To Pass A Law ||Zukka Fanfic||

Chapter 1: His Eyes

Sokka's POV

The ride on Appa was long and dreadful, we have been flying for almost a solid day now and with each passing second I've been getting more and more anxious. "Can't Appa fly any faster!" I yelled. "He's going as fast as he can." Aang replied, "Well it's not fast enough! Appa yip yip!" I was shaking uncontrollably. What if we are too late? What if Zuko...what if Zuko's dead already. "Stop it Sokka." I muttered to myself. Thinking like this wouldn't do any good. But what if we are?  "Why couldn't this happen a few days ago! We could have protected him!" I yelled, throwing my arms into the air. Aang and Katara look up at me with concerned expressions on their faces. "Zuko's strong Sokka, he'll be fine." Katara whispered, grabbing onto my hand squeezing it. "I hope so, I can't lose him Katara." Tears were now forming in my eyes. "You won't Sokka." She then squeezed my hand even tighter. I turn away from her and I allow a small teardrop to trickle down my face. I can't lose him.

We finally landed in the Fire Nation Royal Palace. I didn't even bother saying hello to the guards. I just demanded them to tell me where Zuko was and I then ran as fast as I could towards the bedroom where Zuko was laying. "Zuko!" I see him laying down on the bed with many cuts and bruises on his body. He was laying topless with a huge cut on his abdomen with horrible stitching and a bruise on his temple. "Zuko are you alright?" I asked, pulling up a chair next to his bed. "Sokka?" Zuko groans, opening his eyes. I'm instantly filled with relief. Thank the spirits he's conscious and breathing. "I'm right here Zuko, I'm right here." Zuko let out a faint smile and stretched his arm out of the bed. I took his hand into mine and began rubbing circles around the back with my thumb smiling at him. "What on earth happened to you!" Katara exclaimed entering the room with Aang. "Two people tried to assassinate me, I knocked out the girl but the man got away." Zuko replied. Katara nodded and brought out her water and began healing him. "This brings back some memories." Zuko said to Katara while twitching at the pain. "Yeah, I was hoping that I would never have to heal you like this again." Katara said while healing him. She seemed to hit a nerve because I could feel Zuko's grip on my hand become a lot tighter. "Who on earth did this stitching! It's horrible!" Aang exclaimed looking down at Zuko. "I'm going to have to redo them Zuko, it's going to hurt a lot." Zuko nodded and Katara put her water away and began taking out the stitches. While I was watching her I noticed how toned Zuko's abs were, and how good his durability is. His face didn't change, the only thing I noticed was that when he was in pain he would squeeze my hand a lot tighter. "Zuko you are doing great, you're barely reacting to this at all!" I said watching him in awe. "Practice I guess," Zuko shrugged. Katara pulled out the last stitch and began to redo them. Aang had to look away because the blood was too much for him. He then turned to face the guards, "So why couldn't you guards help Zuko in time? You should have been there protecting him." Aang said, not in a mean tone but a worried one. "It's because the Fire Lord has really bad nightmares so we just assumed he was having another one. We don't really watch his room too much because of his screams. Usually if there's a threat like this one he'll call out to us." My heart dropped, I turned to face Zuko staring into his amber eyes. "It's fine Sokka, I've been getting them ever since my mom left for the first time." Zuko tried to give me a supportive smile but it didn't work. How bad are his nightmares? "Have they been improving since then?" Aang asked, "No, they have been getting worse." Zuko replied. He quickly read all of our faces and looked kind-of guilty in a way. "But it's fine, it keeps me on my toes." I glanced over to Katara and could tell that she was having the same thoughts as me. "Well if they get too bad or if you need to talk to anyone I'm here for you." I told Zuko making eye contact with him. "Thanks Sokka," "All done!" Katara exclaimed. "Thank you guys for coming all the way back on such short notice, sorry about all of this." Zuko said sheepishly. "It's not your fault, we are glad to help any way we can." Aang assured him. Zuko nodded, looking super tired. "You should get some rest. We'll be back here in the morning and I can give you another healing session." Zuko tried to protest but ultimately Katara won. "Thank you guys," he said while closing his eyes. I smiled down at the sleeping ruler while Katara and Aang started to leave the room. "Aren't you coming Sokka?" Aang asked me. "You guys go ahead, I'm going to stay here in case anything happens." Katara nods at me and they walk out of the room, just leaving me to take care of my best friend.

