Daughter of the Moon - Book Three: Fire

Chapter 10.2: The Day of Black Sun

- Sokka -

I swear, everything that had to potential to ruin our invasion plan had occurred within a matter of minutes, and I could only assume that it was going to get worse. The Fire Lord had discovered our plans to attack the capital long before we had ever sailed into Fire Nation waters, evacuating the palace and the capital city to render our attacks close to useless. We had found the bunker where the royals had taken refuge so that Aang could finally take down Fire Lord Ozai, but the monster continued to evade us by sending his witch of a daughter to keep us busy while he hid away like the coward he was. And even though I knew that it was a trap, the Fire Lord's plan had worked perfectly, distracting me from the critical task at hand to something else—to someone else.

"Where's Elara?!" I demanded as I pinned Azula against the wall, a smart smirk flitting across her face as she held silent. "Answer me!"

"Sokka, she won't talk," Aang said cautiously as he grabbed my shoulder to pull me away (even though I knew he wanted an answer as badly as I did).

Aang was right, of course. I had known that Azula was just trying to keep us here until the eclipse was over so that Aang would have to face her father while he had his bending, but I didn't care. I needed to know where they had taken Elara after that day in the catacombs so that I could save her. It was my fault she had been captured, after all—I had been the one to allow her to face the Fire Nation alone when I could have kept her safely by my side while saving the Earth King. It killed me just thinking about what Elara might have suffered because of my negligence, but I tried not to dwell on the past too much. The only thing that mattered was that I was going to save her no matter what.

So, after a moment of hesitation, I turned back to interrogate the princess.

"Where are you keeping her?!" I cried.

Unfortunately, I didn't get much further with my questioning because we were immediately interrupted by a loud crack coming from the opposite end of the hallway. Azula peered over my shoulder with a wicked gleam in her eye, and I knew then that it was too late.

"Sounds like the firebending's back on," Azula snickered.

The princess skillfully threw her leg forward to create a large arc of scorching blue fire, leaving me with no choice but to retreat. She then burst through her restraints and leapt forward, landing right before us with no intent to attack (much to our surprise).

"Dad's all the way at the end of the hall and down the secret stairway on the left," Azula mocked as she slithered away from us. "I'm sure he'll be more than happy to see you now."

We didn't bother to chase after the Fire Princess as she fled the scene, opting for a moment of self-loathing and disappointment as we recognized our complete and utter failure. And I guess no one felt more guilty than I did in that moment, especially considering how I had failed both Aang and Elara in a moment of passion.

"I fell for it!" I criticized myself as I cast my eyes towards the floor. "I used up all our time."

"It's not your fault, Sokka," Toph said. "Azula was ready for us. She had every move planned out."

"And now it's too late," I concluded, acutely aware that we should be expecting a battalion of firebenders at any second now that the eclipse was over.

Just as I was beginning to drown in my pool of self-doubt once again, I heard Aang speak up confidently from beside me. "Maybe it's not too late," he offered. "The eclipse is over, but I can face the Fire Lord anyway."

"No, I don't think that's a good idea," I refuted.

"But I'm ready!" Aang continued fervently, a look of fierce determination plastered onto his face. "I came here with a job to do, and everyone's counting on me."