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Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar The Last Airbender and do not stand to make any profit from posting this story.
Brotherly Love
Sokka was not quite himself tonight. He was unusually subdued. He hardly said a word during the meal and when Aang had asked him about it, he had merely shrugged and said he was tired from hunting earlier in the day. As soon as supper was finished, he yawned noisily and said he was turning in early.
Now he lay in his sleeping bag on his side, facing away from the group. No one could see that his eyes were open, staring into the dark forest that surrounded their camp. Crickets chirped in the darkness and the fire crackled in a cozy fashion behind him. He was tired, there was no denying it, and by rights he should have gone straight to sleep but his mind wouldn't let him.
To say that he'd had a bad feeling when Zuko had joined up with them would be the understatement of the year. Somehow his sister was of the ridiculous opinion that it would be a good idea if the guy that had been trying to kill them for the last few months suddenly became their ally. Sokka had always considered himself the "idea guy" and that right there was one colossally stupid idea if he ever heard one. Still, he had to admit that Zuko had never actually attempted to kill them outright. His goal had always been the capture of the Avatar. Although Sokka had a pretty good idea that Zuko wouldn't have lost any sleep himself if he and Katara had been killed in earlier attempts at Aang's capture.
But now, something had changed. Sokka wasn't sure he had the whole story of Fire Nation politics straight, but he was sure that someone creepier than Zuko was after all of them.
Zuko's sister.
Sokka shuddered inside his sleeping bag. Talk about a psychopath. He tried to wrap his mind around the malevolent feelings between that pair of siblings. Sure, Katara irritated the crap out of him most days for one reason or another but he couldn't dream of any circumstance in which he'd want to kill her.
It was his job to take care of Katara, that's what his father had told him when he had left years ago. "The most important thing you can do," his father's words rang in his ears. But Sokka knew he would have done everything in his power to protect her anyway, without his father asking. She was his sister, his family, his blood, and when this little adventure they were on was all said and done, there was nothing that could change that. That's what made him sick at his stomach to think about how twisted and warped the relationship was between Zuko and his cold-hearted bitch of a sister. She was methodically setting out to hunt him down and kill him - her own brother.
And Sokka wasn't so sure that if their situations were reversed that Zuko wouldn't be just as cold and calculating as he set about to do Azula in.
Talk about messed up!
Katara knew it, too! And Sokka's blood ran cold because he knew her all too well. Growing up he couldn't count the number of wounded baby arctic seals and penguin pups that had been around the house because Katara was always trying to fix things. Make them better. He winced as he recalled what she'd said when Azula had injured Iroh with lightning. "Zuko, I can help." Oh, gods, it still echoed in his head.
The only thing he would have to protect Katara from was herself.
She was such an idiot when it came to guys, totally clueless. Jet had been bad enough and she wouldn't listen to reason from him then. Zuko was just her type - tall, dark and complicated. He could just see explaining it to his father at the end of the war - yes, Dad, Katara is alive and well, she's just run off with the banished son of the Fire Lord. That would go over well!
Sokka shifted a little bit more turning his face to see that the moon was up. He felt a familiar tightness in his throat as he thought of white-blond hair and ocean-blue eyes and Yue. He turned back to stare into the dark forest away from the moonlight.
He didn't want Katara to hurt like this.
In his heart of hearts he admitted to himself that the thing he feared the most had nothing to do with telling his father how Katara was. Sokka knew that out of all of them, Zuko was the one most likely to get himself killed. Azula hated him and she was determined and she was good, very, very good at what she did.
And Sokka didn't want his sister to hurt like this when Zuko was gone.