Author Note: So my next few chapters are going to be a little less…action-y and probably a bit more talking and planning and feeling type stuff Hopefully they don't bore you…but I felt that a little discussion and just everyday life needed to be written. Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 20: Freedom Recovered
The sun was shining through the room when Sokka woke up the next morning…well he at least thought it was morning. Glancing around the room he tried to piece together what had happened and how he had ended up back in the room Azula and him shared. He remembered leaving the back deck with Azula, but it became fuzzy shortly after that. He remembered being exhausted and having to lean on Azula more and more as they moved towards the room. Then the pain had become too much and he had succumbed to unconsciousness.
Sitting up, he felt something falling from his upper body, landing in his lap. Looking down he noticed four palm size black stones. Picking one up, he inspected it. The stone was dark blue in color, smooth and slightly warm. As he held it in his fist, he noticed that it was pushing heat out, not just retaining it.
What the hell are these? Where the hell is Azula?
Needing answers, he dropped the stone on the others and jumped out of bed to go search for Azula.
Whoa slowly there buddy Sokka thought as the room did a little spin. As he took a moment to compose himself, he looked down and noticed his pants were cut up to his thigh. What the…oh right… remember the cut Sokka slowly unwrapped the makeshift bandage. Where the once blood flowing cut was, now there was a burned mark. What did Azula do? Where is she?
"Azula?! Are you in here?" Forgetting the mark for now, Sokka went to check the bathrooms. When he didn't find her in there, he started to panic a little.
Did they come back for her? Are they making her pay for my mistake?
Grabbing his sword, he ran for the door. Just as he reached to open it, the lock started to turn. Sokka hid himself behind the opening door, sword raised to attack.
Come on bastards, come and get me.
The door opened and someone entered. Sokka prepared to strike. They shut the door and turned towards Sokka.
"Azula?!" Azula dropped whatever she had in her hands and landed a swift kick to Sokka's stomach.
The move sent him slamming into the wall, making him drop his sword in the process.
Do the words go slowly mean anything to you Sokka!
"What the hell are you doing? You should be in bed!" Azula hollered.
"What the hell are you doing?... Did you really need to kick me so hard?" Sokka whined. He stood up, robbing the spot where Azula had kicked him.
"You're sword was slashing down on me. What do you think I was going to do? Kiss you?" Azula responded sarcastically.
"Yeah well…what would you have done if you saw the door opening to your room, which you don't remember getting to, after damn near being killed by some assholes? Invite them to tea?" Sokka snapped back. As Azula narrowed her eyes at him, Sokka took a step back. He didn't need another ass kicking.
"Come on, back to bed, before you hurt yourself anymore," Azula said rolling her eyes and grabbing his arm, directing him towards the bed.
"Technically…I didn't hurt myself, you hurt me." He looked down at Azula giving her a bland look. She gave him a look of her own then pushed him on the bed. As he bounced slightly, he cocked his eyebrow at her.
Well this just got a lot more interesting…
"Don't even think about it, Peasant. You're still on the wounded list…even if part of you is feeling…perky," she gave his semi-erection a pointy look. The attention only made it a little harder.
"Oh I don't know, I think the rest of me is feeling a lot better…surprisingly. How the heck am I feeling so much better? Did Katara show up?"
Mentally he smacked his forehead…brilliant dumbass, let's bring up the ONE person that she can't stand AND make it seem like that woman saved you…brilliant Sokka thought as Azula narrowed her eyes and glared at him.
"No the water bending bi…" Sokka saw her pause, composing herself, "…woman didn't show up. It was the Wu-Qi stones… and… myself that saved your ass," Azula said acidly. Sokka noticed the small hesitation in her voice, but chose to let it go.
Patting around in the bed beside him, Sokka felt the smooth stones he had noticed before; he held them up to Azula.
"Wu-Qi stones? What are…hey they're black! They were blue before." Sokka said excitedly. He loved learning about new things. Setting three of them down, he rotated one of them in his hands, studying the smoothness and the circular shape.
