Burn a little brighter (Zukka - Soulmate AU)

Chapter 7

His jaw locks up. His skin- it feels- It feels off. Almost too heavy. Almost covering him like a thick cocoon. And the feeling is freaking him out. His energy's been sapped, so quickly, so suddenly it's like his body doesn't know what to do with itself. He doesn't know what to do with himself.

Aang notices the quiet. He tilts his head to the side, confusion creasing his forehead. Sokka sees him look over to Katara, but she's not meeting either of their eyes.

"Are you guys... okay?"

"Sokka-"

"Don't say it." Sokka snaps his head up. "Don't say it, Katara."

She looks back at him, eyebrows drawn up, scanning over him like she's searching for something. Like she's scared of what she'll find.

"Flames came out of your fist."

The world stops. The world stops and then it doesn't because Sokka's recoiling and Aang's breath is hitching.

"What? I thought Sokka was a non-bender."

She shakes her head slowly. "He is. He should be- I don't-"

They're both staring at him now. Like they're examining him for something, like they're looking at an entirely different person, and Sokka goes rigid, rooted to his place, sweat trickling down his neck.

"Stop looking at me like that."

"Sokka," Katara voices, but it's desperate, and she doesn't follow it up with anything.

He drags his hands through his hair, isn't even sure when it got untied, just knows it's whipping against his eyes.

"I'm just- I'm just losing my mind. My life is just a constant state of- of losing my mind." He looks at both of them, needing them to understand. "I'm not. I'm not."

"Do you have any relatives from the Fire Nation?" Aang asks, and it's careful, but it's also quiet and unsure.

Sokka can't get his tongue to move properly. Katara must shake her head no.

Aang sucks in his lower lip. "Then..."

"This doesn't make sense," Sokka cuts in, his voice getting more and more unsteady. "I can't- I can't do that. I've never been able to do that." He focuses on Katara. "Maybe you saw wrong."

She only stares back at him.

"Sokka must have a soulmate."

It comes so suddenly Sokka could almost laugh. He doesn't. They both twist to Aang.

"What?"

"Aang, you're on that nonsense too now?"

"Soulmates aren't nonsense," Katara fires back at the same time Aang mutters, "It's the only answer that makes sense."

No it doesn't. Of course it doesn't. Sokka's heart isn't listening to reason though, is starting to pound in his throat.

"How does that make sense?" He pushes his feet down to stand on the saddle, wobbling slightly as Appa flies. Panic is about to explode inside him, he knows it is, he can feel it building up, so he redirects it into an emotion he can manage: "How does any of this make sense? You can't go up offering an explanation when this wasn't supposed to happen in the first place. This isn't possible. I just fire-, I just-" Aang pulls his legs closer to him, flinching as Sokka yells at the clouds. And Sokka would feel bad if he wasn't about to realize- realize that- this means-

He pinches the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut.

This can't be happening to him. Why is this happening to him?