Promise – Part 2

Katara screamed when she heard the window behind her shatter. She whipped around, water streaming out of her pouch, turning into sharp ice shards as they flew at her attacker. But before they reached their target, Katara stopped them. Instead of the armoured firebender she had been expecting, there was only Toph. But it wasn’t Toph as Katara had ever seen her before. For the first time since she had met the earthbender, she actually looked like the 12-year-old girl she was, frail and tiny. Katara tried to figure out why she looked like that, and then she realised that Toph was alone. Suddenly her eyes went wide, and the question she didn’t want to ask came to her lips.
“T-Toph… w-where’s Sokka?”

At the mention of her name, Toph slowly pointed her face at the waterbender. As Katara looked at Toph’s tear-streaked face, she saw true fear and pain. It reminded her so strongly of her own reflection in the days after her mother had died. She didn’t even need to hear Toph’s reply to know what had happened, but hearing it in Toph’s soft and hurt voice made it much worse.
“He…” she moved her mouth, but the words wouldn’t come. She closed her mouth and looked away from Katara, staring at her own feet as she sank to her knees. “He’s gone. He saved me… but he… couldn’t save himself.” At hearing herself say those words, she broke down into tears for the first time in a long time, her heart breaking.

Katara just stood, dumbstruck at the news of Sokka’s demise. She thought she should be crying, or screaming, anything, but nothing came. Only a single tear, which rolled silently down her cheek. She bent it into an ice crystal and placed it on her necklace, before a determined look set upon her features. She turned around to take the wheel again, aiming the pointed prow of the airship at the final enemy ship. She almost smiled as she felt the jarring impact, hearing the echoes of screams as she sent the airship into the still burning ground below.

As the final ship fell, Katara’s face fell. She knew that no matter what, no matter how many of the hated firebenders she killed, it would never bring Sokka back. She set the wheel and moved over to Toph, who was silently sobbing on the floor of the airship.
“Toph… it’ll be ok,” she whispered, hardly believing it herself. Toph stopped her crying for a moment to turn her head in Katara’s direction, before throwing herself at the waterbender, fresh tears flowing from her red eyes.  This set Katara off crying as well, tears and sobs coming from the two of them for several minutes.

The only thing that stopped them was a huge surge of light and energy that swept through the cabin of the airship. Even Toph could feel the massive wave of power that crashed over the ship, not affecting the metal but nearly knocking the two girls over. They both sat up and looked at each other, their thoughts identical.
“AANG!”

Katara jumped back to the helm, pointing the ship in the direction of the now fading light. It was coming from the top of a rock pillar, and it would take the ship several minutes before they reached it. They both just stood there looking at the horizon, as the comet began to recede back into space.

When they finally reached the pillar, Katara ran out, worried about that light that she had seen. When she saw him standing there, waiting for them, a huge smile split her face and a tear of joy came down her cheek. She ran towards him, enveloping him in a tight hug, before placing a kiss on his lips. She hadn’t been lying when she said she was confused, but seeing him alive now, at the end of it all, she couldn’t deny it anymore. She loved him.

As she broke the kiss, she looked to see the limp body of Ozai against an outcropping of rock. She let him out of her crushing hug, holding on to his hand as she led him closer to the body.
“Aang… did you… finish it?” she asked, pointing her finger to prod the former Firelord.
“I’m still alive!” he said in a fierce growl, before falling back against the rock. Katara jumped back in shock. Ozai tried some weak punches, but nothing happened. Katara looked between Ozai and Aang a few times.
“Aang, what’s going on?”
“I took away his bending. Now he’ll never be a threat.” Katara moved her free hand to her mouth as she gasped.
“Wow…”

Aang looked around and noticed that Toph was still in the doorway of the metal airship. And Sokka was nowhere to be seen.
“Guys, where’s Sokka?” He looked into Katara’s eyes as she tried to answer, but she couldn’t say it. Just thinking about it was too much for her. It was Toph who broke the deathly silence.
“He died… to save me.”

