Sokka knew that it was his job to tell Jin. He constantly pestered Zuko, but, in his heart, his loved him the way he loved Aang, Katara, and Toph, even if he never showed it. He'd been meaning to pay him back somehow for saving his sister from Azula's lightning, and maybe, even though this was miniscule compared to that, he could do this for him.
"Hey Jin, can I talk to you?"
Zuko was asleep on the couch, and, once again, Sokka couldn't stop his eyes from drifting to his scar. Zuko had finally told them how he had gotten it, and the story still haunted him. But somehow, he had to put that story into words for Jin.
"Sure. It's Sokka, right?"
"Yup." He sat down at the table, Jin across from him and Zuko to his right.
"What's on your mind?"
"Have you…ever heard of the Fire Nation's banished prince?"
Jin nodded. "Of course. He's the Fire Lord now. Zuko."
Sokka nodded back. "I want to tell you a story about him. The story of how he got banished."
"Um, alright."
"When Zuko was thirteen, he requested to go into a war chamber to listen to a war meeting, so that he could learn to rule his nation one day, even though his Uncle, the great Dragon of the West, insisted it was a bad idea, and told him not to speak out. Even with this warning, when Zuko heard the general's plan—to sacrifice a battalion of new recruits to win a battle, he got angry and told the general that it wasn't right to kill all of those people—people who loved and defended their nation.
"Fire Lord Ozai became angry with Zuko; and told him he must have an Agni Kai. Zuko thought it was with the general he had spoken up against, and declared that he was not afraid. But Zuko misunderstood. Zuko had spoken against the general, but, when he did, he was in Ozai's war room, which meant that he had disrespected Ozai himself. Zuko would have to duel his father.
"When he saw that it was his father that had come to duel him, he begged for mercy. He didn't want to fight his father. But Ozai is coldhearted, like you know. He advanced on Zuko, and, even though Zuko had said he wouldn't fight, Ozai pulled his arm back and blasted fire on him, scarring him.
"The day after, Ozai said that because Zuko hadn't fought, he had shown a great amount of weakness, and banished him on a hopeless search for the avatar. For three years Zuko did this, not succeeding, until Ozai grew impatient with him, and sent his sister, Azula, on his trail. Zuko and General Iroh became fugitives, and Zuko struggled. He even returned to the Fire Nation for an amount of time. But, eventually, he figured out, with Iroh's help, that what the Fire Nation was doing was wrong, and that his destiny was to teach the avatar firebending. He was a hero. He helped stop the war."
Sokka finished with a florish, raising his arms high up in the air and taking a deep breath. He hoped he had told it well; Zuko's story was a big one, and he wanted Jin to understand it.
Jin was quiet for a moment, then took a deep breath as well. "A very good story; one that I haven't heard. And it surly adds to my hatred to Ozai. But is there any specific reason you're telling me?"
"Because," Sokka said. "I told you, Ozai left a scar on Zuko. That scar…" Sokka raised his hand and traced a line on the left side of his face, right where Zuko's was. "…is right here."
Jin's eyes widened as she finally seemed to get it. She turned her head to look at Zuko, who was still sleeping on the couch. "No! No way! Tha-that's Lee. He worked in a tea shop with his uncle down the street—"
Sokka shook his head. "You met Zuko when he was a fugitive, when he was living under a different name. His uncle is General Iroh, the Dragon of the West."
"S-so, he's the firelord? He knows the avatar? You know the avatar?" She clamped her hand down even harder against her mouth. "Sokka! I wondered where I had heard that name before! Y-you're the one who came up with the invasion plan for the Day of Black Sun, you're one of the ones who helped stop the war!"
Sokka gave her a shy smile.
"That's why…Le-Zuko; he can firebend?"
Sokka nodded. "Yeah. He taught it to Aang."
"That's how the lanterns lit; why he said things were complicated!" She paused, finally looking Sokka in the eye instead of having them go around and around in circles like she had lost control of them. "Why didn't he tell me?"
"You mean at the time or today? He obviously couldn't tell you at the time—"
"I mean today! Now that the war's over…"
Sokka shrugged. "He was scared. Wouldn't you be? How can he possibly explain something like that; something that big? He's still a kid too, you know. He's my age."
"Why did you decide to tell me for him?"
Sokka gave her a small laugh. "Man, I am so in debt to that guy! It's really annoying, actually. He helped me save my father, my girlfriend, and jumped in front of a lightning bolt to save my sister. The first two, I like to look at as his apology for doing all of the shit to us he did when he was hunting Aang. But saving my sister…now the debt's been switched over to me. That's part of the reason that I dragged him here in the first place; he looked so tired and dead to the world; not having fun anymore. Like, even when we were rescuing my father and girlfriend, there was a spark in his eye, along with all of that anger and worry. But lately…he just seemed bummed all the time."
Jin swallowed audibly. "So what am I supposed to do now?"
"Nothing," said a voice behind her.
She started, gasping and whipping her head around.
Zuko was standing behind her, hair messy from sleeping, his amber eyes bright in the dark. "You don't have to do anything, Jin."
Hey! Chapter 2! So yeah. It's not going to be much longer, maybe I'll fluff it up and try to write one more chapter. But I always just kinda wondered what would happen when Jin found out (even though I'm a MaixZuko shipper. Sorry! :D) I'll make sure Jin ends up happy; no worries, guys.
