savedtheworld | [Appointments] March 2012-February 2013

At some point in the evening, Sokka will be outside of the house looking just a little lost. His talk with Katara had been informative. And absolutely heartwrenching. Eventually Aang would have to run into him. Even though Sokka wasn't exactly looking to talk to anyone about it just yet.

[Aang had been wondering listlessly after his own confrontation. He had taken some time to brace himself against the porch, breathing heavily with his mind still reeling from seeing Katara like that. So unlike herself.

But he spotted Sokka. And couldn't help but call out to him with distress in his voice. Would he know what was wrong, what to do?]

Sokka!

[Sokka is consumed with concern and guilt. He'd been able to talk to this version of his sister, but it hadn't quite gone how he could have hoped. When Aang calls out for him, he does glance up at his friend.]

Hey Aang.

[Aang sputters as he rushes towards Sokka. Hoping to find... any kind of answer.]

Something's wrong! K-Katara...

[He looked up at Aang. Grief was written all over his face. He was upset. More upset than he was even letting on.]

I know. I know.

[That close-up look at Sokka could tell him even more than his words did. He definitely encountered her too. And maybe it went even worse than Aang's. He let out a harsh breath as everything settled in.]

So you... you saw her, too. Sokka, I don't know. I don't know what to do.

Neither do I. I just... [Neither does Sokka, honestly. He tried his best. But once again, his best wasn't really good enough. He stared at the ground.]

... I know who she is, Aang.

[He looked on uneasily.]

Sokka... What do you mean?

I met this Katara. I've met her before. It's been awhile. Over two years now, actually. But it's not something you can just forget.

[He blinks, trying to process this. The alternate versions of people he's met so far have just been blips - different versions that have "reset" to their original person. But this Katara was so radical and different... That this Sokka had met her in the past, too... It made Aang acknowledge that creeping fear that this other Katara had her own individual life.]

I can't believe this. That long ago? Does that mean... Do you know what happened to her? What made her so- so different?

Edited 2013-01-20 03:41 (UTC)

[He wonders for a moment how he even begins to explain. His fists tighten around the fabric on his knees.]

... did Katara ever tell you about the day we lost our mom?

[He speaks quietly.]

N-not in detail, not. I just know that she was.. lost. To- to that man. [He remembers the anger Katara displayed when she planned to go after him. She was almost like a different person than... but not like this version.]

[Well. He told Zuko the story. Aang certainly deserved to hear it by now. Sokka pulled his knees up in front of him as he started thinking back to that day.]

I was nine at the time. Me and Katara were in the village. Throwing snowballs and stuff. The kind of thing we used to always do. [Things they didn't so much after that day.] But then black snow began to fall. We didn't know what it meant, but we knew it was trouble. So, Katara went to find our mom. I went to go see what was going on. While I watched my dad and all the men fight, that man.... that man went and found our mother. He was looking for the last waterbender in our tribe. He was looking for Katara, but he didn't know it. So when Katara found the two of them, mom sent her away and told her to find dad. While Katara was gone, she confessed that she was the waterbender. So he...

[He turns his head away. He doesn't want to say it. Aang knows the rest anyway.]

Anyway. That's what happened. At least in our world.

[Aang goes pale considering this. Primarily in relation to his Katara. Both of her, wherever and whenever she was. That this was the truth of her mother's death... that she must have lived with and endured it all this time.

He's quiet for a moment before he follows on what Sokka said.]

Just. Just in our world?

[Different versions of their world. Still too scary for Aang to imagine. But he's trying his best to. For the sake of finding out what happened to Katara. Of finding a way, any way, that he can help.]

[The responsibility of their mother's death was a heavy one. When Sokka first found out, he tried to deny the resentment he felt at having his mother taken away for Katara's power. A younger Sokka would have been cruel about it, certainly. He'd have thought their mother died for a 'freak'.

But that little girl with the burns ensured he'd never, ever be able to think like that.]

I don't-- I don't know exactly everything that's different. But, when Katara- this Katara, found her mom and that soldier, she didn't leave when she was supposed to. She tried to protect mom. She used her waterbending.

[Sokka lapses into silence again. There's more to the story, but he doesn't want to say more than he has to. Not when Aang can start putting the pieces together.]

[No words; just a startled gasp. Guessing what would happen next.

She hadn't even learned the water whip yet.]

[Aang's expression says it all. Sokka swallows and continues.]

