Chapter Rating: T (Language, Depictions of Violence)

A/N: No long afterword this time. But this was difficult. Was it a mistake to do this? Maybe. But I can only blame myself.

I hope you enjoy it.

Published on 09/16/2020

Chapter 21: Hatred and Love

The scent of burned wax lingered in the room. Azula drifted deeper into sleep, and Sokka continued to stroke her hand. Her whispers that haunted her dreams and sent chills through him soon gave way to the soft warm rhythm of her breath. He smiled, leaned his head against hers, and felt the warmth radiate through her hand against his.

"Is it just me, or is it hot in here?" The acupuncturist walked in, waving a small fan in front of his face. "Do you mind if I open a window?"

"It's your clinic." Sokka shrugged, even with the sweat that rolled down the side of his face, he was unsure if it was due to the climate. The acupuncturist nodded at Sokka's suggestion and did so.

Sounds from the outside poured in and caught Sokka's attention. Across the street, a crowd was gathered in front of a stage, two figures stepped forward, one wearing a red dragon mask, one wearing a blue spirit mask. Their performance entered the room with the window open.

"Wretched Water Spirit! Now that I've escaped your curse and regained my true nature, you shall pay for your trickery!" The Dragon declared.

"Have you learned nothing from out time amongst the mortals? By threatening me, you invite your own doom!" The Water Spirit shouted.

They both attacked each other, streamers shot from their wrists as if they were made of fire and water; the dragon jumped up behind the water spirit and released another bunch of streamers that engulfed the Water Spirit.

"No! Curse you, foul dragon!" The Water Spirit cried. Azula shifted in the bed; Sokka turned to comfort her again. He held her hand and lulled her back to sleep. Once she was calmed, he took another deep breath of the warm night air, and found his eyelids becoming just as heavy as the play went on.

"Excuse me," Sokka heard a voice call to him while shaking his shoulder. "Sir, there's a messenger here for you."

"Sokka, the name's Sokka." He rubbed his eyes.

"Sokka, then," the doctor nodded his head. He stepped out of the room, and another man bowed.

"Master Sokka," the messenger presented a piece of parchment. "The Firelord sent me here to inform you. He has accomplished his task."

"Thank you." Sokka took the paper.

"Is that all, Sir?"

"Uh...Yeah, dismissed." Sokka held back a chuckle, repeating the words he heard so many times, but bowed to the messenger. The paper he held was a crudely drawn map, but distinct enough to know where to go. "Hey," he shook Azula's shoulder, her eyes opened, blinking with warmth. "It's time to go. Zuko and Mai found your mother."

As the words left him, he saw a flame light in her eye.

"Let's hurry." Azula sat up from the bed. Sokka tried to calm her with a pat on the shoulder.

"There's no rush. I'll lead the way." Sokka whispered with a shaking voice, hoping that Azula's thoughts when she was asleep would never fully manifest while she was awake.

Those were just nightmares; she wouldn't really do those things...right…? He thought and hoped to himself.

"So," Sokka whispered to her as they stepped out. "Are you doing alright?"

"What do you expect me to say?" Azula grabbed his arm and pulled him close.

"The doctor said you'd experience things that you'd hate. What did you see? Are you supposed to see anything?" Sokka relaxed his arm.

"You really want to know?" Azula's voice shrunk, her grip tightened around his arm. Sokka shrugged while another crackle of static slipped across his skin. "I saw my mother, and I saw how she used to treat me. And I hated every single second of it."

Something struck Sokka.

A fire seemed to spark in her eyes, but it was as cold as the one he'd felt in his dream; a flame that burned but wouldn't provide warmth.

"We'll figure this out. I promise." He said. Azula leaned deeper into his arm.

And a different sense of warmth struck him. A comforting sense of warmth.

"Thank you." She whispered to him as they walked through the night, following the crudely drawn map.

…

On the outskirts of the small village, they came across a hill on the coast, and heard voices coming from the small house above.

"That sounds like Zuko," Sokka said.

"...I don't think this was a good idea." Azula stuttered, her voice dragging through the air. "I'll stay here, tell Zuko to not take so long. Please."

"Okay." Sokka sat Azula down on a rock and scrambled up the hill. The small farmhouse came into view, Zuko and Mai stood with an older woman who embraced her son with tears in her eyes.

"I can't believe he did that to you." She said to Zuko. "I should have been there to stop him. I'm sorry." Her hand hovered over the scar on his face.

"Don't be, everything is going to be okay now. He can't hurt us anymore." Zuko replied. They turned to Sokka, he stopped in his tracks.

"Sokka, you made it!" Zuko said. "This is my mother, Ursa."

"It's an honor to finally meet you, Ma'am." Sokka bowed. "I've heard a lot about you."

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Sokka." Ursa smiled through her tears.

"You're here, but where's Azula?" Mai asked.

"Azula…?" Ursa's eyes widened. Zuko embraced his mother, her tears soaking into his shoulder.

"Yeah," Sokka rubbed the back of his neck. "About that, she's at the bottom of the hill. She told me to go ahead. I don't mean to interfere with this family reunion, but I think it'd be for the best if we didn't drag her up here."

"It's okay, we don't have to rush anything." Zuko said.

"No, I've been away from you two for far too long." Ursa fought back more tears. "I have to do this."

Sokka nodded and led them down the hill, at the edge he managed to gaze down at the rock where he had left her, and she's was gone. Sokka raised a hand and searched the horizon, there he found a lone figure standing by the shore. He pointed to her but motioned for them to stay low.

"I'm sorry, but for your own safety, I need you to let me go check to Azula first."

"But—"

"Mom, please." Zuko interrupted. "Go ahead, Sokka. We trust you."

