Prompt: Buried in Rubble
Hurt Character: Sokka
Comforting Character(s): Aang
Characters: Sokka, Aang, Katara
Relationships: Sokka & Aang, Sokka & Katara
Warnings (Aside from the Self-Evident): Claustrophobia, mentions of internal injuries
Other Tags: Season 1, canon compliant if you squint, Sokka is the universe's chew toy, and he's incredibly indignant about that

It always had to be him. Why did it always have to be him?

They could have stayed home where things actually made sense, but noooooo. Not only did his sister have to go and wake up the Spirits-blessed Avatar, she had to go and insist on following said Spirits-blessed Avatar. Into a war. That neither of them had any business being in. Where they routinely got themselves into all sorts of other danger that they also didn't have any business being in.

Like the situation he was currently in. Right now. Sokka had been minding his own business, going to the market to get them some supplies because someone (read: Aang) couldn't be trusted with the money, when the Fire Nation had attacked (because of course they had), the local earthbenders had retaliated (because of course they had), Sokka had ended up right in the middle (because of course he had), and the whole fiasco had somehow ended up with a whole building collapsing.

Right on top of him. Because of course.

This was going to be how he died. Because nothing in Sokka's life could ever be easy.

"Hey!" he shouted anyway. "Hey, I'm down here!"

There was no way of knowing whether anyone had heard him. He couldn't see anything. There was rubble pressing in on him from all sides. The only thing he could hear was the panicked sound of his own rapid breathing.

He tried to shout again and got a mouthful of dust for his troubles, which sent him into an uncontrollable coughing fit. That did absolutely nothing for the sense of constriction around his chest or the feeling that no matter how quickly he breathed, he couldn't get enough air.

Okay, he had to stay calm. That was him, cool under pressure. Mr. Calm and Collected. He could get out of this. He could. He was going to stay calm, and he was going to come up with a plan, and he—

"…okka? Sokka, are you okay down there? Answer if you can hear me!"

"OH, THANK THE SPIRITS! SAVE ME, KATARA!"

"Okay, Sokka." Aang's voice drifted down to him next, sounding oddly muffled through all the debris. "We're going to get you out of there, but we need you to stay calm."

Sokka huffed. He was perfectly calm, thank you very much. Except for maybe the hyperventilating. And the fact that his heart felt like it was about to pound its way out of his chest. And… okay, so maybe he wasn't so calm.

"We're starting to dig you out now," Aang called down to him. "Just listen to the sound of my voice."

So, Sokka waited in the dark, confined space as pieces of the collapsed building were shifted above him but the darkness didn't get any lighter and his air supply didn't get any bigger. Once in a while, there was even a shift in the debris that was close to him, and he could not help but let out a yelp in fear that he was about to be crushed.

The whole time, Aang talked to him. Half the time Sokka didn't have the first clue what he was actually talking about—but he focused on Aang's chattering anyway, on his descriptions of the Air Temples in their days of glory, the pranks he'd played with Bumi, and the adventures he'd had with his Fire Nation friend Kuzon back before the Fire Nation had turned evil. There was a part of Sokka that wanted to ask why Aang even thought he would be interested, but there was also another part, a much larger part, that desperately needed to hear the sound of another human voice and didn't care what it was saying, and was screaming at him that if Aang's voice stopped, then he was going to have a full-blown breakdown.

So, he stayed quiet, and simply listened. Once in a while Aang would pause in his rambling and call down to him "Hey, are you still alive down there?" and Sokka would answer "Fine, Aang" in a voice that came out as a dusty croak. By this point, he was pretty sure that Aang knew as well as he did that he wasn't fine, that he was aching and dehydrated and terrified, but there also wasn't a whole lot they could do about the rest of that until they got him out, so Aang made no mention of the fib and instead simply went back to talking about the subject at hand (or possibly about something completely unrelated; Sokka wasn't exactly keeping track).

All this time, he'd been holding his eyes wide open, expecting and hoping to see the first ray of light. Instead, the first hint he got that he was within sight of freedom was the feel of a fresh breeze against his face.

Sokka blinked. He'd barely had any time to contemplate what this might mean, though, when one last hunk of stone was removed to reveal a plethora of sparkling lights scattered over a black background.

Stars. He'd been down there so long that night had fallen and the stars had come out.

"Sokka!?" Katara's face appeared above him, streaked with tears. "Are you okay?"

"Eh, been better." Sokka tried to shrug, but couldn't, because as it turned out everything but his head was still pinned down. "I could really use some water, though."

His sister gave a small chuckle (though it sounded suspiciously watery), uncorked her waterskin, and held it to his lips. That was some of the best water that Sokka had ever tasted in his life.

It took several more hours for the villagers to finish digging him out. No sooner had they freed his upper body than Aang was next to him and holding his hand. Not to mention still talking.

"…though really, I've seen a lot worse, have I ever mentioned that time Bumi and I—"

"Okay," Katara interrupted. "They're almost done. We've just got to get the last few pieces off your legs, and then you'll be out."

Even as she spoke, the last stone was shifted, and Sokka began to sit up, but Aang stopped him with a hand against his chest.

"Don't," he warned, his voice uncharacteristically serious. "At least not until a healer's had a look at you."

"What do you mean, a healer? Aang, I was buried, not crushed!" Once again, he tried to move, and once again, Aang stopped him; the kid was surprisingly strong when he wanted to be.

"You still could have injuries that you're not even aware of." Aang gave him a pleading look with big watery eyes, and okay, that just wasn't fair. "Please?"

His sister was significantly less diplomatic. Crossing her arms, Katara gave him her best glare. "What Aang means to say, is that you will stay down until we know for sure that nothing's wrong with you, or I will freeze you in place."

Well, when she put it like that…

In the end, Sokka allowed the villagers to load him onto a stretcher, and for the local healer to poke him and prod him after taking off most of his clothes. He even answered all of the pointless questions the healer asked him about whether or not this or that hurt, because he was just that concerned about his health. (And okay, his sister standing over him and twirling a stream of water around her finger might have had something to do with it as well.)

In the end, the healer told him he might have some pretty bad bruises, but declared that he would live. His "told you so" and accompanying smug look toward Katara earned him a blob of water dropped right on top of his head.

Aang only shot him a grin, and told him that it was better safe than sorry. While Sokka's response to that didn't earn him any direct retaliation, he definitely had some suspicions about Aang's "helping him dry off". With a gust of wind. That left Sokka sprawled on his back with his hair sticking up in every direction.

…yeah, Sokka might have deserved that. Not that he was ever going to admit as much to either of them.