Distractions (Sokka x Zuko) [COMPLETED]

Chapter Eighteen

    Sokka never ended up telling Aang or Katara before the invasion force showed up. He figured it would probably be best to do so afterwards since the news might distract them. Hell it was distracting him enough to be a problem so the last thing he needed was for it to distract Aang. Imagine him thinking "damn, I'm about to kill the Dad of my best friend's boyfriend" as he faced Ozai. Weird. Definitely something that could throw one off their rhythm.

So he didn't say anything.

He knew Katara could tell something was up. She wasn't saying anything for whatever reason- a reason he was grateful for despite not knowing. He just hoped it would last.

When his father arrived with the others, Sokka was overwhelmed with relief. Making it through a fire nation blockade with ships and a few swamp benders was way more difficult than with a flying bison. Part of him had been terrified of them being captured on their way and he'd gotten only a few hours of sleep a night ago thinking that they could end up imprisoned... or worse...

But they were okay and Hakoda was quick to hug his kids. Toph reunited with the other earth benders from the Arena and Aang caught up with Teo and his father who gave him a new staff.

After the new distraction wore off, Sokka wondered how his father would react to his situation... He wasn't going to say anything- yet. But he was curious and a little scared of how his father would react to him being in a relationship with Prince Zuko. The fact that they were both boys didn't really occur to him as the main issue would be that Zuko was their sworn enemy and had tried to capture and burn them alive a few times. Yeah... might be hard to gloss over that...

No time to dwell on that. The invasion was about to start.

_

When Zuko was brought to a hidden entrance to a dark stairwell descending down into the unknown, he wasn't quite sure what to think. Azula was only a few steps ahead of him and the silhouette of his father had disappeared down the passage just as he'd entered the room. After some thought process, he frowned. What was going on?

"Father is just in the room on the left down that hall," Azula told him once he'd reached the bottom of the stairs. "Go wherever you want, I'm going to be in there," She gestured towards a large ornate door. "In case our uninvited guests find us."

Zuko stared at her wide-eyed for a moment. Shit! She knew!! She knew this whole time and now Sokka's plan was pointless! He looked away, going over his options. Should he wait there and let them know where Ozai actually was if they came down this way? Should he risk it and run out to warn them before they reached the palace? Or should he just continue with his original plan?

Sokka and the rest of them were smart enough to figure out that they were somewhere. He had to go with his own plan. He had to use the eclipse to his advantage to bust Iroh out of prison.

_

    Maybe if he wasn't so hot and tired he'd be angry. But that wasn't the case. Walking towards the Western Air Temple wasn't what Sokka had thought he'd be doing after the invasion. After all those weeks spent in the palace going over the plan and perfecting it... How could it fail? Sure Azula said she'd known about it for months... But... Then wouldn't Zuko as well? Why hadn't he said anything? Was everything just a big lie?

    The others all complained about something, avoiding mentioning the failed invasion. The only thing coming close was The Duke stating that he missed Pipsqueak. Sokka kept quiet. His thoughts swarmed around his failure, the loss of his father, the blisters on his feet and Zuko. There was no way he could have lied about everything. But as much as he wanted to believe in the Prince, he had a lot more history of being bad than good. So maybe he had betrayed him...

    When they settled in at the temple, Sokka sighed in relief as Katara healed his blisters and the few minor injuries he'd sustained during the battle. 

    "So what's the plan now?" Aang asked after being held back from exploring the temple.

    "Well if you ask me," Sokka spoke up, planning was his thing after all. "The new plan should just be the old plan. You've gotta master all four elements and defeat the Firelord before the comet comes!"

    "Oh yeah, great idea Sokka!" Aang exclaimed, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I'll just do that."

    "Hey, no one said it was gonna be easy!" Sokka held up his hands in defense.

    "It's not even going to be possible! Where am I gonna find a firebending teacher?" 

    "We could look for Jeong Jeong!" Katara suggested.

    "Right. Like we're ever gonna run into Jeong Jeong again." Aang rolled his eyes.

    This time when he ran off no one stopped him.

    "There's gotta be someone to teach him firebending." Katara sighed, looking over at Sokka.

    He just averted his gaze and sighed. Maybe there used to be...

_

    "Aang! Can we talk about the plan please?" Katara called, chasing after the gliding boy on Appa.

   "What? I can't hear you!" Aang called back. "Too much wind!"

    Sokka glanced at Toph who was clinging to his arm with a 'get a load of this shit' look, but then looked away again. He'd forgotten she couldn't see his expression.

    "Check out this loop!" Aang called back again before going into a big loop with his glider and then landing on Appa's saddle.

    As the bison descended to land on one of the buildings, Katara pleaded with Aang to seriously think about their situation.

    "I think that'll have to wait." Toph stated, getting everyone's attention. 

    She pointed over at Appa but when the bison moved, everyone stared wide eyed at the guy standing there.

    "Hello, Zuko here."