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beckyh2112 is having a anti whump-Zuko meme. It's gonna be good, but I thought it would be fun to explore the... darker side of our favorite fandom, in contrast.
This is not just Zuko-whump meme, per say. All Avatar characters are welcome in order to explore their darkest sides. After all, the road to hell is paved with good intentions isn't it? *Grin*
So go on and reply with up to 4 requests. I promise to do at least 1 from everyone, so do your darnest to be dark. (Although I'm drawing the line at rape and incest.)
beckyh2112 is having a anti whump-Zuko meme. It's gonna be good, but I thought it would be fun to explore the... darker side of our favorite fandom, in contrast. This is not just Zuko-whump meme, per say. All Avatar characters are welcome in order to explore their darkest sides. After all, the road to hell is paved with good intentions isn't it? *Grin*
So go on and reply with up to 4 requests. I promise to do at least 1 from everyone, so do your darnest to be dark. (Although I'm drawing the line at rape and incest.)
Re: Hakoda's Secret Weapon...
Hakoda's Secret Weapon PART 2
“You’ve met him before, son?” Hakoda asks, after a moment.
Zuko’s gaze is still locked with Sokka’s – his eyes seem too big, too bright for his face. And Sokka can’t tell if he’s trying to subtly shake his head, or if he’s just shaking.
“Yeah, I know him,” Sokka wants to say. “He’s the jerk who invaded our village, threatened Gran-Gran and burned Kyoshi Island.” He wants to say it. It’s on the tip of his tongue, and it’s the truth, after all. But he doesn’t.
Instead, he shrugs. “He’s the one of the guy’s who’s always trying to capture Aang. I know him.”
Zuko shifts slightly, making the chains binding his hands over his head rattle. “You,” he rasps. He almost seems incredulous. “You’re related to this monster? The girl too?”
Sokka opens his mouth to shoot something – probably witty—back. But his dad is already moving. One closed fist hits Zuko in the side of the head, the other a swift blow right in his solar plexus. Then Hakoda steps back, just as casual as you please, rejoining Sokka again as if nothing unusual happened. Sokka hastily remembers to close his mouth.
“He’s Fire Lord Ozai’s son.” Hakoda says, just as casual as you please. All the while Sokka is trying not to watch Zuko curl up around himself – but can’t, making horrible wheezing gasps. “Word has already been sent out – the terms of his release are all cessation of force in our waters. We should be hearing back any day now.”
Then he puts his hand on Sokka’s shoulder – the same one he used to just hit a boy his age, and leads him out the cave again.
The sun outside is warm on Sokka’s skin, the air cool with just a hint of salt. He doesn’t dare look back to the dark cave. Not while his father can see.
*****
Hakoda's Secret Weapon PART 3
Guilt gnaws at him like a polar-dog with a bone, but after bidding goodnight to everyone he doesn’t go to his sleeping bag. He slips away to the cave instead.
I’m being stupid, he tells himself. This is Prince Zuko… He’s an evil, hateful guy. Dad knows what he’s doing. You can’t hold a firebender on a wooden ship. This must be the only way…
But he doesn’t stop, and to his mild surprise no one is guarding the mouth of the cave.
The moon is high overhead, casting just enough light to see by, and to Sokka’s surprise Zuko is awake and alert – and still bound. Did they let him down to sleep, at least?
Zuko jerks in reaction at his approach. His gold eyes flick to Sokka, then to the open doorway and back again. “What are you doing here?” he growls. “Come to gloat?”
Spirits, this guy is such an asshole. “Maybe.”
The prince says nothing. Only takes a deep, shuddering breath through his nose and out again through his mouth. Sokka can see his thin ribs expand with the movement… and he really hopes that’s just smudges of dirt on him, and not an impressive collection of bruises. … Why wasn’t he given a shirt? It cold and clammy in the cave. Had to be, even for a firebender.
Better get this over with so he can get out of here. His head drifts down to his pocket. “Are you hungry?”
Zuko’s eyes snap to his again, and there’s a weariness in there he wasn’t expecting. “What do you mean?”
“Um, you know, food?” Sokka asks and withdraws the seaweed wrapped meat. He doesn’t like the way Zuko’s shoulder’s slump in relief. What had he been expecting him to say?
