A/N: Hello! I bet you weren't expecting me to update this soon! Well that's all thanks to my last review that spurred me on to write this chapter, so give them a big thanks (but of course all reviews gives me joy when I see them). I hope you enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think of it.
The Next Day... (Second meeting) Sokka's POV:
"I say that both the Water Tribes are so disconnected from the rest of the world and something needs to be done about it!" I shout and slam my hand against the table, disguising a wince as I did so, 'man that hurt.'
"It's just the Water Tribe." I glare at the elderly Fire Nation councilman who just said that. I clear my throat.
"I don't need to remind you that it was the Water Tribe that withstood the long century war, if we were just that then we would have been finished off first, am I right councilman?" The elder gulps and looks away, ashamed.
"I meant no disrespect Councilman Sokka." I nod in half satisfaction. Another elder puts his hand up and I motion for him to speak.
"But there is Republic City. The aim of this city is to allow people from all nations to coexist in harmony, so I don't understand what the issue is?" I clutch the bridge of my nose in frustration.
"Listen Mr Ju Pang, do you know the population statistics for each nation in Republic city?"
"I do in fact have the statistics here." He points at a sheet within a stack of papers while smirking at me.
"Good now tell me the statistics, in alphabetical order of the nations."
"Fine." He grabs the paper and then clears his throat. "Air nation is at 0%." My eyes slide to Aang a few rows down who just bends his head down at the statement, obscuring his face from view. I sigh inwardly at the scene, before looking back at the elderly. "Earth Kingdom is at 50%, the Fire Nation is at 40% and the Water tribe is at er..." I watch as the elder widens his eyes and stumbles with the paper in his hand, his eyes not meeting my own. I lean forward on the table.
"Yes Ju Pang, what is the percentage of the Water Tribe?" He looks up, glares at me slightly before coughing and say,
"It's at 10%." I nod, 'just what I thought.'
"Now Mr Ju Pang I think you've proven my point." I look to address the rest of the nobles. "All I'm asking is for some sort of transportation system to make it easier for people from the Water Tribe to be able to travel to wherever they want to without so much difficulty. It's rare for us Water Tribe people to even see a ship let alone someone to get on one to visit the other nations or to visit Republic City." I sit down to indicate I've finished my request and look to the head councilman for his decision.
"Hm Avatar Aang what do you think of the suggestion?" My eyes turn to Aang for a second before focusing them on the table before me. Aang gets up from his seat to address everyone.
"I think it's a plausible idea, it will allow all nations to intermix which will help further peace amongst everyone. This idea will also allow the economy of each nation to rise and give employment to those who have been fighting in the war for so long." The same elder, Ju Pang, jumps up from his seat in protest.
"But shouldn't the nations remain separate. Is that not why we created Republic City in the first place Avatar Aang?" Ju Pang hisses out. Aang looks him up and down.
"It is. And I agree, the nations should remain separate but what is wrong with other citizens visiting other nations? Mr Ju Pang I emphasise on the word visiting." The sternness of Aang's voice makes me look up in surprise, gone is the pain that I saw in his eyes yesterday and just a few minutes ago, it's replaced with a certain degree of harshness. "If other citizens are able to learn new customs and to know new people from new places the strength between all nations will be much stronger, people will be much less willing to go to war."
"And what if people decide to stay in that nation, what then?" Ju Pang bites out, still furious with the idea.
"Simple. New laws will be instated, everyone will be given their own passport which has the maximum amount of time an individual is allowed to stay and their reason for their visit. Any more questions Ju Pang?" I watch as the elder looks at Aang, speechless, yet utterly frustrated at being out-bested by the avatar in logic, 'I mean what did he expect? Aang being the Avatar meant that he had awesome debatable skills...did I just say awesome? I meant good enough to get him out of a situation, it's not like I admire him or anything, that has long past since he dumped us.'
"What about we do a vote?" Ju Pang and I nod, though Ju Pang does it more begrudgingly. "Alright, all in favour of a new transportation system that will run across the four corners of the world raise your hand." More than a hundred hands go up. "…and those in favour against raise your hand." about 20 hands go up. "…and to those who are unsure of this development raise your hand." Roughly 50 hands are raised. "Alright that settles it, a new transportation system will be applied, with ships arriving once a week. If a more regular transport is required it will be discussed in a follow-up meeting to discuss whether this project is a success or not. The rest of the meeting will be focused on outlining the route that the ships will take, this will be decided by those who are unsure of this development and supervised by those against the idea. Now what route is preferable?"
2 hours later...
I walk out of the meeting room, trying hard to stifle a yawn. Toph and Zuko catch up and fall in line with me. Toph punches my shoulder, hard. "Looks like you got your way Snoozles."
