Chapter Text
Sokka wasn’t entirely sure what to do with Zuko now that he’d joined the group. Sure, it was nice to know that they didn’t have to run from him anymore (assuming he had, in fact, been telling the truth like Toph said he was), but that didn’t mean it was comfortable. For any of them. In fact, Zuko himself almost seemed to be the most uneasy out of all of them, and he kept shooting nervous glances at Katara when she wasn’t looking.
Sokka didn’t blame him. He too had a healthy fear of his sister’s wrath, which Zuko seemed to incur simply by existing. And… Zuko always seemed to think about what he was going to say before he said it?
Everyone did that to a certain extent, obviously, but Zuko more so. It was almost like he was… censoring himself.
He probably was; after all, ten - thirteen, fourteen? How old was Zuko, anyway? - years of having Fire Nation propaganda shoved down your throat didn’t go away in a couple of days. He was most likely reminding himself not to call Sokka and Katara “Water Tribe peasants” and that Aang’s name was not “Avatar.”
Sokka didn’t realise just how wrong he was.
It wasn’t until they’d been on Ember Island for a few days that Sokka discovered that Zuko had, indeed, been censoring himself, but not in the way he’d suspected.
Sokka was minding his own business, exploring the beach house that apparently belonged to the flipping Fire Lord, when he heard it.
“Holy motherfucking shit!”
What.
Sokka rounded the corner to see Zuko, holding his foot and hopping around in the most undignified manner he’d ever seen from the normally graceful prince.
“Uh… Zuko? Everything okay, buddy?”
Zuko immediately dropped his foot and straightened up, looking distinctly embarrassed. “Yep. Everything’s fine. Just stubbed my toe. It’s fine.”
Sokka couldn’t keep the grin off his face. “Right. And the swearing?”
“Swearing? What swearing? I didn’t hear any swearing.”
“Uh- huh.”
At this point, it’s important to note that the Gaang has the collective swearing vocabulary of - well, a 112 year old monk. The worst Aang ever said was “monkey feathers,” which was something he’d picked up from Sokka, who’d picked it up from Toph, who’d picked it up from Earth Rumble Six.
This was, of course, because the only people who ever cursed in the Southern Water Tribe were the warriors, who all left before Sokka and Katara were old enough to learn those words; Toph was the daughter of two high-standing Earth Kingdom nobles, so her only exposure to curse words was an earthbending tournament; and Aang was raised by monks. One hundred years ago.
Suki, possibly, knew more curse words than all four of them combined, but she never used them.
Until now, Sokka had assumed Zuko, being the prince of the Fire Nation, didn’t know any curse words either… but apparently he did.
It was soon revealed that Zuko knew all the curse words, as Sokka - and the rest of the Gaang - found out upon their return from seeing “The Boy in the Iceberg” performed by the Ember Island Players.
“I can’t fucking believe this,” Zuko was saying. “I mean, I knew they were bad, they completely fucking destroyed ‘Love Amongst the Dragons’ every spirits-damned year, but this takes the fucking cake. I can’t believe those bastards somehow managed to get so many fucking things wrong! Honestly, how hard can it be to cross-check your facts so your play isn’t a fucking piece of shit? I swear to Agni, they didn’t even get our characters right! I have not, nor will I ever, feel anything other than non-romantic feelings for Katara!” He started pacing, oblivious to the shocked faces staring at him. “Actually, speaking of Katara, what the fuck was that portrayal of her? It was like they were trying to turn her into a bitch! Katara is not a bitch! And what in Agni’s name was Aang supposed to be? I mean, yeah, he’s so optimistic it’s almost painful, but even Aang isn’t a ball of fucking happiness all the bloody time! And Sokka! As terrible as Sokka’s jokes are, at least they’re funny! And not all fucking meat related! Not to mention what they did to my character! Okay, sure, I used to be an asshole. I used to be a bit focused on my honour. I get that. But that doesn’t define who I am! And my scar is on the left side of my fucking face! Considering I got my scar in front of a huge-ass crowd, you’d think someone would remember that Ozai is right-handed! And Suki wasn’t even in the play! Suki is a motherfucking goddess, how could they not include her, honestly!” He paused, taking a deep breath, then launched into yet more ranting before anyone could say anything. “The only thing they got right was Toph, and even that was nowhere near accurate! Toph is way fucking scarier than that! Had any of their sources actually seen Toph fighting? She could kick the Fire Lord’s ass even without touching the ground! Tui and La, that play was a bloody piece of shit!”
