Redemption-
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Sokka's thoughts on the way to The Boiling Rock.
Sokka had never expected the air to be so thin.
Of course, he'd flown on Appa dozens of times before, but this was different. The war balloon soared higher than Aang had ever taken Appa, and it didn't help that the fire used to keep the balloon going sucked up most of the available oxygen. Sokka tried to distract himself by attempting to break the ice with Zuko. However, considering the latter had been hunting him down for the past several months, the conversation fell flat within minutes, leaving Sokka to his panting breaths and his thoughts.
As Zuko kept an eye on the fire in the balloon, Sokka's mind began to wander to the reasons he'd set out on this ridiculous mission to begin with. The more he thought about it, the crazier it seemed. He'd already failed badly enough at the invasion, and wasn't that proof enough? Did he really need to go on an insane suicide mission?
The answer, of course, was yes. Sokka needed to go. He needed to save his dad. The invasion plan was his idea, so it was his fault his dad had been taken to the Boiling Rock. It was his responsibility to fix it. He had to redeem his honor—
Sokka chuckled at the irony of it. His eyes shifted to Zuko, whose back was to him. For the majority of Sokka's adventures with Aang, the fire nation prince had been the one trying to regain his own honor—mostly by attacking him and the gang. And yet, here he was, helping Sokka on this crazy rescue operation that could go horribly wrong at any point. He allowed himself a half-hearted laugh.
"What?" Zuko asked, turning around.
Sokka shook his head, waving the question aside. "Nothing."
He looked out over the edge of the basket, watching as the sun disappeared into the sea of clouds. It was probably still light down on the ground, he conceded, but where they were, the fire of the balloon was the only light for as far as he could see. He gulped, peering out into the muffled, silhouetted shapes of the clouds.
And then Sokka sighed. He took a deep breath, settling back into a comfortable position. Worrying wouldn't do him any good. The invasion plan had failed, but it wasn't his fault that it had. The Fire Nation had known about it beforehand and he couldn't have controlled that.
Right now, he had to stop thinking about the unsuccessful fluke that was the invasion. Right now, he had to focus on getting his dad back.
He straightened up, seeing the plume of smoke rising over the clouds on the horizon. The balloon shook in the air, and started sinking as the air around him spiked in temperature.
He had to save his dad.
And that was exactly what he would do.