I know that I said that fav's and alerts were loved, but I forgot to mention that Reviews were adored.

And I have to give a special thanks to my most loyal fan, Paradoxismminant, who not only reviewed, but has consistently suffered through my dreadful blather to be my favorite person! This chapter is dedicated to you. Thank you!

Sokka could feel eyes on him as he walked down the street; the three earth kingdom guards at his back drew more attention than even Appa was likely too. 'Stupid fire prince,' he thought, peeved that he had to be escorted everywhere he went because of the other boy's late night stunt.

As the water tribe boy turned the corner, he found his escape route; a slight crack in the wall, just big enough for a boy who had yet to complete his growth spurt.

Before he could think of a distraction, though, one was provided for him; a series of smoke bombs went off to the side of them, making the two guards in back push him away, nearer the crevice.

As he headed towards it the ground suddenly fell from under him, dropping him into a strange sort of water tunnel. Sokka let out a grateful sigh as he thought about how close he had come to landing in god knew what.

Groaning, Sokka looked around, straining his eyes to see in the near darkness, the only light coming from the hole he had just come through, and even that scarce light was fading as the opening closed itself up.

Having seen nothing suspicious, Sokka stood uneasily, his knee popping under his own weight. Edging his way to the wall, he heard footsteps approaching from his left, then from his right. Finding himself with only one option, he raced forward, hoping that by jumping into the fast moving fluid, he could escape.

Just as he was going to slip into the water, he became incased in solid rock. "W-what do you want?" He demanded at the darkness. So far as he knew, Zuko didn't have any earth bending buddies.

From his side, he heard a familiar voice speak, "Calm down. We just had to get you away from those bastard guards." With the strike of a flint, the tunnel became illuminated, showing Lynn and several other kids her age, all varying in coloring and features.

Lynn motioned for the burly boy at Sokka's left to release him from his earthen prison.

Sokka sighed, feeling the blood flow back into his deprived veins. Glancing at all of the gathered kids, he had to guess that there were about twenty of them, ranging from twelve to fifteen. Turning to Lynn, he cocked an eyebrow, "So what'd you want?"

Lynn and the others all looked different directions, even the eyes of the burly kid next to him watering. "Lee got hurt," the girl whispered, "He got hurt real bad. Someone attacked him last night, stole all of his money." Looking up, Lynn glared at the older boy, almost as though she were blaming this situation on him, "He made it to my house, but there wasn't much we could do for him but make him comfortable. When his Grandfather got there, he sent for a doctor, even though he probably can't afford it." Sniffing here, Lynn stopped, her tears running rampant down her face.

The kid next to her put his hand on her shoulder, nodding when she looked at him. The boy looked straight in Sokka's eyes as he spoke, his voice deep, despite his age, "The doctor said that Lee's body was strong, but that it couldn't heal both the damage from the Ghettoes lung and the wounds he sustained last night. Uncle Mushi gave the doctor everything he had, and all the families around pitched in as well, but it just wasn't enough for the bill and the medicine together. The doctor gave us a bit of a break, but even with that there's just not enough for what Lee needs. I-if,"

Here the boy stopped, looking away ashamedly, his eyes taking in everything but the older teen in front of him.

Lynn continued, finally together enough to speak, "If we put all of our savings together, we still need four silver. I know that that's too much to be expected to give to someone you don't even know, but I'm willing to do anything," here she choked, her pale green eyes turning the stormy hue of the sea, "to make sure that no one else I care for has to die from something so stupidly easy to cure."

Sokka nodded, his own eyes watering at the pain in the girls voice. A pain he himself felt. Reaching into his shoulder bag, Sokka took out his purse, handing the entirety of it to Lynn, watching her face wonder at its weight.

Cocking her head to the side, she undid the string, letting her eyes widen in awe as she beheld enough money to buy a small plot of land, maybe even enough to start building on it, too. With trembling fingers, she carefully took out four silver pieces, one at a time; as though she wanted everyone to see the exact amount she took.

