Chapter Text
ZUKO
Zuko didn’t want a soulmate. The whole concept was stupid as it is, and so was his tattoo.
At the age of 10, everyone with a soulmate would get a special tattoo, representing something unique about said soulmate. Zuko had been excited at first, the idea of someone who would truly love him seemed almost too good to be true. But there were also some concerns, some rather big concerns.
First of all, his parents weren’t soulmates. So that meant there were people whose soulmate would marry someone else regardless, considering his mom once accidentally said that, yes she had a tattoo and no, it wasn’t his father.
Secondly, some people would never get a tattoo. No one was sure what this meant if it was because their soulmate had died, or would die before they would ever have the opportunity to meet, or simply that their soulmate didn’t exist. That thought terrified Zuko.
And then, he turned 10, he started wishing he was one of these people without a tattoo.
His tattoo had been a boomerang of all things! A boomerang! Who even uses a boomerang? Even as a 10-year-old he knew swords were way cooler and far superior.
His father had been especially upset over this, walking into his room on his birthday, demanding to see the tattoo and turning sour straight away at the sight, saying there was no way his tattoo belonged to a girl. Young Zuko wasn’t quite sure what the problem with that was, but according to his father, it was one of the worst things that could happen.
“I hope your sister gets something better than this,” his father had said bitterly. “This is not how I raised you!” he accused him before slamming the door as if Zuko had chosen the tattoo himself.
After that, his father never brought up the tattoo again, but once his sister woke up at her 10th birthday and she didn’t have a tattoo at all, the favouritism towards her became even more clear.
His uncle did speak about it though. “Don’t worry prince Zuko, whoever your soulmate is doesn’t matter, as long as you both are happy,” he had said one day, seeing the tattoo when Zuko had taken off his shirt to practice his firebending, a mistake he’d never make again. Zuko never spoke of what his father had told him, and Ozai definitely hadn’t told Iroh about the tattoo, but Iroh was clearly smart enough to put two and two together.
“And what if we’re not?” Zuko said, not showing any emotions. What do I care?
“You will be as long as you follow the right path.”
“Dad doesn’t want me to marry a boy,” he looked away. Really, they shouldn’t be talking about this.
“There’s nothing wrong with you or your tattoo. Your father will come around. Besides, it’s not set in stone your tattoo actually refers to a man,” Iroh smiled, reassuring the then-11-year-old Zuko. “Maybe you’ll meet a fine lady one day who throws a boomerang at your head and it’ll be love at first sight!” it had been a joke to lighten the mood, but Zuko didn’t laugh.
By the age of 16, Zuko had abandoned all hope of his soulmate being a woman. From personal experiences, the chance of it being a woman was basically non-existent. Lately, he wondered if this also had played as a reason in his banishment. He knew his father wasn’t proud of him, or his tattoo, but that didn’t mean Zuko would actually act on it. If marrying a woman is what it took to be able to go back home, then he would. But it wasn’t going to be that easy.
Standing on the deck of his ship now, years later, Zuko thought back to when he was 11. He had been feeding the turtle ducks alone, his mother was somewhere he didn’t know. Suddenly, he got a faint heartache, as someone important had died, but not necessarily someone important to him. It had been such a weird experience as sadness flashed over him that he had felt lost, wanting to help whoever’s pain it was. Later his uncle told had him that soulmates could sometimes very faintly feel each other's pain so that whoever his soulmate was must be in extreme pain right now. Soulmates only bring you pain , was what Zuko took away from that conversation, even if those weren’t his uncle’s words.
So now all he could hope was that he would find the Avatar and that he wouldn’t find his soulmate. It was the only way to get back his honour. Enough people didn’t meet their soulmates until later in life or didn’t meet them at all. If luck could just be on his side once—
“The avatar!” He snapped up suddenly seeing a big light flash coming from somewhere behind a couple of icebergs. Maybe luck was on his side today. Maybe.
“It’s not the first time you’ve said that, prince Zuko,” his uncle sighed.
“I have a good feeling about it this time.”
Even visiting the most remote places during his search had been a good call on his part.
~~
He had finally arrived at the South Pole, knowing fully well the avatar was there. He had seen it with his own two eyes! Well, one eye through a telescope, but you get the idea. Victory was so close and he was going to do everything to not let it slip out of his hands. He was going to get the Avatar even if he had to burn, no melt, the whole village down in the process. The Avatar! Someone who hadn't been seen in 100 years!
He wasn’t excited, so to say, because he simply wouldn’t allow himself to be. This battle hasn’t been won, it hasn’t even started yet.
