Summary: This chapter is devoted entirely to Katara, Sokka and Toph. This is a rewritten version of "The Swamp." It will likely be long like the last chapter. Also, Toph experiences something that you will understand if you watched LoK and a hint of Tokka. As a side note, I will likely start taking longer to update because the later chapters are harder to write, but I do have a plan for the future chapters it's just a matter of writing it. If you would like to make suggestions for things in future chapters, it would be great. I may try to put them in or I may alter them to fit my plan. Also, next chapter will go back to the format of switching between the two groups. Phew, that was a long summary. Anyways, thank you for all the support and please review.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 6: The Swamp:
It was a very cool morning in the Earth Kingdom when Sokka finally woke up. As his eyes fluttered open, he noticed a certain blind earthbender standing over him, arms crossed and a annoyed expression written on her face. He sat up and looked at her confused, "What?" He asked.
"It's almost eleven and you said we were supposed to leave camp at ten."
"Then why didn't you wake me?"
"Two reasons. One, I can't find Katara. And two, I wanted to yell at you." Toph responded matter-of-factly.
"Where's Katara?"
"I don't know; I just told you that didn't I?" She paused. "And I think she can handle herself, being a master waterbender and all. Also, she isn't all depressed any more. at least she isn't letting it out."
"I'm sure she got up early to waterbend and lost track of time."
"Ok...but I didn't sense her at the lake."
"Did you go to the lake?"
"No! That's a long walk!"
"Spirits you are as lazy as me sometimes...anyway she was probably swimming and that's why you couldn't feel her."
"That makes sense." She punched Sokka's shoulder. "That's for calling me lazy."
"Whatever, let's go find Katara." He turned to look at Appa, "Appa, make sure Momo behaves while we're gone. Appa replied with a low growl as Toph and Sokka walked off into the surrounding forest towards the lake. They walked in silence for about five minutes until Toph broke the rather awkward silence.
"Do you think Twinkletoes is ok?"
This question took Sokka off guard, "W-What do you mean?" He stuttered over his words .
"Like...do you think he is safe?"
"I-I don't know, but all we can do is trust what Bumi said and head for Ba Sing Se."
"Ok...I just don't know what we could do if he was captured and we couldn't find him."
"He's strong. All we can do is trust him to do his part and get to Ba Sing Se." As he finished he looked up to see Katara swimming in the lake while doing some waterbending. Sokka felt a smirk come across his face, "See, I told you she was swimming."
"No, I can't see Snoozles!" Toph snapped.
Katara heard this small outburst and turned to see her brother and Toph arguing yet again. Katara shook her head and swam to a point to where she was in waist deep water; she had gotten herself back up to her normal weight after visiting Omashu and also got a more toned belly thanks to her daily waterbending routines. "I see you two are getting along nicely." She stated, interrupting the bickering.
Sokka just glared at her for a moment before remembering why they came to the lake in the first place, "We need to get going soon so get dressed and come back to camp Sis." He turned to start walking back to camp, leaving the two girls behind.
Katara felt a sly grin come across her face, "Hey Sokka!" She yelled.
"What?!" He moaned and turned around, only to be met by a massive stream of water that knocked him back and soaked through his close. Soon, once the water had drained from his ears, he heard the cackling from his sister and Toph as they clutched their stomachs in a bout of uncontrollable laughter. "Very funny." He mumbled under his breath.
"Oh come on Snoozles, you know you needed a shower anyway." Toph snickered.
"Just get dressed and let's leave." He grumbled to Katara and walked away.
Katara waded out of the water and dried herself off with her waterbending. Once dressed, her and Toph made their way back to camp and made small talk, recounting what just happened and what the plan was for when they landed next. Surprisingly, when they reached camp, Sokka had everything packed up and ready to go. Once on board, Sokka took the reins and stated the signature phrase, leading Appa to take flight. Once in the air, the group began to fly over a massive swamp, giving them all an eerie feeling. Sokka, being all so wise and curious, decided to get a closer look, which did not go over well with Katara.
"Sokka!" He snapped his head around and looked up at his sister. "Go higher, you're starting to freak me out!"
"Why, are you scared of a stupid swamp?" He replied teasingly. Just then a massive tornado appeared behind them and was following them. Sokka snapped the reins, ordering Appa to go faster. "Where'd this the come from?"
Toph snapped a reply, "Maybe because you called the swamp stupid." The tornado started to get closer and closer. Toph clung to Katara as she held on tight to the saddle. Sokka did his best to control Appa until Momo flew down his shirt. At that moment, the tornado swallowed them and flung them into the swamp, causing Appa to get tangled in the vines. Once he regained his composure, Sokka checked on the girls, "You two alright?"
"No thanks to you." Katara snapped back.
