A/N:
AU prompt challenge from Tumblr - Interstellar. Requested by Focusas.
- Deep Space -
The latches disconnected with a deafening clang as the hatch slid open.
Darkness greeted Azula, an eerie silence filling the tattered habitation unit. Only the flickering lights in the cramped hallway behind her lit her path, stumbling across a floor strewn with discarded food rations, broken parts, and outdated data slates.
Her breath caught on the plasti-glass helmet - the only sound she could here in the dark. A light ping rang in her headset and she looked to the environmental scanning unit mounted on her left forearm. She pressed a flashing button, an automated voice immediately reading out the analyzed data after scanning the room.
Cabin pressure stable. Oxygen levels nominal.
She turned her body to face the light at her back, her bulky suit and helmet making it impossible to turn her head. In the hallway loomed a rectangular, robotic mass - an old U.S. Marine Corps tactical frame. Looking to her arm mounted scanning unit, she downloaded the analyzed information and began transmitting it to the frame.
"SATO, are you getting this data? I need you to double check the numbers for me," she asked, her voice electronically filtered through a microphone unit installed into her helmet.
"Yeah boss, I'm getting your feed," it responded, "Place is a trash heap, but its stable. You should be able to breathe fine, if you don't mind the ice and cold air."
"Good. See about getting the lights back online. I saw a power box in the hall that should hook up to the rest of hab unit."
"Already on it, boss."
Azula turned her body around, the weight of the suit making her lean forward, straining her muscles.
Scanning the dark, she set her eyes on a set of dim, luminescent switches - the control panel to a bone-white hyper sleep chamber.
She grimaced, narrowing her eyes. It had always reminded her of a plexi-steel sarcophagus. The warm preservative juices that protected the user were like embalming fluid to her.
Stepping over loose tubing and frost covered debris she made her way over to the chamber. With a heavy-padded gloved hand she brushed away the ice that accumulated over the control panel, quickly looking upon the name card welded into the surface of the lid:
DR. AMARAQ, SOKKA W. - 18
She then glanced over the numbers on the panel, checking if the vital signs were right. She gritted her teeth, her heart beating in her ears as her breath fogged up the glass in front of her.
She hissed. She could barely make out the data as it was, couldn't wait any longer.
Unclasping the seals connecting the gloves to her suit, Azula then reached her hands up to pry the latches off her helmet. It clanged against the debris littered floor as she threw it. The cold, recycled air sent a chill down her neck.
A generator droned to life as the lights flickered on, making it easier to see the instrumentation on the control panel. Condensation and ice cooled the tips of her fingers as she hastily pressed buttons to unlock the seal on the hyper sleep chamber. The connections to the electronic locks were still intact. The seals were free.
Reaching for the circular latch just above the control panel, Azula turned the worn-out handle as hard as her strength would allow. The plexi-steel lid sealing the chamber groaned as it slid open.
For a moment Azula just stared into the dim confines of the chamber. Her chest twisted in pain, heart thumping, eyes following the little streaks of steam as they rose out of the opening. Like dust in a sealed coffin blown into the air.
The dark water in the chamber stirred. A massive metal tray lifted above the surface, holding up a drenched body bag. She could barely make out the human lying motionless under the stained yellow plastic wrap, practically a corpse taken out of refrigeration in the basement of a morgue.
Cautiously, she moved to the side of the chamber where the body lay. The putrid smell of the preservation juices mixed with water caught in her throat. Compelled to gag on the taste, she fought back the urge and reached down to grasp the zipper at the top of the bag.
She pulled. The zipper snagged. Gritting her teeth, she yanked it down, ripping the plastic fabric, the body underneath it finally exposed.
God.
He looked so pale. Motionless. Hair matted down, his jumpsuit soaked. He should've woken up by now.
A minute passed. She held her hand over his mouth. She couldn't even feel the warmth of his breath.
Tension gripping her body, Azula leaned over the side and attempted to feel for a pulse. As she turned Sokka's head and lifted it out of the bag the water gushed through his teeth out from his mouth. He gasped and gagged as he desperately gulped down air.
Azula's eyes widened, taken off guard. She helped him sit up as best she could, his upper body stiff, crunched into a ball as he gasped with every breath he took.
She breathed out, relief washing over her. She thought she had lost him.
His eyes darted in every direction, his loose hair falling over his forehead, water trickling down from the strands. Azula brushed it away, making him look toward her. She could feel the warmth return to his skin as she cupped his cheek in her palm.
Would he even recognize her? He still looked as young as the day he left Earth and she had aged by nearly a decade.
He searched her face frantically, eyes widening. His chest heaved as he caressed her cheek, tears rolling down his face.
"Az… Azula?" he gasped.
She nodded her head, pressing her forehead to his, an arm wrapped around his neck.
"I'm here. I'm real."
He gripped the collar of her suit, a fist lightly pounding on her chest.
"Oh… oh fuck," he sobbed, tears running down his face, "You're here. You're really here."
He pulled her close, life slowly returning to him, and for the first time in years, having travelled across a dark and endless void, light years away from a dying Earth, Azula didn't feel so alone anymore.
]|||[
It was less surreal than Azula imagined it to be. Old science-fiction magazines back on Earth presented the idea of gazing up into a starry night sky populated by several moons as something exotic, even romantic.
Yet, after staring into the dark abyss of a black hole, watching time distort space and matter as her crew ventured through the Saturn Worm Hole to the Pentagruel system, a peaceful night looking up at three crescent moons seemed tame by comparison.
