Closer than Ever

[kyoshilover]

Pre-Story Notes: Set before the Fury of Aang. This first chapter was murder to write, so forgive any minor errors. Also, I put thoughts in underlined italics.

Closer than Ever

Chapter 1: A Meeting

Days seemed to blur together when they were waiting outside the town of Sai Chi Minh. They had stopped nearby, in a forest near the flat land near Mount Saigon. The environment there was quite suitable for earthbending, but also close to a town where goods could be easily acquired. Also, the forest in which they were camping seemed to Sokka to be a very nice place to hunt in.

Unfortunately, it was much less of a hunting ground and more like a gatherer's paradise; all the animals were too swift to be hunted without an archery weapon. However, he did find a tree filled with round fruit and some red berry bushes, enough of both to feed them for a bit; should their other supplies run short.

With his initial searches for meat proving futile, he returned to camp to find no one present, “What a surprise.”

He groaned and sat down next to a tree near where they had set up their camp, trying to rest and recuperate from a rather lengthy hunt; his leg muscles were sore from idling on a tree limb for an hour or so. However, lunch time was coming soon, judging by the sun's position almost overhead, but no one was back in camp to cook the midday meal. Even Appa was away, most likely watching his best friend learn some of the harder earthbending stances that had given him difficulty in the last few days.

Deciding that no one would miss him for a few more minutes, he allowed himself to relax. Of course, sitting around by one's self could get very boring quickly. So, he tried to fill some of this spare time by sampling some of the berries.

He grabbed only one of the berries and popped it into his mouth, not wanting to consume too many of them at once. He savored the sweet, unfamiliar taste, for a moment, before swallowing it. Before he could try to eat another, a twig snapped behind him. That noise resulted in him jumping up, the bag of berries tipping over onto the ground, its contents spilling out onto the mossy ground.

Drawing a hunting dagger with one hand, he slowly and, somewhat, calmly made his way around to the other side. There was nothing present, as far as he could see. That left more fear in him than that encounter with the Saber Tooth Moose Lion mother had. After all, an unseen enemy was, at least, twice as deadly as one that had already been detected.

At least, someone was there to help him out when that beast had come searching for its cub, despite the fact that he had been unable to make a move against his attacker. Now, on the other hand, he was all alone but completely mobile. At this point in the time, he was kind of wishing that he was still stuck in that hole.

“Hello, is someone there?” He put his back to the tree and waited for a response, moving around a little bit and turning. Again, his eyes revealed nothing to him. However, just as he was about to go back to his business, he heard a whistle from somewhere off into the bushes to his left. He whipped around in that direction and, cautiously, approached the foliage.

Whatever was awaiting the Water Tribe Warrior, he was determined to not be caught off guard by it. However, upon further inspection, it was revealed to him that there was nothing concealing itself there, now.

Now, he was starting to sweat; all his training couldn't possibly prepare him for being stalked by someone, or something, so skilled at remaining hidden. Suddenly, he felt some thing prick him in the front right side of his neck. Before he could react, he had been hit again, this time in his right arm. When he looked around a lot, he located no aggressor. All of a sudden, the proud, tall trees around him began to blur.

In his confusion, he looked up at a nearby tree's lower branches and saw a figure clad in some brownish green colors. By that point, however, it looked like there were two or three of them crouching on that tree limb. A couple seconds after that, his legs felt really wobbly beneath him and he found himself laying on his back, with so little awareness of his current location. It took only a few moments longer for everything to get real hazy.

It felt like only moments later when Sokka regained consciousness on top of his bedroll. He sat up slowly, but carefully, as he still felt a bit off. After a minute or two of hearing or seeing no one, he stood up. A shrill cry resounded from behind him and he whirled around, only to see his sister laying on the ground, her throat slit, judging by the amount of blood staining the dirt beneath her neck.

He shouted the bleeding waterbender's name, knowing it was futile. Tears came to his eyes as he realized that he could do nothing to prevent her death.

Only a moment later, a figure caught him by surprise and, in an instant, was adjacent to him. All he saw of the shadowy visage were a pair of all too familiar golden eyes. The figure cackled with its cruel, feminine voice, before dealing a mortal wound to his stomach with the bloody blade that had slain his sibling.

He fell to the ground in shock from the pain, while the demonic laughter continued, until everything went black.

He woke up with a start, hollering and looking around wildly. He calmed down soon after that and felt his abdomen were he had been pierced. Upon feeling no pain from his investigation, he decided that his dream had been some sort of nightmare brought on by the...

His line of thought was disrupted by the voice of a friend, “Hey, Sugar Queen, Snoozles is awake, finally.”

Before the aforementioned lad could turn around fully, he found two arms wrapped around him, “Sokka!” Came an ecstatic voice from behind him, “I'm so glad you're all right!”

The tan skinned female's embrace shocked him, causing him to pale visibly, but also provided quite a bit of relief.

“It really was a dream...”

She released him from the tight hug and repositioned herself in front of him He still was a little woozy, but he decided to stand anyway. Oddly, he felt as if something had been shoved into his underwear. He wrote it off as a side effect of those darts, “Who attacked me?”

Her gleeful expression nearly vanished and she seemed to consider something for a moment, before speaking, “We don't know; you were just laying on the ground and unhurt, aside from where those darts hit you. It was really strange.”

He wanted to ask a second question, but his stomach made its want to be full known.

Katara chuckled, a cheerful smile returning to her face, “You must be all right, then. Come, I was about to prepare lunch.”

His crotch was starting to feel weird from that item down there. It felt like some paper was rubbing up against his private parts, making speech a bit awkward, “I've got to...uh...tend to some things, first.”

And she knew not to press the matter further, “All right. There's a small river over there,” She pointed westward, “if you would like to wash, while you're tending to things.” She added the last part teasingly

“Thanks.” He was amused, but still a bit uncomfortable. The boomerang wielding hunter departed without another word. After a short walk, he reached the river. Glancing about wearily, he began to disrobe. Sure enough, when he got down to his undergarments, he was able to reach in and retrieve a folded piece of paper. He unfolded it and found that several characters had been written upon it.

The day you read this message, come to the Hanoi Teahouse at sunset and sit down at an empty table. Come alone. If you do not comply, you will be found and there will be consequences.

The message was not signed and there was no hint as to the sender, but it was obvious that he was the intended recipient. Given the threat of 'consequences', he had little choice but to do as the note told him. After all, risking the lives of his friends and sister for his own safety was not an option.

After all, his father, before he left to fight, had told him that a warrior would face danger bravely so that others wouldn't have to. In these trying times of the Avatar's journey, the lives of Aang and his bending teachers were not things to be gambled with. With his decision already made, he quickly washed up, dried off, put his clothes back on, and headed back to camp...

He slipped away from them when the others went away to practice their bending skills, since they had spent around half of the daylight hours watching their sole nonbender while he was incapacitated. He brought his boomerang and dagger, to avoid spooking those he would be meeting with and to stay armed simultaneously.

He entered the town from the south, where the market would still be running until an hour or so after sunset. Judging by the position of the sun, he would be able to get to the Teahouse with a little time to spare, based on the assumption that his destination was not further than halfway across the town. After a bit of walking and quite a few attempts at getting directions, he had finally located the Hanoi Teahouse.

It was a rather plain establishment, with a simple wooden sign above the door and, on the inside, a modest decoration style. It was obvious that, while the owner put a lot into it, they couldn't afford the fanciest furnishings. That didn't really matter though, as he stepped inside to see the place was fairly busy. Around half of the tables were unoccupied, he figured after a quick estimate. Deciding that waiting around in front of the entrance was not a good idea, he continued along to an empty table on the right side.

