A/N – This chapter was hard to write because I just was not into it at all. I feel like I probably just could have skipped this, and had a character say they did it, but I decided to write it out. Most of it is filler, but it does have an important character in it, who'll be obvious once you read it. If this chapter seems rushed, it's because it probably was. I just wanted to get it over with to get to the next chapter, which is not mostly filler.
Also, starting from this point on, I would like to thank KageOkami-Kogo for helping me understand the woman's psyche a little more! Her influence doesn't really appear in this chapter that much, but after chapter 12 it should begin to appear more often.
That's all, enjoy!
Chapter ten
"It's getting late," Sokka said, looking up at the darkening sky, "We should find a place to sleep for tonight. We've been flying for hours."
Aang nodded along, "All right." He said, slowly lowering Appa down a little so the group of four could begin to search the forest they were flying above. Off in the distance, with the remaining sunlight, they could spot a small town, and from what they could see, it looked to be a town taken over by the Fire Nation. Aang sighed upon the sight of it, an otherwise peaceful looking place blemished by the Fire Nation, as usual.
"There's a small clearing we can go right there." Suki said, pointing out the spot. Aang looked down below, and noted the spot she had pointed out. He flew forward a bit more, before pulling on Appa's reins and turning the bison around. Appa grunted at the pull, but otherwise showed no objection.
Toph was in the back leaning against the saddle, Momo in her lap. She was very relaxed, with both of her hands behind her head, "Ready for me to beat the crap out of you tonight Aang?"
Aang looked back, "Yeah, I guess so." He mumbled.
Everyone didn't say anything, knowing that he was still sore about leaving Katara behind. Sokka and Suki shared a look, and Suki nodded towards Sokka, who let out a soft sigh as he went up to the front of the bison where Aang was sitting, "hey, Aang, you feeling all right?"
"As fine as I can be right now."
"Well, after a small work out you should feel better!" Toph shouted from the back, making Sokka roll his eyes.
Sokka was about to say something more, but with a sudden lurch in his stomach, the bison began to do a sharp descend. It had taken him quite a while to get used to the feeling of the bison going up or down like that, and he hated how it felt every time. Swallowing down his nausea, Sokka looked down at the ground as they continued to lower.
"We're here." Aang announced once they were in the forest.
Sokka sighed, knowing Aang was intentionally avoiding the subject with him, "Fine. We'll stay for the night. Tomorrow we need to keep flying. I think we should get to the mechanist as soon as possible. He's important to the war effort, and the sooner we get him to stop working for the Fire Nation and helping us, the better we'll all be off."
"Yeah," Suki said, "I would rather not have to deal with those airships again."
Aang couldn't stand the thought of those metal monstrosities, "If we don't give the Fire Nation that technology, it will really help us out, especially during the invasion."
Sokka nodded, "Exactly. It will take out a factor of the battle, so we won't have to worry about it." He then jumped off Appa with his sleeping bag, "Come on, you should really get to sleep Aang."
Aang nodded, "I know, you've been telling me that for the past three days." He frowned at that, remembering that it had been over a week since he last saw Katara. In fact, today was the Winter Solstice. He sighed at the thought; the group had decided not to go into the Fire Nation, not wanting to risk losing another person to the enemy. After all, Aang knew exactly what it was that Roku wanted to tell him, so why waste time doing that?
He still felt that it was a horrible idea to not do it, visions of the comet Roku was sending him kept him awake every night, and the guilt from not going would keep him awake for many more nights to come. Maybe the spirits had known that he came to the past? It wouldn't matter, his connection to the spirit world was almost completely gone, he wasn't even sure if he would have been able to contact Roku in the chamber.
However, he knew that deep inside of himself, he would have been able to do so. Regret filled him, and for a moment, he wished that he had gone to see Roku, to confide in someone about what was going on, but it was no use. He let out a sigh, remembering that being an Avatar required that he felt no guilt. He then tried to let it go, but even so, it still haunted him.
"Aang? Aang!" Toph was shouting into his ear. Aang was brought out of his thoughts at her voice, and looked over at her.
"What?"
"You were ignoring me!" She shouted, "We're going to train now! Are you ready?"
Aang nodded, realizing that he was getting lost in his thoughts, "Yeah, I'm ready." He Airbended down from Appa, and landed neatly next to Toph, "Where are we going to train?"
"There are a lot of trees here," Toph said, stating the blatantly obvious, "But that will provide a challenge for both of us! Use them as cover, or whatever. We'll go a little ways from camp so we don't do any damage to our fragile friends.
"Hey, I resent being called fragile!" Sokka said, "I can take a rock to the chest!"
Toph considered taking him up on that, but she waved it off, "Sure, whatever. Come on Aang, let's go train!"
Aang followed Toph, leaving Sokka and Suki alone to tend to the camp. They were both quiet as they set up the sleeping bags, and dug out a fire pit, before starting the fire, and cooking some of the food they had caught. The two were sitting side by side, looking into the fire as they cooked the group's dinner for the night – more fish.
"You should've said something to Aang." Suki said.
"I know." Sokka moaned, "It's just, I don't want to pry into his business. I know he's sad about Katara missing, I'm sad about it too, but he just keeps evading me whenever I want to help him with it."
Suki nodded, "So I noticed. I will try to talk to him then."
"What will you talk about?"
"I don't know." Suki answered, "I'll try talking to him later on about it."
"Good." Sokka said, "I'm just glad that Aang is not being like me about this."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, when you went missing, I screwed up." He admitted, "I just stopped talking to people, stopping eating, and I just stopped… living I guess. I was depressed. Aang though, he doesn't allow himself to get like that. Something horrible happened to him, he lost his most important person, and he still keeps moving. He's a lot stronger than anyone ever gives him credit for."
