, other than annoying and uncontrollable anger. Zuko couldn’t believe he’d allowed himself to get into a fight with his sister in a deserted town, miles away from any medical supplies, surrounded by the enemy , even having the gall to get his Uncle hurt instead of him .
As soon as he’d realized Azula was gone, Zuko ran towards his uncle, who laid on the ground groaning in pain.
His hands hovered above the injury on Uncle Iroh’s chest, shaky and wavering in his frazzled state. He didn’t know what to do. They had no supplies, they had no water. If he wasn’t quick, his uncle could die from infection, and it would be all his fault for even wanting to confront Azula in the first place.
Zuko pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes until he saw stars. “Fuck,” he muttered. “Fuck!” This time louder.
He vaguely registered his uncle mumbling, “Don’t swear, it’s unbecoming, Prince Zuko.”
Scoffing was in fact the answer to that, even if he wasn’t exactly thinking about the right answer in the first place. “Shut up, Uncle. You’re…” He couldn’t continue.
Dust got kicked up from the multiple pairs of footsteps approaching him. Zuko immediately unblocked his eyes, he should’ve known better than to let his guard down around the Avatar’s group.
Zuko turned his face towards them, and lit a flame in his fist in what he hoped was a threatening manner. “Get away from us!”
Katara stepped forward and threw her hands up, obviously trying to get him to drop his guard. “Zuko, I can help.”
His flame grew stronger, and even though his eyes were watering, he wouldn’t take them off the threats just behind him. “Leave!” Zuko boomed.
“Hey.”
Zuko’s flame sputtered out, and his eyes met Sokka’s. Every time the boy looked at him, he felt seen, whether he was in his mask or out of it.
“Katara can fix him right up, it’s okay.”
“I…” Frustratingly, he almost wanted to tell them yes. But he couldn’t trust them, no matter how desperate he was. “I said …” it felt like the lump in his throat had suddenly grown larger, “leave.” Zuko turned his back to them again, facing his uncle once more.
He heard footsteps recede.
Agni, he was an idiot. He had nothing that could help his uncle. His uncle needed help, and he was too scared to accept it when it was there. Fuck.
“Wait up guys, I’ll be back.”
The dust kicked up again. “Did you not hear me? I said–”
“Yeah, okay, but…”
Sokka walked in front of him, holding a bunch of supplies in his arms. (In the back of his mind, he realized he's taken them out of the bag before so that Zuko wouldn’t have to worry about what his hands were doing. He must’ve learned that from their first encounter, even if he didn’t know that it was Zuko who was behind the mask.)
“But like… I don’t know man, you just made it seem like you think I’m the least threatening and… I mean, I kind of am. But… Anyway, I have some uh… soap, water, a salve, some bandages, anddd that’s it.”
Zuko blinked up at him. “Thank you…” Sokka visibly gawked at his reflexive display of manners. “But–”
“Listen, you big idiot.” Sadly, Sokka had moved on from his shock and was back to being a fucking asshole.
Zuko isn’t even particularly surprised by it, either.
“If you don’t treat his wounds right now, your uncle could die. And you actually cried in front of us, so it’s kind of obvious you don’t want that to happen. Just… I will set them down right here.” Sokka set the supplies down on Zuko’s right side.
So he knows I’m blind in that eye…
“And I will wait…” Sokka moved in front of him again, and stepped back a few feet, “right here.” He slowly lowered himself to the ground, and twiddled with his thumbs once he settled down. “I do want those back when you’re done. But it should still give you enough time to find your own stuff.”
Zuko reached for the supplies without taking his eyes off of Sokka, and began to work on his uncle’s wounds. He did have to look down in order to do that, though. That didn’t stop him from glancing up periodically in order to keep an eye on him. He didn’t really feel the need to, but did it despite that small amount of trust.
When he was finished, Zuko organized the supplies and pushed them back towards Sokka. “Thank you,” he murmured again, bowing his head in gratitude.
“Don’t mention it dude,” Sokka said, grabbing his things and standing up. When he started walking away, he continued, “No seriously, please don’t mention it. This entire situation was really depressing.”
And there it was.
Zuko huffed out an amused breath, “Yeah, okay.”
He had to move Iroh so they could get shelter, but…
Zuko watched Sokka as he ran off towards Appa, his arm waving in the air. “Sorry, guys!” He flopped into the saddle after scrambling up Appa’s tail, quite ungracefully, if he might add.
He turned back to Uncle Iroh. “Okay,” Zuko sighed. “Up we go.”
—
After his date… Zuko couldn’t help but feel a little lost. As he sat on his bed, staring at his wall, he felt his limbs start to heavy with the thoughts weighing him down.
She was a nice girl, she really was. The date was sweet, and he felt proud that he had been able to make her smile.
But she needed someone stable, someone who wasn’t moving around all the time. Zuko didn’t trust that they would stay in Ba Sing Se forever, she deserved someone who could be there for longer than a few months.
Uncle Iroh had been glad that he'd gone out of his way to interact with someone (finally, he would say). But… it made him miss Sokka.
Zuko felt so… connected to him, he felt like he was seen. Though, he knew that if he took off his mask, that connection would break.
Which was probably a warranted reaction, considering all he had done.
He could feel his thoughts start to take over, could feel himself about to slip down a rabbit hole. Looking around his room, he searched for something that might be able to pull him out of his own head.
His eyes landed on the blue mask peeking out of its hiding place. He rushed up to put it away, but as he held it, Zuko began thinking. He had heard rumors of the Avatar being in Ba Sing Se, and if Aang was around, then surely…
Before he knew it, Zuko had changed into his darkest clothing, and threw on his mask. He strapped his swords to his back, and snuck out the window.
It couldn’t hurt to try and find him. Sokka must be somewhere in the middle ring, possibly even the upper ring, with Aang’s ability to pull the “I'm the Avatar” card.
Zuko ran from rooftop to rooftop, searching the streets up and down, and hiding whenever he thought the Dai Li might see him. He looked all over Ba Sing Se, just on the off chance that Sokka would be around somewhere. And finally, he found him.
Sokka was walking on a street, possibly away from–a girls poetry club? He didn’t even want to know, it was better to just accept that Sokka was unpredictable, instead of trying to understand him.
He jumped into the alleyway closest to Sokka, and watched him walk away. Sokka’s hair had gotten slightly longer. The only reason Zuko had been able to notice was because Sokka had taken his wolf tail out.
He watched Sokka gently shake his hair, running his fingers through it to loosen the tangles. Sokka raked it all back, and looked towards the moon. The hand that has been combing through his hair came down to rest on the back of his neck as he stared on.
“I’m sorry Yue.”
Weird. Also probably not his business. Zuko should interrupt before he started saying any more private, confusing things to the moon.
Zuko crept up behind him. Once he was close enough, he turned Sokka around and shoved a hand over his mouth to quiet his scream, which most definitely would’ve been girly, like it had been every other time.
“Shhh.”
Sokka’s eyes had blown wide in his surprise (which might actually have been fear), but when he saw Zuko’s blue mask, he breathed a sigh of relief, his breath warm on Zuko’s gloved hand.
Gently grabbing onto Zuko’s wrist, Sokka tugged his hand away from his mouth. He huffed, smiling. “You scared me. I didn’t know you were in Ba Sing Se,” he murmured.
Zuko shrugged, technically he hadn’t known if Sokka was in the city either. But fate was funny like that. (Ignoring the fact that he had deliberately sought him out.)
“C’mon,” Sokka urged, pulling Zuko into an alleyway by his wrist. “Let’s find somewhere to talk.”
They slipped between multiple shops, trying to avoid being seen. When he finally noticed that Sokka was leading them closer to his uncle’s tea shop, Zuko started pulling him somewhere else. Technically, he could play it off as having known a spot, because he had in fact found it before he saw Sokka.
“This way,” he said, looking back at Sokka’s confused face. His furrowed brows and childish pout made Zuko smile underneath his mask.
Zuko led them towards a tall tree, blooming with spring flowers. It sat in a deserted corner, far away from any doors or windows or shops, somewhere quiet.
Once they had made it, he began climbing. Sokka stared up at him from the ground, rubbing his arm shyly. “We don’t have a lot of trees to climb in the south pole…” he muttered.