Handing the bag back, she glanced warily from Sokka's eyes to the coins in her hand. Breathing in deeply, she nodded to the older boy. 'I'll pay you back,' her eyes seemed to say, though Sokka just shook his head, looking questioningly at the spot in the ceiling where he had fallen through.

Laughing, Lynn patted her friend's hand, using some kind of sign language to communicate Sokka's wishes.

Nodding, the boy motioned for Sokka to follow him as he began to head down one direction of the pipe, Lynn and her other friends heading down the other.

Sokka followed behind the unusually tall kid, giving only one last glance at Lynn's retreating back.

After several minutes, though, the water tribe boy became impatient, a vague worry that these kids might not be completely trustworthy entering his head.

"Sooo," Sokka drawled, "What's your name?"

The big boy didn't answer for a long time, and just when Sokka was going to ask again, "The name my parents gave me was 'Ikki', but the name I go by in Ba Sing Se is 'Memphis'," the boy said, deep baritone giving the name a menacing quality.

Sokka nodded his head, impressed, "What's that mean, though? Killer bear-fish? Or, oh, maybe it's a type of meat eating animal that lived a long time ago?"

Memphis grinned, "Naw," he drawled back, "It's a ruined city from way, way back. My old friend Angel gave it to me when was first met. She knew a lot, Angel did. She gave almost everyone a name they could be proud of, even if they couldn't understand what it meant at the time."

Sokka caught on to the soft quality in the boy's voice, his lips pulling up into a teasing smirk, "Ah, so you liked this girl, did you?"

The smile that had been on Memphis' face faded into a harsh frown, "I did. But I realized it too late."

"Oh," Sokka mumbled, "So she got another man?"

Memphis' frown deepened still as he shook his head, "She died in a mugging. Not that she carried much, mind, but it was enough for someone to justify killing her."

Sokka grimaced, his thoughtlessness catching up to him. "Oh, man," he whispered, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean t-to"

"Never mind," Memphis shrugged, "You couldn't have known. But for future reference, almost everyone in our gang has had something terrible happen to them." Pausing mid step, a thoughtful look took over his face, "You know," he almost whispered, as though to himself, "I guess you could say that we're bonded together by tragedy." Coming out of his revere, he grinned sheepishly down at Sokka, "Sorry," He said, embarrassment clear in his voice.

Sokka shook his head, smiling. "Don't worry about it; my friends and I are bonded by the same thing."

Nodding, Memphis started walking again, his step noticeably lighter.

"Anyways," Sokka asked eventually, "Where are we even headed?"

Memphis looked down at him, his eyes laughing, "We're going to the golden district. Lynn figured that if I open a tunnel just big enough for you to crawl through, no one will notice, and you can get home safely."

Now Sokka stopped mid step; "Oh, no," he said, voice going an octave higher than normal, "I had a perfectly good escape route up there, and I am not going to go back to that stifling coop just because you guys ruined it!"

Memphis stopped, looking down at the other boy as if he were mad, "So," he intoned, "You don't want to go to the golden district?"

Sokka nodded emphatically, "I hate being there. It's so full of snobs. If you can somehow take me to the South Pole, I'd happily go back home. I'm just about sick of people that think they're better than others 'cause they have more money."

Memphis smiled slightly, "You're from the South Pole?"

Sokka puffed his chest out in pride, "Sure am! I happen to be the son of the greatest chief in our history. My little sister, Katara, is the last water bender in the Southern tribe."

"The last?" Memphis asked.

Sokka looked at the ground, horrible memories dancing behind his eyes, "Yeah," He whispered, "The fire nation came and took all of the water benders. They came and destroyed our towers and our schools, and they even destroyed our healing chambers. Everything. They destroyed and killed and left our village a mass of smoking rubble and sooty snow. My mom," Sokka paused; face contorting in pain, "She was just pregnant with me then. By the time I came around, we had a new settlement, of sorts. It wasn't anywhere as grand as our original water palace since we had no more water benders, but it became our home. My sister came a year and a half later; the first new water bender."

