I Hope for Freedom

Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last Airbender doesn't belong to me. Shocking, I know.

The Fight on the Outside

Sokka got up with a yawn. It was another day in the hot and dusty Earth Kingdom. He had left the South Pole and fled to the North Pole with his sister to keep her from being executed for being a water bender. While he was there he saw a painting of a young girl. It changed him; he knew he was destined to find her.

Then he was told about her. That her name was Yue and she was kidnapped by the fire nation. The guesses about what might've been done to her weren't good. A girl with while hair because she was saved by the moon spirit as a child and that changed her hair from its initial silky black. She was brown skinned like he was, like everyone from the North and South Pole were. Most of the other nations had a lot of cream skinned people, some of a darker tone than others. But the Earth Kingdom also had a good share of dark skinned citizens. She wasn't even ten years old when she was taken and her father was the tribe's leader like his was in the South.

This only strengthened the connection Sokka felt and a love struck twelve-year old Sokka pledged to find her. But her father Chief Arnook wouldn't have it. He feared that trying to grab Yue from wherever she was would result in her death. The North Pole was the last full fledged Kingdom that defied the fire nation. They had the resources to attack and used to so even with the Earth Kingdom as the Fire Nation's ally. But such acts ceased less than six months after Yue was taken. Her current whereabouts were unknown but Chief Arnook knew that Yue would be kept alive as collateral against him doing more attacks.

At age fourteen Sokka snuck out of the Northern Water Tribe along with a group of males who wanted to save Yue as well. Later he realized that Katara had slipped in among them. He raged at his sister for leaving behind the nation that saved her life. But Katara stubbornly declared that she planned to help and no one was stopping her. Sokka soon gave up and let her come. Most of the men turned back shortly after they left the North Pole, three even died of heat stroke unable to adapt to a much warmer climate. Almost all the others died in fights with pirates and attacks from fire nation soldiers, earth kingdom thugs and even a couple of bounty hunters hoping to pick up illegals and maybe find a lucky wanted man among them.

All that was left was Sokka, Katara and Hahn. Sokka saw him as a spoilt pretty boy but Hahn could fight and despite calling Sokka a peasant, got down and dirty with anyone else when chores had to be done. Hahn countered that Sokka was just jealous that he was Yue's chosen fiancé. This was true but Sokka never admitted it.

Now two years later at sixteen Sokka had a small but strong team. Most were from the Earth Kingdom and a few other villages. Also he had a dual goal now. Find Yue and also free other kids stuck under slavery whether fire nation, earth kingdom, or otherwise. Some of the kids had been forced into service as soldiers to kill their own people. Others faced horrors like unbearable physical labour and prostitution. He knew a man named Xin Fu who was prolific in forcing both child and adult alike into terrible slave labour. He mostly used kids but the fire nation sometimes sent grown trouble makers there. The Earth Kingdom only sent mainly useless they just wanted to get rid of. He rarely accepted those. While he and Sokka never met face to face, Sokka had seen him several times out in distant villages celebrating or meeting with traders. His group had been a thorn in Xin Fu's side for over six months. Most recently planting a bomb that blew out sections of the underground slave trade operation but caused minimal injuries to individual. The bomb went off on time and all who were present to ensure things went smoothly had returned. Except for two. Suki and The Duke.

Suki was a Kyoshi warrior before the Fire Nation attacked and burned Kyoshi Island to ash. She was the only warrior to make it out and led the few survivors through days of crashing water and found a rebel village days later when they found land. Then she went seeking revenge. That's how she found Sokka and was one of the first outsiders to join their group. She got along well with the South Pole siblings but clashed terribly with North Pole's Hahn. He called her 'a lowly peasant' once and she punched him in the mouth.

