Zuko quickly placed Toph on his back as everyone began running. The group laughed and whooped as their feet carried them with great speed across the ground. Breath escaped their lungs with sharp heaves as their out-of-shape bodies tried to keep up with their spirits.
When he finally reached the building Sokka slapped his hand against a wall; followed by the rest of the group. Their hands made no sound as they came into contact with the stone that the building was composed of. Sokka pulled his hand off the building and raised a closed fist in the air victoriously.
"Who's joining the pep club with me?" Aang asked eagerly.
"I wasn't really paying attention," Zuko lied, knowing full well he had been last.
Aang's expression fell slightly. "Oh."
Katara cast him a sympathetic smile. "It's okay Aang, you have lots of friends that already go to pep club."
"I suppose you're right," he said with a half smile.
The group walked around to the opposite wall of the building without much purpose. There was a large, open door way that showed off a dark, empty interior. The building looked like a cross between a barn and prison, like it was supposed to house large farm machinery; but was currently vacant.
They all stood at the entrance, waiting for someone to take the first step inside.
"This doesn't look like anything too interesting, let's move on," Zuko said.
"Sokka, this building doesn't look old, it actually looks relatively new...are you sure we should be doing this?" Suki said, running her hand along the bumps and indents of a stone brick. It was sturdy, and showed very little signs of deterioration. Suki's hand ran over a patch of moss that came off on her palm. She cringed and quickly retracted her hand to rub the moss off on her leg.
"Of course I'm sure! We've already been over this. Come on, let's go." He took her hand and squeezed it.
They turned away from the building, and before them the woods had grown back to a slightly denser version than what they had originally started their trek in. In between trees and vegetation, corners of other buildings poked into view.
They all sub consciously fell into a line and entered the woods, Sokka the head and Zuko the caboose of their ensemble. Zuko held onto Toph's backpack, which her mother insisted on her carrying at all times. He followed Toph and stepped past the imaginary line where the woods began to grow freely, and a loud bang sounded from behind him.
Toph jumped and everyone's heads whipped back towards the building. The once ajar door leading into it was now shut, sending fear into their hearts.
Behind Sokka, Katara quickly turned back around and pushed him. "Go go go," she began muttering, awakening them from their paralysis. As Sokka's mind began to register, her words became more insistent, and everyone began to panic. They all finally unstuck their feet from their firm plant on the ground and rushed forward in an aimless run.
Sokka reached past Katara, grabbed Suki's wrist tightly and ran without thought. Suki stumbled behind him as her feet struggled to keep up and plants whipped her face and grabbed her hair. Thorns and branches scratched their legs and caused them to lose their footing a few times. Finally, their aimless trek came to a stop at a small house with a flimsy picket fence around what was once probably a well-kept yard, now just as wild as the surrounding woods.
They paused a moment, taking deep breaths that pushed and pulled their chests. Suki turned away from the house and back where they had came. The only thing that lay before her was an endless stretch of woods.
"Where is everyone?" She asked Sokka.
He turned, and frowned. "I guess everyone split when we took off."
As he finished his statement, a quiet hiss sounded above them, and the sky grew dark. They looked up, and large water droplets fell on their face. Within moments, dark clouds had covered the skies and thunder growled in the distance. The echoes following the clap of thunder brought more intense rain along with it.
"Let's get inside!" Suki yelled above the rain. She pointed to the house-like structure and Sokka nodded.
He ran and attempted to clear the fence, until his foot caught the top of the fence and several wood pieces crumpled to the ground with a crack. He nearly caught himself as he landed and turned to Suki, who only gestured him to keep going.
After Suki had cleared the fence behind him they approached the front door. Sokka grabbed the handle and tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge.
"It won't open!" He shouted.
She pushed him aside and took a step back. With a loud cry, she kicked the door, and it swung open as if it had never been shut. They rushed inside and Sokka shut the door behind him. Suki looked at the door, and wondered for a moment why he couldn't get the door open even though it felt as if it were unlocked when she kicked it open.
She wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to warm up. In the short while she had been out in the rain, she had become soaked, and her wet, cold, clothes chilled her down to the bone. Sokka wasn't faring any better, so he decided to take off his shirt and wring it out.
