Zutara

6

Sokka's POV

Zuko and I burst out of the bushes but another flutist hypnotizes us into staying. Zuko and I fought against the spell so hard the flute snapped in half. I punched him out cold before I hear him order the flutist to make her walk into the water.

I heard about the Kheda. Gran Gran said she still had nightmares about them on the worst nights.

But all I could see was red as Katara my sister, stepped into the water.

I screamed in anger and launched myself at them trying to reach her in time. Zuko fought just as hard until the ringleader almost killed him. He was incased in ice so thick it would take me a while to free him.

Suddenly I hear Katara gasp through the forest.

The water seems to get brighter as the evening dew, the pool water, sweat, tears, even blood floated ominously. Her blue eyes seemed to glow. Then markings trail up her body for a split second before they fade away. Zuko suddenly seems to glow with similar markings for a moment and glow even though it was nighttime when he is the weakest. He let out a battle cry and the ice flew off and melted into drops of water in the still phenomenon.

She walked into the water in a deep trance.

Zuko pushed forward and tried to reach her without getting the effects of the water. I couldn't do anything. I didn't trust Zuko but if anyone could get to her it would be the Fire Lord himself.

He gives up on avoiding the water and tries to swim to her. As he walks it is obvious that the water had some affect on him. He slowed down and seemed to get weaker.

He pushed forward again and grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back to land.

The second she gets out of the water she relaxes and stops glowing.

She sighs in relief and nuzzles into his chest and hums in contentment before slowly falling asleep.

He looks at me pale as snow. "What was that?"

Zuko's POV

Sokka sits down across from me. He explains the story, and what these people would do.

Sokka and I decided that the people of that town couldn't be trusted so we ventured farther into the forest.

I made a makeshift tent and used my cloak as a blanket for Katara. She still remained still and unconscious.

I waited by her side for two days with little to no sleep. Sokka would go hunting and bring me back some food and hang the rest on the wire that he guarded. He covered the meat with some salt to dry it out until it became jerky.

Finally on day two Katara woke up. She was scared at first. Her blue eyes looked around widely before they landed on me.

She trembles for a moment before she jumps into my arms. She hugs me tightly before letting me ago. She asks softly, "can you get Sokka?"

I nod and leave the tent to get Sokka. When he bursts into the tent Katara tackles him in a hug.

He walks her back to the small makeshift bed and holds her hands. "Sokka it was terrible!" He sighs and responds, "I know. I...I know." 

She sighs and stands up. "We have to keep going. That cult could have grown and could be doing more than what we think. We need to keep moving." 

She walks past us both and begins to clean up out campsite. I bend down and help her with everything. 

We start walking away from the coast and into the forest of the Earth Kingdom. 

After a couple hours Sokka groans and sits down on a tree stump and complains loudly, "my feet hurt, Katara. Can we rest soon?" Katara sighs and says, "I'll grab something at the town. I think I have a friend at the one we just passed. "Stay here, I'll be right back."

About five minutes later, we hear a horse neigh loudly and Katara appeared in the clearing with three horses and trunk behind it. 

Sokka let out of snort and climbs onto the gray horse. "I'm not gonna ask how, I'm just glad." I roll my eyes. I help Katara load our stuff into the trunk. Once I finish I help Katara onto the white horse that pulls the trunk. I call out to Sokka, "Sokka can you ride behind the trunk to make sure nothing happens from the back?" He nods and leads his horse behind the trunk. I climb onto my horse in front of Katara and we start our trip once again.