Cobalt Blue (AU)

Sokka is playing video games when she calls. He frowns at the ringing cell phone before turning back to the television. There's only three minutes left, she can wait…

But she doesn't. His sister calls twice more before he picks up, pinning the phone between his head and shoulder so he can continue playing.

"What, Katara?"

On the other end of the line, his baby sister sighs. Sokka furrows his brow at the screen as he dies (again).

"Hi, Sokka, it's nice to talk to you too," she replies sarcastically. "It's not like we haven't talked in a few weeks. But it's okay, I totally understand. Call of Duty: Ghost is definitely more important than your only sister."

He rolls his eyes. "Katara, you called me yesterday. Anyway, I'm in the middle of a very important round. What's up?"

She sighs again, but lets it go. "You know how I've been moonlighting as the Painted Lady?" He grunts noncommittally, tongue stuck out to one side. "Well, I got a gig with a local group."

"Cool, sis," he mutters, and Katara inhales sharply, most likely to berate him. Before she speaks, the round ends. Sokka stares at the screen, slack-jawed, as the words YOU LOSE flash in red letters. "WHAT!" He shrieks. "THAT CAN'T HAPPEN! THIS WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT LEVEL!"

He drops the phone, so enraged he doesn't even notice the faint, tinny sound of his sister's voice saying, "Sokka? Are you even listening to me?"

It's several minutes before he remembers Katara. Without taking his eyes from the backstabbing screen, he reaches down and pats around for his phone. "Sorry, Katara," he says when he finally brings it to his ear again. "What were you saying?"

"Are you alright? You sound a little… shocked." She pauses, waiting for an answer. He can't seem to speak, YOU LOSE hypnotizing him into silence. "Sokka? Hello?"

"Mhm?" He squeaks.

She laughs. "Well, as I was saying. I'm doing a routine with a local troupe right now. My first show is tomorrow night, and I'm inviting everyone. Will you come?"

He blinks three times. "Um, sure, I guess. Will Aang be there?"

Katara is quiet for several moments. "I'm not sure. It hasn't been that long since we broke up and-"

That snaps him out of his stupor. "What?! You broke up?!"

"Yes, Sokka!" She cries. "We broke up a month ago!" He scratches his head, at the base of his super-traditional wolf tail (it was a custom he borrowed from their ancestors, but no matter how many times he explained it, his friends still called it a ponytail), and thinks about it.

"I told you that!" She takes a deep breath before continuing, "But, I did invite him. He said he'd have to see how busy he was."

Sokka doesn't break it to his poor, naïve nineteen-year-old sister that by saying that, Aang really meant there's no way in hell I'll go to your thing. Instead, he says, "Okay, well I'm game."

"Great!" She replies, then laughs happily. Sokka smiles slightly, glad he could make his little sister sound so carefree. He glances at the television again, and decides that losing the round isn't that big of a deal. He can always play it again. "Here, let me give you address, time, and directions…"

He sighs as she launches into her monologue, and turns off his play station. It seems replaying will have to wait.

The next night, he meets up with the group that's going to Katara's show. Toph, their friend from high school, is there, along with Suki, Sokka's girlfriend (he leans in to give her a kiss, but she slaps him away), their dad, and Gran-Gran and her husband Pakku.

The five of them (Pakku isn't one for frivolities) laugh and joke as they make their way through the city to where Katara is performing. The sky is deep navy by the time they reach their destination, and Sokka glances up to see the first of the stars. Wrapped in his arm, Suki gasps, drawing his attention back to Earth.

There is a sign in front of the building, depicting painted acrobats flying and flipping through the air and displays the name of the group, but that isn't what caught Suki's attention. Sokka gapes a bit at what he sees- Aang, waiting at the door for them.

The young man grins slightly at him, and Sokka is glad he's there. Even though he and Katara were no longer a couple, Aang is like a younger brother to him, and he doesn't want to lose that relationship (goodness knows he needs another male in his life; sometimes, Dad just doesn't cut it).

"Hey guys! It's so good to see you!" Aang makes his rounds hugging everyone; he shakes Hakoda's hand, but doesn't make eye contact. "Come on, show's about to start. I have all of your tickets here."

They file inside. Sokka is the last to sit in his hard, circus-style seat (AKA, a concrete bleacher. Some people have no taste), and is still wiggling around when the lights dim. He turns to Suki to complain, but she just shushes him and grips his hand tightly in hers.

Finally satisfied, he turns to watch the performance. A man has appeared in the middle of the arena, making Sokka start slightly.

"Hello, and welcome to the White Lotus performing group! My name is Iroh, and I am the Grand Master, so to speak." He strokes his gray beard and chuckles, large belly shaking merrily. "As this is our first performance this year, we have only four acts for you, but they are world class!" The audience applauds politely, and Iroh bows before vanishing in a cloud of smoke. Sokka's jaw drops.

