"Yeah, yeah, I know what's on your mind," Sokka said, sighing. "Maybe I wasn't thinking things through, maybe I was just going with what felt right, but can you blame me for it? If you had seen her back then, you'd understand! And no, don't jump to conclusions, I wasn't taking advantage of the situation! Hell, if I had been trying to do that, I'm pretty sure I would have gone all the way with her and she wouldn't even have refused…! Though she would have butchered me by the next morning, I think. Well, maybe not, if she'd enjoyed it… still, that's not it! We didn't do it, so there's no reason to freak out about that! And yes, well, I slept beside her, that much is true, but I didn't sleep WITH her, alright? I haven't done anything that should cost me my head! Though, well, her father would have my head anyways if he only knew I've touched his daughter… still, I did what any man with guts would have done! I did what I had to do because I care about her! Hell, I don't just care… I didn't say those things because I wanted to please her for one night, I said it because I meant them all. And these feelings won't die out only after one night… they can't vanish that easily. Believe me, I'm speaking of experience here. I tried to get rid of the feelings and in the end I only made everything worse, and not for myself but for her. I still can't forgive myself for that… it's proof of how pointless it is to fight what I feel for her. I just… love her. I do. I have for a while now, and I really don't see why I shouldn't. I mean, she's amazing! In every possible way! Though, well, you know her… you've seen just how remarkable she is. I think I could waste away my days just talking about her non-stop and I'd still be left with heaps of things to say. I can't really narrow this down… I can't just express what I feel for her as easily as that. But I love her… I love Azula. I think I always will… and yeah, she's out of my league, you don't need to tell me that! I know it already! But I really don't care. I don't need to be in her league. So long as she's happy, I don't think I need anything else. It would be crazy lucky if I was the one who made her the happiest she can be, but if I'm not, then I'll just accept it and hope she finds a great guy. She doesn't deserve any less than that… and I'm not being cowardly! I just…! There's a lot at stake, and I don't want to get her in trouble, I've done her enough harm as it is! So, stop judging me! I know what I'm doing!"
Sokka finished his monologue and glared at the one who had been listening to him intently. Naturally, his hawk could only look at him in confusion. It seemed he hardly cared about Sokka's inner conflicts regarding his feelings and his strange relationship with the Princess… for he was only interested in the slabs of meat Sokka had been giving him during training today. Yet for some reason, after every new lap the bird made through the sky, his owner would feed him and begin rambling on and on about matters that didn't concern Hawky in the slightest.
"Oh… right, the meat," Sokka said, smiling weakly. "Maybe I ought to give you some for listening to me, huh?"
The hawk seemed excited upon his owner's idea, but Sokka smirked and shook his head before offering his gloved hand to him.
"That was just a joke, silly," he said, as Hawky hopped on his hand. "You'll have to fly first and get your meat after you do, alright? You know the drill, Hawky… so up into the sky you go!"
And with that, Sokka lifted his arm and helped Hawky take off. The hawk flapped his wings as he flew upwards, just as Sokka had commanded. He was only a black spot on a cloud by the time he took a turn and glided down towards his master again. Sokka smiled proudly as Hawky approached, and he held out his hand to help the bird land. The claws latched onto his glove as the hawk's wings fluttered while he found balance on Sokka's hand. And once he was in place, Sokka beamed and gave one of the promised slabs of meat to Hawky, who ate it ravenously.
"Woah, boy, don't eat me as well," Sokka said, chuckling as Hawky devoured his meat. "Uh, but really… I can't keep my mind off her, Hawky. All I can think about is seeing her again."
But when would he? They had only arrived at the Capital the day before, and everyone had parted ways after that. Sokka hadn't expected to see Azula again that day, but he sure hoped he would on the next one… but she had yet to appear. He sighed and looked at Hawky with sad eyes, and the hawk responded by screeching so loudly that Sokka tripped and fell while the bird flapped his wings and dropped gracefully on the ground.
"W-what was that for?! You trying to give me a heart attack, Hawky?!" Sokka squeaked, looking at his pet indignantly before sighing. "Ugh, let's just keep training… and I'll try to stop thinking about her somehow."
But his attempts weren't successful at all. After Hawky performed only a few more loops, Sokka began wondering if he should send Azula a message… but what should he write? What could he possibly tell her through a letter? It would have been a good idea to contact her through messenger hawk only a week ago… but now he didn't feel like teasing her through a foolish flirty message.
He wanted to see her, but even if he did, what would he say? What could he possibly do? After what they had been through, being around her was nerve-wrecking. He thought the tension between them would fade away as the limits that defined their relationship were blurred… but if anything, it seemed to have increased tenfold. His heart raced only by thinking of her, and if he saw her he would lose his mind… but if he didn't see her his chest would split in half over the pain of missing her. And why miss her so badly when they hadn't been apart for that long? Oh, these feelings were going to be the death of him one day…
And thus, he found himself waiting, even if he hardly meant to do so. Anxiety made its way through him, unjustified anxiety he kept trying to placate by using his common sense. No, it wasn't as though Azula needed to show up just yet… she had better things to do than to waste her time with him. And that she hadn't dropped by didn't mean she was sick of him, or that she didn't want to see him anymore. It didn't mean their relationship had been ruined… though if it wasn't ruined, it definitely had changed beyond recognition now. And since things had changed so radically, did it mean she didn't want to spend time with him because she feared he would be unable to stop himself the next time they were alone…?
And there they were again, those ridiculous thoughts that were consuming Sokka's mind. He huffed and shook his head, letting Hawky take a break for the day as he went about his own business, trying to occupy himself with any random tasks just to keep from losing his mind with these foolish thoughts. He wasn't the sort of guy who suffered from anxiety. He would get over this quickly, he had no other choice but to do so.
He busied himself with anything he could think of. He cleaned his bedroom, and he folded neatly every single new clothing garment he had bought in Ember Island before placing them inside his drawers and closet. He helped Song cook, or tried to, even though she didn't seem to need help. He read a book that had been left behind by the house's previous owner, a book on Fire Nation geography, and he fell asleep on the couch while reading. He woke with a start after that, and his first thought was that Azula surely would arrive now only to find him snoring with a book on his chest. It was just like her to catch her in his most embarrassing moments…
But she wasn't here yet. Sokka sighed and felt his heart sink, fearing this would mean she wasn't going to show up today. The sun was almost setting by now, and she'd never drop by so late. So she simply hadn't come… for one reason or another. He tried to appease himself, to think it had nothing to do with their current strange, unstable situation… if she had been uncomfortable about it, she could have said so back in Ember Island…
Yet that might be the reason she would keep her distance now… because it had happened in Ember Island. The place gave everyone a clean slate, she had said… was the slate only clean while you were in Ember Island? Was it that they had returned to the Capital now, and Azula had remembered just how many mistakes Sokka had made, just how many times he had hurt her, willing or unwillingly, and she didn't want to put herself in danger of being hurt by him again…?
He could hardly blame her if that were the case, now that he thought of it. He sighed, thinking he probably wouldn't have given himself a second chance if he had been in her place. She had been quite generous to him up until now. Maybe he should stop pushing his luck… and he definitely shouldn't consider dropping by at the Palace to see her and ask her if they were really doing fine. All he had to do was keep his head on straight. He had to think of what was important, both to her and to him… and that was the Gladiator Business, of course. He had a fight in five days, if he was counting right. He needed to focus on that, to train for it… and to train properly he needed to relax first, to push away these vexing thoughts from his mind. And the best way to start doing that would be by taking a bath, Sokka concluded. It surely would help clear his mind, yes it would…
Song had been folding the laundry when she heard a knock on the door. She blinked a few times, surprised to hear there was a visitor at this time of the day. She didn't bother looking outside through a window to check who it might be, though, for she had no problem guessing who this visitor might be. Only one person dropped by at the house on a frequent basis.
