Weeks melted into months. Aang still hadn't found an earth bender and Sokka wasn't speaking to his sister. He was absolutely heart broken. They all stayed at the Jasmine Dragon for a couple of weeks and cleaned the place up before leaving.
The three teenagers thought that they were out of luck, then hey heard someone at a cabbage stand talking about an underground earth bending league. Katara and Aang looked at each other with hope glimmering in their eyes. The two looked at the heart broken warrior to try and get him excited, "see Sokka, after we get Aang a teacher we can go to the fire nation, get him a teacher there, then beat the Fire Lord!"
"Beat the Fire Lord, Fire Lord this, Fire Lord that, mom this, mom's dead, is that all you can think about?" Sokka was getting real tired of his sister, but he stayed with her because she was all he had left after she ratted Zuko and Iroh out.
"C'mon you two, don't start this now. Let's just follow these guys, see who can teach me, then we can go." Aang tried to break the tension, but only made it worse. "Aang, you're going to be here learning how to bend. We can't just take fifty million fucking people with us wherever we go. We won't be able to reach the fire nation in time," "in time for what Sokka?" The benders looked at the non bender, their faces covered in confusion.
"In time to save Zuko, he could be getting killed thanks to you," "Ugh, this again Sokka?" The 15 year old girl crossed her arms over her chest and shifted her weight onto one foot "he was the one thing in life that was mine and that made me happy, but here we are. Your big fucking mouth got him taken away to who the hell knows where, and who knows if he's alive or not, same thing with Uncle. The two of them could be dead, and it's your fault."
"Sokka-" "no, don't speak. It's your fault, it's because you can't let go of the fact that mom is dead because of the Fire Lord. So now you hate all fire benders and want them all dead." "Sokka..that's enough, come on Aang." The water bender angrily huffed and grabbed the air benders hand before stomping away after the two Earth Kingdom citizens so they could find a bender to teach Aang.
Sokka stood there, wallowing in his anger and hatred. He squatted down in frustration then held his head in his hands, breathing in and out deeply whilst shaking out of pure rage. It's a good thing he didn't have any weapons, because he would've already killed his sister by now.
Zuko had now retuned to the Fire Nation, he was welcomed back into the family after his sister had convinced their father. He was enjoying it a little bit, being able to sit in his old room, lay down on a nice and comfortable bed, being able to eat whatever he wanted, be able to have alone time.
But he was lonely. He missed Sokka, he missed hearing that obnoxious laugh, those stupid jokes that barely made sense, how the warrior talked in his sleep and sometimes kicked, how he snored, how he smiled, how he ate. He missed everything about the teen from the Southern Water Tribe. But now he could see that his swain's sister didn't like him.
It was fair enough, seeing as the reason why they are without parents is because of his grandpa and father, but she didn't have to rat him out, she didn't have to tell the guards and have him taken away. She could've have hated him from the side lines while they both spent time with Sokka and Aang found a teacher, they could've figured out how to get along.
None of that mattered now. Zuko was at home, sitting in the throne room, bowing down to his father, asking for forgiveness that had already been given. "Stand." To which the young prince followed orders, looking up to his father, hands clenched into fists because any other resting position didn't feel natural.
"Welcome home, Prince Zuko." Ozai sat in his throne like always, fire burning brought behind him, Azula at his side. There were a couple of things that could make this moment better. If his mother was alive, if Iroh were standing next to him and not in his cell, if Sokka was there, asking Ozai for permission to leave the royal family to have relations with someone from a different nation.
But alas, life doesn't work out that way, no matter how much he wanted it to. And he couldn't change that, he just had to live with it.