Chapter 1
"I've got a plan Katara, you have to trust me. You see how exhausted Aang is. And we have no idea where Toph went after…" Sokka trailed off, not wanting to relitigate the argument that Katara and Aang had just recently had with their newest earthbending companion.
Katara had the decency to look ashamed as she muttered a half hearted apology and glanced at her feet. The fatigue of the past day and night chase had drained all of them and led to words between the travelers that were regretted. She looked up and saw grim determination in her elder brother's eyes that she hadn't seen in Sokka since Princess Yue was lost to the realm of the living forever.
"I trust you Sokka, I just don't want you to get hurt. These girls chasing us are dangerous. The acrobat took me out of combat with ease at Omashu and I'm almost a master waterbender! To say nothing of what that firebender was able to do against Aang."
Sokka looked crestfallen. Most of the time he was able to get past his jealousy and resentment of Katara and the other powerful benders that made up his friends, but when directly confronted with his inability to wield the elements, his old feelings of inadequacy would resurface. Despite the feeling, Sokka quickly pushed down a particularly biting retort to Katara's concern and sought to address her comment with the most measured and logical response he could.
"Look Katara, I know you're stronger than me in ways I could never hope to be, but I'm your brother and I promised Dad that I would keep you safe. I won't fight these monsters head on. I'll obfuscate and delay and buy us as much time as I can okay. I need you to trust me. I can do this. I know I can." By the end of his speech, the determination that Katara had seen just moments ago had returned.
Tears came to Katara's eyes as she enveloped her brother in a bone crushing hug. As she separated from Sokka, she wiped her eyes with her bending. "You've always been my hero Sokka, you did keep the tribe safe. You taught all of us so much. You're so much stronger than you think."
Sokka raised a hand and placed it on Katara's shoulder. He locked his gaze on his sister for far to short a time. He gave a soft smile before removing his hand and using it to grip his boomerang. Sokka started to walk towards Appa, but not before quietly whispering in Katara's eye low enough that not even Aang could overhear. "Keep him safe. Don't jeopardize yourself for me."
Sokka knew that his sister heeding that warning was wildly unlikely. It was incumbent on him then to be successful. While he had told Katara that he had a plan and that the plan was worthy of trust, he hadn't been entirely truthful. He had the makings of a plan and a couple of solid ideas that needed thread to connect them. He wouldn't admit that to either Aang or Katara. Not when they were showing such faith in him.
The true x-factor and the one that Sokka couldn't really prepare for would be how many of their pursuers would follow his carefully laid trap. If it was all three of them, it would greatly complicate matters and make his chance of escape almost completely negligible. If it was either of the two nonbenders, Sokka was confident the traps that he was going to set would be more than up to the challenge of defeating them. The real risk would be if he was confronted with the firebender. He had never seen anything like her before. Sokka could say with some certainty that in the last year he had seen his share of firebenders from Zhao to the Fire Sages at Roku's temple. Even Zuko, the dastardly bastard that he was, had nothing that matched the grace or sheer deadliness of that girl's blue fire. Aang himself was hard pressed to match her and the Avatar had already mastered two of the four elements.
Sokka shuddered at the thought of confronting her alone without any bending prowess of his own. He finished gathering as much of Appa's shedded fur and took off in the opposite direction as the other two. He had to be subtle with his hints but just obvious enough to draw in at least one of the girls who had been hounding them. If he succeeded in that he could tilt the odds in favor of Aang and Katara when they engaged the other two. Sokka inwardly hoped to deal with the one who utilized knives in combat. She seemed the least deadly of the three. The chi-blocking of the acrobat was a true problem that could incapacitate him in seconds if he wasn't careful. If it was the firebender, he would lay a couple extra delaying traps and tricks. If it was the firebender, his best defense would likely be strong prayer and aid from the spirits who watched over the Southern Water Tribe.
His work was almost done. Now all he could do was wait to see which of their adversaries would come like a polar bear dog drawn to juvenile otter penguins. Sokka thought about the lessons his father tried to impart about combat, but for some reason all that came to mind was advice about how to properly hook halibut while fishing on the family canoe. For a brief moment he thought back fondly of those trips before the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe had left to fight in the Earth Kingdom against their foes.
Sokka heard a sharp ping. The outer perimeter had been breached and the noise had revealed that an enemy was approaching and would be within sight in his subconscious words from Hakoda echoed in his mind. Some of the last words that were spoken between father and son before they were split all those years ago. Never give in to despair Sokka, no matter the odds, we must fight to the very end protecting those we love.
"I won't Dad." Sokka quietly said aloud as the one individual he most decidedly did not want to see entered his view. She dismounted off of her mongoose lizard before quickly tying its reins on a column of a broken down Earth Kingdom building. Sokka could only grimace as he realized that his worst fear had been realized. That grimace however turned to a smile as he realized it meant Aang and Katara would likely then only have to fight the two Fire Nation non benders.
Tall decrepit buildings lined both sides of the only major thoroughfare in the abandoned town that Sokka confronted the firebender. She strutted forward confidently getting nearer and nearer her opponent. Her lips curled downwards, it was clear to Sokka that she had likely been hoping to confront the Avatar.
