Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

They were all gonna die.

Sokka’s calling it now. Actually, to be more accurate, Sokka called it hours ago when they first set off on this insane mission. And they weren’t even being shot at by a Fire Nation Navy blockade at the time.

Sokka couldn’t do anything but hang on to the saddle with all of his might as Appa and Aang executed aerial maneuvers that rivaled anything he’d seen Druk do. Sokka had a sudden appreciation for why Zuko was so damn strong—he didn’t even have a saddle to help him hold on when Druk did flips. Not that Appa was doing flips—yet—but he was dodging for all he was worth while heading higher and higher to get above the clouds, which would hopefully give them cover.

Sokka wasn’t feeling too optimistic. He’d never had the best of luck and this whole venture was cursed from the start, when he got kidnapped by a vengeful spirit—totally not his fault, Katara, he went outside to help—and Aang had to trade an acorn for his freedom.

Tui and La, he hoped that they all made it through this intact.

As soon as they got a layer of cloud cover between them and their attackers, Sokka began to inch closer to Katara. He wanted to be close enough to grab her if need be. But he miscalculated. He had only one hand gripping the saddle—the other outstretched toward his sister—when Appa pulled up with a roar, narrowly avoiding a fireball that would have exploded in the bison’s face. The sudden jolt loosened Sokka’s grip, and all of a sudden, he was completely airborne.

There was a moment of confusion where Sokka was surrounded by fog and his stomach hadn’t quite realized what had happened yet, and then he broke through the clouds and saw the ocean rushing up to meet him, and his insides flipped as gravity fully took hold.

Sokka heard screaming and wasn’t sure if it was coming from Aang, Katara, or himself. He had to fight against the rushing air to keep his streaming eyes open, but he couldn’t close them if he wanted to, transfixed by the sight of his own doom headed right for him in a dark wall of endless water.

He was actually, really going to die, wasn’t he?

La have mercy. Sokka had whined that this trip would be the death of him, but he hadn’t really believed that. He couldn’t go out now! What would Katara and Aang do without him around to make the plans and remind them how hungry they were?

The sea was now very close, and Sokka, having turned himself upside down with his flailing, was probably going to slam into it head first. He winced, anticipating the pain of hitting the water. Wait a minute…Was that—his shadow on the water? If so, why were there two of them?

Strong arms wrapped around Sokka’s chest. “Hold on!” someone shouted in his ear, and in his panic to obey, it took Sokka a moment to realize that was Zuko’s voice.

The weight of Zuko’s body leveled them out so they were no longer falling headfirst, but facedown. Sokka felt a burst of heat and then they were moving, gliding parallel to the waves and then gradually tilting up, up until they were upright and—

—Holy hippo cow, they were flying! Sokka glanced down to see a jet of flame issuing from Zuko’s feet with such force that it was propelling the both of them through the air. He could barely believe his eyes. He knew that Zuko was raised by dragons, but he had no idea that he could actually fly like them!

Sokka was so busy being amazed that he almost missed seeing that Appa had also dived after them and had drawn close enough to catch them, so he had barely a half second to brace himself before he and Zuko were crashing into the saddle.

“Oof,” Sokka grunted as the weight of all of Zuko’s muscles landed on top of him, driving the air from his lungs. But hey, Sokka wasn’t going to complain if Zuko was using those muscles to save his butt from certain death.

They weren’t out of the woods yet though. It was several more death-defying minutes and narrow misses before Aang finally wind-kicked the last fireball out of their path and they were through the blockade and heading for higher altitudes.

“Zuko!” Aang tried scrambling from his perch on the bison’s head into the saddle, clearly intent on hugging the life out of their feral firebender, but a little tired and woozy from all the excitement. Zuko obliged him by hauling him bodily over the edge of the basket, where Aang was finally able to wrap his arms around the older boy in what was more of a glomp than a hug. “I’m so glad you came!”

Sokka smirked. “Yeah, thanks for the save, buddy. Woo, that could have been really bad!”

Katara, seeing that Aang wasn’t going to let go of Zuko anytime soon to give her her turn, moved in to hug them both, and so Sokka thought oh why not and crowded in to make it a full group hug. He felt Zuko’s chuckle more than heard it, a slight shaking of his shoulders and a warm breath brushing against Sokka’s forehead.