That made him sigh. No, the south pole really didn’t have any trees. From his spot on one of the thicker branches, Zuko reached down and offered his hand to Sokka. Who… continued to stare up at him, somewhat frozen-like.
Zuko waited for a few seconds. When Sokka still hadn’t moved, he shook his hand at him in his impatience. Which seemed to snap him out of it, because he finally grabbed on. The deja vu that hit him was somewhat amusing. Zuko pulled him up, and kept his grip on Sokka’s hand until he was sure he was properly balanced on his own branch.
Sokka’s legs swung back and forth, looking just as restless as he always seemed to be. “So… we had mini vacations and ended up finding secret info about the fire nation that we can use against them in the war…” he spat out all at once, which took Zuko a moment or two to process fully.
He hummed in response.
“And,” he drawled out, “that’s why our gang is here. Because–wait oh my Tui and La, that’s what we can call the group! The Gaang! But with two A’s! Ahah! Take that, Katara! Anyways–”
Zuko didn’t think he would ever be able to follow Sokka’s train of thought. But he nodded anyway.
“Um, that’s the reason our Gaang is here. We have information on the Fire Nation, and I have a really good feeling about it. We’re here to tell the earth king, but… well. This place is a little? Coo coo. Y’know?”
He did know. This entire city was crawling with Dai Li, hiding away as if they weren’t completely noticeable with their stupid green uniforms and very obvious hats. It was unnerving to be watched so closely and so often.
“We were welcomed to the city by this lady named Joo Dee. She is a complete wacko. And I swear, she is talking over me on purpose! What, just because I’m not the Avatar, she won’t pay attention to what I have to say? Please! I deserve respect! I invented war balloons! Though, who am I kidding, ‘there is no war in Ba Sing Se’. Of course she doesn’t know I invented war balloons.”
“You… invented… war balloons?” Zuko struggled to say. From behind his mask, he blinked. He was not expecting to hear that. At all. “How did you have the ti–”
“Okay, technically, it was not my original idea. We went to the Northern Air temple because some random old guy saw airbenders there. They were not air benders, they just had flying things. Well, I met the guy who invented those flying machines. And long story short, he showed me an unsuccessful war balloon prototype, and all of them kept setting on fire. Well, I fixed it. They really only needed a lid? It wasn’t that hard. But I made them work, and when the Fire Nation attacked, they ran away crying because I’m a gosh darn genius. And they ended up stealing my design! Because it fell somewhere at the bottom of the mountain, right where they were still whining about losing to a bunch of non-benders.”
That was actually, just a little bit–
“Interesting…” Zuko mumbled in thought.
Stupidly, Zuko felt like everything Sokka ever said was interesting. That thought made him curl in on himself.
“I’m curious…” Sokka started, “you seem a little down. What’s up man?”
So he definitely noticed, then.
His mood had started lowering ever since his date. He… he kept thinking of Sokka instead of the girl, which was not fair on her at all, and it made him feel like shit. Something about telling Sokka what happened on his date just felt wrong. So he wasn’t going to say anything about it. But if Zuko were to tell the truth, it actually started with…
“Chop chop, I need the details, and stat,” Sokka demanded. He was literally just going to start talking. This guy just didn’t know when to wait patiently.
Instead of dwelling on Sokka’s rude interruption, he said, “It’s… not important, also stupid to be upset about–”
Sokka’s eyebrows furrowed and he rolled his eyes. “Shut your trap. I have time.”
Zuko fiddled with his fingers, looking at his lap as he thought about how to word things. “I… upset someone, a while back. My identity is not something to be proud of out here…”
“Mmm.” Sokka swung his feet back and forth, leaning against the tree. He seemed relaxed, completely opposite to the tension Zuko was feeling.
“He was a little kid, and I saved him and his village from corrupt Earth Kingdom soldiers,” he said softly, hands now wringing together. “But… when I told them who I was…”
Sokka didn’t stop swinging his legs, but it was obvious that he was listening. For once, he did seem to have patience. At least enough of it to be able to wait for what Zuko wanted to say next. He didn’t interrupt him once, which gave him the courage to keep going. “When I told them… they yelled at me to leave their village. Even though I had just saved them. I didn’t realize just how much… wrong… I’ve been a part of,” he admitted.
The conflicting feeling in his chest told him that there was more to it than that. So he finally gave the whole truth. “The bad part is… I don’t care how many people have been wronged. I mean, I do. I really do, and I want to help them. But… my father–I just want… he’d get mad. I don’t want to upset him anymore,” he forced out. Spilling so much was making him anxious about Sokka’s reaction.
Sokka looked to the crescent moon, which was just barely peeking out from behind the branches and the leaves. He was a little confused about it, but decided not to worry.
“You know…” he finally drawled out.
Zuko waited for him to continue, subconsciously holding his breath. Like an idiot. He shouldn’t care this much about what Sokka had to say.
“I’m traveling with the Avatar,” he said. Zuko pretended to be surprised by this, and Sokka seemed to believe it. “We finally found him an earth bending teacher. But a couple days before that, we had been in this village who just hated the Avatar. Apparently, in a past life, Aang had murdered someone. It was actually Avatar Kyoshi, but… well, the village didn’t care.”
Zuko raised a brow at that, even though he knew that Sokka couldn’t see it. “An entire village hated the Avatar? I find that hard to believe…”
“Yep, I am being completely serious right now,” he replied. “And I mean, like, big time, too. Oh boy, they almost boiled him alive. Literally! He spun a wheel and that was going to be his crime sentence. The only reason he didn’t die is because they suddenly needed him to save their lives. They also made us eat actual raw dough to serve as a reminder of ‘the day Avatar Aang was not boiled in oil.’”
He gave a chuckle, the justice system seemed a little… off. But who was he to talk after…
Mmm, thoughts for later.
“It’s hard to imagine anyone hating the Avatar, except for… well…” Zuko didn’t finish what he was saying, having gone back to being upset. So apparently he had failed at putting those thoughts away…
“The point I’m trying to make is… I mean, even if you do kinda deserve to be not liked right now, that doesn’t mean you can’t get better. Or… or do better for other people. And I don’t know if this helps at all, but… you took a step in the right direction by being good to
me
.”
The response Zuko gave was a scoffed laugh and a remark of denial, “That’s not enough to fix what I’ve done.” Because he’s right. Nothing would ever be enough. So why bother?
“Ugh, okay, look man.” He grabbed onto his arm, squeezing lightly as he looked through the holes in his mask. His eyes bored through his mask, and it was stupid to think, but Zuko… couldn’t help but feel seen. “It might not feel like a lot right now, and it might not be enough yet, but… you’re trying, and that has to count for something.”
Zuko didn’t take his eyes off of him. That kind of eye contact called for a louder voice, but he ended up mumbling instead, just barely loud enough to be heard. “If you knew who I was, you wouldn’t be saying that,” he denied.
“Okay, just because I don’t know your name, that doesn’t mean I don’t know you. Maybe the guy you know is a fucking asshole. But the guy I know… he’s actually a pretty decent dude. You listen to me, man. That…” He looked up at the moon again. What is with this boy and the moon?
“You are the second person to actually listen to me. Suki didn’t listen to me, and well… that’s because she had important things to say. But… there was this girl…”
Sokka’s breath hitched, voice trembling as he said, “There was this girl named Yue. Princess Yue of the Northern Water Tribe. She was the first person to actually want to listen to me. She fucking turned into the moon I guess, I don’t even believe in that spirit nonsense, but I watched it happen.”
That explained… so much.
Zuko spoke up, trying to lighten the mood, “Now who’s being depressing?”
“Shut up,” Sokka laughed in response. “The point is: you actually listened to me, you want to keep listening to me, and that means more than I could ever describe. It feels really good to be heard, which means you did a good thing. And that’s a step forward. That’s a start.”
“I guess that’s something we have in common, then…” he muttered, his head tilting back down and his feet swinging in the air, a mirror to Sokka’s. “Nobody wanted to listen to me either. My father–” Zuko actually froze, feeling as surprised to say it as Sokka looked to hear it. They hadn’t talked about their fathers yet, and technically this was only their what… third meeting?
