The Awakening
The summer weather was finally starting to come to a slow, as the breeze became cooler and the sun’s heat burned less hot.
Katara closed her eyes against the wind, enjoying the gentle beat of it against her ears that muted her brother and the prince clashing blades behind her.
Sokka has undoubtedly improved in the last few weeks. Well, he still wasn’t winning, but he was holding his own better. Where he lacked in talent, he made up for in intelligence.
Zuko came close to disarming him once more, their swords in a lock as they stared intensely at one another.
Think think think.
He leaned forward, so close he could very clearly feel Zuko’s body heat, until both their bodies were practically pressed against one another. Zuko’s face flushed, and he looked distracted, caught off guard—
Sokka hooked a leg around Zuko’s calf and moved forward, throwing him off his feet and onto the ground.
The prince just sat there, his eyes wide and cheeks red.
“How did you—“ he tried speaking, but it sounded flustered.
Sokka smirked and pointed his sword at him, before putting it back into his sheath and holding out a hand.
“Art of distraction buddy.”
Zuko’s eyes shot around in embarrassment, “What! I was not distracted!”
He pulled the firebender up and he couldn’t help but feel proud of himself.
“Yeah, you totally were.”
Zuko grumbled and grabbed his fallen dual swords, placing them in their sheath.
“Well.....not bad. It only took you a few dozen times to beat me.”
“But I still did!”
Zuko sighed and rolled his eyes.
“Fine, good job.”
Sokka smiled even wider at the compliment, mainly because it was Zuko that said it. His heart did a little jump as his cheeks burned bashfully.
“Thanks.”
“Guys look!” Katara yelled from the railing, catching both of their attention.
Sokka turned to where his sister was pointing, which was in the foggy distance.
“It’s a village,” Zuko said in amazement. He went to search for their map, then pulled it out.
“Last time I checked,” he placed a finger on the parchment, “we were on the coast of the northwest region of the earth kingdom.”
Sokka peered curiously, “there shouldn’t be a village here for miles, if I’m correct.”
“We have to find out what this place is,” Katara added brightly. Zuko and Sokka didn’t look so enthusiastic.
“We don’t have time for that Katara,” Sokka replied.
“But don’t you want to know. I mean, who’s to say we’ll ever run into this place again?”
Zuko seemed open to the idea now, his curiosity getting the better of him.
“You know, you make a valid point.”
Sokka whipped his head towards Zuko in surprise, “since when are you the non-serious one?”
Zuko shrugged his shoulders and didn’t give an answer. The truth was that yes, he still was the kind of boy to try and stay on track for a mission, but this side trip meant it would take longer to get to the North Pole, which wasn’t all that far away now. He just wasn’t anywhere near being able to say goodbye to Sokka and Katara.
Especially Sokka.
Katara elbowed Zuko jokingly.
“Well, I like the change. Maybe you could stand to be a little less tense as well, Sokka.”
His blue eyes shot in between his sister and the prince, then groaned.
“Whatever.”
“I’ll go inside to inform the captain and the crew,” Zuko announced as he went inside the ship.
It was so strange. Zuko had most definitely lightened up over the course of their time together, but he seemed enthusiastic now about going off track. About wasting time on silly little side quests.
Sokka’s train of thought was broken by Katara boredly bending a stream of water.
“To be honest, I only want to stop because I’m sick of being on this awful boat.“
“I thought you were making friends with the other crew members?” He questioned. She shook her head, “yeah, we’re friendly now, but none of them are my age other than Zuko, and he’s more of your....” she paused for a moment, gauging her brother’s reaction. His eyes were slanted slightly, so she chose her words carefully.
“.......good friend. Anyways, I just wanna get to the northern water tribe where there are all kinds of people there who are ACTUALLY my age.”
He had never thought about that. Or at least not for a while. He had been so content living on this boat, to his own surprise, that he had practically forgotten about their real destination.
