𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐎 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐍 | prince zuko

¹⁷

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

     SOKKA, YAN, AND ZUKO were sitting in an awkward silence as the trio traveled to the Boiling Rock prison using Zuko's hot air balloon. While Zuko stoked the fire to keep the balloon moving at a moderate speed, Yan and Sokka sat next to each other, looking at the clouds in silence. The silence between the three teens was tense, especially because Yan still harbored her distrust in Zuko and the trio had never really gotten along until recently.

"You know, a friend of mine actually designed these war balloons. A balloon... but for war." Sokka said awkwardly, earning a slow nod from Yan as she continued to look at the fluffy clouds they passed.

"If there's one thing my dad is good at, it's war. Though not everyone in my family is like that, so curb that thought that's about to come out of your mouth. My uncle was more of a father to me... and I really let him down." Zuko sighed as he continued to stoke the fire, thinking about his uncle and where he could've possibly gone after his breakout in prison.

"I think your uncle would be proud of you. Leaving your home to come help us, that's hard. Did you leave behind anyone you cared about?" Sokka asked to continue the conversation. Zuko smiled and mentioned his ex-girlfriend, a girl called Mai who was rather gloomy and dark, something Zuko admired about her; when Sokka mentioned his first girlfriend had turned into the moon ― a story Yan was now eager to hear ― the conversations quieted down.

Sokka had fallen asleep as nighttime hit, Yan and Zuko still awake. They didn't say anything though they did exchange quick glances. Zuko fiddled with his fingers awkwardly as he finally found the right words to say to the earthbender girl. "I know you probably don't want to hear it, nor do you still trust me... but I wanted to apologize again for what I had done to you. I know now that it was wrong for me to betray you the way I did; I don't expect your forgiveness today, tomorrow, or the next day, but I hope that in time, you will learn to forgive me," he said slowly and gently so she'd understand. Yan listened to his apology and personally felt like he was being genuine. She nodded slowly, taking his apology to heart; it would take her a long while until she truly forgave him, but at least they were making a start.

Zuko stood at her side, looking down at the earth until he spotted it. "There it is," he said loudly, stirring Sokka awake. Sokka rushed over to the pair and looked over Yan's shoulder to see the war balloon approaching a steaming volcano. "There's plenty of steam to keep us covered. As long as we're quiet, we should be able to navigate through it without being caught."

He opened the door to the furnace and shot more fire into it, the war balloon rising into the steam of the volcano. Although he continued to shoot fire into the furnace, the balloon began to lose altitude, getting dangerously close to the lake filled with boiling water in the caldera of the volcano. The trio tumbled out of the war balloon onto the rocky shore of the prison island, their transport now out of commission.

"Oh, great. How the hell are we going to get off this death trap of an island now that we have no working balloon?" Yan groaned as she rubbed the back of her head from where she fell out of the balloon.

"We'll figure something out. I suspected it might be a one-way ticket." Sokka reassured her, tucking the tattered pieces of the war balloon into the metal basket and kicking it into the lake to hide the evidence that three civilians had managed to sneak into the highest maximum prison in the world.

Zuko, Yan, and Sokka snuck into the prison dressed in prison guard uniforms, Zuko second-guessing the disguises. Sokka continued to speak words of reassurance, reminding the two that they were there to find his father and leave as quickly and carefully as possible. Neither of them was looking forward to sitting in a maximum-security prison for the duration of the war; Yan busted out of a prison once, she sure as hell could do it again.