"Wait, what do they do? How do they work?"
Before he could react, Azula pushed his shoulder, laying him against the pile of pillow.
"Watch and learn Peasant," she took the stone from Sokka's hand and grabbed the others sitting next to him. Slowly they started turning dark blue once more. As Azula continued to hold them, they turned into a brighter blue color.
"How are you doing that?" Obviously the stones weren't just your everyday ordinary stones.
"I'm heating them with my hands," she started moving them towards his chest.
Sokka flinched back…if she had been heating them…that meant they were seriously hot.
"Shouldn't you...ahh let those cool down a bit before putting them on my chest? They…uhh…look pretty hot," Sokka asked slightly worried. The last thing he needed was to have burn marks on top of his bruises. He already had one on his leg…something he still wasn't sure about…but he didn't need more on his upper body as well.
"If they cool off then they won't work properly. Now lay still and let me put these on you," as she moved closer, Sokka closed his eyes and braced himself.
He felt a warm pressure on his chest, then his lower chest, abs and lower abs. He opened his eyes to find a smirking Azula.
"Now is that so bad?"
Sokka looked down, all four stones were centered down his upper body, still glowing bright blue.
"How are they not burning me?" As he went to pick one up, Azula smacked his hand.
"Don't touch them, they are to stay exactly where I put them. The heat is trapped in the core of the rock, the shell of it only allows small amounts of heat to escape.
The heat helps the body's energy flow and heal itself," Azula stated. She started running her hands lightly over his chest, no longer looking at his face. "It's been doing miracles. You...you look so much better. Your chest was full of deep purple bruises, and you just looked like shit. But now they look like they are week old…possibly older. Even your face is looking better. It's amazing." Sokka heard the hitch in her quiet voice.
Tilting her face up to meet his, he didn't miss the dark marks under her eyes, he asked quietly, "What happened after we left the deck Azula? Was I in that bad of shape?"
Did she sleep at all last night?
"…Do you remember the old lady who oogled you the day before?"
How could he forget?
"Yeah I remember her," Sokka replied, "she was…uh kind of hard to forget." His reply was met with a small chuckle from Azula.
"Well her and her husband came to the room and she gave me those stones. She showed me how to heat them and how to place them so that you would heal.
Apparently, she's been studying the arts of healing for years, and in one of her books, she came across information about the Wu-Qi stones. So she and her husband…" Azula sat next to Sokka telling him about the old woman's adventures in the barren lands. How her husband had fallen ill, and how she had practically stumbled upon the stones.
"Then I've spent the rest of the night keeping those rocks hot and working to get you back to a state of usefulness," Azula said smirking.
"You are amazing Azula. Not only did you lay out some real Kickapow action last night, but you hauled my sorry ass back to the room and….Azula what's wrong?"
Sokka became worried as Azula looked away from him, a sad look on her face.
"Nothing, it's nothing, here let me get you some food," She slid from the bed, going by the door where the bag she held earlier had landed.
"You got me food?" Sokka perked up, he realized Azula didn't want to talk, so he let his question drop…for now. Plus, food was good, food sounded very good.
Trying to sit up for the food, Sokka was met with Azula's hand pushing him back down. While he was slightly elevated by the piles of pillows behind him, he wasn't in any position that abled him to feed himself…at least without difficulty. Any movement would upset the stones which apparently needed to stay exactly where they were.
"Stop getting up. I swear this was so much easier when you were out cold," she said bluntly, rolling her eyes.
"I can't eat if I'm out cold. And I can't feed myself if I'm stuck lying in this pile of pillows, so how exactly am I going to eat?" Sokka asked, a little annoyance entering his voice. He was getting tired of this being taken care of crap. He had enough of that from Katara.
"I'm going to feed you Peasant. That way, I can keep you from moving and have the added bonus of silence. We need you back to one hundred percent, we need to get packed and get off this boat the moment it docks," Azula said matter of factly. "Now open up, I got you some hippo-cow meat and noodles. I know how you enjoy your meat."
