Stuck In A Hole (1/2)
Title: Stuck In A Hole
Summary: Mid-Season One Zuko and Sokka are trapped in a hole by some bad men and have to work together to get out. Only problem is, they're feeling not too cooperative. ...Especially Zuko. "Make no mistake, Water Tribe; the enemy of my enemy is still my enemy."
Note: Should be canon-compliant, if you squint. Also, just a fun fact, was meant to be slash. The boys were having none of that though, so it's friendship instead.
Zuko glared. He did it well. His face was basically made to glare. "Make no mistake, Water Tribe; the enemy of my enemy is still my enemy."
Sokka's own retaliatory glare had no choice but to falter. It turned into a full-face scrunch instead, which was probably much more his style anyway. "That's a lot of enemies."
Zuko glared harder.
Normally, Sokka would have been more than content to glare back, but today was slightly different. Today four no-good Earth Kingdom soldiers were holding him captive for unclear reasons. He hadn't fought them too hard upon being captured, since he hadn't wanted to hurt the good guys and had figured they just didn't recognize him. But when he'd mentioned being best buddies with the Avatar, they'd only laughed at him and high-fived each other. Then they'd put him into a deep pit with a very disgruntled Fire Prince and left. Zuko had been glaring since Sokka first arrived, which was four hours ago.
But no measly stinkeye was going to stop Sokka from escaping this literal hole in the ground and rejoining his sister and friend. Even if he had to use Prince Glare to do so. Unfortunately, Prince Glare was implacable so far.
"Of course I have a lot of enemies," he retorted, still glaring. "And you're one of them. The only reason I haven't burnt you to a crisp yet is because then I'd be stuck down here with your corpse and I hate the smell of burning flesh."
Sokka pulled a disgusted face that was only slightly exaggerated. What kind of freak considered that a good reason to spare someone's life (not that his life needed sparing, thanks, especially when Zuko had handcuffs and he did not)? How did that even come to mind? Anyone who knew the smell of burning flesh well enough to consider that sort of thing was not the kind of person Sokka cared to be stuck in a tiny hole with. Why, that pretty much ruled out the entire Fire Nation, didn't it. Funny, that.
"You're psycho," he said. "Plus you have handcuffs so you couldn't hurt me if you tried, but mostly you are psycho. You sniff your victims?"
For the first time, Zuko's glare slipped. "I - what? No! There's - what do you mean, victims? I'm not some - some murderer!"
Sokka snorted, very loudly and disbelievingly. Zuko's scowl returned with a vengeance.
"…I'd think it would be obvious why I'd hate the smell of burning flesh, you imbecile," he muttered, turning his face away. The motion revealed the scarred half of his face, as clearly as it could be revealed in the dim light.
"Ohhhhhh," Sokka breathed. For a long moment, he almost felt guilty, because Zuko's scowl seemed kind of emotionally wounded rather than just angry, but then he remembered this was the enemy. "Well - well, sure. I knew that. You jerk."
Zuko just sighed. Sokka hung his head; it was true, that had been weak.
"…My point is," the firebender eventually said, "that you should stop trying to get me to escape with you. There's no way I'm helping you get out of here."
Sokka sighed as well. Then he let his head thunk back against the dirt wall he sat against. Then he kicked Zuko in the shin. To relieve stress. It was fairly effective.
Well, it was effective until Zuko swore (impressively), leapt to his feet, and kicked Sokka back. This prompted Sokka to stand up as well, and the two soon engaged in a cramped kicking battle.
It was difficult to kick well, given the small space, especially since Zuko was taller and wore boots with metal tips. Sokka gained considerable advantage, however, as soon as he remembered that his wrists were not cuffed together behind his back as Zuko's were. Being so blatantly evaluated the lesser threat rankled, but it came in useful nonetheless: Sokka was able to grapple his opponent into a hold against the wall. He slid a knee between Zuko's to keep him from kicking any more, leaned an arm heavily across his throat, and gloated.
"Ha! Don't underestimate me, you Fire Nation scum! I am a strong, wily warrior and you don't stand a chance of beating me when you can't use your stupid bending, so just acknowledge me as boss and obey me already!"
