Don't Leave Me (Zuko x OC)

Chapter 32

It was almost a full moon as gathered around the campfire in a spooky wood. True to the atmosphere, we decided to tell spooky stories.

"...Suddenly, they heard something down the hall in the dark. Oooooh~, it came into the torchlight. And they knew, the blade of Wing-Fun was haunted!" Sokka tried to scare us but it really didn't work.

Aang looked up at him boredly, "I think I like 'The Man With A Sword For A Hand' better."

"Water Tribe slumber parties must stink." Toph joked.

Katara sat up, "No wait, I've got one. And this is a true Southern Water Tribe story."

Sokka sat down, "Is this one of those a friend of my cousin knew some guy that this happened to story?"

"No, it happened to mom." That caught his attention, "One winter, when mom was a girl, a snowstorm buried the whole village for weeks. A month later, mom realised she hadn't seen her friend Nini since the storm. So mom and some others went to check on Nini's family. When they got there, no one was home. Just a fire flickering in the fireplace. While the men went out to search, mom stayed in the house. When she alone, she heard a voice. 'It's so cold and I can't get warm'. Mom turned and saw Nini standing by the fire. She was blue, like she was frozen. Mom ran outside for help but when every one came back, Nini was gone."

Sokka peeked out from behind the tree stump he'd hidden behind, "Where'd she go?"

"No one knows. Nini's house stands empty to this day. But sometimes, people see smoke coming up from the chimney. Like little Nini is still trying to get warm."

Toph gasped, feeling the ground, "Wait. Guys, did you hear that? I hear people under the mountain and they're screaming."

"Toph, don't." I warned, properly freaked out by Katara's story.

Sokka calmed down, "Pfft, nice try."

"No I'm serious. I hear something."

"You're probably just jumpy from the ghost stories." Katara tried to reason.

Toph was silent for a moment before saying really quietly, "It just stopped.

"Alright, now I'm getting scared." Aang muttered.

Aang and Katara clung on tightly to each other, Momo in between them. Toph stood on her own, Sokka was pretending not to be freaked out and I was hugging my knees, Nalo hiding in my hair.

"Hello children."

"AAAH!!" We all screamed.

The voice had come from behind us so we all scrambled to run to Toph's side. An elderly woman stepped out from the darkness, the fire casting creepy shadows on her face.

"Sorry to frighten you, my name is Hama." The woman introduced herself, "You children shouldn't be out in the forest by yourselves at night. I have an inn nearby, why don't you come back there for some spiced tea and warm beds?"

"Yes please."

*****

Hama's inn was nice and cozy. We all sat at the table as she poured us tea.

"Thanks for letting us stay here tonight, you have a lovely inn."

She smiled, "Aren't you sweet? You know, you should be careful. People have been disappearing in those woods you were camping in."

"What do you mean disappearing?" Sokka leaned forward on the table.

"When the moon turns full, people walk in and they don't come out." Her gave tone disappeared and she was a bright as a warm summer's day, "Who wants more tea?" We all just looked at her completely freaked out, "Don't worry, you'll all be completely safe here. Why don't I show you to your rooms and you can get a good night's rest?"