Stockholm Syndrome: a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and sympathy and have positive feelings toward their captors, sometimes to the point of defending and identifying with the captors.
Sokka starts to wonder if he is the villain for a moment as he looks at Suki, staring at her feet. The group decided against not tying her up, despite the fact that she is incredibly dangerous. It was the strangest and most disturbing thing Sokka ever saw. Suki was Suki and he was so glad to see her, despite everything going wrong that could've gone wrong during his trip to the Boiling Rock.
And then everything was thrown off by the arrival of the fire princess.
"What are you doing?" Sokka shouts at his dad, whom has just wrestled Suki to the floor of the gondola.
But before Sokka can do anything, he sees a small fist coming at him in his peripheral vision. He has fought her enough to know to duck and to take a certain pattern of steps back.
"I'm fine; I'm fine!" Suki screams at Hakoda and he looks at Sokka locked in a fight he cannot do alone, and then glances up at Zuko and the spread of dual shaded fire that pierces the air around the gondola.
"Alright," he says, hoping he will not come to regret this. He thinks the problem will take care of itself, one way or another. But it is a hard decision.
Sokka stumbles backwards and Ty Lee's eyes light up before she is grabbed by the arm and thrown to the floor. After watching them start a fight, his heart palpitating, he figures Suki's outburst was just some Fire Nation mind control and seeing her enemy broke it. That's... what he's hoping, at least. That's the only explanation.
And so Sokka leaves Ty Lee to Suki and runs to help Zuko, who needs it more.
They are so equally matched, and Ty Lee finds it incredibly funny, not that she can laugh while she is gasping for breath.
Suki seizes her by the arm and pushes her down, and Ty Lee can barely kick up to help herself. She backs to the edge of the gondola, looking down with her muscles tensed, and then she looks at something more frightening than the possible plunge if Suki comes at her right.
"They're about to cut the line!" shrieks Ty Lee to Azula and Suki steps back, conflicted. Hakoda's eyes flash; this is where it will go wrong.
"Then it's time to leave. Goodbye, Zuko," Azula says and Ty Lee winks at Suki before diving after the princess.
It is at that moment that Suki's head hurts and Hakoda grabs her by the arm again.
Suki is now on the floor of the airship after their escape. Her thoughts are racing as she is half seeing Sokka and remembering how her feelings of warmth and love flooded her when she saw him take off his helmet. And her other thoughts are mostly, Of course she betrayed her. I wouldn't. That's why she'll come for me...
"What's wrong? It's okay; we got out," Sokka says and Suki's lips open and close before she turns away.
Sokka looks up at Hakoda, his father's lips pursed, hiding the knowledge that he clearly has about Suki's sudden, abrupt shift in behavior when Azula arrived.
"My favorite prisoner," echoes in Sokka's head. One of the many things he hears before he falls asleep at night. He used to be out like an anchor, but as time passed and he saw more things that he cannot stop seeing, sleep has become less easy.
Suki continues to gaze at her feet, and Hakoda says nothing. Zuko looks like he is going to throw up and Sokka feels a twist in his stomach. He left her behind; at least Sokka has Suki even if she is shaken.
Several Months Ago...
It is the first day of Suki's imprisonment in the Boiling Rock. She keeps her head held proud and high, her friends around her. Although Suki is scared, she knows she needs to be brave for them, so they can be brave too.
She is held alone, being their leader. The look she gives Usagi gets the respond of a sharp nod; you're in charge now.
Her imprisonment is fairly normal. To her surprise, no one comes to interrogate her. She thought, being a prisoner of war, and a friend of the Avatar, she would be. Unless they are waiting for something, Suki supposes.
The only way she can tell the passage of time is when the doors click open and shut.
It is on the second week of Suki's time in the Boiling Rock that she realizes why no one came to question her about Aang and his friends. Three girls, perhaps younger than her, perhaps her own age, are waiting in the dark, grungy room when Suki is taken in, shackled.
"Is it time for a rematch?" Suki asks clearly, without a hint of fear in her voice. She knows where this is going, of course she does, but she will not show fear for a second.
"Not quite," the princess purrs, her voice somehow a cross between sweet and venomous, and Suki is not sure how. She is placed in the chair in the center of the room and Azula waves her hand for the guards to leave.
"You really shouldn't be unaccompanied, your father─"
"My father will hear something very interesting things about you if you don't leave me with her," Azula says with a small smile and they are gone quite quickly. But Suki could see they touched a nerve and there is still an annoyed look in her eyes.