"Zuko, you saw what happened at the clinic. I promise I'll do my best to calm her down. Just, be prepared." They nodded to each other, then, Sokka made his way to the coast. His footsteps seemed heavier as he walked towards her; the whispers she told herself repeated in his mind with sweat dripping down his brow. It felt like every step drove him deeper into the sand. Azula stood still in the moonlight, her eyes turned down watching the waves hug the shore in their natural flow.

"So, Zuko actually found her." She growled.

"He did," Sokka walked with his hands held out. "And you won't believe how long she's been wanting to see you again." His voice cracked. "I'm here for you." He took hold of her hands and urged her to face him.

"Thank you, Sokka," She turned up to face him, her eyes burning with life, her hands warm like a hearth. "I don't know what I would—" she peered over his shoulder.

He saw her eyes go wide and he felt a chill take her hands.

Her leg struck his side, pushing him away, and in a flash, lightning leapt from her fingers.

It crackled through the air; Zuko shielded his mother, and with an extended hand redirected it to cut the sky in half.

"Get out of here!" Sokka shouted and threw Azula behind him. She landed on all fours in the tide, columns of steam billowed from her hands. She clawed at the wet sand, her burning hands boiling the water from the incoming waves. Mai and Zuko rushed Ursa back up the hill.

"You..." Azula's voice rumbled as she returned to her feet. "Why do you keep doing this to me?" Water dripped down her dress and followed in uneven droplets through her long, loose, raven hair in the moonlight. "Why do you keep haunting me?" Flames engulfed her hands, burning away the long sleeves of her robe and leaving behind jagged fabric and steam.

Sokka swallowed the knot in his throat.

She moved like lightning. A light passed over his eyes, and a force struck his face. The warmth of a fire touched his skin but left him unburned. He stumbled and regained his footing.

Azula looked as confused as he felt. Her eyes wide, she bit down on her lip, blood dripped down her chin. Another force struck his face. She threw another punch, he caught it with his hand.

And to his surprise, the flames still burned but avoided him—just like on Ember Island, they shifted before touching him, like she didn't want to burn him.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Azula, I love you." He looked deep in her eyes and saw the warmth there as the words left him. She stared at him, motionless. Her bleeding lip twitched, her eyes softened, and her face turned downward just as tears began to form.

"You don't love me!" Her voice echoed across the coast. "You never did!" Another force struck him. He crumpled to the ground, she jumped onto him. Again, pain burst through him, again, and again. The taste of blood coated his tongue. But even with her flame-covered fists, there was no fire in her outburst. It was a bitter, cold pain. "Even when I was a child…! You never—"

This isn't about me. Sokka thought as the pain mounted through his body. It's about—

"I have always loved you, Azula." Ursa's voice came from above; Azula's assault stopped. Sokka's head fell back into the sand, in his bloodied and blurred vision, he tried to lift a hand. "Rest now, Sokka. You've done enough."

"Shut up!" Azula moved off of him and approached her mother. "Even now, you care more about someone else than me! You never showed me love! You've always hated me!" Azula's hands began to glow with lightning. "I've never been worthy of your love!" Her voice broke. "Why…?!"

"What I did was wrong." Azula grabbed Ursa when she replied and pulled back a fist fueled with lightning. "I was a terrible mother."

"I should kill you now! Then I'd finally be free!" Azula drew her fist back. "Free from this pain!"

"If that would bring you happiness. I would gladly sacrifice myself." Ursa caressed Azula's cheek with her hand. "I'm—I'm sorry that I didn't love you as much you deserved."

Sokka prepared for the worst.

Tears streamed down Azula's eyes and she fell into her mother's arms. Her cries echoed in his ears, followed by footsteps and more voices. His muscles relaxed, pain throbbed through him and he let the sounds of the gentle waves merge with the darkness that surrounded him.

"Sokka!" He heard Azula's strained voice. Two hands grab his face, the fire that hovered in them warmed him. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to—"

"It's okay." He whispered to her, feeling her tears dripping onto his face. "It'll be okay." He continued to whisper, even as her cries built in his ears, until consciousness left him.

…Sometime later…

Light came into his vision. A soothing warmth hovered over him and urged him to open them. He sunk into the comfort at his back. Burning candles surrounded him. He looked across from the bed where he laid and saw a door that led to the room where he used to sleep. The blanket draped over him told him he was in Azula's bed. Sitting at a table next to him, was a portrait that wasn't there before—Firelord Zuko stood behind Ursa, and next to him, stood Azula. Another door opened at his side, and footsteps came towards him.

"You're awake." Azula's voice, soft and comforting made his heart jump.

"Yeah," he nodded with a smile. "How long has it been?"

"A few days." She sat next to him on her bed and held his hands, engulfing them with an incredible warmth. "I'm glad to see that you're feeling well." Sokka looked around the room again, seeing that the candles were not only adorned with red flames, but blue flames as well.

"You got your firebending back?" Azula held out a hand with a smile, a small blue flame burst into existence and hovered over her palm, dancing in a smooth, hypnotic rhythm. "Aang said you needed to find a new source, what was it?"

"You're smart; you can figure it out." Azula leaned forward and took his lips into a kiss.

Sokka was engulfed with a warmth that melted away all his cares in the world.

And the flame in Azula's hand grew in power.

THE END

A/N: I always felt that I couldn't write Sokka well. And I will admit that telling the final part of this chapter would have been easier if it was done in Azula's perspective.

If I revisit this pairing, I hope I can do a better job, without telling the same story again.

If you liked it, or loved it, that makes me happy. I only regret that I didn't love it as much as you did.

So, like Ursa to Azula: I'm sorry, The Wolf and the Tigress, I didn't hate you, but I didn't love you as much as you deserved.

Until next time, whenever and if-ever I can come up with another story, take care of yourselves, and thanks for reading.

-WanderingRurouni