Alone Together: A Collection of Shattered Hearts

Idiot Savant.

10/6/14

"Whackapow!"

Azula slid to the right, and struck.

"Augh!"

She stared disinterestedly as the Water Tribe filth fell to his knees, clutching his midsection. His weapon of choice spun across the floor, only to be stopped by Azula's foot. Eyes narrowed, Azula picked up the…

"What is this?" she asked, holding the weapon up by two fingers. It crackled as sparks flew from the two metal prongs on the end of the rope it was tied to.

From the floor, Sokka answered, "It's my secret weapon that I'll use to escape you!"

Azula lifted one eyebrow, and with a sigh used her other hand to melt the contraption.

"Hey!" Sokka yelled, getting to his feet. Azula turned and walked over throwing, "Better try next time," over her shoulder before letting the guards take care of their prisoner.

Maybe yelling before his sneak attack was a bad idea. But it did create a learning experience in not only the art of sneaky attacks, but also in how to make his...er, uh. Names later, making weapon thingy better, now.

This was definitely a better try. One would think that the Water Tribe barbarian was actually, well, dangerous. With a spin and a kick, Azula separated the boy from his weapon, and maybe quite possibly broke his hand. Oh well. She picked up his new weapon, only to feel a jolt of pain in her hand. With a snarl, she dropped the weapon. In the same move she punch a blast of flame at it, melting the device where it lay. Next, she turned to the Water Tribe peasant, eyes narrowed.

"I'll make you pay for that," she said coldly. Sokka gulped. Maybe a metal handle was a bad idea.

Wood handle? Better idea. Unable to create a charge stronger than a wasp-bee sting? Bad idea.

Azula looking at him like she just found a new and interesting toy?

Really bad idea.

Uh-oh.

Maybe letting the Water Tribe boy continue to recreate and better his weapon was a bad idea, but it was just too much fun. He just kept coming back for more, always coming at her with something better than last time. Not to say that his little invention is a threat. Yet. But there lies the power of it. He is still making improvements, he is still defying her. It seems as if there is no way to crush his hopes.

"We'll see about that."

Azula? Creepy beyond anything he has ever seen before, including Han, who was like, the ultimate creep. But then, Azula isn't creepy the way Han was. Han was a jerk who didn't deserve the life he had. Azula, she, well, she worked for her stuff. And he could admire that. Kinda. If it weren't for the fact she was working to kill his friends and family and conquer the world in a wave of creepy blue fire.

Plus, she was talented, if not a little arrogant. She had brought him out of his cell and to her very own, heavily guarded practice area. Or maybe it was more a performance, because the smirk on her lips seemed to say, "See? Look what I can do. You'll never be able to defeat me."

She stopped blasting fire everywhere and took a stance. Sokka stared in confusion; he's never seen this before. A firebender just stopping? Weird.

Then the lightning began to trail her fingertips. Sokka felt the hair on his arms raise, eyes wide and mouth open as she moved her arms in arcs, blue electricity following behind. She looked straight at him, and her smirk widened. Sokka's heart dropped into his stomach, and she brought her fingers together to let cold fire fly.

She almost laughed at the warrior's reaction. It's not like she had actually hit him, although his ponytail did look a little shorter than it had two seconds ago.

She stared disinterested as the warrior flailed his arms about and stammered out words. Finally, he was able to gather his thoughts and blurted out, "That. was. amazing! Do you know what kind of power you have?"

Azula raised a brow.

Sokka blushed and continued. "No, not like that. But like, the power to do good things and to help people and create things instead of destroying them. All the things I could do, I could invent with that, it's... it's infinite!"

He ended with a dramatic throw of his arms. Azula yawned and said, "Yeah, whatever."

Sokka stared in disbelief, not resiting as the guards began to lead him away.

Azula smiled to herself as she walked away.

Seeing Azula like that, it was… it was amazing. The last time he could remember feeling anything close to that was when Yue appeared to him as the moon, for final goodbyes. It was amazing and terrifying and inspiring all at the same time. Sokka looked down at the last version of his weapon, and inspiration struck.

The next time they met was the last. At least, while Sokka was her prisoner.

His invention had reached completion, a new threat to the Fire Nation that had to be extinguished. It was no longer a game, but a fight for their lives.

His invention was made of a metal rod, with two metal prongs at one end, a large rounded chunk at the other, with a slim wood-wrapped handle in the middle. Attached to the fat end was a crank, something that Sokka was winding up quickly and desperately. Electricity crackled from the prongs, and he slashed at her. She dodged the first time.

The second.

The third time, sharp metal prongs, much like knives, sunk into her thigh. Electricity pumped through her veins, burning her from the inside. She could barely register the sound of the device skidding across the deck and into the water.

A second later, it was over.

And he stood on the edge of the rail, staring down at the rushing water. He looked back at her, eyes apologetic.

"Wait Sokka!" Azula called, forcing herself to her feet. She put one hand on the wall to balance herself as black spot danced in her vision. With her other, she motioned for the guards to halt. "You can stay with me. Just think, with your imagination and my power, we'd be unstoppable. We could change the world!"

For moment, she thought he was about to come to her. But then a low bellowing filled the air, and the Avatar and his bison appeared in the distance. Sokka looked back to her.

"I-I'm sorry. But what the Fire Nation is doing is wrong. You don't want to change the world, you want to destroy it. To rule it. And...I-I can't do that. I can't. I have people depending on me. Maybe if you ever realize what you're doing is wrong...Well, who knows, right?" he said with a shrug and a sad smile. He turned back to the sky, eyes fixed on the white figure that came closer with each second.

Azula glared. She wasn't wrong! It was the world that was wrong! Just as she was about to motion for her guards to kill him, fry him to cinders!, he looked over his shoulder.

"You were my muse," he whispered sadly.

Azula lowered her hand and stared, mouth slightly open in shock. She gasped when he jumped from the ledge and she took a step forward.

Only to be knocked down by the force of the air bison flying past her, one blue figure hanging off the side of the saddle.

She followed the bison with her eyes, a small smile on her lips.

"Princess! Shall we follow the Avatar?" a lieutenant asked, rigidly saluting her.

"Of course, you idiot!" she snarled bringing herself to her feet. He may have been interesting, but she has a job to do.

A/N: There is actually another version of this, involving many prison-made weapons, but I like this more. An it's the only way I can see a Sokka/Azula working. He makes things, she breaks them, he makes them better. Over and over again until one of them slips up and ends up dead.

Also, FF kept eating my line breaks. :(