A/N: Hello ladies and gentlemen and welcome back to another installment of Avatar: The Fall! Thank you guys so much for the reviews from last chapter and I'm glad you all enjoyed the little interaction between Zuko and Sokka and the ingenious invention mentioned there! I can't tell you how hilarious that was when the idea ocurred to me and your reactions were well worth it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar!
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Ch. 11- Plans
"Azula!" Zuko gasped in fear as he took in the sight of not only his sister, but her two friends Mai and Ty Lee as well, one of which looked extremely pleased with herself and the other…extremely bored.
"Indeed brother and…Soppa was it?" the fire princess sneered.
"Sokka," the boy in question ground out, his eye twitching in annoyance.
"Isn't that what I said Tokka?"
"Sokka!"
Surprisingly Sokka's voice wasn't the only one that corrected the royal. The girl to her left, clad all in pink and with long brown hair done up into an equally long braid that fell just past mid back, blushed profusely as all eyes turned to her.
"Whatever," Azula said dismissively, "Zuzu and insignificant water tribe peasant number one, you're under arrest for crimes committed against the Fire Nation, being part of one of the Water Tribes, and treason against your nation. Ty Lee, Mai arrest them!"
There was a flurry of motion as both girls immediately jumped into action. It was all either of the boys could do to fend off their two attackers. If they weren't trying to block flying knives or stilettos then they were dodging surgically precise chi-blocking strikes.
"Dammit," Zuko grunted as he tried to keep Mai's projectiles at bay, "she's gotten a lot better. Sokka, duck!"
The water warrior did as he was told and narrowly avoided a jab that would have paralyzed the entire left side of his body. "Thanks! AAAAHH!" Another awkward bend prevented Ty Lee's foot from connecting with certain parts of his anatomy he'd rather keep intact. "Dirty fighter!"
The acrobat merely giggled, "There wouldn't've been any permanent damage cutie! I couldn't do that to you."
The temporary lapse in his defense at her comment was all Ty Lee needed to incapacitate Sokka, his limbs falling useless as he collapsed to the ground.
"Damn," he grumbled.
Seeing his ally fall at the hands of the circus performer, Zuko knew it would only be a matter of minutes before he too succumbed to the onslaught. Immediately he set his blades alight, each one glowing brilliantly with the same white fire that had decorated the catacombs of Ba Sing Se merely a month before.
"Really Zuzu, firebending? That's against the Boiling Rock's rules." His sister mocked as she came forward, her own hands igniting with blue flame. "I guess I'm going to have to step in now."
With a growl Zuko was about to throw a strike at his sibling when a sharp stabbing pain erupted in his left shoulder. His distraction had cost him as he looked to see one of Mai's lethal projectiles staring him in the face. It was a clean piercing—the handle separated from the tip by his shoulder—and a shocked scream erupted from his throat.
He clutched at the wound with his uninjured arm his eyes now shooting back and forth in a panicked frenzy as he tried to keep all three girls in his field of vision.
The mocking laughter of his sister caught his attention but he had learned from his mistake, "Just give it up Zuzu there are three of us and only one of you, not to mention you're injured. Surrender now and I'll spare you the fate of seeing the peasant put into The Cooler. Keep fighting and he'll freeze first."
It wasn't much of a choice if he was being completely honest with himself. Taking a deep breath and setting his wounded pride aside, Zuko yielded to his sister.
It seemed they were going to follow Sokka's plan after all.
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They weren't put in handcuffs or any other kind of restraint.
Sokka was still completely useless with all his limbs more ready to fall off than to actually obey him. A rather pleased looking Ty Lee was keeping him upright and somehow managing to make the warrior blush bright red. On further inspection it seemed that her ability to make him blush so much stemmed from where she was holding him up.
While Zuko did have his basic motor functions, his sister had instructed Ty Lee to neutralize his bending for the transportation to the prison. Azula was taking malicious pleasure in twisting the stiletto in his shoulder every time she deemed him 'acting suspicious'.
Mai remained the only one of the girls who retained a relatively impassive state, although her eyes flitted to Zuko once in a while when she thought no one was looking. There was a strange glint in her amber orbs however, an almost resigned longing.
The gondola came to another audible stop, gears wrenching together and cables straining just to hold up the boat.
Grimacing at the sound as she stepped off the transport, her hand remaining locked securely around the blade in her brother's shoulder, Azula shouted at the nearby guards.
