markofthebrave | Backdated to the 7th

Backdated to the 7th

[It happened quickly. One moment she was fourteen, her back aching as the wings stretched across scars, the next she was seventeen and the relief of pain was almost dizzying. The memories sorting in and through her were easily as dizzying.

She fell down to her knees as her two lives collided and when she rose, both sets of memories were confused, but she knew who she was. And she wanted to see her family. She didn't walk. She ran all the way home.

Much later, she made a post to her journal, filtered to her friends.]

Hi, everyone. I know that I don't say this enough and... I know that this month is kind of stressful. But I just wanted to say how glad, how really glad I am to have met all of you. I don't say it enough. You're all people I've come to rely on, and I'm so glad you're in my life.

...and I remember you now, just in case you were wondering. I hope I'll see you all very soon.

((OOC: If you're wondering if you're on her friends filter, you probably are! If you want to run into her resuming her normal routine the 8th-9th, that's OK too!))

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Katara went quickly into his hug, starting to cry the moment she saw him, "Sokka!"

She couldn't necessarily let herself fall apart about her life in front of anyone else. But he'd seen it all, he knew how it started, and she'd missed him so much.

He held her in tightly. She'd been gone a long time. While the other Katara had been in her place, it hadn't been enough. He was just so relieved to have her back. Whole. In one piece.

"I'm so glad you're back." It was rare moments that Sokka could be so honest with how he felt. This was one of them.

"I missed you so much." It was true, they rarely told each other these things, but Katara wasn't just speaking for herself - she was speaking for the girl whose memories she still carried, the girl who couldn't say those words but at meant them with all of her broken heart.

It didn't need to be explained for him to get it. It didn't even take any amount of logic or a pause to think about it. At the moment, the two Kataras were too entwined for that to matter. He only wished he'd been able to give the other Katara this kind of hug.

He was finally able to pull away. Smiling despite himself. He still kept his hands on her shoulders. "Me too." He squeezed her arms. Sort of way to prove they were both there. "... how are you feeling?"

She wiped her eyes, "A lot better. A little confused, but I think a lot of the other memories will fade with some more time. I know who I am."

"Good. All of those memories... what happened..." He let go of her as he shook his head. "It's too much."

It had been so raw, all those months ago, when he'd been burdened with the memories of his Avatar counterpart losing everyone he loved all at once. The memories were there, faded and blurry, but he'd detached himself from the emotions associated with them.

"I know. If I tried to keep them..." she shook her head and then looked up at him with something soft in her eyes, "But I'm not sorry - now I know. She's alive. She didn't die in one of their prisons, Sokka, she's alive."

"She had to go back to that life. Again." That crushing realization that she was real, trapped in so lonely and terrible a life, was not comforting in the slightest. For the second time, he'd tried to help her. And for the second time, it wouldn't change a thing.

"But I think she's going to be okay," Katara insisted. "You don't know - what she'd been through. And she still wouldn't kill Fire Nation civilians. She hates the Fire Nation, but she's still not as far gone as Jet. And she's traveling towards the capital, to get there in time for the eclipse. And I can't imagine that you just stayed in the South Pole the whole time, whether or not we freed Aang. You must have gone with Dad! And if you went with Dad, and found out that the eclipse was coming..."

He wondered if she was saying this all for his sake or whether she believed it or not. Regardless, he wanted to believe. Wanted to have faith that his other self would find her. And that he'd miss her as much as he claimed he did.

"... they'll be reunited again." He nodded. "Yeah. Together. With their dad. That sounds right."

"It's worth hoping for," she smiled. "I mean... she's alive."

And wasn't that worth hoping for than anything else?

Edited 2013-02-11 15:56 (UTC)

Alive. Yeah. Though now that he was able think about it...

"I'm glad. But... how? I mean, she was on a prison ship. How did she get free? Or even learn waterbending?"

"That's... a long story. Why don't we sit down."

You're not going anywhere, right big brother?

Edited 2013-02-13 03:28 (UTC)

He had nowhere he'd rather be at the moment. So he nodded.

"Sure. But do you want me to get you anything first? Something to eat? We have... well, microwaveable chicken and rice. And maybe toast."

Truly he had been roughing it this past month.

"...I really need to teach you how to cook," she said with a small smile. "But no - I'd rather talk first. I can have something to eat later."

She wasn't sure having food in her stomach would make talking about this any easier. In fact, it might make it worse.

He gave a sheepish shrug before making his way over to the couches. He sat down, but refrained from getting too comfortable.

"Okay. Fair enough. Food later." He knew things were about to get a little heavy. So he made himself as attentive as possible.

Katara sat next to him. She didn't give herself a chance to reconsider talking about it. "I - she - didn't escape from the boat. She," she made herself say it, but it felt unnatural, "refused to waterbend for him, so Yon Rha took her to the Fire Lord."

"Ozai." That man was scary to think about now. He could only imagine what he would have been like to a little girl. "I guess you-- she figured that was the smart thing to do, huh?"

"If I was being taken away for waterbending, I thought maybe if I didn't bend..." something. Anything. Maybe they would take her back. Maybe she'd be in less trouble. Anything.

"...but it didn't work out that way once I saw Ozai."

It was strange to say his name. The fear and loathing he had inspired were hard to shake.

He swallowed, ware of hearing where this was going. The man was cruel enough to burn his own son's face. He could only imagine what he'd do to some girl from another nation.

"What did he do?"

"Not much at first. He just dismissed me, since it didn't seem like I could bend and he said some... things. And that's when I realized that he was behind everything, everything that had happened. And I wasn't going to get out of trouble anyway. So I tried to attack him."

"Oh no." It was a wonder the girl even lived. "How bad was it?"

"Most of the scars... came from that," she said slowly. "And after that, he locked me in a waterbender prison."

To die.

So there were more.

It had been bad when he saw her before. But if there were more. For a moment, he couldn't help but shudder.

"You escaped?"

Katara shook her head. "I was there for two months."

This was hard to talk about. It felt like it could only come out in bits and pieces.

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