I Don't Own Miraculous or Avatar.
Chapter Twenty-Seven. The Serpent's Pass Part Two.
"Everyone single file." Katara said. The group followed behind Katara, who had taken the lead that day. They came to a place on the path that had been submerged completely in water. Suki noticed Rin's hand hovering over her yo-yo uncertainly. Suki wasn't sure what to make of the red clad girl. Her attire screamed Fire Nation, but the way she acted? She most certainly wasn't. She had the Water Tribe's blue eyes and the earth kingdom's complexion. Suki had to guess she was from on of the two. Now, as Rin fiddled nervously with the yo-yo, Suki realised the girl was a fighter of sorts and seemed to think something bad was going to happen. Suki shook her head. After all, avoiding the Fire Nation was the hard part, right?
Suki thought back to the night before. Sokka had given her pretty mixed signals on whether or not he was interested in starting a relationship. The night had seemed eery, as if the moon spirit herself had watched over the conversation with great interest. Sokka's paranoia about her getting hurt was explained though. Sokka had explained that in the North Pole he'd lost someone close to him. He was simply afraid to lose her too. She assured him she was fine, but his jumpiness about the whole situation was not gone. She wondered what had happened at the North Pole that had changed Sokka so much since the last time they'd met… and she'd actually been happy to see him too...
"Aang," Katara said, motioning towards the water blocking their path, "I need help." The Avatar nodded, clearly much happier that morning than he'd been the night before. He lept down and began to bend the water into a path for the. Rin backed up with wide eyes.
"Uh… you guys go on… I think I should try another way around this… a way that is only accessible by me… I have this bad feeling… that something is going to happen… I just want to be cautious." Sokka looked back at Rin in concern.
"Are you sure?" He asked. She looked at the water nervously.
"Positive. Go on. Don't worry. I've got this." She said with a nod. The others shrugged and continued into Aang and Katara's water tunnel as if this wasn't anything strange. Suki wasn't to sure about leaving Rin behind, or how she planned on getting across without the waterbenders, but she trusted Team Avatar. They walked in the water tunnel in silence, observing all of the fish that swam by them. Momo even jumped into the water and caught a few as they went on. Suddenly, a black shadow seemed to darken the waters.
"What is that?" Katara asked in surprise. Suddenly, a huge, serpent-like form crashed into their water tunnel, causing water to pour in and nearly drown them all. Luckly, Toph thought fast and bended them a platform to the surface. The monster rose out of the water to reveal to the group that it was a giant sea snake that looked pretty hungry.
"I think I just figured out why it's called Serpent's Pass." Sokka yelped, "Suki, you know about giant sea monsters! Make it go away!" She rolled her eyes.
"Just because I live near the Unagi doesn't mean I'm an expert!" She argued. Seriously, Aang was literally the only one who was crazy enough to try and ride the thing. Sokka panicked, grabbing Momo and holding him up.
"Oh great and powerful sea serpent, please accept this humble and tasty offering. Thank you." Sokka said. Team Avatar's resident plan and science guy everyone! Suki annoyingly thought.
The serpent lunged. The group screamed in fear, but it never reached them. Suki opened her eyes to see Rin had woven her yo-yo around it and was somehow holding it down from the otherside of the path. How strong was that girl?! Her outfit was different now. The tips of her hair was now a deep purple-blue. Her gi now had a cross between and ladybug and scale pattern on it. The outfit had several blue accents and the belt had changed to resemble fins. She had weird, flipper like things on her feet.
The serpent thrashed and roared, eventually Rin lost control and was dragged under water with the panicky serpent.
"Rin!" Aang cried. Searching desperately for his friend. Katara quickly bended an ice bridge for them to cross.
"Come on, I'm sure Rin is fine! But she won't be for long if we don't get out of the way!" Katara ordered. No one had to be told twice as the group raced across the bridge, save for Toph, who put her foot cautiously on the ice. She winced, before shrinking back towards the island of rock she'd bended.
"Actually! I'm going stay on my little island were I can see." Toph called. Immediately, the serpent arose out of the water. Poor Rin still had he yo-yo wrapped around it and was still trying to get the monster under control. Suki had no idea how the girl had stayed underwater with the monster that long, but she was impressed by her determination. Toph flinched at the sounds behind her.
