I finally reached one of my favorite, hilarious episodes for which I've been thinking to change slightly. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did!
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"You guys are gonna be done soon, right? We've got a lot way to cover if we want to make it to Omashu today," Sokka asked floating on the pleasingly cool water with Momo climbed on him.
Iris looked at him and she immediately covered her sight "Geez, Sokka put something on!" She's been standing on the shore of the lake trying to master a fire bending form from the scrolls Jeong-Jeong had given her.
"What? I have underwear!" Sokka said.
"Well, like you can go right now, naked guy?" Katara asked taking off the stance she was trying to teach Aang.
"I can be ready in two minutes, seriously, whenever," Sokka said.
Aang ignored the two siblings and she looked at Katara catching her attention "So, you were showing me the Octopus Form,"
"Right, let me see your stance," Katara said. Aang repeated the stance and she walked towards him. She passed her hands on his from behind pushing his arms down "Your arms are too far apart. See, if you move closer together you protect your sinner, you go it?" Katara said.
Aang blushed lightly and he managed to say "Oh yeah, thanks,"
Katara walked away "Okay, let's see what you got,"
While the other two were sparring with the water, Iris thought better not to use fire while trying the forms. She was already done with her water bending and since they hadn't reached Omashu it'd be better trying to master fire bending. The forms were easy to master. Most of the moves pretty predictable. But she knew, controlling the fire wouldn't be same as easy.
"You make a fine octopus, pupil Aang," Katara said smiling.
Music heard coming from the plants "Don't fall in love with a traveling girl, she'll leave you broken-broken hearted..." Some seconds ago some people walked out. The man who played the guitar stopped, and looked at them.
"Hey, river-people,"
"We're not river-people," Katara said.
"You're not? Then what kind of people are ya?" The man asked.
"Just, people," Aang answered.
"Aren't we all, brother,"
"Who are you?" Sokka asked getting out of the water with Momo on his shoulder.
"I'm Chong and this is my wife Lily, we're Nomads. Happy to go wherever the wind takes us!"
"You guys are Nomads?" Aang asked "That's great my sister and I are Nomads!" He said excitedly.
"Hey, me too!" Chong said.
"I know you just said that," Iris said. The man was more than an idiot.
"Oh... nice underwear," Chong said looking at Sokka.
Sokka blushed lightly and he covered his hips with Momo. Iris couldn't help but laugh... So stupid...
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While Aang and Katara were making questions about Chong's travels, Iris thought it was better to spend her time practicing her fire bending. She got a bit away from the others covering enough space to know that they wouldn't see her fire bending. She stood at the shore and she repeated a couple more times the forms.
...No, no, no that was a side-kick... She thought, peeking at the scroll she had left on the ground. She made the side-kick and then she continued with punches as far as she remembered.
When she finished the form she calmed down taking a deep breath and pausing for a moment. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and then she started the form again with real fire. She indeed had trouble with controlling it, but she made sure she didn't burn anything.
"You need to be more specific in your shots," she heard a familiar voice.
She stopped immediately and she gasped at the sight. It was Zuko. He had crossed his arms and he'd been watching over her for a long moment. She made some steps back and she felt her hands shaking.
He no longer had the ponytail and his hair had started growing. No, no, no, no, no... She thought. If his hair had grown a little longer, he'd look just like the Prince she continued killing in her nightmares.
"S-stay back, please," Iris said raising her hands making another one step behind and her voice trembled.
"I don't want to hurt you, Iris," Zuko said. He tried to make a step further but she stopped him.
"Please, don't," She said as her eyes filled with tears. She had missed the sound of her name from his voice. She had missed the color of his eyes, the soft way he touched her. But she couldn't let herself get closer. "I don't care if you hurt me, I care about you," She said.
A slight expression of confusion reached his face. His hands, which he had raised trying to reach to her, slowly started falling down. He had been angry with her, she could see that. But what could she say, that a spirit was forcing her to kill him? It's unbelievable.