Zuko's face was difficult to make out clearly in the shadows, but the sound of his voice made it clear that he was gritting his teeth. "There is no way in hell I'd ever lower myself to obeying you, peasant! Don't get ahead of yourself!"
All of a sudden, he spat fire. Sokka let go and jumped back to avoid the sudden burst of flames, only to tangle his legs with Zuko's and bring them both tumbling painfully to the ground. Their ensuing struggle only seemed to make things worse, as Sokka shoved at any body part not his own and Zuko flopped around uselessly without being able to move his arms. They were both shouting at each other.
"Get off me! Get - ow, stop, that's my face - hey, don't kick harder you, you - you Ponytail Jerkface!"
"What the hell are you - stop it - get off - my arms my arms my arms, damn it peasant, I'm going to immolate you -"
"Oh, I'd like to see you try -"
"Hold still and I will -"
"Yeah, that's likely -"
"SHUT UP!"
Sokka and Zuko both jerked their heads up at the sudden shout. Far above, an Earth Kingdom soldier stood at the top of the hole. He seemed thoroughly fed up.
"Oma and Shu, if you don't stop shouting I'll bury you both! You'll be worth less dead than alive, but it'd be worth it for the peace and quiet!" He stomped warningly, dislodging several clumps of dirt that fell down onto his prisoner's faces, before turning and moving out of sight.
Fighting momentum gone, Sokka occupied himself with spitting dirt out of his mouth. To his surprise, Zuko didn't attempt to get away from him; rather, he went limp, laying back across Sokka's legs and staring up at tiny sliver of blue sky visible high overhead.
"So they're definitely still here, then…" he muttered thoughtfully. "They must be planning on selling us to bounty hunters or slave traders."
"Slave traders?" Sokka asked, horrified. His father had taught him a lot about the world beyond the South Pole, but he'd never mentioned slavery.
Zuko's shrug was weirdly nonchalant, given the situation. Also his shoulders were bony and Sokka's thighs didn't appreciate it. "No one will admit to condoning slavery anymore, but with all the chaos of the war, it's hard to effectively police stuff like this… The Fire Nation Prince and the Avatar's close friend would definitely fetch a high price with someone."
Sokka wanted to protest, but everything Zuko was saying made sense. Of course the underworld would be flourishing during such times as these. All the law-enforcers were too busy fighting the Fire Nation to pay much attention to actual law-enforcing, at least on any national scale. It would be quite easy for slave traders to operate if they were careful about it. Especially with corrupt soldiers like these aiding them.
He'd known it already or he would never have tried allying with Zuko, but this was the first time it truly hit Sokka just how much trouble he was in. He could very easily die here, or worse, end up sold into slavery. And Katara and Aang wouldn't even know what had happened to him… he couldn't let that happen.
"This is all the more reason we should work together," Sokka said. "I don't want to be your friend; I just can't get out of here on my own."
Zuko finally sat up, smoothly as though his arms being bound behind his back made no difference to him whatsoever. "Why are you so eager to join forces with me? The Avatar's going to come get you anyway."
Sokka swallowed hard and shook his head. "Aang and Katara don't even know where I am. I went off to fish up some dinner and these guys jumped me."
"Still," Zuko said calmly (which was just weird), "if we're so close to your campsite, they're going to find you eventually."
Sokka cleared his throat. "Well. They would, except. I may have tripped into the river and been carried far away downstream before I ran into those Earth Kingdom soldiers. Possibly that happened."
Zuko groaned quietly.
"It was an accident, okay!" Sokka snapped. "What about you? I thought you had a whole boat full of lackeys who'd be out looking for you!"
"I'd expect someone from the Water Tribes should know the difference between a boat and a ship, but I guess you're just special," was Zuko's snotty reply. "And no, my ship full of lackeys is not going to find me until long after I've been sold."
Sokka ignored the dig at his intelligence in the interest of escaping any time soon. "Why not?"
Zuko sighed heavily. "Because, they're on leave for the next two days. I headed off on my own to search for news of the Avatar - I knew he was nearby. But none of my crew are expecting me back for at least another two days. Even if my uncle organizes a search right away when I don't show up, it would probably still take another full day for them to find this place. There's no way these guys are going to wait around for three more days."