Her words hung in the air, hitting them all with a renewed pain. Aang just hugged Katara, letting her cry into his shoulder, unable to really process the thought of Sokka being gone either. After Katara finally finished, the two of them dragged Ozai’s limp body back into the airship, Toph securing his wrists and ankles with metalbending. As Katara steered the ship in the direction of Ba Sing Sae, they both looked back at Toph, who sat with her back to the wall, hands wrapped around her legs, which were pulled to her chest. Katara set the helm in position and they both went and sat beside her, each taking one of Toph’s hands in theirs. For her part, Toph looked at them both with a small smile, before looking back at her knees. The trip back to the Earth Kingdom capital was silent for Toph except for one thing she said.

“We made a promise…”

***

Sokka woke to the feeling of rapidly rising water. It moved faster than any tide he had ever seen, which made him think that somehow either Aang or his sister, or both, were involved. As the water rose up to over his standing height, he floated up with it, treading as best her could with only one leg. Then, as quickly as it had come, the water receded, leaving Sokka wet and in pain, but alive. He could see in the far distance the final airship heading towards a tall rock pillar. He had a good feeling that if that was happening, it was all over, that they had won. But then he was reminded of his own problems. He was stuck on the ground, miles away from help, presumed dead, few provisions and to top it all off a broken leg.

He forced himself to stop thinking and let his many forms of warrior training take over his mind. His south pole training taught him that as long as his leg was broken, it would be a handicap, so that was the first thing he needed to work on. He checked himself for anything he could use to splint and tie with. All he had was his sword scabbard, his boomerang pouch, his clothes and his now cracked armour. His mind worked quickly, weighing his options.

He took of his armour, prying off a sharp piece to use as a temporary knife. He picked up a nearby rock and started hitting his broken armour, breaking it into long, stiff pieces. He then took off his shirt and used the knife to cut off the sleeves and cut them into long strips. He then placed a strip of cloth in his mouth to bite down on, before taking the armour pieces and cloth strips and using them to splint his broken leg, screaming and biting down on the cloth as he did.

After his leg was splinted to the best of his ability, he sat back. His leg now done, he focused on his other problems. He was alone and lost, with no provisions. A fire was out of the question thanks to the soaking the wood had received from the recent inundation, and he could go without food for tonight. But he needed a weapon, and soon, if he was going to survive. But those problems could wait, and since the sky was still lit by the comet he could make a start on getting himself to the nearest city, which was Ba Sing Sae.

He picked up his now sleeveless shirt and put it on, putting his improvised knife in his boomerang pouch. He used the tree his back was against as a support as he slowly got to his feet. His broken leg sent him all sorts of signals of pain, almost forcing him to stop. But one thought ran through his mind, fighting down all the pain and steeling him onwards.

Promise me Toph…

He looked around for a convenient branch to use as a crutch, but nothing came to him. He then reached back gingerly, not liking what he was about to do. He took the long scabbard that used to hold his sword and held it tightly in his hand. It didn’t reach to his shoulder, but it was long enough for his to hold it with both hands and support his weight, so it would have to do. He took a few painful steps, each one telling him to give up, but his promise made him push forward, through the pain. After the first few, he found a balance of sorts that minimised the amount of pain he felt while letting him continue.

He walked on; the thought of what Toph must be going through weighing heavily on his thoughts. If I ever make it out of here, I’m never letting go of her again, he thought to himself. As he walked on, a strange glint caught his eye. It was a little ways in front of him, and it seemed vaguely familiar to him. He tried to quicken his pace a little, his curiosity beginning to meld into familiarity. As he came closer, he began to see it clearly, a smile forming on his face. He stopped in front of the object that he had been walking to and bent down to pick it up.

His boomerang.

Things were looking up for him now. But as if to remind him of his situation, that was the particular moment that the comet left the sky, night falling amazingly quickly. As darkness descended upon him, he sat down with his back against a tree, his boomerang back in it’s pouch. Fulfilling his promise wasn’t going to be easy, but with his boomerang back, Sokka’s chances had improved. As he drifted to a shallow sleep, he dreamed of holding Toph in his arms again, kissing her like he had done the first time.