Disclaimer: This is a fan work created at no profit and for entertainment purposes only. The author acknowledges that Avatar: the Last Airbender and related characters are property of Nickelodeon.
Azure Renaissance
Chapter 1: Shipwrecked
This was just great, thought Sokka as he looked up into the sun and the wheeling seagulls overhead. He'd survived the Hundred Years War—which was no small task given his part in ending it, from braving collapsing libraries to using an airship as the world's largest sword. And in the peace, he'd survived angry spirits, race riots and criminal masterminds. As best as he could reckon, he'd even survived the incompetence of the rather green (heh) Earth Kingdom crew in the maiden voyage of the first Earth Kingdom steamship.
That last one, if he was feeling it correctly, left him with two cracked ribs, a broken leg, and a splitting headache. Still, he'd survived that and the rage of the ocean to wash up on shore... somewhere. And now he was going to die of heat stroke while lying there in the sun like a beached shark-porpoise.
He didn't know how long he'd been lying there, but it was sorely disappointing. From what he'd always been told, a person's life was supposed to flash before them when they died. And if he was going to die anyway, he really hoped that was true because his life had been exciting and would make a good show, Ember Island Players notwithstanding.
It was a show that failed to start, however. There was no flash of his very first tiger-seal hunt, or the day they busted Aang out of his iceberg. No awesome scenes of his manly prowess in battle both as a warrior and a tactician. Not even some scenes of his awful, no-good luck, like the time he got stuff in that crevasse while hunting an adorable but delicious animal.
Nope, all he got was a view of a blue sky and the sound of surf and seabirds. At least the seabirds were waiting for him to die before indulging.
After a while, he decided he was better off not remembering some things. Like Yue. It had been a little over six years now and what happened to her was one of his deepest regrets. He still had nightmares about that. That and that scary moment where he thought he'd dropped Toph from the fire Nation airship during that last eventful day of the war. In the nightmare, Suki didn't get there in time.
And... there went his decent mood.
He hadn't been in a necessarily good mood, what with the dying part and all, but it hadn't been a bad mood. Having gone through what he'd done and accomplished all the things he had transformed even Sour Sokka into an optimist to a certain extent.
Though he guessed he shouldn't be in a good mood in this case. Even if he was okay with dying, he shouldn't be okay with dying for someone else's stupidity. He knew the Earth Kingdom crew was relatively new, but lashing down everything on deck in a storm was just common sense. That barrel had no reason to be rolling around on deck like that, much less bouncing off another loose piece of debris on deck, catching some air and knocking him overboard.
Yep. Decent mood gone. He was actually kind of peeved now. King Kuei was going to hear about this... or not. The storm had hit in the night, so if the crew hadn't found him yet, it was likely do to incompetence, which meant rescue was not coming soon. Therefore, he'd probably die there on the beach and Kuei (Sokka of course got to call him just plain Kuei the same way he called the Fire Lord 'Zuko' and the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe 'Dad'. Chief Arnook was still Chief Arnook, the hardass.) wasn't going to hear a thing about it.
The sun moved a bit more and he decided it that maybe he wasn't going to die soon after all.
"Welp." He said to no one because it was just him and the sky, "Better drag myself to some kind of shelter. Maybe there was some shrimp-crabs on the beach to eat..."
He went to turn himself over and was rewarded with a pain like he'd never experienced shooting up his side and all the way down to his leg. Spots appeared before his eyes and his body threatened to black out from shear overload.
It might have been something he could fight through, only someone started screaming. Wait, no, that was him screaming. He couldn't blame himself. Unmanly or not, he was in scream-worthy pain. Award-winning, scream-worthy pain. Tears too. The tears starting to stream down his face were completely justified. If he hadn't missed several meals shouting at the crew of the steamship, the other thing his body tried to do would have been justified too.
Of course, he then found himself in a terrible position: the arm he had raised in order to try and turn over was still in the air. Moving it in any direction was going to bring more of the same kind of agony. And gravity and his tired muscles were demanding that it not remain up like that.
Sokka remembered ruefully how readily he accepted the 'honor' of accompanying the first Earth steamship on its voyage to the South Pole. It was going to be a chance to see home again (though with all the new Northern Waterbenders helping to build the place up, it hardly resembled home anymore) and to escape Aang and Katara's newlywed ooginess.
Toph had bailed by going to Yu Dao because she hated boats. Oh how he wished he'd gone with her.
Yup, just as Aunt Wu said long ago, he life was a series of misfortunes, often self-inflicted.
He inflicted a little more by letting his arm drop. And later, when recounting the tale, he made certain to make it clear that he didn't sound like a newborn polar leopard cub crying for milk.
It was thanks to his totally manly bellows of wholly justified pain and increasing dizziness that he didn't hear her approach. Teetering on the edge of consciousness though, he heard her loud and clear.
"Great. This is all I needed."
That voice. He hadn't heard it often, and not for five years—not since she fled into the wilds after failing to assassinate her own mother.
If he were to tell the truth, she still scared him. Not all the nightmares were of Yue sacrificing herself or Toph falling. He hadn't even been there when the real thing happened, but in his darkest dreams, Aang still died with a lightning bolt coursing through his back. Correction: Aang was the first to die with a lightning bolt coursing through his back in those dreams.
Just the thought of her brought the scent of phantom ozone to his nose and flickers of blue fire to the edges of his narrowing vision.
Azula was there.
And he was helpless at her feet.
A/N:
Greetings all, your humble SoulfulBard here, now with a yarn from the world of Avatar: the Last Airbender.
As you can tell, Azure Renaissance is going to be Sokkla, but fair warning, my philosophy for romance is Earn Your Happy Ending and also that there has to be a real plot going on, which there will be. As always, I'm trying to keep the characters in character (but Azula, of course needs to not be psychotic. You'll see how I deal with that). There's going to be action, humor, drama and yes, romance, so hold on tight!
Some might wonder why this particular ship and the thing is, I find it irresistible to pair the serious tough girl with the funny guy (see also Beast Boy / Raven). These two didn't have much interaction on the show, which this being Azula and all, probably works in the ship's favor.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!