Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

. Falling. Sokka is falling. He missed the body of the airship and is falling. Toph landed hard on the gangway, and Sokka doesn’t see her move. She’ll be okay. Sokka knows she’ll be okay. Toph is a strong and capable 12 year old. Sokka hopes she would be okay. Toph isn’t getting up. Spirts, please be okay.

Sokka turns his head and see Aang fighting Ozai. Ozai seems to be getting the upper hand, but Sokka is sure it wouldn’t be long before Aang starts beating him. Sokka hopes it wouldn’t be soon before Aang starts beating Ozai, but Aang is just a child. He is just 12. Aang shouldn’t have to fight a full grown adult, let alone a powerful fire bender. Sokka sees Ozai throw a massive fire ball at Aang. He is just a kid. Sokka is just a kid.

Sokka felt tears swell in his eyes, the wind ripping any rouge tears off his cheeks. He’s just fifteen years old. He doesn’t want to die.Sokka is only a year older than his little sister. Tui and La. His little sister. Katara. His baby sister, Katara. Sokka knew his baby sister can handle herself -She’s a prodigy waterbender, a master waterbender- but he couldn’t help but worry about her. He would always protect his baby sister, even if she never really needed it and all it did was help his bruised ego. Sokka hopes Katara would get over his death quickly. He wants her to move on, marry, and have a family of her own one day. Even if the person she marries is Aang. That little goof better take care of his baby sister or Sokka would haunt him until the day he dies. Katara would be fighting Azula with Zuko right now.

Sprits. Zuko. The socially awkward, fluffy haired boy -even if his hair hasn’t always been fluffy-, and grumpy boy who has stolen his heart during the past few months of their travels. Sokka thinks of his smile. That rare, ridiculously cute smile. What Sokka wouldn’t do to see that smile one last time. He thinks about the secret touches they have shared, the closeness they’ve had, and the near kisses they could of shared if only one was brave enough to lean in further. He was going to miss that. Sokka regrets not confessing, not closing the gaps between them. Sokka knew that they would defeat Azula. Zuko was strong and would be a great Fire Lord. He cared for the people, unlike his father.

Sokka looks up. He feels like he has been falling for years, days, hours, but he knows, realistically, that he has been falling for a few seconds. Sokka sees an airship crash into the one he fell off. That must be Suki. That has to be Suki. Suki. His first crush he had. His best friend in the entire world. The girl he could goof off with, the girl he would train with, the girl who would talk about boys with him, giving him a chance to freely gush about his boy crushes.

Sokka is grateful of the family he has gained on his adventure. His adventure that is going to end soon. Sokka gulps, feeling the panic setting in. More tears swell, just to be ripped away by the bitter wind once more. Sokka doesn’t want to die. There are so many things he wants to do. Sokka wants to confess to Zuko. He wants to talk about boys with Suki. He wants to mess about with his sister. He wants his dad and Bato to pull their heads out their asses and get together. If Sokka has to see them dance around each other again, he will scream. But that wont be a problem anymore, Sokka is going to die. Sokka starts to look for something, anything, to save him. He sees branches wizzing past him. Scratching his face and body. Despite the pain, he reaches out to grab one and………black. Then……crying? Who’s crying? Why are they crying? He’s crying. Why is he crying? “Congratulations!” An old voice calls out, joy in her voice “ you have a son!”

What?

Chapter Text

Sokka opens his eyes. He has been….reborn? Everything is blurry. He feels himself being wrapped in furs, being placed on the chest of, what he assumes, is his mother.  He hears himself quieting down, little huff of air as he breaths the familiar cold air. The woman is crying quietly, looking at him, -or sokka thinks she is, his vision is still blurry- stroking his face.

“ He’s perfect,” a husky voice whispers, “A little warrior”

That must be his father, Sokka thinks. So when you die, you get reborn. Sokka tries to look around the room. Long blurry blobs he assumes are the women who helped his new (?) mother give birth. Sokka thinks for a bit, as the woman cradles him in her chest. Sokka remembers everything that happened. He remembers the last battle. He remembers trying to take down the Fire Nation airship fleet with Suki and Toph. He remembers when it all went wrong, when he fell, when he died. He…..died.

