It was almost funny, how the tiniest, most insignificant events could so drastically alter the course of history. A kingdom could fall for want of a single horseshoe nail. A butterfly flapping its wings could result in a hurricane on the other side of the world. A twelve year old boy running away from home could turn the destiny of the world upside down.
Fortune was fickle mistress, and Fate a hell of gambler. Whether the outcome of random chance, or a preordained sequence of events, you never knew how things would turn out until it was all over.
Even the smallest differences can change everything. And for Sokka, that difference - his butterfly, his horseshoe nail, whatever you wanted to call it - was a single rotten egg.
Our story starts with a young man of about twenty-three years of age. He was Fire Nation, born and bred, as loyal to his government as any mainlander. He was a rather plain fellow, if easy enough on the eyes, according to his girlfriend. He was the third son of a reasonably well-to-do family, merchants of middling status with a couple of business partners in the Colonies. Nothing major, but enough that his parents were able to send him and his siblings to a decently accredited boarding school with a good - if unremarkable - history.
This young man's name was Lee. A very generic name, perhaps, but fitting for an admittedly generic guy. He had graduated school with overall passable grades - although his marks in the practical sciences had been good enough to catch the eye of the Fire Nation Army Engineer Corps - and he was dating a pretty enough young woman of similarly modest standing and talent. They had been going steady for a bit over a year and half by now, and she had moved in with him a few months ago, to the tepid disapproval of both parties' parents.
By all accounts, Lee was a more or less completely average guy, another face in the crowd. In the grand scheme of things he was not at all important. Nor was he the sharpest arrow in the quiver, honestly. Not by a long shot. Oh, he was a good enough engineer, but Lee was rather lacking in common sense. He was also bit of a slob, and an incurable gossip.
Now, Lee loved having eggs for breakfast. This was important.
Aside from the impending arrival of Sozin's Comet, it was a day like any other for Lee. He was chatting with his girlfriend, who was drowsily nursing her morning cup of tea. Lee was excitedly rambling about his recent assignment to one of airships in the First Imperial Sky Fleet as he set breakfast on the table.
He had made fried eggs, as usual. Enough for the both of them.
However, unbeknownst to Lee, one of the eggs he'd used had been rotten, and he had cooked the two helpings separately, one after the other. Neither he or his girlfriend were aware of this, however. Both of them ate their breakfast, oblivious to this fact. One of them came down with food poisoning.
Now, in one iteration of history, the one most of you are probably familiar with, Lee set the plate with the bad eggs at his spot, and the plate with the normal eggs at his girlfriend's. He would then have gotten food poisoning and been forced to stay home from work, requiring his supervisors to find a last minute replacement.
This was important, because of what airship Lee was assigned to work on. It was, in fact, the very same airship that would be boarded by a certain trio of saboteurs, and he was assigned to the very section where the three intruders would enact the very first step of their plan. In the canonical history, as you might call it, Lee of course got food poisoning, and his replacement - a heavyset, silent fellow - would respond to a broken valve only to be ambushed and knocked out.
But since Lee didn't eat the bad eggs, and didn't get sick, he was the first one who got ambushed by the saboteurs. The outcome was the same, of course. Lee had no combat ability to speak of, whereas his assailants were three of the most dangerous people in the world: The young commander of the Kyoshi warriors, Suki daughter of Ai and Koi, a veritable prodigy in the traditional fighting styles of her order, both armed and unarmed; Toph Bei Fong, a prodigy earthbender, daughter of Grand Duke Lao of Gaoling, and the inventor of metalbending; Sokka son of Hakoda, of the Southern Water Tribe: swordsman, strategist, and initiate of the Order of the White Lotus.
It was foregone conclusion, really. Lee wasn't a firebender, or any sort of fighter, and he was caught off guard besides.
The outcome was the same. Sokka, Suki, and Toph ambushed the engineer, knocking him out and taking a map of the airship, before storming the bridge and beginning one of the most overwhelming examples of guts and strategic cunning triumphing over vastly superior firepower. The three of them working together were able to decimate the Phoenix King's air force, saving Earth Kingdom from perishing in flames. Just as in canon, the outcome was the same.
But the aftermath wasn't.
What next?
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