"Yeah, he is." Suki said, making sure the fish was cooking right, "Well, want to train a little bit before the fish is done?"
"Sure." Sokka said, pulling the sword from his back. He had been back a month already, and he could begin to feel a difference from all the training he had done. Whereas a month ago the blade was really heavy, the weight was beginning to feel less than it really was. He could swing it more effectively, and he was improving much more overall.
That's not to say no one else was improving of course. Suki was well on her way to regaining the amazing agility she had in the other life, able to dodge or parry any attack with ease now, especially with her much more powerful fans. Aang and Toph were both also improving at a steady rate; both of their bodies could handle a more intense workout before become exhausted.
They were all a far cry from their physical condition from the future, given that they had been back for only a month, but they were definitely on their way to getting there.
The training lasted only a few hours, and soon they were off to bed, gathered around the small campfire that was made. Toph had made her rock tent a little bit away, and Aang of course was off on Appa, attempting to get to sleep. The boy let out a sigh as he rolled onto his side, this happened to him every night. He would toss and turn, feel the need to watch, crush the need, toss and turn some more, and finally fall into a restless sleep. The current phase he was in was him watching his friends, making sure no one would attack them.
He smacked his head, No one will attack! Go back to sleep! He yelled in his mind, and he leaned back onto the bison. He closed his eyes attempting to sleep, when he suddenly heard a sound.
He sat up immediately, and looked around not bothering to hide his panic. He reached to his staff which he had at his sides at all time and jumped off Appa, and wandered towards the campfire where his friends were sleeping. He held his breath, so he would not make a sound. Suddenly there was a shout, and Aang looked over to see a Fire Nation soldier flying through the air, and landing on the ground in a heap.
"What?" Aang mumbled, seeing the display.
The rock tent surrounding Toph fell apart, and the girl walked out of it, "We're being attacked." She stated calmly.
The commotion made Sokka and Suki open their eyes, and upon seeing Toph and Aang stand overhead, both looking ready for a fight, they jumped to the logical conclusion. Both of them burst from their sleeping bags, and grabbed their weapons that they didn't keep far from their bodies at any time.
"We've been discovered." Someone said from the brush, and Aang turned towards the voice and shot it with a blast of wind. It sent several men flying, and the others, apparently deciding that hiding was not doing them any good, charged out and began to fight. Team Avatar was clearly outnumbered, there were two dozen men surrounding them, but that wasn't really a problem for them, not with their abilities.
Right when the Fire Nation men were about to go forward to commence the attack, several arrows shot out from the tree, pinning several of the men down. Confusion only lasted briefly, and the kids watched as from the trees half a dozen others came to their aid. Aang immediately recognized the children coming to their aid, and he smiled brightly upon seeing who it was.
Sokka was the complete opposite. He didn't have a grudge against the guy, nor the group of children who had come saved them, not after the way he helped them in their other life, but if he was here, that meant their life was beginning to align to the same events as the last time. Sokka swallowed the fear down, but even then it was still popping back up into his mind, Is everything just going to repeat itself? He wondered.
The true fight began, though it was incredibly one sided. Combined with the forces of the kids who 'rescued' them, Team Avatar easily was able to mop up the men attacking them. During the fight, Sokka makes sure not to let Jet steal the spotlight from him, something he distinctly remembered from the last life.
Also, he was doing it because it was becoming rather obvious that Jet was getting a little too comfortable with his wife – future wife.
"Hey there, who're you?" Jet asked as he easily took out some men Suki was handling fine on her own.
"Suki, and who are you?" She asked back, rather amused by the kid.
"You can call me Jet." He answered with a wink.
Suki had to try her hardest not to laugh at his attempts to hit on her, she turned away to fight a few other men so Jet wouldn't see her face crack into a snickering mess. She then noticed Sokka glaring at the boy, and she had to force herself not to roll her eyes. She had been with him for almost twelve years now, seriously, did he not trust her? Deciding to infuriate Sokka some more, she went over and started to fight alongside Jet, allowing the boy to compliment her and admire her at the same time.
Sokka watched, and slowly his mind came to the realization that she was doing that on purpose. His glare shifted gears and turned towards Suki. Ok, what does that kid have that I don't have? Sokka examined Jet over a few times, Nothing that I can see Was his assessment. This would not do, he would not let his wife play tricks on him like this! No, he had to prove he was better!
Unfortunately for him, he fell right in the trap Suki had so elaborately planted, and she went off to a different part of the small field of battle so she could laugh it off.
Soon the fighting was over, and the two groups who fought with one another met with each other in the middle of the clearing next to the charring fire pit. They eyed each other wryly, but it soon ended when Jet spoke, "You guys did good back there, you're lucky we were able to come help."
"Yeah, lucky." Toph mumbled.
"We're the Freedom Fighters." Jet said carrying on like he hadn't heard anything, he turned towards his companions, "This is Longshot," He was a tall kid using a bow and arrow, "Smellerbee," A small girl, who was difficult to tell the gender of, "The Duke," A small kid, not even ten years of age, "And this is pipsqueak." His name was misleading; he was a giant of a kid, easily the biggest of everyone there.
"And who're you." Aang asked.
"I'm Jet, their leader." He grabbed a piece of hay and put it in his mouth, "So who're you guys?"
"I'm the Avatar." Aang said bowing down to Jet, "And these are my friends, Sokka, Toph, and Suki." Each of them waved back, some more reluctant than others.
"Suki, eh?" Jet said, "That's a nice name."