Surprisingly, it was Katara who broke the hug first, but apparently only because she wanted to turn around and transfer the hug to Sokka. “Please be careful,” she whispered as she made a credible attempt at displacing all of his internal organs. Sokka felt a cold stone drop into his belly at the reminder that he almost died. He wrapped his arms around his little sister and for once held her until she pulled away first.

Sokka glanced over to find Aang still glommed onto Zuko, his face hidden in Zuko’s chest. The older boy was rubbing his trembling back and whispering something Sokka couldn’t hear in his ear. Sokka’s throat felt tight. He couldn’t imagine the relief Aang must be feeling to have Zuko with them on this dangerous mission that had already almost claimed one of his friends’ lives. They had all come to rely on the older boy for his steadfast strength and greater experience, but none more so than Aang, who seemed to view Zuko as the older brother he never had. When Aang was showing off his power and skill like he had today, it was easy to forget that he was just a kid—a kid who wanted someone wise to guide him and strong to protect him, someone who could help shoulder the weight of the world on his skinny shoulders. And even though Zuko was still a kid himself, he was the closest thing Aang had left to what he needed.

As Aang finally calmed, Sokka cleared his throat. “Zuko, where’s Druk?”

Their feral firebender raised his head and looked around, then let forth a shrill, whistling call. An answering call resounded back to them, and Sokka glimpsed a flash of red in the sky.

“I rode Druk out here, but when I saw you had run into the blockade, I didn’t want to take him in closer to Appa,” Zuko explained. “Too many fireballs and too big a risk of soldiers seeing him. But then I saw you go overboard, so I jumped after you.”

Sokka shook his head in disbelief. He just jumped off a flying dragon into thin air hundreds of feet above the ocean, like it was nothing. Sometimes Sokka forgot that Zuko was completely crazy.

“What made you change your mind about coming?” Katara asked, her smile showing that she didn’t hold his initial refusal to help against him.

“After you left, I heard about the blockade,” Zuko said. “I wanted to warn you before you ran into it, but I was too late.”

“Are you going to go back with Druk then?” Aang asked, voice small, but Zuko immediately shook his head.

“No, I’m coming with you,” Zuko said, lowering his face to nuzzle Aang’s bald head. “Most of those soldiers saw me catch Sokka, so they’ll be looking for me now. May as well stick around to help you guys out.”

“What about Druk?” Sokka asked, remembering Zuko’s concern over taking his little brother into the Fire Nation.

“Druk will stay back, with Appa, away from the temple,” Zuko said with a sigh. “That will have to be safe enough, for now.”

But Sokka could tell that Zuko was still worried, despite his words.

Sokka’s idea to open the doors to the inner sanctum of the temple with fake firebending totally would have worked, okay? But Zuko really had a point when he said that they could only attempt opening the doors once, since the noise would bring anyone in the temple down on their heads. So they should try using real firebending first, since that was much more likely to work.

It still felt good that Zuko agreed that Sokka should prepare the oilskin bombs, just in case, while he snuck back down to the beach to fetch his “backup.”

Shyu, the sole Fire Sage that was still loyal to the Avatar, was still confused about Zuko’s plan. “I agree with your friend that each of us could handle two of the mechanisms,” he said as he paced, “but that still leaves the fifth lock. Avatar, if you have not yet learned firebending, who else can he find who can do this?”

Aang grinned, a bit mischievously. “Oh, don’t worry about that, Sage Shyu. Zuko isn’t the only firebender in our group. We just left a couple members out of all the excitement so they can rest safely.” Sokka could tell that Aang was gleefully anticipating seeing the look on Shyu’s face when he caught sight of Druk for the first time. Sokka was looking forward to it himself.

Shyu startled at Aang’s response. “Did you say…Zuko? Is that the name of your firebender?”

“Oh! We never introduced ourselves!” Aang hopped up and down a little, probably pleased that he was making a new friend, the little menace. “I’m Aang, and that’s Sokka, of the Southern Water Tribe. Katara is his sister,” he pointed out Katara keeping watch at the window, “and Zuko is our firebending friend!”

“Our feral firebending friend,” Sokka corrected him as he tied off another oilskin. Alliteration was important to him, okay?

Aang frowned a little. “Zuko’s not that bad. Let’s not give Shyu the wrong impression.”

Sokka snorted. “Actually, he kinda is that bad. I’ve seen him inside an actual dwelling exactly once in all the time we’ve known him and it was the most uncomfortable I’ve seen anyone since Katara asked our dad where babies come from.”

