Balance | Old Version

Chapter 64 (The Desert)

Elua's POV.

I take in a deep breath as I begin to wake up, I can hear the sound of yelling but it's muffled by the ringing in my ears. I slowly open my eyes to see that the sun had begin to set and we're still in the middle of the desert.
"How could you let them take Appa!? How could you let them hurt Elua!? Why didn't you stop them?!" I hear Aang yell at Toph in fury.
"I couldn't! The library was sinking! You guys were still inside and-" Toph tries to say.
"You could have come to get us! I could have saved him!" Aang shouts in anger.
"I can hardly feel any vibrations out here. The sandbenders snuck up on us and there wasn't time for-" Toph starts to say but, she is cut off again.

"You just didn't care! You never liked Appa! You wanted him gone!" Aang yells at her.
"Aang, stop it. You know Toph did all she could. She saved our lives," Katara states.
"But she put Elua's on the line!" He shouts.
"Who's going to save our lives now? We'll never make it out of here," Sokka says, I just now realize that my head is on his lap and we're sitting in the sand.
"That's all any of you guys care about: yourselves! You don't care whether Appa is okay or not!" Aang shouts as he starts to walk away.

"We're all concerned, but we can't afford to be fighting now," Katara says calmly.
"I'm going after Appa," Aang says as opens his glider and flies off.
"Aang, wait!" Katara shouts, but it was too late, he was already in the sky. I take in a sharp breath as pain washes over me, making Sokka look down at me worriedly.
"Hey, you're awake," Sokka says with a sigh of relief, getting Katara's attention.
"How are you feeling?" Katara asks me as she kneels down.
"Pain..." I try to say more but, I can't.

"The cut on your side is deep, so it will hurt for a while, but you should be okay," She tells me with a reassuring smile.
"We'd better start walking," Katara says as she stands up. "We're the only people who know about the solar eclipse. We have to get that information to Ba-Sing-Se," She states. Sokka carefully helps me up and wraps an arm around me, I wince in pain as I move and I hold on to him for support.
"You think if we dig out the giant owl, he'll give us a ride?" Sokka jokes as we begin to walk through the dry desert.

Later.

We had been walking for a while now and the more I moved, the more pain I was in. My side was bandaged up and the bleeding had mostly stopped, so at least I didn;t have to worry about bleeding to death. Sokka shifts as we walk and accidentally grazes my wound, making me hiss in pain.
"Sorry," Sokka says as he gives me an apologetic look. I give him a smile, reassuring him I'm okay. Suddenly, Toph bumps into us. "Can't you watch where you're-" Sokka starts to say but, he is cut off.
"No," Toph states, knowing what he was going to say.
"Right. Sorry," Sokka says sheepishly.

"Come on guys, we've got to stick together," Katara tells us.
"Katara, can I have some water?" Toph asks her tiredly.
"Okay, but we've got to try to conserve it," Katara says as she bends the water into our mouths.
"We're drinking your bending water? You used this on the swamp guy!" Sokka exclaims in disgust.
"It does taste swampy," Toph says as she cringes at the taste of the water.
"I'm sorry, it's all we have," Katara states.
"Not anymore! Look!" Sokka says pointing to a large cactus in front of us. Sokka lets go of me making sure I'm okay to stand on my own and then walks over to the cactus.

"Sokka, wait! You shouldn't be eating strange plants!" Katara says as Sokka cuts open the cactus.
"There's water trapped inside these!" Sokka says as he drinks the cactus water, he offers me some, but I had a feeling that wasn't a good idea.
"I don't think that's a good idea..." I say as I shake my head.
"Suit yourself. It's very thirst-quenching, though," Sokka says as he drinks more of the water. Suddenly, he gets a crazy look in his eye. "Drink cactus juice. It'll quench ya! Nothing's quenchier. It's the quenchiest!" Sokka says as he starts to act stranger than usual.

"Okay, I think you've had enough," Katara says as she takes the cactus from him.
"Who lit Toph on fire?" Sokka asks as he stares at Toph, who is not on fire.
"Can I get some of that cactus?" Toph asks, ignoring Sokka's weird actions.
"I don't think that's a good idea," Katara tells her. "Come on, we need to find Aang," She says.
"How did we get out here in the middle of the ocean?" Sokka asks as he looks around the desert.
"Uhhh..." I say trying to think of something to say, but I got nothing.
"What is that?" Katara asks pointing to a giant mushroom cloud in the distance.
"What? What is what?" Toph asks in confusion.

"It's a giant mushroom! Maybe it's friendly!" Sokka says as he smiles at the mushroom cloud.
"Let's just keep moving," Katara says.
"I hope Aang's okay..." I say as we start to walk again.
"Friendly mushroom! Mushy giant friend!" Sokka says as he starts to dance. Katara helps me walk while he's being delusional, I turn around and see Sokka still standing there.
"Sokka, come on," I tell him, he turns around and smiles as he begins to follow us.
"You know, you're really pretty, Elua," Sokka says grinning at me.
"Thanks, Sokka," I say as I give him a kind smile. 
"Like a flower," He says smiling at me lovingly.

After a while of walking, the sun is almost completely gone. I look up as Aang flies down from the sky and lands in front of us.
"I'm sorry, Aang. I know it's hard for you right now, but we need to focus on getting out of here," Katara tells him as she places her hand on his shoulder.
"What's the difference? We won't survive without Appa, Elua won't make it two days if you can't heal her and you can't heal her without more water. We all know it," Aang says hopelessly.
"Come on, Aang! We can do this if we work together," Katara tells him. "Right, Toph?" Katara asks the blind girl, who looks extremely tired.

"As far as I can feel, we're trapped in a giant bowl of sand pudding. I got nothin'." Toph states.
"Sokka? Any ideas on how to find Ba-Sing-Se?" Katara asks her basically drunk brother.
"Why don't we ask the circle birds?" Sokka asks as he looks up at some kind of giant flying bugs that were circling us.
"Ugh...We're getting out of this desert, and we're going to do it together!" Katara says in determination. "Aang, get up. Everybody hold hands. We can do this. We have to," She tells us as we grab each other's hands and continue to walk through the desert.