96 Chapter 96 - Starved Sights

Chapters in advance in Patreòn

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(20+ chapters in advance)

***

Omashu had been taken over by the Fire Nation and there wasn't anything that could be done about it.

"We have to go and save Bumi!" Aang was about to have Appa fly towards Omashu. But Sokka stopped him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Aang, calm down," his voice was sharp like a razor. "Think about it. Bumi was a king the people admired. Killing him would only give the people a reason to be angrier about and revolt.'

Sokka tried to calm him, but Aang seemed reluctant to leave the only friend he had here behind. Though Sokka was worried about another thing, and it was whether Azula had planned something in case the Avatar wanted to save his friend. So with a smile, Sokka told a white lie. "C'mon now Aang, we don't want to give them a reason to kill Bumi. Because if you try and save him, they'll be able to guess what you might be up to."

"But, I can't just-"

Fwish!

Sokka didn't let Aang finish and knocked him out with a chop to the neck. "Wow, that works?" and he grabbed Appa's reins. "Yip, yip," and changed direction, away from Omashu before anyone caught sight of it. "Going in that place is suicide."

"But…" Katara tried to reason, but sighed, knowing that Sokka wouldn't do something like this for nothing.

"We both know how this would end up for Aang, don't disillusion yourself with the truth. Right now we can't afford to play around. Do you think Bumi is the kind of guy to let himself be captured? Even if he did, there's probably a reason behind it. He is a mad genius who held the Fire Nation back for a hundred years." Sokka reasoned, trying to reassure his sister, but since he had his back turned towards her as he held on to Appa's reins, she didn't see his sour expression.

Sokka had his map open and was searching for a place to travel in which he would find Toph. But in the Map, below him, there were some yellow dots.

[Yue Yin Lvl 2]

(Age 8)

(Status: Starving)

[Gna Lvl 2]

(Age 9)

(Status: Starving)

[Kos Lvl 1]

(Age 5)

(Status: Starving)

There were over thirty similar character tags, looking below he saw that it was dry grassland. Clenching teeth, he knew what the logical thing to do here was and how Aang needed to master the four elements faster. "Fuck, what shitty luck. Why did I have to activate the damn Map, now I can't unsee this," he muttered under his breath as he passed the children's position, going to find Toph.

But as soon as he started flying away, Sokka felt a strange feeling in his heart and knew that if he did this, no matter the level of power he reached, he would regret it and think about this if he ran away. So with a tug, he turned back.

"Why are we turning around?" Katara asked, but he didn't answer.

But she got the answer as soon as Appa landed in a dry field, there were corpses all around and the ruins of a destroyed village. Children wandered around, none of them older than ten, their eyes empty and clothes dirty. They were only skin and bones, and Kata covered her mouth as her eyes widened at the horrifying sight before her, Sokka on the other hand stared at her calmly. "Wander around some towns with earthbending tournaments and try to find an earthbending teacher for Aang. Not a normal earthbender, but someone who can feel the earth like Bumi could."

"What about you?" she muttered, unsure of what she was even seeing.

"I am staying here," Sokka answered, for the first time he was going to leave them for real. "Don't worry, after helping them I will come and find you. Just forget what you saw here and continue moving forward."

"But, but," Katara wanted to say something, anything, but no words came out. Seeing someone die was different from this, it tugged at someone's heartstrings.

Sokka smiled at her reassuringly. "Keep Kiwi always close to you and take care of Aang. Let you coolest older brother deal with this."

For once, she didn't retort his ridiculous sayings, as her eyes were overshadowed as she looked down and grabbed Appa's reins. "I will trust you, brother. Fix everything and come back. Appa, yip, yip."

Fwoosh!

A great fluttering wind hit the ground as Appa set off, Sokka glanced at the tragedy and felt his heart clench at the corpses of some starving children too. He wanted to throw up, but his [Gamer's Mind] wouldn't let him. So instead, he walked towards the forest quickly and pulled out from his inventory a giant grey boar-rabbit that he had killed. The corpse of the animal was still fresh with blood spilling out of its neck.

Sokka then walked back, with the giant animal on his shoulder, and went to the middle of the village where a dry well stood. He put his hand on the wall, just outside of everyone's view, and waterbended the water that was below there and with a great effort pulled it out and the well started running again.

Taking some wood from the broken down, charred houses nearby, he started a giant blaze of fire and skinned the boar-rabbit, and started roasting it. Soon, scared, empty-eyed children came out of hiding and stared at Sokka cautiously. They were a little scared of the fire, but human instincts of survival crushed that fear.

He didn't say anything, as at most the children were eleven years old. Adults were killed, but they didn't have the hearts to finish off the children and just left them behind to a worst fate. Whether the Fire Soldiers knew it would end like this or not, Sokka didn't know. "Don't be afraid. I won't harm you."

For the first time since coming to this world his [Acting] skill was being used for something. But Sokka wasn't worried whether he was doing something good or not, still, there were things he didn't like looking at. He knew that he couldn't go and save every single starving person in the world.

But there children, he will save them all. "And I will save them my way," he uttered, his gaze turning cold as he peered into the fire that was roasting the animal.

***

With his mind set on saving them, Sokka used the Map function and found a nearby river that the children didn't seem to know about. Sokka could see how they wouldn't, as their parents didn't let them approach such a dangerous place, especially since there was a Fire Nation stronghold nearby.

As the children slowly started approaching him and Sokka went through the houses, pulling out any plates that survived and after washing them with the water in the well, he started putting food in them. By then it didn't matter what the children thought of him as they weren't able to hold themselves back and he filled many plates with meat. His [Cooking] skill has prepared everything to perfection.

[Cooking Lvl 4 -> 5]

Having cooked for Katara and Aang during the journey, this skill had leveled up quite a lot. Sokka glanced towards where the Fire Nation base was and a cold, icy feeling settled in his heart.

***

At the same time, atop Appa, Aang opened his eyes and woke up. When he came to his senses, he rapidly got up. "Bumi! We have to save him!"

Looking around, he saw Katara atop Appa's head and guiding him where to fly. Aang looked around and didn't see Sokka, and he also noticed that they weren't anywhere close to Omashu. "Katara!" he called out to her, but she didn't respond. "We need to-"

"Shut up!" she yelled out, stopping Aang mid-track as he looked on shocked, not expecting Katara to say something like that. "Aang, we can't keep messing around and people die every single day this war continues. Every minute we waste messing around, people are suffering because of the war. You need to master the four elements and defeat Fire Lord Ozai."

"But Bumi-" Aang tried to make a reason for why he had to save Bumi. But Katara interrupted him again.

"No!" Images of children starving appeared on her mind and she felt herself clench in guilt. How much time had they spent playing around, and just causing trouble, riding the Koi Fish in Kyoshi Island, Omashu visit, and all of this? They were just wasting time, this isn't a game, they're having fun on other people's suffering. "Do you know why Sokka isn't here?" Katara turned around and Aang saw tears rolling down her face and his heart sunk. "While flying away from Omashu, we stumbled on a destroyed village full of starving children, Sokka stayed behind to help them. How many more like that do you think are around the world?"

Aang kept quiet, not saying anything and looking down sadly. "Sorry…"

He felt incredibly guilty too, being reminded of running away.

'This is all my fault. I ran away from my duties and ended up causing the world pain due to my selfishness.'