The Forgotten Princess (SokkaxOC)

ii. III

A/N; Sorry this one took a while, but I gotta be honest, I absolutely hated writing this chapter. I like the episode, but something about it was just difficult to work with. That paired with some really annoying irl stuff... anyways, the episode does have some pretty important moments, so I'm not just gonna skip it. Rest of book 2 should be FAR better than this, both in terms of how long it takes to do a chapter and the quality of it. (you guys have no idea what's coming for the swamp >:)

Real talk, though? Why did we not get the return of cabbage man in return to omashu? Truly one of life's greatest tragedies. It will be many a chapter before I see you again, old friend.

Aang P.o.V.

"I can't believe it. I know the war has spread far, but Omashu always seemed... untouchable."

Aang stared out at the sight before him, disbelief still running through him. He'd seen some of the horrible things the Fire Nation had done, but this... he never once imagined Omashu could ever fall. And he didn't even want to think about what they might have done to Bumi. He did know, however, that he couldn't just leave his friend to die.

Sokka's voice echoed from behind him, solemn. "Up until now it was. Now, Ba Sing Se is the only great Earth Kingdom stronghold left."

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and glancing over he saw Azami standing next to him, her eyes reflecting the sadness he felt. "As much as it hurts, Aang, we need to move on."

"No," he countered as he shook his head. "I'm going in to find Bumi."

"At what cost?" she challenged, and though she had a point, Aang honestly didn't care. "I get that Bumi is important to you, but he would want you to be safe and keep moving. Staying will just put you and the rest of us at risk."

"Besides, we don't even know if Bumi's still..."

Aang whipped around to face Sokka, who had just wisely shut his mouth. "What?" the airbender demanded. "If he's still what?"

"A-around," Sokka stuttered out, looking ashamed.

Katara came up on his other side, bearing a similar expression to Azami. "I know you had your heart set on Bumi, but there are other people who can teach you earthbending," she offered.

"This isn't about finding a teacher," Aang insisted. "This is about finding my friend."

He turned back to face the great Earth Kingdom city. He couldn't - he wouldn't fail any more of his friends. Bumi needed him, and he wasn't going to back down.

Getting in might be a little harder than normal, though.

Beneath Omashu, we find a bald monkey boy escorted by three hormonal teenagers, all of whom may or may not be simping for one another (not unlike some of you horny people in  the comments, that's right I see you), all the while ignoring the true fluffy hero of the show.

Azami P.o.V.

"A secret passage?" Sokka whined. "Why didn't we just use this last time?"

"Because it's not a secret passage, Ponytail," Azami replied as Aang yanked open the sewer grate. Predictably, sewage came rushing out, and the firebender jumped out of the way just in time for it to miss her and hit Sokka in the face. "Personally, I'd take grouchy old Aang wearing a fake mustache over this any day."

Sokka gagged as he desperately wiped his hands on his traveling cloak. "Agreed," he groaned before climbing into the sewer. "Ew!"

Aang and Katara were both able to bend the sewage away from them as they climbed up the pipe, and while Azami was thankfully able to stand right behind the waterbender and remain largely clean, the same could not be said for Sokka. A few minutes later, they emerged back in the streets of Omashu, with no one else in sight.