"Good day, Princess" Song said, smiling shyly.
Azula nodded towards her and the slave moved away to allow Azula inside. Song didn't miss the fact that the Princess was gazing around the living room, surely looking for Sokka.
"To what do we owe the pleasure of this… late afternoon visit?" asked Song.
"I had some matters to tend to, I simply didn't expect them to take so long," Azula replied. "Where is he?"
"Uh, I'm not sure," said Song, tapping her chin with a finger. "He's been lounging around the house all day, training Hawky and whatnot… he might be in his room now, maybe."
Azula had to make use of all her willpower to keep from blushing in front of Song. She wasn't about to go see him in his room, not after everything that had happened between them as of late…
"You didn't bring your sword today, did you?" Song noted, looking at Azula with interest.
"I'm not here to train," she muttered. "I came here to tell him about…"
Azula fell silent when she heard footsteps coming from the back of the house. And when she lifted her eyes towards the where she heard the sound, she forgot completely about what she had been telling Song.
"A-Azula!" exclaimed Sokka, and his cheeks reddened at the same time hers did.
He probably would have been quite happy to see her, if only he had been wearing more than just a towel around his waist. Azula had to do her very best to keep from gawking at his almost naked body, but it was slightly difficult to keep her eyes focused on his.
"Sokka?" she said, looking at him in disbelief.
"I… I'm sorry about this, I wasn't expecting you to show up!"
"Considering your fancy getup, I'd hope not," Azula stated. It didn't matter how much their relationship might have changed as of late, she was certain this was out of bounds…
"I, uh… I'll be right back," he said, grimacing before running up the stairs, holding his towel with one hand as he tried to keep it from falling off.
Azula couldn't help herself when he had his back turned towards her, and she followed him with her gaze until he was gone from sight. Her throat was slightly dry all of sudden… ah, why did he have to be so shameless?
"Does he do that often?" Azula asked, an eyebrow twitching as she tried to play off her embarrassment as irritation.
"Uh, more or less," said Song, smiling weakly. "He gets dressed right after every bath, though. It's not like he wanders around the house wearing just a towel, if that's what you thought…"
"Well, knowing how shameless he is, I wouldn't have put it past him," Azula said, sighing. "It doesn't make you uncomfortable to live like this, with a guy like him?"
"Huh? Well, no, not really," said Song, shrugging. "Most the time it feels like watching over a sloppy child, truth to be told."
"Even when you see him like that?" Azula asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Uh… it's not a problem, really," said Song, blinking a few times. "As I said, he bathes and gets dressed afterwards… I'm normally doing other things in the meantime, so it doesn't bother me much if he walks like this. And well, it's not like I haven't seen shirtless men before…"
"Of course…" said Azula, gritting her teeth. But this wasn't just any shirtless man, this was Sokka… Azula could only wonder if Song truly wasn't affected by seeing him like that. Either the girl was far too innocent to care about seeing Sokka like this, or she had gotten accustomed to him, and for that, Azula could only envy her. If only she could keep from being so affected by him…
"So sorry about that, Azula, I didn't think you'd be showing up today," Sokka said, as he climbed down the stairs, now fully clothed as he dried his hair with his towel.
"Alright then, I'll leave you two to your business…" Song said, smiling before heading off to continue folding the laundry.
"It's… fine, I suppose," Azula said, carefully weighing her words. She didn't want him to know just how fine it really was. "I didn't plan on coming this late either, but I was rather busy."
"Really?" Sokka asked, looking at her with interest as he lowered the towel. Again Azula had to try to keep from staring at him in amazement. Why was he this attractive when he had his hair down? "Well, if you had stuff to do you really didn't have to drop by… it's not easy to live without you, but I'm doing all I can to manage."
"Huh? It's not?" Azula asked, smirking now as he gave her a foolish grin. "Still, I thought it best for me to come now. One of the things I did was stop by at the Royal Dome to ask Shoji about our next opponent…"
"Oh, right… we didn't get anything about him last time," said Sokka, frowning as he sat on the couch.
"It shouldn't have taken me too long to come here after that, but alas, using the palanquin tends to consume a lot of time," said Azula, sighing and stepping away from him as he tied his hair, to her relief. This way it would be much easier for her to focus on the issue at hand… for it really was an issue.
"Is Xin Long still off on his trip?" Sokka asked, raising an eyebrow.
"He hasn't found traces of more dragons as of yet, but he's having the time of his life flying around volcanoes," said Azula. "He has also enjoyed hunting in new terrains, so I wouldn't worry much about him. He'll be back when he feels like it."
"I figure," said Sokka, smiling. "You must miss him, though."
"We're not as far apart as it might seem, even when we're not together," Azula said, and Sokka simply stared at her in bewilderment.
"Right," he said, and Azula turned towards him again. Once she confirmed his hair was properly tied, she finally felt capable of focusing on the matter that had brought her here in the first place.
"About this Stingray, though…" she said, looking down at him with a frown. "We never really analyzed him much because he wasn't a promising fighter. Shoji only told us he was below us in the ranking, and with that alone we had discarded him. But with that name I suppose we should have guessed…"
"He's Water Tribe, isn't he?" Sokka said, frowning as well as his gaze went to the floor. "A man whose gladiator name is 'stingray' could hardly be anything else."
"Indeed," replied Azula, sighing. "According to Shoji, he hails from the Northern Water Tribe, and, well, he's got quite an odd story. But the main thing you need to know is that he's a waterbender."
Sokka sighed and leaned back on the couch before giving Azula a weak, insincere smile.
"Well, I've had my fair share of fighting waterbenders in the past…"
"I honestly doubt this will be on the same level as struggling with an unexperienced younger sibling who keept soaking you," said Azula, looking at him skeptically.
"Yeah, you're right about that," said Sokka, sighing again. "I somewhat suspected this would happen, but on some level I wished this guy had just taken up a random name that sounded cool. I guess not, but how come is there a northern waterbender in the ranking? I thought there were hardly any Water Tribe slaves…"
"There aren't many, it's true," said Azula. "But this guy, as I said, has a strange history. Apparently, he was sent by the higher-ups in the Water Tribe to murder my grandfather many years ago…"
"Wait, he's the one who killed your grandfather?!" Sokka asked, shocked.
"No, of course not. I told you I didn't know how he died, and he definitely didn't die by this guy's hand," said Azula. "You see… apparently, this Stingray was a threat to anyone, even to his own people. He was an unreliable assassin, not because he couldn't get the job done but because he went to unnecessary lengths with every mission. Apparently he could put the most bloodthirsty Fire Nation soldiers to shame when he showed his cruelty on the battlefield, he even killed Commander Fon in cold blood and tore apart his ship singlehandedly."
"So, he was some sort of killer machine?" Sokka asked.
"Not quite… a machine would follow the commands it's given. This guy made his own choices," said Azula. "And thus, he was unreliable."
"He sounds like something too nasty to come out of a Water Tribe, truth to be told," said Sokka.
"It's probably why they wanted to get rid of him," said Azula. "See, the assassination attempt went awry. The information about it was leaked, and my grandfather could protect himself properly and gain a new waterbending prisoner… though of course it wasn't easy to seize him. He must have killed about twenty soldiers, more or less, before he was subdued and captured. After that, he was kept locked up with other dangerous waterbenders that had been imprisoned, but unlike most of them, this guy didn't die after being locked up for over a decade."
"So, he was kept captive and turned into a gladiator when the slavery began?" Sokka asked.
