Disclaimer: The Avatar world and characters belong to Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.
I didn't want to write out the Boiling Rock episodes word for word so I've had a go at altering the settings slightly, I hope you like it!
"So where is your Dad being held? Do you know?" Zuko had asked Sokka as they packed supplies into Appa's saddle. Zuko was initially against bringing the sky bison, but, as Sokka had pointed out, Appa was the fastest way to get out of a bad situation.
After Sokka admitted that he didn't actually know where his Dad was being held, Zuko had been instantly glad that he'd intercepted the trip – his help was clearly going to be needed. However, Zuko was also incredibly worried about what he had signed up for with this unexpected trip.
Zuko, after much thought, had suggested that Hakoda might be at the high-security prison called the Boiling Rock; the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe would be an important political prisoner of war, after all. However, Zuko warned Sokka that the prison was supposed to be impenetrable.
"Where had you planned to go?" Zuko asked Sokka once the water tribe boy had blinked at the revelation that Zuko may know where Hakoda was. "Surely you weren't just going to wander around until you got captured and they put Appa in bison day-care?"
"It's stupid," Sokka had sighed in response. "The first part of my plan was to sneak into the Fire Nation Archives and find their prison records to see where my Dad is."
Zuko's mouth dropped open in surprise. After a few seconds of silence, Zuko nodded slowly.
"Sokka… that's a great idea. It's going to be tough to get into the archives, and it might alert the prison authorities if they work out what we're doing, but if we can go unnoticed then it'll be much smarter than breaking into a high-security prison on a guess." Zuko had moved to sit at the top of Appa's head, taking hold of the reigns. "Come on, there's no time to waste. Let's go. Yip yip!"
Sokka had found the Archives marked on their Fire Nation map, near to the Fire Nation Capital. Using his navigation skills they flew Appa and arrived at the Prisoner Archives sooner than they expected to. As Prince of the Fire Nation, Zuko had toured the main building and the Prison Archives during his brief time back home after Ba Sing Se. Once the pair were on the ground, Zuko used his memory of the place to navigate them through the grounds and buildings. The Archives were a small building located near the Fire Nation's main and largest prison which held records for all of the prisons located in the Fire Nation. They waited for nightfall before sneaking into the Archives building during the change of the guard.
Once they were in, Zuko immediately searched for the building's standard issue locker room, where he knew that staff would leave uniforms. After a few moments of frantic searching, he found it and, once Sokka had joined him, the pair quickly changed into Fire Nation guard uniforms which had been hung up in a locker which had been far too easy to break into. As stealthily as they could, they had snuck towards the offices where the most recent prison records would be held.
Rummaging through the office, the pair found tall cabinets where the information about the political prisoners were kept, and Zuko and Sokka began their search.
There was a surprisingly high number prisoners. Luckily, the files were categorized first by the prisoner's original nation and then by alphabetical names, helping them to narrow down the search for Hakoda, but it still took the boys longer than anticipated to search through the files for the one they were looking for.
"I found the Southern WaterTribe files! Ah here we go - Hakoda, Chief." Zuko pulled the file out of the drawer and flipped it open. "Sokka, get over here!" He whispered. Sokka moved over to Zuko, grabbing the file from the Fire Prince's hands.
"He's being moved?" Sokka read out loud, looking at Zuko in confusion. "Why?"
Zuko took the file back, rifling through it before pulling out another document.
"Look, here's a copy of the transfer request. There's a list of prisoners being moved from the Boiling Rock because some prisoners recently managed to escape. There's something about a few firebenders using the cool chamber as an escape pod across the prison's lake." Zuko paused as both he and Sokka momentarily admired the ingenuity of such an escape, before continuing to read aloud. "Security at the Boiling Rock has been deemed as unsatisfactory and a liability. These prisoners are top priority, and I will be transferring them into my watch at the late Admiral Zhao's former military and training base. Oh shit. Shit."
"What!?" Sokka asked in alarm.
"The request is signed from Princess Azula, the heir to the Fire Nation Throne. Nice to know they've cut me out of line, then."
"Crap. When's the transfer? Has it already happened?"
"The transfer will take place on… Damn it. Sokka, the move is already underway; they'll reach the transfer point by the morning after next."
"Can we make it in time to intercept them?"
