Sokka, Toph, Mai, Zuko, Iroh, Katara, Aang, and Ty-Lee
The gaang simply sat in their living room, an occasional idea thrown about. Sokka sat in the corner of the room, on the floor, his face set in anger, protection, depression, sadness, and looking like he failed.
"You know, Sokka, it's not your fault," said a voice he didn't know was beside him. He turned, crinkling his brow. There sat Toph, hugging her knees and her eyes downcast.
"Huh?" he asked, not used to hearing such a thing from Toph of all people. Katara, maybe...
"I said it's not your fault. And do not feel like it is, Pony-Tail Man. Okay?" her voice was hard, and fierce. It wasn't comforting, but it surely made him sit up, walk over to civilaztion with the gaang, and...forget his loss for now. Pouting was not going to save Suki. She'd be proud.
"Sokka! Any ideas, my man?" Aang joked, trying feebly to lighten the mood.
"If we send anyone else out there, they may not come back. And we can't just communicate with them while they're there. So, the least practical idea would be to send someone else to where Suki is." It hurt just uttering her name.
"True, very true, Sokka," Katara said in a praising voice.
"Maybe we can try to lure it back into a trap and kill him," Mai suggested, leaning against Zuko's chest.
"Possibly," Ty-Lee commented.
"But remember, he's made of a fog-like substance, and can probably walk through anything," Zuko said. Mai nodded in agreement, and Aang checked Capture and Kill off his mental checklist.
"With a little focus, we can understand him," Iroh commented. Aang nodded, and thought hard.
"What kills smoke?" he asked. Everyone looked perplexed.
"Well, when you have fog in a room, like in a spa, the coldness of air and water kills it, since fog is made of warmer air, usually," Sokka replied, knowing this somehow he didn't even know.
"Right!" Ty-Lee said, cheery.
"So, if we-" Aang was cut off.
"If we lure him back here, and have cold, chilly air in the house, and have a lot of buckets of freezing water around, he may feel threatened," Sokka finished, taking the glory he deserved. He wanted to be the one to save his girlfriend.
"Correct," Aang said, smiling.
"But what if he isn't threatened? Or what if her vanishes again?" Mai asked, showing the downside of things. The group thought about this for a while.
"Is there something that keep fog, fog?" Katara asked.
"Maybe water just a few degrees warmer," Toph said. They all looked to her for the first time.
"If you bend cool, but slightly warm water around him, he'll most definitely feel threatened. I can even decorate the room to make it look spookier than just this," she said again. Aang nodded, taking lead again.
"Okay, so let's split into groups again. Toph: You take the decorating. Make it look extremely scary," Aang said. She nodded, smiling already.
"We need waterbenders to bend some ice cold water from the lake down the road into buckets," Ty-Lee said. Aang also nodded at this.
"Katara, and me, I guess." Aang and Katara were the only two waterbenders. Everyone nodded.
"Mai, you'll be in charge of turning the thermostat way, way down. Okay?" Aang checked.
"Sure," commented Mai.
"Sokka, will you help carry the buckets up from the lake into here? You'll have to be quick," Aang said again. Sokka nodded, standing.
"And the rest of you help Toph, and carry your fair share of buckets!" Iroh said, and Aang clapped as if saying, "Break!". Everyone went to their positions, ready for work.
---
Toph's decorating seemed almost like everyone just walked into a scary mansion.
"Woah!" Sokka exclaimed, referring to the decorations as he walked in with a bucket filled to the top with freezing water. Zuko followed him, and setting the bucket down, he yelped.
"Awh, my fingers! It feels like frostbite!" he commented, but still went to grab another.
Mai was walking to the basement, which they kept partially clean, but she was usually the only one down there. She kept the lights dimmed at all times, and a single candle was always lit down here. She paced over to thermostat, looking at what it read: 70 degrees. No wonder it felt just about perfect. She smiled at the glory of being the one to freeze the man, and the one to cause just a bit of misery on all the working teens. Mai turned it down all the way to 54. Pretty soon, it'd be beyond freezing. She grabbed her black Fire Nation robe and casually ran upstairs to carry buckets.
"Bzzzz..." A buzzing sound came from the lake. Aang turned from his waterbending position and looked at Sokka carefully.
"Was that you?"
"Yeah, why?" Sokka retorted.
"More like why to you."
"We're working, like worker bees, duh," Sokka joked. Aang laughed, and returned to bending.
Toph was inside, now nearly freezing her butt off, with her lips pursed, thinking of something to add to make it even more spookier for a fog man. Sokka walked inside.
"Hey, Sokka! I need you. What would really scare you in here, ya know, just so that I don't add it in the renovating process," Toph smiled.
"Awh, that's real nice of you, Toph...Hmmm.. I don't think I'd like skull bones, or something that looks...You know. Gargoyles seem spooky," he said, shrugging. Toph nodded.
"Oh, and I just want you to know...," she paused, her face now more filled with guilt and sincerity.
"I'm sorry. If I'd dressed up with Ty Lee instead of kept watch, it would've been me gone, not Suki," Toph finished. Sokka smiled with no emotion.
"No, Toph, don't think like that. Things happen for reasons. We just don't know what this reason is, yet," he said, flashing a smile at her, then returning to carrying endless amounts of water upstairs.
Iroh was busying himself by making tea for the workers...outside. He didn't want to disturb the freezing temperatures inside by making tea. So everytime someone walked past him, he handed them a glass of tea.
"Tea?" he asked Aang.
"Sure! Tea replenishes the heart," Aang commented, taking the tea in his hands gratefully.
"Wow, I have to write that one down," Iroh murmured to himself, pulling out a pad and a small pen.
Katara made her last few swipes of waterbending before taking a break. Then, she walked inside, and quickly pulled her arms around her waist.
"Brr..," she said to herself. Aang nodded, red nose in all, and patted the spot next to her.
"Take a break, we've been working too long," he said. She nodded, in agreement.
"I'm worried for Suki. You think she's okay?" Katara asked, returning to herself despite the change in temperature, sympathy replacing the shake in her voice.
"Oh, Katara. Of course, she's a trained Keyoshi warrior!" he laughed. She nodded.
"Let's get back to work. An absent mind is making me think," she laughed. As they walked to the lake, a wind picked up. Fog spread around them.
"Oh, no...," Aang breathed. He placed his arm protectively around Katara's waste, who stood in a bending position. The fog turned into the man, as they suspected, and made more circling motions. Katara flung water at him, just the moment he vanished.
With Katara.
A/N: Ohhh, my. Hehehe. Okay, so next chapter...Suki? That's what I'm thinking. Review, please. And thanks to everyone who is reading this! I appreciate it!
Peace—Regan of PxP(: