Chapter six
Fire and a new friend
AN: Peeks from behind a bomber bunker. Ummm hey, I know I haven't been updating too much so far. I just lost the inspiration here but I'll manage. I've been reading awesomeness by Redfeathersky it's called After the second rise. So, addicting I have to admit in that story Harry is a dark, sexy beast with a dragon hide trench coat and I think a scarf and a black cane. Go check it out, I believe awesomeness like this doesn't get enough credit. Though, stuff like that doesn't compare to Celebony's Recnac Transfaerso, I cried during that story.
Thanks for all of the reviews, I had a terrible case of writers block and I'm forcing myself to write this any ideas are accepted I'm becoming desperate! On with the show!
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Katara's POV (1st person)
Waves of heat came over me, overwhelming me. I scrambled to my feet and tumbled over rocks and logs. I stuffed my pack and slung it over my shoulder stumbling once more and charging forward. Where did this fire come from? I know Zuko didn't try to set a tree on fire. He's too smart for that; this was too artificial, this was Gamemaker fire. I turned to the animals rushing ahead of me and I followed them. I trusted their sense of direction more than mine. If anything I could run straight into a pit full of snakes or something. The fire is licking at my feet, burning my toes. When I waved my arm against the fire a white hot flash of pain flared across the skin on my hand and I began to scream. I willed myself to rush faster, the animals have ran away long ago and my rival element began to singe my clothes. I paused and lashed out a whip of water at my shoulder through the smoke…I knew the capitol wouldn't see this, the smoke was an advantage to me. Besides, the water wasn't doing a very good job at doing anything to the fire. The fire then stopped itself suddenly and I slumped myself straight into a pond of water. I smiled and splashed rather stupidly in the water, then I took my water bottle and scooped up the water. I purified it and sipped it washing out the bitter taste that rose in my mouth. I made swirling patterns in the mud and stared mesmerized at the smoke that wafted through the forest. Bands of broke through the smoke making the whole scene much more beautiful than it really was. There was a rustle in the trees and I stood up listening furiously to the rustling of what I predict to be feet against leaves, I clutched the bottle, terrified as the sound came closer and closer. A boy about a year older than me with brown hair in a pony tail that looked cut off and blue eyes that looked like mine, and brown skin, Also similar to mine emerged from the bushes. His face was covered in soot and his clothes were ripped a long burn covered his shoulder and ran along his neck towards his cheek. He raised his spear over his head and I froze, terrified as he eyed me coldly ready to strike.
"Please make it fast," I whimpered closing my eyes. Instead of burning pain in my heart I heard the boy speak,
"So those are your last words?"
I opened my eyes in surprise the boy still had his spear at the ready, instead of having a cold glint in his eyes, instead he had a glint of slight amusement in his eye.
"What?" I asked surprised, "Wanted for me to be dramatic for the audience? I don't blame you, it's every man for himself out here,"
The boy sat down on a rock a few feet away from me his spear still clenched in his hand, "Ah, you understand also. You're the girl on fire, the girl from district twelve,"
I nodded silently and I said, "Fire isn't my element, it's my rival, I'm more of a water person,"
The boy's ears perked up and his face lit up,
"You too? I love the water, hate the fire since the little chase with fireballs,"
"Yeah," I said, "By the way, I'm Katara,"
The boy smiled and I noticed that he loosened his grip on the spear, which I recognize it as a bone from a seal.
"I'm Sokka,"
"You're the kid from District Five, technology, right?" I asked, "I expected you to be a little bit more stuck up,"
Sokka frowned, "Me? Stuck up? Where I come from we sometimes never have enough to eat,"
I sighed, "We buy most of our food, but we get food by healing the richest in District twelve," I shook my head, "Hama and I are almost always hungry since our father and mother died, Hama is my grandmother," Sokka nodded a sigh of understanding.
"It's rough all over," Sokka murmured. After a moment of silence, he said, "You hungry?"
