Avatar: The Last Airbender

How Could You

Prologue

Katara was crying. Salty tears ran down the Waterbender's face, leaving two wet streaks on her brown skin. Around her, people were starting to awaken, jerked to wakefulness by the lingering sounds of shouting. Sokka sat up and gingerly rubbed his still sleep weary eyes. As the image of his crying baby sister came into focus, his gave flew to land on Zuko. The young Prince of the Fire Nation was already on his feet and walking over towards Katara, intent on comforting her. Sokka jumped to his feet.

"Not another step, Firebender!"

Zuko pointed towards Katara, and then at himself, all the while searching for words.

"But I…she…she's sad…I can calm her down."

Sokka shook his head, already halfway towards his sister. His face was contorted and angry, and when he spoke, his voice was a venomous hiss that did not sound remotely like his own.

"You will stay where you are, Zuko! If I know you and my sister, then you probably did something to hurt her!"

Sokka knelt next to his sister, a comforting arm around her shoulders. She looked up at him, her big, blue eyes shining with tears, her face red and puffy. He stared back, raking his mind for something to say. Before a single word could escape his mouth, Katara's lip wobbled and she buried her face in his shoulder. Sokka could feel his tunic becoming wet as she sobbed into it. He started to pat her back, speaking to her in a hushed voice.

"Shhh. It's ok, little sister. He can't hurt you while I'm here.

Katara pulled her face away from her brother and looked into his eyes, her cerulean ones meeting his.

"It wasn't Zuko, Sokka. It's Aang."

Sokka's face adopted a look of confusion. He scratched his head.

"Aang? But the little guy loves you. Why would he want to make you cry?"

Katara's lip wobbled again.

"I know he loves me, Sokka. That's the problem."

Now Sokka was really confused. He glanced around at the group. Toph was sitting on a rock, silently watching the drama unfold. Zuko was leaning against Appa, his eyes full of concern for Katara. Aang was…where was Aang? Sokka looked back to his sister.

"Katara, where's Aang?"

Katara didn't speak for a few seconds, and she closed her eyes for a little bit longer than a standard blink. She opened her eyes and a fresh bunch of tears started to fall.

"He left! He told me that he wasn't going to wait for anyone else he cared about to betray him."

Sokka was speechless for a second, something that did not often happen to him.

"What do you mean 'betray him'?"

Katara's gaze fell. She stared at Sokka's boots before speaking again, her voice almost a whisper.

"Sokka, I need to tell you something."

A/N Hey guys. This is the Prologue to my new story. I hope you like. The actual chapters will be longer than this. This is just an attention grabber. Tell me what you think.