The destination that didn’t include Zuko.
“I suppose,” he spoke, voice far off in thought.
“You don’t have to pretend that you won’t miss it. I know I kind of will, especially all of the dumb shit we’ve done with Zuko.”
He didn’t even try to deny it, he just pursed his lips and picked at his fingers.
“Yeah,” he said quietly as his eyes never left the ground. Katara looked at him with concern, a hand on his shoulder.
“Hey, are you alright?”
He was considering being honest, but he knew she would take it the wrong way.
“I’m fine. Really. Just thinking about alot.”
She didn’t push it, but she knew he was lying. She was his sister after all.
Zuko came onto deck looking strangely excited, or anxious, neither sibling could tell.
“The ship is preparing to dock soon. Just wanted to let you guys know.”
In response, the siblings packed a light daypack, sneaking off carefully with the prince.
“Wow,” Katara started, “check this place out.”
The town was completely abandoned. The houses, or at least what remained of them, were vacant, blackened spaces. The streets seemed filled with old ash that blew in the chilling breeze.
The life here had almost.....vanished, never to be seen again.
“What happened?” Zuko whispered, half to himself and half to his companions.
Both siblings were confused as well, until Katara’s face dropped at a discovery. She lifted a pointed finger, and Zuko’s heart fell to his stomach.
It was a Fire Nation flag.
“One of their conquests,” Sokka said with spite.
“Why would they burn it to the ground?” Zuko questioned, bewildered.
“You ask me,” Katara replied, and Zuko shot his head towards her.
“I-I don’t understand. This—this is just a town—why would the Fire Nation—how could they do this?” Zuko’s voice was quickening, his heart pounding in his chest painfully.
Katara and Sokka glanced between one another, both getting a sense that perhaps Zuko was indeed lied to about his nation, and that maybe he wasn’t the only one.
They continued in silence walking down the street in awe, until Katara let out a cry that cut the silence.
“What is it?” Sokka’s eyes were wide with worry, especially after seeing tears in his sister’s eyes.
Both boys placed their eyes where Katara’s once were, and were horrified to see a charred skeleton.
A small, small skeleton.
Sokka’s hand slapped onto his mouth, and Zuko’s eyes immediately widened.
“They were just a child,” Katara whispered, tears slowly running down her cheeks.
“I told you coming here would be a mistake Katara,” Sokka spoke shakily.
“I’m so sorry,” Zuko spoke quietly, his eyes brimming with tears and horror, “I never knew—this is evil.”
“How could you know?” Katara replied between her sniffling, “you weren’t the one that burned this village to the ground.”
Zuko barely registered her words; he felt lightheaded and pale, and he wanted to vomit.
Sokka beat him to it.
Katara rubbed his back numbly as he did so. Zuko wanted to comfort him, but he felt he had no right to.
“We should go back to the ship,” Sokka said simply, his expression blank, and barely terrified.
Zuko nodded, and turned in the direction of the shore, until an unfamiliar voice stopped him.
“Come back to burn it again, ashmakers?”
All three turned around to see a small group emerge from the fog.
The voice belonged to a tall boy with scruffy hair, and a piece of barley hanging loosely from his mouth. Two hook-shaped swords were hanging on his hip, curving like the viscous grin on his face.
His companions seemed equally as scruffy, though they didn’t emit the same smug energy as their leader.
“Who are you?” Sokka yelled.
“None of your business,” the tall boy replied, then he chuckled, “but we know who you are, Fire Nation scum.”
Zuko threw his hands up, “wait, they aren’t from the Fire Nation. It’s only me.”
The boy grimaced, “Liar! I see the red on their clothing!”
“We were just about to leave!” Zuko continued, “we meant no harm.”
“I’m sure your firebending friends said the same thing before they torched the people of this town to ashes,” the boy growled, and Zuko felt a cold chill run down his spine.