I felt my stomach rumble loudly, "Yes, very hungry,"
A ghost of a smile speared on Sokka's face, "I could already tell," He pulled out a drumstick from a plastic wrapping and handed it to me I shot him a look and he said,
"Come on, I didn't poison it, before I met you I was thinking of eating it all for myself," I carefully took the plastic wrapped drumstick and he murmured, "It's a groosling," I sniffed it and smiled slightly. It had a salty aroma and I can see grease dripping from it. I took a bite off of it and sighed, it was good, no wonder he wanted to eat it all for himself. I began to tear off parts of the drumstick hungrily, the sweetness of berries still covered my mouth and it mixed unpleasantly with the drumstick, but I did not care. I was holding life in my hands.
"So, how did you manage before the drumstick?" Sokka asked through a mouthful of groosling he spat out some grease as he talked and I recoiled slightly Sokka realized this and wiped his lips and swallowed his groosling.
"Berries," I said and I popped one of them in my mouth, I guess I'm craving for them at the moment after the groosling. "I've been eating them for days,"
Sokka smiled as I popped another one in my mouth and threw one to him. He sniffed it suspiciously and he popped it in his own mouth and a grin a million miles wide spread across his face.
"They're tasty, like some Hunger Games desert," He said and I nodded,
"I think I've been eating too much desert then," Sokka laughed.
"So, do you mind if we can be an alliance?" I asked, Sokka stared at me curiously and he said, "No,"
"Why?" I asked surprised, "You helped me and I can help you, I'm a healer,"
"It would put you in danger, I believe some of the Careers are after me. A girl from District three is after me, plus her new allies from five and seven. I bet she's after you too it would only be her advantage to have us as allies so she can kill both of us,"
"What if she's not after me?" I asked.
"She'll still kill you, it's not like she thinks you're too useless to kill,"
"Who says I'm too useless to kill?" I asked indignantly, "I am very useful, thank you very much!" Sokka raised his arms peacefully,
"I didn't say you were useless, I meant Three thinks you're not too useless to kill,"
"So it means I'm a little useless?" I asked bluntly.
"No," Sokka said uncomfortably, "I just don't want to put you in danger, that's why I don't believe in Alliances,"
"Oh," I said, "Are you sure?"
"No," Sokka said. I stared at him blankly.
"I thought you said," I began.
"All right! All right!" He said, distressed, "We'll be an alliance! Just don't bug me!"
I laughed at his sudden agreement. I held out my hand to him, and he gripped his own hand in mine it was rather cool and I felt a smile creep up my face.
"What are we going to do now?" I eyed his burn, and he hastily covered it when he saw my gaze.
"Sokka, you're hurt," I said my motherly instincts were coming to me I had the urge to water heal, but I couldn't risk their reactions.
"Yeah, so?" Sokka said gruffly he hissed in pain as he made more of an effort to cover his burn.
"You're so stubborn," I said and I pulled Sokka towards me with all my strength. He had the stubbornness of a pack mule, keeping his buttocks planted firmly to the rock.
"You need to take off the shirt," I said as my fingers ran over the exposed, burnt skin. Sokka looked positively alarmed and tore his shoulder away from my fingers.
"No way!" Sokka said indignantly, "Yes, I am very attractive Katara and you might use my burn just as an excuse to see me shirtless, but no way am I taking off this shirt! I'm very flattered you know but just, no, no way, no how,"
"Shut up," I snapped at the babbling boy, "Shut up and take off your shirt," Sokka fell silent and he gave me an amusing beady-eyed stare. I rolled my eyes and he reluctantly pulled off the shirt and I took it from him. Luckily, the shirt was relatively undamaged unless you count the rips and the blackened parts, but not much of a torn apart shirt. This shirt can still be useful as a garment. Sokka was right, I really thought him to be conceited but he was quite right to say he was attractive. He was lean and rather fit; his dark skin only enhanced every detail in his torso. I shook my head and saw the patch of even darker skin that ended around his cheek. I uncorked my water bottle and poured the entire contents of water over the burn. Sokka's reaction to the water wasn't of what I expected. He leapt up to his feet shouting,
"Cold, cold, cold!"
"It's supposed to be cold you moron!" I said as he clutched the burn, eyes wide from sudden change in temperature on his skin.
