This story was written in response to an anonymous request from a things you said prompt meme - for 'things you said while I was crying'.

Can you stop that?

Sokka gasped breathlessly, tears trickling down his face as he struggled to choke down at least any actual screams.

He nearly failed when he had to grab onto an outcropping of rock and haul himself over the edge into a slightly sheltered opening in the rock face. The pain from his right arm was agonising, but he didn't exactly have the luxury of time to stop right now, and he clenched his teeth and completed the manoeuvre with nothing more than a strangled whine for the pain.

"We may be all right here for now." Zuko said, pointing towards the back of the shallow cave. "Get down; I'm going to see if I can tell how far back they are."

Sokka was about to say that he shouldn't, but the jarring sensation of sitting down prompted a gasp of pain - at least he didn't shout - and by the time he had enough breath to speak again Zuko was gone, swinging easily off the ledge.

Sokka winced and looked down at his arm, extending it carefully and twisting it to look at the worst of it. The burn wasn't . . . horribly deep, and it would probably heal all right even if Katara didn't come in time to fix it, but it was blistered and raw and oozing and-

And it hurt.

Sokka cringed, locking his jaw against the low keening building in his throat as he shuddered once and the burn began to ache deep in his arm. He didn't manage to stifle himself much, but he couldn't help it. He'd pushed himself so hard and he was exhausted and he hurt.

Zuko swung back up onto the ledge after only a short time. "They're still not sure which way we went, so as long as they don't decide to cut across the cliffs here we'll probably be out of sight." he reported, and that was great, it was, but Sokka couldn't muster more than a weak attempt at a smile.

"Hopefully Suikan has led the others away, rather than trying to follow after us." Zuko said absently, and Sokka hurt too much to think or he might have tried to contribute to this - yes, Zuko was probably perfectly capable of defending himself against these ragtag renegades, but it was sort of his guards' job to protect him - but as it was he just . . . let Zuko muse aloud to himself, letting the words slide past him without registering. Until- "They're coming this way." Zuko hissed, and Sokka squeezed his eyes shut tight, cringing.

Zuko peered over the edge of the rock and down. "I think they're just looking for a way through, I don't think they have any idea we're here. If we stay down and stay quiet they should pass us by." he reported, and Sokka let out a low breath of relief. He certainly wasn't moving. Not now he'd stopped. He didn't think he could go any further yet.

Sokka shifted a bit and his breath caught as the tiny movement jarred his arm, fresh tears welling up at the spike of pain. He bit his lip, hard, trying to focus on that feeling rather than the raging, fiery pain in his arm.

"Can you stop that?" Zuko muttered harshly, and if Sokka hadn't been too consumed with trying not to scream he would have said . . . something scathing, curse it.

"No! No I- Ahh." Sokka whined, swallowing hard and trying to be quiet, but-

But it hurt. His face screwed up and he whimpered softly, shaking. It was just pain, but he couldn't . . . couldn't control it.

"Let me see." Zuko said and Sokka opened his eyes and then flinched back.

"No! No don't touch it!" Sokka yelped, trying to pull his arm out of reach as Zuko's hands came towards him. "I promise I'm trying to-"

"I'm not going to hurt you." Zuko said, frowning, his voice soft. "Sokka, try to breathe, that's going to make it worse." he said firmly as Sokka choked and gasped, half holding his breath.

Sokka winced, scraping the soles of his boots against the cave floor, squirming because he just . . . hurt so much.

Zuko held his forearm gently with one hand and reached out with the other. Sokka flinched, but he didn't touch the raw burn, just drew his hand through the air right above it, then again, and again, and-

The agonising heat was seeping out of the burn, even if it still hurt like fury. Zuko was bending the heat out of it, Sokka realised, and sniffled a little as he stared down at Zuko's hand passing through the air over his burn. He hadn't realised that was possible.

"I'm sorry," Zuko said, frowning, "I didn't realise it was that bad."

"It, um." Sokka's eyes flicked over the scar on Zuko's face. "It's not that bad."

Zuko met his eyes, giving him a dubious look, and he swallowed. "It really hurts," he admitted, wincing, sniffing again, "but it's not. . ."

"Is that better, at least?" Zuko asked, rubbing his thumb over the back of Sokka's hand. Sokka nodded. "Good. Hopefully your sister will speed up a little when she hears about this mess; if she does we might meet up with her by tomorrow, and she can fix this for you." he said, frowning.

"Stay back here." Zuko added after a moment, releasing Sokka's arm and rising to his feet. He kissed Sokka's brow. "I'm going to see if they're coming any closer."

Sokka just nodded, cradling his injured arm across his lap.

. . .I know, tense situation and not being aware of the severity of Sokka's injury and all, but well done on being comforting there, Zuko. *dry*