“Do you have a name for your little warrior, my daughter?” The old lady asked, taking Sokka away from is thoughts. He wonders what name would he get this time. He’s lucky he was born as the same gender in his…past(?) life. He hopes it’s nothing stupid like Hahn. That stupid jerk, thinking of Yue as nothing but a token to status and arm candy.

“ We thought hard about it, didn’t we, Hakoda?” The woman replies.

What a coincidence, his past (?) dad was called Hakoda. Maybe it’s a common name in the water tribe and he didn’t know,Sokka thinks.

“ Yes we did, love. We agreed that if the baby is a boy, we would name him after Kya’s father” Hakoda says softly, lovingly gazing at Sokka.

Wait a minute….. Kya. That was his past(?) mother’s name. What is going on? Sokka will scream this igloo down if he is name Sokka. This can not be a coincidence. Could he be reborn in the past?

Kya smiles happily with tears in her eyes, looking up to face her husband. “ Yes, we will call our little warrior Sokka. After my father. If only he was here to hold his first grandson.”

Sokka screams.

“What lungs you have, little Sokka.” The old woman laughs quietly “He can certainly howl a hurricane away!”

“That certainly is a cry, little warrior” Hakoda laughs, wincing due to the loud cry.

“We can make that into a good war cry” Kya jokes,”I just hope he will sleep through the night”

The women that helped the birth laughs, knowing that the infant would not, indeed, sleep through the night.

“Don’t worry about that, Kya” The old woman says fondly,” You have the whole village to help you”

Kya looks at the old woman. “Thank you, Kanna” She says with a smile, then looking down at the grumpy looking bundle, “I know I can count on the village.”

Hakoda leans down to take Sokka from Kya’s arms. “ Let me take him, love. You’ve been in labour for two and a half moons.”

Wow,did Sokka really take that long to deliver? He feels bad for putting his mum through that pain. He’s heard the screams and cries of new mothers not long after the men of the tribe left. “You must be exhausted.” Hakoda lifts Sokka gently into his arms. “ I’m so proud of you”

Kya smiles tiredly to her husband. She slides down and pulls the furs over her and quickly falls asleep.

Hakoda looks at the bundle of fur he is carrying in his arms. He can hear Sokka fuss before falling asleep. He hopes the timing of the scream was a coincidence, and it wasn’t his way of showing the dislike of being named Sokka. Hakoda just  couldn’t believe that he is a father now. This is his flesh and blood. He, Hakoda thinks lovingly, will make a good warrior. He feels proud that his Kya has given him something so tiny, yet so perfect. He will get her something to show her his gratitude, Hakoda thinks, maybe a new bone knife.

“Let me see the boy, my son.”  His mother, Kanna, says. Hakoda gently passes Sokka to his mother, the old woman moving the furs so she can see the baby’s face. This wakes Sokka up. He opens his eyes and looks around again, but not with curiosity, like Kanna has seen before, but with growing familiarity. Strange. She takes the infant to the other women to check him over, to make sure the baby is healthy. They then put him in a fur pouch to keep him warm and hands him back to Hakoda. Hakoda takes him and starts to rock him back and forth, laughing gently as he watches the baby fight to keep his eyes open, putting the newborn to sleep once more. Yes, Hakoda thinks, you will make a fine warrior.

Sokka is feeling tired. Turns out being born was exhausting. He can feel his father rock him gently, which was not helping him to stay awake. His eyes shuts, and he drifts off to sleep, when he suddenly jumps awake.  He is sitting on the surface of a body of water, seemingly stretching on for eternal. He looks about , wondering where the sprits is he, when he sees his hand. His normal sizes hands. His before-he-died-and-was-reborn(?) hands. “What the… What is going on?” Sokka whispers to himself, very much confused.

“It was’t supposed to end like that” A familiar voice calls out. He knew that voice. “ You weren’t supposed to die like that.’

Sokka looks up, knowing the face he would see. Yue. Oh Tui and La, why would you do this to me, Sokka thinks. He looks at Yue, hovering above the surface, shimmering in the light. And painful memories come rushing back. His first proper love. His first crush may be Ski, but that ended quickly. Yue was the girl he wanted to marry, before he met Zuko, before she died, before he couldn’t protect her.  He looks at her, pain in his eyes as he remembers their first and last kiss.

“What?” Sokka breaths out, “What do you mean?”

