5. The Royal Mess

So I realized today how long it's been since I updated. In my defense, I'm in the middle of a monthlong vacation from the site—just throwing it out there ^_^ Anyone heard of NaNoWriMo? Well, it's 'National Novel Writing Month' and I'm doing it this month instead of November because I've finally (God forbid) got some free time.

But I'm doing holiday updates, and since this all be sitting on my hard drive, there's no reason but my pathetic memory—slightly less than that of a high gerbil—that I haven't uploaded. Sorry for the wait, guys, and thanks for bearing with me!

Disclaimer: Don't own A:tLA.

Sokka's eyes darted to Toph—standing by the tree with Aang and Zuko—and then back to Suki, in front of him. Judging from the last few minutes, it seemed Toph's explanation was going a lot better than his own. Unfortunately, when talking to an angry woman, there was apparently nothing one could say right.

Even—especially—'I'm sorry'.

"I don't care if you're sorry!" Suki snarled, hands balled in fists at her sides. "It doesn't change the fact you did this behind my back. Spirits, Sokka, what other things have you just not told me?"

"Nothing!" he protested. "Nothing at all, I swear!"

She hesitated. Her face fell a moment later, and she blinked hard, dipping her head. "You know what the worst part is?" she said softly. "I don't know if I believe you."

"Suki—"

"Did you hear me?" she demanded, staring back up at him. A couple tears were running down her cheeks, tracing flesh-colored lines in her meticulous Kyoshi makeup. "I can't trust you, Sokka. I don't know if that matters to you or not, but for the record, it freaking sucks for me."

He grabbed her arm as she started to turn away. "Please," he blurted, "can't we just talk—?"

"There's nothing to talk about." She jerked back, swiping at her eyes and smearing the makeup. "We can't do this, Sokka, not if we don't trust each other."

His hand fell, limp, to his side, and she turned with one quiet sniff, leaving the courtyard. Sokka stared after her, mouth hanging open, and then turned silently towards the other three. Aang, Zuko, and Toph were all watching, though the moment he caught sight of them, their faces shifted to expressions of polite disinterest. Aang stood to offer the warrior his seat, and Sokka took it, collapsing heavily onto the bench.

"Did she…?" said Toph quietly, at the same time Zuko began, "Are you…?"

"Yeah," Sokka murmured, not looking up. "Guess so."

Toph grimaced. "I'm... Sokka, I'm sorry."

"Nah." He shrugged feebly. "I think she's right; we've been distant for a while. It's… it's okay." He glanced up, seeing, as if for the first time, the three worried stares directed at him. "Really," he insisted. "I'll be all right." His eyes fixed on Zuko and Aang, mainly the former, who sat next to him on the bench. "But... you're not mad?"

Sokka sounded rather more skeptical than he should have, Toph observed—did he want Sparky pissed at them?—but Zuko simply shook his head. All the fight seemed to have gone out of him: when he first sat down, at the beginning of her explanation, he had gripped the bench's edges so tightly his knuckles bulged against his skin, but as she had explained the Plan, his grip had relaxed, not even so much composed as thoroughly exhausted.

"I'm not angry," he sighed, lifting a hand to run through his hair. "Well, that I got slapped, yeah, but it's just as well. Actually," he added, with a little snort, "I guess it's almost funny."

Toph blinked. "Funny?" she echoed. "How?"

Zuko shrugged, a wry grin on his face as he stared down at his hands. "Well, the thing is, you didn't have to do any of this. I was going to break up with her anyway."

For a moment, there was utter silence.

"You're not lying," said Toph weakly.

Aang gaped. "You—b-but—Katar—why?"

His lips twitched upwards. "It's just… look, Sokka," he started, glancing over at the other boy, "it's not that Katara's not a great person and everything, she is, it's just…"

"Just what?" Aang demanded, but Sokka simply eyed Zuko, looking vaguely amused by the sudden role-reversal. "Just…?" he prompted.

"She's so emotional!" Zuko exploded, throwing his hands in the air. "She either couldn't be happier, or the whole world's about to end, and when I do anything wrong it's like she going to kill me, and—and she cries! Like… a lot." He stared plaintively up at the warrior, looking utterly pitiful. "And the hope," he added timorously. "Does she talk to you about hope?"

Sokka paused, tilting his head to the side, and then clapped Zuko suddenly on the shoulder. "Zuko," he declared, "you are not alone."

Zuko stared for a split second, and then the smile that had been skulking on the edge of his lips finally appeared, sliding across his face like a glissando. He laughed softly, and Toph grinned despite herself. The Plan was intact—intact in the sense of a smashed vase glued back together, but intact nonetheless. "So… we're good?" said Sokka, as Zuko stood, flicking a stand of hair out of his face.