"Indeed," said Azula. "My father determined that all surviving captives from the war would be available to serve as slaves, so long as they had masters who could handle them. If nobody wanted them, they would be kept in jail. One of my father's noblemen requested to be granted this very waterbender as his slave, and he enrolled him into the Gladiator League right away…"
"But… this means this guy has been around for ages," said Sokka, frowning. "He's been here for way longer than I have, and if all this about him being a dangerous murderer is true, so dangerous that his own Tribe wanted him dead, then why is he so low in the ranking?"
"I thought it was odd as well," said Azula, lowering her gaze. "And I asked Shoji the same thing. See… he had been in the higher levels of the ranking for a very long time, in the top hundred, to be precise. But after sustaining some awful injuries he was unable to return to the Arena for over three months. He was out of the ranking for a year… and he had to start from scratch when he came back."
"But if he got badly hurt then it means he's not undefeatable," said Sokka, thoughtful. "Unless it was in an event similar to the Hunt, then it only took one fighter to reduce him to that dreadful state…"
"The problem is, it wasn't just any fighter," Azula said, looking at him now. "The one who left him in that dreadful state was Combustion Man."
Sokka's eyes widened. He looked at Azula in disbelief, and he remained silent for a moment as he digested the information.
"Wait… but, then… well, he lost against him. If I were to beat him it would mean…"
"It would be a huge risk, Sokka. Bigger than just a huge risk," Azula said, shaking her head. "The reason why I came was… I wanted to know if you really were up for this. Not only is he your kin, even if he's from the North, but his skills are likely beyond you. Combustion Man has killed countless fighters: that the Stingray didn't die when he went up against him is proof of how deadly he is. There is a chance you might be capable of defeating him, but knowing how dangerous this battle could be, I…"
"You think we should forfeit?" Sokka asked, raising an eyebrow. "I find that hard to believe, coming from you…"
"I'd much rather forfeit one fight than risk you dying by this guy's hand," Azula said, looking at him sternly. "I was unwilling to forfeit in the past because there was little chance you'd end up dead. This time, though…"
"You place so little trust in my skills?" Sokka asked, with a weak smile.
"It's not a matter of trust, but of survival. I don't want to do something reckless," she said. "No matter how badly we want to get you to the top of this ranking, it's not going to happen if you get yourself killed in this fight."
"But if this guy was a big deal in the past, as you've said… then I might earn myself some serious challenges after fighting with him," said Sokka, thoughtful. "There will likely be other sponsors who remember this Stingray guy. I'd earn a better reputation if I take him down."
"And what if you don't?" Azula asked. "What if he kills you? He has some crazy techniques with water and ice: he has killed countless people by soaking them with his water before freezing them alive, just to mention one…"
"Well, then, I'll just have to keep from getting killed," Sokka said, and Azula sighed.
"You're not serious, are you? Sokka…"
"It's another fight, no different from all those I've had up till now," said Sokka, frowning. "That he's Water Tribe shouldn't make a difference… not when he's got that creepy story behind him. I've fought plenty of other gladiators for years now, no matter where they came from, no matter if they had a noble story or a rotten one. I think I'll be able to take this guy on, even if he's from a Water Tribe. But, say, why was he so insistent about fighting us? Why did he keep sending challenges even when you kept ignoring him?"
"I don't know. I honestly don't know what's the reason behind that," Azula said. "I rather doubt he's an acquaintance of yours, he was probably captured when you were only a child, that is, if you had been born at all when that happened. Maybe he just wants to see another Water Tribe fighter…"
"But it's the sponsor who chooses the opponent," said Sokka. "Does this sponsor hold some grudge towards you of some sort? Did he ask for your hand in marriage and you turned him down or something?"
"No, he didn't, but I probably would have turned him down if he had," said Azula, at which Sokka smiled a little. "I don't know this man personally, and I don't see why he would hold a grudge against me or my family, in case that's what you suspected. I don't know…"
"Maybe it's some White Lotus thing?" Sokka asked, frowning. "Maybe… they're trying to finish me off after what happened back then?"
"It's a possibility. A very distressing possibility," Azula said, sighing. "Maybe this man is the spy my father has been looking for…? But I doubt it. He's not a member of the highest circles of society. He wouldn't have known about the tunnel in the Throne Room."
"Then it's all a big mystery?" Sokka asked. "Or maybe there's more than just one spy? It could be a chain of sorts…"
"Whatever it is, it's not good. Heading off into a fight that could be easily linked to the White Lotus is just…"
"Crazy? It might be, but you'd rather back off instead of facing this head on? That doesn't quite sound like you."
Azula raised an eyebrow and Sokka looked at her defiantly. Maybe backing down wasn't like her, and yet it was just like him to manipulate her in this way… but what was he trying to accomplish?
"Why are you so eager to do this?" asked Azula. "Why are you willing to put your life on the line like this when the potential benefits really don't justify it, Sokka?"
"Because…" he said, before lowering his eyes as he played with his thumbs. He really couldn't say he didn't want to let her down, could he? She was right, maybe it was too reckless…
"Do you really think it's worth the risk?" Azula insisted.
"So far, we haven't fought the strongest gladiators there are," Sokka said. "And I'm aiming at becoming the best, right? If I can beat this guy, I'll know if I have a chance at surviving a fight against Combustion Man. If I can win against this Stingray, I'll know if I can reach the top hundred fighters. If I back off, I won't know anything. I won't know if the risk will be worth it until I've taken it."
"That's… that's the way of thinking of an idiot, I'll have you know," Azula said, her eyes gleaming with concern as she glared at him. Sokka couldn't help but marvel at the expression on her face. Could anyone else show emotions in the way Azula did…?
"Maybe it is," he said, with a weak smile. "But I really think it's best if we go with this, Azula."
"You'd better not come to regret that later," she said, with a sigh. "Very well, then. We're doing this. Don't expect me to mourn you if he freezes you alive."
"Alright then, I'll try to keep you from having any reasons to mourn at all," said Sokka, still smiling. "I'll keep training these next few days… I'll do everything I can to keep from getting killed by that guy."
"Shoji described his fighting style to me, more or less," said Azula, sighing. "I should be able to help you with the training somehow, I hope."
"Good, then," said Sokka, smiling.
"It's already late, though, and I didn't bring my sword," said Azula. "So, it will have to wait until tomorrow."
"Don't worry, I didn't think we'd start right away," he said, chuckling.
"And I probably should take off now," Azula muttered. "It's getting late, and I left the Royal Procession waiting for me…"
"Right," said Sokka, with a weak smile as he stood up and walked with her to the door. "So I guess… I'll see you tomorrow?"
Azula looked up at him for a moment, perhaps worriedly, perhaps expectantly… as if she had thought he would do something else now they were about to part again. Yet she did nothing other than nod quickly.
"Tomorrow it is, then," she said, opening the door and walking towards the palanquin that awaited her on the road.
Sokka smiled as he watched her leave, beyond relieved upon knowing Azula would come again tomorrow… it didn't matter if she'd beat him to a pulp during training, for he was certain she would be using both her sword and fire this time around, and with both skills combined the Princess was nothing short of lethal. Yet it didn't matter… so long as he knew he'd see her again, there was something in the near future worth looking forward to.
But that which loomed in the not-so-near future wasn't something Sokka looked forward to. The days passed by, and his training with Azula was far more intense than it usually was. To his mild joy, there was some physical contact between them, far more than usual, though to his disappointment, they didn't kiss again. It seemed Azula wasn't going to take more risks of being caught by anyone, they had already been too reckless during their stay in Ember Island. Still, Sokka found he didn't mind so much. Being near her was thrilling for him already, and unless Azula wanted to make more of this, he wouldn't push his luck any further. He truly cherished what they already had.
