Chapter 3- Sokka

Alibaba look anxiously at the night sky, there were lot's of clouds and it looked like there was a good chance there'd be a storm. The thought of being caught at sea during a big storm didn't exactly thrill him, but they were so far from land by then there wasn't much they could do other than wait. The water churned, reflecting Alibaba's state of mind. Before he could think any farther on the subject Alibaba noticed something falling from the sky….no not something, someone! A person was plummeting from the sky. Alibaba didn't have the time to wonder who it was before they hit the water. With the ocean churning and raging the way it was whoever was out there wouldn't be able to stay afloat for long.

"MAN OVERBOARD!" Alibaba yelled, grabbing the attention of as many deckhands as he could. He swiftly fastened one end of a rope to his waist, the other end was tied to the boat. Taking a deep breath he jumped into the water and began to swim toward where the person had struck the water. Once he got within earshot of the person he heard frantic calling

"KATARA! KATARA WHERE ARE YOU?! ANSWER ME PLEASE!" The voice was distinctly male, but that fact took a backseat to the fact that the person was hysterically thrashing and flailing. If he continued to panic like that he would go under before Alibaba could get to him. As if on cue, just as Alibaba thought that the man disappeared beneath the waves.

"Damn!" Alibaba cursed as he dove to try and recover the drowning man. He was able to reach th man just as he reached the end of his life line. After a few sharp tugs the men of the ship began pulling them back aboard the vessel.

Sokka felt the familiar gentle rocking of a ship under his back. Slowly he began to realize that he was, in fact, not dead. He didn't know where he was, but not being dead was a good place to start. Slowly he willed his eyes to open. He was staring at the timber plain that was the roof. He could tell right off the bat that this wasn't a water tribe vessel, nor could it be fire nation, there was no way they'd travel in wooden vessels like this one. At least to Sokka's knowledge. The only logical thing that he could come up with was that it was an earth kingdom boat, although he couldn't recall if the earth kingdom ever even HAD a navy. It didn't seem like something they'd be equipped to have. Sokka sat up, ignoring the pounding of blood in his brain, telling him not to stand. He slowly begun to try and stand.

"Hey!" A voice yelled, he turned to see another man about his age, he was blond with an odd cowlick pointing off his forehead, he was dressed in garb that reminded Sokka of the sandbenders.

"Don't try to stand yet! You almost drowned!" the man continued.

"Where's my sister?!" Sokka demanded.

"Seriously? You're up for all of two second and you're already making demands?!"

"I need to know if my sister is safe!"

The man sighed and hung his head in an exasperated manner, when he looked back at sokka he had a somber expression.

"I'm sorry, but you were the only one I saw plummet into the ocean."

"What?! No!! That can't be right we were all together!!" Sokka yelled

"I'm sorry, but even if there were others, they weren't saved."

Sokka sat back down, letting the words of the other man wash over him. Katara, Aang, Toph, he'd promised to take care of them, protect them, sure he wasn't a bender, but he still felt like it was his job to keep them safe. They were his family and he'd failed them.

Alibaba looked at the depressed man sitting on the edge of the bed, he'd gone from demanding to depressed in no time flat. 'Why did he just shut down like that?' Alibaba thought. 'Wait didn't he say sister? He was looking for his sister!'. A pained thought surged through Alibaba as he was reminded of the feeling of losing Cassim and Mariam, the pain of losing a sibling. Alibaba had to say something, anything. There had to be something he could do.

"Hey, I didn't see your sister fall into the ocean!" He said, perhaps a little louder than he should've.

"So?" The man replied, in an interested, yet still broken tone.

"So, there's a chance she's okay! What happened, how did you fall into the ocean."

The man's face scrunched up in concentration, clearly his memories were a little scrambled.

"We were in a forest….I was hunting with my friend Aang...there was this weird door with two left hand-prints carved into it...He got stuck on the door...everyone else came to help get him off the door….but it opened instead...I'm not sure what happened….but there was this light and the next thing I knew I was here."

Alibaba thought for a moment then realized something

"That door sounds exactly the same as the last door Aladdin and I came across in the dungeon!" he began to explain "that means there had to have been some sort of magic reaction that brought you here! So your friends are probably somewhere else!"

The man perked up.

"Are you sure?!" He asked, with an almost desperate tone. Alibaba felt sweat beginning to drip down his neck, he really didn't know any of that for certain.

"Well, uh, n-not totally sure….I really don't understand the finer points of magic so well, but it's the most likely possibility."