“You were not supposed to die. Aang was supposed to defeat Fire Lord Ozai and bring peace to the world.” She says in her beautiful voice. The voice that Sokka had wished to hear again very time he looked at the moon. Yue looks in his eyes, her’s harding. “ You weren’t supposed to die.”

“ Well i did, so….” Sokka states, trying to find a smart quip to ease the mood. “ ..I guess someone is going to get fired”He winces. Not his best work, but he’s doing his best. He’s seeing his dead would-be girlfriend, cut him some slack!  Yue looks at him with a small smile.

“ I sent you back. It wasn’t fair to let you die when you weren’t meant to.” Yue explained, the smile remaining on her face.

“What about my friends? My sister?” Sokka questioned. “ Did they die to? If so, did you send them back?” Yue look goes from a small smile, to a look of pity and sorrow. Sokka could guess why. “ Aang did not defeat Ozai” What. “ Aang died after Ozia threw a fire ball at him, he was unable to block, and was burnt alive.” Yue informed him, unable to look in his eyes. No. Nonononono. Sokka thinks back to the last things he remembered before he died. He had watched his friend die. Aang couldn’t have been dead. Well, Sokka was, but that’s complicated. His death wasn’t painful. Sokka looks down, a pained look on his face, trying to comprehend that his friend -just a twelve year old boy- died horrifically. “ What about my sister” Sokka looks up desperately, praying to Tui and La that she survived. Yue looked even more sorrowed. Fuck. “ Katara and Zuko both died taking down Azula. They succeeded, but didn’t survive the injuries. Zuko died during the battle, taking lighting Azula sent for Katara. Katara passed away due to the burns on her body.” His baby sister is dead. His baby sister died, and he wasn’t there. Sokka can feel the tears he didn’t know was swelling run down his face. Zuko is gone too, the boy he loves - or well, loved- , murdered by his own sister. More tears fall, dripping off his face and falling onto the surface of the water, but no ripples appear.

“What about Toph and Suki?” Sokka could barely hear himself ask. Praying to any and all spirts out there that at least some of his friends died. “ Toph was killed when she fell on the gangway. It broke her neck, killed her instantly. She didn’t feel the pain.” Yue continues “ And Suki was crushed when the two airships collided.”

Sokka is crying now, unable to hold back. “ Have they been sent back?” He asks, looking into Yue’s eyes “ Tell me you sent them back.” He demanded. Yue looked away, unable to keep the eye contact. “ No,” She whispers, so quietly that Sokka nearly didn’t hear her. “ I can only sent one back.” What. So they are all gone. Never to exist again. Well, the friends he knew.

“Why?” Sokka asks”. Why did you choose ME!” he shouts, demanding to know. “WHY NOT AANG, OR KATARA, OR ZUKO!” Sokka shouts at Yue, the grief consuming him. “WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE ME?!?” Sokka sobs. “YOU SHOULD Have LET ME STAYED DEAD!”

“Because you have what it takes to correct it.” Yue replies calmly “ You have the smarts, the courage, the means to do it”

She looks in Sokka’s eyes with a small, a very small, smile” Because I know you have what it takes to change the outcome, to protect your friends, to protect your family, and to protect the world.” Yue takes a deep breath and continues “ You might not have faith in yourself, but know this, I have faith in you. You are hard working, determined, and talented. You just need to believe yourself. You will have your friends and your family to help.”

Sokka sniffles, and realised something. Katara and all his friends will be reborn. They might not have the memories of what happened, but he does. Sokka vowed that he will make sure that this time round, they will not fail. Kya will not die. Katara will not have to grow up so quickly. Zuko will not suffer alone. Aang and Toph will have the time to be a kid. Suki will not die horribly. Sokka will make sure of it, he will. Sokka will do everything he can to protect the people he loves and cares for. Sokka then wakes up.

Chapter Text

Hakoda is sitting on a chair. He has his newborn son, sleeping in his arms. He watches his wife, sleeping on some furs, regaining the strength from a long childbirth. Hakoda can’t believe that he is now a father. A father to a boy, who he knows will grow up strong, like him, with the compassion of his mother.