Yet she seemed uneasy over having him fight the Stingray… and her unease only increased with every passing day. Sokka could tell she didn't want him to end up dead for more reasons than the ones she was willing to voice out loud. But just as she often did, she kept all those other reasons to herself. Not once did she admit that she didn't want him to die for any other motive than over not wanting to find a new gladiator. Yet Sokka didn't need for her to say it… not this time. Her blazing eyes often spoke the words she refused to say out loud.
And the expression in her eyes only grew more pronounced as the fight loomed over them. Sokka actually thought she would finally put her worries into words when they were in a waiting room before the fight began… but other than sending glances his way while pacing through the room, Azula said nothing. Maybe it was better this way, Sokka thought…
"Beware the ice attacks most of all," Azula warned him for the millionth time once she had walked down to the stand-by room with him. "He'll try to overwhelm you with them. Waterbending is a very dangerous fighting form, and if he's half as good at it as I was told…"
"I know," said Sokka, smiling weakly as he fit his helmet on his head. "You've already said so, Azula. Don't worry, I'll be…"
"You keep saying you'll be fine, but how can I just believe that?" she asked, frowning. "You're telling me to believe in you blindly, wholeheartedly, even when all odds are against you?"
Sokka turned and smiled brightly at her, and he took her by surprise with his confident response.
"Yeah."
Azula froze in place before glaring at him with irritation.
"Do you really think I can do something so thoughtless? You can't win a fight by willpower alone, you blockhead."
Sokka actually laughed at her insult, but her face remained as serious as it had been all along.
"Good thing I brought a few weapons along then," he said, smiling at her. "I can do this, Azula. You'll see it for yourself soon enough."
"So you say, but…" Azula muttered, sighing. "If you get yourself badly injured, it'll be all on you, you heard me? Don't expect me to bother taking care of you…"
"Got it, Azula," he said. "You can stop worrying. I'll sort this out one way or another."
"You'd better," she said, gritting her teeth before looking at him, her eyes still gleaming with concern. "Good luck… and don't get yourself killed."
"I won't," Sokka said, looking back at her with determination.
It seemed to him she might resort to a gesture of some sort, of any sort, to ask him not to get himself killed today yet again… but she didn't. Perhaps she knew that showing him affection of any kind would likely only serve to make him lose concentration, and he needed to keep his head focused on the upcoming fight.
So Azula simply nodded towards him and walked away, an unpleasant feeling of dread filling her with every step she took towards the sponsors' balcony. Perhaps she was being pessimistic, or perhaps her feelings for Sokka were clouding her better judgment, but pitting her gladiator against a murderer such as the Stingray simply couldn't sit well with her. She could only wish he'd win, that he would meet her again in the waiting room during his medical check with a cocky grin and an 'I told you so', but it wasn't easy to indulge in those thoughts. She was too fearful of the worst-case scenario to even think about the better ones.
Sokka took a deep breath as he forced himself to focus. He had a fight right in front of him, a fight with an ex-Water Tribe assassin… and even though he had tried to remain level-headed about it until now, it really wasn't easy to think about facing off against someone that belonged to his nation. Never mind if this guy was from the north and not the south, fighting against him was more than a little unsettling. He tried to ignore that feeling, for he had fought heaps of Earth Kingdom gladiators and defeated them all the same, but for some reason it wasn't so easy to put aside his unease now that he was alone in the stand-by room. Assassin or not, the gladiator he'd be dealing with was a fellow tribesman…
Azula entered the sponsors' balcony to find the opposite sponsor was already there. He was a man close to his sixties, it seemed to Azula, but unlike most noblemen she had met of that same age, this particular man was thin and lanky, with streaks of white and grey discoloring his formerly black hair.
"Ah… Princess," he said, as she walked to her assigned seat. "It is such a pleasure to meet you."
"It better be, considering how much you insisted on this fight," Azula replied, trying to sound as confident as ever. "To what did I owe all the persistent challenges, I wonder?"
"Why, this is the Gladiator League, Princess," said the sponsor, smiling. "Challenges are bound to come and go all the time, aren't they?"
"I suppose…" said Azula, looking at the man judgmentally. He was hiding something behind those smiles, without a doubt. "I take it you will be satisfied with a single fight, won't you? I won't be finding more challenges coming from the Notorious Stingray anymore no matter what today's outcome is, will I?"
"Ah, no, I don't believe so," the man said. "I've heard much about your fighter, Princess. Apparently he's very strong."
"I've heard much about yours as well," Azula replied. "Though I'm partially hoping the information I was given was fake…"
"It most likely isn't," said the man. "If you were told about him being a former assassin, you heard the right tale."
"It sounds like he would be a handful of a gladiator to handle for a sponsor such as yourself, then," said Azula.
"Well, I take it you must have quite some experience dealing with Water Tribe men, if your gladiator is from the South as I was told," said the sponsor. "The Blue Wolf's already a few places away from the top half of the ranking, isn't he?"
"Indeed," Azula replied. "Only eight slots away from the 250th place."
"Strong indeed," said the sponsor, nodding. "Yet strength isn't always a good omen for a fighter…"
"What?" Azula said, frowning. "It's not a good omen? Whatever do you mean by that?"
"Well… it doesn't matter how powerful you become, there will always be someone capable of defeating you. No matter how confident you may be about being the best at something, someone better will always come along. That's the way life is."
Azula glared at him in confusion upon those words. Was he trying to say Sokka couldn't possibly win this fight? Was he claiming his fighter was better than hers? He might even be implying this would be the end of Sokka's career… and if he made it so, Azula would make this man, and his murderer gladiator, pay for it. She wasn't about to lose Sokka today… she wasn't about to lose him at all, not after everything that had happened between them as of late.
The time limit they settled was of ten minutes, by Azula's request. If this man planned on having his assassin butcher Sokka, she wouldn't allow it to drag on much longer than necessary. Surely Sokka could withstand ten minutes stuck in the sand with that gladiator…
The two gladiators were ushered into the ring by the megaphone man, and cheers of all sorts welcomed Sokka into the fight. It seemed his supporters grew in number with every passing day… surely his feat of coming second in the Hunt had earned him the recognition of plenty more people.
And maybe he wasn't paying enough attention, or maybe he couldn't see everyone in the stands properly from down in the ring, but he couldn't see or hear anyone screaming for the Stingray. All the signs he saw had wolves drawn upon them. He lifted a fist into the air, and most the public screamed joyfully. So this Stingray didn't have many supporters, it seemed…
And considering both his history and his appearance, it wasn't so hard to figure out why that was. The Stingray was a man around his forties, with glacial eyes that seemed to shift between gray and light blue. Yet the main feature about him that would catch anyone's eye was the man's face. Perhaps it had been a handsome face in the past, but it sure wasn't anymore. The Stingray had sustained the worst burn Sokka had ever seen, even including the one on Zuko's face and the one Azula had branded Sokka's own stomach with. The man's nose seemed to have been burned away, and the skin that still covered his face was dark and runny, as though it were melted wax.
Sokka recoiled upon the sight of him. Without a doubt, those burns must have been Combustion Man's doing…
"Hello there," the Stingray said, with a sing-song voice that only served to increase Sokka's unease.
"Hi," he replied, gulping.
"So, you're the famous Blue Wolf, huh?" the man asked, and his charred lips lifted to form a smile. It made for quite the gruesome sight for Sokka.
"And you're the Notorious Stingray," said Sokka. "Nice to meet you."
"The look in your eyes says you really don't think so," said the Stingray, with a shrill laugh. "Don't you like the souvenirs Busty gave me?"
