A/N: Hey, if you've read part, some, or even all (to date) of my Sokka/Zuko fic, the question that's probably on your mind is 'Where the hell did it go?' Okay, so probably not those exact words, but I decided rewrite it completely; to those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, well, that's perfectly fine. Enjoy~
Disclaimer~ I do not own, nor do I claim to own the characters, settings or related/recognizable content herein; I merely own the stories and plots in which I have created.
Chapter 1: Wandering Dogs
Zuko sighed, kicking the side of his bed but missing and landing one in on the metal frame, which by the way had no intention of relenting. "Aghh, oww, owww," he hobbled on one foot before pulling up his leg to assess the damage. There was a dark purple bruise now where there had been none minutes before.
Stupid dog. Appa was his name, right? Well that was what the collar had read. Who named their dog Appa anyways? If anyone asked Zuko, Hairy, Scruffles, or Abominable Dogman would've been better suited to the mutt. The dog was more fur than he was actual dog for crying out loud.
And now the dog that he had rescued out of the kindness of his heart, okay, perhaps his uncle may have guilted him in to doing so a bit, had run off. And now Zuko would be forced, in the rain, cold, and pitch black, to go searching for it. The whole ordeal was simply unreasonable.
Everything was seemingly made worse by the fact that Zuko had work tomorrow. Sure, it wasn't real estate, or some other fancy overpaying job that Zuko didn't envy, he didn't - not at all, but it wasn't like he was flipping burgers or washing cars. He worked at a coffeehouse, but unlike all the other coffee places in the city, it wasn't struggling make ends meet, no - it was more on par with a corporation, though it disguised itself as a welcoming family-owned business through its modest décor. He worked mornings too, serving coffee with a forced smile to grumpy assholes who decided they needed some to keep themselves going, and had chosen to stand in his line rather than Azula's.
Zuko didn't blame anyone though. Azula rubbed him the wrong way too. She could probably make a baby cry without moving a muscle.
"Have you found the dog yet?" Zuko's uncle and caretaker peered through Zuko's half closed door, a cup of steaming green tea in his hand.
"I haven't even left the house yet!" Zuko snapped, lowering his voice after his outburst. "...Sorry."
"Ah, you are stressed Zuko. Here, come into the kitchen with me and I'll pour you a cup of green tea. That'll help, and it's still hot, I made it not too long ago."
Zuko had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. Tea - that was his uncle Iroh's solution to every problem imaginable. 'Oh Zuko, your date to senior prom cancelled? Well that is very unfortunate. Would you like some tea?' Or 'Zuko, your stomach hurts? Tea will certainly help.' Or maybe even, 'Zuko why are you so angry? What's this talk of getting into a fight? Would you like some tea, it'll help?' Yeah, it sounded a lot worse when he actually thought about it.
"Well I'm going to take off now," Zuko said, pulling on his coat and slipping his shoes on. He really was going outside now. Very unlike an hour ago when he'd declared he would be leaving in 'a few minutes'. The rain sounded even louder against the window as the wind whipped even harder outside.
"Dumb dog," Zuko muttered, waving bye to Iroh and any chances of himself getting a good night's rest as he slipped his hood on. "Really stupid dumb dog."
Outside the rain poured heavily, easily obscuring Zuko's view. It was hard to see through the rain coming straight down, and that was saying something - he hadn't even left his front porch yet. Walking out of the cover, Zuko's flimsy hoodie was completely soaked in a matter of minutes. He took the familiar path down the street and as he passed he ducked under benches and behind trees to see if the mangy mutt was taking refuge under any of those places.
Much to Zuko's chagrin, Appa was nowhere to be found and the rain still hadn't let up. He had already managed to wander far enough from home as it was. The walk back would be long, cold, and not to mention wet in uncomfortable places. As a last ditch effort, Zuko quickly paced to a park up ahead. He had never ventured this way, and it was always a possibility. He had already come this far. A little extra exploring in unknown territory couldn't hurt too much.