"Okay! I'm coming!" Toph yelped. She began to slowly, timidly cross the ice bridge.
"Just follow the sound of my voice!" Sokka yelled.
"It's kinda hard to ignore!" Toph snapped back. Suddenly, Rin once more lost control of the serpent. She crashed into the ice bridge Toph was on. Suki could have sworn she heard Rin complaining about how 'Guitar Villain's dragon was much easier to ride than the stupid serpent' before disappearing back under the waves. Toph screamed as the ice bridge gave away, dumping her into the water.
"Gah! Help!" She cried, trying desperately to stay afloat, "I can't swim." Suki reacted immediately just as Sokka called, "I'm coming Toph." Suki dove into the water without thinking and grabbed the frantic earthbender. Once safe in Suki's arms, Toph relaxed clinging to Suki for dear life.
"Oh! Sokka! You saved me!" She said, before planting a kiss on Suki's cheek. Suki froze in surprise. Seemed like Suki had some computation for Sokka huh? Oh, well. Suki wasn't all concerned. Toph was twelve and four years younger than Sokka.
"Actually, it's me." Suki corrected quickly before anyone noticed the blind girl had mistaken Suki for Sokka. Toph froze. Her cheeks went bright red.
"Oh...well… hehe… You can go ahead and let me drown now." Suki rolled her eyes and brought the blind girl to safety.
"What about Rin!?" Aang cried. The Team froze, having completely forgotten the red-clad teen had decided to fight the serpent alone. They watch in horror as the snake dove down into the water with Rin one final time.
"Rin!" They yelled in fear. They watched the spot she'd vanished into in terror. They waited, expecting the girl to come back up, but nothing happened. The waters had gone still. The girl had probably drowned in attempts to control the beast.
"No… Rin…" Sokka breathed.
"What are we going to tell Cat…" Katara said softly.
"She's gone." Aang agreed sadly. Everyone stared at the now still waters in sadness. No one dared to speak. Rin had most definitely not been Fire Nation. No sane firebender would have risked their lives and died like that for the Avatar. They all turned to go, to mournful to say anything. That's when they heard a loud splash behind them. Suki spun around. To her absolute surprise, Rin emerged from the waters with an annoyed expression on her face.
"Dumb sea monster, making me waste my water magicaroon. Does it know how hard those ingredients are to find? And how am I going to find more stuck in this world?!" She complained under her breath. Everyone jumped at Rin's voice and looked back at her.
"Rin!" Aang cried.
"You're alive!" Sokka stammered.
"We saw that thing drown you!" Katara added.
"How?!" Toph asked. Before Rin could answer, the team was on the poor girl, wrapping her in a huge group hug.
"Woah! Woah! Guys! I'm alright! Honestly. I'm used to dealing with things like that all the time. What do you think Akuma's do? Turn people into cute bunnies? Seriously! I was perfectly safe, even though that stupid beast was so hard to control." She objected.
"But… how? There's no way you could have survived underwater that long, especially tied to that thing." Suki asked. Rin shrugged.
"You know that book with the spells in it that Aang got from the library that I said could grant me special powers?" The Team nodded. Suki was plain right out lost.
"Yeah, well, one of the is the power to breath underwater… hence the costume alterations." Rin said, motioning to her outfit, "I've used that spell many times, actually… but I only had one magicaroon for the water upgrade on me… so I won't be able to pull a stunt like that again." That made absolutely no sense to her, but Team Avatar seemed to understand. Well, as long as Rin was alive and well.
"That's so cool!" Toph said, "I wish I could do that! But I guess I don't have Tikki, now do I. You have to lend her to me one day."
"Uh… I can't lend you Tikki Toph." Rin said simply. The blind girl rolled her eyes.
"Buzz kill." She muttered. Rin shrugged.
"Spots off." She said. Suki and the family wanted as a flash of pink light enveloped Rin and she was in her normal red costume. Aang noticed the family gawking at the trick and chuckled nervously.
"Spirit powers… gotta love them."
"You're a spirit?!" Ying asked in awe.
