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The gang were sitting quietly and peacefully under the magic of the night sky, the great colors, the vast scope, the many stars in wonderful formation, all looking like a painted landscape of a beautiful looking galaxy on to the sky. The horizon and the landscape were a silhouette against a stunning full moon back ground, not a movement in the forest, not a ripple in the tides, not a sound was made except the gentle warm breeze of the summer wind.
“It’s a nice night” Katara said, looking out towards sky.
“Yeah,” agreed Toph, who was resting on a rock, “not a sound or disturbance in the earth."
“It’s so peaceful” Zuko remarked, more to Mai than anyone else.
“And really stunning” added Suki who leaned against Sokka for comfort.
“I hope it’s nice enough for everyone to sleep out here tonight.” Ty lee said as she lay down against the grass.
“That would be nice.” Mai said, lying down next to Zuko to admire the peace and the night.
“Yep, there’s nothing that can spoil this evening.” aang smiled to himself, happy for their time together.
“Yeah,” Sokka agreed. “so, how do you guys want to die?”
“What?” everyone exclaimed as they whipped their heads round to stare at Sokka with their own look of baffled confusement, and a bit of curiosity from Toph.
“I’m serious, how do you guys wish to die?” Everyone stayed in their states before individually giving their reactions to this inappropriate question.
“Seriously!?” Suki asked loudly. Zuko let out a heavy sigh, and started rubbing his temple to stop himself from burning Sokka to ashes. Mai was seriously wondering how someone that left her this dumbfounded, was apparently the mastermind behind most of team avatars’ attacks.
“Is he always like this?” Ty lee questioned Aang.
“Well-“ he tried to answer.
“What is wrong with you Sokka?” Katara said standing up, as if she wanted to walk away from him forever just for that question alone. Leaving Toph to simply ask Sokka,
“Why?”
“OK, OK, OK, just hear me out,” he started “ever since we or rather I had been dragged into this long journey across the world, and also fighting life or death on almost a daily basis, I have been wondering how I would like to die.”
“Well have you figured it out?” Suki asked resting her chin on her knee.
“Well I’ve decided I want to go out in a blaze of glory so that I will be remembered for a long time in the future for myself and not just ‘the guy that tagged along with the other benders who saved the world’, but I’m not sure when or how I want to do that.”
“Well if you keep talking,” Toph said getting up as well. “I’ll decide for you.” she just wanted to shut Sokka up and get back to the peaceful atmosphere.
“Really?” said a skeptical Sokka.
“Yeah, not so much ‘going out in a blaze of glory’ but rather stupid fast and like a little bitch under my big boulder.”
“Ok then,” he said sighing “how would you like to die?”
“I don’t know,” Toph answered “I guess like you in a blaze of glory, but on my tombstone something like, ‘She brought the house down so hard, it killed her.’ or ‘She died because she layed into so many people.’ or "She smashed so hard into something that she couldn’t handle her own great power.’, that kind of thing.”
“Yeah but do you really want to-“started Katara.
“Wait,” Sokka interrupted her “what kind of ‘smashed’ and ‘layed into’ are you talking about?”
“It’s ambiguous so it’s up to interpretation.” she answered.
“Nice.” he said, naturally giving her a fist bump, which she instinctively reciprocated.
“Ok but do you really want to be known for ‘the people who killed themselves so they could satisfy their own egos’?” Katara asked. “I mean, it might be cool, but you’ll have no idea if you’re remembered for that, they might think you were stupid or wrong for dying that way, or worse no one might have seen your ‘epic’ exit. That’s why I’m going to take the only reasonable answer to this question, old age, I will have had a life fully lived with kids of my own and kids of their own, I’ll get to see all the stuff that happens in the future, I mean, what other answer is there.”
“Yeah,” Zuko added “and your tombstone or remembrance scroll can say whatever you want it to say, even if it isn’t true.”
“You’ll probably be remembered more for the great things you did in the prime of your life than how you died anyway,” aang helpfully pointed out ”and I don’t think it’s a good thing that you’re most remembered for the way you die.” Sokka thought about what they said and realized he … sort of agreed with them.
“Yeah, ok you might have a point,” Sokka started “I guess I just thought about my own glory so much that I actu-“
“I think I want to die in my Kyoshi warrior outfit.” Suki said out loud. Everyone turned their heads towards Suki all with the same face they had when they looked at Sokka funny.
“Really!?” Zuko exclaimed.
“Oh, not you too.” aang said burying his face in his hands.
