Chapter Text
It had been startlingly easy for Sokka to compartmentalize the whole “my soulmate is the heir to the Fire Lord turned traitor turned heir once more” thing. Once Zuko had betrayed Katara’s trust and helped Azula attack Aang again, all those lofty daydreams about Zuko turning good and helping them goes up in flames. Not that Sokka had those kinds of daydreams.
(Not often, anyway.)
It had taken a lot for Sokka to even come to terms with the fact that Zuko was his soulmate. He had gone through every single one of their interactions with a fine tooth comb, wondering if Zuko had been well aware of Sokka’s status as his soulmate the entire time.
He had to have been, right? While it made sense why Sokka had never been exposed to the Fire Nation’s language for most of his life, he expected Zuko must have received the best schooling available in the entire world. Surely he’d learned the languages used in both the Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom, and surely the moment he learned of Sokka’s name, he’d have to have known. Right?
Sokka had almost wanted to believe that by some miracle Zuko had been as clueless as him, but he knew that hope founded on nothing was destined to crumble beneath his feet sooner rather than later. Of course the crown prince to the Fire Nation knew who his soulmate was, and like Yue’s father and once upon a time fiancee, he probably didn’t care about this kind of stuff. Not when there was alliances to be made and a nation to be led. Soulmates were too much of an unknown to be allowed to be a part of a royal’s life.
Maybe it was that more than Zuko’s betrayal to Katara that drove Sokka into forcing this whole thing out of his head. He wasn’t even sure anymore. At the very least, it revealed some part of him that Sokka hadn’t even known still existed. By the time he’d turned ten and gotten this cursed mark, Sokka had been sure that he’d thrown out all those romantic notions about soulmates that all his peers had.
Apparently not.
Finding out Zuko was his soulmate had crushed the small piece of yearning that Sokka still harbored beneath its feet like rubble.
He hadn’t told the gang yet. In fact, Sokka wasn’t sure if he was even planning on ever telling anyone. This was a secret best taken to the grave.
There was a low that Sokka hit once, on that Fire Nation ship while Aang was unconscious and all of his friends and family had donned Fire Nation clothes that felt like licks of flame to their pride.
The cuff given to him by his mother had to be replaced with a sleek metal band from the Fire Nation so that they blended in perfectly in case they passed another ship. Not having spent the last five years molding to his wrist like his leather band had, it actually bothered him when he tried to sleep. So every single night Sokka would pull off the metal band and stare at Zuko’s name, hoping his gaze was fiery enough that it would burn the mark right off.
It wasn’t Sokka’s finest moment, but he had briefly considered actually getting up and sticking his hand in one of the fire pits up on deck and burning the thing off so he could finally be done with it. The temporary pain would outweigh the pain of reading his soulmate’s name every single day and knowing that it was steeped in tragedy.
Thinking over the scar on Zuko’s face, Sokka wonders if maybe Zuko had done that too. Maybe someone had done that for him.
Pretty quickly Sokka had realized that this wasn’t the answer, and scolded himself for thinking such a thing. Burn himself? No way. Not only would Katara kill him if he did that to himself, but he could have caused irreparable damage to his hand if he’d done that.
Okay, maybe it hadn’t been as easy to ignore the whole Zuko is his soulmate thing as Sokka had said. Not at first anyway.
But by the time they’d made it to the Western Air temple Sokka likes to think he’s adjusted pretty well. Well enough that when Zuko suddenly pops up sporting a shaggy hairstyle and a wobbly smile as he greets them, Sokka only hesitates for a moment before following his friends’ lead and getting into a fighting stance. His heart might be pounding hard against his ribcage, but he’s more than willing to fight Zuko here and now if that's what’s necessary.
Zuko is completely unphased by this all and launches into the most awkward speech that Sokka has ever had the misfortune of hearing. “Hey, I heard you guys flying around down there, so, I thought I'd wait for you here. I know you must be surprised to see me here,” Zuko says.
And here Appa switches from growling to sniffing and licking him with excitement. It becomes quickly apparent that Appa actually trusts Zuko for some reason. Aang blinks in surprise and starts to lower his staff.
Zuko, after pressing a hand against Appa’s nose in a soft pat, continues, “Anyway, what I wanted to tell you about is that I've changed and I— uhhh, I'm good now, and well, I think I should join your group. Oh, and I can teach fire bending to you.”
Like a calm before the storm, there’s a moment where no one can find words.
Sokka breaks the silence first.
“Do you expect us to trust you?” he asks coolly, and the way Zuko’s gaze cuts to him speaks volumes that the rest of the group doesn’t catch, but Sokka does. There’s no way he can mistake the unspoken words shining in Zuko’s expression.
Zuko knows.