Sokka looked at the piece of meat Azula held in her chopsticks toward him. Even though he wanted nothing better than to take the food she offered, he had to tell her what it signified in his culture.
"Uhh I should umm...warn you. In the southern water tribes, when a woman hunts for food and then feeds it to a man…that's umm…not of her family blood, it's very close to a marriage proposal...just to...uhh let you know."
He watched her intently, a look of surprise moving across her face as she paused in the movement of her chopsticks. Sokka watched as it changed into a small smirk and she continued to bring the food to his lips.
"I could do worse I suppose...or you can feed yourself, if you're careful enough not to move those stones," she said carelessly. But Sokka could see her bracing herself against his rejection.
Not going to happen…
Looking directly into her amber eyes, he opened his mouth and leaned ever so slightly towards the chopsticks, taking all that she offered. Watching her closely, he saw a spark of surprise and desire entering those beautiful almond shaped eyes. He turned his gaze to her lips, watching as she licked them slowly.
Looks like an invitation to me…
As he started to lean towards her, her hand came down on his shoulder, pushing him back down on the pillows.
"I'm not going to keep feeding you if you keep trying to move," she said quietly, breaking the moment.
Probably for the best…Get your full strength back Sokka. Then you can play.
Smiling to himself at the thought, Sokka laid back against the pillows. He was going to pay her back for all she did last night, and she was going to love it. He'd bet his sword on it.
Spreading his arms gently, as to not disrupt the stones, he said, "See I can be a good man. I'm just laying back relaxing, waiting for you to feed me. I promise not to do anything."
She grabbed another bite and stuffed it in his mouth, perhaps a little more forcefully than needed.
"You," chew, "gonna," chew chew swallow, "eat any of that?"
"I will after you eat. You need it more than me," she responded getting another chopstick of food ready.
"Hey, you need to eat too. You expanded as much, if not more energy than me," Sokka declared. He wasn't about to eat everything and leave her with nothing. That wasn't how he operated. Injured or not, she would eat as much, if not more than he would.
"I have something for me in the bag, now open up."
For the next few minutes she fed him, bite by bite until the container was empty. Sokka was too concerned about her eating and hopefully sleeping, to question her more about what had happened the night before.
"Okay now you eat." Sokka could tell she was forcing herself to stay awake. When she pulled two cinnamon rolls out of the bag, Sokka faked a look of outrage.
"I see what you did there. Fill me up with meat, than keep the sweets to yourself. Not cool," he said jokingly, earning a small smile from Azula. As she ate the cinnamon roll, Sokka started thinking of ways to get her to take a nap. He couldn't sit up and grab her, she'd get pissed if the stones move…so how do I get her…an idea struck him.
"Could you look at my head? I took a few kicks to it and just want to make sure any damage is healing up," he asked when she finished her rolls. His groin stiffened once more as he watched her lick the frosting from her lips…woman will be the death of me… and disposed of the bag.
She leaned over him, bracing one arm next to his head, the other moving slowly through his hair checking for the cuts. Sokka reached out and circled her bracing wrist with his hand, pulling slightly.
"It's not happening Peasant, stop trying," she said smartly, still leaning over him she continued, "Those stones are amazing, the cuts are completely sealed up."
Pulling slowly, he moved her hand a little further, trying to upset her balance and make her fall next to him. She looked down at him, a questioning looking upon her face.
"I'm cold, you should come down here and lay next to me. Warm me up a bit," Sokka gave her his winning smile. She smirked and rolled her eyes. But, to Sokka's satisfaction, she stretched herself out next to him, placing her head on his shoulder.
Now to get her to fall asleep…
"See this isn't so bad now is it? Why don't you take a nap?"
"Can't nap, need to keep the stones hot," Azula said, "I have to keep you healing and safe…almost failed last night…"
Sokka noticed her voice getting quieter and quieter, as if she was already falling asleep. He wrapped his arm around her a little tighter, pulling her closer.