“Ooh, why’s that?” Sokka asked, turning around curiously.
“Yeah why that dress, you wear it all the time.” Toph also asked walking towards Suki.
“Neither of you are helping” Katara yelled “I was just getting through to him” The other three ignored her and let suki answer the question “well first of all,” she started “it’s not a dress, it’s a warriors outfit made for bravery and honor, and second, Kyoshi was and still is such a big part of me, she’s partially the reason why I wanted to be a Kyoshi warrior so bad, and why I went out to help win the war any way I could, and also Sokka, you helped me too” Sokka smiled at her loving and kissed her. Toph thought about it and said,
“I guess that would be pretty cool, dying for the honor of your nation and would almost guarantee great respect from people in the future.”
“That wouldn’t be a bad way for me to go.” Zuko thought out loud, earning a look from Mai and Katara. “Well it would help boost popularity from me if people knew that I sacrificed myself to save countless people, and also there might be a play about how I died, in a romantic and tragic way, with the people who I loved most around me and the person I cherish most of all in my arms and with not a lot of time left to live I reach out towards Mai and tell her that I will always be there in her heart, and as the music fades, the lights dim leaving the audience with a sad, tearful image left in their minds, but they still remember that a person’s love lasts through lifetimes” there was silence between the group as they struggled to reply to what he said.
“Oh, that is so sad.” Ty lee said tearfully holding her hands close to her heart.
“So beautiful.” Suki said quietly
“Strangely haunting, yet loving at the same time.” Aang remarked
“You almost made me believe that it wasn’t copied from another terrible play that we both saw together.” Mai said in her monotone voice but with a hint of a affection.
“I know.” Zuko said cuddling up to her.
“I guess that was very beautiful.” Katara sighed, admitting defeat that he did hav-
“Would have been cooler with lava though.” Toph said thoughtfully. Everyone gave her an angry look. “What? you know I’m right.”
“No, she is right,” Sokka said encouragingly “it should have been big and epic, with a volcano and dragons and a massive war, and a-"
“Like Roku?” aang interrupted “Do you mean the way he died?”
“What no,” he answered “more like with two bitter rivals, battling out a major conflict that’s been brewing for years, and huge amount of innocents and a vast landscape filled with so much destruction and dying in a last bid effort to save everyone with your closest friends and loved ones with you as your all engulfed in the lava in a gruesome, bloody display-“
“That’s Roku,” Zuko said finally interrupted him “that’s almost exactly how Roku died.”
“Oh,” he finished “ok I guess like how he died then, yeah.”
“Is he like this when you go on dates?” asked Ty lee.
“Sometimes.” Suki answered leaning over to speak.
“Do you ever get annoyed by it?” asked a tired Katara “Because I know I do.”
“Well,” she thought about it “I’ve listened to 30 - 50 minute speeches and rants about things that I’ve pretended to listen to from other people, so I just got used to him talking about the gruesome made up stories and theories about how the ember island plays take place in the same universe, according to him, if he gives a good evening.”
“What does that include?” Ty lee said, intrigued.
“Nice dinner and sex.” she answered plainly. Aang was starting to get tired with how the conversation had gotten so derailed so he announced to everyone,
“Well the end of the world isn’t a very pleasant thing to talk about, can we just go back to admiring the beauty of the night sky-“
“Ooh,” Sokka said loudly “what end of the world would be the best?”
“Oh, come on!” aang and Katara both said together.
“Well what kind are there?” Ty lee asked cautiously.
“Loads,” he said standing up “there’s huge meteorites, huge flooding, big earthquakes, hostile takeover from other worldly beings and the undead coming to life.”
“None of that seems plausible.” Mai told him.
“Well yeah obviously it’s not really going to happen, this is all just for fun.”
“Ok well none of those will be an issue for me as long as the full moon is up.” Katara said simply.
“Yeah same, I’ll probably be the one with the world ending asteroid or earthquake, you know I would if I could.” everyone begrudgingly agreed with her.
“What about the undead rising again,” Sokka said thoughtfully, “I mean how hard could they really be to defeat, it would just be a force of worse versions of normal people, how bad can that be? Any one of us would be the terror of zombie town.”
“But wait doesn’t that depend on what the undead are like,” Mai chimed in, “they could be slow and mindless or they could be fast and strong or stronger, you don’t know what their weaknesses are.”
“Yeah what if you get infected and become a zombie?” Ty lee said worryingly.