And then, of course, the first person he saw when walking off the ship was some crazy dude bolting towards him. It’s really cute the villagers seemed to think they could stop him but did they really think Zuko would be so easy to defeat? The guy probably wasn’t even a waterbender. As far as Zuko knew, there were none of those left on the South Pole. Nothing to stand in my way.
Truth is, Zuko had been expecting to be attacked and fought against, the fact that it was only one person was actually kind of laughable. He easily threw him off, not even sparing a glance to the other. Seriously, that’s all they’ve got?
“Where is he?” he said angrily.
“What?”
“About this old?” He grabbed one of the oldest people he saw. “Master off all four elements?” He shook her before throwing her back into the hands of the villagers. Adrenaline pumping through his veins but being careful not to show it.
Behind him he heard the other boy get up, bolting towards him once again. At least he is courageous, he thought. But then the Water Tribe boy took out another weapon, something that looked awfully familiar to Zuko, even though he couldn’t quite place it. And Zuko didn’t want to place it either because that’s really not the point of this whole thing. The guy threw said weapon but totally missed the prince in the progress. He didn’t have time to fight off this peasant and his dumb weapons! He couldn’t even manage to hit him!
Just as he wanted to go on, get the villagers to talk, the other attacked him again, with a spear this time. A+ for creativity in weapons, he supposed, but no spear was going to stop him from getting his honour back.
The thing quickly broke in two, and he now fully turned his attention towards the boy who couldn’t be much younger than him, maybe a year, maybe they’re the same age. He felt weird, as if he had recognised him or as if he was an old friend. Zuko almost felt sympathy, something he hadn’t had felt in a long while. What was going on with him? For a second he didn’t want to hurt the other anymore.
And then he got hit on the head. Did he miss a sneak attack by having his attention turned towards that boy? This is what happens when you lose focus for even just a second! He scolded himself for being so careless until he saw something in front of him in the snow.
The realisation that it wasn’t a sneak attack that he had missed but just got hit by a boomerang relieved him for a tiny just a second, before totally tensing up. A boomerang. Fuck. No. Nope.
The Water Tribe boy looked at him for a split second as well, and suddenly his eyes grew, probably in realization.
And then, about one second later. There was some kind of mutual understanding. They both knew the other realized they were soulmates, and both seemed to be happy to totally ignore that fact. Like both of them held an entire conversation with their eyes in the span of half a second.
Zuko did not have time for this. Hell, they both probably didn’t have time for this.
Not only did he meet his soulmate, something he very much didn’t want, but he also met him at the exact worst possible timing ever. Because of course he did, luck was never on his side. Zuko felt like a fool for even thinking so.
Now he felt completely torn. His uncle had told him, years ago, about this ‘great force that even without seeing the tattoo, you will know it’s them’ and almost ‘immediate fondness’ and he hadn’t believed a word of it. He wasn’t that kind of person, he couldn’t just ‘love’ someone without knowing them, leave alone after seeing them for the first time. But he did somewhat feel it. It wasn’t love, but it certainly was something . It just made him angrier.
Almost ready to attack the other boy, throwing every good story he had ever heard about soulmates (most of them from his uncle) out of the window, something suddenly hit his lower legs, resulting into him flying backwards, face-first into the snow. He had greater things than love to worry about now. The Avatar was back. His focus shifted immediately back to the reason he was here in the first place. And he looked young.
~~
“If I go with you, will you leave all these people alone?”
Zuko looked around at the other people, who were scaredly watching the battle between the two. And of course, his eyes fell on someone in the process.
“No, I want him as well,” he pointed at the boy with the boomerang, his soulmate without even thinking. Zuko knew fully well it was stupid, that it would mess up his plan, that he didn’t even want to meet his soulmate in the first place and that his soulmate certainly would hate him after this whole thing. But curiosity killed the catgator as they say. Two of the guards stepped forwards towards the avatar, and two others towards the boy.
“What do you want from me?” Boomerang guy crossed his arms. “I won’t be a threat to your precious Fire Nation, don’t worry.”
“What’s your name?” Zuko said a bit softer, not daring to look at anyone else’s reaction.
“You really think I’ll tell you that? No, thanks!” he rolled his eyes.
“You will, and you will come with me as well, whether you want it or not.” This time it sounded more stern, surer, more like himself.
The Avatar looked like he was ready to start fighting again, protecting his friends. Or that’s what Zuko assumed they were anyway. Friends. He knew how stupid he was being, and he definitely wasn’t leaving a good impression on his soulmate that he, again, very much didn’t want to begin with. Why was he acting like this?