"Yeah—just about." He paused, rubbing his forehead, and then turned away. "I think I should go back to the party now…" he murmured, starting to trudge towards the door.

In the next couple seconds, things happened very quickly.

"There you are!" cried someone from across the courtyard, and then a green-clad figure raced across the grass, skirting the pond. All Sokka had time to catch was a glimpse of dark, braided hair and a huge, luminescent smile, and then the girl reached Zuko and, throwing her arms around his neck, planted a long, lingering kiss on his lips. He went rigid, heart leaping, raised his hands to the girl's shoulders to tug her away—but the hands slipped loosely to her back. For just the slightest moment, Zuko kissed her back, and then the girl pulled away, and he went pale, reality catching up a few yards behind instinct.

"I'm sorry," she said, blushing slightly as Zuko gawked down at her. "I'm just… I was sure I did something wrong, and then I learn you're the Fire Lord, so I figure you'd just forgotten about me, and then I got your letter in the mail—royal messenger hawk and everything—and you wanted to see me again, and—I'm rambling, aren't I? I'm sorry." She broke off, pressing her lips together in a vain attempt to hide a grin about to split her face in two. "So… I guess you know how I feel about it, then," she mumbled.

Zuko's head swiveled around to fix Sokka and Toph with a look that could have committed mass homicide. "You invited Jin?"

"Ah… ha," Sokka said. Toph didn't talk, too busy miserably failing to hide a grin. "Um. Who's Jin?"

Jin's forehead furrowed. "What?" she inquried, smile dimming. "Didn't… you didn't invite me?"

Zuko blanched, turning back towards her. "No! I mean… I didn't, but I'm not… I'm not not happy to see you—it's just com—"

Jin's eyes went suddenly steely. "Don't," she snarled, stabbing him in the chest with a finger, "say complicated. Spirits, I don't know why the hell I even bothered to come. Complicated—what's that, just Fire Lord code for 'one-time-deal'?" Her face darkened, jaw clenching. "Maybe I just don't get it," she offered, voice acerbically bright. "After all, I'm just a commoner. If you're royalty, is it okay to pick up a commoner and kiss her and then just ditch her? Because I don't know if you're used to just getting your way like that, but that's not effing okay where I come from, Zuko!"

"Jin, please," he interrupted, grabbing her shoulders. "It's not like that; I'm not like that. Look, I really did like you—I still do—but I wasn't in a situation where I could get involved with someone then!"

"So you should have told me!" she argued, voice rising. "You could have explained that, just told me there was personal stuff going on, and I wouldn't have got in your goddamn way! No one made you kiss me!"

Silver tears were beginning to pool in her eyes, congealing on her dark lashes. "I got a letter," she whispered, "saying you were sorry, and that you'd been on the run at the time, but that you wanted to give this another chance. If you didn't really want me here, you should have just said so." She blinked and brushed her hand across her face almost simultaneously, catching the tear before it rolled across her cheek, and then swallowed. "I think I'll go now," she said faintly, turning away.

Meanwhile, Toph frowned. Two figures had appeared on the edge of her vision, blurred now beyond recognition but still moving too fast to be coincidental. "Sokka?"

He shushed her rapidly, eyes fixed on Jin and Zuko. She turned to Aang, but the Avatar himself seemed equally transfixed by the scene in front of them. "Jin!" Zuko lunged, catching her arm and spinning her around; she blinked owlishly at him. Aang caught his breath a little bit.

"I'm sorry," he said deliberately. "For how I acted—it wasn't fair to you. I should have trusted you, or at least been honest with you, but I couldn't tell anyone. My uncle and I were trying to start over—I didn't want him hurt, and I didn't want you hurt if you got involved with us."

"Didn't want me hurt?" Jin gave a bitter laugh. "Screwed that up, huh?"

"Sokka!"

"Quiet, Toph!"

"Please." His hands slipped into hers, and he met her gaze, unwavering despite the ice he found there. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "I've changed a lot since then. Back while I was in Ba Sing Se I hurt too many people, and I'm sorry you were one of them."

"Sokka!" she snapped, and at last he looked up in time to see two figures in the doorway. One, clothed in black, was dragging the other by the arm. The latter wore a pink dress and a rather sheepish expression.

"This is adorable," Mai said loudly.

Zuko's head snapped up as though pulled by elastic, and instinctively he grabbed Jin closer, wrapping his arms around her. Mai arched a single eyebrow, and he paled, going rigid and trying to edge quickly away, before stepping back again when Jin glared. "Ty Lee giggles when she's up to something," Mai continued in a drawl, "but usually it's never as interesting as this."