"Appa! Here boy! Appa!" Zuko slowed his pace to a halt as he saw a 'villager boy'. He was always so fascinated by the villagers. He'd heard many stories, many tales of adventure and romance and even bravery of this group of people. These people were the thing of legends - the most interesting one entailing a certain few of the villagers having "powers". Zuko knew, he just knew it was outlandish, probably even stupid to think or even begin to believe so, but he couldn't help but hold on to the stories his uncle Iroh told about them. They were amazing.
Zuko didn't know much about the powers of the village nation people. His uncle had talked mostly of the Fire nation people. Apparently he was a descendant or something like that. Zuko usually tended to tune out when the conversation got a bit too wordy for his liking. But still, these people were amazing and especially didn't lead boring lives unlike him. They didn't have to deal with the monotony of school or work. And how awesome would it be to have powers?
"Who's there?" Zuko snapped out of his longing thoughts when he heard the voice of the villager, who was dressed in a blue outfit of some sort, and saw him approaching. Zuko was about to take off running when the man approached him with a smile on his face. "Hey."
Zuko had to look both ways to make sure the man with tan skin, blue eyes and an odd ponytail in the middle of his head was addressing him. He pointed to himself and mouthed 'me?' to which the villager laughed loudly. "Yeah. You. Err, have you seen Appa? Uhm you see he's like a dog about yaye big - this tall," he lowered his arm to about the level of his shin. "He's a little guy."
Zuko nodded, his heart desperately pounding in his chest. He was face to face with a villager - who probably had powers and it was all so overwhelming. He was beginning to forget his recent distress over the weather. "A-actually I'm looking for him too. I found him a few days ago, his tag said Appa." That explained why the dog collar was really just a piece of leather tied to a circular wooden 'tag' that had the name 'Appa' unneatly inscribed, well, more like unskillfully carved. "But, he kinda'...escaped."
"That damn dog! I am so screwed." Zuko would have laughed at the man's expression but that would've been rude and all. "Well, thanks for your-"
"Sokka! What the heck are you doing?" A girl who was dressed and looked much the same as the blue eyed man stalked out of the tree laden path that led into what looked to be a forest. Two pale blue beads pulled parts of the girl's hair into her adjoining braid. She looked cautiously over to Zuko, taking a defensive position. "Who's he?" She asked with a bite to her tone and her brows began to furrow.
"Well you see Katara he-"
"You know we're not supposed to have contact with outsiders, right?" Katara interrupted with a glare.
"But he's not a threat, look at him." Sokka, Zuko supposed was his name, said defensively. Okay, now Zuko was starting to feel the slightest bit insulted.
"If you haven't found Appa yet - with all the time you've been out here, you minds well head back." Katara gave a look that left no room for further discussion.
"But Aang's gonna' be back in a few days and he's gonna' kill me. Don't you care about your poor older brother?" Sokka whined dramatically.
"Maybe you should've been keeping an eye on him. If you hadn't spent the day napping when you should've been watching Appa, none of this would have happened." Katara crossed her arms. "You only have yourself to blame." With that she turned on her heel, not even looking back because she knew Sokka would follow right behind her.
"Uh hey, thanks-" Sokka froze realizing he didn't even know the pale brunet's name. What struck him most about his appearance though was a dark reddish scar around his left eye. "What's your name?"
"Zuko. It's - my name's Zuko."
"Okay Zuko. I'm Sokka, nice to meet you." Katara had stopped walking and turned, her foot impatiently tapping and her arms crossed. "Well I'll see you around," Sokka said in a loud whisper that wasn't quite loud enough for the brunette woman behind him to hear.
After both were out of sight, Zuko grinned a wide grin and raced back home, hoping that a pot of green tea would have enough caffeine in it to keep his uncle awake. Nevermind the fact that his shift started in four hours; he had questions that needed answering.
Luckily the rain had finally decided to let up but by now Zuko was so used to the feeling of harsh drops hitting his already dripping wet clothes that the lack of rain was what felt odd. Zuko had barely realized that he'd already arrived home, his thoughts were so preoccupied.
Rather than use his key, Zuko decided to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak, and use the annoyingly loud doorbell.
