Burn a little brighter (Zukka - Soulmate AU)

Chapter 6

Golden light spills from the sky as Sokka practices with Suki. It's getting later in the evening. There's sweat collecting on his back and in his pits, a strain and throbbing in his arms, but he's alive in it.

"Not bad," Suki says, grinning at him, and his heart pounds harder with exhaustion and pride.

She's amazing.

Of course it doesn't get to last.

"Firebenders have landed on our shores! Girls, come quickly!"

What? Sokka jolts to the door, back stiffening, but Suki doesn't waste a moment, taking off before he can call her name.

He groans, happiness dying inside his ribs. Come on, universe? Give him some slack?

"Hey, I'm not a- Oh, whatever."

He grabs the uniform, bunching it up in his fist to keep from tripping as he runs. Now he wishes he'd asked for a more fitting size, but his big mouth hadn't complained for once, and here he is. See where not complaining gets you? That's right.

He halts right outside the doorway.

It's quiet, silence hitting him from every corner. Here, on the side of the mountain, it's as still as the dead.

His own panting grows louder in his ears as he sprints, air cold enough that he can see his breath out in front of him. Slipping on a patch of ice, he's barely able to keep from tumbling, blindly grabbing a post to steady himself. He uses the break to scan the area, peering over the wooden houses. They don't reveal a soul. All the young girls that had been fanning around Aang are now scattered and hopefully locked behind those doors.

Thuds tremble the ground under his feet, and he twists, grip tightening so hard he feels splinters digging into his palms.

Rhinos. They snort at the dirt, reined in by firebenders that look even more brutish than they do. Sokka's mouth tenses into a line. This definitely doesn't look good.

Green flashes in the corner of his eye, something definitely familiar, and he follows it, slipping behind a house. "Suki!" he whisper-yells, watching her spin on her feet and locate him effortlessly, not sparing a moment for a greeting as she puts a finger to her mouth. Then she's gone.

"Come out, Avatar! You can't hide from me forever."

Warriors zip into his vision just as Sokka starts moving. He hears the thuds of firebenders being knocked out of their saddles, catching sight of Suki heading toward the main one. She dodges his blows easily, jumping high to knock him off.

A tail smacks into her stomach, and Sokka moves, recklessly snatching a discarded fan off the ground and racing toward her. The hairs on the back of his neck stiffen as he blocks a blast of fire with the fan, so close he can feel the heat grazing his forehead.

It burns a path inside him, sears up from his stomach, alive and gasping as he does, and he jerks his eyes up to meet the bender's.

Him.

The firebender is kicked off the rhino in the same instant, and Sokka watches him in shock as he breaks away from the warrior who'd dismounted him.

"I guess training's over," he quips to Suki, hurrying to the house the bender's run to. The soldier drops low, spinning, and fire blazes from his feet, the other warrior crashing through the door of the house. Sokka dodges a wave, recoiling in horror as Suki's next to hit a wooden post with a crack, and then he's jumping to evade the fire hurtling in his direction, life leaving his body as his legs are suddenly knocked out from under him.