The inside of the house-like structure was somewhat small, and had no sources of light besides a few unlit candles. It was decorated like a church, with four small benches facing a podium and crucifix.
They stood in silence for a few moments while Sokka attempted to rid his shirt of water. The storm thundered over their heads, each raindrop sounding like a gunshot on the metal roof above them.
Suki walked over to a window that looked over the way they came. The trees danced wildly as the wind from the storm through them about.
"Do you think whoever it was that shut that door is going to come looking for us?" Suki asked.
"I don't know. Maybe it was just the wind that shut it or something," he offered.
She turned to him. "I don't feel safe. I'm scared."
A look of sympathy crossed his face. "Hey, it'll be okay. We'll just wait for this storm to blow over, and then we'll head back home."
"What about everyone else? They'll notice we're missing, what are they going to do?"
"They'll be fine. Suki, there's no need to be worried, I'm here," He slung his shirt over his shoulder and wrapped his arms around her. He kissed her forehead lightly, trying to comfort her.
Just then, there was what sounded like knocking at the door.
Suki's breath caught and she wrapped her arms tightly around him. "Sokka..."
"I heard it too," he said quietly.
"What was it?" She hissed.
"It was probably just the storm. Maybe a branch or something just hit the door." He could feel Suki trembling against his body and he squeezed her tight in a hug. "I'm going to go check...just to be sure."
"No! No Sokka, don't," Suki pleaded, wrapping her arms around him ever tighter.
"Listen, what if it's Katara or Zuko or someone...I'm going to go see, and you can stay right behind me, alright?"
She nodded and unlatched herself from him. Sokka took a deep breath and started towards the door when another set of knocks sounded.
Knock knock knock knock They were faster and louder than before. Sokka felt his heart stop for a moment, and his fingertips went numb. He swore in his head and grabbed the handle. He swung the door open to find Aang standing before him. He was shivering, and his clothes hung from his small frame like robes due to the weight of the water in them.
"Sokka, Suki!" He cried out. He darted inside and Sokka shut the door behind him.
Suki let out a cry of relief and hugged him. "It's you! Where's everyone else? Are they in shelter?"
"I don't know! I thought I was going to be lost by myself out here! I'm so relieved!" Aang smiled gratefully at her, and appeared to be in pretty rough shape from the mud stains on his clothes.
"How did you know to knock? Did you know someone was here?" Sokka asked.
"What? No...I just don't think it's very polite to enter someone's house without knocking first," Aang said bashfully. He glanced around the room they were in and said, "Although, I don't think this is a house. This is a church!" He pointed to the crucifix at one end of the room.
"We broke into a church?" Suki whispered, and placed a hand over her mouth.
"An abandoned church. No one's been around this area in a long time," Sokka said. "We're completely alone. All that we can do right now is wait for the storm to blow over, okay?"
Suki nodded.
"But what about everyone else?" Aang asked. "Is it just you two here?"
Suki nodded. "We don't know where everyone else is."
"Don't you think we should maybe go look for them?" Aang asked.
"No way! We could get sick wandering around in the rain like that. We really need to just stay put until it's safe to head back home," Sokka said.
"I guess you make a valid point," Aang said. He spotted a candle in a windowsill on the other side of the room, so he picked it up and produced a box of matches from his pants pocket.
"You carry matches with you?" Sokka asked.
"Not usually, but when I heard we were going into the woods, I thought they might come through if you didn't," Aang said with a playful smirk.
"Gee, thanks," Sokka said, rolling his eyes.
To Aang's relief, the box didn't get wet while in his pocket, so he lit a match and then lit the candle. He grabbed a bench and dragged it over to where Sokka and Suki stood, then sat down on it as he held the candle close to himself.
Suki and Sokka sat on both sides of him and the three huddled closed together for warmth. Nothing was said, and there was a quiet, fearful energy around them. They were all but helpless as they sat in an abandoned church, in the middle of what could be endless woods, during a thunderstorm.
Aang's thoughts took no time drifting to worry. He had no idea where Katara was, and he could only hope she was safe, dry, and with someone. He briefly imagined her trying to take shelter under a tree, shivering and soaking, mud staining her clothes. He knew this endeavor into the unknown with Sokka as their guide was a bad idea; and he only wished he had said something more.