He opens his mouth to speak, but is cut off by Katara’s seething voice. “How stupid do you think we are? All you’ve ever done is try to hunt us down, and the moment I give you even the slightest amount of leeway you betray us and almost get Aang killed.”
“I can understand why you wouldn't trust me, and I know I've made some mistakes in the past,” Zuko says, hands balled into fists at his side. “Trust me, no one regrets it more than I do. But I’m trying to be better.”
“Appa does seem to like him,” Toph says with a shrug, but she’s never had to deal with Zuko’s ire personally so Sokka is inclined to ignore her.
“He probably covered himself in honey so Appa would lick him,” Katara says, which is what Sokka probably would have said if he could think anything besides ‘My soulmate is right in front of me. My soulmate is right in front of me and he was evil but now he’s not? Maybe?’
“I just want to help,” Zuko says, sounding so earnest it almost breaks Sokka’s heart. And here is where Sokka makes the mistake of letting his guard down for a split second, letting stupid hope get the better of him for only the smallest of moments. Then he’s immediately burned when Zuko continues with, “Look, I admit I've done some awful things. I was wrong to try to capture you, and I'm sorry that I attacked the Water Tribe. And I never should have sent that Fire Nation assassin after you. I'm going to try and stop—”
“Wait, you sent Combustion Man after us?” Sokka asks, unable to keep the anger from his voice.
“Well, that's not his name, but—”
“You’re digging yourself into a bigger hole, Prince Jerk,” Sokka cuts him off, watching as Zuko’s shoulders hunch up to his ears, which are red from embarrassment.
“That guy locked me and Katara in jail and tried to blow us all up,” Toph says, looking a lot less welcoming than she had been a moment ago. Good. Zuko will find no allies here.
Aang refuses Zuko as both an ally and prisoner, and Sokka looks away as Zuko rises from his knees. Despite having had to jump through hoops because of Zuko for months, Sokka can’t bring himself to watch the boy pick up the pieces of his pride and leave with his tail tucked between his legs.
When he’s gone, Sokka turns away from them all, ignoring the way the rest of them theorize over what Zuko wants. His chest aches in a way that he knows it shouldn’t.
The temple is quiet at night. Sokka tiptoes around the sleeping forms of his friends before he makes his way out to the courtyard where Appa is asleep. The large bison opens bleary eyes as Sokka approaches, running a single hand along tufts of fur. It’s at times like this that Sokka wishes he was an earth or air bender, so he wouldn’t have to try to sneak off on the back of a massive flying bison that could very easily give him away.
Scrambling on top of Appa, Sokka takes a deep breath and steels himself for what tonight has in store. And then, “Yip yip.”
Appa takes off to the skies.
Luckily they manage to slip away unnoticed. At least, Sokka thinks they get away unseen. He won’t exactly know until they get back and if he is caught he’ll simply have to deal with Katara’s lecture. A price he’s willing to pay, if just for a chance to get some answers.
They fly up around the sharp cliffs and over grassy plains until they reach the forest’s edge.
Sokka brings Appa down right there and slides off him, landing on the ground with a soft thud. Appa wastes no time turning over and falling asleep where he lays while Sokka pulls out his boomerang and starts on his trek. He almost wishes Toph was here, who could lay out a mental map of the area so he could get a sense of where to begin looking. But he is alone, so with little choice Sokka walks into the blackness of the trees, squinting against the darkness and hoping he doesn’t trip on stray tree roots.
Animals and insects croak and chirp around him, a stark difference to the quiet of the temple where he’d laid on the hardness of the floor and waited for his friends to fall asleep. Here the night is alive, and Sokka minds his business as he makes his way through thick tree trunks and unbloomed flowers that brush against his calf.
Sokka walks circles around himself for almost an entire half hour, and wonders if this is perhaps a sign that he should give up and fly back to the temple before his absence is noticed. And then he sees the very first hint of light in the distance, hidden among the foliage. All Sokka can do is follow.
The light grows as Sokka approaches, and as the warm light casts a harsh shadow over his face he hears the crackles of a fire. Of course it’s a fire. There’s nothing else it could be. There’s no moon hanging in the sky tonight.
Sokka doesn’t know if he’s grateful for her absence tonight. On one hand, he breathes a sigh that tonight will not be witnessed by Yue; on the other hand, Sokka thinks he could use the emotional support.
The foliage gives way to a small clearing in the middle of the woods, and in the center of the clearing is the well fed fire and a lump beneath a blanket that can only be a sleeping person. Not knowing if it’s Zuko or not, Sokka takes a hesitant step forward. A branch snaps beneath his foot, causing the person to sit up in a panic.
“Who’s there? Stay back!” Fear burns through Zuko's eyes and he juts his hand out in front of him, palm facing forward.
