Howdy Team! Welcome to this week's chapter of AWTF! Just wanted to say thank you for getting this story past 35k views! With this being my first Fanfic ever, I didn't know where this would lead, but I'm so happy y'all are like this story so far. I just want to remind you guys to review! It helps me so much when writing. I love getting feedback no matter if it's good or bad. Hope y'all enjoy this week's chapter. Don't forget to Follow, Favorit, and Review!
I don't Own ATLA
"Hey Sokka, can I talk to you?"
Sokka looked over his shoulder to find Ty Lee walking behind him. Suki had paired the two together and he knew that Ty Lee had wanted to approach him, so he relented. I wonder where this is gonna go, he thought to himself as he put on a smile. "Of course!" he replied aloud.
Ty Lee walked over to the brown-haired young adult and smiled at him kindly. She wanted to get in Suki's good graces and knew that if she wanted to do that she would have to be in good graces with Sokka. "Thank you. I just...I wanted to apologize."
Sokka glanced at the acrobat and frowned. "Why?" he asked as he continued to walk towards the entrance where a ladder was. He glanced up and saw that it led to a large group of trees that were located on top of one of the temples.
"I...well...I wanted to apologize for all the terrible things that I've done to you!" Ty Lee blurted out loudly, causing her voice to reverberate around the area.
"Did we talk about this already?" Sokka pondered while walking over to the trees to pick some of the apples and oranges that were growing. He could feel the guilt radiating off of the poor girl and wanted her to work through her issues.
"Well, you forgave Azula, but I don't think that you forgave me," Ty Lee explained, but almost immediately started waving her hands around as she added quickly, "Not that you have to forgive me or anything."
"Why shouldn't I forgive you?"
This caused Ty Lee to stop and think for a beat. She knew that she had killed one of the Kyoshi Warriors and felt horrible about it. Ever since she met Aang, she had gotten a renewed sense of right and wrong. She also realized that what she was doing before was wrong. Very wrong. "I...I killed one of her friends. I'm a murderer!" she cried hopelessly.
"So am I," Sokka calmly stated as he continued to pick fruits. "I've murdered the husbands of at least 35 couples. Those people could have been fathers, brothers, and they definitely were sons to two parents." Sokka paused and looked over at the acrobat. "Ty Lee, forgiving someone is a choice. I would hope that those people have forgiven me, but I know that they probably haven't. So, I choose to forgive you. I choose to forgive you because, like Suki said, there's too much hatred in this world. I know that you are trying to change. I can see that when you went to help her when she wasn't feeling good. Now, don't get me wrong, you really hurt her."
Ty Lee winced at this and held her head down. She hated hurting people, no matter how good she was at it. That's the main reason she went to the circus, after all. She wanted to make people happy and smile. She absolutely hated making people sad. This was also the reason why she was such a good medic. She wanted to provide people with comfort, and hearing that she hurt Suki really hit her hard.
"I..." She looked down and tried to bring her emotions under control. She took a deep breath and started to help Sokka pick the fruits. After a few minutes of silence, she sighed. "Will she forgive me?" she whispered hopefully to the Water Tribe warrior.
Sokka let out a sigh. "I think she already has," he replied to the girl, who lifted her eyes to meet his. "I think she forgave you when she forgave Azula. Like I said, she doesn't want to add to the hate in this world."
"Oh," she whispered as she went back to collecting the fruits and nuts that were around the area.
Sokka looked at her and shook his head with a frown. He knew that this was going to eat at her, so he decided that when they got back to base, he would talk to his girlfriend.
After an hour of picking fruits, the duo filled the bags that they had arrived with and decided that it was time for them to start heading back. Sokka walked back to the ladder and started to quickly climb down it - that was, until his foot slipped, sending him off the ladder.
"AHHHH!" he screamed as he plummeted towards the hard stone floor.
"SOKKA!" Ty Lee called as she watched in horror as her new friend fell. Reacting quickly, she placed her bag of nuts on a ladder rung and jumped down the ladder. She caught one of the rungs with her feet and grabbed the man's arm. She used her flexibility and brute strength to hang herself from the ladder and hold Sokka up.
Sokka opened his eyes when he felt that he wasn't falling anymore. He looked up to see a totally stretched out Ty Lee holding him 70 feet in the air. He looked at her pleadingly and she smiled back at him.
"Don't worry, I've got you!" she yelled as she held onto his forearm. "I need you to grab one of them ladder rungs! I can't hold you forever!"
Sokka quickly grabbed onto the handle, allowing Ty Lee to ease her grip on him. She then let go of the top of the ladder with her foot and swung herself so that she was on the ladder normally.
After an hour of transporting the bags of food down the ladder Sokka went over and hugged Ty Lee, who stood with a confused face.
