Chapter 4: No Good Deed
He shifted his blue eyes from left to right, left to right, choosing his words prudently. "You… you know that's not possible, don't you?"
"Mother has been plotting against me since the day I was born. She's capable of doing all sorts of things. Terrible, terrible things." Her lips curled into a frown. "Everyone always tells me I'm the spitting image of my father, but Mother… she thinks I take after her."
He could tell that Azula truly believed she saw her mother in the cooler. This was not an act. "Her mother must be some sort of manifestation of her subconscious." He had not been prepared to handle this level of insanity.
"She's upset with you, by the way. She told me when you went to find me a blanket."
"Now why would that be?" He figured if he played along, he could possibly pry more information from her.
"For pulling me out of there." Her amber eyes grew sullen. "She said, 'Monsters deserve to be locked up.'" Her voice faded to the softest whisper. "'And put down.'"
A shiver crept up his spine. If this truly was her subconscious speaking, then beneath all those layers of pride and haughtiness was a fragile girl with an incredibly low sense of self-worth. But scarier yet was that she didn't believe she should be given a second chance at life. Although he didn't know how to help her, a part of him wanted to fix her. And for Sokka, there was only one logical place to start. "Azula… have you had anything to eat since you've been imprisoned?"
She shook her head.
"Well, you must be starving!" His usually reserved optimistic side argued that perhaps not having had anything to eat was responsible for her hallucinations. "Let me find you some food."
"You'll…" she whispered. "You'll come back, right?"
The implication was a dagger twisting in his gut. "Yes," he urged. "I promise."
Sokka would keep his promise. But first, he had a couple of detours to make, the first of which was to Zuko's cell to give him an update. He found the firebender hunched over on his mattress with his head between his knees.
Zuko picked his head up at the sound of the door opening. "How is she?"
"Not good."
Worried lines plagued the prince's forehead.
"I mean, she's no longer freezing, and I did get her to talk, so that's an improvement, but – "
"Well then what's wrong?!" he asked impatiently.
"She's having hallucinations. Specifically of your mother."
"What?" the firebender exhaled, his eyes flickering with worry. "Can I… can I see her?"
"I don't think that's a good idea," Sokka frowned, shaking his head. "Not only is she upset with you for abandoning her, but we really don't want to draw attention to her cell."
"Good point." He took a deep breath. "Did you find out how she got in there?"
"You're not going to believe this, but Mai and Ty Lee did this to her."
His breath grew heavy with rage.
"Your father commanded Azula to kill you, and although she claims she wasn't going to, her friends thought differently. So Ty Lee chi-blocked her and Mai convinced the warden, who's her uncle by the way – "
"So I've heard."
" – to imprison her in the cooler."
Zuko began to rub his temples between his thumb and forefinger. "Actually… I can believe that." He sighed as he brainstormed ways he could help her, but he could only think of one solution. "Well, if I can't take care of her… you're going to have to in my stead."
"What else can I possibly do for her?! I freed her from the cooler, I got her a blanket, I'm going to get her some food. I'm not a psychologist – I don't know how to help her!"
"Please, Sokka," he implored. "I came with you on this life-threatening mission to rescue your father, who may or may not even be coming here! I don't know how to help her either, but can you at least try?"
"Fine," he caved. "I'll see what I can do. But right now, I'm going to pay Suki a little visit." He smirked.
"Seriously?! At a time like this?!"
"Relax. I'm just going to give her a status update."
The firebender huffed. "That'd better be all you're doing – "
"And maybe she'll be so grateful, she'll give me a little something in return," he grinned.
Zuko shot a fire blast at the wolf-tailed warrior's feet, causing him to jump.
"I'm just joking around! You firebenders really need to learn to lighten up." His grin grew wider. "Get it?"
He shot another fire blast, this one a tad bit stronger.
"Okay, okay, I'm leaving! Sheesh."
