The Dark Fog

Sokka looked at the ground around him, beginning to lose hope that they'd ever find it. He was sure that it had been right around here that he'd lost it, but this area looked much different from the ground then it had from the air.

"Hey Sokka?" Toph called out some distance away from where she had, in her own unique way, helping him in his search, "I think I found it."

"What!? Where!?" Sokka cried as he ran up to her.

As usual, Toph didn't face the way she was pointing (no need, since she didn't "see" with her eyes) as she said, "About 20 paces that way."

Sokka ran in the direction Toph pointed, slipping but not quite falling a couple times on the damp ground of the forest floor. Then, when he spotted it, Sokka squealed in delight as he picked it up and said, "Space sword! I'm so glad to see you again!" After kissing it a number of times and stroking the flat of the blade affectionately with his cheek, he turned back towards Toph and hollered, "Thank you so much, Toph! You truly are the greatest earthbender ever!"

"Yeah, I know," Toph replied without a touch of modesty in her voice, though it appeared from this distance that she might have blushed. Shaking off the ridiculous notion and writing it off as a trick of the light, he called out to the others, "Aang, Katara! We found it!"

"That's great Sokka!" Katara said as she reached him ahead of Aang, then she gasped and said, "Wow, look at it! You lost it over two years ago, but it still looks practically brand new!"

Sokka noted that what Katara said was correct. A metal weapon left out in the open like this, exposed to the elements all this time, should have been heavily weathered by rust. However, other than some minor discoloration in the hilt and handle, his sword seemed utterly unharmed, its blade as keen as ever. Perhaps it was due to the fact that the blade was forged from that space rock. Regardless on how it happened to be, Sokka felt himself grateful for his luck, the hiss and click as he slid his sword back into its scabbard feeling right.

"Thanks for helping Sokka find his sword, Toph," Aang said to her, "Are you sure it was alright for you to be spending the day with us today? Weren't your students supposed to start helping out at the Earthen Fire Refinery today?"

"It's fine really. I got the lily livers settled in before I came here with you. Besides, Satoru is a good supervisor," Toph assured Aang, and now that he was closer he saw that Toph definitely blushed briefly that time, "He'll make sure that they know what to do." Toph then cleared her throat and pointed off to the side as she said, "Anyway, while we're here don't you think that we should go and find out what happened over there?"

"What do you mean, Toph?" Sokka asked as he looked where she was pointing, seeing only a little hill in that direction.

"Well, it feels there's a whole bunch of dead bodies on the other side of that hill," Toph told him simply, "And from the feel of the armor I'd guess that they were Fire Nation."

"What!?" Everyone else exclaimed in shock. At first he thought she was just trying to spook then, like the time they were telling each other scary stories around the campfire prior to the Day of Black Sun's invasion, but they all ran in the direction Toph had indicated. Once they reached the top of the hill, however, Katara gasped and hid her face in Aang's shoulder, and Sokka had to hold his hand over his mouth to keep his lunch from coming back on him.

The statement Toph had made did not due justice to the horror of this scene. The dead lying around here did indeed all appear to be Fire Nation soldiers. They were lying on the ground, draped over rocks, and even hanging from branches in the trees. Worse than the fact of an entire squad of freshly dead lying before them was how it appeared they died. There was no signs that a battle or struggle had occurred here, and while some of them did seem to have cuts and bruises on them there was little blood on the ground, the wounds seemed to have occurred after they died. Even more than that was the look of abject terror permanently etched on each man's face.

"What happened here?" Katara breathed in horror, "It was as if they all died of fright!"

"I'm more curious as to what a bunch of Fire Nation soldiers are doing here in the first place," Sokka said as he focused on them, "There's no way these guys died during the Hundred Year War, the bodies are too fresh."

Both Sokka and Katara looked at Aang, who looked troubled as he deliberated for a moment, then he said, "I don't know, either one, but maybe after we give these guys a decent burial we can go and see if Zuko has some answers."

After Aang and Toph used their earthbending to quickly bury the dead, they hopped onto Appa and flew to the Fare Nation Palace. It only took a moment of talking for the guards to let Aang and his friends inside. Once in the throne room, Zuko sees the distress on his friends faces and stands from the throne, approaching them quickly as he asked, "Guys? What's wrong?"

Aang quickly tells him how they found the numerous dead Fire Nations soldiers while searching for Sokka's sword. When Aang was finished, Zuko looked troubled but not overly surprised. "So, that's what happened to them," Zuko mused, "I was concerned when they had not reported in."

"Zuko?" Aang asked in surprise, "You know something about this?"

Zuko nodded as he answered, "I don't know much about what killed them, though, save for that it wasn't an isolated incident. Not sure if you know, Aang, but once the Earth King had agreed to allow the remaining Fire Nation Colonies to have their independence and recognize them as their own country, we struck an agreement for both Fire Nation troops and Earth Kingdom soldiers to work together, not only to keep the area safe until they have a stable government in place and a peace keeping force of their own established but also to help those areas hit hardest by the Fire Nation's incursions during the Hundred Year War."

