Chapter 8- Swamp Fever

'Dad... I'm so sorry... I really am...' You thought with guilt and sadness, leaning against the railing of Appa's saddle. With the bandana that belonged to your father, you had nothing to remember him by since you had nothing on you when you got exiled.

'I should've listened to you... you said it was too much...' You shook your head to prevent tears, and noticed that Appa was flying closely to a swamp.
"Hey, you taking us down for a reason?" You asked Aang, but he didn't answer, making you sit up and look over to see him lost in thought.

"Aang, why are we going down?" Sokka finally snapped him out, which caused the Avatar to jump.
"What? I didn't even notice," He mumbled, and Appa flew closer to the tree tops.
"Is something wrong?" Katara asked as Twig and Momo woke up from their naps.

"I know this is going to sound weird, but I think the swamp is calling to me," Aang told you three, making you tilt your head.
"Is it telling you where we can get something to eat?" Sokka asked while holding his stomach.
"No, I think it wants us to land there," He pointed to the trees.

"Even if they want you to, I don't see any openings to land," You said while searching for a clearing.
"I don't know. Bumi said to learn earthbending I would have to wait and listen, and now I'm actually hearing the earth. Do you want me to ignore it?" Aang explained.

The swamp was familiar to you, and you tried to remember where you you heard of it.
"I don't know, there's something ominous about that place," You mumbled, now feeling uneasy. Twig and Momo hid in the saddle, with Appa groaning anxiously.
"See, even Appa, Twig, and Momo don't like it here," Sokka said as he wanted to leave.

"Okay, since everyone feels so strongly about this, bye swamp," Aang sighed and led Appa to fly higher into the sky, but then Twig made you turn you head as you heard a loud rumbling behind you.
"You better throw in an extra "yip"! We gotta move!" You yelled as sudden tornado was coming towards you all fast.

Appa tried to fly further, but he was too slow as the tornado was basically next to you. Sokka yelled in fear as he was lifted up, but you grabbed onto his arm and tried to pull him back. Twig whimpered as he clutched onto your shirt, feeling yourself being pulled by the tornado.

Aang jumps up onto the saddle and creates an air shield around Appa, causing Sokka to fall back onto Appa. The tornado sucks Appa in, where Aang struggled to keep the air shield. He couldn't hold it longer as you all got lifted out of Appa's saddle, with a Twig gripping onto you tightly.

You four screamed as you were thrown out of the tornado, hitting and landing into the swamp. You felt the water hit you back as you got submerged into the lakes, quickly swimming up for air.
"Are you all okay?" You asked them, getting up with Twig covered in algae.

"Where's Appa and Momo?" Aang asked, and jumped up to call out for them. You turned to Sokka where he had something on him.
"Uhh, Boomerang? you've got an elbow leech," You simply said, making him freak out.

"Where?! Where?!" He screamed.
"Where do you think?" Katara crossed her arms as Sokka ripped the leech off of him. Aang flew down and sighed sadly.
"You couldn't find them?" You asked him with sympathy.

"No, and the tornado, it just... disappeared," He replied, and you all looked around, the swamp now feeling more ominous than ever.
"We better speed things up," Sokka said as he pulled out his machete and started cutting away.

"Maybe we should be a little nicer to the swamp," Aang suggested as Sokka kept swinging.
"Aang, these are just plants. Do you want me to say "please" and "thank you" as I swing my machete back and forth?" Sokka retorted. Just then, felt something watching you all.

"Boomerang, unless you stop, I'll swing that machete into your head,"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twig let out a huge screech, trying to hear either Momo or Appa.
"There's no way they can hear us and no way we can see them. We'll have to make camp for the night," Sokka told you three as the night come down with fog surrounding you all.

Twig made a worried noise about his other animal buddies, having you to pet him with comfort. You don't know why, but you felt like you were being watched by something, then suddenly a huge scream was heard around the swamp.You all jumped at the sudden noise, Katara, Sokka, and Aang surrounding you with fearful hugs.

You saw a small white bird making the exact same noises and flew off, which caused you to sigh in relief, but shiver a little.

"I think we should build a fire,"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twig laid against you, feeling the warmth of the Fire in front of you. However, you couldn't really feel safer because there are light.
"Uhh, could just be me, but anyone else get the feeling that we're being watched?" You asked Katara and Aang as they sat on each side of you.

"Please, we're all alone out here," Sokka shrugged, then swatted his arm to get bugs away from him. Just then, a huge ball of light replaced the swarm of bugs and lit up to reveal a bunch of eyes peering down.
"Except for them," Aang gulped as you four huddled together in fear.

"Let's just rest, it'll be safer in the morning," Katara suggested, and you all laid against each other to sleep. You tried to keep watch, but the lack of sleep for the past few days tired you out, making you close your eyes and hear Twig purr against you.

The Fire died out, and you four slept peacefully with quiet all around. But you felt something wrap against your waist and thighs, making you open your eyes slightly to see who is doing that, but then all of you screamed as you four got dragged by vines.

Twig yelled and held onto you as you four were dragged in different directions. As you were being dragged, you quickly made the ground open, making you fall in with Twig, and closing the hole above you so the vines snapped. You panted by the adrenaline, making you laugh a little.

"What a rush, right?" You asked Twig, making him coo.
"What happened back there?" You mumbled, and made a tunnel underground.
"It'll be good for now Twig, but we can't really see," You said as Twig followed behind. You kept on walking for who knows how long, until you finally opened the ground up to jump out.

Twig hopped onto your shoulder so you could walk around.
"Air monk!! Water girl!! Boomerang!!" You called out for anyone, waiting for someone to answer, even if it wasn't them. Crossing a large branch, you couldn't really see anything because of the fog, and you felt really hungry.

Walking closer into the swamp, you saw someone standing on top of a branch.
"Yo! Can you help me??!" You called out to them, but they simply jumped down onto the water, back facing you.
"Rude," You muttered, and Twig made a whining sound.

"Are you friend or foe??!" You got closer to them, wanting to either talk or sass this person for ignoring you, but then you stopped as you saw something familiar about them.
'Is... is that-?!' Taking a step back, you quickly grabbed your hair and shook your head, trying not to lose anymore sanity.

"Mind games, this is my mind messing with me, I... I saw you..." You trailed off as you looked up to see him closely.

"...Dad...?"
____________________________________

Got more family content! This time, we're throwing (S/N) in the ring!

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

Ya know what, I forgot the bandage on (Y/N)'s face, DAMMIT-

Anyways, I got more art the amazing lasso poder_patata

Great work! I love Twig so much!

Stay healthy and stay tune!