Before long, a young woman came up to his table, “What may I get you, sir?” She was dressed in a plain, light green robe and wore her dark brown hair in a ponytail of sorts.

Sokka answered her as simply as he could, “Just a cup of water, please.”

“Of course.” She retreated towards the counter to relay his order. She quickly returned with his water and set it down on the table in front of him.

“Thanks.” He answered as he took a short drink of its contents, before setting it down. It was fairly good, but not as good as the water back home was. The proud member of the Water Tribe spent a quiet stretch of time reflecting, largely unaware of his surroundings.

That is, until someone sat down in front of him and coldly uttered the following, “You've come, good.”

This figure was heavily robed in black, to the extent that determining gender from physical features was impossible, with a hood drawn over the head.. The voice used, also, had a harsh, whisper-esque tone, which made it even more difficult to determine who the speaker was.

“I stuck to my end of the bargain,” He was out of his reverie and now less than happy to have met the sender of the note, “now, what do you want?”

“I want you to meet someone, come with me.” The cloaked person commanded, offering no chances for objection.

Seeing as he couldn't risk the unfavorable results of disobedience, he decided to follow. Before that, he left a few copper pieces next to his cup. The figure in black led him outside and turned left. They headed down the street a little ways before heading into an alleyway. Lo and behold, there was another black robed person awaiting them.

The one they had just found whispered somewhat loudly and quite cheerfully, not caring to disguise her voice, “You found him!”

The only Water Tribe male present swore that he had heard that voice before.”

“That was incredibly subtle.” The first speaker held onto the original whisper, before turning towards the entrance of the alley, “Look, I got him here, so hurry up and get done talking to him.”

He approached the second, less quiet of the two and asked the all important question, “Ok...why did you have me brought here?”

“I wanted to meet you again!” She pulled the hood back, revealing her face, albeit revealed in low light.

Despite the semi-darkness of their current location, Sokka easily recognized the face and hair, “Ty Lee.” His tone was somewhat subdued, as he remembered who this girl was friends with, and he had a bit more fear in him now.

Slowly and calmly, he backed away a couple of steps and reached for his knife, “Whatever you and your crazy friends want with me, I don't want to be a part of.” He didn't draw the blade, but he kept his hand on the hilt as a reminder to the female in front of him that he was willing to use it.

“Don't worry, silly! Azula doesn't know this is happening and Mai won't hurt you, I promise!” She attempted to calm him, her grin diminishing a bit in size, but still remaining on her face.

“I don't know about this...” He stepped back a little bit more. Something about her made him uneasy, the way she was such a formidable warrior but could seem so pleasant. In a way, that made her more fearsome than the blue fire lady and she who sleeps with blades.

Any trace of her smile vanished at that, “But...but...I-I just-” She didn't continue, as a woman could he heard screaming from the street...

Notes: Heh heh, a first chapter cliffhanger. Not much more to say than that, so please review.

[lexlex]

ty lokka. i luv it. dude keep goin

[kyoshilover]

Closer than Ever

Chapter 2: Fight and Run

Hearing the cry from the woman in the streets, Sokka acted as quickly as he could, “Come on, it sounds like someone needs help.”

He didn't know if he would be going it alone against whatever was out there or not. He dashed out of the alleyway to see three men dressed in dark colors surrounding another man dressed in green and a woman in a similarly colored robe.

“I'm giving you three seconds to hand over your money.” The first of the bandits stated, holding a knife to the woman's throat.

That criminal certainly didn't expect the male citizen to lunge forward and to pierce his abdomen with a hidden blade. Luckily for the hostage, the surprised robber recoiled a bit and the knife didn't cut her throat.

The other two didn't hesitate in cutting him down with their broadswords and resuming the holdup, as if nothing had occurred. However, they didn't expect a young man to intervene, “Leave her alone.”

The unoccupied bandit turned while his comrade made sure that the survivor wouldn't be able to call herself a survivor any longer if she tried to flee, “Look at this!” He chuckled at the sight of a lone teenager ready to fight, “A boy trying to be a hero!” His laughter increased in intensity.

“Let her go.” The Water Tribe teenager knew that this was only going to be resolved one way and drew his dagger.

His partner, still occupied with the innocent woman, smirked sinisterly, “If he wants a fight so bad, let him take her place!”

“That's a good idea, Shen.” The other agreed, gesturing for Shen to let his hostage go, “All right, lad, bring it on!”

The woman, at the instant she was released, began dashing away, eager to not lose her freedom again.

“Hey, look!” One of the bandits pointed and shouted, “He's got a little girlfriend!” He laughed mockingly, but his partner wasn't amused anymore.

Sokka glanced to his left and, to his shock, saw that he had been joined by a certain acrobat. She had ditched the black garb and was wearing some tight, light green colored clothing that resembled her original, red and pink costume. Apparently, she had been wearing it under her robe. Her hair was up in that same braided ponytail from before. He turned his gaze backs towards the enemy, knowing that he'd have time to thank her later.

The unamused criminal was losing his patience, “Enough talk! Let's fight!”

The bandits charged their enemies, while the teenagers prepared to defend themselves. Sokka ducked under a slash that threatened to remove his head and countered with a hard, left handed punch. His blow landed near the center of his opponent's chest. While his opponent was off balance, he followed it up by kneeing him in the stomach.

The robber staggered backwards in pain, but recovered quickly. He assumed a combat stance, “You hit hard, kid.” A compliment, though it could barely qualify as one.

There was only a brief pause before he resumed fighting, slashing down this time. This time, the blow was parried. Their blades remained locked for several moments, as they both furiously fought to knock the other back. Suddenly, the younger, Water Tribe lad was losing the struggle, being pushed back a little bit, but not giving up.

In the blink of an eye, the older male found himself pierced by two blades, one catching him in the throat and the other in the abdomen. His strength faded in the shock and Sokka found it quite easy to break his guard and to strike another blow against him. Blood stained the blade as it cut into the unfortunate male's chest.

The broadsword fell to the ground, as did its wielder. A thud could be heard as the other bandit dropped to the ground. Before anything else could happen, a detachment of the town guard came dashing down the street in front of them.

“Right on cue.” Mai could be heard saying in her usual, uninterested tone, also undisguised now. She was dressed in an outfit similar to her old one, but in a dark green color used in the Earth Kingdom, rather than her original Fire Nation colors. It covered up just as much and, one would assume, concealed just as many weapons.

A few seconds later, three guards were surveying the scene. Another one (separate from the group of three) stepped towards the teenagers, “What exactly happened here?” His tone was accusatory, though he definitely had an excuse to be suspicious, with four corpses on the ground. Notable about these men assigned to defend the city was their armor; at a glance it seemed weak enough to stab through.

“We were-” The lone male was interrupted by the less compassionate of the two Fire Nation females.

She moved forward and began speaking, before anyone could object, “My friends and I were walking down the street, heading to the inn to rent a room for the night; we're travelers, you see. All of a sudden, we came down a street to find this woman and her husband,” She gestured to the corpse dressed in lighter colors than the rest, “being robbed by bandits. We tried to intervene, but one of the lawbreakers killed him, but not before he slew one of them. We managed to incapacitate one and to strike the other down. That's what happened.”

The Water Tribe lad glanced at her, almost in shock at her knowledge of the situation. The way she had fabricated that story so quickly, without stuttering or becoming confused for even an instant.

The guard seemed to accept this, “Hm...it looks like your story checks out. I have to go talk to my men, before I make a decision, please wait a moment.” He stepped away, but another guard came over to watch them and a third guard kept an eye on them from a distance.

All of a sudden, Sokka noticed something: one of the guards was pointing at them and quietly telling something to the leader. The head guard's eyes widened and he drew his weapon, leading the group back towards the band of teenagers.