“Wait, it’s me,” Sokka calls out a beat too late.
Flames roar to life from Zuko’s hand.
Sokka makes the mistake of putting his arm up to shield himself. The lick of flame touches the skin of his forearm, feeling almost ice cold for a brief moment before it starts to burn with a sharp intensity. Sokka yelps in pain and turns to retreat, his mind and heart reeling.
As he moves, so does Zuko. Not to attack though, as Sokka had expected him to, but to hold out an arm and call put in a pleading voice, "Wait, I'm sorry! It was a mistake!"
Sokka isn’t listening. He continues to run in the direction he came from, tripping on every root he had been so careful to avoid. It makes catching up to him easy work, and before Sokka can even see the clearing on the other side where he knows Appa waits for him, a hand clasps around his shoulders and turns him right on his heels.
“I’m sorry!”
Sokka’s arm still hurts so much it’s hard to focus on anything else, but his eyes still go wide at the look of Zuko’s unguarded face. He looks anguished, guilty—two things Sokka hasn’t seen from him during any of the times they’ve crossed paths in the last few months. It makes the boy stop in his tracks instead of yanking his arm back like he’d initially wanted to.
The air between them crackles with energy, and Sokka can hardly breathe.
“I’m sorry,” Zuko repeats, looking earnest. “Let me help you. Please. I want to help.”
For some reason, Sokka finds himself nodding. He doesn’t speak, but he allows himself to be led back to Zuko’s makeshift camp. The entire walk back, Zuko clutches to his arm as though he’s afraid Sokka will change his mind and take off running in the opposite direction.
Zuko gestures for Sokka to sit on the dirt floor, which he does. His eyes trail over Zuko as the boy rifles through the contents of a brown leather satchel next to his makeshift bed. Out comes a white cloth, a small pot, a roll of bandage and a water skin like the one Katara carries with her.
“Let me see your arm,” Zuko says, coming over to him with the items and sitting cross legged in front of him. At the wrinkle of Sokka’s nose, Zuko sighs. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
Sokka allows himself one more second of purposeful indignation before he holds out his arm for inspection. Luckily, the burn is on the arm that doesn’t hold his mark, so Sokka’s heart doesn't burst when Zuko touches his hand with his slender fingers so he can turn and twist his arm to get a good look at the burn.
The burn is decent sized, starting just below his wrist and blooming down to almost his elbow, violently red against his tanned skin. It's already peeling and bubbling around the edges. Sokka does not have much experience with burns so he doesn’t know how bad it is, but Zuko’s experience is quite literally on his face.
“Could be worse,” Zuko offers with a chagrined shrug.
“Could be better,” Sokka counters, finally speaking since he got burned.
Zuko’s mouth snaps shut.
He takes his hands off Sokka so he can uncap the water skin and pour out the contents onto the cloth, soaking it thoroughly. Pulling Sokka’s arm straight against him so that the back of his hand presses against Zuko’s chest, he says, “Tell me if it hurts,” before pressing the cloth against the burn.
It does hurt, but Sokka is more distracted with the pounding of Zuko's heart. He can feel it against the back of his hand, a fast rhythm that matches Sokka's own.They’re both barely concealed nerves vibrating beneath skin.
Sokka knows why he’s nervous of course, but he wonders what Zuko’s reasoning is. Not that he suffers from a lack of options. Sokka is—was?—the enemy. They’re soulmates and they definitely both know it. Zuko burned him, further causing a rift between them that he was evidently trying to mend.
"How is it?" Zuko asks, forcing Sokka to look up at his face. His voice is calm, the very opposite of his heartbeat.
"It's fine," Sokka says. It's the only thing he can say. In an echo of Zuko he continues with, "Could be worse."
Zuko's lip quirks in a barely there smile. He says, “We’ll keep it here for a few minutes to help with inflammation. Then I’ll put on this burn salve I have and bandage it up.”
“Where’d you get the salve?” Sokka asks.
“Stole it from the palace before I left,” Zuko answers. “I didn’t get much time to gather supplies so I just have the one pot, and this is the only bandage I have as well.”
That makes Sokka pause. “You really defected from the Fire Nation then? It wasn’t some kind of ruse to make us let our guard down.”
That makes Zuko go stiff, his fingers curling tighter around Sokka’s hand. The pressure against the burn stays constant though, which does not escape Sokka’s notice. The defective prince is still very delicate with Sokka’s injury. “Yeah, I did.”
“Oh,” Sokka says stupidly.
Zuko gives a dry laugh here, obviously finding nothing about this amusing. It almost makes Sokka feel bad for the guy, but he tries to kill that piece of him dead before it overtakes him.