Two years ago, here in Luceti, there was an earthquake. Lots of weird things happened. But at the end of it, we all started getting replaced by different versions of ourselves. I was switched with the me that was the Avatar. Katara was switched... with her. While she was still on the ship to the Fire Nation.

[This is where it gets hard. The emotions are raw and he's doing his best to keep from choking.]

It was terrible, Aang. That they did to her... she was just a kid. Just a little kid. They burned her. Over and over. It was like... [He shuddered.] I'd never seen anything like it. And it was my sister. They did it to my sister and there was nothing I could do. Even as the Avatar, all I could do was heal the burns. And lie to her about how she wouldn't have to go back. I thought. I thought maybe she wouldn't be real and that she'd just back to her old self and it would be over.

[It was a difficult lie. As the Avatar, he'd been so desperate to believe that he was real and not a product of Malnosso meddling. But when he found that little Katara, he wished so hard that she would turn back into Katara and would stop existing.]

But she came back. She's real. I let her go back to that place and tried to act like she didn't exist. But she's real and I lied to her.

No...

[That's all he can whisper as he listens to that description. That graphic description. His tears are flowing, and he drops to his knees, feeling broken. That Katara, any Katara, could suffer like that.... it's too much for him to bear.

She's real. The thought that Sokka plants, choking at Aang's heart. The idea that this isn't just some phantom of a past that could have been, brought on by the Malnosso. But an actual Katara who was burned and suffering and shunned everyone. While one boy was sleeping in an iceberg, without a care in the world. Because he didn't want to. He didn't want to save the world then. It's my fault.

He looks up towards Sokka, sharply and desperately, his voice cracking as he cries out.]

Sokka, I - I don't know what to do! [How to help Katara. How to comfort Sokka. And Ikki. How would this effect her? This was the nightmare he didn't think he could just bend away from her.] Why is this happening?

I don't know. [He really doesn't. There's the usual answer. The Malnosso like to screw with them. But it's such an easy excuse. Convenient. It made it fake, when he knew that it was anything but.

But if there was a reason, he didn't know what it was. Except, maybe, to expose his failure to do anything.]

I want to help her. I know I can't make things better. She'll go back and won't remember anything and her life won't change. But if I could just connect to her.

[If he could make her smile, then at least he could feel like there was hope for her.]

[He takes a moment to breathe and try to control himself. Mentally... he's on the same note. Even when Aang had first met her all those years ago, she had looked like someone who needed to go penguin sledding. But now things were worse. So much worse.

He manages to look into Sokka's eyes blankly. He had never heard this story before. And his heart aches to wonder what other pains and horrors he and Katara had endured during their time here, that he was unaware of. Afraid to wonder whether or not they were more changed than he had thought.]

And... You're sure this Katara is the same as... as that one you saw? Either way... I want that, too. I need to. Even if she's not the same... there has to something in her that's familiar. But she didn't want anything to do with me. Was it... the same for you?

I'm positive it's her. [There's no room for doubt in his mind. Maybe he's fooling himself, but he wholeheartedly believes it.]

I was able to talk with her, though. Not for long. But. She listened. She doesn't really believe me when I said I'm her brother, but I can't blame her. She looks as old as she did when we first found you. That was nearly five years ago.

F-five years. [It's so weird to be reminded how much extra time they had since meeting him. Especially when he wasn't around for most of it.] She... she did remind me of back then because of how short she was. I almost thought that... she was just from before you found me. But there's no way she could have been like that. But... even if she doesn't believe you, at least you did get to talk to her. Maybe that's... a good start.

[It kills him. That Sokka and him of all people are the ones who have to discuss how to earn Katara's trust. The one thing that had seemed like an unconditionally bestowed treasure in the past.]

She just. She needs more time. I'll get through to her.

[It's not exactly intentional, but Sokka is not using 'we'. As far as he's concerned, this is something that he has to handle. He's the only one she knows. The only one she has a history with. It's his responsibility.]

Are you sure?

[Aang doesn't want to give up, himself. Or he's conflicted about whether or not he wants to. Part of him remembers how Katara was there for him the time that he couldn't remember her, even if that life of his was still relatively pleasant. While another part of him remembers how much it hurt for Katara too look at him that way and act so hostile, making him prefer to run away.

But either way, from what he's heard it sounds like Sokka is closer to reaching her. It's easy to put his hopes in Sokka... and hope that if he's successful, it will be easy for the rest of them.]

[He nods.]

I'm sure. [He rests a hand on Aang's shoulder.] Just trust me on this one, okay?

Edited 2013-01-28 16:33 (UTC)

[Appointments] March 2012-February 2013

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