"We can try," Zuko said determinedly.
Quietly, they put the files away to remove any evidence or trace that they had been there. Then they snuck back out of the Archives, trying to navigate their way back out of the building as stealthily as possible.
"Oh good. You're already here." A guard spotted them and, together with another guard, started to walk over to them slowly. Sokka and Zuko braced themselves, waiting to see what their next move would be. "This shift felt like the longest one ever tonight," the guard continued. "We're glad you're here early. Enjoy your watch, I'm ready to go home."
Sokka and Zuko stared at each other, relieved that with the helmet covering most of their faces, they'd been mistaken for the guards for the latest night shift.
"Uh, yep. We were just about to start with a quick patrol of the premises," Zuko lied hastily as he and Sokka tried to walk away.
"Suit yourself. Li got pretty pissy at me last time I patrolled on the same watch as him, so I'd avoid his quadrant on the east side," the second guard advised.
"Ugh, Li's on duty tonight? Fucking hate that guy," Sokka groaned.
The guards chuckled and walked away, leaving Sokka and Zuko to walk slowly on their "patrol". They waited for the guards to disappear from view before they made their way to Appa and safety.
They both sighed in relief as they took off into the sky, hidden by the dark night and thick clouds, keeping the guard uniforms on in case of unexpected interception.
"That was close," Sokka laughed to himself quietly as the adrenaline began to wear off. "This plan is going great! We're gonna rescue my dad!"
"I wish there was time to go back to the gang and get reinforcements," Zuko sighed. "Those Archives were almost too easy. We don't know how heavily guarded the ship is going to be."
"I know," Sokka replied. "But there isn't time, and I can't afford to lose this chance. I'm sure they just weren't expecting us to think of the Archives."
It took the rest of the night and a full day to reach the area they hoped to intercept the ship in. As they neared the area, the pair made sure to take it in turns to sleep whilst the other kept an eye out for the ship. Sokka had charted out the ship's likely route, and had been trying to navigate their way through the clouds while Zuko slept.
Zuko woke from his nap to see his companion staring out across the sea with a fiercely determined look on his face.
"Everything alright?" He asked. Sokka answered with a gruff "yeah", and Zuko was prepared to drop the subject when Sokka continued to speak.
Sokka's voice was low and rough. "Actually, no," he said. "I'm nervous - I'm afraid we might fail. Without Katara or Toph or Aang…" He looked over at Zuko, but avoided eye contact; eventually he looked away altogether. "I can't fail my dad again, not like the day of the Black Sun."
Zuko paused, trying to think of what his Uncle would say to help Sokka. He took a breath, and attempted words of wisdom.
"Look Sokka, you're going to fail a lot before things work out."
Sokka looked over at him, no longer hanging his head in shame. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
Zuko carried on. "Even though you'll probably fail over and over and over again-"
"Seriously, not helping!"
Zuko reached forward, putting his hand on Sokka's shoulder.
"You have to try every time," Zuko insisted. "You can't quit because you're afraid you might fail."
A look of sadness washed over Sokka as he remembered having to abandon his father and tribesmen, but he nodded, knowing that Zuko was right.
"Thanks. I understand what you're trying to say. I think," Sokka said. They sat in comfortable silence for a while before Sokka spoke again. "So," he said, clearly making an attempt at small talk. "Did you have any anyone special back home before you came to the temple and, uh… you know?"
Zuko nodded.
"I was… sort of seeing someone. Mai - you've met her."
"The gloomy one?" Sokka asked, eyebrows shooting up in surprise.
"Yeah," Zuko sighed. "What about you?"
"My first girlfriend turned into the moon," Sokka responded dejectedly. Zuko regretted asking.
"Ah," Zuko was unsure if he should pat Sokka on the shoulder or something; instead, he stayed sitting awkwardly across from him. "That's rough, buddy."
Sokka nodded, looking back out at the sea as another silence fell between them.
"The thing with Mai - it wasn't serious. And it doesn't really matter now anyway, because I'm committed to your sister," Zuko felt compelled to add. Sokka continued to stare at out the ocean below them, but nodded again slowly.