/Di-iiiiing dooooong/ the bell droned. He pressed it again after a few moments of no response. /Di-iiiiing dooooong/ and then he got annoyed and began hitting the button in quick succession. /Di-di-di-di-di-di-di-diiiiiing dooooong./ Still there was no response. Zuko almost forgot that when Iroh slept that man was out like a busted light bulb. Perhaps the apocolypse could wake him, perhaps not.
Zuko fumbled in his pockets for his key and after finding it blew a deep sigh of relief before unlocking the door. As soon as he stepped in he heard it. A bear with a really bad cold. Or Iroh's snoring to be exact. It was hard to tell. If a bear ever waltzed in he'd be hard pressed to identify which sounds belonged to his uncle and which to the bear.
After shedding his wet clothes and throwing them into the laundry basket, Zuko quickly slipped into a red t-shirt and black shorts. He decided against the green tea, Iroh wasn't going to drink it now and he preferred running on fumes to running on caffeine anyways. With only time for an hour of sleep, Zuko set the alarm on his phone to the loudest, most annoying ringtone he had and fell asleep as soon as his head made contact with his pillow.
Sokka sighed as he shifted uncomfortably in his makeshift tent. This was his punishment for "making contact with an outsider". Sure, it wasn't severe - not in the least, but it certainly wasn't paradise, which was what his bed was starting to quickly become.
But he didn't get it at all. Really, he didn't. Anyone not from a village nation was instantaneously dubbed an 'outsider' and apparently everyone viewed outsiders as bad. But Sokka didn't. Outsiders couldn't bend, that was for sure, but they still had the same human form. Their hearts still beated and they felt the same emotions, right? Then, now thinking on about it, he really couldn't understand. He himself couldn't bend. That gift had been bestowed upon his sister - not him.
"Aren't I an outsider too?" Sokka whispered, his head now held in his hands. Zuko, the guy he had met not too long ago had stuck in his mind. He was Sokka's first contact with outside civilization. The brunet did look a bit more advanced, like most stories of outsiders went, but the brutality, the coldness, the harshness, the evil, the endless greed - he didn't see any of that. Those horror stories that made children behave for fear of being taken to such a place, the outside world, seemed completely without merit. This wasn't to say that the outside looked like some sort of incorruptable paradise - that wasn't true either, but it didn't look anywhere near as bad as all the tales and legends told it was. It looked fun, actually.
And he always wondered of things like the technology that outsiders so often found usage in. So far he had mentally compiled a list. Cell phones, TV, and internet being at the top of said list of technologies that he yearned to try. Apparently cell phones allowed people to talk to each other even if they were hundreds of miles away, or so said tales. Sokka doubted that the "tales" were nothing more than true recounts of peoples' experiences in the outside world though.
Sokka meanwhile awoke to the sound of puppies, dogs, and kittens both meowing and barking the national anthem. He groaned and rolled over before proceeding to stare at the ceiling. After about five or so minutes of ceiling watching, it was a morning habit that prepared him for whatever the day held, Zuko sat up on the bed.
He had work now in half an hour. With Azula. He shivered at the thought before jumping in the shower and quickly brushing his hair. He threw on his clothes and ran, yes, ran, to the coffee shop.
Azula smiled, a pen in her hand. "Oh darn. Two minutes more and I could've written you up for being late. I am your manager, 'ya know." Of course he knew. She wouldn't let him forget it for the world.
"Good morning to you too Azula," Zuko said sarcastically.
A customer entered and approached Zuko's line because Azula was busy harassing another customer into getting extra cream, and paying for it too, of course.
The customer in Zuko's line was a regular, though dressed quite irregularly as usual. He had what looked to be a bald head under his dark brown hat - he looked young though, so his head was probably shaven or something like that. He had bright clear blue eyes that always seemed to carry some amount of excitment. And of course his mustache. Which was so obviously fake (and clearly a novelty "stick on" one), that it was rediculous. To top off his look he had a pair of too-large-for-his-face black shades. The look was something akin to a really, really bad undercover detective halloween costume.
