Onee-Chan Is Gone (Sokka x OC)

Chapter 8: Smile While You Slay

A scream echoed from the center of town as me and Bao made our ways back home. We rushed as fast as we could to where we heard it and saw three Fire Nation soldiers standing over one of the townspeople laying on the ground. I recognized them as someone who always said hello to me when they sat outside.

"Oma, lets go." Bao said, but I decided not to hear them.

"What part of what I said do you not understand?" One of the Fire Nation soldiers asked.

"That's all I have!" The townsperson exclaimed.

The Fire Nation soldier growled. "Well if you can't find the money then we'll have no choice but to take you away!"

"Hey!"

Isao stepped out from his store's doorway and walked over to the three soldiers. "We're a peaceful village and we don't interfere with the Fire Nation. Leave us be!" Isao said with pride.

"Who says that you are an independent village? I think it's about time that this place becomes a part of the Fire Nation." The soldier taunted.

Isao narrowed his eyes at them. "How low does the Firelord have to go? He's stealing from the poorest villages knowing that he has much more than all of us."

The soldier's eyes flashed and they stomped right up in front of Isao's face. "You are going to regret your words." They grabbed the collar of Isao's shirt and pushed him backwards onto the ground.

The soldier began kicking at Isao's sides, but Isao wouldn't take it. Isao grabbed onto the soldier's foot and pulled him down. Quickly, Isao scampered to his feet just in time to take the punch that one of the other two soldiers aimed at him.

Isao stumbled back into the wall of someone's house and got held against the wall. The punches at his face and the kicks at his gut increased with every time that he tried to fight back.

Bao was holding me back by hugging me from behind now, knowing that I was just itching to jump in and save Isao.

A shimmer of the sun reflecting off of metal caught my eye and I could see a shiny clean sword being sheathed from one of the soldiers' scabbard.

The adrenaline in my body spiked and if I had only thought of my life in that moment I wouldn't have taken theirs. The ground underneath the soldier swallowed them up, only leaving their hand and the shiny sword they had planned to kill my father with.

The other two soldiers faces were filled with terror but before they could run I broke out of Bao's hold and ran the first one through with a spike of earth, the second I pulled a huge rock out of the ground and smashed it against their skull.

The world seemed still, every onlooker looking to me with alarm.

I could feel everything. My heart racing, the heat of my bloodlust covering my skin, and the nervous smile on my face.

I looked at what I did and saw it all. The hand sticking out of the ground, the elevated body with a giant hole through its core, the groaning person, bleeding out from the dent in their helmet protruding into their skull.

And then Isao in the middle of it all, staring at the dead bodies in front of him with tears falling from his eyes. He had a swollen lip and a black eye and probably a lot of internal damage near his stomach. The most frightening thing was the blood splattered on him. The blood that I put on him.

He was trembling sitting against the wall.

I took a step towards him and surprised myself with how steady I was. Bao took my hand and gave me an unsure but assuring smile. We ran over to Isao and I sat down in front of him.

"Papa...," I sniffled, tears starting to gather in my eyes looking at him. "I'm sorry... they would have killed you."

Isao opened his mouth but didn't say anything.

"Let's take him home." Bao said putting a hand on my shoulder then putting their arm under Isao's and lifted him up to his feet. I quickly put my arm under Isao's other one and helped take Isao past the staring eyes of the townspeople.

When we reached my house, I opened the front door. For one of the last times in my life.