The man drooped a little, but is it wasn't as bad as before.

Alibaba decided to try and lighten the mood.

"What's your name?" He asked

"Huh?" the other man replied, clearly wrenched from thought.

"What's your name? We never introduced ourselves."

"Oh, right, my name is Sokka."

"Sokka, okay then, Sokka, my name is Alibaba."

Sokka nodded in understanding.

"I'm going to Leam, I don't know if your sister or any of your friends will be there, but it's the best bet you've got."

Sokka looked at Alibaba, pondering what he'd been offered. He had no idea where Leam was, but his instincts were telling him he wasn't in the same world as he'd been in before that door incident. His instincts were also telling him that Alibaba could be trusted, and that he was his best bet. He had to find Katara and the others.

"Alright." He finally said. "I'll go with you."

Alibaba extended his hand. Sokka shook it. The deal was established.

Over the next couple days Sokka was a big help to Alibaba around the ship. Sokka seemed to know almost everything about how to sail and only needed a rudimentary tour of the unfamiliar vessel.

"How do you know so much about sailing?" Alibaba asked him.

Sokka laughed "I grew up in the southern water tribe, it's a big slab of ice and snow surrounded by water. Eventually you start learning that almost every boat is fundamentally the same." sokka replied, a cocky grin on his face.

"Oh yeah?" Alibaba questioned "Sounds like a pretty crappy place."

Sokka gave a bit of an offended yet quizzical look at him.

"You may think that," Sokka began "But it was home, and when my dad left it became my duty to protect it."

Alibaba looked away, remembering the similar situation he'd been put into in his younger years and what he'd done.

"Why did you leave?" Alibaba asked

"Well, my sister wanted to help this guy…. do something really important, and I'd promised my dad I'd protect her."

Alibaba nodded, searching for a way to change the subject.

"We should get into port tonight." Alibaba said

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, then all that's left is the journey to Leam."

"That's good. I hope that my sister and my friends are there." Sokka replied

Alibaba smiled "Yeah, I'm sure they'll be there. Hey, the crew and I are gonna have a few drinks and celebrate. You should celebrate with us.

Sokka smiled sheepishly and nodded. Alibaba didn't know it, but Sokka had never touched alcohol in his life. But, people drank all the time. Sokka was sure he could handle it.

Sokka woke, his head pounding furiously. He tried to put together the events of the previous night together. The drinking had started…..that was all, that was all he remembered

'I am never touching alcohol again..' Sokka moaned internally than shivered. Wait, shivered? Sokka cracked his eyes open...he was stripped down to his underwear. What did happen last night?! Luckily he still had his club and boomerang. He then noticed that the crew was gone. Although he couldn't remember anything he quickly figured out what had happened, he'd been robbed. Glancing around the room he saw Alibaba in a similar state. They'd both been robbed. Sokka walked over to Alibaba and shook him awake.

"Ngh...Sokka? What? Why are our clothes gone?! What happened?!"

"We were robbed, that crew got us drunk and robbed us!"

Alibaba blinked and looked around, a groan issued from his lips.

Alibaba couldn't believe that his crew had betrayed him so. He seemed to have the worst luck with these sort of things. For whatever reason this kinda thing always seemed to happen. Without much else to be done about the situation Alibaba and Sokka left the vessel and began to walk. Luckily they both still had their weapons so they weren't totally defenseless as they walked through the small port town. Although they were able to beg for a few bottles of water, without any money to pay for food or lodging there was no point in lingering there long. And eventually they made it to the edge of the dessert that must be crossed to get to Leam.

"Wait, we're going through THERE?!" Sokka demanded

"Yeah-" Alibaba began to reply.

"Oh no! No, no, NO!" Sokka began to say "I promised myself I was not setting foot into another desert as long as I lived! I'm not going through there! We've gotta find another way."

"This is the fastest way!" Alibaba argued "If we go around the desert it'd take us three years!"

"Well then, let's take three years!" Sokka continued to argue.

"I don't have three years to get to Leam!"

"You're right, I don't either," Sokka conceded "How fast do you think we could run it?"

Before Alibaba could inquire about what he meant Sokka sprinted, barreling down the dessert at top speed.

"No you idiot!" Alibaba yelled, running in an attempt to catch up and not lose his travel partner. "DON'T RUN YOU'LL TIRE YOURSELF OUT!"