"Zuko, you should know that even if Katara refuses to admit that you two are married now, I can recognize that it's real," Sokka said. "She's going to have to face that sooner or later, too. In all honesty, I'd prefer sooner, because we can't afford for her to have a breakdown right before the comet. But yeah, no matter why you two ended up stuck together - thank you for trying to honour it."
Zuko couldn't help but feel the tiniest spark of hope swell inside his chest. It was more acceptance than he had ever thought he would receive from one of the Water Tribe siblings. "Thanks, man."
Sokka shrugged. "And I'll kill you if you hurt her," he added, giving Zuko a menacing stare.
The two fell into a mostly comfortable silence as Appa continued to float along the plotted course. The sun had just begun to set when Sokka exclaimed "I see it! I see a ship!"
Zuko pulled out his binocular spy glass to see where Sokka was pointing. It definitely looked like a ship to transport prisoners. They followed from a far distance, partly to check the ship was following the course, but also because they were waiting for it to be dark enough that Appa could approach the ship without being seen.
When the sky darkened, it was a mere matter of landing Appa on the deck of the ship, using the bison as a distraction to draw the attention of the handful of guards that they came across while Sokka sneaked behind to knock them out in a sneak attack. Sokka swiped a set of keys off one of the now unconscious guards, and the pair quickly ran below deck.
There were more cells than they had anticipated. And, to Sokka and Zuko's despair, they weren't marked with prisoner names or I.D numbers.
"How do we know which cell he's in?" Zuko hissed once they had knocked out the two guards on duty, a small ball of flame burning in his palm to light up the dark room.
Sokka stared at the blank cell doors, frowning, and then suddenly started moving from cell to cell, peeking in through the slot in each door.
"Hakoda?" He whispered into each cell, aware that just calling "Dad" into a cell wouldn't achieve much.
Zuko followed suit on the other side of the corridor, asking more respectfully for a "Chief Hakoda". For each cell they checked that didn't have Hakoda in, they woke up another prisoner, drawing attention to themselves. Chatter was beginning to rise in the hallway as people called back in confusion.
Sokka stopped at a cell suddenly, peering in closer as he recognised the auburn haired girl who was staring at him in confusion.
"Suki?" He asked in surprise. "Suki!" Sokka fumbled with the keys before successfully unlocking the door, flinging himself inside and at Suki.
Zuko watched as Suki did not respond well to the boy in Fire Nation prison uniform throwing himself at her. She dived out of the way, coming behind Sokka and pushing his face into a wall of her cell.
"What the hell are you doing?" She hissed at Sokka.
"Suki, it's me, Sokka!" Sokka pleaded with his cheek pressed against the wall.
"Sokka?!" Her grip loosened as she stepped back surprise.
Zuko could hear Appa's call of distress from the deck above, and he guessed that more guards had woken up and were aware of their presence on board. What he didn't know at the time was that he wasn't the only one to hear Appa's calls; Azula had been on a ship nearby, returning from a false sighting of her brother, when she spotted the prisoner transfer ship she had requested with the large air bison on board.
"We've got to go! Come on, me and Zuko are breaking you and my dad out!" Sokka told Suki.
"Prince Zuko? You two are friends now?" Suki asked sceptically.
"Real friends don't marry their friend's sisters by accident," Sokka grumbled. "But he's good now, you can trust him."
The chatter in the cells was reaching a distracting level as the prisoners went from calling out the guards to calling out to each other and shouting in general. Zuko knew that more guards would be arriving any second now, and they still hadn't found Hakoda's cell. He moved closer to Sokka to warn him of this, muttering a quick 'hi' in Suki's direction as he did so. She glared back at him; Zuko had become accustomed to being glared at thanks to Katara, but he was still surprised by the girl's apparent resentment.
"You two know already know each other?" Sokka asked in confusion, picking up on Suki's hostility as well.
"Last time we met you were burning down my village," Suki sneered.
"Oh. Um, sorry about that. Nice to see you again," Zuko mumbled, his face flushing red. "Sokka we need to get moving now!"
Zuko could hear guards coming down the stairs. "I'm gonna go hold them off, keep looking for your father," he said, increasing the flame in his hand in preparation. "If it looks like we're not going to make it out of this, I want you to blend in with the other guards and attack me, ok? Better that only I get captured than both of us."
Sokka shook his head in horror.