"Busty?" Sokka repeated. "Are you that familiar with him that you can call him that?"
"Eh, it's not like it'll make a difference whatever I call him," said the Stingray, chuckling, still with the same odd laugh.
The megaphone man screamed and announced the beginning of the fight right then, but neither gladiator took the offensive just yet, busy studying each other as they were.
"Why were you so eager to fight me?" Sokka asked, frowning.
"Oh? And what makes you think it was me who wanted to fight you?" asked the Stingray.
"Because you happen to look like the sort of gladiator who could terrify your sponsor into doing your bidding, and not the other way around…" Sokka replied, walking in a wide circle around his opponent, his eyes set on him. There were pouches of water hanging on his waist… the longer this guy continued wasting time like this instead of attacking with icy shards, the better for Sokka.
"Ah, well, that much is true, I am that sort of gladiator…" said the Stingray, chuckling. "And what about you, Wolfy? Are you the sort of gladiator who terrifies his sponsor? Or is it the other way around?"
"I'd say we go on even terms, more or less…" Sokka replied, and that caused the Stingray to lash out in laughter, to Sokka's surprise.
The man was laughing so hard he had to bend over himself, a hand on his stomach as he tried to calm down. Sokka gritted his teeth and lifted a hand towards his sword warily. That sort of behavior was nothing short of terrifying.
"Even terms?! Even terms, he says! HA! As if that were possible!" he exclaimed. "It's like you don't even know you're just another puppet in a puppet show! It's like you don't realize what they've done to you! You saved the Fire Nation, boy! You saved the pretty Princess's life, and the life of every idiot in these stands! And yet you say you're on even terms with her? You're an even bigger idiot than I am, you Blue Wolf! And that's saying a lot!"
Sokka's eyebrows drew together as he glared at his opponent. This didn't sound good. But if the guy was hoping to defeat him by resorting to underhanded techniques, such as making him doubt his latest decisions, then maybe it meant he wasn't fully functional… maybe it meant he wasn't strong enough to beat Sokka through skill alone. And if that was the case…
"Naïve, naïve…" said the Stingray, smirking before grabbing two of the pouches on his waist. "Too naïve to live, boy!"
Sokka gritted his teeth and jumped back instinctively. He really should have attacked while the man was rambling. Waiting for the right moment hadn't been helpful this time around.
The Stingray popped the two pouches open, and he unleashed the water with swift movements. He gave Sokka another gruesome smirk before moving his hands in a circular motion and throwing an array of water straight at Sokka.
The stream was fast, but Sokka was faster. He jumped out of the way quickly, and he was only reached by a few stray droplets of water that didn't quite follow their intended course. Yet just when Sokka expected the Stingray to pull back the water to attack again, the opponent tightened a fist and all the water he had just used solidified into ice, including the drops which had reached Sokka.
He didn't feel the temperature change, for luckily, the water had only hit his armor. But the Stingray gave him another dangerous smile as Sokka looked at the frozen parts his breastplate worriedly.
"That was a warning shot, Wolfy," said the Stingray. "Ready for the real deal? Or will you beg for mercy just like you did with those ashmakers you've sold yourself to?"
Sokka gritted his teeth and pulled out Space Sword. So maybe he really wasn't fully recovered… but it seemed he didn't have to be to pose a threat to Sokka. How was he supposed to beat this guy without getting frozen in the process?
The Stingray unfroze the ice he had used previously, and now he directed it again towards Sokka. Sokka jumped away, but this time the Stingray didn't freeze the water just yet. To Sokka's dismay, the man leapt and spun around in the air with a kick, and with that, the water he was bending made a turn in midair and flew straight towards Sokka's back.
Sokka dropped on the ground and rolled on the sand, but it seemed that wasn't going to work out either. Again with his legs, the Stingray continued to chase Sokka with his stream of water. It was impossible to get closer, or to attack him in any way. Trying to split the stream of water with his sword would serve no purpose, Sokka knew. If anything, it would only worsen matters for him, for a frozen sword could shatter if he wasn't cautious. So Space Sword wouldn't be much use here… and neither would be most of his weapons, truly.
What was he supposed to do? Now he began wishing he had taken Katara seriously as a sparring opponent whenever she used her waterbending to attack him. Maybe that way he would have known how to defeat this guy. There had to be something he could use to his advantage, there had to be a way to stall this guy, to distract him and use up a tiny window of an opportunity to defeat him…
In a sudden motion, Sokka's hand went down to his waist and he threw the two bombs he had brought with him today straight at his opponent. The Stingray seemed to panic at that, and Sokka would have smiled upon this favorable sign if only he'd had enough time to grin.
He pulled his boomerang out of its sheath and threw it at the Stingray just as the man separated in half the water he'd been bending in order to stop the bombs in mid-air. He mustn't have known they were only smoke bombs, expecting them to be actual explosives. The Stingray froze the bombs before turning his attention to Sokka again and finding the fast-approaching boomerang. He would be unable to freeze it with the water he was already using to hold the bombs…
But to Sokka's dismay, the Stingray jumped and kicked upwards. What was he trying to do, if he had already used up all his water…?
It wasn't until then that Sokka realized there had been more water within the Arena than the one in the pouches the Stingray had brought with him.
A pillar of water rose powerfully from the Arena's well, and the Stingray brought it down on the boomerang when it was only inches away from reaching him.
Azula looked in utter disbelief… Sokka's plan had failed to work, and it had been quite a good plan, to boot. If that hadn't worked, and if the Stingray had access to such a large supply of water, how was Sokka supposed to accomplish anything in this fight?
"Oh, dear…" said the Stingray's sponsor, biting his lip.
Azula looked at him in irritation, thinking he was being sarcastic or mocking… but it didn't seem like it. The expression in his eyes said he was genuinely concerned. Why should he be? Was there something wrong with the Stingray's latest movement? Perhaps the waterbender had left an opening Sokka could make good use of, and Azula hadn't noticed it…?
But if that was the case, it seemed Sokka couldn't notice it either. He was grimacing as he looked at the pool of mud the Stingray had created with the well's water, the pool where his boomerang currently lay. If he didn't have bombs, and if he didn't have his boomerang, he had no idea what techniques he could resort to in order to beat this guy…
"It's sort of funny, you know?" said the Stingray, chuckling. "You brute gladiators always happen to forget just what the purpose of a well is. Ironic, isn't it? I've caught so many morons with this technique and they just keep falling and falling…"
"I don't think your funny technique did you much good against Combustion Man, though," Sokka said, gritting his teeth as he tried to stall his opponent while coming up with a plan, any plan…
"Ah, but you're not Busty, are you?" asked the Stingray, smirking again. "No, you're a non-bender… a non-bender who got way too far, and way too ahead of himself. A non-bender who shouldn't have survived this far…"
"I don't think you have the right to say who should survive and who shouldn't," Sokka grunted, glaring at the man.
"Well, we're about to see if I do or don't, won't we?" said the Stingray, with another maniac shrill laugh before flinging the frozen bombs at Sokka.
The bombs couldn't possibly work anymore, not after being frozen as they just had been, but, encased in ice as they were, they would serve as extremely dangerous missiles. Sokka pulled his club out now, grasping it with his left hand, and he swung it diagonally to shatter the first ball of ice that reached him. Yet there came the other one… and he couldn't dodge in time.
The ball struck him powerfully on the chest and knocked him down on the sand, but it didn't injure him greatly, to Sokka's momentary relief… but soon enough he was panicking for a different reason. The Stingray opened his hand slowly in order to melt the ice surrounding the bomb. He meant to soak Sokka's body to freeze him alive afterwards.