“I will freeze all your jerky if you’re telling embarrassing stories about me!” Katara called from her place at the window. Sokka waited until her back was turned to stick his tongue out at her, even though he was pretty sure she couldn’t freeze his tongue from this distance. Better safe than sorry, as he always said. Well, as he sometimes—occasionally said.

“Where do babies come from?” Aang asked, all wide-eyed innocence. Sokka whirled on him, mouth agape in disbelief, before he caught the twinkle in Aang’s eye and the tiny smirk the kid couldn’t quite suppress.

“Haha, Aang, very funny. You know the answer to that.”

Aang giggled. “Of course I do. Everyone knows that babies are delivered by cranefish.”

Sokka squinted at Aang, not sure whether the kid was having him on again. Knowing Aang, he was naïve enough to believe that.

“Do you know…is Zuko…” Shyu interrupted haltingly, clearly still stuck on the topic of the feral firebender. “…How did you meet him?” he finally finished, sounding unsure if that was the question he actually wanted to ask.

Sokka opened his mouth to regale the Fire Sage with the tale of how he, Sokka, had bravely and singlehandedly saved the Avatar’s poor lemur from being devoured by a terrible firebending beast and the beast’s dastardly master, when Katara rudely interrupted him.

“Hey guys, come look; there’s a boat just offshore,” she said, voice a bit shaky.

Sokka hopped up immediately to go to her, followed by Aang and Shyu. “Where?”

Katara pointed. “I can’t see it well from this angle, just the prow beyond that outcropping of rock, see? It might have been there for a while now and I missed it,” she said, voice trembling a little. Sokka put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“It’s a Fire Nation Navy ship,” said a familiar, raspy voice behind them.

Sokka turned to see Zuko had returned. The older boy swept off the hood he had insisted on wearing to hide his face from any Fire Sages they might run into, so Sokka was able to see the grim frown he wore.

Then something moved in the dim light just beyond Zuko, and Druk emerged from the hidden tunnel entrance.

Shyu gasped. Even Sokka, who was well used to traveling with Druk by now, could admit that here in this temple, in a room lined with statues of his kin, the young dragon looked particularly impressive. But Shyu looked as though he were near tears.

“Agni above,” the man whispered, a hand coming up to cover his mouth in his shock, and Sokka remembered that this may be the first time Shyu had ever seen a live dragon, as dragons had long been thought to be extinct. For a Fire Sage especially, given the spiritual connection dragons held to the Fire Nation and firebending, this meeting would be sacred.

“How did…Where did you find—” Shyu stammered. Then he finally tore his eyes away from Druk and took a good look at Zuko. Sokka was surprised when Shyu let out a shocked sob at the sight of him, a tear finally escaping his eye. “Oh! My lord—!”

Zuko’s frown deepened. “We don’t have time for this. I saw a landing craft launching from the ship as I crossed the beach. This temple will be swarming with soldiers in minutes. They must have managed to follow us from the blockade.” He placed a hand on Druk’s neck and started to steer him toward the locked door. “Let’s get into position.”

Shyu, to his credit, wiped his face and quickly composed himself, then stepped up to the door, positioning himself in front of the two locks on the right. Zuko then brought Druk to the center lock, and he took the two on the left.

“Avatar Aang,” Shyu said, “Opening the doors will be loud. The Fire Sages and the soldiers cannot fail to hear it. As soon as they are open, you must go inside and lock yourself in.”

Aang looked anxious. “But, the soldiers—”

“We’ll hold them off, Aang,” Zuko said. “We’ll buy you the time you need to contact Avatar Roku.” Aang finally nodded, biting his lip.

Zuko counted them down, and simultaneously, all three firebenders unleashed their flame. Shyu had the arm span to punch fire with both fists into the two locks he was nearest. Zuko, however, was a bit smaller. He solved the problem handily by doing this cool combination punch and spinning kick thing that shot fire from one fist and his foot. Sokka was going to have to ask the guy to teach him the non-bending version of that.

With an echoing clunk, the door mechanism unlocked and swung open. Aang was through the door in a heartbeat, and Zuko was right behind him to push the doors back shut.

And it was not a moment too soon. Sokka could hear heavy, armor-shod footsteps coming up the stairs.

