To Pass A Law ||Zukka Fanfic||

Chapter 8: The Last Time

Sokka's POV

Zuko and I walked towards the rest of Team Avatar and I could feel Zuko's grip harden. "What's up Snoozles," Toph said to me once we approached them. "Not much, just finished swordbending with this one over here." "Sword dueling," Zuko corrected. "It's swordbending Zuko," "No it's-" "Whatever I get the point!" Toph interrupted. "So what have you guys been doing?" I asked them. "Trying to find out what Zuko is hiding," Katara remarked coldly. The atmosphere in the area shifted and I could feel Zuko sweating, so I gave him a light squeeze to try and keep him calm. "I'm sorry," Zuko whispered to her. "Yeah right." She scoffed. "Katara, let's not do this right now. Not here," Aang told her. "So when are we going to discuss the elephant fish in the room? Once it's too late? Once Zuko is gone and there's nothing any of us can do about it? We don't have time to do it the other way, what if Zuko already has something planned tonight? Then what do we do?!" Zuko then moved slightly closer to me and I instantly began to worry. What if Katara is correct? What if the letter has something to do with tonight?  "What other way?" He asked, squeezing me harder. My eyes instantly popped out of my head. He can't find out what we are going to plan today, please don't give it away Katara, please!  "You aren't the only one who is allowed to keep secrets Zuko." She snapped. "Why do you care so much about Fire Nation politics anyways Katara? Whatever happens to me won't affect you at all," Zuko exclaimed now looking her dead in the eyes. "Because Zuko you are my friend and I don't want to lose you! Not to mention that you are dating my brother and if anything happens to you it would devastate him, it would devastate all of us. The entire world needs you Zuko, I need you, and most importantly Sokka needs you." Everyone just stared at Katara shocked, no one expected her to say this. "That is why I need to know what the offer is about and why you won't tell any of us." I glazed over at Zuko and saw him looking slightly ashamed and guilty. "If I told you, you would realize why I didn't tell you before." Everyone was now silent for a moment, "Can we do something? Clearly we aren't going to come to a consensus at the moment so why don't we do something fun?" Toph asked, breaking the awkward silence. "That's a great idea Toph!" Aang exclaimed, "We could go down to the beach or something?" I suggested. "That sounds like fun, Katara and I could practice our water bending," Aang agreed. "Then it's settled, let's go to the beach!"

As we were walking to the beach you could tell that something was wrong with Katara. I let go of Zuko's hand and walked back towards her. She was a good few feet away from everyone else. "What's wrong Katara? I thought that you would be excited about going to the beach?" "How could I be excited knowing that something terrible could happen to Zuko at any moment? How are you so calm about this situation?! No one is doing anything to get him to talk and instead of making a plan about how to beat these deadly assassins we are going to the beach." She remarked, "I know. I'm terrified of losing him but you are right Katara. Today I saw him burning a letter. I fear that something is going to happen soon. The second we get home from the beach we are making a plan about how to protect Zuko. And the reason why I'm not pressuring him too much is because I know that if he feels threatened he will react rashly and something even worse would occur." Katara's eyes began to tear up. "I'm so scared Sokka, I just want to know what is going on. When we lost mom it devastated us both. Dad was a mess after losing mom, and couldn't really look out after us because he was fighting in the war. But before he left everything was just so dark and horrible and regardless of what I would do he refused to smile and wasn't the same. I just don't want to go through that again." I felt as if I was punched in the gut. Katara took on so much responsibility at such a young age and basically began the adult in our home. I can't let that burden fall on top of her again. "That is why after the beach we are going to make a solid, fool proof plan to keep Zuko safe. We may not have been able to save mom, but we will save Zuko." "You promise that the second we get back to the palace we are making a concrete plan," "I promise Katara. We will do everything in our power to keep him safe Katara, I promise." She nodded and we continued to walk to the beach.