He unwraps it and steps forward. Zuko’s hands are held so he can’t use them, but he takes the meat with his teeth. No hesitation. No embarrassment. He’s plainly too ravenous for embarrassment. Sokka holds the meat up to him anyway and after a moment’s thought, balls up the seaweed and feeds that to him as well. He withdraws his hand once it looks like Zuko was ready to lick Sokka’s finger’s clean. There’s so much a man can take.
And Zuko’s eyes are on him again. “Why?” he asks. His voice breaks on the word. “What do you want from me?”
Sokka doesn’t know what to say. He’s saved from answering by the sound of footsteps on the loose rock outside. Tatum, one of the captain’s under Sokka’s father, swaggers in. He looks like he owns the place, but stops midstride at the sight of Sokka.
“Sokka,” he says, and Sokka doesn’t miss the slight flicker in his eyes: the look of someone who just got caught. “What are you doing here?”
Sokka shrugs. “Giving the prisoner some dinner. What are you doing here?”
Hakoda's Secret Weapon PART 4
For a moment, Tatum doesn’t answer. There is the sound of rattling chain’s – Zuko’s stepped back as far as his binds will let him. He doesn’t say anything, but the rapid sound of his breathing echoes loudly in the cave.
And Tatum just smiles – a weird, leering thing. “I’m seeing to my needs, of course.”
For the second time that day, Sokka feels like the floor has dropped out from under him. Things click horribly into place: The lack of guard at the door, Zuko’s paranoia.
All he can do is stare at Tatum and think: You… you used to give me and Katara pony-back rides when we were little!
Something hardens in Sokka’s soul and he steps between Tatum and the bound prisoner. Firebender or not, this isn’t right. “Not tonight,” he says, lowly.
Tatum’s eyes narrow. “Does the Chief know about this? ‘Course he does,” he growls, before Sokka could answer. Then, unexpectedly, the leer is back. Wider now. He laughs. “Watch yourself, Sokka. The little shit bites.” And he turns and walks out.
Sokka feels like he’s going to throw up right then, right now, but he holds himself together until the sound of Tatum’s footsteps dim into nothing. Then he staggers over and braces himself against the wall. Now he’s the one who’s breathing hard.
“I’ll kill you.”
Sokka looks over and… glaring is too mild of a word. Zuko’s eyes are molten with hate –and fear. “If you lay one finger on me, I swear to Agni I’ll kill you,” he repeats. It sounds like a chant. Like’s he’s said it too many times before to count.
Oh Spirits…
The decision is made and he’s acting on it before he has time to really think it through. Not like him, but then again… Sokka’s had a weird night. He lurches up and crosses over to Zuko. The prince aim’s a vicious kick at him, but he’s slow and weak despite his bravado. Sokka dodges it easily – wonders briefly why there’s no firebending. Can Zuko even firebend the way he is? Then he jams the sharp edge of the boomerang into the lock of Zuko’s shackles.
The iron manacles release and Zuko falls hard to the ground.
“Get out of here,” Sokka snaps. “Get out and run away as fast as you can. I don’t ever want to see you again.”
Zuko doesn’t need to be told twice. He rolls and rises to his feet – but it’s like his limbs are acting oddly, the unburned side of his face twisted in pain. Maybe he’s been shackled upright for too long, maybe the months with little to eat, the torture… all of it. He staggers, falls and rises again. This time he makes a three painful steps… his legs are shaking. He falls again, an arm-length from the mouth of the cave, and can’t rise.
“Nononono…” he moans, reaching outward towards sea… towards freedom. It’s all he can do. Reach.
Sokka stands there, unsure, then hesitantly walks over and helps haul him into a sitting position. Zuko’s pride is still there – he has enough strength to shove Sokka away, and prop himself up against the cave wall.
Then he curls up his knees against his chest, and bows his head. Sokka doesn’t know if he’s crying or not, but suspects he is.
Hakoda's Secret Weapon PART 5
“There’s been enough time for him to receive the letter and send back word three times already,” Zuko snaps. “I wrote the letter myself. I begged. I may not have honor, but I’m still his son. I—he doesn’t want me, think’s I’m weak…” he trailed off, lifting his head, looking at his hands and wrists that were skinned to blood. The words ‘He’s right’ floated in the air afterwards, unsaid.
Then Zuko turned to Sokka. His voice is flat. “Your father is worse.”
Sokka stiffens. “Shut up.”
“He killed my uncle. Killed him even when he had us surrender! Executed my crew—”
He cringes when Sokka grabs his arm, although only for a moment, catching himself as soon as he does it. But it’s the cringe that stops Sokka short from hitting him. Besides, it looks like Zuko’s been knocked around enough as it is.