He has to admit that Katara's picked a great group to work with. The first act consists of a set of seven sisters, all of which have long brunette braids. The act passes in a blur of jumps, kicks, and flips. They all move so quickly that Sokka sort of wonders if there's really seven of them, or just one. They like to laugh as they perform, and tease each other with easy familiarity. At the end, they line up, tallest to shortest. The first three summersault forward and launch themselves, landing on their hands side-by-side. The next two cartwheel toward the line, ending in a round-off that lands them upright on their sisters' feet. The second to last girl takes a running start, then leaps.

Sokka holds his breath as she flips upward a seemingly impossible distance and lands upside down, holding hands with the second row of sisters. He breathes a sigh of relief. A flash of pink catches his eye, and he gasps. There was still a seventh sister!

She smiles and waves at the crowd, then turns to face the steady pyramid. After a cock of her head, she closes her eyes and runs. Sokka's fingers clench Suki's as they watch her take off. There's no way she'll make it! But at the last second, her eyes open and she jumps. She doesn't even make it halfway up the pyramid before Sokka is gripping his face with his free hand.

The sisters of the middle row bring their outside arms forward, and the girl pushes off of their forearms with her feet. She seems to travel much higher than humanly possible, flips, and lands with one foot on top of the group, her other leg stretched high in the air.

"Bravo! Bravo!" Sokka cheers, wildly applauding. He turns to Suki. "Did you see that! That was amazing!" She laughs and nods enthusiastically.

"Yeah, they were great!" He decides it would probably be a bad idea to mention that one of them is Ty Lee, his former girlfriend. Instead, he sits back down and kisses Suki's cheek.

The second act is a solitary girl. She is dressed in all black and looks utterly bored, a startling contrast from Ty Lee and her family. Sokka purses his lips skeptically, but stays quiet. An assistant sets up various targets around the arena.

The girl stands in the middle, where Iroh had been. With eyes half closed, she whirls, releases a blade that wasn't there before. It spins through the air and hits the bulls eye with a thwack. She nods once, swings her arms downward. Blades appear between her fingers and she runs. Each target is impaled perfectly, knives imbedded to the hilt. With one last throw, she knocks an apple out of her assistant's hand, and flips backward, right into the middle of the stage.

Sokka blinks rapidly and turns to Suki. "Did you see-"

She rolls her eyes. "Yes, Sokka, I'm sitting right here."

He grumbles a bit, but looks back at the arena when the lights dim even further. It's almost black now. A young woman, dressed all in red, stands off to one side. She holds two torches in her hands, and deftly lights each end. Sokka holds his breath as she begins to twirl and throw them. With the darkness of the building, it almost looks as if she is creating the fire, and not simply its master.

They watch as she does a standing flip- flames extending away from her body. She throws one torch high in the air, almost to the ceiling, and catches it as she spins around and around. She keeps spinning, and the flames trail behind her to create an unending circle.

The woman stops on a pin, all but one end of the torches extinguished. Daintily, she places the unlit torch on the ground, and picks up a plastic bottle. Sokka grabs Suki's arm, jittery with anticipation. He's seen fire breathers before, but none of them have ever used as much fluid as she does.

She twirls around, raises her arm, and breathes out the liquid. A tongue of fire erupts, becoming larger and larger with each moment. He waits for her to run out, like everyone else, but the flames grow with each passing moment. They flicker brightly, almost to the ceiling. He can feel the heat of the blaze on his cheekbones and forehead.

Her other arm reaches out, fingers like claws. She is as fierce as a dragon.

It cuts off, and everything is overwhelmingly dark. She bows to the ecstatic cheers of the crowd, not that they can see her, and leaves quietly.

Sokka's grip on Suki's elbow tightens; this is it, this has to be it. It is the fourth and final act, so Katara must be up!

He turns to tell Suki, but she immediately shushes him. Well then.

"And now," Iroh's voice rings out, "for our final and main attraction, I am proud to introduce a tale of two souls, come from another world. In other words: the Blue Spirit and his Painted Lady."

A spotlight snaps on, illuminating a solitary figure hanging high above their heads, and he's sucked in once more.

She's sitting on a trapeze, wearing a flowing white gown and a rice hat, which has a tattered veil attached. Katara is gazing down, toward the shadowed floor, her face hidden. Soft strands of music, a violin, drift through the air as she stretches out a pointed foot. Slowly, she fits her other foot under her body and stands, carefully balanced on the bar. The outstretched foot rises higher and higher, until she can hold it lightly in her hand.

