For a moment, while they watched Aang rescue Zuko, both Sokka and Azula simply froze. It would be a safe bet to say that they were both surprised by what had just happened and as it all caught up with them they needed a moment to process it. Sokka was the first of the two to snap out of the daze, realizing for the first time that his arms were wrapped around Azula's waist and that he was still holding her high as he could off the ground. When he finally realized this he placed her gently back onto her feet, which seemed to be about when she finished processing everything.
"Uh…" he trailed off awkwardly. But before she could've said anything Aang's voice cut through the tension.
"Zuko!" He exclaimed and the two noticed that Zuko had collapsed onto the ground in a heap of unconsciousness.
Understandably they both hurried over to him along with the rest of their little group. Suki was the first to get there, and as such she was the one kneeling down and turning Zuko onto his back.
"What happened?" Katara questioned in concern and the glare Azula gave her was a mix of annoyance and distain.
"He just went plummeting into the center of the earth, what do you think happened?" She snapped but Katara said nothing, knowing that now was not the time.
"What do we do?" Suki asked, by this point she had pulled Zuko's head into her lap as if elevating his head would really get him to wake up.
"We get him out of here, there's someone in Ba Sing Se I think he needs to talk to." Azula said, a commanding finality in her voice that said she was not to be argued with. They all knew who she was talking about, and they all knew that she was right.
Sokka bent down and hooked his arm under Zuko, quickly loading their unconscious friend over his shoulder. Aang helped him get their friend onto Appa but as the others loaded on, Azula began walking in the opposite direction.
"You're not coming with us?" Sokka called after her
"I came here on an ostrich hoarse, I'll meet you guys there." She replied and Sokka nodded.
"Be careful," he advised her and she rolled her eyes.
"Don't worry," she snapped, for the life of her she couldn't understand why he was concerned. He doesn't know her bending has become next to useless and the war's over anyway, not to mention she just helped him take down the entire Fire Nation army. He has nothing to worry about.
She was right, he had nothing to worry about. But that doesn't mean that Azula wasn't thinking about Sokka's words throughout her entire trip back. She just couldn't understand why he had asked her to be careful. She'd have to ask him once she made it back to the shop. Of course she had a theory, but it was far to absurd to be true. After everything she's done in the past she lucky she made a friend in Sokka, she could never let herself believe that he actually-
"Why am I even thinking about this?" She suddenly asked out loud, effectively cutting off her own thoughts. Why was she thinking about this? It's not only impossible but she should utterly repulsive; should being the key word. "I think he might have been onto something when he said I was delusional," She grumbled, deciding that she definitely made the right move going to live with her uncle and escaping from always being in her own head; especially if this is her head these days.
By the time she made it back to the Jasmine Dragon and put Peck away in the barn out back it was late at night. But strangely not everyone was inside, no, Aang was meditating on the roof.
"Whatever works," she muttered to herself, not knowing what else to say to the sight. When she got inside the restaurant she found that her uncle was cleaning up behind the counter while Katara and Sokka were sitting at a separate table. Zuko was nowhere in sight.
"Where's Zuko?" She asked as she took a vacant seat at the table.
"In the back on a cot, Suki's watching over him." Katara said and Azula gave a nod, accepting the answer.
"Where's Toph?" She asked, noticing the peculiar absence of the blind earthbender.
"She had to go back to her school," Sokka answered and when Azula looked at him in confusion he began explaining everything that had happened over the past year.
She wasn't too surprised to hear that Katara and Aang had become a couple since her departure, although she never would've imagined Toph running a school. The news that Zuko and Mai had broken up yet again was something else that she could not believe, how dumb does her brother have to be to let Mai get away twice? Not long after Sokka finished his tale Aang entered the shop, he looked worse for wear but he said nothing to his friends and only made his way to the back in order to speak to Iroh.
"I need go to talk to him," Katara said with a sigh, thus leaving Sokka and Azula alone in the dining room.