"Took long enough if you ask me." I grumble while rubbing my now tender shoulder. "Why do you feel the need to keep doing that?" I whine in annoyance. She shrugs.
"How else am I going to congratulate you?"
"Why not a pat on the back or something?"
"I'll go with or something." I growl at her as she smirks at me. "Besides pats are for weaklings." Just as I'm about to refute her words, Zuko steps in, extending an arm in front of me.
"It doesn't matter guys. Now are you up to going to that prison now?" Silence descends on the group and not because of Zuko's question but rather because of the person who passes by us without any acknowledgement. "Hey Aang are you busy?" Zuko shouts, I watch as Aang lifts his head, turning his head briefly to us before concentrating ahead of him again.
"Yes." He mumbles under his breath, but loud enough for us to hear. "I've got to go, but I'll talk to you later Zuko about the meeting."
"Liar." Toph mumbles in a similar fashion to Aang. The words seem to reach his ears as he stops, frozen to the spot.
"If I remember correctly Avatar, this meeting was about the Water Tribe, so should I not be included in this little talk between Zuko and you?" I spit out in anger, 'he still chooses to ignore and lie to us, how dare he?' He turns slightly, looking me in the eyes for a moment, we hold contact for a few seconds before he promptly diverts his gaze to the floor. But in those moments I'm sure I saw a flash of pain cross his eyes, but I can't be certain, 'what are you hiding from us Aang?'
"We've already said everything we need to in the meeting, there's only a couple of things about the route in the Fire Nation that I want to confirm with Zuko about. Nothing important." With that last statement he flees and is soon out of sight.
"Yeh leave without saying bye, like he always does. Coward." I watch as Toph grumbles out, turning her head away from us, but not before I see some sort of glistening in her eyes. I widen my own in shock, 'is Toph crying?!' I move closer to her.
"Toph are you crying?!" I say in a mixture of shock and surprise. Then as quick as lightening, I'm slammed into a nearby wall, her hands clutching my shirt tightly.
"I don't cry do you hear me? Toph Beifong does not cry. Especially for a scrawny coward like him. You got it?!" She hisses with such malice it freezes me to the spot momentarily and then I find myself nodding frantically before she throws me against the wall again and walks out of reach. I touch my head tenderly, wincing at the pain, 'definitely gonna be bruised tomorrow. Great I can't believe I asked the great Toph Beifong if she was crying, how dumb can I be?!' Zuko walks to me and puts his hand on my shoulder and gives me a concerned look. I shrug.
"Guess I had it coming." I try to joke.
"Yeh I guess you did, but she didn't need to be so rough." He looks behind him before turning to face me again. "We've got to catch up to her before she decides that she doesn't want anything more to do with our little investigation." He smiles weakly in an attempt to break the tense atmosphere.
"Good idea." After a short sprint we are able to catch up to her and we once again fall in line, but this time we continue on in silence till we reach the police station. Toph nods to the receptionist on the table, before taking us down a corridor. She opens one of the doors with a key. As we enter the quiet room I see a man tied to a chair in chains. He lifts his head to look at us, his eyes seem hollow with anger.
"Ah how lucky am I that the Chief of Police has graced me with her presence once again? And look she's brought some guests for me and not just any guests. Am I right Firelord Zuko and Councilman Sokka of the Water Tribe?" I don't know why but his words send a chill down my spine. 'This guy definitely emanates an evil vibe.' I step forward towards the guy, while Zuko and Toph stays back beside the door.
"Hello, it's nice to make your acquaintance, I guess. And since you know my name, may I have yours?" The guy snorts at me.
"Haha, I can tell you feel so awkward and why's that? Aren't you used to talking with criminals?" I raise an eyebrow at him.
"Honestly? Not really." He blinks at me, surprise evident on his face at my honestly, then he shakes his head.
"Moshi."
"Huh?" I look at him in puzzlement.
"That's my name."
"Oh right. Ha sorry, I think the meeting has drained my brain cells." I rub my neck in embarrassment, 'well at least he answered me. Wait a second...that's his name?!' "Wait that's your name, Moshi?!" Now it's his turn to raise an eyebrow in confusion.
"Yes it is, don't wear it out." I blink at him, 'if that's his name then that means he could be...'
"That means you're an Earth Kingdom citizen!"
"Which would mean what exactly?" He questions in a bored tone.
"Well, it doesn't make much sense that you would team up with a Fire Nation citizen, who is a Firebender, since there's still some hostility between the two nations."
"It would if you have a common goal." The criminal responds with harsh coldness.
"Which would be what?" He glares at me before turning his head away from me.
"I think you've out-stayed your welcome."
"He's out-stayed your welcome?! You're in my prison and you will abide by my rules!" Toph shouts to the criminal taking a few dangerous steps towards him, however it doesn't seem to faze him in the slightest, 'interesting'.