“Like I said, I know I was wrong and all I want to do is atone for what I’ve done to you all,” Zuko says, refusing to meet his gaze as he pats at Sokka’s burn with a cloth. “But I get why you’d want nothing to do with me.”
“Why don’t you just go back home and make up some stuff about why you ran off?” Sokka asks, and then curses his big mouth. Yeah, go ahead and ask your soulmate to go back to the enemy’s side, why don’t you? “If you’re so sure we don’t want anything to do with you.”
“Even if I wanted to go back—which I don’t—I can’t.”
“Why not?” Sokka cocks his head to the side.
“I kind of confronted my father and told him I was going to help the avatar to his face,” Zuko says with an almost air of casualness. “There’s no going back from that. I’d probably be imprisoned the moment I step foot on Fire Nation land.”
“Wow,” Sokka says, surprised that he means it. He doesn't know much about the Firelord if he’s being honest, but if the guy could continue on fighting a hundred year war for the sake of absolute power, he’s got to be a fierce sight to behold. “That takes a lot of guts.”
Zuko hums in agreement before removing the wet cloth—which luckily comes away with a minimal amount of blood. He rests the cloth on his knee and then removes the wrap from the pot, reaching into it and scooping out a generous amount of a green salve onto his fingers.
The strong smell of herbs hits Sokka’s nose almost immediately, causing the boy to wrinkle his nose. Whatever is in there is foul smelling and Sokka doesn’t want that anywhere near him. Zuko doesn’t care about Sokka’s delicate sensitivities though, pulling Sokka’s arm taut and eyeing the burn.
“It’ll probably sting,” Zuko says, and then rubs the salve over the burn before Sokka can even think about formulating a response.
Zuko is right. It does sting.
“Ow! Zuko warn a guy, would you?”
“Don’t be such a baby,” Zuko chides, generously coating the salve all over the burn.
Zuko’s fingers running along his burned flesh hurt quite a bit, but the salve itself also seems to be causing a unique sensation—not unlike pin pricks all over his skin. Sokka fidgets, trying to ignore the pain and failing miserably.
“Sokka.”
“I can’t help it!”
“You should start feeling a cooling effect in a minute or two,” Zuko tells him.
“Distract me until then,” Sokka practically begs.
“With what?” Zuko asks, tilting his head.
(Sokka does his best to not find that endearing. He fails spectacularly.)
“I don’t know.” Sokka shrugs before bringing his free hand up to the back of his neck to rub it uncomfortably. “Anything.”
“Anything?”
“Yeah.”
He realizes a little too late that Zuko’s eyes are glued to Sokka’s wrist, which is once more covered by his leather bracelet. It feels like Zuko sees right through the thing and right to his own name written on Sokka’s skin.
But there’s no way, right? Right?
Sokka’s panicked expression does nothing to deter Zuko, who points at Sokka’s wrist and starts talking. “We should probably—”
“Maybe not that!” Sokka shoves his hand behind his back like a child.
“What? Why not?”
“I mean— I can’t trust you!”
“But I just helped you with your burn,” Zuko says, eyes flashing with frustration.
“Uh yeah, and who caused the burn in the first place?”
Zuko’s mouth falls open. “It was an accident! I apologized.”
“Still, I don’t think it’s a good idea to discuss that.”
With the way that they skirt around the issue, Sokka can almost ignore the fact that Zuko definitely knows. Except that he can’t. Because Zuko knows. He knows. How long has he known?
Sokka grapples with his own sense of self preservation and his need to get the answers he knows he’s due. Having never been particular apt at holding himself back, it’s a losing battle.
Zuko doesn’t say anything at that, and so neither does Sokka. He just works on calming his tornado heart and ignoring the way Zukko’s fingers feel when they’re wrapped around his wrist.
The two sit on the floor, the silence between them speaking volume. Sokka can’t meet Zuko’s eyes, and Zuko has his free hand—the one that most certainly has the mark because he has a red cloth wrapped around the wrist—fisted into the cloth of his pants.
Fidgeting, Sokka finds it hard to maintain his silence and if the way Zuko is shifting from side to side, it’s probably the same for him.
“I don’t know if I’m supposed to say anything,” Zuko admits at the same time that Sokka asks, “How long have you known?”
Zuko looks taken aback. “I thought we weren’t going to talk about it.”
“Yeah well, I changed my mind,” Sokka says haughtily.
In front of him, Zuko takes a deep breath. “They always kept my wrists covered. Both of them. I can’t really remember a time that I didn’t have wrist cuffs. I didn’t get why but I was also a kid and I didn’t really care much either.
“When I was twelve though, I saw a servant’s mark and I asked about it. I think they were new though, because they told me it was their soulmate’s name. I’m pretty sure they weren’t allowed to do that because a guard came and pulled them away and I never saw them again.”