“–an important uhhh… political figure–” Okay, decent save. He could’ve done better. “–wanted to… allow a battle plan that would sacrifice young and innocent lives from our nation. He wanted to use them as bait. I spoke out… what happened after wasn’t… the prettiest.”
“Well, I hate your dad now.”
“Everyone hates my dad. You’re not special. Although, I don’t think they hate him for what he did to me… which would make sense, because I might’ve deser–”
Sokka quickly cut him off, reaching for his hand and taking hold of it. “Ohhh, no you don’t. Nuh uh. Nope. Nope-ity nope. Quadruple nope. You didn’t deserve it, whatever you did. And honestly? Your story just proves that you’re not inherently a bad person,” Sokka said. It seemed as though he’d made up his mind. Which was confusing because–
“But you just said–”
“Ah ah ah, I said– uhhh, something about how maybe you don’t deserve to be liked right now . I did not, whatsoever, say that you deserved to be hurt like– that , and especially not for what you did. You just told me you spoke up for the lives of the people your father would have wasted on a stupid war. That's… amazing! Honestly!” he argued, throwing his hand into the air for emphasis. “You tried to save hundreds of people. And I mean, sure, maaaybe you did some fucked up things after that–”
“They are beyond just fucked up, Sokka.”
“Okay, maybe you did some very fucked up things after that,” he corrected. Although he clearly did not have any idea just what level Zuko’s actions were on the Fucked Up-ness Scale. “But the reason why? Is because you learned that doing good would only get you hurt by your bitch ass father.”
Zuko snorted, slapping a hand to the hole where the mask’s mouth was. Sokka grinned at him, which he could focus on later. For now–
“Hah! Nobody has ever dared to call my father a fucking…” he cackled again, “bitch ass. Oh, he’d get so mad.”
Sokka hummed, his face remaining serious as he said, “Yeah, well, he totally is. But really… you’re doing good. You can’t make people forgive you… but, you know, you can try and be better, and the people who will want to be with you through that just… will, I guess.”
Head turning, and eyes on Sokka, Zuko mumbled, “Will… you… be one of those people?”
That sounded an awful lot like hope, and Zuko was almost ashamed to feel it. He was just asking to get hurt, now.
“I will be, to the best of my ability. I can’t promise anything… but, I really, really, really want to try for you,” he answered with compassion in his voice. “I–” Sokka cut himself off, eyes shifting to the side, probably trying to think of what to say. “Traveling with the Avatar is going to take up a lot of my time. When all is said and done, I hope I find you again. I hope we keep meeting.”
The quiet returned, surrounding them. It felt almost… comforting. Although, he doesn’t remember the last time he’d felt anything close to comfort. Maybe his perception was a little off.
They sat in the silence, with Sokka staring at his hands in his lap. He fiddled with his fingers, rubbing at the knuckles. “Aang isn’t doing so good right now…” he eventually said.
Zuko didn’t say anything, only tilting his head in question.
“We found this hidden library, way in the middle of the desert. We left Toph to guard the entrance… which. Wasn’t the best idea, honestly. She’s blind, but she sees through the earth with her bending. It doesn’t work the best in the sand…”
Zuko was confused on many fronts, but he figured he’d understand more when Sokka explained.
“Anyways, while we were in the library, we pissed off the spirit guarding it and so he started to sink the entire building. Toph was trying to stop it with her earth bending, and while she was doing that these sandbenders came over and started capturing Appa.
“Toph tried to stop them, but she also didn’t want us to sink. We haven’t seen Appa since. Aang is… destroyed. We came here hoping to get help from the earth king, because he must have informants who know where to find him. But… no luck there.”
Sokka started to tear up, and immediately, Zuko was slightly frightened. He knew it was serious, but Sokka had never cried in front of him before. Although, he knew from experience that it’s easier to cry over an animal than it is to cry over trauma. It only made sense.
“Toph blames herself, Aang is distraught, Katara is trying to be optimistic. Appa is really important to them and… honestly? He’s important to me too. I can’t pretend to be optimistic like Katara, but I have to keep my shit together, even if I’m not happy-go-lucky about it.”
Zuko had a feeling that there was more he wasn’t saying.
Sokka sniffed, blinking hard. When he opened his eyes again, Zuko saw that most of the tears were gone. “They’re all depending on me to stay calm. So, that’s what I've been doing. Appa is worth more to people alive, so I know that he’s out there. I just miss him too, that's all.”
He heard something tapping, and turned his eyes toward the sound. Sokka sat there, jabbing his nail against something wooden.
When he noticed Zuko looking, Sokka held it out for him, hand trembling minutely. “It’s my turn with the bison whistle,” he choked out, voice cracking with emotion.
Zuko didn’t know what to do. The tears in Sokka’s eyes were concerning him to an absurd level. It was a little terrifying how much he cared. He didn’t know what to do, but some instinct he didn’t remember having chose for him.
“Let me look for Appa, I’ll bring him back.”
“We don’t where–” Sokka tried, but Zuko quickly cut him off.
“I know. But I still want to help. Let me try,” he argued back.
With a small sniffle, Sokka’s shoulders slumped, looking utterly defeated. “Yeah,” he eventually said. “Yeah, okay.”
He was grateful that the mask covered the slight hint of his smile. How embarrassing…
“Leave it to me. I will do everything I can.”
He meant it wholeheartedly.
—
When the Random Mask Dude came back to see him next, somehow having found their living space, he had Appa in tow. Aang had literally leaped for joy, and was immediately hugging Appa’s large head, way too busy crying into his fur to notice the boy who brought him back.
Sokka walked up to him, smiling brightly. “I didn’t know you were so adept at tracking,” he said conversationally.
Unlike all the other times he’d ignored his conversation starters, the boy answered almost immediately. “I said I would,” he claimed in mock petulance.
Somehow, Sokka found it in him to grin wider. Without even thinking about it, he pulled him into a tight hug. It wouldn’t occur to him until much later that this would be the first time they’d ever hugged each other.
When they finally pulled apart, Sokka dug his hand into his pocket. When he finally grabbed what he was looking for, he held out a small bone carving. It was a small boomerang. It was only fitting, seeing as he was the Boomerang Guy. “I’ve been making this for you. It’s very… Well, my skills are a bit rusty. But I didn’t know how else to thank you for being my friend. But I’m tempted to make another one, just to thank you for bringing back Appa,” he explained.
Before the masked boy could reply, Sokka hesitantly opened his mouth to continue. He closed it again, the words stuck in his throat.
“It’s also… from what you said last time, I just. I wanted this to serve as a reminder to never stop trying to do good. I know you said that your father would get mad, so if you stumble, if you fuck up and do the wrong thing, just look at this and try to do better once you get the chance. I know you can do it. Even if I’m not around, I’m hoping this will be enough to cheer you on,” he mumbled, feeling stupid as he said it. He meant every word, but it was still embarrassing to actually get them out. Tui and La, Sokka hoped that he didn’t look stupid.
The boy reached his hand out, his fingers twitching like he didn’t know what he was trying to do. Eventually, he settled on pulling Sokka into another hug.
It struck him then, what he must have gone through for him to be that scared to give someone a hug.
“Thank you,” he murmured. If they weren’t so close, Sokka wouldn’t have been able to hear it.
“It’s no problem, Random Mask Dude,” he murmured back, deciding that it’d be better not to break the quiet of the moment.
If he could do anything to help, then Sokka would.
—
Despite how nice everything had been just a few days ago, it wasn’t long before everything just had to go to shit.
They raced up the steps, breath panting as they climbed. Palaces and their weird obsession with stairs.
As they neared the top of the stairs, Sokka and Toph began quieting their footsteps. Once Sokka had a clear view of the entrance, he whisper-yelled, “There’s general How!” Toph reached to take another step forward, but Sokka grabbed her shoulder.
Faintly, he could hear the clink of chains.
Sokka yanked Toph by the arm towards one of the pillars lining the entrance. The sound of the chains became more pronounced, and the groans of what must’ve been general How being detained echoed around the hall.
“The coup is happening right now!” Sokka said quietly. “We gotta warn the earth king.”
Toph nodded at him in agreement, and they set off, earth bending any gigantic doors out of their path. By the end of it, Sokka was panting for breath. “Thank goodness we’re in time!” he wheezed out, crouching with his arms propped against his knees.