Sokka struck the ball of ice with the hilt of his sword, knocking the ice off him just in time before it melted completely on him. Again, it only got his armor. The Stingray seemed irritated at the failure of his plan again, yet the black armor had been drenched in cold water… water that the Stingray turned into ice by tightening a fist. Sokka stood up with some difficulty, and he grimaced as he realized another strike could easily shatter his armor, unless it was made of even better material than he thought it was. He really didn't know much about the cold-resistance of the meteorite he had crafted both his armor and sword from, but he sure didn't plan on experimenting on said resistance now.
He didn't have many options left, and with his enemy's swiftness Sokka really might end up on the losing end today. Unless he came up with something immediately, he would have next to no chances to defeat the Stingray.
Cutting his water supply, or forcing him to use up all of it, seemed an impossible feat considering the Stingray used the content of the well as a resource. So, if he couldn't limit his access to water… then the only other option was to render him unable to bend water.
The Stingray didn't seem willing to give Sokka much time to keep thinking, though. He reeled back all his water supply slowly, while giving Sokka a vicious smirk. The mass of water the Stingray was bending was huge, and Sokka could only grimace as he watched what his opponent was doing now.
"Well, well… ready for the fun part, Wolfy?" he asked, wiggling his fingers. Upon his movement, the mass of water sprouted out ten tentacles, and Sokka stared in horror as the tips of each tentacle solidified into sharpened ice.
If he was struck by that, he'd be a goner. His armor might resist, but if it didn't he'd be in risk of getting punctured by that ice… and wounds of that sort might not heal at all.
But he couldn't waste much time thinking about this. He had to act now. He'd shatter the ice spikes if they came his way, and he'd keep running towards his opponent somehow. The sooner he reached him, the faster this battle would be over… and he really needed it to be over as quickly as possible.
Sokka sprung out towards the Stingray, who looked at him in confusion briefly before directing his spikes towards Sokka. As planned, the Blue Wolf used his club and his sword to shatter the ice… but, busy worrying about the ice as he was, he happened to forget completely about the water tentacles the ice had been attached to. And those tentacles began surrounding his limbs as soon as he broke the ice that crowned them.
Sokka tried to keep moving, but it was impossible to do it when the tentacles were holding him down to keep him from moving. This was ridiculous… water couldn't restrain. He should be able to move through liquid! But it was then that he realized there was something very cold in the spots on which the tentacles were surrounding him. One look told him his opponent had solidified the tentacles of water that had wrapped around his body, and by doing that, the Stingray could keep Sokka from moving altogether.
"Should I give this a proper end already? No, probably not… it's not over yet, of course. There's still time to punish you," said the Stingray, smirking.
Sokka would have asked what he was up to, but a tentacle spun around his neck now and kept him from speaking. Sokka gasped for breath as he felt himself choking, the tentacles gripping him tighter with every passing moment…
The Stingray lifted Sokka off the ground, to the younger gladiator's despair. The entire audience gasped as they watched the Blue Wolf squirming in the grip of his opponent, who seemed to play with him as he held Sokka in place with one hand while summoning more water out of the well with the other.
"This attack you just saw, with the pretty tentacles? I like to call it 'the Viper's Wasps'. I have another special one, if you want to see it," he said, smiling up at Sokka as he lifted the new mass of water towards him. "Well, that is, if you manage to survive this next one… for how long can you hold your breath under water, boy?"
The new mass of water began soaking Sokka's feet and it moved upwards slowly, covering his entire body as he kept trying to fight back. He gritted his teeth when the water reached his face, and soon enough he was left doing nothing but floating in the large water bubble as his lungs begged him for the air he wouldn't be able to supply them with.
Maybe if he played dead the Stingray would leave him be… maybe. Maybe if he stopped fighting the water and ice around him would recede. He just needed to breathe, that was all he asked for right now…
Azula gritted her teeth and watched in horror for the umpteenth time. Why did she always have to end up panicking whenever she sent him out to fight? Why couldn't he finish his rivals off and just give her a goofy smile when he was done with it? Why had she let him do this…? She should have withdrawn, forfeited this match. It didn't matter if the Stingray had kept challenging them, ignoring him wouldn't have been a problem. Yet it was too late to change her decisions now… and as ever, she could only look in dismay and helplessness as Sokka writhed within that immense ball of water.
And then he stopped writhing altogether.
Her eyes opened wide when she saw him close his eyes and stop moving. No… no, that idiot was surely playing a trick. He couldn't have passed out, he couldn't have died… either thing was out of the question. It had always been. So he couldn't just fall apart here…
The Stingray lifted what was left of his eyebrow before smiling and releasing his grip around the water bubble. And with that, Sokka fell sloppily, face-first, on the sand.
It was no surprise for the Stingray to see Sokka coughing violently, for he had guessed the Blue Wolf had only been pretending to be unconscious. Yet up in the stands, Azula could only sigh in relief when she saw he was still alive. This combat was starting to remind her too much of Sokka's fight against the Blind Bandit…
"Enjoyed getting soaked, boy?" the Stingray asked, smirking down on Sokka, who was still coughing. "You looked like you could use a bath. You should be happy I gave you one. You'll go straight into a grave worthy of a blood-traitor like yourself, surely, but at least you won't be smelly. I did you quite a favor, see?"
Sokka growled and lifted his blurry eyes to glare at the Stingray, a gesture that only seemed to excite his opponent further. The Stingray smirked as he manipulated the water around himself, shaping it into the form of a snake. Sokka's eyes were full of confusion now, yet he was slightly desperate as well. What was the waterbender up to now?
"Should I tell you a 'Snake's Tail' now, Wolfy?" he said, smirking. "Yeah… that's the name of the attack that will take your life. I figured you should know. Ready to die, boy?"
No, he sure wasn't ready, Sokka thought. He glared at his opponent, who only regarded him with a cruel grin. The water snake's mouth opened wide, and it showed Sokka sharp icy fangs that were bound to find their way into his skin soon enough.
But he wasn't ready. And he refused to let this man kill him today.
The Stingray lifted a hand, in order to command his snake, and Sokka jumped forward. The snake darted out, ice fangs bared, and Sokka twisted his body around just in time for the fangs to dig into his frozen armor.
Yet the ice wasn't capable of breaking the metal plates… to Sokka's relief, his breastplate had been far more resistant than he had given it credit for.
The Stingray was surprised when his snake's teeth shattered on Sokka's armor, but he lifted his right hand and readied himself for another attack. He could defeat the Blue Wolf even if the Snake's Tail had failed him…
But as it happened, he suddenly had no right hand to perform another attack with.
The blood began rushing out of the stump that remained on the Stingray's wrist before he could register what had happened. The waterbender stared in horror, hardly understanding how his opponent had cut off his hand…
Sokka gripped Space Sword tightly in his right hand, a look of ferocious anger gleaming in his unfocused eyes. His blade was dripping with blood already, and it was about to become coated with even more red as Sokka swung it towards the Stingray's left wrist now. This time he only stabbed the Stingray's forearm, without chopping off his hand as he had before.
And with that, the Stingray began howling in pain. But it seemed the limb-cutting hadn't been enough. He kicked upwards, trying to use whatever water he had available to attack Sokka. But the waterbender was troubled, and his control on his water had weakened, allowing Sokka to find a new window of opportunity to act… and thus, after being splashed by a weak stream of water the Stingray had sent at him, Sokka struck one of the waterbender's feet with his club, forcing him to fall on the ground on a puddle of his own blood.
Azula looked in shock as Sokka struck both of the Stingray's feet with his club now, rendering them unusable. The Stingray's screams were horrifying as the blood kept rushing out of his wounds. Yet Azula noticed the man beside her didn't seem tense… he didn't seem bothered by this sudden turn of events at all.