"Thank you for saving my life, Ty!" he shouted into the girl's arms.
"Oh, that...it was nothing!" Ty Lee smiled as she let go of the man. She then walked over the Appa and gave him some fruit. Sokka watched the acrobat move away from him and smiled. He then looked for his girlfriend and walked over to her.
"Hey," greeted Suki, smiling at her boyfriend, who smiled back. He then walked over and kissed her on the lips. Once they broke the kiss, Suki looked at all the fruit in the bags. "So I'm guessing that foraging went well?"
Sokka nodded his head and handed some of the bags to Suki, who took them into her arms. "Yeah, it went really well. But, I want to talk to you about something,"
Suki immediately went on guard as stared at the stern expression that was on Sokka's face. "What's wrong, Sokka?"
"It's Ty Lee."
Suki looked around Sokka and saw the girl sitting alone on a stone bench, gazing at the fire in front of her. She eyed the acrobat, who appeared to be deep in thought, and frowned at her boyfriend. "What's wrong with her?"
"She feels awful about it...about you-know-what. I'm not telling you to forgive her, but please go talk to her. She saved my life today when we were on that ladder and I think that if you went over and talked to her it would make her feel a lot better."
"I thought I told her that I forage her?" she recalled as she reflected on saying that to Azula a couple of days ago.
"You said it to Azula. She thinks that you weren't talking to her," Sokka explained, which made the warrior nod her head in understanding.
"Alright, I'll talk to her now," Suki agreed as she started walking towards the bench that Ty Lee was sitting at.
"Thanks. I know that Azula would really appreciate you doing this," Sokka called to her with a smile.
Suki walked over to the silent acrobat and gently placed her hand on the girl's shoulder. "Do you wind if I sit next to you?" she asked in the sweetest voice possible.
Ty Lee looked up at the girl talking to her and her eyes immediately widened. She didn't say anything but scooted over to make room for Suki on the bench.
The two sat by the fire for a long time before Suki decided to break the silence again. She looked at the Acrobat, whose eyes looked lost and distant. "You know," she began as she looked at the crackling fire with a slight smile. "I wanted to thank you for saving Sokka earlier today."
"Oh, that...it was no problem! He would have done the same thing!" Ty Lee smiled back at her, but Suki could see through it. She found the pain in her eyes as she looked into them. She noticed how tired Ty Lee looked as well.
"But it was something, and for that, I thank you," said Suki. "I'm so happy that you both weren't injured."
Ty Lee slightly nodded her head in reply, a pregnant pause drifting between the two as they watched the flames dance in front of the dusk sky. Suki glanced at Ty Lee again and frowned. She sighed and poked the fire. "You know," she started again, "I don't blame you for what happened. Or at least, not anymore."
This caused the acrobat to raise an eyebrow. "Why not? I killed one of your comrades!" she stated with anger and pain in her voice.
"Yes, you did," Suki reasoned without meeting the girl's eyes. "But that was the result of a system you were in that forced you to be my enemy. You didn't know me and you didn't know Lucy."
"Yeah, but I'm still a murderer! I murdered your friend! Don't you hate me?!" Ty Lee questioned. Suki continued to look at her with softened eyes. "Hate me! Please! I can't take it anymore! You didn't even try to put up a fight!"
"Ty Lee, I'm not going to hate you," Suki replied softly. "I forgive you. Lucy wouldn't have wanted me to hate you because of her death. It would go against everything that she believed in. She believed that you need to combat pain and hatred with kindness and love. It took me a while, but it really clicked for me when it was you that told me that I was pregnant." She smiled as she placed her hand over her own stomach. "I don't want my baby to grow up in a world where I hated you."
"Sokka said that I hurt you. I hate hurting people," Ty Lee continued between sobs.
"I can tell. You seem like such a gentle and loving soul," Suki praised the girl, who slightly smiled back.
"I...I never wanted this to happen," Ty Lee said quietly as she continued to gaze into the fire. "Zula asked me to go with her and I should have tried harder to not go on the mission with her. After we got back, it was like Azula didn't care about any of it. She just kept moving forward like it was nothing. I...I feel so awful. I just...don't even know."
"You feel like you're falling?" Suki asked the girl. Ty Lee nodded in reply. "Yeah, I felt like that too when I was being transported. It felt like everything was going on around me and that I couldn't stop anything or do anything about it. It felt like that for a while after she died. But now, I feel like she's watching me from the Spirit World and she's happy. If I have a girl, I think I'm gonna name her Lucy." Suki looked up at the sky and smiled. "Yeah. I'm gonna name that in honor of her."
Ty Lee looked at Suki with wide eyes and let a tear fall from her face. "I-I'm so sorry," she whispered weakly as she attempted desperately to wipe the tears rapidly falling from her face.