Sokka moaned piteously. "Why couldn't you go on leave too? You could be off getting drunk in some dockside bar instead of making me endure your company. Damn obsessive freak."
"Shut up," Zuko said. "Would you rather be stuck down here alone? You'd never be able to get out of here by yourself."
"Oh, so you're willing to make a truce now, are you?"
The sun must be setting. Sokka could hardly see Zuko's face anymore in the dim light, but still, he'd have sworn the prince rolled his eyes. "Obviously. I thought I'd be able to escape when the Avatar freed you, but that's no longer an option. But just because I understand the necessity of working with you, doesn't mean I'm going to trust you for one second!"
"That's fine," Sokka sniffed haughtily, "I'd never trust you either."
---
The only problem was, none of their escape plans worked very well when neither participant was willing to trust the other. Zuko kept insisting Sokka pick the lock of his handcuffs, and then he'd be able to scale the wall, defeat the guards, and let down a rope.
There were lots of problems with this plan, in Sokka's mind. First, there was no way in hell he'd free Zuko's arms. Sure, the guy could somehow blow fire out of his mouth, but not all that much and that danger was nothing compared to how much trouble Sokka would be in if he had full use of his arms. Plus there was no way Zuko could climb the wall just like that. Sokka had tried - the dirt was hard-packed and he wasn't able to get more than a few feet up before he inevitably slipped and fell back down to the bottom. And finally, even if Zuko was able to climb to the surface and defeat the soldiers who had captured him in the first place, there was no guarantee he'd help Sokka out of the hole. He would probably just claim him as his own prisoner instead, and try to use him for Avatar bait.
Sokka much preferred the plan where he stood on Zuko's shoulders and used that boost to help him climb to the surface. Once he was up he'd defeat the guards himself, and let a rope down for Zuko.
"Don't be an idiot," was the flat response he got when he voiced this brilliant plan. "At least I'd have firebending, but you would be alone and unarmed in the midst of - I counted four - soldiers, one of whom is definitely a bender. They'd toss you right back down here. That, or you'd run away like a coward and leave me to die. No thanks."
"I wouldn't run away!" Sokka insisted. But he had to admit Zuko had a point about the whole one-unarmed-person-versus-four-armed-soldiers-one-of-whom-is-a-bender thing.
And so, they found themselves at an impasse. Oh, they argued it out, back and forth plenty of times, but eventually they realized something had to give. It was pitch-black in the hole by now, the sun having long since set. If they wanted to escape (which they did), it was best to do so now, while at least some of the soldiers would probably be sleeping.
"Okay, this is ridiculous," Sokka said, breaking the latest huffy silence. "We've been stuck in here for like eight hours, I haven't eaten, and Katara's going to be really worried. We've both agreed that they probably want to take us to the slave traders tomorrow, so this is really our best bet at escaping. Do you want to be sold to the highest bidder?"
Sulky quiet.
"I don't even know how to pick locks!" Sokka whispered harshly, flinging his hands up in exasperation. "It would be morning before I got you free, and then they'd look down, see your hands, and earthbend handcuffs right back on! …Come to think of it, why do they even include a lock anyway?"
He jumped when Zuko spoke. The firebender was apparently sitting right next to him. "I think it's so nonbending soldiers can still use them." He hesitated for a moment, then continued: "I do see your point. But I can't trust you not to leave me here. I'd rather drag you down with me than let you get away while I'm still captured."
Reaching out blindly, Sokka patted his way across his fellow prisoner's chest (ignoring his protests), shoulder, down his arm, and finally reached his linked hands. He grabbed some fingers at random and squeezed them tightly while waggling them up and down.
"Here, we can shake on it. I promise I won't leave you down here."
"Not good enough. And let go."
Sokka did, grumbling. "Then what the hell is?"
Zuko took a deep breath. "I want you to make an oath on your honor. That's - Water Tribe warriors value that too, don't they?"
They did. A lot (not as much as Zuko seemed to, but he was sort of obsessive so he didn't count). Particularly if they happened to be Chief Hakoda's son. Sokka hesitated for a long moment.
Then again, the Southern Water Tribe also highly valued practicality! And what was more practical than making a temporary truce in order to survive?
"I swear, on my honor, that I will come back and help you escape too." Sokka waited, and then elbowed Zuko when no response came. "Finally good enough?"
