A/N: I do not own any characters from Avatar the Last Airbender. I only own my own OCs.
If I had to pick a song that fit this chapter…. It would be "Half of My Heart" by John Mayer. Especially the last part of the chapter. Just saying. :-)
Trigger Warning: there is a brief mention of rape in this chapter. Please proceed with caution.
Chapter 2: Nightmares
It has been two weeks since Zora joined Team Avatar. She's been doing her best to help out as much as possible. She helped with the Great Divide, making two tribes come to peace over years of conflict. She did her part in contributing to finding food, setting up camp, and finding clues to help with Aang mastering all of the element's.
She even came to realize how goofy Sokka can be, and she wasn't mad about it at all.
Sokka was… different, in her eyes. He cracked jokes unprovoked, he was the knower of all things that had to deal with navigation, and he even was stern at times. The biggest thing she noticed though? He was kind. He was gentle.
He was Sokka.
One night, Zora was able to sit down and connect with Sokka about life in general when it was his turn to steer Appa. Zora couldn't sleep that night, missing her grandmother and hoping the town was doing alright. He told her about his duties back at the Southern Water Tribe, his family, and the reason why he took on the duty to protect his entire tribe. She learned about Hakoda, although she noted that Sokka's face went from smiling to stoic within a couple sentences of mentioning the man.
"He and the rest of the men of the Tribe set off to fight the Fire Nation after what they did to our village. He told me it was my responsibility to protect our people, making sure no one hurt them. I don't know why, but I took that responsibility very seriously. I recruited as much as I could, our oldest soldier beside myself was eleven. I just… didn't want to lose anyone else." He turned his head, his eyes focused on the sky ahead of him.
Zora shifted herself closer to him, her hand on his shoulder. He stiffened a bit, but his eyes looked to their left a bit. "I'm sure you did what you could, Sokka."
He nodded slowly. "We haven't heard from my dad since he left." He whispered.
Zora's heart sank a bit to her stomach. "That must be hard." She said, removing her hand from his shoulder. She didn't want to implode on his space.
Sokka nodded. "Yeah." He whispered. He quickly cleared his throat, changing the subject. "So, what about your dad? I didn't see you say bye to anyone in the town except Pacha."
She shrugged her shoulders a bit. "I don't know my father. It was always my mother and grandmother. We lived in Ba Sing Se for a long time, then one day we left unexpectedly. I think I was… maybe eight years old? I can't remember exactly. I just know my mother wanted to find a small town where it was quiet and out of sight." She paused, thinking of her next words.
Sokka interrupted her thoughts. "Wow. So it's always been just you three?"
She nodded. "Up until seven years ago." She took a deep breath, remembering the awful event. "I was eleven. I remember it being a particularly cool night, unusual for this part of the world. My mother was going to fetch more wood for the town, because the Fire Nation soldiers were useless at that point." Zora paused again, trying to keep her composure. "She never came back."
Sokka sat silently, but he moved his hand to her knee, patting it gently, letting her know he was there.
She took a deep breath. "They did a search within a 10 mile parameter. They didn't find anything for a week. Then, one night, old man Zou came back holding this." She lifted her left hand up a bit, motioning towards the bracelet. "He didn't say anything. He just shook his head and hugged me. He was crying." She paused again. "He never cries." She whispered.
Another deep breath. "I eventually found out that she was attacked by Fire Nation soldiers who were on an expedition, not the ones who were supposed to operate our town. She fought hard, from all the ground that was ripped up in the area. Years later they found skeletal remains that had her Earth Bender sash wrapped around her hips. No other signs of clothing. Just the sash." She pointed out to Sokka.
She heard him suck in a breath very quietly, almost as if he gasped. "Zora, I'm so-"
"You don't have to apologize." She said, finally able to lift her head and look at the boy next to her. She focused her attention on his eyes again. His deep blue eyes. "My grandmother and I celebrate her life as much as we can." She smiled sadly.
Sokka smiled weakly at her. "She must've been a great person." He said.
She looked away again, tears pooling at the corner of her green eyes. "Yeah. She was."
That night, she realized she made the right decision in joining their group. She really liked everyone, even if Katara was a micromanaging teenager, and if Sokka was a goofball, and if Aang was still maturing emotionally and mentally.
She realized she found people aside from her grandmother who had good hearts. It made her thank the spirits nightly before she fell asleep.
