Disclaimer: I do not own any Avatar or Korra characters created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, and owned by Nickelodeon. All OCs, however, are all mine.
Ages: Aang - 18, Katara - 20, Sokka - 21, Toph - 18
This Fanfic begins three months after the 'Legend of Korra' series finale.
Chapter II
Aang, his girlfriend, Katara, her brother, Sokka, and their friend Toph, laid down on the top deck of their small ship. It was the roof of the Bridge, which made it the highest place on their ship. They looked up at the sky as they watched a beautiful meteor shower in the night sky. There were also explosions in the sky. Everyone wondered about it until Sokka said, "It's just meteors hitting each other as they enter the atmosphere, become smaller meteors, turn to meteorites and then finally nothing. It's just nothing."
"You have some weirdo, sciency answer for everything. Don't cha, Meathead?" Toph uttered sarcastically.
"I'm just explaining what it really is. What's so wrong about that?" Sokka complained, wondering if there was something wrong with everyone.
"How 'bout taking away the mysterious part of it that made it more than just beautiful to look at?" Katara jokingly pointed out from beside her boyfriend. He let out a chuckle as she laid her head on his shoulder.
"It's especially enjoyable to look at in good company," Aang added, which earned him an 'aww' and kiss on the cheek from Katara. She couldn't resist running her fingers through his hair.
It was also more comfortable to watch in their normal civilian clothes than their uniforms. Aang and Sokka both wore tank tops and pants, while Katara wore a nightgown. Toph wore pretty much what the boys were wearing.
They then heard a low groan from Appa on the main deck below. Aang sat up to see his sky bison and addressed him, "Come on, buddy. You know I wouldn't forget about you. Or Momo," as if on cue, the flying lemur swooped from his place on Appa's head and up onto Aang's other shoulder before he continued, "But Katara's my girlfriend, and that status dictates that she comes in first place."
Momo then flapped his wings and settled on Katara's far shoulder, his tail hanging over Aang's as if to bring the two closer. Both Aang and Katara laughed at the lemur's gesture.
"Thanks for the approval, Momo. It means a lot," Katara thanked the funny monkey, scratching behind his ears. There was another groan from Appa, as if he was also giving his approval. Aang responded, "Thanks, buddy."
They went back to watching the meteor shower. They were on a small ship commissioned to them by the Order of the White Lotus, of whom Sokka and Katara were rookie members. They were tasked with helping Aang, a member of the new Air Nation, investigate reports of pirate activities along the Southwestern coast of the Earth Kingdom. They'd insisted Toph Beifong come along to help them, in case there was any sign of the Order of the Red Lotus.
Sokka and Katara were siblings from the Southern Water Tribe. Their father, Hakoda, was a retainer of Chief Tonraq and had fought in the Water Tribe Civil War. In the midst of the war, they'd lost their mother. They'd been introduced to the White Lotus through Katara's waterbending sifu, Pakku, who was a Grand Lotus of the Order, became apprentices and moved to Republic City. Sokka's master was a swordsman from the Fire Nation named Piandao, while Katara's master was Pakku himself.
After Harmonic Convergence and the rebirth of the airbenders, Katara found Aang working for the Triple Threat Triad, which had renamed themselves the 'Four Seasons Triad'. He'd been under the care of a gangster named Gyatso 'the Monk', who was known for his passive and generous nature, which the Triad found very useful in certain situations with the law. Once Katara, with Gyatso's help, had gotten Aang out of the Triad and with Master Tenzin and the new Air Nation, he made her promise to always take care of him. Aang and Katara had taken an instant liking to each other. A little after the incident with the Red Lotus, Aang asked Katara out and they started dating, much to Sokka's dismay. Since the White Lotus worked closely with the Air Nation, it was easy for Aang and Katara to see each other a lot.
Toph was the niece of Suyin Beifong of the Metal Clan in Zaofu. While traveling across the Earth Kingdom to help bring stability while Avatar Korra recovered down in the Southern Water Tribe, Aang, Katara and Sokka made a stop in Zaofu for supplies and were welcomed by the Beifongs with open arms. Just like when the Avatar and her companions came to the Metal Clan, they were introduced to all the members of the family: artistic Huan, friendly and fellow airbender Opal, the competitive twins Wei and Wing, and their blind hardcore cousin, Toph. They didn't get to meet Baatar Jr. since he was traveling with Kuvira. After the three got to know Toph and vice versa, she asked her aunt and uncle for their blessing to go with them, and since she'd be working with her younger cousin, Opal, they agreed.