Sokka starts to squirm in his arms, whimpering. Hakoda looks back down to his son, rocking him in an attempt to soothe him. Worry blossoms as he sees tears swell in his newborn’s eyes. He gets up and bonces gently, hoping the movement would calm him down. His worries increase when big tears starts falling down his son’s chubby face, but his son is not making a sound other than some raggedy breaths. He’s seen this before, but not in newborns. Hakoda has seen this in grown men, who has discovered that they have lost their wife in a raid. He’s seen it in mothers who cradles their child that didn’t survive the cold.He’s seen it in when his mother discovered her husband’s body, passed away in his sleep. He wonders why a newborn, who has not seen the horrors of the world, can cry like he has.

Hakoda remembers a melody his mother would hum to him whenever he couldn’t sleep as a child. It would calm him down when he would see the bodies of his village who didn’t survive the southern raiders when he was young. He starts to hum, gently rocking his body back and forth. It seems to work, not stoping the silent tears, but they aren’t as big as before. Hakoda was then surprised at how quickly his son woke up. His little blue eyes snapping open, like waking up from a nightmare. Hakoda wonders what his baby boy dreamt of, and how would he know to dream of something so bad. Babies at this age didn’t know danger, so haven’t learnt what to be scared of.  Sokka turns his head to look at his mother. Still being a newborn, everything was still blurry. Sokka wonders if he would need glasses. Would be impossible though, they wouldn’t be able to get the resources to make them, or have anyone who knows how too. They could trade, but Sokka doubts they have enough resources to trade, and if they did, it would be expensive.

He looks at the sleeping figure. I will not forget her face, he swears to himself, because i will make sure you won’t die, not like the first time.  Sokka thinks if he should start praying to the spirts. Don’t get him wrong, he still thinks all this sprits mumbo jumbo is a load of crap, but with Yue becoming the moon spirt after his death, he wonders if he should get all the help he can get, even if it’s from a bunch old wives tales. Sokka thinks a bit more, wait….. should he pray to Tui and La, or Yue and La? Or both. Because, if he was in the past, that means Admiral mutton chops hasn’t killed the moon spirt -Sokka was determined to make sure he doesn’t this time- , but Yue did visit him in her sprit thing. just. To be safe, he’ll do both, but if it all works out, Yue wouldn’t have to give her life to be the moon spirt and save Tui. Sokka should start planning, but he knows that he has to wait. Damn the spirts, why did he have to be sent back to his birth and not when he’s five or something? Then he could have started right away. There’s a lot of details to remember.

Being a baby is boring. How normal babies could do this, not even damn Tui and La knows. He is three months old, and he can’t do anything. He can’t draw, he can’t train, and he can’t even eat meat! Like,come on spirts! Sokka grumble to himself, how can I correct the future if I can’t even eat meat! Not cool, Yue, not cool. Sokka would do for some seal jerky right now. Sokka’s mouth starts watering.

Sokka has thought about panning what he was going to do to make sure everyone doesn’t die a horrible death, but he would die of impatience, as he has at lest nine years. He has thought about asking Gran Gran about herbal medicines, and maybe ask his mum to teach him how to sew. He thought bout how he used to think about those sort of things. ‘Women’s work’. Sokka is embarrassed to have thought that was all women were good for. He is thankful Suki beat that outta him. He wonders what other ‘women’s work’ he could learn. He wants to break that toxic thought that women are only good in the igloos or tents.

His vision has cleared up, and he can now see better, which he is glad. Who knew babies are born with shit eye sight. That is way Sokka hated being a baby. A baby with a conscience. It’s not too bad, but sokka hated the changing of his pouch he would always be in. It kept him warm and cosy, alongside his baby clothes, but he had to be changed every few hours. He would feel awkward when a woman would strip him and change him. He had never hated the spirts until his first change. He felt so embarrassed that he would scream and fuss the whole way through. And don’t get him started on the food. Sokka missed food. There was one thing Sokka liked doing. It was looking at his mum. He wanted to etch her face into his memory, not wanting to forget it again. His mother was beautiful. Kya had thick dark hair, like him, and in about a year,  Katara. Big blue eyes and wide smile. Sokka thinks he can see why people would call him her spitting image. He couldn’t be for sure, as it’s been a while since he’s seen his face. His grown up face. Or well, teenager face. Sometimes he would just cry until it was Kya who was holding him.