The prince cleared his throat and looked sincerely at the scruffy boy,
“I promise you if I were here when my people did this, I would have tried with all my power to stop them.”
These words only seemed to aggravate the boy more, and he drew his swords.
“Well it’s too late for that now, isn’t it?”
When the boy seemed ready to strike, Zuko jumped in front of the siblings, arms wide in an attempt to block any attack.
“Please! They have nothing to do with this, I swear on my honor!”
The boy’s brow seemed to crease a little less at this, and he lowered his swords with an amused look on his face.
“An ash maker swearing on his honor? Must be pretty serious.”
Zuko kept his face stern, and took a deep breath in; this guy was really getting on his nerves and he was repeating his meditation ritual in his head in order to not explode.
“Look, if you’re gonna hurt anyone today, hurt me. Not them.”
“Zuko!” He felt a hand grip his shoulder from behind, and turned around to stare into a familiar pair of blue eyes.
Sokka looked concerned. For him.
“I’ll be fine. Just trust me,” he spoke as he looked sincerely into those desperate eyes. Eyes that pleaded for him just to stay. It took everything in him to rip away from the eye contact.
He lifted his hands in defeat, “do whatever you wish to me, but leave them alone.”
The boy’s grimace grew, but he lowered his swords; he seemed interested in Zuko’s proposal.
He walked directly in front of the firebender, whose hands were still raised in defeat. He eyed him up and down, and Zuko refused to flinch at the intense examination, especially when he felt the other boy’s quick breath landing on his face.
“Well, you are the one that resembles an ashmaker the most out of the three of you. Not bad looking for one too.”
Zuko felt color rise to his cheeks at the back handed compliment.
Sokka was red as well, but more out of pure rage.
A protective rage.
“How about you respect some personal space, you weirdo,” the words fell out of Sokka’s mouth faster than he thought of them, and angry brown eyes landed on him.
“Excuse me?” The boy spoke as he clenched the swords in his hands, so hard Sokka was sure they’d cut into his palms.
Fuck, this guy was unhinged.
The boy stepped forward, towards the water tribe warrior, until Zuko physically stopped him.
“Hey, I said leave them alone and take me, remember? I’m the ashmaker look alike.”
The boy looked into his gold eyes so intensely, so full of hatred, that Zuko took a step back, startled.
All he could think of was, what happened to you to make you this way?
“I’ll take the deal. Smellerbee, Longshot, you know what to do.”
Before anyone could blink, Sokka and Katara were knocked out from behind, and they collapsed face first on the ground.
Zuko stepped forward angrily,
“Hey! You weren’t supposed to hurt—“
Before he could finish his sentence, a bag was thrown over his head and his wrists were tightly chained behind his back, and he was quickly escorted away from his blacked out friends.
..........................
The darkness slowly began to turn into blotches of white light, then a blurred image of a figure.
Zuko groaned as he attempted to sit up, before realizing his mobility was restricted.
It didn’t take long for him to figure out that his entire upper body was chained tightly to a tree, and his hands were practically being smothered by the restraints.
The figure was now in focus; it was the angry boy with the curved hook swords.
He seemed to be analyzing him closely from afar, his eyes squinted ever so slightly and his pupils sharp and dark.
The boy’s voice cracked through the silence, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone with eyes as gold as yours before.”
Zuko blinked a couple of times and swallowed. His throat felt dry and he couldn’t find it in him to speak.
“What’s your name?” The boy asked with a strange casualty to it, veering once more off topic.
“What’s your name?” His hoarse voice replied. The boy gave him a slight raise of his strange brows, then a small smirk.
He approached the prince further, standing directly in front of him until he kneeled to his level.
There was a ferocity, a fire in this boy’s eyes. It was strange, for how dark the color of them was.
“Jet,” he replied, to Zuko’s surprise. He leaned in further, and the firebender chewed the inside of his cheek nervously, “now, what is your name, ashmaker?”