Upon their last trip to Republic City, Master Tenzin tasked Aang with investigating reports of piracy along the coast of the Omashu peninsula. So far, they hadn't found anything to confirm the reports. They'd been searching for two weeks now, living on a small ship the White Lotus had given Sokka and Katara, flying between the ship and the mainland. It wasn't too small, so there was plenty of room for Appa and everyone else on the main deck. So far, they'd found three ports completely destroyed, no survivors, but no sign of pirates. It had to be something. But after two weeks of finding nothing, the group decided to enjoy and night of stargazing, improved by an unexpected meteor shower.
They saw another series of small explosions and more meteors showering down almost in waves of lights from the sky.
"Wow, this is amazing to watch," Katara said as she leaned in closer to Aang, petting Momo on the head.
"Yeah. Kinda makes you realize how insignificant we are," Sokka added, getting into one of his deep thinking, sincere moments.
"Eh, you've seen nothin' once, you've seen it a thousand times," Toph commented as she shrugged her shoulders, unimpressed by what the others could see and she couldn't. Even though she was blind, she could a 'see' lot more than most with her earthbending.
Suddenly, one of the meteors didn't seem like it was moving, but it did appear to be getting bigger, or closer. Aang and Katara looked on in amazement as they both gasped.
"Oh, man," Sokka responded to Toph as he sat up, watching the falling fiery object get closer, "You've never not seen anything like this."
Aang and Katara sat up with him, their eyes open wide and mouths agape. The roaring sound it made grew louder as it got closer. It flew ten feet right over them. The sound was deafening so up close. Aang could've sworn he saw something jump out of it at the last minute. The object crashed hard, farther inland in a loud explosion. They all stood straight up, including Toph, at the intense boom. Aang then heard a flapping sound from above and looked up.
"Guys, look!" Aang said urgently as he pointed up, getting their attention. They all did and saw a person in a seat connected to a parachute. He looked unconscious. As he touched down on the beach, the four rushed onto Appa and to the beach to make sure the person was alright.
Landing, Aang grabbed Katara and jumped down with his airbending. Sokka slid down Appa's tail, guiding Toph by the hand.
"Hey! Hey!" Aang called to the survivor, "Sir, are you okay?"
Upon reaching the stranger in the floating seat, Aang and Katara gasped as they suddenly halted and got a closer look at him.
"Hey! Is he alright?" Sokka almost broke Aang and Katara out of their stunned gazes, but he too was shocked when he saw for himself, "Whoa!"
He was big, very big. His skin was scarlet red and a bit scaly. He had claws on his fingers and toes. His feet looked like they belonged to a dragon. He even had a tail, a long one.
"What? What is it? Is he dead?" Toph demanded, clueless about what startled them due to the sand, "Say something!"
"I-I don't… know what… he… is," Aang slowly answered.
"Well, if you guys aren't gonna find out for yourselves, I guess I'll have to find out for all of us," she impatiently concluded, marching past Aang and Katara and dragging Sokka, "Where's our guy, Snoozles?"
"Uh, Toph, he's… um-" Sokka started but was interrupted.
"What? What is it?"
"Toph, we don't think he's human," Katara managed to get out plainly. The blind earthbender stopped in her tracks right in front of the stranger. She turned around, her eyes barely visible though her bangs and wide open.
"Then what does he look like?" she asked in a cautious tone.
"We don't know. He's got some kinda hood covering his face," Aang answered.
"Well, what does the rest of him look like?"
"He's wearing a dark blue changshan robe with a hood. He also has vambraces and greaves. He's got a lot of pouches on his belt, and in his lap is a… a scabbard… with no sword," Katara explained from afar. Obviously, no one wanted to get closer than they already were.
Toph narrowed her eyes before Sokka elaborated for her, "Basically, from what we can see, he looks like a lizard man. He's got a tail, claws, scaly skin. The whole lizard package."
"Well then, isn't someone gonna lift the hood off that face of his?" Toph gestured to the figure.
"Then why don't you do it since you're the one who wants to know what he looks like?" Katara countered.
"No way am I risking losing something, like say, a HAND or MY LIFE! What if it's just playing dead?" Toph held up her hands to emphasize her point, then pointed to the figure.
