"Hey, Suki?"
It was nighttime, and most of the gang had retired to their rooms to brood, think or sleep. Most likely brood, Sokka thought. It had been an awful play, good effects and jokes nonwithstanding. Even Toph hated it after seeing the ending. Suki sat down beside him, smiling thinly.
"You couldn't sleep either, huh?"
"No, that ending'll probably give us all nightmares," Sokka said. "I am not lookin' forward to Aang going crazy from lack of sleep again!"
"Again?"
"He did it before the invasion. Kept having nightmares, and it took a cloud bed and Firelord Ozai's royal parts to cure it!" Sokka laughed. Suki blanched.
"What do you mean, 'Firelord Ozai's royal parts'?!"
"No, not like that! See, he dreamed the Firelord came to the fight without pants and was humiliated!" Sokka said.
"Oh!" Suki laughed a little, but it trailed off when she noticed Sokka's face becoming serious. "But...that's not what you wanted to talk about, is it."
"Yeah." He sighed. "Listen, about tonight..."
"Sokka, it's okay. I know Princess Yue was very important to you," Suki said.
"No, it's not." Sokka closed his eyes. "It's not even really about that, it's...it's just, I promised to protect her, even if I wasn't in love with her I would've done it. And later I made the same mistake when Azula took you off to prison and I didn't even know until it was too late, and by then we were so busy preparing for the invasion I-"
"Is that what this is about?" She placed a hand on his cheek. "It was Yue's destiny to save the moon, wasn't it?"
"But it wasn't your destiny to go to prison! I couldn't do anything to save Yue in the end, I've accepted that now. But I could've saved you!" He turned his face away from hers, tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. Suki threw her arms around him, burying her face in his neck.
"You did save me, though," she murmured. "I'm here now, aren't I?"
"...yeah. You are." Sokka smiled a little. "But I still wish I hadn't taken so long," he said. "Yue will always mean so much to me, but we weren't meant to last. You and I are...provided you're not secretly the sun in human form, or something!"
She laughed.
"Don't worry, Sokka, I'm completely human."
"Good." Sokka held her closer. "I won't let anything happen to you ever again, I promise."
"Thank you, but don't forget I am still a warrior," she said.
"Right, right."
"Now let's go to bed," she said, "it's been a long night."
He grinned.
"Your room or mine?"
"Sokka!"
"I'm kidding, I'm too tired to do anything more tonight...tomorrow, then?" He winked. Suki blushed.
"We'll see." She kissed him, and they parted ways for the night.