He breathed hard out of his nose for a few moments, keeping his expression stern to show that he wasn’t intimated.
There wasn’t anything to hide, it was obvious he was Fire Nation and if this guy didn’t know by his scar that he was the fire prince then he probably didn’t even know the prince of the fire nation’s name.
“Zuko,” he said quietly, licking his dry lips.
Jet slanted his eyes once more and hummed, before standing back up.
“That’s such a Fire Nation name.”
Zuko ignored his comment and forced more saliva into his throat.
“Where are the rest of your soldiers? Where are my friends?”
Jet raised his shoulders carelessly, twitching the piece of barley in his mouth.
Zuko wanted to rip that thing out of his mouth and burn it to a crisp.
“I like to do this part on my own. As for your friends, they should still be on the shore, and they’ll probably wake up soon.”
Zuko snarled, “probably? That better be a guarantee! If you did something to them I swear to Agni I will—“
Jet’s bitter chuckle cut him off, “or you’ll what? Burn me? Looks like that’ll be a little difficult with those chains on.”
He growled to himself, digging his fingers into the cold metal of the restraints.
“Why did you bring me here?”
Jet clicked his teeth in reply before moving in a circle around Zuko. He stood directly behind him now.
“I like to.....interrogate my ashmaker prisoners before I rid myself of them.”
Zuko rolled his eyes, groaning,
“I don’t know what information you want.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Zuko could see Jet swing around the tree he was chained to, moving to squat once more in front of him.
“Well for one, what is the Fire Nation doing here?”
“We were just docking to look around the island. We had no idea if there were people here or not.”
Jet’s expression became much darker after he said that, “so what? Is this island your tourist attraction? After what you did to it?”
Zuko felt pale, and his throat somehow became even more dry.
“I’m sorry—“
“Sorry doesn’t cut it. If you’re going to say sorry, you’ll have to say it to every fucking village razed to the ground by your kind.”
His words held sharp, deadly poison to them, and the prince’s stomach felt tight and twisted at them.
“I didn’t know there were more villages. I thought we were merely trying to spread our wealth and glory to the rest of the world.”
Those words seemed to set something off in the other boy, and his eyes held that lack of stability Zuko had witnessed earlier.
Jet grabbed his jaw roughly and forced him to look into his vicious eyes.
“Were they spreading the glory of the Fire Nation when they burned my village to the ground? When they killed the men? Raped our women? Hunted down the survivors like livestock?”
Zuko felt his lip quivering, and all he wanted to do was look away from the dark eyes in front of him.
The unstable part of Jet was starting to make sense.
He had lost everything. His home, his family, his people.
And it was all because of the Fire Nation.
Just like Sokka and Katara and probably every Earth Kingdom peasant that looked at him with fear.
Which meant everything was a lie, everything he was taught.
They were wrong.
He was wrong.
“No,” he finally choked out a response. He felt hot tears collecting in his eyes; He had never felt so ashamed in all his life.
There was nothing but hatred in Jet’s cold eyes as he released Zuko’s jaw that left an icy feeling in the bottom of his stomach.
The pacing Jet continued in the room didn’t heal his unease as well; He was thinking.
Contemplating.
He fixed his eyes on Zuko’s face, and he felt his own skin heat up. It was strange; there was a fleeting flash of sympathy present in those brown eyes. What did he see that caused that?
Oh.
“How’d you get that scar?” He questioned harshly.
There it was. The question everyone always wanted answered. If they didn’t ask it verbally, they did so by staring at it for excessive time periods.
But he never answered. There was shame. The memory of how he had dishonored himself and the physical pain.....the smell.....the burning.
Sokka was the only one he told.
He almost smiled at the thought, and how kind and understanding the other boy was, but then he realized two brown eyes were still planted on him.
He lowered his head as a sign that he wasn’t going to answer, causing Jet to huff in annoyance.
“Fine, don’t answer. I was just going to say I should’ve known ashmakers weren’t below hurting their own.”
