Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar

"Sokka! Get your lazy ass up!" I hear my sister yell to me. I roll over and pretend not to hear her for what has to be the 10th time that morning. I hear a frustrated sound and I smile as she storms away. Ah, I few more moments of peace before I have to get up and start another dreadful day. Another day probably filled with running, chasing, burns, more burns, pain, etc. You get the point.

I was lying there peacefully, minding my own business trying to enjoy my quiet time when I feel cold water being poured on me. I jolted from my position on the ground to a standing position in front of a smirking Katara.

"What did you do that for?!" I screamed at her. She just shrugged and walked away. "Hey! I was speaking to you!" I yell to her retreating form. She doesn't acknowledge my voice and walked towards the others packing up camp. I grumble incoherent curses as I try to shake myself dry. 'She's going to pay for that one' I thought as I walked towards the rest of the group.

Aang waved to me as I sat down "Hey Sokka, how are you on this wonderful morning?" he said in his cheery voice. I mumble something that I'm not actually sure what it was and I stare down at the fire. There was fish over the fire, cooking very nicely I must say. I hear a snicker coming from beside me and turn to see Zuko laughing at me.

Zuko joined our group about a month ago I would say. We were all skeptical about him joining at first, but he hasn't done anything yet. All of us had warmed up to him already and he was a valuable ally to have in a fight. Plus, he was willing to teach Aang fire bending and that helped his chances. I shot him a glare, to quiet him but it only served to make him louder.

I look over at the blind earth bender and see she's just sitting there next to the Avatar. She didn't look to happy at the moment and I can only guess that Katara woke her up too. Speaking of bitchy sisters, where did she go? My question was answered when she came and rotated the fish. She looked toward me and I gave her the best glare I could muster. She stuck her tongue out at me and I fought back the urge to cut it off.



The rest of the morning went by uneventfully and we left after we packed up camp. We were flying on Appa, not sure where we were going. I was still tired because of lack of sleep, so I didn't talk much. I sat in the back of Appa's saddle with my sword propped up against my shoulder. For some reason, I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach and I was hoping it was just the fish.

Everyone else seemed to be fine, so I allowed myself to relax a little bit, but not too much. It was my job to lead this group and I wasn't about to let my guard down. We continued on our journey another hour or so until Katara came up to me "Are you alright Sokka?" she asked me.

I shrugged "I'm fine, I just have an upset stomach is all." I said. I didn't want to worry her of the others; the feeling was probably nothing anyway. "Are you sure? You don't seem to be yourself today." She continued. "I'll be fine Katara, don't worry." I replied. Her eyes lied when she said okay and scooted away from me.

I watched her as she sat next to Zuko. They were getting closer everyday it seemed and nothing made me angrier. I know Zuko's a good guy and all, but it's my sister. Even though I don't like it, if they do want to be together I won't stop them. But just the thought of me being related to the fire lord is pretty creepy.

As we were flying, that feeling came back to me and I turned around and saw a small red dot that was slowly getting bigger. I turned fully around to get a good look at it and still couldn't see what it was. As it got bigger, it started to take shape. I saw it was in two parts, one part a basket and part a…oh no. It was a fire nation war balloon! They were being followed! Before he was able to tell the others, a burst of blue fire sailed past Appa.

'Of course, it has to be blue fire' I thought. That was the one thing this crappy day needed, was a visit from a psychotic princess. The balloon had gotten close enough that I could see her form, to confirm it was indeed her. She was still in her stance with her fingers smoking with an evil smirk on her face. I saw her move again as it looked like she was going to launch another attack. She did indeed attack again, but this time it was lightning that shot out her fingers.

Aang was able to maneuver Appa out of the way of the lightning strike and moved to try to escape. I hated times like these, I felt so helpless because I can't really do anything. I kept watching as Azula 

continued to launch wave after wave of fire and lightning. Her form was amazing to watch, even though she was trying to kill me.

Zuko was trying his best to ward off the fire, but couldn't do anything against the lightning. I finally yelled to Aang "We can't outrun her!" as I turned around. "Then what are we gonna do!" he yelled back to me. I thought for a second until I came to a conclusion that was risky, but it looked like the only thing we could do.

"We need to land! We have fight her off!" I yelled over the sound of the lightning. Zuko looked over to me "Are you sure we can defeat her?" he asked while bending fire away from Appa's tail. "I don't know, but we have to try!" I replied, ducking under some lightning shot at my head.