"Yeah, it is." Sokka said, standing next to Suki and wrapping his arm around her shoulder, glaring at the boy in front of him. Jet immediately got the gesture and laughed a little.
"Don't worry; I wasn't trying to take her away from you."
"I'm sure." Sokka replied blandly.
"The Avatar though?" Jet said, changing the subject, "I heard you were coming, I never imagined I would get to meet you. Want to come hang out at our place for the night?"
"Sure." Aang answered, "But what were you doing out here so late?"
"We were following that Fire Nation patrol all day, you guys gave us the perfect opening to go in and take them out, thanks for that by the way."
"No problem." Aang said, allowing a light smile on his face, "So where is your place?"
"Just ahead, now come on." Jet said, and watched as the kids went and put their supplies on top of the giant creature they had. Jet was shocked by it, but didn't allow it to show. Once they were fully packed, Jet allowed them to follow him back to his base of operations, the rest of the Freedom Fighters right behind him. The walk was quiet, and thankfully brief – less than ten minutes. Jet led them over to a rope, which he showed to them rest, "Just pull on it and it will send you up into the tree." He explained.
Longshot and Smellerbee went up first, just to demonstrate it to the others.
"Wow, I can't wait to try this!" Aang said, grabbing a robe and tugging on it. He suddenly went up laughing the entire way.
"He's in a really good mood right now." Sokka said, watching Aang fly up the tree.
"You guys go along and have fun up in your trees." Toph said, "I think I will stay down here."
"Aw, how come?" Suki asked.
"It's in the trees, made of wood. It's not earth, I can't see through it very well. I would rather stay on the ground."
"Ok, you stay and guard Appa then." Sokka said, walking toward the rope, and holding his hand out for Suki, "Coming?"
"She went with Jet a few seconds ago," Toph answered him.
Sokka could feel his eye twitching. Two can play this game! He decided, "Hey Toph, are there any pretty girls around?"
"How would I know?"
"Can't you feel them?"
"How would I be able to tell if they're pretty?"
"I dunno, sixth sense?"
"Get out of here."
"Fine." Sokka grumbled, grabbing the rope and heading up himself. Leaving Toph down by herself on the forest floor. She went over and leaned on Appa, intended to relax. The other Freedom Fighters still down there shrugged and went on their way, leaving her completely alone in solitude.
That was until Momo flew down by her and began to speak to her in his various assortments of squeaks, grunts, and growls.
"What do you want?"
The flying lemur hit her in the head and started to chatter again.
"What?" She shouted, "Go do whatever it is you want! I can't help you!"
Momo finally resorted to jumping on her head a lot while practically screaming. Toph finally got off of Appa, and turned toward Momo, "What do you want!"
Momo looked her in the eyes, wondering why her back was turned to him, before he began to fly in the other direction. Seeing that Toph wasn't following, he made noise, and she turned around towards him.
"You're really beginning to annoy me!"
Momo flew over by her legs, and pulled on them, forcing her to go forward; she let out a sigh as she followed Momo in any form of noise he made, or if she could feel him treading on the ground. Eventually Momo stopped and started to make a lot of noise again.
"Ok, I'm here, now what."
"Hello, little girl!"
Toph immediately got on guard, "Where are you!"
"Up here!" He said, "I'm trapped in this cage!"
Toph groaned, "You're suspended in the air, aren't you."
"Yeah," He said, "Can't you see?"
"No." She answered flatly.
"What?"
"I'm blind." She explained, "What's the cage like?"
"It's weird and round, and I stepped on it, and suddenly I felt myself flying up into the air and now I'm stuck in it! If you could go to the town and get some help for me, I would be grateful!"
"You're part of the Fire Nation then." Toph said.
"Well, yes, I'm a colonist." He said, "I don't fight in the war or anything."
Toph sighed, remembering all the propaganda the Fire Nation civilians were fed about the war, she couldn't blame him for the crimes and atrocities his nation produced. She stomped on the ground, and felt the vibrations around her, unfortunately, he was obviously suspended by a tree, and she let out a groan, out of all of them though, she had no clue, she could feel hundreds of roots, and her vibrations didn't travel well up them, so she had to do this the old fashioned way.
"Can you keep talking?" She called up.
"Uh, about what exactly?"
"Anything." Toph said, going to a spot where she was sure she was under him.
"Well, your monkey is quite an amazing creature, any chance that I can buy him once I get out of here? I think my daughter would love to play with him!"
"Sorry, he's not mine. He's my friend." She said, trying to pinpoint exactly where the voice was coming from.
"Oh, that's unfortunate. Do you think he'd be willing to-"
"No. I know for a fact that he wouldn't be willing to sell him, his name is Momo by the way."
The lemur was currently crawling around the forest ground, trying to find something to eat, if Toph had to guess.
"So why are you in a tree?" She asked.
"Earlier today I was walking in the forest for my morning walk – usually I do it around the outside of the forest, but today I decided to be a little more daring and try to go and walk inside the place. I have heard rumors of the children here who fight the Fire Nation – awful little demons they are! They trapped me in here, and now I have been stuck for hours without anyone to talk to – wait, are you one of them?"
"No." She sighed, wishing she hadn't told him to begin talking, "But I'm coming up to get you now."
"Oh? How are you going to do that?"
She stood in a spot where she was certain she would be able to reach him if she made a pillar of earth go straight up, and immediately she bended the ground beneath her, giving enough room for her and for the man when she got him out of the cage.
"You're an Earthbender!" The man said in surprise, "So you're an enemy of my nation!"
"Hey, I'm freeing you. I have no hard feelings towards you."
