Chapter 2: The Eve of the War

King Bumi had sent his "minions" to a hospital in the outskirts of Ba Sing Se in order to distract the government from the true attack. At the start of the New Year tonight, he would send his Blue Spirits and zombies directly through the gates. Not only were the Blue Spirits powerful, but they were able to fuse into a much larger form. The Earth nation capital would no longer be standing by this time tomorrow….

The first thing Sokka saw as he entered the vacation house was Zuko and Jet screaming at each other.

"What do you mean, 'I was supposed to buy dinner?' It was your time to buy food." Jet yelled. He spoke with a stereotypical homosexual lisp. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

"I took Toph to her Earthbending class yesterday!" Zuko screamed.

"Yeah, well, I listened to her OOC feelings last night."

"Go to hell!"

"Screw you!"

Jet pouted directly out the door, not noticing Sokka. Zuko ran to his room and started sobbing uncontrollably.

Sokka, disturbed as hell, sat down on the couch. Despite the damage Santa had done to the house a few days ago, everything looked the way it had before. How cliché.

A minute later, Sokka's heart skipped a beat as he saw Toph enter the room. She looked as if she had been crying for the past few days. Suddenly, Toph felt Sokka's presence and turned towards him in disbelief. More tears formed in her eyes, and she ran towards the Water-tribe warrior. She hugged him tight, worrying that this may just be a dream.

"Sokka, I thought I lost you." She sobbed.

"It's okay Toph. Everything is going to be alright." Sokka said as he patted her back. Try as he might, (and to the Tokka shippers' disappointment,) he couldn't admit his true feelings. Something, possibly cliché, was holding him back.

Meanwhile, nine figures walked towards the vacation house. They all remained silent. A few nights ago, when faced with the terrible incident that had claimed their lives, they each showed the worst sides of themselves. Azula had resorted to cannibalism, which was surprisingly plausible for her character. Katara had shown off her immoral side numerous times. Haru had shown off his uselessness. Mai had shown her gothic clumsiness. Longshot… well, he showed off his ability to be completely useless. Smellerbee made out with a guy she barely even knew. Aang displayed his cowardice and unworthiness of having the woman he "loved." Ty Lee had shown what happens to people who make unwise decisions. Teo, well, he wasted a few whole paragraphs by simply including himself.

Eventually, conversation spread throughout the poor souls.

"So, uh, Katara, do you…. want to continue where we "left off" once we get back?" asked Aang shyly. Katara looked away from him.

"Why the hell would I do that? You practically gave me up in order to survive!" shouted Katara.

"Well, I ended up dying anyways. Besides, my death gave you time to escape." Aang declared.

"I'm not talking to you."

"Sorry, but you just did!"

Katara and Aang continued to yell at each other until Haru stepped in.

"Come on, guys. We all may have died, but the gods have decided to give us a second chance. We should be celebrating, not fighting." He said.

"Maybe the Earth peasant is right. We should go home and….party." said Azula cautiously. In reality, she was hoping that no one would remember what she had done that night.

At long last, they reached the front door. Upon hearing the door open, Toph let go of Sokka and prepared for any possible combat. The nine figures walked into the house, and Toph recognized the footsteps. She gasped and ran towards them. Sokka soon followed. Everyone, except for Azula, hugged the Water-tribe warrior and the Earthbender.

"Guys, I thought you died! How the hell are you back to normal?" Sokka asked. He glanced slightly at Longshot. "It's not common to recover from being terribly mauled by a fat guys' sleigh, or to be cured of slight… decapitation."

Everyone got reacquainted and found out that it was New Year's Eve. Zuko joined in as well. He had finally stopped crying, although some sniffles escaped occasionally. Sokka decided to keep the whole ordeal with the sniper a secret in order to keep everyone else calm.

Later on that day, everyone decided to get snacks for the New Year's Eve party. This would be a night they would never forget. Well, they were right about that.

Sokka stayed at home and fell asleep. He needed some rest. In his dream, he found himself listening in on some strange conversation.

"Is this really a good idea? I mean, the government is already hot on your trail."

"Why should I care about what you think? I believe that man you hired failed to murder every one of your targets. Even his henchmen couldn't succeed, and they had futuristic weapons! Besides, no preparation could prepare them for this."

"Whatever. I'm gonna watch the 'Western Air Temple.' It's about time Nick did something semi-right."

"Come back here, woman! DON'T YOU IGNORE ME! GET BACK HERE, S..."

By the time Sokka woke up, the party was just about to begin. That's really too bad...