Kya loves her newborn son. He was born on the summer solstice, so Kya was sure he would go on to do great things, but he also worried her. He doesn’t act like how a new born would. One of her friends, Kuhi, gave birth two months before she did, and her daughter, Eyi, acts nothing like Sokka. Kya helped Kuhi with Eyi, like the women of the tribe does, and she’s seen how Eyi was. She would cry and fuss and sleep, where as Sokka never cried, or fuss. He would grumble whenever he was changed, and a bit reluctant to feed. The first time Kya tried to feed Sokka, it took an hour to get him to latch on. That concerned Kya, she was worried that he would starve himself and not had enough strength to survive cold nights or snow storms. It took a while until Sokka did start latching on, but not before he would scrunch up his nose. He would cry in his sleep often, big tears rolling down his soft, chubby cheeks, but he would make no sound. Not a sniffle, or a whimper, or a vey. She’s asked her mother-in-law and the more experienced mothers about it, but none could tell her what was happening or if it was normal.  She still loved her son. No matter how odd he is. She knows he would be a great big brother to any little siblings

Chapter Text

Sokka is seven months, he has been crawling round for a week now. Hakoda and Kya are delighted that Sokka is crawling at such an early age, but this means freedom to Sokka. Many time the village is in panic as baby Sokka has crawled off somewhere the minute someone took their eyes off him. The first time Sokka crawled off was when Hakoda was watching him. One of the women of the tribe, Imo, has gone into labour and Kya was helping along with the other women. He had put Sokka on a fur rug, with a couple of wooden sculptures to play with, working on some plans to move the storage tent. He looks up to check on Sokka, to see no baby. He looks backdown on his work and…. Shit. His head snaps up. Tui and La, Kya is going to kill him. He shoots up out of his chair and looks around. “Sokkaaa” Hakoda calls out nervously, “Where are youuuuu?” Oh sprits. He has lost his child. “BATO!!!!” Hakoda call out to his best friend. “What is it? Who died?” Bato joked, entering the room Hakoda was working in. “ Where’s-humf!”

“SHHHHHHH!!!” Hakoda covers  his mouth. “Do not tell Kya, but I’ve lost Sokka!” Hakoda removes his hand as Bato looks at him blankly. “ You lost your son?” Bato states. Hakoda blushes as he nods. “You lost your son!?!” Bato shouts, bursting into laughter. “Oh, oh spirts” Bato gaps for breath. “You fucked, my guy!”

“SHHHHHHH” Hakoda shushes “She might hear you!!! Just help me look for him!!”

“Okay, okay” Bato agrees, still laughing “But it will cost ya”

“Anything!” Hakoda begs “ Just help me find my son before Kya finds out and kills me!!!”

“Alright, but you have to make me some new  bone knives, and some pretty ones at that.” Bato smirked.

“Okay! Okay!” Hakoda agrees “just find Sokka!”

Sokka was wanting food, okay? He’s had that bland stuff for months now, and he wanted some real food. He wanted meat. And he was going to get some.

He was put on his stomach on a fur rug, so Sokka started trying to drag his small body across the floor. This is going to take forever, Sokka thinks. I need to be quicker. Sokka tries to get on his hands and knees, to try and crawl. It takes hims a few tries but he gets it eventually. He starts to crawl. He starts off slow, making sure he isn’t going to tumble in any way, before he picks up speed. He remembers where the food tent is when he would be strapped to Kya’s back when she did her work. He crawls out the igloo. hanks Tui and La there isn’t a snow storm today.

  Most of the women are in the birthing tent, aiding Imo give birth. He remembers Mok. She was a whiny kid back in his time, but she was a good kid. She was skilled in cooking, a master of the ulu. Sokka wonders if Mok would have been a good hunter if she wasn’t expected to stay in the village. Once I’m older, Sokka thinks, I’m going to make sure she’s have the choice to learn how to hunt. Sokka will make she that the women of the tribe, and other tribes, will have the choice of what they want to do, rather then be limited to cooking, sewing, and raising the children. He would make it better for his little sister. Or his future little sister, Katara wasn’t born yet.