Sokka looked up at Memphis, giving the boy a watery smile, "Sorry about this," he murmured, "I haven't told anyone this before."

Memphis nodded his great head, understanding in his young eyes, "Everyone needs to let their feelings out, or they will be consumed. Angel taught me that too."

Sokka nodded, seeing the wisdom in that sentence, "When Katara was six, my father started looking for a water bending teacher for her. That was all it took for the fire nation to return. One day we were just playing in the snow, kids shirking off chores, and out of nowhere, the fire nation soldiers were their; attacking our small village. We fought them as hard as we could, but some got behind the lines. One made it all the way to our tent. They found my mother there. Just as he was about to kill her, Katara ran in, scared and shaking. The soldier let her go, but killed my mom. They had heard that there was a water tribe bender, but they didn't know how old she was. My mom said that she was the one, and she died, protecting her daughter."

Memphis placed a hand on Sokka's shoulder, eyes watery. "It must have been hard on you. Having fought so hard, but not being able to save her."

Sokka nodded, wiping his eyes, "But I know she died for something she believed. I know that had she not died, Katara would have. More of our people would have. She sacrificed her life to save us all. I love her even more for that."

Memphis nodded his head, "I know how it feels to lose a parent. My dad died when I was just a kid. My mom couldn't handle raising a child on her own, so she dumped me at a local orphanage. From there I traveled around, stealing and fighting. If it wasn't for Angel, I'd have been lost to myself long ago. That's how we all met, actually. Angel used to go around asking for spare change in the silver and golden districts, then she'd buy food and give it out to anyone she could. On her rounds, she would often pick up kids and bring them to safe homes. Places where they could rest and feel like they wouldn't be jumped in their sleep. I met Lynn and Crow there. Then we met more, then we formed a gang, then we formed a family."

Sokka nodded, a small smile gracing his features, "It sounds like this Angel person was a real angel. Wish I could have met her."

Memphis grinned, "She was." Looking sheepish again, Memphis blushed, "Though she had some real fire in her veins. If you stepped out of line, didn't matter how big you were, she'd paddle you over the bottom."

Sokka laughed, eyes tearing at the thought of a tiny little girl beating the butt of this mammoth. "So she was a fiery one?"

Memphis blushed even deeper, "Oh, yeah. She was every bit her element. I don't think all fire benders are that hot headed though, since Lee is pretty calm most of the time."

Sokka was fixing to laugh, but he caught the meaning of the other boy's statements; they were fire benders?

"Wait, wait, wait," Sokka gasped, "Are you telling me that there are fire benders within the walls of Be Sing Se?"

Memphis shut his mouth quickly, eyes hardening and blush fading, "I think it's time for you to go now."

Before Sokka could even argue, a pillar of stone catapulted him through the ceiling.

Once on solid ground again, Sokka stood, bones aching from the impact. "Oh," he moaned, "this has not been my day."

Glancing back at the ground, he walked away, feeling as though he had just discovered something big, though the ringing in his ears wouldn't let him think it through.

Walking in the gates of their barrowed house, Sokka was bombarded by hugs and yelling, each member of their GAang seemed to want a piece of the water tribe boy.

"Where have you been!" Katara shouted, her voice exasperated, "we've been worried sick. When those earth kingdom guards came back alone, we all had the worst kind of thoughts!"

Sokka grinned sheepishly at the floor. "I was just out with some new friends. We had to make a distraction to get away from those nosey guards. Sorry for worrying you all."

Sokka didn't know why he lied, but he just knew that he should. He was going to find out what secrets Lower Be Sing Se held, and he was going to do it on his own.

Chapter two up and ready!

It might be a little bit before I make another chapter, I tried to make this one a little longer, to cover for the lateness.

If you can tell me the title of the song this chapter is named for, and why I put it as such, I will take any request you have.

(IE, If you want to see Sokka kiss Appa, Aang make out with his pillow, ect.)

Laters,

-Bandon!