☆ yellow ☆ (zukka AU)

chapter 30

zuko's POV

the last couple of days have been really great on the island. we actually had time to relax and enjoy ourselves, by having water fights 10 times a day, and eating junk food, like ice cream, pizza and burgers all the time.

yesterday, we buried sokka neck-deep in sand and laughed our asses off when he was shouting to get him out because he couldn't move. (we made sure to take pictures)

now, as the sun came down completely, we decided to make a camp fire and sit around it to tell creepy stories while eating marshmellows. sokka has just finished narrating something about an angry platypus bear attacking some villagers (it was not scary at all, but i couldn't bring myself to tell him that).

"i think i liked the man with the sword for a hand better" aand says, reffering to a previous, also not horror story that sokka told us before the platypus bear one.

sokka crosses his arms to his chest and brings out his bottom lip, giving up on trying to make us frightened.

"you really don't know how to have fun, losers" toph remarks and starts digging a hole in the sand with her feet.

she has gotten used to 'seeing' in the sand, so she stopped complaining about it whenever she had the chance.

"i know a story" katara intervenes when she sees that nobody else has any ideas. "but it's a real one, that mom told me, from when she was a little girl"

silence takes over us and eveyone makes themselves more comfortable on the beach towels we are sitting on, waiting for her to speak.

"one winter, a snow storm buried mom's entire childhood village for weeks" 'tara begins. "she realised after a while that she hadn't seen her friend, nini, for a month, so she went to check her home"

i feel sokka moving slightly closer to me, while still paying complete attention to his sister, who is narrating everything with a deep, profound voice.

"nobody was there, except for a fire flickering in the fireplace. she searched the house for a little bit, then she suddenly heard a trembling voice: 'it's so cold, and i can't get warm' - " katara continues and uses a high pitched voice for her last words.

i get some shivers down my spine, and i'm pretty sure so does sokka, because he slides his hand into mine. i notice that june got closer to toph as well, and aang is gradually narrowing the space between his eyebrows.

" - and that's when she saw nini standing by the fire, looking like she was frozen, so she rushed outside to ask for help, but when she returned, nini was gone" she goes on.

"where did she go?" sokka asks concerned.

he really is caught up in this story. maybe he's curious, because it's something that happened to his mother.

"no one knows" katara answers while staring into nothing. "nini's house stands empty to this day, but sometimes, people see smoke coming out of the chimney, like nini is still trying to get warm"

nobody lets out a single sound, all of us staring at the girl with hair loopies that just shocked us with her story.

"ok, i admit, that was a good one, sugar queen" toph raises her arms in defeat.

we quickly get out of the stiff atmosphere and return to joking around and roasting those marshmellows that sokka begged us to buy from the store the other day.

after a few hours, when it gets pretty late, everyone but me and sokka retreats to their rooms, leaving us two alone on the quiet beach. the fire is almost out, but there are still a few embers shining in the dark.