One in a Million

When you find the Right One

Disclaimer: I own nothing, If I did this is how things would have ended up…

The Hundred Year War had been over for seven years, and the world was well on it's way to healing. The war had been costly, and there had been some rather unforeseen casualties, amongst the debris of things that had fallen in the conflict was a relationships that had at one point seemed unbreakable, but just as there was ruin there was also rebirth. This is the story of the union of two broken people, one broken in mind, the other in heart.

Sokka wandered aimlessly through the grounds of the Fire Nation Imperial Palace, his mind a swirling mess of disjointed emotions, loneliness, and despair had spiraled his heart into a seemingly bottomless abyss. Today would have been he and Suki's third anniversary. He could remember the day that had heralded the end as if it had happened only yesterday. He and his wife of only one year were working side by side restoring an Earth Kingdom village that had been destroyed in the century conflict. He had been busy carrying medical supplies from the new steam-wagons supplied by his best friend, Fire Lord Zuko. Suki and a contingent of Kyoshi Warriors were acting as a defacto police unit in charge of restoring order amongst the chaos. Suddenly the earth shaking sound of broken timbers split the air. One of the few structures left standing, though only barely, had collapsed. As the sound of tumbling rubble subsided it was replaced by the muffled cry of some unfortunate soul that had been in the house when it fell. Suki, who was closer to the scene, broke into a run, reaching it first. She began tearing through the debris, and before the earth-bending engineers arrived she had reached the unfortunate young man. Tazo, the Head Engineer arrived soon after with a group of three other earth-benders. "Clear this rubble, and get him out of there" he ordered his charges. "No worries Captain Suki, we'll have him out in a jiff" he reassured the woman. As he spoke Kiro, a young earth-bender that had developed a huge crush on the leader of Kyoshi Warriors, eager to impress her he focused on a large jagged rock that was atop a broken roof beam that was pinning the trapped man's foot and preventing Suki from pulling him free. Sokka arrived just in time to see the large rock hurtling toward his wife, catching her in a glancing blow to her shin. The momentum of the rock coupled with her own pulling was enough to snatch the trapped man from the wreckage, and Suki landed hard on the ground flat on her back with the rescued man atop her. Rushing to her side Sokka asked her "Suki, are you alright?"" I'm OK Sokka, my leg hurts a bit, but I'll be OK, probably just a bad bruise." Nothing to worry about love". He helped her to stand and when he let her go she immediately collapsed with a cry of pain. Catching her as she fell he helped her to a sitting position. It was then that he reached down and pulled up the hem of her green hakama. What he saw was her right leg bent in an unusual and very painful direction. There were no water-bending healers present only some Earth Kingdom medics. Sokka called the nearest one who reset and splinted the break. It was a week later when the couple had returned to their home on Kyoshi island that the first symptoms began to show. Suki, who had been in equal parts hating being home bound, and thoroughly enjoying the pampering her husband was lavishing upon her, woke one night shivering and covered in an icy sheen of sweat, even in the warm late summer air. She sat up in the bed they shared, and her head swam as a wave of nausea hit her like one of Toph's punches. Clasping her hand to her mouth in an effort to hold down her dinner, and not waking up her snoring husband. She forced the nausea down through sheer force of will and sat there in the darkness listening to the sounds of the night looking for anything to focus on besides her roiling insides. Sokka woke early the next morning, as was his routine since they had returned. Looking over at his now sleeping wife, he saw that she was a bit green around the gills. Concerned he rose from the bed, and after cleaning himself up, began to prepare breakfast, as well as and ancient water tribe remedy for nausea taught to him by his father. Though most water tribe men were sailors, not all of them were at ease on the sea. Placing the steaming cup of concoction on the tray next to a breakfast of sliced kuria fruit, steamed rice, and filets of grilled unagi, he entered the bedroom to find Suki awake and surrendering the contents of her stomach into the waste bin that stood by the bed. Placing the tray at her feet, careful to avoid her injury. He quickly ran to the restroom and returned with a warm wet cloth. After he cleaned her face, he looked at his weakly protesting wife and saw that she was a tad paler than before. "Hold on sweetheart while I fetch the healer." has told her then bolted from the house in search for Mikkru, the village healer. It took his twenty minutes to find the old woman and when he did she made him wait while she treated the local blacksmith for a broken nose, the man had been distracted by a half naked Ty Lee as she exited the dojo showers clad in in only a towel that morning as he made his way to the forge, and walked into the side the adjacent building. The treatment finished, rather painfully Sokka noted with a slight sense of vindictive joy as this man was delaying the healer from treating his beloved wife, the pair made their way back to Sokka's home. Coming through the door Sokka was struck with an intense sense of dread. Hurrying to the bedroom he found Suki doubled over in bed breathing shallowly. Mikkru rushed to Suki's side and after a quick examination she said "She's feverish, her pulse is thready and her breathing is labored. Help me get her better positioned, then strip her down so I can do a more thorough exam." Doing as he was told Sokka felt the knot of dread he's felt earlier tighten painfully. Sokka hovered over Suki as the healer went about her work, "Fetch me a large bowl of cool..not cold water and some rice wine, I know you have some boy". When Sokka hesitated she added "Quickly Boy, Move it!" By the time he'd returned Mikkru was pulling the covers back up to the still unconscious Suki's chin. She turned to Sokka with a grave look on her face, "I have checked her completely, she has no physical signs of wounds aside from the injury she sustained in the Earth Kingdom. How long ago did you say that it happened?" she asked him. "Almost two weeks now." he answered. "Then it is as I feared, she has all the symptoms of infection, but no outward cuts. That can only mean one thing, and it is dire indeed, the Bone Fever. It happens on rare occasions when a bone breaks, but does not break the skin. As far as anyone knows there is a poison contained inside a person's bones. Normally a broken bone sticks out of the skin and the poison does not infect the person, but in cases like Suki's where the bone remains inside the body, the toxin causes the blood to boil. In the old days we bled the patient to attempt to drain the poison but the process killed as much as it cured so it was discontinued. The prognosis is not good Sokka, she could slip into the death sleep and never wake."