For a moment the two of them were quiet, each of them finding a different spot on the table's surface extremely fascinating. Sure Azula had wanted to ask why he warned her to be careful on her way home, but she knew the answer she would receive. He would tell her he was just being friendly, and regardless of if she believed him or not she wouldn't ask.
"So uh… this is where you've been?" He finally asked her, breaking the ever-lasting silence.
"For awhile," she admitted with a shrug, "I've walked around a lot of different places but yeah, I've been here for most of the past year. About eight months to be exact," she said and Sokka nodded.
"Didn't like traveling?" He asked but Azula shook her head.
"Actually I loved traveling," she contradicted, "But being alone on the other hand…not my thing." She confessed which she could tell surprised Sokka at least a little bit. "I'd rather be in one place with other people then traveling with only myself to talk to." She admitted and she couldn't quite tell if she liked or hated the fact that she could practically see gears turning in Sokka's head.
"What if you could do both?" He finally asked her; liked, she definitely liked the gears.
"I can't," she all but snapped.
"You could," he argued, "We're still traveling around all the time with this Harmony Restoration Movement, and without Toph and Suki Aang and Katara are overwhelming me with their oogies! If you come with us then you get to travel, I get someone to suffer through the oogies with me, and Aang gets an extra set of hands helping with the Harmony Restoration Movement! Everybody wins!" He exclaimed, growing more and more excited about the idea by the second.
"I wouldn't call me suffering with you a win," Azula mocked, "But I'll think about it," she agreed and apparently that was all Sokka was asking for because he agreed to it without protest.
Four days past after that. Four days of Azula looking at Zuko's unconscious form every time she went back into the break room at work. That was four days where she spent her breaks watching over him. Of course Uncle wasn't putting her on as many hours, she confronted him and told him that she wanted to work but he politely refused to up her hours. It didn't matter much anyway; she'd be in the shop either way. When she was working she was serving tea and when she wasn't working she was keeping an eye on Zuko.
"You know he's not going to wake up just because you're staring at him," Guang's firm voice snapped through her thoughts as she sat in the back room of the restaurant, three hours after her shift had ended.
"The second time I was shot, the time I came close to dying, he sat outside my room all night." She confessed and Guang sighed but didn't budge from his spot in the doorway.
"That was one night, you've barely slept in three." He argued but she didn't give more than a shrug. "Look I know you just want to be with him," He said sympathetically as he went over and took a seat beside his new friend. "When my mom was sick I didn't want to leave her side. But Rin had just lost her own mom and she needed me to take care of her, I know you're worried but your brother is going to be fine and in the meantime the world is still turning and you've got to turn with it." He said to her softly but she wouldn't move her eyes off of Zuko. She said nothing, because she knew he was right and in all honesty really is going to be ok. But she just can't help it; she wants to stay here and make sure of it.
"Hey," Sokka's voice came from the doorway, "Sorry I just thought I'd check and see if he was awake, I didn't realize you two were back here." He explained; he didn't know much about Guang other than the fact that he was a good guy who always had his little sister with him if he was here after hours. His sister was cute, your typical bright-eyed little girl with a mouth that runs about a mile a minute. He wasn't too keen on what Guang's relationship was with Azula though. They almost seemed like they could be more than friends but at the same time that didn't seem right, and for whatever reason such a sign came as a sensation of relief to Sokka.
"She's back here," Guang specified, "I'm trying to get her to go home and get some sleep." He continued in frustration.
"I'm fine," Azula spat and while Guang looked as though he was growing closer to losing his patients, Sokka's patients were yet to be tested today and so he approached and got down in front of Azula. "I'm fine," she insisted again before he could even get a word out, venom lacing her words in a warning.
"I know but he's right, you've been here every time I stop by and considering I leave late and you're still here I'll believe that you don't sleep much." He said; he, Katara, and Aang had been staying in an inn down the street for the past few days and they all stopped into the shop periodically, mostly after hours. That being said it was almost always late when they left and Azula was always still there. "Just go take a nap and it'll shut us both up," he bargained but she didn't look like she was going to agree so he gave a sigh. "Alright fine," he said and before anyone could say anything he had scooped Azula up and slung her over his shoulder.