"Okay, I'm going to take him down!" Aang yelled to the group. I felt Appa descend as he made his way towards the ground. I looked up and saw the balloon start to come down after us. Appa hit the ground and we all scrambled out of his saddle. I looked up and saw her staring down at me, directly at me and I felt a twinge of fear streak down my spine.

I un-sheathed my sword and narrowed my eyes at her. I saw her smirk at me and she jumped down from the balloon and landed in front of me. I gripped my sword until my knuckles turned white and I snarled at her "What do you want Azula?"

"You know what I want, so just hand him over." She said in a bored tone. "Never" I spat back quickly and was surprised when she grinned. "I was hoping you would say that. Mai! Ty Lee!" she yelled to the balloon. I looked up and saw the two aforementioned girls jump down and land next to Azula. 'Shit, forgot about them' I scolded myself.

Then I felt the presence of my friends come beside me "I'm not going without a fight!" I heard Aang yell to the trio. Before Azula was able to retort, a rock spike came off the ground and jabbed Azula in the chest and the battle started. 'Well, that was fast' I thought.

Azula recovered just in time to see Zuko launch himself at her and started to do their jerk bending 'Ha, jerk bending. I amaze myself sometimes'. I was brought out of my musings when I saw Ty Lee running at me. "Come here cutie!" she yelled as she flipped towards me. I brought my sword up as a defense 

mechanism but, she simply hit it out of the way with her fingers. 'How the hell' I thought as I quickly dodged out of the way of her jabbing fingers. I was able to dodge her finger until I mustered up a counter blow to her stomach and made her back up a little bit. When I had some breathing room, I swung at her violently with my sword. The force of my sword swing almost sent me tumbling, but I quickly regained my balance. The problem was, my swing was off the mark because of the near fall and it missed the intended target.

"Haha, you missed!" she said in a child-like fashion as she regained herself and she winked at me. That made me angry and I started swinging my sword randomly at her. She was easily dodging all of my slashes and I could feel my strength start to drain from my body. I was getting tired and sluggish, that proved to be my down fall. I wasn't able to dodge her fingers as she jabbed me in my left arm and I felt it go completely numb.

I dropped my sword and it clattered to the ground. I didn't have time to worry though, she kicked me hard in the chest and I flew back a ways. I collapsed on to the cold ground and felt searing pain on my back. My lungs felt like they were on fire and I had trouble breathing. I turned over and the breath rushed back into my lungs as I coughed and saw my blood spew out of my mouth.

I didn't want to get up, but I was taught to never back down, never surrender. I pushed my tired, broken body off the ground and into a standing position. More like a hunched over position really, but I steeled my resolved and stood tall and proud. I still had my dignity, after all. I still couldn't feel my arm, but I vaguely knew it was still there.

I stared straight ahead at Ty Lee and she grinned at me "You're stronger than I thought!" she exclaimed happily as she clapped her hands together. I stole a quick glance around the battlefield and was happy to see that my friends were doing better than I was. Zuko was still fighting Azula, but with Katara's help this time. I was amazed to see Azula fighting very valiantly against to master's of their element, but I guess that's why she's the prodigy. Toph and Aang were doing very well against Mai, both working together with perfect teamwork. But, I saw fire nation soldiers coming out of the balloon and I knew our numbers advantage was about to go out the window.

I turned my attention back to Ty Lee and saw something that made my blood boil. She was holding my sword! "Did you have this the last time we saw you?" she asked curiously. Who would think this girl nearly killed me less than a minute ago? "Give me back my sword!" I bellowed.

She didn't hear me or pretended she didn't "A black blade? You don't see those too often." She said to no one in particular. She ran her finger up the blade "It's sharp." She pointed out and then she flicked the blade "Sturdy too" she added.

I felt helpless; I could barely move let alone fight someone as fast as her. It was at that moment I remembered something that could turn the tide of this battle in my favor. I reached behind me and grabbed my boomerang. 'Yes! Finally something going right today!' I thought happily. I needed to measure the trajectory of my throw. She was a good distance from me, which worked to my advantage. There was barely any wind to speak of, which helped. She wasn't paying attention to me so I let loose with all the might I could muster, and threw my boomerang.

It sliced through the air with a great velocity and she didn't even see it coming. It swung back around behind her and was heading straight for the back of her head. It hit the back of her head with a sickening CRACK! She fell face first into the ground and seemed to be unconscious. My sword flung from her hand and flew a good five feet, until it stuck in the ground. I was so overjoyed that I actually beat her; I felt some of my strength return as I walked up to my sword and boomerang picked them up from the ground.