She was thankful that Sokka walked…well, ran… into her life. He was turning out to be a good friend to her, someone who truly looked out for her. There had been times where he made sure her well-being was put before his, and vice versa. When someone suspicious got too close at the market, he was there, in his own goofy way. She remembered the time one of the men of the town was saying some disrespectful things to her. Sokka was there in a second and even told the guy to leave her off.
Well, in the nicest way he could in the moment, at least.
Zora's heart twitched that very moment. She didn't want to admit it, but the Water Tribe boy with the blue eyes started to slither into her heart.
Tonight they decided to land somewhere excluded from civilization to keep hidden from people. They set up camp and decided to build a fire and get some sleep. Sokka offered to be the first watch, Zora to be the second.
Although, when Zora woke up, Sokka was snoozing away with his boomerang and hatchet. She rolled her eyes and stretched, but she noticed Aang tossing and turning.
"I… didn't.. mean to." He mumbled. Zora's eyebrow hitched up. "Please… Monk Gyasto…" his face looked like it was in pain. "It's all my fault." He mumbled quickly.
She crept over to him and kneeled down beside him. "Aang." She said, but he was still tossing. She grabbed his shoulder, shaking gently. "Aang." She said again.
He started to thrash in his sleep now. "It's all my fault!" He mumbled a bit louder. She started to panic.
"Aang!" She said, shaking his shoulder more now. "Wake up!"
Suddenly, his eyes opened and he threw himself forward. "Ahh!" He yelled.
Next, Katara and Sokka were both up and alert. Sokka was holding his weapons in his hands.
"What's going on? Did we get captured again?" Sokka said, waving his weapons around, looking everywhere.
"No, it was nothing. I just had a bad dream." Aang said. He turned to Zora. "Sorry if I woke you up."
She shook her head. "You didn't, it's okay. It's my turn to watch, but someone," she gave a pointed look to Sokka, "forgot to wake me up."
"I was resting my eyes." Sokka said, in a matter-of-fact tone.
Zora rolled her eyes.
"Go back to sleep, everyone." Aang said, rolling over to his side, his back to the group.
Sokka immediately closed his eyes and laid back down. "Don't have to tell me twice."
Zora rolled her eyes yet again, "oh for the love of-"
Katara sat up. "Are you alright, Aang?"
"I'm okay." He said, backed turned towards everyone still.
Katara pressed on. "You seem to be having a lot of nightmares lately. Do you want to tell us about it?"
"I think I just need some rest." Aang said.
Scaring the daylights out of Zora, Sokka immediately sat up and spoke. "You wanna hear about my dream?"
Zora smacked Sokka's arm. "Could you not give me a heart attack at the age of 18? Please?" She begged, clutching her chest slightly.
"Pff, fine. That's okay. I didn't want to talk about it anyway." He said, rolling back over, cuddling his boomerang.
Katara rolled her eyes at her brother and laid back down. Zora sat up and kept her eyes on the water in front of them, listening to the waves softly crash against the sand.
By morning time, everyone was awake and packing up for the day. It was a very beautiful morning, not a cloud in the sky and birds flying everywhere. Aang was already sitting on top of Appa's nape, ready to start traveling. He patted Appa's head gently.
"Look at those clear skies, buddy! Should be smooth flying today." He said, his arm waving towards the sky.
Zora and Katara were gathering all the bags, when Katara turned hers upside down, nothing coming out. "We should smoothly fly ourselves to a market. We're out of food." The last of the cargo was packed up, so Zora and Katara walked gently on top of the saddle.
"Guys wait! This was in my dream! We shouldn't go to the market." Sokka said, very nervously.
"What happened in your dream?" Zora asked, looking at him questioningly.
"Food eats people!" He exasperated. Zora's eyes started to twitch.
"Sokka I swear-"
"Also! Momo could talk!" He pointed at the flying lemur. "You said some very unkind things."
Zora quickly grabbed Momo and cuddled him to her chest. "You leave Momo out of this." She whispered, kissing the lemur's head and scratching his ears.
Katara and Aang giggled. "Yip yip!" Aang said, and they were off.
They arrived at the market nearby, looking at all the stands of food for them. Katara was getting berated by the woman at the Watermelon stand for questioning the ripeness of her fruit. Eventually, the group walked away, but not without the old woman kicking Sokka in his ass.
They stood a ways away, Sokka still rubbing his behind. "Out of food and out of money. Now what are we supposed to do?!"