He crawls past the weapons hut, hearing the men train, sharpen, and craft weapons..He remembers the day his father taught him how to use his boomerang. He wonders if he could convince his dad to teach him earlier, so he would have more time to train to be a warrior, unlike his first time, when his training was cut short during to the men leaving for war, and nobody else could teach him. Maybe his dad and the men wouldn’t go off to war. In the first time, the men went off to war not long after his mother was killed. Sokka knows what it going to happen, so he would be able to stop it. The raiders didn’t come back after they killed his mother, so if his mother survives, his dad wouldn’t have to leave, giving him more time to finish Sokka’s warrior  training.

He sees the food hut and starts to crawl faster, his mouth watering. He crawls in and sees the food, wrapped up to keep them clean. Sokka uses his trusty noes and finds the bundle of seal jerky. He sits up and uses his baby hands to open the bundle. It takes a while as it’s a bit hard to control his baby hands rather than his normal hands. After what felt like hours, but it was really 5 minutes, he finally got the bundle undone. Finally! Sokka thinks, Some real food. Oh seal jerky! How i have missed you! He grabs the closest one and starts gumming away. It’s a shame he can’t actually eat it. He knows solid food at this age is dangerous. So Sokka just enjoys the taste and spit it out, shoving the slimy leftovers underneath the tent.

Hakoda and Bato looked for Hakoda’s crawl away son for fifteen minutes. They looked everywhere. The igloo they were in, the tents, the eating igloo. “Hakoda!” Bato called out to him.

“What!?” Hakoda shouts back.

“Look who I found in the food storage?” Bato laughed

“You found him?!” Hakoda rushed to where Bato was, and sure enough, there was the crawl away. Gumming on some seal jerky like his life was on it, and a big smile on his face. Sokka looks up and the smile drops. Shit, Sokka thinks. I’ve been found! Crawl away! Sokka starts to crawl towards the entrance before Hakoda scoops him up. Nooooooo! My seal jerky! Sokka grumbles. “How in Tui and La did you get here?” Hakoda questions “ Do you know how much trouble you could have gotten me in? You’re mother would have killed me!”

Sokka giggled, happy to know that he did cause some mischief. “What are you boys doing here?” Kya’s voice called out, making Hakoda and Bato jump. She stood at the entrance, walking in to keep out of the cold.

“We were…..ehh…Checking the supplies for winter!” Hakoda lied, not wanting to experience the wrath of his wife. “What are you doing here?” Bato asked.

“Imo has just delivered a baby girl! She is hungry and wanted some seal jerky” Kya explained” So i was sent to get some” Kya walks over to where sokka once was. She stops in her tracks and looks around confused.

“Who’s been eating the seal jerky?” She asks, looking to see if there was any left. “There’s hardly any left!”Hakoda and Bato look at each other, then at sokka. Did he really ate most of the seal jerky? “Hakoda!” Kya scolds “What have i told you about eating so much food! We need to have enough for everyone!”

“WHA… It wasn’t me!” Hakoda exclaimed, salty that he was the first person she assumed ate the seal jerky. “It was Sokka!”

Kya looks at him. “Really” she deadpans “ Our seven month old ate most of the seal jerky?” Hakoda shifts under her gaze. He relies how it sounds after he said it out loud. Kya sighs and gathers the little seal jerky left. “Don’t blame things on our son. You were looking after him, so he’s your responsibility” Kya says, as she leaves the tent.

“Did you just blame your seven months old son?!” Bato laughs. Hakoda sighs, knowing he is never going to live this down. “Quiet, Bato” He says, wondering how he is going to explain this to the tribe. “And you lost your son!” Bato starts laughing even harder. “Batooooo!” Hakoda warns, but he sounded more exhausted than warning. “I need to go back and go through the plans again” Hakoda tells Bato. “Hopefully, this one doesn’t crawl off again” wait…..crawl….Sokka started crawling. Oh Tui and La. He has his work cut out for him.

Kya arrived back in the evening, tired from helping Kanna and the elders in delivering Imo’s baby. Did she really shouted all those words during her delivery? Kya felt like she needed to thank Hakoda for putting up with all the insults she threw at him during the birth. She comes into the igloo and sees Hakoda looking for something, on all fours, around the room. “What are you looking for?” Kya asks. Hakoda jumps and kneels up. “Uhhhhhhh” Hakoda had a panicked looks on him, as his eyes darts around the room. “Gotch ya!” He then exclaims propelling himself across the floor, going towards a chest. He sits up and holds a wriggling Sokka by the ankle. “HAKODA!” Kya Shouts “You can’t hold him like that!” She runs forwards and takes Sokka from his father’s hold.  “What were you thinking!” She scolds. “How did he even get there?!”