In fact… he looked relieved.
"Enjoying the slaughter…?" Azula asked, unable to keep from prying into whatever had caused this man to seem happy about his gladiator's fate.
"A-ah, no, well… It seems this is it for us, I believe. If his hand is missing, he can't fight, can he? He's… he's useless now, can't bend…"
"So that's it, then?" Azula asked, frowning. "That's what you actually meant by the things you said before. That's why you spoke of someone stronger coming along later. You wanted my gladiator to be stronger than yours. You wanted him to kill the Stingray."
The fact that the man only responded by swallowing hard was all Azula needed to confirm her suspicions. Combustion Man didn't finish the job… so the Stingray's sponsor wanted someone else to do it for him. The Stingray was too dangerous for him to control, too powerful, too terrifying. Surely this man woke every day fearing to find the Stingray looming over him, bending a vicious water snake that would look down on him before sinking those icy teeth into his skin. He had no means to kill a killer, he couldn't do it himself. There was no chance he would be able to genuinely rid himself of a man who knew more of murder than he ever would.
It was for this reason that he had hoped a gladiator would do the job for him… it was for this reason that he had been desperate to fight against Sokka. He had believed, for some reason, that the Princess's gladiator would do him the favor to rid him of his gladiator forever. Yet…
"It seems you didn't do your homework half as well as I did…" Azula grunted, frowning heavily as she looked down at the Arena. "You're not getting rid of the Stingray today. Because my gladiator is not a murderer."
The opposite sponsor looked at Azula with wide eyes, and she didn't look back. She didn't want to see his disappointment over Azula's last words. He had no right… he'd never had any right to use Sokka as a tool to get rid of his own gladiator. This had to be the most revolting situation she had ever been involved in ever since she had joined the Gladiator Business. If the man wanted his gladiator dead, he'd do best to get the job done with his own hands or die in the process…
Sokka stumbled back, sheathing his weapons after wiping them clean of the blood. He still coughed, and there were black stains dancing before his eyes. If the Stingray hadn't released him from the water when he did, Sokka would have likely drowned. Yet it hadn't happened… he had escaped death once more. And he had beaten his opponent, as he had been meant to. Despite being on the losing end for most the fight, now Sokka stood before the Stingray, who continued to squirm on the ground, bearing far worse injuries than the ones he had given Sokka.
"You… you wolf, you…!" the Stingray said suddenly, his eyes blazing with madness and anger as he looked at Sokka. "Do it now, then, scum traitor! Kill me already! You're gonna leave the job unfinished?!"
Sokka gritted his teeth and glared at the Stingray. It didn't matter if the man demanded for him to kill him, he wouldn't do it. Not this time… not anymore.
"Look at what you did to me, you scum traitor, you…!" screamed the Stingray, lifting his hand to stare at the stump on his right hand. "Finish me off, damn you! KILL ME!"
"I'm not going to kill you," Sokka said, lowering his gaze.
"Ah… Ah! Y-you're going to be noble now, then?!" the Stingray screamed, pushing himself up with his remaining hand to no avail. Blood gushed out of his wrist, and all he managed to accomplish was to roll over until he was laying on his stomach, his broken legs only adding to the pain he was enduring. "You think leaving me a cripple is noble?! You think killing me is to do me a favor, you scum traitor?! You… SCUM TRAITOR! You'd do this to me, a fellow kinsman, a fellow Water Tribe member…! And yet you won't even touch a hair out of her head… you would protect all these shitty Fire Nation ashmakers just because you're their pet, you scum traitor!"
Sokka looked at the Stingray with anger upon those words. It seemed to be the very reaction the Stingray had been aiming for, given that the man's eyes now sparked with delight despite the pain he was enduring.
"Oh, yes… that's what you are. A traitor who just went for the easy life, a disgusting deserter of the Water Tribe who has forsaken his people and now upholds the Fire Nation! You fight for them, you kill for them, you do anything they ask! You'd sworn to hate them forever, yet look at you now! You're doing their bidding, you're doing HER bidding! What the fuck's wrong with you?! How can you work for them?! How can you fight for them?! How can you be willing to die in a bloody Arena because she commands it?!"
Sokka flinched at the man's accusations. Azula hadn't sent him to his death… she had told him to forfeit this fight, and he had been the one to insist he could do it. The Stingray knew nothing of what he spoke of…
"You're her dog! You're their pet! You're just a scum traitor!"
"Shut up…" Sokka grunted, his hand balling into a fist.
"Traitor! Scum traitor! You've forsaken your own people because you're scum! You've forsaken them because you didn't have enough conviction to die for the Water Tribe's cause! You're a disgrace! If your Tribe knew what you've become…!"
"You have no idea what you're talking about," Sokka growled, glaring. "I… I've protected them…"
"You've condemned them, you fool! You've given up on your beliefs just because a pretty face promised you a life of luxury!" the Stingray shouted.
"Shut up… Shut up!" Sokka shouted, angrily.
"Shut me up, then, scum, if you don't have the balls to hear me!" The Stingray shouted. "From the moment I heard about you I needed to see it for myself… I needed to make sure that you were a rebel like the rest of us. I needed to see who the other Water Tribe fighter was… but you're a toy. The Princess's toy. That bitch has broken you into something you can't even recognize anymore and you're surely thankful for it, you scum… scum traitor, you… how dare you call yourself Water Tribe?! HOW DARE YOU?!"
For once, Sokka felt sorely tempted to strike the man down for real. If it would serve to silence those accusations forever, loping his head off wouldn't be a problem… but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Maybe that was all the Stingray wanted… he wanted to die, but just as it had happened to Sokka, he was incapable of doing it himself. He needed someone else to deliver the finishing blow, just as Sokka had wanted Toph to deliver it back when he had fought her in this very Arena.
But surely the Stingray meant every single word he had uttered. Surely he believed Sokka was a traitor… he couldn't have known Sokka had requested Ozai not to kill the White Lotus men, and to leave the Southern Water Tribe alone. The Stingray didn't know anything about him… he had no right to judge him. He didn't understand any of the experiences Sokka had been through, he didn't know anything about the importance of his bond with Azula…
The Stingray didn't stop screaming, and Azula found herself gripping the armrests of her seat tightly yet again. Those words couldn't reach Sokka… he knew better than to fall for such a ruse. Yet maybe he didn't… maybe the Stingray was playing this game in the exact way he needed to. Taunting Sokka about the Water Tribe in this manner was beyond vile, and the waterbender surely knew it. But he wouldn't stop… he wouldn't quiet down. And Sokka looked as though he might just turn towards the Stingray and slide Space Sword through the man's mouth to keep him from talking anymore.
But he didn't. All Sokka did was stand in place, fists clenched, head dropped, as the Stingray shouted at him.
"You think you mean ANYTHING to them?! You're just another slave, you idiot! Nothing but a slave that can easily be replaced by a better one! She'll throw you away like a used rag as soon as she's done with you! Because that's what they do! That's what the Fire Nation is like! And that's what you've become as well! YOU'RE JUST AS SICK AND TWISTED AS THEY ARE!"
The megaphone man shouted that the time for the fight was completely spent now, but nobody paid him much attention. The jury conceded the victory to Sokka, but it didn't seem this was something important anymore. The Stingray's yelling wouldn't recede, not even when a group of Arena staff members ran into the ring to take him for medical support.