"I need these two prisoners taken care of immediately! The one with the brown hair and ponytail is Water Tribe; we'll need to set up his execution as soon as possible. And this one here," she grinned savagely twisting the stiletto even further in, "is my dear brother the banished prince Zuko. When we were on our way over he attempted to stop us by firebending. Give him the royal treatment!"
Six guards were at her side as soon as the words were out of her mouth none of them wanting to give the princess any reason to repeat herself. Three went to Sokka, who was finally getting the feeling back in his legs, and shackled his hands.
The other three made their way cautiously toward Zuko whose disgruntled face set off warning bells in their minds.
"Don't worry gentlemen, he can't bend. Just mind his hands and feet and he shouldn't be a problem." Azula encouraged gleefully.
Heeding her orders, the men clamped the iron cuffs to the ex-prince's wrists and ankles and proceeded to take him into the bowels of the facility, followed closely by Sokka.
"Have fun in prison while you can brother! Once father hears you're in town he'll want a personal audience with you before he has you executed in front of the entire nation."
Azula's laughter echoed down the darkened hallways, following the teens as they were dragged to their cells before being forcefully stripped and changed into the rags that were the prison attire.
"You behave yourself Prince Zuko; we'll be back in a few hours after The Cooler's prepped for your visit." The guards laughed darkly as they turned to leave. "If you're lucky you'll be the first firebender to die in there because, honestly, I don't think you're going to survive one of Princess Azula's interrogations."
Once the hall cleared and their voices had faded into nothing, Zuko swore loudly.
"DAMMIT!" he roared as smoke spilled out of his nostrils in frustration, "AGNI DAMN HER!" The bars of his cell shivered ominously as he vented, no doubt waking several of the other prisoners up nearby. "FUCK!"
"Zuko," Sokka called from his adjoined cell, "relax man. You yelling and swearing up a storm will only get you into more trouble. You've got to calm down or else we're never going to be able to find Suki!"
The firebender growled viciously but he knew it was true; there wasn't anything to be accomplished by flipping out now. Sighing Zuko spoke, "You're right Sokka, sorry. I just can't find any comfort in the fact that my sister is going to be handling my questioning. Torture much?"
"Well that's true, but only if we're still here when she's ready to start," Sokka reasoned, his mind obviously working in overdrive as he took in his surroundings.
"And just how do you plan on getting us out of here—here an inescapable prison—in the space of a 'few hours', with nothing to work with, no possible way of locating your girlfriend, my chill date in the Cooler and Ty Lee, Mai and my sister hanging about?" Zuko questioned, his patience at Sokka's unreasonable optimism waning fast, "Oh yeah, not to mention that this whole godforsaken prison is surrounded by boiling hot water!"
"Take it easy Captain Melodrama or you're going to let the whole damn prison know that we're looking to make a break for it. Besides…I think your Cooling session is just the answer we're looking for!" Sokka nearly squealed in delight.
Hearing the water tribe teen's squeaks, Zuko banged his head on the bars of his cell in resignation, "I'm glad the prospect of my torture could be the fuel for your inspiration. Pray tell, what exactly do you have in mind?"
Before Sokka could respond, the door to the holding area was flung open and one of the guards stuck his head in.
"Okay maggots, you've got one hour of free time before dinner at sundown. And if you plan on eating you'd better be there on time because once everything is put up that's it, no second chances. And no bending whatsoever; Princess Azula is here and if she sees anything she doesn't like she'll handle it personally."
With that, the guard pressed a button on the wall to his left and all of the cell doors opened, letting the prisoners inside out for their little bit of freedom.
Sokka walked over to Zuko's cell, where the prince was waiting with his arms crossed, "So," he greeted, his eyes darting around frantically, "I think I've got a solution to our escape problem. Come on, let's go outside."
They followed the dwindling crowd down the hallway and out into a large metal passage that led into an enormous stone courtyard. It was flat and devoid of anything but wooden benches that were few and far between—obviously the prisoners were expected to simply stand around and not do anything for the entirety of their break.
Along the length of the walls several more doors were opening and even more prisoners were spilling into the area. The inmates were men and women, young and old, large and small. At a glance it seemed all the nations were represented; blue, green and amber eyes flashed all around Sokka and Zuko though several other colors were abundant as well.