"You could get a job, smart guy." Katara countered. Zora snickered.
From a distance, they heard a couple talking. "You shouldn't go out there! Please! The fish can wait!"
They all turned and faced the couple. "There's going to be a terrible storm!"
Zora noticed Aang looking anxious for a brief moment. Her eyebrow hitched, questioning him.
"Aw, you're crazy. It's a nice day!" The man said to his wife. "No clouds, no wind, no nothing! So quit your nagging, woman!"
Aang spoke up quickly. "M-maybe we should find some shelter."
Sokka turned, giving a disapproving look to the boy. "Are you kidding? Shelter from what?" Zora frowned at Sokka.
The woman spoke again. "My joints say there's going to be a storm! A bad one."
The man countered, "well it's your joints against my brain."
The woman crossed her arms, "then I hope your brain can find someone else to haul that fish, cause I ain't coming!"
"Then I'll find a new fish hauler and pay him double then what you get! How do you like that?!"
Sokka immediately stepped forward. "I'll go!"
Zora's eyes grew to the size of plates. "Sokka!" She whispered.
The man pointed at him. "You're hired!"
Sokka looked back at the group. "What? You said get a job, and he's paying double."
"Double? Who told you that nonsense?" The man questioned.
Zora crossed her arms and shook her head. Sokka immediately followed the man towards the boat and began to assist with loading the carrier. Zora and Katara gave each other a quick, knowing look, before sighing and helping the Water Tribe boy.
"Sokka, maybe this isn't such a good idea," Aang started, "look at the sky." He pointed towards the north, where dark clouds started to approach. Zora felt a chill in her spine. She was never a fan of rain, let alone thunder and lightning.
She couldn't exactly figure out why, but the lightning frightened her to her core.
Sokka chimes in. "I said I was gonna do this job. I can't back out just because of some bad weather."
Zora shook her head again, standing next to Aang. "He's definitely determined, that's for sure."
"Airbender tattoos, eh? You must be the Avatar." The man shouted, pointing at Aang. Zora crossed her arms. "That's right."
"Well, don't be so smiley about it. The Avatar disappeared for a hundred years!" He shouted. Zora frowned. "You turned your back on the world."
Zora was now pissed.
"Don't yell at him!" Zora shouted.
Katara appeared next to her, equally upset. "Aang would never turn his back on anyone!"
"Oh he wouldn't, huh? I must've imagined the last one hundred years of war and suffering." The man countered.
Zora started to advance to the man, when she felt an arm around her waist. Sokka whispered to her quickly, "Easy. Don't draw any more attention."
Zora took a deep breath, noticing Aang's guilty face. She nodded and Sokka unwrapped his arm from her. He stood next to Zora, arms crossed.
"Aang is the bravest person I know!" Katara stated, hands on her hips. "He has done nothing but help people and save lives since I've met him. It's not his fault he disappeared!"
Zora watched as Aang began to slowly back away from the group, his face turning into despair. She stepped forward, suddenly walking toward the boy. "Aang…" she said hesitantly. "Don't listen to him."
Katara whipped around. "Aang? What's wrong?"
Suddenly, Aang opened his glider and sailed off with the wind.
"Aang!" Zora shouted, trying to catch him before he left, but she was too late.
"That's right! Keep flying!" The old man yelled to Aang. Zora whipped her head around, eyes on fire. She ran up to the man.
"Hey, asshole. You're horrible!" She yelled, going toe to toe with him. She stood at least five inches shorter, but he just ran their friend out of the town. She was ready to kick his ass.
The old man just glowered at her. Sokka got between the two and began to back Zora up to give the two space. "Zora…." He whispered.
Zora looked up past Sokka and saw Katara running onto Appa, sitting on his head. Zora turned her head back to Sokka, "We'll find him. You just worry about getting some money."
Sokka nodded. "Hey, be careful… ya know, if this storm does actually happen." He looked into her green eyes.
Zora's ear tips started to become warm, but she shook it off and nodded her head. "You too."
She gave Sokka one last look before running onto Appa with Katara, and sailing off to find him.
It was raining heavily as Zora and Katara flew through the sky. Zora kept a watch while Katara steered. She saw a cliff that had a cave attached to it, before pointing in its direction. They flew to the opening and walked in to find Aang, sitting silently by himself, head hanging down. The two walked over to him. He must've heard them though, because he spoke instantly.