“Due to the nature of this crime,” He paused, feeling somewhat unsure of himself, “we must uh...detain you to gather evidence that will ensure that you are not lying to us.”

Sokka moved to put his hands up, blade still in hand, but one of the females made the first move.

A throwing knife suddenly impacted the face of the leader of the guards, slashing it up before falling to the ground. This wound would have been easy to deal with if one of his eyes hadn't been cut by the blade. A second weapon struck him in the leg, causing him to nearly fall in the shock. For a second, everyone but Mai hesitated, before one of the guards shouted, “Attack!”

The wounded guard took one step forward before falling from the intense pain in his leg, but his fellows continued without him. Obviously, there was no surrender now. He lowered his hands and prepared to fend off the first guard, who rushed at him with his spear out in front.

He slid to the right and rushed forward, getting close enough to smell the man's breath. He held his knife to up the man's throat and stared into his fearful eyes. Deciding quickly to spare the man's life, he repositioned himself behind the guard, careful to ensure that the knife remained close but did not slice through any skin.

The tan skinned teen struck him over the head to incapacitate him and moved on. As he turned around to check on his temporary allies, he found that Mai had been knocked to the ground by a guard with a spear and was now inches from being struck by its head. There was no time to dawdle with a life on the line. Especially considering that this girl had saved his life earlier.

The warrior grabbed the man's neck with his left hand and forced him to lean backwards somewhat, as he swiftly brought his knife upwards. As the blade pierced the guard's neck, he dropped his spear and cried out briefly, before falling to the ground himself.

The thrown weapons specialist got back onto her feet and glanced over in Ty Lee's direction. He glanced over as well and saw that she had just disabled her opponent's arms. It took only seconds to finish the fight by disabling the next guard. Of course, by then, a few concerned spectators were watching the skirmish.

Obviously, someone had gone for help from some of the other guards, so lingering was not an advisable plan. So, they began sprinting away from the scene. Not going separate ways as they ran, instead, they stayed together. Sokka would have called it a manifestation of their survival instincts, but not while he was more concerned about moving forward. Eventually, they had managed to flee into the forest, avoiding and evading the guards as they did...

They stopped in a small clearing to rest, as they had run, at least, a kilometer from the city.

Mai was the first one to speak, having caught her breath, “That went well.”

There was a brief pause before the only male present replied, “What are we going to do now? We're outlaws and we're stuck out in the middle of nowhere with no gear!”

Ever the optimist, the acrobat chimed in with a simple comment, “We're still together.” Her expression was cheerfully oblivious, almost as if she didn't realize the weight of their situation.

“Right about now, I think I'd be better off alone.” He grumbled, not thinking anyone heard him, as he walked over to a nearby tree and sat down up against it.

That was when Sokka noticed that her expression had darkened notably, before she turned away and made a silly comment to her friend. For the first time, he felt guilt concerning his actions towards one of the Fire Nation. He sighed as he looked up at the canopy of the forest and reflected on the unfortunate way things had gone recently. He had tried so hard to protect his companions that he didn't think things through. The warrior didn't even bother to tell them about it.

At that moment, he shook his head; if he had told them they wouldn't have let him go and there would have been 'consequences'. He nodded to himself, reassured that he had made the correct choice. When he glanced around, he noticed the weapons master toying with one of her blades, while the other was stretching.

He relaxed a little bit; for once these two weren't out to kill him. Sure, he couldn't call them allies, but he could trust them to let him sleep. The Water Tribe lad yawned and found his eyelids a lot heavier than they had been before.

Staying awake seemed important, because his trust of these two wasn't that strong. However, if they had really wanted to take him out, they would have rushed him by now. Sure, he may be strong, but the two against one odds weren't in his favor. For the moment, he decided to trust them enough to let himself sleep.

He slowly repositioned himself so he was laying on the ground, then he tried to find a spot that didn't hurt his back so badly. Eventually, he just dozed off....

Notes: Yeah, a bit of a filler here. Not much else to say.

[:P]

not bad.i like it alot actually ;D

[kyoshilover]

Notes: School is an annoyance when I'm trying to write a story...

Anyway, here's the third chapter and I hope you enjoy it.

Closer than Ever

Chapter 3: Another (Un)Lucky Encounter

Waking up in a nice warm bed was Sokka's idea of a nice end to this nightmare. However, that was about the opposite of how he would really be awakening. To be exact, he came to on top a rather thick, and painful, tree root. Needless to say, his back was going to be aching for a little bit. He got to his feet and glanced around their, very makeshift, camp. The sun was rising, but the forest provided more than a little bit of shade. The acrobat was sleeping, but her friend was not present.

That granted him no comfort. However, he was more worried about finding water...at least until he noticed a waterskin filled and a scroll laying nearby.

“Written communication seem to be some kind of running theme with these people...”

He picked it up and rolled it open, carefully observing the written words on it.

Went to get food, will be back soon.

Don't drink all the water, you buffoon.

There was nothing more, and no more needed to be said. Letting the scroll roll back up, he set it aside and picked up the waterskin. He pulled the cap off and took a short drink. It wasn't much, but he could live with it.

Sokka laid it back down gently as he heard a soft, long, female yawn. It may have not been the thing he was hoping most for, but she was the less threatening of the pair.

He turned to face her as she sat up from her sleep, most likely unaware that he was looking at her; she was facing away from him and fixing her hair into that simple braided ponytail she liked so much.

He occupied himself by leaving the camp to relieve himself, because he figured she'd be spending a while on her hair. Not too long later, after a close encounter of the worst kind with a jagger bush, he came back to see her standing and doing her morning stretches. Apparently, she hadn't noticed him walking away, and he couldn't help but watch her lithe figure move and twist so gracefully.

Since she didn't know he was there, there would be no harm in...observing her as she bent over backwards and looked right at him. He tensed visibly, wondering what she would do to him since she had caught him staring.

She grinned like the happy, little idiot she was, “Good morning!” Ty Lee was as perky as ever, even only minutes after she awakened.

He responded with the same words she had greeted him with, his shocked expression still on his face. Relief flooded through him as the girl continued her bends, apparently not suspecting him of anything.

Unfortunately, just as his fear of being caught staring vanished, guilt and suspicions from last night reappeared. He was right in the enemy camp. In a way, they had snared him without using a single trap or rope. However, he could afford to wait until the other female came back with food; there was no use in going adventuring on an empty stomach.

The Water Tribe teenager sighed, trying to keep himself cool, calm, and collected. If he attacked either one of them, he risked wandering the woods with no clue of where to go and the wrath of the other.

Sighing again, he retrieved the nearby waterskin and turned back towards the cheerful, young woman, “Ty Lee, Mai left us some water.”

She reentered a normal stance and walked over to him and smiled, before grabbing it from him and taking a nice, long drink.

When she finally finished, she handed the, now, empty container back to him, “I feel so much better now, thank you.” He noted that her smile had only grown wider since her awakening

“How can she be so cheerful over some water? Then again, she did drink all of it...”

“No problem, just trying to help out.” Sokka replied a bit uneasily, noticing that they were in rather close proximity, “We are in a rough spot here.”

“You're so sweet.” Ty Lee reached forward just a tiny bit and poked the tip of his nose.

“Is she blushing?”

He leaned forward a little bit to get a better look, but just gave the slightly shorter human an opportunity that she couldn't resist. As fast as lightning could strike, she covered the remaining distance between them and touched her lips to his.

She retreated much less quickly than she advanced, but the contact was quite brief nonetheless. The brief peck on the lips left the male reeling. In fact, he staggered backwards a step, unsure of what to do next.

“Wha-what...wow...” At this point, words were a bit beyond him.

Ty Lee smiled a small, somewhat flirtatious smile and played with her ponytail a little bit, “You liked it.” She stated, taking another step closer as she finished messing around with her hair.