"TRAITOR! SCUM TRAITOR! YOU'RE WORSE THAN ANY ASHMAKER, WORSE THAN EVEN ME!" the Stingray exclaimed as he was being dragged towards the stand-by room. "NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENED, I'VE REMAINED LOYAL TO MY PEOPLE, EVEN WHEN THEY SOLD ME OUT TO THE FIRE NATION! YET YOU… YOU'RE SCUM! YOU'VE BETRAYED THEM! YOU'VE BETRAYED THE WORLD! YOU'RE A TRAITOR! SCUM TRAITOR! SCUM TRAITOR!"
The screams were barely muffled as the man was dragged outside, and Sokka still heard them as he walked towards his own stand-by room. Surely the Stingray wouldn't cease to yell about scum traitors even while he was being tended to…
Azula almost forgot to take the winnings from the opposite sponsor. The man had to remind her of it before she stormed away from the room, her mind set on finding Sokka and making sure he wasn't as wounded by the Stingray's words as it looked he was.
"Where is he? Where did you take him?!" Azula asked one of the staff members while she was checking the waiting rooms to no avail, for she couldn't find Sokka in any of them.
"T-the Stingray? He's being brought upstairs…"
"Not him!" Azula replied angrily. "The Blue Wolf!"
"A-ah, he was supposed to come up here himself, but…" the man blabbered, and Azula simply passed him by when he didn't give her any useful information.
She searched through almost the whole Arena, and yet she didn't find him. Had he simply gone home after the fight? Azula raced towards the vestibule and asked Shoji if he had seen Sokka, but the boy simply shook his head. The Blue Wolf hadn't passed by his counter after the fight.
Azula slid a hand over her head as she wondered where else could he be within this building. There were a few more places she hadn't looked at, but even if Sokka happened to be in them, how was she supposed to do anything to help him? What was she supposed to say? Was there anything she could say to appease him after that?
One of the places she hadn't checked yet was the royal balcony, right above the sponsors' balcony. She wasn't surprised at all to find Sokka hadn't come to seek refuge in it when she reached the locked door that led to it; it seemed nobody had entered this particular room in ages.
The last place to look at was the roof. Azula climbed the stairs towards the top level of the building, and she pushed the door open.
To her relief, she had finally found him. Sokka stood with his back towards where she had come from, his body slightly bent forward as he stood before a curb that enclosed the Dome's roof. Azula gritted her teeth and sighed before approaching cautiously, not knowing if this was a good idea. She was probably the last person he needed to see right now… but she was worried about him. She couldn't walk away from him even if her common sense told her so.
"Sokka…" she called him, and she saw him flinch upon the sound of his name. He was trembling as well, it seemed to Azula… "You need to… you need to get seen by a physician now. Your wounds…"
"They can wait," Sokka muttered. "They have to tend to him first."
"But you… you nearly drowned," said Azula. "And… Sokka, you have ice burns. Look at your arms and legs…"
"I'll be fine," he said, still without looking at her. "Don't worry about me, Azula. I…"
"You came for me when I was in trouble," Azula said, frowning. "You expect me to turn my back on you now? I heard what he told you, Sokka… everyone did. You think I'll just leave you be after that?"
"You should, probably," said Sokka, gulping. "Azula, I just… I just need some time to get over that. It's not a big deal, I just have to… to accept it and move on. I can do that."
"Sokka…" Azula muttered, approaching until she stood right behind him.
"It's just…" he said, with a nervous laugh before gritting his teeth. "I can't help but… but realize that's what they'd say. That's what everyone would think if… if they knew what has happened while I've been your gladiator. Nobody would understand… They'll think I'm a traitor…"
"But you know they're wrong," said Azula, clenching her fists now. "You know you haven't forsaken them. You know you haven't become Fire Nation, you couldn't be further from that! Maybe you've gotten used to your life here, but that doesn't mean…"
"I doubt it'll matter to them… I doubt it'll matter to anyone but us, really," Sokka said, lowering his head.
"And why should it matter to you what they think?" Azula muttered. "Just prove them wrong and get them to shut their mouths about what they're saying about you…"
"I know… I know. You told me once," Sokka said. "I know who I am. I… I actually don't regret my decisions. I think I've done the right thing on most accounts, and… and I've gained new knowledge and perspective, I know much more about the world now than I used to. But still… is it really that wrong for me to wish I wouldn't be misunderstood? Is it bad that I want to explain everything to them, so that they won't think I'm… so that they don't take me for a scum traitor like he did?"
"It's… it's not," Azula muttered, dropping her gaze as she found herself at a loss for what else to say to him.
"But everything I say is just going to come off as an excuse," said Sokka. "Everything… they won't care about the truth. They'll only rush to conclusions… just as they always have. Just as they did when they deemed that everything about the Fire Nation was evil because of what its leaders had done. So I really… I really shouldn't even care about clearing things up. Nothing I say will sink in… they won't listen. Nobody would. I doubt I would have, if it had been someone else in my place and I was still in the Tribe…"
"Sokka…" Azula said, placing a hand on his back. At that, he straightened his back and shook his head.
"Don't worry. I… I'm fine. I'll be fine. I said so, and it's true. So… I'll be okay, Azula," he muttered. "I just need time to…"
Her arms surrounded him before he could finish his sentence. Azula pressed against his back, trying to ignore the unpleasant sensation the cold plates produced on her skin as she touched his armor.
Sokka fell silent when he felt her behind him. Her arms held him tightly… her natural warmth would be more than enough to defrost his armor. More often than not he had thought Azula was more similar to ice than she was to fire, for even her blue flames had a coldness to them that was only comparable to her lightning. Long ago he had said her heart was of ice, and she had replied by claiming Sokka's was a piece of burning coal. But now it seemed he was the one who had frozen in many ways… and she was the fire that would give him warmth once again. She stood behind him, encouraging him, letting him know he wasn't alone, just as he had done for her in Ember Island…
He gritted his teeth as he lifted his hands to find hers, to grip them tightly as to ask her not to leave him, as she had asked him once before. Azula's forehead was pressing against the back of his neck, and her grip around him only tightened when he responded.
Sokka took a few deep breaths before lifting his head again, a weak smile on his face. Overcoming his grief seemed anything but an easy feat until now. She was right, of course. He knew who he was. He knew why he had made the decisions he had made. He was proud of said decisions, and if he had to do everything all over again… well, he knew which ones he would take back, but he most certainly wouldn't have helped the White Lotus. He wouldn't have left Azula to her own devices in the forest. He had remained true to himself with everything he had done… he knew where his loyalties and allegiances lay. And as long as he knew himself as well as he did, what other people said about him wouldn't matter. He knew he wasn't a traitor…
"Thank you," he muttered, his fingers intertwining with hers.
Azula didn't respond, at a loss for words as she was. She simply nodded and held onto him, hoping this would be good enough… and wishing she had the same courage he'd had in Ember Island when he had been able to tell her all the right words he had needed to say to appease her. Yet she didn't know what to tell him… she didn't know how to do the same for him. Still, the least she could do was try…
"You're really not half as bad as you think you are, you idiot," Azula whispered, at which he smiled more truthfully and turned around to face her.
Azula caressed his cheek, noticing he was still cold and damp after the fight. If anyone on the streets looked up right now they'd see them… if anyone dared enter the roof, they'd be done for. Yet for this moment, just as it had been in Ember Island, Azula couldn't find it in herself to care. He needed her, as she had needed him… and just as he was set on not disappointing Azula anymore, she was determined not to let Sokka down either.
Sokka's arms surrounded her now and he leaned down, hugging her tightly. One of Azula's hands went to the back of his head as she continued to embrace him. He was colder than he had ever been before, but she was warm enough for both of them. He clutched at her tightly, and she responded in kind, promising to him without saying a word that, despite everything that had ever happened between them, everything that was bound to happen in the future and everything people dared say of him, Azula believed fully, wholeheartedly in him, and she was certain she always would.