"Good point I guess." He mumbled, "And I must thank you, and I apologize for my earlier outburst."
Toph rolled her eyes, this guy is so weird. Once she was level with the cage she easily bended it open, considering the cage was made out of metal. The man inside was amazed, and was about to speak his amazement, but Toph stopped him, "You didn't see anything, got it?"
"Oh, yes, of course." The man got out of the cage, and Toph lowered the rock pillar down to the ground. The man wore red clothes, obviously a fan of his nation, and from what Toph could tell he was pretty tall and slim. His story about running seem to check out as far as she was concerned.
"Go back to your village now, I doubt those little 'demons' would like it very much if they found out that you went missing."
"Yes. Thank you again kind Earthbender." The man bowed to her, and quickly high tailed it out of there.
Momo came back over to her carrying a large assortment of berries and a few other fruit, Toph glanced down at the animal who was offering some of it to her, so she shrugged and picked some, "you're not so bad." She decided, and the two walked back toward Appa.
Up in the tree house built across multiple trees, one in the center was where everyone was gathered. There were dozens of children around in the large room, and in the middle was a large table where Jet sat at the head, the other freedom fighters that were with him on the mission sat there with him as well. He gestured for his three guests to come forth and join him, and not wanting to be rude, they did.
It was late, probably a few hours pass midnight, yet these children were up and active, running around, laughing, and eating, and it truthfully confused Sokka, who looked around with his mouth hung open slightly, "Don't you guys sleep?" He asked turning to Jet.
"Yeah, we're usually sleeping before this, I guess everyone was just wondering where we were." Jet said shrugging, "We always celebrate when we defeat the Fire Nation like that."
Sokka nodded, "I guess that makes sense, but they'll just go back to the village and send more people here later on."
"Not for long." Jet said under his breath, not allowing anyone else to hear him, he then smiled, "So what brings the Avatar here?"
Aang looked up from the food he was shoving into his mouth, "We were just staying the night in the forest after a long day of travel." He said, gulping down the remaining food.
"Where are you going?"
"Heading up North," He said, "To the Northern Air Temple."
"Why?"
"We hear there's people up there would could help us invade the Fire Nation." Aang said truthfully, watching intently for Jet's reaction.
Jet blinked a few times, "Invade the Fire Nation?" He asked, making sure he had heard correctly.
"We found out the day that they will be very weak, and we plan to attack them on that day." Aang explained, "It's in the summer though, so right now we're gathering as many people as we can for the invasion."
"Who have you gathered so far?" Jet asked, leaning forward, immensely interested in the direction the conversation was heading.
"We've got Omashu and another group of Earthbenders willing to come with us." Aang said.
"The Kyoshi Warriors too." Suki added in.
"And the Kyoshi Warriors." Aang added.
"You already have a city willing to invade with you?" Jet said in shock, "Why don't you go now?"
"Because invading now would result in a high number of casualties," Aang sighed, "We need to wait for the day the eclipse will happen."
"What happens on that day?"
"The Firebenders won't be able to bend." Sokka answered, with a large smile, "That is when we'll attack."
"So it will be a full day?" Jet asked, in awe, "That is amazing!"
"No," Suki sighed, "Not a full day, just about eight minutes."
"Eight minutes..." Jet leaned back into his chair, "What can be accomplished in eight minutes?"
"A lot of things." Sokka said, "The plan is to attack before the eclipse, and then during it we press our advantage, go into the capital, and have Aang fight the Fire Lord."
Aang let out a nervous laugh out there, "Yeah..."
"That's amazing." Jet sighed, "You guys are making real progress."
"Every last person helps," Aang said carefully, again eyeing Jet.
"I wonder, would my Freedom Fighters be good enough to help you guys out?"
Yes! Aang said in his mind, trying hard not to let his face show any emotion at that declaration, "Some of you can come, but a lot of the younger ones will have to stay here. This is a war, and we don't want them to go onto a real battlefield."
Jet looked thoughtful, before allowing a smile on his face, "All right, my fighters will join you." Jet said, "If it's alright with you." He said.
"I would be pleased to have you come with us." Aang said.
"Good." Jet said, looking thoughtful as he began to eat the food in front of him.
Within the hour almost everyone in the tree house was asleep, it was still early morning, and the sky was still dark, though off in the distance the first signs of light were beginning to show.
Aang watched the display, leaning on the railings of the tree house. He leaned over, as if expecting someone there to support him up, but he almost slipped and fell to the floor. He quickly regained his balance, and let out a sigh, "I miss you Katara..." He mumbled.
"What are you doing up still? You should get some sleep." Aang turned around to see Suki walking towards him.
"I know." Aang said, "I'm just not tired."
"You are thinking about Katara again." She asked.
Aang sighed, giving Suki the answer she wanted to know.
"You know, I understand how you feel," She said, leaning the rail next to him, looking at the sky, the half moon beginning to go out of their vision due to the overlapping trees all around them.
"Do you?" He asked.
"Yeah, I just lost my home to the Fire Nation a few weeks ago." She answered.
Aang immediately, began to sputtered, "I- I didn't - I'm sorry."
"No reason to be." She said, patting him on the back, "I just want you to know that if you ever want to talk about what you're going through, you can talk to me. I know exactly how you feel."
"I feel guilty," He answered truthfully, "I was having so much fun just annoying Zhao, and goading him to attack me, that I didn't even consider the chance that he would hurt her." He groaned, "I'm so stupid..."
"No you're not Aang. You didn't expect it to happen, none of us considered it. If anything I was at fault for not getting her out of the way."