"I cared about you too, but you left me, Iris!" Zuko said angrily. But it wasn't just anger, hurt as well.
"What did you expect me to do? I need to protect my little brother!" Iris said angrily.
"You can't keep protecting him forever!"
"I'm the Defender, protecting the Avatar is my job!"
"What about you, Iris? Don't you ever think of yourself?!"
She paused and she looked away. Why would he care? She had hurt him in the worst way. But it was true. She never thought of herself, of her decease, of her painful memories. "Why would you care?" she asked painfully turning her shiny eyes to his.
"Because I-" love you... He would say but he cut himself the last moment. He forced his gaze to the ground as silence fell between them for a long moment. Until he lifted his gaze and looked at her asking worriedly "What is wrong with you?"
She bit her lip "That's the same question I asked myself a couple of times," She answered. She took a deep breath trying to keep talking "I can't tell you,"
"Why not?" He asked worriedly.
She hesitated trying to choke her tears away "I just can't," she said with trembling voice and she forced her gaze off of his. "I need to leave," she said and she started running away leaving him, once again...
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"Secret-love-cave, let's go," Sokka said indifferently. There was no way they could fly to Omashu. Fire Benders nearly burned them to the air and they finally decided to pass from the cave with Chong and the rest of his companions.
"How far are we from the tunnel?" Sokka asked.
"Actually it's not just one tunnel, the lovers didn't want anyone to find out about their love, so they built a whole labyrinth," Chong said
"Labyrinth!?" Sokka snapped.
"I'm sure we'll figure it out," Chong said surely.
"All you need to do is trust in love, according to the curse," Lily said.
Sokka stayed behind groaning irritatingly "Curse!" he exclaimed.
"Shouldn't you have mentioned that before?" Iris asked irritated.
"Hey, we're here!" Chong said excitedly.
They stood in front of the cave's big entrance. There were frightening sculptures around it. "What exactly is this curse?" Sokka asked.
"The curse says that only those who trust in love can make it through the cave," Chong said "...otherwise you'll be trapped in them forever,"
"And die," Lily added.
"Oh, yes, and die," Chong said "Hey I just remembered the rest of that song, and die!"
"That's it there's no way we're going into some cursed hole!" Sokka exclaimed.
"Hey, someone's making a big campfire!"
"That's not campfire, the Fire Nation is tracking us," Iris said.
"So all you need to do is trust in love?" Aang asked.
"That's right, Ms. Arrow-head,"
Aang seemed sure about this as he looked over at Katara. Sure, he had Katara, who did Iris have? Zuko? Don't be an idiot! She snapped at herself. She had stopped believing in love long ago when Gershwin died. After that, she only tried to fool herself that all she felt for him was just one of the emotions she had tried to remove.
"We can make it,"
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"Aang's with Katara, he'll be fine," Sokka said. They had done the mistake to move into the cave. The Fire Nation soldiers shut the entrance and on top of that, they were separated from a small avalanche Appa caused.
Iris had fallen on her knees trying to open her way on the other side from the rocks that had fallen. "I'm not worried about Aang..." she tried to say but Chong cut her...
"Nah, there's no use we're separated, but at least you have us!"
Sokka let a loud dramatic cry and he fell to his knees as well. Trying to find a way to get out from a maze of underground tunnels wasn't enough? They had to keep singing, too! Iris could break that stupid guitar. Many times she tried to but Sokka was there to stop her.
"...don't let the cave-in let you down, don't let the falling rocks turn your smile into frown Sokka and Iris!"
"Shut up," Iris muttered.
"You said something?" Chong asked.
"No, no," Iris said and they continued singing and playing.
After a couple of more hours, they seemed to be running out of luck. The last torch was about to light off. Great... Now I'll die with five idiots! So much for love... She thought frustratingly.
"What are we going to do?!" Moku exclaimed panicked.