Sokka feels floored. Of all the things he expected, it wasn’t this.
“They never told you?”
“No,” Zuko says with a slight shrug. “But it was too late by then. I got curious. I pried the cuffs off with a small dagger that my uncle had given me and there it was. I couldn’t read it of course, but I wrote it on a piece of paper and put my cuffs back on so I wouldn’t get caught.”
“Did you?” Sokka asks, leaning forward.
“I don’t think so,” Zuko says. “No one ever reprimanded me for it and I never asked anymore questions, so maybe they thought, I don’t know, I let it go or something.”
“What did you do afterward?” Sokka asks, almost forgetting that this is Zuko telling Sokka how he discovered that they were soulmates.
“I scoured the royal libraries looking for the language,” Zuko says. “Which is easier said than done because we have four libraries. Eventually I found the right language and spent the whole day translating it.”
“It took you a whole day?” Sokka asks incredulously.
Zuko looks miffed and scowls. It’s almost funny how easy to anger the boy is. “I was twelve and there was no one there to help me. I’d like to see you do better!”
That’s as much of an invitation that Sokka is going to get, and he wastes no time jumping on the opportunity. “It took me a lot longer to figure out what mine said, but I had the added bonus of your picture being right next to your name.”
“Huh?”
“Your wanted poster,” Sokka clarifies.
“Oh,” Zuko says, mouth falling open. “Well, that’s convenient.”
“Mhmm. And well, you can imagine my surprise when I found out,” Sokka says.
“Yeah,” Zuko agrees, looking off into the distance. “I can.”
The pain on his arm has faded into a gentle cooling sensation, like Zuko had promised it would. He’d been so distracted listening to Zuko talk that he honestly hadn’t even noticed the pain much anymore.
“Anyway, my arm feels better. You were right, I guess.”
The launches Zuko back into action. “Oh! The bandage.”
Lapping back into silence as Zuko wraps the bandage around his arm, Sokka watches the look of concentration on his soulmate’s face. He’s quiet, gaze intense as he’s careful not to jostle Sokka’s burn any more than necessary.
There’s nothing particularly profound about this moment, but Sokka feels his chest grow tight. He almost wants to crawl out of his own skin, that’ how keyed up he is by this all. Maybe it’s the adrenaline from the burn, Sokka doesn’t know.
Here’s what Sokka does know: he’d come down here to get answers. He supposes that did get some answers; but now he has hundreds more. And Zuko is here, living and breathing right in front of him. He is the answer to all the questions Sokka has.
When Zuko finishes adjusting the bandage and ties it on, Sokka stands to his feet. Zuko stands with him, brushing dirt off his pants and looking like a very awkward turtleduck.
“You should probably head back,” Zuko says, eyes downcast.
“Yeah probably,” Sokka agrees. “So hurry up and pack so we can get going.”
Zuko looks up at him so fast it’s almost a surprise he didn’t hurt himself in the process. “What?”
To that, all Sokka says is, “Hurry up before I change my mind.”
That spurs Zuko into action. He trips over his own boot as he scrambles to pack up his barely put together camp. It’s almost cute, seeing him scurry around in a panic, as if he’s worried Sokka will get tired of waiting and just walk off without him.
Once everything is packed up into a large bag slung over Zuko’s shoulder, he walks up to Sokka and looks at him expectantly. Sokka glances into the darkness of the dense woods and then back to Zuko.
“We could use some light,” he says and luckily Zuko is rather quick on the uptake. He holds his palm out and there, nestled into his palm, a little flame flickers to life. “Thank you.”
“No problem.”
With the light, the trek through the foliage is a lot easier than it had been earlier, despite Zuko’s heavy pack and Sokka’s injury.
They make it to Appa in almost no time at all, and Sokka shakes him until he opens bleary eyes and stares at them. If Sokka didn’t know any better he’d think Appa was glaring at him for disturbing his sleep. But then Appa’s eyes slide over to Zuko and he sits up instantly.
“Oh yeah, you’re not happy to see me but you’re happy to see the dude who tried to imprison us, sure. Some loyalty you have there, Appa.”
Zuko cracks a smile at that, and then offers to hoist Sokka up onto Appa’s back. Sokka wants to refuse, but honestly moving his arm more than strictly necessary probably doesn’t seem like a good idea, so he graciously lets Zuko help him.
And then they’re off.
It’s quiet when they land back at the temple, with the sun starting to snake its way across the sky, painting it a pretty cerulean that reminds Sokka of home.
Zuko helps Sokka off of Appa’s back and Sokka silently hopes that this isn’t going to become a thing. He is not ready to deal with an over attentive soulmate.
