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Zuko is missing. Nobody has seen him since the morning and, it being evening, Sokka is getting very worried. He and the rest of the Gaang (as he calls them in his head) had split up to search for Zuko around the palace and the Caldera. He hears pounding footsteps behind him and whirls around. It’s Katara and she looks freaked out. “Sokka, you need to come quick. We found Zuko.” The tone of her voice scares Sokka.
“What happened? Where is he?” Sokka demands anxiously.
“He’s on that hill near the palace, you know the one, and I think something really bad happened,” she says in a rush, leading him hastily towards the hill where she and Toph had discovered Zuko.
When they arrive, Sokka isn’t happy to find that Katara hadn’t been exaggerating. Zuko is curled up, leaning against the lone tree and, when he looks up, Sokka can tell that he had been crying until very recently. His eyes are red-rimmed and tear tracks still stain his cheeks. Toph is sitting on one side of him, a hand on his shoulder, looking uncharacteristically somber. Katara sits down on the other side and takes Zuko’s hand gently.
Sokka has just enough time to kneel in front of Zuko, before Suki comes up the other side of the hill, dragging Aang behind her. “What happened?” Aang asks as he takes in the scene, his voice small.
“I’m- I’m sorry,” Zuko chokes out, speaking for the first time, “I must look pathetic.”
"Somehow I don't think so," Toph snarks, but Sokka sees her squeeze Zuko's shoulder to soften the words.
This actually gets a wet chuckle out of Zuko as he uses his free hand to wipe the tears off of the right side of his face. His hand strays to the left and brushes over his scar briefly and he pulls it back as if it had burned him.
"Zuko, what happened?" Suki asks gently, sitting cross-legged beside Sokka. Aang doesn't sit, choosing instead to hover anxiously behind the protective ring the other four had made.
Zuko lowers his head as he begins to speak, "Do any of you know how I got my scar?" He ask quietly.
They all shake their heads and Sokka has a sinking feeling that he knows exactly where this is going.
Zuko sighs wearily and begins his tale in a quiet, sad voice, "When I was thirteen I begged my uncle to let me into an important war meeting. He agreed on the condition that I wouldn't speak. I promised I wouldn't of course," Zuko snorts bitterly and Sokka sees his sister squeeze the firebender's hand comfortingly.
"Well, it was all going fine until this one general proposed a horrible plan. He was going to use a bunch of new recruits as bait."
Katara makes a sudden noise of shocked realization, "Is that the general who-"
Zuko nods wordlessly, a pained look in his eyes. Sokka is very confused and he can see that the others are too, but he doesn't want to distract Zuko from the story or bring up another bad memory.
"Well, anyway, I couldn't stand for that so I spoke up against the plan," Zuko takes a shaky breath.
Toph says, "Good for you, Sparky," at the same time that Sokka says, "Good!"
Zuko smiles a little but it drops as he continues the story. "My father was very angry with me," he says shakily, "He ordered me to fight an Agni Kai for being so disrespectful. I thought I was going to fight the old general, so I agreed. When I turned around to fight, it wasn't the general standing there. It was my father."
Sokka thinks he’s going to be sick and, by the looks on the others’ faces, he’s not the only one. “What did you do?” Katara asks in a soft voice.
Zuko shakes his head, “I was a coward. I didn’t fight. I just dropped to my hands and knees and begged for mercy.” And now Sokka is definitely going to be sick.
“That’s not cowardly,” Toph speaks up in a sad voice that’s laced with fury, “He was your father and you were thirteen.”
Zuko shrugs, looking disbelieving, and continues his tale in a dull voice, “He started walking towards me and told me to fight. I refused. He told me that I needed to learn respect and that suffering would be my teacher. Then he-” Zuko takes a sharp breath and Sokka sees Toph tighten her grip on his arm. “He grabbed my face and burned half of it off,” Zuko growls bitterly.
Aang makes a wounded noise from behind Sokka but apparently Zuko isn’t finished yet. Sokka hopes it doesn’t get worse. “He banished me from the Fire Nation. I could only return if I captured the Avatar.” It got worse.