"I'll have a carmel frappachino with extra whip cream," he ordered with an easy to distinguish fake accent.
Good lord. Extra anything after the word 'frappachino' was clearly overkill. There was so much sugar in the drink that Zuko prepared that it made his arteries ache - and he wasn't even the one drinking it.
The man took his drink, paid the four dollars and twenty-five cents that he owed, and left, suspiciously looking from left to right as if he were being watched.
As if on cue, a man who had been sitting in the corner with his newspaper stretched out in front of him, covering his face completely, dropped his newspaper, which he had been holding upside down by the way and looked both ways before quickly exiting the coffee shop. The rest of the customers went about their business as if nothing had occured. Zuko simply gaped. Either the district had decided to hire really bad detectives who looked like they learned their trade from low budget 70s detective movies or something fishy was going on here.
"What weirdo', huh?" Azula asked, sipping on a bottle of purified vitamen water.
"Uhm," Zuko could've said 'yes', but that entailed giving a negative or prejudiced opinion of a customer. An infraction that Azula was dying to write up against him. "Not really." Zuko wouldn't do it. He wouldn't bite the bait.
Azula sneered, obviously displeased that he one, didn't agree with her, and two, had not committed the infraction, thus the notepad of reported infractions would go unwritten on for today. "He was though. I mean who buys a newspaper only to read it upside down? What was he, dislexic?"
Out of everything that just happened, that was all she took out of it? Zuko rolled his eyes and had to keep from repeating the action when Azula went over to where the man had been sitting, grabbed the newspaper, refolded it, and stuck it back on the rack of the day's papers to be sold.
Zuko's eyes wandered to the clock after what seemed like a century of indecisive, rushed, or just plain rude customers had come through. It was nearing one and that was when business slowed to a complete halt, of course with a customer dropping by every once in awhile to buy a bagel or muffin. This was when Azula took her break - her unofficial totally infractionary break. Too bad Zuko didn't have the power to write up infractions. But it was fine. It wasn't like it was busy, anyways. And an hour or two without Azula was a Godsend, why ruin that? Sure, calling the woman an ass was the understatement of a lifetime, but at least no one had ever successfully stolen from the shop. Azula was scary, that much could be written in stone.
Zuko tapped his fingers on the counter. Now that he wasn't busy and business was slow he was reminded of the fact that he hadn't had a good night's rest. It was going to be a long shift.
The next customer who came in got Zuko's hopes up. It had been nearly an hour and no one had ordered a coffee. His fingers were itching to use the machine - a task far less monotonous than putting cash and change into the register in exchange for some kind of snack. There was still no sign of Azula, but that was no longer comforting. Things usually weren't this slow. He was almost feeling insane enough to say that he may have actually missed Azula's presence. What crazy thoughts, how-
"Excuse me? Do you know where the nearest wristwatch repair shop is? I just moved here and am not familiar with-" Zuko held up a hand, cutting off the nervous looking businessman's desperate pleas.
"Okay, go down the street cross from there," Zuko pointed to an expensive clothing store, "then cross over and continue straight. There will be a large sign that says wristwatch repair. You can't miss it."
The man thanked Zuko a few times too many before hurriedly heading out. He grinned. It felt nice to do good every once in awhile.
"You should've charged him for those directions - that's what I would've done." Of course that was what Azula would've done.
"I'm not like you," Zuko muttered.
"What was that?" Azula smiled, it was sadistic but that was normal. "Actually you're right. We're definitely not alike. You see, I speak up so my opinions can be heard and actually matter, while you do the polar opposite. Pity." Zuko was pissed. He had to keep reminding himself that Azula was technically a lady, though she didn't act like one, and he didn't hit women.
"Whatever, Azula."
Azula smirked, feeling that she had won another round and decided to lay off a little - for now anyways. "I'm heading home early. See ya' round later." Without awaiting the return of her halfhearted goodbye she left.
Another hour had passed, though it had been unbelievably busy, and the next two cashiers had come to take over for Zuko. It wasn't surprising that neither of the coffee shop workers were shocked or even asked questions about why he was handling fifteen customers by himself. That itself was usual Azula behavior.