"Really? Are you serious? A person, that's right, a PERSON, needs our help and all you can think about is yourself? This person could die if we don't stop talking about what he looks like and do something to help him," Aang stormed past Katara, Sokka and Toph to put this matter to bed so that they could actually do something to save this person's life. He grabbed the edge of the beaked hood and flipped it over his head, revealing a very human face.
They all stood there and took in how normal he looked. Katara came up next to Aang, took out her flashlight, and got on her knees to check if their patient was still alive. Katara thought he was actually quite handsome. He had shaggy jet black hair, pointy ears, a flatter-than-normal nose and sapphire blue eyes.
"He's got a pulse," Katara stated.
"You think he's a spirit? I mean, that could be a possibility. After all, they're more common nowadays since Avatar Korra left the Northern and Southern portals open," Sokka speculated. It did sound reasonable.
"That would explain his appearance. But last time I checked, spirits don't bleed. This guy's got some bruising on his forehead and he's bleeding pretty bad. Plus, his pupils aren't dilating," Katara relayed her observations to her friends. His eyes were sapphire blue, like her's and Sokka's.
"Maybe he's blind" Aang hypothesized as he undid the buckles of his seatbelt.
"I don't think blind people are very good with swords," Sokka gave his own observations, taking the scabbard from the stranger's lap, "This sword must've been really big. Look how long this is."
"We need to get him to the ship. He needs that wound on his head tended to… and his eyes checked out," Katara stated.
"What?! No way. Nuh-uh. Not happenin'. We are not taking this monster aboard our ship," Sokka firmly objected.
"Sokka, he's not a monster. He's a person, and he needs our help. From what I can tell with the tons of pouches on his belt, the armor he's wearing, and the scabbard we found with him, he's a soldier," Aang countered as he squared off with the Water Tribesman, pointing out all the things he knew Sokka would've observed.
"Aang does make a good case, Sokka. Besides, I don't think monsters are smart enough to be in armies," Katara added as she and Aang each put the stranger's arms over their shoulders, "Now are ya gonna help us get him on Appa, or aren't you?"
Sokka stood there for a moment, silent, as Aang and Katara dragged him out of his seat and towards Appa. Sokka turned to Toph as he felt her eyes on him, and she asked, "What're you lookin' at me for?"
He responded in kind, "Well, what're you lookin' at me for?"
"I'm waiting for you to lead us to them. I can hardly tell where anything is with this sand," she answered a bit exasperated.
Sokka smacked his forehead and murmured, "Oh my god, I can't believe we're doing this."
He guided Toph to Aang and Katara, each of them grabbing one of the legs that was being dragged in the sand. Sokka also grabbed the tail as well; it felt weird with it hanging down between his legs. They all got their mystery person up on Appa and to the ship.
Once Appa landed, Katara had Aang retrieve the first-aid kit and her herbal remedies.
With his injuries on the outside, he most likely had a concussion. The medicine and waterbending would be twice as effective in reducing the swelling inside the head and clear up the wound on the outside. The three of them brought their guest down onto the deck. Aang came back with the kit, the medicine and a blanket. They laid him down on it and Katara cleaned his forehead, applied the proper medicine, and wrapped some bandages around his head. After that, she took her flashlight again and reexamined his eyes. Still no response, no dilation, nothing. He still had a pulse so he was alive.
While Katara was busy with that, Aang spotted something they hadn't before. There were two patches on the right side of his chest, each with two different types of writing on it. The bottom line was written in a series of odd symbols, but the top line was written using the characters they'd grown up with, except for Toph who read braille. The writing on the patches read, '隊長' Captain,' ''萊昂納多' 劉曉涵'Leonardo' Liu Xiao Han'.
"Hey guys, come look at this," Aang called to his friend as they gathered around him to see what he found, pointing to the patches.
"What is it? He got a booger in his nose, Twinkle Toes?" Toph asked. Katara stared daggers at her with a scowl.
"No, it's two patches on his uniform. One reads 'Captain 'Leonardo' Liu Xiao Han. The other has a bunch of strange symbols on it," Aang corrected her and read what was on the patches out loud, narrowing his eyes at Toph as well.
"Leonardo," Sokka let the word roll off his tongue, then asked rhetorically as he counted off his fingers, "Okay, one) what kinda name is that? Two) where the hell is this guy from? And three) what were his parents thinking?"
"Maybe it's a nickname, Sokka," Katara told her brother, "Hey, go get a bag for me to put some ice in."