"And how far has that gotten you Chief? Not far if you ask me." The vein pulsing on Toph's forehead pushes me to act by standing between her and the criminal.
"Toph just let me talk to him. If he doesn't want to talk then fine. But we aren't gonna beat it out of him." I say gently, placing a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to cool her down. She glares at me and shrugs my hand off her shoulder, crosses her arms over her chest and lets out an aggravated sigh.
"Trust me I tried that and it didn't work." I widen my eyes slightly, 'it seems Toph was pretty desperate for answers to resort to doing that.'
"Well what about you trust me alright? No interference at all, ok?"
"Fine." She grates out and pushes past me and Zuko and stands right at the back. "But I will know when he lies, so he better watch out." I nod and turn back to look at the Earth Kingdom citizen.
"So you don't like the Avatar?" He begins sniggering at me causing my temper to rise. "What's so funny?"
"You! Weren't you three on first-name basis? All of you refer to him as the Avatar, I for one find it funny. Did the Avatar turn his back on you too? Like he does to everyone else. Well you shouldn't be surprised, he's unreliable and shouldn't be trusted." He smirks at me in triumph and I ground my teeth tightly together, 'how dare he laugh at what's causing us all pain? Would he laugh if his supposed friend turned his back on him?'
"That's his own fault, if he didn't want to be part of the group any more, why should we stop him?" My words come out surprisingly calm and this must be why the room falls in absolute silence for a few minutes. The criminal straightens his posture and looks at me curiously.
"Do you hate him?" He questions slowly, his eyes trained on my own. I look at him in shock.
"Excuse me?" I splutter out.
"My question was very clear; do you hate the Avatar?" I bite my lip, hard, before I respond.
"That is not an important question."
"It may not seem like one, but it is." I frown at his mysterious wording and then shrug.
"If anyone hates the Avatar then it's you."
"No hiding the truth there."
"But why? Why attack the Avatar?"
"There are many reasons and he added another one last week." The criminal drops his head, obscuring his facial expression from view.
"Which is?" His head snaps up and his eyes are filled with rage.
"He took away my bending and I will never forgive him for that." Everyone in the room gasps. I stumble backwards in shock, 'Aang did what?!' I vaguely realise that both Zuko and Toph are at my side, holding me upright.
"That will explain why I thought you were an Earthbender and also explains why that strange aura that I felt around you and Aang last week was vaguely familiar, it's like the time he took Ozai's bending." The Chief of Police says in astonishment. I shake myself and step closer to the criminal.
"But why?"
"You've got all the information I'm gonna give you."
"You still didn't tell me why you attacked Aang, since he only took your bending until after your encounter with him. Did you want to give him a warning about something or did you really want to end him?"
"Ah first name. You do still care about him don't you?" I turn my back to him.
"The Avatar doesn't care about us so why should we care about him?" I let out stiffly. He bursts out in laughter once again.
"If that's the case then why are you here?" I spin back to face him.
"Because if you are dumb enough to fight the Avatar then anyone could."
"Exactly. Anyone one could, at any time and any day." My eyes widen in alarm, 'there's something wrong with his words.'
"What?" He shakes his head and refuses to talk any more, but his eyes are trained on me in defiance. I put my hands on his shoulders, shaking him.
"What are you hiding?!" I practically scream at him while continuing to shake him. He grins at me as if saying that he has won. I'm just about to shake him harder, until Zuko puts a hand on my shoulder.
"Let it go Sokka." I round on him in anger.
"Let it go?! Let it go?! How can I let it go when we are on the verge of getting some answers to this problem, to know whether we need to be prepared for something big that's gonna happen which may endanger lives! How can I?" I holler at him to the top of my voice, my face beginning to get red with the boiling anger within me.
"Sokka cut it out! I've questioned him before, once he gets like this you won't get anything more out of him. Let's go, he's useless to us now." Toph's words manage to break my angry shell. I take one more glance at the criminal and then sigh in defeat.
"Fine. Let's get out of here." I head towards the door and walk out of the room. Zuko runs after me.
"Don't you want to question the Firebender?" I shake my head.
"No, it's obvious that the ex-earthbender is the leader out of the two otherwise Aang would've taken both their bending, which means the other one won't know much or answer at all. You can go and question him if you want, but I'm out of here."
"If that's what you think then there's no need for me to question him either..."
"The Firebender can't talk anyway." My feet screech to a halt.
"What did you say Toph?" She waits till she's close enough to us, her voice dropping to a whisper.
"Some officials recognised him as being previously part of the Triple Triad a couple of years back. We questioned some of the Triple Triad we have in our custody and found out his name is Azuki. He's been mute from birth and lost his parents during the century war and during then he lived in an Earth Kingdom colony. They said he disappeared from the Triad a year ago and haven't been seen since, until now that is." I slap my forehead and shake my head.