“Wellll……He started crawling” Hakoda states

“He started crawling!!” Kya exclaims “ Why didn’t you tell me!”

“You were helping at the birth, and i didn’t want you to find out i lost him!”

“YOU LOST HIM!”

“Tui and La help me”

Bato listens to the screeching as he cleans his tools. Hakoda owed him a new set of bone knifes for nothing. He really can’t keep anything from his wife.

Chapter Text

It’s been 8 months after Sokka died….. was reborn(?). He can see clearly now. Once his eye sight has cleared, he’s spent most of his time staring at his mother. It has been years since he’s seen his mother’s face. He couldn’t help it. After his past(?) mother was killed, the village kept saying how much he looked like is mother, a “spitting image” they would say. It hurt losing his mum at a young age in a horrible way, so much that he just couldn’t stand looking at himself. He learnt to put on his warrior paint with just feeling his face, it took him months to get it right. After that, it became a habit of not looking at himself, subconsciously looking away if he saw himself in a reflection, and due to that, he slowly forgot what his mum looked like. And he despised himself for that. He felt like a failure of a son,and what Katara had said to him on those cliffs felt true. He loved -loves- his mum, but felt like that love was fake when he tried to imagine his mum, he would just see Katara. His baby sister. He felt bad that she felt like she had no other choice but to become the mother of the family, to hold them together, which she did, but this was at the cost of her childhood. Sokka made sure that his time, Katara could have a second chance of the childhood that she didn’t get. Sokka vowed that.

The family was sitting around he fire pit to keep warm. There was a storm outside, so everyone has gone into the few igloos in the village. The igloo that Sokka was in had his parents, gran gran, Bato, and his wife Hiso. Kya and Hiso are doing needle work, chatting together with Sokka at the feet of his mother, doodling-more like dragged his little chubby fingers through- with the soot that has gathered. Hakoda and Bato are discussing plans for a hunt, to gather more tiger seals for their pelts and meat. Sokka’s mouth waters as he quietly listens in. He hasn’t has meat, oh glorious juicy meat, in months, as he was a baby. And to Sokka’s heavy heart, babies can’t eat meat. Gran Gran was tending to the pot of sea squid soup, stirring the heavenly smelling broth. Sokka starts to grumble , damn being a baby! Sokka wants proper food, tasty food. Something that doesn’t tase the same ever. Single. Time! He wants some Seal Jerky, some fish, something solid and not just milk!

Kanna looks over at her grandson. He has been an easy child to raise, but every milestone he’s achieved, didn’t seem like it was his very first time. Like he had already done it before. Kanna couldn’t explain it. Kanna knows it was his first time as that child has never been let out of her or her daughter’s sight. Sokka has been reaching him milestones quickly for a baby. She didn’t think much of it when he raised his head not long after he was born, but when all the milestone comes at least two months early, Kanna knew that her grandchild was special. She is not yet sure if the sprits mean this to happen, or that her grandson will be a prodigy.

