A/N: Set somewhere in the second season.
Pro Bending Circuit info:
Round Four: Worst Fears Come True
Prompt: Write about the worst fear of any character of your choosing coming to life
Bonus Prompts: (Dialogue) Why are you over there, (Emotion) Contempt
Bonus Points: Use of my element (water)
Words: 2969
Prey
Yet another sleepless night. There were so many now. The stakes were getting higher and their group of four couldn't count on much beyond their own wits. Sokka tossed and turned in his sleeping bag, making eye contact with Momo each time that his movements woke the small lemur.
"Oh like you never wake me up!" he hissed bitterly. Turning once more to his other shoulder, Sokka stared at his sister instead of the creature's shining green eyes. It didn't help. Watching over her slowing rising and falling chest only made him freeze at each gust of wind through the trees or cry of a lizard-hawk.
It was up to him to take care of their little family. Having picked up Toph certainly helped with the ultimate goal of Aang mastering bending of all four elements, but it had also given Sokka another person to watch out for. He hadn't intended to, but the small earthbender had tunneled her way into his heart much in the same way that Aang had. Sokka flopped onto his stomach. They all looked out for one another. His determination to protect them all - and not make stupid mistakes in the process - was mutual, he knew. Certainly they each could take care of threats, but it helped to avoid them in the first place.
Momo's chirping attracted Sokka's attention. Looking at the lemur, he saw Aang shifting on his blanket to a seated position. It seemed Sokka wasn't the only one unable to sleep.
He watched as Aang rubbed at his eyes forcefully with the heels of his palms, recognizing the frustrated curl to the Avatar's lip. Momo moved to curl in the boy's lap, chittering quietly. "Thanks buddy," Aang murmured.
Sokka opened his mouth to whisper to Aang, but seeing him shift into a familiar meditative stance stopped him. He might have only just started to meditate, but it was still rude. Besides, Sokka was certain that - like him - Aang wanted to catch some sort of rest.
Now all Sokka could hear was Aang's even, measured breaths. They were intentional, perhaps a bit louder than the monk's usual breathing, but after tossing and turning for well over an hour, Aang could have been just as irritated as Sokka was. Without thinking, Sokka matched Aang's breathing. He closed his eyes and tried to break free from the worries that were keeping him awake.
In. Out. That was just an owl, not Azula's minions. In. Out. In. Out. Katara can take out twenty fire nation soldiers with a single water skein. In. Out. In. Out. In… Out… Sleep was so close.
The sounds of the quiet forest rose in volume in Sokka's ears. He couldn't hear Aang anymore over the hum of insect wings or the shrieking of distant birds. Something shuffled nearby and without warning a puff of hot air blew into his ear. Sokka shot upright instantly, waving his arms to coax Appa away from him.
The sky bison was nowhere to be seen. Nor was his sister, Toph, or the campsite. Sokka blinked in shock as he took in the foggy swamp land around him. Trees rose out of the water with roots twisted and gnarled. Vines coiled and dipped from their branches. Behind him, a three-eyed water buffalo blinked slowly at him.
"Aack!" Sokka cried out, throwing himself to his feet. He wasn't in his sleeping bag anymore, which was good. He would have tripped over the heavy fabric in his attempt to get away from the creature. "What are you?"
It didn't respond other than to blink. The eyes weren't in sync, the leftmost one lagging behind its fellows. Placidly, the buffalo turned and plodded away, no longer interested in chewing on Sokka's hair now that he was moving and making noise. Sokka twisted and turned, trying to spy any semblance of normal around him. The same dull brown trees and muddled green water greeted him at every turn.
"This can't be normal," he groaned. Another rotation failed to change anything and sent his stomach into a tailspin. "I must be dreaming. One, two, three wake up now," Sokka said to himself. Even slapping his face with both palms did nothing to break him from the absolute strangeness around him.
"This is just great," Sokka scowled. He couldn't just stand here, though. He was a man of action. First thing was first, he had to figure out where he was. Then he could figure out how to get home.
Any direction was as good as any other. Sokka cast a glance at the muddy footprints of the water buffalo. Well, maybe he wouldn't go that way. He set off in the opposite direction, sticking to the water's edge. That way he could find his way back to where he'd started, Sokka reasoned.
Thankfully the air wasn't humid. When Sokka looked up to try and discern what time it was, he couldn't see anything through the strange fog that only thickened the higher into the air it went. Light filtered through in odd intervals, but Sokka could never manage to stand directly in one of the beams. They seemed to always be out of reach even when he jogged towards one. The tips of his should would touch the very edge only for the fog to shift and cover him in semi-darkness once again.
The ground beneath his feet was a thick clay. Sokka's feet sunk cleanly into the surface and each movement made a schlepping sound. But, much like the elusive sunlight, when Sokka crouched to gather a handful of the soil he found it to be dry.