"I'm sorry, were you looking for an airbender?" Sokka called out tauntingly, hoping to enrage the firebender into acting irrationally.
She shrugged her shoulders and lifted her right hand in the air, pretending to inspect the long nails that looked almost like daggers. "It matters not, I can draw the Avatar out of his hiding by capturing his traveling companion."
Sokka knew that she was also doing her best to bait him into acting rashly, but he couldn't stop himself from rising to respond. "Why are you doing this? Who are you and what do you want?" Sokka interjected loudly.
"You mean you haven't guessed. You don't see the family resemblance? Here's a hint." The young woman lifted her left hand and covered her right eye. She dropped her voice in a facsimile of a man before continuing "I must find the Avatar to restore my honor. It's okay you can laugh, it's funny."
Sokka looked at her for a brief moment in shock before letting loose a sharp and loud laugh. The firebenders lip twitched upward for a brief moment and Sokka thought that maybe he had imagined it.
"So I take it you're a Princess? And the sister of that infernal Zuko who won't ever stop chasing us no matter how many times we kick his butt?"
"Yes, Little Zuzu is quite the disappointment isn't he. I'm glad even Water Tribe peasants can see his failures for what they are."
Sokka laughed heartily at hearing the man who had constantly harassed them for the past year had a nickname so embarrassing. "Zuzu, classic. I'll have you know though, that I'm no peasant."
"Oh?" The Princess arched one eyebrow after smirking at the water tribesman disdain for her brother.
"I'm Sokka, the son of the High Chief of the Southern Water Tribe. You could say I'm basically a prince!" Sokka announced proudly.
The Princess gave a brief chuckle, before staring directly at her adversary with golden eyes that Sokka would only later be able to describe as piercing. "A prince, eh? I must confess myself unaware of the customs of the Southern Water Tribe. I swore they didn't have any form of nobility being snow savages as they are. Or is this just your desperate attempt to pretend yourself my equal? Or better yet a foolish effort to think yourself worthy of pursuing me?"
Sokka flushed in anger. Maybe subconsciously he was trying to make himself look better in front of this young woman when he called himself a prince. Sure it wasn't that far off, he had essentially led the entire tribe in absence of his father for three whole years. Sokka inwardly tried to calm himself. Yet despite himself he found himself observing her. The Princess was one of the most striking individuals he had ever seen. With beautiful sleek black hair, and lips that looked most alluring with her pink lipstick… Sokka shook his head, banishing the unbidden thoughts from his mind.
"WHAT ARE YOU EVEN TALKING ABOUT. WE ARE ENEMIES. YOU'VE ATTACKED US TWICE."
Sokka winced. He had sworn to himself that he would remain calm and composed in order to fight to the utmost of his capacity. He had to regain the upper hand.
"Tut-tut." The Princess clucked her tongue in a mocking manner. "Can't we just conduct ourselves with dignity befitting our royal status, savage?" The Princess' eyes looked full of mirth as she toyed with the prey before her.
"So you admit I'm noble then!" Sokka's expression brightened young woman's cheeks briefly flushed as the water tribesmen completely ignored the scathing remark she had included.
"Your proclaimed nobility will not stop me from taking you as my prisoner and dragging you back to the Boiling Rock in chains." The Princess spit out the words venomously after the man in front of her so clearly brushed aside her verbal salvo.
"Awh geez, Princess I'm just here buying time so that my sister and the Avatar can defeat your two friends before coming to help me subdue you. So if you don't mind your courtesies Princess, I've given you my name, might I have yours before we fight?"
Fire flared from the fingers of the Princess as she realized that she had wasted valuable time engaging in a war of words with the man in front while her friends were possibly being defeated by two powerful benders.
"Well, snow savage, this is quite possibly your last day as a free man, I may as well make you aware that you stand in the presence of Azula, Crown Princess of the Fire Nation. Most beloved daughter of Agni and bender of the blue flames." Azula finished with a derisive head bow.
Sokka looked at her and felt for a brief moment that he would regret what he was forced to do. "Good luck then Princess, it will be quite a shame when you're beaten by a nonbending savage." When Sokka finished his statement he pulled on the string that he had been holding since before Azula had even walked into the town. An explosion of debris and dust came from both buildings to the left and right of the firebender.
Azula quickly spun and blasted as much of the debris away from her as she could with two spinning flame fists. Despite successfully protecting herself from being injured by any of the hazardous materials, a large blanket of dirt and sawdust coated the road all around her.
Sokka hurled his boomerang at what he knew to be Azula's last location. He was rewarded when there was a loud curse from inside the dust cloud. His boomerang didn't return and Sokka had no idea where he had impacted the Princess or what type of damage he had done to her, but he still felt good that he had drawn proverbial first blood.
