Onee-Chan Is Gone (Sokka x OC)

Chapter 5: Cold, Cruel, Confusion.

"Time for bed now Oma sweets." Isao said with a tired smile. He picked me up by underneath my arms and set me down on my bed. "Oof, you're getting heavier every day now. Soon I won't be able to pick you up anymore!"

I frowned and turned away from him, my face still red from the tantrum I threw. Earlier, Isao told me that Toshiko was supposed to be back yesterday and she still hasn't given us any news of where she is.

Slowly, my worry for her grew bigger and I told Isao that we had better go look for her. When he refused and told me that we should stay put, I was afraid that Toshiko would get stuck out in the snow. The snow was now as high as my waist and up to Isao's knees.

Even when I tried to go and ask Bao if they would come help me look for Toshiko they told me that it was best to just wait. Exactly what Isao said.

Now, I knew that the only way I would ever be able to find her was if I looked for myself. Since Isao won't let me leave on my own, I am going to wait until he's asleep to go looking.

"Goodnight Oma." Isao said giving me a kiss on the forehead. "Get good sleep okay?" I nodded and gave Isao a small hug.

He pulled the thick covers on my bed up so I could slide under them, then he pulled them up under my chin. He gave me one more kiss and left to his room.

I watched him walk away and close his bedroom door behind him. I could still see the small light emanating out of the crack under his door, letting me know that he hasn't gone to sleep yet. I waited quietly, trying to keep myself awake as it got later in the night.

My eyes never left that spot, and I waited until I heard the creak of Isao adjusting in his bed, then the flicker of light went off. I stayed in bed just one more minute to make sure that he would be tired enough to not hear me, then I slowly pulled the blanket off of me. I tried to make Iwa stay in bed, but they seemed insistent on coming with me.

I wasn't sure if trying to get out of bed slowly would make it quieter or just make the creak of my bed last longer. Thankfully, it was the former.

As I snuck past Isao's room, I tried to not let my feet make too much noise touching the ground, and I didn't dare put on my boots until I was outside in the snow where no one could hear me.

So I pulled my jacket on over my arms and I grabbed my boots, opening the front door and closing it behind me cautiously. Iwa snuggled into my jacket's pocket.

Once my boots were on, I crawled up over the snow and tried my best to walk softly across the surface of the snow.

I headed towards the direction that Toshiko always walked off in when she left for the city, trekking through the deepening snow.

Even though the sky shone bright with the crescent moon and the twinkle of the stars, down here on the surface the town was so dark that I could only see silhouettes of the houses on either sides of me and the faint sparkle on the top layer of snow.

For every step I took, I knew the ground was farther beneath where my foot was reaching in the snow. The snow quickly grew higher and higher up on my body, reaching my waist now.

Whenever I moved my legs more snow would fall into my boots and melt onto my increasingly colder feet. I deeply regretted not bringing any gloves but the house was too far away to go back to now.

While I walked, my mind ran rampant of all of the places that Toshiko could be stuck at this very moment. Maybe she got buried under the snow and couldn't get out. Or maybe she got stuck with some people who want to hurt her. Anything could be wrong.

I looked back up to the sky and noticed how far the moon was from where it was when I started looking. It was hard to see anything around me now, I was really far away from home. As I turned around to look back at my trail behind me, my foot caught on something and I fell backwards into the snow.

The snow wrapped around me and covered my face. I tried to dig my way out of the snow so I could breathe but I was so tired that I could hardly open my eyes. Using all of my strength, I pushed myself up and broke out of the hold the snow kept of me.

The moment I was out my arms stopped their struggle and my knees buckled, landing me softly into the snow.

Although I knew I shouldn't, I couldn't help but lay there, slowly drifting to sleep. It was much later than I had ever stayed awake and my body couldn't handle it.

The last thing I saw falling asleep was the moon and her shimmering daughters illuminating the world.

:::

Oma... Oma wake up... people are waiting for you.

The first thing I could feel was someone's warm breath on my cheek. As I glided into consciousness, I could feel the weight of my body grow and I could see the light behind my eyelids.

I opened my eyes and noticed Bao sleeping beside me, Iwa snuggled up on my chest, and Toshiko and Isao were seated in chairs next to my bed.

When I turned my head to look at the two of them, they both stood from their chairs. Isao grabbed my hand and Toshiko cupped my cheeks.

"Honey, why did you do that?" Toshiko whispered, her brows creased.

"You weren't home yet so I thought something happened to you." I answered, sitting up.

Bao shifted around in the bed, then their eyes snapped open. When they saw me up they hugged me tightly. "Oma!" They exclaimed. "I'm sorry I said I wouldn't go with you."

I smiled at them. "It's okay. I shouldn't have asked. I'd forgotten how strict your mom was." They returned my smile and sat up next to me. "But... how did you guys find me?"

Isao and Toshiko shared a troubled look. "Your mother found you on her way home almost frozen sleeping in the snow... and you had a patch of ferns and blue wildflowers growing around you."

Toshiko nodded. "When I found you, the wildflowers were growing all around you, somehow reaching above the snow. And the ferns grew from underneath you and they wrapped over you almost as if... as if they were trying to keep you warm."

"Thankfully by the time your mother found you you hadn't developed any permanently harmful frostbite." Isao said.

Bao and I stayed quiet while the two of them talked to us. The conditions they found me in seemed more surreal the more they described it. I don't remember any live plants in the snow, especially with how tall the snow piled up to.

I don't know what they're talking about really, but I have a feeling this isn't the last time that it'll happen.