Team Forever - Chapter 56

by Tasha in the Southern Water Tribe, stalking Sokka

A/N: I added a picture of Kent to "More Team Forever Character Sketches... Again!". Go check him out... I think he's one of my best drawings so far.

Chapter 56

Karen stood up slowly, trying to be as quiet as possible. She'd been sleeping on a blanket on the floor... Alec and Kaylee were sharing the bed, smiling in their sleep.

"Don't do this," said the pesky voice in the back of Karen's head.

"Shut up!" she whispered fiercely, then froze as her teammates shifted in their sleep.

To her relief, they didn't wake up. She leaned down and picked up one of the two saddlebags.

"Why are you doing this?" the voice asked.

Karen looked down at the bag in her hands and gritted her teeth.

"I don't need to explain myself to some voice in my head!" she hissed.

She started dumping out the contents of the bag, thinking about how scary and stupid that statement sounded.

But why am I doing this? she wondered. She was distracted from her thoughts as a scroll dropped from the bottom of the bag and landed on the ground with a small thud.

She looked down at it. It was an Alliance scroll. Team Leather's mission had been to recover it from where it had been hidden... and now they were bringing it to Gorron.

Alec and Kaylee were going to have to bring it to him on their own, though. Karen began to refill the empty bag with leftovers from that night's dinner. She added a few more supplies, then stuffed the scroll and the rest of the things into the other saddlebag.

She slung her bag over her shoudler and walked towards the door, ignoring the voice that warned her against it. When she got to the threshold she hesitated, looking down at her bare feet. Then she leaned down and slipped on Kaylee's shoes.

"Sorry, Kaylee," she whispered, straightening up. She looked over her shoulder at her sleeping, smiling teammates.

"Sorry, Team Leather, but Team Forever has some unfinished business," Karen said as she slipped out the door.

* * *

"Derek? Are you alright?" River asked, blinking his eyes open.

He sat up in bed and looked down at the other boy, who was lying wide-eyed and shaking on the floor.

"I heard you moaning in your sleep," River said softly, sliding out of bed. "Did you have a nightmare?"

He knelt down on the ground next to the terrified boy, then gently put a hand on the side of his head.

He could feel dark energy swirling in his mind, energy that was both scared and angry. River shut his eyes and delved deeper into Derek's mind. Images, memories, flashed from Derek's mind to River's.

River pulled away, sucking in his breath, his mind reeling from what he'd seen.

"Oh, God..." he breathed.

Derek nodded, his breathing getting clamer. He sat up, his jaw clenched. He glanced at River, his eyes hard.

"That's... that's terrible," River said, still reeling from the nightmare he'd just seen. "Is that where you've been traveling? To get revenge on this... Alliance?"

Derek shook his head, then grabbed River's hand and put it against his temple again.

River nodded and closed his eyes, again focusing on Derek's thoughts.

He could feel Derek's anger, his need for revenge... He saw a room, vandalized...

River yanked his hand away from Derek's head, his eyes wide. He was glad Derek couldn't see his face beneath his hood, couldn't see the look of terror and guilt...

The room in Derek's thoughts was the home of the team warriors River was after. River had caused the vandalism that Derek was furious about.

Derek was out for revenge against River.