Sokka had run a good two and a half miles through the desert heat before he'd nearly collapsed in exhaustion, he laid down, his face in the sand. Alibaba stumbled up, gasping as he finally caught Sokka.

"That...was...stupid of….you.." He panted.

"Yeah, I get that now." Sokka said, voice muffled by sand.

After a while they continued to walk through the desert heat. It was a long, slow, hot slog through the unforgiving sun and scorching sand.

Night came and the scorching heat soon turned into biting cold. Gathering up brush, they stopped for the night and built a fire. Sokka and Alibaba sat quietly. Sokka stared up at the night sky. The moon was full.

'I wonder if that moon still carries Yue's spirit.' he thought. 'I can normally feel like she's with me, but here I'm not so sure.' The thought of the moon lacking Yue saddened him.

"You look awfully philosophical." Alibaba said while poking the fire. "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing." Sokka sighed "Just remembering someone."

Alibaba understood the pained tone in Sokka's voice. He was remembering a passed loved one. Remembering Cassim, and Marium. He looked up at the moon as well, wondering if it made his travel companion feel any better.

After a few excruciating weeks they had finally made it to leam. After getting some food, they were feeling civil enough to talk.

"So, where are we going now?" Sokka asked.

"Hm?" Alibaba questioned.

"Well, you said you were going to Leam. You never said why."

"Huh, I guess I didn't. There's a warrior training school here that I'm determined to join. I must become stronger along with my friends."

"A warrior school huh?" Sokka pondered. He knew that there was little chance that his friends were there, but there was something that was telling him to stay with Alibaba.

"Alright, I'll go with you." He said defiantly.

"Really?" Alibaba asked in surprise.

"Yeah, my instincts are telling me to stick with you."

"Well, if you want to stick around I can't stop you."

Alibaba and Sokka came to the gates of the warrior school. Just the gates, because the woman keeping guard wasn't letting them get in.

"Without recommendations we can't just let you in." She said.

"We did not crawl through that dessert to be refused here!" Sokka yelled.

"Then fight me." She said "Without recommendation that's the only way you'll get in."

Sokka felt his face harden, he was getting anxious.

"Fine." He said "I'll go first."

He readied his club as she unsheathed her sword. It was true that he was hungry still, but he had gone without food for longer. And he could feel that if he had any chance of finding his sister, this was it. She thrust forward, blade hissing as it neared him. Seeing her fly past him he raised his arm to strike, but she swiftly doged, and upon her recoil she swung her blade, nicking the inside of Sokka's arm. He flinched and recoiled, taking his opponent with new severity. She was good, very good. There was another thrust of the sword, Sokka jumped to the side, narrowly missing. Two more swings, Sokka doged the first, but the second left a scratch on his side that burned in pain. This was not going well, any longer and this would not end well. Thinking on his feet, Sokka threw his boomerang, the flying weapon took the woman by surprise. As she was distracted Sokka slid under her feet, knocking her in the knees with his club. She toppled, her sword landing out of her reach.

She looked neutral, but vaguely impressed.

"You may go in. But not the blonde one, he still must be tested." She said.

Sokka nodded. He walked in and another person lead him to the master of the school. He was an older man, with gray hair that had been dreaded in a similar fashion to the woman outside. He also bore a mustache and two black spots donned his forehead.

"So, you wish to join my school?" He asked disinterestedly.

"Actually… no." Sokka replied.

He quirked his head up and raised an eyebrow.

"If not that then why have you come here?" he asked.

"I have been traveling with a friend as I have searched for my sister and the rest of my friends." Sokka explained "As he mentioned this place I got the feeling something here would help me find them."

The man looked thoughtful. "What's your name?" he asked.

"My name is Sokka."

"Sokka, I have never seen weapons such as the ones you carry…"

"I'm… not exactly from around here."

"Ah, you have come far in this search." The man sort of chuckled "I would like to hear more, but unfortunately I have pressing matters to attend to. Wait here and when I return you can convince me to help you find your sister."

Sokka sighed as the man left. With little other option he sat on the floor to wait. Hoping with all of his might that the others were ok.

A/N : AHAHAHAHA I LIVE!!! I'm so sorry this took me so long to do. I lost inspiration and only just got it back. I'm also sorry the end was so anticlimactic, I rewatched the episodes that took place in Leam and realized Sokka being there would change very little and anyway I could change it would be detrimental to any end. ;;; Also you probably don't want to know, but the next chapter may take even longer to write. TTnTT. It will be both Aang and Zuko's turn next!!!