"No you're not at fault!" Aang snarled at her, "You were busy fighting a huge group of guys; it was just me and Zhao! I could have deflected it, blown it away, or anything if I had just been taking him more seriously! I underestimated him, and I paid the full price! I don't know if Katara is ok right now, she looked bad." He hid his face from her as he tried his best not to cry in frustration and grief.
"It's not your fault," Suki attempted to comfort him.
"Yes it is." He mumbled.
"So," She said, thinking desperately for something to say, "You going to run away from us again then?" She said jokingly.
Aang looked up at her, "Leave the jokes to Sokka."
She nodded dejectedly, "Right."
The two then sat in a very awkward silence for a few minutes. Neither said anything, Aang too busy brooding, while Suki was thinking about what to say. As the silence wore on she pushed off against the rails to stand up straight. Aang looked back at her, wondering what she was going to do.
"Look Aang. Like I said, I know how you feel. I lost my entire family to the Fire Nation. I know the guilt you're feeling, the grief, loss, and so many other feelings. I know you must hate yourself right now; I did for a little while once I was with you guys, but Sokka and I talked a lot. So I will tell you what he told me: Get over it."
"Get over it?" Aang asked, surprised by the statement.
"I slapped him when he said it," She admitted, laughing slightly, "But he did explain: Get over worrying about the bad things that could happen, and think about the positive. He told me that it was the one thing he did not do, and it led to him being like how he was towards you guys."
Aang remembered that well enough, "Think of the positives?"
"Right, for instance. Kyoshi Island is a small island worth no valve to the Fire Nation. They might be occupying it, but I don't think they would imprison the people there, or try anything else. My friends, the people I consider family, are safe there."
"What if something wrong happens or-"
"You're thinking of the bad," She chided lightly, "Only good thoughts."
"Good?" Aang looked flabbergasted at the prospect, "What could possibly be good about Katara being hurt?"
"Zuko was there." She reminded him.
"I know that!" Aang said, "But how is that good?"
"It's easier to accept that than it is to accept that the Fire Nation has taken over your village." She sighed, "Look Aang, Zuko knows how much she means to you, he knows how much she means to all of us, and he knows how important she is. Do you think Zuko is going to hold back on Zhao to get her to go with him? Do you really believe Zuko would just let Zhao take her away?"
"No." Aang mumbled, beginning to feel bad for doubting Zuko so much.
"Exactly! He will do anything in his power to get her. We know him; we traveled with him for years. There is no way right now Zhao has Katara."
"But-"
"No way." She said sternly, cutting off Aang's protest, "She is safe; Zuko took her in, and is taking good care of her."
"How can you think like that?" He asked, "There are so many things that could have gone wrong!"
"There's nothing you can do about it," She whispered, finally leaning back down next to him, looking him straight in the face, "Do you understand?"
Aang was quiet as he stared into her eyes for a few minutes, and finally looked away, "You're right..."
"Good, now, come on Aang. Come get a few hours of sleep at least. You haven't gotten a good night's rest in quite a few days it looks like."
"For over a week," He admitted, "Since we lost Katara. She always stays up with me at night, and is one of the only things that helps me get to sleep without any trouble." Aang hadn't told anyone that.
"I see." She sighed.
"You go on," He said, "I know what has to be done tomorrow."
"What do you mean?"
"I will give Jet two choices. Either join us for the invasion, or to do destroy this village. I'm positive he'll ask us to help him do some things tomorrow to try and destroy the village. He won't say it outright, but just go along with it for now."
"You want me to fall for his undeniable charm then?" She asked, causing Aang to smile.
"If you could, that would be wonderful." He said, "Just don't let Sokka know. I want Jet to help us with the invasion, not to be crippled for the rest of his life."
Suki laughed, "Ok Aang. I'll be sure to tell Sokka that, what about Toph?"
"Don't worry; I'll take to her in a few more hours." Aang said.
With that, Suki parted from Aang, but not before turning around and giving the boy a hug, "You need this." She whispered to him before they parted. As she walked away, Aang allowed himself to feel relaxed, and he smiled knowing he had great friends who would be willing to lift him back up onto his feet when he was on the ground battered and nearly broken. He had renewed hope for Katara, and allowed himself to place all of his trust in Zuko.
Don't let her die Zuko... He thought to himself before he opened up his glider to go down to the forest ground.
Sokka was invited to go out scouting with Jet the next morning, and so he did. During the time he was gone, Aang, Suki, and Toph all met below the trees, on the forest floor. They stood near Appa, and spoke in whispers just in case if any of Jet's friends were spying on them. They didn't think it was the case, but they stayed cautious, something that has saved them more than once in the future.
Toph just got done telling the other two about the villager she saved, and Aang nodded along. Suki then explained that Jet told her that morning before the rest of the people got up, that he planned to eradicate the Fire Nation from the valley forever.
"He plans to flood the village." Aang explained, "He's going to want me to bend water to flood the village, and is going to do anything he can to keep you two away so you won't have to see the 'costs' of war as he calls it, or as I like to call it, genocide."
Suki looked uncomfortable, "Why do we want someone like him to join us?"
"Because he ends up not being such a bad guy, he helped Toph and I back in Ba Sing Se, and he paid the ultimate price for it."
"Yeah," Toph said, "The least we can do is make sure he gets on the right path this time."
"All right, if you say so. What's the plan?"
"We're going to try and convince Jet to stop this." Aang said, "We can't let him know we know ahead of time though, so I 'm going to go ahead and begin to bend water for him. Suki, I want you to 'find out' as soon as you possibly can, and Toph, I want you to go warn the villagers in a few hours."
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Suki asked.
"Yeah, if it goes like how it did last time, it should."