"What? Like calling a swamp stupid is going to do something like that."
"Well tornadoes don't exactly appear out of nowhere and then disappear."
"I don't care, let's just untangle Appa and get out of here." Exclaimed Toph. She began to climb out of the Saddle not realizing Appa was about ten feet above the water below.
"Toph wait!" Yelled Katara, but it was too late, Toph fell face first into the swamp water below. Toph got up and spat the water from her mouth. Once she had finished she was greeted by laughter from her friends, much to her annoyance.
"Oh shut up you two!" She shot. After a second though she heard ringing in her ears and hear feet could no longer see even though she was standing on earth under the water. She began to panic and covered her ears as the ringing intensified. It felt like a million people were stomping around right next to her then she let it out, she screamed, "AHHHHH! MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!"
Katara, sensing the fear and strain in her friend's voice, climbed down to the water and brought her into a hag, "Toph calm down. What's wrong?"
At her soothing words, Toph began to calm down, realizing that in doing so the noises and the searing pain in her head were gone. "It was like I was standing in a crowd of a million people, as though I could feel all of them walking. It was also like they were screaming at me." She looked up into what she thought were Katara's eyes.
"Are you ok now?" Asked Sokka, rather concerned.
"Yes, but I still can feel anything with my feet though." She replied. By this time, Appa had wriggled himself out of the vines and down to the water. The canopy, however, was too dense to take off, as Sokka and Katara noticed.
"Ok...we need to get moving." Sokka paused and looked to Toph, outstretching his left hand, "Toph, take my hand."
"Why?" Toph asked, not wanting to be a helpless little girl again.
"Because you can't see so please just take it."
She sighed, "Fine."
Toph took his hand reluctantly, with a slight blush that only Katara noticed. The three began to trudge through the swamp with Appa and Momo in tow. It was extremely hard to see where they were going, especially with the think vines. Sokka struggled to clear a path for himself, let alone a flying bison. Somehow, after some time of traveling, Appa and Momo disappeared due to Appa's fear of confined spaces.
Katara was the first to notice, "Um...where's Appa?"
Sokka turned around to see no giant flying beast following them, "He probably didn't like the tight spaces. Ahhhhh." He grunted. "We probably should have followed him since he is the only one who can get us out of here."
"I'm sure he'll be fine. We should find a clearing that way Appa can see us once he gets out of here." Katara suggested.
They continued through the swamp with Sokka leading, still holding Toph's hand. The haze over the swamp began to thicken, causing the three to get disoriented. Eventually, Sokka came to a place where he noticed cut vines, a place where they had been before. "I think we're lost." Exclaimed Sokka.
"You think!" Toph snapped.
"Wait?" Sokka stated. He saw something off in the distance, something white. It was familiar, but he couldn't quite put a finger on it. He started to follow it deeper into the swamp, slipping his hand out of Toph's and leaving Toph and Katara behind
"Sokka, where are going?" Katara asked, concerned but to no avail. Sokka didn't hear her and continued on.
Sokka continued through the swamp, following the ghostly figure. Long flowing bands of white trailed behind it and through the vines. As he followed the figure through the sheet of vines, Sokka's heart fell into a pit. What he saw was someone he had failed in front of him, hovering above a pond, was once the one he loved.
"Yue?" He gasped, holding his head and closing his eyes. "This is just a trick of the light, swamp gas." He turned away from her, trying to make the vision go away, "I'm going crazy." He turned back around to see the ghostly figure still there. He approached her, looking into her eyes.
"You didn't protect me." The voice echoed and stung his very heart. He rubbed his eyes and she was gone. Sighing, he turned around to leave and gasped in shock, almost causing him to fall over backwards. Yue was there again. And then she was gone again.
Meanwhie,
Toph was panicking as Sokka had let go of her hand and she couldn't feel anything. "Why did he leave." He voice shook as she felt around to find Katara. Eventually, Katara grabbed her shoulder and gave it a squeeze.
"It'll be fine. I'm here. I won't leave." As she said that, she saw a male figure in the distance, thinking it was Sokka, she followed. "Wait here, I think I see Sokka." And she left Toph behind. Alone. She continued through the swamp after the figure, which now began to run. Katara began to chase after the figure, "Sokka! Is that you?" The figure did not answer and continued to run and...laughed. The laugh, she could tell was not Sokka's; it was someone elses. As she chased after the figure, she noticed that it was a boy. This boy stopped and looked her in the eyes and smiled. She stopped dead in her tracks, noticing the defining blue arrow on his head, the stormy gray eyes, the heartwarming and genuine smile. It was her best friend. She gasped, "Aang?" He giggled and turned around and ran through a wall of vines. Katara chased after him, coming to a clearing where he stood facing away from her. She ran to him, tears of happiness flowing from her eyes. She went to hug him, still at a sprint, but felt nothing. She flew through where Aang was and through vines and knocked into Sokka, who had reunited with Toph and pulled her to a clearing. Sokka fell on top of Toph in a rather awkward position. Katara fell into the water in tears. Tears of sadness. Katara sat up and put her face into her palms balling while Toph and Sokka sorted themselves out.