His feet were rooted to the ground, he couldn't find himself. If he didn't do something soon, he'd be in over his head.

“W-w-wait!” The word rang clear on his third try at it.

In that instant, her playful expression vanished, and she pouted, “You didn't like it?” She sounded extremely disappointed.

Just like last night, he felt guilty for ruining a good mood of hers. Sokka couldn't explain it, but causing someone who seemed so pleasant and innocent to become unhappy made him feel a bit miserable on the inside.

Locating the proper words was even more difficult now, “No! I did-I mean...ugh!” Frustration and guilt did not aid one when speaking in a tough situation.

The warrior from the South Pole found himself unable to form another full word for a short time, uttering several syllables in a somewhat pathetic attempt at proper speech.

“Cutie?” A tear rolled down her left cheek, uncertainty ruling her for the first time in a while.

“Ty Lee...it's not that...you did anything wrong...but I barely know you! As far as I know, you could be an elite assassin trying to kill me.” He stopped, before adding hastily, “And it could be the exact opposite! I could be trying to kill you, for all you know.”

She seemed to consider this for a while, before responding with a tiny, somewhat smug smile, “If you were, you wouldn't be so worried.” Unabashed now, she laid her left hand on his right cheek and moved closer still.

Now he was sweating like a hogdog, but he managed to think up a solution before she was able to initiate any other acts of affection, “Stop, please, it's too soon! We don't know each other! For Yue's sake! People tend to get to know each other before they...uh...do things.” While his wording certainly didn't help to prove that he was able to resist her, it did cause her to back off.

This time, though, she wasn't going to cry or get depressed. This time she stepped back and sat down on the ground, gesturing for him to do the same.

When Sokka merely stared at her, the perky, flexible woman explained herself cheerfully, “Don't you want to get to know me?”

He nodded weakly and joined her, only to yelp and jump up in the air as he sat down upon a rather pointy stick. It left him quite unamused, even after he threw the stick into some nearby bushes, though her giggles proved that she was feeling differently about his situation.

Trying to set aside his rather embarrassing encounter with that small piece of wood, he sat down about a meter from the girl who had put him such an awkward position less than a couple of minutes ago.

Rather than to allow her to get him off balance again by questioning him, he decided to start asking her questions, “Where were you born?”

She looked off into the distance for a moment before answering, “I was born in the capital, Cha Lei.”

“I see,” He nodded and scratched his chin, trying to think of another one, “You're going to think this strange, but what did you eat for breakfast?”

Her goofy smile grew a little bit, before she responded, “We usually ate a lot of bread or some meat for breakfast, with some kind of fruit juice.”

Well, that certainly changed his opinion that everyone from the Fire Nation drank a cold, tall glass of blood every morning, but he wasn't about to tell her that and risk saddening her again, “How does someone like you end up traveling with people like Mai and Azula?” The last few words were spoken more like curses than names.

“I'm their friend, silly!” Ty Lee stated simply, but this time she wasn't going to let him ask another question, “Why are you traveling with the Avatar and those two girls? Are you friends with any of them?” It sounded innocent from her mouth, but it was obviously a direct counter to his last question.

That caught him off guard, just a tiny bit, “Er...the tan girl is my sister. The pale, little girl and Aang are just my friends.”

He swore that he saw her breathe a sigh of relief after that had been said, but wasn't allowed time to say anything, “Where were you born?”

Sokka did his best to recover, “I was born in the second village of the Southern Water Tribe.” He wished to regain control of this little interrogation and quickly put forth a couple of questions without much thought, “Why are you so interested in me? Why risk so much just to find me?” The second the last word left his lips, he felt like backhanding himself.

She blushed a little more before replying, quieter than before, “Because you're a cutie...and you seem like such a nice person.”

Once again, he had been caught flatfooted, though he was a bit used to it by now, “Well, thanks. You look nice...”

The acrobat smiled happily at his kind words. The Water Tribe teenager knew that this was what he had been trying to avoid, but something about her made him disregard that fact, even as she moved forward, just a little bit.

However, their special moment was cut short by a scream, “Help me!!!”

“For the love of...what the hell is it with my luck nowadays!?!

That thought did not show on his face as he stood to retrieve his weapons. With his dagger and boomerang back on his person again, he turned towards the girl that seemed to be so infatuated with him. Ty Lee had stood up and was ready to go, it seemed. With a nod in her direction, he began a quick jog in the direction of the noise.

It turned out that it didn't take very long to get there; he only passed a set of bushes and under a dozen trees on the way. Lo and behold, they found three bandits brandishing weapons at a woman.

Of course, an appearance as completely subtle as their's did not go unnoticed. The three, and the woman that they were robbing, turned toward them. This time, though, the expressions of the bandits were those of complete and utter amusement.

One of them stepped forward and stated smugly, “I knew this trap would catch those guys that took out Shen, Tao, and Chuo.”

The female that had been pretending to be in trouble drew a knife that had been hidden within her dress and laughed, “What did I tell you? Good intentions litter the path to misfortune.”

“You were right, Ling, but now it's time to capture these losers.” The man who appeared to be the leader smirked and, then, began to address the pair with good intentions, “Put your hands up and this won't get messy.”

At this point, Sokka couldn't help but be a little bit cocky, “We beat three of you before, four might just make us break a sweat!”

One of the males, a much bulkier fellow who was a good three inches taller than six feet, chuckled, “Maybe you think you think you're tough s***, but look around you, kid.”

Needless to say, the surroundings were a lot more horrifying than they were before. Now there were bows pointed at them from all sides, and a couple more fierce looking men with swords stepped forth from the foliage.

Needless to say, obeying the initial order became much more favorable than it was initially. He made no effort to resist as his hands and legs were fettered. After that was out of the way, one of the bandits struck him on the head. After that, he tumbled into the darkness of unconsciousness...

[darthcygnus]

This is a good story. Continue when you can.

[kyoshilover]

Closer than Ever

Chapter 4: A Vendetta and a Mistake

Sokka spent the next few days falling in and out of consciousness. When he finally awakened and didn't experience some sort of haze, he felt a little relieved. The lack of comfort of waking up on a floor, however, did not make him feel any better. He glanced around him and realized that he was in some sort of building, crafted out of wood. Several torches lit the room, as there was no way to tell the time of day.

His calmness and curiosity about his surroundings lingered until he heard the door opening and someone speaking to him from the doorway, “Come on, get up.”

She took a few steps closer, closing the door behind her. Her footfalls on the floor were quiet, yet still audible, as she closed in upon the groggy, young man.

He wasn't bound or tied, so he could have stood up, but obeying his captors, at the moment, wouldn't help him escape.

The voice was quiet, almost emotionless for a female's, but he looked anyway. In the moment that he glanced up, he was forcefully pulled to his feet. He came nose to nose with a bandit that had everything but her eyes covered by clothing. He stared into the dark, angry eyes of the person who had spoke to him, only for short time, however.

Before he could do anything else, a hard blow to the face knocked him back a few steps, stopping only when he collided with the nearby wall. If it had hit him in the nose, it would have hurt a lot more.

His right cheek screamed in pain for a few seconds, before he glanced up at his attacker, “What the...? Ugh.”

“That's for my brother!” The woman shouted at him, drawing a knife from her leg sheath before charging him with a ferocious battle cry.

His tiredness slowed his reaction time a little bit and he was unarmed, but this warrior wasn't about to fall to another's blade without a fight.

As the bandit woman raised the blade above her head and brought it down, the lad from the Water Tribe caught her by the dagger wielding hand. He just barely avoided a closefisted attack from the female's freehand. He countered by using his unoccupied hand to chop the wrist of the short blade wielding aggressor.

