A Journey To Make
Word Count: 379
Warning: Major spoilers for the finale
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It was through great irony that Sokka ended up living the longest of them all. Everybody - Zuko, Toph, Aang, Katara - passed away one by one, smiles on their faces as though the life they were leaving behind was one they could be proud of. He felt as though he was the only person left who understood why.
People came to him, asked him questions, begged that he tell them his story, but he was old now. He felt that his time was coming, spending time in quiet reflection on the world that was theirs and the world they had left behind. He wandered through gardens and held his boomerang and thought and thought and thought; eventually they kept him indoors in the Fire Nation Palace that was to be his prison, afraid that fresh air would kill him. He was a relic, an artifact in a museum to be poked and prodded and wondered at.
So he left in the middle of the night, hardly aware of his eighty years as he walked towards the sea. The turtle-lion was there waiting for him.
You've come, it murmured.
"I've come," he said, with a sigh.
An image came to Sokka's mind, no doubt a part of the turtle-lion's consciousness; one of him climbing on its back and slowly, slowly disappearing into the horizon, silent as the water at midnight.
I am old too, it said, And the world has no need for my wisdom in a time of peace.
Sokka took a step, followed by another, without realizing. Before he surrendered himself completely to the greyness beyond he halted and opened his mouth.
"Wait. I can't do this." His breathing was laboured.
There comes a time in every man's life when he must go. I am offering to take you with me.
"Wait," Sokka said again. "Leave me here. I have a story to tell, and people to tell it to. Please...give me another day, another month, another year..."
If that is your choice.
"I've made up my mind."
The turtle-lion motioned, and Sokka pressed his head to its. There was a flash of light, and when he woke up in his Fire Palace bed in the morning he forced his aching body up and turned towards the future. He wasn't done yet.