The Forgotten Princess (SokkaxOC)

ii. IV

A/N; 1k votes. Literally cannot put it into words - you guys are insane and I love all of you <3

Time for the Completely Ordinary Swamp ™ (trademark by Sokka inc.)

Just an FYI - in case it isn't clear already, I'm not afraid of retconning some canon stuff in favor of doing my own thing here. I know that's probably a given, since this is a fanfic, but just keep that in mind when you get to a... certain part of this chapter. You'll know what I mean when you reach it.

Aang P.o.V.

For a while now, the gaang had been flying over this swamp. The day had been largely uneventful, without much conversation or anything as they flew. In fact, there was something about the silence... it was almost like it wasn't empty. Like even though he couldn't hear anything, he had this feeling that the swamp was special somehow.

Almost like it was... talking to him. Like it was alive.

"...Aang, why are we going down?"

The airbender shook his head, waking himself from the stupor he'd fallen into. He hadn't even realized how close they were to the ground, but Sokka's voice had managed to bring him back.

"What?" Aang asked tiredly, before rubbing his eyes. "I didn't even notice."

Sokka's derision echoed from behind him. "Are you noticing now?"

He definitely was - now that he was paying attention, it was easy for him to see they were losing altitude. It was so odd to him - he'd never fallen asleep while flying before, and it wasn't anywhere close to nightfall yet either.

"Is something wrong?" Katara asked worriedly.

Aang frowned as he observed the swamp beneath them. "I know this is gonna sound weird, but I think the swamp is... calling to me."

"Is it telling you where we can get something to eat?" Sokka lazily asked, some loud slapping sound filled the air immediately after.

Aang shook his head slightly as the weird feeling returned again. "No," he muttered. "I... I think it wants us to land there."

"No offense to the swamp, but I don't see any land there to land on," Sokka reasoned.

"I don't know," Aang wondered aloud. "Bumi said to learn earthbending I would have to wait and listen. And now, I'm actually hearing the earth. Do you want me to ignore it?"

The others all hesitated a moment before responding, all three agreeing to leave, followed by Appa groaning as well. "See? Even Appa and Momo don't like it here," Sokka insisted.

"Okay, since everyone feels so strongly about this... bye swamp," Aang lazily agreed with a shrug before flicking Appa's reins. "Yip yip!"

They immediately took off upwards, climbing high into the sky again. Only a moment later, though Sokka was panicking from behind him. Taking a peek behind him, Aang's eyes widened at the sight of a giant tornado heading straight for them.

No matter how much he tried to veer them away from it, the tornado kept following them, getting progressively closer to them as it ripped up trees from the swamp below. Soon enough, it got too close, and Sokka was ripped off of Appa's saddle. Azami had reached out to grab onto him, and Katara then had to hold onto the firebender with one hand and the saddle with the other.

Making his choice about his priorities, Aang quickly let go of Appa's reins and jumped to the back, where he summoned a huge ball of air to surround and protect them. The three all fell onto the saddle, and before he knew it they had been sucked inside the tornado. No matter how hard he tried, though, he couldn't maintain the air ball for more than a few seconds, and the four were soon whisked off of the saddle and thrown down into the swamp.