"We don't have time to argue about this," Zuko snapped. "Blend in if you have to!" Zuko didn't give Sokka or Suki a chance to respond before running off to face the guards. Suki followed suit; she had a bone to pick with more than a few of the guards on the ship.
Sokka, however, ran towards the next cell, looking in and not seeing his father. He could hear the sounds of Zuko and Suki fighting as he ran to another cell.
"Azula?!" He heard Zuko shout in surprise.
"Crap," Sokka cursed. Had Azula always been on the ship, or had she just arrived with her own personal army of guards? If he unlocked his father and they failed to get off the ship, then they would all end up locked away, with security increased around Hakoda. But what if he ran now and they did get off the ship? Sokka would have abandoned his father, and yet again failed to save him. But maybe it would be smarter to cut his losses and leave now while they still could.
Sokka stared at the corridor of cells. He'd nearly reached the end, and there was still no sign of his father. He had spent weeks thinking that maybe everyone would have been better off if he had known to cut his losses earlier on the day of the invasion. But then Sokka remembered what Zuko had said earlier about not being afraid of failing.
"Crap," he repeated as he began running towards the deck. He had failed, Sokka knew in his gut that they had failed. He needed more time on the ship to find his father, which meant they were going to have to make the best of the situation.
He ran up the stairs, joining the fray in the dark night. He spotted Suki sparring against several guards, though he could see that she was outnumbered. He could see Appa, tied up by several guards who were struggling to maintain their hold over him. As Sokka turned to assess the rest of the situation, he realised that Azula's ship had stopped next to theirs, and that she was beginning to cross onto their ship. She hadn't waited to start her attack, however; she was already throwing blue fireballs at Zuko from where she stood. Zuko dodged her attacks whilst fending off his own set of guards, clearly put off by his sister's impending presence.
Sokka rushed forward, preparing to tackle Zuko to prove his identity as a prison guard. Zuko looked over, a look of understanding and regret flashing across his face. As Sokka was about to make contact, Zuko struck him hard in the jaw. Sokka stumbled back in surprise, his head knocking against the inside of his helmet as he fell to the ground. He had no time to react before the black swam before his eyes and he passed out.
Zuko felt bad about hitting Sokka, he really did, but he knew that with Sokka's blue eyes and loud mouth, he'd blend in more as a guard who'd been knocked unconscious during a fight than a non-firebender who'd managed to successfully defeat Zuko.
Out of the corner of his eye, Zuko saw that Suki had been seized by several guards whilst Azula boarded the ship. He met his sister's gaze and moved into a fighting stance, preparing for battle. With his momentary distraction, Zuko failed to see the guards behind him. Several of them rushed at him simultaneously, successfully tackling him to the ground.
Azula sauntered over as they clamped metal restraints to Zuko's hands, securing them behind his back. He lifted his chin from the ground to glare at her.
"I'm surprised to see you here all alone, brother," Azula grinned. "Where are your new friends? In fact, where is your wife? I hear congratulations are in order."
Zuko seethed under the chains binding him as he tried to force himself off of the ground. He figured that the details in the report about his sighting on Ash Island had probably included his wedding with Katara, but the menacing tone to Azula's voice when she referred to Katara made Zuko furious. There was a toxic edge to her usual cold and calculating voice, mocking him for marrying a peasant from an enemy nation. But Zuko was furious because he suddenly felt like a fool, because he had failed to realise sooner just how much danger their marriage put Katara in. Zuko could hear in Azula's voice that Katara would never be safe now.
"I'm here alone. They sent me because I'm dispensable to them," Zuko bit out.
"Oh no, don't tell me the honeymoon period is already over?" Azula mocked. "And what did you come here to do, rescue some random peasant?" She gestured at Suki, who'd been put into metal restraints as well.
Zuko glared back at his sister. He knew it was fairly obvious why he had come to the prison ship, and that he'd failed to retrieve Hakoda. He considered lying about how Suki was the only prisoner that he had come for, but decided that Azula would either instantly know he was lying or trick more information out of him. Years of living with Azula had taught Zuko that silence was the safest answer.
"Pity, we used to have such wonderful chats, Zuzu. Oh well, you'll make a nice addition to my group of prisoners, now." Azula sighed melodramatically. "Guards, escort these two back to the cells."