Zuko elbowed him back, with considerably more force and deadly aim. Sokka collapsed forward, clutching his gut and wheezing. He heard the prince shuffling to his feet in the dark. "I guess it will do."
"…Jerk…" Sokka choked out. Zuko ignored him, tilting his head up and breathing a short gust of flame. The red fire briefly lit up the dark hole, allowing Zuko to examine the walls for a moment before darkness descended once more. The prince repeated this technique several times. By the time Sokka had recovered, the latest breath of fire revealed a satisfied smile on Zuko's face. In the dim, flickering firelight, it was a surprisingly handsome expression. Not even the scar could make it look sinister.
"I thought so," he said, allowing his flames to go out. "This wall over here is the best. There's a root sticking out near the top that you can grab."
Sokka stood and strode over to join Zuko at said wall. It wasn't much of a walk - the hole in its entirety was barely five feet across. He peered up, but all he could see was formless darkness, with a few stars peeking through. He'd just have to take Zuko's word for it.
"All right, let's do this!" He cheered quietly, flexing his climbing muscles. "Bend over so I can step on you."
Zuko hissed angrily, but when Sokka felt blindly in his direction, he found the firebender already crouched and ready. Grinning a little - it wasn't every day he got the chance to literally walk all over Fire Nation royalty - Sokka placed his hands against the dirt wall for balance, and stepped up on to Zuko's shoulders.
"Okay, stand up."
Zuko grunted, and smoothly stood. In fact, he moved with such ease that Sokka, who had been expecting some shaky fumbling or hesitation, was caught off guard and lost his balance. He fell backwards, hitting his head on the opposite wall, and his flailing feet brought Zuko down on top of him. For the second time, the two boys ended up sprawled all over each other in the dirt.
Zuko rolled over onto his stomach, paused a moment, then firmly headbutted Sokka. Of course, their heads weren't quite aligned in the darkness so it ended up more like Zuko just slammed his face into Sokka's armpit. Which was still painful, but also just felt sort of weird. Sokka retaliated automatically by clamping his arm down and holding Zuko's head in place. It was only when Zuko started struggling to get free that he realized what he'd done.
"Ha! Suffer the stench of man," he crowed quietly. And then immediately after, remembered that Zuko could blow fire. With a yelp, he let go. "I mean - um, just kidding!"
Zuko snarled incoherently and bit his elbow. Sokka had to clap his hands over his mouth to keep from shouting in surprise and pain. He settled for repeatedly kneeing Zuko in the butt (all he could reach). Finally, Zuko let go and spat on the ground.
"You taste terrible."
Sokka blew gently on his injured elbow. Zuko had teeth like a vise. "Oh, shut up, you cannibal. Let's just try again."
The second attempt went much better. Sokka managed to keep his balance as Zuko stood, feet planted firmly on the firebender's shoulders. Of course, the rim of the hole was still out of reach. But he was able to dig his fingers into the dirt wall and slowly inch higher, until he was on his tiptoes on Zuko's shoulders. Then he stepped on Zuko's head - for once the prince's mostly bald hairstyle came in handy, since his scalp made for decently solid footing. Not that he seemed to appreciate the boot on his cranium, judging by the steady stream of quiet swears he was muttering, but he didn't have much choice in the matter.
Sokka scrabbled upwards, stretching as high as he could in search of the root. Finally, he found it. A couple tugs revealed that it would indeed be strong enough to support his weight, so he grabbed hold and used it to help himself scale the last foot and a half left to the grassy turf above. Heaving with all his might, he managed to flop himself out of the pit like a leopard-seal beaching itself on an ice floe. He lay there, panting, for several minutes before crawling quietly away from the pit into the cover of some nearby bushes. Once he was sure no one had noticed his escape, he peered out between the branches to assess the situation.
It wasn't as bad as it could have been - but that wasn't saying much. Sure, three of the guards were sleeping around a low campfire, but the one on watch was the earthbender. Not to mention, they'd all slept in their armor, with their weapons close at hand. At least there really were only four men; if he or Zuko had miscounted then there would have been no chance for victory at all. Sokka's escape had also gone unnoticed so far, which was good. They weren't leaving until morning. He had time to plot.
---
Part Two