Zuko glanced at Sokka out of the corner of his eye and saw the teen's own eyes darting back and forth over all of the occupants of the courtyard. There was desperation in his gaze as he ran toward the nearest bench and jumped on top of it, completely oblivious to the fact that there were people sitting there already.
"Hey watch it punk!" one of them grumbled, an older male with black hair, green eyes, and a considerable amount of bulk on his body, "I'm sitting here!"
"Sorry," muttered Sokka distractedly, "I'm looking for someone and I can't exactly see anything over all these people. I just…"
There was silence as he trailed off and the slightly agitated look on the earth native's face eased into a grin, "I tell you what kid, if your girlfriend landed herself in here than she's definitely on my list of people I need to meet. What does she look like?"
At this point Zuko had made his way over to his friend, "Yeah seriously Sokka, what does she look like? I've only ever seen her with her makeup on and fans flying; not exactly the best conditions to make a formal introduction."
Not pausing in his search, Sokka explained, "She's my height with brown hair, peach colored skin, and blue-grey eyes. She's as prideful as they come but…she deserves every bit of it—she's one hell of a fighter. She's a little forceful when it comes to getting what she wants but that only helps her when things get tough. And she's one hell of a leader."
"Hmm…you know that sounds like little Suki over in cell block B Ton," the other man that had been on the bench interjected, his amber eyes alight with admiration, "you know, the one that keeps going on about starting a riot and overthrowing the guards!"
Both Zuko and Sokka turned sharply at this revelation with the latter asking the question on both their minds, "You've seen Suki? Where is she?"
The larger man, Ton, rubbed his chin in thought, "You know now that I think about it he has her down to a tee Azzan," he looked at the two teens, "We've seen her alright. She usually hijacks a table at dinner and preaches about banding together and looking past our differences. Poor thing's not gonna last too much longer if she keeps it up."
"Why?" Zuko asked frowning, "What happened?"
"Oh nothing yet but every time she gets up to talk I can hear some of the shadier inmates whispering and it's never good. Usually it's whether or not the guards would mind if they had some fun with her. She's one of the more attractive women in this prison and if she keeps pushing the guards, they're gonna turn a blind eye when something does happen." Ton explained, a sad look on his face.
"But," interrupted Azzan, his gaze steel, "she's got more allies than she thinks. Most of us in this hellhole are innocent and were imprisoned just because we had an association with someone of Water Tribe descent. Don't get me wrong; I've never seen eye to eye with Ozai and his goals but I had to protect my wife, so I played my part. But it still wasn't enough for the Fire Lord.
"For Agni's sake I was leading my troops through one of the colonies when I was captured. My wife is Water Tribe and I had been trying for years to keep it a secret but they found out. She was nine months pregnant when I was shipped out and…I don't even know if I have a son or a daughter. Or if I'll ever see my wife again...or lay eyes on my child."
Ton put a hand on his friend's shoulder sympathetically, "I used to live in Ba Sing Se before Princess Azula and the Fire Nation took over, in the lower ring. My neighbors were recent refugees who had fled the colonies before the Avatar was killed and things went to shit. They were Water Tribe.
"When the raids started, I offered to hide them for as long as I could; all I had was a one room apartment with a basement that I'd had some benders dig out for me, but I figured they'd have a better chance there than in that overpriced shack they were cramped up in."
He sighed heavily, a haunted look in his eyes, "The soldiers came a night. They were silent, swift and efficient. They gave no warning, just knocked the door in and stormed the apartment before I even knew what was happening. Two of them tied me up and made me watch as they set fire to the basement. All I could hear were their screams as they tried to get out, the parents' pleads to spare their children…"
Ton didn't continue and he didn't have to; they all knew what had happened from there.
Zuko's fists were clenched in rage and his eyes blazed with a hatred that Sokka had never seen before. Shaking, the bender spoke.
"I'm sorry," he said, his head bowed and bangs falling into his golden eyes.
Ton snapped back to reality and raised an eyebrow, "Why? You didn't do it, did you?"
"No," Zuko whispered, "but I…I've done nothing to stop it."
Sokka rolled his eyes at this, "Zuko you couldn't have done anything about it and you know it. We were halfway across the Earth Kingdom when that decree went out and even if we'd turned around we would have been overwhelmed as soon as we set foot in town."
Zuko tensed when Sokka said his name, his eyes flicking toward the two men in front of them.
