Chosen by the Spirits | A male reader x Avatar the Last Airbender story

Chapter 37- The Day Out (part 1)

A Fire Nation battleship floated carelessly in the middle of the vast ocean, swaying slightly as it bounced over numerous waves. It was deep in Fire Nation waters, though still a decent distance from the nearest inhabited land. The ship raised and fell along the ocean by itself; there were no neighbouring ships that would usually consist of a naval fleet.

Inside one of the small, private quarters of the large battleship, Sokka sat hunched over a desk. Surrounded by many detailed maps and thick books, he was hard at work on some sort of project. A complete diagram of the entire Fire Nation lay in front of him, various structures circled and noted. He wore the familiar red battle armour and cloak that many soldiers wore, and he even had the classic Fire Nation ponytail.

A sudden knock on the door startled Sokka, causing him to scramble in hiding his project. However the door opened before much progress of cleaning up could be made, revealing Sokka's sister, who walked into the room, confused. Katara wore her usual Water Tribe attire, but did have the addition of a red Fire Nation cape over it.

"Sokka, what are you doing?" Katara eyed her brother suspiciously. Sokka had the map held in his hands, and was about to fold it in half before Katara walked up to the desk and got a good look at it. "Is that a map of the Fire Nation?"

"I'm, uhh, just planning the invasion a little bit," Sokka lied, his darting eyes giving away his dishonesty. "We need to be as prepared as possible for the eclipse. It's our one shot," he added, hoping that it would throw some suspicion off of himself.

"Aang hasn't even been awake for an entire day and you're already planning the invasion?" Katara questioned. She gazed over the map that her brother still clutched, looking at the various structures that were highlighted, circled and labelled on the map. She recognised what the buildings on the map represented. "Why are all the Fire Nation prisons circled?" she followed up slowly and with a raised eyebrow. Sokka sighed as he admitted defeat, placing the map back on his desk.

"I was just seeing where they might be keeping (Y/N)," Sokka sighed as he confessed the truth. A few weeks had passed since his friend had failed to return from the crystal catacombs of Ba Sing Se, and not an hour had gone by where he hadn't thought about it.

"You were just seeing??" Katara exclaimed in disbelief as she took a better look at the map, noticing many paragraphs that had been written on separate sheets of paper. "Sokka, you've written an essay on each of the prisons!"

"I was hoping that I'd be able to deduce where they're keeping him," Sokka explained truthfully. "And then on the day of the eclipse we could free him," he continued optimistically. Katara let out a long sigh at her brother's plan. She didn't want to discourage or sadden him, but she knew that it was best to be realistic.

"Sokka, we don't even know if (Y/N) is even..." she began, but slowly wavered off, not wanting to finish her sentence and consider the possibility.

"If he's even what?" Sokka pressed, almost as if challenging her to finish the sentence.

"Still alive," Katara managed to spit out, albeit softly and weakly.

"He's still alive, he has to be. I'll get him out of whatever prison he's in, or I'll die trying," Sokka claimed determinedly, nodding to himself in confirmation.

"I'm just trying to be realistic," Katara calmly said.

"I know," Sokka acknowledged his sister's motive. "You just don't understand. It's hard to lose a friend,"

"Of course I understand. (Y/N) was a friend to all of us," Katara reasoned, hiding how upset she was to see her brother so sad.

"But he was my best friend," Sokka choked out, beginning to hold back tears. "It hasn't been the same these last few weeks,"