Zuko was just happy to be off work though, truthfully. He was tired and hungry. He hadn't even gotten his lunch break because Azula's "break" had lasted for so long.
Instead of going home though, Zuko followed the path to the small park within the forest, the place that he had seen Sokka at.
"Hey."
"Wah!" Zuko made an undignified noise and jumped nearly a foot into the air only to turn around and see Sokka, the tanned boy casually leaning on a tree.
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you Zuko." Zuko felt his face flush almost immediately. He had remembered his name.
"It-it's fine, really. Uhm, so are you still looking for Appa? Any luck?"
"Appa...? Yeah, uh Appa. That's why I came down...here. Okay I confess. I may've not come here for that exact reason." Sokka laughed nervously and scratched the back of his neck. "But no. No luck so far."
"I see. Do you need any help?" Zuko offered, hoping that Sokka'd say 'yes'.
"Yeah, I mean sure. I could use all the help I can get."
For about twenty or twenty-five minutes, they were genuinely looking for the dog, but after that span of time they had both unspokenly agreed to give up and ended up sitting on a log. "So, what's your village like?" Zuko asked.
"Well, I'm a part of the Water nation, though only I'm only a part of a small tribe. I don't actually reside in the nation's capitol, where I hear rumors that a princess by the name of name Yue lives. I hear her hair is whiter than snow."
"Wow, that's so cool," Zuko replied animatedly. "Is the Water nation the ruling nation?"
Sokka shook his head. "No. There's also the Fire nation, the Earth nation, and the Wind nation. My sister and a lot of people from my tribe despise the Fire nation though."
Zuko remembered Iroh telling him about being a direct descendant of Fire nation royalty, though he hadn't believed him initially. "And you? What's your take on the Fire nation?"
"Hate them," Zuko's eyes widened but then Sokka gave a small chuckle, "at least I used to, anyways. But I've done a lot of growing up since my parents death at their hands. At the end of the day, revenge won't bring anyone back and I'd rather live my life for myself, 'ya know?" Sokka looked up into a tree and his gaze grew faraway. "Those soldiers - those Fire nation soldiers who attacked my village were only taking orders. They probably held something over their heads too - their job, the safety of their family, maybe even an "accident" that would take the lives of their loved ones. If I were in that position I can't say I would do any different." Sokka's voice grew grave. "Actually, I know I wouldn't have."
"Do you still bear a grudge then?" Zuko was trying to word his questions carefully so as not to reopen old wounds.
Surprising Zuko, Sokka smiled and looked to him, all his attention focused on his features and Zuko felt his face flush with embarrassment. "All is forgiven, but not all is forgotten," Sokka stated.
"I see." Was all Zuko said in turn. He didn't know what else to say. What else could he have said?
"I have a question for you too," Sokka said, breaking the uneasy silence. He didn't quite know how to phrase his it without being rude though. "How'd you get that burn mark?" Sokka gestured to Zuko's left eye.
That was a hard one to answer. In all honesty, Zuko couldn't remember. He remembered a loud booming voice with great authority. His father? But he had never met his father or his mother. He was an orphan in that sense and whenever he tried to bring up the conversation with Iroh, his uncle would avoid it. Zuko tried to pull back his faded memories of the past even harder.
It was loud. There was yelling. No. That wasn't it. Cheering. Yes, there was cheering. And a lot of red. Everyone was dressed in red. He was outside. There was a ring; not an actual ring but a duel ring. Yeah, that felt familiar. And then a flash of something. Something really hot. Something unbearably hot and his face burned. That was it. That was all he could remember. "I-I really can't say," Zuko said finally.
Sokka moved closer, examining the burn scar. It made Zuko feel self conscious.
"It was probably just a burn though," Zuko continued.
"No. I don't think so." Sokka was still looking at his face carefully. "If it were truly a burn-"
"Sokka! What're you doing? You know this is your second offense interacting with an outsider!" Katara was pissed. How could her brother so blantantly ignore the village's rules? Rules were set forth to protect everyone and here he was, disregarding them left and right.