"What's Sokka's part in all of this?" Toph asked.
"He'll figure something out." Aang shrugged, "just explain everything to him if he catches one of you off guard."
"Sounds good!" Toph said cracking her knuckles, "I'm going to practice acting like a little harmless blind girl so the village will believe me better." She walked off.
Suki watched her with a raised eyebrow before sighing, "Ok, so when's Jet and Sokka getting here?"
Aang shrugged, "Pretty soon I think."
Out in the forest, Sokka and Jet, along with a small band of other fights were scouting, when an old man wandered the forest. Sokka watched the scene as it practically replayed the same way as his previous life time. He fulfilled his role perfectly, and soon he was down on the ground, watching Jet harass the old man. He blinked a few times, allowing his mind to stop racing with the implications of what it meant that things were repeating exactly alike, and forced himself to speak.
"Stop that!" Sokka said, "He's an innocent old man, what are you doing?"
"He's part of the Fire Nation!" Jet said, as if that was reason enough.
"And that's reason enough to pick on an old man?" Sokka asked, "Do you truly think this will accomplish anything except make people in the village dislike you even more?"
"I know what I'm doing Sokka!" Jet countered, "All people of the Fire Nation must be hunted…" He said with an evil glint in his eye as he looked up the scared old man in front of him.
"That's not stopping the Fire Nation, it's being bullies!"
"Being bullies to people who deserve it! Why can't you see that Sokka?" Jet turned towards the kid, "You have fought the Fire Nation, and you've seen what they have done to everything in their path. They intend to destroy the world."
"I have seen the horrors that they have committed," Sokka said, trying not to think of them, "But that doesn't mean we can punish this man. He isn't part of the Fire Nation trying to destroy the Earth Kingdom; he's just a harmless old man."
"All of them deserve no mercy! Especially not after they killed my parents…" He whispered the last part harshly.
"They killed my mom too, and my dad went away to fight them. I haven't seen him for years, and I can't even remember my mother now. You just have to get over it, it's how the Fire Nation fight, and if we sink to their level, hurt their civilians, or kill them, does that make us any better than them?"
Sokka watched, hoping he had cracked the shell Jet had built around him on this particular subject, but let out a sigh when Jet shook his head and knocked the old man down to the ground, "You say you've seen the 'horrors' they have committed." Jet muttered darkly, walking pass him, "That's a load, you would agree with me if you have actually seen what they can do."
Something deep within Sokka snapped, and he turned around and punched Jet right across the face, knocking the surprised boy to the ground, "You shouldn't say stupid things Jet!"
"Freedom Fighters hold him!" Jet shouted, rubbing his bruising cheek.
"I have witnessed hundreds of things you could never imagine seeing. I have seen the war path the Fire Nation has left; they destroy everything in their wake. I have watched families get torn apart because their father, mother, husband, child got drafted to the war and killed. The Fire nation try to utilize any advantage they can get to win the war, anything at all, even if it has no honor in it, like killing the spirits. I have even seen them kill children just because they were descendants of Earthbenders…" He blinked several times so his tears wouldn't roll over from the memories, "I have witnessed more than you will ever see Jet, so never tell me that I don't understand!"
"Then why do you spare this one man?" Jet asked.
"Because through all of this, we hold something of value that the Fire Nation will never have, our honor. That makes us better than them, and it makes us strong. We don't kill civilians, because we have morals. If we get rid of those two things, what are we then? We're no better than the Fire Nation in that case, so please, let him go."
The old man who was captured by Jet listened on, and lowered his head in shame after listening to everything that Sokka had said.
Jet looked down at the man, his heart burning with hatred, and his mind screaming at himself to kill the man. However, another part of his mind was whispering to him. He could barely hear the soothing voice through the raging emotions in his head, but one thing was clear, it didn't want him to harm this old man, and wanted him to listen to Sokka.
"Let the old man go." He growled. The two Freedom Fighters next to the old man stood away from him, and allowed the man to run off, he then turned to Sokka, "Let him go too."
After that, they walked back to the tree house in silence, Jet too deep in his thoughts to say anything. The Freedom Fighter were also very quiet, taking in what Sokka said for all it was worth.
Unlike the others, Sokka was in a different mindset, he was worried, very worried. Things are going too similar. I hope what I told Jet will make him come to his senses and not hurt the village… He opted to just count his steps to keep his mind off the disturbing thoughts. It didn't help a whole lot, but it helped get his distracted mind to organize a little bit.
As they came to the tree house, they all went up, and Sokka went around looking for any one of his friends. It didn't take him long, for he found Suki relaxing in the main house, "Suki! Where's Toph and Aang?"
"Toph is down below still," She said, Sokka smacking his forehead realizing that just now, "And Jet came in here just a moment ago to talk to Aang."
"Did he say what he wanted?" Sokka asked.
"No." Suki said, getting up from her seat and walking over to Sokka, "Did something happen on your patrol?"
"Yes. We met an old man walking through the woods late in the morning. It was the same old man I saw the last time, and it played out almost identically." He said, gripping his head in panic, forgetting all about how he wanted to get revenge on her for acting like how she did the day before, "I tried to change it by talking to Jet at the end to stop being a bully, and I think I actually got through to him once I snapped, but it played out exactly the same! Are we fated to do the same things? What were the chances that we'd find this place again? Meet the same people again? Fight the same Fire nation soldiers to meet them again and…" Sokka was beginning to hyperventilate near the end.
Suki slapped him across the face, snapping him out of it, "You're reading too much into it." She said, but he gave her a flat look, "Ok, it's suspicious that we've been doing a lot of the similar things that you, Aang, and Katara did before, but maybe it's just a really big coincidence."