"Great another sob story like Jet. That might explain why he was after Aang, for revenge." Zuko frowns at the thought.
"Revenge?" He echoes.
"Yeh, if Aang wasn't in that iceberg then the war wouldn't have gotten so bad and his parents would be alive yadda yadda." I shake my head. "Why do people keep saying stuff like that anyway? The past is in the past, it happened and we can't change it so we should just focus on the now and improve on everything, when will people get that in their head?" They both shrug.
"But you've got to understand where they are coming from. I mean people are still hurt whether you want to realise that or not Snoozles and they want to blame their hurt on someone, who better than the Avatar? It's not exactly easy to blame a whole nation, so why not pluck a single figurehead as their sole target for their hatred?" I glance away from Toph, 'she does hold a good point, but...'
"I get it, truly I get it more than a lot of people. I lost my mum in that war. But I can't keep focusing on what I lost, otherwise I'll go crazy! I just want to focus on what I gained from the war...like you guys as my friends." Zuko grins at me and places an arm around my shoulders. The corners of Toph's mouth twists upwards into a half smile.
"Nice speech Snoozles. But now's not the time for heartfelt mushy stuff. What are we doing now?"
"We've done the questioning and its obvious Aang found them to be some sort of threat. The two obviously have a grudge against the avatar, but... I don't know the extent of the seriousness. If a Firebender is attacking the Avatar who says more won't join him? Is any civilians in danger, is Aang's life in danger? I just don't know!"
"But most Fire Nation citizens didn't even want to continue the war." The Firelord protests at the idea, half defending his nation in the process.
"But there are people against your regime, they may have stopped over the last year or so, but that doesn't mean they're gone."
"So what now?" Toph probes once again.
"I don't know. Aang isn't telling us anything and neither are those criminals. It looks like we've reached a dead end." I hang my head in shame, 'and I'm meant to be the idea guy, some idea guy I am.'
"What about we spy on him?" I snap my head up at Zuko's suggestion and Toph raises a critical eyebrow.
"What?!" We yell in unison.
"After the meetings this week we go and follow him, see what he actually does once he goes to the temples. Since that's the only place he stays in after going to any meetings."
"And what would we achieve from that?" I question in curiosity.
"Hey if he's hiding something we'll be able to find out what it is, maybe it would explain why he secludes himself to those temples anyway."
"Besides the fact that those temples used to be his home." I respond dryly and Zuko just shrugs in response.
"Only one problem with your so called genius plan Sparky."
"And what's that?"
"Aang knows seismic sense almost as well as I do, he'll know we're there." Zuko scratches his head for a moment before his eyes brighten up.
"But you didn't teach him metal bending. We could make a special room for us and surface the area with metal and wear metal shoes or something. And in the hours we aren't spying on him we keep a few miles away so he doesn't get suspicious."
"I don't know, what about all our duties?" I ask doubtfully.
"We've got the week off due to these stressful meetings. Uncle Iroh can fill in for me, Suki can fill in for Toph and maybe Katara or Hakoda can fill in for you Sokka."
"Yeh I guess...but how will we get there? It's not like we have a flying bison."
"We could go in the war balloons, that's how I followed you guys to the Western Air Temple after the invasion." I sigh and look to Toph.
"What do you think Toph?"
"I guess a stake out is a pretty good idea and a break from work would be cool." I turn back to face Zuko.
"Alright, a stake out it is." I reach out my hand and we all shake on it.
"Great. Now I need to head to the palace, tomorrow the meetings is all about the Fire Nation and whether they are paying their debt to the world." Zuko clutches the bridge of his nose in his hand. I put my own on his shoulder.
"You'll do fine. The Fire Nation has done so much to repay what they've done and besides you've got us rooting for you."
"Yeh, but there's still some stuffy Earth Kingdom nobles who doesn't seem to think the Fire Nation will ever redeem themselves… but thanks guys."
"I'm just not looking forward for the final set of meetings." Toph states despondently while blowing her bangs off her face. I frown trying to remember what those meetings will be about.
"Why's that?"
"Because it's all about the Air Nation and how they should be repopulated." I grimace.
"Those meetings will be tough, especially as no one knows anything about the Air Nation anyway." Silence ensues upon us. I shake my head, ready to change the topic. "Anyway, I'll ask Katara to come down. It will do her good to be in a different environment, besides dad feels happier staying in the South Pole after being away from it so long."
"Alright then everything's sorted. We are going to get to the bottom of this."
"We hope anyway." I mumble quietly enough for no one to hear me.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please keep up with the reviews, they really give me a lot of encouragement. Not sure when I'll next update, hopefully before 2016 is finished, but you never know. Thank you to everyone who keeps on reading!