She dropped the blade and clutched her right wrist, crying out in pain. However, this humbling experience did nothing to calm her. Her rage only increased in intensity and she failed to consider the consequences of continuing this fight.

She rapidly advanced again, but this time she had an obvious weakness. The son of Hakoda grasped her damaged wrist and pulled her past him, slamming her into the wall.

The way she fell to the floor and remained fairly motionless told him that he could relax, for the moment. Unfortunately, that scuffle had made a bit of noise and there wasn't time to dawdle. If it was daytime, someone would, almost certainly, be on the way to investigate. Otherwise, it could have woken someone nearby up. Sokka grabbed the dropped blade and cautiously headed towards the door. He stopped at the door, taking the time to press his ear up against it. He remained there and listened for a while.

Almost certain that there was no one there, he backed away a couple steps and tried to pull it open. The knob wouldn't turn, nearly causing him to freak out, before he noticed a keyhole. If there was a keyhole, then the young woman in here would have had to used it to enter and lock the door.

A brief search of his defeated opponent was rewarded with a simple key, seemingly made out of iron. He slid it into the keyhole and turned it to the right experimentally. Judging by the way it turned, it was unlocked, so he tried the door.

As expected, he easily pulled it open and stepped through to the outside. Torches and moonlight lit the area, not very well but well enough that someone could find their way if they were paying attention. A quick survey of the surroundings revealed that there were no guards in the immediate area. As far as he could see, there were two or three similar structures nearby and, standing out from all the others, a huge tree.

His curiosity got the better of him, so he went to check it out. Needless to say, he was a bit shocked when he found an shrine with three statues in it on the other side of the gigantic tree, but still no other bandits or Ty Lee. With a sigh, he decided to examine the shrine. The first of the three was a statue of a warrior, adorned in golden armor and jewels. The symbols were unintelligible, probably of an older, less used language. With little of interest there, he moved on to the next one.

It contained some sort of animal statue, of some sort of lizard. There were no jewels on this one, but it seemed newer and the carvings in the stone seemed more precise. The language that they were carved in, however, was unrecognizable to Sokka.

And, so, he came to the final dedicated third of the shrine. This statue was of a woman, with long, flowing clothing. She was holding up a bowl above her head, but there was nothing in it. There was a message on this shrine that he could actually read.

I ask only for a meager offering as a show of your faith.

As he pondered that saying, a spare coin purse of his fell from his belt, with a clinking sound. He crouched down, grasped it in his left hand, and stood back up. He opened it up and noticed two coins inside, one silver and one bronze.

Apparently, no one took the message seriously...or no one could read the text. Either way, he decided that he could use all the good karma he could get at the moment. He surrendered his two coins to the unnamed goddess's bowl.

The lad looked at the stone, female figure for a moment, contemplating whether his choice was correct or not. However, he didn't have time to wait around. He turned around and found another structure, this one just like the ones from before. However, this one was isolated from the others. Sokka approached it and found a young man sitting up against the wall. He was asleep and dressed similarly to the young woman that had attacked him.

The tan teenager from the South Pole opened the door with little effort, thanking the goddess from before for his good fortune. However, his silent expressions of gratitude to the deity concluded when he saw what was inside. The acrobat that he hadn't seen in Yue knows how long as tied to a bed, with each limb bound by rope to one of the bedposts. Thankfully, she was still clothed, but her face was bruised on the right side. With the knife, he made quick work of the binds.

He gazed down at her for a moment, admiring her almost unknowingly, before shaking her, “Ty Lee...wake up.”

After a couple seconds of effort, she yawned and sat up slowly.

“Sokka!” She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close, “I thought I'd never see you again!”

He reciprocated the act of affection, though not as enthusiastically, “I'm just glad you're all right; someone tried to kill me.” For some reason, he couldn't seem to let his guard down. He felt like every breath he took in would be his last.

She released him from the hug, “You're all right?”

“No worse for wear.” He shrugged, “We just need a way to get out of here.”

She nodded and the two prepared to exit the building. The male lead on, being the only one armed. He wrapped his hand around the door knob, and the door burst open suddenly, knocking him back a couple steps.

The door guard, apparently, wasn't sleeping any more and was out for blood. With a short sword in hand, he rushed the noble warrior. Not missing a beat, Sokka defended the first attack with his stolen blade.

The acrobat quickly got mixed up in it and tried to paralyze the man's arm from the right side. However, his foot lashed out like a cobra, struck her in the face, and knocked her down.

Using this opportunity, the tan, blue wearing lad swung his knife down at the shoulder of the other male. The bandit, however, had already began a thrust towards his enemy's lower thigh. Each blade struck true at the same time. Crimson stained the weapons and both of them cried out in agony. However, combat had not come to an end.

Doing his best to deal with his pained leg, Sokka counterattacked with a fierce punch. The bandit staggered back into the door, clutching his wounded shoulder. It seemed that the Water Tribe teen's luck had ran out, however, as his opponent charged him again. However, at the last moment before the final strike, a quick jab to his neck caused him to drop to the floor and remained fairly motionless.

Sokka, however, was still fighting, but not with his opponent. His injury, at the moment, was causing him a great deal of difficulty. Standing up brought him intense pain and he couldn't bear it for much longer, “Ty Lee, help me.”

She paused and considered what she should do, before realizing the answer. With her help, he was able to get to the bed and lay down. At least, he noted, the blood flow slowed a little bit now, due to the fact that it was now fighting gravity.

“Argh!” He exclaimed, cursing their misfortune in his thoughts, “What are we going to do now?”

“We're going to have to stay here.” She sighed, feeling a bit of the hopelessness of this situation.

He opened his mouth to argue, but simply allowed it to fall shut again. The flexible young woman was able bodied, but she couldn't get very far while supporting him. He moaned, feeling a bit woozy from the place where the blade had rested inside of him.

Ty Lee paused and touched her toes, an easy feat for her, before asking, “Could I help you with that slice?”

The teenager thought about it for a little while, looking around, “Maybe that bandit's head covering can make a temporary bandage or something.”

She nodded and headed over to the man that she had downed. Sure enough, it was easy enough to pull off the bandana that covered the top of his head. She brought it back over to the male on the bed and, with a little bit of work and a little cooperation from him, was able to tied it over the wound.

Luckily, it wasn't spraying blood everywhere, though it was a bit messy from the preliminary bleeding. With the other bandana, she covered it again. While she could do little to dull the pain, it seemed that the bleeding was approaching a cessation.

“Thanks.” He stated simply, still laying back on the bed.

She smiled, seeing that her work had relieved his fears of losing too much of his vital, crimson fluid. Silence fell over them, but it was a calm, sort of pleasant silence.

However, no silence lasted forever, “Sokka, do you have a girlfriend?” She looked at him, eagerly awaiting his answer.

Pain, both physical and emotional, stalled his answering of that question, “I did, but that's in the past now.” Thoughts of the moon spirit and her time in this world brought tears to his eyes.

Now it was her turn to feel rotten for something she had said, “I'm sorry, I shouldn't have...” She stood and came over to him, looking into his blue eyes with her sorrowful, gray ones, in an attempt to prove her sincerity.

He saw her about to cry and did his best not to do so either, “It's ok...” Saddening her for his own personal troubles wouldn't help matters; he could weep over what had happened at the North Pole later.

She felt a little better, knowing that she hadn't just ruined his day by bringing that up. At that moment, she considered backing off and going back to her business, instead of prying. The acrobat moved to do so, but then remembered that this wasn't Azula she was dealing with.

Concern for Sokka heavily influenced her next words, “Do you want to talk about it?”

She received no response for several moments. Eventually, he replied, “I don't think so.”