The room was silent as Zuko snatched the playbill from Suki’s hands and set it on fire with a disturbingly Azula-esque grin.
“You just said… so many bad words…” Aang gasped, looking absolutely scandalised.
Zuko shrugged. “I spent three years on a boat with navy officers. They taught me as many curse words as they could within the first month.”
Katara snorted.
“I’m flattered you think so highly of me,” Suki said.
“Yeah, me too, Sparky,” Toph agreed.
Sokka, however, had focused on one sentence.
Considering I got my scar in front of a huge-ass crowd, you’d think someone would remember that Ozai is right-handed!
Zuko was sheepishly scratching the back of his neck.
“Hey, jerkbender…” He watched as Zuko’s head shot up to look at him. “Why was there a crowd when you got your scar? And why did you say Ozai was right-handed like it was an important detail?”
Instantly, everyone was staring at Zuko’s face, and, Sokka suspected, coming to the sickening realisation that the scar was almost hand-shaped.
“...It was an Agni Kai. Firebender duel. Those typically have audiences, because they’re used to resolve matters of honour.” Zuko’s voice was quiet, vulnerable, and starkly different from the passionate speech he’d given mere moments before.
Katara’s eyes were wide. “Why were you fighting the Fire Lord in an Agni Kai?”
Zuko curled in on himself, sliding down against the wall until he was sitting. “I begged my uncle to let me into the war meeting. I wanted to learn how to lead the Fire Nation. I wanted to learn how to be a good Fire Lord. The only condition was that I had to stay silent.” His words had become clipped, emotionless. “One of the generals proposed a plan to use a division of new recruits as bait so the stronger divisions could attack the earthbenders from behind. I…” A deep breath. “I couldn’t let them do that, so I protested. Said they were betraying our people. I disrespected the general. The Fire Lord declared an Agni Kai in compensation. The general was old. I knew I could defeat him.”
He was shaking now, Sokka noted worriedly.
“But it was the Fire Lord’s war room, so it was the Fire Lord I had disrespected. I didn’t know that until I turned around and saw him. So I begged.” Zuko’s voice broke, and then it filled with what could only be described as despair. “I got on my knees and I begged. He insisted I fight, and when I didn’t, he cupped my face, like a father should. I thought he was going to forgive me.”
Aang and Katara were crying, and Toph and Suki looked horrified. Sokka just felt empty.
Zuko looked up then, but his eyes were glazed, like he was seeing something else. “And he just sneered at me and said, ‘You will learn respect, and suffering shall be your teacher.’”
If the way Zuko had said those words was accurate, then Ozai’s voice was terrifying. But not as terrifying as the next eight words Zuko said.
“And then he set my face on fire.”
And then Sokka saw red.
Zuko shook his head and looked at Aang, silent tears trickling down his face… but only on one side.
The red intensified, and Sokka struggled to stop himself from marching to the Fire Nation capital and strangling Ozai himself.
“Do you understand now, Aang? That’s why you have to kill him,” Zuko whispered. “If he was willing to do that to his own son for something as trivial as speaking out of turn at a war meeting, imagine what he will do to his enemies.”
Zuko stood then, and Sokka was suddenly reminded of the angry warriors they’d met all those months ago.
“Do you understand, Aang?” he repeated. “You have to fucking kill him, because if you don’t…” His eyes flashed dangerously. “Then I will.”
And then he was gone.