Zuko pressed his face to Druk’s and whispered a command, and Druk took off to hide above the colonnade in the dark shadows gathered around the ceiling.

“My lord,” Shyu said to Zuko, “You should go as well. If they find you here—”

Sokka suddenly remembered that Zuko was banished by the Fire Lord. He swallowed hard. What would they do to him if he was captured?

But Zuko was already shaking his head. “The three of you can’t hold off that many soldiers by yourselves.”

“Against so many, you will not make much of a difference,” Shyu said. “Please, my lord, do not allow them to take you,” he begged Zuko, and what was up with this ‘my lord’ business? Shyu looked upon Zuko with wonder as he continued, “When I learned the Avatar had returned to the world, I found the hope that the war would soon be ended. Today, when I saw you alive with your young dragon—I found my faith that the Fire Nation could be healed and made anew.”

In a flash, Sokka suddenly understood. Shyu recognized Zuko. Not only that, but Zuko was somebody important. He looked at Zuko and saw his eyes were wide with shock—or as wide as they could get anyway, with the scar permanently marring one.

But even as Sokka watched, Zuko shook himself and drew himself up. “I won’t just abandon you all here. Besides, there’s no easy exit for Druk. We’ll have to fight our way through, together.”

Shyu actually bowed to Zuko, as low as he had bowed to Aang earlier. Zuko looked pained. “Please don’t,” he murmured, so low that Sokka almost didn’t hear him. “I’m not the one you want.”

Movement on the stairs caught Sokka’s eye. Long shadows were moving closer, almost upon them.

“Soldiers!” Sokka called out as he drew his boomerang. Zuko stepped up beside him, falling into a bending stance. Katara and Shyu moved to shore up their little line of defense.

The fight was short, but brutal. Katara was taken down quickly, and Sokka soon followed her when he tried to come to her rescue. Shyu and Zuko managed to hold out for longer, but too soon Shyu failed to block a strike and was overwhelmed.

Zuko was left to fight on alone. Sokka had never seen him fight like this, all out against a dozen fully armed and armored soldiers. It was incredible how precisely and quickly he was able to bend. But in the end, he was still just one man, and he wasn’t even wearing armor.

It took four soldiers piling on top of him to subdue him, and in the end, he had to be chained separately to another pillar beside the one that Sokka was chained to with Katara and Shyu.

As soon as Zuko had been defeated, a combination of soldiers and Fire Sages stepped up to the door and blasted it with fire in an attempt to open it. The door didn’t budge.

“Why won’t it open?” one of the soldiers asked.

“It’s sealed shut,” one of the Sages said. “Avatar Roku doesn’t want us inside.”

Another Sage was confronting Shyu. “Why did you help the Avatar?” he spat in the man’s face. Sokka tried to kick him, but his legs were chained as securely as the rest of him. Which was very.

“Because it was once the Sages’ duty,” Shyu responded calmly. “It is still our duty.”

Sokka was sure that it was a bad sign that Shyu’s courageous pronouncement was met with a single slow clap. He craned his neck to see—

—Ah, turtle seal spit. It was Zhao.

The commander that had burned Kyoshi Island trying to capture Aang was standing at the head of yet another company of soldiers. Sokka felt like his stomach had turned to ice. Zhao was bad news. They had only encountered him the once, but they were aware that he had been looking for them since their first meeting.

“What a moving and heartfelt performance,” Zhao said, voice dripping with melodramatic insincerity. “I’m sure the Fire Lord will understand when you explain why you’ve betrayed him.”

His eyes roamed over Sokka and Katara, a sneer lifting his lip. “Well done, men. We have captured the Avatar’s companions and—what do we have here?” Suddenly his eyes widened, his mouth going slack for a moment in surprise. It was only a moment though, before his lips curled in a cruel smile.

“Well, well, well,” he said, advancing on Zuko, who was glaring right back at him. “Today I am fortunate indeed. I’ve caught not one traitor, but two.” Zhao cocked his head. “I see the rumors of your death were greatly exaggerated, Prince Zuko.”

Sokka froze, even as he heard Katara gasp beside him and murmuring start up among the soldiers. Prince? Zuko was a prince? Did that mean—?

When Zuko didn’t respond to Zhao’s taunting, he continued. “But what are you doing here, your highness? If I recall correctly, when he banished you, your father ordered you to capture the Avatar, not join him.” Zhao shook his head theatrically. “The Fire Lord always said he had one daughter and one disappointment.”

