In The Future || Mirai

CHAPTER 25

We were riding in the train to Ba Sing Se's inner wall. To be completely honest I thought it would be more thrilling, at least it was an expectation for the safest city in the world.
  It was boring, boring enough that I fell asleep on Sokka's shoulder. At least we got a little thrill before making it into the safest city in the world.

"Look it's the inner wall!" I heard Katara say and I woke up rubbing my eyes. "I can't believe we finally made it to Ba Sing Se in one piece."

"That's not true." Sokka looked out the window. Probably thinking about his other sister. I grabbed his hand, rubbing my thumb over the back of it as I tried to comfort him.

"I meant.." Katara started but pause. "Kaida, would have been proud of us and we should be proud of her for keeping Zuko away.
She would be so proud of us for making it safely. One step closer to ending this war."

"Yeah." Sokka looked at her. "Don't jinx it. We could still be attacked by some giant exploding Fire Nation spoon or find out the cities been submerged in an ocean full of killer shrimp."

"You been hitting the cactus juice again?" Toph asked.

"I'm just saying, weird stuff happens to us." Sokka replied.

"Right." I said. "We literally attract bad luck and death. It's a curse."

"That's a bit dark isn't it?" Sokka asked scared.

"It's dark humor for a reason." I rolled my eyes and then a man sat in between Toph and Sokka sucking on a cob of corn.

"Don't worry Aang, we'll find Appa." Katara said to the boy.

"It's a big city." Aagn replied.

"He's a giant bison where can someone possibly hide him?" Sokka asked and looked out the window. I did too at the big and crowded city.

We got to the station and walked off the train. "Back in the city, great." Toph sighed sarcastically.

"What you don't like the city?" I asked.

"I'm not fond of walls and rules, blazy." She replied. "You wait, you'll get sick of it in a couple of days."

We looked across the platform at the lady as she came towards us with the biggest and fakest smile on her face. "Hello my name is Joo Dee, I have been given the honor of showing the Avatar around Ba Sing Se. And you must be Mirai, Sokka, Katara, and Toph. Welcome to our wonderful city! Shall we get started?"

"Yes." Sokka said. "We have information about the Fire Nation army that we need to deliver to the Earth King immediately."

"Great!" Joo Dee replied. "Let's begin the tour! And then I'll show you to your new home here, I think you'll like it." She finished and started to walk away.

"Maybe you missed what I said." Sokka told her. "We need to talk to the King about the war. It's important."

"You're in Ba Sing Se now. Everyone is safe here." Joo Dee said still with a smile and we stared at her.

We followed her into a carraiage and she took us around the large city. In the lower ring they kept all the poor people and it was depressing to see. I looked out the window to see a guy getting mugged, I glared at them and shrugged not like we could do anything at this point but it kind of annoyed me to see that these people weren't doing much to help this area.
We got to the middle ring that was clearly better than the lower ring and had more class. Joo Dee mentioned the university of the city and Sokka told her that we met up with the professor from said university and told her about our adventure with the man, trying to get her to take us to the king. Toph told us Joo Dee was handling us.
Finally she took us to the upper ring where we were staying, we passed the palace but it was surrounded by thick walls with what seemed to only be three entrances and saw the men. They were Dai Li agents.

"Can we see the King now?" Aang asked.

"Oh no!" Joo Dee laughed. "One doesn't just pop in on the Earth King." We frowned and she took us to the house we were staying in. "Here we are! Your new home."
   We looked up at the big house then looked at her as she got a message. "More good news, your request for an audience with the Earth king is being processed and should be put through in about a month, much more quickly than usual."

"A month?!" I repeated.

"Six to eight weeks! Actually!" She replied and we went inside. "Isn't it nice? I think you'll really enjoy it here."

"I think we'd enjoy it more if we weren't staying so long." Sokka told her. "Can't we see the King any sooner?"

"The Earth King is very busy running the finest city in the world." Joo Dee replied with another big smile. "But he will see you when time permits"

I groaned and they looked at me. "Listen Smiley! There won't be a fine city if we don't see the King!" I was surprised and annoyed that the smile never fell from her face.

"Mirai." Sokka pulled me back and I rolled my eyes.

"If we're gonna be here for a month we should spend our time looking for, Appa." Aang said.

"I'd be happy to escort you anywhere you'd like to go." Joo Dee told him.

"We don't need a babysitter." Toph got up walking to the door.

"Oh I won't get in the way." Joo Dee said getting in her way. "And to leave you alone would make me a bad host, where shall we start?"

"I'll start by slapping that smile off your face." I muttered and Sokka nudged me.

We went into town, our first stop was a pet shop. We asked about the black market and all but the guy got nervous and said it would be illegal then he kicked us out because of Momo, how was 'harassing' the birds but it looked like it was the other ways around.
Our next stop was the university, Sokka asked the boy which Professor we could talk to about the war but he got nervous and I glanced at Joo Dee who never stopped smiling. The boy ran off, tripping but leaving.
We got dropped off at home and Joo Dee told us that someone will bring us dinner later. We looked across the street at the house. A guy was peeking at us from his own house.

"Hey come with me." Sokka said and we followed him. He knocked and the man opened with a forced smile.

"You're the Avatar!" The old man spoke. "I've heard you were in town. I'm Pong."

"Nice to meet you, Pong." Aang replied.

"So Pong, what's going on with this city?" Sokka asked. "Why is everyone here so scared to talk about the war?"

"War? Scared?" Pong asked. "What do you mean?"

"I can feel you shaking." Toph told him.

"Look I'm just a minor government official." He whispered and peeked around. "I've waited three years to get this house. I don't want to get into trouble."

"Get into trouble with who?" I asked he shushed me.

"Listen, you can't mention the war here and whatever you do stay away from the Dai Li." He said and slammed his door.

"Scared of the Dai Li?" I scoffed fire passing my lips. "This is so difficult." I stomped back to our place inhaling to calm down.

"You guys go on inside." Sokka told them and they did but he sat next to me. "Mirai, you need to calm down. I've never seen you get so angry, well more frustrated but still."

"I know." I sighed. "It's just I'm worried about my grandfather. He's still imprisoned by Ozai and I just want this stupid non-existent war to be over as soon as possible."

"It will be. We'll make sure to see the Earth King as soon as possible." He said and kissed my cheek. I tried to hide my smile but he saw it. "Let's go inside."

"Whatever you say Plan Man." I smiled and kissed his cheek before we went inside.

   Only Sokka could make me feel better, even if his words weren't all that, it was something about the way I felt about him like anything he said would come true.
I fell hard for this idiot...

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Edited; 12/09/20
Re-Edited; 7/29/21