The King spoke up, “In time for what?”
Oh, how sheltered this guy had to be in order to remain this oblivious.
“Yeah,” came the overly bright and bubbly voice that sometimes made his skin crawl. Sokka jerked his head up to watch Ty Lee as she flipped her way over to him, parading around in her stolen Kyoshi Warrior uniform. “What are you in time for?” she giggled that nonsensical giggle he totally wasn’t mildly afraid of. “Cutie…”
Sokka blinked. “I’m uhhh, kinda involved with… someone.”
Ty Lee continued staring at him. “With who?” she asked.
Honestly? It was a good question. He didn’t even know. Which was a disaster waiting to happen.
Obviously Toph had gotten impatient, because she earth bended at Ty Lee so hard that she went flying up into the air. But of course she had to land gracefully, because fuc–
“They’re not the real Kyoshi Warriors!” Right. Sokka can be mad about people defying physics later.
Kuei chose that exact moment to realize his situation, and gasped. At this point, Mai had already started smirking. Talk about a late reaction. “Hm,” she chuckled. “Sorry to disappoint you.” She then chucked her stupid knives.
Toph, being the greatest earth bender, blocked the blades with a slab of stone, and chucked them (and the rock) right back. But it didn’t matter just how cool of an earth bender she was, because Sokka had to turn his eyes away from her glorious battle, seeing as he was quite busy trying not to get chi blocked.
“Heh, oooo!” Ty Lee cooed before making another attempt to jab at his nerves. “It’s like we’re dancing together!” She continued to jab, and Sokka continued to evade.
Although, he had to wonder if maybe she had a point. Because Sokka found himself balancing on the tip of his toes, with his other leg stretched completely in the air. He wasn’t made for ballet though, so he slipped. Thankfully it had been the perfect timing. He landed on his hands and knees right when Ty Lee attacked the air where his shoulder used to be.
All the fighting stopped when Azula’s voice spoke out. Her perfectly pointed nails spouted out a line of blue flame, just barely missing King Kuei’s neck. “This fight is over.”
Sokka and Toph slipped closer to each other, throwing their hands into the air while they were at it. The earth bender stood stiff next to him, and out of the corner of his eye, Sokka could see she was just starting to sweat. Mai had to be a worthy opponent, then. (But who was he kidding, he knew that already.)
Ty Lee hit them, pushing her knuckles into their pressure points. They both went limp and fell to the ground. Wings flapped in the background, but something heavy flew through the air, and dropped. “I guess you got Momo, too…” Sokka mumbled under his breath.
From his spot on the very hard floor, Sokka could see Azula standing at the earth kingdom throne. She glared down at them, lips curled into a snarl. “Ugh,” she groaned, and threw the earth king onto the floor next to him and Toph. “Get them out of my sight,” Azula commanded, brushing her hand off on her green robes.
Almost as soon as she’d given the word, the Dai Li began pulling them away. “Except for…” All movement paused, heads swiveling to turn the princess’ way.
“You.”
That didn’t answer any of his questions.
Suddenly, Sokka was being moved back over to Azula.
That answered his question, although he wasn’t exactly happy with it.
“Wait, what?! Me?” His eyes bugged out of his skull. “What do you want with me?!” he screeched, suddenly wishing he could move his legs.
“Hey!” Toph yelled, surprisingly being able to stomp her feet and chuck a couple rocks around. It was only a little upsetting, considering he couldn’t do it himself. “No! You can’t take him! Let him go! You stupid fucks! I’ll smash your faces into the ground if you fucking touch him, you bastards!”
Hmm… Sokka would think about where she heard that colorful language when he wasn’t in potentially life threatening danger.
The Dai Li dragged the angry Toph away, still stomping her feet. Leaving Sokka at the hands of the Fire Princess despite his numerous complaints, which he would verbalize if Azula wasn’t so scary.
She hummed, tapping her finger against her chin. “Hmmm, what to do, what to do with you…” she pretended to ponder. “I could… get this over with right now, and torture you here in Ba Sing Se–ooo, maybe even keep you in a prison here, and leave you to rot. Only as soon as I’m done with you of course.”
What did that even entail? Actually, scratch that, he didn’t want to know. He just needed to get out first.
“Or…” the princess continued, somewhat terrifyingly. “I could take you to the Fire Nation, and tell my father that I captured the most important member of your party–aside from the Avatar, of course. Either way, that small child isn’t capable of doing anything without you around to keep things together. He will be very, very easy to find after I take his strategist.”
“Wait–uhhh,” Sokka interrupted, speaking quickly before he started to overthink and regret it. “How am I the most important member?” He tensed his muscles in an attempt to move and get a good look at her expression. He couldn’t even move an inch, ugh.
“Weren’t you listening, stupid? You’re the strategist, the brain–although, after your silly question, I’m starting to wonder just how low of a bar that must be.”
Oh, ouch. He would’ve preferred a literal burn, rather than… that one.
“It doesn’t matter. You’re the only one keeping that group of yours from falling apart, it just so happens you’re also the weakest link,” she explained. By the tone of her voice alone, Sokka could deduce that she was probably saying all of this with a victorious smirk.
She walked towards him, her boots clacking on the stone floor. Sharp nails and bony fingers dug into his cheeks and pulled his face up. Azula’s face stared down at him, brow pinched and mouth still snarled in disgust. Looking into his soul with a face that said whatever she’d found wasn’t worthy of her appreciation. Wow. What a picky bitch.
“How about this?” Azula offered, mouth pulling into a mocking pout. “We’re going to mix up the plans. I am going to take you to the Fire Nation, I will show you off to my father, and then I’m going to throw you into the Boiling Rock. I’m going to leave you there for quite some time, and when I’ve decided you’ve rotted for long enough, I am going to get that information out of you. Sound good?” She didn’t bother to wait for his answer. “Great! Let’s get started then, we’ve no time to waste. Father will be waiting.”
The grip she had on his face loosened just enough for him to slip and faceplant on the ground. Sokka was almost glad that he didn’t have enough feeling in his limbs to be able to shake.
“Knock him out,” Azula demanded. “I don’t want to hear his insufferable chatter.”
“What?!” Sokka screeched in horror. “No! I wasn’t even talk–”
Rocks whooshed through the air, and after that, things went dark.
—
Sitting in the dungeon with Katara was… a tense experience. With the glowing crystals surrounding them, the light illuminated her angered expression, painting it with the ugly hatred he was so familiar with. He looked away, finding himself unwilling to face the rage of someone he was growing fond of.
Sokka’s stories always made Katara seem like the kid she was, but with her family on the line, she was a truly terrifying little girl.
“Why did they throw you in here?” she yelled, he did not have time to respond, as she kept going. “Oh wait, let me guess–it’s a trap, so that when Aang shows up to help me you can finally have him in your little Fire Nation clutches!”
He stayed silent. After seeing what the Fire Nation has done to people around the world, he can guess she is not quite finished. Zuko looks over his shoulder, showing her that he’s listening.
“You’re a terrible person, you know that? Always following us, hunting the Avatar, trying to capture the world’s last hope for peace!” Katara exclaimed, almost as if in disbelief. She paced back and forth through their shared cell, anger stirring. “But what do you care? You’re the Firelord’s son. Spreading war and violence and hatred is in your blood.”
Zuko took a deep breath. She didn’t know, she didn’t have a grasp on his story. Katara didn’t understand that he wanted nothing to do with his father anymore. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he retorted, although he breathed in sharply after the words left his mouth–he could have phrased that better.
And of course, her just reaction came. “I don’t? How dare you!” she cried, he could hear the emotion choking in her throat, could see the grief in her eyes.
“You have no idea what this war has put me through!” she yelled again, turning to face the other way, no doubt trying to hide how deeply this cut her. “Me, personally!” Katara’s voice began to waver as she continued, “The Fire Nation took my mother away from me.”
Zuko stared at her hunched shoulders, deciding she deserved someone who understood that pain. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “You’re only children. You shouldn’t have had to bear that burden.”
She began sobbing, crying into her folded arms.
“That’s something we have in common, actually,” he continued, turning his body around to fully face her. He stayed where he was, Zuko was a threat to her right now, approaching her while vulnerable would be a bad idea.
