The Avatar's Guardian: The Lost Story (Avatar the Last Airbender fanfic)

Chapter Twenty- Five

Satomi's P.O.V.
By the time the sun begins to set and paint the sky in hues of pinks, purples, oranges, and deep golds, the golden light falls softly on the sand making it even more golden, and the air has finally began to cool, everyone is exhausted. We've all complained about our feet numerous times and take a few short respites from the walk, but everyone is drained. We are absolutely out of water and have been since Toph finished off the water in my water bending container. I've not had a single drop, and the effects are setting it. I'm dizzy, and my head throbs. My feet ache with a fury, and my stomach has taken the liberty of trying to murder me. I've fallen to the back of the group, and Toph suddenly stops in her tracks. I trudge up behind her just as exhausted.

"Come on," I huff nudging her along. She nods wearily and begins to trod on through the desert. I begin to sway on my feet as we crest the next hill. My feet catch on themselves, and I tumble down the hill in a mess of limbs and sand. I hear the distant calls of my friends, but I can't make out what they're saying as I struggle to hoist myself up on to my elbows. The sand skids underneath me as I fall back into it. It's underneath my nails, in my hair, buried in my skin, and stains my clothes. With a huff, I fling my bag off my shoulders. I tip my body over until it slides off my back and lands in the sand with a soft thump. I try again to get myself on to my elbows, but my face is greeted with sand scratching against it. I take in a deep breathe and unbuckle both sets of swords from my torso and fling my glider off before I try again to get up, but I still can't. This is when Sokka reaches me.

"Are you okay?" he asks rolling me over. I nod blinking slowly. His words are slurred, and the cactus juice is still affecting him. However, he seems to have snapped out of it for the moment.

"Yeah," I reply weakly with a long breath out.

"Here let's take this off," Sokka informs me as he undoes the broach on my cloak. He rolls it up and stuffs it into the pack. Toph leans over me worried as she has caught up to me now as well. I breathe heavily as the exhaustion has settled into me finally.

"Do we have any more water?" Toph asks Katara over her shoulder.

"No, we used the last of it a while ago," she replies regretfully. Toph nods.

"Alright let's set up you," Sokka ushers softly. I nod once which sends the world spinning as he helps me to sit up. Sokka pushes my hair out of the way and brushes some sand from the wound on my head before letting the hair drop again. "It doesn't look infected," he informs me with a sigh. "When is the last time you had water?" he asks.

"Not since we left the town," I reply closing my eyes. Sokka places a hand to my head.

"Why didn't you drink any of the water we had?" he chides before sighing. "You're burning up," he adds.

"There wasn't enough water for all of us to last this long. I knew I would be alright for a while without it," I reply.

"That was dumb," he scolds. "Can you stand?"

"I have no idea," I answer honestly.

"Alright. Let's find out then. On three. One, two, three," he huffs pulling me to my feet as Katara reaches us. My knees buckle under my weight, and Sokka is the only thing keeping me up.

"No," I reply. "Not without help anyways," I huff.

"Here, Toph, can you help her for a minute?" Sokka asks passing me off to her. I wrap an arm around her and she manages to hold me up while Sokka slips the pack on and Katara collects my glider. Sokka grabs my swords and straps them on to Toph. "Can you carry these?" Sokka asks.

"Yeah," she replies as Sokka slips my other arm over his shoulder. I'm a bit lopsided now due to their height difference, but with my weight shared between them I can walk.