Suki examines her, trying to figure out her game, and she notices that her eyes are not quite the normal Fire Nation type. There is a gold sheen to them, not amber or yellow or those other orange hues. Perhaps it is just how pure bred Fire Nation people look, those who never mixed with people in the colonies. Suki does not care very much about the color of her eyes, but it gives her something to look at other than the metal plate of knives the quiet one is playing with.
"I suppose I'm here to ask you about the Avatar; you clearly were with his pet," Azula says and her gaze makes Suki feel exposed. Still, the Kyoshi Warrior shows no fear.
"Go ahead," is all Suki says for the remainder of the session.
. . .
"I have exciting news," Azula says as she looks at Suki for the third time. Suki's face remains stoic; Mai is always mildly impressed. Ty Lee is incredibly jealous of the way Azula looks at Suki upon occasion. "We're going to go visit the Earth King."
Suki gives no response.
Azula tilts her head to the side for a moment before saying, "You're not going to ask how?"
Suki gives no response.
Suki does not see Azula or her horrid friends for a long time. About a month, Suki supposes, and she is better off for it. The torment seemed for no other reason than their enjoyment, which speaks wonders about the Fire Nation's youth. When the adolescents get off on torture, your country is doing something wrong.
It is long and boring before she hears that the war is won. That she... she cannot fathom. Ba Sing Se fell and Suki's first thought was that she needed to do something about this, and then realized that one person probably could not reclaim a city herself. And then she realized that she had escorted the Avatar and Katara and Sokka and Toph there.
She just hopes they weren't in Ba Sing Se when it happened.
That prayer is denied when she finds out the Avatar is dead. Suki doesn't believe that. She cannot believe that and has no desire to. No. That's not how it works.
Suki is pulled out of her obsessive training, fighting with the walls, and pillows, anything in her cell that she can punch in anger that she didn't go with them to Ba Sing Se one evening before dinner. If she had...! Well, she doesn't know, but she can't help but feel responsible.
And to her surprise and disgust, the person walking in on her is Princess Azula.
"Where are your friends?" Suki asked, watching Azula's movements.
She slams the door shut and that, Suki decides, is going to be the last move she makes. Azula is not even looking at her and Suki moves forward with her quickest and most effective blow, that she has taken down many competent soldiers with, but her hand is grabbed and twisted back until her fingers make a cracking sound.
"That was kind of sad," Azula says, turning to face her prisoner. "You didn't tell me the Avatar's friend was your boyfriend."
Suki looks her up and down. "How do you know that? Do you have him?"
"No. But Ty Lee told me all about it for some reason," Azula says, releasing Suki's hand. The Kyoshi Warrior rubs it, ignoring the pain. "He's probably very worried at this point. I would be."
"I find it pretty hard to believe that anyone would ever date you, or even think about it," Suki says sharply and Azula is entertained by her sudden emotion.
She had been so hardened during the days in which Azula was using her to learn as much as she could about her infiltration plan, telling her father that she was much more equipped to deal with prisoners than the average man, and the infiltration was a carefully guarded secret.
"Well then you'd be surprised," Azula replied and Suki grinds her back teeth together at the lack of a response from Azula. "You mean you wouldn't? In another world where there wasn't a war, you wouldn't even think about it? I mean, I went to an all girl's school and I'm not unaware of... well..."
And she just shrugs. Suki clenches and unclenches her uninjured fist, contemplating hitting her again but figuring it will not go well.
"I wouldn't know," Suki replies. "I have a little trouble imagining a war without war, that people like you seem to really enjoy perpetuating."
"Actually, I seem really enjoy winning it. Which I did," Azula says softly with yet another shrug. "But, semantics aside, I'm here on my own. And I think that we should get to know each other a little better, seeing as you're going to be here forever and you don't seem very forward when I ask you personal questions."
Suki just glares.
And Azula would do anything, absolutely anything, just to watch her expression change.
"Azula," says her father upon her return from the Boiling Rock. "Why did you go back? There's no one there of much use to you."
Azula examines her plate. They are at dinner, and Zuko is with Mai's family, probably having a much nicer time.
"I want to break her. She frustrates me," Azula says, picking at her nails.
Ozai examines her for a moment. It is not particularly something he wants his daughter to do. But he decides to help her.
"You've used the stick. It's time to use the carrot," he says and it makes no sense to her. "You need to make her like you. Make her think you're her only chance at survival and she will shatter for you and you alone."
His advice is most welcome, and Azula bows slightly and says, "Thank you, father."