"No, it's can't be. Too many things happened similarly, it has been happening since the first day we got here." He said, "It happened at Kyoshi Island, you got captured-"
"That didn't happen until much later last time though," She interrupted.
"Yeah, but it's still similar to the last time." He was beginning to panic again.
Suki got a grip on his shoulders, "Do you think that we're 'fated' to repeat everything from the last time?"
"Yes!" Sokka shouted, "That's exactly what I think!"
"But there are a lot of things we've changed too." Suki said, "We're recruiting for the eclipse. We have one city backing us already; you have the Kyoshi Warriors following you there too, and the White Lotus! That's already three different groups who did not help you last time. Please, Sokka, calm down. Maybe it's just a horrible coincidence?"
"It might not be a coincidence, but you're right… There are differences too."
"Enough to not worry about the similarities right now, right?" She hugged him, "I won't deny that there are similarities, but we have nothing to base it on. We could just punch Jet in the face right now and leave right?"
"And let all these people in the nearby village suffer?" Sokka scoffed at the idea, "No!"
"But we could," She said smiling at his resolve, "Now come on, we need to wait here while Jet tries to destroy the village, Aang already set a plan for us to follow."
"Oh? What is it?" Sokka asked.
"Come with me and I'll tell you." She said, leading him out of the tree house.
Jet was leading Aang through the forest, though he was very quiet. It was honestly beginning to get to Aang a little bit. However, he decided to just keep quiet for the time being, and let the course of events play out like it did previously. Jet finally stopped where Aang vaguely remembered filling the place up with water, and turned towards Aang. He opened his mouth, and then quickly shut it again.
"What do you want?" Aang asked.
"I…" whatever had made him hesitate passed as he shook his head, "I want you to fill this river up with water from these holes."
"I dunno," Aang said, looking at the holes, "That seems pretty hard."
"You're the Avatar, you can do it." Jet said, "Once you're done, go to the tree house and stay there. We can celebrate when I get there."
Aang began to do as he was told, filling the river with water. Jet watched on for a few minutes before encouraging Aang and heading out on his own.
Sokka and Suki rushed to where Jet was, and they saw the dam being lined up with barrels of blasting jelly. The two stood atop a large cliff, overlooking the entire process, it was now early in the afternoon, and they could see everything clearly. Suki raised an eyebrow at the sight, "Think he's using enough? He could probably fit another twenty barrels down there if he wanted." She whispered to him sarcastically.
Sokka didn't bother responding, looking at the dam lined by with barrel after barrel or blasting jelly.
"What are you two doing here?"
They turned around to see Smellerbee, followed by Longshot
"Just checking out the scenery," Sokka answered, "What are you doing here?"
"You guys aren't supposed to see this." Smellerbee said.
"I won't let you do this." He said, pointing to the dam, "You'll kill hundreds of innocent lives. Do you really think it's worth it?"
"We're clearing the valley of the Fire Nation." Smellerbee said, repeating what Jet had been saying, "Sacrifices have to be made."
"No, they don't." Suki said, "You're not helping anyone. What you're doing is wrong. There are people down in that village who look up to you guys because you fight the Fire Nation, and you're going to show them how great you are by drowning them?"
"You don't understand!" Smellerbee said, though she didn't sound entirely convinced.
"You're right." Suki said, "I don't understand. I would never kill innocent people!"
Longshot grabbed an arrow, while Smellerbee pulled out her daggers, "We have to stop you… This is the right thing!"
"No it's not!" Sokka shouted, "Get that through your thick skull" Are children always this resilient? He thought to himself, getting really annoyed. Regardless, he drew his sword while Suki grabbed her fans from her belt.
"Just accept that you're wrong. Come with us during the invasion instead, you'll do more good there than you'll ever do here." Suki pleaded.
"Don't listen to them!" Jet said, coming forth with his hook swords out, "They're just trying to turn you against me!"
And with that the two children turned towards Sokka and Suki, a fight was imminent. Sokka and Suki tensed, and they gripped their weapons tighter, both waiting for their opponents to make the first move. It didn't take long for the fight to start, with Longshot starting it by shooting at Suki and Sokka. The arrow was going at them aimed at a non-vital part of their body, but even so it could have been a potentially life threatening shot.
Both of them jumped off to the side, their fighting senses in full swing, and their dance of death with their opponents was starting. Though they weren't going to kill these children, they weren't going to hold back either. They had to teach these kids a lesson, and it would be taught well. Jet intercepted Suki while Smellerbee went for Sokka, Longshot tried to hit either of his opponents, but the fighting made it hard for him to get a shot off towards his enemy rather than his ally.
Smellerbee's daggers crashed against Sokka's blade, and Sokka pushed her off her balance by quickly leaning forward. He slashed forward, making sure not to do any damage, and then pressed his advantage. Each step forward he took against her, she took two steps back, stumbling around, and attempting to hold up against the much better fighter of the two.
Suki was doing just as well against Jet, she easily dodged around the hooked blades that Jet used and went in close and sliced at his exposed chest, creating a few thin cuts. Jet let out a roar as he tried to gain some momentum towards Suki, but when he raised his swords to slash downward at her, she simply dodged to the side, and when Jet's blades got stuck in the ground, she used the golden moment to strike again, and make a few more cuts on him.
Longshot forced Suki to back away, and at that point she and Sokka looked at each other. Their opponents were both haggard and tired from fighting for only a minute, if even. They knew it was because they had over a decade of experience using their weapons, and in Suki's case, almost two decades, but they began to wonder if it would be smart to invite these children to the invasion after all.