He was starting to get worried. Each moment that passed stretched longer and longer. How long had he been here? What would happen if he couldn't return? Maybe he was walking away from where he needed to be. The shoreline stretched eternal, dipping and curving only to meander on and on. Sokka hadn't even attempted to leave the water's edge; the thought of how much more area he was missing out on was even more daunting. He had a responsibility to return home.
What would Katara think when she woke up to find him missing? She would want to stay and search the area. Toph would feel responsible for not feeling kidnappers approaching. Aang would agonize over the guilt for ages, adding to his already heavy shoulders.
"Why are you over there?"
Sokka's head jerked at the whispery voice. He turned around and immediately stumbled backwards at the sight of a massive white wolf. It stood in the water, fur soaked all the way to its chest. The only way to describe the expression on its face was hungry, especially when a fat, pink tongue lolled out along menacing fangs.
"You're mortal. I can smell the decay from here." The voice clearly came from the beast, but its jaw and lips didn't move with the words. The wolf tipped its massive head, an ear scraping against the tree next to it. Sokka was amazed it could even navigate the trunks with how large the creature was.
He knelt to one knee, grabbing for a boomerang that wasn't there. Sokka grimaced. He would have to improvise. The wolf laughed, though again not in sync with its mouth. It yawned and the motion exposed more yellowed teeth. "Making yourself smaller will not let you hide little mortal. I could find you anywhere in the Spirit World from your stink alone. You've tainted my island with your sweat and worry," they scoffed.
Swallowing, Sokka didn't budge from his position. "I'm sorry. I don't know how I got here. I didn't mean to trespass," he said honestly. His palms began to sweat as the wolf now began to weave between the tree trunks and roots to approach where he stood.
"Does a fly mean to trespass when it enters your tent? Does a fish in your harbor? Yet still they do." Sokka resented the comparison as well as the unmasked contempt in the spirit's velvety voice, but he balked at their sheer bulk. It rose out of the water nearly twenty feet in height, and its paws were still submerged yet.
He spotted thick, black dewclaws skimming the surface of the swamp water. Miraculously the wolf's white fur was uncolored by the green water, yet another oddity of the world around him. Sokka mentally slapped himself for not realizing sooner where he was.
Shifting his attention to the muzzle that now dipped down to sniff at him, Sokka spoke up. "Tell me how to leave, and you won't have to deal with me any longer," he said. His hair once again puffed into the air with the force of the wolf's sniffing.
They lifted their nose once more, a snarl alighting on their face. The low growl that thrummed from their chest seemed to resonate through the trees around them. Along the shore, the water which had been supernaturally still now lapped at the clay by Sokka's feet. "You demand answers. Do you think I will simply give them to you?" they sneered.
Sokka shifted his feet to avoid the water. Instinct told him he didn't want it to reach him. The wolf waited impatiently for him to respond, and the gruff bark they let out once again shook the air around them.
"I thought you'd want me gone! What do you want more, to keep me around or to have me leave quicker?" he barked out sharply. He flexed his fingers, once again itching for his boomerang. It wouldn't do anything to the spirit who was probably decades if not centuries older than Sokka, but the weight of it and the familiar curves of the leather under his fingers would be of more comfort than the misty air.
"I can do away with you in any manner I desire, mortal. You are no more than prey and I am Wolf." Sokka heard a title in its declaration. Wolf eyed him once more, sizing him up. "You could live in my belly for a dozen years if I wanted. Or I could send you to the Faceless One to play with. They have more patience for things that rot and die than I. What would you fear most? A quick death or an eternity inside a spirit's consciousness?"
Sokka recoiled. "I don't want either," he said earnestly.
Wolf laughed again. They padded around Sokka, finally emerging fully from the swamp. Water dripped onto the clay and tree roots, dulling the color of everything it touched. Maybe that was why Wolf was white; all their color had been sapped away by the swamp.
Settling onto their haunches, Wolf continued to stare down at Sokka. It only further positioned them higher than him. He had to crane his neck to meet one eye or the other; the spirit was too large for Sokka to properly meet their full gaze.
"You did not answer my question, Prey. Which would you fear more?" Wolf demanded.
It could be a test. There was a reason why the spirit world was treacherous, but not impossible to navigate. Aang had told them about his conversation with Koh, the Faceless One that Wolf had mentioned. There had been rules, followable ones. Sokka just had to figure out what rules Wolf followed.
He carefully considered the spirit's question. The simple result might be that whatever he picked, Wolf would subject him to. That was too simple, though. Surely if Wolf wanted solely to torment him they would have began with threats. It was only when Sokka started to demand things from them that Wolf began their questioning.