"We have to trust in love," Chong said.
"It's the only chance we have," Lily added from behind.
"So what do you expect from that... a kiss?" Iris exclaimed mockingly. She turned away crossing her arms. Sokka came from behind placing his hand on her shoulder saying...
"Can we talk for a second?"
They both walked away from the others. Sokka gave the torch back to Chong and they fended away out of their sight. Iris crossed her hands "What do you want?" she asked irritated.
"A way to get out of here," He answered.
"And what do you want me to do?" Iris asked. She could barely see his face from the small light that came from the torch.
"What is wrong with you? I've never seen you so much frustrated!" Sokka exclaimed.
She hadn't even noticed the change in her behavior. Maybe the little 'talk' she had with Zuko upset her more than she expected. "What's wrong with me? What's wrong with all of you?! 'Trust in Love' you still haven't figured it out yet?" She asked and then she looked away "True Love' doesn't exist," she said bitterly.
"Maybe this is how you feel. When I kissed Yuen I felt love. Love in a way I had never imagined!" Sokka exclaimed. He calmed down and he tried to reason with her "Look, we can keep fighting but this is not going to help us get out of here,"
"And what do you suggest we should do?" Iris asked and in response, he kissed her. Her eyes widened in surprise as he instinctively pulled her closer passing his hands around her waist. She found herself kissing him back and slipping her hands towards his neck, enjoying the feeling.
Somehow the crystals on the cave's roof started glowing, showing their way out of there. Iris and Sokka pushed from each other when, unfortunately, Chong and the others had already seen them. They started cheering in happiness and relief... and surprise.
Chong walked beside Sokka and he elbowed him teasingly "Ha ha! You player,"
Sokka and Iris both blushed looking away. Sokka tried to cut the awkwardness and he said after clearing his throat "Uh... this is our way out," as he pointed at the exit some meters away.
"Yup, let's go," Iris said quickly and she started walking away and trying to hide her flushed cheeks.
After a small moment of walking, they finally saw the next day's sunlight. Aang, Katara, and Appa were waiting outside. When Aang saw his sister he ran towards her and hugged her same way Katara hugged Sokka.
"How did you guys get out?" Sokka asked his sister as Katara hugged Iris.
"Just like the Legend says, we let love lead the way," Aang said blushing.
Iris leaned closer to him asking whispering "You kissed her, didn't you?"
Aang's blush became more visible "Yes," he whispered.
"How did you guys get out?" Katara asked.
Now it was Iris's and Sokka's turn to blush. Aang's eyes widened "No way! You kissed Sokka?!" He asked loudly trying to believe it looking at his sister.
"He kissed me!" Iris answered immediately.
"So, you smooched a real good, huh?" Katara teased her brother looking at him raising an eyebrow.
"We just wanted to get out!" Sokka exclaimed trying to excuse himself "Anyway, Iris's wouldn't last long in there without kicking everyone's butt if they wouldn't stop singing,"
"Don't say that you liked hearing them!" Iris said.
Aang walked towards the others as Chong walked towards Katara, Sokka, and Iris.
"Why is your forehead all red?" Katara asked looking at her brother.
"Nobody react to what I'm about to say, I think that kid might be the Avatar," Chong said pointing his thumbs to Aang who stood behind them.
At that Sokka face-palmed his forehead making it even redder than before.
"Sokka, I believe you learned a little something about not letting the plans get in the way of the journey," Chong said.
"Just play your songs!"
"Hey, good plan," and Chong left with the rest of his friends singing...
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"The journey was big and annoying but I get to see what it was all about: the destination. I present to you the Earth Kingdom City of O-" Sokka tried to say but he stopped at the view of the Fire Nation flag waving on the City's gates.
"Oh, shit!"
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Sorry for the SokkaXIris moment. Don't worry, I just added it to make things more confusing for the... Zukiris? How would you like to call it?
Thank you for reading! You're all awesome!
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:)