Avatar Zuko

Chapter 40

In the dead of the night, about four hours after their group had settled into their campsite, Sokka was rudely awakened by a soaring sound cutting through the air. His first instinct was to berate Aang about airbending so late and so loudly (seriously, who knew how aggravatingly unquiet air could be in the hands of a thirteen year old boy?). Yet, after blinking the hours of slumber out of his eyes and focusing on the night sky, Sokka realised that their problem was a lot worse than an insomniac airbender.

“Guys… Guys! Wake up! There's a meteorite heading straight for that town!” Sokka yelled, kicking his friends as he rushed passed them in order to rouse them.

The comet wasn't too big, all things considered, but it left a flaming streak across the sky that prophesied destructive power. His friends, now thankfully conscious, seemed to notice this too and immediately jumped into action in the only way four massively powerful benders could.

Zuko led the charge towards the hulking meteorite, seemingly pulling the heat away from it and syphoning it off with his firebending. Toph created a massive trench for it to land in, stamping her feet to dig deeper into the earth. Aang, with the serious expression on his face that only appeared in dire situations, then began bending the air currents around the meteorite to aim it into Toph’s waiting trench- Zuko helping once it became too much for a single person to bear the strain. The non-bender watched in shock as the thing finally crashed into the earth, sending a massive shock wave his way, causing him, Momo and a few trees to fall over, but not wrecking anymore havoc. Finally, with grace he would've never expected from his sister just six months ago, Katara forced a massive spout of water from a river half a mile away to douse the meteorite, ridding it of the last of its furious heat.

“Welp, I guess that's done with. Can we go back to bed now?” Toph questioned boredly, yawning into her fist as if to persuade them.

“I suppose, but we should probably move our camp a little further away; someone from that village might have noticed all the commotion.” Recommended Katara as they began to walk back where they came, her lips pursed thoughtfully.

Meanwhile, Sokka was still frozen in shock with Momo, now upright and on his shoulder, nibbling affectionately at his ear. The meteorite had seemed like an unstoppable force in his eyes, and yet his friends had dealt with it with the nonchalance that came with eating breakfast or tying your laces. The non-bender had always known the group was powerful, full to the brim with master benders, and he'd always known that, next to them, his usefulness seemed practically non-existent. Still, though, it wasn't until then that he managed to recognise how doomed their group would be without any single one of the benders, and how fine it would be without him.

With that in mind, Sokka finally began following his friends back to camp, hoping for a better tomorrow.

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He didn't get that much sleep after that, even though his friends fell into an easy slumber as soon as their heads hit their pillows. The group (or, more accurately, Aang and Katara) had opted to start camping normally, without using Toph’s earth tents. This was because they figured that it would raise suspicion about the presence of an earthbender, which was such a solid argument that it was difficult for the other three to argue against it.

This had two repercussions: one, Sokka could no longer sleep with Zuko curled up on his chest like an overgrown kitten, and two, the non-bender couldn't talk about his insecurities with his boyfriend privately. A lose-lose situation.

In turn, this meant that the next morning Sokka was feeling especially grouchy and was without an appetite, an extremely unusual occurrence.

“You know the worst thing about Zuko being ‘dead’ and all of us being undercover?” Asked Toph, leaning back against a stump as she chomped down one of Aang's carrots, said boy grimacing at each clash of her teeth.