Suki is enraged to see Azula again. "Don't you have innocent people to subjugate and parties to host while people in the other nations are dying?"
"I got those out of the way yesterday," Azula responds without missing a beat as she shuts the door.
Suki looks at the gleam in her eyes and swallows.
Azula continues, "I've been thinking about your execution orders."
Suki's eyes flash now.
"My what?" Suki demands, swallowing. "I haven't had a trial or anything."
"Well, you're not a Fire Nation citizen. Good luck getting a trial," Azula says sweetly and Suki bites down on her lower lip. "I've asked them to be delayed."
"... why? You've been months just messing around and now you want to spare me."
"You think there isn't a reason why I'm here?" Azula breathes, looking her up and down. "Why I've been coming back even though your use is exhausted."
Suki is not exactly sure.
Azula says, "You're my favorite prisoner," and Suki contemplates actually punching her, consequences and all.
"You are a selfish, sadistic, entitled─"
And Suki is cut off by lips against hers, fiercely, nails digging into her lower back.
She bites down and Azula throws her to the floor, one hand lighting up and one pressed against her bleeding lips.
"Just remember what I said. I think it would be in your best interest to play along with me, you know?"
And Azula is gone, wiping blood off of her face repeatedly as panicked guards try to offer her aid.
Azula is truly beginning to think that Suki is unbreakable. She realizes as she is lying in bed, tangled in sheets with her girlfriend, that she is thinking about her prisoner. A useless prisoner from some ramshackle island and Azula's need to see her break is petty.
"What is it?" Ty Lee murmurs, looking up at her and brushing her hand along Azula's waist.
"Nothing," Azula breathes, stroking Ty Lee's neck and kissing her.
She doesn't bite unless Azula asks her to.
Suki is visited by someone other than Azula or someone taking her to a new cell or reprimanding her. It's the one Suki is most intimidated by, solely because of her style of combat. She looks angry, and Suki could not imagine it on her carefree face.
"What do you need?" Suki slowly stands up and focuses her vision through the shadows to anticipate and block any attack.
Ty Lee lunges at her and Suki reaches to grab her arm, but instead of fighting, Ty Lee just grabs the collar of her red, tattered uniform.
"If you even think about touching her again, I will end you."
Suki lies on the floor of her cell, sweating, her face pressed against the floor because it is slightly colder than the constant heat.
It is as she glares at the wall that she wonders if she should just give in. If she should be a model prisoner instead of constantly stirring things up, if she played the princess's obsession with her to get what she wants.
And when Azula inevitably visits, Suki looks up at her.
"I met your boyfriend," Azula says, as if it is an innocent phrase. Suki feels bile rising in her throat as she wonders if he's dead. "No, no, he got away. Well, I let him get away. He seems very, very interested in you. How did you two meet? When's the wedding?"
Suki pauses, realizing that right now she is at a crossroads. She can fight Azula, even if it kills her, or she can cave in with the hope that is instilled in her after hearing about the invasion. Even if it was a failure, it means Aang hasn't given up.
"I don't want to think about him," Suki says quietly, and Azula smirks. Suki then thinks about Azula's own girlfriend, the person who threatened Suki, which means the Kyoshi Warrior can tell where this is going.
But she needs to adapt. Suki needs to do whatever she can to live to fight another day.
The princess slowly advances on her, and Suki stands still. She has chosen her path, and she can only hope it is the right one. Lips are on hers and Suki does not bite or resist, and she refuses to struggle as Azula presses her against the wall.
Azula unties the cheap ropes and slides her hand over Suki's body, waiting for her to break, waiting for her to say something. Azula's hips press against hers, and she runs her hands along her sides, resting for a moment on her hip before dipping lower.
And Suki gives in.
Victory is sweet.
Present Day
The warm welcomes end when everyone goes to bed and only Sokka, his father, Zuko and Suki are awake, sitting around the small fire.
"This temple is beautiful," Hakoda says and Sokka just stares at how Zuko is gazing into the fire, his mind far away.
"Tell me what's wrong with Suki," Sokka insists, not wanting to sound so indignant to his father, but frustrated that he hasn't been told.
Hakoda hesitates. "It's very rare, but... maybe predictable. It's called captive-bonding and I've only heard about it from the Earth Kingdom soldiers I worked with at times. I couldn't understand it until I saw that."
"Captive-bonding?"
"It's when prisoners start to empathize with their captors or fall in love with them," Hakoda says and Zuko looks over his shoulder.