“Aang, stop,” boomerang guy sighed. “Okay fine, I’ll go with you. But you better leave my people alone.”
Zuko nodded. He didn’t want anything from these people anyway. They were no good to him.
“Sokka have you gone mad?!” An angry voice suddenly was heard from the crowd. Sokka, hu? Guess he got to know his name after all.
“Katara listen, I know what I’m doing. It will all be fine!”
There was a certain resemblance between the two, and Zuko guessed they probably were siblings. At least he was hoping it wasn’t Sokka’s girlfriend. Not that he’d care of course. But still.
“Take me with you, too.” Katara turned towards him and before Zuko could even reply a no, the avatar chimed in as well.
“Uhh, if Sokka and Katara and I go with you, can my flying bison as well? There’s no one to take care of him otherwise.”
Were they being serious? Did they see this as some kind of joke? Though, a flying bison is rather— no. That was not the point of this.
“No! You and you, you’re coming with me,” he pointed at Aang and Sokka. “No one else. My ship isn’t some kind of daycare for bisons and teenage girls! This is a warship! And I’m going back home.”
He signed at the guards who took Aang and Sokka captured, leaving the rest behind. Katara didn’t struggle anymore, but she was clearly holding back tears, holding the older woman who Zuko had grabbed a couple of minutes ago. She probably knew about the soulmate status of her brother and him, and he didn’t know if that made it worse or better. He definitely didn’t leave a good impression on the family as a whole. Besides, Katara looked pretty scary.
But really, this isn’t about soulmates.
~~
After sending Aang away with the guards to his cell, he decided it was time to go talk to his soulmate . Zuko already heavily regretted taking him with in the first place, knowing he’d neither wanted to act on it but also that his soulmate most probably hated him. He tried not to think of how the other, Sokka , was kinda very handsome and how he had definitely felt… something . ‘Sokka’ he repeated in his mind. That’s what he guessed his name was at least from the previous conversation. It was a good name. Sounds bright red, his synesthesia chimed in, fits with mine then. There was no need to be surprised about this though if they were really soulbound.
He stood in front of the room he had sent Sokka to and took a deep breath before entering. This conversation was gonna happen sometime, the longer he waited the more awkward it became. And it certainly was already awkward enough as it was.
“Hey, I-“ he started but the other cut him off straight away, clearly very upset about the whole thing. And perhaps rightfully so.
“Listen here you jerk,” Sokka started, “I don’t know what your plan is but you best believe me when I say I want nothing to do with you. Soulmate or not.” He had stood up and walked closer, confidently, to make his point more clear. He didn’t show any signs of fear, even now he had seen the other firebending and everything. Zuko didn’t know whether to be impressed or upset.
“That’s fine,” Zuko replied simply. What else could he say?
“Then why did you bring me here?” The other crossed his arms.
Finally being able to take a look at the other in a less stressful situation, Zuko had to admit to himself Sokka was definitely very beautiful, which made the whole thing even more unfair. Fuck that, Sokka is hot! a tiny voice inside his mind said which he internally kicked himself for. He couldn’t allow that train of thought to go any further.
Zuko sighed. “Actually, I don’t know,” he confessed.
“Oh! Great! Well done Prince Zuko! You really thought this through, didn’t you?” He said sharply. “Can’t wait till you bring me to the fire nation, far away from home, locked up in a prison. Certainly a great way to treat your soulmate, whether you want to act on it or not.”
“I didn’t exactly have a lot of time to think this through, I came here for the Avatar only! How was I supposed to know I’d meet you?” Zuko defended himself, “and I’m not gonna throw you in a prison!”
The other clearly wasn’t having any of it. “Then what are you going to do? Let me ‘free’ once we’re in the Fire Nation? I don’t know anyone there! I highly doubt there’s some public transport that can bring me back to the South Pole.”
“I didn’t… really think about that,” Zuko hated how he felt. He finally found the avatar and now he had to deal with this? But at the same time, something within him just couldn’t ignore the fact that he had found his soulmate either. It was somewhat exciting, in the worst way possible. The universe really must be playing some cruel joke on him. What did he do to deserve all this?
“No, you didn’t. You didn’t think about any of this because you only care about yourself! I can’t believe you are my soulmate!” Sokka threw his arms up in the air in anger.
Zuko had to do everything to keep his calm now. This whole conversation was upsetting but he doubted throwing a fireball at the other was going to make it any better. But then again, Zuko was never the most rational person so perhaps...