"Hey!" Azula yelped; Guang of course was now dying of laughter.
"Burn my head off if you want but-ah!" Sokka cut himself off with a yelp when he felt her actually burning the ends of his hair. She only singed it of course; she didn't do any real damage. Not that she couldn't have if she wanted to; her bending may be weak but it's still strong enough to set Sokka on fire.
But despite the embers falling from the back of his head Sokka marched outside of the shop with Azula and furthermore he went all the way down the street before he put her down.
"Thank you," Azula bitterly said when her feet finally hit the ground.
"I'll come get you if he wakes up, but your friend is right, go get some sleep." He ordered and Azula growled.
"You better come get me," she gave in and Sokka nodded.
"I will," he promised and so with that Azula, warily, disappeared the rest of the way down the street on her way to the apartment.
When Sokka arrived back at the Jasmine Dragon he did just as he told Azula he would and took over her position in the back. The silence of the back room was enough to drive his hyper active mind to other thoughts. He thought about everything that had just transpired in the last few days, he thought about what might end up happening in the next few days in order to fix this mess, and he thought about what the heck happened to his life. He isn't complaining, honestly he's not. He was born into a war torn world and he growing up he was completely ok with that. He was never really sure if he would see the end of the war over his lifetime, but he never could've imagined that he'd be among those who brought that end. He never could've imagined that Katara and him would be flying around the world with the Avatar in order to spread peace. He never could've imagined that he would be friends with the new Firelord and his sister, never could've imagined that he would've been as happy as he was to see Azula again.
"Thanks," a voice snapped Sokka out of his thoughts and when he turned he saw Azula's friend standing in the doorway.
"No problem," Sokka said, "Thanks for looking out for her, you really do care about her don't you?" He asked but Guang shook his head as he came and sat down next to him.
"Not in the way you're thinking," he replied, "Don't get me wrong she's a great girl, but if I wasn't sleeping at a friend's place every night I'd be sleeping here. We spend a lot of time together but to me she's more like a cousin or another sister or something." He confessed and much as Sokka would like to deny it this made him very happy. He wouldn't admit why though, that for now was going to stay in the deep recesses of his mind and even to himself he would deny it.
"She doesn't talk much," Guang finally said, "I mean she talks but not about…" He trailed off but Sokka understood.
"Not about who she was," he finished for Guang who nodded.
"We all know, and she knows it too. But just before you came in she said that she was shot? Twice? The second time she almost died?" He questioned, he had tried not to react when Azula originally mentioned this but now that she was gone he just had to know.
"Her dad hired an assassin," Sokka began, "One of the Yuyan archers. He attacked her one night and shot an arrow through her ankle and her shoulder, the last one was going for her heart but Aang redirected it. He came back a few nights later and shot her right through the back, Katara managed to heal her." He explained and Guang just looked like if Sokka's face weren't so serious he wouldn't have believed him.
"Man…" He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I figured she had been through a lot but I never thought her own dad tried to kill her." He said and Sokka just looked glumly at Zuko's still unconscious form.
Meanwhile, back at the apartment, Azula had managed to get some sleep. However it wasn't turning out to be as good of an idea as the boys had thought it would. The moment Azula closed her eyes her mind was plagued with a merciless onslaught of horrible visions that came together to create a nightmare. In it she stood alone in the teashop, and she was surrounded by fire. Her bending had become totally useless, and so she couldn't dissipate the flames. All she could do was hit her knees while she choked on the smoke and ash filling her lungs. Finally, the front doors opened, and standing there was a very angry looking Zuko.
"Zuko," she coughed, "Please, why are you doing this?" She coughed again but her brother said nothing, he just scowled at her. "Zuko please, this is exactly what Ozai would want you to do!" She shouted this at him despite the fact that she couldn't breathe.
But Zuko still said nothing; he just turned and left.