"I'm sorry for running away." He said.
Zora's heart broke for him. Katara spoke first though.
"It's okay. That fisherman was way out of line."
"Actually, he wasn't."
Zora's eyebrow hitched. Katara continued, "what do you mean?"
Aang hesitated. "I don't want to talk about it." Zora noticed his voice starting to break.
Zora walked over and sat next to him, her knees to her chest, arms wrapped around them. "It has to do with your dream, doesn't it?" She asked him.
He stayed silent. Zora pressed on. "Talk to us." She said gently.
He sighed. "Well, it's kind of a long story."
Suddenly, Appa and Momo came up behind them. Appa nuzzled his enormous face into Aang's, almost signaling him that he was there.
Zora learned that Appa was there with Aang when they disappeared together and he was in the iceberg. She learned that Aang ran away because he was afraid of his duties. He didn't want to be the Avatar, he just wanted to be Aang.
He was informed of being the Avatar at 15 because the monks believed that there was a war coming, which they came to find out there was.
Aang's friends began to slowly exclude him. They left him out of activities, games, and even just chatting sessions. He eventually took refuge in his guardian's room, Monk Gyatso, to play Pai Sho or vent to him. However, the other monks felt he needed to start training to master all the elements. He was tested often, trained hard.
Aang just wanted a normal life.
Eventually, she learned the Temple separated him and his guardian so that he could solely focus on his training with no distractions. They took him away from the only father figure he ever knew.
Zora sat and listened intently. Though she knew the Avatar was missing for over one hundred years, her family always hoped he would come back. They never spoke ill of him, or the previous Avatars. She couldn't imagine how Aang felt.
Suddenly, he stood up, his arms flailing in anger. "How could they do that to me?! They wanted to take everything I knew and everyone I loved!"
Air started to swirl around him, as he started to lose control. Zora jumped up quickly. "Aang, calm down. You're sending hot cinders everywhere!"
The air stopped and the fire began to dwindle down to its regular size. "I'm sorry I got so mad." He said, looking ashamed.
Katara spoke up. "You have a right to be angry, after the monks sent you away like that."
Aang sat down again, and so did Zora. "Well, that's not exactly what happened."
Aang described the night he disappeared into the iceberg. He left in the night during a storm, just like the one that was happening at that very moment. He lost control of the wind around him as he and Appa fell into the sea. Aang said all he could remember was falling under the water with Appa beneath him. The next thing he remembered was waking up to Katara above him.
"You ran away." Katara noted.
He nodded. "And then the Fire Nation attacked our temple. My people needed me, and I wasn't there to help."
Katara, eager to make him feel better, kept going. "You don't know what would have-"
She was interrupted by Aang, "the world needed me and I wasn't there to help!" He exasperated.
Zora sighed. "Aang…"
He continued, "the fisherman was right. I did turn my back on the world." He looked down, angry with himself.
Zora spoke gently again. "You're being too hard on yourself. Even if you did run away…"
Katara finished for her, "I think it was meant to be. If you had stayed, you would've been killed along with all the other Airbenders."
Zora flinched at that statement. The Fire Nation was so cruel, and killed innocent people because they wanted to be the only people alive in future years. How awful.
Aang countered, "you don't know that."
Katara kept on. "I know it's meant to be this way. The world needs you now. You give people hope."
He slowly lifted his head up, looking at the girl next to Zora, in her blue eyes.
Zora saw in that moment that Aang was starting to fall for the girl. She smiled at him, understanding his feelings. She watched as Momo ran from her lap to Aang's, cuddling his leg. Aang naturally started to pet Momo, as he continued to smile at Katara. Eventually he looked at Zora and smiled at her too.
Suddenly, there was a loud shout into the cave. "Please, help!"
All three of them lept to their feet and ran towards the voice. It was the older woman from earlier, standing at the mouth of the cave. Katara got to her first. "It's okay, you're safe." She said, guiding the woman towards the warm fire.
"But my husband isn't!" She said. Zora's eyes went wide as her heart stilled.
"What do you mean? Where's Sokka?" She asked quickly.
"They haven't returned. They should've been back by now! This storm is becoming a typhoon. They're caught out at sea!" The old woman stated.
Zora's hand reached her mouth. No…. She looked at Aang, who looked fierce.
"I'm going to find them."
"I'm going with you." Zora said. She did not hesitate. She needed to find Sokka.
The old woman sat herself down. "I'm staying here."