“I just-... I want to see my tattoo. Well, your tattoo,” he said more quietly. He really did though. What would the universe have chosen for his tattoo? What was his clear trait that had made Sokka realize they were soulmates pretty much straight away? Was it the logo of the Fire Nation? That would probably be too vague. Maybe it was something like the hairpiece he wore as crown prince. Or maybe it was the helmet he was wearing, but that would’ve probably been too vague too.
Sokka seemed to think about it for a second, before finally saying “fine!” And rolling his sleeve up.
Zuko wasn’t exactly impressed with what he saw. If anything, it was just a painful reminder of his life and why he was on this trip in the first place. Right on Sokka’s left bicep was a tattoo that looked identical to the scar that covered half of the left side of his face. To make matters worse, it was about the same size as well. It barely looked like a tattoo anymore, it was so realistic it could probably even pass for a burn wound. Well, this was worse than imagined.
“I see…” Zuko turned around stepped forwards towards the door almost ready to leave, balled his fists and closed his eyes. He was so close to having an outburst, anger running through his veins. After a couple of seconds, he realized Sokka would probably think he’s insane (as if he didn’t already) to be so upset over something like this.
He really couldn’t leave now, so after a couple more breaths, he turned back around. Awkwardly trying to smile in an attempt to make it seem like wasn’t extremely angry.
A few moments of very awkward silence later, the other spoke up.
“It’s not exactly fun to have a tattoo that looks like a scar, you know?” Sokka said accusingly.
“It’s not exactly fun to have a scar that looks like a scar either!” Zuko said raising his voice now and pointed his finger to his face. Sokka snorted, which wasn’t really the reaction he had hoped for, but he guessed it had sounded pretty dumb.
“Can I-“ Sokka moved his hands forwards, reaching for Zuko’s face. Don’t let him! Zuko felt himself slap Sokka’s hand away before he could come anywhere close. Don’t let down your walls, he told himself.
“No!” He hissed. “You can’t touch it!”
“Well, can I see mine then at least?” Sokka then said sounding a bit hurt but not pressing on the subject, rolling his sleeve back down and crossing his arm again.
Having really no other choice, Sokka had shown him his, after all, he lifted up his shirt just enough to see the medium-sized boomerang on his ribcage on the right side of his body. At least his tattoo wasn’t lifesized, and pretty easy to cover up.
“Okay now that, is pretty cool I must admit,” Sokka smiled proudly at himself as if he had drawn the tattoo on there himself. “I really got the short end of the stick here.”
The prince rolled his eyes. “If you think so.”
“Listen here buddy, a boomerang is the best weapon! You’d be stupid not to use a boomerang as a weapon of choice!” He defended himself.
“If it’s that great and widely used by everyone, it wouldn’t have been my tattoo. In fact, so little people must use one, the universe must have thought it was pretty unique to you only.” what even was this conversation?
“But you see, mine is blue and very clearly belongs to my tribe. Just because I’m the only one in my tribe to use it, doesn’t mean I’m the only one in the world!”
Zuko wanted to reply, have this petty discussion about boomerangs, of all things. He didn’t know why, he normally wouldn’t bother, but he just did. But something had to ruin it of course.
“Hello! Have you seen my-“ the door swung open, both Sokka and Zuko snapped their heads towards the sound, only to see the Avatar in the doorframe. He had escaped? Why were the people in this ship so useless? They couldn’t even keep hold of a 12-year-old? He really had to do everything himself, didn’t he?
“AANG!” Sokka had excitedly yelled, throwing his arms up walking towards the other.
He had to stop this before they both were gone.
~~
Okay so, the ‘stopping this before they both were gone’ didn’t exactly work out for Zuko, who now stood on the deck of his ship in anger watching both the avatar and Sokka fly away on some… flying bison monster thing. Probably the one Aang had referred to before.
“I won’t underestimate him again,” he told his uncle determined.
“Which one of the two?”
“The Avatar of course!” it was him who had escaped the guards in the first place. And ruined the conversation.
“And what are you gonna do about your soulmate?”
“What?” How did he know?” He knew for a fact he didn’t tell his uncle yet. He didn’t even know if he was planning to tell him in general. It would probably only result in a ‘follow your heart ’ speech that Zuko definitely did not need whatsoever.
“He’s your soulmate isn’t he?” His uncle seemed already sure of it though.
No point in denying really. “How did you know?”