Zuko's POV

I woke up screaming instantly sitting up in bed. I felt my hand move out of someone's. The man quickly opened his eyes. I was almost ready to attack him until I got a closer look. "Sokka?" "I'm up." He replied in a tired voice. "Sokka what are you doing here?" I asked him. "I wanted to make sure that you are okay. What happened?" He replied back in a soft tone. "Nothing important, you should leave." Sokka leaned in a bit closer and I started sweating like crazy. "What was your nightmare about?" He asked. I looked up at him into his ocean blue eyes and then quickly looked away. "It's nothing. I get this one a lot. You should go Sokka, I'll keep you up all night from them." "Zuko, that's why I'm here. You can tell me what happened." I sighed knowing that Sokka wasn't going to drop this, "I don't need you watching over me. I'm fine Sokka, I've been dealing with these alone for my entire life. I'll be okay." "I'm not leaving you, especially with what happened the other night." He can be so stubborn at times and I knew that Sokka wasn't going to leave my side so I decided to tell him. "You know how I got my scar right?" "You mentioned it briefly," "Well my father burned my face for speaking out of term. I was only thirteen but I can still remember every detail from that day. In my dream he burns my face and banishes me, but this time he makes me go alone with no help. While I'm walking in the Earth Kingdom Azula captures me and brings me back here to the Fire Nation. Fire Lord Ozai decides to punish me again for betraying him and joining you guys." I hesitate, maybe I shouldn't tell Sokka the rest. I feel Sokka place his hand on my shoulder and he gives me a small nod so I keep going. "For my punishment I have to watch him and Azula burn and torture everyone I care about... I can hear you guys scream in pain and regardless of what I do they...they don't stop hurting you." I looked back up into Sokka's eyes. He got off the chair and gave me a warm embrace. I buried my face into his shoulder and held him tight. "I'm so sorry Zuko, but we are all safe now okay. They can't hurt you anymore." Sokka was now stroking my hair and it took everything within me to not cry. "I know." I said as I pulled away from him. "Now get some sleep, it'll be impossible to wake you up in the morning if you don't." Sokka nodded and went back onto his chair. "What are you doing?!" "Going to sleep," He replied. I sighed. "Sokka get off of the chair and come here, there's enough space for both of us and I'm not letting you sleep on that thing." "You sure?" "Yes I'm sure." I moved over and allowed space for Sokka to join me in bed. Our backs were now touching and his skin was surprisingly really soft. "Good night Zuko," He whispered. "Night Sokka."

"Stop!" I yelled, waking Sokka up. "Another nightmare?" "Yeah, and my wound is stinging." I said. "You want to talk about it?" "Not really, I just want to sleep." He nodded and didn't press further. Sokka already got me to open up more tonight than within the last six months. "Hey Sokka," "Yeah," "Thanks for staying with me." Sokka's face lifted and a huge grin appeared on his face. "No problem Zuko, I'm here if you need me." I smiled back at him. "Also thank you for inviting me over to the Fire Nation last week, I had a great time." "Me too, thanks for coming. It gets quite lonely and boring up here." I told him. "Same with the Watertribe." We were both silent for a few seconds. "Well night Sokka," "Night Zuko." I tried laying back down but my stab wound won't let me. I whimpered slightly at the pain. "Zuko-" "It's just my wound." Sokka then nudged over at me holding my body in his arms gently placing me back down onto the bed. But once he placed me down he kept his arms around my body. I am so lucky to have a friend like Sokka, I thought. I then turned around to hug him back. After a few moments I closed my eyes and began to fall asleep.