The Sacrifice- Part 2 for Neko

[Aubrey Pedersen]

I'm going to have to break this into small parts, so don't reply until I'm finished, kk?

The heavy wooden door opened into a windowless, dark room. Three cushions had been placed on the floor, with only a softly glowing lantern in the center for light. Both Katara and Aang let out yells of protest as they were thrown into the room, with Sokka and Momo not far behind them.

“You have until sun down,” the green-faced man- whom they now knew was Tane’s priest- said grimly, “to decide which of you shall pay Tane’s price.”

He shut the door even as Aang lunged at it. The young Airbender collided with it, stumbling back in surprise afterward. Summoning up the air around him, Aang tried to knock it down with a swirling ball of air. It did nothing.

“Aang, it’s no use,” Katara said after watching him do this for several minutes, “the wood is just to thick.”

Aang sighed heavily as he stumbled back, sitting down on the cushion not already occupied by Sokka or Katara.

“We can’t just do what they want,” Aang said with conviction, his grey eyes darting around looking for some kind of place to escape. “If we can call Appa, he could get the door down.”

“They tied Appa up too, remember? Besides, he couldn’t hear us. Not without some place for the sound to escape. Without windows, this place has to be pretty well sound proof.”

Aang’s shoulder slumped, disheartened by his lack of options. He looked up at Katara, the lantern light casting odd shadows on his face. “We can’t just do what they want.”

“I don’t think we have any other option,” she said softly, “and we only have half an hour to decide which of us…will…” She trailed off, and none of them were willing to complete the thought. A moment of tense silence passed between them.

“I’ll do it,” Aang said suddenly, his tone serious and eyes dark.

Katara lifted her head, her blue eyes wide. “Aang, you can’t!”

[Aubrey Pedersen]

“I have to,” he said, pulling his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. “I couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to either of you.”

“But Aang, you’re the Avatar,” she said, resting a hand on his shoulder. “The whole world is depending on you to save them.”

“She’s right,” Sokka said, his tone eerily calm. “That’s more important than either of us. You can’t do it, Aang.”

Aang said nothing, though his shoulders slumped in defeat.

Katara scooted closer to his side, her hand still resting on his shoulder in a comforting way. “I’ll do it.”

“What?” Aang looked up at her, eyes suddenly wide. Katara’s face was set in a look of determination. “No, Katara!”

“Yes,” she said, her words fervid now. “There’s no other way. I’m going to do it.”

“No way, Katara,” Sokka said, crawling over to the pair now. “Aang still has to master Waterbending all the way. If you aren’t there to teach him who’s going to?”

“Do you have any other suggestions?” Katara shot back, unable to come up with another argument against Sokka’s logic. Sokka said nothing, instead pulling back into the darkness again.

“He’s right, Katara,” Aang said, his grey eyes wide and pleading now, “I need you to teach me bending.”

“But Aang, if I don’t do it who else will?”

“I have an idea,” Sokka said. Both Katara and Aang peered in the direction he had gone, but it was to dark to see him.

“Really, what’s that?” Katara asked credulously, folding her arms across her chest in what she hoped was an intimidating manner.

“There’s someone else here who could do it.”

“Sokka, we’re not sacrificing Momo!”

“I’m not talking about Momo.” Sokka answered softly, and this time Katara was sure the voice was coming from somewhere different.

Sudden realization dawned on her, and her eyes widened with fright. “Sokka, you’re not saying that…”

She didn’t get to finish her thought. With one swift movement, Sokka stepped out of the shadows behind them and used his hands to hit both Aang and his sister on the part of the neck he knew would knock them unconscious. He looked down at their now limp forms, his face still eerily calm, before he knelt down. He checked their pulses to make sure he hadn’t done any permanent damage, and then moved them into more comfortable positions with their heads resting on the pillows.

“Sorry, you guys, but this is the only way.” Standing up to study their faces, Sokka saw glittering eyes peering at him from the corner. He stretched out his hand and Momo darted forward. The lemur rubbed his head softly against the flat side of Sokka’s hand. Sokka smiled at the small animal, giving the top of his head a quick scratch. “Look after them for me, okay Momo?”

Momo chirped softly before the door opened and he darted into the shadows again. Sokka stood up, squaring his shoulders and bracing his feet. The eerie twilight lit the previously dark room, and Sokka had to squint to see the priest as he stood in the blood red light of the setting sun.

“Have you decided?” The priest asked, a superior tone in his voice.

“Yeah, we did,” Sokka shot back. He glanced over his shoulder at the prone forms of his two friends. He looked back at the priest, blue eyes narrowed. “Do you swear to me that if I go with you, they’ll be allowed to leave safely?”

The priest looked toward the setting sun before turning around and nodding. “Tane gives his word.”

Sokka nodded, stepping forward. The priest shut the door behind him, and immediately Sokka found his arms restrained by two guards.

“Remove his weapons!” The green-faced man ordered, pointing to Sokka’s chest. Three more men stepped forward, removing his knife, club, and boomerang from his person. Sokka bowed his head in a sign of respect.

“If you please, sir…if I’m going to die, can I at least keep my boomerang? It was present from my father…”

The priest eyed him suspiciously, but Sokka didn’t flinch or move. Finally, he motioned one of the guards to return the boomerang to the boy. Sokka replaced it in its sheath before more of the eerily clad Earth Kingdom citizens stepped forward. The placed a bundle of wood upon his shoulders before lifting his arms and tying them to it.

[Aubrey Pedersen]

Sokka could see women and children peering out of the nearby houses, some looking at him with expressions of curiosity on their faces while others eyed him with contempt. A woman ran forward with a rope that was tied in a loop. She placed it around his neck and tightened it to a level where it could not slip off but was not yet choking him. She handed the other end to the priest with a quick bow.

Sokka looked around at the rows of small wooden houses, perfectly camouflaged with the trees. Even if he did manage to escape, there was no guarantee he’d find this place unless he walked into one of the buildings. Katara and Aang going free was the only thing he could hope for now.

“Come,” said the priest, jerking the rope around Sokka’s neck so he stumbled forward. “We have a long way to walk before dawn.”

[Aubrey Pedersen]

Done ^^

[Neko]

AHH! Sokka! TT__TT Man, if I didn't already know [most of] what was going to happen, I would probably have started crying.

[Aubrey Pedersen]

Really? I thought I was doing a horrible job O.o.

That makes me happy ^_^. Not that I made you almost cry...well yeah kind of...*sweatdrop*

[Neko]

It's not bad. Everything seemed to happen really fast, but there are some situations like that. I guess it's just because I'm used to reading things that start off slowly.

[Aubrey Pedersen]

I'm trying to write it exactly like I would write things down if I were writing down an episode of the show. You already know what the characters looks like, so I don't need to describe them. Besides. if you only have a half an hour you don't waste much time. I'm pretending I have that limit ^^;;

[Neko]

That makes sense. *nod* And I can remember one of the episodes seemed really rushed, but I can't remember which episode it was. Driving makes me all dazed.... @_@