"Right," Sokka agreed he didn't seem to notice that I called him a 'Moron' maybe he agreed that he was acting quite idiotic in front of all of Panem. I shook my head and scooped up more water and poured it again over his burn. This time he sighed and I felt myself smile. Over the course of an hour I poured water over his large burn. Finally, I walked over to a plant I recognized as Aloe Vera and plucked a few leaves off of them.
"Sokka," I said, "I need your knife,"
"What for?" Sokka asked cautiously.
"So I can open the leaf!" I said. He handed me a makeshift knife with a bone handle and I slit open the leaf down the middle. I then smeared the greenish paste over Sokka's burn and he sighed with relief. I looked around his bag for any bandages and found none. Instead I found a long washcloth and for a moment I wondered why he needed a washcloth and I proved it very convenient for when you need to wash dried blood off of your hands or wounds. So far the washcloth was clean and fresh. I tried to hypothesize that Sokka hasn't faced anyone so far.
"So," I said trying to start up a conversation, "Have you faced anyone so far?"
"No," Sokka said, "No one I really need to huh?"
"Outliving others is a great Hunger Games strategy," I said Outliving really sparked my interest. It was like a peaceful way of winning the Hunger Games.
"Thanks," Sokka said and he eyed me carefully and ran a hand through his dark brown hair.
"Sorry, Sokka," I said with a light laugh, "I'll never look at you that way,"
Sokka deflated like a tire, "Oh," he said.
After a while of wandering not too far from the spring, Sokka decided that it would be a very good idea to move on to the next destination just in case the girl from District three finds them.
Our water bottles were full and we had a new energy. The only problem is that we don't have food. Sokka spotted a groosling and flung his spear at it, missing the bird that squawked and waddled away.
I had to stifle a laugh at his reaction and he glared at me only for his harsh gaze to soften he shook his head and turned away from me. We made it to a river and for an hour we walked up this said river. I pulled off my boots to walk pleasantly in the small creek. Sokka glared pointedly and I refused to notice then he eyed the water, pulled off his own boots and walked into the water in front of me. I hid my smile was he splashed as quietly as possible in the creek. Another hour past and we still haven't stopped to rest and we still haven't found food to eat. I spotted a fish swim slowly around my foot and I saw Sokka not looking at me still marching forth. I stopped abruptly and flicked my wrists toward me, willing the water to be drawn to my fingertips. I felt ropes of the formed liquid run through my palm. I willed it to be ice and I with a quick flick of my wrist shot the dagger of ice through the fish just a few feet away from me. Blood clouded the water a few moments later I was walking towards the now pinned, dead fish.
"Katara what happened?" He spun around and saw the ice dagger through the fish. I picked up the fish by the dagger and smiled a mix of blood and water rolling off of the fish's silver scaled body. I raised the fish and Sokka said unable to keep astonishment out of his voice,
"Katara, how did you do that?" Sokka asked his voice full of interest.
"Bending," I answered simply, "I willed the water to turn into ice and kill the fish,"
"You mean, you mean you used, magic?" Sokka said in a frightened whisper as I handed him the still pinned fish.
"Well," I said uncomfortably, "I used something similar, but it's not magic, it's an art, an ancient art that is given to few people,"
Sokka looked positively mortified, "But what if the capitol sees your ability and pull you out of the games, or kill you?"
"Why do you care?" I asked, "They know anyways, what they'll try to do is drive us away where there is no water," I did not add on to the sentence because I knew water was everywhere. In the air, in the plants in the bodies around me I could've easily bloodbended the fish's body to kill itself, but I wasn't that kind of person. Hama taught me everything there is to know about waterbending.
"I care," Sokka said uncomfortably, "It's because I care, about you, you know, I know we just met but you healed me and I just won't know what to do if you died, I wouldn't be able to heal myself," He tried to add the last part in a mean way, but I could already tell he was failing miserably.
"The secret is out anyways," I said crisply as I forced Sokka to sit on a rock, "Now I'm going to heal you properly," I bent the water from the creek and it made a glove in my hands. I placed my watery hands on Sokka's burn and he sighed as more heat was drawn out of the burn.