"I gotta' go," Zuko said, using the opportunity to slip away.
Sokka watched as Zuko quickly retreated and yelled, without care that his sister would hear, "I'll see you around!"
"'Kay!" Zuko yelled back without turning around.
Katara rolled her eyes, Sokka just wasn't listening to her and she was tired of wasting her breath. "C'mon, lets go," she said exasperatedly. With that she turned and began the familiar path through the thick woods to the shine that lay ahead. Katara moved her hands gracefully, bending a single drop of the water from a nearby koi pond into the limestone, bowl shaped pillar beside them.
After a moment, the double doors to the shrine glowed an etheral blue and Katara reached for the left door, opening it and walking through. Sokka crossed his arms defiantly but walked through behind her as well. After he had walked in the door shut and sealed and when Sokka looked up, they were in the Water tribe's shrine, no longer in the outside world - no longer in Japan.
Katara walked out of the shrine and walked the path back to their village. Sokka on the otherhand didn't even attempt to follow directly. He stopped after exiting the sacred shrine and waited for the long "talking to" that he knew he had coming from their grandmother Kanna, more informally referred to as Gran Gran.
The old woman apprached and Sokka followed, his head held down. It felt lije a walk of shame - everyone was looking, a few younger Water tribesman and girls were giggling, laughing, and discreetly pointing. He felt like a criminal walking his last steps as he was led to his grandmother's tent.
"Gran-"
"Silence Sokka," she interrupted. "Do you understand the severity of your actions?"
"Actually no! No, I don't." Sokka firmly crossed his arms.
The elder woman continued as if Sokka.s outburst had never occured. "Sokka, my grandson." She whacked him on the head quickly. "You are such an idiot. You remind me of your father."
"Oww.." Sokka groaned, rubbing his forehead. "What do you mean?"
"I mean your father had a complete disregard for rules as well. I see you've inherited his vigilance alright." Her voice quieted significantly. "But you've also got his heart - his warrior's spirit."
"So I'm off the hook?" Sokka asked hopefully.
Kanna laughed before patting her grandson on the shoulder. Sokka's facial expression grew even more hopeful, if that were at all possible. "Of course not," and with that, if Sokka were a balloon, he'd have deflated.
"Awhh, c'mon Gran Gran. Can't we work something out?"
"Yes. I suppose we can. Triple duties around the village and no visits to the outside for six months. After that, all will be forgiven."
"What kind of deal is that?" Sokka whined, exiting the tent in a huff.
Kanna smiled. If her grandson were anything like her own son had been, he wouldn't listen. He'd leave anyways. There was a stubborn unrelenting strength about Sokka that reminded her of his father. Whatever the outside world held, it must've been special indeed. She hadn't seen that look of determination since he had gone through his rite of passage.
Zuko twirled a pen in his hand, sitting in his leather swivel chair and leaning his head on his desk while his computer let out a low, barely audible hum.
He sneezed five times in a row, feeling for sure that someone had been talking about him. After all, he wasn't sick and didn't even have allergies. He wasn't all too superstitous, but he had to be to some extent. Especially considering everything about the village nations that he'd come to accept.
Zuko moved to his bed, which he flopped down on and rested his hand over his eyes. He'd be lying to himself if he said that he hadn't meant to see Sokka at the park. He certainly wasn't searching for Appa. But he couldn't account for why he ran away. That was unlike him. He wasn't a coward. But his heart was beating so fast that he thought it might've beated straight out of his chest if he gave it the chance.
Zuko punched his wall, a sudden burst of anger, that seemingly came from no where at all flaring up. 'What if he doesn't want to see me anymore?' He thought.
When Zuko removed his fist from the wall, the wall was scorched slightly. "What the fuck?" He muttered, eyes widening.
A/N:: Thank you for reading and I would love it if you'd review. This first chapter actually came out to be a bit long, but I definitely had fun with it. I wouldn't call this a replacement exactly for my other Sokka/Zuko fic, so much as a glorified remake. My writing has gotten SO much better, so hopefully I can do these two justice.