Another member The Duke was a part of a once flourishing Freedom Fighters. But one night the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom soldiers attacked. Sick of kids thwarting their plans in nearby villages they went on an all out assassination and child massacre. Children were burnt alive, crushed with boulders, sucked into the earth until they suffocated, slashed and stabbed by soldiers and all kinds of horrors. The tree houses they lived in were cut and burnt down. But worst of all their leader Jet was caught and sent off to be a prisoner and later slave so he'd be a living example of what happened to those who were defiant. As a part of Sokka's group a few of them tried to free Jet six moths ago. He was now a slave of Xin Fu and to their horror had lost his legs. They were able to get to him but the second they mentioned escape and couldn't give him names he was satisfied with when he asked, Jet started screaming his lungs out. He cried "spies" "liars" "infidels" "murderers" among unintelligible screams that his attempted rescuers could only likened to a crazed banshee. Original Freedom Fighter members The Duke and Longshot barely made it out alive with the other rescuers as guards rushed to capture or kill them.

Another Freedom Fighter member Pipsqueak was also a slave but Sokka banned any rescue attempts for him because of the acts he heard Pipsqueak had committed on other slaves. He didn't care how badly Pipsqueak might've been hurt; he refused to believe that anything could make a slave himself such a terrible rapist. On that even put on a show for the guards sometimes. Longshot vehemently disagreed and he and Sokka had glaring matches since Longshot hardly ever spoke. The Duke himself was torn and confused. He loved his giant friend but hated the things he heard about him.

"Sokka, Suki's back," Katara called and Sokka dashed out in his under clothes, "someone's happy," she added upon seeing him under dressed.

A red faced Sokka wrapped his arms around his bare chest.

"Trust me, your hand's not hiding anything, don't bother," Hahn said coldly, "it took you a while to get back."

"Aw, you missed me," Suki said making kissing noises.

"Ew, no," Hahn said immediately, "I mean...we've been waiting for you guys," he added.

"Suki?" Longshot asked and everyone turned to see the fifteen year old arrow and stealth expert returning with fresh kill.

"Hi Longshot," Suki said, "I just got back...um..I don't know where The Duke is," she confessed.

All happiness at her return halted.

"What do you mean?" Katara asked, "oh no, Suki did they..."

"I think so because I couldn't find him no matter how many times I searched," Suki said, "the bomb had gotten jammed and The Duke went back to fix it," she said getting teary, "he was almost back to me when it went off and the rubble separated us. I know he didn't die because Xin Fu always has the bodies of spies, criminals and competitors who were killed or executed, displayed in one of the main areas and I didn't see him each time I checked up to two days ago."

The idea of what could happen to The Duke down there gave Sokka nightmares and he was awake.

"Longshot I'm so sorry," Sokko spoke since the other teen didn't want The Duke participating in those types of missions, "we'll get him back, I promise."

"I'm not worried about that," Longshot said and walked away.

"Lomgshot wait!" Katara said and hurried to his side, "come meditate with me," she urged and soon both of them were walking the two mile journey to the nearest lake.

"What's happening?" Hahn asked as he walked up, "Suki, you're still alive?" he stopped, "after all this time I thought you and The Duke were dead."

"He might be better off," Sokka said his voice filled with defeat.

Hahn's eyes turned to slits. "So why are we standing here?"

Sokka and Suki just looked at him confused.

"You're in charge Sokka," Hahn blasted, "demand a search, something, The Duke better be dead the longer he's missing and it turns out he's with those freaks!"

Sokka straightened up. Hahn was right. This wasn't the time to mope and lose hope. The Duke might be alive and if not his remains deserved a proper burial.

"Get Haru, we're searching everywhere we can and we're not coming back without him," Sokka declared, "Hahn you're in charge," he said shocking Hahn, "first time for everything," he said with a grin, "Suki I need you to tell me everything you remember about the part of the cave you were in at the time of the explosion."

"I'll try my best," Suki said, "I'm a warrior, I should've..."

"Forget about that now," Sokka ordered, "The Duke's down there and we're going to find him."

FireLuigi and Justadreamer15 thank you for your reviews. I hope this chapter was helpful and Sokka and Toph will meet the next chapter. But not under happy circumstances. Stay tuned to know more.