Zora glared at her. She turned her gaze back to Aang and began to walk to Appa. "Let's go."
Her and Aang boarded into Appa, and then they began to fly through the storm. At first it was cold, very cold. Then, it became hard to see as the water continued to splash their faces, almost as if something were flicking them constantly. They flew for five minutes with no luck. Suddenly, a wave at least twenty meters tall came upon them. Zora's eyes grew wide as she stared. Aang once again looked brave and determined.
"Come on, Appa!" He yelled over the wind and rain.
Appa began to soar up, before realizing the wave was coming down on them faster than anticipated. Aang suddenly stood up and began to use his arms to create a wind tunnel in front of them, blasting a hole through the giant wave. They made it!
Zora sighed quickly. "Good job, Aang!" She yelled. They flew even higher up and Aang quickly pointed.
"The boat! There!"
Zora looked and saw a boat barely hanging on for dear life. She also saw Sokka and the fisherman hanging onto the sail's ropes. It floated up and over the monstrous waves, trying to stay afloat.
Appa flew to the front of the boat, flying just roughly above the men. Aang began to fly down using his Airbender skills, when suddenly the sail was hit by lightning and began to fall onto the three of them on the boat.
"No!" Zora yelled.
Aang used his water bending skills and made the wood of the sail split into two, missing them all at once. Zora watched as Aang grabbed rope, tying it around Sokka and the fisherman's waists, before using air bending to launch them all up onto Appa.
Zora ran out to the two men and quickly untied them. When done, the fisherman laid flat on his stomach, suddenly passing out. Zora looked at Sokka, who looked at her for a brief moment.
His eyes were the same color as the sea on a bright, sunny morning.
Yet the sea behind them was dark and fierce. She looked at the wave approaching them, but it was too big to avoid at this point. "Aang!" She screamed.
Sokka suddenly took hold onto her waist. "Hold on to me! Don't let go!" He shouted over the sea, wind, and thunder. Zora did not hesitate, grabbing onto Sokka's shoulders. "Hold tight!" He shouted again, pulling her closer.
Suddenly, the water surrounded them as they plunged into the sea. Everything went black as the impact took Zora's consciousness.
Zora's eyes started to adjust to their surroundings. Although everything was blurry, the first thing she saw was tanned skinned and those blue eyes she happened to look into once in a while. Brown hair was sticking to the tanned skin, and her eyes began to focus.
Sitting above her was Sokka, looking down on her and moving any hair in her face aside. "Hey." He whispered. She tried to speak, but then realized she couldn't breathe.
Quickly leaning to her side, she began to cough up all the water that was sitting in her lungs. After about 10 seconds of getting out all the water, she took a deep breath. She felt a hand on her back, rubbing it gently. "That's it, get it out." Sokka said.
Zora steadied her breath before laying back down again. She closed her eyes and tried to ebb away her anxiety. Sokka sat next to her, making sure she was alright. After a few moments, she sat up on her elbows. Zora looked at Sokka, blushing slightly. "Thank you."
Sokka raised an eyebrow at her, "for what?"
Zora suddenly felt shy, and started to avoid eye contact again. "For latching on to me and making sure I didn't get caught in the current."
Sokka scratched the back of his head. "No sweat, seriously." He also was blushing, hoping that he was keeping his cool as much as he could in front of Zora.
She smiled softly at him. "You didn't have to though." Zora meant that statement too. Sokka didn't have to worry about her. He could've worried about Aang more, or the fisherman.
But he made sure to hold on to her.
Sokka looked at her almost in disbelief. "I wasn't going to let you drown, Zora." Sokka looked like he was going to say something else, but he refrained and waited for Zora's reaction.
She nodded knowingly. "I'm thankful you didn't." She sat straight up this time, avoiding Sokka's eyes.
"Me too." He said quickly.
Her eyes met his, and Zora felt something she had recently felt when she was around Sokka.
She felt another twitch in her heart, like a gravitational pull towards the boy next to her. Before she could think, she changed from her sitting and sat on top of her legs, and she threw her arms around Sokka's shoulders. She hugged him gently, but with passion.
Sokka hesitated at first, but then he wrapped his own arms around her slim waist. He blushed, but he did it.
At that moment, Sokka forgot that there were other people around them. He forgot that he had just saved Zora's life. He just knew that the girl in front of him was there, in his arms.
And oddly enough, that's all that mattered.