“Come on, it could make you feel better.” Ty Lee wanted him to trust her, and it stung her a little bit that he was so wary about doing so. It never occurred to her that the issue she wanted to hear about might have been more sensitive than she anticipated.

She seemed so determined to depress him by sticking to this subject, “I don't want to talk about it.” He stated sternly. This time, hopefully, she would get the message.

However, this acrobat only took a couple seconds of thought to ascertain her next course of action. It would put a little stress on her, but it could help decrease some of the mistrust he has shown towards her.

With a composing sigh, she stated, “How about I tell you something that really hurt me...and, then, you tell me about what's happened to you.”

Sokka looked up at her and thought about her offer for a moment. Then, he sat up and nodded, a somewhat grim look on his face. He had mostly caved in response to her persistence, but he also was a little bit interested.

She took a deep breath to begin, but he interrupted her, “Let me rest first...I feel pretty bad right now.”

Ty Lee smiled and brought her lips to his forehead, before quietly saying, “Have a good sleep, cutie.” She giggled as he blushed, before heading off to do her stretches.

The boy from the South Pole laid back and put his head on his pillow. They spent the next several hours relaxing, undisturbed by the outside world.

Notes: Well, that would be the ending to chapter 4. Next chapter will be a bit further off due to the holidays.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

[thelastavatar]

very enjoyable story, great writing skills. can't wait for the next chapter

[kyoshilover]

This fic is also posted on FF.net.

www.fanfiction.net/s/3260535/1/

If you read it there, please take the minute or two it takes to review

[kyoshilover]

I'm back!

Closer than Ever

Chapter 5: Faith[/b]

“To those who show their faith in me, I give my love and blessed touch. To those that fail to do so, damnation...”

Those words threw Sokka back into the waking world. He felt phenomenally better than he did the night before. However, he also felt a warm presence on the bed with him. He rolled over to find out what it was and, much to his surprise, found that the acrobat had fallen asleep next to him. He tried to move and put some distance between their bodies, but overestimated the width of the bed.

When gravity kicked in, the teenager fell to the floor.

“Ow.” He was just glad there was nothing to land on down there. He climbed onto his feet and laid back down on the bed.

A couple of seconds later, he shouted, “What?!” He brought his hands to his mouth as he heard the girl stir in her sleep and he glanced over at her. A few seconds later, she had only succeeded in repositioning herself and remaining asleep.

With a sigh of relief, Sokka sat up and looked down at his leg. It was still bandaged and those bandages were still stained with the same, red blood that had been there before. However, upon putting pressure on the spot of the injury, he felt nothing. Not a bit of the pain that should have occurred when he pressed down on it.

“That is very strange.” He thought as he carefully considered what he should do next.

He carefully removed them and discarded them, revealing only a rather fierce looking scar where the flesh had been pierced. His clothing was still sliced there, but that didn't really matter at the moment.

Shortsighted as they both were, neither Ty Lee nor Sokka had thought of water or food and the benefits of possessing it in these situations. The fact that the bandit, however, was still unconscious was quite curious and he needed to confirm that he wouldn't become a threat any time soon.

He knelt down next to the criminal and noticed how pale he was. He laid a hand on his face, for a moment, before quickly retracting it. The visage was quite chilly and its lips appeared to have taken on a somewhat bluish pigment. That was never a good sign.

A quick check of his pulse proved that the man had departed from the land of the living. Sokka sighed and began casing the body for anything useful. During this examination, he found no apparent wounds, suggesting that he had died of a rather strange cause. Much to the happiness of the living lad, he found a canteen and some rations; just what he had hoped to find.

It would save him the trouble of waking up Ty Lee and telling her that there was no food for her to eat. He knew that she hadn't eaten for at least several hours and he had gone longer. Knowing that he'd probably be enduring several more minutes, if not longer, without nourishment, he sighed in frustration.

The member of the Water Tribe approached the bed and gently laid a hand on her to shake her. She roused and rolled a bit, causing him to withdraw his hand. She rubbed her sleepy eyes with her hands and looked up at him. A tiny smile appeared on her face as she sat up.

“Good morning.” She was cheerful enough, as if she was oblivious of their situation. However, this was not a time to ruin good moods and create more stress than there already was.

“Good morning, I found some food.” He stated as he laid the bundle down on the unoccupied end table and unwrapped it. The only present female moved over to the edge of the bed and sat there, staring down at the contents of that cloth.

She eyed the food with an apparent appetite, “Thanks. May I?”

“Yes.” He answered, expecting her to daintily take about half of it and eat it slowly, considering her manners to ask for it as a sign of nobility.

When she attacked the food ravenously like a foxwolf at its prey, he was taken aback, to say the very least. He ascribed that to her hunger, as he realized that stopping her would require a bit of force.

When she finished, she cleaned the area around her mouth with the cloth that the food had been wrapped in.

Sokka turned away and smacked himself in the face. Now he didn't have any food of his own; he was sure that she would have split it with him or something. However, as a male member of the Water Tribe, it was his duty to sacrifice for others, especially women.

He laid the canteen on the end table also, after taking a short drink.

He noticed, however, that she didn't drink from it; she didn't even touch it. Instead, she turned towards him and asked, “Sokka, how do you feel?”

“Fine, you?” In fact, he felt better than ever. For once, he had been able to overcome several difficult situations without the help of a single bender.

“Wonderful!” She smiled, perhaps a little too sweetly, “Try some more of the water, I'm not thirsty right now.”

“No, I'm fine.” He answered, not wanting to waste it should she need it later. Also, her tone was making him a bit uneasy; it seemed a bit off compared to usual.

“All right...” Ty Lee seemed a bit disappointed as she reached for the water container. Things immediately seemed quite strange to the male, with the memory of her saying that she wasn't thirsty fresh in his head.

Without warning, she took a couple steps toward him. An instant before he could protest, she lunged forward and he felt an agonizing pain in his lower regions. He fell to his knees, aching from having his greatest weakness struck so precisely.

The acrobat forced his head back and shoved the open canteen's end into it. The water drained into his throat almost as quickly as he could swallow it, though he did sputter a bit due to his recent injury. However, a significant amount of the liquid made its way down his throat nonetheless. It tasted normal, which would have led him to question why she wanted it down his throat so badly, if he wasn't more worried about his painfully aching testicles. He would be surprised if they weren't bleeding or something after that smack; it felt like one was going to burst or something.

Suddenly, however, the pain began to dull. Not the slow, painful sort of reduction that occurred typically with this type of injury. No, he was feeling a bit woozy. At that time, he realized that he was falling victim to a tranquilizer, just like before.

As he became less coherent, he uttered one word, “Why?”

Ty Lee kept silent as the boy fell to the floor and lost consciousness. There was not a word she would say to him as she proceeded with the plan...

He woke up feeling not only tired, but also sort of cold. That wasn't a common feeling, since he was from the South Pole, but it still happened on occasion. In his woozy state, he didn't really know what to blame it on. As his senses began to return (and the cold sensation became somewhat greater), ever so slowly, he noticed that he was being supported on both sides with his shins and feet dragging on the ground. Suddenly, he was thrown to the ground and consciousness abandoned him once more.

In time, Sokka's eyes opened again. He still felt a little bit cold, but he had more feeling this time. He could feel his hands tied behind his back and his ankles bound together. He sat up the best he could and found that he had been shoved into a room. There was a small amount of light coming in through the windows, but it was pretty hard to tell much about the room.

While he was worried about that, he heard a couple of quiet sounding voices speaking.

“Are you sure this is all right?” A cautious sounding female spoke.

“Azula's orders.” A cold, bold voice responded.

“What if they manage to escape?” The first voice queried, still seeming nervous.

“It won't matter, we open the door, throw her inside, and lock the door again.” The latter of the two speakers answered. The former chose to remain silent as they opened the door quickly, tossed a person's body in, and shut it again.