A much welcomed reprieve regardless, which was made all the more rewarding as Sokka held her tightly to his chest, head resting on her shoulder.
He kissed her neck from time to time as they rested on the rust-red rocks overlooking the alien desert, the lights from their camp illuminating the dark around them. She was more than compelled to return the gesture, kissing him squarely on the lips, her hand tracing across his bruised knuckles.
He sighed contently, rubbing his arms around her waist for warmth. He had a curious habit of squeezing too tightly and she had to tap his hand to loosen his grip, which he reluctantly did.
"You are too fond of me," she stated.
He chuckled, kissing the back of her neck, "I hope you never learn how good it feels to see another face, Azula."
"For a scientist, you make hasty assumptions," she retorted, "I saw your face didn't I?"
He paused. She felt his smile on the small hairs on the back of her neck, and it sent a pleasant shiver down her spine.
His words were husky and measured, "Hah. Smooth."
She loved the way her body shivered at the sound of his voice.
She smirked, "Naturally."
He closed his eyes, resting his head on the opposite shoulder, his hands tracing up her forearms as she allowed him to play with her fingers.
There was a sense of urgency in his tone that she didn't fail to pick up, "God, I fucking missed you."
"I can't imagine," she said, watching as he entwined his fingers with her own.
"I hope you don't. I didn't have a lot of hope. Getting slingshot across the galaxy just to crash land on this dust ball of a planet, just to find us a new home. Felt like a suicide mission. And after so long I just… I had nothing left in me."
His eyes settled over Azula's jumpsuit, noting the worn texture of the Chinese flag patch she wore just over her real name and mission designation:
朱蕾 - PROJECT ENDURANCE – NASA
"Supplies were completely exhausted, even if I stretched it out for more than two years. I had little to no resources for farming, much less the water for it. Hell, I didn't even put a wake time when I went down for the long sleep. You literally raised me from the dead, Azula."
She stared off across the vast desert, illuminated by the three moons hanging above, "… Lazarus."
"Yeah. Fitting name," muttered Sokka.
He looked to his own tattered patches that clung to the sleeve of his worn jumpsuit, the colors of the Canadian flag all but faded:
SOKKA AMARAQ - PROJECT LAZARUS – NASA
He didn't want to think about how grim his odds were. He just settled on resting his head in the nape of Azula's warm neck.
"I just can't believe I'm the only one left out of the original twelve," he said, almost regretfully.
Azula sighed, "You, Hahn, and Chan had the only data we received. By the time we launched Endurance and charted a course through the Saturn Wormhole to the Gargantua-Pantagruel system, those were the planets we could take a chance on."
Sokka blinked, looking at Azula, "But… my transmitter went out. Got crushed in a rockslide during a sandstorm. I had to decommission TAMI and use her power cells to try and get it up and running. Was barely enough juice just to power the lights, much less the transmitter."
She was silent for time, staring up at the stars.
She chose her words with a slow and measured tone, "We had no real reason to suspect your data had soured over the years. Your planet had key elements to sustaining life, despite the barren surface. Like Mars in its prime. I made the argument and despite objections saying that Chan's transmitter was still sending back data with equally promising prospects, I eventually, uh…"
Deciding to untangle her fingers from his, Azula showed him several cuts scattered across her knuckles. They were still scabbing over. He suspected that they'd leave scars.
"I eventually convinced our mission leader to see things my way. And so we plotted the coordinates to this planet."
The vagueness only made Sokka curious, "Uh-huh. I don't imagine words were exchanged in your counter-argument."
Azula smirked, "No, but a fair amount of punches were. Zuko may be a competent pilot, but he's no boxer. I'll give him credit though, he took more hits than I thought he could take."
"The fate humanity as we know was decided over a sibling squabble? Yeah, our future is fucked."
She merely chuckled, for the first time in a long time since he last saw her. It was as sweet to him as any melody.
"It will be a moment for our new history books I imagine."
"Yeah, epic, never mind the lives at stake," he said, fighting the urge to roll his eyes, "But I feel like that's only part of the answer."
She turned her head around to face him, eyes narrowed, "Nǐ hàoqí de húndàn! Don't make me say it. I don't want to think about it."
"C'mon, Azula. Chan's signal was still on. Even if he was dead and his planet was just an ice ball with even a small chance of life, your team would've still tried to hone in on his location. It was less of a risk."
She swiftly turned her head away, grimacing, "… Sokka, I didn't waste months on board a cramped ship just to be shot across the galaxy and waste humanity's hopes on a lie."
"What? What are you saying?"
"Báichī. You and I both knew Chan. Zuko refused to see it through the data he was analyzing, but I knew that bastard was lying. He'd made small errors in his calculations. Fudged the numbers where there we're gaps in his analysis, so to speak. Zuko can't count for shit sometimes."
As Sokka sat there, stunned by her revelation, Azula took one of his hands and intertwined her fingers with his own.
She kissed his palm, "I checked your numbers too. Ran them again, analyzed the results from my end, got SATO to check a third time. And now I'm here."
As she closed her fingers around his, Sokka pulled her in for a tight hug. She didn't protest, instead leaning back against him.
He placed her chin between his thumb and forefinger, turning her gaze toward him.
He smiled at her, "I'm glad you're here with me."
A/N:
Space Sokkla! If only I had added a zero gravity scene with them in it.
Please check out Purpleplatypusbear21's story "Prisoner's Dilemma" for more exciting Sokkla stories. If you're into intrigue and the brutal politics of the Fire Nation court, check out Clarielparke's "Phoenix Rising".
Hope you enjoyed and I'll see you in the next installment.