“Oh, that shouldn’t be a problem for me I won’t,” he saw the looks they were giving him, “fine, we won’t.”
“We’re speaking hypothetically, you can’t just say no,” Katara said quite coldly, “I mean I know I can but,”
“In those epic and dramatic stories, who’s the likeliest candidate among us for a strong willed, selfless undead dead-feating protagonist who will lead a human uprising and be last to get infected?”
“Dead – feating isn’t a word Sokka.” Zuko pointed out, unhelpfully.
“just answer the question” after a moment of thought they all looked at each other and begrudgingly answered together,
“You.” Sokka smiled happily to himself.
“We’d all last long but if I get infected, you’ve all been infected for weeks, months for some” looking at Aang.
“Thanks, Sokka.” he said sarcastically.
“Don’t mention it.”
“So, what?” Suki asked trying to understand her boy friends’ crazy mind.
“So it’s win win for us, ok on one end we’re leading a team of strangers turned unlikely heroes in a vicious battle and on the other if we are ‘infected’,” which he put in quotations, “then suddenly the winning team has franchise players, we would be the worst zombie any one could ever encounter. Me and Zuko would get their ranks in line you girls would effectively take out the rest of the human I might even come up with a renewable source of brain.” he finished priding himself. “Of course, I would not hesitate to leave any of you if you do get infected.”
“You think we would be the first die separately?” Aang asked confused and a little let down, “I always figured we’d be like a team.” he said optimistically.
“Dude I’m a survivor I play to win I can’t risk you two slowing me down” referring to an offended aang and Katara “or you falling in love with me” looking to a disappointed ty lee, Mai and Zuko, ”causing relationship drama between me and Suki” which they all nodded in agreement to, “or you trying to trade me to the zombies in exchange for leniency.” looking to Toph.
“I was just thinking the exact same thing.” she said, thoughtfully.
“I don’t think I’d want to fight zombies.” Suki concluded.
“Well no nobody wants to fight zombies.” aang said putting an arm around Katara.
“I do.” Sokka said loudly.
“Yeah it’s all I want to do now”, Toph grinned devilishly.
“Really how much fun could it really be.” Katara asked.
“Loads!” They both said, making her roll her eyes.
“No for my apocalypse scenario," sui directed the conversation back to her, "I mean I would like a war, because going out in a blaze of glory is attractive but I’d rather it be against a mechanical uprising instead of a zombie army.”
“Why?” Ty lee asked apprehensively.
“Because they don’t have human faces.” she answered plainly.
“Yeah they do in their hideous robot claws.” Sokka playfully began directing claw like hands towards her.
“Ok but you don’t have emotions or feelings tied up with robots” she smiled and easily disarmed him with just a finger hold. "Ok let me put it this way, I’m sure you all have already thought about what you would do if zombies were here to attack this place right now.” Suki said expecting to hear.
“Get to higher ground.” Ty lee answered.
“Chop off a big branch to block their way.” was Mai’s answer.
“Create a fire wall.” was Zuko’s.
“Create an ice wall.” Katara’s.
“Create an earth wall.” Tophs.
“Blow them away.” Aang’s.
“Blend into the army.” Sokka’s. But instead she got.
Ty lee - “Befriend them.”
Mai - “Pin them down.”
Zuko - “Strike a deal with them by offering Sokka as a trophy.”
Katara - “Strike a deal with them by offering Zuko as a sacrifice.”
Toph - “Strike a deal with them by offering all of you to them and then squashing them.”
Aang - “Make them laugh.”
Sokka - “Become one.
“Ok they’re all “good” plans, but no matter how prepared you think you are for a zombie apocalypse. It’s a different story when you’re staring a loved one in the face that you have to murder and frankly, I can’t take the chance that you guys would puss out. I mean you all think you could stab Sokka in the face if you had to but could you.”
“Yes.” they answered a bit too quickly.
“I can’t trust any of you to do the deed when you’re staring at your best friend in the face, I mean it’s our inability to guiltlessly murder loved ones that will bring about our ultimate downfall, except maybe Zuko.”
“We gotta get that on a family crest or a t shirt for babies.” he answered.
“No”, Katara simply put “if you want an apocalypse, you want to distance yourself as far from humanity as possible, that’s why a world wide flooding would be the best.”
“Best for you maybe not good for me.” Toph said.
“Yeah”, Zuko agreed “you just want the biggest advantage if you ever want to kill all of us.”