Suddenly, the violin shrieks, and she falls forward, off the trapeze. Sokka gasps and nearly lunges, but Katara is already swinging up and around and landing delicately on a second, lower bar. She perches there, like a bird, and finally looks up. Sokka can see why she's called the Painted Lady; red swirls cover her cheeks, chin, and eyes. A yellow crescent moon rests on her forehead. Her head turns to the spotlight, which is now shaped to be like the moon on her brow.

She smiles benignly, the music once again soft, and reaches up, extending her arm to the soft light above. Her leg moves backward for balance. The music stops for a heartbeat, and the Painted Lady is deathly still.

A few, trembling notes wobble in the air, and she breathes once more. Katara grasps the wires on either side of her body and raises herself. Her white dress flutters as she kicks her legs behind her and she drops, hanging from the bar. The trapeze swings back and forth, and her veil flows in her wake.

She continues swinging, building momentum, then releases and flips in mid-air. For a brief moment, she's suspended, the she latches on to a third bar, this one even lower than the first two. She swings around and summersaults through empty space, then she's upside down, the wooden bar trapped under her knees.

With each sway of the bar, she lunges up, hoping for the moon. A look of despair and longing fills her face, the violin crying desperately in the background, and she falls.

Sokka inhales, eyes wide as she stays in her plummet, brown hair streaming up from under the hat. At the last second, barely seven feet from the ground, her hands catch the top of what looks like a gymnast bar (Sokka swears it wasn't there a second ago), and she spins two, three times, reverses direction, and releases.

She flies straight up, fingers posed to grab. At the pinnacle of her ascent, a deep boom resounds. She falls, and as she lands on top of the bar, another boom is her. She jumps, startled, and falls backward. Sokka is readying himself to run to her when blue arms reach into the pool of light and catch the Painted Lady. The drums begin to play in earnest, but the pure sound of the violin floats above them.

She presses her palm to her chest and glances up, but the person is cloaked in shadow. The arms gently set her down and disappear into the darkness. Her eyebrows furrow, and she steps forward, carefully matching the pace of her music. A blue and white-swirled hand reaches out and shakes, asking her to stop. As she continues, the drums beat louder, quicker, a warning to stay away. Katara doesn't listen.

Her eyes search the room, and she sees something. With a running start, she does a front hand flip and lands on something. No- someone. A clear, cobalt blue man with white tattoos, wearing only brown pants. He shields his face from view, the drums quick as a frightened heartbeat. The violin croons a soft lullaby as she slowly caresses his jaw.

Slowly, the drums calm and his arms lower. As his face is revealed, a red light snaps on, shaped like the sun and focused on him. The Painted Lady rears back, the sight of glowing golden eyes and sharp fangs a shock. The Blue Spirit covers his head once more, ashamed, the drums beating erratically. Cautiously, the violin picks up again, and she offers him her hand.

He peers up, surprised, but eventually takes it. She beams and draws him up. They stand at arm's length from each other, their sun and moon not quite touching. Katara pirouettes before him, then runs to a ladder (Sokka knows that wasn't there). She climbs, her music betraying her happiness.

The drums deepen, but the man stays on the ground. Halfway up, she turns and frowns down at him. She extends a hand once more, and he begins to follow her.

A platform waits for them, and his head nearly brushes the ceiling. For the first time, the red and white mix, and the Painted Lady is a statue, staring at the Blue Spirit, towering above her. The violin sings sweetly, harmonizing with the drums rapid pace. She smiles, steps backwards, and falls.

Cymbals crash together and he lunges, but misses. The violin laughs against the thunderous bass, and suddenly she is dangling from a trapeze (Sokka is sure that his heart will give out any second now). The bass continues to reprimand her, and the man's fists are on his hips.

Katara beckons before throwing herself at the next bar. After a heart-pounding moment, he follows.

They chase each other around, over thirty feet in the air, their respective music sounding off playfully. Soon, they are across from each other, both hanging by their knees. She smiles mischievously at him, then arches upward.

She grabs the next trapeze and keeps moving, leaving the man behind. The violin begins to cry once more, calling out for the moon in longing. With one last leap, she reaches, reaches-

And falls. And falls. And doesn't try to stop herself (Sokka wraps his arms around Suki and squeezes, but she doesn't complain, because she's doing the same thing to him). Right before she hits the ground, the Blue Spirit has her in his grasp. The drums pound so hard, so fast, the violin can no longer be heard.

The moon goes out, and they are bathed only in the color of blood.

The man kneels, gently laying her out. He shakes her, again and again and again, but to no avail. The moon stays hidden. The Blue Spirit jerks his head back and howls, a terrifying sound that intertwines with the unsteady, overpowering beat of the drum.