The Warrior of the Water Tribe didn't see them, but he was fairly certain that it had been Ty Lee and Mai. However, what bore more importance to him was who had been thrown in; any enemy of the Fire Nation was a potential friend of his.

Of course, getting closer wasn't an option with his hands and legs bound, so he decided to use one of the most powerful weapons at his disposal.

“Hello?” Sokka shouted across the room, hoping that whoever was there could hear him. His efforts proved quite useless, in the end. Whoever it was merely snored, before stirring a little bit and falling back asleep.

That person was useless to him, for now. Now he tried to position himself more comfortably and began to ponder what had occurred in the last couple of days. What had gone wrong? Could he have prevented this if he had just acted differently at any point?

Well, perhaps if he hadn't attacked the guards with the girls, but instead had thrown his hands up, he would be in jail and Aang could have retrieved him.

He then smacked his forehead and realized that would be even worse; Aang and the rest of the group wouldn't trust him as much anymore if they had heard of that he had met with the enemy.

Maybe if he had just attacked Ty Lee when he had had the chance, while she was sleeping...

“No.” Sokka spoke aloud, trying to shake that terrible thought from his head. He could not, would not strike someone so dishonorably. Well, if it had been Ozai or Zuko, maybe, but not one who had seemed so innocent as Ty Lee.

Too bad that had been an act to lure him into a trap. She had seemed like such a nice, caring person; like his sister without the attitude and twice as perky. Of course, his sister wasn't a sinister liar working for the one Nation that annihilated one of the other three countries wanted to crush and enslave what remained.

He made a mental note not to be so easily deceived in the future. That is, if there was a future for him that didn't involve torture, interrogation, and/or execution. Not only was he trapped in here, but he couldn't see the room well enough to find any escape routes other than the door and, even if he could, he wouldn't be able to get to them and utilize them while bound.

Apparently, the trio of deadly females had managed to prevent escape almost completely. Not only had he been outsmarted and deceived, but now he was in an inferior physical position. Not only was he outnumbered and tied, his greatest weakness was readily available for them to exploit.

As a man captured by women, he was at a complete and utter disadvantage. At that moment, he began to enter a state of frightened wondering.

Without the ability to escape from the room, Sokka began to realize why he was in this room alone. His captors hadn't forgot him, they were trying to rattle him. The longer he remained here contemplating how hopeless his situation was, the more freaked out he would be when they came to 'speak' with him.

If he could just get to sleep, maybe the wait would feel a lot shorter, but he found himself unable to even doze off. He was about to resign himself to a very long and agonizing wait, until he heard a yawn from the other occupant of the room. The warrior of the Water Tribe found himself very intent as he heard the sounds of his fellow prisoner awakening...

Notes: Yeah, I'm evil and I took a long time to write this.

Also, I probably forgot to disclaim this.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own A:TLAB. Trust me, I don't.

[peacefulknight]

I'm back, hope y'all are happy to see me.

Closer than Ever

Chapter 6: Struggles

Sokka sat with his hands still tied behind his back in anticipation as he heard the other captive began to return to the waking world. Someone to talk to, at last! The short time he had been here had felt like forever without a person to converse with.

Judging by the yawn, it was a female, but he couldn't be too sure anymore.

“Hello?” He queried a few seconds later, sure that she was awake.

“Hello?” Her response came and with it a familiar voice. She sounded a bit woozy, he noticed.

It took his unfocused mind several moments to think of the owner of the feminine voice. When it came to him, it hit him in the face like an Ostrichhorse's foot, “Suki!”

After hearing his voice for the second time, she finally realized who she was speaking with, “Sokka! It's so nice to se-hear you.”

“Yeah, it is, I just wish we weren't here.” Sokka sighed, “How did you get here, anyway?”

“Well,” She sounded a bit embarrassed to have to mention this, but continued before he could say anything, “three girls ambushed the girls and me, I was taken prisoner while they left the others behind. We might have won if it wasn't for that firebender...” Her pride had been injured more than her body, so it seemed. Then, curiosity entered her voice, “How did they get you?”

“They blackmailed me into meeting them and then put something in my water. A couple of other things happened, but...er...I can't remember most of them.” He fudged the truth a tiny bit with the last few words.

Whether she could tell that he had withheld information or not, she didn't act like she did, “Anyway-”

Her statement was ended abruptly by the door bursting open. Their eyes were instantly on the door, as two Fire Nation soldiers rushed through the door. Before they could do anything, the old friends were seized and carried outside, where the light was nearly blinding after being trapped in that dark room. They had no time to question where they were going or why, as they were dropped less than a minute after they had been grabbed.

The ground beneath their feet was flat and cleared of any sort of natural obstructions. He had a chance to look up and noticed that they were surrounded by tall, wooden walls with Fire Nation flags adorning them. Further out were even larger walls, most likely containing buildings to house the Fire Nation citizens and soldiers that lived and worked here.

One would assume that this had been an outpost of the Earth Kingdom at one point, but the fact that it there was now nothing within the bounds of the innermost fence was frightening. However, there were doors on the walls to rooms such as the one that the two had been kept in for a short while.

“This must be some kind of arena!” The young man came to a realization that torture wasn't in the cards. He may be skilled in combat, but the odds would most likely be stacked against him.

The Water Tribe male felt a cold blade slice through the bindings around his forearms and legs. A second later, he was pulled onto his feet. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he became aware that he was staring at five from the Fire Nation. A soldier clad in battle armor, a bald man dressed in red pants, and the three ladies that he knew so well

The bald man was quite muscular, easily outweighing Sokka despite being not much taller. He wore no shoes or shirt, but he seemed unabashed by his lack of clothing. In fact, it seemed as if he endured a very rigorous workout program, judging by his very muscular form.

“I hope you enjoyed your rest, peasants.” The most sinister of the three spoke, her voice sounding more dangerous than the sharpest blade in the land, “Now,Water Tribe cur, you must fight for her life and your's.”

The lad felt a bit more angry, but he controlled himself. He was pushed several feet forward by a soldier that was behind him.

The explanation continued, “You will be given a sword and Shen,” The bald man stepped forward at this, “will be given an identical one. You will fight to the death. If you lose, this wench will be killed.”

The pressure just grew, but he did all he could to remain calm, with some success. He managed to keep his choler restrained, though barely, when the insult towards the Kyoshi Warrior had been spoken. When the hateful word was uttered, Suki was lifted off of the ground by a soldier and carried over towards the princess. She struggled, but it was for naught; she was still bound and the man was far too strong.

“If you manage to win, then things will get interesting.” Azula smirked cruelly, “However, what kind of fight would it be if you weren't fed first? Shen would cut you down in an instant if you weren't fully prepared.”

The two female companions of the Princess of the Fire Nation carried over a canteen and a small pack of rations. The bouncier of the two, carrying the canteen, had a grim look on her face. The other one couldn't care less, judging by her expression. Despite not trusting them at all, he received the items without complaint; fighting on an empty stomach would be far too dangerous.

Mai left him without a word, while Ty Lee lingered for a moment, leaning toward him a bit and whispering to him, “Good luck.”

She turned away and returned to the daughter of the Fire Lord silently.

He ate slowly, trying not to get himself sick. It wasn't nearly enough food, but it would keep his stomach from rumbling during the fight. Also, he wouldn't have to worry about overeating. The water wasn't drugged, this time, and was useful in wetting his dry throat. He didn't drink very much, to keep himself from becoming distracted by a full bladder.

Sokka stood once he was finished eating, to a sword laid on the ground several feet in front of him. A quick survey of the scene revealed that his opponent was already wielding his weapon and that the others were back a fair distance.