Azula took the boomerang to her thigh and staggered forward when hit by it. She sent two powerful blasts forward in front of her blindly towards the road. Sokka had already started running to the cover of a building to his left. Despite his quick reactions the leftmost fire blast still almost scorched him and Sokka felt the heat all around his body. He reached the door of the building and looked at the two mirrors he had set up in order to see outside the structure. When Azula had cleared the dust cloud and ran forward towards the direction her opponent had moved, Sokka pulled the trigger on two more of his explosions. The first was a debris and dust cloud like the first set of explosions. The second explosion however was a cloud of gas and various other chemicals that he had taken from Fortune Teller Wu's home in recompense for his help at saving the tower.
Azula quickly blasted the debris away from her and was unphased by the dust. However, the chemical gas cloud settled over her and caused her to cough. The Princess rolled onto her back and shot fire from her legs all around in an attempt to clear out the chemicals. She quickly realized her mistake. The chemicals and gasses when mixed with her flames ignited into a massive inferno. Azula shrieked loudly when it became clear what was occurring.
She climbed to her feet despite the gas igniting and surrounding her. She began to spin rapidly encasing herself in a cocoon of her own flame warding off the massive inferno that blazed all around her. Her breathing was steady. Her flames flared blue amongst a sea of orange.
Sokka looked on in amazement. He had never seen an act of firebending that displayed such mastery and power in his life. The Princess's bending and the inferno around her set fire to many of the surrounding buildings, and with them a number of the traps that Sokka had meticulously planned to use against her. Cursing under his breath. Sokka quickly ran out of the building he had been hiding in as it became almost fully engulfed in a mixture of orange and blue flames.
Cursing and realizing that his boomerang might not survive the hellfire encircling the princess, Sokka sprinted across the street to a building unmolested by the conflagration. Sokka had a small makeshift cannonade that he could ignite using the same type of reaction as the chemicals and gas. The back of the cannonade had a small tube filled with the gasses and chemicals necessary for the reaction. Silently thanking the Mechanist for everything that he had been taught, Sokka wheeled the cannonade into the road and directed it towards the diminishing inferno. He prepared a match and took aim at the center of the blue flames. The raging firestorm abated, and Princess Azula stepped forward.
Her bangs were slightly disheveled and her knot had a few loose strands but the rest of her appearance looked immaculate as she emerged confidently with rage in her eyes.
"What else do you have for me Savage? More tricks and deceits? You can't defeat me. Surrender now and I promise I'll take you as my personal prisoner. You're clearly a clever boy. I can set you up with your own laboratory. You can tinker and invent all day long. If not well, the Boiling Rock is always looking for new occupants…" Princess Azula smirked as she paced forward looking at the contraption the water tribsemen had pointed directly at her.
"While I'd love to have the Fire Nation's industry at my beck and call, I could never join your war machine when my whole goal is to destroy it Azula." The Princesses eyes flared at the informal usage of her name. Sokka struck the match that he had prepared and quickly ignited the reaction. A vicious blast propelled a mix of nails and sharpened wood towards Azula. The Princess snarled and lifted her hands into fists and raised them high over her head. She brought them down in a powerful arc igniting the air in front of her.
Sokka looked on in amazement for a brief second as Azula incinerated all of the makeshift projectiles that he had blasted at her. Sokka jumped to his right and climbed up a set of stairs four at a time. The Princess tore off after him at a torrid pace. She quickly ran through the threshold that her foe had just passed and due to her haste almost fell straight down. The building Sokka had ducked into was an empty shell. Azula teetered on the precipice. She waved her arms in a desperate attempt to avert herself from what could be a painful fall. Sokka had been waiting for her to round the corner and while the Princess struggled to maintain her balance, Sokka leapt out from his hiding place adjacent to the door and tackled the Princess off the edge.
Sokka and Azula crashed heavily on the ground. Sokka heard a loud "oof" as Azula suffered the lionshares of the momentum of their unceremonious landing. Sokka quickly regained his wits and swung his legs over her, straddling the Princess' waist and pinning both of her arms over her head with his own. Azula gasped for air twice, before realizing the position she was in.
"Well well, savage it appears you have me at a disadvantage. First you sweet talk me with your tales of being royalty, then you do your damndest to blow me to the land of the spirits and now you have finally done your best to seduce me." Azula lay prone smirking, letting Sokka know how much control she really thought he had right now.
Sokka blushed mightily as he came to the same conclusion of the nature of the position they were in. Azula looked up at him expectantly, she lightly struggled trying to free her hands but quickly yielded when Sokka's grip was strong and snug against her wrists. Sokka couldn't help but think of the Princess now in an entirely different light. Obviously she was beautiful, he noticed that when he saw her for the first time in Omashu when she had fought Aang, but now up close, he could see the fullness of her lips, the soft almost porcelain nature of her skin, and her bright golden eyes. Sokka felt almost transfixed and found himself inching his head closer and closer to her. As their lips came within centimeters of each other, Sokka heard someone come running through the doorway stopping on the precipice above them.
"What the hell, Azula, what are you playing at?"
Prince Zuko had arrived.
A:N- Welcome to my first story. This story will cling to canon for a little bit after this before diverging quite heavily as things progress. All of the main slate of characters have been aged up a few years. Please enjoy and if you want to chat on here or on tumblr, you can find me at DeadDirector, talking all things Sokkla or ATLA.