Well that explains why Suki refused to touch Azula but all out tackled Ty Lee. And then Zuko's thoughts about Ty Lee make him think about Mai and then he sets his head on his knees. He cannot believe what he caused.
"I'm going to go talk to her," Sokka says quietly, standing up and walking to Suki. He kneels in front of her.
"She's going to come rescue me," Suki states, almost a threat to Sokka.
"Do you even remember me?" Sokka inquires, sitting on his knees, focused on her.
"Yes," Suki replies, the anger in her eyes shifting to warmth for a moment.
"I'm going to help you," Sokka says earnestly.
"She's going to help me first." And Suki averts her eyes.
It takes time, just like Suki giving in to Azula took time. After the attack Azula posed, after she showed no remorse or no care for Suki at all, the thoughts gripping her started to collapse. They still are not quite gone as she lies down and stares at the ceiling of her tent.
"Can I come in?" asks Sokka and Suki nods before realizing he cannot see her.
"Yes," Suki finally replies, her voice shaking slightly.
He walks in and sits close to her, but not too close. Sokka has a sister, and he has seen how uncomfortable Katara gets when guys close in on a girl, and he would never do it. He has honor, he has a lot of things that Suki admires, but she still cannot help but think of him as her kidnapper.
"I wanted to stay," Suki blurts out, although she cannot think of any reasons why.
Sokka hesitates; still not able to fully understand. "I'm glad you're here. We could really use your help to win this war."
Suki hesitates, furrowing her brow and trying to figure this out. Because why would she help him, who stole her away from the life she was used to? Why would she want what these people want?
Sokka remains by her side for as long as she allows him. Last he saw her, he was so afraid that she would slip away from him or get hurt. And she did.
It is on Ember Island when Suki finally snaps out of her daze. The memories are still strong within her, and the aftershocks of adapting to Azula still remain, but she starts to remember what she fought for; she starts to remember that the only reason she did as Azula wanted was so she could live on to fight another day.
And it is, Suki decides, another day.
Twelve Years Later...
Suki sometimes still wakes up screaming, and so does Sokka, so they both learn to live with it. The atrocities of war don't disappear from people's lives easily. They are sharing a bed, right now on a business trip to Republic City.
She can take care of herself, but she does appreciate Sokka's strong arms around her lean, muscular body. And how he holds her, the way he smells. It all is pleasurable to her, and she has almost entirely forgotten what it was like in that cell.
She has slept well for the entire trip, and she is grateful for it. A decade of nightmares because of a few months imprisoned is not something Suki enjoys living with.
Azula has nightmares too, of a different sort. And when she wakes up, she has arms wrapped around her, although more slender and less muscular than Suki's husband's.
After the war Ty Lee wound up working in private security; Zuko offered her a job and she denied it, but when he offered her a second job of being Azula's security after her return home, Ty Lee accepted. It pays well, but Ty Lee thinks she would do it for free.
"I have no idea why we're invited to this wedding," Azula says, although she is packing for it. Ty Lee thinks she is just trying to forget the nightmare, because she is not packing very well and she is doing it with certain fervor and anger.
"The Avatar wants to be your friend," Ty Lee says warmly and Azula just rolls her eyes.
He is not the kind of friend she wants.
It is a traditional Water Tribe wedding, but on Air Temple Island. The wedding has more guests than Suki has ever seen in the same village, much less the same room. She keeps looking around for anyone she recognizes, but it is futile, so she just remains squeezed next to Sokka.
Katara and Aang's wedding. They look sweet, and Suki is smiling the entire time. Sokka is trying not to look emotionally moved by it and that just makes her smile harder. She wraps her arm around him and sets her head on his shoulder.
"It's okay to cry," Suki says gently and Sokka looks offended.
"There's something in my eye," Sokka hisses back and Suki covers her mouth, stifling her laugh so as not to interrupt the ceremony.
Afterwards, the myriad guests clear out slightly. The reception is different, since Aang and Katara have hosted a separate one just for their friends, which there are an incredible amount of as well.
"Who's Zuko with?" Suki asks Sokka, nudging him with her elbow before standing on her toes and squinting. The Fire Lord has his arm around a slender girl.
The girl turns her head and Suki suddenly realizes it is not Zuko's date.
They lock eyes for a little too long, and that is the last time they see each other.
AN: So the AU doesn't effect too much; the war ends mostly the same way. The only major thing effected is Ty Lee not joining the Kyoshi Warriors (which in the first place has always struck me as a bit ridiculous, although her ending is extremely cute and she deserves happiness after all she went through). It's mostly just some thoughts I put on the page, I guess.