However, that chain of thought stopped when Sokka quickly managed to barely dodge out of the way of an oncoming arrow, and the fight was renewed, except this time Suki and Sokka traded opponents.
Sokka and Jet clashed, and they glared into each other's eyes.
"You shouldn't be doing this." Sokka said, "I thought I got through to you this morning!"
"We have to do this." Jet said, glaring daggers at Sokka, his breathing was heavy, and sweat was beginning to form at his brows. Sokka meanwhile was sweating, but he was easily still in control of his breathing.
"You don't have to do anything."
"Yes, we do." Jet said, resuming the fight.
Suki didn't bother dodging the daggers that Smellerbee used, instead, she simply deflected them off to the side when the younger girl struck, and would cut her. She wore her down quite a bit, until the younger girl made a fatal mistake and tripped to the ground, her daggers flew out of her grasp, and Suki knelt down, placing the blade of her fan at the girl's throat.
"I would have killed you now if that is what I wanted to do." Suki said to the girl, before getting up and dodging an arrow.
Suki went to Longshot, and though he did an admirable job dodging her attacks, it soon became obvious that he wasn't one for close ranged fighting, and Suki eventually managed to defeat him rather easily.
Jet looked over to his other Freedom Fighters, who were both knocked out, or just too beat up to continue, he then did his best not to show his oncoming exhaustion.
"Give it up Jet."
Jet turned to look at the new voice, and saw Aang standing there.
"Avatar," Jet muttered, "Nice to see you here."
"What you're doing is wrong." Aang said, glaring at the boy, "I will give you two choices."
"Oh yeah?" Jet said, "And what are those?"
"One, stop this and I will let you come on the invasion with us. Two, continue this stupid act and you will face the consequences." Aang said, watching intently as Jet glared right back at the boy.
It didn't take long for Aang to get his answer, for seconds after that declaration, tons of explosions went off, and Jet allowed a grim smile onto his face, "I freed this valley! There are no more Fire Nation scum living here anymore!"
Sokka sheathed his sword, and sighed sadly, "I hoped you wouldn't have done that. You really won't change your ideals?"
"Never. Not after what happened to my family!"
Sokka was quiet, and sighed, "I'm sorry to say this, but you didn't destroy anything."
"What?"
"Look for yourself." Sokka said, spreading his hand across the horizon.
Jet crawled over to the ledge of the cliff he was on, and let out a startled cry as he saw the dam was still in perfect condition. "What?" He whispered in shock.
"Job completed Aang!" Toph said, walking into the clearing.
"Good work." Aang said, before turning to Jet, "She warned the villager's way ahead of time, and while you were busy fighting with my friends; Toph and I were helping the villagers remove the explosives from the dam. Once we got them all, we blew them all up, so you wouldn't have access to them anymore."
"You helped the Fire Nation?" Jet said in anger, "You would help our enemy? What kind of Avatar are you?"
"A fair kind. I'm supposed to bring balance to the world; I can't do that if I discriminate against one group of people." Aang watched Jet gritting his teeth, and he picked up his swords only for his hands to suddenly get captured in the rock below him and he was pulled back down to the ground.
"You're lucky I saved that one guy from the trap he set up Aang," Toph said as she walked over to the now pinned down Jet, "Otherwise they wouldn't have come with me."
"The Fire Nation guards also said that they would claim not to have seen me here, since I saved their village from being destroyed. They may have encroached upon this land, but for the Fire Nation guards, it's their home now as much as it is the Earth Kingdoms."
"Stop preaching to me!" Jet finally shouted, "Just stop!"
Aang sighed, looking sadly down at Jet, "I hope you understand why we are trying to convince you to stop your hatred of the Fire Nation. If we ever meet again, I hope it's under better circumstances." Aang said before he began to walk away.
Toph quickly got rid of the rock surrounding the boy's arms, and quickly followed after Aang. Suki and Sokka were both just a step behind her.
"W- Wait!" Jet called, and when they turned around he stood up, leaving his weapons on the ground, "You're just going to leave me here?"
"There's not enough blasting jelly for you to try and blow up the dam again." Aang said, "You won't be able to try that trick again before the water recedes."
"But, we can still ambush Fire Nation guards, patrols, and hurt people, why are you letting me go free?"
"The village won't support you any longer. Any reserves they have about hunting for children is gone now that you tried to murder them all." Aang said, the harsh reality of his words hitting Jet and the two other Freedom Fighters there, "You'd best prepare yourself to regain their trust, because it's going to be hard to do so."
"But… why?"
"I trust you'll do the right thing. I will attempt to send you a letter when the invasion starts, and I hope you and your Freedom Fighters are ready to fight for us for the right reasons, instead of giving into your hatred."
Jet widened his eyes, unsure of what to do at that moment. He knew he was at a life changing moment, and finally he sighed, "Thank you Avatar…"
As the group flew on Appa Sokka, crawled his way up to the front of the saddle where Aang was, "That was great Aang. Those parting words I mean. I think we all did a good job of hammering it into his head that what he was doing was bad."
"I didn't even talk to the guy." Toph said.
"Well, Aang and I did a good job I mean." Sokka amended.
Suki rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but smile, "I'm just glad nothing went wrong there, I was sure Aang's plan wouldn't work."
"Thanks." Aang mumbled.
"No, it was a good plan." She said assuring him, "It's just that usually our plans don't work unless if Sokka is involved in forming it somehow."
Sokka smiled back at her, and Aang shrugged, "Hey, it's not that hard to come up with a good plan."
And with that, Sokka began to tell a long winded explanation about just how wrong he was.
Chapter ten – End