Zuko twitched at that, but refused to raise his head. Jet was leaning down again, and his tone was taunting now.
“Let me guess, was daddy mad? Took it out on you with a hot hand?”
“Shut up,” he shot back. He knew this guy was just trying to get on his nerves, but damn, it was working.
“Ooh, looks like I hit a nerve,” he said with a victorious grin, as if he was winning this game.
“You don’t know shit about me,” he gritted. Steam was practically coming out of his nostrils as his temper began seeping through the cracks of his calm facade.
Jet just laughed at him.
“I know enough about your kind to know you, Zuko.”
The prince couldn’t find it in himself to reply to such a degrading insult. Now, being compared to his kind, the ashmakers made him sick.
The so-called bringers of progress and glory that burned villages and murdered innocents. The liars. The looters. The hypocrites.
It made him sick.
.......................................
The last memory Sokka had before the world went black was looking at Zuko, his sister in his peripheral vision, and a scruffy looking boy with a look of vengeance on his face.
He groaned as he sat up, and turned to see his sister laying on the ground.
“Katara,” he whispered. When she didn’t answer, he began to shake her.
Eventually, she stirred, her eyes blurry with confusion.
“What...where..?”
“I don’t know what happened. I think there was a boy and then he....”
Zuko.
“Shit,” he whispered to himself.
Of course he had to be the hero. He had to be the one to save poor helpless Sokka and Katara because that’s just what he did. He was reckless and too selfless for his own good and dammit that’s why Sokka loved—
—that about him.
“We need to find Zuko,” he blurted out as he scrambled to his feet. Katara struggled to follow.
“Sokka...Sokka, just wait a minute—“
He ignored her, trying to push his jelly legs forward towards the dark forest,
“No I need to....Zuko...they must be in the woods and....you saw that boy.....he hated Zuko....”
Katara was standing now, giving him her stern motherly stare down that bore into his soul in a way that made him always give in.
But not now.
“Sokka, you’re always the plan guy. So please, think for a moment, we have no idea what’s in those woods. We need to think for a moment before—“
He cut her off, “no! We are going in there now! Shit, they could have already killed him by now and—“
“Sokka take a breath—“
“NO! I CAN’T LOSE HIM KATARA!”
It took him a moment to look, to really look at the expression on his sister’s face, but she had her hands up, merely out of surprise rather than fear. But her eyes held sympathy and understanding.
She knew how much Zuko meant to him.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled,” he spoke quieter, tightly squeezing his eyes shut to prevent tears from rolling down his face.
Katara placed a delicate hand on her brother’s shoulder and rubbed slowly.
“Hey, I promise we are going to get him back. But we have to work together and make a plan if we want to get him back safely, ok?”
He nodded with a sniffle, before wiping his nose and straightening up.
“Let’s get our prince back.”
...........................................
The hours that Jet left him alone felt like agony, not being able to tell the time with the sun being covered by what seemed to be a permanent fog over the town.
Maybe this was a form of torture. He had to wait and consider all the vicious, awful ways this boy could kill him.
And it was cold, even as he used the breath of fire trick that Uncle taught him to keep warm. He shuttered against the chains holding him.
Meanwhile, in the forest, Sokka was tracking where the group had moved, until they heard laughter in the distance.
Both siblings quickly crouched down behind the bushes, listening to the distant conversations.
“I can’t wait to give that ashmaker a taste of his own medicine.”
“What exactly does that mean, Jet?” A higher voice asked.
“Let’s just say he’ll meet a not so pleasant end.”
A silence followed, and Katara couldn’t help but cover her mouth fearfully. When she turned to see her brother, he looked more terrifying than she had ever seen him.
He looked like an angry wolf, his face scrunched into a snarl and his eyes dark. Sokka was a protective boy, but he was never like this.
Never.
That same squeaky voice replied to the older boy, “don’t you think that’s a bit extreme?”
