Chapter Text
Sokka’s arms ached as he, Toph, and Zuko scaled their way down the sides of the volcano, trying to regroup with the others. Aang and Katara had stayed on Appa and were now attacking the Fire Nation forces from the air using their combined bending.
He looked up at the bright sky, seeing the underside of an airship.
Well that can’t mean anything good , he thought.
Sure enough, a hatch at the bottom opened up, and Sokka turned to look at his troops below.
“Try and find cover!” he shouted, hoping his voice would carry. “I think we're about to see some bombs!”
Aang and Katara approached from a distance. “There’s no time!” he yelled at Toph who immediately created a steep earth ramp underneath them as they let go of their hand and footholds, throwing caution to the wind.
The three of them slid down to the bottom of the ramp, falling out next to one of their tanks, teeth rattled, feeling very bruised and slightly concussed, but Toph stood up in time to bend a protective ceiling of earth overhead as the airships released their bombs.
Immediately, it started to crumble under the impact. Toph created two earth columns to help support it, but Sokka knew they still had to act fast.
Sokka and Zuko stood shakily, watching as their forces struggled to remain upright, tanks stalled and on foot soldiers, shaken by the air assault. Even with Aang and Katara on Appa, they didn’t have enough air support to counter the airships.
Which is why Sokka was confused when the airships didn’t launch a second wave of bombs, but continued flying past them overhead.
Katara and Aang unsaddled next to them, running over.
“Why aren't they turning around to attack us again?” his sister called, as the nearby Water Tribe soldiers wandered towards Sokka, waiting for an answer he didn’t have.
His confidence was still too shaken, and he was thankful when his Dad turned to face the gathering group of men for him.
I failed, he thought, again.
“They're heading for the beach,” Zuko said, gold eyes widening, “They're gonna destroy the submarines!”
Sokka felt hopeless, “How are we all going to escape?”
Hakoda shook his head slowly, putting his hand down on his shoulder, “We're not.”
Sokka sighed and nodded. He’d backed them into this corner, but he’d be damned if he didn’t make a good final stand.
He remembered what Zuko had said to him earlier that day.
“We’ll win or go down trying..”
He steeled himself, turning to the bruised faces in front of him, “Then our only choice is to stand and fight. We have the Avatar, we could still win.”
But his dad just looked sad and resigned, “Yes, with the Avatar we could still win...on another day.”
Sokka was already shaking his head before his dad finished, “You kids have to leave. You have to escape on Appa, together.”
Katara looked as shocked as he felt, “What?” She grabbed their father, “We can't leave you behind! We won't leave anyone behind!” she said, turning to face the rest of the gathered invasion force.
Hakoda smiled at her mournfully, “You're our only chance in the long run. You and Sokka have to go with Aang somewhere safe. It's the only way to keep hope alive.”
“No!” Sokka cried running forward, but a hand stopped him.
He felt betrayed as he turned around to see Zuko shaking his head at him, arm on his bicep.
“Hakoda is right, Sokka. Getting Aang out has to be our top priority...sometimes you have to lose a battle to win the war.” Zuko turned to face Hakoda who stared back, some sort of understanding passing between them.
It reminded Sokka of when Zuko had sacrificed himself, let himself get captured to save their cover back on the Fire Navy ship...and it had almost gotten him killed .
No, no, no , Sokka thought. I can’t do this again. I can’t .
“It makes the most sense, Sokka,” Zuko’s voice was soft but firm, “Live to fight another day.”
“What about them ?-” he choked out, looking around at his people. His tribe .
Bato stepped forward, “The youngest of our force will go with you. The adults will stay behind and surrender. We'll be prisoners, but we'll all survive this battle.”
Haru’s father stepped forward as well, “I've got some experience with the Fire Nation prisons. It's not going to be easy, but we'll get by.”
The others all nodded grimly, and Sokka felt another piece of his heart break.
He’d proved himself alright...Proved to be a failure ....
He heard Aang cry out in alarm, “They're at the beach already!” Everyone’s heads turned.
Five bombs fell at once, one for each of the submarines. They were destroyed instantly, turned to shrapnel in seconds.
Sokka shut his eyes, willing himself not to cry.
He heard the voice of the Mechanist in front of him, “Bye, son.” He opened his eyes to see the man hugging Teo as Toph helped him onto Appa with an earth platform.
“Bye, Dad. I'm really proud of you.” The boy put on a brave smile, and Sokka felt his whole body start to shake.
Pipsqueak helped lift The Duke into the saddle who turned around and called out, “I'll miss you, Pipsqueak.”
“Take care, The Duke.”
Haru clung to his father, “We'll be back for you, Dad.”
Tyro slapped him on the back, “If we don't escape on our own first.”
Haru bowed respectfully to him, and Sokka felt his stomach plummet as Hakoda approached Sokka and Katara.
No, no, please no. I can’t do this again, I can’t-
He put his hands on both of their shoulders, and it felt like a death sentence to Sokka, who was still shaking uncontrollably, “We lost today, but we've never been this close.”
He knelt to the ground to face them directly, “We tasted victory, and that counts for something.”
Katara wasn’t hiding her tears as she ran forward to fling her arms around his neck, “We'll miss you, Dad.” Hakoda held his other arm out, looking up at Sokka.
Shakily, Sokka joined the hug. “Bye, Dad. We won't be apart for too long this time. I promise .”
I will not stop until I fulfill that promise , Sokka thought, sending up an oath to all the spirits he could think of.
Too soon, his dad broke away, standing up, shoulders squared.
Numbly, Sokka staggered toward Appa. Aang sat at the reigns already, tears streaming as he looked out at the others.
Toph hopped on, followed by Katara, who was still crying. Zuko gave Sokka a hand getting into the saddle, and normally he’d shake it off, embarrassed, but he accepted it this time, too numb and shaky to get up on his own.
This isn’t happening. It’s not, it’s not real-
“Thank you all for being so brave and so strong,” Aang called out, voice determined. “I'm going to make this up to you. Your sacrifice will not be in vain.”
Appa groaned sadly, and they took to the air, watching grimly as they deserted their people.
What kind of leader deserts his own troops? Sokka thought miserably. He leaned over the side of the saddle and retched, but nothing came up.
He fell back again, staring ahead, breathing shallow.
No one spoke. There was no sound except the air whistling by and Katara’s hitched breaths as she buried her face in Zuko’s tunic, trying to hide her tears to no avail.
Sokka felt every one of her sobs in his own chest.
After a while, once they could no longer see even a speck of the Fire Nation capital on the horizon, Sokka turned to Aang listlessly, “Where are we going?”
It was more routine than anything. In that exact moment, Sokka cared very little whether he lived or died.
Aang shouted back, voice duller than ever, “I know a safe place we can go to lie low for a while.”
He didn’t elaborate further, and Sokka didn’t care.
He curled up on his side, and prayed that this was all one big nightmare.
THE END.