𝑯𝑰𝑫𝑫𝑬𝑵 𝑫𝑹𝑨𝑮𝑶𝑵, 𝒂: 𝒕𝒍𝒂

➳ 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘦: 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴

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"Sometimes you are going to miss a person who was an almost to you. 

And feel sad because there is no name for that feeling. 

You just feel it in a way that makes you tired to your very bones."

-Nikita Gill

╚➹════════════➹╝

SOKKA IS FINE.

He's perfectly fine! Sokka is just fine without her. Perfectly fine. He doesn't miss her, not even one bit.

It's not like he thinks about her when the others are training when all he has to do is sit around and stare at his map for hours. She left her mother's sword, but there was no way Sokka was going to pick it up, let alone train with it.

It's not like he sometimes looks up at the clouds when they're flying on Appa, thinking back to those times she would make stories from the shapes in the sky. There was a time when Sokka loved the sound of her voice; now, thinking about it makes his heart feel heavy.

It's not like he thinks about her at night, when the stars are out and he can't sleep, wondering if she can't either. He hopes she's getting enough sleep and that she's doing okay. He wishes that he could just say —

No, no. Sokka hates her; he's furious with her.

What he needs to do is focus on the mission. The Avatar needs to master all four elements in order to defeat the Firelord. Aang might have a waterbending master and now an earthbending one, but they still need to find a firebending master for him. Could it have been her? What if it was her?

That doesn't matter. She's nothing to him. She lied about everything. She never loved him like he loves her. Loved her. It wouldn't matter if she did, anyways; Sokka doesn't care. At least, he's trying not to. In fact, he's trying not to think about her at all.

The Spirits must be having a great time fucking with Sokka's mind, though. Just as he actually starts to forget her, to move on from her, Sokka finds her father's ring in some things she left behind. Then, Toph had to run away and run right into Ki — her. Just the mention of her name makes him so .... so angry. No matter what Toph and her ridiculous "your heart rate is getting faster" nonsense claims, Sokka is angry and nothing more.

"What did that fire ever do to you?" Katara teases, sitting down next to Sokka. The team is camping out for a night, but Sokka had trouble falling asleep — again. He stays up, poking at the fire with a stick and watching the embers fly up into a night sky.

"Nothing," Sokka scoffs. He throws the stick in the fire and stares as it turns to ash.

"You know, it's fine if you miss Ki —"

"Don't," Sokka snaps.

"I know she hurt you."

"Katara."

"The two of you were close," Katara continues. "You cared so much about each other. Those feelings don't just go away. If you just talk to us about what's really going on — "

"Enough, Katara!" Sokka shouts, standing up in anger. Nearby, Toph and Aang stir awake.

"What's going on?" Aang mumbles.

"What's going on is that Sokka is miserable and won't let anyone help him!" Katara yells.

"That's not true!"

"It is," Katara counters. "Lately, you've been so focused on organizing and planning."

"And that's a bad thing?" Sokka demands.

"It's not, but you haven't given yourself a moment to step back and relax, which makes you extremely cranky and annoyed at the rest of us!" Katara points out. "But, when Kida was around —"

"Don't. This has nothing to do with her!"

"Sokka, maybe Katara has a point," Aang interjects, rubbing his eyes. "You have been kind of mean since Kida left."

"All I'm saying is that it's not good to hold in your feelings," Katara reasons, softening her voice. "And maybe by acknowledging them, by talking to us, you'll feel better."

"Yeah, Captain Boomerang," Toph agrees. "If it makes you feel any better now, I got the feeling that Kida misses you, too. Like, a lot."

"Whatever!" Sokka yells. "Whatever. Everyone just stop!" He falls to the ground in frustration, and hugs his knees to his chest. "Just stop, okay? I promise to be nicer or whatever. I just don't want to talk about her. Please, don't make me." Sokka takes a shaky breath, trying to hold back tears.

The rest of the team looks at each other skeptically before finally agreeing and calling it a night.

Still, Sokka lays in his sleeping bag, looking up at the stars. He sighs internally.

I really need a vacation.

»»---------------------►

author's note ! 

im sorry this chapter feels so rushed! i haven't been updating as frequently as i hope because ,, things ,, but my goal this week is to make an actual publishing schedule and post it so i can actually be organized in the future. 

i have also been planning my avatar modern au fic! basically, it will have the characters from the series as well as my ocs from this story in a college setting (i was thinking high school, but i wanted to try something new).  here are some ideas i have so far:

~ dark academia vibes mixed in with a ton of fluffy cliches 

~ kida is an english major and the definition of chaotic bisexual (which we have already seen). she's got a HUGE crush on suki, an environmental science major who she becomes really close friends with during their first year.

~ kida and sokka fmeet and instantly dislike each other. that might or might not change over time ;)

~ some really cute friendship moments between the gaang ,, like im thinking brunch dates, movie nights, game nights, road trips, coffee dates and trips to the grocery store bc they're all trying to be responsible adults but they all have each other's backs. the platonic love is REAL !

~ also , yue, jet, and haru will be in the story (maybe not as main characters, but as important side characters who are there throughout idk yet)

~ anyways, im really excited about this fic!

thanks for reading :))