Zuko's POV
Something strange is going on. I can't sleep, I usually don't get much sleep anyway due to my nightmares, but tonight something feels off. Maybe it's because Sokka and the others left this week? I don't know why I feel this way, but all I know is that something bad is going to happen. I tried to forget about this feeling and just go back to bed but I can't. I opened my eyes to stare up at my ceiling, once again I'm alone. I get to see Aang quite a bit at work due to our plan on creating a metropolis for people of all backgrounds. That has been taking up a huge chunk of my time, however It's only once a month do I get to actually spend time with him and Katara outside of work. Sokka I get to see a bit more, he tries coming up to the Fire Nation twice a month which I deeply appreciate, however other than that I'm all alone working. Suki and the other Kyoshi warriors had to leave the Fire Nation to train the younger female generation on Kyoshi Island, and ever since her break up with Sokka I haven't seen her. Toph is super busy with her metal bending academy so I haven't been talking to her for a while either. Ever since the war ended I've been more alone then I would like. I'm definitely not a people person, but it's still nice to be able to talk to your friends whenever you want like before. Everything has changed. I'm now Fire Lord, I found my mom, I have a new sister, and my friends are all super successful in their careers. So you would think that everything is going amazing, but it's not. The only time I'm actually in a decent mood is when my friends are here and other than that life has been pretty boring. I try closing my eyes again. Okay something is definitely wrong. I sprung out of my bed as fast as I could and started walking around in circles ready for a fight. "Show yourself!" I yelled, no response came. I began searching my room. Maybe I'm just paranoid? I sighed, and turned back to bed. Then I felt something grab my shoulder.
It turned me around and before I knew it I was being attacked. I quickly blasted a huge ball of fire from my fist and saw a man and a woman standing there. The woman was a fire bender and the man was an earth bender. He was destroying my entire room chunking rocks at me while I was dodging the girl's flames. "Guards help!!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. I swiftly put the girl off balance shooting fire from my feet. She then tripped and was out cold. However during all of this commotion the man stabbed me right in my abdomen. I gasped for air clutching my side. The man had light brown skin and jet black hair. But what was most striking about him was his eyes, he had light piercing green eyes. As I fell to the ground I saw many guards come flooding into my room, however the man was able to escape by earth bending a hole in the ground. He disappeared leaving me to bleed out. "Call the Watertribe," I managed to whisper before shutting my eyes.
Katara's POV
I got back yesterday from the Fire Nation with Sokka and Aang by my side. It was nice to be home again, however if I'm being completely honest the Southern Watertribe hasn't felt like home since before I met Aang. The Southern Watertribe has completely been transformed and it's barely recognizable anymore. The only comfort I have is being around my friends. Not that change is a bad thing, my entire life is completely different from before however it's still a bit weird to get used to. It was finally nightfall and my race was coming up. Once a month I race Sokka and Aang in penguin sledding. If bending is allowed I would destroy them however it's not so Sokka almost always wins. I skied up to the top of Mt. Iksarvik with my water bending and I found Aang and Sokka already there. The air was cold and crisp, with tiny snowflakes falling from the sky. Regardless of what happens to my tribe, at least some things like nature will always stay the same. "Are you ready to lose again?" Sokka smirked at me and Aang. "I won before Sokka and so has Katara, anything is possible." I smiled at my optimistic boyfriend, he is just so sweet. Sokka rolls his eyes and heads down the mountain. "Hey, that's not fair! You're cheating!" I yelled at my big brother hopping on my penguin hoping to catch up with him. "You snooze, you lose!" He called out. As we are sledding down Sokka is still in the lead and Aang just barely passed me. He then wipes out. "Aang!" I screamed. "I'm okay sweetie!" He then uses his bending and hops on my penguin with me allowing us to gain more momentum. Within the last three seconds we pass Sokka. "Whoohoo!" I jumped up and down. "Hey, that's cheating! I call for a rematch!" Sokka sneered as I blew raspberries laughing at him. "It's called karma Sokka." Aang wheezed. Sokka then threw his boomerang at Aang hitting him in the back of the head and began to laugh. "You want me to glow you up?" Aang jokingly threatened. "You fight me, please. Katara will kill you!" "That's probably true." Aang laughed. "Hey look at that! It's a messenger hawk from the Fire Nation!" I point to the sky. Sokka grabbed the letter, instantly the smile on his face vanished and a single teardrop fell down his cheek while his hands began to tremble. "Sokka what's wrong?" I worriedly asked him. "It's Zuko... Someone tried to kill him last night." Sokka trembled. "What?!" Aang shouted. "He was stabbed...we need to go back to the Fire Nation now... he needs a healer." I felt tears forming in my eyes. Zuko used to be my greatest enemy, but now he is one of my close friends, we can't lose him. "I'll heal him, let's go!" We all quickly ran back to the inner village and packed our bags. Within ten minutes we were on Appa heading to the Fire Nation.
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.