Suki watched the girl, sighed to herself, and scooted over to Ty Lee. She wrapped her arms around the now-sobbing girl. "Shh, it's okay," she whispered into the poor girl's ear as she rubbed her back. She could feel Ty shaking as she let out her emotions. She rubbed her back in circles and listened to Ty Lee's quiet apologies. She smiled softly while hearing them.
After what felt like an hour, Ty Lee's breathing evened out and she fell asleep on Suki's chest. She looked down at the sleeping girl's form and smiled. She spotted Sokka reading some maps and beckoned him to come over.
"Is she..." Sokka trailed off as he noticed Ty Lee's limp form in Suki's arms.
"She's asleep. Can you bring her to her tent?" Suki asked.
Sokka agreed and lifted up the girl, walking over and placing her gently into her tent. When he returned, Suki had a plate loaded with fruits and berries for Sokka to eat. "Thanks," he whispered. "Did you talk to her?"
"Yeah. I think she's going to be okay for a while," said Suki as she faced the fire.
"That's good. I'm glad you were able to make her feel better."
"So am I. I'm also glad that she saved you from that fall. I...I don't know what I would do without you," Suki hugged her boyfriend tightly.
Wow, why is everyone so damn emotional today? Sokka thought to himself as he rubbed his girlfriend's back. "Hey, don't worry about me. I'm not going anywhere, I promise." He kissed her head and let her go.
"I know. It's just scary," Suki quietly responded.
After a few minutes of silence, Sokka searched around and frowned. "Hey, have you seen Toph or Azula?"
As soon as Sokka finished his sentence, Azula immediately ran through the base with a giant smile on her face. "Guys, I figured out how we can find Aang!" she shouted enthusiastically, catching the attention of everyone.
"What's going on?" Suki asked as she looked at the two girls who were running through.
"Flame Queen had a talk with a dead Avatar and now apparently she can find where Aang is," Toph explained casually to the group.
"Okay, so what's the way?" Suki asked Azula curiously.
"When Aang and I were on our trip, we stopped at Avatar Roku's temple because it's a place where the boundaries between the Spirit World and our world are really weak," recalled Azula. "While we were there, he tried to teach me a way for us to locate each other in case we were ever far away."
"You know, this would have been really useful information to have, like, a long time ago."
Everyone turned around to see Zuko and Mai entering the area, Mai immediately strolling over to Azula so that she could stay away from the older Firebender.
"Oh look, it's the asshole," Toph mumbled loudly enough so that everyone could hear.
"Why are you even here?" Suki asked as she glared at Zuko.
"I wanted to see what all the commotion was," Zuko droned. "I was sleeping when I heard shouting going on, so, naturally, I wanted to know if it was anything important. Now that I see it's actually this cow talking, I think I'll just go back to sleep."
"Alright, why don't we all just calm down," Katara suggested as she ran towards Zuko before a fight was hinted at being broken out.
"I'm perfectly calm," Zuko replied. "Like I said, I would be asleep if this whale didn't cause an earthquake every time she moved."
"Zuko, dude, chill!" Sokka warned as he glanced over at Azula, whose fists were balling up tightly.
"As I was saying," Azula began slowly so that she could get her anger under control. "I figured out a way to locate him. All I need to do is find him through our location and then we can rescue him from the Fire Nation."
"Alright. How long do you think it will take?" Suki asked the Firebender.
Azula simply shrugged in reply. "I honestly don't know. I hope to have it done by the end of the week, but this could take a while. Though, I was able to get into the Spirit World today, so hopefully it won't take that long."
"That's great, Azula!" Suki said as she went over to hug Azula. When they hugged, Azula immediately noticed the now-prominent bump on Suki's stomach. Didn't Ty Lee say she was nine weeks a while back? Wait, Toph felt the heartbeat. That means when she noticed, it was around six weeks and it's been almost ten weeks since...she's four months pregnant now? HOLY SHIT!
"Is something wrong, Azula?" Suki asked as she let go of her friend.
"Yeah, your heartbeat just skyrocketed," Toph said as she then noticed how large the baby inside of Suki was getting. Oh, yeah, she's starting to show. How has Sokka not noticed yet?
"No, nothing is wrong," Azula stated quickly as she glanced precariously at Suki's belly.
"Alright, well this actually brings up a good question," Sokka said, still just as clueless as before. "Who is going to get Aang and how are we going to split up?"
"I actually thought about this already," Azula said as she ran to her tent and returned with a plethora of scrolls.
"Woah, guys, watch out, there's a landslide coming," Zuko mocked, which earned the glares of everyone but Katara, who lightly laughed at the joke.
"Bro, just shut the fuck up already!" Sokka yelled at Zuko, who rolled his eyes.
"Whatever."
