A story based on a couple of the events in the episode The Serpent's Pass Written in Sokka's point of view. Includes spoilers for that episode. As most of you should know, the first people speaking are Yue and Sokka in his dream.
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"Why didn't you protect me, Sokka? You could have saved me, Sokka." The spirit's words echoed, like countless times before.
I-I'm sorry" Came the reply.
I sat up with a start, causing the lemur who had been sleeping on my chest to jump off with a hiss-like noise. Every night after we left the North Pole, I have had the same dream. I didn't know where I was, or how I had gotten here, for my mind was still on the dream.
Nearby, a girl – another warrior – sat up sheepishly.
"Sokka, everything all right?" She asked in a voice heavy with tiredness. That's when my memory came back to me. Me, Aang, Katara, and Toph were traveling across the Serpent's Pass and Suki had tagged along.
"Yeah, just a bad dream. You can go back to sleep, Suki," I reassured her. She laid back down, careful not to smear her face paint.
I slowly stood up, stretched, and walked to a stone arch a little ways from the group. I sat down, looking at the moon as the dream replayed in my head over and over.
"It's a beautiful moon." Suki's voice startled me, but I didn't show it. I was getting good at that.
"Yeah, it really is," I sighed recalling when I first saw Yue.
Suki sat down next to me.
"Look, I know you're just trying to help, but I can take care of myself," she was referring to earlier that day when I was being protective of her.
"I know you can," I replied, not knowing what else to say.
"Then why are you acting so over protective?"
"It's so hard to lose someone you care about," I looked away fearing Suki's expression. "Something happened at the North Pole, and I couldn't protect someone," my eyes started to water as I thought of that day, the day the moon turned red, then disappeared altogether, but most of all, the day I lost my first love. "I don't want anything like that to ever happen again." A tear streamed down my face, luckily on the side Suki wasn't sitting on.
"I lost someone I cared about. He didn't die, he just went away." Oh no, Suki found another guy and she doesn't care about me anymore. "I only had a few days to get to know him." Ok, that makes me feel a little better. "But he was smart, and brave, and funny." My heart sank again.
"Who is this guy? Is he taller than me?" I stood up. I had to get to the bottom of this.
"No, he's about your height."
"Is he better looking?" I just HAD to know.
"It is you, stupid." I relaxed, ignoring that last word.
"Oh," that was all I could think of to say.
She leaned in for a kiss, and I followed along. In the back of my mind I heard Yue saying "How could you do this to me, Sokka?" I was instantly reminded of her presence. I turned away from Suki, not able to follow through with it.
"I can't," Came my explanation.
"I'm... sorry," she said, thinking it was her fault.
"No, you shouldn't be," I said, reassuring Suki that it wasn't because of her. I walked away, leaving Suki alone under the stone arch.
We got through the pass in one piece. I sat alone, tucked away from the group. Suki walked up to me.
"It's been really great to see you again," I stood up.
"Whoa, hold on. Why does it sound like you're saying goodbye?" I don't want to be away from her any more. I don't want anything to happen to her with me not around to help.
"I came along to make sure you got through the Serpent's Pass safely." I could hardly believe what I was hearing.
"So you came along to protect me?" I saw Suki blush, even through her face paint.
"Listen, I'm really sorry about last night. We were talking, and saying things," her eyes closed. "I just got carried away and before I knew it I..." I didn't want to hear more, so I quieted her the best way I could think of. I kissed her for a second, then I stopped. I looked into her eyes. She was clearly surprised.
"You talk too much," I explained. We kissed again. All I felt at that moment was Suki's arms around my neck and her soft lips against mine.
