Dawn of a New Prince (Star Wars/Avatar Crossover)

"I thought that," said Katara. She waved her arm, and the healing water washed over Sokka's hands. "I don't know if I'll be able to help much with that, though, or the ribs Toph mentioned. I'll do my best though."

She looked her brother in the eye. "And please, Sokka... don't do anything stupid. Don't let your feelings overcome your good sense. We need you here with us. Okay?"

Sokka frowned, but nodded nonetheless. She and he both knew that he couldn't say no when she looked at him like that. It reminded him of how their mother used to look at them.

"Yeah. I guess the group does need someone with common sense more than ever, what with this bending and Force magic, and a metal guy that practically has control of Ba Sing Se now," he told her, trying to lighten the mood.

She chuckled. "Yes. I suppose that is true."

Katara finished with his hands and moved on to where he was injured most: his back.

"Try and relax," she said. "I don't know how much I can do, like I said, but I'll do what I can." She pushed and pulled the water, and had it float over the area where he was internally wounded.

"Ah!!" he grunted, grabbing hold of something as he felt his spine throbbing painfully before fading away within a few moments to be replaced by the strange sensation of water being bent inside his wound.

He looked around and blushed slightly to find that he had grabbed Toph's hand. He loosened his grip and grimaced. He hoped he didn't wake her. If she heard his shriek, she'd tease him mercilessly later. Why does the universe hate him?

(It's called shipping Sokka. And he is fun to play with...)

OOC: Yes. Yes he is.

***

Katara slowly worked on her brother's spine. She tried to arrange the flowing chi so that he would heal, but for the most part she was working on instinct. She was not used to injuries of this magnitude. She worried she would do something wrong.

But relief touched her as Sokka slowly relaxed, and the damaged chi paths she had sensed began to straighten out.

"You'll be pretty stiff for a while," she said. "But I think... I think you're going to be fine, Sokka."

"I knew you'd set my back straight. Thanks," Sokka told her with a grin. His back hurt less now, though it was stiff like his sister said. He remained on the ground, however, laying next to Toph. He didn't think he'd be getting up in awhile. He was tired and he thought he deserved some rest. He did start the break-out.

He grinned. He'd have to remind the others about that when he woke up. He couldn't wait to see the look on Toph's face when he called her "the lovely damsel-in-distress".

He blushed a little as he closed his eyes. He must have been more tired than he thought.

"You should try and get some sleep." Katara was woozy herself. "You deserve some rest, Sokka."

Sokka didn't hear her. Instead, he was already fast as sleep, sleeping close to Toph and still gripping her hand, ammunition for Katara to use later.

She eyed the close contact and sighed. She did not know what to think about it, other than it would make for some nice teasing later on. Still, she also knew it was good for Toph. The blind girl had practically clung to Sokka ever since they had found her in her cell.

She leaned back herself and took in a deep breath of the night air. How long would they have before they had to move on again?

Mara

"So...what now, Zareal? We don't have our lightsabers, and we don't have any supplies, or anyplace to stay now." Mara asked.

Zahanna

"No, we're staying for now. We need to find Vader and talk to him."

"B-but Vader's scarier than Azula," Ty Lee commented, shuddering at the memory of her own brief encounter with the metal man.

(Should we time-skip to Vader talking to Zahanna and the others and the Gaang traveling somewhere. Perhaps Zarael and Mara could sense a place strong in the Force, i.e. the Eastern Air Temple.)

OOC: That's a good idea. I'll go with it.

((Hm, perhaps. I'll make another post after this one later today when I've decided what to do for the mini time-skip.))

((Time skip away!))

Darrth Vader

Vader paced about in the room the Dai Li had given to him, waiting for Helios to report in on the final count of the missing prisoners, and to bring the bounty hunter and her companions to him. So many things had gone wrong...but it was only a minor setback. Nothing would stop him from ending the Avatar's existence. The next time they faced, Vader would see to it that the child was killed.

Mara, General Narrative

Some time later the gang, plus Zareal and Mara, were on Appa and were now flying away from Ba Sing Se. Right now Zareal was helping the Avatar to guide Appa toward a mysterious presence in the Force both he and Mara sensed, and also felt a strange calling to this presence.

Helios

Helios walked into Lord Vader's room and bowed a few feet in. "My master, the prisoners who escaped include the Avatar, the two watertribe siblings, the blind earthbender, the Jedi, and the woman who uses the dark side. They managed to free the giant bison as well."

Zareal

Once in the air again, Zareal had begun to feel a strange presence in the force, not alive as he was, but something that had been touched greatly by the force. He helped guide Aang in the right direction as they flew toward it, and felt as if they were supposed to go there.

Toph huddled close to Sokka as they flew on Appa towards some unknown destination. It had not taken Katara long to notice that the younger girl seemed the most comfortable around Sokka. Toph visibly wilted whenever he wasn't near enough for her to touch him.

Katara could only guess it was an attachment born from a painful shared experience. She kept a close eye on them, all the same.

Sokka gripped Toph protectively as Appa flew towards the destination that Zarael was guiding Aang towards. Normally, he would have been complaining about heading for a completely unknown destination, but he was simply too tired and concerned about what happened to Toph.

"I wonder where they're taking us," said Toph, all at once. She lay her head on Sokka's shoulder. She would deny this later, of course.

"I don't know, probably some Spirit, Force, or Avatar thing," Sokka told her, sleepily tightening his grip around her, "I'd like to understand some of that stuff for once."

"You sure?" asked Toph. She actually chuckled. "I have a feeling it'd be way too weird for us."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Sokka admitted sleepily. He scowled, "I hate the world. It doesn't make any sense sometimes."

She smiled weakly, and just as sleepily as he. "The world's annoying, yeah. But you can't hate everything about it, right?" she said.

"True," Sokka yawned as he closed his eyes, "I am right about stuff that's not bending or magic. And Appa's nice ans soft to rest on."

He patted Bison sleepily, giggling a little, like the time when he was high on cactus juice.

"It makes my nose itch, sometimes," added Toph, laughing too. "But, yeah, he is nice and soft and stuff, ain't he?"

Katara sighed. "You two should be trying to sleep."

"We are! We're just talking a little," Sokka told his sister with a shrug, "You can't blame us for being happy about our escape."

He turned to Toph and grinned, "Yep. And he can get us almost anywhere."