“He’s a firebender. He deserves it.”
Sokka couldn’t listen anymore, so he turned to his sister and sharply whispered,
“We need to get Zuko out of there now. You cause a distraction and I’ll go look for him.”
She blinked for a few moments to comprehend what he said,
“And what do you suppose I do, genius?”
Crap, he didn’t even think of that. His brain was normally full of all sorts of incredible and intelligent ideas, but he was too fiddled with anxiety and worry over Zuko.
Katara could see this, so she looked around for anything, anything that could help them.
‘What does any good bender use? Their environment.’ She remembers those words from a book she once came across spirits knows how long ago.
It was foggy.
Fog.
“I have an idea,” she finally stated, rather loudly for them trying to be sneaky.
“What?” He questioned.
“Fog had water vapor in it, right? What if I bent it so it covered up their camp here, and you could sneak around them and find Zuko.”
He nodded, a glint of pride in his eyes, “Katara, you’re a genius.”
She couldn’t help but grin at that, “I never thought I’d hear that.”
Her grin shrank, and she became serious.
“Be safe Sokka. I know he means a lot to you, but I don’t want to lose you.”
“Be safe too,” he replied, trying to ignore the second half of what she said.
He creeped away, and she carefully guided her hands through the air, moving the fog closer into the camp.
She half smiled to herself when it worked; maybe she wasn’t so bad at waterbending after all.
Soon, it was thick enough for even herself to see her brother, and she said a little prayer to the spirits out there to make sure he was safe.
Somehow, Zuko noticed, the fog had gotten thicker around him, and he violently shivered again.
Was this how Jet was going to end him? Let him freeze to death?
It would after all be the most brutal death for a firebender, feeling your inner fire burn out until there was nothing left—
Suddenly, a rustle came from the dark bushes surrounding him.
Shit shit shit
A figure emerged from the bushes, clothed in red that contrasted a beautiful dark complexion.
Blue met gold once again.
“Zuko!”
“Sokka!”
Both called out to one another at the same time, as Sokka rushed towards him.
“Oh my spirits Zuko, are you alright?” He was crouched down in front of him, his voice hushed and thick with worry.
He responded breathlessly, “yeah yeah I think so.”
Sokka’s hand was on his cheek, resting right on the bottom of his scar. The touch was gentle, and brought color to his cheeks.
“Let me find something to break the lock on these chains,” Sokka stated as he removed his hand.
Zuko nodded in reply, pretending he didn’t feel disappointment at the removal.
Sokka’s hands ran all over the dirt surrounding them, like a blind man in the dark.
“Aha!” He quietly exclaimed, holding up a sharp, large rock.
He began to bang it against the lock holding the restraints, until it finally busted open.
There was a moment of quiet after the chains slid off of Zuko, when he was rubbing his wrists. Sokka just stared at him, like he was trying to think of words to say.
He grabbed Zuko and pulled him into a tight, warm hug that hardly took any time for the prince to melt right into it.
It was just like when they held hands back in town, when it felt....right. Like pieces of a puzzle coming together.
Sokka buried his face into Zuko’s shoulder, enjoying that smokey cinnamon scent that was so comforting to him. To think, there was a moment when he thought he was gone....that he’d never see him again.
“Sokka,” Zuko murmured into his shoulder.
“Hmm?”
He pulled away, forcing himself to look away from those blue eyes. The warrior’s hands still rested on his arms.
“We should get going soon,” he explained. Sokka blinked dazedly, before nodding in reply.
“Yeah, yeah we just have to wait for Katara to get back.”
“Well you don’t have to wait long,” a feminine voice called out. Katara emerged from the bushes looking both relieved and triumphant.
“Katara!” Zuko replied. The waterbender quickly rushed up and gave him a big hug.
“I’m so glad you’re alright! Sokka was about to murder someone if we didn’t find you!”