“Chief Hakoda knows what’s going on,” Zuko continues, after a tense moment. “He allows it. Probably orders it.”
Sokka swallows hard. “The Fire Nation killed my mother.” He’s not trying to make excuses. He’s not. He’s not.
“I’m sorry.” And to his surprise, Zuko looks away. But he speaks again and he’s not apologizing for Sokka’s mother’s death. “I know what it’s like when your family turns out different than what you think.”
“Shut up,” Sokka repeats, and to his surprise, Zuko does.
******
Hakoda's Secret Weapon PART 6
Zuko falls asleep soon afterwards, slumped there on the floor as if sleep took him by surprise and there’s just not enough left anymore to fight it off.
Sokka’s not sure if he can ever sleep again. At least, not without nightmares. He does, somehow, dropping off sometime after midnight. He wakes again just at the first light of false dawn – there is a sharp rock digging itself in his side.
Zuko is still there. It looked like sometime during the night he made another bid at freedom, but only made it to the mouth of the cave. He’s awake – eyes half-lidded and staring at the lightened sky.
“Let me see the sun,” he says. “Just one more time. Please.”
Sokka knows he can’t. Someone’s bound to be here at dawn, and he has to get his story straight.
Zuko fights him, harder than Sokka would think possible. He makes Sokka win back every inch back into the cave and there are horrible half-choked mews coming out the back of his throat as he’s chained once more.
Sokka walks away.
It’s the worst thing he’s ever done in his life.
*****
Hakoda's Secret Weapon PART 7
Sokka gets back to his sleeping bag unnoticed, and pretends to rise with the rest of his men. His father greets him at breakfast, claps him on the shoulder, and tells him they’re going fishing today. Just like old times.
Sokka doesn’t know what to think. He loves his dad, loves his people. They wouldn’t do something like that to a prisoner without good reason. He knows it. He knows it.
But he can’t get Zuko out of his mind.
He still doesn’t know what to say as the evening draws to a close. He catches Tatum looking across the fire at him once or twice – the big captain giving him a knowing wink.
Sokka nearly cries aloud when Appa appears over the horizon. He’s five days early… this has to be bad news, and at that moment he doesn’t care.
******
Hakoda's Secret Weapon PART 8 END!!!
Zuko looks up as Sokka enters the cave, then looks away. He’s proud… Pride is probably all he has left, now.
Sokka doesn’t care. He crosses the cave and right over to the chained boy. It’s almost an embrace, but he tells itself he’s doing this for practical purposes. He needs to be quiet, whispering in the Prince’s ear.
“We have a rule in my Tribe,” he says. “If you save a man’s life, then that man owes you a debt.”
Zuko is silent for a full minute. “In the Fire Nation, if you save a man’s life, you’re honor-bound to pay it back.”
Well, that was good enough for him. Sokka’s boomerang flashed – he caught Zuko’s thin frame this time as his own legs gave out. “Your coming with me,” he says. “And you’re bound by your honor. If you hurt Aang, if you even look at him funny, then I’m tipping you off the side of the bison saddle. That’s the rule. Can you live with that?”
Zuko shuttered in his arms. And nodded.
******
Re: Hakoda's Secret Weapon PART 8 END!!!
Re: Hakoda's Secret Weapon PART 8 END!!!
Re: Hakoda's Secret Weapon PART 8 END!!!
I have two questions though.
Shouldn't it go: “In the Fire Nation, if you save a man’s life, he is honor-bound to pay it back.” ?
What means the word shuttered? Zuko shuttered in his arms.
Re: Hakoda's Secret Weapon PART 8 END!!!
1) D'oh! Yes.
2) It's supposed to be shuddered, not shuttered (I've always, always, always gotten those two mixed up for some odd reason). Shuttered is the act of closing something like a window, with a specific type of blind. (Or a metaphor for being closed it). Shudder is a convulsive movement -- a reaction of the body, like trembling.
I suck. :P
Re: Hakoda's Secret Weapon PART 8 END!!!
Re: Hakoda's Secret Weapon PART 8 END!!!
Re: Hakoda's Secret Weapon PART 8 END!!!
Re: Hakoda's Secret Weapon PART 8 END!!!
And it's always nice to see someone in this fandom who doesn't speak english as his/her mother language. ^^