Holy hippo cow. Sokka’s head was reeling. Zuko was Prince Zuko. His weird, feral, fiery friend Zuko was the prince of the Fire Nation. Tui above, Zuko’s father was the Fire Lord. And what was that about Zuko being ordered to capture Aang??

“You may have abandoned your mission, your honor, and your loyalty to your nation, but no matter,” Zhao continued to expound. “I have the opportunity now to complete your mission and deliver the Avatar to the Fire Lord.”

“Too late for that, Zhao,” Zuko growled. “The Avatar’s inside the sanctum and the doors are sealed.”

“Yes,” Zhao said. “But sooner or later, he has to come out. Soldiers! Form a line. As soon as those doors open, I want you to unleash all your firepower on the Avatar.”

The soldiers moved to do as Zhao bid, and the commander turned back to Zuko.

“Do you see how outnumbered you are?” he said, leaning in close to Zuko so the boy had no choice but to meet his eye. “You can’t compete with me. I have hundreds of soldiers under my command and you—you’re just a banished prince. No home, no allies but these peasants. Your own father didn’t even want you. In his eyes, you are a failure and a disgrace to the Fire Nation. You have the scar to prove it.”

“Maybe you’d like one to match!” Zuko snarled.

“Is that a challenge?” Zhao asked, eyebrow raised.

“It’s sunset on the solstice,” Zuko retorted. “An excellent time for an Agni Kai.”

Zhao chuckled. “And what would be the point of dueling a coward who has already abandoned his honor? Other than to give my soldiers the pleasure of watching me humiliate you?” This time, Zhao’s laughter was joined by several others.

“No, I think I’ll leave disciplining you to your father. Perhaps he’ll continue what he started and give you another scar to match, on the right side of your face this time.”

Sokka felt sick. How could anyone be this cruel, taunting a boy half his age with maiming? And unless Sokka was very much mistaken, Zhao seemed to be saying that Zuko’s scar had come from his father. His own father had done that to him. And then apparently banished him. Zuko had once told him that he’d been banished for being a ‘political dissident.’ Sokka now had a feeling that that was a euphemism for something else entirely. What could have happened for him to be punished so horribly?

“Nothing to say to that?” Zhao said when Zuko did not respond. “I would say you’ve learned your lesson not to talk back to your elders and betters, but I somehow doubt that.” He turned his back on Zuko and his gaze found Sokka and Katara. Sokka tried hard not to tense up as Zhao started advancing on them instead. “I must say, Prince Zuko, I’m a bit surprised at your choice of allies. I would have thought even you would have better taste than a couple of Water Tribe peasants.”

Zhao reached for Katara, and Sokka strained forward against his chains even as Katara shrank back. “Is this one your girlfriend, Prince Zuko?” Zhao said, grabbing Katara’s jaw and tilting her head up. “What a shame. She’s not even pretty.”

Sokka felt like there was a roaring, raging fire in his chest. If he were a firebender, Zhao would have been incinerated where he stood, just from the heat in Sokka’s eyes. “Don’t you touch my sister!” he shouted, and then did the only thing he could do—he leaned forward as far as he could and bit the hand holding his little sister.

Zhao grunted in surprise and pain when he felt Sokka’s teeth sink into the skin between his forefinger and thumb. “You little—!” An open-handed hit delivered to Sokka’s left ear forced him to let go and left his head ringing.

Zhao scowled down at the bite mark on his hand, which unfortunately wasn’t bleeding. “I suppose I should have expected a Water Tribe peasant to act no better than an animal,” he growled. Okay, that was perhaps fair. Biting was a pretty uncivilized thing to do. Sokka had probably been hanging out with Zuko and Druk a little too much.

Suddenly there was a hard hand at Sokka’s throat, almost choking him. “That was rude,” Zhao told him. “How shall I teach you respect?” He grinned nastily. “It is wise to emulate the Fire Lord’s example in such matters, wouldn’t you agree, Prince Zuko?” Sokka suddenly became aware that Zuko, who had been cool as a cucumber cabbage this whole time, was now straining against the chains binding him, the expression on his face stricken. Sokka had a really bad feeling about what was going to happen next.

“Commander, don’t,” Zuko said, voice tight with what Sokka was pretty sure sounded like fear. “Don’t do this. He is an unarmed prisoner. It’s not honorable!”