“Ok but would a volcanic apocalypse be good for you?” she looked over at Zuko, “An earth quake?” looking over at Toph who nodded her head furiously, “A hurricane?” directing it towards aang, who looked unsure if it would be good for him, “You still need food, shelter warmth and most importantly, water, which would be everywhere. The weather would be nice, we could still eat plenty of fish or birds,” noticing ty lee and Aang's horrified faces, she quickly added, “And for vegetarians you could still have sea plants, right?” All she got was annoyed faces staring back at her, “Look, it’s the one that would feel like a holiday and you could learn quickly to adapt to it, living at a higher altitude would mean you would live longer, it’s the only one where you’re better at the end than when you were at the start”. All she was met with was some skeptical looks.
“You’re all living in a naïve fantasy world” Toph said simply.
“What do you mean” Katara asked slightly concerned.
“A water world, all that would result in is an imbalance with an unfair advantage to the water tribes. They’ll be wishing to ‘spread their power with the rest of the world’ and then before you know it another hundred years war starts except it’s water themed this time.”
“that is... well you just... it’s not very...,” Katara stuttered for an answer, “It’s pretty accurate.” she said defeated.
“And robots?” directing it at Suki, “Are you kidding? They’re giant metal monsters with no fear, no faces, no need to sleep and an insatiable appetite for man screams yet you fight, why?”
“You fight to win.” Zuko and Sokka said at the same time, then attempting a no look high five, and failing miserably by hitting each other in the face.
“No, you guys would lose, I wouldn’t but that’s beside the point.”
“So, what would your apocalypse scenario be blind bandit?” Suki asked.
“An asteroid that is without a doubt going to destroy the world I want the weather person to come on and say, 'North high front meteor... there’s meteors in six days... it’s meteor time.'”
“You think a weather man will say that, break that story not the king or,” Zuko stated.
“I want an exact time limit ok, I want total unavoidable Armageddon, it’s an end of the world as we know it and I feel like sticking and stuff."
“That’s not how that song goes.” said an exhausted Katara.
“Hey she’s right,” Sokka realized “sex would be a great way to die.”
“That’s why mine is the best. No one’s running, no one’s fighting cause there’s nowhere to go and nowhere to hide, so what do we do bone, bone city, bone central anything to take our minds off our impending doom for a few hours minutes for some of us.” gesturing to aang.
“Sure.” he answered.
“No, we would survive we would find a way like a rescue ark or something.” Zuko tried optimistically retorting.
“There’s not going to be a rescue ark, Zuko.” Toph said savagely, “The world is gone, we’re all going to die and soon, now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to use the remainder of my time mercilessly hitting on everyone I see ‘hey the world’s going to end tomorrow but that still leaves us all night long.’ and ‘Hey have you seen the news recently all sports and festivals are cancelled and everywhere else you’re just hearing people cry, put me in you.’” Sokka thought this was fun, so he decided to join in,
“‘Hey no one’s going to judge who, cares if you get pregnant and you’re not going to work tomorrow, get in my god damn bed.’”
“Did you forget we’re here?” Zuko said.
“I’m sitting right next to you” Suki pointed out.
“Don’t worry babe, you’ll be there too.” he then looked over at Zuko and mouthed “You can join too.” adding a wink on the end.
“Those are reasons to do it with you Sokka.” Zuko simply answered.
“Sex is the last way to scream I am alive to make a connection with another human being maybe even a connection with someone in the butt,” Toph finished waiting for an answer “you know I’m right, ass-pocalypse.”
“I can’t be the only one who thinks this is all ludicrous can I?” Aang said waving her hands in the air.
“I don’t know,” ty lee started “I think they might actually have a-“
“No, they don’t have anything.” Katara said firmly and frustratingly.
“We owned this argument.” Sokka said high fiving Toph.
“No, you’re saying it wrong you’re not right…” Mai said “the way you’re saying it is-“
“In a world,” he dramatically started “where tomorrow doesn’t exist, indiscriminately sticking it may be there only hope.”
“I feel awful about what just happened.” Aang said, circling up into a ball.
“That’s what she will say.” Sokka unhelpfully said, earning lots of groans. Toph unhelpfully added,
“Title of your sex scroll.” earning even more groans.
“Well, I will never enjoy this place again.” Ty lee stated, getting up and walking off, followed by everyone else except Sokka and toph.
“Your welcome.“ Sokka shouted. And thus, went back to the quiet evening not pleasant thought in their heads, not shred of innocence to escape to, not hint of joy left in them all in a day’s work for Sokka and Toph.