"Whoa whoa whoa, wait a minute! You're Zuko? The Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation?" Ton asked his eyes going wide as he stared at him in shock, "Aren't you supposed to have a scar on your face?"
"Yes, I'm the former crown prince of the Fire Nation." Zuko replied, his head still hung in shame though he ignored the query about his scar.
Azzan looked surprised for a moment but it vanished almost as fast as it appeared, "It's an honor my prince."
That caused the banished royal to look up sharply, his eyes locking with the ex-soldier, "Why would it be an honor? After all that my family has done to the world under the guise of righteousness, why would it be an honor to meet me?"
The man smiled slightly, "Because anyone who's gone through what you have and come out of it for the better is nothing short of a true hero. And whether you believe it or not Prince Zuko, you've done nothing wrong; you're father and your sister have, but not you. Besides," here Azzan grinned devilishly, "anyone who can one up Princess Azula and leave her completely flummoxed is alright in my book."
Sokka laughed at the man's comment and slapped Zuko on the back, "You see Prince Pouty? Not everything is your fault all the time."
Zuko let a small smile grace his features as he inclined his head at Azzan, "It's nice to meet you as well. I think you're the first person to ever be genuinely happy to meet me at the first introduction and that includes my girlfriend though, to be fair, there is a very interesting back story as to why exactly that's true."
Ton had remained silent throughout the exchange, his face and eyes hard as he regarded Zuko coolly. He seemed to come to a decision as he spoke, a glare on his face, "What happened to your scar? Every wanted poster I've seen and every description of you I've heard shows you with a wicked looking scar over your left eye. Things like that don't just get made up, so where'd it go?"
"That would be my girlfriend's doing actually," Zuko answered easily as a nostalgic light shone in his eyes, "she's a waterbender and she's incredibly gifted when it comes to healing. I…well, let's just say I owe her a lot."
The explanation appeared to appease the man as he sat back against the bench, "Someone like that'd sure come in handy in a scrape. Being able to heal and all with just some focus and water…right useful."
"Not that I'm not proud of my sister and her amazing abilities," Sokka quipped, "but you guys said you've seen Suki around, right? I'd really love to be able to find her."
Azzan chuckled, "I take it she's your girlfriend then? I bet she's quite the handful even when she's not trying to incite rebellion."
"That's not the point!" Sokka insisted, "I just…I need to see her."
Ton nodded, a sympathetic look on his face, "Of course, of course. She's over in cellblock B which is over…" he turned to his left and put his hand over his eyes to shield them from the setting sun, "Ah, there she is! And is that…yep, she's talking to Neera again Azzan—there's gonna be trouble at dinner tonight!"
He turned back to talk to Sokka only to find both teenagers gone and Azzan with a concerned expression on his face, "Where'd they go?"
The ex-soldier motioned behind him with his head, "Sokka took off as soon as you spotted Suki and I'm hoping that Prince Zuko went to stop him."
Puzzled, the earth kingdom prisoner asked, "Why would you want him to stop the kid? It seems like he really missed her."
"That's the problem," Azzan explained, "he's overwhelmed with joy and relief right now and he's probably going to make a big scene. If he makes a big scene everyone will notice, including the guards. And if the guards notice then you can bet they'll let Princess Azula know and she's one hell of a conniving bitch if you ask me. It would be better if he just waited."
Ton nodded as he saw the truth in the fire native's words, "Oh boy…this could get interesting."
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"Sokka! Sokka!" Zuko called after the teen, finally managing to grab his arm and pull him to a stop, "Would you hold on a minute and think things through?"
"What is there to think about?" Sokka growled, his eyes never leaving Suki even as he struggled to break free of Zuko's grip, "I haven't seen Suki in a month and I've been worried sick about her. And now that she's literally right here in front of me, safe and sound, you want me to stop? Fuck you!"
Zuko grasped Sokka's other arm, barely managing to hold on, "Sokka you can go to her but not right now. Not when everyone, including my sister, can see what's going on! Do you really think Azula wouldn't see your reunion with Suki and not trying and break the both of you? If you go over there and make a big scene—like I know you were going to—then Suki would be in an interrogation room and then thrown into The Cooler faster than you can possibly imagine."
This seemed to quell Sokka's fighting as he stopped pulling and sighed, "Dammit. I hate it when you're right. I guess I'll just wait until dinner then…maybe try and find a few moments of privacy."