It’s that thought—where he so casually thinks about Zuko being his soulmate—that makes Sokka freeze, and everything finally comes crashing back to him with the force of a frigid wave. Actually sitting down and talking to Zuko skewed Sokka completely, forcing him off course. It had been startlingly easy for Sokka to forget about everything that had been plaguing him in the months that followed the discovery of the identity of his soulmate and just have a conversation with Zuko.
Zuko is, without a doubt, his soulmate. Sokka can feel himself blooming into something else with Zuko—much like Katara had said. Without Zuko, Sokka was still a complete soul, but with Zuko, Sokka feels as though he can morph into something else. Something more.
He doesn’t know if he likes it, but he does know it terrifies him.
“Sokka? Where the heck have you been?”
Sokka and Zuko both freeze as Katara approaches, clothes rumpled from sleep. She’s barefoot and bleary eyed, and she evidently doesn’t notice Zuko there at first because her guard is down.
Zuko shuffles, moving to hide behind Sokka as if the non-bender can help him from Katara’s wrath. Sokka is scared to realize that he would try to protect him. Spirits, one injury and a single conversation later and Sokka’s feelings are all scattered.
Behind Katara are Aang and Toph, both in varying degrees of alertness. Toph’s hair is an absolute bird’s nest, while Aang has indents on his cheek from resting his face against the crook of his elbow. Neither of them look particularly alert enough to notice Zuko, but Katara certainly is.
“Is that—” Katara’s mouth falls open in surprise before her face twists into a look of rage. “What are you doing back here?”
Sokka curses the way his body automatically moves to cover Zuko even more. Katara looks taken aback, shock bleeding into her expression.
“Sokka, what are you doing?”
“Katara, there’s things you don’t understand,” Sokka says, his throat feeling tight.
Katara’s eyes cut to the bandage around Sokka’s arm, and she seems to grow even more angry. She points at their direction, looking affronted. “How did you get hurt? Did he do that to you?”
“If it helps, I apologized,” Zuko says, and Sokka elbows him with his uninjured arm.
“You really aren’t helping,” he hisses when Zuko frowns at him. Really, he has no right to look so cute when he’s pouting. He’s going to put Sokka in grave danger with his own stupid feelings if he keeps doing that.
“Sokka, explain this right now before I wake up the rest of the temple and we kick you both out.”
It’s a bluff. Katara would never give Sokka the boot. At least, Sokka doesn’t think she would.
And he means to lie. He means to come up with some brilliant excuse that will convince his friends that Zuko is good now and he’ll never betray them ever again; but his mouth refuses to cooperate. Everything is a jumbled mess and if he’s being honest, he doesn’t know if Zuko’s loyalty will stick this time around. He’s being stupidly hopeful again.
“He’s my soulmate,” Sokka blurts, and then immediately realizes it’s the first time he’s actually said that out loud. Even Zuko, who is now staring at him with his mouth agape, hadn’t actually explicitly used the word.
Well, there was no taking it back now.
“What?” Katara looks as though she’s been slapped, but that’s quickly replaced with a newfound anger. “Sokka you’d better stop playing around. This isn’t funny.”
Oh. She doesn’t believe him. Crap.
As if his body is running itself, Sokka turns on his heel and grabs Zuko’s wrist—the one he knows has the mark—and holds it up. Zuko allows him to do this, and he also allows Sokka to untie the cloth covering his mark and pull it off.
He knew his name was there of course, but the sight of it causes his heart to stutter in his chest. There it is, his name written in a blue so dark it reminds Sokka of the deepest parts of the ocean. For a second all he can do is stare at it with wide eyes before he gets a hold of himself and lifts Zuko’s wrist for everyone to see.
Katara sucks in a gasp, hand coming up to her heart and looking properly scandalized. Sokka does not get the luxury of showing how much the previous night has affected him, so he keeps his head held high and looks his sister in the eye.
“I’m not going to abandon him,” he says, the very echo of Katara’s words when she first found Aang and Sokka has been mistakenly trying to kick him out of the village.
“Sokka…” Katara’s voice trails off, glancing at Aang, who has yet to say a word. She’s conflicted. Sokka can tell that she’s battling with herself on what to do, but if he knows his sister like he thinks he does, then there’s no way she’s going to force him out now that she knows the truth.
“How long have you known?” Aang asks suddenly. He doesn’t look angry, just curious.
“Since just before Ba Sing Se,” Sokka says, being honest for once in his life. It feels as though a weight has been lifted off his shoulders, and he can breathe. This is it. There’s officially no more secrets for him to keep.
As Katara opens her mouth to keep talking, there’s an explosion to their left.