Sokka stared. "Ty Lee? You gave away the plan?"

"She made me!" the gymnast protested. "She's got knives!"

Mai flicked her fingers at the words, and a silver blade danced through them. Jin gasped, and Zuko's eyes widened. "That I do," Mai said quietly. "Who's the slut, Zuko?"

"Excuse me, bitch?"

And just like that Jin had shoved Zuko's arms away, planting her hands on her hips. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm his…" Mai's eyes snapped to Zuko instantaneously. "His ex-girlfriend."

"Huh. That makes two of us."

It was the face-off to end all face-offs. The tension was so palpable it would have been too thick to cut with even one of Mai's knives; neither Sokka nor Toph dared move a muscle. Ty Lee whimpered quietly—Mai's hand was still clenched around her arm, the pale fingers tightening further with every word spoken. "Twinkles," Toph said pointedly, "I think you better go see Katara now."

He nodded rapidly and shuffled a couple inches back, eyes darting side to side, before taking off through the opposite doorway. Mai ignored it, either not noticing or—more likely—not caring. "Didn't see much of the 'ex' there," she observed, eyeing Jin.

The girl smirked. "Jealous?"

"No."

"Oh?" Jin's eyes gleamed. "Bitter, then."

"Do I look bitter?"

"No. But you don't actually look capable of emotion either, so I was going to give you the benefit of the doubt."

Toph gave a low whistle, raising her eyebrows. Zuko glared feebly at her, but neither Jin nor Mai appeared to notice. "Whatever," Mai snorted. "I guess you're fine—he's all about emotional girls now. Just ask his girlfriend."

That got Jin's attention, and she whirled on Zuko like a hurricane. "You have a girlfriend?"

He cringed. "N-no—not anymore!"

Mai laughed softly. "You work fast, don't you?"

Jin took a breath through her teeth. "You weren't his girlfriend a year ago, were you?" she wondered innocently. "Round the time he was in Ba Sing Se? Because he didn't seem to think he had a girlfriend then, either." She laughed dryly, face no longer half so innocent, as she watched Mai's suddenly glinting eyes flick between her and Zuko. "What, can't decide which one to knife first?"

Mai met Jin's gaze and twitched her fingers. A second knife appeared in her hand. "That," she declared, "won't be a problem."

Zuko raised a hand, stepping forward. "Mai, Spirits, don't—"

The first knife whistled through the air, slashing sharply across his shoulder as he leapt aside. Ty Lee, seizing the opportunity, turned and sprinted, disappearing through the doorway; nobody made any effort to stop her. Mai tore across the courtyard but, to everyone's surprise, shoved Zuko away and flung the knife aside, instead slapping Jin across the face. The girl yelped and then, eyes murderous, threw herself at Mai, knocking her off balance. Mai flailed and tumbled into Toph, who grabbed onto Sokka's sleeve as she staggered backwards, and with an almighty splash, the two of them landed in the pond.

Everyone went still as Toph's fists clenched.

"Oh, that's it."

She got slowly to her feet, flicking soaking locks of hair out of her eyes so that absolutely everyone could see the fury blazing there. Her beautiful dress was soaked; her makeup dripped black tears; there was a strand of pondweed draped across her shoulder. Zuko, Jin, and Mai all stayed motionless, perceiving that they'd gone a step too far. Toph's hand twitched, and all three were thrown into the air, flying across the courtyard and landing hard on the ground. Zuko crashed into the tree and slumped, motionless, to the ground. Toph turned to Sokka, still sitting in the water by her knees, and glared halfheartedly.

"Your plans suck," she muttered—it had no force behind it—and then she turned, first lifting her skirts but then abandoning the effort. Instead she brushed the pondweed off her shoulder and squelched away towards the steps. Sokka picked himself up, snuck a quick look at Mai and Jin, and—seeing the looks on their faces—took off after Toph.

The plan was in shambles.

Clearly.

Anyone who had witnessed Toph and Sokka leaving the courtyard would know it.

But Ty Lee had seen no such thing. As far as she was concerned—Mai aside, anyways—the plan was going perfectly. Aang had gone to find Katara; Toph and Sokka would be back to join her shortly. This was great.

Time for Phase Three.

Heheheheh... and you can bet that Phase Three is even louder ^_^ Ahem. Definite conclusion that this story is not pulling any punches for the boys in the Gaang. Still, catfiiiiiiight—I'm happy to admit that yes, they are deliciously fun to write (and no, I will not cower in shame. It's a guilty pleasure; leave me be **shrinks into little corner with Zuko plushie**)

More coming MUCH sooner this time. Happy holidays, guys, whatever you celebrate, and reviews are always amazing!