“You are the last person who can lecture me about honor,” Zhao snapped. “Now watch your little friend learn the same lesson you did.”

Heart hammering, Sokka watched Zhao summon a flame in his hand. He understood all of a sudden what was about to happen.

Zhao was going to burn his face.

Katara had begun crying next to him, and Zuko was shouting something Sokka couldn’t make out through the pounding of his pulse in his ears. Sokka’s legs had turned to jelly. If it weren’t for the chains, he’s sure he wouldn’t be able to stand. He tried to wince away from the approaching flame, but between the stone pillar and the hand at his throat, he had nowhere to go. He could only squeeze his eyes shut as Zhao lifted the flame to his face.

He could feel the fire inches from his cheek. The heat caused beads of sweat to pop out on his skin. It already felt almost unbearable. He was breathing much too fast and every breath felt like his chest was burning as well.

Tui and La save him, please let him survive this. Please, Tui.

There was a great rush of air from above, and Sokka tensed as he thought that this was the start of his torture, but then the hand at his throat disappeared. The heat diminished.

There was a loud roar.

Sokka opened his eyes to pandemonium. Zhao was scrambling to right himself from where he had fallen ten feet away, and several other soldiers looked as though they had been flung about the room. The other soldiers were wild-eyed, struggling to bring their weapons up and get into some semblance of formation.

Druk was whirling about in the center of the room, lashing out with tail and teeth and flame at anyone getting too close to him.

Sokka heard Zuko screaming, yelling for Druk to go, to get away, but Sokka could already see that it was no good. There were too many soldiers, and they were quickly surrounding the young, inexperienced dragon. Someone managed to loop a chain around Druk’s hind leg, leashing him to a pillar. It was over quickly after that. Sokka heard Katara sob when they wrapped a chain around his neck and snout, muzzling and binding him. Sokka had to blink tears from his own eyes as well.

“Agni’s light—” Zhao murmured, awed, “—a dragon. A living dragon.” Then he laughed. “Prince Zuko, wherever did you find this specimen? It has been accepted as fact that your uncle General Iroh killed the last of their kind.” He walked around Druk, taking him in with a greedy glint to his eyes that made Sokka want to scratch them out. He stopped just behind Druk’s neck, then reached out and placed his hand on the dragon’s forehead. Druk shuddered and tried to thrash, but was chained down so tightly that he could not throw off the offending touch.

Sokka had never seen Zuko so furious. The boy roared wordlessly in anger, sparks and smoke issuing from his mouth. He strained against his own chains so hard that Sokka feared he would hurt himself.

Zhao chuckled. “It seems that General Iroh was wrong that the one he faced was the last. I think I have the actual last dragon right here.” He paused, a sick grin on his face. “Do you think the legends are true, that killing a dragon gives you their power?”

“You can’t—!” Zuko shouted, panicked.

“I don’t see what could possibly stop me,” Zhao said, still smiling. “And when I present the Fire Lord with this dragon’s head and the Avatar, he will honor me above all others. The last man to earn the title of Dragon in the Fire Nation.” He lifted his head, and Sokka saw the fanatic glint in his eye.

Zhao motioned to the nearest soldier, who handed over his sword.

“You’re the coward, Zhao,” Sokka shouted, face hot with anger and holding back tears. “Druk is a baby, not even close to fully grown, and you had two dozen men take him down! Is that what you call a fair fight? How brave of you to kill a baby animal that’s been tied up first!”

Zhao didn’t even appear to hear him. He laid the sword along Druk’s neck. Druk’s nostrils flared, his eye—so wide that Sokka could see a ring of white all around his iris—fixed on his older brother, searching for help, for reassurance. There was a cut just an inch to the side of his eye, the red blood almost invisible against Druk’s crimson scales.

Katara buried her face in Sokka’s shoulder, too horrified to look. Sokka wished he could hold her, comfort her, but being her shoulder to cry on was all he could do right now. And yet, it was more than Zuko was allowed to do for Druk. Sokka looked away from the downed dragon and wished he hadn’t. Zuko’s face was devastated. His eyes were locked on Druk’s, begging for his little brother to be all right, knowing that he wouldn’t. He would not look away from the only connection he had with his little brother as he died.

Sokka wanted to look away, to bury his face in Katara’s hair and hide, but he forced himself to keep watching. He would witness and not flinch away. He would be present for his friends. It was the only thing he could do for them.