"That is useful," Sokka, sighed, "I bet you're going to win the Hunger Games if you weren't so fair,"
"Don't try to be modest," I sighed, "I'm only going to use my bending for emergencies,"
"Right," Sokka said a mischievous grin etched across his features.
"Hey," I said warningly, "I volunteered for a reason, I didn't know her but I knew she was important to someone I do know,"
"Yeah?" Sokka asked with a wide smile stretching across his face, "I volunteered too… for my little brother,"
we were met by an uncomfortable silence, pain flickered in his eyes.
"You volunteered?" I asked timidly, "For your brother?"
"Yeah," Sokka said staring at the leaf-strewn ground, "I didn't want him to die,"
"What was his name?" I asked.
"Jason," Sokka said, "My mom wanted a normal name so she picked that one," I smiled at Sokka and he looked up and grinned happily at me.
"Nice to know sweetheart still smiles," My eyes widened and I slapped him across the arm. Then a cannon boomed through the forest and Sokka and I jumped.
"Who died?" Sokka asked as I turned my head to see the face in the sky.
"The girl from district eight," I said. Sokka sighed,
"Oh," He said wearily.
"What?" I asked gently, "You knew her?"
"Yeah," Sokka said he wiped his brow, "She was sweet, especially in the training center, it's a shame she died, her name was Jin,"
"Oh," I said sadly, "Who do you, think killed her?"
"The girl from district three her name's Azula, she faced me in the training center and offered to ally with me, but I refused," Sokka said.
Another canon exploded through the trees and the face of the boy from district ten appeared.
"His name was Teo," Sokka said his eyes staring at the sky now, "We were great partners in the Training center, even asked me to be allies with him, I should've accepted, maybe he would've held out longer," "I think he was killed by Azula," I said. Sokka shook his head,
"Azula wouldn't have killed him, maybe a coward did, he was disabled, his legs got paralyzed in an accident, he told me," Sokka said once more.
"Oh," I said, I couldn't believe Sokka made a decent amount of friends in the Training center to make a decent alliance. Now, those friends were gone, at the hands of the Hunger Games. I was just realizing that these kids were too young to die; they don't even have a job to take care of themselves if they're younger than eighteen. Too young… They had a life to live, and the capitol forced these kids to kill others, only to die in the end. Why only one should live? I wondered. Most of these kids don't deserve this punishment. Again, this is a way to keep the districts in control by forcing them to do the Hunger Games. The Games were a way of saying that we were weak, that this is what would happen if we rebelled against them. This also showed that this can happen to the adults too if they don't stay in line. I don't like Panem, I don't like their ideas of control but it's not like I have a choice. I have a very slim chance in surviving in these games; if I die I might take my peacefully logical opinion to the grave. Though, it's not like they want to listen to me, a Hunger Games, "Victor". If I won, I'd be in Victor's Village with all the money I want, and all the food I want. I know they do this to keep me quiet, to keep my opinion from being heard by the citizens of Panem. I know my opinion would result in rebellion and I'd be possibly killed.
All I know now is that I hope Sokka will win the games for his little brother.
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Sigh * I don't know how long it has been since I updated but I updated. I. Need. Ideas. PLEASE! Something that you'll know will spark my interest! Put it in review form below or PM me, or if you don't have an account just e- mail me at Viviana_Simons , the subject being "Fanfiction Idea Fire and Ice Hunger Games" or else I'll just delete it because I won't know what it is. Compliments and suggestions are accepted, and flames will be ignored. I tried to make it as long as I can but I couldn't go on because my inspiration is running thin. Please guys! I need ideas! And please, don't be a creepy stalker. -_-!
Updated list
District one Male: George Mein
District two male: Haru
District two female: Heather
District three female: Azula! No bender
District three male: Ran (from the beach)
District four female: Suki
District five male: Sokka (believe it or not in here Sokka is not Katara's brother sorry… :/)
District five female: Ty Lee
District six male: Leven
District six female: Toph
District seven female: Mai
District seven male: Kid! Zhao (Admiral Zhao as a kid -_-)
District eight male: Kid Pakku
District nine female: Faynora
District eleven female: Lily
District eleven male: Michel
District twelve female: Katara Hamasaki
District twelve male: Zuko Takenaka