Toph blushed at who was on top of her, "Uh...Sokka." She said rather nervously.
Sokka looked down to see Toph's face just a few inches from his. He got up and blushed, "Uh...sorry." He stood up and saw Katara balling. He walked over and knelt down next to his sister, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Are you ok? You ran into me really hard." She looked up into his eyes with tears still flowing. He didn't see tears of pain, rather, tears of sadness. He pulled her into a hug, knowing she probably had a vision "What did you see?" He whispered. She took in a shaky breath and wiped her eyes with the ack of her hand.
"I saw...I saw Aang." She muttered. "But it wasn't him just...just a vision."
"I had a vision too." Katara looked at him in surprise. "I...saw Yue."
Katara gasped in surprise, "What?!"
"Who's Yue?" Asked Toph
Suddenly voice came from behind him, "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
Katara and Sokka stood up and turned to meet the voice and Toph just looked in the general direction. They saw an older, heavy-set man who wore nothing other than leaves around his waist and covering lower. Katara was repulsed at first and then relaxed, seeing as the man was no threat.
"Who are you?" Asked Sokka, looking rather curiously at the man in front of him.
"Name's Huu. I live here in the swamp with my fellow friends." He stated rather humbly. "Now who are you and how did you get here?" He asked with an odd accent.
Katara replied, feeling welcomed by the man, "My name is Katara, I am a waterbender from the South pole. This is my brother, Sokka, and my friend Toph; she is an earthender. We were fying over in a Sky Bison when a tornado knocked us down."
Huu gave a slightly confused look, "This creature you flew on. does it have six legs and a flat tail."
Sokka was confused at his knowledge of Appa, "Have you seen him?"
He chuckled, "Ha, seen him. We were gonna eat 'em for dinner but noticed he belonged to someone."
"I guess we'll take that as a yes." Toph stated dryly
"Come with me. I will take you to the Banyon-grove. There we will be able to find my friends and yours." He led them into another clearing where a massive tree towered above the surrounding area. Toph still clung to Sokka as they reached the highest point of the roots. Huu spoke up, "The swamp is one big tree, where everything is connected, much like the rest of the world. From here you can sense everything that is going on, from the flock of birds down there..." He pointed a back down into the Swamp where suddenly a flock of birds flew out of the canopy. "...To people across the world, if you have a strong enough connection to the world and your spiritual self."
"That's it!" Exclaimed Toph, enthusiastically. "That's why I thought I was going crazy down there. Through the tree I could feel everything with my feet, it was just too much at once and I wasn't expecting it."
"But if you concentrate enough-" Katara was cut off.
"-You can search for individual things." Huu finished the statement. "That is how us swamp folk find each other."
Katara's eyes widened in realization, "Toph, see if you can sense Aang."
"I don't think I can. I'm new at this 'feel everything through a tree' stuff. Also, there is a reason I call him Twinkletoes. I can hardly feel his footsteps on most days."
Katara looked down in sadness. She should have known she was hoping for too much, but it was her only chance at reassurance that Aang was alright. Sokka put a hand on Katara's shoulder and looked to Huu, "Can you take us back to Appa? We really need to get moving."
"Sure thing." Huu replied and began to lead everyone back to his camp. Toph, with her newfound abilities, was able to walk on her own without any trouble once she figured out how to control it. Once they reached the camp, Huu introduced Katara, Sokka and Toph to everyone. They saw Appa happily playing with an alligator. Once given some supplied for their journey, Katara, Sokka and Toph climbed aboard Appa and prepared to leave.
Sokka took the reins, "Thanks, Huu, for all the help."
"No problem, Sokka." Huu waved goodbye as he watched the massive beast take flight.
Once in the air, Toph spoke up, "I'm glad to get out of there. That place was weird." Katara, from her position at the back of the saddle, flinched slightly at her comment, remembering her vision of Aang. Did my vision mean he is ok? Why was it him in the vision? Why did the vision have to be torn away from me like that? A solitary tear ran down her face at her thoughts. Maybe he is ok. He is strong. And he was happy, he has to be ok. A small smile crossed her face as she slowly drifted off to dreams of her and her best friend.
A/N: Sorry for the rushed ending. I didn't want to go into too much detail about the swampbenders and their camp. I also excluded the fight for length reasons and I wanted this to be an episode of discovery rather than fighting. As always thanks for reading and please review; I love your guys' support it inspires me to write more.