So Sokka’s eyes were open when the room suddenly filled with bright, unearthly light.

Smoke billowed out from under the doors to the sanctum. Zhao immediately stood, barking orders to his men, who scrambled to obey, lining up in front of the door, falling into their firebending stances.

The giant doors began to creak open, and Sokka realized that Aang would be bouncing through them any minute—right into Zhao’s hands.

“Ready!” Zhao commanded. Sokka began struggling against the chains again, even though he knew it to be useless.

“No! Aang!” Katara screamed, just as Zhao gave the order to fire. Sokka watched nearly a dozen firebenders unleash jets of flame directly into the open door.

And then he watched as the fire swirled and parted, revealing a white-haired man with glowing eyes.

“Avatar Roku!” Shyu said in an awed voice.

And then the Avatar sent all that fire back out in a gout of flame the likes of which Sokka had never seen before. The soldiers were knocked off their feet. The back wall of the temple was blown out. Sokka expected to be burned alive, but curiously, the fire did not touch him or Katara or Shyu. Instead it seemed to melt their chains, turning them red hot before they broke and fell away.

The temple trembled, smoke and dust thick in the air. Sokka could hardly see a few feet in any direction. He sensed panicked soldiers and Fire Sages running for their lives.

“Avatar Roku is going to destroy the temple!” Shyu told them. “We have to get out of here!”

“Not without Aang!” Katara shouted.

Shyu shook his head and bolted. So much for loyalty to the Avatar.

Though Sokka was forced to revise his opinion of Shyu when Avatar Roku brought a gout of lava surging up from beneath the temple and bursting through the roof to rain down around them.

Yeah, Shyu probably had the right idea, Sokka thought as he threw himself bodily over his sister in an attempt to protect her.

But it seemed like that lava fountain was all Avatar Roku had left in him, because all of sudden he stopped. The wind picked up, sucking all the air as well as the smoke into the sanctum, and Aang was all that was left behind, eyes aglow with residual power.

Aang fell to his hands and knees, and Sokka dashed over to him, Katara by his side.

“We got your back, buddy,” he said to Aang as he helped the kid to his feet.

Aang groaned. “Thanks. Where’s Zuko?”

Sokka looked around, but neither Zuko nor Druk were anywhere to be found—only pieces of broken chains littering the ground where they had been bound.

Katara shook her head, biting her lip. “I don’t know. But we have to get out of here now.”

The three of them ran for the stairs, only to find a pool of lava quickly devouring them. A pillar crashed to the ground behind them, and Sokka definitely didn’t scream. That was Katara, surely. There was only one exit left—the hole in the wall that opened onto empty air. The three of them stood for a moment, at a loss for what to do. Aang could probably find a way down with his airbending, but he wouldn’t leave Sokka and Katara.

Just then, they heard a familiar lowing.

“Appa!” Aang called. “Over here!”

The bison had clearly already spotted them and was coming straight for them. Aang grabbed Katara’s hand and jumped out onto the roof, leaving Sokka to follow, which he did with all haste, even though sliding down the curve of the pagoda roof and launching himself into the air was giving him unfortunate mail chute vibes. They made it, probably more thanks to Appa than Sokka’s aim, thank La.

Finally clear of the crumbling temple, Sokka shouted, “We have to look for Zuko and Druk!”

Aang had no sooner turned Appa around than another explosion rocked the temple, the familiar orange flame and black smoke telling Sokka that this was at least partially the result of his oil bombs. Something came flying out of the new hole in the wall, and Aang cheered to see Druk twisting through the air, Zuko on his back.

“Oh thank Tui,” Sokka whispered as the dragon headed their way. Knowing that his friends had made it out left Sokka almost boneless with relief as the tension flowed out of him.

Only, something wasn’t right. Druk was heading their way, but he wasn’t slowing down. And it looked like he was on a trajectory to pass them, not meet them.

“Zuko!” Aang called when they were in earshot, but he received no answer. Instead, Druk flew silently by without even pausing.

As they passed, Sokka caught sight of the wet blood trickling down the dragon’s neck from the cut on his face. He looked at Zuko, and somehow caught the other boy’s eye.

He could see Zuko’s face for only a second as they passed, but it was enough to see his pain, his fear and grief.

Sokka watched Zuko and Druk disappear into the clouds with the terrible feeling that it would be a long time before he saw them again.