Hey again!

New chapter up.

I'll have the next chapter up soon hopefully this Friday c:.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to ATLA.

Chapter 5

The Boy from the Rift

Year 3055-Anahita

Sokka and Katara took a different entrance to get back inside the palace because they had left not in their royal attire but in casual clothing. Normally they didn't get much attention from their people but their father had demanded they take at least two guards with them when they are out in town .

Of course they snuck out without their guards once they left their father's gathering. As they reached one of the secrets entrances they only knew about, there was a bright flash of white light far away from where they stood and they had to shield their eyes so it wouldn't blind them.

"What the hell!?" exclaimed Sokka as he tried to get reacquainted with his eyes.

"What was that? Do you think anyone else saw?" asked Katara.

"I don't know. I'll check around" he replied back.

Sokka went to scout the area leaving Katara by herself.

What was that? she wondered.

Where the light had flashed earlier it now started to flicker every so often. She wondered what that was about. She remembered overhearing from some of the military officers at a couple of banquets talk about different types of signals that meant if someone needed help.

Was there someone out there who needed help? She thought worriedly.

Before she could continue that thought Sokka returned and noticed the flickering light.

"There's no guards nearby..how long has that light been flickering?" Sokka asked.

Katara didn't respond immediately to her brothers question. She was absorbed in the way the light was going on and off. She felt like it was trying to communicate with her.

"Hey Sokka, doesn't the light look like its it's trying to signal something" she asked instead.

"Now that you mention it, it does look like an SOS" he mused.

"What if someone's in danger? We have to go and help Sokka!" she said with worried.

"What we can't!" Sokka said but then noticed the hard look his sister sent him and he hurriedly continued with " It's completely outside the fortress in the barren tundra. You know dad said we can't go out there."

"But what if there's someone out there who needs our help? What if they end up dying because we were TOLD not to leave the fortress."Katara said.

"Look Katara, I want to help as well..maybe we can go call some guards and they can go take a look?" he said.

Sensing she wasn't convincing him she tried a different approach. " What if they don't make it? Why wait while we can do something about it. Sokka I know your afraid of what dad might think but if we hurry we'll be back before he even notices." she said.

Not wanting to disappoint his sister and feeling worried for the person sending the signal, Sokka reluctantly agreed.

"Fine, let's take my Paladin" Sokka said before turning back toward the stairs.

Katara quickly followed after Sokka and they headed to where their spacecraft's were docked.

Sokka and Katara snuck into the ships docking bay and headed towards Sokka's Paladin. A Paladin is a small silver and blue round spacecraft with two wings protruding from both sides. Paladins come with four thrusters at the back of the ship. They have low durability since they aren't military crafts. However , they are easier for traveling and are a main form of civilian transportation.

Sokka checked to see if there were any guards around, and after seeing it was okay to pass he motioned for Katara to follow him.

" You owe me, big time" Sokka said as he punched in the crafts passcode.

"Yeah yeah, ok Sokka. What do you want?" she knew this was coming eventually.

" I want your half of seal jerky for the next three days?" Sokka said with a hungry glint in his eyes.

Glutton

"Fine, since your helping me I can sacrifice my seal jerky."she groaned. I mean come on, must he always think with his stomach.

The security lock on Sokka's Paladin unlocked and the Paladins screen doors opened.

Katara walked into the ships interior and admired her brothers ship. It could house four to five people very comfortably and had a nice feel to it. The decorations were a bit overboard but that was her brother.

"Alright pop a squat. Let's go see about that flicker." Sokka said as he jumped to his chair and Katara took the one adjacent to his.

Soon Sokka started the engine and they were blasting off to the mysterious light.

As they left the city safe zone Sokka tightened his grip on the steering wheel before he hit a few switches and they started going faster. They sat in silence not really knowing what to say because of how dangerous the mission they were on really was.

" Katara," Sokka said and waited till she looked up and turned her attention to him before continuing " promise me that if it's something dangerous out there, you will head back to the Paladin ."

"Sokka-" she said before Sokka interrupted her in a serious voice.

"No Katara , dad told me keep you safe ever since…," he shook his head to dispel his thoughts and finished firmly with"I won't let him down."

Katara wanted to retort that she could take care of herself. But she held her tongue for his sake. He was the one taking her on this rescue mission. Couldn't she return the courtesy? Besides, they were closing in on where the light was.

As they closed in on the light they were able to see that there was a huge crater surrounded by steam obscuring the inside. They circled the crater a couple of times till they found a decent place to land.

They exited the ship and with caution, and made their way toward the crater. The steam was a bit unbearable but Katara changed it into frost with her magic before continuing onward.

"For once I'm glad about you having all this magic" Sokka said with a happy sigh before continuing with " any more of that stuffy steam and we'd have a big problemo."

"Come on let's just hurry" Katara said with a laugh.

When they reached the middle of the crater their jaws hit the floor as they saw a huge white puff ball. They looked up and saw that the flickering light was on top of the puff ball. They noticed it was a lot smaller than from their earlier position near the capital.

Sokka told Katara to wait while he climbed the puff ball.

As Sokka got on top of the warm thing he saw that there was someone else here. He narrowed his eyes at the other person and relaxed when he noticed it was a young boy that laid unconscious. But narrowed them again when he noticed that the light was coming from him. More specifically, it came from a white ring on their hand. The boy didn't look no older than 10 and had big animal like ears and tattoos along his body. He looked so different from anyone's he's even seen. Even the foreign dignitaries he's come across didn't look like him.

He must've stared to long because Katara yelled to see what was taking him so long.

" I found him Katara!" Sokka yelled back.

"Really? He's alive right?" she asked with concern in her voice.

Sokka didn't answer back immediately and the worry Katara felt only grew.

"Yes, he's alive Katara. I'm coming down now." he said.

Katara sighed in relief, glad that they had made it in time.

As soon as Sokka came down from the soft puff ball it started to move and make grunting noises. Both Katara and Sokka shrieked as they leapt away from it.

Katara grabbed onto the boy when Sokka pulled his blaster out from its holster and aimed it at the creature.

"What is that?"Sokka asked as the creature yawned.

Katara too focused on the creature didn't answer her brother's question or notice the ring on the boys hand glow a brighter white or the ring around her neck glow until they both stopped.

Sokka still pointing his blaster at the creature, relaxed slightly when it didn't seem aggressive. He turned back to Katara and the boy and noticed his ring stop glowing.

Weird he thought.

Then suddenly the boy started to stir.

A/N: I'm pretty sure you know who it is :).

Hope you enjoyed.

ooJollyZuZuoo