Sokka is BORED, with a capital B. There’s not much he can do as a baby. He could ‘ accidentally’ pull his dad’s beard, watching as his dad tries desperately to carefully pry his little hands open as Kya and Bato laughs so bad, they can’t do anything to help. He could also pee when the pouch gets changed, looking at the face of disbelief that a baby just peed on them. But that was all he could do to entertain himself. If he had his past baby brain, he would be laughing at everything, but when he was reborn, his mental age stayed the same. “ We gotta waiting until this fucking storm is done,” Hakoda notes loudly to himself, “ Or we’re going to have to set it back”
“Hakoda!” Kya scolds, “Your baby son is listening!”
“ Oh don’t worry love,” Hakoda laughs, gesturing to his son that is definitely listening “He is just a baby, he can’t speak yet, I doubt he was even listening!”
“You better hope he wasn’t” Kya huffed, returning to the boot she was patching up. “His first words better not be swear words, or may Tui and La help you.”
Then Sokka had an idea. An oh so wonderful idea. A wonderful, very Sokka-ish, idea. He was bored, and he was sure that watching his mum chase his dad round the room would be interesting. He smiles, menacingly, oh how he would have fun. He starts to crawl to his father, demanding to be picked up. “Hello, little warrior” Hakoda smiles,” Have you decided to pay your old dad a visit?”
Sokka smiles widely at his father, knowing the chaos he was about to create.
“Da……..Da” Hakoda’s eyes widen
“ Kya! He’s trying to say his first words!” He shouts over , excitingly “He’s trying to say dada!”
“What?!?” Kya scrambles over, taking the boot with her “Not fair! Say mama, Sokka”
“Da………da”
“Come one son, dada. Say dada” Hakoda encourages.
“Don’t listen to him, my child. Say mama. mamamama”
“Da…….da……..FUCK!” Sokka shouts.
The hut quiets. Not a sound could be heard, except for Sokka babbling “Fuck! Fuck!” over and over again. Hakoda pales. Shit, he thinks, turning to look his wife, she is going to kill me. Kya stares blankly at her infant son. Her infant son who just shouted out a cuss word. A cuss word her husband said not even five minutes ago. She clutches the boot that’s still in her hand. Slowly, she turns to face her husband. Hakoda gulps, a bead of sweat drips down his forehead.
“Now, Kya,” He starts, nervously.
“You taught my son a swear word” Kya interrupts, her voice monotone, “My son’s first word is a swear word” Hakoda backs off, slowly, looking at his best friend for help. His best friend who is trying to hold back his laughter. He sees Kya’s arm go up, and he books it, running around the fire pit. “ KYA, I’M SORRY!” He shouts “PLEASE, I’M SORRY!”
“GET BACK AND FACE THE CONSEQUENCES, YOU COWARD!” Kya roars, the hand with the boot held high, ready to come down with force when she has the chance. Bato could not hold in his laughter, holding himself up on the table, only to slowly drop down from laughing too much.
“BATO! STOP LAUGHING AND HELP ME!!” Hakoda calls out, still running with baby Sokka laughing in delight at the chaos that he had cased. This had only succeeded in getting Bato, and now Kanna and Hiso, to laugh even more, making the warrior useless. “MUM! HELP! PLEASE!” Hakoda pleads to his mother.

“You’ve gotten yourself in this mess, my son” Kanna replies, giggling and wiping away tears that had formed. “You had made your bed, you should lay on it.” Kanna didn’t miss the mischievous look her grandson had, before the chaos started. It was like he had planned this. Kanna knew her grandson was smart, but planning to cause chaos, Sokka should be too young. He wasn’t even a year old, and he had already said his first words. Kanna wouldn’t be surprised if he was talking in sentences before his first birthday. He is already showing signs of walking, which she knows he is too young for. Something is strange. It’s like he has lived before, which was odd. He was only 8 months old, how could this be. Maybe he is spirt touched, Kanna thinks. She has heard through the grapevine that the princess of the northern watertibe was touched by the moon spirt, maybe Sokka was similar. Kanna wasn’t sure, as she knew that sprits had reasons unknown by anybody but themselves. She makes a note to carefully watch her grandson, see if there is anymore oddities Sokka shows.

Kya calms down a bit, as she grows tired of chasing her husband a round the hunt. “ You better watch yourself,” she glares at Hakoda, he gulps” You can sleep by yourself tonight” Hakoda sighs, knowing his wife is as good as her word. He looks at Bato. “Some warrior you are,” he grumbles, “You didn’t even help me.” Hakoda pouts, sitting down to rest. Bato wipes his tears from his eye “I couldn’t help it” He says, still giggling “ Kya looked like she was going to kill you” Bato bursts out laughing, thinking of Hakoda’s face when he heard his son’s first words. “I can’t believe you taught your son to swear,” Hiso giggles “ Already teaching him to be a sailor” Hakoda sits there, flushing of embarrassment. He bounces Sokka up and down on his knee, the baby giggling from the event that just happened. “You are such a menace already” Hakoda softly laughs.
“Just like his father, I would say” Bato jokes “ The amount of shit we got into when we were just boys”
“Bato! Don’t swear in front of my son!” Hakoda snaps “We both know I’ll get the blame.”
“Sorry, forgot the baby is always listening” Bato replies, smiling. “ You just like to listen in on everything and cause chaos, don’t you.” He coos at Sokka. Sokka stares at the man with black expression.