Everyone dives out of the way as rock and debris goes flying, and there’s a frantic moment where everyone quickly glances around to make sure nobody is hurt. Sokka’s eyes graze across Aang and his sister as they quickly disappear behind a pillar, luckily in one piece. Toph has dived behind a wall of rock of her own making. A final glance behind him shows that Zuko also ducked out of the way, and at the sight of him unharmed makes Sokka sigh in relief.
It’s short lived because another shot is aimed in their direction, directly at the pillar where Aang and Katara are hiding. The pillar holds, but rubble goes flying everywhere and Sokka has to shield his face from it.
“Katara!” Sokka calls out, moving his arm and catching the end of Katara’s hair as she—and probably Aang—duck around a corner.
“We’re fine,” comes Katara’s voice through the courtyard, and Sokka can breathe again.
And then Zuko shatters any solace Sokka feels by jumping up on his feet and running off in the direction the shot came from, putting himself in danger by running through the courtyard without any protection.
“Zuko, where are you going?” Sokka calls out, voice going shrill.
“Trust me,” Zuko yells from behind his shoulder, and then he throws himself off the edge of the temple.
Sokka doesn’t even have time to scream.
There’s a good couple of seconds where Sokka is absolutely terrified that Zuko really jumped, but then he sees Zuko’s hand gripping onto a rock jutting out of the cliff. The boy is as quick and agile as a spider monkey, climbing up towards the direction of the shot, another building further down the cliff. Watching Zuko scaling the side of a freaking cliff makes Sokka’s heart practically leap from his throat. He’s so terrified of the boy falling to his death that he almost scrunches his eyes shut so he doesn’t have to watch.
“Sokka, get over here,” Toph says, waving a hand to beckon him to her.
Sokka glances at Zuko and in the direction he’s heading, and then catches sight of the source of the shots: Combustion Man. His eyes are neither on Zuko nor Sokka, so Sokka takes the opportunity to sprint to Toph’s side and grab her by her collar before running to where Aang and Katara are hiding, dragging the blind girl behind him.
“Where’s Zuko?” Aang asks, evidently not having seen the boy scale the cliff side.
“He went to deal with Combustion Man,” Sokka says.
Another shot chips away a good portion of the wall, causing everyone to cower.
“That’s who’s after us?” Toph asks after the temple has stopped shaking.
“What if that’s his liaison and they’re meeting up to betray us?” Katara asks, looking angry.
“I trust him,” Sokka snaps, and then he’s shocked to realize that he means it. “He wants to help. I trust him.”
“You trust him not to get us killed?”
“Yes.”
“I hope you’re right, because there’s no way we can handle much more of this,” Toph says as yet another shot comes their way. “He's going to blast this whole place right off the cliff side at this rate!”
Combustion Man is relentless in his pursuit of Aang, it seems. Even when they hear a scuffle and then Zuko’s pleading voice carries through the canyon, he is undeterred.
“Stop! I don't want you hunting the Avatar anymore! The mission is off. I'm ordering you to stop.” Silence, and then another shot. Sokka's chest constricts when he hears Zuko yell yet again. "If you keep attacking, I won't pay you! All right, I'll pay you double to stop!"
From his vantage point, Sokka can’t actually see what’s happening. There’s a shuffle, the crackle of fire, and then a yelp followed by the sound of an explosion that shakes the very ground he stands on. Unable to help himself, Sokka peeks. He doesn’t see Zuko, just the very obvious lack of the ledge that once housed both Zuko and Combustion Man.
They watch as Combustion Man falls, barely managing to catch himself on another building ledge before he falls into the depths of the canyon. The danger he’s in obviously matters very little to him, because he continues to aim and take fire at them. They lack the same power as they had before, but Sokka still isn’t inclined to fully stick his head around the corner for fear of losing it. He starts to pull himself up onto the ledge and stands back to his feet.
Sokka still can’t see Zuko, but he does his best not to let his terror show on his face.
“I can't step out to water bend at him without being blown up and I can't get a good enough angle on him from down here,” Katara says, biting on her nail as she tries her best to take another peak.
Sokka pauses, and then an idea comes to him. “I know how to get an angle on him!”
Sokka waits for another shot to land by them, and then while he has the opportunity he sticks his head out from around the corner, dodging one more shot before he launches his boomerang at the man. The boomerang hits its bullseye, causing Combustion Man to get knocked back to the floor. It comes flying back to him, and Sokka plucks the boomerang straight out of the sky.
Unfortunately it's not enough to keep Combustion Man down. As he gets up he’s clutching his head in pain and there’s a hardness in his gaze. Sokka knows he should probably go back into hiding, but his wide eyes are stuck on the way Combustion Man staggers to his feet and aims to shoot again. He sways back and forth, shaking his head viciously.