I replaced my boomerang on my back and then picked up my sword. Ah, much better now that I have my sword back. Better yet, the feeling in my arm returned so I seemed to be back and ready to fight with all I have. But now I have a choice, either the psychotic princess or the gloomy girl. 'Both seem like wonderful choices' I thought sarcastically. But, my decision was made for me when I saw that Mai and Azula were together fighting my friends and I rushed over to help.

When I got there I saw the battle was at a standstill. I took my place in front of my friends and saw Azula with a smirk on her face "So I see Ty Lee has failed me. How disappointing." She said in an intrigued tone. "Leave now! Your friend probably needs medical attention." I said, trying to get her to just leave. I tried to appeal to her emotional side with Ty Lee, but of course it's Azula. She lacks that side to her.

"She'll be fine. Random soldier, go get her body." She said in a bored tone. "That's a little harsh, don't ya think?" I asked her. She scoffed at me "You don't know harsh, peasant." She hissed at me. She didn't look too pleased with me at that moment and I knew we needed to escape somehow. We were vastly out-numbered and it was Azula. She counts for at least a hundred soldiers by herself.

I had a plan in mind that was extremely risky, but the only thing I could do at the moment. I turned towards Aang "Get everyone out of here, I'll hold her off." I guess Toph heard me too cause she spoke up "Are you crazy! You can't stop all of them by yourself!" she whispered angrily to me. "I don't need to stop them, just hold them off until you can get away. She's after Aang, so if he leaves she won't have a reason to stay. I'll hold her off until you all get a safe distance away."

"But what will happen to you?" Katara spoke up to me. "I'll be fine, don't worry. Just swing by later, I'll probably still be here." I informed her. I knew it was a lie, but I didn't want to worry her. "But…" "No buts. Get out of here." I said sternly, with no room for argument. They were reluctant to go but they finally started to head for Appa.

I readied my sword and got ready for the fight of my life. "What!" I heard Azula yell "Go after them!" she screamed at her insubordinates. They started to run towards my friends, but they had to get through me. There was about five of them and they were packed in together as they were running, I had one chance and I had to time it right.

When they got close enough, I took a mighty swing of my sword and cut into the front four's chest armor, sending them tumbling into the fifth member. I looked up at Azula and saw fire burn in her amber eyes. "You idiots! Must I do everything." She said as she stepped forward angrily. I stole a glance behind me to see my friend's progress and saw they were boarding Appa. I only had to hold her off for a minute or so.

I ran at her and jumped over the pile of bodies that I created. I stepped on one of the soldiers head to jump off and I heard in yelp in pain. 'Well, guess they survived' I thought in mid flight. I continued to run at Azula until a felt a sharp pain in my shoulder and I collapsed to my hands and knees. I brought my left hand up to my shoulder and felt a warm liquid. I brought my hand back to my face and saw my blood in my palm.

I put my hand back on my shoulder and felt a cool contrast to the warm sensation. It was cold steel and it was lodged in my shoulder. I looked up to see Mai standing in front of Azula, missing one dagger. I could only guess that other one was inside my shoulder at this point. I stood up, while holding my shoulder.



"That was for Ty Lee." She said unemotionally as she walked away, leaving Azula standing in front of me. She looked pissed off "Mai, I wanted to fight him." She scolded and Mai didn't pay attention. She looked back to me "That was valiant of you, to give your life for your little friends." She said as she looked straight into my eyes.

"I wasn't planning on dying today." I said as I stood tall and grasped the blade in my shoulder. I ignored the searing pain as I pulled it out. I threw the blade at the ground in front of Azula's feet. It stuck in the ground fairly close to her toe. I repositioned my sword in front of me and got into my battle stance "You said you wanted to fight me Azula? I'm ready for you."

She smirked at me "No, I have different plans for you. I couldn't get the Avatar, but you should do fine." She said as she started to walk towards me. "Azula, you aren't taking me without a fight." I said as I lifted my sword into a striking position. Pain shot through my arm from the wound like a hot knife through butter, but I fought through it.

"Fine, have it your way." She said as she moved toward me. Before I was able to react she swept my legs out and I fell on my back. I felt her foot on my chest and she spoke "You were able to beat Ty Lee? You don't seem to capable if this is the extent of your abilities." I was in too much pain to even retort so she continued "But you are hurt, maybe that has affected your fighting."

I felt her foot leave my chest as I was fading in and out of consciousness. I vaguely heard something Azula said; it was something along the lines of "take him away" but I wasn't quite sure. It may have been "kill him" but I couldn't say I cared.

All I know is that this had to be the worst day of my life.

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Second story! I'm not sure how long I'm going to make this story, I'm thinking along the lines of 20 or something chapters. R&R please!