"Recently, about a week ago, we've started receiving reports of a bunch of mysterious deaths, both in the former colonies as well as the surrounding viliages," Zuko continued, "Nobody can figure out how these people died, save that it always happened after a mysterious fog rolled through the area. Of course the fact that a number of those killed were of Fire Nation descent was something that we could not ignore."

"Everyone who died was from the Fire Nation?" Katara asked him.

"Not everyone," Zuko explained, "There were some who had no ties to the Fire Nation or the former colonies: a few people from the Earth Kingdom and a couple from the water tribe. Because there were a good number of them from the colonies, however, I'm afraid that the supporters of the old Harmony Restoration movement is rising again."

"Even in Yu Dao?" Aang asked, showing concern for the city's future. Sokka thought that was likely because he saw it as representative of his and Katara's oogified future together.

Zuko shook his head as he said, "Strangely enough, no. Out of all the towns and villages hit, Yu Dou was one of the few in that area that felt the least impact, with only one or two turning up dead. Then again, that may have been the intention. It feels as though someone or something may be intentionally stirring up hostilities between those living in the former colonies and the citizens seeking to return the Earth Kingdom to what it used to be, and by leaving Yu Dao practically untouched by this calamity…"

"Lord Zuko, I'm here with those reports you requested," Sokka heard a voice that he recognized very well, and his heart did a flip as he saw her enter with a scroll in her hand.

"Suki!" Sokka exclaimed as he rushed over to her.

"Sokka?" Suki said in surprise, holding her arms out to the side to prevent the scroll from being crushed in Sokka's enthusiastic embrace, "Aang? Guys, what are you all doing here?"

"They came to tell me about something they found while looking for Sokka's sword," Zuko answered her, "Apparently General Chang's troop is dead."

"What!?" Suki exclaimed in horrified disbelief, "No!"

"It was horrible," Katara said morosely, "The looks on those men's faces, it was like they were facing their worst nightmare before they died."

"I had just finished telling them that this was causing tensions to rise between the colonists and the Earth Kingdom citizens when you came in," Zuko explained.

"Well I'm afraid it only gets worse from there," Suki said in a grave tone, "According to my contact in Kyoshi Island, a growing belief among the populace is that the spirits are angry with the Fire Nation Colonists for the pain and destruction their nation caused during the Hundred Year War, and that the only way they'd be appeased is if they colonist were removed from Earth Kingdom soil, one way or another. I'm afraid that if these attacks don't stop soon, then Yu Dao may find itself on the front lines of a civil war."

"But we had just got things settled there!" Sokka complained, then he shook his head in confusion as he said, "Zuko, you said these guys we found were keeping the peace in the colonies? But we found their bodies while looking for my sword, which I lost clear on the other side of the Earth Kingdom."

"That's one of the strangest things about this phenomenon," Zuko told him, "Those who disappear during these foggy days will often be gone for several days, and when they're found dead it could be anywhere: sometimes in that same town, other times it could be as far as the other end of the continent, but always they appear as if they had been dropped from the sky."

Sokka thought about the condition in which they'd found the bodies of those men and realized Zuko's explanation made sense. Before he could ask more about it, a Fire Nation soldier burst into the throne room, taking a moment to catch his breath before anxiously saying, "Forgive me for intruding, Fire Lord, but there's a strange disturbance happening in the Palace City and heading this way."

"What kind of disturbance?" Zuko asked him tensely.

"An unusual dark fog is slowly rolling in over it, and anyone who's swallowed by the fog doesn't come back out again," the guard explained to him.

"What? Here!?" Suki exclaimed to Zuko, "But we're nowhere near the Earth Kingdom!"

Zuko deliberated for a moment, then he turned towards Aang and the others and said, "I'm going to see what I can do to stop this here and now. If you guys just wait in here you may be safe."

Zuko then ran after the guard, and Aang exchanged a glance with his friends before they hurried after him.

"Guys, I thought I asked you to…" Zuko started to say before Sokka interrupted, "No way, Zuko. We had together broken into and out of the most secure prison in the Fire Nation, ended the Hundred Year War together, established an area where different benders can live together, and reunited you with your mother. There's no way we're going to let you face this thing by yourself, no mater how many soldiers you have backing you up."

"Thanks," Zuko said as they exited the palace doors, then they hurried along the road to the doors of the outer wall. As they neared them, however, the doors opened inward and Zuko skidded to a halt before going through.

"Mai," Zuko said in a tone of stunned disbelief, and from what Sokka could see it appeared that Mai was just as surprised, as if she hadn't expected to come face to face with Zuko. Then a cross look fell over her face as she said, "Excuse me, Fire Lord, but I just remembered other business I have to attend to."

"Mai, wait!" Zuko cried out in a panic, "Look, I know you're angry with me, and you have every right to be, but you can't go back that way. Please just go inside the palace where it's safe, and when I get back I'll explain everything to you then."