Katara glanced over her shoulder, clearly she had heard him. She stood up, facing him, if only just barely. She put her arms behind her back, clutching her hands behind her as she uttered, “I’m sorry I yelled at you before.”
Zuko stood too, looking down at the floor of their cell. “It doesn’t matter,” he replied.
She looked over to him, glancing every which way. “It’s just that… for so long now, whenever I would imagine the face of the enemy, it was your face.”
On reflex, his eyes widened, and his hand brushed against his scar. He looked away. “My face, I see.”
“No,” she denied, “no, that’s not what I meant.”
Reflexes over with, his reason returned. “It’s okay,” Zuko reassured. “I used to think this scar marked me, the mark of the banished prince. Cursed to chase the Avatar forever. But lately…” he trailed off, thinking of Iroh’s words of wisdom, thinking of Sokka, and all that he inspired in him. Sokka, who showed him kindness, when he could’ve walked away instead. Sokka, who was human in every way, had somehow reminded him that Zuko was human too.
“I realized I’m free to decide my own destiny. Even if I’ll never be free of my mark.” Zuko became quiet for a while, Katara staying silent as well.
“Nobody deserves this, what my people have done, what my father has done. Someone… helped me realize that I want to help put an end to it.”
More silence.
“Nobody should have had to grow up like I did. Or how you did. Or even Sokka. Especially Aang. That… someone helped me decide that I want to do something about it.”
Katara blinked, shuffling her feet.
Katara nodded slowly, watching him cautiously. Zuko could tell she wanted to believe him, she had so much kindness and compassion in her heart. It made him smile.
When rumbling came from the cavern wall, he and Katara changed to defensive stances. Preparing for a fight.
Out from the wall came Aang and Uncle Iroh, and relief filled his chest. He felt like he could breathe again with his Uncle in the room.
—
In the end, that conversation didn’t matter. He’d done the wrong thing. The worst thing. Katara had been right. War and violence was in his blood.
Sitting near Azula, staring at his hands, Zuko uttered, “I betrayed them… I betrayed uncle… I betrayed…” Sokka’s image flitted through his mind, unwelcome. But Zuko couldn’t help but think that he deserved to feel the guilt that coursed through him when he thought of Sokka.
He clutched at the small bone carving in his pocket. He’d do the right thing. He’d fix this.
—
Sokka woke up to the cool metal floor and a pulsing headache. The ground was whirring–possibly like a machine? He wondered, briefly finding himself upset that thinking was giving him a headache.
Taking in a deep breath, he placed his arms underneath his weight and lifted with all his might. It should not have taken as much energy as it did. Such was his life, apparently.
He groaned in pain, finally getting to his knees. “Ugh, fuck that hurts.”
He didn’t have any more time to dwell on his injuries, because the door to his cell slammed open, and Sokka was pulled to his feet. Everything was swaying too much, he couldn’t focus on where he was going, or where he was in the first place. He just knew it was a machine.
When he finally reached his destination, it came to his knowledge that he was being lugged around by guards. Who were all standing at attention in the face of Fire Princess Azula.
Fucking damnit.
On her warship, Sokka had a perfect view of the now conquered Ba Sing Se. He saw parts of the cities in flames, lower ring, middle ring, and upper ring alike.
He supposed it didn’t matter to the Fire Nation if some of those people had nothing to their name. Ba Sing Se was just another city to cross off the list. And with that complete, the entirety of the Earth Kingdom was under their reign.
“Oh, don’t worry, Water Tribe peasant.” It wasn’t even an accurate title. Sokka was the chief's motherfucking son. “Things will work out, I’m sure of it. With my father ruling the Earth Kingdom, this entire nation will know glory.”
Sokka dug his nails into the palms of his hands, desperately straining his wrists against the ropes. He jerked his head towards Azula’s smirking face, and after seeing her prideful expression, he began to scowl despite himself.
“These people have nothing! They didn’t do anything to you! Half of the citizens of Ba Sing Se were refugees, and you just set fire to the only home they had left!” he spit, disgusted by her amusement.
She hummed, shrugging her shoulders, as if it couldn’t be helped. “Well, I’m sad to hear that some people won't be happy about father’s inevitable reign. We can always have them leave, if they’re going to kick up such a fuss about it.”
His hands trembled in anger. Sokka tried to grit his teeth against the words in his mouth, but his hatred won out. “These people have nowhere else to go! They’d be dying on the road, without food–since you guys made it your top priority to sabotage their farm land!” he screamed.
He knew she wouldn't understand. Or at least, if she did, he knew she didn’t care. It didn’t matter, he was going to scream anyway.
“Oh well, the Fire Nation has food to spare, so maybe they should just be grateful.”
Sokka charged at her. The guards beside him acted quickly, gripping his arms and violently tugging him away from the Fire Princess.
“You guys are killing these people! They’re innocent! They didn’t do anything! Your entire nation is full of monsters!”
Azula turned to the window, and waved her hand in a clear dismissal. “Take him away, I’m done listening to this nonsense.”
The guards pulled him through the door, dragging him away kicking and screaming.
—
From the window through the door, Zuko watched the guards drag Sokka back to his cell. He hadn’t been spotted, but he almost wished that Sokka would notice and start screaming at him too. It’d be better than drowning in his own anger.
He deserved it.
Even if he did end up getting screamed at, Zuko wouldn’t allow himself to wallow in self pity. He was going to fix this, he promised himself. He promised Sokka, too. He would fix it.
He had to.
—
This was just supposed to be a welcome home party, but…
They’d started burning him, and Sokka’s screams began to echo around the silent room, and Zuko watched as–
Everyone laughed.
Everyone laughed, and it was just like–
Everyone had laughed the exact same way when Zuko begged for mercy. Everyone had cheered, whistling and whooping, when Zuko finally collapsed in his agony, unable to even lift his burnt face from the floor. Everyone clapped when his father stood victorious above Zuko’s body. Everyone had stared when the paramedics had to peel Zuko’s face off of the tiled podium, burnt flesh sticking to the ground where his face once laid.
But this time it was Sokka. This time it was Sokka being branded. This time it was Sokka, the one he’d betrayed, the one he’d betrayed just to try and get the Fire Lords' twisted version of love back. He had to watch his dearest friend get hurt.
And it made him sick to his stomach.
When it happened to Zuko, he could explain why. When it happened to Zuko, he had someone to blame–himself. If he had just kept his mouth shut, his father wouldn't have hurt him. If he had just stood up to fight, if he had just been less of a coward, his father wouldn’t have had to teach him the hard way.
But this… this couldn’t be explained. Nothing about it made sense. Sokka didn’t do anything wrong. Sokka had never done anything to deserve it. It wasn’t justified, there was nobody to blame, except for the people hurting him.
It was one thing for Zuko to be made an example of. But when they started to make one out of Sokka? He…
Zuko would never let his father get away with this. He needed to fix this, he needed to help. He stood by when he was faced with injustice, for so long he thought he deserved it. But bringing Sokka into it was simply crossing a line. He couldn’t-
He wouldn’t stand by while they were doing it to him instead.
There was nothing more appealing than the thought of grabbing him and leaving now. Nothing sounded as sweet as slitting his father’s throat while he had the chance, grabbing Sokka, and making a break for it. But…
No, if he wanted to do something about this, then he’d have to be very careful not to give himself away.
Swallowing around the lump in his throat, Zuko leaned towards his– the Fire Lord’s ear. “Father?” he whispered, trying not to gag from how that word made him feel.
Ozai glanced at him briefly, he could only hope that meant he was listening. “Is it alright if I… take him to my chambers? He was the most annoying bunch of the Avatar’s group, and–” He had to force himself to stop talking at the twitch of Ozai’s eyebrow.
“Yes, whatever, don’t bother me during the show.” So he’d have to wait until they were done with him first, then.
“Thank you, father.”
Zuko tried not to visibly shudder. Instead, he put his hands underneath the table, and began tapping his index finger to his knee erratically. It was horrifying to watch what was happening, he almost didn’t want to look. But he had to. He had to or else they would know. He needed to make them think he was enjoying a… lovely piece of entertainment, and not witnessing the torture of one of the people he held closest to him.