The firebender put a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder, "I know this is hard Sokka but at least you know she's safe and, as soon as you tell me your "genius" plan, we can get out of here."
"Right," Sokka whispered distractedly, stealing one last glance at Suki as if trying to will the girl to look his way, "well, it involves your trip to The Cooler if you can believe it. I've got a theory about how the thing might work, but I'd like to get it confirmed before I send you off on a fool's errand."
Zuko groaned, "As if things weren't bad enough I'm now subject to the whim of your experimentation…joy."
"Oh shut up you cry baby, it's not like I'm asking you to start a fight on purpose to get thrown in there; you're already going! And you've got your own sister to thank for that so it's no use complaining to me!" Shaking his head he continued, "Now come on, I've got a few more questions for Ton and Azzan that I hope they can answer."
They found the two prisoners back where they had left them, both of whom looked slightly relieved. Azzan spoke first.
"I'm glad that Prince Zuko was able to get a hold of you before you got to Suki, I would have hated to see what the guards would have done if they'd seen you reunited with her. No shred of happiness survives for too long here."
Ton nodded from his seat next to the firebender, "Ain't that the damn truth."
"Sokka," Zuko started, "you said you had to ask Azzan and Ton some questions?"
"Right!" the water tribe teen paused briefly to gather himself, "Okay, so Zuko got himself a session in The Cooler later tonight—"
"WHAT?" Azzan barked, his calm façade breaking for the first time, "What in Agni's name did you do to get put in there already?"
Looking his fellow bender right in the eye, Zuko responded dryly, "We got here at the same time as my sister…and I might have threatened her with flaming swords."
Ton laughed heartily at this, "That would've been fun to see, Princess Azula at sword point!"
"Oh trust me," Sokka grinned, "it wasn't anything near that good! It was more like "surrender Zuzu" and then, ever defiant, Zuko was all "no" and lit his blades on fire. Then he screamed like a little baby when he got hit with one of that perpetually depressed girls knives right here!" He clapped his hand on Zuko's shoulder to emphasize his point, eliciting a sharp grunt from the boy.
"That," Zuko growled with murder in his eyes as he removed Sokka's hand, "still hurts you moron! They didn't exactly patch it up!"
Sokka let out an awkward chuckle as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "Oops?" he offered.
"Just ask them the damn questions Sokka," Zuko grumbled as he rolled his shoulder in an attempt to dull the pain.
"Oh yeah, of course!" turning to two inmates he adopted a thinking pose, one hand rubbing his chin and the other resting on his hip, "So I've been thinking about how to possibly break out of this place and I might have just struck gold on this idea but I'm still trying to work out the kinks.
"First off, since The Cooler is an anti-firebender device it's gotta be insulated right? To keep the cold air in so no one can bend in there," Azzan nodded prompting the young strategist to continue, "That means that it also keeps the heat out! So my idea has to do with hijacking one of those coolers and using it as a boat to get from this island to shore on the other side!"
Azzan, Ton and Zuko all looked at Sokka with slack-jawed expressions on their faces. Whether they were gob smacked at the simplicity of the scheme or the absurdity of it had yet to be seen.
Sokka took their silence as a sign for the positive, "I know right? I'm a genius!"
It was Azzan who managed to snap out of his stupefied daze first, "While I admit your plan has merit Sokka I'm going to have to point out a few flaws in it." The pleased expression fell off of Sokka's face, "For one thing the individual coolers are maintained regularly and bolted down securely. Secondly, before you could even attempt to get the thing out, you'd need a wrench to loosen all the nuts and bolts.
"Third, where in Agni's name are you going to hide the cooler if you do manage to get it unhooked and loose? And last, but certainly not least, how are you planning to even get out of your cells, to the cooler—wherever on this Agni forsaken island you're planning on stashing it—and make it across the boiling hot lake unnoticed?"
The Water Tribe teen blinked rapidly as he met the firebender's expectant stare, not seeming to comprehend exactly what had been asked of him.
"Um…I'll figure it out when we get to that point?"
The sound of three palms smacking their owner's faces was all he got in response.
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A/N: There you go! Another chapter with Sokka's less than stellar ideas falling apart! Don't get me wrong, I love Sokka, but he's too easy to pick on and still feel good about it afterward. Anyway I hope you enjoyed it and, as always, reviews are much appreciated. I love you guys and I hope you keep coming back! Til next time!
-HakushoRurouni