The Desired Ending - Sokka x OC

Chapter 10: Decision

Heyyyy guysss! How are you doing today? I hope you guys are all doing well and that you're healthy and safe, etc. Buttttt, if you're having a bad day by any chance (again, I hope you're not) then maybe this chapter will make you feel better maybe..... Anyways, this chapter is a good and interesting chapter sooooooo, hope you enjoy and happy reading!

Presenting........

|Decision|

Safiyah

Sokka and I look at each other in our unison shock, though I think mine overpowers his. I rub my eyes again and even when my eyesight fully clears, Hawky still stands in front of us, showing me he isn't an illusion. He scrapes his talons on the ground, clawing through the dirt. It almost looks like he's waiting for me to approach him, yet he's doing so in such a patient, human-like way. 

"Oh my God," I whisper frantically. I crawl across the sleeping bag to Hawky and he squawks and turns around. On his back, there's the familiar canister branded with the Fire Nation insignia that all Fire Nation messenger hawks wear. I look at my shaking hands and realize how shallow my breath has become. 

Sokka moves up next to me and touches the canister with his hands, but he doesn't open it. I'm glad he doesn't because I've yet to build up more anticipation. 

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Sokka whispers next to me. "Here's your answer." 

I look at him. He gives me a smile, which lights up his face despite his tired eyes, and he nudges his head towards Hawky. I try smiling but my apprehension that rides my entire body clouds it. 

I take a deep breath and remove the canister off of Hawky and once I have it in my hands, I don't waste time inspecting it or consider it's weight. I don't shake it in excitement, for I'm feeling the complete opposite. I open the canister lid and I don't even take a glance inside. I just turn the canister upside down and wait for the reply to fall out. 

But it doesn't. 

My heart skids to a stop in my chest during the moment of realization. But the adrenaline fogs up my head again as I continue shaking the canister, expecting something to come out. I look inside and I'm greeted by the harsh truth: there's nothing inside. 

"It's empty, Sokka, it's empty!" I exclaim, and my tone sounds manic. Like I'm on the edge of hysteria. 

"Shh, shh, it's fine," he starts to say, but I don't let him finish. 

"No, why would she send it back empty?" I whisper cuttingly. "There has to be a reason for this." 

There has to be a reason for this, I remind myself as reassurance. 

Sokka takes the canister and turns it over in his hands. His eyes suddenly light up. "I knew it!" 

"Knew what? What do you know?" The words tumble out of my mouth. "What do you know?" 

He turns around the canister and shows me a long seam along the body, one I didn't notice before in my frenzy. "She hid the message along the body of the canister. She opened up the fabric, slipped the message inside, and sewed it back on." 

She's absolutely brilliant, I think. 

With Sokka's astute observation in mind, I rapidly grab one of my daggers and cut along the seam, cleanly splitting through the fabric. I tear the casing off until the canister's bare metal body is shown and to my triumph, I feel a paper fall on my lap. 

I throw the canister aside and hold the paper. The paper is folded in half and is curled due to being wrapped around the cylindrical canister for so long, and it gives off a light earthy smell. I take notice of the paper's color and texture; the paper is crisp, not one abnormal crease in sight, and the color is strictly white. It's too new.