They continued to brand him, lighting a flame under the edge of the metal rod to heat it. Slowly chipping away at Sokka’s skin. And there Zuko sat, forced to pay attention to the skin slowly begin to melt away, watching as the symbol started to form on his flesh.
Forcing a smile onto his face, Zuko mentally checked out of the scene in front of him.
—
When they were finally done, Zuko didn’t think he’d be able to stomach any of the food they’d be serving.
Trying not to rush, Zuko stood up from his seat and walked towards the boy. He peered down at Sokka’s tense body, and said in as clipped of a tone he could muster, “You’re coming with me, Water Tribe peasant.” It wasn't even accurate, Sokka was the son of the chief.
Sokka wheezed out a laugh, because of course the idiot still had enough energy left in him to be a smart ass. “Like fuck I a–”
A slap rang through the air, and Zuko finally noticed the Fire Lord standing beside him. “Don’t talk to my son that way, savage.”
In all of his years of being banished, he never once thought he’d feel ill at hearing Ozai call him his son. At one point, it was all he’d ever wished for. But now…
It was so violently disgusting that Zuko had to swallow around his gag. He choked out, “Thank you, father.” He took a quiet breath, and tried to make his next words as biting as possible, “I’ve got it from here, I’ll teach him his place.”
Zuko snatched Sokka’s arm up and began dragging him away. He glanced behind him and watched as his father turned back to his chair at the head of the table.
Sokka, still being an idiot, tried to wriggle out of his grasp. Grabbing him by the hair, which he’d just now noticed had been undone, Zuko lifted Sokka up so that he was ear level. “Stop struggling, or they’re going to want a second act, and we won’t be able to get out of here,” Zuko murmured. He thanked years of theatre for being able to keep his face twisted in anger.
He then kicked him in the side hard enough to bruise. Thankfully, he heard no cracks. The less injuries to deal with, the better–for both his emotional state and their time crunch. He didn’t want to be responsible for hurting him more than he already was.
Although, the split lip, black eye, branded arm, burnt neck, and cut up stomach weren’t helping their time crunch anyway. That’d be a hassle for sure.
Sokka’s struggling was replaced by incessant shaking. At this, he let go of his arm, and continued to drag him out of the room by his hair. Zuko didn’t stop until he’d reached the door to his room. He opened it, and threw Sokka to the floor, staining the carpet red from his numerous injuries as he rolled until he hit the foot of the bed frame.
Only after slamming his door and twice and triple checking the lock, did Zuko finally drop the act.
“I think I’m gonna be sick,” he gasped out, legs trembling to hold his weight.
Yep. He definitely was.
Sprinting to the bathroom, Zuko tried not to throw up onto his bedroom floor. Quickly, he jerked the bathroom door open and skidded to the toilet, promptly gagging and then emptying his stomach. “Fuck,” he said, panting. He threw up some more. Agni, this was horrible.
Still feeling queasy, Zuko slowly rose from the ground, testing to see if being upright would make it worse.
He felt glad to say that it didn’t.
Zuko stumbled to the sink and ran the faucet, cupping his hands and pulling water to his mouth to rinse the taste out. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” He brushed his teeth for 30 seconds, because he didn’t have time for a full two minutes. If they wanted to leave, they needed to come up with something fast, now.
He burst out from the bathroom, and started pacing around the room, wishing he could pick a direction and start packing. Zuko was too frantic to do so, though.
“What am I doing, what the fuck am I doing–”
“Yeah, aren’t you supposed to be doing something to me now that we’ve finally fucking left the dining hall.”
Zuko was so busy trying to think of how to break him and Sokka out that he’d completely forgotten Sokka was right there. Which made no sense.
His head snapped towards the sound of his friend’s voice. “I meant… out of the palace… Out of… the fire nation. Somewhere that isn’t so close to the Fire Lord…” Zuko clarified hesitantly.
Sokka actually burst out laughing, “Yeah, sure buddy! And I meant that you were going to make me a five course meal with all my favorite meats.”
What is with this guy and sarcasm? If they didn’t leave, they were going to die. Or at the very least, Sokka was going to die, and it would be all Zuko’s fault for not saving him. He was 16, and if he had any more burdens on his shoulders, Zuko’s head was going to explode.
(Sokka wasn’t a burden and he never had been, but he would feel guilty for thinking it ((even if he didn’t believe it)) later.)
“Ugh, look, we don’t have time for your smart ass comments,” he groaned. “We need to leave, and we need to do it now. Come up with a plan like you somehow always manage to do. Or…” Zuko looked to the roof for words, “just… something!”
The cackling still had not stopped. “Ohhh, you can’t be serious,” Sokka snorted, clapping his hands together and making the chains on his wrists jingle. “Hah, like I’d actually believe that. I’m not gullible enough for that to wo–”
Zuko snatched a bobby pin from his vanity and stomped towards the stupid, laughing boy. Sokka raised his arms above his head, looking braced for impact.
The click of a lock sounded throughout the room, and the chains fell on the floor. Zuko did the same with the ones on Sokka’s ankles, and they fell right beside the other, adding to the pile.
Sokka blinked up at him, and Zuko gently gripped at his uninjured arm, looking into his eyes with as much intensity as he could. He had to relay to him just how serious their situation was. “If we don’t leave now, you are going to die, and I will not let that happen. Not to you,” he spoke softly, trying to be stern and ultimately failing.
“What are you even talking about?” Sokka asked with his eyes squinting.
“You– ugh!” Zuko kicked himself up to his feet, and stomped over to his bag, which he still had not unpacked. He barely needed anything, he was worried over packing for no reason. Agni, that was too much wasted time. He violently rummaged through the contents, grumbling all the while.
He chucked the (finally found) item at Sokka’s feet, the blue mask staring at the boy just like he was staring at it.
“Whatever… that meant to you– I don’t know! You don’t have to believe me, just believe that.”
Sokka picked the mask up, running his hands over the wooden surface. His bottom lip quivered, nose scrunching in his anger. “You’re lying!” Sokka got up and charged at him, grabbing him by his collar. He was surprisingly quick considering all of his injuries. “What did you do to him?!” he yelled, eyes tearing up and lips pulled into a snarl.
“I am him,” Zuko said quietly. He would not cry. He would not cry. “Your first girlfriend gave her life to turn into the moon, and you don’t even believe in ‘that spirit nonsense’.”
Sokka’s eyes widened at his words.
Zuko kept going. “When you’re hurt all Katara can see is your mother’s bloodied corpse.”
Sokka began to openly gape, hands loosening their grip on his robes.
“You once said that you’d try to be there with me through this, through me trying to take the first steps towards being good. So let me start by saving you, please . Because we don’t have enough time to argue about if you believe me or not, when you could die in the next 24 hours!” he yelled desperately. His breathing was harsh, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.
Sokka let go of him, and backed away on shaking legs. One tear fell, but it was quickly wiped away. Zuko momentarily hated himself for making him cry. Why did he always hurt everyone?
It didn’t matter, if they had no time to argue about Sokka believing him or not, then they certainly had no time for a fucking pity party.
Hesitantly, he dug into his pocket, hand pausing against the walrus bone. His thumb ran over the intricate carvings, relaxing his nerves even if only slightly. Zuko pulled the piece out, and held it in his open hand so Sokka could see it.
“You gave this to me as a reminder to never stop trying to be good,” he murmured. “I… I messed up, and I stopped trying. But when I looked at it again, I realized I failed you. I’m tired of failing the people I care about. So… let me try again, please.”
Sokka started shaking his head frantically. “No, no, no, n–”
“If you don’t leave, you’re going to get hurt. I will not let you get hurt because of me. I will not put you at risk because of my mistakes. Whether I have to force you or not, we are leaving!” Zuko said in a panic. He didn’t want to have to do this by force. But if he didn’t, Sokka could die. And he couldn’t die or Zuko would…
He didn’t want to think about what he’d do.
—
Sokka’s fever had gotten worse since they’d left the palace. He hadn’t treated his wounds in time, and Zuko was pissed at himself for it.
He’d told himself that Sokka wouldn’t have to deal with his injuries alone whenever he was around. But this time… he’d failed him. Zuko hadn’t fixed him up in time. And now the infection was setting in, and Sokka was… he was probably going to die if he didn’t find Katara soon.
