Chapter Eight: Found and Loved
It's been a few days after Li left, and the group is in panic. They don't know why she would leave, or even if she had left willingly. Sokka can't help but feel guilty.
"Ugh! This is all my fault! If I hadn't sneaked up on her! If I hadn't called her a dark bender!" he yelled at himself, pacing through the main room. Katara kept trying to speak but he kept interrupting her. She finally took a stand.
"SHUT UP! Are you coming with us to find her or not?" she said, putting her hands on her hips. They were bringing their sleeping bags out to Appa. Sokka stood there dumbly before starting to help.
Once everything was packed, Sokka and Katara climbing into Appa's saddle and Aang sat on Appa's head. "Yip yip!" Appa flopped his giant tail and took of into the air. Li's friends stood in the town waving and shouting "Good luck!"
It took about a day to reach the temple. It was dark, almost 8:00. They decided to split up and search the temple. Aang went to the sanctuary, since he was the only one who could get in, Katara went to the balconies, and Sokka searched the lower level.
Aang went to the sanctuary door. It was a slight different design, but still had the trumpets. He used a swift hand movement and the three trumpets played a slow and rhythmic tune. The doors slowly opened. Aang could see a small flicker of light in the center of the room. He could also see a figure sitting near it. They looked tired and miserable. Also very hungry. He could tell because he could hear grumbles echo in the large room. He stepped forward to her.
She looked up at him. Her face looked tear stained and weak. She had a raggy blanket slung over her shoulders that looked like it was made very sloppily and quickly. She stood up, holding the blanket close to her body. She was shivering. All she had was that raggedy old blanket to keep her warm. Aang wasn't surprised to see her this way.
"Aang, i-is that you?" she said, shakily. Aang ran up to her.
"Li, why are you like this? Why are you here?" he questioned her. He was horrified at the condition she was in, but he tried not to show it. He looked at the statue behind her. It was an air bender, a woman. It had a resemblance to Li, but Li had a more rebellious fashion sense. There was a claw scratch on its face.
"I-I came back home. This is where I lived before." She noticed that Aang was looking at the statue. She faced the statue, glaring at it. "Avatar Jui. I'm her descendant. I hate her."
Aang woke up from staring at the statue. "Why?"
"All this is her fault. She created dark bending! If it wasn't for her I'd be a normal air bender! None of this would have happened. I wouldn't be a dark bender!" Li wanted to cry, but she knew that her eyes were sore from all that she'd been doing. Plus, crying made her feel like a baby and a weakling. She refused to cry.
Aang placed a hand on her shoulder. "We can make it better. Everything will be alright." He said, trying to calm her down.
"No. Nothing is going to be alright. Never…" she said, looking at the ground. "I just want to die to end all my suffering. Why couldn't Zuko have finished me off?" she cried. She ran out of the sanctuary and out onto a balcony. She stood up on it, preparing to jump. Sokka was below her on the lower level. He looked up and saw her there and gasped. He knew what she was about to do.
Aang started to run, trying to get there before she did it. But he was too late. She jumped, making no effort to save herself. She was falling straight towards Sokka. He held his arms out, scrambling around, trying to get in the right position to catch her.
In a few moments, she was in Sokka's arms. She had closed her eyes and was lying still, expecting to be dead. When she opened her eyes and saw Sokka's red face, she almost fell out of his arms. Her face went red being in his arms until she jumped out of them. "Why did you catch me?"
"What did you want me to do? Let you commit suicide?"
"Yes!" Li yelled at him.
"But I couldn't let you kill yourself!"
Li's anger dropped. "W-what?"
"Because…" his face turned incredibly red. He almost couldn't believe he was going to do it, but he did. He put a hand on her cheek and pulled it towards him in a kiss. Li stood there in shock, but didn't pull away. It was her first kiss. Finally Sokka broke off and looked her in the eyes. "That's why."
Xlo: Yay! I've finished! All I need now is the epilogue and then I'm done and I can get on with my life!
Li: Oh… Oh my.