"How did you almost fail you…" he looked down, noticing that Azula had curled up closer to him and was breathing evenly and softly.
"Well that worked better than expected," Sokka murmured. Leaning down he kissed her head.
Mission accomplished…why would she think she almost failed?
He leaned into the pillows further, making sure the stones stayed where Azula had placed them. They were still glowing the light blue color, though not as brightly as before.
I'll just close my eyes for a few moments as well, can't hurt anything… Sokka closed his eyes and pulled Azula closer, within moments, he was fast asleep once more.
Sokka woke up to someone knocking insistently on their door. Before Sokka had a chance to grab his sword, Azula rolled off the bed facing the door, blade drawn with her feet braced in a fighting stance, glaring at the door.
Note to self…always wait for Azula to wake up first…
"Who is it?" Azula's voice held the sound of authority. Sokka's eyebrows winged up…and the princess is back.
"I'm one of the crewman ma'am, just letting you know that the ship will be porting in a couple of hours," a male voice responded from the other side.
When Azula didn't respond, Sokka called out, "Thank you."
He heard a foot stamp, then the crewman was knocking on the next door.
"How long have I been sleeping for?"
"I don't know….an hour or so. I didn't want to wake you…well and I sort of fell asleep as well." Sokka rubbed a hand through his hair. He felt the stones falling from his chest as he sat up. Picking them up, he studied them once more, they were black again.
He looked up at her. "Before you fell asleep, you mentioned something about almost failing…what did you almost fail at Azula?"
"Oh…nothing. Just nothing." She looked around the room, "Well we need to get packing. We have to get our stuff, the ostrich horses and get the hell off the boat and out of the city as quick as we can." She moved quickly, grabbing and stuffing things away in their bags.
As she moved by him towards the bathroom, Sokka stretched his arm out, catching her around the waist, and pulled her close. She tilted her head up, glaring at him.
"We don't have time for this Sokka. We have to get…." he silenced her with a kiss. It was supposed to be a light little peck but it turned deep and passionate, within moments Sokka found his tongue dueling with Azula's. Her arms reaching around his neck, pulling him closer, pressing against him harder. Sokka grasped her hips, pulling her core right up against his own.
"I've been so worried…I didn't…I didn't know if you'd make it," Azula's broken voice broke the kiss. Sokka pulled back, noticing the tears slowly falling down her face. He wiped them away with his thumbs cupping her face.
"I'm doing great. You got me back here, you healed me. You didn't fail Azula. You never could," Sokka said calmly. When she looked away, tears no longer falling from her face, but a sad look had come into her eyes.
"Azula, what's wrong?"
She took a deep breath, "I did almost fail Sokka…if it wasn't for her I don't…I don't think you'd be here. "
Her…I thought she said it was a couple who brought the stones?
"Well…yeah the old couple helped you…but you were the one that trusted them to come in…by doing that, you saved me…"
"I wouldn't have trusted them unless she…I didn't get you back here by myself Sokka…I barely got us away from the back deck," Sokka gently pulled her face back up to meet his. He looked into her eyes, trying to make sense of what she was saying.
"Azula, what are you trying to say…"
Sokka watched as she took a deep breath, her eyes shifting around the room, on everything but him.
"Azula?" he asked quietly.
She sighed sadly, "You weighed so much…I didn't think I would get you back to the room… So I prayed to the spirits…and my prayers were answered." She looked directly at him once more, "Sokka, I think it was Yue who saved you last night…not me."
Sokka was in shock. He released Azula's face and backed up. As his legs hit the bed, he sat down.
Yue…Yue was…here…Yue…saved me.
He looked up at Azula, "Tell me everything that happened."
Author Note: Hope you liked it! I know it's not very action-y but that may not be for a while. But I'm thinking some smut may be making an appearance…soonish! But hope you enjoyed it! Onward to the next chapter…in a few days…