If Sokka died… it would actually be his fault. His best friend, the person who inspired him the most, dying… What would Zuko even do? Katara would never forgive him for the loss of her brother, it would be Zuko’s fault when Aang started crying, that new one, Toph… he didn’t have a good read on her. But something tells him that she would not hesitate to kill him on the spot.
Zuko… would understand. Maybe even welcome it. Sokka couldn’t die. But if he did… well, if that happened, he definitely wouldn’t deserve the honor of training the Avatar. He wouldn’t deserve any honor at all.
But death was a mercy, a mercy that he wouldn’t be granted. Not if Sokka died, no. That was going too far.
He registered that the cold cloth he had been holding against Sokka’s head was starting to get warm. Zuko did his best not to focus on the future. Instead, he started wringing out the lukewarm water, replacing it with newer and more cold water. Zuko placed the cold cloth back onto Sokka’s forehead, gently dabbing at the sweat building up.
He had to do what he could now. There was no time to waste on ‘what if’s, not with Sokka’s life on the line. Instead, he needed to focus on tracking the Gaang down (he chuckled at the memory of Sokka coming up with the group's name) and trying to heal Sokka with what little he had. He also needed to make sure that he didn’t crash the balloon. But he should be fine for right now.
They would probably need to make a supply run soon. They needed some medicine, and some more water. Potentially an herbal tea. Though… his Uncle wouldn’t be proud of the results. But the taste didn’t matter as long as the herbs did their job.
Fluttering eyelids pulled him out of his planning, with Sokka staring up at him with glassy eyes. They looked… blank. Like there was no recognition.
“Hey, buddy. How are you feeling?” Zuko asked softly, not exactly expecting an answer considering how out of it he seemed.
Which is why it came as a surprise when Sokka blinked and raised his brows, as though a lightbulb lit up in his head. “Zuko…” he whispered, giving him a small smile. Zuko didn’t have time to process how happy he was to see that smile before Sokka suddenly began to pout. “I am… soooooooo, sooo, soooo mad at you right now.”
There it was. Leave it to Sokka to ruin the moment (as if Zuko was one to talk). “I know. I definitely deserve it,” he answered with a nod, giving him a small smile of his own.
Sokka’s already glassy eyes began to fill with tears, leaving Zuko to stare in shock. What the fuck was he supposed to do when someone started crying again?
“Why did you… Zuko…” Sokka sniffled, chin trembling. He looked up to the red fabric ceiling.“It’s stupid. It’s so stupid.”
Zuko pushed Sokka’s hair back, raking his fingers through it to smoothen the tangles. “Whatever it is, it’s not stupid,” he said.
“But it is. I know it’s not my fault…” Sokka mumbled, words starting to slur, “but i’ feels like my fault. ‘M so mad, sooo mad, because I wasn’ enough. You still… you still did all o’–” he stumbled over his words, “–all o’ that even though I tried sooo hard to be good enough for you ta wanna stay. I tried so hard to-to be there for you, because you were so confused, and I wanted to show you that you could be good…”
Sokka was definitely right to be mad at him. Now that Zuko was processing how much he’d hurt him with his actions, he was starting to get even more mad at himself.
“And-and then you hurt my best friend? He… he almost died! You knew he was just a kid! I told you he was just a kid! And you–”
“I know,” Zuko said, trying to get Sokka to calm down. The stress would not help his fever any. He grabbed Sokka’s hand, squeezing tight in an attempt to show him how intensely he felt about this. “I know that what I did was wrong, it was more than wrong, it was downright villainous. Nothing I do will ever take away from that. But I can’t change the past, and neither can you. Maybe we can’t change anything, but you can be mad about that. You can be mad at me .”
Sokka whimpered–which was a bad sign–and tried to get his feet up under him–double bad sign. When that didn’t work he tried to lean up on his elbows. Zuko had to push him back against the floor of the balloon. “Easy, buddy, easy. You can’t get up right now, you’re too sick,” he said, attempting to be soothing.
Seemingly, it had worked. Sokka visibly relaxed at his coaxing, and breathed out a sigh, shoulders slumping. “It’s not only you that I’m mad at…” he whispered. “I’m mostly just… mad at myself. I wanted to be enough, and… I wasn’t.”
A tear slipped from his eye, and without thinking, Zuko wiped it away with his thumb. “It’s not your fault,” he said. “It was never, ever your fault. You were enough, you are enough. I’m sorry I made you think you weren’t. The moment I saw you on Azula’s ship, I just… it was like a slap to the face.”
He hadn’t noticed that he’d never let go, still gently rubbing his thumb against Sokka’s cheekbone. It felt like he was invading his space, but… Sokka leaned into it, so it’d be counterproductive to suddenly stop. Zuko stared into his eyes, face scrunched up in grief.
“When I realized that they had you, I… I got so angry. I was so angry, because they hurt you. And the only reason they had been able to, was because I had hurt you first. I betrayed you, I betrayed Aang, and Katara. When we got back to the palace, and they started…” His mind's eye flashed with images of Sokka’s blood dripping onto the dining hall floor.
“I caused you unnecessary pain, and I hate myself for it. I am never going to let that happen again. I won’t turn my back on you anymore. You mean so much to me, Sokka. You did help, you were enough,” he said with conviction, keeping a solid grip on Sokka’s hand. “When I saw them hurting you, I was willing to do anything to get you out. You made me want to be better, you are making me want to be better. Because of you, I want to do good for the world. You were enough, and you have always been enough, Sokka.
“But… I also have to want to do good for myself. I cannot rely on you to make me want to be good. Thank you for helping me start. But this time… I need to do it for myself. You will never stop inspiring me, but my actions need to come from a place of love for the world… not just from…” Oh, that was a scary thought. Hopefully, Sokka was too delirious to figure out where that sentence was going to go. “Not just from how much I care about you,” he finished, feeling proud of how quickly he changed course.
Sokka sniffled again. “Okay, yeah. That… really makes me feel better,” he said with a breathy laugh. “Thank you, Zuko…”
He hummed, smiling at Sokka. “No problem. But it’s time to get some more rest now, buddy. No more being depressing.”
Snickering, Sokka nodded, closing his eyes and finally settling down. He fell asleep within a few seconds.
Yeah… they definitely needed to go on a supply run if Sokka was being that emotionally vulnerable.
Fire Fountain City should be a good place to stop… he can gather intel on the Avatar’s whereabouts when he gets there. It should only take a couple hours to get there.
—
Apparently, drama spreads fast in the Fire Nation. Either Zuko had not been aware of this as a child, or it was a recent development that he had missed in his banishment. Either way, there was news of an illegal dance party held in some caves about two days ago. Some trader had a kid who had attended that party, going on and on about how he just couldn’t believe that his kid would go to such lengths to shame him, and how ‘oh boohoo, my child needs to be taught respect, so I grounded him for a week’. Parents were so… dramatic. Not as dramatic as his father, though.
Either way, apparently the host (a boy with a headband that covered an ‘embarrassing scar’) had fled the scene. And if Zuko knew anything about Aang, it’s that he either went very far, or he barely left the area at all. Which means that he should be somewhere near Zuko’s old swordmaster. Or… long gone. Somewhere.
He’d find him once they stopped at Jang Hui Village. It was a small town, but everything happened in small towns, for some reason.
He’d gotten the medicine they needed, and had been giving it to Sokka as often as allowed. So far, it had proven to be helpful, and Sokka was becoming less and less delirious. But he didn’t want to say anything for sure until he knew that Katara had helped too.
He lowered the balloon slowly, trying to ease his way down without hurting Sokka with all of the movement. He didn’t want to land just yet, but he did want to get close enough to be able to survey the area. Zuko steered the balloon towards the edge of the island, eyes taking in the hills and mountains. The perfect spot to hide would be around…
There. A small area surrounded by short cliffs with only a single entrance. Too small for Appa to get through (and therefore the perfect spot to hide him), but big enough for the kids to get in and out of town for supplies.
Zuko lowered the balloon the rest of the way, landing in the middle of the area. Appa, who had been covered by moss and made to look like a boulder with… peculiar horns, blew his own cover and came bounding over. The layer of moss fell off as he ran to them. He must’ve sensed that Sokka was nearby.