"Er… no… I just can harness the power of the spirit of good luck and creation. That's all. I can't tell you how, seeing as it would endanger me and my partner, Cat Noir. Please, would you do well to… not tell anyone in Ba Sing Se you met the spirit of creation and good luck? My partner and I would greatly appreciate it. The family nodded.
"Of course, you save our lives, young lady. We owe you everything. Our lips are sealed." Than said with a curt nod. Rin smiled.
"Great, then I can detransform the rest of the way. No need for this now. I probably am exhausting Tikki." Rin said, "Spots off." Her red outfit vanished completely, replaced with Earth Kingdom clothes and a tiny red spirit that immediately dove into her satchel.
"On the bright side," Sokka said, "It's smooth sailing from here." Immediately, as he said that, Ying doubled over.
"Oh, no!"
"What's wrong!" Sokka asked.
"The baby! It's coming!" Ying cried in pain.
"What! Now!? Can't you hold it in or something?"
"Sokka, calm down. I helped Gran-gran deliver plenty of babies." Katara said as she went to help Ying.
"This isn't the same as delivering an arctic seal! This is a real… human… thing!' Sokka panicked.
"It's called a baby! And I helped her deliver plenty of those too." Katara deadpanned. She then began ordering the group around, preparing for Ying's baby. Rin and Sokka both looked equally horrified by the whole thing, but they helped out anyways. Eventually, the cries of a young infant girl filled the entire camp. Sokka got up from passing out during the panic.
"So, do you want to go see the baby? Or are you going to faint like an old lady again?" Toph teased.
"No, no. I'm good this time." Sokka assured following Toph, Rin, and Suki into the tent. Katara called Aang inside. The girl was wrapped up in blankets and being cradled in her loving mother's arms.
"She's beautiful." Rin complemented.
"It's so… squishy looking." Sokka said.
"What should we name her?" Than asked his wife.
"I want our daughter's name to be unique. I want it to mean something." Ying said. Aang looked on the verge of tears at seeing the girl. Rin kindly hugged the Avatar before he spoke.
"I've been going through a hard time lately, but you people… have made me hopeful again. Rin, you're right. All I need is to hope." Rin smiled down at the boy kindly. She clearly cared about Team Avatar very dearly.
"I know what I want to name the baby now." Ying said after hearing Aang, "Hope."
"That's the perfect name." Than agreed, "Hope." Rin smiled. The group just admired the infant a second more before clearing the room and giving the family their space. Rin and Katara took Aang off to collect his emotions. Moments later, he returned looking even better than before.
"I promise, I'll find Appa as fast as I can, but I really need to do this." The Avatar declared, taking his staff into his hand and opening the glider.
"See ya in the big city." Sokka said.
"Say hi to that big fuzz ball for me." Toph requested.
"Keep and eye out for any golden hair boy's named Cat for me, will ya?" Rin said.
"You'll find him Aang." Katara encouraged.
"I know, thank you Katara." Aang said. With that, Aang and Momo left to scout out the city ahead and search for Appa and Cat, since he could get there much faster. Immediately after, she pulled Sokka aside.
"It's been really great seeing you again… despite the whole sea snake fiasco that went down." She said.
"Yeah, I know. I honestly thought we'd lost Rin for a second there… but wait. Why does it sound like you are saying goodbye?"
"I came along because I wanted to make sure you got through safely, but now I need to get back to the Kyoshi warriors." Sokka looked baffled.
"...You came to protect me?" His asked. She blushed.
"Listen. I'm sorry about last night. We were talking and saying things and I just got carried away. Before I knew it I…" Sokka leaned in and cut her off with a kiss. She was surprised. The night before, he hadn't wanted to kiss on behalf of his old friend who'd died. Now he wanted to? He pulled away, blushing madly, but a thin, cocky smile was on his lips. His blue eyes sparkled with a gentleness and kindness that she absolutely adored.
"You talk too much." He said. She smiled, then leaned in to kiss him back. All was right in that world. If only for an instant. Little did Suki know, but a certain girl with bluebell eyes watched with envy from a distance, wishing she too had the courage to admit her love to the one she cared for most.