“The Avatar was still a fairy tale at that time,” Suki gasps. Her voice seems to lower an octave as she murmurs, “You weren’t meant to come home, were you?” Zuko shakes his head once, looking miserable, and Sokka wants to scream and cry all at once.
Toph is already on her feet and, her voice shakier than usual, snaps, “Where is Ozai’s cell?”
Zuko looks up, alarmed. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he says hastily.
“Twinkletoes. Where is he?” Toph growls, marching towards him and poking him aggressively in the chest.
“I think Zuko’s right, Toph,” Aang says quietly, pushing her hand away gently. Toph gives in to the impulse that Sokka has been fighting and simply screams wordlessly. “I’m going to kill the bastard!” She screeches next, her voice much higher than usual.
“Toph,” Katara says quietly, her voice trembling.
“What?” Toph snaps, whirling around. She stops short, a horrified look on her face as she mouths, “Oh.” Sokka knows what she must be sensing. Zuko is tenser than Sokka has seen him in a long time and he looks like he’s fighting a losing battle with more tears. Toph seems to deflate as she once again sits beside Zuko. “I’m sorry,” she whispers, her voice small.
Zuko shakes his head and mutters, “It’s fine.” He pauses for a moment before mumbling, “That probably still didn’t explain what happened today, though, did it?”
“If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine,” Sokka finally speaks up. His voice wobbles and Suki reaches out to squeeze his hand.
“No, you deserve to know. From what Toph and Katara said, you’ve been looking for me all day,” and the horrible thing is that Zuko looks confused about this last detail. Sokka nods, in what he hopes is an encouraging way and, to his relief, Zuko gives him a tiny smile. “I was in a meeting this morning and, well, there was this horrible old woman there. Apparently, she was- she was there that day. Negotiations weren’t going her way and she, um,” Zuko’s voice is very small as he finishes, “she told me that the Fire Nation doesn’t need a ruler who’s weak enough to get his face “melted off” by his own father. My guards detained her but I- I couldn’t breath. She was laughing and I... I ran.” He shivers and Sokka puts a hand on his knee.
Katara has that look on her face. The one that means that she’s exactly three seconds away from committing murder. Suki looks, likewise, furious and Toph is, once again, vibrating with rage. Sokka can relate.
“I’m so sorry, Zuko,” Aang says quietly. He is freely crying as he comes forward and wraps Zuko in a hug. Zuko falls into the hug easily. Much easier than he ever would have before, even a month ago.
“I proved her right, didn’t I?” Zuko asks after he pulls away, hanging his head, “What’s weaker than running away from an old woman who doesn’t even have a weapon?” He laughs, a slightly hysterical thing that makes Sokka cringe.
“Zuko, she gave you a cruel reminder of your horrible father. Of course you wouldn’t be okay after that. Nobody would be,” Suki says firmly.
Sokka decides that it’s his turn to give Zuko a hug and firmly wraps his arms around the firebender. “Do you think it’s immoral to murder an old lady?” He whispers into Zuko’s ear and is pleased when the firebender gives a surprised huff of laughter. He ruffles Zuko’s hair gently as he pulls back and, as he does every time, Zuko flushes.
“Group hug, now,” Toph demands. They all laugh a little, even Zuko, and, surrounding the Fire Lord, they all hug him protectively. “Don’t listen to that bitch, Sparky,” Toph says insistently, “You’re not weak. You’re pretty damn strong, actually.”
“Thank you all so much,” Zuko murmurs, “I’m sorry I scared you guys.”
“Tui and La, I thought we established that it’s fine,” Sokka groans.
“What my idiot brother means, is that we forgive you, Zuko,” Katara says in a lofty voice, prompting giggles out of Toph and Aang.
They stay like that for a long time and, when they finally back away, Zuko is smiling shyly and looks truly happy for the first time since they discovered him. They have another sleep-over that night. Nobody complains.