He smiled at the bison, who gave him an excited lick. “Ugh,” Zuko groaned, wiping the… large amount of saliva off of his face. He smiled at him, though the disgust was probably showing on his face. “It’s good to see you too. Just a minute, Sokka’s right here.”
Pausing, Zuko debated whether or not he should put on his mask. He’d taken it with him… just in case.
If he kept his face uncovered, Katara would force him to leave them and never come back. But if he put the mask on, he could keep his identity safe, while also giving Katara less of a reason to have an even bigger panic attack. He knew that once she saw the state Sokka was in, she was going to freak out. If she knew that he, Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, who had just betrayed her and almost gotten another loved one killed, was around, she would feel double the stress and be unable to calm herself enough to heal Sokka.
Which… was a no go.
Zuko grabbed the mask and attached it to his face, taking out the top knot to seem less… Fire Nation-y. He hadn’t exactly had time to think about it before. Although… Now that he was taking the time to think about it, the red robes weren’t helping. And… he had no change of clothes. Delightful.
Putting that unwanted realization to the side, Zuko lifted Sokka into his arms and got out of the balloon. He could grab his stuff once he found a spot that Sokka could lay down without potentially making his wounds even more dirty. Looking around their camp, he decided that Katara’s bedroll would be the most familiar and probably also the most clean.
Zuko laid him down, and Appa plopped himself as close to him as he could. Appa had probably missed him…
“I know,” he said to his wide and concerned eyes, patting his nose. “But I’m going to help him. He’ll be okay.”
Appa groaned in response. Zuko knew that it meant he was still scared anyways. “It’s okay, I’ve got him. You just sit there and comfort him, big guy. I’m going to set things up,” he said, patting his nose once more.
Quickly, Zuko raced back to the balloon. He leaned down and piled as many supplies into his arms as he could, wishing he could grab it all in one go. Speed walking back to Sokka, he put everything down, not even bothering to organize the chaos yet. He did this routine once more, and then he sat down beside Sokka again.
“Okay,” he huffed out, very slightly winded by his stressful back and forth moment. “It’s about time to take your medicine again.”
He lifted the bottle of medicine and grabbed a spoon to dose it. There was a chance that Sokka would only be awake long enough to swallow it. But knowing how… eccentric he could be, he’d stay up longer just to argue with him. Once the spoon was ready, Zuko gently shook Sokka’s shoulder. “C’mon, wake up, bud. You have to take your medicine,” he said.
Sokka didn’t open his eyes, merely whining in annoyance like the stubborn oaf that he was.
Zuko sighed, and began gently patting his cheek instead. “Sokka, you have to wake up. If you don’t take your medicine, your sister will kill me,” he said, cupping his face and gently shifting his head around. No response, just more whining.
“Mrngf,” came his reply. Sokka was just pretending at this point.
He huffed, deciding to up the stakes. “Sokka, if you don’t wake up, your sister’s gonna start yelling at you. She’s going to do that annoying little sister thing where she starts bossing you around. Do you want to face your little sister’s wrath?”
Sokka jerked up, finally opening his eyes, which were wide and filled with a slight hint of fear. “Where is she? If I have to listen to her scream right now, my head will actually explode. I have a killer headache.” His nose scrunched, and then he continued, “And she is not the boss of me.”
Okay, that was a little funny. “That’s what I thought. She’s not here yet, but I figured your poor ears would be safe if I told her that I’ve been giving you your medicine on time,” Zuko explained, chuckling by the end.
“Good thinking,” Sokka answered.
Zuko helped him lean up, keeping a hand under him to take some of his weight. Sokka opened his mouth and Zuko poured the medicine in. His brow pulled in and his eyes squinted, mouth stretching in a grimace. He started shaking his head, “Mm-mn.”
“Swallow,” he commanded tersely. “Don’t make me force you.”
Sokka’s glare was burning with hatred. But Zuko knew it wasn’t personal, it just didn’t taste the greatest. Still though. He raised his only brow in challenge, mouth pulling taut. He felt a little stupid after, though, because Sokka couldn’t even see it. He crossed his arms to make up for the lack of it.
Rolling his eyes, Sokka finally decided that it wasn’t worth the fight, and swallowed. “Oh, eugh, ew, ew, ew-”
Zuko handed him the waterskin and tilted the water into his mouth slowly. He was such a big baby.
Once he was done, he raised a hand in motion to stop. Zuko pulled the waterskin back, and recapped it. “You complain way too much,” he grumbled, setting the water down. “But good job, I guess. You don’t have to take it for another few hours.”
All Sokka did was roll his eyes again, dramatically collapsing back onto the bedroll. “It tastes like shit, okay? You don’t understand the levels of disgustingness that are found in that single spoonful,” he argued, waving his hand around in emphasis.
“From the way you’re whining? I think I have an inkling,” Zuko countered, severely annoyed.
“Hmph,” Sokka pouted, confirming his earlier claim of ‘dramatic’ by crossing his arms for show. Because he was a petulant child.
They both glared at each other for a few moments. Eventually, Sokka gave up on being annoying, and sighed and pretended to act like he was annoyed instead. “Why are you wearing the mask right now?” he asked, the only evidence of his curiosity being the minute tilt of his head.
“Well,” Zuko huffed out. “After my recent, ah… decisions, your sister has very little reason to trust that I won’t hurt you. She’s already going to freak out about your injuries, and I don’t need her freaking out about me. I will reveal my identity to your friends, but only after I’m sure you’re going to get better.”
Sokka tapped his finger against his arm, looking to the sky as he began to think. It was silent for a moment.
“While I don’t like hiding things from my sister, I do agree that she needs to stay calm. So… sure. For efficiency reasons, obviously. But I don’t want you to reveal anything until I’m awake enough to have the inevitable conversation about what the actual fuck to do with you,” Sokka relented, his tapping ceasing and his eyes finally turning back to him. “I trust you with my life, but I don’t trust you with Aang’s.”
Zuko nodded in agreement, it made perfect sense. “Yes, I understand. We can negotiate terms once you’re healed. I don’t care what I have to do, I just want you to get better, and I want my father to go down.”
Sokka also nodded, eyes closed and… rubbing a pretend goatee (?) sagely (more like ‘weirdly’). “Yes, yes. Then it’s settled. Keep the mask on for now, we can do all the talking later,” he confirmed. Stopping the silliness for a moment, he looked up at Zuko with… something in his eyes. “You have to know that I want you here. I want you to learn how to do good. I want to be there while you learn it, too,” he said, grabbing onto his hand and squeezing.
Oh, he was… suddenly being serious.
“But it’s up to my friends. I care about you, but they have every right to refuse. I’m going to fight them on it, ‘cause like I said, I do want you here. But if they all disagree, then… I’m not sure. I’m kind of just riding on the assumption that they’ll inevitably give in.”
He opened his mouth, starting to speak. “I’m okay wi-”
“And-!” Sokka exclaimed with an inconveniently timed voice crack, “for the record, I am still very mad at you! So very, very mad!”
Zuko nodded again. It needed to be said.
“But I do believe you. I know that you want to do good, I know that you can do good. And I know that you’re going to do good. I just won’t hold it against my friends if they don’t believe that, too,” Sokka finished.
“Okay,” he responded, nodding once more.
“Great, I’m glad we agree.” Sokka then sniffed haughtily. “Now, I’m fucking tired. I’m going to nap, but first I want some of that tea.”
Zuko guffawed, surprised by the blatant disrespect, but still finding it amusing. “You can’t tell me what to do!” he yelled, making a show of his defiance. He started grabbing the tea pot and a cup, pulling out the tea leaves while he was at it.
With a couple fake coughs and a clearly fake sniff, Sokka said, “Ahem! I am sick , on my death bed ! Tea is needed! It’s my dying wish! You can’t deprive a man of his last want while he’s still in the mortal wor-”
He cackled at the audacity. This guy was crazy. “I can’t believe you! You’re so demanding, it’s unreal,” he claimed.
“Yeah, well-”
They argued back and forth for a while. In the end, Sokka got his tea, because what else was Zuko supposed to do?
Things were going to get better. One step at a time.