"Both are terrifying," Sokka admitted. "I don't want to die, but there's no point in being alive if I'm doomed. That would be worse - being trapped - because I would be aware for an eternity that I could never get back to my sister."
"You place yourself above your family's own abilities to protect themselves," Wolf said. They lifted their muzzle and let cry a series of barks, mocking him in two voices.
Sokka ground his teeth. "I don't think that I'm better than they are," he insisted. He regretted saying anything about Katara. It hadn't been his intention to arm Wolf with any information to get further under his skin.
"Don't you?"
The laugh that Sokka let out was more out of exasperation than any true humor. "Of course not. She can take care of herself," he said.
Wolf tipped their head once more. "Then why spend your eternity worrying about her? She will live or die by her own hand, as is proper for you mortals," they said.
"That's not the point. I look out for her and Toph and Aang. They all look out for me. We work together to stay alive."
"Would you choose death if you were to die together, then? Or suffer with one another in Koh's belly?"
Sokka sputtered. "What? No!"
Wolf surged to their feet, fangs bared in a snarl as they twisted one eye to glower at him. "Again I ask, why do you then value your time with them so much? Your life alone is what matters. You have so few precious minutes of it after all!"
The urge to flee as fast as he could into the forest rose in Sokka's heart. Saliva dripped onto his boot from Wolf's opened lips. Their breath smelled of rancid meat, fanning out over him in a wave. He couldn't tell if it was fear or resolve that held his feet in place in the clay.
"I say once again - choose your fate, Prey," Wolf snarled. "Death or agony."
Sokka held his breath and forced his eyes closed so that he didn't have to see the spirit in front of him. The illusion of privacy helped somewhat to calm his runaway worries. "You want me to think that I don't matter. Or that I should only care about myself," he said, peeling one eye open. "It's one of those two, isn't it?"
Wolf said nothing. Sokka could see his own reflection in the wet eye that blinked inches from him. "Of course you're not going to tell me which one," Sokka muttered. "That would be pointless." He didn't know which one upset him more.
To choose to die because it wouldn't affect the world at all clawed at his own importance. Of course it would affect the world. His friends, his sister, someone would miss him. Then again, was his valuing his own life like that proving he was just as Wolf thought, consumed by ego?
On the other hand, if he should only care about himself, was he already on the right track? He spent so much time even when he should be sleeping worrying that he wasn't going to do enough to save those he loved. Was he wasting his time?
"Choose," Wolf rumbled.
Sokka drew himself as tall as he could muster and opened both eyes. "I would pick agony, regardless of being trapped there, because I would hope that one day I could escape to return to my family," he asserted.
Wolf's lips recovered their snarling fangs. "So you still value your own abilities over your sister's. Don't bother protesting, I can see it in your heart. Yet still your hope of escape amuses me," they said.
Sokka's fists shook by his waist. No matter what Wolf thought, he knew his own mind. He needed to get home to be with her, full stop. Wolf's head lifted once more, and they began to pad away. "Follow," their voice thrummed in the trees.
Together, Sokka and the massive spirit made their way inland. The clay remained both wet and not, the air light and dark. Sokka wondered if he had passed Wolf's test, or if they were now taking him to Koh to fulfill his statement. Finally he spoke up in a timid question, "Am I going to die?"
"Of course," Wolf replied. "You are constantly decaying."
Right. And he smelled like it, too.
Their journey ended suddenly. Wolf had brought Sokka to a spot deep within the swampy forest among the thickest stands of trees. There was no longer enough space for Wolf to fit through. They stuck a paw out to block Sokka from moving any farther. "Though you amuse me, I need you off of my island," they said. "Walk through these trees and you will be returned to your precious other prey."
Sokka started. "You're letting me go? Just like that?" His heart leapt even as he cursed himself for questioning his windfall.
Wolf chortled, once again barking in concert with the sound. "It's no fun to torment one who knows themself so well. Do not question your resolve anymore. It puts you among the prey. And you are no prey, little water wolf," Wolf said.
"Now go." With that, Sokka darted past the massive paw and into the stand of trees. The further he delved, the brighter things seemed. Sunlight remained on his face, and the sky lightened as the fog burned away.
The Spirit World lost its grip on Sokka. He tumbled out into a clearing, joy filling his chest as he spotted the blue form of his empty sleeping bag. No one else had awoken yet. Aang was still in his meditative stance. Sokka could swear he saw the hint of a glow lingering on the Avatar's arms.
Still, nothing beat the thrum of relief and contentment that came from seeing his sister roll over. She was just waking up and the sleepy smile that Katara sent in his direction. "Hey," she croaked. "You're up early."
Sokka moved to crouch down by the remains of their campfire. "You know me, just watching out for everyone."
A/N: Don't forget to check out the other fics in the circuit forums and root for the Wolfbats!