Zuko’s surprised eyes met Sokka’s embarrassed ones from over Katara’s shoulder. He stammered for a moment,
“I...umm....don’t exaggerate Katara. I was just a little worried.”
“A little?” She replied with a smug grin.
Sokka grumbled, “look we gotta get out of here. Let’s get moving!”
Zuko felt himself blush as he followed the siblings as they rushed to shore.
Sokka was.....worried about him.
No, he was really worried about him.
Not that it was a big deal or anything, it’s not like it made butterflies in Zuko’s stomach or made him want to squeal like a toddler with candy and make him want to bounce up and down. Nope nope nope.
The trio continued their half-run to the docked ship when they heard a not so distant yell.
“The prince is gone!”
All paused for a moment, fear prevalent in their eyes.
“Shit,” Zuko said under his breath.
Katara grabbed both boys’ arms, “guys, we need to start running, now!”
The teens began a sprint, until an arrow zoomed through the air that nearly hit Sokka.
“I think they see us!” Sokka yelled, out of breath.
“No shit!”
They were so close, the boat was right there.
“Lieutenant Jee! Prepare the ship for sea now!” Zuko yelled at the top of his lungs.
The man looked irritated at the brash command, but then he saw the panic of the three teens and rushed inside (it might have also been the angry mob of freedom fighters not so far away that looked murderous).
At this rate, the band of orphans would make it to the boat before them, which means they were royally screwed. How could they get out of this......
Zuko looked at the red of his armor, the roughness of his clenched hands.
Fire.
He looked up at the approaching squad and stopped. Katara and Sokka kept running until they stopped as well.
“What are you doing?!” Sokka screamed.
He lit fire in his palms, watching it intently with his gold eyes,
“What an ashmaker does best,” he said as a response, but more to himself.
He threw the fireballs and the ground in front of him set on fire, spreading within seconds. The freedom fighters stopped right in front of it on the opposite side, gawking at the flames.
Jet just stared at it, like he was seeing something, feeling something from the past.
The look in his eyes as he stared into the fire was eerily familiar, until Zuko realized it mirrored him not even 3 years ago.
They met eyes for one last time, before Zuko turned and rushed to the boat.
“I’m sorry,” was all he had to say, trying to forget the tears in those dark eyes he turned away from.
He met up with Sokka and Katara on the boat, which was luckily moving away from the shoreline.
He could feel his pulse pumping in his head once we got onto the ship. Thump thump thump-
Sokka was relieved beyond imagination when he saw the firebender run onto the deck, but got concerned again when he saw how dazed he looked.
“Zuko!” He called out, just before the boy tipped over, ready to collapse to the ground. He caught him just before he could do so.
His eyes unfocused for a moment, then refocused on Sokka’s face, sky blue eyes looking at him with concern.
“I’ll go get some fresh water,” Katara said as she rushed inside. Sokka nodded in reply.
“I’m fine, really. Today was just.....a lot....it was so much,” Zuko explained slowly, trying to keep himself on track. What was up with him?
“I know,” Sokka responded simply, placing his hand once more on that spot where his scar met his skin. He couldn’t stop himself from leaning into it.
“Just don’t die on me jerkbender, alright?”
He snorted weakly at the stupidly endearing statement.
“I’ll be fine, I’m just tired,” he stated before closing his eyes against the soft palm of Sokka’s hand. It felt better than any silk pillow from any palace he’s slept in; it felt like home. The home away from the wicked horrors of war.
Little did he know the look that the boy whose hand his face was in was giving him. The way that he analyzed his refined yet gentle features. The way his heart beat steadily as he saw the up and down breathing of the firebender’s chest, meaning he was safe, in his arms.
Shit, how was he supposed to leave him now?
How was he supposed to move on with his life and stay in the North Pole? How was he just supposed to....forget Zuko existed and live as if this never happened?
Well, little did he know, his Zuko was thinking just the same thing.