Blue Spirit // An ATLA AU

Chapter 2

Zuko opened his eyes, as he rolled onto his back. The sun was coming over the horizon, he could tell from where he was laying in the alcove. He glanced down to where Aang was.

    The Airbender was sleeping on Appa's tail, Aang had rolled onto his back, his arm underneath his head. Momo was curled up on his owner's back. He smiled at the sight, as he moved both of his hands behind his head. The Avatar spoke about his pets practically the entire way to where they had based themselves. It was either that or his friends, gushing about the crush he had on Katara, the Waterbender he was traveling with, or the stupid stuff Sokka did, whether it was solo, or with Aang.

    Him mentioning Katara brought up bad memories from his time under Yon Rha, six years ago. Now it had become apparent to him that he had failed two missions over his years as a Fire Nation assassin. The one he had at the South Pole, where he was supposed to kill the last Waterbender of the Southern Tribe. Then the one which earned him his burn scar from Zhao.

    Zuko jumped down from where he had hidden himself in the alcove, last night. He quietly walked past the Airbender, not disturbing him or his sleeping animals. The assassin glanced over to where he saw the Water Tribe siblings last night, neither of them were in their sleeping bags, which were lying discarded on the ground. He knew they would have fallen back asleep at some point last night, since hallucinated rest doesn't count.

    He hoped that they were getting some sort of meat, because if all of them were just vegetarians Zuko wouldn't survive with them. The assassin walked over to the edge of the temple, looking out into the ruins of the town. Neither of them were in the ruins, and Zuko would have known if they were coming, because of his enhanced sight. He didn't see any figures through the ruins, and since he was concentrating on scanning the ruins, he didn't hear the footsteps coming up behind him.

    Fingers tapped Zuko on his shoulder, and he whipped around. He didn't notice it was Sokka at first, but he grabbed the Water Tribe teenager's arm, pressing Sokka against the pillar behind him.

    "Ow, great first impression pal," Sokka said, his words muffled. Zuko glanced down to see the two signature colors of the Water Tribe. Blue and White. He let go of Sokka, taking a few steps back, and muttered, "Shit."

    Sokka turned around to see Zuko leaning against another pillar behind him. He rubbed his head. "Nice reflexes, you don't seem too good at first impressions though."

    "Well, it's not nice to sneak up on people who are behind hunted by the Fire Nation," Zuko snapped at Sokka. He crossed his arms, as Sokka let out a small laugh before saying, "All of us are being hunted by the Fire Nation." Sokka took a step closer to Zuko, before asking, "So what's your name? Since you probably told Aang last night---wait, how did you even meet Aang out here? I mean I get running into the Avatar in a town or something... but out in the middle of nowhere, that's a hell of a coincidence.'

    He stepped another step closer to Zuko, with Zuko rolling his eyes, looking away from Sokka. The Water Tribe teen tapped the burn scar around Zuko's eye, and he slapped it away, as Sokka asked, "What happened here, did the Fire Nation get ya?"

    Zuko growled softly, before shaking his head, and moving away from Sokka. He then said, "I'd prefer to not tell you about my scar, if you don't mind. And my name is Zuko, since you wanted to know. Also Aang doesn't know my name since he really didn't give me a chance to speak since he was rambling about you, Katara, and his pets."

    Sokka had moved forwards, and stepped on the bottom of Zuko's cloak. That was the one time he wasn't glad for his cloak, when Zuko moved backwards, he fell.  The cloak tugged at his neck, he then fell down to the ground, and almost immediately sprung up. Zuko glared at Sokka, yelling at him, "What was that for?"