The shot goes off, slamming into the edge of the ledge Combustion Man is on rather than where they are hiding.
Everything rumbles, and then Sokka can only gape as the floor beneath Combustion Man seems to vanish. He scrambles out of his hiding place, ignoring the screams of protest from his sister. He runs to the edge and watches the building fall deep down the canyon.
He turns on his heel to see all his friends walking out from around the corner. “Did anyone see where Zuko went?” Sokka asks, shocked that his voice sounds absolutely wrecked. The terror that Zuko may have fallen down the canyon with Combustion Man constricts around Sokka like a snake, gripping him tight.
“Sokka,” Aang says, voice soft.
There’s a stinging in his eyes but he forces himself not to cry. He won’t cry until he knows.
"Sokka," Aang says again, voice suddenly turning bright.
"Huh?" Sokka asks, wiping the moisture from his eyes.
"Look!"
Sokka looks where Aang is pointing. Dangling from a large tree root hanging off the ledge above their heads, dusty but looking no worse for wear, is Zuko. There’s a cut on his cheek and his clothes are rumpled and ruined, but he’s alive and that’s all that matters right now.
Sokka’s feet move before he’s aware of what’s happening. As Zuko slowly climbs down the root Sokka breaks out into a run. The moment Zuko’s boots touch the ground, Sokka’s arms wrap around his neck and pull him in for a hug, burying his face into his neck.
“I thought you’d died!”
“Obviously not,” Zuko says. He’s extremely still in Sokka’s arms, but Sokka clings to him tighter. He’s not going to let go until Zuko reciprocates.
It takes a moment, but when he feels Zuko’s arms slowly come around his back, Sokka smiles against Zuko’s collarbone. Zuko’s fingers curl into the small of Sokka’s back, clinging to his clothes tightly. It’s as though they’re in their own little bubble, and Sokka is finally starting to understand this soulmate business.
Eventually Sokka does pull away, but that’s only because Zuko goes back to being stiff as a board and whispers, “Your sister is giving me the evil eye.”
With a sigh, Sokka untangles himself from Zuko and turns to look at his approaching friends, who are all varying degrees of wary about Zuko's presence. Surprisingly, Aang looks the most welcoming. Unsurprisingly, his sister looks like she's about to commit a murder.
“I can't believe I'm saying this, but... thanks, Zuko,” Aang says.
Zuko immediately launches into his second apology in just as many days, wringing his hands together. “I really am sorry about what I’ve done to you, and I want to do what’s right. I know I didn't explain myself very well yesterday, I've been through a lot in the last few years, and it's been hard. But I'm realizing that I had to go through all those things to learn the truth. I thought I had lost my honor, and that somehow my father could return it to me. But I know now that no one can give you your honor. It's something you earn for yourself, by choosing to do what's right. All I want to do now is play my part in ending this war, and I know my destiny is to help you restore balance to the world.”
Shocking everyone, Aang gives Zuko a saccharine smile. “You know, I think you are supposed to be my fire bending teacher. When I first tried to learn fire bending, I burned Katara, and after that, I never wanted to fire bend again. But now I know you understand how easy it is to hurt the people you love. I'd like you to teach me.”
“Oh,” Zuko says, shocked in the face of Aang bowing down to him. "Uhhh—I mean, I'd be honored to be your teacher. Thank you for accepting me into your group."
Aang stands to his feet and looks at the rest of the group “Well, I wouldn't want to do this without my friends permission first so... what do you guys think?”
“Fine by me,” Toph says with a shrug.
Sokka doesn’t even bother to reply. He’s made his stance very clear from the get go.
Everyone’s eyes slide over to Katara, who’s standing there with her arms crossed and a pout on her lips. When she catches all their stares, she rolls her eyes and sighs.
“He can stay,” Katara relents. “For now. Aang needs a fire bending teacher and I’m not cruel enough to force your soulmate out because I know what that feels like.” Here she turns to Zuko and pokes his chest with her index finger. “Just know I’m keeping an eye on you and if I see any funny business, you’re going to have to deal with me.”
“Got it,” Zuko says, taking the words deadly serious. It’s almost comical, given how he’s got a few inches on Katara and has to look down as she threatens him.
Sokka feels light. He takes Zuko’s hand and tells him, “Come on, I’ll take you to your new room.”
“Oh, okay,” Zuko says with a nod, allowing himself to be led through the rubble that was once the courtyard. Their fingers intertwine.
“An empty room Sokka, not yours,” Katara calls out of their retreating figures.
“Okay Mom, whatever you say!”
Zuko laughs, as pretty as bell chimes. His fingers tighten around Sokka’s and Sokka finally allows himself to let hope bloom.