"Is that an order, Fire Lord?" Mai asked tensely.

"What? No!" Zuko retorted desperately, "I'm sorry I said that to you. I was desperate and stupid and I panicked! I know I've developed a bad habit of keeping secrets during my exile and my hunt for the Avatar, but I promise I don't love them! I love you and I'll tell you everything, but please go inside the palace for now."

"I think I'd rather take my chances finding my way home in the fog," Mai retorted.

"No! You can't!" Zuko screamed desperately, "People die in there!"

Mai eyed him suspiciously as she asked, "What are you talking about?"

One of the guards who was on the outside of the gate asked, "Fire Lord, shall we escort the young lady inside?"

Sokka would have told the guards yes at that point, but Zuko apparently decided he was going to continue walking this tightrope as he shook his head at them and said to Mai, "Look, Mai, I know that I'm screwed up. I spent a good portion of my life screwed up, telling myself that there was nothing wrong with me. Since the day I became Fire Lord I've been trying my best to make myself a better leader and a better man, and though I may have come far I know I still have a long way to go. I have a good reason for the things I've done, and I'll tell you everything once I've dealt with this out here. If you still want to leave me afterwards I won't stop you. But for now, please, I'm begging you to just go inside where it's safe."

"Uh, Zuko?" Sokka called out nervously as he pulled his sword out of its scabbard, "I think it may be too late for that."

Zuko turned around and his eyes widened as he saw the wall of fog swallow the watchtowers visible outside the gate. The guards standing outside all shot their firebending at it, but their attacks proved ineffective and they screamed as the fog rolled over them. Zuko, Katara and Toph tried to use their bending to impeding the fog's progress, but to no avail. Even Aang tried, going into the Avatar State to create a shield of air around them, and though the fog rolled around the bubble for a moment, it soon managed to seep through and swallowed him too. Finally, Sokka turned to Suki behind him and reached out his hand, hoping they might be able to make a mad dash for the palace behind them, but before he could grab her hand the fog rolled over him too and everything went dark.

When Sokka could see again, he found himself standing in the middle of what appeared to be the Capitol City. The colors here appeared to be wrong, however, like the light that illuminated this place was shining through a tinted paper screen. How he managed to get here when he was last heading back towards the palace Sokka had no clue of either, as he didn't see anyone else around.

"Aang? Katara?" Sokka called out anxiously, "Suki? Where are you guys?" Sokka didn't hear any response, though by straining his ears he did manage to hear the sounds of people screaming in fear and pain, though thankfully none of the voices belonged to any of his friends.

Finding his way back to the gates leading to the palace, Sokka tried to head back in to see if Aang and the others were still inside. Before he could enter, however, a barrier of thorny vines sprung up to block his path. He tried hacking through with his sword, but each time he managed to get through a section they just grew back thicker and thornier than before.

Sokka thought that he might have better success if he burned them down instead, so he started to head back to see if there was anyone here or at least if he could find any spark rocks. Before he could get more than a couple of steps away, however, Sokka saw the guard who'd offered to escort Mai into the palace back into view from the next cross street. "Hey you!" Sokka called out to him, "Do you think you could?"

"No, stop!" The guard cried out in terror, his wide eyes still fixed the way he'd came from as he continued to back away as if he hadn't heard Sokka, "Stay away!" The guard shot a couple of fire bending blasts that way, but before the guard could get any further in his retreat Sokka saw a strange floating striped ball thingy with red lips overtake him.

Sokka watched in horror as the ball head swallowed the guard whole, then he tensed up as the strange creature slowly turned his direction. "Nice floating ball-lip….thingy!" Sokka called out soothingly, though he wasn't able to keep the fear out of his voice. When the creature uttered a strange scream and charged at him, Sokka closed his eyes tightly bracing himself even as he swung his sword for all it was worth.

When he didn't feel himself being eaten, however, Sokka chanced a peek and saw that the creature was cut in half. It wasn't his sword that did the mortal damage, however, but rather the strange bladed weapon of what must have been a spirit. Not quite as large as General Old Iron, this spirit warrior was only twice as big as Sokka, and though he was somewhat human in appearance this spirit was dressed in a strange garb, his face entirely obscured by a metal winged helmet.

When this spirit didn't seem hostile towards him, Sokka found his voice and asked, "Who are you?"

"You are me," the strange warrior answered him, "and I am you."

" 'You're me and I'm you'?" Sokka asked him in irritated confusion, "What kinda answer is that!?"

"An honest one," Sokka heard someone say from behind him. No, not "someone": though it had been many years since he last heard it, Sokka would know that voice anywhere, and his heart felt a twinge at the sound of it. When he turned around and saw her, Sokka's heart stopped entirely as she said, "Hello, Sokka. It's good to see you again."

Sokka's mind went blank. The only think he could come up with to say was, "Yue…"