"Where are you gonna get the ice?" he asked her, confused. She gave him a look that said, 'really?'.
Sokka's eyebrows jumped as he remembered she was a waterbender, "Oh, right."
Toph sat down on the steps that led up to the Bridge and gave a heavy yawn. It was getting late. Aang noticed and offered, "Toph, why don't you hit the hay? It's getting pretty late."
"You sure? I don't wanna leave you guys with that monster so that he can rip you two to shreds when he wakes," Toph jested. Though they both knew she was mainly joking, they detected caution in her voice.
"It's alright, Toph. We'll be fine. Aang and I got this. Besides, this guy bumped his head pretty bad. I don't think he'll be waking up anytime soon," Katara assured her, gesturing to her boyfriend. Just as she said that, their guest quickly opened his eyes and jolted up, gasping for breath. Toph shot up from the steps as he came to. Terror was written on his face as he breathed heavy panicked breaths.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Easy, okay? Take it easy. You're alright, okay?" Katara tried to calm him as he tried to catch his breath.
He groaned and put his hand to his head, "Where the hell am I? Who are you people?"
"Relax. You've been in an accident. You have a concussion, and I think you might be blind," Katara told him.
"Where am I!? Who are you!?" he demanded, turning assertive. Sokka rushed out with his sword, ready to jump into action.
Aang swiftly stood up and held his hand up to Sokka, telling him to take it easy. He then kneeled back down next to the stranger, and firmly took over for Katara, putting a hand on his shoulder, "I'm Aang. This here is my girlfriend, Katara. The one on the stairs is Toph. And the one with the sword is Katara's brother, Sokka. We're on a ship just off the coast of the Earth Kingdom province of Omashu."
The stranger narrowed his eyes in confusion, "Omashu? Earth Kingd- What planet is this?"
The four all looked at each other at his cluelessness. Aang turned back to him and answered as best he could, "Uuum… Earth?"
"This whole planet is united under a single government?" he asked, an eyebrow raised in skepticism.
"What? No. There are five nations: the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, the Air Nation, the Water Tribe, and the United Republic of Nations. And the planet's name is Earth. The Earth Kingdom is just called that because they bend earth-materials, or rocks," Sokka explained to him, listing the names of the nations as if he was stupid. The stranger gave a vindictive look and uttered a low growl from his throat, almost like an animal. As he bared his teeth, they could see his canines were long and sharp. He just turned his head and his eyes looked straight forward, like was wasn't really looking at anything.
"Alright, enough," Katara commanded, causing everyone to settle down, "Sokka, put your sword away and go inside."
Sokka gave a sigh and sheathed his blade, going back though the double doors that led down to the quarters below deck. Toph went with him.
Katara managed to get their guest to lay back down and told Aang, "You can go too, Aang. I got this?"
"Nope," he responded, playfully smirking at her, "You can't get rid of me that easily. Besides, I spotted him first. I should at least stay with you while you work your magic. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't?"
"Are you sure?" she asked him.
"Sweetie, I'm sure. Who else is gonna run errands for you while you treat your patient" he replied.
"You do know I'm right here, right?" the stranger asked, interrupting the little moment they were having.
Katara ignored him and gave Aang and appreciative look as she leaned over and gave him a peck on the lips. She then leaned her forehead against his and close her eyes, "Thank you."
"That's what I'm here for, sweetie," Aang reciprocated.
"Uh, hello? Not asleep here," the stranger interjected again.
"Oh, sorry. How's your head?" Katara asked.
"It still hurts, but I've survived worse," he answered.
"Good. Now about your eyes; have you always been blind?" she questioned, wanting to finally find out.
"Nope, not always. Not 'til a few years ago," he told her.
"What happened?"
An uneasy expression came across his features for a silent moment before he answered, "It's… kind of a long story."
"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to pry," Katara responded apologetically.
"It's okay… and thank you for savin' my tail," he offered his gratitude.
"You're very welcome. What's your name?" Aang accepted then asked.
"Leo. 'Leonardo' Liu Xiao Han," he gave them his name with a small grin.
"It's nice to meet you, Leonar- uuuh. That's kind of a long name," Katara tried to say his full name, but found that she couldn't.
"Leonardo is a nickname, but just call me Leo. Everyone does," Leo suggested.
"Well, Leo, it's an honor to meet you," Aang said, bowing his head.
Leo's grin grew bigger and replied, "It's an honor to meet you guys, too."