Iroh sighed. “I saw you got hit by a boomerang. It’s not exactly every day you find a guy using a boomerang as a serious weapon.”
“I told him that as well!” He crossed his arms in annoyance. See! Who even uses a boomerang?!
“So what will you do?” His uncle asked.
“About him? Nothing. About the Avatar? Hunt him down again,” that, he was sure of.
“You’re not going after your soulmate? Don’t you want to find out about true love?” Iroh seemed a bit phased by this because of course he was. Naive.
Zuko wasn’t having it though. “My honour is more important than true love,” he said full confidence, walking towards his room, not wanting to talk about it anymore.
But he also knew that, considering the whole escape a couple of minutes ago, hunting down the Avatar would bring him to his soulmate too. And that almost scared him enough to end this whole mission then and there. Almost.
~~
SOKKA
“Sokka, are you okay?” his sister asked worryingly as soon as the ship was out of view.
Sokka was going to need a minute to process this all. Why did the universe hate him this much? What had he done to deserve this?
“Honestly Katara, we just talked. I think that’d be a better question for Aang, I don’t know what they did with him.”
Aang shrugged, “I escaped pretty much straight away.”
Katara ignored it though. “Just talked? The audacity he has! Just-.. captures you like this and-... TALKS with you as if nothing happened and I-”
“What did you guys talk about?” Aang cut her off, curiosity getting the best of him.
Sokka thought about whether if he even should tell Aang about it for a second. On one hand, Aang could think he was a traitor now who wanted to turn him into his ‘new love’ from the Fire Nation. On the other hand, Aang wasn’t so stupid to believe such a thing. Hopefully. Which is why he eventually said, “Listen Aang, that jerk and I, we’re kinda soulmates I guess?”
Aang didn’t even seem phased by this. In fact, he looked rather excited. “You are? That’s amazing!”
Wait, what?
Both siblings gaped at him, before Katara yelled, “in what world is that amazing?! Didn’t you see what he just did? He wants you dead, Aang!”
“Maybe he’ll come around now he has found Sokka?” he sounded hopeful.
“I highly doubt it. And even if he did, I want nothing to do with him,” Sokka said. Of course he’d think that, he’s just a kid. But there’s no way Zuko would ‘come around’.
“I always heard that soulmates were something really special. Like you have a really special bond that you can feel right away. The monks told me the Avatar never gets a soulmate mark though,” he looked sad, “but they also said that doesn’t necessarily mean I won’t find love!”
“Aang, don’t worry about it. I don’t have a soulmark either,” Katara comforted him. After what had just happened with Sokka, he was sure she wasn’t in the slightest as upset about it anymore as she had been as a child.
“You think Zuko is going to throw is whole life away because of a tattoo? I don’t think so! The jerk,” Sokka said angrily, crossing his arms again and looking away.
And then, of course, Katara had to ask, “so? Did you feel something special?”
“I’m not sure…” and he wasn’t. Not really. A lot had happened in those couple of minutes. He had felt something weird and vague from the moment Zuko walked out of his ship, but he had also felt hatred and annoyance towards the boy at the same time. The weird feeling was probably just because Zuko looked pretty damn fine sadly enough, and he was a teenage boy with eyes and hormones and all, if he could look past the fact that he was literally the Prince of the Fire Nation, which he couldn’t so it really didn’t matter. “I hate him either way.”
He thought of reasons to stop thinking Zuko was even mildly attractive, he had to kill these thoughts straight away. His hair looks stupid, was his first idea, before another part of his brain chimed in with ‘but on him it looks kinda cool’. Urg. Okay so, his scar is pretty ugly, I guess but not even that thought was fully finished before his brain replied but also pretty sexy. This really was the worst thing ever. Couldn’t he have just been born without a soulmate?
Katara nodded, but Aang still didn’t seem too sure about it. “You don’t need to hate him because of me! What if he’s your true love? In fact, he definitely is your true love! According to the universe and all!”
“Aang do you hear yourself speaking? True love? He’s the Fire Nation prince! He’s going to hunt you, no, us , down! There is no way.” before mumbling “stupid scar,” because his mind was still stuck on that ‘Zuko’s scar is sexy’ thought.
“Maybe we can use you as bait to-”
“KATARA!”
They fell silent after that.
Sokka remembered when he was 12 and his tattoo suddenly started to faintly burn. He didn’t know why at the time, and it had freaked him out. It had hurt for a while after, but not enough to actually tell someone about it. That’s when Zuko got his scar, he realized. Now hyperaware, his tattoo started feeling itchy.