"Zuko, it's not even funny anymore. Now it's just mean and rude," Suki pressed on as she moved her arms around her bump in a protective manner.
"You're only saying that because you-"
"Say one more word, brother, and I'll launch a fireball so far up your ass, you'll vomit blue," Azula threatened as she formed a light blue flame in her hand. Once Zuko shut up, Azula brought out her sketches of a way to fly.
"Wow Azula, these are crazy!" Sokka exclaimed as he examined the plans.
"Thanks! I thought about it while thinking of Aang. If we use the metal from the spare weapons and armor here and the cloth from the excess clothing, we could possibly invent something that could fly. Since we have two Firebenders, one could be used to power it," she explained as she pointed to the diagrams.
"That could actually work," said Mai as she looked over the plans. "My dad was an engineer for the Fire Nation, so I know a thing about building things," Mai said, which earned the shocked looks of Azula and Ty Lee.
"I thought Ukano was a merchant," Azula said, to which Mai shook her head.
"That was a front," Mai debunked. "He was an engineer for the Fire Nation military. It seems that Ozai left some things hidden from you, Azula."
"In any case, how would we split up the groups and where would we go?" Sokka asked as he looked over the plans with Mai.
"Well, depending on where Aang is, we would need to go in two groups," Azula explained to the group. "There's a day every 104 years called the Day of the Black Sun. I found out that it's about 3 months from now while I was in the Fire Nation. It's a day when all Firebenders lose their ability to bend. We would need to have at least two benders on each team."
"Well we could do what we did last time we split up," Sokka recalled as he placed the papers down to look around. "We had Toph, Suki, and me on one team and Katara and Zuko on the other. Now that we have you, Ty Lee, and Mai, we could give Mai and Ty Lee to Katara and Zuko and we could take you, Azula. That way, all the teams have at least two benders."
"Who will go get Aang?" Katara asked as she looked at her brother, who, in turn, looked towards Azula.
"Well, since it's Azula who's locating him, I would think that my team would be the ones to retrieve him," Suki explained as she smiled at Azula.
"Great, that pig can take this...whatever the fuck she called it, and we get the bison," Zuko commented as he glared at Appa, who returned it back.
"Sure, that will work. I'll happily take the thing that I will have designed and built to rescue the love of my life!" Azula shot back.
"Guys, chill," Suki repeated. "I think we should call it a night anyway." She grabbed a couple of apples and began to make her way to her tent. "If we want to get this thing built, we're going to have to work fast, so everyone get some sleep!"
"Well, I guess this is good night," Mai said as she walked off towards her shared tent with Azula and Ty Lee.
Once everyone had left the campsite, it was just Katara and Zuko remaining. "Did you have to be so mean?" Katara asked the Firebender.
"Why do you even care?" he snapped back as he sulked away.
Katara sighed to herself and groaned. "This is going to take some serious effort." She shook her head and walked off to go to sleep, anxious about what the next few days would bring.
Aang didn't know where he was when he woke up. All he knew was that he was alive but in some serious pain. He searched around the room and frowned. His hands and feet are bonded together, so he could not do anything with them. He waited for a couple of hours until he heard two people bickering outside of what looked to be his cell door.
"Do you think he's awake yet?" a rough voice asked as they came closer.
"Well, the Fire Lord demands constant updates on his status, so I have no idea," a slightly higher and more noticeably female voice responded.
Suddenly, the door was open, and in walked the guards. One was around 5'11" and had green eyes and red hair. The other was definitely female and was 5'8". Both guards were wearing the normal Fire Nation military attire.
"Oh, looks like he's awake!" the female guard said as she stared into Aang's gray eyes.
"Good. Now the real fun can begin," the male responded, grabbing his knife and cutting open the palm of his hand. He then shook his hand so that the blood would land on Aang.
"Why did you do that, you fuckin' idiot?!" the female guard asked as she smacked him over the head.
"I thought it would be fun," the other guard replied while laughing.
The female guard shook her head and started walking towards the door to leave.
Before the man left, he took one last look at the Avatar and smirked. "Look who's not so high and mighty now, Avatar!" With his taunt said, he headed out of the room and slammed the door.
"Assholes," Aang muttered to himself as he tried to wipe the blood off of his face. While he was wiping it off, he noticed that as he moved his fingers, the blood would swirl around them. What the-, he thought to himself as he appeared to move the blood like it was water.
"Well, this could be fun," he mumbled to himself, noting his new discovery.
Aang, I need you!
Aang's head shot up as he looked around the room to find the voice. Azula?! he thought wildly to himself as his headshot around the stone box in all directions.
Don't worry, Aang, I'll find you!
He smiled to himself as he heard the love of his life's voice in his head. "Don't worry. I know you will," he whispered to himself as he slowly drifted into unconsciousness.