With a sigh to compose himself, he took several steps forward and knelt, grabbing the sword off of the ground. The blade was light enough for him to hold it in one hand with little difficulty, but a two handed grip would make it even easier to handle. He decided to hold the weapon with both hands. When he faced his enemy, he saw the larger man wield it with only one hand.

“Great.” Sokka muttered quietly, just before Shen, without warning, charged at him from several meters away. This gave the male from the Water Tribe a couple seconds to get into a defensive stance and prepare for the coming attack.

The sword was swung vertically, making for an easy block combined with a back step to allow Sokka maintain some distance. He kicked at his opponent as the burly man tried to slash at him again, knocking him back about a foot.

Shen was not thrown off by the blow and repeated his first sword strike. This time, Sokka simply jumped to the side, avoiding the attack entirely, and swung the blade upward at Shen's left arm. When the weapon sliced deep into the arm, the bald male dropped his sword with a cry of agony and, reacting quickly, seized the tan lad's throat with his right hand.

Needless to say, the choking began almost immediately and, a few seconds later, the strongman pushed his opponent away. Due to the larger male's greater strength, he easily sent Sokka stumbling a few feet backwards. When Sokka finally was able to counter the force, recover his breath, and stand still again, his opponent had retrieved his weapon (with his uninjured arm). Suddenly, his opponent was about to charge again.

At that moment, the warrior of the Water Tribe got a daring idea in his head. The bald man began his rush...and he found himself being rushed as well. The larger man's sword came down to slice into his smaller enemy, and two members of the audience looked away.

A loud clang was heard as the swords collided. A gasp was heard as the Kyoshi Warrior turned her attention back towards the battle and saw her friend locking blades with Shen. Determination filled Sokka's eyes as he pushed with all his might against his opponent's one handed effort. For a moment, the larger, wounded male seemed to find himself being pushed back. Hope entered the eyes of the two spectators who wished for him to survive this little encounter.

In an instant, fortunes reversed and the slimmer of the two was forced backwards. Shen smirked and attacked, raising his blade and bringing it back down to deliver an ending blow. As the weapon was swung down at him, Sokka stepped to the side, avoiding the attack entirely, moved forward, and brought his own weapon towards his opponent's abdomen. The blade struck true and sliced into the vulnerable flesh. Despite his great strength, the agony of taking such a devastating blow caused him to drop his weapon.

Sokka pulled away from his opponent, bloody blade still in hand, as he fell to the ground, dying. With little but guilt won by his victory, he turned towards his audience. As they all approached, he noticed that they were bringing Suki with them, and he finally got a good look at her. Her face paint had long since been washed off, apparently, and her hair was messy. Her uniform was a bit tattered and slightly burnt in a couple of places. The relief her face showed, along with the smile she offered him, made the difficult fight, and it's bloody end, worth it.

“Congratulations,” Azula's cold voice told him, drawing his attention back to her ever calculating gaze, which contained neither anger nor disappointment at his recent victory, “you've survived, for now.”

His blood ran cold at that statement; the suffering was only beginning, “Take them away.”

That wasn't what Sokka wanted to hear and it made him become very panicky, but he wasn't about to leave his good friend behind.

The two soldiers that were with his enemies had added a third to their ranks. One grabbed Suki and carried her the best he could, before following the other two as they came to take the male prisoner away.

They stopped three meters away, “Put down your weapon.” They were armed, he noticed, but it didn't worry him.

Instead, he held the blade in both hands, prepared to defend himself. Suki gasped as she realized what he was doing, but did not object; she wasn't given enough time to do so.

Only a second later, the soldiers responded to his foolish defiance, “If you wish to spill more blood...” The lead soldier drew his weapon, a slightly shorter blade, and attacked.

The younger, more callow warrior positioned his sword to parry the strike. Of course, he was to be left in shock as his blade was knocked out of his hands, onto the ground.

The show of great swordsmanship left him stammering, while the soldier sheathed his weapon and stated smugly, “I've killed people twice as cocky as you...and many more times better than you. That pig that you just slaughtered can't compare to an elite like myself.”

Sokka made no further attempts to resist. He was forced to the ground, held down, and had both his hands and feet bound. With some effort, one of the soldiers picked him up and carried him off...

Some time later, he was deposited in another one room structure. This one, however, was well lit by some window light and a couple torches. Also, the ropes that held his hands and feet together were untied.

“Have fun with your little dirt lover girl.” The soldier that had defeated the teenager mocked as he exited, shut the door, and locked it.

“The nerve of that bastard!” Suki shouted, getting to her feet. She dusted her uniform off and glanced about the room for a moment. She noted the lone bed and modest furnishings before turning to Sokka, who seemed to be intently searching for something.

She quickly brought his attention away from his examination, “Sokka, how could you be so stupid!?”

He looked up like he had been shaken out of a reverie, “What?” It was as if he didn't even hear her. In truth, he really was more shaken by the fact that she was so offended at his effort to save them both.

“That soldier would have killed you if he had been allowed to!” She shouted at him, coming a step closer.

Suddenly, his demeanor changed from confused to a mixture between choler and sorrow, “Was I just supposed to let us be captured?!? I wanted to get us out of that situation!”

She didn't miss a beat, “Only patience and brainpower are going to get us out of here, not idiotic, man-pride influenced tactics like that! If you had been killed, I don't know what I would have done!”

The argument suddenly felt a lot less worth winning, just as he realized why she had seemed so furious at him. “Ok, I'm sorry!” He lowered his volume slightly before answering, “Next time, I'll make sure to consult my feminine side...or something.” He shrugged.

The dark green clad, female warrior grinned slightly at his last remark, her concern fueled anger fading rapidly, “Just be careful and actually think before you act next time, tough guy.”

Sokka nodded. However, over time, the temporary happiness faded away.

He began to think deeply about the situation and look around again, before sighing with frustration, “There's no way out, this is just great.” He began pacing around, apparently contemplating an escape route. After a minute or two, it started to get on her nerves, and she also started worrying about him
.
“Sokka,” She came closer and laid a hand on his shoulder, “there's nothing we can do now.”

“I know, that's just it!” He answered, feeling himself become even more stressed. That was because he was kicking himself over his recent misplaced trust during his interactions with Ty Lee. The way he seemed to become infatuated with her despite his better judgment disturbed him. He should have seen that betrayal coming from a mile away!

Suki, hoping to calm him with words, continued in her attempt to assuage his negative feelings, “Wouldn't you like to sit down?”

His response was exactly the opposite of what she desired, “No! I wouldn't!” He tried to calm down, but failed miserably, “Just...leave me alone, I need some time to rest.” He threw himself down upon the bed, attempting to stave off the thoughts that were plaguing him.

She didn't bother him any further, trying to distance herself from the situation emotionally by going through several combat stances and attacks. Every move, however, was half hearted as her mind worried about him. The Kyoshi warrior knew she could do nothing, and that hurt most of all...

Notes: I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint, but review even if it does.

[Ilise]

Hee. I like this story a lot- but seriously, what happened to Toph and Katara? They haven't been seen since the first bit.

[peacefulknight]

arrowedavatar said:

Hee. I like this story a lot- but seriously, what happened to Toph and Katara? They haven't been seen since the first bit.

The story focuses on Sokka and those around him. Also, they haven't seen hide nor hair of him since he's been gone, so they probably have a better chance of discovering what Ozai's face is than finding Sokka, at the moment. I do agree, though, that I could have cut to them worrying or looking for him or something.

[Ilise]

Ok, cool, just wondered. Yeah, once they find out what Ozai's face looks like maybe they'll tell us... we all are dyin' to know... lol.

[peacefulknight]

Yeah, seeing Ozai's face will be totally epic. I don't think word nor good art could do it justice (considering all the suspense), though.