Finally, he collapses, head cradled by her stomach. The raw, throbbing music fades.

Heartbreakingly silent seconds pass, and the red beam grows dimmer. Then, right as it's about to go out for good, a pale white hand, bathed in the feeble light of the moon, rises and strokes his back.

The Blue Spirit slowly props himself up on elbows, and stares down at the Painted Lady. Shaking, he brushes aside her veil to truly see her face for the first time. The violin laments in the darkness, accented by the soft clash of cymbals.

He holds her face in his hand and leans down. She meets him halfway, and for two, Earth-stopping moments, kiss, for the first and last time.

The drum lets out one final thud, and they collapse into darkness.

When the lights turn back on, the entire theatre is on its feet, and all four acts- plus Grandmaster Iroh- bow into the roar of the crowd.

"Oh my god! Did you guys see how freaking awesome that was?!" Sokka yells. He can't get over the pure emotions he felt throughout the entire Painted Lady and Blue Spirit performance. "I mean, the way they communicated everything, without ever speaking a word? That was magnificent!"

Suki tiredly rubs the bridge of her nose, but resigns herself to hearing about the act for the next few weeks. Gran-Gran nods enthusiastically in agreement, and Hakoda rolls his eyes but smiles indulgently. Toph, on the other hand, isn't as patient.

"Yeah, Snoozles, we were there too! We saw the whole thing! Now can it!" Sokka glares at the tiny eighteen-year-old, but does as she says. Who knows what she would do him if he didn't.

After a few seconds of silence, he glances around. "Hey, has anyone seen Aang?"

The others (minus Toph and Pakku) look, but no one can find him. After a minute, Pakku speaks up. "I believe I heard him say something about schoolwork and needing to get home."

Toph scoffs in disbelief. "More like he didn't like seeing Katara kissing someone else."

Sokka frowns at the reminder of the only part he didn't approve of. When he finally meets this Blue Spirit, he's definitely saying something about taking that section out of the act.

They continue waiting in the lobby of the theatre, chatting aimlessly as they wait for the star to appear.

Right as Sokka is about to start complaining of hunger, they hear the sound of a door swinging open.

"-and that bit where you launched up onto the top of the pyramid? Ty Lee, that was amazing! When did you add that into the act?"

Sokka turns and catches the sight of Ty Lee giggling into her hand as she walks with his baby sister. "We decided on that one last night, after rehearsal. It took a few tries, but I think it went okay."

Katara smiles at the girl. "It was more than okay, trust me." She shifts her head and sees her family and friends waiting for her. "Hey, I've got to go, but I'll see you Thursday, okay?"

They say their goodbyes, and Katara bounds over to her group. "Hey guys!"

They all launch themselves at her, each one talking loudly and trying to hug her first. Only Pakku hangs back, though Sokka couldn't care less after he emerges victorious. "Ha ha! I got first hug!"

Toph kicks his shin and he whines for a moment. Once everyone else is finished, he begins to whine about how hungry he is.

Katara rolls her eyes. "Okay, Sokka, we can go. But first, I want to introduce you guys to someone special."

That's when Sokka notices that other people are still in the room. By the door, a young man stands with the fire breathing girl and Grandmaster Iroh. With a gesture from Katara, he ducks his head and joins their group. He truly does dwarf Katara as they stand side-by-side. He'd seem normal enough, if it weren't from the burn scar over his eye. He tries to be a good person and decides to not judge a book by its cover, but he's wary.

"Guys," She starts, taking a large breath, "this is Zuko. He's my costar for the act."

Sokka's face hardens instantly. So this is the guy putting his grimy little paws all over his sister, huh? He sizes him up, and despairs to see that Zuko is both taller and bigger than he is. He glances at his dad for backup, but pauses.

There's something more in the way Katara barely touches his elbow, and the way Zuko looks at her in response. So he holds off, for now, and decides it's probably a good thing Aang didn't stay.

But Sokka looks back, once, on their walk to dinner, and sees that they've stopped. They're in the middle of the sidewalk, holding hands and kissing. It's nothing major, but his determination to grill the guy over dinner intensifies. He's still not so fond of this guy.

Years later, he claims that he always knew they'd make a great couple, and Toph kicks him in the shin.


Well, this is certainly longer (nearly 4,00 words! Sheesh! That's the longest chapter/one shot I've ever written!). Worked nearly all day on this one, and almost lost it about halfway through. This was, in-part, inspired by a beautiful piece of fan art I saw on Tumblr once, but I unfortunately don't remember who the OP was. Whoever you are, thank you for that! Also, I do realize I probably took some liberties with this one, but hey, sue me (speaking of, I keep forgetting: I certainly do not own ATLA. So please don't sue me).

And to you guys, thanks for reading. :)